FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Dimension Hopping 101 - Safety First

by DrakeHavok

The city was quiet as moonlight illuminated the streets with a pale glow, the night sky shining brightly with its billions of stars twinkling overhead like little diamonds. Although many people were in their homes at this time of night as they prepared for bed, one person sat on the edge of an apartment building rooftop, lightly kicking his feet back and forth as he stared up at the sky. He was almost completely covered from head to toe, wearing an open black jacket with a hood pulled over his head, underneath which he wore a forest-green scarf over his nose and mouth - the excess length being tucked away under the back of the jacket - while a pair of aviator goggles with particularly large lenses both covered his eyes and helped pin down the scarf. Beneath the jacket was a simple violet shirt, and on his hands he wore a pair of plain brown leather gloves whose palms had obviously been cut out by an inexperienced hand. On his legs he wore a pair of dark grey cargo pants that held a few sundry items, the length falling down to his heels and almost fully concealing his feet and sandals. All his clothes, save for his face-wear and jacket, had incurred high amounts of damage, including cuts, tears, and burns. In addition, several of his pants pockets had been completely shredded, and there were even some signs of water damage if one looked in the right places.

After a few moments of staring into space, he reached down the front of his shirt and pulled out a locket that was hung around his neck, opening it to reveal a picture of a little girl with icy blonde hair, no older than eight. "Hey Alice," he said to the picture, his voice muffled by the scarf covering his face. "It's a nice night tonight; cold air, clear skies... your favorite kind, right? It's too bad you're not here to enjoy it with me. But hey, you got adopted right? Maybe your new family took you somewhere with nights like this all the time. I hope so Alice. I hope they've been treating you right all this time. Heh, I'm always saying that, aren't I? Well, I worry about you, you know?" He took a deep breath before closing the locket and placing it back down his shirt with a sigh, his breath visible in the cold air. "Sorry I can't talk more tonight, but I'm on a schedule," He said, looking out to his left. "I'm meeting that professor of mine again. Don't wanna keep the coot waiting."

"Aaaaahh!" Suddenly a woman's scream carried up from the alley beneath his feet, prompting him to look over the edge. Down below, a woman had tripped in what looked like an attempt to flee a man who was brandishing a small knife in her direction. "Just keep quiet and give me your goddamn money!" "Somebody help me!" The woman screamed, trying to get up from the ground, but panic was causing her to move too slowly to get away. "I said shut up!" The man shouted even louder than the woman, waiving his knife in the air wildly.

"On second thought, I think the good doc can wait a minute or two," the covered person said to himself, immediately pushing off the side of the building in what would have most certainly been a suicidal action for any normal person. Fortunately, he was most decidedly not normal; rather than falling to the ground, he slide down the side of the building as if it were a light slope before suddenly stopping to recline back against the bricks. "You know, you're actually making the most noise here, Mr. Pot," he said nonchalantly as he looked down at the man holding the knife - 'Bob', he decided to call the creep.

"Who's there?!" Bob shouted, looking around and quickly spotting the covered person. "Oh no, you!"

"It's not 'you' it's 'Flux'," the covered man bemoaned in false indignation. "Seriously, how many times have I been mentioned in the news? Even scum like you should know who I am by now." Before Flux had even finished speaking, Bob had already begun running out of the alley, his former victim forgotten entirely as he made a desperate dash to get away. He didn't get far; Flux quickly began jumping between the alley walls in chase, easily overtaking the crook before dropping down in his path and halting his retreat. "Not the worst action you could've taken," Flux said, with a tone that somehow seemed approving and dismissive at the same time, as he began to stretch with exaggerated motions. "But this would go a lot faster if you'd just give up - as much as I'd love to have fun and draw this out, I'm a bit strapped for time."

"Get away from me you mutant freak!" Bob shouted as he thrust his knife towards Flux with a clear intent to kill; Flux began his counter with an unseen roll of his eyes.

The fight, if what followed could be called such, barely lasted ten seconds, ending with Bob doubled over in pain as Flux stood over him while casually twirling the knife between his fingers. "Geez, that wasn't even good enough to be called a warm-up," Flux complained out loud, taking a moment to crack his neck as Bob tried to stand back up. Before he could, Flux grabbed hold of his shirt and leaped onto the alley wall, crook in tow, and slammed the man's back against the brick surface.

"Okay, look," Flux said as he leaned in close to Bob's face, who was now splayed out between the wall's second and third row of windows despite seemingly nothing keeping him suspended. "I really am in a hurry, so just sit tight here until the cops show up, and I won't have to do _this_to your legs." Flux held the knife in front of its owner's face for a moment, before opening his hand like a flower, the knife hovering above his open palm as if trapped in a bubble. It slowly began to rotate and spin in the air, getting a little faster with each passing moment as the tip of the blade began to bend back. Suddenly, the whole blade bent inward, the handle beginning to crack and contort as well, and soon the knife was completely crushed into a tiny lump of metal and plastic that was completely unrecognizable as the weapon it had once been. "Got it?" Flux asked, letting the former knife drop to the ground; Bob managed to make a pained groaning sound.

"I'll just assume that means yes," Flux said, dropping back down himself with a practiced ease. He looked at Bob's intended victim, curled up against the opposite wall and looking scared out of her mind. Flux inched closer to her, holding out his hands in an attempt to calm her down - but was completely unsurprised when her eyes widened further. "Great," he muttered under his breath, crouching down a bit to make himself less intimidating. "Ma'am, I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanna make sure you're okay after-"

"Stay back!" The woman shouted, swinging her purse at Flux, who pulled back to avoid getting bashed in the head. "Get away from me, you monster! You demon!"

"Ma'am, please-" Flux tried again, only to have to avoid another swing of her purse. "I'm not-" and another. "I'm just trying to-" and another. "Will you please stop-" and another. "Seriously, I'm not-" and another. "Cut it out!" Flux shouted, grabbing hold of the purse the next time it was swung. "I am not the bad guy here!" The woman screamed in response, letting go of the purse strap and scrambling down the alley as fast as she could.

Flux stood up as he watched her run off, both of his arms falling to his side as the purse dangled in his loose grip. "Should've seen that coming," Flux said to himself despondently. He looked at the purse in his hand for a brief moment, before tossing it over his shoulder and looking back at where the woman had fled. "For once, just once, I'd like someone I rescue to say 'thank you' instead of running and screaming and sometimes hitting me. Is that too much to ask?"

"Oh please," Bob suddenly said from the wall, his voice strained but full of contempt. "No one is gullible enough to think you actually care. The only things your kind care about is yourselves."

"Flux looked back at Bob, glaring at him for a moment before replying. "That's quite the bit of self-righteous drivel to coming from a petty thief." Flux walked underneath Bob, never taking his eyes off him, before suddenly jumping up and grabbing his ankle to drag him back down the wall. When Flux reached the bottom, he reared back his fist in preparation to punch the man's face - only to stop when Bob yelped in fear, covering up his face with his arms and making a sort of choking sound. "...Pathetic," Flux said, grabbing the man by his collar instead and pulling him off the wall. Bob had a small moment to catch his breath before Flux delivered a spinning kick to the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

"It's not like anyone else is going to care about 'my kind'," Flux said to the unconscious crook, before promptly turning and walking out of the alley. "Damn it, that took longer than I meant it to," Flux said as he pulled out a small but protected MP3 player from one of his pockets, quickly flipping through his music selection. "I should get moving before I'm late. Ooh, this one's good." He put the MP3 back in the pocket he'd pulled it from and jumped high in the air, making a beeline for his destination as music began to emanate from his leg - a calm, soothing melody that he began to hum along to as he flew over the city's brightly lit streets.

It didn't take Flux long to reach his destination, a storage garage set up just outside the downtown area of the city. He landed on one of the roofs in the lot as he turned off his music, almost immediately spotted the man he was meeting with that night. The professor was standing underneath the light of one of the storage garages, adjusting his shirt a bit as he looked around the lot for Flux, though never up, to the vigilante's disappointment. "I wish people would look up more so I could have an actual challenge," Flux lamented quietly, jumping over to the roof above the professor. "Looking for someone down there?" He called down, causing the professor to jump.

"You're late, Flux," the man said after getting over the shock Flux had provided. "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago."

