Beta Testers Needed

Story by Serathin on SoFurry

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A prequel to There's Always A Hidden Cost, Tyler finds himself severely bored and looking for a few games to play when he stumbles upon a free-to-play game called Nexus Wars that was currently looking for beta testers. Surely it must be good for a few hours of entertainment...

Edited by texotic

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Tyler was bored. He sighed as he folded his arms on his desk and looked at the list of games on his account that he could play, but none of them really called out to him at the moment. Ever since he had hurt himself at work and needed to take a few weeks off to rest he found himself playing almost non-stop games while still getting paid by his company. The shine of such an arrangement quickly lost its luster; however, especially when it came to the middle of the day when all of his friends were either at work themselves or otherwise busy. He had been playing single player games for a while but what he really wanted was something new, something he hadn't played before that was new and exciting or would at least waste an afternoon of time, even if it was for a little while.

That was what brought him to the free-to-play section of the game platform. While most of them stated that you didn't need to spend any money to have fun with them, most either escalated the time it took to do things or locked the cool stuff behind a paywall. Still, some of the simulator games were good for a few hours of wasting time as he clicked from one hastily made cash grab app to the next. As he got to the shooter section, though, a pop-up appeared that piqued his interest, a beta for a game called Nexus War that he had been invited to try for free. Though these often had the same gimmicks sometimes he got to play a full game for free until the release, which made such an offer more appealing than anything he had come across yet.

"Eh, what the hell," he said as he clicked on the button with the gimmicky words Join the Fight on it. "Might be interesting." He waited for a few minutes while the game loaded and was surprised at how quickly it did so, within mere seconds the title screen and the words Nexus War were emblazoned on the new window that took up his entire monitor. A few moments later it went into the typical backstory that accompanied such a game, something about a bunch of creatures who were vying for domination of the entire realm, and that he was now to choose which side he would help win.

Then the selection screen came on and as Tyler was surprised at the number of options that the beta had that he could try out. The other thing that shocked him a bit were the leaders of the factions that he could choose, all of them were very muscular males and they all had a very strange look to them. The one known as Yavini had a number of vines that wiggled around his blackish-green fox form while the next one called Famjin looked like he came right out of a combination bondage convention and deep water diving trip. While he hadn't seen anything that said this game was eighteen and up it started to feel like it as he scrolled through more options, passing up a rubber dragon before he finally landed on a robotic eagle.

"Haleon..." he said as he looked at the description underneath the metallic avian. "Specializes in technology and air-based attacks. Might be fun to fool around with their flight mechanics..."

As he selected it the eagle's wings flared up to signify his choice, then it went to another screen that gave him a choice of faction under a General that was displayed. There were the usual classes, one that was a heavy hitter, another that was called a corrupter which was unusual, before he finally settled on a sleek black-metal raven that was designated for stealth. The General's name was Kuji and he seemed like a cool enough avatar to follow, once more Tyler was impressed with the level of graphics for a beta game as he selected him. When his choice was made it appeared that was it for character creation, though that wouldn't be terribly surprising for a first person shooter.

As soon as he got to the lobby of the game itself it felt like he was in one of those hardcore sci-fi games, everything was metal and circuits as he walked his way through the atrium that was his starting point. He didn't get too far; however, until he was given a couple of notifications; the first was the help menu that he could visit if he had any problems, the second was a list of activities that could be done in the game, including various arenas where the actual combat happened, and the last was a free gift that was given to all the betas as a thanks for being the first to try out their new game. When he clicked open his inventory he saw that he had gotten a standard pistol-like weapon along with a few grenades, and for armor he received the cuirass of the raven, greaves of the raven, and bracers of the raven.

Tyler tried to find the stats of the starter gear he had just gotten but couldn't seem to find any, which made him wonder if that was an error of the game or part of some feature that he hadn't figured out yet. As he looked around he saw others in the lobby that had figured it out, their avatars now more like the robot birds they followed with only a few human avatars left that were no doubt like him. After a few minutes of searching he finally decided to call down the help menu in order to get the answers he needed. Instead of just getting a window pop-up, though, something landed near his avatar, and when he turned his character to look at it he saw it was Kuji himself, the robotic raven giving him a grin.

