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"thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300" } ], "pools": [], "description": "Well…that bout of planning seemed to help. Certainly I feel I didn’t struggle as much with this chapter as I have others. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say it will be plain sailing all the way but I’m encouraged by this. Planning is very much my next stage. I’m going to plan out the rest of the episode from start to finish before I actually start writing. That may mean a delay for the next chapter but it will speed up the process overall. \n", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Well…that bout of planning seemed to help. Certainly I feel I didn’t struggle as much with this chapter as I have others. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say it will be plain sailing all the way but I’m encouraged by this. Planning is very much my next stage. I’m going to plan out the rest of the episode from start to finish before I actually start writing. That may mean a delay for the next chapter but it will speed up the process overall.
", "writing": "‘Well..we are doing well here.’ Lena said with a clap of her paws. ‘So…who wants to go next. Uma, feel like taking a shot at another one?’\n\n‘I guess.’ Uma squirmed a little with slight trepidation, taking a nervous glance again at the walls that surrounded her. While she was growing in confidence, she couldn’t deny that the incredibly realistic set was making her a little antsy. Almost as antsy as the thought of the game she was being volunteered for. Still..if Lena was choosing it for her, it couldn’t be so bad. Right?\n\n‘Atta girl.’ Lena said as if that decided it, dashing across to the other side of the corridor before Uma could continue, sweeping her arm towardsi the door that whisked open. Tempted to back out yet determined not to, Uma stepped inside, finding herself face to face with a cube of black metal squares riveted together, a structure that filled pretty much all of the expansive room. Seeing the door that sat open as if waiting for her, Uma took a deep breath before stepping inside, not surprised when the door closed behind her, leaving her face to face with..well..not the gunge tank she had expected. The inside was…bizarre, made of what felt like a spongy black rubber that bounced with each step she took. The walls looked like the same stuff, only they had smooth holes cut into it that Uma tried not to focus on, sure that they were housing some mechanism to douse her in something vile. Not that she could escape now anyway with the door having clanked shut.\n\n\n‘Oh…hi.’ Uma said as she suddenly noticed the Sentinal waiting inside, her shyness rearing its head a little as she realised she wasn’t alone. Her outfit was the same as the others they had met, but rather than the imposing, stern figure she had been expecting, she instead found a girl maybe a few years her senior, one who looked as nervous as she did. Although uncertain might have been a better word. Uma would have forgiven her for anxiously seeking the hiding place of the devices that surely awaited to unleash crazy amounts of Gunge over them both. Instead she merely seemed hesitant, like no one had told her what she was supposed to do here. Well..that made two of them. That being so, Uma decided to offer an olive branch of sorts. ‘Soo…do we get started?’\n\n‘I was hoping you weren’t going to ask me that.’ The Sentinal ran a hand through her hair slowly, her uncertainty clear in her voice. ‘I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here.’\n\n‘They sent you in here blind?’ Uma asked, not knowing how she had hit upon the truth of the matter. While this conversation between the two of them was being recorded, it would largely end up on B Roll, the broadcast section of the show focusing on Lena and the rest of the team as she, mostly for the benefit/enjoyment of the audience at home explained what awaited them in this game.\n\n‘I guess they did. I’m Jetta by the way.’\n\n‘Uma.’ Uma replied as she took a couple of steps closer to Jetta, seeing something of a kindred spirit in her despite the fact that they would soon be competing. At least she assumed they would. ‘So…I guess we just stand here until they tell us exactly what we have to do.’\n\n‘You mean until they tell us exactly how much gunk we are going to get covered with.’ Jetta laughed with genuine mirth, even if that was still tinged with a little anxiety. ‘A lot I’m thinking. Otherwise they would have told us what to expect.’\n\n‘I think you might be right.’ Uma smiled back, relieved to find that Jetta was nowhere near as intimidating as she had believed at first sight, her impressive physique belying her sweet, almost bashful nature. ‘I almost wish they wouldn’t keep us waiting and just get on with it.’\n\n‘I won’t argue with that.’ Jetta nodded. ‘Then again, maybe we should be careful what we wish for.’\n\n‘Maybe you should.’ Cobalt’s voice cut across the silence that followed, her presence a sure sign that the cameras had just this second cut back to focusing on the inside of this strange room. ‘Still, this game shouldn’t prove too challenging for you. Hidden around this room are 18 tiles, each marked with one of three different military rank insignia; Private. Corporal, Sergeant. Of each there are three. The one to find all nine in her team colours unlock the door and escape this room. And trust me, you don’t want to be in here when time runs out. Good luck, you will need it. \n\nSpurred on by that statement that once would have sounded more ominous than it now came across, Uma threw herself into the search. Not that she thought in any way that she was in less risk of getting utterly gunged at the end, more than Uma had begun to grow used to Cobalt’s staged evil demeanour. Not having inkling that one could be any better than another, Uma settled for pragmatism as she dashed over to the closest hole and without even a second thought or moment of hesitation, plunged her arm through the black rubber sheet that covered the entrance, passing through the neatly crossed slits that perfectly obscured what lay beyond without impeding her progress. Had she stopped to think, Uma might have wondered if something beyond the disks they sought lay behind it. But she didn’t, and by the time she had, she was almost shoulder deep into the thankfully empty space, her paw feeling around over the ribbed rubber surface without any real plan beyond doing so until she felt something. Her fingers sank a little into the soft surface as they searched and brushed almost haphazardly over more of the smooth rubber until one of them brushed something different. Just as smooth but noticeably firmer. Solid even. Solid enough for her to grasp, hold and pull back towards her through the rubber curtain without even the slightest resistance. \n\nNot believing her luck, and feeling the sudden intense stare Jetta cast her way, Uma raced to place the first disc onto her board. Only when she slapped it up did she Private Insignia on it, noticing that in a distracted way as she was still disconcerted by Jetta’s stare, either affronted or jealous or simply nervous that Uma had been the first one to gain a lead. Of course someone had too and Uma had to work hard to not be distracted by the squirm of guilt that it had been her. She didn’t want Jetta to get gunged of course, but it wouldn’t be right to throw the game just so she wouldn’t. \n\nDebating for a second if she should check the hole she had just dashed away from, Uma decided against it, heading for the next one around to the right instead. This time Uma couldn’t help being distracted by the worry she hadn’t last time around, her arm tensed up as if expecting to feel something slimy on the other side. It was a fear that came to nothing, the raised fur that ran all the way along to her neck encountering nothing but air. And her fingers feeling nothing but the yielding rubber. At first anyway. Just when she was convinced she had made the wrong choice, after ten seconds of blindly feeling and searching her fingers brushed against the smooth edge of the solid disc she had sought. That brush turned to a firm and her hand emerged with her second tight between her fingers. It had taken her only a few seconds to retrieve it and only twice that to hurriedly add it up below the first, the Private Insignia now joined by a lone Corporal. \n\nIt hasn’t slipped past Uma, or Jetta, that she had doubled her lead. And perhaps saved herself from the extravagantly messy she had equally possibly consigned the unaware Jetta too who now looked positively scandalised. Or genuine nervous. Or both. Uma didn’t know. Just like she didn’t know none of that was directed at her. And she certainly didn’t blame Uma. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was some kind of a setup. Cobalt she didn’t like to loose. But that was just a persona of course. Maybe someone somewhere had decided that a freshly gunged moth girl was just the kind of eye Candy the show needed about now. Jetta had no proof of that but neither could she shake the thought. \n\nPushing those thoughts aside, Jetta moved onto the next closest hole which parted for her as easily as it had for Uma. And quickly too now that her earlier misgivings had been banished. Also unknown to Uma Jetta too had worried if something slippery waited inside the equally spaced openings, the Kitten having missed her slight shudder before she dived in herself. It was just the next one along, there was little more thought to it than that. For all its properties of a wild guess, it paid off. Jetta didn’t even have to search, her fingers almost immediately bumping into the disc shape Uma was intimately familiar with. Seizing both it and the moment, Jetta made her first race to her board that was now reassuringly less empty now that it was fixed with her first symbol, a Sergeants Insignia to counter those found by Uma. \n\nThat success having mollified her doubts, albeit only a little, Jetta threw herself back into the search with the same enthusiasm as Uma who too was going about it doggedly. Well..Kittenly maybe. Shy and timid as Uma could be, she couldn’t deny moments when she got caught up in her own biology. Cats are natural hunters after all, even these days that primal urge still deep in them all. And Uma couldn’t deny moments in her life when she had felt an equally primal thrill during games of hide and seek and such. \n\nIt had comes as something of a surprise that Uma was actually enjoying this game. Maybe because it didn’t, unlike some of her earlier games, required any actual skill to succeed at it. If this had been the first game she had played, she might not have been so nervous. And didn’t that seem like a long time ago now. \n\nUma wasn’t deterred when her next choice of hole to search yielded nothing. She had been under no illusions that she would make a clean sweep of the whole thing. She had been amazed that she had gotten as lucky as she had really. Not lingering on what could have been, Uma moved on, scrambling over to the next hole on the slightly springy floor. There really had been no point in standing up since this was was almost flush with the floor and Uma quickly adopted the same position. \n\nIt was hardly have been called the most comfortable position, with her arm outstretched and her neck slightly cricked to the side, yet it wasn’t one she had to hold for long. Yes, she had to really stretch her arm to almost it’s limit, her cheek almost pressed against the padded wall as she searched further and further into the hole; her fingers almost reaching the back wall she wasn’t sure was there at all until she again felt the familiar solid plastic beneath her fingers. Fingers that quickly pulled it off the back wall it was held securely to by a strip of Velcro given the shrrrppp she heard as she pulled it free. Had her arm been a few inches shorter she might have had to resort to almost crawling inside to reach it. Which she was very glad she hadn’t. She wasn’t sure she would have lived it down if she had gotten stuck. Luckily she didn’t have too and she had the spoils to show for it in the form of her second Corporal’s Insignia.\n\nA quick glance at Jetta’s board showed that while she had been busy, Jetta had caught up a little, to the point where she was now only trailing by one after finding a second disc with a Sergeant's Rank on it. Something that had been a struggle for Jetta as well, given how she had had to strain up on the very tip of her toes to reach into the hole she had chosen to search. Knowing it would be a struggle, she had decided to get it over with. \n\nIt was just a quick glance but it showed her all she needed to know before she returned to her search, determined to hang onto her lead despite knowing there was little she could do to guarantee that. If she lost because of luck she could deal with that, even if she didn’t like the idea of her loss being quite so public. For a second Uma felt the awareness of the cameras being on her, a thought that caught her by surprise and disconcerted her for a second, much more so than the same thought about those of Cobalt and the rest of her team. Just for a second though, Uma finding that she was actually getting used to it. Mollified by that thought, and her successes so far, Uma pressed on. \n\nUma was under no illusions that luck had been on her side so far and at the back of her mind was that such luck couldn’t last forever. And barely a second later, Uma proved herself right despite the confidence with which she squirmed her arm into the next hole, this one much tighter than the others; the swelled rubber pressed tight into fur and flesh alike. Like slipping into a really tight pair of skinny jeans, Uma had to really work for it, applying all her strength and weight to force her fingers down to its limit only to come away with nothing to show for it but a little exertion. \n\nBreathing a little more heavily, Uma dragged her arm free with thankfully less effort than it had needed to force it inside, hoping the next one would be easier. And it was. Despite the time she had lost, Uma was still in the lead with Jetta thankfully not being able to capitalise and catch up. Keen to extend that lead, even knowing that meant she was dooming Jetta to some messy misfortune, Uma again slipped her arm deep into one of the myriad openings in the flexible wall. This time her entrance proved much easier, her arm slipping easily to the back where she found…nothing at all. Once again soft rubber was all she felt under her fingertips. Uma could have written that off as another unlucky choice and simply moved on. Instead she stuck with it, her fingers moving to the sides of the hole. The left yielded nothing but more soft rubber. The right however was more forthcoming. Uma felt her heart leap, her palm gliding over the familiar smooth disc that she grabbed quickly before her excitement could overwhelm her. While it was a slim one, there was still a chance that this could be the third Corporal Insignia that would be her ticket to victory. \n\nIt wasn’t of course. In other games that could have been a set up. And there were, unknown even to Lena, games waiting ahead of them designed in such a way that Cobalt could have them rigged so the game could continue if she wanted it to. This wasn’t one of them and it was pure chance that Uma came away with not the Insignia she sought but another Private instead. Still, this gave her a greater chance of finding the one she needed to complete a set and walk away with the win. \n\nThat sharp leap of excitement having built to a less than subtle rush of energy through her body that Uma felt in tingles all the way down to her fingers, the now anxious Kitten fought not to be distracted by the urge to glance at Jetta every two seconds, worried that at any moment she would see her draw level with her scant lead. It was a real struggle for her to focus purely on her search, her fingers shaking as they scrabbled around inside the hole Uma had dashed towards. Each second she found nothing felt like a minute, a minute she didn’t have to loose. \n\nUma cried out in triumph. It could have been premature of course. Ye5 her excitement ran away with her for a second. It turned out to be justified. Uma was so thrilled to have won she didn’t even hesitate. It was only once she had slipped from the room that she realised what this meant. In her excitement she didn’t realise what she had left Jetta behind to face. She mouthed sorry to her just before the door closed. \n\nJetta rose up with a theatrical sigh, trying to look like she was prepared for this. How could she be prepared for something where she didn’t know what was going to happen. Her heart was pounding, her paws clammy. Yet a little tingle of warmth was in her stomach. She wasn’t exactly afraid. She had seen the Gunge already and it honestly didn’t look that bad. While no one watching could have describe Jetta as looking nervous or anxious, she was in fact swinging from that emotion to a rush of almost excitement and then back again, creating the adorable almost anticipatory smile on her face, like she was excited for something without really knowing why. Her included. She’d seen the Gunge before and while it didn’t look as bad as she had feared, she wasn’t exactly excited for it. Or shouldn’t have been. It’s like waiting for a surprise you hope you are going to like but aren’t sure what it is. And all that nervous energy had to go somewhere, leaving Jetta squirming softly with that sweet smile rising across her face.\n\nIt didn’t help that Jetta had no idea what to expect. Yes, she was going to get gunged. She’d taken that as almost a given when she walked in here. It was the not knowing how that made her the most nervous, her eyes darting around the padded room that now seemed smaller than it had a minute ago. If only she knew it was going to get a lot smaller. \n\nThe first Jetta knew of anything happening was a sudden movement below her, almost a lurch as the floor beneath her feet sank down a good foot and a half, earning a shriek from the hyena who rose from it giggling. Fearing a sudden dunk into something thick and sticky, Jetta couldn’t help feeling relieved even if a little embarrassed by her outburst. That relief faded as her raised head saw that hadn’t been the only movement, one of wide square panels now missing from the ceiling to reveal a long tunnel of blackness from which descended what looked like a box of solid green plastic, it’s sides at least 20 inches thick. \n\nThat was Jetta’s first thought anyway. What she had taken to be one solid piece of plastic was in fact four separate panels about two feet in length and about three times as tall. Certainly taller than her. Each panel was itself divided into three sections marked by a recessed line cut or moulded into the plastic itself. Just as each of those sections were marked by a wide circle made by the same technique with a smaller one in the middle. Jetta eyed each of those circles with an increasingly nervous smile, sure that they would end up level with her head, tummy and feet. Which was likely significant. \n\nFrom the outside none of this could be seen, just like Jetta could no longer be after the panels settled neatly into the edges made by the sunken square in which she now stood, the outside surface of the bright green plastic completely smooth and unmarked, not letting anyone see what lay behind or inside them. \n\nNow hidden from all prying eyes, if you discounted the cameras likely pointed at her and ready to capture the Gunging to come, Jetta swallowed slowly, seeing no reason to hide her sudden anxiety any more. It would have been shown anyway as she edged as close as she could to the middle of the box that enclosed her, the four feet of space she once had now reduced to little more than two feet square. Which didn’t feel like nearly far enough really. Jetta was now well and truly trapped. Only…not quite. The top of the box was still open and, had she felt so inclined, Jetta could still have scrambled out and to safety. That would have been cowardly and admittedly anxious as she was, Jetta was no coward. Cobalt had thought of that though as a fifth panel lowered and clacked into place, completely sealing her in her bright green prison as she was left waiting. \n\nThere was no warning, at least not for Jetta; the sharply wailing siren building that built to a sharp crescendo heard on the broadcast version added post production. One that was perfectly timed with the release of the Gunge. There was no build up either, no slow gush from each circular opening until the tank was filled with roaring gunge. No, it was just filled with gunge in a second. Filled side to side that is, the walls splashed with the gunge that didn’t immediately wrap around Jetta. Caught by and between the six streams of vibrant yellow, Jetta went from clean to dripping goo in a matter of seconds. There was one glorious second as all six streams struck where her face became a mask of shock before that was lost below the rippling gunk. \n\nJetta could hear the rushing of the Gunge around her ears and little else, caught in this cocoon of warm slippery gunk; the obscuring of her vision only heightening this experience. It was like being struck by six fire hoses and it was only because of the pressure from all sides that Jetta somehow kept her balance. \n\nShe had her eyes screwed shut against the surging pressure, feeling it rolling around her ears and muzzle, her shoulders and arms, all the way down her legs. Her head dipped down to let it roll over her jowl and jaw. \n\nSuch was the explosion of colour that it spread out from the point where it struck, pushed forwards and then sideways by the Gunge rushing up behind it. It was driven around her body not by gravity but sheer pressure of the pent up liquid that had nowhere else to go. It managed to get under her clenched fingers and between her curled toes even as she felt it running right along her spine. \n\nShe could feel the pressure of it unceasingly. Thicker and warmer than she imagined, making it almost pleasant. Now that she was over the initial shock it wasn’t that bad. It was an amazing monocolour effect that made it all the more impressive, never seeming to end with nothing to distinguish how it sprayed around her. \n\nIt was an amazing Gunging for anyone, let alone someone who had never imagined being anywhere like this. Even if Jetta had been a prolific regular on any of the classic Gunge shows would she have gotten so messy so quickly. No Gunge tank could have covered her in so much Gunge so rapidly. Only those dunked in a Dunk Tank could have gotten so gunged so fast. \n\nThe box was rapidly becoming a Dunk Tank of sorts, the rising Gunge giving Jetta a second coating she really didn’t need. Her arms were held with fists clenched tight by her sides, part of her knowing that nothing she could have tried to protect herself would have done any good at all. The sheer volume of Gunge would have made such efforts futile. \n\nHad her anxiety built a little higher she might have tried, reaching out to try and block the streams almost on instinct. Yet the way it crept over into tingles of excitement kept them right where they were. And now Jetta was too shocked to do anything else. \n\nThe Gunge wasn’t so much creeping higher but racing, the actual volume of Gunge racing around her now lessened as the first two sprays were lost below the Gunge that had now crested her knees. It hadn’t stopped though and she could still feel them pressed against her in an unseen jet. \n\nIt would only be a matter of seconds before the next two would be lost as well, the Gunge streams against her stomach and back only hastening that moment as they sent more down to join the climbing mass of yellow that sat warm and thick around her legs that were now submerged up to her hips under the goo rising inch by rapid inch. Followed closely by her waist and then her stomach. \n\n\n\n‘Aren’t you done yet?’ That question ran silently through Jetta’s head a second before the two remaining Gunge streams still pressing into her lowered head stopped as suddenly as they started, one last surge tricking from them to ooze down to join the rest of the gunk rippling just below her collar bone. That really was unnecessary. Even if she hadn’t been trapped in this tight box, Jetta would still have been gunged almost more than one person deserved. \n\nNot that she felt hard done by of course. While Jetta couldn’t go so far as to say she deserved this, she had still agreed to it. And she couldn’t deny, as the streams slowed to a gentle gush then trickled to a halt altogether, that it had weirdly been kinda fun. Right from the almost excited tension of the build up to the moment the Gunge had struck, right up to this moment itself. Jetta of course had no choice but to reflect on this moment with nothing to do but stand somewhat awkwardly in her Gunge filled enclosure, the still warm liquid lapping against her fur as she squirmed a little. She hadn’t really had the time to think about this as she was being sprayed and coated left right and centre. But now that she had nothing but time, she couldn’t help the question of how she was going to get out of here.