Feeding on your hungry eyes, I bet you're not so civilized

“Okay, our first order of business should be to find some new guns,” Vivian said, scanning the forest from atop her horse. Given her position, she had a better vantage point than either of her impromptu teammates. But she still didn’t find anything.

That didn’t mean she had lost hope, though.

“Maybe I can help!” Rose suggested. “I still have my Method Acting transformation use for today. There might be something I can use it on, to help us find more weapons?”

It was definitely a tricky prospect. Rose didn’t know if there were any transformations in play right now that would be able to help them find something. But she really wanted to impress Vivian and seem like she was useful!

“Let’s save that for now,” Vivian determined. “It might be a good trump card to use later. Maybe copy a transformation that can raise people’s arousal.”

Rose nodded thoughtfully. “I could copy Morgana’s Sotto Voce transformation,” she agreed. “With that, I could arouse people just by talking to them!”

“Would… would that even work?” Ella questioned, scrunching up her face in confusion. “That transformation needs you to use your regular voice, but with all the gunfire and the distance between people when we start fighting, you’d have to be shouting to get them to hear you. And I don’t think it works with shouting.”

That being said, Morgana had always been so soft-spoken around her that she’d never even heard the goth girl raise her voice. If only she’d been on the show when Morgana had first arrived, with her bombastic personality! That would have been something.

Rose just laughed.

“Ah, but you forget, I’m an exceptional actress,” she reminded the other girl. “One of my specialties is projection!”

“Well isn’t that an understatement?” Vivian murmured in amusement.

“Hmm?” Rose looked up at her. “I didn’t hear that.”

“Oh, nothing, you were talking about projecting your voice?” Vivian chirped.

“That’s right,” Rose nodded, smiling proudly. “As an actress, I can make my voice carry quite a long distance! But you know, thinking about it, it might actually be a better idea to copy Dani’s Serene Serenade transformation.”

Ella blinked. “The singing one?” She couldn’t imagine putting herself on the spot with a transformation like that.

“Oui,” Rose confirmed. “I have a good deal more experience in that regard than our lovely tomboy, and you saw how effective it was in halting Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s attack. Dani was able to immobilize her just long enough for my grenade to weaken her! Frankly, I’m the one who deserves credit for that kill more than anyone!”

Good old Rose, always needing to be the center of attention.

Vivian laughed. “Well, it certainly did help,” she agreed. “But like I said, we should probably hold off. No need to play your cards as soon as they’re dealt; when we get into a skirmish, then you can figure out what transformation you’ll need to seize the advantage.”

Rose nodded. “That’s probably for the best,” she agreed. Still, even though she could see the point in Vivian’s analysis about ‘playing her cards’ she was feeling a little antsy about not having any cards in her hand to play at all.

The fact remained that they had absolutely no ammo between the three of them. If Dani and the others caught up, it wouldn’t be much of a fight. They’d be completely routed!

Before that happened, they needed to get their hands on some supplies. Bullets for Rose and Vivian, and a gun for Ella, if possible.

Luckily for Rose’s concerns, the other group was a long way off from catching up. The twins had ditched the empty minigun for more conventional rifles, courtesy of Dawn and Morgana, while Dani had claimed Kim’s shotgun for her own, so they didn’t have to divide the rifle ammo any further. She still kept hers slung over her back, though. And that left Gina with just a handgun. They were all pretty well stocked, but that didn’t make the trip any easier.

They might not have been lugging around the bulky minigun, but they were still carrying some dead weight.

“This is exactly what I was concerned about,” Dani grumbled, stomping through the jungle. “Having to drag you along.”

“Hey, I’m keeping up!” Gina complained. “I’m just not in as good of shape as you three!”

“I go on mountain hikes, and Dani works out every day,” Carly pointed out to her. “Just because you’re keeping up, doesn’t mean you aren’t holding us back a little bit. We’re slowing our pace so you can keep up.”

