Baptism of Fire and Blood
#5 of When Worlds Collide
Yes, this involves mainly M/M with the occasional hint for something straight happening (Nothing explicit, though). If you don't like gay, then why did you click the link leading to this story? It obviously says it's "M/M", right? o_O
If you enjoy reading gay furry smut, then do carry on :)
The morning mist rested heavily upon the landing pad located behind the Pegasi Falls Fleet Academy. Row after row of deep blue uniforms stood in the immediate vicinity of the pad, each column having a figure clad in black in front of them. Standing on a red carpet leading from the centre of the pad to the doors of the academy was general Lee, the black jackal's deep crimson parade uniform -topped with a billowing cloak held in place with silvery brooches- was a stark contrast to the otherwise so dark shades of the uniforms of cadets and their instructors.
All of a sudden the nigh-perfect silence was shattered by the roaring of engines as a smooth-lined shuttle descended majestetically from the heavens above. The shuttle landed neatly by the carpet, the hatch on it's side opening to form a ramp down from within the bowels of the vessel. As a figure clad in a long, white robe, adorned with gold and silver, walked down the ramp all the furs present snapped a brisk attention, their arms curling in perfect arcs to
the corner of their eye in a salute.
The guest of honour for the academy's tournament had arrived. Grand Patriarch Randall was a fine example of his specie, the Siberian tiger's body still retaining much of it's former form and definition, though the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes were a dead giveaway of his high age. He carried with him a mark of his status, a staff made of pure gold with an enormous ruby in the top. Despite having the staff, Randall didn't lean against it for support to show he was still just as lively as he had been many, many years ago. Walking on both sides of the Grand Patriarch were his bodyguards, all clad in gleaming silvery power armour, the finest warriors in all of Edenia.
General Lee stepped forward to greet the person holding the most power within the borders of Edenia, the jackal bowing deep as a sign of respect "Welcome to the Pegasi Falls Fleet Academy, your highness. I hope your trip went comfortably."
The tiger gave a casual wave of his paw, smiling most fatherly to the jackal "Oh yes...Yes the trip was quite smooth indeed and thank you very much for inviting me here to watch this little tournament of yours. It is truly a pleasure to get to see the hopes of our future in action." Randall said whilst lifting Lee up from his bowing position by placing a single finger under the jackal's chin "And no need to bow down before an old man like me." He added.
Lee nodded and motioned towards the doors of the academy on the other end of the red carpet. "Very well, your highness, but would you like me to show you around the academy while your quarters are being prepared?"
"Oh yes, yes that would be nice indeed." Randall replied, walking then next to Lee down the carpet lined from both sides by cadets, all of which still stood in attention staring blankly forward.
Later that day, when the rest of the guests -mostly other important military leaders with the occasional local VIP- had arrived, Magrath's group stood in the small locker room waiting for the signal to enter one of the large chambers the construction crew had managed to build in just a couple of short days. As usual, they were all wearing nothing but underwear due to the wires they would have to attach to themselves in order to enter the virtual reality of the simulator properly.
"Jim, Charles...Do behave this time around. That is an ORDER." Magrath said sternly as he saw the rat and the hyena nudging and poking each other to shoulder with seemingly increasing force.
A cool female voice, the voice of Arianna the academy's AI, broke through from the speakers, stating quite monotonously "All participants of the tournament please proceed to your places."
"That's our cue, let's roll!" Magrath ordered and marched then out of the door, his cadets following right on his tail. They walked past a soldier, who told them the right chamber in which the "coffins" they were going to use were located.
The chamber wasn't any different from the one in which the academy's students trained at, the round room lined with simulators. The simulators themselves were like grey, metallic sarcophaguses lifted upright, although they were only decorated with various buttons and a couple of lights.
"Take a simulator and get in, cadets. It's time to show the rest of the academy what we are made of!" Said Magrath in brisk tone, the cadets replying with the usual, sharp "Sir, yes, SIR!"
Jim peered around the inside of the coffin, a frown appearing on his face. There were no wires hanging from the ceiling, the usual white light within the simulator device having also been replaced with a lime-green one. Something was definitely different about the whole coffin, and it certainly wasn't just the light...
From within a speaker the rat heard general Lee's voice "All cadets and their instructors have now entered the simulators. As you may have noticed, we've made some changes in them. We will soon start filling the simulators with Neuro Conducting Juice, so no need to panic. It may at first feel like you were drowning, but the juice is rich with liquid oxygen so you can breathe it."
Jim saw several vents opening in the sides of the simulator-coffin, a cold, slightly oily liquid starting to fill the small chamber. The rat had to gulp down a lump that had formed to his throat as the thought of drowning started to fill his mind; an age-old instinct hidden somewhere deep within his genetic code.
General Lee went on "The NCJ will give you players a more accurate control of your bodies and more realistic feeling of wounding and so on--" The liquid sloshed over Jim's chest "--And I repeat there is absolutely no reason to panic, for we have tested time and again to ensure they are really safe." Jim had his doubts as the juice flushed over his nose and mouth, soon covering his body entirely. He held his breath as long as he could.
After a few moments, maybe a minute and half later, Jim felt his head spinning, his lungs burning, craving for him to draw in oxygen, but some instinct for survival prevented him from doing it. The rat tried to relax, finally drawing a deep breath of the juice and...nothing happened!
Jim blinked a few times, slowly breathing in and out, the liquid flowing easily in and out of his lungs, allowing him to breathe instead of drowning him.
A sudden stabbing pain in his brain made him black out.
The voice of general Lee brought Charles back to his senses. Just like Jim, Charles too had felt the pain as the juice activated, sending them to the realm of virtual, simulated reality.
"The first round is simple and same for each and every team. You will face off against a randomly determined opponent, scoring points from kills and losing them from own casualties. The objective is really quite simple...capture the opponents' flag." there was a pause before the jackal's voice could be heard again "So without
further ado...Let the tournament begin!"
Charles looked around himself, seeing simple walls made of durasteel forming winding paths around the simulated battlefield; a maze with sandy ground.
Other members of their team, all armoured with helmets and ballistic camo vests and with matching uniforms underneath. Everyone was holding a Magnetic Accelerator Rifle, the small size of the gun looking almost humorous in the claws of Emberglaze and Zeke, who were more fit to carry the heavy weaponry.
"Hey! Daniel! Looks like you won't get to using a sniper just yet, huh?" said Charles with a big grin.
The husky grinned back "Machala hasn't deemed it needed yet, Charles. In time I will get to spread his holy whoopass on all who dare to cross my sco-" he was abruptly cut off by a MAR-bullet hurling through his chest, the force of
the impact sending him flying against a wall.
A cold, metallic male voice boomed through the battlefield "First blood!"
Magrath appeared from behind a wall, clutching a vibro-sword and a Magnetic Accelerator Pistol "We are under attack! Stop standing there like targets and take cover!" Just then another bullet went whizzing past Damien's helmet,
ricocheting from it's side.
Needless to say, Magrath's cadets took cover on the spot, levelling their weapons towards the attackers who were surging from one cover to the other.
The cadets started to lay down a withering blanket of fire, forcing the opposing team to take cover or be torn to shreds.
Magrath pointed at Damien, Katie and Alan "Circle to their flank from the right." Came the lion's order, the three cadets nodding before proceeding to do as ordered, sliding along the walls to get to a flanking position.
"Sir? Which team are we up against?" Asked Zeke, the croc withdrawing behind a wall to reload.
"Hmmm...Seems like it's captain Frost's cadets." Magrath replied after having checked the team rosters from a scouter placed over his left eye.
A gurgling yelp, coming from Charlie the fox, drew their attention back to the combat. A lucky shot from the opponents' side had hit the fox square to the throat, causing the canid's head to pop neatly off, his limp body
collapsing to the sand which was rapidly turning red from the blood gushing from the stump of his neck.
