FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

[Comments:]

This is the first section of the show that was shown in my first submission, An Evening With Gwen - http://orcas.yiffstar.com/index.yiff?pid=43141 . It's the fourth in my main IZ series and is probably still my favorite of them.

Again I wasn't sure how to classify this kind of thing - there's no explicit sex, but it does have some nudity and is very fetishy throughout (with the 'mud' tag being used again as the closest thing to the actual theme).

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Amy looked worriedly through the specks of rain on the car window as they drew into the parking lot, and she looked around the front of the building for the main doors to the studio as her boyfriend searched for a space.

"You don't think we're too late, do you?" she asked nervously, keeping her eyes on the entrance. Unseen to her, he shook his head, bringing the car to a stop. Amy leapt out of the vehicle before he had even turned the engine off, and started heading right for the doors.

"Calm down, it's only a few minutes past..." Amy's boyfriend, a rabbitmorph named Dexter, leapt out of the driver's side and turned to lock the car, then dashed across the parking lot to catch up with the white-furred mousegirl as she reached the main entrance.

The receptionist, a blonde vixen wearing spectacles, looked up as the two of them hurried in.

"Hi, I was meant to be here for the start of Industrial Zone about ten minutes ago - we got lost on the way, and my phone was out of batteries, and..." she burst out breathlessly. She had to stop to catch her breath, and the receptionist interrupted her.

"Don't worry - Amy, isn't it? We've been looking for you. If you head towards the elevator on the left..."

"Hey!" A call from a corridor to the right made the three of them turn around. Immediately, Amy recognized Alex, the tall and muscular red wolf that hosted the show, dashing towards them with characteristic enthusiasm. He slowed as he reached the desk, and stuck out his hand in front of him.

"You must be Amy," he grinned as she shook his hand. "Glad you got here."

"Me too," she answered, relieved that she hadn't missed her chance. She looked over at the elevator that the receptionist had pointed out.

"I know it's all a bit sudden, but we'd better get going," Alex continued, "the others are waiting."

"Okay." Amy stepped forward towards her boyfriend, giving him a hug. He placed his hands on her curvy hips in response, stroking her lightly through her jeans.

"I hope you don't mind me borrowing your girlfriend for a couple of hours?" Alex asked Dexter.

The rabbit laughed, looking over Amy's shoulder towards him. "Don't worry, I've got something to do."

The hug broke off, and Dexter slid his hands down to join with Amy's. She looked down at them and smiled - he had one white hand and one that was tan like the rest of his fur, and she always found it comforting to look at this unusual feature of him.

"Good luck in there," he said. She leaned forward to kiss him, grinned widely, then turned back to walk towards Alex. He put his hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her into the lift, turning to press one of the floor buttons.

"Don't go easy on her!" her boyfriend called after them. Amy turned around and stuck her tongue out at him playfully, then blew him a kiss as he turned away, giving her a final wave.

The doors closed and the lift began to move. Amy looked up at Alex, secretly feeling a little awkward.

"Thanks for waiting for me," she managed.

The presenter chuckled. "That's not a problem - we were beginning to get worried, though. If we'd waited much longer I would have got Sira on the reception desk to come down and take part - I've been wanting to get her for a while." Amy laughed, but it sounded as if he was only half joking.

She hadn't expected to meet the host so soon, and was struggling to find anything to say. Alex noticed this and made conversation himself.

"So you've been looking forward to this?"

"Oh, definitely." She tried to relax and forget about the panic of the last half-hour. "I applied to come on at the end of the first series, but I didn't think I'd be picked."

Alex chuckled as the lift came to a halt. "That's what everyone says - but it's got to be someone, and you were one of the lucky ones this time!"

The doors opened, and they walked down the corridor together. Amy couldn't take her eyes off the large IZ logo on the wall as they passed it - this entire floor of the studio was the Industrial Zone set.

She looked back and saw that Alex had stopped at a door. The word "Welcome" was stencilled in faded-looking yellow paint across it, and it was bordered by black and yellow danger stripes - the industrial theme started even outside the set.

"I know it's difficult being the last one in, meeting all three other team members at the same time," he said to her as she hurried over. She heard excited chattering coming from the other side of the door. "But I've been talking to them already - it seems like you've got a great bunch of team-mates. Ready for this?"

"Yeah." Amy nodded, and Alex smiled back at her as he pushed the door open.

"I've found our fourth team member!" Alex called into the room as he held the door, and Amy followed him in shyly as three other girls' faces smiled up at her. "This is Amy, everyone," he continued, and Amy nodded to acknowledge their greetings while glancing round at them - a slim rabbit-girl with golden yellow fur and red hair tied back in a ponytail, an attractively curvy skunkette, and a young honey-colored ground squirrel sitting opposite them. All three of the others were already changed - the bunny girl and the skunkette were wearing the show's black and yellow bikini outfit, while the squirrel had gone for the less revealing shorts and T-shirt.

Alex turned to speak with Amy. "I'm just going to run through and make sure the last couple of things are ready - if you get changed just now, we'll get you all introduced afterwards, OK?" He gave a reassuring smile, then dashed through the door on the far side of the room, leaving the four of them alone. Still slightly uncomfortable, Amy looked at the door to the changing rooms, and started towards it. Suddenly the squirrel looked up, brushing a strand of her chin-length blonde hair out of her face.

"What are you going to be wearing?" she asked her as Amy put her hand on the swinging door. She paused a moment, looking at the bikinis worn by the other two girls.

"Swimwear, definitely," she answered.

"In that case, I'm coming in with you - I don't want to be the only one in all this!" She gestured down at her clothing, then sprang up from the bench and started towards her.

"You don't have to -" Amy began.

"It's OK. I'm Coco, by the way." She was about a head shorter than Amy, and had to look up to speak to her, but Amy could see she was practically jumping with excitement.

Amy nodded, answered with her own name and turned to push the door open, hearing her shoes click against the tiled floor as she stepped forwards. The changing room was similar to that of a swimming pool, with a row of changing cubicles taking up one wall and showers at the back.

