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I tried something new with the describing of the first game to help it flow a little. I’m hoping you didn’t find the symbols too jarring. I’m still having a few hang ons of my old problems, but mostly I have been getting into the flow and have come up with some pretty cool ideas for the next chapter. After that, I’m gonna fully plan out the next Sector in its entirety. That’s part of my new plan. Work out a basic frame work from start to finish before I get to write anything. I’d say that’s a great tip for any aspiring writer. \n\nIf you want to help me out as a writer, it would mean a lot if you could boost my Patreon even if you can’t pledge. The more it takes off, the greater my chances of being able to write full time.\n\nwww.Patreon.com/white66", "description_bbcode_parsed": "
And I’d call that a success. I tried something new with the describing of the first game to help it flow a little. I’m hoping you didn’t find the symbols too jarring. I’m still having a few hang ons of my old problems, but mostly I have been getting into the flow and have come up with some pretty cool ideas for the next chapter. After that, I’m gonna fully plan out the next Sector in its entirety. That’s part of my new plan. Work out a basic frame work from start to finish before I get to write anything. I’d say that’s a great tip for any aspiring writer.

If you want to help me out as a writer, it would mean a lot if you could boost my Patreon even if you can’t pledge. The more it takes off, the greater my chances of being able to write full time.

www.Patreon.com/white66", "writing": "The post advert title screen faded away to a wide shot of Lena stood before the reassembled foursome of her little merry band of adventures almost all of whom were looking a little worse for wear following their earlier messy escapades. All except for Bonni who was still as pristinely clean as she had been when she arrived. Something more than one viewer at home wondered if that would last much longer. Almost to recap where they were the camera loomed over the dark, imposing, utilitarian metal corridor as the name of the show was replaced by ‘The Barracks’ in a dark shade of almost military Khaki green. This was the first time the viewers had gotten a feel for the full scope of this zone, all of them admitting it was bigger than they thought; the maze of corridors around them really whetting their appetite for all the other games they would see as the series continued. And by the sudden loud rushing, sloshing noise that filled the screen in the same way as the wash of animated Gunge that poured down from the top, clearing away thickly to reveal a close up on the quintette of furs. \n\n‘Alright, alright. Here we are. That was fun, wasn’t it?’ Lena of course new nothing of what the cameras saw, just focused on what was in front of her as she attracted attention back to her with a peppy clap of her paws, all four of the team having heard the ominous rush of the thick liquid that wasn’t a digital sound effect but very real, looking around with varying degrees of anxiety for sign of some new trap or trick. ‘Let’s have someone else get messy this time, what do you say Lucci?’\n\nLucci shrugged noncommittally. Truthfully that last Gunging had only whetted her appetite for more, but she wouldn’t be so selfish as to hog all the fun. If only she could get a certain someone to see the fun side of the whole experience here. Hadn’t she seen enough to show her that being gunged was really nothing to worry about. \n\nBonni for her part kept her silence here, caught up as she was in her own thoughts rather than trying not be noticed. Lena had noticed though, noticed how she hadn’t recoiled this time as she had before. Maybe there was hope for this one yet. Just not this time though. Now wasn’t quite the time to push her yet. And she knew who would make the perfect choice to give her that push.\n\n‘Uma, feel up to giving this one a go?’\n\n‘Well…ummm…sure. Okay.’ Uma replied after seeing the thumbs up from Adam, a gesture with two meanings that she only picked up upon the first. \n\nAdam himself had been wrestling with his own thoughts. Of course he believed she could do it. Yet it was in himself he had doubts. It wasn’t that he felt he couldn’t tell her that he liked seeing her getting messy. And that he liked her. He was sure that he could, somehow. Even if he tripped over his tongue a lot trying to convey what he really felt. What worried him was if he should, that he would come across as some kind of creep or pervert. And if he lost her friendship, and the possibility of more besides, he couldn’t live with that. \n\n‘Perfect.’ Lena said with another clap, unaware of all of these conflicting thoughts. ‘I have just the one. Follow me.’\n\nOnce again Lena led the group, especially Uma who she had taken gently by the paw, on a blistering dash through the corridors and passageways she seemed to know like the back of her paw that ended at a doorway that only she seemed to be able to differentiate from all of the others.\n\n‘You’ll like this one. It’s a real laugh.’\n\n‘Oh, no. I don’t think so. Don’t get too big for your boots, Lena.’ Cobalt appeared in a flash before the assembled group with an implacable yet imperious smile. ‘This is still my base. And what I say goes. This is the one you will play.’\n\nThe door that had just a few seconds ago hissed open whooshed shut again in perfect time with the one opposite that opened with the same smooth movement. \n\n‘Really? That one?’ Lena said with the air of someone to who this was a complete surprise. Which it was. She had known that Cobalt was going to interfere here of course, which she supposed made her culpable in this set up. She just wasn’t sure what she had set them up for. As she lead her charges here, Lena had wondered exactly which game Cobalt had in mind. Of all the myriad crazy, complicated and OTT ideas that filled the base, she hadn't expected her to pick this one. Not when there were many more…extreme games she could have chosen. Which raised the question of what exactly she had in mind. ‘Oh..well…sorry Uma. Looks like this one it is.’\n\n‘Umm…okay.’ Uma hesitated before stepping inside this newly open door with a mix of anticipation, trepidation and curiosity all mixed into one. So she was understandably disappointed by what she saw. \nOr maybe more by what she felt. Her first games had been tinged with an air of trepidation as she had tried to work out both what was required of her and how exactly she was going to get messy; the whole mystery of it you might say. \n\nUma will find herself faced by some oddly imposing machine that will offer her a random challenge from the list in its programming, which is very very glitchy. It’s a military coloured slot machine called Sargeant Slush or Sargeant Slots, that speaks with a halting and glitchy voice. It can bring forth any number of games to test those in her charge. This it does by bringing a game up from under the floor like an arcade game system with a small play area or console before them. Can be things like simulated obstacle courses or running games. In this case it’s a game of military precision like a dancing game where she has to follow and match the timing of the figure on the screen. Mistakes will get her gunged once a sequence of movements has been completed. \n\nUma had no idea what to expect as she slipped into the ominously darkened room before her, expecting she had been singled out for if not a trap then certainly some kind of trick. Of all the things she could have imagined from something to match the over the top Gunging machine Adam had just narrowly escaped to a deep pit of something yucky and sloppy to…who knows what; the last thing Uma had expected to be confronted by was a hulking metal shape almost half as tall again as she was, one that only seemed a little less intimidating as the lights rose to illuminate it, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in shadows. Not that there was much to see, this room one of the few that were pretty nondescript and hardly worth describing beyond the same utilitarian design of the others. No, it was the design of the machine that was important, a design that was instantly recognisable to most people. \n\n‘It’s….a slot machine?’ Adam asked that question with the same bemused uncertainty felt by Uma as she looked it over with a mix of relief, disappointment, confusion and a fresh bout of worry. Relief because despite being painted in somber military greens and tans across the various panels. Narrow at the base and rising to a wider rounded cylinder shape at the top that housed the tumblers, the intimidating hulking shape being almost cobbled together from dozens of pieces of junk and scrap metal in irregular squares no two of which were alike, leaving this weird device to seem was familiar yet out of place. Disappointment because she had, admittedly with a squirm of nerves, secretly hoped to be faced with a Gunge tank that she still eagerly wanted to have a go inside of. And lastly confusion and worry because she didn’t know how she could play a game with this, or against this.\n\n[WELCOME MY. DEAR NEW. RE-RE-RECRUIT.] The machine intoned in a halting, artificially feminine and mechanically stiff voice that was only slightly less intimidating than the deep red light that came to life in the circular housing atop the machine like a fiery red eye. [I. I. I AM. SER. SERGEANT SLUSH AND I. AM HERE TOO. ITS MY FUNCTION TO PUT YOU THROUGH YOU YOUR. TEST FOR OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE. PACES.]\n\n\n‘Oh..well..thank you.’ Uma replied uncertainly, having struggled to fully follow what had just been said.\n\n[THERE IS. NO NEED FOR. THANKS OR. OR. YOU ARE. WELCOME WELCOME.] The emotionless voice continued in it’s still halting and increasingly glitchy speech. [I AM SIMPLY. A MACHINE DESIGNED TO TEST. TEST NEW RECRUITS. SUITABILITY FOR. FIELD DEPLOYMENTS AND. AND GUNGE THE HECK OUT OF THEM.]\n\nWhat? Uma squeaked nervously, those last words sounding less stilted and almost human.\n\n‘Sorry about her.’ Chloe still stood safely with the others at the rear of the room sounded almost sheepish, like someone having to apologise for a distant family member who arrived unannounced and with eccentric behaviour in full swing. ‘She started out life as the processing unit from a military simulator and examiner unit. We found her rusting away deep in the Production Area and set the Mainframe to repair her as best it could, only for it to scavenge parts from what it thought were supplemental parts from similar units but instead proved to be from several discarded recreational machines. Hence why she looks like a slot machine on steroids.’\n\n‘So…what is she going to have me do?’ Uma asked.\n\n‘I honestly have no idea.’ Chloe said truthfully as that went. She really did have no idea, even as she speculated that Cobalt did, hence why she had chosen this game. ‘You just need to approach her and she will chose a game for you to play.’\n\n‘A..alright.’ Uma couldn’t help the little resurgence of her trepidation, a hangover from her earlier games she hadn’t quite shaken it seemed. Not knowing what she had to do had caused a return to the uncertainty she felt at the beginning. Still that didn’t hold her back from advancing carefully towards the imposing machine with the single red eye that pulsed with each step she took.\n\n[YOU ARE. ARE. QUITE SMALL. FOR A BIPEDAL. MAMMAL. YET MAY. MAYBE QUITE. FAST AND. AGILE. WE WILL. TEST HOW FAST. YOU ARE. CUTIE.] In the sealed booth behind the game chamber, the turtle that was Annabelle had to pause to suppress a giggle that was quite unlike her. As a relative newcomer to the world of VA, she had played quite a number of cheesy roles in her time. Yet this quirky, glitchy part human/part computer robot had to be a contender for topping that list. Yet she was quite endearing with the odd little human touches thrown in. Even with the odd lines about threatening a Gunging were sweetly cute in a way. Not that Annabelle knew what Gunge was. Boy was she in for a surprise.\n\nUma had no way to know what surprise awaited her, having stood stock still while with a clank and grinding of machinery clearly as glitchy as her speech circuits, the huge roller of the slot machine creaked into a rapidly increasing spin.\n\nIf there was one part of this whole setup that she didn’t understand, and it surely was a set up Uma had no more doubts about that than the rest of her friends, it was the design of that roller. While far too young and innocent to actually play on slot machines and preferring the more familiar surround of an arcade as opposed to a pub, Uma still knew what one was through her exposure to tv and the like. While all other models she had seen had three separate tumblers each with their own row of matching symbols, this one simply had a single large roller displaying only one symbol at a time. What the one that had sat facing her, that of a stick figure of an undistinguished gender or species standing with paws raised, actually meant Uma had no more clue than she did the other two she glimpsed but couldn’t make out as the tumbler cranked up to such a speed as to make them a blur. \n\nAll of which left Uma waiting in the grip of excitement and trepidation as the tumbler finally slowed then stopped to settle on a image that showed a series of arrows pointing in a variety of directions and depicted in different colours. Uma had no way of knowing that this wasn’t random chance, that the choice had been chosen long before she stepped into this room. Yet she couldn’t help wondering if she had gotten lucky or not.\n\n[I THINK. YOU WILL. LIKE THIS ONE. I SHALL. PREPARE IT.]