Chapter 29: Tag

One word is worth a thousand pictures I think

Elfie: Truer words never spoken, oh wait, yes they have, I spoke them.

Then please don't speak them about me. Enjoy!

At the Disgaea Guild building

"(How did it come to this)" Walker thought as he strode through the hallway, his senses spiked to their limits to hear the softest of taps, to see the slightest of movement, to smell a hint of life. His gun loaded with pellets, safety off of course. Everyone out of sight, but clearly withing the area parameters, they will slip up, they will show themselves, and he will rid himself of this curse.

"Damn that Sorcerer, and her stupid antics...well it's not really her fault this time" Walker grumbled to himself.

He didn't want to speak out loud, he had to be quiet, stealthy, he needed to make sure he spotted them before they spot him.

"(If only I knew it would lead to this)" Walker thought to himself.

He recalls the events just hours prior.

He was the first to arrive from his mission, Kelly greeted him from behind the counter with Noelle, and Isabelle covered in flour for some odd reason, it didn't bother Walker in the slightest, but gave the order to wash up for dinner. Moments later one squad returned, Elfie, Milky, Sophie, Sasha, and Lloyd with some random kid, all of them looking exhausted, apparently having ran all the way from the transit to the guild.

"...Why?" Was Walker's only response to the sudden new face.

"This...this guy-*huff-puff*-is a guy!" Milky pointed out, out of breath

"T-this girl-*huff*-is a girl...she told t-to say that..." Alto breathed.

"W-we didn't have to run all the way-*huff-puff*-over here" Elfie wheezed.

"Y-yeah...people we're staring...mostly at me" Sasha grumbled.

"W-when are you people going to realize, we Skulls-*huff*-a-aren't meant for this much...physical activity?" Lloyd muttered.

"W-Walker, we ran all the way here, please don't let our exhaustion be in vain, respond in kind of you will" Sophie said.

Walker stood there, his mind racing with everything that he has just been told.

"So...where's the proof?" Walker asked.

Milky drove her palm straight to her face causing a loud smack.

"D-don't you see it!" Milky cried out.

"All I see are two thieves dressed completely different, now if your done talking come inside already, the food has just been set on the table, and the rest of us are waiting on how you guys did" Walker impatiently explained.

"F-fine, but we're not done talking!" Milky exclaimed as she marched herself inside dragging Alto with her.

"H-hey wait a second, I said what you wanted me to say, can I go home now?" Alto asked.

"No! The deal was that you can leave as soon as Walker acknowledges that I'm a girl, and that's final!" Milky reminded.

"You might be staying here for a while" Elfie said.

"He's that dense?" Alto asked.

"You have no idea" Sasha said.

"He is denser than lead" Sophie added.

"Why do you care so much Milky? It's not like it's hurting anyone" Alto said.

"I know it's not, it's just the...principle of the thing" Milky excused.

"You just made that up on the spot!" Alto exclaimed.

"Come on you two, stop your bickering, and let's go eat" Elfie said.

"My stomach feels empty" Lloyd said.

"Let me guess, just like your heart?" Sasha finished.

"I was actually done talking, but now that you reminded me, yes I do feel emptiness in my heart" Lloyd muttered.

They entered their newly refurbished dining hall, and were immediately assaulted by loud voices of several of their guild members all discussing things one after another. Despite only being gone for several hours it felt like months to the small party as soon the chatter began to die out once they turned their attention over to Milky, and her team.

"Milky, I see that you have arrived unscathed from your journey, sit with us, and drink some tea while you tell us of your skirmishes" Kimberly was the first to greet them.

"Yes! What when they explained who this Etna person was, I was instantly filled with worry seeing as how you were basically entering the belly of the beast" Phoenix stated.

"B-belly?! I-I'm so glad you weren't eaten" Firefly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've been cooking for so long, I can't feel my fins doods!" Blank cried out.

He was ignored as usual.

"Oh~ to be in a new Netherworld I haven't been too. Tell me did they have any different flowers, or fauna there? Are they more relaxed, and at inner peace with themselves than here?" Maple asked.

"It is wonderful to see your very attractive faces again-is that another boy following you? Ugh~ don't we have enough of those in here?" Schrodinger grumbled.

"...Welcome back..." Lance muttered, still reading his book.

"Did you gain any new tips on haunting places, I could take all the help I can get" Limbo said.

