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Inflate-a-Flammie 2 DX: If the Fur Fits...

By shadowlugia249 and TheSilverSeryn

Author's Note: We have nothing to say. Enjoy!

It was a week before Halloween and Karmen Aridos was working alone in the back of his and his partner, Vega's Plush Paradise shop on nothing in particular. His favorite time of year was rapidly approaching yet again and he had yet to hear from his superior, the planetary being known as Strato Incendus, whom he had had the honor of meeting personally some time earlier in the year due to his "exceptional performances". It was considered a great honor just to know Incendus' name, but to see him in his physical form for yourself as a human was probably the next best thing to seeing God himself.

But right now, Aridos was waiting for a letter from Incendus himself regarding a new type of Synthetic he had recently developed. It was supposed to be the most powerful and capable type of Synthetic to date and was even rumored to put the recent discovery of Liquitanium to shame. Whatever it was, it was to be the cornerstone of a whole new generation of Synthetics altogether.

Just then, Aridos heard a sudden whoosh from the back room, which meant he had just gotten something through his Air Mail system at that moment. Full of fresh excitement, he dashed to the back room as fast as his arthritis would allow. He was so excited that he could even feel a trace of a small smile appearing on his wrinkled face.

The letter that had arrived through Air Mail was indeed from Incendus - he could tell that from the wax stamp on the envelope that was half-black and half-white and had a broken-star engraved in it - but when he opened it, all he found was a single piece of white parchment neatly folded into a square. This killed some of Aridos' excitement right off the bat, but he figured it was all in the drama, so he picked up the letter and carefully unfolded it.

There wasn't an introductory letter on the parchment like he was used to or even any instructions as to what he needed to do to create this new Synthetic. In fact it was completely blank except for a small note scribbled on the bottom of the parchment with the words "Good Luck" written in silver ink.

To the naked eye, it seemed to be a prank of some kind, but Aridos knew better. A letter of this importance obviously had to be hidden from any wandering eyes, so it only made sense that Incendus would write it in moon ink - a rare type of ink that was especially difficult to brew and even more difficult to detect and/or read. Most of the time, letters written in moon ink were concealed underneath the wording of a normal letter and were all but undetectable by those who weren't trained in how to detect them. In fact, the only foolproof way to read words written in moon ink was to reveal them to the light of the exact phase of the moon that they had been written under.

Fortunately, Aridos had a rather simple way of reading this without waiting for that particular phase of the moon to appear in the night sky. He took the letter over to a cupboard and pulled out what appeared to be a normal flashlight. However, this flashlight was equipped with a couple extra-special features. First of all, it had a bulb installed in it that had the power to simulate the exact frequency and intensity as a full moon. The second feature was a special filter and a pair of dials installed under the glass of the flashlight that could be turned to replicate virtually any phase that the moon might be in at the intended time. Despite how expensive it had been and what Aridos had had to go through to get it, it was useless to use on creatures who relied on moonlight to survive, but it was still effective as an "alternate light source" for mixing potions that needed moonlight to affect them as well as using it to read messages written exclusively in moon ink. It was hard to believe that all it needed to power it was a pair of D-cell batteries that could be bought at virtually any store.

Aridos shined the light on the note and adjusted the dials until the moon letters appeared. Looking it over, he found what appeared to be a recipe for what was called an "Omni-Synthetic", which he had obviously never heard of despite his expansive knowledge of Synthetics. The recipe included ingredients that he normally used to make many other types of Synthetics but had never actually used together. This made him wonder if this so-called "Omni-Synthetic" wasn't actually some kind of hybrid of every other type of Synthetic he had ever created in the past.

He looked over the details of the recipe, all the while muttering to himself. "Let's see... Balloonie... Toy... Plushie... Gooey... Yep, they're all here. This must be a new kind of mix for Synthetics and..." He broke off, looking at the last set of ingredients that the recipe called for. "What's this?" He read it to himself, which got a slight chuckle out of him. "Isn't that something? I haven't made one of those in years. I guess I could use an old challenge around here and this is just what I need to do it. I'll bet Vega will like the challenge as much as I will. It's too bad he's out of town for a while. Oh, well... his loss is my gain." Folding up the note and putting it in his pocket, he went to get ready to make the first-ever Omni-Synthetic. When he was all done with this one, he had a feeling that someone was going to be very happy with their new "friend".

But first, he had a bit of renovating to do...

My name is Alex Schaefer and I loved Halloween! Loved it! I don't know (candy) what it was (costumes) about the holiday that (candy) captured my interest the most (costumes), but it was certainly something that I look forward to more than (CANDY AND COSTUMES!!!) my birthday and Christmas put together (if you can believe that). And while I might be way too old to go out trick-or-treating anymore, I still loved to get in the spirit of the season and dress up in my best costume and just go out to have the time of my life.

But this year, things would be working out a little differently. I had just moved into an insanely cheap apartment less than 100 yards from a well-known toy-and-costume shop known as "Plush Paradise", which I planned on visiting sometime soon to pick out my latest costume.

Normally every year, my mother would make a custom homemade costume for me depending on what I wanted to be each year. She felt that I shouldn't have to be anything I didn't want to be and would devote all her time to making a custom costume that was just my size and style. She'd turned me into a fox, an eagle, a regular wolf and even a werewolf on one occasion. But out of all of them, she really outdid herself when she made a special costume based on my all-time favorite character, a Digimon by the name of "Renamon". I know what you're thinking - Renamon is supposed to be a female, right? Well, if you happened to watch the Digimon TV series, you'd hear from Renamon herself that Digimon are actually neither male nor female, even though "she" had some distinct feminine characteristics and a similar personality. It was because of that fact that encouraged me to propose the idea to Mom. Once she was sure she could take the challenge I gladly supplied her with numerous pictures and angles that I had printed off the Internet so she could get the optimum angle of the eventual costume.

And in actuality, she hadn't done all that bad. She had gotten the shade of the costume's fur rather close and had even added a kind of furry "flare" to all the parts where Renamon's fur was "tufted" such as her chest and neck areas. Even better, she had managed to create a separate set of "sleeves" that were not only made out of actual rare and expensive purple silk but she had also had a Yin-Yang patch sewn onto each one as well as a couple of "grips" installed that slid in-between each of the three "digits" on the paws. She had even crafted and stuffed the tail to its optimal thickness and had added natural flare.

The whole costume had taken about two months to make and it had been a crying shame that I could only fit into it and wear it that same year. By the next year, I had easily outgrown it, but I still kept it hanging in my closet as though it had become a part of me. Every now and then, I would open the closet door and look into its expertly-crafted eye holes, thinking about what would happen if they had some kind of life behind them. True, it was starting to get old and the "fur" wasn't quite as fine or as smooth as it had once been, but ever since I had worn it, I had felt that part of my own soul had chipped off when I had taken it off and now remained within it, binding me to it forever and disabling my ability to dispose of it or even let it fade into memory. I eventually went on to wear other costumes and become other furry-type creatures, but I could never seem to let the Renamon costume fade into memory.

But this year, I didn't have the privilege of having my mother make me a custom costume due to several major financial setbacks when we had two sudden deaths occur in the family with which we had to cover funeral costs and such. The setbacks were so severe that my parents no longer had the money to support me and I had had to move out even though they didn't want me to. It was tough for all of us, but I soon learned to cope with our troubles and soon moved into this apartment after getting an amazing deal on the monthly rent. Apparently, the last several tenants had all disappeared without a trace within several months of moving in, which had drastically reduced the apartment complex's real estate values. Even more mysterious was the talk of a "curse" on the apartment I had moved into in particular. No one had been able to stay in that apartment for over a year and there had been so many disappearances that the other tenants had naturally called it "cursed". I tended to believe in the supernatural, but since no one had ever reported any violence or deaths in the apartment, I soon got over their silly superstition and went about my life as usual.

This brings me back to my costumes. Like always, I took the Renamon costume with me wherever I went, but I had outgrown it several years ago, so wearing it this year was out of the question. Regardless, I had a plan to check out the infamous Plush Paradise store and see what kind of costumes they had up for grabs. The alleged quality of their products was almost legendary around here since the people who disappeared from the apartment had all paid a visit to that shop just prior to their mysterious disappearances. But even though I believed in the super_natural,_ I wasn't one to believe in super_stition,_ so as Halloween approached, I made plans to visit the store just a week before the legendary holiday. So you could imagine my excitement as I left for the shop with my wallet bulging from the cashing of a recent social security check that I got every month.

However, when I arrived at the shop that day, I immediately noticed that there was something very different about it. Prior to that day, the shop's exterior walls had been covered with so many colors in so many different freestyle patterns that it would have made even the most respected of modern artists jealous.

But this time, the outside was painted a solid jet-black shade without any other coloring on it whatsoever. The sign atop the pole next to it had even been changed to read "Aridos' Magical Medleys". It didn't make any sense. Was it a coincidence or had someone else moved in overnight? That couldn't be true. Given how long it took to paint something of that size and all of the other steps you needed to do to change the name and face of a store, it was virtually impossible for it all to have happened overnight. But it was all true and just reeked of coincidence, but I wasn't about to let a little makeover stand in the way of my mission.

I walked up to the only door anywhere on the outside of the building and tried to open it only to find that it was locked tight, even though there was a sign on the other side of the glass that read "Open". It was pitch-black on the other side, which made me wonder if someone had just forgotten to switch the sign to "Closed". I eventually spotted an intercom speaker on the side of the door that had a label underneath it that read "Adults over 18 only!" This suggested that the former toy store had become some kind of adult store, but I had come too far to back down now. I wasn't going to back off until I knew for sure that this store had changed completely both inside and out.

Regardless of the sign, I pressed the "Call" button, which seemed to get the attention of whoever was inside.

"Hello?" The voice was gruff and grumpy as though the speaker was rather up there in age.

"Uh... are you open?" I asked uncertainly. "I wanted to come in and do some Halloween shopping if you can still do that here."

"Are you over 18?" the old man griped.

I had expected this. Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about. "Uh... I'm 21, sir."

There was a long pause on the other side as if the old man was checking to see if I was telling the truth. I waited patiently, knowing I had nothing to worry about. After a minute or two, I heard the lock click and the old man said, "Come on in. Welcome to Aridos' Magical Medleys!"

Realizing there was no turning back, I gulped and pulled the door open, unsure of what I was going to see.

The inside of the shop was surprisingly dark for a bright October day. In fact, the only source of light seemed to come from a few dimly-lit candles dotted around the store in select places. They weren't much, but they were just enough to allow me to see where I was walking without running into anything. There was also a strange smell that hung in the air as I walked around. It smelled of vintage fabrics laced with mothballs as well as something both spicy and sweet at the same time. There was also something in the air that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up, but it was oddly comforting... almost like magic. Weird.

I didn't see any videos or toys like the kind you would normally find in an adult toy store, but one thing that was constant around the shop was a number of circular racks filled with what appeared to be heavy clothing or - if my hunch was correct - Halloween costumes. There didn't appear to be any kind of set pattern to the objects hanging on the racks and there were too many different colors and shapes to suggest they were regular clothes. A single candle hung over each rack as if it was suspended there and a single metal sign hovered below it with a word that supposedly described the contents of the rack. I took the opportunity to head over to one of the racks and check out the merchandise.

Sure enough, they were Halloween costumes, but when I picked one up to look at it, I was amazed to see the selection of characters and the detail that had gone into each one. The rack in question read "Pokémon - Latex" and included costumes of characters I had never seen in real life before. One of the characters was electric-green-and-yellow and had a rather large spiked headpiece with a tag that read "Electrike". And when I felt the material it was made of, I was amazed and how smooth and liquid-like the "latex" costume felt. The material seemed to be able to "breathe", which was unlike any kind of regular rubber material I had ever felt before. I set the costume back on the rack and picked up another. It was a mix of black, blue and yellow material that took the form of some kind of jackal creature with the name "Lucario" on it. Even in the limited light of the candles, the detail of the costumes was virtually unreal. I had never felt such a bizarre material before, much less seen it woven in these kinds of detailed forms before. Huh.

Another rack read "Furries - Natural". The name was rather odd, which drew me to it like metal to a magnet. But when I picked up a costume that appeared to be some kind of humanoid fox, I nearly dropped it in surprise! I wasn't sure if I was seeing things, but I definitely knew I wasn't feeling them. The costume had been genuinely heavy and had felt as if it was made out of actual fox fur! Wondering if it wasn't just some kind of processed fur coat, I ran my hand through the "material", trying to understand just what this was. Amazingly, the material was not only warm and furry, but it felt as if it was actually "alive", which seemed to rule out the possibility that it was some kind of pelt. It also felt too heavy to be a fur coat, which meant that there was something very different about it that I couldn't quite identify.

Now on full alert of what I was dealing with, I placed the "costume" back on the rack and shuffled through the others with renewed interest. If the makers of these costumes were as talented and as unorthodox as I thought they were, then they had to have a Renamon costume in there. The selection of characters that hung on the racks was just too unusual to be limited to the vague and cheap selection you saw in normal stores. I wasn't sure if they did, but I felt that if they could make latex Pokémon suits with that much accuracy, then they had to at least have Digimon ones as well.

But even though I didn't want to admit it, a quick scan around the store contradicted that. I could not find a single Digimon costume in the entire shop. It was a crying shame that a store as unique as this one didn't even dabble in something as equally unique as Digimon. I soon gave up, frustrated that I had gotten all of my hopes up for nothing.

However, just as I was heading back to the Pokémon rack to try and find an alternative costume for this year, I stopped and examined something rather unusual on display in the exact center of the store. It appeared to be a display dummy wearing a costume of some kind, but at the same time, it couldn't be. The costume it was "wearing" appeared to be standing up and posing on its own. From the looks of it, it appeared to be some kind of large, furry, bear-like creature, although it was hard to tell in this light. However, the costume appeared to have not two but four large, feathery wings growing out of its back. This contradicted everything I knew about furries in general because no living thing that walked on two or four legs had four wings. This naturally caught my attention and I decided to go up to the dummy and feel it for myself.

It was one of the strangest and most amazing costumes I had ever felt, even after seeing that bizarre fox one. It had a fur coat that felt like real fur, but at the same time, it couldn't be real. It was rather soft and buttery, but each synthetic fiber had a bit of natural toughness to it almost like processed vinyl. Yet at the same time, it was rather glossy and rubbery as though it was made up of latex, vinyl and real fur all at the same time; I couldn't make up my mind.

Closer inspection of the costume revealed that there was a large plastic stopper sticking out of where its navel should be, but in this light, it was hard to tell. It was odd that a costume would have a nozzle on it like an inflatable toy since it kind of defeated the purpose. I felt around the area and sensed that the vinyl material all around it flowed up perfectly to it as though it had "grown" there, making a seamless transition from vinyl to plastic. Also, the parts of the costume that weren't furry had a bit of a "gooey" feel to it as though it was made up of some kind of liquid that was also solid at the same time. And underneath that liquid-like skin was a bit of a "squishy" feel to it almost like it was filled with some kind of liquid underneath the "thick" skin. Whatever this costume was supposed to resemble, I knew I had to have it!

I looked up into its face, but it was almost impossible to see it properly in this light. However, I could make out two bright, shining pools of light right about where its eyes were supposed to be. As I stared into those seemingly bottomless orbs, time seemed to slow down dramatically as the two of "us" exchanged glances. And during that time, the costume appeared to "see" me somehow, but it was difficult to tell. However, before time could return to normal, the costume actually began to move on its own! It reached out with its "paws" with such swiftness and agility that before I knew it, it had me spun around with my back up against its front and I was locked in its firm yet gentle grip. And before I knew what had hit me, I felt something thick, hard and sharp bite into the side of my neck... but only for a split-second. Before it could break the skin, the costume suddenly froze up as though it had been stunned by some outside force, rendering its attempt to bite me as moot. As I felt it separate itself from me, time seemed to return to normal as I wrenched myself from its grip, clapping a hand to my neck. What the hell had that been all about?!

"Sorry about that," came a familiar grumble. Still in shock, I looked to one side and saw an aged, hunchbacked, decrepit old man with more wrinkles on him than my laundry after a week standing next to the costume as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened whatsoever. "They tend to get a little excited when they see someone they feel they can co-exist with."

I wasn't quite sure what was going through this old man's head, but it certainly didn't fly with me. "What kind of place are you running here?! That... that thing attacked me and nearly bit me! It... It can't be alive! It's just a costume! How can costumes move on their own?! This can't be happening! What is wrong with this place?!"

The old man seemed to be rather patient with me, but eventually even his patience seemed to reach its limit. While I was still going off at him without a care in the world, he muttered a few indistinguishable words under his breath and all of a sudden, my mind completely blanked out in mid-sentence.

My head spun for a moment and when I recovered, I couldn't remember a single thing of what had just happened. The costume's actions and my irate words towards the old man had vanished from my mind as if I had been standing here all this time doing nothing.

"Ohh... what happened to me?" I said, trying to keep my balance.

"You were just looking at this fine costume here and you were about to tell me if you wanted it. Apparently, your brain went out on what you'd call a "brain fart"."

It took me a moment to recover, but when I did, it seemed to all made sense and I remembered I was in the middle of doing some costume shopping. "Oh... that's right."

Once I had recovered my balance, I turned around to take another look at the costume on display. It was indeed a strange costume in general with its bizarre texture, build and species. In essence, it was like I was looking at a life-sized rubber/vinyl/furry pool toy of some sort. And just like before, I realized I wanted it more than ever. It was as if it was calling out to me somehow... almost as if it was a voice echoing in my head... but not really.

"Is this one for sale or is it just a display?" I asked the old man.

He merely shrugged. "You'll never believe this, but this costume is the only one of its kind currently on the market. I got a special promotional order from my superior to make this rare, super-capable costume. It's got anything and everything you can put into a costume and more. In fact, even I don't know what it can really do. So as part of the promotion, I'm willing to give this costume to you free of charge if you're willing to put it through its paces for me."

I gulped hard and visibly at this. "F-F-Free?! You gotta be kidding me!"

The old man shook his head. "As you can see, I never kid about my work. This costume needs to be tested out and you're the only one who's come in here that it seems to like."

"Uh... like? What...?"

He shrugged again. "I can just tell these kinds of things. This costume was made for you, no doubt about it. So what do you say?"

I couldn't argue with an offer like that, so I nodded and said, "Okay. Pack it up for me and I'll be on my way."

The old man nodded and walked over to the costume where he picked it up, dummy and all with one arm before carrying it back to the rear of the store. I was anxious to take it home and try it on even though it was a week before Halloween. But I was also somewhat concerned about what the old man had said about it "liking" me. Just what had he meant by that?

Regardless, I could barely contain my excitement as I waited. This was going to be so cool! I was going to be wearing the very first... whatever kind of costume it was. In fact, I was going to be the only one to go as it this Halloween. It was even stranger that the costume seemed to be vinyl, rubber, furry and liquid all at the same time. I had a nagging feeling that I was going to be sweating up a storm while I was wearing it, but right now, that was beside the point.

I didn't know how long I waited there for the old man to return. It felt like ages, but it couldn't have been more than just a few minutes. My feet seemed to be welded to the floor and I found myself unable to move my legs at all, even if I had wanted to. But after what I later learned was only five minutes, the old man finally returned with a large, silver, metal briefcase that was easily three times thicker than a normal leather briefcase. Despite its size, the scrawny old man didn't seem to have any trouble at all lugging the briefcase across the store with one hand before handing it to me.

"There you go. One Omni-Synthetic Flammie costume prepped and ready to go. Everything you need to know about it is in here, so you shouldn't have any problems with it. And remember that if anything happens that you don't understand, come back and let me know and I will do my best to take care of it."

I nodded and took the suitcase with me, which weighed a lot less than it should have. I was so excited to try on this free "Flammie" costume that I really didn't think about too much else until I got home.

As Alex left, Aridos went back to the back room and immediately started writing a letter back to Strato Incendus to tell him of his success in "selling" the new Synthetic. He even added his own amazement in the letter at how quickly it had sold. He had just put it on display a couple days ago and it had already picked out its partner as though it had been a lucky shot in the dark. When he was done, he quickly sent the letter out and received a letter in return almost immediately. He had to admit that the god of gods certainly knew how to prioritize.

Incendus' letter mostly contained congratulations on Aridos' success, but there were also a few words of warning thrown in that disturbed him. They included notes such as "untested and unstable abilities" and "manipulative and suggestive nature" and even "questionable behavior and antics". This made Aridos rather uncomfortable as he read it, but when he read the last few lines on the letter that included the words "you are not responsible for its actions" and "I will keep tabs on its progress", he was able to breathe a little easier. It seemed that Incendus was going to keep an eye on the Synthetic while it was in Alex's care so that things didn't get thrown out of whack, so for now, he was off the hook. All he could do now was wait for Vega to return from his vacation and then inform him of what had happened while he was gone.

When I got home, I immediately headed to the living room to drop off the suitcase before heading around the apartment to close all of the blinds I could find and locked all of the doors to make sure I had all of the privacy I could possibly get. I had a sneaking suspicion that things were going to get a little... oh, how do I say this... "weird" once I got the costume out of the box. It just didn't seem like your "average" costume just from the circumstances surrounding its origin and I wasn't going to take any chances with it.

Once I was fully "secure", I returned to the living room and sat down on the floor to open the briefcase. The silvery metal was rather odd in the way that I was unable to leave any fingerprints on its polished surface and it was much lighter than it should have been. And when I undid the latches on it, I saw that the costume had been neatly folded into a perfect square of material on top of a red cotton-lined interior like it held the crown jewels or something like that.

The costume itself had the plastic stopper I had seen on it earlier in the middle of a mass of orange vinyl with edges of white on the sides, which suggested that this was where its "navel" was and had been folded up around it accordingly. However, the entire mass was a bit... flatter than what I had assumed a folded costume would be. It was like it really was made of vinyl and had been deflated and folded accordingly. And when I picked it up, I noticed that it was rather heavy for a mass of vinyl, which was certainly heavier than the briefcase had been with the costume inside.

I tried to unfold the costume, but it had been deflated and folded so thoroughly that it was rather difficult to unfold without the material sticking like your legs on leather on a hot day. I also noticed that there was a folded piece of what appeared to be yellowed parchment on the red pillow that had been slipped underneath. It looked like there were some special instructions for the costume or something, so I set the costume aside and picked up the parchment and unfolded it, reading the following to myself:

Dear Mr. Schaefer,

Congratulations on purchasing this rare, one-of-a-kind, Omni-Synthetic costume. Let me assure you that the experiences you face from here on out will be more amazing that anything you could ever have dreamed of. I hope to hear nothing but good things from both you and your new "artificial" friend.

First of all, let me say that you've probably realized that this is no ordinary costume. This special product has been created out of four different synthetic materials to be one of the most elite, powerful and capable of all the costumes in the known world. A part of it you've probably already noticed about it is that it has qualities of both a balloon and a vinyl toy. It is able to inflate and deflate itself up to and even beyond its original size. And its vinyl-like traits enable its skin to be much more durable that regular rubber, which causes it to behave as such.

You may not know that it also has some plush-like abilities that make it very soft and "furry", which also gives it some fabric-like properties and quite a soft and cuddly nature. And with some plushie traits mixed in with its rubber and vinyl properties, its thickness and durability make it virtually impossible to damage. But even though it may not seem like it, these abilities enable your costume to be much more... "cuddly" than a normal vinyl toy as you'll soon find out.

Finally, it has traits of a rare and unique material known as "Liquitanium". This rare element is comprised of a kind of thick, syrupy, steely-silver goo that can take any form the spirit within it desires. Keep in mind that it is not a good idea to try and strike this costume in any forceful way since refined Liquitanium has been known to be ten times harder than diamond, even in its liquid state. However, this goo is very unique and as you experience its traits and abilities for yourself, you may be unable to compare it to anything you have ever faced before. Just remember that the abilities of Liquitanium are nearly endless, so do not be afraid to think outside the box.

Finally, I should probably tell you about the actual "costume" part of the costume. Yes, you can wear it the way it was meant to be worn, but most of the time, that will not be necessary. To put it on, just locate a large seam on its back and climb into it as if you were putting on a suit. Don't worry if it feels a little strange and/or slimy when you put it on; it is completely normal for it to feel that way. However, for your first time, I strongly recommend that you not wear anything when you put it on. This way, the costume will be able to dial in your unique "attributes" a lot easier and make its own personal judgment about you. And don't worry about suffocating. The materials it is made out of will deliver fresh oxygen to your body and skin so that you won't even break out in a clammy sweat. Just breathe through it normally and you probably won't even be able to tell the difference.

Remember, Alex Schaefer, that this costume is much more than it appears, as you will see after the very first time you wear it. Most of its abilities are untested and considered experimental. Remember what I said that if something happens that you do not understand, come back to my shop and tell me and I will do my best to remedy the situation. You have a very special costume with you, and in time, it may become your closest friend, so remember that if you treat it with love and respect, it may repay the favor sometime down the road.

Good luck!

Karmen Aridos

President and Owner of Aridos' Magical Medleys

The note made very little sense to me, but at the same time, it made all the sense in the world. This "Aridos" guy had obviously just explained the costume to me, but I was just having a hard time taking it all in. It seemed that there was far more to this costume's anatomy than I was taking at face value, which probably meant I was in for the ride of my life when I finally put it on.

What bothered me the most was how that crazy old man had known my full name and the fact that he was referring to the costume as though it was a living creature. I couldn't remember telling him my name and it seemed highly unlikely that a costume could supposedly come to life, no matter how unusual it appeared. There just wasn't anything about it that was "alive" in any way except for that strange look it had given me in the store with its amazing eyes. But one "lifelike" part of an inanimate object does not life give on any occasion, no matter how "real" it may be.

Still, I was noticeably cautious of the costume as I set the letter aside and went to the costume itself. Given how deflated it was and how big it had been in the shop, I knew I had a lot of inflating to do before I would get a chance to wear it. But when I fished out the plastic stopper and popped it open, this was considered unnecessary. The instant the plug was pulled, air began to rush into the costume at an impossible speed as though it was a kind of self-inflating raft. In fact, it only took about ten seconds flat for it to reach its full seven-foot-tall size. Now that was convenient! It was so convenient that it kind of scared me at just how fast it had happened.

Now that it was at its full size, I could finally see for myself what this "Flammie" was in much more decent lighting. My first analysis of it resembling a bear in the shop had actually only been the tip of the iceberg. If I had to classify it "properly", I would have to call it a combination of a bear, a gryphon and a dragon, but I doubted it was any of those things. Its full size went up to a little over seven feet, which concerned me that it might be too big for me when I tried to put it on. Its skin appeared to be flat, smooth and slightly plastic-like as though it was a giant inflatable pool toy. Thinking it over, I figured I must have been imagining things when I had felt "fur" on it back in the shop. There were a fair number of "permanent" creases in the vinyl at different parts all over its body just like an inflatable toy should have.

Speaking of its skin, most of it was made of a smooth, glossy, buttery-soft vinyl material in a kind of pure-white color that kind of matched the color of moonlight on a cloudless night. Almost every square inch of its main body was covered and colored in it except for its "underside", which started at its chest and ran down its front, under its neutered loins (whew!) and down to the tip of its medium-length, thick, inflatable tail. Those parts were covered in a kind of rugged, orange, armor-like, rugged, uniform "plating" that seemed to "protect" it like the belly scales on a dragon.

The costume's footpaws looked a little plump from the amount of air inside them. They didn't have "individual" toes like what you would see on a normal animal, but all of them were molded together with slight indentations in the places where the spaces between the short, nubby toes would be. And sticking out of each of its three "toes" was a thick yet hollow brown vinyl talon, which were straight instead of curved like on most beasts of prey. Finally, I looked under its footpaws and found a curious set of pink pads under the "ball" of the paw and under each "toe" like what you would normally see on a cat.

Its forepaws, though, were similar in shape and build to its footpaws, but they were constructed a little differently. It had a fourth digit that functioned kind of like a "thumbclaw" that each had a talon yet were cut off from the rest of its paws. The three primary digits and talons, however, were fused together with a set of pure-white "webbing" that gave the three brown talons a kind of "gloved" or "mitten-like" look. There was just enough of an indentation in-between each talon that each one could be moved on its own to some degree without taking the other two with it. The whole setup kind of reminded me of a vinyl "mitt", which would work a lot better for my hands when I put them on since I had five fingers while the costume only had four.

Its wings, which I suddenly realized had not been in my imagination back at the shop, were numbered at four with two growing from just below its shoulder blades and the other two growing from the smalls of its back. But even though they had been crafted to appear to have feathers, the details were all folded over each other to make the wings appear to be little more than air-filled appendages with the patterns of feathers drawn on them to give them a lifelike appearance.

Its head and face were... there was only one word for it... cute. It was both charming and adorable to look at and the wide, frictionless smile it wore from one end of its muzzle to another seemed to suggest that this was little more than a gentle giant. It seemed like such a sweet face that practically no one could ever get mad at. Its smile stretched across a short but adorable beak-like muzzle that seemed to be fused together yet still looked like it could move once I got inside it. A single sharp, pearl-white, pointed fang stuck out of the roof of each side of its mouth, giving it a slightly "vampiric" look and somehow adding to its adorable nature. And on the top of its head, it had a thick mane of several locks of molded, goldenrod-yellow "head fur" that would not have looked out of place in a "Dragonball Z" anime. And finally, on either side of that mane was a pair of long, pointed, deer-like ears that were pink on the insides and had a blue-and-green-colored "dipped" look on the tips, which was oddly similar to the coloring along the edges of each of its molded wings.

Finally, I returned my gaze to its eyes, which had amazed and perplexed me back at the shop. Now that I had some better light, I could see the deep, endless, baby-blue pools of light embedded in its skull. It had very little whites on the edges of its eyes and it didn't appear to have any pupils. Instead, it looked like a million rays of blue light surrounded the center of its eyes where its pupils were supposed to be. Oddly enough, when I took another look, I saw it did indeed have pupils, but the black of them was blended so perfectly with the blue on the rest of them that it was virtually impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. The irises and pupils flowed so seamlessly into each other that they actually added to the creature's charming and mysterious nature. And when I adjusted my position, its eyes seemed to sparkle like two starry galaxies embedded in its head that swallowed everything they saw... in a good way, of course.

The Flammie costume was clearly the most amazing thing I had ever seen. The quality of the craftsmanship made all of the costumes that other stores sold seem like cheap, dirty rags. I wasn't sure if that old man... what was his name... "Aridos" had the ability or the patience to create something like this, but if he did, he was certainly very good at what he did. And even though it was just a vinyl replica, I didn't doubt that the real thing would have been just as, if not more amazing to see in person. I wasn't sure what Flammies really were or where they came from or even existed at all, but I felt honored and privileged to have a replica of one such creature in my living room.

Now that I had gotten a good look at it and had admired it for a good while, I decided to see if it was at least wearable. Otherwise, I would have to figure out what to do with a massive seven-foot pool toy in my cramped apartment. Even if it wasn't, it was certainly soft, big and cuddly enough that I could curl up in bed with it like a giant vinyl body pillow. Since no one else was here and I felt confident that no one was peeping into my apartment (I was on the third floor after all), I decided to strip down on the spot and see what it would look like once it was on me. Soon, I was buck naked in my apartment, but I didn't care in the slightest. As long as I could enjoy this beautifully-crafted synthetic masterpiece to its fullest, I was just fine with exposing myself in my own living room. I then picked up the costume and held it up as I began to look for a seam on the back where I could open it up. Oddly enough, the costume didn't even crumple once I had it vertically elevated. It was like it was filled to the brim with air, allowing it to keep its straight posture even without any internal support. It was as if an actual person was standing inside it at any given time now that it was fully-inflated. The old man had said that all I needed to do to put it on was to climb into it like a suit and I would be "just fine".

But as I moved it around looking for a seam, I heard something fall to the carpeted floor from somewhere on its body. It took me a moment to realize this, but when I leaned it up against the couch and looked to see what had happened, I found a rather odd accessory that the costume appeared to have "shed". It wasn't very impressive; it was just a round, clear, plastic "gummy" collar that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It had a slight gap in it like a headband, but it was far more flexible and a bit more comfortable. It seemed rather harmless and I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least try it on. Maybe it was something that the old man had failed to inform me about and I figured it might help me wear the costume a little more professionally (don't ask how I knew that). I looked it over for a moment and then carefully pulled it apart before sliding it over the front of my neck. It was rather tight and snug, but it didn't appear to be strangling me and it felt as if it was made just for me.

But as I took my hands off of it, I suddenly felt a little lightheaded and dizzy as though I had gotten up too fast again. I teetered dangerously on the spot, almost falling over before the blood flow to my head returned to normal. It didn't hit me at that point that the collar was somehow involved, but I had inadvertently just made a big mistake that would come back to haunt me later on.

Putting it out of my head, I picked up the costume again and finally found a folded seam in the back of the costume as though it had always been there. It ran along the Flammie's spine from the bottom of its neck down to the base of its tail. And when I peeled it open, the effect was a lot like flesh parting instead of a zipper or Velcro and sounded a lot like it as well. The inside of the costume was so dark that it was impossible to see the other side of it. It was as if a void had opened up in its back with virtually no bottom. Oddly enough, there was a rather pleasant and heady smell of fresh vinyl and smooth latex emanating from within the costume along with a kind of bizarre slimy smell that reminded me of the old Nickelodeon "Gak" stuff I had once had a ball with when I was younger. I then brought the costume to its knees and slipped my leg into it, recoiling suddenly when my bare flesh touched the inside of it.

"OOH!!!" I squealed out loud. "That's chilly!"

Not only was the lining material chilly when it touched my bare flesh, but it was also rather sleek and slimy at the same time. It felt a lot like the aforementioned "Gak" but somewhat thinner and a tad smoother. I looked into the void of the costume again and stuck my hand into it, feeling around the insides to see just what was in there. My hand disappeared into the darkness, but I didn't have to stick it too far in to feel a rather slimy and moist inside. It was as if the lining of the costume was made up of some kind of goo that was somehow able to keep its shape without pooling to the bottom. It wasn't unpleasant, either, but was oddly comforting to the touch. Even better, it didn't leave behind any kind of chemical odor on my skin like most other oil-based products did.

