Snakeskin - Losing Communications
#12 of Snakeskin
Snakeskin - Losing Communications
Renzyl chuckled to himself as his silver raptor pet relayed the conversion of one of the groups that the Order had dispatched in order to try and contain his corruption. "This is going to be easier than I thought." He commented with a smile. "It's unfortunate that they weren't this weak so many years ago, am I right?"
There was a momentary silence as the raptor frowned slightly, than looked up at him. "There are still a few gifts left that need to be activated, should we hold off on them for now?"
"Yes, put up the repulsion ward on the remaining gifts." Renzyl commanded. "Last thing we need to do is overload the area with our presence before we're ready. Tell the rest of the troops to keep them occupied until... until... what is that?"
Chrono looked down to the control board, an amethyst crystal blinking steadily in the corner. Both of them stood dumbfounded, and as they watched the crystal started to glow brighter and brighter. Even though Renzyl had designed the matrix and Chrono had worked on it for as long as he could remember, the little used section had become forgotten for the both of them. Suddenly the dragon's concern deepened, and then turned to a look of shock as he finally dredged up that crystal's function. "Oh Hansen, you cheeky bastard." He muttered, a pleased smile on his face as the raptor looked up at him in confusion.
Unfortunately Renzyl didn't have the chance to explain, as the black stone floor and walls of his inter-dimensional fortress fractured and cracked. White light quickly emanated from those cracks, and all Renzyl had the time to do was grab Chrono and bring both of them to the floor before the light intensified. In the next second they could both feel the shards of rock hit their scales as their surroundings exploded outward, the dragon's magic the only thing protecting them from the blast. It seemed to take ages, but when it did finally subside he left the raptor's side and stood up to examine the damage.
The entire area was annihilated; anything that even resembled a structure had been reduced to rubble. "My lord, what happened?" Chrono asked as he surveyed the area in awe.
"They must have kept the magical frequency of this dimension the first time I tried to invade." Renzyl replied as he picked up a piece of their destroyed console. "They must have devised a way to send a pulse of energy through the connection point between our dimensions. They must really mean business now, that probably took the bulk of their magical prowess to cast. Just be thankful that your master is more powerful, had they collapsed the dimension like they intended instead of just the connection point we might have been for a rather nasty ride."
"But master, they destroyed the console." Chrono pointed out. "I never gave the orders for the repulsion wards or to the troops. Plus if we're cut off..."
"The generals know enough to continue with the current invasion plan." Renzyl reassured as his magic began to flow outward, rocks jumping back into place as he poured his energy into the repairs. "We just have to hope that we don't become victims of our success... or that the Order has another trick up their sleeve."
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Hansen gasped along with the rest of the Order as they came out of their trances, their bodies numb and energy spent. All of them were showing signs of exhaustion, sweat dripping from their faces as they gave each other cautious smiles and looks of amusement. As far as they could tell their spell was effective, though they were all worse for wear it was an amazing feat. "I do believe we all need a drink after this one." Albert said with a chuckle as the various members got up from their seats.
As they filed out of the room Hansen saw his son standing there in the hallway, looking at him with a worried look on his face. "Father what happened?" He asked as they began to walk together. "You told me to take a break from the radios for a quick nap, and when I come back I find almost the entire Order behind a locked door! Then that strange energy I felt, it brought a shudder to my spine."
"A contingency measure." Hansen replied as they walked back into the war room. "After we lost one group and the other got scared off we realized that we needed a way to try and disorient their forces. If we were lucky we banished Renzyl away from our plane of existence, if not we at least hopefully bought ourselves some time. Now we can try and regain a foothold, maybe even tip the balance in our favor. I'm not letting the other five groups fall to ambushes, even if there was some risk involved."
Abel was just about to ask the risk as they reached their communications hub, where his replacement had been writing down troop movements. "Sir, group three managed to re-secure the containment field on the house and fought the other lizardmen off." The dispatch operator reported. "Groups five and six are also holding outside the gymnasium waiting to look on their suspicious activity and groups two and four are waiting to see about their insertion into the Studio Arts building. We also found the source of the gun malfunction, everything seems to be working now."
"You see Abel?" Hansen said as he grabbed the notes on the desk. "This is what we're dealing with here, we have a possible second or even third nest. With only five groups we would have been overwhelmed if Renzyl was still connected to them. This way hopefully their power is limited and we can try and ferret out, maybe even capture, one of those Generals of theirs. Trust me, the gambit was well worth the risk, now just settle back in on the radios and continue to relay the information."
"Yes sir." Abel replied as he sat down at his post in front of the radio. "All groups have a go order to investigate their findings. Use extreme caution."