"What can I help you with?" he asked with a bright smile on his metallic beak. "Having trouble getting equipped?" Tyler began to type his response in the screen before he realized that he was actually connected to the avatar via voice chat, which meant this was likely an admin rather than some program.

"I had a question actually," Tyler asked as he scrolled down to his equipment screen, the bird avatar's head actually tilting down as though it were watching his cursor. "None of this stuff is marked as what it does. I mean I know its armor and a weapon, but do I need to equip all of it or should I wait for something better?"

To his surprise Kuji chuckled at the question. "We've been getting a lot of those questions as of late," he said as he put his hands on Tyler's avatar, which the gamer could swear he could feel the scaly digits against his skin in real life as the bird winked at him. "Since we have a little time before all our betas get ready for their first battle, why don't I personally help you get ready for it?"

Though Tyler usually just figured out what he wanted to do in a game on his own, something about the way the raven talked to him intrigued him enough that he said yes. Kuji stepped forward and wrapped those scaly and feathery arms around his own avatar, cloaking his entire screen in darkness before he reappeared once more inside of what looked like a room that was on one of those spaceships he had seen on television. "That was a neat trick," Tyler said as he looked around the futuristic setting. "There weren't even any loading times or anything like that."

"We aim to please," Kuji replied as his glowing purple eyes looked at him once more. "Now your weapons are rather self-explanatory, it's the armor and other accessories that make this game rather special. Why don't you go ahead and put on the greaves first, since I think that would make the most profound impact with you."

Tyler looked at the robotic creature on his screen as a strange note of suspicion came over him. It was his leg that had gotten injured in his real life and it felt like Kuji was making reference to that with his statement. But there was no way that the admin of some random game would have known that, other than his boss, several of his co-workers, and the doctors that treated him, no one had known that it was his knee that caused him to stay home. However he quickly shook it off as a coincidence and selected the greaves, then when it asked if he would like to equip them, he said yes.

As soon as he saw the little icon disappear something strange began to happen in his legs. At first he thought he had left the heating pad on his injured appendage before he glanced over to his shelf where it was, then looked down underneath his desk. As he heard Kuji tell him to relax over his headphones he ripped them off and wheeled out his chair to see his feet, which had been bare, begin to darken as his pajama pants began to tighten around his waist. Just as he was about to pull them off he realized something that caused him to pause, his fear turning to awe as he put weight on his injured leg and felt no pain whatsoever.

A sudden surge in muscle growth around his waist reminded him of what he was about to do and sat down on his bed as he pulled the pants off, his eyes widening in shock and what laid beneath. His normally hairy legs were not only completely smooth but they also shined in the light of his room, the blackness on his feet and ankles spreading up his legs like a bruise as he felt the bones and muscle in his feet begin to shift. While it wasn't painful it looked positively bizarre to him as he watched the shiny black flesh, which at this point looked more metallic in nature as a scaly texture formed on it, shifted and his big toes were bent backwards while his other four toes merged into three and grew long, sharp, metal talons. He couldn't believe that this was happening, but as the metal avian scales continued to grow up his swelling shins he reached down and actually felt the strong, yet still incredibly flexible material.

"I know what you're thinking," Kuji said, Tyler looking back at his screen to see the other avian still standing there. "But trust me when I say the first instinct your feeling to run out the door screaming will not help you, no one can see your transformation other than you and the other players of this game. We had several players go to jail for indecent exposure before we figured that one out..."

Tyler reached up to grab onto his microphone to respond when he grabbed at nothing but the air that surrounded his head. Looking down at the floor that surrounded his desk he saw his headphones right where he had left them before, yet still was able to hear Kuji's voice as clear as day. "How..." Tyler said as he moved his new feet, which were so unlike the human ones he was used to as those talons flexed back and forth. "How is this even possible? Hypnosis or something?"

"Well we have a few bugs that we need to work out, but let's just say that Haleon knows what he is doing when it comes to things like this," Kuji said as he reached down a clawed finger until it overlapped his inventory screen. "But let's not get into the technical specifications, why don't we go ahead and get you completely suited up. We have a match coming up, after all, and it's all hands on deck for this one. You could consider it a feature showcase or tutorial for a mass of new players."

