Cerf Grand-Veneur II

As Lily finished calling out, the walls finished raising, and the world became eerily quiet. The plant woman looked around, taking a measure of the new surroundings. The walls were some sort of dark grey rock arranged like cobblestone; Lily was distinctly reminded of some old-style dungeon crawlers. The hallway itself was narrow, just slightly wider than necessary for a person to run through, but it would require some finagling if two people wanted to get past each other.

Lily looked down at the gun in her hands. It was weighty, and while she had never held a firearm outside of an arcade, it fit neatly into her hand. She took a long breath and exhaled. There was nothing to be done now but participate in the challenge, and while she might hate it, she definitely would prefer Caleb get the transformation she picked out over what some of the others had written.

Making her way down the path, she was **** to admit that the black latex suit she wore was oddly comfortable, at least compared to the foliage she was normally **** to wear. At least she didn't have to worry about flashing her ass every time she moved her leg in this look. Not to say that it didn’t put things on display enough as is.

There was a split in the path up ahead, Lily cursed, realizing she had already lost track of which direction vaguely pointed to the center. Glancing between the left and right paths, Lily closed her eyes, “A good adventurer always goes left,” she muttered before making her way down the leftward path.

The path twisted and wound, but didn't seem to have any branches off of it, and Lily began to doubt her decision. She could vaguely make out an area up ahead where it seemed the path widened around a narrow corner. She was just about to turn when she heard footfalls coming from the opposite direction, sharp clips of heels of someone moving quickly and not bothering to hide their approach.

Lily pressed her back against the wall. She hadn’t counted on running into someone else this quickly. Knowing she would need to face down her fellow competitors versus the reality pressed in front of her were two different things. She slid down the wall and took another deep breath. Realistically, she only had three bullets, three chances to give Caleb the transformation that she had picked out for them. If she confronted every person she came across, she’d run out of bullets. Not to mention the penalty if she didn’t fire at Caleb at least once.

So it was realistically in her best interest to keep quiet and avoid conflict where she could. This other woman was moving fast and didn’t know she was here. As long as she didn’t give away her position, she could let this woman go by and then keep looking for Caleb.

Lily wiped her brow; she was suddenly feeling warm, and there was a pleasant ache coming from below. She then looked down at her hand and noticed that it was shimmering, and not just with sweat. Aghast, Lily looked around to see that her body was sending a thick silvery sparking cloud out around her that was filling the air. No wonder she was suddenly feeling aroused, her pollen was everywhere!

As the cloud wafted around, Lily did her best to try and keep from inhaling anymore of it, but it was already on her skin and sending pleasant chills through her body. Not that she had any time to indulge, as a voice broke through the sensation.

“Lily? You can go ahead and come out. I promise I won’t shoot.” Through the haze of arousal, Lily could make out Noemi’s voice, and as she scrambled to her feet, she turned around the corner into an open alcove with two other paths connected to it to see that the Chilean had her pistol trained on her.

Not knowing what else to do, Lily held her own pistol up, “I thought you said you weren’t going to shoot?”

“I’m not planning on it, but I didn’t know what you were going to do. So I thought this was safer.” Noemi was smiling, and Lily saw that look of manic, almost pious devotion in her eyes that set her spine shivering.

Lily kept her gun steady. She didn’t doubt that Noemi was telling the truth, but was worried her strategy might change on a dime. “So what now? We go our separate ways and pretend we never saw each other?”

“I wanted to talk first. Y’know, since we haven’t had a chance to talk one-on-one.” Her tone was pleasant, but it gave Lily the reminder of whenever Meri was pulling rank as older sister, which brought a fresh set of bile to Lily’s stomach.

“Well, we’ve been busy.” Lily put simply, never taking her mark off of Noemi’s prodigious chest.

Noemi gave a slight head tilt, “Oh, I got the sense that you were avoiding me, is that not true?”

“Oh no it is. I was just also busy.” Lily figured if there was a time to be honest, it was when she was armed.

“Oh,” Noemi made a dejected sound and looked away for a moment, “That makes me sad. I figured as Caleb’s ex, you would be in the best position to understand! Especially after seeing the transformation you designed, I know you love him and have his best interests at heart.”

Scoffing, Lily distractedly pressed her legs together, “That’s rich coming from the girl who once made it her purpose to make his life as hard as possible.” She began to circle round, trying to get her back to one of the other paths.

Noemi’s smile didn’t falter. “Caleb was willing to forgive me for my wrongdoings; I don’t see why you need to throw it in my face.”

“Maybe Caleb is too nice sometimes,” Lily muttered.

“Not like you have much high ground to speak of, you’re the one who dumped him, remember?” There was the sound of something like a snicker at the end.

