Darkzdragon: Man, we slipped on uploading the past couple weeks. ^^'
DarkFoxKit: I'm not used to updating this, so that doesn't help. ^^' I got a lot of things on my mind.
Darkzdragon: Also not getting any reviews doesn't help either since we often want to get the chapter uploaded so we can respond to people.
DarkFoxKit: But, uh, yeah, here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Chapter 12: Discovery
Nandy and Rose both slipped their rings onto their fingers at roughly the same time. Rose felt a sudden drowsiness overcoming her. She started to close her eyes, seeing Nandy doing the same. Rose saw Nandy closed his eyes and relaxed a split second before her own eyes closed as well.
When Rose opened her eyes again, she found herself in a familiar large open field once more. She was standing on all fours just like before, and she was a feral arctic fox again.
Rose smirked. I… am glad I ended up back here.
Rose began to look around, trying to find where Nandy ended up at and what kind of animal would he be. Rose mused that since Nandy was a human player, he might be some kind of primate here.
It could be that he's a wolf or something, what with his nickname being 'Wolfy'. Rose mused.
Rose then spotted a familiar large white dire wolf that was standing beside her, giving her a curious look.
There's… no way that's Danny. Rose thought as she gave a curious look at the dire wolf.
The white dire wolf blinked at her, before it began to sniff her a little, as if trying to determine something. The dire wolf then gave an amused snort.
Rose decided to do the same and give the dire wolf a curious sniff. She smelled a familiar scent on him. Rose began to realize which scent it was.
Well… that's interesting. Rose noted. It is Danny.
The white dire wolf, which Rose believed was Nandy, tilted his head a little. Nandy may be big, but with the way he was looking at her almost reminded Rose of a curious puppy.
Rose gave a thoughtful look before she walked close to the dire wolf that was Nandy and started nuzzling him a little, rubbing her head against his body. Nandy blinked in surprise at that. At first, Nandy didn't do anything, and just watched Rose curiously.
Rose stopped nuzzling Nandy and walked in front of him, positioning herself so she was only inches from his maw. Rose smirked a little before she licked Nandy on the nose.
Nandy shook his head, looking at Rose in shock. Rose looked at Nandy with puppy dog eyes, despite being a fox. Then, after some hesitation, Nandy gave a lick of his own on Rose's nose.
Rose smirked before she licked Nandy again and walked forward to nuzzle him.
Nandy returned the nuzzle this time, and Rose noticed his tail was wagging a little. Then both of their noses touched, and there was a chiming noise.
Rose looked around before seeing a screen. 'Pack formed. Leader: Rose.'
Rose smiled at that. Good~ I wanted to be the pack leader.
"Oh, so that's how you form a pack," Nandy said suddenly, which shocked Rose that he spoke while in feral wolf form.
Rose looked at Nandy. "Testing, testing? Can you hear me?"
"Hey, now you're able to talk?" Nandy asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah, looks like it," Rose answered. "The same goes for you."
"I could always talk," Nandy responded. "But nobody could ever seem to understand me."
"Well, must be because we're in a pack," Rose guessed. "So, I was thinking we could go hunting again. For something even bigger than that moose~"
"Oh? You want to go hunting for something bigger? What did you have in mind?" Nandy questioned, tilting his head.
"Hmmm… perhaps a giant bear?~" Rose smirked.
"Going for a big predator this time, huh?" Nandy chuckled.
"Yep." Rose confirmed.
"Then we'll have to go track down a giant bear," Nandy remarked before he looked around the area and started sniffing. "Birds… rabbits… deer… flowers…"
Rose began sniffing around herself, she realized that the scents she was smelling came in a variety of smells, as well as color. There were some colors that were labelled, making it easier for her to figure out what she was smelling.
Rose shook her head, trying to visualize the colors going away. I know what a bear smells like, game, I don't need your guide for noobs.
"Ah, I picked up the scent of a black bear," Nandy spoke up.
"Which direction?" Rose asked, still sniffing the air herself..
"Southeast, near the forest area," Nandy answered.
Rose sniffed in that direction, closing her eyes. "You're only half right… that's a black bear cub." Rose sniffed around. "I… do smell a large brown bear to the north, towards… water… and fish."
"There's also a polar bear in the more colder, northern part of the area," Nandy added.
"We'd waste too much energy going there," Rose commented. "I think our best bet is the brown bear currently fishing."
"Alright, then after you, Leader of the Pack," Nandy chuckled.
Rose gave a nod before she started heading north. Nandy followed Rose. They headed into the woods, coming up to a stream. They ran past a few other feral animals. Rose wondered if some of these animals were players as well. It was difficult to tell since the mini-games didn't give out any names. Both of them soon found a lake that was being fed by a large river, with a few other feral animals fishing. But the big prize was the large brown bear.
"Look at the size of that thing…" Rose whispered. "It might be twice as big as that moose… and moose are usually larger than cars. So that must be some kind of dire bear or super giant bear or something."
"You sure that's not a player?" Nandy asked quietly. "If it's a player, it may be a lot more difficult to take it down."
"It doesn't matter." Rose smiled. "That's our target. As it is so big, it will have difficulty turning quickly, so use that to your advantage. However, do not run in a straight line as bears are notorious for being able to run in a straight line quickly. Use its big size to our advantage as much as possible."
"Alright," Nandy responded. "Where's the best place to strike?"
"As there is a lot of mass around the neck, you should only go for the neck when it is fully down," Rose answered. "We should probably try to take out its from or back claws first that way it can't move or strike, just like we did with that moose."
"Okay," Nandy stated. "You lead, and I'll follow."
Rose nodded before she crouched down and started to move forward. Nandy was right behind her, though he had a little more trouble staying hidden since he was so big. The bear hadn't taken notice to either of their presence, and kept munching on the fish.
"Stay a little farther back," Rose quietly instructed. "And don't move too fast through the water, as it will make splashes."
Nandy stayed further away as Rose instructed. Rose got closer to the bear.
Rose scanned the target, looking for weak points. Right at the back of knee… but I should wait till Danny moves closer.
Rose could see that Nandy was wading through water, trying to hide most of his body in the water while also trying to get closer. Nandy moved stealthily, quietly, careful not to make a single splash. Nandy was soon close enough to the bear for a surprise strike.
Rose glanced at Nandy before looking at the bear's back left leg, hoping he would understand to strike there.
Nandy waited for Rose to make the first move, since she was the pack leader. Rose would have to initiate the battle.
Rose took a small breath before she quickly ran towards the bear's back right leg, aiming for the back of it's knee. Nandy jumped out of the water and made a beeline for the left back leg. The dire bear gave a surprised growl before both of their teeth sunk into the dire bear's back legs. The dire bear let out a loud roar and began to move around wildly. Rose yipped as she was moved around, and was soon submerged in water, along with Nandy. The dire bear rolled itself into the lake, likely trying to drown both of them. Rose had to let go of the leg, but as soon as she pulled her head above water, the dire bear swung its claws at her. Rose let out a surprised yip as she felt sharp stinging pain on her cheek, though it wasn't as painful as she thought it would be.