Before Tyler could protest he could see the robotic raven click on the bracers and when the equip confirmation screen came up he pressed the yes button. The transformation hadn't even finished in his legs before he felt a similar feeling start to happen in his arms. At first as his hands began to swell he thought he was going to get something similar to what happened to his feet, but thankfully he retained all five digits as more metal scales began to appear on his palms and forearms. At the same time the changes had reached his knees and the avian scales turned to shiny black feathers that sprouted out of his skin that looked as sharp as knives, yet as he pressed against them with his new palms felt as soft as down. The sensation of the strange alien material rubbing together while attached to his own body gave him an entirely new sensation, one of arousal as he realized his exposed member had begun to grow erect as he put his hands over it.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," Kuji said with a chuckle. "In fact, why don't you go ahead and lie back on the bed and close your eyes, let me help you get that last piece of equipment on you. After all I am your superior, which means a little birdy like you has to obey..."

Even though his mind was spinning with questions, like how an avatar from a beta of a free-to-play video game was not only talking to him, but also somehow changing his body into a character like he saw on the game. As he thought of the others that he had seen in the lobby before he called on Kuji's help he wondered if they had experienced the same thing? Were there now dozens of people scattered throughout the world that saw themselves as robotic bird creatures? As he tried desperately to get a grasp on the situation he hadn't even realized that he was doing exactly what the bird was telling him, leaning back on the bed as the metal and circuitry continued to spread over his arms and legs towards his chest.

When his eyes closed he was not greeted with the usual darkness, instead it was like he had just opened them to see that he was in the same futuristic room as his own avatar was in the game complete with the synthetic creature standing there. "I think you're going to want this," Kuji said as he approached him, now what felt like the real him sprawled out on the strange bed as he saw that the avian creature was also very male. "You do want to win for me after all, don't you? Not just for me either, but for all your fellow flock and the Master of us all, Haleon?"

Tyler's rational mind tried to tell him that this wasn't real, that he had somehow fallen asleep in front of his computer in a painkiller-induced haze, but it definitely didn't feel like anything but real as Kuji brought the chestpiece that had once just been an icon on his monitor. "This isn't really happening..." Tyler said as he laid there, his lusts rising despite his want to get answers as he tried to focus on anything but the admittedly handsome male in front of him. "I'm hallucinating... or I'm dreaming up something to do with the game."

"Well if that's the case then why don't you just go with it?" Kuji said with a smirk on his alloyed beak. "If this is just a dream then no one is going to know, and that's the same even if this is real since I moved us to my private server. Since you're so adamant this is a mixture of painkillers and boredom, why not have a little fun?"

As Tyler opened his mouth to refute the robotic raven he just laid there in silence for a few minutes before he finally closed it once again. It... made sense actually, and even though this would be one of the kinkiest dreams he had ever had he still found himself enjoying the scene. In the back of his mind the voice in his head said something about liking women, but that was quickly ignored as Kuji approached him with the last piece of armor that he had gotten from the starter pack. By this point his arms and legs had completely been transformed until they looked a lot like the raven that stood above him, the feathers that had grown out of his skin ending at his shoulders and hips while his now fully-erect cock stood straight at attention.

Kuji wasted no time, as soon as that metal chestplate touched the partially transformed human's skin it fused to him and became part of his natural armor while at the same time the robotic male hooked Tyler's legs and held them up. It was clear that Tyler was not going to be the one on the bottom, though he was fine with that as the feathers that had held back on his shoulders and hips once more began to spread over his body like wildfire. As Kuji straddled him and pressed that black metal cock against him the transforming male began to feel something push its way out of his spine, Tyler groaning as a feathery tail like that of his General grew out from his metal-covered backside. The human squirmed in Kuji's grasp, not only from the tip of his cock beginning to push into his exposed hole, but at the growth of the muscles in his chest and back as he became a synthetic raven from the neck down.

"Look into my eyes Tyler," Kuji ordered, Tyler arching up his back to look at those glowing purple orbs that seemed to pulse with light. "You are one of the flock now, a synth bird under Haleon's banner. Your sole purpose is to win and to earn trophies, not only for your own glory, but that of your Master."

