FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Yahoo! Another chapter, and on time too! I loved writing this one; the story just seemed to flow from my mind, through my finger onto my computer. Hope you all enjoy it! As promised, we enter the realm of fantasy, with magic and mystery galore near the end. But I won't give anything away :P Last we left Uzanti and Trey, Uzanti had finally gotten some clothes. Trey had gotten Uzanti an amazing gift (a wolf's paw charm with the yin-yang symbol in dark gray and silver on a long silver chain). Uzanti found out he was going to China with Greg, Natalie and Trey, and he had rewarded Trey's kindness with some special "favors". *smiles and winks, you know what I mean, if not, go back and read Chap 2* And again, emails are great. I love comments! *drools again* Please tell me how I'm doing, what you like, dislike, would like to see, etc... Give me idea I like and I'll defiantly credit you!

Where will the wolf and dragon's relationship go from here?

What will happen in China?

Why am I *still* asking questions like this?

And now the warnings. Warning: This series is of a fictional nature, and involves violence, strong language and sex between anthromorphic beings. If this is not what you're looking for, or are under the age of 18 (or 21 depending on your state/country) go back a few pages or send an angry email to yahoo :) You've been warned!

The characters I have come up with are furs of my own creation. Any resemblance to any other creatures is purely coincidental. If you want to use any of my characters, ideas or repost my story, all you have to do is ask me. I'm sure it will be fine. And any artist out there who wants to draw my characters, email me and I can give more thorough details.

PS. I really want a necklace like that one XD I don't know if there's such a thing out there, it's possible, but it was an idea from my own mind.

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

The New Earth - Chap 3 - Awakening The Twelve

Uzanti awoke the next morning laying next to Trey in his bed, memories from the night before still fresh in his mind. He turned over carefully to look at his sleeping wolf, lightly laying his paw on the wolf's chest, remembering what had happened. The passionate kisses, the loving touches, the taste of his mate's seed. Uzanti had finally gotten past his initial shyness and had shown his true love to Trey. It wasn't too hard to express himself either, as Trey had given him lots of inspiration. Not just because he was his best friend and lover, not just because he was a sexy wolf (although that certainly didn't hurt), and certainly not just because of the charm that he gave him. Mainly it was because of Trey's obvious love for him, his caring and friendly nature. Uzanti looked at Trey's clock, and decided it was about time he got up. He wasn't late like the last time he spent the night with Trey, but if he kept getting lost in his memories, he would be.

Getting up, Uzanti grabbed his gift from Trey, a wolf's paw charm on a silver chain with a yin-yang symbol in smoke and silver, the same colouring as his sclaes, and carried it with him to his room where he grabbed some of his new clothes they had picked up yesterday after school. Heading towards the bathroom Uzanti looked in on Trey, who was still sleeping. "Oh well, I'll let him sleep a bit more, he can have his shower after I'm done." Uzanti smiled to himself and went into the small bathroom, closing the door halfway and stripping out of his boxers. His dragon cock flopped down, halfway out of his sheath. He was kind of surprised when he noticed he had an external sheath. When he first morphed, Uzanti thought he would have something similar to what he heard some of the more lizard-like morphs had, an internal sheath.

Uzanti got into the shower, and set the water quite warm, his new scaly hide easily able to take the heat. Soon, the whole bathroom was steamed up, even with the door opened. "Hey, you going to turn that down so I can get in there?" Trey asked, pulling the curtain slightly open, making Uzanti jump and hit his head on the roof of the stall. Uzanti just looked at the naked wolf, slightly shocked by his appearance. "Sorry, just wanted to surprise you." "Well, you certainly did!" Uzanti growled, rubbing his head and turning down the temperature of the water a bit so Trey could jump in too. The gray and white wolf did so, his fur quickly being soaked down by the spray of water, his muscular chest easy to see. "You look really hot when you're wet, you know that?" Uzanti asked, looking the wolf up and down as he got all his fur wet. "You don't look to bad yourself when your scales are all glistening like that." Trey answered, moving in so that their chests now touched, the water pouring over Trey's back and Uzanti's front. They leaned in and kissed, a slight, lingering one. Trey moved his paws to Uzanti's back, rubbing them over his back muscles and the muscles of the arms of his wings. The massaging touch caused Uzanti to murr, and he started moving his own paws over Trey's shoulders in a gentle rubbing motion. The massaging and kissing continued, until they finally had to give up and get washed for school. "We'll have to save that for later, love." Trey said, starting to work the fur shampoo through his chest and arms. "Damn school, keeping me from my wolf." Uzanti smiled, soaping up as well.

After the two finished their shower together, they got a quick breakfast and headed out for the campus, meeting Nat and her roommate Maggie, a greyhound morph, on the way. Trey and Uzanti were holding paws up until they got to Nat's street, Uzanti's initial fears being quickly overridden by his love for Trey, but they were still not totally comfortable around others. Uzanti hoped to change that eventually. Walking towards campus again, they chatted with Nat and Maggie about everything: school, news, music. But the conversation kept going back to the China trip. They tried to tone it down since Maggie, a music student, wasn't going, but the fact that they were heading out on Monday (it was now Thursday) made it hard to forget. Nat started going on about her new outfit her aunt and uncle got for her when she told them about it, which reminded Uzanti about the necklace that was under his t-shirt. He let Trey and Maggie, who were talking about the concert coming up that the university was hosting for the children's hospital, walk ahead while he and Nat slowed down. "What's up, Uzanti? Why are we holding back?" Nat asked. "I want to show you something. Trey went and did something last night while I was picking up my clothes from the tailor's." Uzanti pulled out the chain as he was talking, showing Nat the charm eliciting a gasp from her. "And he got me this!"