"Oh, I'm so, terribly, sorry, for keeping the great Dr. Alder waiting a whole five minutes," Flux said dramatically, pretending to faint over the side of the roof and landing on his back with a light thump. He began to make loud sobbing sounds as well, continuing his 'apology'. "I'm an absolute monster for taking the time to stop a simple mugging and making you wait! Five whole minutes! I'm a horrible person! Despicable! Awful! Trash! Uuuuaaaaahhhhh, I don't deserve to liiiiive!!!"

"Will you shut up?!" Dr. Alder said, looking around the lot frantically for anyone who might have heard Flux's bawling. "It's bad enough I have to meet you in such an open area where anyone can see us! Don't risk attracting attention too!"

"Well that's funny," Flux said, immediately ceasing his antics and looking up at Dr. Alder, before jumping up and on his feet in one quick, smooth motion. "Weren't you the one who insisted on me coming here? Going so far as to, oh what was it... oh right, threaten to reveal my secret identity to the world if I didn't show up? A threat which, by the way, I never believed you could carry out for a second."

"Liar," Dr. Alder accused, crossing his arms and glaring at Flux. "If you don't believe I can or will reveal your identity, then why are you here?"

Flux just laughed, walking right up to Dr. Alder who quickly took several steps back. "Because it's funny. I save your ass from two of the most notorious meta-human criminals in the whole city, when they're specifically trying to kill you, and the first thing you do when I have them out cold is to blackmail me over information you don't have. In a sad, pathetic kind of way, it's hilarious... so what the hell? I'll humor you and your little 'threat' for now. So come on, let's hear why you want my highly-sought and much-coveted presence."

"Get inside first," Dr. Alder said coldly, unlatching the shutters and opening up the garage. "I don't want to be found out here with you."

"Not my problem," Flux said smugly, though he still obliged the doctor by walking into the garage with a light skip, Dr. Alder following close behind before slamming shut the shutters and plunging the room into darkness. "Careful, you don't want to break the door down and let everyone see us," Flux said jovially.

"Quiet," Dr. Alder said as he turned on the lights. The sudden illumination revealed a nest of scientific instruments and mechanical devices, the most prominent of which was a large archway pressed up against the back wall, attached to an equally large generator placed in the nearby corner, a light humming coming from it as it ran. Scattered about in various locations were several plants as well, ranging from common garden species to a couple of exotic varieties that Flux had never seen.

"So much green," Flux commented as he wandered around the room, looking at the various plants and objects in the room before stopping at a desk covered with a large number of blueprints. "And all these sciencey things too. What is it all?" He asked, reaching for the nearest one - before his hand was smacked away by an angry Dr. Alder.

"No touching," he hissed, glaring at Flux as he snatched all the papers from the table and stuffed them in a nearby drawer before locking it tight. "Everything in here is irreplaceable; I can't have you breaking anything."

"Even some dumb blueprints?" Flux said nonchalantly as he put his hands behind his head and looked to the side. "Surely a genius like you is smart enough to have copies of those, at least."

"Of course I have copies of them!" Dr. Alder snapped. "They're with my assistant, Felix, a reliable and hard-working human. They're still too important to let a destructive monster like you handle."

"Heheheh," Flux chuckled in response. "Your little prejudices are cute, doc, but can we get a move on here? I'd love to trade insults all night, but I believe you fake-blackmailed me for something?"

"...Yes," Dr. Alder said after a moment. "As much as I hate to admit it, I do need your help. You see the device along the back wall there?" "Who could miss it?" Flux remarked, looking at the metal archway the doctor was pointing to. "Good," Dr. Alder continued. "Now follow me over to it." The two of them moved towards the archway, and as they got closer Flux saw that it was connected to more than just the generator. There was also a control panel sitting on a nearby table that was wired into the side of the machine, and a small pad not unlike the teleportation pads of sci-fi films was laid out in front of the archway's base, hooked up to both it and the generator. "This is something I've been working on for quite a few years now," Dr. Alder said as he walked around to the control panel.

"This... giant hoop of yours is a multi-year project?" Flux asked, with a hint of pity in his voice. "I mean, it's a good-looking hoop and all, but I think it's a little too big for anyone to hula with it - aside from me, of course. My gravity powers would make it light as a feather." Flux paused, noticing Dr. Alder seething. "Is that what you wanted me fo-"

"Shut. Up." Dr. Alder's words were strained, the man clearly on the verge of leaping over the table and strangling Flux. "The arch is a device for creating and maintaining a stable interdimensional gateway between our world and another. It's very complex, very delicate, very expensive, and NOT A TOY!!!" the doctor gripped the edges of the control tightly, his knuckles turning white and his face red with rage. Flux, for once, stayed quiet, simply staring at Dr. Alder as he slowly calmed down.

"...Feelin' better?" Flux eventually asked, once Dr. Alder seemed to have regained control of himself. "No," the doctor simply replied. "Too bad, 'cause we're burning moonlight here," Flux said, all traces of frivolity gone. "So, an interdimensional portal... sounds a bit difficult to create with today's technology."

"It_was_ difficult," Dr. Alder said, looking at the archway with a dull expression. "A lot of its parts themselves had to be invented before I could make the machine proper."

"So, you had to invent the parts of an invention..." Flux said, the mirth returning to his voice. "Gotta say, it's pretty impressive you managed to pull that off, but if you went to the amount of trouble that must've been, I'm betting you're after more than just the Nobel Prize. I guess whatever you're up to with this thing has something to do with our little rendezvous tonight?"

"No," the doctor said. "I only need _your_help with testing the portals-"

"Wait, you don't even know if this thing works?" Flux interrupted. "And you want me to use it? Sorry, but I'm not about to risk my hide dimension-hopping with something that-"

"It works fine," Dr. Alder snapped, hitting a button on the control panel. The device sprang to life, a loud whirring sound emanating from it as power began to flow to the archway and its LED lights began to turn on. Soon, a glowing spiral of light appeared in the center of the device, plunging the room in a pink glow.

"Nice light show, doc," Flux shouted over the generator as he covered his eyes, "but does it work as advertised?"

"I already said yes!" Dr. Alder shouted back, hitting the button again and shutting the device down. "Pay attention for once, you imbecile!"

"Alright already," Flux said indignantly, lifting both legs off the ground and floating in place with his legs crossed. "Listening very carefully now. So, if you've got this thing working, what the hell do you need me for?"

"Beyond the device generating the portal required to travel between dimensions, I have very little control over the portal itself," Dr. Alder admitted. "I can't determine what universe is on the other side, and multiple examinations with a camera have shown a variety of different locations, none of which I am even certain belong to the same dimension. I need to explore them more in-depth, but there are other problems as well, and not just the fact that different dimensions are likely fraught with danger."

"Yeah, probably not the best place for an old geezer like yourself," Flux remarked.

"I'm 35!" Dr. Alder quickly shouted. "And that's not important! Maintaining a portal requires a lot of energy. The generator I have is strong, but it can only provide so much power; the portal can't be held open for more than a few minutes. Felix almost learned that the hard way the last time we tried to examine the other side; he was holding the camera when the portal began to fizzle out. The camera was lost, but he managed pull his hand out in time at least."

"Lucky him," Flux said as he began rubbing his wrist. "And lucky you, having a spare," He added, looking over at another table in the room where a small camcorder was lying on its side.

"Hardly," Dr. Alder scoffed. "I had Felix purchase that as a replacement - but that's not important. Do you remember how I said that every time the portal is created, it connects to a different place?"

"I might recall something like that," Flux responded lazily.

"Well then," Dr. Alder said flatly, "try using your own brain for once, and tell me what that means when you consider the fact that the portals die out after a few minutes."

Flux hummed a little, putting his fingers to his chin and swaying lightly back and forth in apparent thought. He continued to do this for a few minutes, occasionally changing the pitch of his hum, or adjusting the placement of his fingers. Just as Dr. Alder began to show signs of irritation, however, Flux finally spoke up. "One-way trip."

"Yes," Dr. Alder hissed. "I'm glad to see you seem to have some semblance of intelligence stored away somewhere."

"It's in my feet," Flux said. "That's why it takes so long to come out my mouth."

"What this means is that a proper investigation of the environments beyond the portal cannot be performed," Dr. Alder continued, resolving to ignore Flux's comments. "Unfortunately, I need to conduct investigations in order to determine the properties of the connected dimensions, so I can devise a method of controlling where the portal connects."

