Here's the first part of my new story that's a sequel to the previous story done for GMXMuscle featuring his amazing cast of character, this time with Clement the bashful lizard, GEPredators's King Sethrophe and Veronika the bodybuilding lizard. I hope you guys enjoy the story. Marty, Zen, Leo, Joey, Nathan and Geamex are all owned by GMXMuscle
King Sethrophe is owned by GEPredators

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An Unforgettable Vacation for Joey and friends (Staring Sethrophe, Clement the Lizard and Veronika) Part 1 - Meeting Clement.

Early in the Summer on a Monday around 3:00 PM eastern standard time, Joey leaves his house carrying sports bag and wearing his tank top and shorts, energised, ready to pump some iron and hang out with his mates Marty and Zen. Despite being in his 50s, Joey is in amazing shape. His arms are as big as a tree stomp and as sturdy as the hardest rocks in the world, every time he flexes his arms, he can feel the power swell in there like a over-inflated balloon. His well-built torso was just like staring at a beautifully crafted sculpture made by the finest artists. Joey's pecs were not too soft but not too hard, his abs was so hard and strong that if he ever got punched in the abdomen, he wouldn't feel a single thing. Finally, his legs are so strong he could crush a watermelon with his mighty thighs.

Joey was taking his sweet time getting to the gym as he walks to the crossing just two blocks down from his home. "Ahhh, nothing like a good workout to keep your body in peak condition." he said told himself. To him, gym is a place to just chill and workout with pals.

Standing at the zebra crossing was a skinny yellow-skinned Lizard Man, about 22-years old, wearing a t-shirt with a cartoony picture of a penguin meditating on a Blue sky background and baggy pants. He has short Violet hair. Joey approaches the Lizard and greets him. "Hey there."

The lizard is caught off guard by his deep, smooth voice. He looks up and sees to his surprise the mountain of muscle in front of him. The lizard could not believe Joey's size and mass, in fact he kind of felt overwhelmed by how huge Joey is. He stumbles backwards a bit and falls down. He feels his heart beating fast from the shock of seeing someone like Joey.

Joey then looks bewildered by the Lizard's reaction to seeing him, his expression becomes puzzled very quickly because he doesn't know why the Lizard is like this. "Ummm, are you ok? Sorry if I scared you." He says, thinking if he'd accidently gave the lizard the fright of his life.

He puts his hand out to the anxious Lizard and helps him up, he can tell that Joey is the gentle giant type "It's fine. I was just surprised by the sheer size and mass of you. Are you like a pro bodybuilder?" He asks in a thick Canadian accent when he gets back on his feet.

Joey then explains to the small lizard man "Yeah, I am a bodybuilder. I started when I was 22 when I went to the gym for the very first time, back then I was a small penguin with muscles that were not as big as these. I trained hard every day at the gym and eat healthy goods and drink a protein shake every morning with my breakfast. eventually I gained a ton of muscle in this body." Joey pats his pecs lightly.

Joey and the lizard both begin strolling across the Crossing, all the while, all of the drivers recognises the buff, gentle giant bodybuilder known as Joey the Penguin.

After they make it to the other side the Friendly Lizard asks the 6.7ft tall Penguin "So what do you do these days?", he is very curious about what Joey does for a living.

"Well I still work out everyday, sometimes compete in the odd bodybuilding contest. But mainly I work as a bouncer at the GMX Market and help Nathan become a bodybuilder on the same level as me, maybe even better." Joey explained.

The Lizard is impressed by what Joey has been doing. His heart ws racing just thinking about what it would be like as a pro-bodybuilder, pumping iron day after day, growing bigger, more powerful and competing at a same level as Joey was something he now wanted to do, to be as strong as Joey. "Joey, I want to become a bodybuilder just like you!" He yells with passion in his eyes and fire in his heart.

Seeing this lizard wanting to be a bodybuilder like Joey makes him reminisce of the time Nathan wanted to be as buff as he is. Joey wants Nathan to follow his dreams of being a bodybuilder. With 30 years under his belt, he had loads of wisdom and knowledge in the competitive world of Professional Bodybuilding. Memories of him and Nathan working out together floods his mind, from them going on a 200 mile walk on the beach area just in the outskirts of the city to Nathan lifting his first weight, he remembers the look on Nathan's face when he got buff. He was proud of himself and was very satisfied with the hard work he put into crafting his body into a bigger, buff but still the same lovable golden retriever Joey and Zen knows and loves.

The lizard notices Joey was lost in his train of thought, eyes closed and having a relaxed smile on his face. Not knowing what's going on, he waves his long arms in front of Joey's face and says "Ummm Joey, earth to Joey. Hey are you in there?" Which snaps Joey back from his daydream with the front of his beak slightly opened and moves his eyes to the Lizard.

Joey runs his arm to the back of his head, flexing his bicep slightly and giving out a little chuckle. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just reminiscing about the past and stuff like that." Joey and the Lizard both continue to the gym. Joey asked the Lizard "Oh by the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Clement. I just moved here 3 days ago so I'm pretty new to this town. I'm doing the best I can to adjust to living here, but it's kinda difficult when you have a hard time fitting in to such a big city." The lizard explains to Joey, while putting his right hand on his cheeks and slightly scratching it.

