FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Darkness began to fall over the forest as the sun sank behind the curtain of the pine trees. The night covered the valley like a soft blanket, cushioning every sound, from the buzzing of bugs to the twitter of birds, as the creatures of the day went to sleep one after another. Everything went silent ... except for a small, secluded den, where the yapping and mewling of pups just wouldn't stop, much to the dismay of their parents.

Three little tree wolves were playing and bouncing around and doing anything to not have to go to sleep yet. Barely larger than foxes they looked more like the sleek, agile canines than they did like actual wolves, except for their mostly brown coat completed by patches of green, like the trees they climbed and hunted in. Swift paws and prehensile tails grabbed and wrapped around each other, as two of the pups were pouncing and wrestling, the third one trying to keep up with her siblings.

"Enough!" their mother sighed. "It's dark outside, so you know the rules."

"But we're not sleepy yet!"

"We wanna play!"

"Ouch! Ladny hit me!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"Grrr!"

Ladny easily stood out from her siblings with the striking green belly, muzzle and tail that she inherited from her mother. Her brother Mignon, completely brown like their father, but much more fluffy, didn't take her playful strikes for long and pounced her, making the duo squeal and topple over. Only their sister Tinowa stayed behind, the least remarkable of the bunch, except for the violet hue of her eyes.

"Hey! I wanna play too!"

As the pups went at each other again, Kyureki, their mother, had enough of it and intervened. With a quick move she snatched one of them between her jaws, wrapping her powerful tail around another and lifting her up into the air to keep them apart. The last of the bunch stood there dumbfounded, but quickly hopped after their mother when she carried the other two deeper into the den.

"Eeep!"

"Mooom!"

"Don't leave me behind!"

No matter how they pleaded and struggled, the larger female only put them down when they finally reached their sleeping chamber. As soon as their feet hit the ground the pups tried to escape, but it just took a gentle push with a paw to pin them to the ground.

"Stay", she commanded. "And if you don't behave, the dragons will come and eat you."

"But we're home!"

"Dragons are much too big to fit here! ... Aren't they?"

A little uneasiness crept into Ladny's voice. She had never really seen a dragon, but she also didn't intend to. Her mother remained serious.

"If the dragons are too lazy tonight, then I will come and eat you! I made you, I can unmake you."

The pups quickly huddled together when their mother leaned forward and opened her jaws, but she only gave each one a loving lick and nudged them into the nest of leaves and grass they cushioned their sleeping chamber with.

"But we don't waanaaa ..." The pup's complaint was interrupted by a cute yawn. "... we don't wanna sleep yet ..."

"Yes you do", she just smiled and turned away, leaving her children to sleep. Over her shoulder she added in a sweet voice: "Good night."

~~~~~

Ladny was the first one to dream. She tended to be the most receptive, another trait she inherited from her mother, giving her many a restless night. Since their birth she had shared a kind of bond with her brother that went beyond the usual intuition siblings used to have for each other. She could often feel what he felt, sometimes even think what he thought, before he even said anything. And often, she would not only dream her own dreams, but live through her brother's nightly adventures as well.

Maybe this was a reason why Tinowa, their sister, always seemed to be left behind. She was as old as they were, part of the same litter, but she didn't share their bond. She couldn't feel what they felt for each other, she wouldn't understand their connection. How could she? It was only natural that Ladny and Mignon would share everything they did, and if their sister didn't keep up, she was quickly forgotten.

But not tonight. Usually Ladny dreamt of the woods and the valley, of their adventures and their games. Sometimes she dreamt of creatures and horrors, of dragons and gryphons, as she imagined them from their parents' tales. But this night, she saw Tinowa. She didn't recognize her sister at first, she only saw a gently curved landscape covered in what seemed to be tall brown grass. But suddenly, twin triangular peaks began to rise like mountains, shooting upwards to the non-existent sky. Violet spheres followed their movement, glowing like two moons, before Ladny realized what she was staring at. The face of her sister looked down upon her, seemingly miles away, but grown to gigantic proportions so that she could fit the entire horizon between her mountain-ridge-like teeth. Ladny could only stare in awe. She tried to shout, but her voice faded unheard as the giant being moved above her. A paw was lifted, vast as a storm cloud and blackening the sky just the same, but a thousand times heavier when it descended. Ladny tried to run, but her legs wouldn't carry her even a fraction of the distance. She had no hope to escape as the paw fell on her, she could only close her eyes ...

And she woke up. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her legs were shivering, as she rose to her feet, and she tried to calm herself with deep breaths. She was still alive. It was only a dream. There was no giant Tinowa, no massive paw that threatened to flatten her.

As she looked around, she noticed there also wasn't any sign of the regular sized Tinowa. Neither of her brother Mignon. In fact, it didn't even look like she was in their sleeping chamber anymore. The ground was rough and strangely green, with veins running through the surface like the skin of a living being. It didn't feel alive, though, and that was something she was very grateful for.

The ground stretched for a bit all around her with the gentle curve of a hill, before a sharp ledge cut it off and opened to a field full of similarly shaped objects. It almost looked like a whole forest had been flattened and the ground broken up, with narrow logs and sharp, flat, rock-like edges jutting out all over the place. The shape of those rock-things was strangely familiar, but ... could that even be? They looked like leaves and broken blades of grass, but each one of them seemed to be larger than a whole tree!

"Mig!"

She shouted for her brother, her tail tucked between her legs. She had never really been alone. Being separated from her brother in this strange looking place made her more than uneasy.

"Mignon!"

Her voice broke when she tried to shout louder. Her calls echoed over the surreal plain, but none of them was answered. She was alone! No ... no, that couldn't be. She was never alone. She was always connected to her brother, no matter how far they might be apart. At least that was what she told herself.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture her brother, to concentrate on his presence. She could feel he was still there, and he was worried, too. She knew he was searching for her, she only needed a hint where to turn, where to start looking for him. Slowly she turned around to where the feeling grew the strongest, then she opened her eyes and bolted. She had no time to waste!

Her paws carried her over the strange surface, climbing and jumping over the edges, ducking under the giant blades that stuck out from her path. Mignon had always been the better one at climbing and running, he was faster and stronger, but that didn't matter now. The only thing that mattered was returning to him. She was deft and nimble, that would have to do!

Finally, she could see a figure moving in the distance. Her heart jumped when she felt the familiar bond, the closeness to her brother growing again, and she let out a shout of excitement and relief.

"Miiig!"

The figure turned its head and looked up, a fluffy tail curling behind. Another form emerged from its side, a little smaller, sleeker. Mignon wasn't alone, he had their sister Tinowa with him.

"Lad!" echoed his voice in response. "Ladny!"

He started to run her way and she doubled her efforts to reach him. She nearly crashed into him as soon as they met, toppling over and rolling around, rubbing her muzzle in his fur and licking him affectionately. He returned her caresses and hugged her close with his paws and his tail wrapped around her, before both of them scrambled back to their feet.

"Oh Ladny, I was so worried! Where were you?"

"I don't know, I - I just woke up and I was all alone in this strange place!" She turned her head to look around anxiously. "Where are we?"

"I don't know", he admitted. "It looks like grass and leaves and ... but ... they're much too big!"

Their sister hopped behind them, crawling over the edge of a stray stalk the size of a tree trunk, before she could join her siblings. She took a moment, panting, to catch her breath. "Maybe ... hff ... maybe they're not big, but ..."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we're just ... really small?"

"Don't be stupid!" Mignon chided her. "We can't be that small! We have to find out where we are, and how we got here, and ... and some way to go back home!"

Realization dawned upon Ladny as she let her eyes wander across their surroundings. They were at the center of what appeared to be a big crater or valley, filled completely with the strange giant plant-things.

"We are home!" she called out.

Mignon turned his head around, a puzzled expression on his face. "What?"

"Tinowa is right! Don't you see?" She darted around, pointing her nose in all directions. Her brother tilted his head.

"See what?"

"This is our nest! Over there, where you came from ... that's your favorite spot!"

He followed her gaze, dumbfounded. "But ... how ..."

"... can we be this small?" she finished his sentence. "I don't know! Something must have ... must have ..."

"Shrunken us?" Tinowa offered.

"Yeah", Mignon replied and repeated: "But how?"

"I don't know", Ladny shook her head. "It must be something magic."

She racked her brain, trying to remember everything her mother had told her about their special powers. They ran in the family, but even then they were something unusual. Her mother had been a freak of sorts among her own clan. Elemental powers were fairly common, but being able to share somebody's mind like her mother could - and like Ladny herself did with her brother - was looked at with mistrust and caution.

And what about shrinking? She didn't even know it was possible. Her mother never told her of such a thing and neither could she remember her doing anything close to it before. Was this some kind of strange new power or did someone else mess with them?

"You're the one with powers", her sister claimed accusingly. "Maybe you did this!"

"Don't be stupid, Tin", Ladny's brother came to her defense. "She can't do something like that!" After a short pause, he reassured himself: "You can't, right?"

His sister shook her head. "No, I can't. I don't know how!"

"Well, somebody did ..." Tinowa eyed her siblings warily.

"Mommy will know!" Ladny exclaimed. "She knows all about magic. She can make us normal again for sure!"

"But where is Mommy?" Mignon turned and looked around. He could faintly make out the ceiling of their sleeping chamber high above them, darker than the night sky, and the mountainous edge of their nest, but he couldn't see past that. "Why isn't she here?"

"She must be outside with Daddy", Ladny mused.

"Or ..." Tinowa gulped as she added: "Or maybe Mommy and Daddy are shrunken, too?"

"No", Mignon shook his head and intently perked his ears. "I can hear them! They're in the den!"

Both other pups shut their muzzles and listened. There was a sound in the distance for sure, but it was hard to recognize as pawsteps. It sounded more like soft, rolling thunder, the rustling of fur adding to it like wind brushing over the tree tops of the forest.

"That doesn't sound like Mommy and Daddy", Tinowa said doubtfully. But Mignon shook his head.

"It's them. They're just big and we are small. Who else would be in the den?"

"What are we waiting for?" Ladny chimed in with her brother. "Let's go! We have to tell them what happened!"

Mignon grinned and jumped ahead. "The last one is a lazy little tree frog!"

"Heeey! Wait for meee!"