Lily closed her eyes and pursed her lips, so that’s what this was about. “You must be pretty threatened by the fact he might still love me, huh? Whereas he won’t say it to you despite your crazed devotion.”

“I don’t need him to say it back. It’s inevitable, we’re fated to be together. And he can be with as many people as he wants. I just want him to know that I will never fail him.” Noemi put a hand on her heart.

“Fucking christ girl, how’s the view from down there by his feet?” Lily now had her leg turned, ready to bolt the moment she saw an opportunity.

“I didn’t expect you- someone, who already gave up on him- to understand that loyalty. I just wanted you to know that we don’t have to be enemies. As two people who want what’s best for Caleb, we should focus on those who would harm him.” Noemi’s gaze was firmly on the other woman’s eyes, never breaking eye contact.

Lily clicked her tongue. This is why she had avoided Noemi. Her thinking was…too similar to her own in someways. Good and bad, hard lines of what was right and what was wrong. It was just that the axis on which those lines were was on a different plane than what the Plant woman considered sane, and it made her fall into the habits she was trying to break.

That being said, less conflict was good. “So we avoid targeting each other? Focus on people that you think are doing something bad to Caleb?”

“Yeah!” Noemi nodded her head enthusiastically, “Essentially, we should focus on making sure Mira, Stella, or Maya don’t win.”

“Maya and Stella, I get, Mira’s transformation doesn’t seem too-”

“No, she has to lose.” Noemi’s voice lost all semblance of friendliness as she said it.

“Ah, it's not about the tf for her then.” Lily noted, “That still leaves five girls, you’re fine with any of them winning?”

“Well, of course I’m going to aim to win! It’s the best way to prove my love to Caleb afterall. I just think making sure the wrong people don’t win is more important first off.” Noemi smiled and lowered her gun.

Lily followed suit. She was sure this was going to devolve at some point, but having one less gun trained on her would be a plus. “Alright, fine. I agree to the terms of the arrangement.”

Pumping her fist in a cheer, Noemi grinned broadly, “Ok! I just came from that way, so you can take it, and I’ll go down this other path?”

Lily sighed, “As good a plan as any?”

Without any more conversation, the two split up and made their way down their respective paths. Noemi was in bright spirits, but Lily was concerned about how long she’d have before another wave of pollen would possibly send her over the edge.

Amy didn’t know how long she had been running through the halls for. With each turn, she was trying to make her way towards the center. She wanted to be able to talk with Caleb before things progressed too much, but with every turn and split in the path, she was beginning to lose confidence in the direction she was headed in.

She rushed around the next corner and found herself in a large rectangular opening. Several other paths seemed to lead into it, and in the center of the room stood a thin cylindrical platform on which a spinning silver card was placed. And reaching out towards the card, standing directly next to the cylinder was Mira.

Before she could take it, though, Amy raised her pistol and pointed it at the Bengali woman, “Easy there,”

Mira raised an eyebrow and moved to stand up straight, but made no move to raise her gun, “And hello to you too, you know if you were going to shoot me, it would have been better to just do it rather than tip me off to your presence.”

“I’m not aiming to shoot, but I’d much rather not have you obtaining a sabotage I don’t know about.” The oni kept her gun trained on Mira.

“So you’d waste one of your three bullets on keeping me away from a Sabotage?” Mira asked plainly.

“If I didn’t know what it was? Yes, I consider the threat worth the bullet.” Amy began to make a move towards the pillar to look at the Sabotage on it

SABOTAGE! Wick’ed: The target becomes just as protective of the saboteur as John Wick was to his dog for the next hour. Woe be to any contestants who would target them.

Amy frowned, “Yeah, you need to realize that, of all people, I am not letting you have this.” She reached out and snatched the card off the pillar.

Mira made no move to stop her but looked crestfallen. “You realize that once we leave here, the transformation I designed will benefit us all? I’m trying to think of the big picture.”

“Yeah, well…” Amy bit her lip, “Sorry if I’m hesitant to trust you with the big picture right now.”

Mira began to move towards her gun, “You realize now that you have that, I can’t just ignore you as a threat?”

Narrowing her eyes, Amy moved her finger closer to the trigger, “You go to draw that gun, and I will shoot.”

The two had their eyes trained on each other, which is why neither noticed Maya until it was too late. With a strong percussive ****, both Amy and Mira were sent flying backward against the wall, crying out in unison as their latex body suits vanished and left them just in their underwear, slumped against the wall, and the sabotage that had been in Amy’s hand fluttered to the ground.

Maya gave a soft gasp that sounded like pleasure before recollecting herself and beginning to move into the room.

Amy grit her teeth, trying to focus. She now understood why Caleb had been down for so long after being hit. While there was no explicit pain, the sheer **** of the impact left her body stunned and difficult to move.

