B4 — 11. Insatiable Hunger

AuthorSME

PoV:

1. Nora White (Fiona's little Slime sister!)

Recap: Fiona and Nora came roaring in from the sky with both sisters having some disagreements about Nora's involvement in her sister's work.  Unfortunately, Nora had some compelling arguments, and her parents allowed it so long as Fiona looked after her (big sis responsibilities).

Oh, and Gisele TRANSFORMED!  She's now a Lunar Phoneix with cool moon-based powers.  Now, it's time for the feast!  Let's go with Nora and see how this new Crystal will turn out!

I want to thank my patrons for continuing to support me:

Chyra, Morgan McLees, Matt, Darth Mole, Radiant, DeMorr, PorkTenderloin, Vinicius Moreira, and my other Patrons!

Nora’s body felt weightless as her sister lifted Rachel, Gisele, Hayan, and her into the air; they were heading for the brilliant shimmering barrier in the sky, half-transparency showing the clouds and moon in the heavens.

Jessy, Mason, and Mr. Park stayed behind, which was probably good—she didn’t really want more people to see her when she was a Slime.

It was like a literal fire was blazing through her insides at the very thought of the food to come, making her head feel light and skin tingle to revert back to her true form.

Her eating habits had been so easy before reconnecting with her family, and it was only when she didn’t give in to her instinctual desires that this ravenous hunger hit.

Yes, she was still digesting food in her deceptively vast stomach organ; in fact, much of her malleable, see-through innards operated in some kind of pocket dimension manner to consolidate space.

Of course, there were upsides to it, such as having little storage compartments she could store things in, and she took a measure of pride in keeping them well-organized.

She separated her food out, had a drawer for the light makeup that her Cheetah body had drawn her toward as a matter of habit which had carried over, and a spot to keep her clothes—she had a fear of suddenly swapping forms and being naked in public.

Nora discovered rationing herself helped a great deal instead of just dumping every piece of food into her stomach; there were probably creatures she couldn’t smother that she’d face that she’d have to actively digest, but having a stockpile of food in her portable fridge of a storage space was just practical and logical.

She glanced to her left to study her sister’s long-eared friend, gaze sliding over her figure; Rachel certainly was a unique kind of beauty—even more than her Cheetah form.

The Mythickin was perfectly shapely, had long legs, a stunning face, and captivating eyes.  She had the perfect blend of womanly and teenage features that Nora was a bit envious of; her own body was far more teenage-looking than womanly.  Plus, Nora thought the girl’s tail was super cute—she felt the same about her own until it kept getting in the way of everyday life.

According to her sister, Rachel was supposed to be some kind of speedy high-damage tank, but after everything she’d heard, the Lunar Hare seemed like a jack of all trades, master of several.  Her long ears were shifting left and right as they flew, yet her gaze never moved, only her head.

“That way, Fiona,” she stated, directing them to the agents they were meeting up with.  “We should…”  She paused, focus darting to the ocean in the distance.  “Well, that’s odd…”

“What?”  Nora asked, following her gaze.  She couldn’t see anything particularly out of place in the area, and her hearing wasn’t nearly as good to catch anything that far away.

“... The door to the downstairs club was broken through, and suddenly I lost all sound in the club.”

Fiona twisted in the air, causing Nora to glare at her fluttering yellow dress that gave Nora a perfect view of her sister’s yellow panties, not something she wished to see.  “A sound-dampening spell or something?”

Nora’s vision tilted down to look at her own outfit, consisting of a black tank top, ripped blue shorts, and sneakers.  She felt horribly underdressed compared to the Lunar Hare’s classy clothes and her sister’s dress.

“Probably,” Rachel mumbled, ears tilting left and right as Nora returned to the conversation.  “... People are saying there are creatures in the fog—you lose all sound within it, and it’s spreading out into the street.”

“Creepy,” Nora mumbled.  “Wasn’t there some kind of mist movie that had something like that?”

“Oh, yeah!”  Fiona shivered.  “I remember it was an American science-fiction horror film that Dad rented one time for us to watch a few years ago.”

Rachel shook her head.  “I’ve never heard of it, but whatever is in the fog is more than likely dangerous.  Let’s hurry.”

The three of them fell into silence, Nora’s gaze wandering around the area; she spotted Gisele and Hayan doing the same.  Seeing the blob-like rabbit made her curious if it was supposed to resemble a Slime or if it was just a coincidence.

