Michael

“While the audience votes on the fate of these three,” Ruby shot a quick triumphant side eye at Al and his dangling trio, “let's focus on the winners!” Ruby gestured to the safe that had been removed from the stage coach, and it lifted clear of the ground, opening to dump all its treasure onto the ground. Out came a pile of gold pieces and a small number of items Michael could not identify. He did see the glint of metal poking out from a few places.“Inside the safe are a bounty of victory points and all the lovely items from the game! As the winners, the foursome can divide them up however they like. Now ladies, we’ll give you a few minutes to-”

“MOOO!” Luciana stomped her… hoof on the wood plank of the stage.

“Right, we should probably let everyone participate.” Ruby clapped her hands and opened her palms towards the contestants. She began to slowly pull away from them, closing her fists as she did so, straining against the air like she was pulling against heavy resistance. Al stood off to the side, puffing on his cigar and making absolutely no move to help.

As Ruby strained the changes to Luciana and Janet, which were the most visible and tangible, began to slowly revert. Luciana’s hooves grew soft and expanded out on the stage until they formed back into human feet. The horns on her head retracted into her skull and were quickly hidden by her hair. Luciana’s hands flashed to her head and she visibly relaxed when she felt that they were no longer there.

“Oh thank fuck.”

“How do you feel?” Danica asked, backing away slightly as she did so.

“Like you whipped my ass half to hell.” Luciana touched her own backside but yelped and yanked the hand away like it was burned. “But I did tell you to, kinda so I guess we’re cool. Still… I’m going vegan after this. Fuck.”

Michael’s attention was drawn to Janet, the other one who’d been more thoroughly changed, as she too regained her human form. While everyone was focused on Luciana, Janet had tried to reach up and claw herself out of the rope which hung her upside down. But Ruby’s changes turned those claws back into fingernails before Janet could accomplish this, and without her feline strength, Janet flopped back upside down alongside Mallory and Ronnie. Ronnie pulled off the bikini top she’d been wearing on her face and the three of them hung there defeated, like hooked fish.

“Now that the three of you have regained the power of speech, you can deliberate.” Ruby popped off her cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from her brow before continuing. “And to keep naughty Michael from interfering…”

Once more, one of the small cyclones that had dropped each girl on the stage emerged from the sky, this time large enough to encircle the four women on Ruby’s team, as well as their hard won treasure in a violent spinning vortex.

“Girls!” Michael lunged forward, trying to push his way through the wall of dust, but it simply shoved him backwards onto the stage. Al just shook his head.

“It’s almost admirable how little you listen, Mikey, even when you might sandpaper your own dick. They can’t hear you in there. This is their decision to make.”

Before Michael could respond, Ruby stepped between the men. “Al, I think you’d better give the audience their recap. Hmmm?” As Ruby shooed him away, Al looked like he wanted to explode. But, chastened by his loss and the instant replay of that loss, he complied. As he turned away and began narrating over ‘highlights’ that only the viewing audience could see, Ruby took Michael by the arm and led him away.

“Let’s take a walk, I can tell you need a minute.” Ruby had not the least bit of sympathy in her voice, though she did lower it so the others wouldn’t hear. She whipped her hands in a circle and Michael felt clothes forming around him. Not the outrageous cowboy outfit, but a more comfortable pair of jeans and shirt. Trying to put me at ease.

Michael looked past her at Mallory, Janet, and Ronnie swinging by their ankles, all three of them with their eyes locked upon the brazier holding the now alarmingly red hot X brand destined for one of their backsides.

“If I’d won this thing, I could have saved them from this.”

“You could have, for now. But it’s not elimination, just a little change on the leaderboard.” Ruby shrugged. “We could use a little shakeup at the top, if I’m being quite honest.”

“It puts one of them so much farther away from getting the points they need. Aaaaugh… we were so damn close, Janet and Mallory both were right there…”

“Sure, you could have gotten them all closer to the 100 point threshold, but Is that what you really want, though?”

“What?! Of course it is, how could you even ask me that? That’s been my goal this whole fucking time!”