\n\nWhat preparing meant Uma learned as the floor beneath her feet juddered sharply just as she skipped back one, two, three steps. Three steps away from the four foot square panel that dropped and parted to allow something to rise up from below; this new panel marked with a design and layout so familiar to her and so incongruous that Uma almost burst out laughing. As her thoughts had revealed before, Uma had spent many a afternoon at her local arcade and while the idea of dancing for or with someone was utterly terrifying, she had racked up many hours and many a high score on the retro classic that is Night Night Fever. And this panel before her with its grouping of four straight arrows in the four cardinal directions with four diagonal arrows around them was instantly recognisable and comfortingly reassuring. Even if she was sure there was a twist.\n\n[THIS GAME. EXPECTS REQUIRES. YOU TO. FOLLOW DISPLAYED. STEPS. LIKE A DANCE. THAT WILL BE FUN. EACH CORRECT. CORRECT STEP. GIVES YOU. TWENTY. POINTS. LETS SEE YOU. SET A. HIGH SCORE, ‘KAY.]\n\nFeeling bolder and more confident by the second, Uma stretched her arms out before her with fingers linked and palms facing away from her before stepping onto the arrow covered mat before her. Her eyes never left the screen before her, waiting and watching as the title screen blurred and shifted to a single large number that was the start of a slow countdown from five. \n\nWondering with a thrilled shiver if she would face a similar countdown after the game had ended, Uma waited for the last number to tick by and the game to begin in earnest. She had expected to be eased into it slowly and she wasn’t disappointed; the first steps almost lazily scrolling down the screen with a significant gap between them. \n\nWhich made sense as far as it went. This game wasn’t designed with her in mind after all, and it wouldn’t be fair to throw someone less familiar with how to play it right into the hard mode. And that was true as far as it went. This game had been suggested, created and tested long before any potential contestants had even been considered. Which wasn’t to say this game hadn’t been chosen for her. Which it had. \n\nWhile all the players here today had caught Cobalt’s attention in one way or another, she had developed a little bit of a soft spot for Uma. Not one that would spare her from being gunged of course. But enough of one to want to make sure she had fun here. Which after all was the point, both for the players and the audience. She played at being cruel but that didn’t mean she was mean. \n\nLuckily for her, she now lived in a world of modern technology and computer systems. One where facial recognition had come on leaps and bounds. As had the spread of social media. While it was perhaps a stretch to say that big brother was really watching, with the number of cameras and smartphones around, it was fairly likely that everyone would have been videoed or recorded at some point. \n\nAnd with the aid the photos sent along with her application, Cobalt’s researchers had stumbled across a recording of Uma winning a very respectable high score at the very game that made her so proficient at this one. Uma likely had no idea the video existed since it was filmed by someone who didn’t know her personally. Just like she had no idea she was, albeit for a short time, a viral sensation. \n\nHad Uma indeed known this she might not being doing as well as she was, the tension and stress of that preventing her from being both light footed and nimble. Instead Uma was simply and easily hopping from one foot to another, matching each sequence of moves with a fluid rhythm perfectly in time with the steady yet lively music. \n\n⬆️ ➡️ ⬇️\n\n⬆️ ⬆️ ⬅️\n\n➡️ ⬇️ ⬅️\n\n\nGone were the single commands with long pauses between them, replaced by noticeably faster strings of three steps that still weren’t fast enough to cause Uma to miss a single one. Not once had Uma even had to glance down at her paw-pads, knowing where they were and where they had to go by simple long honed instinct. \n\n‘She’s doing very well. Do you think she can actually win this?’\n\n‘I don’t think she is meant to win. Or lose.’ Adam replied both in answer to Lucci’s question and his own thoughts. After all, all Sergeant Slots had mentioned was getting a high score, not beating a target or reaching a set number of points. Adam had watched many gameshows throughout his youth and into his teens with the now classic idea of reaching a score or target to avoid a Gunging. With an occasional flexibility about how strictly that was honoured of course. There had been no mention of that here, so surely there was something else waiting up her robotic sleeve. \n\nUma had had the very same thought. She felt disappointed when the symbols trailed off and her feet stilled in response. Had she won? The robot says they are done with the warm up and can make things more exciting. Uma titters as the tank surrounds her. Bring it on. She is bubbling with excitement now, sure she is going to be gunged at some point. It’s the not knowing when that is so interesting.\n\nAdam felt the same, not wanting to risk looking away in case he missed it. It was a strange feeling, actually waiting for Uma to make a mistake. Not exactly feeling guilty, but there was a slight squirm of something similar in his stomach at the undeniable thought that he would very much enjoy it when it happened.\n\nBefore him and her other two teammates, Uma had picked up her pace in response to the game doing exactly the same. It wasn’t just the beat of the music that had changed, rather it had transitioned into another song with barely a seconds pause. Uma knew the melody immediately, slipping easily into the rhythm with barely a thought. \n\nUnknown to her this was one of Adam’s favourite songs and he couldn’t help singing along in his head, following the beat in time with Uma who still hadn’t missed a step or put a single foot wrong, even though the strings of steps were longer now, the tempo faster and less sedate. \n\n‘Upside down, bouncing off the ceiling. Inside out, strange to this feeling. I’ve got no clue what I should. I know I’ll just go crazy if I can’t get next to you.’\n\nEach word he sung silently to himself was perfectly in time with each of Uma’s steps, the soft click of the keypads mimicking the same notes of the tune that surrounded her. Left, right, up, down. Backwards. Forwards. Side to side. Uma swayed and stepped like the graceful dancer she couldn’t have managed to seem if she had actually been dancing with or for someone. This wasn’t a dance though, this was just an arcade game. And that distinction was enough to help her override her usual shyness. \n\nUma was so caught up in what she was doing that she spared no attention to the how until the last string of steps proved to be the final string, the screen before her fading to a single word set between a retro pixilated crescendo of fireworks in gold and silver to match the letters. \n\nCOMPLETED.\n\n[CONGRATULATIONS/WAY TO GO. YOU HAVE. CLEARED THE. FIRST LEVEL. WOULD. YOU LIKE. TO TRY. THE SECOND.]\n\nUma didn’t even think about that. So far in the show as a whole she had done precious little to score points for her team and here was a way she could make up for that. Not that the others saw it that way, that was all on her. And beside, she hadn’t been gunged yet. And that was what people came to see. And she couldn’t disappoint them. Especially one person, she thought with a glance to her teammates behind her. She didn’t know why exactly but the thought that Adam might want to see her gunged had filled her with tingling excitement. \n\n‘Sure. Let’s do it.’\n\nAdam raised his head just a little, his eyes widening ever so slightly as he fought back a grin. He couldn’t deny he had been a little disappointed that the game was over and that Uma had gotten away without so much as a drop of Gunge on her. Had Adam have known she was doing this so he could see that, he might have tried to talk her out of it. There was no way for her to say that without making it utterly awkward of course. And even if she had thought of a way to say it, that window of opportunity closed as quickly as it opened.\n\nNot just because the pixilated screen shifted back to a countdown that heralded the start of the game but also because of the oval plastic tube that rose up around Uma to create an enclosed space around five feet in diameter. Uma couldn’t help a thrilled squeak slipping from her muzzle, the plastic screen rising all the way up to meet another oval of solid black perspex lowering down towards it, the two sections joining together with a solid click. Uma had no idea if the upper section was black because it was made from a black dyed plastic or because that was the colour of the Gunge it contained. Either way it seemed she was going to get her wish of being gunged in a Gunge tank after all.\n\n‘Well..there is no getting away from it now.’ Lucci said with a soft smile that Adam caught but Bonni didn’t. Mostly due to her being distracted by her thoughts again. She should have been horrified for Uma, and even more so by the thought of being in her place. So why did she feel..jealous? No, not jealous in a mean way. Envious? Like she wanted to be where she was? Was that what she felt? Guilt would have made some sense, since it could have been argued that Uma was playing this only because she had balked at it. Yet she couldn’t deny she did feel envious of her in a way. \n\nUma had her own thoughts to occupy her mind right now. Time had seemed to slow to a crawl as exactly what this meant slotted together in her mind like pieces of a puzzle. This had been the trap all along she supposed, she wasn’t meant to get gunged until this part of the game. Actually, that wasn’t true. The game was meant t9 have ended. Adam wasn't the only one disappointed Uma had gotten away clean. Unlike Cobalt he wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. She had been sure Uma would find that level too much of a challenge to complete without a mistake. She was going to have to change that. \n\nUma would have been forgiven for believing that was the only thing that had changed in her surroundings, the sheer excitement of the realisation of the one thing she had hoped for easily being enough to occupy all of her awareness. Yet her eagerness to get back to the game had lead her to quickly bring her eyes away from the newly revealed tank and to the screen before her which was even now counting down to the start of the game. Something that Uma only noticed distractedly, her eyes settling on something that definitely hadn’t been there before. Again Uma felt a unexpected thrill from seeing both the pixilated image that was no doubt meant to be her who stood lightly bobbing away inside an equally pixilated tank like many an 8-bit character from the games of her youth and the red outlined box next to it that was filled a solid red just shy of a fifth of its total dimensions.\n\nWhich was in more than a little way distracting, her eyes fighting the urge to glance back at it every few seconds; wondering if it would actually reach its limit or the game would run its course before it could. Had Uma been less distracted she might have wondered exactly what had brought her so close to the verge of what she had expected would be the predictable climax of this game; for she had made no mistakes this far and surely that was the only thing that red metre could mean. And she was correct, Cobalt having already thought of this. Having been sure that Uma would have done very well at this game unless she made it ridiculously hard, she had instead gone the other way and made it almost laughably easy to lull her into a false sense of security. With anyone else she would have delighted in teasing them with the threat of a Gunging. Not with Uma though who she knew would secretly enjoy it.\n\nInstead she had decided to keep this metre a surprise until now, the coding behind it rewritten to have it fill a little more with each correct step and programming in a cut off when it reached 95% percent. So it was in fact Uma’s perfect performance that brought her close to having it filled. \n\nWhile Uma didn’t know this, she had a pretty good idea what would happen once it filled. Pushing down on the thrill of that thought Uma centred herself as best she could, fully prepared for the game to be more difficult than it had been before and that proved to very much be the case. There was no slow easing into it here, the speed and complexity of the steps starting right from where she had left off, leaving Uma little time to adapt to the rhythm and forcing her to do just that on the fly. \n\nIt was at least something in her favour that she knew this song as well, the familiarity of it helping her to keep up with the beat and tempo. Yet she was certain that wouldn’t last forever. The sequences of moves were becoming more complex as much as they were faster, requiring not just single moves but pairs of steps at once. And with that added complexity Uma knew she was bound to slip up eventually. \n\nLooking back, Uma couldn’t have said exactly where she slipped up. Yet the harsh buzz and flare of red light that filled the chamber made it clear she had. Which was the only way she knew, the splash of Gunge she had expected not forthcoming. Or not yet. Luckily Uma only missed one step and continued undeterred despite the shock of the shrill buzzer. \n\nFor the first time Uma felt the first tingling of actual nerves. It was just like when she and her mother had visited a new swimming pool that opened near their home; one that boasted a wave machine. Which she had looked forward to with bubbling excitement, excitement that became tinged with a little anxiety as she learned that each cycle of waves was heralded by a wailing siren. Which had the somewhat timid kitten on edge waiting for it to go off again. Yes, it was very much like that. There was no denying that Uma was struggling to keep up now, her score still increasing despite the number of missteps creeping into her movements. The steps still scrolled across the screen with almost the same slow pace they had before, only now there was barely any gap or pause between each step. Leaving Uma little margin for error. \n\n⬆️ ⬆️ ➡️ ⬅️ ↙️ ↗️ ↖️ ⬇️ ❌\n\nUma grimaced as the red light filled the tank again, flinching a little in sudden shock and slight annoyance of her mistake. She rallied quickly, deciding to not dwell on the mistakes that were going to be unavoidable. \n\n↖️ ⬆️ ↙️ ↘️ ⬆️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬅️ ❌\n\n➡️ ⬅️ ❌ \n\n⬇️ ↙️ ↗️ ➡️ ➡️❌\n\nEach sequence of moves was so fast that they kept slipping in. Uma knew that she couldn’t hold them off and would not let them hold her back. Not with the game so close to being finished; the red bar that marked her mistakes having crept closer and closer to being filled. And she knew what that fulfilment was likely to bring. Cobalt surely would have her pleasure after all. And Uma was fine with that too. \n\n⬆️ ⬆️ ↘️ ↘️ ⬅️ ➡️ \n\nTo her delight and surprise Uma made no missteps here, luck as much as skill increasing her score. Which didn’t mean she wasn’t still a hairs breadth away from her time running out. Her heart still pounded with a nervous excitement she could not dispel. Nor wished too.