Crimson Flag Beach War

[Raf_Cian]

Opening Gambit

It was a hot and smouldering day at the Crimson Flag beach. Child furs were playing in the water trying to keep cool. Dragons were baskings on the sands slowly baking to a golden brown. Vendors peddled their wares to any fur actually carrying currency. Even the great fox mage looked almost cheerful that he didn’t need his fire magic to keep warm at this time of the year. Overall it was a happy beach... but something seemed missing.

One would not guess that something was a large shipping crate being dragged into one of the parking lots by a not that small black ferret. Far from the largest fur in Crimson Flag, the ferret known as Raf more than made up for strength of body with intensity of tunnel vision. If a shipping crate needed to be moved from point A to point B, he was going to move it. Thankfully as a toon convert that logic was all the strength he needed.

While several furs noticed the ferret’s efforts, none lent him a hand. When one gains a reputation as a mad scientist the background characters tend to give you a wide breadth until it was time to break out the torches and pitchforks. Raf was used to this sort of treatment; one did not last long as a practitioner of true SCIENCE without developing tough skin to contain all the voices in your head.

Reaching his destination, Raf jostled the crate back and forth for perfect positioning before he stepped back to admire his work. Then, almost as an afterthought he reached into his lab coat and pulls out a single button remote... which of course he pressed immediately.

With a clank the sides and top of the shipping crate fell away and tucked themselves underneath the odd box like contraction within. Cloth signs unfolded themselves, safety signs light up, and the entire machine briefly hummed with life before it mellowed down to an anticipatory hum.

Eager to get his chaotic good scheme on the road, the ferret known as Raf Cian waited for his first customer.

He did not have to wait long as a blue striped otter is quickly approached.

“Hey Raf, w’tch you got there,” the otter the ferret knows as Selden inquired with his greeting.

Raf, with a possibly too eager grin on his face, grabbed the otter by the shoulder and ushered him onward towards the front of the machine. “What I have here Selden is the new wave of the summer. Guaranteed to sweep up the town and leave it on the beaches of new horizons. The one and only accessory you’ll need till fall scares all the beach bunnies away.”

Caught off guard by the furious pitch side of the ferret, Selden took a moment to actually focus on the machine in front of him. Its various signs were... descriptive if not informative. “...what’s an Eight Hour Auto Buff?”

“Truth in advertising my friend,” Raf responded with what was possibly his favorite description for his newest invention, “Truth in advertising.”

The otter hmms as he inspected the machine a little bit more. Taking a full walk around the thing, Seldon eventually returned to the front to deliver his conclusion, “Looks like a car wash.”

Raf looked slightly hurt, “Only due to the essential service utility of the car wash design. It’s completely safe for any fur... as long as they’re shorter than six feet tall.” Which was all clearly stated on all the safety signs: must be this short to ride this ride. There was also a recommendation of only male participants, but that wasn’t of direct interest in this situation.

Selden is obviously considered all this very carefully, glancing at the dollar intake slot in the machine the otter had another crushing blow to deliver to the ferret. “Five dollars is a little steep for something that lasts just eight hours.”

Taken aback, Raf attempted to generate a comeback, “Um... market research indicates the consuming public will adapt...”

Selden interrupted his friend by putting a hand on the ferret’s shoulder. “Raf, you’re raving mad scientist, not a sales fox. What’s going on?”

The ferret slumped dejectedly. “That’s just it. I’m a mad scientist. I have a nice little hovel in the forest completely swarming with creations and they’re all just... stuck there. Inventions are made to help people, and they aren’t helping anyone isolated away from all civilization.” Selden seemed tempted to disagree, but Raf was adamant to continue, “I need capital. I can invent without it, but you need money for storefronts and business contacts. The auto-buffer seemed marketable, so I thought I’d try earning starting capital with it...”

Selden hmms in thought, balancing sympathy with caution. Curiosity eventually pushed him to at least ask again, “So... what exactly is auto buffing. And don’t say truth in advertising.”