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"Copy that Eagle's nest, Groups 5 and 6 going in." The leader of group 5, a senior with the callsign 'Blade', said as he depressed the radio button on his shoulder before he turned to the rest of the men that stood outside of the gymnasium. "Alright, according to the higher-ups the soldiers should be either in severe distress or possibly unconscious. Our orders are to try and ascertain if this is truly a nest, and if it is to purify those who are under the demon's sway. We also have a high priority target for capture, one of Renzyl's generals. By all means this is going to be a dangerous operation, so we're going to have both teams enter. If it gets too hot then we are to withdraw and wait for team three, but now is our chance to take these bastards down!"
The rest of the men let out a cheer, and then formed into their respective groups to breach the gym. The members of group five went around to the indoor soccer field while the other group prepared to go through the main entrance. At their coordinated signal they breached through the door, shattering the glass and running inside. With the state of corruption so far spread they had been given clemency against damages to the university, which meant their search method was far more destructive and quick than before.
"We have corrupted here." One of Blade's teammates said as they shined their flashlights on the various bodies that were scattered about the hall. "I don't get it though... they're all... human?" The rest of group five were all astonished as well, looking over the people there. They were all male, and from what they could see in the darkness were muscular and very well-endowed. As they examined several in particular they also saw that they also all had some kind of green or blue tattoo etched somewhere on their bodies.
"The corruption must have retreated from their bodies." Blade explained as he gestured them forward. "It must be why they lost consciousness. Don't be fooled though, they are still thralls of Renzyl until we have a chance to purify their bodies. Keep moving, this many soldiers they must have a general somewhere, and he should still be his normal form."
The rest of the group kept tight together as they continued down the hallway, arriving in one of the large areas that served as multiple basketball courts. "It's too quiet out here." Sirius, their magi, spoke up. "Even with their communications with the other plane severed there should be some latent corruptive energies. I don't sense anything in this area."
"They probably wouldn't corrupt this area, it's too open." Blade replied as they spread out a bit to examine everywhere. "They would need a private place to keep all their converts hidden when they manage to lure people in here. No, they need a bigger spot. But this is the biggest area in the entire complex, so where are they hiding?"
As he contemplated he suddenly heard one of the men shout for him to move to their location. When he did the man opened up what appeared to be a trap door, which lead down into a below-ground storage area. Blade smiled slightly as he called the rest of the men over to the area, and then put them in formation to storm the area. The area was significantly warmer than the area they were just in, and as they reached the bottom the sound of their movements echoed off the grey concrete walls. He heard their mage comment that this environment was more like it, and it quickly became apparent that the lizardman had done extensive work modifying the small storage area into a much larger area. What looked like several mining tunnels had been dug into the concrete itself, spanning on far into the darkness.
"Eagle's nest, this is group five." Blade put through his radio. "We've found a network of tunnels underneath the sports complex; we think that they're trying to expand outward. This system could make this their central command post. Requesting immediate back-up and possible execution of purification ritual. Please respond with orders."
After a few seconds the static cleared and they heard all heard a voice on their radios. "Group five, this is Eagle's nest. Please scout the tunnels to make sure that any high priority targets are not in the area, group four will perform a similar search on the first floor of the structure. When you're done your reports of the sweep will determine whether not the purification will be preformed there."
Blade sighed and copied the instructions, then looked down at the other five men of his squad. There were multiple tunnels for them to canvas, but he didn't want to split his ranks too thin, especially if there was a wounded general lurking about. They also only had one magic-user in their group as well, which meant that one group would go without much in the way of magical support. He toyed with the idea of having them all travel in one group, but quickly decided against it since they had a lot of ground to cover.
Finally he decided on two even groups, he would go with two men while the other two would have their Magus. He hoped that his higher rank would give the two that came with him some type of ease about their lack of magic capability. With the teams split up they each choose a side of the room to work through, and as they progressed through the tunnels they would either mark them with an x to identify that they had been searched or wait in the central hall in case they found something of importance. With flashlights and guns ready they gave each other a solemn good luck before they began down the dark passageways.
As the group with the magic user walked down the path they were amazed at the length and complexity of the construction. It took them nearly ten minutes of quick walking before they came to its end, where they found heaps of tattered clothing and gym bags strewn about. "This must be where they discard the personal effects of those they transformed." Sirius mused as they idly looked through the various articles of clothing. "Good lord, how many people have they ensnared here before the Order decided to activate their dimensional pulse?"
"Also explains why a lot of em were naked." One of the men said, his irish accent and red hair giving him the call-sign 'Lucky' as he picked something up from behind a rock. "No need for clothes when you're a naked lizardman having sex all day. At least their loss is our gain, found the handheld that I've been wanting for some time now."