We need to get this thing out of the water. Rose thought as she recovered from the counter attack. "Nandy! To shore! Zig zag!"
Nandy hurried towards the shore with Rose, both of them running in zig zags to keep the dire bear from catching them. The dire bear was roaring in anger as it chased them. Both of its back legs were injured, but not enough to stop it from running. Fish were jumping around everywhere, making it a little hard for Rose to see. Nandy grabbed one of the fishes with his mouth and threw it back at the dire bear. The fish ended up slapping the dire bear in the eyes, making it stop to rub its eyes, allowing Rose and Nandy to make it to shore safely.
"Are you okay?" Nandy asked in concern, seeing some blood on Rose's cheek.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Rose assured. "We need to keep our head in the fight right now, we can worry about injuries later. When the bear gets to shore, I'm going to cross over in front of you going to the left, after I pass you, you should go right. We need to take out those back legs, so circle around and attack. We shouldn't latch on but should instead make quick passes at it using our claws or teeth."
"Okay, well better get ready, because here it comes!" Nandy warned.
The dire bear was almost over them, ready to swipe its claws. Rose quickly ran in front of Nandy, going to the left, while Nandy ran to the right. Rose was slightly faster than Nandy, and managed to use her claws to slash the right back leg, however before Nandy could reach the left back leg, he was hit by the claw, sending him back a few feet. Nandy rolled on the ground. The dire bear, seeing that the wolf was down, jumped at him. Nandy quickly rolled away, barely dodging the dire bear's mouth and claws. Nandy clamped his teeth on one of the dire bear's back leg since he managed to roll away, and quickly got back to his feet and ran back after taking out a chunk of flesh from the dire bear's leg.
Rose used the dire bear's attack to her advantage and jumped onto its back, clawing and biting at its spine.
The dire bear, now limping, stumbled back into a tree, smooshing Rose on its back. Nandy rushed in to help, and jumped on its arm, trying to get the dire bear to move off the tree. The dire bear did move, and swung its arm around before smashing Nandy into the ground.
"Nandy! Get up!" Rose shouted, trying to push past the pain of being smooshed against a tree. Rose got back up to her feet and lunged at the dire bear, who was about to swing at Nandy again. "Leave him alone!"
The dire bear, hearing Rose's growling and yipping, turned its attention to her right as she smashed into its face with her whole body. The dire bear and Rose both began falling from that, Rose fell over the bear, and the bear fell on its back. Nandy rolled over onto his stomach, struggling to get back on his feet, seeing the dire bear tipped over. As soon as Nandy was back on his feet, he rushed to the struggling bear and chomped down on the side of its neck. The dire bear screamed out as it moved its arm, trying to get Nandy off.
Rose jumped in the way of the arm, hoping to give Nandy the chance to finish the dire bear off. Rose, however, didn't expect the force of the swing and was sent flying away, hitting a tree not too far away with a bone breaking crunch. Rose let out a cry of pain when she fell from the tree to the ground.
Oh god… I think that was my ribs… Rose groaned as she tried not to writhe in pain.
The dire bear roll around, and managed to grab onto Nandy's body with its claws. Rose heard Nandy give painful whines as the bear attempted to yank Nandy off its neck.
Rose, hearing Nandy's whines, rolled over a little before she began to slowly try to push herself to her feet, ignoring the pain.
Have to… get to Danny… Rose growled to herself as she began to move towards the dire bear and Nandy, despite her broken bones.
Nandy was struggling, he began to rapidly move his paws at the dire bear's face, clawing at its cheeks, almost hitting an eye. The dire bear was still trying to pull Nandy off with its claws sinking deeper into his flesh. Red blood started to bleed down, staining his white fur.
Rose started to pick up some speed, reaching a slow running speed. I'm almost… there!
Nandy didn't look like he was going to be able to hold on much longer. Rose managed to reach the dire bear, while it was distracted by Nandy, and jumped at its face and bit down on the dire bear's nose as hard as she could.
LET! HIM! GO! Rose mentally screamed at the dire bear.
The dire bear let out another scream of pain, letting go of Nandy in favor of grabbing Rose instead. Rose cried, but still kept her teeth locked down, even when she felt sharp claws digging into her back.
I don't care if you gut me! I'm not letting go! Rose growled.
Then suddenly, the dire bear stopped moving. Rose wondered for a second if it went into shock, then the dire bear's claws slowly fell off her, before it fell to the ground. Rose hesitantly let go of the dire bear's nose and looked back at Nandy, seeing that he had a huge chunk of meat in his maw. Looking down, Rose could see an absurd amount of blood gushing out of the dire bear's half torn out neck.
Nicely done… Nandy… Rose thought, her body dropping to the bear's body with a small thud. Crap… my adrenaline… is already wearing off.
Nandy spat out the large chunk of flesh in his mouth and walked over to Rose in concern.
"Good job…" Rose softly said, finding it a bit hard to breath due to her broken ribs.
"Yeah… you too," Nandy softly replied before he gently pushed her off the bear's body.
"Ah! Please don't!" Rose cried out.
"Sorry," Nandy apologized before he sat down.
"Ribs are broken…" Rose informed.
Nandy held up a paw, seeming to open a menu. "Your HP is pretty low. You can bring it back up by eating the dire bear, or I guess going to sleep and waking up back in the real… err… not-mini-game KinkQuest works too."
"Hold some meat… above my mouth…" Rose responded. I'm not going to go on a hunt and not reap the rewards.
"Oh, heh, okay," Nandy chuckled before he got a mawful of meat and held it over her mouth.
Rose moved her maw up a little before she took a bite of the meat.
When Rose managed to swallow the meat, she felt herself getting better. Her ripped flesh started to mend.
"Glad this is a video game…" Rose chuckled a little before she took the rest of the meat and started chewing.
"Yeah, no kidding," Nandy agreed. "My back is killing me. Feral animals really have it tough."
Nandy went to go eat some of the meat himself as Rose worked on the one she was eating. When Rose felt her rib bones mending, she ate faster. When Rose felt better enough to stand, she went over to the dire bear's body to eat the rest of it along with Nandy. By the time they were finished, both of their HP had been fully restored.
"We've probably levelled up a lot," Rose commented before she gave a yawn and laid down. "What'd you think about that hunt?"
"Definitely a challenge, could've wiped us both out if we hadn't worked together. We might want to go after something a little easier next time though, I rather not go after a dinosaur next and get snapped in half by a T-rex's jaws," Nandy chuckled a little. "And yes, there are actually dinosaurs roaming around."
"I was thinking a mammoth next time~" Rose giggled, glancing up at Nandy to see his reaction.
"... No. Not until we're at least level 50," Nandy deadpanned.
"I was kidding, Nandy." Rose shook her head before giving another yawn. "Next time we might just explore, hunt something light, and maybe recruit someone else to our pack."
"Yeah, good idea. The more we have in our pack, the better our chances of survival are," Nandy agreed before he yawned himself. "I guess we should sleep and head back to our playdate. There's still that third part we have to do."