Her expression softened. “…I’m sorry, I’m just a little high-strung right now,” she apologized. “I’m not usually so on edge!”

Carly was much more the kind of girl to just take things easily and go with the flow. But the intensity of their skirmish with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had really shaken her.

Marley placed her hand on her sister’s shoulder and smiled.

“I appreciate you slowing down for my sake, too,” she said. “I know you’re usually more active than this.”

Carly laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m used to it by now,” she replied. “We need to get you on a more intense routine, sis!” She playfully poked Marley in the belly. “Work off some of that cushion!”

Marley blushed and covered her stomach with her hands. “I-I’m almost as skinny as you, you know!” She huffed. “I just eat more! Dani, tell her I’m not fat!”

“You’re not fat, Marley,” Dani assured her. Frankly, she could hardly tell the difference between the twins. If Marley did have a little more meat on her bones than her twin, it wasn’t by much. But then, Dani knew what it was like to have extra curves you weren’t comfortable with.

Gina laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Marley huffed at her.

The punk girl shook her head. “Just… seeing you guys all joking around like this together… it’s nice. I guess we haven’t really hung out much at all, have we?”

“No, we really haven’t,” Carly agreed, biting her lip and smiling sadly at the other girl. “If you ask me, that’s a shame. The three of us have all been on the show since the very start, but you’ve always been off doing your own thing.”

“Hey, if you want to work out with me sometime, I’d be cool with it,” Dani nodded.

Gina turned pale. “Whoa, let’s not get carried away here,” she said, shaking her head. “I was thinking more like going to watch some movies or something, I didn’t sign up for mountain climbing!” She finished her sentence with a laugh, showing she wasn’t serious. The other girls all joined in.

“It’s a date,” Carly agreed. “But first, let’s track down the others and take them out!”

The other girls nodded. Luckily, following the trail of Vivian and her compatriots was an easy job- a horse wasn’t exactly easy to hide. Even a novice tracker could follow Toffee’s trail through the forest. Problem was, they were moving at a faster pace, and they had a head start.

“They’re out of ammo, right?” Marley asked, squinting forward.

“They should be,” Dani nodded. “I know if Vivian had any shells left, I’d be out right now. Don’t know about the other two, though.”

Rose had a gun, but she’d never used it during the confrontation with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. Maybe she didn’t have any bullets left, or maybe she was hesitant about using them. Either way, it was a good bet that they were short on ammo.

“What are you thinking?” Carly asked her sister. Of the two of them, Marley was definitely the smarter of the two, especially when it came to coming up with schemes like this. She might have been nice, but she could also be very cunning.

Marley stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I’m just thinking that they won’t be able to keep up this pace for too long,” she pointed out. “After all, they need to get away from us while also searching for hidden supplies. That will take time.”

“Not too much time though,” Gina pointed out. “It’s just finding suitcases and shit.”

“Yeah, but that’s still time,” Marley replied. “If we pick up our pace a little, we’ll eventually catch up to them, as long as they have to waste even a bit of time looking.”

Carly nodded, seeing her sister’s logic. “It’ll be tight,” she agreed. “But we should be able to do it! We’ll have to hurry though!”

Gina sighed. She already didn’t like where this was going. “Okay, okay, I give,” she said reluctantly. “Let’s go then.”

She didn’t like having to pick up the pace. But if it would end things faster, that was for the best. Although she could have eliminated herself at any point if she wanted to.

“What’s up, Vivian?” Rose asked. “Why are you stopping?”

Vivian had brought Toffee to a halt, and was looking up at the sky with a pensive expression on her face. Almost like she was studying something.

“…The sun hasn’t been moving,” she noted. “We’ve been in this challenge for most of the day, but the sun’s barely moved.”

“Really?” Ella shielded her face and squinted up at the sun. She had no idea though.

