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Jim Anderson stepped into the dusty old building with a grimace. This was *not* how it had been described to him by the solicitor.

He could still recall the excitement he'd felt earlier in the week, after receiving an odd letter saying that probate on a distant uncle's estate had finally finished. He knew he'd been adopted, but he'd never had much interest in his biological family before. It was a bolt from the blue when he got the letter, telling him that after several years of searching he'd been tracked down to receive an inheritance from an uncle he'd never met - hell, never even heard of - but who'd named him as his sole heir.

His uncle had apparently been a developer; the bequest was several pieces of property, one of them already raking in a lucrative rents. Jim had gone over the documents with great excitement - he was fresh out of college, money was hard to come by and his own rent was a worrying toll on his bank account. The unexpected bequest felt like a fantasy come to life!

He'd signed the paperwork, got the deeds, and had taken a day off from his nascent programming business - easy to do, since he was the only employee - and gone to visit each property. His little company was little more than a spare-time project to tide him over while he hunted for a 'real' job, and he was between clients so it wasn't much of an interruption even then. Jim had no idea what owning property entailed; he'd only seen things from the other side before, being a renter throughout college and afterwards

One of the five sites he now owned was an apartment complex in desperate need of new appliances and insulation; few people lived there, but the rent was flowing in, at least. Another two turned out to be brownfield sites, old industrial land well out of the way of real development and seemingly in violation of more environmental by-laws than he even knew existed; his heart sank when he realized how much time and money it was going to take to make either of them remotely saleable. The fourth was a burnt-out cinema with police tape around it; to his consternation, a passer-by told him it had nearly burned to the ground nearly three years earlier, not long before his uncle's death; apparently an ongoing investigation into the owner's dodgy insurance claims meant nothing could be done with the place, not for the foreseeable future.

The final site was some sort of old film studio or somesuch, according to the paperwork he'd received. It had been abandoned for... he checked the paperwork again, 22 years. His heart sank, but it was his last of his hopes.

Regrettably, the place did not have much charm to it, now that he was inspecting it. It looked like this set of properties were the 'problem' pile his deceased uncle must have found hard to sell or develop; he felt depressed as the scale of the potential problems sank in. Except for the old apartments, these places needed so much work they'd barely be worth pocket change if he sold them as-is; and he was none too sure how he could get the money to clear the mess up himself first.

Though, maybe this place might be okay to sell on; it didn't look in *too* bad a state. Sure, there was so much dust in the place it resembled a mouldering tomb more than a movie studio; and a cursory examination revealed that both the lighting and plumbing were completely non-functional... but those were small problems compared to toxic fields and police investigations. At least it was dry; how the thin-paned windows had survived as long as they had was a small miracle, especially given the number of spiderweb cracks that had spread across them, presumably where the local youth had tested their rock-throwing skills.

"Great... seems my uncle wasn't exactly a business genius..." he said to himself, shivering slightly despite the warm day before he sneezed as dust got up his nose.

The studio did occupy part of an industrial estate in an area that was growing quickly; the building didn't fit in to the new developments, but the land was probably worth a fair bit, and the state of the building wouldn't matter if it were being demolished. How much would demolition cost?

It began to dawn on Jim that it was going to take an awful lot of work to make money off his unexpected inheritance, despite the potential rent income. But, it still beat the hell out of sending off more job applications to get ignored in someone's in-tray...

He started to check the studio room by room. He knew places like this tended to attract squatters or worse, which would make things rather complicated for him; there had to be a reason his uncle hadn't already sold it.

He soon realised that searching was futile; the dust on the floor was thick and devoid of footprints. From the outside, it didn't look in bad shape, so perhaps vagrants had left it alone, thinking it was occupied?

The rooms were all unfurnished, save one room near the back. It looked like it had once been somebody's office, but all that remained besides a dusty desk and chair was a set of empty filing cabinets. Still musing to himself, Jim almost didn't catch a black rectangle in the sweep of his flashlight. What was that?!

He stepped forward for a closer look; a... tape? Yes; an ancient-looking video tape. Weird; there didn't seem to be anything else around at all.

Jim picked the tape up. Unlike the rest of the room, the tape was free of dust, as was the desktop underneath it; that was pretty odd. Though it was undamaged, it didn't have any identifying marks or labels. It looked pretty new; though that might just mean it was unused.

He did a cursory check of the desk drawers, too; nothing but abandoned paperclips and dusty office supplies. The filing cabinets held a few old files, which he tucked under one arm; he suspected they might be necessary for... whatever it was one did when selling a building, they had to have been left for a reason. The tape, too; who knew? Maybe it was important. Maybe it was one of his uncle's old movies, or some forgotten evidence from the Kennedy assassination, or a first copy of a long-lost Hollywood hit, or... something. Who knew?

Jim flipped the tape in his hand as he headed for the exit, noticing belatedly- and with a touch of irritation- that there was a small label cut into the plastic - "Betamax". Damn; who still used Betamax, even 20 years ago?

Still. Why had it been left behind when the rest of the building had been cleared out? Weird. The tape was probably some small movie outfit's advertising footage or something equally insignificant, but it still deserved investigation. It might have something rare or important on it. But there was only one way to find out for sure...

There was one friend Jim knew with a Betamax player, and thankfully he didn't live very far away.

**** ****

Pierce Cadwell looked up from his laptop as he heard the doorbell ring. "Come in!" he shouted, over the din of gunfire and shouting coming from the speakers around his television. The massive screen dominated the tiny front room of his one-bed flat; taken together with the surround sound speakers it was nearly as big as the couch set in front of it.

The doorbell rang again. "COME IN!" Pierce shouted, shutting the screen on his laptop as he searched the couch around him for the TV remote. He found it underneath his thigh, and turned the volume down to a manageable level.

Jim stepped into his friend's small domicile, waving the Betamax cassette. "Got a strange one for you, Pierce... an old Betamax tape. Any way to find out what's on it?" he said, getting straight to the point. He wasn't usually so abrupt, but it had been a rather unusual - and tiring - day.

"Jim! Good to see ya, mate! How was your meeting? Good haul from late great uncle... whomever?" Pierce said, scooting to the side of his couch and offering a seat to Jim. "Oh, don't mind the TV", he said, gesturing to the bloody but nearly-silent firefight playing on the television screen in front of them. "'Dragon Machine Revenge II'. The Chinese Communist party made some, uh, very unique movies in the 70s. I found a whole treasure trove of them on a private tracker the other day."

Jim raised an eyebrow. "Er, I see. Well, this isn't likely to be any Chinese propaganda film or whatever. I found it in the abandoned studio I now own on the west bank, along with some files. The paper I can read; Betamax I can't, and I'd like to know what's on it."

"Not really a propaganda film; the funny thing is aside from the first fifteen minutes it's mostly propaganda-free. I think the censors had their hands full those days, but who knows!" Pierce replied, scooting off the side of his couch and heading towards his television stand. He opened up the cabinet underneath it and began rooting around inside. "Let's see, I'm sure I've got a Betamax player somewhere... Atari 2600... ColecoVision... VHS... another VHS... Laserdisc..."

"Er... is it going to cost anything to get a player?" Jim asked, hoping he wasn't about to make Pierce pay for something that was almost certainly inconsequential.

"What? Of course not! I'm sure I have one you can borrow. I bought the thing for ten quid on EBay a few years back, and I haven't used it since Shelly and I were dating. Heh, ah to find another girl who could appreciate French existential horror..." Pierce said with a laugh, before returning to his searching. "I think this is it. Wait, damnit, another bloody VHS machine! Do you need one, Jim? I have a few spare after the video store on 6th and Cross went bankrupt and was selling them for pennies on the pound."

"Er... but, I've not got any VHS tapes. I use DVDs and Blu-ray!" Jim protested. He lived and breathed computers and technology; the very thought of having such... antiquated equipment around was anathema to him.

Pierce emerged from his cabinet with a pair of bulky, blocky tape players and an armful of cabling. "Here you go, here you go-" he said, presenting the lot to Jim. "There might be some Cat-5 stuck in the ball of cords, but don't worry. I'm long on cabling at the moment. And, uh, don't worry on return time. I've still got 'Dragon Machine Revenge' III through V to watch, along with 'Dragon Machine Vengeful Spirit Heist', which is apparently the crown jewel of the series if my friends in Beijing are to be believed."

Jim took them, awkwardly. "Ouch, this thing's seriously heavy... will it even be compatible with my TV anymore? I doubt it fits HDMI sockets..."

"Don't worry; that's what adapters were made for! There's one on the end of..."

"Wha-?! This says VHS on it! I don't want a VHS player, I want a Betamax player!" Jim interrupted, spying the brand label on the machine in his arms. "Er... and why's it got two different tape slots on it?"

Pierce looked again, frowning, then awkwardly pulled the machine from Jim's grasp. "Ahhh, shit; yeah, that's not it... That's my beta-to-VHS copy machine. It's the only thing with a Betamax slot in my cupboard; I guess... ah, yeah, it's coming back to me now, I think I loaned the Betamax player to Shelley before we broke up... and I'm not sure I got it back..."

"Oh." Jim said, simply. "Er... so, it can't play Betamax? That thing?"

"Not really; it only converts the tapes to VHS. This thing was solid gold in the '80s after Betamax lost the format war, but it can't play tapes by itself. Though... I think we can work with this; I've got some blank VHS tapes around, and plenty of VHS players. I'll set the machine up here and convert it to VHS; it could take a few hours, depends how long your tape is. But then you can watch the VHS tape at your leisure!" Pierce grinned, evidently pleased with himself. "Meanwhile... care to watch a 'Dragon Machine Revenge' with me? I can make popcorn, get a few sodas... or order a pizza, you look hungry..?"

"Maybe another time... or another movie..." Jim said; he was a lot less interested in obscure foreign cinema than Pierce was. "I should probably get some work done this evening, too; I've literally no idea who to talk to about selling land, or anything..." he continued, sighing.

Pierce looked a tad crestfallen, but unsurprised. "Ah well. If you change your mind, just come straight over. I'll be in all evening", he offered, putting the converter down near a power outlet, and starting to fiddle with some wires. "Anyway... you've really no idea what's on it?"

"Not really. Only one way to find out, too", Jim said, shrugging. "Probably an old commercial, or maybe it's just blank." He considered that a moment. "Er, though I hope not; hate to waste your time. Hmm. Well, we'll see, I guess", he said, taking a step toward the door. "Just let me know when it finishes, I'll come straight over to pick it up... and one of those VHS machines after all", he finished.

"Alrighty, mate. I'll text you later. But we should do a movie night again sometime soon, y'know? It's been, ah, a little quiet around here since everyone graduated..." Pierce said, smiling faintly.

Jim almost felt sorry for his friend. Pierce had a bad habit of driving away roommates and girlfriends alike with his nigh-pathological obsession with film... and his truly pathological aversion to housework. The stacks of empty cans, packing peanuts and cardboard boxes that lined his entryway were mute testament to that. Still; he'd have to learn for himself sooner or later...

"Sure thing. Later!" Jim said, waving goodbye as he left Pierce's flat.

**** ****

After hours of reading through twenty four years of financial documents, Jim had fallen into a deep if fitful sleep; deep enough that when Pierce opened the door that Jim had left unlocked, Jim didn't hear a thing.

"Hey, Jim? I texted a few minutes ago, Your tape's done, it's right... ah", Pierce said, noticing the bedroom door ajar and the sound of snoring from within. He stopped speaking; no sense waking Jim.

Pierce left the VHS tape, and the VHS player he'd brought, on the coffee table with an explanatory note. He then walked back along the short distance along the road to his flat, while from somewhere buried deep, a faint memory stirred.

Hadn't Shelley given the Betamax machine back at some point? There was an argument, she'd tossed an armful of stuff at him... the more he thought about it, the more sure he felt.

He tried thinking it out; what would he have done with it, if it wasn't with the rest of his equipment in the cupboard? He usually took reasonable care of his equipment like that, but if he'd not been thinking clearly, it could be anywhere...

He performed a quick search of the room - and, for once, a quick clean-up as well, to make it easier to hunt - and sighed with irritation as he picked up a pile of old pizza delivery boxes from a few months earlier, to find the missing Betamax machine beneath.

"Damn... oh well..." Pierce cursed to himself. "Doesn't matter much now, he's got the copy... ah, damn it!", he cursed again, remembering that the original Betamax tape was still in his copy machine; he'd been so eager to get the job done he'd only picked up the VHS tape.

Oh well; he could return it tomorrow. Though... Jim had obviously been a bit stressed out; if it was blank or something, maybe he could save the poor guy some hassle; and besides, he was curious.

After a few minutes of rerouting his cables and microwaving a fresh batch of butter-laden popcorn in lieu of real food, Pierce was snugly ensconced on his couch and watching title credits fade in over a black background...

'ZENTHAR the ADVENTURER-

-in-

'THE CURSE OF THE CROCODILE KING!'

"Huh. Guess it wasn't some old commercial after all", Pierce muttered to himself; though, maybe it was a set of trailers or something. He'd never heard of 'Zenthar'; though if it was some made-for-TV series or a movie from 20 or 30 years back, he probably wouldn't have - especially if it never aired, which was a possibility. The CGI effects on the title screen were shockingly good for an old production, if horribly gauche - a bolt of lightning struck the 'ZENTHAR' with a flash of what he swore was overdone lens flare.

In fact, maybe the CGI effects were a little too good for the 80s... or perhaps even the 90s, this looked like early 2000s image-processing to his expert eye. Maybe someone had put it on Betamax format for some reason? A possible, but peculiar thing for someone to do.

Or perhaps someone had done some 'remastered' edition and added the effects later? Certainly, the live-action shots that began rolling after the credits were nothing special; the set backdrop for the opening credits, made to look like a medieval village square, was very clearly a studio. Add to that, the makeup was poorly done; lighting was haphazard; the sound quality was low; the colours weirdly garish, which hinted at a cheap camera. It all screamed 'low-budget'.

The movie opened with a burly, muscular young man; bare-chested with leather armoured bracers, shinguards, and leggings, hacking his way through dense undergrowth with a long sword.

"Zenthar, I presume?" Pierce said to the television, nearly giggling when he saw the look of painfully-overacted exertion on the actor's face. Whoever he was, he was built like a younger version of Conan, as Schwarzenegger had played him, complete with over-oiled pecs and unnaturally-pronounced facial expressions.

There were moments of decent delivery of lines in the first few minutes, but much of the acting was dross. Amateurs or failed professionals, probably; though he couldn't rule out that this was some sort of rehearsal tape, not the 'real thing'. That would certainly explain the bad editing and poor scene takes, but not the CGI; that would only have been added to the final cut, surely?

The writing wasn't much better; the plot seemed pretty hackneyed within moments of starting, as several buxom wenches threw themselves fawningly at the hero and begged him to save their village. Their little community was being attacked by a horde of evil minions; some sort of evil crocodile-lizard monsters sent by a wicked god, to conquer and enslave, yadda yadda yadda, only Zenthar can save the small village and by extension, apparently, the world. So far, so... cliché.

The villain's fortress was pretty obvious and very quick for the hero to get to - it only took dodging a 'rockfall' of two polystyrene boulders to walk up to the front door. Of course, the very evil-looking black fortress was complete with inexplicable and pointless spikes, CGI lava and enough skull decor to make Khorne jealous. How the small village had failed to notice this place on their doorstep before was one of those questions best left unanswered, the place could hardly be more cliché if it tried...

Criminy! As 'Zenthar' approached the front door of the fortress- which swung open to admit him like the world's least convenient supermarket- Pierce noted that the interior was lit by torches held in skull-shaped receptacles. Words failed him; apparently it really could get more cliché.

Matters didn't seem to improve once Zenthar faced his first few challenges, narrowly bypassing a series of 'bottomless pits' that were shaded exactly nothing like the surrounding floor, and stood out a mile. Then, the first action scene - against some 'evil' bearded mercenaries guarding the way deeper into the fortress - was a huge letdown. The scarred, tattooed brigands fled after Zenthar drew 'The Wand of Argath's Fire' from somewhere on his leather harness (had that even been there in earlier scenes?) and scared them off with an absurdly large blast of CGI-fire that looked positively Bay-esque. By the time Pierce stopped laughing at their embarrassing screams, he was fairly sure this movie had never gone on air; no sane distributor would waste good plastic on it.

Pierce kept watching though, drawing more and more amusement from the sheer ridiculousness of the film. A few of Zenthar's lines when he finally met the Crocodile King's minions were particularly choice- "I'll slice your snouts in two, you nasty knaves!"- nearly made him choke on his popcorn.

The crocodile-minions, though, were surprisingly well-done; they must have had some serious make-up artists on board for that part. The creatures were slightly taller than Zenthar, but only by an inch or so. These characters seemed to be a bipedal combination of human and crocodile, with perhaps a few hints and nods to monitor lizards and generic fantasy dragons thrown in.

They each had muzzles a foot long, filled with sharp teeth and complete with a very mobile and agile tongue. Their slitted eyes were yellow-green, a pale hue that contrasted with the far darker, pine-green of their rough scales; though it was a good match for the paler, almost yellowish colour of the large scutes on their "underbelly", insofar as the term had meaning when they walked upright. Their backs looked almost like porcupines, covered in spiny ridges of raised scales in two main rows from the top of their head to the blunt tips of their meaty, three-foot long tails; an exaggerated version of a crocodile's ridged spine, by the looks of it.

Their bodies were human enough to set off the 'uncanny valley' feeling of eerie, creepy unfamiliarity; the torsos just a little too long, the legs and arms slightly too short, the posture far too hunched to be obviously human. The sharp claws on their four-fingered hands and the stubby four-clawed feet only accentuated that strange appearance. They were clearly designed as a counterpoint to the male lead, rather than a contrast; most of them were as muscular as the bodybuilder hero - or more so - with a stocky breadth that made their bodies seem larger and a lot more intimidating. They had a strangely playful, villainous air to them; as if toying with the hero, knowing something he didn't.

The workmanship on the suits they were wearing was incredible, though. The lengths the designers must have gone through to make animatronic tails- and even tongues- was incredible! That was some dedication to the craft! Well, either impressive animatronics or CGI, he couldn't exactly tell which.

Pity all that effort was wasted on a movie so... dire. Maybe it was just supposed to be a technical demonstration, the cast messing around deliberately, or something? He knew more than a few movies in the 80s had solely been made to turn gullible investors' money into cocaine and hookers instead of a 'proper' feature film, but the quality of the graphics was clearly out of place for a movie of that decade. Why spend so much money and effort on incredible special effects, and not on - say - a decent actor for the show?

The crocodilian minions were dressed very much as Zenthar himself was; a bold choice, considering that most live-action prosthesis were concealed by loose clothing so that the artists only had to make a few accessories - gloves, masks, and so on - to create the right illusion. Reducing that to little more than loincloths and pauldrons meant a lot of work, a full-body crocodile suit rather than some gloves and a mask; it had to be a special-effects demo, nothing else made sense.

The inevitable combat that broke between Zenthar and the patrol of monstrous reptiles was no more inspiring than the previous fight scene, but still, Pierce had to be impressed at the audacity of it. Full-body prosthetics didn't usually feature in active fight scenes like this, and certainly didn't hold up well, most of the time; it must have taken a lot of re-takes to get the ten-second fight scene shot!

Zenthar knocked the swords from the creature's claws, and then knocked three of them unconscious in short order with a series of kicks and punches that were woefully oversold by the crocodiles. Pierce was about ready to groan when the last crocodile left standing threw his hands up in surrender right as Zenthar held him in place for an uppercut.

"Wait, wait! I surrender, mighty barbarian! Your rage is too great, you thrust your weapon too well for us...!" the last minion said. Pierce winced; camp lines like that were either a deliberate in-joke of some kind, or the writers were so sloppy they'd not even wondered how the words might sound spoken aloud. For the 80s or 90s, accidental innuendo didn't even have the excuse of extreme antiquity and naivety to explain it.

"So, Zenthar, if you are truly so desperate to come by us and delve deeper into our master's realm..." the minion continued, with a very definite leer on its muzzle, somehow, "...then we'll just have to see how you fare. We've no wish for *violence*... but can you defeat the Curse before it penetrates your... soul?"

Pierce dropped a handful of popcorn in some astonishment as the minion suddenly grabbed Zenthar by the back of the head and kissed him full on the lips, its muzzle interlocking awkwardly with human lips. What the hell was this!?!

Pierce wasn't sure he'd seen things right at first, but the kiss lingered on longer; it was definitely happening. Wasn't that crocodile a man? It didn't *sound* like a woman, and the creature had musculature that rivalled Zenthar's...

This was *not* a plot twist he felt so interested by, not in the slightest!

Zenthar dropped the minion and recoiled as if shocked himself, too... but there was a suspiciously long pause and a close-up that showed him cautiously licking his lips. He pushed the crocodile-man away, and spat as if in disgust... but still bore a cocky smile, rather oddly. "That's a favour I only extend to those who ask nicely!" he said.

"Oh, I can ask nicely next time we meet, Zenthar... you won't get far!" said the crocodile... this time, blowing a kiss at Zenthar as he departed; the adventurer seeming amused rather than offended by the gesture.