"You know we're going to have to give that back to its proper owner once we're done with all this." The other man, named 'Mac' based off his food preferences, instructed his overeager squadmate as they turned the small machine on.
"Both of you knock it off." Sirius rebuked as he turned to face them. "We're in a viper pit right now, and just because most of the snakes are sleeping doesn't mean we can afford to just faff about. In any case this leads us nowhere, let's get back out this tunnel so we can try and find something useful that Blade can report back."
The two men nodded and they turned to leave, though as they walked he found that they had quickly disregarded his warning as Lucky began to play the game system while Mac looked over his shoulder. For the remainder of their walk back they became glued to the game console, every so often making a soft 'ahh' noise as one of them pointed out something on the screen. While Sirius really couldn't care less about some silly game he began to wonder what was so interesting about it. When they got back to the main chamber, however, his interest turned to anger when he asked them what tunnel they should explore next, only to find them completely unresponsive as they stared at the game console.
"Hey!" He yelled, which finally got them to turn their heads upwards to look at him. "You remember that you two are the ones who are supposed to protect me from any sudden attacks, right? While you're playing some silly game I could have been attacked, maybe even converted before you two numbskulls would even have known it? If you keep this up then I'm going to report your lack of duty to Blade, and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to assign you clean-up duties after all this is over.
"Sorry sir." Lucky replied as he turned off the game console and tossed it too him. "Let's go down this tunnel next I think."
Sirius sighed and shook his head, then followed the two as they led the way into the fresh tunnel. This one was smaller than the other two, having to walk single file as they moved down the dark hallway. As they walked Mac and Lucky continued to talk to one another, and as the Magus got closer to hear what he felt his blood boil as he heard them talking about the options that they had selected in the game. He didn't want an agreement though, so instead he told them to stay quiet lest they attract anything out there to their presence.
After a few minutes they reached a large cavern, a pool of water sitting in the middle of it as they saw several tunnels branch out from it. "Hey, I need to take a leak." Lucky said as he looked at Mac, than at Sirius. "You mind if we wait here for a few minutes?"
"I guess." Sirius replied. "Just make it quick, okay? We need to get this sweep done as soon as possible."
Lucky nodded and squeezed into a nearby passageway, which left Mac to guard Sirius as they sat down on a relatively flat piece of rocks. As they waited for their fellow soldier to get done Sirius looked at the handheld that had been given to him, then back up at Mac, who had been staring at it since they started to sit down. Concerned, he did a quick aura scan of it, even with the latent magic of the surrounding area he could tell that there were no inherent magic in it. "Must just be a really good game." He muttered to himself as he turned it on to sate his curiosity.
When the title screen came up he was surprised to find it in Japanese, though there were English subtitles below it. The title was translated as 'Super Date Night', and as several men and women popped up in various themes and costumes he realized it was one of those pervy Japanese dating games where you could pick dialogue options to woo members of the opposite sex. "Should have known..." Sirius muttered as he selected the new game option.
As soon as he did the colors swirled around for a bit before the scene changed to a Japanese man in a tank top and blue jeans standing outside of a café, upbeat music playing the background as he explained how the game worked. The Magus couldn't understand what was so special about it, although he found himself wanting to at least see how the game mechanics worked. As the guy finished a number of options came up, from 'I understand' to 'hey, you're pretty cute'. He quickly selected the option that he understood, and then when control was given to him he looked through several options that appeared on the screen.
After a bit of decision he decided to head to the beach, and after a few seconds of the swirling loading screen he was on a typical sunny beach scene, a rather nice woman in a one-piece offering him a choice of swim-suits. As he looked through the options he was dismayed to find he couldn't do any type of flirting interactions, so instead he looked through the swimsuits before he just picked one at random. The screen popped up with the image of a metallic copper speedo with some type of black writing on it, then switched back to the girl telling him it was a great choice.
Unfortunately he found his conversation with the girl ended, and was shunted out into the beach scene. He partially wondered what his character looked like with copper speedo on, but he couldn't seem to find any type of menu button. As he searched his screen suddenly changed once more, a man clad in blue swimmer's shorts and a bronze tan appeared on the screen, telling him that he had noticed him from across the beach in his speedo and thought he looked cute. When the options list came up once more he cycled down to the 'non interested, but thanks' option, but as he picked the option the menu seemed to kick up to the 'why don't we go somewhere for a drink' option and flashed.