\n\nThat was a question that only Jetta got an answer too, the cameras lingering on a closeup of her soft squirming before the feed cut back to Lena and the others so the game and the show could continue. \n\n\n‘Looks like you got out of there not a moment too soon.’ Lena patted Uma softly on the shoulder. ‘That could have been you squirming in there.’\n\nThat hadn’t been lost on Uma as she squirmed softly on the spot, caught in a sudden rush of emotion that had been building before Lena spoke. Guilt, shame, remorse and a little trickle of almost regret. While she wouldn’t have relished the feeling of all those eyes on her, she couldn’t deny she was a little disappointed to have avoided such an amazing Gunging. Try as she might to not think about it, she couldn’t help trying to imagine how it would have felt. Still, in the grand scheme of things they had barely gotten started, so there could likely be more chances to find out. \n\nOut here basking in the congratulations of her team, Uma was suddenly struck by a sudden thought, a realisation of a sense of camaraderie that hadn’t been there before. Bonni’s standoffish, defensive and selfish air had fully evaporated. That last word almost did Bonni a disservice as Uma knew it was her own nerves that had created those feelings, rather than any actual disregard for them but it was the best she could do at this moment. \n\nLena could ask a teasing question like how do you feel about foam or eggs or mud, something to make a girl giggle nervously at the thought of it. \n\n‘Anyway, we should press on. Who wants to go next? Adam, how about you?’Lena asked with a smile both knowing and mischievous that couldn’t help drawing one from him. \n\n‘Sure. I’m game.’ Barely had he said that than Lena took his paw in hers and with rapid footpads echoing together they raced through the twisting corners and sharp turns with the rest of the now firmly close knit group behind them until Lena brought them to an equally sharp stop. Barely had the others skidded to a halt before she had tapped open the door beside her and ushered not just Adam but the rest of them inside as she brought up the rear. \n\n‘Oh, this is a good one.’ Lena clapped her paws in delight. ‘I think you will like this one, Adam.’\n\n‘I think I might you know.’ Adam broadened his grin. It wasn’t the two circular tanks set side by side that held his interest, though they had certainly caught it since it meant that someone was guaranteed to get gunged here. No his eyes had moved away from the invitingly open chambers towards what he could only describe as an obstacle course. That was really all he could see, the low lighting that surrounded it clearly placed purposely to retain a little air of mystery around it. Or foreboding. Or both. \n\n‘There are two tanks?’ Adam had no idea if Uma was expecting an answer to that question or not. She got one anyway, Cobalt’s voice emerging from the ceiling that loomed above them. \n\n‘Oh yes. I do hate to see good gunge go to waste.’ Cobalt answered cryptically. \n\nHaving no further answers seemingly becoming apparent allowed Bonni to return to her thoughts. She too had noticed the looming tanks, almost waiting for her own feelings of foreboding to return now that she was once again faced with the spectre of a potential gunging, worried that maybe she hadn’t shaken them quite as well as she feared. Almost trying to push for that reaction, testing her new found bravery to destruction, Bonni scrutinised them in a way she would never have dared at the start of this journey, daring to take in all the details of the spacious inner dimensions surrounded by the two inch thick Perspex both tall and wide that likely spoke volumes to the volume of gunge waiting in the tank that topped it. Bonni was no maths genius, the equations to calculate the actual volume beyond her intellect but she would have easily put it at gallons. \n\nAnd yet nothing came from those thoughts, not even the slightest trickle of worry, anxiety or dread could be felt in her mind or body, Bonni feeling none of her earlier instincts to shy away from the very thought of her going anywhere near the tall tank. To say nothing of shying away from the tank itself. Which wasn’t to say Bonni was quite ready to volunteer herself to step into it either. Part of her was tempted in a subtle way, yet she was hesitant to reveal her newfound curiosity. Heaven knows what Cobalt might design for her if she knew she was perhaps starting to enjoy this. \n\nCobalt, as it happened, had begun to realise that some time ago. Of all the furkind currently in her maze, only Lena had any inkling of just how much of this place Cobalt had gone all ‘Big Brother’ on, the myriad of cameras around them not just used to capture footage of the show but also to capture it for her own amusement or purpose. Ever since Bonni had taken her first gunging, Cobalt had paid special attention to her, keen to observe any change in her demeanour. What she almost hadn’t expected was the first sign of an feeling she knew all too well. While this was something she worked very hard to keep to herself, Cobalt had been much like Bonni once. Or at least the woman behind the mask had anyway. Back when she had been a wet behind the ears young woman just starting out on her career in showbiz, she had been offered the role of stooge and victim in a slapstick comedy show that had never made it past a screen test of the pilot, a pilot that Cobalt had recently assured no one would ever see and of which she held the only digital copy. It wouldn’t have done her reputation any good had anyone found out she too had once been scared of the gunge. She could see in Bonni the same emotions she had gone through herself, fear and uncertainty to curiosity to almost enjoyable anticipation. Cobalt settled back into her chair with a smile. Yes, if she really was beginning to enjoy this, she would be sure to have some fun with her. \n\nBonni was unaware of this, still trying to work out if she really did want to be the one to end up in the tank or not. Just because it wasn’t as repellent a thought as it had once been didn’t mean she was queuing up for it. So distracted had Bonni been by those thoughts she had almost forgotten that Adam was slated to play this game, only remembering that when he stepped willingly into the left most tank through the oval opening on the front, absent any door that did nothing to stop him leaving at any time he wanted. Which he wasn’t likely to want to do. Which just left the question of who would be in the other one. That was a question that was left hanging in the air with no answer. \n\nWell, for a few seconds anyway; Adam being the first to get an answer to that question. He had a inkling that the other tank was already occupied, his eyes adjusting to the low light that filled them both. And while it could have been nothing more than a trick of the light, he was sure that he could see movement on the other side of the double Perspex barrier. And he was quickly proved right, the subtle darkness slowly banished as lights rose not just around him but the whole room in general, fully revealing the once shrouded obstacle course. And Adam might have found his eyes drawn to that had they not instead been drawn to the girl that had, it turned out, been seated next to him all along. Adam wasn’t the kind of guy to outright admit he had a type of girl he liked to see gunged, feeling it not exactly gentlemanly to objectify women in that way. Yet it was true that he did, his secret affection for Uma proof of that. Adam should have been very grateful that at at this moment Uma wasn’t looking over at him, since the look on his face might have just made her jealous. For the diminutive bat girl seated next to him was also very much his type of girl, his heart beating a little faster as he watched her squirming nervously. And squirming she was, managing a smile despite the butterflies in her stomach, having felt a little more comfortable sitting in the dark; an understandably more natural surroundings for a bat.\n\nDressed as she was in the now familiar uniform of a Sentinal, admittedly with a few modifications, Adam couldn’t help but notice the absence of the confidence they had displayed in droves before. Then again he hadn’t seen one sitting in a Gunge Tank before, more used to seeing them ready to play a game; a focus that doubtless distracted them from their worries. \n\nNot that Francesca wouldn’t feel more at home out there right now. While not an athlete by trade as some of her companions had turned out to be, Francesca still counted herself as one. And certainly she was as fit as many professional outfits, even if the evidence of that was hidden right now. Both by her deep purple jumpsuit and the thin membranes of her wings draped over her neatly folded arms and like the cloth that surrounded her hid the muscles that lay beneath. The former hiding them a little too well. Somewhat more petit than your average fur kind, even the smallest of the standard jumpsuits was a little loose on Francesca, hiding any details of her strong core and legs beneath the loosely fitting material. \n\nAnd nervous she was. Had anyone asked her at this moment, Francesca wouldn’t have denied feeling nervous, her thoughts drifting to the gunge suspended over her head. Sure she had been reassured that it didn’t feel as bad as it looked, but that was something of a cold comfort right now. Still, on reflection she would rather be in here than out there. Of all the people in this room at the moment, she alone knew that she was a darn sight safer in here than out there. In here, there was only the chance of a gunging. Out there…well…she would prefer not to think about it. \n\n\nNot that she was without protection. As was usual for her species, all of her skin apart from the webbing of her wings was covered in a dense, short black fur that was as waterproof as it was soft to the touch. How it would fair against gunge she had no idea and was a little curious to find out. Which would mean having to suppress her natural instincts if it came to it. Francesca couldn’t exactly blame some of the other girls ducking and trying to cover themselves in the face of a gunging. It wasn’t as if it made much of a difference. For her it would though, fully spread out her wings could deflect even the widest spread of gunge effortlessly. Which wouldn’t really be sporting. Not when the spectacle of her being gunged was part of the draw here. It wouldn’t be fair to spare herself something others couldn’t. \n\n\nLucci herself was busy scrutinising the course she was going to run. Which was the only description that seemed to fit. Lucci had run a number of obstacle courses over the years. As a fitness nut she could never resist a challenge. That being said, most were sturdy things of wood, solid rubber and occasionally metal. None of the ones she had seen before were made of blocks of brightly coloured rubber, like what you might find at a kids soft play area. These were laid out as a maze of twisting paths that crisscrossed around and into each other, no one block the same colour as the others that sat around it. Each block was about a foot and a half wide, creating a thin pathway of a crazy mix of hews as far as the eye could see, an almost distracting kaleidoscopic rainbow. And doing the same for the multitude of paths to the other side that surely was going to be their objective. \n\nFrom what Lucci could see, the whole thing was broken into three sections. Even here, about a good metre from the start Lucci could see that a good third of the way along the course the padded blocks just stopped, leaving a gap of almost two feet between them and the obstacle that lay on the other side which looked like a bridge made of slats of clear plastic connected by some means she couldn’t see from here. It would only need a short hop to cross that gap. \n\nAt each third of the course the path that she followed with her eyes just stopped, leaving a two foot gap before a new one began, the only way over to it necessitating a short hop. No real challenge for her of course, it would be the landing that could be tricky. Not that that would be the only tricky part. Even with the lights fully raised Lucci couldn’t really pick out many more details of the course, seeing only a much wider walkway beyond the first that really didn’t seem like much of an obstacle. Beyond that, and Lucci had to strain to see that far, were what looked like a series of flat platforms each resting atop a single pillar of polished silver metal that rose out of the padded floor below. While they too didn’t seem that challenging, Lucci was sure there would be more than met the eye when she actually got over there. \n\nLike with Adam in his tank, Lucci was getting a sneaking feeling she wouldn’t be running this course alone. The two squares marked out in yellow paint at the two edges of the width of the course were pretty much a giveaway for that thought, surely the starting point for two players. And she was proved right as she was quickly joined by a tall, powerfully built rhino girl, the demure nature of her horn providing the only clue as to her gender. True, she as well was wearing the outfit of a Sentinal in a deep crimson but that didn’t have to mean that she was a she. \n\n‘Hi. I’m Georgia. Better give it your best, cause I’m not gonna go easy on you.’ The Rhinogirl, she had to be a she given the pitch of her voice, said with a pleasantly warm yet challenging smile that served as the perfect introduction.\n\n‘Likewise.’ Lucci said with a smile of her own. \n\n\n‘So…they just have to run across this? Surely that’s too easy. There has to be more to it than this?’ Bonni, unaware of this conversation, voiced the question that the others were thinking, even Adam from his somewhat divorced position in the Gunge tank, leaving it hanging in the air without an answer.\n\n‘Doesn’t look easy to me.’ Uma bit her lip nervously, clearly worried about what other surprises might lay in wait further along the course. ‘I’m sure there will be a twist somewhere.’ Uma agreed even if she sounded like she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to her own interrogative, looking around as cautiously as possible for any hidden, and likely messy, surprises. Not wanting to give Cobalt any reason to try them out on her first. \n\n‘I’m sure you are right.’ Lucci added softly, once again weighing the imagined give of the soft material in her mind, sure that it was designed not to give them an easy run. Certainly not if Adam wasn’t going to be the only one of her team at risk of getting gunged here. Surely Cobalt wouldn’t pass up the chance to gunge another of them. \n\n‘I wouldn’t say easy at all.’ Bonni sounded a little antsy now, maybe wondering how long they could keep this prevaricating discussion going, sure they would have to get on with playing this game sooner or later. Something she wasn’t overly eager to do. Or have any of them do. While that idea had somewhat been tempting before, now that she was over the worst of her fear she had no reason to hide behind anything. Like Lucci she too was sure there was a setup here here somewhere. Or a trap. Uma was right about that, she had no doubt. That was how Cobalt played her little games. \n\nAdam was, although present circumstance held him to keep his thoughts to himself, in perfect agreement over that. Although perhaps he was almost a little more enthused about that idea since it would no doubt be enjoyable to watch. Like Lucci he very much wanted to see what other surprises this course held.\n\n‘Actually it’s quite easy. And Adam will be just fine. Providing the tank next to him contains more Gunge than his does when the game ends. Where are you going to find that Gunge? Simple. Just over there.’ It came as no surprise to anyone that Lena pointed towards the other end of the obstacle course, a tiny hint of a smile crossing her lips. ‘If you make it safely across you are free to grab a bucket, carry it back to the start, dump it into the tank and then go back for another. If at any time you fall off, you will have to go back to the start. So try not to do that. Any questions. No? Then get to your starting marks. Ready? Set? Go.’\n\n\nLucci sure was ready and she showed it, having absolutely no hesitation in the way she stepped onto the edge of the padded path. Despite her earlier fears it proved to be fairly firm, only giving a little under each step. With arms outstretched for balance that her tail didn’t provide in the way people assumed it would, Lucci quickly got into a rhythm as she moved from one tightly twisted corner to another, her frame upright and strong, unconsciously drawing on the upper body strength all her workouts had gifted her.\n\nWith only the slightest wobble here and there, the seemingly unflappable kangaroo girl made her way to the end of first section, a quick hop all it took to carry her to the second. She didn’t have to glance behind her to see that the Sentinal was close on her tail, having crossed the gap a second behind her. \n\nNow closer to the second section, Lucci could see that what she had taken for one continuous walkway was in fact a closely nestled series of blocks made of a much firmer plastic than the shifting ones she had just walked across. Before she could even wonder what challenge this was meant to provide, the blocks began to move before her very eyes, starting with the ones closest to her which raised up maybe a good foot before sinking down to a foot below where they had started, creating an undulating wave that moved across the once static pathway. \n\nNot waiting to see what her opponent would do, or think about it too long, even with the ominous sight of the darkened openings lining this next section of the course, Lucci pressed forward onto the tremulous bridge , forcing herself to ignore the undulating motion underfoot and just keep going regardless. It wasn’t pretty to look at, Lucci being forced to adjust with each step to keep up with the raising and lowering surface. It was like walking up a set of stairs where the next step wasn’t anywhere near where you expected it to be, each step much more tentative than she had hoped or planned. With each step Lucci expected to miss her footing and at the very least stumble down to her knees before being forced to struggle back to her feet and continue onwards.\n\nWhen you plan a game, where you create an obstacle to overcome just put in some mess they might avoid. \n\n\nSomehow Lucci did manage to keep her footing, although there were more than a few close calls along the way. Unseen by her, the rippling undulating motion moved in a wave along the shifting pathway. And a few times Lucci moved past the crest of that wave, feeling a moment of sudden shock that the ground wasn’t where she thought it was. Like when you are walking down some stairs and you accidentally skip a step, momentarily surprised as your foot doesn’t meet the solid surface it expected to feel. The icy jolt of adrenaline that came with that might have unsettled Lucci had she not already been running a low level of that feeling anyway. She recovered well, quickly regaining both her composure and balance. Lucci felt more than a little like a puppet on a string, each step feeling jerky and uncoordinated, almost like being drunk without the warm fuzzy glow to go with it as she struggled along with the rolling rhythm of the wave that she was glad was all she had to contend with. \n\nIn fact Lucci was almost disappointed here. She had been sure that Cobalt, likely not content with just the promise of the gunging at the end, would have seized the chance to put some messy obstacles in their way along with just physical ones. After all, wasn’t that what everyone was here for? Lucci had been concerned something would have happened here and that lack of something only made her wonder what else waited for them. \n\nIt didn’t make her wonder enough to stop her approaching the last section of the course with a slight lead over her opponent, who was trailing a few steps behind her thanks to her own struggles with the unsettling movements below her. \n\n\n Pausing here Lucci made sure she was ready before turning to the final section. Gone were the tight paths of padded blocks. In their place stood a collection of platforms made not of the same blocks but narrow frames of squared metal filled with a much thinner layer of the padded matting, the surface of which Lucci couldn’t help noticing sported raised ridges running at a diagonal angle. Each vertical surface was 3 feet square and placed in a haphazard pattern, dotted around the space that held the nine almost as if placed at random. \n\nNot thinking about that, Lucci leapt onto the first, landing with slightly bent legs. This time the mat yielded a little more but not enough to throw her off, the raised ridges below her paws not slick and smooth but dotted with course grain like texture that gave her a good deal of grip. Trying not to think about why she might need that Lucci was quickly moving again, her feet padding deep she sprinted to the edge and leapt, her legs carrying her to the platform to her right.\n\nHere she noticed, somewhat distractedly, that the Sentinal was a little behind her; perhaps instinctively having taken the same path. Almost neck and neck they landed in almost a mirrored crouch, raising up to continue onward with barely a second between them. \n\nUma’s phrase about being too easy came back to her, an instant before she was proved right. She wasn’t sure what tipped her off but she was already moving before the platform began to tip sideways, the hidden mechanism beneath smoothly ratcheting the left hand side upwards towards the ceiling. This must have come as a surprise to her opponent too since she stayed almost level with her as they ran. Had she known she likely wouldn’t have waited. A short jump, three more rapid steps and another jump was all it took to carry them both to the other side and thankfully solid ground, where they exchanged a brief moment of shared surprise and relief before they each grabbed their first bucket. \n\nAs she darted her way over the small pillar platforms that lead back to the start, Lucci pondered on that. Her surprise had looked genuine and could have been. Cobalt did seem to delight in sending in both Players and Sentinals alike without knowing what they would be facing. On the other hand she could simply be a good actress and secretly know all the tricks Lucci had yet to discover. An advantage she might put to good use later, since that surely wouldn’t be the last. \n\nEven with the heavy bucket gripped in both paws and threatening to spill gunge all over her front, Lucci made good time, quickly racing up the curved stairway to dump the bucket into the other Sentinal’s tank just a second behind her opponent who had made slightly better time on her return. Still there wasn’t much in it as they returned for their second run. \n\n\nLucci had made up most of that time as she sprang back onto the narrow pathway, her experience the first time around helping her to find her balance that little bit quicker. Speaking of quicker, that confidence helped her feel she could risk a little more speed, her steps a little less tentative now that she had her balance. That experience helped her eat into the lead the Sentinal had gained so that they were neck and neck as they leapt across to the second section. \n\n\nDrawing upon that thrill and now ready for what she should expect here, Lucci paused for a second, watching the rolling wave of motion and waiting for her moment. As that wave rose up in front of her, Lucci moved forward to meet it, her right footpad planted firmly on the raised block right before her. Her timing was a little off, and rather than riding the crest of the wave as she had hoped, Lucci found herself trailing a split second behind it. Still that proved to be something of a bonus too, the rhythm of the blocks underfoot less a constant shift from high to low and back again but rather a constant rise before her, almost like walking up an escalator. Almost. While it still wasn’t the most natural movement in the world, Lucci found she could cope with it a little better. \n\nWith only a few wobbles as opposed to more than a few near falls and stumbles, Lucci sought to complete her second run in a hasty headlong sprint. With all her focus on her next step, the next placement of her foot, Lucci was now only three steps from the edge of the rolling path. That was when she felt rather than saw something whistle across her path with a whoosh that tugged at the ends of her hair. Instinct took over and Lucci faltered misstep. The damage was done, not just from that step but from the pause as well. Had Lucci not stopped she might have dodged away from the second unseen projectile launched by the trap she had long expected to be revealed. The fact was that she did stop and it was in that moment of hesitation that something struck her shoulder, the sudden yielding impact knocking her sideways by a single step. Just a small step but that was enough to send her to the edge of the pathway she had been skirting the middle of, her right foot slipping off the edge, gravity and momentum pulling the rest of her after it. Almost in desperation Lucci twisted around, instinct hoping to find something to grab onto. But there was nothing and so, with arms outstretched, she plunged towards the soft matting below. \n\n\nBy some sheer luck this worked, Lucci racing across on the very crest of the wave and the nearly level surface that presented. Something hidden from the audience at home, the cameras suddenly focused on a closeup of her torso. There was no point in giving future contestants clues to help them \n\nDrawing upon that thrill, Lucci let it lend power to her legs that she used to race along the bridge heedless of what trap could await her. For Lucci was now convinced that there had to be one. And a second later she was proved right as something whizzed across her path just inches from her muzzle. Something that was more dumb luck than instinct or reflexes. \n\nIt was instinct that brought her up short though, a moments hesitation that allowed the Sentinal extend the lead she had already gained. Not waiting to give her any more advantage, Lucci raced to catch up. For a second Lucci thought she might, her strides carrying her forward purposefully before she felt something strike into her shoulder. She had no way of knowing what it was, the yellow sphere of soft foam having bounced away from her and under the bridge before she could catch a glimpse of it. Yet she couldn’t deny its effect, while not solid enough to hurt it did have enough mass to send her staggering sideways for one, two, three steps before one foot slipped off the edge of the bridge. That was too much and down she went, her centre of balance pushed too far to the right for her to stop her inevitable fall to the mat below. Before the thump that was missed by the microphones had faded Lucci was back on her feet and had scrambled out of the padded put to return to the start.