Chapter 26 - Lowee
The following morning, the party woke up and gathered their belongings together. The storm had passed, showing a clear blue sky with the sun burning bright in the heavens above. RED had been the first to get ready, then Nepgear, IF, Compa and lastly, Vent. The Guild Agent had noticed that he seemed slightly off for some reason, a little more far off than usual. Like he had been troubled by something. However, she didn't say anything out of respect for how he remained composed when telling them about that Ghoul TORSO. She figured what he had told them still rattled his cage, but she was only half right.
While he was fretting about something, it sure as hell wasn't TORSO, not anymore…
Once they were all set and ready to go, they all left to continue their journey to Lowee.
The Land of Lowee was a big contrast to the other two lands in terms of weather. The area was covered in a constant blanket of snow, with cylindrical buildings in the Capital. There were some that even looked like tall building shaped mushrooms, which was an interesting source of architecture. It was able to stand out amongst the previous nations that the party had visited.
At the entrance to the Nation's capital, one could see a large trail of smoke, with a black figure at the centre trailing behind it. Citizens stopped and looked at the smoke, curious stares on their features as they watched on. The figure got closer, with no signs of slowing down, and they could soon see it was a female, not a monster as some had started to wonder.
The female figure approached the gates at high speeds, before hopping into a long slide. Citizens saw the impending scenario and quickly fled the area as a large shockwave flew through the area. The figure slid across the ground till she stopped just at the gates, the smoke whizzing by her and blowing through her hair. Most of the snow was blown away by the arrival of this figure, creating a massive cloud that covered a large portion of the Capital.
When the smoke and snow settled, the figure was revealed to be RED, who was grinning like a mischievous devil as she held her hands on her hips, laughing merrily. "Here I am, Lowee!" She cheered, hopping up and down while doing a victory dance, before raising one hand and pointing to the skies above. "And I made it here first, so I win!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, RED."
The sounds of tires screeching to a halt accompanied he sudden loss of motion. The redhead lost her smile and felt her jaw slacken when she heard a familiar, masculine voice that was carrying an undertone of stark amusement. She turned to the source, to see that the source was a familiar brown haired youth sitting on top of one of the cylindrical buildings, grinning down at her with the same grin she had on before. "Aw, gosh darnit, Venny! I thought I told you flying wasn't allowed!" she yelled, pointing at the male who she (correctly, but he wasn't going to say that) assumed had unleashed his Ukaku Kagune to beat her to Lowee.
At her pouty face, Vent laughed as he pushed himself off the ledge of the building he was on, landing on the ground with a thump before standing upright and merrily jogging towards her. "What are you talking about, all you said when you wanted to race was 'on your marks get set, go!' so fast it was more like one sentence." He replied with a catty smirk, several fingers on his forehead as he turned to his side. "Whelp, that's what you get when challenging VENT to a race." He boasted while RED fumed. Heh, he could understand those who inflate their ego a little more now, this shit felt GOOD.
It wasn't long before the others arrived too, having walked at a leisurely pace unlike the two childish members of their Party. Nepgear shuddered as she rubbed up and down her arms, trying to get some heat back into them while IF and Compa seemed less affected. Made sense, since they've been to Lowee before during previous adventures so they were used to the Climate. "Wow…" she remarked, looking around. "It's so… cold, but the scenery really takes your breath away…"
"Lowee is covered in snow all year." Compa explained to them all. She shuddered when a slight breeze blew by her, not realising that it had fluttered her skirt so that people behind her caught a glimpse of her underwear. The men there fainted via blood loss, while the women glared at them. Vent made sure not to look, though. He didn't want to have what happened one time IF caught several guys peeping on them while they changed at the Guild Building, happen to him too. "We should buy some warm undies to keep the cold away."
After getting under control, the male of the group shook his head as he gestured to his Rinkaku, which manifested in the form of 2 Tentacles. "Nah, I'm good. RC Cells can generate fire, remember? I'll use that to keep myself warm for the time being." He explained, while mentally he was adding. 'Perhaps I can use this to slow the process down a little…' he could hear Rasen sighing in his mind, but didn't comment on it.
