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Latex Lore Chapter 1: The Inflation Begins

By shadowlugia249

Author's Note: After the overwhelming success of my "Latexed Lugia" story, I couldn't just stop there. I had to continue this unusual idea. I decided to make my very own series involving balloon animals. I decided to start with a remake of the original story but with a special twist to it. See if you can spot the new arrival! Enjoy!

Karmen Aridos was sifting through his usual paperwork one dull Friday morning when he came across an envelope with an unusual sliver-white-colored outside. He shifted the papers that were on top of it and took it in his wrinkled hands.

It read: "To Mr. Karmen Aridos @ Plushtopia". And at the bottom, he read the senders - "Sirius and Rye: The Latexed Lugia."

Aridos smiled to himself and stared at the package for a moment. He remembered Sirius and Rye. Rye had been one of his favorite customers that had taken home a special item that he had sold called a "Latexed Lugia" - a pre-made balloon molded into the shape of the birds of legend known as the Lugia clan. After inflating it, Rye had developed a relationship with the Lugia who called herself "Sirius" and in the end, he had been changed into a Balloon Lugia himself. And since they were not bound by normal Lugian standards, they had been free to explore the world as they pleased. It looked like they were sending him a souvenir of their travels.

Aridos slit the envelope open and tipped the contents onto his desk. There were only two items: a package similar to the one he had sold the original Balloon Lugia in and a note on a piece of shiny, silver-white paper. He figured that he should read the note first, so he unfolded it and read it to himself.

Dear Mr. Aridos,

Greeting from Sirius and Rye, the Latexed Lugia! We are living up in the mountains near Utah and we send our congratulations for bringing the two of us together the way you did. Life as balloon animals has not hindered our relationship in the slightest and we are considering returning to Minnesota to visit sometime.

During our self-induced exile, we were fortunate enough to be able to have our very own children. Months of rubber and latex consummation have allowed us to form three very fine Balloon Lugia children. Two of them turned out to be the best presents we could ever receive. But it was the third one that has alarmed us slightly.

We cannot explain it, but there seems to be something wrong with this one. It does not like to join with the rest of our family at times and it seems secluded to some degree. Not only are there mental abnormalities but physical ones as well. We feel unsafe to care for it while our other ones are blowing up.

(Author's Note: "Blowing up" is the balloon version of saying "growing up". It only makes sense once you think about it.)

So as a precaution, we have sent this unusual one to you so that you may study it and possibly give it a new home. It pains us greatly to part with it, but we feel that you will do the right thing for it.

Please be careful. This one is a little strange in its personality and it is much more capable than it looks and it should only be given to someone who is very compatible with it. We hope that you do the right thing and we hope to see you again someday.

Best wishes,

The signature was signed with a pair of rounded three-toed paw prints dipped in blue ink. This was the only part of it that looked like it had been manually written; the rest had been typed.

Aridos looked through the package at the deflated Balloon Lugia inside. Other than a slightly different shade on the package, he could not tell the difference. But if it was enough to cause Sirius and Rye trouble, he had to consider the possibility that it was dangerous. He would have to study it for a while before he put it on sale in his shop. Until then, he needed to tread lightly when working with this one.

(This story takes place shortly after when "Aridos' Magical Medleys" became "Plushtopia".)

My name is Alex Schaefer and at the moment, I was on my own, awaiting some kind of miracle. I was living in a cheap apartment that had gone down in value after its previous owner mysteriously vanished from it over two years ago. No one else had wanted to buy it except for me. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so ignoring local superstition, I promptly moved in as soon as I could so that I could begin living on my own.

I had a normal job stocking shelves at the local Wal-Mart, which earned me a fairly decent pay for the time being. It earned me enough money for me to fund my regular cable bill, but not much else. I had no computer and no video game systems to keep me occupied and I used all of my extra funds to buy a new movie once in a while for a little variety. Right now, my life really had no meaning to it.

That brings me back to my longing for a miracle. On the day I moved into my apartment, I was looking out of the window that night as I did whenever I had nothing better to do. I was still getting used to living in the city, having come from a rural community, so I was unable to look at the stars like I used to every night. I was just staring out at the endless glare of lights all around me.

Already, I was beginning to miss the endless hours at the farm, lying under the stars in the moonlight and wishing for a better existence in life. I had moved to the city because I couldn't afford to buy an entire house in the countryside. I would stare out into the bright skies and wish that I could be back with my old life.

I was just about to turn in for the night when I saw it. High above the city, just visible in the constant glare of the street lights was a trio of large, bird-like creatures whose feathers made the light of the city wink when it hit them. I was suddenly entranced by their movement. They were too far away to get any real detail off of them, but I watched them anyway. It looked like two of them were dancing in the sky, spinning around and playing an aerial version of tag while a third, much larger one had perched itself on a roof to watch them.

For over an hour, I watched them dance and play, barely having to flap their wings. Their beauty and grace was something I had never seen in any mortal creature before and have never seen since. I dared not look away for fear of losing them forever in the city lights. They were just too wonderful to watch.

And then, just before they disappeared, the third one flew off towards my apartment and halted over a half-mile away from my window. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I felt a small "wink" in my mind followed by a beautiful, eerie song deep in my head. And then with a flash, they all vanished from sight, never to be seen again.

I could not explain why that creature had looked at me, but I felt that my life was about to change forever. There was something about those bird-like beasts that radiated leadership, hope and fate somewhere in my mind. It was like I was destined to meet them again sometime, but I could not be sure when. All I know is that from that day on, my life had been given new meaning.

And now, three months later, I was still praying that I saw those creatures again. Every night, I would stare out of the window at the same time for over an hour before finally giving up and going to bed. I should have given up weeks ago, but for some reason, I could not ignore the feeling that they would return. I had been touched so emotionally by my encounter that I would sometimes find myself absentmindedly humming the song I had heard that fateful day in my free time.

I just hoped and prayed that I would see them again... somehow...

... and then, exactly six months to the day that I saw that elegant display in the sky, I was looking through the free "Sunday Reminder" on a Saturday, looking for deals in movies and whatnot from the local Best Buy. Having found nothing, I flipped to the Classified Ads in the main paper to see what was up for grab in the "Freebies" section. My budget was no more than $50 at the moment and nothing sold for over $35 in this section. I scanned through the old ads first and then turned to the new ones. It was what I saw there that changed everything.

In a small square-inch section of the items for sale, I read the following: "Lugia Balloon - Free to a good home. Call Plushtopia - 1-320-555-0249. Willmar, Minnesota."

Plushtopia? Why did that name sound so familiar? I had to think for a while on this before it finally came to me.

Oh, yeah! Plushtopia was the name of that new toy shop that had opened up on the other side of the street by the mall. In fact, it was within walking distance of my apartment. I can't believe that I never noticed that shop before - it was on the way to the Wal-Mart where I worked; you couldn't miss it.

I had never heard of a "Lugia Balloon" before, but there was something about the name that seemed to ring a bell somewhere inside my mind. It was as if "Lugia" was the name of a long-forgotten friend that I had not seen in a long time, but the memory was still there. Deciding to check it out, I folded the paper and left the apartment for the Plushtopia store.

The front of the store was rather colorful for a toy store. I lost track of how many colors were used in the paint all over the store, but I noticed that there were no windows on it. Then again, not many stores like this needed windows. Pushing the door open, I heard a small bell tinkle overhead.

