Chapter 100 - Escape From Helgum (Part 2)

Akira stroked his chin, smiling to himself in devilish glee at Lorica's sudden shift in demeanor. 

"So you're calling me 'Master' now, hm?"

"Master," Lorica repeated, bowing her head once more as she regained her feet. "The only way to lower the [Battle Dome]..."—she looked up sharply at Akira—"is for a contest to be decided between the two [Pocket Maids] locked inside."

Akira blinked. "Eh? You mean we just have to finish the battle."

Lorica positioned herself behind Cindy: blushing, with an expression of a vacant, dreamlike stare and pouty lips ajar shared across both of their blushing faces. Nestling the side of her face against the Forbidden's neck and shoulder, that glistened with sweat; cupping their minuscule breasts in her palms.

"There is a much faster way, Master…"

She traced a finger, downward, along Cindy's lean bare torso until—

"Uwah!" Cindy moaned, throwing back her head, her substantial thighs clapping together like an applause. Coming like an ice cream factory that sprung a leak—in an unfiltered stream of sweet cookies and cream—in immediate response to Lorica's unabashed teasing of her most sensitive spot.

"Eh?! You can't touch a girl like that!" Vash protested, turning beet red in the face. "Isn't that right, Akir"—he glanced to his side, expecting to find support, only to find Akira, next to him, was continuing to watch Lorica work. Rendered wholly unresponsive, with lust, by the unfolding scene: a string of drool pouring from the corner of his dumbly grinning mouth. "Damn it! I forgot you're a lolicon!"

"Cindy-chan is not a little girl," Lorica answered plainly, her fingers not letting up in their lurid strumming. "She is a woman; just as I was, before being changed into this."

"How could you possibly know if she was?" Vash questioned, letting out a startled gasp as the dome suddenly faded away.

"Only an adult female can be captured in a [Maidé Ball]," Lorica said matter-of-factly, standing up with the still-dazed Cindy in her arms as she faced Vash with an intense glare. "So, with that said, I would kindly request that you cease any further judgments about the morality of our relationship." 

She produced a coy grin.

"Especially because I had to do it...in order to lower the barrier. By turning our lovemaking into a competition of who would finish first."

"But that's…" Vash gave a disgusted look, at the same time as he was incredulous: feeling as though he was the only sane, righteous person taking part in this conversation. "B-b-but...but...you still look exactly like—"

Suddenly, Rudolf appeared. "In case you all weren't aware, there's an angry friggin' firebreathing dragon storming around the place, and yer standing clear out in the open!" he yelled, sweeping the group along with his burly bear arms just as a breath of flame ensued in their wake. "Quit yer yapping, and find some cover!"

That's when Lorica cried, "wait! Master—you must retrieve my [Maidé Ball]!"

Akira glanced back: sure enough, the arm of the [Crushed Corpse of the Town Executioner] could be seen sticking out from underneath a pile of rubble. Still holding onto the [Maidé Ball] of his beloved Lorica. But then, as Akira broke free of Rudolf's grasp and made a move to run back and retrieve it, his blood ran cold when he glimpsed Guy Fly, alighting atop a smoldering pancake lodge in the distance: his deep red, snakelike slits for eyes locking firmly onto them.

Akira immediately froze, as did the others watching in horror behind him.

"Oh no. Fuck it," he said, creeping backward, slowly, to rejoin the group. "You two…"—he lifted up Cindy's [Maidé Ball] with one hand, pointing it at her and Lorica—"will just have to share a room, for now."

"What?!" Lorica raged. "You cowardly idiot, it doesn't work like that! Now why don't you grow a pair and bring me back my damn house!"

However, Cindy was starry-eyed with excitement—hugging her close.

"Yesh! Beauty girl move in with me."

Lorica turned to her, blushing. 

"Darling…if only such an arrangement were possible."

Ignoring them, Akira clicked a button at the front of the [Maidé Ball], causing a brilliant, wide ray of light to shoot out and engulf the both of them: reducing the pair to a mere sillhouette, shrinking it down then absorbing it within.

Rudolf gawked. "What?! I had no idea you could fit more than one per ball!"

Well, Akira always was an innovator. 

Following that, Rudolf pulled the group into a fort to escape another pursuing fire breath attack: wherein other villagers, prisoners, and Cultivators alike were already clamoring up the steps for—

"W-wait. Why are they going up stairs?!" Vash asked, confused. "Wouldn't making it onto the roof just be more dangerous?"

