Ness Smithson's Oregon Adventure! - SCP Foundation

It had been over four years since Ness Smithson set foot into these verdant Oregon forests. Walking through a thicket of trees just off the side of the road, she hopped across small streams, following a luminescent yellow trail. She grinned, as capturing the creature that left it would do wonders for keeping its population stable. Her phone vibrated and she stopped in place, breathing deeply.

Ness pulled her phone out with a small huff. The phone was in two layers of protection, as she had the tendency to drop it during missions. Ness was generally a careful person, though her luck with keeping phones in full repair was not quite the best. She took in a breath and looked at the caller ID: Paul G.

“Hiya Paul!” Ness swore she could hear a low groan on the other end.

“Hello, Ness.” Came Paul’s curt reply. His voice had a gruff rasp, always sounding like he’d finished a cigarette despite never touching any smokes. Ness’ hand shook a little and she let in a sharp inhale.

“I trust that your mission is well underway?”

“Of course, Paul! The problems only happen when I’m there, remember?”

“Naturally. Just wanted to ensure that it goes well, of course. Did you bring your assigned extraction team?”

Ness bit her lip and looked around, awkwardly looking at the natural scenery with no other humans in sight.

“Yes.”

There was a pregnant pause, and Ness looked to the nearest tree, a Ponderosa Pine.

“Ness just… get the animal back to the Site. Not really a lot of facilities that can take care of it properly.”

“Got it.”

“Good.”

Paul hung up, and Ness let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She instinctively checked her pulse and felt it rapidly beating. She closed her eyes and pulled her thoughts to the mission and what she would need to do: Recover the fox, don’t forget the cage, do your review firs-

“Review! Yes!”

The explorer pulled out her briefing notes, a pocket recorder, and reviewed the mission at hand. She began to walk again while talking into the pocket recorder.

“Alright, log Eleven-Twenty. I’m in a forest just south of Portland, Oregon.” she declared, stepping over a moss-covered log. “Currently, I am looking for the Southern Glow Fox, Lumen Vulpes.”

While distracted, the excitable scientist stumbled over a rock with a yelp, partially running into a small bush. She quickly apologized under her breath to any animals she might’ve startled while wiping some sweat off her forehead. Looking back to the notes, Ness glanced past the boring words of her superiors and went right to the important bullet points:

Recover Oregonian Glow Fox- First sighting in four years!

‘Specimen to be unharmed for species preservation’ (duh)

Paul: Ness bring Supervisor Recon & Extraction Team going tomorrow sorry

She scoffed at the last one. Though the Foundation’s protocols require a full squad, Ness knew that larger numbers would scare the exotic creature. They couldn’t afford an escape either, as the rapid industrialization of forests made Glow Fox populations suffer. This was due to unintended migrations making them an easy target for cryptid hunters and predators.

A twig snapped and Ness and stood still. She then heard a short beep! similar to an electronic alarm clock. She grinned and whispered into the recorder.

“It just beeped! They don’t do that unless they’re mostly comfortable. It would beep three or so times if the opposite was the case. Or shrill really loud. Depends wholly on the subspecies and location. This one appears to be standard size. Oh, that means it’s approximately 20% smaller than a non-anomalous fox of this area.”

She laid down her backpack, opening it up and quietly rifling around inside. She stopped a couple of times whenever the fox beeped, but finally felt the cool touch of an uninsulated copper wire. Ness folded it a few times, and lightly tapped it against her recorder.

Ness continued this action for about a minute, before seeing the Glow Fox’s head peek out from above a rock. It walked a little forward, and Ness was able to see its full body. She recognized its distinct mustard-yellow fur and intense sun-colored eyes that shone like an LED. The bottom of its stomach was white (and would remain so year-round), but its chin was gray due to the glands that allowed it to emit its beeps.

Suppressing a squeal, Ness tapped with the copper a little faster, seeing the fox’s firelight ears perk up even more. It slowly bounded its way over to her, letting out smaller beeps in succession.

She grinned, laying down the copper piece. The Glow Fox took a couple of sniffs, before taking the piece in its mouth and happily chewing on it. Slowly, it grew brighter, and Ness put on her protective sunglasses. The feeding fox let out electric hums, and Ness tilted her recorder.

After gathering a satisfactory amount of audio, Ness sighed, putting the recorder away. She picked off a whistle attached to a bracelet on her wrist and blew into it. Its noise was only heard by Ness and her intended target.

“Sorry, little guy, but we gotta take you in, not many of you left.” she spoke to the fox. It looked at her with its head tilted, copper wire still in its mouth. She reached out behind her, hand open to catch her Restraining Remot-

”CRRAW!”

The Glow Fox promptly darted away, dropping its meal. Ness jumped to her feet, swiftly putting her backpack on. From behind, a toucan approached, screeching as it got closer. Ness groaned in exasperation.

“Damn it, Ken! I meant quiet!” she shouted, beginning to jog.

The toucan squawked happily, and they bounded through the forest after the Glow Fox, which beeped louder and louder. Ness shoved the recorder onto her cheek, also catching her Restraining Remote as Ken dropped it.

“Log continuation! It’s started beeping in panic! This is bad, if it continues it’s probably going to attract something big, bad, or both!” Ness near-yelled.

Her hypothesis was answered when a loud ”ROAR” stopped Ness in her tracks. Ken landed on her shoulder, Ness slowly crouching. She could still feel the vibrations of the roar, and spotted a dark mass heading towards them about fifteen meters away. Bumbling in was a fat black bear (more than half Ness' height and twice her size), curious by the noise. Its head swiveled left and right to locate the source.

Ness stayed still, letting it head toward the Glow Fox. She put her back to the tree, breathing deeply. Feeling sweat accumulate, she pulled the remote out again, punching in a couple of numbers on its keypad.

