INDUSTRIAL ZONE 7 - Round 1  
Written by Iron-K, 2010

Nyte walked up to the door that led out of the changing room, his hands around his back to adjust his tail through the back opening of the swim shorts he had just put on. As he wriggled it through, he tapped one foot against the tiled floor, looking at the blank door in front of him and listening to the sound of a couple of voices chattering from behind it. Glancing down at his front as he brought his hands around to smooth down his gray-black fur, he became aware of how little he was wearing, and looked back over his shoulder, wondering whether he should put on one of the provided T-shirts as well. Eventually, he decided against it, and bounced on his heels once as he took a deep breath - forcing himself to step forward, he put his hand out and pushed the door open.

The girls were all back from getting changed already, sitting side by side on the bench on the opposite wall of the tiled room, and he caught the eye of Becky, a golden-furred young canine girl with a chin-length haircut, as she looked up at the sound of the door opening. His eyes dropped down from her face for just a second despite his best efforts - the black IZ swim costume that she was wearing didn't leave much to the imagination. Knowing that any reaction would be embarrassingly obvious, he quickly looked to the floor and darted over to the other bench, smiling a little awkwardly as he heard a wolf-whistle from one of the girls.

"Our feline's back," the muscular red wolf beside him said as Nyte sat down, and clapped his hand on his shoulder. Nyte turned his head to look into the eyes of Alex, the show's presenter. "Listen, the girls had a bit of a discussion while we were waiting, about who they most wanted to see risk the big tank at the end of the show - so they're ganging up on you and voting for you as team leader. How's that sound?"

Nyte raised his eyebrows as the image of the cylindrical gunge machine that the team leader was put into during the final game flashed into his head. "Yeah... sure, that's fine," he said hesitantly, swallowing and trying to put a confident face on, but already heard a couple of giggles from the other bench as he did so.

"Excellent - they were very eager to see what effect gunge had on that hair of yours..." Nyte nodded to bob his spiny red and white hair a little, and smiled to himself as the giggling started again. Alex looked towards the other bench. "But that also means that he's deciding how you three get slimed throughout the show, so... don't get cocky yet!"

The red wolf patted him on the back, then reached into his pocket for something, and Nyte forced his eyes up to look across at the opposite bench. He had been the last to arrive at the studio, and had been introduced to his team mates a few minutes before going to get changed. Next to Becky was a shorter, slimmer girl called Quinne, an enthusiastic pink-tinged fennec who had dressed a little more modestly than the other two girls and was wearing an IZ T-shirt and shorts. On the far end of the bench, the last contestant was Isla, a voluptuous lizardess with smooth deep blue skin - Nyte stifled a whimper as she idly played with the strap at the front of her bikini top, watching Alex pull a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and shake it out in front of him.

"Here's the Industrial Zone, everyone..." he said as he slapped the large unfolded paper on to the table between the benches, leaning over it to smooth it with both hands. Nyte stretched forward to see a wireframe map of the set like he'd seen on the show's between-round segments, and glanced at the set of double doors that led into the main studio as he saw the changing room they were in at the bottom of the sheet of paper. "You've all seen the show before, haven't you?"

"Yeah..." Quinne was first to answer with an anxious smile.

"Good... I keep on hoping someone'll say 'no' then, so I can watch their face as I explain what happens!"

Nyte snickered a little as the red wolf leaned over the map. "So you'll know basically what we'll be doing - the set's going to be a little different from the one from the last series we showed, but the idea's the same. We've got sixteen games set up in there, four in each of the four areas we go through. I'll be guiding you around between them, while Nyte here decides who takes the risk for each one..."

"So it's all really built just like that?" Isla spoke up, coming forward to wave her hand over the map. "I thought it was all, you know... cut together for TV."

Alex shook his head. "No, we play it pretty much like you see when the show goes out - you might see a couple of cameras following us around or up on the walls here and there, but you'll forget that they're there before too long. We try not to break the flow of it at all - unless I make a mistake, of course," he smiled. "When we're in each game room, I'll explain the rules before we start - you can stop me any time if you need me to do something again or you're not feeling safe, even if I've said that there's a timer running or something can't be turned off. We like to play things up a bit during the show, but you're never going to be in real danger!"

He looked around to make sure they all understood, before a smile spread across his face. "Speaking of the games... how are you all feeling about getting gunged?" he asked, his face breaking into a grin as he noticed a little shudder from a couple of the girls.

Quinne reached up to run her fingers along her tousled pink hair. "Gunged? And here I am with my hair done specially..." she joked, an embarrassed smile spreading across her face.

Isla smiled over at the fox girl, then turned to face Alex. "I'm looking forward to it," she grinned back, and Nyte glanced down at her swimwear again, swallowing as he imagined her dripping with slime. She looked at the girls on the bench next to her as they both nodded slightly more hesitantly - Becky brought her hands up to comb through her dark brown puff of headfur.

"Oh, some mixed reactions there," Alex laughed, and turned to face Nyte. "How about you?"

"Oh, I..." Nyte jumped a little as he was taken out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine with it," he stumbled, glancing over as Isla leaned over to whisper something into the fennec girl's ear.

Alex nodded. "You can show them how it's done - I'm sure that they're going to want to see you getting some of it yourself," he said as he put his hands out towards the girls. Nyte shrank back a little but tried to keep his smile frozen as Isla whooped and clapped her hands together, leading on the others in a cheer.

"What else is there to tell you..." Alex drummed his fingers on the map in front of him, then looked to the floor. "Oh yes - the little studs you've probably felt on the tiles under our feet," he continued, kicking at them a little with one foot, "give us some grip on the floors, 'cause you'll quickly discover that gunge is slippy stuff. You might find them a little uncomfortable to walk on at first, but with all the running about we do, the last thing we want is someone falling - stay on those and you'll be fine."

He paused for a moment, and then looked up at the girls' bench, moving his stare from right to left then over at Nyte and back. "Well, our crew's ready for you..." he said, "...what do you say we get in there and have some fun?"

Nyte felt his heart jump a little again at the mention of them finally starting, but tried not to show any hesitation. "Yeah, let's do it," he said, doing his best to sound confident as he got to his feet. Opposite him, Isla sprang up from the bench and looked Alex in the eye as he approached the door, with Quinne and Becky exchanging nervous grins as they got up as well. Nyte hung back as the muscular wolf pushed the double doors at the end of the changing room open, letting the girls follow him first before swallowing his nerves and striding over towards it.

He put his arm out to take the door as the fennec girl held it open for him, still not quite able to believe that he was heading into the IZ set. Glancing back towards the girls as he dragged his fingertips off the door, he turned to look around the dimly lit room, rubbing his eyes to try to get rid of the glow from the much brighter changing room. Immediately he recognized the view that the show always started on - a large circular door on the back wall that was meant to lead to the final game, and a rickety-looking elevator covered by a metal grille to the side. He shifted his eyes to Alex as he moved away towards the back corner of the room, his red tail swinging behind him.

"Wow, it looks just like it does on TV..." One of the girls' voices came up from behind him, and he nodded in agreement as he began to jog to keep up with Alex. The wolf stopped next to the control panel for the cargo elevator and slid away the metal grille across it.

"Okay, we start off with the four of you coming down on this thing - we're going to put you up there before we turn the cameras on, then I'll let you down and... we just play it how it goes from then on," he smiled.

"How long are we kept up there?" Isla asked, stepping past Quinne to get to the front as the others made their way inside.

"It's just a couple of minutes while I do the introductions - you'll be able to see me on the screen up there," he pointed up, and the four of them turned their heads to see a screen on the wall a few feet above them in the space the platform was going to take them into. "That OK with you?"

"It's fine," the lizard girl shook her head, bouncing on her feet anxiously as she looked up, stepping on to the platform after the others. "Come on, let's do it!"

"Okay, good luck, everyone!" Alex stepped back and drew the metal grille across them, and Nyte looked down as the platform gave a jolt as it began moving slowly upwards.

"You okay?" He turned around to hear Becky's voice as she put a hand on the lizardette's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah..." She swallowed, still not able to keep still, and turned her head to look around at the four walls as the entrance disappeared below the surface of the platform. The screen at the back blinked to life as the platform stopped, and the four of them looked up at it as Alex began his piece to camera for the start of the show.

Nyte grinned as he looked at the on-screen lift door in the background, then glanced around as he realized the girls were looking at him. "It's... just like watching it at home, isn't it?" he said.

"Yeah, I can't believe it's us who are going to be coming out of there..." Becky added as Alex pointed over his shoulder towards the lift that they were about to emerge from. Nyte laughed a little as the screen overhead flickered into life, showing a polygonal face, beginning a scripted argument between Alex and the face of the base's computer.

"Hey, he's different from before..." Quinne pointed at the yellow face as it spoke.

"Yeah, they said that they were going to change him after the last series," Isla nodded during a pause in their conversation. "Hah, there's you, Becky..." she added as Alex moved on to introducing the team, with two photos of the canine from the front and side being shown on the screen. The puppy girl blushed a little, and looked relieved when her pictures were replaced with Nyte's. He avoided the stare of his own face from the photos, looking around at the girls as Alex introduced him.