\n\n⬆️ ➡️ ❌ ↙️ ⬅️ ❌ ↘️ ⬇️\n\nThis turn more than made up for it, her feet slipping not once but twice. More so slips had been noted when this game was tested, each error earning the player a small splash of Gunge instantly. With comic and perhaps predictable results. Even now Cobalt couldn’t help smiling as she recalled the youthful pantheress barely able to keep her feet on the slippery floor that became more and more slippery as each loss of footing sent more and more Gunge pouring over her. \n\nUma felt she was one misstep from the games conclusion, the red bar nearly full while the pixilated image of her squirmed softly in apparent anxiety. One or two more missteps and this would be over. She was determined to go on as long as possible. \n\nThat turned out to be only one more sequence. Not that Uma gave up, she still tried to play the game to its conclusion. But the next sequence of steps came so fast, it was a miracle she managed to match any at all.\n\n⬅️ ↗️ ❌ ❌\n\nThere would likely have been more but those last two mistakes pushed Uma over the edge, the music stopped dead as the screen faded to a rush of green Gunge that itself dripped away to an equally green and gunged letters ‘Game Over.’ Surely a herald of what was to come, Uma raised herself up to face it with an excited titter. Or what she hoped to come.\n\nCobalt clearly decided to draw out those feelings just a little longer, enjoying her excited squirming openly. ‘Well well…who would have thought you would do so well here. I was really sure this game would fox you. Yet you did much better than I expected. And scored a goodly 500 points for your team. Yes, that was very well done. I’m sure you will do even better in your next game.’\n\n‘Oh…well…right.’ Uma’s face literally fell, her anticipatory excitement dashed in a second. Dashed to such an extent that she turned instead in anticipation of the tank receding from around here.\n\n‘Except…there is just one more thing.’\n\nHeart pounding again, Uma turned quickly to fix her eyes upon Cobalt, her own gleaming with excitement. As great an excitement as the giggle that slipped from her muzzle as she straightened up with tension that overflowed as the tank burst open. Caught off guard and unprepared Uma shrieked. She had let her guard down and now not been ready where a few seconds ago she had wanted nothing else. \n\n\nHad she stayed in that mindset, she might have taken it with just a soft chuckle and barely a flinch of muscle. Instead Uma’s response was to shriek, duck and cover herself as best she could beneath the shield of her tightly wrapped arms. All of which meant she could see nothing of the white Gunge beneath which she stood, it’s smoothness gliding over the obstacle of her arms which was no obstacle at all. Not tight enough was the press of her thick cloth covered arms to stop it slipping under and over her head anyway, leaving her blinded to the truth of what now steadily coated her until long after it finished. \n\nUma had no idea how stunning she looked dripping in the equally brilliant white untainted by any other colour. Adam did though, finding a new appreciation for this sight before him. White was rarely used for gungings after all, and when it was it was usually mixed with another colour and in smaller amounts. Something that was he now realised a great shame. Still such lost experiences were now being made up, Uma dripping in more white Gunge than he had ever seen with no sign of it running out. \n\nWhile it made no difference now, Uma had relaxed enough from her initial fright to let her arms relax as well before dropping away from her head, letting the still impressive flow of Gunge continue unhampered. While that made no difference to her since her efforts to shield herself had failed, visually the spectacle became even more spectacular. With nothing to hide behind and her hands clenched tightly before her, Uma had given herself over to the Gunging, standing and squirming excitedly as she could only imagine what she looked like to those watching and maybe enjoying it. She very much hoped that someone was enjoying what she saw. \n\nStill blinded by the still falling gunge, Uma could only guess if she was facing towards Adam or not, the whiteness covering not just her eyes but her sweet blush as well. Tempting as it was to clear her eyes to see if he was looking, she didn’t dare, not sure if she would prefer the truth or not. \n\nShe found out anyway as a sudden surge of the white goo over her head prompted her to lean forwards and, entirely on unconscious instinct, wipe her eyes clean. Which after a few seconds of blinking allowed her to see Adam not just looking at her but watching her with a grin he had perhaps never intended her to see. \n\nAlmost frozen where she stood and with the Gunge now running over her shoulders to spill over her chest, Uma returned that smile shyly as she suddenly felt how covered she was. This must have been what Lucci felt when she was lathered in the brown muck. Her clothes were heavy with it. She clenched her fingers and let it ooze between her toes. What might it feel like against all her fur was almost too much to think about. Her swimsuit protected some of her but she could still feel it. \n\nAnd could feel that right until the Gunge trailed off, feeling a sudden rush of cooler air met with that warmed by the Gunge as the tank retracted back into the ceiling, letting the pooled Gunge flood over the floor in a spreading puddle that Adam dared to brave, advancing to offer her his paw in the fashion of a true gentleman. \n\n‘Are you okay?’ Adam asked as he leaned in to wipe a drop of Gunge of her nose which along with being a true gesture of concern was also to allow him to whisper softly in her ear. ‘You look amazing by the way.’\n\nBlushing with that compliment and her mind racing with the implications of what it could mean, Uma was left speechless, only barely hearing Lena’s eager encouragement as she led them towards the next game. \n\n\n\nUma did look amazing. More than that, she looked overjoyed. Which surely she couldn’t feel if the Gunge was as disgusting as she feared it might be. Right? Bonni wrestled with that question the full length of the short jog towards where they were to play the next game, her thoughts not so distracted that she didn’t notice the others gathering around the doorway Lena had led them too.\n\n‘Alright. I’m going to need a volunteer.’\n\n‘I’ll do it.’ Bonni surorised everyone, herself included as she chimed in quickly and before any of the others could. The same logic carried her in hot on the heels of Lena before she could change her mind. Something she was tempted to do seeing the high backed chair suspended from the ceiling on a rail that lead towards an ominous looking tunnel.\n\n‘Bonni, in just a moment you will take a seat there.\n’Bonni wasn’t sure she liked either the sound or the look of that. While the chair looked comfortable enough despite seeming to have been pulled from a spaceship of some kind, she wasn’t exactly wild about where it might lead. Knowing Cobalt which she had started to do pretty well by now, she wouldn’t have been surprised if it lead somewhere that would end up with her getting ridiculously messy. Something she feared she was on borrowed time for, despite having so far avoided it. Especially given how the chair was suspended from a rail like some small scale monorail system ‘But first you will need to grab three of these. No more than three, I’m afraid. You will need them on the other side. That is where we will see you. Good luck.’\n\nRight. Thanks. Bonni nodded to the others as they were ushered no doubt safely past whatever awaited her. It was an unworthy maybe but she still felt safer when the other. were around. Now, she was the only one who could get gunged. Not finding comfort in that thought, Bonni turned her eye towards the these Lena had mentioned, which turned out to be large foam balls not dissimilar to the foam footballs she and her classmates had played with at school; except being absent the black hexagons they had displayed. True to the advice she had been given and not wanting to risk Cobalt’s ire by breaking what were doubtless her rules, Bonni awkwardly grabbed the three balls and being very careful not to drop a single one eased herself into the chair.\n\nShe had been right, the chair proving to be very comfortable indeed, the firm leather only giving a little as she settled into it. Someone must have been watching her because the second she was seated the chair it whirred into motion and carried her into the tunnel that she didn’t like the look of any better from close up. Not just because she couldn’t help feeling a little trapped but because she could see that the tunnel wasn’t just trickling Gunge from one end, the bottom was thick with it. Not deep, just a small layer barely a fraction of a foot deep. But with the way Gunge was trickling from vents and grills along the side, that was hardly likely to be the end of it.\n\nIt might have come as some comfort to Bonni to not know both that she was right and that Cobalt was in fact going easy on her here. Bonni was, despite the relaxed reactions of her friends, still anxious about the Gunge. And that was something that had gone on too long for her liking. And while there were many games she could have thrust Bonni into to force her to face her fear head on, Cobalt wasn’t actually that cruel. It was one thing to tease someone with it when they were adorably nervous or boldly confident. Yet when someone was genuinely terrified and unprepared for it as Bonni seemed to be, a softer touch was needed. Only so she could Gunge the heck out of later of course. And Cobalt was going easier on her here. If this game was being played as normal, Bonni would find herself being carried over not a trickle but a flood of Gunge pouring along below her. To accommodate her plans, she had toned things down a little. \n\nAll of this was lost on Bonni who breathed a sigh of relief as she was whisked out of the tunnel to face another open area on the other, one markedly different than the one she had left. While the first was pretty ordinary, this one was anything but. Especially with the six lions heads in tarnished bronze or copper mounted on the wall directly before her, walls that were marked with arcane, almost tribal symbols. Not letting her trepidation at this intimidating surround hold her back, Bonni leapt from the chair, just glad to be away from the Gunge. (Three lions with three pairs of eyes each, set one above the other)\n\n‘Bonni, can you hear me? Ah…yes, you can.’ Lena’s voice floated out of a speaker mounted in the middle of the ceiling. ‘Don’t worry. It’s just you here. Chloe has stayed behind. Neither she nor any Sentinal will come down here. This room was here before they arrived on the base and took it over. It seems these masks were unearthed in a crater not ten miles away and brought her for study. Where they bonded to the room and began to remake it. Someone must have been cautious of them to bring them down here, rather than one of the Laboratory’s. They are harmless enough as long as they are given a tribute of gold, silver and bronze to appease them.’