Fortunately, his attention was taken along with the rest of them when IF interjected to that suggestion with a negative shake of the head. "Only if we have time to spare." She said, taking out one of her Phones. She began to fuss over it while continuing. "We need to gather info, pronto."
Everyone could understand her eagerness to get this done. They had wasted enough time already thanks to that rainstorm, plus ASIC had probably gotten a lead on them by now, considering their track record against the Party so far. Nepgear nodded her head firmly, clenching a fist over her chest in anxiety and anticipation. "I agree. To the guild then?" she suggested.
This time however, IF shook her head in refusal, much to Vent's surprise as her hair swayed back and forth, before settling back into its usual state when her head stopped moving. "No, it's straight to the Basilicom. I haven't heard anything bad about the Oracle here, so we'll be fine."
'Why do I get the feeling that she's just jinxed us?'
'I have a feeling you may be right there, Rasen, nothing ever truly goes to plan. I mean, look at our last stops at the previous Nations.'
Unaware of the mental conversation between Vent and his mental tenant, the Party began to move along towards the Basilicom, which IF had confirmed was located at the centre of the Capital, the massive Castle-like building. For some reason, Rasen commented on how the Goddess of this Nation was probably compensating for something with such big a castle, though Vent wisely chose not to say anything.
They spent a couple hours searching the land, since they had little idea on how to get to the Basilicom. Despite it being smack in the middle of the City, Lowee was more complex in terms of streets than anticipated. They had tried asking for directions to the Basilicom, but they got lecherous stares or the directions weren't specific enough. More than a few men gave Vent jealous stares, prompting him to show a 'little' of his bloodlust with a brief flash of his Kakugan.
Needless to say it didn't take them long to stop glaring.
"I take it the Basilicom's up this road?" Nepgear questioned as she pointed to one of the paths that led to a higher level in the capital. She was finishing up with her task of talking to an elderly woman, whom had told her where to go to get to their destination.
Just as they were about top head on up to the Basilicom, Rasen spoke through his and Vent's mental link. 'Oi, master, I sense a commotion is nearby.' He told the male with excited glee.
The male raised a brow at this as he thought back. 'Just how do you know that, Rasen? Did you hack into my senses without my permission again?'
'Yep…!'
Meanwhile, RED was the one to notify the rest of them, pointing in the direction of the commotion. There, there was a large crowd gathered around a section of a slim street, the people spouting lots of inaudible chatter. "Lookit, ladies and Venny!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Someone's making a real commotion! Let's take a look!" before the Party could respond to that statement, RED was already running towards the crowd, leaving no choice for them to follow.
"We don't have time to get side-tracked, RED!" IF yelled as they got closer to the crowd. As they did so, however, something caught IF's eye when she managed to get a glimpse through the crowd. "Huh? That's…"
Indeed, within the centre of the crowd, a certain ASIC Underling was standing with several men in uniforms, a stack of crates behind the, filled with merchandise that they were advertising. Underling was wearing an apron over her usual suit, and was yelling through a Microphone, a large grin on her lips. "Step right up, folks! The fun and magical ASIC team is here to spread the good word!" she bellowed, her voice pronounced further thanks to her microphone. "Join ASIC today and you'll get instant access to any and all games you want to play, for free!"
The crowd cheered merrily, most of them being young teens and children, at the prospect of buying any game they wanted to free. The crowd began to head towards the men who carried pens and clip boards. They proceeded to sign recruitment forms while Underling grabbed a set of flyers and passed them out to any random passer-by's that happened to be in the vicinity.
By the time that the flyers were handed out, Underling looked and saw that the crowd had shrunk by half. Seeing that she was not being watched, the green haired lackey for ASIC dropped her 'show biz' façade and let her shoulders drop, with her face showing signs of both exhaustion and frustration. A sigh escaped her lips. "Why the hell do I gave to do the sales pitch grunt work? Passing out flyers and crap…" she muttered under her breath.
