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"Percy, right?"
Percy Heimdall froze, as the tiny shirt tumbled from his grip, splashing pathetically into the bowl. He had been busy trying his best to soak his only set of spare clothes into a wooden tub of serpent oil, in a haphazard attempt to enchant them with regeneration like the rest of his uuuh...new kindred. But, no-one was exactly willing to guide him on the process, assuming they even knew it themselves, so he had spent the better part of two hours painstakingly glancing back and forth between the bronze liquid, and the poorly written instructions the Emerald Scarves had been trying to construct from a magazine subscription, and expectantly little progress had been made.
Which was when that voice had suddenly jolted the young lad out of his frustrated trance, and when he glanced over to the opening slit of the tent, his eyes widened even further.
There, somehow managing to casually lean on nothing but canvas cloth, was that armoured mercenary, the vicious fighter that the scarves had not only hired, but shared the curse of the Primal mutation with.
Shiny, the Emerald Scarves' first and only Hunter strain mutant.
As far as Percy knew, Mercutio and that Dr. Talos woman had brought the lady into the fold for general muscle and military prowess, like the hired swords the Burgundies used to get, back when they were under Romeo's command. Percy wasn't privy to the specifics, but from what he'd heard from the hardier humans and mutated comrades that bothered to interact with him, this mercenary in particular was one of the scariest ones Percy had ever heard of. 90% success rate in missions, record time robberies, over 40 kills in the week or so they've had her on the team, and so many of the guys who worked with her could swear that the universe itself was warping reality to help her. Percy wasn't sure if this was how Hunter mutants worked, if the gossip was exaggerated, or if the woman herself was just that crazy, but he wasn't one to ever question rumours that haunting. Whoever the hired killer was, Percy had previously just hoped he would never have to get on her bad side, or even meet her if he could help it, all of these mutant shenanigans were well above his station.
...except he wasn't really in that station anymore, was he?
Before, Percy could get away with barely having to lift a knife, using his talents of observation and disappearing into the background for pure stealth work, more the messenger than warrior. But just last week, when the full moon had turned that sickly green colour, when it had sent the mutated of their ranks into insatiable frenzies for affection, and when he had been slashed by a claw from a co-worker he had been trying to restrain...
Suddenly, his rank had shot up a lot further than he had been ready for.
Now, he wasn't able to hide in his comfier old position as well as he could before. He was part of the Emerald Scarves' mutated kin, quite literally a Warrior strain mutant, and that meant his talents had suddenly changed to be better suited on the frontline, not well behind it. Percy wasn't exactly fond of the idea, but he knew from Mercutio's perspective, you can't exactly waste talent like that when you're in a position like the Emeralds'. So Percy tried his best to humour the boss, tried his best to fit in with his new kindred, tried his best to even get control over all of these weird, terrifying sensations now flooding his body and mind, and tried his best to operate as a well-rounded fighter when the need for combat arose, just like his peers.
The last mission he had been on, where a simple horse rider with a pistol had blown out Percy's eardrums, with a shot meant to be a warning, and sent the poor kid scurrying away like the skittish rodent he now embodied, much to the stunned humiliation of his comrades......iiiit reminded Percy how little success he has gained in that effort.
And then, just 3 days ago, it turned out that this Shiny was so knowledgeable about martial prowess, and how to use it with her own mutant powers, that Mercutio had even put her in charge of unarmed combat training, specifically for the mutated scarves. Mutated scarves like Percy, who similarly didn't have a full grasp on how to use their abilities. Unlike Percy however, his kindred were willing, even eager to learn, and already they had made staggering progress. He meanwhile hadn't even stepped foot in that training tent yet, too flustered at the rule where he had to strip his shoes and socks off once inside, something about 'custom dojo mats' that Shiny had insisted on using correctly, whatever the hell 'dojo' even meant.
The new lessons had started the same day they were announced, and had been ongoing since, but Percy had managed to avoid it so far by intentionally choosing work that kept him away from those schedules, whilst spouting excuses to Mercutio like 'I haven't figured out how to change on command yet' or 'I'm still more valuable as a scout, not a fighter'.
Granted, these were true, and they had been working so far. But they were excuses nonetheless, and the rather concerned look Mercutio had given him the last time Percy had used them, wasn't doing wonders for the nerves. Mercutio seemingly understood Percy's position, given the circumstances of his infection, and did let him skip the classes even when the need to confront him had arose. But that begrudging, half-hearted "Okay, go, don't worry about it" Mercutio had said just yesterday, made Percy aware that it was only a matter of time before he'd have no choice but to participate in earnest.
And now, as Shiny, the goddamn cryptid that decided to board up with them, was standing directly in the way of Percy's only exit...the poor kid knew that his time was up.
"U-u-uh..." Percy stammered. "...y-y-yeah?"
The mercenary beamed brightly at the confirmation. "Merky wanted me to see you, said you were having trouble settling into your new powers. You were the guy who got infected during that whole green moon stuff, right?"
"U-um...y-yeah..." Percy replied with a stuttered sigh, his worries confirmed with a somber acceptance as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, not happy to be reminded of that night and the things he said to the damn boss. Dread suddenly filled him as the memories specifically switched to them. "Wh-what uh-...what did he sa-did he want-trouble, um-what uh...what did he tell you?"
Shiny shrugged, not exactly noticing the kid's panic. "He said you were still fighting like a human during missions and training, even though you're a mutant."
"There's a difference?"
The cute, friendly beam on the woman's face stretched. The lips curled back, the eyes creased, and the air of polite restraint melted away into gleeful, sinister amusement. Percy didn't think the lady could get any scarier, but the malicious grin now plastered on her face proved him so horribly wrong.
"Oh wooooow...." She giggled, half excited, half intrigued. "You really are new to this, ain't ya?"
Percy's mouth, conversely, was unbelievably tiny.
"......maybe." He squeaked.
"Well, luckily for you, I've got a clear schedule, and owe Merky a little favour. C'mon." The mercenary then waved, starting to slink out of the tent. "I've got a liiittle bit of the forest set up for a private lesson, since you get nervous around people when you gotta bulk up."
"Wha-" Percy nearly choked. "How did you-...how did you know?"
"I have eyes."
"....oh..."
"C'moooooooon~." Shiny then beckoned again, less patient, but with a softer, more welcoming tone. "You gotta at least learn how to swing a kick or somethin' man, you can't avoid it forever. You need to show Merky that you're not falling behind the next time you gotta show up for training, m'kay? I won't bite, I promise~."
Percy grumbled nervously, but given that he was pretty sure the mercenary would bite if he didn't do what she said, he reluctantly relented, dropping his spare clothes and following her outside.
With that, the two began to stroll out from not just the tents, but the camp's borders as well. Shiny had a slew of basic weapons stuffed into a bag she slung around her neck, and given that none of them appeared to be blunted or softened or modified in any way for practice work, Percy was still finding it hard to keep his hopes up. He could even feel his nose twitching ever so slightly in panic, a small side-effect of his chipmunk DNA. At least he liked chipmunks, had his 'inner beast' been an animal he didn't like, Percy would've no clue what to do with himself.
Not that he had any clue right now.
"Sooo, Percy, how old are ya?"
Percy blinked in surprise, as the sudden breaking of silence snapped him out of his thoughts. They were a decent chunk away from the rabble of the camp now, enough to have to strain to look in its direction, and the more subdued chirps and chitters of the approaching nature made something in the lad's mind feel all nice and cosy. Though, the question that the mercenary had asked took a moment to process, before he could eventually answer. "Old?"
"Yee." Shiny nodded, glancing back but not breaking stride. Somehow she was easily navigating the increasing brush before her, despite not even seeing it.
"U-um...18, ma'am." Percy replied after a moment's hesitation, still a little sheepish at how recently he had became an adult, but deciding to be honest about it. "Just turned it about two weeks ago."
"Aaaah, yeah, so that's how you changed without melting then, right? Got to marryin' age at just the right ti-"
"M-muHUm-Melting?!" Of course, now his mind was much further elsewhere.
"Oh, yeah, uuuh...y'know the doc, right?"
"Do-....Dr. Talos?"
"The one that actually turned you guys into-yeah, her!" Shiny smiled, seemingly not caring at how delayed her response was. "Well, she says that mutants can't be any younger than 18 or so, or else they turn into goop, like Squats do. Something about bodies not being done or strong enough or something, science bullshit. What were they called again actually? Sloogies, or somethin'? I dunno, just make sure you don't go biting any kids or-"
"W-w-wai-wa-wait, goop?! That's what happens to infected kids? I-i-if my birthday was later I-I-I-I could've turned i-into mush?!"
"I think so." The mercenary shrugged. "I mean I've never seen any little baby mutants around, so it's anyone's guess. Did you not know? No-one tell ya?"
"....no?"
"Oof, dick move. I'm 23 so I'd be fine, but you probably should've known where sloogies-Sludges, sorry-where Sludges came from, if there was a risk of you turnin' into one.....I think that's what they're called...or slimes? ....gelatinous....lummmpsuh? ...what the fuck does gelatinous even mean...."