\n\nSo…that explained the balls, Bonni thought. Kept away just like you don’t keep the meat next to the tiger enclosure. Reassuring. She stepped closer and the mouths began to open and close. She couldn’t help seeing them as hungry. \n\nOnce again not letting those thoughts distract or psych her out, Bonni took a deep breath as she prepared for her first shot: drawing it in slowly and letting it out as the first ball was let fly from her paw. The arc was smooth and steady as her arm had been, sailing with almost effortless grace into the slowly moving mouth of the golden lion just as it opened as wide as it would go. With a audibly satisfying and onoxmaticapacically pleasing ‘bomp’ the golden ball slipped from sight behind the golden jaw which seemed to close a little faster, almost as if relishing that snack. Although that might just have been an illusion on Bonni’s part. \n\nOne thing that wasn’t an illusion was the way the bottom pair of eyes flared to life with a bright golden glow, which only served to enhance the silence menace it exuded into the room. The somewhat obsessively compulsive completitionist/neat freak that sat deep inside Bonni would have loved nothing more than to finish off the golden head right here and now, yet since Lena had quite specifically given her one ball of each colour, she had no choice but to move onto the Silver Lion. The still anxiously suspicious part of her couldn’t help wondering if that choice was part of some set up or trick. Yet since she would likely have felt that way whichever order she had been presented them in, she put that worry aside as well. \n\nTempting as it was to hurry and hasten her escape from this place, Bonni knew that such haste would likely have the opposite effect and delay her departure to safety. That and she maybe wanted to have one moment from this day where she could say that her fears didn’t rule her. There was no trace of fear in the way Bonni took her next throw, her composure complete as the silver ball landed squarely in the mouth of the matchingly metallic feline. \n\nRewarded both by the silver flare that matched the glow in the eyes of the golden lion and by the absence of anything wet and sticky sprayed, poured or splattered over her, Bonni thankfully turned her attention to the bronze head and away from the two sets of eyes almost staring at her with cold menace. There was no crack in her composure or focus as she, without even a seconds hesitation, made it three for three; the bronze lion greedily accepting her tribute as its two fellows had done. \n\nNot waiting around to dwell on that, Bonni dashed back to the chair that lurched back into life and movement the second she had settled into the soft leather, drawing her back into the claustrophobic tunnel again. A quality that had been enhanced since Bonni had left it, that word not being used in anyway of a positive term. The dimensions of the tunnel hadn't changed any; it just felt like they had given how the trickle of Gunge was now more a steady flow that barely covered the bottom two feet of the tube. For anyone else, that wouldn’t have been enough to so much as ruffle a feather. Or twitch a whisker. Or ripple through fur. Certainly her three teammates would have just shrugged it off without so much of a flicker of fur or a swish of a tail. Yet Bonni did much more than that, a little shriek slipped past her lips as she drew her feet up as high as she could without completely loosing all fate. It was funny how she was worried about that but the mind worked oddly when it took a fright or a shock. That thought was distractedly at the back of her mind, the rest of it keen, bordering on desperate, to keep her feet away from the Gunge. Not that there was any real danger of that, that rational thought not holding back her natural instinct. \n\nFor Bonni it was too long until she emerged, still ungunged, from the other end of the tunnel. And not long enough before she had to return to it again, the time it took to collect another three balls barely ten seconds. The trip back again, during which Bonni remained stock still with her legs drawn up and away from the still flowing and pouring green Gunge below her. \n\nBonni couldn’t deny she felt a little less composed this time, her nerves still jangled. While the threat of it had always been around her, this was the closest she had actually come to the Gunge if not a Gunging. Arms shaking a little with a surge of emotion she couldn’t shake off, Bonni moved cautiously towards the trio of lion heads. She tried to take some comfort from the thought that nothing was likely to happen until scored three/two direct hits on one of them. Which was scarcely a comfort at all. And it showed. \n\nBonni’s next throw was absent the determined confidence she had shown before, her arms clearly tense and rigid with nerves. Her aim was true but her timing off. Instead of sailing into the auric mouth, the ball instead struck the lip just as it closed and bounced away deeper into the room. \n\nDisturbed, surprised and unsettled by the sound the lion uttered, part laugh, part roar and all mocking menace, Bonni hastily tried to make up for it with her next shot. Too hastily as it turned out, the silver ball thrown before the mouth had even truly opened, bouncing away as uselessly as its companion had. \n\nBraced this time for the cruel laughter and reassured, somewhat, that it didn’t herald a humbling punitive Gunging, Bonni let out a deep breath before she readied herself for her next shot, then allowed herself another. It was as much that pause as it was that breath that did the trick, Bonni’s almost completely regained composure helping her to make this third shot as easily as she should have the first two.\n\nWhich didn’t stop Bonni from leaping backwards as the bronze lion roared in apparent satisfied pleasure, it’s mouth slamming shut as it’s second pair of eyes rose with a gleaming brown glow to match the other. Having expected some parting shot or trick, Bonni was at least relieved it could no longer spray Gunge at her as she had feared. Not that the threat of that didn’t remain. Which was why Bonni was determined to not remain her any longer than she had too.\n\nAnd with perhaps good reason.while she had learned the hard way that impatience and haste were not her friends here, she was tempted to leap back into their embrace the second she was carried back into tunnel again. While the last time Bonni’s reaction had been one of shock rather than response to some genuine threat, this t8me she felt completely vindicated in pulling her feet up almost to her lap. Alarmist a reaction as it might seem, this time she had barely whisked her feet away from the Gunge in time. Had she been a second or two slower, her feet wouldn’t have been dangling perilously close to the smoothly flowing Gunge, they would have been ankle deep in it given how it had risen to cover the lower lip of the chair and the foot rest Bonni would now not be using again. She just about resisted the urge to press her paws into her knees to pull them a little higher away from the Gunge. Just. \n\nThis time she was truly desperate, the threat that much more real. This next journey was the longest moment of her life, and this from a lady who had once endured a seemingly hour long silence that was only seconds before her senior year crush agreed to go to prom with her. Compared to that, this was a whole new experience in terrifying. \n\n\nHeart pounding and her breathing quickened, Bonni grabbed what she hoped would be the last set of balls she would need. No, hoped be darned. She was going to make sure it was the last she needed. She didn’t want to think how full the tunnel would be if she had to make another trip. Confident of that as she could be, Bonni couldn’t help doing what she had resisted before, now obviously and visibly holding her legs clear of the rising Gunge that had risen another foot since she had left the tunnel.\n\nHoping off the chair without risking touching the Gunge slicked footrest without having dropped a single one of the balls, Bonni advanced on the lions again. Dropping the bronze ball she had grabbed on instinct and letting it roll away, Bonni fixed the gold lion with a firm stare that she held for second and not breaking it, let the ball fly. It was glorious shot, one rewarded with the satisfied roar from the auric head. \n\nBonni barely dwelled on that victory, not letting it distract her as she turned to the gleaming silver lion, breathed, aimed, threw and scored. Not stopping to wait for the roar, so confident was she in her shot, that she was already back in the chair by the time she heard it. \n\nShe can now see it was a good thing she hadn’t waited, the little time she had taken to secure her victory enough for the Gunge to have risen high enough to crest not just over her ankles but up to mid shin height. Bonni saw this with an open shudder she made no effort to repress, the volume of Gunge before her horrifically terrifying. It was probably a good thing she didn’t know that if this game was being played normally; the pipe would be filled almost up to her shoulders by now, leaving her nowhere to hide. \n\n‘Looks like maybe I went too soft on her.’ Cobalt sighed, the disappointment in her voice not one of someone denied a vicarious pleasure but rather of the dashing of her hopes that Bonni would have taken advantage of the opportunity she had offered her. ‘Still..there is always next time.’\n\nOr there was still this time. While it was true that Bonni was again sitting with her feet drawn up away from the Gunge, that was more an instinctive reaction as her mind raced; whispering two words over and over again. Go on. Go on. Go on.\n\nOh…the hell with it. Bonni screwed her eyes shut and, to the surprise of everyone including herself, dropped from the chair into the waist deep Gunge. Bonni had no idea why she did that, having only meant to dip her feet into the pooled slime. What wild instinct had taken her over she had no more idea than where it had come from. The shriek Bonni had almost expected of herself turned into relieved laughter as she settled into the cool Gunge, the feeling of it around her so very weird yet nowhere near as disgusting as she had feared. In fact, it wasn’t disgusting at all. Funky as hell, yes and very bizarre in its thick slipperiness. But nothing worse than that. \n\nFeeling almost lightheaded with the rush of relief, Bonni laughed again and louder this time; not believing what she had done and yet very very glad she had done so. It was funny that all her fears had evaporated in that one second, instead replaced by a whole slew of questions. Only one of which was pressing enough for her to ask out loud. ‘Ummm…how do I get out of here?’ That question echoed around the closed tunnel, a question that only she heard as the cameras feed cut from her and back to the rest of her team. \n\n‘Over here. Come on. Don’t dawdle. Unless you are enjoying being in there.’\n\n‘It’s not that bad, I guess.’ Bonni admitted as she turned towards the voice behind her, seeing the young red panda dressed in a loose Lilac sweater over blue jeans standing in a hatchway she had missed in the side of the tunnel, striding towards it as quickly as the thick Gunge would allow. With each step she feared slipping on the slick surface beneath her and plunging beneath the slick surface. Instead she made it to the edge and extending a paw sge had been careful to keep above the surface took hold of the one the red panda offered and with her help climbed up onto the small ledge above the rippling goo.\n\n‘It’s not, is it?’ The sweater clad girl laughed softly. ‘I was nervous about it at the start, but I’ve kinda gotten used to it. I’m Julie by the way.’\n\n‘Bonni.’ Bonni replied. ‘Can you help me get back to the others?’\n\n‘Of course. First though, maybe you’d like a shower?’\n\n————————\n‘That is so much better.’ Bonni raised her voice over the running water she let rinse away the last of the Gunge clinging to her legs that had seeped through her jumpsuit that now lay discarded on the bench across from the long shower block Julie lingered outside of with her back firmly against the wall to give the bikini clad Racoon some privacy. Not that Bonni minded her being there or her seeing her in this hardly revealing but not exactly demure swimsuit either. No, the only one that seemed bothered by it was Julie herself. ‘Does anyone know this is down here? You found it so easily, I’d have been lost within a few turns.’\n\n‘Well…’ Bonni didn’t have to look to know Julie was blushing, the tone of her voice making it obvious. ‘I’ve used this quite a lot myself.’\n\n‘And..why is that?’ Bonni had a feeling that Julie almost wanted her to ask that question.\n\n‘I’m…kinda the Guinea pig around here. Well…a Guinea pig. For my Boss. She creates all the machines and Gunge tanks used for the games. And she delights in testing them out on me.’\n\n‘So…you get gunged here every day?’ Bonni asked, making sure to let the tiniest touch sympathy fill her voice, in case that was what Julie wanted to hear. \n\n‘No..not every day.’ Julie dipped her head a little as Bonni stepped out of the shower to towel herself dry as best she could. ‘It’s not really that bad, once you get used to it.’\n\n‘So I’ve learned.’ Bonni chuckled despite the sudden squirm of guilt deep in her stomach. Only now that she had faced her fear did she realise how much of a coward she had been. Not just in avoiding the Gunge but not being honest about her fears to the others at the start.\n\n‘True, you did.’ Julie smiled shyly. ‘Me, I’ve learned to always bring a change of clothing with me, just in case. Speaking of which, I found another jumpsuit that should fit you. And it’s the same colour too.’\n\n‘Thank you.’ Bonni took it and draped it over her arm; seeing no sense in getting it damp while her fur dried while she made her way back to the others; getting more than a few bemused and admiring stares as she followed her guide back to the games.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "The post advert title screen faded away to a wide shot of Lena stood before the reassembled foursome of her little merry band of adventures almost all of whom were looking a little worse for wear following their earlier messy escapades. All except for Bonni who was still as pristinely clean as she had been when she arrived. Something more than one viewer at home wondered if that would last much longer. Almost to recap where they were the camera loomed over the dark, imposing, utilitarian metal corridor as the name of the show was replaced by ‘The Barracks’ in a dark shade of almost military Khaki green. This was the first time the viewers had gotten a feel for the full scope of this zone, all of them admitting it was bigger than they thought; the maze of corridors around them really whetting their appetite for all the other games they would see as the series continued. And by the sudden loud rushing, sloshing noise that filled the screen in the same way as the wash of animated Gunge that poured down from the top, clearing away thickly to reveal a close up on the quintette of furs.