Underling then repressed a shudder as she remembered something dangerous. "Boss Tatara looked like he was going to skin me alive when I told him what happened back in Lastation. Thank the Deity of Sin that I got the Disk back, otherwise I'm sure he would have made me OWL's plaything…" the mere mention of Seidou Takizawa's codename was enough for Underling to tremble in fear. Some of the more insane Ghouls were incredibly wary of that Hybrid. Even with his dual nature, Seidou was more fucked-in-the-head than the average Ghoul, anyways, right up there alongside THAT Ghoul.
Memories of her previous encounters with a certain group of girls plus their young male companion returned to the forefront of her mind, electing an irritated scowl from the girl, who clenched her fists in anger. "I wouldn't have gotten stuck doing this if it weren't for those stupid brats!" her memories then focused on their male companion, which made Underling even angrier. "Then there's that stupid boy scout that joined them some time ago! I bet they get off on him like he's their boy toy or something, wouldn't put it past those brats..."
"Um, excuse me, are we the brats you're talking about?"
A certain voice spoke up, but in her anger Underling didn't realise she had a small audience, one that had varying reactions to her next comments. "Yeah, the dumb blonde chick, the transforming baby, the snob, the boy toy, and the "wifey" musclehead." Underling replied, waving a hand in their direction.
"Snob huh?" IF remarked, crossing her arms as she gave a light glare in Underling's direction. "I didn't know having proper manners came across that way." She ended with a sneer, insulting Underling's state of manner for insulting them like that.
Vent growled in anger as he shook a fist at her. "Hey! I am NOT a freaking boy toy! If my Kagune was out, it's be shaking with rage right now!" just to prove his point, Vent felt his Rinkaku snap out in the form of 2 long Tentacles, each one making a hand that gave Underling the middle finger, before receding back into him. "I stand corrected!"
Nepgear did a sigh in depression as she poked her fingers together, looking at the ground as her own self-derision began to kick in. "#sigh# Transforming baby…" she muttered, before looking to the others with a pleading look on her face. "Do I really look that little?"
"Nepgear, don't listen to her, you're fine as you are." Vent stated bluntly, forgetting his anger at the ASIC lackey in favour of consoling his companion. Nepgear looked and saw his comforting smile, and a smile soon broke out onto her features as her spirits were uplifted by his support.
Meanwhile, RED fumed as she glared heatedly at Underling, whether it was because of her comment or how she had hurt pone of her Wifeys was anyone's guess. "Wifey Musclehead? Don't be hatin' just because you're not on my hit-that list!" she yelled.
'I'd like to see that list, Master, could ya do me a solid, and…'
'No.'
'Awwww…'
"Uh huh…" finally, the gears in Underling's brain began to turn as she realised that she shouldn't be hearing voices. Fully turning in their direction, the green-haired girl could only gape and splutter in surprise at the fact that the people she was just talking about just magically appeared out of nowhere. "H-Hey, it's you all! Oh what the hell?! When'd you get here?! How'd you find me?!"
IF pointed to the crowd behind them, which somehow had been reduced to a vacant ASIC stand. The other workers were gone too. Unbeknownst to them, they had all fled in panic when they saw Vent's Kagune come out to play. "We weren't looking for you, but that commotion makes you stand out. And now, we can't let you get away." She ended, prepping to summon her Qatars.
RED pumped a fist before her as she added on to IF's sentence. "You've been a naughty girl, huh? I'm gonna have to punish you!" she stated seriously, but her stare was like that of a dirty old man evilly giggling while staring at something perverted. It added to the creepy aura she possessed that made Underling step back a bit.
Underling had to curse under her breath. "Damnit, this could be bad…" she muttered under her breath. With the way things were going, a battle was inevitable, and with the way things were she was likely to lose again. She didn't want to face her boss after getting another humiliating defeat by a bunch of brats and their boy toy. Scanning the surroundings, she noticed someone walking down the streets, a young kid by the looks of it, and a smirk spread across her features. 'This'll work!'
"Hey, you! Stray Kid!"
The 'Stray Kid' looked up after finishing off what looked like a lollipop and had disposed it into a nearby dumpster. "Huh?" she spoke, blinking in confusion. The kid was a young girl, no older than 8. Shew had shoulder length brown hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a winter jacket over plain grey and white overall dress, the jacket being pastel blue. The jacket itself had puffed sleeves and a frilled centre part with many golden buttons, a collar with a big bow and six puffballs strategically placed. At the ends of the cuff was white fur lining and a big golden button. She wore a large blue and white cap with boots that matched her jackets in colour. She also wore a shoulder purse.