Joey replies "How come?", Clement lets out a big sigh and tells Joey "Because I get nervous around people. Whenever I try to have a conversation with someone, I get incredibly flustered and the words would not come out of my mouth, I either make random noises out of my mouth, say the same word while struggling to think of something to say, make sentences that sound incomprehensible to them, or all of the above. It's to the point that I just avoid talking to people by any means necessary. To be honest with you Joey, You are the first person in a long while that I've talked to with sounding like a broken robot or something."

Joey feels very sorry for Clement, he had gone his entire life just avoiding people and never interacting with anybody all because he was just too scared to talk to anybody. Joey's eyes slightly close and frowns from hearing the Lizard's situation. "I know how you feel dude. It can be scary meeting people you don't know for the first time, but don't worry little guy, me and my pals will help you become a bodybuilder and build your courage up."

"You mean it?" Clement asks with his hands placed on his cheeks, slightly squeezing them with amazement that Joey and his friends are going to help him get jacked and gain courage.

Joey looks at Clement with a relaxed and friendly grin on his face and says "Yeah, Me and my guys will help you become as strong as me." And Joey suddenly felt a weird tingling sensation on his right leg and looks down. It was Clement giving his beefy leg a warm and friendly hug as he wraps his entire body around the knee.

"Thank you Joey!" Clement yelled out as loud as his lungs could handle. Joey stands there as Clement hugs his right legs with a smile on his face and sighs and tells him "I'm always happy to help."

Clement lets go of Joey's leg and takes four steps back. He blushes with embarrassment and laughs awkwardly "Oh sorry about that. I kinda embarrassed myself just now by hugging your leg. I just hope nobody saw that."

"Don't worry about it. I don't think anyone saw." Joey said, putting his hand behind his head.

"Phew, thank goodness for that." Clement says before he breathes in, holds his breath for 5 seconds then breaths out. It's Clement's coping mechanism, whenever he's worried or stressed he holds his breath for precisely 5 seconds before exhaling. It's to make sure he's calm when he is around people or he makes a fool out of himself.

When Joey saw Clement's patented coping mechanism, he puts his hands on his big quads and shakes his head from side to side saying "So, I'm guessing that's what keeps you calm when you feel like you're in danger. I think it's kinda neat."

Clement twiddles his fingers and answers "Yes it is." Blushing bigger than the last time. His cheeks on the shy lizard's face are pretty much more red than yellow, the poor lizard is still getting used to talking with people, but he's doing his best to break through his timid nature and open up to people which Joey sees through his own eyes. Joey could see that Clement is a nice person but haven't been able to have a great social life from hiding from the world.

"Well I like it. If it makes you happy then I'm fine with it." Joey said, filling the lizard with joy. He feels something that he never felt before, a bond with someone. His eyes turn sparkly, like anime eyes and his mouth opened wide. Clement jumps in the air, puts his fist as high as he could go and exclaims "Ok, now let's go to the Gym." He realises that he might be making a fool out of himself again, blushes then said "Well if that's ok with you?"

Joey smiles and shrugs his shoulders. After a bit more walking, Clement hiding behind Joey, makes it to the local gym "The Powerhouse". It's a big building that's packed with all kinds of things to get fit like weights, treadmills and other exercise equipment in the main gym area when you come in through the main entrance. Also a large swimming pool, yoga room, Wrestling training room and a big shower/locker/spa room. There's just about something for everyone in this gym giving fitness fanatics a great workout experience. Plus the staff here are friendly and helpful, providing a helping hand to the guests when they needed it. Not to mention it has a great juice bar were in between workouts you can go up a staircase right close to the locker room door on the main gym area and relax and have a refreshing juices and smoothies that are made with a verity of ingredients, all designed to be both healthy and rich with flavour.

"Here we are, The Powerhouse. This is the place where I first met Marty and Zen all those days ago, man time sure flies by." Joey said as he crosses his arms together. Clement can hear sounds of grunting and metal clanging inside the gym which is off-putting to him.

"Umm, Mr. Joey sir." Clement points at the gym with all the people working out feeling rather concerned about whats going on inside "Why are those people making noises like that?"

"Well, People that are working on building muscle often use heavy weights so quite often, they grunt loudly as a way to channel their inner animal inside them. It's nothing to get worried about." Joey reassures hims

Clement puts his hand on his small chest and inhales the air for 5 minutes before releasing it again and his expression changes to one of determination and passion as he marches through the door with Joey following behind. "I wonder if my gym buds are here today? I bet they'll get along with this lizard very well." Joey thought.

Clement is in awe of it all. Tons of athletic and muscular people exercising and honing their bodies with equipment that suits them the most. Clement's expression is one of wonder and he walks off from Joey to look at one of those fitness junkies. Joey reaches his hand out with a worried look on his face and says "Clement, hold on a second."