‘Alright, alright. Here we are. That was fun, wasn’t it?’ Lena of course new nothing of what the cameras saw, just focused on what was in front of her as she attracted attention back to her with a peppy clap of her paws, all four of the team having heard the ominous rush of the thick liquid that wasn’t a digital sound effect but very real, looking around with varying degrees of anxiety for sign of some new trap or trick. ‘Let’s have someone else get messy this time, what do you say Lucci?’

Lucci shrugged noncommittally. Truthfully that last Gunging had only whetted her appetite for more, but she wouldn’t be so selfish as to hog all the fun. If only she could get a certain someone to see the fun side of the whole experience here. Hadn’t she seen enough to show her that being gunged was really nothing to worry about.

Bonni for her part kept her silence here, caught up as she was in her own thoughts rather than trying not be noticed. Lena had noticed though, noticed how she hadn’t recoiled this time as she had before. Maybe there was hope for this one yet. Just not this time though. Now wasn’t quite the time to push her yet. And she knew who would make the perfect choice to give her that push.

‘Uma, feel up to giving this one a go?’

‘Well…ummm…sure. Okay.’ Uma replied after seeing the thumbs up from Adam, a gesture with two meanings that she only picked up upon the first.

Adam himself had been wrestling with his own thoughts. Of course he believed she could do it. Yet it was in himself he had doubts. It wasn’t that he felt he couldn’t tell her that he liked seeing her getting messy. And that he liked her. He was sure that he could, somehow. Even if he tripped over his tongue a lot trying to convey what he really felt. What worried him was if he should, that he would come across as some kind of creep or pervert. And if he lost her friendship, and the possibility of more besides, he couldn’t live with that.

‘Perfect.’ Lena said with another clap, unaware of all of these conflicting thoughts. ‘I have just the one. Follow me.’

Once again Lena led the group, especially Uma who she had taken gently by the paw, on a blistering dash through the corridors and passageways she seemed to know like the back of her paw that ended at a doorway that only she seemed to be able to differentiate from all of the others.

‘You’ll like this one. It’s a real laugh.’

‘Oh, no. I don’t think so. Don’t get too big for your boots, Lena.’ Cobalt appeared in a flash before the assembled group with an implacable yet imperious smile. ‘This is still my base. And what I say goes. This is the one you will play.’

The door that had just a few seconds ago hissed open whooshed shut again in perfect time with the one opposite that opened with the same smooth movement.

‘Really? That one?’ Lena said with the air of someone to who this was a complete surprise. Which it was. She had known that Cobalt was going to interfere here of course, which she supposed made her culpable in this set up. She just wasn’t sure what she had set them up for. As she lead her charges here, Lena had wondered exactly which game Cobalt had in mind. Of all the myriad crazy, complicated and OTT ideas that filled the base, she hadn't expected her to pick this one. Not when there were many more…extreme games she could have chosen. Which raised the question of what exactly she had in mind. ‘Oh..well…sorry Uma. Looks like this one it is.’

‘Umm…okay.’ Uma hesitated before stepping inside this newly open door with a mix of anticipation, trepidation and curiosity all mixed into one. So she was understandably disappointed by what she saw.
Or maybe more by what she felt. Her first games had been tinged with an air of trepidation as she had tried to work out both what was required of her and how exactly she was going to get messy; the whole mystery of it you might say.

Uma will find herself faced by some oddly imposing machine that will offer her a random challenge from the list in its programming, which is very very glitchy. It’s a military coloured slot machine called Sargeant Slush or Sargeant Slots, that speaks with a halting and glitchy voice. It can bring forth any number of games to test those in her charge. This it does by bringing a game up from under the floor like an arcade game system with a small play area or console before them. Can be things like simulated obstacle courses or running games. In this case it’s a game of military precision like a dancing game where she has to follow and match the timing of the figure on the screen. Mistakes will get her gunged once a sequence of movements has been completed.

Uma had no idea what to expect as she slipped into the ominously darkened room before her, expecting she had been singled out for if not a trap then certainly some kind of trick. Of all the things she could have imagined from something to match the over the top Gunging machine Adam had just narrowly escaped to a deep pit of something yucky and sloppy to…who knows what; the last thing Uma had expected to be confronted by was a hulking metal shape almost half as tall again as she was, one that only seemed a little less intimidating as the lights rose to illuminate it, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in shadows. Not that there was much to see, this room one of the few that were pretty nondescript and hardly worth describing beyond the same utilitarian design of the others. No, it was the design of the machine that was important, a design that was instantly recognisable to most people.

‘It’s….a slot machine?’ Adam asked that question with the same bemused uncertainty felt by Uma as she looked it over with a mix of relief, disappointment, confusion and a fresh bout of worry. Relief because despite being painted in somber military greens and tans across the various panels. Narrow at the base and rising to a wider rounded cylinder shape at the top that housed the tumblers,  the intimidating hulking shape being almost cobbled together from dozens of pieces of junk and scrap metal in irregular squares no two of which were alike, leaving this weird device to seem was familiar yet out of place. Disappointment because she had, admittedly with a squirm of nerves, secretly hoped to be faced with a Gunge tank that she still eagerly wanted to have a go inside of. And lastly confusion and worry because she didn’t know how she could play a game with this, or against this.

[WELCOME MY. DEAR NEW. RE-RE-RECRUIT.] The machine intoned in a halting, artificially feminine and mechanically stiff voice that was only slightly less intimidating than the deep red light that came to life in the circular housing atop the machine like a fiery red eye. [I. I. I AM. SER. SERGEANT  SLUSH AND I. AM HERE TOO. ITS MY FUNCTION TO PUT YOU THROUGH YOU YOUR. TEST FOR OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE. PACES.]


‘Oh..well..thank you.’ Uma replied uncertainly, having struggled to fully follow what had just been said.

[THERE IS. NO NEED FOR. THANKS OR. OR. YOU ARE. WELCOME WELCOME.] The emotionless voice continued in it’s still halting and increasingly glitchy speech.

What? Uma squeaked nervously, those last words sounding less stilted and almost human.

‘Sorry about her.’ Chloe still stood safely with the others at the rear of the room sounded almost sheepish, like someone having to apologise for a distant family member who arrived unannounced and with eccentric behaviour in full swing. ‘She started out life as the processing unit from a military simulator and examiner unit. We found her rusting away deep in the Production Area and set the Mainframe to repair her as best it could, only for it to scavenge parts from what it thought were supplemental parts from similar units but instead proved to be from several discarded recreational machines. Hence why she looks like a slot machine on steroids.’

‘So…what is she going to have me do?’ Uma asked.

‘I honestly have no idea.’ Chloe said truthfully as that went. She really did have no idea, even as she speculated that Cobalt did, hence why she had chosen this game. ‘You just need to approach her and she will chose a game for you to play.’

‘A..alright.’ Uma couldn’t help the little resurgence of her trepidation, a hangover from her earlier games she hadn’t quite shaken it seemed. Not knowing what she had to do had caused a return to the uncertainty she felt at the beginning. Still that didn’t hold her back from advancing carefully towards the imposing machine with the single red eye that pulsed with each step she took.

[YOU ARE. ARE. QUITE SMALL. FOR A BIPEDAL. MAMMAL. YET MAY. MAYBE QUITE. FAST AND. AGILE. WE WILL. TEST HOW FAST. YOU ARE. CUTIE.] In the sealed booth behind the game chamber, the turtle that was Annabelle had to pause to suppress a giggle that was quite unlike her. As a relative newcomer to the world of VA, she had played quite a number of cheesy roles in her time. Yet this quirky, glitchy part human/part computer robot had to be a contender for topping that list. Yet she was quite endearing with the odd little human touches thrown in. Even with the odd lines about threatening a Gunging were sweetly cute in a way. Not that Annabelle knew what Gunge was. Boy was she in for a surprise.

Uma had no way to know what surprise awaited her, having stood stock still while with a clank and grinding of machinery clearly as glitchy as her speech circuits, the huge roller of the slot machine creaked into a rapidly increasing spin.

If there was one part of this whole setup that she didn’t understand, and it surely was a set up Uma had no more doubts about that than the rest of her friends, it was the design of that roller. While far too young and innocent to actually play on slot machines and preferring the more familiar surround of an arcade as opposed to a pub, Uma still knew what one was through her exposure to tv and the like. While all other models she had seen had three separate tumblers each with their own row of matching symbols, this one simply had a single large roller displaying only one symbol at a time. What the one that had sat facing her, that of a stick figure of an undistinguished gender or species standing with paws raised, actually meant Uma had no more clue than she did the other two she glimpsed but couldn’t make out as the tumbler cranked up to such a speed as to make them a blur.

All of which left Uma waiting in the grip of excitement and trepidation as the tumbler finally slowed then stopped to settle on a image that showed a series of arrows pointing in a variety of directions and depicted in different colours. Uma had no way of knowing that this wasn’t random chance, that the choice had been chosen long before she stepped into this room. Yet she couldn’t help wondering if she had gotten lucky or not.



