by Prax Venter
Roo joined their show of support by getting on her knees and wrapping her soft arms around the giant naga’s waist. With all three of her friends, companions and lovers saturating her with confidence and support, Vale grit her teeth and commanded the glass platform higher and outward.
Mark’s stomach fell a little as they hovered out over the vast volume of air between them and the distant land below, but the feeling quickly passed as Vale hovered them carefully around the violently rushing water. With a calm, deliberate control, Vale smoothly put their invisible sky chariot down on the dirt path. Then it was gone in the blink of an eye.
Cheerfully, they continued down the cliffside path until the noise of the rushing water faded into the background.
Roo ran a few steps ahead, spun around and walked backward as she talked.
“That was easily in the Top Ten Best Things Ever.”
“What’s number one?” Ahnix asked, playfully.
Her face turned to Mark briefly, then to the ground. “That’s not fair… It’s more of a set of floating values. A ten-way tie for first place!”
“The taste of that sweet velvet pussy is up near the top of mine,” Vale said, and Mark’s jaw hung open.
“Her pussy is very sweet,” Ahnix purred as her hips took on a tiny bit more sway.
As Mark felt the erotic heat wash over him from his girls, he realized something- It was more than essence pressing on their libido, they were happy to be back in these bodies. How long did they exist as pure AI consciousness before he joined them?
Roo had put her hands on her hips and spun back around to walk with the group again.
“Come on, Vale. We all know who has the most delicious pussy- there’s no need to put me over.”
Vale responded quickly. “You’re right. Her royal juice is tough to compete with.”
Ahnix said nothing, a small smile putting a crack in her resting-bitch-face visage. Mark was hard pressed to disagree. It certainly was a close race, but there was just something about the cat-girl’s savory uniqueness. Maybe her taste was part of her one-of-a-kind, handcrafted design. Either way, he thought it was the best move to just say nothing.
The approaching perpetually crashing water put a damper on further conversation anyway. Vale waved a hand and created a new glass platform with no hesitation. They all held on to each other as Vale carried them through the open air and around another thunderous waterfall.
Mark watched the rocky dirt path slide under the glass at his feet and braced for their ride to disappear, but instead, they shot up and out over the mile-long drop again.
“What are you doing?” Mark called out.
“Going straight to the end!” Vale answered just as loud. Roo cheered into the wind as Vale leaned forward and sent them all hurtling forward. There was a slight moment of panic when the movement of the glass outpaced the momentum of their bodies, and they all almost slid off the back. Learning a new trick, Vale tilted the platform to compensate.
Mark kind of wished that she practiced her new skycab controls a few feet over a grassy field instead of an insane drop, but he had to smile at her progress. After a thrilling ride, good close company, and epic views of stunning scenery, the floating platform deposited them at the end of the cliffside path.
There was only one way to go forward, and Mark peered into the dark tunnel carved into the rock face. As soon as they passed inside the damp tunnel, the sounds of plummeting water faded behind him, leaving a silence that seemed way too loud.
When Vale spoke, it was almost a whisper. “I’m glad we haven’t had any attacks at home while we are playing AquaQuantum’s games. I hope our alarms are working.”
In the quiet of the tunnel, their host AI’s thunderous voice assaulted their ears.
“The sizable data transfer from your system drew three separate attacks. I turned them away for you and will continue to do so while you are here. Please proceed without worry.”
Mark looked up into Vale’s violet eyes, and they wordlessly passed relief to each other. They both caught the shift in AQ’s tone. She was definitely interested.
The tunnel ended in a stone brick room, and the sound of steady dripping liquid echoed to them from somewhere beyond sight. Torches lined the walls providing a warm, if dim, illumination, and in the center was a floor-to-ceiling glass tank about half full of water. Mark walked around the room and noticed four exits: the tunnel they came from, a sealed stone door with a round hole in the center, and two open arches that led into two side rooms.
“There’s another orb in here,” Ahnix said, her eyes focused on something within the tank. Mark stepped up to join her, and he saw a black sphere floating on the surface.
He nodded at the object. “We’ll need that for the door.”
“Should I just break it?” Ahnix said, holding out her hand and extending her sharp black claws.
Roo took a big step backward. “Yes!”
“Hold on,” Vale said, pointing at a bowl-shaped basin attached to the side of the tank. They all moved over to inspect the stone bowl, but there wasn’t any immediate explanation for its purpose.
“There’s a hole in the ceiling,” Ahnix said, looking up. If she hadn’t pointed it out, Mark might never have seen it among the flickering shadows.
“I agree with Vale,” Mark said. “There are two other rooms connected to this one. Let’s take a look before we just start smashing things.”
Ahnix just shrugged, and Roo pouted a little, but they all followed him into one of the side rooms. Curved walls of gray stone brick greeted them in this round room. There were about ten square nubs along the walls and another glass tank in the middle. This one was about a quarter filled with water and held no floating ball. As the four of them inspected the purpose of the room, a mechanical clunk behind the wall caught Mark’s attention. He spun to see Roo pull her soft hand off one of the stone protrusions and looked at him with a sheepish grin on her big lips.
