Explosion of Feelings and Fragments

Nox was having a great day. Both her and Z ate a gigantic, tasty breakfast, before heading off to find the explosives yard. While searching, the goblin thought about how her latest transformation affected her. It wasn't as alienating to her sense of self as she thought it would be... but that was probably because her sense of self had been systematically shattered against a tree over the last couple of days. At this point, knowledge of just how much dick she could take despite her small stature, exactly how sensitive she was, and otherwise full realization of how inherently perverted her biology was just fed into what she had already learned from the oni.

They found the explosives training yard next to the firing range, and the first thing they both did was just explored, like kids in a candy store. The description in the miscellaneous kiosk wasn't kidding, there was every imaginable variety of explosive that a single person could use on stock somewhere. There were enough launchers here alone that even Z, an oni who had clearly seen her fair share of ordinance, was in shock. The same went for the planted explosives, where everything from crude IEDs to the most sophisticated of plastique and landmines, was available. Then came the real star of the show. In a side room, the outside of which had lockers stuffed full of grenade launchers, was a room packed with grenades. There was just enough room to navigate between the plethora of boxes, lockers with metal mesh doors, and display cases of hand grenades. The grenades meant to be fired from grenade launchers were stuffed in the back, the star of the show remained the type that were meant to be hand thrown.

"Like my handiwork?" The demon asked as she teleported in behind them. "I've been to a lot of worlds with explosives, and have met many who knew how to use them. This collection, and this room, are a celebration of that, along with your willingness to learn how to use them."

Neither Z or Nox could respond to her at first, but eventually the oni found her words. "I'm going to guess you're here to do more than just bragging?"

"Indeed," The demon said while motioning them out of the room. "I want to show off some other aspects of this room that I think you'll find particularly helpful in learning how to use explosives."

The demon took them out to the range. "First we have the range portion. You can use this to target various kinds of simulated targets, such as troops in trenches, opposing vehicles, and even... monsters."

That last word caused a horrifying pile of tentacles and mouths to appear in the range. When it started dragging itself towards the group in the explosives yard, Z and Nox sprung into action, each one grabbing the closest launcher they could find. They then scrambled around for instructions, trying to figure out how to load a rocket and missile respectively into their chosen weapons, while the mass of biting mouths came ever closer.

"I should warn that while I'm pretty sure the range can prevent those within from coming here, my defenses are not perfect, and it can be very... messy to correct mistakes here." The demon relaxed onto a couch that Nox swore hadn't been there when they had entered the room.

Z ran forwards with an RPG-7, flipped up the sights, and fired at the monstrosity that had begun to climb over the divider that separated it from the rest of the explosives yard. The explosion damaged, but did not destroy the horrifying mass of tentacles and mouths, but it did send quite a bit of black goo all over the place. Nox got splashed by while it frantically trying to read the instructions to operating the weapon she had just grabbed.

"Did I mention this creature regenerates and has been known to devour goblins?" The demon at that point had summoned a bucket of popcorn and was enjoying the cinema in front of her.

Z decided rather than try to reload the RPG-7 to instead grab a disposable launcher nearby that seemed to pack a bigger warhead. While she did that, Nox continued to read the instructions, and decided she had read enough to at least try to blow this thing up. She'd rather get yelled at by the oni than get eaten by... whatever the fuck she was looking at, which was reforming after the prior rocket attack. Hefting the weapon on her shoulder, and getting the writhing mass in the weapon's viewfinder, the goblin did everything she could to aim at center mass... then fired.

The missile launched out of the weapon and, somehow, managed to find its target despite how close Nox was to it. The resulting explosion did manage a lot more damage to the monster, and a followup shot from Z with what looked like a LAW rocket managed to finish the damn thing off.

"And that is just one feature of The Explosive Training Yard," The demon got up from the couch. "Let me give you a tour, I have such sights to show you..."

Hailey managed to track down Noah after they had both ate breakfast, and the slime girl had gotten the chance to have her now daily masturbation session with a pillar. As a straight girl, she couldn't really help out with that aspect of her life, which was unfortunate but unavoidable. Even as a slime, she was too feminine in appearance for who Hailey would be attracted to.

"Remember how much I told you I like shooters?" Hailey asked the question rhetorically, knowing that Noah was almost as sick of this topic as she was of talking about sex.

"Of course I do, is this going somewhere?" Noah asked. "Or can I see if someone wants to play with my slime?"

"Well, something I realized recently is that this bunker reminds me a lot of the very first shooter I played," Hailey said, getting surprisingly serious for the topic at hand. "It had an amazing campaign, where you hopped all over time and space. During it, there was this level in a bunker, where you had to kill this evil conspiracy of elites who had caused the end of their world. By killing them there, it opened up the ability to kill them in the past, because you knew who they were, and when to deal with them."

"How does this bunker remind you of it, besides all the concrete?" Noah asked.