She held the door as Coco scampered in behind her, heading towards the rack of show outfits on the opposite side and already pulling her T-shirt off over her head to reveal the yellow bikini she was wearing underneath.

Amy reached around her to take a similar set of black swimwear off the rack as the squirrel stepped out of her shorts, wiggling her hips to straighten out her little tail. Turning away, Amy headed over to one of the cubicles. Closing it behind her, she began quickly taking off her clothing as Coco called through the door to her.

"So what made you want to come on?" she asked as Amy wriggled out of her shirt.

"My boyfriend and I both applied after the first series ended," Amy answered her as she unclipped her bra, sliding it off her arms and replacing it with the bikini top. "But I was the only one who got a reply."

"Shame," Coco answered. Amy heard the sound of her pacing up and down in front of the cubicle. "That would have been great, having a couple on the same episode!"

"Well, he's going to enjoy watching me getting messy anyway. I think that was reward enough for him." Sliding the bikini bottoms into place, Amy reached around to slide her long, thin tail through them before pulling them up fully. Even though she felt slightly uncomfortable having a conversation through the cubicle wall with someone she didn't know while getting changed, she could understand the squirrel girl's excitement - she herself had been wanting to appear on the show ever since she first saw it when she was eighteen.

As she checked her bikini in the thin mirror on the side of the cubicle, she paused. Eighteen was meant to be the minimum age for being on the programme because of the possibility of losing clothing during the games - though that was always up to the contestants themselves - and Coco looked a lot younger than the rest of the contestants.

Flicking the lock on the cubicle aside, she bundled up the clothes she'd come in with and stepped out again, walking across the room to the lockers and placing them inside one of them.

"You look great!" Coco enthused, looking her up and down.

"Sorry, but... how old are you?" Amy asked, and shuddered as she realized how awkward the question sounded.

The short squirrel didn't seem to mind the question, and just giggled. "Don't worry, the others asked as well. I'm just eighteen today."

"Oh." Amy nodded. "Happy birthday," she remembered, still embarrassed at having asked.

"It should be - I'm getting to play on IZ, after all!"

Amy smiled at the squirrel's enthusiasm, then looked down at her outfit one last time.

"Coming?" Coco asked, and turned to leave the changing room. Amy followed her as she bounced back into the seating area, seeing that Alex hadn't returned yet.

"How do I look?" she asked, putting one hand on her hip and the other behind her chin-length blonde hair. The others smiled and nodded appreciatively, and she turned back to Amy again.

"Amy, this is Sadie," she said as she stretched her arm out towards the skunk girl, "and Tamara."

Amy nodded to greet them both. Sadie had a curvaceous figure and was grey-black all over, apart from a wide pair of white stripes along her tail and a tuft of slightly lighter fur above her chest. Her hair was a darker shade, almost black, and came down untidily to her shoulders. She kept on having to brush it out of her face with a hand - it was obvious she wasn't used to wearing it loose. The rabbit girl next to her was slim and sporty by comparison - her short fur was golden yellow becoming a little whiter over her chest and tummy, and she wore a confident eager grin as she looked back at her. Her bright red hair was tied back in a tight ponytail.

Coco went back to where she had been sitting, and Amy sat down beside her. "I can't believe we're about to be on IZ!" the squirrel repeated excitedly, shaking her head.

"I know, I've been wanting to do this since I was a kid," the bunny opposite her joined in, leaning back and stretching in the seat. Amy smiled quietly - she was definitely in like-minded company.

She looked over to the team member who hadn't spoken yet as the other two talked about why they applied to be on the show. Sadie seemed quiet and reserved, but was leaning forward with her elbows on her lap and listening to every word the others were saying, smiling as they mentioned the older shows that they used to watch.

"Remember that game where one of them was locked in a gunge tank and the other team-mate had to shoot that foam cannon at the targets around them to stop it from going off?" Tamara asked. The others all nodded - that had been one of Amy's favorites as well.

"I always wanted to be the one in there, they used to get absolutely covered!" she continued. "I did apply to go on, but the show finished the next year."

"So you never got your chance?" Sadie finally said, a soft smile on her face.

"Well, we used to do a couple of messy charity events with my swimming club, but they were never as good as anything I'd seen on TV," the bunny said back to her. A thought seemed to strike her, and she leaned forward, grinning widely.

"Think we'll get the Sludgecube?" she asked, looking round at the three of them. Amy noticed the other two girls flinch, and she shuddered a little herself - she had been hoping that they would avoid that particular room.

At that moment, the door opened again and they all turned their heads to watch as Alex entered the room again. He was now dressed in his usual outfit for the show - a pair of bright yellow drawstring trousers that matched the colour of the contestants' swimwear.

"Miss me?" he smiled, turning to close the door and drawing up a chair so that he was in the middle of the four of them. "Have you had time to talk to everyone a bit, Amy?"

"Yes, it's fine." She nodded, quietly eager to get going.

"All right - I think you all know the basic idea of what's going to happen over the next couple of hours." The red-furred wolf twisted in his seat to get a floor map out of his pocket, unfolded it and spread it out over the low table in the center of the room. The girls all leaned forward in their seats to get a closer look at it - Amy recognised the shape from the wireframe model that was displayed between games during the show, and she looked around the map to see a couple of familiar rooms marked off. "We'll be visiting sixteen of the game rooms around the set. They're already set up for us, so the games you'll be in are fixed but the order of them isn't - the team leader will get to decide that."

"The back story of the show... you've all seen it before, haven't you?" He looked around to see four nodding heads. "Then you'll all know - the idea is that we're going round a complex controlled by a self-aware computer that's setting up the obstacles for us, with the aim of collecting enough points to have the time to shut it off at the end. One of the production people upstairs does the voice for him - he'll only actually appear in a couple of games, but you'll definitely remember it!"

"It might look as if he and I are making things up as we go along for most of the time - we try to keep it as little like a normal TV show as possible as far as cuts and re-takes go," he continued. "Most of the cameras you'll see are going to be remote-controlled ones on the walls and ceiling, though there are also a couple of camera operators that will follow us round. You might see them occasionally - just try to ignore them and pretend they aren't there." He looked around at the four of them. "In fact, I say this to all teams before they start - you'll probably forget you're being filmed at all after the first couple of games. Do you believe me?"