"Oh, Uzanti, it's beautiful! You're so lucky! And it matches your scales, that's so cute!" Nat gushed, causing Trey and Maggie to look back. Uzanti just blushed, nodded, and started walking again, putting the charm under his shirt again. Trey just smiled, knowing what happened, but Maggie was confused and wanted to know what was going on. Uzanti, Trey and Nat laughed, and they continued on, walking into the university's community centre. They had a bit of time to spare before class so they went to the coffee shop in the food court. Trey, Nat and Uzanti got they're normal teas while Maggie got a cappuccino, and they all sat down at a table, chatting away again. Eventually it was time for classes, and they said good-bye to Maggie and went towards the science buildings. Their classes went normally, not quite as interesting because of the lack of Greg in their schedule on Thursdays though, and they tried, they really did, but none of them could pay much attention, the thoughts of China at the forefront of their minds. It was going to be very hard for them to make it through the weekend.

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

After another wonderful night of snuggling with Trey, Uzanti had to leave him again to make it to his plant class he had with Nat. They couldn't wait for Greg's class, where they assumed he would announce which students were going on the trip (although they already knew 3 of them). Meeting Trey at the steps again they went in, sitting down in their normal spot at the front, waving to Greg. He waved back and winked as well, causing a shiver of excitement to go up all their backs. "Well class, let's start today's lecture. Now before you ask, yes I've looked through all of your forms, and was proud to see more than 75 percent of you applied. I have decided which 6 students are coming, but we'll leave that for the end of class." This got a groan from everyone, all the furs wanting to know who was going. Greg just smiled and continued on with the lesson.

The class seemed to take twice as long as normal, but finally Greg shut down his laptop and turned to face the class again. "Well, it's time! Let me tell you, it was hard to decide whom to take with me. As most of you probably guessed, marks were a huge factor in my decisions. Also, your goals and personality were important. So without further delay, here are the lucky 6 that are going to China with me. Miss Natalie Schulof!" Nat screamed, even though she already knew she was going. Uzanti and Trey covered their ears until she had finally settled down again. "Glad to see you're excited, Miss Schulof, but I'm sure your fellow students want to be able to hear again in the future, right?" Greg said, smirking at Nat. "Sorry Dr.Cliffton."

"Mr. Uzanti Mastis!" Uzanti also felt a rush of excitement and relief, but was able to hide it better than Nat had. "Miss Emily Tarin!" The small mouse that helped Nat hand out the forms nearly fainted in her seat. "Mr. Clayton Barton!" The whole room laughed when the fox jumped out of his seat with a "YES!!" and a little dance. Clay noticed, blushed and sat back down. "Mr. Trey Sutherland!" Uzanti squeezed his loves paw at this, Trey smiling from ear to pointed ear. "And finally, Miss Resa Slade!" The black panther, who was actually sitting right behind Uzanti jumped up, knocking her notebook down onto Uzanti's head. "Sorry, Uzanti! I was just shocked." Resa apologized when Uzanti passed the book back to her. "No problem, I know how you feel."

"So that's it. I'm sorry I can't take all of you, because I'd love for you all to experience the thrill of scientific research in the field at some point. Those of you I called, please come back here at 5pm tonight for a little information session. Ok, have a great weekend everybody! Oh, and Dr.Clinesworth will be taking over as of Monday, so be good for her. I hope to see you all next semester!" Greg finished his little speech, and the class got up to go, excited conversations taking place everywhere in the crowd. Uzanti, Trey and Nat walked up to the front, waiting for Greg to finish packing up. Once again, they decided to kill some time until their lab and get some lunch. Once they were seated (Uzanti still getting a laugh due to his two trays of food) the talking started.

"Oh, Greg, thank you so much for this opportunity!" Nat leaned over and hugged Greg tightly, her arm feathers tickling Greg's nose. "Don't thank me, it was you guys who got yourselves on the trip, remember? It was your marks that pushed you ahead of the others." "Ya, what happened with Rodney? I thought he was tied with me as far as marks went." Trey asked, looking up from his burger. "I don't know. He didn't hand a form in, so I didn't ask." Greg explained. "Anyway, make sure you're all there at 5 tonight. We have to go over what to bring, when we're meeting Monday morning, flight info, and such. I got to go back to my office and prepare for our departure. See you at 5!" Greg got up to leave, Uzanti and his friends waving good-bye to him. The rest of the break was spent talking about the trip: what they wanted to bring, what they wanted to do if there was free time, thinking about how geneticists could be needed at a dig, especially one of the country's foremost experts on the RED virus. Trey had an idea about this. "What if they came across remains that weren't human? I mean, the reason the morphing happened was because the virus was released and traveled quickly due to today's technology. If another pool of viruses were released, say thousands of years ago, it's possible it didn't spread much, resulting in small groups of furs." Nat and Uzanti thought on this, agreeing that it sounded like the most feasible explanation at the moment. "Well, we'll just have to wait until we get there. We should head to our lab now. Let's go!" Uzanti said, getting up and dumping his trays in the garbage.

The lab crawled by. It wasn't that it was a boring lab, just that they were now looking forward to what Greg had to say about the trip. One thing about this trip, it was causing them to zone out way too much. Leaving the lab, they started walking towards the genetics class. Greg was already there, setting up 7 chairs in the space at the front of the classroom. None of the other students going on the trip were there yet. "Hey Greg, you get everything done you needed to do?" Trey asked, helping him set up the final chairs in a loose circle. "Nearly. Still waiting to hear back from Dr.Ranford about the living quarters. It's no worry of yours, we'll be supplied with either a hotel or a house for our use. I just don't know what yet. Ah, he's some of the others." Greg sat down in a chair, looking up the steps to the door where Clay and Emily were heading down. A minute later, Resa came in too, and Greg started to info meeting after they all had a seat.

