I've been working on this one for a while, so I hope you all like it! I also tried spacing out the paragraphs so it's easier to read.
Lost
“H-Hello?” Bandit shouted. “I-Is anyone there??” His voice reverberated through the snowy forest of towering mushrooms. No response came other than his echoes. This was his first mission outside OMC territory, and Bandit was afraid. More afraid than usual, that is. Being a magical creature, he was already on thin ice with the anti-magic group. If the Order of Magic Control were to mistake his getting lost as deserting his assignment, they would imprison him. If not worse.
Bandit’s blue paws crunched the snow beneath him. The quiet sound was much louder to his frightened mind. Three outlets on his back held a green tentacle each. Two ended in pointed heads with a green, floating ball at their front. The third tentacle had a sharp, long knife at its tip. They stayed extended, ready to fight off perceived threats. A flexible, rubbery material made up the tendrils, a material shared by his synthetic tail. The tail was thick and green, ending in a wide mouth. Bandit’s eyes were black, with white pupils that darted around searching for threats. “A-anyone?”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t help him? He looks so scared,” Dyson begged, watching the ice drake from atop one of the mushrooms. The small avali had snow-white feathers, making her hard to spot atop the snow-covered mushroom. Dull-green slime replaced some of her body, and a gem implanted in her belly shared the same color. Her ear feathers and remaining wing had a coffee-black coloring.
The diamond-shaped gem in her belly spoke. “I understand it is stressful to leave him, but that equipment almost certainly was provided by the OMC,” Hades responded. Being quite magical, Hades and Dyson would almost certainly be captured by the OMC if seen.
“Yeah, but… I-I mean, look at him! He’s harmless. Besides, we’ve never studied an ice drake before.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Dyson.” The avali sighed and watched on silently. The ice drake wandered into a field untouched by the mushrooms. They listened to the occasional shout as he searched for his group.
Bandit’s heart grew faster and faster. What would he do if he couldn’t make it back? Would he have to live out here in the wild? Who knows what’s out here? He had been told stories of violent tribes of magic users killing any humans caught. Horrible magical monsters that kill people just for fun. Fear wrenched his body as panic grasped his mind. He started walking faster, then almost running. “P-Please! I-I can’t get lost out here! Is anyone there?” He ran out further into the field. A hundred feet from the treeline, Bandit heard a cracking sound beneath him. He froze in his tracks, terrified. With a trembling paw, he wiped some of the snow away. Ice. The clearing was no field after all but a frozen lake —a frozen lake with thin ice.
Slowly, Bandit began to return to where he came from, only for more ice to crack. The sound echoed through the sky, an eerie reverberation of his coming doom.
“H-Hades!” Dyson shouted, worried.
“If the ice is to break, we will step in. Otherwise, we will stay put,” Hades demanded. Dyson stood to her feet, ready to glide over using her wings. She couldn’t contain her movement and started pacing back and forth.
Slowly, Bandit laid down on the ice to distribute his weight. Cracking ice threatened to drop him in. A trembling paw cautiously pulled him forward. Crack! More ice broke. Another foot pulled him further. It could shatter at any moment. Bandit’s heart beat fast and heavy. The hyperventilating drake’s mind raced. His breaths were loud and panicked. A large seam formed in the ice beneath him with an echoing creak! Bandit raised his paw to drag himself forward again. Crash! The ice gave way, dropping the drake into freezing water.
A large shard of ice scrapped against his side, cutting deep into his synthetic flesh and inner chamber. Water flooded Bandit’s body as his legs thrashed about, blindly searching for a hold. While his outer body was waterproof, the gash in his side allowed water into his vulnerable circuits. The liquid shorted his wires. His movements began glitching, and his body didn’t respond to his pleas for action. The dense drake began sinking quickly, his legs no longer kicking to keep him up. Up his neck and over his head, the water rose. The light of the surface got further and further.
Something unseen wrapped around Bandit’s outstretched paw. Its consistency was soft, even slimy, but strength was behind its grasp. Up, his savior pulled him. Up out of the depths. Up, out of certain death.
“I’ve got you! Just hold on!” Dyson shouted. She stood as far from the broken ice as possible with her gooey arm outstretched ten feet. The avali, despite being so small, had an impossible strength. As much slime as she could redirect went to her arm, her tail and right ears disappearing as their mass was taken. She reeled in her catch, pulling with all her might. The drake slid to her, away from the dangerously thin ice.
Bandit sputtered water out of both maws while the remainder poured out the gash in his side. His legs jerked and glitched as he stood to his feet, hardly balancing. He turned to see what had dragged him out, only to feel his maw being forced open.
“Titanium teeth! And the gums are obviously synthetic, some form of silicone, perhaps? Bandit’s eyes darted down to see an avali sticking their head into his mouth. He froze, wide-eyed.
“We have talked about this, Dyson,” Hades spoke, annoyed. “We must first obtain consent before we begin research.”
“Right! Sorry.” Dyson shut Bandit’s mouth, shocking him with her strength. “Can we study you?” She asked without any tact.
Hades sighed heavily, “I apologize for my friend’s eccentrics. Please, allow us to treat your wounds.”
Bandit stared at the half-slime creature before him. Were they insane? Or was it actually two people in one body? The voices were different. “I… W-who…” He managed to stammer out before an important circuit shorted, causing him to fall. Dyson rushed to his side, inspecting the gash. Synthetic flesh and a titanium endoskeleton gave way to circuits and cybernetic organs. Water dribbled from the cavity, but a large amount still flooded his body.
“Not waterproof inside, huh?” Dyson commented. “Lay on your side.” She guided him into the position, the water draining from the gash as gravity pulled it out. The flood turned to a pour, then a drip as the fluid drained from his system.
