The Nyx had managed to set up a veritable base underneath Gibbon Plaza, blocking most of the rain water tunnels with tendrilous biomass.
Rose Wolf was dipping from tunnel to tunnel with Silver Tiger. Since the area they needed to cover was huge, they'd been given earpieces.
"Akira here," a voice said into Rose Wolf's ear. "Unbelievable this got so big without them tripping any sensors. It all looks dormant, which usually means it's a trap."
"Agreed," Amber Lion said. "We think the defiler vines are going to burst into adjacent buildings once we engage."
"I want three of you above ground, ready to take those on. The rest stays under."
"Catfish here, ready to flush them now."
"Tiger here," Rose Wolf's companion said. "I've metal-bent the small exits shut so the mass *should* only be able to flow one way."
"I have eyes on the abandoned train yard," Akira said. "We should be ready here."
"Go time," Amber Lion said.
Rose Wolf and the metal-striped muscle dragon #2 waited hovering in the dark tunnel, illuminated by silver and pink from their plasma sparkles.
"Rookie? Are you busy tomorrow night?"
"No, why?" Rose Wolf asked.
"Your first dragon party."
"Oh," Rose Wolf said. "Already?"
"Hehe, sorry I spoiled the surprise. They're relatively short notice so invites can stay limited. I can show you around the normal party scene out of costume after. Sometimes you get to fuck the same pussy twice and she's none the wiser. It's hilarious."
"Mhm, I bet. Maybe-"
The sewers trembled as the Defense Force set off explosives. The Nyx being woke up. Metal creaked as tentacles stretched against what Silver Tiger had set up to block them.
Smaller creatures squeezed through gaps, almost liquid until they reshaped into blobs of eyes and pustules.
The muscle dragons, flying in mid-tunnel, fired their orbs of plasma to zap the little Umbraths.
"Path clear?" Azure Catfish asked over ear piece.
"Negative," Silver Tiger said. "It's trying to break the block. The pressure might help it more than us."
"Do it anyway," Akira said. "Flush as much as possible."
The sound of an ocean passing by trembled through Rose Wolf. He looked aside and saw the tunnel crossing theirs filled with water, a wall moving through an invisible hose.
The Nyx stopped fighting as its biomass was dragged away by the pressure. Some metal covers popped. Rose Wolf and Silver Tiger were on it, shooting ahead as they rushed past the escapees to block their advance.
Tentacles broke concrete and wrapped around Rose Wolf. He pushed himself out with flight and strength but the tentacles grew spikes and dug into his uniform. Everything from the crotch down got shredded as he pulled away.
Rose Wolf heard a yelp and twisted around before he was even fully freed.
Silver Tiger was punching down on tentacles, silver beams cutting as fast as the creature grew more. He was submerged in dark, gooey mass.
"We got about half," Amber Lion said. "It must have ripped."
"It's here," Rose Wolf said, "centered on Tiger's position."
"Coming," Azure Catfish said.
The pink muscle dragon fought to the best of his ability while his friend vanished among the tentacles. Some of the Nyx limbs wrapped around his arms and he had to pull back.
Water rushed in. It was icy, which was no problem for a muscle dragon. The whole tunnel was immediately underwater, limiting sight. Pressure mounted. Azure Catfish arrived, slamming his considerable physique into Rose Wolf.
The water moved the invading extradimensional beast and the muscle dragons got pulled along.
Rose Wolf clung to the water-themed hero and the hug in near darkness was returned.
The entire goopy pile was pressure washed into an already flooded ditch, secured by sandbags and mounds of earth Jade Turtle had drawn into position.
The Defense Force was lobbing rockets at the writhing mass.
Silver Tiger burst from the water, naked. He arranged his big dick in the shining boxer shorts to point up again and sharpened a rusty train part to go to town on the massive Nyx until it stopped wriggling.
"Up here," Amber Lion shouted. He'd been sliced across the side, his suit hanging off him like a tunic. "Defiler breakthroughs."
The muscle dragons reconvened. Vines had wrapped around buildings and broken windows. Mercifully few people had been defiled so far.
Silver Tiger grabbed a fence and flexed. His power flowed into the metal and it bent into a cage. Jade Turtle volunteered for zombie collection duty.
The others set on cutting the vines. Rose Wolf created a void and dragged it after him, sucking the regrowth through an invisible wood chipper. That way, vines that got sliced once stayed down.
After a few minutes of work, Amber Lion tapped him on the shoulder. "Rookie? Defense Force found the incursion source. They'll blow up what they can. We'll take it out."
"Got it, sir."
"This way."
