Author's Note:
I absolutely had too much fun writing out the entirety of this chapter, and I hope you see why as it goes along. Be sure to leave whatever comment you want on the various parts, and ask questions you think need clarification. If you haven't noticed yet, I often reply to the comments that have questions in them.
ON WITH THE STORY!
***
Over the past few hours, Kevin had thought about what kind aberrations he would encounter in this cave. What he'd seen so far in his adventure had proven that there was no limit to how disgusting a monster girl could be. The bare minimum of resemblance to a human woman seemed to be the inclusion of breasts and a human head, with the rest being tentacles, insect parts, or the feathered appendages in the case of the harpies, though he wasn't particularly disgusted with them.
What appeared before him now was a monster girl that really made him feel like he was back on the mission with the Four Bandits. She appeared to be a little girl with grey hair and red eyes, but she also had grey fox ears atop her head and two tails behind her. She was dressed in spandex shorts, socks with sandals, forearm guards the extend to the back of her hands, and a sleeveless top half of a pink gi.
It was obvious to Kevin that she was a Kitsune, but one on the weaker end of the spectrum if her only having two tails was anything to go by.
[Kitsune]
[Type: Fighting]
The final cherry on the cake is that she looked just as surprised to see Kevin as he was to see her. "Wh-what should I do? I got separated from Tamamo, and now a human shows up."
"…hey," Kevin said, breaking the girl out of her downward spiral. "Not to burst your bubble, but I'm not a human."
That seemed to get her attention. "What?"
He took the chance to twitch his ears and wave his own tail back and forth, catching the fox girl's attention. Now that she looked closer, she could see that he was, indeed, not a human. In fact, he had the faint scent of a kitsune coming from him (not the thin fried tofu scent Alice was talking about). What's more, her other senses picked up strong elemental energies radiating off of him, as if they were ready to be used at a moment's notice.
"Oh! You're a kitsune too!" she exclaimed, happy to see one of her kind in this dark and scary cave. "I didn't know any other kitsunes were exploring down here too. Well, besides Tamamo and Nanabi."
That piqued Kevin's interest. "So, there are more of you down here?"
"Yep!" the girl stated proudly. "Tamamo brought Nanabi and me here to play around with the traps and get some artifact so we can cross the ocean. It's weird, though, because we could just teleport, but Tamamo always has a reason!"
"Hm…that would definitely explain all the traps we passed on the way in."
"…Wait a minute! How are you a boy?!" the Kitsune exclaimed, finally having registered that the one-tailed kitsune talking to her was not female like the rest of their race.
Kevin stared at her blankly. "Did you seriously just notice that? You're not that smart, are you?"
It was as if an arrow with the words 'not that smart' had pierced through the small monster's heart, causing her to collapse to her knees and sulk dramatically. "I…I'm not stupid…" she mumbled.
"I never said that you were, but take it however you will," Kevin shrugged. "To answer your question, I've always been a boy. I just also happen to be a monster at the same time. Nobody seems to really understand it."
They remained like that for a solid minute, with the fox girl silently whining about the attack on her intelligence, and Kevin just staring at her in mild amusement. As the atmosphere was starting to become more awkward than humorous, the Eevee decided to speak up again.
"So…what's your name?" he asked.
The girl bounced back up to her feet at that, her cheerful expression back. "Oh, I'm Kitsu! It's nice to meet you!"
'This girl has the most bipolar personality I've ever encountered,' the teenager inwardly mused. "A bit unimaginative for a Kitsune to be named Kitsu, but I'm not gonna judge," he observed. "My name's Kevin."
After a brief handshake between them to solidify their greeting, Kitsu brought up one of her own questions. "What are you doing here, Kevin? Are you exploring like Tamamo?"
He shook his head. "Nah, not really. I'm actually here for that artifact you mentioned earlier. Poseidon's Bell, I think it was called? I need it so I can leave this stupid continent."
Kitsu grinned brightly. "That's great! If we're looking for the same thing, we could probably leave together! I can take you to Tamamo and ask if she'd be willing to help you."
"That would be appreciated," Kevin replied, a smile on his own face. "Do you know where to find her in this cave?"
At that, the kitsune froze. Then, she slumped over. "…No…I don't. I lost her while we were exploring."
Kevin shrugged at that. "Eh, don't worry about it. I have an idea for tracking down your friends."