Bandit rolled back onto his stomach and sat up. Two of his tendrils retracted, one remerging with an open, cylindrical end and the other with flat-headed pliers. “G-gosh, I hate doing this,” Bandit groaned. The flat pliers grabbed onto a piece of bent metal and pulled it back into shape. He whimpered in pain as he mended his body. After the metal was in place, the other head lined up with the seams and shot a jet of blue fire. Bandit winced as his titanium endoskeleton melted back together. “Okay,” he groaned. “Th-the rest will just have to heal itself.”
“Oh! Here,” Dyson exclaimed. She produced a round bottle filled with turquoise liquid from her bag. “Drink this.”
Bandit stared hesitantly at the bottle. Why did she want him to drink it? Who was this person? He couldn’t trust her. “Thanks, but um, I-I don’t know.” His eyes avoided her stare.
“I assure you it is safe,” The gem spoke. “It will heal your wounds.” Dyson raised the bottle to her lips and swallowed a sip of the liquid.
“See! Harmless,” Dyson promised
“I… I don’t know. I mean, I don’t even know your name. I can’t trust you. I mean you did just save me, but how do I know you didn’t save me for a bad reason?” Bandit’s mind raced with horrible possibilities.
“Oh! I’m Dyson,” The avali spoke. “Here!” She outstretched her hand, giving him the potion.
“I am Hades, a pleasure to meet you,” The gem added.
Bandit stared at the eccentric duo, then at the bottle. “I-I’m Bandit,” he said slowly. A cautious tendril took the bottle from her hand and lifted it to his lips. He swallowed his fear, the liquid along with it. The potion never reached his stomach, instead seeping into his flesh. The horrible pain in his side vanished as the synthetic fibers grew and connected, healing the wound. A warm tingling sensation enveloped him. In a matter of moments, his body was whole once more. “How… How did it do that?” He murmured out loud.
“With magic, silly,” Dyson told him.
“M-Magic!? No, no, no, no, that was magic?” Bandit began to panic. “I’m gonna be in so much trouble if they find out!”
“What’s wrong?” Dyson asked.
“It seems my theory was correct then. You are an OMC agent,” Hades stated.
“W-well, I’m just some engineer, but I’ll still get in lots of trouble for touching magic! I-I’ll get fired at the very least. B-but nobody likes me! I’ll probably end up being another experiment!” Bandit’s breathing became fast and erratic. Dyson began to worry about what she had done to her new friend.
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. Just don’t tell anyone. It always works for me,” Dyson offered
“B-but they figure everything out! They have ways of detecting magic energy, even if it’s just residual mana”
“Is desertion an option?” Hades inquired.
“Desertion!?” Bandit’s blood ran cold. His eyes shifted down the scarf around his neck. “They’ll… No. It’s not,” he muttered. He lifted a paw and lifted the hanging end of the wrapping. Something about its presence seemed to calm the drake.
“Oh! Let me try something,” Dyson demanded. She lifted her finger and drew sigils and runes into the air. Bandit grew increasingly worried as this spell seemed to take a long time to cast. Magic like that would surely be powerful.
“A-are you sure?” Bandit asked, worried. “More magic would just make it easier for them to detect!”
“Not if I do it right,” Dyson told him.
“This spell is a powerful illusionary charm. Should it be cast correctly, it can hide virtually anything,” Hades informed.
“Even magic?”
“Especially magic. It is often used by mages to hide magical traps from being detected, but it should serve nicely to hide the healing. I’m not confident in our ability to cast the spell, however. It was taught to us by a much more powerful mage.
“Oh, it’ll work just fine, Hades,” Dyson told him. “It works for Mune all the time.” With a final stroke of her finger, Dyson finished the complicated circle of runes. With a clap from her hands, the ring poofed into dull-green energy wrapped around Bandit’s form and then faded into nothing. “Try and detect that, jerks!” Dyson challenged the OMC, victoriously.
“And this will keep them from figuring out I used magic?”
“With a success rate of 98.6%,” Hades told him. Bandit cautiously looked back at his body. He no longer felt any magic tingling, though his body still twitched from the water damage.
“O-okay… Now what?” Bandit asked.
“What?” Dyson asked.
“What do you want from me? I-I mean, you saved me for a reason, right?”
Dyson’s face furrowed in confusion. “Because saving you was nice?” She asked slowly. “I mean, we want to study you but that’s not why we saved you.”
“We saved you as it was our moral obligation. You needn’t repay us,” Hades offered.
“But… You’re magic users, and I’m OMC. You knew that, but you still saved me for no reason?” Bandit cocked his head to the side, confused.
“Of course. Your alignment plays no part in whether or not we should rescue you.” Bandit stared at the two, dumbfounded. Magic users were bloodthirsty killers, though the two in front of him were kindhearted people. That’s not what everyone told him they would be. Was everyone wrong about magic? He was snapped out of his thoughts by his tail smacking the ground violently. He yelped and looked back to see it jittering about on its own.
“Oh, shoot! The water must have damaged the movement controls. Hold on.” One of the tentacles in his back retracted, then reappeared with a pointed head with a small black cube floating at the end. He brought the tendril to his face, the cube splitting open to become a large, flat screen with strange codes and symbols. He analyzed the language briefly and lifted his paw, editing the codes. “I… I actually have no idea how to fix this. Just, give me a moment, please,” He stammered out. “And don’t go near my tail, I can’t control it.”
Dyson watched the thrashing tail. It ended in a thick maw, chomping at the air. Maybe she could hold the tail down for him? She’s easily strong enough. The avali carelessly wandered to the tail to restrain it, completely ignoring his warning. Bandit was too distracted by his screen to notice her disobeying his request. The tail swung toward her. Dyson caught it in her arms, though it lifted her light frame into the air. She often forgets her lack of weight doesn’t work well with her strength.