"Well, don't think you're getting me in that thing if you can't get me back out," Flux said as he crossed his arms. "Even if I believed your fake blackmail, I wouldn't be stupid enough to jump headfirst into something I can't get back from."

"You're useless to me in another dimension anyways, idiot," Dr. Alder said as he pulled out a thick metal belt from underneath the table. The belt had a small LCD screen on the front where a buckle would've normally been, and beneath it were four small buttons. "Fortunately for you, I have this belt here. Do you see the pad in front of the portal device?"

"Hard to miss it," Flux said once more.

"That belt, when worn, will teleport the wearer back to the pad with the press of a button, or after a certain amount of time. And yes, it does work. Me and my assistant spent several weeks testing it after I finished making it."

"And how extensive was the testing?" Flux prodded.

"It works," Dr. Alder insisted. "It teleported my assistant when he tested it, and setting the timer proved it would work when in another dimension. Here, I'll show you." The doctor immediately put the belt on his waist, snapping it shut around his waist with an audible click before pressing the rightmost button. The belt whirred to life before enveloping itself and the doctor in a bright light that quickly faded, only for the pad to start glowing. Soon enough, Dr. Alder's body reappeared, completely unharmed by the technology. "See?"

"Congratulations, you moved five feet," Flux said, slowly clapping his hands. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on working in another dimension, but tell me, does it do both things at once?"

"It should," Dr. Alder said. "But since you're the one who'll be going through, it's a risk I'm willing to take."

"You know, most people wouldn't want help you after a declaration like that," Flux said, sounding mildly amused. "Your negotiation skills suck."

"Most people wouldn't be in danger of losing a secret identity," Dr. Alder said coldly.

"You need a new pickup line, doc, 'cause that one's getting old." Flux cracked his neck a little, then his knuckles, before continuing. "One more thing before I agree to this, doc - oh yes, I'm ready to go through with this crazy shit, despite your attitude - but there's still one thing you're not telling me, and I wanna know: what the hell are you going to all this trouble for? You've already hit multiple scientific awards with this thing, but you're still going, so you must be after something that you can only get with this interdimensional portal. So spill, or I can just walk out right now."

"...Fine," Dr. Alder simply said. "I want to use it as a makeshift jail that can house mutants like you." "Elaborate," Flux demanded. "Figure it out for yourself!" the doctor countered. "Ever since the Meta-Human Defense Act was passed 30 years ago and gave anyone with a gun the authority to kill your kind on sight, since most of you can't be held in jail, you all have become more aggressive and violent in your bids to escape justice."

"Fuck your justice," Flux suddenly spat. "The MHDA was a political ploy made by desperate representatives trying to keep their jobs by turning meta-humans into a scapegoat for the country's problems by painting them as dangerous self-serving monsters, which ended up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy when meta-humans had to resort to killing others to save their own lives."

"Your kind are dangerous monsters," Dr. Alder said with venom. "The two that attacked me are proof enough of that. But, I do acknowledge that the MHDA made everything worse. Therefore, my solution is to use another dimension as a place to keep your kind locked up, away from the world they endanger and unable to ever return. With a jail capable of holding you monsters, the MHDA can be repealed and your kind can stop killing indiscriminately."

"Doesn't your portal work well enough for that?" Flux asked, folding his arms. "Why bother making it perfect when throwing someone in right now pretty much guarantees they won't be coming back?"

"I don't need to explain every little thing to you," Dr. Alder snapped, glaring at Flux. "You asked what I intended to use this for, and you got your answer. Now are you going to keep your word and help me or not?"

"Well, I could screw you over instead," Flux drawled, putting a finger to his chin in thought while the doctor glared at him. "After all, I'm a dangerous monster, and I don't like you. But... seems like a bit of a waste to just wreck all this hard work. I could just leave... nah, sounds like fun. Gimme the belt, doc." Dr. Alder wordlessly handed the belt over to Flux, who immediately fastened it tight to his waist.

"Here," the doctor said, pushing the buttons on the belt until the LCD screen displayed what appeared to be a timer. "It's late, so I'll only have you explore for an hour tonight. Grab the camcorder now and push the leftmost button when I tell you to."

"Alright," Flux said as he outstretched his hand towards the camera, which lifted off the table and into Flux's hand - but not before dinging against another object on display. "Careful!" Dr. Alder said. "It's fine, this thing was built to take a beating," Flux said dismissively.

"How do you know, you've barely looked at it!" Dr. Alder asked angrily.

"Ah, well, I had to buy a camera like this recently myself," Flux said, scratching the back of his head. "I recognized the model; bought it specifically for its sturdiness."

"Fascinating," the doctor said dryly, returning to the control panel and starting the machine. Once again, the machine began to whirr loudly, and soon enough a portal appeared in the center, this time appearing as an inky black spiral.

"Does it always change colors and patterns like that?" Flux asked.

"Yes," the doctor replied. "Now hit the button on the belt and go through, now!"

"Yeah yeah," Flux said, quickly pressing the leftmost button on the belt to start the timer. He immediately began running towards the portal, diving through headfirst with a loud whoop of excitement. His body tingled as it passed through, causing him to squirm despite himself, and once his entire form was through - he found himself crashing directly into a tree, small branches snapping under his weight as he nearly slammed into the thick trunk, barely managing to stop himself in time thanks to a combination of his hands and his powers. "Okay, first thing he needs to fix is setting the portal somewhere safe," Flux muttered to himself, standing up on the side of the tree trunk before taking a look around.

The dimension he'd found himself in, at first, looked remarkably like his own. The trees around him looked like typical deciduous and coniferous trees that could be found in most forests, causing him to conclude that a forest was his current location. The grass was green too, and a nearby stream looked like any other stream; there was even a light mist at the base of the trees he was surrounded by, though it was a funky reddish purple. The only other difference he could find was that the many rocks and boulders scattered about were made of obsidian rather than granite or slate. The illusion completely shattered, however, when Flux walked to the top of the tree to get a look at the sky.

It was a massive expanse of stars that seemed to contain the entire cosmos, and Flux couldn't help but stare out into its vastness, his jaw going slack. It seemed to fold around his vision from all sides, and Flux soon found himself struggling to comprehend exactly what he was seeing. The longer he stared, the harder it became for him to watch, until eventually he had to dive back beneath the branches, his mind and body exhausted from whatever he'd been forcing himself to see.

As he tried to recover his wits, he absently looked down at the belt he wore, only to be shocked to discover that 20 minutes had passed already - he'd been staring at the sky a lot longer than it felt he had. "Okay, no more fooling around," he said to himself as he brought out the camcorder. Opening up the video screen and turning it on, he immediately turned the camera towards himself and made the camera float in midair so he could get in the recording.

"Hello and welcome, to our first attempt at an interdimensional documentary, hosted by the one and only Flux," he said with an exaggerated bow. "That's me, of course. Today, I'll be introducing you to a universe somewhat like our own, with the same trees, the same grass, the same water - but also a shit-ton of obsidian, and one hell of a trippy sky." With a thought Flux drew the camera towards him, which he easily caught before sticking it out over the leaves, panning around a bit before quickly pulling it back down. "Like what you saw? Hope so, 'cause that's all you get to see. Don't want to fry your brains like I nearly did mine, after all. Now, what do you say we start looking around?"

Flux leaped out of the tree and landed on another one, leaping from tree to tree as he moved through the world and took in its splendor, barring the sky that he tried to keep out of his vision as often as possible. After a bit of leaping around the trees, watching the mist below him dissipate and not finding much else to comment on, he stopped leaping around and allowed his gravity to normalize, sitting down on a thick branch to rest for a minute. As he was resting, his palm brushed against the bark of the tree, and to his shock it felt like latex. Taking a firm grip, he confirmed that the tree's bark did have a latex-like quality to it, despite having the same look, hardness, and texture as regular bark. "Heh, well what do you know," he said, turning to the camera. "A new discovery, folks, the trees feel like rubber. Or at least this tree does. I should probably check the others."

Flux immediately leaped along a couple more trees, checking and confirming that each and every one felt like rubber, before stopping as the foliage began to thin. "Weird," he muttered to himself. "I wonder if that's just the trees in this area, or all the trees, and if it applies to other plants as well." As he was musing this, he thought he heard a sound down below him, and stuck his head out of the tree to look down at the ground. The sight he saw almost left him speechless, but he did manage to quietly let out a small quip. "Didn't expect this to turn into a porno."