"Really?" Kitsu asked, tilting her head to the side. "How? Do you have some kind of magic that can find them for us?"
"No," he replied, shaking his head. He then pointed at a group of spears that were sticking out of the walls on both sides of the hall a fair distance away from them. "I was just gonna follow the triggered traps."
The young kitsune's face lit up with joy at that. "That's so smart! I would've never thought to do that!"
"That's probably why you got lost in the first place," the teenager said in a deadpan tone of voice.
With that said, the newly formed duo started making their way through the cave system, following the trail of traps. What struck Kevin as odd, though, was the fact that Alice hadn't reappeared yet. He kind of expected her to pop back up when it became obvious that he and Kitsu weren't going to fight each other, but she was nowhere to be seen.
'Is it because she hates kitsunes? Is keeping this one nearby warding her off?' he thought, looking down at the cute girl happily skipping along beside him.
Little did he know, the reason the Monster Lord decided to keep her distance wasn't because of the annoying creature whom Kevin had decided to make friends with. Instead, it was due to the proximity of numerous monsters infesting the cave, and the fact that any one of them could pop out at any point to initiate yet another beatdown by Kevin.
It was a shame, too, considering that she would've loved to pop back in behind the two-tailed fox and pummel the brat for scaring her. She'd really thought there was a ghost coming to get her, and this kitsune suddenly making noises to scare her further? She would feel the wrath of the Monster Lord!
Completely oblivious to the plotting being done by the lamia, Kitsu continued along happily next to her new friend. Or at least, she thought they were friends. They'd shaken hands, introduced each other, and neither of them had pulled a malicious prank on the other in the process. That constitutes friendship…right?
"By the way!" she said, skipping ahead and then turning to walk backwards while talking. "Why do you have the smell of a snake on you"
"Oh, that's just my other travel companion," the Eevee replied, before getting a devious idea. "She's a big wimp who's scared of other monsters, so whenever they're around she hides. Pretty sure she's somewhere around here." 'Take that, you antagonistic bitch,' he thought, still bitter over the torment she put him through.
From her hiding spot, said 'wimp' silently growled at him and had to hold herself back from coming out and punching him through the wall of the cave.
"That's so funny!" Kitsu giggled loudly. "I didn't even know there WERE monsters who were afraid of other monsters."
They continued to make small talk as they followed the trail left behind by the older kitsunes. The topics ranged from what they thought of the Ilias Continent –
"I've only been here for a few weeks and I already hate it."
"Well, I think it's fun! There have been so many people and monsters to play pranks on and practice my jutsu!"
– to where they came from –
"How can you not know of the Kitsune Village? Even kitsunes not born anywhere near the Noah region know about it!"
"Then you can count me as an exception. My hometown isn't even on any of the three continents."
"Then where is it?"
"Farther than you could possibly imagine, that's for sure."
"I don't know…I can imagine quite a bit."
"…for some reason, I doubt that."
– and numerous other subjects. The only things to halt their conversation were the random monsters that popped up. First came a Meda, which was just another Bug Type monster with many tentacles and a large vagina showing on the front. She was blind and tried to home in on Kevin with just her hearing, which made her unable to see the flaming fist barreling toward her human torso. Luckily for her, though, he didn't transform and use a full-blown Move, so it wasn't as damaging as it could've been. She was apparently smart enough to come to the conclusion that she couldn't win this, and immediately took off without a single word.
A spider girl came next, though she was similarly dealt with by having her whole web and body engulfed in flames. Due to the fire being simultaneously everywhere and impossible to put out due to there not being any water nearby, she quickly succumbed to her burns and was sealed.
The short battles (read: smackdowns) resulted in Kitsu also pestering him about why he had elemental powers he could somehow bring up on a whim, while all she had was a simple clone technique and some pleasure attacks.
"It's not fair!" she whined, grumpily kicking a rock. "Why do you get super cool fire magic without even gaining a second tail, while I still struggle with the earth magic I've been studying for years!?"
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Is earth magic supposed to be easy?"
"Of course, they are!" she shot back. "Earth is the element that kitsunes are most compatible with, so the majority of us start off by learning earth magic, then move onto other elements if we show that we have more affinities."
"Hm…learn something new every day," he hummed.
"Is this another 'because you were born far away' thing?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
A short while later, they came upon an open door leading to a mostly-empty side room. The only thing inside a large wooden treasure chest with brass coating its edges. As if this wasn't suspicious enough, it had no sign of the rust and rot that was prevalent in literally every other part of the cave that wasn't made of stone. It was obviously a trap, but the question was: why hadn't the other kitsunes triggered it?
