Well, isn't love primitive? A wild gift that you want to give

Dawn wasn’t usually thankful for her cat ears and cat tail. Sure, they looked adorable, but ever since Sylvia had given her a punishment transformation, their sensitivity had been an issue. Especially in a challenge like this, where the goal was not to cum- she had bad memories leading back all the way to the first challenge, where Dakota had quite effectively knocked her out of the running from the start.

Now, though? There was actually an advantage to be had- but it came with a drawback.

Her ears twitched, and she looked around, crouching down and backing up behind a large tree. Because of how sensitive her ears were, she could feel changes in the wind to some degree- while there wasn’t anything she could sense, you could never be too careful… if she was lucky, maybe she would even be able to sense when other contestants were close by!

…Or maybe she could hear them. What was the point of having an extra set of ears if you couldn’t hear better?

Dawn adjusted her glasses, as glad today as she was every day that she could still do that. It might have seemed redundant for a cat girl to have human ears and cat ears, but she wouldn’t be able to wear glasses without them.

As she adjusted her glasses, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

Oh?

Dawn turned and crouched, pulling something out of the bushes. It was a bag! The kind you slung over your shoulder- she had noticed the gleam of sunlight on the clasp.

Opening the bag, Dawn found a handgun, and three clips of paintballs.

Not a bad haul… maybe? This being the first stash Dawn had come across, she had no idea whether or not a gun and three clips was a good discovery, or a subpar one.

Well, she’d certainly find out.

Dawn slung the bag over her shoulder and held the gun gingerly in her grasp. She certainly wasn’t used to using something like this. At least it wasn’t a rifle or a shotgun, though. She didn’t know if she’d even be able to carry one of those.

“SNAP.”

A twig snapping behind her caused her tail to jump up and her hair to stand on end. She whirled around, cocking her gun, and aiming it at the interloper. So much for my ears sensing a “change in the wind” or all that bullshit! She groused, knowing then and there she would be getting no advantages from her transformation.

“W-w-w-waaaaiiit! Don’t shoot!”

It was Morgana! The flustered goth waved her arms frantically, stumbling back in fear and surprise. Predictably, the clumsy girl lost her balance, and landed flat on her round Gothicc booty with a loud “thud.”

Dawn blinked, and lowered her weapon.

“Morgana? What are you doing here?” Dawn asked, frowning. Stupid question- obviously she was here looking for weapons, or a place to hide. The words had just slipped out of her lips before she realized it.

Morgana looked sheepishly up at her.

“…Sorry,” she said, climbing up and brushing leaves off of her black jeans. “I was just looking for guns, and I saw you, and I thought… well… maybe we could work together?”

Morgana tried to sound confident, but her voice was still a little shaky.

“I know what you said before,” she mumbled, tugging on one of her twintails, “but maybe I could be helpful?”

Dawn squinted, pursing her lips as she studied the other girl’s guileless face. As much as she trusted Morgana, she’d been burned in the past on stuff like this. She kept her gun steadily aimed at the goth, even if she couldn’t shoot her yet due to the starting 15 minutes not passing yet.

She needed to be careful.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Dawn said honestly, “but the problem is, I’ve been burned on this before,” she pointed out. “Remember the space station?”

Morgana flushed scarlet and scratched her head sheepishly.

“Well… it was Kim who eliminated you,” she pointed out awkwardly. “But… fair point.” After spending a whole challenge slinking through a space station, lying to people, and eliminating contestants through orgasms, it was no surprise that, in a challenge about slinking through a forest and eliminating contestants through orgasms, that Dawn would also be suspicious that she was lying to her.

“It’s not just that,” Dawn said, shaking her head. She still lowered her gun. Just as she was about to convey her other concerns to the innocent-looking goth, she reconsidered. No sense in telling Morgana about everything.

“…Never mind.”

Morgana blinked, obviously confused, but didn’t press any issues. She just looked innocently at Dawn, who tried not to laugh.

