Part 2: Trouble
#2 of The Dimension that Never Was (Known)
"Grey!! Come on! How much longer?!"
"Terry, the people just said we have to get registered in their system. It can't take that long!"
"Yeah, that's what you said half an hour ago."
Terry and Grey were waiting on a bench, sitting across the room from Carlos, putting their information into the computer as Adam and Dan sat with the pair, listening the their constant bickering.
"Will you two just stop?! You're acting like little kids!" Adam finally shouted, his head throbbing from a headache that had grown.
"His fault." The two keyblade wielders said in unison. Dan just then stoof up and walked over to Carlos, cocking his head.
"Carlos, what's taking so long? It normally only takes about ten minutes." Dan asked. He noticed an odd program on the computer for a second before Carlos pulled up the information logs up.
"Oh, the computer just kept coming up with errors. I was running a diagnostic to see if anything was wrong, but I fixed it." Carlos said, and Dan didn't have any reason to doubt him. Carlos was the chief of police, so he figured that Carlos just found something else to fix.
"Okay guys, the computer's fixed, and the information is keyed in. You two are now legally allowed in the system." Carlos grabbed the ID cards as they came out of the computer and tossed them to Terry and Grey.
"So Terry, could you come with me? I want to see what this 'Keyblade' of yours is." Carlos said, walking over to a door and motioning for Terry to follow. The human looked at his friend and shrugged.
"Might as well." Dan and Adam moved to Grey, and smiled.
"We'll show Grey around the city while you get acquainted with Carlos." Adam offered. Grey's ears perked and the wolf smiled.
"Okay. See you later Terry!" Grey answered before Terry got the chance, making Dan and Adam laugh. They walked out, Grey following quickly.
"Okay Terry, would you mind following me to my lab?" Carlos asked. Terry shook his head and smiled a bit. Carlos started to walk, and Terry followed until they got to a door. Carlos swiped his ID card through the slot and the door opened.
"Oh, you'll need to swipe your ID so the lab knows you're coming in." Carlos says.
"Okay." Terry nods and swipes his card, the slot turning green.
"That shows it recognizes your ID. C'mon in." Carlos said, and Terry nodded, following Carlos through the door.
They entered a white and bleak hallway about 100 feet long. Carlos took a single step in the floor of the hallway, and all the walls turned green. Terry did the same, nothing changing.
"Why's everything...?" Terry asked. Carlos simply smiled.
"If it turned red it would vaporize you. Orange, temporary paralyzation. Green just means you're good." Carlos replied, starting to walk. After every ten feet or so, all the walls behind Terry and Carlos turned white again. Even with the long walk, the pair was at the other end after a minute or so. Carlos slid his ID into the next slot, and a new door opened in front of him. They both walked in, and Carlos turned on the lights. The walls were a disturbing metallic grey compared to the white walls from earlier, and there was plenty of scientific equipment all over. But the most standing-out feature was the large clear tube in the middle of the room, large enough to hold a few stallion furs. As Terry took a few steps forward, he heard the door shut and lock behind him, and he sighed softly.
"This isn't about showing you what my keyblade is, is it?" Terry questioned.
"Nope." Carlos replied softly.
"This is a situation that if everything works in your favor, won't turn out well for me, will it?"
"Actually, it could turn out somewhat well depending on your point of view." Carlos replied.
"Dying isn't good. And you're not the first person to trick me like this. I've had people try to kill me before, you won't be the first." Terry said, his voice filled with anticipation and anxiousness.
"Oh Terry, I don't plan on killing you. Not even close. I want that keyblade of yours, but since I know it won't be that easy, I'll just take you and the keyblade." Carlos spoke. Terry turned to look at him, and his eyes went wide at what he saw. Behind Carlos, large appendages that seemed semi-solid were coming from the wall, they looked like large tentacles.
"What. The fuck." Terry stated, Fear appearing in his hands. A dozen of the tentacles rushed him, and Terry had only a millisecond to comprehend and react accordingly. He cast Aero with lighting speed, the tentacles bouncing back. At that moment though, the floor underneath him opened up, and he fell through the hole that was there. He then landed inside the large clear tube, shaking his head.
"Sonovabitch, they were a diversion..." Terry grunted, his rump feeling sore from the impact against the floor.
"Obviously. I thought that would have been more interesting to watch, but you were as easily tricked as all the others who had come here." Carlos shook his head, and walked over to a control panel in front of the tube. He clicked on a few buttons, and watched as the bottom of the tube began to open with tiny holes. A thick black fluid began to seep out of the holes, and clung to Terry. The human gasped and tried to kick the stuff off, but the liquid was being pumped in too fast. The level of the fluid inside the tube grew a few inches every 10 or 15 seconds.
"What the hell is the stuff?!" Terry shouted as he banged on the solid tube that surrounded him. The tube began to fill up faster with Terry struggling more, until it was up to his neck. Terry couldn't move anymore, the semi-liquid goo holding him. It continued rising, and began to push into his nostrils, ears, eyes, and mouth. The goo stayed at that height for a few minutes, then began to drain. Terry's head was exposed first. His eyes were blank, the goo dripping out of every opening, even some of his pores. The effect was the same as the tube drained, his clothes having disintegrated. When the tube was completely empty, it opened up on one side.
"Terry, get out here." Carlos ordered. Terry mindlessly obeyed, walking out of the tube and out in front of Carlos. What caused this sudden change of heart was the goo. When it went into him, some went up to his brain, completely covering it and going into it, giving complete control to Carlos. The white cheetah in front of Terry smirked, his tail swishing; as expected, the goo had worked. Carlos grabbed a medium sized metal box and placed it in front of Terry.
"Stand still, don't move no matter what until I say so."Carlos spoke, and pressed a button on the box. He then backed up, and the box opened up, revealing what looked like a black and orange pile of fur. The pile seemed to throb, and then seemed to leap, grabbing onto Terry's chest. It started to spread, covering over Terry's entire torso in a matter of seconds, orange fur with black stripes. It spread, going down his arms and legs, his knees snapping back as the stuff covered his hands and feet. The sounds of them snapping as they were changed into paws was sickening, the same way it was when the stuff covered Terry's head, all the snapping there as his head was shaped like a tiger disturbing. As soon as Terry was completely covered, he groaned, feeling the fur dig into his skin, bonding with him as a tail ripped out from above his behind, orange with a black tip, long and thin like a tiger's. Now, instead of a human, a tiger anthro stood in his place. The cheeetah walked up to him, watching the fur around the tiger's neck bristle. At the first stroke of Carlos's paw on his head, Terry stopped.
"Terry, you are an obediant bisexual tiger anthro now. You always have been, and have been my assistant and servant for as long as you can remember. You are completely loyal to me, and will do anything for me. Let it all be true." The goo inside of Terry's head quickly took in the information and rearranged Terry's brain accordingly, Terry's tail drooping during the mental reconfiguration. Carlos waited for a few minutes, and the moment Terry's tail began to swish again, Carlos smirked.
"Hello, pet. How are you feeling?" Carlos asked cautiously.
"Well, sir. And you?" Terry replied.
At that moment, a chill ran down Grey's spine as he went around with Adam and Dan.
"Grey? You okay?" Dan asked, noticing his discomfort. Grey seemed to be concentrating on something else. After a moment, Grey looked at Dan, a wild look in his eyes.
"Something's wrong. Something's happened to Terry, I can tell." Grey said, and began to dash back to the station. Dan and Adam were concerned, they knew Terry was with Carlos, and wondered if something happened to Carlos as well. They ran after Grey, now more worried than ever.
"Please Terry, Carlos, be okay..."