Before Kevin could ask Kitsu what she thought about it, the System popped up a set of words that hovered over the chest.
[Mimic]
[Type: Ghost]
'That definitely explains it,' he thought, looking closer at the disguised monster. 'Why is it a Ghost Type, though?'
[In this world, Mimics belong to the Undead classification of monsters.]
'…not gonna lie, that is giving me some Dark Souls vibes. Are they as terrifying as they are in the Dark Souls games?'
[Mimics in this universe follow the 'Monster Girl' template. Mimics in the Fromsoftware universe follow the 'Unfair Abomination' template.]
Kevin's shoulders visibly sagged n relief. 'That's a relief. I may be powerful, but those things were terrifying.'
Without another word, he reached for the door and slowly closed it. Kitsu had no objections, as she could tell by smell that it was a monster in disguise and didn't want to risk it being more powerful than her. If it was, then it might decide to eat her since there weren't exactly a lot of men who made it that far into this cave without being snatched up by another monster.
They continued on after that for another hour. The sheer size and depth of this cave system was really impressive, Kevin had to admit. Most people would probably have given up searching for the rumored treasure just from how long it took to reach it in the first place. Not to mention the number of traps they'd passed, which probably numbered over a hundred at this point.
'Whoever this 'Selene' pirate was, she definitely knew how to protect her treasure,' the Eevee internally mused.
No other monsters stopped them as they made their way to the deepest part of the tunnel system. That isn't to say that none of them could. It was just that the ones who had been following them at first, waiting for a chance to ambush them, had seen what the male had done to the other monsters who got in his way, and they had strong enough self-preservation instincts to make them steer clear and just wait for the next idiot adventurers who would eventually come around.
Just as Kevin was getting sick of the endless nearly-identical hallways, he and Kitsu finally came to a large chamber. It was better lit than the rest of the cave system, with torches every five feet along the walls rather than every few yards. The feature that stood out the most, though, was the large, rusted iron door set into the wall at the opposite end of the room.
In front of that door, staring at them as they entered the room, was what Kevin assumed to be another kitsune. The reason he assumed it, rather than just knowing it from sight, was that she looked much different from the small girl standing next to him. Sure, she had the fox ears sticking out from either side of her chin-length dirty blond hair and seven similarly-colored fox tails whose fur faded into black tips, but that's where the similarities ended. Instead of legs, the entire lower half of her body looked like a giant fox. Its fur was the same dirty blond as her hair, but became creamy white on her underside and a similar shade of black to her tail tips on her four paws. She sat on her hind legs and followed the duo with her red eyes as they approached her.
[Nanabi the Seven-Tailed Bestial Kitsune]
[Type: Fighting/Rock]
"Nanabi!" Kitsu cried out in joy at seeing her friend, launching herself at the fox-taur. "Why did you leave me behind!? I was so scared!"
Nanabi gave the smaller kitsune a gentle smile and a few pts on the head as the two-tailed fox hugged her lower torso. "Sorry, Kitsu, but you know how Tamamo is. If I didn't keep up, I would've been left behind too. Besides, I believed that you were strong enough to face any monsters that could be found in this cave."
That certainly stroked the small girl's ego and she stepped back and struck a proud pose with her fists on her hips. "Of course, I am! You should've seen some of the fights I had! I was all like Bam! Pow! Whoosh!" She emphasized her claims by dramatically punching and kicking the empty air.
The seven-tailed fox was about to praise her, when another voice stopped her.
"Oh really?" Kevin interjected, drawing both monster girls' eyes to him. "That's not how I remember it. If I recall correctly, you stood by on the sidelines while I set things on fire."
Kitsu visibly deflated, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Eheheh…"
Nanabi, on the other hand, gained a glint of intrigue in her eyes as she examined the newcomer. This was the first time she'd ever encountered a male monster, after all. Her senses told her that while he may look and feel like a one-tailed kitsune on the surface, there were more elements and underlying magics than any kitsune should be capable of possessing.
"Hello," she greeted him, bowing her head in respect. "My name is Nanabi. It's a pleasure to meet you."
After roaming his eyes over her body a few more times, Kevin met her eyes with his and nodded. "It's nice to meet you, too. The name's Kevin."
