Previously on The Lost City http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4178730/

Both  Draco-rex and  Greggrth looked up at the swollen form of  The-Fat-Red-Dragon as he scratched his bloated belly and waddled down the corridor. He hadn’t had another growth spurt, but he was still pretty big. He towered over both of them, standing at about 6’ 7”, and each doorway they reached required a lot of ducking and breathing in for the red dragon.

Greg was leading the way with a tiny tongue of fire in his hand which struggled to beat back the increasing darkness. Since night had fallen, they’d been wondering around the ruined museum, looking for clues as to where they were and what had caused such carnage and destruction. The corridor they were in now lead to a set of rickety old stairs that looked so worn, Greg doubted it would be safe for them to climb.

“I think we should head back” he said, turning round just in time to see Red trying to squeeze through the door.

“Why?” he asked, then his eyes looked over the short red fox and saw the rickety stairs. “Oh… I guess they wouldn’t be able to take my weight would they?”

Despite the fact Red had accidentally swallowed a prototype of  thegrape’s grow and bubble gun, the Master Inflator’s invention had caused him to put on a bit of weight as opposed to just inflating him.

“To be fair I don’t think it could hold Draco either” said Greg.

“Hey!” called the green dragon, hidden from view by Red’s bloated bulk. “I don’t weight that much”

“Uh-oh” said Red right before his scales picked up a low glow.

“No!”

With a ‘bloop’ing sound, the red dragon swelled up bigger, his sides bulging against the doorframe and his head rising higher. The doorframe creaked, cracked and groaned as Red’s growth stopped. Now he was taller than the door, and much too wide. And… by the looks of it… stuck.

Red wiggled a bit, but all that managed to achieve was cause more cracks to spread out from the frame. “Oh no! I’m stuck! OW! Boss, stop pulling on my tail!”

“I’m only trying to help mate… but I think you’re really stuck in there”

“And I’m stuck in here” whimpered Greg.

“OK, I have an idea. Why don’t you go on Greg and search for information while we wait for Red’s next growth spurt”

“Y… you m-mean go on… by myself?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, you’ll be fine mate”

“Oh… erm… OK”

The dragons were too busy trying to get Red unstuck to notice how frightened the fox was. He pushed his fear down and made his way tentatively to the stairs. He tested the first one with his toe, and when it didn’t fall, he slowly lowered the rest of his weight on it. It stood strong. After looking over his shoulder on the struggling dragons, Greg climbed up to the second floor.

It was dark, and Greg could feel a chilling breeze rolling in from somewhere, making him shiver and chatter. He wasn’t used to getting so cold, normally his fire powers kept him warm no matter what the weather. But this world had greatly depleted his powers, making it almost impossible for him to use any of his spells. Not even his growth ones.

And to be fair, if he had some more muscle on his body, he wouldn’t feel so nervous.

The voice of one of his dragon friends came to his ear. “Why do you always shrink down?” asked  redsaber. “Don’t you wanna be big all the time?”

Right now, he wished he had kept at least some of his muscles now that he didn’t have his spells to protect him.

He climbed another set of stairs and found himself in a smaller room, at the very top of the museum. There was a window looking into the night, but it had been broken so the cold air was blowing in, disturbing Greg’s fur and making him shiver even more. In the middle of the room, getting disturbed by the breeze was… for lack of a better word… a giant bird’s nest. It was big enough for Greg to sit in comfortably and leave enough room for another fox.

A strong gust blew in, disturbing the nest enough to reveal something that had been hidden amongst the twigs and straw. It was the crystal, the one Greg had seen in the museum, the one that had been floating in the air as it sparkled and twinkled. Seeing its brightness and the perfect cut of the crystal made Greg’s feet shuffle towards the nest.

Entranced, he reached out for the crystal, mesmerized by it. It was so pretty. And shiny. He just had to touch it, touch the light.

Just as Greg’s finger caught the tip of the crystal, a sound snapped him out of his trance. It was a horrible sound, like nails on a chalkboard that set his teeth on edge and made his eyes water. But along with the screech, Greg could hear flapping, bat like wings.

A clawed hand gripped onto the edge of the window and fear shot through Greg so fast his feet were carrying him back to the stairs while his brain was wondering “Hmm, what’s that thing?”. He ran back down the stairs and didn’t stop until he was back in the corridor with Red, who was still stuck. Greg pressed himself against the wall, clutching his thundering chest and gasping for breath.

“Greg? Are you alright?” asked Red, concern on his chubby face.

“Greg? Is Greg back?” came Draco’s voice from behind the fat red dragon. “Did he find anything”

“Oh, I found something” wheezed Greg. Just as he was about to explain what had happened to him, his feet his cheeks flush and his head spin. He staggered away from the wall, gripping his head as he felt a tingling in his backside.

“Greg? Are you—oh!”

Hair burst form Greg’s head, cascading down his back in a wave of reddish brown. His trousers suddenly burst, shredding off of him as a second pair of legs grew out from behind him. Greg’s mouth dropped open, his eyes wide as he looked down over his changing body, his head getting higher as he legs grew longer. His shirt shredded too to reveal a toned torso, one he didn’t normally have, but Greg was more concerned with what had happened to his legs than his new muscles.

“What’s going on?” called Draco.

“Erm… something happened to Greg” said Red, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at Greg.

“What?”

“I… I… I’m a centaur!” Greg cried, unable to believe the horse’s body he was perched on, and even more unable to believe the fact that it was attached to him! “I’m a foxtaur! I have a horses body!”

“Greg, calm down” called Draco.

“Calm down?! Calm down?! Draco, I have horse parts! When I walk I go clip-clop! Listen, clip-clop, clip-clop! I’m a clip-clop fox!”

“I think he’s lost it” whispered Red.

“Mate, listen” called Draco. “You’re fine. I’m sure we’ll be able to change you back soon… we just have to wait for Red to get unstuck.

“Draco, which side of the wall are you standing on?” asked Greg.

Draco frowned. “I’m on his left… why?”

The green dragon could hear Greg’s new hooves as he moved, and then, after a beat of silence, there was a crash and the right side of the wall was knocked down. Red wobbled to the side as the door frame cracked. He staggered back, finally free and rose to his full height, brushing the debris off of his bloated, jiggly body. Then Greg came through the broken door frame and came to stand beside him. They both looked down at Draco.

“Great” he muttered. “Now I feel short”

“What do we do now?” asked Red.

“I think we need to get out of here” said Greg and told them about the creature he saw.

What is this creature?
What is that crystal for?
Why did it turn Greg into a clip-clop fox?
Will something happen to Draco now too?
Find out next time