FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“How’d you get a copy of this?” Aiko held up the jewel case to the light, “This can’t be legitimate.”

“Trade secret, and yes, they’re legit. Did you want one or not? I’ve only got two copies left.” The vendor was doing her best to coordinate herself amongst all the different convention-goers while also dodging her fellow boothmates.

Aiko stared, the other parts of the game weren’t even out yet. But here in her hands sat a beta copy of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake in full. Supposedly.

Of course there was a massive list of stipulations. Game will crash under these circumstances, missing textures, must use a jail-broken console, etc. etc.. But still, it sort of added legitimacy to it. That and the exorbitant price.

“What? The cost scaring you or something? If you knew what we had to go through to get them you’d charge that much too.” She handed the second last copy to an excited Yuffie cosplayer who literally paid in wads of physical cash.

The markets were closing soon and she needed to make up her mind, and fast. If she actually wanted this thing there was a good chance that by tomorrow it would be gone before she even woke up.

But as Aiko reached for her purse she noticed something behind the booth. Were those, were those feathers?

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing! You’re not allowed back here!”

But it was too late. Even in her cosplay dress she was surprisingly mobile and she threw back the curtains to reveal poorly concealed cages with blankets over them.

“What do you think you’re doing?! I’m calling security right now if you don’t stop this!”

“Do it. I dare you.”

The vendors froze, completely called out on their bluff.

“Last time I checked, you weren’t allowed to bring live animals to anime conventions. Or are you going to tell me you have the proper permits for all these?”

Something under the blankets clucked and she swore she heard it go kweh.

“Ok! Ok! You got us. Just, just stop making a scene!” The head vendor made a number of motions to the other staff to keep cleaning up as she closed the curtains to deal with Aiko personally.

The chirping in the cages wasn't getting any quieter. If anything it sounded as though they were pecking at the metal bars.

“Start explaining, or else I’m exposing you for animal cruelty.” Aiko had her phone out much to the dismay of the head vendor who was likely having a panic attack. “Start now, or I go live and I expose your literal charade to all my followers.”

With gritted teeth the vendor clenched and unclenched their hands. “This was supposed to be a surprise for later this week, and if this goes public we break our contract and I don’t want to deal with the legal headaches from the organizers and suing the crap out of you.”

“Put your phone away and get your gothic lolita ass over here.”

“It’s actua-”

“Don’t care. Hurry up.”

Her curiosity overcame her annoyance and they navigated a maze of boxes to what was easily the largest cage so far. If this was a chicken, it was as large as a person. And it smelled really musky, like an unwashed wild animal.

Or considering which anime convention they were at, maybe it was some neckbeard that they were holding captive.

“This was supposed to be a special feature to celebrate the end of the event. We’ve spent years working on this project and I’m NOT about to have someone like you ruin it. Take a look.” With a flourish she lifted the blanket off the front of the cage and two beady eyes peered back at Aiko.

It was a chocobo.

And not some stuffed toy or person in a costume. A real, live, breathing chocobo was standing in the cage and tilted its head as it regarded them.

KWEH.

“Is, is it real? What? How? They’r-”

“Not important, another trade secret. Yes they’re real. You happy?” No longer needing to play the role of an upbeat shopkeeper she assumed a dour look on her face. “You want a discount on the game or something to keep your mouth shut?”

“I want to ride one.”

“Fine, I’ll give you 20 percent off wait what did you say?”

“This is like a dream come true. Just, just let me get touch one and then get on. You have a saddle right? Right?!”

Aiko was beyond giddy and was darting back and forth, trying to peep through the bars as the yellow bird tilted its head from side to side.

“Listen girly, only special pass members are going to be allowed to get a photo with them later. And we have trained racers who will be the ones riding the birds. You’re not qualified and I doubt you have the proper insurance.”

“Oh my God, you’re just adorable aren’t you! What’s your name? What’s his name?”

“Her name. And not important. Look, give me your phone so I can confirm you didn’t take any photos or recordings and then get out of here.”

“Please! If I can get on top I’ll never bother you again!”

The vendor examined the girl for a moment and flashed a quick smirk before resuming the gloomy demeanor. “How do you intend to ride on the bird with that dress on?”

“I’ll pay you to ride a chocobo! Here, my wallet. All of it. Yours.”

“Thanks, but again, you want to get your costume all dirty? Also, not safe.”

“Don’t care, this is way too exciting. Unless you have a riding uniform or something in which case, yes please. Oh my God, this is really a dream come true!”

“What are you a size…? You might be an 8 or a 10… One second…” The vendor disappeared allowing Aiko to slip her hand into the cage and rub the chocobo’s face. It cooed softly which sent the girl into another fit of giggles.

