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CALIFORNIA MADNESS

A short story in multiple parts.

NOTE: Characters copyright James M. Hardiman: Natasha, Lori, Onyx, Desiree, Skunkworks Anthropomorphic Modeling Agency. All related stories are also copyright James M. Hardiman and are used with permission from the SAMA website: Pan Taron is the fursona of Philip Bustamante and is not yet subject to protection.

Part II: Trouble in Paradise

It was a bright and sunny midday in July, and Huntington Beach California, world renowned as the official "Surf City USA", was living up to its name and reputation. Palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze, providing the perfect backdrop for the crystal blue sky above and azure ocean below. The beach was crowded with beings of all ages, dutifully fulfilling the California stereotype of being the fun-loving, beach-going, adventurous souls America expected them to be.

As the sun reached its highest point, the Skunkworks sisters exited a juice shop situated just off the sand of the beach, clad in their own version of beach dress code. Natasha had bought a children's size t-shirt that read "surfer girl", and had torn off the sleeves and ripped the bottom half of the shirt almost completely off, making it into an impromptu tube top that was split at the neck to allow her ample breasts room to fit. Her bottom half was still covered in the trademark torn-off "Daisy Dukes" that she always wore, and she wore a stylish yet simple pair of woven reed sandals by Reef. Onyx had opted for a bikini top that was thin enough to show her nipple piercings through the fabric, and wore a classic pair of Roxy board shorts with a matching pair of Reef rubber-soled sandals. Lori had on a blue shirt emblazoned on the back with the classic LA logo, and she had knotted the front of the shirt between her breasts to allow everyone a view of most of her torso, including her cleavage. The bikini bottoms she had on were the matching pair to Onyx's top, and were admittedly only a couple of centimeters of fabric too much to classify it as a thong. She padded along in a pair of cheap blue flip-flops that made a pronounced thwock with each step. Dressed in their new attire (purchased using the forbidden SAMA company credit-card) and holding the cold juice drinks in their hands, they looked like complete natives to the California coast.

Their day away from Desiree had been good so far. If Onyx was right about the bonds she had tied, they had at least a few more hours at their disposal before they would have to worry about her breaking free.

"Let's go down to the beach. I'm itching to jump in the water", Natasha whooped, breaking into a trot.

"I just wanna get a hold of the eye candy sunbathing on the beach. There's bound to be a bunch of hot guys down there." Replied Onyx, following Natasha at a similar speed.

"I agree, but if we're going to act the part of natives, I think you mean ‘a bunch of rad dudes', not a ‘a bunch of hot guys', right?" asked Lori, keeping up with her sisters as the three of them jogged "Baywatch" style onto the sand. They drew a lot of attention as they ran between the beachgoers, their big fluffy tails held high and their breasts bouncing merrily to the rhythm of their pounding feet.

"Last one into the water is a ‘possum!" shouted Natasha as she dashed for the water. Her sisters, less eager to get wet than they were to scope out eye candy, slowed to a stop at an empty spot on the beach and began to take off their sandals and t shirts so that they could swim in their bras.

Natasha shook her head as she picked up the sandals that Natasha had kicked off in her rush to get to the water. "Poor girl only knows how to doggie-paddle. I don't know why she's so eager to get in that water!"

Unbeknownst to Natasha, the beaches of California are much different from those on the East Coast. Whereas a swimmer in South Beach Florida might be able to walk out into the water for 50 yards before coming to water deeper than waist level, the slope of a California beach is steep, and has a small drop-off within the first 10 feet of the shallows, making it approximately neck-deep at high tide. The waves in Florida are different too, being shallow crested, low, and lacking in strength. California waves are known for being anywhere from 4-6 feet above the level of the ocean on a decent day, and have the force and undertow to drag an inexperienced swimmer under if they happen to be in what local surfers call "the impact zone" (where the wave crashes with all its force).

Not knowing any of this information, Natasha took a flying lunge into the shallows, expecting to land on her hands and knees in the shallows of the water and sand. Instead, she dove headfirst, and was a full 3 feet under water before she hit bottom. Gasping at her surprise, she pushed up from the bottom and came up standing in water up to her breasts...

And was immediately knocked off of her feet by a 4 foot wave that came crashing over her head with the force of a water-borne avalanche. Natasha found herself caught in the powerful forces associated with the swift flowing, high powered "impact zone", as she repeatedly stood up gasping for breath, only to be swallowed up and spun around by another wave. Mercilessly the waves crashed over her again and again, disorienting the struggling skunk and depriving her of more and more air. In a last ditch effort, she turned for the direction that she thought was the shore and kicked off of the bottom with all of her might, hoping to escape this terrible ordeal. Instead, she managed to clear the water's surface on the other side of the impact zone, and while now away from the area where the waves were their most dangerous, she now found herself in water that was too deep to touch the bottom any more. Panting and struggling, she looked towards the shore and saw it getting farther and farther away from her. She would be told later that this was another characteristic of California beaches: the dreaded "rip current" that dragged water at a fast rate back toward the ocean, often carrying inexperienced swimmers out to the open ocean and their doom.