Her confusion soon turned to horror with what happened next.
In a flash, Underling was before her, wrapping an arm around her neck tightly and keeping her close to her. Her free arm was holding a knife and was pressing it to the girl's neck. "Don't move, you're my ticket outta this mess." She snarled, the kid kicking the air with her legs since she was being hung by Underling's arm just above the ground. She then turned to the Party and smirked arrogantly. "Heh, you all better not try anything, or the kid gets it!"
Now, originally in canon Hyperdimension, Underling escapes with the girl and the party chases her. However, this isn't cannon, and all Underling saw was a flash of black before something rammed into her right in the face, sending her flying into a set of crates. The surprise of the attack made her drop her knife, fortunately not injuring the girl. During a hostage situation it was said that a captor would be first hesitant on doing anything during the first few seconds. Those seconds were all Vent needed to act, as he was well versed in acting under such circumstances, being a former vigilante, his response more than fit with those few seconds.
"Eek, that was fast!" Compa shrieked, jumping in both shock and slight panic as she saw the scene. She watched as the Tentacle that had struck wrapped protectively around the girl before bringing her over to its owner. That owner was an infuriated Vent as he glared heatedly towards the crates that Underling had crashed into from his surprise attack.
Slowly, he forced his mind to calm down as he released a deep breath. Looking to the girl in his Tentacle, the male asked in a low, soft voice. "Are you alright? Where are your parents?" his mismatched eyes couldn't be dealt with right now thanks to his Kagune, much to his displeasure as he knew that they would scare the poor girl.
His thoughts were proven right as the girl shook in his Tentacle, her eyes wide with fear as she stared at him. Sighing, Vent lowered her to the ground, unwrapping his Tentacle and drawing it back into himself once again. This allowed his Kakugan to revert to normal, something that sent the girl into a state of ease. Wordlessly, she nodded with a faint sound of uh huh.
"That was way too close there, Vent." IF finally got her composure back from what she had just seen as she gave a narrowed eye stare at the male. She clearly wasn't too pleased about what he had just did, even if it had worked and the girl was saved. "You saved the kid, but what would happen if she got hurt?"
The male turned to her, already aware of how angry she was at him, although in his mind she didn't have to worry about that. "No need to worry about that, I knew what I was doing. I've done this before, people that hold hostages hesitate in the first few seconds, that was all I would need to act."
"But still, the kid-"
"Um, guys? Underling is getting away." Nepgear's words broke the gradually escalating argument. The two quickly turned their heads to her direction, making Nepgear anxious. She didn't like being stared at so intently, but nonetheless she shakily pointed a nervous finger towards the direction of a retreating figure in the distance.
"OI, YOU GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!" Vent yelled, already dashing off after her. His legs were moving like that blue hedgehog's when he ran at top speed. He almost left his entire party caught up dust when he ran, not that he noticed.
RED fumed, and that was to be taken literally as her face was red with steam coming out her head. "How rude! That girl needs a spanking from RED's hand!" she bellowed, rushing off after the ASIC lackey.
Soon enough, everyone else began to chase her, leaving the kid who watched them in confusion. While she wondered what was going on, she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Rom! There you are! What are you doing, standing around like that?"
Underling growled to herself as she fled the city towards the only place she could think of, a dungeon called 'Lowee Global Expo'. She was in a large factory-like area, which was covered in large blue tiles, some of them having been frozen over by the climate though, their systems having lost functionality long ago.
It was a Dungeon that was once a tourist attraction, however thanks to a mass monster attack that place now had become a monster infested playground. Lotta death happened over there, to the point where thoughts of reclaiming it were tossed out the window.
