FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

After two days Max finally set foot on his home station once again, the familiar smell of its recycled air wafting into his nostrils as he snuck off of the cargo shuttle and back into the main atrium. Despite his size and new stance he found it fairly easy to move around the docking bay, it was when he got into the atrium that he spotted the problem. The space was too open for him to sneak through, and the crowds that came through its halls were near constant.

As he tried to figure a way through the solution presented itself to him in a load mover with several platforms attached to it. While the driver waited for the last bins to get loaded on Max took a peek in the bins until he found various decorations for a few of the shops in the district near his home, which was where he needed to go. He crawled underneath the tarp and waited as patiently as he could for the driver to get moving once again. Though he knew it was his best way of getting back to his house, he knew that every second wasted was a potential second that would cause him to miss his ride out.

A few minutes later the trolley began to move once again and Max breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the sounds of the atrium on the other side of the tarp. While he waited to reach his destination he began to formulate his plan on how to get back. He couldn't rely on another cargo mover to show up near his house, instead he debated between making a break for it or trying to find a way through the maze of maintenance tunnels that he had worked on. The only problem with the tunnels, he mused, was that if he chose the wrong one there was the strong possibility of being fried by plasma or accidently going into one exposed to the void of space.

Max was so engrossed in his escape plan he hadn't realized that the trolley had stopped, it wasn't until he heard voices approaching his section did it snap him out of his thoughts enough to see their shadows approach. His head snaked around looking for a way out, and when none were present, he had a desperate idea and stood as still as possible as the tarp was ripped away from his platform. The conversation the unloaders were having ceased as soon as they saw him standing there, Max attempting not to breathe as the two began to argue why a big dragon statue wasn't on their shipment manifest. He knew if they touched him they would likely realize that he wasn't a statue, luckily the two appeared to be lackluster in their job performance and merely used a grav lift to pull him off the platform before they went to a nearby intercom to sort out the mix up.

Once the two were out of line of sight Max bolted from the spot, startling several passersby as he made a mad dash to his home. When he got there he realized his thumbprint would no longer open it, instead he decided to make use of his newfound strength and reared back before using his powerful hind legs to kick in the door. The metal buckled under his blows and after about a minute it finally busted off its hinges and flew into the small apartment. A feeling of nostalgia and regret filled his chest as he looked at what used to be his life before he went to his wall safe and ripped the door off with his forelimbs.

"No..." Max said in horror as he saw the emptiness behind the door. "No no no..." Every document that verified who he was had disappeared, even his access card to his workplace had been cleaned out. As he took the safe door and angrily threw it against the bedroom wall he heard a noise from his computer. He looked out of his bedroom door and saw he was attempting to be contacted, the word Evan in bold, white letters on the screen.

In two strides Max was at his computer screen as he hit the button to answer the call, letting out a loud roar before he felt the electric tingle of what had been his suit connecting with Evan's. "What did you do with them?!" Max roared, causing the nearby walls to shake.

"Temper temper," Evan's voice replied. "You should have guessed that I would have anticipated a move like this, trying to show who you were in order to try and gain some sort of leverage on me. If you would like them back all you have to do is come to my house and ask nicely. Or you could run, which if that's the case you'll not only forsake the last remnants of your identity, but I'll also make sure to drag those modders and that programmer that helped you so far down into the muck they'd be lucky to get a job at a corporate gift shop."

The call immediately disconnected and Max used his forelimbs to shove the desk into the wall in pure anger. He knew it was a trap, but without the documents he wasn't sure how the corporate courts would react to his presence, especially if he couldn't connect to him like he did with Crystoff or Evan to explain himself. Evan could easily explain that he was something he had created and someone was jealous, which meant it would be Evan's word against his non-existent ones. Plus there was the added threat leveled against those that helped him, it would make sense that someone that has gone as far as Evan did would find no qualm in burning the others to the ground for their illegal involvement.

After he raided the fridge for all the alcohol and food he had left Max finally gathered enough courage to do what he had too, poking his head out of his destroyed doorframe and looking around. The commotion of his break-in had not gone unnoticed as he saw several security officials heading towards his location. At this point the time for subtlety was over, he reasoned to himself, and bolted out of the door and down the corridor. The guards stopped dead in their tracks as they saw a large dragon bounding straight towards them, the two unable to step back fast enough and falling over one another as Max lept straight over them and continued on.

