Industrial Zone 3

INDUSTRIAL ZONE - EPISODE 3

Written by IronK and Susi in 2006

Under the tropical mid-afternoon sun, filtered by fig, palm, and banana leaves, very little stirred the hot, humid air. Bugs buzzed from the shade, and birdsong from the trees made a pleasant background melody. Suddenly, the peace was utterly shattered by the slapping of foot pads at top speed on pavement, as Wolf charged down the street.

"Electra!" he screamed before even reaching her house. Too excited to bother with the door, he scrambled into her TV room window and collapsed awkwardly onto the tacky but comfy old orange carpet. She jumped in surprise, spilling a little of the popcorn she was eating as she watched TV.

"Holy hell!" she spat out, then laughed. "You scared the daylights out of me."

"Sorry," he panted.

"What's got you all hyperactive?" she asked, getting up and offering her hand to help him off the floor.

"I just got a phone call from WKNX!" he breathed, and her eyes lit up. "Someone cancelled for next week's filming of IZ, and they asked me to come!"

"You're kidding!" she exclaimed, though she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would never joke about what was, to him, such a serious matter.

"Four days from today I go to the studios and I get to play! Electra, I get to play on IZ!"

She had to laugh along with him. She put her hand to his chest, his fur damp with sweat after the run to her house, and felt his racing heart. She hugged him as one last airy giggle left his throat.

"I guess my wishes came true too," she said. "I hoped desperately that you would get picked somehow."

"I've been waiting for this since I was seven!" he smiled.

"It's so hard to believe it was almost three months ago that I was on," she sighed. "Seems like a long time."

"Why don't you come with me when I go on Tuesday?" he offered. "You can watch everything."

"I'd sure love to," she said. "I've got my college acceptance interview on Tuesday, though... I'll see you on TV soon enough if I don't make it."

He looked at her with a lively grin, then leapt into the air and howled with glee, landing with a thud on his side.

She ate dinner at his house, and listened as he excitedly gave his parents the news. He described IZ, and Electra's experience.

His mom smiled when he was finished. "Doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but I remember you watching those shows when you were little. I'm glad you finally get your chance to play."

His dad hadn't said much the whole time. "I can't honestly say why you want to do it," he said gruffly, wiping at his mouth with his napkin.

"It's fun, dad! Just a silly good time for everybody."

"Seems kind of dumb to me, but I'm not the one going."

"Oh come on, Paul," his mom replied. "It's a big deal for him."

"I know," Wolf's dad nodded, then sighed. "I know you'll have a good time," he smiled at Wolf.

"You bet I will!"

As night wore on, Electra and Wolf sat in his basement bedroom, under the cooling fans after an evening of swimming, rewatching the tape of Electra's IZ games. Wolf laughed again as they saw one of the other contestants being dragged back on a chair into a large arrangement of pipes and tip-tanks.

"I really hope they still have that when I go!"

"I wouldn't worry," Electra said. "They change some games around, but the real winners stay. I'd say that the Ride is a winner."

Wolf couldn't take his eyes off the TV as the slime began to fall. "I'd love to get that done to me," he said distractedly.

"They'll let you," she smiled. "Anybody as excited as you deserves to get it. Besides, maybe you'll be team leader and then you can tell everyone else that you're going to do it."

He smiled. "Maybe."

The days passed slowly. Wolf continued to surf, swim, play guitar, hackey sack, and lounge as he always did, but all the time his mind was on the coming Tuesday. He even dreamed about it twice.

After half a week that seemed like a year, he finally stood in the white-walled locker room of Industrial Zone, looking around, brimming with excitement. A huge green splat mark was painted on the wall with the IZ logo on it, and another one adorned the door out of the locker room and into the waiting area.

He smiled and drew his breath, and slipped out of his shorts and underpants, then opened up the locker and looked inside. On one side was the outfit that most contestants chose - a pair of yellow gym shorts and the official IZ T-shirt. He was reaching for it when he saw the alternate outfit on the other side. It was a pair of swimming trunks, the same loud yellow as the regular shorts, though much more revealing. He smiled and slipped them on, and kicked his home clothes back into the locker. He had a decent build, and it sure was going to feel good getting gunged in those.

The door on the opposite side of the locker room banged open and heavier footsteps sauntered in. A unicorn male, a couple of inches taller than Wolf minus his horn, marched into the locker room. He wore a loose sleeveless shirt with the Wildfire band logo on it. Wolf could feel the unicorn's ease. He didn't look like a huge gunge fan like Wolf, but he was certainly not nervous at all. He seemed to be the type who relaxed and enjoyed every moment of his life. He whistled a few strains of a song that Wolf recognised from the band's latest album loudly as he opened up his own locker and took a look inside.

Wolf sang out the last line as the unicorn whistled through the chorus, and he jumped a little, unaware that anyone else was in the locker room. He looked round at him smiled.

"Sorry about that," Wolf said, walking toward him. "I love that song, I couldn't resist."

"No problem!" The unicorn crowed, then extended a hand. "I'm Kamo."

"Wolf's the name," Wolf responded. He eagerly shook the hand, and felt all the more strongly the unicorn's goodwill, easygoing nature, and general happiness that day.

"It sure fits!" Kamo laughed.

"Are you looking forward to this?" Wolf asked, though he already knew.

"Yeah! Never thought I'd really get it though. This show looked like a lot of fun, so I just signed up on a whim. You look like you're raring to go."

"I am!" Wolf proclaimed. "My friend was on it a while ago. Plus I've always thought getting slimed looked like a blast! Actually, as of a couple months ago, I know it is."

"Oh, you've done something like this before? I never have," Kamo said as he stripped off his shirt. He was well built, with a shaggy mane of light electric blue on his head and neck.

"You're in for a treat!" Wolf smiled. "Did you happen to meet any of the other players out there? I got here too early."

"I did, but I didn't get any names yet," Kamo answered. "Looks like we're going two guys and two girls for this one." He peeled his pants and boxers off in one motion and reached in for the shirt and shorts. Wolf laughed as he thought about how, in less than half an hour, both he and the others would be smothered with slop. He shivered. The thought of anyone getting gunged, male or female, always twitched him a little, but he pushed it out of his mind as Kamo pulled the shirt over his head and the shorts up his legs.

"Getting all dressed up for this, huh?" he teased.

"I always imagined having your shirt get ruined with the stuff was part of the experience," Kamo answered with a smile. "But I might lose it during the game."

"That's a good point," Wolf nodded, and almost considered putting his shirt back on. Then he remembered how great it had felt when the cool, thick gunge had sluiced from his shoulders down his back and chest, and he happily forgot about the idea.

When the equine finished dressing, they walked out of the changing room together, talking about their favorite kinds of music. It was obvious that Kamo was a rock fan just like Wolf, and the fact that they both shared interest in the same band was a good start. The waiting area was empty, and they sat down facing each other. Kamo was silent for a moment, then changed the subject back.

"So what's it like to get slimed?"

"It's very hard to describe," Wolf said with an excited grin. "It's cool and nice, and it makes a heavy wet blanket over you. Of course I just got it from someone pouring a bucket on me. I can't wait to get under one of the machines! It would get so much more covered!"

"You mean you WILL get so much more covered," Kamo smiled, and Wolf laughed.

"So will you!" He looked Kamo in the eyes. "I can tell you're looking forward to it a lot more than you're letting on."

He laughed softly. "I am. I've watched messy shows ever since I was young, and I've always wanted to get slimed, especially on a show. Only thing that would make this better is if we had an audience who could participate."

"We're gonna have the time of our lives!" Wolf giggled, bouncing a little. Then they heard a thump at the door and turned to look.

The door to the girls' locker room squeaked open, and a blue-furred wolfox girl who looked to be about Wolf's age strolled in. She wore an easy smile and a rather skimpy black two-piece decorated with a yellow IZ logo.

"Hey there," Wolf smiled at her, shifting a little sideways to make room for her to sit down. She had long, flowing ocean blue hair, darker than her fur, which she was in the process of tying back in a ponytail.

As she sat down next to him, Wolf got an immediate feel for her too. She reminded him a lot of Electra, though perhaps a bit more tomboyish. Not for long, he guessed, judging by Electra's gradual loss of any sort of petite manner she might have had to begin with.

"Hi. My name's Indy," she introduced herself to both of them.

"Is that short for anything?" Kamo asked, leaning across to speak to her.

"Indigo," she answered. "But no one really calls me that." She had a bit of muscle, but she was quite slim and attractive. Wolf felt a little guilty, but he was really looking forward to seeing her covered in slime.

"So who's our fourth team member?" he said to distract himself from the thought.

"She's almost ready. I think she's a little nervous." The wolfox looked back at the changing room door.

"You're not?" Wolf asked.

"Maybe a little, but I'm more just excited," she smiled. She had a slightly deeper voice than most girls Wolf knew, but still a nice voice. He would have loved to have her sing a song for his budding band.

"I know the feeling," Wolf smiled. He was actually quite nervous, but he loved it. It blended in with his excitement just enough that he would still yelp and giggle like a moron when he got messy. He grinned to himself at the thought. "Ready to get slimed?" he asked the room in general.

"Definitely." Indy nodded, a broad smile on her face. "I always watched them when I was younger, but they stopped being made before I was old enough to go on."

"I used to love them too," Kamo leaned across to them eagerly. "Remember Jungle Fever? That was one of my favourites."

"Yeah!" Wolf remembered excitedly. "The one where the losing team were all dumped in that swamp thing at the end?"

"I always thought that was kind of gross," smiled Indy.

"It was just muddy stuff with wood chippings on the top, or something. The rest of the games..."

The door creaked open again, and very quietly a stark white feline, a little shorter than Wolf, stepped out of the girls' room. She was wearing the normal shorts and T-shirt outfit, and the way she walked suggested to Wolf that she was just as nervous, if not more so, than Electra had been her first time. She sat down at the end of Kamo's bench, smiling at everyone uneasily as they nodded their hellos.

"Crystal," she said simply, eyes flicking between the three of them. The others introduced themselves and continued talking about their memories of old game shows, but she couldn't seem to find the words to join in with them. After a while, she got up and began to pace across the room.

Wolf stood up and walked over to her. He felt how revealed he was, and he wasn't self-conscious at all about it. Crystal turned when she heard him approach and gave him one of her pleasant smiles, always nice but never changing. "So, what made you want to be on IZ?" Wolf asked, hoping to make her feel more at ease.

"I thought it looked like a whole lot of fun," she replied rather quietly in a softer, more velvety voice.

"You seem so nervous," Wolf commented bluntly.

"Yeah, I am. I get stage fright really bad. I'm too shy," she giggled apologetically.

"Don't worry! The cameras are hidden, you won't even know you're on tape!"

"I don't figure it would be a problem for you either way," she grinned, much more honestly this time.

"I doubt it too," Wolf smirked. "I'm a clown, really." He motioned that she come sit down with them again, and she followed. He hoped that she would be more open with the other two, but just as she began to talk, the door at the far end of the room opened and Alex, the show's easygoing presenter, strolled in. He grinned and pointed at Wolf in recognition.

"Hey! It's good to see you finally made it on!" he crowed, shaking Wolf's hand.

"Heh, so am I," Wolf agreed.

"Electra told me a lot about you after the programme. She said how much you loved messy shows." He elbowed Wolf a little. "I was able to pull some strings in your favor."

"Wow, thanks!" Wolf was flabbergasted.

"Not ignoring you, Kamo," Alex turned to the unicorn just as jovially.

"No problem. I didn't have any connections," he smiled.

"And Indy and Crystal! Hi to you too," he grinned, kneeling down in front of them to shake their hands. "Are you as eager as the boys?"

Indy nodded confidently, and Crystal just smiled a little, waving her hand from side to side in front of her.

"So, are you all ready to go?" the presenter asked, dragging a chair out from the wall and positioning it between the two benches.

"Oh yeah!" Wolf was the first one to exclaim, beating Indy by only a fraction of a second. "I can't wait!"

"You're pretty daring to wear that," Alex laughed, pointing at his swimsuit. "The men have always tended to be shier."

"Don't worry," Wolf shrugged. "Get a thick enough coat of slime on me, and I'll be fine."

Alex clapped him on the back. "That's what I like to hear!" He looked over at Kamo.

"Ditto," Kamo smiled. Wolf had never had close contact with a unicorn before, and he had always seen them as very noble, dignified individuals. Kamo was about as laid back and crazy as he was.

"Okay, I can see you all know pretty much how it works, right?" he asked, and everyone nodded. "Well, I'll go over the basics. Most of the show is filmed through cameras mounted in the walls, so if you don't think about it, you could very well forget that you're even being taped. Just don't pay attention to any cameras that you see, or the crew members that you might see behind us in the corridors on occasion." Crystal nodded, more eagerly than before.

"We'll be playing four games in each part of the set," Alex continued, producing a floor map from his pocket and laying it out on the central table. The team members leaned forwards to see, and Wolf grinned as he recognised the names of many of the rooms that he'd seen on television. "The rooms that we visit are already set up, but we can visit those rooms and areas in any order, and it'll look as if I'm just improvising for most of the show. There are just a few parts where I have a script, so just play along with those. You all look like good actors," he smiled, "so it shouldn't be hard for you."

His smile turned into a broad grin as he reached into his pocket again, and revealed a small plastic bottle of green stuff. "I love talking about this," he commented as he handed it to Kamo, the nearest team member to him. "That's a sample of the gunge that we've got prepared for you. All of the stuff that we used is made up from industrial food thickener, and a couple of extra ingredients to get just the right texture." He watched as the bottle was passed round the contestants one by one. "Even if once we're out there my script says that you're about to be covered in oil or something, don't worry about it - it's all totally harmless."

Accepting the bottle back from the fascinated Wolf, he left it on the table before beginning to get up. Wolf's heart gave another leap as he realized that soon they would be going out into the main set. "Now, I don't like bringing people's excitement down by talking about safety," the host continued, "but I've got to remind you that you'll be being covered in some pretty slimy stuff out there, so take care not to fall if you've got slippery feet. Particularly if you're trying to get out of a big vat of the stuff." He laughed as Kamo, Wolf and Indy grinned at each other. Crystal just smiled a little, still nervous.

"Just so you know, if you seriously feel uncomfortable at any time, we can stop - all you have to do is tell me, and we can restart a section with someone else, or something. Again, I doubt it's going to be a problem, but I just wanted you all to know."

"Everyone know the storyline of the show?" They all nodded. "And remember, the bottom line is having as much fun as physically possible!" Alex offered a huge grin, which seemed to be contagious, even to Crystal. "Are there any questions?" The catgirl raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Is it okay if you keep me out of the centre of attention for a while?" she asked shyly.

"Of course, we can do that - but the team captain's the one who'll have to remember. Who's it going to be?"

Wolf hesitated. When talking to Electra it had seemed like a great idea, but now he was here he wanted someone else to decide what was going to happen to him rather than do it himself. He kept quiet, but none of the others said anything either.

"The fairest way, then..." Alex stooped forwards again and took hold of the bottle, laid it flat on the table and spun it round. The four of them watched as it gradually slowed, its movement being jolted by the thick liquid inside.

"Kamo!" The host put his hand on the equine's shoulder as he grinned. "You'll be the one deciding what route we take through the set, and who to volunteer for each game. What do you think?"

"Sure," he answered, getting up and stretching.

"All right - everyone ready?" He put his hands on the double doors that led into the main set. The others got up and gathered round excitedly as he flung the doors open and strode out into the large hub on the other side.

The room they had entered had a heavy door opposite the one leading to the changing rooms, and four corridors stretched off diagonally from the curved walls. Alex reached the centre of the room and turned around to them.

"Welcome to the Industrial Zone! The door that you're trying to get through is right behind me now, but to earn time in that room you'll have to earn points in games around the complex. You can get a maximum of sixty points in each game, and each of them is worth a quarter of a second in the final. Team leader Kamo, step up here!"