~~~~~

Their journey was longer than any of them had expected. They crossed leaves and grass, climbing their nest like a mountainside and diving into the gaps and hollows in between to reach the ground of their den. But even the well dug tunnels, smoothed and evened by years of busy paws, proved to be no easy terrain. Small pebbles and crumbs of earth stood out like sharp rocks and boulders, and the seemingly so short cave they stormed through every morning without thinking stretched on for what had to be countless minutes, if not hours. By the time they reached an intersection all three of the pups had slowed down to catch their breath, Tinowa still trailing behind her siblings.

"Are ..." the smallest tree wolf gasped, "are we there yet?"

"I don't know." Ladny shook her head and looked around. "This is the main cave. It must be. But everything looks so different from here! And where ..."

She was cut off by a sound, a lot closer this time, and a lot scarier. It sounded not so much like thunder now, but like the rumbling of a ravine, like many small rocks grinding and scrunching together. It stopped, then it came again, a steady rhythm of paws being lowered and lifted.

"Look! Over there!" Mignon shouted.

It wouldn't have been necessary. The giant silhouette of their mother appeared deeper in the den, approaching with slow, deliberate, but incredibly wide steps. Each time her paws hit the ground it wasn't just a single step, it was like the belly of a giant creature falling from the sky, flattening everything beneath it, only to be pulled up again, specks of dirt and dust raining down like debris from the pad of her paw.

The three pups were stunned in silent awe at the sight of their mother. Her giant form towered above them as if she could carry the sky itself, and the green fur on her belly looked like the whole world had been turned upside down, like a strange forest growing from up above. All three cowered and huddled together instinctively, but the ground-shaking steps stopped before they reached them. Ladny, pressed closely against her brother, allowed herself a quiet sigh of relief.

Then, a booming voice echoed through the den. Although it was just a whisper, it hissed like a tempest, low and stretched, but they could understand the words.

"Are the kits alright?"

It wasn't their mother, but their father, Pepper, speaking. The second giant tree wolf emerged from the den behind Kyureki, even bigger than her. His fur was rough and fluffy and mostly creamy white from their point of view, the color of sunlit autumn clouds, only his paws and his back were a dark, rich brown, from his ears to the tip of his tail. Colored markings ran below his eyes and across his cheeks, but his children only had eyes for his paws and claw-tipped toes, digging into the ground like a giant plow with each step and leaving trenches big enough to swallow any one of them without even trying.

"They are fast asleep."

Their mother's answer was closer, shaking their little bodies like a tremor, even though her voice was low and smooth. The giant female perked an ear and turned her head to listen for any sound from the sleeping chamber. Her chaps and eyes formed a loving smile.

"They don't even make a sound. They must have been very tired."

Ladny's heart sank. She didn't even notice them even though they were standing right in front of her!

"Mommy! We're not asleep! We're here!"

Her brother chimed in, shouting at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down to draw her attention.

"Mommy, look! Down here!"

"Mooommy!"

They screamed and cried, but to no avail. They could have been insects for all that their parents cared right now. Their little voices were drowned out when their father stepped forward to their mother's side and spoke again.

"All the better for us."

His voice had a mischievous, playful tone the pups rarely knew from him. His muzzle rubbed along his mate's flank, taking in the scent of her fur and nipping at her with little, loving bites. She responded in kind with a giggle, shifting her weight so the pups had to jump and duck for cover to evade her paw.

"Stop it! Not yet", she scolded him playfully and pushed his muzzle away with a paw. "You might wake them."

"They can't hear us!" Cold fear gripped the three siblings' hearts. If they were already too small for their parents to notice them, how could they ever hope to return to their normal size?

Ladny shook her head defiantly. "We ... we just have to get closer!"

"But what if we get stepped on?" Tinowa whined, burrowing her nose under her paws.

"Not to the paws - we have to get to Mommy's ears! Then she'll hear us for sure!"

"Or on her nose", Mignon added, "so she can see us!" Ladny nodded wildly.

"But how do we get up there?"

Tinowa looked up to the giant silhouette of their mother above, just in time to watch her paw lift from the ground - and swing in their direction.

"Watch out!" Mignon shouted and jumped, pushing his sisters out of the way, ducking close to the ground. They could feel the giant shape hovering above them with the threat of its crushing weight, blocking out what little light was left in their den, but then the shadow moved on, passing right over them. Their mother took another step and then she was past them, looking back over her shoulder at her mate.

"Let's take this outside."

Their father smiled lovingly.

"Just the two of us, under the stars ... just like old times."

Ladny jumped back to her feet. "Oh no!" she shouted. "They're going away!"

She looked around hastily, her siblings following her. Their parents moved much too fast with their giant steps. If they wanted to leave now, it would take the pups hours, days, weeks to catch up to them, if they could even find them! They had to do something now, they had to ...

"Duck!"

She looked up when her brother shouted, just in time to see her mother's tail sweep towards them from the side. Throwing herself flat to the ground she felt the rush of air brush over her and ruffle her fur, but all three of them could evade getting hit by the giant appendage. It moved away from them like a swing, momentarily stopping at its peak, only following their mother's body in a snakelike fashion, before it came down towards them again. Another swing and it would be gone, their mother finally out of reach.

"We have to grab it!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"Grab Mommy's tail! We have to hold on and climb and we can get to her ear and tell her we're here!"

The words came out of her mouth almost too fast to understand, but her siblings followed her when she began to run towards the tail. Only to notice that they were headed in the wrong direction. If the tail was already moving, it would be much too fast to grab onto, it would smash into them and brush them aside like they were nothing more than little specks of dust. They had to run away from it, with it, to match its speed, to have a chance at catching it.

"Turn around!" she screamed and skidded to a halt. "The other way! The other way!"

It took her a few precious fragments of a second to fight her momentum, the time seeming to stretch the harder her little heart was pounding. When she managed to get going again, she could already feel her fur stand on edge from the compressed wall of air the giant tail was pushing before it as it moved. She glanced over her shoulder hastily. It was close! She had to do it now. One heartbeat. Another one. And ... jump!