"Nyte's the boy of our team today, and he's also been 'volunteered' as the team leader. In his spare time he's something of a musician, and he's already been featured at a few club nights... personally I'm looking forward to seeing if that hair survives the Industrial Zone intact." Nyte smiled a little at the mention of it again, before the screen changed to the profile of the blue lizardess beside him.

"Next, we have Isla - she's from Anglia and she's in her second year of studying mechanical engineering. But I think the best part of her profile was down here, where she said she really wants to get gunged... well, I think we're going to give her more than she bargained for!"

Nyte looked sideways at the lizardess as the other two girls turned around.

"C'mon... you do as well, don't you?" She shrugged, but didn't disguise an uncomfortable grin as she looked at the floor to avoid their gaze, hugging her arms across her bare tummy.

"That's why I'm here," Becky answered, clapping a hand on to the lizard girl's shoulder.

Nyte couldn't help but shudder again, and looked back up at the screen to distract himself as Quinne's photos appeared behind Alex.

"And finally, we have Quintessa, or Quinne - she's the youngest of our team, but she's definitely no less confident than the others - she has a whole list of hobbies, including cosplaying, motorbiking and being a guitarist and lead singer of local metal band Fyrefox..."

"Wow, really?" Nyte asked, looking over at the small pink fennec next to him.

"Yep!" she beamed. "Why, are you surprised?"

Nyte moved back a little, batting in front of him as she moved to poke him in the side. "Well... kind of. A little..." he smiled.

"Didn't the piercings clue you in?" she continued, grinning as she pointed to the row of holes in her left ear. Nyte remembered that she'd had a couple of bar piercings in her ear before she'd gone to get changed, and he was about to open his mouth again when the platform jolted under all four of them, taking them back down to ground level.

Curling his toes underneath his feet, Nyte turned and leaned down to look out of the lift as the noise over the speakers blended with Alex's voice from the doorway. "And they're arriving behind me just now - come on, you four!"

The grille across the elevator slid automatically aside, and Nyte froze for a moment. As Becky and Isla passed by, he snapped out of it and broke into a dash for the few feet over to Alex, changing direction as the red wolf skipped away a little and headed towards the closed roll-up door at the opposite side of the room.

"Okay - ROB!" he called, pronouncing the letters individually. "Come on, open the door for us," he continued as the face reappeared on the screen, looking around as if just having been woken up. "I've got another four players here, and this time I think they're going to make it..."

"I'm surprised you're still always so optimistic..." it sneered, then vanished. There was a click, and the door beside them began to hum open.

"Just ignore him - I'm sure you'll do fine, I've got a good feeling about the four of you," Alex said, waving a hand behind him as he ducked under the rising door. Nyte blinked as the light on the other side reached eye level - the door led into a wide white corridor with large decals of the show's logo on the tiled walls.

"Come on in!" Alex clapped his hands together and skipped a couple of steps in, then whipped around. "Oh, by the way... we've got four areas of the complex to visit, but where do you want to go first?" he asked, looking at Nyte. "Ahead of us, there's the research lab... the undersea level's beneath that, and on the wings of the base we've got the storage area and the hangar," he said, pointing in each direction as he mentioned it. "Where do you want to take the team?"

"The, er, hangar," Nyte answered quickly. He was still feeling lightheaded with excitement and it was the only one of the list he could remember, but he tried to keep his face neutral, still aware that there must be cameras watching them from somewhere.

"Good, let's take the quick way in..." Alex moved to a barely-visible hatch on the wall, and swung it open, revealing a dark corridor behind a three foot square opening. "Go on in!"

Nyte was the first to duck inside, and closed his eyes as he moved from the light to the dark. A couple of purple fluorescent tube lights were the only illumination in the space, and he looked back at the square of light as the lizardette clambered through the opening. Slowly, she straightened up, her eyes bright in the darkness.

After the other two girls came through, Alex ducked inside with them, hooking his hand around the hatch to shut it behind him as Quinne and Becky shuffled backwards to give him room. "Sorry it's a little cramped..." he said as he moved through the group, putting his hands on Isla's and then Nyte's shoulder to guide him along. "And we really need to get the lights fixed down here. If you fall into anything unpleasant, just shout for me..."

He tapped his fist on the wall, making a repeated thumping noise along it as he headed away. Nyte laughed, but kept his gaze down at his feet as his eyes adjusted quickly to the gloom, only half-convinced that it had been a joke. After about ten yards, they approached a ladder at the side of the small corridor.

"I think this should take us to our destination," Alex announced, dragging the ladder out by the base so that it formed a steep set of steps up to the brightly lit frame of a trapdoor in the ceiling. "Let me just check..." Nyte squinted up as he clambered up the way, shielding his eyes from the sudden light as the hatch squeaked open.

"Ah, here we are..." the red wolf called from above as his tail and legs disappeared up through the hatch. Nyte stepped back as Becky put her hands on the rungs of the ladder, and as she ascended he tried to lean past her, taking his eyes off her bikini-clad backside to try to look up at the room. Waiting for the other girls to go up after her, he finally took hold of the ladder and scrambled up to the floor level.

His eyes widened as he looked around the room they had emerged into - the room was made up to look like a large hangar, with a walkway circling over them about seven feet off the ground, and various metallic doors leading off from the room on both levels. Standing next to them in the middle of the room was a white capsule that looked like some sort of futuristic aircraft, mounted on rails that stretched to a large roll-top door behind them. He looked over at it, smiling as he imagined what must be behind it.

A clunk took him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see Alex dusting his hands after closing the hatch on the floor. "This is the hangar, team - we're on the west side of the complex, where cargo was brought in and out by these things..." He walked over to the shuttle and slapped the side of it. "We've only got the one left and it hasn't flown for ages... although we've found other uses for it..."

Nyte nodded, hearing a couple of the girls giggle from behind him. He knew what they were thinking of - he'd seen games played in the shuttle when watching the show before, and they usually ended up with at least one contestant neck-deep in gunge as it filled up around them. He twitched a little as he remembered the clip involving a skunkette and squirrel girl that he'd watched a lot in private.

As the team looked up at the capsule, Alex walked away from them, beckoning with one hand as he made his way around the shuttle. "And just behind it over here, I think we'll use this for our first game..."

Nyte tried to keep his pace down to disguise his excitement as the team padded after the host, going past the capsule towards a pair of double doors. As they gathered around him, he put his hand on the catch and turned around.  
   
"Now, we often try to ease teams into the messier stuff here, but you four don't look like you need a gentle start - what do you say?" the red wolf asked as he undid the catch across the two doors. Nyte smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck as he looked at the floor, as Isla clapped her hands together and the two canines joined in a half-cheer.

"Great, then come in here and I'll show you..." Alex pushed backwards to swing both the doors aside, and spun round as he strode into the room. Swallowing, Nyte watched Isla fall into place behind the host, then padded into the room after them, knowing he was about to see an IZ game up close for the first time.

He shuddered as he instantly recognized something that he'd seen practically every time he'd watched the show - in a little recess on the right hand wall of the room, a six foot high clear-sided booth was set up with thick curved pipes running from its ceiling and the bases of its sides into the walls around it. A metallic chair was fixed to the back wall, right underneath the pipe on the ceiling.

"Oh, it's the Mixer..." Becky gasped, cupping her hands to her mouth. Nyte looked back at the puppy girl as Quinne smiled from behind her, then over at the tank again.

"That's right," Alex confirmed, turning to face the team as they stared at the booth, and he paced back towards the nervous puppy girl. Suddenly, he spun to catch her arm. "Come here, you're going inside!"

"Wh..." Becky started as she whipped her head to the side to face him, then squeaked, stumbling as he guided her towards the tank. Holding up the pocket computer in one hand, he pressed something on it and the door slid open to the side. Nyte swallowed as he watched the bikini-clad canine squirm, looking up at the tank's ceiling as she hesitantly stretched one foot inside. She turned around to sit down as the half-height door hummed closed in front of her, biting her lip in an anxious smile as she wriggled backward on to the seat, looking down at her dangling legs before daring to glance up at the spout on the ceiling.

"Now, Becky, I want you to know that just because you're inside there just now doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get gunged..." - The canine eeped at the sound of the word, her eyes turning up to look at the nozzle above her again, as Alex beckoned to the other three team members. "But it's going to happen to one of the four of you! Come over here and I'll show you..."

Nyte glanced back at the gunge tank again, watching the nervous canine swing her legs back and forth, as Alex dashed to the opposite side of the room. Taking his eyes off her, he followed Alex and the two other girls to a slanted table at the far end. As he beckoned them around to the far side, he looked down at it to see that the surface was divided into nine squares, each softly pulsing with a light underneath.

"You're going to take turns to rescue each other from the gunge in this game," he started as he spread both hands over the control console. "What's going to happen is that you'll be shown a combination, like this..." He pointed down, and the squares at the corners of the surface flashed in sequence anti-clockwise, a tone being played as each one lit up. "And you've got to copy that sequence," he continued, punctuating his words by pressing down on each square in the order that they had lit up, "- to open up the gunge tank and let your friend out."

He pointed over his shoulder, and Nyte leaned around to see the door of the Mixer slide open in front of the puppy girl. Uncertainly, she put her arms on the chair's sides and began to get up.

"Don't get out of there just yet, Becky," Alex said, not turning around. The canine whimpered, smiling through gritted teeth, and settled back into the seat as the door hummed back in front of her to shut her inside again. Picking her feet off the floor, she settled back into the seat, tapping her hands on its arms as her eyes drifted upwards once more.

