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The Portal Games

Arena 1, Episode 2

Black Chaos

"...Well...I wish I could say I expected that," Ailsa muttered.

The rest of Black Chaos were just as surprised as she was, or at least, mostly. Jaden shook his head, the orca muttering something about having felt something - which she wished he'd shared before they reached the ravine - and Mchumba was already muttering something about burning a way to the shrine, but the rest were silent. Dumbstruck, almost.

Except for Sanmer. The white fox stepped to the very edge of the ravine, lowering himself to his chest and looking down. He narrowed his eyes at the tentacles and the little dinosaurs chanting on the ledge below, starting to extend his scanner -

"What do you think you're doing?" Ailsa hissed.

"Seeing if I can translate."

"You can do that?"

"Maybe. This thing's on the fritz out here, but I won't know until I try, will I?"

It was better than nothing. She left him to that, giving Mchumba a nod to keep an eye on the fox and make sure that he didn't leap over the edge. The rest of the team gathered around her, and she shook her head.

"Options?" the stingray asked.

"We could go around," Jaden said.

"Not likely. There's too much ground to cover, and there's still the raptors out there," Tarin said, the deer looking over his shoulder. "You remember how fun that was yesterday..."

"I don't think that they'll get close to this. There's too much...stuff...going on in the ravine. And we could still -"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't like the idea of swimming around a Kraken," Lykus said, the striped wolf shaking his head with a shiver. "Little tentacles are fine, but I think those would go all the way through. And even if it's shallow water out there, if they get their key and we don't..."

The whole team agreed on that point. Much as it would have been easier to just go the long way around, giving up the boat on the far side without some kind of replacement just felt like giving up the first round right here and now. And for all that they were at least somewhat competitive with one another, they were not about to hand the win to the opposing team.

"So, any thoughts of how to get to the shrine?" Ailsa asked, holding up her pistol. "This isn't going to do near enough to get us there."

"Burn it."

All eyes went to the rat. She rolled hers.

"They be jungle-critters, right enough. All of them hate fire. Get enough going, and they'll get out of the way. And if we do it right, they be running towards the other team."

"...Dangerous," Tarin muttered. "But not impossible."

"I'm not sure I like that, either. What about all the smoke?" Ailsa asked.

"Well, I can handle some of that," Lykus said. "And the fire. And getting away, even."

"Told ye."

Mchumba smirked from where she stood by Sanmer. The rat's smugness aside, the rest of the team shared glances with one another. Jaden hadn't protested, and the fact that there hadn't been any other ideas beyond just charging straight through meant that it sounded better than it should have as an idea. Ailsa sighed.

"Anything from that scanner?" she asked.

"Not much. Just something about 'call the flappers.'"

"...Air support. Well...I think that just made the decision for us. Get the fireballs ready."

Whoopsie Daisies

"Okay, I'm sorry, but I can't get any of that," Sarah said, shaking her head. "Whatever they're saying, it's in some other language than usual."

"Awwww," Isabella moaned. "And I wanted more friends."

"Well, looks like you're going to have to skip this bunch, cutie," the T-Rex said, shaking her head. "Sorry."

"Not to be a kill-joy, but..." Glyn smiled, holding up his grapple gun. "I think we might have a better option."

"Can you reach the other side of the ravine from here?" Sergino asked, the ice dragon raising an eye-ridge. "Accurately?"

"Heh, I've made harder shots."

"I did not ask what you have done, just what you can do."

"...And I thought I needed to worry about being the buzzkill," the timber wolf muttered.

"The question still stands."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I can. And not like I can't reel it back in if I miss the first time."

"Unmolested?"

"...That's...a good point."

As the timber wolf looked down at his grapple gun, muttering under his breath as he sighted along the barrel, Kotone and Jason glanced at each other. The mare walked behind the dragon, stroking a finger along his wings. She looked from him to the shrine, and then back.

"Can you not fly?" she asked.

"I can, but...I don't know how well I can do it. Only had to fly indoors, you see?"

"Can you manage a straight line?"

"...If the wind doesn't pick up."

"And you?" Kotone asked, turning to the ice dragon. "You are a dragon as well. Can you -"

"Yes. But not for long. And not for everyone."

"Options!" Isabella said, grinning from ear to ear.