“…Okay, let’s work together, then, and see if we can find you a weapon of some kind,” Dawn said finally, lowering her gun completely.

Morgana’s face lit up. “You mean it?!”

“Sure. I’ve already got one, anyway. Maybe we can make it to the final two together.” Dawn was hesitant to make any long-term promises with the goth, even though she trusted her friend. She was playing to win, after all. Still, unlike the last time she did a challenge in this forest, she wanted to work with people this time. She walked over to pat Morgana on the arm, only to catch herself halfway there.

Right. Can’t touch her yet.

“Oh! Hey there, Dani!” Gina cracked a smile and waved at the tomboy, who recoiled in surprise. “You find anything good yet?”

“Gina?!” Dani was immediately on her guard. The punk girl hardly ever talked to her. Had they ever even shared a meaningful conversation before? “What’s up? Stop wasting my time, I’m looking for weapons. And if you’re just going to bug me, you’ll be the first one I use them on,” she threatened.

This was a challenge, which meant it was a competition. Dani wasn’t going to let anyone get the drop on her, not when she was so low in the rankings.

Gina cracked a cheeky smile.

“Don’t worry,” she said, holding up her hands. “I just wanted to say hey, since I didn’t expect to run into you, that’s all. But don’t worry, I’ll leave. Don’t want to make you mad!”

She took a step back, to show her sincerity, and then turned on her heel. She shook her ass as she walked forward slightly.

Dani’s heart skipped a beat, and she felt a tug inside her, telling her to give that nice, round rump a good spanking.

Her hand trembling with anticipation, Dani took a step forward and raised her hand, only to stop herself suddenly.

“Hey! Wait a second!” She snarled, rage overpowering her sudden instinct. “I know what you’re trying to do here!”

“Oh?” Gina looked over her shoulder, keeping her ass facing Dani. She gave it a slight shake. “What am I trying to do?”

Dani glared at her. She took a few steps back to keep her distance away from the punk girl- so she wouldn’t fall under the influence of her Sweetcheeks transformation.

“You’re trying to tempt me into spanking you,” Dani calmly replied. “Using that transformation of yours, the one that makes people compelled to slap your ass as a greeting!”

Gina’s eyes widened and her expression shifted into a look of shock and disbelief… not that Dani bought it for a second.

She narrowed her eyes at the other girl and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Come on,” she scoffed. “Don’t look so surprised. I’m not an idiot, I know a scheme when I see one.”

If Dani laid a hand on Gina in the first 15 minutes of the challenge, then she would be immediately eliminated. And since Gina had a transformation that compelled people to do just that, it was actually a pretty clever move on her part. Good strategy from a woman who usually didn’t put much stock in that sort of thing.

The other girls had been so used to slapping Gina’s ass, it had become rather perfunctory. But Dani’s willpower was stronger than most.

“You should have picked someone else for it,” Dani said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, resisting the shaking in her fingers. “I’m not gonna give in.”

“Aww… well, I expected as much,” Gina laughed, scratching her cheek. “I wasn’t targeting you in particular, just so we’re clear. You just happened to be the first person I ran into, that’s all!”

Dani nodded. “Yeah, no, I get that,” she acknowledged. “Still. Not gonna work.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Gina turned around against and strolled off, shaking her ass. “Your loss, though.”

Dani sighed and rolled her eyes, proud to have not succumbed to temptation. As nice as it would have been to get her hands on that perfect ass of Gina’s, it wasn’t worth the consequences. And she wasn’t sure how Carly would have reacted.

Speaking of Carly… she needed to find her girlfriend fast. The strategy to split up so they could find more resources was a smart one, no question about that, but right now there were other things to consider as well.

Once they found weapons, they would need to find each other.

Carly will probably be safe, since she has her sister with her, Dani thought, recalling Dakota’s explanation about using Marley as a human shield. But as for me… …Wait a minute!