Raf is at a lost for words, not quite figuring out how to elaborate on something which to his ferret wheel mind seemed like a self explanatory description. Like all mad scientists though, he eventually got a brilliant idea. “Would you like a free sample?”

The otter is overwhelmed as curiosity meets the shrewd shopper within him. “...OK! What do I need to do?”

“Just stand on the conveyor belt’s pawprints while I use the manager overrides,” the ferret excitedly explained as he fished out a key from his lab coat. Inserting the key into the machine, Raf waited for Selden to be in position before he turned it with all the prompt and flair of throwing the final switch in a thunderstorm. Not to disappoint, the machine came to life...

Safety lights flickered on, the conveyor belt pulled the wide eyed otter into its maw. Raf, ever excited whenever one of his creations is in use, put his ear against the side of the machine to hear SCIENCE in progress. Even without such close perspective the sound of dozens of rotary pads revving up could be heard by some of the passing crowd, some of whom took this moment to be in the background of a potentially safer story like a reenactment of Gallipoli Campaign.

Eventually the sound of rotary pads came to a halt and Selden is ejected from the other side of the machine. Truth in advertising the otter has been buffed... up. Increased muscle mass all along a frame that was not only taller than before but had a slight exaggerated v silhouette.

Whatever Selden was expecting, the actual results took a moment to adjust to. “Wow... well I can certainly see justification in the five dollar price tag.” The otter experimentally flexed a bicep, generating stark mountains leagues above the smooth hillsides he would have produced just minutes before. “Still... why eight hours?”

Eager to pave over past failings, the ferret leapt to explanation, “It’s intended for a day at the beach. I’m selling dream bodies for a vacation, not lifestyle changes. Walk the sands, strut your stuff, and be back to your old pants size by the time you’re home for dinner. Nice, clean, and nobody gets hurt.”

Lost in thought, the Selden’s brain failed to poke holes in the ferrets innocent logic. Aside from being fairly innocent himself, five dollars is a steep price for a potentially daily habit. “You know, it’s a long summer. You might get a lot more return customers if you lower the price.”

Multiplicative math drew the ferret in, but he was still somewhat hesitant. “OK... but by how much?”

“Fifty cents,” the otter said hopefully.

Raf stuck his tongue out slightly, “The machine only takes dollars. It’s an art of SCIENCE, not a vending machine.”

“Fine, then make it a dollar.” Content with the price, Selden backed it up with the addition, “It’s going to be a very hot summer, and if you're not breaking change you need to leave cash in the pockets for the vendors to be willing to do so.”

Raf hmms, “...right. Better get on that before the crowds start coming in.”

The ferret walks off to adjust his cash manager, leaving the otter to his own devices. Which is honestly exactly what the ferret meant when he mentioned crowds. Nothing makes a better billboard on the beach than cheerful hulking otter.

Pretty soon the crowds were coming in, from both foreground and background characters alike. Word of mouth on this little endeavor spread well beyond the beach goers, but if you’re already at the beach in a muscle bod why not stay a bit. Pretty soon the element that was missing from the Crimson Flag Beach was introduced: the swimsuit crowd.

The ferret just soaked it all in. Money was only an ends to his real drug. The euphoric high of people actually getting enjoyment from his inventions was grander than any sugar induced binge. Leaned up against the side of his machine, letting periodic vibrations strobe through him, Raf pictured what this would grow into.

Unbeknownst to the ferret, across the parking lot another entrepreneur had the same thoughts on their mind. With beady eyes underneath a wide brimmed green hat, the antagonist of the story plotted.

[Kasimir]

Is this one interactive? o.o"

[Jonas]

I think it might be a sort of collaboration done in public.

[Raf_Cian]

Is this one interactive? o.o"

If you mean if it's either role play or a collaborative work, then no. I wrote the piece, ran it by Selden to approve the actions of his character and made adjustments accordingly. Also ran it by a certain green hat to approve the intended involvement of the character under it's brim and got some input in probable action.

So I'm open to input; volunteers if you will. We'll need a lot of people to get buff in the following installments. Though be warned that depending on the needs of the narrative that buffing might borderline on abuse. It happens in mad science, just never intentionally.