"But if you do the same thing once we start, whoever's in there gets to come out, and it's the turn of the one at the console to step in there and hope that they'll be rescued!" He paced to the middle of the room, and Nyte glanced to his sides, watching the fennec girl run a hand nervously through her hair. "There'll be ten combinations in all, and correctly completing each one will earn you ten points - but if you don't get them all within two minutes, the Mixer's going to start up!"

He jumped back over to stand beside the tank. "And to give you an idea of what happens then, if I can just demonstrate with you, Becky..." he said as he stooped down. Nyte couldn't help laughing a little as the puppy girl squeaked, her hands going up to clasp the back of her neck as she looked down at where Alex was pointing.

"When time runs out, a load of foam's going to be pumped into the tank through these pipes," he said as he gestured towards the nozzles on either side. Becky pressed her feet together, picking them up and pointing her toes down, then followed Alex's pointing finger up to the top of the tank. "And while that's happening, the vat of gunge overhead's going to open, and whoever's inside there is going to get completely covered..."

Shuffling uncomfortably, Nyte looked between the two girls next to him, trying to read their nervous but excited expressions.

"Hoping it's not going to be you, Becky?" the red wolf asked with a smile, leaning on the top of the tank as he addressed her.

"Kinda," she giggled, flicking her eyes up to the overhead nozzle once more.

"Well, let's get you out of there - time starts now!"

Nyte gasped as a ticking noise started up, a timer being projected on to the wall in front of them as the room's lights suddenly dimmed. Isla quickly moved her way to the front and leaned over the console as four squares flashed at random, then she firmly pressed on each one in turn, clapping her hands together as the confirmation noise played.

All their eyes turned to Becky, who was balling her hands into fists next to her chest as she waited for something to happen. As the door slid open in front of her, she yipped, sliding quickly off the chair and padding out of the gunge tank with a relieved smile on her face.

"Becky, that's you safe for now! Go and join the others - Isla, let's have you in here next..."

The curvy lizardette grinned over her shoulder at the others before slipping around the opposite side of the table, dashing over towards the booth as the canine came back to join the others.

"You or me?" Quinne's voice came from beside Nyte, and he looked down at the console as she pointed towards it.

"Uh... you go ahead," he said as he distractedly watched the blue reptilian look up into the spout above her as she squirmed back into the chair, the door humming closed in front of her. He glanced between Isla, Quinne and the rapidly decreasing timer as the fennec girl concentrated on the sequence of five lights being shown on the board, then she quickly tapped her hand over the same pattern.

Isla stared up into the nozzle again with a grin as the door opened in front of her, and got to her feet.

"That's two! Quinne, it's your turn in the gunge tank, and Nyte's going to be the one to save you..."

"Good luck!" The fennec's pink hair flew out behind her as she turned to wave at Nyte, already jogging over to the other side of the room. He swallowed as he raised his hand in return, and then shook his head to clear it, coming forward to lean over the slanted table as he watched the fox girl step into the cubicle in the corner of his eye.

He felt his heart racing as the pattern of six lights played out in front of him, and followed them with his finger, pressing five of them and then hesitating, hovering his hand between two squares.

"That one," he heard Becky say as her golden-furred hand came forward into his vision, pointing down at the middle left panel. He held his breath before pressing it, and let it out with a relieved sigh as the correct bell sounded, before another wave of nerves came over him as he realized what was to happen next.

"Nyte, you saved Quinne - let's hope Becky can do the same to you!" The fox girl put her hands in the air as the tank opened to let her out. Swallowing, he looked her in the eye, and she grinned enthusiastically back at him as he stumbled over towards her.

Nyte dodged aside as Quinne bounced out of the tank, and looked down at the empty seat as he stretched one foot inside the booth. Turning around, he felt behind him for the arms of the chair as the door slid closed in front of him, and hoisted himself up into the chair, staring upwards. In the center of the tank's ceiling, right above his head, there was a nozzle in the shape of two semicircles side by side, blocked a little way up by a dark disc.

A harsh buzzing noise made him almost leap out of the seat, interrupting his thoughts as he looked over to his team-mates - Becky had jumped away from the table, her hands clasped to her mouth.

"Oh, it looks like Becky made a mistake there," Alex chuckled as he paced a little over towards her, "but just keep going! You've got all the chances you need... it's getting trickier with seven lights in the pattern..."

The puppy girl nodded, and Nyte stretched up to watch as she leaned over the table, looking intently down at it as a new sequence flashed in front of her. This time, as Nyte tapped his fingers on the arms of the seat, he watched her deliberately press each one in turn, eventually looking up and then smiling as the confirmation noise played.

"Yes!" Alex encouraged as the door opened. With a glance back up at the nozzle, Nyte pushed himself up out of the chair and back out of the tank, looking towards the red wolf as he pointed over at it. "But of course, that means you're going in again - Isla, feeling confident this time?"

"Yeah, no problem, Becky," the lizardette called as Becky jogged towards the gunge booth once again. With a laughing whimper, she glanced over at the timer, and Nyte spun around to look at it too as he retreated back to the opposite side of the room - they had just over a minute left.

Nyte scampered back to the table as Becky took her seat, bouncing anxiously as the door slid closed in front of her and then stretching up in an attempt to see the table as the sequence of eight lights played out on it. Frowning in concentration, the lizard girl quickly tapped out the sequence before Nyte had a chance to think about it, and as the confirmation noise played, she quickly slid around to the front as the door of the booth slid open to release the puppy girl again. With a yip, she got up, and held up her hand to slap Isla's as they ran past each other.

"Very quick, Isla! And with just forty seconds left, I think that that's you safe from the gunge for now, Becky... but as for the others, who can tell!" Nyte twitched as the curvy lizardess wriggled on to the seat of the gunge tank, looking up excitedly into the nozzle as Quinne leaned over the table.

Nyte watched Isla shudder a little as she twisted around in an attempt to look at the timer, then turned to look him in the eye. Quickly taking his gaze off her as he knew she'd caught him staring, he looked back at the panel in front of them, where Quinne was halfway through the new sequence, hovering her hand across the board. Realizing he'd missed the sequence and couldn't help, he stayed quiet, his heart beating faster as she prepared to put her hand down on the middle panel.

Hesitantly, the fox girl pushed the button down and jumped back, her tail swishing behind her, but the press was met with no wrong noise. After a second's pause, she came forward again, pushing the last three buttons at the top right, and clapped her hands as the door slid open in front of Isla.

"Your turn," the pink fennec said brightly, pointing at Nyte, before scooting off to the booth. Nyte watched her run across the room as the lizard girl sighed in what looked like mixed relief and disappointment, before she hauled herself up and stepped out of the tank, putting a hand out to encourage the small fox girl inside. She pointed her toes and stepped into the cubicle, clasping her hands on her lap with her eyes raised up to the chute above her as she sat down.

"Twenty seconds! Your team leader might just be able to do this if he's quick..." Nyte shook his head to try to clear it as Alex's voice reminded him that he was meant to be playing this time. Grimacing as he felt the girls' eyes on him, he looked down at the table, trying to concentrate as the sequence of ten lights flashed out. After he counted the tenth, he tapped out the first few lights he'd seen quickly, but couldn't help thinking of what it had looked like inside the gunge tank and imagining gunge spewing out of the nozzle that he'd seen right above him, knowing that it was going to happen to him if he got this right. Glancing up at the rapidly decreasing timer, he looked over the table, then put his hand down on the bottom left square.

He jumped as a harsh buzzer sounded, and with his heart pounding, watched a new sequence of ten squares flash in turn, unsure whether to feel relieved or not. Totally unable to think about which one to press first, he hovered his hand over the table, then his head jerked up as he heard a high-pitched series of beeps. He caught the eye of the pink fennec girl as her mouth dropped open, her eyes widening as she twisted around to look at the timer flashing in red on the wall. As it hit zero, she gasped and looked back at the others.

"I'm sorry, Quinne, but time's up - it's you...!" Alex called above a rising mechanical whine as the fennec's surprised expression gave way to a nervous smile. She glanced up at the overhead nozzle again, then squeaked and looked down as there was a spurting noise and a mass of white foam spewed out over her feet and ankles from the pipes beside her.

Nyte twitched, feeling his heart pounding in his chest as he watched the thick pie foam beginning to fill the tank, creeping up the vixen's legs as she drew her feet in tighter, her hands drumming on her knees as she watched the white stuff bubble upwards. They all jumped as a loud blare from a klaxon joined the mechanical noise, making the fennec glance up for a moment before changing her mind and hunching her shoulders, eeping as she circled her legs in the rising foam.

The alarm sounded again, and the fennec girl squirmed upwards as the foam spilled into her lap and continued rising over her tummy. She opened one eye and looked back out at the others, eager but nervous with a shocked smile on her face as the foam glooped up over her hands on the arms of the seat. Nyte caught her eye for a second one more time, unsure where to look as he waited for the tank to open above her. The next moment seemed to drag on for a long time, before the white foam reached the top of the tank's door and began to spill over it, raining down to the floor in sticky blobs, the klaxon hooted a third time, and a column of yellow and dark blue gunge dropped from the ceiling of the tank and splattered outwards over the fennec girl's head.