"Ok, our plane to Hong Kong is at 8am Monday morning and I got us a airport bus to take us to the airport. Is meeting at the community centre good for everyone?" Greg paused, looking around and not getting any complaints. "Good. We got a lot of equipment to bring, so I need you all here early to help. I'm thinking 5am should be good..." Groans from all the furs there interrupted him at that bit of news. Greg smiled and continued on. "I know, I don't like it either, but the bus is getting here at 6:30, and we have a lot to get ready. Anyway, you can get some sleep on the plane." "You expect us to sleep on the plane? I'll be way too excited to sleep for days now!" Clay mumbled, before realizing that they all heard him, causing him to blush. "Sorry, Dr.Cliffton."

"Don't worry, and please, unless we're in a formal situation like with the backers around, I want you to all call me Greg. Now, here's a list I made up for you all. The amount of luggage we can bring is limited, so please follow what I have on here." Greg gave the lists to everyone, and Uzanti looked over the things on it. The list limited the amount of clothes and toiletries, but it seemed to him to be enough. Nat on the other hand looked shocked. "This isn't enough clothes for a few months!" Trey and Uzanti laughed. Nat always was the type who bought lots of clothes, and Uzanti could see that the list must be a nightmare for her. "I'm sure you can manage, Natalie. Anyway, no matter where we're staying, there will be laundry facilities. Oh, I didn't tell you guys that part yet." Greg looked towards the latecomers, Clay, Emily and Resa and explained their possible living situations.

"Well, that's it I guess. Could everyone could leave their numbers just in case I need to contact you." Greg passed around a sheet of paper, and everyone wrote his or her phone number. "Thanks. So unless I need to talk to any of you, see you bright and early Monday morning. Oh, and I'll have a little breakfast ready here for us all. Have a good weekend!" The six students got up, Emily, Clay and Resa heading out, and Trey, Uzanti, and Nat helping Greg put the chairs back. Saying goodnight they went to leave too, but not before Uzanti could show Greg the necklace, Trey blushing as Greg admired the charm.

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

The next two days passed like a flash. Greg called Saturday afternoon and him, Nat, Trey and Uzanti all went to the mall to get things they needed like toiletries, some clothes, a book or two for the flight and other essentials for traveling. Uzanti really enjoyed the day, and realized that he was going to spend a few months with these great friends, as well as his mate, and 3 other students that he was also friends with (although not as close as with Nat and Trey). By the end of the shopping trip, Uzanti was on cloud nine, but exhausted. Greg dropped them all back off that evening after dinner at a local restaurant, and Trey and Uzanti spent the rest of the night packing, wanting to make sure they had time to relax and get a decent amount of sleep on Sunday. Once again Uzanti spent the night in Trey's bed, comforted by his presence and scent, falling asleep in no time with Trey's head resting on his chest, sleeping already.

On Sunday Trey awoke to an empty bed, feeling very empty and alone. He thought that as kind of odd, since him and Uzanti had only been sleeping together in a single bed for a few days now. He smiled, realizing that he had already become accustomed to the dragon's presence. He got up and went into the living room looking for his love, still wearing only his boxers. As soon as he got into the living room, he could hear and smell Uzanti cooking in the kitchen. Walking as quietly as possible, which isn't that hard for a wolf morph, he snuck up on Uzanti who was busy frying some eggs and bacon on the stove. Walking right up to Uzanti's back Trey wrapped his arms around his dragon's midsection, getting a yelp from Uzanti, and causing him to toss the spatula he was using into the air to land noisily on the tile floor. "Geez, Trey! You always manage to sneak up on me! I'm going to have to find a way to get you back soon!" Uzanti said, turning around to poke the gray wolf in the stomach at the word "you". The wolf laughed, "I'd like to see you try, I'd be able to hear your clumsy gait from a mile away. But to be fair you did just morph so you body is still new to you, and every time I've surprised you there has been some background noise." Trey grabbed Uzanti's tail while he picked up the spatula and washed it off. "Well, get some plates out Trey. Lunch is almost ready."

"Lunch, don't you mean breakfast?" Trey tilted his head cutely. "Look at the time." Uzanti said from the sink, removing the excess grease from the bacon. Trey walked into the living room, and yelped out loud when he saw the time on the VCR. It was 1pm already. "Why didn't you wake me?!" He asked as he got out some plates and glasses for the lunch. "Well, you were so cute laying there....heh heh, I just got up myself maybe 15 minutes ago. Don't worry about it, our sleeping schedule will be messed up starting tomorrow anyway." Uzanti brought the heaping piles of bacon and eggs into the living room to the small table they use for meals, while Trey got the orange juice. "And we got everything done last night we needed to do, so today we can get away with doing nothing." Uzanti grabbed a stack of bacon and eggs, and started eating. "Well, I was hoping to do a little more than nothing today..." Trey started pouring the orange juice, looking at Uzanti with a shy smile. Uzanti smiled back around a mouthful of eggs.

After cleaning up from lunch, the wolf and dragon went over their lists again, just to make sure, and then went into the living room again to watch some TV. Eventually they decided to watch a movie when they discovered that there was nothing on, and snuggled down into each other, Uzanti's arm around Trey, a blanket wrapped around both of them. After the movie, they had a light dinner, and went about there own things, Trey playing a game on his computer and Uzanti starting one of the books he got at the mall the day before. Around 8pm Nat called, and both Trey and Uzanti picked up a phone, chatting with Nat for almost a hour, talking about what they were bringing and the day ahead of them. After saying goodnight to Nat, Trey turned off his computer and walked into the living room where Uzanti was reading on the couch again. "Well, I think I should be getting to bed too, I get cranky when I don't get enough sleep, and I know I won't sleep at all tomorrow on the plane." "I think I will too Trey. My room or yours tonight?" Uzanti asked with a smile. "How about mine?" Trey answered.