\n\nWhat had happened she still didn’t know, just like she had no way of knowing about the technical glitch backstage that had given her and the Sentinal a free fun. Something that might have bothered Cobalt if she hadn’t known it would be made up for later. \n\n\nSeeing no point in wasting time cursing or complaining, Lucci once again stepped onto the padded walkway. Her confident speed carrying her safely across to face the whizzing balls again, seeing that in the time she had lost her opponent had only just cleared this section of the course. With a little time to make up Lucci readied herself, took a deep breath and just ran, not caring a one, two, three splattered against her, adding to the foam clinging to her clothing. Seizing her moment she darted past the final opening and leapt over to face the 9 platforms that all were tipping slowly from right to left, like the spheres each moving in its own time. \n\nIt was this sight that made the her rhino rival freeze here, those few seconds of hesitation as she took it in allowing Lucci to catch up with her. Seeing this made her snap out of her reverie and she made her first leap a second before her, perhaps before she strictly should have. \n\nWhile the angle of the tilted platform wasn’t enough to send her tumbling from it, she did lose a couple of seconds fighting to keep her balance. While Lucci on the other hand leapt onto her platform just before it levelled out, allowing her to cross to the second almost instantly. Her footing here was less stable but she did her best not to pause or hesitate, risking a few steps forward even as it tipped, launching herself clear to the third which had just reached the limit of its left most tipping point. Landing in a hasty crouch, Lucci pressed hands, feet and tail down into the slanted surface with all her might, holding that until she felt it level out. Then she moved again to jump to the end of the course and solid ground once again. It was only then that Lucci risked a glance backwards at her pursuer. \n\nWhile Lucci had somehow pulled out a little bit of a lead, it was a scant lead that had the Sentinal nipping at her heels all the way until she snagged her second bucket. And one that she just about held as she carried it safely all the way to the start and up into the waiting tank, this time hearing the thick splatter of Gunge hitting Gunge rather than solid plastic. She wished she could take a moment to check, and appreciate, how much Gunge was in there but she knew she had to press on. \n\nTossing that bucket away and leaving it and the fading clatter behind her, Lucci turned to face the course again with a short burst of speed that brought her to the start again quickly, this time not stopping but just hopping onto the narrow path and continuing on without missing a step. Lucci’s arms titled this way and that, her left dipping before her right followed suit, working almost instinctively to keep her balance. Her time this time was a little slower than her last, Lucci preferring to take a few more seconds to be careful than lose the greater amount she would do if she fell off. \n\nPad after soft light pad carried her to the first break in the course she skipped over without really thinking about, her landing light but solid at the same time. Not even needing to raise herself up, Lucci pushed on towards the crisscrossing spheres. Her technique here was a little more haphazard, more a method of stops and starts as she darted between each one only to wait again before slipping past the next. It was a case of two or three hurried steps before a brief pause followed by another of the same. Once she thought she felt something brush past her back, a little thrill of adrenaline filling her as she realised how close she had come to getting hit again. She didn’t let that stop her as she conquered the final sphere fearlessly. \n\nShe heard a shriek behind her and on instinct she turned, seeing that the Sentinal was nowhere to be seen. Figuring she must have been caught by the balls as she had earlier, Lucci didn’t even wait to see her scramble out of the pit as she made to finish the course again. \n\nTaking a moment to get her timing, Lucci threw herself onto the first platform as it began to tip down on its right hand side. That tip didn’t matter as she was off it again in a matter of seconds. She skipped from platform to platform unchallenged and quickly landed on the other side more down to luck than skill or technique. Still she would take it. Just as she took her third bucket and danced her way back over the pillars without so much as a drop spilt. \n\nIt hadn’t escaped her notice this could be enough to put her in the lead if she was successful in her next crossing, a thought that buoyed her up as she jogged over to attempt it. That confidence was clear in her steps as she leapt out to give chase to the Sentinal who was already close to halfway along, her recent fall having done nothing to dampen her drive. Lucci supposed you didn’t get to be a Sentinal without something of a fierce competitive mindset. \n\nLucci was technically in the lead here, on her way to collect her fourth bucket while the Sentinal had yet to collect her third. It suddenly struck Lucci, as she again leapt onto the start of the course, that here they were in a room filled with Gunge and none of them had gotten got so much as a drop on them yet. even a little messy yet. Surely Cobalt wasn’t going to let them finish this game only with a little coating of foam to show for it\n\nWith that thought still running through her head, Lucci made her way to the middle of the course without so much as a wobble, and with cautious confidence urging her on Lucci padded her way towards them, prepared to sprint through the first opening she saw. More concerned about falling off than getting hit, Lucci powered onward. And if worked, her boldness allowing her to avoid all but one of the balls, that bounced away into the pit leaving a fresh smear of white on her stomach. \n\nCobalt for her part wasn’t disappointed by that at all, one foible of the mechanism of this carefully concealed surprise was that it took a little while for the mechanism that delivered the foam to get itself warmed up. And while a smear of foam was the best it could do for now, that wasn’t going to be the case for long. \n\n\nNot bothering to wipe off the foam clinging to her shoulder, back or thigh, Lucci leapt onto the first platform. And right into the path of a jet of Gunge that gushed from the side of the room, sending a splash over her left side. It wasn’t powerful enough to push her around, just enough to soak her from her shoulders down to the hips. So that wasn’t the only trap in this room. \n\nNow Lucci understood the reason for the studded bumps and ridges on the otherwise level surfaces of the platforms. Already the surface below her feet was treacherously slippery and without them she would have already likely slipped off. Which was still a risk as the platform began to tip. \n\nNot wanting to linger and get sprayed again, which surely was going to happen anyway, Lucci pressed onward, her feet slipping a little on the slick surface before she got traction. Even hampered as she was, Lucci was able to launch herself to the next platform just as another spray lanced through here she had been. \n\nSure that such luck wouldn’t hold, Lucci bounded to the next closest platform, picking her moment for the second it levelled out, not wanting to stand on it a moment longer than she needed too. Even though she started to run as soon as she landed, she wasn’t quick enough to escape the red Gunge dropped sharply onto the middle of the platform. Drenched in the glistening crimson gunk that made her shriek in surprise more than shock, Lucci powered to the other side before anything else could happen to her, snagging her fourth bucket in slippery paws before returning to face the sprint over the squat platforms. \n\nFor a brief moment Lucci felt the odd sensation of feeling nervous. Not about the gunge of course, she reckoned it would take a lot to make her feel that given what she had experienced so far. No, it was more that part of Lucci worried she would already find those dripping and slippery with Gunge as well, yet for the moment they seemed to be the only part of the that was for the moment still safe. For the rest of it had become an utterly random storm of Gunge, with thin streams and jets flying everywhere, crisscrossing over the length and width of the course with no clear pattern to any of them. \n\nNot that Lucci had the time to figure that out. Certain of only that she was still in the lead, Lucci moved to try and keep that lead since her opponent had now secured her third bucket, catching more than a few sprays and splashes of Gunge along the way. Lucci had been lucky enough to avoid getting more than a light coating on her last run but there was no way she was making it across without getting utterly gunged this time. \n\nFor someone who had expected to get splashed within seconds, Lucci was actually amazed that she tiptoed her way along the whole of the narrow section without catching so much as a drop of the Gunge being flung around her. Which was just down to luck more than anything else, the random nature of the sprays working in her favour this time. She did have one close call, narrowly dodging a thin stream of yellow that burst out behind her just a second too late to even come close to catching her. That luck wasn’t going to last though and she knew it. \n\nSeeing what lay before her Lucci felt a smile tug at her lips. As if the almost leisurely sequence of the white foamed balls wasn’t enough to contend with, now the whole of the shifting pathway being crisscrossed by a virtual storm of them that was impossible to follow. \n\nKnowing there was no way she was getting through this clean, so she didn’t even try. Not even bothering to try to avoid them, Lucci focused solely on keeping her footing. Which she did, only taking a couple of strikes from the foam laden sponges that still flung cream over her hair as much as around her body. Those hits were just pure luck but they left her as messy as if they had been aimed. And this was just the start. \n\nOnly once was Lucci again forced to halt, instinct taking over as she noticed another of the foam dripping projectiles launched her way, one more sponge narrowly missing her legs before she could move on, another whisked past where her head had been a second ago. She risked a dash through a third and the forth, catching one more right across her chest as she twisted her body around the last sphere. If she had been wearing her swimsuit that would have looked great on a slow motion replay. Wondering where she found the time for these thoughts and putting it to one side for later, Lucci continued her advance towards the end of the course. \n\nThis next section hadn’t been spared by the continued sharp sprays of gunge either, given how slick and slippery the platforms that lay ahead of her now were. Anyone would have forgiven Lucci for taking things a little more slowly here. But with time ticking down and her lead somewhat tenuous there was no time for slowly. All her attention purely on the way forward, her opponent lay forgotten as Lucci leapt from the solid ground to the first of the shifting platforms, her feet planted firmly to let her dash forwards immediately, carrying her off it with another leap as soon as she felt the downward tilt the other way. \n\nPoised in midair Lucci heard the sudden rush from above as that leap carried her right into the middle of the sharp drop from above, the splash of Gunge flung over her before her feet even landed on the solid platform. Head dipped and relying on memory Lucci burst out of the other side, dripping vibrant pink, grinning and straight for the last platform that lay between her and her goal. Her feet skidded a little but not as much as the Sentinal who landed in the puddle she had left behind, swept off her feet to land on her butt with a shriek of surprise. Luckily the padded matt both cushioned the blow and stopped her from sliding into the pool of Gunge below which Lucci wouldn’t have minded seeing for a number of reasons. \n\nLucci managed to keep her feet and crossed to the edge, shaking her paws clean of what Gunge she could before grabbing the bucket tightly. With all she had gone through she wasn’t going to drop it here. Her caution served her well as she made it back to the start in good time, racing up the steps to dump her bucket with the full aim of going to grab another one. \n\nFeeling seconds ticking down, Lucci put everything she had into this last dash, spurred on both by the seconds ticking down and by the Sentinel hot on her heels. Not wanting to waste this time and now seemingly heedless of the gunge being flung all around them, they dashed across the twisting maze almost neck and neck, first Lucci gaining the lead then the Sentinal pulling out in front only for Lucci to squeak it back again. \n\nThere was little more than a second in it as both girls leapt over to the rising path, fully ready to attack that, the rapidly whizzing sponges that still cross crossed it in the utterly random pattern they had come to expect. They had barely gotten two steps before the shrill siren that had signalled the start of the game rang out again to fill the whole room with its reverberating call.\n\nLucci was the first to come to a halt, pathway expected this to happen; the Sentinal following her lead barely a foot ahead of her on the bridge. What neither of them had expected was one last load of gunge sharply dropped with no warning from above them, the widely spread glistening green slime adding unnecessarily to what they were already dripping with. Unnecessary perhaps but it did look amazing. This was no slow draining column but a sharp drop that exploded all around them thickly and smoothly. Like someone had just upended a huge bucket with no care who lay beneath. As much splashed onto the narrow pathway around them, twice as much ended up dumped over the two shocked ladies who had no time to do anything but take it. \n\nNot that they had time to do anything else. By the time they realised what had happened, it was already over, this one last parting shot from Cobalt having done its job in a second. It might not have been something of her design of course but to Lucci the coincidence of the timing was too perfect for it to have not been. It could have been a coincidence of course but Lucci wouldn’t have put money on it. Certainly not given the scandalised look on the face of the Sentinal. \n\n\nShaking her head both to herself and in agreement with her, Lucci made to pad back with slippery steps towards the start of the course, then paused as a sudden idea popped into her head with a grin. This time the Sentinal was ahead of her, showing none of the same moments thought as she just jumped down into the gunge filled moat around the bridge. Figuring she might as well take advantage of every moment to enjoy the gunge while she was here Lucci followed right behind her, plunging into the swirled coloured mix up to her shoulders before beginning a slow wade back to the start where she scrambled up onto dry land with the help of an offered paw from the Sentinal who was as dripping in gunge as much as she was and seemingly as delighted about it. \n\n‘Well…looks like you both got it pretty good.’ Lena couldn’t or didn’t quite hide the smirk on her face. ‘But did you get as good as you got. Let’s see shall we.’\n\nIt wasn’t a question. Still Lucci was very keen to hear the answer to it anyway. So was Adam from what she could see. For him it was likely to be a win/win scenario. No matter if it was him or the Sentinal that got gunged, he was likely to enjoy the experience. The Sentinal herself maybe not so much given the way she sat a little stiffly in the tank while Adam seemed perfectly relaxed. Lucci had no way of knowing if she had sat like that since the start of the game or not. \n\nAll eyes now turned to the obscured tanks, it was hard to tell who was more eager to see the result. Uma seemed to be trying to clamp down on her excitement but couldn’t hide all of it. Lucci guessed why she was excited. Lucci wouldn’t mind seeing Adam gunged but more did she want payback. \n\nWith a soft clinking as the slack was taken up on the chain, the circular cover on the Adam’s tank began to raise, drawing a start from her almost as if she took this as some kind of omen, straining to get a glimpse at the gauge she couldn’t have possibly been able to see. Not that anyone else could see it either yet, which didn’t stop them all watching keenly. She waits with baited breath to hear the result, her tension rising and falling. \n\n‘Georgia, you managed to collect 15 litres of gunge. Not a bad effort. Lucci you managed to collect…’ Lena paused with her fingertip pressed to the speaker in her ear, either really waiting to hear the tally or just doing so for dramatic effect. ‘…20 litres.’maybe they count this out slowly. Or they count the buckets. Or reveal the tank above with a slow mechanism. Draw out the tension.\n\nHah. Yes. Lucci closed her fist sharply, that reaction fully instinctive rather than an affectation of triumph. She wasn’t one to gloat or openly seek praise for herself but she was proud of the points she had earned for her team. Which wasn’t to say she wasn’t going to watch what was going to happen next. \n\nAll eyes in the room were now on the Sentinal who squirmed both from the sudden attention and her own thoughts about what was going to happen. It hadn’t seemed so bad when it was only a possibility, but now it wasn’t she couldn’t deny she didn’t feel quite so relaxed. And it showed. \n\nShe squeaked in shock, her mouth wide and her body tensed. She was perfectly still beneath the gunge, it being the only movement that could be seen as it gushed forth and over her. Over and around, slipping wherever it could go. It 2as only seen coating her front but it did the same to her back. It was warm through her clothing.\n\nShe might count the moment in heartbeats, waiting for the shrill cry warning that her time had come. There was no such warning. One second she was dry and clean. The next she wasn’t. Gunge first trickled then rolled over her head, warm, slippery and yet gooey too. Almost unbidden she dipped her head, something that did nothing to help her at all. As bright blue as it was thick the sharp drop exploded out from between her ears, settling to begin to flow a couple of seconds later. Her extended and tense pose meant she wasn’t protected at all and fully exposed. Sitting bolt upright there was nothing to stop the gunge as she took it full on, in a bubbling roll that slipped over her shoulders and along her neck. In smooth rippling layers it came down, bubbling up over itself almost eagerly. Barely had one crested over her ears than another rose over it, almost riding on the last as if keen to get her coated as quickly as possible. \n\nShe shivered and squirmed, not sure what to do with what she was feeling. Or what to do at all. The closeness of the tank just made it worse. There wasn’t anything she could do anyway. Sat bolt upright under the tumbling litres of gunge that had already gone on much longer than she had expected. She had no idea 20 litres could be so much. Her outfit was already glistening as blue as much as the little fur she showed. She was grateful to gave something between her and the gunge. She counted the time in the soft waves she could feel, sending more gunge down and over her body. Even those she lost count of fairly soon but still felt them. She tried to relax a little but she couldn’t ignore the shock of the damp if admittedly still warm gunge. It might have been more of a shock if it had been cold. \n\nLayered beneath the gunge that left her glistening and dripping with the bright blue there was no way she could have resisted. It piled upon her thickly to drip down her legs and over her hips, all the excess drawn downwards towards her feet. The tank had barely been filled a couple of inches around her toes yet she was dripping goo from everywhere. No wonder people screamed. It felt so much more bizarre than she had expected. She hadn’t moved from when the tank opened to when it emptied. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. She allowed herself shudder. \n\nIt did nothing to shake the gunge loose. One minute she was dry the next she was being slathered. Her head took the brunt of it, already feeling like more than she expected. It was so sudden she had no idea how to react. The visual was classic, the tank flooded in an instant release that went all over her. And everywhere. Right from the middle of her head it was pushed outwards and downwards, that being the only way it could go. And she was frozen right in the middle of it. There was nothing she could have done, her outfit was like her hair dripping blue gunge down onto the floor below her. She had gone from shocked to relieved to resigned in one second, shaking her head in mock disbelief as she playfully flicked gunge from her fingers just before the light faded from her tank, letting her leave unnoticed to get cleaned up. Not that anyone was watching her, the cameras turned back to Adam and his team who were celebrating triumphantly.\n\n\n‘Seems you were quite generous to them there. Going soft on us maybe.’ Lena teased. ‘\n\n‘Just keeping you on your toes.’ Cobalt retorted with a perfectly straight face that belied the small in those words. ‘Don’t get too cocky. Things won’t get any easier from here out.’\n\n———————————————", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "‘Well..we are doing well here.’ Lena said with a clap of her paws. ‘So…who wants to go next. Uma, feel like taking a shot at another one?’