Below him was a gaggle of anthropomorphic multi-colored reptiles engaging in an enormous orgy - there really wasn't another way to describe what he'd stumbled across. About ten or twelve reptiles were fucking each other's brains out, and it was with shock and a little curiosity that Flux watched as a red lizard sucked off a yellow naga before being plowed from behind by two more lizards, one purple and one with a pale blue head that actually appeared to be wrapped in a number of vines everywhere else, including the tool he was shoving into the red one. The red one, in turn, was sucking off a green naga that had crawled on top of him and had begun kissing the yellow naga. The longer he stared, the more he began to notice a shiny quality to the lizards' scales, one that almost made them look like-

"Rubber," Flux quietly said, pulling out the camera to get a recording. "Anthropomorphic reptiles... wearing rubber suits. Unless they're made of rubber, like the trees..."

After a couple minutes of recording the orgy, that didn't seem like it was going to end any time soon, Flux decided to get a better view and quietly slipped down to the lowest, thickest branch the tree had. Standing on the branch's underside, he was able to determine that the lizards were definitely not wearing suits. Not only that, but they all appeared to be male as well, all of them fairly well built in terms of musculature, and fairly well endowed to boot. That wasn't really as off-putting for him as it would have been for most people, but the fact that it was happening at all, and that he was still watching, made him feel slightly uncomfortable. It didn't help that his pants had been getting tighter and tighter ever since he'd first began watching them.

After a few more minutes of recording the rubber reptiles, one of the lizards stopped pushing into the serpent beneath him and began looking around. Slowly the other lizards joined in the visual search, and Flux froze, wondering if the lizard had sensed him nearby or if something else was setting them off. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the former as one lizard quickly spotted and pointed him out, causing all the reptiles to crowd around him. "Is that a human?" One of them asked. "Smells like one." "Male, too." "He smells aroused." "Is that how you found me?!" "How is he standing upside down?" "He's probably a mage." "Is he from The Order?" "Maybe."

"Quiet, everyone," The vine-wrapped lizard spoke up, stepping forward as a green tongue briefly flicked out its colorful muzzle. "Can't you see we have a guest?" He turned back to Flux, inspecting the human from top to bottom much like Flux was to him. Now that the lizard was closer, Flux could tell that it was far more plantlike than he'd initially thought, its scales gleaming like polished wood and its head seeming to have a flower's texture. "Now what would a human like you be doing in Master Renzyl's realm unattended?"

"Oh, nothing much," Flux replied. "I'm just here to get some footage for a documentary. I'm thinking of calling it 'franticly fucking' - wait, that would only work if you guys were cats. Hmm, how about 'sensuously sucking serpents'? ...Didn't mean to intrude on you guys, though," he added, noticing a number of predatory looks coming from the lizards surrounding him. "You guys can get back to it, and I'll piss off."

"Why go?" the plantlike one asked, the vines wrapped around him starting to twitch slightly as he took another step forward. The other reptiles began to go back to their fucking, but they all seemed to be watching Flux out of the corners of their slitted, yellow eyes. "I'll bet your documentary could benefit from a more... personal experience."

"I'm sure it could," Flux said, jumping off the branch and falling up to a higher one. "But I wanna explore some more, and I'm on a time limit." Flux pointing to his belt, the screen showing that he had about 26 minutes left. "Again, so sorry to disturb your fuck-fest. Thanks for the offer though, I'll keep it in mind if I come back without the curfew." Flux immediately flipped up to the top side of the branch when he was finished speaking, running to the end before making a mighty leap that sent him sailing high over the tops of the rapidly thinning trees. Down below, the reptiles watched him jump away with a mix of surprise and disappointment. "Aw, now that's too bad," the plant lizard said as he watched Flux fly away, before grabbing hold of the nearest rump and spearing his sap-like pre all over its owner's tail hole. "But if you're going to jump straight into General Acatros' garden, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon enough. Now, someone come and give me something to put in my mouth."

Flux's leap had, in fact, been powerful enough to set him straight on a course to that very garden, as it was not too far away from where the lizards had been having their orgy. However, the garden was not the most immediate thing to catch Flux's eyes; that honor belonged to a large, multi-tiered mansion that the garden sat behind, and Flux couldn't help but stare in awe at it. Immediately digging into his pants, he swapped the camera he held for a pair of binoculars and began looking through them in earnest, eager to see more of what he was headed for.

Unfortunately, he realized, while the mansion was beautifully constructed, utilizing large amounts of obsidian to create a rather foreboding yet enticing appearance that reminded him vaguely of gothic architecture, the creatures inhabiting its grounds were very similar to the ones he'd encountered at the forest edge - right down to their propensity for fucking. And there was a lot of them, more than he thought the mansion itself could possibly hold. "I guess rubber reptiles are the big species in this universe," Flux muttered to himself. "And I bet public sex is a societal norm." Flux had no doubt in his mind that the reptiles on the grounds would make the same offer as the ones in the forest had, and while he wasn't completely opposed to the idea, he couldn't risk the belt running out of time while he was getting his rocks off and leaving him stranded without a way back home. And what if they 'insisted' on including him in their activities? Flux definitely didn't want that. And while he wanted to examine the mansion up close, he knew he'd have to be careful about it.

Feeling himself beginning to descend, he looked down to the garden where his trajectory was taking him, and once more realized that he was going to have issues when he saw multiple vine-covered lizards walking around with the plant life, which itself was odd-looking to Flux. Some of it looked normal enough, such as the rosy hedge maze decorated with daffodils. Most of it just looked strange though, such as a large set of bluebells with reptilian feet sticking out of some of the bulbs, a vineyard with reptiles standing in for the stakes, and a circular row of potted flowers that he would've sworn up and down looked exactly like piranha plants from Mario games.

Actually, he suddenly realized, the area within the circle of piranha plants seemed devoid of lizards, the only other things in that area being a small obsidian square with a seemingly-harmless weeping willow in the middle surrounded by twelve marble statues and a couple of small, decorative boulders. With his current trajectory, Flux knew that he would land in the vicinity of the bluebell plants, and even if they were more benign then he suspected, the multiple lizards in the area would definitely spot him. But if he were to angle for one of the statues surrounding the possibly dangerous tree, then he could land on the other side of the hedge maze without anyone immediately spotting him. Deciding that this was the best course of action, he altered his gravity so that he would hurtle for the statues, thus passing over the lizard folk and the possibly dangerous plants.

As he quickly approached the statues, he made the realization that only one statue was reptilian in its appearance - and aside from one that depicted an anthro fox and another of an anthro horse, the rest were all depictions of nude, male humans. They were all posed slightly differently, such as one that was on both knees while another was bent over backwards on the ground, but all the statues had their hands wrapped tightly around their cocks and their faces shaped into expressions of joy, depicting a moment of a frozen yet highly erotic scene of masturbation.

Realizing that he was getting hard again, Flux shook his head to clear his thoughts, angling himself for the upright human statue on the far right in a way that meant that if he missed his mark, he would be throwing himself into one of the boulders instead of the tree or surrounding piranha plants. Due to the way his momentum was currently carrying him, he was set to crash into the statue with no way to outright prevent contact without either slamming into the ground hard or giving himself severe whiplash. But having done this sort of things many times before, he knew exactly what he needed to do to not only avoid smashing the statue, but to remove enough of his momentum to land safely.

Flux quickly put his binoculars into an empty pocket and closed it up in preparation for his upcoming stunt. Once he was in range, he twisted his body in a sort of barrel roll, curving off to the side just enough to pass the statue before sticking his arm out and grabbing the statue - the statue immediately tipping backwards in his grip. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Flux realized that the statue wasn't actually attached to the stone it stood on, before he and his unintended luggage blew past the square and into one of the surrounding boulders with the speed of a bullet.

"Oooooowww..." Flux moaned, slumping back down from the rock until he was lying on the ground, his legs propped up by the obsidian decoration. Though he'd managed to mitigate the worst of the collision with anti-gravity, the impact had still hurt like hell, and the loud sound of shattering stone made him fairly certain that the statue was in pieces at this point. Hopefully that wouldn't be a problem...