Jim let out a low whistle "They sure made this a lot more gory and realistic, that's for sure."
Meanwhile, the small strike team slipped as quietly as possible along the walls to make a surprise attack on the opponents. As silently as only felines can they sneaked, listening to the surprisingly silent firefight raging on not far from them.
Because the MARs didn't need to use gunpowder, there was no real sound when it was fired, only a small clacking sound, followed by a zipping, whizzing sound as the small projectile flew through the air.
Damien peeked around a corner. There they were! Crouching behind the metallic walls were the cadets of captain Frost, the captain herself -a fennec fox- standing a bit to the back in a relatively safer place to guide her
troops.
A smile curled on Damien's muzzle as he motioned Alan to his side, explaining then with hand gestures for the cheetah to take aim and take out captain Frost.
Alan nodded. He lied flat on his stomach on the dusty ground, adjusting his scope a little bit as he took aim. All he would need was one shot...After Daniel he was the second most accurate sniper in the group, so the task shouldn't be too hard.
Just as Alan was about to squeeze the trigger, Frost turned her head. The female ducked behind a wall, Alan's bullet whizzing harmlessly over her head.
Damien grabbed Alan by the neck, heaving the fellow feline up as Frost's cadets started to fire at them. "Lets get out of here!" the panther shouted.
Just then a primed grenade landed at their feet, thrown by captain Frost. Damien's eyes opened wide in horror as he watched the fusion charge lying on the ground for a single heartbeat before it detonated, the violent fusion reaction resulting in a micro-scale sun forming for a second, incinerating the flanking team before they had a chance to realise what happened.
Meanwhile, Magrath watched the data rolling on his scouter, his expression turning ever more grimmer as the KIA tag appeared next to the names of Damien, Katie and Alan. His plan had failed, resulting in the opposing team gaining a whole load of points. This was NOT a good start at all...
Magrath looked around his group, breathing deep several times before roaring at the top of his lungs "Cha-aarge!"
The cadets looked at the lion for a moment, completely thunderstruck. Jim was the first one to stand up and dash from his current hiding place to another, leaning then around the corner to provide covering fire to allow the rest to shift forward.
Just as Magrath lunged behind a section of a wall, barely avoiding a bullet zooming past his leg, he heard Frost shout out the exact same order as he had. "So this is going to be settled in melee, huh?" the lion thought to himself. He tossed his pistol aside; there was no need for it right now.
Magrath wheeled around the corner, coming face to face with a rather nervous-looking ferret girl. The lion swung his sword in a deadly arc, neatly slicing the girl in two, the rapidly vibrating blade of his sword literally shaking the material it cam in contact with apart on a molecular level.
A small rustling of sound somewhere to his right caused Magrath to spin about, only to notice captain Frost holding her sword pointed towards Magrath.
"I guess you and I will settle this the old fashioned way, Magrath." Frost said with a bit of a smile.
The lion waved his sword in front of him in a loose figure eight to warm himself up, a grin splitting his face as he did so "Seems like it...Don't hold back just because I'm a guy."
Jim darted from behind his cover. The rat dashed on the sand for a few feet before colliding with one of Frost's cadets; a fox about the same size and build as Jim was. The fox tried to ram Jim with his weapon, but Jim blocked it with his own. The two of them snarled and growled at each other, the muscles of the two of them straining as they tried to overpower and push the other one down. Jim found, much to his surprise, that he was fighting a losing battle. Apparently the fox had been hitting the gym more often than Jim had.
"Damn! If I don't do something fast, I'll lose!" The rat thought to himself, coming then up with a desperate plan. He coiled his tail around the handle of the knife hanging on his waist, unsheating the blade and summarily plunging it to the soft spot between the fox's jaw bone.
With cold eyes Jim watched the look of surprise spreading on the canid's face as the blade pushed deeper into his skull. Jim twisted the knife half a circle around in the wound before pulling it away, the fox immediately collapsing like an empty sack.
The rat spun around in search of a new opponent only to notice one of Frost's boys grabbing Marcus by the antlers and ramming the buck's face on his knee time and again. Jim simply turned away, starting to watch the clash between Frost and Magrath.
Many other cadets, too, from both sides had ceased fighting just like Jim had, the ringing of blade against blade seemingly entrancing them all.
Magrath snarled fiercely. The lion tried to decapitate Frost with a neat swing from right to left, but the fennec ducked and aimed a stab to Magrath's stomach which the lion countered with a sidestep. Like that the two of them duelled on, the similar powers of their swords preventing them from slicing the other's blade apart.
With a mighty swing over the shoulder Magrath got what he had been wanting to the whole time: he forced Frost to use her sword to block the strike, resulting in a deadlock. Immediately the lion released one of his paws from the sword, smashing it then as hard as he could against Frost's face. The considerably smaller fennec crashed against one of the many walls and slid down on the ground.
Knowing better than to waste time idling around, Magrath stepped over at Frost. He turned his sword around and stabbed down, the vibrating blade easily cleaving through Frost's body and ultimately embedding to the ground.
Frost's remaining cadets gathered together, whispering for a moment amongst themselves before one of them, a rowdy wolverine, turned around with a smile on his face "We yield." he simply stated. The battlefield started to distort and ripple before finally fading away, replaced by a large hall with light-grey walls. A large score board dominated one of the walls, though as of yet there were no statistics on it. Little by little more cadets joined the growing crowd in the hall as they either got eliminated or games ended.
Alan darted to greet his fellow cadets, flanked by the rest of the team who had gotten eliminated, including Marcus.
"That was weird." The cheetah said "Everything just went first bright with the grenade, then black and then I was here."
Charles flashed a grin "Kittycat got fried, huh? That explains the stench of burning fur I picked up on the field..."
"Shut up." Jim said and punched the hyena's shoulder, immediately receiving the gesture back.
Before the two of them could start an all-out brawl, Magrath stepped in. The considerably larger lion grabbed both Jim and Charles by the neck and separated them, growling angrily. "Can't you two just knock it off for a moment? Focus on this tournament and fight at your own time goddamit!"
Magrath's cadets all shuddered at the lion's words. It was the first time ever the captain had cursed directly to his cadets. Even Emberglaze, though being taller than Magrath, took a step back, his eyes opening wide in slight shock.
Jim and Charles both reeled under the anger of the lion, their ears and heads drooping meekly low in a display of fear despite the fact they were inside a simulation.
Sighing deep Magrath continued, much calmer this time "I don't want the two of you bickering any more. That was a direct order, so do you understand it or do I have to repeat myself?"
"Yes sir..." The two replied in unison and Magrath let go off of them.
The scores appeared on the list, everyone turning their heads towards the large board to see how they had done. Captain Steele was number one, followed by captain Lahti with just three points of difference. Next was Magrath -two hundred points behind Lahti- and fourth was captain Davis' team.
"Damn! I can't believe those Steele's idiots are that much ahead of us." Said Jim, slowly shaking his head.
Magrath simply grinned, crossing his arms over his chest "This just means we need to pick up the pace...Come on you lot. We've got to win this thing for all those that had to depart from our group."
For several hours the tournament raged on. Magrath's pep-talks had seemingly increased his cadets' will to fight, their rank in the tournament rising sky-high in no time as one captain after the other lost to them.
Most spectacular feat of Magrath's cadets was Emberglaze's decimation of the opposing team's convoy during a Protection mission where Magrath's team was the attacker. Emberglaze's fiery breath wrecked serious havoc in the opponent's team.
At long last, once again in the score counting room, tension was building up. It was time to see which two teams had made it to the finals. The excitement in the simulated room was so thick, that one could've cut it with a knife. The board flashed to life, the statistics jumping on it all at once.
"By Machala..." Daniel whispered.
Magrath's team was number one! The second place was, much to everyone's surprise, a tie between Lahti and Steele.