Zenthar immediately began a speech to himself as he walked, about the woeful inadequacy of the crocodile king's minions and how he would surely vanquish this evil; but Pierce wasn't listening by that point. What was the point in that little scene? He was still trying to process what it might all mean. Maybe the innuendo wasn't accidental after all.

The scene ended with a shot focused rather prominently on the backside of one of the recovering crocodile-lizard creatures, who was chuckling as they watched Zenthar walking into an ominously-dark hallway.

Feeling a little nauseous suddenly, Pierce grabbed the remote and killed the picture. Okay; enough was enough. That was... weird.

Cheesy acting, scantily-clad male lead, equally scantily-clad male 'villains', man-on-man kisses, and overtly sexual references that were totally out of place in the context of the movie's reality...

...it didn't scream 'low-budget' any more, it screamed 'porno'. Some sort of soft-core gay fetish flick, maybe? Ugh.

Laughing awkwardly to himself, Pierce sat up and hit the power button on his Betamax player. Film aficionado or no, he wasn't keen on seeing the rest of Zenthar's homoerotic adventures. "I think I know why I'd never heard of you before..." Pierce said, taking the tape out and setting it on his table, before getting up to find a case for the thing.

Wouldn't do to leave it lying around. He didn't have visitors too often these days, and it was unlabelled, but... it was *there*, and Pierce, at least, would know what it was, and it'd be... embarrassing.

Maybe he should warn Jim? Though... he would have to say he'd watched it long enough to think it was a gay porno, which was... not something he could imagine saying aloud. His cheeks burned with embarrassment at the very thought. Could he bring himself to say that?

Maybe it was best to feign ignorance, claim he'd never seen it. He could at least get amused by Jim's reaction to it. He'd just return the Betamax tape in a few days when Jim remembered it, claim he'd forgotten it entirely until reminded... yes, that was best.

Pierce unplugged the beta-player and went back to the 'Dragon Machine Revenge' series, to take his mind off what he'd just seen.

Still... 80s made-for-TV softcore gay fetish erotica was a class unto itself; even rarer than the action films made during the helter-skelter years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, or the silent-era films where the actors' lips showed they were saying dirty limericks instead of the subtitles shown afterwards.

If 'Zenthar the Barbarian' was as unique as he thought it was, it could still be worth something. It might console Jim a bit after the... shock.

**** ****

Jim took a sip of tea and set down the last of the '89 tax reports from his inherited properties. All five of the properties had been a portfolio his uncle had bought for a pittance in a bankruptcy sale in the mid-80s, before finding he'd bought a nightmare of problems.

Sometime during the late 80s his uncle had gotten into a small war with both the local council and the Tax Office over the status of the properties that were acquired, the legality of certain aspects of the arcane and impenetrable building regulations... Jim saw that it would have cost his uncle a lot to settle the issue in court, and evidently his uncle had decided just to settle for leaving the properties idle, despite the arguments with the authorities and, apparently, the portfolio being frozen by court order.

Which added up to a big problem. According to this, new tenants couldn't be signed up, nor the properties sold, while the issues remained; that was partly why the apartment complex was less than half-full, and why the studio had been abandoned - old tenants' leases had expired, they'd moved on, and couldn't be replaced.

Jim sighed and closed the files back up, rubbing his temples. He needed a break.

He closed the spreadsheet he was working with on his computer, too, only to see an email sitting in his inbox from the tax ministry. The subject line was just a string of reference numbers and letters, and the ambiguous words "Estate Review".

His heart skipped a beat. He recognised the reference, from the forms he'd had to sign to agree to his inheritance. It might just be a confirmation that the forms had been processed; but, he fretted, it might also be a huge tax bill, or a court summons, or something. What if someone had looked at the properties and realised they were still in dispute?

No, no; surely, they couldn't charge him for his uncle's taxes, not from twenty years ago, not three years after the man himself had died? The death duties and inheritance taxes and all that must have been settled already... wasn't his uncle's business a limited liability company anyway? Or rather, several?

After all this, was a tax inspector about to come and seize all the inheritance after all... and maybe everything Jim owned, too?

No, no; they wouldn't do that, he'd never even met his uncle, nor his biological parents, nobody from the family that birthed him; he was innocent, it wouldn't be fair! It must be something else.

Damn. He had no idea how taxes worked in these situations, really. His head was hurting.

He opened the email, feeling a great sense of dread. His heart sank as he read; 'unresolved queries' and 'potentially serious matter' leapt out to his nervous eyes.

Though; it wasn't as bad as it first seemed; the first line was an apology for failing to inform him before the forms had been signed... investigating why this was not done... giving him a few numbers and emails to contact to complain if he felt he had been misled before accepting the bequest...

...Well, he'd only learned about the problem from the paperwork he was going through, not from the tax office or the solicitor... maybe he could persuade them to drop the whole thing, or give the properties back if they were going to get him into trouble...

It was just then, after he'd managed to persuade himself it would just be some irritating bureaucratic bullshit that he'd have to wade through, and not a life-ending bankruptcy after all, that he felt the first stirrings of a migraine come on. He needed to do something less... stressful, relax a bit. But the thought of not making *any* progress made him feel worse.

Jim remembered the tape Pierce had made for him last night. It was yet another thing on his to-do list, but it wasn't exactly hard to connect up the player and watch a tape, now was it? That would be something he could cross off his list, some advancement made...

A few minutes later, Jim had changed into his pyjamas after swallowing two strong migraine tablets and sat on his sofa, massaging his neck and trying to will himself to calm. He felt the stress start to dissipate as the title credits rolled past.

Zenthar the Adventurer, huh? Jim had never heard of him. Maybe Pierce had; he could always ask later. But he felt a little relieved it was a movie and not something pointless or stressful; it was a good distraction for a while. Safe in that knowledge, Jim did manage, at last, to relax; despite everything, he found himself chuckling at the dire special effects in the first few minutes. It was as realistic and immersive as a blooper reel of the original Star Trek, and the special effects had even less effort put into them.

He continued to laugh at the misadventures of Zenthar, feeling suddenly drained and exhausted. Migraine tablets always made Jim feel out of sorts, and he'd not slept well the night before, either; the combination meant he kept dozing off, rousing whenever the soundtrack changed pace. Watching the hero-guy make his way through the evil fortress was just amusing enough to keep him from turning the VCR off, though, and he didn't dare try and sleep in the middle of the day.

It was the sound of a kiss and a break in the combat-music that made him suddenly re-focus his attention, just in time to see the hero and a crocodile-man recoiling from each other... he couldn't have seen that right, Jim thought. Had Zenthar really just gone from fighting with the crocodile-things to... making out with one of them!?

Heh, obviously *that* couldn't have happened! He'd missed something when he nodded off for a moment, that was all...

But, curious and a little perturbed, he re-focused on the TV, unsure if he'd imagined that scene. But what sense did it make? No, he must have imagined it.

Yes; there, Zenthar was just walking down a badly-painted corridor, looking every bit like an overconfident actor trying to pretend to be nervous but brave. Just a normal B-movie atmosphere... well, maybe C-movie, actually.

Zenthar was still giving an inexplicable monologue to thin air as he entered a larger, more spacious room; it was littered with discarded weapons, armours covered in claw-marks, and all manner of detritus, such as might have been carried by a whole company of soldiers at one time. There was no sign of any bodies.

"Gods!" Zenthar exclaimed. "They must have ensorcelled or fought an entire regiment here, and taken the fortress! I must be close to their barracks..." he said, lowering his voice to a loud whisper as he began walking in a slow, exaggerated gait.

Zenthar passed an archway that led into a large, low-ceilinged room filled with wooden bunks and racks of weaponry. In the middle of the room a bonfire crackled; around the fire a host of reptilian soldiers were gathered, some armoured and armed, others clad in no more than loincloths that left little to the imagination. The camera zoomed in closer, panning up and down the chiselled bodies of the green-scaled males as they oiled each other's scales and sharpened their weapons. In the back of the room, two pairs of reptiles were sparring with one another, grunting and hissing as they wrestled...

Zenthar stepped through the threshold of the room, again withdrawing his wand from the loop of his belt before levelling it at the crocodiles. "Stay where you are, and come no closer... lest the fires of Argath consume you cursed curs!" he said. "I am Zenthar, and you will not stand in my way!"

The crocodiles turned to face him slowly, the camera circling around the room from soldier to soldier as each gave a delayed reaction to the barbarian's presence.

"We cannot let you pass; our King forbade it! Only those that bear his blessing or his curse are allowed in this fortress!" one of the crocodiles hissed, picking a halberd up off a nearby weapon rack. None of the others made a move to arm themselves, but their eyes narrowed and devilish smiles appeared on their muzzles.

"You cannot pass!"

"You shall not passsss!" others hissed.

Zenthar's smile turned into a cocky grin. "If you won't let me pass, then I'll fry you where you stand! All of you!"

The crocodile with the halberd laughed, hefting the massive steel weapon and letting it fall back into his scaly palm repeatedly. "Your rod has much power within it, but do you think you can take us all on before it is spent?"

"Maybe not! But if that is so... it appears we are at an impasse!" Zenthar replied, looking for a moment like he was going to burst into laughter. The moment passed though, and in the next scene the barbarian was baring his teeth at the crocodilian lizards.

"Hmmm... maybe. Or we could test our strength another way..." the reptilian captain said, tossing his halberd to another of his kind and walking towards Zenthar with his tail swaying energetically behind him. The burly male slid a pair of claws to the straps of his leather armour and letting the chest piece fall to the ground beside him, leaving him naked except for a pair of shin guards and his loincloth.

"Are... you asking me to spar with you, cursed one?" Zenthar asked, eyes narrowing.

The crocodile walked into one of the dusty pits in the middle of the barracks, drawing a line in the dirty ground with one of his toeclaws. The camera slowly crawled up his foot and legs, lingering for a moment on his bulging loincloth and the yellow-green pubic scales just above it. The crocodile was a half-head taller than the others, and his well-oiled abs looked like they had been carved out of jade. "'Captain', to you, Zenthar... and yes..." the croc said, as the picture suddenly jumped towards his yellow, slitted eyes."Are you afraid of single combat, 'Adventurer'?"

"I am afraid of nothing! I'll challenge you, gladly! And I'll beat you at your game!" the barbarian boasted, suddenly thrusting his wand back into his belt and then unbuckling both his belt and scabbard from his threadbare armour. Walking into the low depression where the captain stood, he cracked his knuckles and neck as scantily-clad crocodile warriors gathered around him and his opponent, leering at him.

"We'll see... we'll see..." the reptile captain said, slowly licking the sides of his scaly muzzle. The music suddenly came to a crescendo of drumbeats as loud as peals of thunder, as both Zenthar and his foe threw themselves at one another.

They met in the middle of the arena with a crash, muscles taut and bulging as they struggled against each other's strength. Zenthar grunted and the crocodile growled as they stepped back and forth together, each only able to press the advantage for a few moments before the other could recover. The camera circled around the two of them as they wrestled, their stiff, halting movements only broken by rapid flicks from the crocodile's tail.

The scene panned around to show the eyes of the watchful minions as they stared at the wrestling pair, flitting across their yellowed eyes and leering muzzles... and then the shot flashed across the intense, focused faces of Zenthar and the captain, and then back again to the spectating croc-lizards. Jumping rapidly from Zenthar to his opponent, the only difference between the shots one could see was that Zenthar's eyes seemed to be slowly taking on a tinge of light yellow, similar to the reptiles around him...

The soundtrack reached another sharp crescendo, and then both of the warriors broke apart, sweating and breathing heavily. They stared at one another for but a moment, and then came together again with a pair of resonate screams nearly matched in pitch. This time, their wrestling was frantic, kinetic; they grabbed across each other's nearly-naked bodies, searching for purchase. Zenthar grabbed the crocodile's head and pulled his muzzle underneath his arm, trying to wrestle the bestial man down to the ground. But before the barbarian could hook another arm underneath the crocodile captain, the scaled warrior picked him up and slammed him down into the dusty ground. Zenthar groaned in pain for a moment, but quickly recovered and wrapped his muscular thighs around the crocodile's waist, rolling to the side and reversing the pin...

Now straddling the crocodile's waist, Zenthar grappled his wrists and head-butted the croc in his snout. The crocodile hissed in pain as his head was knocked backwards, but retaliated in kind a second later, slamming his scaled forehead into Zenthar's face. Zenthar nearly lost hold of the croc as he struggled to slip out of the pin in the confusion, but wrapped his arms around the reptile's back and pressed himself against his chest. The warriors' loincloths ground together as they struggled for dominance on the ground, dirt and sweat smearing across their bodies as the melee continued...

Finally, Zenthar grabbed onto the crocodile's loincloth and tore it clean off the captain's waist with a loud snap. Both human and crocodile rolled away from one another, struggling to their feet and breathing heavily. The camera shot the crocodile captain from behind as he rose to his feet, though the beast's thick, ridged tail covered his backside still.

"Missing something..?" Zenthar said, laughing as he twirled the leather loincloth on a finger.

"That may be, but I've not submitted to the likes of you yet." the crocodile said with a sneer, rubbing the front of his bloodied snout. The scene slowly panned down, showing the dirt and oil now smeared across the creature's heaving, muscular chest... as well as the bulging, scaly mound his loincloth had once covered. The sweaty scales there were a lighter yellow-green shade than the rest of his body...

The scene jumped back to Zenthar, who seemed to be staring down at the place where the camera had just been focused, with more yellow in his eyes than before. The barbarian shook his head from side to side, and then gave the loincloth in his hand a disgusted look before throwing it onto the snout of one of the watching croc minions. "Enough! I've proven my strength to you, vile creature! Stand aside or be slain in your King's name; I care not what you choose!" he exclaimed, darting past the crocodile with the loincloth over his eyes and drawing his sword from where he'd left it.

The other crocodile minions hissed and withdrew weapons from the racks in the barracks, though they were quickly stopped by a raised hand from their captain. "Stop! Very well, Zenthar! You may pass... for now..." the captain said, slowly gesturing towards the exit with an open hand. "Your strength may be the equal of mine, barbarian... but the Crocodile King is more than a match for the likes of you!"

"We'll see about that!" Zenthar said in reply.

"Yes, we will! Won't we?" the captain responded, eyeing his men. He began to laugh, and was joined shortly thereafter by more and more of the other minions, until their laughter drowned out the fading soundtrack.

Zenthar began to quickly walk past them, still shaking his head. "Enough, enough! Nothing can withstand the rage of Zenthar! Nothing!" he shouted, unable to carry his voice over the din of their laughter. He began to run as the left the room, and was soon sprinting down the darkness of the labyrinthine fortress. Only his yellowed eyes were visible in the darkness as the scene slowly faded out in silence...

****

A loud trumpet fanfare woke Jim with a jump, just in time for him to catch the ending credits beginning to roll. Damn! He must have fallen asleep; the last thing he remembered was being rather weirded out at the absurdity of the hero being confronted by crocodile-men who were both absurdly camp and outrageously innuendo-prone. He could hardly believe all the homoerotic undertones were unintentional; probably bored, sexually-liberated writers pushing some boundaries in a movie they knew nobody was likely to watch.

Jim was straight as an arrow; he had nothing against gays, but that wasn't exactly his idea of entertainment. Though, the thought of the Zenthar rescuing a handsome prince - rather than the stereotypical princess - from the Crocodile King was kind of funny. At least it had let him sleep for a bit, even if he'd not intended to.

He was feeling a lot better than he had before he'd taken his migraine pills; rather good, in fact. A bit more refreshed than when he'd started. Maybe he had the energy to face the tax office now...

He went to check his watch; ah, only an hour after he started, that movie wasn't too long, thankfully. Time to get dressed properly and...

...wait...

He felt sure he'd been wearing his pyjamas earlier, and a bathrobe over the top. But he was, actually - he checked again to make sure he wasn't imagining things - naked except for the bathrobe, which wasn't exactly concealing anything!

He hastily tied his robe up. He must have been preparing to get dressed when he took the migraine pill and forgotten to put the pyjamas on; that must be it. He must have really been out of it earlier. For a moment, he imagined the horror he'd have felt if someone had come to the door right then. It would have been dreadfully embarrassing, being naked and with a vaguely homoerotic movie playing on TV!

He went to his bedroom to get dressed properly and start work again, putting his thoughts in other places.

**** ****

Hours later, Jim was again exhausted. He'd finished a long conference-call with the local tax office, trying to work out exactly what was still owed on his new property and to whom. It had taken over four hours- after nearly an hour just trying to find the right department to talk to- and he had pages upon pages of notes from various parts of the call already. He'd spent another hour on the internet researching tax law, to little avail.

Jim rubbed his temples. His head hurt again. Badly. He surely couldn't keep this up!

He was in the middle of reaching for his migraine medicine when he heard the doorbell ring. Black spots exploded across the left side of his sight as the chime thundered in his head; he grit his teeth in frustration and yelled, "Just a minute..."

He opened the door to see Pierce standing on his doorstep with a curiously bored expression on his face and a video cassette in his outstretched hand. "Oh; sorry." Jim mumbled, taking the Betamax with a sigh. "Thanks."

"No problem," Pierce said, stepping in after him. "Had a chance to watch the copy, yet?"

"Not really. Well, no, a little bit..." Jim replied, turning and trying not to scowl. A thought struck him. "Wait, didn't you already bring this back?"

Pierce flushed, very slightly. "Ah... I thought I had. I, er, forgot the original when I brought the copy around, I found it just now", he half-lied.

Jim didn't notice. "Well, if you're curious I can tell you it's nothing of value, so don't worry."

Pierce raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that? What was on it? It wasn't blank, was it?" Pierce asked, fishing a pack of gum out of his pocket and offering Jim a piece.

Jim waved the offer away. "No, no; nothing like that. It was just some old made for TV special of some kind. Dire stuff, really; doubt they even aired it."

"Oh?" Pierce asked, innocently. "What sort of special? Nothing worth watching? Mind you, you said that about Citizen Kane..."

"Er... it was just some fantasy-movie thing. Cheesy, generic, and bad special effects... kind of gay, too, literally. Seriously, it's worthless." Jim shook his head, feeling his pulse quicken in irritation. Migraines weren't a common feature of his life, but when he was under a lot of stress, they tended to flare up repeatedly... "Look, sorry, I'm not sure I want to deal with people right now. I've been on the phone with the tax-men all bloody day and I'm ready to swear off government for good if I have to do it again tomorrow. The movie's just some... cheap gay fantasy adventure or something."

Pierce began to smile, and then snicker, and then laugh. "Hahaha! Oh dear! What ever do you mean, 'gay fantasy adventure'? Lots of, aheh, swordfighting?"

Flustered, Jim began scowling again. "I don't know! I didn't watch the whole bloody thing!"

Pierce backed off rapidly, suddenly sensing that teasing Jim was not a good idea for today. "Er, okay... well, that's still not to say it's worthless, there are some people who collect these things, especially if it's rare... it might be worth checking?"

"Fine, fine; look, I've got too much to think about right now. I need to learn a small textbook of tax law in the next few days, apparently, and I'll be damned if I have to go and learn about prices of novelty... porno flicks, as well! Please..." he said, firmly handing the Betamax tape back to Pierce. "You look into it, if it's worth anything we'll share it, something like that..."

Pierce didn't appreciate being given jobs to do just after he'd done Jim a favour and given him some free video equipment too; but he could see the faintly pained expression on Jim's face, see how pale he was, and he knew that this wasn't the time for a confrontation. He took the tape hesitantly. "Um... are you sure..? I mean, sure, I can always try and sell it on my eBay account and give you the proceeds, but, er, I mean, it's yours, technically... what if it's really valuable? And, er... did you say it was a porno? Or not? It's pretty important to label it right..."

"Pierce, please, just... not... tonight. Okay? Just... find something out and deal with it." Jim said, rubbing his left temple.

"Alright... okay, look, you want me to leave you alone? Go for a drink at the bar, or something? Watch a movie?" Pierce asked, trying to think of something that might calm Jim down. "You look kinda shitty. Did you sleep okay last night?"

Jim had taken enough. "Fuck movies. I'm going to play a game on my computer... or lie down for a while..." he said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay... you get some rest, we'll talk another day..." Pierce replied, stepping away from the front door. "Catch you tomorrow..."

Jim didn't reply. Pierce glanced down at the Betamax cassette as he walked away. Damn, he'd come here to get rid of the thing.

Well, there were a few good websites he knew he could search for information; he doubted Google would have much on 'Zenthar', given his suspicions. Still, before he made an ass of himself online as well as off he'd better try and watch the damn thing through and take a few notes...

**** ****

Jim massaged his temples; the second dose of migraine pills for the day was working its slow chemical magic, and his thoughts - unburdened by a throbbing pain in his sinuses and strange auras in his peripheral vision - were starting to dwell on how abrupt and stand-offish he'd been with Pierce. The guy had only tried to help and be a decent friend, and *had* done a pretty big favour by copying that tape, even if it had turned out to be worthless.

Well... was it worthless? Pierce seemed to think it might not be. If anyone had a feel for that kind of thing, it'd be Pierce. Maybe this was a genre where a few very wealthy, very gay collectors would snap up any new offering? Maybe it was actually a mostly-finished movie that had never been released. Maybe there *were* no other copies in the world. That might make it valuable... and a little extra cash he didn't have to declare to the tax office sounded pretty good right about now.