Her feet catapulted her into the air, right before the tail hit her like a trunk, sweeping her away at a breakneck pace. She tried to grab for a hold, her paws sliding over strands of hair that were as big as twigs and branches, her claws digging in ... and slipping in between. They didn't hold her! Her eyes widened in panic, her legs flailed to catch anything, anything that would support her, but she slipped, again and again, she slipped and fell!

Something strong wrapped around her outstretched front paw. Just when she shut her eyes, thinking she wouldn't make it, bracing for the impact on the ground, she was caught and yanked up in the air by Mignon's tail. He groaned as he had to support them both, especially when their mother's tail began to rise again, making their stomachs tumble like they were flying. With all the force he could muster he pulled his sister closer, both of them clinging to the branch-like hair around them, waiting for the movement to slow down.

"Wait for meee!"

As the faint squealing noise reached her ears, Ladny opened her eyes again - and came to immediately regret it. She and her brother were lifted high into the air, higher than any tree that she had ever seen, let alone climbed, high as the birds in the sky it seemed to her. And down there far beneath them, small as a bug, was Tinowa.

"Waaaiiit...!" their sister cried, but the air was rushing past their ears much faster and louder than the tiny voice could follow them.

"Tin!" Ladny exclaimed. "She didn't make it!"

"Tiiin!" her brother tried to reach her with his voice. "Tinowaaa! Hurry!" He pushed Ladny to the side and grabbed another strand of hair, while they were still moving, climbing towards the tip of the tail.

"What are you doing?!"

"We're gonna grab her on our way down!" he sternly told her.

Ladny widened her eyes. "But we're already too far! We can't reach her!"

The look he gave her made her regret her words immediately. She could feel his fear, and his guilt.

"At least we have to try!"

She nodded and followed as best as she could. Both of them clung to the tail as it reached the peak of its movement, letting them feel like flying instead of being catapulted through the air for one moment, before it swung down again, a pendulum gaining momentum. They grabbed on tightly and held each other's paw as they went faster and faster.

"Tinowa! Come on! We'll grab you!"

She could see the ground coming towards them, fearing they would just keep descending until they crashed into it, but just at the last moment the tail curved, averting disaster.

"Tin, now!" Mignon shouted and leaned forward, reaching out with his paws. Ladny grabbed his tail and held onto it with her dear life. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like if something happened to Mignon, if he fell and hurt himself or ... worse.

Tinowa ran and jumped, stumbled and caught herself, panting heavily with pain-filled yips every time her flanks were burning from the exhaustion. She gave it her all, trying to reach her siblings before they lost her.

She didn't even come close.

The tail rushed past her, only grazing her with a forceful squall that ruffled her fur, taking Ladny and Mignon with it. They could only watch as Mignon's outstretched paws grabbed for nothing, as their sister stayed behind. Her tiny legs simply weren't fast enough, even if she weren't exhausted from all the running before. Each step their mother took would only carry them further away, eliminating even the slightest chance that she could catch up with them.

Only then did they realize that their father had begun following them. He was lifting his paws slowly and moving forward, a dark, heavy presence looming over Tinowa's head.

"Oh ... oh no!" Ladny's eyes widened in panic. "No no no no!"

The little cub was too distracted by her failure, too busy catching her breath to notice what was coming from behind, from above.

"Tin! TIN!" Mignon chimed in with his sister's screams. "Watch out! Behind you!"

The little cub turned and looked up, just in time to see the enormous paw coming down like an avalanche. She screamed and ducked, covering her head with her paws, but she was buried and swallowed like nothing by the onslaught of claws, fur and massive flesh.

Ladny's voice got stuck in her throat, her jaw agape. Had her sister really just been crushed under their father's heel? She couldn't believe it, much less comprehend, and her mind went blank for a moment as she watched the paw shift and lift again to take another step.

And there was Tinowa. Miraculously she hadn't been harmed, she wasn't injured, only scared to death and reduced to a shivering pile of misery. She must have gotten right between her father's toes, small enough to fit into the space between them, sitting on a little ridge in the middle of his giant paw print.

With a hoarse sound and a heavy gulp Ladny cleared her throat. Together with her brother she began shouting again, to shake their sister from her stupor.

"TIN! Tintintin! You're alive! You're still alive!"

The tiny tree wolf perked her ears and lifted her head, as if she couldn't believe this was still real. She had survived the impact of the paw around her, but her siblings moved away fast, real fast, and she almost couldn't make them out against their mother's fur anymore, their screams and shouts trailing off in the distance. Though her heart hammered like a woodpecker, she felt as if all her blood had left her body. But she forced herself on her feet, climbing through the gravel-filled crater of the paw print.

"I'm coming!" she squealed high-pitched. "Wait for me, I'm coming!"

Her voice didn't even reach her siblings anymore. Not that it would have made any difference. Their hearts sank as they watched her fall back. Their father was still moving and in wolf-like fashion his hind paw came down exactly where his front paw had been moments ago. Tinowa didn't make it over the edge. She vanished under the paw pad, buried by tons of fur and flesh, stomped into the ground by their father's whole weight. When the paw finally lifted, nothing could be seen of her, not even a speck of red on the ground.

"TINOWA!" Mignon cried out. Tears were welling up in his eyes as the final paw print was left behind in the darkness of their den, out of sight within short time.

Ladny was at a loss for words, her throat and chest tightening painfully. "Is ... she gone?"

"She's not gone!" her brother yelled, struggling to collect himself. "She'll be alright. She's ... just ... lost. We'll find her when we get back. We'll find her."

Feeling his pain and anger, his guilt and his fear, she couldn't help but share those feelings. But there was still a faint hope to cling to, the thought that everything would turn out alright in the end, somehow, returning to the way it was before.