Bandit had no time to react as his tail tossed Dyson up into the air, and down into its maw. “Oh no! I told you not to go back there!” He panicked, looking back to his end. Only Dyson’s legs were outside the body, thrashing. “H-Hold on! I’m going to get you out, just one second.” Bandit turned back to his screen and frantically began typing once more.
Dyson’s body was trapped in a dark-green, synthetic flesh. She pushed against the walls, prying her way out of the tail. A shout of pain stopped her, however. Her thrashing was hurting her new friend. She stopped fighting against his malfunctioning tail, not wanting to hurt him. “You realize this means we’re going deeper in, right?” Hades asked.
“Yep. We’ll just get to analyze the guts while we wait,” Dyson responded, cheerfully.”
“Y-you’re happy about this?” Bandit whined, confused. Dyson slid further through the tight tube of flesh. It pressed and massaged her from every side. Soon, she came upon a ring of flesh, covering a hard metal ring. The mechanical ring contracted, letting the muscle pull her through. “I- Mmmfghh!” Bandit gave a panicked yet pleased noise as he felt the avali slip into his belly. “Why does that feel…” Bandit trailed off, staring at his bulging stomach. His face was alight in a green blush as he watched his paunch squirm slightly as Dyson moved. Her squirming felt like the touch of an angel. It was warm and tingly. The drake stood for a moment in silence, embarrassed to enjoy the sensation so much. He shook his head, turning his attention back to the code. “I’ve almost got it, you’ll be out soon,” he promised.
“Take your time!” Dyson smiled, eager to begin studying. Bandit’s stomach was warm, and the synthetic flesh cradled her carefully. The flesh around her was strangely dry, with no liquid to be seen. All stomachs Dyson had visited in the past were slimy, or at least a bit damp. “No fluids,” Dyson started to record. “So how does the body digest food?” Hades silently recorded her words into an intangible document, kept by magic.
“O-oh, uh, that’s my storage stomach,” Bandit commented. “I have two stomachs. One of them I use to store things, the other digests food. I couldn’t stop my tail from eating you, but I could at least choose which one you went in.”
Dyson shifted her body into a kneeling position to better analyze her unwilling prison. As she did, her leg knocked into a small object. She looked down to see a black metal ball, lined with golden hatches. A string came from the ball, attaching to a gold ring. She picked it up, then noticed a few other objects in the cavity with her. Among them was a black cube, reminiscent of the one that had created Bandit’s screen. “What is all of this stuff?” She pondered.
“Oh, uh, i-it’s just a bunch of junk,” Bandit said reservedly. Dyson picked up the black cube and inspected it closer. The edges were lined in a dark-green color, the same as the surrounding flesh. One of the corners was flat, and the opposite one was flat as well. Pressing her fingers on both flat corners caused them to stick to Dyson. Pulling her fingers apart resulted in the cube being split, turning into another screen.
An image of two ice drakes appeared. One was small, a young teen from what Dyson could tell. The horns on their head identified them as a younger Bandit. The cybernetic enhancements were absent in his younger self. He hid under another, much older, drake while staring at the viewer. The female protecting him watched the young boy with a loving smile. She placed a warm paw on his back, seemingly assuring him of his safety. A familiar green scarf was wrapped around her neck. The scarf Bandit now wore around his.
“I don’t believe we should be inspecting his belongings,” Hades scolded.
Paying no mind, Dyson asked, “Who’s this in this picture? And why does she have your scarf?”
“Don’t touch that!” Bandit snapped, surprising everyone, including himself. “Sorry! I-I mean, put that down… Please.” Dyson unstuck her fingers from the screen, watching it return to its former cube form. She gently set it back onto the lump of flesh where she got it.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean,” Dyson apologized.
“It’s okay…” Bandit responded, unconvincingly.
“Here, let me make it up to you!” Dyson requested. Without waiting for an answer, Dyson squirmed to the front of Bandit’s stomach and gently pressed her hand into a soft fold. Bandit felt that warm, tingling sensation fill his tummy again, though it was much stronger this time.
“Mmmhh- W-what are you- Ahhh!” Bandit yelped as Dyson put another hand on the spot and applied more pressure.
“Making it up to you, silly!” Dyson squeezed the flesh under her hands, then rotated her hands into her body while pulling to the sides to firmly massage Bandit’s synthetic belly. Knots and tense muscles relaxed under her touch as the drake whimpered gleefully. His stresses and worries melted away as he felt the avali play with his guts.
Bandit laid down, the weight of his body making the room in his stomach a little smaller. The narrowing walls closed down on Dyson. Bandit stretched his legs out in the snow, enjoying the cold frost and warm massage. He shook his head, remembering his unfixed tail. He raised the screen once more and analyzed the code of the stubborn tail. His mind was much clearer than before, thankfully. Maybe it was the avali’s massage? Either way, Bandit quickly found the problem. The water had ruined an important circuit. He diverted the energy and commands to another suitable path. Though, the process was a bit more difficult due to the pleasure caused by Dyson’s massage. The tail stopped thrashing about, now following Bandit’s command once more. It was a tad sluggish, though, and sometimes moved in a different direction than the one he wanted when he tested it. It was good enough for now.
Now it was time to let Dyson out of his belly. Did he have to, though? She seemed content working away at his guts, and it felt amazing. He let out a small sigh as the avali found a new place that needed massaging. Bandit just didn’t want to let her go. Not yet, anyway.
Dyson happily worked away at the artificial muscles cradling her. Rigid knots melted into squishy, soft lumps of a comfortable belly. She was slightly rocked back and forth by the movement of Bandit waging his tail, gently disturbing his stomach. The waging tail told her Bandit had fixed the problem but wasn’t ready to let her out yet. She didn’t mind. She continued to rub and massage as he relaxed, enjoying every squish and squirm. Mechanical whirring echoed around Dyson, Bandit’s artificial body continuing its routine. His guts began to vibrate gently as he started to purr.