Clement stops dead in his tracks, turns around and tells Joey "Oh, sorry about that Joey sir. It's just I want to look at how they get fit."

Joey explains "I know that, but you can't go up to random strangers you've never met in your life." He understands that Clement was going to go off on his own and try to mingle with the gymgoers, but he is worried that if Clement did talk to any random people in the gym and they were being mean to him, he'd never want to go out of his house again "I just don't want you to talk to someone that's mean to you. You must understand I'm doing this for your well-being, you hear?".

"Yes I understand." Clement sighs. Joey smiles and then sees Marty on the barbell bench with Zen and Nathan by his side. Marty is doing Bench Presses where he holds the barbell and lefts it up and down, he's quite a pro at it. The secret is that he has a unique rhythm to it, and he counts the number of reps he does so he knows how much presses he's doing. "There's my buds, Marty, Zen and Nathan." he says as he puts his hands on his hips.

"Wow, that bird isn't even breaking a sweat. He must be amazing." Clement says, as I get a glimpse at Marty. He turns his eyes at Zen and Nathan "They are in brilliant shape as well. They must take their fitness very seriously."

"They do, that's how bodybuilders like us maintain our perfectly crafted bodies each and every day. That and pure dedication to the pump." Joey replies as they arrive at the counter next to the vending machine with refreshing sport drinks to get them checked in to work out, he wants to give Clement his own membership card for the Powerhouse. It costs $7.99 to get a gym membership but after that, people with the Powerhouse membership card get in for free for a whole year, after that it cost $7.99 per 3 months to maintain the membership, which is pretty cool for gymgoers like Joey who are regular at the Powerhouse.

Clement notices Joey mention the "Dedication to the pump" and thinks of these musclebound bodybuilders getting their giant muscles from air pumps. He then says to Joey "Dedication to the pump, is that like inflating yourself with helium to make your muscles bigger?" Joey is puzzled by Clement's misunderstanding of the phrase. "No it's not like that, it's when you get into pumping your biceps with weights that you get into a rhythm and feel the power in your body growing with power like it's blowing up like a balloon and it feels fantastic."

Clement thought about it for a second, and then says "Oh I see. It's like each weight being lifted is kinda like someone blowing air into your muscles." Joey looks rather impressed by him learning about the meaning of the pump in a nanosecond. "Correct. You're a quick learner." Clement smiles while bringing his hands up to his face and gives out a quiet "Yes", Joey was no stranger to the pump, he can recall being taught about the pump 30 years ago when he first started bodybuilding.

Joey being slightly muscular but no where near the titan of muscle that he is today. He struggled to lift a weight that was 3 times than what he could do at the time, but he kept trying. He would hold his breath to the point that his cheeks were more puffed up than a beachball.

Just then, a bodybuilder called Bradley, a hulking giant of a crocodile,, 7.9ft tall and weighing 479 Pounds with muscles bigger than anyone at the gym, walks up to Joey. He has put lots of work into crafting this monstrous physique each and every day to the point he was nicknamed "The Musclebound King" among gymgoers. He sees Joey struggling to lift that giant weight and says "You know dude, it's probably not the best idea to start with the heaviest weights when you want to build muscle."

Joey then sees the enormous crocodilian, takes 2 steps back and says "Oh right. Thanks for the tip, I'm kinda new to this whole working out thing." Bradley can tell that Joey is trying to bulk up, but he is doing it all wrong by starting out with the heaviest weights and not the smallest. It's better to start off small and then work your way up.

Bradley smiles from his jaws, flexes his pecs slightly then bends his left knee forwards, his right knee back and explains "Look my dear Penguin, I know you want to become a great bodybuilder and I'm fine with that, but you're doing it all wrong. Tell you what, I'll help you get started."

Joey is filled with a burst of determination in his heart, hearing Bradley say that to him is like music to his ears. "Thanks man. Glad you can help me out." Bradley crosses his arms and says to him "The first thing you need to know before we get started is a little thing called the pump."

Hearing the "Pump" is something that Joey had never heard of at this point, he asks "The pump, like inflating a outdoor pool in your back garden?". Bradley hearing that response looks rather confused, but he understands that Joey isn't the first person to not get the "Pump" right away. When Bradley tries to explain about the "Pump", the first thing they say is like the type they use to inflate outdoor pools or beachballs.

"No, it's some completely different. It's when you get into a rhythm of lifting weights and each "Pump" goes into your biceps, like someone is blowing air into your muscles and it feels amazing. It's a very sensational feeling because once you get into it, it's almost second nature to you." Bradley explains in detail. He flexs his arms in front of Joey to demonstrate what the "Pump" can do to the body and complements this with a confident smile. "That's how I got into this amazing shape. Pretty cool right?"

Joey is in awe, seeing the Crocodilian's massive arms, impressed by the sheer mass of them. Bradley then flexs his two titanic arms and his back which looks like a beefy canvas in a art gallery. It is a glorious sight for the inexperienced Penguin who only saw bodies like that in magazines and on bodybuilding shows on his local sports channel named Elite Sports. Joey walks to Bradley to take a closer look at the crocodilian's award winning muscles. Its like looking at a masterpiece. Arms forged in heavy-duty steel and sweat with a bicep that can go as big and tall as he wants them to be when he flexes them, pecs that are perfectly engineered to bounce so flawlessly that it makes sounds of drums when they bounce, and legs that are built like tree stumps warped with titanium.