After a few minutes, Fiona opened up a conversation they’d had before, making Nora sigh.  “Hey, Rachel—so, umm, what do you think Nora should focus on increasing first?”  Her sister’s glowing green irises slid to her with a forced smile.  “I mean, I think it should be something to help with her hunger.”

“Sure,” Nora grunted.  “I’m not against your idea, Fi, but I need to increase my transformation pool; you even mentioned that.”

Even though Rachel was given the question, she remained silent while following their back and forth.

Fiona’s lips thinned.  “True—you were saying you had problems with always feeling hungry, though, and I think that should first be the priority.  It’s cool and helpful if you can transform into some of the monsters…”  She grimaced, and Nora knew why.

“Fi!  I can’t help it if I need to eat them,” she groaned, reaching up to readjust her yellow and black spotted hair as Fiona’s Wind Shield shifted it a little in her face.

“I know, I know,” Fiona mumbled with a sad expression.  “It’s just—it sounds wrong just thinking about you gobbling up otherworldly creatures.”

Nora opened her eyes wide, spreading out her arms to give her sister an unspoken gesture, saying, ‘And how do you think I feel?!’

“Goblin monkeys…”  Fiona grumbled.  “What if you get poisoned by them?”

“I’m a Mimic Slime, Fi,” Nora puffed out a long breath.  “My whole thing is eating stuff!  I’ve gone over this with Mom and Dad already.”

Their attention turned to Rachel as she gave them a forced smile.  “Personally, I’d say focus on what will affect your daily life most before moving to the cool stuff.  If you’re starving, then try to find some passive that will help mitigate that hunger, and then worry about changing clothes.”

The world crushing Nora’s heavy chest instantly lightened at Rachel’s suggestion.  Why was her suggestion so much more impactful to her brain than her sisters?  It didn’t take long for a smile to brighten her cheeks as she realized the reason.

… Worry about changing clothes … it’s not what she’s saying, but how she said it that makes the difference!  I’m just changing clothes!  It doesn’t make sense to pay for a new wardrobe before taking care of my medical concerns—yeah, that’s a simple way to look at it!

“Thanks, Rachel!  That helped a lot.”

Fiona gave her a puzzled look.  “Huh?  So … what did you decide?”

Nora’s eyes shifted to the houses below, speeding past them as they made their way further into Florida City.  “I’m gonna first deal with my hunger pains.  Why buy more clothes when I need medicine for an upset stomach?”

“Eh—okay,” Fiona mumbled, “you’ve lost me…”

Rachel giggled.  “I get it … Oh, here, Fiona!  Right over there!”

They swiftly changed directions, following Rachel’s directions.

The three of them dropped out of the sky amidst several dozen individuals, police in the area ushering people to make their way to the border of the enclosed space with the agents directing efforts.

Fiona had already described both women to her, but the beefed-out man in his early mid-thirties with black hair and a stern expression was new.

Bree, the brown-haired woman, talked to a few officers about protocols and what they should be doing to keep the public safe; police around the city were relaying the information through short-wave radios, getting things moving.

Serah, the shorter, blonde agent, caught sight of them after a few bored kids pointed up at their descent; Fiona and Rachel were holding down their dresses as they landed beside her.

“... Hey, Serah,” Rachel greeted with a forced smile.  “Seems things have gotten a bit out of hand; I had a feeling we should have acted sooner.”

The blonde sighed, flipping her blonde ponytail from her front to her back, returning the grin.  “Yeah, well, things don’t normally go our way.  Umm … hey, mind telling Special Agent Jim what’s happening while I finish up over here?”  She asked.

Rachel nodded, promptly making her way through the gawking crowd, first catching sight of the Lunar Hare’s glow before finding her sister next—Nora felt practically invisible, and whispers about Rachel being here swiftly spread through the gathered people, and Mythic, their organization was talked about by a few smaller clusters.

Nora’s cat-like ears folded down as she scratched them, and Rachel walked off to meet with Jim to give him the current situation; Nora shied away from them, keeping between her sister and the Lunar Hare.

Fiona had lowered herself to chat with a few mystified children, wondering if she was real or not because their parents said there weren't such things as fairies.

