FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Jared's life as a sphinx carried on as normally as it would in any other universe he had at his disposal. The three of them, those belonging to the skunks, wolverines, and tigertaurs, all hung in his closet where he'd first encountered them after a fortnight in that Egyptian realm. Lacking was a fourth option, one that should've been given upon the return of the other onesies. A month had passed since then, and no sign of any package or letter from Leland had shown itself. Jared worried if the magician had grown bored of him. There was no way he'd lost track of Jared somehow, not after the extreme feats of locating the drifter which Leland had pulled off three times now.

Jared was disappointed, but not crushed. He could certainly live the life of a mythical winged creature, though the honeymoon phase of discovering such a place had worn off eventually. Flying became as exciting as walking or taking the elevator. Without such an ability in the other universes, he opted not to go back to any of them. Until the opportunity to experience a new universe and creature arrived at his doorstep, Jared would enjoy the eclectic world of intelligent, flying mammals with whom he shared the megatropolis.

Not every day was spent flying or working (his job as a restaurant host carried over to this place too. Go figure.) Time spent at home was more or less the same as it had been when he was a human: either curled up on the couch and watching TV or in front of the computer. The only difference here was the nature of his furniture, that being simple cushions for him and his big quadrupedal body to lie down on. All the television shows that existed in the human universe existed here as they did in all the others (sans the tigertaur one) albeit with a certain sphinxian flair. Not only were all the cast sphinxes, but there seemed to be a shift in tone and line delivery, kind of like the actor or the writer was speaking directly to the audience as if on stage and not on screen. Perhaps the sphinxes hadn't quite escaped their Shakespearean phase.

With the novelty of it all having long since worn off, Jared was left to browse channels and stream as aimlessly as he once would when there was nothing to watch. He'd rewatched just about all his favorite movies and TV shows. It was time for something new. Jared was atop his TV room cushion with his lion legs loafed beneath him. He thumbed away at the channel paddle, his bored expression appearing and then disappearing to the flash of the TV screen. A journey through what Netflix and Max had to offer yielded nothing of interest. Regular TV was no better with nothing catching his interest. I could be outside flying right now, he thought to himself while imagining the muscles in his body actively atrophying. But going out to fly required removing himself from the comfort of his pillow. In this world, flying was like walking. Why go out and do that when there was a perfectly good TV to rot his mind with?

His journey through the channels continued at a tepid pace, and the hopes of finding something to watch gradually dwindled. At this point I should just get on my computer and go to YouTube, he thought dismally. No point in languishing here all night. There ought to be- The thought was cut short by something on TV. His Nubian eyes went wide, and his torso snapped to attention. The legs beneath him came out from beneath his body, ready to stand because he'd been so startled. What the hell was that?

It was just for a moment, barely a flash, but beaming from the television was a peculiar smell. Jared didn't see what channel it was. In his haste to scroll through them all he'd passed it by three whole spots. He backpedaled one by one until that aura was beaming out of the screen again. He hadn't imagined it. It wafted out at him like he'd opened a window. The undeniable smell of nature, that of trees, grass, animals, and open fields made his nostrils dilate. An automatic whiff inflated his chiseled chest, filling him with vitality. What the hell is this?

The aroma was real, but what the TV depicted certainly was not. In the opening seconds of the channel being displayed he saw the info bar at the bottom. It read, in bold, capitol letters, POKÉMON. It certainly looked that way. Jared recognized the art style of the anime he used to watch all the time as a kid. It was a static shot of an open field surrounded by woods. The trees swayed with the coming breeze. Bird Pokémon droned past in the background. The humming tune of nature tweeted out of Jared's speakers. It was the Pokémon anime, alright, but why the hell did it smell real? Why was it just this shot of an open field? Lastly, what the hell was that folded up suit on the floor?

Jared's stomach twisted. No way. He rose from the pillow and approached the TV on his lion feet, drawing deeper into that pleasant outdoor smell. His eyes were focused on that folded up bit of clothing which settled atop a nice clump of grass. It had been put there deliberately with its perfectly folded shape and frontside facing upwards and towards Jared, the viewer. Jared couldn't see all of it, but he could recognize the bottom part of a hood which was tucked under one half of the outfit.