'He seems decent enough,' the foxtaur thought. "I would like to thank you for protecting Kitsu and guiding her back to us. I know how much of a handful she can be."
"Hey!" Kitsu shouted, but was easily ignored.
"It wasn't a problem, really," Kevin shrugged. "I was headed this way in first place, and she was one of the few monsters I've encountered who didn't try to rape me on sight, so I saw no reason not to walk with her."
"Regardless of your reasoning, thanks are still in order," Nanabi smiled. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your reason for coming here? Were you wanting to meet with Tamamo?"
The Eevee shook his head. "Not really. To be honest, I didn't even know you guys were here until I ran into Kitsu. I'm just here for Poseidon's Bell so I can leave this stupid continent."
That caused Nanabi to frown. "I see. It will be up to Tamamo whether or not you can have the bell."
"And I'm guessing that she's behind that iron door?" he asked, leaning to look at the door.
Nanabi nodded. "Yes. She went inside to look around and tasked me with guarding the door and making sure that nobody bothers her."
"How long has she been in there?"
"About two hours."
"How long do you think it'll take for her to come back out?"
"I honestly don't know. It could be anywhere from five minutes to a whole day. Tamamo has a tendency to be unpredictable like that."
Kevin sighed. "Well, that's gonna be a problem. Nothing against you, but I don't really feel like sitting here for the next few hours waiting for your leader to come back out."
The kitsune narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you through. I was tasked by Tamamo to guard the door. If you want through, you'll have to go through me."
A groan of frustration filled the air as the Eevee stared at the ceiling. "Seriously?" he mumbled, before looking back at the monster girl. "I literally just want to ask her for the bell. Can't you just let me slide by? It's not like I was planning on attacking her."
"I was tasked by Tamamo to guard the door and let nobody through," she repeated, maneuvering her lower body to stand on all four legs now. "Letting you pass would be directly disobeying her orders. Either wait for her to come out on her own or leave. If you try to force your way past me, you should be prepared to face the consequences."
Kitsu, from her spot between them, was feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going. Not wanting to be caught up in whatever confrontation was about to take place, and seeing no way that her opinion could possibly cool the tension between them, she wisely retreated to the room's entrance and maintained a safe distance.
Kevin raised one hand to his faced and face-palmed. "Why is it always like this," he grumbled. "I get it, it's your job and your oh-so-important master gave you an order, but are we really going to resort to violence?"
The seven-tailed kitsune's lack of verbal response was very telling.
"Fine, then," Kevin sighed, straightening his back and giving his now-enemy a half-hearted glare. "Just remember: you asked for this."
Before she could say anything else, the boy's body was engulfed in a blinding flash of light that would've left a lesser monster stunned for at least a few minutes due to the comparatively dark cavern surrounding them. It certainly blinded Kitsu, even with how far away she was standing from them. When the light finally died down and the boy was revealed again, Nanabi felt her jaw drop at what she both saw and sensed.
Now standing at a respectable six-foot-four, the boy had grown into an attractive teenager. His hair had become a deep blue and now hung down to his shoulders, somehow damp despite the dryness of the cave. In fact, the entirety of his body was dripping with what smelled like fresh salt water, creating a slowly growing puddle at his bare feet. His skin became a much deeper tan, covered only by a light blue pair of swim trunks with dark blue edges, and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt that was decorated with flowers in varying shades of blue. Around his neck rested a necklace with what looked like multiple shark teeth, and a single aquamarine stone in the middle that matched the new color of his eyes.
Most shocking of all was the change in his foxlike appendages. The ears sticking out from the top of his head disappeared, replaced alternating blue and yellow fins sticking out from the sides where his normal human ears were. In addition, his fluffy tail had bee replaced by a long mermaid-like light blue tail with dark blue ridges along the top, ending in a split fin. Not to mention the sudden abundance of magic aligned with the water element radiating off of him on a scale that Nanabi had never encountered before, even when she'd encountered powerful mermaids.
[Name: Kevin]
[Age: 17]
[Form: Vaporeon]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Water Absorb/Hydration]
[Weapon: None]
She now understood what he meant when he said that she asked for this. It wasn't an empty threat. It was a promise that he was powerful enough to beat her into the ground without breaking a sweat, and that he'd given her a chance to let him through peacefully. She had truly brought this on herself.
But she was one of the loyal aides of Tamamo! Even in the face of such overwhelming power, she would stand strong and defend this door with her life! She wouldn't let the leader of her whole race down! She –!