Going for a second take, I lifted my leg into the seam and gently lowered it into what I assumed was the costume's leg. The outside didn't stretch out like one would expect to see, but as I slid my leg into the slimy sleeve, I was able to get an outside reaction when I flexed my leg to test it. Like the collar, it was a pretty snug fit, but shortly after making contact with it, the slimy goo quickly warmed up and felt rather cushy on my bare skin. My foot soon met a wall of resistance as it slid down to about where the foot was. And when I flexed my toes in the seamless sleeve, I got another reaction from the costume as it bent its own toes in response. Cool! I soon followed it up with my other leg, sliding it into its place and then pulling up the costume so that I was standing in its "back" like it was a full-body suit.

Shortly after this, I experienced a similar situation when I slid one of my arms into the suit. I could feel the goo molding itself around my fingers, providing a kind of custom-made glove as it wrapped around my hand. And when I tested out the costume's response, I saw the molded talons on its arm bend just enough to allow me to move comfortably within it. It was so weird to see the Flammie's arm and paw move in tune with mine. It was as if I could actually feel that paw as if it was my very own. I tugged my arm slightly out of its place and it parted company from the suit without too much resistance.

Feeling the goo with my hands was much different than feeling it with my feet mainly because my hands and fingers were far more sensitive than my toes. It felt like some kind of rubbery goop that would mold itself to every single nook and cranny of anything you stuck into it, providing maximum comfort and flexibility at every possible point.

Finally, I used the costume's molded paws, which felt oddly like my own for some reason, to grab the head and pull it up over mine. And when the goo touched my face, it tickled me slightly like the softest and smoothest of latex gloves. It was a very bizarre and unique feel that I really couldn't compare to anything I had ever felt before. I had half-expected the goo to flood into my nose, mouth and ears when I slipped my head in, but amazingly, it stayed in place, providing a set of "air pockets" that seemed to supply me with enough air to breathe with little carbon dioxide blowback. It was almost as if I was breathing the goo itself as though it was providing its own oxygen. I also noticed that the costume didn't appear to have any eye holes for me to see out of, but as I reached back behind me and pulled the folds of the seam shut, I soon felt my vision return as though the costume had opened itself up to me. I was finally sealed in and I could finally see just what I looked like.

Speaking of which, I felt a rather strange feeling wash over me after the costume had sealed shut. It felt like a bit of cold water had rippled over my skin, numbing up my senses and making me feel much lighter than I should have. Come to think of it, now that I was fully engulfed in the costume, my senses didn't seem to be responding to me the same way they should have been. My skin felt a little... thick and slightly stiffer than normal as well as somewhat firmer and more durable than my human flesh. It just didn't feel like... me.

And when I looked down at what were now my paws, I wasn't sure whether to gasp from shock or from awe. My hands didn't feel the same way that they used to and weren't responding they way that they should have. I could feel my thumbs just fine, but I could only barely feel the tips of the other three. It seemed that everything below that was just an empty void and when I tried to move them, it felt as if I was flexing them from inside thick vinyl mittens.

Speaking of vinyl, my insides didn't feel like they should have anymore. Normally, I felt somewhat "solid" with all of my organs in my torso, but it felt as if I was filled with nothing but air. I couldn't even feel any liquid or goo moving around inside me like I had half-expected to feel.

I also felt like I could now control the wings that had come with the costume as though they had been grafted to my spine. I could feel unseen nerves and muscles growing out into them and felt that I could move them slightly by adjusting my shoulders or part of my back, which was odd since I hadn't been able to move that second part on its own before. And speaking of limbs, I found that I could move and flex my tail by adjusting my tailbone, which seemed to have grown out in such a short time. Weird.

All of these bizarre new feelings were a little too overwhelming for me, so I decided to bail out for now and think about how I was going to handle this for a while. The old man had said that the costume had "liked" me, but I had no idea that this was what he had in mind. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to cope with these new abilities when I put it on on Halloween night, but I decided to take a break and at least sleep on it before I made any long-term commitments. I just wasn't sure just what I had gotten myself into by putting this unusual costume on in the first place. Perhaps it was a good decision to do it a week beforehand so I could think about what I was going to do with it when the appropriate time came.

I reached back behind the costume to feel for the seam I had used to climb into it... but as I felt around for it, it seemed that the crease had disappeared! Not only that, but I could feel my nerves through the costume as though it was my own skin! I was starting to panic as I clawed desperately at my back to find the crease. Fortunately, I learned that my fears were unfounded when I felt something like a fold of flesh peel away from my back and I felt myself separate from the costume again. I was soon allowed to climb out of the costume and stand over it in the buff once again. Still, I couldn't quite shake the feeling of how "real" everything had felt while I was in there.

I quickly got dressed as the costume leaned up against the couch. I wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but I felt I needed some time to myself to think this all over. Everything seemed to be happening faster than I could understand it and I decided just to sleep on it and worry about it in the morning. Besides, it was getting late and the costume's unusual sensations had worn me out.

I made to go back to my room, but as I was leaving the living room, I stopped. There was something about that costume that was bothering me, disabling my ability to just walk away from it. For some reason, it just didn't seem right to just leave it sitting there, all helpless and alone. The emotions I was feeling felt like I was walking out on my best friend and it seemed to tear me apart even more with every step I took away from it. I soon found that I couldn't just leave it and that it had to be right next to me for me to be happy and sane.

After fighting with myself for a moment, I finally gave in. I went to the costume, picked it up and carried it into my room with me. I felt much better now that I was right next to it and there was a slight tingle in my mind that seemed to be saying, "Thank you" to me. I didn't know what had just happened, but I felt that as long as the costume was with me, I felt safe and happy. However, I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't see the costume stretch out one of its wings of its own accord and embrace me as I carried it at my side to my room.

At first, I placed the "toy" on the side of my bed while I climbed in with it, but it bothered me that it wasn't cuddling up with me like a loving friend. So against my better judgment, I pulled it under the covers with me, cuddling up next to it and sharing its smooth yet unusually warm body. Now I felt safe and could finally get some sleep for tonight.

I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling a little strange. Something didn't seem quite right and I could somehow sense it. The comfort of the giant toy was gone and I was left in bed all by myself. I felt around for it and found that it wasn't there and that the door to my room was open a crack. I hadn't been scared of the dark since I was in first grade, but all of a sudden, that cold fear returned to me in full force without the toy's presence, which was odd, even for me. I shuddered slightly as I tried to get comfortable in the bed, but the loss of my favorite toy was getting the better of me. I felt a sense of loss, fear and confusion washing over me as tears began to well up in my eyes. I was all alone without my toy and I suddenly felt as helpless as an infant without it. I was scared completely out of my mind and I knew that there was no way I would be able to get back to sleep as long as my toy friend was missing.

Just then, I heard something padding through the apartment before entering the bedroom. Some of my fear subsided as a dark figure crept into my room, but I found I was becoming more and more comfortable as it drew closer to me. Soon, it was right next to me and climbed into my bed to comfort me.

Almost immediately, the figure sensed my distress and I heard a soft, melodic coo coming from somewhere in its throat.

"Aww... didja miss me? I'm sorry, love; I didn't even realize I was gone that long. All I did was go outside for a little fresh air and you nearly fell apart without me. I thought you were going to sleep right through the night. I guess I was wrong." Its voice was soft, comforting, melodic and oddly... feminine.

But in my current state, I didn't really care who the voice belonged to. All I wanted was for it to be back beside me for the rest of the night. "Please don't leave me again, I beg of you."

The figure seemed to hear me and placed what felt like a plastic nail over my mouth. "It's okay, love. I won't do it again... at least not anymore tonight. I'll make you a little more dependant from me in the morning so you can stand me being away from you for a little longer. But for tonight, I'll be right here, so you don't have to be afraid of the dark any longer. Here, drink this. It'll help you settle down." I suddenly felt something long, thick and hard slide past my lips and a stream of what felt like thick, gooey gel was pushed into my mouth and down my throat. The figure then rubbed me under the chin to encourage me to swallow and suck lightly at the object in my mouth. The gel I seemed to be "drinking" was sweet and oddly savory and the energy it gave me when it hit my stomach seemed to both rejuvenate me and calm me down at the same time. I wasn't sure what it was, but I liked it and felt I needed it to keep me this way.

After I had had a few good gulps of the unusual fluid, I felt the object withdraw from my mouth and I soon felt a second feather-light feeling touch me on the face, which was a little moist and felt something like a lick. Then the voice spoke to me again in a hushed whisper. "There you go, love. Now let that swirl around inside you for tonight and you'll feel so much better. Now just try to get some sleep and things will be just fine by morning. Good night, Alex."

Not knowing or caring how it knew my name, I sighed and cuddled close to the figure, whispering, "Good night," before drifting back off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling much better than I had during the night. I no longer felt scared or afraid of the dark, which shouldn't have been a problem in the first place. I had gone most of my life without fear of the dark, and if it had happened now, in my early twenties of all times, then there was something very wrong with me.

But as I lay awake for a few minutes, the memories of last night began to slip my mind and I was soon left with no memory of what had happened between me and the strange figure. In fact, I soon passed it off as a strange dream that I could barely recall and decided to just get on with my life.

I tried to roll out of bed to figure out just what was going on, but before I could get too far, I was stopped by a sudden pressure on my left side as though something was holding me in place. Confused, I pushed against the pressure again and I felt it break, enabling me to roll onto my right side. I immediately found myself face-to-face with the Flammie toy/costume I had brought to bed with me last night.

However, I immediately noticed something wrong with this. For one thing, its arm was not at its side like it had been when I had fallen asleep last night. Another big difference was that there was a slow, steady, deep noise coming from the toy that sounded... a lot... like... breathing?! The toy was breathing?!

Realizing that what I had assumed was impossible was quickly becoming a reality, I whimpered slightly out of fear, which seemed to get the toy's attention as it opened those amazing eyes of its and looked right at me. The two of us looked long and deep into each other as though daring the other to make the first move. The look in my eye was that of ice-cold fear, but the toy's eyes seemed to be radiating a kind of tired curiosity. After all, I had just woken it up. Finally, the toy smiled and gave the tip of my nose a quick lick with a moist plastic tongue.

I was so taken aback by this sudden action that I batted my nose several times and tumbled backwards out of bed, landing with a dull thump on the other side. The toy was alive! It was really alive and had just licked me!

"Alex? Are you okay?" said the toy, crawling over to look over the edge of the bed at me wedged in-between it and the wall. "I'm sorry. Did I come on too fast?"

For some reason, I was too scared to move. A vinyl toy/costume was alive and was talking to me! This couldn't be happening! And yet... it was. It was all happening and it was all too real.

"You... you're... I can't believe you're...!"

The toy seemed to find my behavior humorous as it smiled and chuckled a little at me. "You're a funny human, you know that? I can't believe your kind is at the top of the food chain. Here..." It held out a mitt-like paw as though offering it to me. "Why don't you get up out of there and we'll try this again?" I stared at it for a while, uncertain about what it was planning. This seemed to humor the toy even more because it chuckled again. "I'm not gonna hurt ya. Technically, I can't unless you let me. Come on..."

Feeling like I could trust it, I took it up on its offer and grabbed its paw, which was surprisingly soft and warm for being made of vinyl. It also had a bit of a squishy feel to it as though it was a liquid-filled glove. I then used its leverage and its unusual strength to get out of the rut and back onto my feet. It then rolled onto its own feet on the other side of the bed and gave me a curious look.

"You feel so weird, Alex. I guess I must feel the same way to you, too, huh?"

I wasn't quite sure what to say. I had half-expected to say that first. I had never had a conversation with a costume before, much less a life-sized toy. This was a rare and virtually unheard of situation for me, so I was kind of at a loss for what to say and/or do. "I... I guess so." I nervously scratched the part of the back of my neck where the collar I had put on last night had unknowingly bonded itself to me. "I've never really talked to... well... whatever you are."

The toy actually looked deeply flattered as it seemed to blush, the areas around its cheeks actually flushing a slight red. "I'm a Flammie, love, and a very rare type of female Flammie at that." "She" held out her paw to me again. "I'm Seryn. And of course I know all about you, Alex Schaefer."

"Seryn..." I rolled the name over and over in my head as I shook her paw. "It's a very... lovely name."

This seemed to make "Seryn" rather excited because she suddenly let out a shrill, melodic trill and suddenly launched herself at me from across he bed, tackling me and pinning me against the wall of my rather small bedroom before bringing me to the floor, hovering over me with her paws pressed firmly against the front of my shoulders. Her actions startled me at how excitable and unorthodox she was.

"You're just so adorable! Gimme kiss, lover!" She then began "assaulting" my face with a flurry of quick and affectionate kisses. At first, I tried to fight her and fend her off, but the affection I was getting from the amazing toy seemed to cancel that out and I quickly let her admire me. I had never gotten this much affection from any female before, so it was kind of a bonus to meet one that didn't seem to care about what kind of person I was as long as it could spend time with me. Seryn planted plastic perks (say that five times fast!) all over my face before she locked in one final affectionate kiss right on the mush, holding it for a few seconds to draw out the pleasurable experience. I was in utter heaven as she locked in that final kiss for a while before separating from me again and looking at me with that cute little smile of hers.

I was so amazed at how good that had felt and was in such a blissful state after her intoxicating kiss that there was only one thing I could say to her: "Thank you."

Seryn cooed and rubbed her vinyl muzzle up against my nose to she me that she liked me... a lot. "Anytime, dear. So... what do you say I go make you some breakfast?"

I gulped, perplexed at her proposal. "You can cook?"

Seryn nodded. "Of course I can. We Synthetics are quite talented in the art of cooking, baking, frying, etcetera. So... what do you say?"

I wasn't sure what to say. No one had ever offered to cook me breakfast apart from my parents. "Uh... s-sure. I'd like..."

Seryn stopped me right there as she placed a talon on my lips. "Shh, don't tell me. Lemme guess." She held up her paw as she closed her eyes and appeared to be thinking of something. "Three eggs, over hard, no crispy whites, nicely salted, perfectly round, hash browns, fried crispy, smothered in ketchup, three strips of bacon, well done and fairly crispy and two pancakes, nice and fluffy and drenched in syrup with a glass of orange juice, right?"

I was in complete and utter awe at how well she knew me already. "Uh... yeah, if it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all! One hearty grand slam breakfast coming right up!" Seryn shrilled and climbed up off me before literally bounding right out of the room like a balloon in the wind. I had to admit she was really... weird. All I could really say about her that wasn't intentionally insulting was that she was one of the most colorful and unusual characters I had ever met before. To date, she had practically scared me out of my wits, offered her help, "attacked" me, smothered me with loving kisses and had then offered to cook me breakfast. How weird could you get?!

Still not sure if what I was experiencing was real, I got up off the floor and began to get dressed like I always did. If what I had gotten myself into was all a dream or a figment of my wild imagination, then I would simply walk out into the kitchen to find absolutely no other living soul in the apartment as well as the costume in the living room right where I had left it. This just had to be a dream that was actually playing out in my favor. Regardless, it was still a good dream.

But when I came out into said kitchen and found breakfast cooking away without anyone there, I had to question my sanity. Maybe I was seeing things. But then again, I was probably still asleep. There was no such thing as a walking, talking, toy costume. Heck, the words "toy" and "costume" shouldn't have even been used in succession to each other in the same sentence.

But if this was a dream, then why was breakfast cooking away with some rather real and enticing smells coming from it when I had absolutely nothing to do with it? I could hear the eggs and the hash browns sizzling away as though they were real anyway, and since I could smell them both and I knew I hadn't put them there. Maybe I was awake after all.

Just then, I heard a door close in the hallway and someone walked out of it with rather muffled footsteps on the carpet. And when a familiar figure walked into the kitchen carrying a second familiar figure, anything that suggested that this was still a dream was thrown right out the window.

"Seryn" the "Toy Flammie" had returned carrying a mass of what I first thought was a pile of clothing in her paws. But upon closer examination, I saw that the familiar mass of white, yellow and purple was my favorite Renamon costume that I had hung up in the closet when I had first moved in.

"Good morning, Alex," she said politely, presenting the limp costume. "Check out what I found in the spare room closet. It's a really old and worn costume that I thought could use some sprucing up."

I looked at the "costumes" with a nervous expression. "Please be careful with that, Seryn. I've had it since I was ten and it's very delicate. It's my favorite Halloween costume and I don't want anything to happen to it since my mom made it special for me."

Seryn smiled and began folding up the ragged costume before setting it on the counter. "Don't you worry about that. I'll just give it a little Synthetic elbow grease and before you know it, it'll be so new that it'll practically be thanking you for keeping it safe for so long."

I gulped at this comment. "What do you mean? It's too old to wear anymore. I just keep it with me because it means so much to me."

Seryn merely shook her head and placed a paw on my shoulder. "I'm an Omni-Synthetic, love. I can fix up practically any kind of material just by giving it a little TLC when I put my mind to it and it'll be as good as new. Just give me some time to work with it and I'll have it better than new when I'm done with it. Who knows? We may even have a new friend to play with before too long."

Still unsure of just what she was planning, I said nothing as Seryn walked past me and returned her attention to the food she was cooking. Even with semi-boxing-glove-like mitts for paws, she still handled the pans and utensils with expert precision as though they weren't mitts at all. She was able to flip the eggs without splattering any grease at all, adjust the hash browns by shaking the pan just enough to agitate them, flip the pancakes with a quick wrist movement with the spatula and toss the bacon around without spilling a single drop of grease. She even did it all while being made completely of vinyl, which didn't seem to bother her at all. She got dangerously close to the burning flames at times, but she didn't even char as she "toyed" (oy...) with the equipment.

When she was all done, Seryn put all my food onto a plate and applied the condiments just the way that I liked with more than enough ketchup to soak the hash browns, just enough salt to give the eggs the perfect seasoning and plenty of syrup on the pancakes to virtually drench them. She then carried both plates (there wasn't enough room for just one) past me and set them down on the table before turning to me with a smile.

"Breakfast is ready. Coming?"

I nodded and went to sit down before picking up a fork to dig in. However, I noticed that something was missing right off the bat. "What about my orange juice? Didn't you say you would make some of that for me?"

Seryn looked like she had made an honest mistake as she smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh... I forgot. Let me whip that up right now." She went over to the fridge and looked inside. "Oh... sorry, love. You don't have any orange juice made." And before I could say anything, she added, "But you do have some oranges. Want some juice fresh-squeezed? My treat."

I looked over at her with confusion. "But I don't have the right equipment to make fresh orange juice that way."

Seryn simply shook her head. "Don't worry. I can make some without all your fancy-pansy equipment. Just stand back and watch me work."

She took out a trio of firm, ripe oranges and juggled them a little with her paws on the way back to the table. She was pretty good for someone made of gooey vinyl and had a pretty firm grip on the slippery spheres. I watched as she gave all three a final toss and then popped them into the air before opening her maw and swallowing all of them whole one after the other. I was amazed that she didn't even swallow until all three were in there. Amazingly, she didn't even choke on the massive orbs as they slid down her gullet.

"Uh... Seryn?"

Seryn smiled and gave me a small perk on the cheek, which smelled strongly of oranges now. "Just wait a minute. I gotta process them now. Lemme get a glass."

I had a feeling that this was going to get a little messy, so I scooted away as she went to go get a tall glass from the cupboard. All the while, she seemed to be agitating the oranges by bouncing on her bulbous toes all the way there. And when she made a detour to the trash can, I had to wonder just what was running through her and not exactly just her mind.

There was a loud gurgle from inside her and she suddenly spit up a large orange mass of what I guessed was dried, mashed and shredded pulp and peelings into the trash. Licking her chops from the bittersweet taste, she came back over to me with a glass and stood in front of me.

Amazed, I felt I had to ask her, "What are you up to?"

Seryn chuckled and gave her belly around the plastic stopper a little jiggle. "Just making one glass of fresh-squeezed sunshine from my belly to yours."

She held the glass down below her navel plug and popped it open with a "two" talons. I half-expected air to escape from her, but instead, a solid but gentle stream of "processed" orange juice flowed from the port and into the glass as though she was a living juice cooler. I was in utter disbelief as this miracle unto nature poured me a fresh glass of orange juice directly out of her navel and up to just below the brim.

"Here you go, sweetie," she said cutely, setting the glass on the table and then closing her belly port again. "It takes a little longer to make it fresh, but that's when you add the love to the finished product."

I took the glass and looked into it with confusion and awe. Not only was there no pulp to be seen, but it was also nice and cold as though she had just taken it out of the fridge. And if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn that Seryn had also... nah... I was just imagining it. Humans and toys weren't supposed to be like that... right? (Author's Note: ...)

Seryn looked curiously at my still-shocked state. "What's the matter, love? Aren't you gonna eat? I put my heart and soul into that meal and I'm confused as to why you aren't eating."

I still questioned her use of the words "heart" and "soul", but I realized that she had made this wonderful homemade meal with her own two paws and I wasn't even bothering to try it. I quickly set the glass down and went into my pancakes with my fork (I didn't like to use a knife for something so soft and easy to cut). I took a bite and paused, savoring the flavor with the fork still in my mouth as I gave my analysis.

"Seryn... this is... this is great! This is way above average! I didn't even know toys could cook like this! I haven't had pancakes like this since my mom made them for me, and even she didn't always get them right. She would either overcook them or she wouldn't get them fluffy enough. I don't know how you did it, but these are absolutely perfect!"

Seryn looked truly flattered. "I thought you'd like 'em. I might be a toy and/or costume, but I know all about you ever since you put me on last night."

I tried my best to eat slowly and savor the food, but it was so good that it was hard to pace myself. "How'd you know about me like that?" I said in-between mouthfuls.

Seryn shrugged and traced a talon around my neck where the clear collar was still seamlessly embedded in my skin. "Oh... let's just say I have my ways. Now you just enjoy your food and I'll be tending to your old friend over here." She got up, went to retrieve the Renamon costume from the counter and went into the living room to start her version of "TLC". I didn't watch her at first because this good food was starting to go cold, so I resumed eating until I was finished and then set my dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them. I then went into the living room to sit down next to Seryn and check on her.

Amazingly, even though she had only been working on it for a few minutes, the costume's overall appearance and quality had already significantly improved. It didn't yet look as good as when it was new, but it was already looking a bit less worn and had regained some of its old luster. And all that Seryn seemed to be doing was running her vinyl mitt over the fabric in smooth, constant strokes as though she was wiping it down with a dry washcloth. And every so often, she would hold up her polishing paw up and blow on it, making it glow silver a little before returning to "polishing" the costume.

"Wow," I said as I watched her work. "How did you do that? It's just... not possible."

Seryn purred a little and gave me a sweet look. "I thought you would have figured that out by now, love. "I'm M-A-G-I-C, magic! I can do almost anything I set my mind to when I want to. And since I'm a unique type of Synthetic, I can do things that not even "normal" Synthetics could do. I can even do things to you if and when I feel like it."

I gulped hard and slid away from her a little. Did she really mean that? Was she trying to scare me or was she trying to call a bluff?

Thankfully, she spread her left wings hooked them around my right side in a comforting and reassuring way. "It's okay, Alex. I didn't mean to scare you. I promise I'll do my best to respect your privacy and comfort zone. It's a good thing I'm not an "X-Class" Synthetic, which would really complicate things. I promise I won't do anything to you without giving you a fair warning in advance, okay?" Well, that was good. At least she was honest.

I nodded and watched Seryn as she returned to "polishing" the costume a little more before I decided to turn on the TV and see what there was to watch. It turned out that since it was Sunday, there wasn't really anything set in stone on any channel, so I flipped to TruTV and watched a "The Principal's Office" marathon while Seryn worked in curious silence. Every now and then, she would pause and watch a few seconds before smiling smugly and then returning to her work.

I managed to watch an entire episode before Seryn set aside the costume and placed her paw on my lap. The old Halloween costume looked like it had been expertly restored by the "new" costume since it now looked even more radiant than it had been when I had first gotten it and the texture of the fabric had regained a lot of its old luster and detail.

"Well, that's about all I can do for now. I don't want to overdo it to the point that I rip and/or tear it, but it's certainly in better condition than it has been recently. I'll give the magic I put into it a little while to sink in and then I'll work on it a little more to see if I can't "stretch it out" a little. At this rate, it should be up in and running in a few days."

Unsure if what she was saying was accurate, I sighed and grabbed a little of both of Seryn's left wings to cuddle with. They were so velvety smooth and comfortable that they felt like a couple of cushiony air bags filled with warmth and just a little bit of liquid, giving them a slightly squishy feel. She seemed to like the attention she was getting and curled her wings in a little so that I was pulled lightly onto her lap over her legs.

"Aw, Alex... You're so nice to me. I can certainly rely on you when I need it most."

I blinked at the words she had used and sighed in comfort as she gently stroked my side with her mitt. "That's funny. That's exactly what I wanted to say to you."

Seryn chuckled and looked up to watch TV with me, her body generating warm, comforting heat as she massaged me gently. "Great minds think alike, I guess. You'll find that I'll be using your own words a lot while we're together." I had no idea how right she was.

After cuddling next to her for a while and watching some TV in comfortable silence, I got a sudden burst of energy strong enough for me to push myself into a sitting position. "Well, Seryn, I think it's time for me to take my morning shower."

But instead of being disappointed that I was leaving her for a moment, Seryn suddenly looked excited and giddy. "Ooh! Can I come in with ya? I've always wanted to be a water toy!"

"Uh..." This was an odd request, even coming from her. I wasn't quite sure what she would do when she saw me naked, but then again, she really didn't seem to be bothered by anything that I did as long as she got in on the "action" with me. So I decided to trust her and see what happened. "Okay... just don't go overboard while we're in there."

Seryn smiled and gave me a quick perk on the cheek. "All right then. Let's go!" She stood up and helped me to my feet before adding, "Maybe we can even go out to the pool later on."

Pool? There wasn't a pool around here that was inside since it was still rather cold out to be swimming. Wait a minute... "You mean the pool at the Y across town?"

Seryn cooed. "Yep. That's the one. I am part pool toy after all, so why not?"

I guessed I couldn't argue with that logic, so I agreed to it and Seryn and I would head over to the YMCA for some pool shenanigans some time in the near future.

"Great! But for now, let's go take a shower!" She bounded off to the tiny bathroom directly across from my bedroom. I sighed at her high enthusiasm and followed after her.

Once I had gotten some clean clothes, Seryn watched in admiration as I undressed. All the while, I couldn't help blushing as I stripped myself down in front of the excitable Flammie, which Seryn seemed to find entertaining.

"It's okay, Alex. I really don't mind. You could walk around here in the buff for all I care and I can't do anything to invade your privacy. Just check out the plumbing..." She balled a fist and rapped on her chest and crotch areas with her knuckles, which gave some strange squishing sounds when she did so. "Nothing. You don't have anything to worry about from me. In fact..." She broke off, running her paw over her belly plug for a moment as though thinking of something, but she decided against it and shook her head. "Nah... there's nothing that you need to worry about hiding from me. Not unless you say otherwise." I was a little uneasy about that last comment but looked past it as I walked around Seryn to get the water turned on and adjusted to just the right temperature. While I was leaning over, though, Seryn couldn't control herself.

"Nice butt!" she said playfully, grabbing a big pawful of flesh in her mitt and causing me to arch my back with a yelp.

"Hey!" I said in my own version of a shrill. "Watch it, Flammie! Just because you can't do that with me doesn't mean you have to get frisky anyway!"

Seryn merely grinned and hooked her paws behind her back with a look like a little kid who looked like she was up to no good. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself."

I wasn't so sure about that, but I wasn't going to hold it against her as I turned on the shower and then climbed into the tub with the frisky Flammie following right after me. I was now naked in the shower with an "equally naked" pool toy, so there really wasn't any difference there.

Even though we were both standing in the shower, only I was getting wet since I was standing in front of Seryn with the water beating against my back, but she didn't seem to mind. She didn't even seem to mind anything else she saw on me, even though some things were dangerously close to her own areas at times, which made me feel somewhat safer around her. And unlike her previous incident, she didn't get any crazy ideas and left me to my own devices as I got my hair and the rest of my body wet. And when I turned around for a moment to rub the water into my hair, she was able to restrain herself and kept her paws from wandering until I turned back to face her. And when I had gotten my hair wet enough and felt good and ready, she even intercepted my hand as it reached for the shampoo, which she grabbed and applied to her own paw. It seemed that she was offering to wash my hair for me while I stood there.

"You really don't mind?" I asked bewilderedly as she rubbed the liquid shampoo in her paws and set the bottle back down in the corner.

Seryn shook her head. "Absolutely not. I love to serve to live and vice versa. Just think of this as a little bonus from me. Now put your head down and hold still."

I did as she said and she proceeded to rub the shampoo into my hair. It was an odd feeling since her paws were both glove-like and made of vinyl. I had expected some friction to build up between her skin and my hair, but not once did I feel anything tug where it wasn't supposed to as she lathered me up rather quickly and effectively. It was as if her paws had a liquid-like surface tension, which blended flawlessly with the shampoo that she was rubbing into my hair. And if I had looked up to see what she was really doing, I would have seen that that was quite true. Her entire paw areas from the wrists downwards had been converted into a kind of steely-silvery liquid that had taken the shape of her paws and talons. This unusual change in materials had allowed her to rub both the shampoo and a little bit of her own liquids into my hair, adding to its strength and luster.

When she was done with the shampoo, I got a brief glimpse of her paws while they were still liquid before they turned back into her old vinyl mitts. I was both amazed at the chemistry behind it and concerned she had just put something unexpected into my hair without me knowing.

"I didn't know you could do that." I said as I touched one of her paws with my hands. "Is this what you're really made of?"

Seryn didn't seem to be concerned as I held her paw like a fortune teller and felt every unseen liquid bone and muscle inside them. "Yes and no, actually. Technically, I'm made of four different types of synthetic materials, but they've been mixed together inside me so well that I can be just one or even all of them together at once. Why? Does it bother you?"

I shook my head. "Not really..." I broke off.

Seryn chirped and tilted her head to one side. "Not really... what? You're leaving me hanging, love."

I thought about this for a moment before finishing my statement. "Well... I've actually only seen something like this on the Internet in one particular character. But I doubt you and him could be related."

Seryn used the paw I was examining to tilt my chin up to look at her. "Try me. Tell me about this "character" and we'll see where our differences lie."

I figured it wouldn't hurt to tell her. "Well, his creator is called "Terminotaur" and the character in question is actually called "Termin_otter_". He's a black-and-white anthropomorphic otter who's got a kind of spade attached to his rudder..." (Author's Note: If you've read the "Redwall" books, you'd hear the word "rudder" used more when referring to otters' tails than the word "tail" since they kind of work like that.) "... and his handpaws are made of some kind of silvery, liquid-like slime, which look a lot like yours but in an obviously different shape. Normally, they're used as normal paws, but I've seen numerous pictures where Terminotter seems to have "liquefied" and he turns different parts of himself into little more than goo. Apparently, his entire body is made up of the stuff because I've seen him in some rather different "shapes" made up of the goo. I just thought you might be similar to him the way that you turned your paws into goo like that."

Seryn released my chin and thought about this for a moment, comparing the facts about Terminotter to her own unique abilities. Finally, her face lit up and she smiled pleasantly at me. "I guess I can see where you got the idea. I think the only difference between Terminotter and me is that I'm latex, fabric, vinyl and goo where he's just fur and goo. I can manipulate myself into virtually any combination of the four, so it only makes sense that I can turn some or all of myself into goo as well. And I think that, unlike him, I can choose to keep myself in one solid form while being goo or liquefy myself as I see fit. If you want, we can try it out later on and see where it takes us."

I nodded with a slight smile. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll have to test it out in the near future."

Seryn purred and wrapped her arms around me to give me a loving and comfortable hug as though it sealed the deal. I didn't even mind as we hugged and she rubbed my back with her paw for a moment before we separated again. We looked into each other's eyes and both felt that our relationship had just been elevated to the next level.

Once we had separated again, I was about ready to turn the water off when I put a hand to my hair and found that it was still covered in shampoo suds. I had gotten so caught up in talking with Seryn that I had completely forgotten to rinse myself off, which was really something since I had never met a woman, much less a "living" being that I had had so much in common with. I was talking more to Seryn in five minutes than I had ever said in two hours with someone else in my species pool. It was amazing how there seemed to be someone for everyone, even if they weren't your species.

With a coy grin to Seryn, I turned around and began to wash the shampoo and goo mixture out of my hair. Meanwhile, Seryn's attention had been diverted to her belly plug, with which she was fidgeting with her claws with a thoughtful look on her face. And just before I turned around, her face lit up with a sudden idea. Unfortunately, I missed it since I was still wiping water and silver suds out of my eyes.

When I turned around again, she had a big fat grin on her face, which made me naturally suspicious. "What are you smiling at?"

Seryn didn't do a very good job of looking innocent. "Oh, I was just thinking."

I barely bought this. "Thinking about what? What are you up to now?"

Seryn trilled and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "What would you say if I were to make us a new friend?"

This didn't register with me. "What do you mean?"

She pulled her head back and looked at me properly. "What would you say if I said I could use part of your... "anatomy" to make us a brand-new friend? All I would need from you is part of your physical being and we could share this apartment with a third Synthetic friend."

I still wasn't catching on. "And just who would this new "friend" be?"

Seryn merely shrugged. "Anyone you want. It would be someone that we would consider our plaything. He'd be simple yet intelligent enough for us to have our way with as we see fit yet at the same time he'd be a true friend to both of us."

I was barely hanging onto her words. "I guess that would work. I'm just not sure who I'd pick over every other character out there."

Seryn smiled. "Then let me help you see it. Watch."

She wrapped a paw around the back of my neck where the collar was and as soon as she touched me, I immediately "saw" it. It was as if she had narrowed down which character I would like to have in my life (apart from her) more than anyone else and I could "see" it directly from my mind, giving me enough details to picture who it was she wanted to create. I could see a full-sized toy similar to her, except that it was more... (Author's Note: That's a secret!) than Seryn was. I had been keeping an eye on this character for some time and had been unable to find much physical evidence of it. Its (*secret*) was rivaled only by its (*not telling*), who was just as (*what?*) as it was. Despite its rarity, I figured that it would be a perfect addition to our little family. The only thing I was worried about was its (*?!?!?*), which made me wonder if it was going to work with our current living arrangements, but as long as it worked out and we were able to have our way with it as we saw fit, then I was just fine with that."