With the ravine slightly over forty feet away, it would be quite a shot from a pistol-style grappling gun. Not impossible, certainly, but a shot that would take a little effort. On the other hand, trying to go down and through the ravine - down fifty-plus feet of rock that was coated in tentacle plants and worse - would be risking capture at every turn. One bad step and a member of their team could end up trapped and pulled in with the rest of the dinosaurs.

Flying, risky as it was, was looking better and better. Eventually, Isabella nodded.

"Glyn, you stay here with the grappling hook. Sarah -"

"Probably too big for the dragons," the T-Rex agreed. "I'll make sure that our gunner has back-up. Just in case the other team tries something."

"Thanks. And the rest of us...who wants to carry who?"

Kotone made the decision for them, stepping over to stand by the ice dragon while pushing Isabella towards Jason at the same time. The two dragons looked down at the females, then at each other, before Sergino sighed.

"I would get the heavier one."

"I need someone stronger, and better experienced," the mare said.

"You say that, but I think it's just your fat bottom pulling you down."

"If you do well enough, you may have said fat bottom tonight."

The blunt statement nearly left Sarah rolling with laughter, and Jason blinked in shock. Even Sergino seemed slightly taken aback. But before it could go further, Isabella yelped, pointing off into the distance.

"They're already going! We better get started!"

"Alright...give me some room," Sergino muttered. "This is going to be big..."

Black Chaos

"I told you. I told you it'd work," Mchumba said with cackling glee.

As the smaller, chicken-sized dinosaurs pulled away from them, giving them space to climb down the walls, it certainly seemed so. The smaller dinosaurs growled and hissed at them, spitting something in whatever language it was that they spoke, but they didn't get any closer. The few plants that dared burned well, creating an even better barrier between them and their enemies.

Which was great, insofar as getting down the ravine wall went, but Ailsa and Tarin shared glances, and the same thought: this was too easy.

Bit by bit, they descended the wall, making it to the halfway point before taking a quick break. The fading torches were passed back, tapped to the unlit ones that they had collected, and the new branches pushed forward to keep the surging, strange flora and fauna back. It worked...mostly.

"Get...off."

Lykus kicked one of the tentacles away, the wolf shaking his head as it left a slimy mark around his ankle. He hustled further down the wall, moving a little faster as the strands tried to 'collect' him at the back of the pack. He called down to the rest of the group.

"Why am I taking the rear again?"

"Because you have some magic, and we don't," Ailsa shouted back.

"I have cards that happen to be magic! That's a different thing!"

"Then use them!"

"Yeah, well, tell that to the blank deck..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

As Lykus did what he could at the rear, swiping magic where his cards could snatch it and doing his best not to be snatched in return, Mchumba led the way down. The rat captain was quick, moving forward just enough to risk breaking contact with the rest of the group, setting fires on either side of their path, then darting back to sever any plants that tried to cut her off. The pincer movement meant that they were moving almost worm-like down the ravine wall, inching forward, then curling back, then pushing forward again.

But it was working. Soon, they hit the ravine floor, and the shrine loomed over them in all its multi-leveled, dark-stoned glory. At the top, floating on a circular stone of their own, were the packs that they needed to seize to move on. The rat looked over her shoulder, meeting the deer's eyes.

"Ready to run?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Heh. What say you, captain? Permission to charge?"

Ailsa glanced at the plants and dinosaurs arrayed against them. Slightly over a third of the little dinosaurs had moved down the ravine to where she imagined the other team was. She was surprised that they hadn't shown themselves yet. Had they given up, or were they still trying to come up with a solution?

She imagined Isabella was dreaming up some silly scheme or other. The pangolin hadn't seemed like much of a team leader, and if they still hadn't even started -

An ear-splitting roar cut the air, and Lykus stumbled, the wolf covering his ears and almost dropping his torch. A tentacle came rushing up behind him, snaring his ankle and slithering further up his leg, and the only reason that he wasn't tugged right out of the group was the fact that Jaden rushed back to him.

As the orca knelt down, whispering something in his own language to the tentacle and forcing it to release the wolf, everyone else on Black Chaos turned their heads to the sky. A green dragon and a white dragon took to the sky, the former carrying a pangolin, while the latter...

Well, Ailsa's jaws dropped at the sight of the massive feral dragon with a mare on his back. The stingray stared at him, slowly shaking her head.

"Now that's just not fucking fair..."

They were soaring straight over all the obstacles and heading straight for the temple, avoiding everything that she and her team had to contend with...

Until the first 'flapper' appeared.