A sudden spike of pain rolled through her belly, tightening her muscles; Rachel’s ears and eyes shifted her way for a moment before returning it to Jim as he spoke.

Trying to look natural, Nora dropped her last piece of meat into her stomach, a raccoon she’d found when she went on a morning run two days ago before everyone got up.  It was like throwing fumes into a gas tank, though—it was actually depressing; she needed an endless supply of living creatures, and it seemed to matter that she killed them or not for some reason.

What was she supposed to tell her parents?  She sounded like a freak already with all the odd impulsive urges she had in this Cheetah body, mimicking habits the previous owner had that she’d never done before—such as cheese … she hated cheese!  Now, she loved it and having just a little felt like a guilty pleasure since Iuchra Nic Céin had been on a track diet that limited those types of products.

A low groan rolled through Nora’s throat as she stretched; it was natural to her running obsessed brain, and she wondered if Rachel thought the same way as Iuchra.

It was so aggravating when her Slime, original, and Iuchra’s instincts would have a conflict; it was like she was a broken robot, walking toward the fridge to get cheese, then walking away, then back again—like fifteen times, yet if she gave in to one side, other habits would manifest.  It was exhausting!

She glared up at the multi-colored sky.  Yeah … first my hunger, then my stupid personality issues.  I need an off button for mimicking!

It didn’t take long for Bree and Serah to wrap up their stuff and meet with her sister; on the other hand, Rachel seemed to be having a serious conversation with Jim about the expanding fog surrounding the club where the Crystal Break was.

Nora focused more on the talk about Mythic.  There were only two things at the top of her interest list … Well, besides her internal struggle.  The organization Fiona had become a part of and not looking like a freak; they were kind of connected, though.

Fiona, Rachel, Maria—everyone in her sister’s little group fit in a place, and everyone had something good to say about them.

All Nora wanted was to be seen and loved for who she was, not because Fiona was her sister, but for the first time, Fiona wasn’t the center of attention.  In fact, her sister was probably one of the least standout people inside of her new group.

Once more, Fiona’s fans had pointed them to something Nora thought was amazing … Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated.

She’d actually binged the first season over the last few days with Fiona and her parents; it really helped lift her spirits, and Nora knew she wasn’t entirely like Rimuru.  For one, she didn’t have an OP Grand Sage feeding her information into her head—instead, as Fiona put it, they got a knock-off, sewage-soaked brand of system.  It acted like keeping secrets was its job, and its pleasure came from making things more frustrating than they had to be.

No, Rimuru didn’t have the horrifying side-effects she experienced, nor the insatiable hunger, but it did put a smile on her face to see some of the fun things she might be able to experience—being a Slime wasn’t the end of the world.

Her mother had even gotten into it, wondering if she could use cool abilities like Rimuru, swapping between them really fast.  Of course, she had a limited amount of mimic slots, which stopped that dead in its tracks, but maybe in the future.  It made her hopeful that things could get better.

Another thing she was envious of Rimuru was his Predator Skill.  Sure, she had a kind of a 2nd Grade version of it, which allowed her to smother her victims and then digest them to mimic their existence, but that wasn’t really the same.

She had Pain Nullification, High Elemental and Physical Resistances, among many other raw defensive traits, but that was really the extent of her Slime-based powers.  She couldn’t even see while in her Slime form!  Having Rimuru’s sensing abilities would be nice, too.

No—if she couldn’t dominate her foe, then they’d probably dominate her, which was frightening.  Still, Rimuru was a good role model that she actually kind of looked to, which was kind of sad since she realized he wasn’t a natural person.

Her distracting thoughts pulled her mind away from her hunger for a bit, but as Rachel moved toward her with Jim, her aching stomach returned.

Rachel gave her a slight frown before calling Fiona, Bree, and Serah to join them.  The three hurried over as the police began to get everything put together to follow the plan Rachel and Jim worked out.

“... So,” the Lunar Hare started, “it seems we have a bit of a problem on our hands; some looting and panicking around the city that the police are going to get united to handle, and fog is spreading pretty fast.”

“Fog?”  Bree asked, folding her arms under her chest; her gaze fixated on the floating blob and bird before dismissing them from her mind.  “Are you saying it’s dangerous—should we get gas masks?”

