FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Calla was so focused on completing the tests, she had almost forgotten why she was here. But when she came out of yet another chamber filled with deadly corrosive goo, satisfied at having solved the puzzle, she stopped as she saw the wide hallways around her. This appeared to be the junction point between several different test chambers, a series of closed doors all leading to one wide corridor. There were a series of arrows on the floor, marking where to go, leading toward a door marked:

Advanced Evolution Initiative

Operation Room

"Congratulations, test subject!" the voice of Cave Johnson said. "You've made it through the Baseline Testing! Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back, then head on into the Operation Room! Evolution is just steps away!"

She stared at that door, just a conventional office door with a handle and a sign plastered on it. Just steps away. Her breath came out in a tremble and she realized she had been holding it in. All the physical exertion she had just been through and her heart was pounding harder than ever, so loud she heard it in her ears.

Where was everyone else? Why was she the only one here? She stood there, breathing, watching the other doors to see if anyone would emerge. But no one did. She wanted to, but she couldn't move. She was paralyzed, caught between being more eager than she had been in her entire life and more nervous than she had ever been.

Calm down. Breathe. Deeeep breaths. she thought. She couldn't work herself up into another panic attack—that probably wasn't healthy. One was enough for today, thank you.

Unfortunately, the method she'd used to calmly approach the test chambers didn't work here. There was no threat, no puzzle to solve. Just a door. All she had to do was walk through it. But her feet stayed rooted. Had anyone asked a day ago, she'd have said she'd go running through this door if she found herself in front of it.

"If you're hearing this, it means you're not moving into the Operation Room, for whatever reason," the voice of Cave Johnson said. "We get you might be nervous, so we've decided to help you out and skip the difficult part! We're pumping in a slightly less lethal version of Aperture-brand neurotoxin, should just knock you right out."

There was a slight hiss and Calla quickly felt light-headed, stumbling backward.

"With minimal side effects! So I'm told." She could barely process the sound of the voice program over the speakers. She heard what she thought was the sound of her portal gun dropping to the floor.

***

Calla emerged into semi-consciousness, feeling warm and comfortable. For about half a second, she thought she was in her own bed. And then she remembered.

She sat bolt upright with a gasp and looked down at herself. She wore the same orange Aperture jumpsuit as before, but where the sleeves had ended in hands, she now had a pair of black fluffy paws. She examined them, eyes wide, looking at the silky dark fur, pink pads, and the tiny sharp claws, before turning and putting her legs over the edge of the padded chamber she'd woken up in, similar to the one she'd started the testing in. She noted they'd fitted her with a pair of brand new Long Fall Boots, apparently designed for her new digitigrade feet. She slid them off and wiggled her toes, grinning.

The rest of her was covered in resplendent orange fur, covering her like a soft blanket. Calla felt along her new snout, excitedly feeling her wet nose and sharp teeth. She got to her feet, continuing to explore her new furry form. She actually yelped with joy as she saw she now had a tail. A tail! And pointy ears!

The room was the same pale white as the test chambers, lit by the florescent light strips in the ceiling. She jumped as she saw what she thought was someone else, another fox, but when they mimicked her movements it clicked that she was looking at a mirror. She stepped closer, hardly breathing out of sheer awe and excitement, looking over her new body. She hadn't expected Aperture to stick to the details, but she was a dead-ringer for her 'sona. The red fox she'd only ever seen in her dreams stared back at her; soft fur, lush curves, and two sparkling blue eyes. Her name was Ashley Flora. "Ash," for short.

She paused and her heart skipped a beat as this phrase replayed in her mind: Her name was Ashley Flora. She was her fursona now!

She beamed, giving herself another once-over in the mirror, and then a twice-over, and a third. She was definitely bigger in areas she hadn't been—they must've refitted her jumpsuit. Her chest was definitely bigger, and holy mother of thighs!

Damn... she thought with a smirk. I'm hot now!

She checked herself out as best she could without actually revealing anything, wary of the camera on the wall. She turned in a circle, admiring the shape of her new form, feeling over her curves, brushing her fingers through the new fur, and of course playing a bit with her fluffy tail. Some things were the same; she'd kept her long brown hair and blue eyes, since her 'sona was basically just a fox version of her. She frowned as the mirror rotated into the wall, replaced with a blank dark wall panel the way some of the panels in the test chambers did.

"Hey, hurry it up in there," came the stern voice of Cave Johnson. "We've got more tests to do!"

Calla sighed. More tests.

Let's get this over with.