"Oh, thank god, I'm free!" A sudden voice coupled with the sound of shifting rocks immediately snared Flux's attention, and he turned his head to the side just in time to spy a male human emerging from the shattered remains of the statue, just as nude as it had been. Staring at him in shock, Flux vaguely recognized his face as that of the busted bust, and could only watch as the man stood up, looking at his hands with an emotion akin to shock. "I... I can't believe it... I thought that I... thank you!" He suddenly said, looking over at Flux. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how grateful I am to be free of that horrid prison!" The man extended an arm towards Flux in gratitude.

"...No problem," Flux said after a moment, taking the offered hand and slowly getting to his feet. His back still ached from the impact, but he'd taken worse hits before, and at worst he'd have to avoid bending his back the wrong way for a couple days. Nevertheless, he made an audible hiss as he took a moment to stretch his back before turning his attention back to the man. He seemed to be about Flux's age, maybe a little older, with short red hair and freckles all over his face. "So, uh, mind telling me what you meant by 'prison'?" Flux asked. "You're not some sort of criminal, are you?"

"Wha-no!" The man said, seeming shocked at the accusation. "I'm just a college student, my name is Hubert Ruben! I'm a member of The Order, an organization dedicated to purifying those corrupted by demons, as well as purging them from our world when they attempt to cross over! I was only in that statue because I was dragged into the demon's realm, and when I tried to escape the miasma trapped me in stone!"

"Miasma?" Flux said, thinking back. Hadn't he seen something like that somewhere here before? "...Oh yeah, there was some funky mist back in the forest when I first arrived," he said to himself. "Didn't know it could turn me to stone. Glad it didn't though."

"The miasma didn't encase you?" Hubert asked, sounding shocked.

"It didn't touch me," Flux clarified.

"Oh. I see." Hubert looked around, not seeming to notice that he was nude, or maybe just not caring. "Um, might I ask what you're doing here? I find it hard to believe that anyone who hasn't converted to Renzyl's flock is simply wandering around the demon's realm unhindered."

"Demon's realm?" Flux tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I'm just here to look around and see the sights. Record them too, I guess. Speaking of which..." Flux reached into his pocket and pulled out the camcorder again, and though he had smashed against the rock with a fair amount of force, the camera itself was fine apart from a couple of nicks and scratches that hadn't been there before... heh, he knew buying the resilient model had been a smart decision. Flux opened the screen up and began to pan around the area.

"You mean, you're a tourist?!" Hubert said, a bit louder than necessary.

"Pretty much," Flux affirmed. "Though I suppose this could also be counted as a scientific expedition..."

"You have to leave this realm right now," Hubert said, "before Renzyl's minions find you and make you a permanent resident!"

"The hell does that mean?" Flux glanced back, turning back towards him while continuing to record everything he could.

"If you're caught by Renzyl's minions, you'll be brutally raped and forcibly converted into another one of his mindless slaves! They'll pin you down, completely immobilizing you before stripping you naked and rubbing themselves all over you, shoving their cocks into any hole they can find. They'll force you to sate the full force of their unholy lust, until eventually your mind starts to succumb to their corruption and begin to want to have sex with other men - and more importantly, you'll begin to turn into a lizard like them, wanting to spread your corruption and turn more innocents into demonic gay reptiles! It's not something a normal person should want!"

"...Out of curiosity, do you know what TMI means?" Flux asked, closing his camera with a sharp clap before turning to face Hubert, who was looking oddly haggard. "You could've stopped at 'mindless slaves'."

"No, you have to understand how evil Renzyl is!" Hubert vehemently exclaimed, shaking his head back and forth fiercely.

"For making gay lizardmen?" Flux asked, his tone making his skepticism clear. "Okay, I'll agree that it's a problem if he's doing it against someone's will, but that's the only issue I see. If someone willingly goes through it, or hell, if they're only telling themselves that they're unwilling, then why can't he?"

"Because he's a demon!" Hubert cried. "An evil, vile, monstrous, gay demon!"

"You know, I get called a 'demon' on a semi-regular basis," Flux said, tucking the camera away and folding his arms. "It happened earlier tonight, actually. And why so hung-up on the homosexual aspect of it all? You seem a bit too focused on something so ultimately... trivial."

"Because homosexuality is disgusting!" Hubert said, his tone sounding as if he thought it was the most obvious thing in the world. Flux simply responded by rolling his eyes, something Hubert didn't see, and pointing at Hubert's waist, from which hung an average-sized, fully erect penis. Hubert did see that. "Gaah!" Hubert cried. "Why am I hard?! Why am I naked?!?"

"You started getting hard around the time you started describing the modus operandi of Renzyl's mooks in unnecessary detail," Flux said. "As for your nudity, you were like that before I accidentally smashed your statue." Hubert immediately began waving his hand around, which began to glow before a large robe materialized over the man's body, covering him from head to toe and neatly hiding the evidence of his erection as he muttered something about having forgotten that the lizards had disrobed him after he'd turned to stone. "Handy trick," Flux complimented. "Wish I could make a wardrobe change that quickly. Not just because of them unexpected erections either."

"I-I don't understand," Hubert stuttered, blushing profusely. "W-why did I get hard telling you about Renzyl's methods of conversion?"

"I'll bet it was the rather lewd, sexy details of the conversion process that got you going," Flux teased.

"W-what?!" Hubert said indignantly. "I'm not gay! And I do not find the idea of being converted into one of Renzyl's slaves appealing!"

"Yeah, sure," Flux continued mockingly. "No one in the closet has ever said that before. Lemme guess, this 'Order' of yours is where you got the idea that being gay is a bad thing. I'll bet your parents introduced you to it too, or hell, even inducted you into it. I should tell you now, just because your parents have a problem with gays, it doesn't mean you should deny an aspect of yourself. I tried that for a while, and let me tell you, it sucks balls. And in your case it's also keeping you from sucking balls, which is a bit hypocritical if you ask-"

Flux barely had time to react to Hubert throwing his hands out towards Flux and making strange signals with them. The next second, Flux was flung backwards by what felt like a strong gust of wind, slamming into the obsidian boulder again with almost as much force as before. Flux fell back to the ground in pain, moaning as he thought he heard the sound of something cracking.

"I am NOT gay," Hubert said, glowering at Flux as the latter slowly got to his feet again. "And I'm not sticking around to be found and fucked into becoming so by Renzyl's minions. If you want to stick around and get screwed into his service, then by all means, stay here. I'm leaving." And before Flux could do anything more, Hubert began waving his hand again, and seemed to melt into a smoke-like substance before fleeing past the piranha plants. The plants tried to bite him as he passed, but his smoky form passed through their mouths effortlessly, and within moments Hubert was gone.

"He has multiple powers?" Flux said in a near whine, watching Hubert go with a look of mild envy. "Lucky bastard." Flux brushed himself off, still staring at the spot he'd last seen the Order member, and put his fingers to his chin in thought. "Still, thou punk doth protest too much, methinks. I bet I was hitting the nail right on the head..."

Flux thought about it for a moment more, considering whether he should go track down Hubert and put him back in a statue, or break them all and set the inhabitants free... before deciding that it didn't matter. He'd be leaving as soon as his belt's timer ran out, which it would probably do any minute, and he wasn't eager to screw with the inhabitants of this alternate dimension, or Renzyl's realm as he'd been told it was called, any more than he had. Though on the subject of his belt's timer, he figured he should learn how much time he had left, and looked down. "What the hell?!"

The belt was damaged, a large crack running down the blank screen, while the metal casing of the belt was damaged by what appeared to be blunt force trauma, something that likely extended down into the delicate technology contained within. A quick press of the rightmost button confirmed his fears: the belt was busted. With the timer not counting down, the button not causing him to immediately warp back, and likely the entire mechanics of the belt in disarray, Flux was stranded in this strange dimension... unless there happened to be someone around who could fix the thing.

"Phft, not likely," Flux said to himself as the thought crossed his mind. "Who the hell is gonna know how Dr. Alder's tech works, let alone be able to repair it? Well, aside from me, but I left the fucking blueprints back home. Shit, how did this happen?" Thinking back to how and when the belt could have been damaged, Flux's first thought immediately went to when Hubert had sent him flying into the boulder, and immediately scowled, the idea that Hubert had busted his only way home infuriating him... at least until he noted with some irony that Hubert had been the one urging him to go home in the first place. However, he also remembered that he'd crashed into the boulder all on his own. The belt could've been broken then as well, which would've made it Flux's fault entirely. Hell, he realized, that crash had been what freed Hubert in the first place, making the belt's situation his fault to a degree anyways. "Always getting yourself into more trouble, ain'tcha?" He mumbled to himself.