"Right… the dominating thing…" Rose remembered. "I think you should try to dominate me. Like I said earlier, I won't give you a super big fight, but at the same time, I'm not going to make it look like I put up no fight at all."
"Ugh, whatever. I just want this playdate over with as quickly as possible," Nandy growled. "I don't know what Raven was thinking when she signed us up for this."
"She wanted to help bring out your inner Dominant," Rose responded. "You and I both know it exists within you and you had fun the other day ordering me around."
"Don't remind me of that," Nandy grumbled, his ears lowered. "I wasn't sure what came over me that day. I don't think I enjoy it though. I mean in the moment, I did, but it just didn't really seem like something I would do."
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"I just mean normally I wouldn't just try to control someone like that if given the chance. So I couldn't believe myself when I actually did that to you," Nandy explained.
"Nandy, just because you've acted a certain way your whole life doesn't mean it's not right for you to want to be able to act another way," Rose remarked. "I mean… most of my life I've been entirely helpless… and I wanted to come into this game and have control… but I've just gotten more helplessness… But with you, you have a chance to fulfill a desire you may have had. Perhaps in real life you get pushed around a lot, feel like you can't talk back otherwise you'll get hurt or something. That might lead you to have a desire to want to be in control, be the Dominant instead of the Submissive."
"Wait…" Nandy frowned a little. "Then what about you? Didn't you say you came into this game to have control? Wouldn't me trying to dominate you be the opposite of what you wanted? Did you… want to be a Dominant player?"
"I… would've preferred it, yeah," Rose answered. "But right now that doesn't matter. You actually have a chance to become a Dominant, meanwhile Raven tricked me and sent me on a fool's errand knowing I wouldn't succeed. That's why I think you should be the one to dominate me, because you can actually become a Dominant if you try hard enough."
"I see…" Nandy looked away for a moment, though Rose could tell that he was thinking. "Rose, I hope you don't mind, but I've decided that I'll help you."
"What?" Rose questioned.
"I'll help remove Raven's mark from you," Nandy clarified.
"How… do you plan to do that?" Rose raised a brow.
"Well, like I told you before, a Dominant's mark can be removed if the Dominant either gives them up to a market, or if another Dominant remove the mark themselves, by dominating the owner," Nandy explained. "I can't help you much as a Submissive player. But maybe… if I become a Dominant, I can challenge Raven for dominance. If I manage to dominate Raven, then all her pets and belonging will go to me. I can release you then."
"You… would challenge Raven…?" Rose questioned, a bit surprised. Danny challenging Sam…? Would he really?
"Yeah, of course. I'm not saying it will be easy, but I want to help you get control of your life, at least in KinkQuest, and the best way to do that without making you get a new account, is to dominate Raven myself. I doubt she would ever let you go herself," Nandy stated.
Rose gave a soft smile at that. "You'd really do that for me? Despite the fact I made you get a new owner and kinda forced you to go through 'Dominant Training'?"
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I?" Nandy asked like it was a legitimate question. "I mean you're my friend, and this wasn't what you wanted when you logged into KinkQuest. I don't think it's fair to force you into being a Submissive when you wanted to be a Dominant. Regardless of what Raven may think or say, I think you should be free to choose how you want to play this game."
Heh… I wonder if this is one of the reasons Echo admires Danny. Rose chuckled to herself before she smiled. "Well, if you're serious, then you will need to dominate me in our third part of the playdate. You don't have to hold anything back. Perhaps you can act upset that I recruited you to the pack instead of you recruiting me and 'use that motivation' to dominate me. That way Ken and Raven will believe it wasn't just spur of the moment."
"Heh… well, if you're sure, we'll give them one heck of a show then," Nandy responded as Rose stood up.
The two of them walked towards the lake before laying down. Both of them found the lake to be peaceful, serene, and calming. Rose snuggled up to Nandy's fur like before.
"We should sleep and log out of the mini-game now," Rose stated. "Oh, before we do, how much do you want me to fight?"
Nandy gave a yawn. "Fight however you like. I do have to test my own dominant skills as well to make sure I'll be ready for Raven."
"Do you want me to give you the same fight I give to Raven?" Rose asked.
"Heh, well as Ken said, you might 'eat me alive', but I'll take that challenge. If I can't handle you, I'll never be able to handle Raven," Nandy answered.
Rose gave a small nod, snuggling into Nandy's side more. "You know… you make for a good bed."
"Must be all that fur," Nandy chuckled. "At least you make for a good blanket."
Both canine animals cuddled as they fell asleep and let themselves drift back to their original avatars.
When Rose opened her eyes again, she saw Ken and Raven looking at them.
"Hey, welcome back you two~" Raven greeted.
"How long were we asleep…?" Rose asked with a yawn before looking around. Aurora, how many level did I get? Cause I formed a pack and I helped defeat a dire bear.
"You two were asleep for about an hour," Ken answered.
"You've gained about 4 levels," Aurora informed.
Heh… so I'm power levelling… Rose chuckled to herself. Level 7 now.
Nandy let out a yawn before stretching himself like a dog. "Well, that was a good nap."
"You ready to move onto the last part of the playdate, Nandy?" Ken asked as Nandy sat up.
"The last part, huh? The one where we're supposed to dominate each other?" Nandy questioned.
"That's the one," Ken confirmed.
Nandy and Rose looked at each other, before they both turned to Ken and Raven and nodded.
"Might as well get it over with," Nandy sighed.
"Is there anything specific we're supposed to do?" Rose inquired. "Or is it simply try to make the other one submit to you?"
"I don't suppose there's a way for the Subs to get out of this, is there?" Nandy asked.
"Only if the Dominant owner allows them to pass it. But we want both of you to go through with it," Raven answered. "Meaning that the Playdate won't be over until one of you submits to the other. And the other actually has to try to get you to submit, otherwise it won't count."
Rose looked at Nandy. "Umm… submit to me?" Heh, if only it were that easy.
"You don't just ask them to submit to you," Ken sighed.
"Perhaps we should leave them alone to… deal with it," Raven suggested with a wink. "We can watch from the other side."
"I… honestly have no idea on how to dominate someone," Rose informed.
"Maybe you should've thought of that before submitting me to Ken back at the market," Nandy commented.
"Hey, I was giving you a chance I felt you could use," Rose argued. "I could tell just by looking at you that you weren't cut out to be a Submissive."
"How could you tell from just looking at me?" Nandy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm a human player, something that's often dominated by other species of players."
"There was a look in your eye, an… animal of power just waiting to get out," Rose answered. "As an anthro in real life, I could tell."
"Cheesy," Nandy stated. "Well, since we're in this mess, I might as well give it a shot."
"Give… what a shot?" Rose raised a brow, even though she knew this was all just part of the act. Hopefully he doesn't forget the part of me making him join my pack as part of his motivation.
"To dominate you," Nandy answered simply.
Rose gave a frown before she stood up, taking a few steps away from Nandy. "That's not necessary… in fact, how about we just make a truce to not dominate one another?"
"Then we'll never be able to get out of here," Nandy pointed out.