[William Swiftfoot]

Got one quick question...is the Protagonist and Antagonist going to get into direct TF conflict.

[Selden]

I didn't want to jump in and say 'first' when this got posted, so I slept on it before leaving any comments.

I think it's a great start to a story.  All the groundwork is laid, and I certainly enjoyed being a part of that!  I'm always happy to try just about anything temporary, though of course in the long term I prefer my normal swimmer's build.    Thanks for putting me in the story, Raf!

[Evilhumour]

Amazing Raf, simply amazing.

This wolf with wings is going to be interested in seeing how this turns out.

[PrincessToyTime]

Very cool story! I enjoyed the read, well done! I am looking forward to more!

[Virmir]

He he he! Very cartoony and fun. I love silly TFs like this, especially with an actual plot attached.

That said, watch out for tenses.  The story is mostly in past, but you slip a few present tenses in there. Apart from that, the story flows pretty nicely. Nice work!

You can abuse my character all you like.

[Raf_Cian]

Battle Lines

Before daybreak three days later, the eager ferret of mad science strolled down the beach. He waved to the various vendors preparing shop, and in return they looked a little less grumpy than yesterday. If anything some of them waved back. Raf and his machine were already becoming part of the beach scene rather than an intrusion to the laid back beach lifestyle.

Part of that ‘fitting in’ was a fair bit of graffiti, but the ferret was only concerned with that which was slanderous or covering important safety information. Otherwise morning preparations for him involved emptying the cash box and doing a quick check of the internal workings of the machine. It still surprised the ferret how many articles of clothing could get lost during a simple growing routine.

After all that was said and done there was nothing left to do but sit back against the machine and let the automated process carry things out. It was still important to be here if someone had any questions, but for the most part Raf mostly dealt with repeat customers now. A stable base of repeat customers, but still word of mouth had already done all the good the ferret expected it to do.

Just as well since based on the math of how much he was getting per day, he should have enough to make a downpayment for a storefront by the end of the summer season. That thought alone gave the Raf pleasant daydreams as the morning sun continued to rise.

That rising sun backlit a hatted figure approaching from the east. Vulpine in form, the figure was hardly a stranger to the streets of Crimson Flag. Though given what he was known for it actually took many of the vendors a second look to identify Kenku in his natural fox body.

Carrying a deceptively small box, the vulpine strode down the street with purpose as he set down the box right across the open parking lot from Raf’s machine. The sound of wood against pavement made the ferret’s ear twitch slightly but not enough wake him, and certainly not enough to notice the box fold upwards and outwards.

Box fully expanded, the vulpine flipped over a cloth sign declaring his “William’s Wonder Drinks” to be open for business. Kenku allowed himself one dramatic scene pose smile before speaking up. It was show time.

“Ladies and gentlemen; summer has officially started! The William’s Wonder Drinks have gone mobile to a beach near you,” Kenku announced to the sparsely populated parking lot. Somehow the low population only served to amplify the message as background characters flowed to center in on the grey fox’s stand. “That’s right, come one come all for the greatest opportunity you’ll have all summer.”

Holding up a bottle to the gathering crowd, Kenku continued, “What I have here gentlemen is the one thing your summer has been lacking. The one thing the ladies have been wanting. The one thing you’ll need to make your summer dreams come true.”

By this point the crowd had naturally swelled as people entered the parking lot and noticed the already assembled crowd. It had certainly caught Raf’s attention, though the ferret kept his distance as he watched from on high; literally as he had climbed onto his Auto Buffer for an unobstructed view. One the members of the crowd, a multilimbed purple griffon, raised his voice to ask the question that was on everyone’s mind, “What does it do?”

Show cane appearing in his free hand from nowhere apparent, Kenku dramatically pointed out the questioning griffon. “I’m glad you asked my young avian.” Pointing back to the potion, he lifted it up high so that red liquid inside could be clearly seen by all. “What I have here is perfection in a bottle. A distilled awesomeness that will give any man the body of their or anyone else’s dreams. Guaranteed to work six hours or you beer belly back. I call it, the Six Pack.”