The inside of the shop looked like the inside of a "Toys 'R Us." There was a decent amount of color painted all over the shop with a lot of colorful merchandise. I noticed that a majority of the shop was devoted to large, stuffed animal plushies. They came in various sizes, shapes and colors that I had never seen before.

There were large, furry creatures with large, feathery wings called "Flammies", there was a medium-sized black-and-white creature called a "Klonoa" and even a massive white-furred dragon with leather gauntlets and helm called a "Windragon". I had never heard of such creatures before, but the detail that the manufacturers had put into the plushies was second to none. Even the feel of their soft, cloth-like bodies made me feel like I was feeling real-life animals but significantly better.

"Can I help you?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin! (Author's Note: Aridos has a tendency to do that.) From out of absolutely nowhere, an aged, shriveled old man with more wrinkles than my late great-grandmother had appeared behind me and had caught me completely off guard. I turned to look at him and saw that he was roughly five feet tall with a distinct hunchback and his arms behind his back. Even though he was shorter than me, I saw that his emerald-green eyes appeared to be much, much younger than he looked. It was like they didn't even belong to him. Huh.

"Can I help you?" he said again, not looking up at me.

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to approach this old man. He didn't seem to be the kind that you could really understand. I improvised by pulling out a piece of paper that I had jotted the details of the ad down on. "I heard that you were giving away a "Lugia Balloon" to a good home. Is that right?"

The old man looked me up and down, checking me out for some reason. He seemed to be contemplating whether or not I was worth his time. Finally, he shrugged and looked forward again.

"That's right, but I'm not sure. There seems to be something different about this one."

"Say what?"

The old man frowned. "I got this one as repayment for a good deed, but there seems to be something unusual about this one. It doesn't seem to act like the rest of my merchandise, but I don't think it's dangerous. If you want, I can show you what the balloon looks like fully inflated."

I figured it couldn't hurt. I nodded and the old man shuffled off to the counter near the back of the shop. I followed him and waited for a moment while he disappeared through a door to a back room.

While he was gone, I waited patiently, absentmindedly humming the song that I had heard exactly six months ago when those bird creatures had appeared in the city. It seemed to have burned itself into my mind, disabling my ability to forget even a single note of it.

Soon enough, the old man returned, carrying a balloon on a string. The instant I saw it, I knew I was seeing the same creature I ha seen six moths ago. I recognized that graceful bird-like body with its broad, flipper-like wings. Even though I hadn't seen its entire body, I knew that this was it. Its wings had four flat "finger-like" feathers with a fifth "thumb" underneath the "palms".

It also had two sets of five flat, rectangular plates lining both sides of its spine. And that round/V-shaped mark on its chest seemed to confirm what I was seeing. And at the end of a long, slightly serpentine neck was a pointed head with a smooth, curved beak with two pointed fangs on both its upper and lower jaw.

But for some reason, it was yet wasn't the same creature I had seen before. The pointed "masks" around its eyes was slightly longer than I had expected and its silver eyes had a slight red tint to them where the whites would be. There was also a slight indentation in its forehead and its digitigrade feet had long, pointed talons where its normally round toes were.

But the most noticeable difference between this one and the ones I saw was its coloring. Every place the original had been navy-and-sky-blue, this one was a pale lavender. The rest of its body was a deep, shadowy-purple. It alarmed me that this one looked so... different than the original, but as long as it was close, it was just fine with me.

The old man had the Balloon Lugia tethered to a string by its ankle. It was also only as big as a party balloon, so I was doubting its real size. But he seemed to be reading my mind when he saw my disappointed expression.

"Don't worry. This is only a display model. The real one is much more impressive." That was good. I wouldn't have adopted this one if it hadn't been close to the size I had expected.

"You said in the ad that it was "free to a good home", right? Is that still true?"

The old man nodded. "Very true. I no longer have any use for this model and it makes me happy to see that it is going to a decent home. If you'll just wait here, I'll go get the original version."

I did as he took the prototype back into the back room and disappeared from view for a while. I couldn't wait to take it home and care for it as my very own.

Aridos sighed as he rooted around for the package containing the shadowy Balloon Lugia. He had an aching feeling in his gut that this was going to come back to haunt him, but he felt confident that he had done all he could to purify it. The balloon would be going to a good home and Sirius and Rye would be happy that he did his best. That was all that mattered.

But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was still wrong with it. He couldn't change its coloring, but he felt that he had done his best to make it safe. The balloon was going to a good home and Sirius and Rye would be happy.

After wrestling with his self-respect for a while, he finally sighed and carried the package back to Alex. As long as the both of them were happy, that was all he cared about. When he gave the package to him, he told him the rules about owning this one and bid him good day.

The rules were written on a piece of silver paper and were as follows:

One: The balloon had the ability to think for itself and would know if he had mistreated it. Its powers were not something to be taken lightly and might be a little overwhelming at first. But as long as the two of them got along, there was nothing to fear.

Two: The balloon needed to eat as well as every living creature did. It got its energy from various sources of latex. Things like rubber gloves and other balloons would give it the energy to survive. It would be able to be much more resistant to popping once it had consumed enough rubber and latex products.

Three: It had a mind of its own and would know if Alex was mistreating it. If Alex treated it with respect, it would remember those events and be able to repay him sometime down the road. It was just like owning a pet but with a much higher intelligence level.

The last rule was more of a warning. It said that its behavior could be unpredictable and possibly violent, but that was only in extreme cases. Aridos felt confident that it would never get to that level and Alex would be just fine. He could only watch and wait to see if balloon and man would be on the same page the whole way through.

When I got home about 20 minutes later, I immediately made a beeline for the living room where there would be plenty of room for the balloon to grow to its full size. According to the package, this thing could get up to over 20 feet from head to tail. I wanted to make sure it had plenty of room to grow when I blew it up.

Tearing the package open with my teeth, I tipped the deflated balloon into my hand and looked at it. According to the directions, I had to look for its mouth and inflate it from there. This was not your average balloon animal as I had seen back at the shop, so inflating it required special attention. It was difficult to find the mouth in its current deflated state, but I finally found the lavender mask over its eyes and pried open its mouth. Taking a few test breaths, I inhaled deeply and began to pump my lungs into the balloon.

It started to fill out with air at an alarming speed. Just a single breath seemed to add a good six inches to its girth and soon, it was about the size of the prototype in the store. The rubbery skin started to stretch and flex as I filled it with even more air. It looked like I was giving CPR to a rubber dummy, and in a way, that was true. I was breathing life into this balloon animal, thus giving it its shape and size.

Soon, it was as large as I was tall and it started to slow down in its growing. And just when I couldn't blow anymore, it stopped growing entirely and I closed its mouth after shutting the flap in the back of its throat. I stood back to examine my work.

Other than the fact that it was five times as big as its prototype counterpart, the detail of the balloon was amazing! I had never seen such a rich, deep violet in all my life and the detail of the balloon itself was amazing. Every square inch of it was filled with my own breath; there was no flat parts anywhere. And since it hadn't blown itself out of proportions so that it looked fatter than normal, it was indeed a work of art.

