Break out of captivity, and follow me stereo jungle child

A surge of pleasure shot through Rose’s body, and she shuddered. Her hand shot up to her stomach as her vision swam, and she felt her face heat up with the sweet kiss of pleasure.

Her mouth fell open and she stared in shock at Amelia.

“…You shot me.” Rose sounded like not even she could believe it.

“ZIP. ZIP.”

Amelia fired two more shots. This time, Rose was able to jump out of the way. She ducked for cover behind a tree, still trying to process that Amelia, someone she respected, was shooting at her!

…After they’d just had a bonding moment!

“Why are you trying to shoot me?!” Rose wailed. “Go after someone else! I thought… I thought we were getting closer! Don’t you see me as your daughter?!”

“Yes.” With Rose hiding for cover behind a tree, there was no sense in Amelia maintaining her ****. She slowly circled around the tree, while keeping a good distance away from the other girl to make sure that Rose could spring out at her. She kept the barrel of her luger leveled in front of her.

“Then why!?”

“Because you’re ****,” Amelia bluntly replied. “This is a competition.”

Rose’s mind raced. Near the end of Amelia’s story about Nick growing up, she’d gotten a worrying feeling that the older woman might go after her, hence why she’d tried to make a break for it as soon as the starting alarm went off. But even though she’d sensed something was amiss, she still didn’t know WHAT.

Why would Amelia go after Rose!? Surely there were other targets! And more importantly…

“Okay… why are you trying to win this challenge then?” Rose demanded. “I mean… you know this is a competition for points to place yourself in Nick’s harem, right!? Is that really something you want? Amelia?!”

Amelia adjusted her glasses and squinted, trying to get a bead on Rose. Not seeing her, she continued to inch around the tree.

“I have no intention of being a part of my stepson’s harem,” Amelia replied. “Which is precisely the point.”

“Huh?”

“Have you forgotten the rules?” Amelia asked. “If I don’t obtain 100 VP, then I will not meet the necessary threshold to become a complete member of the harem, and as a result of that, my position will be one that is marked with discomfort for the remainder of my term.”

She let out a long sigh.

“I need to get 100 VP, to make my circumstances in this situation more amenable,” she explained. “And as I have no intention of doing anything physical with Nicholas, the only logical decision is to earn Victory Points through challenges.”

Rose sighed from behind the tree. The way Amelia put it made rational sense.

“…So you’re trying to win too. And here I thought you weren’t going to be a threat,” she grumbled, shaking her head. And yet she couldn’t help but smile. Even while Amelia was addressing her so coldly, she was still taking the time to explain her position to Rose.

She doesn’t want me to be angry at her! Which means she really does care about me!

It was a small victory. But if Rose was going to be eliminated here, it would make for a good consolation prize, at least.

Unfortunately, Rose couldn’t see many ways out of this situation. If I use my Method Acting transformation to copy Dani’s Soft as Silk transformation, I’ll boost my strength and speed but my hair is going to get longer, too.

And that was a bit of a problem, given how long her hair already was. Even with the braids Amelia had tied her hair up in, it still almost reached the ground.

Rose sighed.

“…Okay, I’m coming out,” she relented, holding up her hands and stepping out from behind the tree.

Amelia raised her eyebrow, surprised. “…I didn’t think you were the type of woman to surrender,” she noted, taking aim.

Rose offered a rueful smile. “Well… usually I’m more competitive than this,” she admitted. “But after hearing that, I guess it matters more to you, so… go ahead, take your best shot.”

Amelia blinked. “…Okay then.” She squeezed the trigger and fired at Rose’s chest.

Rose grimaced as the bullet struck her chest, popping and covering her in aphrodisiac.

“Sorry!” She cried, and lunged at Amelia.

Amelia’s face twisted with surprise. She hadn’t expected Rose to charge at her.

“Didn’t see this coming, did you!?” Rose felt a little bad for tricking Amelia like that. But she didn’t have any other options. This wasn’t paintball, and these weren’t real guns, either. Rose wasn’t “out” just because she got shot a couple times.

As long as she powered through the aphrodisiacs, she could get close enough to Amelia, and then she would have the advantage!

“ZIP! ZIP!”

Amelia managed to get two more hits in, but that was all she got. Rose felt her heartrate spike, and she tackled the other woman to the ground.

Panting, Rose’s vision glazed over as she mounted the older woman, pinning her gun hand to the ground. Amelia squirmed, trying to get free.