Though he thought it impossible, Bandit’s blush grew harder at his audible enjoyment. “I-I thought they removed that!?” He questioned out loud.
“Removed what?” Dyson pondered.
“Oh, uh, t-the purring thing. I thought it got removed when I got all my augments in.”
“Why would it have been removed?”
“Because it’s a sign of weakness?” He said, confused. Why wouldn’t she know that?
“What? No. It’s a sign of happiness!” She said. “Being happy isn’t bad.”
“Well, that’s what the OMC says.”
“When was the last time you purred?” Hades questioned.
“Oh, um, I don’t know. A while? Like, nine years ago?
“Nine years!?” Dyson shouted. “That’s horrible!”
“W-well, I mean, I just haven’t had a reason to since then.”
“Well, you do now,” Dyson told him. She pressed into his guts in a hug-like fashion. Bandit’s throat lumped up and the purring grew stronger. Reluctantly, he tensed his stomach, hugging the avali back. The OMC was wrong, he concluded. Magic is not dangerous, and users even less so. He had just met this strange person, people? And he had already been given more compassion than the OMC ever gave him.
“O-okay, I fixed my tail,” Bandit told her. He was unsure how to handle contact like this and was eager to have her out to reduce the awkwardness. “I’ll let you out now.”
“You don’t have to let us out yet,” Dyson told him. “There’s still lots of massaging your belly needs. Besides, your belly is so nice.”
“I-I-I um, o-okay,” Bandit stammered back, flustered by the compliment. He laid back down, letting Dyson work. Her heavenly touch continued to fill his tummy with warmth and relaxation. The fear of being touched by this person slowly dwindled. His mind calmed, and his heart slowed. How was it that he had grown to trust them so much? More than anyone he had worked with in the OMC, for sure. He felt as though he could tell them anything.
“My mother,” Bandit spoke softly, afraid of admitting it. “She’s the woman in the picture.” Dyson paused, not expecting the confession. “She, uh, she didn’t like the OMC. Mom wanted out, so she took me and tried to leave. They… They found us though,” Bandit’s voice started to break. “They- They let me live since I was so young, but… T-they…” Bandit trailed off, having trouble speaking. Dyson rubbed as best she could, trying to cheer him up.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” She told him. His body was tense.
“This scarf is all I have left of her.” Bandit lifted a paw to gingerly touch it. “I… I don’t know why I told you all of this. I probably shouldn’t have. Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” Dyson comforted. “I get it.” She continued to massage his belly, trying to work out new knots. “Everyone has pain like that.” The trio stayed silent, basking in each other’s presence. After a long while, Dyson continued.
“I know it’s not the same, but I haven’t seen my parents in a long time either,” Dyson admitted. “I was kicked out of my town for being… Different. I didn't act like they wanted me to.”
“I… I’m so sorry,” Bandit said. “Everyone's seen me as different too. I, uh, I guess we're both kind of different, right?”
Dyson nuzzled into Bandit’s flesh, showing her thanks. "Yeah," She smiled. He let Dyson work on his stomach, loving the feeling. He was afraid though. He didn’t want to leave them, but if he didn’t… It would happen all over again. Being found, being hurt. This time, he wouldn’t get out of it.
A familiar noise in the distance caused him to raise his head. It was a soft pew, followed by mechanical humming. It was an OMC shield generator. Now he had no excuse. One of those could be heard for miles. He had to make a decision. “Y-you need to get out now,” he demanded.
Dyson didn’t want to leave the soft stomach, but she reluctantly obliged. “Oh… Alright,” she sighed. She crawled to the back of the belly, the ring relaxing once more. She crawled into the orifice, letting the tail pull her out. The warmth of Bandit’s body gave way to a chilling cold. Gently, the tail spat her out onto the snow. Bandit twirled around and helped her to her feet with his muzzle.
“Do you hear that noise?” Bandit asked. “That’s my squadron. They’ll know I ran if I don’t go to it. There’s no way I wouldn’t be able to hear it.” Bandit hated this. The first person he felt he could trust and they had to leave him. “I- I have to go.”
Dyson was upset to hear this. She liked her new friend and didn’t want to let him go. Hades had a solution, thankfully. “Allow us to gift you our spare sending stone,” he requested. “That way, we may continue to speak.”
“Um, is it magic?” Bandit asked.
“Yes, but the illusion we set on you will keep it hidden as long as you physically hide it. I would suggest keeping it hidden in your storage stomach.”
“I…” Bandit was worried about keeping a magic item on him. If the OMC found it, he would be in lots of trouble. Bandit didn’t want to lose his only friend, however. “Hmmm, okay,” he agreed. “I’ll trust you.” He opened his mouth, ready to swallow the stone. Dyson pulled a small, pyramid-shaped stone from her goopy body and set it on Bandit’s tongue. He gulped it down, keeping it safe. “Okay, I have to go,” Bandit looked off to the noise, then back and Dyson. “I… I hope I can get to see you again. He smiled, then turned to walk off.
Dyson and Hades watched their friend walk into the snowy forest of giant mushrooms. “Do you think he’ll be alright?” Dyson worried.
“Of course, he will be. Something tells me he’s stronger than he looks.”
End
-=-=-=-=-
Lost
“H-Hello?” Bandit shouted. “I-Is anyone there??” His voice reverberated through the snowy forest of towering mushrooms. No response came other than his echoes. This was his first mission outside OMC territory, and Bandit was afraid. More afraid than usual, that is. Being a magical creature, he was already on thin ice with the anti-magic group. If the Order of Magic Control were to mistake his getting lost as deserting his assignment, they would imprison him. If not worse.