He felt kind of guilty giving Pierce another favour to do, especially in the form of a demand... and more selfishly, if the tape was valuable, he'd casually agreed to split the difference just to avoid checking it himself. Had he really been that disgusted by it? Jim liked to think he was open-minded, and it felt a bit judgmental to assume, after only seeing about ten minutes of it, in between dozing off!

He should apologise to Pierce. But, he couldn't just call and apologise and say nothing else; that offended his vague sense of macho pride. Maybe he should watch the damn thing through, and call to tell Pierce what sort of movie it was... that would be a good excuse...

Jim leaned forward and held down the rewind button on the VHS machine, listening to the cassette tape whine as it respooled. When it was done, he laid back on his couch and watched the title credits to 'ZENTHAR THE BARBARIAN' scroll across his television again...

The earlier parts of the film, with the benefit of foreknowledge, no longer seemed quite so dreadful. If anything they were quite comical, and he caught himself laughing at them more often than not. The astoundingly realistic crocodile-lizard costumes still made the whole experience surreal, and held his attention even when the plot... did not.

Jim managed to ignore most of the over-the-top dialogue. The parts he bothered to listen to were more humorous than anything, like a recurring in-joke. Maybe he'd get it if he watched more; it could a deliberate facet of the film, like that horrid hospital horror-drama Pierce had shown him before. Strangely enough, by the time he made it up to the newer parts Jim had begun to feel a tingle of anticipation, almost excitement. He felt almost like he was... ready for something.

Zenthar strode manfully down another length of labyrinthine corridor, looking around with increasing suspicion. His eyes still bore a faint yellow tinge to them, but the discolouration seemed to fade as determination set on his face. "That was too easy..." he said to himself. "Did they let me pass..? Why?"

The torches along the walls were set further apart as he continued on, making eerie shadows stretch out along the long, empty halls. "Gods... there's no cover in here, if they see me coming..." Zenthar said, trying to stay closer to the walls. "I must try and keep out of the larger corridors like this, or they will know my position!"

Jim laughed as the barbarian jumped at a growling sound, and threw himself flat against the wall. "Yeah; you're as subtle as a Harrier parked in a supermarket," he said to the television, sinking deeper into his couch.

"Yes, indeed, I must try to use stealth here..." Zenthar continued, and for an absurd moment Jim wondered if he'd replied. No; obviously not! Just a 'dramatic' pause in his unending monologue.

The scene held on a long shot down the hallway as Zenthar 'snuck' through it, peeking into the darkened corridors leading off. He strained at each entryway for any sounds that might tell of more 'cursed crocodilian warriors' approaching!

Zenthar spied down one slightly-less dark corridor, brow furrowing as he tried to make out the sights and sounds beyond. Tiptoeing further, the barbarian found himself looking into a small canteen area off one side, staffed by a pair of aproned crocodilian cooks making ready a meal of some kind. Zenthar hastily withdrew as one of them began chopping apart a shank of meat with a butcher's cleaver.

The barbarian tested the next door carefully; it looked like some kind of locker-room, perhaps, and was empty. He moved along to the next; it seemed to be a bed-chamber, a little dusty and evidently long left unused, with only a single bed in the centre and plenty of ornate furnishings.

"What is this? The quarters of a once-favoured servant, perhaps? The Crocodile King has many advisors, minions and others at his beck-and-call, not just his warrior vanguard..." Zenthar mused. "Hmm, if I need to hide somewhere, this room might be worth remembering..."

Zenthar continued to move quietly along the wall. The sound of running water became increasingly apparent in the distance. He spied an ajar, lit door on the far side of the passageway, a dozen paces beyond the abandoned room. The barbarian darted forward with surprising speed for a man his size, and carefully looked into the lit room, from where the sounds of not only running water, but also strange, inhuman growls could be heard...

Zenthar found himself overlooking a balcony lined with detailed dragon-headed sculptures. Steaming hot water poured out of their maws, flowing down into a series of pools below. A large group of crocodilian soldiers were bathing in the warm waters, oblivious to Zenthar's presence though the balcony only afforded limited cover.

There was enough room in the massive bathing pool for the crocodiles to swim from chamber to chamber with powerful flicks of their thick tails, but others simply stood underneath the artificial waterfalls and let the warm water cascade down their powerful, spiny backs. Others gathered in twos and threes to scrub one another's scales with loofahs and liquid soaps held in glazed urns; the scene held on a pair who were slowly rubbing each other's tails. The raucous growls Zenthar heard were coming from another pair of warriors wrestling inside a shallow pool in the middle of the bathing chamber, their struggles sending splashes of hot water spraying as they fought.

The scene lingered on more of the bathing crocodiles, showing their powerful forms off in great detail. A shot slowly panned down a pair of crocodiles, from the inscrutable grins on their maws, to how they were roughly scrubbing their own bellyscales, to the way their tails flicked and splashed back and forth in the shallow waters. Another warrior was idly squeezing the front of his crotch as he watched them, the faintest hint of red-pink flesh visible past the turgid lips of his genital slit. Next to one of the deeper pools, a slow, extended shot showed a crocodile bending down low with his tail stuck straight out, pumping his arms forward thrice before gracefully diving into the water and emerging snout-first in front of another warrior who was more than ready to embrace his comrade...

Underlining it all was the sound of Zenthar's hurried breathing... getting deeper, and slower, as the scene continued and lingered. His knuckles whitened and then began to darken as he clutched the edge of the balcony for support, and a dark, almost bruised discolouration began to spread down from the tips of his fingernails. "G...gods..." he said. "I can feel the curse taking its hold... I cannot fight it while I am still weary from my journey... surely these creatures are like plague-bearers, carrying the Crocodile King's Curse with them wherever they go! I must hide away from them somehow to regain my strength..."

There was some sort of shout from below; it sounded like, "Dinner's up!", and the crocodiles began slowly, languidly slipping out of the bathing chamber and heading towards an exit somewhere below the balcony. There was the sound of a door closing shut... and then Zenthar was alone in the bathing chamber. He paused for a long moment.

"Mayhap this is fortuitous..." he said, spreading his hands wide and examining his oil-and-dirt stained body. "A soothing bath away from these servitors of evil will cleanse my body and restore my energy forthwith!"

He stood quietly, shutting the upper level door behind him, and made for a small stairwell that led down to the level of the bath itself. Steam surrounded him - and fogged up the camera - as he pulled the boots from his feet, stripped away the skimpy 'armour' he wore and loosened his loincloth and undergarment. He left them - together with his sword and wand- as he stepped into the water.

The scene showed Zenthar from behind- his ass was just as toned and oiled as the rest of his muscles- as he stepped into the water. A smile crossed his face as the shot shifted to the front of the warrior, his modesty protected by a strategically-sited bank of soapy suds. Zenthar gave a deep, relaxed sigh and closed his eyes as he slid the rest of himself into the hot, sudsy water.

"Just... a few minutes... I must not tarry..." he said to himself, taking a soapy loofah and idly scrubbing at his bare skin with it, taking a moment to swirl the coarse sponge around his prominent pecs. "Mmm... surprisingly soothing..."

The viewpoint drifted slightly, taking in a long view of the bathing chamber, showing Zenthar's pile of discarded clothes... then moving slowly back behind a low bench against the back wall, focusing on a set of crocodilian armour that had been left behind...

Zenthar ducked his head underneath the water and began to scrub his face and hair, and then worked the loofah underneath his armpits. As the shot continued, it drifted away from the bathing barbarian and towards a cluster of suds floating idly in the waters just behind Zenthar. The scene zoomed in even closer on the puffy suds, until they began to silently rise out of the water atop a long green snout. A crocodile's head emerged slowly from the bathwater. Its yellow eyes gleamed and it gave the unwitting Zenthar a toothsome smile...

Zenthar turned suddenly as though hearing something, but there was nothing to be seen amidst the drifting suds and churning waters. The barbarian shook his head. "I have been in this cursed place for too long; my mind is playing tricks on me. I must... find somewhere to rest my head..." he said, rubbing his temples as he strode out of the water. Water dripped off the barbarian's bare body as he tossed his long hair from side to side. The camera showed him from behind as he slowly dried himself off on one of the crocodile's banners, yawning quietly.

"The bedroom I spied earlier... that would surely be the safest place to rest..." he said to himself, putting his loincloth back on and gathering up his equipment as he walked back up the stairs to the upper level, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him...

The scene lingered on the bath as the door to the upper level closed shut, the noise prominent even amid the noise of falling water. For a moment, the waters were still save for the steady gush of fresh water... until the the hidden crocodile warrior surged from the suds he had been hiding behind with a splash.

Back outside the bath, Zenthar checked the corridor each way quickly. Seeing nothing, he darted through the hallway to the door of the abandoned bedroom and pushed it open, hurriedly closing it shut behind him. Zenthar placed his slightly damp armour on a nearby chair, donning his loincloth again, and looked around the room. "Hmm..." he said, pulling the dust-cover from the bed. "I may as well rest in comfort..."

**** ****

"Rest in comfort? As opposed to what, agony?" Pierce remarked to his television screen, before throwing another handful of popcorn into his mouth. Special effects notwithstanding, Pierce was starting to regret his decision to review the rest of the movie, if just a little. While it was undoubtedly important to know exactly what it was he might have to sell, it still wasn't exactly a riveting experience. That- and the rather expected-if-unwelcome recurrence of homoeroticism- was beginning to drain his willingness to finish the film. Though the set-pieces had gotten a lot bolder, and the camerawork less... lacklustre.

Zenthar went to sleep 'tossing and turning' as the scene finally came to a close, which the actor had ingloriously portrayed by jerking his head from side to side every while grimacing like he was having a cavity drilled. The shot spiralled around Zenthar's face as it faded to black and Pierce reached for his coke, beginning to take a long drink from it to clear the salty popcorn taste in his mouth.

Pierce was still chugging from the can when the next scene faded in, though the shot was still rather dark. There was some sort of odd, repetitive sound in the background, a strange kind of squelching... some monster approaching, perhaps? It was sort of like someone slapping a belt covered in grease against their hand...

The scene backed up to show - to Pierce's astonishment and horror - the crocodile from the baths hunched atop Zenthar's bed, stroking a ten-inch length of glistening, throbbing pink-red cock mere inches from the barbarian's face. The crocodile's yellowed eyes were prominent in the dim light; only a sliver of yellow shone from underneath the door. The camera cut rapidly between various angles and close-ups of the croc, as its breathing grew shorter and its tail rapidly flicked back and forth over Zenthar's bare stomach. The barbarian slept on obliviously, as the masturbating crocodile began to shudder. He held the tip of his engorged reptilian cock next to Zenthar's left cheek while squeezing the fat bulge at its base...

The camera zoomed in for a moment on the crocodile's maw, which was contorted in what was obviously the throes of pleasure... before it switched back to Zenthar's face, where pre-cum had been smeared across his nose and cheeks. The crocodile lizard's shaft throbbed hard as he squeezed and stroked it, and then a huge spurt of white fluid erupted from its tip, hitting Zenthar square on the bridge of the nose and splattering across his face. The crocodile gave a pleasured growl, leaning forward, the camera cutting to closeups of its twitching tail, clenched toeclaws, panting snout...

More ejaculations struck Zenthar on his left cheek and across his mouth as the barbarian started to stir, giving a strange moan as his face turned, white semen streaking across the other side of his face as well. Zenthar woke with a startled gasp, and another spurt of cum shot right into his open mouth...

Pierce sputtered, spraying soda down his shirt, choking for a moment and dropping the can as he fumbled for the remote, trying to remember which button was the 'off' switch!

"Fuck, fuck!" he shouted, appropriately enough, as he caught at the can, spilling only a few more drops on his already-soiled shirt, pressing buttons at random until he'd hit the off switch. He breathed heavily from shock for several moments, before numbly standing and walking over to turn the Betamax player off as well.

"...Fuck..." he repeated, dumbly. "Guess... nobody can complain if I label that as 'gay porn'... shit, gay crocodile porn?! Christ, some people are weird. Explains the fucking detail on the costumes and all the suggestive imagery... shit!"

He paused, realizing he was talking to himself. Babbling, really. Damn it all! Though... well, it was kind of a shock, but he felt more irritated he'd ruined a perfectly clean shirt. It wasn't exactly a shock the video had graphic gay content; after all, he'd thought it probably would, after seeing the first ten minutes.

Pierce sighed. He was absolutely, positively done with 'Zenthar'. If he couldn't track down the origin of the movie based on what he'd seen already then it was too bloody bad; Jim was going to have to do *that* bit of dirty work for himself.

Argh. There was no way he was going to be able to get to sleep anytime soon. Pierce cautiously turned his television set back on, immediately switching the input back to his blue-ray player. Maybe he should watch one of the better Star Trek movies for a while before heading to sleep; that way the evening wouldn't be a *total* loss...

**** ****

Despite the usual admiration of the cinematography in Star Trek II, Pierce found himself lying restless in his bed three hours later, the unfinished adventure of Zenthar preying surprisingly heavily on his mind. He had this strange, growing feeling that he was missing something obvious... but what? The film was about as subtle as carpet bombing, but there was something that made it stick in the back of his mind whenever he left his thoughts drifting. But *what* was it, exactly..?

It was an infuriating conundrum to inflict on one's self at half-past midnight.

He was aware that he dozed a few times; weird juxtapositions arising in his somniferous delirium; Captain kirk wrestling a crocodile-warrior in a deserted castle; Zenthar standing in line at the local electronics store; a horde of reptilian warriors walking around a hospital asking for medicine for their curse... whatever it was...

There was a strange noise in the room... a strange squelching noise... a strange, musky odour in the air...

Still half-asleep and maybe nine-tenths out of sorts from the previous day, Pierce tried to ignore the strange sensations until he felt a sudden, heavy warmth splash across his nose and lips. His eyes twitched for a moment as he began to awaken fully, until a cluster of similar hot, wet sensations spread across his forehead, cheeks, and throat. He heard a deep, animalistic hiss, and then felt the wet heat on his lips and the musky, cloying smell saturating his nose get a thousand times stronger...

Pierce gasped for breath, only to be met with something smooth and hot followed by a mouthful of sweet, salty fluids. Trying to jump up with a start, Pierce groaned as he felt something *heavy* suddenly jam down on his chest. His eyes shot open, darkness and sleep occluding his sight but not enough to conceal the figure kneeling over him in his bed...

The person above him had a snout... claws... wide, pale bellyscales... a thin, smooth, long torso... and, undeniably, a huge cock that was positioned mere inches from his face. The creature's was rapidly stroking its huge, spurting penis...

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT-" Pierce screamed, as his senses returned in a heady rush. His cry was abruptly cut off when the creature grabbed hold of his head by the hair and pulled his mouth down on its drooling member. Crocodile cum began to jet straight into his mouth, overpowering his sense of taste and forcing him to swallow the hot, surprisingly sweet seed. For an instant, Pierce felt a surge of alien need come over him, urging him, begging him to suck and lick the throbbing, still-spewing cock...

The creature shoved itself forward. Pierce felt his eyes water as he nearly gagged on the girthy crocodile dick, until he managed to pull his head free. The beast growled, but let Pierce collapse back on his bed. Cum drooled from his lips and rolled down his face and nose in sticky rivulets as he struggled for breath, completely unable to escape from the salty taste in his mouth and the overwhelming, cloying smell of croc-musk.

He felt the weight shift on his bed, and then rapid, heavy footsteps followed by a crashing sound from the living room. Pierce leapt from his bed, staggering slightly, still recovering from the shock, and in no condition to really give chase. He heard his front door close under its own weight as he stumbled into the living room and hit the light switch. Nothing, save for an overturned DVD rack; whatever it was had got away.

Did he dare give chase into the street? He needed to call the police and... no. What the hell was he going to say to *them*?

Pierce shivered slightly as the adrenaline wore off. Had he dreamed it..? No, there was... stuff... all over his face! Absentmindedly, he brushed some of the creamy fluids from his mouth, not clearing the sticky stuff so much as spreading it thinner and wider. It was just like... just like...

Hadn't he seen this in that damn movie earlier? Had he woken up with a nosebleed and misinterpreted it as... no, no. Blood did not taste like *this*, it wasn't this cloying and... and...

Was he only imagining that he'd seen it in the movie earlier? Or was that the dream? He suddenly wasn't sure... his eyes flicked over at the Betamax player, still trailing wires into his TV. It was easy enough to check, and he *had* to know.

Pierce fumbled for the remote almost in a panic, and hit the on-switch for TV and Betamax player, rewound a few seconds, and set it on pause.

Yes, there, just like he remembered; Zenthar, lying prone and oblivious; a thick ten-inch length of burly croc-cock being stroked, hard, inches from his face, already cumming; a huge wad of cum hung suspended in midair next to the warrior's prominent, already soiled nose...

Pierce realized he was sitting down... he'd confirmed that he'd not imagined it... why was he still... looking..?

He licked his lips involuntarily; the taste of the warm seed coating them was... was... rich... salty... and quite... good...

He fumbled with the remote a second, trying to find the 'stop' button; the image started to rewind. No, that wasn't it! He tried again; the tape started playing again... the familiar images racing across the screen; the curled toeclaws, grinning, gasping muzzle; the twitching tail...

The crocodile seed suspended in the air leapt forward again, exactly as he remembered it. Once, twice, then some landing in Zenthar's open mouth just as it had before. The barbarian struggled for a moment as some of the gooey semen leaked from his lips, but a moment later the crocodile warrior grabbed Zenthar by his long hair and pulled him forward, forcing the warrior's mouth onto his shaft; just like Pierce had been!

Pierce held his chest with one hand and gasped, feeling hopelessly confused as he felt his penis start to twitch at the combination of memory and the scene before him, as Zenthar swallowed the reptile's cum. The barbarian's eyes opened wide as the crocodile forced its dick into his mouth, until he wasn't so much fighting back as he was sucking very awkwardly and hesitantly...

Pierce felt weirded out more and more as he watched, his own penis hardening swiftly and unequivocally. He felt some seed still rolling down his face, and he licked it absentmindedly, tasting as if testing it...

"Yessss, Zenthar! Eat, drink, aaah, and be merry! Or should I say... be cursed!" the crocodile cackled as it withdrew its shaft from the human's gasping lips.

"No..." gasped Zenthar, as the crocodile sprang up from the bed, chuckling to itself as it stepped out into the open doorway, waiting there as if to watch. Its cock was still jutting prominently from its spread slit, glistening with spent fluids as the crocodile wiped it clean with its scaly hands.

Wiping thick white cum off his nose and cheeks, Zenthar grabbed his sword and belt from the table where he had left them, running out into the hall after the fleeing warrior - a task made more difficult by his immensely tented loincloth...

"Halt! You... you monster! What have you done to me?!" He shouted, bursting out into the hallway, only to find himself surrounded by at least ten leering crocodiles. The warrior who had defiled him earlier was standing in the middle of the crowd laughing, while the others were stroking themselves off, huge shafts glistening and throbbing in the dim light of the hallway...

"Enjoying yourself, Zenthar..?" one of the crocodiles asked, to a chorus of laughs from the others

Pierce's cock was hard by now, his mind still trying to catch up with how and why; he glanced down, seeing it throbbing against the front of his underwear. He could see a wet spot near the fly, and without thinking, touched it with his fingertip; but the second he touched it he couldn't help but start to gently tap his forefinger against the head of his penis. He tweaked his manhood lightly - suddenly unable to resist just a little stimulation - and gave an embarrassed, confused shiver as he kept watching...

"Accursed fiends! You'll pay for this indignity!" Zenthar shouted, bringing his sword up with a vicious sneer on his face.

A naked crocodile holding a broadsword in one hand and its dick in the other grinned at him. "No, Zenthar... you're paying for your arrogance. You thought you could defy the Crocodile King, and now you shall pay the price!"

"Not if I have... ugh!" Zenthar exclaimed, suddenly, dropping to his knees, letting go of his sword, clutching his stomach as if in pain. "The curse! Merciful Gods! Protect me!" he cried, the skin of his hands turning green in the flickering torchlight. The seat of his loincloth suddenly shifted slightly...

Pierce was suddenly aware that the light tapping on the head of his erect cock wasn't enough... something was missing. He soon began tapping at the head of his penis with a second finger, the gentle vibration rumbling through his length... the moistness of his own fluids starting to slick his fingertips as he brushed them down the front of his member. The gentle rubbing sent an electric sensation through his spine, like...

What was... *what* was he doing!? Pierce struggled to think through how he'd come to be watching Zenthar again, but his attention was torn back to the TV. Something dramatic was happening on screen...

He watched in rapt fascination as the Zenthar suddenly grabbed hold of his rear, eyes shut and quivering in what looked liked a tremendous mental struggle. A pair of burly crocodile warriors grabbed hold of the barbarian from behind, holding him still as he struggled and a bulge began to tent the back of his flimsy loincloth. Zenthar's struggles stilled and his breathing grew heavier and deeper as the bulge grew in size, until the squirming underneath the fabric flagged the back of his loincloth. The scene held on Zenthar's ass as he stood off the ground, unwillingly supported by the warriors at his sides until, slowly, the cloth began to falter. The tight undergarments were pushed away from his toned backside as the twitching, growing length forced it outward...