“It’s a button,” she said. “How could I not press it?” A moment later the button popped back out with a dull click- ready to be pressed again.
They waited for something else to happen, but nothing did. Ahnix pushed another one, and another clunk could be heard behind the wall. After about two seconds the button popped back out.
“Maybe there is a correct order?” Mark offered.
Roo walked around the room pressing the buttons and Vale observed for any changes. Mark and Ahnix pressed a few as well, but nothing really seemed to have an effect.
“Guys,” Mark began. “There are over three million permutations of… Hold on- why do I instantly know that there are exactly 3,628,800 ways these can be pressed, in order?”
All of his girls looked at him, but Ahnix answered. “Numbers will come easier to you now.”
Vale crossed her arms. “You’re right, though. No way we are going to brute force this. That is, if the input is actually a combination. We could need to press only one of them, ten times in a row… or a hundred times. We just don’t have enough information.”
Mark smeared his hands over his face. “Okay, we got a button room. Let’s go to the other side and see what’s in there. Maybe someone spray-painted a series of ten random numbers for us to find.”
They followed Mark across the central room with the floating sphere and crossed over to the other arch. In here was another tank, a quarter full, and a jail cell. The iron bars were buried into the stone walls, effectively sealing the small alcove off from the room. There were no obvious clues to the button room, and the only thing behind the vertical bars was a large, metal lever. The basic iron rod that served as the handle was currently leaning toward them at a forty-five-degree angle. And it just begged to be shifted away.
Roo tried to push herself through the vertical bars first, sticking her slender fabric arm out and stretching as far as she could, but didn’t even come close.
Vale tried sticking her tail in next, but her snake half grew too wide too fast. There was no way sh
e was going to be able to move the lever into its other position.
When she pulled it back out, Mark let his hand run over her smooth scales and gently closed his fingers over the end. He looked up into her wide eyes as he planted a kiss right on the tip of her tail, and she shuddered with contentment.
“Okay- Get back,” Ahnix said, seriousness in her voice. “My turn.”
A second after Mark was no longer in range, Ahnix got into an attack pose and performed a Wind Slash uppercut. White waves of energy burst forward and hit the lever, shifting it away from them.
A distant rumbling began, and Mark turned to see the water drain out of the nearby tank with a deep glugging sound.
Roo assaulted the cat-girl with an attack-hug. “You did it!”
“Damn, nice job,” Mark said. “This one was way easier than the billion-combo button one.”
Vale nodded. “Right. Let’s go see where that water went.”
When they returned to the central room, it wasn’t much of a surprise when the tank was now mostly full. It was clear they were on the right track and just needed to figure the buttons out next.
They tried a few different ways to activate the buttons in order, but Vale suggested they try eliminating other options before just randomly fighting the odds. She pressed one of them ten times in a row, and Mark quickly grew bored waiting for the button to pop back out again. Smashing open the central tank to get the orb was sounding like a better plan with every monotonous click. Just as Vale pressed her chosen button the tenth time, something occurred to Mark.
“I think I may be onto something,” he said when the button popped out, and nothing happened. “Everyone, get by a button.”
Roo and Ahnix stepped up to the wall by one of the ten protrusions, and Mark joined them by his own.
“All together now,” Mark said and pulsed a countdown through their bond.
At once, all four of them pressed their buttons, and a different, louder thunk sounded behind the brick wall. After the two seconds passed, all four buttons popped back out, but nothing else happened.
“The delay- that’s the trick,” he said.
“We have to press them all at once?” Roo asked, tilting her head.
They were spaced far enough apart that they could only reach one at a time. Vale could probably hit two with her long arm-span, or even with her tail, but there was no way they were going to push all of them at once.
“Stand away from the wall,” Ahnix said and as soon as the way was clear, she activated Haste. A yellow burst of power radiated out from her, and she sprinted around the curve of the room striking all the buttons as she moved.
The thunking behind the wall grew more indicative that things were happening, but Mark noticed that the first button popped out before the swift cat-girl was able to get to the last two.
She stopped and began to pant, the tip of her tiny tongue just barely stuck out.
“That was a good idea, Ahnix,” Vale said. “Looks like we just need to prioritize your haste a little.”
Vale and Roo moved close to Mark, and each took his hand, willing to give everything they had for the team.
“All of you?” Ahnix said putting her palm on her stomach and bracing for the blast of erotic power she knew was coming.
“All of us,” Mark said before pooling their combined energy and targeting the cat-girl’s Overclock ability. Blinding light pulsed into Ahnix, and she took on the appearance of pure power.
She growled out a scream of unbridled pleasure, and a moment later- all the buttons were pressed.
Mark canceled the enhancement as the water drained from the tank in the button room. A brief rattling sound from the other room made him believe the puzzle had been solved, and the sphere deposited in the basin.
“So fast!” Roo said. “I didn’t even see you move.”
“Oh… that was a good one,” Ahnix said, rubbing her hands all over her sleek, furred body.
- 10 -
They used the round key in the round hole and the stone door lifted into the ceiling. A long tunnel of damp bricks twisted before them and they entered one at a time behind Vale. They made it about twenty paces in before Ahnix said she detected noise ahead.