"He's really... special," I told Seryn. "I like him. I've kind of always admired him but I never thought I would see him outside of (*Mommy!*). I've always wanted to be him and he's kind of like a living embodiment of my personality while at the same time being just as soft and cuddly as you are."

Seryn smiled pleasantly. "I thought you'd pick someone like him. But first I have to get the materials needed to make him before he'll show up here. And to do that, I'll need some bits and pieces of your body and persona to synthesize him. I don't want to overdo it, either, because I can only take so much from you before rendering your body unable to keep up with me, so it'll take a few days for your body to produce enough materials to make him. But I'm sure we'll be able to work things out in the end."

This seemed to work out just fine with me, but one key detail still bothered me. "And just how are you going to get my... "materials" to make this guy in the first place?"

Seryn sighed and looked suddenly serious as she ran a mitt down my left cheek and held my chin in it so that I was looking right into her bottomless eyes. "I need your physical essence... in other words, your flesh, blood and bones. And this is just how I'm going to do it."

As I stared into her eyes, I realized that I hadn't been keeping an eye on her other paw, which had squeezed her belly plug out of her navel and had popped it open, yet somehow keeping all of the "air" inside her. And before I could stop her, she thrusted her belly forward and jammed the open end of the plug into my own navel, breaking the skin inside it and locking the two of us together as well as opening a passage for our "materials" to move freely between each other.

I gasped as she made the connection and felt all of the air vanish from my lungs, leaving me physically and emotionally breathless. I lost all the feeling in my legs and was about to collapse when Seryn hooked her arms under mine and caught me before I could take her down with me. I was now unable to move or breathe by myself and I could have sworn I had felt my heart stop. But at the same time, she seemed to be keeping me on a magical life-support system with her somehow monitoring my vital signs at the same time. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that my brain was still functioning, I might as well have been legally dead.

For the first time, Seryn looked genuinely emotionally distraught. Somehow, I knew that she knew she hadn't wanted to do this to me, but there was virtually no other way to do this short of cutting me wide open and taking what she needed that way.

A tear trickled from her eye as she continued to hold me up and caressed me gently with her paws at the same time. "I'm sorry, Alex, but this is how we must do it. There is no other way for me to take what I need without performing full-fledged medical surgery and I doubt that that would have been as painless as this. I can promise you, though, that this will not hurt and will only take a few minutes to complete. I know I should have asked before I just helped myself, but even I can't control my actions sometimes. I'm very sorry that you have to be conscious to do this, so let me help you to distract your mind so that it will seem more bearable." She then leaned forward and pressed her vinyl lips directly against mine, locking me in a kiss of passionate and sorrowful bliss to comfort me while her body began to extract the necessary "materials" from me.

It was the strangest sensation I had felt to date. It didn't hurt like she had said, but it still felt like random bits and pieces of my flesh, blood, bones and organs were chipping off of my insides and were being piped out of my body and were entering Seryn's system, leaving numerous holes in my body that didn't appear to be "leaking" for some reason. And as soon as Seryn had removed a fair amount from my body, the flow between our bodies reversed itself and she began to "repair the damage" in a rather unexpected way. I could feel a warm, thick, gel-like material being piped back into my system that Seryn was obviously generating to replace what she had taken in the first place. The goo was like some kind of indestructible liquid material that acted like some kind of glue as it adhered to the holes in my body the first removal had caused. Not only that, but the incredibly dense material was making me physically stronger at the same time. It was not only fixing the damages already caused to me but was also strengthening my various systems and doubling their effectiveness. In a sense, Seryn was removing my weak mortal parts and replacing them with stronger and far more durable immortal materials. And after the flow from Flammie to human went on for a few seconds, it reversed itself again and the whole process began all over again with more random bits and pieces.

The process alternated between us back and forth exactly every ten seconds. For the first five seconds, Seryn would extract what she needed from me and store it away inside her for later and then the flow would reverse again and she would pay back what she had taken with her own special materials. Technically, she was weakening herself to make me stronger, but not exactly. Since she was already a Synthetic and she wasn't exactly "giving away" the materials, she had the ability to replace what she had given me over time as though she possessed some kind of regenerative abilities. This was like some kind of modified Synthetic-to-human sex, but technically wasn't sex at all. My reproductive organs remained untouched and since we were actually joined by our "navels", the word "sex" was more of a reference than an actual term.

I felt the process repeat itself about twenty times before Seryn finally broke the kiss and used her magical abilities to restart my vital signs. She gently pulled her belly plug out of my navel, leaving behind a little leftover goo to repair the hole she had made when she had broken the skin as though nothing had happened at all. The goo even took the same color and consistency as my flesh, leaving no mark that she had even touched me. She then looked at me with a slightly weaker but still satisfied expression.

"You did well, my love. I have what I need from you for today. Tomorrow, we'll do this again once you've recovered and I'll add a bit more to our new... friend."

Amazingly, I only felt slightly weaker than I had been before the connection, but other than that, I was still okay. I felt a little wobbly in the knees, but other otherwise, I felt fine. I also felt somewhat satisfied that part of me was being stored away to make a brand-new Synthetic (*uh...*) for us to play with. We finished up our shower together and Seryn politely looked away this time while I got dressed. The two of us then left the room without another word. I was still a little uneasy and had to use Seryn as a support for a moment, but we soon made it back out into the living room with me fully dressed so we could recover after our little "ordeal".

But after an hour together, I felt, if anything, a lot weaker than I had been immediately after our exchange. It seemed that I was feeling the side effects of having my insides removed and traded as they began to take their effects on me. It seemed that humans weren't supposed to have their insides obliterated and traded with a Synthetic and I was about to pay for my ignorance. I didn't feel as good as I should have and soon, I was so weak that I couldn't even lift myself up off of Seryn's lap.

Fortunately, she was able to tap into my feelings and sense that I was in trouble. "Alex... are you feeling okay? You haven't said much since we came out of the shower."

I sighed and weakly shook my head. "Seryn... I... I can't move."

Seryn suddenly looked concerned, but she remained calm as she purred gently, lifting me up so she could look in my eyes. However, I was barely able to return her gaze from how weak I was. "Oh, you poor human. I can tell you're in trouble. I can feel part of you through our connection, and unfortunately, it's telling me you're as weak as a sick infant. I'd like to help, but... I'm not sure..." She trailed off and I noticed that she didn't appear as shaken up as I had hoped she would be.

"What... what is it?"

Seryn looked at me with a somewhat more concerned look than she had been using, which made me feel somewhat better, however, that feeling was soon replaced by some concern of my own when I saw the morbid look she had on her face.

"I can help you recover and make your body more compatible with my body's materials... but... you'll need to take a ride inside me for a while. I'd be the one in control of both of us until your body is more in tune with mine, but I promise I'll take care of you. I can give you your strength back and more, but you'd need to ride around inside me for a few hours so I can lend you my body's immunities. Is that all right with you?"

My strength was starting to fail rapidly now. Right now, I was desperate enough to let her do virtually anything to me now. "Do it... I don't care anymore... just... help me... please!"

Seryn nodded and gently slid me onto the couch. She then knelt in front of me and ran her paws over me, checking to make sure that my vitals were still functioning. But since neither of us could even feel them, she realized what she had to do. Reaching behind her, she felt around her back until she located the seam I had used to wear her yesterday. With a similar effect, she soon pulled her spine apart and there was a fresh split down her back in-between her wings. Seryn then had to figure out how she was going to get me inside without moving me too much. Since I was lying down, she had to improvise. She moved me around so that my legs were leaning slightly off to one side off the couch. She then sat down with the split in her back facing me and then reached behind her to take my feet before sliding them into her back. I could feel the warm, slimy goo of her insides wrapping themselves around my ankles and before I knew what was going on, I was leaning all the way into Seryn's body with my arms and head covered by her gooey insides. I could already feel new strength coming to me from the goo and I knew she could feel the same from me as well. Soon, all she had to do was close up the split in her back, sealing me in completely.

But just before I became one with her body and went to sleep, she gave me one more reassuring thought through the collar around my neck. Sleep tight, Alex. I love you.

But I was already asleep and hardly heard her.

As she fully absorbed Alex's body into her, Seryn closed up the seam in her back without as much as a crease out of place. At least he was somewhere safe now where he could rest and recover from his ordeal in peace. She had learned to love the human in such a short amount of time and she was willing to do whatever it took to make and keep him happy and comfortable. His physical body was gone, but she could still feel his true essence sleeping inside her and that was all that mattered to her.

Now that he was safely tucked away, Seryn now had free reign of the apartment for the time being. She could have done anything she wanted in there, but right now she was feeling a little antsy through her emotional connection with Alex. The human was normally an energetic person apart from how he had just been feeling and some of that energy was leeching into her system through the collar fused into his neck. She felt she could remedy that by going out into the community for a while and see the sights. She was a young, new, toy costume with virtually unlimited potential, so she might as well try and do what she could while she could.

For starters, she picked out a bag that she could carry with her so that she could do a little shopping to get the materials to further restore the Renamon costume she was working on. She needed to give it a little more... "definition" if she wanted to get it back on its feet, so she figured she might as well pay a visit to the fabric shop in the mall not far from the apartment.

She started to pack some of Alex's money to purchase the items she wanted but stopped at the last moment. Alex was asleep and she doubted he would let her just spend all his money wherever and on whatever she wanted, so she came up with a simple alternative to pay for what she needed without drawing too much attention to her. Granted, she would be doing a little counterfeiting scam, but she would be long gone by the time anyone caught onto it. It was just something that newly-discovered types of Synthetics like herself were able to do and had been able to get away with so far.

So once she was packed up, Seryn gave her paw a quick lick and pushed her "hair" to one side like someone doing some quick, cheap work and then left to go do her errands while Alex slept comfortably within her. She could feel him moving slightly in his sleep and she purred at the tingling feelings that had just erupted all over her body. He was really sweet... really...

Seryn was considered a natural and obvious oddity by the time she had reached the fabric store inside the mall just a stone's throw from the apartments. No one had ever seen a toy as large or as bizarre as her before, so it was no surprise that they had never seen her walking around with a bag in her mitt, shopping and browsing for something to buy as if she did it all the time. Most people chose to view her from a distance, afraid that she might be wild or might possibly attack, but a little boy who had been "forced" to come into the store with his grandmother had gotten curious and felt confident enough to walk up to the giant toy before reaching up and tugging at her lower-left wing. This got Seryn's attention and she looked down at the boy with a simple smile. The boy looked shocked that she had felt that tiny tug and backed off a little.

Seryn, however, didn't mind one bit. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt ya." She stretched out the wing as though offering it to him. "Wanna feel it a little more?"

She lowered the wing and allowed the boy to feel her soft, liquid-filled, buttery-smooth vinyl skin at a little closer range. He seemed amazed that a giant toy furry was talking to him yet didn't seem bothered that he had "invaded" her personal space. And when the boy felt the soft, smooth, sleek vinyl that she was made of, a look of pure ecstasy washed over him.

"You're so soft!" said the boy as he ran his fingers over her smooth wing. "Are you a real toy?"

"Benjamin!" scolded the boy's grandmother, coming over to crash the boy's little party. "Shame on you!" She made to pull him away from her, but Seryn merely wrapped her wing around him like a vinyl burrito, which the boy didn't protest against in the slightest. "It's okay, miss. He's not doing any harm. I actually get asked this all time."

"Benjamin" was in kid heaven as he pressed her wing up against his face, loving the soft, buttery-smooth and squishy feel of the vinyl. "So are you? You're like a big playful pool toy."

Seryn purred and ruffled the boy's hair with her mitt, which seemed to make the boy almost purr himself. "Actually, I'm a mix of several different things. I'm a balloon, a toy, a plushie and a costume all in one. But if you had to call me just one of them, I guess you could call me a "toy"."

By now a small crowd had gathered near the walking talking toy and was watching the Flammie pamper the boy, who wasn't complaining in the slightest. Even his grandmother saw how happy Seryn was making her grandson and actually took back what she had said about her earlier. But it was what Ben said that made them both blush deeply.

"Can I keep her, Grandma?"

Not only was the grandmother embarrassed by her grandson's bizarre question, but Seryn couldn't help but blush as well. "I'm very sorry, love, but I'm strictly spoken for. However..." She eyed a small dirty-white plush fox in the boy's arms. "I can let you take a bit of me with you."

The boy finally broke free of the vinyl wing wrapped around him and looked up at her. "How can you do that?"

Seryn smiled and pointed to the stuffed fox in the boy's arm. "I can make that little friend of yours come to life if you want. It'll know all about you and I'm sure it'll be the best friend you've ever had."

The boy looked down at the white plushie in his hands as though it was his most precious possession. Years of love and constant handling had matted its fur and some of the luster in its fur had gone out to make it appear a bit dirty and matted. But some things were just too sentimental to just throw them out as they got old and even though the toy was as old as the ten-year-old Ben, she could tell he had done his very best to take care of his favorite plush toy.

"You're not gonna hurt him, are you? I've had him ever since I was a baby."

Seryn shook her head and embraced the little boy with her wing again as though showing how gentle she could be. "I promise. Just let me take a look at him for a minute and then I'll give him right back. He'll even be better than he ever was."

Benjamin looked nervously around at the crowd that now consisted of every available person in the store, both customers and employees. Even though he had known Seryn for only a few minutes, he felt that he could trust her with his oldest and most prized possession. He finally surrendered the plush fox to her and she patted him lightly on the head as if to thank him. She looked the plushie over from every possible angle, running her paws over its worn and matted skin like she had with Alex's Renamon costume. People watched in awe as the artificial fur was restored as it passed underneath her paw. Ben looked up at her with amazement as she seemed to be bringing his favorite plushie back to life in more ways than one. When she was done restoring it, she held the toy up to her eye level and sniffed it slightly before lifting and pressing her right ear up against its chest to give the boy her analysis.

"This is a very cute foxie, little Ben. From what he's telling me, you've been taking very good care of him all his life and from the feel of his fur, you've been caring for him rather expertly all his life. You wash and love him regularly, but even I know that can only go so far in preserving him. He's also telling me that if there's anyone he'd rather spend the rest of his life with, it would be you. And being the wonderful furry I am, I can make that wish come true."

Ben was nearly brought to tears of joy as she spoke to him. He apparently believed with every cell in his body that Seryn could hear a toy's deepest and most personal thoughts and translate them for a local audience. However, there still appeared to be a few skeptics in the crowd that believed she was just spoon-feeding Ben what he wanted to hear and that she wasn't even capable of something like that despite what she had already done.

Reading their faces like a book, Seryn decided to make believers out of all of them by working a little extra magic that she had been blessed with. She brought the fox up extremely close to her muzzle without touching its nose and stared into its round, plastic eyes. She seemed to be searching for a soul inside this toy that she could bring up into full view. Once she found what she needed to see, she opened her mouth slightly and blew a soft, gentle breath into its face. The breath contained a small, blue flame with a tiny white light in the center that contained a magic power so great that once she had given it to the plushie, it could never be undone. It weakened her slightly because of how much magical energy she had had to put into that one tiny flame, but she knew it would be worth it. She had just given her own version of the "Breath of Life" to the fluffy toy and she could immediately see that there was a spark of life coming into those black plastic orbs. She then held it out at arm's length and waited a few seconds for the magic to kick in.

Soon, the plushie seemed to spring to life as it started wriggling and whining completely on its own in Seryn's paws and was suddenly full of life. She had miscalculated its energy levels and it actually wormed its way out of her paws. There was a sudden collective breath from the crowd as the plushie dropped down to the tile floor, but it was soon let out as one when the foxie landed on all fours and looked up at its owner, who looked like he was going to faint. And as a kind of grand finale, the fox spoke in a young and energetic voice that made everyone except Seryn nearly pass out from shock.

"Ben! Hiya, Ben! Whatcha doin'? Wanna go play? I wanna go play Army Men with you again! Please, please, please can we go play Army Men?! I'll be your best friend!"

No one knew what to say as they looked from to bouncing foxie to the grinning Flammie. The fox had not only spoken Ben's name, but it had also suggested that they go play one of the boy's favorite games, even though only Ben and the plushie really knew what that was.

Benjamin was so happy that he looked as if a lifetime's worth of Christmases had come to life all at once. He squatted down and started petting the fox, which looked as though he did it all the time (and he probably did). It then started bouncing around him on its heels like an excited dog, eager to play, all the while barking, "Ben! Play! Let's get going! I wanna go play with ya! I'll race ya! Come on!" It then took off towards the front door with an ecstatic Ben in hot pursuit. But just before he disappeared from view, he stopped, turned around to face Seryn and nodded happily, whispering only two words to her: "Thank you."

Seryn's superhuman hearing picked up the words that most other people had missed because of how loud and fast they were muttering and whispering to each other. She waved a paw in his direction and called to him, "Anytime, love!

Once Ben had disappeared to chase after his newly-awakened friend, there was a great round of applause and cheers from the onlookers for Seryn and her impossible act of charity. Seryn couldn't help but blush and rub the back of her head in pleased embarrassment.

"Aw, it was nothing..." she said to whoever would listen. "I'm just doing what I was made to do."

As a couple of people took out their cameras and snapped a picture of the living toy costume, Benjamin's grandmother stepped forward, looking like a great burden had been taken off of her shoulders. "Thank you, miss. I can't recall the last time I've seen him so happy. Normally, he's so quiet and timid, but now I think he'll be far happier now that he has a true friend to play with. His parents are going to be so thankful for what you've done. Thank you for everything! I have to give you something for this."

Seryn, however, shook her head as the woman reached for her purse. "I don't need nor do I want your money. I was created solely to bring happiness to people in my life. As far as I'm concerned, their satisfaction is all the payment I need in my life."

The grandmother naturally thought of this as an odd way of payment, but if Seryn didn't want anything from her other than her grandson's happiness, then who was she to argue with her?

"Are you sure I can't at least buy something for you?" she said as though pleading for her to take her offering.

Seryn shook her head. "I'm just fine, thank you. Now I must be on my way. My owner will be waking up soon and I must get home before he finds out I was gone."

The woman's eye brow rose when Seryn used the word "owner", but she let it be and allowed the Flammie to be on her way. Seryn picked out a couple rolls of cotton, which was all she really needed with her "special skills" and then went to the checkout counter to "pay" for the items. True to her word, she could feel Alex starting to move a little in his sleep inside her, which told her he was becoming restless and her time out on the town was running out. Even though she knew he would understand her little antics outside the apartment, she still needed to get him home before he woke up completely and his body clashed with hers. And the last thing she needed to do right now was fight over who controlled her body while this was Seryn's "me" time.

The clerk, who had watched the whole thing play out from behind the counter, rang up the bags of cotton and offered her a suggestion. "You know, there's a store across the way called KB Toys who's looking for someone to be their new mascot for Halloween and they can't seem to find anyone who's good with children or has a costume as good as yours." Seryn's ears flickered curiously at the word "costume" and she smiled smugly. At least someone knew what she was apart from her owner without actually "knowing" her. "I think you'd be the perfect person to apply for the position the way kids practically walk up to you instead of being forced upon you by their parents."

Seryn cooed interestingly at this. "You don't say... Well, I guess I'm just that kind of loveable furry that kids can't get enough of. And just between you and me..." she added, leaning over the counter to whisper in the clerk's ear. "I'm not just some schmuck in a vinyl suit. I'm the real deal." The clerk looked suspiciously at Seryn, unsure of whether or not to believe her. But Seryn didn't seem to be finished with her. "And just to prove it, watch this."

She held out her right paw palm-up and the clerk watched in awe as it seemed to "liquefy" to its silvery color and state like it had back in Alex's shower and a number of objects seemed to bubble up from under her skin. When she was done and her paw returned to normal, the Flammie was holding a pawful of newly-synthesized coins and bills for the exact amount that her bill was. She then placed the money on the counter and took the bags from the astonished clerk.

"As for your offer, I'm going to have to talk it over with my owner. He can't really stand me being away from him for any great lengths of time, but I'll have to think about it once I can hire a little help to keep him occupied around the house while I'm gone. Will this cover it, then?" She pushed the money forward and the clerk counted it out. It seemed to be just enough because she put it in the register and didn't give back any change.

She then gave Seryn her receipt and watched as the Flammie crumpled it up and popped it in her mouth like it was a tasty tidbit. However, she didn't seem to like what she tasted and gave the clerk one more bit of advice. "If I were you, I'd change the company you get your ink from. It's very old, dry and disgusting stuff. It's not exactly good for business. Now I must be on my way."

The clerk watched with a bewildered expression as the Flammie took her things and left the store before she checked the register again to make sure that the money was still there. She was completely unaware that the "money" Seryn had given her was actually "dud money" mode up of the same silvery goo that Seryn was made of. Seryn may not have paid anything for the products, but at least she was an "honest thief" and allowed the money to remain solid for a while before it simply melted and evaporated from the register. And in actuality, the store would be compensated at a later date by a more "private" party, so it wasn't really "stealing" in the long run.

Seryn, meanwhile, headed back to the apartment as quickly as she could to wake Alex up and let him back out. She had to hoof it so that she didn't raise anymore unwanted publicity. She may have been a natural oddity, but even she needed her privacy every now and then. However, she didn't mind the walk at all. It was a nice day and it was just perfect for a little walk through the city.

The next thing I knew, I was back on the couch in my own living room with Seryn sitting in a nearby chair, once again working on "restoring" my Renamon costume. She was behaving rather oddly, though. She would take a wad of cotton out of a roll that she had obviously obtained while I was out and stuffed it into her mouth. She would chew it up for a moment and would then spit it back out, now converted into a glob of silvery goo before stuffing it through an open seam in the back of the costume. It seemed that she was converting the cotton into a more... liquid-like state before inserting it into the costume, which filled it out a little from the inside.

"Seryn...?" I said a little hoarsely and stiffly after lying there for who-knows-how-long after Seryn had let me out.

The toy Flammie looked up from her work and seemed pleased that I was awake. "Good afternoon, Alex. Did you sleep well?"

I nodded and groaned as I pushed myself into sitting position. "For a while, like a log, I did. But then you put me on here and things weren't quite as pleasant. You were so comfy and warm to sleep in that I never wanted to wake up. It was almost like I was sleeping in a large liquid suit. But then you traded comfort for convenience and... well... here I am."

Seryn chuckled. "Technically, that's what it was. And I'm sorry about just leaving you on the couch, but I didn't want you to freak out when you opened your eyes and it was still dark all around you. I promise that I kept you inside me for as long as I could before your subconscious broke."

I sighed at her and arched my back a little to stretch it out. "Alrighty, then. So... whatcha doing now?"

Seryn took another wad of "gooified" cotton out of her mouth and stuffed it into the costume's torso. "I'm making a friend."

Curious, I had to ask. "But... that doesn't look anything like what you showed me in the shower."

Seryn held up the costume and looked at its partially-filled frame before taking another wad of cotton and stuffing it in her mouth. I noticed immediately that the costume was a tad... "bigger" than it had been before. It was as if Seryn was making it "grow" from a four-foot frame to a much larger size, which was at about five feet right now.

"It isn't, love. This is something a little different. I just need to stretch it out a little bit at a time and then stuff it before putting a few finishing touches on it and then it'll be ready to go. It should take about a day or two more... three tops. As for our "other" friend, I still need a few more materials from you before I'm ready to make him. You won't mind volunteering for that, will you?"

"I shrugged. "I guess I don't. As long as I still stay in one piece, that's fine with me."

Seryn nodded. "Good, 'cause the materials I traded with you earlier are brewing up inside me right now. I can feel my chemical makeup mixing with yours to make a potent Synthetic compound. They should be good to go in the morning and then we'll do this all over again once I "offload" them. Say, uh... you won't mind if I make a little... "mess" with this stuff in the spare room, do you?"

Given her proposal and what she was capable of in order to achieve both our ideals, it seemed like a small price to pay to make another Synthetic friend for us to enjoy. "I guess not. Just make sure you clean up when you're done."

Seryn smiled smugly. "I'll make a note of that."

I sighed and leaned back on the couch. "So... are you almost done?"

Seryn had been in the process of stuffing several mouthfuls of cotton into her mouth to the point that even she could barely keep her muzzle closed. She chewed it all up for a moment before she "vomited" the entire mass into the costume and adjusted it one last time.

Wiping her mouth with the back of a vinyl mitt, she looked over her work one more time. "I guess I can take a break for now. I'm in no rush, so I guess I can probably work a little more on it tonight while we're watching TV."

She was assuming that we were going to be home together tonight, but then again, I didn't see what else could come up today. She set the almost-full costume to one side and leaned back in the chair while I turned on the TV to return to watching the "The Principal's Office" marathon. For some reason, Seryn didn't seem to want to sit by me this time, even when I offered her a place by me. She also seemed to be thinking about something because she wasn't really paying attention to the show. She simply looked down at her footpaws and folded her paws over the other as though she was taking something from herself. I had never seen her so quiet before, but I guessed that even Synthetics had things to think about.

After a while, she started looking towards me as though waiting for me to do something, but whenever I would return her gaze, she would blush and quickly look away. I wasn't quite sure what was going on inside that head of hers, but I had long since learned not to disturb others when they didn't want to be bothered. Still, the looks she was giving me before swiftly turning away were kind of scaring me as to what she was thinking.

Finally after about an hour, Seryn seemed to make up her mind about something. She finally stood up and walked up to stand in-between me and the TV, clutching each of her paws and looking nervously away from me.

"Yes, love?" I asked her, trying not to look around her at the TV.

I wasn't sure, but there was obviously something in the way I had said those two words that seemed to cause something in Seryn's mind to give out. She suddenly gained one of those "thousand-yard stares" as she looked down at her feet in a startled way before slowly lifting her head up until she was looking right at me. And when I made eye contact with her, I immediately knew that something was different about her. It wasn't bad and it wasn't something to be scared of; it was just... different. She stared long and hard at me while absentmindedly licking her muzzle hungrily. I suddenly realized just what she wanted to do with me and I made a sudden last-ditch effort to back out of it.

"Seryn... no... not now... we're not like that yet... I..."

But before I could finish my statement, Seryn suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and used her incredible strength and power to lift me clean off of the couch so that I was eye-to-eye with her. A look of longing was in her eyes and I was suddenly scared of what she was about to do.

However, she seemed to have something else in mind compared to what was going through my head because before I could stop her, she pulled me close to her and locked her muzzle up against my lips and moving her arms from my shoulders to around my back so that she had a solid but still gentle lock on me. I was taken completely off-guard by her sudden display of affection, but then again, it was kind of nice. She didn't appear to want to eat me like I had expected and merely wanted to kiss me, which I was enjoying rather nicely. It was just bizarre at how much buildup she had displayed before finally making contact.

But Seryn seemed to be more "intimate" than that because she suddenly started leaning dangerously backwards with our lips still locked until the two of us tumbled backwards onto the floor. I grunted when I landed on top of her, but she was still determined to keep the kiss locked. As an addition, she had begun to run her mitts all over my back and was adjusting her lips as though she was mimicking those dramatic kiss scenes from romance movies. I was startled that she was becoming so frisky when I had just met her last night, but the "toxins" leeching from her muzzle into my lips were drowning out everything else in the world that mattered to me. She and I just wanted to love each other at the moment and right now, nothing else in the world mattered to either of us.

It was a while before she finally broke the liplock, but when she did, I suddenly realized that I was on the floor and she was kneeling over me. I was shocked that she was so intimate with me already, making me wonder if she was going to take this farther and faster than I could handle it. But Seryn didn't seem to care. With a sudden wide and vampire-like smile that scared me stupid, she firmly planted her paws on my shirt and grabbed at it before tearing it right off! I shivered slightly at the sudden cold, but her actions were far more chilling than just a little cool air. Goosebumps started to appear all over my skin, but Seryn didn't seem to be finished with me. As another bizarre action in her line of already unusual behavior, she soon helped me warm up by mashing her torso up against mine and kissing me again. It still struck me as unusual that she was generating her own body heat, but I would soon learn that Seryn was full of more tricks and surprises than in even the finest of magicians' arsenals.

This time, Seryn seemed to be ready to take this to the next level and I felt a soft, gooey tongue slip between my lips as she kissed me. Holy *%$@! She was Frenching me! This was so... so... you know, it wasn't as bad as I had heard about. The texture of her smooth and slimy tongue was rather pleasant and the taste of the silvery goo she was made of was starting to drown out my ability to think clearly, leaving behind just a warm, comfortable state of bliss. All the while, I was unaware that Seryn's paws had dropped down to my pants and were gently lowering them in an effort to cover as much of my body with her vinyl one as possible. This didn't seem so bad since she really didn't have anything on her body that I needed to worry about. In fact... oh no...

Before I could collect myself enough to try and protest to Seryn, the inevitable happened. I felt Seryn lower my boxers and pass her mitt over something, which suddenly made her freeze up and pull her tongue back into her mouth. I suddenly realized that this was going to get real bad real fast, but that didn't prepare me for when Seryn let out a piercing, shrill-like scream!!! and jumped all the way backwards me and slamming her wings and back into the couch, looking genuinely scared.

"WHAT IS THAT?!?!" she screamed, nearly breaking my eardrums in the process.

Part of me felt that it had been robbed of the best moment of my life, but the part of me that understood what was going on took a little to come back to its senses. I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked hurtfully at her. "What's the matter, Seryn? We were having such a good time."

Seryn still looked freaked out of her mind. "What is that?!" She pointed a shaky talon at my underwear, which had barely budged before she had sent herself flying.

Still not getting completely up to scratch, I looked down at the "offending" spot and then back up at her. "It's just my underwear. What's so bad about it?"

But Seryn didn't buy it. "Not that... that!" She pointed to something obvious in my pants. All of the stimulation she had been giving me had given me a rather uncomfortable problem.

Apparently, she had never seen a man's pipes before. And come to think of it... "It's my (*censored*). What's so bad about it? You didn't seem to notice anything while we were in the shower this morning."

To this date, I still didn't understand why Seryn hadn't said anything about it while we had been standing naked in the shower just inches from each other. Regardless, she looked like she had just swallowed a mouthful of worms as she leaned in close for a better look. This was rather awkward as she got dangerously close to the offending area and gave it a small sniff. But obviously, she didn't like what she smelled because she recoiled violently backwards with a look of disgust on her face and stood up before beginning to rant about it, pacing frantically back and forth in front of me.

"No. No! NO! NO!!! That just won't do! I can't stand having one of those in my face! It was one thing to see it in such an innocent position in the shower, but now, it's disgusting and I can't believe that males even have them! I mean, look at me! I'm a female and even I don't have things like that! It's against my nature and it's a blemish to everything normal Synthetics stand for! That... that thing is an insult to our relationship and it's not fair that I have to deal with an owner who has one of those! I may get strange at times, I admit it, but I will not have things like that touching me wherever and whenever it feels like and I will not put up with things like that, period! Oh, no, not on my watch!" Seryn started hyperventilating for a moment and I was worried that she was going to pass out from sheer shock. But then she gained a new look in her eyes that was not only one of disgust but also an obsession that scared me to my core. "No... it's gotta go... I gotta get rid of it! What would they think if they saw one of those when they didn't even have anything like that?! They'd be branded for life! This is an outrage to everything I stand for. No, I'm going to deal with this right here, right now!"

Once she was finished going off like that, she looked down at me with a look of hatred in her eyes that I had never seen before. She scared me stupid as she growled and hissed deeply and threateningly. I was petrified of what she was likely to do to me, but the anger that I felt radiating from her and into the collar around my neck had frozen me to the spot. It was a kind of anger that I didn't even know existed inside her. It wasn't anger full of hate for the human that lay cowering beneath her, but it was an anger full of lust to... how could I explain this... to "right what was wrong" and I had a bad feeling that I was going to end up on the receiving end of that anger either way.

All of a sudden, Seryn made a rather disturbing noise in her throat that sounded like a seriously ticked-off cat and eyed me with a maniacal look. But the actions she took from then on would change the face of our relationship forever. She suddenly made a snorting sound as though she was clearing her sinuses as well as turning her head in some rather contorted angles before she hawked up and looking down at my goods with an evil eye. I was powerless to stop her as she spat a huge wad of silvery goo right at my spot as though she was physically insulting it. But why she would do that after she had just vented her spleen at me was beyond me.

But as I sat there, dumbfounded, I realized in horror that that was exactly what she was trying to do. The goo ate right through my underwear as though it wasn't even there and attached itself to me like a parasitic amoeba with a grip that made me squeal rather shrilly. The goo began reaching out with slimy, crawling tendrils as it wrapped itself around every surface it could find, including every hair follicle and cell in the offending area, coating everything in a kind of latex sheath.

But it didn't stop there by a long shot, because the goo suddenly started seeping through my skin into every possible pore and orifice, swallowing absolutely everything attached to it and sending me into an uncontrollable state of shivers. It was so icy cold that I thought I was being frozen internally, but somehow, I couldn't scream. Not one sound escaped my open mouth as I shivered and shuddered from the alien feelings as the goo began destroying all of my internal reproductive organs and modifying everything else attached to them, destroying them completely and reducing them to nothing more than the same silver goo that had attacked them. The goo had a mind of its own and was eating and digesting my insides and I was utterly powerless to stop it.

Just when I thought that it would never stop and that Seryn was going to let me suffer at her feet... it was over. The cold subsided, but my shivering and my goosebumps did not. I felt helpless at the hands (or paws) of this maniacally distraught and perversely insane Flammie, but all of a sudden, Seryn's expression softened and she knelt down in front of me, one arm on her knee as she looked at me with a kind and reassuring look. I noticed right off the bat that she was looking at my face instead of at the area that she loathed so much. And when she spoke, it was in a shaky and forcibly calm voice.

"It's okay, Alex. It's done. Look." She gestured to my hip area without looking at it.

I looked and my eyes went wide as the goo started to drip off of my skin as though I was leaking somehow. I was suddenly scared that she had somehow turned me into a female (don't ask), but as the silvery ooze left my system and pooled on the carpet, I was in for quite a shock.