***

She was actually thrilled to see what kind of tests they might have in store—only for her enthusiasm to be dashed as she came into a single test chamber with a cube and a button. They were just running through the same tests again, she realized quickly. They wanted to be sure she hadn't forgotten anything or lost any of the physical capability she had before.

She found out quickly she could sense elements of the test chamber before she could actually see them, smelling the acrid odor of the deadly goo, hearing the idle whirr of the security cameras as they followed her around the chamber. The acidic smell of the goo had burned her nose at first, but she'd learned to get used to it.

"Now, you shouldn't suffer from too much loss of dexterity in your new form—you've still got those opposable thumbs—and we've designed the handheld portal device to be fired easily by almost every species." Cave said as she departed the latest chamber. "That being said, if you feel like you might fumble the thing, let us know and we'll have the grip refitted for you. That thing's expensive, can't have you dropping it."

At the earliest opportunity, she put two portals on the walls of a corner and got a look at herself. She could get a good angle on both sides of her through either portal and she smiled as she thought to herself, Yep! Still sexy! Just checkiiing!~

It was good to get a quick boost of self esteem now and then. She felt better about herself than she ever had when she was human. Not that her human body had been bad, really, but this was absolutely an improvement.

As she passed through another test chamber, she came out into another hall, with the same signs as before, and wondered again why it was she didn't see anyone else around. These connecting hallways seemed to suggest there were usually long lines of testers waiting for others to complete tests, but she hadn't seen anyone so far.

Moving on, she noticed the layout of the chambers was starting to differ slightly from before and figured they were testing her mental faculties as well. These tests weren't any harder, but they weren't the exactly same. Making her way out of a deceptively simple test chamber featuring moving wall panels and momentum jumps, she found a sign in the hall between the test chambers, reading "PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY VITAL TESTING APPARATUS," showing a red circle with a line through it, with the image of a tester with a tail and two pointed ears firing a portal at a camera to remove it from the wall.

Beside that, another sign made her raise her eyebrows and blush. "PLEASE REMAIN CIVIL WHILE IN THE TESTING QUEUE," it read, and beneath was a series of icons, all with the same interdictory circle. Some were in various positions and included varying anatomies. Apparently, Aperture didn't want anything to be left unclear. Her blush deepened as the next voice line from Cave Johnson came over the PA.

"Is this thing on? Look, I know you've probably got a lot going on in this new body of yours, some crazy new urges. But the only one that really matters is the urge to test! Focus on that one. Or at least remember what you learned in sex ed. Please tell me you payed attention in that class and didn't fall asleep or doodle in your notebook. But look who I'm talking to, of course. Look, if we have to abort one more hybrid-whatever baby, I swear to—"

She sighed and headed into the next chamber. Well, they were furries, after all.

***

Her laser focus served her well. By the time she got out of the test chamber, she'd forgotten entirely about the embarrassing signage and prerecorded messages of the last inter-test corridor. But the same signs were on these walls, as well as some new ones.

"PLEASE DO NOT USE THE HANDHELD PORTAL DEVICE FOR ANYTHING BUT TESTING ," the caption for the new sign said. The crossed out icons below showed characters of multiple species, all playing with each other or themselves by using portals. This one actually made her laugh. Some of these positions were actually really creative.

She also noted there were claw marks along the walls and she blushed and bit her lip as she thought of how they might have gotten there. Looking closer, she saw writing, graffiti scratched into the walls with claws and talons, marking things like "Simon was here!" and a number of lewd messages as well. There was even a phone number, with the words "Call me if you make it through this~<3".

"It doesn't even make biological sense!" the voice of Cave Johnson blurted over the speakers. "It's like they're impregnating each other through sheer force of wi—Oh, is this on?"

Calla laughed again, smiling as she proceeded into the next chamber.

Admittedly, she did find herself getting curious. She imagined destroying a few cameras, hiding in one corner of a test chamber and pulling off her jumpsuit, exploring her new body. But there'd be time enough for that when she got home, when she was safe and far away from the deadly goo, high-energy pellets, and other hazards of Aperture. She felt a pang of doubt at this thought. Would they even send her home? Would they let her leave, or were they intent on testing her until she died?

She stepped through into the next chamber again and her laser focus flipped on like a switch, getting to work on solving the chamber, disregarding all her other problems, knowing her emotional distractions would only slow her down.

***

The next inter-test corridor was made of darkened, non-portalable panels, and she saw tiny print on the edges of each panel reading "Aperture Science patented scratch-resistant panel." Evidently they'd learned a thing or two. There was also a small box on the wall, made of the same polished white material as most other Aperture machines. The words "Be Safe With Aperture" were printed in black text on the little box. Wondering what could prompt such an ironic phrase, she stepped closer saw a hole in the bottom, the symbol of an upturned paw just above it. What was it, some kind of hand drier?