A pause fell between them, Shiny mumbling numerous attempts at identifying the creatures she had been describing, all of them wrong, whilst a horrified Percy could only register the now much less inviting ambience of Mother nature, until-with significant struggle-he eventually found his voice to continue the conversation.
"....would I have died?"
"Oozes or-Uuuuuuh....I don't think soooo." Shiny pondered, not reacting at all to Percy's shaky tone. "Doc says Squats usually survive, but kids...eeeeh...here or there, maybe, she doesn't really know either. I'd have asked a little more but she started having a panic attack over it, huge sobfest, so she's probably not comfy thinking about it. Let's just say ya really lucked out, huh?"
"I....guess....so...." Percy's eyes trailed down to his puttees and the tiny ankle boots inside them in a dreadful haze, before quickly deciding to change the topic. "...wh-what exactly does my age have to do with...this?"
"Well, I wanted to know how long you've been at this." Shiny stopped walking once she replied, turning to face the young Emerald Scarf. "Take it from me, kids can get into crime reaaally early on, I was shankin' people when I was around 6, and I think Merky started when he was 7, sooo...when did you start? How long have you been a scarf? What kinda skill level do you got so far, just to gimmie something to work with and all."
Percy paused, not really used to being asked something like that, and not really sure if the answer would make her laugh or not. For the truth, as surprising as it is, was that he wasn't actually the youngest out of the Emerald Scarves, far from it.
Scarf as a title these days was synonymous with overconfident youth in fact, youth that the even younger and poorer may idolize. So usually, each splinter of the gang was nearly 20% kid, mostly teenagers, with some even being just barely pre-teen. Percy had even gotten the stink eye from a 14 year old just the other day, as that same kid nailed a target's bullseye with a crossbow, and given that Percy had been trying to do that exact thing earlier, it was indeed quite the blow to his ego. However...Percy remembered the days when Mercutio was that very same kid, stink eye, confidence, and the expert bullseye onto a caretaker's photo, with a thrown kitchen knife. He remembered being that kid, scared and shaking, but glaring at an approaching bystander just scarily enough to send them scurrying from a stealthy shop robbery.
Most of the Emeralds didn't think very highly of Percy, making jokes at his expense, tripping him into weapon stores, ignoring him when he needed help. And the most frustrating thing was that most of those jokesters, hecklers, bullies, they only had a fraction of the experience he had, he knew so much more about how the gang worked than they did, and that even though his job wasn't glamourous, seen almost as cowardly and pathetic, it was one of the most important roles in the whole outlaw system. And had they been assigned to it, they'd fuck it up way worse than he'd ever do.
Percy sucked in a breath, remembering the resentment, the embarrassment, and the tiny little ways he embarrassed them back. No matter how much the Emerald Scarves mocked him, they owed him, or else half of the heists they'd be assigned to would end in complete failure.
So, despite initially thinking to dodge the question, Percy realized there was a lot more pride in just saying it, rather than embracing the stark contrast. Thus, he steeled himself, to meet Shiny's gaze.
"...From the start." Percy then nodded, going as far as to straighten up. "I've been here from the start."
"You stabbed your midwife on the way out?"
"What?" Percy blinked at Shiny's response, once again needing a second to process it, before vigorously shaking his head. "....nn-nno, no! I mean with this, the gang, I was...one of the other orphans in Greywind, one of the original recruits, back before we were even the scarves at all."
"Oooohhh...I see." Shiny smiled, something almost audibly clicking in her head. "You're one of Merky's favourites then, huh?"
"WHA?!" The bold confidence shattered at the response, the memories of the very affectionate things he said to Mercutio under the harvest moon's influence, rushing back to him in a compilation of cringe. "I-....um....m-maybe?"
"Mhm, well we'll unpack that later." Shiny shrugged, not making it clear as to whether she would, or if she'd forget about it completely. It was often hard to tell.
Eventually, they had reached the destination Shiny had laid out, and Percy found himself surprised at the set up. It was a small clearing nearby a cave-nestled lake, a treeless patch of ground roughly the size of a modest bedroom, and strewn across its edges were numerous clothing shop mannequins, many of which Percy even recognized as he passed them. How on earth this mercenary managed to transport them here without anyone noticing was anyone's guess. Once his boots made contact with the ground meanwhile, Percy noticed that it was quite soft and spongey, typically a sign of mud, but without any trace of wetness he could see. Peat, that must be the texture, which meant that cave lake nearby wasn't a lake at all, but a peat bog instead. A nice find all things considered, given how handy peat could be for cleaning and their chemical research, but Percy couldn't help but note how particularly squishy this patch of ground was, even for peat. It'd probably serve very well as a replacement mat texture to cushion heavy impacts...
...should Percy find himself being thrown onto the ground.
"So, what's yah fightin' style, how do you fight, what's your body count?" Shiny then turned to face Percy one more time, placing her bag of weapons to the side as the pair settled into position.
"I...uh...not much...actually." Percy replied.
"Huh?" Shiny titled her head confusedly, genuinely surprised. "But you're old guard, ain't ya?"
"Yeah but..." Percy mumbled, rubbing his arm sheepishly as he had no choice but to make his inexperience clear. "I didn't really fight..."
"....Fuck did you do then?"
"Recon!" Percy then perked up excitedly. "....ss-scouting, s-s-spywork, uh..." Only for his posture to sink again, as he realized that she was inquiring about the full history, the much less impressive history. "...I-I-I was the lookout. I was one of the younger ones, super young, so I mainly just kept an eye out and alerted the others. I...wasn't very good at it."
Shiny was still confused, but her smile remained warm and encouraging. "...Weeeell, 'was' is past tense, you good at it now?"
"Um, kinda?" Percy shrugged. "I'm still mainly a scout, which is less embarrassing, I-I-I'm pretty good at staking out a location and spotting guards and stuff. But uh...once fighting breaks out I um...I just run. I'm...brittle."
"Ah, well, you're not anymore, are ya?" The smile on Shiny's face widened, as did her stance, as Percy didn't notice that something was happening to her. "You're a mutant now, passed the sanity test, and the boss wants you on the frontlines, given you're a warrior type."
"I still don't understand why, honestly, like shouldn't Scavenger or Harpy be a better fit-"
"Show me how it's been going so far."
Cr-ck-r-ck-crrrrrRRrrRrRRRRRRR...
Percy froze once again, as he had been absent-mindedly glancing around the area to try and avoid eye contact, only for Shiny's shuddering, trembling, bubbling form to yank his attention back. And from there, as his wide-eye gaze stared, Shiny's armour made this awful stretching, creaking, straining noise, shifting plates pulled rigid as clasps and straps tightened across her frame, digging and squishing into noticeably thicker pudge. The gambeson underneath made it initially hard to discern, but soon what was happening became quite obvious to Percy:
Shiny was getting taller.
RRrrrrrRRRKKK-POP-POP
Quickly, the mercenary's form was swelling up several centimetres a second, Percy's keen eyes spotting several straps snapping across her attire. Shiny's muscles bulged and writhed and rippled underneath the gambeson, pumping and throbbing with that deep internal gurgling in her gut, as the custom fit armour was rapidly shrinking against her body, her boots bloating and gloves stretching as tufts of a pearl white fur slowly spilled from the gaps and around her neck. Her hair was already filling with streaks of similar white, the strands thickening and shrinking into a denser coat, and the bones inside her flesh were cracking and crunching loud enough for Percy hear them across the clearing, causing Shiny to twitch and flinch as her shoulders broadened, her presence fattening.
"Nn-neehee hee heeeee~"
Yet Shiny was not only completely unbothered by her intensifying changes, but as she easily maintained her composure and posture with barely an adjustment to her stance, she was even giggling playfully through a set of vicious, sharpening teeth, her bright, menacing smile all the more threatening.
CRRRK-CR-CRRR-CRAA-A-A-AAACK
"Aa-aa-aahaargh.... rgh, r-r-rrgh!" She then started to pant however, as her growth spurt was soon too much for her clothes. "Ugh, rgh, a-a-aaarrrRRGH!"
CRA-A-A-AARRRIII-I-I-IIIP
Shiny's eyes snapped shut as her whole body tensed and clenched, allowing Percy to cleanly watch as her armour started to tear around her shoulders, the straps on her pauldrons cracking as the gambeson and the undershirt began to rip at their seams, tufts of fluffy fur spewing out like the feathers from a slashed cushion. With a cry from Shiny, her biceps rippled, bubbling and churning as excess fat rapidly pooled into their mass, causing them to swell up and up until:
PAFFT-SNAP-PAK-POP-RIIIIP!
Their covers loudly burst off her arms, exposing thick, juicy biceps bulging with swollen musculature and covered by nothing but soft, plush fur.
"Urr-rrr-rrrrrgh!"
