FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*some months ago*

"Did you guys manage to see?" Erin said excitedly but with a hushed voice as the three of them sat at their usual table in the mess hall. "Well did you? Huh?"

"If you're talking about whatever it was that they literally cleared out the entire section of the lab between the entrance of the lab to the observation area then no," Chaos replied as he ate his sandwich. "I wanted to leave to go to the bathroom in my lab and they nearly pointed a gun in my face as they politely told me that no one was supposed to leave until the code was deemed clear." When he and Newlyn saw that all the tails of the Kitsune were waving about excitedly they narrowed their eyes at her. "Why, did you see what they were bringing here?"

"It's not a what, it's a who," Erin replied. "I only caught a glimpse because I was with Dr. Winters working on our new payroll system for everyone having to stay inside for the duration of this project and as he was ushering me to leave I managed to catch a glimpse as they turned the corner. Now it might be too soon to say... but I think we're working on the Bal'Kar project!"

The other two shushed her to bring her voice down and the three leaned in in order to attempt to make their conversation more private. "I actually managed to catch a glimpse myself," Newlyn admitted. "I'm not going to say how, but it's some hybrid creature, not sure what else besides dragon but he's got saber teeth so I assume cat. It was hard to see where I was looking from but he's definitely sporting the green eyes that I keeping hearing others say is a dead giveaway that they're one of them."

"Hold on a second," Chaos said as he waved his hands in the air. "I have no idea what we're talking about here, now can someone rewind and tell me what a Bal'Kar is?"

The two told him about the tentacle monsters that have been appearing in various parts of the world, and that when there's one it usually means that there are a whole bunch because they spread like some sort of disease. Though its mostly rumor and speculation they heard that just one drop of the green fluid they excrete and start the transformation into one and that looking into their eyes means that they've somehow already managed to get into your mind. When they described what they looked like the husky asked how that something like that and what they were describing could be the same thing, where they went into how they can disguise themselves into their old bodies before they got turned.

"...I think someone is trying to pull your leg on this one," Chaos said incredulously after the other two had finished their explanations. "Are you trying to tell me that this entire facility and everyone in it is here because they're trying to research some space alien tentacle monster that can turn other people into space alien tentacle monsters?"

"It makes sense when you really think about it," Newlyn exclaimed after taking a bite of his own food. "I've been hearing these guys are becoming a huge problem for the military and they're trying to find ways to stop one of these things from taking over a major city or something. Some guy even went crazy or something because he thought they were going to be the end of the world... either way with all the security protocol drills, containment procedures, and all the secrecy around here it would make sense that we're working on something as big as that."

"Wow... we get to help save the world," Chaos stated before looking at Erin. "You think you can get your friend Dr. Winters to maybe give us a little more information? I'll admit now I'm curious about it."

"I doubt I'm going to get much out of him," Erin admitted. "Plus he's been really distracted as of late, sometimes I'm talking to him and he's got a thousand yard stare, it makes me want to just give him a hug. But I'm sure we'll figure it out, it's not like they're going to let him go out for a stroll or head to town to pick up a few things... he'll probably make a beeline right for the lake."

"The lake?" Newlyn asked. "Why?"

"Don't you remember?" Erin replied with a giggle. "It's not actually a lake, it's a reservoir."

***********************************

*present day*

"It makes perfect sense," Erin said as the three of them walked from the pizza restaurant towards the lake in the middle of the park, the sky becoming dark. "All we have to do is contaminate the lake and then anyone who comes here and uses any of the water the town is supplied with will become a Bal'Kar themselves. Add a few spore trees to the mix and you've got yourself a hot spot that they'll think is because of its proximity to Starpoint."

"I still don't know why we had to stop with him," Chaos replied as he pointed back to the partially transformed bronze dragon, his eyes completely glazed over and his toes and feet already turning black as they led him with a dog collar and leash they found at a nearby store. "Four Bal'Kar can do far better corrupting the water supply then three."