“…Off,” she snarled, trying to pry Rose’s hand away.

So Rose made better use of her other hand, dropping it to Amelia’s chest, and squeezing.

“Mmf!”

Amelia’s eyes widened behind her glasses as a surge of electricity shot through her body. She stiffened up, biting her lip, and she started to shake.

“Let… me… go!” Amelia hissed, trying to get Rose off her. She felt her body heating up in a way she’d never felt before. It was like she was having sex, but she wasn’t! It was infuriatingly frustrating, having her body in this state and not being able to do anything about it, if only she could get the woman off her, get her to stop touching… stop touching-!

“I remember what your Frigid transformation does,” Rose whispered throatily into Amelia’s ear. She didn’t mean for her voice to sound so seductive, but her own spiked arousal was getting the better of her, unfortunately. “I made it a point to… remember everyone’s transformations… for the sake of my Method Acting. The more sexual contact you have, the faster your body heats up. And eventually, you’re going to cum!”

Squeezing Amelia’s breasts appeared to be enough to trigger that. Which was good- Rose didn’t want to go farther than that. She would have felt bad about even going this far, but then, Amelia had turned the gun on her first, so…

“Sorry Amelia… I understand what you’re after, but I’m not going to give up!” Rose groaned, almost moaning. She squeezed her legs together tightly and squeezed Amelia’s breast even tighter, drawing a moan out of the older woman’s lips.

“Hah… you… you!” Amelia could have insulted the Frenchwoman a dozen ways, but none were coming to mind at the moment. She shivered through the beginning throes of an orgasm, and struggled for her freedom.

Was she really going to lose like this!? No, she couldn’t! She refused to be the first one eliminated!

With a cry from deep in her belly, Amelia summoned strength she didn’t know she had, and surged forward, pushing Rose off of her.

“Waah!” Rose landed on her butt with a cry and scrambled to her feet, panting, as Amelia stood up as well. The shivering blondes faced off against each other, faces flushed and eyes blurred.

But Amelia had a gun and Rose didn’t.

Amelia raised the barrel of her luger at Rose again, but before she could pull the trigger, Rose jumped for cover again, and disappeared into the bushes.

“Bye Amelia!” She shouted over her shoulder, pushing through the branches and disappearing into he brush.

Amelia was too frazzled to process Rose’s escape at first. Her body was trying to reorient itself, to deal with her overwhelming arousal, but she just couldn’t get herself to calm down.

“…What a blunder,” she muttered, staggering over to a thick tree and leaning against it, trying to catch her breath. “I should have… experimented with that transformation… distasteful as it was.”

Amelia had gone into this unprepared- she should have accounted for her transformation being used against her, and because she hadn’t, the effects were stronger than she had anticipated.

Even though she’d managed to get a few shots on Rose, the other blonde was in better shape than she was. And that was only after a couple dozen seconds of groping- a minute, at most!

No, this transformation was far more cumbersome than she’d anticipated.

“Just need to… catch my breath,” she panted, wiping her forehead off on her sleeve. Her hand gripped the handle of her pistol so hard, her fingers turned white.

While Amelia was trying to catch her breath, Rose was focused on getting as far away from the older woman as possible. She plowed through the wilds, ignoring the leaves and branches as she tried to put as much distance between the two of them as she could.

Then she saw a glint of something out of the corner of her eye, and staggered to a stop.

It was a backpack! Hanging from a tree!

“Alright!” Rose cheered, unhooking the strap from the branch and unzipping it to see what was inside. Part of her feared that she would find another empty clip, but no- this time, there were actual some substantial items inside! A few clips of ammunition, a bottle of water, and some round, bumpy object that looked worryingly like a grenade.

…No gun, though. Instead, nestled at the bottom of the bag, was a small white box with a bright red cross painted across the lid.

“What the heck is this?” She asked, taking out the box. “It looks like… a medical kit?”

She had a few superficial cuts on her arms and neck from struggling with Amelia and running through the brush. But not anything that would require treatment!

She opened up the medical kit, and to her surprise and confusion she didn’t see anything that she’d expect to see in a med-pack. No bandages, no balms, not even a single aspirin pill!

Just a small little bottle filled with a sticky white substance. It reminded her of those tiny little bottles of **** on airplanes.

“Ah! Looks like you found a medical kit!”