“This is your first challenge, huh?” Rose noted. “Yeah, they do that sometimes. Usually either freezing time, or playing around with it, whatever makes the challenge more convenient. The card one probably might could have taken days if not for Sylvia doing some shenanigans with how time passed.”

“Ah, so much for that plan, then, hiding until nightfall,” Vivian laughed. “Guess we’ll have to switch up our tactics then, because we haven’t come across anything.”

“What were you thinking?” Ella asked.

“Well, for one, they’re probably following us right now,” Vivian pointed out.

Both girls stared at her in shock.

“What?!” Rose exclaimed.

“How do you know that?!” Ella squeaked.

“Uh…” Vivian pointed back the direction they came, indicating the crushed plants and the hoofprints in the dirt, very obvious signs of Toffee’s presence.

A very valid point.

“But it’s fine! This way, we have everything we need to set a trap!” Vivian chirped. “Since they’re following us, we know exactly where they’re going, we can change the situation to our advantage!”

“Everything we need except bullets,” Rose pointed out. “They probably picked that battlefield clean, you know.”

“Yes. Hence why we need to get our hands on some new weapons, as quickly and quietly as possible so they won’t see it coming,” Vivian explained.

“Okay, so… ditch the horse,” Ella bluntly pointed out. Pretty much every issue she could think of with their current situation was directly tied to that horse.

Vivian looked at her, aghast.

“Abandon Toffee!?” She shook her head firmly. “No, I could never!”

“I hate to say it, but Ella might be right,” Rose said with a wince. “It’s really impressive how far you got with him, Vivian, but… if he’s going to be a liability…”

“But he’s not!” Vivian objected. She shook her head. “In fact, we’re going to use him to our advantage!”

Ella and Rose both stared at her.

“…How are we going to do that?” Rose questioned.

Vivian flashed a conspiratorial grin.

“Simple! We’ll split up!”

“Split up!?” Ella blanched. “But…!”

“No, no, it makes perfect sense,” Vivian said quickly, not letting Ella’s doubts have any time to fully materialize. “Right now, they’re following Toffee and I, due to Toffee’s tracks. But that means they’re assuming we’re all together, and that wherever I go, you two are coming with me.”

She sniffed and held her hand over her chest, flashing a smug grin. “It’s only reasonable to think that way, given how charismatic I am.”

Rose nodded in agreement, not seeing any contradictions there. Ella rolled her eyes.

Vivian cleared her throat. “But what we’re going to do, is have the two of you sneak off in another direction. I’ll play the decoy, and lead them on a jaunty wild pheasant hunt all through the forest, while you both try and find as many guns as you can. And then, you come and take ‘em from behind- they won’t know what hit ‘em!”

She winked at the girls. “Decent plan, wouldn’t you agree?”

“It’s very sneaky,” Rose said, nodding. “I like sneaky!”

“I’m not sure…” Ella admitted. The only reason she had been brave enough to keep going was because of Vivian’s boldness. For obvious reasons, Rose didn’t inspire the same confidence. Oh, if only she could stand on her own, maybe…

But she had to play the cards she was dealt at the right time, like Vivian said. “THWAP!” She snapped her rubber-band to calm the rising uncertainty in her chest, and slowly nodded.

“Okay,” she relented. “We’ll… we’ll do that.”

So they parted ways. Vivian went off with Toffee down the path, and Ella and Rose snuck off on their own. They agreed that they’d rendezvous by the riverbank if possible, and if not, then they’d each go off on their own from there.

“…Now, the only problem is that the two of us aren’t exactly the best when it comes to finding weapons,” Rose pointed out with a sigh. They’d been opening up bad chests all day.

“We just need to find some ammo,” Ella said somberly. “Then we’ll be able to-”

Her voice died in her throat when she heard the sound of voices and footsteps in the distance. Her eyes widened and she shivered.

“Rose!” She hissed, grabbing the actress.

She practically pulled the other girl into the dirt.