"Because four fully-formed Bal'Kar would have brought that entire pizza restaurant down on us," Newlyn explained. "Plus a lot of bio-extract is produced during a conversion, and while we're doing that Erin can release her spores into the forest. At this point we only have one day left until we need to head back to Starpoint and it's going to take a lot of bio-extract to sufficiently corrupt a pool of that size."

As they got into the park that they had only momentarily stopped at before Erin nodded to them and shifted back into her Bal'Kar form, glowing green liquid already matting down her fur before it became rubbery flesh as she went further into the forest. Already the other two could see that her spore column had started to develop on her back, causing her to be almost weighed down by it as it began to extend upwards in order to pollinate the trees. Though it wouldn't be as effective as a fully-fledged nest being there all they could do was make it so that if anyone walked underneath the infected trees and disturbed them they would breathe in a handful and suddenly need to join the Bal'Kar.

While Erin did that the other two made their way into the waters of the reservoir, the cold water quickly rising up against their bodies as they made their way out to a small, partially submerged island that they used to use to shoot up fireworks. It was the perfect place for three lustful tentacle monsters to be in order to maximize the effectiveness of their transforming brethren without having to constantly swim. As they were getting close to the point where they could plant their feet into the soft, muddy ground they heard a loud snap and turned between them to see that the collar had broken on the dragon's thickening neck. It wasn't long now before he would join the hive, Newlyn and Chaos thought as they began to expand their bodies as well, and they wanted to make sure that they gave him a very warm welcome.

The two Bal'Kar gave the changing male a hug in their tentacles, watching as his partially transformed face looked up at them with a single eye already transformed into its glowing green state. With the introduction of the bio-extract in the basement of the restaurant he was already primed to go, and once Newlyn and Chaos had finished sprouting their own tentacles they took off the psychic blocks that had been slowing down the dragon's transformation. They could already feel the lust completely consuming the dragon and as Newlyn and Chaos began to entwine around the tentacles that were growing from what was once Danny's legs they could hear him gasping in their minds as well.

Join the hive... once more their controllers blasted the male with pure lustful suggestion, enjoying feeling the dragon wiggling both physically and mentally as Chaos took his Bal'Kar cock and pushed into the expanding rear of the other creature. Already the bronze-scaled arms, legs, and tail of the other male had turned completely back while oozing fresh extract into the waters around them. The two were following suit and soon the entire island was glowing green like it had been irradiated as Newlyn decided to take the eggs given to them and not have him hauling them down go to waste. Already Danny was completely into being a tentacle monster, so he was also going to experience the joys of holding eggs as Newlyn's breeder joined with Chaos's as the growing abdomen formed a hole full of seethers large enough for him to take them both.

Newlyn wasn't the only one with eggs to give however and as his own breeder squeezed another one into him he felt it get bumped into by one traveling down Chaos' Bal'Kar cock as well. Their lusts were starting to get the better of them, the desire to see the lake glow green with their bio-extract slowly being replaced with the need to see their new breathren get stuffed full of eggs. Both Bal'Kar wanted to get theirs in first, Newlyn and Chaos both stuffing their slurpers into the maw of the expanding dragon head in order to get more into him. With his body only paritally transformed they could see his still scaled stomach swelling like a balloon, although occasionally they could see the bumps of their eggs pushing it out. Eventually the bronze scales was replaced with black, shiny flesh as they plunged as many tentacles as they could not only into the still-growing convert but each other as well.

"So Newlyn," Chaos sent to the other Bal'Kar mentally, their glowing eyes meeting one another's gaze as Newlyn saw a smile on his muzzle before another egg stretched it open. "This what you expected when we came here again?"

***************************

*some years ago*

"Alright everyone," Erin said as they saw the red light on the camera blinking faster and faster. "Say, awesome trio!"

The other two did the same and the next second they heard a click. Newlyn told the other two to wait just in case and went over to the other side to see how it turned out on the digital display, then when he was sure it was good ushered the other two to do the same. "I can't wait to get this printed and framed," Erin said as she got up on her hind legs to see better. "I assume that you're all going to want a copy?"