"Well, well, well. Seems like we can't decide fairly which one, Lahti or Steele, should go to the finals with Magrath's team. Therefore we will have a very special match. If Magrath's team wins the tournament is over. If, on the other hand, the allied forces of Lahti and Steele win the next round, there will be one more match between them. Ladies and gentlemen...It's time to see if Magrath's group can handle being the defenders in Against the Odds!"
The room went dark once more, replaced by an armoury. Jim looked around, eyeing the racks of various guns and armour. They apparently got to pick a set of their own for this match instead of getting a premade package.
"The opposing team consist of total of twenty players each of whom get five respawns, so Magrath's team has a total
of one hundred opponents to slay in order to win. The attacking side does not get to use their commanders, since the elimination of the team's captain results in defeat. The defending side gets no respawns whatsoever." said the voice of general Lee.
Magrath whistled sharply "Everyone! We apparently have to defend a fortress of some sort against a horde of invaders, so focus will be on heavy weaponry. Daniel and Alan, get snipers you two. Emberglaze and Zeke will take on the heavy support. Go wild the rest of you."
"Sir!" The cadets replied, scattering then like leaves in wind around the well-stocked armoury to find something fancy to use. Jim settled for a mono-filament katana, a black full body stealth suit and a small one-handed SMG. Charles, naturally, picked up two sets of pistols.
Mostly the rest of the cadets took the standard issue MAR, pistol and a knife to go with the camo-green outfit and armour.
Emberglaze donned a heavy suit of power armor equipped with a shoulder-mounted rocket pod and a six barrelled catling MAR. Zeke went with a fusion rocket launcher, explosives and a pistol.
"Everyone ready?" Asked Magrath, receiving nods and the odd shout as an answer. "Alright. Time to go kick some serious fuzzy butt!"
Thirty minutes into the game and absolutely nothing had happened. There was no sign whatsoever of the opposing team, though it wasn't that bad a thing. It gave Magrath and his group time to get into position inside the smallish fortress built entirely of concrete and steel. The fortress itself was built with its back resting against a sturdy rock wall, so the attackers had only the option of coming from West, East or North.
Emberglaze and Daniel, accompanied by Charlie, had taken point inside a tower from which Daniel had a clear aim for the large rock-strewn field spreading around the fortress.
The remainder of cadets were positioned on the walls with Susan and Damien acting as Magrath's bodyguard deep within the bowels of the fortress' winding corridors where a small office lied.
Already Zeke, who showed great talent as a demolitionist, had wired the Eastern and Western entrances with explosives which could be remotely detonated to cave the entrances in.
Minutes ticked by and nothing happened.
"Where in the hell are they...?" Charles finally asked, getting a shrug from Zeke as a reply.
Suddenly Katie's mic gave a crack of static "Katie? I want you to go and scout ahead, see what is taking them so long."
"Roger." answered Katie, the agile cheetah leaping down gracefuly from the wall and landing into a neat crouch before trotting on her way. She sneaked from one cover to the other and soon vanished into a small patch of forest
directly North from the fortress.
"Godspeed, Katie." Alan muttered under his breath, watching his sister entering the woods through the scope of his rifle.
"This whole simulation is pretty well done." Katie thought to herself as she darted amidst the trees. She had abandoned her armour to lighten her load, though she had kept her helmet; her long hair wasn't very camouflaged now that she had dyed it to a flashy shade of shiny blood-red with equally shiny black stripes here and there; a bad idea considering she was the fastest runner and thus best scout the team had.
A sudden snapping of a twig made the cheetah hug the ground in a flash, the girl jumping into a dense bush with only a soft rustle of leaves.
"You sure we can do this, Lex?" Asked a voice from somewhere to Katie's right.
With a snarl the gorilla answered "Don't be an idiot...of course we can win this. Just use your darned equine brains for a moment. There's a total of hundred of us and only a dozen of them so this will be a breeze."
"I don't know...from what I heard they are holed up inside a fortress and they've had time to barr--"
Alexander cut the equine abruptly off "Just shut up and do as you're told."
Katie didn't' dare to even breathe as she saw several pairs of booted feet marching right past her hiding place.
Just as she thought it was safe to go and started to crawl backwards, a heavy foot landed on her back, making the cheetah scream in pain. "I found one of them!" The voice of her assailant called.
Pinned to the ground face down, Katie knew her options were limited. She was going to be eliminated from the game...
"But I'll take at least one of them with me!" she though to herself, managing to pull her sidearm out. She took a wild shot over her shoulder, getting rewarded with a pained yelp and the opponent staggering backwards, allowing Katie to leap back to her feet.
She could see she had been spotted by a tiger who was almost ridiculously muscled even for one of his kind; Steele's boy. The blood trickling from the tiger's cheek told Katie just where she had hit. "You are SO busted now, bitch..." the tiger snarled.
Before Katie could do as much as blink her eyes, more pairs of hands grasped at her. A short struggle ensued, during which someone shouted "Get her alive! She might be able to tell us what we are facing in that darned fortress!"
Not wanting to get caught alive to blab about their defensive plans, Katie started to frantically claw, kick and bite at the ones trying to pin her to ground. Nobody knows just exactly how the cheetah girl managed to pull out the grenade, remove the pin and press the detonator twice, causing the explosive to go off immediately.
Despite getting eliminated from the game, Katie had done a valuable service to his team by reducing the number of attackers by at least seven.
Back in the fortress, inside the small office, Magrath watched grimly at the monitor displaying Katie's vitals, seeing them first flare, then flicker and ultimately flatten. The lion tapped open a communications line to the entire team "Katie's KIA, folks. They are coming, so be prepared."
Ten minutes later Magrath's team spotted movement amidst the woods. One of their opponents was careless, sticking his head out from behind a tree for a split-second too long only to receive a bullet shot by Daniel straight through his eye.
Realising where the wind was blowing this time around, the opposing team made a wild dash out of the woods and into the rock-strewn patch of land, darting from one cover to other whilst desperately trying to avoid the hail of fire Magrath's cadets were raining down on them.
The attacking team fanned out to minimise the casualties caused by Zeke's rocket launcher and to attack from all three possible directions.
In the highest point of the fortress, within a small tower, Daniel was kneeling by an opening. Charlie was guarding the entrance in case of unwanted visitors and Emberglaze stood in another window, peppering the area beneath them with bullets.
The husky felt at peace as he sighted through the powerful scope of his rifle. "Lord Machala hear the prayers of me, your humble servant Daniel Webber." He saw a figure within his scope and with a pull of the trigger the lynx was sent hurtling backwards with a hole on his chest.
"Lord Machala please guide my hand, make my bullets fly true--" another enemy fell, his head shattering to bloody pulp "--for yours is the power both here and within your mighty halls. Lend me some of your strength, for I am weak without you, my Lord." Once more an enemy, a large tiger, fell as he crossed Daniel's scope.
"My Lord I pray for your guidance, so that I don't have to travel in the dark. I fear no foe, no danger--" Daniel squeezed the trigger once more, another foe falling to the ground, clutching at his chest "--for I know your hand is there to guide and protect me. Let not one of your flock walk astray on this perilous, dark and winding path."
Almost casually, automatically, Daniel swapped the magazine of his rifle, placing then his eye against the soft plasti-foam eye rest once more. "Even if I would walk alone in the land of darkness, I will feel no fear for you are there to guide me like a beacon during my darkest hours." The husky saw a large gorilla levelling a rocket launcher towards him. Daniel wasn't worried, though, he knew he had all the time in the world to take the enemy down before
he could shoot.
Daniel squeezed the trigger, smiling to himself. An expression of cold horror spread on his face as another figure, a large timber wolf, jumped into the bullet's way, leaving the gorilla unharmed. Hastily Daniel turned his head to shout to Emberglaze and Charlie "Guys! Get out of here!"