Soon after, Shiny's hands balled into viciously tight fists, tight enough to bulge the swelling muscles within them, straining her gloves until they 'Ri-I-i-IIP'ed at their seams, exposing more fur. A hiss wheezed from her fangs at the sensation, and Percy watched as the growth began to flow down her body in squirming waves, her hands rippling and writhing in their gloves as the fingers fattened individually, forcing her to splay them out, so that they could throb, and throb, and throb until the damaged gloves tore and burst with a thick 'RIIiIiiIiiIIP!'.
"Uu-u-uuuuooooohhhhh...."The freed fingers bubbled with a satisfied groan from Shiny's maw, her hands swelling into three-fingered paws with dagger thick claws, before "HrrrrRRRK!", the swelling bulged further up into her arms, the inflating in her biceps and her hands meeting into the rattling bracers. Fuzzy flesh bulged out of either side of the bracers as Shiny continued to expand and bloat, and the connecting clasps were straining so awfully against the expanding flesh inside, that the noise was starting to get uncomfortable. Not that it was a problem for long however, as soon enough the muscles grew too bloated, too much mass stuffed into the once sturdy pieces of armour, allowing for Shiny to simply let out a thick grunt-
RRR-BAAMMPH, BAAAFMPH. Clunk-clunk.
Before the clasps loudly popped, her bracers splitting, snapping, and bursting off her wrists and forearms, leaving her arms completely bare save for a few ragged tatters of her gambeson.
With glittering fangs and such huge arms looming from ripped off sleeves, it was already a pretty menacing look for the mercenary. But as Shiny panted and gulped down excess saliva, the smug look she shot Percy, as her eyes warmed from icy blue to a glowing, blazing yellow, told the young scarf that she was far from done.
"M-m-mmrrrrrrr-rrrRRRRRR..." Clenching her fists again, Shiny leaned herself into a small squat, tensing her legs just enough to cause her muscles to bunch and bulge. "Haaa...haaarrrrr-r-rrgh...mmmmmmrrrrrrrrgggh-" With that, the growth now flowing into her lower body was all the more exaggerated, the squashed flesh finding itself needing to swell even more excessively just to find space.
GurrrrRRrRrrrrrRRRRRRGL-CK-CKR-CRRRRRR-
And swell it did, the upper thigh plates and segmented skirt armour rattling ominously as Shiny's legs rippled, dollops and globs of growth throbbing and pulsing into her clothes as her limbs rippled violently. Soon, the entirety of her waist-hips, thighs, butt, even crotch-it was throbbing, pulsing, and swelling at a ridiculous pace, inflating and deflating with her increasingly haggard and hurried breaths, her legs rubbing together from the sheer overstimulation. "Urngh, ugh-hugh, aa-a-aarrrgh!" Throb, throb, throb, throb, Shiny's leg armour was creaking unpleasantly now, the clasps across her thigh plates straining as squishy flesh bulged out of its gaps. Percy could even see her trousers inside starting to 'ri-i-i-i-iiiip', more of that fur bursting through in fluffy tufts, and the crunching of swelling bones clued him into just how much obscene strength was spewing into her legs. She was a rabbit-based mutant after all, if what Percy heard was true, and the sheer effort Shiny was having to put into her lower body changes was certainly a testament. Soon though, a much more obvious indication became clear, as a deep gurgle rumbled in Shiny's waist, making her pant heavier, and heavier, and heavier until:
"A-a-a-AA-AA-AAAAAAAAAAAAH-"
CRRRRRRR-BBBMPPRRRIIIIIIIIP!
An obscene amount of muscle, skin, fur, and fat tissue simply exploded out of Shiny's thighs, the armour covering her thighs simply bursting away like ruptured barrels as huge sinews of flesh and fur-clad bulk served as the escaping contents, her trousers loudly ripping into strands as the thigh plates took her skirt armour with them, wrenching them off her hips. Percy's eyes bulged in his head from the sheer shock, as an almost exhausted sounding Shiny heaved deeply from the release, before grunting again as the growth suddenly continued further down her legs, her shins inflating like balloons.
"Haaa-aaha-aaah, aaah, mmmm..."
Interestingly, though her trousers ripped further, as Shiny's calves and shins and ankles swelled and fattened beneath her to try and support the weight, her shin guards fared a lot better than their peers. Granted they still breached, the gaps between the plates widening with a thick 'POP' and 'ri-i-i-iiip', but even as she grew larger and larger, her lower leg armour seemed to stay decently attached, even expanding ever so slightly to better cover her bulk. Pretty good enchantments on them, it seemed.
Crr-r-r-rrrrrrrRRRRRNNN
Her boots, on the other hand.
"mMMmmMM-m-mm-m-mMMMMmmMMM~."
Huge, bloated, writhing things squirmed inside Shiny's footwear, the once finely sculpted shapes of her boots now horrendously deformed, as the ample, bulky feet within continued to pump and fatten into a bigger, and bigger shoe size. Too big for the boots and socks she currently wore.
"MmmmmMMMMMMRRRRRMMMGH!"
Piff-pip-rip-pop
Soon, Shiny's feet had swelled enough for the expanding flesh to start breaching its confines, as Percy could see tiny gashes and gaps forming along the seamlines connecting the leather to the soles, as the stitches started to pop along her insteps and billowing toes. 'R-ri-riiiiiiiii-iii-iiiip' With another throb of growth, the swelling continued, the fabric of pitch black socks growing visible as the tears expanded, as the sizable pudge, protruding over the edges of the boot soles, started ripping itself free of the once sturdy leather. Her feet looked so inhuman now, thick and squishy and bloated with muscle, within only seconds of her transformation, as the fronts ballooned out with a keening squeak with her toes filling up too much space. "R-rrrk!" With another grunt, Shiny's heels then began to raise upwards, as her plantigrade stance warped, muffled cracks resounding within her bloating ankles, as the muscles in her feet tensed to allow the shift. 'r-r-riiii-i-ii-iiiiiiiii-' However, Percy couldn't help but notice that the movements were straining Shiny's footwear even further, as much like her gloves, the excessive, fatty bulk within her feet was being squished and clenched, causing it to bulge out further. '-iiiiiiIiIiIiIIIiiiiiiIIII-' And since that bulk was still swelling, its mass expanding bigger and bigger and soon much larger than her hands, the sheer amount of flesh overstuffing Shiny's boots was proving too much for the material to cover up, as the already ruptured stitching continued to split and tear, the boots slowly peeling apart across her rumbling arches in a long sinewy rip-
"G-GHK-"
-iiIIiiIRIRIRIIIR-RRRIIIIP!
Until suddenly, vital connections within the leather finally breached, and in a chain reaction of erupting pressure, the boots loudly burst open with almost fleshy snaps, barely held together in one nanosecond, and a leathery splatter the next.
"A-a-aah fu-fuck, aaaw yeah..." Shiny then heaved, as she and Percy watched as her flesh rippled and throbbed within her increasingly ill-fitting socks. Percy could even see the bones swelling underneath her sock and fur-clad skin, her still inflating toes squirming in quickly shrinking freedom as the tips of black claws pierced through the threads, starting to protrude out. The scout was frankly flabbergasted, and his gaze quickly swivelled back up to Shiny's face just to keep things from getting too weird, and yet as he did so, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Percy had never actually learned the full description of a Hunter strain mutant before this point, let alone seen one. So for the under-transformed face to stare back at him, warped skull with a mouth stuffed full of vicious fangs and sharpened buck teeth, patches of blonde littered around a still forming coat of fur, as formerly normal ears were disturbingly stretched out far, it was to make Percy uncontrollably yelp with the shock, snapping Shiny's gaze to his.
And yet, she didn't seem outwardly offended. No, instead, she began to laugh.
GurrrRRRrRRRGLE
CRRRRRRN
"Ah-HAH, AAAGH-GAAHAHAHAA, HNNNRRRRGH, AA-ACK-HA-"
RIII-II-I-IIIIIRIP-PAP-POP-RIII-I-I-IIIP-RIP-PAP-PAFF-
And as she cackled, as coughed and wheezed and roared, her body shuddered, quivered, and continued to grow.
Muscles bulged across her flesh, rippling and fattening with even more ridiculous strength.
The patches of armour around her naval stretched, tore, and burst across her stretching torso, exposing a set of plush, 6-pack abs that slowly pulsed and bulged underneath more of the pearl white fur.
A writhing lump that had been slowly swelling out of her lower back finally tore itself free in a peeling, ripping burst of her trousers, revealing itself to be a cute, fluffy little tail, 1:1 with the rabbit species she was now very clearly resembling.
And of course, to further reflect this, her feet below visibly throbbed in a rapid pulsing, before they quickly swelled to nearly double their size, stretching and straining her socks. One was suddenly raised, lifted off the scraps of her boots, and in that motion the fabric ripped apart, bursting into sinewy spiderwebs of threads and strings that dug deep into bulging, fattened paw pads. With another moan, the thickened toes flexed tightly, loudly snapping away the remaining threads, before Shiny firmly planted the foot onto the ground before her, the weight of her paw sinking into the softened peat. More of the cackling followed as her shoulders pulsed and bulged, fur consuming her hair as her face continued to stretch, before Shiny's other foot lifted up, swelled till her remaining sock burst across her paw, stripping her barefoot, before stomping down onto the ground behind her, twisting her body into what Percy could immediately tell was some well-trained fighting stance. Very, very well-trained, actually.