"Cave Johnson here. So since we can't just stagger the testing schedules to prevent you from running into one another—that'd just be inefficient—we've decided to provide our very own Aperture brand sexual barrier devices, completely free of charge! These aren't your ordinary rubbers, either; we've packed in a whole bunch of tech that'll make sure not one swimmer gets where he's going! So just drop those things in the nearest trash bin when you're done and try not to take too long between tests."

Glancing around warily, she didn't see any cameras or other test subjects. So, curious, she held up a paw. There was a blue glow from inside the dispensor and a neatly wrapped square package shot out, slapping against her padded palm. Her face grew hot as she examined the package, wary someone could come in and see her checking out a condom she didn't even have the right parts to use. It was in a dark grey package, stamped with a white aperture logo. She wondered if it was just on the packaging or if it was on the condom itself. A cute design on paper, but it'd probably look weird when the thing was actually in use and stretched aroun—Nevermind...

She squinted to read the tiny print on the back of the package, which read, "Made by Aperture Science. Not for individual resale. Semi-nontoxic lead-lined packaging..." Wait, what? Why would it need to be—

"Oh," Cave added, "and no matter what any of the other test subjects might tell you, we did NOT saturate the condoms with radiation to shut down your sperm production. Nope."

She yelped and dropped the condom, then made her way for the door, eager to put as much distance between herself and the condom dispensor as possible.

***

At the end of this chamber, a door marked with a radiation trefoil was labeled;

"Feeling weak?

Nauseous?

Head hurting?

Painful burning?

Proceed through here!"

The same signs lined the walls, the same non-portalable, scratch-resistant material made up the walls, only this time the condom dispensor was labeled with the words "100% Radiation Free!" So evidently they'd learned that lesson.

At the end of the next chamber, she found a spot where she could put two portals in a corner to get a quick look at herself. She stepped closer and was suddenly tempted by the urge to reach out. It looked a lot like a pair of mirrors, but the closer she got, the more she knew that it wasn't. She felt her own breath on her cheek as she reached a paw through one portal and stroked along the fur of her neck. It was surprisingly intimate. It was her own paw, her own neck, but it felt almost exactly like reaching out and touching someone else—while also simultaneously being touched by someone else. It was like interacting with a clone, an exact copy of herself, every movement mirrored. She pulled back, breathing heavier than before.

Fuck, she thought. I've gotta focus. Stop getting... distracted.

She shook her head and moved on. This hall was the same as the previous; signs, scratch-resistant panels, and a "radiation-free" condom dispensor. The following test was very momentum-based, which was always fun. The wind through her fur was a nice sensation and she'd gotten used to flying through the air without worrying about breaking her legs. The Long Fall Boots were comfortable and snug. Plus, she was realizing her foxy form had new flexibility and agility that she hadn't had before. She had fun landing in all kinds of dramatic poses that made her feel like an action hero.

"If you're hearing this, it means you haven't used the portal gun to engage in non-Euclidean masturbation. Yet," Cave said flatly. "Which is something. I guess. Is this really our standard? Have we set the bar that low?"

She rolled her eyes, moving on.

***

The next test was more momentum testing, just to be really sure she'd gotten the concept down. It was fun, sure, but she was beginning to wonder when or if they'd let her shower. She did the corner portal thing again and noted her fur becoming somewhat frizzy, taking a moment to smooth it down. She took advantage of a small portalable hallway and did the infinite portal thing, getting a good look at her own ass. Again, she was tempted.

She was getting hot—not in the good way—and decided to undo at least the top of her Aperture jumpsuit, exposing the white tank top beneath and tying the long sleeves around her waist. There, that was better.

She emerged into the next hall and noted another change: Beside the little condom dispensor was another larger dispensor machine, which ran all the way up to the ceiling, more like a chute or a small vending machine. This one had a screen on it, showing a rotating Aperture Science logo.

Stepping toward it cautiously, she heard another message from Cave, "If the Emancipation Grill somehow fizzles both your jumpsuit and your unmentionables, we've gone ahead and placed some clothing dispensers at the end of every few test chambers to deal with that problem. Lost your jumpsuit? Just grab yourself a new one and some patented Aperture-brand skivvies! So comfortable, I'd wear 'em myself if I had a physical form beyond the hard drive that runs my speech algorithms. Just be glad we can't legally get ahold of your bank, or we'd charge you for it! Hah! It will, however, be deducted from your compensation at the end of the tests."