Kamo broke away from the group and joined the host in the centre. "Where do you want to start?" he asked, and pointed at the names above each of the corridors as he listed them. "The security station, the orbital base, the factory or my personal favourite, the chemical plant?"

The team leader glanced around at the four corridors again as he decided. "Let's start with the factory."

"All right, let's go!" Alex sprinted off down the corridor leading to the factory, leaving the surprised team members to run to catch up with him. Eventually they caught up with him at a large rusty-looking hatch that had been wedged open. One by one they ducked through it, and emerged in a dimly-lit corridor that looked as if it had fallen into disrepair. Patches of rust covered the walls, and a few pipes and other junk were strewn around the floor.

Alex followed them through and stepped forwards. "As you can see, we're starting in the oldest part of the compound. The machinery's still in working order, but a lot of it's been pulled apart and modified for other purposes... Who's going to find out what they are first, Kamo?"

"There's one of us that I know has been dying to do this for ages," grinned the equine. Wolf looked at him as he made eye contact.

"Wolf! Follow me..." Alex led them round another corner, grabbed a valve on the front of one of the doors and began spinning it open. Eventually he pushed it aside and led him into the room beyond it.

The room was fairly small, with three of the walls virtually covered in panels of vague display screens and controls. The largest of the screens was mounted on the right wall, and opposite it stood a clear perspex cubicle with a plastic seat inside it. A metallic cylinder was attached to the top of the tank.

Eagerly, Wolf followed the host towards it as the door was opened for him, and sat down on the seat. As the door was closed behind him he looked up at the mechanism above him - all that was visible was a dark circle that covered the chute, held in place by a small catch at one side. Resting his hands on the top of the door in front of him, he leaned forwards to listen in on the game's rules.

"I'm going to give you two minutes for the first game," the host was explaining to the other three. "Somewhere in this room, there's a way of turning that tank on, but we lost the manuals for everything years ago. It's always the way, isn't it?" The three of them smiled as he paced around them. "So as to give you a chance, I've coerced the computer into providing you with clues as to what to do to turn the machine on. You'll have to solve them all within the time limit to open that tank above your teammate and win the game." Wolf glanced upwards again, tapping his feet on the tank's floor excitedly.

"Ready?" Alex stepped aside, directing the team's attention to the large screen opposite the cubicle. Suddenly it turned on, with the first clue along with a timer counting backwards.

"Find the three green buttons," Indy read aloud, looking at the diagram that had appeared on the screen. She dashed to the nearest wall console, leaving the other two standing. They looked at each other, then began searching in the other corners of the room.

"Here!" After a while, Crystal was the one to shout out as she found what they had been looking for. As she pressed them all, they all turned to the screen to read off the next control to search for.

Wolf leaned out of the tank in an attempt to see what they were doing as they went through a few more clues of the same kind, one eye always on the timer. He looked up again as a larger, more important-looking device was flashed up on the screen.

"The key for the button is under the console..." With thirty seconds left, Indy looked back at the row of control banks that lined the room, and crouched down to look underneath them where there was a gap. The others ran to look as well, but she emerged quickly with a triumphant shout.

"Where have we seen keyholes?" she said anxiously, straightening up with the key in her hand. Kamo pointed over at where he'd been searching, and the three of them sprinted across the room to the other side, where a row of about ten keyholes were placed next to a button with a catch over it.

Wolf stood up and leaned forwards out of the tank as she frantically tried the key in each of the keyholes in turn, working her way along the row. "Come on!" he encouraged, glancing at the timer. Suddenly a buzzer sounded, and Indy turned around to see that she'd run out of time.

The host came over to put his arm around Indy, and Wolf sagged back into the seat, disappointed at the anti-climax. He looked up again as Alex took the keys from the wolfox.

"You were nearly there, it was this one..." He turned the key in the hole a couple of spaces along from the one that Indy had reached, and pointed as the catch over the button flipped open. "So I can only give you fifty points for this game, but that's only ten short of the total." He looked over at the occupant of the tank, then back at the button. Suddenly he thumped his hand down on it.

Blinking as a rotating red light began passing over the tank, Wolf grinned up into the valve, still not quite believing what was about to happen. He faced his cheering teammates again, and gasped as a wave of cold slime slapped against his head.

He froze in place, hunching his shoulders as he heard the gunge splatter against the walls of the tank above the noise of the siren. After a moment, he felt the stuff sliding down his back and creeping around his neck to drip down his chest. It was the same heavy, wet custard-like feeling that he remembered from being slimed at Electra's party, but with masses more of it. Closing his eyes, he laughed a little as he imagined it doming out from his head like he'd seen on the show before, and leaned a little to each side to let the downpour totally cover him.

As the klaxon sounded a final time, he felt the flow ease off, and wiped his eyes as it slowed to a drizzle. He looked round to see himself and the walls of the tank completely covered in thick off-yellow gunge. Glancing up again, he saw the black valve cover now hanging down from a hinge on one side, the catch having moved back to let it fall. Still laughing, he joined his teammates in their applause, shivering a little as he felt the slime crawl down him and seep into his fur.

Alex moved forwards to open the door of the tank, and he got up, shaking himself rapidly to stop it dripping from all over him. His teammates and the host took a couple of steps back to avoid the yellow spray.

"I think it's safe to say he enjoyed that... and that was a good start to your points as well. We don't have a lot of time, though, so if you come with me, our next game isn't far away..."

He opened the door to the room, then leapt across the corridor and hauled on the door opposite. The team followed, Wolf feeling a little heavier with the gunge still clinging to him.

He stepped through the door and ran his hand over his head, flinching as the wave of slime he'd released slid down the back of his neck. He grinned as he saw the contents of the room - this time it was a machine that he recognised. A large transparent cylinder was set into the wall, a few metres across, with two chairs mounted on a rail on the far wall inside. A podium stood in front of them, with two large buttons - one marked "Yes", the other "No".

The most striking feature of the tank, though, was another perspex cylinder placed on top of the main one. Inside could be seen gallons of slime made up to look like baked beans, with orangeish lumps in darker brown-orange gunge. Two pipes led down from the reservoir, and opened above each chair.

"You can probably see we need two people for this game," the host said as he swung open the front of the large tank. "Who should it be?"

Kamo looked at Indy and Crystal. The catgirl nodded enthusiastically, relieved at the opportunity not to be alone for her first game. "The two girls," the team leader said aloud, even though they were already on their way to the chairs.

Alex closed the door behind them, turning the handle on the outside to lock them in. "You'll be working together to avoid being slimed by the Bean Machine," he started. The girls giggled as they sat down next to each other. "Well, I didn't make the name up. You've got two buttons there, one for each of you, and I'm going to ask you questions that have either 'Yes' or 'No' for an answer. You've got ten seconds to answer each of them, so you can discuss all you want and change your answer if you need to. Just make sure that whatever you think is the right answer is lit up when the time runs out." The two of them nodded, and placed their hands on a button each - Indy taking Yes, Crystal with No.

"Now, about what's above you..." Alex looked up at the reservoir. "If the wrong button's lit when the time runs out, the girl who didn't press it will be carried away to safety, and the one who answered wrongly is going to get absolutely covered. If you don't answer a question at all, then both of you are going to get it!" The two of them looked at each other, and Indy put her arm round Crystal as they waited for the game to start. The catgirl giggled up at the tank, and leaned forwards to her button.

"Ten points per correct answer, because they're pretty difficult," the host said as he fished the question cards out of his pocket. "All right - is this true? Tomatoes are a form of fruit."

A ticking noise began, and the two of them leaned closer to each other as Crystal whispered something to Indy. The wolfox thumped the Yes button, which lit up, and both the team members waited anxiously for the time to run out. Indy jumped as a loud noise burst through the faint ticking, but it was a correct bell.

"Well done! The next one - do the numbers on the face of a phone add up to 50?"

Indy immediately hit her button again, then turned to Crystal, who was mouthing silently as she counted them up. "The first five are fifteen", she whispered to the catgirl, "then..."

Crystal shook her head. "It's four tens and a five," she thought aloud. "Forty-five! No!" Suddenly she lunged forward and hit the No button, just before the bell sounded again.

The host grinned at them as Crystal sagged, relieved. "You were only just in time for that, but well done - that's twenty points so far," he laughed. "True or false, the prefix 'giga' means one million."

The girls looked at each other again, unsure of the answer. Crystal shook her head, and Indy just shrugged as the catgirl hit the button in front of her. Indy hovered her hand over her own button uncertainly, but the other girl brushed her away, nodding as the time ran out. A harsh klaxon rang, and Crystal's mouth dropped open at the sound.

"Hold on, Indy, you're getting out of there!" Alex called to her as her chair began to move. She grabbed it quickly as it carried her away from the podium, looking all the time at the catgirl, who had moved her hands up to try and wrap them around her bare head, a smile breaking through her screwed up face as she heard the harsh blare of the klaxon.

She squeaked as the thick lumpy torrent spewed down onto her, instantly hiding her from the watchers, who could only see the messy dome changing shape as she squirmed around underneath the downpour. Globs of it splashed outwards and coated the podium as well as the floor around her. Occasionally her face would appear as she leaned sideways, covered in the glistening sauce-like slime.

Suddenly the downpour shut off, and Crystal heaved herself upwards against the weight of the gunge on her back, wearing a sickly smile as she ran her hands over her head and tried to clear some of it off. Lumps of it dripped from all over her fur and the folds of her clothing. As soon as she had straightened, the tank started up again and she returned to her hunched position with a loud yelp. This time, the deluge didn't last long before drizzling to a halt.

"Are you okay, Crystal?" laughed the host as the last few orange blobs spattered onto the coated girl. Slowly, she straightened again, making the lumps slide down from all over her as she moved, and looked at her coated arms still held in front of her. Her shoulders shook in a giggle, dislodging even more of the stuff and sending it sloshing in waves to the floor, then she leaned forward out of the remaining drizzle and rested her elbows on the podium.

Indy got up from her seat, which had been moved well away from the tank. Carefully, she picked her way through the puddle on the floor and offered a hand to help Crystal up. The catgirl accepted her outstretched arm, set her feet on the floor and tentatively shuffled through the mess with her, eventually getting to the tank's door.

Crystal wrapped her arms around Indy in a hug as Alex opened the door for them, and she yelped as she felt the catgirl's slimy clothing against her bare fur. Taking hold of the door, she hurriedly stepped out, shaking her off and leaving her to follow behind.

"I'm afraid you only got two questions right before Crystal got covered, so that's twenty points - but it's early yet, and we've got to move on. Kamo, who's not been in a game yet?"

"That would be me," he smiled nervously.

"Correct - let's go!" Alex took off at his usual fast pace, grabbing his arm on the way past and making him stumble to keep up. The team were led out of the door they came in by, then round the corner at the end of the corridor. Alex stopped abruptly at the next T-junction, and looked to the left as the others caught up.

Standing in the middle of the corridor was a spherical machine - metallic blue with blinking lights on the bottom half and clear on the top, about two metres across. Beyond it, the corridor stretched off into darkness, so they couldn't tell how far it went on.

"I think the lights are a bit faulty here," Alex said, looking into the gloom. "I should get that fixed, but it doesn't matter just now, as this is all we need." He walked towards the machine and took hold of a handle at the side of the clear section. "Can you give me a hand?" he asked the team in general.

Wolf and Indy moved over to take hold of the other two handles, and together they lifted the clear section up and away from the bottom half, setting it down next to the bowl shaped device. Wolf looked down into it as Alex walked back to the others, and smiled as he saw a shallow layer of orange stuff at the bottom of it.

The host led Kamo towards the machine, and gave him a leg up to help him in. Tentatively, he set a foot down, wriggling it in the slime to get a good grip before climbing in fully. He straightened up, splashing the stuff with his toes a little as he looked upwards.

Wolf followed his stare, and noticed a cluster of openings of various sizes on the ceiling for the first time. They were all pointed down at different points of the bowl shape. He looked back at the host as he began to explain the game.

"The objective here, Kamo," he started, "is to end up with as little gunge in that bowl as possible at the end of one minute. You can scoop it out from the bottom of it, or try to deflect it away however you like when it's coming down." Kamo smiled nervously, realizing how much mess this would involve him getting into.

"That's pretty much it, actually. Are you ready?" The equine nodded, looking up at the ceiling as Alex moved to a wall-mounted lever. He pulled it, starting a low humming noise.

Kamo moved to the side as he saw a stream of white gunge being poured from the ceiling, and stuck out his hands to try and bounce it off away from the bowl. The slime spattered onto the floor behind the machine, spreading out in a puddle. Another downpour started behind him, and as the team called to get his attention, Kamo looked round and used one hand to direct it away, looking back awkwardly at the other one.

A third stream started up next to him, this time yellow. Kamo began raising his foot, trying to get it to hit it and bounce off, but gave up and stuck his head under it instead, keeping his eyes closed as the stuff soaked into his hair.

As the three streams shut off, the contestant ducked down and began using his hands to scoop slime out of the bottom of the tank, sending it out in waves as the girls backed away a little. Wolf kept his eyes on the ceiling, waiting for the next stream to begin, and shouted to Kamo to look up as two thick blue torrents began pouring down.

Kamo did look up, shaking his head a little to clear his face of the multicoloured slime, then quickly straightened and closed his eyes as the blue gunk slapped onto him. Most of it poured off his head in a dome shape, but the gunge bowl was beginning to fill up. After feeling it shut off, he continued his scooping action, shuffling round the tank awkwardly to try and get hit by as much of the stuff falling from the ceiling as possible.

Suddenly a low klaxon blared, and a huge yellow downpour crashed into the centre of the bowl. Kamo hesitated for a moment before visibly taking a breath and ducking his head right under, shaking it continually to try and get it out of the bowl. The gunk splashed violently out from his head, making the two girls squeak and jump backwards as it flew towards them. Wolf just laughed as the stuff splashed onto his chest, turning round to get a coat on his back as well.

He turned around again and saw Kamo frantically trying to throw the liquid over the side of the bowl, just before another klaxon sounded to signal that time was up. The equine straightened again, slopping another handful of slime over the edge.

"Hey, I saw that!" Alex laughed. "I think you did pretty well there, Kamo," he continued, picking his way through the huge pool of slime that had formed in the corridor. He took a measuring stick that had been leaning against the wall, and as Kamo climbed awkwardly out, stuck it in the pool of slime to measure the depth.

"Well... you're just over the thirty-point mark, but I'm going to give 30 points to you anyway," he smiled. "Because I'm nice like that." Kamo grinned back at him as he rejoined the group.

"I think we've spent about enough time here, so I'm going to try and get us to the exit now," Alex called back over his shoulder as he dashed off down the corridor again. Kamo shook himself to spray out some of the gunge clinging to his fur, then caught up with the others.

After a few twists in the corridor, suddenly the host darted to the left into an open room, and the four of them looked around as they ran to keep up with him. There was a metal table to one side of them, and six large plastic tanks mounted in a row on the wall opposite. Two of them were filled with the familiar opaque liquid - one brown, the other yellow. Beneath the five tanks, a cubicle was set into the wall, with a plastic chair in the centre.

Alex continued across the room and put his hands on the valve at the centre of the far door. He heaved on the wheel, but couldn't seem to turn it. As the others gathered round, he stepped back and looked around the door's edges. Looking confused, he turned around and walked towards the tank. Leaning into it and looking up, his expression changed to a smile, and he straightened again to talk to the team.

"The button to open the door's in there, but I'm pretty sure it'll lock the tank as well. Any volunteers for who to try it out?"

Kamo walked towards Indy and put his arm on her shoulder. "I think that she's the cleanest of us," he smiled. The wolfox girl bounced on her heels nervously before stepping forwards out of the group.

