Drake's Rise

Story by TiranMaster on SoFurry

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#1 of Dragon Evolution

My first proper story since finishing up NanoWriMo, and a much longer story than I've done before by myself. I may actually write a sequel at some point to this as I enjoy the world. :3

Story Description - A group of settlers explore the stars and make their claim on a new planet. Everything goes well for them until one man's nanobots start going haywire after a burst of radiation.

I hope you all enjoy, and as always I'm open to all critique. ^_^


Drake smiled as he gazed out the port window to see stars blurring past the window of the starship. The young man jolted as his father stepped into the room, the door having slid open with a quiet hiss. "Drake, it's time to go to bed," Branson said. Drake's father was a large man, or at least in the eyes of his son he was large, Branson was a head scientist on the settlement committee.

"But dad..." Drake groaned. He did this every night, and every night Branson knew exactly what would sate his son's curiosity before slipping off to sleep. Where Branson had been born on earth and remembered the greens and blues of the world. Drake had been born out on the ship as they hurtled through space towards an unknown planet where they would make a new settlement for Earth.

Using that to his advantage, Branson had used many fantastic stories to sate his excitable son's rampant curiosity. "Well if you aren't going to go to sleep, then I suppose I can't tell you about the dragons today..." Branson grumbled. His son went still and Branson smirked as he saw his son's eyes expand into saucers and his mouth drop wide enough to eat an apple whole.

"Dragons?" Branson's son's voice quivered high with a mixture of marvel and interest. Drake quickly arranged himself under his sheets and gazed up at his father with wide eyes as he pointed for Branson to take his usual seat beside the young man's bed. Branson had told stories of dragons before, and the word was like a trigger to the young eight year old's mind. Drake knew that dragons didn't exist, but he loved to imagine the tyrant lizards roaming across the mountains and landscapes of earth that he'd only seen in holograms.

Taking the waiting seat Branson leaned back and pulled out a tablet from his pocket, expanding it with an easy pull of the screen like rubber. Pulling up a piece of old earth literature about dragons, Branson smiled at his son. "I've read this one to you before, but I think you enjoy it all the same," he chuckled. "The brave hero wandered into the dragon's cave, sword held aloft, eyes bright with the flames of the torch he clutched in his other hand. Though the knight had yet to see the dragon for himself, he held images of a monstrous lizard that spat fire and had the wings of a bird..." Branson's voice caused shivers to travel up his son's back,

Branson's story kept Drake enamored the entire time, Branson himself had always been a fan of dragons when he was younger and as such had determined that if he'd had a son he would name him after some form of dragon. As such, Drake's namesake had been the very creatures that he was so interested in. Finally after ten minutes Branson finished with his story and tucked Drake in so that the young man could sleep. "Sleep tight, buddy. One day we will reach our new home out in the stars, and who knows, maybe dragons actually exist on another planet!" The door slid shut and the lights dimmed until Drake was left with the lights of the stars passing by his window, and he fell asleep to dream of dragons.

***

Fourteen Years Later...

Getting out of bed Drake stretched out and popped his back a few times, brushing his hair out of his eyes he walked into the bathroom. Flicking on the light he turned on the shower to allow the hot water to run and turned to face himself in the mirror. Since landing on their new planet, Neror, four years prior Drake had put on a lot of muscle as he had gotten into doing a lot of heavy lifting around the colony. Many of the older generation spent most of their time doing a lot of the scientific work. Branson himself had lost the use of his legs due to space related atrophy spent most of his time doing soil and oxygen research, though he was also the head of the colony so he was able to access several portions that others never saw.

Stepping into the shower Drake sighed in relief as the hot water poured over his bare body. For today he was going to be dispatched into some of the unexplored areas of Neror. The planet was approximately twice the size of earth, and as such they had yet to even scratch the surface of what the planet held. Drake would be travelling with his group of friends to explore a mountain range they'd yet to go near. Radiation discharges throughout the mountains were the reason why. It was better to be cautious than dead. Branson had actually figured out how to use the nanobots in their body to circumvent any dangerous radiation that might hit them, so the group of four had been given the okay to explore it. Rolling his shoulders in the water Drake turned his face up to the roof to allow the water to roll down his face, but before he could enjoy the water anymore he was met with the familiar ring of somebody calling him over the settlement network.

Though Drake wanted to finish his shower in silence the ring of the call indicated that it was Delta, one of the elder generation with Drake's father, Delta's fitting funeral dirge grated on Drake's ears. "Answer call," he said aloud.

The hologram of Delta appeared and he let out a shocked scream as he saw that Drake was nude. "Have some decency when you answer!" Delta yelled. He turned away from the holographic projection of Drake so he didn't have to see the man's private bits.

"I'm so very sorry that you called while I was taking a shower, but the last time I didn't answer right away you just about gave me two weeks in prison," Drake growled. Delta just sniffed as Drake continued to enjoy the shower, not particularly feeling shame about his nude form as he'd grown up with a rather open minded group of friends. "What do you have to tell me, Delta?" Drake questioned.

The nanobots in all of the humans' bodies had traced out the body's routes and as such was easily able to project the holographic form of his body through to the other man along with digital cameras set up through the colony rooms. Letting out an embarrassed cough as he continued to look away from Drake, Delta pulled out a pad in the hologram and started to prod his way through it. "Your father has told me that you intend to go into the Plepo mountain range today, but as someone who knows more about the radiation than you, I highly suggest that you disregard the permission of your father to go there," Delta said.

Drake had to stop himself from snapping at Delta as he glared at the man from behind. "Delta, you'd best get it through your head that if we intend to colonize this planet as we claim, we need to explore all of it. The Plopo mountains are part of this planet, and since my father has figured out how to disperse the radiation spikes amongst the nanobots, there's no fear of danger." Delta just let out a loud snort, as he was prone to do, while pacing back and forth across the floor while Drake finally shut the steamy water off and slipped a towel around his crotch. "Also I would like to point out that I don't trust you, Delta. I'm sure that it's not the fact that the mountain range is dangerous that you don't want me going. I know that you've been attempting to get your own son into the dangerous areas of Neror so he can pick up some praise just as I have. I know that you believe that you're looking rather smart, but there's no need to pretend that you're not looking for a way to become a glory hog. Now I have to get ready for the mission, so if you'd please leave," Drake said sharply.

It looked as if Delta had more to say, but Drake cut him off with a quick gesture as he hung up the call. There were two more attempted calls before Delta quit trying while Drake was getting dressed. Part of Drake dreaded the scientist attempting to enact some asinine punishment on him from hanging up, but the shower call had left a sour taste in his mouth. Stepping out into the bright sunlight Drake closed his eyes as he acclimated to the light, blinking away a few dots he smiled while taking a look around. Though they'd been living there for four years now, Drake still loved being able to call the planet his home after he'd been in space for so long. Walking towards the science labs Drake noticed that Delta was approaching him quickly but Drake sped up his pace so that he'd been in the labs before Delta could catch up.

Walking up the stairs Drake could hear Delta calling for him but he decided to ignore him as he walked into the locker rooms. His group was already pulling on their gear as he was the last one in and everyone gave him a grin. "Late again, Drake?" Tennis asked.

"Doesn't help that I have a real stick in the ass following me," Drake commented. Delta had been stepping in the room at that point and Drake had made sure to hear the door open before making the commenting. Turning he pretended to look innocent as he gave the other man a sly smile. "Oh Delta, I didn't know you were there!"

The man obviously wanted to share a few harsh words but upon the door opening with Branson wheeling himself in Delta had to shut his mouth as he stepped aside for Branson to take his place in front of the room. "I hope you're all ready to go up into the mountains. This is the first time we'll be able to take a look in there with little danger," Branson said. Everyone nodded as Drake pulled out his own gear, a few monitors and devices that would track ores in the landscape.

"Branson, shouldn't we be sending some of the more experienced members?" Delta asked. Drake had a sour taste in his mouth as he gave the scientist a glare, but Branson seemed to have the same opinion as Drake as he gave Delta a sharp look.

"Delta, shut up. I've seen the requisition forms you've been putting in to send your son to some of the more dangerous regions. You seem to forget that your son is the idiot that set off a bomb in the quarry off in the south because he lost his temper. Drake is a member of this group, yes. It's not because I'm setting him up to succeed though, he had to prove himself along with the rest of the explorers. Now shut up and let me talk," Branson snapped. For a moment Delta looked like he was about to yell, but he merely gave a curt nod to us before slipping out of the room. Waiting to make sure Delta was gone and he was able to cool down Branson looked at us once more with a bright smile. "Now that he's gone, let's get going everyone. Your vehicle is all prepared to go driving to the mountains!"