What preparing meant Uma learned as the floor beneath her feet juddered sharply just as she skipped back one, two, three steps. Three steps away from the four foot square panel that dropped and parted to allow something to rise up from below; this new panel marked with a design and layout so familiar to her and so incongruous that Uma almost burst out laughing. As her thoughts had revealed before, Uma had spent many a afternoon at her local arcade and while the idea of dancing for or with someone was utterly terrifying, she had racked up many hours and many a high score on the retro classic that is Night Night Fever. And this panel before her with its grouping of four straight arrows in the four cardinal directions with four diagonal arrows around them was instantly recognisable and comfortingly reassuring. Even if she was sure there was a twist.

[THIS GAME. EXPECTS REQUIRES. YOU TO. FOLLOW DISPLAYED. STEPS. LIKE A DANCE. THAT WILL BE FUN. EACH CORRECT. CORRECT STEP. GIVES YOU. TWENTY. POINTS. LETS SEE YOU. SET A. HIGH SCORE, ‘KAY.]

Feeling bolder and more confident by the second, Uma stretched her arms out before her with fingers linked and palms facing away from her before stepping onto the arrow covered mat before her. Her eyes never left the screen before her, waiting and watching as the title screen blurred and shifted to a single large number that was the start of a slow countdown from five.

Wondering with a thrilled shiver if she would face a similar countdown after the game had ended, Uma waited for the last number to tick by and the game to begin in earnest. She had expected to be eased into it slowly and she wasn’t disappointed; the first steps almost lazily scrolling down the screen with a significant gap between them.

Which made sense as far as it went. This game wasn’t designed with her in mind after all, and it wouldn’t be fair to throw someone less familiar with how to play it right into the hard mode. And that was true as far as it went. This game had been suggested, created and tested long before any potential contestants had even been considered. Which wasn’t to say this game hadn’t been chosen for her. Which it had.

While all the players here today had caught Cobalt’s attention in one way or another, she had developed a little bit of a soft spot for Uma. Not one that would spare her from being gunged of course. But enough of one to want to make sure she had fun here. Which after all was the point, both for the players and the audience. She played at being cruel but that didn’t mean she was mean.

Luckily for her, she now lived in a world of modern technology and computer systems. One where facial recognition had come on leaps and bounds. As had the spread of social media. While it was perhaps a stretch to say that big brother was really watching, with the number of cameras and smartphones around, it was fairly likely that everyone would have been videoed or recorded at some point.

And with the aid the photos sent along with her application, Cobalt’s researchers had stumbled across a recording of Uma winning a very respectable high score at the very game that made her so proficient at this one. Uma likely had no idea the video existed since it was filmed by someone who didn’t know her personally. Just like she had no idea she was, albeit for a short time, a viral sensation.

Had Uma indeed known this she might not being doing as well as she was, the tension and stress of that preventing her from being both light footed and nimble. Instead Uma was simply and easily hopping from one foot to another, matching each sequence of moves with a fluid rhythm perfectly in time with the steady yet lively music.

⬆️  ➡️ ⬇️

⬆️ ⬆️ ⬅️

➡️ ⬇️ ⬅️


Gone were the single commands with long pauses between them, replaced by noticeably faster strings of three steps that still weren’t fast enough to cause Uma to miss a single one. Not once had Uma even had to glance down at her paw-pads, knowing where they were and where they had to go by simple long honed instinct.

‘She’s doing very well. Do you think she can actually win this?’

‘I don’t think she is meant to win. Or lose.’ Adam replied both in answer to Lucci’s question and his own thoughts. After all, all Sergeant Slots had mentioned was getting a high score, not beating a target or reaching a set number of points. Adam had watched many gameshows throughout his youth and into his teens with the now classic idea of reaching a score or target to avoid a Gunging. With an occasional flexibility about how strictly that was honoured of course. There had been no mention of that here, so surely there was something else waiting up her robotic sleeve.

Uma had had the very same thought. She felt disappointed when the symbols trailed off and her feet stilled in response. Had she won? The robot says they are done with the warm up and can make things more exciting. Uma titters as the tank surrounds her. Bring it on. She is bubbling with excitement now, sure she is going to be gunged at some point. It’s the not knowing when that is so interesting.

Adam felt the same, not wanting to risk looking away in case he missed it. It was a strange feeling, actually waiting for Uma to make a mistake. Not exactly feeling guilty, but there was a slight squirm of something similar in his stomach at the undeniable thought that he would very much enjoy it when it happened.

Before him and her other two teammates, Uma had picked up her pace in response to the game doing exactly the same. It wasn’t just the beat of the music that had changed, rather it had transitioned into another song with barely a seconds pause. Uma knew the melody immediately, slipping easily into the rhythm with barely a thought.

Unknown to her this was one of Adam’s favourite songs and he couldn’t help singing along in his head, following the beat in time with Uma who still hadn’t missed a step or put a single foot wrong, even though the strings of steps were longer now, the tempo faster and less sedate.

‘Upside down, bouncing off the ceiling. Inside out, strange to this feeling. I’ve got no clue what I should. I know I’ll just go crazy if I can’t get next to you.’

Each word he sung silently to himself was perfectly in time with each of Uma’s steps, the soft click of the keypads mimicking the same notes of the tune that surrounded her. Left, right, up, down. Backwards. Forwards. Side to side. Uma swayed and stepped like the graceful dancer she couldn’t have managed to seem if she had actually been dancing with or for someone. This wasn’t a dance though, this was just an arcade game. And that distinction was enough to help her override her usual shyness.

Uma was so caught up in what she was doing that she spared no attention to the how until the last string of steps proved to be the final string, the screen before her fading to a single word set between a retro pixilated crescendo of fireworks in gold and silver to match the letters.

COMPLETED.

[CONGRATULATIONS/WAY TO GO. YOU HAVE. CLEARED THE.  FIRST LEVEL. WOULD. YOU LIKE. TO TRY. THE SECOND.]

Uma didn’t even think about that. So far in the show as a whole she had done precious little to score points for her team and here was a way she could make up for that. Not that the others saw it that way, that was all on her. And beside, she hadn’t been gunged yet. And that was what people came to see. And she couldn’t disappoint them. Especially one person, she thought with a glance to her teammates behind her. She didn’t know why exactly but the thought that Adam might want to see her gunged had filled her with tingling excitement.

‘Sure. Let’s do it.’

Adam raised his head just a little, his eyes widening ever so slightly as he fought back a grin. He couldn’t deny he had been a little disappointed that the game was over and that Uma had gotten away without so much as a drop of Gunge on her. Had Adam have known she was doing this so he could see that, he might have tried to talk her out of it. There was no way for her to say that without making it utterly awkward of course. And even if she had thought of a way to say it, that window of opportunity closed as quickly as it opened.

Not just because the pixilated screen shifted back to a countdown that heralded the start of the game but also because of the oval plastic tube that rose up around Uma to create an enclosed space around five feet in diameter. Uma couldn’t help a thrilled squeak slipping from her muzzle, the plastic screen rising all the way up to meet another oval of solid black perspex lowering down towards it, the two sections joining together with a solid click. Uma had no idea if the upper section was black because it was made from a black dyed plastic or because that was the colour of the Gunge it contained. Either way it seemed she was going to get her wish of being gunged in a Gunge tank after all.

‘Well..there is no getting away from it now.’ Lucci said with a soft smile that Adam caught but Bonni didn’t. Mostly due to her being distracted by her thoughts again. She should have been horrified for Uma, and even more so by the thought of being in her place. So why did she feel..jealous? No, not jealous in a mean way. Envious? Like she wanted to be where she was? Was that what she felt? Guilt would have made some sense, since it could have been argued that Uma was playing this only because she had balked at it. Yet she couldn’t deny she did feel envious of her in a way.

Uma had her own thoughts to occupy her mind right now. Time had seemed to slow to a crawl as exactly what this meant slotted together in her mind like pieces of a puzzle. This had been the trap all along she supposed, she wasn’t meant to get gunged until this part of the game. Actually, that wasn’t true. The game was meant t9 have ended. Adam wasn't the only one disappointed Uma had gotten away clean. Unlike Cobalt he wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. She had been sure Uma would find that level too much of a challenge to complete without a mistake. She was going to have to change that.

Uma would have been forgiven for believing that was the only thing that had changed in her surroundings, the sheer excitement of the realisation of the one thing she had hoped for easily being enough to occupy all of her awareness. Yet her eagerness to get back to the game had lead her to quickly bring her eyes away from the newly revealed tank and to the screen before her which was even now counting down to the start of the game. Something that Uma only noticed distractedly, her eyes settling on something that definitely hadn’t been there before. Again Uma felt a unexpected thrill from seeing both the pixilated image that was no doubt meant to be her who stood lightly bobbing away inside an equally pixilated tank like many an 8-bit character from the games of her youth and the red outlined box next to it that was filled a solid red just shy of a fifth of its total dimensions.

Which was in more than a little way distracting, her eyes fighting the urge to glance back at it every few seconds; wondering if it would actually reach its limit or the game would run its course before it could. Had Uma been less distracted she might have wondered exactly what had brought her so close to the verge of what she had expected would be the predictable climax of this game; for she had made no mistakes this far and surely that was the only thing that red metre could mean. And she was correct, Cobalt having already thought of this. Having been sure that Uma would have done very well at this game unless she made it ridiculously hard, she had instead gone the other way and made it almost laughably easy to lull her into a false sense of security. With anyone else she would have delighted in teasing them with the threat of a Gunging. Not with Uma though who she knew would secretly enjoy it.

Instead she had decided to keep this metre a surprise until now, the coding behind it rewritten to have it fill a little more with each correct step and programming in a cut off when it reached 95% percent. So it was in fact Uma’s perfect performance that brought her close to having it filled.

While Uma didn’t know this, she had a pretty good idea what would happen once it filled. Pushing down on the thrill of that thought Uma centred herself as best she could, fully prepared for the game to be more difficult than it had been before and that proved to very much be the case. There was no slow easing into it here, the speed and complexity of the steps starting right from where she had left off, leaving Uma little time to adapt to the rhythm and forcing her to do just that on the fly.

It was at least something in her favour that she knew this song as well, the familiarity of it helping her to keep up with the beat and tempo. Yet she was certain that wouldn’t last forever. The sequences of moves were becoming more complex as much as they were faster, requiring not just single moves but pairs of steps at once. And with that added complexity Uma knew she was bound to slip up eventually.

Looking back, Uma couldn’t have said exactly where she slipped up. Yet the harsh buzz and flare of red light that filled the chamber made it clear she had. Which was the only way she knew, the splash of Gunge she had expected not forthcoming. Or not yet. Luckily Uma only missed one step and continued undeterred despite the shock of the shrill buzzer.

For the first time Uma felt the first tingling of actual nerves. It was just like when she and her mother had visited a new swimming pool that opened near their home; one that boasted a wave machine. Which she had looked forward to with bubbling excitement, excitement that became tinged with a little anxiety as she learned that each cycle of waves was heralded by a wailing siren. Which had the somewhat timid kitten on edge waiting for it to go off again. Yes, it was very much like that. There was no denying that Uma was struggling to keep up now, her score still increasing despite the number of missteps creeping into her movements. The steps still scrolled across the screen with almost the same slow pace they had before, only now there was barely any gap or pause between each step. Leaving Uma little margin for error.