‘I guess.’ Uma squirmed a little with slight trepidation, taking a nervous glance again at the walls that surrounded her. While she was growing in confidence, she couldn’t deny that the incredibly realistic set was making her a little antsy. Almost as antsy as the thought of the game she was being volunteered for. Still..if Lena was choosing it for her, it couldn’t be so bad. Right?

‘Atta girl.’ Lena said as if that decided it, dashing across to the other side of the corridor before Uma could continue, sweeping her arm towardsi the door that whisked open. Tempted to back out yet determined not to, Uma stepped inside, finding herself face to face with a cube of black metal squares riveted together, a structure that filled pretty much all of the expansive room. Seeing the door that sat open as if waiting for her, Uma took a deep breath before stepping inside, not surprised when the door closed behind her, leaving her face to face with..well..not the gunge tank she had expected. The inside was…bizarre, made of what felt like a spongy black rubber that bounced with each step she took. The walls looked like the same stuff, only they had smooth holes cut into it that Uma tried not to focus on, sure that they were housing some mechanism to douse her in something vile. Not that she could escape now anyway with the door having clanked shut.


‘Oh…hi.’ Uma said as she suddenly noticed the Sentinal waiting inside, her shyness rearing its head a little as she realised she wasn’t alone. Her outfit was the same as the others they had met, but rather than the imposing, stern figure she had been expecting, she instead found a girl maybe a few years her senior, one who looked as nervous as she did. Although uncertain might have been a better word. Uma would have forgiven her for anxiously seeking the hiding place of the devices that surely awaited to unleash crazy amounts of Gunge over them both. Instead she merely seemed hesitant, like no one had told her what she was supposed to do here. Well..that made two of them. That being so, Uma decided to offer an olive branch of sorts. ‘Soo…do we get started?’