"Let's go then." Uzanti put a bookmark in his book, and him and Trey got ready for bed. Walking hand in hand into Trey's room, they laid down on his bed, getting under the covers. After a little while, Uzanti shifted around. "Can't sleep?" Trey asked, also unable to get to sleep yet. "Nope, too excited I guess. Umm...want to make the most of our wakefulness?" Uzanti asked, turning back to face Trey and rubbing his scaly paw over the wolf's shoulder. Trey murred at the touch, telling the dragon without words what he thought about that idea, while he moved his own paw to Uzanti's chest, running it slowly down from the collar bone, between his pecs, over his abs, and then back up again. Uzanti started purring, the deep rumbling in his chest felt by Trey through his paw. Uzanti moved closer to Trey, locking his lips with his loves, drinking in his taste, his scent, getting drunk on his mates presence. The kiss lingered, both not wanting to break it first. Trey finally pulled back, only to remove his paw from Uzanti's chest and wrap his arms around his love, bringing his mouth back even with Uzanti's in another kiss, pushing his tongue past the thin lips, meeting no resistance from the willing dragon. Their tongues met, wrapping around each other, pushing back and forth and tasting each other, hungry for more.

The contact was quick to awaken the sleeping members of both males. The close quarters made the hardening cocks rub against each other through their boxers, making them harden even more, both of their owners moaning at the contact. Uzanti moved his paw from Trey's back to his bulge, rubbing it though the fabric, Trey moaning through the kiss at the intimate touch. Trey moved his own paw from the dragon's back to his growing bulge, then pushed his paw past the band of the boxers, gripping the dragon cock in his paw, squeezing slightly, Uzanti gasping at the touch. Trey looked into Uzanti's eyes, finally saying "It's my turn." Trey moved down the bed, pushing the sheets back and pulling off Uzanti's boxers. The wolf hugrily eyed the stiff dragon cock, already slightly moistened with some precum. The scent of Uzanti was magnified now at this close range, the musk pushing Trey farther into ecstasy. He moved towards the reddish -pink shaft, all 9 inches already out, the shaft thicker than his own and the large balls hanging bellow. A tentative lick at the head was all Trey needed before closing his mouth around the hot organ, savoring his mate's taste before pulling off again. Uzanti let loose a little whimper at the sudden removal of the mouth around his pride, only to moan as Trey dragged his tongue down the long shaft, then over the large orbs. The soft scales of the dragon sack felt good to Trey's tongue so he lingered there, before heading back up the shaft to lick at the precum that had gathered at the head. "Ohhh...ummm...Trey, that feels, oh...Trey, I want you, I want you in me." Uzanti managed to get out between licks on his sensitive head. Trey looked up at Uzanti, "Are you sure?"

"Yes my love, I want you to be my first, my always." Uzanti answered, opening his eyes and showing Trey a love so strong, he could feel it with just a look from his mate. He moved up the bed to lean over Uzanti, kissing him passionately and fiercely. "Alright. I want you to tell me if it hurts, if you want to stop. Don't think you have to do this for me." Trey demanded, a look of concern and care on his face. Uzanti nodded, and Trey reached into his bedside table for a bottle of lube he had there. Trey had never had sex with a guy, and hadn't been with a female for years. He kept the lube because he liked the slick feel when he pawed off. He poured a little onto his hard wolf cock, rubbed it in, smearing the rest of it on Uzanti's virgin hole. Uzanti gasped at the touch, both in pleasure and surprise. "That's cold!" "Sorry bout that. You ready?" Uzanti nodded, and Trey leaned down again to plant a kiss on the dragon's thin lips. Holding the kiss, Trey separated Uzanti's legs more and pushed his head against the waiting rosebud. Uzanti gasped again at the stimulation of his tail hole, the gasp turning into grunt as the head pushed past the seal and entered his hole. The look of pain that Trey could see on his mate's face mad him stop, pausing in half push. "Are you ok? Do you want me to stop?" Trey asked, concerned for his love. "No....no, just give...give me a second..." Uzanti managed to gasp out, the look of pain contorting his face, until his features returned to normal, and he nodded at the wolf. Trey nodded back, and slowly started pushing again. Uzanti grimaced, but managed to not make any noise as the throbbing meat of his mate made its way through his passage, finally stopping when Trey hilted himself. He paused there, letting Uzanti get used to the feeling of the cock deep inside of him, then slowly began pulling back out, eliciting another loud moan from the dragon. Stopping when just his head was inside, Trey rubbed his paw against the side of Uzanti's chin. The dragon nodded, and turned his head to kiss the soft pads of the paw as Trey pushed back in again. Slowly, Trey picked up speed, the groans emanating from below him changing quickly from pain to pleasure. The passage was tight around his pulsing cock, the velvety tunnel causing his knot to form quickly, the thickened base slapping against the anal ring with each thrust.

Uzanti was quickly getting into it, pushing his hips into the thrusts, forming a rhythm between his mate and himself. The wolf continued going faster, Uzanti's groans and gasps of pleasure urging him on. Trey knew he wasn't going to last long, the tightness and warmth too much for him. He started to paw at Uzanti's cock, it being hard once again due to the pleasures he was receiving. Uzanti moaned louder as the warm wolf cock grazed his prostrate, his ecstasy doubled, his cock throbbing wanting release. Trey's knot was pounding at the dragon's entrance now, wanting into that warmth. Finally, with a slight pop, the knot made it past the sleeve of muscle, engorging even more, locking the two together. The entrance of the knot caused Uzanti to nearly yell out loud, his body starting to spasm with pleasure. Trey continued to hump his love's ass, pulling on the cock in his paw harder as the throbbing member started shooting long threads of hot dragon seed onto Uzanti's chest. The force of the orgasm was huge, Uzanti's muscles tightening on Trey's cock, the increased tightness pushing him over the edge and causing him the cum. Uzanti could feel the sticky seed of the wolf filling him, shot after shot going into his bowels, warming him and making him feel full, making him feel happy, the knot preventing any of the precious gift from escaping. His own orgasm over, Uzanti basked in the afterglow, his chest sticky with his own seed. Trey lifted his cum coated paw to his mouth, smelling and tasting the dragon's gift, before laying down next to him, both still tied together in a lover's embrace. They fell asleep that way quickly, both tired but immensely satisfied.