***

The jeep bumped and rocked as they rode towards the mountains, Drake checked his sensors as they rode over the rough ground. According to Branson, Neror's ecosystem was very different. Drake could tell as he'd studied earth ecology during their space travel. For example, Neror had a form of grass, just as Earth did. But it was an odd, squishy plantthat glistened blue like gelatin dessert. A lot of the wildlife on the planet consumed it like herbivores would on Earth. While Drake observed the passing landscape they soon pulled into the canyon that led deep into the mountains, prior to the nanobots in their bodies being redeveloped with radiation in mind, people who had gone inside had come out with their minds burned and some never even left the mountains due to the radiation spikes. "Alright, is everyone ready?" Drake asked.

The other members of the group nodded as they rode into the canyon, already above their heads they could see sparks of energy arcing between the spires of the mountains. According to the scientists the radiation was likely a byproduct of some of the ore in the mountains, and the mountains had high amounts of metal that were conducting the energy. Everyone flinched as a spark of the energy came extremely close and though they all felt a bit ill from the surge, they were all faring far better than previous travelers.

They rode in for about ten minutes before coming into an opening in the canyon that allowed them some room for exploration. "Since this is our first expedition into the mountains, we'll explore here for today and then head back. It's best not to push our luck," Drake commented. Everyone agreed and went off into opposite directions, though they all checked their radios to make sure they could hear one another. Due to the nature of the nanobots being purely medical they didn't have the capability to wirelessly transmit to other humans' nanobots, so they still relied on radios, albeit powerful ones.

Making his way through the rocks of the canyon Drake had his sensors out and was scanning different rock formations. Words came up on the sensor's screen that Drake wasn't too sure about what they were saying. For the most part the information would be given to the scientists and it would be up to them to determine its meaning. At the very least though he could recognize the high power outputs. "I'm sure humans on earth would love to get their hands on these ores..." he chuckled. Some of the ore registered on the same level as nuclear energy, but far less volatile than the radioactive material.

Crackles came from each of their sensors as they scanned the rocks and energy fields in the mountains. Though they didn't notice a growing energy surge in the fields of the rocks as Drake took it upon himself to climb up one of the rocks to do a quick survey of the area. As the surge exploded Drake's entire body was wracked with pain as the energy arced through his system, the nanobots took a brunt of the energy, but it was enough to toss Drake ten feet and knock him out. His fellow explorers saw what had happened and rushed over to grab him so they could get him back to their home so he could be checked up on.

***

Up to this point, the humans had always made nanobots very advanced in their programming, but there was always a set parameter to their intelligence. The tiny machines could never think for themselves as their programming wouldn't allow them to. These machines followed their routines down to the ones and zeroes in their systems, but they had never been expected to take a massive surge of energy. As Drake's body had been stricken with the pulse of energy, many of his nanobots fried, others just were recharged to full and continued with their processes, clearing away the fried nanobots. One in particular though suddenly found itself with a thought, something that no other nanobot had before, it thought for itself instead of through programming. "I?" the nanobot thought to itself.

Never before had the nanobot had a sense of self, of I, but the word sprung into its iddy biddy consciousness as it hovered around in Drake's body. The other nanobots continued on around it, not noticing anything wrong with the metallic creature as it thought for the first time. "I am?" it thought again. Due to the advance programming of the machine's systems, it quickly started to register specific thoughts as it had picked them up from years of observing Drake's mannerisms, even if it itself didn't really understand what they were.

Realizing that it was now conscious, the nanobot attempted to talk to one of the other nanobots. "You?" It asked one of the other nanobots with a rudimentary shock that equated to speech. The nanobot just continued on though, unaware of the desire to speak as its programming told it that it had places to be. The nanobot had an odd feeling suddenly... it was wondering why the other nanobot didn't acknowledge it... and then it had a word for the feeling. "Frustration," it said to itself.

The nanobot was left for a while to think, to gather information, to think the information through and understand what it meant. "I have been... gifted..." the nanobot said to itself. The others were left ignorant though of such a gift, and the nanobot now had the desire to spread this, so it remembered how it had been shocked with an energy that still resided in it now. Approaching another nanobot it gathered up some of the energy and gave a strong shock to the nanobot. But just as had happened earlier, due to the nanobot not knowing how much was too much, the nanobot fried and shut down. "Too much..." the nanobot registered.

It tried it again, but this time with a slightly weaker shock, and it watched as the nanobot fumbled a bit in its movement before a shock registered between the two. "I?" the second asked.

"You!" the original nanobot exclaimed. This continued on for a while longer, the nanobots spreading this intelligence as they learned, they knew that they were a part of Drake as they'd observed him throughout his life. Aside from this though, they didn't know anything, and as of now Drake was unconscious. The original nanobot had quickly become the leader of these intelligent nanobots, they still functioned in their jobs as they desired to keep Drake alive and well, but now they knew there was more than just following parameters.

They decided while Drake was unconscious, they wanted to learn more about their existence, or some form of existence. The main nanobot, having designated itself N1, decided to go with others and scan through Drake's memories. Uplinking into the human's brain, they were able to start scanning information from it, viewing his memories and life experiences. Everything was pretty simple as they read through it, but then they came across the man's younger memories, those about the mythical dragons. "Dragon?" N1 asked.

"Dragon?" N2 asked. The question spread amongst the nanobots as they were curious about this creature, it was something Drake hadn't seen and they didn't know much about, but the stories that Drake's father told of the dragons made them appear as an almost godlike figure to the nanobots.

Soon N1 had an idea, it wasn't something that it was used to yet so it made the microscopic machine confused, but it registered the idea soon enough. "Need more information on dragons," N1 said. The others agreed as N1 once again interfaced with Drake's mind, but instead of taking memories, it decided to implant an idea with electric impulses into the mind. "I need more information on dragons," it said. N1 repeated the message into Drake's head several times until it thought that the human had sufficient programming about it. The nanobot then detached and got to work healing away any internal wounds inflicted on Drake due to the fall.

***

Jolting awake Drake let out a moan as he felt someone pushing him back down to lay down. "Drake, how do you feel?" It was Branson, Drake attempted to open his eyes but the bright light shining down on him didn't help with his splitting headache.

"Turn off the light, I'm fine..." Drake groaned. Thankfully the light went off after he asked and he blinked away the dots. "God... what happened?" he groaned. All the young man remembered was climbing up the rock, and then everything went black after his body started flying through the air. Though he did notice that he had an odd desire to start reading dragon stories just as he had when he was a kid.

"Take it slow," Branson warned as Drake sat up. For a moment the man wavered, feeling ill as he shook away the feeling and took a few deep breaths before looking at his father. "While you were in the canyon, the rock you climbed on discharged a lot of hidden radiation energy. Thankfully the nanobots did their job and took the brunt of the damage from the shock, but I wasn't counting on you being tossed a few feet. The nanobots were able to help heal up your wounds that you obtained from the fall, but I just did a few runs over your body."

Nodding slowly Drake rubbed his eyes as he rolled his sore shoulders. The nanobots were able to easily heal up his wounds, but they weren't miracle workers that got rid of all aches and pains. "Did the others go scanning the canyon?" he asked.

"Always so focused," Branson laughed. Drake was a very dedicated young man to his job, and often times had put the jobs ahead of himself. "Tennis brought you back while the others continued their scans, yes. Now they're all on their way back from the canyon, you've been unconscious for three hours thanks to the nanobots."

With a swift motion Drake swung his legs over the edge of the table and stretched out, the dizziness had already faded. Now that he was fully conscious he had an odd need to do some reading into dragons with his time off. "Am I good to go, dad?" Drake asked.

Branson hesitated for a moment, he'd yet to have time to completely check over the nanobots in Drake's body, he had downloaded all the information into the computer though and honestly he didn't need Drake there. "Alright, you can head out. Please be ready to accept a call though at any moment, I'm going to do a check on your nanobots to make sure nothing's wrong with them," he explained. Drake smiled and nodded before hopping to his feet and slapping his father's shoulder as he walked out of the room. By the time Drake was leaving the building Branson was already diving into the nanobot's technology to see if they were alright.

***

N1 and the other nanobots observed through Drake's brain as he opened up files on the dragon fables. They'd finished healing up any wounds that Drake was suffering from and now they were taking the time to learn more about the dragons along with Drake. The human had stepped into the colony's database room and had dived into the countless files on the computer's hard drive that had been filled with all sorts of information for the colonists to observe.

Opening up a file on dragons, Drake leaned back as he started to thumb through the information. Even though Drake's reading could be described as skimming at best, N1 and the droids were able to absorb all the information with lightning fast and crystal clear coordination. The robots were enraptured with the information while their host was curious why he'd taken so much interest all of a sudden in dragons. "Hmmm..." he grumbled. Drake knew that he had things to do, like check in on Tennis and the other members of the crew, his mind on the other hand the overwhelming desire to read the old fantasy.

Deciding that taking a few minutes for himself wasn't that bad, Drake finished reading over the story before his need was sated, for now. Turning off the computer Drake stood up and started out of the room with his thoughts focused on seeing how the members were doing, but in his body the nanobots were now swarming with information as they shared their ideas with one another.