The host opened the door of the tank and took her hand to guide her into it. She crouched down as she went in, turning around to sit down as Alex closed the door with a click behind her. Smiling a little as she looked at her surroundings, she reached up to put her hand on the button in the ceiling.

"Hold on a moment, Indy - let's see if we can work out a way to save you first..." Alex motioned to the three others to follow him, and led them to the table on the opposite side of the room. The surface was divided into squares, with fifteen tiles and a gap. Each of the tiles showed a piece of the IZ logo.

"Now, Indy - you've just stepped into the Mixer. When you press that button above you, the tank will turn on, and the only way to stop it is to press the Stop button right next to you." He pointed across the room to a translucent red button on the wall next to the tank, just out of Indy's reach. Its inset light blinked a couple of times. "But the rest of the team have to complete the puzzle before it activates. Know what you have to do, you three?"

They nodded, and Kamo looked down at the board, already planning the first few moves.

"Go on, Indy!" The wolfox tentatively pressed the button and ducked just in case something happened. A buzzer sounded, and a display above the tank began counting backwards from a hundred and twenty.

"Two minutes - off you go!" The presenter stepped back to watch as the equine stooped over the table, quickly sliding the tiles around each other to form the first row of the logo. Crystal leaned over his shoulder, occasionally pointing or hesitantly giving advice.

Wolf looked over at Indy as the other two started on the second row, and she smiled back at him, running one hand through her hair. He watched as the timer approached one minute, and grinned as he imagined the gunge pouring down onto her from the large tanks on the wall.

He turned back to the table, where Kamo and Crystal had just finished the second row. Kamo was getting more hesitant now, looking distractedly up at the timer every few seconds, and had only slid a couple of pieces into place by the time another thirty seconds had passed. He looked at the other tiles, drumming his fingers on them anxiously.

"There!" Crystal pointed down at the corner, and leaned over to slide the pieces into place. The other two stepped aside as she dashed round the table to get a better view. Kamo grinned as he saw what she was doing, realizing that she was just about to complete it.

They all looked at each other suddenly as a high-pitched mechanical whine started up, and span round to look at the timer. It was still at ten seconds, but thick yellow foam was being pumped into Indy's tank, and was slowly filling it from the bottom. Indy looked from the rising foam to them and back, bringing her hands up to her head as the level crept upwards.

Kamo quickly looked back again and slid the last piece into place, but the countdown continued. "The button!" he shouted suddenly, pointing across the room to the Stop button, which was now blinking rapidly. "Wolf, get the button!"

Wolf sprinted back across the room towards the machine, Indy cheering him on as she bounced in the seat, looking excitedly between him and the rising foam around her. He skidded to a halt as he reached the front of the tank, and found himself hesitating just for a moment before he thumped the button.

The whirring sound wound down to silence, and Indy giggled as she relaxed, the foam slowing and stopping at her waist. She dipped her arms into the shaving foam-like stuff, reached out and smushed a handful onto Wolf's head as the host approached them.

"I think that's what you call just in time, team! But it looks like Indy's staying relatively clean for now after all..." He opened the door of the tank and she stepped out, kicking to shake the blobs of brightly coloured foam from her legs.

"I'm going to give you fifty points for that, and that brings your total to 150 for the round. That's nearly forty seconds you've got in the final already." He walked towards the door as the team members smiled to congratulate each other.

"I hope it's open now." He took hold of the valve again, and this time it turned easily. He grinned back at the others, then beckoned them to go through and followed as the door swung closed behind them.

They were now in a dimly-lit corridor that branched off in two directions. "Where's our next destination, Kamo?" the host asked him.

"The chemical plant," Kamo answered, reading it off one of the special effect smoke-surrounded doors.

"All right, follow me!" Alex dashed towards it and disappeared into the smoke, followed more cautiously by the others. After a short run down the corridor, they found him waiting outside a small blank metal door at the side.

"The first game of the round's behind here," he indicated by pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "But before you see it, who's going to be the victim?"

"I think I'll let the girls go first," said Kamo, "then Wolf and I can get the games at the end of the round."

"You've got a plan, I like that." Alex turned to the two girls. "Indy's just been in a game, so I'm afraid you might be getting messy again, Crystal..."

Rolling her eyes but with a smile on her face, Crystal took Alex's hand as he tapped out a code on a nearby panel. The door hummed open and the team members leaned around the host to see the room inside.

Placed next to the wall at one end of the room was an old-style ornate bathtub, complete with brass feet and a plastic bath pillow attached at the opposite end from the faucets. Above it, three large pipes in a row jutted down from the ceiling, marked with a different coloured arrow each - red, yellow and blue. Three lights were lit in matching colours on the wall below each pipe.

Crystal smiled nervously, staring up at the pipes as Alex led her towards the tub. He reached in and pulled out a pair of swimming goggles.

"Only if you want them," he commented, handing them to the catgirl. She took them and began stretching them out to fit them over her head.

"Hey!" Wolf called to her as the others entered the room. She turned around, surprised, as he grinned. "Don't use those, you've got to be gunged properly!"

She paused a moment, then giggled, looking back down at the goggles in her hand. Giving them back to Alex, she put her hands on the sides of the tub and carefully climbed inside, lying down with her head on the pillow and elbows hooked over the edges. She stared up anxiously into the three pipes as the host led the others around to a long control console in the middle of the room.

"Crystal's looking worried, but it's your job to keep her clean here," he said as the three of them lined up, the console between them and the bath. It was divided into three coloured sections matching the pipes, and each of them was made up of a display screen, a valve handle and a button. "The vats that those pipes are connected to are timed to open in thirty seconds from the time we start, and it's up to you to shut them off before Crystal gets covered."

He pointed down to the blue panel, and Kamo moved a little out of his way. The display screen on it lit up, showing the number 100. "To shut off each pipe, you've got to get that number to zero," he explained, "and you can either do that by pressing this button or by making one complete turn of this handle." He demonstrated them both as he spoke - one complete turn of the wheel subtracted one from the counter, as did the button. It reset itself to 100 as he moved away from the panel.

"When you've got one of them down to zero, the light for the pipe will turn off," Alex pointed as Crystal looked round to the lights. "If each of you deactivate your pipes, she'll escape clean... otherwise..." He stared up towards the pipes. "I don't know who decided it wouldn't be easier just to have one big switch to turn them all off," he said thoughtfully, making Indy laugh. Suddenly he span round and started the timer strapped around his wrist. "Go!"

Startled, the three of them looked down at their panels. Wolf, who was on the middle panel, took hold of the wheel with one hand and spun it while tapping on the button with the other hand - the rhythm felt awkward at first but soon he got used to it.

"Twenty seconds left", Alex said, after it seemed that hardly any time had passed at all. He concentrated harder on pressing the button, feeling his hand begin to cramp up painfully. Pausing for a moment to shake it, he glanced to his sides - Kamo was pressing on the button rapidly with one hand, ignoring the wheel altogether, and Indy looked like she was having trouble, as she kept swapping her hands between the two devices.

At hearing the ten second warning from Alex, he returned his hand to the panel and jabbed at the button furiously, panting as he finally reached zero with five seconds to go. He looked up with a smile as the yellow light faded out, and Crystal cheered, clapping her hands together. She froze, though, as a loud hooter sounded a few moments later.

With a loud gurgling noise, two columns of coloured paintlike gunge dropped from the pipes above Crystal, fanning out as they fell downwards. She screamed out loud as they slapped onto her, one on her chest and the other hitting her tummy. The stuff splashed out from the bath wildly, coating the wall and the floor in front of her as well.

The bath began to fill up, and the catgirl kicked her legs up to shake some of the mixed deep purple slime off them. She struggled to sit upright, her face screwed up and turned away from the downpour, and she held her breath as she dipped her head into the falling gunge, facing down so that it didn't go into her eyes. She brought her hands up to cover her ears, clutching the sides of her head.

Eventually the gunge began overflowing out of the top of the bath, and the deluge began to ease off, leaving Crystal completely covered by the thick purple layer. Her shoulders were shaking with laughter as she dragged her hands down her head, wiping some of the slime off, and opened her eyes to look at her team mates. Clapping her hands together again, she whooped, and clung onto the side of the tub as Alex picked his way over the puddle of spilled slime.

"You all right, Crystal?" he asked. She nodded, giving him two thumbs up. "Sorry they didn't rescue you, but they were so close... I think that deserves at least forty points." The catgirl nodded again and dipped her hands back into the gunge bath with a glooping sound, sending another wave of it out over the sides. A few more drips fell from the pipes above, and she shook her head as they drizzled onto her.

The other three walked around from the control panel as Alex took her under the arms and hauled her out of the tub, placing her gently back on the floor. She was still grinning as she looked down at her dripping clothes and fur.

"But what next, Kamo?" Alex turned to the team leader again. "Do you think one of you boys should be slimed to even things out, or are you sticking to the plan?"

"No, I'm still going to put Indy into the next game," he answered.

"That sounds fair enough," Alex said, smiling over at Indy, who shook her head. "And you're still too clean, so we've got to do something about that! It's not far away..."

He took her hand and dashed out of the room again, leading the team around the corner into a small padded chamber just off the main corridor, with a locked door at the opposite end. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered in translucent inflatable material with subtly pulsing red lights visible below its surface. To the side of the room, a crooked set of pipes bent down out of the wall and opened above a small but deep pit in the material - there were four very thin ones but they were clustered round a much bigger pipe, which had a numerical display mounted on it. Looking round, the team struggled to keep their balance as Alex let go of Indy and bounded over to the door.

"You know, most rooms in this place have some sort of purpose, but no one can work out what this one was used for," he commented, putting his hand on the door to steady himself. "We just call it the soft room. The most solid thing in it's this door, and unfortunately we're going to have to try and get through it."

He turned around to face the team and pointed at a strip of metal with ten dimples on it set into the wall. "The door opens when all these spaces are filled," he said, "but the only place that I can think of where the keys are hidden is in here..."

Carefully, he wobbled over to the edge of the small pit, and peered inside. The rest of the team gathered round and saw that it went about five feet down before a layer of thick white foam began. The host looked from the pit to Indy and back, and she giggled nervously.

"Can you get them back for us, Indy?" he asked, moving over to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. She just smiled, and sat down on the edge of the hole, feet dangling down into it.

"Before you go..." She turned round quickly, her tight ponytail flailing outwards. "Once you're in there you'll only have thirty seconds before that pipe goes off, and you'll have to get another team member to pull you out if you want to stay dry." Indy looked at the collection of pipes again, then nodded. Giving a wave to the others, she pushed herself forwards with her hands and slid down into the pit, squeaking as she landed awkwardly in the foam at the bottom.

Wolf leaned forwards, keeping his weight on his back foot, to see what was down there. She was sitting in a pile of foam about a foot deep, giggling as she tried to stand up again.

"Hurry, time's already started!" called Alex, who had retreated to the other side of the room. Hearing him, she bent down and stuck both arms into the foam, quickly finding two plastic balls. She stretched up to hand them to Wolf.

"Throw them!" he called down, and she tossed them up out of the hole then quickly bent down to look for others. Kamo and Crystal moved to retrieve the two balls and placed them in the slots next to the door.

Stumbling in the foam, Indy threw another two over her shoulder, then looked up worriedly as a gurgling sound played. Suddenly the four small pipes began spraying even more foam down into the pit, covering everything in it in a white layer as the stuff hissed out of them.

The girl squeaked again, and another couple of balls emerged as she threw them. Wolf joined the others in retrieving them, then looked at the timer on the middle pipe.

"You've got ten seconds left," he called down into the mass of foam, then dodged as another of the spheres flew out towards him. The foam pipes spluttered, slowly easing off to reveal a foamy Indy jumping up and down, reaching her arms up to be pulled out.

Wolf dived down onto his chest, reaching his arms down to grab Indy as a warning siren began. She jumped up and grabbed for his arms, but her hands were slippery and slid off him.

He shuffled forwards a bit more, being buffeted by the other's movements as they collected the spheres she'd thrown. Leaning over the edge, she managed to grab his hands, and she pulled hard.

"Hey, w..." Wolf started, then yelped as he slid off the side of the pit and fell heavily into the foam along with her. Gasping, he straightened himself up again, wiping his face with his hands, just in time to hear a klaxon sound. He ducked as he suddenly felt a cool sticky wave begin to wash over him.

Laughing, he felt around for Indy, and heard her scream and giggle as he dragged her under the gunge pipe with him. She stopped struggling and leaned against his shoulder, putting both her arms around him as they were both covered. He stroked her back a little as he felt the pit beginning to fill up with slime, stopping at their knees.

Tilting his face up into the flow as it eased off and letting the girl go, Wolf opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, seeing the other two contestants and Alex looking down at them. Looking down at Indy, he grinned as he saw her covered in the mix of green and yellow slime that had also coated himself and most of the pit. She was leaning forwards, her back arched, letting the heavy mixture flow off the front of her head, and her sticky hands were spread out in front of her. She straightened up slowly, smiling back at him as she opened her eyes again, then leapt forwards to give him another slimy hug.

Alex dropped down and offered his arms to help them up. Wolf gave Indy a leg up to hand her to the presenter, then took hold of his hands once she was safely up and struggled out of the pit himself.

"You were close," laughed the presenter as the two of them wiped themselves down, "but you didn't quite get the ten points for getting out clean. You got all of the keys out of there in time, though, so I'm going to give you fifty points." Indy whooped, raising her arms in the air, and thick drops of slime dripped from them to the floor.

The host bounced over to the door again, the last of the balls in his hand, and placed it on the last of the slots. The door hummed aside, and he stepped through, beckoning the others to follow. Slowly they filed through, getting used to being on solid ground again.

"So what now, team leader?" Alex asked, spinning round to address Kamo.

"Well, I'm the only one that hasn't been slimed in this round yet, so it looks like it's going to have to be me..." Kamo's speech was drowned out by cheering from the two girls.

"A very fair choice! However..." Alex walked over and put his hand on his shoulder, stage-whispering into his ear. "We've got something a bit special lined up for the team leader at the end of the round, so you might want to save yourself for later on..."

Kamo jerked away and faced him, looking slightly nervous, but still keeping his broad smile. "All right - it'll be Crystal again, then."

Crystal stuck her tongue out at him, making the others laugh, before stepping forward to join Alex. He took her hand more gently this time, and led her and the team into one of the nearby rooms.

The room was dominated by a large wheel mounted on the back wall, divided into coloured sections. A set of shallow stairs led up to a platform from which the wheel could be spun, and on the right hand side, a clear-fronted chamber was set into the wall, bordered by black and yellow warning stripes and with six dimmed lights placed around it. The host led the catgirl up to the platform and slid the door of the chamber aside for her.

Crystal looked around the small space as she sat down on the simple plastic chair. The walls were mostly blank apart from three long notches, one on each edge, placed at about the height of her face. After checking the walls, she looked up and giggled slightly as she saw three round nozzles above her head. She squirmed back in the chair and turned to the rest of the team as they followed Alex to the platform.

"That used to be a testing chamber," Alex explained to them, "and it happens to have the facility to pump itself full of foam, just in case anything went wrong. And if anything goes wrong in this round, that's going to happen to Crystal." He looked around to face her. "Of course, there are a couple of extras we've added since it was built - there are also a couple of tanks of gunge above you." The catgirl nodded, looking around again. She seemed far more relaxed than before, and was grinning broadly as she heard what the machine was going to do to her.

"Each of the lights around the tank represents one of the foam or gunge streams, and it's up to your friends to turn them off. To decide what happens, you'll each have to take a turn at spinning this wheel..." Alex paused, holding his hand out towards it. Each section of the wheel was marked with a different outcome - the largest area was labelled "Question", and there were a couple of sections for turning something instantly off or on. The smallest one was in the middle of the "instant turn off" section - a black area that was marked "Everything on".