"Have you stolen any secrets from the castle-zam!" Aldo asked.

"How was the shopping there, maybe found a cute skirt that normal teenage girls wear in the human world...nin-nin?" Kelly asked.

"Ah~ I hope to soon strut my stuff in a new Netherworld" Peachy sighed..

"Meow! Mew-mew-mew!" Misha cried out.

Translation: you all reek of fish, it's teasing my sensitive nose, and for that you must pay the ultimate price...right after I finish eating this fish stick.

"Aw~ Misha missed you guys, but don't just stand there, give me all the foreign candy you guys got!" Berry Melon squeaked.

"We want to have fun next-" Noelle began

"We want to have an adventure too!" Isabelle chimed.

"Hurry up, and take a seat already, don't keep us waiting" Walker said.

"I guess it's good to be back?" Milky said unsure of how to react by all the sudden, and different greetings they were given.

It really was quite a strange thing to get use to, especially in the Netherworld, to have so many demons of all kind in one sitting with nothing better to do than to listen to other demon's tales of adventure, and combat. Still it wasn't so bad they figured, hell it might even be exactly what they needed in their lives, and they did not even know it. They took their seats, and partook in several of the dishes laid out in a spread, three stuffed turkeys, several jars of hot gravy, mash potatoes, and sweet potato, clam chowder soup, and several drinks ranging from both soda to juice, and of course tea, iced, and hot. They took what they wanted, and began to recollect everything that they went through.

"We were taken to this really large, and expensive looking castle with Prinnies running left to right, they all looked busy, and panicky" Milky began.

"We managed to get information from one particular Prinny who told us that our requested item was held in an ancient bakery at the edge of the forest" Elfie added.

"As it turns out, and you'll never believe this, but the bakery was underwater! Like literally we had to buy scuba gear just to get inside, and look around for it. Boy howdy were we wet" Sasha said.

"Would you like to rephrase that?" Walker asked.

"Shut up ya git, you know what I meant!" Sasha quickly retaliated.

"We searched high, and low, seeing as how we had to control the flow of water going back, and forth much like my mood swings from depression, to super depression" Lloyd mumbled.

"Eventually they found me, and dragged me against my will through the rest of the dungeon, honestly being stuck there for so long I stopped caring about the treasure, and just wanted to leave" Alto said.

"Further exploration has lead us to many sights, puzzles, and an assortment of enemies we have not seen anywhere in any Netherworlds we have visited" Sophie added.

They went on with their tale recollecting the sights, and experiences they went through for the legendary dessert/

"And the worst part was after all that trouble the Overlord still didn't like it because it was so stale!" Milky concluded.

"At least we still got paid for our work, so I ain't complaining" Sasha said.

"Yeah, all in all we earned quite a bit of HL for that one" Milky said.

"Then all that's left is to wait for the-" Walker began.

The double doors opened with a loud bang, quickly turning towards the source of the noise they saw it was Megas followed by the rest of the group.

"We're back, and we're loaded!" Megas shouted.

"That means we finished another job" Nina translated.

"Left school with boom! Crashed show, fought, and cursed!" Peach Basket exclaimed.

"We wrecked some stuff, and demons, and got payed" Nina once again translated.

"Unfortunately we had a slight bump in the plan, and had to deposit some of our funds to...replenish what was lost" Aegis added.

"...He died, and we had to pay him back to life...why is it so hard for you guys to just explain things normally?" Nina wondered.

"The person with the split personality really has no right to talk" Walker muttered.

"*Flinch*...I'll forget you said that considering we are on the same team" Nina said nearly losing it right then, and there.

"Oh look Nina, and Walker are at it again, I see nothing has changed" Elfie said.

"Whatever, it's not worth it while there's still all this food to eat" Walker grumbled as he resume to feast upon the turkey, and potatoes.

"Looks delicious, it sure beats eating rations in a foxhole littered with the bodies of demons you fought alongside with" Nina said.

"...Not while we're eating" Walker scolded.

"Noted" Nina assured.

"Lloyd! You join me next time!" Peach Basket exclaimed as she took her seat, and half a turkey, and stuffed her face on it devouring the thing from the inside out like a rabid animal...like most Shamans.

"One more team member, and we could have avoided my demise" Aegis realized.