Rose jumped in surprise. She whirled around, clutching the bottle covetously to her chest. She didn’t know what it was, but it was hers, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take it from her!

Not that Nola would actually interfere directly like that.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to take it from you,” Nola laughed, skipping over.

Rose squinted. “What are you doing here?” She asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be in a tavern somewhere drinking Guinness and eating potatoes?”

“Hey!” Nola scrunched up her cute little face into a scowl. “I’m trying to do something nice for you, you know! I’m the official helper guide! Here to explain what everything is! Guns and ammo, that’s pretty self-explanatory- everything is compatible with everything, you see! But the other stuff, you might not know about! Like that little bottle in your hands there!”

“This thing?” Rose held up the bottle and swirled it around suspiciously. “Because it looks like-”

“It’s not,” Nola bluntly cut her off. “Don’t worry.”

“So what is it, then?” Rose questioned curiously.

Nola cleared her throat. “Allow me to explain one of the hidden rules of this challenge!”

Alarmed, Rose’s eyes widened. “Hidden rule?!”

Back on the beach, Nick slumped back in his chair and groaned. “Oh, great… what now, Rose? A hidden rule? Are you serious?”

“That’s playing dirty!” Mary growled. “You should be honest and tell everyone all the rules!”

Dakota frowned, tapping her fingers along her cane. “There are plenty of challenges that have hidden rules,” she sniffed. “Remember the Joker card from the last time your harem was competing across the beach? Sylvia never informed anyone about that.”

Nick frowned.

“That is a good point,” Holly admitted sheepishly.

Back in the forest, Rose bristled and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, so what exactly is this hidden rule?”

“It’s about the aphrodisiacs,” Nola explained. “They don’t JUST increase your arousal. They also numb your body’s ability to calm itself down!”

Rose’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean…”

Nola nodded. “Yupperino! If you get some of that aphrodisiac on you, your body won’t be able to regress back to its baseline! You could wait hours, days, weeks, it won’t matter! Until you have an orgasm, you’ll be just as horny as you are right now!”

“What!?” Rose couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Part of the reason she’d run away was because she’d wanted to have a chance to hide and calm her body down! She thought her racing heart and shortness of breath was due to all the running, but no… even now, worked up as she was, she couldn’t regain her composure.

She had no idea how many more shots she could take. But it was probably not many.

Swallowing her doubts, Rose’s hands started shaking. “So… I’m stuck at this level of arousal for the rest of the game?!”

Nola’s eyes widened and she smiled brightly while shaking her head. “No no no no no! That’s the best part, don’t you see? Because you found the super-secret treasure item! Isn’t that great!? It’s a med-kit! That’s what you need!”

Rose blinked. “Wait, so this thing…” She looked down at the white substance, rolling the bottle between her hands.

Nola bobbed her head up and down. “If you drink that, it’s like a reset! It’ll purge all the aphrodisiacs out of your system in a couple seconds, and get you right as rain! Isn’t that fortunate?!”

Rose cracked a grin. “That’s actually really clever,” she admitted, popping the top of the bottle off and taking a sip. She gagged- it tasted incredibly bitter. “…Blegh. Still, making the ‘medical pack’ be a drink that purges aphrodisiac, that’s pretty good.”

She could already feel it taking effect. Her pounding heart calmed down and her flushed complexion lightened. She wiped her forehead, smearing away the sweat, and sighing in relief as it didn’t replace itself.

“That’s all!” Nola chirped. “I’ll be going now!”

“Wait!” Rose called after her. “What about this?” She held up the grenade-shaped object.

Nola rolled her eyes. “It’s a grenade!” She pointed out bluntly. “You throw it. Like a grenade.”

“Well gee. Thanks.”

Rose put the grenade back in the pack and took a sip from the bottled water. It didn’t have any healing effects, but it was nice to get a drink after all that running. She slung the pack over her shoulder.

She had all of two seconds to relax and let her guard down before she heard more footsteps.

“A-!” Rose clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle her exclamation. For a second she feared that Amelia had finally caught up with her, but no, the footsteps were coming from a completely different direction. Shaking, she turned, and saw another figure come out of the brush behind her.

A familiar face poked out, and amber eyes widened alongside blue ones as both girls recognized each other.

“Ella!”

“R-Rose?!”

The surprise lasted for only a moment.

Rose bristled, suspicious of anything that Ella might try. And Ella just looked frantic.

The first thing Rose did was cast a glance at the latina’s hands. She didn’t see a gun, at least. That was good.