"We'll have two minutes, and Crystal gets the stuff from everything left on at the end of the time limit." He looked up as a timer above the wheel turned on, showing 120 seconds. "Who's going first?"

Wolf raised his hand, stepping forwards, then tugged on the wheel. The team watched it spin gradually to a halt, and it stopped on the large "Question" section.

"OK, Wolf, what feature do sharks lack that most other fish have?" the host asked him, reading the question off the set of cards he carried with him.

He thought for a moment. "Gills?"

"Sorry, it's actually bones... Indy, come up here!" Wolf stepped aside as Indy came up, heaving on the heavy wheel to turn it round. She also got a question, but answered hers correctly and turned off one of the gunge pipes.

Kamo's turn came next. He hauled on the wheel with no apparent difficulty, and it took a long time for it to eventually stop. Crystal cheered as it was an "Instant off" area, and the team leader chose to turn off the other tank above her.

Wolf was lucky enough to instantly turn off one of the foam jets on his next turn, and Indy got another question right to turn off the second. Close to a minute had passed by the time Kamo's turn arrived, but he landed on a question and got it wrong.

"You're not doing badly - you just need to turn the other two foam tanks off and Crystal's safe," Alex encouraged them as Wolf stepped up to take his turn again. It was another question, but this time he got it right, and the catgirl leaned out of the tank to look at the lights as one of the remaining two switched off.

Indy stepped up and took her turn, but gasped as it stopped on one of the smallest sections, marked "Instant slime". A buzzer sounded, and she looked round as a shower of gunge splurged off the catgirl's head. Crystal yelped, ducking down briefly, the grinned up at her through the green droplets dripping past her face.

"Your turn, Kamo," announced the presenter, looking up at the timer as it passed forty-five seconds. "Just get that foam tank switched off!" After another long wait as the wheel stopped, Kamo was asked a question, which he got wrong.

Hurriedly, Wolf took another spin as the catgirl bounced agitatedly inside the tank, cheering him on. He looked up at the timer, which showed thirty seconds left, and bounced on his heels anxiously as it slowed down. It went past the area that would switch things back on, and clicked towards halting on the narrow "Instant turn off" section. His eyes widened, though, as it overshot it and stopped on the next notch - the black one.

"Sorry, Wolf!" Alex laughed as the buzzer sounded, and all the lights around Crystal's tank turned on again. Her mouth fell open in surprise, and her shoulders shook in a laugh as she looked once more into the pipes above her, realizing that she wasn't safe any more.. Wolf shrugged apologetically to her and stood aside as Indy took his place.

"Come on, Indy, we've got to be fast now..." Alex encouraged as she tugged on the wheel. After nervously watching it spin round a few times, it stopped on the Question section. She got it right and chose to turn off one of the gunge tanks again, making Crystal grin as the light went out. Without waiting to be prompted, Kamo stepped up and hurriedly took his turn.

"This is going to have to be the last one," the host commented as it clicked slowly to a halt. All of them looked back and forward between the timer and the wheel as the last few seconds went by, and with one second left it eventually stopped on "Turn off".

"Turn off the gunge," Kamo said quickly, turning towards the giggling catgirl as the other top light went out. The timer hit zero, and a loud klaxon began sounding repeatedly.

Crystal squirmed inwards and closed her eyes, a wide grin on her face as she waited for something to happen. Suddenly, the blare of the klaxon stopped and was replaced with a lower buzzer sound, and she squeaked as a column of pink stuff dropped from the hole in the ceiling above her.

Wolf thought it was gunge at first, but as it continued to fall and piled up on the girl's head and shoulders he realized that it was thick pie foam. She shook her head from side to side, sending specks of the stuff spattering on to the walls as blobs of it rolled down the back of her neck.

Suddenly the three slots on the walls of the tank began spilling out foam as well, not hitting her but rapidly filling up the tank. Crystal shrieked, lifting her feet a little as the level in the tank began to rise, then dipped them back in as the stuff crept up her legs.

Holding her hands to the top of her face, she looked up at the team, still laughing as she squirmed around in the rising foam. She shivered, bowing her head back down as the flow from above lapped forwards, and wiped her face as she felt it subside. The level of foam had reached over her chest and it was beginning to spill over the door of the tank, landing wetly on the floor in front of it.

Alex walked towards the tank as she giggled helplessly, trying to clear the rest of her face. "Well, the good news is that you didn't get gunged quite as much as you might have, Crystal," he smiled, leaning in to the tank to talk to her. "Are you feeling all right?"

The catgirl nodded, playfully dipping her hands into the pink stuff and throwing a handful out towards the presenter. He wiped the blob off his chest and opened the door for her, and she stumbled out of the foam pile, trying to brush it off her legs with her hands.

Alex led them all towards the door. "It was a shame about that, because you were really close to finishing - still, I can only give you twenty points for that game for turning the two gunge tanks off." The team members nodded, Crystal still trying to scrape the foam off herself.

"So our time's nearly up for this round, and I'm going to try and get you back towards the showers now. But first, about that challenge for the team leader, Kamo..." Alex walked over to him, smiling as he stretched his hand out and put it on his shoulder.

"Yeah?" he asked, grinning back at him.

"Follow me!" Alex took off at a sprint again, turned the corner and suddenly stopped. He bent down to a hatch on the wall, and started turning the many catches around the edges aside.

"These hatches," he explained in between undoing the clips, "are the outlets for the parts of the building that were charmingly called 'grime tanks'." Kamo smiled nervously as he heard the name. "If I'm right about where we are, this one's been empty for a while and has had a massive amount of stuff building up in its pipes. Of course, I could be wrong and it might be one of the full ones-" Suddenly he stepped aside and hauled it open, laughing as the girls screamed and jumped out of the way. After a pause, he leaned down to look into the darkness.

"It's all yours, Kamo. Don't worry, it's up to your team mates to save you from whatever's in there."

"Great," he sighed sarcastically, making the others laugh. He bent down and began crawling forwards into the tunnel, and Alex closed the door behind him.

"He didn't sound very confident! Think you can help him get out of there clean? Or at least, no more messy than he is already," he added as he walked back round the corner and tapped out a combination on the panel next to the door. As it hummed open, he stepped inside, and waited for the three others to follow him before closing it.

Wolf's eyes slowly adjusted to the dimly-lit grimy room - in the middle were three stools placed side by side. On the wall nearest the hatch that they'd put Kamo into, there were two slightly brighter metal panels on top of each other, and opposite them there was a large screen. As they watched, it hummed into life, displaying the face of the computer.

"I think he's waiting for you to sit down," Alex commented. The three of them hurried towards the stools, and sat facing the screen. The face just continued to float menacingly for a while, then it suddenly turned towards the back of the room.

The contestants followed its gaze as a humming sound emerged from the panels, and slowly the top one slid back into the ceiling. It revealed a metallic alcove in which Kamo was sitting, lit in bright green from above. A couple of lights and indicators flashed on the wall behind him. He smiled nervously at the face on the wall, leaning forward to put his hands on top of the front panel of the tank.

Wolf grinned at him, then turned back to the face as it began to speak. "I'll ask each of you one question," it began. "You must get all three correct."

Alex walked over to Kamo's tank. "We call this the Hotseat. It's going to be tough - I'm going to let you buy a pass if someone doesn't know a question, but you'll have to forfeit a piece of clothing to do it." The equine nodded distractedly. "And I imagine he doesn't think he needs to bother explaining what's going to happen if someone gets a question wrong." This time he gave a nervous laugh as the computer turned to Indy and asked his first question.

After thinking for a while, she answered, nodding confidently. Rather than saying whether she was right or wrong, the face just turned again and addressed Crystal in the middle seat, booming the next question at her. The catgirl put her head in her hands, thinking, then twisted in her seat to look at Kamo.

"I don't know it..." she whispered, looking worried.

"Here." The other two glanced backwards as well as Kamo eagerly whipped his T-shirt off over his head, throwing it out the front of the tank. Alex deftly caught it and stepped back to his corner.

The computer didn't acknowledge him at all, instead simply asking Crystal another question in the first one's place. "What is the chemical symbol for gold?"

She bit her lip, thinking hard, and eventually gave a nervous answer. "Au?"

Again, the polygonal face gave no indication of what it thought of her answer, but instead turned to Wolf. He straightened up, still bouncing slightly with excitement.

"What is the name for a number that can only be divided by itself and one?" the face read out slowly. He glanced back at Kamo with a grin at the easiness of the question.

"A prime," he answered back, still grinning at it. The machine's face just paused.

"Correct," it said, and slowly rotated round to look at Crystal again. She tapped her bare feet edgily on the ground.

"Correct," it repeated. All the contestants visibly sagged with relief, most of all the catgirl. Kamo shivered, tossing his hair behind his head as the face swivelled round to face Indy. She stared back at it confidently as it paused again.

"Wrong," it boomed simply, and the screen turned off. Indy froze, open-mouthed, then whipped her head round to look at the occupant of the tank as a shrill warning bell started up.

Kamo had a sickly grin frozen on his face, and he closed his eyes, his shoulders shaking slightly as red rotating lights from inside the tank passed over him. Suddenly, two streams of translucent green gel spurted upwards from the sides, and he opened his eyes wide as they hit the sides of his neck, gasping and hunching his shoulders as the slime dribbled down his fur.

He relaxed a little as they continued, squirming a little and gripping the sides of his arms with his hands to block them as they played up and down his shoulders. Closing one eye as a stream spurted up near his face, he looked sideways at the other nozzle spraying him.

A whooping siren joined the bell, and Crystal jerked back as a thick column of yellow gunge was poured in from the ceiling, hiding Kamo from view under a sticky dome. Wolf laughed as the equine ducked down under its weight, sending the stuff splattering against the tank's walls as he shifted under the downpour. He leaned his head to the side a little, grabbing the door of the tank with one hand to balance himself. Slime dripped wetly from his hair as the stuff flowed down over his shoulder, and ran his other hand over his head as he grinned out at the others.

He straightened up again just as the flow became a spray that covered the whole tank, then it suddenly shut off along with the siren and the gel sprayers at the sides. The yellow stuff dripped in globs from his hair, and he shook his head, spraying the gunge around the tank, before clapping his hands together and blinking a few times to clear his eyes.

Suddenly he froze again as a repeating klaxon began sounding, covering up the noise of the drips from the ceiling spattering down into the pool at the bottom of the tank. Nervously, he looked up, then his hands flew to his head as a downpour of thick, black grime slopped down onto him.

The klaxon blared a long, low note as the stuff continued to pour into the tank, not doming out this time but clinging to his fur, the lumps in it glistening under the green light. Kamo continued shaking his head as he was slowly covered by the gunk, the bright yellow slime being turned a dirty green as it mixed with it.

Slowly the downpour thinned out, and Kamo straightened as the last few lumps spattered onto his hair. His eyes flickered open, showing up brightly against the dark stuff clinging to his head. As he sat up it slowly began creeping down his bare upper half, and he began trying to scrape the worst of it off his fur as the alarm wound down.

Wolf whooped, leading the girls in a cheer for their team leader as Alex walked back over. "It really is over this time, Kamo! Are you OK in there?"

"Just great." The equine pulled more grime out of his hair, flicking it to the floor of the tank where it landed with a wet slapping noise.

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that you got forty points, meaning you've reached three hundred for the first half of the games!" He paused as the girls cheered eagerly, and Kamo smiled a little through the gunk. "There's still plenty of time, but for now I think you look as if you need a shower."

In the humid locker room, Wolf eagerly stripped off his briefs, once bright yellow, now muddled in gungy colors and feeling a little clammy. He looked back at Kamo, who was carefully peeling off his caked shirt and shorts. His fur was matted, slicked, and discolored from the last two rounds of play, but he looked like he was enjoying it, still radiating enthusiasm. Wolf watched him swipe at his hair a little to get some stickiness out.

"What do you think?" he asked, heading over to one of the showerheads placed against the wall. They were separated by plastic dividing panels, not offering much privacy.

"I'm having a blast!" Kamo said, walking towards the section a couple of spaces away from his. "I never imagined gunge felt like this! I think I might have a new hobby."

Wolf laughed, turning towards the shower, and placed his hand on the faucet. "I wish you could have seen your own face when that black stuff came down!"

"I'll see it in a month or two when it airs," he replied, laughing slightly.

"Well, this stuff feels great when it's fresh, but it's getting a little gluey now." With that, he cranked the handle on the shower, but no water came out of the head. "Hmph," he grunted, and moved over to the next section, the one adjacent to Kamo's. He heard Kamo tried to turn his on, and again nothing happened.

"What's up with the water?" Wolf muttered. Suddenly he yelped as all the lights in the shower room flickered and went out.

A sickly spotlight flickered on, pinpointing Wolf and Kamo, and their hearts leapt as they realized what was happening. They barely had enough time to smirk at each other before thick streams of green gunge deluged down on their heads from the ceiling. Wolf screamed as it slapped onto him - the stuff was very cold at first, heavy and sticky, but then got pleasantly warm. It slopped off his shoulders and rolled in gooey globs down his chest.

After ducking down when it had hit him, he stood up into the onslaught and let out a hoot as a new stream of yellow slime blasted him in the face. He turned his head sideways and blinked hard to clear his eyes. The green torrent from above eased off, and he got a chance to look at Kamo.

The equine was covered by a sheen of heavy, blanketing slime, dribbling thickly off his legs and arms. Kamo was in absolute hysterics. He threw his arms up and hooted, just as the nozzles in the ceiling began to drop gallons of purple slop on both of them.

The loud, wet slapping sound of the drenching slime quieted down, and the crazy laughter of the pair echoed damply, muted by the covering of gunge on the walls.

"Sorry, fellas," they heard Alex's voice from a speaker somewhere on the far wall. Wolf and Kamo turned to look up at the source, still laughing and wiping their eyes. "It's been a long time since we pulled that gag. Besides, the girls really wanted to see it. How about you give us a pose?"

Wolf realized how exposed he was, but he tried to ignore it and just smiled up at the source of the sound. Kamo, trying to be as modest as he could as well, put an arm around Wolf's gungy back and smiled up with him. A quick splat of oatmealy slop slapped down on their heads, and they heard three laughing voices over the speaker.

The lights flickered back on, and Alex said, "Okay, you have your privacy back, guys. Get showered up and join us when you're ready."

Wolf examined Kamo in the fluorescent light, and laughed again as he ran his hands over himself, sending waves of slime to the floor. Wolf was just as covered, and with no camera on them anymore he felt comfortable turning back to the showers to try and get it off. He grinned over at Kamo and tried the shower again. This time a burst of warm water erupted from the showerhead and rushed over him.

"That caught me off guard," the unicorn laughed, scrubbing at the stuff all over his head. It took effort to wash off, since it was so heavy and thick.

"What a welcome surprise, though!" Wolf crowed back. His headfur was clean, but the rest of his body was layered in ooze. "Sure felt good, huh?" he encouraged.

Kamo chuckled. "Yeah, it did. That was the best sliming yet! It was so thick!"

"Yeah, but it still covered us pretty well. I really have to learn how they make that stuff," Wolf smiled, washing down his chest.

"Hope not too much showed on that video," Kamo added modestly.

"Don't worry," Wolf said. "It's not that big a deal. Besides, everyone here loves it anyway. Even Crystal does now."

They finished showering, dried off, and looked back at the shower room, with half-inch-deep layers of puddled gunge running slowly into the drains. After putting on a fresh pair of trunks, Wolf looked back to see if Kamo was on his way. He smiled when he saw the unicorn emerge from the row of lockers wearing the yellow speedo-style trunks as well.

"Not wanting your shirt back?" he laughed.

The equine shrugged in response. "It just gets in the way," he chuckled as they headed out the door. The girls and Alex were already waiting for them. Crystal, far less nervous now, had discarded the shorts and T-shirt like Kamo and was wearing a two-piece swimsuit. Indy was wearing what she had had on before, but had let down her long dark blue hair.