"I go where I am told because my heart has betrayed me so many times. I'm a lost soul who has nothing in life to lift me out of my deep, dark abyss of my miserable psyche" Lloyd said.

"I said not while we're eating" Walker reminded.

"Oh yeah! We're gonna be getting some visitors coming here tomorrow maybe, who knows, but they're gonna want their cut of the HL we got" Megas explained after finished a jug of soda.

"Maybe you oughta start at the beginning" Walker suggested.

"Well let's see now, we were at the school, same gate as last time I think, the place was still a wreck from the dodge-ball game, but was getting fixed" Nina began.

"Went to room, then room in room with long table, and chairs, wait, saw demons, story boring, no curse to tell!" Peach Basket ended it.

"Basically it was there when we encountered yet another Original Demon! Lucky us right? Anyways this girl right, well she didn't really talk, more like messed with a ball in a cup thing, but the rabbit was talking, even though it was a stuffed animal, or at least it looked stuffed. Man you should have been there, the crazy factor was all over the place bro!" Megas exclaimed.

"...I'd better get some sarsaparilla for this one" Walker muttered.

"Daw~ we missed something so weird, and strange Noelle!" Isabelle whined.

"I know we did, we want to go too~!" Noelle chimed.

"So after that rambled bunch of nonsense what happened next?" Kimberly asked.

"We got our orders to raid a concert starring some spiky haired guy we never met" Aegis said.

"Apparently there was some history going on between our employer, and the target, which lead to this event. It didn't end well for Axel" Nina concluded.

"We were also accompanied by some old rivals, the Red Skull we faced during our first visit at Maritsu. We were forced to cooperate with him, and his 'partner'" Aegis added.

"We traveled to show, went backstage-ooah! More meat!" Peach Basket exclaimed as her need for food outweighed the need to report.

"Someone get her another leg" Phoenix called out.

"Right here, she can have my share, trying to keep my figure after all" Peachy offered sliding her own plate over towards Peach Basket who wasted no time in devouring everything on it.

"Anyways, it ended well for us, we didn't even have to fight the guy were ruining, our employer did that personally...heard a lot of screaming, and begging for the pain to stop, but I was already use to hearing things like that before" Nina said.

"Either way we got payed, got junk done, let's get drunk!" Megas exclaimed.

"No more beers...not for a while" Nina quickly intervene.

"Changing the subject rather quickly have you met our newest member yet? The young man next to Milky" Elfie pointed out.

"I'm not a new member" Alto reminded.

"We have another Thief on our group now? Well at least it's someone I recognize from my Netherworld" Nina said.

"I'm still completely confused" Alto said.

"The mind boggles" Sophie added.

"Well you're here now, so welcome to our club!" Berry Melon welcomed.

"Don't call it a club, it's a guild!" Walker reminded.

"All I'm saying is that you should give us a shot, I mean it's not like you had anything better going for you in your Netherworld" Berry Melon concluded.

"I agree, or did you grow attached to that empty room with the oversized clams?" Elfie said.

"Hey I had a life before that...just, well...still I want a choice in the matter" Alto said.

"I don't see why you're fighting so hard against this" Elfie said nonchalantly.

"Wouldn't most people do the same thing!" Alto retaliated.

"Not when meat to eat on table! Eat, meat no words, only meat!" Peach Basket assured.

"...What is she?" Alto asked.

"Why do you care? I thought you wanted to leave?" Milky asked.

"...Now that I think about it...what are half of you anyways?" Alto asked.

"You've never been to another Netherworld?" Aegis asked.

"I couldn't affor-I-I told you I had my own life to deal with, I just didn't have the time" Alto muttered.

"Right, well suddenly you do have the time so make the most of it" Elfie implored.

"Not the time I had in mind you know" Alto said.

"...Who really owns time?..." Lance muttered from behind his book.

Alto had no way to retaliate against that.

"Well if you need a room we have a few more upstairs, take room twenty five, I'm pretty sure it's empty" Walker said.

"Correct, I sleep in my room, room twenty four, and I was the last to choose my room" Lance added.

Alto still didn't like how all his excuses were failing him, but before temptation rears it's ugly head, he had one more idea that considering who he was talking to might be crazy enough to work.

"W-what if, what if I bring nothing, but trouble. Would you still want me here?" Alto asked.