"I gotta say, I'm just amazed with your muscles. Your body is truly a sight to see. Everything about your bod is amazing and so well made." Joey praises the beefy Crocodile. Bradley grins when he heard this and shakes his biceps and gives his right pec a light pat before saying "Much appreciated my penguin friend, I worked very hard to get this body. So I'm going to help you bulk up and get pumped up." He walks to a rack full of Barbells to look for either a 100oz weight to start Joey off.

His eyes roam around the rack to see the one he is looking for, spots the 100oz weight, the one he wants to give to Joey. "Ah, there we go." he says. Bradley takes the weight, walks back to Joey and gives him the weight. With newfound confidence in his eyes he picks up the weight and says "Thanks, ok here I go." And starts lifting the weight. Slowly with each rep he can feel the effects of the "Pump" in his arm, the power slowly building up in his arm, while it's not growing at that moment, slowly with each "Pump" and each bit of active workouts, Joey will gain more and more muscles overtime. All thanks to a Crocodile with amazing muscles and a love for helping out up and coming bodybuilders.

Joey, who had been reminiscing about the fateful day that changed his life, jumps back to reality as a worker at the gym comes to the reception desk and sees Joey standing on the other side of the desk. "Joey, it's always a treat to see you. You're just the type of guy who loves to workout and is always a delight to be around." The worker says to Joey, he was used to seeing Joey at the gym each and everyday when he isn't working as a bouncer at GMX Market.

"Well I just love coming here, you guys always provide the best workout experience in this city." Joey replies.

"Aww thanks, I'd also like to thank Leo Industries for funding this place and expanding this building to make room of a swimming pool. Hopefully we can get enough money to hire sculptures for outside of a some great bodybuilders that this town has to offer." The worker says.

"Oh really, that's amazing. So what kind of guys do you have in mind?" Joey asks.

"You, Marty, Zen and Leo, The gym's best costumers" The worker answers "Wow cool." Joey sees Clement's head peeping from under the reception desk with his little fingers lightly tapping the desk, which catches the attention the worker. The lizard's eyes move to the worker and he gives out a small "Hello."

"Ummm, who is this guy?" The worker asks.

Joey explains "His name is Clement, he's not had a great life because he's scared of the outside world. I felt sorry for this guy so I brought him to gym to get him a membership and meet some of my peeps."

Marty notices Joey and the worker at the Powerhouse are talking and sees a scared little lizard next to him. After his last rep and sit up Zen gives him a Water bottle. "Sweetie, what's the matter?" Zen asks Marty.

Marty has lost his breath from his workout so he cant talk so he only says "There's a lizard with Joey." Zen and Nathan sees Clement standing next to Joey, and the lizard waves at Zen. By seeing the worried look on the lizard's face he can tell he's rather stressed and scared.

Nathan replies to Marty "Yeah, and he looks sad. Poor guy." Nathan walks to Joey and the lizard at the Reception desk where the worker just gave Clement a membership card.

"Here you go, now you're a certified member of the Powerhouse. I hope you enjoy your fitness journey." The worker says with a big grin on his face. Clement bows forward and says "Thank you sir." As his torso had come back up he saw Nathan and immediately jumped as he sees the Golden Retriever come towards him. He quickly climbs up Joey's large torso and hugs him while looking.

Nathan says "Oh sorry if I scared you." in a kind way so as not to frightened the lizard again. Clement calmly let's go from Joey and lands on his legs and his left arm, he sighs yet again and says to Nathan "It's ok, I'm use to it at this point."

"Clement, this is Nathan. He's the step-brother to Zen, worker at GMX Market, pro-bodybuilder in training and one of my closest friends in my life." Joey says as he puts his hand on Nathan's left shoulder and looks at the him with a nice grin. Seeing these two having a nice friendship makes Clement have a small but nice smile seeing how much Nathan means to Joey.

Clement spots Marty getting up from the bench, holding Zen's hands in a romantic way before both of them kissed each other through the mouth which was a little heart-warming to Clement. "Aaaaaawwww, they are so cute together." he says with his hands slightly squishing his cheeks with his mouth open and his eyes full of happiness.

Joey explains "Those two are Marty and Zen, just a couple of days ago they got married in the park. me and Nathan were both there for their special day." This makes Clement even more filled with happiness to see these to being a married couple, he loves gay couples or just lovely couples in general because he thinks that the love these two people have for one another seems to be quite cute, kinda like a romance novel or a romantic manga/comic he sometimes read at night in the comfort of his own soft bed.

Seeing how healthy The two athletically amazing and beautiful their love is, Clement says "That's amazing! I'm happy for them!" In a way that people do when they see something that makes their emotions rush with a ton of joy and wonder, something that makes people want to yell out what's on their mind. This makes Joey rather happy that the lizard said this in that time, Nathan looks at Joey then says "Me and Joey are proud of them too. It was something we shall never forget."