Her eyes widened as she saw the butt of a rifle sticking out of a bush. She dug it out and held it up, studying it from multiple angles.

“Okay then,” she said, checking the container attached to the gun. She found a decent chunk of paintballs inside, but other than that, nothing. There were no other clips that came along with the gun, no paintballs…

I’ve gotta be careful with this, Dani decided, lowering the gun and doubling back around, heading in the opposite direction from Gina. No idea if I’ll find anymore bullets, or if they’ll be compatible with this gun. So I need to make these count.

Fortunately, she wasn’t completely bound. Just because she couldn’t touch anyone yet, that didn’t mean anything. Once the first 15 minutes had passed, she would be able to get ahead and start actually playing the game.

As long as she didn’t hurt anybody, of course.

“Hey, Carly!” She shouted loudly, raising her gun as she headed back through the forest. “You around here? Marley?!”

It might have been risky to draw attention to herself like this, but it wasn’t like there was anything to be worried about. Right now, she couldn’t be hurt.

Finding Carly and teaming up with the twins, three against one, was the best way to get ahead in this game.

Other than that, she could always find some more weapons.

“Darn, nothing,” Rose pouted, walking aimlessly down the trail. She’d spent the last few minutes looking for weapons wherever they might be, and had come up empty-handed. She knew there had to be guns here somewhere, but she was completely stumped.

It didn’t help that her head was feeling rather heavy.

Sighing, Rose reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. It felt nice, having hair this long. And she really appreciated Amelia going to the trouble of tying everything up as well as she did. It let Rose actually move around.

But it was still inconvenient. Having to drag this much hair behind her… what a pain in the ass! Not to mention the neck.

“Ah!” She saw something shining nestled down beside a rock, and rushed over to it. “There we go! That’s more like it!”

It was a locked box, like a footlocker. She remembered seeing one of those from an old war movie she watched. There would probably be guns in here, or ammo! Rose’s mind was racing as she unlatched it, reminding herself to temper her expectations.

This one’s small… no way it’ll fit a long gun in there. Probably no better than a handgun.

Still, a handgun was better than nothing. Anything was better than nothing.

She undid the final latch and raised the lid. There! Nestled right in the center of the box, was…

…An ammo clip.

An empty ammo clip.

“…Are you fucking kidding me!?” Rose groaned, slamming the lid shut. She kicked the box in frustration and immediately regretted it. “OW!”

Pain shot through her big toe and she hopped about, cursing under her breath. All that trouble, for a single empty ammo clip!? What kind of dirty trick was this?!

Somewhere, she knew Dakota was laughing at her. The host had been unusually hostile to her all morning.

“Is this because of my dream or something?” She muttered, shaking her head. “Dakota’s just taking it out on me because I took Nick on a date of domestic bliss, is that it?”

Ridiculous as that sounded, it felt like the truth.

On the stage, Dakota was leaning back in a chair of her own, having returned after explaining all the instructions to the girls.

Nick, Mary, and Holly all turned to look at her after hearing Rose’s mutterings.

“…What? Do you think I’d really be that petty?” Dakota asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

“Dakota…” Nick tried not to sound judgmental- just emotionally wounded.

Dakota sulked.

Rose ignored the lockbox and went back to searching for something actually helpful. But she wasn’t having much luck.

And time was running out.

“Come on,” she grumbled, pulling back a branch from a bush to see if there was anything hidden inside it, and finding nothing.

If she didn’t get her hands on a weapon before the timer went off, then she would be in a problematic situation. Who knew who was nearby, just waiting to attack her? She didn’t want to get caught with her pants down, figuratively-speaking.

Then Rose heard something that made her blood run cold.

It was the sound of footsteps.

Even, calm, patient footsteps approaching her with a focused intent.

Rose whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Back off!” She snapped at the unknown approaching figure. “I’m warning you! The time isn’t up yet, you can’t do anything to me!”

