You run, run, run away, it's your heart that you betray

While Dakota led the girls in Nick’s harem up through the winding path into the main battlefield they would be fighting on, Nick was **** to wait back on the stage. He didn’t exactly handle it well.

“Nick, stop pacing,” Mary gently consoled her husband as she watched him walk back and forth across the stage. “Come on, the challenge hasn’t even started yet. You know once it does, Dakota’s going to create a screen for you to watch what’s going on.”

“That’s right, just like the last challenge!” Holly helpfully added.

Nick appreciated the girls’ thoughts, he really did. But it didn’t help the tension he was feeling.

“I know, I know!” He groaned, rubbing his temples. “Still… this is a really twisted challenge, you know? I mean, using aphrodisiacs on each other… I can’t believe so many people just went along with it! Even Amelia was okay with that?”

Mary bit her lip. “I suppose… if you think about it that way, it is a little unfortunate.”

“Come on!” Holly groaned. “Look, I get it, using aphrodisiacs on people to make them cum, that’s not the best. But it’s not like anyone’s going to do any actual sexual ****, right? It’s just a few harmless orgasms! Once somebody starts really violating someone’s bodily autonomy, THEN you can complain, but for now, I don’t know, try to enjoy it! It might even be fun, watching everybody cum!”

Her cheeky smile masked a very good point, much to Nick’s chagrin. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how right she was- compared to the last challenge, where the girls had gone through so much emotional pain, a purely physical and sexy challenge was nothing.

“I guess it’s not any worse than the Cummong Us one that Sylvia came up with,” he relented with a sheepish smile. “I guess I just got a little worked-up because… well… it’s a new challenge, you know? That’s worrying.”

“Well, then don’t worry about it!” Mary said. “Just root for everybody to do their best!”

She was just glad that she didn’t have to take part in challenges like this anymore. She’d been cumming way too easily these days, it would have been an immediate loss.

While Nick was working through his concerns with the challenge, a few of the girls were doing the same on the walk up to the battlefield. Ella in particular was uneasy, casting worrying glances behind her towards Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. The mute girl was walking at an easy pace a few steps behind her, but in spite of the smile on her face, it seemed a lot like she was stalking prey rather than just taking a nice, casual stroll with the other girls.

And Morgana was getting twitchy whenever she heard a twig snap.

Compared to some of the other girls, Rose had bigger things to worry about than the challenge right now. “Thank you for doing up my hair,” she said gratefully to Amelia.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Amelia replied with her usual terse bluntness. “It was necessary, lest you be eliminated early.”

True. Rose reached back and played with the mess of braids and twists the older woman had implemented to tame her wild mane. She smiled. “Still, you didn’t have to do it. It means a lot that you’d help me out like that.”

Amelia turned to look at her. For a moment, a flicker of emotion leapt across her face. “…Of course I did,” she replied, as if it was a natural thing to do.

Kim was focused on the game. She caught up to Dani, who was walking side by side with Carly and Marley.

“Hey, Dani, can we talk?” She asked.

Dani looked over to her, surprised. “I-I suppose so,” she said, raising her eyebrow. “What did you want to talk about? If you’re offering an alliance, you know I don’t really scheme like that, but since we’re friends…”

“Oh, uh, no, it’s not about that,” Kim said, shaking her head quickly. “I just wanted to, you know, chat it out with you, since we’re friends and everything.”

She gave Dani one of her dazzling smiles, but Dani wasn’t buying it. She raised her eyebrow curiously.

“Kim… if you’re worried about me…”

“Worried?! Why… why would I be worried?” Kim almost hiccupped, and tried to hide it with another smile.

Dani raised her eyebrow and Carly held back a giggle.

“I think you’re right on the money there, Dani,” she snickered, shaking her head.

Kim blushed. “Okay, so… maybe I’m a little worried,” she admitted. “You seem kinda… gung-ho about this whole thing, but I know you, Dani, and you’re usually the first person to object to a challenge like this, where people are giving each other orgasms and the like. And, well… I’ve been there before. When I was the impostor in that one challenge, it was kind of a mental load on me, you know? Having to hunt down my friends and everything… so if you want to talk about it, before, or even after the challenge, I’m here.”