Nyte tried to keep his expression still as he listened to the whoops from the other two girls beside him, watching the gloopy mixture form a smooth dome over Quinne's face, her nose just visible through it before it spilled forwards and closed over it. After a second, her arms burst forwards through it, catching the glop with her palms turned inwards as the colorful goo slid down around her forearms and into the foam, slipping thickly through her fingers as she hovered them in front of her. The dome twitched and splattered to the sides as she wriggled, waves of gunge slopping on to the walls of the tank as they spewed outwards from her head. As it slithered and dripped down the walls and the fox girl inside, it mixed into green and began to stain the foam that was still bubbling over the door of the tank.

As the slime from overhead began to ease off, the outline of Quinne's head became gradually more visible again underneath the gungy downpour, the slop splattering on to her shoulders still peeking above the foam. She tilted her head to one side, flicking her slimy ears as she leaned a little out of the gungy downpour. Her face had been completely covered in a murky mixture of the blue and yellow gunge colors, with her eyes firmly closed but an awkward grin showing from behind the blobs of goo sliding over her face. With the glop becoming a drizzle on her shoulder, she put a palm to her face and dragged it down over her eyes and muzzle, leaving streaks of her fur color just visible underneath the coating of slime.

The gungy fennec girl sat straight again with a defeated smile, leaning forwards a little as the blobby remains of the gunge slithered down from the edges of the nozzle to splat on to the top of her head. She reached up and ran both hands down her messy hair, her shoulders shaking in giggles as the heavy slop dripped down on to them from her sodden ears and slithered down to gloop underneath the surface of the foam bath. With a smile, she dipped her head forwards, dunking her face into the thick foam and moving it from side to side for a moment before straightening up again, her muzzle coated in an off-white mixture that flew away as she shook her head.

"Quinne...!" Alex stepped forwards as the lights came back up, and reached around to the back of the tank where a small towel was draped over one of the pipes. Shaking it out, he dangled it into the tank, brushing it against her face and letting her reach her sloppy hands up to grab it. "What a finish to the first game - how are you feeling?"

"Ew," she said simply through a grin. Her eyes still closed as the mixed yellow and blue glop slithered down her head and dripped from her ears, she buried her face in the towel for a moment and then looked back up. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, shaking her head and blinking a little, then squeaked and ducked forwards as another spurt of gunge splattered down on to her from the overhead nozzle.

Nyte breathed out and followed the other two girls towards the gunge tank, the lizard girl whooping and clapping her hands together as the gungy fennec put her hands back underneath the foam, then raised one hand weakly out of it to wave back at her. "You're looking good, Quinne!" she laughed as she reached into the tank to ruffle the vulpine's soaking hair, then she pulled her arm away and smiled as she watched the glutinous liquid drip from her fingers.

"I always have to ask the first time - how did that feel, Quinne?" Alex asked, stepping past the lizardess to face the tank.

Quinne raised her hands out of the foam again, putting them in front of her to catch drips of the thick slime as it poured in strings off her fringe. "You ever had a... big bowl of custard poured over your head?" she asked back, twitching her head aside to shake off the drops.

"No, and I hope to keep it that way!" the red wolf answered. "Let's get you out of there for now... I think you've taken enough for the first game..."

Alex stepped around the lizard girl and motioned for her to step aside, then opened the door of the tank again. Nyte shivered as he watched the slippery goo slowly slide down the walls of the tank around the sodden fennec, and distractedly put his hands out towards her as she stood up. She looked down at herself, not taking his hands as she stepped out back on to the floor, batting at her waist and legs with the towel and her other hand as the stained foamy mixture clung to her legs, her T-shirt plastered to her chest and tummy.

"You got six combinations before the Mixer went off, so that's sixty points for the first game - I think that's about as clean as you're going to get with that thing!" Alex stepped forwards and put his hand out for the towel, taking it by one corner with an outstretched hand, and turned around to toss it behind the tank again. Nyte gave a laughing grimace at the wet splatting noise it made as it hit the floor. "Nyte," - he dragged his eyes off the dripping fennec and spun round as Alex said his name - "Quinne took the first one for the team, but we've got a long way to go yet - who do you want to take a risk next?"

Nyte glanced quickly between the two clean girls as they looked back at him, waiting for his decision. Becky was wringing her hands behind her back, though she was trying to look confident.

"Isla," he decided. The blue reptilian raised her hands in the air then dropped them back to her sides as Alex approached.

"All right, Isla - are you ready for this?"

"Yep," she responded with an enthusiastic nod of her head.

"Then come with me - we've got one of our new ones just up the stairs for you..."

As soon as the lizardette took his outstretched hand he took off back towards the doorway and turned sharply away to the right. Nyte looked towards the messy fox girl, who was combing her fingers through her gunge-soaked hair and wiggling her feet in front of her one by one to get the foam off, before she started towards the door. Becky stopped to let her through first, and Nyte followed the two of them out of the room.

Alex and Isla were already on the gantry leading around the edges of the room as they emerged, and they headed for a nearby set of metallic stairs, waiting for Quinne to tread carefully up them before they rejoined the reptilian and wolf at the door at the far end of the room. Isla stood to one side, her hands clasped behind her back as she bounced on her heels, watching the wolf fiddle with the catch on the door.

"In here," he started as the others gathered around, "we've got one of the main pipes that led out of the complex. Or at least, we used to - all the pipes and channels that drained out of here still run through this room, but we've ripped out the main one and you're going to be put in there instead. Isla... you're going in the Gunkpipe."

Nyte glanced at the lizardette's wide-eyed expression as he said the word, and as he pushed the door open, she leaned around the frame to see. He caught her arm, and tugged her a little forward - after a short skip, she eagerly padded after him.

He followed them quickly and took in their new surroundings as he walked across the room behind them. They were in a long, thin room, rectangular except for a semicircular alcove in the far wall that was a couple of yards across, with a metallic chair mounted on a swiveling stand in its center. In front of the chair, grooves in the floor and ceiling curved around to complete the circular shape of the pipe, and a clock display and monitor were mounted on the wall just to its left.

Nyte took his eyes off the contraption at the end of the room and looked closer to where he was standing - five box-like carts were attached to the ends of a set of twisting rails that ran across the length of the room, connecting with each other and curving among themselves, leaving some dead ends. At the far end, next to the pipe, there were five metal poles, each with a socket-like depression on the top.

"I think you can see your seat already, can't you, Isla?" he heard Alex's voice, and looked up, seeing the lizard girl nod vigorously as she was led to the seat at the far end of the room. Still holding Alex's hand, she turned around and put one hand on its metal arm, hoisting herself up into it and wriggling backwards as she put her feet on the rest at the front. Leaning back a little, she looked up to the ceiling and back wall, and grinned slyly as she saw an array of nozzles aimed in her direction.

"Okay, you three - just like in the last game, Isla's going to be relying on you to save her," Alex started, pacing away from the pipe and pointing both fingers down at the rails, raising them up towards the carts at the end of the room with the door. "You're going to be given somewhere between two and three minutes to bring all five of those carts over to this end of the room and connect them to these sockets," he said as he slapped the top of one of the poles next to the group, "therefore draining away some of the gunge above Isla. After you connect each one up, it's going to be up to Isla to decide whether to go for another or not - the trouble is that she won't be able to see the timer, so she won't know whether she's giving you enough time or if she's about to get splurged," he finished, turning back to her.

The lizardette looked down at her feet, grinning to herself as she curled her toes around the footrest and then flexed them. She pressed her legs together, wriggling a little as she waited for Alex to continue.

"So Isla, we're going to put you away for now - you'll still be able to hear me over this," he said as he took a microphone that looked like a radio transmitter off its hook on the wall, "and we'll be watching you on the monitor - okay?"

The lizard girl bit her lip, looking down at the groove in the floor as she realized what was going to happen. "Yeah..." she nodded eventually.

"Okay, there's nothing to worry about - they'll be right here, and hopefully they're going to save you from being gunged..." Alex pressed the switch next to him on the wall, and with a mechanical clank, the front section of the pipe began sliding out of the wall, curving around with the grooves in the floor and ceiling. Isla tapped her forefingers together, jiggling as the shadow of the outer pipe fell across her, and Nyte leaned around to get a last glimpse of her before it boomed shut.

Alex turned to the monitor as it blinked on, showing a grainy bright green night-vision image of the inside of the pipe from the top - the lizard girl was sitting still and staring in front of her even though she couldn't see anything. "Okay, Isla," he called into the microphone, "we're going to give your team a random amount of time to complete the game..."

He looked up, and Nyte followed his gaze to the timer as it flicked between random numbers, eventually stopping on a time just below two and a half minutes. He looked to his sides at Quinne and Becky as they nodded among each other.

"Okay, and they're about to make their first attempt! You three, go over there and pick a cart - your time's going to start as soon as you move it."

Nyte turned and lifted his feet high as he walked among the rails on the floor, looking at how they connected to each other and trying to work out a route that would take one of the carts to their target. Quinne bounced on ahead, putting her hands on the handle of the middle cart, and shifted from foot to foot as Nyte dashed around to take it as well.

"Ready?" she asked. Nyte glanced over at the rail they were going to head along, then yelped as she jerked it forwards, stumbling to keep up.