The six biggest, buffest, most beautiful men in Neo Aurora waited in the middle of Gibbon Plaza until some of the tiles lifted with a tremble, a muffled explosion going off underground.
Jade Turtle landed on all fours like a falling truck and the earth ripped open at his flexed command.
A rainbow of plasma power crashed into the hole. The muscle dragons hovered in a circle, arms pointing down. With a quiver of light, the dark gateway vanished.
The heroes punched each other into arms and chests, jubilant. "Good job boys", "Damn straight", "Hell yeah", "We rock".
People felt safe to leave their houses again, streaming into the streets to see the damage and film the circle of muscle dragons.
Their fists met, each sparkling their color. "Massive muscle dragon power!"
=====xxx=====
Rose Wolf gave a final wave and flex to the crowd below. He had half a mind to rip his shredded uniform off and show off his muscles but with his lower half torn off he was already showing the bulge in the skin-tight magic boxers. It was still a little shocking how naked he basically was -- and exhilarating.
He slipped into the rift last and-
There was no rushing. The blinding light remained static, then faded to something that let him keep his eyes comfortably open.
He was hovering in a white void.
Before panic set in, a figure emerged.
A crazy muscular man about two heads taller than Yazi. Legs so big Yazi couldn't have wrapped his legs around the thighs. A dangling cock big enough to be an arm. Abs so perfect they looked fake. Arms and pecs that made even Jade Turtle seem wimpy.
He had the head of a slightly anthropomorphic Chinese dragon in pale, blueish white.
"Uh," Yazi said and bowed.
"Hello Yazi," the stranger said with a fittingly masculine voice. "You may call me True Dragon. I have moved you outside of time, for we -- that is, the people of the uncertain future -- have agreed to speak to you. You must swear secrecy."
"Sure, I guess. Wait, how can the future be uncertain to you if you're from there? That's just your present."
True Dragon crossed his arms and nodded. "That is at the heart of our concern. The battle against the Nyx stretches from your days to ours. Our only chance of winning was to hand power to the past through the Crystallius. However, while this has increased our chances against the Nyx, it had terrible consequences."
"Uh, we're not winning? I thought these powers were so we can beat the Nyx before they're unbeatable."
"We have been as careful in our selection of muscle dragons as possible but we haven't yet found enough to guarantee victory."
"Make more then? Or is this about those consequences?"
True Dragon flexed his arm for emphasis. "Exactly. Although the muscle dragons are paragons of heroism in the field and will not abuse their privileges during their lifetime, they will accumulate power regardless and create bloodlines of warlords and worse."
"And you can't, like, tell them off?"
"Every time we have added a muscle dragon, this increased our chances against the Nyx but worsened problems for future generations, bringing the world closer to collapse, devastation and unspeakable horrors. We are trading degrees of apocalypse."
"So we're just fucked? The future is doomed either way? The Nyx do it or humans misuse the weapons against the Nyx?"
True Dragon floated a step closer. Now Yazi had to look up. "It's *uncertain*. We have kept the timeline fragmented and tried to splinter off the worst consequences while reaping the benefits of victory over the Nyx. This cannot remain stable forever and eventually the timeline must be consolidated."
"How?"
"You, Yazi, are a possible solution. You are the first muscle dragon who improved our chances in this battle without worsening future issues."
Yazi flexed with a smirk. "What do you want from me, then?"
"We will make changes to the past. Some delicate alterations are required to test our theories and *you* will be our anchor."
"So you'll send me to my present day but... different?"
True Dragon nodded and folded his hands over the root of his dick. "Act like nothing is different but lean into the differences. We may speak again later."
Blinding light and a rush later and Rose Wolf stepped out of the rift, just behind the broad back of Scarlet Phoenix who swaggered ahead like nothing was off.
Right away, some things were different.
=====xxx=====
Yazi's eyes went wide. Scarlet Phoenix wore his red-white wrestling suit but... It no longer had legs, leaving the thighs exposed with the cut more like a brief, even showing some glutes.
The rookie muscle dragon looked at the others, who also wore the "new" style of leg-less costume. Looking down on himself, his shredded lower uniform barely had a tear in it, now that the legs weren't there to begin with.
"Hey Chao," Yazi asked. "Who designed our uniforms?"
The black hero turned around. "It was a group effort, if I recall. The initial trio came up with some designs. It was finalized just before I joined."
Sunny turned to them. "It was mostly JT's idea. Why, does our resident designer have changes to propose?"
"No, I think they're great actually. Good job, JT."
The biggest muscle dragon slapped Yazi's ass as he passed. "Glad to have the newbie's approval. Wakefield, anything new?"