A crocodile tore Zenthar's loincloth off with his claws, pulling the ripped garment up to his snout and taking several deep breaths before throwing it to one of their comrades. Zenthar's eyes unfocused as he watched them playing with it, his undergarments tented in the front now as well as the back. Yellow seeped into his eyes again...

Pierce gasped as he watched the oddly-arousing sight, opening his mouth and leaning back slightly to let the last few drops of rich, musky cum rolling down onto his eager tongue. He used his whole hand to rub the length of his rigid cock inside tented underwear, using his thumb to tweak the head while his fingers squeezed his shaft...

The scene shifted back to Zenthar's backside as the warrior arched his back, the bulging in his undergarments now more than they could handle. Pierce grabbed hold of his dick through his underwear for a moment and squeezed his aching, throbbing penis as he watched Zenthar's tight undergarments rip in the back, torn by a short, stubby length of crocodilian tail. The short tail waved excitedly from side to side and then began growing larger, tearing more of Zenthar's undergarments away as it grew. The tail darkened to a deep green and began to grow two distinct rows of bumps along the back as Zenthar unconsciously wagged it, no longer struggling to break away from the warriors but still swaying unsteadily in their grasp.

Pierce gave a moan that sounded perverse and wanton - even to his own ears - as his balls gave a sympathetic throb at the sight of Zenthar's tail growing, taking with it with the last of the barbarian's waning resistance. Pierce closed his thumb around the head of his cock, squeezing it gently and panting as he watched Zenthar's tail grow and grow... ooooh, he could feel it; he was getting close, even though he'd barely touched himself! His tongue lolled from his mouth as as his balls tightened, and a strange *tension* built deep inside his body...

"Yesssss... you're succumbing to the curse..." one of the crocodile minions onscreen hissed.

"As we all have..."

"As will all who challenge the might of the Crocodile King!" more exclaimed in turn.

"Hah! We've bested your will now, adventurer! What makes you think you could... hold your own against us?" one of the creatures replied, with a rather lewd intonation, drawing its sword. The other crocodiles responded in much the same fashion, chuckling before they growled menacingly, circling around Zenthar. They grabbed his sword and the rest of his equipment from the floor.

"What is this..?" one of them suddenly exclaimed, holding up the Wand of Argath's fire.

The crocodiles grinned, exchanging lewd, sharp-toothed grins with one another. "Your pathetic magics will not avail you here!" their leader said, as they advanced on Zenthar. "Even Argath's might pales before that of the Crocodile King!"

"Let us show you..."

"No... no..." Zenthar cried, though his heart was clearly not in the protest. One of the crocodiles grabbed the wand from the other's claws, while the two crocs behind him manhandled him down to the ground, groping and stroking his still-growing tail as he did so. Zenthar struggled pathetically against the two reptiles holding him down, grunting with effort as they twisted his arms behind his back.

"Yessss..." The third crocodile casually walked around behind him, twirling the Wand of Argath between its black claws. The adventurer's undergarments were falling from him now, completely torn up in the back from where his tail had sprouted. They sagged still lower as he struggled against the scaled soldiers holding him down...

The camera zoomed in on the muzzle of the crocodile behind Zenthar as it held the wand up against its scaly lips and began to slowly lick the jeweled head of the wand with its long, broad tongue, slathering it with saliva as the wand pulsed and glowed. The gem atop the wand slowly lost its lustrous, red gleam and began to glow a sickly shade of green, and the music in the background rose into the same ominous, primal drumbeat that had played when he'd wrestled the bestial captain...

The crocodile holding the wand leaned down over Zenthar's oiled, bare back, hugging him close with one burly arm as he dangled the changed wand in front of Zenthar, who was barely struggling by now.

"See how easily the Curse subverts your powers, Zenthar? You'll be one of us soon enough; another proud servant of the Crocodile King!" the crocodile said, nuzzling the back of Zenthar's head and neck before bringing the wand down low, towards the hole torn in the back of the warrior's undergarment...

Pierce moaned; his whole body went nearly rigid as he felt the desperate edge of pleasure rising slowly and inexorably as he watched, breathless and panting. The feeling was far more powerful than usual, pent up as if he'd not touched himself for a month. His mind dredged up bizarre, vivid fantasies the likes of which he'd never before imagined; he wished there were powerful, sexy croc-men all around him, touching and teasing and stroking and cumming all over him as he stroked himself faster and faster...

Zenthar tensed as the wand was rolled against the underside of his stubby tail, and then prodded just underneath it. The angle of the camera only showed the wand disappearing underneath his twitching tail-stub at first, but the next shot was from below. Zenthar's growing tail was pulled straight up by the crocodile behind him, revealing the smooth, green flesh of his changing ass. The smooth, pointed jewel at the top of the wand was positioned right against the adventurer's tensed pucker. Zenthar's muscular thighs twitched like mad as the slick wand-tip was pressed against his defenseless hole, until the jeweled head was pushed deep inside him...

Zenthar gave a hissing, sultry moan as he was held down and forced to take the whole wand. The crocodile pushed it inside his taut backside at all angles, as scales broke out all over his sallow, ever-greener flesh and spread down his thighs and belly. His tail grew even longer, the ridges on both sides now prominent and spiny. Zenthar's eyes turned deep yellow, and his undergarments tore away completely, carried away by on the spiny ridges of his tail as it widened and grew out even longer. The barbarian moaned as his human shaft began discolour, throbbing like mad; it twitched slow and hard, a slit forming around it, and then suddenly...

Zenthar's new tail arched up behind him as he shivered powerfully, shooting jet after jet of his human seed across the remains of his underwear and the stone floor under him...

Pierce felt a strange shift in his back, a throb at the back of his underpants... his balls tightened almost like a vise as with a sudden, loud rip, the seat of his underwear tore through, and a thick, wide, green-scaled tail suddenly burst through it. The feeling of surging growth was more erotic than anything he had ever experienced. His stroking grew uneven; his fingers felt out of proportion to his hands, too top-heavy because of their long, claw-like nails...

Pierce felt his growing tail push between the couch cushions as it kept lengthening. He suddenly came, hard, gooey white seed spurting right through the front of his underwear, covering his hand. His eyes flicked between his tail and the events on the screen as he groaned in bliss, his balls emptying themselves as his sexy tail thickened and swelled, forcing him to sit up higher on the couch as it spread between his legs and he kept cumming and cumming...

**** ****

Pierce awoke with a start; it was light outside, he noticed. He glanced over at the clock on the wall; 9 AM? Early for him, but... what a weird fucking dream...

Details started to filter back to suggest that all was not entirely well. The TV was on; displaying static, the Betamax video fully rewound; it must have run on to the end. He was sitting on his sofa, naked except for his underpants... and he could feel his cock ensconced in a mess of sticky fluids and sodden cloth. There was a strangely salty taste on his lips that made him feel nauseous, dirty, violated somehow... and as he started to stand, confused as to what was happening, he felt the fabric of the couch smack dab against the bare skin of his backside, where his underpants had torn open.

Memories started to flood back.

He looked again at the silent static on the television. It was only when he picked up the remote to turn it off that he caught sight of the green, hairless skin covering his hands, and the prominent nails on the tips of his fingers...

The remote he was holding hit to the floor with a loud clatter, but Pierce barely noticed. He was too busy staring at his hands. He had to be dreaming! This kind of thing... didn't happen in real life! Was it some paint or something, a trick of the light?

His fingers felt stiff; he felt one hand with the other, rubbing the place along his wrists where patches of green scales transitioned into lighter green, leathery skin. The top of his hands had a trail of ruddy-brown, thicker scales along the top that felt insensate and tough. Faint discolourations along his chest and belly mimicked the same patterning of green-brown scales along his hands. Pierce rubbed the front of his short-clawed fingers along the knobby scales, still shocked at what he saw and felt. He took a deep breath and tried to think the adrenaline pouring into his system, yet no matter how many times he rubbed the thick scales or blinked his eyes clear what he felt and saw never changed.

"Jesus..." he whispered. He could still feel the gigantic hole that had been torn in the back of his underwear as he collapsed back onto his couch, before giving a startled yell as a sharp pain shot up his spine. He rolled and leapt up at the same time, feeling at his back, sure that there was something sharp digging into his skin...

...a short, thick, blunted protrusion extended from the tailbone, just under the waistband of his underpants. His fingers trembled as he held the stubby proto-appendage, squeezing it and feeling distant yet distinct sensations from the nerves within. "...Christ." Pierce said, this time louder.

It was insanity; it couldn't be. Was he going insane?

Pierce thrust his head into the couch cushions and tried to clear his mind. He must be forgetting something... this couldn't all have actually happened. It was like something off Jim's video, but that was absurd! It was nothing more than a long-forgotten but entirely mundane fetish video.

Wait... had there been an intruder last night? He'd been attacked... no, er... he'd...

He changed track mentally; there was a still part of him unwilling to confront what he *thought* had happened. There'd been someone, something, else in his apartment. Maybe it had all been a dream, maybe he was hallucinating things that he'd seen in that damned movie. He vaguely recalled... enjoying the things happening in the movie. Enjoying them quite a lot...

But how, why? Zenthar' was some horrid piece of fetish-y trash. Everything in his head was fuzzy...

"What the hell have you gotten me into, Jim..." Pierce swore, pulling himself up and staring blankly at his television screen once more. He picked up the nearly empty can of soda sitting on his coffee table and drained the last of the lukewarm liquid, swishing it around a bit in his mouth to clear out a strangely salty taste that lingered on his tongue.

Pierce refocused his thoughts. Jim. If anyone else would know more about the old studio, it would be Jim. He had to talk to his friend, and figure out what was going on before... before...

He stared down at this scaled hands. Pierce had seen enough monster movies to know what was going to happen to him if he didn't have answers soon.

****

Pierce dressed in a hurry after a quick shower, though that wasn't nearly enough to remove the lingering traces of his sleepless night. He threw on his winter gloves and a baggy pair of jeans to cover his claws and tail-stub before jogging to Jim's apartment building, trying to ignore the instinctual urge to sway his short tail as he jogged. Skipping the last few steps to the door of Jim's apartment, he knocked quick and hard and then stepped back, nervously flexing his clawed fingers inside his gloves.

"Jim?" Pierce hollered, after a few seconds without response. He knocked a few more times for good measure. "Jim, are you there?"

There was no response. As his heart and breathing calmed slightly and his anxiety rose, Pierce stepped close to the door and then put his ear up against it. He could hear faint sounds behind the door; a steady drumbeat, the muted sounds of metal crashing against metal, a few distinct grunts...

Oh no.

Pierce grabbed hold of the doorknob and twisted it, and to his surprise the door came open. Slamming it behind him and storming into the apartment, Pierce began to yell, "Jim! Jim! Stop! Don't watch the tape! Don't watch it! Just trust me! You've got to... to..."

His words trailed off into shocked silence as he ran rapidly past the entryway and into Jim's living room.

Sat in Jim's favourite spot on the sofa was an inhuman creature - lithe and crocodilian in form and rough outline, but with patches of humanlike skin, that even as Pierce watched were turning quickly green and scaly. Tearing sounds came from the creature's direction as the ill-fitting pyjama set it wore tore further and further, its muzzle growing longer, and its tail thickening and lengthening by the moment...

The reptile sat, staring glassy-eyed into the television screen; it didn't even seem to have noticed him. The creature's maw was half-opened, and occasionally it lapped at strands of white cum that covered its half-formed muzzle and leathery neck. More seed coated its green-brown bellyscales and its hands; the musky smell in the room was overpowering, and very familiar...

Pierce could hear a rhythmic squelching sound over and above the sounds of the movie, and he stepped slowly around to the other side of the couch, already sure he knew what he'd see. Sure enough, the crocodile was masturbating, stroking a slick, fleshy, partially-human erection; its scaled hand rubbed against a strangely shrivelled, off-colour set of balls just below its turgid, glistening wet cock. The top of the creature's hands and the sides of its arms were dusted with thicker, ruddy-brown patches of scales that looked familiar, *very* familiar. The patterning looked almost like the scales Pierce had noticed on his own hands...

The crocodile was a lot leaner than the huge, burly creatures of 'Zenthar', but the overall form was very much the same. It - Jim - was evidently the same species, but not cast from the same metaphorical mould...

"Jim?" he asked, in a hoarse and disbelieving whisper he could barely hear himself. The crocodile wearing Jim's pyjamas kept masturbating, utterly oblivious.

"En guard! You vile victims! Have you lost your senses? Do you not see the wicked workings of the curse at play!?" the television blared.

Pierce turned, and saw that 'Zenthar' was further along than he remembered watching. Zenthar still bore the tail he'd grown after his earlier confrontation inside the fortress, along with the beginnings of a muzzle and a set of stubby claws. The barbarian seemed to have lost his original clothing and equipment somewhere along the way, and was engaged in a pitched swordfight with a trio of sleek, athletic croc-lizards. All four of them were clad in similar looking loincloths, which swayed to and fro as they parried and pivoted away from each other's attacks. Zenthar was wielding a two-handed sword, striking heavy blows against the shorter swords the reptilian warriors wielded fierce enough to force them back with each parry.

The swordsmen were taunting Zenthar as they danced back and forth out of the deadly arc of his blade. "We can see it, Zenthar!"

"We can see it in you..."

"We can see you succumbing..." the three said, before all pressing in at once. Zenthar roared ferociously and took a whirlwind swing in front of them. All three stopped suddenly with a chorus of hissing cries, though no blood or other wound was visible. After a few seconds of pregnant pause, however, all three of their loincloths fell off their waists at once, exposing their swollen male-slits...

"J...Jim... can you... hear me?" Pierce asked, frozen, half at a whisper. "It's... doing something... to us..."

He felt strange... he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the screen, despite once again the ever-more homoerotic flow of events displayed there. He felt arousal growing again, at first a subtle touch deep in the back of his mind, but increasingly a less-than-subtle touch in his pants as well...

"...Pierce?" came the strange, hissing reply. But Pierce didn't respond; he only mustered a nervous gulp. His brain felt stuck, and his eyes kept turning back towards the television screen...

Zenthar, breathing heavily, gave a deep gasp and let his sword drop from his hands as though the weight was too much to bear. The three crocodilian males he'd been fighting with stepped forward, uncontested. The camera panned across their slitted eyes as they continued to chant together...

"Blessed are we, and cursed are you..."

"Join us in the service of the Crocodile King; feel the curse's embrace..."

"Revel in the pleasure, the ecstasy of hisss gift..."

The scene held on the three swordsmen as they casually threw their own weapons off to the side, turning and exchanging leering looks with one another. Already naked, their slits began to swell and distend as the pink-red tips of their malenesses pushed out from within, hard and glistening with slick, slimy fluids. Zenthar's eyes were drawn to each in turn, as his own loincloth slowly tented and his tail swayed back and forth behind him...

"Cast off your flesh, feel the embrace of your scalesss spreading..." one of the croc-lizards continued.

"Let your tail grow; let your claws lengthen... it feels so good, so sensual to bear the form of we 'cursed' ones..."

Pierce gasped in shock, feeling something stirring beneath him; his tail-stub suddenly sprang to life, thickening and spreading. It flowed underneath his ass like water as it filled his underwear to overflowing, the fabric stretching it strained to contain the growing appendage. He stood straight and stiff as he felt it push out further from his backside, pulling the front of his underwear snug against his cock. He anxiously shifted his weight from foot to foot as he felt his hips widen and rear grow to support his tail. But as the shock left him, he felt a warm, relaxing feeling wash through his body, and he felt himself drawn back into the movie...

One of the crocodiles was within arm's reach of Zenthar; he leaned forward and grabbed hold of the warrior's package through his loincloth and began to squeeze it, drawing a husky moan from the barbarian. Zenthar closed his eyes and hissed, tail jerking excitedly as his cock was fondled. "Feel your lussst overtake you, warrior..."

"J...Jim..." Pierce tried again. "Switch... it off... It's... it's..." He sought for the words, but it was hard to focus, hard to think about anything except... on the screen before him... sexy... reptile... males...

He turned to Jim instead. "P...please..." he said, his eyes drinking in Jim's changed form. That, he could focus on... the thin, lean, more 'natural' reptile form his friend wore, seemingly without even noticing. Somehow, it was even more attractive to him than the overly-built men on the video...

Jim's muzzle was hanging open, his tongue lapping gently at his sharp teeth in concentration, still gently stroking his erect cock... more as if to tease himself - or to prepare for more - than out of lust. He was slumped, relaxed, and so evidently enjoying himself; Pierce's felt his own cock throb for a moment as he remembered how he'd been much the same, only last night, watching the scene where... where Zenthar's tail grew...

"Mmmrrh... yesss... show him... show him how good it is..!" Jim said, in a strange, distracted, husky tone, not at all like his usual self, giving the head of his reshaping cock a long, slow squeeze.

"No..." Zenthar said on-screen, half-heartedly. The barbarian shook his head at the lithe croc-lizard in front of him, trying to avoid the creature's eyes. But he didn't resist when one of the other swordsmen pulled his head to the side and kissed him, nor when the third croc kneeled in front of him and began to nuzzle his loincloth with its long snout. The camera zoomed in lower, showing the creature grinning as it pushed its snout underneath the flimsy garment and began to lick Zenthar's inner thighs and ballsack with its broad tongue. Zenthar moaned, a deep rumble that was periodically cut off when he was kissed...

The crocodile licking at his thighs moved slightly, delivering a lick along the length of Zenthar's half-hard cock, drawing a louder moan from the burly male. A small drop of precum landed on the tip of the crocodile's snout; the crocodile that had been kissing Zenthar moved aside, and playfully knelt low to lick the droplet off its companion's snout. The third of the trio snuck behind Zenthar and pulled his tail straight upwards, drawing a confused gasp from the barbarian. Zenthar stumbled and fell as he was pulled off-balance, but the two crocodiles licking his cock caught hold of him as if they'd been expecting him to stumble, putting his arms out straight in front of him, forcing the startled and aroused barbarian down onto his hands and knees...

The camera focused in on the barbarian's throbbing shaft as the two croc-lizards underneath him licked it in turn, exchanging wicked glances with each other whenever they paused to nuzzle Zenthar's inner thighs or suck on his swelling balls, their own malenesses engorged and dripping with fluids. Wandering hands occasionally strayed over to their companion's maleness and stroked it once or twice, as the crocodile holding Zenthar's tail began groping and teasing at the underside with a practiced manner. One of the croc-lizards flicked his muzzle down to bite the barbarian's torn, damp loincloth and tear it off him, leaving him totally naked...

The human's sack began to pull up into the darkening, thickening flesh of his crotch as his sex began to change to resemble that of the reptiles. The skin along Zenthar's length seemed to pull back a long way as it became fully turgid, turning a shade of green that was, for a moment, sickly-looking before it brightened into a vivid, virile hue of red... the head began to show more signs of a taper as it lengthened, melding gracefully into the rest his shaft...

"Oohhh... yeah... yesss..." Jim whispered, beginning to squeeze himself more rapidly before beginning firm strokes. Pierce's jaw dropped as he saw the skin on Jim's shaft, too, begin to alter, the greenish tint spreading across it even as the motion of Jim's clawed hand seemed to drag it down towards the base, the tip starting to taper to a point as well...

"Jim..?" Pierce said again, now unable to tear his eyes away from the screen for more than a few seconds at a time. Zenthar was getting his cock sucked by one of the crocs now, while another kissed him and a third licked underneath his tail. The familiar yellow tint cascaded down the barbarian's eyes as they turned to slits...

Zenthar shook his head to the side, for a moment halting the changes. "Gnngh... No! Leave... leave me... be..." Zenthar protested, his cock drooling as it was licked harder in response, his hands and feet already becoming clawed and scaly, while the green, hardening skin around his lips and nostrils showed where a muzzle was forming once again...

"Yeah... yesssss..!" Jim hissed, his hips shifting as he twitched against his couch, the crocodile-lizard-man apparently unable to keep still in the throes of his pleasure. Pierce turned to see a powerful shiver run through his friend from snout to tailtip, as his balls retreated rapidly into his body, the shrivelled skin relaxing and scaling over, becoming indistinguishable from the scales of his undertail. Jim's cock rose up from the small, forming slit that surrounded it, rising even higher as a bulbous base emerged from the opening.

Pierce clutched uncomfortably at his own crotch, whimpering with confused arousal as he watched a jet of preseed shoot from the tip of Jim's changed cock, splattering across his scaly belly. Pierce's tailtip wriggled awkwardly in its cloth prison, his underpants feeling very full now...

"You sought the Crocodile King... and now you shall see him... after you accept his curse! Hehehehahahahahaha!" the crocodile rubbing the underside of Zenthar's tail laughed, leaning low over his back and stroking Zenthar's proto-muzzle, letting his cock tickle the adventurer's rear. "You enjoy these feelings, don't you?"

Zenthar's teeth gritted together as his muzzle grew another inch, his preseed drooling over the crocodile beneath him. Its companion crawled forward a little, the reptilian swordsman pulling Zenthar's forming muzzle into a kiss, holding the barbarian's head there when he tried to pull away. The green hue of his skin deepened, and the sharp outline of the muscle on his arm started to soften as scales overtook them. As the swordsman kissing him pulled back and grinned, Zenthar spluttered in confused pleasure, "What... are you doing to me?!"