Another onesie. There was no mistaking it, but it didn't make sense. Why in the TV? How is it making a smell? Is Leland doing this? It had to be the magician, but this was weird even for him. Just when Jared thought he was done being surprised, Leland goes and springs this weird shit on him. How am I supposed to get to it? Is this some kind of hint to where it is? Jared stared deeply into the screen. He noticed how crisp the image was when focusing on the animation lines. Looking at the background trees he saw how smoothly they would jostle in the wind. Even the most talented team of animators couldn't produce something so natural. Is it even animation? What the hell is Leland trying to pull?

The only way to find out was to get to the onesie, but how? Nothing in the shot popped out as a clue to lead Jared to it. There weren't any letters either. Wait. I should check my mail. Jared was ready to perform an about face and go downstairs, but something kept him glued in front of the TV. No, if he wanted answers, he was going to have to find them right there. The smell of nature was still radiating, slapping him in the face with its allure So rich, so real, he could almost reach out and grab it. Jared's hand came up slowly and came towards the screen. I'm not actually trying this, am I? But he was, and the moment his fingertips were supposed to touch glass he instead felt the cool kiss of an outdoor breeze.

He reeled his hand back with a a frightened hiss like he'd touched a hot stove. No fucking way! How? It was not fright that kept his pulse at a hurried pace but dire excitement and rabid curiosity. Now he really had to get to that onesie. Jared gulped and brought his hand back to what was supposed to be the screen. As his fingers passed the barrier, he watched them sacrifice a dimension and become flat like in the cartoon world. The feel of open air tickled him, but he did not pull back. More of his arm surrendered itself to the Pokémon universe until at last his hand rested atop the onesie. It possessed a rubbery consistency like latex plus a moist texture defined by minute scales. His fist closed around the chest portion and lifted it from the grass to bring it into the sphinx universe.

The onesie abandoned its illustrated appearance for something more tangible once it dangled from Jared's fist inside the apartment. It was as large as a normal onesie made for a bipedal creature like he had been prior to becoming a tigertaur, but that meant it lacked a set of hindlegs to fill in. Instead, the backside of the onesie featured a massive hole through which his lion torso would sit exposed. The rest was standard of a onesie, including the magic zipper on the back that would disappear once Jared put it on.

He faced it towards him and held it up by the shoulders. Its latex texture was ever so slightly moist like a fish's scales. It was a light blue throughout the body except for the lighter underbelly. Lifting the hood showed off a pair of webbed fish fins where the ears would've been. A similarly shaped white collar went around the neck like an old timey ruff. At the pinnacle was a tall, dark blue fin that was the beginning of a spiney ridge down the back. Jared's knowledge of Pokémon (if that's what this was) was rusty, but he thought he recognized one of the Eevee evolutions, specifically the water type. Shit. What was it called? A jaunt to his phone on the cushion allowed him to look it up on Google. He typed “water eevee Pokémon" into the search bar and got what he needed.

Greeting him was Vaporeon's adorable, beaming face. The four-legged Pokémon appeared as it did in the human universe's anime with its broad, wing-shaped fin ears and the white collar that went around its neck. That explained what suit Jared had in his hand, but not why Leland had sent it to him. Is he a fan of the show? Can any fictional universe be entered by putting a onesie on from there? Wouldn't he include a letter? Is it even Leland anymore? All those questions and then some remained unanswered as they always did when receiving a new onesie. As always, the only hope of finding anything out was by putting it on. I'll miss you, Sphinx world, Jared thought as he pulled the onesie's zipper down. Out of all the ones I've been to so far, this one was by far the coolest.

The back opened up down the middle. Jared held it open by the shoulders, lowered it to his forelegs, then stepped into the onesie one foot at a time. Pulling it up made it snap taut to his skin like a wetsuit, something that didn't usually happen until it had already been zipped up. The hole in the back went around the midriff of his lion section. At the top he had to reconnect the zipper and pull it up his back, all the way to the very front of the hoodie which he flipped onto his head.

The outfit sat snugly around his body. With no mirror to inspect himself in, he turned the TV off and looked at himself in its black screen. His bronzed face was all that poked out from the tightly wound hoodie. Referring to another Nintendo character, he looked like Samus Aran in her Zero suit. It felt strange having just that section of his body covered while the rear portion of his bottom half was left out in the breeze. It wouldn't be that way for long. Suddenly he felt the onesie squeeze on him more tightly. Its faux fish scales began to creep their way down his lion body, tickling him along the way. The transformation had begun.

Jared was a veteran by this point, having gone through four transformations. However, this was the first time he would be going from a quadrupedal body to a bipedal one. Instead of gaining a large portion of body, he would be losing it. Some trepidation made his stomach clench as he looked over his shoulder to watch the blue Vaporeon skin creep its way down his fur towards his hind legs. Is it gonna hurt? It's not gonna sever anything, right?