Shiiiit...he was about to get his ass kicked, wasn't he?
"Show me, Percy, rrghm!"
CRKCRKK-
RIIIIIIIP!
With a final flex, more of Shiny's gambeson and plated armour burst across a frame far too large for human clothing, leaving only her breastplate, waist armour, stretched grieves, and whatever tattered rags remained of her outfit, as the things keeping her decent. And her head meanwhile, much like her body, had lost practically all of its recognizably human features, as with a grunting hiss, the warping shape finally settled into that of a rabbit's muzzle, bright yellow eyes glowing from opening eyelids, as the mercenary, now towering over the poor scout, tensed and readied herself.
"Show me what I'm showin' you!"
"...What?" Percy blinked, still a little stunned from the shock of such a scene.
"...Dude, get changed." Shiny whispered in response, half embarrassed, but trying to hide it with playful support.
"Oh!" Percy squeaked, before hastily uh...fumbling. Patting himself down, twisting all over, attempting to tense into his own, much less impressive fighting stance, and generally looking like he had no idea what exactly he was trying to do. "Oh, yeah, um.....I-uh.....uu-uum...."
Shiny meanwhile, found her grin slowly returning, the embarrassment replaced with amusement. "....oh you're really new to this huh-"
"No! Wait! I know how to do it, gimmie a sec! I just...it's uh...a lot..."
From there, Percy continued to stutter and babble, seemingly trying to form excuses, but clearly lacking the will or headspace to speak an actual answer, let alone successfully transform. So Shiny, being one to get very easily bored and think of the unorthodox to satiate such, simply pouted for a moment, before getting an idea. She let Percy have another minute or so of failed mutation triggering, before with a quick shrug of her shoulders, her foremost foot tensed, clenching into the earth...
As her other foot lunged out, to swing a roundhouse kick aimed right at his head.
"Hey maybe we should-GAHFUH-AAAH-" Percy had only a moment to say a new excuse for skipping class this time, before screeching as he saw the thick hulk of pearl white fur rushing towards him. Instinctively, perhaps from a much less human part of his brain, Percy's arms lurched up to form a cross guard defence, fast enough to just catch the brunt of the impact, the leather plates across his forearms cushioning the blow, as the force shoved his body ever so slightly to the side. Amazingly, he was still standing, something primal in his system letting him react with perfect speed and precision to completely absorb the impact, especially since the sheer amount of musculature within Shiny's legs put them on par with power armoured strength, making her kicks something that would usually break someone's bones in an instant. However:
GwoooORRRRRRRGGGRRN-BIFF-RIP-BMMPH-PAP!
"...um?" Percy squeaked, as in that same instance, within that same nanosecond of the impact, he had suddenly felt a pulsing ripple in his right foot, his ankle boot and the sock inside squeezing tight until a sudden snapping sensation caused the pressure to vanish, his toes meeting spongey soil whilst a breeze washed across his arches. A blush flared across the scarf's face as he realized he could feel the peat against his bare skin, and a glance down to his boot only made his cheeks heat up further.
Gurrrgle-buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump.
For his boot had exploded, burst into leathery scraps like a ruptured balloon. In its place was a bloated, swollen paw, coated in light brown fur, with four thickened toes pressed into the peat at the front, whilst a fifth opposable toe was similarly tensed at the back, each digit sporting a claw the size of his head that gouged deep into the earth, whilst sinewy threads of his woolen sock pinched and dug into its flesh.
His flesh.
And the throbbing pulses rippling through only snapped the remaining sock threads apart
"Heeey, there you go!" Shiny beamed with a supportive coo, her own paw flexing as Percy frantically glanced between it and his. "Let's get the other one out."
And then, without any further warning, Shiny's left hand, having moved behind her from the twist of the kick, suddenly clenched into a fist and swung a fierce haymaker, directed at an opening in Percy's guard. Grimacing in half panic, half annoyance, Percy felt his sleeves starting to press into his biceps, as he used his building strength to shove Shiny's leg aside to tilt his torso downwards, ducking under the swing.
Crrkcr-crunch-ckrk
An alien, pressurised pain flared in his lower back from the motion, but within the heat of the moment, that previously terrifying sensation was at the back of Percy's mind. Instead, his analytical eyes noted that Shiny wasn't in a state of ideal balance, and so even the slightest shove could tip her over. That ought to....why did he want to do that? To prove himself? To just win? Was it the animal brain taking over, hijacking his scouting skill to help in an instinctual retaliation of primal aggression, shedding his higher human intellect in favour of wild brutality? ...Proving himself would do, he'll go with that.
Crrrn-ck-ckrrri-rcrk-rirrriiiIIIP!
With a snarl, Percy felt his tailbone tearing through the seat of his trousers, as he titled his body further down, and shoved forward as hard as he could. Subconsciously he pooled a massive chunk of strength into his legs, feeling them bloat and press into his clothes, but even as his remaining boot shrank against his other foot, he embraced the sensations and dug his freed toes into the soil, providing grip into his push.
Crrr-paff-RRIiiIiIiIIP
More cold air brushed across his soles as Percy's remaining boot soon snapped at the seams, peeling apart across his stretching heel like aging wet wallpaper, as his feet pressed into the ground even further, his sock bursting into spiderwebbing threads just like Shiny's own. The snarl grew in intensity as Percy pushed harder and harder, letting the wild excitement of his footwear snapping off completely, with a sinewy 'POP', fuel the building, raging adrenaline of his movements. Shiny was grinning as she tried to maintain balance, but Percy shoved harder, newly bare feet stomping into the spongey ground as his tail thrashed and claws pierced through the tips of his gloves, drool spilling from aching teeth as his skull crunched painfully, his hood slipping from his scalp.
Riii-I-IRrrii-RIP-POP-RIPRIPRIPRIPRIP-RIP-RII-I-I-I-III-IIIP-
And then, as his muscles bulged, swelled, tearing his tunic apart, straps of his leather gear snapping across his limbs, Percy finally felt it. Gravity shifting.
The whole movement was merely a few seconds, Percy's clothes simply bursting full of holes and gashes in a small explosion of growth, but that rapid increase to mass and weight was exactly the thing he needed to send the both of them falling. Percy wouldn't know until later, but those instincts he feared so fiercely had allowed him to preform a near perfect body slam, the exact counter to Shiny's vulnerable position. Shiny herself was proud, but in the back of her mind she had no idea how she managed to teach him that. But it hardly mattered, for within the next second, Shiny felt the ground ram into her backside, the soft texture of the peat cushioning much of the impact, though not as nicely as her precious mats would do so. She watched as Percy's human features disappeared near instantly before her, and she smiled, knowing that he was going to be just fine. Open combat might not be his forte, but as his face fully stretched into that chipmunk muzzle, her many years of fortune's bullshit told her that he'll find a way to earn his place. There's a bright future with this kid, and his path will be his own. This right here...that's why she agreed to the teaching stuff in the first place. The look in a student's eye when it starts falling into place for them, it was a satisfaction so wonderfully different to many of the other indulgences Shiny had treated herself to.
It was a weird feeling, "pride"...but Shiny liked it, she liked it a lot. And even though he probably won't admit it, Percy clearly liked it too.
....But he did still have to learn that he shouldn't linger too long in this position, unless he found a way to pin her legs. Because immediately after the fall, with rather disappointing ease, Shiny quickly slipped her paws through Percy's legs, planted them against his chest, and gave the poor sod enough time to let out a "Guh-", before:
VVBMPH!
"GACK-"
THUD.
Shiny, with her powerful legs, hooked her feet from underneath Percy's body, and used his momentum to lift up upwards, sending the comparatively smaller warrior mutant head over heels across the air, landing face first into the muck, as Shiny effortlessly tumbled onto her feet, leaping upright.
"Hoo! Not bad kid!" Shiny then whooped, dusting herself off and turning to Percy, who in turn was groaning on the floor. "You weren't kidding about being able to read people, those lovebirds back at camp needed me to actually point out balance exploiting, but you got it right away. Aaaand look at you, all fluffed up already. Guess you do know how to do it, huh?"
"W-w-well yeah, I-I-I done it before, and-" Percy paused as the words clicked, his brain finally processing the much chillier breeze and the snugness of his clothing, prompting him to glance over his prone body. Shiny was right, he had fully transformed, nearly double his original height, and warped into a much more rodent-like stature. Tears and gashes were strewn all over his clothes and armour, fluffy light brown fur stuffing each one. His puttees were lightly torn around his ankles, and his feet were stripped bare from their prior swelling into those talon-like paws, the prehensile toes lightly squishing the glossy black pads in sheepishness. His gloves were largely intact, though claws had torn through the tips, changing them into fingerless style, and as he nervously curled and tested the movements, he watched a small, bushy tail swish and wag out from his lower back. A quick test from his tongue, and yes indeed, his face had changed as well, his gums now filled with fangs and sharpened buck teeth, with a brush from his hand notifying him of the fuzzy, muzzle-like shape of his skull. He was in beast form, mutated into the same, hulking chipmunk form that so many of his peers from the harder edges of the scarves sported.