‘I was hoping you weren’t going to ask me that.’ The Sentinal ran a hand through her hair slowly, her uncertainty clear in her voice. ‘I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here.’

‘They sent you in here blind?’ Uma asked, not knowing how she had hit upon the truth of the matter. While this conversation between the two of them was being recorded, it would largely end up on B Roll, the broadcast section of the show focusing on Lena and the rest of the team as she, mostly for the benefit/enjoyment of the audience at home explained what awaited them in this game.

‘I guess they did. I’m Jetta by the way.’

‘Uma.’ Uma replied as she took a couple of steps closer to Jetta, seeing something of a kindred spirit in her despite the fact that they would soon be competing. At least she assumed they would. ‘So…I guess we just stand here until they tell us exactly what we have to do.’

‘You mean until they tell us exactly how much gunk we are going to get covered with.’ Jetta laughed with genuine mirth, even if that was still tinged with a little anxiety. ‘A lot I’m thinking. Otherwise they would have told us what to expect.’

‘I think you might be right.’ Uma smiled back, relieved to find that Jetta was nowhere near as intimidating as she had believed at first sight, her impressive physique belying her sweet, almost bashful nature. ‘I almost wish they wouldn’t keep us waiting and just get on with it.’

‘I won’t argue with that.’ Jetta nodded. ‘Then again, maybe we should be careful what we wish for.’

‘Maybe you should.’ Cobalt’s voice cut across the silence that followed, her presence a sure sign that the cameras had just this second cut back to focusing on the inside of this strange room. ‘Still, this game shouldn’t prove too challenging for you. Hidden around this room are 18 tiles, each marked with one of three different military rank insignia; Private. Corporal, Sergeant. Of each there are three. The one to find all nine in her team colours unlock the door and escape this room. And trust me, you don’t want to be in here when time runs out. Good luck, you will need it.

Spurred on by that statement that once would have sounded more ominous than it now came across, Uma threw herself into the search. Not that she thought in any way that she was in less risk of getting utterly gunged at the end, more than Uma had begun to grow used to Cobalt’s staged evil demeanour. Not having inkling that one could be any better than another, Uma settled for pragmatism as she dashed over to the closest hole and without even a second thought or moment of hesitation, plunged her arm through the black rubber sheet that covered the entrance, passing through the neatly crossed slits that perfectly obscured what lay beyond without impeding her progress. Had she stopped to think, Uma might have wondered if something beyond the disks they sought lay behind it. But she didn’t, and by the time she had, she was almost shoulder deep into the thankfully empty space, her paw feeling around over the ribbed rubber surface without any real plan beyond doing so until she felt something. Her fingers sank a little into the soft surface as they searched and brushed almost haphazardly over more of the smooth rubber until one of them brushed something different. Just as smooth but noticeably firmer. Solid even. Solid enough for her to grasp, hold and pull back towards her through the rubber curtain without even the slightest resistance.

Not believing her luck, and feeling the sudden intense stare Jetta cast her way, Uma raced to place the first disc onto her board. Only when she slapped it up did she Private Insignia on it, noticing that in a distracted way as she was still disconcerted by Jetta’s stare, either affronted or jealous or simply nervous that Uma had been the first one to gain a lead. Of course someone had too and Uma had to work hard to not be distracted by the squirm of guilt that it had been her. She didn’t want Jetta to get gunged of course, but it wouldn’t be right to throw the game just so she wouldn’t.

Debating for a second if she should check the hole she had just dashed away from, Uma decided against it, heading for the next one around to the right instead. This time Uma couldn’t help being distracted by the worry she hadn’t last time around, her arm tensed up as if expecting to feel something slimy on the other side. It was a fear that came to nothing, the raised fur that ran all the way along to her neck encountering nothing but air. And her fingers feeling nothing but the yielding rubber. At first anyway. Just when she was convinced she had made the wrong choice, after ten seconds of blindly feeling and searching her fingers brushed against the smooth edge of the solid disc she had sought. That brush turned to a firm and her hand emerged with her second tight between her fingers. It had taken her only a few seconds to retrieve it and only twice that to hurriedly add it up below the first, the Private Insignia now joined by a lone Corporal.

It hasn’t slipped past Uma, or Jetta, that she had doubled her lead. And perhaps saved herself from the extravagantly messy she had equally possibly consigned the unaware Jetta too who now looked positively scandalised. Or genuine nervous. Or both. Uma didn’t know. Just like she didn’t know none of that was directed at her. And she certainly didn’t blame Uma. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was some kind of a setup. Cobalt she didn’t like to loose. But that was just a persona of course. Maybe someone somewhere had decided that a freshly gunged moth girl was just the kind of eye Candy the show needed about now. Jetta had no proof of that but neither could she shake the thought.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Jetta moved onto the next closest hole which parted for her as easily as it had for Uma. And quickly too now that her earlier misgivings had been banished. Also unknown to Uma Jetta too had worried if something slippery waited inside the equally spaced openings, the Kitten having missed her slight shudder before she dived in herself. It was just the next one along, there was little more thought to it than that. For all its properties of a wild guess, it paid off. Jetta didn’t even have to search, her fingers almost immediately bumping into the disc shape Uma was intimately familiar with. Seizing both it and the moment, Jetta made her first race to her board that was now reassuringly less empty now that it was fixed with her first symbol, a Sergeants Insignia to counter those found by Uma.

That success having mollified her doubts, albeit only a little, Jetta threw herself back into the search with the same enthusiasm as Uma who too was going about it doggedly. Well..Kittenly maybe. Shy and timid as Uma could be, she couldn’t deny moments when she got caught up in her own biology. Cats are natural hunters after all, even these days that primal urge still deep in them all. And Uma couldn’t deny moments in her life when she had felt an equally primal thrill during games of hide and seek and such.

It had comes as something of a surprise that Uma was actually enjoying this game. Maybe because it didn’t, unlike some of her earlier games, required any actual skill to succeed at it. If this had been the first game she had played, she might not have been so nervous. And didn’t that seem like a long time ago now.

Uma wasn’t deterred when her next choice of hole to search yielded nothing. She had been under no illusions that she would make a clean sweep of the whole thing. She had been amazed that she had gotten as lucky as she had really. Not lingering on what could have been, Uma moved on, scrambling over to the next hole on the slightly springy floor. There really had been no point in standing up since this was was almost flush with the floor and Uma quickly adopted the same position.

It was hardly have been called the most comfortable position, with her arm outstretched and her neck slightly cricked to the side, yet it wasn’t one she had to hold for long. Yes, she had to really stretch her arm to almost it’s limit, her cheek almost pressed against the padded wall as she searched further and further into the hole; her fingers almost reaching the back wall she wasn’t sure was there at all until she again felt the familiar solid plastic beneath her fingers. Fingers that quickly pulled it off the back wall it was held securely to by a strip of Velcro given the shrrrppp she heard as she pulled it free. Had her arm been a few inches shorter she might have had to resort to almost crawling inside to reach it. Which she was very glad she hadn’t. She wasn’t sure she would have lived it down if she had gotten stuck. Luckily she didn’t have too and she had the spoils to show for it in the form of her second Corporal’s Insignia.

A quick glance at Jetta’s board showed that while she had been busy, Jetta had caught up a little, to the point where she was now only trailing by one after finding a second disc with a Sergeant's Rank on it. Something that had been a struggle for Jetta as well, given how she had had to strain up on the very tip of her toes to reach into the hole she had chosen to search. Knowing it would be a struggle, she had decided to get it over with.

It was just a quick glance but it showed her all she needed to know before she returned to her search, determined to hang onto her lead despite knowing there was little she could do to guarantee that. If she lost because of luck she could deal with that, even if she didn’t like the idea of her loss being quite so public. For a second Uma felt the awareness of the cameras being on her, a thought that caught her by surprise and disconcerted her for a second, much more so than the same thought about those of Cobalt and the rest of her team. Just for a second though, Uma finding that she was actually getting used to it. Mollified by that thought, and her successes so far, Uma pressed on.

Uma was under no illusions that luck had been on her side so far and at the back of her mind was that such luck couldn’t last forever. And barely a second later, Uma proved herself right despite the confidence with which she squirmed her arm into the next hole, this one much tighter than the others; the swelled rubber pressed tight into fur and flesh alike. Like slipping into a really tight pair of skinny jeans, Uma had to really work for it, applying all her strength and weight to force her fingers down to its limit only to come away with nothing to show for it but a little exertion.

Breathing a little more heavily, Uma dragged her arm free with thankfully less effort than it had needed to force it inside, hoping the next one would be easier. And it was. Despite the time she had lost, Uma was still in the lead with Jetta thankfully not being able to capitalise and catch up. Keen to extend that lead, even knowing that meant she was dooming Jetta to some messy misfortune, Uma again slipped her arm deep into one of the myriad openings in the flexible wall. This time her entrance proved much easier, her arm slipping easily to the back where she found…nothing at all. Once again soft rubber was all she felt under her fingertips. Uma could have written that off as another unlucky choice and simply moved on. Instead she stuck with it, her fingers moving to the sides of the hole. The left yielded nothing but more soft rubber. The right however was more forthcoming. Uma felt her heart leap, her palm gliding over the familiar smooth disc that she grabbed quickly before her excitement could overwhelm her. While it was a slim one, there was still a chance that this could be the third Corporal Insignia that would be her ticket to victory.

It wasn’t of course. In other games that could have been a set up. And there were, unknown even to Lena, games waiting ahead of them designed in such a way that Cobalt could have them rigged so the game could continue if she wanted it to. This wasn’t one of them and it was pure chance that Uma came away with not the Insignia she sought but another Private instead. Still, this gave her a greater chance of finding the one she needed to complete a set and walk away with the win.

That sharp leap of excitement having built to a less than subtle rush of energy through her body that Uma felt in tingles all the way down to her fingers, the now anxious Kitten fought not to be distracted by the urge to glance at Jetta every two seconds, worried that at any moment she would see her draw level with her scant lead. It was a real struggle for her to focus purely on her search, her fingers shaking as they scrabbled around inside the hole Uma had dashed towards. Each second she found nothing felt like a minute, a minute she didn’t have to loose.

Uma cried out in triumph. It could have been premature of course. Ye5 her excitement ran away with her for a second. It turned out to be justified. Uma was so thrilled to have won she didn’t even hesitate. It was only once she had slipped from the room that she realised what this meant. In her excitement she didn’t realise what she had left Jetta behind to face. She mouthed sorry to her just before the door closed.

Jetta rose up with a theatrical sigh, trying to look like she was prepared for this. How could she be prepared for something where she didn’t know what was going to happen. Her heart was pounding, her paws clammy. Yet a little tingle of warmth was in her stomach. She wasn’t exactly afraid. She had seen the Gunge already and it honestly didn’t look that bad. While no one watching could have describe Jetta as looking nervous or anxious, she was in fact swinging from that emotion to a rush of almost excitement and then back again, creating the adorable almost anticipatory smile on her face, like she was excited for something without really knowing why. Her included. She’d seen the Gunge before and while it didn’t look as bad as she had feared, she wasn’t exactly excited for it. Or shouldn’t have been. It’s like waiting for a surprise you hope you are going to like but aren’t sure what it is. And all that nervous energy had to go somewhere, leaving Jetta squirming softly with that sweet smile rising across her face.

It didn’t help that Jetta had no idea what to expect. Yes, she was going to get gunged. She’d taken that as almost a given when she walked in here. It was the not knowing how that made her the most nervous, her eyes darting around the padded room that now seemed smaller than it had a minute ago. If only she knew it was going to get a lot smaller.