Then, as if to directly answer this dilemma, while the two men and the bear man were standing frozen on the stairwell, a Cultivator could be heard screaming as he was being dragged through the air, between Guy Fly's teeth, while passing across a nearby window. 

Rudolf gave an irritated grunt.

"Let's move."

So, rather than continue upstairs with the other lemmings, they crawled out a hole blasted through one section of the fort wall to emerged into a burned out longhouse next door.

In their hurry, Rudolf abruptly paused and did a double-take, when he almost passed by a charred corpse littering the floor.

"Loot it!" he instructed.

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"There's an item you can retrieve off that body, so give it a look," he said. "It's the number one rule of adventuring in Seaspan: loot everything. Use whatever you can find that's decent, and sell the rest"—he added, grumbling under his breath:"if you can find a frigging merchant who carries enough gold to spend."

Akira, blinking curiously, saw a dialogue box pop up saying "Examine," upon leaning down to look at the corpse.

Vash nodded to himself, stroking his chin contemplatively. "So, there's an emphasis on looting and a presence of dragons, in a continent called Seaspan. With a brewing civil war, between a race of proud Viking warriors and two foreign invading forces, working together." 

He ruminated a bit longer, before cracking a smile. 

"You know, I had my suspicions from the start—with that whole intro scene taking place in the back of a wagon—but now, I'm certain of it!"

He'd cracked the code:

"This world isn't just like Mockémon; it's also like Sky—"

"Woah-ho! Check it out!" Akira cut in, exclaiming excitedly as he retrieved a large and white, spherical object; possessing innumerable small, flat faces adorning its surface somewhat like a golf ball; out of the charred corpse's inventory. "It looks like a huge disco ball!"

Vash's face turned pale. "Fucking shit, no! Put it back!" 

He proceeded to quickly snatch the giant orb that illuminated slightly, almost like a beacon of sorts, then shove it back into the corpse.

After which, Akira shot him an angry look.

"Why'd you do that...?" he demanded in a low, angry growl.

"Trust me, it's way too early for us to be bothering with the quest that's attached to that thing." Vash replied, grinning sheepishly, before gawking as he was struck by an abrupt epiphany. "Although, it is quite curious: that particular item isn't supposed to begin appearing in regular loot tables until later on in the game."

"Look, Vash." Akira crossed his arms, frowning seriously. "I appreciate your help with figuring out how to fight with the [Pocket Maids], earlier. Still, that doesn't give you a free license to ruin the entire game for me."

"Akira, I'm only looking out for our wellbeing," Vash snapped.

Akira huffed, pouting as he closed his eyes. "You're spoiling the fun, is what you are! So try to learn when and when not to be a smartypants!"

"Bah! I can't believe what I'm hearing right now…"

"I never got to play this game while I was alive, so let me enjoy it, huh?" Akira put his hands on his hips, wagging his finger like a scolding wife. "If I need your help with something that isn't immediately life-threatening, I'll ask."

"Eh, quit posing like that...you're not a girl anymore, so it's really weird."

Akira smirked. "You and I both know this is only temporary: otherwise 'Anthro' wouldn't be in the title, and 'genderbent' wouldn't be in the tags."

"Look, that's two chapters with fourth wall jokes in a row—you really need to chill!"

Akira sighed. "Okay...you have a point." But then, abruptly became enraged once more. "Still! I won't have you taking away from my enjoyment of this game! Which is why…" He checked the corpse's inventory again, to re-retrieve the so-named [Mermaid's Beacon]. All while casting a smug look at Vash.

"Grr...you're acting so childish, Akira!"

"I never got to be a child the first time around, so now I'm compensating!"

"Don't pull that armchair basic level intro to psychology crap on me! Besides, it's still no excuse for why you're not focusing on what's really important right now"—he paused, taking in a deep breath so he could yell louder; at the top of his lungs—"SAVING THE GIRLS!"

"Eh." Akira tilted his head, looking bored. "I figure we'll find them along the way during our travels, won't we…?"

"Sure! It's possible," Vash replied in a sarcastic tone. "If only Seaspan was the size of a High School like the Shiroichi, or the Macaque Village." He stretched out his arms, with an exasperated look. "But right now, we're talking an entire, very big, continent!"

"Hmmph." Akira turned away. "There you go spoiling shit for me again."

"Grfcjfdrxfckerfhgherrrgh!"

While Vash was freaking out, Akira glimpsed a small note left on the ground where Rudolf had been before. Stooping to pick it up, he then read aloud:

"Gone to escape the dragon. Good luck."

Oh, right. The raging dragon.