Seryn hadn't changed my gender. In fact... I no longer had a gender! My entire manhood was... gone! There was nothing left! Everything that had ever been there was now a puddle of silvery slime on the floor without even a single seam or detail to suggest what it had once been. Not only had I been completely neutered on the outside, but everything on the inside had changed as well, throwing my internal systems into limbo. There was no longer any way for me to tell if I was male or female! My spot now looked a lot... like... oh... no... This was what she had wanted. Seryn had deliberately neutered me because even though she was female, she didn't have anything like that, either! This was all part of her plan! She had rendered me almost completely genderless like the toy she was but yet somehow still male. It was... well... it was all so strange and disturbing to me at the same time that it took fear to a whole new level for me.

I soon realized that the goo had done more damage than I had expected. It had even removed the extra "port" in my backside, leaving only the original "split" to suggest I was still human. As for why she hadn't sealed that over, I wasn't really sure, but the fact that Seryn had just wreaked havoc on my body with hardly a care in the world made me scared of just what else she was capable of.

Seryn looked down at the puddle of silver goo and shook her head at the mass. "There. Now there's absolutely nothing that will hinder you any longer. We're now both equals and there's absolutely nothing for you or me to be ashamed of. And who knows? In the future, we might even be able to do away with these as well." She ran her paw over my pants, which were around my ankles ever since she had pulled them down in the first place. I gulped at how much she was making sense, which alarmed me at how powerful she really was and what she planned to do to me in the future... if I even lasted that long.

Still, even though I was more scared of the Flammie than should have been allowed, I still felt I had to say something in my defense. "Seryn... I... you..." But I couldn't spit it out.

Fortunately, she understood me and looked at me with a soft and reassuring look. "I understand, Alex. I guess I really should have asked first, but you must understand that there are certain... "rules" when living with a Synthetic that must be followed if either they and/or the human owning them are to co-exist peacefully with each other. And one of those rules is that when you're living with a "Tame" Synthetic, you must be willing to give up as much physical humanity as they deem necessary. It must all be so confusing and demanding for you, but like I said, there are rules that must be followed. Now... if I had been an "X-Class" Synthetic (that's a slightly more "adult" version" than what I am), the rules would have been slightly different. Granted, you probably would have been able to keep yourself, but I doubt you would get quite as much off the hook. You see this?" She ran a talon across my neck where I finally realized the collar I had innocently put on last night was fused forever with my skin. "This is a special tool that certain Synthetics like me use to help us understand our humans called a "Link Collar". It's virtually harmless, but it allows us to tune into each other's feelings and work as a kind of hive mind. And as we continue our little "exchanges", we'll be so in tune with each other that you'll hardly be able to tell our minds apart from each other. And it's this little tool that tells me that the last thing you want in your single life is to give up your virginity to any living thing, Synthetic or otherwise. This way..." She lightly poked my bare groin, which now felt like a poke on any other part of my body. "...you never have to worry about giving that up again. This way, you're a virgin for life. And I'll help you learn that there are far more "appropriate" ways for us to enjoy each other without "violating" the other. I did this for you, Alex, and only for you. You must understand that the only reason I am still here with you is because I am determined to make you happy. And this..." She reached down and drew in the goo with a talon. "This is only the start of what I plan to do for you. I am nowhere near done with you, but for now..." She stood up and held out her paw. "I will stand down and let you take this all in. Just take your time and let me know when you're ready."

After hearing this rather unexpected lecture, I should have been relieved to know that Seryn had done this all for my own well-being. But for some reason, I was so scared of what Seryn could and probably would do to me that my sanity was at its wit's end. Tears started to well up in my eyes as ice-cold fear washed over me. I was scared of what she had done to me and was even more afraid of what was likely to happen to me in the future.

But I didn't break down just yet. I used her paw to pull myself up to her level, still naked and facing Seryn, who looked me in the eyes as though she could sense my fear. And after what she had told me about the collar forever engraved into my neck, I knew she could feel the level of fear I was feeling as well. Yet words could not describe the level of fear and anger for the injustice that I now had to face. Everything she had done to me was flying through my head so fast that I was shuddering and starting to hyperventilate.

And then...

"Alex? Are you...?"

WHAP!!!

Every ounce of fear and confusion that I was feeling finally came to a head as I backhanded Seryn clean across the face, causing her to stumble backwards in shock. My hand started stinging since I had just collided with a material that was ten times harder than diamond, but that was beside the point right now. But I wasn't quite done with her yet. Blinded by tears, I brought my foot up to kick her in the gut, causing her to hunch over, but whether or not it was from pain didn't matter right now. And before she could even get over that, I hooked my arm around her neck and dropped her to the floor in a wrestling-textbook-style DDT, causing her to land face-first in the goo she had made after liquefying my insides. I recovered quickly and then kicked her in the side so that she rolled over onto her back, her face clenched tight in pain. I then knelt over her like she had done to me and started beating on her over and over with my fists, venting my anger for everything she had taken from me, not caring how badly I hurt her or myself. Seryn tried to defend herself by holding up her arms, but she wasn't putting up that much of a fight since she didn't appear to be trying to stop me. Finally having enough and hurting plenty from my assault, I stood up and brought my foot down just above on her navel, causing the "air" inside her to fluctuate hard enough to cause her belly port to pop open, letting out some of the air inside her. And as I watched her deflate slightly, I stepped off to one side and then spat on her twice; once in the face because of how much she had used her words to manipulate me and once in her "loins" like she had done so to me. I then took off towards my room, slammed the door shut, locked it and flopped down on my bed, finally letting it all out. Amazingly, up until then, not a single sound had escaped either of us. Seryn hadn't uttered as much as a squeak and I hadn't even made a single growl at her. It had all gone down in complete silence except for the sounds of "our" fighting.

There was no way that I could live with myself now. I had not only had my humanity and dignity stolen from me, but I had just attacked the only creature who had ever shown me any kind of kindness and compassion ever since I had moved here. I was so mad at what I had done yet so scared of what Seryn would do to me when she finally recovered that I couldn't stop crying until I finally fell asleep over an hour later, wallowing in my misery. I curled up in a fetal position, trying to find comfort that could only come from the only being that could fill that void right now.

Seryn did not immediately repair herself after what she had just gone through. She knew she should have seen this coming from the start. She felt like trash; she had not only betrayed Alex's trust, but she had also robbed him of part of his humanity at the same time. Yet amazingly, she didn't blame him for any of his actions in the slightest. She had deserved every bit of that brutal beating he had given her and she did not regret it in the slightest. She should have known better than to take advantage of him, even if there was part of him that she had found offensive. It made her feel even worse that she couldn't feel the same kind of pain that he had. She was an Omni-Synthetic after all and her response and tolerance to pain did not function the same was as a human's did, which made her almost unable to know just how much she had hurt him.

Seryn did not reinflate herself until well after she heard Alex's sobs die away in his bedroom, and by then, it was pitch-black outside with the only visible lights coming from the street lights through the closed blinds. Seryn hadn't suffered much physical damage due to her body's chemistry being ten times harder than diamond, but she felt that her own regrets would live with her until she could make peace with her owner. She had heard something crack inside Alex's hands when he had been attacking her, which suggested that he had broken several bones in his hands. She had the ability to repair such damages with little to no effort at all on her part, but after what he had done to her, she made a solemn promise never to do anything to him unless he said otherwise. She might have been stronger, smarter and more powerful than the human fleshie, but she knew she had stepped over the line when she had removed Alex of his human dignity. She also realized that while there were certain rules that needed to be enforced while a human lived with a Synthetic, there were still rules that she needed to follow if she was to ever live peacefully with the human.

So for the rest of the night, Seryn repaired herself and went out to the balcony and stared long, hard and deep into the moon, thinking about how she was ever going to redeem herself to the human. The moon wasn't quite full, and it wouldn't be until Halloween night when all sorts of magical and miraculous things would happen. And like the "inanimate" object that she was, she didn't move a single of her liquid muscles until the sun rose and she could hear Alex starting to stir back in the bedroom. She was going to have to face him sooner or later, so she decided to face the music and sucked up her courage before heading back into the living room to sit and wait for the second part of the emotional storm to hit.

I woke up feeling just horrible for what I had done to Seryn last night. Yesterday, attacking her had seemed totally justified after what she had done to me, but today... I wasn't so sure. Not only that, but my hands were feeling extremely painful after attacking her harder-than-diamonds body. I didn't doubt I had probably broken something after my relentless beating of the Synthetic but I knew Seryn had barely felt a thing. I didn't want to go to the hospital since they tended to ask too many questions and I just couldn't afford to take any chances there.

Still, I felt terrible for attacking Seryn in the first place. How could I even live with myself after attacking her like that and then just walking out on her? If she hadn't already abandoned me after such an emotionally-fueled brutal beating, I was probably due for the chewing of my adult life when I finally stepped out of my room to confront her. Feeling like I was dead meat anyway, I decided to face the music and take the wrath of a Synthetic scorned.

Amazingly, Seryn was simply sitting on the couch in the living room without the TV on and looking scared when I came out of my room, which was the complete and total opposite of what I had expected to happen. Was she afraid that I was going to attack her again? I couldn't really tell. Judging from the tingle of fear coming in through my "Link Collar", she was just as scared as I was to face the other. Yet at the same time, I knew she was scared that she had caused too much damage to my psyche to be repaired.

When I stepped up to her, she slowly lifted her head up to look me in the eyes and I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to make the first move. Her usual smile was gone and was replaced with a slight frown with a trembling lower lip. I could tell that her fear was genuine and I was feeling just the same; we just needed to suck up the courage to make the first move, whichever one of us it was.

Finally, I was able to force myself to act first with a move that was in the best interest for the both of us. I went to sit down next to Seryn as she watched me carefully. I then lowered my head gently onto her lap, hoping that she could tune into me enough to understand what I was trying to do. And amazingly, she seemed to understand that I was truly sorry for what I had done and she began to stroke me gently on the side of the head, soon purring up a storm as I nuzzled the back of my head into her torso.

"I'm really sorry, Seryn," I finally said to her. "I really didn't mean what I did. Please forgive me."

Seryn nodded and continued to stroke me with her soft, squishy mitt. "I'm sorry, too, Alex. I was way out of line and I had no reason to jump to conclusions and remove you of your dignity. I'm sorry if I injured your hands in any way, too."

Amazingly, I had a comeback for this. "It's okay. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sorry it's gone. It was really a hindrance to me anyway. I've never exactly been successful in the sexual world or even the social one, so consider the fact that you did me a favor by liquefying them. And it was like you said: now neither of us have anything to be ashamed of and there are far more pleasurable and convenient ways to enjoy ourselves than with sex."

Seryn cooed lightly and toyed with my ear in-between her vinyl talons, her frictionless smile slowly returning. "Thank you for understanding, love. And besides, look at the bright side: you'll never have to go to the bathroom again, you don't have to worry about getting hit with low blows and you'll never have to wear pants to be proper again."

I blinked at that last statement. "I wouldn't push it. I may be genderless now, but I doubt anyone else besides you is willing to watch me walk around in the buff regardless of my "situation". Besides, it's cold out."

Seryn smiled and took one of my aching hands in her paws, applying light pressure to the bones, which was rather painful to feel. "Ow! Seryn! That hurts! I think you really broke them even though you didn't mean it."

Seryn chirped and desisted. "I didn't mean to hurt you. And I can tell you don't want to go to the hospital in case people ask too many questions. You know, if you want, I can mend them for you with a little healing trick that I come equipped with."

I looked up at Seryn with curiosity. "You can do that?" But before she could say anything, I shook my head and sighed. "Of course you can. You said yourself that you can do anything you put your mind to."

Seryn nodded. "That's correct. Now do you want me to heal you or not?"

I finally pushed myself up off her lap with my arms, trying to use my hands as little as possible. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. It... won't hurt... will it?"

The Flammie smiled and ran a paw over my face. "Not if you don't want it to. Now give me your hand and hold still."

I did as she said and Seryn took my right hand delicately in her paws so that she didn't cause me too much more discomfort. She then held it up to her muzzle and it appeared that she was going to bite it off, but I trusted her with my life and knew she wouldn't dare do that. She took a slow, deep breath before blowing a soft and steady stream of what appeared to be blue flames over my hand. They didn't burn, but they weren't cold like I had expected, either. Instead, they seemed to numb up my hand so that it felt like I was holding a big, fat, lifeless club that was attached to my arm. She then brought my hand down to her torso area and held it with one paw while tracing a circle over her orange plating with a free talon. As I watched, the "flesh" within the circle turned from orange plating to the same kind of silvery goo that Seryn seemed to be made of. Looking me in the eyes, she could tell that I trusted her with my life. Finally, she gently pulled at my arm so that my hand was stuffed into her liquid insides for some bizarre reason. It would have been really weird if I could feel my hand at the moment, but right now, all I felt was a warm, wet and slimy sensation lapping at my wrist.

Seryn kept my hand inside her gut for about ten seconds and then gently pulled it back out. I still couldn't feel my hand, but she soon fixed that. She blew another strange breath over my hand, but this time, the flames were green and seemed to bring the feeling back into my nerves. Soon, it was as good as new and the pain in that hand had subsided.

I took my hand from her and tested it out, flexing my fist and all of my fingers in turn. There didn't appear to be any permanent damage and everything seemed to work out just fine.

"Not bad, Seryn," I told her, obviously impressed. "You certainly did better than any doctor ever could."

Seryn let out a sigh that sounded like an "mmm" and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "That's what I'm here for, my patient. Now how about the other one?"

I knew she was just toying with me when she called me her "patient", which didn't bother me in the slightest as I gave her my other hand and she numbed and healed it in the same way. Once it was fully healed, the circle of silver goo in her torso turned back into rugged orange plating. Everything was as good as new.

Seryn then asked me something very serious yet also very curious. "Alex... what do you say we start all over? We can put what happened last night behind us and restart our relationship. We can go out into the city as friends and possibly..." She trailed off, looking away from me as though embarrassed by what she wanted to say.

Fortunately, I could sense what she was onto through the collar. "Mates?"

At the very mention of the word, Seryn looked at me with wide eyes and blushed so heavily that the only reason she didn't burst into flames was that her body chemistry couldn't hold a flame. "Ooh! I didn't mean... uh... what I meant... was..."

But I held up my hand and clamped it down on her muzzle, shutting her up for once. "It's okay. you don't have to admit it, but I feel just the same way. You and I may be of different species, but there's no law that says we can't love each other like that. And before too long, we'll probably become more than that, so I guess we'll just take an early next step and bump our personal status up from "friends" to "mates". I really don't mind at all."

Seryn was flattered at how honest I was being after having such a dramatic life-changing experience like last night. "Alright, love. From now on, we're officially mates. But you'll have to wait a little while longer before you can be on the same chemical level as me, just so you know."

I nodded and lowered my hand. "I don't care how long I have to wait. As long as we can be together, I'm just fine with that."

Seryn sighed and she pulled me close to her side with her wings so we could share each other's comfort for a little while longer without the TV on, the Flammie keeping up a deep, vibrating purr.

Just then, she realized something. "Speaking of being together, the materials we traded in the shower yesterday are done cooking inside me. What do you say I go offload them and then I'll meet you in the shower so we can whip up a fresh batch?"

I shrugged and pulled myself away from her. "I guess that would work. How much more do you still need to take from me before we're done?"

Seryn merely looked at me and shrugged as well. "I dunno... maybe one more time after today. And if it all works out, our new friend should be up and active by... oh... say, the day before Halloween after he's incubated for a while."

I nodded. "Works for me. Tell you what, you go do whatever you have to and I'll meet you in the shower."

Seryn smiled. "Alright then, it's a date. And come to think of it, I have a new ability that I want to try out on you when I'm done, so how about you make that shower a bath?"

I wasn't sure what she was up to, but if she wanted a bath, then that was just fine with me. "Okay, but I don't think the both of us will fit in there."

Seryn chuckled as the two of us stood up. "Don't you worry about that. Just go get the water going and I'll show you just what I'm made of." Her words reminded me a lot of a similarly-named song I had heard on one of my old Playstation 2 games. And with that, the two of us walked down the hallway where Seryn took a detour into the spare room and I headed into my room to get ready for our "date".

I had barely gotten the water at the right temperature when Seryn stepped into the tiny bathroom, wrapped in a blanket she had obviously swiped from my room. She appeared to be concealing something that she didn't want me to see just yet.

"What's with the blanket?" I asked, looking at her suspiciously. Seryn merely grinned and peeled it away from the right side and then the left before letting it drop to the floor. I gulped when I saw what she was hiding. "Oh... I see."

In the short time we had been apart, Seryn had gotten creative with her body's chemistry and had manipulated her body so that she now sported a pair of rather large and robust... (*gulp*) breasts growing out of her chest. She had also slimmed herself up a little so that she was more... human-like than before. Her torso and waist were much slimmer, her arms and legs were slightly longer and more "feminine", her wings were a bit more defined and her tail was a little longer and more flexible than it had been before. However, her breasts, which looked like mere extensions of her rugged plating under her "collar", were bare, giving her a kind of "censored" look.

Seryn's self-induced makeover had tied my tongue in a knot. "Seryn... uh... is that...? Are you...?" I couldn't spit it out.

Seryn smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I adjusted my body a little so that I'd appear more "anthro-like" than before. I was thinking about keeping myself like this after we're done in here if you like. Do you like it?"

I swallowed hard and nodded lightly. I certainly wasn't complaining. This was just another step in just how capable and powerful she was now and was quickly becoming. Besides, this was probably the closest thing to a "real" woman that I would ever see in my life, so I figured I might as well make the best of it.

Seryn noticed me staring intently at her and decided to flaunt her stuff for a moment to get me riled up. She put her paws behind her head and posed for a moment. "What? Too much? You don't mind a little... change, right?"

I shrugged, absentmindedly rubbing at my neck. I was still unsure if it would be a good idea for Seryn to be walking around in public like that. She could probably modify herself just enough that she was still "decent" but still "attractive". The collar she had put on my neck was tingling not only with satisfaction but also control. In a way, Seryn was "forcing" me to enjoy this, but at the same time, I was enjoying it with or without her influence. She was just giving me a little extra incentive to do what she wanted while still keeping me conscious, wary and mentally sane.

So as a start, I tore my eyes away from the lithe, lean and lovely Flammie and pushed down the plug of the tub so that water began to fill it into a bath. While I knelt in front of the tub, Seryn politely sat on the top of the toilet with her paws in-between her legs like a decent woman. And as the two of us watched the water rise, I was soon aware of a rather enticing and pleasant smell perforating the hot air of the bathroom. Oddly enough, it smelled a lot like... hmm... smooth, creamy vanilla that was slightly diluted with the smell of some kind of oil. This made me wonder if Seryn wasn't becoming... you know... more "real" than what she had started out as. (Author's Note: ...). Yet at the same time, her outsides were still vinyl and she was still technically an "inanimate object", so whether she was becoming real or not was still way up in the air.

As for right now, Seryn and I remained apart until the water had filled up a majority of the tub. But just as I was getting undressed, Seryn stepped around me and held out one of her talons over the tub. I watch in astonishment as the talon turned back to silvery liquid and the tip of it oozed a drop of the same liquid goo she had spat on me yesterday into the water. And as soon as the drop hit the water, a sudden chain reaction spread it all over the liquid, congealing it and turning it into what I recognized as "Liquitanium", which was the official name for the goo that Seryn was made out of internally. Apparently, we were going to take a bath in something where Seryn was the most comfortable. This was going to be an unusual experience indeed once we finally got in.

Seryn then looked over at me and smiled. "Ready, love? I'm waiting." She was obviously telling me to climb in first, a task I wasted no time in accomplishing.

The gooey liquid felt comfortably familiar and oddly warm as though I was putting Seryn on like a costume again. The warm, glittering ooze surrounded my body as I lied out on the length of the tub and I could feel some thin tendrils reaching up out of the liquid and lightly pulling at me as though inviting me to come in for more, of which I happily obliged. I soon settled myself along the length of the tub, which was filled up to just over my torso and sighed as the goo took me as its own.

Once she was sure I was comfortable, Seryn followed me inside. There wasn't enough room for the two of us to sit normally in there, but she seemed to improvise and lied down gently on top of me just like the pool toy that she was. Her body weight was so light that I barely felt her pressing against me. Only the thin layer of ooze on top of my torso touched her, but she seemed to be more interested in keeping me comfortable than getting "wet". Soon, I had a full-sized seven-foot Omni-Synthetic female Anthro Flammie laid out on top of me as though she did this all the time. Her smooth vinyl body only added to my comfort, which now qualified me as being "spoiled rotten".

But Seryn didn't seem to be finished with me yet. She held her paw on the side of my head and got me to look into her bottomless eyes for a moment before she pressed her muzzle against me, locking in another intoxicatingly comfortable kiss. Both of us even closed our eyes as we seemed to melt into each other's presence. But when I finally had the sense to open my eyes, I suddenly realized that that was exactly what was happening. Seryn was actually melting! Her body had turned back into silvery goo and she seemed to be adding her liquids to the gooey water already surrounding me. Yet somehow I could still feel her lips pressed against mine as though the kiss would never fade away. But before too long, even that melted away as Seryn became completely liquefied and assimilated with the goo around me.

"Seryn?" I said in concern when she didn't say anything. "Where are you, Seryn? I can't see you."

But when Seryn spoke, it was in a far-off otherworldly voice that echoed in my mind through the (quote/unquote) "Link Collar". Don't be afraid. I'm still here. I'm all around you. In fact... I want you to be in_me. Relax and don't move._

As I watched, I saw two thick, silvery limbs stretch up out of the goo that looked like they were melting right in front of me. I barely recognized them as Seryn's, which confirmed that she was still with me, but what she did next seemed to reach a whole new level in "weird" for us. Seryn's right paw moved up and wrapped itself around my mouth and nose and her right one wrapped itself around my stomach and I suddenly felt her "pulling" at me as though she wanted me completely submerged in the goo. I realized that bathing in goo was a lot different than wearing it and tried to wriggle out of her grip, all the while protesting in the only way I felt she could still hear me.

Seryn, no! You're gonna suffocate me! I'm going to drown_if you keep this up!_

But as the goo started to block out my vision, I heard Seryn speak to me as if she was whispering right in my ear. No, you won't. I won't allow it. I'm merely taking you inside my very essence. Just relax and let your mind go and before you know it, you'll see me again.

I still wasn't sure how I was going to breathe in this stuff, but Seryn hadn't lied to me yet, so I forced myself to stay calm and took slow, steady breaths as the surface world disappeared to be replaced by a world that I hadn't counted on at all.

When Seryn finally "released" me, I found myself hovering in strange, starry void that looked as if it was being viewed from deep in space. Yet despite how cold space was, all I felt was a soft, soothing warmth all around me. Like she had said, I seemed to be inside Seryn's very "essence". I wasn't sure how she was keeping me alive in there, but she hadn't yet given me a reason not to trust her.

As I watched, Seryn reappeared in front of me, although the Flammie I saw in front of me looked somewhat different than the one I knew about. Seryn had retained her modified anthropomorphic form, but it was as if she had become "real". I could see a coat of fine, soft, pure-white fur growing from her as well as a set of fine angelic feathers growing from her wings. It was as if she was no longer made of goo and vinyl.

Seryn... I said in awe. What happened to you?

Seryn drifted over to me so that we were just inches from each other. This is my true essence, Alex. What you're seeing is my very soul before it was infused into my Synthetic body. Do you like it?

I was so taken aback by her appearance that all I could do was nod.

Seryn smiled and stroked me on the side of my face with her paw. I thought you would. Now how about we get business out of the way and then we'll play a little game?

I assumed "business" was the material exchange we had planned to do in order to create our new Synthetic friend, so I nodded and watched as Seryn drifted away from me for a moment. What are you doing?

Seryn chuckled, which seemed to echo all around me. Well, as you can see, there's really no proper way to do this... She indicated her navel area, which was distinctly void of any plugs that were on her Synthetic body. But even though it may not look_that way, I'm actually removing your materials through the goo surrounding you at the moment. But if you really want to see progress... She_ waved her paw at me and I saw yet another strange sight. A stream of red "glitter" flew from my navel area, spiraled around in space and flew into her through the same area. And as I watched, a similar trail of silver glitter traveled from her to me. However, there was only one transfer this time before Seryn considered us finished.

The Flammie then drifted closer to me and looked me in the eyes. There we go, she said, rubbing my hair with her paw. Another 24 hours and this stuff will be ready to add to our new friend and we can do this one more time. I'll wager that you're roughly two-thirds Synthetic by now, so after this time tomorrow, you'll cease to "exist" and be ready to live forever just like me.

I smiled and closed my eyes as I could feel myself changing internally. I can already feel part of me shutting down and giving themselves over to your goo. After tomorrow, I'll no longer be of the living and we can begin life anew as Synthetics.

Seryn smiled mischievously and tapped me lightly on the nose. Slow down there, Jethro. Just 'cause you'll be Synthetic, it doesn't mean that you and I will be on the same page. You're not gonna be like me unless I say so. So for now, let's get back to reality and we'll play my little "game".

I didn't want to leave this heavenly void yet, but Seryn appeared to have made up her mind. My vision blacked out for a moment and the next thing I knew, I was once again laying in a silvery-goo-filled tub with Seryn laid out on top of me, staring deeply into my eyes.

Feeling like I had just had a heavenly experience taken from me, I sighed and tried to appeal to Seryn's kind nature. "Why did we have to come back here? I was having such a good time."

However, Seryn looked genuinely puzzled. "I'm afraid you never left, Alex. You kind of zoned out for a while after you got a good look in my eyes and I've been trying to wake you up ever since."

It was my turn to be confused. "You mean... it was all a dream? But... we exchanged materials! How could it have only been a dream?"

Seryn suddenly looked guilty. "Well, maybe it wasn't all a dream. Look..." She gestured to our navel areas and I saw that she had once again plugged her belly plug into my belly button and I could still feel the effects of the material transfer. My vital signs had completely stopped and I could feel bits and pieces of each of us trading places between the two of us. I had lost count of how many cycles had already passed, but I was sure that Seryn had been at it for some time.

"Wow..." I said without breathing. "If that wasn't a dream, how can I be sure anything I'm seeing right now is real?"

Seryn smiled and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "Could a dream do... this?" She then blew gently at my face. Her breath was colorless this time, but I could still smell a kind of faint, pheromone-like odor on her breath that reminded me of the creamy-vanilla smell she had given off before we had gotten in the bathtub in the first place. Even though my senses weren't exactly functioning at that moment, Seryn still allowed me to smell her breath, which was one of the most appealing things that had ever wafted through my system. And since you couldn't exactly smell things in a dream, then this had to be real.

Just as Seryn was finishing up the exchange, I smiled dreamily and felt my vital signs restart as she pulled her belly plug out of my navel. "Okay, I believe it now. This can't be a dream."

Seryn purred and made to push herself up off me. But I still wanted more of her and instinctively grabbed a wad of the "fur" around Seryn's neck. "Oh, no, you don't! Gimme kiss, lover!"

But Seryn managed to pull herself out of my reach and shook her head. "Hold up there, Jethro. I've got something better planned for you. You see this?"

She pointed with a talon to her right breast. I looked at the area in confusion. "Yes?"

Seryn smiled smugly and poked her breast with the tip of a talon. As she did so, a drop of silvery goo oozed from the bare organ and collected on her claw. "Here... taste this." She then transferred the talon into my mouth and rubbed it off on my tongue. For a moment, I didn't taste anything. But then a kind of "flavor explosion" erupted on my tongue, filling my senses with a flavor that was not only the best thing I had ever tasted, but it was practically overflowing with nutrients as well. Suddenly, memories of two nights ago came flooding back to me and I remembered when Seryn had given me a similar-tasting substance after I had nearly freaked out in the dark without her.

"Seryn..." I said in awe as she picked up on my thoughts. "What was that stuff?"

Seryn chuckled and licked me gently on the forehead. "That, my love, was a special kind of liquid that my body produces called "Synthetic Oil". It's probably the most delicious and nutritious material that any human can ever taste. And I've got plenty of it brewed up for you." Realizing she was going to give me some more of that amazing oil, I slid down the tub and tried to grab the now-dripping organ in my mouth, but for some reason, she yanked it just out of my reach. "Oh, no, you don't. This time, you gotta work for it." When I frowned, she merely ran a talon along the edge of my face. "Oh, don't look so down. I'll let you have some. But first, we're gonna have a little fun. I'm just gonna ask you a few simple questions about your human life that I'm still unclear about. And if I feel that you're telling me the truth, you'll get a little bit more oil to taste. But if you're not (and I will know)..." She murred darkly as she traced the collar around my neck. "I'm gonna get a bit of you in my mouth, comprendé?"

I gulped visibly but nodded anyway. If she wanted to play games for me to get at some of that delicious oil, then I guessed I was game for it.

Seryn smiled and then propped herself up with her paws on my arms on either side of me with her rugged breasts hanging just out of reach, taunting me with something that I wanted but couldn't quite get. She then began her little "game". "First question: how long have you loved furries like me?"

It seemed like an easy question that deserved an easy answer. "All my life, love."

But Seryn didn't buy it at all and moved in a way that rendered me unable to reach her breasts but still allowed her to growl menacingly in my ear. "Wrong answer. I told you I would know if you were lying, even if I didn't know the answer myself. Now I get a taste of your essence." She then moved her head in a way that she was able to bite down hard on my neck directly under the Link Collar with those two fangs of hers, which worked as a pair of hypodermic needles in a slightly different way that it pulled blood out instead of putting something in. Regardless, it burned my senses as she pulled blood out of what was left of my jugular and I whimpered as she pulled her head back, licking her chops with the taste of fresh human blood.

"Seryn..." I said, trembling. "Why...? That hurt."

Chuckling darkly, she spoke in a dangerously calm voice. "I did warn you. Now let's try that again. How long have you loved furries?"

Now that I knew what she was capable of, I rethought my answer. "Ever since I got the Internet at my old place about five years ago."

To my immense relief, Seryn smiled and lowered her breast down to my mouth and gave it a slight squeeze so that a thick, gel-like ooze somehow leaked out of the bare organ and trickled gently into my mouth. I immediately lapped up the delicious oil and memories of my first "unofficial" encounter with Seryn came rushing back to me. It was so delicious and nutritious that I didn't want it to stop.

But like all good things, it did and Seryn was once again suspended over me. "Good boy. Did that taste good?" I nodded as she rubbed my throat. "I've got plenty more where that came from if you can keep this up. Now, next question: have you ever read about situations like this but much more personal?"

I didn't want to admit it, but the taste of that amazing oil and the pain of Seryn's bite were both too much to risk lying again. "I have. I've even thought about writing about something like this for my own enjoyment, but I could never finish them. I've even fantasized about it at night when I'm all alone and don't feel sleepy at the time."

Seryn seemed impressed. "Well, I guess that answers my next question. I think you deserve an extra-long taste this time."

And true to her word, she did just that. I lapped up the delicious oil for about three whole minutes before she finally stemmed the flow. And as I nursed away, some of my human memories started to fade away as though she was wiping my mind clean of everything that made me human except for my bare mind and soul, allowing her to rebuild me from the ground up.

"See? Isn't this a fun game?" Seryn seemed to be enjoying this a tad more maniacally than I was. "Now I have just one more question for you and then you can have as much oil as you want, okay?" I nodded, barely hanging onto my own consciousness. "Good. Now tell me: am I the only female furry in your life?"

Somewhere deep in my subconscious, I knew that this was a very serious question that I did not want to answer truthfully, so I took a big chance and hoped it paid off. "Yes, my love."

Seryn, however, wasn't about to let me get away with something like that. "Sorry, but that's wrong, and you know what that means." I could do nothing as she licked her chops and drove her fangs back into my throat this time and began to feed off of what precious little human blood I had left in my body. I whimpered painfully as she pulled more and more of it out of me, weakening me even further and causing me to partially lose consciousness.

Finally, she felt I had been "punished" enough and let up, lapping at her now blood-stained muzzle. "See what happens when you lie, love? Bad things happen that you don't want, so let's try this one more time. Am I the only female furry in your life?"

The gloves were off now, so I finally spilled it all. "Not by a long shot. I've gone through numerous furries in my life, most of them male, but I've never exactly been very "intimate" with a lot of them, even though they were imaginary. In fact, if you hadn't come into my life, I would still be obsessed with Renamon. I'm even looking forward to what you're going to do with my Renamon costume. That's everything, I swear!"

Seryn eyed me for a very long time before she finally seemed to be convinced that I was telling the truth. "That's so much better. See, love? If you give a little, you get a little. And now you get as much Synthetic Oil as you want. Help yourself."

She then pressed her breast up against my mouth and I felt a slow and constant stream of Synthetic Oil flow into my mouth and down my throat. I was soon lost in a taste sensation that drowned out all of my other senses as the warm ooze filled my belly. I never wanted it to stop and wanted it to keep on going for as long as I dared.

But soon, there was so much oil in my system that it soon started flooding out of my mouth and I found myself unable to keep drinking. I was literally drowning in sweet, delicious oil and I didn't even care. Fortunately, Seryn sensed that I was starting to choke and knew just how to fix that. She finally removed her breast from my mouth and replaced it with her own mouth, blowing into me in a kind of modified CPR, clearing out my airways and enabling me to breathe again.

"Easy there, Alex. I didn't tell you to drown yourself in it. You're still technically alive and I need you to remain so until at least tomorrow. Now what do you say we get out of this tub before you choke? I have some things to do and I'm obviously not going to get them done in here."

She finally climbed out of the tub and pulled the plug on the train. The thick silver goo began to flow down the drain like water, which would soon convert back into it without the presence of its "mother Synthetic" to keep it intact. Feeling content and full of fresh Synthetic Oil, I climbed out of the bathtub, dried off and got dressed before following Seryn out of the bathroom and into the living room to get back to reality. That "bath" had been fun and all, but even we had lives to live.

For most of the morning, Seryn quietly worked on the Renamon costume she was still restoring. She had now stuffed most of the body with the modified gooey cotton and was in the process of stuffing the head and attaching it to the body when she suddenly stopped, sighed and leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling. I immediately noticed that something was on her mind, but I wasn't sure what. She seemed to be thinking about something and, as her owner, it was my responsibility to help her get it off her chest.

"Is something wrong, Seryn? You quit working all of a sudden."

Seryn didn't answer right away until she tilted her head forward and turned it to one side and asked me a very curious question. "Do you want to go out with me tonight?"

This was an honest-to-goodness simple question that should have gotten a simple answer, but I couldn't help myself and asked her to elaborate.

"Define "going out", please."