"A lot of it is that," Hailey said. "I mean, the level, despite being in a shooter with secrets and stuff, didn't have as many strange rooms as this place did, along with obviously not taking place in Harem Hotel. However, all the constant concrete, the location of the master suite, and the automation of everything, which in that game was done to reduce the number of NPCs, and here..."

"Was done to reduce staff," Noah finished and took on a contemplative look. "I think you might be onto something. I noticed that the bunker resembled the Irradiated Earth* series I played when I decided to test my guide making skills on an older game series. In that series, you started in these post-apocalyptic vaults but had to venture out so as to get more supplies for everyone. The mess hall reminded me a lot of that game, as did the big doors blocking access to new rooms."

"She would've known about our hobbies... but how does Felix fit?" Hailey asked. "Did he play either of those games?"

"Definitely not Irradiated Earth," Noah said. "That is far too niche, and far too difficult, for someone like Felix to get into. He may have played the shooter you did, but... I think the bunker is about something else for him. And everyone else for that matter."

"Do you think the rest have connections to the bunker?" Hailey asked. "I can see it for Z, given her background, but what the heck would Nox's connection be? Or Jamina's? Heck, it isn't like Janessa has had any reason to see the inside of a bunker, has she?"

"Well, I'm not as sure, but I think for Smith, it's meant to remind him of prison," Noah said while oozing away. "For the rest, I'd need more research, but I think the overwhelming concrete and sense of confinement plays a role..."

Janessa did what she could to calm herself while waiting outside the master suite. Other than watching Felix swim with Kei Winters and Jamina earlier that day, she had managed to avoid him. All she had managed to do, despite sitting on a mountain of 6000 BP, was masturbate and train with her various angelic weapons. She just couldn't think of how to deal with this, as their last sexual encounter had been marred by the way her transformation played out, and before that... well, they were debating an incident that had been wiped from reality. The new reality was one that made it more clear she was nothing but a petty tyrant towards

These thoughts played out as she waited for Felix to open the door. When he did, Janessa said, "Lets see if we can't do better than last time."

"I'll make sure of that," Cammy said as she joined her boyfriend. "I may not be able to stop you without a VP penalty, or worse happening, but maybe my presence will remind you to come to your senses before traumatizing my boyfriend again."

The angel sighed as she realized this was going to be a long night...

Z in a different time would've been furious with the goblin for grabbing an ATGM launcher without her permission. In the case of the oncoming monster, she was far more forgiving, and if anything, was thankful the goblin was still able to take initiative despite all the immense damage that had presumably been done to her psyche. Hence, when the oni went over to the goblin, it was not to punish her, or to berate her, but instead for the first time in awhile, to genuinely praise her.

"Normally, I wouldn't want you using an anti-tank missile without a bit more instruction," Z said while towering over the goblin. "But in this case you did the right thing Nox. Don't let the world take away your initiative when it matters."

The oni then pulled the goblin up, and the demon chose to comment, "Excellent to see that adversity can still build relations."

That made Z want to punch something, but she managed to hold herself back from doing so. She was nowhere near powerful enough to take on a demon, even with her recent upgrades and being in a room full of high explosives. The oni instead gave a glare in return, and crossed her arms. "I'd hope there are easier targets than that for beginners?"

"Of course," The demon said while walking over to them. "Here, let me guide you to another room that makes it easier to practice on structures. Make sure you bring some plastique like C4, you'll need it."

Over the course of the rest of the day, they learned all about the extensive facility the demon had built for testing explosives. For instance, there were various systems to intercept projectiles before they hit a wall, as even reinforced concrete would eventually give way to repeated hits from explosives like rockets, missiles, or thrown satchel charges. Otherwise, it was called the yard because besides the range, and various rooms that jutted off with yet more explosives like the grenade room, there was a much more open area for larger targets such as buildings, but also convoys of vehicles, something that would indeed be handy for learning how to use the dizzying variety of anti-tank weapons they had against mobile targets. While the demon did promise to intervene if they summoned in an opponent they couldn't deal with, she warned there would be penalties for abusing that privilege, and they would be much worse than just being locked out of the explosives yard.

All the while, the demon would have them stop periodically as she would summon in a target using screens scattered around the room, and blast them away. As both the oni and the goblin got used to that pattern, they noticed something. Z felt like she was shooting and throwing explosives better than she had in a long time, while Nox was starting to show a level of understanding that shouldn't have been possible from just one day. When they concluded the tour, a question sprung into the oni's mind, and one that only the demon could answer.

"Does this place cause learning to accelerate?" Z asked. "And if so, is there any hidden cost to doing that?"

"You catch on quick," the demon replied while leading them back to the door. "It very much does, but, it requires you to use the weapons. A theoretical look at the tools won't do much here, you must use the weapons, and munitions here. It works best if you use them on live targets as whatever the case may be in reality, here experience is the best teacher..."