I stared at the "Shadow Lugia" for a while before I wanted to know how it felt. Taking off my shirt so that I could get the full feeling, I took the balloon in my arms and pressed my belly against its own. It was smooth, flexible, rubbery and warm, just like I had expected it to be. It felt nice against my inferior human skin and I ran my hands up and down its back, feeling each of its rubbery back plates. I did not see the balloon wrap its left wing around my back and stroke me gently in return, a small grin stretching across its beak.

When I had had enough, I detached myself from it and stood eye-to-eye with it. I put my shirt back on and smiled at it.

"I guess you deserve a bite to eat. I think I have some rubber cleaning gloves somewhere around here. Hold on."

The balloon stared blankly in one direction as I went to my bathroom to rummage around under the sink. I knew I had some bulk rubber cleaning gloves here and I figured that the balloon would like something to eat.

After some digging, I found the box and carried it out to the living room. The balloon was still bobbing there and staring off it the direction its eyes had been made in. I smiled at it and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves and held it up to the Lugia.

"How does that smell? You must be starving after all that time in that bag. Help yourself if you want."

I gave it the chance to take the gloves for its own, but I didn't expect it to respond. But when the balloon looked at my offering and sniffed it for a moment, I was caught completely off-guard when it lunged forward and snapped the snack right out of my hand! I immediately pulled my hand backwards as it chewed the gloves for a moment before swallowing them. It then turned to look straight at me and spoke for the first time.

"That was very good. You seem to know just what I like. You will make a perfect follower."

I wasn't sure what was more unbelievable - the fact that it ate right out of my hand or that it was speaking directly to me. All I could do was watch as the Balloon Lugia started walking around me, looking me up and down.

"Hmm... fairly decent build, devotion to my species, willingness to do whatever you're told. Yes... you'll do fine."

I hadn't budged an inch while it was examining me. I didn't want to startle it and give it reason to harm me. The note had said that its behavior could be unpredictable and violent, so I tried not to antagonize it.

It seemed to be reading my mind because it frowned and spun me around with its wing so that I was looking right at it. "You do not need to fear me, Alex Schaefer. As long as you follow my instructions, I will not harm you. You have always wanted to see a Lugia for yourself, and I'm willing to work with you as long as you obey me."

It was a little awkward to see an inanimate object commanding a human like me, but even impossible things can come true. I nodded towards it and waited for it to give me my orders. It was like it had some kind of hold on me that I couldn't break.

The Balloon Lugia smiled and put its wing on my shoulder. "You seem to be thinking of me as a threat. You do not need to fear. I will be your friend, Alex. Just relax and I will not harm you."

It escorted me over to my couch and gently sat me down. I was glad that it wasn't going to hurt me; I didn't want to make enemies with a creature as influential as this one.

The balloon then stood in front of me and bowed low with a sweeping motion of its wings and lowering its head. "My name is Darkheart the Balloon Shadow Lugia. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alex Schaefer."

I did not ask how it... "he" knew my name, but I did not argue the point. I was just glad that we were on the same page.

Darkheart smiled and looked at the box of rubber gloves that I had left out. "I feel hungry, Alex. May I have some of those rubber gloves to eat?"

I got up and went over to the box. Plucking a few gloves out of the box, I turned to Darkheart and he sat down on his tail, opening his beak like an obedient dog. Feeling a sense of happiness, I tossed one of the gloves into the air, watching him snap it up in his beak and swallow it whole. I watched the glove slide down his translucent throat towards the center of his belly where it stopped in the middle of it. It then started to break apart as he seemed to be digesting it. The result was the creation of a milky liquid the same thickness and color of the glove. The liquid then spread out throughout his system like it was flowing through blood vessels where it split more and more and became thinner and thinner. Soon, the liquid had become so thin and spread out that it completely disappeared from sight and I knew that he had absorbed all of the nutrients it contained.

Darkheart noticed me watching him and looked down at his belly, smiling for some reason. "It's a miracle of magic, isn't it? In the end, that's all I really am." He then looked at me again. "More."

I shrugged and tossed a few more gloves his way, pausing every so often as he snapped each one up in his beak and swallowed them whole. He seemed to be enjoying the service and I was only too happy to please him. Anything for a bird of destiny, no matter what it was made of.

After Darkheart had consumed about 20 rubber gloves, I heard his insides churn and he let out a belch that smelled exactly like the gloves I had just fed him.

"That will do, Mr. Schaefer. My hunger is sated and I must rest for now."

Darkheart then jumped up on my couch and curled up to go to sleep. I sat there, watching him expand and contract as he breathed deeply before I decided to go back to my room. I felt so honored to have Darkheart in my life that I wanted to get a picture of him on my camera. I owned a super-rare creature and I wanted to save the memory of it forever.

When I got back, Darkheart was still snoozing peacefully. I smiled and raised my camera to my eye level. I turned off the flash so that I wouldn't wake him and snapped a decent picture that captured his entire body curled up on the couch. When it clicked, Darkheart grunted in his sleep and I froze for a moment, holding my breath. There was a tense moment and then Darkheart yawned in his sleep and continued to snooze. Whew.

I didn't want to push it, so I took the camera back into my room and put it away. Maybe when Darkheart woke up, he would let me get some more shots of him. I also had a small camcorder in my possession - maybe I could get some footage of him while he was awake. I wasn't going to sell it, but the next time I went to the local library, I was going to upload it to the Internet so that everyone could learn about Plushtopia.

Careful so as to not make any noise, I tiptoed into the kitchen and put together a bologna sandwich for lunch. Darkheart may eat latex, but I still needed my own form of nutrition.

Shortly after I finished eating, Darkheart began to stir and I watched from the kitchen as he started to wake up. He uncurled and spread his rubbery wings wide while yawning at stretching out his "muscles". Once he was fully awake, he turned to face me directly.

"What would you like to do today, Alex?" It was an innocent question and I had no problems answering it.

"Well... We could go shopping for some food for you."

Darkheart hopped down off the couch with a small bounce upon landing and looked at me with those silver orbs of his. "That would work for me. I could use a variety of foods to eat for the coming week. Very well, but we do this my way."

I was unsure what he was talking about, but he seemed to be reading my mind and walked over to meet me. "It's very simple. I will simply cover your body like a suit so that I will not be seen in the community. No sense in spoiling my coming just yet."

I blinked. How exactly did he plan for me to "wear" him? And after reading my mind again, he held out his wing for me to take it.

"Relax, Alex. I promised that I would not harm you and I am not going to break my word any time soon. Just come over here and I will start the process."

I nervously took his wing and the two of us walked back into the living room. We then turned to face each other eye-to-eye. Darkheart then put both of his wings on my shoulders and gently turned my around. When he was done, he came up behind me and wrapped his wings over my front like a backwards embrace. My heart began to beat faster, but he had assured me that nothing would happen, so I did my best to keep my nerves from shorting out.

"Let your mind flow freely, Alex. Let your body's feeling be released and this will be over before you know it."

I took in a few deep breaths and the process began. Darkheart firmly pressed me against his torso and I suddenly felt like I was entering a massive bubble. The smooth, rubbery texture of Darkheart's skin began to envelop me as he pressed me firmly into his body. I could feel his latex body creeping over my body like a feeling of soft, glossy feathers stroking my skin. I was almost all of the way inside of him when he gave one firm push and I found myself fully inside him. It looked like he had "eaten" me but not really. I was standing inside of him like a full-sized costume.

My first concern was that I would soon run out of air in here, but Darkheart smiled and gave his belly a pat. "Do not fret. There is plenty of air inside of me. Breathe all you want, my friend."