The two pups huddled together, holding on to their mother's tail that was still swishing through the air and carried them forward no matter what. They didn't have words for each other, but they didn't need to. All they could do was hold on and keep going, protect each other till their tears finally dried. They had to reach their mother. They just had to.

~~~~~

It took a small eternity until the movement finally stopped. They must have been deep into the woods outside by then, when Kyureki and Pepper slowed down. All the time their pups accompanied them, unbeknownst to them, only able to cling to the branch-like strands of hair on their mother's tail, hiding in her fur like dust mites. Even if it was just a small swing in her gait to her, a sign of her growing excitement for the things to come, the movement of her tail forced the siblings to stay in place and hold on with all the strength they could muster in order not to be shaken off, preventing them from any attempt at scaling the rest of her body and reaching her face.

Finally, however, they got a rest. The tail slowed and stopped, allowing them a sigh of relief and a chance to relax their cramped muscles. It was hard to make out their surroundings, as everything seemed so far away, but they could see the treetops around them like a mountain ridge at the horizon, and the twinkle of starlight above. They must be in some kind of glade, though they didn't recognize any of it.

"That's our chance!" Mignon whispered, as if his voice could disturb the sudden silence. He began to climb atop the back of the tail, making his way through the field of hair and across the ridges of her vertebrae. Ladny didn't follow.

"Lad? Hey, Lad! What are you waiting for?"

Her gaze went far away, following the movement of their father closing in slowly, nuzzling his mate lovingly.

"What are Mommy and Daddy doing?"

"I don't know", Mignon replied hastily, "does it matter?"

"Why did they come out here in the middle of the night? Why didn't they want to wake us up?"

"I don't know! But we have to go now! Or else we get stuck here again!"

His sister hesitated, but followed his lead.

"Do you think they want to do something secret?"

"Ladny, stop it!" he growled, increasingly annoyed. "We have to ..."

He was cut short when a sudden shiver of excitement ran through the ground beneath their paws like a tremor, the hair around them standing on edge.

"What was that?!"

"I know what you want ..."

Their mother's voice was low and husky, rumbling like a faraway thunder and full of promise. She turned slowly to present her backside, her tail rising high up in the air.

"Gyaaaah!"

"... but first you have a little work to do."

The two pups could see their father from above, as if they were clinging to a cliff in the highest mountains that just happened to go down in an avalanche. He came closer, dangerously close as the tip of the tail played around his cheeks and his neck enticingly, but he didn't see them. His eyes were fixated on Kyureki's rump, his tongue darting out to lick his muzzle in anticipation.

"Daddy!" both of them screamed. "Daddy, it's us!" "We're here! We-eaaah!"

They were yanked back when Kyureki lowered her tail, pulling it closer to her body, bringing the tip to rest just before her nethers. She let it brush her mound, rubbing over the soft, moistening flesh invitingly, smoothing her fur with her own fluids.

Ladny and Mignon tried to climb away, but they were trapped between the tail and the glistening lips. Holding on to the fur became increasingly difficult as the moisture greased every surface. Even a few drops were enough on their size to rush over them like a waterfall, covering them and everything around in a slick, oily sheen.

"Eww!" Ladny squealed and squinted. "Mommy! What are you doing!"

"Is this pee? Blagh!" her brother asked, trying rather unsuccessfully to evade as much as he could.

The scent was strong, definitely their mother's, but it didn't have the same pungent quality as urine. Instead, it was tangy and musky, foreign and confusing, and very, very heady. They had to hold their breath when their heads began to swim.

"It's not pee", Ladny replied, "I don't know wha-AAHG!"

"Ladny! Hold on! Don't let go!"

Suddenly, the gentle movement stopped and became something more forceful and determined. A sudden rush pushed the tip of the tail inside, parting their mother's lips and dragging the pups into the cavernous opening. Darkness enveloped them, moist and heated, with the enormous pressure of living, pulsating flesh all around them. They were pressed and rubbed hard against the slick, yielding walls, not even able to open their eyes and scream in fear of being drowned or suffocated. Ladny tried to hold fast, but she was tossed around and pummeled and her paws slipped on the sticky fluids soaking her fur, her whole body, and everything around her.

Help! she screamed internally, Mignon, help me! Please!

She lost her grip, and together with it she lost her last sense of orientation, as she was rolled and ground between the tail and the fleshy walls surrounding her. But like a miracle, her silent scream had been heard.

A paw reached out and grabbed her's. She held on with all her might, pulling herself closer, until she could feel her brother's embrace, his legs and tail wrapping protectively around her body. They had no hope of finding a firm hold, so they endured it, shielding each other from the roughhousing, until the pressure was finally lifted from them. They sank to the ground, tumbled over each other, and came to rest at the bottom of the deep, dark cavern. The tail vanished the same way it had entered, leaving the swollen lips at the entrance only slightly parted.

"Lad, are you okay?"

"I'm ... I'm okay, Mig. Kch ... haa ..."

The pups coughed and gasped, growing dizzy from the thin, overly moist air. It seemed unlikely that they could breathe at all in a place like this, but they were small enough, the opening around them so vast, it allowed them to catch their breath, even if just barely.

"Where are we?" Mignon wondered as he raised his head to take in their surroundings.

Ladny did just the same. "We're inside Mommy!"

"In her belly?!"

"We shouldn't be here", she shook her head violently. "We have to get out!"

"This way!" Mignon took the lead, grabbing his sister with his tail and pulling her with him to scale the slick, fleshy slope leading up to the dim shimmer of starlight, the only sign of the crevice they had entered. The ground was bulging and pulsing under their paws, each heartbeat and each shiver of excitement threatening to throw them off balance and wash them away with a sudden gush of liquids oozing from the slimy walls all around.

"Icky!" Mignon shook his paw to clear it of the sticky juices. "What is this?"

"I don't know", his sister answered, holding on to his tail and trying not to slip. She placed her paws very carefully, deliberately, lest she would just end up in a puddle of goo and have to climb all the way back up again.

"Do all girls look like this from inside?" her brother mused.

"No!" she exclaimed, almost losing her footing. When she clung to her brother's tail, she nearly dragged him with her, but they managed to steady themselves.

"Careful!" he scolded her.

"Then stop asking stupid questions", she shot back and glared at him. She couldn't really be angry at him. Stupid questions and their sibling squabble probably were the only things right now to keep their fears in check. "I don't know. No, we don't look like that. I don't!"

She stuck her nose up proudly. Nevertheless, her tail drooped and pressed over her sex. Did she really have something like this inside her? And if she did, what was it for? She knew her pee came from there, but why was it so big and deep and ... slimy? And why did her mother shove her tail inside? Absentmindedly, her own tail rubbed between her legs lightly.

"Girls are gross ..." Mignon concluded.

"Boys are grosser", she shot back and under her breath she added: "And they're stupid, too ..."

"I heard that!"

"Just move!" she nipped his tail.

Suddenly, the entrance they were heading to simply vanished. Something dark and enormous pushed in its place, eclipsing what faint light from outside they could see.

"Wha?" Mignon looked up, baffled, while his sister clutched his tail like a lifeline with a sudden scared "Eep!"

Wind brushed their soaked fur, but it wasn't any wind. They could smell the remnants of their last meal and the faint odor of the tongue that used to kiss them good night. It was their father's breath, rushing through his boulder of a nose.

"Daddy!" Ladny realized with wide eyes. Then she began to pull herself along her brother's side to overtake him, fighting against the torrent of air that first pushed them back, then nearly sucked them forwards towards the cavernous nostrils. "Ouch! Lad! What are you doing?!"

"Daddy is here! That's his nose! We can climb on top and then he can see us! Come on!"

But as she was speaking, the vision of reaching her father and getting their parents to help was quickly quashed. The giant nose moved upwards, revealing black lips and sharp teeth underneath, and a broad, pink tongue that flowed towards them like a tidal wave, filling the cavern seamlessly from one side to the other.

"Ladny! Run!"

While the girl only stood there and watched wide-eyed as their chance to escape turned on its head, Mignon grabbed his sister by the tail and pulled her with him. She squealed and slipped, but they didn't need their paws. They slid over the slick, slimy ground deeper into the dark opening, toppling through puddles of feminine juices quickly filling up to become rushing streams, but their tiny advance could only take them so far.

The tongue caught up with the two pups, rolling over them like a wave, pressing them to the ground with overwhelming force. For a moment, everything around them was the hot, fleshy ground and the suffocating blanket of the tongue. Nubs and barbs as big as their paws pressed into their backs like deformed hands trying to grab them, shoving them along and finally hoisting them up when the tongue curled inwards, retracting into the waiting cavern of the muzzle. But their father was far from done.

They squealed and screamed only harder when they shot forward again. Drenched in a mixture of saliva and gushing juices, they were almost free-floating as the tongue lapped at the swollen entrance again and again, digging deeper and deeper, swirling its two unwilling passengers around with every movement. They grabbed each other tight, burying their claws in the other one's fur, holding on for their dear lives. _Don't let go!_Ladny prayed. She knew, as long as she had her brother, everything would somehow turn out alright in the end.

When the licking finally stopped, they were dragged out of their mother's passage and into the open. For a short, much too short moment they simply lay atop the tongue, finally being able to breath freely again, the stars twinkling above them. But their light was soon swallowed when their father drew back, his tongue returning to where it belonged, and his muzzle closing over them menacingly until his teeth clashed together. It almost looked as if someone had taken white peaks from each side of the horizon and pulled them outside in to swallow the whole world in between. Behind them only the dark abyss of his throat awaited them, a ride with no return.

"DADDY!" Ladny screamed, teary-eyed, pressing herself tightly against her brother. "We ... WE'RE HERE!" Her voice cracked when her sobs turned into a scared hiccup. Please don't swallow! Please don't eat us!

He didn't swallow. The pups allowed themselves to blink when the jaws around them began to part again. Between the teeth their mother's face came into view, a loving smile on her muzzle and a twinkle in her eyes. Slowly she moved closer, towards them, closer and closer. Even when her nose vanished out of sight to touch that of her mate she still closed in, closing her eyes, but opening her lips.

"Mommy?" Mignon's voice was a hoarse whisper, barely audible even to his sister, and he gulped. "What are you ...? AGH!"

Suddenly, they were pushed, riding a wave of pink flesh and giant muscles, as the tongue shot forward to greet their mother's muzzle in a sweet kiss. Like two clashing currents both of their tongues wrapped and twirled around each other, forming a maelstrom that nearly drowned the tiny pups as they were tossed around, all the while screaming with voices too fine and too high to be heard by either of their parents. Holding on to each other, Ladny and Mignon tried to grab anything around them for support, as they were dragged back by a tongue and shoved against the hard, steep edge of a tooth, standing tall like a small mountain. They slid along the smooth surface, down, down, until finally they were allowed a moment of rest when they reached the gingival valley.

"Hold on, Ladny ... I got you. Are you okay?"

Mignon released his grip on his sister, helping her stand up while steadying himself on the uneven, fleshy ground. Both pups were breathing heavily, gasping and shaking their fur to shed all the fluids they were soaked in. Ladny could feel her brother's fear and exhaustion, she could literally hear his heart pound in his chest, but still he cared more for her than he did for himself, he was playing strong for her. And it worked. At least a little.

She smiled at her brother, nuzzling under his chin. "I'm alright, Mig." I was just scared to death, she thought to herself, but she wouldn't say that out loud. "We have to get out of here ... okay?"