There they were! Dani and Gina, handcuffed together, followed by Carly and Marley. The four of them were tromping through the forest, guns raised, scanning their surroundings for any signs of enemies.

Like the two practically unarmed girls less than ten meters away from them, huddled in the first.

“See anything?” Carly asked her sister.

Marley looked around, and then shook her head. “No… but I swear I heard somebody. Maybe I’m just going crazy…”

“Maybe…” Dani murmured.

“Why don’t you sing us a song?” Carly teased. “If anybody’s hiding around here, you can lure ‘em out with that lovely singing voice of yours!”

Dani turned red. “Carly!” She squeaked. “That was an emergency!”

“I thought it was cute!” Carly replied. “You’re my hero! Saving me like that.”

Dani blushed even harder.

“Ugh, gag me,” Gina scoffed, rolling her eyes. It was a playful move, though. “But if you ever want some real singing lessons, maybe I could lend you a hand. Been a while for me, too, I could use the practice.”

Then she caught sight of movement, and she froze in place. Dani felt a jerk on her arm and turned towards her.

“What’s up?” She asked, frowning. “Why’d you stop?”

“I thought I saw something, over there,” Gina said, pointing her gun towards the clump of bushes Rose and Ella were hiding behind. “It looked like that bush was moving.”

“It could have been a wild animal,” Carly pointed out.

“I don’t think there are any on the island,” Marley said, shaking her head. “Certainly not when a challenge is going on.”

“Maybe I’m just seeing things,” Gina said, shaking her head. “Let’s go. We don’t want them to get even further ahead of us.”

Dani could understand that. But at the same time…

“It won’t take too long to check,” she said, stepping off the path and dragging Gina with her. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“Good idea,” Marley agreed, raising her rifle to give the tomboy some cover, just in case she was right. “Rose or Ella could have split off from Vivian after they ran. That’s what I would have done.”

Both of the hiding women began to sweat. This was bad, this was really, really bad! Dani was totally onto them! And they had all the guns!

What am I going to do?! Ella’s heart was pounding in her chest as fear seized her, leaving her paralyzed in the brush. We’re totally caught! We’re going to get shot! We-we have to run… but Dani’s so much faster, she’d catch us! And… and… and…!

She could feel Cinder pushing at the corners of her mind, telling her that she needed to let her take over. That she could get them out of this.

Ella was terrified. She couldn’t give Cinder control! But she couldn’t think of anything to do, and she couldn’t even snap her rubber-band to keep her other self at bay without drawing the other girls right to her!

She was totally trapped!

So she did the only thing she could do, and that was run.

With a scream like a banshee Ella leapt from the bushes and charged in the opposite direction, running as fast as her feat could take her. Her mind spun with fear and she could barely think straight as she tore through the forest, barely registering the cries and shouts echoing behind her.

“It’s Ella!” Dani exclaimed, raising her shotgun. “And she’s running! Quick! After her!”

Dani immediately took off towards the bushes, which unfortunately **** Rose’s hand. After all, she couldn’t stay put if everyone ran past her, she’d be spotted for sure.

Stupid Ella! She screamed internally, jumping up in front of Dani. With the element of surprise on her side, she actually managed to catch the tomboy off-guard.

Dani stared at the blonde who suddenly popped up in front of her, freezing up for a second. That was all the time Rose needed to push her over, which had the added effect of dragging Gina down, too. With both of them on the ground, their shots were fired off wildly, and only Marley was able to get a clean hit on her.

Rose grimaced, feeling another burst of aphrodisiac shoot through her. She was a little worked-up already due to what happened with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, and another shot didn’t help.

Seizing the initiative, she used her Method Acting transformation to grab the only transformation she could think of to help off the top of her head- an old favorite, Dani’s Soft as Silk.

“Sorry, gotta run!” With her newly-enhanced physique, Rose was able to quickly turn and dash off in the direction Ella had run in, quickly putting distance between herself and the pursuing girls. Marley missed the next few shots she took, but Dani was able to recover by that point, and aimed her shotgun squarely at Rose’s back.