Becky called encouragement as Nyte got his footing again and did his best to help the fox girl push the container along the rails. The canine beckoned over to her right as they approached a junction, and slowed down to navigate the cart around a tight curve before heading into a straight towards one of the pipes at the far end of the room. As Quinne sped up again, Nyte let go and dashed alongside her as she eventually slammed it into the stopper at the end.

"You've done it - connect the hose!" called Alex, and Nyte glanced down to the tubing hooked on to the front end of the cart on his side. He bent down to take it, looked at the top of the upright pipe in front of him, and then turned the hose upside down and slid it into the socket. He jumped back as it twitched, and with a spurting noise, he saw the container they had brought over filling up with slimy yellow stuff through the thin window in its side.

"Yes!" Quinne called, throwing her hands in the air. Nyte shared a grin with the fox girl, then looked to the timer, which was at just under two minutes. Underneath it, on the night vision monitor, Isla was watching as a light in front of her blinked into life.

"Isla!" The lizard girl visibly jumped as Alex's voice suddenly came into the chamber. "Your team's just connected their first cart and got 20 points - do you want them to do another?"

"Er..." She rubbed her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. "Yeah, I guess so," she nodded.

"Okay - you'll hear from me again soon!" He hooked the microphone back on to the wall. "Let's see if you can repeat that performance, you three..."

Nyte nodded, and looked around as he caught his toe on one of the rails in the ground. Shaking his foot a little, he jogged over to join Becky at the cart next to the space they'd just left.

He took one side of the handle as the puppy girl leaned forwards on it, looking like she was ready to begin a race. Nyte sidled in a little closer, and wrenched his eyes up the way to look at her concentrated face, then along to where Quinne was pointing at a V-shaped turn in the track.

"Okay, so we're going to that junction... then back the way, and along to the one at the far end," he pointed.

"Yep," Becky confirmed. "C'mon, let's go!"

This time, they pushed off at the same moment, and quickly made their way to where Quinne was standing, with Nyte keeping one eye on the timer. The fox girl jumped back as the cart ran heavily into the end of the rail at the junction, then quickly moved around to help tug it on to the other rail that ran backwards. She pulled it over the few feet to the other junction, then budged the cart over with her shoulder before leaving the other two to slide the container the rest of the way towards the pipe at the extreme left of the room. As they approached it, Becky leaned down to grab the tube, quickly pulling her hand out the way as the cart clanked into the pipe, then stepping around it to push it firmly down into the socket.

The noise of the slime spraying through the pipe started up again, and the puppy girl clapped her hands together as she turned to face the watching red wolf.

"Well, Isla, they've got a kind of violent way of doing this game," he grinned into the microphone, "but it seems to work! How much time do you think they've used?"

"I'm, um... not sure..." The lizardette shifted uncomfortably, shaking her head.

"Well, do you want them to carry on and do another?" Alex turned around and looked at the screen closely, lowering his voice a little as he watched her.

Nyte backed away towards the end of the room with the row of carts once again, squinting to read the expression of the lizard girl on the night vision screen as she looked blindly to her left and right.

"Er... yeah, go on..." she said hesitantly, rubbing the top of one of her feet with the sole of the other.

"Okay, you heard her, everyone - I'm starting the timer again!"

Nyte jumped forwards to grab the container as he heard Alex pulling the switch, and began to trundle it forwards as he turned around to work out the route they should take. This time, Quinne bounded over to take the other side to help him.

"Just keep on going straight," Becky called as she skipped sideways ahead of them. Nyte leaned over to look past the fennec as she bounded backwards, her hair flying out as she turned her head to look over her shoulder - this time, their route was much straighter, and they quickly made it to the other side of the room. After fumbling with the hose, Quinne pressed it down on to the socket with both hands, and they all stepped back, looking at Alex once again.

"Good!" he congratulated, and brought the microphone up to his mouth. "Isla," he called into it, "You should have three lights on in there now, and they've been pretty fast so far... but remember you're going to get gunked the instant time runs out. Whether you want to get out now or go for another... it's up to you," he emphasized as the worried-looking blue reptilian ran her hands over her head. Nyte looked over his shoulder, realizing that the other two carts were going to need to go all the way across the width of the room to fit into the last slots. He looked up at the timer, which was still over a minute and a half.

"Oh..." The lizard girl's toes curled around the footrest as she whimpered, staring at the three lights in front of her. Nyte caught himself leaning closer, looking at her anxious expression as she tried to decide.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm coming out!"

"Sure?" Alex asked, and seeing her nod rapidly on the screen, he reached up to pull the switch back the way. "All right, let's get you out of there..."

Nyte and the girls watched as the whole front of the pipe hummed aside, revealing Isla again, who was breathing out heavily as she blinked in the light. She twisted around to look up at the nozzles behind her one more time and then reluctantly hauled herself out of the seat.

"Sorry, everyone..." she said sheepishly as she stepped down from the footrest, crossing the groove in the floor where the curved section ran. Becky came forwards with her arms outstretched, and she accepted the hug.

"It's okay!" she said from over her shoulder, rocking back and forth a little. Quinne moved to wrap her arms around the two of them as well, and Nyte was trying to decide if he should join them when Alex stepped forwards.

"Don't worry, Isla, you'll get another chance... are you feeling all right?" the red wolf asked as the girls broke off their hug.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she nodded, shivering just a little.

"Well, as you can see up there you still had about a minute and a half left," he said, pointing to the timer with his thumb over his shoulder, "so I think your team would have been able to do more... but importantly, you're out of there safely, and you get another sixty points for your trouble." The lizard girl smiled a little, and turned as she saw Quinne raising her hands up, clapping them together with hers.

"We'll have to make sure we get you later! For now, we've got two team members who haven't risked it yet, and both of them are going to have a chance of getting gunged..."

Nyte's ears pricked at Alex's announcement, and he felt his heart pounding as the red wolf turned around to clap him on the shoulder, walking forwards with the puppy girl on his other arm as they headed back out to the door. "But we need a volunteer to play the game - Becky, I'll ask you this time. Do you want it to be you or Nyte?"

"Um..." The brown canine picked her feet up high as they crossed the rails on the floor. "Does that mean he'd be getting gunged, or me?"

"That depends on how well you do..." the red wolf smiled.

The puppy girl gave a small whimper, and she looked back at the large pipe on the wall behind them as she thought. Nyte watched her face, waiting anxiously for her to answer. "Yeah... okay, I'll do it," she decided eventually.

"All right, you're giving your team leader an easy time so far - come down here and see what you've let yourself in for!" As the team emerged through the doorway on to the walkway around the hangar again, Alex let go of the pair of them and took hold of the handrails on both sides of the nearby stairway, sliding down on his hands to the ground level. Nyte stepped aside and let Becky follow him more carefully down first, taking the thin metallic stairs one step at a time. He swallowed as he watched her white-tipped tail swinging along with her hips, and dragged his eyes off it to glance around once again at the doors leading off from the large room.

Alex beckoned to them as they reached the ground, and led the team over to a gloomy corner underneath where they had just been standing. The end of a conveyor belt jutted out of the wall, with a dark plastic flap covering the hole in the wall that it led through, and beside it, the outline of a rusty metal door was just visible against the wall.

The red wolf put his hand out towards the door as they approached, and tugged it a couple of times. A tortured squeak came up from the hinges but the door only budged a fraction of an inch. He stepped back and shook his head.

"They must have locked it up since we were last here... it looks like we're taking the other way in!" He stepped aside and over the conveyor belt, leaning one hand on the wall next to the opening as he pushed the flap covering it aside.

"Go on in," he encouraged, jerking his head towards it. "I think Nyte and Becky should go first, just to see what they're getting into..."

Nyte watched as the puppy girl eagerly hopped up on to the conveyor belt, then crawled through the entrance on her hands and knees. He heard her gasp as she poked her head through, and moved towards the belt in an attempt to see what was inside. As he saw her get down into the area of the room behind the door, he crawled through behind her.

"Wow..." he said out loud as he swung his legs down to the ground, dusting his knees off as he got up. The puppy girl was looking down at the most prominent feature of the room - on the wall to the left of the door, a section of the floor was cut away to form a round pool filled with soupy-looking green slime. Another conveyor led out of a narrow corridor coming out of the wall behind it, and ended right underneath one of two pipes jutting down from the tangle on the ceiling.

Nyte stepped further into the room as Isla crawled through followed by Quinne. The room looked like it was done up as some kind of security station, with a bank of monitors and keyboards visible on the far wall. He saw that the conveyor that they had come in by and the one above the vat were two ends of the same one, running all the way around the edge of the room and dipping into the walls - on the exposed section of it to his left, a metal chair was bolted to one of its sections. Right opposite that was a perspex panel on the wall with a lever next to it, and another chair in the couple of feet wide space inside.

He looked back at the girls, who were nervously whispering and giggling to each other next to the gunge vat, with Isla reaching forwards to dip her foot into the green slop. As she pulled it out again, the smooth coat of slime slithering off it, Quinne dipped her toes in as well with a squeak, as Alex wriggled through the hatch behind them.

"Be careful of that, I wouldn't want any of you to fall in accidentally..." he said as he straightened up, walking up behind them to look down at it over their shoulders.

"Sure you would," Isla answered, shaking her foot and spraying the slime off it, eventually wiping it a few times on the bumped surface of the floor.