"I don't know, ask the class that creates trouble out of thin air" Nina responded motioning towards Peach Basket.

"Ooah!" Peach Basket cried out, arms raised high one carrying a piece of meat.

"Well what if I did something that screwed everything up, and causes a scence?" Alto asked.

"We cause drama here almost all the time, I fail to see how you might do something that will cause us to lose our heads" Sasha scoffed.

"Hate to agree to something I never wanted, but she's right" Walker supported.

"Drama, that's something that draws the attention to most normal teenagers, can you show us this drama...nin-nin?" Kelly asked.

"...Okay, it starts out like this" Alto began. He got out of his seat, and walked towards Walker who remained seated. "(Hope this works)" Alto thought as he brought out one finger, and touched Walker's shoulder.

"Tag!" Alto called out.

The hall was silent for a brief moment, and suddenly the room erupted with the banging of chairs being pushed away, food spilling, glasses breaking, and the double doors slamming open until every guild member rushed out of it leaving Walker confused, and alone until it finally dawned on him.

"...I'm, it? Damn it...not this game again!" Walker groaned loudly.

Back to the present

"Come on, this is stupid! We're grown demons for crying out loud! We invoke fear in the mortal realm, and destroy whole cities with-Firefly! Found ya!" Walker exclaimed spotting Firefly as she peeked through her room door.

Firefly gave an audible squeak before shutting the door close, as Walker rushed towards it before she could lock it. Lucky for him it wasn't, but he could hear a clutter of noise coming from the room. Wasting no time he lunged himself inside, and spotted Firefly trying to escape through the window.

"Oh no you don't!" Walker exclaimed moving forward.

"H-help! I-I'm stuck!" Firefly cried out.

Walker stopped himself short of touching Firefly to get her to become it to hear what she had to say. Apparently her escape through the window was half interrupted as her upper half had just barely squeezed through, but down to her hips she was unable to move. Apparently in her rush to escape she accidentally caused the window to close shut half way through her escape thus causing her to be trapped.

"I-I was trying to escape, b-b-but the window was too small!" Firefly confessed.

Walker looked at the accused window, doing some quick number crunching in his head he realized that while it may be small yes, he could squeeze through that no problem, in fact mostly everyone could squeeze through that no problem. Glancing over confident that no one was watching him watch Firefly perhaps there were some drawbacks to having a...very healthy body. Still she was a teammate, and she had been there for nearly the beginning, it would be a shame to just let her be it without giving her a fight. Slowly he walked beside her, wearing a warm smile that Firefly could barely glance at when she craned her neck to get a view from inside her room.

"Thank you so much Walker!" Firefly cried out in relief.

Walker lifted the window up, thus giving Firefly more room to move about, and wiggle herself free.

"O-o-okay I think I can get out on my own here so-" Firefly began.

She was quickly cut off when Walker moved behind her, and kicked her square in the tush, hard, sending her flying out of her room, and outside face down on the dirt.

"Tag, you're it!" Walker cried out taking this chance to book it to a hiding spot.

You are Firefly, and right now you're in a scary predicament. You're it, and you're terrified.

"(Oh no, oh no, I've never been 'it' before, what do I do-ow~...he didn't have to kick me that hard, that, that...jerk)" Firefly thought.

To make it worse Walker pretty much declared Firefly being it to the whole Netherworld considering how loudly he shouted that, now everyone else will be in high alert, and avoid her.

"Y-you can do this Firefly...you just gotta...gotta fight, that's all" Firefly murmured as she stood up.

Looking left, and right you find nothing, but forest, the night dark enough to make seeing nearly impossible, luckily Comet was kind enough to provide the building with lamps on all sides of the building outside, so long as she stayed near the guild she should be able to see her way through. Hopefully she won't have to travel deep into the woods to find her targets. She took a nervous walk to the left, looking every which way. In her nervous state she suddenly tripped, and fell to her knees, as she got up she noticed that the object that tripped her was a small block of ice. Which was funny since normally blocks of ice don't migrate to this side of the Netherworld until late November which means someone had created it. Faint giggling could be heard from just around the corner of the building, Firefly shifted from a nervous walk to a light jog to find the source of the noise. Along the way more baby glaciers erupted from the ground, Firefly hopped, and skipped through them, but to no avail, and she fell down yet again. The giggling was louder which meant they hadn't left the area, but Firefly was half way there, suddenly she was struck with inspiration. Focusing her energy, and magic prowess she bumped her ice resistant to a considerable amount, and ran full speed. More oversized ice cubes jutted forth in her path, but as she ran through them, they quickly dispatched by her feet, feeling more like soft slushie rather than cold bricks. She could hear gasping noises, just as she turned the corner, and saw Noelle, and Isabelle crouched together against the wall. Firefly reached out her hand to tag Isabelle, but Noelle quickly intervened with a powerful gale forcing Firefly out of reach. Thinking ahead Firefly once again focused her energy, she bumped her wind resistance, the hurricane wind feeling more like a gentle breeze as she lunged towards Isabelle once more.