Jim shook his head, giving Rachel a sidelong look and sigh.  “No—there are probably monsters in there, and given what we all know that means—it’s best we let Rachel and her party handle it since we’re nowhere near prepared for something like The Mist.  We’ll stay back and continue to organize local law enforcement, set up a perimeter, and play things by ear.”

Rachel held up a radio.  “It might not work inside the fog, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Right,” Fiona sighed, aura turning bright green as she lifted the three of them back into the air, “and we should get going as soon as possible to keep casualties low.”

Several nearby people’s expressions turned hopeful, and the word Mythic was continuing to spread with information others had missed during the public broadcast that morning regarding the Crystals and Demi that were being organized.

Once in the air, Nora frowned, folding her arms as her eyes wandered.  “What was the point of going there again—wouldn’t it have been better to just handle the monsters first?”

Rachel chuckled.  “I’m 100% with you on that, but it’s not like we can do whatever we want.  A protocol is being ironed out.”  She drew Nora’s gaze back the way they’d come.

“We also need to consider how many lives might be saved by giving the local law enforcement detailed data on areas they should focus on while we contain the monsters.  Yes, a few people might die in the several minutes we’re communicating and organizing, but that could be far greater than the dozens that are killed by panic.”

“I guess…”  Nora mumbled.  Honestly, she just wanted to eat, which made her feel a little guilty, but it was hard to focus.

Fiona turned to grin at the Lunar Hare.  “Always thinking ahead, Rachel!  So, uh—do you know what we’re fighting?”

Rachel’s lips pulled in.  “Afraid not.  Scarlet could probably pin them all down with her vision—them being soundless is really annoying, and if it dampens noise inside, then it could cause some problems.”

“Ah,” Fiona nodded.  “We wouldn’t know what was happening outside … holy orc toes…”  She whispered as the fog came into view ahead of them.

Nora’s arms tightened around her core, saliva gathering in her mouth; she wasn’t scared—her heart was racing with anticipation.

What will they taste like?  Are they going to be strong?  Can I eat them?

All those questions were like fire in her breast, clouding her already enthralled mind.

Fiona wasn’t so eager as she slowed their progress above the silent mist.  “What’s the plan, Rachel—is everyone out?”

“Hmm … I can’t say,” Rachel replied.  “It’s at least a mile wide now, but I think it’s slowing.”

“How are we going to know when we get them all?”

Nora wasn’t nearly as concerned about that topic; she just wanted to go!  “Can’t we figure all that out when we see them?  I mean, unless we know what we’re dealing with, then how can we plan for it?”

Rachel didn’t appear too happy about her plan, narrowed eyes lifting to glare at the moon in the heavens, remaining silent while examining the scene.

Gisele chirped a bit, causing Fiona to nod.  “Yeah, I know—you and Rachel are gonna have some issues without the moon, but I don’t think I can clear out this stuff with my Wind Magic.  It’s just too much, and it’s spreading too fast.”

The bird pointed at a few places, drawing Nora’s attention; the fog was currently creeping ten feet a minute.

Rachel pointed at the ground.  “Can you burn it away, Fiona?”

“I can try…”

Her sister’s aura, hair, wings, and eyes lit with a multi-hued red glow as a small ball of orange flames sparked into existence in Fiona's left hand.  It swiftly expanded into a massive blazing fireball that sent a wave of heat licking at Nora’s exposed skin and warming her clothes—it was as big as a person.

This was the first time she’d seen her sister use Fire Magic.

The inferno’s flickering wisps were pulled to the right with the surrounding wind shell’s current before her sister created an opening to throw it through.  She targeted a section of the asphalt road she assumed was empty by the near vacant street that was still visible, and the blaze was engulfed by the silent white blanket.

Nora’s ears strained to hear it strike, but the moment the fire crossed the barrier, it was swallowed up without a trace—silence followed.

“Hold the phone…”  Fiona growled, red glow being replaced by more green hues.  She thrust her hand forward but swiftly darted back in the air with shock as the mist exploded below, spreading out three times faster than before.  “Shoot!  Umm … Wind doesn’t seem to help…”

Rachel sighed, motioning for them to go down.  “Figures, it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Fiona reluctantly complied, giving her a worried glance.  “... Be careful, Nora.”

“I’m fine!”  she grumbled.  “Geez, worry about yourself a little.  Okay?  You’re the delicate one…”

She trailed off as Fiona set them down several feet in front of the advancing white wall; inside was food—there had to be food, and that wasn’t all—experience to make her life easier.  The more she killed, the easier her life would become.