It took nearly an hour for Max to finally get to the destination of his friend's house, having more than once duck into the maintenance tunnels to avoid capture and ducking out inside the station's mail delivery station. From the snippets of conversation he heard from nearby radios they classified it as an escaped alien specimen, which caused Max to shudder. He knew that if he was caught they'd probably either keep him in some sort of research zoo or dissect him, neither option appealing to him at the moment. His knowledge of the station's systems and patience paid off, though, as he finally approached Evan's apartment through the empty hallway.

As soon as he got to the door Max saw it was open already, the frown on his muzzle deepening as he slowly pushed it open further to allow him easy access. When he got inside he saw the plush interior of his friend's place and remembered when he would come over to watch sports or just to hang out, feeling the bitterness of his friend's betrayal sting fresh in his mind. He knew calling out for him would be pointless, he didn't feel the connection to his sub-vocals and anything else would just turn into a loud snarl, growl, or roar that might bring the attention of any nearby authorities. Instead he continued to walk through the room as silently as he could, using the darkness of the room as a cloak to try and sneak up on his former friend.

When it appeared that Evan was neither in the kitchen nor the living room he turned his attention to the last remaining area, his bedroom and office down a short hallway that also connected to the bathroom. The door to the office was wide open, an invitation for Max if he had ever seen one as he slowly padded his way towards the threshold and peaked inside. There he saw the rich leather chair, something Max had bought him as a present for his promotion, with its back to him as a slow stream of smoke rose up from it. "I was wondering when you were going to show up," Evan's voice could be heard from behind it as Max slowly walked into the room.

"You didn't leave me much choice," Max replied as soon as he felt his sub-vocal connection become established, his claws sinking into the floor while he bared his teeth. "So I'm here, I don't suppose you're just going to give me my identity documents so I can be on my merry way."

"That's not how this works, Max," the voice on the other side of the chair said. "I'm holding all the cards here, not you. I don't know what false hope those others you met with may have given you but you have lost, and the sooner that you accept that the easier it'll be for you to adapt to your new life. I will not treat you unfairly, in fact I think that you find yourself quite the pampered pet, as long as you behave, of course."

"I am no one's pet!" Max shouted. "And I still have one card left to play Evan, I sent the information of our last call along with all the data compiled on this suit to your corporate headquarters during my chase with security! You may have taken my life, Evan, but I'm not going down without dragging you with me!"

There was a moment of pause and Max felt his chest swell slightly in pride at his last parting shot, knowing that Evan would have to explain for his crimes against him. It wasn't much, but he knew he had done all that he could against him... at least until he began to hear laughter coming from the chair. Slowly it swiveled back around to face him, and as soon as the dragon saw what was there, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "That's... not possible..." Max stammered.

"Oh, but it is," Albert said with a gleam in his eyes before he held a handheld electronic device up to his neck. "Or would you prefer something like this instead?" Max gasped as Albert's voice sounded exactly like Evan's, down to the inflection before Albert took the device and set it aside. "The charade is over now; however, no need continuing on the illusion anymore."

"But... how?" Max asked as his muzzle curled up in a snarl as he grew angrier. "How did you do all this?! And where's Evan?!"

"Well the latter question I should be able to answer for you easily enough," Albert replied dismissively as he went over to a few small bottles of alcohol Evan kept on hand. "I was afraid had you looked in the bedroom first you would have spoiled the whole ruse before my reveal, but now that I've had my fun why don't we call Evan in here and he can explain the rest to you. Oh Evan! Come here, boy!"

Even before the door creaked open once more Max felt his heart pound against his scaled chest as he already guessed what he would see on the other side. His breath caught deep in his throat as he watched a dragon similar to himself, albeit bigger and with dark blue scales, slowly pad his way into the room with his head hung low. "I'm so sorry Max..." the dragon said once the electronics now embedded in both their scales synced up.

"Evan..." was all Max could say before he felt himself get choked up at the sight of his friend.

"He hacked me weeks ago during a suit functionality test," Evan explained as he tried to retain his composure. "I didn't even realize what was happening until after I had given you the suit, as soon as you left the store he did to me what he did to you and prevented me from speaking out. He had full control over all my feeds, I couldn't do anything but what he told me to do... after a few days I had completely changed and could do nothing... say nothing... even when he paraded me around... I thought I could somehow warn you when you called and Albert pretended to be me, but by that time I had been so conditioned I couldn't help but give him the answers he needed."