Dinner for Janessa and her guests was an uncomfortable affair with Italian food. Felix stuck to sphaghetti and meatballs, something shared by his girlfriend, with a plate of various vegetables as a shared side for the couple. The angel had a fancier pasta, and fancier sides, but the core idea was the same. Everyone at the table shared a basket of garlic bread, and had a gelato dessert. The whole time, other than food, Cammy gently but firmly prodded the angel for details on details regarding various aspects of the past, to ensure that her memory of Smith was the same. By the time dinner was finished, she had built a damning case.

"So you punished Felix because he humiliated you," Cammy said, "which he wouldn't have been in a position to do if you had done your job. Is there something I'm missing here?"

"I can see how it would appear that way," Janessa Smith stalled, trying to think of a better answer. "But maintaining authority is-"

"Authority abused should be taken away," Cammy maintained eye contact with Smith in a way the angel rarely experienced. "And I can tell you abused it a lot."

"A school has to have-"

"Rules?" Felix asked. "Then why didn't they apply to Nox when she was a human male?"

Janessa slammed the table while standing up, her rage building but it having nowhere to go. "Okay, lets say I had punished Nox as a human instead of you. Do you thin-"

"I had video evidence," Felix said. "I'd love to see his parents bullshit their way out of that."

"Besides, you don't have the right to make political decisions with your enforcement," Cammy continued from Felix like they were on a relay team. "Your job is to enforce the rules, as you kept saying over and over again whenever you gave Felix yet another bullshit detention, or when you tried to get him suspended."

There was no way around it, Janessa was cornered. She couldn't defend her decision making, because anything she would cite they would argue was either her playing politics, denying evidence that didn't fit her needs, or being a selective hardass. So instead, she leapt to the present. "Look, the demon altered reality, is it really fair to judge me for those decisions?"

"That could've worked as an argument except I remember us arguing about an incident," Felix said. "And I'm damn sure you weren't in the right there."

The argument continued like that for the rest of the evening as they steadily made their way back to the master suite. Janessa had no arguments as Cammy and Felix continued to be the perfect tag team for defeating anything she'd say. She couldn't reach for an unaltered past, as the angel had no memory of it, and what little she did know about it painted her in a guilty light. When they got to the master suite things came to a head as the angel stormed into the room and collapsed onto the bed.

"What do you want me to say?" Janessa asked. "That I was a corrupt shithead who should have never been allowed to be a vice principal?"

"That'd be a start," Felix said. "Maybe if you can admit attitude is just something you made up so you could deliver punishments whenever you wanted, we could get somewhere-"

"A SCHOOL NEEDS DISCIPLINE!" Janessa yelled at full ****. "It is not a place where you get to just-"

"Except as we've been over you keep ignoring those rules when it doesn't suit your needs," Cammy said. "But go ahead, scream like a child, see where it gets you. What do you think is going to happen the second you hit Felix?"

Rather than respond, Janessa Smith just screamed, and punched the nearest concrete wall. It brought her back to her senses. Not because there was a hole in the wall before it fixed itself, but because she had done the exact same thing when arguing with Susan. It was that moment she realized they needed to get a divorce, and as soon as possible, before things got even worse. But there was nowhere for her to leave, and she had no counter argument, just burning humiliation that had nowhere to go.

"Fine, I am a piece of shit," Janessa Smith said, with a frankness that even shocked herself. "But you try policing a school going to hell, and tell me if you can keep your ethics."

"What the fuck are you talking about, our school was fin-"

"Yeah, when you were there," Janessa continued. "But I was there in the bad old days, when-"

"Fuck you, the worst that ever happened was either weed, teen sex, or sports hazing bullshit you did nothing about until you had no other choice," Cammy continued to dismantle Smith with expert precision. "We were hardly some violent nightmare parents were **** to yank their kids out of."

At that point, the angel was done. If Janessa couldn't get them to see anything wrong with the past, she had nothing, and when they put it that way, she realized the problem. They were in a season that rewarded sex, and she couldn't point to anything like teen pregnancy to justify her prior hardass approach. Anytime she boasted about cleaning up sex and **** was in the context of something like a parent-teacher conference. That approach was not going to work with someone who just saw her as an arrogant bully that abused her power as a vice principal for personal gain. Hence, she gave up, and crawled into bed, **** for this horrid night to be over. When the others joined her, Cammy made a point of it to put herself between Felix and the angel, as if still worried she was a ****. That last fact hurt, as it only further undermined any possible argument the angel could make, and pointing out she was **** to by Harem Hotel wouldn't do much of anything to help her try to be a moral guardian. So all she could do was stew in frustration while trying to fall asleep...

*(Author's Note: Imagine if Fallout was a cult hit 90s CRPG that never escaped the niche of hardcore RPG nerds, and instead of 1950s nostalgia, was more... punkish, and anti-capitalist.)