"Of course," Newlyn replied with a smile. "Got to have something to put on my desk when I'm running the place."

"Boss cat Newlyn," Chaos teased as they helped Erin put the equipment away. "You think that you're going to be running the show already?"

"Well who knows what's going to happen when we get there," Newlyn stated. "I'm hoping that all of us are helping to run the place once we get settled in. After that who knows where we're going to find ourselves!"

"Well no matter what happens I want us to make a pact," Erin said as they began to walk down the path back into the woods. "No matter where we are or how successful we've gotten we all need to come here and have another picnic, even if we're still in the same facility. I want another picture of us too."

"I think I can manage that as long as they don't send one of us up into space or to Antarctica or something," Chaos said with a grin. "I don't think they have a lot of research facilities on the moon though that only require six months of training, so I think we'll be fine."

'I'm serious though Chaos," Erin replied. "Right here, like two years from now."

"Just tell them you're taking the space shuttle out to get washed," Newlyn stated, the others laughing as well.

"Sounds like I'm locked in now," Chaos said, taking one last look out over the crystal blue waters before they started walking through the woods. "So what do you think we're going to find when we come back here in a few years? Besides all of us running Starpoint."

"Well..." Newlyn said. "The town is probably going to be thriving with all the people that are going to be running the facility, not to mention all those fat government checks that they're going to be handing out to everyone. Maybe they'll even turn the place into a full-blown city, could you imagine coming back here in two years to find them building skyscrapers or something like that?"

'I hope now," Erin replied as she shook her head. "They'll probably get rid of the park or something then, we'll come back and there's some juice place or yoga studio right where we're supposed to be having our picnic."

"The cost of change I'm afraid," the snow leopard stated with a chuckle. "You never know what's going to happen when you start shifting things around. All I really hope for is that we can find the time out of our busy schedules to actually come out here and relax..."

*************************

*present day*

"You know, I'm really glad that we took some time to do this," Newlyn said as they sat back on the blanket they found in an abandoned house, the three of them snacking on whatever foods they could find as he used one of his tentacles to hold the glass that contained his beverage. "I know that this probably isn't exactly the way we thought our next picnic was going to go but we certainly made the most of it."

The others nodded in agreement, watching the sun set over the mountains just like they had done before. It taken almost the entire day to produce enough bio-extract to taint the otherwise pure waters and then after that they went on a hunt for picnic supplies, trying to scavenge what they could from various stores and houses. Fortunately for them a lot of people seemed to have left in a hurry and the gear they had for their latest outing was much fancier then what they had used for the first one. The view had also changed significantly for them from the last time, as the day turned to night and the skies grew darker the streetlights failed to flicker to life and the only light came from the slight green glow that came from the waters themselves.

Soon the three of them were going to make the trek through the woods and up the mountain to wait for the second satellite shutdown. Once they left their newest Bal'Kar Danny would stay behind and put in a call that he was still living in the town and that he had started to feel very strange, then hang up before they could get a decent trace on them. Then he would come up to the Starpoint facility the day after they got back, making it look like some random dragon got infected merely by the environment and went up to join the hive without any aid whatsoever. It would get caught by the spy satellite and likely the next month or so this place will be swarming with military trying to figure out just how a hive of Bal'Kar up in the mountains managed to contaminate a natural reservoir that didn't even get fed by any streams coming from that area.

After that... they were just going to have to see what happened and how much the military was going to respond to such a thing. It was possible this could backfire and they might see increased pressure on the hive, but they know that sending any sort of troops or weapons into such a heavily fortified area was just going to end poorly for them. That meant that they would likely study the area that they contaminated and spin their wheels for a few months trying to figure out how they managed to corrupt such a large area without even touching it.

"If I may propose a toast," Newlyn said as he raised his glass, the others doing the same as their controllers looked at one another. "To the best friends that a snow leopard Bal'Kar could ever have. Whether it's getting the same job or becoming part of a hive of tentacle monsters I'm glad that I was able to do it all with you guys."