Evan's words were cut short as he could no longer control himself anymore and burst into tears as Max ran over to comfort him, only to find their new bodies unable to do so conventionally, and after a few awkward attempts settled for draping a forelimb over him as he glared daggers at Albert. "You monster..." Max seethed. "You'll never get away with this!"

"I already have, though, thanks to you," Albert replied coldly as he sipped the drink he had prepared for himself. "You see when Evan had told me that both you and him had come from Terra with no connections to anyone, I knew you two were the test subjects that I had been looking for, ones that I could make disappear with very little legwork. Of course when you went galavanting off to the modders and our link was severed by the corporate jammer I figured I may be in trouble, especially when you accused me on that cargo ship, which is when I came up with a rather ingenious back-up plan. If you found someone to backtrace the program, which you did, you would find that I had used the friend code to get into your suit, so all I had to do was use the avatar of your friend I created and confess to the whole thing."

"So it was you," Max snarled. "You were the one talking to me in the augmented reality of that space station."

"Now you're getting up to speed," Albert mocked. "Now all that information you sent to the corporate courts will implicate Evan instead of me, and when Evan ends up missing and you're gone, they'll just assume he up and ran to avoid prosecution. Of course now we'll have to reveal the existence of you two as well, but seeing as how Evan was my protege I could easily say I was so overcome with concern at his disappearance that I came to his home as soon as I could only to find him gone, leaving behind his experiments in order to save his hide. No doubt the company would give you two to me in order to help... ease the loss of one of my most trusted assistants."

Finally Max could no longer hold his anger in and made a leap for Albert, but as soon as his paws left the ground Albert produced another device in his hand and clicked it once. Almost instantly a feeling of pure euphoria flooded his draconic body and his pounce came up short as he fell to the ground. Albert leaned over and looked at Max as his reptilian eyes became unfocused, unable to comprehend anything else but the pure bliss in his system as his tongue lolled out of his muzzle. Even after a few minute passed and he was able to stand up again he found himself unable to muster the anger that he had before, anger he knew he should be feeling towards his captor.

"You didn't really think I would just give you a form that could rip me to shreds with no way to control it?" Albert chuckled as he put the device away. "The nanites that have been swimming around your modified brain for days now have been adjusting your neurochemical transmitters, which is why you haven't done anything desperate like suicide or slip into a fugue state. Even your gender reassignment has no doubt been taken in stride, all means to get you on your feet and back to me as soon as possible."

Max tried to muster a growl in response but it came out half-hearted as Albert walked up to him and slipped something silver around his neck. "There's a good girl," Albert teased, Max unable to do anything but look down at the collar that had been fastened to him. When he looked at Evan he saw that a similar one had been given to him as well, both of them attached to leashes that were in Albert's hand. After he took the time to wipe down his fingerprints he tugged on their leashes to come, though Evan got up immediately and began to follow, Max continued to sit in place until the command came again accompanied by a dose of serotonin to help him comply.

The three hardly stepped out of the door before they were greeted by two security officials that drew their guns as soon as they saw the two large creatures behind Albert. Evan and Max looked at one another as they tried to back away from the weapon-wielding men, dragging Albert backwards slightly until a sharp pull on the leash caused them to stop. As the two dragons sat there Albert began to weave his story to them, telling them how Evan had disappeared from work and when he came to check up on him he found two strange creatures bound in the living room. Max tried to rebuke the story, but all that came out of his mouth were growls and snarls that caused the guards to back away, and when that failed he attempted to connect to their suits only to find his communications locked.

When Max turned to Evan the other dragon just shook his head as more security guards came on the scene, followed by station journalists as Albert's tale continued to unfold. Eventually the whole thing turned into a spectacle, camera drones floated in front of Max and Evan's faces as the guards ordered Albert to take hold of them until they could get the situation straightened out. Though they were grateful to be out of the hands of a madman their fate became uncertain as the security personnel gave them a weary eye as they led them towards one of the carts they used to zip around the station. As soon as they got to the side of the hovering automobile it was clear it couldn't handle one of them, much less two, so Max and Evan were once again subjected to the crowds as the security guards called in for a cargo hauler to move them.

After nearly an hour Max and Evan were finally loaded on one of the maglev cargo platforms, the same one Max had used to get into the main station in the first place, and were transported through the atrium. News of their existence had spread fast, when Max looked up on one of the large viewscreens that hung throughout the station it was a video of a breaking news cast with their faces on it. The frown on Max's muzzle grew when he saw the tagline underneath where they had already seemed to buy Albert's story about Evan going rogue and experimenting on him. All the eyes of the station were on them, or at least that's what it felt like until they finally reached the security sector and were unloaded in front of a processing officer.