Tyler couldn't believe how intense this creature was and began to wonder if this really was a dream, but before he could think about it too much Kuji interrupted his thought processes by pushing several inches of his cock into him at once. At that point Tyler knew it had to be a dream because there was no pain, only the pleasure of one male mounting another as he felt the changes finalize over his body. When he looked down at himself he marveled at the creativity of the design on his body, the metallic feathers looked more like circuit boards complete with glowing lines on them that formed patterns all over his body. Even though his head was still human he felt... like a synth, even though he wasn't even sure what that meant.

With every thrust of the robotic raven's hips the more it seemed to cement that feeling into Tyler's psyche, his still-human mouth panting as he was rutted by the powerful male. Whether this was a dream or a game it was having a profound effect on him, it was like his very brain was being reprogrammed by the sensual male as his hands raked across his metallic, muscular physique. He felt... like part of the flock, which he belonged there with a superior male like Kuji between his legs pumping into him. It felt strangely right, like he was fulfilling the role he was meant to take as the bed shook underneath him. The more he accepted this role as one of the stealthy synth ravens the harder and deeper Kuji buried his cock deeper into him, until finally with a loud screech he came hard inside the male beneath him as Tyler's eyes began to glow with a faint purple light.

The two remained together for a while before the synth raven General pulled out, leaving Tyler feeling empty as Kuji ruffled up his shiny plumage before he looked back at him once more. "I have to say I'm going to miss the one-on-one experience when this thing goes public," he said before he looked at the anthro synth bird in front of him, the only thing not transformed was his head as the raven stroked his cheek. "Ready to start earning that armor of yours?"

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

It wasn't long after that Tyler found himself on a subway car with all manner of robotic anthro birds, some of them were black metal ravens like him while others were muscular, powerful hawks and other birds of prey. There had to be about a twenty players here, all of them still with human heads and with lustful expressions on their face. They also all seemed to be male in nature, something that struck him as a bit odd even in what he still considered to be a dream world as they waited for their match to begin. At this point he was doing exactly what Kuji had told him to from the beginning; just have fun with it and go from there.

When they got to their destination everyone there piled out of the train car and into the lobby, which was themed as an old train station as a huge metallic eagle stood in front of them with glowing yellow eyes. "You are all here because you've been chosen to take part in a trial of this very special game," the creature said with arms and wings raised. "I am Haleon, your faction leader, and as the first of my new digital flock here you've already been given the special privilege of your full armor set of your respective general. The only thing that hasn't changed is your heads, and that's because we're doing a very special battle here right now called headhunter. Your job is to take down the other side and finish their conversion, only instead of their own species they get to wear our metallic beaks with some pride."

The synth eagle continued to give a few more rules on how things would work before he told them to get ready to start. As one of the stealthier combatants he let the heavy hitters go towards the front of the line. One thing that Tyler realized as they all lined up was that none of them had wings, and since he had enough time he asked his General why no one was able to be airborne since that was their special ability. Kuji told him that since this was their first battle royale that no one had any of their faction's special abilities... and those were to be earned, not just given away.

Tyler nodded in understanding and had to get back into his place as the countdown neared its end. When he got back there was only seconds to spare before it hit zero, which caused everyone to charge forward with their guns drawn. What happened next was pure chaos; from the looks of it all ten factions were on the field, causing a massive hail of gunfire and grenades as everyone was trying to get at the other one. Some went down immediately, and those who were in charge of corrupting the other side would try and swoop in only to get downed, themselves. Since stealth was more his thing Tyler quickly made his way to one of the buildings that dotted the area, creeping through the shadows with his gun drawn.

As he got inside a large barn he could hear he was not alone and thought this was his chance to hop up higher on the leaderboard, his footsteps soft and silent as he got to the corner where the two males were on the other side. When he turned and pointed his gun around he stopped when he saw that it was one of their own corruptors with his cock hilt deep in the tailhole of a leather horse guy. "Oh thank goodness," the synth avian said with a sigh of relief. "I thought I was in trouble for sure... hey if you got a second, why don't you take this guy's mouth? I think it'll go faster if there's two of us."