"No," Sadie spoke up, shaking her head as a nervous smile spread across her face. Alex chuckled, and reached into his pocket.

"No one does, but I promise it's true - mostly because of the main distraction during the show. This," he grinned as he produced a small bottle of thick green stuff, "is a small sample of what you're going to be getting covered in." All four of them leaned forward to get a closer look as he sloshed it around in the container, leaving a slowly dripping film on the sides, then put it down on the table. Coco immediately stretched to pick it up, and examined the bottle in fascination, tilting it from side to side as he continued.

"That stuff's made from industrial food thickener, and a bit of colouring," he explained. "It might feel a bit unpleasant, but it isn't harmful - you can get it in your eyes or mouth without it stinging or anything. The only thing to be careful of is that it's obviously slippery stuff - most of the floors on the set have rubber grips on them, so keep to them to stop yourself falling over - particularly if you've just had to climb out of a vat of the stuff." He noticed the team look at each other, the bunny girl's smile getting even wider. "And you'll experience that at least once!"

"Just remember," he said, leaning in closer suddenly, "we want you to enjoy yourselves, even though we're going to get the chance to... pick on you a bit during the games. Remember that no matter what my script says when we're in there, we can always interrupt a game if you're seriously uncomfortable with anything. We've never had to do it yet, but just shout for me if you want us to stop."

The four of them nodded, and he leaned back in the chair again. "Didn't mean to scare you with that... and I think that's everything I have to explain. All we need to do now is choose a team leader."

"Tamara?" Coco asked, pointing at her. The others nodded - she seemed like the obvious choice to them all. The bunny girl leaned back, thinking.

"I would," said Tamara, "but that would mean I wouldn't get to do the swimming bit in the final, wouldn't it?"

"That's true," Alex nodded.

"And I think I'd be good at that," she added. "Anyone else? Coco, Sadie? Amy?"

Amy watched the other two shrink back a little in their seats shyly. She hadn't thought of asking to be the team leader before, but she didn't mind what it involved - picking team members to go into each game, and having a less active role in the final.

"I'll do it," she spoke up. Tamara excitedly clapped her hands together.

"Okay, then I think that's everything! The show starts as soon as we're through that door." He pointed over his shoulder. "All ready?"

"Yeah!" Tamara sprang up from her seat, the others getting up as well. Alex spun around and headed for the door, the girls clustering excitedly around him.

"Have fun, everyone," he said as he pushed open the double doors to the entrance, holding it for the four of them to get through.

Amy blinked as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. The room they had entered was large, circular and metallic, with pipes running along the walls and the ceiling supported by girders. Four corridors stretched off this hub, and opposite the team, a large metal door dominated the back wall.

"Welcome to the Industrial Zone!" Alex said as he turned on his heel to face the team. "Through the door behind me is the computer that you're trying to beat, but to get time in there you're going to have to earn it in the games set up around the complex. Team leader?"

"Yes." Amy stepped forward from the group nervously, still very aware that she was being filmed.

"We've got a choice of four areas to start off with, so where do you want to take us first -" he counted them off on his fingers - "the orbital base, security station, chemical plant or the factory?"

Amy tapped her bare feet on the cold floor, deciding briefly which one to pick as she thought of the usual games in each of them. "The... chemical plant," she said.

"All right, follow me!" Alex turned around again and took off at his usual rapid pace, pointing down the corridor as he dashed towards its entrance. The team ran to keep up with him, eventually passing under a doorway labelled with the building's name, surrounded by special effect smoke. The host was waiting for them on the other side.

"We're here! And it's nearly time for your first IZ experience." Alex crouched down so his face was level with Amy's. "But who's going to be the one to try it?" he asked, looking past her towards the team.

Amy turned around and looked at the other three girls. Sadie stood towards the back of the group, looking a little nervous, but the other two looked very eager to be picked.

"Tamara," she decided. The bunny girl flashed her wide grin.

"All right, are you ready for this?" Straightening up, he offered his hand and she took it, leisurely walking up to his side.

"Yeah," she answered, and nodded, making her long ponytail bob behind her.

Alex took off at a run again without warning, and Tamara stumbled to keep up. After a few paces of running, he turned around, making the others nearly crash into the two of them, and he guided her back towards a door they had just passed.

"Now, normally we try and give teams a gentle start, but as this is the last chance of the series, I think we'll just jump right in," he commented as he effortlessly keyed a long combination into the keypad next to the door with his free hand. "Literally, in your case." The door hummed open and he pulled her gently inside.

The other three girls crowded in behind them as the door closed itself, and Amy grinned as she looked around the room, recognizing it immediately. A large valve wheel dominated the back wall, and in front of it was a round vat, about three metres across with its sides at neck height. Stairs led up around the vat to a higher level at the back of the room. Standing on her tiptoes a little, Amy peered over the edge of the vat and saw a lumpy bright green surface inside.

Tamara grinned back at her team mates as Alex led her up the stairs and around to the edge of the vat, giving her a gentle pat on the back as she curled her toes around the rim, her hands clasped behind her. She looked fixedly down at the gooey surface, then around to the wheel as Alex descended the shallow stairs.

"We're starting off with something quite complex here," Alex explained to them as he rejoined the group. "Basically, your objective is to turn that wheel as far round as you can - you'll get points for how much you've moved it at the end of the time limit." Amy looked up at it again and noticed crude graduations painted on to the wall, going around the circle up to sixty.

"But the trouble is that it's locked in place at the moment, and the keys that allow it to move are up there." He pointed upwards, and all four of them looked up to a rack of buckets suspended from the ceiling, placed about six feet above the surface of the vat.

Amy looked back at where Alex had been, but he had moved - she turned around and saw him coming back from the side wall with a bundle of poles in his hand, like the kind that were used to open high windows.