Joey thinks of something to show Clement, so he puts his bag on the floor, bends down on his knees, opens the zipper from a pouch from the left side of the bag and puts his hand into that pouch. When his finger touches a laminated piece of photo paper he grabs it and takes it out of the bag. "Here is us on that day. I always carry it around as a reminder of that unforgettable day." Its a photo taken by Lance, the owner of GMX Market. The photo is of Marty and Zen holding hands as they kissed with their eyes both shut, Nathan jumping with joy because he was proud of them, Joey and Geamex both raised a glass of apple and strawberry juice high and Leo cutting the cake and a smile on his face seeing his best employee sealed their love with a kiss. It was a memory that was worth being captured, and everyone got a photo to remember that day by.

Clement points his finger to Nathan bouncing with joy in the photo "You really are happy for them. That's understandable if they loved each other for a long time you want to show how much you care for them. You must be friends with this Green wolf guy." Nathan is a little confused by what Clement said about him being friends with Zen "Zen is my step-brother"

The lizard feels like he messed up when he mistakenly said that, so he rubs his right arm and says "Oh sorry, I didn't know he was your Step-Brother. I just thought you were friends." Nathan walks up to Clement and puts his hand on Clement's shoulder saying "It's ok, Zen is also kinda my friend too. He helps me out when I have trouble, and I help him with plants and sometimes make him food to save him time. He's more than a Step-brother, he's like a kind and loving buddy."

After they finish their make-out session Marty and Zen join the three chatting with each other. Zen greets the Lizard immediately. "Hello Clement, it's a pleasure to meet you." He brings his left hand forward to the lizard to give him a Zen-style handshake. Clement moves his arm towards Zen ever so slowly, feeling a bit nervous but Joey encourages "Come on Clement, you can do it."

With Joey's words giving the lizard a confidence boost, he shakes Zen's hand and tells him "You're very strong." Zen flicks the fur from the top of his head backwards, and says "Thanks. I just like to workout of Marty."

"That's me. I'm the quail with the biggest guns, the bird with a heart of gold, a man that loves Zen more than any person in the whole world. I'm Marty Francine, the coolest, most handsome and kind Quail in this town." Marty replies in a theatrical way so he can make a first impression to the lizard. Joey, Zen, Nathan and Clement all clap their hands, being impressed by Marty's interesting way to introduce himself to the Lizard.

"Wow that was soooooooo awesome. Are you a actor or something?" Clement asks, with Marty looking and feeling rather flattered by Clement's praise. Joey and Nathan are both very happy to see this anxious lizard having a nice chat with his close friends. It seems that it was a good call to bring him to the gym.

"Well I'm not an actor, but I am a bodyguard for Leo Industries. My boss, Leonard Skyes is a big bodybuilding boss of the company, His muscles are big and powerful, so strong that he can crush a can of soda with his bicep." Marty tell Clement.

"Wow, he did that! That's so cool!" Clement exclaims excitedly. His tail is swaying from side to side hearing all about the cool things that they do. He was learning about their lives when they talk and getting to know them a little more. There's one question Clement has in his mind "So how did you two get those muscles?"

Marty and Zen were caught completely off guard by the suddenness of the question. Zen explains "Well, I'm an expert on plants be it trees, flowers among other stuff. One day, I was climbing a large scale mountain to look for a rare flower, the trip of gruelling, the risk was high but I survived with sheer endurance and great navigation skills." Marty puts both his hands on his face as he listen to Zen talking. Him hearing the Wise wolf saying all his accomplishments in his life in his own way was like ear candy to the quail.

"After wandering around the mountain, I thought I was lost until I saw a large hole right close to a small hot spring. The hole lead to a small cave and there I saw it. The fruit that I was looking for, it was green and shiny and the size of an apple. Curious about it's legendary power boost I ate half of the fruit, after that I could feel a strange sensation in my body. Every muscle in my body swelled at a rapid pace, my shirt and pants exploded from the pressure and I feel the power growing inside me. Soon I was buff, my stamina was increased greatly. I grabbed the other half and two more fruits to study. But sadly, I couldn't find anything about it." Zen Explains.

Clement doesn't know what to say, it almost felt like a superhero origin story to him with the fruit that granted him incredible muscle power and amazing stamina. Clement has one more question for the two lovers "how did you and Marty meet?"

Marty tells him "We met when I was hiking in the mountains, when I first saw Zen for the first time, he was far away from the city, living in a cabin and being one with nature. I could tell he was kinda lonely up there. I noticed how much he missed Nathan and it made me feel sorry for him. I wanted him to see his step-brother again, to be reunited so I helped him." Nathan has his hands on his chest where is heart is, trying his hardest not to cry.

"You see Clement, Marty is not just Zen's Boyfriend, but also a lovable, sweet guy who only wants the best for people. That's why Zen loves him, Marty is friendly, loyal and most of all, he's a hero to Zen protecting him if he's in danger." Joey explains to the lizard, pretty much cementing Marty as a heroic guy in his eyes.