Dani smiled. “Kim… that’s really sweet of you. But it’s fine. I don’t know, I guess I’m just getting used to all the craziness of these challenges… isn’t that a scary thought?” She shivered and shook her head. “…Yeah, I know. Blegh. But after the last challenge… transforming people…”

Kim bristled as memories of the previous challenge flashed through her mind. It had been almost two weeks of trying to put that day out of her memory, but with little luck.

“…I know what you mean,” she said quietly.

“Look, I’m not going to apologize for what happened there,” Dani said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Those people had it coming. I know that doesn’t sound great, given how opposed I’ve always been to transformations, but in that case? Yeah. They deserved it.”

Her harsh expression softened. “…But hey, no need to get all worked-up, right?” She cracked a smile and shook her head. “Come on, it’s not worth it, not at all. This and that, those are two separate things. For this challenge, we just have to think of it like… a game! Just like a regular paintball game!”

“Only when you get hit by the paint, you end up having an orgasm,” Marley pointed out. “…Which raises a question. Hey, Dakota!”

“Hmm?” Dakota stopped and looked back at her. “Yes?”

Marley frowned. “So this challenge, what exactly is MY role in this whole thing going to be, if you don’t mind me asking?” It had completely slipped her mind up until this point. “It’s not like I’m a contestant, so…”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Carly draped her arm over her sister’s shoulder and pulled her in close for a hug. “You’re my meat shield, sis!”

Marley cringed. “…Oh. Yay. That’s exactly what I’ve always wanted,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She turned back to the host. “Okay, but seriously?”

Dakota smirked, amused. “No, that’s pretty much right,” she said with an approving nod, causing Marley’s jaw to drop.

“Wait, what!?” She stammered, eyes bulging in surprise. “You’re not serious?!”

“Oh, no, definitely serious,” Dakota said, nodding. “Remember the condition Sylvia placed on your transformation, when you were eliminated?”

“Ooh, I do!” Sylvia called, running up the trail to join them. “I remember!”

Dakota ignored her. “You’re a second pair of hands for Carly,” she explained. “You can take part in challenges with her, and are essentially treated as another version of her. So you can pick up guns, and use them, or block bullets for your sister if you want.”

Marley nodded slowly. “But… what if I orgasm? Does Carly get eliminated then?”

Dakota shook her head. “That wouldn’t be fair. And it’s not like we can eliminate you,” she pointed out. “If we kick you off the field, you’ll just revert to a slime mold. No, you’re essentially just there to block bullets for your sister and tank as many orgasms as you can. That sounds fun, right?”

The cheery smile on the other girl’s lips was a little at odds with the kind of stuff she was saying. Marley raised her eyebrow.

“What?!” Rose overheard the discussion and stormed over. “That’s not fair! So Carly gets an extra shield then?”

Dakota shrugged. “Is it fair that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin has special training for hunting people down and eliminating them?” She asked rhetorically.

Rose answered anyways, with a loud “NO!”

…Which just made the smirk on Dakota’s lips widen.

“Exactly! Sometimes, challenges come along where one contestant is unfairly advantaged over the others.” The host shrugged again and twirled her cane. “Nothing we can do about it, I’m afraid. Just the way the game is played, you know how it is.”

Rose’s eye twitched but she held her tongue, not wanting to blow up on the other woman.

Dani sighed. She smiled gratefully over at Carly, glad she could at least get some kind of advantage in this competition.

Hopefully, Carly’s newly-discovered advantage would help her win!

“Well, would you look at that?” Dakota turned around, and suddenly the forest had parted as though it were always cleared, to reveal an open field in front of the girls. “I believe we’ve reached the starting point!”

“Starting point, huh?” Vivian stepped forward and surveyed the wide-open field, adjusting her had to block out the sun. “So we have the whole place to ourselves, eh? I don’t see any of those weapons you were talking about, though.”