She was already getting used to the smell and it honestly wasn’t that much worse than a horse’s, just different. The bird continued to be receptive to her touch and even leaned in for more affection only to jerk back when the vendor returned.

“I couldn’t find anything in your size so too bad. If you want to risk getting your clothes dirty come over here otherwise get out. Hurry up, I still gotta help my team tear down the booth.”

“Done, let’s do this.” You could always launder or make a new costume. Riding a Chocobo was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“Suit yourself. Here, hold this.” Dumping it into Aiko’s hand, the gleaming orb felt warm to the touch but still sat comfortably in the palm.

“What is this? Is, is this materia? Holy shit is this actually materia?!”

“You know the rules, trade secret. Just hold onto it while you’re on the bird. Helps to calm it down and allows you to leverage more control.”

Aiko continued to play with the “materia” in her hands, observing its changing glow, and tapping it while the vendor went to unlock the Chocobo cage. A harness was quickly slapped on and it quickly strutted out into the open, occasionally shaking its feathers before sitting down.

“One foot here into the stirrup, grab here with your free hand, other leg over. There we go. Done. Congrats, you’re on a giant bird now. Whoo.”

A lackluster cheer was given off but the girl could barely contain her excitement as the Chocobo rose to its full height. She had ridden horses before but there was just something more, exciting? Carnal? No, not carnal, maybe carnal? Definitely was exciting riding a fantastical creature like this.

“Ok, time’s up. Off you go.” The vendor was already encouraging the bird to lower back down so Aiko could dismount. “Hope you had fun. See you later.”

With great reluctance she got off, but not before hugging the Chocobo around the neck. And then it was led back to its cage, clucking the entire way.

“What? You want more? Seriously?”

“Is it too much to want to say goodbye one more time? I’ll probably never see her ever again!”

“Cool story, I don’t care. See ya. Keep the materwhatever too as a gift.”

“I have more money! I’ll pay you more just for another goodbye!”

That seemed to stop the shopkeep in her tracks, who then turned around to eye the pleading girl cautiously. Aiko really hoped that this worked because she wasn’t sure what else she could offer beyond that.

“You know what, I got a task for you. If you can complete it, you can give me the cash after, and then you can have your little goodbye. How does that sound?”

“I’ll do it!”

“Of course you will. Come here.” There was another similar sized cage in the back, but mostly empty except for the hay, feathers, and dirt lying around. “Here’s a broom and a rag. Clean it out before I get back. Here’s another piece of “materia”. Hold onto both, somehow. It should help with the smell. If you can figure out how to use it.”

Aiko awkwardly juggled the two crystals before the cleaning tools were also thrust into her arms. “Um, do you mind if I get a uniform or something? I think this might be too dirty for my clothes.”

“What? Are you shy? We’re both women. But fine, you know what? I’m leaving you to do whatever you want, go naked, I don’t care. But if that cage isn’t cleaned by the time I get back, deal’s over. Try not to get too dirty.” And then she was gone, leaving the girl alone with the pen.

Aiko whipped off her dress as quickly as possible and gingerly stepped inside only to have the cage door slam shut. She almost called for help only to stop herself when she realized that would only give her less time to clean.

Upon inspection it was revealed the broom was a piece of crap and the rag was in tatters. Even if she kept her clothes on and used it to wipe things up it likely wouldn’t do a satisfactory job. Was this just an awful prank to screw around with her?

Wait, she said something about using the materia. It wasn’t actually materia though, was it? Regardless, it was her best chance even if she didn’t know how to properly use it. Dropping the broom and rag she held the shining orbs in each hand and focused. These were supposed to help so maybe if she thought hard enough they would respond in kind.

And they did.

She gasped as there was the associated fatigue from its usage while they shone brighter and brighter almost to the point of being blinding. It was so bright that she almost didn’t catch the first plume of pink feathers burst out from her thigh.

“W-what?!” She dropped one crystal not out of shock, but because she could no longer hold onto it. Where there was once a hand, was now a wingtip. And she could see the opposite foot sprout talons where her toes had been.

“Is this, how am changing? How change? Choo?”

She slapped a wing to her mouth as another puff of feathers exploded from her cheeks and neck. Aiko struggled to comprehend what was going on when her head slammed into the ceiling of the cage.

“Ow! Is cage smalwark!”

No, it wasn’t the cage. It was her. She had always been proud of her petite size but now the container felt extremely constricting. Staring down Aiko discovered that not only had her neck become feathery, but it had also extended upwards a considerable distance. But her legs also felt longer, she just couldn’t see them anymore to confirm this theory.