"What in the Antellis Star System are you trying to put in here?" The processing officer said as his mouth hung open at the sight of the two creatures. "I know we call this place a zoo, but I ain't putting anything like that in a cell! I don't even think they'll fit!"

"They aren't going into the cells," the officer that had taken custody of them in the first place said. "They're evidence, some wacko decided to try and play god and here's the result of it. Put them in the live specimen containment chamber, with the way that corporate stooge was talking, they're not going to be in there for long."

The processing officer grumbled and looked at Evan and Max dauntingly before he slowly reached out and took the leashes that had dangled idly next to them up until that point. Though the officer continued to look wearily behind him the two dragons made no move that may provoke a reaction from any of them, especially since two had their weapons pointed at them as they slowly stepped off the maglev cargo transport. The entire time Max tried to find some way to connect with their suits and tell them this had all been a ruse by Albert, but even with the circuitry embedded in their scales he found himself unable to connect. The only thing he could do was sigh and travel with Evan past the processing center and into the evidence storage bay.

"Not surprised some corporation is going to snatch you two up," the officer grumbled as he brought them to an area penned in by clear walls and a large door that easily fit them. "Oh no, don't keep them in the custody of the peacekeeping forces, what power could they possibly have to prosecute criminals? Nah, better to let their corp secrets go unfound than prosecute someone that has delusions of grandeur. Hell, if they're already a part of the corporation they'll probably promote him. Now... what to feed you two... don't suppose you like pizza..."

Despite his predicament Max found himself nodding to the rhetorical question, which caused Evan to look at him and the guard's head to perk up. "You're a smart one, aren't you?" the guard asked, which Max eagerly nodded to as he began to find a possible way to communicate as the officer turned to Evan. "How about you there, you as smart as your friend? You want... a burger? Fish? Perhaps a steak?"

Finally Evan nodded to the last one and the officer left before he went off to get their food. "What are you thinking, Max?" Evan asked as the other dragon's muzzle turned up in a grin.

"All Albert did was take away our means of speaking!" Max said as he turned and put his forepaws on Evan. "If we can convince someone that we are capable of sentient speech then we can get a researcher in here to try and communicate with us! I saw it all the time when we were fixing the research wing's ventilation system, they have a whole section dedicated to trying to see if they can communicate with alien species that can't talk! All we have to do is..."

"...is what?" Evan replied, his tone slightly angry which deflated Max's enthusiasm. "Don't you get it yet Max? Albert won... even if we were somehow able to show them that we were capable of understanding them do you really think we can just write down what happened to us? It'll come out just like our speech, completely unintelligible, and then all Albert and the corporation has to do is say that you have echoes of remembering you were human and I'm just some sort of advanced VI."

Max felt a swell of defeat deep in his chest as he slumped down to the ground, unable to say anything to refute his friend as he leaned his body up against the wall. Evan's face fell slightly and he padded over to Max to apologize. Though he was grateful to his friend for coming up to him it didn't change the impact of his words... nor the truth behind them. Their backs were up against the wall and with no ability to escape the station or contact anyone other than what Albert allows them; they were effectively cut off from everyone who could help. Even the technology that had been integrated into their bodies when the suits merged was no help, everything either unavailable or locked out by Albert.

"So... what do we do then?" Max asked as he leaned his head against Evan. "What's our lives now?"

"Well Albert was kind enough to give me a sample of such while he was waiting to reconnect with you," Evan growled slightly. "While he wasn't lying when he said he would give us the creature comforts we want, he definitely stresses the creature part... and if you don't do what he says he either floods your brain or starts taking things away. One night he had a party and invited all his corporate friends to show off his new toy, who are a lot like Albert themselves and who know what he did since he doesn't mind bragging about it."

As Evan told his story he thought back to the dream he had while on the terraforming station, or had it been? "I think I actually saw this happening," Max explained, Evan's eyes widening slightly in surprise. "I thought that I was just seeing what I thought my future was going to be, but now I think I somehow was looking through your eyes while I was unconscious after the hacker triggered a response in one of Albert's protocols." As the scene continued to play out in his memory it was Max's turn for his eyes to widen as he remembered what was said in the party. "Evan... he was talking about you as breeding stock."