Neither of the two had time to react before the rocket smashed to their position, shattering the tower to pieces and causing it to collapse.
Susan and Damien had rushed to aid in the defence of the Western entrance, both of them kneeling at the doorway and peppering the ground outside with everything they had. The sudden explosion from above made Susan look up just as Damien was reloading.
The same lynx Daniel had shot mere moments ago, already respawned, jumped over the rock behind which he was crouching. The lynx, one of Lahti's boys, stabbed his knife to Susan's neck, the white fur of the female hare splattering red with blood as she fell to the ground; dead.
Damien got his weapon reloaded and swung around just in time to see the lynx turning towards him. Without a second thought Damien pulled the trigger and emptied the entire clip to the lynx's stomach, the feline's body twitching as
the bullets tore through him with terrifying velocity.
The black panther saw faint movement from the corner of his eye and span around to face the next opponent.
The equine tried to kick Damien, but Damien hurled himself backwards, thus avoiding the otherwise lethal hoof. "Zeke! Blow the western entrance now!" The feline shouted to the intercom. The explosion ensuing a scant second later locked Damien's ears, a falling slab of concrete crushing both his head and the body of the equine.
Meanwhile, within the ruins of the tower, a scaled black claw shot up from amidst the rubble, the battered figure of Emberglaze, his armour reduced to a few odd pieces of metal hanging here and there, rising up from amidst the destruction.
The dragon was, to say the least, fucking pissed off, his eyes nearly ablaze with fire as he shook the rest of the dust away. With several beats of his powerful wings the black dragon took to the air, intent on ripping something or someone asunder.
Soaring high in the smoky sky, Emberglaze sought out his prey. Already the two glands in his jaw were producing the two different fluids which, when combined and blown to motion, would create a roiling blast of napalm-like fire.
The dragon saw at least six opponents clustered somewhat tightly together behind a rock, waiting for a chance to advance. Emberglaze pulled his wings tightly against his body, plummeting down towards the unsuspecting foe as silently as a shadow. Just on the right moment he extended his wings, preventing thus himself from crashing to ground. He took a deep breath, willing the glands to produce a large dose of the luids which combined in his mouth, and then blew strongly outwards, the jet of flame engulfing the dragon's prey.
Soaring to the Eastern side of the fortress, Emberglaze saw several opponents already dashing in from the door. Once more the dragon rushed downwards, this time colliding with the trio of enemies and effectively knocking them to ground.
Swiftly the dragon rolled back to his feet, grabbing the head of the first enemy he saw between his large hands, squeezing then with all his strength. The wolf caught in Emberglaze's hellish grip screamed in agony as his skull started to crack, the canine's scream ending abruptly as his head burst like a watermelon, spattering bits of bone, blood and various other things everywhere.
Horrified by the ruthless brutality of Emberglaze's attack the two others turned tail and tried to flee, only to be caught by the head and smashed together with crushing force. With a roar of delight the dragon tossed the broken forms of his enemies aside.
He could taste and feel the warmth of blood sliding along his scales, a small voice in his head marvelling at the realistic side of the simulation. However, a much larger and stronger voice within him told him to slay, to maim and utterly destroy everyone that stood in his way, and the dragon found he liked the voice...
Zeke, accompanied by Alan, Charles and Marcus, knelt behind a small section of wall on a sort of a balcony which ran around the entire fortress. Moments ago the crocodile had been asked to cave one of the entrances in, so without hesitation he had hit the button.
As another rocket soared towards a duo of opponents, blasting them away from the game, Zeke cursed loudly. "These guys are gonna swarm over us! Where in the hell is Jim?"
Alan dropped a foe, his entire body trembling with excitement and fear. He, too, had noticed the realism of the simulation, so he though getting hit would hurt and that made him scared. "I...I don't know. Haven't seen Jimmy since the beginning."
"Goddamit!" Swore Zeke as a MAR bullet glanced off of his artificial arm. "He'd better show up fast or we ge--" The croc was cut mid-sentence as another bullet struck him, to the throat this time. He gurgled incoherently whilst clasping his hands on his neck, trying desperately to prevent himself from bleeding to death or then suffocating.
"Zeke!" Alan shouted, turning around to try and help his brother in arms. "Lie still, Zeke! Oh man...I think he's going to be out."
Marcus swept the ground below them with a hail of bullets. "Back to the wall, Al, these guys are almost on us!" A shot just below the rim of his helmet dropped the reindeer on the spot, his body collapsing like an empty sack on top of Zeke's now motionless form.
The cheetah boy stared in horror at the warm blood pooling around the two. Most horrified he was by the sheer scent of the red liquid, which rent him incapacitated with terror. The constricting fear didn't allow Alan to turn his gaze, so he didn't see the enemy, the same lynx Damien had killed some time ago, once more respawned, jumping over the wall and slicing the cheetah across the back with his knife.
Toni smiled in delight. Another opponent was down, killed by his knife. He spun around as he saw something from the corner of his eye, a spotted tail vanishing into a doorway leading to the bowels of the fortress. Toni tapped the scouter on his temple, noting the reading "Casualties: 88. Lives left: 2."
"Just one more respawn left...Guess I'd better make the best of these two lives." Toni thought to himself as more of his allies jumped over the wall.
A dark shadow, followed by a bestial roar, was the last thing Toni saw before being sent to the darkness for his last respawn.
With a crash Emberglaze landed on the neck of a lynx, shattering his bones with his sheer velocity and mass. A roiling blast of fire incinerated another opponent, the dragon's eyes filled with nigh insane delight at the carnage. Not much was left of the seemingly ever-drowsy, sluggish Emberglaze everyone had previously learned to know.
Something thudded hard into his back time and again followed by a sting of pain. Emberglaze spun around to see what it was that caused him such discomfort. A tiger and a gorilla were wildly firing their MARs at his direction, the ultra fast bullets striking the dragon like hammers.
Emberglaze roared as his body was being torn to shreds, even the mighty dragon finally succumbing to the withering hail of fire laid by Alexander and his feline companion.
The dragon fell to his knees with a thud, the red haze slowly subsiding like a veil being lifted. He sputtered blood all over the concrete before falling to his side, his eyes cold and lifeless.
"Lets go...We have that damned nosy lion to kill." Alexander said coldly, kicking Emberglaze's lifeless body as he passed by.
Charles dashed into Magrath's office, noting the lion was looking at the monitors displaying the vitals of his team. So many of them had flattened... Only Charles', Jim's and -surprisingly- Alan's displayed any motion.
"Sir! It's a total mess out there...The enemy have already penetrated the fortress and soon they'll be here!" Charles said hastily.
Magrath looked over his shoulder at the hyena with a small smile "Calm down...We still have our trump cards: Jim and you."
Commotion from the corridor outside the office made the two of them spin around, Charles immediately raising his pistols, prepared to take each and every opponent, who dared to come into view, down.
One of Alexander's lackeys, the large, buff stallion, rounded the corner and was met by a storm of metal from Charles' pistols as the hyena time and again pulled the triggers, roaring in anger.
The rush of adrenaline as the bullets tore through the opponent was indescribable, the macabre satisfaction Charles got out of it being something completely otherworldly. Without thinking he rushed to the corridor, downing another enemy with a ruthless barrage from his weapons. Third enemy, too, fell down with an agonised shout.
Charles noted it was the very same lynx, Toni, who had killed off Kittycat not long ago. Toni was still moving, so quite casually Charles put a bullet to his head to end his misery.
"Well that was easy..." The hyena thought to himself just before a heavy fist smashed to the top of his unprotected head with bone-shattering force, dropping him on the spot.
Alexander stared impassively at the fallen hyena, kicking him to stomach once before carrying on with the remainder of his team.