"Awwww," Erin said, her slightly mutated tails flipping about and spreading extract all over the area. "That's so sweet." Suddenly the corrupted kitsune jumped up, her eyes widened as she looked around the area while the others looked at her in question. "I almost forgot, if we don't do it now then we're not going to get another chance!"

"Another chance?" Chaos asked before the two watched her go into the bushes and pull out a familiar blue bag. "Wait... you can't possibly mean."

"Yep, it's picture time!" Erin said happily, this time using her tentacles to open the bag and set up the camera while also corralling the others to get behind her to get in position. "I wanted to do it while the sun was in the same general position as before, you know, just to capture the change in time. Since we have to start hiking through the woods pretty much the second we leave here I knew that we weren't going to be able to come back."

"I'm not sure that we're going to be able to fit three Bal'Kar here," Newlyn stated. "We had to transform almost completely back to our guise states just so we could have the picnic without our tentacles dangling over the edge or accidently falling off."

"Then we'll just do it in our guise forms," Erin replied. "Or maybe we should take one with our controller tentacles out?"

Eventually Newlyn and Chaos reminded the other Bal'Kar that she had a digital camera and that they could take as many pictures as they wanted... as long as they did it before the light failed them completely. The three of them quickly took one of themselves while in their guise forms, setting up the picture before Newlyn arched one of his controller tentacles over to make sure the picture looked good before he set off the self-timer with it. Once they were done with that they did a few more in various states of being a Bal'Kar, ending with one in traditional punk-rocker poses with their tongues having been turned into bright green slurpers. Once they were finished the three went over and took a look, smiling at one another when they saw themselves on the screen.

"Oh shoot," Erin said suddenly. "I just realized that I have no way to print these."

The others chuckled at that as they packed away the equipment while the kitsune looked at the ground with a flustered look on her face. "I'm sure we can find someone at the Starpoint facility that knows how we can print these out as well as the equipment to do so," Newlyn explained. "A facility like that probably has all sorts of supplies that we haven't looked into yet because, well, we really didn't need them."

"Probably," Chaos chimed in. "I would be more concerned with how you're going to get those framed."

The three continued to laugh and talk as they walked under the spore-laden trees, hitting up a few stores for some essential supplies before they left the town. While none of them were too keen on having to essentially walk up a mountain they didn't have a choice, the scope of the spy satellite tracking them made sure to cover all the roads in case they attempted to escape or, for some reason, someone tried to get to them. That made them worry a little bit about Danny, whom was back at the restaurant packing a few of his own things just in case they take his call a little too seriously, but when they talked to Serathin about it he reassured them that by the time spy satellite relayed the new Bal'Kar's position it will be too late for them to assemble some sort of strike team.

Eventually the three made it through the woods and to the base of the mountain, sighing as they looked all the way up at the peak they were supposed to get through as night continued to loom over them. "Are we sure that there's no other way that we can just... call a rideshare or something?" Chaos said, the others smirking as they began to walk their way up the rocky ground. "I mean I would pay for it if Bal'Kar used money... I suppose we could just convert the driver."

"I'm sure a car could handle four Bal'Kar riding in it," Erin said as they walked up the trail. "First bump we'd hit would probably break four axels."

"My money would be on the car not even moving," Newlyn chimed in. "Plus we would have to go up the hill... nah, would probably make it about ten feet before we would have to take our tentacles out and start pushing it as we went."

All three of them chuckled as they imagined a bunch of Bal'Kar crammed into a car with their tentacles outside of the windows, leaving a trail of oil and bio-extract as they attempted to get up the mountain. That eventually led into other conversation that helped pass the time while they made their way up. Had anyone been looking and saw three creatures, two of which in pants and shirts, climbing the way they were they probably would have called someone, but thanks to their physiology they hardly felt anything while they made their way up. That didn't stop them from wishing that they could turn into their true forms and just scuttle their way up the mountain to make it faster, though even if they did that they would have to wait anyway until the window opened in the satellite maintenance cycle.

