Chapter 5: Blood, battles and beasts (Complete)
A squirrel once told me I looked pretty, they were wrong. I am gorgeous, my bushy tail proved it. Sadly I had to hide my beauty from the world, forever hiding its splendor underneath a pair of jeans (somehow).
...
Who wrote this?
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Doreen felt her blood pumping with adrenaline after watching the 'experiment' of someone she suspected to be an admin or GM, as she slowly approached the smiling man exiting the arena.
Strange. She had met the man twice before but he never smiled, genuinely smiled, though after witnessing the horrible yet magnificent birth of an abomination who wouldn't be filled with glee? Just because her powers didn't have anything to do with science, didn't mean that she was incapable of appreciating new life. She herself once dreamed to be a world-renowned scientist praised for creating a new species, as a child of course.
When the suspected admin sensed her approach, he flashed an unnerving smile before walking past her. "Hey! Mr smile, wait up!"
Slowing to a halt, the man turned around bearing the same unnerving smile as he looked her up and down. At first Doreen suspected that some sort of sensation would wash over her, as if a god was looking through her and directly into her soul. But no, it just felt like he was looking at her and that's it, it strangely left her feeling disappointed.
"I saw what you were doing... That was so cool! Do you mind if I also try that stuff? Cause I really want to know what would happen to me, you know, with me being part squirrel and all that."
"I don't see why not, however I'm afraid I have to sleep, my dear brother Quinn insists so. Claims that even if we don't need to sleep we need to sleep, otherwise it'd cause mental issues or something of the sort. Though I only agreed to it since I would be allowed to sleep with him, perhaps you would like to join? Since most people find comfort in being close to others." Luke's sincere words stunned Doreen as she was at a sudden loss for words.
Fuck! Why are the smart ones always messed up? Doreen couldn't help such thoughts as she thought back to all the smart people she knew. Most of which being either evil, morally grey or a hero with 'unique' character traits. "Yeahhh... no. Normally I'd be all for it, but I prefer one on one, even if you're twins. Plus I could spend that time killing zombies, so that's a no from me."
"Shame I would have enjoyed other people trying my home brew cocktails, such as Doyap. A combination of oyster water, garlic juice, beef jerky and humus blended like a smoothie while boiled at 200 degrees Celsius. It opens up a whole new world to those who haven't tried it."
"I'm sure it does. Anyway, how should we meet up? Because it's not like there's a clock for the time around here or something."
Chuckling he spoke, "You'll know when the time comes..." before he walked away towards the hotel to 'sleep' with his brother.
"..." It must suck to have a brother like that.
Ultimately deciding to wait for the 'revelation' to tell her when they could start experimenting, she called out to her partner in crime, Krish, to come and spar with her in the arena.
* * * * *
Blood. Blood everywhere. Or pus. Maybe ooze. But that didn't stop her from ejecting the contents of her stomach for the umpteenth time today. She and her... buddy, friend, fellow human that got sucked into a weird scary dimension filled with monsters? Either way, they were stuck in this together. They didn't bother to learn each other's names as they both felt the pressure of being eaten to death by walking corpses or being sucked dry by leeches. Not once did they leave the 'game', they felt weird not having their quirks. And not having their own bodies of course.
Luckily for her, but her airhead teammate seemed to enjoy gutting the monsters with her knife or blasting their head open with a gun. At first she was revolted at how quickly 'Rebecca' adapted to this sick world, enjoying the slaughter, but now she thought it to be a beautiful form of art. The graceful movements that brought about the crude end of mindless beasts, she couldn't keep her eyes off the fight.
It wasn't long before the fight ended with Jiro blasting the crazy scientist/leech hybrid with her desert eagle, causing it to collapse onto the floor. "Finally, I thought he would never die."
'Rebecca' replied with an affirmative hum before searching the corpse for something that could help them escape the hellhole they were in. Tossing one of the keys he fished out of the malformed corpse towards Jiro, she stood and walked over to the locked door, inserting her key into the panel at the side.