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

Getting up the next morning was difficult. As soon as Trey moved, his now shrunken cock slipped free with a slurp, Uzanti gasping at the feeling. Both laid there, still in each other's arms, remembering and savoring the time together and thinking about the adventure the new day will bring. Looking at the clock, they knew they had to get going, but didn't want to leave their embrace. Uzanti was the first to move, finally getting up and getting his clothes for the day, making sure to grab his necklace as well. Trey entered the bathroom right behind him. They shared another shower, but they were both too tired and in too much of a hurry to fool around. Much. Grabbing all their bags, one suitcase and one backpack each, they headed out for the campus, no words spoken, a comfortable silence was all they needed. They had spent a night together in a way neither of them had ever had. They felt as one now, and nothing mattered to them but each other. They held paws walking towards the campus, no furs around at that time in the morning. Neither cared though anyway if they were seen, their love to strong to be hid anymore. Reaching the community centre, still paw in paw, they saw that they were the last ones to arrive. All the others looked their way when Greg said they were there. Greg and Nat smiled at the two, knowing something special must have happened for them to look so happy and unafraid of their love. Emily and Resa looked at each other, then at the pair again and let loose a quiet "awww!" Clay looked slightly confused at the sight, but then just shrugged and waved hello. Uzanti was so glad that his friends didn't seem to mind, and wished he had done this when he and Trey first confessed their love to each other.

"Well, hello you two! Glad you could join us! There's some tea, bagels and fruit over here. We can have some breakfast, and then we can get started." Greg pointed out the cart of goodies that the workers in the food court must have wheeled out for them earlier. Everyone dug in, whittling down the pile of bread and fruit in no time. Then, inevitably, the conversation moved from the trip to Uzanti's and Trey's entrance. "So are you two a couple?" Resa asked, grinning from ear to ear, her white fangs standing out against her short black fur. "A couple of what?" Trey asked with a smirk, knowing perfectly well what she meant, but saying the old joke anyway. "Are you two going out?" Emily said, nearly bursting with excitement. Relationships were always big news to her. "Ya, what gives?" Clay asked, his mouth full with a bagel.

"Well, yes, we're going out. I'm glad you're all ok with that. I was afraid it would make things weird." Uzanti aswered, grabbing Trey's paw again, the wolf smiling up at his mate. "Awww, that's so cute! I hope you guys are really happy with each other!" Resa exclaimed, Emily nodding her approval as well. "Of course we're ok with it, you just caught me off guard. It's got nothing to do with us anyways. As long as you're both happy, who cares what others think, right?" Clay asked. "Right! Thanks guys!" Trey said, nodding to each of the furs gathered. Greg then said it was time to get ready. The group of them went into the genetics lab, picking up boxes Greg had already packed, and stuffing others with things they would need. Greg said that they had the use of a full genetics laboratory in China, and all they really needed to bring with them were supplies to gather samples and do some preliminary tests. This still added up to a lot of material, every student and Greg ending up with a box each.

They made it back out to the main road that transects the campus just in time to see the airport bus pull up. They loaded all their stuff in, with the help of the St. Bernard driver, and made it on the road to the airport at 6:30 on the dot. The airport was only 15 minutes away, meaning they had time to spare after check in and security. Clay, Emily and Resa all went off to explore, while Greg, Trey, Nat and Uzanti stayed behind in the waiting room, watching all their carry-ons. With the others gone, Nat wanted to hear what had happened to make the two males more open about their feelings. Uzanti and Trey both went really red at this, the blush easily showing through their scales and fur. They were too embarrassed to talk about it to Nat or Greg, but Natalie pushed the matter. Greg, having a feeling what it was that had the boys so embarrassed, gave Nat some money to go and get them all something to drink. A little confused, she agreed, leaving the two alone with Greg.

"So, now that she's gone, you don't have to worry about how to tell her about your mating." Greg said with a smile, settling down in his chair. Both Trey and Uzanti stared at him, mouths open in surprise. "How...how did you know?" Trey stammered. "I've been where you are. Me and my boyfriend must have looked the same as you two did this morning after our first time; happy and without a care in the world except for each other." Greg didn't know how, but somehow both boys managed to look even more shocked at his statement. "You're BOYfriend? You're gay too?" Uzanti asked, quietly so as not to possibly embarrass Greg. "Yep, though me and him broke up 3 years ago, and I havent seen him since. It was kind of a bad thing at the end...but never mind about that. I'm happy for you two, and want to know you have my full support, and secrecy if you ever want to confide in me. I'm here for you both." Greg said, patting the two on their heads, like how a father would with his son. Trey looked to be on the verge of tears, and Uzanti practically threw himself at Greg, hugging him tightly, whispering his thanks.

Natalie and the others came back together, and the boarding call for their flight thankfully stopped Nat from asking about their night again. It's not that they didn't want to tell her, it's just that they didn't know how. The talk with Greg bolstered their courage though, ans they decided to tell her once they got in the air. She just stared at them when they finally told her, asking if that was it. They nodded. "You guys should know me better than that. Why would I ever hold that against you? I'm happy. Please don't get embarrassed about that type of thing again. You know I'm here for ya!" Trey and Uzanti smiled at Nat, the words she used were nearly the same as Greg's, and they couldn't think of why they were having trouble telling her before.

