Chapter 5
by 
Zeebop
What's next?
Sam (♀) and Sam (♂) read "Subjugation Tournament" by Gambio
Two Years later...on a couch. In a timeless space. A naked man and a woman with a disturbing similarity sit and pointedly try not to look at each other.
"This story had a different name," Sam (♀) said.
"That was the before-time," Sam (♂) said.
"We finished the story!" she insisted.
"We finished one branch. Gambio has spent two years adding to this story," he said.
"Are we masturbating to this?" Sam (♀) asked. She crinkled her nose. Her opposite-sex doppelganger shrugged.
"That remains to be seen," Sam (♂) replied. "We're picking up where the first path we were on branched. The road less traveled. Mari Beta, the protagonist and a 19-year-old male loser, was fighting Aijuka Zoroi, a catgirl..."
"And this time, the bitch-boi wins," Sam (♀) said, shaking her head. "And acquires a cat girl ****."
"Which, to be fair, he doesn't want. Beta in act as well as name," Sam (♂) added.
"Just because you have a dick doesn't mean you have to be one," Sam (♀) said, reaching over to punch him in the arm. "There are worse ways to start a harem anime than accidentally winning a slavegirl."
"Is that what this is? Anyway, then we get some worldbuilding!" Sam (♂) grinned.
Finally, Aiju squeezed out some words.”Ah...ungh...breathe..can't.”
"Fun fact: if you cannot breathe, you cannot speak. But that's not important. We're getting a crash course in how magical spells of domination work in this world where consent is sort of optional. Which I guess is okay for a catgirl who has that kink?" he added.
"It does rather short-circuit sexy catgirl **** time, though," Sam (♀) said. "Maybe Gambio should have written a path where Beta was an asshole?"
"I don't think we're in a position to throw stones," the other Sam pointed out. "Just because your protagonist has morals doesn't make it an inherently unsexy story. That's conflict! Man vs. himself!"
"If a man can resist taking advantage of a sexy catgirl that wants to mating press him, it is because that man's libido is weak enough to be resisted," Sam (♀) insisted. "We better get some fucking kittens by the end of this."
"You weren't this fervent last time," Sam (♂) said.
"Two year dry spell."
I instantly refused. “Yeah, maybe try that next time without cackling like an evil hold hag.”
"I do appreciate that Gambio isn't going for porn-without-plot, straight for the fap," Sam (♂) observed. "And it shows their usual sense of humor. They might need to read a little more Robert E. Howard to really get a feel for the action scenes, though."
"I'm reminded of the tournament arc in One Piece," Sam (♀) said. "Although I doubt that was the inspiration."
"All tournament arcs are vaguely similar," the other Sam said. "That's why they work. Give a structure to the story. You have rounds where action happens and between-rounds where story happens. The plot advances towards a conclusion or you abort the arc and go off to fuck your horny catgirl forever after."
Bracket B Fight 3 Vasgar Princess Priscilla vs. Poison Ivy
"Wait, what?" Sam (♀) looked confused. "Did this suddenly become an interdimensional tournament?"
"Let's just call it a running joke chapter," Sam (♂) said. "Anyway, we were promised a catgirl sex scene."
Sam (♀) pursed her lips. She ran a hand over her labia. Dry as the Great Sandy Desert.
"I don't know what I expected," she said. "But yet, somehow, that is a perfect encapsulation of Gambio's approach. And let me be clear: premature ejaculation and subsequent immediate, total embarrassment is fine. I'm not kinkshaming. But from a writing perspective, this could at least try to be sexy. Build up the arousal, the anticipation, the sensations. Give Beta a chance to fight the rising tide and lose. Let the hot dribble of his watery disappointment run over his stiff little beta dick and drip over his pathetic balls."
"I think Gambio's interest is less in 'this is hot,' than 'this is funny,'" Sam (♂) said. "It's a deadpan ejaculation. But it would have more emotional impact with better build-up. The follow-up, where Beta uses the **** spell to make the catgirl horny, is more effective, although really it could have used more detail."
"Especially when he pulled her tail," Sam (♀) noted.
"Our first choice on this branch," Sam (♂) said. "We're going to use the box."
"If there's a next time, we won't," Sam (♀) promised.
With this you can put your **** trough as much **** as you want
"Harem anime," the Sams said in unison.
"With Cassandra and the cat girl, we do at least get the bad ****/good **** dynamic," Sam (♀) said.
“Why are there so many fucking hypocrites in this god damn tournament?”
"That escalated quickly. I'm more invested in the **** dynamics than the tournament fights," Sam (♂) said.
"You just want a lesbian hatefuck scene," Sam (♀) sighed.
"Almost assuredly never going to happen with Gambio. But yes," Sam (♂) said happily.
They really aren't that tiny, I thought. Upper B cup? Maybe even a low C….I probably shouldn’t think about this right now.
"Go read a band size chart," Sam (♀) suggested.
Better prepare yourself to spending the first month of your slavery as a toilet.
"Empty threat," Sam (♂) said sadly. "Gambio would never write it."
"Are we doing the optional chapter?" Sam (♀) asked.
"I kinda feel obligated," Sam (♂) said. "Gambio has read and reviewed a lot of our chapters they didn't have to. And read things they can no never unread. Mental scarring deserves something for its trouble."
"Not sure this was worth it," Sam (♀) admitted. "Also, Gambio has this thing about using the descending dots to indicate a break instead of, y'know, a line or something, and it's a bit screwy formatting-wise because of how this place defaults to left-justification. Although they COULD center it like so:
…
..
.
"...but maybe that's overkill. Anyway, the net result for that chapter was a naked anime girl pic. Back to the main storyline."
"Small props where they belong, I did not see the chapter leading up to FMK as the three options. Mostly because I don't think marriage came up at any previous point. Which is almost enough to make me want to try that branch. Maybe next time, if there is a next time," Sam (♂) said.
"We give shit because that's the game, but I do like that Gambio follows through on their plots," Sam (♀) said. "It's not enough to make me wet, but at least they didn't write 'AND THEN THEY FUCKED' in big letters and moved immediately to the next chapter."
"Orgies," Sam (♂) noted, "are difficult things to handle anyway. You think about porn: in a gangbang, you're focused on the girl or girls getting the fluids pounded out of and into them. If you've got a pair of swinging couples, you have a set number of combinations you can go through. But the more characters you have, the harder it is to give proper time and attention to each potential pairing and grouping. At best, your literary camera flicks over the action, trying to give a sense of the scene without really focusing too long on any particular act. You get a lot of variety, but not a lot of detail and little emotion."
"This is the most Gambio thing," Sam (♀) said, but she smiled when she said it. Almost impressed.
This particular riddle killed off half of the readers, so don't feel too bad about it.
"I have to admit, I was looking at the story map and wondering if Gambio broke it somehow," Sam (♂) admitted.
"Still not sure they didn't," Sam (♀) said. "But this is a big decision. So we're going to continue this...next time!"