Mirroring her actions Jiro twisted the key in the lock, opening the door that would lead them to safety. How did they know? They didn't, they just had a strong gut feeling that this was how the story played out, the end-credits were up next probably. They finally relaxed for the first time since they arrived, not once did they leave the game through the typewriter. Hell, they didn't even touch the thing, it was most likely some sort of trap.
Though they were grateful for the system that aided them throughout their adventure. Namely the game mechanics skill, without it they'd be lugging around a whole bunch of things which really wasn't handy.
I wonder what kind of quirk can do this? I should've studied them more in class. Ugh, I just hope that we can escape and get rescued by the heroes. Upon entering the room, Jiro saw the exact same typewriter, an ominous sign that this would be the end one way or the other. Shivering at the thought she surveyed the room and found quite a few supplies lying around. Red herbs, green herbs, ammo... shit! Another boss fight?! And this is way more stuff than the other boss fights, that means that it's the final boss. Fuck!
Seeing 'Billy' losing it, the airhead walked over to comfort her with a hug, making things seem odd as she was a petite girl while one could see that Billy did not slack at the gym. In a weird way it looked normal.
After Jiro had calmed down somewhat, they began to make a plan. "So, any idea as to what the final boss is gonna be?"
"Nope, I think that if all the stuff here can't be carried in our inventory we should drop the stuff that doesn't heal us or help us kill the monsters. Replied 'Rebecca'. "Cause if it's the final boss it's not like we're gonna need anything else."
Nodding in understanding, the girls(?) prepared to make their final stand against an unknown monster most likely to be more fearsome than they had ever faced before. Hearing the satisfying click of the deagle's magazine locking into the chamber, and the comforting 'Tsch-Tschik' of the gun being cocked.
Sighing, they glanced at one another before walking onto the cargo elevator, closing the gate behind them as they felt a familiar yet strange sensation wash over them. Cutscene time... can't wait. Sarcasm blatantly drenched those words, soaking it in an exhausted tone that roused feelings of pity within those who heard it. Alas it was a thought and not spoken aloud for 'Billy' once more took control of his body, as if he was controlling it the whole time
"It's finally over... Hey Rebecca?" Looking back at Billy, Rebecca hummed in asking. " I just wanted to say I-" Before Billy could finish that possibly heartwarming sentence, the collapsing walls of where they came from shook the entire building as an announcement declared the beginning a 5 minute countdown before all facilities will ' self-destruct' .
Looking at Billy in a way that could only be described as pity, Rebecca couldn't stop herself from stating the obvious. "The world is really out to get you isn't it? First your whole team decides to kill that village in Vietnam, then this whole virus thing, and now we're gonna blow up if this lift doesn't move any faster. I really don't want to sound mean or anything but let's save the talking until after this whole place blows up?"
Nodding in acceptance, Billy said. "Sorry I just-"
"SCREAXCGHTTTT" A disgusting beast suddenly made it's entrance from the collapsing building. Catching sight of the two people that nearly killed it, it slowly crawled towards the cargo lift, hauling its heavy body up the shaft.
"..."
"..."
"Fuck" Those were the last words uttered before everything faded to black.
* * * * *
There he was, laying on the ground feeling like he was six feet under with a heavy stone slab weighing on him. Except his body was in too good a condition to be a corpse and it was not in fact a heavy stone slab weighing on him but his trusty companion. If oner were to ask how and why this happened, Cisco had a simple answer ready. Never let your buddy grab the tail of a squirrel. That simple.
He and Robbie had left the game and upon noticing the existence of a new building as well as how they now were leaving through some kind of shop, they decided to explore a bit. They discovered that they now had a sky above them as well as being situated in a plaza of some kind. Other than the near empty store they came from an the hotel they had explored previously, the only thing left was a open-aired arena.
That had been their first mistake, and it wouldn't be their last. Seeing the duo enter, Doreen was more than happy to give a 'demonstration' of how things worked in the arena with the help of her trusty aide, Krish. They started with a simple duel with no firearms being allowed, though it didn't sound too bad, Cisco and Robbie couldn't be more wrong.