"Why, Zenthar!" the swordsman chuckled. "Your flesh is being re-made into the glorious shape of the cursed ones, strong and sleek... though not as strong as us!"

As if to accentuate the point, the camera cut to Zenthar's belly, his rock-hard abdomen softening and slimming slightly, the musculature fading more and more as the third crocodile took his cock entirely into its maw.

"Your new form is so desirable! It compelsss us to touch you, stroke you, bring you such pleasure...!" The first swordsman continued, leaning forward to kiss Zenthar again. "Yes, give in, give in, let the ecssstacy take you... and join ussss!" it said, forcing its lips to the barbarian's again, its tongue pushing inside his blunt, forming muzzle...

Zenthar's muzzle parted willingly, and he gave a gasp as his whole body shook. He began to cum, the camera angle suddenly shifting to show him pumping his seed into the ready muzzle of the crocodile-lizard sucking him off. The scaled beast smiled and closed its eyes in contentment as it eagerly swallowed the barbarian's transmuted seed, pulling back only to let the last of Zenthar's release coat its broad snout...

"Yes... yes! Aaah!" Jim cried, his clawed hand stroking his altered shaft furiously before he spasmed hard and a huge rope of white seed shot from his cock, flying well over two feet into the air before landing on his scales with a wet splat. Jim caught part of the spurt in his gaping maw, though the rest of the massive spurt was strung across his snout, neck, the couch, and the floor behind him. He continued pleasuring himself as cum flew from his bulging croc-cock like a fountain, completely coating his muzzle and belly with fresh strands of seed as his legs and tail shook and he tossed his head violently from side to side. Jim moaned with bliss as the titanic orgasm died down... and just for a moment, Pierce saw Jim's slitted, yellow eyes catch sight of him, and a grin split his toothsome maw...

Pierce found himself stepping forward as if his body had a mind of its own, falling onto the sofa inches away from the creature that was Jim. The slight friction of cloth-on-cock at his motion was nearly enough to set him off, too; he could hardly remember feeling so aroused, even compared to last night! He fought internally; something was happening, he knew this wasn't normal and not even close to *desirable* but...

...he was... enjoying it... staring at Jim, the crocodile's hard cock still giving weak spurts of cum that pooled around his slit and ran down his thighs in sticky rivulets, the reptile huffing and panting as his shaft slowly ceased its drooling. Pierce couldn't tear his eyes off the crocodile's twitching, engorged member...

Jim saw him looking, and gave his pride a lewd squeeze followed a gentle stroke, grinning almost manically.

Pierce heard a zipper being undone, and realized with a start that it was his own. He felt his hand undoing the button to his jeans- somehow his belt was already loose- and then sucked in a breath through his teeth as he pulled his jeans down lower. His tented underwear sprang free immediately, and he gave a low gasp. He tapped lightly at the wet spot on the front, teasing himself...

...this was... familiar...

He and Jim exchanged a long, silent look with one another; Pierce felt his tail writhing underneath him, trapped against the sofa cushions and within his too-small underwear. He still felt like he was going to cum any second now, a sensation that was not dulled as he watched Jim lick at the croc-cum splattered across his muzzle. The smell of sex was overwhelming in the small apartment; hot and leathery and musky and wet, fresh and virile and oh-so tasty. Pierce licked his own lips- which felt unbearably dry- and wondered why he wasn't helping Jim clean his scales... maybe he should.. but... something about that... felt wrong...

Pierce gave an incoherent whimper, glancing around for the remote, a power cable, something that could break the spell that he *must* be under, it was the only explanation... but within moments his eyes were glued back onto the screen ahead, unable to bear looking away now that he was touching himself...

"So, this is 'Zenthar' the barbarian? The greatest adventurer in the lands? He of endless rage and tireless stamina? Well... we shall test one of those, yes..." Both Jim and Pierce hissed as, at long last, they saw the fabled Crocodile King come on screen.

The Crocodile King stood a good seven feet tall, a head above the praetorian guard that flanked him. Neat lines of sword-scars crossed his muzzle and shoulders, though the rest of his impressive frame was covered by a dull, pockmarked breastplate and a flowing red cape with golden trim. There was no crown atop the King's flat head, though a glowing medallion embossed with the symbol of a crown hung around from neck. His eyes glowed in the dim light of the hallway... no, not a hallway. Zenthar had been dragged into a throne room, filled with treasures and servants.

Zenthar seemed hypnotized by the King's presence; he made no move to run or break away from the soldiers surrounding him, though they barely even blocked his way. The barbarian's humanity was a ghost of what it once was. Aside from the soft, patternless scales on his belly, the blunt, rounded curve of his under-developed muzzle and the faint look of confusion in his eyes, Zenthar looked like a slightly leaner version of the other croc-lizards in the room. His once-imposing musculature had faded into a taut coating of scales... and perhaps it was the contrast with the Crocodile King, but he seemed a little shorter too...

"Through the centuries, countless heroes and armies have sought to slay me and break my kingdom. Thus far, all they have accomplished is to add to my power, and bolster the ranks of my servants! Do you think this is the first fortress I have built? Hah!" the Crocodile King barked, accompanied by hearty chuckling from the rest of his retinue. "Once the lands around my old capital have been converted by my Curse, I must move on, and find new lands to 'conquer', haha..." he continued, "...and you, Zenthar, are the first hero of this new realm to succumb... and so you shall have a place of 'pride' here for the remainder of my stay... and possibly longer if I find you appealing"

"Place of... pride...?" Zenthar replied, haltingly. His muzzle hung open after he spoke, and his yellowed eyes stared at the Crocodile King with obvious, confused lust. The King's armour did little to hide the massive erection he was sporting- just under a loincloth as flimsy as the garments formerly worn by the smaller crocodile-lizards- as the King licked his lips, eyeing the changed man.

"Yes... a place of pride as my concubine, the servant of my personal needs..." the Crocodile King said, returning Zenthar's gaze with a toothsome leer. "It almost seems a waste of your once-famed strength... but I'm afraid I very much prefer submissive servants to attend to my needs. There is nothing sweeter than to feel a delicate, fragile, male body writhing under me... ready to be conquered..." The King grinned, and beckoned Zenthar over with a curled claw, smiling evilly into the camera...

Zenthar gave a strange, strangled gasp and stumbled forward as though drunk, pushed forward by the ranks of soldiers around him. He fell into the King's arms and pressed himself against the mighty croc-lizard's solid breastplate, before being picked up and carried bodily over towards a regal-looking bed set in the back of the throne room. As he was carried, Zenthar started to struggle.

"N...nyaah..." he said. "N...no... wait...", he protested, seeming uncertain.

"Come now, 'hero'... are you so afraid as to try and run instead of admitting defeat? Submitting to your better?" the Crocodile King asked, leaning forward and pressing his muzzle to Zenthar's, forcing the only-slightly-smaller-male into a deep kiss.

Zenthar froze for a long moment... then suddenly he threw his arms around the Crocodile King's broad shoulders, giving a whimpering moan; his body seemed to shrink further, his tail and muzzle growing longer and the yellow tinge in his eyes spreading to cover his irises completely. The last of his powerful musculature melted away as the six-foot barbarian became a five-foot crocodile-man, his jutting erection pressing against the Crocodile King's breastplate as the King effortlessly commanded him, changed him.

The Crocodile King cradled him as he finished changing, stopping beside the bed...

Pierce was breathing heavily by this point, nearly senseless with sexual tension. He felt the potent haze of pleasant sensations overcoming his last shreds of resistance, and spread his legs wider and slouched down on the couch to make more room for his growing tail. It was all for naught, though; his tail ripped through the back of his underwear and then pressed against the underside of his denim jeans, prompting him pull them completely off in an uncoordinated frenzy. Pierce could feel his growing claws pushing through his fingers and toes, and stranger things happening to his maleness as it seemed to inflate further, warping and shift away from the familiar human shape inside his underwear. He pulled his fly open and watched as it began to lengthen and throb, becoming more and more like Jim's!

Jim gave a grunt, and Pierce glanced across to see Jim staring almost hungrily at Pierce's changing cock, Jim's already-changed crochood rapidly re-hardening. His leg spasmed again as his tail grew, forcing him to change his stance yet again, accidentally sliding against Jim's rough-scaled leg. Pierce gave a low gasp at the scale-on-scale contact, wanting more.

Pierce lay back against the arm of the sofa, his legs instinctively curling around Jim's scaly tail and brushing off some of the torn scraps of cloth that were stuck to it. Jim, likewise, wrapped his legs around Pierce's surging tail, and then threw an arm around Pierce's neck, giving a faint whimper of desire. They glanced uneasily at each other, and then back at the television screen, greedy to touch each other's bodies and yet still unwilling to take the initiative, or at the very least hesitant to do so. Both were more than half-fixated on what was happening on the screen...

Zenthar was lain, quickly but gently, on the edge of the bed, bent over it with his muzzle hanging open as if wondering why the King had broken the kiss. The grinning Crocodile King was taking his time with his newest convert; Zenthar gasped as the mighty reptile sucked on his tailtip and massaged the thick, scaly curves of his ass, drawing hissing moans from the erstwhile barbarian and subdued murmurs of approval from his retinue. Most of them were lewdly masturbating or exchanging very explicit glances with one another, their tails whipping behind them in involuntary, excited spurts of movement. Zenthar was entirely unrecognisable as the burly, manly human who'd swaggered heroically into the fortress; he was now a short, thin crocodilian creature that moaned in a shameless, surprised lust with every suck on his tail His cock was hard and throbbing as the burly male behind him gradually moved his loincloth aside to reveal his huge, crocodilian pride, Zenthar drooling eagerly at the sight...

The camera focused in on the Crocodile King's massive erection as fat beads of pre-cum leaked from the tip and fell down onto the bed. The king rubbed his massive phallus with a clawed finger, and then brought it up to his muzzle, licking it slowly before reaching down and gently teasing the tender scales under Zenthar's tail. The camera went in close as Zenthar gave a moan full of intense lust, hissing as the tip of the king's digit pressed against, and then into his tailhole...

Both Pierce and Jim stared at the movie, minds entirely subsumed in the moment, as the King slowly prepared Zenthar's tail-hole, seeming to savour each moment with his new concubine. A servant stepped forward and unclasped the King's breastplate as he pushed his finger in deeper while another removed his cloak, their ministrations practiced and polished. The now-nude King leaned down low over the lithe male under him, holding Zenthar against his muscular chest in a mighty bear hug while one finger continued to work his tailhole. The king's titanic cock erected in slow throbs, pushing between Zenthar's legs and rubbing against the smaller croc-lizard's own rigid maleness...

Neither Pierce nor Jim seemed to notice that they were both uncurling their feet and tails from one another and pulling their hands away, their focus wandering from one another more towards their own changing and changed bodies. Jim was entirely unrecognizable as himself now, or even human for that matter. He'd entirely transformed into a lean, green-scaled, anthropomorphic crocodilian form. Pierce could barely process that he himself, too, was looking less and less human and more and more scaly by the second. He had the same build, same bulbous, sexy cock...

He turned back to the television. The Crocodile King was humping against Zenthar's tail-hole, making it wet and slick with pre-seed. The moment of penetration was shown from below; Zenthar's ruddy tailhole slowly spread open as the king's pushed his tapered cock-head inside and held it there for a spell, before forcing the rest of his huge member inside Zenthar's taut, raised ass. The scene shifted to show the mating pair from the front- Zenthar's eyes squeezed tight in pleasure, maw agape and drooling, the King grinning with lust, his eyes narrowed and piercing- as the two croc-lizard hissed out in ecstasy.

Zenthar reached up under his belly to grasp his throbbing croc-hood with a wavering hand, but the instant he made contact and attempted a short stroke the Crocodile King grabbed his hand and pulled it up behind his back. He then followed suit with Zenthar's other arm, forcing the smaller croc's drooling muzzle into the silken sheets as he leaned forward, shoving more of his huge maleness deeper into the smaller male beneath him...

"You're mine now, Zenthar... all of you..." the King huffed in a husky whisper; Zenthar's only reply was a desperate, mewling cry and a spasm of nods.

The camera angle changed, showing the Crocodile King taking Zenthar from behind in explicit detail, his mighty flanks taut with strength, tail low and straight to counterbalance each slow, deliberate thrust. Zenthar, on the other hand, was squirming frantically underneath him, limbs spasming at the apex of each thrust, when the King's cock was sheathed all the way inside his tail-hole...

Pierce felt a pressure build along his face as he watched the lewd scene continue, still feeling a deeply confused as to why he felt so *needy* at the sight... why it felt so good to rub the rim of his own tailhole. He'd never imagined it might feel so good just to be tickled down there. He pressed against the fleshy opening with one of his fingers, sliding it inside his warm, tight hole, wishing that the magnificent Crocodile King was mating *him*...

The very thought made him pant and growl in lust, his finger sinking deeper into his tail-hole without conscious thought, pressing for the first time against a strange, pleasurable knot of flesh inside his body...

Jim watched him and growled in lust, wasting no such time in slow exploration, instead shoving one of his cum-slickened fingers into his own tailhole. They turned and grasped at each other's bodies with their free hands, exchanging wary, confused looks as they continued to explore their own tailholes before being drawn back towards the television screen...

The King's smile grew wider as the savage mating continued, less intense and more pleasured. He took the time to lick the top of Zenthar's snout and nuzzle the back of his head, though the pace of their fucking never once seemed to slow. If anything, it was growing faster all the while, more intense and animalistic, the rhythm gradually building and building in speed. Zenthar struggled and begged, cried and laughed, fought against the King and bucked his ass up into the thrusts, but was helpless to do much against the reptile dominating his shrunken body...

The intense mating continued for countless, the moans and pants and lewd, squishing thrusts growing faster and more frantic. Both Pierce and Jim finger-fucked themselves faster as well, periodically hugging each other and mindlessly begging to be mated, the finger exploring their tailpassages turning to two, then three...

Pierce was so absorbed into the film he didn't even notice his toeclaws tearing through his socks and his shoes splitting apart at the seams, nor the throbbing growth of his muzzle as he completed his changes. All he could focus on were the bursts of pleasure coming from deep inside his ass as he toyed with his own tailhole, and the sloppy, squishing sound made by his finger-fucking... along with the similar sounds Jim was making as he forcefully fingered his own hole...

The scene zoomed in on the Crocodile King's muzzle as he loosed a powerful growl. He bit Zenthar's scaly neck- drawing a gasping hiss from the barbarian- and then kissed it tenderly, before saying, "You... are... mine... and by taking my ssseed... you'll be mine-- forever..."

Zenthar's eyes- now yellowed slits like the other croc-lizards- closed for a moment before he whispered, "A-ahhh... m-mate me mighty King!"

"F...fuck me..." Pierce moaned.

"Mmmooorrrrreee..." Jim whimpered, hugging Pierce tight as they both thrust hard into their own tailholes, their proud, erect cocks leaking preseed all across their own bellies and running in rivulets between their hips as they pressed together, desperate to feel the touch of another reptile's scales but focused entirely on the video...

The Crocodile King chuckled. "I'm already mating you... yes?" He asked, giving Zenthar a forceful thrust that made a tremor run through his body.

"Yesss..."

"Yessssss..." Both Pierce and Jim moaned simultaneously.

"Cum for me..." The King whispered. "I want to feel your tail-hole squeeze me while I seed you..."

All at once, Zenthar, Jim and Pierce cried aloud.

"Ahhhh-sssssss!"

"Yesssss!"

"Mmmmm-yessss!"

Zenthar began to moan, his cock giving a sudden jerk as precum flowed suddenly from it in a torrent. He groaned aloud, a sudden hard spurt of cum erupting from his twitching phallus and coating his chest and chin as his body obeyed the Crocodile King's command..!

Pierce felt the edge of orgasmic bliss blossom from somewhere deep inside his tailhole in the same instant, and he pressed harder, adding a fourth finger quickly and desperately as his cock began to buck hard, slapping against his own belly. A spray of seed hit his muzzle suddenly as Jim gasped, the body pressed close to his writhing suddenly as climax overtook Jim, his cock erupting even more mightily than before!

Pierce felt a floodgate open deep inside him, and his own cock began to cum as more of Jim's seed jetted against the underside of his muzzle. He opened his maw, half-deliberately, half-lost in pleasure, lapping up the salty-sweet taste of Jim's deliciously salty crocodile-cum with his tongue. His balls throbbed almost painfully as they emptied, his seed spurting hot across his belly and Jim's neck, shoulders and abdomen. Within seconds they were both covered in a hot mix of each other's cum, and they were still deep in the throes of orgasm. Pierce growled and closed his eyes tight as he felt seed down on his snout in a hot, heady rain. He half-turned, his tailhole making a lewd slurp as he pressed his fingers into himself over and over, lubricated now with a growing flood of cum trickling from his spasming cock as he hugged Jim closer, pressing his hot, throbbing cock against Jim's and feeling their cumming dicks pulse together...

The climax felt like it took forever to dissipate; even when his balls felt totally emptied, Pierce felt cum slowly drool down his tingling, rock-hard crochood. Every so often he'd regain enough focus to take notice of the television again, lustfully drinking in more images and sounds that seared themselves into his mind. The Crocodile-King was pumping load after sticky load of seed into Zenthar's tail-hole, until the other male's ass was coated in leaking cum and his stomach was distended by the sheer volume of semen he'd been fucked with. But even after all that, Zenthar's ordeal was far from over. The Crocodile King- still panting from his most recent climax- gestured to his masturbating praetorians, coaxing open Zenthar's maw and having them cum into it in pairs and threesomes...

"Lick it clean, lick it all up..." the King said, pressing Zenthar's snout into the groin of the nearest warrior, moving his maw around as one of the guard's came all over his snout.

Pierce and Jim's kept masturbating, fingering themselves, licking seed off their scales, hugging each other and bathing in their musk-laden cum as the film continued to descend deeper into perversion. Pierce was shaking uncontrollably and only vaguely aware of himself by the time he went through his fifth climax, brought on by watching the Crocodile King frot and cum repeatedly over Zenthar's erect shaft as two warriors took his well-used tailhole from behind at the same time. The sight reflecting off the television screen- two identical crocodile-lizards hugging and fingering their tailholes- was nearly as hot as what the film depicted, if not more so. Half-turning, he saw the look of mindless lust on the masturbating croc-lizard next to him, and felt a flash of need run through his body like a tremor...

Pierce felt himself slipping off the sopping sofa and reflexively reached for something to steady himself when his hand hit something solid and plastic, between the seat cushions... the remote!

He vaguely remembered that he needed to turn the TV off... stop the tape... something was wrong; it distracting him... or... he couldn't think, couldn't focus, not with an eyeful of dripping, throbbing reptilian cocks on the screen...

Pierce hit the buttons on the remote at random as he came again, fingers trembling as he felt each slow, powerful pulse from his erupting crochood. He could feel each surge of wet, warm pleasure twinned by a splatter of croc-cum against his muzzle and spikes of slow pleasure from inside his tail-hole- which he was still passionately fingering- when the screen suddenly died...

As the picture blinked away, he felt a curious tension leave him. Pierce exhaled in sudden relief, reaching up to scratch and knead affectionately at the knobby scales of the reptilian male whose snout was pressed close to his own...

He felt the familiar frisson of pleasure run through his belly and cock as his climax died off, now replaced by the familiar feeling of hazy relaxation and release instead of the insatiable need that the film had been feeding. The body his legs were wrapped around seemed to be... shifting... scales growing warmer, smoother, and clammier as well.

Pierce turned to look at Jim. He could see hair sprouting over the creature's head as its muzzle shrank, and the tail whipping behind it turned soft and fleshy. Jim pulled his fingers from the tailhole under his shrinking appendage, shuddering powerfully. Pierce felt Jim's arm pull away from his side, and began he searching the other male's gaze in confusion. Jim shivered and blinked several times in confusion, yellow, slitted eyes ballooning back into the familiar blue, rounded shapes as the spell seemed to break.

"Jim..? Ah... what... what was... that... I-I'm sorry... I don't know..." Pierce slowly stammered, scooting himself to the very edge of the couch and then falling backwards over the armrest in his panic. He fell into his tailbone, which was shrinking but still large enough to cushion the impact without much pain but with a hell of a lot of shock.

Pierce scrambled onto his hands and knees before pulling himself back up using the couch for support, only then noticing that he was completely naked and partially crocodilian without remembering exactly why or when that had happened. His tail wavered behind him, now nearly a foot in length; his hands were clawed, green, and scaly nearly up to his elbows. As he slowly sucked in deep, rejuvenating breaths in the musk-laden air, he could feel his softening cock retreated into a warm vent, his testicles snug behind it in a pleasantly-tight pouch of scaly skin. He peered over the edge of the couch to see Jim almost entirely changed back to his old self, kneading his temples and shaking his head from side to side as his muzzle slowly shrank away.

"Pierce... what the *hell* are you doing here?" Jim hoarsely shouted, though the energy drained from his voice soon thereafter. "I'm... feeling sick today; I'm in... no mood for your damn foolishness..."