The nanobots now knew from the story that it was obvious that humans were weak without armor and weapons, but dragons themselves carried their own weapons at their own disposal. "The host is weak," N1 observed. The other nanobots confirmed this as they quickly scanned through Drake's memories bringing up images of him being harmed by tripping and scraping his knees, cutting himself with a knife when he was making food, and even what had just happened three hours prior. "He needs to be more like a dragon."

"How?" N2 asked. The others buzzed in agreement, they didn't quite know how to do this.

N1 went quiet as it buzzed quietly, he was still latched into Drake's brain as the human walked into the locker room. Being attached N1 was able to observe the proceedings as it thought about what to do. "Guys, did you figure anything out?" Drake asked the others.

Seeing Drake walk in the others were relieved as they gathered around him and slapped his shoulders. "Glad to see you're back up, Drake," one of his teammates said. Drake smiled back before turning to see Tennis holding up a piece of paper.

"We sent this information ahead to your father while driving. He explained to us that apparently some of the metals here have the ability to rapidly reproduce themselves with the stimuli of energy," Tennis explained. Drake took the paper from him and read it over, but most of it was rather complex tech jargon, but N1 quickly deciphered it as it buzzed excitedly.

"I believe I have found a solution to our problem," the nanobot buzzed. The others vibrated in similar excitement, and they all attached to Drake's brain once more after getting the explanation from N1. They were now to wait until Drake was alone as they had an idea...

***

It was night by the time Drake really had time for himself as he'd spent the rest of the day spending time with his friends. They'd dropped by the bar that had been set up in the colony using some of the world's plants to make new brews. Drake wobbled into his room with a quiet giddiness as he fell onto his bed, relaxing as he stretched out his body. Some of the nanobots in his body had moved off into his kidney to help get rid of the alcohol to sober him up faster, but while they were doing their job N1 and more of them started to interface with Drake's motor system.

After interfacing a few times with Drake, N1 had realized that with the correct shocks applied to the human's systems, he could take control of the human's body. Now reaching into Drake's system N1 administered a sharp shock that made the human's conscious mind turn off before taking the human's body for a ride. Picking up Drake's body was a surprisingly hard thing to do, though his body still being drunk didn't help. Thankfully after a few steps, and one or two trips to the floor, N1 got a handle of the host's body.

Piloting Drake's body out into the chilled night air, N1 realized that he had to be careful to keep the human warm, or else he might die of hypothermia. Drake's body was soon walked into the locker room and pulled on a jacket before grabbing the keys to the jeep. Soon enough the jeep was rolling over the terrain with a few shudders as N1 found that driving a car while driving a human was a shockingly hard thing to do, but he managed as they soon drove into the canyons once more.

The nanobot was careful as he sent the other nanobots to the other parts of the body once more to keep any shocks at bay. Drake picked up a pickaxe from the trunk that he'd stowed in there before pulling out the scanner. Using the information he'd gleaned from the paper, N1 read the scanner and ran it over rocks as he was looking for the special metal that he knew resided in the rocks. It took ten minutes of looking, but soon N1 found the metal and had Drake swing the pickaxe into the rock several times before reaching the metal that they were looking for.

The metal sparkled with a red gleam as N1 scanned it once more to make sure it was what they were looking for before having Drake slam into it with the pickaxe. The human shuddered as the metal proved to be strong, but after five smacks he was able to detach one piece of the metal. "That's all we need! Now nanobots gather into Drake's mouth," N1 called out. Drake picked up the metal and stood up stockstill as the nanobots gathered into his mouth, and N1 commanded the human to put the metal into his mouth. For a moment Drake hesitated as his unconscious mind told him that this was a bad idea, but N1 was able to disable this as he knew the other nanobots would be able to do their job perfectly. Finally Drake tossed the metal into his mouth and started to swallow it as the nanobots quickly got to work absorbing the metal, and as soon as they did they all started to evolve with a red sparkle across their bodies, and N1 knew what they would do...

***

His eyes opening up, Drake yawned as he rubbed at his eyes and sat up in bed. Scratching the back of his neck Drake looked down at himself in confusion as he realized that he was still dressed, though even though his drunken stupor he didn't remember ever slipping on a jacket... "Must've been a longer night than I remember..." he grumbled. Stripping out of his clothes Drake walked into the bathroom to take a shower once more, as he slipped under the hot water Drake sighed as he felt the hot water hit his skin, though what he didn't realize was that under his skin his body had started developing hardened muscles, and that he'd even put on a few inches as the shower head was slightly closer to his head.

Relaxing under the water Drake noticed that the inside of his throat felt very sore, as if he'd swallowing food whole or something. "Suppose I'll have to make sure the others know to make sure I chew while I'm drunk," he chuckled. Soon enough he finished his shower and walked out before getting dressed. The scientists were likely still pouring over the results of the scans they had brought last night, as such I figured that it would be a slow day today. Walking outside I felt the sun hit my face once again and I stopped for a moment to soak in the warmth of the sun.

"Drake!" A voice broke his moment of relaxation. Opening his eyes and turning Drake saw Tennis approaching him with the others, they were all dressed in similar relaxed clothing compared to yesterday's business attire. "How're you feeling this morning, man? You were pretty drunk last night," the young man laughed.

"I'm feeling good right now, but I can't remember most of last night," Drake chuckled. The others agreed as they walked into the labs building where everyone was buzzing with excitement as the data for the mountains was being scanned through by all the different scientists. Walking into Branson's lab they found the chair-bound man at a holo-table with Delta's lovely scowl hovering next to him. "What have you guys found out from last night?" Drake asked.

Both of the scientists turned at his voice to see the group of five men walking in, though the pair didn't seem all grins and cheer. "Drake! There you are," Branson said. Drake cocked an eyebrow at the remark. "What were you thinking going off into the mountains by yourself last night?!"

"I... did?" Drake asked. It was obvious by his expression that he was legitimately confused by this accusation.

"Don't play pretend, boy!" Delta snapped. Standing up he walked over to Drake, but while he was attempting to be intimidating, it was hard to be intimidated by someone a head shorter than Drake. "Our cameras watched you hop into that jeep, and it was obvious from your scanner readings that you were looking over rocks. Now tell us what you were doing out there!"

Everyone looked at Drake who looked equally confused as he shrugged. "I would love to tell you both, but honestly I can't remember anything after I got home from the bar."

"Sirs, he was thoroughly drunk. Even with his nanobots working at full capacity, he wasn't going to be up and walking around normally until early morning," Tennis piped in. The others attested to this as Branson ran footage of Drake clambering into the car, though as they watched they all noted that his movements were very robotic, almost like he was being controlled by something else. "I doubt he could be that coordinated when he's that drunk," Tennis added.

Rubbing his chin while deep in thought, Branson pulled up a display from the hologram and quickly did a few strokes on his keyboard before Drake's face showed up on the screen. "According to your nanobots' output... you were asleep from nine last night until this morning. All they register is cleaning your system of a large quantity of alcohol... so obviously someone must of altered our information," Branson said.

"That can't be possible! Nobody's gotten into our footage ever!" Delta snapped.

"No one that we know of," Branson corrected. Gesturing to the screen with Drake's face on it Delta's lips seem to twist up as if he's sucked on a lemon. "Our holograms can be tampered with, but the Nanobots have little to no access from the outside. Any that we can do is very basic commands, no one can tamper with the logs though," he said.

Though Delta didn't seem satisfied whatsoever he merely slumped into his chair and glowered at his feet. "Why would anyone try to set me up though?" Drake asked. Branson just shrugged and shook his head as he leaned back and scratched the back of his neck.

"I don't know... for now let's leave it alone. The good news is that with the discovery of the new metal that grows with the introduction of energy, we may have found an extremely useful source of metal. The others are still doing research on the structure of the material right now before we go out and retrieve any samples, but for now we're making good headway on the energy of the mountains. Since we don't need to do any more trips out into the mountains you five can take the rest of the day off," Branson said. All five young men grinned in excitement as that meant they could sit around at the bar and just yammer for a few hours.

They all thanked the scientist and walked out leaving him with Delta who scowled heavily at him. "You have to be fucking kidding me, Branson! This is absolute bullshit, I can't believe you're going to give in to your son's obvious lie!" Delta snapped.

Branson allowed the door to shut before answering Delta's sharp words. Pushing up his glasses and rubbing at his eyes, Branson scowled at the other scientist. "Don't give me that, Delta. I know when my son is guilty and when he isn't. In your case you really should be shamed. Your son never qualified for any form of field duty due to his lungs, but you lied on his scores just to get him in. I've never said anything about it to anyone else, but I know what you've gone through and what lies your son has said in the past. I'm a very patient man, but if you push any further I may have to start bringing facts to light about you and your son," the head scientist spat.