He nodded. They were close to their parents face, so close, but if they stayed here they might just get swallowed. He shuddered at the thought and pushed it back. Don't think about that! You can do it! A look into his sister's eyes told him that she was probably thinking the same thing, so he smiled at her and pulled her ear to spur her on.

"Then let's go. Maybe we can climb up here ..."

To their right and left two ivory pillars of teeth burst through the fleshy ground and rose up towards the sky-high roof of the muzzle, while right before them the inside of a lip formed another barrier. The teeth were extremely steep, their surface slightly rough at their size, but much too hard to dig their claws into and try to climb. The flesh of the lip, however, looked slick and smooth, but turned out to be quite yielding. Little dark veins slightly protruded from its surface, big enough to latch onto with their climbing claws. In their constantly moving surroundings they were mashed against the tooth behind them more than once, but they pressed on, helping each other out, and rose to the edge of the lip. Here the ground became rougher, allowing them more purchase, and less steep, forming the ridge of a soft hill. The upper lip hovered above them, but it wasn't quite closed, so they could see beyond the ridge and right into the face of their other parent. It was their father.

"Daddy?" Ladny blinked, confused. "But ... but we were ..."

Mignon hastily looked around, then at his sibling, meeting her gaze. "This is Mommy's mouth!"

"Daddy kissed us into Mommy's mouth!"

"Then we ... we have to ..."

They were cut short.

"TUUURRNNN ... AARROOOUUUNNND."

A gust of wind from their mother's maw washed over them, nearly blowing them over the edge of the lip. But the wind wasn't the worst part. Her voice was no distant thunder any more, they were caught right in the middle of the storm, the air all around them vibrating with a pressure that made it feel like it had turned solid in an instant. They threw themselves to the ground and covered their ears, their squealing drowned out by far by their mother's voice.

Their father just smiled at the husky command of his mate and shifted to present his flank. The pups had only a moment to recover before they felt themselves drop, grabbing each other, as their mother lowered her head below her partner's belly.

"There!" Mignon looked up. Their mother's jaws were still slightly parted, the lip above them hovering out of reach, and the siblings were grateful for not being mashed between them. But back there in the corner of her mouth, her chops narrowed and touched, close enough to allow them to climb up. And from there it would only be a short way, up across her muzzle and to her eyes or ears where she could notice them, free from any more orifices they could get trapped in.

When Ladny followed his gaze, she didn't need any psychic powers to read his thoughts. Without wasting any more time the two pups started to run, hustling and jumping over the treacherous ground of their mother's lip. Over her shoulder, Ladny could see they were drawing closer to their father's crotch, his giant member protruding proud and erect from his sheath. The sight weirded her out, but she didn't have any time to think about it. Nothing made sense here! Was Mommy going to clean him? Why else would she be sniffing and licking at his ... his thing!

When she took another glance, however, she noticed something that didn't belong there. Something was moving on his sheath, a tiny figure, almost too small to notice. Almost as small as them. Almost? Or rather exactly as small as them!

"Tinowa?!"

"What? Ladny, come on!" Mignon whirled around and tried to pull her with him when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. But she resisted.

"No, Mig! Look! Tinowa is there!"

"Where?"

"There! On Daddy's ... on Daddy's thingy!"

As they got closer and closer, they could finally make her out without a doubt. There was their sister, very alive, and very hastily trying to climb their father's body right at the edge of his sheath, where his member jutted from its furry cover.

"Tiiin!" Ladny shouted excitedly and began to jump in the air to draw her attention. "Tinowaaa!"

Their sister hadn't noticed them yet, but it didn't take her long. And when she did, her surprise was big enough to make her slip and almost lose her hold.

"No, Tin! Hold on! We're coming!" Mignon yelled.

For a moment, the siblings were so glad to see their sister alive, that they had forgotten where they were. But that realization came back faster than they liked, and it came with force. Just when they turned around to try and reach Tinowa, the jaw beneath them dropped and the lips parted to take in the approaching tip. The broad, wet tongue of their mother came brushing from behind like a sudden wave and swept them off their feet, pushing them forwards against the hard, smooth, and surprisingly hot skin of their father's member, as if they were washed against a living cliff.

Mignon didn't even have time to scream for his sister when they were forcefully torn apart. The young male was pressed hard against his father's maleness, the air squeezed from his lungs, and rubbed and dragged along right over the base of the shaft where a knot was still growing. His mother took the whole thing into her maw and began to lick and suckle lovingly, bobbing her head forwards and backwards to send earthquake-like shivers of arousal through her mate's body.

The pup groaned for a different reason altogether, his already exhausted body battered and mistreated another time, but once his mother drew back and lifted the pressure from him, he forced himself back to his feet. He was greeted by a helping paw.

"Tin?" he asked weakly and looked up.

"Hurry!" The voice of his sister was only a frightened squeak, but nonetheless she was there. Her tail was wrapped around the outmost strands of fur protruding from the sheath, her body stretched across the veiny red ground beneath her to reach her brother. Her outstretched paw was only a pace away, but their mother's touch caused the ground to shake violently. Mignon could feel the flesh beneath him tremble and expand and Tinowa was pulled back with a shriek as the giant knot grew even farther from the sheath.

"Come on Mig!" she pleaded. "Get off there!"

Her brother would have liked nothing better than to do exactly that, but when he forced his legs to move him to safety, he glanced over his shoulder. His mother began to open her jaws again, drawing back from his father's member, a bridge of saliva still connecting her tongue with the tip, glistening in the starlight.

He turned to his sister. "What about Ladny? She's still out there!"

Tinowa looked at him with pleading eyes, a shimmer of hurt shining through. "Leave her, please! She left me too!"

"No, we didn't! We tried everything to get to you!"

Mignon stared at her, but then he looked back at his mother. He didn't have any more time! If Ladny was still in her mouth, he'd lose the last chance to reach her any moment.

Without another word, he turned around and ran. His legs were aching, his muscles burning, but he pressed on across the giant rock-hard shaft, jumping over pulsating veins that snaked their way under the smooth skin like the roots of ancient trees. He heard Tinowa call out behind him and follow him across the surface, but he had only eyes for the rope of saliva before him that grew thinner and thinner with each passing heartbeat. Finally, it snapped and rained down in a shower of droplets, vanishing out of sight. He came to a skidding halt at the edge of the fleshy ledge. It was already too far to jump and the distance was only increasing.

"Laaadnyyy!"

He cried for his sister, shifting restlessly from one paw to the other and looking around, barely noticing when his other sister bumped into him from behind. He couldn't believe he lost her! He hadn't been fast enough to reach her and now she was gone!

"Mignon!"

Her voice was trembling, but he could hear her loud and clear. He didn't imagine that, did he? She must be somewhere close!

"Ladny? Ladny! Where are you!"

"Ladny!" Tinowa chimed in.

"Down here! I ... I'm down here!"

Down? Mignon crawled up to the outermost edge of the tip, leaning cautiously over the abyss below him. And then he saw her. Cowering in a cave entrance right beneath his paws was his beloved sister, looking up at him with worried eyes. A giant wave of relief overcame him, even bigger than any trouble they might be in, and he just knew that she shared the feeling when she saw his smile.

"I'll pull you up!"

"No, it's too dangerous!"

"I will pull you up!" he insisted and tried to steady himself on the ledge, reaching out with a paw. But his legs were too short, Ladny was still trapped right beneath him, just out of reach.

"I told you it's no use!"

"No", he violently shook his head. "Tinowa! Hold me!"

"B-but ..." his other sister stammered, but he didn't want to hear any of it right now. She might be weaker than him, sure, and maybe she was a bigmouth and a coward, but she had to help him now if ever!

"Do it!" he shot at her and turned around. They locked tails, wrapping their prehensile appendages around each other. Tinowa lay flat on the ground and tried hold fast with all fours, before Mignon began to lower himself down headfirst over the edge.

Ladny looked at him in surprise. He just grinned upside down as he opened his paws to catch her.

"Come on, Lad! I told you I'll pull you up!"

When she saw her brother's face and heard his reassuring voice, she didn't hesitate for a moment. She lunged forward and gripped both of his paws with her own.

"Now, Tinowa! Pull!"

"Hnngh!"

They heard their sister struggling with Ladny's added weight. They didn't move an inch.

"Come on, pull us up!"

"You're ... too heavy!" the pup groaned through clenched teeth.

"Oh no, we're not! You can do it!"

"No, I can't!"

Ladny's euphoria about her rescue quickly vanished and was replaced by an ice-cold lump in her stomach. They dangled from the edge, seeming miles above the ground, and their sister was slowly losing her hold and her strength. To make it even worse, their mother had turned around in the meantime and was presenting a new target for their father to sink his member in.

"Stop whining and do it!" Mignon shouted, growing angry and panicked. "You have to!"

Right then, Ladny began to swing back and forth. Their sister gasped, as the movement pulled on her tail and strained her legs even more. "Hrrngh!"

"Lad!" Mignon cried. "Stop it! What are you doing?!"

"We have to ... get to ..." she pushed out between swings. Each time she reached for the cave entrance with her tail and her paws, until she could pull herself back in. "Here!"

"No no no!" her brother shook his head. "Get out of there!"

A jolt went through their surroundings when their father mounted up. His member swung upwards, colliding with the underside of their mother's belly and shaking the pups' world once more. Tinowa screamed and ducked her head, her claws slipping and losing purchase until she dangled from the edge on her front paws alone.

"Aaaahh!"

Ladny held her brother fast and shouted: "Tinowa! Let go!"

"What?!"

"Let go!" she repeated. "I'll catch you!"

"No you won't!"

"I will!"

"You left me behind! Hngh! Daddy almost stepped on me!"

"We ... that ... that wasn't our fault!"

Their father repositioned himself, his member rising. They came to rest just before the swollen lips of their mother, damp heat radiating all around them as they were already almost pressed into their embrace.

"We have no time!" Ladny screamed. Even Mignon supported her. "Let go! Now!"

Tinowa closed her eyes and opened her claws. Dragged down by her sibling's weight she felt like free-falling for a moment, before their entwined tails stopped her. She was pulled up hastily into the shaft, fractions of a second before it smashed into their mother's inviting sex, parting her lips and plowing into her. The pups were engulfed in darkness again and rocked back and forth with the violent motions of their father, but inside his member they were protected from everything around them.

Ladny held paws with her brother and sister and the three of them huddled together. She didn't know what was happening, what their parents were doing, she only wanted it to be over, rather now than soon. She barely dared to breathe, let alone say: "At least we're safe in here ..."

"No, we aren't", Mignon whispered. His voice was almost drowned out by all the grinding and squelching of flesh and fluids around them, out of their sight.

"What? What do you mean?"

"We're not safe here", he repeated, louder this time. "This ... this is where ... where boys ... uhm ..."

She could not see his face, but she felt his presence and pried his mind. She saw confusing images of ... peeing? Was that it? Why would Daddy pee inside Mommy?

He didn't have any time to explain himself, as all the movement around them suddenly slowed down. The pressure of two giant heartbeats could still be felt, but now a different kind of tension was added, like the electrifying calm before a storm. They could feel their surroundings twitch and shiver and even a gust of wind blowing into their faces from inside the cavern of their father's sheath.

"What's happening? What is that?"

"Uh-oh", Mignon gulped. "Brace yourselves!"

His warning came not a second to early. They grabbed each other by their paws and wrapped their tails around their bodies, when a flash flood of white hit them. The enormous pressure swiped them off their feet, pushed them through the opening of the cavern like leaves caught in a rapid, and washed them deep into the darkness of their mother's body. They could not scream, they could not breathe, they could only hope and pray.