I did just that and I knew that I wasn't going to run out of air anytime soon. It seemed that the inside of Darkheart's body, though filled with carbon dioxide from my breath, was able to produce its own endless supply of air for me to breathe as much as I wanted.

Darkheart's body was also filled with a strange warmth that made me feel super-relaxed and calm. It was like he had his own body heat underneath that cool exterior that made me feel right at home.

Darkheart smiled. "See? I would never let anything happen to you right now. I just want you to be comfortable. Now hold still. This might feel a little strange for you."

He then opened his mouth and began to let the air out of his body, closing his skin in on me. I tried not to get worked up as there was less and less room to move in here. Darkheart's body soon began to lose its definition and shape as his rubbery skin started to mold itself around my own. It was like I was putting on a full-body rubber glove. Within a couple of minutes, Darkheart had completely encased me, leaving just a fraction of a millimeter of clearance all around me.

At the moment, I still had all of Darkheart's coloring, making me look like a giant grape, but that was soon remedied. With a slight ripple in his body, Darkheart's skin changed its tone so that it matched every square inch of my own. I was wearing a suit of my own skin and clothing, but better. His own body had dramatically enhanced the features of my own natural and artificial tones so that I looked much sharper than I did in real life.

Finally, I heard Darkheart talk to me as if he was speaking directly into my ear. "How do you feel, Alex? Can I accessorize or what?"

I moved my arm experimentally, listening to it squeak faintly and ran it over my other arm. It felt strange to have a balloon for your own skin, but it was a pleasant sensation nonetheless.

"I fell... good. This isn't so bad. Thank you, Darkheart."

I could feel Darkheart's satisfaction as he sent a feeling of pleasure and comfort throughout my body. It was like I was getting an internal massage and I shivered as it brought goosebumps to my skin.

"You're very welcome. Now... shall we head outside for a little shopping?"

I nodded and grabbed my checkbook before heading out of the apartment for a day together as one.

While I was shopping, I could "feel" Darkheart's curiosity towards the other people of the world. He seemed to be studying their movements and behaviors as best he could while I went through the store, buying any rubber items I could find. I was not sure what he was thinking, but as the day went on, I started to feel a distinct dislike for the human race.

"I don't know why humans think that they are on top of the food chain," he told me when I queried his feelings. "Without tools such as these "knives" or "guns", humans would be as delicate as I am at the moment. But that will change with time. They will soon know how I feel when they join the Synthetic race."

He continued to voice his opinions about how weak humans were until I stepped into the party supply aisle. The instant he saw the bags of party balloons lining the shelves, he suddenly dropped his negative outlook towards the humans and addressed me with his opinion. "This is what I like to see, Alex. All of these balloons in their natural environment make my heart race with satisfaction. If only the human race were like these."

I hated to be a killjoy, but I felt I had to tell him the truth. "I hate to tell you this, Darkheart, but these balloons are not like you in power and ability."

Darkheart hesitated. "What?"

I gulped and took a chance. "These are simple party balloons. Humans make them for the purpose of entertainment at parties. They're not built like you and the closest they get to balloon animals like you is when they are long, tube-like ones manipulated into animal forms."

I had expected Darkheart to be upset at this comment, but for some reason, he simply sighed and said, "Is that so? Well... we'll see about that. Grab some. I may have some use for them."

I was confused as to why he was reacting so calmly to my opinion, but as long as he wasn't chewing me out, I was just fine with that. I grabbed four packages of normal balloons and two bags of tube balloons and added them to my bag. Darkheart was taking this rather well for someone who just found out that his own "species" were nothing more than items for human amusement. Huh.

When I checked out later, I used my special employee discount to get a decent percentage off of the rubber items. I had grabbed several bags of dishwashing gloves of various colors, a portable rubber dinghy, a couple bottles of "balloon candy", aka rubber cement and six bags of party balloons of both kinds. When one of my fellow co-workers raised an eyebrow at my purchases, I simply shrugged and said, "I'm having a balloon bash." She then walked off with a sigh and a shake of her head.

When we got home that night, I dropped the bags on the counter and went back to the living room so Darkheart could separate himself from me. After drawing air in through his own mouth like a possessed costume, he was once again his normal Balloon Shadow Lugia self.

"Hold still. This might be a little unpleasant for you."

I did so and Darkheart brought his head down to the floor. He took a few deep breaths and began to retch and gag. I felt a sudden push underneath me like he was about to throw me up. I instinctively curled up in a fetal position and let Darkheart do his thing. Soon, I felt myself moving slowly up his throat and pause just below his mouth.

Then with a massive stretch of his jaw and a final heave, he "vomited" me clean out of his system so that I tumbled onto the carpet, covered in a slight coating of "digestive slime" and reeking heavily of latex.

Darkheart coughed a few times and his jaw snapped back to its original size. He got woozily to his feet and stumbled for a moment before looking at me.

"I'm pretty sure you taste better going down that coming up. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time I decide to make you an afternoon snack."

I chuckled lightly, unsure if he was kidding or not. But Darkheart didn't seem to notice and went back to the kitchen to rummage through the bags I had brought home.

"I suggest you go wash that slime off before it sets in. It can get rather bizarre if you have a coating of balloon slime on you. I should know."

I took this as a warning and made a beeline for the bathroom, stopping for a minute to strip and throw my clothes in the sink. I dumped a decent amount of hand soap in it and let the water run while I set the temperature for the shower. When it was full, I turned off the faucet and jumped into the shower. I would have to work extra hard to wash my body out before it set in. I just wish Darkheart could have been a little cleaner when he had expelled me from his system.

Oh well...

While Alex was in the shower, Darkheart was making a meal of a bag of yellow dishwashing gloves that Alex had bought while they had been out. While he was eating, he started to think about what Alex had said while they were at the store. Was it really true? Were balloons really just there for humans' amusement? He had seen several balloons floating on strings at various stores on the way to Wal-Mart and as far as he was concerned, he was not impressed. All day, they drifted in the breeze, tethered to the ground by tape or strings. And if they were let go, they would drift off into the heavens where they would eventually pop from too little air pressure in the atmosphere.

He was not impressed, either, that they had been filled with helium to make them float forever or stayed tethered by children's greed. He hated helium. He had never taken it, but he knew all too well its deception towards balloon-kind. It offered them the sweet, succulent taste that normal air could not offer. It filled them with a feeling of near invulnerability and power. It was like a kind of legal drug that claimed countless balloon lives.

But then, its lighter-than-air properties would fill your body with a sudden lift that would take advantage of your lightweight properties and carry you away to an inhabitable height where the lack of air pressure would claim your life with a simple burst of air. It was completely pointless.

But other than that, there was the knowledge that once you were filled with helium, you were doomed to dangle at the end of a string for some snot-nosed human child's amusement. They would tug on you, whine about you and yell their heads off just to get you. And to add injury to more insult, they would either let you go outside either intentionally or accidentally so that you were victim to the atmosphere again. Either that or they would leave you inside, bobbing near the ceiling helplessly until they either decided to take you down and pop you or let all of the helium drift out of you over time until you were back to where you started - shriveled, deflated and helpless to be thrown away like common trash.

By now, Darkheart's anger and hatred had shifted from helium to the human race in general. He felt like trash to know that balloons were only for people's amusement and enjoyment. They had no purpose but to entertain. It infuriated him to know that balloons could not defend themselves in the great scheme of things.