Next to her, Mira wasn’t faring much better, shakily reaching out towards where Maya was standing. The purple-haired woman didn’t even regard them, simply double-checking the pillar before clicking her tongue and moving towards the next hallway.

Amy pushed herself up and called out, “Maya, wait!”

Maya paused but didn’t turn, simply looking over her shoulder and looking down at Amy on the ground. The look was focused, but also there was something else behind it that Amy couldn’t recognize, but it filled the small animal part of her brain with fear. Shaking her head, she pushed past the sensation, “You only have one bullet left. If you play like this, you’re going to be knocked out.”

It might seem foolish to be offering advice to a competitor, particularly after she had just tried to stop Mira from getting an advantage, but there was something **** about the behaviour Maya was displaying that made Amy reach out, even if it wasn’t in her best interest.

Maya’s face wrinkled in confusion before she said plainly, “The only bullet that matters is the last one. Besides, now that I’ve set up the conditions for bad luck, my luck will balance out. You and Mira are big competition too, so consider it a compliment.” She turned on her heel again, “Now I’m off to hunt down Caleb.” With a kick of her heel, Maya made her way down the path.

So distracted with Maya, Amy failed to notice Mira, scrambling to her knees as she reached out and grabbed the fallen Sabotage. Amy’s eyes widened as her hands went reaching for her gun, “No, you don’t!”

She managed to point the pistol towards the retreating agent as she leaned against the wall for support, hobbling towards a path separate from the one that Maya had taken. Trying to collect herself on the ground, Amy tried to fire a shot from her mangled position, but as the bullet flew, it collided with the wall just above Mira’s shoulder.

The sound only made the agent redouble her efforts, breaking into a crooked barefoot run as Amy slammed her hand down into the ground in frustration.

Maddy hadn’t made it very far in traveling into the labyrinth when she stumbled upon a small squared-off area. A sabotage sitting on the central cyndrincal stand that spun idly while hanging in mid air. She had gone up to look at the Sabotage in question:

SABOTAGE! Full Clip, Empty Head: The target loses the ability to think strategically for the next hour, dedicating themselves to a run-and-gun style of play and giving them like such a cute makeover. While in this state, the target's gun reloads one bullet every 10 minutes

She stared at it for some time and ultimately found herself unable to grab it. She had become more lenient on the idea of using sabotage on herself and others over the course of the round, and could acknowledge that sometimes they could be beneficial, but still, the thought of forcing a transformation onto someone else…well, that was what this entire challenge was about, wasn’t it?

When writing the transformation she had made for Caleb, she had tried to pick something that maybe he would like, also, wouldn’t dates be so much nicer outside if he could relax like he did while they were on that little island together? When his eyes were just on her…she remembered the warmth in her hands…the chef shook her head, she needed to focus.

What Maddy had decided to do was guard this sabotage to keep anyone else from using it. Not that she was terribly comfortable with the thought of shooting another contestant, but she hoped maybe she could bluff her way through it. And while she was here…she didn’t have to think of harming or shooting Caleb, even if that was the only way to get the transformation she designed for him.

She shook quietly, staring at her gun.

She wanted the strength and resolve to get through this; she knew that the only way to make it through these challenges was by participating and that everyone else would be trying their best. Not to mention it wasn’t just for her, but Caleb! She bit her lip, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone approaching.

Maddy rose to her feet and held her gun in both hands towards the direction of the sound, the soft unhurried clicks of heels against the stonework. Then, around the bend, came the latex-clad form of Mira, who, upon seeing Maddy, stopped and locked eyes with her.

“Madeline, I wasn’t expecting you to be the one pointing a gun at me so early in the competition.” Mira’s voice was level as she took a step towards the Sabotage.

“S-Stop! Keep moving, if you try to take that Sabotage…I w-won’t hesitate!” She was trying hard to keep her voice even, but even so, some of the quaking made it through, and her hands shook, causing the components of the gun to rattle slightly audibly.

Mira held her hands up, “Madeline, I know we have some history given this week…But I also think we both know you aren’t going to shoot me.” The Bengali woman took another step toward the platform.

Maddy gestured with the gun, “I-I told you to stop!”

Mira shook her head, “Madeline, we both know you’re a kind, good person, you’re not the type to-” Mira was cut off as she took another step forward by the echoing clap of a shot being fired. Her clothes vanished as she collided with the wall and slumped down against it.

Her hands shaking with the smoking pistol in them, Maddy swallowed hard, “M-maybe you don’t understand me as much as you think!” She barked out before rushing forward and grabbing the Sabotage off the stand and running down the hallway with it before the agent could recover on the ground