"Ken and Raven would get bored eventually and would cancel the playdate," Rose reasoned.
Nandy looked at Rose for a moment, seeming to be studying her. "How long do you think you can last? Look at how expanded your diaper's gotten. I think that dream may have made you filled it."
Rose blushed. "It did not… my… the diaper was already this full…" Rose whined a little at that last bit. Did you really need to start with the diaper…? "I can last… as long as I need to."
"Are you sure about that?" Nandy asked as Rose felt her stomach grumbling. "I can hear your stomach from all the way here."
"It's… just my stomach digesting the treats from before… nothing else…" Rose replied sheepishly.
"Right, right… so how did you like those outfits you were wearing during the first game?" Nandy asked. "The ones that came on you whenever you got a kink wrong?"
"Umm… they were… strange…" Rose responded, taking another few nervous steps back from Nandy. "I would never choose to wear them of my own accord…"
"Hmmm, interesting." Nandy gave a playful looking smile. "I kind of liked seeing you wear that latex suit. The sounds you made when you moved was quite amusing."
"You were the one wearing latex…" Rose reminded, looking down at the ground in feigned embarrassment. "I was wearing that stupid frilly princessy dress and the leather hood, the blindfold, and those really annoyingly loud plastic pants…"
"You looked like a cute princess in that dress," Nandy chuckled before bringing up a menu. "It looks like all your kink outfit items went to my inventory since I won that game."
"Uh… cool…?" Rose responded. "I guess you can have fun with those items…"
Nandy selected an item, then Rose suddenly found herself wearing the frilly princess dress.
"W-what?! How?" Rose questioned. "You shouldn't be able to equip things to me! You're a Sub, not a Dom!"
"I guess you didn't know. In this part of the Playdate, we Subs gain a temporary status of Doms, that's why we're allowed to dominate each other," Nandy explained.
"Wait, really?" Rose opened up her menu, acting like she was hoping to have some kind of item to put on Nandy.
Rose suddenly had thick leather mittens on her hands, making her unable to choose her options.
"Hey! Not fair!" Rose growled as her menu automatically closed.
Nandy hesitated a little, before shaking his head. "You should never open your menu in front of another Dom, it leaves you vulnerable. That's what Ken taught me anyways."
"Well I'm sorry I have had absolutely no training on this game!" Rose shouted. "You know more about the game than I do, so I'm at a severe disadvantage. The only thing I can think to do to win this is possibly threaten your life and make you submit. So stop this right now, or else I'll show you that I'm not just a beast in that minigame."
"Rose, don't give me that baloney. I understand that you're still new to the game, but threatening the player and screaming at them will just make you more of a target than ever before," Nandy started.
"I doubt pleading would work with you." Rose hissed before she started to walk towards Nandy, a scowl on her face. "And it wasn't a threat, it was a promise, a guarantee."
"You also have a chance to learn the rules, to ask your fairy, and learn to adapt to the situation instead of crying that you didn't know," Nandy continued. "If you were to be out in the wild, and you got pinned by a predator, do you think crying that you didn't know the rules would make it let you go? Of course not, you're easy prey as far as it's concerned."
I don't actually mean this, Aurora, it's simply part of an act I'm putting on. Rose silently informed before she growled again. "I'm not crying, and I wouldn't hesitate to attack it back. Also, I can't ask my fairy a thing because she's the least helpful being that I've met in this entire game!" Again, Aurora, don't actually mean it.
"I understand, Rose,"Aurora stated.
"See? She takes an insult and accepts it like it was just a random comment!" Rose continued before she got close to Nandy and pushed him with her mittened hands. "And I will warn you right now, I'm not easy prey. If these mittens weren't here, I probably would've punched you. And I can still hurt you without having access to my hands."
"Watch it, Rose, you're not the only dangerous one here," Nandy warned calmly.
"What's a human going to do about it?!" Rose venomously asked before she pushed Nandy again.
Rose suddenly saw a flash of red in front of her. Rose looked at it, wondering what it was, she looked up, seeing that the odd red light was flying higher in the room. Then suddenly, Rose was on her squishy, thick diaper, her hands and feet being tied up by some rope.
Rose began to pull against the rope, hoping to get some slack in it before they finished tying her up.
"This won't stop me!" Rose snapped as she managed to get some slack in the rope.
"They're not meant to stop you, only slow you down," Nandy responded, suddenly behind her.
Rose tried to nip at him, but he already backed away before she could get him.
"Can't fight me face on, huh?" Rose scoffed. "That is totally a human thing to do, use cheap tactics instead of fighting head on."
"It'd be foolish for a human to fight someone with teeth and claws head on," Nandy replied, walking around Rose.
Rose leaned forward, looking like she was going to bite at Nandy, but instead she kept going forward until she was biting at the rope, working to free herself.
"Why don't you just make it easier for the both of us and stand down?" Nandy suggested.
"Never!" Rose growled from around the rope, which was getting thinner and thinner by the second.
Finally, Rose got herself free from the rope, and launched herself at Nandy. Nandy, having been watching her, reacted quickly and quickly clamped her maw shut, trying to keep her from biting him. Nandy had experience with fighting animals before it seemed.
Rose smirked before she kept pushing, pushing Nandy off balance before tackling him to the ground with Rose sitting on top of him. "Who's the easy prey now?"
Rose then heard squishing sounds coming from her diaper. Nandy was messing with her diaper, and she felt a sudden pleasure feeling as he did.
"Does that feel good?~" Nandy asked.
Rose whined. "S-stop it! Stop it now or I'll tear your throat out!"
"Awww, come on, I know you're enjoying this~" Nandy responded, continuing to mess with her diaper.
Rose hissed as she lowered herself to Nandy. Nandy grabbed her mouth shut again before pushing her over from the sudden attack. Rose and Nandy rolled around the room they were in, hitting a wall. Rose had some trouble moving around in the super frilly dress.
"Durnit…" Rose growled around Nandy's hand as she tried to bend in a way that would let her tear the dress with the claws on her feet.
Nandy pushed her back a little when she tried to bend herself, making her lose her balance. Nandy fell on top of Rose, and he quickly opened his menu with his free hand to select something. Rose was about to push Nandy off when Nandy suddenly let go of her maw. A pacifier gag appeared strapped around and in her maw.
Rose shook her head, and tried to grab at her pacifier gag with her mittens.
"You're right in saying that I'm just a human, so I'm not as physically strong as most other anthro or chienthrope players," Nandy stated, standing up. "So I have to rely a bit on the outfits to help restrain you."
Rose glared at Nandy before she used a bit of her agility to flip herself back to her feet. She then charged at Nandy again. This time, instead of tackling Nandy, Rose quickly brought her head forward, headbutting Nandy hard, as hard as she could manage.
Nandy rolled over on some beanie bags. Rose could see Nandy lost quite a bit of HP from that. Rose frowned when she looked at Nandy's level. Nandy's level was still at 2.
Has he not been gaining XP from the hunt? Rose frowned to herself. How much of his HP is left? I hope I didn't hurt him too much…
"He is in the process of turning from Submissive to Dominant, during this time, a player's XP is withheld from them, until they complete their faction switch," Aurora explained.