~~~~~

When she came to her senses, Ladny felt like she had just swam through a whole ocean, even if she had only ever heard tales about it and never actually been there. She was wet all over, covered in something sticky and slimy, and gasping for breath in the thin air. A bitter and salty taste filled her muzzle and she spat out, although it was just too much to get rid of. It was still dark around her, the blackest darkness she had ever been in, but it wasn't empty. Even if she couldn't see her own paws and touch nothing but the soft, fleshy, slime-covered ground she was standing on, she could feel the life in her surroundings, a gentle rocking motion, the slow and steady thumping of a heartbeat, and a welcoming heat that embraced all of her. She felt drowsy and wanted nothing but to sleep right then and there, but she knew she had to find her brother first. He couldn't be far.

"Mignon?" she tried to raise her voice and coughed at the rough feeling of the stuff that was still stuck in her muzzle and throat. After spitting and swallowing and rubbing it off of her face, she tried again. "Mignon!"

No answer. Maybe he was too far away? Maybe he was still sleeping, like she had been. She didn't want to think about any other possibilities, and banished them from her mind. He was there and she had to find him, she was sure of that!

Once again, she tried to concentrate and reach out with her senses. It was much more difficult this time, she was drained and barely able to keep a straight thought in her dizzy head, but she wouldn't give up until she succeeded. She felt something tugging at her heart, a familiar feeling, a faint longing that drew her in a certain direction. That must be him!

As fast as her heavy legs could carry her she followed her lead, wading through the thick, spongy mass beneath her. It was like walking through a swamp, through warm mud, and even if she had the strength left in her, she wouldn't have been able to run like this. The ground rose and fell unevenly, sometimes forming smooth hills sticking out, sometimes gooey pits she almost sank into, and sometimes it literally rose or fell with the whole surrounding moving to remind her that she was inside a living, breathing being.

"Don't complain ... or do you wanna swim the whole way?"

Her ears perked up at the sound of her brother's voice. She still couldn't see a thing, but she felt he was near, and his voice just made that feeling much more real.

"Mignon!"

"Ladny?"

"Mig!"

"Lad!"

She jumped and splashed through the goo, following the direction of the sound and climbing a soft, fleshy hill. She could hear the movement of other paws there, she could feel the presence of her brother before they finally touched for real, rubbing their muzzles against each other, celebrating their reunion with a sibling hug. She didn't have words to express how glad she was, but she didn't need any. Just feeling his familiar body pressing against hers, sharing their breath and their heartbeats was more than enough.

"Mig, I ... I was ... I ..."

"Eep!"

She drew her paw back in surprise when she stepped on something small, something wiggly, that definitely wasn't just a part of the surreal landscape. At first she thought it was a mouse, but how would a mouse end up here, and that small on top? Or was this what happened to them when they were eaten? Did they end up in their mother's belly only to shrink away like food?

"Tinowa, I told you to stay back!" her brother chided.

"But ...! I don't wanna get lost!"

Ladny blinked confused when she heard her sister's voice from below. It sounded a little pitched, like she was squeaking, but she could understand every word.

"Tinowa?"

"I'm here!" the little voice answered.

"I found her when I woke up", Mignon told her. "And she was like this then! I didn't do anything!"

"Like what?" Ladny asked, still confused. Carefully she reached out with a paw to touch the source of the little voice before her. And there she was. As unlikely as it seemed, her sister had shrunken down even smaller, her frail body tiny enough to fit under her paw. The little pup gave off a frightened squeal as Ladny touched her, but she couldn't see her, so she had to feel along her body and explore her with her toes.

"Eep! Don't hurt meee!"