Well, that would not be the case any longer. His parents had been balloons, but when they had created him, they had unintentionally filled him with a power and knowledge that only he could understand. He had finally gotten fed up with their nomad lives and was finally exiled against his will to be sold like some common party balloon. He was going to get his revenge on the human race no matter how long it took. He was going to give balloons a new existence in life, starting with...

But wait... Darkheart realized that not all humans were that bad. For as long as he had "owned" him, Alex Schaefer had treated him with compassion and understanding. He had given him his food and had treated him like he was part of his family, regardless of his composition. Maybe he could use Alex in his plans to exact his revenge on the world. He just needed to figure out how.

Wanting to find out more about what it was about Alex that made him feel this way, Darkheart walked over to the closed bathroom door and listened to him singing in the shower. He wanted to conduct his test while Alex was asleep, but according to the clock, it was only 7:00 and Darkheart couldn't wait.

Placing his wing on the door, Darkheart focused his mind through the wood and into Alex's mind. He wasn't a psychic balloon for nothing and he was determined to show just what he could do. He soon locked onto Alex's mind, pressuring his subconscious to take over. Darkheart's eyes glowed a bright red and Alex's singing slowed for a moment before it stopped altogether and there was a resounding mixture of a thump and a splash as Alex keeled over, fast asleep.

Darkheart gave it a minute before he placed his wing on the knob and rolled it open. Thankfully, it was unlocked and he slipped in unnoticed. Alex was lying against the walls of the shower stall, snoring lightly as the shower continued to rain down on him. With a flick of his wing, he turned off the shower and opened the shower door.

Alex was slumped against the side of the shower, fast asleep with some soapy residue still on his body. He gave his figure a sniff and smiled. Alex had not yet gotten all of the latex goo off of his skin and there was still plenty of it on his legs. This would work perfectly for Darkheart's experiment.

Since Alex was much too heavy to lift him on his own and he didn't want to wake him by moving his body through the apartment, Darkheart had to improvise. He climbed into the shower stall and pressed his belly against Alex's prone form. Within a minute, he was safely inside him again, albeit he was now naked and covered in soap. But this time, Darkheart had him suspended halfway inside of him so that he was in a fetal position inside of his torso.

Now that he was set, Darkheart waddled out of the bathroom and went back to the living room. He needed plenty of space to work with and the living room had the most out of the tiny apartment. Once he was in there, He bounced on his toes for a minute to saturate Alex in latex slime before expelling him from his system again and onto the floor.

As Alex flopped onto the floor, Darkheart gave a sniff of pleasure for a moment, smiling. There was nothing like the smell of latex, digestive or otherwise. He then stood there for a while, allowing the slime to stick to Alex's skin and dried, forming a smooth, rubbery second skin around him.

What Darkheart did to Alex for the rest of the night cannot be repeated. It seems that Darkheart blacked out the author during that time so that his experiments and tests remained hidden. We are very sorry, but Darkheart is much more powerful than we can tell you. By the next time that we were able to get back into the story, Darkheart had somehow redressed the sleeping Alex and placed him on top of his bed. Darkheart, meanwhile, was at the kitchen table with an open bag of party balloons and a pen and paper in his hand, taking notes on his studies. He was deep in concentration and the pen was flying across the paper, writing who-knows-what in a language and script that was only known to Darkheart.

It seemed that he was planning something, but it would be a while before he finally put into action. After the success of his experiments, Darkheart could finally afford to wait for his moment to strike. It was all coming together now...

Back in the Rocky Mountains, in a secluded cave high up in the rock cliffs, a quartet of Balloon Lugia were snoozing peacefully. These were the original Latexed Lugia: Sirius, Rye, Silver and Siron, named after their flesh-and-blood counterparts. They were all sleeping after another day of freedom and prosperity in the mountains. Because they were Synthetics, they did not need to abide by the laws of the Lugia. They were free to do with what they want in the world and they answered to no one.

While the rest of them slept on, Sirius suddenly stirred and opened her eyes. She couldn't sleep for some reason and there was something unseen keeping her awake. It had all started with a feeling of foreboding she had gotten earlier in the day and she just couldn't shake it.

Trying for another few minutes to get to sleep, Sirius finally gave up and stood up to go outside. Normally, she would grab a small snack of rubber cement that she had pilfered from a local store (don't ask), but she was too troubled to eat. All she did was stare out of the cave with a troubled expression on her face.

"Do you want to talk about it, love?"

Sirius gave a small yelp and bounced a few inches off the ground before bobbing back down and looking behind her. Her fellow Latexed Lugia and lifelong mate, Rye, was standing behind her, his wings at his side and a concerned look on his face.

"Rye! I thought you were asleep!" she said defensively.

Rye shook his head. "With time, you tend to listen to the squeaking of a fellow balloon, and I know from interpretation that something is troubling you. What is it, love?"

Sirius had no idea that Rye had adapted so quickly after she had turned him into a balloon against his will. But she wasn't one to argue. Once upon the time, she would have been asking him what was wrong with him.

Sirius got right to the point. "I've been having this dark feeling all day, Rye. It's like something evil is going to descend on the world and the human race will be unable to stop it. I know we can't do much, but I feel that it has something to do with us."

Rye sighed and walked over to put a wing around her shoulders. "If it has to do with the humans, your father will do something about it. If it involves us, Aridos will deal with it. We can't do anything about it without putting ourselves and our children in danger. I am willing to fight, but I'd rather not do it unless I was sure that I had no other choice."

Sirius frowned and sighed to herself. "I just wish I knew what it was. It's like something I once knew but forgot long ago. If I knew what it was, I would feel more inclined to do something about it. But all I know right now is that there is something wrong and I can't do anything about it."

Rye slowly stroked her smooth, rubbery back. She had long since built up the thickness of her body, making her nearly impossible to pop. He always liked her soft, flexible body better than his own. There was a distinct feminine feel to it that Rye could not replicate.

"If it is meant to be, our time will come, Sirius. We will be told if we are needed and we will rise to the occasion. But right now, we need to stay hidden. Please come back to bed, love. I'm missing your soft body against mine."

Sirius sighed and relented. She was getting worked up over something she couldn't control. She knew that if she was needed, she would be told about it. But right now, she needed to get some sleep. She walked back into the cave and curled up in-between Rye and her chicks. It was really nothing to worry about right now. Right now, the Dream World was awaiting her late arrival.

But right before she drifted off to sleep, she couldn't help but voice one last thought to her mate. "I wonder... how Darkheart... is... doing..."

Rye was already fast asleep.

That morning, I woke up to find myself fully dressed and lying on the top of my covers in my bedroom. This was a little strange. The last thing I remembered was singing in the shower, getting myself clean when I suddenly blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was lying here in my own bedroom with all of my morning clothes on. But in-between those two times was a great big zero. All I could find was a great, dark power that had somehow seduced me into a deep sleep, but other than that... nothing!

I sat up in bed and tried to get my bearings. For the life of me, I could not remember a thing, so I forgot what I had forgotten and climbed out of bed to go start my day.

The first thing that I saw when I entered the kitchen was Darkheart standing next to the stove, frying a pair of eggs in a pan. I noticed immediately that he looked different than he had the previous night. He had a distinct human shape and stance to him this time. His legs were much longer and looked lean and muscular. His torso was covered with the same lavender mark that had been there before, but I could make out the faint ridges of a six-pack over his rubber belly.