"T-tag!" Firefly cried out as she succeeded in touching Isabelle.

The girls screamed, though it sounded more like a high pitch squeal, and took off, leaving Firefly on the floor again.

"I-I did it..." Firefly muttered before succumbing to exhaustion, and passing out.

You are Isabelle, and you're it, and it's the absolute worse.

"W-wait! Why are we running again?" Noelle suddenly asked mid-run.

Both girls stopped their frightened sprint.

"B-because I'm 'it', this is terrible!" Isabelle cried out.

"It's gonna be okay Isabelle" Noelle assured.

"No it's not, b-because you have to get away from me, or else you'll be it, a-and I don't want you to go away~" Isabelle declared, succumbing to her sadness, and began crying.

"Aw~ Isabelle" Noelle said, her eyes suddenly becoming watery as well

Noelle stretched a nervous arm towards Isabelle, but she quickly retreated away from it, even though she really didn't want to.

"N-no you mustn't" Isabelle sobbed.

"Isabelle, I don't care if you're it, you're my sister, we've been through some real toughie times together, this is just one of them we can get through together" Noelle assured.

"B-but-" Isabelle tried to say.

"Besides, when Firefly touched you, I was clinging to you, so technically she touched both of us, which means we're both it" Noelle assured.

"R-really?" Isabelle asked.

"Really" Noelle said.

"Really, really?" Isabelle asked again.

"Really, really" Noelle assured.

Once again Noelle extended her arm of sisterly love towards Isabelle, which Isabelle returned with a spine crushing hug, which Noelle returned in full. With their spirits lifted, and their childish energy suddenly returned both girls clasped their hands together, and skipped merrily inside the building to look for a target, taking a brisk skipped to the dining hall, the lights off. They saw the scurrying of movements from different bodies, they flickered on the lights to reveal Kelly, Aldo, and Nina. With their identities, and themselves exposed they turned towards the two girls lowering their defenses, until Aldo got a closer look at the sneer grins the twins had.

"They're 'it'-zam!" Aldo exclaimed.

Protruding a small black ball he slammed it on the floor close to his feet, a small tower of smoke shrouding him, once it cleared he was gone. Kelly seeing what her brother had done decided to do the same.

"W-wait! Take me with you-" Nina asked, but Kelly had already slammed the smoke bomb near her feet, and vanished into thin air.

Before Nina could think of an escape plan-(she was at the point of slamming her body full force onto the wall breaking it open)-her whole body was suddenly hit with a powerful gale flinging her body hard against the wall, well half her plan was working sort of. Unable to move she could not fight off the spreading ice crystal forming around her body keeping her in place, and trapping her even further. Soon her whole body was trapped in ice glued to the wall, only parts of her chest, feet, hands, and head were left untouched. Noelle, and Isabelle shouted something about a victory, skipped towards Nina, gave a little twirl, and poked her left foot.

"Tag! You're it!" Both girls declared, and then made a mad dash out of the dining hall in giggling fits.

You are Nina, you're it, and you're pissed. Fueled by furious adrenaline you make quick work of your arctic dungeon freeing yourself...probably should have done that from the beginning, but who cares you're angry!

The dining hall is empty, that much is clear, surprising how over twenty people can just vanish like this, especially Aegis, and Megas, but if you're lucky they shouldn't be too hard to find, and even less harder tagging them...maybe you're axe could help with that, blind fury what do you think?

Blind fury: go for it!

Can't argue with that logic! Equipping her axe from her personal inventory she stomped her way out of the dining hall, frustration of missing out on yet another good night's rest because of her life choices. Moving to the lobby she did a quick search behind the desk, not finding a thing, but a soft thumping noise was heard from the hallway. Nina quickly burst through the double doors, and found Kelly just as the smoke from her disappearing act evaporated.