A sigh left his snout at the realization, and begrudgingly he rose up to his feet. At least the softer ground was...comfy, against his paws. The fur was quite soft too, and he was a lot warmer against the cold air than he would be otherwise with so many breaches in his attire. The tail was...annoying, but it did feel more correct to have it with his digitigrade legs than not. And though he hadn't tried much of it himself, he was pretty well informed about how much this body could do in this state, how strong, how dexterous, how easily he could climb trees or survive the harsher ridges of nature. Percy didn't know if he'd ever be able to be a proper "warrior", by definition. But, if nothing else, it did feel...nice, to be a mutant.
Nice enough, at least.
"You okay?" Shiny tilted her head, her smile softening. "Changing does take a lot out of you, so if you need to catch your breath we can-"
"Um-no-no, I'm alright." Percy quickly reassured, finding himself smiling in turn. Funny...Shiny seemed a lot less scary now. "W-we can continue, I'm ready. But uh....thanks, for being patient. Sorry if I'm like...shy about this stuff, but...I g-guess I am willing to learn. It's just....a lot, y'know?"
Shiny's own smile widened again. "No worries kid, we've got all day to help you out. Thanks for not boltin' too though, that'd hurt my feelings~."
Despite himself, Percy found himself giggling at the joke, Shiny doing the same.
"Alrighty!" The mercenary then chirped, clapping her hands, before making her way over to the bag of weapons. "We've still got mostly the unarmed stuff to cover, but real quick, let's see how you do without weapons, against someone with weapons. Let's start with uuuh...the spiked hammer."
Percy's smile vanished.
"....the fucking what-"
So, had this art piece sitting in the bank for a bit, but once again struggled to find out a good story for it. I think this works though, since much like Einom's previous art of doing Minerva, this piece focuses on the martial prowess of the mutation, albeit much more lightly. This is another side of Shiny I'll likely not get to explore often, the idea of her being a combat instructor, since I imagined a lot of the Emerald Scarves' training with the mutation involved some classic martial arts shenanigans, mostly around the mutated ranks.
And for the students themselves, Percy is somewhat of a notable character, but mainly in the sense of just a named grunt, he'll have focus on a occasion sometimes, but not often. He mainly served to just get some perspective from the scarves themselves on all of Minerva's experiments, and the still relatively new presence of Shiny.
This is more just uuuh..."eh", story for me, I just wanted to see Shiny in Einom's style, and this was mostly the best I could come up with, I don't feel like this is some of my more passionate work. Plot is still developing relatively smoothly, but I'll definitely need to properly set it up. In the meantime, I'll keep dabbling a little with the tf-side stuff, just here or there.
Artwork by:
Einom
Percy Heimdall froze, as the tiny shirt tumbled from his grip, splashing pathetically into the bowl. He had been busy trying his best to soak his only set of spare clothes into a wooden tub of serpent oil, in a haphazard attempt to enchant them with regeneration like the rest of his uuuh...new kindred. But, no-one was exactly willing to guide him on the process, assuming they even knew it themselves, so he had spent the better part of two hours painstakingly glancing back and forth between the bronze liquid, and the poorly written instructions the Emerald Scarves had been trying to construct from a magazine subscription, and expectantly little progress had been made.
Which was when that voice had suddenly jolted the young lad out of his frustrated trance, and when he glanced over to the opening slit of the tent, his eyes widened even further.
There, somehow managing to casually lean on nothing but canvas cloth, was that armoured mercenary, the vicious fighter that the scarves had not only hired, but shared the curse of the Primal mutation with.
Shiny, the Emerald Scarves' first and only Hunter strain mutant.
As far as Percy knew, Mercutio and that Dr. Talos woman had brought the lady into the fold for general muscle and military prowess, like the hired swords the Burgundies used to get, back when they were under Romeo's command. Percy wasn't privy to the specifics, but from what he'd heard from the hardier humans and mutated comrades that bothered to interact with him, this mercenary in particular was one of the scariest ones Percy had ever heard of. 90% success rate in missions, record time robberies, over 40 kills in the week or so they've had her on the team, and so many of the guys who worked with her could swear that the universe itself was warping reality to help her. Percy wasn't sure if this was how Hunter mutants worked, if the gossip was exaggerated, or if the woman herself was just that crazy, but he wasn't one to ever question rumours that haunting. Whoever the hired killer was, Percy had previously just hoped he would never have to get on her bad side, or even meet her if he could help it, all of these mutant shenanigans were well above his station.
...except he wasn't really in that station anymore, was he?
Before, Percy could get away with barely having to lift a knife, using his talents of observation and disappearing into the background for pure stealth work, more the messenger than warrior. But just last week, when the full moon had turned that sickly green colour, when it had sent the mutated of their ranks into insatiable frenzies for affection, and when he had been slashed by a claw from a co-worker he had been trying to restrain...
Suddenly, his rank had shot up a lot further than he had been ready for.
Now, he wasn't able to hide in his comfier old position as well as he could before. He was part of the Emerald Scarves' mutated kin, quite literally a Warrior strain mutant, and that meant his talents had suddenly changed to be better suited on the frontline, not well behind it. Percy wasn't exactly fond of the idea, but he knew from Mercutio's perspective, you can't exactly waste talent like that when you're in a position like the Emeralds'. So Percy tried his best to humour the boss, tried his best to fit in with his new kindred, tried his best to even get control over all of these weird, terrifying sensations now flooding his body and mind, and tried his best to operate as a well-rounded fighter when the need for combat arose, just like his peers.
The last mission he had been on, where a simple horse rider with a pistol had blown out Percy's eardrums, with a shot meant to be a warning, and sent the poor kid scurrying away like the skittish rodent he now embodied, much to the stunned humiliation of his comrades......iiiit reminded Percy how little success he has gained in that effort.
And then, just 3 days ago, it turned out that this Shiny was so knowledgeable about martial prowess, and how to use it with her own mutant powers, that Mercutio had even put her in charge of unarmed combat training, specifically for the mutated scarves. Mutated scarves like Percy, who similarly didn't have a full grasp on how to use their abilities. Unlike Percy however, his kindred were willing, even eager to learn, and already they had made staggering progress. He meanwhile hadn't even stepped foot in that training tent yet, too flustered at the rule where he had to strip his shoes and socks off once inside, something about 'custom dojo mats' that Shiny had insisted on using correctly, whatever the hell 'dojo' even meant.
The new lessons had started the same day they were announced, and had been ongoing since, but Percy had managed to avoid it so far by intentionally choosing work that kept him away from those schedules, whilst spouting excuses to Mercutio like 'I haven't figured out how to change on command yet' or 'I'm still more valuable as a scout, not a fighter'.
Granted, these were true, and they had been working so far. But they were excuses nonetheless, and the rather concerned look Mercutio had given him the last time Percy had used them, wasn't doing wonders for the nerves. Mercutio seemingly understood Percy's position, given the circumstances of his infection, and did let him skip the classes even when the need to confront him had arose. But that begrudging, half-hearted "Okay, go, don't worry about it" Mercutio had said just yesterday, made Percy aware that it was only a matter of time before he'd have no choice but to participate in earnest.
And now, as Shiny, the goddamn cryptid that decided to board up with them, was standing directly in the way of Percy's only exit...the poor kid knew that his time was up.
"U-u-uh..." Percy stammered. "...y-y-yeah?"
The mercenary beamed brightly at the confirmation. "Merky wanted me to see you, said you were having trouble settling into your new powers. You were the guy who got infected during that whole green moon stuff, right?"
"U-um...y-yeah..." Percy replied with a stuttered sigh, his worries confirmed with a somber acceptance as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, not happy to be reminded of that night and the things he said to the damn boss. Dread suddenly filled him as the memories specifically switched to them. "Wh-what uh-...what did he sa-did he want-trouble, um-what uh...what did he tell you?"
Shiny shrugged, not exactly noticing the kid's panic. "He said you were still fighting like a human during missions and training, even though you're a mutant."
"There's a difference?"
The cute, friendly beam on the woman's face stretched. The lips curled back, the eyes creased, and the air of polite restraint melted away into gleeful, sinister amusement. Percy didn't think the lady could get any scarier, but the malicious grin now plastered on her face proved him so horribly wrong.
"Oh wooooow...." She giggled, half excited, half intrigued. "You really are new to this, ain't ya?"
Percy's mouth, conversely, was unbelievably tiny.
"......maybe." He squeaked.
"Well, luckily for you, I've got a clear schedule, and owe Merky a little favour. C'mon." The mercenary then waved, starting to slink out of the tent. "I've got a liiittle bit of the forest set up for a private lesson, since you get nervous around people when you gotta bulk up."
"Wha-" Percy nearly choked. "How did you-...how did you know?"
"I have eyes."
"....oh..."