Flailing about with her limbs to try and stay afloat, she tried fruitlessly to dog-paddle back towards the shore. Her head was sinking under water and she began to think, "Oh god, I'm going to die out here!" Suddenly, she heard a voice in the distance yell "Swim to the side, parallel to the shore! Swim over here! Hurry!"

With one last gasp, Natasha tried to comply, but her limbs failed her finally and her head sank below the water. Her mouth and lungs began to fill with water as she panicked under water. Opening her eyes suddenly, she caught an underwater glimpse of a large animal swim toward her, grab her by the wrist, and yank hard. As she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was the sun-dappled surface of the water rushing up to meet her, and the opalescent black eyes of the animal that still clung to her wrist.

____________________________________________________________________

Pan Taron, a large, powerful sea otter and an experienced surfer of the area, had seen this all before. Over the years since he had taken up surfing, he had seen many a swimmer get pulled out on the savage rip currents. Usually it was just a case of panic setting in that made the average hapless swimmer lose his focus and try and swim back to shore, instead of swimming parallel to the shore to first escape the relatively narrow current. But when he saw the pretty skunk pop her head out of the other side of the impact zone and start flailing about, he knew this was different.

"Jesus Christ, she doesn't know how to swim! Hey! Swim to the side, parallel to the shore! Swim over here! Hurry!" he shouted to her. He was already speedily paddling over on his long board, using long powerful strokes to propel the sleek board towards her when he saw her go down under the water. Keeping his ankle leash fastened so he wouldn't lose his board, he dove in her direction, using powerful strokes of his arms and tail to propel himself under the water. He quickly located her limp form a few feet below the surface of the water, and yanked on her wrist with all of his might. He would have grabbed more, but he was at the end of his 9 ft. leash, and could not go any farther without having to drag his board under as well. Straining to pull her upward, he dolphin kicked with his hind legs and powerful tail as he propelled the two of them back to the surface. They came up within a few feet of his board, and after checking to make sure she was still breathing, her rolled her up on top of his large board, then straddled the board himself.

The cute skunk was not breathing and looked like a drowned rat. Working quickly, he ripped open the children's t-shirt that was constricting her chest, and began basic CPR by administering quick pumps to her chest above the sternum. Onyx came to quickly, spluttering water and coughing out mouthful after mouthful of the liquid in her lungs. Opening her eyes, she saw Pan's opalescent black eyes staring back into hers and mumbled something incoherent.

"Shh, don't talk now. You'll be all right. Let's get you back to shore." As Pan began to paddle back, the sleek black head of a California Sea Lion poked up above the water. He sported the pair of red trunks and customary torpedo-shaped flotation device of a lifeguard with him as he addressed Pan

"I saw her go under, is she alright?"

"She nearly drowned. I jumped in pulled her out. Silly thing didn't even know how to swim!"

"Alright, let's get her into shore. Mind if we use your board? I'll give you a tow back to the impact zone, and you can ride one in from there" Pan nodded in agreement, and let the sea lion give him a push from behind as he paddled in the direction of the shore. Natasha could do nothing but stare into the face of her rescuer, watching his chiseled face as he concentrated on paddling back.

Looking down at his passenger, Pan smiled and said "Hold on miss, almost there. Here comes the fun part!" Natasha turned her head towards the front of the board and her eyes went wide. As the board picked up speed, she noticed the slope of the water under her become more and more pronounced, until it seemed that they were skimming down a small yet powerfully moving hill of water. She reveled in fear and awe as they accelerated down the slope, the wind whipping by and almost drowning out the crash of the wave as it crested and broke behind them. They skimmed along the surface for another 20 yards before the roiling foam caught up with the back of the board and slowed them down again. Not wanting to get caught in the impact zone himself, Pan paddled furiously and let the board get caught by the next wash of foam, as it slowly propelled them closer and closer to shore. When they were about 10 feet away from the shore, Pan rolled off his board, scooped up the still limp Natasha in both arms and helped her to stand, then picked up his long board with one hand and supported Natasha with the other as they trudged out of the water.

Onyx and Lori were among the first in the crowd on the shore to run up and crowd around the pair. Lori and Onyx quickly threw themselves on their sister, taking her from Pan and hugging her fiercely, asking over and over if she was okay. The Lifeguard seal cleared the crowd by a few feet, urging them to give the skunk trio room. Pan laid his surfboard fin-side down in the sand and instructed Natasha to lie down on top of it, then addressed her sisters. "She didn't know how to swim very well. Didn't she know that it's not safe to swim on a big surf day if you're not a strong swimmer?"

The two remaining sisters shook their heads and told him that they were not from this side of the continent, and had never seen waves and currents as fierce as these. They introduced themselves, then as if they had read each other's mind, they both hugged Pan fiercely, thanking him in unison for saving their sister.