Bandit’s blue paws crunched the snow beneath him. The quiet sound was much louder to his frightened mind. Three outlets on his back held a green tentacle each. Two ended in pointed heads with a green, floating ball at their front. The third tentacle had a sharp, long knife at its tip. They stayed extended, ready to fight off perceived threats. A flexible, rubbery material made up the tendrils, a material shared by his synthetic tail. The tail was thick and green, ending in a wide mouth. Bandit’s eyes were black, with white pupils that darted around searching for threats. “A-anyone?”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t help him? He looks so scared,” Dyson begged, watching the ice drake from atop one of the mushrooms. The small avali had snow-white feathers, making her hard to spot atop the snow-covered mushroom. Dull-green slime replaced some of her body, and a gem implanted in her belly shared the same color. Her ear feathers and remaining wing had a coffee-black coloring.
The diamond-shaped gem in her belly spoke. “I understand it is stressful to leave him, but that equipment almost certainly was provided by the OMC,” Hades responded. Being quite magical, Hades and Dyson would almost certainly be captured by the OMC if seen.
“Yeah, but… I-I mean, look at him! He’s harmless. Besides, we’ve never studied an ice drake before.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Dyson.” The avali sighed and watched on silently. The ice drake wandered into a field untouched by the mushrooms. They listened to the occasional shout as he searched for his group.
Bandit’s heart grew faster and faster. What would he do if he couldn’t make it back? Would he have to live out here in the wild? Who knows what’s out here? He had been told stories of violent tribes of magic users killing any humans caught. Horrible magical monsters that kill people just for fun. Fear wrenched his body as panic grasped his mind. He started walking faster, then almost running. “P-Please! I-I can’t get lost out here! Is anyone there?” He ran out further into the field. A hundred feet from the treeline, Bandit heard a cracking sound beneath him. He froze in his tracks, terrified. With a trembling paw, he wiped some of the snow away. Ice. The clearing was no field after all but a frozen lake —a frozen lake with thin ice.
Slowly, Bandit began to return to where he came from, only for more ice to crack. The sound echoed through the sky, an eerie reverberation of his coming doom.
“H-Hades!” Dyson shouted, worried.
“If the ice is to break, we will step in. Otherwise, we will stay put,” Hades demanded. Dyson stood to her feet, ready to glide over using her wings. She couldn’t contain her movement and started pacing back and forth.
Slowly, Bandit laid down on the ice to distribute his weight. Cracking ice threatened to drop him in. A trembling paw cautiously pulled him forward. Crack! More ice broke. Another foot pulled him further. It could shatter at any moment. Bandit’s heart beat fast and heavy. The hyperventilating drake’s mind raced. His breaths were loud and panicked. A large seam formed in the ice beneath him with an echoing creak! Bandit raised his paw to drag himself forward again. Crash! The ice gave way, dropping the drake into freezing water.
A large shard of ice scrapped against his side, cutting deep into his synthetic flesh and inner chamber. Water flooded Bandit’s body as his legs thrashed about, blindly searching for a hold. While his outer body was waterproof, the gash in his side allowed water into his vulnerable circuits. The liquid shorted his wires. His movements began glitching, and his body didn’t respond to his pleas for action. The dense drake began sinking quickly, his legs no longer kicking to keep him up. Up his neck and over his head, the water rose. The light of the surface got further and further.
Something unseen wrapped around Bandit’s outstretched paw. Its consistency was soft, even slimy, but strength was behind its grasp. Up, his savior pulled him. Up out of the depths. Up, out of certain death.
“I’ve got you! Just hold on!” Dyson shouted. She stood as far from the broken ice as possible with her gooey arm outstretched ten feet. The avali, despite being so small, had an impossible strength. As much slime as she could redirect went to her arm, her tail and right ears disappearing as their mass was taken. She reeled in her catch, pulling with all her might. The drake slid to her, away from the dangerously thin ice.
Bandit sputtered water out of both maws while the remainder poured out the gash in his side. His legs jerked and glitched as he stood to his feet, hardly balancing. He turned to see what had dragged him out, only to feel his maw being forced open.
“Titanium teeth! And the gums are obviously synthetic, some form of silicone, perhaps? Bandit’s eyes darted down to see an avali sticking their head into his mouth. He froze, wide-eyed.
“We have talked about this, Dyson,” Hades spoke, annoyed. “We must first obtain consent before we begin research.”
“Right! Sorry.” Dyson shut Bandit’s mouth, shocking him with her strength. “Can we study you?” She asked without any tact.
Hades sighed heavily, “I apologize for my friend’s eccentrics. Please, allow us to treat your wounds.”
Bandit stared at the half-slime creature before him. Were they insane? Or was it actually two people in one body? The voices were different. “I… W-who…” He managed to stammer out before an important circuit shorted, causing him to fall. Dyson rushed to his side, inspecting the gash. Synthetic flesh and a titanium endoskeleton gave way to circuits and cybernetic organs. Water dribbled from the cavity, but a large amount still flooded his body.
“Not waterproof inside, huh?” Dyson commented. “Lay on your side.” She guided him into the position, the water draining from the gash as gravity pulled it out. The flood turned to a pour, then a drip as the fluid drained from his system.
Bandit rolled back onto his stomach and sat up. Two of his tendrils retracted, one remerging with an open, cylindrical end and the other with flat-headed pliers. “G-gosh, I hate doing this,” Bandit groaned. The flat pliers grabbed onto a piece of bent metal and pulled it back into shape. He whimpered in pain as he mended his body. After the metal was in place, the other head lined up with the seams and shot a jet of blue fire. Bandit winced as his titanium endoskeleton melted back together. “Okay,” he groaned. “Th-the rest will just have to heal itself.”