⬆️ ⬆️ ➡️ ⬅️ ↙️ ↗️ ↖️ ⬇️  ❌

Uma grimaced as the red light filled the tank again, flinching a little in sudden shock and slight annoyance of her mistake. She rallied quickly, deciding to not dwell on the mistakes that were going to be unavoidable.

↖️ ⬆️ ↙️ ↘️ ⬆️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬅️ ❌

➡️ ⬅️ ❌

⬇️ ↙️ ↗️ ➡️ ➡️❌

Each sequence of moves was so fast that they kept slipping in. Uma knew that she couldn’t hold them off and would not let them hold her back. Not with the game so close to being finished; the red bar that marked her mistakes having crept closer and closer to being filled. And she knew what that fulfilment was likely to bring. Cobalt surely would have her pleasure after all. And Uma was fine with that too.

⬆️ ⬆️ ↘️ ↘️ ⬅️ ➡️

To her delight and surprise Uma made no missteps here, luck as much as skill increasing her score. Which didn’t mean she wasn’t still a hairs breadth away from her time running out. Her heart still pounded with a nervous excitement she could not dispel. Nor wished too.

⬆️ ➡️ ❌ ↙️ ⬅️ ❌ ↘️ ⬇️

This turn more than made up for it, her feet slipping not once but twice. More so slips had been noted when this game was tested, each error earning the player a small splash of Gunge instantly. With comic and perhaps predictable results. Even now Cobalt couldn’t help smiling as she recalled the youthful pantheress barely able to keep her feet on the slippery floor that became more and more slippery as each loss of footing sent more and more Gunge pouring over her.

Uma felt she was one misstep from the games conclusion, the red bar nearly full while the pixilated image of her squirmed softly in apparent anxiety. One or two more missteps and this would be over. She was determined to go on as long as possible.

That turned out to be only one more sequence. Not that Uma gave up, she still tried to play the game to its conclusion. But the next sequence of steps came so fast, it was a miracle she managed to match any at all.

⬅️ ↗️ ❌ ❌

There would likely have been more but those last two mistakes pushed Uma over the edge, the music stopped dead as the screen faded to a rush of green Gunge that itself dripped away to an equally green and gunged letters ‘Game Over.’ Surely a herald of what was to come, Uma raised herself up to face it with an excited titter. Or what she hoped to come.

Cobalt clearly decided to draw out those feelings just a little longer, enjoying her excited squirming openly. ‘Well well…who would have thought you would do so well here. I was really sure this game would fox you. Yet you did much better than I expected. And scored a goodly 500 points for your team. Yes, that was very well done. I’m sure you will do even better in your next game.’

‘Oh…well…right.’ Uma’s face literally fell, her anticipatory excitement dashed in a second. Dashed to such an extent that she turned instead in anticipation of the tank receding from around here.

‘Except…there is just one more thing.’

Heart pounding again, Uma turned quickly to fix her eyes upon Cobalt, her own gleaming with excitement. As great an excitement as the giggle that slipped from her muzzle as she straightened up with tension that overflowed as the tank burst open. Caught off guard and unprepared Uma shrieked. She had let her guard down and now not been ready where a few seconds ago she had wanted nothing else.


Had she stayed in that mindset, she might have taken it with just a soft chuckle and barely a flinch of muscle. Instead Uma’s response was to shriek, duck and cover herself as best she could beneath the shield of her tightly wrapped arms. All of which meant she could see nothing of the white Gunge beneath which she stood, it’s smoothness gliding over the obstacle of her arms which was no obstacle at all. Not tight enough was the press of her thick cloth covered arms to stop it slipping under and over her head anyway, leaving her blinded to the truth of what now steadily coated her until long after it finished.

Uma had no idea how stunning she looked dripping in the equally brilliant white untainted by any other colour. Adam did though, finding a new appreciation for this sight before him. White was rarely used for gungings after all, and when it was it was usually mixed with another colour and in smaller amounts. Something that was he now realised a great shame. Still such lost experiences were now being made up, Uma dripping in more white Gunge than he had ever seen with no sign of it running out.

While it made no difference now, Uma had relaxed enough from her initial fright to let her arms relax as well before dropping away from her head, letting the still impressive flow of Gunge continue unhampered. While that made no difference to her since her efforts to shield herself had failed, visually the spectacle became even more spectacular. With nothing to hide behind and her hands clenched tightly before her, Uma had given herself over to the Gunging, standing and squirming excitedly as she could only imagine what she looked like to those watching and maybe enjoying it. She very much hoped that someone was enjoying what she saw.

Still blinded by the still falling gunge, Uma could only guess if she was facing towards Adam or not, the whiteness covering not just her eyes but her sweet blush as well. Tempting as it was to clear her eyes to see if he was looking, she didn’t dare, not sure if she would prefer the truth or not.

She found out anyway as a sudden surge of the white goo over her head prompted her to lean forwards and, entirely on unconscious instinct, wipe her eyes clean. Which after a few seconds of blinking allowed her to see Adam not just looking at her but watching her with a grin he had perhaps never intended her to see.

Almost frozen where she stood and with the Gunge now running over her shoulders to spill over her chest, Uma returned that smile shyly as she suddenly felt how covered she was. This must have been what Lucci felt when she was lathered in the brown muck. Her clothes were heavy with it. She clenched her fingers and let it ooze between her toes. What might it feel like against all her fur was almost too much to think about. Her swimsuit protected some of her but she could still feel it.

And could feel that right until the Gunge trailed off, feeling a sudden rush of cooler air met with that warmed by the Gunge as the tank retracted back into the ceiling, letting the pooled Gunge flood over the floor in a spreading puddle that Adam dared to brave, advancing to offer her his paw in the fashion of a true gentleman.

‘Are you okay?’ Adam asked as he leaned in to wipe a drop of Gunge of her nose which along with being a true gesture of concern was also to allow him to whisper softly in her ear. ‘You look amazing by the way.’

Blushing with that compliment and her mind racing with the implications of what it could mean, Uma was left speechless, only barely hearing Lena’s eager encouragement as she led them towards the next game.



Uma did look amazing. More than that, she looked overjoyed. Which surely she couldn’t feel if the Gunge was as disgusting as she feared it might be. Right? Bonni wrestled with that question the full length of the short jog towards where they were to play the next game, her thoughts not so distracted that she didn’t notice the others gathering around the doorway Lena had led them too.

‘Alright. I’m going to need a volunteer.’

‘I’ll do it.’ Bonni surorised everyone, herself included as she chimed in quickly and before any of the others could. The same logic carried her in hot on the heels of Lena before she could change her mind. Something she was tempted to do seeing the high backed chair suspended from the ceiling on a rail that lead towards an ominous looking tunnel.

‘Bonni, in just a moment you will take a seat there.
’Bonni wasn’t sure she liked either the sound or the look of that. While the chair looked comfortable enough despite seeming to have been pulled from a spaceship of some kind, she wasn’t exactly wild about where it might lead. Knowing Cobalt which she had started to do pretty well by now, she wouldn’t have been surprised if it lead somewhere that would end up with her getting ridiculously messy. Something she feared she was on borrowed time for, despite having so far avoided it. Especially given how the chair was suspended from a rail like some small scale monorail system  ‘But first you will need to grab three of these. No more than three, I’m afraid. You will need them on the other side. That is where we will see you. Good luck.’

Right. Thanks. Bonni nodded to the others as they were ushered no doubt safely past whatever awaited her. It was an unworthy maybe but she still felt safer when the other.  were around. Now, she was the only one who could get gunged. Not finding comfort in that thought, Bonni turned her eye towards the these Lena had mentioned, which turned out to be large foam balls not dissimilar to the foam footballs she and her classmates had played with at school; except being absent the black hexagons they had displayed. True to the advice she had been given and not wanting to risk Cobalt’s ire by breaking what were doubtless her rules, Bonni awkwardly grabbed the three balls and being very careful not to drop a single one eased herself into the chair.

She had been right, the chair proving to be very comfortable indeed, the firm leather only giving a little as she settled into it. Someone must have been watching her because the second she was seated the chair it whirred into motion and carried her into the tunnel that she didn’t like the look of any better from close up. Not just because she couldn’t help feeling a little trapped but because she could see that the tunnel wasn’t just trickling Gunge from one end, the bottom was thick with it. Not deep, just a small layer barely a fraction of a foot deep. But with the way Gunge was trickling from vents and grills along the side, that was hardly likely to be the end of it.

It might have come as some comfort to Bonni to not know both that she was right and that Cobalt was in fact going easy on her here. Bonni was, despite the relaxed reactions of her friends, still anxious about the Gunge. And that was something that had gone on too long for her liking. And while there were many games she could have thrust Bonni into to force her to face her fear head on, Cobalt wasn’t actually that cruel. It was one thing to tease someone with it when they were adorably nervous or boldly confident. Yet when someone was genuinely terrified and unprepared for it as Bonni seemed to be, a softer touch was needed. Only so she could Gunge the heck out of later of course. And Cobalt was going easier on her here. If this game was being played as normal, Bonni would find herself being carried over not a trickle but a flood of Gunge pouring along below her. To accommodate her plans, she had toned things down a little.

All of this was lost on Bonni who breathed a sigh of relief as she was whisked out of the tunnel to face another open area on the other, one markedly different than the one she had left. While the first was pretty ordinary, this one was anything but. Especially with the six lions heads in tarnished bronze or copper mounted on the wall directly before her, walls that were marked with arcane, almost tribal symbols. Not letting her trepidation at this intimidating surround hold her back, Bonni leapt from the chair, just glad to be away from the Gunge. (Three lions with three pairs of eyes each, set one above the other)

‘Bonni, can you hear me? Ah…yes, you can.’ Lena’s voice floated out of a speaker mounted in the middle of the ceiling. ‘Don’t worry. It’s just you here. Chloe has stayed behind. Neither she nor any Sentinal will come down here. This room was here before they arrived on the base and took it over. It seems these masks were unearthed in a crater not ten miles away and brought her for study. Where they bonded to the room and began to remake it. Someone must have been cautious of them to bring them down here, rather than one of the Laboratory’s. They are harmless enough as long as they are given a tribute of gold, silver and bronze to appease them.’

So…that explained the balls, Bonni thought. Kept away just like you don’t keep the meat next to the tiger enclosure. Reassuring. She stepped closer and the mouths began to open and close. She couldn’t help seeing them as hungry.

Once again not letting those thoughts distract or psych her out, Bonni took a deep breath as she prepared for her first shot: drawing it in slowly and letting it out as the first ball was let fly from her paw. The arc was smooth and steady as her arm had been, sailing with almost effortless grace into the slowly moving mouth of the golden lion just as it opened as wide as it would go. With a audibly satisfying and onoxmaticapacically  pleasing ‘bomp’ the golden ball slipped from sight behind the golden jaw which seemed to close a little faster, almost as if relishing that snack. Although that might just have been an illusion on Bonni’s part.