“Pardon the expression, but it fits the setting - This isn’t my first rodeo.” Ruby reached out to gently stroked his chin with her nails. Michael swatted her hand away. “I know why you lost this round, Michael.”

“I lost because you took away my ability to explain the situation.”

“Oh? And what if we had and they wouldn’t listen? Would you have ordered them to let you win?”

“Of course!”

She held up two fingers in front of Michael’s face, and he felt his eyeline magically connected to them. She pointed to the three hanging women awaiting their fate, his women, and he was **** to look. “We all saw your dinner party a few nights ago, when you brought Ronnie and Danica along on your date with Mallory. I have to say, I’ve been working on this show a long time, and convincing two of your wives to give you permission to cheat with one of their daughters was one of the more impressive bits of salesmanship I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re fucked in the head, Ruby.”

“No, I just have a different perspective. You’re trying to get everyone to 100 points. Trying to save everyone.” Ruby stroked Michael’s chin again, but this time he didn’t immediately slap it away. He was still fixed on the women across the stage. “But you’re not fully committed to it. You could have ordered them to do whatever you wanted, they’d have even earned more points for it. You could have at least ordered Danica to stay and watch. She certainly wouldn’t have refused.”

“Only because you put those thoughts in her head.”

“Technically Yuki put those thoughts in her head, but that’s just splitting hairs. But let’s stay on point. You didn’t order them to go along with your plan that night, even though you could have. Even though Mallory asked them to, directly. Even though you all could have earned more points. Why not?”

“That wasn’t how I wanted to handle that situation. I know the point you’re trying to make, today was different. This challenge came up on us out of nowhere.”

Ruby gave that response all the consideration she thought it deserved, which was little. Then she swerved in a direction Michael did not predict.

“Did you know that Danica and Ronnie had sex with each other after they left your suite?”

“They… what? No, I did not.”

“It was sweet actually. I won’t spoil anything, I’ll be sure to have the concierge cue it up on your television when you return to your suite. Don’t pretend you don’t want to watch.” He didn’t pretend. Michael shifted in his jeans seat, unable to take his eyes off of Ronnie’s sensual form. With Danica… He couldn’t stop his filthy mind from conjuring up the two of them, Ronnie pulling Danica’s lips to hers with one hand while finding a place to grip on Danica’s voluptuous booty with the other. Danica’s hands finding their way between Ronnie’s legs, pleasuring the both of them with a single touch. Their tongues dancing in each other’s mouths, warming up for more to come…

“Does that make you jealous?”

“...Jealous?” Michael was abruptly snapped out of his lesbian sex fantasy. He wanted to believe Ruby had put the salacious scene in his head, but he wasn’t entirely sure that she needed to. “No.”

“Aren’t you big on telling the truth now, Michael?”

“I’m not jealous.” He wasn’t actually sure, but he wasn’t going to tell Ruby that.

“Of course you’re not.” She smirked like a teacher catching a student in an obvious lie. “After all, that would be rather hypocritical, considering you didn’t get their permission for your tryst with Janet and Vivian on the baseball field, hmm? Still… if Danica and Ronnie had just stayed and done that for your benefit, they could have earned more points, pushed you closer to your goal. Are you going to punish them for wasting that opportunity?”

“Punish them? Are you nuts? I’m not that kind of man, and I won’t let you turn me into one.”

“What was it you said to Mallory the next morning?” Ruby waved her hand in the air, and a recording or memory or whatever of Michael’s own voice echoed softly on the air. ‘...You're backsliding. I get it, change is difficult and it's a long-term process. But we need to correct the behavior.’”

“That’s-”

“Different, I know.” Ruby cooed as she cut him off. Her attempts at disarming him with flirting were only pissing him off. No, she’s pissing you off because she’s got you fucking pegged. “You lost today because you fell for a trap set by your own harem. You’ve had a taste of power, real power, and you want more. They’re not fools, they see it too. That’s why they baited you with Mallory specifically. They knew you couldn’t just ride on by. You say you’re not that kind of man, but it seems like your girls are starting to think you are...”