The gorilla simply refused to believe the much smaller group had reduced their numbers to mere seven. "Those guys have fought like infuriated demons..." Lex thought to himself, snarling at the unpleasant thought.
"Gunther...Go first. We don't know if that darned lion is armed or not." Lex told to a bull, who was also one of Steele's boys.
"Thanks a lot..." Gunther replied sourly, sticking then his head around the edge of the door leading to Magrath's office. A white-hot bolt of plasma, followed by several others of the same kind, hit Gunther to the face and chest, instantly killing the bull.
Suddenly there was a loud, unpleasant humm and Magrath shouted "Oh shit!" just before there was an ear-splitting explosion. Dashing into the office the six remaining attackers noticed Magrath was caressing what little stump of his right arm was left, the malfunctioning plasma pistol having incinerated the arm almost entirely.
"Time to die..." Alexander snarled, firing a bullet through Magrath's shoulder, hurling the lion on top of the small desk.
Jim, who had been simply watching the fight for the most part, deemed it time to get into action. With a punch he sent the grill of the air conduct vent clattering to the floor, following himself soon after with his sword held loosely, comfortably in his armoured fist.
Even as he landed he sliced the monofilament sword through the head of one of his enemies, spinning then around like a whirlwind of death and destruction, dropping two more with ease before they had even time to realise someone was still alive to oppose them.
A punch to the helmet truly rocked Jim's world, the metal buckling under the force of the impact. Nonchalantly Jim tore the helmet off, casting it aside like a broken toy.
A cool, confident smile curled on the rodent's face as he once more turned to face his enemies, easily ducking beneath a sideway swing. In one fluid motion he spun around in a crouching position, slamming his armoured leg to the back of Alexander's knees, dropping the gorilla down.
A sudden sting in his shoulder drew Jim's attention. The stallion goon of Lex had driven his close combat knife to Jim's left shoulder blade. Luckily his armour had absorbed the brunt of the strike, so he was still able to work his left arm reasonably well.
Jim spun the sword nimbly around in his paws as he rotated his shoulders, wrenching thus the knife away from the stallion before slicing his extended arm neatly away. The rat was rewarded with a fountain of blood gushing all over his face and armour, partially blinding him but he didn't care.
Even as Jim spun around, a knee collided with his side, sending him crashing against one of the walls. "Goddamit! It's hard enough fighting one, lest alone three..." Jim though to himself as he weaved to the side to avoid another
kick from the buff tiger.
The two of them, the tiger and the equine, seemed to be Alexander's closest "minions", so it was no wonder the trio was working together. Jim managed to grin "Three on one...Don't you think that's a bit unfair?"
"All's fair in love and war asshole!" Lex roared as he tried to cave Jim's skull in with one of his massive fists.
Jim dodged by stepping to the side, only to have to throw a backflip to avoid the equine's fist. Jim knew, that unless he took the offensive and fast he'd be worn out in no time. He was good, perhaps the best in Magrath's team when it came to martial merits, but even he had his limits.
Jim made a daring lunge, attempting to slice away the equine's head. Much to his surprise the equine didn't move a muscle as Jim's blade slashed through his neck. All too soon Jim understood why: Alexander had been waiting for something like that, so he was prepared to ram the rat into the wall like a football player in olden Terra.
With a clatter Jim's sword fell to the ground as wind was knocked from his lungs, the entire world starting to swim in his eyes as he collapsed to his knees. Slowly Jim shook his head, trying to grasp a hold of reality again. Only barely he realised a shadow was looming over him; Alexander, poised to end him.
Jim clenched his eyes tightly shut as he heard Lex's roar, but the fatal strike never came! As he opened his eyes, he saw the bloody, broken form of Alan with a MAR in his paws leaning against one of the walls. With his last bit of strenght the feline had dragged himself all the way to the depths of the fortress, and still managed to shoot reasonably well towards the gorilla. Not that it was hard to aim at something as large and bulky as Lex was...
There was a sickening crunch as the tiger of Steele's team rammed Alan's head against the wall time and again, crushing the helpless cheetah's skull like the shell of an egg.
"Kittycat!" Jim shouted, feeling his temper soaring at the sight of Alan being brutalised in such a way.
The tiger turned around, starting to run towards Jim, but the rodent was faster. Jim drew his sub machine gun from it's hip-holster, emptying almost the entire clip to the tiger's body. From a point blank range the results were
devastating, the feline collapsing into bloody heap.
The gun got slapped away from his paw, followed by a punch to his face, stomach, an uppercut to the jaw and another straight punch to the face. The flurry of blows sent Jim reeling, staggering blindly backwards and tripping over the corpse of the equine. The head of the equine was staring at him with an almost triumphant expression on it's face.
Swiftly Jim turned his attention back to Alexander, who was once more looming over him. Jim tried to stand up, but somehow it appeared as if his body was being reluctant to answer his commands. Alan hadn't killed off the gorilla,
the poorly aimed shot having only punched a neat hole to Lex's arm.
"There...Is nobody left to save you asshole...Game over, you suck, so don't bother trying again!" The gorilla roared, aiming Jim's own gun at him.
Jim spat blood and saliva at the gorilla, not being able to do much else "You haven't won yet you inbred bastard..."
The cocky grin on Lex's face turned into an angry snarl. Defiantly Jim glared into the gorilla's eyes, determined not to give Lex the pleasure of seeing him feeling disappointed over his defeat. A lone shot rang around the corridors, heralding the end for the Tournament's Cityfight part.
A paw was roughly shaking him, but he felt so comfortable just lying there! Jim didn't want to wake up, having apparently fainted at some point. Much to his surprise it was Charles' grinning face he saw. A hefty trace of blood was running from the hyena's mane, across his forehead and down between his left eye and the base of his muzzle.
It took Jim a moment to realise he was still "alive" in gaming terms. "Wh-What happened?" He managed to ask weakly, feeling like he had gotten hit by a stampede of bewildered dragons.
Charles dropped down on his ass next to Jim, the pistol in his paw falling to the floor with a clatter. "Well...We won, that's what happened."
"Huh?"
With a grin Charles threw a glance at the lifeless body of Alexander, a neat hole in the left side of the gorilla's back indicating the entry point of the hyena's bullet. "Shot through the heart...and I'm to blame."
Later, much later, when the SpaceCom part of the tournament was over too, celebrations were at full swing in the mess hall of the academy.
Despite their hard-won victory in Cityfight, Magrath's cadets weren't as cheery as they should have been. They had clearly lost the SpaceCom, which was more important due to the nature of the academy. All because their ship, the EES Damnation, had been deemed by Arianna to be so strong, that their modifier for Victory Points had been 0.25 which meant for every four points they made in the simulation, they got only one whole actually out.
Lahti's team had won with flying colours, having easily outmatched everyone and as a reward they would be graduating six months earlier plus they got an extra month worth of vacation before stepping into active service.
For their victory in Cityfight, however, Magrath's cadets got an extra month into their summer break, so it wasn't all that bad.
The music was playing loud and from somewhere most of the captains had produced metallic kegs of beer and cider, though officially the cadets were still way too young to drink.
Majority of Lahti's cadets were standing on one of the long tables with their arms on each others' shoulders, singing loudly alongside the music in their own tongue.
"What are they singing...?" Jim asked. He was sitting with the usual trio of Marcus, Alan and Charles plus Katie and Zeke by a round table that had been brought there just for the occasion.
Katie cocked her head to the side, her ears swivelling lightly in concentration "I think...Yes, they are singing something about heaven being ablaze in fire...something about the sound of truth on high mountains and how 'the spell of blood-oath is always as our protection, the sign of metallic brotherhood.'"
Charles chuckled. The hyena had already downed a trio of mugs of beer, so he was well on his way to being quite tipsy "How do you know what they are singing?"
Katie shrugged, sipping at her cider once before replying "I've taken some extra lessons in valhallan with Arianna. Thought it couldn't hurt to know another language."