“That’s right,” Dakota nodded, crossing her arms over her chest as the contestants filled out into the clearing. “This is where we’ll begin our little match!” She sounded quite happy to make that announcement. “Of course, there is a lot more than this to explore- the official boundaries aren’t the whole island like last time, but they’re still considerably wide. And just to be careful, I’ve made sure that you’ll get a warning if you try anything untoward.”

Dawn raised her eyebrow. “Untoward?” She asked suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?”

“Yeah!” Gina nodded. “What’s ‘untoward’ mean? You mean like going the opposite direction or something?”

Dawn clenched her teeth and fought back the urge to chew the other girl out for being a moron.

“All it means is that, should you get too close to the boundary, you’ll get a tiny warning,” Dakota said, holding up her hand. “The number on your hand that indicates your VP total will light up red and start flashing, and you’ll hear a little warning buzzer.”

She tapped her cane, and a loud “FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!” began to echo through the open field, causing everyone to cringe.

“That’s… annoying,” Ella mumbled.

“Isn’t it?” Dakota chirped. “If you hear that noise, that means whatever direction you were going, turn around and head back. It’s not a hard boundary, but if you’re out of bounds too long, it’s an immediate disqualification.”

A few of the girls nodded.

“That sounds reasonable,” Amelia agreed.

“…To be clear, an immediate disqualification means an immediate orgasm,” Dakota quickly added.

Less fun. Or more fun, depending on who you asked. Team Delinquent Daughters certainly wasn’t complaining. Gina and Sylvia both had amused grins on their faces while a few other girls cringed with concern.

“Now then!” Dakota clapped her hands together. “One more rule, before we start. Since this might end up being a big of a bloodbath if we just let you girls go at it all willy-nilly- or more accurately, a bath of other bodily fluids, we’re going to institute a quick restriction here. You know, for all of your sakes.”

“What kind of restriction?” Morgana asked.

“For the first 15 minutes of the challenge, physical contact is prohibited,” Dakota declared. “And likewise, it is forbidden to use weapons on another contestant! We want to give everyone a chance to get off on the right foot, after all!”

Dawn nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Good thinking, Dakota!” Sylvia agreed excitedly. “This way, nobody will immediately pounce and pleasure someone to orgasm! Everyone will have a chance to split up and find some weapons, isn’t that right?”

“Exactly my thought process.” Dakota was eager to get this little game started. “Now then, you may go your separate ways, or stay together as a group, whatever makes the most sense for you. But keep in mind, until you hear me sound off the timer to let the game properly start, any attempt to induce an orgasm in another contestant will be met with strict recriminations… do I make myself clear?”

Her intimidating glare swept across the field, causing several people to bristle with concern. A few worried nods spread among the girls.

“…Excellent! We want all our orgasms to be fair and in keeping with the rules, after all!” Dakota chirped, her affable nature returning in a flash. “Now then… begin!”

She swung her cane and disappeared in a flash. Nothing had changed, but at the same time, everything had.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin made the first move. She lowered her head and dashed forward like a charging rhino, causing Morgana to freeze up and turn even paler. For a moment, she thought that the assassin was going to ignore Dakota’s rules and tackle her into the grass!

But no, the assassin ran right past her, doubling back into the forest where she soon completely faded from sight.

“Weeeeew!” Vivian whistled, leaning back and stretching her arms over her head. “That girl’s got some legs on her! And she’s got the right idea.”

The heiress turned and sauntered in the other direction, towards the edge of the forest. “We better get a move on.”

“Carrington,” Amelia called out to her. A scowl touched her lips. “Perhaps it would be more efficient to stay together in a group.” In Amelia’s eyes, there was strength in numbers. And while she certainly didn’t enjoy the idea of counting on Vivian Carrington for anything, she could respect the rebellious woman’s proficiency with firearms, at least.

Vivian wasn’t having it, though. With a laugh on her lips, she turned back to her old teacher and smirked. “Come on, Teach, who are you trying to fool here?” She shook her head. “You don’t want to work with me any more than I want to work with you. So let’s not **** it! Let’s just do our own thing, and go our own ways. It’ll work out best in the end that way, I think.”