The rest of the flight went smoothly, all of them able to get at least some sleep even with the crying panda cub a few rows back. Once they landed and got their stuff, an associate of Dr.Ranford, a male red panda who asked them to call him Lee, met them and took them to their living quarters. Lee was rather small, maybe a little bigger than Greg, and looked very slim. His bright red fur could be seen on his arms and head, the rest of his body covered in typical Chinese boys clothes. He had black gloves of fur on his hand and foot paws like Clay, and raccoon markings similar to Greg's, but his were white instead of black. His tail, also like Greg's in bushyness and markings, was also red and white. The dig site was just a short distance from Hong Kong, and their building was on the outskirts of the city, in a country-like setting. The house was like a mini apartment building. The whole place was theirs, with a community laundry and TV room and 4 apartments upstairs, each with its own kitchen, living room, bath and 2 bedrooms. Lee asked them to take in their things, except the equipment, and head back out so they could go to the dig right away. Emily and Resa took one apartment, Clay and Nat another, Trey and Uzanti took the third one, and they gave Greg his own, seeing how he was the team "leader" and all.

Heading back out again, Lee drove them to the dig. From the outside, it just looked like a warehouse, but when they entered they saw that it was just a large empty space with some examination tables set up everywhere. Looking around, Trey finally asked the question they were all thinking, well, except Greg, he already knew. "Where are these ruins?" Lee smiled, and pointed to an elevator situated near the middle of the warehouse. Everyone got the idea and gasped, thinking about dark, scary caverns. Getting onto the elevator, Lee pressed a button near the bottom of the panel, and the lift started its plunge deep into the earth. It wasn't as everyone had feared. The tunnels they could see as they zipped by looked clean and dry, everything well lit by lights strung throughout the tunnels. Most appeared to be holes dug into the solid bedrock, but occasionally ornate carvings and marble could be seen. The elevator started to slow, and they landed on solid rock, what appeared to be the bottom level. The rock this far down looked a lot different than farther up, darker and more intricately carved. The architecture was different too, older looking, and more square-like. It looked more like halls in a great castle than tunnels deep underground. Lee led them along the brightly lit halls towards the sounds of furs up ahead. The group looked at the walls, ceiling and floor as they went, every surface was a canvas to some ancient artisans, the murals showing country scenes, wars, festivals, humans, the history of an ancient people. Rounding a bend, the group finally saw the source of the voices. 3 furs and a human were conversing, pointing out this person, that tree. There was a female panda, a male koala, a female human, and a large male polar bear in a lab coat, which Uzanti assumed to be Dr.Ranford. Dr.Ranford turned from the panda, and walked up and hugged Greg. They talked for a bit about days gone by, then the polar bear introduced his team. "You all already know Lee here, he's the local guide and translator. Cathy Gomez here is my ancient languages expert," he said, waving to the panda next to him, "Jenna Wadlow is my artifact expert," at this the human walked forward with a mock salute, "and Travis Sinclair is my excavator," the koala bowed at this. Greg introduced his team next, and Dr.Ranford then invited them on a tour of the bottom level, his associates taking a break and following.

"As near as we can figure, these mosaics date back to at least Yuan dynasty, most likely the early 1300's. For the most part they are records of events of that era, though we thought it was odd for them to be this far down. We figured there was probably a tomb or something that we hadn't uncovered yet, and boy were we right about that." He shook his head, and continued on. "About 3 weeks ago, we came to a wall that was made of a different stone than the rest of this place. Thinking it was a false wall, we carefully removed it and came across the reason I called you all here." Dr.Ranford stopped at set of huge double doors, waving at them so that everyone took a close look. Emily was the first to notice. "Those figures on the right door, they don't look human!" Everyone in Greg's group, Greg included, moved closer for a better look. It was true. On the right door was a carving of a group of 12 figures in hooded robes forming a circle, surrounding a 13th figure dressed similarly. Looking carefully, you could tell that at least some of the figures were definitely not human in shape. There were two with wings, a few with tails, and even one that looked like it had no legs but instead one long limb, like a snake's.

Lee started to explain the carvings on the left side. "Over here is a ring with 12 symbols surrounding a 13th, much like the figures are doing on the right. The 12 symbols are the animals of the Chinese zodiac: the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. The middle symbol is that of the Cat. Does anyone here know the legend of the zodiac? Other than you Travis." Travis lowered his hand at this, a smile on his face. Greg's team all just stared, trying to comprehend all that was going on. "Ok, I'll tell you. One day, Buddha decided to choose 12 animals to be honoured as the creatures of the zodiac. To help him choose which animals would become the zodiac and in which order, he decided to have a feast the next day at the top of a mountain. He told the animals that they could start to climb the mountain at daybreak. The Cat and the Rat, best friends, decided to wake each other before dawn, depending on who awoke first. The Rat knew it would be him, as the Cat was lazy and always slept in. The next morning, the Rat went to the mountain without waking the Cat. All the animals gathered there, waiting for the sun to rise. When it did, they all started out. The Rat, being a clever creature, decided to hitch a ride on the back of the Ox without him knowing. By the time the animals made it near the top, the Rat jumped off, and made it to the feast first, becoming the first animal of the zodiac. The Ox was next, followed by the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster and Dog. The Pig was the 12th animal to make it to the feast, becoming the last of the zodiac animals. The Cat finally made it to the mountain way too late, and saw the Rat at the place of honour as the first animal. From that day, the fight between rats and cats started.