"Wooooaaaah," Kevin's voice interrupted her thoughts, being slightly deeper and smoother than what it was before. He was holding his tail in one hand while the other touched the fins on his ears. "Dude, this is so weird. If I'd known this transformation would be like this, I'd have done it a looooooong time ago."
He then looked up at Nanabi and gave a lazy smile. "Sorry, bronette, but do you mind if I take a minute to just…experience this? It's totally fine if you're not cool with it, but when you reach a state of being like this, you just gotta feel it out."
"I…uh…what?" Nanabi was definitely suffering from conversational whiplash. One moment, this kid was expressing his desire to get past her, even if he had to go through her in the process. The next, he's standing there in a new form with his eyes closed and talking like some sort of beach bum? "I don't understand."
"That's just it, dudette," the Vaporeon replied, his smile containing nothing but peace at the moment. "You don't need to. Just relax and listen to the sound of the waves. Let them carry your cares away."
The more he spoke, the more confused the kitsune became. "What waves? We're in a cave, not on a beach."
The teenager closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "That's just your opinion. When I close my eyes, I can see and smell the fresh ocean breeze all around us. Give it a try, brah. I guarantee you won't be disappointed."
It was at this point that Nanabi was one hundred percent certain that this was an act on Kevin's part, and that he was trying to trick her into letting her guard down. She was capable of hypnotism herself, so she was able to recognize the ploy from a mile away. It actually made her angry to think that he believed her to be stupid enough to fall for such an obvious ruse.
"You think you can trick me?" she growled in irritation. "Take this!"
Two of her tails shot forward, intent on taking him by surprise and binding him. They were even moving so fast that the average monster on the Ilias Continent wouldn't be able to see them move at all. To them, it would seem as if her tails suddenly blurred and were instantly at their destination.
Contrary to her expectations, Kevin avoided her attack by bending his torso, arms, and legs at odd angles and seemingly flowing around the appendages. Even when she added two more tails and lashed them around to try getting a grip on him, he simply slipped around them and sometimes through gaps between them that she hadn't even considered until he exploited them.
"Woah! What's got your fur in a knot?" the Vaporeon asked, his eyes open now as he bobbed and weaved through the sudden attacks. "All I said was that you should listen to the sound of the ocean. If that harshed your mellow, brotato, then you could've just said it."
The unconcerned tone of his voice, coupled with the way he evaded every attempt at restraining him, didn't calm the kitsune down. In fact, it only made her angrier, now assuming that he was looking down on her. She stopped holding back at that point and added her final three tails to the mix, using her Seven Moons technique to subdue this arrogant prick.
Kevin also came to a conclusion upon her including her remaining tails in her assault. 'This girl needs to learn to chill out. Should I fight back? I mean, I want to get by, but using my full power would be mean. She's just doing her job, after all, and I'm the one who's making it hard on her. Some softer Moves should work here.'
With that in mind, he dodged backwards and out of the range of the Nanabi's tails. He then wasted no time in…dancing. It was an odd combination of movements that ranged from the hula, to a head-spin, to the cupid shuffle, and ended with him doing the worm on the ground. The sheer absurdity of it actually left his opponent speechless again for a whole minute, trying to determine whether or not the teenager had lost his mind in the last few moments.
Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by the sound of thunder coming from above her, and droplets of water falling down. Tilting her head up, her jaw dropped at the sight of rainclouds covering the ceiling of the large chamber, letting forth and increasingly large amount of rain until it was coming down as hard as if it were a real storm.
[Rain Dance – Water Type Move]
[Description: The user summons a heavy rain that falls for 15 minutes, powering up Water type Moves. It lowers the power of Fire Type Moves.]
His primary reason for using this Move was for the effects given by the rain itself. However, there was a secondary reason related to one of the Abilities he had in this form: Hydration. As long as it was raining, any status effects such as sleeping, burning, freezing, poison, or paralysis would be negated within moments of being applied to him. He was hoping that this would also apply to if she somehow caught and bound him, but he had a few aces up his sleeve if it didn't
Not giving Nanabi enough time to register the fact that he'd somehow made it rain indoors in an underground cave, he activated the next Move he had in mind. Gesturing with both hands, he summoned hundreds of gallons of water out of thin air and mixed it with the dirt on the ground until the water turned a muddy brown. Then, he thrust his hands forward and sent a surge of it toward the foxtaur.