She heard a beep and a yelp, followed by another roar. Leaping around the tree, she saw the bear was standing upright, the Glow Fox in a defensive stance, emitting frequent beeps. Its signature glow was flashing on and off, and Ness mentally thanked herself for keeping the glasses on.

However, the bear was not affected by this flashing. It prepared to lunge at the fox.

“HEY!” Ness shouted.

The bear turned, seeing Ness and Ken. Ken thrust himself into the air and let out loud and repetitive clicks, causing the bear to look at Ken for a split second. Ness instantly activated the remote and pointed it at the bear before it could react.

Nothing seemed to be audible to the fox, Ken, or Ness, but the bear had a different reaction. It got back down on all fours, sniffing and looking around confused. It let out some frustrated grumbles before turning around and disappearing into the forest once more.

The Glow Fox started backing away, and Ness took advantage of this hesitation to quickly punch in a couple more numbers and activate it at the fox, which quickly made it fall asleep. She ran over and scooped it up in her arms.

“Sorry, little guy, but we really need ya!”

Ness whistled, and Ken flew away. She carefully carried the fox back the way she came, coming across her car on the side of the road, door open and Ken perched on top of it.

“Thanks, Ken!” she said in an affectionate voice.

She put the fox down on the seat, and pulled a cage from below the chair. She opened it, but saw the fox’s body rise and fall with breaths, while it emitted muted beeps. Ness sighed and pulled out the recorder once more.

“Continuation of log. The little guy is finally in my grasp, but now I don’t know what to do with him. I could bring him back to Site, but we know he can’t survive in there. You got any ideas, Ken?”

Ken clicked in response, and Ness nodded.

“Yeah, I figured as much. I’ll make the call.”

The Glow Fox woke, beeping tiredly. It noticed its surroundings: A decently wide-open pen with trees and a small pond. It quietly beeped to itself in curious joy, but soon jumped across the place in happiness. The new smells and sights were exciting to the critter.

It happened upon a capybara and armadillo lounging by the pond. The fox slowed its pace to sniff its new companions. The other animals looked at each other, then the fox, before the armadillo promptly climbed on the capybara and laying flat on its back. The capybara sat down, and morphed into an amalgamation of the two animals.

The fox jumped back for a second, before rapidly circling the new animal. The anomalous creature followed suit, tracking the fox in a slower manner.

Above them in some hidden railing, Ness stood, observing the animals play for some time.

“Enjoying the view?” a voice from her right asked. Ness turned to see a woman with curly auburn hair approaching.

“Yeah, it’s good to see the little guy happy. Thanks a ton again!” Ness responded, to which the woman gave a thumbs up.

“Of course, that’s what we’re here for.”

The pair watched the animals playing for a bit longer.

“Hey, did you know that Glow Foxes actually go blue around winter time?” Ness asked.

“I did not. Not much info on them.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to come by official data. Anyway, when they’re in their blue state, they actually prefer aluminum-based metal instead of copper, and this will go on for about four months until their mating season. Then they’ll really crave copper again. However, during every five years in the sum-”

The woman tilted her head.

“Everything good?” she asked.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t even get your name!” Ness exclaimed, face flushing.

The woman chuckled.

“That’s right! I’m Anya Elizabeth. And don’t worry, those Glow Fox facts were super interesting.”

Both of them chuckled, though Ness’ laugh had a sheepish nervousness mixed into it as she awkwardly hugged her own arms for a second.

“We can’t thank you enough though. These rascals are hard to nab.”

“It’s no problem! You were the first on my mind!” Ness stated with a finger gun. She widened her eyes in horror at what she just said.

“Shoot! I meant Wilson’s! Not you!” She slapped herself on the forehead. “I mean, you’re super cool. Very punctual. Sorry.”

Anya laughed again.

“It’s all okay, Ness. We are always glad to take new species in. I already got Ray working on the Glow Fox’s profile. Can I leave him your email before I let you go?”

Ness grinned.

“You sure can!”

Anya and Ness exchanged contact information, and walked to the front of the facility where Ken awaited at the door, squawking at anyone that got close. When he saw Ness, she reached her arm out and he flew over to land on it. Anya opened the door and the duo walked through while the Wilson’s employee checked her watch.

“Hope to visit again when I’m in the area! Got some expeditions to do for a bit! Bye!” Ness shouted. Anya smiled and mouthed a ‘goodbye’ before rushing back inside.

Ness jumped in her car, Ken hopping into the passenger seat. She turned to the toucan.

“A success! I will definitely be in town to get more research on the little fella!”

The duo began to drive off, Ness dialing up the volume on her speakers. The soothing sounds of John Denver’s Ponies filled the car, soothing the pair.

Memories of Oregon four years ago flashed through her mind, chiefly the sense of peace that washed over her when she walked through the trees for the first time. She remembered examining the underside of every rock, eyeing trails of ants throughout the trees, and taking notes on plant life near the bodies of water. Ness smiled when she recalled Paul’s silent anger after she tripped into a pond and splashed him.

Ness ended that trip exhausted, falling half-asleep on the ride home. Her notes were tucked into her shirt while Paul played the very same John Denver song she was listening to now.

The Foundation Field Agent loosened her grip on the steering wheel as the song came to a close.

Ken squawked, bringing Ness back to focus.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure Paul will be fine. Anyway, you know where we’re going next, Ken old buddy?”

She glanced over as Ken seemed to tilt his head to listen, but Ness knew he was probably looking for a snack.

“Well, after we get back to the Site for the report, we’re making our way to L.A.! We are finally going to catch one of the infamous Graffiti Geese!”

Ken chittered and chirped again.