“Keep close,” Rachel stated, grip tightening on the police radio she’d brought as her clothing shimmered and turned into some kind of fantasy garb that might as well be strips of cloth.

This was it!

Nora walked beside Rachel and Hayan, Gisele protectively sticking close by her sister as they passed into the fathomless void.  The haze swept around their advance, welcoming them into its soundless embrace, and sure enough, all noise slowly died once they were inside.

It was a little strange hearing her sister’s pretty voice fading away as she worriedly pointed at a few locations where the fog was actually finding its way through her Wind Shield.  “You gotta be kidding me!  Okay, I’ll try water…”

Fiona’s green aura was replaced by dark blue, and a barrier of transparent liquid surrounded them, which seemed to protect them from the encroaching mist, causing a smirk to brighten the Fairy’s lips.  “Hah!  I win!”

Their voices soon returned, and Rachel glared around them at the gently swirling water.  “How much air do we have in here?”

“Ah, right, right!”  Fiona laughed sheepishly, aura mixing green again.  “I’ll create some, but I don’t know about carbon monoxide poisoning or whatever…”

“Mhm … Well, it hasn’t been an issue in the past with your Wind Shield,” Rachel mumbled, leading the way forward; some of the liquid Fiona was generating was left on the road to spread out as they went, creating a trail of water.

Nora folded her arms, doing her best to penetrate the mist.  “How far can you guys see?  I can’t see more than fen feet … Fi, is that your fireball?”

They slowed upon seeing the blazing remnant of an SUV; part of it had been twisted and melted from the initial impact before the interior caught flame.

“Snap … I doubt they have Fairy insurance…”  She rubbed the back of her neck with a weak chuckle.

Rachel continued to study their surroundings with a frown, and a shiver ran down her ears to her tail.  “This—feels wrong,” she mumbled.  “I can’t hear anything…”

Nora could hardly see the sidewalk nearby.  “At this rate, won’t the fog reach the rest of the city by the time we find all these creatures?”

Fiona flipped back her bangs, spinning in a slow circle to study everything.  “... Let’s just make sure to remember what direction is out.”

“Up?”  Nora chuckled.  She just couldn’t feel down, knowing there was something here she could 100% eat.

“Basically,” Rachel whispered.  “You’re right, though, Nora…”

I am?!  She hadn’t heard that in a while; Rachel was making a great first impression.

“We need to start making passes of … Watch out!”

Rachel took up a defensive posture as Nora searched for the danger; Fiona was much slower to react; what appeared to be fourteen vine-like blurs shot out of the fog, penetrating her sister’s Water Shield and being forced into a circular rotation around her Wind Shield.

Within seconds, Nora lost track of the wildly spinning objects that were the size of her forearm, and without warning, several found weak points in the current and penetrated it, shooting right for her.

Rachel’s fist lit with white light, and Nora darted left, activating her Cheetah Skills to drastically increase her speed, but the Lunar Hare was somehow even faster than her, smashing them into fleshy chunks from her kinetic force.

“Woah, what are…”  Nora’s words died in her throat as one vine snaked through the lower section of her sister’s barrier to coil around her leg and whip her into Fiona’s wind and water.

All sensation was a blur as her face smashed through both; soaking wet, nose burning, she tumbled across the concrete toward the fire.  She was sure Fiona was crying, but all noise vanished the moment she exited the water shell.

Shit!  She cursed, not having the same reservations as her sister; pain wasn’t that common to her at this point.

Regaining her bearings, Nora extended her claws and dug them into the asphalt, which didn’t really hurt the road itself since she wasn’t that strong, but it managed to help slow her progress and gave her footing to dart away from the inferno.

Another Wind Shield surrounded her when she left her panicked sister’s shell, but the moment she dipped out of sight the barrier vanished.  Even though Rachel and Fiona were less than a dozen feet away, she couldn’t hear or see them, but what she did see were dozens of more vines shooting out of the fog to snatch her, and now she could see sharp barbs at the end of them.

Gritting her teeth, Nora grinned; she just needed to follow things back to their source—these things weren’t dangerous to her when a Slime, but it would take forever to find them in that state, and so she ran toward the creature.