[Muddy Water – Water Type Move]
[Description: The user attacks by shooting muddy water at opposing enemies. This may also lower their accuracy.]
Nanabi looked back down the moment she heard the stream of water rushing in her direction. Not wanting to be covered in the filthy liquid, she leaped as high into the air as possible to dodge it. Although, she didn't expect it to suddenly change direction to follow her upwards. Lacking any method of dodging mid-air, she was sprayed with the full force of the move. Not only did it ruin the perfect sheen of her fur that she'd worked so hard that morning to achieve; it also somehow hurt her. Every inch of her body that had been impacted now had a dull ache coming from it.
She glared at the boy. "Do you know how hard it is to get dirt out of my fur!?" she shouted, all pretenses of calm suddenly gone. "I spent two hours cleaning myself this morning, you ASSHOLE!"
Surprisingly, Kevin actually looked apologetic when he heard that. "Really? Dude, I'm so sorry. Here, let me clean that up for you."
The kitsune wasn't about to wait for him to hit her again with some overpowered Water magic. She took the initiative again, imbuing all seven over her tails with Earth magic and targeting his neck, limbs, and crotch with them. Sure, such a move would cripple an ordinary human, but this creature was as far from ordinary as one could get in this world.
The sudden attack actually worked this time, with Kevin's arms and legs being wrapped tightly, along with his neck and torso. The final tail was trying to force its way into his swim trunks, but for some reason was finding it impossible to get through. Luckily for Kevin, the reinforcement he received for his clothing in Enrica carried over the clothes of his transformations, making him more resistant to pleasure attacks.
Nanabi noticed this, too, and was more than a little frustrated. How was she supposed to make this brat achieve Critical Ecstasy without getting his clothes off? Even when she tried pulling them off with her hands, they refused to budge! Maybe she could rub his penis through his trunks and get him off that way?
"Hey, bronettte," the Vaporeon said, drawing her eyes to his unconcerned expression. "Could you not do that? It's seriously making me feel uncomfortable."
Her eye twitched at that. "Do you think that this is a game?" she asked him, tightening her grip on all of his body parts and roughly massaging his genitals through the cloth covering them. "That's the entire point of this! I'm going to make you cum! Then you won't have the energy to try forcing your way past me anymore! At this point, I'm even considering keeping you as a toy for how much you've infuriated me!"
Kevin squinted his eyes at her. "Really? That's sad, brah," he let out a disappointed sigh. "I thought that maybe there wouldn't be any hard feelings between us if I went easy on you. Guess being nice about it wasn't the right move. For what it's worth, I'm really sorry about what I'm about to do. Don't hold it against me, alright?"
The split second after he finished speaking, the whole area surrounding them erupted in a column of water. Not just any water, though; superheated water in the form of steam. It had no effect on Kevin, as his own Moves couldn't hurt him unless they specifically stated so, but Nanabi was a different story. All of the dirt and mud was removed from her fur, but that was a cold comfort when compared to the boiling agony she found herself immersed in. In her desperate attempt to get away from the scalding geyser, she ended up letting her captive go and scrambling to the other end of the room.
[Steam Eruption – Water type Move]
[Description: The user immerses the target in superheated steam. This may also leave the target with a burn.]
Her fur was singed in multiple places now, and more than a few of them exhibited piercing pain at the slightest movement. Even her human-like upper body numerous red burns from where the heat truly burned her exposed skin. Fortunately, at least in her opinion, her face was left untouched.
"That is IT! I'm through with playing around!" she shouted, her rage reaching a new level. Using as much magical energy as she could focus at that moment, she channeled her power into her eyes and used one of her most useful attacks to finally end the battle. "Fall asleep! Hypnotic Eyes!"
Kevin heard her announcement of the move too late and was immediately captivated by the blood red eyes of the beautiful kitsune woman. They made him feel so…tired. His eyelids were so heavy, and so were his limbs. 'I can take a nap right now, right?' he thought idly as he stumbled forward. 'Maybe just for a few minutes.'
Within seconds, he was completely out cold. Nanabi heaved a sigh of relief when she saw him collapse onto the floor and curl up into the fetal position. It may not have been a long battle, but had definitely been a hard one for her. She had barely made a scratch on him, hadn't been able to use any of her pleasure moves, and had to resort to using magic to knocking him out in the end after sustaining burns that would take days to heal.