Darkheart also had a pair of lean, flexible arms with five slim, slender fingers on his hands like a human had minus the fingernails. And to top it all off, his wings had shifted position from his arms to his shoulders like a pair of dragon-ish wings, but these ones looked more like "fingered" wings that were similar to his old ones. And while his neck was slightly shorter than before, his head was still as Lugia-based as ever before. I still recognized his dagger-shaped eye masks and everything else about his head.

"I like the new form, Darkheart," I said, trying to offer him a compliment. "What do you call it?"

Darkheart looked at me for a moment, looking me up and down before smiling and returning his attention to the stove. "I call it my "anthro" form. It's got the flexibility and capabilities of a human while still retaining my Lugian form. Do you like it?"

I smiled and nodded. "It suits you very well. But... how did you do it?"

Darkheart grabbed a spatula and prodded the yolks of the eggs, breaking them and causing the yellow goo to ooze out of them. He then flipped them over and watched them sizzle for a moment before answering.

"You should know that by now. I have the natural ability to change my body into whatever form I please. I just choose to use this form rather than my old one."

I still had a question. "But doesn't that stretch your body out extremely thin? I'm surprised that you're cooking over a hot stove when you could burst from the heat."

Darkheart let the egg fry on its own and came over to me to put a wing (not his arm) around my shoulder, giving me a reassuring feeling. "You would think that, but after all of the latex that I have ingested, my body has become much more resistant to popping. With more thickness in my normal form, I can stretch myself even thinner and larger. With time, I could rival even a full-sized van in size."

"Wow..." I said, instinctively putting my hand behind me on his wing. He felt just as smooth and warm as usual, but there was something... different about it. I just could tell what.

Darkheart smiled and traded his wing for his corresponding hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you go get ready for the day? I still have a few things left to make. Come back in about ten minutes."

I wasn't really hungry yet, so I decided to get a jump on my day and go shower early. Darkheart continued to cook while I went to get clean.

While Alex was in the shower, Darkheart had cooked up a small banquet. He had made fried eggs, toast, orange juice and an English muffin for Alex out of the "goodness of his heart". Please. This was just a ruse to keep Alex in the dark about his true plan. And what he did next only proved it.

Darkheart took a deep breath and coughed lightly, gagging on something he had ingested the night before to hide from Alex. He knew Alex would not be able to hear him over the shower and eventually coughed up a plastic test tube filled with a milky-white liquid inside. He had created the test tube and stopper on his own, but after what he did to Alex last night, he was able to create the liquid inside. It was just a prototype, but once he got it right, he would finally unlock its true potential down the road.

Darkheart spat the vial into his hand and pulled out the stopper. Agitating the liquid a little, he hovered over Alex's meal and dripped exactly three drops onto both of his eggs. He didn't want to push it just yet - he had no idea how strong this stuff was at the moment - so he kept the dose light until he knew its true potential.

The liquid seemed into Alex's eggs, giving no indication that they had been tampered with, and Darkheart stoppered the vial and swallowed it whole again. If everything worked out, he would be a very happy Synthetic.

I got out of the shower and got dressed before going to have my breakfast. It was very nice of Darkheart to make me breakfast after everything I've done for him so far. He was really not that bad once you got to know him and I was thankful to have him in my life.

While I was eating, I noticed that the eggs were a little too done. They were slightly rubbery to chew on, but they didn't taste any different than they should, so I ignored it and continued my meal in peace. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Darkheart sitting on the couch in the living room, taking notes in a notebook written in a script that I did not recognize. I let him be. As long as the both of us were happy, that was just fine with me.

When I was done eating, I put my dishes in the dishwasher and started it up. It had been a while since I had washed them, so I figured it was time to turn it on. Darkheart, meanwhile, continued to take notes and was oblivious to my presence. I then went back to my room to go read a book that I had gotten as a birthday present last year and finally decided to read. I had nothing to do today, so I might as well kill some time.

Occasionally, Darkheart would pop in to check on me just like a concerned parent. He would appear so suddenly and silently that I barely noticed him. If I would have paid attention to his visits, I would have noticed that his demeanor was becoming slightly more panicked every time he visited me.

After about two hours, I finally grew tired of reading and went back out into the living room to watch some TV. I noticed for the first time that Darkheart was sitting in front of the window, looking out of it with longing.

"Hey, Darkheart," I said to the balloon. "How are things going?"

Darkheart said nothing. He didn't even acknowledge my presence.

I blinked and walked over to him so that I was right in front of him. "Is there something wrong?"

Nothing. He didn't even look at me, even though he was looking right through me.

I wondered if he was thinking about something important and took the chance to take a look at his notebook on the table. It would have been an invasion of his privacy, but I couldn't help myself. Darkheart did not even flinch as I sat back down on the couch and leafed through the notebook.

The pages were filled with strange symbols, calculations and drawings that I didn't even come close to recognizing. It looked like he had been working on a math paper, but I was sure that these drawings weren't in any math problem that I was aware of. They were pictures of balloons of various sizes, a clock with the hands in the 10:36 position, a basic human body with different points circled and labeled and graphs of all sizes and shapes. I was surprised at Darkheart's intelligence. He had only been alive for less than a day and already, he had written all of this. He must have stayed up all night working on this!

I flipped through the pages, trying my hardest to understand these characters, but they were written in a language and font that I had never seen before in my life. They were hard to describe, but I saw a number of symbols that looked like a star with its points disconnected from its center on numerous occasions.

Feeling I had pressed my luck far enough, I closed the notebook and put it back on the table. I had a feeling that Darkheart had seen me reading it, but for some reason, he hadn't budged an inch. It was like he knew that I couldn't decipher it and let me read it.

When I made to sit back down, I suddenly heard Darkheart muttering to himself, although he still wasn't moving. It was low, but I caught every word as I sat down about eight feet from him.

"...should have worked by now. I did everything to a "T" and yet it still won't work. Could I have made a mistake? No... I did everything perfectly. What is it missing? It needs something to make it work. I can't give up just yet. They're counting on me to see this through. I will not fail them and let them be rendered defenseless. I just need some time to think. Maybe there's something I overlooked. I need to go back and read it again. Maybe... maybe he knows. He created her; maybe he knows what I'm missing. Let's go see."

With that last comment, Darkheart finally stood up and turned to face me. "Alex... I need to go out for a while. Please wait for me. I will be right back."

He was speaking in a melancholy voice as if in a trance. I looked at him with a strange look but let him go anyway. If he wanted to understand something on his own, that was up to him. I had no reason to hold him back.

"See you later, Darkheart," I told him as he grabbed his notebook and headed for the door.

Darkheart paused before opening the door and turned to look at me. The look on his face looked lost and confused, but he shook his head before heading out the door. I looked at the spot where he had been standing for a moment before turning back to my shows. He would come around; he just needed time.

Darkheart maintained his anthro form as he descended the stairs to the main floor and headed out into the parking lot. He could not understand it. What had gone wrong? It should have worked by now, but he hadn't even upset Alex's stomach with that mixture. There was something he was missing. What was it about the liquid that had brought him to life but could also affect the humans the same way? Was there a missing step? Was there something that he didn't have that was crucial to triggering the process? He had to find out.