"You've been spending way too much time around Kittycat, Katie." Marcus commented merrily whilst ruffling the headfur of his boyfriend. Nobody noticed the cold, icy glance Jim gave the reindeer.
A couple of hours later it became obvious several pairs and the occasional trios of cadets from various groups were starting to head away from the mess hall. With quite a bit of glee Charles pointed out towards a pair of captains, whom they recognised to be Frost and Lahti, were heading away, Lahti's paw deep inside the pants of Frost.
Katie had left some thirty minutes ago, mumbling something about needing sleep and Alan had left soon after her, claiming to visit the bathroom. He hadn't returned, however.
Charles was obviously not feeling too well, his head pressed firmly into his paws with his ears drooping quite low. With a whimper he lifted his head from his paws, turning to look at Jim then "Hey...Jim? C-Could you give me a hand and get me to my room..? I don't feel too good..."
Jim, who was just about to drag Marcus to the side and have a few chosen words with the reindeer, snorted in disgust at the hyena. "Who told you to drink so frikin' much? You should know better than just drink as much as you can possibly pour down your throat..."
Charles managed to let out a small growl, though it was followed by a pained vince "Come on...I need a hand, not a lecture right now..."
With a deep sigh Jim helped the hyena up from the chair, carefully getting Charles' arm around his neck so the spotted fella wouldn't fall so easily. "You ready?" Jim asked, getting a nod from Charles. "Okay..."
Huffing a little under the weight of the drunken hyena, the not-exactly-sober-himself Jim started to escort Charles to their quarters. The rodent couldn't help but keep remembering what he had seen by the lake, the picture of Marcus sucking Alan off like tattooed to the back of his skull with fiery ink.
With a hiss the door labelled with Charles' name slid open. Jim helped the apparently totally wasted hyena on his bed, sighing then deep in relief "Man you are one heavy hyena...Well, I guess I'll be off for tonight. You stay here and sleep yourself sober, okay?"
Just as Jim stood up to leave he felt Charles tugging at his sleeve. "Stay a little while, Jim, okay? I..." The hesitation in the hyena's voice was apparent, but of the drunken slur there was no sign. "I want to talk to you."
Jim sat down on the edge of Charles' bed, the hyena heaving himself into a sitting position next to Jim all of a sudden. Jim was puzzled. How could the hyena be acting so coherently with so much alcohol in his system? From what Jim knew, Charles should've swooned around like a straw in the wind!
"First of all...I'm not as drunk as I allowed you to understand, Jim...I blended all my beers with almost two thirds of water." Charles began, staring intently to the floor.
"I'm still not fully sober, mind you, but I don't think I'd dare to say this if it wasn't for the alcohol..." Jim opened his mouth to speak, but Charles silenced him with a demanding gesture of his paw, the hyena's eyes firmly held shut. "Please...Let me speak, okay?"
For some reason Jim got the feeling he had been through something similar some time ago, but he remained silent as Charles went on. "I know we both have had more than our fair share of fights in the past. Sometimes it's been friendly, sometimes not, but...I still l-like you quite a bit, Jim..."
"Hey...I like you too, Charles. I mean...we've been buddies ever since the beginning, right?" Jim replied, chuckling then lightly at all the memories of the 'incidents' Charles had mentioned.
Charles shook his head lightly. He couldn't believe he was finally, after all those years, going to talk about how he felt. "It's not like that, Jimmy...I like you more than just a friend. I...For many years now I've been hiding how I really feel for you." The further he went, the hotter Charles could feel his face was growing with embarrassment. He had no idea how Jim would react to all this info all of a sudden...
"B-But...But all those times we've been fighting almost for real? Especially as of late..." Jim said quietly, stammering a little as his suspicions on what Charles was trying to say grew.
Charles shook his head "At first I started doing it to deny my feelings for you. After that I just kept up the facade once I came in terms with the whole thing." The hyena turned to face Jim, placing one of his black-socked paws on the rat's thigh. With a nervous smile he stared into Jim's eyes before finding the courage to say "Jim...I-I love you...There's no way around it for me, and I don't want to deny and hide my feelings from you anymore."
Jim felt a lump forming in his throat. He had been through the same ordeal with Alan, having rejected the feline back then, only to later on regret it. Jim stared back at the hyena's eyes; those eyes which were both filled with fear and hope in equal measure.
Suddenly Jim's perplexed expression melted away into a small, warm smile. There was something about Charles' honesty and behaviour which reminded Jim of Alan not long ago and that certain something hit a soft spot within Jim.
Seeing Jim not get angry, but smile instead, made Charles sigh in relief. He had been afraid Jim would freak out entirely, but that didn't seem to be the case; far from it! Charles threw his arms around Jim's neck, burying his face to the rat's shoulder. Being at a loss of words, he knew not what to say so he remained silent instead, simply hugging Jim close to himself.
Slowly Jim put an arm around Charles' upper back, resting his cheek against the side of the hyena's head. From within his pocket Jim drew the small disc containing what he had seen at lake Silvanor. "How could I even think of doing something as low as blackmailing Marcus into leaving Alan...?" Jim thought to himself. "It's not like me to think that way and they seemed so happy together anyways..."
Jim dropped the disc to the floor, carefully then placing his heel on it and grinding it to hundreds of small pieces against the metallic floor before fully embracing Charles with both arms.
For a while the two boys simply held each other close, enjoying the tight embrace. A little hesitantly Charles broke the embrace to slowly stroke one of Jim's dark-grey cheeks and to look into those gorgeous eyes of his. Charles felt like he could drown into the depths of those two beautiful hues and wouldn't even mind if he really did. He leaned in closer and closer, his head turning a little to the side, until he felt Jim's soft, velveteen lips pressing against his own. It was like a dream come true to Charles, who had been trying to deny and hide his feelings for almost four years now.
Shyly Jim answered to Charles' kiss, his head tilting to the opposite side to that of Charles as he pulled the hyena even further against himself. Jim wasn't entirely sure how to act in a situation like that, but for sure he knew it all just...felt right, as if lost pieces of a puzzle had fallen to place.
Jim withdrew his arms from around Charles to take his jacket off, soon followed by Charles' jacket, both of which Jim discarded quite nonchalantly to the general direction of the small table.
Breaking away from the kiss, Charles licked his lips and giggled in a very hyena-ish manner. He grasped the hem of his undershirt and pulled it over his head, just as Jim did the same. Neither of the two was what could be called muscled, but they had a clear, nice definition to their bodies due to the amount of exercise Magrath put them through.
Slowly Charles placed his paw on Jim's chest, tracing over the various shapes and curves as if trying to learn them all by heart.
Suddenly Jim, in the spur of the moment, took hold of the paw trailing along his chest and slid it smoothly underneath the waistline of his pants and underwear, allowing Charles to touch his slowly hardening maleness. Jim found the touch of his lover to feel actually pretty nice, much better than if he had stroked himself, and by the expression of pleasant surprise on Charles' face, Jim thought the hyena was enjoying the feeling too.
Deftly Jim pulled down the fly on his pants, slipping then the button out of it's designated hole. Charles murred lightly in delight as he gained more room to work with, his black-socked paw sliding a little shakily but determinedly along the rat's sheath.
Having stroked Jim for a moment, Charles stood up and undid his own pants, letting them fall down, past his thighs, knees and shins, to the floor. He then stepped out of the pants and turned around, his thumbs underneath the elastic of his underwear. Teasingly slowly Charles pulled his underwear down, gradually bending more and more over to offer Jim a clear, good view at his spotted rump.
Charles grinned inwardly -and outwardly too- as he looked over his shoulder from his bent-over position and saw Jim staring at him. Charles knew the sight of his rear-end was nothing really new to Jim -they had after all had countless communal shower sessions over the years- though this time it was in a wholly different setting.