Alex smirked. "Well, maybe you're right, but... to keep things fair! We're going to give your friend Becky here a much better look at it..."

"Oh..." The puppy girl bounced on her heels nervously as she took Alex's hand again, and Nyte watched as the four of them came over, the red wolf heading for the chair on the conveyor that he had noticed.

"It's just up here - you're going to be taking a little trip..."

Giving another little whimper as she looked back at the pool, Becky stepped forwards with him and leaned down on one arm to steady herself as she clambered on to the belt. Nyte swallowed as he watched from behind her, looking from her to the vat as she awkwardly wriggled backwards to settle on to the seat and eyed the dark tunnel in front of her. Her eyes flicked up at a lever on the wall as the red wolf moved through the group towards it.

"Okay, Becky - enjoy the ride, we'll see you in just a moment!" He tugged the lever down, and the canine squeaked and jerked back a little as the conveyor started moving, drumming her feet on the chair's footrest as she was carried towards the tunnel. As she disappeared around the corner, Nyte felt his stomach lurch again as Alex turned around to point at him.

"As for you..." he began, then paused. "I think you've guessed where you're going, haven't you?"

"Yeah..." Nyte forced a grin and scratched the back of his neck as he turned around to face the booth set into the wall, eyeing another large lever mounted next to it. Feeling the red wolf's hand on his back, he moved over towards it, keeping back as Alex swung the door open for him.

With a gentle push from the wolf, Nyte stepped up into the booth, his eyes going up to the ceiling - this one looked more like the ones that he had caught glimpses of when IZ was shown on television, with a dark round circle in the middle of the ceiling covered by a plastic cap. He kept his eyes on it as he turned to sit down - beside it, two cylinders tipped by nozzles were aimed diagonally down at him. Shuddering at the thought of the gunge poised above his head, he looked out of the tank at the watching fennec, trying to imagine once again how it felt to be covered in the stuff.

He quickly jerked forwards to look as there was a scream from the left. Alex glanced casually over as well - the chair with Becky in it had stopped at the very end of the rail and was in position underneath one of the pipes on the ceiling. She stared up into it as she swung her legs back and forth a little, her toes an inch above the surface of the gunge vat.

"And I think that noise means that Becky's in position - so I'll see you later!" Alex stepped back and swung the door of the tank closed. Nyte took another look up at the opening looming over him as he was shut inside.

"Becky, how are you feeling up there?" the red wolf asked as he skipped around the edge of the vat of slime, pulling his electronic device from his pocket. The canine just whimpered, hugging herself a little as she looked down at her feet and the green surface just below them.

Alex laughed a little as the other two girls turned around from the gunge tank to watch them. "Well, we'll let you down soon, but it might not be the best landing... here's how you're going to try and save yourself!"

He raised the minicomputer up and tapped a couple of places on its screen. "I've got ten questions here," he started, and the puppy girl immediately cringed. "But don't worry, they're not hard - in fact, they all have very obvious answers that begin with the letter C." He raised his eyes to hers as she nodded. "You're going to have a minute and a half to answer all ten of them, but if you run out of time or at any point you actually give one of those answers that begin with C... you're going into that!"

He pointed dramatically down at the pool of gunge, and the canine yelped as a couple of bubbles popped on the surface, making the slime ripple slowly. Nyte grinned, enjoying watching her nervous reactions as she flexed and pointed her toes.

"The good news is that you'll earn the team ten points for every question that you get right, and if you manage to get all ten within the time limit, then we've got a reward waiting for you in the form of that inviting-looking lever next to your team leader..."

Nyte forced a smile despite his own nerves as the girls all turned to him, and Isla whooped as she clapped her hands above her head. The puppy girl gave a grin that looked just as hesitant, nodding distractedly as she faced Alex again.

"Ninety seconds, Becky, here we go." A ticking noise began from somewhere on the ceiling before Becky could react, and she gasped but quickly fell silent as he read out the first question.

"What do you call a building made out of stone with a moat around it?"

The puppy girl cupped her chin with her hands, her elbows on her knees and her eyes up at the ceiling as she thought of how to avoid the obvious answer. "Fort," she said, looking over at the red wolf.

"Yes, you can have that - you've got the idea of this!" Becky smiled, one hand going up to flick a stray strand of hair nervously behind her head.

Nyte watched anxiously, his hands on top of the door of the booth and counting up the questions that she got right on his fingers. Quickly, he realized that she was never going to make it in time at the rate she was going, but he still couldn't help glancing at the arrangement of nozzles above his head every now and then.

"The name of a long, thin, crunchy vegetable."

"Er..." Becky closed her eyes, her hands hovering in front of her as she drummed her feet. "Leek?" she suggested after a few seconds' pause.

"Yes, I think that has all the requirements..." Alex raised the computer up again. "Pencil lead, diamonds and coal are all forms of what?"

Nyte thought about how he would answer the question as he watched his team-mate squirm on the dunk seat, her hands on her cheeks and shaking her head as she hurriedly thought. "Stuff?" she tried as she straightened up to face him, but she couldn't help giggling as soon as she'd said it.

"No, I'm not going to give you that!" Alex laughed. "Try this one - the name of a vehicle you might see parked in a family driveway."

"Um..." She wriggled again, kicking her legs a little as she looked down at the gunge. "Caravan," she decided with a nod, then she gasped and her hands flew to her mouth as she realized what she'd said.

"Ah!" Alex looked up and pointed at her, talking over her as she whimpered, moving her hands up a little to cup her muzzle. "Carefully avoided the most obvious one, but I'm afraid that answer quite clearly started with 'C' anyway - so I'm afraid you're going in!"

Nyte had jumped when he had heard her answer as well, and he watched closely as Becky cringed, looking down at the thick green surface in front of her as she balled her hands into fists next to her cheeks. As a siren rang, the other two girls moved a little bit closer to the vat, Quinne glancing over her shoulder at Nyte for a moment before scampering around for a better view.

Becky whimpered and drummed her feet as lights flashed over her, closing her eyes and flattening her ears a little. Suddenly a wave of green gunge spewed out of the pipe above her head, and she yipped as it hit her, bowing her head further down as the thick liquid flopped forwards over her face. She picked her feet up from the footrest as the slop domed out to hide her from view.

Half standing up to see, Nyte saw the bottom of the chair slowly tip forwards underneath the glop, and the puppy girl burst out of the curtain of slime as she fell forwards, her face screwed up and eyes tightly closed as she flung her hands out in front of her. She hit the bright green surface with a wet smacking noise, waves of the heavy gloop rippling outwards as she madly paddled her hands in front of her and craned her neck up the way so that her face didn't go underneath. As the last of the slop poured out of the nozzle on the ceiling on to the empty dunk seat, she got her footing and jumped upwards, squeaking as she bounced a little way out of the vat with a runny layer of gunge clinging to her fur and swimwear.

As soon as she'd got upright, Nyte saw the catch on the front pipe swing open, and a second flood of glutinous slime fell across the puppy girl, hiding her from view again underneath a sloppy dome. A shriek came up above the noise as the stuff fell into the vat with a thick glooping sound.

Becky stumbled forwards and poked her head out of the downpour, hunched over and with her hands clasped around the back of her head. Wriggling as the goo splurged over her back, she raised her head - her mouth was wide open in shock but with the corners of her mouth turned upwards in a smile as the green slime clinging to her hair trickled down around her face. As the tank above her ran out, drizzling the last of its contents down into the center of the vat, she straightened and came out from underneath it in an unsteady bouncing motion. Drawing her hands inwards, she sloshed unsteadily forwards in the green gunk, hugging herself and squeezing her breasts underneath her folded arms.

"Becky, sorry it had to happen but you got dunked - how are you feeling?" She watched Alex pace past her fascinated team mates around to the edge of the vat, then looked down at herself.

"It's all thick and slippery, and... eugh!" She spread her arms to the sides and shook her hands and head, sending globs of the stuff spattering outwards from her fingers and hair.

"Yep. Looks like this stuff," Quinne agreed, holding her hand out in a claw shape in front of her and letting the gunge on her slither off her fingertips. Giggling, she dipped her foot down at the edge of the vat again.

"Cold?" Alex asked. Looking up at him, the puppy girl nodded, wriggling from side to side in the glop. Drips of gunge drizzled from all over her green-coated upper body.

"I think it gets better the longer you're in there... or if you just dip under for a second..."

Becky sagged and grinned, then with a glance down at the slop she was standing in, closed her eyes and bobbed a little upwards, holding her nose as she dunked her head under. Nyte's eyes widened, stretching up to see from his position in the tank as she slowly came up again, her face screwed up and painted in a smooth uniform green color. The slop made a thick trickling noise as it slithered back into the vat from the back of her soaking hair, the goo sliding down her fur and forming little ripples that she began to brush away with her equally messy hands.

Alex crouched down next to the gungy puppy girl as she wiped her eyes and blinked them open again, the streaks of brown fur around them the only part of her normal color that was visible. "Did it help?"

She shook her head again, sending more specks of the light green slop out from her flying hair as she bounced up and down a little. He laughed and stood up.

"Let's get you out of there, then..."