"So you're clean again now, but it's going to be a challenge to stay that way for long - that's the door to the security station up ahead..." Alex walked towards a heavy-looking door at the end of the corridor. It was firmly locked. "Before we can get in, the computer wants to see you all again."

The team exchanged grins with each other as they followed him to a smaller door to the side. "He asked me to get you to meet with him in here," the host explained as he pulled the switch on the wall to open the door, and turned to them as it hummed into the ceiling. "I'm afraid you're on your own for this one," he said, motioning them inside. "Good luck!"

Wolf was the first to duck through the door, and couldn't help smiling as he straightened up again. On the wall opposite a large video screen there was a familiar clear-sided cubicle. This one had two thick metal bands running around it, with two rods on the front jutting into one of the sides to form a heavy lock. On top of the tank was a large container with black and yellow warning stripes around it, and a perspex window on the front, through which could be seen a grimy gray-green substance. A pipe led down from the ceiling into the reservoir.

"Fantastic," he grinned as he looked back at the others. "Who's going first?"

He jumped and turned as the screen flickered into life behind him, displaying the red polygonal face. "Kamo", it said simply. With a loud click, the lock of the tank sprang back and the door swung open.

"Good luck, Kamo," Crystal said, patting him on the back as he walked slightly nervously towards the cubicle. Stepping inside, he grabbed the handle on the inside of the door and pulled it closed slowly, flinching as the lock suddenly sprang back into place. He stepped back, looking up to position himself right below the valve, and waited.

"What is the sum of 478 and 646?" the face demanded. The question appeared in text at the bottom of the screen along with a timer counting backwards from fifteen.

The equine looked stunned for a moment, then began moving his lips as he thought, keeping one eye on the timer. He closed his eyes, then opened them again as the last few seconds went past.

"A thousand, one hundred and... four?" he asked uncertainly. The timer stopped, and there was another pause.

The valve opened with a loud click, a klaxon hooted, and Kamo disappeared under the greenish downpour. Leaning forward under its weight, he put his hands on the front of the tank and let the slime hit the back of his neck as he grinned sheepishly up at the watching team members, shaking his head occasionally to dislodge the gunk from his hair. As the flow began to ease off, he straightened up again, putting his head back under the flow. He raised a finger in the air in front of him.

"If you're watching," he said as the stuff drizzled onto his head, "it's harder than it looks. Trust me." Running one hand over his head, he heard the tank unlock, and pushed the door open with his free hand. Stepping carefully out again, he moved to hug the catgirl, who shrank back from his dripping arms.

"Crystal", the computer's harsh voice announced. A gurgling noise sounded from the ceiling, and the four of them watched as the reservoir began to fill again, this time with a mix of yellow and orange gunge. It made a continuous wet slapping noise as it flowed into the container from above.

Nervously, Crystal ducked under Kamo and padded towards the tank. Hesitantly, she stepped into the puddle left behind, and closed the door, glancing up at the opening before concentrating on the screen.

"Recite the first ten square numbers," the face ordered, and the timer began again. Crystal put her hands together and looked down at them, counting them up on her fingers.

"One," she started. "Four, nine, sixteen..." She glanced nervously over at the timer again, shuffling her feet in the puddle. "Twenty-five... thirty-six... forty-nine... sixty-four..." Shaking, she closed her eyes. "Eighty-one, one hundred!" Opening her eyes again, she whooped as the door clicked back open, and grinned proudly as she escaped the tank.

"Indy!" demanded the computer. She strode towards the tank with a grin back at her fellow contestants, giving Crystal a brief hug as she passed her. From inside, she put both hands on the handle and hauled the door closed, her loose hair blowing back from the draught. She bounced on her heels eagerly as she waited for her question.

"What are the letters on the top row of a keyboard?" she was asked as the countdown began.

"Qwertyuiop", Indy said, pronouncing it to herself as a whole word before thinking about the letters. "Q, W, E..." After reciting them all easily, she laughed as the tank unlocked again, and pointed at Wolf as she stepped outside.

Wolf smiled back at her, and started towards the tank before waiting for his name to be called. Eagerly, he hopped inside, feeling the slime on the floor between his toes, and turned around to shut the door behind him. The door twitched as the heavy rods snicked into position. He pushed on the door experimentally, and grinned as he realized there was no way out. Putting his hands on his hips, he stared up at the dark pipe above him.

"Recite the alphabet..." Wolf quickly looked back at the computer's face, surprised that it gave him such an easy task. "...Backwards." This time, the face vanished, and the timer took its place.

"Z," he began, keeping his eyes on the timer. "Y, X..." He smiled as the timer went past ten seconds, realizing he wasn't going to have anywhere near enough time. He looked back at the gunge chute, then smiled at the screen.

"Blueberries," he said, and just had time to hear the other three burst out laughing before the sound of the klaxon drowned them out and he was engulfed by the sticky slime torrent from above.

Laughing to himself, he tilted his head from one side to the other, making sure to get completely coated in the thick yellow-orange mixture. It was heavier than the other slime, and clung on to his fur rather than doming out like he'd seen before. As the hooter blared again, he bowed his head down and shivered as the stuff slithered down his back, feeling it begin to stop pouring onto him.

He heard the lock click back again, but he waited under the drizzle until it stopped dripping before stepping forwards to open the door, putting his feet down carefully on the slippery floor. The main door to the room had opened, and he followed his team mates out to rejoin Alex, who was also laughing helplessly.

"Blueberries?" he asked with a grin.

Wolf shrugged. "First word that came into my head." The host shook his head with a smile.

"Anyway, that's thirty points you've earned there, and the computer's allowing us to get into the rest of the building now." He led them towards the now half-open door, and ducked through it.

"This is the security station!" he announced as the others followed him, spreading his arms out. The environment looked slightly newer than the other areas that they'd been in, with a wider tiled corridor. "Most of the games here involve the security measures that were in place here - sensors, traps, that sort of thing. Any volunteers for who to go first?"

"I think the girls need to be slimed," Kamo said immediately, running his hand through his sticky hair again. Indy and Crystal looked at each other as the host laughed.

"Yes, I can see your thinking there," he said, moving to take both their arms. "Follow me!" The males rushed to keep up as he led the girls round a corner, stopping in front of one of the many similar doors.

"Could you get that for me?" he asked Crystal, nodding towards the red switch on the wall next to the door. She reached out and tugged it, and Alex disappeared through the door with them before it had even stopped opening.

Kamo and Wolf followed them through to the game room. The girls were being led towards an open-topped metallic cubicle on a raised section of the floor, positioned below the opening from a large pipe that ran across the ceiling. In front of it, a section of the floor was divided into sixteen panels in a four by four grid.

Alex opened the heavy-looking half height door of the tank for the two girls. Crystal ducked inside first and shuffled over on the seat to make room for Indy, who put her arm around the catgirl as she sat down. The host hauled the door closed behind them and walked back over to the other two.

"So the girls are relying on you to keep them clean. How does that feel?" he called back to them. Crystal giggled, while Indy just shook her head. Alex turned back to Wolf and Kamo. "Come over here and I'll show you..."

He strode over to the set of panels on the floor. "Stepping on one of four of these panels is going to activate the tank that your friends are sitting in, but the other twelve are safe. If you step on a correct panel, you'll get five points and a clue as to where the trigger panels are, but it's up to you to work it out from there." He looked at the two of them, and stepped back as they nodded. "Good luck!"

Wolf looked across at Kamo, who shrugged. He looked down at the panels again and brought his foot down on the one nearest him. It lit up with a bell sound, displaying the number one.

"Oh, I know this game," Kamo smiled. "There's one wrong panel next to the one you've just lit up, so three of the other four should be safe..."

Reaching his foot out across the set of panels, he tapped on two more that were adjacent to it. Both of them also displayed figure ones. Wolf looked up at the victims again - Crystal was craning her neck to see what was going on on the floor, and Indy was stroking her hand up and down her side to reassure her.

"So I think there's a trigger panel here," Kamo continued, pointing at the corner of the square that wasn't yet lit up. "I think it's best to start somewhere else until we're sure."

"Here?" Wolf asked, walking round the tiles to the other side and hovering his foot over one of the corner panels.

"It's a bit of a risk..." Kamo glanced at the girls again, running his hand through his messy hair distractedly. "Try it!"

Wolf put his foot down on the panel. There was a pause. Finally, it lit up, this time displaying a two.

Kamo grinned with relief after the tense moment, and paced around the board to where Wolf was standing. "So there are two just off that corner, which means only one is safe, but it's pretty unlikely that it's unsafe here or here..." He walked onto the board and lit up the two other corners. Wolf watched him, vaguely following his plan but more distracted by the thought of what would happen if they went wrong. He looked over at the cubicle, then back as he realized that the equine had paused.

"I don't think there's anything I'm certain of doing now," he admitted, biting his lip thoughtfully. "From these numbers, it even looks like the one that I thought was a trigger at first is one of the safe ones, and the wrong ones are actually here and here..." He pointed down at the board vaguely as Wolf walked over next to him.

"So the one that's two in front of me should be okay?" he asked.

"...Yeah," Kamo responded hesitantly. Crystal was bouncing in her seat, watching wide-eyed.

"We've got to take some risk. Let's try it!" Wolf bounded over the first panel and landed on the unlit one with both feet. The panel lit up in red, and a shrill buzzer sounded. Startled, he jerked his head up to watch the girls' reaction - the catgirl's hands had flown to cover her mouth and nose, and Indy glanced up into the pipe before closing her eyes and hugging Crystal a little closer to her.

As the room's lights flashed, a fan of orange-brown gunge sprayed out from the wide opening of the pipe, and both the girls squealed as they were engulfed by it. Crystal struggled forwards out of the slimy dome, her mouth and eyes wide open in a shocked smile as she shook her hands rapidly in front of her to get the stuff off them. She gasped as the downpour hit her nearly bare back, soaking into her fur.

The flow shifted to the side a little and Indy appeared again, giggling as she held her free hand over her eyes. Her loose hair had been soaked with slime and was hanging heavily over her face. She brought her other hand away from Crystal and shook it, sending the gunk dripping to the floor, then carefully flicked her hair behind her head again. As the gunge shut off and the buzzer faded, they looked at each other and hugged.

The males cheered for them, but it turned into a laugh as another wave of slime dropped into the tank, coming down between the two of them. As they both yelped and sprang apart, it tilted to the side and flowed over Indy's head, messing up her hair again and splattering off in a dome to hit Crystal in the side of the face. She turned away with a squeak, but soon the flow had moved over to her and she vanished beneath the upturned bowl shape.

Laughing helplessly, the catgirl straightened up as the downpour slowed, shivering as she felt the gunge dripping down her fur. She put her arm around Indy, dragging her into the final drizzle in the middle of the tank while trying to clean herself up with her free hand.

Alex, opening the door with a smile, held his hand out to help them get up. Indy took it first and hauled herself up against the weight of the slime on her, then hopped down from the raised platform and hugged both of the others in turn.

The host offered his hand again, and the still giggling catgirl took it, making sure to run her hand up his arm to cover it in slime. Walking out of the tank, she suddenly slipped and her arms flew round him to catch herself as she fell, leaving a coat of slime across his chest as he amusedly helped her up again.

"Sure that wasn't deliberate?" he asked with a smile. She shook her head as they both walked back to join the rest of the team.

"So let's see..." He looked down at the board on the floor. "You got six of them lit up, so that's thirty points for this game as well - you've got exactly half the points for this round so far. Kamo, who's going to be the victim for the next game? I think the girls want to see either you or Wolf in danger again..." He grinned as the girls cheered behind him.

"All right, I'll do it," he nodded.

"Good, come on with me!" He took Kamo by the hand and leapt out of the room at his typical rapid pace. As the others ran around the corner to keep up with him, Wolf grinned as he realized where they were - the walls were lined with small holes and there was a clear section leading to a chamber just off the main passage, so they had to be in the corridor that he'd seen used for the lasers game.

He almost crashed into Alex and Kamo, who had stopped at a small door at the end of the corridor while he was looking around. Still brimming with excitement, he ducked through the door after them to see another game that he recognised.

The centrepiece of the room was a fairly ornate cubicle, made of brass-like metal with arches at the top, and a covered section to hide its reservoir. In its centre was a swivel chair that was bolted to the floor. On the ceiling, a distorted metal bar twisted its way around in a wide circuit, and hanging from it on one side there was a metal rod with a loop on the end. At the moment, the loop was resting on a part of the bar that was covered in bright red tape, preventing the two metals from touching.

Alex opened the cubicle door and Kamo sat down, brushing his hair back relaxedly with his hands as he looked up into the top of the tank. Alex closed the door behind him, then walked around the machine to pick up the dangling metal rod. The victim of the game swivelled his seat around to follow his movement.

"You'll have played a smaller scale version of this before," Alex began, picking up the rod and carefully guiding it off the plastic strip. "You've got to get this all the way around the room and back to the start, without the loop touching the bar at any time. If it ever hits, then this'll happen..."

He brought the loop down sharply so that it came into contact with the bar, and Kamo jumped as a buzzer played. One of the lights at the front of the tank blinked into life.

"So you've got three chances - the third time you let the metal touch the metal, then the tank goes off. And when one of the lights turns on, you've got to change who's playing, so you've only got one chance each." Alex grinned into it, and Kamo leaned forwards to look up at the lights as the first one turned off again. "Anyone want to take it from me?"

Indy stepped forwards, and carefully placed both hands on the rod, taking its weight gradually away from Alex. Unsteadily, she began to walk forwards, guiding the loop carefully around the first couple of twists in the pipe. She slowed down even further as the first corner approached, and wobbled it around the bend, glancing down every so often to see where her feet were going.

"Good," congratulated Alex as she got it on to a straight again, but immediately after he'd spoken, she lost her concentration and raised the rod too far, making the bottom of the loop hit the bar. The buzzer sounded again, and she grinned apologetically as she offered the rod to Wolf.

He stepped forwards, gripping it as far up as he could reach to stop it moving so much. He made good progress until the second corner, when his arms began to ache a little from being held up, but kept going as the girls cheered him on for each twist and corner he managed to navigate.

He realized he had a problem when he was on the home stretch - the bar began to raise upwards, and he couldn't reach up any further to get it over the bump. Trying to shuffle his hands down the metal stick to get a better grip, he realized it was going to slip out of his grasp and pushed it away from him over the obstacle as the buzzer sounded for a second time.

"Bad luck, Wolf... and Kamo's beginning to look a little worried! It's all up to you now, Crystal." With the encouragement from the host, the catgirl stepped forwards and tentatively picked up the bar, treading very carefully as she guided it around the last few twists of the course.

Suddenly she squeaked as she misjudged a corner, and the bar hovered dangerously near the metal before she recovered. The others held their breath as she steadied herself, almost frozen in place. Eventually, letting out her breath, she stepped forwards again, grinning at the others' applause as she placed the bar back onto the plastic safe area.

"Well done, everyone - you did a better job of saving your team leader than last time!" Alex stepped forwards to open the door of the tank again, and the equine stepped out, shaking his mane. "I'm giving you a full sixty points for getting all the way round. Now, it's time to start finding a way to the last round, and we're sending you up to the orbital base for that..."

He ducked out the door while still talking, and the others filed out after him. He dashed down the corridor for a short distance and slid to a halt at a slightly wider section where four small metallic doors were set into the wall. He pointed as the others approached and turned to look at them.

"These chambers are going to take us up to the orbital base, so our route to the last round starts here." Wolf felt Alex's hand on his back, guiding him into the leftmost of the four chambers. The remaining team members headed towards the other three. Crystal put her hands on the sides of the entrance and looked around inside nervously.

"What's wrong, Crystal?" the host asked, leaving Wolf to climb inside and look at his surroundings. The chamber was about the size of a phone booth and had two doors, one opposite the one that he had come in by. The rest of it was made of smooth metallic walls with ventilation grilles placed around them.