Distracting his concerns was the hoodie melting down his face like liquid tar, his human skin disappearing follicle by follicle until it had all been consumed, ending with the very tip of his nose. Looking back into his TV reflection he saw his cerulean face still harboring some Nubian features. Those quickly began to melt away as the whites of his eyes were poured over by a sinister ink which covered everything to the pupils, leaving his peepers a pair of onyx marbles blacker than the unlit screen he looked at himself in. He regrew another snout once the suit started pulling at his medulla. It was short and stubby, but pronounced enough that he reached up to feel it beneath his fingers. Doing so had him noticing the thin, blue-translucent membranes which stretched between his digits. Looking down he saw the same thing between his toes which were now much daintier than the giant lion mittens they were just a few moments ago.

Jared was officially a vaporeon, but the transformation was not complete. The onesie had yet to consume his lion half, its fishy scales still creeping down its length and reaching the hips. Jared looked over his shoulder and watched that part of him being consumed. As of now there wasn't any pain, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be any. The scales swept down his lion tail, swallowing the brushy tip and finally the toes. It still didn't hurt. In fact, Jared didn't feel anything back there. Everything behind his human part, excluding the forelegs, was completely void of sensation as if he'd been paralyzed. Despite the overwhelming numbness he maintained balance on his forelegs while the hindlegs remained upright.

Then it all started to shrink. At the same time his tail began to shorten like a burning fuse into his tailbone the hindlegs did the same, forcing his lion half to sink slowly to the floor. The main body grew skinnier like a deflating balloon. The many great muscles and bones that defined its shape disappeared into the center, reducing that part of his body into nothing more than a long, thick sausage covered in blue fish scales.

At the end of it was a tall, dark blue caudal fin perfectly resembling what Jared would see on a shark. Sharp and dense, it drew closer to Jared as what was once his lion half shrank into a lengthy, muscular vaporeon tail. Its completion was punctuated by a sudden return of sensation which swept through it from hilt to tip, a jolt of feeling so abrupt it made Jared jump a little. The tail performed a dramatic flail upon its induction, audibly whooshing through the air with its prehensile strength. “Whoa," hooted Jared who had to wrestle control over it. This was much more significant than his lion tail which he'd just lost. It was not only thicker and longer but denser too. Woven inside of it was a highway of dense sinews perfect for propelling Jared through water.

Jared looked back at the TV. He touched his face with his hand. It was moist, roughened by the texture of his many delicate scales. His body was lighter and more limber. Moving his limbs and his tail gave the sensation like they'd just come out of a plaster cast. This body is meant for moving through water, he realized. Moving it through air makes it feel lighter than it is. Jared looked up from himself and saw the apartment still intact around him. It should've disappeared the moment he took his attention off it, but here it stood. Outside the sphinx city remained with its great towers and balconies. I can't stay here. I'll stick out like a sore thumb. Am I just stuck here like this?

Then he remembered. Turning around he saw the TV remote on the couch cushion. He squatted to pick it up before hitting the power button. The blank screen flickered to life, bringing back that shot of the Pokémon world plus its alluring sounds and smells. A rush of excitement made his chest swell. The image of home was reflected in the dark black pools of his eyes. That's where I have to go, he thought with instinctual certainty. It's a portal, a portal home.

With hardly another thought Jared stepped towards the television. The remote thumped hard against the floor when he dropped it. His hands clasped the edges of the TV screen, reintroducing his fingers with the cool outdoors. Jared pulled himself closer. The 2D image grew closer and brighter. He braced for the punch of glass against his nose, but it phased through without error. The screen shimmered over his eyes, and replacing the anime-style forest was a perfectly real, perfectly brilliant swathe of nature where he belonged.

Jared's eyes went round with wonder as he continued to pull himself inside. His tail climbed up behind him as he got his feet beneath him and stood up to fully immerse himself. Pokémon… They're real here. I'm one of them. It struck him more sincerely than when he'd turned into a sphinx. Somehow entering a fictional world he'd known about since he was a kid managed to be surreal even after he'd changed realms four times now. Pokémon, magical creatures with magical powers, they shouldn't be real, and there he was standing amongst them, one of them.