"And to help you retrieve them, we're going to use a tool that's survived even here - the pointy stick," he smiled, handing one out to each of them. Amy held it up to test its weight, using her other arm to keep it steady.

"So your task is to overturn as many of those buckets as possible - there are six keys in there somewhere. And Tamara's going to be in the slime vat retrieving them - once she puts a key in the panel behind her, you'll be able to move the wheel, and for every turn you make, you'll get ten points." Alex mimed catching his breath after the long explanation. "Got that?"

The three of them nodded, giggling with excitement.

"Tamara, we'll have two and a half minutes from the moment you jump in." Alex stepped to the side of the room, pointing to a large timer above the door. He leaned back against the wall and nodded at the bunny as she drummed her toes on the tank's rim, grinning. Slowly, she leaned forward and jumped off the edge, yelping as she squelched down into the ooze below.

Amy and the others dashed forward and took a side of the vat each, trying to knock over the basins above as Tamara shuffled about in the vat, a slowly-closing furrow being left behind her as she wriggled through it. Skimming her hands on the tummy-deep slimy surface, she kept her eyes on the buckets above her as the other team members attempted to dislodge them.

Amy, surprised at how heavy the buckets were to turn over, heaved upwards and eventually managed to push one so that it tipped. Tamara stood underneath it, her hands held out to catch anything coming out of it. As it fell over, a wave of green slime poured out, hitting the surprised bunny in the face just before she turned away.

Amy put her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh as the bunny shook her head, sending drops of dark green stuff spattering down into the vat, her face and chest stained with its colour. She blinked her eyes open and realised she had caught a plastic white key along with the gunge, and struggled back through the gooey liquid to put it in the slot behind her.

Sadie and Coco tipped the basins that they had been trying just after she turned away, sending more slime down into the vat with a thick glooping noise, but Amy didn't see anything else come down with them. Instead, she moved on to another bucket, poking at it wildly in an attempt to empty it more quickly.

Tamara turned back from the key panel and glanced around at the rack, watching for the next downpour to come towards her. She lunged towards Sadie's side as she knocked a bucket over, but stopped as she didn't see a key.

"You've got about a minute and a half left," called Alex as Coco strained upwards, tipping another bucket down. Tamara turned around and dived at it as another plastic key fell into the vat, and she scooped it out of the ooze just before it glooped beneath the surface.

Amy, concentrating on another bucket, finally got hers to tip over, and watched as the contents poured right on to Tamara's back as she straightened up. She squealed as the green gunge slapped against her, splattering outwards messily as it hit her back, and wriggled to the side to avoid the last drizzle. Stumbling quickly back to the edge, she deposited another key.

"Remember you're going to have to get that wheel turned!" Alex called to them, pointing at the back wall. The three girls outside the vat looked at each other. Amy quickly put her pole down and dashed up the stairs towards the wheel.

Hearing more splashing noises as another couple of buckets were emptied into the vat, she grinned to herself as she gripped the large valve, still hardly believing she was actually on the show. Tugging on it, it gave way a lot more easily than she had thought, and she guided it around to the twenty-point mark, feeling it click into place.

Turning around to go back, she saw the messy rabbit girl holding up yet another key, and put her hand back on the wheel as she waited for her to get back again. As she waded back towards the panel, another white key dropped out of a bucket that Coco had overturned, splatting on to the surface and then slowly sinking.

"Another one!" "Get the key!" Sadie and Coco tried to call above each other to Tamara at the same time, and she turned back to them as she placed the third key in the slot. She pulled her hand out of the gunk and cupped it to her ear as they shouted again, and waded slowly back, pointing at where they were trying to signal her to go.

"Thirty seconds!" Alex called. Amy looked at the timer again as it ticked past half a minute.

Amy watched as Tamara felt around where the key had been for a moment, the other two trying to look between the buckets, watching the bunny anxiously and glancing over their shoulders as the timer counted down towards zero. Suddenly she seemed to find something, and straightened up - then, sucking in her breath, dipped below the surface completely.

After a moment, she burst into view again, dripping thick dollops of green slime from all over her body. Laughing, she held the slippery key up in the air, gunge oozing and trickling down through her fur.

"Ten seconds!" Alex warned, and she jumped around, struggling quickly through the vat and using her hand to scoop gunge out of the way as she moved, Sadie and Coco cheering her on. Amy suddenly realized she hadn't turned the wheel, and put her hands on it again as she stuffed the key into the panel. Hauling it past the thirty point mark, she jumped as a loud hooter blared, then quickly stepped forward again to lock it into place at forty. Breathing out, she turned back to face the room, watching the thin green drips and trickles spatter down into the vat.

"I'll give you that," Alex smiled as he moved from his place, sauntering up the staircase towards her. "Forty points for the first game, everyone! That's not bad at all."

He turned towards the bunny in the gunge vat, and crouched down at the edge to speak to her. Blinking, she grinned back up at him - her entire body was covered in a lumpy light green layer which slowly dripped from her fur as she leaned on the side of the tank. Her tight ponytail hung behind her, heavy with gunge and trailing in the vat. "How do you feel, Tamara?"

"Just great," she answered, shivering at the feeling as lumps of the stuff rolled down her.

"You should do - you did very well." Alex straightened up again, taking Tamara's slippery hands and hauling her out of the pool with some difficulty. There was a sucking noise as her feet glooped out of it, and he gently deposited her back on the floor.

Amy looked on, fascinated with the look of it and imagined how the bunny felt underneath it all. She shivered as she remembered that she might be getting equally covered later on.

"So Amy, who's next?" The host turned to her as Sadie and Coco scampered up the stairs to join the group. Tamara got up and wandered to the edge of the vat again, then dipped her toe back in with a smile.

"Um..." Amy looked between the other two clean girls. The skunkette was looking a little more relaxed now, if slightly out of breath. "Sadie, do you want to?" she asked.

Alex turned towards her as she nodded, and held out a hand to encourage her. As she accepted it, he walked past her down the stairs, turning her round, and took off at a run when they reached the door of the room. The others dashed to catch up, Tamara trailing behind a little as she wiped the gunge from her head and face.