Up until that point Tyler hadn't been too clear on what converting another player's head would entail, but as the health-drained stallion continued to lay there, feathers began to push out of his neck that slowly began to drift upwards towards his head. At this point Tyler no longer even questioned it even when such a thing snapped him somewhat out of his own lust-induced enjoyment, this was either the kinkiest game imaginable or he was in one of the strangest dreams. After taking a quick look to make sure they weren't going to get ambushed he knelt down and his own cock began to slide out of his slit, which the defeated male eagerly took into his mouth. The effect of two robotic avians quickly became apparent as he began to suck on Tyler's cock, who had to bite his lip not to moan and give away their position as they converted him.

It wasn't long before the leather equine had a metal bird head, the beak surprisingly soft as it continued to suck on the synthetic member while he bumped up against Tyler's groin. "I think it's best we move on," the other avian said as he pulled his own dick out of the creature's tailhole, Tyler doing the same despite how good it felt. "We don't want to be caught here with our pants down, literally in this case. Why don't we stick together and head towards what looks like a few homes, hopefully get around the bulk of the fighting and-"

A sudden crash caused them both to stop and look towards the door on the other side of the room as it began to open. Tyler told the other male to run and began to fire his gun at the two creatures that came in, taking fire himself as he ducked behind one of the corners. In his mind he knew he had to take care of the corruptor, they were their teams best shot to get more points on the board. As his teammate retreated he continued to fire at the two fox-bodied males, actually managing to down one of them before he tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately he took several shots to the back that caused him to lose all of his own life bar and collapsed him to the ground.

As he laid there the fox quickly ran to him and pressed his hand against the feathers of his chest. It was clear he was dealing with another corruptor, this one from the faction lead by Yavini as he began to feel the rubbery plants grow around him and slide between his legs as well his mouth. "Sorry buddy," the other player said as he was restrained by the plants, one of them pushing inside his tailhole as the vulpine straddled his thigh and presented his tentacle vine cock to him. "Looks like game over for you."

Despite knowing that he was going to lose a point for his team Tyler felt his head drift up and begin to suck on the fox, causing the male to moan as it slid past his lips. Almost as soon as the head of that thick tool pushed into his maw he felt his face push out like the one he had converted, except it was his lips sliding along the shaft of the bizarre member. He could feel the corruption of the other male seep into him as bright green fur pushed out of his face, thickening where his hair was on his head while his ears migrated to the top of his head while forming furry points. His head continued to bob up and down on the other male's cock for a while before they pulled out, their task at corrupting him complete as everything around him suddenly went fuzzy...

When Tyler blinked his eyes again he found himself staring at his screen, looking around at Master Haleon's lobby with the leaderboard that showed their flock had gotten third in the last game and a notification on his screen of two new items in his inventory. The first was the helmet of the raven, the last piece of the set he needed besides his wings, which was something that he was looking forward to earning. Once he had clicked the equip button on his screen he opened the other item, which was a note from Kuji, that explained to him how the referral system went and how the more people he got to play, the more items that he could get. A grin appeared on his face, which began to stretch as his face pushed out into a metallic beak while he pressed a number on his phone and waited for it to ring.

Tyler shuddered as he felt the smaller synthetic feathers push out of his face as his skull shifted into something more avian, which was the same time that he had heard the phone connect and a voice on the other end asked him what was up. "Sorry, you picked up just as I was finishing a sneeze," he lied, not wanting to spoil the surprise. "Look, I know that hate free-to-play games but I was wondering if you wanted to give one I'm a beta for a chance, all I have to do is send you the link and you can join one of these ten factions and play with me. I think it's going to be the next big thing, and think of the leg up you'll have on the others if you start playing it right now."

"I don't know man," the voice on the other end of the line said. "I mean, I'll try it for you, but I'm not going to make any promises that I'll stick around."

"Trust me, once you start playing you're not going to want to stop," Tyler replied as he clicked on the send button for his first referral. "It should be coming to you shortly. And hey, thanks for trusting me on this one, Faust." Once he was done he hung up the phone, and while he waited for his friend to accept he joined in another match, he had to make sure that his flock was properly represented, after all...