"Enjoying the view?" Charles asked quietly, his tail swishing slowly from side to side, thus giving the rat several good glances at Charles' virginal tailhole.
Jim swallowed rather hard, nodding then several times "Y-Yes...Very much so, actually." The small bulge on his underwear had grown considerably during Charles' 'revelation' and the hardon was straining uncomfortably against the fabric of his underwear.
Charles noticed Jim's growing problem, so he straightened up and walked over to Jim, the hyena's index finger neatly sliding underneath the elastic on Jim's underwear. Slowly Charles pulled the elastic further and further away and down from Jim's body, the rat's maleness soon enough getting freed from the confines of the restricting fabric.
Sighing deep to calm his racing heart, Jim lied down on the bed and hooked his knees close to his chin, releasing himself then from his remaining clothing much faster than Charles had. True enough he felt a little nervous to be naked in Charles' room. Even more so when the equally naked, and slightly tipsy, Charles was accompanying him. Jim didn't want to back away, though. Charles was admittedly a real cutie and seemingly well equipped judging by the size of his sheath; from within which a pink glans was already jutting out.
Jim motioned Charles to get to the bed with a nudge of his head; something which the hyena was more than eager enough to do. Charles lied down on top of Jim, the hyena's arms resting neatly on the sides of Jim's head. The two of them shared another kiss, this one much, much more passionate than the previous, experimental one. Perhaps their mutual arousedness and the feeling of their malenesses rubbing against each other was the reason for it, perhaps it was due to the fact they started to get more comfortable with being so intimately close to each other.
With a slight smack of his lips Charles broke the kiss, withdrawing then enough to observe Jim's entire face. "Everything in you, Jim, just...makes me feel small explosions in my stomach."
Jim flashed a somewhat toothy grin, his nigh unbearable feeling of lust bolstering his courage enough to make him say "I bet I could make you feel something else inside you..."
Charles burst into a hearty laughter, which slowly withered into snickering and ultimately faded away, the expression on Charles' face turning rather serious. "Would you really want to?" He asked quietly.
"I...Yeah." Was all Jim managed to say.
With the things the various adult magazines he had stashed away had taught to him in his mind, Charles slid down Jim's body, a sly grin on his face as he did so. "I know I can't let you go in dry...That might feel uncomfortable for the both of us."
As Charles reached Jim's crotch, the hyena breath out a blast of warm air over the rat's gently throbbing maleness, making it give a visible twitch of anticipation. Jim lifted his head from the bed to ask "Are you going to...?"
"Suck that gorgeous dick of yours? Oh yes." Charles concluded for Jim. He was only mere moments away from fulfilling one of his fantasies. Jim's timid, shy voice, however, made the hyena stop and grunt in surprise.
"H-Hey Charles? Could I try r-rimming you?" The rat inquired, feeling immediately the insides of his ears changing colour from a slight tinge of red to a deep shade of crimson.
"Two flies with one stroke..." Charles' alcohol-doused brains whispered to him. Out loud the spottybutt simply said "Alright."
Charles threw one of his legs over Jim's body, straddling the dark-grey rat. He then slowly backed enough for himself to be as easily accessible to Jim as Jim's throbbing maleness was for him. Charles made the first few moves by lifting his tail to give Jim a clear view to his lovehole and by lowering his head between Jim's legs. Slowly the hyena parted his lips, his smooth pink tongue sliding out to give the glans of Jim's maleness a tender lick. Jim moaned softly so Charles went on, giving Jim's glans another experimental lick, then another and another and another, all to which Jim responded with louder and louder moans.
Finally Charles couldn't hold himself back anymore. He parted his black, velveteen lips even more to allow the tip of his ratty lover's maleness slip into his hot, moist muzzle. Slowly Charles began to bob his head up and down, making sure his tongue slicked up every single bit of Jim's maleness. Quite experimentally Charles also added in a bit of suction, smoothly suckling on Jim's cock as his head moved up and down along the meaty length.
Jim couldn't help but moan as Charles slowly -and quite literally- sucked his dick. The rat did remember what he had promised to do, so after a couple of short moments he got to it. He tenderly placed his paws on the two pert buttocks in front of his face, parting them then enough to get all the space he needed to rim his lover.
Sighing deep Jim pulled Charles' rump towards his face as well as lifting his head from the pillow. The pink lovehole in front of his eyes seemed to quiver softly in anticipation and Jim felt Charles tense up slightly. "Here goes." Jim thought to himself as he opened his muzzle, his tongue slashing forward to give Charles' lovehole a small lick.
The rat was pleased to see the positive reaction his small lick coaxed out of Charles, the hyena gasping quite audibly as he worked with Jim's maleness. Jim took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled it. Still a little shyly he gave Charles' lovehole another lick, much longer this time. Gradually Jim -just like Charles- picked up his pace, giving the hyena's tailhole longer and stronger licks the more comfortable he got at doing it.
Charles thought he was going to go insane with lust, his hyenahood throbbing painfully between his legs as he sucked Jim's cock and had his tailhole played with both at the same time. With a slurping sound Charles lifted his head from Jim's rathood, managing then to breathe out "Jim...I...I can't take this any more. Mount me already!"
Jim wiped his lips at the back of his paw, a grin splitting his face as Charles shifted a little further on the bed into an all fours position, the hyena's tail high in the air as a further invitation for Jim to take him, to make love to him and to complete their love. Slowly Jim got on his knees, shifting then behind Charles and gently grasping the hips of his spotted lover.
Slowly Jim pressed his maleness inside the silently whimpering Charles' tight passage. Jim felt a little concerned at the obviously pained sounds Charles was making, but the hyena just kept whispering for Jim to go ahead, to finally fill him after the long wait.
In a slow pace Jim started to buck his hips, noticing much to his surprise how easily he could move within the virginal Charles' lovehole. Jim wasn't the only one enjoying the sex, for amidst the whimpers moans started to occur more and more constantly as Charles' body got used to the intruding organ sliding slowly within his bowels. Both of them felt equally good, one with humping the other and the other being humped by the one.
Jim, under the ushering of Charles, gradually adopted a faster, harder pace, his hips like a blur of motion as he mated Charles with passion. The slick precum Jim was producing in healthy amounts definitely helped to smooth things up and it showed: an unbreakable, constant stream of moans was coming from both Charles and Jim as they enjoyed the
carnal pleasures of sex between two males.
Jim could feel his pelvic bone pressing against that of Charles, the rat's fuzzy balls slapping softly against the hyena's thighs. Jim could feel his cock growing a little numb -a herald of an approaching climax. He wanted to keep going as long as he could, though, so he slowed down his humping from short, fast thrusts to slow and long ones.
"G-Getting close?" Charles inquired whilst slowly stroking himself to satiate his own lust whilst Jim was satiating his inside the hyena's tailhole.
"Yeah..." Jim managed to reply with a nod. He knew he couldn't take much longer, and try as he might he eventually came inside Charles, his cock spilling forth several squirts of semen which painted Charles' insides white. As Jim came, so did Charles, the hyena's maleness spasming several times before a nice dose of sticky cum erupted from it, messing up the bed sheets.
With a deep sigh Jim withdrew from Charles' tailhole, causing some of his seed to seep out and mix with Charles' seed on the bed sheets. Charles slowly turned around and lied down next to Jim, absently stroking the rat's cheek. Neither of them wished to break the perfect moment with crude words, simply basking in the afterglow of their orgasms and enjoying the fact they had finally found each other...
Marcus felt worried. Alan had said he'd only go take a leak and then return, but he hadn't shown up. The reindeer arrived to the dorm-section of their group just as Jim and Charles were laying in each other's arms, enjoying the feeling of two lost virginities.