Thanks for the info, Aurora. Rose gratefully stated before she managed to bring up one foot to the dress, digging her claws in it to try and rip it off her. I actually hate dresses, so I hope I destroy this thing.
Despite the level disadvantage, however, Nandy refused to give up. Nandy got to his feet, and took something out from his inventory. Rose's eyes turned to the thing Nandy was holding as she pulled down with her foot. The dress was partially ripped, the bottom half tearing off while the upper half remained. Nandy was holding some kind of red stick with pink fire glowing at the tip of it. The fire was so unusually colored that Rose couldn't take her eyes off it.
Aurora… what is that…? Rose mumbled as she stared at the stick and the flames.
"That is a rose flame," Aurora answered.
What does it do…? Rose asked more clearly.
"It makes anything it burns smell like roses, and it also distracts canine and feline-like players," Aurora replied.
But… I'm a vulpine… Rose remarked. That's… not the same as canine.
Rose then suddenly noticed that Nandy wasn't even holding the stick anymore, the stick was on the floor.
That sudden realization allowed Rose to break eye contact from the stick. She wrapped her tail quickly, hearing footsteps coming behind her, and heard a yelp from Nandy, who had been trying to sneak up behind her.
Rose turned her head before locking eyes with Nandy. If my mouth was free, I would tell you to never sneak up on a fox~
Rose concentrated on tightening her tails around Nandy.
Nandy grunted as Rose began to squeeze him, he began to struggle his arms a bit. Nandy's HP slowly started to drop with each squeeze.
I'm not ticklish on my tails~ Rose inwardly chuckled. But perhaps I should act like it is…
Rose started to laugh, loosening up her tails as Nandy struggled with his arms. When Rose allowed Nandy to get his arms out, Nandy touched her tails a little, but didn't seem to be trying to tickle her.
What is he doing…? Rose pondered as she allowed her laughing to settle down a little as Nandy wasn't moving his hand.
Nandy rested his head against the fur of Rose's tails, and closed his eyes, seeming to relax.
Uhh… Aurora, do you have any idea what he's doing? Rose questioned.
"I believe you've made him sleepy, Rose," Aurora guessed.
Does… that mean… I won…? Rose hesitantly inquired, worried she had screwed up and beat Nandy.
When Nandy's body relaxed, he suddenly slipped from her loosened tails. Nandy then grabbed onto her back, making her yelp around the pacifier gag and buck instinctively, which caused one of her feet to nail him in the face. Despite that, Nandy held onto her back, his HP getting towards critical.
Rose tried to shake Nandy off her. Nandy was crawling up to her neck, and was struggling to do something. Rose then felt hands grabbing onto her collar, and she froze when the hands pulled.
Let me guess… the collar makes a Submissive freeze if it is tugged? Rose asked Aurora.
"It can. Though it is also because the temporary Dominant is on your back, you are now treated like a land mount," Aurora stated.
I see… Rose thought with a smile before she began to buck again. Not going to give up without a fight! I haven't been tamed yet!
Nandy kept a firm grip on Rose's collar, though a bit of his hands was starting to grab onto her fur. No reigns, keeping a tight hold on her is going to be tough without ripping her fur out...
Rose kept bucking and began to move from side to side, trying to roll him off. Nandy tightened his legs on Rose's sides, trying his best to stay on her for as long as he could. I promised to free her, I promised to Dominate her, telling her to give me her best shot. If I can't handle her, I'll never be able to handle Raven. I won't give up, I promise I won't. I'll keep fighting until the end.
After a few minutes of bucking, Rose began to slow down as she was getting tired.
Rose noted that her energy level was getting low, Nandy noticed this as well. His own energy level was much lower than Rose's though, being at a much lower level gave him a disadvantage.
Rose thankfully noted Nandy's tiredness as well and began to slow down even more. After one more minute of weak bucking, Rose collapsed forwards onto the ground. Both Nandy and Rose were panting, trying to catch their breath. Nandy, who had been lying on Rose when she collapsed, slowly pushed himself up, and started to gently stroke Rose's neck.
Rose was still panting as it was taking longer for her to catch her breath from around the pacifier gag.
Nandy looked down at Rose for a moment, before looking up at Ken and Raven, who were watching through the glass from another room. Nandy sighed before he got off of Rose.
I guess it's time to finish this playdate. Nandy thought to himself as he looked down at Rose.
"I'm going to take the gag off you, but no biting me, or I will put it back on," Nandy warned.
Rose didn't move.
Nandy took the pacifier gag, and undid the straps before he popped it out of Rose's mouth.
Rose continued to just lay there, panting heavily. "What… now? You… gonna… gloat…?"
"Why would I do that?" Nandy frowned. "You put up quite a fight back there… I'm sure if you wanted, you could've easily outlasted me back there."
"I doubt that…" Rose sighed.
Raven and Ken walked into the room, both of them clapping their hands. Nandy dropped to his butt as soon as they walked in, looking ready to pass out.
"Does… this mean the playdate is over now?" Nandy asked hopefully.
"Not just yet~" Ken smirked. "There is one thing left."
Nandy groaned. "What is it?"
"You have to put a mark on Rose," Raven answered. "A sign that she was dominated on your playdate."
"I'm… supposed to put a mark on her?" Nandy asked, surprised at that.
"Yup, it's one of the steps to becoming a Dominant," Ken informed. "You have to win the last part of a playdate and mark the Submissive you defeated."
Nandy looked at Rose, who just looked tired. "How… do I mark her?"
"Well, first you need to create your mark," Ken answered. "Imagine what you want your mark to be, and make sure not to mess it up as its expensive to redesign your mark later on. This will be the same mark you will have once you are a Dominant, your personal mark."
Nandy gave it some thought before nodding. "Okay, what do I do once I have the design down?"
"Reach forward towards the part on Rose's body you want the mark, imagine the color you want it as, as well as how bright it is and if it glows, and then imagine the mark appearing or being imprinted onto that part of Rose," Ken explained.
Rose gave a soft whine. "Why does that sound like it's going to be a mark of shame for me…?"
"Because it's a mark of your defeat," Raven remarked.
"Great…" Rose muttered softly, sounding so defeated.
Nandy couldn't help but feel a little guilty for Rose's predicament. "I mean… I could just put the mark somewhere where people won't see it much."
Ken shook his head. "It has to be somewhere visible. And it can't be hidden by clothes. All marks on Submissives are visible through their clothes."
Nandy sighed before looking at Rose, giving her a silent apology before he walked over to her, looking for where to put the mark. After a minute of deciding, Nandy reached down and placed his hand on Rose's neck, above her collar. Nandy imagined the color and design for the mark, allowing the magic flow through his arm and onto his hand. Rose's neck glowed for a moment before Nandy removed his hand.
The mark was a pink rose. Though upon closer look, one could see the rose itself was actually a pink crystal in the shape of a rose.
"Oh? Is…" Raven leaned in. "Huh, looks like I missed out."
