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*Theme: Isekai, Furry, Anthro, Scifi

WOTF Context (from previous chapters):
- Fluff is a world full of anthropomorphic animals called the Fluffies.
- Fluff Tech is the primary contributing technological/innovative company for anthro-based wearables or gadgets.Ashen, a famed scientist and innovator of Fluff Tech, had created the first world-bridging device - the Fluff Interdimensional Machine. He and Spots worked together paw in paw, but they found no bond between them, not even a spark during their time in the innovative space. While the anthro cheetah found admiration for the wolf, Ashen, however, found romance with another outside of Fluff Tech to her disappointment. Despite knowing the fact, she worked with him as close acquaintances. She wondered if anyone would come by with a similar charm to the wolf, completing the puzzle of romance for her.

Once the machine was set up after months of assembly and calculations, Ashen was ready to test the contraption’s capabilities to the limit. He suited himself up in a Fluff Tech jumpsuit, equipped with everything he needed in case of an emergency. Carrying a backpack filled with the bare essentials, he was prepared to explore neighboring dimensions in the name of science, and a holographic blueprint for emergencies where he had to rebuild the machine. Standing in front of the Fluff Interdimensional Machine in a testing chamber, the wolf shifted his gaze to Spots through the control room’s bulletproof glass, giving her the signal to activate the machine.

With a nod of acknowledgement, the contraption rumbled to a start as a bluish portal swirled with radiant lights. However, while it worked, lightning started to arc from the edges of the metallic gateway, and immediately, the wolf knew something was wrong. Before he could dive for the chamber doors, the portal dragged him through and vanished to nothingness. The anthro cheetah quickly deactivated everything as fast as she could, unlocking the chamber doors to rush to the wolf’s aid, but it was too late. The brilliant scientist of Fluff gone in a matter of seconds.

She teared up a little, stopping when she heard beeping coming from a device left behind. On its screen were two words with a warning triangle, indicating, “Quantum Entanglement,” and a location beacon of a life signature extraneous to the Fluffies. Instead of a gateway, the contraption had added capability of interdimensional displacement, a software glitch she had to patch up together with the other scientists of Fluff Tech. In the meantime, she needed to find this mysterious being who had swapped places with Ashen, hoping that he or she was safe and unscathed from the switch.

On Earth, Ashen found himself sitting in the middle of a scorched circle of grass in a park surrounded by a dull cityscape. He pressed on his suits’ wrist to activate a hologram, checking on his vitals and what happened. After a few minutes of scanning and trying to identify his current location, he realized that he was no longer on planet Fluff but someplace else, inter-dimensionally displaced with another soul. The first thing he had to do was to find directions in the city, hoping to find a way back to Fluff with all the resources he could gather.

As he glanced about, people were stopping in their tracks and filming him on their phones, the rest staring at him with gaping eyes. When he tried to ask about where he was, his words turned into barks and howls to the human crowd’s ears, scaring everyone off from the vicinity. He hastily dropped his backpack onto the ground and pulled out a translation collar, wearing it hoping to finally chat with anyone who was not afraid of him. Alas, they had all fled. Being the only anthro in a human world was awkward for Ashen, one thing he had not anticipated. He sighed and sat on the grass, contemplating his next move in the unknown world.

A few minutes had passed and he was suddenly surrounded by humans dressed in black suits and sunglasses, each armed with guns. He knew something was up and took caution and stood up slowly, raising both his arms and speaking with measured words, “I… come in peace?” The men looked at each other and one answered in response to his greeting, “You’re coming with us.” Despite his calm behavior, he was tackled onto the ground and his bag of Fluff Tech equipment was swiftly removed from him, except the translation collar around his neck. With his paws zip-tied behind his back, he was led into a black van and driven away.

An hour later, he was escorted into a military facility by heavily armed soldiers through the winding corridors. He ended up in a mostly white room except for a gray table and set of two chairs, instantly identifying it as an interrogation. As Ashen and one of the men sat together in the quiet room, the man broke the silence between them. “Where did you come from? Are you a werewolf?” The wolf hesitated but took in a deep breath to gather himself, answering as confidently as he could. “I’m Ashen, an anthropomorphic wolf from Fluff, where others like me exist. And no, I’m not a werewolf, just a gray wolf.”

“What’s your purpose on Earth?”

“Earth? Is this what this world is called?” He received a nod from the man before resuming to clarify, “I… don’t have any intention here. I’m just a scientist exploring dimensional travel and ended up here. If you may, could you let me go so that I could leave in peace?”