The first Jetta knew of anything happening was a sudden movement below her, almost a lurch as the floor beneath her feet sank down a good foot and a half, earning a shriek from the hyena who rose from it giggling. Fearing a sudden dunk into something thick and sticky, Jetta couldn’t help feeling relieved even if a little embarrassed by her outburst. That relief faded as her raised head saw that hadn’t been the only movement, one of wide square panels now missing from the ceiling to reveal a long tunnel of blackness from which descended what looked like a box of solid green plastic, it’s sides at least 20 inches thick.

That was Jetta’s first thought anyway. What she had taken to be one solid piece of plastic was in fact four separate panels about two feet in length and about three times as tall. Certainly taller than her. Each panel was itself divided into three sections marked by a recessed line cut or moulded into the plastic itself. Just as each of those sections were marked by a wide circle made by the same technique with a smaller one in the middle. Jetta eyed each of those circles with an increasingly nervous smile, sure that they would end up level with her head, tummy and feet. Which was likely significant.

From the outside none of this could be seen, just like Jetta could no longer be after the panels settled neatly into the edges made by the sunken square in which she now stood, the outside surface of the bright green plastic completely smooth and unmarked, not letting anyone see what lay behind or inside them.

Now hidden from all prying eyes, if you discounted the cameras likely pointed at her and ready to capture the Gunging to come, Jetta swallowed slowly, seeing no reason to hide her sudden anxiety any more. It would have been shown anyway as she edged as close as she could to the middle of the box that enclosed her, the four feet of space she once had now reduced to little more than two feet square. Which didn’t feel like nearly far enough really. Jetta was now well and truly trapped. Only…not quite. The top of the box was still open and, had she felt so inclined, Jetta could still have scrambled out and to safety. That would have been cowardly and admittedly anxious as she was, Jetta was no coward. Cobalt had thought of that though as a fifth panel lowered and clacked into place, completely sealing her in her bright green prison as she was left waiting.

There was no warning, at least not for Jetta; the sharply wailing siren building that built to a sharp crescendo heard on the broadcast version added post production. One that was perfectly timed with the release of the Gunge. There was no build up either, no slow gush from each circular opening until the tank was filled with roaring gunge. No, it was just filled with gunge in a second. Filled side to side that is, the walls splashed with the gunge that didn’t immediately wrap around Jetta. Caught by and between the six streams of vibrant yellow, Jetta went from clean to dripping goo in a matter of seconds. There was one glorious second as all six streams struck where her face became a mask of shock before that was lost below the rippling gunk.

Jetta could hear the rushing of the Gunge around her ears and little else, caught in this cocoon of warm slippery gunk; the obscuring of her vision only heightening this experience. It was like being struck by six fire hoses and it was only because of the pressure from all sides that Jetta somehow kept her balance.

She had her eyes screwed shut against the surging pressure, feeling it rolling around her ears and muzzle, her shoulders and arms, all the way down her legs. Her head dipped down to let it roll over her jowl and jaw.

Such was the explosion of colour that it spread out from the point where it struck, pushed forwards and then sideways by the Gunge rushing up behind it. It was driven around her body not by gravity but sheer pressure of the pent up liquid that had nowhere else to go. It managed to get under her clenched fingers and between her curled toes even as she felt it running right along her spine.

She could feel the pressure of it unceasingly. Thicker and warmer than she imagined, making it almost pleasant. Now that she was over the initial shock it wasn’t that bad. It was an amazing monocolour effect that made it all the more impressive, never seeming to end with nothing to distinguish how it sprayed around her.

It was an amazing Gunging for anyone, let alone someone who had never imagined being anywhere like this. Even if Jetta had been a prolific regular on any of the classic Gunge shows would she have gotten so messy so quickly. No Gunge tank could have covered her in so much Gunge so rapidly. Only those dunked in a Dunk Tank could have gotten so gunged so fast.

The box was rapidly becoming a Dunk Tank of sorts, the rising Gunge giving Jetta a second coating she really didn’t need. Her arms were held with fists clenched tight by her sides, part of her knowing that nothing she could have tried to protect herself would have done any good at all. The sheer volume of Gunge would have made such efforts futile.

Had her anxiety built a little higher she might have tried, reaching out to try and block the streams almost on instinct. Yet the way it crept over into tingles of excitement kept them right where they were. And now Jetta was too shocked to do anything else.

The Gunge wasn’t so much creeping higher but racing, the actual volume of Gunge racing around her now lessened as the first two sprays were lost below the Gunge that had now crested her knees. It hadn’t stopped though and she could still feel them pressed against her in an unseen jet.

It would only be a matter of seconds before the next two would be lost as well, the Gunge streams against her stomach and back only hastening that moment as they sent more down to join the climbing mass of yellow that sat warm and thick around her legs that were now submerged up to her hips under the goo rising inch by rapid inch. Followed closely by her waist and then her stomach.



‘Aren’t you done yet?’ That question ran silently through Jetta’s head a second before the two remaining Gunge streams still pressing into her lowered head stopped as suddenly as they started, one last surge tricking from them to ooze down to join the rest of the gunk rippling just below her collar bone. That really was unnecessary. Even if she hadn’t been trapped in this tight box, Jetta would still have been gunged almost more than one person deserved.

Not that she felt hard done by of course. While Jetta couldn’t go so far as to say she deserved this, she had still agreed to it. And she couldn’t deny, as the streams slowed to a gentle gush then trickled to a halt altogether, that it had weirdly been kinda fun. Right from the almost excited tension of the build up to the moment the Gunge had struck, right up to this moment itself. Jetta of course had no choice but to reflect on this moment with nothing to do but stand somewhat awkwardly in her Gunge filled enclosure, the still warm liquid lapping against her fur as she squirmed a little. She hadn’t really had the time to think about this as she was being sprayed and coated left right and centre. But now that she had nothing but time, she couldn’t help the question of how she was going to get out of here.

That was a question that only Jetta got an answer too, the cameras lingering on a closeup of her soft squirming before the feed cut back to Lena and the others so the game and the show could continue.


‘Looks like you got out of there not a moment too soon.’ Lena patted Uma softly on the shoulder. ‘That could have been you squirming in there.’

That hadn’t been lost on Uma as she squirmed softly on the spot, caught in a sudden rush of emotion that had been building before Lena spoke. Guilt, shame, remorse and a little trickle of almost regret. While she wouldn’t have relished the feeling of all those eyes on her, she couldn’t deny she was a little disappointed to have avoided such an amazing Gunging. Try as she might to not think about it, she couldn’t help trying to imagine how it would have felt. Still, in the grand scheme of things they had barely gotten started, so there could likely be more chances to find out.

Out here basking in the congratulations of her team, Uma was suddenly struck by a sudden thought, a realisation of a sense of camaraderie that hadn’t been there before. Bonni’s standoffish, defensive and selfish air had fully evaporated. That last word almost did Bonni a disservice as Uma knew it was her own nerves that had created those feelings, rather than any actual disregard for them but it was the best she could do at this moment.

Lena could ask a teasing question like how do you feel about foam or eggs or mud, something to make a girl giggle nervously at the thought of it.  

‘Anyway, we should press on. Who wants to go next? Adam, how about you?’Lena asked with a smile both knowing and mischievous that couldn’t help drawing one from him.

‘Sure. I’m game.’ Barely had he said that than Lena took his paw in hers and with rapid footpads echoing together they raced through the twisting corners and sharp turns with the rest of the now firmly close knit group behind them until Lena brought them to an equally sharp stop. Barely had the others skidded to a halt before she had tapped open the door beside her and ushered not just Adam but the rest of them inside as she brought up the rear.

‘Oh, this is a good one.’ Lena clapped her paws in delight. ‘I think you will like this one, Adam.’

‘I think I might you know.’ Adam broadened his grin. It wasn’t the two circular tanks set side by side that held his interest, though they had certainly caught it since it meant that someone was guaranteed to get gunged here.  No his eyes had moved away from the invitingly open chambers towards what he could only describe as an obstacle course. That was really all he could see, the low lighting that surrounded it clearly placed purposely to retain a little air of mystery around it. Or foreboding. Or both.

‘There are two tanks?’ Adam had no idea if Uma was expecting an answer to that question or not. She got one anyway, Cobalt’s voice emerging from the ceiling that loomed above them.

‘Oh yes. I do hate to see good gunge go to waste.’ Cobalt answered cryptically.

Having no further answers seemingly becoming apparent allowed Bonni to return to her thoughts. She too had noticed the looming tanks, almost waiting for her own feelings of foreboding to return now that she was once again faced with the spectre of a potential gunging, worried that maybe she hadn’t shaken them quite as well as she feared. Almost trying to push for that reaction, testing her new found bravery to destruction, Bonni scrutinised them in a way she would never have dared at the start of this journey, daring to take in all the details of the spacious inner dimensions surrounded by the two inch thick Perspex both tall and wide that likely spoke volumes to the volume of gunge waiting in the tank that topped it. Bonni was no maths genius, the equations to calculate the actual volume beyond her intellect but she would have easily put it at gallons.

And yet nothing came from those thoughts, not even the slightest trickle of worry, anxiety or dread could be felt in her mind or body, Bonni feeling none of her earlier instincts to shy away from the very thought of her going anywhere near the tall tank. To say nothing of shying away from the tank itself. Which wasn’t to say Bonni was quite ready to volunteer herself to step into it either. Part of her was tempted in a subtle way, yet she was hesitant to reveal her newfound curiosity. Heaven knows what Cobalt might design for her if she knew she was perhaps starting to enjoy this.

Cobalt, as it happened, had begun to realise that some time ago. Of all the furkind currently in her maze, only Lena had any inkling of just how much of this place Cobalt had gone all ‘Big Brother’ on, the myriad of cameras around them not just used to capture footage of the show but also to capture it for her own amusement or purpose. Ever since Bonni had taken her first gunging, Cobalt had paid special attention to her, keen to observe any change in her demeanour. What she almost hadn’t expected was the first sign of an feeling she knew all too well. While this was something she worked very hard to keep to herself, Cobalt had been much like Bonni once. Or at least the woman behind the mask had anyway. Back when she had been a wet behind the ears young woman just starting out on her career in showbiz, she had been offered the role of stooge and victim in a slapstick comedy show that had never made it past a screen test of the pilot, a pilot that Cobalt had recently assured no one would ever see and of which she held the only digital copy. It wouldn’t have done her reputation any good had anyone found out she too had once been scared of the gunge. She could see in Bonni the same emotions she had gone through herself, fear and uncertainty to curiosity to almost enjoyable anticipation. Cobalt settled back into her chair with a smile. Yes, if she really was beginning to enjoy this, she would be sure to have some fun with her.

Bonni was unaware of this, still trying to work out if she really did want to be the one to end up in the tank or not. Just because it wasn’t as repellent a thought as it had once been didn’t mean she was queuing up for it. So distracted had Bonni been by those thoughts she had almost forgotten that Adam was slated to play this game, only remembering that when he stepped willingly into the left most tank through the oval opening on the front, absent any door that did nothing to stop him leaving at any time he wanted. Which he wasn’t likely to want to do. Which just left the question of who would be in the other one. That was a question that was left hanging in the air with no answer.

Well, for a few seconds anyway; Adam being the first to get an answer to that question. He had a inkling that the other tank was already occupied, his eyes adjusting to the low light that filled them both. And while it could have been nothing more than a trick of the light, he was sure that he could see movement on the other side of the double Perspex barrier. And he was quickly proved right, the subtle darkness slowly banished as lights rose not just around him but the whole room in general, fully revealing the once shrouded obstacle course. And Adam might have found his eyes drawn to that had they not instead been drawn to the girl that had, it turned out, been seated next to him all along. Adam wasn’t the kind of guy to outright admit he had a type of girl he liked to see gunged, feeling it not exactly gentlemanly to objectify women in that way. Yet it was true that he did, his secret affection for Uma proof of that. Adam should have been very grateful that at at this moment Uma wasn’t looking over at him, since the look on his face might have just made her jealous. For the diminutive bat girl seated next to him was also very much his type of girl, his heart beating a little faster as he watched her squirming nervously. And squirming she was, managing a smile despite the butterflies in her stomach, having felt a little more comfortable sitting in the dark; an understandably more natural surroundings for a bat.

Dressed as she was in the now familiar uniform of a Sentinal, admittedly with a few modifications, Adam couldn’t help but notice the absence of the confidence they had displayed in droves before. Then again he hadn’t seen one sitting in a Gunge Tank before, more used to seeing them ready to play a game; a focus that doubtless distracted them from their worries.

Not that Francesca wouldn’t feel more at home out there right now. While not an athlete by trade as some of her companions had turned out to be, Francesca still counted herself as one. And certainly she was as fit as many professional outfits, even if the evidence of that was hidden right now. Both by her deep purple jumpsuit and the thin membranes of her wings draped over her neatly folded arms and like the cloth that surrounded her hid the muscles that lay beneath. The former hiding them a little too well. Somewhat more petit than your average fur kind, even the smallest of the standard jumpsuits was a little loose on Francesca, hiding any details of her strong core and legs beneath the loosely fitting material.

And nervous she was. Had anyone asked her at this moment, Francesca wouldn’t have denied feeling nervous, her thoughts drifting to the gunge suspended over her head. Sure she had been reassured that it didn’t feel as bad as it looked, but that was something of a cold comfort right now. Still, on reflection she would rather be in here than out there. Of all the people in this room at the moment, she alone knew that she was a darn sight safer in here than out there. In here, there was only the chance of a gunging. Out there…well…she would prefer not to think about it.


Not that she was without protection. As was usual for her species, all of her skin apart from the webbing of her wings was covered in a dense, short black fur that was as waterproof as it was soft to the touch. How it would fair against gunge she had no idea and was a little curious to find out. Which would mean having to suppress her natural instincts if it came to it. Francesca couldn’t exactly blame some of the other girls ducking and trying to cover themselves in the face of a gunging. It wasn’t as if it made much of a difference. For her it would though, fully spread out her wings could deflect even the widest spread of gunge effortlessly. Which wouldn’t really be sporting. Not when the spectacle of her being gunged was part of the draw here. It wouldn’t be fair to spare herself something others couldn’t.


Lucci herself was busy scrutinising the course she was going to run. Which was the only description that seemed to fit. Lucci had run a number of obstacle courses over the years. As a fitness nut she could never resist a challenge. That being said, most were sturdy things of wood, solid rubber and occasionally metal. None of the ones she had seen before were made of blocks of brightly coloured rubber, like what you might find at a kids soft play area. These were laid out as a maze of twisting paths that crisscrossed around and into each other, no one block the same colour as the others that sat around it. Each block was about a foot and a half wide, creating a thin pathway of a crazy mix of hews as far as the eye could see, an almost distracting kaleidoscopic rainbow. And doing the same for the multitude of paths to the other side that surely was going to be their objective.