Nevertheless, she would rather be here instead of anywhere near those brats. Plus, with the furious look on that guy's face reminding her so much of a grim reaper out to get her soul, she would rather be anywhere than near them. "#PANT, PANT# Okay…" she muttered, her legs bent as she placed her hands on her kneecaps, heaving heavily. Once she was able to breathe normally again, Underling looked around while muttering further. "… I should be safe here…"
A hard aching made itself known on her face, and a snarl ripped from Underling's throat as she gripped it with her right hand, remembering the deadly smash she had endured fro that Kagune that brat possessed. "That bastard… he attacked a lady's face! Who the heck does that anymore, anyways?!" she shrieked, furious at the male member of the group chasing her. "I may be a bad guy, but you do NOT attack a lady in the face! That's just rude!"
Once she had vented her complaints to herself for a good solid minute, she then reached into her one-piece suit and pulled out a pale blue coloured Disk. The Disk had a glowing blur aura around it, with a crimson centre. The black button that needed to be pressed to activate it was located at the centre, making it as though it were a pupil. This gave the entire Disk the look of an eye, which had sent chills down her spine when she first got it. "Boss Tatara said to only use this as a last resort, hinting that whatever this thing does will be permanent, but… if it comes down to it…"
"Halt!"
Horror struck the greenhead as the familiar cry of that female redhead lesbo-chick rang throughout the dungeon, followed by a series of footsteps patting against the ground. Underling quickly turned around and backed up, till she was in the middle of an open space. The group soon were in view, rushing into the open space, all of them having angry looks on their faces. "Oh, come on! Already?!"
"You got nerve holding a kid hostage. You need to be punished for that one." IF commented. She didn't say that taking her out would likely delay the search for the Lowee Mascot for ASIC, but hey, whatever, right?
A scoff came from Underling as she tried to put on a brave front. "Hah, as if I would care what you broads think. ASIC is all about playing dirty ya know, so expect us to do that kind of thing a LOT." Truth be told though, Underling was more than reluctant to face off against the Party again, the last few times that had happened didn't end well for her. She may have to use that Disk after all, it was still in her hand, ready and waiting to be used. Tatara never told her what it did, just said that it would be different from the Abnormal Disks that spawned the Abnormal monsters.
He also hinted that it was some form of sustained power-up, but didn't say outright what that was.
RED huffed as she summoned her Yoyos. "Enough with the chitchat, let's just give this naughty girl her punishment through spanking!" she called out, to which everyone nodded, each of them arming themselves with their weapons. They all could feel the anticipation for what would come next.
Underling cursed as a small bead of sweat fell down her forehead. This was bad, she could tell that this would be a painful and humiliating beat down, at least if she didn't make a choice here and now: use the Disk and possibly use whatever it did to her advantage, or don't use it and receive the following beating. To her, the choice was clear, even if a part of her was hesitant due to remembering how Tatara looked when telling her about this Disk as he gave it to her.
Very few things seemed to rattle the stoic white haired Ghoul, he was someone who didn't give a damn about his subordinates, using them to fit his own needs. He was someone who rarely showed emotion at all, and the Mask he wore didn't help things. She knew all this, yet still called him her boss, because the Ghouls were much more powerful than her, just under ASIC's four leaders.
Yet, when she received the Disk, something about him felt… different. Nothing like concern for her or anything like that, but more reluctance as If he feared what would happen if something went wrong. Those thoughts didn't do her thoughts on the Disk any favours, but still she accepted the Gift gingerly, trying to hide her anxiety away.
'Alright boss, looks like I finally can know what you were so hesitant about when you gave me this thing!' she thought, before taking a deep breath and smirking, us usual arrogant personality back to what it was before as she laughed merrily. "Hahahaha! You fool, you just don't get it, do you?!" she bellowed, getting raised brows from the others. "Let's just say my boss gave me a toy that'll kick your useless asses!"
Vent stared dully at the laughing Underling, wondering if she had a crew loose, before looking to his comrades and stating his thoughts in a blunt manner. "Looks like the lackey is delusional. Shame, really… not."
IF nodded with her arms crossed, careful not to hurt anyone with her Qatars, yet. "Yep, looks like Underling is getting fantasies of actually being a step above what she really is." She added while heaving a heavy sigh. She was so done with this.
"Definitely a delusion…" Nepgear stated, just as bluntly but with an innocent look in her eyes, like she didn't realise what she was saying and was just saying it because everyone else was saying it.