“Oh! Here,” Dyson exclaimed. She produced a round bottle filled with turquoise liquid from her bag. “Drink this.”
Bandit stared hesitantly at the bottle. Why did she want him to drink it? Who was this person? He couldn’t trust her. “Thanks, but um, I-I don’t know.” His eyes avoided her stare.
“I assure you it is safe,” The gem spoke. “It will heal your wounds.” Dyson raised the bottle to her lips and swallowed a sip of the liquid.
“See! Harmless,” Dyson promised
“I… I don’t know. I mean, I don’t even know your name. I can’t trust you. I mean you did just save me, but how do I know you didn’t save me for a bad reason?” Bandit’s mind raced with horrible possibilities.
“Oh! I’m Dyson,” The avali spoke. “Here!” She outstretched her hand, giving him the potion.
“I am Hades, a pleasure to meet you,” The gem added.
Bandit stared at the eccentric duo, then at the bottle. “I-I’m Bandit,” he said slowly. A cautious tendril took the bottle from her hand and lifted it to his lips. He swallowed his fear, the liquid along with it. The potion never reached his stomach, instead seeping into his flesh. The horrible pain in his side vanished as the synthetic fibers grew and connected, healing the wound. A warm tingling sensation enveloped him. In a matter of moments, his body was whole once more. “How… How did it do that?” He murmured out loud.
“With magic, silly,” Dyson told him.
“M-Magic!? No, no, no, no, that was magic?” Bandit began to panic. “I’m gonna be in so much trouble if they find out!”
“What’s wrong?” Dyson asked.
“It seems my theory was correct then. You are an OMC agent,” Hades stated.
“W-well, I’m just some engineer, but I’ll still get in lots of trouble for touching magic! I-I’ll get fired at the very least. B-but nobody likes me! I’ll probably end up being another experiment!” Bandit’s breathing became fast and erratic. Dyson began to worry about what she had done to her new friend.
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. Just don’t tell anyone. It always works for me,” Dyson offered
“B-but they figure everything out! They have ways of detecting magic energy, even if it’s just residual mana”
“Is desertion an option?” Hades inquired.
“Desertion!?” Bandit’s blood ran cold. His eyes shifted down the scarf around his neck. “They’ll… No. It’s not,” he muttered. He lifted a paw and lifted the hanging end of the wrapping. Something about its presence seemed to calm the drake.
“Oh! Let me try something,” Dyson demanded. She lifted her finger and drew sigils and runes into the air. Bandit grew increasingly worried as this spell seemed to take a long time to cast. Magic like that would surely be powerful.
“A-are you sure?” Bandit asked, worried. “More magic would just make it easier for them to detect!”
“Not if I do it right,” Dyson told him.
“This spell is a powerful illusionary charm. Should it be cast correctly, it can hide virtually anything,” Hades informed.
“Even magic?”
“Especially magic. It is often used by mages to hide magical traps from being detected, but it should serve nicely to hide the healing. I’m not confident in our ability to cast the spell, however. It was taught to us by a much more powerful mage.
“Oh, it’ll work just fine, Hades,” Dyson told him. “It works for Mune all the time.” With a final stroke of her finger, Dyson finished the complicated circle of runes. With a clap from her hands, the ring poofed into dull-green energy wrapped around Bandit’s form and then faded into nothing. “Try and detect that, jerks!” Dyson challenged the OMC, victoriously.
“And this will keep them from figuring out I used magic?”
“With a success rate of 98.6%,” Hades told him. Bandit cautiously looked back at his body. He no longer felt any magic tingling, though his body still twitched from the water damage.
“O-okay… Now what?” Bandit asked.
“What?” Dyson asked.
“What do you want from me? I-I mean, you saved me for a reason, right?”
Dyson’s face furrowed in confusion. “Because saving you was nice?” She asked slowly. “I mean, we want to study you but that’s not why we saved you.”
“We saved you as it was our moral obligation. You needn’t repay us,” Hades offered.
“But… You’re magic users, and I’m OMC. You knew that, but you still saved me for no reason?” Bandit cocked his head to the side, confused.
“Of course. Your alignment plays no part in whether or not we should rescue you.” Bandit stared at the two, dumbfounded. Magic users were bloodthirsty killers, though the two in front of him were kindhearted people. That’s not what everyone told him they would be. Was everyone wrong about magic? He was snapped out of his thoughts by his tail smacking the ground violently. He yelped and looked back to see it jittering about on its own.
“Oh, shoot! The water must have damaged the movement controls. Hold on.” One of the tentacles in his back retracted, then reappeared with a pointed head with a small black cube floating at the end. He brought the tendril to his face, the cube splitting open to become a large, flat screen with strange codes and symbols. He analyzed the language briefly and lifted his paw, editing the codes. “I… I actually have no idea how to fix this. Just, give me a moment, please,” He stammered out. “And don’t go near my tail, I can’t control it.”
Dyson watched the thrashing tail. It ended in a thick maw, chomping at the air. Maybe she could hold the tail down for him? She’s easily strong enough. The avali carelessly wandered to the tail to restrain it, completely ignoring his warning. Bandit was too distracted by his screen to notice her disobeying his request. The tail swung toward her. Dyson caught it in her arms, though it lifted her light frame into the air. She often forgets her lack of weight doesn’t work well with her strength.
Bandit had no time to react as his tail tossed Dyson up into the air, and down into its maw. “Oh no! I told you not to go back there!” He panicked, looking back to his end. Only Dyson’s legs were outside the body, thrashing. “H-Hold on! I’m going to get you out, just one second.” Bandit turned back to his screen and frantically began typing once more.