Krish wielded that heavy mace he found himself enjoying so much in the game, while Doreen went for a more versatile approach with a double-edged sword gripped tightly in one hand, and clump of red herbs in another. Stuffing her face with the spicy herbs, the squirrel girl felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins as a crazed glint manifested in her eyes.
<BEGIN>
No countdown was needed as the two rushed each other. Krish swung high with the mace as he charged, forcing Doreen to slide under. Turning to attack, she found herself facing the mace yet again as it ripped through the air, with such force that it seemed humanly impossible. But she was the impossible, she deftly raised her blade deflecting the blow to the sand under their feet, causing a wave of dust to cover the fighters eyes. Using this opportunity, Doreen thrust her blade towards the shadow in the dust. Just to discover that it was a facade when she felt the clang of metal when she struck, and the stretching of fabric straining to contain the bulging muscles growing underneath.
All this happened mere moments after the battle had begun, leaving the two onlookers speechless and awestruck. While they both may have had some experience with fights that lasted for mere seconds, the battle before them was of a different sort. Not a display of speed to determine the victor but a display of raw and overpowering strength, strength that equated to power and speed matched solely by their rival.
Feeling his fist connect to the dexterous squirrel, Krish rushed to follow up only to be met by a fierce set of teeth attempting to chomp down on his neck. Now normally Krish would have been delighted to see a woman leap towards him with ravening hunger, however this was clearly different. This woman had more than hunger in her eyes, she had madness. Madness so strong it destroyed her sense of reason, making her succumb to her primal instincts, killing.
Countering with a fist to her face, Krish was surprised to see that she didn't even dodge, in fact she opened her mouth wider, brandishing her teeth with unmatched ferocity. Pain shot up his arm as he felt her teeth dig into his skin, somehow unfazed by the force of his punch. It wasn't long before he threw another punch at the woman while the hand inside her mouth grabbed the thing at the back of her throat that made people vomit, holding her in place to prevent his attack from missing.
Alas, the woman had no intention to become a punching bag, for despite her uvula being held tightly, she unclenched her teeth and grabbed his arm with both hands to pull herself upwards, launching herself in the air in one swift motion. Though she was successful in evading the attack and was poised to strike him from above, she couldn't stop the blood gushing out her throat as her uvula remained in Krish's hands.
Stunned by her actions, Krish couldn't help but feel a mix of disgust, awe and fear brew inside him as his muscles shifted once more, providing a more lithe and flexible form as compared to his previous power oriented form. Narrowly dodging Doreen's attack he twisted, using his spindly arms in an attempt to grab her. The attempt failed as his enemy batted his arms away with a tail that came out of nowhere. The tail in question packed a surprising punch, causing Krish to be knocked back twenty or so meters where he quickly recovered, standing at the approximate height of two meter ten. This time however, his arms and legs stretched to the limit showing his taut muscles with blood vessels running all over his body, with a frighteningly thin torso that had his ribs nearly poking holes in his own skin. It was not a pretty sight.
Neither fighters were bothered by this as they charged one another once more to determine a winner...
* * * * *
Krish awoke to the sight of the sunny blue sky stretching across the horizon, illuminating the bloodied arena. He died, again. Is this the eighth time? Ever since she took those red herbs before the match she's become more and more wild. Fuck. Why is she so hot when she's covered with my blood? Guess I better train more since the red grass doesn't do jack when I change forms, it just gets flushed right out.
Those thoughts coursed through his head as a hand reached out from above, offering to help him up. Flashing a smirk at the owner of the hand, he lifted himself up from the ground with its help, dusting of any sand that clung to him. "Gotta say Doreen, you are one scary woman when you take the red stuff. Uh... you've still got some blood on you still, here, let me help." He wiped away the few remaining bloodstains from her face, his lips curling up as his thumb brushed along her cheek.
"Thanks, I didn't even notice them. So you wanna spar again?" Oblivious or uncaring of the slight attraction Krish felt, she hopped excitedly from one foot to the other.