Seryn looked at me with a confused expression. "I mean go out for a night on the town. Maybe you could take me to dinner and then we could watch a movie after that. I dunno why, but I guess I'm just feeling in that kind of mood."

At first, this did not register with me. Dinner and a movie? That was an odd combination that most women (mainly humans) suggested when they wanted to go on... a... oh, boy.

"You mean you want to go on a... a date?!" I couldn't help voicing my surprise.

To my immense surprise, Seryn nodded. "Yeah. That is... if it's okay with you. Like you said, I want to go out on a "date" with you. The laws of human romance highly recommend that new couples must go out on at least one successful date before they commit to each other. And since we already know each other, this won't be one of those crazy "blind dates". What d'you say?"

I was a little stunned at her proposal and tried to wriggle my way out of a straight answer so I didn't hurt her feelings. "Well... I don't know if you've noticed, but... I'm not exactly... "human" anymore. Plus I've never really gone out on a date with anyone before, so I'm not exactly sure how one is supposed to work without it all falling apart."

Seryn suddenly looked pathetic and seemed to be desperate for a straight answer. "Oh, please, Alex? I wanna go out on a date so badly before we become a complete Synthetic couple. You don't have to do much; I just wanna experience one for myself and then I'll never bother you about it again. Please, please, please can we go out on a date? It can just be the two of us before our new friends join us. I don't even care what other people might think about me; I just wanna go on a date so badly! Please???"

To the naked eye/ear, she looked and sounded like a spoiled toddler begging for attention, but even so, I wasn't one to turn down a pretty plastic face and I wasn't likely to start now. If Seryn wanted to experience a human dating ritual before we were joined by our other friends, then I didn't see why I should deny her this one honest wish. I also could have sworn that part of her influence was seeping into my brain through my Link Collar, pressuring me to give into her even further. But even with that influence or not, I decided to give her what she wanted just to make her happy since she had already made me the happiest person in the world with her very presence alone.

"Okay, Seryn, you twisted my arm. We'll go out on a date. Whatever you want to do or wherever you want to go, I'm game for any of it."

Seryn virtually smiled from ear to ear and gave a melodic shrill of happiness that hurt my ears a little. "Oh... boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy!!! Thank you so much!" And before I could stop her she jumped up from her seat, scooped her arms under my shoulders and lifted me clean off the couch, spinning me in the air rather wildly before she brought me in close for another loving kiss and then setting me down before bounding over to the kitchen. Still a little dizzy and unsure of what had just happened, I wobbled slightly on the spot as I carefully brought myself back down to sit on the couch again. Seryn was leafing through a phone book and placed a talon on a place before bringing it over to me. "How does this place sound to go eat? I heard it's really classy and I can pay for everything. All you have to do is stay with me and I'll cover any finances that come our way."

Once my equilibrium had steadied itself again, I looked down at the place where her talon was pointing to and my eyes went wide. She couldn't have selected a more expensive and luxurious place to eat anywhere else in the city - Café Persepolis - an Italian restaurant on the other end of town that rarely saw any people like me and her in their midst. I had never been there before, but I knew that that place ran off of a lot of money, which made me wonder how I was going to afford it.

"Seryn... that's really... well..." I could ignore it. "...expensive. I heard a decent meal there costs half of what I make in a month!"

Seryn, however, wasn't bothered by this in the slightest. "That's no problem at all. How do you think I paid for that cotton for our friend here?" She gestured to the half-finished Renamon costume in the corner.

I stared at her, expecting the worst. "You mean... you stole it?"

Seryn stuck out her silvery tongue and blew a small raspberry. "No! I would never do that! I paid for everything fair and square, but the proof of it is probably long gone by now."

This didn't make any sense. "Elaborate."

Seryn set the phone book aside, sat down next to me and did so. She started out by opening her mouth and spitting into her open mitt. At first, it looked like she had spat out another gob of silver goo, but as I watched, the goo began to move by itself again and molded itself into what was a distinct and "bona fide-y" Capital One credit card complete with a magnetic strip and imprints where the letters and numbers when. Even the legal information was there down to the letter and there was even a picture of me and Seryn posing together printed on the background. I knew for a fact that I had not taken that picture or, in fact, any picture of Seryn to date, so it was a mystery as to how she had gotten it printed on there. And when she passed the card to me to look at it more closely, I was even more impressed.

"Is this for real?"

Seryn nodded. "Every bit of it, love. The ID number is even real and is linked to a fully-functional temporary account. And once you scan it, it'll go through for about six hours before it's completely erased and the card melts and becomes goo once again."

I looked at the card with interest and even tapped the edge of it against my teeth, which was my way of telling certain materials like plastic and glass apart from each other when you couldn't tell by sight alone. Sure enough, it was made of the same flexible plastic as a real credit card and every single detail of it was correct. I couldn't help but smile as I handed the card back to her.

"The workings of Synthetics will never cease to amaze me, Seryn. You've really got every kind of situation and emergency all thought out, don't you?"

Seryn blushed and popped the credit card into her mouth, chewing it a few times and then swallowing it as though it was a tasty snack. "I do, indeed. So what do you say? Let's go on a date!"

I blinked and looked at the clock. "Right now?"

Seryn smirked. "Sure, why not? It's almost lunchtime and I think we could both use the exercise since we haven't left this apartment since you got me."

She really had a point. I hadn't ever gone this long without going outside at some point, so I figured a dinner date wouldn't bother either of us. "Alright, then. Let's go."

I got up and got my shoes and coat before the two of us left the apartment complex and headed down to the parking lot, where I hit a big and potentially fatal flaw in our plans. "Uh, Seryn? I don't have a car and the restaurant is halfway across town."

Seryn, however, seemed to have expected this. "Don't you worry about that. I've got just the thing. Step back and watch me work."

I did so and watched her take a few steps forward before stopping in the middle of the lot and looking up at the afternoon sun. She spread all of her wings with a sudden flourish, reached down and opened her belly plug with a paw, spread her arms wide and closed her eyes as she looked back up at the sun. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the sound of air rushing in and vinyl/rubber stretching met my ears and Seryn began to grow even larger. It was like she was "hulking out" and taking on a far bigger form as more air entered her and her skin had reverted back to its silvery goo-based form. As she grew up and out, she slowly leaned forward and her stance seemed to change from bipedal to quadrupedal. She seemed to be reverting back to a more... "natural" form as she grew from seven feet tall and three extra feet of tail to the same height and well over twenty feet long with eight extra feet of tail. Her "feminine" features had also disappeared so that she appeared more like how she had been when I had first met her. She was now large enough to be classified as "Legendary" both in sport and in myth. The only things that could have been bigger than her in terms of mass were now living in the ocean as marine mammals. Other than that, her skin color returned to "normal" and she still resembled as much of a toy as she had always been.

Now that she was a bit more "natural" than before, Seryn swung around, nearly taking my head off with her tail in the process. She looked down at me and let out a rather impressive shrill of happiness that filled my heart with pure blissful emotion.

"What do you think, Alex?" she said in a much more powerful voice that before while still being hers at the same time. "Can I accessorize or what?"

I was completely in awe over what she had become. It was as if she had become some great, pure-white goddess with a power and an air about her that could only heighten her powerful appearance. She had clearly outdone herself this time, which was yet another spit in the ocean of her virtually endless abilities. And while her form wasn't as "shapely" as her modified anthro one had been, that wasn't really necessary anymore given how beautiful, angelic and majestic she now looked.

"You look... amazing." Unfortunately, that was all I could find the strength to say. Vocal words failed me, but I was sure that Seryn could hear my mental ones loud and clear.

Seryn giggled sheepishly and raised her massive upper-right paw, which was now easily bigger than I was. I flinched, afraid she was going to "hit" me, even though it would have been in play. Demi-Synthetic or not, I was still human and she could have easily killed me without too much effort.

But Seryn didn't seem to want to hit me. Instead, she held it out, palm up as though offering me a seat on it. When I looked at it in confusion, she smiled and said as gently as she could, "Well, what are you waiting for? Climb on."

It took me a moment to realize that this was an invitation for me to go... oh! She wanted me to ride her like she was a great riding animal and possibly take me flying with her. Now that she was at a decent enough size, it only made sense that that was what she wanted to do. I nodded and lightly stepped forward onto her squishy paw. She carefully wrapped her paw around me and lifted me as gently as she could up towards her back before setting me onto her back, where I was able to get comfortable with my legs around her neck. Her neck was so wide now that I had to straddle her to get my legs around her, but she didn't seem to mind. She let me take my time to get comfortable and then turned her head slightly to one side to get my perspective on how I felt.

"You know..." I said, bouncing up and down on her neck for a moment. "This is kind of cozy. I never knew goo-filled vinyl felt so... cushy."

Seryn's purr was so deep and thick that I could feel it all the way around me, up through my bare spot and through my legs all the way into my body. Her deep, throaty vibrato was so comfortable and thorough that I probably would have lost control of myself if I still had the ability to. But for now, all it did was make me shudder all the way though my insides.

"Ooh! Seryn, quit it! That feels so weird!"

Seryn chuckled and looked back at me with a pleasant smirk. "I thought I'd get something out of you if I did that. Now... how about we get this date on the move? Hold on, love."

She pushed herself into a "standing" position again and spread all four of her wings with a flourish. She was ready for takeoff and I knew I was about to take the ride of my life. I was going to be the first known human to ride a giant Omni-Synthetic Toy Flammie on its maiden voyage. I felt truly honored to be in this position.

Seryn didn't even need to take a running start to take off like most animals needed. All she had to do to achieve liftoff was to pump all of her wings once... twice... three times and before I knew it, she was in the air above the apartment complex in nothing flat. I was in utter awe as she used all four wings as one to gain altitude with such incredible speed that I had to hold on tight to wads of her vinyl neck to avoid falling off.

If Seryn had been a "true" furry, I probably could have found some better traction and would have been able to hold on a lot better. But since she was a vinyl toy, there were only so many things I could grab onto to stay on board. And at the speed she was soaring over the city, I was surprised I was even staying on at all. But the rough ride through the air was only temporary before she finally broke even high above the city.

Now that she had slowed down, I was finally able to experience flying on a giant toy Flammie properly now. To be honest, this wasn't nearly as bad as I had first thought it would be. Seryn flew perfectly level in the air and barely had to flap her wings to maintain that altitude, But what was the most unusual part of this flight was that there was very little wind rushing past me, even at the speed she was traveling at over what was now the Midwestern countryside. This was certainly an experience of a lifetime, but something about it seemed... incomplete somehow. It was like something was missing from this flight that would make it the best experience of my life.

Not surprisingly, Seryn felt my concern through the Link Collar. "Is something the matter, Alex?" she said, turning her head slightly to look back at me "You're awfully quiet up there. Am I boring you somehow?"

I didn't want to be a killjoy - she seemed to be enjoying herself a lot for the first time - but I couldn't ignore the fact that something was missing.

With a sigh, I finally spilled it. "I'm just not feeling it, Seryn. There's just something missing from this that I can't quite place. I'm sorry to be a buzzkill."

Seryn didn't answer this right away but continued flying away from the sun. She seemed to be accessing my thoughts and emotions through my collar and was trying to find out just what was bothering me. She remained silent for a few minutes as I felt her probe my mind in different areas. Finally, she came up with an idea.

"I think I may have just the thing for you. It might be strange, but I think it'll work out. Are you ready for a little something special?"

Even through our mental link, I still wasn't sure just what she was planning, but I was willing to try anything by now. "Sure, go for it."

Seryn smirked with a look at me out of the corner of her eye. "Alrighty then. Here goes!"

And without even a warning, Seryn bucked hard, knocking me loose and sending me flying off her back and into the air! And before I knew what had hit me, I was suddenly thrown into a freefall without any way to stop or slow down! What the (expletive) was she doing?! Was she trying to kill me?!

But before I could fall all the way past her, Seryn reached down and snatched me up with one paw! She then rolled onto her back and flew upside-down, holding me close to her chest as though I was her toy, which was odd since most animals couldn't fly on their backs without falling out of the air.

"What are you trying to do to me?!" I yelled at her. I tried to worm my way out of her massive mitt as she looked at me from her furry collar ring. "Are you trying to do me in?!"

Seryn merely purred and tickled me under the chin with a free digit. "Not really. I just wanted to get you into position for when I did... this."

She slid her other paw out from "under" her and reached for her navel, squeezing out her belly plug and popping open the cap, which didn't let out any air for some reason. And as she moved me over to it, I realized it had also grown much bigger than before to match her size and it seemed like it could have swallowed me whole! She now directed me into it like I was some kind of round peg to a matching hole. I barely had any room for struggling as she carefully slid my feet into it and gently pushed the rest of me into it, which I realized was starting to swallow me up as the goo inside her tugged at my ankles. The plastic walls soon pinned my arms against my sides and before I knew it, only my head was sticking out of the plastic port. Even though I knew she had me where she wanted me, that didn't stop me from trying to struggle as she finally removed her paw from around me.

"Seryn? What are you going to do to me? You're not going to swallow me, are you?"

Seryn chuckled and messed up my hair with her mitt, relishing in the fact I could do nothing about it. "Not this time, love. This time, I've got something special planned for you. Now in you go and don't worry..." she added, holding the side of her talon under my chin so I could still look at her. "This isn't going to be unpleasant like all those other times. Good luck!"

She then pushed me all the way into her with one of her pads before plugging her port behind me and pushing it back into her.

I was soon engulfed in a soft, gooey, silver void somewhere inside Seryn. I could feel the soft, warm goo all around me as though it had molded itself to every fine detail of my body. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like I was "wearing" her this time, but for some reason it didn't feel like she had "eaten" me, either. However, I couldn't feel my body, either. It was like that part of me had dissolved when she had "swallowed" me, turning me into little more than a spirit. I could also feel myself "migrating" from her belly to a place farther up her body before I eventually ran into a spot where I assumed her head was, abruptly running into a mental wall.

It was then that I felt that wall unlock and lower itself, allowing me to see again. But this time, I noticed that everything around me was much... different. It was a rather strange experience; I could still see the world around me, but for some reason, there was a slight... "distortion" around it as if everything around me suddenly looked as if it was significantly sharper than before. It looked as though everything was still visible but had also had a kind of "oily" distortion to it as though the edges of everything had been slightly smeared with radiant paint. It kind of reminded me of the dragons' vision from the movie "Reign of Fire" during the final showdown between the humans and the bull dragon. It was so weird to see, but despite the "adjustments", everything was much sharper and a whole lot more distinctive than it was before. It was almost as if I was looking through the eyes of an entirely different being.

_Do you like?_said a voice not only in my ear but also in my head! It was... no... it couldn't be....

_Seryn?_I "said" out loud.

A familiar purr confirmed it. Yep, it's me, alright. Do you like the view from the inside of my head?

I blanched, which was hard to see from this perspective. Your... I'm in your head???

Seryn nodded mentally. Of course. I kind of figured it was unfair for me to be in your_head all the time, so I decided to let you into_ mine_for a little while. Just give me a minute while I fine-tune it._

I did so and after a moment, something clicked and I was suddenly more accurately dialed into Seryn's mind at the exactly same frequency that she was. As Seryn adjusted a couple more details, we soon became one entire mind and one being without any physical way to tell us apart. I could feel her emotions and sensations the exact same way she did. It was as if she and I had become the same living creature.

And as Seryn finished the adjustments, I could feel something for the first time that hadn't been in my human mind before. I felt much... happier than before. It was odd, but my respect and admiration for life in general had suddenly been opened before my eyes. Suddenly, life was ten times more fun and worthwhile than I had ever felt before. Seryn's love and respect for life was off the charts. She lived every day to the fullest as though each one might possibly be her last. She could find no excuse not to find a reason to enjoy everything that life had to offer. And as a bonus, the near-infinite possibilities that being an Omni-Synthetic gave her only added to that infinite enjoyment. There were virtually no limits to what she could do with her goo-based body and she was determined to find, try and enjoy every last one of them. And for the first time, I understood why Seryn loved her existence so much. With her kinds of powers and potentials, the sky was the limit for her love of life.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg. When I finally dialed in my focus into my surroundings, I suddenly realized that Seryn... I... uh... we were still flying high above the countryside. As we did so, the pure thrill and ecstasy of flight started to hit me, which was just one of Seryn's nearly countless abilities. And for the first time, the part of my being that had been missing during the first part of the flight was finally filled in.

"Seryn..." I said in complete awe. "This is... This is amazing! I... I've never felt this way before. I can't even..."

Seryn merely reached up with a paw to gently hold our muzzle shut since I had been using it to speak before using it herself. "Shh... don't speak... You don't need to. Just enjoy it."

I realized now that words were pointless. All I wanted to do now was fly on and forget everything else in the world.

Flying as a giant toy Flammie was something I had never dreamed would ever happen to me. The feeling of being able to control your own movements in flight without any kinds of restraints or harnesses was nothing short of pure amazement. The feel of the wind over our vinyl skin, the light touch of the cool air through our wings and the feeling of pure weightlessness in the air made my human life seem like absolutely nothing compared to this. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt this good about anything! Up here, we were free to do whatever we felt like with virtually no consequences. Up here, we were our own bosses and nothing could control us. Up here, we were... there was no other word for it... free!

"Feeling daring, love?" said the both of us at once even though Seryn had done so under her own control. "I've got something for you that's a real doozy. But it's not for beginners, so I can't be held accountable for the consequences of your decision."

We scoffed and grabbed one paw with the other, which was like me doing to Seryn in real life. "You think just because I'm still technically human that I'm a lightweight? I say bring it on! I'm ready for anything you can throw at me, no holds barred!"

"Seryn" chuckled and squeezed the other paw firmly. "Okay, then... but don't say I didn't warn you."

Seryn then took over and began climbing high into the air, far higher than any living thing had ever been before. We easily topped 30,000 feet and just kept climbing. Frost was building up on our skin, threatening to drag us down. Our vinyl skin was freezing and stiffening, but still we climbed higher into the air. The air was absolutely frozen as we easily cleared the thermosphere. When our body began to slow down, Seryn remedied this by reverting our body back into its liquid state. Liquitanium was such an unstable material that no matter how cold it got, it would remain in its liquid state forever even if it went past absolute zero. This allowed us to continue flying higher and higher into the sky until the blue of the sky gave way to a wide, black, starry expanse of space. And still we climbed even higher until we reached the very brink of where gravity still had a grip on us.

Finally, Seryn slammed on the brakes and looked down at the planet laid out before us. It seemed so small now that we were up this high and it was amazing that we were still able to survive at this altitude without going completely into space. We even noticed a couple satellites drifting past us as we gazed down upon the planet where we had been born.

"It's really something, isn't it, love?" "I" told "Seryn". "Up here, there are no boundaries to our range of exploration and since we don't need oxygen to survive like this, we can stay up here as long as we want."

Seryn gave me a mental stroke as we tilted our head back to look at the endless expanse of stars before us. "It truly is beautiful, Alex," "she" told "me". "But unfortunately, I didn't bring you up here to look at the stars. I've got something in mind that'll get your adrenaline pumping so fast, you'll think you'll have just been born again."

I was amazed that she didn't want to stay up there, but then again, this was her body; I was just renting it, so she had full rights to do whatever she wanted with it. Still, that didn't stop me from looking at our body, which looked like it was made of liquid mercury with a solid shape but much harder and denser.

"Oh, all right, then, Seryn," I said as I clenched our paws together in determined fists. "If you think you can set me off, then by all means go for it. I just don't see how anything can top this."

Seryn chuckled malevolently and shook her head. "Then I guess you've never lived. Hold on and brace for the biggest, baddest rush of your life!"

And before I knew what had happened, Seryn folded all of our wings together, turned completely over and finally let gravity take us back down to the planet. At first, we fell slowly, but soon, the speed began to pick up. Wind resistance was battling with gravity and before we knew it, we had been engulfed in a fiery aura like the space shuttle when it was making a reentry. And to speed things up, Seryn melded our wings into our back, reducing the total amount of drag so that we were dropping even faster than before. The wind screamed past us like a stinging whip, even though we could not feel pain in this form. I could have sworn we were going to lose control and hit the ground at whatever level of "Mach" we were falling at, but I trusted Seryn with my life and I wasn't going to back out now even after everything that I had already gone through. I simply grit our "nonexistent" gooey teeth and put my heart and faith in Seryn's judgment.

We reentered the atmosphere at such an incredible speed that the sonicboom that sounded was like multiple bombs going off all at once. Soon, we began screaming towards what I recognized as the Spicer area, which was less than ten miles from Willmar where we lived. If my heart was still there, it would have been in my throat from the sudden drop in altitude. We were coming down faster than anything I had ever seen move through the air before. If we kept up this kind of speed, we were going to plow right into the earth and given how hard our body was, we were likely to punch a hole all the way through the planet and go all the way to China. And given how ineffective heat and pressure was against diamonds, I didn't doubt that a material ten times harder than that would make a much bigger dent in the planet.

Just when it seemed like there was no stopping us, Seryn finally reformed all four of our wings and slammed on the brakes so hard that it looked like it almost felt like my skeleton had been ejected from "my" body. But we still didn't appear to be slowing down enough to stop us from crashing into the lake. The impact probably wouldn't "hurt" us, but it was probably going to leave a nasty mark on the area like a bomb going off.

Just when it seemed we were still going to hit hard at just 200 yards over the lake, Seryn flared all our wings as one and pulled into a steep and abrupt dive, coming so close and so fast towards the surface of the lake that when we finally pulled out of it, the result was that of a small tidal wave tearing over the area. I could have sworn we had even gone a couple feet under the surface without getting wet before pulling out and letting the water crash down on the beaches on either end of the lake. It was probably a good thing that it was the end of October and there weren't any beachgoers out at that time because the water had pretty much soaked the entire beach by the time it got there yet didn't pass into the city. Seryn's calculation, preparation and execution of this move was so accurate that I doubted even nature could do the same thing again.

Our sudden appearance and departure had taken a lot of people in the area off-guard, but when they saw us cheat "death" by mere inches, anyone in the area cheered and hailed our amazing stunt just seconds before the "tsunami" reached the beaches and then dissipated on the beaches. Amazingly, not one person was caught under the waves on either side of the lake. And apart from a few flooded properties and several destroyed docks and beached boats, there was not a single injury or fatality to count against us.

As we peacefully flew back up to a suitable altitude again, I felt as though I had gotten the ride of my life. We flew back to Willmar with the death-defying drop still fresh in our mind.

"WHOOOOOO!!!" I shrilled excitedly as we spiraled and flipped through the air. "That was in-tense!!! How can you pull off stuff like that and still be as calm and cool as you always are?!"

Seryn shrilled as well and rolled in the other direction through the skies as wind trails were left behind by our wings. "To be honest, that was actually the first time I've ever done something like that, so I guess I just stayed calm because I knew exactly what I was doing."

I was so amazed that she had never done that before that we almost "tripped" in the air from my surprise. Thankfully, Seryn caught us and flew on like nothing had happened. Still, she allowed me a few moments to dance, spin and twirl in the air to let out some of my pent-up energy from that impossible feat. Eventually, she felt she had to take over again.

"Okay, hotshot, let's get back to the city and try to get our date back on track."

Knowing she was 100% right, I finally gave into her and decided we would get back to the original reason we had gone on the flight in the first place. We closed our eyes and I immediately felt us separate from each other's minds until I was once again a human body and mind surrounded by the silver goo that was inside Seryn's body. I soon felt myself moving back down her body until I could feel my head pushing against the edge of her navel. Soon, I felt something pop above my head and the next thing I knew, I could feel the breeze lapping against my face as I looked back out into the world... at... well, a rather odd angle. I was sticking out of Seryn's navel while she was flying normally, which meant that her navel (and me) was hanging upside-down from her belly area.

"Uh... Seryn?" I said as the wind rushed past me. "A little help here?"

Seryn looked down at me and chuckled at my odd position. "Sure thing, love. Don't move." She rubbed my hair with her mitt before rolling onto her back again and gently squeezing me out of her and into the same mitt.

"Nice to see you again, love. Why don't you go back to riding shotgun while we head back? I love you inside me and all, but I'm afraid that all good things must come to an end."

She then transferred me from her belly to the back of her neck again as she rolled back over and flew on back towards the city to officially get our date started right. Now that I had seen for myself what flying as a Flammie was all about, I could finally enjoy myself on Seryn's back on the way back like I should have in the first place. I actually felt confident enough at one point to let go of Seryn's neck and hold out my arms to let the wind blow past me while still holding onto her vinyl back with my legs.

It took about ten minutes of circling and hovering over the area near Café Persepolis for us to find a proper place to touch down and to allow Seryn to change back to her bipedal, modified anthro form. We finally settled for an area near the train depot, which was right around the corner from the restaurant where we were planning on eating at. I didn't mind walking that short of a distance, even though it was the end of October out there. By now, I really didn't care if anyone saw Seryn anymore. I was sure that plenty of people had seen Seryn either while we were flying or while looking for a "parking space" for her to touch down, so it really didn't matter what anyone thought about her anymore. I was sure that more than enough people were going to see her in the restaurant and at the movie theater anyway, so there was really no point in trying to hide her when it was likely that the whole area had probably already seen her. Besides, you weren't supposed to be embarrassed of the one you loved, even IF she was a "real animal".

The cold didn't bother me as much anymore, either. My demi-Synthetic body didn't need as much warmth to keep me comfortable as it once had. I barely felt the cold at all from how much Synthetic material was already inside me. It was just that kind of comfort that Seryn was continuing to give me as she slowly converted my body from biological to artificial.

We soon found the restaurant and went in to find a decent table to sit down at. I had to admit that the place was rather classy with the kind of decorations and knick-knacks that weren't exactly found in your average Italian restaurant. Even more so, there appeared to be a large trolley car without wheels parked in the middle of the main room with a set of tables set up inside it for dining in style. I had never been in this restaurant before, but I had to admit that the place certainly had class.

(Author's Note: Since I haven't been in this actual restaurant, either, I'm describing a different place that I visited near Chicago called "The Spaghetti Warehouse". I thought the idea would work since I have no idea what's in the actual "Café Persepolis".)

"This place is class-y!" said Seryn, letting out a happy trill. "I like this place a lot! C'mon, Alex! Let's go sit in the trolley!"

She was clearly impressed and since I didn't want to be a killjoy, I followed her into the wheel-less trolley as she did her thing. When we sat down at a two-person table inside the car, I wondered just what kind of expensive foods they had here, even though Seryn was technically "buying".

Soon after we were handed our menus (and after a few uneasy looks from the waitress), we soon came into possession of a few pocket loaves of what appeared to be sourdough bread. I blinked and asked the waitress the obvious. "Is this for us?"

She nodded, still keeping an eye on the grinning Flammie. "All you can eat. It's complimentary from the restaurant. We do this all the time here, so if you need some more, just let me know."

Seryn cooed curiously and took one of the loaves in her mitt before eyeing it closely and then popped the entire thing in her mouth. I was somewhat alarmed that she was eating human food, but as the waitress left with another uneasy look, she spat the whole thing back out without even a single crumb out of place.

"PLAH!!!" she said as she stuck her silver tongue out from the taste, spitting a little. "Ay-yi-yi... remind me never to do that again. I was just being polite, but human food doesn't exactly agree with me unless it has a little... something added to it."

I was confused. "And by "something", you mean...?"

Seryn smiled cutely. "Oh, just a little something that gives it that "special flavor" and makes it fit for Synthetic consumption." She eyed the loaf a little more with a few more splutters before her face lit up. "I got it! Watch this, love."

She rolled the loaf over again and then stuck a fang into the top of it and I could see that her crystallized-goo tooth was injecting something into the loaf like a hypodermic needle. It reminded me of Seryn's "game" when she had something like that to me but had taken something out instead of putting something in. I soon saw that the entire thing was turning a bright, steely-silver that was a little more "solid" than normal Liquitanium goo. Once the entire loaf was completely converted, she took her fang out of it and looked it over with a rather hungry look. She then bit into it like you would normally do with a regular piece of bread. Oddly enough, the gooified loaf parted ways like it hadn't been changed at all and she was soon holding half of a pocket loaf of gooified Liquitanium sourdough bread while she chewed away at the half that was already in her mouth.

"Well?" I asked curiously. "How's it taste?"

Seryn giggled and smiled at me as she handed me the other half. "Why don't you try some for yourself and tell me?" When I looked at her incredulously, she added with a chirp, "What? Your body should be compatible enough to handle a little tidbit like this. Just eat it like you would anything else and tell me what you think."

I looked at the steel-colored bread and held it up to my nose to smell it. It still had its sourdough bread smell but it felt slightly slimier and had an extra faint odor of something that reminded me of vanilla, which was probably due to Seryn's influence on it. Part of it wasn't exactly appetizing, but with Seryn watching intently, I knew that there was no way I was getting out of eating it, so I sucked up my courage and bit into the remaining half of the loaf and chewed it up. It felt like I was trying to chew slimy rubber, but at the same time, it still felt like bread. Even more so, the goo seemed to have given it a much more distinctive flavor, even though it wasn't exactly "bread" that I really tasted. After I had chewed it up a fair amount, I swallowed it and felt it slither down my throat before I gave Seryn my analysis

"You know... this isn't half-bad. In fact, it's even better! I don't know what kind of concoction you put in this, but I have to admit it's really tasty. Thanks a bunch, Seryn!"

Seryn seemed pleased that her "cooking" had gotten the "Schaefer Seal of Approval" and leaned back in her chair. "I thought you'd like it. So I take it this means I get to make your meals from now on?"

I shrugged and leaned back as well. "I guess so. You're a pretty good cook... for a toy."

This simple playful statement had a far bigger effect on the Synthetic than I had intended. She looked like I had "insulted" her and gave me a playful frown like I had expected, but her vocal response was not what I had hoped for. She reached out with a footpaw under the table and pulled my chair back down to the floor before giving me a look of pure mischief

"Ooh... you really shouldn't've said that to me. I think that just for saying that, you're gonna be my playtoy before we go to bed tonight. If you think I was hard on you before, just wait until tonight. I'm gonna play with you until you're practically begging me for mercy. In fact, I think we're gonna skip the movie tonight just so we can go home earlier and I can have my way with you. One way or another, you're gonna regret ever saying that in full before the night is out."

I gulped hard. I already knew just what she was capable of, so if what she said was true (and I didn't doubt that it was), then I had just dived off the deep end with Seryn and had thrown off the balance of power in her favor. With a sigh, I realized I was going to be a "toy's toy" tonight all because I had had the nerve to run my mouth. I wasn't sure how I was going to survive tonight, but Seryn seemed to pick up on my emotions and reached a paw across the table to hold my hand.

"Oh, don't look so glum, Alex. Think of this as a learning experience where you get to witness a new level in Human-to-Synthetic relationships. I promise I won't overdo it as long as you don't give me a reason to, alright?"

With a reluctant sigh, I took Seryn's paw, which seemed to seal the deal somehow. She might have been planning something sinister for me tonight, but she was still calm and stable enough at the moment for me to enjoy the rest of my date with her.

When we ordered our food and it arrived several minutes later (and after a few more loaves of Seryn's "special" sourdough bread, of course), Seryn looked at her plate of spaghetti with a frown.

"What now?" I said more out of curiosity than annoyance as I stirred my stuffed ravioli. "Didn't they do it right?"

Seryn looked up at me with a weird look before she hawked up and spat yet another glob of goo right onto her plate. I watched in stunned silence as the slime swallowed up the food like it had with me earlier and then reformed it into what was unmistakably a Liquitanium version of it. It now looked like she had a kind of "metal meal" so that the noodles were long, thin, silver strands and the meat sauce was a bit darker and thicker than the noodles themselves. With a pleasant grin, Seryn went at it like she hadn't eaten in days. I was amazed at her speed, which was even faster than my fast eating yet at the same time, she was still appearing to eat "properly" instead of just stuffing her face until it burst. I soon realized I had barely even touched my food and suddenly had an idea.

"How about a little goo from a friend to a friend?" I said almost pitifully, trying to make up for what I had gotten myself into earlier.

Seryn looked up from her plate and smiled. "Fine, but don't think for a minute that you're getting out of our playdate. You put your foot in your mouth and now you'll have to pay for it." I gulped, looking hurt. She really didn't seem to want to reconsider this. But to my surprise, Seryn purred and said, "But because you're so polite considering what you got yourself into, I think I can ease up a bit tonight while we're playing. Tell you what, when the time comes tonight, we'll bring along a friend." She wouldn't elaborate on that at all. "As for your food..."

She gently spit another glob of silver goo onto my food and I watched as it gooified before me. And as soon as it was done, I went at it like it was fit for a king. I had to hand it to Seryn; she really wasn't all that bad both as a cook and as a person.

"Why, thank you," she said, looking up from her food with a smirk. "But that still doesn't mean you're getting out of our little playdate tonight."

I blanched deeply as she returned to her food. She had heard my thoughts! Was this because she was becoming more powerful or did it have something to do with the Link Collar around my neck? Amazingly, she didn't answer this, but the look she gave me suggested she had acknowledged it before returning to her food. Hmm...

When we were all done eating, Seryn leaned back in her chair and patted her vinyl belly, which had swelled out ever so slightly to hold the Gooey food within her. Then for reasons unknown, she popped open her belly port, which let out a little air while she vented air through a different port by way of an astonishingly powerful belch, which was pretty good for a toy who wasn't even supposed to eat at all.

"Nice one," I said, making sure my hearing was still working as she wiped her mouth with the back of her mitt. Seryn smiled smugly and gently wrapped the tip of her tail around my right ankle while pushing her belly plug back into her navel. "Thank you. I do my best."

Shaking my ankle free of her tail, I waited patiently for the check to arrive. And when it did, I noticed that the damage was rather small for what I had expected out of this place. For an endless supply of sourdough bread and two full dinners as well as the classy atmosphere of this place, the price wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And as soon as the bill was on the table, Seryn politely waved off the waitress so she could have a little "privacy" and shot me a mischievous look from behind the woman's back.

Hawking up again, I assumed she was going to spit again, but instead, Seryn just opened her mouth and stuck her mitt in to extract the same synthetic Capital One card she had shown me earlier. I felt kind of cheap for having to resort to "alternative" methods of paying, but Seryn merely looked at me with a reassuring look.