Dyson’s body was trapped in a dark-green, synthetic flesh. She pushed against the walls, prying her way out of the tail. A shout of pain stopped her, however. Her thrashing was hurting her new friend. She stopped fighting against his malfunctioning tail, not wanting to hurt him. “You realize this means we’re going deeper in, right?” Hades asked.
“Yep. We’ll just get to analyze the guts while we wait,” Dyson responded, cheerfully.”
“Y-you’re happy about this?” Bandit whined, confused. Dyson slid further through the tight tube of flesh. It pressed and massaged her from every side. Soon, she came upon a ring of flesh, covering a hard metal ring. The mechanical ring contracted, letting the muscle pull her through. “I- Mmmfghh!” Bandit gave a panicked yet pleased noise as he felt the avali slip into his belly. “Why does that feel…” Bandit trailed off, staring at his bulging stomach. His face was alight in a green blush as he watched his paunch squirm slightly as Dyson moved. Her squirming felt like the touch of an angel. It was warm and tingly. The drake stood for a moment in silence, embarrassed to enjoy the sensation so much. He shook his head, turning his attention back to the code. “I’ve almost got it, you’ll be out soon,” he promised.
“Take your time!” Dyson smiled, eager to begin studying. Bandit’s stomach was warm, and the synthetic flesh cradled her carefully. The flesh around her was strangely dry, with no liquid to be seen. All stomachs Dyson had visited in the past were slimy, or at least a bit damp. “No fluids,” Dyson started to record. “So how does the body digest food?” Hades silently recorded her words into an intangible document, kept by magic.
“O-oh, uh, that’s my storage stomach,” Bandit commented. “I have two stomachs. One of them I use to store things, the other digests food. I couldn’t stop my tail from eating you, but I could at least choose which one you went in.”
Dyson shifted her body into a kneeling position to better analyze her unwilling prison. As she did, her leg knocked into a small object. She looked down to see a black metal ball, lined with golden hatches. A string came from the ball, attaching to a gold ring. She picked it up, then noticed a few other objects in the cavity with her. Among them was a black cube, reminiscent of the one that had created Bandit’s screen. “What is all of this stuff?” She pondered.
“Oh, uh, i-it’s just a bunch of junk,” Bandit said reservedly. Dyson picked up the black cube and inspected it closer. The edges were lined in a dark-green color, the same as the surrounding flesh. One of the corners was flat, and the opposite one was flat as well. Pressing her fingers on both flat corners caused them to stick to Dyson. Pulling her fingers apart resulted in the cube being split, turning into another screen.
An image of two ice drakes appeared. One was small, a young teen from what Dyson could tell. The horns on their head identified them as a younger Bandit. The cybernetic enhancements were absent in his younger self. He hid under another, much older, drake while staring at the viewer. The female protecting him watched the young boy with a loving smile. She placed a warm paw on his back, seemingly assuring him of his safety. A familiar green scarf was wrapped around her neck. The scarf Bandit now wore around his.
“I don’t believe we should be inspecting his belongings,” Hades scolded.
Paying no mind, Dyson asked, “Who’s this in this picture? And why does she have your scarf?”
“Don’t touch that!” Bandit snapped, surprising everyone, including himself. “Sorry! I-I mean, put that down… Please.” Dyson unstuck her fingers from the screen, watching it return to its former cube form. She gently set it back onto the lump of flesh where she got it.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean,” Dyson apologized.
“It’s okay…” Bandit responded, unconvincingly.
“Here, let me make it up to you!” Dyson requested. Without waiting for an answer, Dyson squirmed to the front of Bandit’s stomach and gently pressed her hand into a soft fold. Bandit felt that warm, tingling sensation fill his tummy again, though it was much stronger this time.
“Mmmhh- W-what are you- Ahhh!” Bandit yelped as Dyson put another hand on the spot and applied more pressure.
“Making it up to you, silly!” Dyson squeezed the flesh under her hands, then rotated her hands into her body while pulling to the sides to firmly massage Bandit’s synthetic belly. Knots and tense muscles relaxed under her touch as the drake whimpered gleefully. His stresses and worries melted away as he felt the avali play with his guts.
Bandit laid down, the weight of his body making the room in his stomach a little smaller. The narrowing walls closed down on Dyson. Bandit stretched his legs out in the snow, enjoying the cold frost and warm massage. He shook his head, remembering his unfixed tail. He raised the screen once more and analyzed the code of the stubborn tail. His mind was much clearer than before, thankfully. Maybe it was the avali’s massage? Either way, Bandit quickly found the problem. The water had ruined an important circuit. He diverted the energy and commands to another suitable path. Though, the process was a bit more difficult due to the pleasure caused by Dyson’s massage. The tail stopped thrashing about, now following Bandit’s command once more. It was a tad sluggish, though, and sometimes moved in a different direction than the one he wanted when he tested it. It was good enough for now.
Now it was time to let Dyson out of his belly. Did he have to, though? She seemed content working away at his guts, and it felt amazing. He let out a small sigh as the avali found a new place that needed massaging. Bandit just didn’t want to let her go. Not yet, anyway.
Dyson happily worked away at the artificial muscles cradling her. Rigid knots melted into squishy, soft lumps of a comfortable belly. She was slightly rocked back and forth by the movement of Bandit waging his tail, gently disturbing his stomach. The waging tail told her Bandit had fixed the problem but wasn’t ready to let her out yet. She didn’t mind. She continued to rub and massage as he relaxed, enjoying every squish and squirm. Mechanical whirring echoed around Dyson, Bandit’s artificial body continuing its routine. His guts began to vibrate gently as he started to purr.
Though he thought it impossible, Bandit’s blush grew harder at his audible enjoyment. “I-I thought they removed that!?” He questioned out loud.
“Removed what?” Dyson pondered.