"I'd normally say yes but didn't you do this to show the two guys how this arena works?" Unsurprisingly, Doreen's eyes widened slightly as she turned to face the pale faces of Cisco and Robbie.
"Shit, sorry, kinda forgot about you guys. Krish and I might've gotten a little bit too carried away in the fight, you know how it is. Anyhow, what do you guys think? Pretty nifty huh? You can use anything from inside the game but you get to keep your original bodies, which means we can use our abilities while we fight! Oh and being able to respawn perfectly fine after you die is a huge bonus too, can't imagine what it'd be like having to hold back and not go for the kill. Though I think that's more the red stuff speaking rather than me. So?" Not once did Doreen stop to catch her breath during her whole speech? Monologue? Enthusiastic but slightly annoying chatting?
Not willing to be part of the sidelines but unable to remember all the questions, Robbie, put forward his hand and introduced himself. "Nice to meet you Doreen and Krish, I'm Robbie and this is Cisco, I think we chatted earlier at the hotel."
Everybody looked at him as if he had eaten a saxophone, weirdly. "Robbie, you do know that we have been chatting with them through the system right? You know, when they shared their usernames? Did you not check your notifications?" Cisco asked slowly.
"Uhm, I may have muted the notifications. But who wants to listen to a ding each time the time changes? I can tell that it's not 06:30 anymore, I don't need to be reminded each time a minute has passed."
Two of them deadpanned while Cisco resisted the urge to hit his forehead. "Maybe, just maybe. Did you set an alarm with a one minute snooze?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The silence was broken when Robbie finally spoke up. "Not a word about this, not a word."
And soon laughter echoed throughout the arena as Robbie groaned in frustration, muttering to himself about how stupid he was and how he couldn't know that even if he went to the bathroom the system would still heed his commands.
The laughter soon died down as Krish asked the two a question. "What are you guys gonna do now? There's more than just duels you know."
Sharing a look with his less bright comrade, Cisco asked if they wouldn't mind training them one on one without powers to which the reckless fighters both agreed, hiding their sadism well...
* * * * *
Elsewhere in a room filled with monitors, Luke was sipping on one of his homebrew cocktails as he leaned over his brother eyeing the monitor where Billy and Rebecca had finally opened the roof of the warehouse vanquishing the sad creature. Quinn couldn't help but admire the tenacity they had shown but he also couldn't help but pity the two, deciding that some rules need to be known in advance, especially rules as important as saving their progress.
When the final cutscenes of the game began he stood from his chair with his brother following closely behind. Approaching a random wall of the room, Quinn spoke to the system. "System, place their bonus rewards in my inventory and enable flight mode when we leave sanctuary."
<<Orders confirmed, two S.T.A.R.S. manuals of the best type and grade have been placed in your inventory>>
"Wonderful, let's give those girls a proper welcome then."
"I've already prepared their drinks, I simply cannot wait to hear what they think"
"..."
"System teleport us to the sky of Nexus please."
<<Teleporting>>
In a flash of gold the two disappeared from sanctuary and appeared in the sky hovering a solid 30 meters in the air.
Just then emerged two stupefied teams from the games building, unaware that Quinn's plans to descend and relish in the feeling of awe would soon be foiled by his overly enthusiastic brother. "Greetings mortals..." Looking up at the booming sound Camie and Jiro couldn't help the growing sense of awe within them. "I, Lord Quinn, have come to-"
"I simply must congratulate the two of you in your endeavors! Not once have I seen such resilience, such will, such-" A boom shook the Nexus as Luke was sent flying before he could finish his sentence.
"The fuck was that for?! You ruined my grand entrance! Now I just memorized the whole script for nothing. Ugh!" Quinn couldn't help shouting at the rapidly approaching figure.
"I was simply congratulating the two on their achievements, brother. You also didn't do anything for the script, I typed it up and we have a perfect memory after all." Luke had long accepted the lack of mental capacity that plagued his brother, so he always made sure to explain as he would to a child.