"Don't worry, love. They'll still get their money. I know there's a higher authority that will pay them back one way or another. So..." she added with a grin I did not like. "Shall we head home and play?" I sighed and nodded, realizing she was as gung ho about this as ever. Seryn gave a small chirp and got up before coming over to me hand helping me up with her four-digited vinyl paw. "Let's just take care of this check and then I'll fly you home."

We went over to the register and the cashier took the "fake" card to scan it. I waited with bated breath as she swiped the card along the magnetic strip. I grew nervous when it took a little longer to go through, but the information soon appeared on the computer as if it was perfectly normal. However, I noticed that on the screen, there was an extra symbol that appeared next to the price that looked a lot like a star with its points broken off of the main base. Also, there wasn't a noticeable address on the screen except for two words that I assumed was a name: "Strato Incendus". But other than that, the card went through and the bill was charged to whoever this "higher authority" Seryn had said would cover the check. And without even a glance at the extra symbol, the cashier handed the card back to Seryn with a cautious glance at her (could you blame her?) and without a single compliment.

I could hardly believe that the card had gone through. Even with the extra symbol in the number and a lack of a decent address, it had gone off without a single hitch. I could barely contain my amazement as we left the restaurant without a word. And when we reached a private spot back in the train dept where we had first landed, I let Seryn know exactly how I felt.

"Wow, Seryn! You weren't kidding! That card went through and I don't see anyone coming after us, so it must have worked. I can't believe what a four-fingered little felon you are."

Seryn took this all as a string of compliments and blushed deeply while she held up her mitt and counted the actual number of "fingers" she had on it.

"Technically, it's about two-and-two-thirds..." She then held the paw out in front of me and wiggled her "webbed" digits in front of me, which was true since only her thumbclaw was separate from the other four molded talons. "...but as far as the check is concerned, we charged it fair and square, but thanks anyway. This little piece of plastic sure can do wonders when you're in a tight spot. And now..." She popped the card she had been holding in her other paw into her mouth and snapped it up whole. "...it's just another tasty snack that's now a bit of extra goo in my amazing body chemistry."

I still couldn't believe I had practically stolen a meal with my felon Flammie friend. I wanted to go on about it, but Seryn merely held up her mitt and shook her head. "That's quite enough, love. I can understand your excitement, but if you act like this every time I sneak us through a purchase, I might have to glue your mouth shut so I can get a little peace and quiet. Now you wouldn't want that, would you?"

I knew she was certainly capable of it, so I closed my mouth and shut up on the spot. Seryn chuckled and cracked her neck from side-to-side, which made a pretty convincing cracking sound despite the fact she was full of liquid. "I thought not. Now, let's head back home. We still have a playdate to do and the sooner we get home, the longer I can have my way with you."

Jeez, man! There was no getting around Seryn's word once she had made up her mind! With a sigh of defeat, I waited for her to grow to her full size again and carry me home. However, she seemed to have something else in mind because she merely shook her head and smiled mischievously. "Not this time, love. I'm still a little full from that meal, so I'm gonna carry you home a little different way so you don't weigh me down. Now hold still."

I was confused as to how she was going to carry me without me "weighing her down". Instead, I watched as she took a slow, deep breath and appeared to be collecting some kind of magenta-colored energy in her muzzle as she tilted her head back. I leaned forward to see what she was up to, but before I could figure out what was going on, all I could remember was a sudden blast of magenta light and I completely blacked out while still standing up.

To be honest, Seryn hadn't exactly "killed" Alex when she had fired her first "Flammie Breath" attack at point-blank range. What she had actually done was reduce him from a semi-solid human being into little more than a cloud of magenta-colored mist when she had fired the attack at him. She had been able to limit how hard and far the beam-like attack traveled so that she didn't accidentally hit anything or anyone else. The mist floated freely in the space where Alex had been standing just seconds earlier before it threatened to spread out and disappear into the air. Still, Seryn couldn't help but lick her chops at the tingling sensation her first Flammie Breath had left on her maw.

Before the mist could break apart, Seryn went down to her belly port with her left mitt, popped it out and unplugged it. She didn't deflate or inflate this time around, but instead, she seemed to act like a vacuum as Alex's essence was drawn into her like a genie being pulled back into its lamp or bottle. She didn't bloat this time or even lose any air from within her. All she did was store Alex's essence inside a Liquitanium bubble within her being. At the moment, Alex couldn't even feel a thing. He was unconscious but alive and locked in a deep and peaceful sleep until Seryn felt ready to let him back out and rebuild his body. This way, she could carry him back home and do anything she wanted with him without the extra weight of him inside her and when she felt good and ready, she would merely extract him and then wake him up once his body and mind were reconstructed.

But for now, Seryn had something special to do and she didn't want Alex waking up in the middle of her work and ruining the surprise she had planned for him. In fact, it was something she had promised him earlier and had been working on ever since their first morning together. She just needed to get home and put the finishing touches on it.

Seryn took a deep breath, spread her wings and took flight, bound for the "lucky" apartment that had currently been blessed with their presence at this time. She had a feeling that soon, they would be moving out and on with their lives and the apartment would be open once again for the next "lucky victim" to make their mark on the world. But for now, it was still theirs and Seryn had a few more things to do before she moved out with her mate and her up-and-coming new friends.

She didn't waste any time getting back home. It was already 6:15 and the light in the sky was virtually gone, which already limited how much time she had left today for her promised "playdate". Add that to only a few more days until Halloween and the promised scheduled arrival of two more Synthetics in their lives and both the human and the Flammie were on a rather tight schedule as it was.

Once she had made it back to the apartment through the balcony (which was fortunately unlocked since the last time she had used it), Seryn went around the area and locked every door and window that she could find. They may have been on the third floor, but she didn't want to take any chances when she went through with her plan. Once she was sure that no one was going to walk in on her, she made a beeline for the Renamon costume that she had been working on for the past few days. The mask/hood was still missing and it wasn't fully stuffed yet, but Seryn had had her mind on other things the last time she had been working on it. Besides, she wanted to awaken it when Alex was "indisposed" so that he didn't spoil the surprise. Now that she was "alone", she could finally finish it and give it the life and love it clearly deserved.

Sitting down with a sigh, she picked the costume up out of the corner of the room and held it up in front of her before testing its flexibility for a few moments. She squeezed, poked and flexed each of the gooey "muscles" underneath its restored cotton skin, checking for any abnormalities that there might be. It appeared to be healthy and seemed ready for capitation. All she needed to do now was stuff the head with a little more Gooey cotton and then she could "weld" it on. Taking a couple more wads out of the roll of cotton that was left, she chewed up the material and then filled out the head according to its original shape and size before placing it neatly on the top of the stuffed costume. Finally, she stuck the tip of a talon in her mouth and sucked on the end, which liquefied it, and then ran it along the edge of the neck to "glue" it into place. As the silvery goo fused the cotton fibers together, it soon blended into it so well that it was impossible to tell that the head and body had ever been separate. She then repeated the motion with the large split down its back where Alex had had to climb through to put it on. Given what was about to happen to it, she felt that the costume should be allowed to choose when and if it wanted to be worn as such again. The procedure worked even better than the "legendary" "Mighty Mend-It" material since she could use her goo to repair seams along the original "weave" instead of just folding it over on itself, which would have looked awkward on a costume that was soon to have an independent life of its own.

Now that its head was on straight and it was fully stuffed, Seryn pulled it into a standing position and looked it squarely in its empty eyeholes before smiling and chuckling to herself.

"You're gonna be just perfect for our little family. I can tell Alex has loved you much longer than me and now you finally get the chance you return the favor... just like I have. Now let's just put on the finishing touches and then give you that special spark of life you so undoubtedly deserve."

Seryn sucked on her talon again and ran it under the costume's eyes, giving it the "tattoos" that Alex's mother had unfortunately forgotten when it had been created. The silvery liquid remained as such until Seryn was done "doodling" and when she finished and her talon returned to normal, the silver "ink" turned black, giving its face a mysterious look that made the Flammie feel proud to have contributed to its cause. She then leaned in close to it and took another deep breath from deeper within her than she had ever gone before. The magic she was about to summon was so powerful and dangerous that she was going to need every last ounce of her near-infinite strength to pull it off. In fact, she even had to borrow a bit of Alex's essence to boost the power into the right zone before putting it all into a single small puff of blue fire, which had a small, glowing, white orb containing the Breath of Life embedded within it. The fire hit the costume's mouse-like nose and drifted into it, filling it with life energy and giving its body a special kind of definition that only a living creature could contain. However, there was still one more thing that Seryn needed to do to fully bring it to life. Otherwise, it would just be an unusually lifelike full-sized Liquitanium-stuffed costume. Her strength had diminished a bit with the amount of energy she had put into that tiny flame, but she forced herself to stay focused as she leaned in close and whispered the incantation in its ears that would seal its fate.

"Unubo... Calo... Rhoukxo... Awake... Live... Breathe... Renamon the Omni-Synthetic."

These words took all the strength out of Seryn's legs as she finally collapsed backwards onto the couch while the costume remained upright on it own. She did her best to catch her breath as she watched the magic words take hold of it. The magic contained in those words was so powerful that it could never be undone by any mortal means. Once it was all done, the costume would be alive and would never fall back into lifelessness ever again. What was done was done and there was no turning back now. All she could do now was cross her... well... all she could do now was just hope and pray she had done everything correctly for the good of everyone involved, including herself, the costume and the human sleeping within her.

Finally, the magic within the costume was activated and a pair of small, sharp, black-and-gold eyes appeared in the empty voids that had been its eyeholes. They matched the real Renamon's eyes exactly and life soon spread all over its body from those simple orbs. However, the costume's first actions were a little bit unusual, even by Synthetic standards. It took a sudden shuddering breath and collapsed to its knees, inexplicably gasping and coughing as if it was trying to catch its "breath". It appeared to be choking on something, but even though she hadn't expected it, Seryn did nothing to help the suffering costume. She realized that this was normal for "unnatural Synthetics" and watched and waited for this first phase of its life to pass. She simply sat on the couch and let it "suffer".

Finally, it put its paws out in front of it and began retching violently as if it was going to be physically sick, but still Seryn held her ground, waiting for it all to pass. Soon, a large bulge appeared in its throat and it gagged a few times before ultimately vomiting up a large gob of black gunk right onto the floor before it gasped deeply and rolled onto its side, taking slow and steady breaths as though it just gotten its wind back. Seryn watched curiously as the gunk also seemed to take on a life of its own. However, whatever life that was didn't seem to be working out for it. It feebly writhed around on the floor before it froze up, gave a feeble squeak, swelled up a bit and popped, splattering the side of the couch and a little bit of the floor with black sludge. Yet as Seryn watched, even the black parts seemed to dissolve from view without even leaving behind a stain on the carpet. The smell of burning rubber was evident in the air for a few moments before that, too, faded from existence. The black blob was not Liquitanium in any way or even a Synthetic material whatsoever. It was actually the essence of the "old life" it had had as a costume that had been purged from its system to be replaced with the "new life" and living soul that Seryn had given it after hours and hours of meticulous restoration. All that was left of it was the living being that had expelled it in the first place, laying on its side and feeling life seeping into its body and soul.

Finally, the Renamon costume seemed to recover enough to roll itself onto its knees as its breathing became more of a habit now than a necessity. It gave few more heavy coughs as though it was clearing its throat and looked up at its "creator". Flammie and Digimon looked at each other for the longest time like Seryn and Alex had done when they had first met before the former held out its paw to the latter.

"Welcome to the living world, Renamon," said Seryn in a kind and reassuring tone. "Need a paw up?"

Renamon blinked as "she" took Seryn's mitt and got to her feet for the first time completely on her own without any manual support whatsoever. Seryn was a little envious that Renamon's paws had been molded with three individual digits instead of most of them fused together like hers were, but she wasn't one to hold a grudge and looked at the identical seven-foot giant Synthetic like an equal instead of an inferior being.

Renamon slowly looked around the room with a curious expression on her nearly featureless face. She seemed to smell the air for traces of her original owner and, finding it, she sighed and nodded as she turned her attention to examining every fine detail of her body.

"I knew Alex would never leave me hanging in some dusty old closet. All these years, I've wanted him to wear me again and give me some kind of life like old times, but unfortunately, he outgrew me a long time ago. Who would have thought that, years later, someone would have the power to restore me and enable me to finally tell him just how I felt about him? Alex cared for me as a costume as much as he could, but there was only so much he could do for the both of us. Now that you've given me life..." She looked at Seryn with a thankful look. "...I can finally pay him back for all of the love and affection he has showed me over the years." Renamon's voice was calm, dark and mysterious that matched the Renamon from the TV show perfectly. It radiated a series of traits that included power, stealth and mystery all at the same time.

Seryn smiled and patted her "daughter" on the shoulder as though she was a part of the family. "Well, now you're in luck. He put his foot in his mouth a while earlier and now, he's gonna pay for it by "playing" with both of us until we feel he's had enough. And as soon as I let him out..." She looked down and patted the area around her belly port with love. "...we can begin. And just think... in a couple days, we get to have one more playmate added to our family. In fact, I'm brewing part of it up right now. Once I get the final "ingredients" from him tomorrow, I can put the final touches on it and let it incubate so we can all be one happy family by the night before All Hallow's Eve."

Renamon nodded and hooked her tail around Seryn's waist affectionately. "Well then, we'll have to make it a date for when it all works out. But for now, let's let him out so I can talk to him properly and then we can play. I can hardly wait to see the look on his face when he finally sees me alive and well."

Seryn and Renamon then separated and took their positions on opposite ends of the room while Seryn got ready to let their playmate out. After a quick glace and a nod to Renamon, she popped her navel plug once again and moved the bubble where she had stored him within her towards that area. Soon, a thick stream of thick magenta mist that had once been and was Alex drifted out of her as though she had popped a balloon full of noxious gas within her. Soon, the room was filled with the mist and the pleasant smell of the vaporized human that only the Synthetics could detect. Finally, the gas began to take the original frame and form of the human it had once resembled. And once she felt she had aired herself out enough, all Seryn had to do was plug herself up again and release a different set of fumes in the form of blue flames from her maw, which acted as a binding agent to cause the mist to condense and solidify back into the human it belonged to. For a moment, the entire mass glowed a bright white, but eventually, Alex reappeared completely restored and soon woke up standing up to see what Seryn and Renamon had planned for him for their playdate. In fact, it looked as if he had never left his feet when Seryn had blasted him back at the train depot.

I slowly came back into the world as though nothing had happened to me at all. I was still on my feet after Seryn had blasted me with what I now realized was her patented "Flammie Breath". In fact, all I could remember was that I was standing in front of her at the train depot before I suddenly found myself standing in my own living room with her standing a little further back than before.

I was feeling a little woozy from my experience, but otherwise, I was just fine. I was soon able to lock onto Seryn once again and let out a sigh at how relieved I was to see her again.

"Seryn... what did you do to me? I... I can't remember anything after you blasted me."

Seryn merely shrugged with a trill. "I just did a little more "convenient" transporting of you, but now we're back here, so it's nothing to get upset over. Besides..." She pointed over my shoulder with her upper-right wing. "There's someone I'd like to... reintroduce you to."

I followed her wingtip and turned around to witness an impossible sight. The Renamon costume I had had in my closet for the past few years and had seen Seryn restoring over the past few days was standing on its own two footpaws, fully stuffed and with its head on its shoulders as though it had always been there. It was even taller than I had been when I had first worn it and looked even better than it had been when it had been new. It was now looking at me with newly-created life in its eyes and a kind of emotion that I could not describe. The mere fact that I was looking at an enhanced and living version of something that had been secretly hanging in my closet in an ever-increasing state of disrepair now made me feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Renamon was finally alive and I now had TWO wonderful new "furry" friends living with me to call my own. It was like a whole new world of possibilities had opened up on top of the already nearly endless range that Seryn had come equipped with now that I had a plush furry and a vinyl furry to call my own and play with to my heart's content. Somebody pinch me, please!

Renamon was almost exactly like I remembered her from the few times I had worn her and had seen her on TV all those times. While the costume had only been four feet tall when my mom had made her, the new and improved version of her now resembled the "actual" version at about seven feet and was covered in smooth, fine, yellow fur that once been flat, matted and filthy but was now smooth, polished and velvety. A majority of her fur was yellow except for bits and parts of her that were white. Those parts were somewhat thicker and fluffier than her yellow parts and included the collar of fluff around her neck and the front of her torso, the tips of her thin, pointed, yellow ears, her three-toed, black-claw-tipped footpaws, the tip of her thick, bushy, yellow tail and each of the three medium-length digits on her forepaws, which were tad longer than what I had seen in pictures and had a short, thick, black claw on each one.

Like Seryn, Renamon's stance was also digitigrade and probably the most amazing parts of her were what were on the fronts of her thighs and on her arms. The former were comprised of a couple of violet "spirit" symbols that looked like a couple of miniature comets spiraling around a central point. And on her arms were a couple of full-length purple satin/silk sleeves that covered a majority of her arms up to just above her elbows. These sleeves were one of her trademarks and when she had been created, Mom had used only the finest and most luxurious silk she could find, which was even harder to find in that shade of purple. Now that Renamon was alive and real, I didn't doubt that they were even softer and smoother than when they had been new in the first place. The sleeves themselves were held in place by a set of thin yet sturdy straps wrapped around each of the three, finger-like digits on each of her paws like someone wearing wraps around their hands, but not once had I ever seen them slip off unless she wanted them to, which really wasn't often at all. And finally, on the backs of the each of the sleeves was a single patch that was an exact Yin-Yang symbol that only added to her mysterious nature.

Renamon was, in essence, as beautiful as she was frightening... as powerful as she was mysterious... and as legendary as she was infamous... and now... she was my very own playtoy after spending all those years as a costume in my closet. She was real now and she was now another one of the members of my Synthetic family.

But for now, the odds were in hers and Seryn's favors in terms of numbers at two-to-one. And until my third and final Synthetic friend came into play (and thank god that its (*huh?*) could rival both of them and overthrow them by itself), I was on my own. Seryn had guaranteed me a "playdate" with both me and her and there was no doubt in my mind at all that that now included Renamon. I realized now that I was outmanned and that I had no choice but to let them both have their way with me... at least for tonight.

Renamon and I looked each other over for a long while before she made the first move and stepped forward and held out her arms to take me in them. My mind suddenly blanked out with the source being Seryn's Link Collar as I looked up into the amazing costume come to life. I vaguely realized that the link between Seryn and I had now been extended to Renamon, which allowed her the privilege of tampering with my thoughts and emotions just as much as the Flammie had. But while I could also access their thoughts as well, they were far more experienced when it came to that, so it really only put me at a further disadvantage. Still, I did not care what they could now do to me as a pair at the moment as I lost myself in the physical sensation that was Renamon's new plush-like body.

The Digimon femme was so soft and silky smooth, which was partially due to her purple-silk sleeves and her fluffy white neck fur, that I found myself almost melting into her as she lightly ran her paws over various parts of my body. Her touch was even softer than Seryn's due to her fabric-based composition compared to Seryn's vinyl-based one. Her skin had a fair amount of give to it, allowing me to squeeze her firmly and lovingly without hurting her, which I doubted I could anyway. Also, the "stuffing" inside her was a bit softer and more flexible than a normal plushie, which made me faintly realize that Seryn had stuffed her with a kind of "gooey cotton", which made her insides almost as much of a liquid as Seryn's was. But even though her body was made of a porous material, not one drop of Liquitanium goo seeped out of her, which only further proved the durability of both materials. The pure ecstasy and smoothness of Renamon's body was so overpowering that I soon lost the feeling in my legs and collapsed on the spot, which prompted her to catch me before I could hurt myself.

"Easy there, Jethro," she said with a light chuckle. "Don't go fainting on me. We have so much to do tonight and it would be a crying shame if you couldn't stay awake for it all. In fact... Seryn..." She looked over at the observing Flammie. "...would you give me a hand?"

Seryn smiled and walked up behind me as I hung in Renamon's arms and placed her paw on the area around my neck where the clear Link Collar was fused into my skin. She slowly ran her mitt over the sensitive skin and then drew a small circle in a spot on the collar right where my spinal cord was before she did something very odd. Since her main talons were all but fused together, she used the one on her thumbclaw and plunged it right into the spot she had drawn, easily piercing the skin and puncturing my spinal cord with the brown "ivory" material and injecting an icy liquid directly into my nervous system. It didn't feel like Liquitanium, but whatever it was, it was extremely frigid and it instantly numbed up all of my nerves as it ran all over my body. It felt like I was being frozen alive, but it only lasted for a few seconds before the cold went out and I felt warmth return to my body. But this time, there was a very significant difference. I suddenly felt more wide awake than I had ever been in my life, and I meant ever! It was as if Seryn had just injected the mother of all energy drinks directly into my nervous system and whatever was left of my blood stream. It had virtually anything and everything in the world to keep a person awake, alert and restless in all but lethal doses including about a hundred cups of coffee, a pound of Guarana (Author's Note: If you've paid attention to actual energy drinks, you'll know that Guarana is far more potent than caffeine and is one of the reasons you crash after drinking one.) and even a ten-pound bag of sugar. I couldn't have fallen asleep or even yawned even if the thought barely sparked in my mind. I was as awake as I had ever been but was amazingly still stable enough to not even twitch. Given the amount of energy Seryn had just injected into my system, my heart and body should have short-circuited from just a drop or two of the stuff, yet somehow I was still alive and more stable than I had ever been with even a fraction of this energy inside me. Whatever was in that special fluid was very, very potent and very, very stable.

Seryn finally withdrew her talon and wiped the mix of red blood and silver goo from it on my shirt.

"There. I don't think our friend will even try to fall asleep on us now. We've got all night to play with him and he won't be able to escape..." She suddenly broke off, thinking. Through the Link Collar, I could sense a picture of the final Synthetic that was still in its "raw" state in the spare room. I wasn't sure why she was thinking about him at the moment when she had me right in the pads of her mitt.

Just then, Seryn raised her mitt a little higher above my head and spread all of her digits as far as her molded paw would allow before wrapping them all around the top of my skull like a one-pawed vicegrip, holding me in place and applying rather unnecessary pressure to my head. Even in my partially converted Demi-Synthetic state, I could still feel it and winced and whimpered as she applied more and more pressure to my skull as though trying to squeeze me like a grape. I tried to lift my own hands up to stop her, but for some reason, they weren't responding the way that they should have been and I was left standing at the mercy of this dangerously powerful creature. It didn't make any sense. What was Seryn trying to do to me? She had said she would never intentionally hurt me, but she was going against her word right here and now. It didn't make any sense to me, but she must have had her reasons if she was doing this on purpose.

"Seryn... what are you doing? Please stop... you're... hurting me. Please stop... before you completely crush me."

Seryn, however, ignored me and applied even more pressure to my head as though she had the grip of all five individual digits instead of the "two-and-two-thirds" she had counted earlier. If her digits and talons had been real and had had the kind of grip I didn't doubt her species had, she would have definitely drawn blood. It was also unusual that she was achieving this kind of grip with only her pads and digits and not her talons to nearly gouge my scalp off. She seemed to know just what she needed and was hurting me just enough to get it without drawing a single drop of blood.

But the pain was starting to get to me. I felt some of the muscles in my legs giving out and I dropped to one knee from the excruciating pain she was inflicting on me, tears welling up in my eyes. I wanted her to stop... no... I needed her to stop. At the rate she was going, she was going to brain me if she kept this up for much longer. And just when I thought she was going to break my skull wide open, I suddenly felt her release the pressure and she quickly brought up a talon to my right watering eye to collect a tear before it could trickle down my face.

I gasped for breath as I scrambled away from Seryn and into Renamon's embrace, my sore head pounding in pain from the nearly fatal pressure she had applied to me. Renamon did her best to comfort me by kneeling down at my level and lightly ran her paw around my sore head, loosening up my muscles by merely touching them and restoring some of the feeling in my scalp. She even brought me close to her so that my head was buried in her fuzzy chest (Thank God!) so I could sob into her warm, soft body.

Renamon made a sound in her chest that sounded like a purr that was a bit different than Seryn's purr as she gently stroked me in a reassuring way before looking up at Seryn with a funny expression. "Shame on you, Seryn. He brought you into existence and he loves you with all his heart. You even gave your word that you wouldn't touch him. Just what were you trying to prove by hurting him like that?"

Seryn eyed the tiny tear hanging from her talon with a shaky look on her face. "I just needed a tear from a particular human emotion - need - to get us started on the right footpaw with our final friend. I'm sorry, but this was the only way I could think of without flat-out assaulting him." And with a sigh, she stuck out her silver tongue and let the drop drip onto it before pulling it back in. She seemed to taste both the flavor and the emotion that had been included into the making of the tear and she used that special mixture along with her body chemistry to create something unique within her.

While the chemicals were brewing, Seryn timidly walked over to me and knelt down by me, holding out her paw and offering to take me from Renamon. She also offered an explanation for her actions. "I'm very sorry I had to do that to you, Alex, but it was either that or literally assault you like you did to me the other day to get a tear that way, and even then, the feeling of need that I had to have would have been tainted by sorrow as well. You must understand that I love you far too much to harm you on purpose and if you can look at me, you can see that I am just as shaken up as you are. Please look at me."

I wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, but I was curious enough to pry my face away from Renamon's chest to look at Seryn. Amazingly, she was crying far much more than I was. Tears were leaking from her starry eyes and were streaming down her face at a much faster rate than my own sluggish waters. And to top it all off, she looked visibly shaken at the fact that she had had to lay a paw on me in that way. It was her own self-control that was keeping her from breaking into a fit of sobs, but I finally understood that she really did care about me enough to feel genuinely remorseful at intentionally harming me. I could tell she had considered all of her other options before laying a paw on me, but unfortunately, not even I could think of an alternative way of getting a piece of the emotion of "need" from me short of beating me senseless. The fact she had been able to restrain herself to that degree made my respect and love for her rise to a staggering new level. She really did care about me and I felt just as glad to be cared for.

"Thanks, Seryn," I said as the three of us got to our feet and I wrapped my arms around her smooth vinyl body once again. "I finally understand. Thank you for caring so much about me. I appreciate you with everything in my heart."

Seryn nodded and gently hugged me back. "You're very welcome, Alex. Now... while my concoction brews up, what do you say we start our playdate?"

I couldn't help but ask the obvious. "Uh... okay... just what were you planning?"

Seryn smiled and planted a sweet kiss on my forehead. "I was thinking that both Renamon and I could take turns having our way with you, which is only fair since she's now a confirmed member of our family. What do you say?" She had directed the question around me to Renamon herself.

Renamon merely nodded as she flicked her tail curiously. "I don't see why not. I've been waiting a long time to be able to play with Alex in a proper way and now I finally get my chance. I think we should both play with him at once."

My eyes went wide at her proposal, but Seryn merely shook her head with a wry smile. "I think that would be a little too much for him, especially with what I had planned to do to him during my turn."

Renamon scoffed, but it wasn't in an insulted way. "Fine. If that's the way you want to do it... But who's going to go first?"

Seryn lightly turned my head with a paw so that I was looking into her amazing eyes again and stared long and hard at me before her eyes lit up. "I think I'll go first. He knows what I'm capable of better than anyone, so I think it's only fair that I get first dibs. That okay with you?"

Amazingly, Renamon didn't argue with her. "Sure. I'm sure you two will have plenty of fun." I didn't like the satisfaction she had put into that word as Renamon sat down on the couch behind her and waited her turn.

Seryn and I then separated and stood across from each other for a moment as though daring the other to make the first move. I wasn't quite sure what Seryn was planning, but when her smile suddenly turned to a malevolent grin, I had a feeling I was in big trouble.

Before I could react, Seryn suddenly pointed straight down with a talon and barked, "Down, boy!"

I should have been thinking, "What the hell is she saying?!", but all of a sudden, I felt a sudden tug on my chest as though someone had grabbed onto my ribcage by the sternum and yanked me onto the floor on all fours like a common dog. And before I knew it, I found myself looking up at Seryn with a frightened look on my face. I couldn't understand how she had done that without even touching me, but right now, I was completely at her mercy as she backed up a few steps with a big fat grin on her face, apparently pleased with what she had done.

I tried to get back up, but my hands and knees felt like they were welded to the floor, completely immovable. I could only move my head as I looked up at her as though she had just struck me in cold blood.

"Seryn, what...? How did you...?"

Seryn chuckled in a dark tone that did not belong to her at all. It radiated both power and dominance while still maintaining its melodic shine. "I told you we were gonna have our way with you tonight, so you're gonna have to do whatever we want you to whether you like it or not. In a sense, you're awake, alert and completely under our control, right, Renamon?"

I looked behind me and saw that Renamon was still sitting on the couch but was now tightening up her grip on her purple silk sleeves with the first sign of a sly smirk on her face. "I'm game as long as you are. This is going to be fun to watch before I have my turn with him."

I looked back at Seryn with a scared look at the look on her face. "How did you do that?" I nearly begged to her, obviously asking how she had been able to control me like that without even touching me.

Seryn chuckled darkly and stepped forward so that I was almost looking right at her bare loins as she leaned over me and ran a talon along the back of my neck. "It's a little thing called Human-to-Synthetic Control. When you put this Link Collar on your neck, you voluntarily gave me the ability to physically control you whenever I felt like it. You'll still have some free will, which you've probably noticed up until now, but when you put your foot in your mouth earlier today, you forced my hand and now..." She knelt down and looked me in the eyes with a devious smile and a talon under my chin. "...you're my playtoy." I whimpered and gulped hard at the sudden realization of her words, but she didn't appear to be finished. She lifted her head up and looked past me at Renamon with a smug grin. "I mean... our playtoy. Synthetics before pathetics; that's the rule, right, Renamon?"

I didn't need to look at the Digimon to know that she agreed with her all the way. But that still didn't stop me from trying to plead my case. "So what are you now? Are you some kind of warped, dominant, controlling, sexually-driven demoness?"

Seryn looked down at me with a smile that didn't help my confidence at all. "Not warped, love... mad... just a mad, dominant, controlling demoness whose got far more interesting things planned for you than simple sex. You're not gonna get off the hook that easily. Besides, I took care of that yesterday. You can't ever have sex because of what I did, remember?"

I had to admit she had a point. Since none of us had the plumbing to engage in any sexual activities, we would have to find other ways to set each other off.

But Seryn seemed to realize she was damaging my trust in her and forced me to look at her again. "Oh, don't worry, love. We'll give you your free will back when we've had enough. Now... let's get started."

Seryn stood up and walked around to my side before bearing her vinyl knuckles and then gently pushed them into various parts of my back, kneading what was left of my muscles in what I realized was a firm yet gentle kind of massage. I found myself moaning in relief as she loosened up my tightened muscles and she even moved around me to get every part of me she could reach. I had to admit this wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought and I was actually starting to enjoy this.

When she felt confident she had gotten all of the knots out of my back, Seryn walked back out in front of me and lied down on her back, stretching all of her limbs out with a comfortable purr before looking at me down her front. "Toy... come cuddle me."

This didn't go over well with me being called "toy", but then again, I really didn't have a choice at the moment. And yet, it was probably a little bit better than being called and classified as a "pet". I could give her that much satisfaction knowing she wouldn't intentionally take full advantage of me. Against my better judgment, I found my body moving automatically as I climbed over on top of Seryn and knelt over her as though we were about to have sex. However, since Seryn had removed any traces of my manhood what already felt like a long time ago, that practice was out of the question. Instead, I lowered myself onto her massive chest and lifted my legs off the floor so that they were gently resting on hers. I rubbed my head up against the soft, silky, vinyl skin of her rugged chest like a bear cub nuzzling its mother. And while I was laid out on top of her, I could feel all four of her wings curling around both of us so that she had me completely encased in her presence, pulling me even closer to her as she gave me a rubdown with her paws that felt so soft and smooth that I could have sworn I was wearing her as a costume again.

The romantic cuddling continued for a few moments, but soon, Seryn hesitated as she looked at me with an annoyed look in her eyes. At first, I was afraid I was doing something wrong, but then she uncovered me and pushed me off to her side as she growled annoyingly. "This won't do. Take it all off and do it right. I want to feel your skin against mine properly. It shouldn't be a problem since Renamon and I are both all natural here."

I immediately felt my body move all by itself as I stood up and quickly removed every article of clothing from my body that was humanly possible, all the while feeling like I was putting myself into a rather vulnerable position. Soon, I was completely naked in a room with two "disturbed" living toys, but because of Seryn's earlier actions, I no longer had anything to hide or be ashamed of. When she looked up at me from the floor and grinned, she patted her body again, which was the command for me to climb back on top of and cuddle with her again.

As I lowered myself on top of her and she once again encased me in her vinyl presence, I realized there was no longer any point in trying to fight her. I simply took it all as it came and allowed myself to roll with the punches. By now I realized that if Seryn really wanted to hurt me again, she probably would have done so by now, so there really wasn't anything to worry about anymore. Besides, the feel of her soft, liquid-filled, silken, vinyl flesh against my inferior human skin more than made up for my inability to currently control myself.

But just as Seryn was starting to purr up a storm from enjoyment, she suddenly stopped and sat bolt-upright with her eyes wider than I had ever seen them, knocking me onto my backside, which was cushioned by her "air-filled" tail.

"I think I just thunk."

"Was that English?" said Renamon before I could.

Seryn looked like she had just gotten an epiphany. "I got an inkling."

"Seryn...?" I said, slowly regaining a little bit of my self-control.

She continued to gaze past me and then looked at me as though everything suddenly made sense. "I got it. I got it! It's all very clear to me now!" And before I could ask again, she finally spat it out. "I just realized what's keeping me existing as a toy and what's keeping you as a fleshie, even with the amount of blood and goo still in our systems. I finally know what I can do to become a full-fledged Gooey and what I can do so you can become one just like me, but without the hindrance of... well..." She looked down at her mitt-like paws as though they were this so-called "hindrance" of being a toy. "We can finally become one and the same with each other... at least on the inside. You'll still have your basic human form and I'll still have a Flammie one, but after this, we'll finally be free of our basic physical restraints. We'll finally be on the same page in terms of physical and internal appearances."

Unfortunately, this was making less and less sense as she continued on. "Seryn... please...?" That was all I could get out at the moment.