Alex stretched his hands forward over the vat, and Becky wriggled forwards in the gunge, flicking more of the slime away from her hands before stretching up to grab his wrists. Slowly, he hauled her up and out of the pool, green stuff oozing and trickling from all over her fur as she was hoisted upwards. She kicked her dripping feet to find the side of the vat, and unsteadily got her balance again as Alex swung her over back on to the floor. Eeping, she let go and looked down at her green-painted fur, tentatively trying to brush some of the goo away.

"Okay, you didn't escape clean, but you got six answers which earns you yet another 60 points - and Nyte stayed safe. Actually, just while you're in there..." Nyte shifted his gaze to Alex, trying to look like he hadn't been staring. "Can you tell us - do you want to go into the last game of this round, or are you putting Isla in?"

"Isla," he replied without hesitating as he knew how keen she'd been, even though he was eager to find out what being gunged felt like himself.

"All right," Alex nodded, turning around to the grinning lizard girl but then facing past her to Becky. "So while we've got the chance, Becky, do you want to gunge him anyway?"

Nyte's ears pricked, and he stuttered as his eyes moved back to the gungy puppy girl.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, more of the green slop dripping off her as she nodded. As Alex pointed, she began to dash towards the lever next to Nyte's tank, and he forced his eyes up from her bouncing chest to her eager face as she raised a hand up to brush her slimy hair out of the way.

Becky padded to a halt as she reached up to the lever, and Nyte shifted nervously in the seat, trying to stifle a whimper as he looked from the lever to the round gunge chute above him. Reaching up to the switch, the slippery canine grabbed the end of it with both hands and hauled it downwards with a tug of effort.

Nyte tensed as the siren that he'd heard so many times when watching the show blared into life around him, and closed his eyes, his heart pounding in his ears. He clasped his hands on his lap together a little tighter, wringing them as a couple of seconds seemed to drag past, then twitched as a thick wave smacked on to his head.

He bowed his head down under its weight as he felt it splatter outwards, the light from above dimming as the stuff domed over his face, and a moment later he yelped out loud as he felt the cool gunge splash heavily on to his shoulders. Hearing the girls cheering delightedly from in front of the tank, he grimaced as the thick blanket of slime slid quickly down his hair and the back of his head, flowing on to his shoulders and down his back. As its push made him lean further forwards, he felt his fur bristle underneath the heavy wet layer, and hunched his shoulders as the stuff impacting on the back of his neck slid around to slither down his chest.

Frozen in his hunched position, he couldn't help grinning at the strange slick feeling of the gunge continuing to flood down on to him, shaking his head as he felt some blobs of it spilling over his head to drip from his fringe. With a little hesitation, he wriggled to lean back into the downpour, gasping again as the smooth slime caught the back of his head. At the same moment, two new cold waves slapped on to his shoulders, making him yelp out loud before it turned into a surprised laugh. He squirmed a little as the diagonal spurts played back and forward a little, and flinched to one side as he felt the tip of his ear go underneath one.

The streams from the top sides of the tank slowly moved outwards across his shoulders, leaving just the feeling of the ooze slipping down his arms and back. He straightened up as much as he could underneath the trickling remains of the flood from directly above him, shuddered and brought his hands up to wipe his eyes before shaking his head, opening one eye then the other.

His eyebrows rose as he saw the mass of yellow and blue gunge plastered over his front and clinging to the walls and floor of the tank, and he straightened up as he turned to see the expressions of the three girls watching - Becky had retreated from the tank a couple of steps and was standing in between Isla and Quinne, her hands raised triumphantly in the air as she bounced on her heels. The fennec girl beside her was laughing as she watched her teammate's enthusiasm, clapping her hands together with a smile.

"You've deserved that since the first game!" the fox girl called triumphantly. Blinking as a couple more thick dollops dripped down across his vision to smack on to his lap, he smiled back weakly, reaching his hands up to wipe his muzzle and then around to the back of his head - he squeamishly poked at the back of his hair, feeling it slicked down into a squishy mass underneath the layer of ooze drizzling from the scruff of his neck down on to his back.

"Our team leader finally gets gunged!" Alex's voice came up as he squeezed his way past the three girls to get to the front. Isla moved aside to see past him as he faced Nyte directly outside the tank's door.

"Yeah..." Nyte flinched, flicking his flattened ears a little as he felt the heavy slop drizzle from their tips, and raised his hands up from his lap as he looked down at the gunk he was covered in, the stuff having formed a thick pool across his lap and slowly sliding down around his legs. "Always..." He hesitated and covered it up by clearing his throat. "Always wondered what that felt like," he finished. He twitched a little again at the feeling of the gloop dripping in heavy strings from his hair and fur, and shook his head again as he faced the red wolf, twitching as his wet hair splatted on to the back of his neck.

"And it looks like you found out, but I'm sure it won't be the last time - come on, let's get you out of there!" Alex leaned forward and grabbed the top of the door, pulling it open and then offering Nyte his hand. Flicking his right hand to throw a mass of dripping gunge to the floor, Nyte stretched forward to grab Alex's wrist, and glanced up again at the still dripping trio of nozzles on the ceiling before hauling himself upwards.

As he got up he grimaced as the stuff on his lap poured off and slithered coldly down his legs, making a thick smacking noise as it hit the bottom of the tank. Getting his balance on the floor, glad of the little studs to help him keep his grip, he looked down at his hands again, smiling as he rubbed his thumb across his fingers, the off-green gooey mixture slipping between them.

"Well, we've still got one more game to play here, and as it happens we've still got one more conspicuously clean team member..." Nyte looked up as the red wolf leaned towards Isla, who shrank away a little as he approached, but kept the wide grin across her face. "Let's see if we can do something about that!"

Nyte watched, blinking away another couple of drops of gunge, as the eager lizard girl took Alex's hands and let him lead her over to the door, followed by the other two girls. As his eyes shifted to the green-coated puppy girl's back, he heard the red wolf call back to him.

"By the way, Nyte, just behind you, you should see one of the card keys we're looking for... could you get that for us?"

"Yeah..." He turned around again, and looked at the large console on the back wall, seeing a neck strap dangling down from something inserted into the right hand side. Hearing the door being unbolted behind him, he reached over to take it in his slippery fingers, then gave a last look back at the tank he had been inside, watching drizzles of the stuff still sliding down from the overhead nozzles. As he saw Alex holding the door for him, he dashed over to join the others back in the hangar area, looping the strap over his head and grimacing a little as he felt it cling to his slimy shoulders.

"Isla, you're going in another gunge machine..." Alex announced immediately, turning to catch her hand again and heading away from the door. The blue lizard girl, her excitement returning, practically skipped behind him as he moved to the stairs at the far end of the hangar area. "But this time, we're going to give you a clear view of the action..."

Nyte and the others followed Alex up one of the thin metallic staircases and around to a slightly wider section of the walkway at the end of the room, where a control panel stood to one side of a gap in the railing opposite the slightly domed front of the shuttle. Holding her hand, the red wolf leaned over the panel and pressed a couple of switches.

The team watched as jets of special effect smoke spurted from the sides of the translucent dark dome at the front of the shuttle, and it slowly raised up the way on a hinge at the back as the entire thing came forwards towards them. Nyte ducked to see inside as the front panel lifted away, seeing the back of a padded chair revealed inside behind a dashboard with a single joystick sticking up from its center among an array of buttons and lights. He straightened up again as the front raised further, looking at the prop readouts and dials that decorated the back wall of the capsule, and finally the wide chute looming over the chair on its ceiling.

"Feeling a little nervous, Isla?" As the movement of the shuttle stopped, leaving the chamber next to the gap in the railing in front of them, Alex turned his head towards the curvy lizard girl. She was looking intently at the chair, her hand up to her mouth, looking like she was disguising a wide smile. She just nodded in response. "Want to get in there?"

He stepped forwards without waiting for an answer, and she padded quickly over with him. As he raised the hand he was holding up to encourage her inside, Isla took hold of the waist-height outer panel and wriggled herself up the way to clamber on to the cockpit dashboard.

"That's right, if you just slide over there and make yourself comfortable..." Alex said as she crawled over and into the capsule, setting her feet down and then letting go of the dashboard behind her. She turned around to seat herself in the padded chair, grinning excitedly up at the round end of the pipe positioned directly over her head.

"Oh, look at her, she's keen!" Alex smiled as the dark blue lizardette bounced the spring-set seat a little. Nyte tried to look casual as he clasped his hands in front of himself, listening to her tapping her feet on the metallic floor of the gunge chamber.

"Isla, here's your challenge," the red wolf continued as he stabbed at the control panel again. He stepped aside and looked up at the wall behind them as a projected screen flickered into life, showing a green background with a crude graphic of a small ship near the lower right corner. "We're going to run this... kind of cheap simulator for you, and your task's to get through five obstacle courses in it. You can move your ship there by turning the main control in front of you to the left or right - that's it..." he nodded as she leaned forward and grasped the joystick on the dashboard. "And you move forward by pressing the trigger. Just don't hit any of the walls, and you'll be fine..."

As the lizard girl slowly started guiding the ship around the blank screen, Alex turned to the others. "Now, here's where you three come in - Isla isn't going to be able to see any of the walls on that screen up there! Instead, she's going to be relying on your guidance to get her through there without being gunged - you're going to get three chances, but the third time she hits a wall, the sprayers around her will turn on and she's going to get very messy..."