"C'moooooooon~." Shiny then beckoned again, less patient, but with a softer, more welcoming tone. "You gotta at least learn how to swing a kick or somethin' man, you can't avoid it forever. You need to show Merky that you're not falling behind the next time you gotta show up for training, m'kay? I won't bite, I promise~."
Percy grumbled nervously, but given that he was pretty sure the mercenary would bite if he didn't do what she said, he reluctantly relented, dropping his spare clothes and following her outside.
With that, the two began to stroll out from not just the tents, but the camp's borders as well. Shiny had a slew of basic weapons stuffed into a bag she slung around her neck, and given that none of them appeared to be blunted or softened or modified in any way for practice work, Percy was still finding it hard to keep his hopes up. He could even feel his nose twitching ever so slightly in panic, a small side-effect of his chipmunk DNA. At least he liked chipmunks, had his 'inner beast' been an animal he didn't like, Percy would've no clue what to do with himself.
Not that he had any clue right now.
"Sooo, Percy, how old are ya?"
Percy blinked in surprise, as the sudden breaking of silence snapped him out of his thoughts. They were a decent chunk away from the rabble of the camp now, enough to have to strain to look in its direction, and the more subdued chirps and chitters of the approaching nature made something in the lad's mind feel all nice and cosy. Though, the question that the mercenary had asked took a moment to process, before he could eventually answer. "Old?"
"Yee." Shiny nodded, glancing back but not breaking stride. Somehow she was easily navigating the increasing brush before her, despite not even seeing it.
"U-um...18, ma'am." Percy replied after a moment's hesitation, still a little sheepish at how recently he had became an adult, but deciding to be honest about it. "Just turned it about two weeks ago."
"Aaaah, yeah, so that's how you changed without melting then, right? Got to marryin' age at just the right ti-"
"M-muHUm-Melting?!" Of course, now his mind was much further elsewhere.
"Oh, yeah, uuuh...y'know the doc, right?"
"Do-....Dr. Talos?"
"The one that actually turned you guys into-yeah, her!" Shiny smiled, seemingly not caring at how delayed her response was. "Well, she says that mutants can't be any younger than 18 or so, or else they turn into goop, like Squats do. Something about bodies not being done or strong enough or something, science bullshit. What were they called again actually? Sloogies, or somethin'? I dunno, just make sure you don't go biting any kids or-"
"W-w-wai-wa-wait, goop?! That's what happens to infected kids? I-i-if my birthday was later I-I-I-I could've turned i-into mush?!"
"I think so." The mercenary shrugged. "I mean I've never seen any little baby mutants around, so it's anyone's guess. Did you not know? No-one tell ya?"
"....no?"
"Oof, dick move. I'm 23 so I'd be fine, but you probably should've known where sloogies-Sludges, sorry-where Sludges came from, if there was a risk of you turnin' into one.....I think that's what they're called...or slimes? ....gelatinous....lummmpsuh? ...what the fuck does gelatinous even mean...."
A pause fell between them, Shiny mumbling numerous attempts at identifying the creatures she had been describing, all of them wrong, whilst a horrified Percy could only register the now much less inviting ambience of Mother nature, until-with significant struggle-he eventually found his voice to continue the conversation.
"....would I have died?"
"Oozes or-Uuuuuuh....I don't think soooo." Shiny pondered, not reacting at all to Percy's shaky tone. "Doc says Squats usually survive, but kids...eeeeh...here or there, maybe, she doesn't really know either. I'd have asked a little more but she started having a panic attack over it, huge sobfest, so she's probably not comfy thinking about it. Let's just say ya really lucked out, huh?"
"I....guess....so...." Percy's eyes trailed down to his puttees and the tiny ankle boots inside them in a dreadful haze, before quickly deciding to change the topic. "...wh-what exactly does my age have to do with...this?"
"Well, I wanted to know how long you've been at this." Shiny stopped walking once she replied, turning to face the young Emerald Scarf. "Take it from me, kids can get into crime reaaally early on, I was shankin' people when I was around 6, and I think Merky started when he was 7, sooo...when did you start? How long have you been a scarf? What kinda skill level do you got so far, just to gimmie something to work with and all."
Percy paused, not really used to being asked something like that, and not really sure if the answer would make her laugh or not. For the truth, as surprising as it is, was that he wasn't actually the youngest out of the Emerald Scarves, far from it.
Scarf as a title these days was synonymous with overconfident youth in fact, youth that the even younger and poorer may idolize. So usually, each splinter of the gang was nearly 20% kid, mostly teenagers, with some even being just barely pre-teen. Percy had even gotten the stink eye from a 14 year old just the other day, as that same kid nailed a target's bullseye with a crossbow, and given that Percy had been trying to do that exact thing earlier, it was indeed quite the blow to his ego. However...Percy remembered the days when Mercutio was that very same kid, stink eye, confidence, and the expert bullseye onto a caretaker's photo, with a thrown kitchen knife. He remembered being that kid, scared and shaking, but glaring at an approaching bystander just scarily enough to send them scurrying from a stealthy shop robbery.
Most of the Emeralds didn't think very highly of Percy, making jokes at his expense, tripping him into weapon stores, ignoring him when he needed help. And the most frustrating thing was that most of those jokesters, hecklers, bullies, they only had a fraction of the experience he had, he knew so much more about how the gang worked than they did, and that even though his job wasn't glamourous, seen almost as cowardly and pathetic, it was one of the most important roles in the whole outlaw system. And had they been assigned to it, they'd fuck it up way worse than he'd ever do.
Percy sucked in a breath, remembering the resentment, the embarrassment, and the tiny little ways he embarrassed them back. No matter how much the Emerald Scarves mocked him, they owed him, or else half of the heists they'd be assigned to would end in complete failure.
So, despite initially thinking to dodge the question, Percy realized there was a lot more pride in just saying it, rather than embracing the stark contrast. Thus, he steeled himself, to meet Shiny's gaze.
"...From the start." Percy then nodded, going as far as to straighten up. "I've been here from the start."
"You stabbed your midwife on the way out?"
"What?" Percy blinked at Shiny's response, once again needing a second to process it, before vigorously shaking his head. "....nn-nno, no! I mean with this, the gang, I was...one of the other orphans in Greywind, one of the original recruits, back before we were even the scarves at all."
"Oooohhh...I see." Shiny smiled, something almost audibly clicking in her head. "You're one of Merky's favourites then, huh?"
"WHA?!" The bold confidence shattered at the response, the memories of the very affectionate things he said to Mercutio under the harvest moon's influence, rushing back to him in a compilation of cringe. "I-....um....m-maybe?"
"Mhm, well we'll unpack that later." Shiny shrugged, not making it clear as to whether she would, or if she'd forget about it completely. It was often hard to tell.
Eventually, they had reached the destination Shiny had laid out, and Percy found himself surprised at the set up. It was a small clearing nearby a cave-nestled lake, a treeless patch of ground roughly the size of a modest bedroom, and strewn across its edges were numerous clothing shop mannequins, many of which Percy even recognized as he passed them. How on earth this mercenary managed to transport them here without anyone noticing was anyone's guess. Once his boots made contact with the ground meanwhile, Percy noticed that it was quite soft and spongey, typically a sign of mud, but without any trace of wetness he could see. Peat, that must be the texture, which meant that cave lake nearby wasn't a lake at all, but a peat bog instead. A nice find all things considered, given how handy peat could be for cleaning and their chemical research, but Percy couldn't help but note how particularly squishy this patch of ground was, even for peat. It'd probably serve very well as a replacement mat texture to cushion heavy impacts...
...should Percy find himself being thrown onto the ground.
"So, what's yah fightin' style, how do you fight, what's your body count?" Shiny then turned to face Percy one more time, placing her bag of weapons to the side as the pair settled into position.
"I...uh...not much...actually." Percy replied.
"Huh?" Shiny titled her head confusedly, genuinely surprised. "But you're old guard, ain't ya?"
"Yeah but..." Percy mumbled, rubbing his arm sheepishly as he had no choice but to make his inexperience clear. "I didn't really fight..."
"....Fuck did you do then?"
"Recon!" Percy then perked up excitedly. "....ss-scouting, s-s-spywork, uh..." Only for his posture to sink again, as he realized that she was inquiring about the full history, the much less impressive history. "...I-I-I was the lookout. I was one of the younger ones, super young, so I mainly just kept an eye out and alerted the others. I...wasn't very good at it."
Shiny was still confused, but her smile remained warm and encouraging. "...Weeeell, 'was' is past tense, you good at it now?"
"Um, kinda?" Percy shrugged. "I'm still mainly a scout, which is less embarrassing, I-I-I'm pretty good at staking out a location and spotting guards and stuff. But uh...once fighting breaks out I um...I just run. I'm...brittle."
"Ah, well, you're not anymore, are ya?" The smile on Shiny's face widened, as did her stance, as Percy didn't notice that something was happening to her. "You're a mutant now, passed the sanity test, and the boss wants you on the frontlines, given you're a warrior type."
"I still don't understand why, honestly, like shouldn't Scavenger or Harpy be a better fit-"
"Show me how it's been going so far."