"Not just me..." Evan replied as his head hung down. "Why do you think he turned you into what he did? He spent a lot of time and effort into making sure that your nanites would produce a fertile female dragon that was capable of making eggs, selling the unfertilized ones on the black market as all manner of things while selling the ones that would eventually hatch to his corp buddies so they could have dragons of their own. He wants to make the new designer pet, and with us now he has the chance to do so."

"But that means..." Max managed to say before he stopped when Evan nodded his head.

"I can already sense my feelings for you have evolved," Evan explained. "Whether it's some sort of chemical thing that Albert arranged, the fact that you're the only female of our new species, or maybe because of our friendship for so long I can't help but feel attracted to you. I'm not sure if you feel the same way, but in either case these new instincts stirring in me are hard to just ignore."

Max remained silent after his friend's confession, his eyes glancing over at the other dragon as he continued to rest against him. While his mind had been so preoccupied with the situation at hand now that they had a little downtime he couldn't help but look over his friend in a new light now. As his eyes scanned up and down his body the word handsome came to his mind, something he had never thought of another male much less a dragon male, but with what Evan had explained it made sense. He was a female now, at least biologically, and Evan was a male...

Before Max could dive further into his strange new feelings, though, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and both he and Evan separated from one another. They sat there a few steps apart from one another, and even before the guards came into view Max could smell the food they were carrying that caused his stomach to growl. "Chow time boys," one of the two guards that came up to their paddock said as he slid a rather large meat-loaded pizza into the gate while the other one did the same with a very large steak. "Hope that's what you like."

"Well geez Mikey, why didn't you get his order?" the second guard joked as the two dragons sniffed their food. "What if he's a vegetarian or something? He was smart enough to ask for pizza you should have busted out a menu."

"I'll bust a menu in you, Argus," the other man shot back as Max and Evan began to eat hungrily as best they could. "At least this beats the usual boredom of having to patrol the evidence warehouse, they are definitely the most interesting things to come through here ever since that slime mold that sang showtunes."

"Got that right," Argus said as he walked up closer to the barrier that divided them. "They seem pretty tame, you think they know any tricks or something?"

"They ain't dogs," Mikey rebuked.

"I can see that Mikey," Argus shot back. "But they didn't cause no problems when they were transported here and the corp stiff that brought them in said they're pretty passive and smart. We still got three hours left on our shift and Tev is asleep in the monitoring office like he always is, we'll let them eat and then see if they can do anything. If they don't then we know and can put them back, and if they can then we'll have some entertainment, either way it gives them a chance to stretch their legs."

While it was clear the other guard wasn't completely on board with the idea he just shook his head and agreed. Evan and Max looked at each other while the ate but said nothing, focused instead on meeting their caloric needs. While Max wasn't fond of the thought of having to perform for those two it was a chance to possibly find a way to communicate with them. If not then they would at least keep their situation at the evidence depot pleasant if they got the guards on their side.

Once they were finished with their food the guards drew lots to see who got who, Argus ending up with Evan while Max was taken by Mikey. As Argus took out his keycard and used it to unlock the door Mikey once more voiced his doubts about the situation, though it was clear the other guard was set on playing with the dragons. After Mikey made a crack that he wasn't going to do anything if he got eaten Argus slowly made his way up to Evan, holding out his hand like he would to any other animal. Evan shot a knowing glance at Max before he leaned down and pressed his snout against the outstretched palm.

"See?" Argus beamed in pride. "Told you they were friendly."

"Yeah yeah," Mikey remarked as he stepped into the pen. "You're a real dragon whisperer. Let's take them to impound bay four, they just removed that huge junker that was transporting illegal weapons to the disposal site yesterday, so it should be clear still."

The other guard nodded and grabbed onto Evan's leash, Max watched that as soon as there was the slightest tension on the collar attached to his neck, the dark blue scaled dragon stood up and began to follow. While it was a normal reaction to try and keep the guards happy what struck him was the speed in which he reacted to it. But before he could say anything he felt a pull on his own collar that caused him to look down. "C'mon, that's a good girl," the guard said as he gave another tug.

Max inwardly rolled his eyes and stood up, then almost had to sit down again as a powerful rush of emotions flooded his system. It was similar to the one that he experienced when he attempted to make a move against Albert, and though it wasn't nearly as strong it continued to persist when he followed along while on the leash. While it was hard to pinpoint he recognized that when he followed the command of the leash tug it made him very... happy. The emotional manipulation caused him to pause slightly and the feeling subsided, only to be renewed once again when his leash was tugged and he followed once more.