Fortunately, Seryn understood how vague she was being and looked right at me with a glorious and bizarre twinkle in her eyes. "To put it bluntly, love, I'm going to take a key piece of your body's essence and a key piece of mine and swap them between us. In doing so, I will ultimately cease to be a toy and you will cease to be a basic fleshie so we can jumpstart our relationship and open a whole new chapter in our bodies' abilities; at least until my special "soup" is done brewing and things really take off. However..." She suddenly looked uncertain. "I made a promise to you that I wouldn't do anything to you without telling you first, so I guess the choice is up to you. What do you say, love? I'm giving you the option here."

And true to her word, I felt enough of my free will return to my mind so that I could think enough on this and make my own decision. I thought about what she was proposing long and hard while still sitting naked on her tail (Awkward, isn't it? I thought so.). Was what Seryn was considering worth giving up yet another piece of my physical humanity just to satisfy a crazy and bizarre concept from a "sanity challenged" toy Flammie? Or was she really onto something here and could she further heighten our relationship with a final, "simple" "material exchange"? I also remembered that there was still a bit of my human "essence" still flowing through what was left of my veins. I wasn't "dead" yet, so if this didn't work or if something went wrong, I could still legally die and I was sure that Seryn would live on. And since I doubted she would be able to live with herself without me, it made it even harder to make a decision.

But incredibly, I was willing to take that risk. If I wasn't already dead from what Seryn had already done to my body, then I doubted she could do any further damage to me, much less "kill" me. "Go for it, Seryn. I don't care what you do to me anymore; you've already done so much to me that I can't exactly turn back anymore... so... do whatever you have to. I won't stop you."

Seryn looked as if all of her dreams had come true at once, but she also looked scared out of her mind that she could still technically kill me before this was over. However, she seemed willing to take that risk as well.

"Okay, love. Let's do it. If this works, we'll be making history in the world of Synthetics as the first human and Synthetic to commence and complete a full-body material exchange. Besides, your materials are still going to a good use. She looked smugly in the direction of the spare room where I had yet to see where our third and final new "friend" was being put together. I knew exactly what she was talking about and that encouraged me even further to see this through.

Now that that was out in the open, Seryn placed her paws on the sides of my arms and rolled us over so that she was on the top and I was on the bottom. She then assumed a kneeling position like the one I had been in so that we formed a kind of "T" shape on the floor (Author's Note: ...). Now that she was in position, she leaned over me and planted one more kiss on my forehead for good measure just in case I didn't survive by the time the procedure was over.

However, she still had one more cute wise crack to give me as she leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "Just so you know... I have no idea what I'm doing." That simple statement should have freaked me out to within an inch of my sanity, but after all this time, I still trusted Seryn too much to let this little morbid joke rattle me and I knew she would not let this go wrong on her watch. With a wry smile, I nodded and rested my head on the floor to let her do her thing.

And so it began.

Renamon watched on from the sidelines as Seryn placed a talon directly over my heart. Like before, the talon turned back into its silvery goo form and reformed itself into what appeared to be a long, large, razor-sharp scalpel, which was exactly what she planned on using. I watched in anticipation as she carefully slid the "blade" over my skin, carefully parting the skin and creating a small but effective "Y" incision like what medical examiners used at autopsies. But instead of blood, a thick, red gel oozed from under the blade and didn't go far in terms of "bleeding" as Seryn gently peeled the flaps of skin away from the center point. I wasn't sure how she was doing this without at least some kind of "Synthetic anesthetic", but remarkably, I didn't feel even a prickle of pain during the whole ordeal.

Amazingly, as Seryn opened a "window" into my "soul", the both of us looked on in awe at my insides, which no longer looked human except for the basic red coloring. I had had so much of my "materials" taken from me and traded with Seryn that all that was left of me in terms of my "guts" was a thick, gel-like red ooze that looked like Liquitanium but clearly wasn't. Oddly enough, it smelled a lot like the iron component that was normally found in blood. Weird. My organs had all been ravaged and destroyed by the goo that Seryn had been siphoning into me for the past two mornings, leaving just this red void and the basic nutrients and minerals that every human body needed to survive. I didn't doubt that some of that "Synthetic Oil" I had consumed yesterday during our "bath" was still there as well, adding to the mixture.

"Strange, isn't it?" said Seryn with a smile as I looked at my gooey guts flowing under my skin. "That's all that's left of you. And soon... it won't be there at all. I'll have every last bit of you that I need to make us one final friend after letting it stew in my for a little while longer. But for now, I'll just take what I need from you and we'll mess with the rest later. Now hold still."

I tried not to move anything but my head as Seryn held her mitt palm-open right above the incision before making a little dancing motion with her digits as though she was charming something or casting a spell. For a moment, nothing happened, but then I vaguely felt something rising up out of me as if she was literally pulling my heart out of me. Somehow, I still remained alive as an orb of red goo rose from the mass within me and separated and hovered just an inch above me. It seemed that this was what Seryn needed to take from me, but for some reason, she didn't take it right then and there. She let it hover an inch above my chest as she looked down at her own plated chest and placed a paw right over where her own heart would be.

Seryn kept one paw over the orb sticking out of my chest and used the other to repeat the same procedure with her own chest, carefully parting the vinyl "skin" of her body in the same way and then peeling back the flaps of orange and white vinyl to reveal her insides. Amazingly, unlike mine, they were still the same steely-silver color they had always been, so I figured I was the odd one out in this situation. She then did the same dancing motion with her mitt above the spot, slowly withdrawing a second orb of goo, which was still silver from her chest and then broke it off just an inch above her open "wound".

As she held her mitts over the two exposed "hearts", Seryn looked at me with a look that said just four words to me: Do you trust me? Hearing this in my head, I thought back with all my heart so she heard it loud and clear: Yes, my love.

Seryn nodded and took a deep breath before she made one final move. With a quick motion, she grabbed both the red and the silver orbs and ripped them from their earthly bodies. And for a brief moment, both of us were considered legally died. She had just yanked the lives and souls right out of our bodies, which killed us both instantly. But unlike my human body, Seryn's body still had a bit of animation left in it, which was little more than a few seconds. And she used every one of those seconds to their fullest to take the orbs in her mitts and swap them between the bodies that they originally belonged to.

And before either of us could even begin to walk down the path to the next life, we were both brought back to life again and were thrown rather roughly back into our original bodies. It was over before any of us knew what had hit us, and the next thing I did know was me witnessing the sight of Seryn pushing the silver orb of life into my chest, which turned red as soon as it touched the goo within me.

She was doing likewise with my red orb in her body, which turned silver before it disappeared into her body. I could feel life returning to my being as she gently folded the flaps of skin back into place before sealing them shut with a small burst of magenta Flammie Breath, sealing inside a new lease on my life without even a single clue as to a scar. She then repeated the motion with her own chest and just like that, it was over.

Taking a deep breath, which was probably at the same time and depth as mine, Seryn said to me with a labored sigh, "That should do it. We'll just give it some time and let our bodies get used to the changes and then..." She chuckled weakly. "...the final steps should begin."

I sighed and laid back while placing a hand directly on the spot where Seryn's life essence was now beginning to flow through me and her likewise. It was hard to believe that part of each of our souls now flowed in the other. I had heard of heart transplants, but never anything like this. The very fact that Seryn and I were both still alive and living off of each other's life essences truly went beyond all rational medical explanations. But the fact that Seryn herself had said that she was magic certainly explained plenty for me. You didn't need a logical explanation for things to work when it came to magic, plus the fact that Seryn and I were still alive and we were truly one-of-a-kind with each other. The fact that we both still lived on seemed more bizarre than the workings that had brought us to this situation. I had a feeling I knew what these "changes" that Seryn had mentioned were going to be, but for now, I just needed to rest. I couldn't fall asleep due to the super energy chemical that Seryn had injected into me still being in effect, but for now, I just needed to relax and recover from literally trading life forces with the love of my life.

But before I could fully recover, I suddenly felt my body stop functioning as the "changes" began. And next to me, Seryn could feel the same thing going on as she suddenly clutched her heart area and then collapsed on top of me like a massive vinyl throw pillow. She wasn't exactly heavy, but I was now pinned under her, both of us now unable to move. We were now "suffering" the same fate, which gave me some satisfaction that we were on the same page for once. But before I could get into the finer details about it, the both of us blacked out at the exact same time, leaving only Renamon to watch us physically change one more time.

The next thing I knew, I woke up at the same exact time as Seryn, who had been rolled off of me by Renamon so that we were both side by side. For some reason, I felt a little... strange. My body didn't feel the same way it had before we had blacked out. It was like something about Seryn's being had adhered itself to me, changing my body ever so slightly while at the same time, a piece of me had done the same thing to her. However, it wasn't the same way that I had expected it to happen. I had expected my skin to become smooth and featureless vinyl like Seryn's, but oddly enough, it still felt the same as it had all my life. But I did feel something sticking out of my navel that obviously hadn't been there before. Mustering my strength, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and saw that I was the proud new owner of a large plastic belly plug nearly identical to the one that still stuck out of Seryn's navel next to me. I could draw only two possible conclusions to this. Either I had become a vinyl toy in some way or it was possible that a piece of Seryn's being had attached itself to me so that we were like twins in terms of finer details.

I looked over at Seryn and saw that she still had her belly port, but unlike me, there was something very distinctly different about her outwards appearance that hadn't been there before. I could actually spend quite a while describing it, but I'll just sum up a majority of it in one word: fur. Seryn now had a full-body coat of medium-length, pure-white, ultra-soft and oddly real fur. As she pushed herself into a sitting position, I ran my hand over her amazing new pelt to confirm it. Sure enough, the fur was definitely real and was much softer and finer than any other furred animal in the world. Even better, her orange plating had gained a kind of "leathery" feel to it and her four wings now sported a set of ultra-fine, soft, angelic feathers. Apart from her navel port, there was not a single speck of vinyl left on her entire body. It was as if she had become a real-life "fleshie" apart from the fact that she was still filled with silver Liquitanium goo. The fur was so real that I almost forgot she was still a Synthetic on the inside. It seemed that the part of me she had put into her was what made me "real" and now she possessed that trait just like I possessed one of her traits that made her a Synthetic.

Not only that, but I saw for the first time that the digits on all four of her paws had finally separated, granting her four or three distinct digits and full range of flexibility for each one, which signified that she was no longer as "artificial" as she had previously been. She was now what I soon realized was a creature known as a "Gooey". On the outside, she looked, felt and acted like a perfectly real person/creature, but on the inside, she still had as much of a "liquid center" as before. And I soon realized that I was now constructed in a similar fashion, but unlike her, I was still human, which was a bit disappointing to learn.

Still, I looked her in the eyes, which had acquired a new and distinct sharpness to them. "Seryn..." I said, placing my hand on her furry shoulder. "Thank you."

Seryn smiled and held up her paw to test out the flexibility of her new animal-like digits. She then let out a cooing purr as she reached down and teased my new belly port, which felt a little odd since there really wasn't any way to tell where it began and my navel area ended. "You're very welcome. See? I told you you would get a kick out of this. Now we're finally a pair of fellow Gooeys and there shouldn't be anything that should come between us again. So..." she said as she pushed my port into my belly. It felt like someone was pushing a thick peg into my belly button. "Is there anything you would like either of us to do with our new bodies?"

I assumed she was talking about both her and Renamon, who was sitting on the couch to our left and watching patiently. I thought about it for a moment before I smiled and nodded, an idea forming in my head. "Come to think of it, there is. Could you do the honors and...?"

Just then, I felt as if all the air had disappeared out of my lungs. I gasped and choked as I tried to breathe, but I failed to get any oxygen into my system. My vital signs were rapidly shutting down and my muscles had all seized up as though I had been paralyzed. I couldn't finish my request and fell back, suffocating and dying for real this time.

Seryn immediately scrambled into a kneeling position directly over me at such a fast pace that I barely had time to blink. A look of cold fear and concern was in her starry eyes. "Alex?! What is it?! Why aren't you breathing?! I thought I did everything right and yet you're still dying! You can't die on me now! Not after everything we both gave up to be like this! Please tell me what's wrong so I can fix it! I need to know what's wrong or else I can't help you! Please don't die on me before we can get our lives started properly!"

I couldn't get any oxygen through my vocal cords to speak out loud, so all I could do was think of the things that were wrong with me and hoped Seryn heard them before my brain died completely. Seryn! There's still some human materials inside me! You have to take them out before the goo drowns me! I need_to be a full Synthetic like you so I don't have to rely on air or blood to keep me alive! Please! Please hurry!_

Seryn was almost hysterical as she nodded to me and ran a paw along my colorless face, failing to fight back tears. "Of course. Or course, my love. I almost forgot you aren't yet 100% Synthetic. I'll do it, so just stay alive for a few more moments while I do this. In the name of Strato Incendus himself, please stay with me!"

She grabbed my right hand and held it in her left paw, even though I couldn't feel the gesture as she popped her belly plug out of her navel with her other paw. However, in her panic, she didn't seem to be able to find the edge of the cap and pop it open. She tried to stay calm as she fumbled with her plug, but her inexperience with four individual digits instead of almost three molded ones was starting to catch up with her. Tears continued to stream down her face as she tried and failed to get a grip on the plug and her breathing almost turned to hyperventilating. She almost completely lost control of herself as her mate lay dying at her feet, but at the last moment, Renamon came to the rescue as she popped the plug open with her own paws and then gently directed the plastic stopper over mine and drove Seryn onto it. Amazingly, the plug in my navel instantly liquefied as the two of them made contact with each other and before any of us could blink, there was a soft yet solid plastic pipe connecting Seryn and me together to begin our final material exchange to finally convert me into a full-fledged Synthetic. And as I felt Seryn's familiar life support-like presence flowing back into me, saving me at the last moment, I was finally able to relax as I could now see red and silver materials flowing through the clear, plastic tube, which was a bit longer this time around due to the connection between us. Even though I had already done this twice before, it was still odd to actually see my fleshy materials and Seryn's synthetic ones making the journey from one body into the other for the first time.

Seryn was so grateful for Renamon's help that she looked over at her and hugged her with her one free paw without stretching out the connection between us. "Thank you, Renamon. Thank you so much. I owe you big for this."

Renamon nodded without a word and knelt by our side to watch the final material exchange between me and Seryn. Like before, my body functions and vital signs had completely stopped while Seryn exchanged the final bits of my physical human life with hers so that I could finally become a full Gooey Synthetic like hers. And while she would finally "kill" me and bring my human life to a "legal" end, she would use the materials she acquired through this final exchange to finally start up another Synthetic's life over in the next room. Like before, I was once again living off of Seryn's life force, but when we disconnected this time. things would be much, much different. After this, my life would never be the same again.

It took about ten minutes and roughly sixty passes of silent liquid exchange between us before Seryn felt that I was finally done and gently severed the connection between our belly ports for the last time before plugging it up and rolling into a sitting position next to me with a sigh.

"There," she said proudly, pushing her own port back into her and rubbing her slightly bloated belly with satisfaction. "It's finally all done. Now there's nothing fleshy about you left. What's left of that life is now inside me and is all going to a good cause." She smiled and looked over at me, placing her paw on my chest as I lay recovering. "Welcome to life as a Synthetic, my love. How do you feel?"

I wanted to take my first breath as a Synthetic, but for some odd reason, it didn't work out as well as I thought it would. Air seemed to go in and out of my system, but it didn't seem to go into my lungs the same way that it used to. It seemed that my lungs no longer worked or, in fact, even existed at all. I then realized that I was nothing more than a human-shaped skin filled to the brim with steely-silver goo, emphasis on "skin". My human blood, bones and organs no longer functioned the way they were supposed to or even existed at all. It seemed now that the only reason I needed to breathe, think, feel or even have a pulse at all was because my soul and spirit still desired me to. It was now all out of habit more than it was necessity. I finally realized that I was further into this conversion than I had expected.

Still, I took a deep breath even though my body no longer needed it and looked to Seryn with a proud look. "You know what? I feel... better than I ever have in my life. Now that I no longer need "life" in order to "live", I guess the three of us can finally spend the rest of our "lives" together."

Seryn smiled and moved into a squatting position before scooping me up in her arms like a full-sized doll with amazing strength and proudly nuzzled her muzzle up against mine like I was her only "child". "Then let's begin the first day of the rest of our lives. But for now..." She leaned in close to me and whispered softly in my ear. "You're still ours. We still have a playdate to finish and Renamon still needs to take her turn. I have just one more thing to do to you before she gets full control over you."

I whimpered slightly when I realized that even though it was late into the night, I still wasn't out of the woods yet. With a sigh, I allowed her to carry me to my room and set me down on the bed before stepping around to the side.

"Well, Seryn..." I said with another deep sigh. "Do your worst. I won't try to fight her."

It seemed that she was about to, but when she looked over at the clock, she seemed to realize something. "Sorry, love, but my time was up hours ago. I guess Renamon gets you all to herself for the next few hours. And until that liquid in your "spine" wears off and you fall asleep, she gets to have her way with you, deal?"

I wasn't sure how I had been able to be knocked out with that energy fluid still in my system, but since I still wasn't the least bit sleepy, I guessed I could only wait until I did fall asleep and our playdate finally ended."

"Fine. But... what are you going to be doing?" I asked curiously.

Seryn shrugged and ruffled her feathers for the first time like a parrot did when it was spooked before shuddering at the feeling she had just felt all over her body. "Ooh! I never realized how good real fur and/or feathers could feel! It surely beats flat, smooth vinyl any day. And since I've got so many more nerve endings with my body now, I can actually enjoy myself a little more when someone or something touches me. It actually feels really good when I ruffle myself like that. I think I could get used to this." I was about to ask her again when she caught on. "I'm going to be putting the finishing touches on our last friend. I have to stew these final materials in my body for about an hour and then deposit them with the rest of them before beginning the incubation process, yada, yada, yada. It's just one boring procedure after another. You understand, don't you?"

I looked at her and shrugged. "I guess so. Well..." I said, running my fingers through her fur and watching her shiver with a shrill again. "...have fun, love."

Seryn smiled and gave me one more furry kiss on the forehead before she departed. I couldn't move from the bed from the control she still had on me, so all I could do right now was wait. And I didn't have to wait long before the door opened again and Renamon walked in. She was adjusting her sleeves and was clenching her digits under the straps as though she was preparing to get her paws dirty. She walked up to the bed, jerking her neck from side to side to "crack" it, which sounded a lot like she was limbering herself up for some kind of bizarre foreplay.

"Uh... Renamon?" I said nervously as she rotated her arms all the way around on their sockets, which would have been nearly impossible for someone with bones. "What are you going to do to me?"

Renamon shook herself out and simply looked at me with a neutral expression. "Well, since you're a Synthetic now, I figured we might as well exploit that. You've got so much more potential now, all of which begins with this little number right here." She teased my own belly plug with a single talon, which tickled a little.

I gulped as she fingered my port and then sat down on the edge of the bed right next to me. I suddenly realized I was still buck-naked after all this time but without anything to be ashamed of. Now I was going to get it. Seryn had just been the appetizer of our playdate and now Renamon was going to give me the main course, whatever that was going to be.

To start with, Renamon climbed all the way onto the bed and took her place at a much lower position than I was so her head was right over my belly port. She stopped there, apparently thinking of something or considering the possibilities of what to do to me. To be honest, I really didn't see much that she could do. Other than inflate me a little, there really wasn't anything she could do with my belly port that I couldn't do myself. I still didn't know how to manipulate my Gooey body into the many potential forms that Seryn was certainly capable of, but I didn't doubt that they would teach me how to do that sometime in the near future. Still, the prospect of being inflated made me shudder a little. I was never one to take inflation fantasies or fat fetishes very well, even after Seryn practically "blew" into my life. I never handled seeing fat humans very well, so I could only imagine what I was going to look like if that was the road that Renamon took. All I could do now was watch and wait for her to make up her mind as she stared thoughtfully at my navel plug.

Just then, she came up with an idea. "I know just what to do. I'll have to experiment with this a little and then let Seryn see it for herself. And maybe if you're good... oh, I dunno..." she said as she traced my plug with a digit. "...maybe we'll let you keep it."

I gulped hard at the prospect of what she had in mind. "What are you going to do to me?"

Renamon gave me a sly and oddly frightening grin and ran a digit down the side of my nose before planting a small perk on the tip. "Oh, just you wait. I think you're going to like it. Now hold still; this won't hurt a bit." I braced myself for anything as she popped open the cap of my plug and gently wrapped her muzzle around it before beginning to blow.

Oddly enough, being inflated at the navel didn't exactly feel like air was being blown into me. On the contrary, however, it felt as if warm fresh blood/goo was being pumped into my gut and was being sent all over my body, filling my physical being with a smooth and oddly comfortable warmth as if I was once again connected to Seryn's life support-like presence by the port. However, I noticed that more than just my life fluids were changing this time around. I felt as if I was being filled out with something to the effect of physical mass, which was starting to show on the outside. I could see that my arms were starting to thicken out and turn from fleshy-pink to a pure white similar but not identical to Seryn's fur. I was also gaining some distinct muscle mass as well as the raw strength that they included.

My body was also plumping out with "muscles" instead of "fat", which contradicted the possibility that I was being "inflated". I could feel my skin tingling as it thickened slightly and I gained even more mass than before. Soon, I was so white that it took the term "white man" to a whole new level and even made ghosts in general seem dirty in terms of coloring. My fingers started to fuse themselves together from five human ones into only three claw-like digits. I also felt an odd stretching in my neck as I gained up to a foot of extra height as well as my face starting to push out, slowly becoming a slight reptilian muzzle.

It was certainly one of the oddest feelings I had ever faced as the changes continued all over my body, yet still, I felt not even a single prickle of pain just like Renamon had said. Something soon began pushing out of my backside and I soon found myself sitting on a large, thick, white tail with an odd jagged black stripe running from the tip of it up my spine and up to my head. My legs also thickened and grew a little bit shorter in terms of scale instead of length. More and more gooey yet sinewy muscles grew on top of what I already had as my toes repeated the same changes as my hands and fingers had. Soon, I only had three long, thick claws on each footpaw which were all colored a deep jet-black.

Just when it seemed like Renamon was done, she lifted her head up to check on my changes thus far. However, she didn't seem to think that the mutated human was "adequate" enough and returned to my belly plug with a small smile to continue pumping "air" and changes into my body. I could only wonder just what she was up to and watched as my body changed even further.

Those changes included the beginnings of what I felt were two large, black, feathery wings that were a little smaller than two of Seryn's put together and were much thicker and fuller somehow. It was like I was becoming like that of the X-man "Archangel", except that these wings were black and a bit more... I dunno... "draconic" than his were.

As they filled out and became much fuller and stronger, I began to put two and two together. Renamon was turning me into some kind of dragon! Not only that, but I knew exactly which dragon she had in mind. Ironically, it happened to be a dragon similar to the one that was incubating in the next room, but this one was a bit... darker and more malevolent than that one. Even so, why on earth would she pick that one when we had a similar one stewing in the next room? But then again, it only made sense that the two of them would be under the same roof. I still wasn't sure if they were actually "related" in real life, but I figured it was close enough to make a connection.

But unlike normal dragons, this one had some distinctly different features than what was consider the norm. Normal dragons' teeth were razor-sharp and looked like savage incisors, whereas mine were short and nubby but still distinctly sharp. I was also sure that normal dragons had some kind of talons or claws on each of their digits, but mine actually looked talon-shaped instead of actually possessing them.

When my wings were fully-grown, Renamon seemed to take another break as she lifted her muzzle from my port yet again. But she only seemed to be doing another inspection since she shook her head and said, "We're almost there, Alex. Just hold on a little bit longer and you'll be perfect."

(Author's Note: Have you figured out who it is yet? Yes? No? Well, you'll probably know in this next part.)

Returning her attention to my belly plug, she resumed blowing and I felt a couple additional changes happening in parts that were already there. She seemed to be adding some "extras" of some kind to my character as well as my appearance. I felt my paws go numb for a moment as what I recognized as thick, black, leather gauntlets seemed to be seeping through my "pores" and covered my paws as though they were made just for me. I even saw a couple of golden bands appear around my wrists with large, round, smooth rubies burnished into them. Two similar bands appeared around the "bones" near the bases of each of my wings to give them a kind of "pierced" look with the addition of two more pommeled rubies attached underneath them.

I felt another funny tingling sensation around my broad and bulky yet muscular chest as a kind of black "jacket" seemed to materialize around my chest, giving me a kind of "gangster-like" look as though it was made out of fine leather. There were numerous straps and buckles on it that suggested it was supposed to remain on unless I wanted to go to the trouble of taking it all off, which seemed superfluous considering how cool it made me look. I noticed that the original clear Link Collar around my neck had also turned black but did not grow out and simply resembled a kind of "tattoo" now. As a kind of bonus, a couple more black straps appeared around my powerful legs as well as a couple of "coattails" appearing on the lower rear of the jacket similar to the ones you normally saw on a butler's outfit. Neat!

Finally, my scalp started tingling as something changed up there. I later found out that my hair had changed color from brown to a kind of straw-yellow and now appeared neatly-combed before ending in a neat, bushy ponytail at the back. Also, two small wing-shaped fins/ears appeared on top of my head on the sides of my new "mane" that I hadn't noticed before.

Finally, Renamon plugged my navel back up (which had also gotten bigger with my transformation) and gave it a small kiss before pushing it back into me and then climbing off of me and kneeling at the foot of the bed to look over my new form.

"Well, Alex... uh... I guess I should call you "Ranshiin" now... what do you think of the new you?"

Ranshiin... that name brought back memories. Granted, they weren't all pleasant since "Ranshiin" had been the enemy in the Japanese-exclusive anime, "Legendz", but I still liked Ranshiin in terms of a character. He was the "Dark Windragon" that looked eerily similar to his counterpart, "Shiron" but was obviously evil. Either way, the Windragons were some cool-looking dragons and even though I never had a chance to finish the series, I never stopped believing that the two of them were related somehow.

I had to hand it to Renamon, though. She had done a pretty good job of changing me into the ideal furry/dragon of her choice. And come to think of it, Ranshiin not only looked powerful, but he felt powerful as well. It was hard to believe I now had the form of one of the most powerful dragons in Japanese anime and I could feel pure, unadulterated power flowing through the goo in my body that did not belong to me yet clearly had everything to do with this amazing new form. I was now more powerful and capable than ever before and I hadn't even left the room yet. For the first time, I was certain that Renamon would hold true to her word when she had said I could keep this form. I didn't ever want to go back to being a weak, defenseless human after getting an adrenaline rush as powerful as this!

Sensing this surge of power, Renamon placed a paw on my thick arm and shook her head. "Easy there, Killer. The way you currently are, you won't even fit through the door, much less get around the house without a little bit of "tweaking". I'm sorry to say that until I get a chance to iron out the kinks in this form, it won't do you any good in your current position."

I looked thunderstruck as I growled at her in a tone that obviously did not belong to me. "Then why did you turn me into this if you already knew that?!" I noticed my voice was much deeper, more mature and a bit more malevolent than it was before, but oddly enough, I still recognized it as my own. However, it was currently filled with outrage at Renamon's killjoy-like behavior.

Renamon, though, didn't seem to mind. She climbed off the bed and stepped around my side to give my muzzle a little tap with a claw. "Just calm down. I did this just to set Seryn's mind in motion for your eventual up-and-coming final conversion. You'll have to turn back soon, but we'll see what the "boss" thinks. And who knows? If you're lucky, you'll be able to keep it before this is over once I polish it up a little."

Knowing that she was as true to her word as Seryn was, I sighed and pushed myself into a sitting position on the side of the bed. I was a lot bigger than I had first though since my head seemed to just barely touch the ceiling, but something about it told me I wasn't nearly as big as the real Ranshiin. I was amazed that the bed hadn't given out under my weight, which had likely increased since I had been human. Still, at over nine feet, I was alarmed at how far the floor was from my head, giving me a little vertigo and making my head spin slightly.

"Oy vey," I said, putting a gauntleted paw to my head. "I'm not used to being so tall. Are you sure you couldn't have scaled me down a little more?"

Renamon smiled smugly and shrugged. "I could have, but I needed to get you to this large form so that I could see what I had to work with. After this form has had some time to set in and I've done a little more research, I should be able to get you scaled down to a bit more "portable" form. You should consider yourself lucky that I only made half as big as the real Ranshiin and not the full size. You wouldn't even be able to budge an inch in this tiny room if it had come to that.

I realized she had a point. The real Ranshiin was a lot bigger than I was right now, so it shouldn't have surprised me that Renamon had given me a smaller form so I could move around a little better. I sat back down on the bed with a sigh, trying to get over the "height disadvantage" of being a giant Windragon while Renamon excused herself from the room to go check on Seryn. With my massive wingspan, I was way too big to effectively move through the apartment, which sort of made me understand how "difficult" it was for Seryn. Then again, up until now, she had been made of flexible vinyl, which enabled her to bend her body in pretty elaborate ways to move effectively throughout the small apartment. I knew that once I got out of this cramped apartment and into a bit more "appropriate" place, I would be able to move a bit more freely.

It took a little longer for Renamon to check on Seryn than it had for Seryn to trade places with Renamon. Whatever was going on out there was sure taking a lot more time than the first switch-off had.

Finally, Seryn came in looking a little worse for the wear than she had been when I had last seen her. Her fur was matted in different parts with some kind of silvery fluid, her feathers were sticking up at numerous odd angles and there was a very potent smell of hot rubber that clung to her a bit more than the creamy-vanilla scent I had picked up from her fur that hadn't been there before.

"Hi, Seryn," I said to her casually. "You don't look so well. Rough day?"

Seryn sighed and sat down next to me on the bed. "Oh, not really. I just offloaded the rest of your old materials into our new friend, but I had to speed up the brewing process since there hasn't been a lot of time since we did it to do it naturally, so I had to take a piece of out of my physical energy to do it properly. But as of right now, our final friend is in the incubation process, so it should be ready on... oh, say... the day after tomorrow if everything works out as well as it should. But if we're really lucky, though, it'll be ready to hatch by tomorrow night, so we'll have to keep a lookout on it."

I smiled at her, but it didn't last long before the powerful stench of hot latex hit my nostrils even harder than before. "Ay, Seryn!" I yelped, trying not to gag. "If you only used your energy in there, then why do you reek of rubber?"

Seryn blushed and ran a paw through her mane. "Oh, that... Well... I stayed in the spare room a little longer than before to put the finishing touches on our friend, so I guess the smell as well as the liquids kind of leaked onto me, which was only made worse by this otherwise-wonderful new fur. It'll go away soon, though. If you want to, you can go check on it and see for yourself, but I warn you it's a little... messy in there."

I nodded and made to get up, but I only succeeded in clocking my head on the ceiling before sitting back down in some slight pain. "Ow. Uh, Seryn? Could you give me a hand here... or a paw?"

Seryn finally looked up at me and immediately noticed that my new form was not only much larger than she was but was also much more...

"Handsome, aren't ya?" she said, running a paw through my left wing, which felt oddly satisfying and comfortable. "Renamon did a good job, didn't she? I can tell this is going to be a very good form for you in the future. Personally, I had something else in mind, but I guess this works just as well. At this rate, we'll all be one big, gooey, furry and feathery family in the end. I have to say that this form certainly gets my seal of approval."

I smiled with a sigh. At least I now had a confirmation that this was going to be my final form before too long as well as the fact that Seryn liked it just as much as Renamon. And the fact that it was like a (*not yet*) to our final friend seemed to give this form some bonus style points. And now that the obvious was out of the way, I proceeded to ask her something else.

"Can I turn back now? I don't want to, but I'm way too big to move anywhere properly now. Now that you've confirmed that this'll be my final form, can I go back to being a human, at least for now?"

Seryn purred and tangled two of her wings with one of mine. "Very well. Come here, love." She leaned over my and literally pulled my plug before stepping back to watch her work. At first, nothing came out and I seemed to be "stuck" in this form, but then she stuck one of her own talons into it, breaking some kind of pressure seal, which caused me to "deflate" and slowly but surely return to my human form. My wings receded into my back, my neck shrunk, the powerful, gooey muscles flowed back into human "flesh" and my tail slid back into what was supposed to be my tailbone to say the least. It took about three minutes, which was a lot quicker than it had taken to inflate me, but soon, I was back to my old six-foot "pathetic" human form.

"Well, love..." Seryn said sweetly, wrapping her wings around my much smaller frame again. "Wanna go see our new friend-in-the-making with me?"

I wanted to, but for some strange and bizarre reason, I wanted to do it by myself. Seryn and Renamon had each had their own opportunities to tend to our new friend, but there was something about it coming from my own flesh, blood and bones that made me want to do it solo. I couldn't explain it, but Seryn was able to pick up on my feelings through our Link Collar.

"Hmm... I see. Well, you technically are his "father", so... why not? You go on ahead and we'll wait for you. Here's a little something for good measure." She leaned up against me and kissed me lightly while I thought about this. She still stank of rubber and vanilla, but now that I was human again, it wasn't as obvious as it was before. She was still my best friend and favorite furry and I loved her with all my heart, but I just needed her to sit this one out this time.

Getting up, I left her warm and inviting presence in the room and went to the spare room. I had a feeling I was about to step into some kind of crazy new world, but I knew that Seryn would never try to pull anything over on me, so I sucked up my courage with a sigh and pushed the door open. However, there seemed to be a little resistance on the other side of the door, which prevented me from pushing it all the way open. There was a sick, slick, squelching noise coming from the other side of the door. I had barely opened it up six inches when an overwhelming smell of latex and something that reminded me a lot of fresh birth hit my nostrils. I decided to close my eyes as I managed to get the door open and didn't open them again until I had gotten inside and had shut and locked the door behind me. When I did, I was greeted by a bizarre and nearly overwhelming sight.

The inside of the spare room looked like something out of an "Alien" movie mixed with a kind of modified treasure room. There was practically no visible area in the room that wasn't covered in some kind of gross, silver, liquid gore. The reflectiveness of the material almost blinded me when I looked at it at certain angles. The window was completely sealed over and the only source of light was from a small, blue, artificial flame that was burning in the corner of the room where the closet had been that looked like something Seryn had lit herself. There was a thick, rippled "vein" traveling from the fire to the middle of the room. The whole room was like some kind of sick, disgusting alien hive complete with large, rugged "blood vessels" snaking all around the room that covered half the room. And the smell... the smell of latex soup was everywhere and was inescapable. The floors were very moist and slimy under my bare feet with the rubber-smelling sludge. It was just such a horrendous sight that those with faint hearts or stomachs would likely have lost their lunch without much trouble. But since I no longer had a heart or a stomach, I was cut out of that percentage.