"What?" Ken asked.
"Wolfy has a crystal mark," Raven informed with an impressed expression.
"So…?" Nandy asked, raising an eyebrow. "It was the design I chose for the mark."
"Yeah, a design is one thing, but an actual crystalline shine is completely different," Raven stated.
Nandy blinked before shaking his head. He walked to Rose's side before plopping down next to her, resting his head against her soft fur.
"I think I've had about all I can take for KQ today," Nandy sighed tiredly. "I'll be logging off for now, let the avatar rest."
"You want to log off here? In the playroom?" Ken asked. "It would be smarter if you logged off in my room upstairs, that way your avatar isn't left in a public room where any Dom could do anything to your sleeping avatar."
"Fine, but you have to carry me. My energy meter is so low I can barely stand," Nandy replied. "Not to mention my HP is pretty low as well."
"Fine, fine, it's the least I can do for winning the playdate," Ken chuckled as he walked over and picked Nandy up.
Rose lay there tiredly as Ken carried Nandy out of the room, leaving her with Raven.
"I take it you're disappointed that I lost…?" Rose softly asked, remembering they still had to talk about her outburst earlier.
"Are you kidding? That was amazing!" Raven all but cheered loudly. "I thought you might've dominated him, but boy was I taken by surprise when he actually won in the end!"
"So you were hoping he would win…" Rose quietly surmised, turning her head away from Raven.
Raven let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. But if you had won, you would've started the progress of becoming a Dom, and that would've brought Nandy back to square 1, not to mention I'd rather keep you as my Sub pet. And… I understand that you're not used to playing games, but that's why we have player guides."
"'Not used to'..." Rose scoffed. "That's a bit of an exaggeration as this is the first game I've ever played. I've literally never played video games before. I had no idea about player guides, I don't know what questions to ask… though now I'm just repeating myself from earlier… You still have yet to punish me for that outburst of mine, and I'm pretty much expecting it."
"Oh, you'll get your punishment," Raven promised. "But for now, let's get you back to my room. Your energy level is low, and I'd rather you didn't fall asleep on me in the playdate room."
"I doubt I'll be able to walk there," Rose remarked. "Not just because of my low energy but because this diaper is making it hard to move with how big it's gotten…" Rose instinctively whined a little at the end of that.
"Not a problem~" Raven let out a loud whistle.
Rose blinked before a raptor came into the room. The raptor had Raven's mark on its neck, and had a saddle on its back, as well as reins on its face.
"That's… not an anthro… or a chienthrope…" Rose observed. "Just… what is it? Is it a player? Or an… uh… NPC?"
"It's an NPC, one of the possible land mounts you could find and tame in the world," Raven answered. "One of the more intelligent AI NPCs, raptors are hard to find, hard to tame, but are fast and very effective hunters. They are one of the fastest land mounts you could find in the game, non-player-wise," Raven explained.
The raptor let out a small hiss.
"Good girl, Delta," Raven complimented the raptor. "Help me get this kitsune on your back, and take her to my room."
The raptor Raven named 'Delta', let out a small roar. Rose felt Raven picking her up, along with Delta's nose pushing her up. Rose soon slid onto the saddle. Rose gripped onto the reins before Delta turned, moving out of the playdate room and down the hallway. Rose was surprised at how fast the raptor was going, she wasn't even near her top speed, she was just walking.
"Wow… you're fast…" Rose chuckled.
Delta responded with a snort. It didn't take her long to reach Raven's door, where Delta managed to open the door on her own, taking Rose inside.
"I take it you can't speak?" Rose guessed.
Delta just let out a hiss of acknowledgement before stopping near the couch. Delta had Rose slide off her and onto the couch.
"Thank you…" Rose said after she plopped onto the couch.
Delta gave another hiss before she walked away somewhere, Rose couldn't see where she went. She just wanted to relax on the couch.
Need to stay awake… Rose thought to herself. I… still need to have that conversation with Raven…
After a few minutes had passed, which actually felt like an eternity for Rose, the door opened. Raven walked inside.
"So… punishment first? Or scolding…?" Rose asked, having a feeling she would be paying harshly for her outburst. Perhaps she'll go so far as to torture me and get me to near death…
"What I want to know first is… are you being well cared for in real life?" Raven asked. "You made it sound like you didn't have much, and struggling just to put food on the plate."
Rose frowned. "What do you mean by well cared for…?"
"You said you've lived your life in poverty," Raven pointed out.
"Yeah… in fact I've never really had money before…" Rose sighed. "This game? The VR helmet that came with it? That wasn't bought with my own money. It was given to me by a goddess of kinks who has always tried to keep an eye out for me."
"So is that why you're here? To try out the game?" Raven asked.
"No," Rose answered. "I'm here because the goddess requested I try it out from time to time to try and help me feel better. She thought it would be a great way to step back from the real world."
"Okay… but are you able to eat?" Raven asked again in concern.
Rose hesitated. "Yes."
"How much exactly?" Raven questioned.
Rose frowned a little. "Enough to survive."
Raven frowned more before she crossed her arms. "I see…"
"I'll be honest, in real life I'm… pretty skinny," Rose informed. "Not like regular skinny, but underweight."
"Would you like to tell me who you are and where you live in real life then? Maybe I can help send food to you on a daily basis," Raven suggested.
Rose shook her head. "I can't. I don't really live anywhere specific. I'm constantly moving around from place to place in order to stay… alive."
"I see… is this goddess the only one taking somewhat care of you? Isn't there anyone else helping you?" Raven asked hopefully.
"The goddess is the only one," Rose replied. "I take it your second question was politely asking if I had any family, which I don't. Don't know who my parents were, I have no siblings from what I can remember. Besides the goddess… I've really only had acquaintances, and even those have only helped me so much before I've had to move on to stay alive."
"Are you sure you should be here then?" Raven frowned.
"What do you mean?" Rose raised a brow. "I'm here because the goddess requested I come here to try and relax. I've… admittedly had some relaxing moments, like the mini game Nandy and I played. It's definitely nice to take a break from running, begging, and stealing to survive."
"I guess…" Raven sighed. "I'm going to log off, I have some things I need to think about."
"I take it you're going to try and track down who I am and where I logged in from?" Rose guessed with a chuckle. "I get the feeling you aren't the type to let things go easily."
"You'd be right," Raven answered. "But I won't punish you this time. Real life things don't deserve punishments. But in game, you're still mine, never forget that."
"Really?" Rose raised a brow. "You… aren't going to punish me for… all that?"
"Nope," Raven confirmed. "However, next time you log in, I will try and teach you the basics of gaming. What questions to ask, what basic knowledge most people should know in this world is. And perhaps since you're level 7 now, we can look into upgrading your fairy guide a little."
"You… would do all that for me?" Rose asked, legitimately shocked. "A Submissive pet who has only been a headache?"
"It doesn't matter what faction you are in, you're still a real life person who needs help, and I'm willing to give it," Raven answered firmly. "But for now, I'm going to log off. If I don't soon, my parents are going to drive me up the wall again. You should log off soon too, let your avatar rest and perhaps you get some rest yourself."