Pierce, flabbergasted, stared at Jim with his mouth agape. "A-a-a little sick!? I-I mean, I mean, sick!? With what, crocodile fever!? Jim, are you daft? Are you mad? Have you... don't you remember what..."

"What are you on ab- would you get out! I'm not properly dressed, you know!" Jim shouted back, suddenly aware of his own nakedness. "Look at what you made me do; I just ripped my pajamas!" He said, after a furtive glance at the shredded, cum-sodden clothing scattered over his body. "And I've... spilled my drink..." he said, sounding a little less irate and a lot more confused.

"What *I* did!? Are you out of your bloody mind!? Jim, listen to me: that-that movie you found? It- it's doing something, it-it *did* something to us. I don't know *what*, I don't know *how*, but..." Pierce said, drawing in a deep breath before rising to his feet with the support of the couch. "Think! What was on that movie? What do you remember?"

"Well... I... what, Pierce, what the fuck is your problem?! What's with this interrogation, damn it?!" Jim replied, angrily. "I fell asleep, okay? It happens, I'm under a lot of stress!"

Pierce hadn't expected that answer, and he was momentarily dumbstruck. "Wh... oh... you... you really don't remember? I mean... none of it?" he asked. "Doesn't the... state of this place... I mean, really, you don't remember?"

"Remember what?!" Jim said, standing, before suddenly realizing his groin was bare; he covered himself with some of the remaining scraps of cloth, with a quiet yelp, noticing that the liquid covering his chest was rather sticky and thick, much too thick and pungent to be tea. Jim looked around, as if taking in the scene for the first time, now noticing that Pierce was in a similar state of half-dress, covered in similar fluids, and... "Oh, holy fuck! Pierce, you've got a fucking tail! And... and claws!" he said, almost at a shout. "Holy fuck, what the hell is this?! What have you done to yourself?!"

Pierce started to reply, then did a double-take. "We... wait, what? Me?! The hell makes you think *I* did this?! It's your damned video! It's... I don't know what the fuck it is, magic, brainwashing, who the fuck knows? All I *do* know is, I watched it just now with you, and it... it did this! And we... er..." he paused, blushing furiously all of a sudden. His strange attraction to Jim as a crocodile was gone; the idea of entangling himself so with another man was... ugh. "You changed back completely, I got... stuck... I don't know, okay! But we need to do something, this is horrible... we've got to destroy the tape! Or... or something!"

There was a long pause between them. "Jim, please... help me out here! I don't know what happened, but it affected you, too, and now you don't even remember!" Pierce pleaded.

Jim licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden shudder cut off his reply as he got a taste of the semen left around his mouth. He reached a trembling hand over to the mostly-unstained cushion sitting to his left and slowly, gingerly placed it over his crotch, before turning back towards Pierce with a glazed-over expression on his eyes. "Pierce... something's wrong."

"I know, Jim." Pierce replied.

Jim shuddered again, half-avoiding Pierce's eyes as he spoke. A flood of half-remembered, very weird dreams were coming back to him slowly, sweeping away his illusions as it did.

"...Very wrong", Jim added, as more of the dreams- or perhaps memories- came back to him.

"I know. We've... we've got to do something about this. I don't know if we should call the police, or..."

"No, no." Jim said, shaking his head fiercely. "I- I think we'd best deal with things ourselves. We can't involve anyone else until we know what we're dealing with here. What if we're contagious? What if they... experiment on us, or something? I think we... we can't risk it... what would we even say..." his voice went to a desperate whisper.

"I don't know..." Pierce said, half-heartedly. He'd been hoping Jim had a good idea. He had little clue what to do himself. Pierce sighed. "We could call... uh..."

Jim interrupted him "Who, exactly? The movie people; the BBC? The bloody S.A.S?"

"I think you mean BBFC... and, er, I suppose not." Pierce replied. "I couldn't find any records or anyone who knew about the film online, and the military would probably shoot us on sight..."

"Exactly." Jim said. "We've... we've got to take the initiative, Pierce; figure this out for ourselves before things get any worse. And... ergh, get cleaned up!" he said, not even wanting to think about how much... mess... was all over his small living room. And himself. "I need to take a shower." he mumbled, walking to his bathroom. He stopped suddenly before he crossed the threshold, and stuck a finger out at Pierce. "I'm going to take a shower. Then, you're going to take one. And after that, we're going to go back to my Uncle's damned studio and get to the bottom of all this."

"Woah! Jim, are you out of your mind? We... I... can't go out in daylight, not like... like this! It was bad enough coming over here!" Pierce said, his tail wriggling of its own accord with frustration. It felt... weird.

"You managed it before, you'll manage it now." Jim said firmly. "You can borrow a long jumper or something and wear a thick coat. Look, we can't wait around; who knows what else is going to happen to us? If there are any clues to be had, they'll be in that damned studio. That's where the tape came from, after all."

"Alright." Pierce said after a moment, holding his tail still behind his back; he wasn't sure he agreed, but it beat arguing and he was fresh out of ideas.

Jim disappeared from the doorway, and then Pierce heard the bathroom door slam shut and the shower turn on full blast.

**** ****

They drove in near-silence to the studio; Pierce sat awkwardly, his tail constricted by the car seat and irritated by the baggy clothing Jim had loaned him. Jim, too, sat awkwardly, his backside feeling a little tender, for reasons he wasn't sure he wanted to remember.

They both remembered- vaguely- some of their earlier antics, and it disturbed them greatly. Whatever was happening, they wanted it to stop. But vague stirrings of arousal kept coming unconsciously to them both whenever they let their minds wander. Pierce had to hide his half-erect penis underneath a few of the folds of his jeans, and Jim kept strategically scooting up and down in his seat as he drove on in silence. It was but an echo of the strange draw they'd felt earlier, transformed; a hunger that didn't build in intensity but never quite went away either. Their eyes seemed drawn to one another like magnets, and it took a conscious effort of will to turn them elsewhere...

Jim parked around the block from the abandoned studio, fumbling in his coat pocket for the keys while Pierce gingerly slid himself out of the passenger seat, holding his gloved hands together. "What now?" He asked, looking with a touch of dismay at the run-down building. Whatever studio had once been here was clearly long-gone. "It's been deserted for... years, at a guess."

"There's still stuff inside; most of it's empty, but there's old filing cabinets, a desk, lots of paperwork... that's where the video was, so there could be something else, too."

"Er..." Pierce thought, suddenly not very enthusiastic about the possibility of finding a second tape. "I guess we need to be careful, then? Who knows what else might be lying around?"

"I don't know; that's the bloody point!" Jim snapped, shutting the car door with a touch more violence than was really necessary. "Let's just look around and be done with it; we might find something, a forwarding address, contact details, names... who knows?"

"A magic remote, a crocodile demon, a-" Pierce began.

"Pierce, considering your *state*, I think joking is a little unwarranted at present." Jim said coldly. "Besides, if there was anything dangerous I'd have run into it the first time I was here."

"...you *did* find something... well, kind of dangerous..." Pierce said.

Jim gave him a slightly venomous look, but it melted away quickly. They both shook their heads, the eye contact stirring something they couldn't identify. "Never mind, let's just get going..." Jim said, turning and striding quickly toward the building, plucking the key from his pocket and unlocking the door in a smooth motion.

Pierce followed him inside, coughing slightly on the dust their entrance stirred. He could see footprints on the floor; Jim's, he presumed. "Right... the place is deserted, I take it? Those... were there when you left?" He asked, pointing.

"They're mine, yeah... the office was this way..." Jim said hesitantly, stepping forward quickly and letting Pierce follow behind him. "The rest of the rooms are empty."

Pierce opened his mouth to say, "Maybe we should check", but decided staying quiet was best.

The office was as dusty as everywhere else, except where Jim had brushed it off the desk and some of the filing cabinet drawers. They searched quickly, but there seemed to be nothing much different, nothing out of place, no real clues... the desk drawers had all been emptied by Jim on his first visit, save for some paperclips and lint...

Jim jumped as Pierce suddenly broke the near-silence.

"Hey, what's this?" Pierce said, picking at something behind the drawers. "There's a poster behind the cabinet here."

"Poster?" Jim replied, looking over to where Pierce was.

"See?" Pierce said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and shining the bright-lit screen at the filing cabinets. Sure enough, just behind them the edges of a dusty poster could be seen, including a little corner where it had begun to peel away...

Pierce tried pulling the cabinets back, but found them too heavy to manage even empty. Jim walked over to help without saying anything, and their combined efforts slid the heavy steel away to reveal a flat, square poster covering the back wall.

"Huh..." Pierce said, brushing away the dust covering the poster. Underneath the years of grime, a figure that looked suspiciously like 'Zenthar' could be seen wrestling with a huge snake-tailed figure.

"Coming soon, 'The Legend of the Black Viper'..." Jim read aloud. "I wonder if-"

Pierce pulled on the peeled-away corner of the poster, but he tugged too hard and ripped a handful clean off the wall. Jim was about to admonish his friend's incautious behaviour, when he caught sight of something behind the torn poster. The corner of a small door, recessed slightly into the wall...

"Well now." Pierce said, tearing the rest of the poster away and setting it on the desk with exaggerated care before examining the door from a distance. "What do you suppose is down there?"

"Only one way to find out." Jim replied.

"Suppose so." Pierce said, standing back as Jim worked the handle. It turned easily enough, though the hinge gave a terrible creak as the door swung open...

Pierce stepped forward and shone the dim, blue-tinged screen of his cell phone's over the doorframe, revealing the rungs of a small ladder and a dusty wooden floor perhaps five feet down, along with the edge and first steps of another stairway descending further.

"Jim... are you sure about this? I'm... I'm really not so sure this is a good idea anymore..." Pierce said, unable to stifle his tail's twitching any longer. He felt an unquenchable urge to take off his jeans and let it hang free.

"Well... we're not going to find anything up here, are we? Come on, you've got your phone, right? Call the police if anything goes wrong", Jim said, with a weary, blasé tone. "Look; if there was anything down there, why would it be so damned dusty?"

Pierce thought for a long moment. "...Maybe there's another way in, or something..."

"Enough excuses!" Jim said, coughing slightly on the dusty air. "Come on, you want to have a damn tail forever, or are you going to do something about it?"

Pierce screwed up his face in a grimace, but the fact that the answer to Jim's question didn't come easily made his cheeks flush. "No," he said dumbly. "Of course not..."

"Right, then let's carry on and see what's down there. Pierce, this is exactly what we came here to look for!" Jim said, stepping onto the ladder, and making his careful way down. "Damn... I don't see a light switch..."

"Here, take my phone. Just be careful with it." Pierce said, offering it to Jim with one of his gloved hands.

Jim took Pierce's phone and shone the light down below him as he descended the steps, and then held it against the ladder while Pierce climbed down. He offered it back to Pierce, but he didn't take it.

"One second." Pierce replied, taking a moment to take off his gloves and set them aside on the middle rungs of the ladder before taking his phone back. "Damn gloves were making it hard to use the touchscreen." Pierce said, coughing a bit in the dusty air before shining the light over on the next set of stairs.

It was a short descent to the ground floor, broken up by a small landing midway. The stairwell bent around and led underneath the studio proper; past the stairs, a short hallway led off into a long corridor flanked on both sides by doors.

Pierce and Jim walked down the hallway slowly, led on by the dim light of Pierce's phone. "Wait." Jim said, pausing at the first door and carefully turning the dusty brass knob.

"Do you hear that..?" asked Pierce. He paused as he realized that the faint, indistinct sounds were coming from further down the hallway. He strained his ears to hear it, but he could barely make it out. "What's that noise?" he asked.

"Shhh!" Jim said, irritated, pressing his ear to the door, turning the knob slightly so that it opened just a crack. "It sounds like... music? Hard to make out..."

"Oh, crap, Jim, we should go..." Pierce said. "There really is someone down here..."

"If you're scared, I'll go alone!" Jim snapped. "You can wait here and I'll yell if there's trouble or something; we've come too far to just turn back now! What would we do, go home and have a cup of tea, forget the whole thing?!"

Pierce sucked in a breath through his teeth. "No," he said. "But I'd feel a lot better if one of us had a crowbar."

Jim ignored him, and turned the handle on the door in front of them. Pierce hesitated for a moment before shining his phone's light through the open doorway, but when he did it revealed a surprisingly familiar sight...

Set up in the room was a mess of artificial jungle, surrounded by racks of lighting equipment and green screens. "That's... I recognize this!" Pierce blurted. "That foliage, I swear I saw it in the opening scenes from 'Zenthar'. This set; they used this in that damned movie!"

Jim looked around. "No dust down here. Weird."

Pierce walked into the room and ran one of his fingers across the nearest green screen. "Some... not much. Seen more recent use than anything upstairs, I'd wager..." he said, before walking over to investigate one of the nearby cameras. "Jesus, what is *this*!? I've never seen anything like this before..." he said. "No logo, no serial numbers... this was a custom job. Jim, there isn't a film company in the world that makes a camera like this..."

"That music's coming from this direction..." Jim mumbled, only half-listening, as he started to walk in the direction of the sound he could hear.

"Jim, wait. Jim?" Pierce said, turning around to see his friend walking away from the threshold. "Jim, where are you going, dammit!?" he cursed, stumbling over a fake fern as he headed back to the hallway.

"There's something this way..." Jim said, continuing onward. Pierce, delayed a few moments, broke into a jog to catch up as Jim turned from the hallway into a side-room.

Pierce could hear the sound now as well... not just music, but voices too; it tickled at the back of his head. "Oh, no..." he said to himself. "Jim! Stop, don't go in there!" He shouted, not caring if he was heard, as he rushed to the door. "That's the music from Zenthar! It's..."

He paused as he stepped into the room; this, too, was a movie set, with a few bits of equipment scattered around; but rather than a jungle, this one was done up like two rooms of a house, a living room and a bathroom with an adjoining door, though the back of each set was mostly lighting and rigging. The place looked slightly unkempt and lived-in, but in a curiously set-up way; not a natural mess, but a deliberate arrangement.

There was a small flat screen TV in the living room half of the set, evidently lit, and now that he was closer, Pierce recognized the familiar, badly-written cry of "You nasty knaves! Take that!", coming from it. Flat-screen, though? This wasn't a years-abandoned movie set where someone had left the lights on and a tape on loop; this place had been used, and recently...

Jim was already starting at the television screen with a faraway look in his eyes. Pierce moved forward without any further thought and hit the power button in the bottom of the television. The screen, thankfully, went dark.

"Jim... didn't you recognize that? It was the same damn film! You almost..." Pierce said, turning to look at his friend when something made him freeze in place.

Behind Jim, in the darkness near the bathroom room setup, Pierce caught sight of two immense, yellow, slitted eyes, looming in the darkness, seemingly oddly disembodied like the Cheshire Cat's grin. "Oh, ho-holy fuck!" he yelled, stumbling backwards against the television cabinet and nearly knocking the flatscreen over.

Jim nearly leapt out of his skin as Pierce shouted, and he spun around, giving his own involuntary yell as well.

"Well, well, well..." came a voice that was neither of them.

Both Pierce and Jim remained frozen to the spot; both tempted strongly to run away as fast as they could manage; but, whatever person... creature... those eyes belonged to... it spoke?

"...what?" Pierce said, weakly. "What are you?"

"Hmph. Don't you mean, 'who'?" the voice said, the eyes moving forward slowly into the better-lit area of the room. "I'll explain what I know, but do me the fucking courtesy of sitting and calming down. Alright?"

Pierce and Jim uneasily met each other's eyes, before sitting down on the couch.

"Thank you." the voice said. The yellow, slitted eyes moved forward in the darkness, never once closing. As they approached the lit part of the set, both were able to see the long, pointed snout underneath them, along with the creature's flickering, forked tongue, smooth-scaled lips and the rest of it... which happened to be near twenty feet of coiled tail and two broad, powerful arms.

The snake creature slithered forward with lazy, shuffling flicks of its long, scaly tail, rolling along the floor towards the boys with an inscrutably stoic look on its muzzle. It regarded them with an unblinking gaze that made both freeze in terror against the couch, though the serpent made no sudden moves save to flick its tongue in their general direction. It slithered in front of the television screen.

"I-" the serpent said, drawing itself up on its coiled tail "-am a director. I make movies. 'Zenthar the Adventurer and the Curse of the Crocodile King.', 'The Legend of the Black Serpent', 'Night of the Gecko', 'Dreams of Dragons', 'Dreams of Dragons II: Legacy of the Wyrms'..."

"...porn movies? Gay ones?" Pierce asked, with a faintly aggressive tone.

The snake turned its head slightly and fixed a cold, fierce gaze against Pierce, not speaking again until he was squirming. "Sometimes. I'm not exactly picky; if you two had seen 'Claw of the Raptor Queen' or 'Secrets of Ravenwood', one or both of you would be seeing things from a more female perspective. And likely on your way to a belly full of eggs, judging by the way you taste in the air. Even in this fucking dust, you reek of cum!" he said, laughing before breaking into a short fit of coughs.

Pierce and Jim looked at each other uneasily, then away, blushing furiously.

"Porn movies, sure. Whatever it takes to get an audience. Maybe if people nowadays had the attention span I could make *real* art again, but to tell you the truth the only thing that keeps asses in seats long enough for the magic to take effect is sex, sex sex..." the snake said, giving a long hiss that sounded awfully lot like a sigh.

Pierce looked up at the snake. "That's crazy, there's no such thing as magic!" he said, realizing even as he spoke, how dumb it sounded for a crocodile-tailed man to say that to a snake.

The snake stared at him for a few seconds, before caustically hissing, "*Sure*. You're just having a bad dream, right? Or maybe a very good one?" he added, laughing hoarsely. "I admit I'm surprised, though! There was only supposed to be one of you, but here, I see, are two... how *did* you manage that?" He chuckled. "Often watch porn together when you whack each other off, or something?"

"No! No, I-I just didn't have a Betamax. Pierce... he made a copy for me." Jim replied, pointing at his friend.

"Hey, don't tell him my goddamn name!" Pierce blurted.

"Well then... Jim Anderson and Pierce..?" the snake asked, fixing his eyes on Pierce again.

Pierce tried to look away from the snake, but found it impossible not to when the serpent craned his long neck towards him, hissing quietly into the air all the while. He cringed as he watched the serpent's purple-black tongue flicker in the air in front of him, and looked into those yellow eyes, before almost whispering, "C-Cadwell."

The serpent smiled, a gesture that curled its lips up enough to expose the front of its fangs. "A pleasure to meet you both," the reptile said, with exaggerated formality. "So you copied the tape, hm? And the magic still worked perfectly? Fascinating..."

"Perfectly..? But I... I didn't have the same... symptoms... as Jim..." Pierce blurted, impulsively. "What... was it supposed to do?"

"Not the same? Well... that does make more sense. These cassettes... they are only supposed to attune themselves to *one* person!" the snake said, talking more to himself than the pair of humans. "To stop things getting way out of hand if several people watch one tape. But, copying it... I think you confused the spell a tad... that's why you've arrived in a rather half-and-half state."

"What... does that mean?" Pierce asked, baffled, glancing at Jim, who watched silently.

The snake leaned backwards, his tail following his upper body over to the television and Betamax set up behind him. He ejected the tape from the Betamax machine and flipped it up into his claws, holding it up in the air. "Each one of these tapes is a unique creation; tailored for a specific effect with a specific infusion of magical power. They are immensely difficult to mass produce; I've tried before, but on a batch of 50, the spell just dissolved; I guess a single copy doesn't dilute it enough to *stop* it working entirely."

"You've... done this before?" Pierce asked, hesitantly, not exactly sure what 'this' even was any more.

"Certainly... experiments here and there, an occasional test. I nearly gave up a few years back; the delicate process becomes pretty fucking aggravating when you factor in the usual, ahem, 'issues' that come up in the industry. Did you know it took me nearly a decade to perfect the transfer technomancy for these tapes, and by that time Betamax had been thrashed by a totally inferior format?"

Pierce leaned forward in his seat. "I know, right! Betamax was so much better than VHS! It was all the damned marketing campaign they..."

"I know." the snake said to Pierce, softly but with sufficient force to silence the man. "VHS, I couldn't calibrate the equipment... then it was all DVDs, and I've not even tried using those... yet. But, if a straight-up format transfer works, who knows... it's so deceptively simple I never bothered trying."

Jim cleared his throat. "What's the... specific effect?" he asked. "I mean... what's it for? What's it do?"

"The art I make... in the end, the effect is always the same... in broad brush strokes..."- the serpent said, for once looking rather pleased- "...it opens up the human mind to... a new possibility, and the body follows not long after that. You're all such pathetic, narcissistic creaturesss... blind to anything you haven't seen and touched yourself. Ignorant of other speciesss, selfish and I'd even say evil." the snake said, gesturing vaguely with its claws. "Those who have been enlightened by my work are... much different."

Jim saw a shadow fall across the couch and turned to see a pair of lizards- wearing little except headphones and a harness with pockets- wheeling a large and bulky contraption into the room, silently flicking their tongues into the air as their toeclaws scratched across the wooden floor. Behind them, a raven wearing a beret and holding a pair of thin script binders walked in, scribbling notes in the margins. All three glanced over at the snake and the two humans, slightly nonplussed; but then they continued moving equipment, examining it carefully, and generally trying to stay politely out of the talk that was going on.