"I've always been a bit scared of lifts," he heard the catgirl say to the presenter. He leaned out to watch them as Alex reassured her.

"It's OK, it's just a short ride, and nothing's going to happen to you."

"Promise?" Crystal asked, looking him in the eye with a disbelieving smile. Alex just nodded, and she laughed slightly as she stepped inside.

Wolf leaned back into the chamber as the door began to close, and noticed another grille placed on the ceiling. He grinned to himself as he realized that Alex might not have been telling the truth.

His thoughts were interrupted as the chamber gave a jolt, accompanied by a humming noise. It didn't feel that it was moving at all, though. Excited, he paced around the small room, keeping his eyes on the hole in the ceiling.

After a few seconds, he jumped as the lights went out and the lift jolted to a halt. He looked around frantically for a few moments before a dim blue light faded in, and he realized that it was a planned part of the show.

"Wolf, can you hear me?" Alex's voice came from just beyond the door.

"Yeah," he called back. He noticed a small monitor turn on next to the exit, and peered down at it. It showed the host and the rest of the team gathered around the lift's exit on the other side.

"The computer shut the power to your lift off, but we're going to get you out of there as soon as we can." He watched as the host pointed to a nearby code panel and addressed the other three contestants. "This is meant to be a secure area, so once the power's turned off, the only way to get the lift open is to enter its code. The trouble is I don't know what it is..." He leaned forward and jabbed a sequence of four buttons, which produced a loud buzzing noise. An LED display above the panel blinked into life, counting down from eighty.

"All right, that was a mistake. You've only got eighty seconds before the lift locks us out - you've just got to try as many combinations as possible. The display will tell you how many digits you got right each time, but you've got to use four different numbers on each try." He stepped back as the three of them leaned in closer, with Crystal at the panel. She quickly entered the number 1234, which returned a buzzing sound again along with one "correct" bell.

Wolf watched the team's progress on the small monitor as they tried different combinations. Occasionally Crystal managed to get two digits right, but she couldn't seem to work out which ones were correct and wrong, and kept going back to only having one right each time. Sometimes the others would offer advice, but they didn't seem to be having any more luck.

His thoughts were interrupted by a gurgling noise from near the top of the chamber, and he looked quizzically at the grate it was coming from. Suddenly a thick wave burst out of it, and he yelped as it hit him in the face, stumbling backwards and wiping his eyes as he heard it continue to slap against the floor and opposite wall.

He shook his head and opened his eyes again, the cold slime on his face and chest feeling strange in the warmth of the lift room. The stuff that was now gradually filling up the chamber was glowing brightly despite the darkness of the room, and he almost laughed out loud as he realized that he was under an ultra-violet light that was making the stuff seem to glow in the dark.

Tentatively he put his hand under the thick flow, a little wary of its appearance. Suddenly a klaxon went off and he was covered in the stuff from the grate above his head. He gasped as the cool wave hit him, and shuddered as the gunk crept down from his head around his neck and shoulders. Squirming to the side to get completely covered, he realized that the chamber was filling up, and sloshed back towards the monitor to see how the others were doing.

Crystal was still tapping out combinations on the panel, and was looking a bit panicked as she heard what was happening inside the chamber. He whooped loudly towards the door to signal he was all right, which made the others laugh, but she hardly reacted at all. Looking back at the torrents as the stuff reached his waist, he turned his back towards the one at the side of the top and stepped into it as if showering, laughing as he tried to keep his balance against it.

Eventually the flows eased off, and he turned towards the side grille as the last few drops dribbled thickly down the wall from it. He was now up to his neck in glowing slime, his face and head plastered in the stuff as well. He squirmed down in it to enjoy the feeling all over himself, but blinked as the lights abruptly came back on, changing the apparent colour of the slime to a sickly off-white.

"Are you all right in there, Wolf?" he heard Alex's voice from past the door again. He laughed, and gave another excited whoop.

"Good to hear. I'm afraid we didn't stop the slime at all from out here, so I can't give you any points for this game..."

Wolf shrugged. He smiled to himself, not caring about the points at all when he got the chance to do something like this. The gunge slowly began to drain away, leaving the walls of the lift streaked with slime, and when it had vanished the doors were hauled open by the host.

He stepped out to join his applauding teammates, grinning to acknowledge them. They hadn't seen what had happened in the lift, and he decided to let them find out when they watched the show for themselves later.

"Still, the sixty from the last game balances out the zero here, so the last round got you exactly half points. We're heading into the last set of games now," Alex finished, turning away from the set of chambers and facing towards the opposite door. He bent down to release the catch on it. "And I didn't mention this before, but we've got someone up here that one of you is going to recognize." With that, he pushed the door open and strode out into the room behind it.

Wolf was the first to follow him, and grinned as he saw the contents of the room. Its main feature was a large circular pool sunk into the ground, bordered with black and yellow stripes on the ground and a low chainlink barrier surrounding it. On the far side, a cubicle stood at its edge. A girl who looked very much like Indy, though obviously younger, was seated on a platform positioned above the vat, right next to the cubicle. She was wearing a black T-shirt and shorts outfit with the IZ logo on them, her bare feet dangling near the foamy surface of the contents of the vat. Behind her was a large column with a set of six lights arranged vertically.

He turned around as Indy emerged from the pod. She gasped as she saw the girl above the vat, and covered her mouth to hide her giggle as the girl waved at her. Alex walked back over and put his arm around her.

"I can't believe you got my sister to come on!" she laughed, still shocked. Alex patted her on the back and looked up at the shorter girl.

"How are you feeling up there, Violet?" he called out.

Twisting in her seat, she glanced down at the off-white foam below her, then looked at him with a smile. "Fine," she said in response, swinging her legs back and forward. She ran her hand through her dark blue shoulder-length hair nervously.

Alex guided Indy around the pool towards the cubicle. A pipe was connected to the top, and looking up, Wolf could see that it went up to the ceiling and joined a cluster of others. One of them was positioned right above Violet's head, and a few others opened out above the vat.

"So is there any reason why you said you wanted to gunge your sister?" Alex asked Indy as they reached the cubicle at Violet's side. She looked down from her seat at them.

"Well..." Indy hesitated, grinning awkwardly at her sister's stare. "She's always borrowing stuff from my old room when I'm away at college, that's one thing..."

Violet's mouth dropped open. "That's not true!" she laughed, placing her hands on her hips. She glanced down yet again at the stuff below her feet.

"It'll do for a reason, though," Alex answered, opening the cubicle's door. There was a large switch mounted on its back wall. "We're going to give you the chance to do just that, but as you might have guessed, there'll be some sort of challenge first." He motioned for her to step inside. She stepped in, using both hands to flick her hair behind her head as she sat down on the plastic chair.

The host walked back around the pool towards the other three contestants as he explained the game. "Indy, you're the one with the choice of how the game works. I've got a set of general knowledge questions, and you can either try and answer them or you can nominate your sister to try instead. You see those lights behind her?" Violet twisted around to see as the set of lights blinked on and off behind her seat. "Every time a question's answered correctly one of them will turn on, and if the question answerer lights all six of them within a minute, then she'll get to see her sister slimed." He grinned as he stopped at the side of the vat opposite them. "I'm sure you can guess what happens if you don't make it. But who's going to answer the questions, Indy?"

The wolfox thought for a few moments, looking up into the pipe above her head. Even though she had been in the same situation before, she didn't look as if she'd quite got used to it yet. "I'm going to get Violet to answer them," she decided, looking back at her. Violet turned towards Alex, curling and flexing her toes nervously.

"All right. Are you ready, Violet?" She nodded uncertainly as the lights in the room went down, leaving only her and her sister spotlit. "Get six questions right in the next minute and you'll empty the vat of gunge above your sister's head... otherwise you're going into there." He pointed down at the mucky pool, making her squeak again, wriggling around in her precarious seat. She straightened up and nodded, one hand twisting in her hair.

"Your time starts now!" A faint ticking sound effect began playing from an unseen speaker as he asked the girl her first question.

Wolf looked at Indy's expression as she watched her sister answer the questions. After a bad start, she quickly lit the bottom five of the lights, and Indy was giggling to herself nervously as Violet prepared to answer the final question to gunge her.

The young wolfox leaned forward and cupped her hands around her mouth as Alex slowly read it out, looking down at the foamy surface as she thought. Indy jiggled her knees up and down nervously, mouthing the number of seconds that had passed to herself as she waited for the time to run out.

"1984!" Violet yelled as she jerked up in the seat again. "Was it 1984?"

Alex paused a while, then looked slowly up at her. "You're absolutely right," he said, a grin spreading across his face as the last of the lights came on. Violet whooped, raising her hands in the air as she watched it blink into life, then grinned down at her surprised sister as a repeating klaxon began to sound.

"I'm sorry about this, Indy..." the host laughed as the machine gurgled, and she vanished under a deluge of brown and green gunge poured from the pipe above her. She squealed as the thick liquid slapped against her fur, and bowed her head forward, poking her face out of the slimy dome. As a coat of mixed gunge oozed down her shoulders and front, she looked up at her sister, who was still laughing at the sight of her being slimed. She stuck her tongue out at her, then raised her hands to her head as the downpour became a drizzle, smoothing her hair out and dragging the gunge out of it as she leaned to the side to escape the last few drops.

"You all right?" Alex dashed over to the side of the cubicle, staying behind the front where she couldn't throw any gunge at him. Her shoulders shook with laughter as her teammates cheered for her, and she waved across the pool at them as she nodded.

"Violet only just saved herself - she answered that question with three seconds to go, so I'm afraid the team's only getting ten points for this game..." Indy shrugged, clearing slime off her arms by running her hands down them. The host moved to open the door of the tank again, but then paused. "We could put another ten points on to that, though..." he said thoughtfully, looking over at Violet again. She sagged in the chair and giggled as she realized what was coming. "Indy, do you want to dunk your sister for ten extra points?"

Wolf whooped from across the pool, but Indy didn't need encouragement. Grinning up at the pipe above her sister's head, she turned round in the seat to put her hand on the large switch at the back of the tank.

"Now remember..." She looked out at Alex, ready to tug on the lever. "Violet won the game fairly - are you really going to cover her in slime just to help the team?"

Indy glanced over at Violet, who was looking back and forth worriedly between her and the gunge pipe on the ceiling. She grinned evilly. "Definitely!" she answered, pulling down hard on the switch.

Violet curled up forward on the seat at the sound of the siren, her face in her hands. A column of deep green gunge dropped from the overhead pipe, and she squealed, swinging her legs rapidly back and forward, as it spattered out over her back. The stuff domed outwards into the vat below, pushing an area of foam aside to reveal a muddy brown surface underneath.

She looked up again, her face a mixture of shock and enjoyment as the slime seeped through her clothing. Hunching her shoulders as it worked its way into the back of her neck, she jumped as the seat tilted forward, and threw her hands out in front of her as she slipped off it, disappearing face first into the gunge vat.

The surface of the gunge wobbled wildly, rippling outwards from the point she'd fell in as more of the foam parted. Suddenly her head emerged again, and she rapidly shook it, sending specks of the stuff flying from her hair as she stood up further in the chest-deep muck. She spun round to face Indy, who was leaning on the door of the tank, her mouth open in a laugh as she watched her struggling sister.

With the sound of another klaxon, more green slime dropped from the pipe above the centre of the vat, and her hands jumped to her head as it hit her, making a thick glooping sound as it splattered off her into the vat. She walked unsteadily sideways out of the downpour, her eyes firmly closed and her face screwed up as she flicked the stuff off her hands. Feeling that she'd reached the edge of the vat, she clung to the chainlink barrier and used her other hand to wipe the stuff from her eyes.

Alex opened the door of the cubicle and took Indy's hand to help her out, then walked with her to the vat's edge where her sister was looking up at them. Indy couldn't help laughing as she bent down to her - her hair was caked heavily against her head, and the only bit of blue fur visible under the clinging layer of brown and green gunge was where she had cleared the stuff from her eyes. She bobbed up and down with the slime in the vat, panting and clinging tightly to the barrier.

"How are you feeling, Violet?" Alex asked. She jumped and jerked her head round as another torrent of slime crashed down into the centre of the vat, then turned back to him, shivering as the thick ripples reached her.

"I've been better," she giggled, dragging her hands over the chainlink surface in an attempt to wipe the slime off them.

"Well, thanks for coming on, and for helping the team out... I'm afraid we're going to have to leave you in there a while." He flashed a grin, then turned away from her.

Violet laughed, then let go of the barrier to squirm down into the slime again. Indy straightened to follow the rest of the team out of the room, still brushing gunge from her fur.

"Think she got what she deserved, Indy?" the host asked her as they turned a corner into the main corridor. She stopped and looked back around the corner at her gungy sister, laughing as she looked up at her, then just nodded and dashed back to the rest of the team.

"We've got one of the classics coming up now," Alex smiled as they all rounded a corner. In front of them was a large black spherical tank mounted on three legs set at angles to the floor, with dim lights pulsing all over its surface. Beneath it was a clear plastic blowup chair with a small keyboard in front of it, connected to the machine by a metal arm coming from one of the front legs.

"It's the Pod!" the host announced, spreading his arms out towards it. Who's going under, Kamo?" he looked over his shoulder to ask the team leader.

"I'll do it," the equine responded with a large grin, already advancing towards it. Wolf slapped him on the back playfully as he walked away from the group. Alex swung the keyboard out from the chair, then replaced it as Kamo sank down into the chair. He looked up at the opening on the bottom of the pod, shuddering excitedly.

"If you've seen the show before, you'll know exactly how this goes." Alex walked back to the other three, pointing up to a large display screen on the wall. It flickered into life, displaying a view of the keyboard over Kamo's shoulder from the camera on the pod's base. It was covered in a large number of small buttons with alien-looking symbols painted on them. "There are six unique symbols on the entire board - the rest are repeated two or more times. What you've got to do is find and press the buttons with the six unique ones, before a minute passes and Kamo gets covered with the contents."

Wolf looked back at the team leader, remembering the gungings that he'd seen in this room on television. He couldn't remember anyone escaping from under there clean. He turned back to the screen, and jumped as the timer began.

"It's already started! Good luck, team..." Alex stepped back and allowed them to look more closely at the screen. Kamo quickly leaned forward and jabbed a button, lighting it up.

"Ten points already - good start," commented the presenter as the others searched the board. Another ten seconds went past before any of them spoke.

"I think there's one just where you're pointing now, Kamo, on the right hand side," Crystal called over. "A bit further over... yes, that one!" She clapped her hands together as it lit up as well. Kamo pressed a third just before the timer reached thirty seconds, and hovered his finger over a fourth.

"Not that one!" Indy shouted, seeing its match on the other side of the board just as he pressed it. The equine jerked his head up to look at them. A loud hooter sounded, and he gasped as a burst of sticky gray gunge splattered outwards from his head. It stopped as quickly as it had started, leaving him looking utterly shocked as he slowly leaned forward to look at the panel again.

Wolf stared at it in surprise as well - pressing a wrong button in this game had usually just given a time penalty. He watched as Indy guided the contestant to another correct button, and he pressed it while stroking the slime out of his hair. There were just over twenty seconds to go, and he still had two to find.

Wolf spotted another button, but Kamo had pressed it before he had a chance to say anything. All four of them paused, with the victim hovering his right hand nervously over the panel, as an alarm started sounding to mark the last ten seconds.

"There!" Wolf called, pointing at the last button on the screen. Kamo leaned forwards.

"Where is it?" he called, putting his finger on a nearby button.

"No! Left... left..." The rest of the team called anxiously in unison as he pointed, moving his finger across the panel. "There - press it!" Kamo jabbed the button with two seconds to go, and the "correct" bell sound played as the keyboard swung away from him.