Rose smiled and nodded. "I'll do that. Again, I'm sorry for my outburst earlier. I guess I've been bottling up my emotions for a long time."
"Maybe you can find someone to talk to, and be able to vent to them. Heavens know what bottling up your emotions could do to you in the long run," Raven suggested before she laid down in her bed. "Hopefully I'll see you again soon."
"Before you go…" Rose chuckled as she held up her still mittened hands. "Could you remove these mittens so I can log out?"
Raven looked at Rose for a moment before chuckling. "You can open the menu with your voice. The devs wouldn't make it so the Sub can't leave if they're mittened. If your mouth is gagged, then your thoughts will let you use the menu to log out."
"Ooh… thanks…" Rose blushed putting down her hands. "Open menu."
The menu appeared in front of her.
See you next time, Aurora. Rose thought before she looked at the list. "Log out."
Juliette opened her eyes and removed the VR helmet from her head. To her surprise, other than the voices downstairs from the Guys in White, it was quiet. No Anise, no Echo, it was just Juliette.
I'll need to ask Anise to find a way for me to hide my information from 'Raven'. Juliette thought to herself as she sat up. If I don't have a way to hide my info, Sam will find out that Rose is Juliette Rosescale.
Juliette then noticed her diaper was warm and damp, and that it was squishy.
Juliette gave a frown. "Is this game causing me to lose control of my bodily functions or something…?"
Juliette was really glad that Echo wasn't there right now, or Anise for that matter.
Where is Echo though…? Juliette thought as she got up and walked towards the bathroom, planning to take a shower after taking off the diaper. And hopefully if the game is making me lose control of my bodily functions, it's only when I'm actually playing the game. I would hate to have to relearn potty training because a game is making me use diapers.
Meanwhile, with Echo~
Echo never knew what true stress felt like until now, or perhaps he only thought he felt stress. Echo wasn't entirely convinced he had true emotions like the living and the dead did, but he was starting to get a good idea what stress felt like. Echo was thankful he didn't have any blood flowing, or he was sure his blood pressure would be high right now.
"Why does something always have to tip the scale into an unpredictable future?" Echo groaned as he looked at Mr. Lancer speaking to Mr. Carbon, or Tom as he preferred to be called.
"A way to actually explore someone's mind through virtual reality?" Mr. Lancer asked, looking at the helmets in a box that Tom had brought. "Are you sure that's safe?"
"This is the same technology that is being used for the KinkQuest game," Tom assured. "There are safeguards in place to keep one's mind from being altered and make sure the users stay safe at all times."
"It's been tested before?" Mr. Lancer inquired, wanting to be absolutely sure it was safe before he even considered using the helmets one day for a class education.
"Yes," Tom answered. "This program was invented and tested by the geniuses over at MIT."
"I see…" Mr. Lancer was already getting an idea, an idea that Echo did not like one little bit. "These may come in handy after all then."
"Oh? How do you plan on using them?" Tom asked. "Because I have to give authorization before the programmed helmets can be used for any classes."
"I don't plan on using them yet, but it's just a consideration for the future," Mr. Lancer clarified.
Echo saw the visions of that future. There were several different ones though. There were ones where Mr. Lancer had the class go into Juliette's mind, and people saw memories of her running from Void Creatures, and meeting him. That was something that greatly concerned Echo, as he preferred keeping his existence a secret, because he didn't truly exist. Another path showed Mr. Lancer putting the master helmet on a few other students as a demonstration, like Mikey, Tucker, or even Jazz. There was an unlikely path where it would be Paulina or Dash instead, due to their odd depression about something.
Then, Echo saw the most worrying possibility, one where Mr. Lancer put the master helmet onto Danny. That one had the highest percent chance of happening, and also a future where the classmates would find out Danny's secret. There were a few paths where they, miraculously, didn't, but those were very unlikely paths. Echo could see the visions of Danny's classmates being guided by another Danny with white hair and green eyes, looking further into the future, Echo could see that this guide was actually Danny's ghost half Phantom, yet nobody who wasn't in the know could figure this out until near the end of their little field trip. What puzzled Echo about the whole experience was how calm Phantom was about it all, despite his secret being blown, it was almost as if he wanted it to happen. Phantom knew what to do, where to go, how to handle situations, he was in an environment that he existed to protect and live in.
Echo briefly wondered why he and Juliette hadn't met with Phantom during the times they were in Danny's mind. It was unlikely that Phantom didn't know they were there, as Phantom knew everything that was going on in Danny's mind, according to Echo's visions. Echo decided that it wasn't important to think about right now, what was important was preventing the futures of the class going into Danny or Juliette's minds altogether.
"Now how do I stop this kind of future? I can't just ask Juliette to destroy or hide these helmets. She'd be sent to detention and sent to therapy for destructive behavior… or perhaps even suspended and sent to juvie for a little…" Echo frowned, trying to figure this out. "I might have to get Anise involved… that is, if she's willing to help…"
Echo frowned more when he saw Anise either not helping, or she made things worse by deciding to use the helmets herself. Echo shook his head, deciding it was best not to involve a goddess of kinks with something like helmets that takes people into other people's minds.
"I wish I could write all this down," Echo grumbled. "Even Void Walkers have faulty memories…"
"You want to write something down?~"
Echo jumped when he heard the sudden voice, spinning around to see Andrea floating there in her ghost form.
"A-Andrea?" Echo blinked. "When did you get here?"
"At the start of your sentence about wishing to write stuff down," Andrea answered. "And if that's the case, I may have a solution."
"A solution? To being able to write stuff?" Echo questioned. "How? We can't touch pen or pencil, or even paper."
Andrea smirked before her hands started to glow white. "Give me just a moment~"
Echo watched as Andrea created a white ecto ray in the palm of her hand, then it changed into the shape of a gray pen.
"Did… did you just make a pen with your ghost ray?" Echo blinked, staring at the pen.
"Yup, now take it while I make you a notepad," Andrea responded before she tossed the pen towards Echo.
Echo yelped as he caught the pen. "... huh… it doesn't hurt."
"Of course it doesn't," Andrea chuckled. "I refined the ghost ray so it wouldn't continuously give off energy. It's a bit weird, I know, and I think it only works in the Void. But that pen is now actually a regular pen. I think it may have to do with the whole 'things that should've existed end up here' stuff you were talking about."
"... Jeez, thinking about how things work in the Void can make your head hurt," Echo sighed.
"I think it's mostly that if I was alive, that would've created an ecto pen, but it came here as a regular pen… somehow," Andrea explained with a shrug before she created a notepad. "The pen will write in black and the pages are white, so it works. And I know because I've tested it before… for reasons."
"What reasons?" Echo raised a brow.
"Well…" Andrea looked away. "Mainly to write down my journeys with Danielle. I… kinda like keeping a record of where we've gone and what we've done."
"Heh… I can understand that. There are times I wish I could've wrote down some of the stuff Danny did," Echo admitted.
"If you'd like, I could teach you how to do what I did," Andrea offered. "It's a ghost power anyone could develop with enough work."