Lost in thought, Flux nearly missed it when he began to hear faint voices coming from the nearby entrance to the hedge maze behind him. When he realized that someone was coming his way, however, he also realized that because he no longer had an emergency escape available, he could potentially get in some serious trouble if he allowed himself to be caught in this world. Especially if Hubert's tale about becoming a mindless slave was more than Order propaganda. Especially if he was found next to the remains of the statue that, in addition to housing Hubert, had likely been placed here along with the other eleven to decorate the willow tree's small grove.

Not particularly fond of the idea of being enslaved or stuck in stone, Flux quickly looked around for a place to hide. Sure, he could jump high up into the air and hover until whoever was coming left, but considering that the statue was busted, he doubted that whoever was going to come through was going to leave without a thorough investigation. Something he'd learned a long time ago was that people were more likely to look up when they were investigating a scene, even one out in the open like this. Unfortunately, the only other place he could hide was under the vines of the weeping willow, and he wasn't sure just how dangerous it was or wasn't.

Unfortunately, with the approaching voices getting closer and closer, Flux didn't have much time to choose. He decided to try his luck with the willow, and dived under the small space beneath the hanging vines, just barely managing to pass under without disturbing the tree. Once underneath, he immediately looked around himself wildly, expecting some sort of ambush or attack. The area underneath the tree was quite empty, and quite spacious to boot, and Flux couldn't help but relax a bit in the tree's shade. He soon flattened himself against the ground, the grass tickling the palms of his hands as he peered out from under the vines in the direction of the voices.

Soon enough, a pair of reptiles appeared, one of which was another plantlike lizard covered in vines much like the other Flux had seen, though his head was reddish-purple in color, rather than a pale blue. He also seemed somewhat larger than the others, and carried himself in a slightly more self-important manner that made him seem more imposing. Beside him was an equally imposing naga, slithering alongside the plant lizard. The naga was mostly green in coloration, with a blue diamond pattern running down his body, his cobra-like hood flared out despite a lack of a threat. He too held himself in an imposing manner, and the subtle differences between them and the previous group he'd seen were enough to put Flux on edge. He continued to watch them, however, being able to hear their conversation more clearly as they drew closer, passing by the piranha plants with no trouble at all.

"...But anyways, Acatros," the naga said to the plant lizard, "It's about time to see how our little joint project is coming along. And from what I'm seeing, it's coming along beautifully." The two of them were heading in the direction of the willow tree, which Flux supposed must be the project in question.

"Oh, I agree, Zander," Acatros said, his eyes seeming to shine with what Flux guessed was either pride or latex before he got too close for Flux to see his face through the space under the branches. "I was thinking she might be ready for us to see her in action. What do you think?"

"Hmm," Zander pondered as they stopped to look at the tree, Flux only capable of seeing up to Acatros' ankles as his tail flicked back and forth. "I think the vines look a little small, but you're the expert here; if you say it's ready, then it's probably ready. All we need now is someone to throw in it."

"I usually test my babies' capabilities myself," Acatros said, stepping forward. "Or have my lieutenant assist me, but seeing as he's not here at the -" Acatros stopped talking, and Flux noticed his tail freezing mid-twitch before the plantlike lizard began walking around the tree. "That's odd," he said, Zander following closely behind. "One of my statues is missing."

"No it's not," a new voice said, and despite it being noticeably different from Zander's, Flux noticed that it seemed to be coming from him anyways. "Your statue's been shattered. Look, the pieces are over there."

Acatros' feet shifted towards the direction of where Flux had shattered Hubert's statue, then back towards Zander. "So it has. Odd, none of us in Master Renzyl's service would have intentionally broken one of my statues."

"It could have been an accident," Zander pointed out.

"Then why are the pieces so far from where the statue was placed?" Acatros reasoned. "Besides, I specified that, aside from Master Renzyl, only you, me, and someone accompanying either of us should come back here. If it had been broken by one of my men, then I would expect him to be standing here, escaped human in his clutches, explaining why he was in the part of my garden I have forbidden entry to."

"Then... perhaps remnants of the Order sent in an agent with the foolish notion that they could rescue their fallen allies," Zander suggested.

"Then why did was only one freed?"

"Maybe that one was important in some way."

"Unlikely, given how long I've had him in my garden. Besides, the remaining Order members could never get this far into Master Renzyl's realm."

"Then why has your statue been smashed?" Zander asked.

As the two argued back and forth about the logical inconsistencies of Hubert's release, Flux began backing away as best he could, hoping to get out from under the tree on the other side of it and leap away before they caught him. However, as he crept backwards, the head of a small snake dipped below the vines and quickly spotted him. Both Flux and the snake froze and stared at each other for a moment, before Flux began backing up again, albeit at a slower pace than before. He wasn't sure what the snake was doing there, but he didn't like that it was just sitting there, watching him with its tongue flickering out every couple of seconds. Then, suddenly, it slithered backwards until it was out of the tree. That couldn't be good.

"My my my," Zander said, an amused tone in his voice, and Flux watched as his lower body moved closer to Acatros' feet. "Aca dear, my lovely little cock just found something very intriguing just now; it seems there's a little human scampering about beneath our lovely tree." Flux sighed and stood up, knowing that the snake had somehow ousted him, though he was confused as to why Zander had called it his 'cock'; judging from the sexual nature of the dimension, there was no doubt that the naga was referring to his penis, but unless he had an actual trouser... oh wow, Flux thought. Unexpected. And... oddly sexy.

"Oh_really_," Acatros said, sounding surprised and excited at the same time. "Now isn't that an interesting turn of fortune. I wonder if he was my statue, or the one who broke it?"

"Does it matter?" the third voice asked gleefully, and Flux realized that it belonged to the snake that had spied him. "After all, isn't he in the best spot to help us with our little project? I say we let him assist us."

"A wonderful idea," Zander said. "He'll make for an excellent trial run."

"You guys know I'm right here, right?" Flux asked through the vines. "I'd like to have the last words about who I assist with what projects. Plus, I think if I'm going to be doing any sort of work, I want a contract so I can have proper compensation."

"My, he has spirit," Zander said after a moment, sounding a little amused. "I like this human. Almost seems a shame to convert him by force."

"Almost," the snake agreed.

"I'd prefer to not to be converted at all, thank you," Flux said.

"Don't worry human," Acatros said, his shadow appearing in the leaves of the willow's vines as his clawed toes poked through from underneath. "I assure you that you will be properly compensated for helping me test my baby's capabilities. If you'll relax and allow my baby here to work its magic on your body and mind, you'll get to experience a blissful state of ecstasy as you're prepared for your new life in service of our Master Renzyl." Acatros' hands suddenly poked through the vines, stroking down their sides slowly as if they were alive.

"I have a name you know," Flux said with a hint of indignation, even as he began to back away from Acatros. "And it's not 'gullible'. And I'm still waiting on that contract, you know."

"Just relax," Zander said soothingly, his own clawed hands running up and down the vines, many of which were now wiggling and writhing of their own accord, suddenly looking more snakelike than before. "Soon you'll understand how enjoyable it is to serve Master Renzyl. If you accept your fate willingly, you may even keep your own mind."

"Can we get back to the part about me having a name and needing a contract?" Flux asked, backing up against the trunk of the tree now that all the vines had become incredibly snakelike in appearance - or had they always been like that and Flux simply hadn't noticed? The vine-snakes crept closer and closer, and a couple of them opened up their mouths wide. Behind him, Flux heard even more snakes coming closer, the whole tree having come alive now that it was aware of the prey in its clutches. "Guess not."

Flux jumped into the branches of the tree, the snakes in front of him giving chase as they saw their prey attempting to retreat. Flux quickly leaned backwards over the other side of the branch he was on, where more vine-snakes waited for him, and dropped down to a lower branch before using it to vault back into the higher branches. As he expected, all the snakes began chasing him at this point, following his trail perfectly in their mad dash to catch him.