With a loud CAW that was half-shriek and half bird-call, two oversized pteranodons came swooping out of the sky. They lunged for the smaller of the two dragons, only for the white feral to sweep sideways. Claws bashed one out of the air, and the leaping mare jump-kicked the other one out of the way.

But there were more. Much more.

"We've got a chance! Run!" Ailsa commanded.

Whoopsie Daisies

"Uh, uh, that's not what's supposed to happen! That's not what's supposed to happen!" Jason shouted as he struggled to keep aloft. "Oh fuck, oh fuck!"

"Keep going! You're doing great!" Isabella called up, even as she giggled when one of the flying dinosaurs almost slammed into her. She had to swing her legs up to avoid the hit. "You're almost there!"

"This is crazy!"

"I know! So many new things!"

"That's not what I mean!"

As the smaller dragon and his pangolin passenger dodged and wove through the increasing swarm of flying dinosaurs, the other dragon and his passenger were trying to deal with the worst of them. Sergino gritted his teeth, his jaw already aching and his back feeling stiff and sore between his wings.

"How long can you keep this up?" the mare on his back asked.

"Nnngh...not long."

"Two minutes?"

"Maybe one."

"Understood."

She leaped, and he realized almost too late that she was trusting him to catch her and fling her. Kotone fell halfway to the earth below before he swung his tail down, flinging her at one of the many targets around. The mare spun, lashing out with a kick to its face and jumping off the pteranodons to another nearby. He flapped his wings, gaining altitude over another pair, only to come down on top of one to shred its wings.

This was not going according to plan.

Big as he was - and he was larger than all the flyers all around him - he was only one dragon, one warrior. There was a stark limit to his strength, and numbers had a power all their own.

Back on the ravine ledge, Glyn slapped his hand over his forehead, shaking his head.

"Well...at least they're keeping everyone busy," Sarah said.

"That's keeping them busy? That's on the edge of losing!"

"Yes, but that does give you space."

"You - you think I can shoot through that?"

"I think that you got a chance, honey. And from what I can see, it might be our only chance."

He didn't want to admit it, but the T-Rex was probably right. The fight going on in mid-air was stuck in a stalemate. Jason couldn't fly through the mess in front of him, and Isabella wasn't having any luck convincing the dinosaurs to get out of the way. For all that Sergino and Kotone were keeping the flyers from knocking them to the ground, they weren't able to push through so many different opponents, and Sergino could only stay like this for a short time.

They had to do something to break the stalemate, and that meant he and Sarah had to do it.

"Gimme a boost," Glyn said.

The T-Rex tossed him into a neighboring tree, and he laid over the branch, aiming across the ravine. He cut out all the negative thoughts about what would happen if he missed, ignored the fiery trail that the other team were cutting across the ground towards the shrine. All he had to do was make a single shot.

Just make the shot.

Just make the shot.

He pulled the trigger...

And he made the shot.

"GOT IT!"

"Drop it down!"

He did, and Sarah braced the gun against tree branch. He, on the other hand, was already ziplining down, the whipping winds past his face barely keeping him quiet as the other team hit the base of the shrine.

Black Chaos

With the rest of the team playing catch-up, Tarin and Mchumba reached the base of the shrine. The black-furred deer nodded up, and the rat ran right for him. He caught her foot and tossed her up, and she yanked him up behind her. Up and over, up and over.

This was their chance, and Mchumba grinned like a mad-woman as she could all but smell the victory. Up, and over, and up, and over. She yanked Tarin up after her, and he would throw her up immediately after. The rest of the team didn't bother climbing the shrine, just running around to the other side. They'd meet up there, have the keys - maybe both keys - and keep on moving.

They were going to win. They were going to win!

SHING!

The climbers whipped their heads back up, and Mchumba's mouth fell open at the rope that shot straight over the floating platform. She pointed up.

"What...be that?"

"...A problem," Tarin muttered.

They both turned toward the far end of the rope, back to the starting point, and saw the timber wolf heading their way. He had his legs up, one arm extended, and was going right for the platform and the packs on it.

"...Oh no you DON'T!" the rat shouted.

They climbed faster still, and both sides reached the top of the shrine at the same time. Both teams reached for the packs...

But Glyn was the one that got them. The timber wolf whooshed by, crowing to the heavens as he held the two packs tightly.

"SUCK IT, BITCHES! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Deer and rat looked at each other, then at the rope. They shared another glance, and then smiled. Cutlass and hidden blade tapped each other before they did something else together.