Ignoring the humans' looks as he headed across the blacktop to the store where he had come from. He had to get into Plushtopia to see what it was about Synthetics that could also affect humans. He could care less about getting a few strange looks or whispers about a walking, talking balloon animal. Soon, he would find the answer to his problem and they would all understand his dilemma.

The front door of Plushtopia was locked firmly and a "Closed" sign was hanging on the inside of the glass. It seemed that Aridos was not in at the moment. There was no other reason why he would close up shop. This worked to Darkheart's advantage and he would have all the time he needed to get what he wanted.

Sticking one of his slender fingers in the lock, he worked it around until he felt the inner workings of the lock and twisted it open. Normally, this action would have punctured him, but his skin was much more resistant to being punctured than it had been the previous day, thanks to Alex and his supply of latex items.

He didn't dare use his psychic powers. If he knew Aridos, there would have been magic detectors all over the shop, preventing him from gaining access. But the old man failed to install an ordinary security system like everyone else. He would soon pay for his insolence.

Once he felt the lock click open, Darkheart slowly swung the door open and crept inside. The lights were off, but with his super-sharp vision, he made his way through the shop to the back room, where he meddled with the lock again and snuck inside.

Once he was inside, Darkheart took his time. He was looking for something in particular and he wasn't in any rush to find it. He sorted through the shelves of ancient spell books and whatnot, running his finger over the spines to read the titles. He kept his voice quiet in case Aridos had any audio detectors in the room. It was bad enough that his body's constant squeaking was making a noticeable racket; he didn't need Aridos to know who was rummaging through his belongings.

Finally, he found it. It was a small, slim notebook on Synthetics that had been recently put together. He carefully slid the volume out of its place on the shelf and laid it out on the counter. Slowly flipping through the pages, he read over the topics to himself.

Plush Types... no. Plush Abilities... no. He needed something on Balloons. Anything that would answer his questions.

Near the back of the book, he found what he was looking for. It was labeled: "Balloon/Flesh Conversion" and contained several notes on how to turn flesh into latex. He read through the notes for a while before smiling and chuckling quietly.

"Perfect," he said quietly. He took out his own notebook and copied the item down on a spare page. He would put it in its proper place later.

After getting what he wanted, he put the notebook back in its place and stole from the shop. He finally had his answer and he would use it to start his own revolution towards the human race. He also had the perfect recipe to the chemical he had tried to lace Alex's food with. With enough of it, he could (Author's Note: That's a secret!) and finally have his full revenge. It was all so perfect.

But as he closed and locked the front door behind him, Darkheart hit a snag. What about Alex? He would know about what he was planning and maybe try to stop him. But even though he was willing to do whatever Darkheart told him to, he figured that Alex was expendable. He did not have any further use for him... as he was. He chuckled to himself and started to plan his first step in starting his revolution. It was all so... perfect.

Darkheart returned around 1:00 and from the look on his face, I wondered if he had gotten what he was looking for. He had a very mischievous smile on his face and he was clutching his notebook to his chest like it was his lifeline.

"Darkheart?" I called to him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

For some reason, Darkheart started laughing to himself. It started very quiet-like and started to get more and more maniacal. I watched him stare off in one direction before he suddenly looked right at me. But the instant I locked eyes with him, I felt as if I no longer knew him. There was a deranged look in his eyes that I had never seen before. It was like he had gone insane while he was out and had finally snapped.

He then started slowly crossing the kitchen and the dining room to confront me. I couldn't move even if I had wanted to. He was scaring me that bad. When he stopped in front of me, I was practically cowering in the corner of the couch.

"D-D-Darkheart? What's g-going on? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Darkheart looked at me with a look of sick ecstasy. Before I could react, his eyes began to glow red and I felt my body seize up. I realized for the first time that he wanted to hurt me... very badly.

"Do you not see it, Alex? Everything that I could ever want is inside of you. You hold the power that I desire to make my dreams come true. With your body, mind and spirit, I can finally exact my revenge on this world and everyone in it."

I had no idea what he was talking about. What did he mean by me having what he wanted? As far as I knew, I was just like every other regular Joe out there. What was it about me that he needed. I could only watch as I felt Darkheart's fingers start to wrap around my throat. They were fusing together on the other side like a rubber noose and he lifted me up to his eye level.

"Come inside me, Alex. Feed my spirit so that I may begin the revolt of my species. I need you, Alex. I crave you! Your fluids will feed my body so that I will begin the end of the human race!"

I tried to pry Darkheart's "hand" from around my neck, but it was like it had welded onto my skin, strangling me and leaving me completely helpless.

"Don't do this, Darkheart! You're better than this! We can do this together if you let me work with you. Just let me go!"

Darkheart suddenly gave a bark-like laugh as he tightened the noose around my throat. "You don't seem to get the point, my dear human. Your current form is currently disposable, but once inside me, your essence will be much more useful to me. You will be the foundation for my new army and soon, nothing will stand in my way! Come inside me, Alex! Let us begin the age of the Balloon Revolution!"

I tried to get away, but Darkheart had me stuck in one spot. I had a feeling that I knew what he meant by "coming inside him", but there was nothing I could do about it. I watched as the noose around my throat disconnected from Darkheart's wrist and he stepped back, watching it regrow on its own and testing his new fingers with interest.

"You know... this form doesn't seem... appropriate for your demise. I think I'll stick with something a little more... classic."

As I hung there, helpless, I watched as Darkheart's body began to liquefy and he seemed to melt into a pool of violet latex. He remained in this state for a moment before he started to reinflate himself like he was starting over from scratch. He started out as a puddle, but within a minute, he was once again his Classic Shadow Lugia form, but much bigger. He then looked down at me with a soft chuckle.

"It's over for you, Alex. Come inside my belly and fuel my revolution against the human race."

I could do nothing as his mouth opened extra-wide and descended on me. wrapping his jaws around my shoulders and lifting me clean off the floor. I didn't even scream as he began to gulp me down bit by bit, taking small breaks to savor my unique "flavor" with his moist, rubbery tongue. I knew I was going to die and nothing was ever going to stop this, so why fight the inevitable?

I slid down Darkheart's narrow, slimy throat just as my feet were slurped up by him and his jawline returned to normal. I was in there for about five seconds before I was emptied into a hollow, slimy chamber deep inside Darkheart's belly. I knew then where all of the latex that I had fed him had gone. It had not only thickened his skin but had also formed an entire digestive system inside of him. So this is how it all ends - being digested by an giant, evil balloon and used for God-knows-what in some great "revolution". I guess I couldn't sink any lower.

While I was in Darkheart's stomach, I could barely see through his violet body, but I could feel some vile, milky-white slime smelling like hot rubber dripping down from the chamber walls and onto my body. It was disgusting, but I put up with it because I knew I could do nothing about it.

But despite my predicament, I did my best to find out what this was all about.

"Why, Darkheart? I took you in as my own and had every intention of raising you as you were. Why did it have to come to this?"

Darkheart seemed to have heard me and gave his bloated belly a poke with his wing. "I'll tell you why. I was cast out by my own species to fend for myself. And when I learned of you humans' treatment to others smarter than you, I became enraged. You humans think that you are at the top of the food chain because you think you are superior to everyone else. Just because someone or something might be smarter than you, you cast them aside like outcasts and go on living the way you always do. Well, how do you like it when those you have cast aside decide to fight back?! I may be made of latex, but I am more powerful and far more intelligent than you humans give me credit for. Soon, I will make myself so powerful and resilient that not even your human military will be able to pop me. And from my experiences, I will create an army of Super-Synthetics that will use their powers to repopulate this planet in our image. Do you see this?"