Flux continued in this manner, jumping throughout the tree and between the bodies of the vine-snakes as they chased him everywhere he went, endlessly and determinedly pursuing him as he bounced around. Eventually, Flux flung himself down to the ground, the force of his landing throwing his hood off his short brown hair as the snakes followed closely behind. Flux stood up as the snakes opened their mouths wide in anticipation - only to suddenly stop mere inches from Flux's head, snapping at a couple of loose hairs. They continued trying to snap at him, to capture him and convert him in whatever manner they were supposed to, but it was no use, as Flux's path through the tree that the snakes had blindly followed had left them wrapped and tangled in the tree's branches and each other, unable to reach their prey.

"Well, that was fun," Flux said as he pulled his hood back over his head and stepped away from the snakes, turning his attention back to Acatros and Zander. And the little snake-cock sticking out from below Zander's abdomen. "Knew it," he muttered to himself, before speaking up again. "I know I said I didn't want to help test it, but after all that effort, I suppose I should at least give you your grades. You definitely deserve an 'A' for effort, no question, a lovely piece of work there. But I gotta say, the vines should've been able to do more than just chase me wherever I went. They couldn't slam into me, they couldn't ambush me - were they even smart enough for that? And they didn't even try to grab hold of me when I was running between their bodies. I'm sorry, but in terms of overall quality, this is a 'C+' at best."

"Well, I'm sorry it didn't live up to your expectations," Acatros said, looking at the tangled snakes with a sour expression.

"You're skills are quite impressive," Zander's cock-snake said with a hiss, as Zander himself chuckled and moved towards Flux. "Far more so than we gave you credit for. What's your name, human?"

"Yeah, NOW you want my name," Flux said, backing up at the same pace as Zander's advance. "Well, let's say I'm not in the mood to give it."

"Aw, now don't be like that," Zander said, his tongue flicking out as he continued to slide towards the human. "I admit, it was a little hasty of us to just test our tree on you like that. Tell you what, if you'll let us me and Acatros will be more than happy to make it up to you." Suddenly Zander stopped moving towards Flux, and flicked out his tongue again. "Unless you'd rather be taken by Acatros' little garden guards, that is."

Flux stopped backing up at this and spun around, his wide eyes spying a piranha plant rearing up at him for daring to come within its reach. Flux had half a second to look at it before it lunged at him with surprising speed; unable to dodge out of the way in time, Flux barely managed to grab hold of the creature's mouth, being pushed back a bit as he fought to keep the creature from eating him in one gulp. Even so, it continued to snap and push against him, the inside of its mouth lined with a number of small tentacles that were probably for keeping any captured prey held tight... or more likely, being fucked and converted while trapped inside.

"Is that a no?" Zander mockingly asked. "Acatros, go untangle our tree, will you? I'll entertain our guest here." Flux heard Acatros say something he couldn't make out, and a couple of seconds later Zander spoke up again, this time right in his ear. "You seem to be having a little trouble here, human... let me help you out." Flux felt an arm wrap around his stomach and tug him away from the plant, and the next minute he found himself held tight in Zander's clutches, the naga looking down at him with a smug expression. "There, isn't that better?" He asked, his other hand rubbing against Flux's crotch as the snake-cock began to wrap around his waist.

"Quite," Flux said, surprising the naga by spinning around and drawing him into a deep kiss that was only marred by the mask Flux still wore. He wrapped one arm around Zander's shoulder while the other hand took hold of the snake cock as they spun around in their kiss, and Flux leaned forward until they were near perpendicular to the ground. Through the mask, Flux could feel Zander's rubbery lips meshing and stretching against his own, and even the couple of times where the naga tried to press his tongue into Flux's mouth, he could feel the twine-tip of the appendage pressing against the fabric.

Soon enough, the two of them pulled apart, Flux and Zander looking at each other for a moment as Zander's lips curled into a smile. "My, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Yup," Flux said, suddenly pulling away from Zander's loose grip as the piranha plant that had previously tried to eat Flux, now finding him within range once more due to the position that he and Zander had taken, lunged once more for the human. Once again, it failed, though with Zander still bent over backwards, the plant still snagged a consolation prize of rubber naga, catching the reptile by his upper body and instantly trapping the serpent. "Surprise."

"Zander!" The snake-cock in his hand half-shouted, before turning to Flux and baring its fangs but unable to do much more than wiggle and writhe in his grasp. Eventually, it stopped trying to get free and simply stared at Flux. "Very clever, human," the serpentine dick said, flicking its tongue out. "And here I thought you were a fool, but you were leading us on the whole time."

"Naaah, you're giving me too much credit," Flux quipped, rubbing the underside of the snake's mouth with his free hand, causing the strange thing to start dribbling a copious amount of greenish drool as its body slowly stiffened. Around his feet, Zander's coils attempted to wrap around his legs and drag him into the plant as well, but Flux simply danced out of their reach, watching as the naga's body was slowly slurped into the piranha plant's mouth like a noodle; the snake cock hardened even further. "Hey, you two'll be okay when you're in this thing, right?"

The snake-cock tried to respond, but with the drool-cum leaking out of its mouth and its stiffening posture, the most Flux could make out was a vague moaning sound. "I'm gonna hope that means 'yes'," Flux said, continuing to rub the snake's body while carefully letting it drool away from him, even as the body it was attached to continued to slide into the plant's maw. "Well, have fun, I guess. Though, I should probably let your buddy over there know that his plants are eating you two. Hey Acatros!" Flux called, looking back to where Acatros was untangling the willow tree. "Your comrade could use some assistance!"

Before Acatros could do more than turn his head in Flux's direction, Flux tossed the snake in his hands to the side and leaped high into the air. The snake-cock naturally tried to lunge for him once it was free, but it's stiff body made movement difficult for it, and by the time it could have caught him, Flux was already soaring through the sky. He shot directly for the mansion he'd spied earlier, already in the process of putting the events of the garden entirely out of his mind... except for one small thing that he couldn't shake.

Now that his belt was busted, possibly forever, it meant that he was stuck in this world unless he happened to find someone who could fix the belt or just up and send him home. Without either of those two unlikely things, the only way he would be allowed to stay in this world, judging from the way Zander and Acatros had reacted to him, was to be converted. In fact, it might have been better to allow the two of them to convert him back in the garden, or at least try talking to them, rather than treating them as enemies as he had. "Aw crap, I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the ass," Flux bemoaned out loud as he continued flying towards the mansion. "Okay, forget it. Just hope that someone around here will be able and willing to help me get home. And that word doesn't travel too fast... phft, yeah, not likely."

Flux reached the mansion fairly quickly, managing to pull off a much more graceful and quiet landing on the building's roof than he had in the garden, one that seemed to go unnoticed by the reptiles meandering around the grounds. Flux began to crawl along the roof of the building, peering over the edge of the front of the building and he looked down at an unsurprisingly large and ornate front door.

"Hmm..." He hummed to himself, pondering the possibility that perhaps a person inside could help him, or direct him to someone who could. "Problem is that anyone inside is more likely to try to fuck me first," he muttered to himself, looking out at the grounds of the mansion where the multitude of reptiles frolicked and fucked each other with wanton abandon and not a single care in the world. "Lucky fuckers."

Suddenly, the main doors opened wide and a pair of nearly identical wingless dragons, save for their opposing colors of white and gold, walked out in tandem; both of them had a hand wrapped around the other, and as Flux watched them he noticed their bodies rippling strangely as if they were filled with liquid. "Rift," the gold one said, addressing the white one, "what do you think of the sound of this strange new human?"

"You mean the one that managed to outwit Zander of all people?" Rift asked.

"It was more of Zander being careless and not paying attention, but yes," the white one affirmed.

"The human was lucky, Kale," Rift said dismissively. "As you said, Zander was careless. He should have wrapped the human up while he was still struggling with Acatros' plant before tugging him away."

"Yes, Zander did make a mistake," Kale agreed, "but the human also managed to escape Acatros' newest experiment, with little apparent effort. At the very least, the human has some degree of skill."

"Hmm... this is true," Rift conceded with a nod. "And Master Renzyl seems interested in him enough to desire an audience. Perhaps he is hoping the human will voluntarily join us?"

"Probably," Kale said, grinning. "Even if what Acatros and Zander saw was the extent of his abilities, he would still make an excellent addition to our forces, and willingly even more so. Shall we begin looking for him now? He should be arriving soon, according to Master Renzyl."