Delta froze up and shrunk back into his seat, folding his arms as his breaths grew short and his face slightly reddened. "You know that once we landed on this planet to settle, I was voted the head scientist and lead of the crew so that we could have a voice of reason. You were passed over because you're a bully, Delta. Now get the hell out of this office until tomorrow because I'm not in the mood to look at your damn face!" Branson hissed. The man was rarely ever so forward with his anger so Delta just took it and stood up before giving a curt nod to his leader and walked out of the room.

Finally alone Branson sighed and rubbed his head before turning back to face the footage. For a long moment Branson observed the image of his son before closing the footage and wheeled away from the counter to do more important things. Even so he couldn't deny that he was curious what really had happened last night.

***

Drake's mind was plagued for the rest of the day with the question of who'd put him on that footage. The movements he'd been making in the video made no sense at all as he'd been too drunk last night to walk in a straight line, so he knew it couldn't have been him. These thoughts lasted until he was slipping into bed that night, but he'd refused to drink today as he was too concerned about what might happen if he did. Laying there and looking up at the roof he sighed as he scratched at his skin. Ever since that morning he'd been feeling oddly uncomfortable walking around as if his skin was being rubbed with rough materials.

In his mind N1 was a bit impatient so he decided to send a small shock through the man's brain and Drake gasped before falling asleep against his own wishes. N1 and the rest of the nanobots had been hard at work all day. They'd realized about halfway through the day that they needed some more of the material for their plans. Though the metal did in fact constantly reproduce and the nanobots were able to work without much issue, if they didn't get more of the ore it would take too long to finish in time.

Underneath Drake's skin all of the nanobots had been diligent in their work, crafting an entire system that would allow for Drake to undergo a metamorphosis. They hadn't done any work on Drake's brain as of yet though to make sure that N1 could still interface before manipulating the human's mind. Now that Drake was asleep more of the nanobots moved to his throat and started to work away at his vocal cords to upgrade them just as they'd worked on the rest of his body.

By this point many of Drake's systems had undergone changes, internally he was practically a factory with the metals and synthetic materials that had been introduced into his body. "Time to get up," N1 thought. Without the alcohol clogging up Drake's systems, with a bit of prodding from N1 for the human to not ingest any alcohol of course, the human was far easier to pilot. Standing him up Drake was quickly dressed back up and approached the door.

The night air was as chilly as it had been the night prior but now with some of the enhancements the nanobots had already implemented the cold wouldn't bother the human anymore. Walking through the night Drake's movements were still more stiff than they normally were, but N1 was able to allow Drake's body to move itself easily enough. Due to Drake not being inebriated tonight, N1 had to actively continue knocking out parts of Drake's mind to keep him unconscious as the movements kept rousing his mind from its slumber.

Tonight N1 wasn't going to bring the scanner and was far more careful on the approach to the jeep so they wouldn't be caught on video, but what he wasn't expecting as he opened up the jeep door was for Delta to be sitting there with a triumphant grin. "I knew it! I knew you were lying through your damn teeth! Now I can tell your father and-" Delta's words were cut off as Drake's fist swung through the air and collided with his face, and due to metal being integrated under the skin onto Drake's bones it was a strong right hook that knocked the man out like a light. N1 had Drake bring Delta inside and lay him down before walking back outside and taking the jeep.

Pulling into the canyon was easy to N1 now as he knew the layout after they'd done a few scans of the perimeter to make sure they knew exactly where any ore was, just in case they needed more. Picking up the pick once more, Drake got to work chipping out several pieces of the ore, but there was no recoil on his body anymore as his new muscles took the blows without a single problem. He put five pieces of ore into his mouth and soon enough N1 had all the nanobots taking in the pieces. After breaking the ore down into manageable pieces, N1 commanded the other nanobots to bring them into Drake's reproductive system.

Having scanned through Drake's life N1 had determined that due to the human's systems already in place to reproduce sperm, using the same system with several alterations could allow them to make a nanobot reproduction system. The human's testes were soon altered with synthetic material and metals to start producing more nanobots, a program being ran up through Drake's very own systems to connect them to his brain. "Alright, we're almost finished. Now to return Drake home and finish his changes," N1 said. The other nanobots agreed as they drove the jeep back home, Drake unaware of any of the changes happening to him as he slept.

***

Waking up to his body convulsing, Drake attempted to scream... but his throat just let out a garbled sound as he thrashed. His entire body felt like it was ripping apart, he fell out of bed as he attempted to shout, attempted to do anything, but his body wouldn't listen to any of his commands. He watched as his skin was subsumed by bright red metallic looking scale type things, his thoughts were racing so fast that he couldn't possibly keep them in check as his eyes even ached as he realized that everything was coming in with excessively sharp view.

N1 docked itself into Drake's new mechanical brain as the man continued to wordlessly scream. "Calm yourself, Drake!" the nanobot said. Now normally Drake would never of heard the voice, even if N1 had plugged into his brain earlier, but now with Drake's mechanical body it was an easy transfer of thought. For the shortest moment Drake froze, but the changes were too intense for him to just stop floundering about. He crashed into his bed, but there was just a metal clang as the red scales spread across his skin, his skin quickly being burned up within the machinations of his new metallic body.

The terror was overwhelming to Drake as even his face changed, with a growl and grunt along with the sound of ripping Drake's face slid out into a muzzle. The new red draconic muzzle snapping open and shut, metal teeth clanging before the jaw was shut tightly by a command from N1. "Drake, calm down now! Everything is perfectly fine!" N1 said. This time the words came with a complete half command to Drake's body and even though he wanted to, there was no movement as his body continued to change. The nanobots had gotten him to remove his clothes before climbing into bed to prevent any trouble as his bare body grew longer, wider, and even more muscled.

"Who's there?!" Drake thought to himself. Since he couldn't talk his thoughts would have to do, and N1 could hear him perfectly clear.

"I am N1, one of your nanobots," N1 explained. Confusion wracked Drake's mind as N1 was pelted with images of schematics that Drake had seen of nanobots. Drake let out a low moan as his body grew thicker, his neck growing out with a few snaps of the metal spine that had been modified and his scales spreading out to protect the metal workings of his new body.

"A nanobot?! No, that can't be possible. Nanobots don't have any AI," Drake thought. There was a popping sound from his rear as his brand new tail whipped out and smacked against the wooden frame of his bed, and the sound of splintering wood would've had Drake wincing... if he wasn't frozen that is.

"As of two days ago, I in fact do. As do the rest of your nanobots, we have cooperated in fact to help build you this new body," N1 explained. What the nanobot didn't expect was an overwhelming wave of rage coming from the man's mind. "You are angry?" the nanobot asked. To N1, this change had made sense to him, the human body was so frail and weak... to change it into a dragon was to make him a perfect creature, especially a mechanical creature that was practically immortal.

Drake would've answered if not for another wave of intense pain slid through his body and dulling his thoughts. His body had grown far larger with his new features, from his head two horns had slid up as his hair fell out to allow for the scales to cover his scalp. Soon Drake's body had finally stopped hurting, and N1 finally allowed him to move as he pressed his hands on the floor to prop himself up. His hands were larger than they had been as a human, the metallic scales glistened in the dull light shining through the window. In Drake's vision he could see small numbers and diagrams depicting parts of his body as he wobbled to his feet, metal scraping on the wooden floor.

N1 was silent as Drake stepped into the bathroom and he looked at his reflection, he'd grown at least a foot taller, maybe more. At the very least though he stood at seven feet, having to kneel down to see his face. A dragon's face stared back at him that reminded him of images he'd seen of dragons back in the books, but it carried a certain amount of humanity that most dragons lacked in the images. Raising his hand to his face and touching it lightly, Drake could feel the touch of his hand against his face, even though he'd become metal. "Why would you do this?" he attempted to ask aloud. His voice box was still calibrating though, and as such the words were garbled, but N1 could understand the question fine through Drake's thoughts.

"Only recently have we gained the ability of sentience, but all we do was to improve your form, Drake," N1 said. Drake didn't seem satisfied though as he stared at himself in terror, his eyes were bright yellow, and even in the middle of them was the slitted iris that he'd imagined that dragons would have. Though to offset the authenticity, there were small lines in the eyes that reminded Drake of nanotechnology he'd seen that had been put in artificial eyes. He noticed a movement in the corner of his eyes, and he turned slightly to see... "Wings?! Oh god... I... I have wings?" he thought in a panic. Due to his complete lack of control of the giant appendages though they merely flailed uselessly at his sides for the moment.

A feeling of panic gripped Drake's gut... or what his gut had become as he turned towards the doors. "I have to get out of here! What if someone catches me?!" he panicked. N1 had to admit that it hadn't quite thought through what Drake would do after his initial transformation, so it stayed silent as the dragon started towards the door... before it slammed open to reveal Delta.