One thing that wasn’t an illusion was the way the bottom pair of eyes flared to life with a bright golden glow, which only served to enhance the silence menace it exuded into the room. The somewhat obsessively compulsive completitionist/neat freak that sat deep inside Bonni would have loved nothing more than to finish off the golden head right here and now, yet since Lena had quite specifically given her one ball of each colour, she had no choice but to move onto the Silver Lion. The still anxiously suspicious part of her couldn’t help wondering if that choice was part of some set up or trick. Yet since she would likely have felt that way whichever order she had been presented them in, she put that worry aside as well.

Tempting as it was to hurry and hasten her escape from this place, Bonni knew that such haste would likely have the opposite effect and delay her departure to safety. That and she maybe wanted to have one moment from this day where she could say that her fears didn’t rule her. There was no trace of fear in the way Bonni took her next throw, her composure complete as the silver ball landed squarely in the mouth of the matchingly metallic feline.

Rewarded both by the silver flare that matched the glow in the eyes of the golden lion and by the absence of anything wet and sticky sprayed, poured or splattered over her, Bonni thankfully turned her attention to the bronze head and away from the two sets of eyes almost staring at her with cold menace. There was no crack in her composure or focus as she, without even a seconds hesitation, made it three for three; the bronze lion greedily accepting her tribute as its two fellows had done.

Not waiting around to dwell on that, Bonni dashed back to the chair that lurched back into life and movement the second she had settled into the soft leather, drawing her back into the claustrophobic tunnel again. A quality that had been enhanced since Bonni had left it, that word not being used in anyway of a positive term. The dimensions of the tunnel hadn't changed any; it just felt like they had given how the trickle of Gunge was now more a steady flow that barely covered the bottom two feet of the tube. For anyone else, that wouldn’t have been enough to so much as ruffle a feather. Or twitch a whisker. Or ripple through fur. Certainly her three teammates would have just shrugged it off without so much of a flicker of fur or a swish of a tail. Yet Bonni did much more than that, a little shriek slipped past her lips as she drew her feet up as high as she could without completely loosing all fate. It was funny how she was worried about that but the mind worked oddly when it took a fright or a shock. That thought was distractedly at the back of her mind, the rest of it keen, bordering on desperate, to keep her feet away from the Gunge. Not that there was any real danger of that, that rational thought not holding back her natural instinct.

For Bonni it was too long until she emerged, still ungunged, from the other end of the tunnel. And not long enough before she had to return to it again, the time it took to collect another three balls barely ten seconds. The trip back again, during which Bonni remained stock still with her legs drawn up and away from the still flowing and pouring green Gunge below her.

Bonni couldn’t deny she felt a little less composed this time, her nerves still jangled. While the threat of it had always been around her, this was the closest she had actually come to the Gunge if not a Gunging. Arms shaking a little with a surge of emotion she couldn’t shake off, Bonni moved cautiously towards the trio of lion heads. She tried to take some comfort from the thought that nothing was likely to happen until scored three/two direct hits on one of them. Which was scarcely a comfort at all. And it showed.

Bonni’s next throw was absent the determined confidence she had shown before, her arms clearly tense and rigid with nerves. Her aim was true but her timing off. Instead of sailing into the auric mouth, the ball instead struck the lip just as it closed and bounced away deeper into the room.

Disturbed, surprised and unsettled by the sound the lion uttered, part laugh, part roar and all mocking menace, Bonni hastily tried to make up for it with her next shot. Too hastily as it turned out, the silver ball thrown before the mouth had even truly opened, bouncing away as uselessly as its companion had.

Braced this time for the cruel laughter and reassured, somewhat, that it didn’t herald a humbling punitive Gunging, Bonni let out a deep breath before she readied herself for her next shot, then allowed herself another. It was as much that pause as it was that breath that did the trick, Bonni’s almost completely regained composure helping her to make this third shot as easily as she should have the first two.

Which didn’t stop Bonni from leaping backwards as the bronze lion roared in apparent satisfied pleasure, it’s mouth slamming shut as it’s second pair of eyes rose with a gleaming brown glow to match the other. Having expected some parting shot or trick, Bonni was at least relieved it could no longer spray Gunge at her as she had feared. Not that the threat of that didn’t remain. Which was why Bonni was determined to not remain her any longer than she had too.

And with perhaps good reason.while she had learned the hard way that impatience and haste were not her friends here, she was tempted to leap back into their embrace the second she was carried back into tunnel again. While the last time Bonni’s reaction had been one of shock rather than response to some genuine threat, this t8me she felt completely vindicated in pulling her feet up almost to her lap. Alarmist a reaction as it might seem, this time she had barely whisked her feet away from the Gunge in time. Had she been a second or two slower, her feet wouldn’t have been dangling perilously close to the smoothly flowing Gunge, they would have been ankle deep in it given how it had risen to cover the lower lip of the chair and the foot rest Bonni would now not be using again. She just about resisted the urge to press her paws into her knees to pull them a little higher away from the Gunge. Just.

This time she was truly desperate, the threat that much more real. This next journey was the longest moment of her life, and this from a lady who had once endured a seemingly hour long silence that was only seconds before her senior year crush agreed to go to prom with her. Compared to that, this was a whole new experience in terrifying.


Heart pounding and her breathing quickened, Bonni grabbed what she hoped would be the last set of balls she would need. No, hoped be darned. She was going to make sure it was the last she needed. She didn’t want to think how full the tunnel would be if she had to make another trip. Confident of that as she could be, Bonni couldn’t help doing what she had resisted before, now obviously and visibly holding her legs clear of the rising Gunge that had risen another foot since she had left the tunnel.

Hoping off the chair without risking touching the Gunge slicked footrest without having dropped a single one of the balls, Bonni advanced on the lions again. Dropping the bronze ball she had grabbed on instinct and letting it roll away, Bonni fixed the gold lion with a firm stare that she held for second and not breaking it, let the ball fly. It was glorious shot, one rewarded with the satisfied roar from the auric head.

Bonni barely dwelled on that victory, not letting it distract her as she turned to the gleaming silver lion, breathed, aimed, threw and scored. Not stopping to wait for the roar, so confident was she in her shot, that she was already back in the chair by the time she heard it.

She can now see it was a good thing she hadn’t waited, the little time she had taken to secure her victory enough for the Gunge to have risen high enough to crest not just over her ankles but up to mid shin height. Bonni saw this with an open shudder she made no effort to repress, the volume of Gunge before her horrifically terrifying. It was probably a good thing she didn’t know that if this game was being played normally; the pipe would be filled almost up to her shoulders by now, leaving her nowhere to hide.

‘Looks like maybe I went too soft on her.’ Cobalt sighed, the disappointment in her voice not one of someone denied a vicarious pleasure but rather of the dashing of her hopes that Bonni would have taken advantage of the opportunity she had offered her. ‘Still..there is always next time.’

Or there was still this time. While it was true that Bonni was again sitting with her feet drawn up away from the Gunge, that was more an instinctive reaction as her mind raced; whispering two words over and over again. Go on. Go on. Go on.

Oh…the hell with it. Bonni screwed her eyes shut and, to the surprise of everyone including herself, dropped from the chair into the waist deep Gunge. Bonni had no idea why she did that, having only meant to dip her feet into the pooled slime. What wild instinct had taken her over she had no more idea than where it had come from. The shriek Bonni had almost expected of herself turned into relieved laughter as she settled into the cool Gunge, the feeling of it around her so very weird yet nowhere near as disgusting as she had feared. In fact, it wasn’t disgusting at all. Funky as hell, yes and very bizarre in its thick slipperiness. But nothing worse than that.

Feeling almost lightheaded with the rush of relief, Bonni laughed again and louder this time; not believing what she had done and yet very very glad she had done so. It was funny that all her fears had evaporated in that one second, instead replaced by a whole slew of questions. Only one of which was pressing enough for her to ask out loud. ‘Ummm…how do I get out of here?’ That question echoed around the closed tunnel, a question that only she heard as the cameras feed cut from her and back to the rest of her team.

‘Over here. Come on. Don’t dawdle. Unless you are enjoying being in there.’

‘It’s not that bad, I guess.’ Bonni admitted as she turned towards the voice behind her, seeing the young red panda dressed in a loose Lilac sweater over blue jeans standing in a hatchway she had missed in the side of the tunnel, striding towards it as quickly as the thick Gunge would allow. With each step she feared slipping on the slick surface beneath her and plunging beneath the slick surface. Instead she made it to the edge and extending a paw sge had been careful to keep above the surface took hold of the one the red panda offered and with her help climbed up onto the small ledge above the rippling goo.

‘It’s not, is it?’ The sweater clad girl laughed softly. ‘I was nervous about it at the start, but I’ve kinda gotten used to it. I’m Julie by the way.’

‘Bonni.’ Bonni replied. ‘Can you help me get back to the others?’

‘Of course. First though, maybe you’d like a shower?’

————————
‘That is so much better.’ Bonni raised her voice over the running water she let rinse away the last of the Gunge clinging to her legs that had seeped through her jumpsuit that now lay discarded on the bench across from the long shower block Julie lingered outside of with her back firmly against the wall to give the bikini clad Racoon some privacy. Not that Bonni minded her being there or her seeing her in this hardly revealing but not exactly demure swimsuit either. No, the only one that seemed bothered by it was Julie herself. ‘Does anyone know this is down here? You found it so easily, I’d have been lost within a few turns.’

‘Well…’ Bonni didn’t have to look to know Julie was blushing, the tone of her voice making it obvious. ‘I’ve used this quite a lot myself.’

‘And..why is that?’ Bonni had a feeling that Julie almost wanted her to ask that question.

‘I’m…kinda the Guinea pig around here. Well…a Guinea pig. For my Boss. She creates all the machines and Gunge tanks used for the games. And she delights in testing them out on me.’

‘So…you get gunged here every day?’ Bonni asked, making sure to let the tiniest touch sympathy fill her voice, in case that was what Julie wanted to hear.

‘No..not every day.’ Julie dipped her head a little as Bonni stepped out of the shower to towel herself dry as best she could. ‘It’s not really that bad, once you get used to it.’

‘So I’ve learned.’ Bonni chuckled despite the sudden squirm of guilt deep in her stomach. Only now that she had faced her fear did she realise how much of a coward she had been. Not just in avoiding the Gunge but not being honest about her fears to the others at the start.

‘True, you did.’ Julie smiled shyly. ‘Me, I’ve learned to always bring a change of clothing with me, just in case. Speaking of which, I found another jumpsuit that should fit you. And it’s the same colour too.’

‘Thank you.’ Bonni took it and draped it over her arm; seeing no sense in getting it damp while her fur dried while she made her way back to the others; getting more than a few bemused and admiring stares as she followed her guide back to the games.", "pools_count": 0, "title": "Serenity Base Episode 1 Part 7", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "image/png", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "0", "rating_name": "General", "ratings": [], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "16" }