He frowned slightly as the man smiled before the screen flashed, the beach replaced with a bar scene with the same male there. As he looked over the character again he noticed there was something different about him, his ears were slightly webbed and there was a blue discoloration on his jaw, neck, and cheeks. The face looked looked familiar to him, but as he stared at it several more dialogue options came up on the screen. He fast forwarded through them, trying to get back to the beach or somewhere else for another option. Unfortunately it seemed that he scrolled through the cheesy date dialogue too quickly, because before he knew it they had flashed forward to a pool scene and this time the male was shown down to his knees... if he had any.
The male had shiny blue scales instead of legs now, which blended in seamlessly with his waist as well as the fins on his shoulders, arms, and jaws. His cock jutted out proudly from a slit in the tail, probably ten inches long and a lighter blue coloration then the surrounding scales. While Sirius frowned upon such a blatant display, it surprisingly didn't bother him all that much to see such a display. While he would have rather had a female he knew that he didn't have time to start over, so he just went with it to see what would happen, at least that's what he told himself. Deep down inside a small fire had started, a tiny piece that wondered what it would be like to actually be in such a fantasy.
Sirius hardly even noticed when the next option wheel came up, too busy watching the mini-movie of the merman as he swam happily around the pool blatantly showing off. There was an option to quit the relationship, something that he paused over for a while as the merman smiled at him as he rested his head on the side of the pool. After a few seconds he took the selector off of that option and checked the other two, one of them saying that they could swim around some more and the other was to go to his room and 'have some fun'. There was a brief pause in his thinking, his eyes glancing up as he saw Mac checking his gun and not paying attention to him, checking on him as though he could see what he was about to do.
But it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, he reassured himself as he clicked on the last option, he was just interested in seeing how graphic the game was actually going to be. As soon as he pressed the button the pool quickly disappeared into a swirling mass of colors, then after a few seconds reappeared in what looked like a Japanese-themed bedroom. The merman was lying down on the red and white-striped sheets, his cock pointed straight into the air as a new dialogue wheel came up. The first was rather tame, just to cuddle together for the night. That was the only moderately safe dialogue option, the rest were various sexual acts that were dirtier and more intimate as he went down the list.
Even though he had found himself far more open-minded then he had ever been before, the thought of some of the latter options made a shudder go down his spine. Instead he went back up the list again, settling on the option just below the cuddling one, which he thought was just a blowjob. As the camera angle shifted he realized that it wasn't just going to be him that would receive it, and that his character and the merman character would be sixty-nining. With the huge fish tail it was natural his character would be on top, and as his character looked down he saw the merman pulling his character's cock out of the copper-colored speedo that he still wore.
Sirius could feel his head begin to pound slightly as the camera angle shifted slightly; still able to see the merman as his character's cock was lowered towards his mouth, but now able to see the thick, light blue flesh of the merman's arousal as well. A list of commands came up on the screen, though as he read them he felt his already tented pants become even more strained as he initiated the perverse mini-game. In the back of his psyche he knew what he was doing was not right, even if was a mere simulation, but he could almost feel the warm mouth of the merman as he began to time his button pressing with the thrusts. In the corner he could see a gauge filling up, the rainbow-colored meter representative of how close they were to climax.
He quickly got the hang of it, and before long the meter was completely full and the animation went from their heads bobbing up and down to the merman's cheeks bloating out slightly as they were filled with his virtual spunk. As the other male looked up at him with a lustful smile, giving his cock one last lick before the scene changed once more. Even though he had wished to see more of the bedroom antics he could tell something better was coming his way, especially as he saw the same merman dressed in a lab coat inside what looked like a factory.
"So let's pick out that new body of yours, shall we love?" the merman said as a list of options came on the screen, showing a non-descript picture of a human male. "I warmed up the cybernetic enhancement diagram up just for you." On the side of the diagram was a list of options, most of them the names of reptilian species. It made him pause slightly, something that sent warning bells off in his addled mind. But as he looked over at the merman it reassured him, as if that smile told him that everything was fine. Besides, it was just a video game...
The default color that had come up was copper, and since it seemed to be such a good fit for him he decided to keep it. Next was the species, and though he wanted to be a good match to his lover he chose the sea-snake, which was a lot like the other merman except no main tail fin on the end. As the picture morphed to show his selection he realized with a small smile that he could still retain his legs for land walking, turning him... no, his character, into a sort of amphibious creature. After that his new character seemed to take form all on its own, the body completely covered in shiny copper scales as his traits took on distinct reptilian features. Soon the human was entirely taken over by a beautiful copper-colored, finned sea snake that had the same grin as the merman as he appeared in the foreground, who had also taken on a far more reptilian appearance as well.