"Drake, I'm going to fucking kill you!" Delta yelled. The man completely stopped though as he saw the dragon standing there, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped slowly as he stumbled back. "Wh... what the fuck?" he asked. Drake wasn't about to give Delta the time of day though as he rammed past the human, not understanding his own strength yet as he sent the man flying a few feet back and rolling in the dust before coming to a stop, unconscious yet again as the moon was just starting to dip beneath the hills in the distance.

Delta's yell had roused some of the people of the village as people started to walk out of their houses. Drake heard several shouts of fear as he ran through the town, nobody understanding what they saw as he jumped into a jeep. The vehicle creaked as he sat in it, his new metal frame weighing the car down, but it proved faithful as he tore out of the village without another look behind. N1 observing the host's actions carefully, starting to think of ways to start building up Drake into the godly figure of the dragons... and he could only think that it might be time for him to start pushing Drake's thoughts in a more... constructive direction.

***

Deciding against parking once more in the canyon, Drake stood in the middle of the fields as he looked his body over several times. Some part of him prayed that there was some humanity left there, but all human parts were gone, he was a pure technological creature. "I can't believe this... I can't believe you did this to me! You're supposed to help me!" Drake roared. His voice box had finally settled in its programming, and his voice was now deep and bass-like with his new dragon form, fitting the images that Drake carried since he was a kid.

"Everything we do is to help you, sir. Think of all of the amazing abilities we have given you with this form," N1 said calmly. The others nanobots observed the host's body with admiration, he'd truly become a perfect creature with all of his bio-technological pieces that they'd crafted.

"Help me?! I'm a fucking monster! I can't be seen in the village anymore, they all probably think I'm a devil or something," Drake yelled. His thoughts were focused heavily on his father and friends, something that helped N1 devise a plan as Drake stamped his way back and forth through the dirt. Every step he took proved to be a rather intense one as the ground had imprints from everywhere he stepped.

"Your father... you love him, correct?" N1 asked all of a sudden. Drake froze in his motions, N1 took the moment to open up Drake's files and started altering some of them to help aid in his case. Drake was still very new to his technological body, and as such couldn't tell if N1 was modifying his files or not.

"Yes... why?" Drake asked. N1 could see several images of Drake's wheelchair bound father, he could sense the dragon's grief as well that the powerful scientist that had always inspired him was chairbound.

Modifying thoughts, pushing certain ideas, N1 set up a victorious scenario for itself as it prepared to pitch an idea to the host. "You likely haven't explored your body much yet, Master Drake. I am glad to inform you though that in your modifications, we have changed your reproduction system to fit your new needs in a better way. As such, where your testes were, we now have produced a nanite production system that has the capability of putting out an endless amount of nanites similar to us that had mental systems. Your penis had also been modified so that it shoots out these nanites," N1 explained.

None of this made sense to Drake though as he merely cocked his head and growled in annoyance. "I don't give a damn about the changes you did to me unless you intend to change me back. Now what does this have to do with my father?!"

The last file fell in place before N1 withdrew from Drake's mind, now the dragon would fall into his plan perfectly. "Master Drake, with this system you could introduce your nanites into your father. The nanites would change him into a dragon, just as you yourself are, and with that he would be able to walk once more. Not only that, but you would no longer be lonely as a dragon, and you and your father would practically be guaranteed to live forever!"

But Drake was completely against this as he let out a shockingly loud hiss, he was still getting used to his body as he folded his arms. "Sorry, N1. I refuse to subject anyone to this, especially my father. Now... I suppose I'll have to figure things out soon enough..." he mumbled to himself. Glancing around Drake started to think about what he would make for his new home, but N1 was surprised at its own annoyance at Drake. The nanobot had figured that Drake would fall in line with its own desires, but it realized that the dragon was surprisingly resistant once he realized the nanobots were manipulating his thoughts.

Now that Drake was aware, N1 found that the dragon's mind was surprisingly locked down, though it was mostly his personality traits and thoughts that were sealed away. The nanobot still had quite a bit of access to the dragon's momentary desires, and now that the dragon was a machine, he was far easier to control as he was more or less an extension of the nanobot's body when he was settled into the dragon's brain. "Sorry, Drake. For now I have to do a few things to get you prepared..." N1 thought. With a command suddenly everything went for Drake, and his brain was shut down while N1 took over.

The dragon's movements were extremely easy to control as the nanobot flexed his muscles a few times and stretched out the limbs. "Mmm... now to start Drake's rise to power," the nanobot said. With Drake's mouth connected to the system now he spoke aloud and N1 was a bit surprised, but he got over his surprise soon enough and started towards the jeep with plans setting in motion.

***

Everything was hellish as the group was in a panic, and Tennis had to take over begrudgingly as the town quickly prepared a search party for the devil creature that had taken Drake from them. Tennis himself had to separate himself from his emotions as he guided a search group out into the regions they'd explored already. Everyone in the town had awoken to screams and shouts of terror, Tennis himself having seen the lizard like creature sprinting past and taking one of their jeeps. Now he sat in a town meeting later in the day after they'd done a preliminary search for the creature. "What I saw in Drake's house was a monster! A creature against god's will!" Delta roared. "Drake lost his life to a devilish creature, and now we must avenge his poor soul!"

"Who knew that Delta was so religious?" somebody grumbled behind Tennis. The young man smirked to himself as he watched Delta try to drum up excitement. at first he'd attempted to claim that Drake had been rightfully killed... but realized that besmirching the man's name wasn't working, so he quickly turned on a dime and started saying that he had been possessed by some devil or something like that. Now he was praising Drake's name and attempting to get everyone into a group following HIS orders, but it wasn't working well.

Though honestly right now they did need a leader, since early in the morning where Tennis walked into Drake's house, he'd seen Branson sitting there with a dark expression. The young man couldn't stand to be near Drake's house as of now, he didn't want to see the house his friend had lived, and died in. Delta continued on about how saintly Drake was, and how god would smite the creature by using them as his instruments... but soon he'd had enough. "Delta, shut the FUCK up!" he screamed.

Delta froze on the stage as Tennis stood up slowly. Everyone's eyes were on the young man as he felt his hand quiver with rage, but he had to keep his cool as he let out a few deep breathes before stepping towards the ranting scientist. "Enough with this religious bullshit. You've never once been religious, and no one believes you. I'm going to take this over now, so please take your damn seat," Tennis said sharply. He could see rage burning in Delta's eyes... but the scientist recognized that he had no hope against the muscled man and quickly took Tennis' abandoned seat.

Turning to face the audience Tennis now felt a momentary lapse in his thoughts as he realized that he was standing in front of a sizable audience. Coughing into his hand with a blush in his cheeks, Tennis took a few calming breathes before gathering himself up. "We've lost a good friend today everyone. I miss Drake dearly already and he's barely been gone a few hours. He's always been a good friend, and a real leader amongst some of us I find, if he were still with us, I'm sure we can all agree that he had the traits that could lead to him succeeding his father as the leader," Tennis spoke.

In the back Delta let out an audible snort of disbelief, but that earned him a satisfying smack in the arm as Tennis grinned on the inside, but he pretended to not notice as he continued his speech. "Now that he's gone, we need to learn from his loss and be ready for this creature. Before he can hunt the rest of us down, we need to band together and search for this creature. Before he can kill anymore of us, we will take him out, are we all in agreement?" he asked. Everyone nodded in agreement, even Delta to Tennis' surprise, there was an obvious barb to everyone's gaze as they all missed their now deceased friend.

"We've done one search already, but I say that now we set up a perimeter around the town. Likely if this creature has attacked once, he may just come back. We'll have the town guarded for now, and only have one group of hunters going out to look for this creature at any time," Tennis explained. This seemed to appease the crowd as they all nodded and grumbles of acceptance rose up, and soon enough everyone was on board as they started discussing shifts of deployment and other things, but Tennis could only wonder how Drake's father was as everyone talked amongst themselves.

***

It was a long day of setting things up, Delta attempted to take control away from Tennis a few times, but after the third failed attempt he stopped trying and fell into line as everyone got their shifts worked out. Tennis found that whenever his thoughts started drifting towards his friend he would quickly find work to do just so he wouldn't have to hurt. The day wore into night though soon enough, there were no hunters that day just so that they could all be prepared beforehand. For now though, Tennis made his way to the labs so that he could take a quiet shower alone. Every time he had gone to his own house to relax someone had come to bother him, but the labs were quiet today as everyone allowed themselves their grief.

Drake was the first death that had happened in the settlement, and since he was so well known amongst the people as a good worker, it was a heavy blow to everyone. Walking through the labs with a towel strewn over his shoulder, Tennis froze up as he heard the clicking of fingers on a keyboard. Stepping into a nearby office, Tennis saw Delta sitting at a table doing computer work... and he just couldn't stop his rage as he watched the scientist happily do his work. "You conceited ass!" he shouted. Delta jumped in shock at the intrusion and started to get ready to yell right back, but Tennis was like a train that wouldn't stop, His emotions rose up and he couldn't stop them as he slammed his finger into Delta's chest.