Compa beamed with her usual cheery self, happily quipping and joining in on the insulting trend. "Mrs Underling has become Mrs Delusional Underling."
At this point, with their constant insults, Underling went red with anger, gritting her teeth so hard they would have cracked under the pressure any longer. She then raised the Disk in her hand to the air, shouting her thoughts to them. "Hah, say what you will when you see THIS!" she the pressed the centre of the Disk, which was revealed to the party to be a button.
"A Disk?" RED questioned, confusion etched onto her features as she tilted her head. Question marks popped in and out of existence above it, reflecting her current state at the moment. "What the heck's a Disk gonna do?"
"Whatever it is, lets be ready."
Upon IF's words, the Party readied themselves for whatever was going to happen. If they expected a monster to pop out of the Disk, they were sorely mistaken. A brilliant blue light shone from the disk, compressing around its form. When it was completely encased, strands of light crawled down Underling's arm, the green haired girl looking at this in stunned awe.
The light quickly spread over her body, layering itself within as Underling groaned, pain spreading within her from the places that the light touched. At first, it had been gradual, like a dull ache in her system. But as seconds passed it intensified ten fold, becoming almost mind-shattering. It hurt so bad, so bad, so bad! It felt as if she were being burned alive from the inside out by a heat as intense as the flames of an incinerator. Heh, it's be ironic for her to burn to death in Lowee of all places.
All the while, Underling's pained cries echoed throughout the Dungeon.
"Goodness, what's going on?!" Nepgear gasped with a hand over her mouth, watching the way Underling screamed and howled in pure agony as the process continued. Whatever it was, it looked exceedingly painful, no hellish. Even if she was an enemy, Nepgear couldn't help but feel a little bad for the ASIC Underling.
Compa shuddered in pure fear, various motions piling in her gut as she heard the agonizing screams from the girl before them. As a Nurse, such pained cries had a major effect on her, to the point where she had to force herself to not go over there and help Underling. Part of that force was the fact that's he didn't even think she could help since she didn't know what was going on in the first place. "What's happening to Mrs Delusional Underling?!" she exclaimed as she stepped back. "Iffy, I'm scared!" she cried before racing behind her brunette friend.
"This Wifey Seeker isn't liking what she's seeing…"
"Tch, looks like the lackey has some bite left in her after all.
IF rolled her eyes as she tensed, getting into a battle stance. Her Qatars gleamed in the sunlight that passed through a few windows. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead as she heard the tortured screams. Even if Underling was an enemy, even she wouldn't want to feel the pain from whatever was doing this to her. "Everyone, get ready! Looks like things are getting to the climax!"
Her words rung true as Underling's form froze itself in a position with her arms on her head, her back arched back and her legs spread apart. The girl then slumped forward, her hair covering her eyes as heavy breathing could be heard from her. The light cracked, the cracks spreading across her form, before shattering like glass to reveal her form...
...
...
...
...
Nothing.
It looked exactly the same, with no outward changes before them.
For a moment, they wondered if whatever happened to her had worked, or was it a dud like most of the things that Underling threw at them. Idly, Vent was the only one who noticed that the Disk she held was nowhere in sight. Where was it? Was that the cause? If so, was it a single use item like a Healing Pod?
Finally, Underling made movement, slowly raising her upper body but still kept her hair covering her eyes. The air suddenly shifted, becoming tense and heavy. A powerful weight settled on their chests as disturbing chills rose up their spines. All of them could feel it, something was wrong, something very… VERY wrong. Hell, even Vent was nervous as he sensed it.
Although, a part of him, namely his Ghoul side, was screeching in glee, like it was waiting for a challenger worthy of it pounding them into the ground, to show that it was the apex predator. There was only one reason why this could be, there was always a single instance that triggered this from his Ghoul side. That was the arrival of another predator like it, a predator above normal predators like the Monsters.
'Hey, hey now… That Disk didn't do what I think it did, did it?!' Vent shrieked within the confines of his mind. If that was indeed the case, then ASIC just got a whole league more dangerous, if they could do THAT to one of their lackeys, what's stopping them from repeating the process to others? He could hear the mad laughter that Rasen was doing within his mind's depths, who in contrast to the teen was completely happy with how this was going to turn out.