The lizard girl looked at the nozzles placed around and above her, her mouth open in a smile, before she shuddered and faced the front again.

"So Nyte, want to take a look at the console and help Isla out of there?"

Nyte looked over to the control panel, which had a long screen in its centre that was showing something nearly identical to what was on the projected display. At the top right, unseen by Isla, there was a gap with an arrow indicating that he should guide her towards it.

"All right..." he started, leaning further over the control panel. As he moved, his slime-soaked hair slithered out from behind him and splatted on to his shoulders, making him twitch a little. "Isla, if you go towards the right wall..."

The ship graphic moved as Isla guided it over to the right wall, and the other two girls leaned in on either side of Nyte to watch the screen. "And... yeah, you can just go up now," he nodded.

He glanced at the lizardette as she pressed the trigger firmly, moving the ship off the screen. As it went, the screen redrew itself, showing the ship on the bottom, still heading rapidly upwards and heading for a line going most of the way across the screen.

"Stop there!" he called, "You're..." A harsh buzzing sound rang from somewhere overhead, and a couple of red lights flashed on and then off behind Isla. She jumped in her seat, slowing the on-screen ship down from where it had bounced off the invisible wall.

"That's one chance gone - you've got to be careful here!" Alex called from the side, and Nyte glanced over at him before looking back to the screen on the panel, seeing Becky lean in a little closer to watch over his shoulder.

"Um..." he started again. "Okay... turn... to the left, Isla," he said carefully, tilting his head and wincing as he saw another close call approaching. "Now move slowly over... a little more..."

"You can go all the way to the left!" Quinne interjected, wriggling a little further forward under Nyte's arm and grasping one side of the panel as she tried to get a better look at the screen. Lifting his arm, Nyte stepped around the fennec girl, half glad of an excuse to step out of the spotlight, and he leaned on the handrail, poking his head in to see the screen as she had done. As Isla moved the ship into position underneath the nearby vertical passage, she held a hand up, and then guided her up the way.

Nyte watched tensely as the fox girl guided Isla through the screen and on to the next one, which was similarly maze-like but with slightly narrower spaces to move. He winced as the ship caught on a corner near the top, triggering the buzzer and the lights once again.

"That's the second time! Stay calm, but just remember it's gunge time for Isla the next time that happens..."

The lizard girl shuddered, but continued looking between Quinne and the screen in front of her as she was slowly guided around the corner they had hit.

"That's it!" Becky interjected as the ship drifted into place below the exit to the top of the screen once again.

"Yeah, Isla, you can go up now, and... omigod."

Nyte's eyes widened as well as he leaned closer and immediately saw what had prompted that reaction from the fox girl - on the new screen, three arrow-shaped obstacles bounced back and forward across the screen. Isla looked up, waiting for the fox girl to continue.

"Um... okay, Isla," Quinne started, grabbing at her hair and pushing it back over her shoulders, "I'm gonna tell you when to go, and I want you to go straight up for a bit and then stop. Okay?"

"Yeah," the lizard girl answered her, and Nyte watched as she hunched further over the joystick, watching the fox girl's eyes as she stared at the screen. He looked down at it, too, and nodded silently as one of the arrow shaped sprites passed by.

"Okay, go!" Quinne called, and Isla pressed firmly on the trigger. The ship graphic scooted forward across the screen, past the first arrow and directly into the line of fire of the second one.

"No, go back! Go back!" Becky and Nyte involuntarily joined in the frantic calling as the middle arrow rapidly approached the ship Isla was controlling. She slammed the joystick to one side, trying to turn it around, but wasn't quick enough, and Nyte jumped as a loud buzzer pierced the room for the third time.

"Sorry, Isla," Alex's voice came from the side as she slid her hand off the joystick, leaning back on the seat and covering her surprised mouth with her hands, "that's your last chance gone, and it's going to start up!"

The lizard girl glanced up at the spout above her as a warning siren blared, the two rotating lights playing over her from the sides of the cockpit. Suddenly an arc of four yellow jets of gunge spurted from the top back of the tank and Isla yelped as they splattered on to her, ballooning outwards in splashes as they lapped against her sides and shoulders. Twitching her head to one side and grinning at one side of her mouth, she leaned forwards underneath their weight before straightening up again. With her shoulders shaking in giggles, she looked out across at the others as she squirmed against the sprays, the bright slime creeping around her sides and slithering down her skin.

She closed her eyes as she heard a hissing noise from above her, and a cascade of white foam began falling in from the chamber's ceiling, breaking into dollops as it splotted over her, piling up on her head and slumping down over her face. She brought her hands up to wipe her eyes, smearing the stuff down her cheeks and making the collected foam splat into her lap as she held one hand on her forehead to catch the rest of it. Another jet of yellow slime started up from just below the panel in front of her, and she squealed again and stuck her other hand out as it splurged on to her chest, leaving a dripping splatter mark as it eased back to pour on to her tummy.

As the klaxon hooted again the foam from the ceiling stopped and the spurts of yellow gunge began to ease back, making a thick slapping noise as the remains of the torrents splashed on to the floor of the cockpit. With most of her skin covered in the bright dripping slime, Isla tried to slither upright in the seat underneath the clumps of thick foam still dripping on to her, and she shook her head, sending specks of the stuff spraying outwards before she blinked her eyes open for a second, craning her neck forward. Kicking her legs a little to clear them, she looked down and dragged both hands up her face and over her head again, relaxing back in the chair and putting her hands on the seat's arms as she grinned out at the others.

Nyte heard himself gasp as the siren started up again, and he just saw the lizard girl's eyes widen a little before a heavy column of dark green gloop fell from the chute right above her head, hiding her instantly underneath a twitching dome shape as it spewed outwards off her head.

After a second the dome broke away as Isla tilted her head slightly to the side, the stuff splattering outwards from one side of her head and flying out over the other, with thick drips of it running down on to her shoulder and slithering over her chest. Her eyes were firmly closed but her grin was as wide as ever as she raised her hands up from the seat, holding them out upturned to catch some of the gunge splurging off her head.

Finally, the slimy dome folded inwards as the tank of gunge ran out, hiding Isla from view again for a second before it turned into a gungy drizzle from the edges of the chute on the ceiling. The mucky lizard girl stayed rigid in place except with her shoulders still shaking slightly in laughter, a shocked grin frozen on her dripping face as rivulets of the colorful gunge slithered down all over her, strings of it clinging to her chin and the corners of her mouth. Slowly, she turned her cupped hands downwards, letting the collected gunk slide out of them and splatter to the floor.

"Blue... no longer, Isla!" Alex coughed and shook his head as he walked up behind the other three, watching the gunge-covered lizard girl shaking her hands in front of her. "The cockpit's definitely given you a splash of color - are you okay?" He leaned over to the panel again and held down the switch, bringing the capsule slowly forward towards the platform - another streak of green slithered out of the top nozzle and drizzled on to Isla's head as it started moving.

Isla ran her hands over her head again, opening her eyes and shaking her head a little, leaning back out of the thin drizzle as she looked down at her gunge-coated body, her blue skin completely hidden by the mixture of green and yellow slop. She bounced forwards a little as the machine stopped moving, and the sudden stop made a couple of final green spurts drop from the pipe above her head. She wriggled a little down the way as they splattered over her, drizzling on to her coated shoulders.

"How are you feeling in there?" Alex repeated the question as he stepped forwards through the group, offering his hand out to her.

"Oh, brilliant," she said, and burst into laughter again. Nyte and the others did the same as she struggled to haul herself upwards under the heavy coating, standing up and grinning as she spread her gungy arms again before leaning over the dashboard to take the red wolf's hand.

Nyte twitched a little, trying to avert his eyes from her slippery breasts as she leaned further forward, slithering slowly on her knees as Alex guided her over the edge of the tank. She yelped as she slipped off and planted herself back on the ground, holding her hands out in front of her as Alex let go of her. As he fished the minicomputer out of his pocked, she watched the stringy drizzles of gunge fall from her arms.

"Okay..." he announced, stepping away and then turning to address them all. "That's us finished with our first area, we've played four games and nobody's escaped clean." Nyte reached a hand up to run it behind his ear, twitching as he felt the slimy stuff in his matted hair again and rubbing it between his fingers as he pulled his hand away. "You got through three out of the five rooms there, so you're our most consistent team ever - you've had 60 points for every game so far, so you've managed to get 240 out of a possible four hundred in this area. Not a bad start!"

Nyte smiled, and then yelped as the enthusiastic lizardess wrapped one arm around him to spin him round into a group hug with the others. He looked over his shoulder as they all broke away, turning around to see Alex laughing.

"But we've only just started, and there are going to be a lot more risks to take ahead - what do you say we get you cleaned up a little before we carry on?"

"Yeah, sounds good..." Becky's voice came from behind Nyte, and the others looked at her still dragging light green slime off her fur, working one slippy hand over another. She giggled as she noticed them staring, and shuddered as she stood upright. Beside her, Quinne looked down at her hands, fascinatedly sliding the still wet slime through her fingers.

"Okay, I think we can arrange that - come with me, we're heading to the center!"

As he finished the sentence, the red wolf jumped through the group and started around the walkway to another rolltop door on the adjacent wall. Eager to see where they were to be taken next, Nyte and the girls took off after him.