"You did it!" Alex looked genuinely astonished, giving them an applause of his own. "You can come out from under there, Kamo..."

The equine hauled himself upright, and walked back towards the rest of the team, brushing the spilled slime from his shoulders. "I haven't ever seen that happen before," he said to the presenter, nodding back towards the machine.

Alex just grinned. "I think the computer didn't want to spoil its record of not letting anyone out from under there clean."

Kamo smiled disbelievingly, reached around to scrape some of the cold stuff from his back, then threw a handful at the presenter, who stepped calmly out of its way.

"A full sixty points, and you're the first to beat the Pod! We're nearly at the end now... I'm going to try and lead us to where we can get back down to ground level, and then you'll have to nominate someone to take the gunging at the end." The team looked at each other, and Wolf grinned, still hoping that they'd be seeing the Ride.

"Come on!" Alex disappeared off down the corridor, leaving the other four to struggle to keep up as he darted through the twisting corridors. He slid to a halt at a corner where the passage widened out, and pointed around it as the contestants caught up with him breathlessly.

Wolf laughed despite being out of breath. The corridor widened into a room, divided in half by a channel of dark and light green gunge, about three metres across. Lined up at the near side of the channel, there were four inflatable chairs, each with a large cylindrical barrel-like container suspended from a frame above them. The only way across the channel was by a metal walkway with a crude handrail.

"This'll do for another game, don't you think?" The host walked cheerfully over on to the bridge, and looked out across to where the slime disappeared through a grille in the wall. "Come over and have a seat!"

The girls eagerly came forward, and clambered into the rightmost chairs from the sides carefully - they were all right up against the channel, with no floor in front of them. They both leaned forwards, looking down at their feet dangling near the slimy surface of the channel as Kamo and Wolf joined them. They glanced up at the large tanks above them as they got comfortable - each of the tanks had a light on its base along with the usual threatening valve.

Alex leaned over a small display screen mounted on the bridge's handrail, pressing a few buttons. "I think I remember how to control this," he said, as the lights above each contestant flashed rapidly. Crystal brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them anxiously. She jumped as a buzzer sounded, but all that happened was that Kamo's light had switched on, leaving the others in darkness. He looked up at it then back to the presenter.

"Okay, I'll ask you all questions from here in turn," Alex explained, pointing down at the small screen. "I'll give you five points for each correct answer. But if you're wrong, you're going to have to nominate someone else to take the consequences for you!" His grin became wider as they all looked up again. "You've all got two chances - the first time you're picked, the tank above your head will open, but the second time... you're going in there! He pointed dramatically down to the green mess in the channel. Indy shuddered, straightening up on the seat.

"Kamo, we'll start with you, and we'll carry on until only one of you is still safely on dry land. What's the name of the metal that's liquid at room temperature?"

The equine ran his hand over his head, taken by surprise at the sudden start. "Mercury", he answered. The light above his head turned off, and Wolf's light lit up in its place.

"Good, five points already. Wolf, what's the name of Kaisha's latest album?"

Wolf felt the others' eyes on him as he shook his head. "No idea," he admitted, "I don't follow pop." He heard the others draw in their breath slightly as they realized he'd have to pick one of them.

"Sorry, everyone, he's going to have to nominate one of you... who's it going to be, Wolf?" Alex asked.

He leaned forwards to look over at the girls' end of the seats. They both looked back at him nervously.

"Indy," he answered. The light on the tank above her turned on, this time a dim red colour.

The wolfox girl gasped, her eyes wide as a loud klaxon blared. A loud metallic clunk sounded as the valve above her opened, and she shrieked, waggling her legs as the thick green downpour slapped onto her head. She leaned back to let it fall into her lap, her face turned away with one hand up to protect it as the stuff splatted over her chest and tummy, a couple of drops splashing onto the contestants next to her as well.

She relaxed as the alarm hooted again and the flow eased off, sticking her head under, then smoothing her hair down with both her hands. She held out some of the sticky strands, laughing to herself, then flicked her hands at Wolf before wiping them on her legs.

"I don't think she was too happy with that, Wolf," Alex smiled as she slithered upright in the seat again. "Indy, it's your turn now..."

The questions continued, with each of them getting one right before Alex got back around to Indy. After thinking to herself for a while, she leaned forwards and gave a hesitant answer.

"That's wrong, I'm afraid," the host shook his head. "It's your turn to pick on someone - but do I really need to ask who it's going to be?"

"No," grinned Indy, looking over at Wolf. He just smiled back, bouncing a little in the seat as he waited excitedly. The siren went off, and he watched the red light above him switch on just before closing his eyes and feeling his ears flatten as the muddy wave of slime impacted on his head.

Laughing to himself as he felt it creeping down his neck and splashing forward into his lap, he gripped the arms of the chair tighter to steady himself as he felt it becoming more slippery under him. Hauling himself upwards against its weight, he bowed his head down and opened his eyes, watching the stuff drip down from all around the back of his head.

Shaking his head a little, he looked up again, smiling back over at the laughing but equally messy Indy. Her light turned off, and Crystal was lit up.

"Crystal," Alex started, "Who is Niven's co-star in the recently announced film 'The Mirror'?"

The catgirl leaned her elbow on one arm of the chair, her head resting on her hand as she tapped her fingers on the other arm. "I can't remember her name..." she said anxiously. "Sasheena or something like that?"

"Sorry, you're close but it was actually Safira..." She closed her eyes, sinking back into the chair. "And I think there's definitely a boys versus girls rivalry that's been developing throughout the show - who are you going to gunge, Crystal?"

"Wolf again," she answered, looking over at him. His mouth dropped open in surprise as he turned to her, then he looked down at the surface in front of him and grinned as the alarm started up.

"All right... sorry, Wolf, but you're going in!" He squeezed his eyes closed as he heard the heavy valve opening, and laughed as the rest of the thick substance slapped down onto him. He jumped as he felt the seat begin to tilt forwards, and his arms flailed as he tried to keep a grip on it, but he quickly slithered out of the slimy downpour and toppled forwards into the gunge channel.

He shuddered as he felt the surface close over his head, and quickly bobbed to the surface, feeling the green slime ooze and trickle from his fur. Shaking his head to clear his eyes, he turned to face the others and whooped as he raised his hands in the air, then gently toppled backwards with a splash.

The presenter watched him with amusement. "He doesn't look like he minds too much, Crystal... anyway, it's back to Kamo now." The lights changed again, and Kamo quickly answered his question.

Alex looked down at the panel and shook his head. "Sorry... you're not having much luck here!" The girls exchanged glances between themselves and the tanks above them. "Who's your forfeit going to be?" Indy tensed, drumming her fingers on the arm of her blowup chair as she peered into the valve above her.

"Crystal," Kamo decided. The catgirl giggled, then put her hands to her mouth in readiness, squeezing her eyes closed. Wolf watched from below as the gunge fell from the container and splattered off her, making a wet slapping noise as it domed down into the channel.

The cat bounced in her seat as the flow gradually became a drizzle, two rivulets of slime pouring off her bare feet as she waggled her legs. Raising her arms a little from the seat's sides and looking down at them, she flicked her hands rapidly back and forward, squealing as she tried to get the slime off them.

Alex stepped forwards again, having retreated a little as a few splashes of slime had lapped onto the bridge. "So we've got two slimy girls and Kamo's still clean..." he commented as Indy's light turned on, making the green slime on her fur glisten as she moved. "That means you've only got two or three chances left between you, and you've only earned 25 points so far. Indy, ready to start earning points again?"

She nodded confidently as the host began his question. Wolf sank down into the slim relaxedly as both the girls got their questions right, and Kamo hesitated again on the answer to his. A buzzer sounded to signal his time was up, and Wolf grinned to himself, realizing one of the girls had to join him in the channel.

"Out of time, Kamo! And now you've got to choose which one of these gorgeous girls to dunk into here... who's it going to be?"

The equine grinned sheepishly over at them. "Sorry, Indy," he decided. The wolfox gave a nervous laugh, and squeezed her eyes closed as the alarm started up, her hands gripping the arms of the seat.

She squeaked as the gunge from above washed over her, leaning forwards so that it splashed out from hitting her neck, then quickly brought one hand up to hold her nose as the seat tipped her forwards. Her other hand out to steady herself, she slipped off the slimy plastic chair and into the gunge, which made a thick glooping noise as the disappeared underneath it.

As the last of the slime dribbled onto the now empty seat, her head broke through the surface again, her face screwed up and her hands wiping at her eyes and mouth. After clearing them, she breathed out heavily and stood up fully, still up to her chest in the thick liquid. She struggled over to Wolf and put one arm around him, smearing more slime over his shoulder, and they both turned their attention back to the host.

"We're on 35 points now, Crystal, and it's up to you and Kamo to get more. But if Kamo gets another question wrong, you're going to go down as well..." The catgirl flicked her hair behind her head, laughing a little as she looked at Indy and Wolf watching her from their slime bath. She answered her question confidently, but was shocked to hear the loud buzzer sounding again.

"That's not the right answer... but I think it's about time someone slimed Kamo, don't you?" She giggled, nodding, as Kamo closed his eyes. He just smiled a little at the sound of the siren, then was enveloped by the torrent of gunge poured from the tank above him.

He hardly reacted as the downpour trickled around his shoulders, eventually shutting off to leave a coating of slime on his upper half. Learning back in the chair, he raised both hands up and slid them over his head, sending a wave of slime from his hair slapping onto the floor behind him.

"All right, now that Kamo's been slimed, the next contestant to get a question wrong stops the game, and you've still got five correct answers to go." The equine straightened up, paying close attention as the question was asked. Biting his lip to concentrate for a moment, he hesitated for a moment and then answered.

Alex paused a moment, smiling at him. Suddenly, Crystal squeaked and put her hands on her head as the light above her turned on, but it was white. Laughing at herself, she relaxed again and turned to the host.

"Crystal, what was the first national football team to win the world cup two times running?" he asked her.

"I've absolutely no idea," she said immediately, turning round quickly as the buzzer sounded from Kamo's end of the row of seats. She put her hand over her mouth as she saw the green slime slapping down onto him for the second time, giggling to herself as he was tipped off the seat and disappeared into the gunge channel with a thick sucking noise.

"I wouldn't have had any idea either, Crystal," Alex consoled unnecessarily as Kamo emerged again, shaking himself and spraying the thick substance out from his fur. "But you're safe from going for a dip, and you did get forty out of the available sixty points for the round."

The host walked casually off the bridge and crouched down next to Kamo, who had wiped away the layer of clinging slime around his eyes and was leaning on the side of the channel. "So we've only got one game left to go, and it's up to you to volunteer someone - any ideas who?"

"Crystal," he grinned, turning round to face her. She smiled quietly as she carefully climbed out of the seat, then crossed the walkway to the other side. Alex took her hand as she approached.

"I think that's fair, don't you?" The rest of the team nodded. "Come on!" Suddenly he turned and sprinted off, Crystal stumbling as she ran to keep up with him.

Kamo hauled himself out of the channel, rolling heavily onto the far side, then offered his hands to Indy. The wolfox took them and pulled, struggling upwards out of the sticky substance. She shrieked as the heavy liquid tugged at her bikini bottoms as she was pulled outwards, and wriggled one hand free to reach around and pull them up again at the back. Giggling, she turned to Wolf, who grinned back, dipped his head under the gunge one last time, then accepted their hands to help him out.

They caught up with the host and Crystal, who were waiting around the corner. Alex took off again as he saw them, and after chasing the two of them through the maze of corridors they eventually arrived in front of an old-fashioned cargo lift.

"Sorry about leaving you behind," Alex said as he tugged the metal grate aside and beckoned them through, "but I think you'll be as excited as I am when you find out what's down here." Closing the door again, he pressed a button on the lift controls, and it began crawling slowly downwards.

Eventually the lift juddered to a halt, and as Alex drew the lower door aside the team peered out into the darkness beyond. The host strode out into the unusually warm room and flicked a large switch next to the lift, making the rusty-looking tube lights buzz into life. Wolf grinned as the room lit up - it wasn't what he had hoped for, but it was another machine that he'd seen on the same episode.

In the centre of the room, a tangle of pipes converged at a metallic cube, above five feet high. As Alex led the team around to the other side, they saw that the far side of the cube was transparent, and showed a blowup chair positioned inside, a variety of sizes of threatening pipes pointed at it from the walls. Lumpy substances of various murky colours oozed slowly down from the pipe openings, forming gradually spreading puddles on the metal floor of the cube. A large red "Fill" button was placed next to the viewing window.

The host had his arm around Crystal, who had her hands clasped in front of her and was looking extremely nervously at the contents of the tank.

"This is what we call the Sludgecube," he began. Crystal shuddered as she heard the name. "The team are relying on you to get them points, but we can give you protection if you want it. If you go in there as you are now we'll give you the full sixty points, but we'll take ten off for taking goggles, thirty for some waterproofs... or you can forfeit all sixty points and we'll move straight on. What do you think?"

The catgirl continued staring worriedly at the machine, not reacting to the encouragement of her team mates. "I'll take the goggles," she decided, nodding distractedly.

Alex climbed up the set of rungs on the machine's side, and took her hands to help her up, then reached around the large central pipe on top of the cube to hand her a large set of laboratory goggles. She put them on, and crouched down next to him as he undid a set of catches on a hatch on the cube's ceiling.

Eventually the host opened it, and pulled the hatch back to reveal the entrance to the machine. Crystal leaned down into it, uneasily looking round at the nozzles that surrounded the seat.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Crystal?" the host asked, his arm placed reassuringly on her back. Suddenly she snapped her head up and looked him in the eye.

"No way," she said quietly, straightening up again and shivering a little.

"No?" repeated Alex. The catgirl backed away from him, shaking her head slowly. "Shall we do it to Wolf, then?"

Wolf felt his heart jump at the mention of his name, and he looked into the machine again, grinning. The catgirl nodded, a smile managing to break through her anxious expression, and her shoulders sagged with relief. Alex stretched his arm down to help Wolf up and he struggled to the top of the cube.

"Want the goggles, Wolf?" Alex asked, offering them to him. He began to shake his head, then a thought struck him. Quickly, he whipped off his trunks, threw them aside, then jumped down through the hatch into the chamber below.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," he heard the host laugh as he looked around excitedly at the pipes pointed into the metallic chamber. "It looks like you've certainly found a willing volunteer to take your place, Crystal." Moving over to the seat, Wolf turned around to leap into it and looked up into the large dark central chute.

Crystal and the host appeared alongside the other two team members, having climbed down from the top of the cube. He smiled back as the two girls giggled slightly to themselves at the sight of him unclothed. Despite his excitement, he couldn't help feeling just a little nervous as the host prepared the others to start the gunge tank.

"Wolf's volunteered to take this for the team, so let's not disappoint him... everyone get ready to fill the cube!" Kamo, Indy and Crystal all placed a hand on the button beside the window, and joined in as Alex counted down from three. He bounced in his seat as the last second went past, and tensed up a little as the three of them pushed on the "Fill" button.

For a moment, a loud hissing noise played, then the pipes to his sides spluttered into life, spewing translucent dark goo onto his sides. He squirmed inwards in the seat as he felt the lukewarm stuff slopping gently against him, and shivered as the streams moved upwards to hit him on the sides of the neck, feeling the sticky stuff dribbling downwards through his chest fur.

He kept his head up but shifted his eyes around as a low rumble began, and laughed out loud as the pipes on the ceiling of the cube began pouring lighter brown gunge into it, accompanied by the sound of a warning siren. A couple of splashes hit his front, making him gasp at the lumpy feeling of it. The individual puddles of slime dropped from the pipes soon joined to form a layer that covered the bottom, and he wriggled his toes as he felt the stuff ooze between them.