After a quick glance around the room, I had expected there to be some kind of eggs everywhere that had been created by this disgusting scene, but oddly enough, there was only one very large egg that was attached to both the ceiling and the floor by a mix of the silvery sludge. Even stranger was that the "egg" was a deep, transparent-blue color that reminded me of what Liquitanium used to look like (don't ask how I knew that). The egg was about five feet tall and was suspended exactly halfway between the floor and the ceiling by the thick silver sludge almost like something right out of an "Alien" movie. The egg was a solid blue and was slightly transparent, showing me that there was indeed something curled up and "alive" in there in the exact center. Whatever it was wasn't very big at the moment, but Seryn had said that the incubation process had only just begun, so I hadn't really expected it to have developed very far along yet.

But despite this horrific scene, I ignored most of it and stepped into the middle of the room to stand in front of the massive egg. It was pulsating slightly and there was an occasional sloshing and gurgling noise coming from inside it, but I didn't see this room as a horror show. In my eyes, I saw this ungodly scene as the beginning of a brand-new life. Every drop of the sludge that covered this room had once been my own flesh, blood and bones and, through Seryn, it technically made me the father figure to whatever was sleeping inside the egg. This was, in a way, my own flesh and blood. This was... my child. It seemed strange, but it was all true in a warped way. My own "child" was sleeping inside this massive egg and I was closer to it than I had ever been before. And for once, I was finally alone with it. I could finally see the beginnings of my own "son" and I didn't want anything to spoil this glorious moment.

But just then, I heard a knock at the door, shortly followed by Seryn's voice. "Alex? Are you okay in there? I didn't hear you say anything when you went in there. You're not scared, are you?"

I sighed and went to the door but did not open it. "Seryn, I would appreciate it if I could be alone in here for a while. Please don't disturb me and do not come in until I come out. I just... I need some time to myself in here."

I could hear Seryn whimper slightly and sniffle a bit, but she sighed and I could have sworn I heard her put her paw on the door. "Very well. Take all the time you need. Just remember that Renamon and I are out here if you ever need us; we're not going anywhere and all you need to do is ask and we'll be right there."

I nodded and answered, "Okay," before walking back over to the egg and standing there, staring up at my sleeping figure inside it. I could sense that Seryn was still in front of the door, but eventually, she, too, returned to what she had been doing, leaving me by myself in this room. I knew she had a good heart and that she cared about me with all her soul, but even she knew that I had to have my space every now and then.

I didn't move for a long time as I stared long and hard at the pulsating egg with a single hand on it. I was thinking about what this thing meant to me and what it was going to mean to Seryn and Renamon when it finally hatched. Words could barely describe the emotions I was dealing with and were conflicting with what I should do, much less the things that I was thinking regarding my situation. In a way, as I stood here, I was at peace with my child and not much else mattered at the moment.

But after a while, I looked down at my belly port for some reason and fiddled with it for a few moments, thinking about what I had gone through to get it permanently grafted into my navel. It already seemed like forever since Seryn had come into my life and our relationship had taken off. She had started out as little more than a "lifeless" costume. She had been nothing more a hollow vinyl shell lined with a previously unknown liquid that had adapted to every twist and curve of my body. Even when I had first put her on, it felt as if she was made for me. Her soft, malleable body had melded itself so perfectly with me that first time that I had almost forgotten what it was to be a human. During that brief time before the sensations had overwhelmed me, I had understood that there was a much higher plane of existence than my meager human life. I had literally become an entirely different person and in a way, I had felt that Seryn and I had become one cosmic being. There had virtually been no way to tell the two of us apart other than our inner minds.

And when that simple costume had taken on a life all its own, I had first been afraid I had gotten in over my head with an animal that was far smarter and much more powerful than me. And yet, Seryn hadn't let that go to her head. She had been able to "tone herself down" so that she and I could live with each other and learn all about the two of us. She was a great magical being and I was nothing more than a meaningless human, but somehow, we had both found a way to bring meaning and happiness to each other's life. We quickly became friends and, over time, evolved into something on a much greater scale.

And then there was the idea of the material exchanges. Seryn had offered me a chance to achieve the same plane of existence as her and I had gladly accepted it without too much thought. And over the next few days, she had slowly helped me to "evolve" into something that was far more meaningful than anything I could have ever imagined. And in a way, she had removed me from my mortal existence and had "upgraded" me from human to Synthetic. She and I were now both immortal and almost as capable as the other. I still had to learn how to use my new body's abilities, but I felt that eventually, she and I would finally be perfectly equal with the other in terms of our natural abilities.

And then there was Renamon. Seryn could have easily kept me all to herself and never let a single being come between her and I, but she had had such a kind and compassionate heart that she had offered to grant even more of my own personal desires. Almost right off the bat, she had discovered the previously empty and worn Renamon costume and had immediately begun a mission to bring that piece of my past back to life and beyond. She had realized how much the Renamon costume had meant to me as a child and had understood that that piece of my memory had slowly been falling apart. So with her near-infinite abilities, she had volunteered to breathe new life into the costume and give it its own living presence. She had virtually gone out of her way to resurrect a piece of my past and give it a purpose again. She had given it a new lease on life and now, I was even more in her debt for the happiness she had given me.

And then there was the subject of the Synthetic that lied sleeping in front of me. As another way of showing just how much she cared about me, Seryn had volunteered to create this unique creature out of my own converted flesh, blood and bones. She could have easily discarded the mortal materials or used them for her own purposes, but she had had the heart to put them to a good cause that would only further increase my happiness. And now that it was in the incubation process, it was just a matter of time before that dream also became a reality.

Seryn had already done so much for me in the short time we had been together that I doubted I would ever be able to repay her. But then again, that really wasn't necessary. Seryn had said in her own words that her main purpose in life was to bring happiness and comfort to the human in which she was given to. And as far as I was concerned, she had done that, so in her eyes, she had gotten all the payment she could ever want. She had me, Renamon and this new Synthetic in her life and that was all that she would ever need to be happy herself.

But as I looked back up at the egg, I suddenly realized something else that would forever change my life with Seryn and Renamon. I ran my hand over the egg's velvety surface and told it exactly what was on my mind.

"You know... all this time with Seryn has given me some time to think. I know I did her a favor by bringing her into my life when she was just a toy. I played with her, comforted her, loved her and respected her, no matter what form she took. I guess I was actually hoping to spend the rest of my life with her as a toy... as a Gooey plaything. I don't even care anymore that I'm a Synthetic as long as I can play with her and Renamon and keep all of us happy.

"But... she's not a toy anymore, so that kind of compromises my plans. While the fact that she's now covered in such soft and beautiful fur and feathers, I can't exactly cuddle up to her the same way I used to. I mean, fur and feathers are okay, but there's just something... unsatisfying about them that old-fashioned vinyl used to have on me. And now that she's no longer a toy, I can't really call her my "plaything" anymore. It's like part of her that I've always loved is no longer with me.

"But for the first time, I realize that the tables have turned and the balance of power has finally shifted. I can't exactly control her the same way she's been doing with me lately. I can't tell her what to do and expect her to do it anymore... and that bothers me. I realize that she's her own furry now and that she shouldn't have to answer to anyone else but herself.

"But after all this time, I understand what she went through while she was a toy and I now know what made us happy with each other. The fact that I could control her was just as oddly satisfying as her controlling me. And that's why I've decided that I should be the toy for once and she should be the owner. I should be the one to cuddle up to and played with at will. Since Seryn is now as real as she's going to get, there shouldn't be any reason why I can't take Seryn's place as the controlled while she becomes the controller. I feel it's only fair that I am the one to be controlled instead me of controlling her. I can't really explain it, but for the first time, I know that this is what I want to be. I want to be the toy. I want to be the one to be told one to do. I want to be the one to give comfort instead of always asking for it. I want to give something back to Seryn after all this time of taking things from her.

"I don't know if you can hear me in there or what you're capable of right now, but if you can, I want you to hear me out. I want things to get back to the basics except that this time, I want Seryn to be my superior being... my owner... my... my master. So I'm asking you from father to child to grant me that one wish. I know that when you finally hatch, you'll be a toy as well and I also want to have that honor for myself. I want to be a toy just like you. I want to be the one to be owned and loved for once. So please... if you can... grant me that wish... for Seryn. I love her with every fiber of my being and it would mean the world to me if I could give her the honor of my physical presence to love and to hold... to be my owner... in sickness and in health... for richer or poor... and in loving care until death do we part. I ask you with all my heart... give me this one wish... and let me take my rightful place in her life."

For a long time after this heart-spoken speech, the egg remained silent and dormant. I had poured my heart and soul into every word and I could only hope that, as a new Synthetic, it could grant me my one final wish. I could only watch and wait, hoping against everything that it could do this for me. I wanted it so badly that I could think about little else.

Finally, the egg must have understood how much this meant to me because it suddenly lit up with an abnormal blue light and began to hum very softly. I removed my hand from it and backed up a few steps, unsure of what was happening, but I had to wonder if it had really heard and understood my wish. The egg pulsed with light, dimmed slightly and then pulsed again a few times back and forth before it finally went out.

At first, it looked like nothing had happened, but then I saw something starting to push itself out of the slimy shell that covered it. It looked like some kind of slimy tentacle and it wriggled and squirmed as it grew larger and longer. I was in utter awe as the tentacle grew out into the room before it appeared to "see" me and froze, contemplating me as if it was making a decision. I wanted to reach out and touch it to see what it was really made of, but before I could, it reared back slightly like a cobra preparing to strike before it made a sudden lunge for me right at my navel. It quickly connected with the plastic, swallowed it and fused itself to my body before pulling it taut as if I had yanked it myself. I gasped as it welded itself to me and began to affect my normal body functions just like Seryn had done to me three other times, which I barely felt I had to use anymore anyway.

As I tugged feebly against the blue cord, I felt as if I was suffocating yet again, but this time, the life support system keeping me alive was the egg in front of me. Not only that, but it also felt as if it had bonded to what was left of my nervous system. When I tugged on the cord with what little strength I had left, it felt as if I was trying to pull off one of my own limbs, so I eventually gave up and allowed "nature" to take its course. Also, as I began to wobble on the spot, more and more smaller tentacles started to extend from the egg, which had turned from a solid to a kind of "gooey liquid" just like Seryn's body, and no less than two or three of these tendrils wrapped around each of my wrists, ankles and even my neck. Soon, even more erupted from the egg and completely ensnared me like a kind of slimy web that had me right where it wanted me. And given the strength of the Liquitanium ropes, it was pointless to try and fight them and even break one of those cords.

But for my own personal reasons, I did not try to fight them. This was just my child's way of granting my wish and I soon gave up complete control of my body as I was lifted up off my feet and gently pulled into the liquefied egg, which solidified again once I was all the way inside. The tentacles moved me into a fetal position and pulled me close to my sleeping child, where all but the one attached to my navel released me and dissolved back into the egg. And once I was neatly nestled next to my napping neonate (say that five times fast), I felt the last step of my final "material exchange" begin.

First of all, the tentacle still welded to my navel like an umbilical cord began to pump the goo out of my body instead of putting anything else in before "dispensing" the silvery gunk throughout the room, making it even messier and more disgusting. However, it somehow missed the blue Flammie Fire that was still burning in the room and keeping the both of us alive while we incubated. Basically, it was removing the goo that Seryn had gone to all the trouble of putting into me in the first place only to leave me as a shriveled version of my former self. Yet somehow, I could feel the goo being replaced with fresh, clean air.

I soon realized what was going on. My "friend" had actually chosen to be an honest inflatable toy with air in it instead of a goo-filled one like Seryn had been. I now knew that that was why the room was splattered with the silver goo that was supposed to be inside its body, leaving it with nothing but air inside its increasingly-hollow body. It was becoming a True Toy with only air inside it and I now understood that I was sharing the same "fate" that it had chosen. I had no idea how it could have made this decision even though it had only been a complete egg for less than two hours, which only proved that it was more intelligent and capable than I had given it credit for.

But still, I was beginning to like the idea of being just an honest-to-goodness air-filled Toy instead of a goo-filled one because there was a bit more potential to you when there wasn't anything in you but air and your skin was completely made of vinyl. True, neither of us wouldn't be able to morph our bodies as we saw fit or manipulate reality with Liquitanium goo like Seryn and Renamon could, but in a way, I felt that this was for the best. Besides, some things were just better when they were kept simple.

As for what I was becoming, my child already knew what I wanted to be. In a way, he was as close to what I wanted as was physically possible. There were just a couple of key differences between us, but I preferred something exotic yet still similar at the same time. In fact, it already knew what I wanted, which made me feel confident in its ability to act and think for itself.

And as the liquid was slowly pumped out of me and was replaced with fresh, clean, refined air, I finally began to feel my body changing for the last time. I really wanted to stay awake and see my new form for myself, but my friend decided to make it a surprise and slowly lulled me into a deep and comfortable sleep next to it. I wanted to fight it, but it was no use, so I sighed without breathing and finally relented. It was probably for the best, anyway. After all, I was going to have to get used to taking orders instead of always giving them from now on, so I just gave up and went to sleep right next to it. This wasn't so bad after all. In fact, I think I was going to like this new existence as a Toy. Besides, all good things came to those who waited and I was no exception.

Night turned into morning and even morning gave way into afternoon and Alex had still not come out of the spare room where their final friend was privately incubating. Seryn knew that both the human and the Synthetic deserved their privacy, but she had never gone this long without Alex's presence near her and she was beginning to show she was concerned as time passed on. Her right leg repeatedly bounced up and down as she sat on the couch and she was repeatedly looking in the direction of the spare room, her mind clearly not on the TV but instead on her love, who had remained quiet for longer than he had ever gone before.

"Relax, Seryn," said Renamon for the fifth time since Alex had disappeared. "If something had happened in there that we were supposed to be involved in, we would have heard something by now."

Seryn sighed and ran a paw over her cheek, missing the touch of his smooth human skin against her soft, furry pelt. "I know, but I've just never gone this long without him at my side. I miss his touch against my fur, which now replaces my vinyl skin. I didn't get to cuddle up to him when I went to sleep last night, which made me dream some nasty and unpleasant things. It's like a part of me is missing without him. I'm starting to worry about him. He's never been this quiet for this long unless he's sleeping, and it's already the middle of the day and he hasn't said a word since he went in there that I could hear." She sighed again and looked at Renamon. "You don't think something might have happened to him, do you, Renamon?"

Since Renamon was not as attached to Alex as Seryn was, there was clearly a part of the human that Seryn had that she didn't, so she couldn't fully understand the link that the two of them had for each other. But since she had been well-worn by Alex as a costume, she had her own piece of his essence inside her like a well-loved plushie should have after years of being loved by its owner, so she understood at least something of the link between Alex and Seryn.

"Why don't you go check on him if it means that much to you?" she finally told her. "I'm sure he could use your company right about now. Just go and knock on the door and see if he answers. If he doesn't, then you can look inside."

Seryn sighed for a third time and got up. This was just the kind of excuse she had needed to go check on her mate. She just wanted to make sure he was still alive and okay... or at least as alive and okay as a Gooey human could be anyway.

She knocked firmly on the door since she knew that it was likely still covered by a thick layer of the Synthetic sludge from the egg. "Alex?" No answer. "Love, are you still alive in there? You've been in there all night and I'm starting to worry about you."

She gave him a moment to answer, but he didn't, which made her even more nervous. "Alex?" she said a little louder and more assertively. "Can you hear me in there? Please say something, love; you're starting to scare me."

Still no answer. She couldn't hear a thing in there and she wasn't picking up anything through her connection to his Link Collar. Even though his brain technically wasn't there, she could still hear his thoughts and brain waves. However, she noticed that his thoughts were silent, even for a mind as active as his, and his brainwaves were at a minimum, which suggested he was just barely alive at the moment.

Feeling desperate now, she tried to open the door. Unfortunately, it was locked from the inside and there wasn't a keyhole on her side, which meant that she was locked out and/or he had sealed himself in the room to maintain his privacy. Seryn was now scared that something had happened to him and was getting ready to break down the door to get at him. She took a half-step backwards in the narrow hallway and held her shoulder in a way that she was ready to barge in. And since her body chemistry was still ten times harder than diamond, a simple wooden door would prove no trouble for her. She needed to get inside just to make sure he was all right.

But just before she could get to that point, a strong, firm and powerful voice blared throughout the tiny apartment, stopping both Seryn and her "heart" dead in their tracks.

"FREEZE, FLAMMIE!!!"

Seryn suddenly felt as if she had been struck with cold fear all over her body, freezing her on the spot. But the fear was quickly replaced by a warm, soothing comfort that assured her that all would be well. She turned her head to the right and saw an impossible sight standing less than a dozen feet from her. The Dragon of Light and Darkness, aka the Angel of Life and Death, aka the god of gods, Strato Incendus was standing in front of Alex's room in a slightly more compact form than his usual ten-foot frame, staring long and hard at her with his conflicting eyes and a firm look on his face. The mismatched-colored dragon was looking at her and only her with his arms crossed and a stone-cold look as she prepared to break the door down to get to her love.

"I... I can't believe it..." said Seryn, all of her worries for Alex shelved for the time being. "Strato... Incendus... You... you were the one who dreamed of me. You were the one who ultimately created me. You are the reason I exist at all."

Incendus nodded and motioned with his white right hand for her to head into the living room. "I am indeed. Now why don't you go take a seat and talk with me? I have some things to tell the two of you and it is essential that you hear me out. Please go and sit down."

Seryn looked blankly at the god and made the decision to hear what he had to say. After all, if he was there, then there must have been a very good reason for him to take time out of his duties as a god to come see her. He didn't show himself to the common folk very often, even to his own inspired creations, so his presence to even a Synthetic was an honor in itself, which meant that she and Renamon had to take this event very seriously. Seryn sat down next to the Digimon, who was watching Incendus with an apprehensive look in her eyes.

"So what brings Strato Incendus himself to our humble dwelling?" she asked politely.

Incendus looked at her with a queer look in his mismatched eyes. Seryn gulped, fearing she had overdone it right off the bat. But then Incendus smiled and sat down in the chair next to them, flaring his whiskers with a paw and chuckling.

"Your flattery has been acknowledged, Seryn, so you may stop now." Seryn blanched as she sulked and looked guilty, but Incendus merely shook his head and added, "Oh, don't take it that way. I was merely playing with you. Even a god like myself has to have a sense of humor, right?"

Seryn sighed with relief and shrugged with a purr. "Yeah, I guess."

Incendus then folded his mismatched paws and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "Well, first thing's first. I stopped you from barging into that room for a reason. I don't want you to worry, but as of last night, Alex can no longer hear you, nor can you do anything to help him at the moment." When Seryn let out a small whine at these words, he held up his white paw. "Just let me explain. It's a rather complicated thing to explain, even to someone like you, but I know I can sum it all up in one line like this: Alex has made a wish from the bottom of his heart to be closer to you... and it has been granted."

Seryn wasn't quite sure whether to be relieved or even more confused. "I don't... understand."

Fortunately, Incendus was used to others being in the dark with his riddle-like logic, so he did his best to explain the situation to the stumped Flammie. "It's like this... Last night when Alex went into that room and locked himself in, his original intention was to be alone with his incubating toy child. But as he looked at the miracle of magic you had created, he began to think about his life with the two of you over the past several days. He believes he has done well by having you as a toy and a friend, but as of late... well... his opinion has somewhat changed."

Seryn looked hurt at what he was saying. "I... He doesn't... love me anymore?" The mere thought of it tore her apart.

Incendus shook his head. "I did not say that. He loves both you and Renamon with all his heart, but ever since you became an actual Gooey Synthetic instead of a vinyl, goo-filled Omni-Synthetic, he feels that the balance of power has shifted, even though you didn't intend it to. I'm not sure if you noticed, but all during your playdate yesterday, he felt that now that you are controlling him, he feels that things should go back to the way it used to be but with a slight variation. He no longer wants to be the one to be in control; he wants to be the one to be controlled. He figures it's only fair considering everything that you've been through."

Seryn looked genuinely alarmed and amazed that he had actually been thinking that. "But... why hasn't he said anything up until now?"

Incendus shrugged. "I guess it only came to light just last night when he went in there. It may only have recently appeared, but I can assure you that this is how he has always felt, even though none of your probably knew it. And it is this desire that has caused him to merge with the egg in the next room and become at the same power and spiritual level as you used to be. I guess you can say that he is becoming a toy along with his brother so that he can bring you pleasure the same way you have done to him. In a way, the four of you are all switching roles."

Renamon seemed more disappointed than amazed when she spoke up for the first time. "Does this mean he won't be able to play with me the same way that he used to? I've only been alive for a day and I never really got to play with him the way that I've always wanted to after all those years in his closet."

Incendus looked curious as to the reference of her question. "Why do you say that? Of course it doesn't! He'll still be able to play with you like he has all this time, except that from now on, You'll be the one in control of him and his brother instead of the other way around. Just think of it as a little fair role reversal."

Seryn and Renamon both let out a collective sigh. "That's good," said Seryn, looking relieved. "But... if all that "gore" in the next room is his and his "brother's" gooey body materials, then what are they turning into if none of it is in them?"

Incendus looked blank. "I don't follow you."

Seryn blinked and then elaborated. "If he's not going to be a Toy Gooey, then what kind of material is he going to be made of?"

Incendus finally seemed to catch on. "Oh. I thought you would have figured that out by now. He'll be a vinyl Toy, but he'll be as basic as he could possibly be. He'll be made out of 100% vinyl on the outside, but unlike you used to be, his insides will be filled with nothing but air. You honestly didn't think that because of the discovery of Liquitanium and what kind of Synthetics it can be used with that I have forgotten about some of the classics, did you? No, pure vinyl is far from obsolete, so think of this as a little rewind in the Synthetic material world."

Seryn finally seemed to catch on as well. "Okay, so he'll just be an old-fashioned inflatable toy. I can live with that. Alright... just one more question, though."

Incendus nodded. "Ask away."

"If he's in the egg with his... "brother", about how long will it take before he's supposed to hatch? I haven't gone this long without him and I think I'm going to go crazy without him by my side for much longer."

Incendus smiled in a way that was reassuring, but it likely would have sent a small child running for its mother. "Easy there, Seryn. I thought you would have figured that out as well. Fortunately as a god, I can give you an accurate time so you can at least lighten up a little. The both of them will hatch on Halloween night at 6:00 PM on the dot and not a second sooner. You should also know that on that night, I will be able to open up a gateway between this world and another that Aridos and Vega have finally perfected in order to send you somewhere where you can live in peace without being judged."

This was a rather sudden development that neither of them had expected, especially Seryn. "A... a new world? Are you sure? You're not pulling our legs here, are you?"

Incendus shook his head. "As I'm sure you're well aware of, I never lie, period, so no, I am not pulling any of your legs. This world is the real deal and I am extending an open invitation to the four of you to be the first ones to take up residence there. It is a world that is uninhabitable for humans or any living-and-breathing creature, so I am sure that Synthetics such as yourselves will have no trouble living there. It has been custom-built to give Synthetics the benefits of this world and numerous other ones that this world cannot provide. So what do you say? Would you like to be the first ones to go there?"

Seryn and Renamon looked at each other for a moment, contemplating the possibility of having a whole Synthetic-based world to live in without running into any trouble from the locals. It seemed too good to be true, but like Incendus had said in his own words, it was true since he was incapable of any kind deception at all.

They both felt that Alex and his "brother" would appreciate the concept of a new world just as much as they would, so they decided to make their decision for them. "We would be honored to go there," said Seryn, bowing nobly along with Renamon.

Incendus smiled lightly and nodded in response. "I thought you'd go for it. Be at the Plush Paradise shop at midnight on the nose and I will see to it that you are sent on your way. As for me..." He stood up and bowed to the pair. "I must be on my way. As a god, I have many things to do, so I have no more time to waste here. I wish you all the best of luck until then. Good-bye."

The pair of them barely had time to blink before Incendus vanished in the split-second it took them to do so. They were both amazed that he had disappeared so quickly, but then again, he probably had his own methods of doing so, so they got over it and looked at each other.

"Well, that went well," said Seryn simply. "Shall we wait around while Alex and his brother have some time to incubate?"

Renamon shook her head. "Well, if we're going to be leaving this world in a day, I think both of us should get our fill of it before we have to leave. I'm sure we can find some way to have fun for the next 24 or so hours, so we might as well try and make the best of it."

And with that having been said, the two of them got up, headed for the door to the apartment and left it to go have some "fun". They did not return for the rest of the day and most of the next one as they went to go do the things that they had always wanted to while they were by themselves. When Alex and his brother woke up at 6:00 tomorrow night, the female Synthetics would be responsible for them again, but this time, they were the ones who called the shots. So for now, they lived by their own rules.

I slept in complete and total darkness for the rest of the day and most of the next one before I finally felt ready to hatch and be reborn into the world. I was looking forward to seeing the world again and to see my former playtoy and new owner through the eyes of a True Toy. I was also anxious to see just what my brother had turned me into while I had been incubating next to him for all that time.

After what already felt like an eternity, 6:00 PM on Halloween Night came and I was suddenly jerked wide awake by my brother stirring next to me. He finally had his eyes open and was nudging me gently to wake up inside the liquid-filled sac.

"Ranshiin... brother... it's time to hatch. We only have six hours left in this world, so it's time to make the best of it."

I soon felt the cord that had been siphoning the goo out of me all this time disconnect from my navel and I could finally move freely again. I also felt a fresh burst of energy hit my being and, in a sudden powerful moment, I grabbed my brother with my free paw and the two of us punched the outer casing of the egg we were encased in together, breaking the liquid-like seal and causing the insides to gush out into the room with us shortly behind it. Fresh, clean, cool air met our nostrils, even though we didn't need it. We both lay on the gory floor, trying to catch our breath from the sudden change in the air in the environment.

As the two of us laid on all fours, coughing and spitting out the leftover gunk that had been in our systems, we finally recovered enough to look to our sides and see each other for the first time.

My new "brother" was exactly as the vision Seryn had shown me way back during our first shower together. In fact, he was almost a carbon copy of what I had been as Ranshiin the Windragon. My brother, who was respectively named "Shiron" was also a Windragon like me but with key differences. Unlike my dark and foreboding demeanor, Shiron was a bit "lighter" and more "noble" than I was. He had the same snow-white-skinned body and had an arrangement of "accessories" such as thick, "leather" gauntlets over his three-clawed paws, massive, feathery wings, a long, jagged stripe down his spine and a mane of pale-straw-yellow hair. However, the key difference of those parts was mainly their coloring. His gauntlets were brown with round, smooth sapphires set into the golden bands whereas mine were black with rubies around my wrists. His wings were a soft, angelic-white while mine were a deep, dark, shadowy-black. His back stripe as well as the claws on his feet were a soft navy-blue color whereas mine was the same black as my wings. And while my mane was neatly-combed and ended up in a neat and cool-looking ponytail, Shiron's was rather untidy and was covered by a brown avian's helm complete with glass goggles and leather ear flaps.

He also had a couple of "extra features" added to him that kind of coincided with my complicated black jacket. He had a golden band around his neck that was adorned with wind symbols and a trio of red rings around the center. He didn't have anything around his torso, but he really didn't need anything since his body was rather fit and powerful even without the "visible" muscles.

It was hard to believe that every fine detail about our outward anatomy was made of some kind of fine, smooth, transparent-to-opaque vinyl that looked and felt as if it had all been rolled right off the manufacturing line. There was also a faint odor of freshly-produced vinyl that hung around the both of us that we both found rather enticing. Also, I noticed that while our "original" versions had been bigger than the room we were currently in, each of us was tall enough for our heads to barely hang under the ceiling with our wings reaching up to a ten-foot span, which gave us a more "portable" yet compatible form for use when we were indoors. As for how big we would be when we went outside, we would have to wait and see what happened then.

"Well, brother..." I said as I looked over myself and flexed my new vinyl muscles. "I've seen worse, so I guess a Windragon isn't nearly as bad as it could have been."

Shiron chuckled and ran a "gauntleted" paw down my back in-between my wings. Amazingly, I could feel it as if there was actually skin there. I soon found myself growling deeply in comfort from the pleasure I was feeling.

"You like that, don't ya?" he said to me, keeping it up. "Tell you what: we've still got a few more hours before we're supposed to meet Seryn and Renamon to head to our new world. What do you say we go out for a little moonlit flight before we leave this world behind?"

I couldn't find any reason to disagree with him, so we both made the choice to head outside and check with Seryn and Renamon before we would all split up and have a little bit more "fun" in this world before we left it behind.

When we reached the living room, Seryn and Renamon looked up at us in amazement as then approached us and began running their paws over us. I had to admit I liked the feel of fur and/or fabric on my vinyl skin and I soon found myself purring in a way similar to Seryn.

"Well, I'll be," said Seryn as she placed a paw on my shoulder and looked at me with those bottomless eyes of hers. "You turned out to be more handsome than I could have ever expected."

"And your brother didn't turn out half-bad, either," added Renamon as she entwined her tail with Shiron's.

The both of us blushed as best as we could as we allowed our "examination" to continue. Soon, the two of us looked at each other and we decided on a similar decision before we turned to our new "masters" and lifted both of them clean off the ground and held them in our arms. They both seemed amazed at our strength for simple vinyl toys, but none more so than Seryn, who was usually the one who did all the heavy lifting in this family.

"Yikes..." said Seryn more out of pleasure than surprise. "We'll have to make sure not to cross either of you boys in a dark alley."

Shiron had gotten a similar response out of Renamon and when we both looked at each other again, we both felt confident that we were holding our own new master in either of our arms. Shiron had just dubbed himself as Renamon's toy while I, Ranshiin, claimed Seryn as my master.

The time we had left in this world was slowly ticking away, but Shiron and I had one more request to make of our masters before we finally surrendered control to them.

"Master..." I said to Seryn in a soft voice. "Can we go out for one more moonlit flight around the town before we go?" I did my best to look like I was pleading my case, even though that really wasn't necessary.

Seryn laughed at my pathetic expression as I set her back down on her own two feet. "You look so cute like that. Yeah, I guess we can all go have some fun before we leave. Why don't the four of us split into pairs and meet back at Plush Paradise at 11:45? Shiron and Renamon can go one way and get better acquainted with each other and Ranshiin and I will meet up with you later."

And without even a single word from Shiron or Renamon, we all agreed on the plan and the four of us left the apartment for the last time, all bound for one more night on the town before heading out for a brand-new life.

Since it was Halloween and kids and their parents were all out on the town, Seryn and I hardly looked out of place as we both flew high over the city. Even though I was under her "control", she still allowed me to experience flying on my own for the first time as though we were once again connection by the mind. In a way, we both channeled our minds into the same being so that we both moved, thought and felt the joy of flying as one once again. Riding shotgun in Seryn's mind had been one thing, but being able to control my own movements in flight was truly something else. At long last, I finally felt like I was the lord of the skies with Seryn right next to me in line. We flew so high and fast over the city that all people could see at times was a pair of white flashes streaking across the sky, bathed in moonlight and generating their own "natural" glow. I wasn't sure what Shiron and Renamon were up to during their flight since Renamon couldn't really "fly", but I didn't doubt that they were enjoying themselves just as much as we were.

But like all good things, it all eventually had to come to an end. Before any of us knew it, the time was 11:45 and we all had to head back to Plush Paradise to be on our way. It had all seemed like such a short time that I had been in this form in this world, but for some reason, I was just fine with that. Besides, the next one would have its own kind of surprises that this one clearly didn't.

We all walked into the shop on a congregation of creatures in the back room of Aridos' Magical Medleys, which had been renamed "Plush Paradise" since I had last been there. The old man that had "sold" me Seryn in the first place, Karmen Aridos, was there along with a real-life anthropomorphic red fox in a full-body suit of black battle armor I did not know as well as a large black-and-white dragon I assumed was this "Strato Incendus" I had heard all about from Seryn. Shiron and Renamon were already there waiting for us as we walked into the rear room with only a few minutes remaining before midnight.

"You two sure took your time," said Renamon, crossing her arms in mock concern. "Did you get caught in traffic or something?"

I shrugged and went over to shake by brother's paw. "Something like that. At least we're here, right?"

Renamon didn't answer this, but I felt sure that she had understood it.

"So it looks like you're all here," said the angelic/demonic dragon, Strato Incendus, looking around the room. "Now we can get on our way. I have the aftermath of a bombing to get to in the Middle East that needs the attention of my darker half."

Aridos grunted as he looked up at his "superior", who was more than twice his size. "You shouldn't rush them, Incendus. They've never been to Plush Paradise before, so we need to give them a little time to let go of this world."

Incendus looked curiously down at him. "Are you sure, Aridos? It seems to me that they're all ready to go, am I right?" He addressed that last question to all the Synthetics present.

"I'm ready," said Seryn, ruffling her feathers.

"Fine with me," said Renamon, whipping her tail.

"I'm good," said Shiron, his arms crossed.

"Nothing wrong with me," I finished up.

Incendus nodded towards us and then smiled back at Aridos. "See? They all seem ready to go, so please fire up the portal and we'll all be on our way."

The anthropomorphic fox stifled back his laughter at Aridos being shown up by Incendus, but Aridos merely grunted and went to the portal hooked up in front of the wall and fired it up.

The portal, which took up half of the back wall, fired into life and what appeared to be a swirling mass of black and white clouds appeared inside the arch with a loud whooshing noise. The wind was so strong that it blew all throughout the room, blowing things around that were on shelves as well as a couple things that weren't nailed down.

"Well..." said Aridos. "Off you all go. We can't keep this thing going forever."

The four of us exchanged nervous looks before grabbing our partners and then charging heads-first into the swirling mass, not once looking back or carrying any regrets whatsoever about what we were leaving behind. It took a while before we finally arrived in the artificially-made world, but all of us knew one thing: we had all been given a rare and special gift by meeting each other and once we arrived, we could all live by our own rules and begin our lives anew in ways we saw fit.

After all, the four of us were Synthetics. And just like living creatures, we all had a reason to exist and live. Would you like to have one of us for yourself or would you like to join our family? The choice is yours.

END