Whoopsie Daisies

One moment, Glyn was zipping down the zipline as fast as gravity could carry him. The next, all tension from behind went slack, and he was falling. And fast.

On the plus side, there was a very large rock wall waiting straight ahead, so it wasn't like he'd fall all the way to the ground. On the minus side -

"OOOF!"

Tentacles. They snared him around the ankles, over his waist, and along his back. He managed to pull one arm back before they could snare the packs, but even that was a temporary rescue at best, considering the way that they were all -

"Nnngh...mmmph..."

He bit his lips as he felt some of the tentacles sliding into his pants, wrapping around his bits and pulling them down. They stretched his balls and pulled at his cock, his pants stretching out and coming close to ripping in places. He bit his lips, barely keeping his mouth closed as the wall-tentacles continued working him over.

Above, the flyers began to dissipate, the dinosaurs seeming to come to their senses now that the thing that they were protecting was no longer in place. The dragons pulled away, their cargo safe on their backs or beneath them...

Mostly.

"How long?" Kotone asked.

"Nnngh...ten seconds."

The mare looked over her shoulder, glancing at the T-Rex left stranded on the far side. With the zipline cut, there was no way that she could just get across on her own. She looked back at the rest of the team, shaking her head.

"Get them out of here."

"That's the plan."

"I'll be with you shortly."

The mare leaped off his back, and Sergino kept flying forward, gaining speed as he lost weight.

Isabella and Jason swooped down. The latter grabbed for the pack Glyn was flailing around, while the former grabbed for anything that would keep him from falling. His wings tucked in as soon as he got a grip on the wall -

And as soon as he did, the tentacles around Glyn started pulling back. The pangolin, panting timber wolf, and dragon all blinked at once.

"Did you know that would happen?" Isabella asked.

"I...kinda?" Jason shook his head. "I just had a weird feeling. Tentacles on me, tentacles on the wall...maybe they'd like each other."

"Good...guess...help...please..."

The three of them clambered up the rock face, following the tentacle-afflicted green dragon upward. By the time they reached the top, Sergino had landed, though not without leaving gouges of earth on the cliff top.

However, they were short two members...

Black Chaos

"Well...that's fucked and no mistake," Ailsa muttered.

"It not be my fault!" Mchumba said. "He had a rope launcher. How was I supposed to know?"

The stingray shook her head, pushing her team to keep moving. The fires were working, though she was trying to solve the problem of how they were supposed to get to the end of the challenge if they didn't have a key. Maybe they could barter for it, see if they could give something up to get one of them back. Or -

THUMP!

She whipped her head around. The T-Rex had pulled a flying leap from her side of the ravine and hit the ground hard. Only those powerful legs kept her from breaking them from the force of that landing, but even then, she could tell that the bigger woman was stumbling, struggling to keep moving. Even with the mare rushing to her side, they were moving slowly.

"...Heh...That's an opportunity."

Ailsa swept her team sideways, moving around the shrine. They cut a fiery path through the cultists and the plants, with no further casualties. Lykus in particular seemed fairly vengeful on the plants, wielding his own flames with a spiteful sort of nature, and Jaden's whispers seemed to guide the fires from them towards the outside, rather than any of the flames curling inward.

The only complaints came from Sanmer, who wanted to spend time with the small dinosaurs. They didn't have time for that, however.

"Tarin?" Ailsa said.

"Yes?"

"Get Kotone out of the way. I think it's time to take a hostage."

"Done."

Tarin leaped over the wall of fire, moving at speed towards the mare. She reacted fast, faster than the black-furred deer had entirely expected.

As they danced in a fight all their own, Ailsa brought her team around, creating a wall of fire between Sarah and the far side of the ravine. Mchumba shook her head as she stood beside the stingray, chuckling to herself.

"Gotta say, good job, captain," the rat muttered.

"Not my preferred tactics, but if it works..."

"Looks like it. Tarin's keeping Kotone busy."

"This feels...wrong," Jaden muttered.

"It works, though. And hey, it gives me more time," Sanmer said, looking down at his scanner.

"Let's either get this done or let me go have more fun. I hate denial," Lykus muttered.

Sarah paused, panting for breath and favoring one leg as she met the stingray's eyes. She turned, looking back at the fight, and then looked back at Ailsa once more.

"Heh...a trade, huh?" Sarah asked.

"A teammate - or two - for the key."

"Not asking for both?"