"Maybe I SHOULD keep him as a prize," she mused out loud, her eyes still not leaving him. "He did put up a good fight, after all. Our children would certainly become incredibly powerful. Maybe if Tamamo –"
She was interrupted by a loud snort coming from the body on the floor as he rolled over and sat back up. Kevin proceeded to rub both of his eyes with his hands, then stretch out his arms in a yawn as he rose to his feet. His Hydration ability had used the still-ongoing rain to wash away the effects of the hypnotism, leaving him no worse for wear than he was before the attack was used on him.
"*yawn* Ah…what a good nap," he said with a lazy grin. Then, he turned to see the dumbfounded foxtaur staring at him as if he was some freak of nature (Which, let's be honest, he was.). "Oh, hey Nanabi. We still doing that whole 'fighting' thing?"
Nanabi remained speechless. Her ultimate attack, which was able to incapacitate countless other kitsunes, monsters, and even blessed heroes, was just shrugged off moments after it was applied. What kind of unstoppable beast was this boy? Did she ever really have a chance of standing up against him? Was this the end for her?
"Brah, if you don't say no, I'll have to take your silence as a yes," he informed her, but still received nothing. "Alright, then. I'll be sure to make this nice and painless. After all, you're just doing your job, right?"
Elemental energy begam to build inside him at a rate that snapped the kitsune out of her stupor the moment she sensed it. The apologetic expression on the boy's face didn't give her any reassurance about her fate. She was running low on magic, and the aches and burns all over her body prevented her from moving anywhere any time soon.
Not that it would matter, with the final Move that Kevin had planned for her.
"[Surf's] up, Nanabi," he finally grinned, his right hand forming a shaka sign as a massive wave of water spanning the full width of the chamber appeared below him, raising him up until his head almost touched the ceiling.
[Surf – Water Type Move]
[Description: The user attacks everything around them by swamping their surrounding with a giant wave.]
The kitsune had just enough time to send up a prayer to the First that she would survive this, before the wave crashed down on her. Her body was crushed like an aluminum soda can, all of her bones breaking at the same time and her organs being ruptured. It's safe to say that if Kevin didn't constantly have his sealing power active, she would've died on impact. Instead, her body slowly began to shrink as she was sealed into the form of a normal fox, albeit one with seven tails.
The water used by Kevin's moves remained in the room, raising to knee level when it finally settled down. The rain had finally stopped falling, so luckily it wasn't getting any higher, but the poor fox wasn't able to swim due to being rendered unconscious. The Vaporeon decided to be the good guy, though, and picked her up to hold in his arms so he wouldn't need to worry about her drowning.
"Sorry, again, that I had to do that, little dudette," he said to her, stroking her head and spine. "I'll try to make it up to you some day. Maybe I can teach you how to surf and you can be on the other end of that attack."
From the room's entrance, where the water was only ankle-deep due to the upward incline of the slope, Kitsu was both awed and terrified. On the one hand, the friend she made while she was lost in the caves was powerful enough to curb stomp Nanabi without any signs of injury or sexual temptation. On the other hand, he actually HAD curb stomped Nanabi in an attempt to meet Tamamo, and she had no idea how the elder kitsune would take this. From what the two-tailed kitsune could remember about their leader's personality, she was equally likely to laugh it off as she was to beat Kevin down the same way he beat Nanabi.
Oddly enough, it never passed through Kitsu's mind that he could possibly attack her. She liked to think that she was a good judge of character, and he didn't seem like a bad guy through their entire time exploring the caves.
As both Kevin and Kitsu were finishing their trains of thought, the large iron door finally opened on its own, letting some of the water flow out of the chamber and into the treasure room. Through it, stepped the most powerful Kitsune in the world.
"Hmm…It's a lot wetter out here than I remember."
***
Author's Note (Again):
Vaporeon = Laid-back Surfer Bro
Hope you guys liked this!
Also, another thing that I want you guys to comment for this paragraph: I am thinking of reworking some of the outfits for a few of the previously introduced Eeveelutions, and also needing inspiration for the outfits of the future ones, but am too lazy to really look through the internet for pictures, so if you would comment with some pictures along with the names of their artists, that would make my job much easier. I'm planning on having the rework of the outfits be one part of the System Update that Kevin requested, but more as an aesthetic thing than something that has a major impact on fights.
Until next time, when we meet TAMAMO!