Cr-ck-r-ck-crrrrrRRrrRrRRRRRRR...
Percy froze once again, as he had been absent-mindedly glancing around the area to try and avoid eye contact, only for Shiny's shuddering, trembling, bubbling form to yank his attention back. And from there, as his wide-eye gaze stared, Shiny's armour made this awful stretching, creaking, straining noise, shifting plates pulled rigid as clasps and straps tightened across her frame, digging and squishing into noticeably thicker pudge. The gambeson underneath made it initially hard to discern, but soon what was happening became quite obvious to Percy:
Shiny was getting taller.
RRrrrrrRRRKKK-POP-POP
Quickly, the mercenary's form was swelling up several centimetres a second, Percy's keen eyes spotting several straps snapping across her attire. Shiny's muscles bulged and writhed and rippled underneath the gambeson, pumping and throbbing with that deep internal gurgling in her gut, as the custom fit armour was rapidly shrinking against her body, her boots bloating and gloves stretching as tufts of a pearl white fur slowly spilled from the gaps and around her neck. Her hair was already filling with streaks of similar white, the strands thickening and shrinking into a denser coat, and the bones inside her flesh were cracking and crunching loud enough for Percy hear them across the clearing, causing Shiny to twitch and flinch as her shoulders broadened, her presence fattening.
"Nn-neehee hee heeeee~"
Yet Shiny was not only completely unbothered by her intensifying changes, but as she easily maintained her composure and posture with barely an adjustment to her stance, she was even giggling playfully through a set of vicious, sharpening teeth, her bright, menacing smile all the more threatening.
CRRRK-CR-CRRR-CRAA-A-A-AAACK
"Aa-aa-aahaargh.... rgh, r-r-rrgh!" She then started to pant however, as her growth spurt was soon too much for her clothes. "Ugh, rgh, a-a-aaarrrRRGH!"
CRA-A-A-AARRRIII-I-I-IIIP
Shiny's eyes snapped shut as her whole body tensed and clenched, allowing Percy to cleanly watch as her armour started to tear around her shoulders, the straps on her pauldrons cracking as the gambeson and the undershirt began to rip at their seams, tufts of fluffy fur spewing out like the feathers from a slashed cushion. With a cry from Shiny, her biceps rippled, bubbling and churning as excess fat rapidly pooled into their mass, causing them to swell up and up until:
PAFFT-SNAP-PAK-POP-RIIIIP!
Their covers loudly burst off her arms, exposing thick, juicy biceps bulging with swollen musculature and covered by nothing but soft, plush fur.
"Urr-rrr-rrrrrgh!"
Soon after, Shiny's hands balled into viciously tight fists, tight enough to bulge the swelling muscles within them, straining her gloves until they 'Ri-I-i-IIP'ed at their seams, exposing more fur. A hiss wheezed from her fangs at the sensation, and Percy watched as the growth began to flow down her body in squirming waves, her hands rippling and writhing in their gloves as the fingers fattened individually, forcing her to splay them out, so that they could throb, and throb, and throb until the damaged gloves tore and burst with a thick 'RIIiIiiIiiIIP!'.
"Uu-u-uuuuooooohhhhh...."The freed fingers bubbled with a satisfied groan from Shiny's maw, her hands swelling into three-fingered paws with dagger thick claws, before "HrrrrRRRK!", the swelling bulged further up into her arms, the inflating in her biceps and her hands meeting into the rattling bracers. Fuzzy flesh bulged out of either side of the bracers as Shiny continued to expand and bloat, and the connecting clasps were straining so awfully against the expanding flesh inside, that the noise was starting to get uncomfortable. Not that it was a problem for long however, as soon enough the muscles grew too bloated, too much mass stuffed into the once sturdy pieces of armour, allowing for Shiny to simply let out a thick grunt-
RRR-BAAMMPH, BAAAFMPH. Clunk-clunk.
Before the clasps loudly popped, her bracers splitting, snapping, and bursting off her wrists and forearms, leaving her arms completely bare save for a few ragged tatters of her gambeson.
With glittering fangs and such huge arms looming from ripped off sleeves, it was already a pretty menacing look for the mercenary. But as Shiny panted and gulped down excess saliva, the smug look she shot Percy, as her eyes warmed from icy blue to a glowing, blazing yellow, told the young scarf that she was far from done.
"M-m-mmrrrrrrr-rrrRRRRRR..." Clenching her fists again, Shiny leaned herself into a small squat, tensing her legs just enough to cause her muscles to bunch and bulge. "Haaa...haaarrrrr-r-rrgh...mmmmmmrrrrrrrrgggh-" With that, the growth now flowing into her lower body was all the more exaggerated, the squashed flesh finding itself needing to swell even more excessively just to find space.
GurrrrRRrRrrrrrRRRRRRGL-CK-CKR-CRRRRRR-
And swell it did, the upper thigh plates and segmented skirt armour rattling ominously as Shiny's legs rippled, dollops and globs of growth throbbing and pulsing into her clothes as her limbs rippled violently. Soon, the entirety of her waist-hips, thighs, butt, even crotch-it was throbbing, pulsing, and swelling at a ridiculous pace, inflating and deflating with her increasingly haggard and hurried breaths, her legs rubbing together from the sheer overstimulation. "Urngh, ugh-hugh, aa-a-aarrrgh!" Throb, throb, throb, throb, Shiny's leg armour was creaking unpleasantly now, the clasps across her thigh plates straining as squishy flesh bulged out of its gaps. Percy could even see her trousers inside starting to 'ri-i-i-i-iiiip', more of that fur bursting through in fluffy tufts, and the crunching of swelling bones clued him into just how much obscene strength was spewing into her legs. She was a rabbit-based mutant after all, if what Percy heard was true, and the sheer effort Shiny was having to put into her lower body changes was certainly a testament. Soon though, a much more obvious indication became clear, as a deep gurgle rumbled in Shiny's waist, making her pant heavier, and heavier, and heavier until:
"A-a-a-AA-AA-AAAAAAAAAAAAH-"
CRRRRRRR-BBBMPPRRRIIIIIIIIP!
An obscene amount of muscle, skin, fur, and fat tissue simply exploded out of Shiny's thighs, the armour covering her thighs simply bursting away like ruptured barrels as huge sinews of flesh and fur-clad bulk served as the escaping contents, her trousers loudly ripping into strands as the thigh plates took her skirt armour with them, wrenching them off her hips. Percy's eyes bulged in his head from the sheer shock, as an almost exhausted sounding Shiny heaved deeply from the release, before grunting again as the growth suddenly continued further down her legs, her shins inflating like balloons.
"Haaa-aaha-aaah, aaah, mmmm..."
Interestingly, though her trousers ripped further, as Shiny's calves and shins and ankles swelled and fattened beneath her to try and support the weight, her shin guards fared a lot better than their peers. Granted they still breached, the gaps between the plates widening with a thick 'POP' and 'ri-i-i-iiip', but even as she grew larger and larger, her lower leg armour seemed to stay decently attached, even expanding ever so slightly to better cover her bulk. Pretty good enchantments on them, it seemed.
Crr-r-r-rrrrrrrRRRRRNNN
Her boots, on the other hand.
"mMMmmMM-m-mm-m-mMMMMmmMMM~."
Huge, bloated, writhing things squirmed inside Shiny's footwear, the once finely sculpted shapes of her boots now horrendously deformed, as the ample, bulky feet within continued to pump and fatten into a bigger, and bigger shoe size. Too big for the boots and socks she currently wore.
"MmmmmMMMMMMRRRRRMMMGH!"
Piff-pip-rip-pop
Soon, Shiny's feet had swelled enough for the expanding flesh to start breaching its confines, as Percy could see tiny gashes and gaps forming along the seamlines connecting the leather to the soles, as the stitches started to pop along her insteps and billowing toes. 'R-ri-riiiiiiiii-iii-iiiip' With another throb of growth, the swelling continued, the fabric of pitch black socks growing visible as the tears expanded, as the sizable pudge, protruding over the edges of the boot soles, started ripping itself free of the once sturdy leather. Her feet looked so inhuman now, thick and squishy and bloated with muscle, within only seconds of her transformation, as the fronts ballooned out with a keening squeak with her toes filling up too much space. "R-rrrk!" With another grunt, Shiny's heels then began to raise upwards, as her plantigrade stance warped, muffled cracks resounding within her bloating ankles, as the muscles in her feet tensed to allow the shift. 'r-r-riiii-i-ii-iiiiiiiii-' However, Percy couldn't help but notice that the movements were straining Shiny's footwear even further, as much like her gloves, the excessive, fatty bulk within her feet was being squished and clenched, causing it to bulge out further. '-iiiiiiIiIiIiIIIiiiiiiIIII-' And since that bulk was still swelling, its mass expanding bigger and bigger and soon much larger than her hands, the sheer amount of flesh overstuffing Shiny's boots was proving too much for the material to cover up, as the already ruptured stitching continued to split and tear, the boots slowly peeling apart across her rumbling arches in a long sinewy rip-
"G-GHK-"
-iiIIiiIRIRIRIIIR-RRRIIIIP!