"Yes, we should, love." Rift leaned in close to Kale for a deep kiss, their faces mashing together in a way that confirmed to Flux that their bodies weren't as solid as they appeared, before turning to look out to the mass of reptiles and began to bark out orders about receiving a 'special guest'.

"Oh goodie, I'm invited to a party," Flux said under his breath, tuning himself out of the militant shouts from the two dragons. It sounded like the reptiles had gotten wind of him before he'd arrived, somehow, and were now looking for him for their Master to personally convert. "To think this Renzyl dude I've been hearing about right and left would go so far for little old me," he dryly quipped.

Still, he recognized that the guy everyone was referring to as 'Master' was his most likely chance to get help of some kind, and if Renzyl was already seeking an audience with him, maybe his chances of actually getting help of some sort were higher than he thought. And if he couldn't get help... well, sex with the lizards didn't sound too bad.

Flux crawled down the side of the building, being careful to not draw attention to himself as he approached the entrance from above. The doors had been shut by the dragons, but another lizard soon approached the doors with the intent of entering. Seeing his chance, Flux waited until the doors were wide open and the silvery raptor had entered before crawling through the door's frame himself and attaching to the inside wall, quickly crawling up to the ceiling before the doors closed shut. Once inside, he took the opportunity to look around and noticed that the inside of the mansion, despite its gothic exterior, was distinctly Victorian in design and aesthetic, giving the impression that the owner was either wealthy, powerful, or both. Even more lizards scurried about inside, seeming like servants rushing about to fulfill their Master's wishes, whatever they may be.

"...Wait, that's probably exactly what's happening," Flux quietly deadpanned to himself as he looked around, pondering his next move. He wasn't sure where Renzyl would be located, but the reptile he'd followed in seemed to know where he was going, and Flux decided to continue following him in the hopes that he'd lead him where he was headed, hopefully. The silver raptor immediately headed for a large hallway, and Flux followed behind overhead until he stopped in front of a marble statue of a very muscular lizard with a very large erection. The statue stood guard in front of an open archway, beyond which lay white walls and a noticeable amount of artwork. "Lieutenant Marbre, is Master Renzyl still inside the art studio with General Sivilath?"

"Indeed he is, Chrono," the statue suddenly spoke up, and if Flux hadn't already become slightly desensitized to the bizarre nature of this world, it might have shocked him a little. "I assume you have information for him regarding the human I've been hearing about?"

"Only that we've finished preparing for his arrival," the silver lizard, Chrono, said. "He has not actually shown himself yet." Just waiting for the opportune moment, Flux thought to himself, mentally chuckling.

"I see," the statue said, and for a moment that seemed to be all to the exchange between the two as Chrono started to move around Marbre's enormous form - except Marbre's arm suddenly shot for and latched onto Chrono's, easily preventing the silvery lizard from proceeding. "Just a moment, Chrono," Marbre said. "You seem worked up. Perhaps you'd like to relieve some stress with me."

"Not now, Marbre," Chrono said, trying to remove his arm from the statue-lizard's grip. "I'm very busy at the moment." Marbre didn't let go; rather, he pulled Chrono into a tight embrace, his erection lewdly poking out from between the silver lizard's legs.

"Master Renzyl's orders," Marbre said, grinning. "He told me to tell you to stop running yourself ragged and enjoy some down time. Whether you want to or not."

"Of course he did," Chrono grumbled, though this soon turned to a moan as Marbre began rubbing his dick against the silver lizard's rear.

"That's enough of that," Flux muttered to himself, then instantly froze as he'd spoken just a little too loudly. But either Chrono's moans had drowned him out or the both of them were too caught up in their foreplay to notice, and he managed to get away with the volume slip. Looking at the hallway that the statue-lizard had been guarding, Flux crept along the ceiling and into the new room, where Renzyl apparently was. Soon, he realized that he was in an art gallery that displayed a number of sculptures and paintings, all of which either depicted some sort of reptile in the process of masturbation, or of multiple reptiles, or a non-reptile in the process of becoming one, fucking each other senseless. Flux also realized that his clothing choice of black made him stand out in the white room like a sore thumb, but fortunately there were several pillars and walls behind which he could hide once Chrono inevitably came through. Comforting himself with this fact, he continued through the room at a slow pace he found comfortable for viewing the variety of art pieces within the room - though he stayed attached to the ceiling throughout, in case the other statues were alive as well.

Flux eventually reached the end of the tour and came upon another open archway, the room beyond appearing to be an art studio from which Flux could hear several voices going back and forth. Flux quickly crept towards the new room, crawling inside with ease. The room was smaller than the gallery, but also more open save for the four large dividers in the middle of the room that could have almost been walls had they actually reached the ceiling, with open corners to allow a person to walk inside. The room was a deep mahogany red in its coloration, something that made Flux give a small sigh of relief, with yet more paintings hung along the walls in a clustered manner. There would be very few places to safely crawl without damaging the art, and despite Flux having his reservations about the content of the paintings, the artwork itself was superb and not something he wanted to damage. For this reason he leaped to the nearest divider, attaching with ease and creeping up to the top to peer over the side.

Within the area of the dividers stood a total of four reptiles, two to the left and right of where Flux peered over respectively. To his left there was a bronze-colored naga whose lower half was coiled around a large pile of eggs that he seemed to be clutching with equal protectiveness and possessiveness. Next to the naga stood a lizard with night-black scales that seemed to spread past his feet and onto the floor, before rising from the ground around him as a mess of shadowy latex tentacles. Naturally, they were both also sporting rather impressive erections. "How much longer are you going to take, Sivilath?" The lizard hissed, folding his arms as he glared at one of the reptiles on the other side of the room. "I want to go hunting for our guest."

"I'll be done when I'm done, Shadow," came the sound of an irritable voice on the other side of the room, and Flux looked over to see a silvery lizard with a gold underbelly and blue tribal markings apparently hard at work on producing yet another piece of art, likely a portrait of the two opposite his easel; surprisingly, his cock was only half-hard, rather than full-on throbbing like the other two. "Now again, stop moving or this is going to take even longer than it already has... which wouldn't really be a problem if we didn't have a guest. Are you sure he's coming here to your mansion, Master Renzyl?" Sivilath added, looking up at the fourth scaled creature in the room.

Standing next to the artist lizard was a large black dragon, his scales somehow even darker than Shadow's and his form twice as menacing due to the presence of horns and wings, as well as extra musculature. The dragon was watching Sivilath paint with glowing red eyes that only served to make him appear even more sinister, which wasn't helped by the subtle but constant grin he held or the large throbbing shaft between his legs that he was slowly and constantly stroking. So that's Renzyl... Flux pondered, at a loss for more internal commentary due to equal parts shock and awe.

"Oh, I'm quite sure, dear Sivilath," the dragon said in response to the silvery painter's question, a light note of amusement laced into his tone.

"Master, you don't think this human is foolishly plotting to attack you, do you?" The bronze naga asked, its tongue flicking out.

"Probably not, Berza," Renzyl replied, shaking his head. "From what I've gathered, he seems more curious about my realm than anything, which is one of the reasons I wish to meet him face to face."

"Forgive my impertinence, Master, but may I ask what your other reasons are?" Shadow asked, tilting his head to the side. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop moving?" Sivilath deadpanned, glaring at Shadow.

"Yes Master, do tell what your other reasons are," a voice off to the side suddenly spoke up, and Flux turned towards the floor outside the dividers to find Chrono looking through the gap to Renzyl, his arms folded and his ass leaking something white. "I would very much like to know why you're going to all this effort to set up a meeting with this one human. Wouldn't it be easier to simply convert him and then find out what he's doing here?" Chrono walked towards Renzyl, who waited until the silvery reptile was in his reach before snatching him up in a deep kiss.

"I thought you knew me, Chrono," Renzyl said teasingly, rubbing the lizard's cock with a free hand and causing the latter to moan. "Yes, I could simply capture him by force, but there's no fun in that. Besides, when someone walk right up to your door and rings the bell, isn't it simply good manners to answer?" Renzyl loosened his grip on the silver lizard and rubbed the latter's cheek affectionately - before looking right up at where Flux was watching the events unfold. "Wouldn't you agree, human?"

Chapter 1 End