“The girls are done.” Al called from across the stage, cocking a thumb behind him. The cyclone surrounding the victorious women started to weaken and fade, indicating that they had made their decisions.

Ruby released her hold on Michael’s eyes. He furiously rubbed them, realizing that he’d been unable to blink in the dusty air the entire time. As she backed away, she left him with a few parting words.

“We’re closer to the end than the beginning, Boss.” Ruby emphasized the last word with a small clap. “If your plan is going to succeed, consider whether you can afford to let your girls waste any more opportunities.”

Michael thought as he returned to the stage. Is that what I need to do - to be - to help them?

Before he could answer that, Ruby was back to the front of the stage and addressing the cameras.

“Thank you for that excellent summary of your team’s performance.” Al’s aggressive cigar puff was his only retort. Ruby waved her team forward, “Now girls, how did you decide to split up the hard won loot?”

Ruby addressed the foursome generally, leaving Michael curious to see who would step forward to speak for them. He naturally assumed Vivian would, but she shared a glance with Sarah and it was the latter who did so. Interesting… Michael found that reversal of their dynamic curious, but he’d have to explore that later.

Sarah paused before she spoke, holding out her hands to her sides without looking down or back to see if anyone would take them. Danica took Vivian’s on Sarah’s side and Sarah’s on the other. Luciana hesitated, just long enough that it was noticeable, but she too took Sarah’s hand and connected the foursome.

“We’re in this together,” Sarah’s conviction seemed to hearten the others, and Michael noticed the change in their posture as a result. Somehow even stronger and more confident then he’d known them to be. It was making his dick hard all over again.

Danica was the only one to notice that change in Michael, and she silently raised an eyebrow as if to ask ‘Again already?’ Michael nodded and the two shared a silent chuckle.

Sarah continued. “There were 120 points, so we split them to boost us as high as possible.” As Sarah explained the breakdown, the chips splashed all over the stage swept up in the air and flew into neat stacks at the feet of each contestant:scores began to change:

Danica: 15 VPs + 51 = 66 Points
Sarah: 49 VPs + 18 = 67 Points
Luciana: 63 VPs + 3 = 66 Points
Vivian: 18 VPs + 48 = 66 Points

“That’s a very touching sentiment, ladies. You’re breaking my heart.” Al clutched his chest to mock a heart attack, but laughed it off when the assembled players realized they weren’t going to be so lucky. “What about the rest?”

“The rest?” Michael asked.

Sarah spoke with noticeably less confidence on this point. Danica squeezed her hand for a little bit of reassurance.

“We get to keep the items from the game, assuming they weren’t used up.” Sarah released the hands and bent down to pull the revolver from the pile of loot at her feet. She deftly spun it on her finger and handed it to Danica - a small flash of light indicating the change in ownership.

“I don’t want this!” Danica protested. She cocked her arm as if to throw it away, but Sarah grabbed her wrist.

“You’re probably the best one of us to have this.” Sarah said.

Colt’s Bushmaster - As the only one of the winning team to hit someone with the gun, she gets to keep it. It has 2 shots remaining and only Danica can use them to trigger temporary animal transformations. If she doesn’t fire them at someone before the conclusion of the game, the gun will shoot two random contestants and the effects will be permanent.

Michael saw the wisdom in giving it to Danica, wondering if she’d turn it on herself. He wondered what she might look like in that pony outfit that Zoe had worn, but Sarah was already moving on to the next item. She pulled out the shackles the other team had used on Mallory, and Sarah walked over to lay them below the upturned blonde. Just as before, a small flash of light connected the item to the wearer.

Bad Girl Bracelets - Mallory keeps the shackles, when she or someone is bound by them, tugging on the chain increases the wearer’s arousal. Once they have been attached, only Michael or a person with more points than the wearer can remove them. If no one does, they pop free after 24 hours.

“Oooooo!” Mallory said, grasping at them resting on the stage just out of her reach.