She sighed. Whatever.

"Meanwhile," Cave went on, "we're working on that little kink with the Emancipation Field. Not that kind of kink, you know what I mean."

Her ears perked curiously and she moved up to the screen, which switched to a new interface as she approached. "Please Select an Article of Clothing." the upper text read. Below, it displayed a selection of clothing pieces, each surrounded by an orange square border, including a classic jumpsuit, a pair of grey pants, dark grey boxers, briefs, bra, and grey panties, most displaying the Aperture name and/or logo. She noted the underwear had the circular logo on the front and the back and smirked, wondering how they'd gotten that design decision past the marketing department. She figured it was possible there could be furries working within Aperture. Maybe that was how this whole program got started.

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked around. It wasn't as good as a shower, but she could definitely use a change of clothes. Her eyes locked for a moment on the test chamber door she'd just come out of. It was the only way in our out, and it would take at least a few minutes for anyone to solve it, even if there was anyone behind her. She hadn't seen anyone yet, but the idea of getting caught in the middle of changing clothes made her blush hard. Yet it also sent a thrill through her.

"Quickly," she huffed. "I'll do it quickly."

She tapped the screen and a blue highlight surrounded the jumpsuit, the Continue button beneath lighting up. She tapped the other clothes and was happy to see she could request multiple clothing items at once, selecting the pants, top, bra, and panties. Once she'd highlighted everything she wanted, she hit Continue and the screen read, "Please hold still while we take your measurements..."

A blue light emerged from the top of the machine and passed over her in a sweep. She stood up straight and tried not to move. After another two or three passes, it beeped and the blue light went out, then there was a whooshing sound and a neatly folded set of clothes landed in the tray below the screen.

She glanced around again and took a breath, then started unzipping her jumpsuit the rest of the way, pushing it down her legs and kicking it off. She pulled off the tank top and undid her bra, which she realized was also Aperture brand. Did they even plan on giving back the clothes she'd come in wearing?

She took a quick moment to admire her new chest, blushing and smiling as she felt herself up. With a shiver and a deep sigh, she refocused and quickly donned the fresh bra and tank top. Next, the pants. She kept her senses open for any sign of someone coming. There were no cameras in these halls, though there had been initially; clearly, Aperture didn't want to see what went on between tests.

She stepped out of her pants and yelped as she almost fell over, leaning against the wall for balance. Nervously, she looked around again, then pulled off her underwear.

"Oh..." she whispered, noting the dark spot on the fabric. It wasn't big, but it was there. Apparently, she had been more distracted than she thought.

Ash stepped out of her panties and into the new pair, sighing with relief as the soft, dry fabric met her fur. She donned the pants quickly, pulling them up over her thighs and shapely butt, slipping her tail through the hole in the back. Tailhole, she thought with a snicker. Okay, calm down, Ashy.

She pulled on the jumpsuit, leaving it halfway up again, and stepped back into the Long Fall Boots. She dropped the dirty clothes in the trashcan by the entrance to the next test chamber, then grabbed her portal gun. Back to testing.

***

The next few tests were less physically rigorous and had more to do with reaction time. She noticed she was definitely faster than before, which was interesting. Her new superhuman speed was a lot of fun, though the tests were getting harder. The entries to the chambers were now lined with icons and signs urging testers not to have sex or masturbate, but apparently they weren't doing much.

She was headed out of a chamber once, moving toward an elevator at the end, when something orange caught her eye. She moved around to the side of the elevator and saw that it was a jumpsuit, as well as a pair of panties and a bra. The clothes still held a trace of their previous owner's scent, an indescribable yet not unpleasant aroma. She dropped the clothes and carried on.

In the next chamber, she saw more evidence of discarded articles; jumpsuits and tank tops stashed behind elevators, tossed into corners, and strewn across the floor of the entry. She even looked up once and saw a pair of boxers hanging off of a security camera. That made her giggle.

Each set of clothes had their own unique scent, laced with the pheromones of the ones who had abandoned them, pheromones which mixed in the air and made her increasingly confused. She'd have to request a new pair of underwear from the next dispensor.

It was hard to lock into her laser focus mode with this distraction. She'd gotten close enough to a high energy pellet that it almost singed her fur, and she had almost fallen into the deadly goo, shooting a portal on the wall and leaping through, but not before almost dipping a toe into the sludge. That was as close to the stuff as she ever wanted to get.

"Damn horny furries," she growled through clenched teeth, cursing her brethren who had come before her. She tried shoving the clothes through the Emancipation Grill at the end of the chamber, but it refused to glitch out and dissolve the material, so she just tossed them all into the toxic goo.