Sliding to a halt, Alex hung on to Sadie as she stumbled, and guided her to face a heavy door set into the wall. It had a barred window in it, and sections of the walls around it were also barred so that the team could see the gloomy interior.

The chamber wasn't much more than six feet square, and the only feature was a black swivel chair illuminated by a white spotlight in the ceiling. Walking forward and peering up through the bars, Amy grinned as she saw there had been no effort made to hide the large cylinder of yellow gel-like stuff suspended above the seat, a cone-shaped nozzle directed down towards it.

"We call this the Questioning Room, Sadie," Alex commented, and she turned back to him. "It's a pretty simple game, but I'll have to warn you that it involves a direct conversation with that computer you're trying to beat."

The skunkette squirmed a little, looking down at her feet. "Okay," she said, suddenly facing back up at him and nodding.

"He's going to ask you ten questions, and if you don't get enough right... well, you'll find out. I'm not sure what the limit is, but as it's the first round I've tried to get him not to be too harsh."

Leaning forwards, he began keying in a combination on the panel next to the door. "As we're starting in the chemical plant, you're going to be quizzed on chemistry - are you any good at it?"

Sadie laughed a little. "It's my major in college," she answered.

With a buzz, the lock clicked open. Alex put his hand on the doorhandle, and returned the smile as he swung it open.

"In that case, I think that we're about to get a very disappointed computer," he chuckled as he nudged her inside. Amy heard her gasp as she saw the canister above the seat for the first time, and looked to her sides as Tamara and Coco clustered around to watch. The short squirrel gripped the bars and pressed her face up against them to see.

Sadie padded around to the front of the chair, her eyes fixed on the gunge reservoir above her as she turned around and eased herself into the swivel chair, tapping her fingers and looking around to see if something would happen.

Suddenly, a loud bass tone played from unseen speakers, and a screen gradually faded in in front of her to show the red polygonal skull-like face that represented the computer. It just stared at her for a while, floating gently on the screen.

"Hi," she said quietly, lifting a hand off the seat and waving it slightly. Coco burst out in giggles, covering her nose and mouth with one hand to stifle herself.

"You need seven out of ten to pass." All four of them jumped at the booming electronic voice, which continued immediately to ask Sadie her first question. "What is the chemical symbol for iron?"

"F - e". The skunkette seemed surprisingly unintimidated by the giant face, and answered confidently, staring right back at it.

Amy listened as the questioning continued. Sadie seemed able to answer them all, with only a couple causing her to pause slightly. Eventually, the face vanished from the screen, and was replaced with a large figure zero.

Sadie tapped her fingers on the arm of the seat, waiting for something to happen. Slowly, the number on the screen began counting upwards, indicating the amount of questions that Sadie had got right. She leaned forward as it paused on five. Suddenly it changed to six and stopped again. The rest of the team looked up at the tank worriedly, only for it to click on to seven, then continue to eventually reach ten.

Amy looked sideways at Tamara and Coco, who were looking as shocked as she felt. Suddenly the bunny girl whooped and clapped her hands for Sadie, who was smiling at them relaxedly from inside the chamber.

"You're all right! Come out of there, Sadie..." the host called above the cheering, stepping forward to open the door again and showing her out with his hand. She hopped down from the chair, obviously pleased with herself, and walked confidently out into the corridor again to be greeted by her cheering teammates. The squirrel girl skipped forward to hug her ecstatically as she came through the door.

"Ten out of ten right - that's amazing, and earns you a full sixty points for the game," Alex said, closing the chamber's door behind her. "If you can keep this kind of performance up then you're not going to have any trouble at all. Amy, who's going to earn your team the next sixty?"

Amy turned to Coco, but she spoke before she could nominate her.

"I think Amy should have a go next!" she smiled.

Amy turned around to see nods and grins from the other two girls, and her shocked expression became a nervous smile as Alex stepped forwards to take her hand. She thought of the image of Tamara crawling out of the vat again - this time it was going to be her.

"It's only fair, Amy! Now, as you're the team leader, we've got something special for you lined up..." he started. Amy bit her lip, rocking back and forward on her heels as he looked around the corridor, eventually pointing to a door and starting towards it. The others gathered round as he keyed a combination into the panel beside the entrance, and as it hummed aside, he gently pushed her in ahead of him.

Amy stepped into the room, giggling a little as she saw its contents. The only feature was a six-foot-high cubicle with a metal frame and perspex walls. A chair was fixed to the floor in the centre of the tank, and directly above it, a large pipe led into the low ceiling.

She heard the others laugh to themselves as she was led towards the gunge tank, and looked it up and down as the host leaned down to slide the front door upwards for her. With another encouraging push on her back from Alex, she ducked inside and sat down, looking up at the dark opening above her. She had always wondered what a gunge tank would look like from the inside, and it was close to what she had been expecting - she could see the pipe opening was covered by a dark circle held in place by a small catch. Swishing her tail nervously as the door was slid down into place, trapping her inside, she watched the others gather round eagerly.

"As your team leader, Amy's going to be sending you three to very messy fates over the next hour, so I wanted you to give her a taste of it before we got too far in," Alex began, reaching in to his pocket and producing three small devices. He held up one of them and showed it round to the girls as he continued. "Pressing on each of these remotes will give you twenty points for the team," - Amy craned her neck to get a better look at the device in his hand, which was a simple paddle with one button attached - "but unfortunately it'll also activate one of the three gunge tanks that Amy is sitting under at the moment. The question is - do you want to slime your helpless team leader?"

Amy smiled as the other girls cheered enthusiastically. No team had ever let their team leader get away with anything less than all three tanks.

"In that case, I'll let you decide how you're going to organize this." She watched Alex hand the controllers out, tapping her fingers nervously on the bottom of the seat and trying again to imagine what being gunged would feel like, watching the three of them huddling together to plan out the order. Eventually, they turned back to Alex.

"All ready?" The three of them nodded. "Are you ready, Amy?"

Amy let her breath out, flicking her tail again. "Yeah," she said, and looked up into the pipe that was about to cover her, picturing the catch sliding aside and the cover bursting open. She crossed her legs, tapping one foot on the floor with excitement and nerves.