"I'm not greedy," Ailsa said, shaking her head. "And at least this way, we all get out of here."

"You know, my captain's soft enough that she might just go for that."

"That's the plan."

"See...I'm not."

"NNGH!"

Tarin stumbled, holding the side of his neck as one arm went dead. Kotone must have gotten in a lucky nerve-strike, and the mare was charging straight ahead. She had just enough time to see the flash-bomb coming to close her eyes, and then, the T-Rex and mare were running past.

By the time her eyes were open again, the two women were already climbing up the rope, though losing clothing in the process. Ailsa shook her head.

"Well, that didn't go the way I wanted," she muttered. "Tarin?"

"I'm fine...She's faster than she looks. It won't happen again."

"It better not."

Down a key and out of a challenge. Not a great way to start the game. She shook her head -

"Oh. Oh! I got something!" Sanmer called.

"What now?" Ailsa groaned.

"Oh, you're going to want to see this."

He ran over to her, holding out the scanner. She looked down at the screen, and her grin returned.

"Alright...we deal with that, then we get the hell out."

Whoopsie Daisies

"You want to what?!" Glyn shouted. "You want to give them a key back, after I almost got fucked - literally fucked - getting them for us?"

"I said I'm thinking about it," Isabella said, shaking her head and rubbing one ear. "And please don't shout?"

"Heh..." Sarah shook her head, nursing her leg around the campfire. "Still trying to be nice, hon?"

"I don't want to be mean. Even if they were going to be meanies, I want to be good."

"Can't always do that, girl."

Isabella knew that, but that didn't make it easier. If anything, that made it harder to be mean when she still had the choice to be nice. She weighed the packs in her hand. They felt lighter than she expected, though one was definitely heavier than the other.

As Glyn grumbled at his end of the campfire, trying to pull his clothes back together, Kotone tapped Sergino's shoulder. The much-less-clothed mare nodded.

"I made my offer, and I will follow through."

"Hmm?"

"You complained about my 'fat bottom' on the flight, and I told you that you would be allowed to take it tonight if you succeeded. You succeeded, thus you may."

"..."

"But only this once. Unless you earn it again."

"Woman, you - that's sudden, and - I mean -"

"If you have no inclination, you may, of course, decline," the mare said.

"..."

"But I would appreciate allowing me to show my gratitude."

"...Dammit..."

The only thing keeping laughter from breaking out around the campfire was the fact that Sergino still had one hand on his axe, and nobody wanted to risk that coming down on them. Eventually, he nodded, tilting his head towards the trees. They disappeared, and little sound could be heard from them.

"Where were they going?" Isabella asked, and nobody had the heart to ruin her innocence.

As they waited, she upended the bags, looking inside. Both pouches contained what could only be the key - a rock with magical sigils drawn all over it - but in one of them was a small idol, one that was sticking out its tongue. Glyn's eyes went wide, and he crowed with victory.

"HA! We got one! We fucking got one!"

"Which one was this?" Isabella asked.

"The one that lets us cancel out voting someone on our team off. Fuck yes. Fuck yes!"

The relief was palpable between the rest of the team, and all four remaining around the fire sagged down against their benches. It might not have been the same as forcing their opponent to vote off someone, but at least they could protect themselves if something went wrong in the last part of the match.

So long as the other team didn't find an idol, too.

Both Teams

By morning, Isabella was still undecided about whether to give one of the keys back to the other team. Nobody had convinced her 100% not to, but nobody wanted to convince her to do it, either. So, they walked in silence to the beach at the far end of the second forest, unmolested.

The teams emerged from the last forest one after the other, with Black Chaos arriving first and stepping out onto a beach. In the distance, a stretch of water extended ahead, and on either side, a coral reef jutted from the water. The last stretch was shallow enough that the Kraken probably couldn't reach it, meaning the boats were purely for speed and ease of access to the far side.

Black Chaos had twenty minutes alone on the beach before the Whoopsie Daisies arrived. They squared off, Ailsa's team having already claimed a boat, while Isabella's team eyed the other carefully.

One last stretch. One last race before they reached the portal out to the next arena...and one last day before someone would have to go.

Summary: Teams Black Chaos and Whoopsie Daisies reach their first challenge, and have to deal with something more than either of them expected.

Tags: M/solo, Tentacles, Various Species, Reality Show, Portal Games, The Portal Games, Tentacle Penetration, Bondage, Fire, Fighting, Chaos, Molestation,