Checking his watch, Marcus discarded the idea of asking Jim and/or Charles if they had seen Alan whilst coming up to the dorm-section. "I bet they are both sleeping away their drunken haze..." the reindeer thought to himself, huffing then slightly in frustration. It wasn't like Alan at all to just vanish without as much as a word, even more so now that the cheetah and Marcus were a pair.
Marcus knocked on Alan's door, but there was no response. The reindeer then took a glance at the mechanism next to the door, the green light of which indicated the door was not locked. He opened the door, which slid open with a silent hiss. The sight which greeted his eyes as the light from the corridor spilled into the dark room made Marcus stagger backwards, his voice suddenly gone...
Alan had just finished his business in the bathroom, a bit of a smile on his face, as he saw his sister Katie approaching him. The reason for Alan's smile had been the obvious sounds of sex between two males coming from one of the stalls.
"Hi sis. I thought you already went to bed?" Alan greeted his sister.
Katie seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking around to see if anyone was nearby to hear them before replying. "Can we talk for a moment? In your room if it's possible?"
Alan wasn't exactly sure what it was that Katie wanted, but he saw no reason not to listen to what she had to say so he motioned Katie to follow him, saying "Uhh...Sure."
After a trip spent in eerie silence, during which Katie had appeared to be more than just a little stressed as if she had been bursting to say something, they arrived to Alan's room. Katie followed Alan in and the door closed automatically behind them.
"What is it, Katie?" Alan asked quietly as he turned to face his twin-sister. Alan felt a sting of worry in his stomach as he saw the strained expression on Katie's face. Despite her feeling like a pain in the ass every now and then, Alan none the less loved Katie like a brother should.
"It's just that..." Katie began, seating herself then on the edge of Alan's desk and staring intently at her feet. "There's something bothering me, bro..." She concluded.
Alan was more than just a little puzzled by what Katie had said. Of late, ever since their group had been split, the cheetah girl had seemed more and more stressed; so much so, that she had once even spent the night sleeping in Alan's bed. "You can tell me what it is. If you can't tell your brother, then who can you tell?"
Katie remained silent, still seemingly absorbed in examining her feet.
"Katie...?" Alan asked quietly, a clear hint of worry in his voice.
Still the girl said nothing, but she seemed to have made up her mind as he stood up and marched over to her brother and...Threw her arms around him, whispering to his ear "Can I sleep here again, bro?"
Alan naturally nodded, holding his sister close and replying "Of course." He had no reason to say no to her. "Feeling lonely again?" Alan then asked.
"Yeah..." Came Katie's reply.
In a few short moments the two of them were sleeping, Alan holding Katie firmly, protectively against himself.
Just then the door slid open, revealing Marcus who stared at the scene for a full five seconds before turning around and walking away. Alan woke up to the sudden flash of bright light. It took him a moment to realise it had been Marcus standing in the doorway, and that the reindeer must've misunderstood the whole situation. He bounced up from the bed, hastily pulled on his pants and darted after the reindeer, shouting "Marcus! Wait!"
Katie mumbled something drowsily as Alan jumped out of the bed and ran after, apparently, Marcus. For a short while she tried to figure out what was all the fuss. Katie was not, however, stupid, so she guessed -quite correctly- the moment she woke up a little more: Alan and Marcus had to be a pair! The way they had been acting of late around each other and how they had gone to lake Silvanor without Jim and Charles... She also understood what must've caused such a reaction in Marcus.
Katie followed Alan's example, though she got fully dressed before leaving the room to chase after Alan and Marcus. "He must've thought Alan and I had... That we... I have to find him and tell him nothing happened!" Katie thought to herself, shivering a little. In his own way Alan was cute and sweet, but he was also her brother for crying out loud. The idea of 'getting it on' with Alan made Katie shiver. No, she had to tell Marcus how things were.
Katie thought she heard some quiet ruckus coming from one of the toilets in the bottom most floor. Upon arriving there, she found Alan on his knees, leaning against the wall and nursing -apparently- a broken nose. Alan gave a whimper as he noticed Katie, weakly nudging to the direction of the toilet from within which the sound of running water could be heard. "He's in there...He thinks...He thinks we..."
Alan was clearly unable to carry on, so Katie concluded for him. "He thinks you cheated on him by having sex with me."
The look of surprise on Alan's face despite the pain he felt looked quite silly in Katie's opinion, her brother stammering as he said. "You...You knew?"
Katie shook her head, smiling then to Alan "No, I guessed only a moment ago and you just confirmed it." Alan's ears and cheeks turned to a shade which matched the red staining his slim chest and nose, so Katie hastily added "I'm glad for you, though. Marcus is quite a nice guy."
As she moved to enter the bathroom, Alan called after her "Be careful... I've never seen him this mad before."
Quietly Katie stepped into the toilet, spotting almost instantly the figure of Marcus, his face dripping with water, standing by a sink, leaning his horned head against the wall.
Upon noticing Katie's presence, Marcus simply said "Fuck off... I've got nothing to say to you or anyone for that matter."
The rudeness of the normally so cheery and polite Marcus felt like a slap against the face for Katie, but she was determined to clear things up. She felt guilty for the current situation, having pressured Alan into sharing a bed with her again. "You have nothing to say to me? That makes things more simple, as you can now listen to me."
Katie's comment only ever got a snort and a snarl out of Marcus, so she went on. "You probably think I had sex with Alan, right?" Marcus opted to remain silent so Katie went on "Look...What you saw may have indeed looked suspicious with Alan spooning with me, but I would never EVER even imagine doing something like that with him."
An uneasy silence fell with Marcus staring into oblivion with his head still firmly resting against the wall. Katie took a couple of steps closer to the reindeer. Suddenly Marcus spoke "Do you love him, Katie?"
Katie chewed on her lower lip for a short while as she formed an answer "Yes, I care for him deeply just like siblings should." She stepped even closer to Marcus, coming this time close enough to place her paw on his shoulder. "There's nothing deeper than that between me and him, Marcus... The fact he ran after you proves in my opinion, that he has to house feelings for you. Why else would he run the risk of being caught by one of the staff and getting
punished for staying up outside the hours, despite this being a special occasion?"
Marcus pondered Katie's words for what seemed like a long while. Finally the reindeer sighed deep and stepped away from the wall, shaking his head. "I'm a hasty idiot..."
Katie couldn't hold her tongue back, so she said "That you are, but I'm quite sure Alan is willing to forgive... You broke his nose, by the way."
"Fuck!" Marcus almost shouted, dashing then past Katie -who was starting to get a bit annoyed at people constantly running past her like she didn't even exists- and out of the toilet. He stopped dead on his tracks as he saw the whimpering form of Alan huddled up against the wall. Slowly the reindeer knelt beside Alan, who was still nursing his broken nose.
"I...I'm sorry, Kittycat. I jumped into conclusions and..." Marcus started, but he found it hard to carry on with the lump forming in his throat constricting him.
Alan managed to smile and he placed his free paw -the one not trying to suppress the flow of blood from his nose- on Marcus' thigh "It's okay...I guess the way you got mad shows you really do care."
"Care? Yeah, that I do, and a whole lot to boot with." Replied Marcus, pulling Alan then into a warm, loving hug.
Alan giggled as he said "Although...If there ever is a next time, would you consider leaving the fists out of your demonstrations on how much you like me?"
"It's a deal!" Came Marcus' reply. He then looked around the corridor, catching a glimpse of Katie's tail vanishing behind a corner. "Think you can walk? We should get your nose fixed... The bleeding looks pretty bad."
"I can walk, alright, but you think doctor B will be sober enough to fix my nose?"
With a toothy grin on his face Marcus helped Alan up and ruffled his headfur "He'd better be, or he, too, has a date with my fists."
So it ends...Another chapter in this saga, which is heading towards it's conclusion. Only two chapters remain to this serie! Stay tuned for "Blood of the Patriots" sometime in the future, my dear readers.
As always, feel free to comment :)