The two dragons were led into the large docking bay of the evidence depot, the smell of synthetic lubricants and burnt metal permeated the air and caused Max's snout to scrunch slightly from the potency of it. Once they were there Argus told Evan to sit and he immediately did so, which prompted a grin from both guards as Evan's tail wagged behind him. "I think you might be getting a little too into the act Evan," Max said over the sub-vocal connection they shared.

"It's not an act Max," Evan responded. "You obviously felt it too, both with Albert and now these two. I've just been trained more than you have, at this point it's almost instinctual for me."

"You mean the happiness I felt..." Max said. "So he's trying to brainwash us?"

"Not quite as drastic as that," Evan replied before Max saw his entire body tense up. "Hold on, I think I know what's about to happen next."

Max looked at Argus and saw that he had unclasped the leash from Evan's collar and taken some sort of aluminum rod and waved it front of his face, then tossed it down the empty docking bay. The sound of claws scraping against the floor could be heard as Evan bolted up and ran for it, sliding next to the clattering metal stick and picking it up in his mouth before running back with it. The two guards laughed as Mikey commented that perhaps they were like dogs after all as Evan dropped the stick to the ground at the guard's feet, only to have to run after it once more. This continued for a few minutes until a radio call over one of their suits prompted them to stop to take it.

"Evan... what the-" Max started to say before Evan waved a forepaw in the air.

"Part of Albert's job at the corp was to make sure the programming of the suits would not only be easily accessed by the user, but also often," Evan explained. "He has apparently taken this conditioning method and applied to us, but instead of getting a prompt for using a suit feature we get a rush of neurochemicals in our brains every time we follow an order. That's part of the reason why I said that we can't beat him, you see how I act with the guards, and they haven't nearly done the training Albert did on me."

Max felt a pang of regret deep inside him as he heard Evan explain the situation. He had accused his friend of doing this heinous thing to him and the whole time he was living the nightmare already without his knowledge. How many times had his friend sat there and watched as he talked to Albert disguised as him? How often has he been ordered to do something and then been rewarded with an addictive rush of euphoria until he almost reflexively acts like a common dog?

Something waving in front of his face broke Max's concentration and he looked down to see Mikey the guard now waved the metal stick in front of him. "Alright, sit, siiiit," he instructed, Max hesitating only for a few seconds before he did so and was rewarded with a small amount of bliss. "Now go!"

In a moment of defiance Max attempted to stay where he was as his head tilted to watch where the stick landed. "She listens to you as much as your ex-wife did." Argus joked as Mikey told him to shut up. As the two traded barbs back and forth Max could feel his body straining to go and grab the piece of metal even though his mind resisted, the memory of that burst of happiness causing his body to lean towards it. Eventually, though, the guard got it and Max breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he was at least in control of himself that much.

"You're obviously doing it all wrong," Argus said as he took the stick from the other guard. "Just watch, you got to give them positive reinforcement and then tell them what you want to do." Max watched as the security officer took the metal rod and waved it in front of his face once again. "Now be a good girl and fetch the stick!"

The words good girl resonated in Max's skull like a song stuck in his head as he watched the metal glint in the artificial light as it sailed through the air. Without even knowing he had raised up his haunches slightly towards the direction of it and got a huge hit of dopamine for his obedience, which only spurred him on to race towards the piece of metal and pick it up with his mouth. By the time he tasted the metallic tang on his tongue did he realize what he had done, his resolve weakened by his subconscious demand for the rewarding feeling of doing what he was told as he went back and dropped the stick in front of the guard.

"How could he have done this to us," Max remarked to Evan as Argus taunted Mikey once again. "We're... we're no better than drug addicts now."

"You'd be surprised how common such a tactic is in the consumer products market," Evan replied with disdain. "All Albert did was ramp it up to eleven, creating his perfect pets. If this is how we act now I can only imagine what's going to happen after months of being chemically trained by his hand."

The two guards continued to play with them for a while, and before the night was out Max found himself rolling over, sitting up, and doing several other tricks for them. Other than the feelings of pleasure the guards also got them various sweets and other things to reward them with, which only made succumbing to their obedient desires even easier. After they were finished they were once more led back to the paddock and secured behind the barrier once again. When the guards left Evan laid down and invited Max to lay next to him, and as Max padded over and flopped down against the other dragon, he could only wonder what was going to happen next...