“No. Alien beings like you can’t just walk through cities, and you’ll stay as long as we decide!” Once he heard what the man refered him as, he knew he was treated as an extraterrestrial despite not originating from other planets of the same universe. Like the years of training that taught him everything about surviving in foreign worlds, he kept his calm and obliged to whatever request they made until a suitable escape plan could be hatched. For now, he gave a sighed and the long waiting game began.

The man stood up and signaled a wall, revealing it to be a one-way glass. The others flooded into the room and held him by his arms, taking him to the adjacent rooms to be examined by scientists and various doctors in pristine white lab coats. The first few scientists put him through questions, prompting him to share his name, describe himself and the life on his homeworld through the translation collar. While he answered questions truthfully without hesitation, some of the scientists doubted his answers since humanity did not have the same technology as those from Fluff.

Once the scientists had their fill of information, he was taken into another room for non-invasive bodily checks by doctors with an elevated bed. He was scanned through an X-ray machine for the imaging of his internal structures, surprising the doctors as they stared blankly at how similar it looked to a human skeleton despite being a wolf. As they were increasingly curious about his biology, they had to see what was under the jumpsuit, requesting him politely to just let them document his anthropomorphic body. He hesitated and raised an eyebrow at them, but they shrugged in return, preparing clipboards to record his unique biology.

When he took off his jumpsuit, the few pairs of eyes on him made him nervous and embarrassed, causing him to blush and shiver as he put it aside, standing between them. Some lifted his tail while some checked his snout and ears, others poked their fingers at his fur and loved how soft it was. One of them checked his more intimate places, saying nothing but only scribbling notes on his clipboard, blushing a little at his athletic wolf form without making eye contact. Ashen could tell that he was envious of his anthropomorphic body and wanted something similar, leaving him giggling softly to himself.

An hour of short bodily checks later, he put his jumpsuit back on, sitting and waiting in the room for the next tests in line while the doctors cleared out. One of the doctors from before, the one who was wholly awkward beside him, returned with a cart full of various objects, most of them looking like toys he played with in his childhood. “Apologies Ashen, but may I remove your collar for a moment?” He tilted his head at them for a bit before answering, “I need the collar to talk to you. It’s the only way I can translate my- awoo!” Ashen yelped in shock, his voice turning into whimpers to beg the scientists to return his collar. “Alright… You may have it back.” The doctor graciously assisted to help him get the collar back on.

“What’s with all the juvenile toys?”

“Juvenile? These are dog toys, and since you’re a canine being, I think these might be of interest to you.”

The wolf scratched his head awkwardly as the doctor raised a fabric toy, squeezing it to emit piercing squeaks. Unlike his four-footed cousins, he winced at the sounds and his nose scrunched up a little. “Please stop…” The doctor nodded, putting away the toy to reach for another - a lime-green tennis ball. As though like a beacon in the night, his eyes shifted to trail the ball wherever it moved. When it was thrown to one side of the room, he just stared vacantly at the doctor. “Ah… A canine that doesn’t play fetch. Interesting,” he said while writing a few notes.

“One last test…”

The doctor stroked the fur at the back of his neck with one hand and gave him ear rubs with another, sending warm tingles down his spine to his now vigorously wagging tail. Ashen shuddered, unsure why he felt that way but it made him trust the doctor a little more than previously. “Are you… a good boy?” He had the overwhelming urge to nod and resisted as long as possible before he bobbed his head with a soft bark. He put the palms of his fur-covered hands on his face, hiding the embarrassment he was experiencing. “Yup! You’re a good boy. Now, rest up in this room. We’ll be back tomorrow.” The doctor said, giving him a smile and rolled out the cart of dog toys, leaving him in the room with a bed that was less comfortable than his own at home. Staring at the metallic ceiling of his room, he wondered if the one swapped with him was undergoing a similar fate.

Meanwhile, after a week of Ashen’s absence without any reassuring updates, Spots decided to take action and prepared all the pocket-sized combat utilities at her pawtips. Being used to my anthro-fursuit wolf disguise, I was ecstatic to help her, seemingly turning into one of the Fluffies myself. The anthro cheetah geared herself up with Fluff Tech gadgets and passed me my set of unique “weaponry,” staring at the swirling blue gateway of the Fluff Interdimensional Machine. “Time to set things right! Are you ready, human?”

“Let’s do this, Spots!”<<<Next: Part 4 - Setting Things Right | Prev: Part 2 - Living Among Anthros>>>