"You- No, no. I'm above this." Letting out a deep sigh he approached the schoolgirls who watched the display with mild fear mixed with amusement. "I, Quinn, am the founder and creator of this magnificent place, and I congratulate you both on not only being the first to complete the game, but also for not once saving or exiting the game. Even if you didn't know you could."
At this their jaws dropped. "You're telling me we didn't have to go through all that? That we could've left?!" Jiro was pissed and so was Camie. They were so pissed that they had the guts to punch Quinn in his face, except it hit Luke's face instead.
"Have no fear brother, for I shall always protect you." His face stoic, gaze unperturbed by the disgruntled glares of the two girls. "Young maidens, I plead that you not harm my brother for he is innocent. We thought that those who gazed upon the typewriter would understand that it was special and attempt to interact with it. We were wrong, you can beat me all you like and I won't complain."
At that the two girls calmed down, their anger deflating. "Look, we never thought that people would think of it as a trap. So, as a reward for not dying or leaving the game, we're giving you these." Handing over two S.T.A.R.S. manuals to thee pair. "These are high level items. Once you use these items, you will gain muscle memory, memories of lessons and years of experience when it comes to the most advanced combat training of S.T.A.R.S. And for being the first ones to clear the game you guys get 50% bonus credits. Look, I know what you guys went through could be traumatizing, but I want you guys to know we're here for you. From the squirrel and the stoner to the nerd and the jock, we're here for you."
At that Jiro started to feel somewhat guilty while Camie was happy that she got stuff. Looking at the training manual in her hands, Camie opened it to see a message from the system.
<Do you wish to use {tier 3,rank 3} item [S.T.A.R.S. training manual]?>
{Yes} {No}
Selecting yes without any hesitation, Camie suddenly felt a rush of information surge into her body. It felt as if she had trained for years to master the advanced combat training made by S.T.A.R.S. and even more time using it, it felt like a glove perfectly fitting into her hand.
Not wasting a moment she ran to the arena and found Cisco training. "Hey dude! Wanna help me train?" To which a confused nod replied. "Great! Can this arena do PvP's or do we just duke it out?"
"Hold on a moment, you're only like what, 17? I'm an adult, I don't rally think that's fair. Wait hold on, you've got powers don't you?" At this Camie nodded her head absentmindedly. "Alright then, but I'm still going to go easy on you okay?"
"Fine by me, as long as neither of us use our quirks."
"You mean powers? Fine but I'm still going to go easy on you." After their small chat Cisco quickly set up the arena for a PvP with Camie.
<PvP mode selected>
<Starting in 3... 2... 1... Begin!>
Writing for no man, Camie rushed forward with her arms ready to grapple. Once close enough, she sent a kick straight to Cisco's shin while her arms went high, grabbing his throat and pulling it towards herself causing him to topple. Before he could hit the ground however, she wrapped her leg around his neck, before twisting with such ruthless force that it snapped. It was over in an instant, no hesitation, no ceremony. Just a quick snap to end it quick, the manual was effective.
"Holy shit! Girl I knew you were ruthless but damn! You killed the guy before he could do anything, wait shit! You killed a guy! Fuck! What are we gonna do now?!" The panic rising in Jiro's voice was quelled by a myriad of blue lights forming Cisco's figure, perfectly fine without a twisted neck.
"Fuck, even Doreen doesn't make it hurt that much. Sorry for underestimating you kiddo, never thought you had that killer instinct." Cisco wasn't even phased by dying because it started happening regularly whenever he was at the arena. "So, where'd you learn to do that?"
Camie bluntly recalled all that happened, explaining her situation, to which Cisco couldn't help but wince in sympathy and self-deprecation as he had struggled and died quite a few times when facing the monsters, while two schoolgirls did everything without dying. It was inspiring. Soon after the others joined them and had a nice chat. The chat however fell silent as Jiro asked the two admins when they could go home.
It was a loaded question. Why did you allow children into a potentially trauma inducing game? Sighing, Quinn began to explain his situation somewhat while leaving out certain details such as them being fictional characters. Once everybody had settled down somewhat another question rang out.
"So what can I do with 1500 credits?"
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