"How ... why are you even smaller now?!"

The tiny pup eased up a little as the pressure of the paw was lifted from her, but the toes still rubbed gently over her body and tried to stay in touch with her.

"I ..." she stammered. "I ... I don't know. I just ... I ..."

"Don't bother", Mignon said. "She doesn't know anything."

"No", Ladny pressed on, Tinowa's reaction triggering her suspicion. "I want to know! What did you do?"

"I didn't do nothing!" her sister immediately shot back in defense.

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't! I ... I just ... leave me alone!"

Ladny growled lightly and pressed her paw down again, trapping her tiny sister under her toes and pinning her to the ground.

"Geeep! Let me gooo!"

"Talk!"

Mignon couldn't see what his sisters were doing, but he had a rough idea. It still didn't make any more sense. "What are you doing, Lad? Tinowa doesn't know anything!"

"She does, trust me!"

Ladny could feel his doubts, could almost hear him questioning her sanity, but she was sure her sister hid something. And that had nothing to do with any psychic powers. With a soft press of her claw against the tiny body she urged her on.

"I didn't waaant tooo!" Tinowa whined. "I ... I was scared and I wanted to hide and then I felt strange and ... and ... and then I woke up and I was small and ... I don't knooow!"

Slowly Ladny lifted her paw and let her sister get up. "You shrank when you were scared?"

"I don't know!" Tinowa insisted, but Ladny didn't let up.

"And the first time? In our den? What about then?"

"What are you talking about ...?" Mignon inquired, but she silenced him.

"Tinowa, talk! That's important!"

Her little sister sniffed and stifled a sob, before her voice calmed down a bit. "I ... I think I was scared, too", she slowly told them. "I had a dream that ... that you were really small and then I got scared and I was getting smaller, too,and then I woke up and it wasn't a dream, we were really shrunk!"

"You did this!" Ladny stated.

Her sister whined again. "I didn't! I ... I didn't mean to!"

"What?" their brother interrupted. "You mean ... Tin shrank us?"

Ladny nodded before she remembered that he couldn't see her. "She did!"

"But how? She doesn't have any powers."

"Now she does", Ladny tried to explain. "My powers started the same! I got this strange feeling when I was really scared or really, really happy, and then I suddenly knew that you were scared or happy, too."

Her siblings seemed equally dumbfounded, so she continued.

"And now Tinowa has a power, too. Only she doesn't feel things, but she shrinks things."

"You shrink when you are scared?" Mignon asked the tiny pup beside him. Tinowa didn't answer. "But we were scared the whole time!" He didn't like to admit it, but it seemed appropriate. "At least I was ..."

"It doesn't work like that", Ladny shook her head. She tried to think of a way to explain the foreign feelings that came with her special magic powers, to explain the concentration it required if you wanted to control it, but in the end another thought occurred to her. She turned to Tinowa.

"Why didn't you tell us before?! We almost got stomped and eaten and squished and you didn't say anything! We could have died because of you!"

"I didn't know!" the tiny pup squeaked defensively. "I was scared, too! You said Mommy would help us and make everything alright!"

"I did, but ... but I have powers, too! I could have told you how you control them!" She stared at the darkness before her with a stern look, imagining the stubborn face of her sister. "I still can!" she added.

For a moment, there was only silence. Then Tinowa spoke again. "You can? You ... would?"

Ladny nodded hastily. "If you shrank us then you can make us big again, too! You just have to do the opposite of before!"

"I don't know how!"

Ladny sighed. "You shrank when you were scared", she explained. "Maybe you grow when you have happy thoughts? Try that!" Her voice came out a bit harsher than she intended to, but she couldn't really care right now.

"I don't have happy thoughts ..."

"Then make some", she commanded. Easing her voice down a bit she gently brushed and caressed her tiny sister with a toe to make her comfortable. "Come on, you have to try! Think about growing and being bigger and how really, really happy you would be to get back home ..."

Tinowa didn't reply. At first nothing seemed to happen, but after a while Ladny could feel her tiny body stretch and press back against her paw. She struggled and concentrated hard, but she was growing.

"It's working! You're growing, Tin!"

Her sister didn't say anything. She just kept on growing, expanding in all directions, until Ladny couldn't even keep her paw on her. She had to step back as her body pushed her away, even pushed Mignon in the opposite direction.

"Stop!" the boy shouted. "NO!"

Tinowa flinched. Startled and her concentration broken, her growth suddenly stopped. In fact it didn't just stop, but reversed. Like a bubble losing air she was shrinking rapidly, until Ladny lost touch. Telling from the frightened squeak that came out of the darkness before her, her sister must have returned to the tiny size she had a minute before.

"Mig!" she scolded her brother. "Why did you do that? It was working!"

"That's why!" he shot back. She blinked her eyes, irritated, but he explained: "We're still inside Mommy! If we grow back to normal, Mommy might burst!"

She didn't have an answer to that. He was right. She didn't think of that! She wanted to get out of here real bad, but she didn't want to hurt her mother, or anybody else.

"We have to get out first, then we can grow back", Mignon insisted. She nodded in response, once again noticing that he couldn't see.

"But how do we get out?" Tinowa's voice beat her to the question. The little pup must have crawled closer again, she was only a step away from their paws. "Where do we go?"

Mignon hesitated. Ladny could feel his embarrassment and sinking hope and had to imagine him biting his tongue nervously. "I don't know", he confessed.

"I ..." Ladny came to his rescue. "I think I know."

"You do?" both of them asked.

She nodded, explaining: "Maybe I can sense Mommy or Daddy. Then we know where to go."

"That doesn't really make sense ..."

"Then do it yourself! Do you have a better idea?" she replied angrily. When she felt his ears droop and a knot twist in his tummy, she immediately regretted her scolding tone. She shuffled towards him carefully, rubbing her cheek against his.

"No", he answered, a little reassured, and rubbed back. "It's our best try."

She parted from him and tried to focus. She was slowly getting used to the damp, thick air that was almost too solid to breathe, and the presence of her brother so close to her gave her a warm, reassuring feeling inside. But her task was not a small one. Her psychic powers were not limited to her brother alone, but she had had a lifelong connection with him, she was used to him like she was to feeling her own body, to hearing her own thoughts. Trying to reach outside of that bond, to search for something else, seemed strange and scary to her mind.

But she was reaching out for her mother. That wasn't something strange or to be afraid of. She had been a part of her for as long as she had been a part of Mignon, too, and she was closer to her now than she had ever been since her birth. That had to count for a connection!

Her thoughts began to drift and her head became dizzy, but she could take in more and more of her surroundings. The overabundant heat and moisture, the gentle pulsing of a heartbeat, and the sough of contented breathing, like the distant sound of the ocean. She felt her mother's presence all around her, and though she wasn't able to really reach her, to connect with her thoughts, she could feel the presence of her mind, too. She knew the mind was in the head, and the head was at the front. So to get back out they had to turn ...

"This way", she forced herself back to consciousness.

"Which way?"

"This way!"

She groped in the dark with her tail until she touched her brother, then she gave him a gentle pull in the direction she was facing. He came to her side, sticking out his nose and trying to peer into the darkness.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure!"

"Wait for me!" Tinowa squeaked and followed the sound of their voices, bumping against their paws.

"Is it a long way?" Mignon asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know ..."

"Then we better carry Tinowa", he decided. "She can't walk very fast like this."

He reached with his tail for his little sister and, once he found her, wrapped it around her middle to pull her up in the air. The tiny pup was almost completely swallowed by his fur, although it was sticky and gooey due to the circumstances, not soft and fluffy like it used to be.

"Eeep! Put me down!" she squeaked and wiggled helplessly.

"You almost drowned in this goop!" Mignon disagreed. "If we don't carry you, we'll never get out of here."

Ignoring her complaints, the siblings set off to their march into the unknown before them. They stuck close together, never daring to get out of touch. There were no sudden movements anymore, no tails or tongues or other body parts that tried to sweep and swallow them, but they could never be sure. Even if their only obstacle was time, having someone close in the darkness of the surreal, organic landscape gave them a bit of hope and confidence. Together they could make it for sure.