Clement happily runs up to Marty to hug him, but then trips and falls on Marty, landing on his big torso with this reptilian clinging on the quail's shoulder blades. Marty looks down to see the lizard looking rather sorry for himself and then reassures him "It's ok, I know you didn't mean to fall into me. You know what they say, accidents happens." He knows that Clement didn't mean to trip and dive into him, the guy slipped and fell over. Marty just wants Clement to be happy so he wraps his big arms around the lizard giving him a big hug, and they both enjoyed their cuddle. Marty was a great hugger, Zen knows that very well. He thinks of it as him wrapping his body around someone like a blanket. It feels so amazing.

Just then, the gym door opens and another guy enters. A tall, dark, muscular snake that goes by the name of King Sethrophe. He is a king cobra alien from a not too distant planet with black and gray scales, a body to rival earth's top athletes and purple hood on top of his head. He came to earth a day ago and is visiting the planet for a week as a vacation, and is enjoying it so far.

The king cobra's looks around the main gym area of The Powerhouse then smiles. "Wow, this gym is full of many amazing bodybuilders here. Man I love this planet." he says to himself. He then points his eyes towards Nathan, Marty, Zen, Joey, and Clement. Feeling curious about them, Sethrophe walks to the reception desk to get himself booked in.

Meanwhile, as Sethrophe gets his membership card, Clement is asking Joey about his favourite bodybuilding pose. Joey is a certified expert when it comes to knowing all the poses in the competitive world of bodybuilding. All his years of perfecting his craft means a massive knowledge of bodybuilding skills. Joey coughs to clear his throat as Clement and the others listen to Joey's answer. "My favourite pose is an oldie by a classic for good reason. It's the Most Muscular Pose, so simple, yet so great. You flex both biceps but up high but down low, this one helped him win many times in the bodybuilding circuit. Mind if I show you?."

Clements nods his head. Joey breathes and stands tall to steady himself for the pose. Nathan says to the lizard "Here it comes!" and Joey flexes his arms down low as hard as he can, his muscles begin to bulge as he showcases his flexing mastery to Clement. Joey, wanting give them a little show brings his arms up in the air, puts his left knee slightly forward, his right knee slightly back and flexes both his arms. Watching Joey flex his muscles is captivating to Marty and Nathan the most. It was almost hypnotic seeing Joey do his thing so well.

Then, the grand finale. Joey hops back on his foot and puts both his fists on the side of his stomach. Time for the pec bounce and it impresses everyone watching. "Woah, he used all of his muscles in ways that are stylish and awesome to look at." Clement sighs with such pride, being entranced by how the penguin moves. As his finishes, Marty, Zen, Nathan and Clement all clap their hands to thank him for a great show with Joey even saying "Ha ha, I still got it."

"That's right Joey, you're always on the top of your game." Marty replies as he clicked his fingers and points at him in a cool way, giving him a nice wink. Joey grins another amazingly big grin just a Sethrophe comes to the group asking Joey "Excuse me, are you the bodybuilder named Joey?"

Joey is a bit surprised/flattered by the giant beefy snake man's question. He puts his hand on the bottom of his beak and answers Sethrophe's question "Indeed I am. I'm a pretty great bodybuilder in this awesome city". Nathan walks to Joey's side and greets the giant king cobra "Hey there, I'm Nathan, Joey's bodybuilding apprentice and step-brother to one half of the best gay couple that I ever saw, Marty and Zen. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine Nathan. My name is Sethrophe and I'm not from this planet. I come from another world in a distant galaxy." he says. "So you're an alien, that's pretty interesting." Joey says. He's quite fascinated to meet a real life alien. Marty starts looking at the snake from a distance and is intrigued by the sight of the snake. He walks up to Joey and Nathan and looks at Sethrophe, amazed by his crafted body, he looks as strong as them if not stronger with muscles so well-built that it's like looking at a scaly work of art.

"I gotta say, you're muscles are quite a marvel to look at. You must have put a lot of work into making that body. It's nothing I ever seen before in my life, it's quite breath taking" Marty tells the buff snake. As a fitness and muscle master in this point of his life, he is in awe with Sethrophe's Greek god like body akin to a larger than life action cartoon character from the 80s and 90s. Clement could tell that Sethrophe is a gentle giant like Joey and his other buddies, a big lovable alien snake from another world so he slowly walks towards the giant snake.

Sethrophe notices the shy Lizard and says "Oh hello. It's a pleasure to meet you as well." as he moves his head to Marty's side whispering "Is he one of your friends too?"

"Well we only just met Clement, but he's a sweet dude just wanting to be more brave." Marty replies. This makes the king cobra feel bad for the scared Lizard.

He kneels down and puts his giant hand on Clement's right shoulder. His is as big as Clements head. Sethrophe says "Look Clement, I can tell you are doing your best to be brave. I think that's amazing for you to gain courage through these amazing, nice people in this city and I want to say that I hope you never give up and succeed in your dreams like everyone on this planet. Remember to always believe in yourself and others and you'll achieve anything your heart desires. I wish you all the luck in the universe buddy."