But then… you didn’t need an aphrodisiac gun to make someone orgasm.

“Pl-please don’t shoot me!” Ella started to beg. “The challenge just started! I don’t want to get eliminated first, please, Rose! I have the least amount of Victory Points, I-”

“Geez, calm down, I’m not going to do anything to you,” Rose sighed, rolling her eyes. She shook her head and approached the other girl, but still kept her distance. Once bitten, twice shy, after all. “I don’t even have a gun.”

Ella finally realized that, and sighed in relief.

“Oh, uh… yeah. Right… me neither.” She held up her hands awkwardly, showing her empty palms. “No luck… I haven’t found anything yet.”

Rose frowned. Maybe this was a bad call, after her experience with Amelia, but…

I might not be able to make it through this on my own.

“…Want to team up?” She offered.

Ella’s eyes widened in surprise. “Team up?!” She asked. “With me?”

Rose smiled. “Sure! Why not? You and I made a great team while we were up in the Master’s Suite, after all!”

Ella considered that carefully. Now that Rose mentioned it, the two of them had spent a lot of time together this last round. Maybe…

“Okay,” she agreed tensely. “But… are you sure? There’s only going to be one winner, after all.”

Rose nodded. “True, but that’s the best thing! Only one of us can win, right, but if we work together, we can make sure that the winner is one of us! And that way, even if you’re first and I’m second, we’ll both get a ton of VP!” She pointed out.

This wasn’t like past challenges, where they had to worry about eliminations or about specific people getting more points than them, due to the rose ceremony. This was the first challenge where everyone was truly out for themselves, and they could compete- and team up- without concern for anything else.

Ella nodded. “You’d really agree to that?”

Rose beamed at her. “I’m in first place now!” She pointed out.

“…Tied for first,” Ella mumbled.

Rose gave her a dirty look. “…Still. I want you to get ahead, Ella! I have the most VP, and you have the least, so the higher you get, the lower the other contestants with more VP will get! That way, all our scores will even out more!”

“…With you on top.” Ella might have been shy, withdrawn, and poorly educated, but she wasn’t an idiot. She could see Rose’s motivation for teaming up with her was because she wanted to make sure that the girls on the bottom got more points, to widen her lead over the other, higher-ranked girls.

“Still. Wanna team up?”

Did Ella really have a choice? She needed teammates, and she didn’t exactly have a lot of experience when it came to making friends. Honestly, even if Rose did have ulterior motives… it was flattering.

“Okay,” she agreed, giving Rose a shaky smile.

Rose beamed back at her. The two girls headed off through the forest, looking for more supplies.

“…A medical pack?!” Ella looked at her with wide eyes. “How lucky!”

“I know, it’s a good thing, too, because Amelia got a lot of shots in on me. Still, finding a weapon would have been good. A grenade might be useful, but I can only use it once.”

Ella nodded. It was definitely important that they found some weapons! A gun, or maybe…

“…Ah!”

She gasped, and pointed down. Due to Ella’s natural tendency to avert her eyes by looking down, she was used to scanning the ground. And there, pushed under a bush, was a small strap. She crouched down and pulled it out, only to find that, while it might have been a holster, it wasn’t for a gun.

“…What’s that?” Rose asked, surprised when she saw what Ella had taken out. “Is that… a knife?”

It definitely looked like one. A gaudy tactical knife with a large hilt, and a long blade. Ella stared at it, and swallowed nervously. She looked warily up at Rose, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

“I… I think so?” She touched the blade cautiously. “Oh! It… it’s not sharp! …Huh, weird.”

Rose frowned. “Why would Dakota put a knife here?” She wondered as Ella fumbled around with the hilt. “It’s not like you can use aphrodisiacs with a knife.”

“Ah!”

Ella gasped in surprise.

“Vrrrrrrr!”

She’d pressed a hidden button on the grip of the knife, and now it was starting to shake like a rotor.

Rose doubled over with laughter. “Oh my god!” She cackled with glee. “…It’s a vibrator! Oh, that’s just rich!”

“I-I didn’t mean to!” Ella wailed, her cheeks flushing.

Suddenly, a piercing gong echoed through the sky, and both girls jumped.

A screen appeared overhead.

THE FALLEN

Amelia’s face flashed across the screen.

AMELIA CAMPBELL

Rose’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Amelia!?”

“Already?!” Ella gasped.