I looked out of his stomach at a small vial of liquid that he was holding in front of his torso. By now, the white latex goo had started to numb up my legs and start to turn them into liquid latex. I was fighting a losing battle, but I did my best to stay alive long enough to understand this.

"This is my secret weapon - a mixture of special chemicals to turn human flesh into an immortal balloon-like material - Codename: "Latex Lore". With enough of it, I will lace the country's water supply and soon, the entire country will consist of Synthetics. Soon after that, the world will be at my control!"

I could hardly believe what he was planning, but against all odds, I smiled and chuckled to myself. Unfortunately, Darkheart "felt" it.

"What is so funny?"

"I thought you hated humans. The way I see it, you'll simply be ruling over a country of human Synthetics!"

But against my better judgment, it was Darkheart that had the last laugh. "That is a secret that even you will not know until it is too late! I have no intention of ruling a world filled with human Synthetics. The final version of "Latex Lore" will have something that not even you humans will see coming."

By now, my chest was losing its flesh-like consistency and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. But before I blacked out for good, I still managed to get one more word in.

"Someone will stop you! When you least expected, someone within your own organization will rise up against you! You'll rue the day you ever created them and they will TAKE YOU OUT!!!"

Darkheart blinked for a moment but then chuckled. "I look forward to it, Alex, but right now, you are no match for me. Good-bye, human slime. I hope you will be watching the day that all of humanity is conquered by the Synthetics."

I don't know how I had gotten the sense to say that final warning, but as I passed into the next life, I stuck by it. Darkheart may not know it now, but his own organization would be his own downfall.

Darkheart pressed his ear against his belly and listened as Alex's last breath escaped his lips as he was completely converted into a milky-white latex slime. He had ignored his final words and cast them aside as complete hogwash. By the time he announced himself to the public, it would already be too late for them. They would be powerless to stop him and he would be at the top of the world.

Darkheart bounced on his heels for a moment, listening to Alex's juices slosh around inside of him. He had just converted his former owner and master and he had absolutely no remorse for it. Humans were useless to him, but their juices and essences combined with the chemicals of his body created a special fluid that would be more beneficial to him in the end.

For a few minutes, Darkheart looked off in no particular direction, thinking about how he was going to put these fluids to use. He then smiled and began to swirl them around in his stomach. He then forced some of it into his throat and up to his mouth. He "vomited" a decent amount of it into his mouth and swirled it around in his cheeks for a moment, coating his tongue and savoring the aftertaste of Alex's fluids. He had savored his delicious flavor going down and even now, it was absolutely wonderful to taste.

Once his mouth and tongue was fully coated, Darkheart began to blow. The result was that of blowing a large bubble made of solid latex instead of spraying fluid everywhere. He kept blowing into the milky-white sphere until he got it to his desired specifications and bit down on the end, causing it to disconnect from his system and hover in mid-air in the middle of the living room.

Darkheart then pressed his ear against his belly again and bounced on his toes to hear just how much liquid he had used. Judging from the amount of splashing he heard, he had only used a fraction of the ten gallons he had obtained from Alex's body. He had just enough for two more bubbles of liquid.

Darkheart then repeated the same process with the second bubble and finally, a third. The first two were identical to each other in size and mass, but the third one was slightly larger than its counterparts. He had had a little leftover liquid and decided, "Waste not, want not" before using it all in the third bubble.

There was not much room left in the living room for all four occupants, so Darkheart retreated to the dining room to give himself some space. He then admired his work for a moment before opening his mouth up for a fourth time and taking a deep breath. From a set of special lungs created with the rest of his internal organs, Darkheart expelled a stream of smooth, gentle, blue flames to consume each of the three bubbles. When he was done, all three of them looked like they had been set ablaze.

But this is where he began to work his magic. In each breath, he had poured in the essence and form of what he wanted the bubbles to take. One by one, the bubbles began to mold themselves into three different forms. The one on the right filled with color and dyed itself a mixture of blue and white, taking on the shape and build of a female anthro fox. As the fire died away, the rubber vixen opened her eyes and took her first breath in her new life. She then looked at Darkheart and bowed to her master.

"Thank you for your Breath of Life, Master. My name is Krystal. I live to serve you and all of Synthetic kind."

Darkheart nodded and replied, "It's nice to meet you, Krystal. Your service and loyalty will be respected as long as you are with me."

The second bubble shaped itself into a form similar to Krystal's but with a much larger a puffier tail and a shorter, slightly-curved muzzle. It also filled out with a mixture of jet-black and white stripes - an skunk in every anthro way. This one then opened its eyes and bowed down to her creator.

"Thank you for awakening me, Master. My name is Shannon and I will do whatever it takes to please you."

Darkheart returned the bow and acknowledged his second servant. "I will always remember you, Shannon, as long as you are loyal to me, you will be protected. Welcome to my team."

The third and largest bubble took a little longer to begin to take form. But when it did, it took a form not commonly seen in any world - anthro or otherwise. It took the form of a large bear-like creature with not one, not two, but four large, "feathered" wings. There was something different about the surface of this one, though. While the other two were smooth and rubbery, this one had grown a short coat of rubbery "fur". When you touched it, your hand seemed to slide over it like touching liquid water without the wet feeling. It had a long, furry tail with a set of rugged plating all the way from under its throat to the tip of its tail. It filled itself out with a creamy-yellow coloring on its "fur" while its "plating" was a burnt-orange color.

When it opened its eyes, it acknowledged its master for the first time. "Hail Darkheart - the Lord of Synthetics. My name is Seryn the Flammie and I will do whatever it takes to please you."

(Author's Note: For those of you who are panicking at this moment, I brought Seryn into the fray for other reasons than what Darkheart was planning. Don't worry; Seryn has her reasons for being on Darkheart's team! Keep reading for details.)

For some reason, Darkheart had a fleeting impression that there was something... "odd" about this one. It was like there was more to her than he had originally intended. But he ignored it and returned Seryn's bow.

"Welcome, Seryn. I hope to see your unflinching loyalty to me in the coming revolution."

Darkheart took a moment to examine his new troops. A fox, a skunk and a Flammie - all female and all loyal to him. These would just be the start of his up-and-coming army and they would help him realize his dream of exacting revenge on the world.

"Welcome, my divas. I have brought you into this world from the remains of a human I converted to start my revolution. With the three of you at my side, we will spread the empire of Synthetics throughout this world and claim it for our own. At the moment, you are weak and vulnerable. But soon, I will send the three of you to three different points in this country to help start the Synthetic Revolution. But for now, please eat and relax. Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we initiate the beginning of the end of the human race! Synthetics forever!"

The three Synthetic Divas each raised a paw with Darkheart's wing and shouted, "Synthetics forever!" They then went to the bags of rubber items that Alex had bought and had their first meal. They would need the nutrition for the up-and-coming revolution, so they did not cut corners when it came to portions.

While they ate, Darkheart had gone over to the window and was staring out of it with his wings at his sides. "Soon, it will all begin... and then... we will all see who is the "toy" here."

To be continued...