Their journey, however, was everything but easy. The ground was treacherous, especially in pitch black night, and their slime-soaked fur didn't make it any easier. They had to scale slippery slopes, cross streams and puddles of all kinds of stickiness, and they couldn't even walk around or try a different path in fear of losing the right direction.

By the time their journey came close to its end, they had climbed a mountain ridge, crawled down the other side, and crossed a swampy, slime-filled valley, until they finally reached an opening. The crevice of their mother's passage was closed now, not any more swollen and gaping like before, but the flesh was yielding enough that they could squeeze their way through at the bottom of the cave.

Drawing a breath of fresh, dry air made the pups sigh in relief and shiver with glee. There were no stars or trees above them, so their parents must have returned to the den. Their mother was sleeping soundly, lying on the ground, surely dreaming of her mate and the wonderful things they had done and would certainly do again. She couldn't even imagine what had happened to her children all the time, and the only thing she might have noticed was a pleasant tingling in her sex that let her sigh contently in her sleep.

From there, it was only downhill for the pups. With a last surge of renewed energy they climbed down their mother's thigh, jumping and swinging from one strand of hair to the next, until they reached solid ground in the end. The giant curve of the tail lay curled around them, motionless, as if to shield them from some unknown evil in the dark of the night.

"Finally!" Ladny sighed and simply dropped on her belly, stretching all fours from her. She didn't even bother to clean herself right now, still covered in all the bodily fluids, her only thought that they were free and safe at last. But they wouldn't be until Tinowa turned them back to normal.

"Here you go", Mignon carefully placed their sister on the ground beside them.

The tiny tree wolf shook and brushed her fur to rid herself from the sticky juices that began to dry, before she looked up into the big, expectant eyes of her siblings.

"Well?" Mignon asked.

"Use your powers", Ladny told her. "Like you did before. Make us big again!"

Tinowa gulped, now that she could actually see her brother and sister towering above her, even when they laid down flat on the ground. But she tried her best and concentrated on the strange feelings she had felt before, trying to picture what she wanted to do with her powers.

"Is it working yet?" Mignon asked, examining his paws and comparing them to his sister and what he could see of his mother.

"It is!" Ladny exclaimed. Tinowa had her eyes close shut, a frown on her face, but her body was slowly growing. It took a few moments to bring her back to the size of her siblings, before she passed them, stepping right over their heads as she shifted her weight, and continued to grow. Apparently she was the only one growing, but that was okay, Ladny reminded herself. Tinowa had yet to learn to control her powers, she couldn't do everything at once. She would have to grow them one at a time.

"Don't forget us!" she called nonetheless, before her sister might be too big to notice her.

She and Mignon had to shift away from the paws that kept taking more and more room, their claws slowly exceeding them in size, too, digging into the ground and carving deeper and deeper trenches into the crumbs of earth around them. Every time they looked up to their sister they thought that was it, she couldn't possibly have to grow any bigger, but she still kept on growing, pushing her mother's tail out of her way. When she finally opened her eyes and moved her paws around, her siblings had to duck for cover.

"Run!" Mignon grabbed Ladny and pulled her with him, away from the giant paw looming over their heads. Tinowa had to make only one wrong step and they'd be just as dead as they would have been many times earlier.

"TINOWAAA!" Ladny screamed in panic. "We're still here!"

Her scream fell on deaf ears as the paw came down, directly above them. They made one last desperate jump, before the mass of the leathery pads crushed everything around them. Like a miracle, they ended up between the toes, with just enough room for the both of them huddled together.

With a disgusting grinding and scraping sound, the toes slowly splayed and Tinowa's face came into view above them. When she spoke, though it was only a hissed whisper, her voice sounded like a windstorm that could uproot trees and grind down mountains.

"Stop running!"

Ladny gulped and froze when she looked up, a vague image from her dream shooting through her head. So her sister hadn't forgotten about them. She had just decided that it was best to nearly squish them under her paw so they couldn't get away from her. Maybe she needed to touch them to use her powers.

"Don't scare us like that!" she yelled back nonetheless. She was aware that her sister couldn't hear her, but hopefully she could at least see enough of her to make out her flustered gestures.

"Tell her to grow us, too!" Mignon raised his voice beside her.

She looked at him, then back up at Tinowa and shook her head. "She can't hear us. And she knows already. She just has to ... hrgk!"

Ladny gave off a surprised cough when the toes suddenly moved back together, squeezing her against her brother and trapping both of them in between.

"Ghh! TIN!" Mignon shouted, his voice cranked up in pitch. "Stop it! Grow us back!"

What seemed like a light pressure to Tinowa amounted to an almost crushing force for her two little siblings. They already got the feeling she didn't plan to make them big at all, their panic rising with mental images what could happen to them if Tinowa wasn't very careful. But then the pressure lightened somewhat ... as their bodies began to push back.

Between the toes they shifted and struggled and they could feel the rough texture of the paw pads rubbing over them, but it didn't brush left or right or any other direction, but inwards. They were continuously stretching out of the grasp, their heads sticking out the top, their hind paws dangling below until they hit the ground. It didn't feel like much at all, except for a little sense of vertigo from the sudden shift of perspective, but they were growing alright. Only when Ladny and Mignon couldn't fit under Tinowa's paw anymore, the pressure lifted and their growth stopped.

It took them a moment to notice the change. They were many times bigger than they had been a minute ago, they could probably already step on their former selves without even noticing, but they were still left diminutive before their sister, not even as big as newborn pups to their mother.

"Why did you stop!" Ladny inquired, raising her head towards her sister. The smile she got in return creeped her out, making her fur stand on edge, as soaked as it might be. Her commanding tone got stuck in her throat. "You ..."

"You look so cute", Tinowa whispered back. Her voice was down to much more comfortable dimensions.

"Tinowa!" Mignon stepped up. "Come on, make us normal again!"

Their sister hesitated for a moment, looking down at them, before she set down her paw. "No", she simply said.

Mignon blinked, startled. "What do you mean, no? Can't you do it? Then wake up Mommy so she can help!"

"No", she repeated in a firm, calm tone. "I don't want to."

"What?! You can't be serious!" Her little brother shifted nervously before her.

She had to grin and giggle before she put a serious expression back on. "I am", she whispered sharply.

"But ... why?"

She frowned and lowered her head curiously before them. Mignon staggered backwards when he suddenly came face to face with the tip of her nose.

"Because I like you like this!" she told them, not hesitating to show her canine teeth. Her eyes darted towards Ladny and she, too, drew back a few steps. "You always play together and have fun together and do everything together and I get left behind. You with your special powers ..." The envy in her voice was almost tangible.

"I don't have any ...!" Mignon dared to disagree, but he was blown off his feet by a contemptuous snort before he could finish.

"Then why can Ladny always use her powers on you, but not on me? What makes you so special?"

"That's not because of you!" Ladny tried to explain. "They just don't work that way!"

Tinowa just ignored her. "Now I'm the one with the special powers!" she said, rising back to her feet to tower over them with a playful grin. "And I can play with you any way I want!"

Ladny and Mignon shared a concerned look. She didn't have to read his thoughts to feel the same about their sister ... confused, frustrated, and more than a little scared. Tinowa had always been the quiet one and when she wasn't, she was obnoxious and invasive. Or did they just pay too little attention to her?

"Tin!" Ladny tried to get her attention again. "Tinowa! I promise, when ... when you grow us back to normal, we'll play with you as much as you want!"

"Just make us big again!" Mignon chimed in. "How can we play when we're this small?"

Their sister ignored their pleas. She turned her head cautiously, watching out for their parents, but they seemed to be sound asleep. Turning back to her siblings, she had a mischievous glint in her violet eyes.

"Maybe I'll try what Mommy and Daddy did ..." she whispered.

"What?!"

The pups didn't have any more time to react when Tinowa dipped her head down and snatched Ladny away, holding her by the nape of her neck between her teeth. A step forward and her tail curled down, too, wrapping around Mignon and hoisting him up in the air, carrying him behind her like he had carried her before.

Ladny froze reflexively, pulling her legs close to her body. She didn't know what her sister planned to do with them. She only knew their adventure this night was far from over ...