Uzanti absorbed this all, then looked from the left to the right side of the doors. "So you're saying those figures are the animals of the zodiac, and it looks like they're performing some sort of ritual on the middle creature, which is the Cat?" Lee looked at Uzanti, sizing him up, almost seeing him for the first time. "That's exactly it, my dragon." He said, still staring oddly at him. "Cathy here found some interesting scrolls in another chamber, which explains the reason for these tunnels." Dr.Ranford added, pointing to the panda next to him to start her story.

"Well it seems that the emperor at that time had a son, the heir to the kingdom. Soon though, a "curse" spread throughout the kingdom, turning humans into "demons". We believe this was a form of the RED virus. It didn't seem to affect as many people as our modern virus, and was short lived outside a host. Anyway, the emperor's son caught this curse as well, turning into a "cat demon". An oracle told the emperor that the zodiac can free his son from the evil placed on him, but to be careful as the zodiac could also bring about the end of the world. Obsessed with freeing his son from the evil, the emperor sent his men out to seek the zodiac, gathering them here in the room behind these doors for the ritual the oracle described. The ritual took place, but nothing happened to the emperor's son. Enraged at the thought of a demon for a son, the emperor killed his son before the ritual was fully completed. The oracle then told the emperor that he didn't change his destiny, but just delayed it, then the oracle disappeared. Realizing what he had done and mourning the loss of his last family member, the emperor took his own life, dooming himself for eternity in the process, but not before sacrificing the lives of all the zodiac animals, trying to avoid the destruction of his kingdom." Cathy ended her story, and the whole group just stood there, mouths gaping, trying to understand.

"You'll see, once we show you this chamber." Dr. Ranford opened the double doors, and everyone walked in. There was a large circular chamber on the other side, with two hot spring fountains on either side of the middle, adding a sulfurous smell to the room. "We think this is the ritual chamber, but the more interesting thing can be found below." Walking to the far side, they started to descend the stair there to another chamber, the mirror image of the one above. Arrayed around the chamber in a circle were what looked like 12 caskets, made from what looked like the same stone as the walls of the tomb. Carved on the top of each casket were the same symbols from the ring on the chambers door, the animals of the zodiac, along with a new smaller symbol located below each one. "Those new symbols are as follows: Energy is below the Rat, Earth is below the Ox, Fire is below the Tiger, Speed is below the Rabbit, Mind is below the Dragon, Water is below the Snake, Strength is below the Horse, Time is below the Sheep, Lightning is below the Monkey, Wind is below the Rooster, Space is below the Dog, and Ice is below the Pig." Lee explained. While they looked at each casket, Greg noticed the lid for the tomb of the Snake was slightly off. When he pointed this out to Dr.Ranford, he just chuckled. "Go ahead, take a look."

They all moved carefully to the casket to look at the small gap. Natalie almost screamed when she saw the snake skull looking back at her with empty eye sockets. Greg turned to Dr.Ranford. "Yes, that's why you're here. We believe that each of these caskets holds a morph, and morph from more than 700 years ago. This is huge news in the RED virus and you will be the first to investigate." Greg laughed out loud at his good fortune. This was a career maker! Forget Pasteur and his discovery of viruses, forget Nelson, the discoverer of the RED virus, his name would be bigger than them all if he could unlock the secrets of this ancient relative.

Meanwhile Trey was looking around, realizing at that moment that neither Uzanti nor Lee were there. "Hey guys, where did Lee and Uzanti go?"

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

Uzanti was about to follow them down the stairs when he realized something. Walking across the floor, he though he heard something not right. Stopping and listening, he didn't hear anything, but when he walked towards the stairs, he heard it again. It was his toe claws! They were making different sounds as he walked across the floor. Looking down, Uzanti couldn't figure out how this can be. The floor seemed to be one solid piece of rock, carved from the bedrock like everything else. Bending down and feeling with his paw, he realized he was right. Dragging his fingers across the stone, he could feel lines in the stone of a different texture, even though the rock looked uniform. Following a line, it curved and bended in too much of a pattern to be natural. Dragging his paws all the way across the floor, his hand finally reached one of the springs. Looking inside the pool, he couldn't see anything to explain his discoveries. Then a thought entered his head, seemingly unbidden. Move the rock! Looking at the edge of the pool, Uzanti saw a large boulder. Moving over to it, he pushed it, not even budging it an inch. Putting his whole impressive strength into it (he was a 7 foot, muscular dragon anyway, and wasn't about to be beaten by a rock!) he started to roll it though the shallow pool of spring water. Somehow he knew what he had to do, he must block the stream of water that came from underground. Rolling the boulder over the bubbling part of the pool, he finally covered it, standing back to see what would happen. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then he could see the water somehow moving under the stone floor, following the lines he had traced himself earlier. There was some sort of green fluoresce to the water, and he could see it trace out intricate patterns in the floor.

Looking across the chamber, Uzanti realized there was another spring and went to do the same thing. Having already done it on the other side, it was much easier for him to move the boulder this time, again plugging the spring and sending water through the "pipes" under the rock that were on that side as well. As time passed and the water slowly made its way around the chamber, Uzanti realized what was happening. The water was tracing the same pattern on the floor as was on the chambers doors. He could see a large intricate circle was being "drawn" and some zodiac symbols were already under way in some of the wedges that were formed by radial lines through the circle.