"Yeah, I'm likely going to need more paper eventually," Echo sheepishly stated.
"For now you can use what I gave you for whatever you wanted to write down," Andrea responded.
"Thanks, Andrea." Echo smiled before realizing something. "Wait, if you're here, does that mean Danielle is in town too? Didn't she just leave last weekend?"
"Yeah, but she kinda forgot some supplies." Andrea laughed.
"Of course she did," Echo chuckled. "Thanks again, Andrea. I might be able to prevent a very… awkward future later."
"Oh?" Andrea raised a brow. "What kind of future are we talking about?"
"Mind adventures, and that Danny apparently has his ghost half monitoring his mind," Echo replied. "Did you know that? I wonder if Danielle has her own ghost half governing her mind too…"
"She probably does," Andrea replied. "And those mind adventures sound intriguing."
"They are, but they're also dangerous." Echo frowned. "I don't know what variable caused the scales to tip into this future, but I need to prevent it somehow. But my ideas were too chaotic, that's why I needed to write them down."
"What ideas have you had so far?" Andrea questioned. "I might be able to help."
"My first idea was to get Juliette to do something about those helmets, but all of those ideas would just get her sent to detention, therapy, suspension, juvie, and whatever else that she could get sent to," Echo sighed. "My second thought was having Anise, a goddess of kink, to do something about those helmets. But… if she finds out about them, there's a high chance she'll use those helmets herself at some point."
"Are the helmets already at the location of your vision?" Andrea inquired. "Is there any time to intercept them before they arrive at the location?"
"The helmets are currently sitting in a box on Mr. Lancer's desk," Echo pointed before he began to write down his visions into the notebook. "Mr. Carbon will send for more though, since Mr. Lancer only has two helmets and a master helmet."
"Do you know when this would happen?" Andrea asked.
"I can't get an exact date, because Mr. Lancer currently doesn't know when he'll use them," Echo sighed.
"Perhaps the solution might not have to do with the actual helmets themselves," Andrea suggested. "Is it possible to wipe all data from the helmets, rendering them useless, without being caught? Or… do they need to be charged? If they need to be charged, perhaps the charge cables could go missing or get damaged."
Echo started writing down Andrea's suggestions. "I'll need some time to study these timelines to make sure nothing goes wrong, and what's the best solution for all of them. I don't think Mr. Lancer will do mind adventures next week at the very least, so I have some time to sort this out."
Andrea gave a nod. "There anything else you want me to make you while I'm here?"
"Maybe an extra notebook, just in case?" Echo suggested with a small grin.
"I'll give you an extra pen as well and maybe a little bag to carry it all in," Andrea chuckled before she started to make the items. "It may take a little bit, so you should start looking into those futures."
Echo smiled. "Thanks, a lot, for this."
Juliette decided to go out for a stroll. There hadn't been any Void Creatures lately, not ones she wouldn't be able to handle anyways. The Guys in White were still scouting, and none of them seemed to be particularly alarmed. Anise wasn't around, and Juliette was getting bored. So it was the perfect time to see what was going on in the not-so-ordinary town of Amity Park.
Maybe I'll see Toriel again. Juliette thought with a small smile as she walked towards the main park of Amity Park. I hope she's doing better…
When Juliette reached the main park, she saw it was full of children playing with each other, and a few adults chatting. Juliette walked over to the nearest tree to lean against. Then she noticed a piece of paper falling in front of her. Curious, Juliette reached out to grab it, but her hands went through it. The paper kept falling until it landed on the ground. Juliette bent down to try to pick it up, but again, her hands went through it. She could see something written on the strange, 'ghostly' paper.
'If I try to get Juliette to disable the helmets' chargers, she could get sent to detention, and the chargers would still be usable later. No good, keep looking.'
Juliette raised a brow, noticing a large pile of papers, before she looked up to where the paper had fallen from.
To her surprise, she saw Echo sitting on one of the branches of the tree, seeming to be writing frantically on paper with a gray pen. His hair looked a little messier than usual.
Echo? Why and how are you in a tree and where did you get a paper and a pen from? And… why is there like a stack of 20 notepads next to you? Juliette called out.
Echo blinked a few times, as if just realizing someone was talking directly to him. Looking down from the tree, he was surprised to see Juliette. "Juliette? Weird, I thought you weren't coming here for another hour… or maybe I saw that an hour ago… I must've lost track of time."
Ummm… Echo…? The hell is going on? Juliette asked. Why do you look so disheveled? And… why is there a pile of papers on the ground?
"Oh, uh… right, explanations…" Echo noted, as if trying to remember the words. "Um… let's see here… what was the first thing you asked me again?"
Juliette sighed before she began to climb up the tree to sit beside Echo. When she got there she leaned forward and looked Echo in the eyes.
First off, Echo, bring yourself out of the future and be in this moment, right now. Juliette instructed. I can see that distant look in your eyes that you have when you look into the future.
Echo shut his eyes for a moment, before blinking them open again, shutting off his future visions so he could better pay attention to the kitsune right in front of him.
What's going on? Why is there a pile of paper on the ground? Why do you look so… awful? Juliette asked in order. I'll leave my other questions like where you got the notepads, pens, and bookbag for later as well as how you're up in a tree.
"I don't look awful," Echo pouted. "I've been writing out all my future visions of something unexpected that happened that caused another row of future paths to suddenly open up, future paths that has me concerned. It's not as big or as worrying as the Fenton Mortifier, but it is still quite worrisome. I was trying to figure out the best solution and timeline to prevent this future, but I've come up empty handed. If I get you involved, you're likely to get in trouble, in more ways than one. If I get Anise involved… let's just say it's best she doesn't get involved. But my options are very limited…"
Uh huh… Go ahead and give me the full details. Juliette responded.
Echo sighed before he opened up his first notebook, and read out the visions he had of the helmets, the possible mind adventures people could have in her or Danny's mind that had his biggest concern, and the consequences of what would happen if they go into her or Danny's mind.
Juliette gave a nod and a thought look before she jumped off the tree branch. Come on. Pack your things up and follow me.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Echo asked, surprised.
Going into school now, when there is no one there, and either destroy the helmets or the charge cords without leaving evidence of me being there. Juliette answered as she started to walk away from the tree. And if I have to, I will call in one of my favors with Anise and have her not ask any questions and simply help destroy them.
Echo quickly put all his notepads away into the bookbag before he jumped down from the tree himself. "But this is also still risky. There are security cameras in the school, you could still get caught."
Juliette stopped and gave a thoughtful look. Go and wait near the entrance of the school, I need to go do something.
"Oh… uh, okay," Echo hesitantly replied. "Oh, uh… about how I was able to sit on the tree branch, it's technically part of the ground, at least the trunk and branches are, so I can interact with it. Rocks and boulders are also fair game, though I don't normally like to sit on those as they are uncomfortable. I'll tell you about the notepads and pens later, that would take longer to explain."
Juliette gave a nod. For now, stay in the present and wait outside of school. I'll be there in a bit with a… disguise…