A hushed pause fell over the audience with the name. Snappy names were Kenku’s speciality, with most of his potions packaged under soda names. Still, it took more than a snappy name to sell product; it also takes results. Show cane pointing seemingly at a random fur in the crowd, Kenku strategically directed his attention onto a skinny red fox in a hawaiian shirt. “You my fine fur, care to give the men in the audience a taste of what they’re missing with a free sample?”

The fox in question pointed a finger at himself in slight surprise before rushing forward eagerly. Smiling at the enthusiasm, Kenku turned to the rest of the audience, “Right as you’re about to wow now!” The grey fox double takes as the red quickly swiped the potion from his hands and downed it as fast as the flasks mouth would allow. Surprise past, Kenku watched with a certain degree of appreciation before making an aside to the crowd. “Eager little tyke, isn’t he.” That was the last thing heard before the magic happened.

It started with a slight popping sound as the red vulpine’s spine slowly creaked longer. His shirt readjusted itself as his shoulders broadened and definition started showing up along his black forearms. The increased muscle mass eventually started overcoming the fox’s old clothing as seems along his jeans split to reveal perfectly formed black calves, and his increased height eventually hiked up his shirt enough to reveal that Six Pack really did live up to its labeling.

The growth stopped just about when the fox’s old shirt shredded itself from within. Standing in front of the crowd was now a six foot red vulpine in jean shorts, perfect athletic definition crawling under every inch of his fur. The back in particular was nothing short of a textured anatomy chart... complete with a white ‘A’ birthmark in the middle of all that red fur. Not to miss a pitch line, Kenku choose that moment to chime in, “Gentlemen, I give you exhibit A.”

A light laughter went through the crowd as the red vulpine blushed slightly. The grey fox shooed the red off to find a properly fitting swimsuit as he resumed center stage for a moment. “Now, not to leave the ladies feeling left out, I draw your attention to Exhibit D... Cup” Kenku smiles as the line once again drew the reaction he was looking for, basically glueing the audience's attention to the flask in his extended hand.

The vulpine certainly had the ferrets attention as he watched the demonstration proceed. Squinting through his golden mask, Raf almost looked like he was about to say something chapter ending. But then his machine lurched in a moment of extreme effort, bucking the ferret onto the pavement below. Picking himself up with a bit of a brush off, Raf wandered over to the exit side of the machine hoping he wouldn’t find what he expected waiting for him there.

“...Wolfe, how many times do I have to tell you the machine isn’t calibrated to do more than one pass per fur every eight hours? Particularly a fur of your... stature,” Raf addressed the almost spherical protrusion of grey abs sticking out of the machine. The ferret knew that if he walked around to the front of the machine he’d find a bundle of tails clogging the entire thing up. Honestly the machine could barely handle Wolfe on a single pass though. Why kitsune kept on muscling himself to immobility was beyond the ferret.

Wolfe’s only response was a bliss induced murr, which was really all the answer any question asked needed right now.

Sighing, Raf got to the business of getting the fox out of the gearworks. Shutting the machine down, the ferret removed some of the decorative trim from the exit and then walked around to the front of the machine to push. Resistance built up but with a little toon elbow grease Wolfe was soon a muscled cannonball with tail streamers, flying off into the distance.

Panting from the effort, Raf got to work on getting the machine back in working order before known. As he worked he noticed the size of the crowd across the street. Kenku had finished his demonstration and was now selling his ample product to the very interested customers. Raf noticed a lot of familiar faces in that crowd... including some of his repeat customers.

“...right. If that’s the way you want to play it: game on.”

[William Swiftfoot]

*Cackles* this is looking eeeexcellent.

[Selden]

Yay!  Nothing like a little... 'friendly' competition between acquaintances, right?   

[Virmir]

Glad to see an update to this! I know some people don't favor muscle-growth as a form of transformation, but I think it has amusing toony applications if done right, as we can see here. Looking forward to the next part!

[Evilhumour]

Very interesting and loved every bit. Especially Wolfe