"You!" Nina called out extending her axe, and pointing it at her.

Kelly jumped in surprise, and brought forth another smoke ball.

"No you-" Nina cried out rushing forward.

Unfortunately Kelly did, and vanished in yet another cloud of smoke. Nina groaned loudly, but another soft thump was heard nearby, turning to the source of the noise she had guessed it to be in room sixteen, Kelly's room, or someone's, probably should have paid more attention to where everyone was staying, who knows when you need to knock on a neighbor's door, and ask for a cup of sugar...you gotta stop rambling in your head, and get back to work Nina. Sprinting towards the door she was not surprised to see it was locked, figures, but wait she was holding the perfect lock picking tool already. She swung her axe hard on the door frame already leaving a wide crack, loud screaming could be heard from inside the room.

"(Good, that was definitely Kelly)" Nina thought as she struck the door again.

From inside the room Nina heard various drawers being pulled, and the shuffling of clothing, she guessed that Kelly was searching for another smoke bomb to vanish into.

"No you don't!" Nina exclaimed bringing her axe down onto the door again. Once the hole was wide enough she reached out an arm, and unlocked the door from the other side, and made her way inside seeing Kelly struggling through her mess of clothes, and accessories to find another smoke ball to escape.

"No, no, no-wait, here it-" Kelly cried out, but it was too late, as Nina had planted her fist firmly in her left shoulder, and sent her crashing several feet onto her wall.

"Tag, you're it...loser" Nina grunted as she hefted the heavy axe on her shoulder, and walked out of the room like a total boss leaving Kelly with a dislocated shoulder, and broken wall...and door.

You are Kelly, and everything is broken, hopefully Walker wouldn't let all this mess just stay here after all the HL he paid to get it re-fixed. Your shoulder could do some fixing of it's own, Elfie is nowhere in sight though...but you might know where she's hiding. Still you can't wait that long, and with a heavy sigh you know what needs to be done. Grabbing some nearby fabric, and wrapping it into a thick pudgy ball, Kelly stuck it in her mouth to stifle her possible future screaming, then she now turned to her dislocated shoulder. It took several tries, the fabric doing it's job making her screams into soft grunts as she continued to arduous task of relocating her shoulder. After several minutes, and some forced pushing she finally heard the *pop* she's been waiting for signaling the relocation process was a success. Being a resilient ninja did have it's benefits, but Kelly got the feeling that most normal teenage girls aren't suppose to able to relocate their shoulders like that.

"(I'm further away from being normal than ever)" Kelly thought in her head.

Ignoring the lingering ache in her recently fixed shoulder she walked out of her room also ignoring the damage that was recently done.

"(So I'm it, but where do I start?)" Kelly wondered.

Thinking about her targets Elfie would be the most logical choice, again knowing where she might be holding herself up. Her brother being the furthest option, when it came to being chased no one could keep up with his trickery, except for perhaps a skilled thief, but she wasn't one of those.

"(Elfie it is)" Kelly thought.

Not in any real rush she strolled through the hallway ignoring the occasional noises coming from the other rooms, and upstairs, obviously the only real safe places to hide would be in their own rooms, with most of them having the window as an emergency escape hatch.

Opening the double doors to the lobby she approached the door in front of her leading to the library/therapy office, only to hear the front doors suddenly open. Turning towards them she saw a most unusual, but appealing sight. A young woman wearing a dark thin once piece bikini with matching thigh high boots over a mustard yellow full body skin tight suit leaving little to the imagination. Her eyes were a light brown as well as her hair, constantly flowing from the fact that she was bobbing up, and down thanks to her large wings spanning a little less than half the room when they extended all the way. Her upper body instinctively bent slightly forward to draw attention to her sultry expression, and bulging chest rising up, and down ever so slightly as if they had a mind of their own. Why was Kelly so descriptive of her? Why was her heart beating faster even though she was girl herself, and felt no feeling like this to anyone else? Then she remembered why almost instantly.

"(Succubus, their charms have no boundaries, all genders are equally affected...)" Kelly thought, her cheeks turning a soft pink all of a sudden.

The Succubus noticed her present, and looked visibly surprised.