Clement is overwhelmed by Sethrophe's heartfelt words and cant think of the words to say to him and his new friends. He gets a bit flustered and doesn't know what to say. Tears roll down his eyes like a waterfall as he beings to cry. Nathan goes to his side and reassures him "Clement don't cry, what Sethrophe said to you was nice." as he notices that he is overwhelmed "Oh, you didn't know what to say did you." Clement, with tears in his eyes, nods up and down slightly without saying anything.

Nathan breathes, looks up to Sethrophe and says "I think he was trying to say something nice as a big thank you for your kind words."

"Oh, well turn that frown upside down Clement. With friends like them you'll be stronger everyday. So wipe away those tears and enjoy life to the fullest." The king cobra tells the lizard, giving him a nice and wide grin. This make the ends of Clement's mouth curl up to form a smile. He wipes his tears with his sleeve and says "Thank you sir."

"Don't mention it buddy." Sethrophe says as everyone hears a beeping noise emitting from the side pocket of Marty's gym bag. Marty squats down, opens the zip on the front of his bag, grabs his smartphone and sees Leo is facetiming him.

Marty answers the phone and Leo greets him by saying "Hey Marty, How's things?" Leo is at his office in Leo industries wearing his swimming shorts relaxing in his new hot tub that he bought just 2 weeks ago and went to his office earlier this morning after his usual workout session with his own personal gym. It cost $749.99 and is as big as a outdoors inflatable swimming pool, it also comes with a cup holder, a comfy waterproof vinyl seat and is very durable.

"Going great, me and Zen met two lovely guys. One was a shy but sweet lizard called Clement, the other is a alien king cobra called Sethrophe." Marty tells to his boss.

Leo takes a sip of his Banana and Strawberry Smoothie from his cup and replies "Well that's nice. Anyways, how's it been since you and Zen got married?"

"Well it's been great, me and Zen are the best we ever felt in both our lives after we started living together." After the wedding, Marty decided to move into Zen's home so they can live together. He still goes to his job everyday, but before he leaves Zen kisses him on the cheek as a sign of good luck. He often helps Nathan with working out at home or the gym, and he sometimes play video games with Nathan as a bonding thing. The three of them are one big happy family and all of them have felt the best that they ever been in their lives.

"That's amazing. I'm happy to see you being an excellent husband to that green wolf. You two make the best power couple ever in my opinion." Leo says humbly as he takes another sip before putting the cup back onto the holder. Marty blushes when he hears this and smiles while his cheeks become red, being flattered by the businessman's praise.

Zen comes up to Marty, swings his right arm over the back of Marty's big neck and puts his hand over Marty's shoulder feeling so chilled like a block of ice. "Hi Leo, I see that hot tub arrived to your office. How is it?" Zen says to Leo.

Leo tells Zen "You know when you have a hot bath at home and you're soaking your entire body with warm and relaxing water, well it's kinda like that but with an added bubbly feel to it as the blower from the bottom of the hot tub pumps air out which causes the water to bubble. But I'm just telling you what you already know, just take my word for it, this is like the best thing ever." Yep this was luxury at it's finest for Leo and maybe the best thing to be added to his office, he enjoys the feel of the water the way it bubbles around him. It's like a spa at the comfort of his own office space.

Clement suddenly pops in from behind the two, peeking his eyes at the phone he sees the beefy cobra businessman relaxing in his new hot tub. The lizard was amazed by how strong and powerful the cobra's muscles are. Leo and Joey are both built very similar to each other, both are big bodybuilders with amazing muscles and are borderline masters of their craft. Leo has won 64 bodybuilding competitions in his life, not as much as Joey with 76 wins but it's an impressive record for the businessman to have

Clement points his finger at the screen and saying "I remember you, you're Leo Skyes. I remember seeing you on International Bodybuilding Masters on Elite Sports. You were my favourite bodybuilder out of the show." Leo is impressed when he hears the lizard saw him on TV back then.

Leo famously made an memorable appearance on an episode of International Bodybuilding Masters just around the time Marty met Zen for the first time. He was the favourite to win due to the ways he flex his body that wowed the crowd. He goes from one pose to another very smoothly as the crowd watches the muscle-bound snake work his big-bulging muscle magic. Unsurprisingly, Leo had won the contest and got the ultimate muscle king trophy, the top prize for any bodybuilder on the show to have and he has it in his office to this very day.

"Yeah I was on that show, and I was a proud winner. I came into the building with my eyes on the prize and I did all my greatest hits on that stage. Ahh that was a good memory in my life." Leo reminisces as he takes yet another sip of his smoothie. The lizard slowly makes his way back on the ground and stands right between Marty and Zen. He blinks as he moves his eyes from Zen to Marty with the both of them smiling at Clement.