"After numerous complaints filed, we want to make it clear we will not be granting requests for custom jumpsuits," Cave said as she exited the chamber. "I don't care whether it blends in with your fur or doesn't bring out your eyes or whatever."

A blue jumpsuit might have been nice, she figured, but she was grateful for the change of clothes at all.

The proceeding chamber was more of the same, clothes strewn about haphazardly, this one with no acid pit to throw them into, but at least it also meant there was no acid pit to fall into. The hallway after the proceeding chamber was much more narrow, the door at the end smaller than the usual entrance, and there was yet another sign: "ONLY ONE TESTER PER CHAMBER."

"Listen up, people," Cave sighed. "These chambers are designed for one person, not two, or three, or fifteen. One. Any more than that will just skew the test results. I don't care how attached you are to anyone. Wait your damn turn."

Ash yelped at how fast the door shut behind her when she stepped into the chamber, almost shutting on her tail. The next few chambers had significantly fewer articles of clothing lying about.

***

As much as her natural instincts had screwed her over before, she was shocked to learn they could actually help her. She didn't learn this, however, until, for the first time since she'd become an anthro, she ran into the turrets.

This chamber wasn't dissimilar to the first turret chamber she'd encountered, the one that had sent her into hyperventillating panic, leading to her passing out and subsequent catharsis. This time, she heard them before she saw the turrets themselves, caught the sound of their little motors idly whirring, but she didn't know what the sound belonged to until she rounded the corner and came eye-to-single-red-eye with one of the turrets.

Something happened. She reacted, in the same way she did to any other threat in any other chamber, her hyperfocus kicking in, only this time it was a thousand times more intense. The world sharpened, every detail on the turret's polished surface suddenly visible, down to the pixels that made up its red eye. The wings opened, but this time Ash didn't aim and fire the portal gun. This time, she pounced.

The turret opened fire, but she wasn't there anymore. Instead, she was in the air, soaring in a smooth arc toward the little turret, bringing both booted feet down onto the machine with enough force to crack the white shell like an egg. Her boots shattered the turret's outer casing and smashed the electronics beneath, sparks shooting out from beneath her as its motors sputtered.

"M-Malfunction, shut-t-ting down..." the turret crackled.

Ash breathed, and the world returned to normal. She looked down at the remains of the turret, unable to believe what had just happened, still processing the rapid chain of events.

"Oh...~" she murmured, looking herself over. This new form had its advantages.

Maybe it was because this was the first time she'd encountered a threat she could fight against, triggering the fight part of the fight-or-flight in adrenaline, or maybe something inside the fox part of her responded to being shot at, but she flew through the rest of the chamber. She became the perfect combination of human intelligence and foxlike instinct, soaring through portals, smashing turrets, one then the other. Fly over this pit of acid, kick that turret, portal away before the next one could shoot her. The hyperfocused mentallity she had drilled into herself early on stuck with her, while her new animalistic instinct let her move and think at three times the speed.

She learned she could use her senses to get a layout of the chamber before she entered. Strong acrid smell and lots of little whirring motor sounds; a room with an enormous pit of goo, a series of platforms with turrets on them. Like a firing squad, they opened their wings, but she was gone, already above their heads. Her instincts told her how to become as aerodynamic as she needed to be; Jump, tuck your legs and your tail in, then straighten out, point your feet at the turret, and land. Good. Again; exit portal over there this time. Nope, overshot that one—now spread out and slow down with your surface area to avoid the pit. Portal at that wall, another at your feet, and drop. Fly through and put another portal down there before you land, build up momentum. Straighten out again and soar. Always land feet first.

This was illegal amounts of fun. She was pretty sure she had solved the chamber in a way it wasn't at all meant to be solved, but she didn't care. She finished with a flourish, doing a frontflip through one portal, a backflip as she emerged, and landing at terminal velocity, hard enough to crush the last turret underfoot, sending pieces and sparks scattering, and dented the chamber paneling beneath.

The next time she breathed, the turrets were all in pieces, and she was at the exit. She'd need a new change of clothes for sure, and maybe she'd put in a word with Aperture about putting showers at the end of test chambers—or at least every few—but she turned and strolled out of that chamber with her portal gun slung over her shoulder and a smirk on her face.

Author's Note: If someone ever decides to animate this last scene in the future—I don't care if it's 100 years from now—I absolutely insist it be set to the Portal 2 OST "Science is Fun." It's the track I used to write it and I can't imagine anything better.