"(Oh my sexy body, I didn't think anyone was awake at this hour!)" the Succubus thought.

"U-uh may I...help, you?" Kelly asked her voice growing soft as if speaking to a long time crush.

"Yes you can, see I was wondering if you could just keep quiet about me being here, can you do that for little young me?" The Succubus asked.

"I-I can't do that, I'm the receptionist so you can um~ we're closed for the night so you can...go back tomorrow, or leave a message, and we'll get back to you" Kelly asked through her rapidly beating heart.

"I'm afraid I can't do that sweetie, I kind of want him to be surpr-oh my~ I said too much already, you naughty girl making me say such dirty things~" the Succubus whispered loudly, her voice still keeping that seductive tone even though everything in her plan was going wrong.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about honest" Kelly admitted. "(This is bad, my body getting all tingly, and stuff, I gotta get out of here, but I'm still it, wait...)" Kelly thought.

"So two beautiful women like us, all alone at night, what do you want to do about this rare opportunity?" The Succubus asked crossing her arms gently underneath her chest, almost in slow motion.

Kelly was shaking, not from fear, but rather nervousness, but one moment of courage was all she needed. The feeling she felt, the heat from her body too much to bear, passion fueling her every action now, nothing matter anymore, but this one time alone with this definition of beauty before her, practically jumping towards her, she reached an adventurous hand forward, and grabbed her forearm.

"T-tag, you're it!" Kelly shouted in a state of wild passion as she quickly ran away before she did something even more lewd.

You are the newly reincarnated Succubus Venus! Apparently you're it too...you knew things would be different compared to the life of a Lady Fighter, but this is beyond what you had expected. Putting the pieces together it dawn on you that they were playing tag. Well that's just swell, and even better, you're it, and no one want's to do it with the person who's it...well that't just your opinion, but I'm sure anyone would agree. Looking around the room there isn't much to behold, it appears to be a small lobby, that ninja girl-wait! Walker has a Ninja girl? Just how many girls does that Gunner associate himself with, this is even harder than you had anticipated. If memories serves you right that girl went to the left, through the double doors, maybe there are others there that can help you remove this curse bestowed upon you, or at the very least tag back. Dropping to ground level she strode with sexy grace towards the hallway. It was empty with no visible thing to stare at her in sight, why can't things be easy? Strolling along the hallway ignoring the noise her heels were making along the hard wood she was suddenly assaulted by a door opening loudly.

"Who's wearing heels!" Schrodinger called out.

A wild Ranger appeared, wait you've seen this person before, he was the one trying to hit on you when you first met Walker. Yeah, you wonder if he remembers-oh wait you reincarnated, this is gonna get awkward fast, but maybe he has some use.

"Oh! Finally someone to keep me company, I was so scared, and lonely walking all by myself!" Venus swooned.

Schrodinger gulped loudly, but quickly composed himself...sort of.

"A-are you a-a int-interior decorator? 'Cause w-w-when I saw y-you the r-room became be-beautiful!" Schrodinger stammered nervously.

"You flatterer, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention, come closer so I can hear you more clearly" Venus invited.

"I-I well, um..." Schrodinger said suddenly becoming nervous, He hadn't thought his pick up line would actually work.

"What's the matter, I'm right here, it's okay, I won't bite, I'll just move real close, my body touching yours, you can enjoy the smell of my hair, and skin while I whisper sweet nothings into your ear, and you can lead me to bed" Venus whispered loudly.

That was the clincher, Schrodinger grew red in the face, his body temperature rising, heart pumping, and eyes of lustful desire her sprung towards Venus.

"(Too easy)" Venus thought to herself.

In an instant she was shrouded in a cloud of purple smoke, sexy purple smoke, and burst into a swarm of bats quickly splitting apart just as Schrodinger reached the area where a once beautiful woman once stood. Unable to stop he slammed head first onto the wall, and collapsed on the floor knocked out, nose bleeding...possibly from the collision...maybe. The bats huddled together, and in another cloud of smoke Venus appeared as her usual self again.

"Well, this didn't turn out the way I wanted to, what a shame. If so many demons are awake no doubt 'he' will be too, the dream will have to wait, but first..." Venus said with impatience.

She sauntered over to Schrodinger, his body limp, but eyelids fluttering as he begins to regain consciousness, crouched down, and gave him a quick peck on his cheek with her perfectly soft lips.