Extending her wingarm was also impossible, there just wasn’t enough room. Though she took the opportunity to better examine the feathers she was growing.

That is, until she noticed the hair landing on it.

Strands of her pink hair were falling in clumps onto the cage floor and when Aiko’s remaining hand went to touch her head she only found more feathers. And then it too became another wing. Not that she was concerned about that because her lips had become a beak.

Coo! Coo!

She was in full-blown panic now. Just in time to see her breasts get swallowed up by a sea of rosy plumage. Her tiny wings flapped useless and could no longer reach anywhere on her body. But her legs felt powerful, as if she could run for hours on end with energy to spare.

“That was a lot easier than I expected.”

The shopkeep had conveniently returned to watch as she picked up the “materia” with gloved hands. Aiko confusedly stomped about the enclosure with her new legs that had become much more muscular. Though her head continued to bump against the roof with her new extended neck.

“We’ll take good care of you, free of charge, don’t you worry. Put her with the others, chop chop. Got ourselves a nice bonus today, I think this one will make for some quality breeding.”

A blanket was thrown over the cage leaving the former girl in complete darkness.

WARK!

---

It was difficult to say how long she had been inside the cage for. Eventually Aiko had settled for a nap and was only roused when something roughly picked up her cage, jostling her awake.

And from the sounds of it she wasn’t the only one being transported. Based on the chirrups and squawks all around it there were at least half a dozen other encaged Chocobo all around her. She tried to poke at the hanging cloth in-between the bars to get a glimpse of where they were heading but could only see tiled floor.

Which meant that they were no longer in the marketplace. The former girl struggled to remember details of her past life but to no avail. All she wanted to do was run around but also eat. That nap must have been longer than she expected and she was surprisingly hungry.

With a clang their cages were dropped and the blankets removed, revealing that they had been moved to an empty gymnasium.

“Put that last one there. Perfect. Come on, we don’t have much time to see if this works or not.” A familiar looking human woman was giving orders as others scurried around her, “Come on, come on! I’m not paying you overtime without a reason. We might have got ourselves a quality female. Let’s go people!”

Her cage door was opened up, as were the other enclosures. Cautiously each of them ventured out, uncertain as to what to do in their new environment.

Aiko took the opportunity to stretch her legs and test her new body. The wings were useless and even the most vigorous of flapping would never get her airborne. On the other hand, her legs were confirmed to be as robust as they felt.

Without even trying she managed to lap the room multiple times in the span of a minute, easily speeding past even the other Chocobo. She had jogged recreationally before, but not like this. This felt good, like she was made for it.

She came to a stop, unintentionally gouging deep grooves into the laminate floor with her talons. Hm, she wondered how effective using her feet to fight with would be. Probably could do a considerable amount of damage with a good kick.

Though her thoughts were interrupted when a group of people ran over and started freaking out. Something about the damages to the floor, complaints about not getting the deposit back.

“Boss, they ain’t mating like you said they would.” Someone with a clipboard was rapidly jotting down notes, “Are we going to get a repeat of the same incident with the other female?”

The leader of the group stormed over to a different crate and flipped open the lid, “Which of you idiots didn’t feed the birds? Get them their greens first. Jesus, these are basic instructions. How do you expect to breed them without the greens?!”

The team scrambled to the crates, grabbing armfuls of various vegetation to bring back to the clearly hungry birds. Some were already pecking at the humans before they even dropped the greens.

Woheeho!

In her former life Aiko had not been huge on any sort of vegetable. But these, these were delicious. Sweet, crisp, and filling, like nothing else she had ever eaten before. And they were also giving her a ridiculous amount of energy.

Sexual energy.

And she wasn’t the only one. Previously the other birds were more interested in wandering around or getting a bite to eat. Now that they were sated they turned their attention to Aiko who puffed up her crest and returned their gaze.

“There we go! The boys seem more interested in the new one and we needed to give the other female a break anyways.”

The other males had grouped up and were presenting themselves as best they could. Puffing up their necks and cooing as seductively as they could. Aiko in turn circled them, doing her best to evaluate who would be worthy of her affections.

Coo! Kweh!

They were getting antsy, forcing her to nip back to keep them in line. They weren’t happy but it’s not like they had a choice. There were five of them and only one of her. As she trotted up to nuzzle with her desired mate the others were herded back to their cages.

“Of course she picked the black one. Let’s go people! Faster we get the the others put away, the sooner they’re going to breed! Not sure what pink and black make so let’s find out!”

Aiko prostrated herself for the other Chocobo who eagerly readied himself for the privilege he earned. She realized that this was her life now and she had no problems with it.

Woheeho!