"Specifically, though?" the snake continued, snatching their attention from the newcomers; a razor thin smile again creased its muzzle. "I've been making a lot of porn recently. 'Zenthar' was supposed to turn you-" the snake pointed a claw at Jim- "into a nice little twink to co-star with Max - the 'Crocodile King' - in some of my future productions; and deal with the goddamn tax bullshit that has been plaguing me forever, ever since I 'persuaded' that real-estate developer to forget he even owned this place..." the naga mumbled, voice bitterly trailing off. "So imagine my surprise when you both show up together. I've never seen *two* people share the same spell before; it's not supposed to work that way..."

Jim and Pierce exchanged a puzzled look; both felt a strange pull, an underlying feeling that something was different. Had they really been... compelled here somehow? What kind of sense did any of this make?

The snake folded his arms. "Okay, I'll bite. Did you actually watch it together, or individually?" He fixed his gaze on Jim.

Jim shook his head, suddenly nervous. "Not... together... not until after the first time... I slept through it all, twice... then, since Pierce came in while I was watching... I feel kind of different..."

Pierce looked at Jim curiously, wondering why he was volunteering so much information; but then the snake looked at him expectantly, he could hardly stop himself from adding, "I tried watching it through... I... always switched it off, but I felt... weird... like something was missing..."

The snake rolled his eyes slightly. "I doubt you actually fell asleep... you aren't supposed to *remember* the hypnotic commands. But Pierce, you say you do remember?"

Pierce found himself answering. "I... wasn't sure what it was... watched a bit, thought it looked cheesy, fake... then I switched it off after, uh... I was worried it was some sort of porno. But then later I watched a bit further too..." Pierce said. "Up until... Zenthar gets assaulted by the crocodile the first time... then I shut it off... but there was this dream... afterwards..."

"You decided you wanted to watch the rest, eh?" The snake said, non-committally. "Couldn't get it out of your head?"

"No... yes... kind of... I mean..." Pierce struggled, both to find the words and to think of a way to change the topic, he didn't feel comfortable prompting the question of what happened next! "I... don't remember much about that sitting, but I started finding it... sexy... and then I grew a tail... But I remember everything when I watched it with... with Jim in the morning. Er, this morning..."

"I... don't remember that..." Jim admitted, confused.

"Hmm. Maybe copying the tape didn't copy the spell properly, then; maybe it just cut it in half... or something to that effect. Well, that complicates matters, certainly, but I think we can work with this, though it'll take a change of plan..." he said, snapping his fingers a few times in the raven's direction, until the bird took notice and stepped quietly over.

Jim and Pierce exchanged another look, none too sure that they wanted the 'change of plan', quite sure the original plan wasn't to their liking either. But... they were curious, too. Oddly curious. And, oddly unable to stand up and walk out, despite the lack of restraints or threats...

"So... uh... where do we go from here, then?" Pierce asked, trying to give voice to his confusion. If he managed to break out of whatever 'this' was, could he be normal, human, again? Might Jim be unable to escape, could he leave Jim behind..? For a dark moment, he wondered if he could persuade the snake to let him go, and just keep Jim; but he shook that thought away quickly, he couldn't abandon a friend like that!

"Give me those, Darce", the snake said to the raven standing behind the boys, ignoring Pierce for the moment. She handed both script binders over their heads, and the naga flipped through them briefly. "No... no... ah, no, that won't work... damn!" He tossed them back to the bird. "Fuck it; we'll improvise."

"Improvise?" she asked, nervously.

"Yeah. Tell Max to take the rest of the day off; we'll shoot his script another time. Think you can come up with something else for now?" the naga replied, before turning himself around without waiting for an answer, and slipping onto the couch between Jim and Pierce.

"So..." the snake began, throwing an arm around their shoulders and pulling them closer to his powerfully-built torso. "Why don't you tell me what happened when you saw my film, if you don't mind? Jim, you've not said what happened to you... now, try and remember, you can do it."

Jim gulped, staring into the naga's face, clearly uncomfortable at being put on the spot. "I... we... do... do you mean the first time... or... later?"

"Well, normally people find their first viewing a life-changing experience... so, I guess, run me through everything. We'll see if there's any good material there." The naga said.

Pierce's brow furrowed at the odd turn of phrase. Good material?

Jim cleared his throat, looking uncertain. "I... I think... I do remember! I tried watching it in the morning... I... think I changed... and it was really arousing... but I couldn't... cum... something wasn't right... I... tried watching it again... later... at night... and I... I couldn't stop thinking of Pierce..."

"I... think I went to see you..." Jim said, turning to look at Pierce and gulping. "At first... it was like... I could only manage pleasure... there... with you... even if you were asleep..."

Pierce felt a strange churning in his stomach as he remembered the midnight reptilian intruder. The naga turned his gaze on him, and Pierce found his train of thought being vocalised.

"It was... you, then? In my room..? After that, that was when I... I ended up watching the scene again... and I grew a tail, it was... it was so gooood..." he breathed, feeling an uncomfortable swelling in both the front and back of his pants again. "It was... you woke me up just like... in the scene..."

"I bet it felt great..." the naga said, squeezing Pierce's hand lightly. "Interesting; you mean that the magic seemed to spark when you two were close?"

Pierce blushed and felt a spike of embarrassment and shame run through him when he heard a smattering of laughter from the lizards behind him, but when he looked up into the snake's piercing eyes and broad smile he laughed himself.

"Y...yeah... I went to see Jim the next day, I was kind of scared at what happened... and I... I found... Jim was watching it already..." Pierce said, trailing off. It felt so weird to describe it... but oddly liberating, too. The words poured out, becoming easier as they both went on, more natural to tell everything to this strange serpent-man, no matter how detailed, no matter how lewd.

Jim continued as the naga turned back to him. "I tried watching it again... but that time it felt different, I could... I could cum... and I did, so many times..." Jim admitted, sheepishly, but with a faint smile as well. "Then Pierce walked in, and, it felt better... weird, but... better... then we... we both watched to the end, changed, and... and wanted to... share... but, it was weird, like we couldn't... touch each other... but I wanted to..."

"...I did too... but I needed to... play with myself..." Pierce said, the bulge in his pants growing harder. "It felt so good to... imagine *I* was the one being... um..."

They both trailed off into silence.

"Hm. Pity..." the naga said, after waiting a moment for Pierce to finish. "Well, the spell didn't 'expect' someone paired with someone else, it was supposed to be a more 'solo' experience... interesting that the spell did start to connect the pair of you initially, you must have really confused it."

"...solo?" Jim asked, quizzically.

"Well, at first. Solo, until you were paired with a more dominant... co-star, you see. Still, you're here now, and I'm sure we can find some way to work around this little issue." He smiled. "In fact, that little story of yours does give me an idea..."

His grip on the pair loosened as he looked around the room. "Darce! I've got an idea for you..." he said, nodding his head to bring her walking over again. "I think we need to see these two to show their feelings for each other... something tender, maybe; first time, all that."

The raven gave a slight smile and a nod, and started making notes on her clipboard at a furious pace.

"Wh...what's going on?" Jim asked, confused.

The naga turned back to them, fixing Jim with a commanding glare. "Oh, don't worry about all that; you just focus on your part here, ignore everything else, alright? Otherwise it won't feel 'natural'. You know, I've worked with dozens of actors over the years, and every last one of them has told me their first performance is always the hardest. Everyone gets jitters, but if you keep your head in the game it'll all turn out grand. Trust me."

"But... I don't... want to be an actor..." Jim started. "I... I mean, I've got... things to do..."

"Hey, you want a job, right? Think of it as an audition, the money's not bad..." The naga said, slithering back over to Jim, smiling at him and squeezing his shoulder.

"After we do this, we can go, right?" Pierce asked, before adding. "And... Pay?"

He struggled for a moment with the strange urge; why wasn't he just storming out right now? He wanted a job, but not this kind of job!

"Benefits, too. It's all in the contracts you agreed to, remember?" The snake rolled his eyes again. "Nobody ever reads the contract. Right, we can go over them this evening after filming is done, since you can't seem to remember, but for now, we can't delay any further. We're on the clock."

"I don't think we... agreed to anything..." Pierce said. "But, er, I, I mean, uh, I'm not sure I want to..."

"Sure you do; it pays well, it's a steady job, and you get to have fun into the bargain! Besides, everyone's a bit of an exhibitionist, really", the naga said, cutting him off. "You'll love it once you get into it, okay?"

Pierce felt a strange chill; but, he also felt oddly reassured...

The naga continued. "Now, we need to get a move on, we're nearly set up."

"But, er, we haven't read any script... and, uh... you know, I'm really not sure I want to do anything together..." Pierce stammered, even though Jim was now nodding, nervously, but evidently in agreement - but with whom? Pierce, or the director?

The snake cut Pierce off, shaking his muzzle from side to side. "No, no, no; it's all just... acting... and you don't have to do anything you don't *want* to do, of course; we just need to make it work out in the end, right?", the naga said, smiling at him and then turning to smile at Jim. "Just make it *look* real, make it *feel* real on film that's all. You're friends, right? You can show a little affection for one another, right, nothing hardcore unless you feel up for it! We can work with that for the audition, though if you feel the urge to push things a little... well, go for it. Have fun! This *is* show business, after all..."

The director turned and smiled at Jim again, and then rose up off the couch, pulling both young males up with him. Pierce and Jim felt the snake's powerful arms push them towards each other, and suddenly they were all three held in an awkward huddle. "What do you say, hmm? One little shoot is all I'm asking. Honestly, it's the least you two can do for me, after everything I've done for you..."

"O...okay..." Jim said, hesitantly. He was still nervous, but saying 'yes' felt like the right thing to do.

Pierce felt nervous too, but not for quite the same reasons. For some reason the idea interested him; but he also felt sure it shouldn't.

Sure, he loved films and TV shows of all kinds, and would love to work in TV, but *this* wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind. Still... the naga did say that he did 'other' projects of 'real' art... maybe...

He found himself nodding.

"Excellent!" the naga said, smiling in a way that seemed more professionally satisfied and smug, than simply happy. "Let's get you all set up."

The snake began to slither towards the bathroom set, firmly but gently pulling Pierce with him as he did so. Jim moved to follow, but stopped when the raven-woman tapped him on the shoulder and introduced herself with a handshake. Pierce turned to see the bird leading Jim back towards the couch in the living room set, but he was pushed through the door to the bathroom by the director, who shut it after them.

Alone in the half-bathroom with the snake, Pierce felt his earlier anxiety begin to return with a vengeance. "I... I'm not sure... what's all this..?" he asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the lizards from earlier rolling a camera rig into position behind them, aiming the massive, green-lensed camera at the shower stall but not paying much attention to him or the serpentine director.

"Well, for the first scene, of course, we need to.. set the story. A cozy domestic setting, a normal day; you're getting ready for sleep, it's evening, you need a shower before you go to bed. Then when you walk through to the living room, we'll start the next scene. I'll prompt you all the way."

"I, er... er..." Pierce stuttered. "I thought I'd be, uh, keeping my clothes on...?"

"What? No, it's a shower scene. Weird to have you shower in a fucking coat and boots, don't you think? Don't worry; it'll be too steamy to see much flesh on film. Just wash up a bit, play up the scrubbing some for the camera and then towel off and get out. Wrap it around your waist when you leave. And, besides that," the naga said, his tongue flicking, testing the air. "...you taste like you could use a change of clothes and a shower, both."

Pierce flushed again. He'd already tried to clean up once, but he'd been rushed and distracted, and apparently not done a good job!

"Now, if you want to play things up a bit, that's more than fine; you may find you love showing off for the camera. I'm sure you have a very nice body underneath that... rather unseasonably warm getup you're wearing. I bet you've got a nice tail coming in down there too, eh?" the snake asked, flicking his tongue more directly towards Pierce's face, quick and close enough it made him blink reflexively.

Pierce flushed again. A protest half-rose to his lips again; but... well, he *had* enjoyed having a tail, kind of... it wasn't something he was used to, but it wasn't *bad*... "Well... maybe..." he admitted, as a large stage light came on nearby, the warm radiance bathing his face, and he realized it *was* a bit warm in here.

The director reached over Pierce and slid open the shower stall, turning the water on and then slowly turning up the water temperature. Pierce began to sweat underneath his clothes as the shower stall and sink mirror fogged over, tugging uncomfortably at his collar.

"Come on; take 'em off and get in. You don't want to keep Jim waiting all day, do you?" the naga added, testing the water with his fingers. "Water's ready when you are..."

Pierce nodded, still wondering what the raven was doing to Jim, what the plan was. "Er... what do I do?" he asked, hesitantly removing his coat, glancing around, uncomfortably aware of the pair of lizards working not far away. They glanced up at him with a degree of curiosity, but focused most of their attention on the camera rig...

"I've already told you; you've just come home from a long day of... something. Work, school; doesn't matter. You go to take a shower, clean up and relax... and then you walk out into your living room and... well, we'll get to that, I want to see spontaneous reactions for that scene. Don't think about it too much, don't force anything..." the director said, taking hold of Pierce's coat and starting to pull it gently but firmly off the half-protesting man. "Now hurry, you need to get more into character; otherwise you're just another guy reading a script, not a 'real' person. Authenticity, that's what people really want; something they can identify with. And authenticity, let me tell you, isn't easy to fake..." the director finished, folding Piece's coat in his hands with a half-smile.

"I've never done any acting before..." Pierce began again.

"Just give it a try, it'll come naturally after a bit, once you get into the swing", the naga replied, helping Pierce remove his jumper. "No need to be nervous, you've nothing to be ashamed of, Pierce... Nice-looking young guy like you, not a supermodel, just a person... trust me, supermodels have their charms, but it's so samey, boring, and quite uncanny sometimes; not for the average viewer. No, you're going to be great, young man..."

Pierce held up his arms as his jumper was pulled over his head, another half-protest dying on his lips. Something seemed off about the situation, something nagged at him still...

He found the naga's hands unbuttoning his shirt as well, and he found his own hands helping them, his tail giving a strange twitch as he felt warm, moist air on his chest. He wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling anymore; excited, nervous, anxious and a bit aroused...

"It's..." he began. "It's not that... I mean... what am I supposed to do, specifically? What's Jim going to do..?"

The director replied with a silent smile, and then began to un-do the belt around Pierce's waist. Pierce sucked in a breath through his teeth as the borrowed pair of Jim's old jeans were slowly pulled past his tail-stub and half-erect penis, both twitching uncontrollably as the naga intentionally dragged out the disrobing. "Don't worry about Jim." the snake finally said, leaving Pierce standing awkwardly, half-naked.

Pierce was breathing heavily by this point; he felt a bit lightheaded in the oppressively-warm bathroom set, under the hot lighting. He stood, subconsciously covering his tented and rather torn underwear as he stood there exposed. His tail was squeezed awkwardly down one leg of his underwear, and his shoes prevented his pants from coming completely off; he felt rather foolish, standing there with his pants down his ankles and his. Maybe it would be better to just get naked and get it over with already, make it look like he had some confidence...

The fact that somehow, on some level, this was kind of arousing him, deepened his ambivalence. He... did kind of want to try this, see what it would be like...

He stepped carefully aside, levering his shoes off so he could disrobe with a bit more grace; without any clothes, it felt slightly on the cool side in the room, but it wasn't too bad near the running shower.

"'Atta boy..." the snake said, patting him roughly on the shoulder before slithering out of the back of the set. The director gently pushed aside one of the lizards manning the large camera rig and inspected the picture for a moment, and then gave a thumbs-up to someone Pierce couldn't see. Pierce stared for a moment at the green-lens camera, and felt pensive and worried again for a moment. How many people might end up watching this? How many were in the film crew, at least? He could hear the bustle from the larger, living room side of the set...

Well, at least it was just an audition, right? Though the odd thought occurred to him: why was he even auditioning, anyway? Hadn't he come here to investigate... whatever this was?

The director craned his head behind the set wall, and gave Pierce a pointed look. "What's taking so long?"

"Nothing!" Pierce quickly, reflexively replied. He ducked behind the shower stall and dropped his underpants to the floor before the moment caught up with him, kicking them aside next to the rest of his discarded clothing. Without any clothes on, he was quite chilly; Pierce quickly stepped into the shower cubicle, shutting the door behind him and sighing as he felt warm water pour down his front and back.

The warm water was indeed relaxing, and the door and condensation blurred his view of the camera and the lizards operating it. He shivered a little, not from cold so much as another touch of nerves. He swore he could hear a faint, hissing chuckle over the cascading water, though he wasn't sure where; one of the lizards, maybe?

"Oh, come on, you're supposed to be showering! Don't just stand there, do a little motion, use the soap, scrub up..." the naga's voice came, as a bright spotlight shone through the shower stall.

Pierce nodded. "Okay", he said, looking half-blindly past the bright lighting apparatus.

"Hmph. Right; just remember, amateur, don't reply or look at the camera when we're rolling, it'll ruin the take. I'll keep talking you through it, but we'll cut that out of the soundtrack later - okay?"

Pierce nodded again.

"Okay; remember, scrub up!"

Pierce picked up the bar of soap sitting on the small soap-dish beside the handrail, idly rubbing it over his chest and down his arms. He paused for a moment and dug his claws dig into the soft, warm, wet soap. Pierce wasn't sure if he was seeing things right though the steam and water, but it looked like scales were again spreading down his wrists and elsewhere, slowly but surely. The warm water pouring over his body combined with the feeling of tightness as his skin pulled taut and thickened combined to create a feeling of... overwhelming relaxation all over his body. It felt especially nice to scrub where skin and scales met...

Experimenting, Pierce turned away from the camera and faced the showerhead, letting the water pour through his hair as he rubbed his arms. He smiled as he closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of warm water rushing down his back and pouring off his tail... though soon the urge to scrub down there was soon too strong to resist. Pierce took the bar of soap and began to scrub between his thighs, and then underneath his tail, where he could feel the pleasure tingle up his elongated spine.

"Okay, we're rolling!" the naga's voice boomed loudly; the other sounds on the set died off, immediately. There was a momentary pause before the director spoke again. "Yeah... good... turn around a little, show a little of that ass..."

Pierce smiled nervously but pleased, and obediently did a half-turn in the shower, idly stroking his cock with one soapy, clawed hand while his other held the base of his tail up, spreading suds down the scaly appendage as it grew further from his backside once more. It was different changing while naked, without clothing to get in the way. Different still being urged to let it happen, rather than trying to resist or hold the strange feelings in. Before, the feeling of... change... had been an overwhelming, urgent one, like a desperate hunger, like... like an act of primal sex in itself. Now it was more teasing, playful... it felt kind of nice, reassuring, and again, oddly liberating, uplifting.

He felt like... like he was kind of sexy... and that was a nice feeling too, not one he was used to. The girls he'd been with always said he was awkward, and he'd felt it! He stopped scrubbing himself for a moment and looked down at his feet, watching the little claws peeking out from his toes under the draining water as he hiked up his tail and rubbed his scaly rump some more...

"Good... good... don't spend all day in there, though. Shampoo up, wash off and then get out; tease the camera a bit, use a small towel..." the director said.

Pierce turned and found the bottle of shampoo on the side of the shower stall, poured some into his palms- now covered in thick, waterproof scales- and then rubbed it into his scalp. He wasn't surprised when his hair began falling out as he washed underneath the showerhead; Pierce closed his eyes and sighed as he felt the tingling feeling of growing scales moved up his throat and the back of his neck before enveloping his head once more...

Pierce felt like he wasn't quite himself by the time he stepped out of the shower, but it was different than before when he'd seen 'Zenthar'; gentler, less frantic. He reached for a towel, taking care to pick one of the smaller ones rather than an all-enveloping, fluffy one that was a little closer, and wrapped it around his waist as he stepped out of the shower cubicle. He noticed the water didn't seem to stick to his frame as readily as to human skin, though he didn't seem to have much unaltered skin left for that matter...

He took quick stock of his changes as he towelled dry, keeping his back to the camera. His feet and hands were crocodilian again, his tail was longer and thicker than before, and scales covered his chest and legs; but his shoulders and head were still fairly human, his tail shorter than it had been before and without the rows of ridges, his legs slightly too long, his arms too... too...

He wasn't sure, but he didn't feel quite right. Odd; but, the change still seemed to be progressing, slowly but surely.

"That's it... turn a little, bend down... let us ssssee that tail raised a little..." the director hissed, and he smiled to himself as he obediently towelled his shins dry, back to the camera, tail hiked up and swaying opposite his drying in what he hoped was a mock-innocent, teasing way.

Pierce became aware that he could hear a new noise starting, over the sound of the electrical equipment, now that the shower wasn't running... a faint clatter of swords, an occasional few words, a few bars of music... and he recognized the music again!

He smiled slightly to himself; Zenthar, he'd hardly forget that video in a hurry. He wasn't sure what exactly to do next, though. Well... he was dry, and there was only one door to the living-room set...

"Just act natural; you're curious, what's the noise? Check it out, and improvise a bit; remember, keep acting natural", the director commanded.