“That is well understood.”

Amelia emerged from the brush, stepping out onto the trail. She adjusted her glasses and eyed Rose with cold, detached professionalism.

Rose sighed in relief. “Oh, Amelia… it’s just you.”

The older woman looked a little ragged. She had some leaves and branches on an otherwise-perfect white blouse, and her hair was a little tangled, the parts that weren’t tied up.

More importantly to Rose, though, was the gun in her hand- an old pistol with a long, thin barrel, a luger.

“…Oh, you found a gun,” she commented. “That’s something.”

“You haven’t yet?” Amelia noted with a raised eyebrow. “That is problematic.”

Rose glowered at her. “Yeah, tell me about it,” she scowled, shaking her head. “I’ve been looking though.”

“Time is running out,” Amelia pointed out. “I’ll help you look.”

Rose brightened. “You will?” She was suspicious for a second, but Amelia’s offer of assistance was appreciated.

Amelia nodded. “Let’s go.” She turned towards the untamed wildlands of the forest. “If you stay on the trail, you might never find one.”

Rose followed after her, nodding. “Thanks, Amelia, it means a lot that you’re helping me,” she said, smiling at the older woman. “I would have expected us to all be at each other’s throats!”

Amelia had a gun and Rose didn’t- that put her at a disadvantage. But even if Amelia was planning to stab her in the back, that didn’t matter right now- after all, Rose was still safe from everything.

But still…

“…You’re not going to shoot me when my back is turned, right?” Rose stopped herself and narrowed her eyes at the other woman. She didn’t like suspecting Amelia like this, given how nice Amelia had been to her all day.

Amelia blinked.

“It is certainly a possibility,” she said honestly.

Rose blanched.

“Because of my transformation, I think of you as my daughter,” Amelia pointed out. “Because of your relationship with Nicholas.”

Rose bristled. She knew that Amelia had difficulties properly conveying her feelings, was this another example of that?

“So… you’re not going to shoot me?” She asked, laughing awkwardly.

Amelia blinked.

“…As a parent, Nicholas’s father was very generous,” she revealed. “He would often play board games with Nicholas and let him win, in order to build up his confidence. Nicholas would then go on to do the same thing with Dakota. He knew how much winning meant to her, so he would often let her win whatever games they played together.”

On the stage, Mary slowly turned to look at Nick, and then at Dakota.

They both had rather complicated expressions on their faces, bordering on shame and embarrassment.

“Aww, that’s so sweet!” Holly giggled.

Mary suppressed a giggle of her own. “Yes,” she agreed with a nod. “It really is.”

Dakota’s face burned and she clenched her cane tightly.

Back in the forest, Rose laughed herself.

“That does sound like Nick,” she admitted with a swooning sigh. “He’s such a sweetheart… letting people win so they could feel good about themselves. …I did the same thing with my own brother, you know.”

Amelia nodded.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the sound of a loud alarm piercing through the field.

“FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!”

“Whelp I guess that’s time, then,” Rose sighed, looking around. She still couldn’t see any guns, and that was a problem. “I should probably get going, then.”

She took a step back from Amelia as the older woman watched her go.

“…I disagreed with my husband’s way of thinking,” Amelia informed Rose as she turned to leave.

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

“I am of the belief that children should not be coddled,” she stated. “Winning means nothing if it is not earned. Nicholas would often complain when I beat him in chess because of that.”

Nick nodded glumly. Amelia was definitely not the kind of woman who would go easy on someone in a game. Not even her own child (or stepchild in this case). She would approach any challenge or competition with ruthless efficiency and do whatever was necessary to win.

Which did not bode well for Rose.

Her eyes widened in surprise as Amelia swiftly raised her gun and aimed it at Rose’s stomach.

All Rose could do before the older woman pulled the trigger was let out a cry.

“ZIP.”

A paintball bullet shot through the air and burst against her belly.

“Hiiyyeeeeeek!”