Slowly, a crimson aura began to spill out from her body like a slow running tap, overtaking it while swirling around her as her head slowly lifted upwards, her shoulders rolling back and forth. Disturbing cracking sounds echoed throughout the Dungeon, making the party shudder. Underling finally lifted her head fully, showing that her eyes were closed.
When she opened them, Underling blinked several times, before looking down at herself to see what the heck was happening to her. "Whoa, what is this?" she wondered, and for a moment she had been just as lost as they were. But, that didn't remain so for long, as she started feeling something swelling within her gut. She didn't know what it was, but the one thing she did know... was that she LIKED it. A slow grin etched itself onto her features as she aimed it at the Party. "Fuck yeah, this power… feels in-freaking-creadable! It's payback time, bitches!" she bellowed, laughing merrily. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA-Ugh!
Her laughter, loud and annoying as it was, got cut short when she gasped, a suddenly tight feeling shooting through her. Underling gasped, bending over while holding herself like she was about to burst.
The feeling got more and more intense as the party watched with apprehension, waiting to see what was going on. That didn't mean that they weren't nervous or scared. Vent only felt nervousness, while the girls were both.
Underling fell to her knees, gasping as she tried to force some air back into her lungs. Only one eye could be seen through her mess of hair, and that eye was sporting a dot-sized iris which shook wildly, veins visible on the side of her head as she gritted her teeth. A bubbling could be seen at the back of her waist, something trying to form itself from within her skin.
This was the case… for 4 seconds.
"Ugh… Guh… uhhhh… GUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The ASIC operative let out a pained scream at long last, throwing her head back and aiming her nightmarish scream towards the heavens, 4 long masses of blue exploding outwards from the back of her waist. The release made her fall onto all fours as she struggled to support herself while bearing the pain coursing through her system.
The masses swayed about from their release point, keeping the Party from getting close, not that they would be able to given their state of complete shock and horror. The masses swayed back and forth wildly, causing Underling extreme pain as she struggled to get to grips with herself. Her hands clutched the ground so tightly that small craters were made, and if her hands were bare then her nails would have bent backwards. Saliva dripped from her chin as her mouth hung open, a mix of snarls, grunts and groans escaping it.
Soon, they began to take solid shape, the masses slimming slightly. They soon became a series of 4 long, large blue Tentacles, each one pulsating brightly and constantly. To Vent, they were reminiscent of Kaneki Kens when he was just starting out as a Hybrid of human and Ghoul. They were covered in blue scales, crackling sounds accompanying their movement through the air.
They began to settle down moments later as Underling regained her composure, though her breathing was admittingly laboured. She panted as she stood up, in a slight crouch, as she rubbed the drool from her chin. "Ugh, damn I was drooling? Shit that's embarrassing…" she muttered under her breath, temporarily forgetting that the party was even there. "Still though, that was some wild ride… what the heck happened… huh?" Slowly, she looked up and backwards, seeing the Tentacles swaying behind her. "Holy shit! What the fuck, why do I…?!"
At her startled shout, the Tentacles froze stiff, before circling around her to show her their slim tips. Underling was momentarily creeped out by their behaviour, even had flashbacks of how Vent's Tentacles would slam into her, but the more she gazed at them, the less threatened she felt by them. For some reason, she felt… enchanted by them, as if they were the work of art. Slowly, she reached forth and stroked one of the Tentacles. The Tentacle shuddered in pleasure, and even Underling bit back the urge to moan. It was like touching these things was a pleasure to her for some reason.
So enraptured by her new limbs, Underling almost rejected the presence of the others from her mind entirely, but when she saw their shocked gazes, Underling snapped out her reverie and focused on the situation at hand, her Tentacles following her example by pointing their tips forwards. At that moment, they noticed that, thanks to the emergence of her Tentacles, that Underling's eyes had changed.
While the right eye was the usual red… the left one was red and black with veins across the side of her face: A Kakugan, belonging to a Ghoul.
"Heh, Looks like it's time I pay ya'll back for making fun of me all the time, you fucktards! I'll rip out your spines and shove em through your asses!"