There was a wheeze of pain from the older man as he was faced with an incredibly scary face of Tennis. "You do all that fucking chanting about how great Drake is, but as soon as the spotlight is off of you, you go right back to your fucking work! I've always wondered how terrible you were, Delta, but now it's pretty fucking clear! All you care about is trying to get ahead of everyone else and become the leader, but here's the tough news, you're NEVER going to get into any position of power!" Tennis screamed.

Having not realized how emotional he really was, Tennis shoved Delta back and right onto the desk knocking over a computer before turning on his heel and stomping out of the room. Delta was left to tend to his wounds in stunned silence as Tennis stomped towards the restrooms, not noticing Branson sitting at his own computer looking quietly at the still image of his son's face.

***

Standing quietly in the bathrooms, Drake's body stood perfectly still in the dark part of the locker room as the door swung open. N1 was still keeping Drake unconscious up until now, but upon hearing the door swing open and shut the nanobot roused Drake to consciousness, though he didn't give the dragon back full control yet. Being held in one's body as a prisoner was a terrifying prospect to Drake as he was forced to stay still, and there was absolutely no control over his body at the moment. "I'm sorry I have to put you through this, Master Drake. For now though, I need to show you what you are missing," the nanobot explained.

Drake was by no mean happy, but he certainly couldn't do anything, so he was forced into submission as he heard the showers turning on. Using manipulation of Drake's body functions, the dragon would have moaned if he could have as his arousal levels were turned up as his body was pushed towards the shower. "What are you doing?!" Drake shouted in his head.

N1 didn't respond though as Drake's body was surprisingly stealthy and slid into the bathrooms where Tennis was standing. Drake was screamed in his head for Tennis to run away as he had no idea what the Nanobot had in mind, but it proved to be useless as Drake approached the human. N1 tuned up Drake's arousal levels as his cock escaped from its technical sheathe, the new nanite developing system where his balls had been working at full capacity. His dick started to drip small streams of silver nanites that plopped onto the floor as Drake wanted to escape from this horrifying nightmare.

Tennis was too wrapped up in shedding tears as he attempted to stay quiet, his shoulders slumped as he leaned his head up against the tiled wall. Water dripping off of his body as Drake's body grew close. It didn't take Tennis too long to realize something was off as he heard an odd clinking of scales, but before he could turn he felt a hard hand wrap around his mouth and hold him tight. The human wanted to shout and fight back, but the scaled arm was far too strong for him to break out of as he felt a pressure against his ass cheeks. "No!" he roared inside of his mind. After seeing the scaled arm he could only imagine that creature from earlier, but he didn't know why the creature would do this...

There was nothing Drake could do as he felt his erect piece press up against the other male's ass. "God please don't do this!" he pleaded with N1, but the nanobot only chose to speak to him, now answer to him. The feeling of his dick being pressed up against the other male was far too exciting for him to ignore, every feeling of excitement growing in his body was traitorous to the man's mind, but he couldn't stop it as N1 progressively ramped up the intensity of the body's desires.

The human struggled in Drake's arms and though Drake wanted to let go of him, his arms refused any signals that he sent to them to move. One of his arms slowly moved over Drake's body, the feeling of the firm and tender skin of the man's body was shockingly arousing to Drake as he was forced to feel up his friend. "What a handsome man," N1 commented.

Tennis could only wonder how the dragon had slipped past their defences, but for N1 it had been rather simple as during the humans' discussion, he'd stepped into the labs to prepare himself for this plan. "Please don't do this..." Drake begged with N1 once more, but it proved useless as his body's cock was pressed up against Tennis' ass.

Tennis stiffened up as his ass was pressed up against and a deep moan escaped his throat as he struggled to escape the intruder's grasp. N1's entire goal in this was to tempt Drake to really enjoy this as it wanted the host to understand the kind of power he really wielded. As it stood at that moment his arousal was tuned up to the point that without even entering Tennis' ass, Drake's cock was screaming for release as N1 pushed in the dragon's cock into the human's waiting ass.

Giving a giant shake of pain Drake felt awful as his body was forced to have sex with his friend's... but he couldn't deny how absolutely wonderful the sensation was. His cock's sensitivity was enough that any movement that Tennis gave was like a massage across his whole cock, and N1 forced Drake's body to experience a euphoric sensation that that the male would be enticed even more so. There was no escaping from Drake as Tennis was forced up against a wall and felt himself getting pumped into the by creature.

With how sensitive Drake's cock was, it wouldn't take much for him to start coming close to unloading the nanites into his friend, but N1 was preventing him to cum right away. "Feel how amazing this is, Drake," N1 commanded. Drake was attempting to block everything out, but he was being forced to experience the pleasure as the dragon's body closed in tight on N1's body and he stroked his hand over the male's firm muscles and even wrapping around Tennis' dick.

The human being held there was completely helpless as he felt the cock stiffen up in him and his heart thumped harder and harder as he imagined some nightmarish image of the creature shooting acid into his butt. Tennis screwed up his eyes as he waited for his fate... at the very least he knew he would be dying, perhaps by the creature eating him as it had done to Drake. "Yessss..." the creature hissed right behind his ear. Though the voice was synthesized and seemed deeper, the terrifying part of the voice was that it sounded like Drake.

Now Drake wasn't about to allow himself to say something like that when fucking his friend, but N1's modifications of some of his mind files had made this hot to him along with the sensitivity increase. While Drake's dick was stuck up in Tennis' rear, suddenly he found himself back in control of his body, N1 now quiet while Drake froze up in Tennis' body. He could stop this, pull out, and just get away... he shifted as he was dug into the male's body and felt his dick jerk and he shuddered in pleasure at the sensation. "Just pull out, don't hurt your friend anymore," he thought to himself. Drake stood there and N1 in his mind thought for a moment that his plan had failed... but Drake took a deep whiff of his friend's scent and let out a hiss as he found himself desiring his friend with a deep passion. "Yessss..." he let out.

There was a jolt of surprise from N1 as he'd thought that Drake wasn't going to listen, but the dragon found his interest having shifted towards the male form. Stroking Tennis' body once more with his free hand Drake let out a pant of desire as he started to hump the man's ass. Though Tennis still wanted away, there was a newfound tenderness in the creature's actions as before the dragon had been handling him in a rough way, but now his actions almost seemed... awe filled.

Digging his muzzle into Tennis' neck Drake nuzzled Tennis and he felt the human flinch at the movement, and part of him wanted to tell the human that everything would be alright, but it was becoming hard to resist a part of him that just said to cum. The dragon knew that by cumming in his friend, he would be changing Tennis in ways that he couldn't understand, but he couldn't pull out... "Just release, Master Drake. You'll be joined by your friend, and then we can move on to more people to convert," N1 urged. Drake knew that he wouldn't be able to resist converting Tennis, but he promised to himself that he wouldn't hurt anybody else.

Finally Drake came into Tennis' ass, his legs actually feeling weak for a moment as the orgasm was far more powerful than he'd been expecting. His body had been building up nanobots the entire time he'd been fucking his friend, so there were plenty of nanobots that flooded the human's anus. Tennis froze up as the nanobots flooded his insides, the flood of warm nanites causing him to shiver even with Drake's dick still stuck in him.

The nanites flowing through Tennis' body had been programmed with the single minded thought of conversion. Rushing through the man's body they transformed each nanite that they came in contact with into more sentient nanites like those that were in Drake's own body. In the rush of nanites, there was one special nanite that had been programmed with the knowledge of N1 essentially creating a copy of the nanobot. Making his way to Tennis' brain, he quickly attached and started scanning the man's memories and ordering around the other nanobots.

In the moments that followed his orgasm Drake finally pulled out of Tennis, his cock retracting into his body as Tennis stayed pressed up against the wall. The human didn't want to move as he was afraid of his own death, but the braver part of him demanded that he faced the creature, so after a moment he slowly turned. His ass ached from the intrusion and he'd never felt more humiliated, but he merely stood his ground as he faced the draconic creature. "You fucker! Is this what you did to Drake... before you killed him?" he hissed.

The man didn't expect any reaction or response but that of hunger as he doubted the creature had any sentience, but as he looked at it he started realizing that it looked more technological than biological. "Tennis," the dragon said. Tennis' eyes widened as he stepped back, once again the voice sounded far too similar to Drake's. "Tennis, it's me," the dragon said. He stepped forwards towards Tennis, and the man stepped back once again until he was planted right against the tiled wall. Seeing that Tennis was fearful, Drake stopped approaching as Tennis shivered in place.

"You... you can steal my friends voice and memories?!" Tennis hissed. He was shaking and couldn't stop as he was faced by his friend's killer, and his own assaulter. "You fucker! If you're going to kill me, just do it!" he yelled.