The thought was orgasmic. Jared's fists clenched, wrenching the tendons in his forearms where the power of a Pokémon surged resolutely. This is fucking awesome! He meant to say it aloud, but what came out was the name of his species. “Vaporeon!" High and squeaky, it sounded like nothing a human would make. He ducked his head and covered his mouth like he'd said something naughty. What the hell was that? His paw came off his mouth to let out another word. Hello, was what he meant to say, but another timid “Vaporeon" was what came instead. Well, looks like I'm going to have to get used to that. Of course, that's how the Pokémon talked in the show. Am I going to understand other Pokémon? Am I going to understand humans? Are they even in this universe?

Jared remembered his apartment looming behind him. He turned around and saw that the screen portal between the two realms was missing like it had never been there in the first place. Well, shit. Looks like I'm not going back there anytime soon. He thought another week would pass when another onesie and the others he'd collected would appear, but would they? It had been more than a month since this Vaporeon suit had showed up. Worse still, he didn't have a home to send a suit to anymore. Even in the tigertaur universe where he roamed an entire swathe of territory on his lonesome there was a bit of shelter for Leland to send his letter. If this is anything like that time, I'll probably have to go looking for it. That's if he sends me anything this time.

But that was a concern for a later date. Right now, Jared had a whole new realm to adventure through. The forest clearing he'd found himself in offered an infinite set of directions for him to go through, lively trees having surrounded him. Pokémon birds tweeted in the sky above him. Leaning his head back and squinting into the blue sky he saw their shrunken black silhouettes droning past. “Sparrow! Sparrow!" they would squawk and squeak. Part of Jared wished he had a pokédex like in the anime to help him catalog everything he saw. Maybe I'll bump into Ash Ketchum, he mused. He can let me borrow his.

Before Jared went searching for any anime protagonists, first he was going to do some exploring. He did an about face, swinging his broad tail out behind him and heading towards the bit of forest closest to him. The trip, however short, took a bit longer than he expected given the brevity of his legs. What should've been long strides as a human or other such bipedal species were now short waddles. They could walk upright, but these limbs were made for swimming. Just trudging his way through the grass triggered an instinctual need to dive into some water. If I found a pond or a river right now that would be so great. God, I feel like a little kid.

He wasn't going to let it stop him from exploring. Into the tutelary trees he expected a muffling of the open breezes which lofted the birds and their songs. He found the opposite, a menagerie of colorful Pokémon big and small, their dwellings among the trees, their roots, their branches, and the very Earth beneath Jared's feet. Like walking through a busy city street he had to be mindful of his tread lest he bump into or step on some unfortunate creature. A starly tweeted in the branch above him. A spinarak descended from its string of web. One curious bunch of dugtrio burrowed their way out of the dirt, shook the loose grains from the top of their bald heads, then regarded Jared curiously.

“Dugtrio," it said in a nasally voice, one Jared understood. Look, a Vaporeon, the larger diglett told his two comrades.

A surprised Jared physically leaned back. He heard nothing but the Pokémon's name and yet it rang in his mind as clearly as someone speaking English. He tried talking back to it. “Em, Vapor. Vaporeon?" Um, hello. Can you understand me?"

The dugtrio gave each other a confused look. “Dug, dugtrio." Yeah, we can.

Jared's blackened eyes widened with wonder. “Vaporeon!" Holy shit!

That seemed to offend the three little creatures. One of the smaller two advised that they should get out of there, this Vaporeon was a weird one. The other two agreed, and then they shrank back into the Earth with a perfectly cut hole in the ground left behind.

Jared's heart was racing in his chest. Holy shit. Holy shit. I just talked to a Pokémon. I just lived every kid's dream. It could've gone better, for sure, but it was a start. Jared continued his meandering through the densely populated forest, greeting every resident he passed along the way. It was like going through the center of a small town where every face was familiar and friendly. He did not know a single Pokémon personally, and yet he recalled their names from the well of his childhood memory. Paras, butterfree, bidoof, poochyena, and so many others. A forest like this would not have been so rife with fauna in any other world, but this was no regular place. This was the universe of a human's imagination, a place where every tree and upturned rock yielded the fruits of life, creatures of intelligent design yearning to be discovered by an adventurer's hand. Such was the premise of Pokémon, finding and catching all these fantastic animals. Gotta catch 'em all.

Jared's journey came to a stop upon the discovery of a large pond at the end of the forest. He seemed to stumble upon it accidentally, but something told him that wasn't the case. His Vaporeon instincts, those buried within the very inner crevices of his brain, demanded he find some place to swim as was made mandatory by his bodily structure. Plus, his jaunt through the woods had made his scales start to go dry. It wasn't serious, but it drew him to the water like some addictive chemical.