The hike up the mountain took about as long as they thought it would, eventually the three trudging through the snow as the sun climbed over them in the sky before eventually sinking to the other side of them. When they got above the tree line they could see the town from where they were, a shell of its former self with a bit of Bal'Kar bred into it. They mentally reached out to Danny while they were up there and found that he was fine, leaving a few extra gifts for anyone that might happen to step foot inside his restaurant. He was always one to be hospitable, they thought to themselves as they continued their ascent.

Though it wasn't nearly as vital as it would be to anyone else who would be up there the three could sense that the air was starting to get thin as they reached the summit, crystals forming on their fur from the snow blowing around them. The sun was had nearly begun to set, though from this high up they were going to stay in the light for far longer as they looked around the rather flat area. When they were about to move forward they suddenly got a warning from Serathin to stay were they were, the lip that they were on was just outside the scope of the spy satellite and if they moved any further they might get picked up by it. With all the effort that they put into making sure that his presence in their security system remained unseen the three backtracked a bit and found some rocks to settle on while they waited for the signal.

"We should have brought up snowboards or something," Chaos said as he looked down the side of the mountain. "We could easily make Starpoint within the two or three minutes if we were boarding our way down there."

"I can just imagine sliding up to the entrance all cool and slick," Newlyn replied, crossing his arms as a particularly strong gust of wind blew past them. "I have to say though you could do worse for a ski spot, except it's a little rocky down there at the end. Of course we're Bal'Kar, I don't think we really get into ski accidents."

"I hope not," Erin chimed in. "That would be a lot of casting material if we broke all our tentacles falling down a mountain." She looked up with the others as the stars began to come out, the moon poking up just as the last rays of the sun were failing. "You know... since we're probably not going to be able to get back to town anymore to picnic in our usual spot, why not celebrate it here?"

The other two looked at each other, then around at the view. "I suppose if you didn't mind the wind it would be rather idyllic," Chaos stated. "I wonder what our eyes in the sky would think of three Bal'Kar on top of a mountain having a picnic together."

The others chuckled and started to make plans until they were interrupted by Serathin telling them it was time to go. One by one the three ran over the summit of the mountain and started sliding down the other side. They knew they would get there in plenty of time, the three of them growing out their tentacles in order to catch themselves and skitter down the mountain towards the facility, their home...

***********************

Newlyn sat there in front of his desk, holding the famed picture of him and his three friends on that fateful day over the lake. It had been a while since he had gone down there with them, circumstances preventing them from being able to make the trip. As he stared at the three smiling faces he wondered if what they thought was the end of an era really was a beginning? Some could say that they started a whole new chapter there that day, though once could say that about any snapshot moment. Even though sometimes it was hard to tell if things were at the start, in the middle, or even at the end the one thing he knew that as long as he had friends by his side who cared about him no matter what it didn't really matter at what page the story was at.

"Hey Newlyn," a voice said, the snow leopard looking up to see Erin and Chaos standing there with big grins on their faces. "Guess what? There's cake down in the break room! Everyone tried to get their slimy hands on a piece but we managed to grab a slice for each of us and we thought about hanging down in the pool area, you want in?"

"You know it," Newlyn replied, a smile on his own muzzle as he took the picture and was about to set it back on the desk when Erin walked over and looked at it herself.

"Oh man, down by the lake!" she exclaimed, her tails wagging around as Chaos came up behind her and looked at it as well. "Man how time flies, we were so young..."

The other two chuckled at that and Newlyn put the picture away for safekeeping before joining the other two in heading down to the mess hall. "You know they say that no one truly knows when they've taken their last picture together with someone," Erin said matter-of-factly. "That random shot with the two of your smiling could be the last moment that you'll ever be with them."

"That's pretty deep," Chaos said.

"Yeah, I think I read it in a fortune cookie once," Erin replied with a grin as she looked up at Newlyn. "So out of curiosity what do you think that picture was?"

"I think..." Newlyn started to say, taking a deep breath before letting it out and grinning. "I think that it doesn't matter." The other two groaned and stuck their tongue out at them. "What, does it really matter when that photo was taken? We're friends from beginning to end."