Marty moves the phone to the direction of Sethrophe and says to Leo "Oh by the way, that's Sethrophe." Sethrophe waves at Leo with the biggest smile on his face just being full of wonder seeing another Snake, one from earth. Leo is intrigued by this gentle giant king cobra. He was taller the other bodybuilders at the gym at around 10.ft tall and pack with a lot of muscle.

"Hi Sethrophe, my name's Leo Skyes I'm the head of Leo Industries. A construction company that made many of the buildings in this city, including the Powerhouse, the place you're in right now." Leo explains.

"Oh wow, that's awesome. No wonder this city is amazing to look at, it's quite marvellous." Sethrophe replies. The city they are living in is filled with buildings created by the members of Leo Industries. They worked hard to make a city with a ton of personality and a lovely atmosphere for the people living there.

"Well thank you Sethrophe." Leo says as he stands up to get out of his hot tub. He's had enough of chilling in the hot tub for today and wants to put his office suit on. "Ok guys, I've got to go and dry myself up so I'll see you guys later. Oh and Marty, remember to always be there for Zen."

"I will Leo, thank you and take care." Marty said as he hangs up the phone, and Leo leaves the hot tub and stands on the towel placed on the floor so he doesn't slip, and grabs a large and neatly folded towel placed on top of his desk. He begins to pat his large muscular body with the towel, removing the water from his muscles and leaving them looking all polished.
As he dries himself he thought to himself "Marty, you always know how help others and cheer everyone up. That's one of the great things about you, on top of being a buff and handsome quail boyfriend to that equally handsome Zen. I'm happy to have someone like you in my life."

Back at the gym, Marty looks at the time on his phone after he finished his call with his boss and it was already 4:00 PM, they had spent an hour at the gym. "Wow, where does the time go i'm I right." he said as he shrugs his shoulder being surprised of how long him, Zen and Nathan was at the Powerhouse and Joey didn't even worked out yet.

Joey crosses his arms and said "Marty it's okay, we have all the time in the world. Besides I workout everyday in my entire life, i'm ok if I miss one workout session." and then he breaths out as his tone of voice changed into a soft sound voice that sounded like he's speak from the heart "My main goal right now is to make sure Nathan is just as great of a bodybuilder as I am. Nathan is an amazing guy with a good heart, and I want him to get strong just like me because he wants to be as buff as I am, that's the type of guy I am, a mentor figure to him." His smile suddenly disappeared when he saw Nathan proudly smiling and wagging his tail by the words of Joey and Clement just standing there next to Nathan staring with a flat expression on his face, then Joey in a bit to make sure Clement isn't left out said "But helping you becoming a bodybuilder as well is just as important right now."

"Oh thank you Joey, i'll be just as strong as you, and Marty, and Zen and even Leo." Clement said and then flexes his non-existent muscles, Sethrophe being confused by Clement's sudden flexing whispered to Marty who was standing next to him "Is he practicing flexing for when he has muscles?"

Marty replied "I think so." he can see that Clement is very passionate about gaining muscles and newfound confidence from himself and his pals that he has, especially his newly wed wolf boyfriend Zen. He then remembers that he and Zen have booked for a table at the Gift from the Sea, one of the top Seafood Restaurants in the city, providing unlimited salad and mouth-watering seafoods at an amazing price that is sure to leave anyone who come there satisfied.

"Listen guys, me and Zen have a table for us booked in at the Gift from the Sea." Marty explained.

"Hey isn't that the Seafood Restaurant with the view from the ocean." Joey said to Marty.

"Yep, that's the one buddy. I've heard the Roasted Monkfish with Honey and Herb sauce and Mashed Potatoes is like the best seafood meal ever made. I think I might try that one when we go."

Joey then said "Well I hope you two have a wonderful time there." and him and Marty give each other a powerful handshake. Both can feel the power and strength from their muscles with Marty being just as impressed with the muscle power of Joey now just as he did back then when he first met him all those years ago. Marty always has respect for Joey due to his dedication to the "Pump" he told him all when they first met, as a guy who workout not to compete in bodybuilding contest but because he likes the sound of clanging metal and the feel and satisfaction was a great workout Marty always enjoys how well Joey built his body and being a big, friendly gentle giant who always knows how to make sure he's in top shape all the time.

Marty with his gym bag on his back and holding Zen's hand in a romantic way says to their friends "Alright, we'll see you guys later. Oh and Clement, always find the courage inside of you and you can do anything your mind can think of." Those last couple of words towards Clement was Marty's way of motivating the lizard to conquer his fears and take on anything life throws at him.

Marty and Zen both waved to their friends as they leave the gym to go on their dinner date as Joey watches them go, Sethrophe seeing how loving the two of them were said "Wow, those two are so wonderful together. This planet keeps getting better and better." Nathan agrees with the giant alien cobra, seeing how much Sethrophe is loving the planet and knows how much those two mean to them. Nathan smiles at the Buff King Cobra and he smiled back. Just then Joey standing next to Clement said to him "Ok Clement, why don't we get you started on your bodybuilding journey." and the lizard nods confidently and him, Nathan and Sethrophe was going to have a blast teaching this lizard about the awesome world of Bodybuilding.

To be Continued in Chapter 2