"It's all yours." Alex stepped back, letting Amy's teammates cluster around the tank, their hands at the ready. She watched them carefully, squirming uneasily as she waited for something to happen. After a pause, Coco suddenly thumped on her button. Amy instinctively held her hands up to her ears as a loud hooter sounded, and closed her eyes just before a heavy wave of slime pushed her head down.

Amy leaned forwards under its weight, giving a high pitched squeak and biting her lip as she felt the cold runny custard-like liquid lap against her head and slither down her bare back, coating her in a heavy wet layer. She gasped as two trickles from the flow worked their way around her shoulders, and she hunched her neck up, shivering as she felt the stuff creep down her chest and settle in her bikini top.

Smiling as she got used to the feeling of the slippery gunge covering her, she brought her hands around to cover her nose and mouth, stifling a squeal as she felt another stream start up and slop back and forward across her shoulders. Holding her hand up to her forehead to stop it dripping into her face, she opened her eyes and blinked as she saw mixed red and yellow slime drip across her vision.

The lower parts of the once clean walls of the tank were coated in gunge, with blobs of the mixed orange stuff slowly sliding down the perspex surface. Looking down as her heavy hair fell to the front of her shoulders, she curled her toes and felt the pool of collected slime at her feet slither between them.

Bringing her hands up to her hair and flicking it back behind her head, she leaned to the side and looked up at the gunge pipe again. The catch on it had opened and was hanging down from the opening, with the colorful stuff dripping down on to her shoulder from its edges. Breathing out, she straightened again, and looked out at the front of the tank at her teammates. Tamara was standing right at the front of the tank, her thumb still hovering over her button.

As another alarm hooted, Amy barely had time to close her eyes before feeling another slimy downpour slap on to the top of her head. Yelping with surprise, she ducked down a little in the chair, but smiled as she kept her head under the downpour and imagined the gunge doming off her like she'd seen on the show before. Carefully opening her eyes, she watched the light green stuff spatter in front of her in a bowl shape, splashing against the walls of the tank and covering them as well.

Slowly, the downpour eased off, and Amy shut her eyes as the dome came inwards, soaking first her legs, then moving back to her lap and finally subsiding to a drizzle on her head.

Amy sat still for a moment, hearing the other girls' cheers as the gooey stuff slid down her. She wiped her hands on her hips, trying to get them at least a little cleaner, then brought them up to her face to clear her eyes. Hearing the tank's door being opened as she dragged the slime off her face, she opened her eyes again to see Alex grinning into the tank at her.

"How did being gunged by your teammates feel, Amy?" he asked.

"Slippy." Amy looked down at herself to see hardly any of her white fur visible, and shuddered as the green gunge dripped from all over her. Alex extended his hand to her, and she carefully got up, shuffling her feet in the slime puddle to stop herself from falling over.

The three others giggled as she was guided back to safety, a trail of mixed colours of slime being left behind her. She shook her feet as she walked, trying to dry them off a little, and she could feel the stuff squeezing between her toes on every step. The host grabbed the door and slid it back into place, turning away from it as the last green drops continued to fall onto the seat.

"Well done, everyone - that was an easy sixty points, but Amy's in the perfect position to get her own back on you all for that later on. Just now, though, we're going to start heading out of here - there's a game that we need the whole team for. Come on!"

Beckoning over his shoulder, he took off at a run out the door and turned into the corridor. Amy brushed yet more slime off her shoulders as she jogged to keep up with everyone.

As they rounded a corner, Alex slowed, and walked the last few paces to where one wall of the passage widened out. The four team members gathered around him and looked at the back wall.

A row of four green inflatable chairs were placed against the wall, and above them was a rail stretching from one end of the row to the other. Attached to the bottom of the rail on the left hand side was a large funnel-shaped nozzle, with a wide tube leading from it to a pipe in the ceiling, and other pieces of complex-looking tubing attached around it.

"This is the Dispenser!" the host announced, looking up at the large arrangement. Amy nodded - this had been a popular game from the first series. "And for this game, you're going to need a bit of protective clothing." He walked over to a locker in the nearby wall, which squeaked noisily as he pulled it open.

The four girls looked at each other as he threw a set of faded orange overalls to each of them - protective clothing hadn't ever been a feature of the show before. Hesitantly, Amy untangled the shirt of her outfit and began sliding it on over her slippery arms.

"Don't worry about it," Alex said as he closed the door again, seeing the team's confusion. "You might be losing them during the game."

Tamara smirked as the explanation came, and put on her overalls loosely, leaving the shirt open at the front. The others struggled into their outfits, and headed towards the row of chairs as Alex held out his hand towards them.

Amy turned around and sat down, on the second seat along from the funnel between Tamara and Sadie. Looking across the room to the wall behind the host, she noticed a large screen for the first time. She drummed her fingers on the arm of the seat as she looked up at the threatening nozzle, then jumped as a humming noise started and the machine began to move.

Ducking down slightly as the gunge chute passed over each of them, the girls all watched it as it made its way from one side of the room to the other and back, then they all turned to the host as they waited for an explanation of how the game was going to be played.

"We're going to play a memory game here," Alex said, pacing a little up and down the row. "What's going to happen is a number of items are about to be shown on this screen, and you've got to try and remember as many of them as possible."

The four of them nodded, and their eyes moved to the wall-mounted screen as it turned on. Amy blinked a couple of times, rubbing one eye but keeping the other intently fixed on the monitor.

"Here it comes!" Alex stepped out the way as a random sequence of objects flashed up on the screen, being displayed for about half a second each. Amy fiddled with the collar of her overall shirt nervously as the images flashed past, trying to remember as many as possible but feeling that she was forgetting everything before each new item. As the screen turned off again, she mouthed to herself, trying to keep at least a few of the objects in her head.