"Really, girls it was nothing. I've seen too many people get caught by a rip current, and I couldn't just let her drown!" exclaimed Pan. He then yelped in surprise as their hugs of gratitude quickly became caresses that suggested that they knew a lot about male anatomy. Lori had lifted one leg up to rest it on his hips, and had had her arms around his neck as she nuzzled the wet fur of his pelt. Onyx had kneeled down and was hugging Pan's waist, nuzzling around the crotch of his board shorts warmly.

Just as Natasha was about to jump up and join in, a bloodcurdling roar split the scene. "WHERE ARE THEY?! LET ME AT ‘EM! I'LL TEACH THEM TO HUMILIATE ME!"

"Oh shit!" said the three girls in unison, realizing that Des had found a way out of her bonds before they expected her to. They quickly jumped off of Pan and tried to hide behind him as Desiree stormed through the crowd and came to stand in the midst of the group. The chameleon had at least had the sense to change out of the dominatrix apparel the girls had left her in, tied up and gagged with their own underwear, and now wore a hastily thrown together t shirt and workout shorts ensemble. Beyond this, however, she looked anything but normal as her skin was a midnight-black color with a few red spots dappled all over, and her Mohawk stood in crazy angles to frame her blood-red eyes. If there was ever a time that Desiree had murder written on her features, it was now.

Looking past Pan at the 3 skunks cowering behind her, Des growled at Pan "Stand aside, boy, while I flay them alive."

"Look lady, calm down just a sec. These girls just had a near death experience!" Pan countered, trying to keep the crazed lizard at bay.

"Oh, I'll show them near death alright. They're just lucky that I found them first. Jim and Val are on their way back from their meeting, and there's no way in hell they're going to see the light of day the rest of this trip if Jim has his way. I'm just going to make sure they have a good reason to have to remain bedridden!" At the punctuation of her final sentence, she lunged at Pan. No sooner had she lunged out than she found herself on the ground, her limbs tied in a pretzel at the hands of the big otter. Struggling and foaming at the mouth, she vented her rage at Pan in incoherent screams.

"Now calm down and listen! I don't know what these girls did to you, but the one with the blue eyes over there nearly died about 10 minutes ago. Now where would you be if these girls, apparently left in your charge, came to any harm? Would Jim and Val be happy with you then?" As Pan reasoned, Des' color started to lighten as she calmed and began to see his reasoning. "Now, can you at least be civil with these girls, or do I have to restrain you further?"

"I'll be civil," mumbled Val. As she was released and stood up, she continued. "That still doesn't change the fact that these girls broke the rules by tying me up and going out without me. They might have kept it in their pants this time, but you should see how many times that they've caused millions of dollars of damage at the drop of a hat. Besides all of the community service these girls have had to do to repair the damage, they've had numerous restraining orders leveled at them by the men and women they have manhandled over the years. They are living proof of the Chaos theory, and should spend the rest of their days in cages!" cried Des, bursting into tears of frustration.

"And yet, the worst that they've done that I can see is interrupt my surf session by nearly drowning in the middle of a rip current. Maybe they can be trusted, no?"

Des thought for a second, and recalled what she had said while the drugs of the roofie were taking effect. Even if they drugged me, they never lied, and actually helped me to catch a couple of hours sleep. And they did keep out of trouble, for the most part. "Alright, come out from hiding, girls. I won't hurt you."

The skunk sisters all came out from behind Pan, and immediately resumed hugging and caressing him, this time praising him for saving them from Desiree. Natasha took Lori's place hanging from Pan's neck, and Lori embraced Pan from behind, nuzzling and making growling sounds into the small of his back. Des looked on, shaking her head sadly. "Poor guy doesn't know what he's in for. I'd better help him out before he gets in too deep." Des walked over and coughed, extending a hand to the Otter. "I think I owe you an apology. Perhaps you'd like to join us for dinner? Jim and Val, the owners of the modeling agency these girls are in, are coming back from a meeting soon and wanted to call a company dinner. I'm sure Val would like to meet the man who saved her daughter."

Forgetting their other "hungers" for the moment, the girls all jumped up and down around Pan, pleading with him to join them. Watching the girls jump around, he noticed that Natasha's shirt was still ripped wide open, and her breasts jiggled up and down invitingly. As he snapped out of it, he took Desiree's hand and shook it. "Of course, I'd love to. Though I think a change in wardrobe is in order before it â€"cough- ‘malfunctions' any further, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Desiree, noticing Natasha's exposed position and motioning for her to hold her shirt closed. "What's good around here? All that's here on Main St. are a bunch of chain restaurants and cheap pizza places. Is there a locals-only place you'd suggest?"

With a gleam in his eyes, Pan smiled and joined the girls walking off the beach. "I know just the place. We can go in my car, as long as you can contact your people and give them the directions. Come on girls, let's go eat!" They huddled in close, and he put one arm around Natasha to help her hold her shirt together, and picked up his board in the other hand as the group walked off the beach towards the hotel. The sun was lowering in the sky at their backs, signaling the near completion of another day in paradise.

TO BE CONTINUED....