From what Lucci could see, the whole thing was broken into three sections. Even here, about a good metre from the start Lucci could see that a good third of the way along the course the padded blocks just stopped, leaving a gap of almost two feet between them and the obstacle that lay on the other side which looked like a bridge made of slats of clear plastic connected by some means she couldn’t see from here. It would only need a short hop to cross that gap.

At each third of the course the path that she followed with her eyes just stopped, leaving a two foot gap before a new one began, the only way over to it necessitating a short hop. No real challenge for her of course, it would be the landing that could be tricky. Not that that would be the only tricky part. Even with the lights fully raised Lucci couldn’t really pick out many more details of the course, seeing only a much wider walkway beyond the first that really didn’t seem like much of an obstacle. Beyond that, and Lucci had to strain to see that far, were what looked like a series of flat platforms each resting atop a single pillar of polished silver metal that rose out of the padded floor below. While they too didn’t seem that challenging, Lucci was sure there would be more than met the eye when she actually got over there.

Like with Adam in his tank, Lucci was getting a sneaking feeling she wouldn’t be running this course alone. The two squares marked out in yellow paint at the two edges of the width of the course were pretty much a giveaway for that thought, surely the starting point for two players. And she was proved right as she was quickly joined by a tall, powerfully built rhino girl, the demure nature of her horn providing the only clue as to her gender. True, she as well was wearing the outfit of a Sentinal in a deep crimson but that didn’t have to mean that she was a she.

‘Hi. I’m Georgia. Better give it your best, cause I’m not gonna go easy on you.’ The Rhinogirl, she had to be a she given the pitch of her voice, said with a pleasantly warm yet challenging smile that served as the perfect introduction.

‘Likewise.’ Lucci said with a smile of her own.


‘So…they just have to run across this? Surely that’s too easy. There has to be more to it than this?’ Bonni, unaware of this conversation, voiced the question that the others were thinking, even Adam from his somewhat divorced position in the Gunge tank, leaving it hanging in the air without an answer.

‘Doesn’t look easy to me.’ Uma bit her lip nervously, clearly worried about what other surprises might lay in wait further along the course. ‘I’m sure there will be a twist somewhere.’ Uma agreed even if she sounded like she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to her own interrogative, looking around as cautiously as possible for any hidden, and likely messy, surprises. Not wanting to give Cobalt any reason to try them out on her first.

‘I’m sure you are right.’ Lucci added softly, once again weighing the imagined give of the soft material in her mind, sure that it was designed not to give them an easy run. Certainly not if Adam wasn’t going to be the only one of her team at risk of getting gunged here. Surely Cobalt wouldn’t pass up the chance to gunge another of them.

‘I wouldn’t say easy at all.’ Bonni sounded a little antsy now, maybe wondering how long they could keep this prevaricating discussion going, sure they would have to get on with playing this game sooner or later. Something she wasn’t overly eager to do. Or have any of them do. While that idea had somewhat been tempting before, now that she was over the worst of her fear she had no reason to hide behind anything. Like Lucci she too was sure there was a setup here here somewhere. Or a trap. Uma was right about that, she had no doubt. That was how Cobalt played her little games.

Adam was, although present circumstance held him to keep his thoughts to himself, in perfect agreement over that. Although perhaps he was almost a little more enthused about that idea since it would no doubt be enjoyable to watch. Like Lucci he very much wanted to see what other surprises this course held.

‘Actually it’s quite easy. And Adam will be just fine. Providing the tank next to him contains more Gunge than his does when the game ends. Where are you going to find that Gunge? Simple. Just over there.’ It came as no surprise to anyone that Lena pointed towards the other end of the obstacle course, a tiny hint of a smile crossing her lips. ‘If you make it safely across you are free to grab a bucket, carry it back to the start, dump it into the tank and then go back for another. If at any time you fall off, you will have to go back to the start. So try not to do that. Any questions. No? Then get to your starting marks. Ready? Set? Go.’


Lucci sure was ready and she showed it, having absolutely no hesitation in the way she stepped onto the edge of the padded path. Despite her earlier fears it proved to be fairly firm, only giving a little under each step. With arms outstretched for balance that her tail didn’t provide in the way people assumed it would, Lucci quickly got into a rhythm as she moved from one tightly twisted corner to another, her frame upright and strong, unconsciously drawing on the upper body strength all her workouts had gifted her.

With only the slightest wobble here and there, the seemingly unflappable kangaroo girl made her way to the end of first section, a quick hop all it took to carry her to the second. She didn’t have to glance behind her to see that the Sentinal was close on her tail, having crossed the gap a second behind her.

Now closer to the second section, Lucci could see that what she had taken for one continuous walkway was in fact a closely nestled series of blocks made of a much firmer plastic than the shifting ones she had just walked across. Before she could even wonder what challenge this was meant to provide, the blocks began to move before her very eyes, starting with the ones closest to her which raised up maybe a good foot before sinking down to a foot below where they had started, creating an undulating wave that moved across the once static pathway.

Not waiting to see what her opponent would do, or think about it too long, even with the ominous sight of the darkened openings lining this next section of the course, Lucci pressed forward onto the tremulous bridge , forcing herself to ignore the undulating motion underfoot and just keep going regardless. It wasn’t pretty to look at, Lucci being forced to adjust with each step to keep up with the raising and lowering surface. It was like walking up a set of stairs where the next step wasn’t anywhere near where you expected it to be, each step much more tentative than she had hoped or planned. With each step Lucci expected to miss her footing and at the very least stumble down to her knees before being forced to struggle back to her feet and continue onwards.

When you plan a game, where you create an obstacle to overcome just put in some mess they might avoid.


Somehow Lucci did manage to keep her footing, although there were more than a few close calls along the way. Unseen by her, the rippling undulating motion moved in a wave along the shifting pathway. And a few times Lucci moved past the crest of that wave, feeling a moment of sudden shock that the ground wasn’t where she thought it was. Like when you are walking down some stairs and you accidentally skip a step, momentarily surprised as your foot doesn’t meet the solid surface it expected to feel. The icy jolt of adrenaline that came with that might have unsettled Lucci had she not already been running a low level of that feeling anyway. She recovered well, quickly regaining both her composure and balance. Lucci felt more than a little like a puppet on a string, each step feeling jerky and uncoordinated, almost like being drunk without the warm fuzzy glow to go with it as she struggled along with the rolling rhythm of the wave that she was glad was all she had to contend with.

In fact Lucci was almost disappointed here. She had been sure that Cobalt, likely not content with just the promise of the gunging at the end, would have seized the chance to put some messy obstacles in their way along with just physical ones. After all, wasn’t that what everyone was here for? Lucci had been concerned something would have happened here and that lack of something only made her wonder what else waited for them.

It didn’t make her wonder enough to stop her approaching the last section of the course with a slight lead over her opponent, who was trailing a few steps behind her thanks to her own struggles with the unsettling movements below her.


 Pausing here Lucci made sure she was ready before turning to the final section. Gone were the tight paths of padded blocks. In their place stood a collection of platforms made not of the same blocks but narrow frames of squared metal filled with a much thinner layer of the padded matting, the surface of which Lucci couldn’t help noticing sported raised ridges running at a diagonal angle.  Each vertical surface was 3 feet square and placed in a haphazard pattern, dotted around the space that held the nine almost as if placed at random.

Not thinking about that, Lucci leapt onto the first, landing with slightly bent legs. This time the mat yielded a little more but not enough to throw her off, the raised ridges below her paws not slick and smooth but dotted with course grain like texture that gave her a good deal of grip. Trying not to think about why she might need that Lucci was quickly moving again, her feet padding deep she sprinted to the edge and leapt, her legs carrying her to the platform to her right.

Here she noticed, somewhat distractedly, that the Sentinal was a little behind her; perhaps instinctively having taken the same path. Almost neck and neck they landed in almost a mirrored crouch, raising up to continue onward with barely a second between them.

Uma’s phrase about being too easy came back to her, an instant before she was proved right. She wasn’t sure what tipped her off but she was already moving before the platform began to tip sideways, the hidden mechanism beneath smoothly ratcheting the left hand side upwards towards the ceiling. This must have come as a surprise to her opponent too since she stayed almost level with her as they ran. Had she known she likely wouldn’t have waited. A short jump, three more rapid steps and another jump was all it took to carry them both to the other side and thankfully solid ground, where they exchanged a brief moment of shared surprise and relief before they each grabbed their first bucket.

As she darted her way over the small pillar platforms that lead back to the start, Lucci pondered on that. Her surprise had looked genuine and could have been. Cobalt did seem to delight in sending in both Players and Sentinals alike without knowing what they would be facing. On the other hand she could simply be a good actress and secretly know all the tricks Lucci had yet to discover. An advantage she might put to good use later, since that surely wouldn’t be the last.

Even with the heavy bucket gripped in both paws and threatening to spill gunge all over her front, Lucci made good time, quickly racing up the curved stairway to dump the bucket into the other Sentinal’s tank just a second behind her opponent who had made slightly better time on her return. Still there wasn’t much in it as they returned for their second run.


Lucci had made up most of that time as she sprang back onto the narrow pathway, her experience the first time around helping her to find her balance that little bit quicker. Speaking of quicker, that confidence helped her feel she could risk a little more speed, her steps a little less tentative now that she had her balance. That experience helped her eat into the lead the Sentinal had gained so that they were neck and neck as they leapt across to the second section.


Drawing upon that thrill and now ready for what she should expect here, Lucci paused for a second, watching the rolling wave of motion and waiting for her moment. As that wave rose up in front of her, Lucci moved forward to meet it, her right footpad planted firmly on the raised block right before her. Her timing was a little off, and rather than riding the crest of the wave as she had hoped, Lucci found herself trailing a split second behind it. Still that proved to be something of a bonus too, the rhythm of the blocks underfoot less a constant shift from high to low and back again but rather a constant rise before her, almost like walking up an escalator. Almost. While it still wasn’t the most natural movement in the world, Lucci found she could cope with it a little better.

With only a few wobbles as opposed to more than a few near falls and stumbles, Lucci sought to complete her second run in a hasty headlong sprint. With all her focus on her next step, the next placement of her foot, Lucci was now only three steps from the edge of the rolling path. That was when she felt rather than saw something whistle across her path with a whoosh that tugged at the ends of her hair. Instinct took over and Lucci faltered misstep. The damage was done, not just from that step but from the pause as well. Had Lucci not stopped she might have dodged away from the second unseen projectile launched by the trap she had long expected to be revealed. The fact was that she did stop and it was in that moment of hesitation that something struck her shoulder, the sudden yielding impact knocking her sideways by a single step. Just a small step but that was enough to send her to the edge of the pathway she had been skirting the middle of, her right foot slipping off the edge, gravity and momentum pulling the rest of her after it. Almost in desperation Lucci twisted around, instinct hoping to find something to grab onto. But there was nothing and so, with arms outstretched, she plunged towards the soft matting below.


By some sheer luck this worked, Lucci racing across on the very crest of the wave and the nearly level surface that presented. Something hidden from the audience at home, the cameras suddenly focused on a closeup of her torso. There was no point in giving future contestants clues to help them

Drawing upon that thrill, Lucci let it lend power to her legs that she used to race along the bridge heedless of what trap could await her. For Lucci was now convinced that there had to be one. And a second later she was proved right as something whizzed across her path just inches from her muzzle. Something that was more dumb luck than instinct or reflexes.

It was instinct that brought her up short though, a moments hesitation that allowed the Sentinal extend the lead she had already gained. Not waiting to give her any more advantage, Lucci raced to catch up. For a second Lucci thought she might, her strides carrying her forward purposefully before she felt something strike into her shoulder. She had no way of knowing what it was, the yellow sphere of soft foam having bounced away from her and under the bridge before she could catch a glimpse of it. Yet she couldn’t deny its effect, while not solid enough to hurt it did have enough mass to send her staggering sideways for one, two, three steps before one foot slipped off the edge of the bridge. That was too much and down she went, her centre of balance pushed too far to the right for her to stop her inevitable fall to the mat below. Before the thump that was missed by the microphones had faded Lucci was back on her feet and had scrambled out of the padded put to return to the start.

What had happened she still didn’t know, just like she had no way of knowing about the technical glitch backstage that had given her and the Sentinal a free fun. Something that might have bothered Cobalt if she hadn’t known it would be made up for later.  


Seeing no point in wasting time cursing or complaining, Lucci once again stepped onto the padded walkway. Her confident speed carrying her safely across to face the whizzing balls again, seeing that in the time she had lost her opponent had only just cleared this section of the course. With a little time to make up Lucci readied herself, took a deep breath and just ran, not caring a one, two, three splattered against her, adding to the foam clinging to her clothing. Seizing her moment she darted past the final opening and leapt over to face the 9 platforms that all were tipping slowly from right to left, like the spheres each moving in its own time.

It was this sight that made the her rhino rival freeze here, those few seconds of hesitation as she took it in allowing Lucci to catch up with her. Seeing this made her snap out of her reverie and she made her first leap a second before her, perhaps before she strictly should have.

While the angle of the tilted platform wasn’t enough to send her tumbling from it, she did lose a couple of seconds fighting to keep her balance. While Lucci on the other hand leapt onto her platform just before it levelled out, allowing her to cross to the second almost instantly. Her footing here was less stable but she did her best not to pause or hesitate, risking a few steps forward even as it tipped, launching herself clear to the third which had just reached the limit of its left most tipping point. Landing in a hasty crouch, Lucci pressed hands, feet and tail down into the slanted surface with all her might, holding that until she felt it level out. Then she moved again to jump to the end of the course and solid ground once again. It was only then that Lucci risked a glance backwards at her pursuer.

While Lucci had somehow pulled out a little bit of a lead, it was a scant lead that had the Sentinal nipping at her heels all the way until she snagged her second bucket. And one that she just about held as she carried it safely all the way to the start and up into the waiting tank, this time hearing the thick splatter of Gunge hitting Gunge rather than solid plastic. She wished she could take a moment to check, and appreciate, how much Gunge was in there but she knew she had to press on.

Tossing that bucket away and leaving it and the fading clatter behind her, Lucci turned to face the course again with a short burst of speed that brought her to the start again quickly, this time not stopping but just hopping onto the narrow path and continuing on without missing a step. Lucci’s arms titled this way and that, her left dipping before her right followed suit, working almost instinctively to keep her balance. Her time this time was a little slower than her last, Lucci preferring to take a few more seconds to be careful than lose the greater amount she would do if she fell off.  