"Now, I'm going to ask you each in turn to name an item that came up," Alex said as he moved in front of the screen again. "There were twenty-four of them, so you'll need to name six each. But if you say something that wasn't there or that's already been mentioned, then you've got the choice of either taking off a piece of the protective clothing you've been provided with, or..." He pointed up at the nozzle. Sadie giggled nervously as the humming noise began again, sliding back and forward over the row of girls.

"So it's a fairly generous game - you're allowed twelve mistakes before we have to move on. We're going to start with someone at random," Alex finished as the nozzle began to slow. Amy watched it intently as it passed over her, towards Tamara and back again. She squirmed a little as it positioned itself above her, and swallowed as it clicked into place.

"Amy, name something!" The host encouraged her, getting her attention again. He had produced a card from his pocket and was glancing between it and her.

"Um... there was a key." Alex had stalled for a while after the things had been shown, but Amy was still sure of her answer.

"Yes. Next, Sadie!"

Amy watched as the nozzle progressed along the other two girls to her left, who both named items correctly, and flinched again as it passed over her on its way to Tamara.

Tamara tapped her toes on the floor as she thought about what she had seen. "A bottle?" she asked.

"There was a bottle there, but what was in it?"

The rabbit paused, running her fingers through her long ponytail as she thought. "Orange juice?" she guessed, leaning forwards and resting her head on her hands.

"Sorry, it was just water.... but, because I'm a nice sort of guy," - he paused, and the girls laughed - "I'm actually going to give you the points for that one. The catch is you're still going to have to pay the forfeit..." Alex tailed off as Tamara eagerly shrugged off her shirt before he had finished the sentence, and threw it towards him. She put her hands behind her head and leaned back, looking up into the chute above her before it pulled away to reach Amy again.

Amy opened her mouth to speak. "So Amy, that's four down and twenty to go," said Alex before she had a chance. "Can you name another?"

She hesitated, looking down as she realized she'd forgotten what she was going to say, and guessing that she was going to run out of time soon. "A playing card!" she called, looking at the host again, just as a buzzer sounded.

"Just in time! I'll give you that," he smiled, and paced along with the nozzle as it reached Sadie again. "Sadie, anything you can remember?"

The skunk girl opened her mouth, her eyes darting to the sides as she thought. The buzzer sounded, and she shook her head, closing her eyes.

"It's all right, you've got plenty of chances to go..." the host encouraged her as Sadie undid the front of her overall shirt, pulling it off over her head and dropping it behind her as the nozzle moved again. Coco managed to name an item correctly, and the two girls in the middle ducked as the chute slid all the way back to the rabbit girl.

"Tamara, anything else?"

"Headphones," she said immediately.

"Yes!" Amy felt her heart beat faster as the chute clicked into position above her - Tamara had named the item that she was going to say. She closed her eyes, trying to come up with another, but her thoughts were interrupted by the harsh buzzer.

"Bad luck - you know what to do," the host said, pacing along with the nozzle as Amy struggled with the buttons on the overall. Leaning to the side, she slipped it down her arms as Sadie was questioned.

"A playing card?" Sadie asked hesitantly, looking shocked as the buzzer sounded again.

"Sorry, Amy already said that one," the host responded. Unbuttoning the front of her overall trousers, the skunk girl slipped them down her legs and tossed them towards him. Now with only her bikini left, she leaned back in the seat, tapping her fingers on the plastic arms, and watched Coco name yet another item correctly.

Alex dashed back to the other end of the row as the funnel returned to above the bunny girl. "Tamara, things are getting a bit more difficult now, and it's not easy being the last of the four - but can you remember anything else?"

The bunny stayed silent, playing with her hair as she thought. The other three watched her anxiously, hoping that she would remember something, but she shook her head as the time-out buzzer sounded.

"Well, you've still got half your overalls on, so you're now in the same position as Sadie..." Tamara began to take off the trousers of the overalls, but then hesitated, pulling them back up. Instead, her hands reached around her back and she undid the bra part of her bikini, sliding it down off her arms and winking across at the host as Coco giggled from the other end of the row. Amy looked away embarrassedly, but smiled as the bunny dropped the bikini top off the side of the chair, wriggling a little in the seat.

"Or... yes, you could do that." Alex smiled, keeping his composure as the nozzle slid back to Amy again. She sat up as she was addressed. "Amy, can you remember anything, or are you going to follow Tamara's example?"

Amy took a guess at an item, and smiled as the host told her it was correct. Tapping her fingers on the arm of the seat, she looked over at the bikini-clad skunk girl.

"Sadie, if you don't get this right, you get gunged." Alex grinned as she squirmed, looking up at the threatening funnel above her head. "No pressure..."

"A calculator." Sadie interrupted him and nodded, seemingly sure of her answer. There was a pause.

Suddenly, a click sounded from above her, and she quickly brought her hands to her face, but the nozzle simply slid aside and positioned itself above Coco. Sadie breathed out heavily, giggling as she relaxed again. But the squirrel girl got her guess wrong for the first time, and began unbuttoning her shirt as the funnel slid back to Tamara again. At the prompting from the host, she just shook her head and waited for the buzzer to sound.

"Well, you've got a choice now, Tamara," Alex said, pacing a little back towards Amy. "You've still got some overalls to forfeit, or you can declare yourself out now."

"I'm not going to give up that easily," the rabbit grinned, pulling the crumpled orange trousers down her legs. She leaned back in the seat and pulled them off the rest of the way with her feet, kicking them up to her hands and throwing them towards Alex as she watched the nozzle return to Amy.

"All right, so that's Tamara almost out of forfeits - but the good news is that we've had four rounds and you've named ten of the items correctly. You've also made only five mistakes out of the twelve you're allowed, so you're doing well. Just to help you along, you're going to see the list again - here they come!"

Amy tried to concentrate on the screen as the images flashed past, slightly faster this time, and focused on remembering a couple that she thought she hadn't heard called. She blinked as the screen turned off and the nozzle hummed into position above her head. Alex nodded at her.

"There was an alarm clock," she said, sure that she was right but holding her breath all the same. The nozzle clicked above her, and moved aside to reach Sadie, who was nervously gripping her knees and drumming her feet on the floor.