Copying Dani’s transformation had come with a serious downside. Soft as Silk didn’t just enhance her curves and her physical abilities- it lengthened her hair, as well. Which was a problem since Rose’s braided-up hair was already so long as to become cumbersome. The added weight wouldn’t be an issue normally, but unfortunately for Rose, her hair got tangled up in the trees, and that slowed her down just enough for Dani to get off a good shot.

“Yaagh!” Rose moaned out as the shotgun shell exploded against her back. It was way more impactful than the regular paintballs, and she felt her arousal skyrocket almost to the point of orgasm. Another one of those, and she’d be cumming her brains out for sure.

No way!

Gritting her teeth, Rose pushed through the dirt, snapping off the branch her hair was caught in, and running away again. Dani tried to follow, but there was a considerable issue there.

“Ack! Dani! Hey! Hold on a sec! WAIT!” Gina was practically dragged through the dirt, weighing Dani down severely as the tomboy tried to catch up to the fleeing girls. After a couple meters, Dani let out a groan of defeat and punched a tree.

It was pointless. She couldn’t catch Rose, not lugging Gina along with her.

“Hey, it’s gonna be fine,” Carly said, catching up to her. “We’ll get ‘em next time. For now at least, we know Vivian is alone, right?”

Dani nodded glumly. That left them trapped in a difficult position. Go after the decoy? Or the other two girls?

…Well, Vivian was the only one whose trail they could really follow at this point.

Rose caught up to Ella in another clearing, and nearly collapsed in the process. She was so out of breath she was panting, but it wasn’t due to the run. No, with her newly-enhanced physique, a run like that was barely a short jog.

“Rose?” Ella looked back at her, surprised.

“Hey…” Rose wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Thanks for ditching me like that, teamie!”

Ella winced. “…Sorry,” she mumbled, looking down.

Rose waved off her concerns. “It’s fine… got away… hah…”

Ella blinked. “You don’t look so good,” she pointed out.

“Thanks,” Rose glowered at her, prying leaves and branches from her hair. “And I just got this looking nice, too… stupid forest. …Yeah, those girls ambushed me. But I think I gave ‘em the slip. Not before taking a couple shots, though, we should probably regroup… Oh? What’s this?”

“Hmm?” Ella turned to Rose and her eyes widened as she saw the case nestled under a fallen log.

Rose used her enhanced strength to shove the log aside so they could get to the case. “Something hidden this well, it’s gotta be special!” She chortled, digging out the large case. “I just know it! Finally, we’re lucking out!”

Ella came up beside her and nodded in agreement. “Makes sense. Hide the best stuff where it’s hard to get.”

Rose bent over and flipped open the case. When she saw what was inside, her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull.

“…Holy fucking shit,” she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. “Yeah, there’s ammo, but who cares about that?! Ella, are you seeing this?”

Ella nodded, just as shocked as Rose. “Oh, yeah,” she said, cracking a grin. Her amber eyes gleamed with excitement. “I see it.”

“I think I can get it out…” Rose leaned over a little more to claim her prize, only for a surge of pleasure to shoot through her body.

“VRRRRRRRRR!”

The angry sound of a vibrator filled Rose’s ears as she felt something blunt and pointed press deep into her the delta between her legs. The burst of ecstasy was instantaneous and she fell to the ground, twitching and shaking.

“Oh, OHN! OH! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Rose groaned, thrashing frantically to try and get away. But she couldn’t summon up any of her strength with all the sensations running through her body. She clawed desperately up at the other girl, but her assaulter was relentless. And before she could do anything more, she was pushed over the edge.

The last thing Rose saw before she succumbed to orgasm was the wicked sneer of triumph on the other woman’s face.

THE FALLEN

ROSE BEAUSOLEIL