Her yellow, sharp feline eyes scanned the space ahead of her, time slowing as she activated her skills to better navigate at the accelerated rate.  Finally, it was just her and her meal; her humanity was swiftly shutting off with her Slime instincts taking over.

Wind rushed past her as she moved, making sure to keep the vines in sight, but they were faster than her, wrapping around to pursue, and in not much time at all, they’d trapped her.

The fines opened up to reveal more barbs to latch onto their prey and a sucker-like mouth to feast on the victim, but the moments before striking, Nora’s fur and clothes sank into her melting form as she reverted back to a Slime.

Light turned to darkness as her senses left, yet she knew her gelatinous form was tumbling aimlessly across the asphalt, and suddenly, color-filled her vision again, returning to her Cheetah state with a wicked grin; images of Rimuru using his slippery nature to his advantage flashing across her mind.

The vine’s vulnerable mouth had closed again, weaving around her in confusion, but the second she darted forward again, it was after her, and that was when she saw the base of the monstrous thing that was attacking their world—it was something out of a nightmare.

Tentacle-like feelers of various lengths were extending out of its misshapen, muscular form that almost appeared to be fungal growths out of its body armor.  It was green, its long, extended neck like that of a snapping turtle.

Its skull was protected by a hardened plate on its head, branching out plate on a flat V-shape, and there were long whiskers the color of wine twitching as if sniffing the air, jutting forward jaw showing thin, pointed fangs in its open mouth—no tongue was seen inside of the sticky gums.

Void black eyes made it impossible to know what it was staring at, and its repulsive extended arms were bent backward, showing five clawed fingers that probably helped support the monster’s two-toed feet.

A thick, spiked tail disappeared over ten feet behind the thing, and it stood almost eight feet tall in its slumped forward posture.

Its head turned to her, hundreds of tentacle barbs shooting out to attack, but Nora was already becoming liquid.

She was penetrated within half a second, stingers sending globs of poison into her, yet Nora happily stored the substance away in a drawer; it could be useful later.

Nora latched onto the creature’s spear-like vines, ever so slowly pulling herself closer and closer to its body.  Her drool and manic mind were on fire and devoid of thought as she refused to let the tentacles go, inch by inch pulling them into her stomach fluid to be dissolved.

Nora had no concept of time—all she knew was the gradual struggle of hold—pull—creep—expand—digest—feast.

It was far more challenging than she first anticipated; the revolting creature looked so horrifying yet tasted like buttered popcorn mixed with milk chocolate bars and caramel!

Powerful hands dug into her, but she simply changed targets, sticking to it instead and continuing to envelop the turtle-like thing, dissolving it bit by bit.

Eventually, she surrounded the whole thing, and it felt so warm—like she was embracing someone she loved as she smothered the thing—and finally, she’d stretched her stomach wide enough to swallow the rest of it whole.

A satisfying moan quivered through the trillions of complex connecting parts that comprised her Slime body, massive trembling while rising up and down as she savored the meal—there were no thoughts of victory—just ecstasy of finally finding something that filled her with satisfaction.

So good!  She cried, yet her elation soon turned to dread as the feelings began to subside.  No … I … I need more!  More!

Nora’s self-control was collapsing, but in one last desperate push, the fog clouding her mind started to disperse—she’d gained the Hunger Control I Passive, allowing her to mitigate her Slime instincts to feed without end if her Satiation Level was above 95%.  It was a high standard, yet if she stockpiled a few more creatures like this, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

A smile brightened her lips as she returned to her Cheetah form, looking back to find Rachel and Fiona eight feet away.  “Oh … You found me,” she chuckled, ending in a cheer.  “They taste like popcorn!”

She blinked, realizing she could hear herself, and noticed her sister’s Water Shield around them, except that it had expanded by over three times its previous width, blocking out the fog.  Nora hadn’t even noticed the liquid touch her as she was feasting.

Her sister’s expression asked what she’d just witnessed and was soon swapping to maybe she shouldn’t have watched.  Rachel seemed conflicted with what she’d seen, head tilting to see dozens of separated tentacles, each showing signs of being eaten through as if someone dumped acid on them.

“What … did I just watch?”  Fiona mumbled in disbelief.

Gisele’s beak was open in shock, and it almost looked like she’d break out in cold sweats at any moment.  Hayan, on the other hand, was bouncing up and down with a jagged grin that said, Yeah!  EAT IT!  EAT IT!  Or, at least, that’s the way Nora interpreted it.