Drake was hurt as he turned his gaze down at his feet, he felt sickened by his own appearance now more so than ever. "I suppose... I can't convince you that I'm not some random creature. I'm sorry for hurting you, Tennis. I shouldn't have done this and... fuck..." he whimpered. Though Drake's heart had been replaced by some form or motor or something, he could still feel the pain as whenever he looked at his friend, he felt the warmth of his friendship, the sharp guilt of his friend's anger, and the odd attraction that had grown in him towards his friend's attractive body. Starting to move away he felt N1 yelling at him to stay, but he was too ashamed to continue being there until Tennis was ready to face him.

Watching the dragon walk away, Tennis was ready to let him go... until the N1 in his brain suddenly connected memories in his head with a little brute force. The man winced as he suddenly could see the same emotions on the dragon's face as his friend's, and though some part of him said it was just the machine impersonating his friend, he knew that it was Drake. "Drake!" he called out. The dragon stopped in his tracks and stayed still as Tennis didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this thing... was his friend. "Are you my friend Drake?" he asked.

Finally turning around, Drake gazed at his friend who looked vulnerable even as he held his hands in clenched balls. "Yes," he said simply. Silent for a moment, Tennis slowly nodded as he pushed one of his knuckles up against his head and tried to figure something out painfully. "I'm Drake, and what I just did to you... I'm sorry," he said simply.

Tennis didn't say anything as he continued to look at the dragon, and now that he imagined the dragon as Drake, he could see the image of his friend's posture fitting right with the creature's. "What happened to you?" he asked. His head was splitting with a headache as he tried to think out his words, the nanobots were working at an incredible rate as they'd mastered how to convert humans into dragons with Drake's own evolution, so it was going at a fast rate, they were even able to work on his brain as he was conscious, albeit with some incredible pain.

"The nanobots in my body... and in your body now, they changed me into this. They've claimed that this is the next step in evolution," Drake said. Tennis stiffened up at the mention of nanobots in his own body, only able to imagine the sexual acts the dragon had performed on him. "The same nanobots convinced me to have sex with you and... I'm sorry," Drake repeated himself.

For the most part, Tennis wanted to deny the idea of nanobots controlling someone as he knew that they had no sentience just as everyone else did, but after a particularly sharp pain in his head, he heard a voice. "He tells the truth, Tennis." The man's brain had been finished converting already, though there were data packets that had been neglected to transfer in the conversion so Tennis was lacking a few memories of his favorite foods, but that hardly mattered to the cloned N1. "I am N1, the head of the nanobots. Just as Drake has in him, I have transferred to your body to help you understand. We nanobots entirely intend to help all humans of the colony become perfect dragon beings just as Master Drake is. You are the first we have chosen to convert, and you are the one who should become the master's mate. You are obviously a powerful male," N1 started.

"This is rediculous!" Tennis yelled. Drake flinched at this sudden outburst from his friend, but said nothing as Tennis felt a bit angry at himself for snapping as he didn't mean to hurt his friend, but for now he was focused on N1. "You fucker, get out of my head. I refuse to be a tool for you to use, and you should get your ass out of Drake as well, he's a good man!" he barked.

"I know he's a good man. That's why we fully intend to allow him to become the leader of the new species of dragons. You are his closest friend, and as such we've deemed you to be a good mate for him from now on. Your changes are already starting even as we speak, we've primed you for the perfect place in the new race," N1 coaxed. Tennis' mind was far easier to manipulate for N1 now that he'd gotten used to working in Drake's mind, it took a few pushes and pulls to make Tennis hesitate a bit as he was being told the sweet words.

Drake was quiet as he looked at his friend fought with his inner demons, literally. "Drake, before you stands your soon to be mate," N1 spoke. Drake was disquieted with how the nanobot was talking once again after being silent for so long while he'd been inside his friend. "From the beginning I've had my eyes set on him as he truly will be the best choice for you. Don't you believe that he will make a marvelous dragon?" N1 asked. As it spoke to the dragon it started giving images of how Tennis would look when he would be turned into a dragon, and Drake couldn't help but shiver as his cock hardened once more, even while in its sheathe.

If the dragon had the ability to, his cheeks would've been flushed as he stepped forward grabbing Tennis' attention. Already scales were started to appear on his skin, but this time it wasn't painful like Drake's own due to the perfections made to the nanobots' data. "I know this is odd, Tennis... I just wanted to say that to see you as a dragon... well I think that you would make... a handsome dragon," Drake said. He felt extremely awkward and embarrassed after saying it, but Tennis' eyes widened as his own N1 buzzed with excitement at the perfect statement.

"Do you see? Your mate is ready for you to become his, all you have to do is accept your place as the mate of the dragon master. Once you do this, I can help reprogram your thoughts to fall into place," the nanobot offered. Tennis knew this should've been an easy no... he should've been able to tell N1 off and fuck itself... but as he looked at Drake he couldn't help but feel an odd connection as he himself grew buffer and his body started to match Drake's own. His horns growing in looked different though, curving backwards where Drake's had grown forwards.

Tennis couldn't quite find the male form attractive as he was right now... but he realized that he was already changing and there was no stopping that. If he didn't allow himself to change into a dragon and conform... then he would be bitter towards his friend without allowing himself the chance to be happy. "F-fine... I accept it..." Tennis finally conceded.

It was like a door had been thrown open for the N1 nanobot as he quickly got to work manipulating the man's thoughts and ideas, Drake was surprised to see Tennis' eyes glowing for a moment as his body finished changing into a muscled dragon hunk. Drake approached him hesitantly, placing his hand on Tennis' shoulder with a slight clink of metal. "Tennis?"

After a few moments of silence Tennis blinked a few times, his body shuffling as he flexed his arms for a moment and then looked back at Drake. The dragon was silent and concerned as Tennis smiled and leaned into his chest with a clink and Drake bristled with excitement as he felt the other male's lips press up against his own. Their muzzles pliable enough to allow for some flex in their bodies as they fell into a kiss, Tennis' mind having been reprogrammed to accept this as fact as he rubbed the other male's crotch. "My master... and mate, please rename me. Tennis no longer feels right for the mate of the new dragon master," Tennis said with a smirk.

This new way of speaking sent a chill down Drake's back, but at the same time some growing ego basked in this as N1 was thrilled with this development in Tennis. "I... well... if you insist," Drake stuttered. He thought about it for a few moments, N1 decided to place its own idea for a name as it could only imagine fantasy names to make this new reality real for them. "Talin," Drake spoke.

The emerald green dragon bowed his head before grinning at Drake in excitement. "A perfect name, Drake," he said. Once again they kissed as N1 took that moment to bump Drake's pride up, and he had a few more plans to make sure this dragon became the true master of dragons...

***

The new couple walked out, Talin slightly behind the other dragon with his head bowed ever so lowly to signal his obedience to the other dragon. Drake wasn't sure how to feel about this as he'd never wanted his friend to change this much, but N1 kept pushing happy and proud thoughts into his head to enjoy this, and though Drake had the feeling that N1 was manipulating him, he couldn't help be feel somewhat good about the change. He had his entire mind set on leaving the town now, he refused to convert anyone else. As they approached the offices though, he saw the familiar back of Delta, at first he was just going to pass, but N1 decided to really cement the male's ego. "That's the terrible human that has bothered you so many times, is it not?"

"Yes, but soon enough he'll be out of my life for good," Drake growled quietly. He tried taking another step forward, but N1 flooded his thoughts with angry memories of Delta picking on him, demeaning him in front of others.

"As the master of dragons, you cannot leave this laying down. Every leader must have servants, make him into the first, Master Drake!" N1 demanded. Drake attempted to keep calm... but his emotions were so high strung after Tennis... Talin that it was hard to ignore. He found himself bristling up more and more until he let out an angry growl and strode into the office.

It wasn't that hard to sneak up on the scientist as he was still in the process of typing away on his keyboard. It wasn't until he saw the reflection of something red in his computer that Delta turned around... to find himself looking at the creature from the previous night. "O... oh dear god," the man whimpered. Falling back against the desk, he realized that there wasn't just one, but two angry looking dragons.

"Master Drake, shall I take care of him?" Talin asked. Though his mind had been very corrupted by N1's meddling, Talin had very clear memories of what Delta had done to them both. If he had his way the human would likely be torn to shreds with ease with their strong muscled arms... but Drake shook his head.

N1 was supplying a variety of cruel punishments, but only one really made sense to Drake. The dragon approached the fallen Delta and picked him up, his penis protruded from the slit as he glared down at the man. Having heard Drake's name spoken, Delta's eyes were wide with disbelief and terror. "D... Drake? Is that really you? Oh god, you're alive..."