Sarah decided against handing them to her, and added as she stepped away. “You looked like you were having more fun than any of us in those.”

Michael wasn’t sure that giving Mallory another form of pleasure to become addicted was a risky choice, but he was sure that seeing the blonde cuffed and pleading to be fucked made his cock twitch.

Sarah collected the whip and the bow & quiver set, then offered them to Michael.

The Quivering Quim Quiver - Cupid is overrated! Why would you want to pierce someone’s heart with true love when you can fill it with primal lust instead? The wearer’s own ecstacy is all the ammo you’ll need!

Whip It Good - Striking a girl with animal transformations impose your will on them. Use such fun commands as kneel, forward, suck, and fuck with no fear of consequence! At least to start, the animal may fear the lash but they will remember who wielded it.

“Thank you.” Michael didn’t ask why, and Sarah didn’t feel the need to elaborate. They trust these in my hands. As soon as she passed him the quiver, a small arrow started to appear in it, a result of his increasing arousal at the scene playing out. They shared a look that was knowing without being accusatory.

“And the last item…” Sarah said, picking up a sealed poster tube from the ground. She popped one end, and a weathered piece of paper slid free. Sarah unrolled it and displayed it to the camera, it had a large WANTED printed across the top, as well as spaces below where the accused’s bounty could be spelled out. But at the moment there was no one listed. “We think this one should be assigned to… Ronnie Clark.”

The document began to flutter madly in Sarah’s hand as though it was being buffeted by wind that no one else could feel. It was ripped free and flew through the air, smacking itself onto Ronnie’s body. She squirmed to try to knock it off, but it was stuck to her as it formed whatever horrible bond that it was meant to. The ink on the page began to coalesce into a black printed image of her face, with the text filling in below.

Wanted: Spread and Alive - When Michael fantasizes about Ronnie, a bounty is created for that act and visible to all. The bounty can be VPs, Chips, or a favorable TF. Whomever is involved in that scenario will gain the bounty if they perform it while Michael watches. Ronnie will not gain that reward.

With its magic connection forged, the poster peeled itself free of Ronnie’s bare hip and was whipped off by the desert wind towards the hotel. Michael’s first thought was to cringe at the knowledge that his fantasies would just appear in print on the wall, but… Why would that be a problem? They already know and this could help.

“With those lovely prizes distributed, let’s see who the audience chose to have their very own adornment!” Ruby waved.

The bar holding Ronnie, Janet, and Mallory upside down rose up several feet higher off the stage. Numbers began sailing out of the sky, striking the ropes that held each of them. Higher numbers tightened the ropes, raising the girl even further, while lower ones extended it, dropping them down. Each of them rose and fell as the votes flew in, moving up and down in the air like bobs on a fishing line. Michael realized that he was holding his breath, and it looked as though nearly everyone else was as well.

Finally the votes began to slow, the girls reaching their final spots. Up and down, each of them gasping in worry as they took a turn on the bottom… But when they stopped, one of them hung lower than the others…

“Janey Mohney!” Ruby called. The staff, compelled as they were, cheered for this. Al looked like he might bite the end off his cigar. Danica immediately exhaled in relief, but then blushed and covered her face in her hands as the enormity of that reaction hit her.

Ruby grabbed the poker and stepped over to the hanging damsels, Ronnie and Mallory tried to lean as far away from it as they could.

“Oh don’t be such a baby.” Ruby abruptly crossed the final distance and jammed the hot X into Janet’s bare backside, making the redhead yelp out in pain. Ruby waved to Celene, standing by the edge of the stage, and the woman pressed an ice pack over it for a few seconds. When she pulled it back, the X was prominent on the woman’s ass but the skin around it was completely unblemished. “You were so close to 100 points too, what a shame.”

The points fell off from Janet’s score and re-distributed to the 4 winners. The points which Mallory and Ronnie lost fell from the board, but those simply disappeared. Michael cringed as he saw the scope of the task set in front of them.

Sarah, Danica, Luciana, Vivian +24
Mallory, Ronnie -20
Janet -99

“And now, on to the transformations!”