Pad after soft light pad carried her to the first break in the course she skipped over without really thinking about, her landing light but solid at the same time. Not even needing to raise herself up, Lucci pushed on towards the crisscrossing spheres. Her technique here was a little more haphazard, more a method of stops and starts as she darted between each one only to wait again before slipping past the next. It was a case of two or three hurried steps before a brief pause followed by another of the same. Once she thought she felt something brush past her back, a little thrill of adrenaline filling her as she realised how close she had come to getting hit again. She didn’t let that stop her as she conquered the final sphere fearlessly.

She heard a shriek behind her and on instinct she turned, seeing that the Sentinal was nowhere to be seen. Figuring she must have been caught by the balls as she had earlier, Lucci didn’t even wait to see her scramble out of the pit as she made to finish the course again.

Taking a moment to get her timing, Lucci threw herself onto the first platform as it began to tip down on its right hand side. That tip didn’t matter as she was off it again in a matter of seconds. She skipped from platform to platform unchallenged and quickly  landed on the other side more down to luck than skill or technique. Still she would take it. Just as she took her third bucket and danced her way back over the pillars without so much as a drop spilt.

It hadn’t escaped her notice this could be enough to put her in the lead if she was successful in her next crossing, a thought that buoyed her up as she jogged over to attempt it. That confidence was clear in her steps as she leapt out to give chase to the Sentinal who was already close to halfway along, her recent fall having done nothing to dampen her drive. Lucci supposed you didn’t get to be a Sentinal without something of a fierce competitive mindset.

Lucci was technically in the lead here, on her way to collect her fourth bucket while the Sentinal had yet to collect her third. It suddenly struck Lucci, as she again leapt onto the start of the course, that here they were in a room filled with Gunge and none of them had gotten got so much as a drop on them yet. even a little messy yet. Surely Cobalt wasn’t going to let them finish this game only with a little coating of foam to show for it

With that thought still running through her head, Lucci made her way to the middle of the course without so much as a wobble, and with cautious confidence urging her on Lucci padded her way towards them, prepared to sprint through the first opening she saw. More concerned about falling off than getting hit, Lucci powered onward. And if worked, her boldness allowing her to avoid all but one of the balls, that bounced away into the pit leaving a fresh smear of white on her stomach.

Cobalt for her part wasn’t disappointed by that at all, one foible of the mechanism of this carefully concealed surprise was that it took a little while for the mechanism that delivered the foam to get itself warmed up. And while a smear of foam was the best it could do for now, that wasn’t going to be the case for long.


Not bothering to wipe off the foam clinging to her shoulder, back or thigh, Lucci leapt onto the first platform. And right into the path of a jet of Gunge that gushed from the side of the room, sending a splash over her left side. It wasn’t powerful enough to push her around, just enough to soak her from her shoulders down to the hips. So that wasn’t the only trap in this room.

Now Lucci understood the reason for the studded bumps and ridges on the otherwise level surfaces of the platforms. Already the surface below her feet was treacherously slippery and without them she would have already likely slipped off.  Which was still a risk as the platform began to tip.

Not wanting to linger and get sprayed again, which surely was going to happen anyway, Lucci pressed onward, her feet slipping a little on the slick surface before she got traction. Even hampered as she was, Lucci was able to launch herself to the next platform just as another spray lanced through here she had been.

Sure that such luck wouldn’t hold, Lucci bounded to the next closest platform, picking her moment for the second it levelled out, not wanting to stand on it a moment longer than she needed too. Even though she started to run as soon as she landed, she wasn’t quick enough to escape the red Gunge dropped sharply onto the middle of the platform. Drenched in the glistening crimson gunk that made her shriek in surprise more than shock, Lucci powered to the other side before anything else could happen to her, snagging her fourth bucket in slippery paws before returning to face the sprint over the squat platforms.

For a brief moment Lucci felt the odd sensation of feeling nervous. Not about the gunge of course, she reckoned it would take a lot to make her feel that given what she had experienced so far. No, it was more that part of Lucci worried she would already find those dripping and slippery with Gunge as well, yet for the moment they seemed to be the only part of the that was for the moment still safe. For the rest of it had become an utterly random storm of Gunge, with thin streams and jets flying everywhere, crisscrossing over the length and width of the course with no clear pattern to any of them.

Not that Lucci had the time to figure that out. Certain of only that she was still in the lead, Lucci moved to try and keep that lead since her opponent had now secured her third bucket, catching more than a few sprays and splashes of Gunge along the way. Lucci had been lucky enough to avoid getting more than a light coating on her last run but there was no way she was making it across without getting utterly gunged this time.

For someone who had expected to get splashed within seconds, Lucci was actually amazed that she tiptoed her way along the whole of the narrow section without catching so much as a drop of the Gunge being flung around her. Which was just down to luck more than anything else, the random nature of the sprays working in her favour this time. She did have one close call, narrowly dodging a thin stream of yellow that burst out behind her just a second too late to even come close to catching her. That luck wasn’t going to last though and she knew it.

Seeing what lay before her Lucci felt a smile tug at her lips. As if the almost leisurely sequence of the white foamed balls wasn’t enough to contend with, now the whole of the shifting pathway being crisscrossed by a virtual storm of them that was impossible to follow.

Knowing there was no way she was getting through this clean, so she didn’t even try. Not even bothering to try to avoid them, Lucci focused solely on keeping her footing. Which she did, only taking a couple of strikes from the foam laden sponges that still flung cream over her hair as much as around her body. Those hits were just pure luck but they left her as messy as if they had been aimed. And this was just the start.

Only once was Lucci again forced to halt, instinct taking over as she noticed another of the foam dripping projectiles launched her way, one more sponge narrowly missing  her legs before she could move on, another whisked past where her head had been a second ago. She risked a dash through a third and the forth, catching one more right across her chest as she twisted her body around the last sphere. If she had been wearing her swimsuit that would have looked great on a slow motion replay. Wondering where she found the time for these thoughts and putting it to one side for later, Lucci continued her advance towards the end of the course.

This next section hadn’t been spared by the continued sharp sprays of gunge either, given how slick and slippery the platforms that lay ahead of her now were. Anyone would have forgiven Lucci for taking things a little more slowly here. But with time ticking down and her lead somewhat tenuous there was no time for slowly. All her attention purely on the way forward, her opponent lay forgotten as Lucci leapt from the solid ground to the first of the shifting platforms, her feet planted firmly to let her dash forwards immediately, carrying her off it with another leap as soon as she felt the downward tilt the other way.

Poised in midair Lucci heard the sudden rush from above as that leap carried her right into the middle of the sharp drop from above, the splash of Gunge flung over her before her feet even landed on the solid platform. Head dipped and relying on memory Lucci burst out of the other side, dripping vibrant pink, grinning and straight for the last platform that lay between her and her goal. Her feet skidded a little but not as much as the Sentinal who landed in the puddle she had left behind, swept off her feet to land on her butt with a shriek of surprise. Luckily the padded matt both cushioned the blow and stopped her from sliding into the pool of Gunge below which Lucci wouldn’t have minded seeing for a number of reasons.

Lucci managed to keep her feet and crossed to the edge, shaking her paws clean of what Gunge she could before grabbing the bucket tightly. With all she had gone through she wasn’t going to drop it here. Her caution served her well as she made it back to the start in good time, racing up the steps to dump her bucket with the full aim of going to grab another one.

Feeling seconds ticking down, Lucci put everything she had into this last dash, spurred on both by the seconds ticking down and by the Sentinel hot on her heels. Not wanting to waste this time and now seemingly heedless of the gunge being flung all around them, they dashed across the twisting maze almost neck and neck, first Lucci gaining the lead then the Sentinal pulling out in front only for Lucci to squeak it back again.

There was little more than a second in it as both girls leapt over to the rising path, fully ready to attack that, the rapidly whizzing sponges that still cross crossed it in the utterly random pattern they had come to expect. They had barely gotten two steps before the shrill siren that had signalled the start of the game rang out again to fill the whole room with its reverberating call.

Lucci was the first to come to a halt, pathway expected this to happen; the Sentinal following her lead barely a foot ahead of her on the bridge. What neither of them had expected was one last load of gunge sharply dropped with no warning from above them, the widely spread glistening green slime adding unnecessarily to what they were already dripping with. Unnecessary perhaps but it did look amazing. This was no slow draining column but a sharp drop that exploded all around them thickly and smoothly. Like someone had just upended a huge bucket with no care who lay beneath. As much splashed onto the narrow pathway around them, twice as much ended up dumped over the two shocked ladies who had no time to do anything but take it.

Not that they had time to do anything else. By the time they realised what had happened, it was already over, this one last parting shot from Cobalt having done its job in a second. It might not have been something of her design of course but to Lucci the coincidence of the timing was too perfect for it to have not been. It could have been a coincidence of course but Lucci wouldn’t have put money on it. Certainly not given the scandalised look on the face of the Sentinal.


Shaking her head both to herself and in agreement with her,  Lucci made to pad back with slippery steps towards the start of the course, then paused as a sudden idea popped into her head with a grin. This time the Sentinal was ahead of her, showing none of the same moments thought as she just jumped down into the gunge filled moat around the bridge. Figuring she might as well take advantage of every moment to enjoy the gunge while she was here Lucci followed right behind her, plunging into the swirled coloured mix up to her shoulders before beginning a slow wade back to the start where she scrambled up onto dry land with the help of an offered paw from the Sentinal who was as dripping in gunge as much as she was and seemingly as delighted about it.

‘Well…looks like you both got it pretty good.’ Lena couldn’t or didn’t quite hide the smirk on her face. ‘But did you get as good as you got. Let’s see shall we.’

It wasn’t a question. Still Lucci was very keen to hear the answer to it anyway. So was Adam from what she could see. For him it was likely to be a win/win scenario. No matter if it was him or the Sentinal that got gunged, he was likely to enjoy the experience. The Sentinal herself maybe not so much given the way she sat a little stiffly in the tank while Adam seemed perfectly relaxed. Lucci had no way of knowing if she had sat like that since the start of the game or not.

All eyes now turned to the obscured tanks, it was hard to tell who was more eager to see the result. Uma seemed to be trying to clamp down on her excitement but couldn’t hide all of it. Lucci guessed why she was excited. Lucci wouldn’t mind seeing Adam gunged but more did she want payback.

With a soft clinking as the slack was taken up on the chain, the circular cover on the Adam’s tank began to raise, drawing a start from her almost as if she took this as some kind of omen, straining to get a glimpse at the gauge she couldn’t have possibly been able to see. Not that anyone else could see it either yet, which didn’t stop them all watching keenly. She waits with baited breath to hear the result, her tension rising and falling.

‘Georgia, you managed to collect 15 litres of gunge. Not a bad effort. Lucci you managed to collect…’ Lena paused with her fingertip pressed to the speaker in her ear, either really waiting to hear the tally or just doing so for dramatic effect. ‘…20 litres.’maybe they count this out slowly. Or they count the buckets. Or reveal the tank above with a slow mechanism. Draw out the tension.

Hah. Yes. Lucci closed her fist sharply, that reaction fully instinctive rather than an affectation of triumph. She wasn’t one to gloat or openly seek praise for herself but she was proud of the points she had earned for her team. Which wasn’t to say she wasn’t going to watch what was going to happen next.  

All eyes in the room were now on the Sentinal who squirmed both from the sudden attention and her own thoughts about what was going to happen. It hadn’t seemed so bad when it was only a possibility, but now it wasn’t she couldn’t deny she didn’t feel quite so relaxed. And it showed.

She squeaked in shock, her mouth wide and her body tensed. She was perfectly still beneath the gunge, it being the only movement that could be seen as it gushed forth and over her. Over and around, slipping wherever it could go. It 2as only seen coating her front but it did the same to her back. It was warm through her clothing.

She might count the moment in heartbeats, waiting for the shrill cry warning that her time had come. There was no such warning. One second she was dry and clean. The next she wasn’t. Gunge first trickled then rolled over her head, warm, slippery and yet gooey too. Almost unbidden she dipped her head, something that did nothing to help her at all. As bright blue as it was thick the sharp drop exploded out from between her ears, settling to begin to flow a couple of seconds later. Her extended and tense pose meant she wasn’t protected at all and fully exposed. Sitting bolt upright there was nothing to stop the gunge as she took it full on, in a bubbling roll that slipped over her shoulders and along her neck. In smooth rippling layers it came down, bubbling up over itself almost eagerly. Barely had one crested over her ears than another rose over it, almost riding on the last as if keen to get her coated as quickly as possible.

She shivered and squirmed, not sure what to do with what she was feeling. Or what to do at all. The closeness of the tank just made it worse. There wasn’t anything she could do anyway. Sat bolt upright under the tumbling litres of gunge that had already gone on much longer than she had expected. She had no idea 20 litres could be so much. Her outfit was already glistening as blue as much as the little fur she showed. She was grateful to gave something between her and the gunge.  She counted the time in the soft waves she could feel, sending more gunge down and over her body. Even those she lost count of fairly soon but still felt them. She tried to relax a little but she couldn’t ignore the shock of the damp if admittedly still warm gunge. It might have been more of a shock if it had been cold.

Layered beneath the gunge that left her glistening and dripping with the bright blue there was no way she could have resisted. It piled upon her thickly to drip down her legs and over her hips, all the excess drawn downwards towards her feet. The tank had barely been filled a couple of inches around her toes yet she was dripping goo from everywhere. No wonder people screamed. It felt so much more bizarre than she had expected. She hadn’t moved from when the tank opened to when it emptied. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. She allowed herself shudder.

It did nothing to shake the gunge loose. One minute she was dry the next she was being slathered. Her head took the brunt of it, already feeling like more than she expected. It was so sudden she had no idea how to react. The visual was classic, the tank flooded in an instant release that went all over her. And everywhere. Right from the middle of her head it was pushed outwards and downwards, that being the only way it could go. And she was frozen right in the middle of it. There was nothing she could have done, her outfit was like her hair dripping blue gunge down onto the floor below her. She had gone from shocked to relieved to resigned in one second, shaking her head in mock disbelief as she playfully flicked gunge from her fingers just before the light faded from her tank, letting her leave unnoticed to get cleaned up. Not that anyone was watching her, the cameras turned back to Adam and his team who were celebrating triumphantly.


‘Seems you were quite generous to them there. Going soft on us maybe.’ Lena teased. ‘

‘Just keeping you on your toes.’ Cobalt retorted with a perfectly straight face that belied the small in those words. ‘Don’t get too cocky. Things won’t get any easier from here out.’

———————————————", "pools_count": 0, "title": "Serenity Base Episode 1 Part 8", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "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": "19" }