Keeping the director's advice in mind, Pierce turned the doorknob and walked out into the living room set. But as prepared as he thought he was, he was caught off-guard by what he saw there...

It was... it was just like before. Jim was lying back on the couch in front of the television as Zenthar played, slowly stroking his mutating, crocodilian cock. Though the rest of him hadn't yet succumbed to the transformation, a tinge of brilliant yellow had already seeped into his eyes, which were shot through with a look of mindless lust.

Pierce felt his heart thud against his chest like a jackhammer as he accidentally stared past his masturbating friend at the crowd of creatures that were filming Jim as he lewdly stroked his throbbing penis. Lizards and another serpent manning the cameras; the raven from before scribbling in the script binders. Above them, a pair of bats were manning the lighting, while a dozen other inhuman shapes he couldn't make out very well spectated in the darkness. The director stood head and shoulders above them, his eyes piercing though the darkness and fixing on Pierce's own in the heartbeat he stood frozen.

Pierce dropped his towel, and gasped.

"Good... I think we got the surprise take we were looking for." the director said, speaking loudly enough to easily be heard over 'Zenthar', Jim's stroking and the whirling of the running cameras. "Now, Pierce... you- your character- just walked in on his friend wankin' it like mad to the same gay porn flick you've secretly been watching. He's sitting there, feeling exactly like you felt, giving in to his lusts, craving the real thing. How does that make you feel? Focus on that emotion; embrace it..."

Pierce took a deep breath. "J...Jim?" he asked, before wondering if he should use Jim's real name on camera. He'd not been given another name to use, though, so...

The trance Jim was in seemed to break in an instant; he scrambled for the remote on the cushion next to him and shut the television off, before stammering, "P-Pierce!? What... what are you doing? I-I thought you were asleep!"

"No... no, I was... just showering... I got home late..." Pierce said, unsure what else to say. He stood there awkwardly for a moment longer, before the director shouted, "Look at him; look at his dick. Look at it throb and ooze... it arouses you..."

Jim took the opportunity to cover his erect shaft up with a nearby pillow, but Pierce had already seen everything he needed to. Pierce bit his lower lip and walked forward, smiling slightly as he remembered the director's words... remembered what he and Jim had done together before...

He was aware that his own cock was starting to become erect, ever-more noticeably, as he moved forward...

"Yes... yes, that's it!" the director said, encouragingly. "Jim, focus; you're scared, but, you can't stop staring at his naked cock... you see he's aroused by this... maybe he knows what you want, wants what you want..."

"So... you've been watching it too, have you?" Pierce asked, grinning at Jim. Jim smiled nervously back at him, their eyes meeting easily this time. The frisson of arousal that rushed through Pierce wasn't an act.

"Y-yeah... I... I... you've watched it as well? Er... you did say, 'too'? Right?" Jim replied, nervously pushing the cushion off his lap, slowly revealing his penis again. "I... I didn't realize... you were into anything like that..." he said.

Pierce grinned, in what he hoped was lewdness. "Well... what does it look like to you? Does it look like I'm into it?" he said, idly fondling himself. He was, he had to admit, kind of enjoying this, showing off a bit for the camera...

Jim smiled back, hesitantly, leaning back and setting the cushion aside, letting his penis again stand proudly in the open. "...Yeah... yeah, it kind of does..." he said, grinning with half-suppressed excitement. "So... you see anything else around you might be... into?"

The TV came on again, but at a lower volume; Zenthar, once again being molested by a gang of burly crocodiles, but the scene didn't seem to have the same allure as it had held previously. Jim, on the other hand...

"Pierce, you're eager and excited; you've always hoped Jim would want you, and now you know he does... look at his cock! You want him!" the director said from the shadows.

Pierce sauntered towards the couch, tail flicking excitedly from side to side as he stood in front of Jim, his mostly-human member dangling ever-less-limply next to the tapered, erect crocodilian shaft Jim possessed.

"God you've got a nice looking cock..." Pierce said, licking his lips reflexively and smiling fiercely at Jim.

"Well... you've got a sexy ass..." Jim replied, smiling back at him. "Ever since you've grown that tail, I've wanted to... touch it... stroke it... maybe even... get up underneath it..."

"Oh? ...You want to fuck me?" Pierce breathed in a low whisper, kneeling forward slightly so that his knees were on either side of Jim's legs on the couch, his cockhead so close to the tip of Jim's crocodilian member that they brushed against one another.

"I don't know if I want to fuck you... or if I want you to fuck me..." Jim said, squirming against the back of the couch as he spread his arms out behind him and smiled up at Pierce.

"Get a camera on that angle now!" the director barked from the shadows. "Boys, great! Perfect! Keep it going, keep it rolling!"

Pierce and Jim hardly paid any heed to his words; they had something more immediate to focus on. Pierce's earlier hesitation about the idea of revealing himself on camera, doing anything more than a little innocent tomfoolery was entirely forgotten. He wanted, *needed* to go further; he could feel a wellspring of sexual frustration boiling inside him, like the lust that had consumed him before...

"You've known each other for years; there's a lot of feeling between you. Show us, show us that emotion!" came the naga's hissing voice.

They both seemed to move their heads forward as one, kissing once, gently. The warmth, the contact of their lips pressing together... the frisson of electricity as their penises finally pressed together was overwhelming, and now it was flowing freely through them like a live current. One kiss became two, then three, then many more. They rocked together, falling back against the couch- Pierce atop Jim, and then Jim atop Pierce- and then the two of them, furiously kissing, hugging and humping together side by side...

Pierce gasped as he felt Jim's hands squeeze down hard on the meat of his scaly ass, gripping it in needy handfuls that made him feel flutters of lust from his backside, like when he'd been fingering himself. He pushed his head into the crook of Jim's neck and began to suck on the warm flesh he found there, drawing gasps from Jim as the other male continued to knead and squeeze his backside.

Jim quivered each time he felt the soft scales on Pierce's growing proto-muzzle press into his cheek, and nearly moaned aloud when he felt teeth tenderly graze his neck. Jim's crocodile-hood was so hard now, each throb made him feel light-headed. It felt like he was cumming pre-seed all over Pierce's dick each time they frotted together; the smell of his own hot, reptilian musk was driving him crazy with lust. He had to... he had to have Pierce.

"Yeah... yeah, c'mon boys! Your eyes can't say everything! Tell each other how you're feeling, how much you want each other..." the director said. The two males barely even broke stride.

"Jim... you're so fucking hot... if I'd known you felt this way, I'd have... I'd have done this so much sooner.." Pierce said, kissing Jim full on the growing muzzle, the action slightly awkward given that his own muzzle was still developing.

"I've wanted your tail for so long... I... I want you, Pierce..." Jim gasped as Pierce broke the kiss again. "Fuck, I want to take you right now..."

Pierce moaned. "Do it... fucking... do it..."he said, pushing Jim harder down into the cushions of the seat. "If you want to take me, take me... I want it..."

"More... need! Savagery! C'mon, people pay extra for primal, boys..." the director hissed, encouragingly.

Pierce, breathing heavily, gave a slight nod and then licked his lips and said, "Jim... I want you to..." He squeezed their cocks together, smiling at Jim, his eyes flicking involuntarily to the side to make sure the camera could see their frotting cocks clearly as he sat more upright. "I want you to shove your dick inside me..."

Jim hissed, closing his eyes for a moment before growling at Pierce. "Yeah... I want to fuck you... I want to fuck you right in the ass, you sexy fucking croc..." Jim said, grabbing hold of Pierce's backside with both hands, squeezing the scaled muscle as hard as he could. Jim growled again as he felt his hardness press against Pierce's softer, fleshier maleness; he needed more, needed to cum so badly...

Pierce could see his own cock starting to swell like before, the human skin across it starting to turn green, retreating down its length as his scrotum pulled up into his body. He could feel the growing weight of his tail behind him as the pudgier edge to his body faded away, replaced with solid scale in a lean, athletic build. He licked his slightly-sharper teeth and knelt over Jim, pulling their cocks apart a moment as he edged forward, slowly, teasingly, smiling down at Jim as he moved over the waiting male's groin. He paused, tugging at Jim's shirt as he pulled it up over Jim's head; he wanted to watch the scales spreading, he wanted to see a sexy, virile reptile underneath him... which Jim was fast becoming. Scales spread up from his crotch- which now sported a rather sexy looking slit- pulled taut and flushed with arousal. Jim's tail was slowly growing outward behind him in fits and starts, twitching up and down against the seat of the cushion...

"Good, good, boys; draw it out a bit, have your fun, tease each other, too, build it up..." the director said.

"Your tail is so hot..." Pierce said, squeezing himself closer to Jim and pressing his own tail down across the other male's twitching appendage.

"Mmmm..." Jim moaned in reply, spreading his legs out and closing his eyes as his tail thickened and grew out longer, as if in response to Pierce.

Scales swept over both of their bodies as they resumed their frotting, this time slower and more deliberate. Pierce's shaft began to flush and bloat, turning slick, pointed and reptilian like his lovers' cock. Both of their malenesses were swollen, throbbing and turgid, pulsating and leaking musky croc-lizard preseed with every beat of their racing hearts. Both males stared deep into each other's yellow-tinted, slitted eyes, lost in the mirrored reflection of need they saw there.

Pierce was spurting preseed in squirts all across Jim's bare, scaly belly; he felt the warmth rising from the other male's member, brushing against his retreating scrotum. Jim smiled at him as he positioned himself lower, rubbing along the underside of Pierce's tail, just behind where the skin of his cock was forming into a reptilian vent...

"Yeah... got an angle on that, Bill? Great... oh yeah, boys, you're doing great!" the director praised, as clawed toes tore through Jim's socks. Jim's growing tail was starting to jump against Pierce's tail, growing ever more rapidly until it was tangled up in his pulled down pants. "Jim, you can't resist it, you know he wants it... you feel a need, an urge to take him..."

"Rrghh..." Jim growled, unable to contain his mounting lust any longer. The feel of his painfully-swollen balls pulling up into his crotch, practically squeezed against the outside of his smooth-scaled taint was driving him crazy. He gave Pierce's ass one last powerful grope with both his hands, and then grabbed his friend by the shoulders and wrestled him off the couch.

They tumbled over the coffee table, scattering the magazines atop it with their flailing tails and legs before crashing onto the carpeted floor in front of the television, Jim now mounted atop Pierce. They stared hard at each other- teeth bared and growling- before Pierce threw himself forward, knocking Jim back on his tail.

"You want to fuck me so badly... go ahead and do it, you sexy beast..." Pierce growled, biting Jim on his neck-scales gently; his mouth was extending, filling with sharper teeth with great speed. He licked against Jim's lengthening snout, so very similar to his own...

Jim curled up on his back, taking a deep, revivifying breath as he watched Pierce stand up off him. Jim felt scales wrap around his arms and legs like skin-tight armour, and hissed in pleasure as spiny plates began to push out of his back and tail once more. He was almost beside himself with lust as he lay there changing, watching Pierce walk around to the side of the couch and lay over the edge, lifting up his own spiny tail to expose his smooth, perfectly scaled backside. Pierce turned and licked his scaly muzzle with a long, broad tongue, and then pushed himself further over the top of the couch, leaving his bare, taut backside dangling over the back. Jim growled as he drank in the smooth curves of Pierce's lean, scaly, indescribably sexy ass, tail raised just enough to expose his puckered tailhole...

Jim's build was changing, too, becoming sleeker, slender... much like Pierce's lithe, scaly frame. It turned him on more than anything he could remember. Jim leapt up from the floor and crept towards his lover on all fours, utterly enraptured by the sight of his friend presenting himself so eagerly. He opened his muzzle and began to lick up the back of Pierce's scaled feet, painting long licks up his strong, slender thighs. Pierce rose up on the tips of his toeclaws, sighing and smiling with approval at the tender treatment. He hiked his tail up higher before pushing Jim's muzzle towards his backside...

Jim nuzzled each side of Pierce's taut, scaly rump, and then moved to kiss his tailhole teasingly. The other male closed his eyes and hissed with each lewd, sensual kiss, until Jim stood back up behind him and wrapped his arms around his lover's smooth, flat bellyscales, hugging him tight and nuzzling the side of his muzzle. They lapped at each other's tongues as Jim moved to rub the tip of his throbbing crochood against the other male's tailhole, eager beyond words to finally take him.

The last of the changes brought them to the same height. But, also, the scale-patterns spreading across their bodies matched the contours of their musculature... even the yellowed tinge seeping into their slitted eyes formed the same burst-star shape...

"Do they look... similar... to you?" The raven remarked quietly, turning to the snake beside her, slowing her pace of writing. "I've not written that in the script, it's not me causing it."

The naga's gaze stayed fixed on the set before them. "Wow. They're identical... I guess copying that tape had other effects, too. It's not affecting the final spells, is it? They're following the script all right?"

Darce nodded with a smile, still scribbling furiously in shorthand, noting down each and every twist and turn moments before the transforming pair acted them out, apparently without any prompting. "To the letter, as always."

"I think our new actors are going to be billed as identical twins... We'll need a new title for this. 'Brotherly Love' or something along those lines, but more... raunchy. Don't forget to edit that into the script, and quick, before they get too far through it."

"Yes, Director", the black bird said, giving him a polite nod and a smile, scribbling furiously on her clipboard. She paused in her writing to cross out a line and start re-writing; the two cavorting males paused too, as if suddenly out of ideas and inspiration, the flow broken slightly.

"Okay, boys!" the naga prompted to cover the gap. "Hesitant, wary... this is forbidden desire, here, after all, you're brothers; but you need to do this, you're driven, compelled to consummate your love..."

Both males were already well driven, and barely needed any prompting; they sprang to life as Darce started writing again.

Jim hugged Pierce with one hand and let the rest of his claws roam lower, squeezing the other male's erect cock along the shaft and tip as he slowly drove himself up underneath Pierce's tail. Pierce leaned further forward on the edge of the couch, keeping his tail hiked above Pierce's shoulder and taking slow breaths as he felt the taut muscles inside his rear slowly yield to his lover's slickened tip. Vague memories of how it felt to finger his tailhole returned to him, but this was nothing like that awkward exploration; this was what he'd fantasized about. But Jim... Jim's claws rubbing his maleness, Jim's cock taking his ass... his loving brother finally mating him; it was so much sweeter than fantasies of the Crocodile King...

Pierce hissed aloud as he lost his anal virginity. Jim's crochood was a solid, slick, hot pole that drove deep into his quivering tailpassage in a single smooth thrust, giving his ass a feeling of uncomfortable fullness combined with a painfully powerful rush of sudden pleasure. Pierce hissed and moaned louder as the felt Jim's cock thrust against the knot of pleasure inside his ass, hitting it in a way his fingers never could. Jim's clawed, scaly hand began to fondle and stroke his cock, and the pleasure of being fucked in his tailhole grew even more powerful. Precum shot from his crochood in steady spurts as he was mounted, mated, loved in a way his fantasies had never even come close to; he opened his maw to moan Jim's name, and found his breath swallowed up in more hungry kisses from his relentless lover...

Both croc-lizards bucked and thrust as one, their furious, feral lovemaking building in wordless intensity.

"Yeah... yeah, that's it! Draw it out, savour it, your first time... on camera..." the naga hissed, the words nearly lost amidst the growls of the crocodiles. "Slower, remember, tease..."

But neither crocodile could hold back; with a shudder and a growl, they arrived at their climaxes, too aroused even to savour their lovemaking. Jim was the first to cum, burying himself deep inside Pierce's ass and then emptying every drop of cum he had into his brother's squeezing tailhole.

Pierce shuddered and dug his claws deep into the couch to steady himself as he felt the hard croc-cock thrusting into his tailhole suddenly hold steady and unleash a massive torrent of cum inside his bowels, the pressure around his newly-internal testes growing, massaging and pressing on him in ways he'd never dreamed of. He came to a painfully intense climax while Jim was still cumming into him. Jim continued to stroke his shaft as it erupted, shooting spurt after spurt of thick seed against the other male's leathery palm and across the couch, his orgasm longer and more intense than any he'd ever had before...

Their mating slowed, but never quite stopped. Jim began to idly rub some of Pierce's excess seed against his bellyscales, growling as he enjoyed the feeling of the nice, warm, thoroughly-seeded tailhole he was still snugly buried inside. Pierce, utterly spent, nearly passed out as their lovemaking ebbed, and collapsed against the side of the couch, quivering and twitching each time Jim rubbed his sore, overstimulated croc-hood.

Eventually, Pierce found the strength to crawl forward, slipping out of Jim's claws and- very slowly- off his lover's maleness, falling onto the seed-soaked couch in front of him. Pierce squirmed forward on the wet, slick cushions, letting his musky essence coat his belly and tail before turning onto his back, pulling Jim down with him. The lithe, twinky crocodile-lizards hugged belly-to-belly again, kissing each other on the snout and muzzle while staring lovingly into each other's yellowed eyes.

"That wasss ssssoo good..." Pierce growled, licking the side of Jim's muzzle.

Jim nodded, grinning, before kissing Pierce on the tip of his long snout. Both boys then kissed together twice, before Jim pulled his maw free to whisper, "Mmgh... you liked being fucked as much assss I liked fucking you, brother?"

"Oh yes, yessss..." Pierce replied, nodding readily. "But now it'ssss my turn to take your asssss, bro..."

"Mmmm... sure..." Jim said, another massive grin splitting his muzzle. "I hope my tail-hole feelsss as good as yours did..."

"But first, let's go get cleaned up. Say it, say something like it; I want to do a shower scene with you two!" the director shouted, for the first time sounding somewhat flustered. "Wow... you two are hired. For fucking sure..." The rest of the crew was just as stunned; even the pair of camera-lizards were awkwardly trying to hide raging erections behind their camera.

Both brothers nodded at one another, their eyes never drifting away. Jim licked his lips and then continued from earlier, "...but we're filthy, just... filthy with sssssex... mate me in the shower, so we can get clean after you get me all dirty..." he said, grinning as he imagined how it would feel to finally be taken by another male, like he'd dreamt since he'd first seen 'Zenthar'...

"Cut it here. Perfect!", the director said, clapping his hands firmly together. He cast a quick glance in Darce's direction, and she nodded back, adding a final full stop to her 'script' as she did so.

Darce gave the naga a subtle wink, and whispered. "They're done. I've scripted that this was a re-creation of their first time together... turned out very cute, the sheer wattage they put off..."

"Good work", the director nodded. "Now, see to them? They're going to need guidance... hope you remembered to script a solution to the tax problem."

Darce nodded, grabbed some towels and water bottles from a nearby lizard, and set off towards the two identical crocodilian males.

Jim was straddling Pierce still, pressing both his hands on the flat, featureless chest of his scaled lover. They both turned to face the raven as she approached.

"Now... Pierce and Jim Anderson, wasn't it?" she asked, and they nodded. "Just need you to sign a few things... and after you're cleaned up, the director wants to have a quick word - something about agreeing the royalties, and... some tax issues?"

Jim's expression fell a little. "Fucking tax office. Yeah, I know what that's about; they think there's some issue with me leasing the building to you guys... fuck 'em, they can wait."

Pierce chuckled and gave the side of Jim's muzzle a quick lick. "Keep calm, bro; it's not good for you to get so stressed... am I going to have to relax you a bit..?"

"Ahem", the raven coughed. "If you'll just sign these forms, boys, you can get back to... work."

The director beside her smiled, smugly, as they nodded, identical muzzles moving in unison, taking the clipboard in turn and adding their new names to his roster before sharing a victorious kiss.

"Ahh... so, these two are our new recruits?" came a booming voice from the director's side.

The naga turned, and gave a slight grin. "Ah. Max... sorry we weren't in need of you after all; we unexpectedly... found an extra volunteer. They've come on quite well, haven't they?" he leered, glancing at the seed-soaked set. "Don't you worry; they'll be ready to meet the 'Crocodile King' soon..."

Max grinned. "I look forward to it, those two are, mmm... they've got something, yeah..." He rubbed at the bulging crotch of his tight jean-shorts. "I thought that performance was very, very... stimulating. So very stimulating... I don't suppose you could write me into a sequel, could you? Maybe daddy comes home to find his twin sons acting all naughty and has to... discipline them?" The burly crocodile asked, wagging his eyeridges.

The naga gave a slight sigh. "Incest#s easy to overdo, Max, but I'll see what Darce thinks. Considering that it was your first performance that... inspired them so much... I think the boys would be amenable, yes? Maybe we could switch it around a bit, and perhaps re-open discussions on that sequel to 'Zenthar'..."

"Ahhh... I wouldn't mind revisiting that idea, mmmm... not at all", Max said, giving a deep, lustful growl as he continued to eye the passionately-kissing croc-lizards on the couch in front of them. He turned back towards the director slowly, still idly rubbing the front of his pants. "What is this one going to be called?"

"Darce? Have anything yet?" the director asked the raven.

Looking up from her pad with an even look on her beak, the bird laughed as she said, "Aheh, uh... 'Croc Brothers Barebacking', 'My Brother's Sexy Secret', 'Loving Males Grow Scales and Tales'... anything?"

"All terrible", the director said, chuckling.

Max grinned. "Don't fuss too much, Darce. People don't watch porn for the writing!"