It was time to splurge. Jared ran as hard as his stubby legs would allow him into the water. His feet paws splashed into the outer shallows and sank deeper until the surface sloshed around his knees. From there he let instinct kick in, and he performed a perfect face-first dive into the water. The surface smacked him in the face, muffling the sound of the outside into a dull murmur. Bubbles tickled up his scales and fizzled at the surface, above where his streamlined, ichthyic body began a rapid descent into the pond's murky depths.

I'm swimming. Just like a fish. His body wafted downwards onto the pond bed, guided their by the stiff rudder of his tail. It was dark down there, deep enough that he felt the pressure across his body like the strict squeeze of a blanket. His eyes were wide open and yet they did not feel the sting of water that he would've if he were anything else besides an aquatic creature. The air in his lungs bubbled out through his nose, trailing their silvery bodies to the surface in a slow upwards float. The pressure intensified around his chest, but the need for oxygen did not arise. I can hold my breath down here for hours, I bet.

He would need that long to explore the pond which proved to be a den of wildlife just as thriving as the forest he'd walked through. Amongst the green plants which waved and wafted in the gentle currents were fish of all kinds, magikarps, feebas, remoraid, even a singular sharpedo. They would dart away from him as he gently kicked his legs and propelled his tail, motions performed as naturally as walking. Gliding above the sandy lake bottom where the glowing surface veins rippled, and his shadow followed him produced a euphoria on par with his first flight as a sphinx. A giddy smile lit his features. This is so fucking cool!

He looked up to the surface above. There the light of the sun was refracted into sprawling beacon of glowing white. Even through the however many meters of water he could feel its gentle heat. An idea popped into his head, and without another thought he made a mad dash for the surface. The water roared past his ears. His fins fell flat against his body, creating a hydrodynamic body launched skyward by the furious whip of his tail and kick of his legs. The surface grew closer and closer until bloosh! His beaming face broke the tension and sent a geyser of water droplets spewing out around his body. The ascent brought him several feet into the air where he floated for just a moment, tilting backwards so that he faced the brilliant blue sky above, warming his tummy in the sun.

“VAPOREON!" Wahoooooo! His sprawling body leaned all the way back until his head was the first thing that came back down into the water. Splooosh! Without missing a beat, he resumed his heated race through the lake. Every trick he could think of was performed with gusto and flair. The resident fish of the lake learned quickly to make way for his antics, their bubbling streaks and mighty splashes making a ruckus unseen in that lake.

It tuckered him out eventually, forcing Jared to the surface where he floated about lazily with just his face poking out to breathe. The environment continued to thrum around him. Birds singing, Pokémon migrating and surviving, a whole world of powerful creatures to document. All of that and Jared was content to float about like a lazy alligator, his stresses and worries melting away with the lake's most gentle current. His eyes closed at the same time a merry sigh hummed out through his nose. Oh yeah. I could get used to this. Feeling happy and safe there on the lake's surface, Jared fell asleep. He dreamed of flying.

* * *

Jared woke up to the sun rising the next morning. It was jarring to find himself floating in the water still. Apparently, he could literally regulate how he floated and breathed in his sleep. A wave would come over him and his nostrils would close like a seal or a dolphin's blowhole. He started paddling around the water when the rumbling of his stomach alerted him to how hungry he was. What does a Pokémon eat? The show never had them eating each other. So, what am I supposed to do?

Like he had with the tigertaur body, he surrendered himself to instinct and followed where his subconscious told him to go. It brought him to the lake's shore where the shrubs and thickets thrived, their thinning twigs and branches yielding the shrimpiest vegetation. That was enough for Jared who felt his stomach rumble upon just looking at the few berries the bushes had to offer. It made sense. He faintly recalled collecting berries when he played the video game on his DS as a kid, though it didn't explain the meats he'd seen the characters in the anime eating. Best not think about it, he thought while crawling up the lake's bank. There he took a squat beside a particularly fat bush whose branches groaned with fig-like berries. He grabbed one and nibbled on it. Sweet and ripe, its juices blossomed through his mouth and elicited a delightful burst of endorphins. It went down with a hearty swallow at the same time he reached for another.