"Socks!" the skunkette called, before the host could get a word in. He paused, then simply nodded again and walked with the funnel to Coco.

Both Coco and Tamara also got their guesses right, helped by the list having been shown again. But when the nozzle came back to Amy, she named something that had already been said before, and wriggled out of the overall trousers as Sadie watched the chute come back to her.

All three other girls held their breath as the skunkette hesitated, looking up at the nozzle above her and wriggling down in the seat. "There was a... what's it called... a mortar-board!" she called suddenly, sitting upright and pointing a finger at the host.

"Yes!" He nodded, and Sadie raised both hands in the air triumphantly. "You're still hanging on... Coco, what about you?"

The squirrel shrugged, watching her feet tapping a little on the floor as she thought. Eventually, the buzzer signalled her time was up. She reached down for the button at the front of her overall trousers.

"You were doing so well at the start of the game, but now you've only got one chance left... and so does Tamara!" Alex dashed back to the beginning of the row to face her as the funnel slid into place above her head. Tamara looked up at it and breathed out heavily as she thought, her arms folded across her bare chest. "A key?" she suggested. The buzzer sounded.

"Sorry, that's already been said!" Alex looked up from the card as she glanced again at the nozzle above her. "So it looks like your time has finally come... unless..." He faltered as the bunny girl grinned, moving her hands slowly towards her hips.

The host averted his eyes, trying to seem nonchalant and smiling slightly as Tamara slid her bikini bottoms off, wriggling to get them down her legs and gently kicking them aside with her foot. She giggled and bounced in the chair eagerly, squeezing her hands between her thighs.

Alex coughed, and shook his head to clear it. "All right, let's carry on!" Amy looked up as the nozzle left the naked bunny girl and slid into position above her own seat. "Your turn, Amy."

Thinking desperately and trying to ignore the large funnel above her, Amy guessed an object and was surprised to get it right. Sadie did as well, and the nozzle clicked into position over Coco.

"Coco, you were doing so well at the start of the game - can you save yourself now?" Alex asked, pacing over to her side of the rail. She breathed out, a smile spreading across her face as she looked up and shook her head.

"No," she giggled under the sound of the loud buzzer as the other three girls leaned forward to watch. This time, it started sounding repeatedly in sharp bursts, then at the sound of a lower siren, the nozzle twitched and a column of yellow gunge dropped from it.

Coco squeaked as the slime slapped against her head, and leaned forwards so that it poured down her back, streams of it slipping around her sides as the downpour splattered out over her. A thick stripe of yellow stuff clung to the top of her hair, and slowly slid downwards to slop down into her lap. Her mouth was open in a shocked smile, her eyes tightly shut.

The gunge colour changed to orange, and the column turned into a wider fan as the flow slowed, covering the squirrel girl as she bounced from side to side in the inflatable seat. As the final drizzle poured on to the back of her neck, she looked up, placing her hands back on the messy seat's arms.

"Sorry, Coco, you're out!" The host grinned over at her as she straightened up again, shuddering as the cold gunge dripped from her hair and slithered down her light fur. "Tamara, let's get back to you..."

Another round passed as the dripping squirrel girl looked on, leaning over the side of the seat. All three of the remaining clean contestants answered correctly, and the funnel hummed back to Tamara again. After pausing and tapping her feet on the floor anxiously, she uncertainly made a guess.

"I'm sorry, that's wrong!" the host announced. A grin spread across the bunny's face. "And you've got nothing to remove now... get her covered up again!" he shouted to the nozzle, raising his voice as the repeating klaxon began to sound. Tamara closed her eyes as the siren went off, and huddled down on the seat, folding her arms across her chest.

Amy shifted left a little as a torrent of blue and green gunge slapped down onto the bunny girl, the sticky liquid splattering off her head in a dome shape and pressing her ears down as she wriggled around underneath the downpour. Specks of the stuff flew off in all directions around her, and Amy squirmed away as some of it spattered on to her right side.

As the flow began to ease off, Tamara raised her hands up to her head, lifting her ears up and flicking the gunge off them with a giggle. Shivering, she returned her hands to her lap, her arms tucked in to cover up her chest a little, and shuddered as the mixture of turquoise slime drizzled from her soaked fur.

"You made a good effort, Tamara - now, get your clothes back on," Alex smiled as he turned to Amy. "Amy, it's all up to you and Sadie now, and there are still four things left to name. Let's have one of them!"

Amy paused, realizing that she couldn't think of anything and that the nozzle was about to go off at any moment. "There was..." she started, and was interrupted by the harsh klaxon. She looked up to see the mechanism open above her, and quickly hunched down on the chair, gripping the arms of the seat tightly.

She flinched as the downpour glooped over her, flattening her ears down on to her head and splashing down to her shoulders. Lifting her arms off the seat, she moved to wipe at her face, but suddenly slid down the slippery surface of the seat. She spluttered as the gunge splashed right into her face, and turned her head to the side, closing her eyes tightly as she flailed to grab something. She could hear Tamara giggling at her struggling over the sound of the slime falling around her.

As she felt the downpour ease off, she raised her hands up to grab the seat arms again and hauled herself upright, spitting out slime to get the custardy taste out of her mouth. She had thought that she would get used to the feeling of being gunged after it happened for the first time, but the cold, heavy feeling was just as much a surprise as before.

Wiping across her face, she opened her eyes and looked down at her messy green and yellow fur, then got up to join Alex as he beckoned them to him, setting her slippery bare feet carefully down on the floor.

"You're doing very well, team. Sadie was saved from the slime thanks to Tamara's sacrifice, and you got twenty out of 24 - that brings you up to 210 points for the round!"

Amy joined in the cheer as the points were announced, looking back at Tamara, who had just finished getting back into her swimwear and was padding towards the group.

"And we still have three areas to visit - if you do as well in them as you did here then you won't have any trouble at all. Where are we going next, Amy - the security station, orbital base or the factory?"

"Orbital base", Amy chose at random, running her hand over her head and grimacing as she felt the collected slime slither down the back of her neck.

"All right - and there's a way to get you cleaned up a bit just before we get there. Follow me!"