As the lumpy stuff began to rise around his ankles, he looked out at the others. Alex and Kamo were watching amusedly from the back of the group, but the two girls were watching him closely with their eyes wide. Crystal had one hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with giggles as she saw what was happening. He raised one hand to wave cheerfully at her, then suddenly a harsh buzzer rang, and his view was obscured by a deluge of lumpy brown stuff poured onto his head from the central pipe above him.

Surprised, he yelped and closed his eyes, bowing his head down as the stuff slapped over him, splattering down his back and into his lap. It felt like having mud poured onto his head, he grinned to himself as he felt the sludge rising around his waist. He put both hands back into the gunge, which seemed to be sucking at him as it rose gradually upwards. Squirming from side to side and enjoying the feeling of the lumps on his fur, he felt the streams from the side ease off, then the thicker stuff from above.

With some difficulty, he pulled his hands out of the muck and wiped his face, blinking as he opened his eyes. The cube's walls were now completely coated in brown gunge, and some of it was still drizzling down into the dark thick pool from the pipes on the ceiling. Suddenly another siren rang and he squeezed his eyes closed as a row of smaller nozzles around him sprayed watery slime on to the sides of his head, and had to clear his eyes again, smearing the sludge over his head as he attempted to clean himself up.

He looked out at his cheering team mates, grinning as he felt the gungy lumps sitting on his head gradually crawl downwards, settling onto the shoulder-deep muck. Raising his hand in the air again, he acknowledged them with another wave, sagging slowly down into the muddy mixture.

"I've often wondered, Wolf - how does it feel in there?" Alex asked. Wolf threw a handful of muck at the perspex window, and Crystal jumped away instinctively.

"Amazing," he answered, wriggling from side to side in the stuff another time.

"That's how you should feel, because you've just earned the team sixty points, and that brings you up to a grand total of exactly six hundred!" Wolf whooped in response, shaking his head to dislodge a few more of the lumps. "Now, we're going to get you out of there somehow - even though it looks like you wouldn't mind staying! - and we'll try and get you cleaned up for the final."

He paused for a few moments, then burst out laughing. "You really had me worried there, Crystal," he said, turning to her and extending his arms. She smiled at him, and moved to accept his hug. "I thought I was going to have to put you in there! Are you all right?"

Crystal pulled away and nodded, looking at Wolf again, her shoulders shaking as she laughed with relief. Alex followed her gaze and smiled a little too.

"Did you change your mind when you saw it happening to him?" he asked.

"No," Crystal said quickly, making the others laugh along with her.

"I suppose we'd better let him out," the host decided. Wolf attempted to rise from the seat, but could hardly move against the weight of the gunge. Slowly he pushed himself upwards and wallowed over to stand below the hatch in the ceiling, stretching his hands upwards to be lifted out by Alex.

After the team had showered, they met up with Alex in the room in which they had started - the hub with the corridors stretching off it, and the large door at the far end. A small hatch in it had now been opened.

"Ready to take on the computer?" he asked, smiling as the team cheered in response. He headed towards the door and stepped aside, letting the team duck through one by one.

Wolf followed Indy through, and straightened up to find himself on a thin platform that bordered a pool. He recognised the chamber immediately from when he'd seen the programme on television. At the far end was a large clear cylinder set into the wall, about two metres across. Stretching from it to the platform on which they were standing was a pool full of green stuff - this time, just coloured water.

He shuffled along a little as the others came through, and looked to his left and right. On each side of the room was a series of obstacles, starting from cubicles with tanks of water above them and finishing with slides into foam pits at the far end. Right in front of the team, there was an inflatable raft-like platform that floated in the water, tied with rope to the platform on which they were standing.

Alex closed the hatch behind him as he ducked through the hatch. "Okay! Team leader, I'll show you to your position first." He pointed over at the cylinder, and Kamo smiled as he followed him, weaving past the obstacles on the left hand side of the room. After walking along the precarious platform at the side of the pit of foam, they reached the larger ledge at the far side of the room.

The presenter undid a catch at the side of the large cylinder and opened a thin swinging section, motioning to Kamo to go in with his hand. The equine stepped inside, looking upwards as he walked towards the centre. Alex locked the door behind him and began the walk back to rejoin the rest of the team.

"Now, we need someone to swim first," he said as he came towards them. "Anyone want to do that?"

Crystal put her hand up. "I'll give it a try," she smiled. Alex jumped back to the platform and crouched down, grabbing the platform and pulling it a little towards the bank to steady it.

"Hop on," he said, nodding in its direction. Crystal carefully stretched her foot out, feeling the unsteadiness of the platform, then jumped on to it. She squeaked as she slipped and fell sideways, crashing onto the air-filled surface.

"Are you all right?" asked the host, and she turned towards him, nodding. "Don't injure yourself before the game's even begun," he grinned back at her. Suddenly he straightened up again.

"OK, so that leaves you two," he said, turning to Indy and Wolf. "If you'd like to step into the tanks at the sides, I'll take my place and we can get started."

The two of them looked at each other, then headed in the opposite directions towards the cubicles at the sides of the room. Wolf looked up at the reservoir above him as he stepped inside - it was full of water rather than gunge like before, but somehow it didn't make it any less threatening. He tugged the door closed behind him and waited for the host to reach his place back at where he'd shown Kamo into the large tank.

Alex turned around and looked at them all. "Can you just make sure the doors on the cubicles are locked?" he called over. Indy and Wolf both pushed on the doors and nodded. "Good, then let's start. Good luck!" He turned around to one of the wall-mounted cameras and waved to signal he was starting, then looked back at the team again.

"Welcome to the final!" he began. "After four rounds in the Industrial Zone, you managed to accumulate exactly six hundred points, and at the current exchange rate of four points to one second, that gives you two and a half minutes to complete the task ahead of you." He watched as a large timer above the cylinder turned on, displaying one hundred and fifty seconds.

"This is what you've been waiting for - your objective here is to shut down the central computer, and that can only be done by finding the three keys around this room and turning them at the same time in the console over at this end." He pointed down to below where Kamo was standing, where three keyholes were lined up in the wall just above the water's surface. "Each of you has the task of finding one key, apart from your leader - he's just in there to take the consequences if you make too many mistakes. And if you fail to get all three of the keys before the time runs out, I'm putting you in there with him!"

Kamo looked up, smiling slightly at the gigantic funnels visible above his head as the explanation continued. It was clear that there was a lot of gunge waiting to drop onto him.

"So, Indy and Wolf are going to have to find the first keys, which are hidden somewhere amongst the foam down at this end. Before they can start, though, Crystal's going to have to release them from their cubicles by pressing the button next to the keyholes. She's got twenty seconds to get there from when the time starts, and if you're not out by then you're going to be soaked!" The two contestants at the side of the room looked up simultaneously, then back to the host. "Once you're out, you'll have to get past the obstacles in your path. On your way, watch out for the yellow pressure pads - if you touch any of them, then I'm sure you can guess what happens to your team leader."

"After sliding down and getting the keys, come into the water and insert your keys. Once they're in, a rope ladder's going to fall from the ceiling on Crystal's platform, so she's got to get back there and climb up to reach the final key. All she has to do then is swim back, put it in and you'll have won!"

He paused for a moment, looking at Kamo beside him. "All ready?" he asked. The four of them cheered back.

"Crystal, the time starts when you enter the water. Best of luck." Alex stepped back, holding his hand out to the murky green surface.

The catgirl edged towards the side of the inflatable platform, and readied herself to dive in, curling her toes. As she leaned forwards, she squeaked as the platform moved back, and collapsed into the water awkwardly.

Surfacing quickly, she shook her head to get the water out of her eyes and ears, and stumbled forwards towards the other side of the room. Kicking her legs up behind her, she suddenly got a lot faster, and swam quickly towards the other side of the room, pressing the button with easily enough time to let Indy and Wolf out.

Wolf stepped forwards as the door swung open again, and looked over at Indy, who was disappearing into a low crawl tunnel. He turned his attention to the first of his obstacles - a set of bars in the ceiling over a large glowing panel in the floor.

Quickly, he threw himself up to the first bar, and struggled to grab hold of the next one. As he clawed for it, he heard a buzzer sound, and looked down to see Kamo duck under a column of orange stuff poured in from the ceiling. Smiling as he realised that Indy must have touched a trigger plate, he continued swinging himself over the one below him, going two at a time.

At the end of the bars, he landed awkwardly and nearly overbalanced back onto the glowing section, but straightened himself up again and picked his way over a set of floor tiles to reach a group of tightly-packed padded columns that stretched from floor to ceiling. Tentatively, he began trying to squeeze between them without touching them, but quickly gave up and ran through regardless, hearing the buzzer sound multiple times as he bounced off them.

Squeezing himself out of the cluster of columns, he looked up at the timer and smiled as he realized they were well ahead of time. He looked back at the pressure pads surrounding the pillars, and grinning over at Kamo, reached back to lean on one. He laughed as the already messy equine was coated by a long downpour of yellow slime from the ceiling, which he shook his head to try and get rid of.

He let go of the pillar, and ignoring the plastic slide provided, jumped down into the foam pit in front of him, hitting the inflatable surface and sending blobs of the airy foam up into the air. He began sweeping his hands from side to side, trying to feel every inch of the pit to find the key.

Glancing over at Indy, who had slid into the foam pit and got her key while he was looking, he got more worried as she clambered over the barrier between the foam and the water. Soon after he heard the splash of her entering the pool, though, his left hand finally touched metal, and he gripped it tightly as he stumbled over to the inflatable barrier.

Trying to leap over the waist-high soft wall, he got stuck halfway, and gasped, winded, as he struggled to look up. Crystal was now wallowing back through the water, using her hands to scoop it out the way as she slowly walked back towards the platform. He looked back at the timer again to see that they only had a minute left.

Clawing at the opposite side of the wall, he wriggled down into the pool, landing headfirst but standing up again quickly. Shaking his head to get rid of the discoloured water, he held out the key as he approached the console and placed it in the right hand slot.

He turned back to Crystal, who was slowly climbing up onto the side of the platform, struggling against the surface that buckled whenever she tried to get on. As she squirmed herself upwards, a hatch in the ceiling opened and a rope ladder dropped from it, hitting her lightly on the head. She reached above her and took hold of it, using it to haul herself fully upright.

"Come on, Crystal!" Wolf looked behind him to Kamo, who had shouted the encouragement. He was bouncing on his heels, and obviously trying to look more calm than he felt. He looked more worried when Crystal tried to start climbing the ladder - she took hold of a high rung and tried to swing herself upwards, slipping off and collapsing back onto the platform again.

As the others called encouragement to her, she took hold of the ladder again, squeaking as thick foam sprayed down onto her from the hatch. She tried to wrap her legs around the wildly swinging ladder, but couldn't get a grip on it at all. As she reached her arm up to a higher rung, trying to haul on to get herself up, a loud buzzer sounded, and the two team members in the water looked up at the timer to see that it had reached zero.

"Bad luck," Alex called over to the catgirl. Crystal let go of the ladder, falling back onto the platform disappointedly as the last sprays of foam floated down. "You were really close, but that rope ladder gets everyone - want to come over here?"

She slipped off the platform back into the water, straightening out her bikini as she walked slowly towards the ledge that Alex was standing on. Meanwhile, he offered his hands to help Indy and Wolf out of the water, where they smiled at each other knowingly, eager to take part in the very last feature of the show.

Crystal stretched both her hands up to the host, and he pulled her easily out of the pool, putting her down next to the others. Sliding his arm down to her back, he took hold of the handles on the door of the cylinder with his other hand.

Tugging on the door to open it, he pushed her gently into the tank. She stepped inside and walked up to join the already slimy Kamo, dragging him back towards the largest pipe in the centre of the cylinder. Wolf followed next, squeezing in beside them, then Indy eagerly joined him. The door was closed, and Alex moved to the side to put his hand on the large switch beside them.

"I'm sorry about this," he grinned at them insincerely, grasping the handle tightly as the team huddled under the pipe. Indy bounced up and down a little excitedly, taking hold of Wolf's hand. "All ready?" At the cheer from the four of them, he pulled down on the switch and stood back.

Crystal tugged Kamo towards her, wrapping her arms around him to keep him from escaping as a few green drizzles began pouring onto them at angles from the ceiling. Some were light and some were dark, and they began to mingle into a medium green colour as they lapped over the four of them. Wolf looked up at the ceiling, still holding Indy's hand.

Suddenly an alarm sounded and the light streams turned into huge torrents. Wolf quickly closed his eyes and held his breath as one massive wave from the ceiling washed over him, hearing the others yelp as the slimy stuff hit them. He smiled, bowing his head down as he felt it slither all around him, beginning to rapidly fill up the tank around his legs.

He felt around for Indy again, laughing as he dragged her forwards into the downpour and felt the gunge dome over both of them. Holding her gently but firmly to stop her from squirming away, he tilted his head from side to side to let the stuff coat him completely, listening to it splatter into the rising pool.

The level reached just above his waist, and as he felt the stuff begin to subside, he opened his eyes again, blinking and shaking his head to clear the gunge from them. Indy was still facing him, now hunched over with her hands stretched out, her hair heavy with slime and covering her face. Slowly, she reached up and parted it, revealing her grinning face. Giggling, she reached down and dipped both her hands into the waist-deep pool, then splashed a wave forwards towards him.

He threw his hands out in front of himself and closed his eyes instinctively, feeling some of the thrown slime splash against his hands just before the rest of it washed over him. He laughed, turning his head to the side and half-opening his eyes as she continued splashing him, and during a gap between splashes he put his own hands in and began sloshing the stuff back at her.

As she squeaked, covering her face, he felt another wave splatter across his back, and turned around quickly to see a giggling Crystal. She had been turned completely green all over, with none of her white fur visible at all underneath the layer of gunge, and the lines of her bikini only just noticeable through it. As she watched, she slid her hand down her arm to collect the green stuff and flung a handful at him, which he caught in his hand. He was about to throw it back, but laughed as Kamo came up behind her, putting his slimy arms around her in a hug.

"Sorry that had to happen," Alex repeated, laughing as their heads turned towards him. "You didn't quite win, but you did get a pretty impressive six hundred points, and that puts you right at the top of our leaderboard!"

Wolf whooped and clapped his hands in the air, more from enjoying the slime bath than the news about the points, and yelped as the two girls started splashing him with gunge from both sides again. The slime fight continued as Alex gave his final piece to the camera, with none of them paying much attention to him at all.

Eventually he turned around, still grinning at the sight of them. "It was pretty difficult to apologize for putting you in there when I knew you'd love it so much," he said, as the four of them wallowed towards him. By now they were all completely coloured in various shades of thick green slime, panting from tiredness.

"Want to come and join us?" Indy asked, making the others laugh along with her. Crystal used her slimy hand to beckon him towards them.

"Well..." Alex scratched the back of his neck. "I think I'm all right out here for now, thanks." Putting his hand on the switch again, he pulled it back, making the slime begin to drain out of the tank. "How about we get you cleaned up, and I'll take you up to the recording studio so you can see yourselves on the show?"

As the last of the gunk drained away, leaving a slick sheen on the bottom of the tank, he opened the door. The girls came out first, giving him a messy hug each and ruffling the gunge into his hair. Kamo stepped out and stood by amusedly as the host laughed and tried to struggle out of their grasp.

Wolf followed them, dragging slime out of his fur and flicking it to the floor. Even though it was over, the thrill hadn't faded, and he was still excited about watching his own appearance on the programme when he got home.

He couldn't wait to show Electra.

And in an evolution from Industrial Zone 2, this story was a collaborative effort between me and Susi! We came up with the characters together and he wrote the introduction as well as a couple of scenes later in the show.

Industrial Zone began to come together a bit more here - little details like having sixty points available per game instead of fifty, to make it easier to divide up by the four team members, as well as dropping the food-WAM sections and using foam a lot more (a step mostly influenced by Susi, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out!)

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Industrial Zone 3 by Iron-K