She might have liked the other girls just fine, but when the chips were down, a woman with Vivian’s experience in the cutthroat business world knew that the only person you could trust in a situation like this was yourself.

And she wasn’t the only one who was acting on that instinct. For one reason or another, most of the girls found it in their best interest to go their own ways, at least at the beginning.

“Carly, I think we should split up,” Dani said, turning to her girlfriend. Needless to say, Carly found that surprising.

“Really?” The cosplayer raised her eyebrow and adjusted the brim of her hat. “Why?”

“It’s strategy, that’s why,” Dawn said, passing by her. Even though she’d learned her lesson about working on her own the last time she was caught in an island-wide challenge like this, she could understand where Dani was coming from. “The most important thing to do at the start of this challenge is to acquire weapons to defend ourselves with. That’s why Dakota gave us 15 minutes before we could start going after each other. And while there might be advantages with sticking together as a group, if everybody splits up you can cover more ground, and you have a better shot at finding something. You can always regroup later, after all.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right about that one,” Rose agreed. She headed off on her own as well.

Dawn raised valid point.

“It looks like the weapons might be hard to find,” Kim said, scanning the field thoughtfully. She couldn’t see a single crate of ammo or gun, not so much as a single paintball. “Nola definitely hid them well. Which means we might need to look hard if we want to find them.”

No matter what Dakota said, Kim wasn’t going to give the boss credit for her assistant’s hard work. Nola got screwed over enough as it was.

In the end, Carly and Dani understood that reasoning- everybody did, even Morgana, who would have preferred to team up with someone else. They all went their separate ways, some heading deeper into the field and others heading back for the forest, everybody looking to get some hands on some good weapons.

All except for Ella. She was more concerned with staying out of the line of fire.

If I just hide, then nobody will find me until the end! She decided, scurrying through the brush. And then even if I don’t win, I’ll at least get more points for staying in longer!

She might not know much about guns or war tactics, but after having grown up with her horrid stepfamily she had become an expert at making herself hard to find.

But not for Dakota.

“Hello there!” Dakota popped up in front of her, and Ella nearly crashed into a tree trying to stop herself. She windmilled her arms before clamping her hands over her mouth to suppress her screech. Staring with wide eyes behind her bangs, she silently questioned what Dakota was doing, popping up like that so suddenly after leaving just now.

“I suppose you’re wondering why I suddenly popped up like this,” Dakota mused, approaching Ella like a viper in the bushes. “Well, there’s a simple reason. You’re at a bit of a disadvantage here, Ella, and I’d like to fix that.”

Ella’s heart began pounding in her chest, and her eyes widened. “A… a disadvantage?” She stammered, fingers trailing towards her wrist.

“THWAP!” She snapped her rubber-band.

Dakota nodded. “That’s right, a disadvantage,” she replied. “You see… …Well actually, I don’t even need to tell you, do I?”

Before Ella could react, Dakota tapped her on the forehead.

The latina’s eyes widened and her body shook. And before she even knew what happened, she was banished to the far reaches of her mind, and Cinder came out to take her place.

“What?!” Cinder roared in confusion. “What did you-?!”

“There you are!” Dakota snapped her fingers. A look of dawning realization flashed over the enraged woman, enough to halt her hostile outburst in its tracks.

“You see, I already explained the rules to Ella with the other girls, but what if you took over for her in the middle of the challenge?” Dakota scrunched up her face in a perplexed expression. “That certainly wouldn’t be good, you’d find yourself dreadfully confused. So there you go! I just gave you a quick update and filled you in on all the rules. Pretty convenient, eh?”

“Dakota-!” Before Cinder could express how she felt about this challenge, Dakota tapped her on the forehead again.

“Now now, it’s not your turn. Let’s not unfairly edge things out, okay?” Dakota chirped, forcing Ella’s personality to reassert itself.

The poor latina just looked around, dreadfully confused. “But… but-!” She stammered, not sure what had just happened. “What did you do?”

“No need to worry!” Dakota waved her cane. “Good luck on the challenge, Ella!”

And before the poor addled girl could full process the situation, the host disappeared. The game could finally begin!