"Tag, you're it!" Venus giggled. With her burden gone she fled the building determined to try again tomorrow night.

You are Schrodinger, and this is the best/worst day ever. Out of all the girls that declined your invitation to join your harem-I mean group, the one that did say yes happened to be your one weakness. Why she decided not to suck the life force out of you, you will never know, but there are more important things to deal with right now. You're it, and you need to tag someone back. It's nearing dawn, and according to the rules of tag, once the day when the game begins ends, the last person who's it will be crown the loser. Why such a rule exists in the Netherworld you may never know, but it's there, and you need to get out of this. Going outside, the black skies turning into a very pale yellow, the sun just poking a top of the forest, time was running out fast. Circling the building resulted in zero targets, but one large bud jutting out of the ground next, to, the front...door.

"(W-was this always here?)" Schrodinger wondered.

Plant was far too large, the petals enclosed were far too big by normal flower standards, and it was so obviously Maple. Schrodinger took caution knowing far too well that some Alraunes could use their springy roots as underground spike traps that can be set off at the slightest touch of his foot touching the wrong patch of earth hiding the dreaded thing. Once he was at arms reach he noticed the sun was now starting to illuminate the Netherworld signaling a new day, he had only seconds.

"Tag!" Schrodinger called out before jumped back, and away from the possible danger, and with that he was free of becoming 'it' last, what a joyous day this is.

As the sun's ray brushed against the green of her leaves, Maple felt the warm blanket of nourishment give her strength, and sustenance, if only everyone else could feel photosynthesis like you could, there would be no wars, and no hate, just sunbathing all day.

You are Maple, apparently you're it, well it was expected you were too weak at night to run away, and too new to this place to know where to hide. So you stopped caring all together, you needed to save your energy, or you could wither, or worse your beautiful leaves will turn a crusty brown. Then there's the morning dew you'll miss out if you don't root, and rest, boy do you love how cold, and ticklish it is, as well as refreshing. You're rambling now, it is time to take action, now that the sun is up you don't need the protection of your leaves to keep you warm. You unfurl you leaves making sure none of them get tangled in the process, then you gently pull yourself out of the ground with an adorable *pop*, but your root is all knotted up, and messy, traveling like this would be impossible. While girls brush their hair, you brush your root until it is in it's most useful springy state.

"I wonder how the others are holding up?" Maple speaks to herself.

Putting a little extra force in her roots she springs high above the building, and lands onto the rooftop where the majority of the guild has been hiding.

"Ooah! You it, you it! Back, back, back no want 'it' curse!" Peach Basket cried out.

"Aw~ it's okay, I don't mind losing, and besides the sun is up anyways, we can go back to our regular selves" Maple assured.

"That's a relief, I suppose I better get breakfast ready" Elfie said.

"I shall assist as well, it's the least I can do for helping me get up here" Aegis said.

"We do need more bread in our diet, your assistance is quite welcome" Elfie politely accepted his offer.

"I don't know about you guy, but I need more booze in my diet" Megas said.

"You drank an entire kegger while we were up here" Phoenix stated.

"Yeah, and I'm only slightly buzzed, no way am I gonna start the day like that" Megas said.

"Thanks for the rooftop sleepover Alto! This was fun! Berry Melon exclaimed.

"This isn't what I had planned at all" Alto said.

"Well maybe next time, you are staying with us for a while after all" Milky assured.

"Why do you torment me like this?" Alto asked.

"You shouldn't say something like that until you hear Lloyd's story" Limbo gasped.

"Speaking of which, where is our Blue Skull sulking?" Kimberly wondered.

In the walk in freezer behind the kitchen

"At the stroke of midnight the plague hits

No concern over who are it's targets

One by one they are each afflicted

None of this has been...predicted?" Lloyd muttered to himself.

Alone, but comfortable in the freezers below thirty degree Celsius quarters he sits thinking of what poem best suits such a random act of hostile playing. He has yet to reach a suitable conclusion, but a dark, and creative soul always thinks, always plans, surely some form of inspiration will hit him.

End of Chapter

A little shorter than my usual work, but I might be away from my laptop for a few days so I wanted to finish this before that happens, if it does. Going to go over the request, and reviews over my phone, but can't do much else. Thanks for the reviews, support, and most importantly, your patience.