Rachel gave her a forced smile.  “How do you feel?”

“Better!”  Nora chimed.  “I haven’t felt this happy in years!  Umm…”  Her gaze shifted to the water-soaked area, littered with twitching lumps of the monster’s vine-like flesh that she’d abandoned to get a better hold on the creature.  “So—what did it look like?”

Fiona responded with a weak laugh.  “Eh … When we came to save you—we found a giant scary turtle monster struggling with a mass of bubbling water that seemed to be dissolving it all over the place, and then…”

“It was as if it had been swallowed into a black void that opened up inside your body,” Rachel finished, “it was like—black, sticky hands lurching around the thing as you grew bigger and bigger.”

“No way…”  Nora mumbled in disbelief, trying to find any evidence of what they described, but she was just in her Cheetah form.  “I, umm … I kind of lost control for a bit and like—blacked out or something?  Everything was just a haze as I ate it…”

Rachel chuckled.  “Well, Fiona, I don’t think we need to worry about your sister.”

Fiona sighed, scratching the top of her scalp.  “Did you—it was like that scene in that Slime anime we watched where he swallowed up that pig monster … Just less—kind.  Is that what you were going for?”

“Uh, he-he, well—kind of,” she mumbled.  “I mean, I was just really really hungry, and when I started tasting it—I kind of lost all sense of thought.”  Her eyes widened.  “Oh, but I got the Hunger Control I Passive from it!  As long as I’m above 95% satisfaction, I won’t lose control when I eat.  So … Yeah … There’s that…”  She finished with a smile.

A frown touched Rachel’s full lips, drawing Nora’s attention.  “Can you go over 100%?”

“Umm … Let me ask … ugh,” she winced.  “No—but, if I keep creatures in storage and dump them into my stomach when it drops, then I’ll be able to top it off.”

“Mhm…”  Rachel folded her arms, turning to Fiona as she flew closer to study her sister.

“Well—how does she increase its proficiency … Just by keeping it above 95%?”

Rachel seemed to think on the question for a second before nodding.  “Probably.  Since it’s a Passive, then so long as it is above 95%, it will always be active.  Although, at Grade One, even if she maxes the Proficiency, I wouldn’t think it would drop below 93%—she’ll need to keep increasing the levels in it to stay in control if it’s lower.”

It was like a massive load had been lifted off Nora’s shoulders.  “That’s fine!  Heh, I’m actually starting to feel like myself again,” she laughed.  “So—if I need to get more levels,” she held her hands behind her back with a cute smile, ”does that mean I get to eat all of these monsters?!  It should last me a bit—oh, maybe even most of Senior Year—even if it’s only a few months,” she finished with a grumble.

Fiona and Rachel turned to face each other, lips tight.

“It would help her,” Rachel offered, “and I’m kind of at a loss how to find them, in any case.”

“True…”  Fiona groaned.

Finding a crack in the near-impenetrable barrier that was her older sister’s overprotectiveness, Nora asked the System that had turned her into this creature for anything to be able to track her prey as a Slime, and sure enough, she’d gained enough Skill Points from killing the monster to achieve it.  Predatory Sense I, Level 5, and with another desire, Hunger Control I went from Level 1 to Level 3, making the requirement go down to 93%.

I’m making progress!!!  If I get the Proficiency up, maybe it’ll go down to 90%!

Hopping forward with a spring in her step, Nora said, “Guess what?!  I just got a Skill to track them—so…”

Rachel gave her a sly grin.  “I think you’re beginning to like this a lot more than Fiona wants.”

“Right?!”  Fiona sighed in defeat.  “Fine…”

“Oh, and before I forget,” Nora cut in, “these things have pretty crazy poison that I managed to stockpile!  Maybe we can make something out of it later!”  She ran further down the street, not really caring if she was going out or in; she just wanted to be on the move.  “I’m going to go eat now!”

Returning to her original, gelatinous state, Nora saw what almost appeared to be a red haze that zig-zagged across the street, which she identified as a unique hormonal compound that the creatures released from their tails as they moved.

It was a hybrid sense between sight, smell, and taste; even if she couldn’t identify the world around her like she normally did as a human, this sense gave her a clear path to follow—she was on the hunt!

AuthorSME

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