“I hear splashing- as a fish would make.”
“Then it’s probably the same pattern as the ice area,” Vale whispered. “Two puzzles, then a fight.”
Roo wrinkled her nose. “We have to fight a fish?”
“How many of these do you think there are?” Mark asked.
“I’m not too worried about it- more essence for us,” Ahnix whispered in his ear from behind as she rubbed her warm, furry hand on his thigh. “Now get up there and scout out our enemy.”
Mark looked down and saw her fingers slide up and down in wide, slow circles not quite coming in contact with his junk.
“Really? You’re going to molest me while I do this?”
“Absolutely,” she purred in his ear, pressing her pelvis against his backside.
Mark grinned from ear to ear as he tried to concentrate on creating a Ghost. It was a little difficult with her distracting him, but it was damn good practice. Mark silently thanked AquaQuantum for providing them this opportunity to really get a handle on their skills, and despite Ahnix’s furry hand getting a handle on his cock over his pants, he was able to pop out a phantom copy of himself.
This time, he did turn around and saw his cat-girl kiss the back of his neck as she reached down into the front of his pants. Her warm, sleek-furred fingers slowly wrapped around his stiffening dick. She looked straight ahead, into his phantom eyes as she slowly massaged his penis from behind.
Suddenly, she let go. “You better get scouting, or I’ll stop what I’m doing to your helpless body.”
Mark shook his head and turned around. After his first step, he felt Ahnix use her soft thumb to exclusively rub the sensitive flesh under the tip of his cock. He faltered, took a shuddering breath and somehow continued forward despite her expert-level dick massage.
He made it to the edge of the tunnel and saw that the square room was nothing but a large pool of water, wall to wall. Upon closer inspection, Mark discovered that the water was shallow, maybe three or four feet and that there was a long, dark shadow moving under the surface.
“Hehe- that’ll get ‘em.” Roo breathed into his ear, and Mark felt what had to be Vale’s long tongue slowly wrapping around his stiff cock. He looked down and noticed that his pants were halfway down his thighs.
Zaps of electricity arced out of the water as the creature that resolved in his mind as an electric eel swam toward him.
Mark bit his lip, trying to ignore Vale’s constricting tongue. He intended to jump his ghost into the water and draw information from its attack, but Ahnix hissed into his ear.
“Behind us!”
Before Mark had the chance to cancel his ability and shift his consciousness back into his body, a powerful force struck him from behind. They all tumbled violently as a torrent of rushing water forced them out into the pool.
Mark had no idea which way was up and held out his hands to search for either the bottom or the surface- instead, terrible pain lanced through his body as both of his hands were bitten clean off by the monster he had just been scouting.
Bits of information that were his hands filtered into a backup cache Mark hadn’t realized existed. His own. When his hand data filled nearly all the available space, terror replaced the agonizing pain as he wondered what would happen if he received any more damage.
Screaming, Mark found his footing on the stone bottom of the pool and stumbled back away from the deadly creature. An instant later, Vale was there.
With a throat-ripping scream of her own, she punched the eel in the face with a brightly glowing Power Fist, right through a foot of water. A jolt of electricity fried her body as her fist connected, and its terrible passive shock ability stunned the giant naga and everyone in the water.
Mark had instinctually begun to Restore himse
lf but when the agonizing pain zipped up his legs, he lost all ability to function, and his personal cache of damaged parts began to fill up again.
Roo let out a primal screech when she felt Mark’s terror, that reminded him of the first time he laid eyes on her. Before she became his Enthralled, she was a shrieking pile of hatred. The furious velvet-girl broke her stun through her savage will alone and quickly caught the monster with a black paralyze beam as it surged through the water back toward Vale. Rows of sharply pointed teeth were locked open, frozen in time while everyone recovered from the stun. A few moments later, Ahnix and Roo launched a brutal coordinated attack.
Overclocked Wind Slashes began to delete bits of the eel’s tail underwater, while its fishy face smoldered with Slow Burn, Overwriting it with ash. Together they wiped the horrible creature from existence with frightening speed.
Vale, Ahnix, and Roo all splashed over to be near him.
No one spoke as they let him concentrate on healing himself, and he sent them positive vibes along their bond, but the possibility of losing the use of his hands, again, had disturbed him greatly. A pleasant tingling spread up his arms as he regrew his missing pieces, building from within.
As soon as he was restored, he pushed all the lifeforce he had stored up from the electric shock to his girls. Once Mark’s healing caches were empty and everyone was Restored to full, Ahnix stepped forward and took his hand firmly with hers. Her dark eyes asked a silent question, and he nodded, letting her know he could feel every perfect follicle of fur touching his skin.
Her face darkened as the pissed off cat-girl raised her voice and addressed the ceiling.
“Cheating at your own game?”
“You of all individuals should know this isn’t really a game,” AQ boomed around them. “And if you don’t like it, you can leave anytime… empty-handed. Although I will say the tests are nearing completion.”
Mark squeezed Ahnix’s hand and brought her focus back to him. He gave her a gentle smile before he addressed their host.