"Are you sure this is what you want to change too?" The merman asked, his smile revealing shiny silver teeth. Sirius didn't have to think twice, with more force than he had intended he smashed down on the accept button, which sank into the game console as though it were made of clay. As he pulled the digit back up it was covered with a shiny copper material, which spread throughout the game system as it turned to liquid in his hands. Immediately the mage should have realized what was going on, but instead of brushing it off and calling in for a purification spell he cupped his hands and drank the liquid, letting the metallic-tasting substance coat his mouth and run down his throat.
"It's about time." Sirius heard as he finished drinking down the liquid, licking his copper-tinged lips with his new tongue as he looked down at the pool of water where Mac swam naked. While it wasn't the merman that he had seen in the game, he certainly wasn't human anymore either. His blonde hair had blue tips in it, and those aquamarine eyes that stared longingly at him were not the same as the green ones he had started with. The mage moved forward, quickly realizing that the sensations from the game weren't merely in his head as he realized his pants had been undone and his cock was hanging free.
"What about..." Sirius asked as he stroked a patch of cobalt scales on his cheek.
"Oh, Lucky is my mate for certain." Mac replied coyly as he swam backwards, beckoning him forward. "So you're going to have to settle on being our leader, is that alright?"
Sirius smiled and nodded, removing the rest of his stifling clothing before sliding into the water himself. Copper scales had started to appear on his skin, especially around his groin and face as he felt the soft touch of slightly webbed fingers caressing them. He didn't know why he hadn't let himself go to such pleasure before; their hard bodies pressing against one another as he felt the metal in his body convert his organ into something far more efficient. The game system would not be enough, especially since some of it had gone to secure Mac and Lucky's conversions, though they saved the bulk of it to ensnare their cautious magic-user.
As they held each other close, the cool water lapping across their naked skin, they felt the water distort around them as a third body entered the pool. "There you are love, I was waiting for you." Mac said as he ran a hand across Lucky's jaw, his hair an even more fiery red as it was framed by dark grey scales the color of gunmetal. "Now we can finally do the things the simulation showed us, though our bodies are still quite inadequate."
"Only a matter of time." Lucky replied with a grin before their lips met, their tongues sliding along one another before they turned their gaze to Sirius.
The dominant male licked his chops before he took Mac and turned him around. "I've already had this one's mouth." Sirius said seductively, any trace of the former uptight mage completely gone as he ran his hands down the soon-to-be reptilian merman's sides. He presented his upright hindquarters to his new alpha, opening his mouth to his lover. With Mac on all fours in the shallow pool Sirius gripped his thighs, churring slightly as he rubbed his cock against the virgin opening. Though he always considered himself well-endowed he had grown several inches, the throbbing veins turning copper as the liquid metal began to travel through his bloodstream. Deep within he knew it was making him stronger, turning his body into the form he had seen in the game.
"You better put those leadership skills to the test." Mac replied with a grin as he took a dark blue clawed hand and guided Lucky's cock to his mouth. Sirius ran his tongue along his teeth, which had grown far sharper than a human's. Looking down at the reflection in the water he saw that his teeth were a lighter copper color and fang-like, which caused him to smile before he turned his attention back to the tight male in front of him.
The penetration was far easier than he had expected, the sparse amount of liquid metal the two had gained while under the game's hypnotic spell augmenting his body in all the right ways. Mac groaned around Lucky's cock as he felt the thick rod of metallic flesh pushing into his body, which forced the tip of his lover's cock into his throat. Sirius groaned as he pushed all the way to his groin, thick coppery scales replacing the short hair that had been there. As the pleasure shot through every nerve in his body it was also something else had begun to creep into his skin...
Unbeknownst to him the metal, which had been activated when it came in contact with his unusually high magical aura, had begun to replicate in his system at an astonishing rate. The weakness of his human form was replaced with a cybernetic augmentation, removing his need to breathe or eat. It actually began to enhance his magic as well, which fueled his changes even more. More and more copper began to vein out in several areas on his body. The metal crept out of his body more and more as he began to thrust into the male with vigor, tracing across his skin like circuitry until it actually began to ooze out of his skin and form into thick scales.
"Please... please fuck my scales into me..." Mac begged, his lips still around Lucky's tip.
"Ohhh... I'm next." Lucky smirked as he pushed his cock back into the mouth of the soon-to-be-merman. "You haven't seen my form yet... I'm sure you'll like it just as much."
"I'm sure I will..." Sirius hissed as his new claws scratched against the strong, yet still flexible metal of the blue scales that had begun to appear on Mac's ass and thighs as his living-metal laden pre began to drip into him. "I only hope the others will find gifts just like we did..."