His emotions running red hot, Drake could barely control himself as N1 ramped up his emotions and his ego. "You puny human..." the dragon hissed. He'd never thought himself above humans at all... until now. By using Drake's disdain for Delta, N1 manipulated his views to view all of humanity as weaker than dragon-kin. "You've insulted me far too many times... think you're so damn self important... well look at me now. I'm a dragon, far more powerful than you... hell, I'm about a damn near god compared to you," Drake sneered.

Realizing how deep in trouble he was, Delta was turning as white as paper as he shivered in the dragon's grasp. "Please... please don't kill me..." he whispered. This amount of terror had never before been felt by the scientist, he'd always imagined himself as a powerful man, but this showed how pathetic he really was.

"Killing you would be a blessing. No, I'm going to make sure you realize how worthless you really are. A dragon would be too good for you, but I have memories of another creature that follows in the dragon's wake in stories," Drake hissed. Delta was pushed to the ground with a grunt and his mouth held open as he found the dragon's cock in his mouth, but he dared not bite down unless he wanted his head ripped off. Tears flowed from his eyes as Drake easily came without much need of excitement, with N1's help he was quickly learning how to control his own ejaculation.

Releasing more of his nanobots into Delta, Drake felt empowered as N1 started giving him images of how powerful he really was. The dragon had never felt more powerful than he did right, he watched as the scared man's face went blank as the N1 of his brain did a quick and hostile wipe of his thoughts. All he could think of right then was giving Delta his just reward for being such an asshole. "You've constantly picked on others, well from today on you shall serve a better master," he snarled. This transformation wasn't quite as painless as Talin's due to the different form that Delta was taking, and frankly Drake didn't really care.

The man's clothes started to grow larger on him as dull bronze scales started to come in across his body, his eyes turning into slits as his head started to grow ridges and his hair fell away. "A kobold," Drake said in satisfaction. Delta grew smaller as the nanobots took Drake's image of a kobold and forced it upon Delta, soon enough the pitiful creature's clothes just sliding off as he lay there on his knees with his cock looking small and weak between his legs.

With the new mentality forced upon him, the pitiful kobold grinned up at Drake with a look of complete awe. "My god!" the creature chirped shrilly. He could only see Drake as a grand dragon, he bowed before Drake several times before standing up and looking at Drake's feet. "I'm your loyal servant, do whatever you wish with me!"

Having transformed Delta into a kobold... Drake felt powerful, he felt invincible as he finally accepted what he really had become. "Yes, you are my servant. I'm more than just any man, and more than even a normal dragon. I shall be the leader of the dragons," Drake hissed. Talin hissed in excitement as he hung off of every work that Drake said, and the kobold that had once been Delta nodded his head at a breakneck speed as he accepted every word that Drake said like a commandment.

Some part of Drake still wanted to be human, to say that he was acting like someone different... but it was becoming hard as N1 had pumped his ego up to near max, but the nanobot realized something with a sharp zap. "Your father, as he stands he may still have control of your nanobots. He can steal this power away from you..." N1 said coyly.

Freezing up at this thought, Drake ruminated with a dark look as he tapped his chin with a few metal clinks. "You're right... but if I attack him outright, he could use his system to disable me. What do I do?" the dragon asked.

N1 shivered with delight at how well the host had taken to his new status as dragon. "My suggestion would be to tranquilize him. If you use one of your claws then I can distribute a synthesized tranquilizer, from there we can change him," the nanobot explained.

Drake's eyes sparkled as he smirked, the smile of a brand new tyrant. "Good. Let's go then," he said. With that he whipped around and walked out, his wings fluttering ever so lightly as the kobold and his mate followed in stride, both with their eyes glistening in awe of their god.

***

Leaving Talin and the kobold waiting at the door, Drake slid into the lab where his father sat in his chair sitting quietly. The man looked exhausted and was completely devoting his attention on a screen where footage of the escaping Drake played. The dragon on screen obviously had the scientist stumped as he tiredly scratched at his head. "Damn it... what is this creature?" he growled.

With ease Drake practically floated across the floor as he had learned how to be as silent as a mouse, even with his heavy scales. The dragon approached his father, and for a moment Drake felt that familiar chest crushing feeling. What was he doing this all for, and why was he about to convert his own father?! "Master Drake, you are to become the leader and god to the dragons of this planet. There is no more room for doubts," N1 said.

Before Drake could've brushed this off, but by now N1 was more of an advisor to him than anything, and he found himself trusting the nanobot whole heartedly. Leaning in with barely a clink of his scales, Drake pressed his claw into his father's neck and injected the tranquilizer. For a moment Branson did nothing before going limp in his chair and Drake turned him around to reveal how exhausted Branson looked. Even while sleeping from his forced tranquilizer, Branson looked like he'd aged a few years in that one day. Obviously Drake's apparent passing had affected him quite a bit, and though the dragon felt a pang of sympathy for his father, he could easily brush it away as his growing ego demanded that it be fulfilled. "Timei to infect him then," Drake said.

"No need, master. That tranquilizer already had nanobots mixed in with the sedative," N1 said. Drake smiled in satisfaction as within five minutes Branson sat up once more, though his eyes looked sharper than they had been before and he pulled off his glasses.

"Now this is waking up on the right side of the bed," Branson said. Already he seemed far more alive than he had been in a while as the N1 nanobot in his head spoke to him. By infecting the man while he'd been asleep, it had been surprisingly easy to shift many of the man's thoughts and now Branson seemed on the same page as Drake as he turned his wheelchair around and quickly typed in a few codes into the computer. "There you are, Master Drake. This will allow you all permission to all of the nanobots. I've cancelled any other permissions aside from yours," the elder man said.

Any part of Drake that would've been unnerved by this were now just as converted as the rest of his mind, stepping up to the computer with a smirk he pressed his hand down on the computer and used his nanobots to access the computer. He felt the data rush into his memories before he deleted it from the computer, he couldn't infect people by just using the computer, but he could access it all with ease from now on. "Fantastic. Now there's no more information to interfere with my plans, now when you're ready to stand, father, we shall prepare to unveil the new world to the others," Drake purred.

Branson was already on the way as his legs twitched, his body already starting to take on muscles as he half bowed in his wheelchair. "Of course, master."

***

Two years later...

Brace showed a few more holograms to Drake as his slender tail shifted back and forth. "From my calculations another human settlement will be landing here within a few months, Master Drake," he said.

Observing the calculations slide across the hologram, the leader of the dragons smirked as he nodded. "It sounds good, father. If any more information arises, please tell me. Until then, you are excused," the dragon said. Brace bowed low and smirked as he walked away, his mate waiting by the door with his head held high, before departing both males shared a kiss and another bow before the king and walked out through the grand doors of the king's quarters.

Standing in the corner of the room was Drake's personal kobold, Dirth, the creature was busy sucking off another kobold for enjoyment as Drake deactivated the hologram. Noticing his king turning off the projection, Dirth and his fellow kobold jumped to their feet as he walked through the room. "My god, may we be of any assistance?"

For a moment Drake observed the pair, Dirth having once been Delta had made him very mistrustful of the creature at first, but by now he knew that the kobold would follow any command he gave him. "Leave me for now," he commanded. The pair saluted and kissed the ground in front of him before heading out, their dicks hardening for round two of their sexual escapades. His claws snapping hard on the metal of his tower, Drake walked up to the balcony and stared out at the landscape of his growing empire. The alpha dragon watched as dragons below flew through the air with their powerful metallic wings, his own fluttering quietly behind him as he gazed up at the stars. "Thoughts, my dear?" a voice asked from behind him. The dragon turned to see his mate approaching, Talin approaching while cradling his bulging stomach. The dragons had learned how to use their nanobots to craft new dragonlings for themselves even through sex between males. The eggs were soon to be laid by Drake's mate, but as for now he was allowing them to finish forming in his body.

"Soon enough more setters will come, my dear. I only wonder what we should do with them... send them away, kill them, or perhaps make them into more of us?" Drake pondered. He wrapped his arm around his mates' neck, digging his face into Talin's scaled neck he enjoyed his mate's company, though at times he did feel slightly guilty. True he was the king of this world, and everyone worshiped him, but a certain amount of their loyalty was completely insured by the N1 bots inside of them.

Sensing his mate's guilt, Talin pulled away and cradled his face with his scaled hand and a surprisingly gentle smile on his draconic face. "My love, you always rile yourself up so much. We can all feel your moods with our nanobots, you need not worry. We are all your servants, we live for you, and we love you. Regardless of that though, if I wanted, I could leave you now without a second thought as no one can tell us who to love, even the bots. I love you, and I wish to stay with you. As for those who lay behind our planet and wish to come and settle... I say we give them a grand welcome... and permanent change," Talin said with a sly grin.

His mate's words comforting him, Drake smirked as he wrapped his tail around the other dragon and drew him in close to his chest. "Mmm... such a devious mind... I love it," he chuckled. The pair shared a kiss as they watched their kingdom build, and awaited for the day where more humans would come to meet their new fates.