“Oh, uh, t-the purring thing. I thought it got removed when I got all my augments in.”
“Why would it have been removed?”
“Because it’s a sign of weakness?” He said, confused. Why wouldn’t she know that?
“What? No. It’s a sign of happiness!” She said. “Being happy isn’t bad.”
“Well, that’s what the OMC says.”
“When was the last time you purred?” Hades questioned.
“Oh, um, I don’t know. A while? Like, nine years ago?
“Nine years!?” Dyson shouted. “That’s horrible!”
“W-well, I mean, I just haven’t had a reason to since then.”
“Well, you do now,” Dyson told him. She pressed into his guts in a hug-like fashion. Bandit’s throat lumped up and the purring grew stronger. Reluctantly, he tensed his stomach, hugging the avali back. The OMC was wrong, he concluded. Magic is not dangerous, and users even less so. He had just met this strange person, people? And he had already been given more compassion than the OMC ever gave him.
“O-okay, I fixed my tail,” Bandit told her. He was unsure how to handle contact like this and was eager to have her out to reduce the awkwardness. “I’ll let you out now.”
“You don’t have to let us out yet,” Dyson told him. “There’s still lots of massaging your belly needs. Besides, your belly is so nice.”
“I-I-I um, o-okay,” Bandit stammered back, flustered by the compliment. He laid back down, letting Dyson work. Her heavenly touch continued to fill his tummy with warmth and relaxation. The fear of being touched by this person slowly dwindled. His mind calmed, and his heart slowed. How was it that he had grown to trust them so much? More than anyone he had worked with in the OMC, for sure. He felt as though he could tell them anything.
“My mother,” Bandit spoke softly, afraid of admitting it. “She’s the woman in the picture.” Dyson paused, not expecting the confession. “She, uh, she didn’t like the OMC. Mom wanted out, so she took me and tried to leave. They… They found us though,” Bandit’s voice started to break. “They- They let me live since I was so young, but… T-they…” Bandit trailed off, having trouble speaking. Dyson rubbed as best she could, trying to cheer him up.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” She told him. His body was tense.
“This scarf is all I have left of her.” Bandit lifted a paw to gingerly touch it. “I… I don’t know why I told you all of this. I probably shouldn’t have. Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” Dyson comforted. “I get it.” She continued to massage his belly, trying to work out new knots. “Everyone has pain like that.” The trio stayed silent, basking in each other’s presence. After a long while, Dyson continued.
“I know it’s not the same, but I haven’t seen my parents in a long time either,” Dyson admitted. “I was kicked out of my town for being… Different. I didn't act like they wanted me to.”
“I… I’m so sorry,” Bandit said. “Everyone's seen me as different too. I, uh, I guess we're both kind of different, right?”
Dyson nuzzled into Bandit’s flesh, showing her thanks. "Yeah," She smiled. He let Dyson work on his stomach, loving the feeling. He was afraid though. He didn’t want to leave them, but if he didn’t… It would happen all over again. Being found, being hurt. This time, he wouldn’t get out of it.
A familiar noise in the distance caused him to raise his head. It was a soft pew, followed by mechanical humming. It was an OMC shield generator. Now he had no excuse. One of those could be heard for miles. He had to make a decision. “Y-you need to get out now,” he demanded.
Dyson didn’t want to leave the soft stomach, but she reluctantly obliged. “Oh… Alright,” she sighed. She crawled to the back of the belly, the ring relaxing once more. She crawled into the orifice, letting the tail pull her out. The warmth of Bandit’s body gave way to a chilling cold. Gently, the tail spat her out onto the snow. Bandit twirled around and helped her to her feet with his muzzle.
“Do you hear that noise?” Bandit asked. “That’s my squadron. They’ll know I ran if I don’t go to it. There’s no way I wouldn’t be able to hear it.” Bandit hated this. The first person he felt he could trust and they had to leave him. “I- I have to go.”
Dyson was upset to hear this. She liked her new friend and didn’t want to let him go. Hades had a solution, thankfully. “Allow us to gift you our spare sending stone,” he requested. “That way, we may continue to speak.”
“Um, is it magic?” Bandit asked.
“Yes, but the illusion we set on you will keep it hidden as long as you physically hide it. I would suggest keeping it hidden in your storage stomach.”
“I…” Bandit was worried about keeping a magic item on him. If the OMC found it, he would be in lots of trouble. Bandit didn’t want to lose his only friend, however. “Hmmm, okay,” he agreed. “I’ll trust you.” He opened his mouth, ready to swallow the stone. Dyson pulled a small, pyramid-shaped stone from her goopy body and set it on Bandit’s tongue. He gulped it down, keeping it safe. “Okay, I have to go,” Bandit looked off to the noise, then back and Dyson. “I… I hope I can get to see you again. He smiled, then turned to walk off.
Dyson and Hades watched their friend walk into the snowy forest of giant mushrooms. “Do you think he’ll be alright?” Dyson worried.
“Of course, he will be. Something tells me he’s stronger than he looks.”
End
Category Artwork (Digital) / Vore
Species Avali
Gender Multiple characters
Size 1500 x 1000px
Listed in Folders
Glad to see Bandit again, he's such a nervous guy, makes you want to just hug him until he feels better.
Another great story as well, it was interesting to see him have to tinker with his cybernetics after taking an unplanned dip. Also got to say that Dyson is going to get herself into some real trouble one of these days with her habit of (pardon the pun) diving headfirst into her research subjects.
Look forward to seeing more great work for you.
Another great story as well, it was interesting to see him have to tinker with his cybernetics after taking an unplanned dip. Also got to say that Dyson is going to get herself into some real trouble one of these days with her habit of (pardon the pun) diving headfirst into her research subjects.
Look forward to seeing more great work for you.
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