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

Back in the chamber, everyone was looking around, seeing if Uzanti and Lee had wandered around the room somewhere. Seeing nothing, they were all about to head back up when Clay called out to them. "Hey Greg, Dr.Ranford, I think you better see this!" Turning around, everyone looked where Clay was looking. At the corner to the right of where the door would be on the floor above, a line of glowing green was being traced downwards from the ceiling. They all moved over, seeing that it was some sort of liquid flowing under the rocks and were about to head up again to see where it was coming from when they noticed more lines around the room. Spaced evenly, there were 12 of them in all. The overall effect was that it looked like the walls were bleeding green blood. The liquid continued to fall down inside the walls, pooling in a reservoir under the floor when another set of lines appeared, heading from the reservoirs to the caskets. The liquid reached the tombs of the zodiac, and every casket began to glow green , the zodiac symbol and accessory symbol glowing a blue colour on the crest in the middle. They got brighter and brighter, until the whole room was bathed in bright green and blue light, giving them all the feeling of being underwater. "I think we should go back up!" Greg yelled, and everyone nodded, feeling there way back to the stairs.

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

Upstairs, the floor crest was completely finished. Uzanti looked around, pleased with himself for finding such an important relic of the legend. His gaze wandered towards the door, where he thought he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and saw a blank spot on the ground. Walking towards it, looking at the symbols and comparing them to the ones on the door, which he could see because the doors opened into the chamber, he saw that the symbol for the Dragon wasn't there. "Figures," he thought to himself, "it would have to not work there. Oh well, a mostly complete circle is better than nothing." Still heading towards the empty space were the Dragon symbol should be, he was about to step into the outline when he heard his name shouted from behind.

"Uzanti! What in the name of the Gods have you been doing up here. You made the whole tomb room glow and...." Greg stopped when he realized what was traced out on the floor. Dr.Ranford walked in at that point, and took one look at the floor and nearly cried. "You did it, my boy!! You found the seal of the zodiac. This proves the legend must be true!" Trey walked in and went towards Uzanti. "Wow, you've been busy, haven't you? How'd you know to do this?" He asked, wrapping the dragon in a hug. "I don't know. It's the oddest thing, it was like I knew what to do, or was being guided by somebody." Uzanti held onto Trey as they stood there. Trey leaned up and kissed the dragon on the lips. Uzanti leaned back at first, surprised by the touch, and taking a step back in the process, right into the space meant for the Dragon symbol. A flash of green light surrounded Uzanti, tossing Trey nearly 6 feet away to land in a heap. Getting up slowly, dazed by the invisible blow, Trey opened his eyes to see Uzanti floating 3 feet in the air, seemingly unconscious, over the now present symbol of the Dragon, the necklace he gave him floating freely in a nonexistant breeze. The others were crowding around, yelling and trying to get to Uzanti, only to get no response or thrown away like Trey had. Travis came flying towards him, the koala having been thrown by the light when he tried to tackle Uzanti. Trey rolled out the way, Travis' body barely missing his. Trey heard Travis groan, but was more worried about his mate at the moment. Running towards the pillar of light, Trey yelled to Uzanti.

"Uzanti!!! Uzanti!!! Can you hear me!! What's happening to you??!!" Trey was about to touch him when he was pulled away by Nat. "Don't, you'll only get hurt! We have to wait and see what happens!" Trey turned on Nat, taking out his frustration and feelings of helplessness on her. "How can you stand there and not do anything! Isn't he your friend..." Then he realized that Nat was crying hard. "Sorry." Trey mumbled. "Don't worry, I understand." Nat replied. Jenna came running up the stairs then. "There's these clouds of blue light floating above the caskets, I don't know what they are, but..." She was interrupted by Greg, who only said "They're already here."

12 formless clouds of blue energy floated up from the floor, passing through the stone like it was air. Each cloud passed through the stone exactly where a symbol was, presumably from the same casket in the room below. The clouds then started racing around the room, passing through the ceiling, walls, floors, each other and the scientists gathered there. It was an odd feeling when one passed through them, like a cold tingling wherever it touched. "Look at Uzanti!" They heard Resa yell, the clouds momentarily forgotten. One of the clouds, most likely the one from the Dragon right below where Uzanti was still floating, was circling him like an electron around an atom. Faster and faster it went, blurring into itself, becoming a ring of blue light. Uzanti must have awoken at that point, because everyone could hear him start to yell like he was in pain. The pillar of green light seemed to fade, then the dragon floated towards the ground, the cloud ring no longer around him, yet he was still glowing blue. His hind paws barely touched the ground when he just dropped, whatever it was that was holding him up giving out. The number of clouds in the room seemed to be getting smaller, some of them passing through the ceiling and not coming back. All focus was on Uzanti though, so no one noticed this. No one even noticed one of the clouds pass through Trey, and not come out the other side, not even Trey. He just walked towards the crumpled form of his love, the blue light bathing his once again unconscious body fading, a red light now emanating from the wings on his back. The wolf's paw necklace was laying on the ground at Uzanti's feet, the chain had somehow broken. Trey picked up the charm and then tentatively reached out to touch a wing. When he wasn't thrown back, he grabbed it and spread it out. Engraved in Uzanti's gray/black wings in large blood red characters were the symbols for the Dragon on the left wing, and Mind on the right, just like from the casket.

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

A wizened old human in a cloak walked into a dark room. The only light was that of a spotlight in the middle of the floor. The geezer knew from experience that the Master's throne was just past that light, and in all likelihood, he sat there watching him wait. The old man gave up on the petty game and walked into the light, blinking at its brightness.

"What do you want?" A loud, deep voiced boomed from the darkness, right where the geezer knew the throne to be. "I have heard from our source. It has begun. The Dragon has already been chosen, and the souls of the other zodiac have been released. Everything is happening as I had foreseen." There was a loud grunt. "And in accordance with your plan, of course, my Master." He quickly added.

"Excellent! Bring me the boy. He has a job to do!" The ethereal voice commanded. "At once, my Master." The old man shuffled towards the large doors, happy to get away from the being in that room, feeling very sorry for the boy he was to bring as well as the poor Dragon he had told his Master about.