Soon that shrub was half barren of its fruit, leaving Jarred slumped on his behind by the lake's edge, his tummy portly with berries. Aw shit… I think I ate too much. It was worth it, though. Much of the bush still had berries left on it. If he got hungry again- which probably wouldn't happen for the rest of the day with how much he'd just eaten – he could just come back here and engorge himself again. Though that means finding another bush with berries on it. It can't be that hard. With a lake this big and so many Pokémon living around there should be-

“Oh! Look over there!"

The voice of a child tore Jared out of his stupor. He swung his head to the left where the forest was. Standing there were a couple of human kids, neither of them older than 13, one girl, one boy. They were dressed for a hike with big boots, backpacks, and shorts. Suddenly the boy made to run after Jared, but the girl stopped him. “Wait! Calm down. You don't want to spook him."

Jared was definitely alarmed, but they hadn't frightened him into swimming away. Um, hey there, was supposed to be his greeting, but the usual “Vaporeon" came out instead. Shit! They're not gonna understand a word I say. Jared scurried to his feet and faced them with his hands held up as if to show he was unarmed.

The girl came forward slowly with one hand reaching into a waist bag that hung from her belt. “Easy now, we're not gonna hurt you." Her hand came out of the bag with what looked like two marbles at first. Then she clicked a button on them both, causing them to expand into two red and white orbs.

Jared's heart sank when he recognized the two Pokéballs. Wait! Hold on! “Vaporeon!"

The girl wasn't listening. She took one ball and hurled it at the ground in front of her. “Grotle, go!"

The ball burst open and unleashed a beaming red energy which materialized into a stout turtwig. It stood at a wide stance on his hind legs, the look of determination sharpening its features. “Grotle!" Ready!

That wasn't good. Jared addressed his opponent. Hey! Buddy! Can you tell them to back off? I'm not a Pokémon! It frustrated Jared to no end hearing his pleas come out as nothing but his species' name.

The grotle shot him a confused look. The hell do you mean? You look like a Pokémon to me, and me and my master are about to capture you.

No! Wait! You don't have to!

The grotle shrugged. Sorry, buddy.

The girl shouted her first attack. “Grotle, use razor leaf!"

“Grotle!" He fell into a sharp squat and leaned his body forward, exposing the shrubbery atop his shell and aiming at Jared. Its leaves began to glow white, and out forth shot a hurricane of green scythes barreling straight for Jared.

That was his que to retreat. Jared spun around as hard as he could and sprung for the water. He felt and heard the whizz of deadly leaves past his ears, ripping chills across his skin in the short but crucial moment before he splashed into the water. The moment he hit the surface he kicked his legs and his tail for dear life, propelling himself farther and deeper until his image blurred to nothing.

He did not come to a rest until he was at the very center and bottom of the lake. There he floated upright, heart pounding. That was too close! Why didn't I think about Pokémon trainers? Are there more around here? Are those three still up there? He didn't want to expose himself above the water to check, but the need for air pinched his lungs and drew him upwards. His eyes breached the surface as subtly as he could make them. Scanning the lake's shore he saw the two trainers make a disappointed retreat into the forest. The grotle was nowhere to be seen, apparently back in his Pokeball.

I do not want to find out what it's like to be captured. That grotle had been so confident and unwavering in his service to his trainer. Now that he thought about it, so was every Pokémon in the games and in the anime. If I'm captured, will I lose all my free will? Will I be forced to fight other Pokémon? Just like that, this universe's Libertarian allure had crumbled under the threat of captivity. Jared would have to tread carefully for as long as he lived here, and there was still no way to know how long that would be. A week at least, he thought dismally. I'll have to avoid capture for that long. This won't be easy.

Nor was it. Jared made home of that lake, swimming about and exploring its shores and surrounding forest for the remaining fortnight while being wary of whomever or whatever would come walking around every tree and corner. Food was abundant but taking the time to sit down and eat meant exposing himself to a potential captor. He would strip just a couple branches of their berries before making a hasty retreat for the water where he was safe. The sight of humans, however seldom, would always send him scurrying. Once he saw the same pair of kids he'd first encountered. Perhaps they were after him to make up for their previous failure. Jared didn't want to find out, thus he kept a wide berth in the middle of the lake.

One long week of paranoia made him forget about the worlds outside this one. His reminder came in the form of a package lodged in the sandy lake shore where he was foraging for food. Seeing it brought a flood of memories, those when he was another creature living in another world. Leland… The wizard bastard hadn't forgotten about Jared after all. Or at least somebody hadn't, because this package, like the Vaporeon suit, lacked a letter for him to read. No matter who sent it, Jared was eager to see what awaited inside for him. It was time to get the hell out of there.