Until suddenly, vital connections within the leather finally breached, and in a chain reaction of erupting pressure, the boots loudly burst open with almost fleshy snaps, barely held together in one nanosecond, and a leathery splatter the next.
"A-a-aah fu-fuck, aaaw yeah..." Shiny then heaved, as she and Percy watched as her flesh rippled and throbbed within her increasingly ill-fitting socks. Percy could even see the bones swelling underneath her sock and fur-clad skin, her still inflating toes squirming in quickly shrinking freedom as the tips of black claws pierced through the threads, starting to protrude out. The scout was frankly flabbergasted, and his gaze quickly swivelled back up to Shiny's face just to keep things from getting too weird, and yet as he did so, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Percy had never actually learned the full description of a Hunter strain mutant before this point, let alone seen one. So for the under-transformed face to stare back at him, warped skull with a mouth stuffed full of vicious fangs and sharpened buck teeth, patches of blonde littered around a still forming coat of fur, as formerly normal ears were disturbingly stretched out far, it was to make Percy uncontrollably yelp with the shock, snapping Shiny's gaze to his.
And yet, she didn't seem outwardly offended. No, instead, she began to laugh.
GurrrRRRrRRRGLE
CRRRRRRN
"Ah-HAH, AAAGH-GAAHAHAHAA, HNNNRRRRGH, AA-ACK-HA-"
RIII-II-I-IIIIIRIP-PAP-POP-RIII-I-I-IIIP-RIP-PAP-PAFF-
And as she cackled, as coughed and wheezed and roared, her body shuddered, quivered, and continued to grow.
Muscles bulged across her flesh, rippling and fattening with even more ridiculous strength.
The patches of armour around her naval stretched, tore, and burst across her stretching torso, exposing a set of plush, 6-pack abs that slowly pulsed and bulged underneath more of the pearl white fur.
A writhing lump that had been slowly swelling out of her lower back finally tore itself free in a peeling, ripping burst of her trousers, revealing itself to be a cute, fluffy little tail, 1:1 with the rabbit species she was now very clearly resembling.
And of course, to further reflect this, her feet below visibly throbbed in a rapid pulsing, before they quickly swelled to nearly double their size, stretching and straining her socks. One was suddenly raised, lifted off the scraps of her boots, and in that motion the fabric ripped apart, bursting into sinewy spiderwebs of threads and strings that dug deep into bulging, fattened paw pads. With another moan, the thickened toes flexed tightly, loudly snapping away the remaining threads, before Shiny firmly planted the foot onto the ground before her, the weight of her paw sinking into the softened peat. More of the cackling followed as her shoulders pulsed and bulged, fur consuming her hair as her face continued to stretch, before Shiny's other foot lifted up, swelled till her remaining sock burst across her paw, stripping her barefoot, before stomping down onto the ground behind her, twisting her body into what Percy could immediately tell was some well-trained fighting stance. Very, very well-trained, actually.
Shiiiit...he was about to get his ass kicked, wasn't he?
"Show me, Percy, rrghm!"
CRKCRKK-
RIIIIIIIP!
With a final flex, more of Shiny's gambeson and plated armour burst across a frame far too large for human clothing, leaving only her breastplate, waist armour, stretched grieves, and whatever tattered rags remained of her outfit, as the things keeping her decent. And her head meanwhile, much like her body, had lost practically all of its recognizably human features, as with a grunting hiss, the warping shape finally settled into that of a rabbit's muzzle, bright yellow eyes glowing from opening eyelids, as the mercenary, now towering over the poor scout, tensed and readied herself.
"Show me what I'm showin' you!"
"...What?" Percy blinked, still a little stunned from the shock of such a scene.
"...Dude, get changed." Shiny whispered in response, half embarrassed, but trying to hide it with playful support.
"Oh!" Percy squeaked, before hastily uh...fumbling. Patting himself down, twisting all over, attempting to tense into his own, much less impressive fighting stance, and generally looking like he had no idea what exactly he was trying to do. "Oh, yeah, um.....I-uh.....uu-uum...."
Shiny meanwhile, found her grin slowly returning, the embarrassment replaced with amusement. "....oh you're really new to this huh-"
"No! Wait! I know how to do it, gimmie a sec! I just...it's uh...a lot..."
From there, Percy continued to stutter and babble, seemingly trying to form excuses, but clearly lacking the will or headspace to speak an actual answer, let alone successfully transform. So Shiny, being one to get very easily bored and think of the unorthodox to satiate such, simply pouted for a moment, before getting an idea. She let Percy have another minute or so of failed mutation triggering, before with a quick shrug of her shoulders, her foremost foot tensed, clenching into the earth...
As her other foot lunged out, to swing a roundhouse kick aimed right at his head.
"Hey maybe we should-GAHFUH-AAAH-" Percy had only a moment to say a new excuse for skipping class this time, before screeching as he saw the thick hulk of pearl white fur rushing towards him. Instinctively, perhaps from a much less human part of his brain, Percy's arms lurched up to form a cross guard defence, fast enough to just catch the brunt of the impact, the leather plates across his forearms cushioning the blow, as the force shoved his body ever so slightly to the side. Amazingly, he was still standing, something primal in his system letting him react with perfect speed and precision to completely absorb the impact, especially since the sheer amount of musculature within Shiny's legs put them on par with power armoured strength, making her kicks something that would usually break someone's bones in an instant. However:
GwoooORRRRRRRGGGRRN-BIFF-RIP-BMMPH-PAP!
"...um?" Percy squeaked, as in that same instance, within that same nanosecond of the impact, he had suddenly felt a pulsing ripple in his right foot, his ankle boot and the sock inside squeezing tight until a sudden snapping sensation caused the pressure to vanish, his toes meeting spongey soil whilst a breeze washed across his arches. A blush flared across the scarf's face as he realized he could feel the peat against his bare skin, and a glance down to his boot only made his cheeks heat up further.
Gurrrgle-buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump.
For his boot had exploded, burst into leathery scraps like a ruptured balloon. In its place was a bloated, swollen paw, coated in light brown fur, with four thickened toes pressed into the peat at the front, whilst a fifth opposable toe was similarly tensed at the back, each digit sporting a claw the size of his head that gouged deep into the earth, whilst sinewy threads of his woolen sock pinched and dug into its flesh.
His flesh.
And the throbbing pulses rippling through only snapped the remaining sock threads apart
"Heeey, there you go!" Shiny beamed with a supportive coo, her own paw flexing as Percy frantically glanced between it and his. "Let's get the other one out."
And then, without any further warning, Shiny's left hand, having moved behind her from the twist of the kick, suddenly clenched into a fist and swung a fierce haymaker, directed at an opening in Percy's guard. Grimacing in half panic, half annoyance, Percy felt his sleeves starting to press into his biceps, as he used his building strength to shove Shiny's leg aside to tilt his torso downwards, ducking under the swing.
Crrkcr-crunch-ckrk
An alien, pressurised pain flared in his lower back from the motion, but within the heat of the moment, that previously terrifying sensation was at the back of Percy's mind. Instead, his analytical eyes noted that Shiny wasn't in a state of ideal balance, and so even the slightest shove could tip her over. That ought to....why did he want to do that? To prove himself? To just win? Was it the animal brain taking over, hijacking his scouting skill to help in an instinctual retaliation of primal aggression, shedding his higher human intellect in favour of wild brutality? ...Proving himself would do, he'll go with that.
Crrrn-ck-ckrrri-rcrk-rirrriiiIIIP!
With a snarl, Percy felt his tailbone tearing through the seat of his trousers, as he titled his body further down, and shoved forward as hard as he could. Subconsciously he pooled a massive chunk of strength into his legs, feeling them bloat and press into his clothes, but even as his remaining boot shrank against his other foot, he embraced the sensations and dug his freed toes into the soil, providing grip into his push.
Crrr-paff-RRIiiIiIiIIP
More cold air brushed across his soles as Percy's remaining boot soon snapped at the seams, peeling apart across his stretching heel like aging wet wallpaper, as his feet pressed into the ground even further, his sock bursting into spiderwebbing threads just like Shiny's own. The snarl grew in intensity as Percy pushed harder and harder, letting the wild excitement of his footwear snapping off completely, with a sinewy 'POP', fuel the building, raging adrenaline of his movements. Shiny was grinning as she tried to maintain balance, but Percy shoved harder, newly bare feet stomping into the spongey ground as his tail thrashed and claws pierced through the tips of his gloves, drool spilling from aching teeth as his skull crunched painfully, his hood slipping from his scalp.
Riii-I-IRrrii-RIP-POP-RIPRIPRIPRIPRIP-RIP-RII-I-I-I-III-IIIP-
And then, as his muscles bulged, swelled, tearing his tunic apart, straps of his leather gear snapping across his limbs, Percy finally felt it. Gravity shifting.
The whole movement was merely a few seconds, Percy's clothes simply bursting full of holes and gashes in a small explosion of growth, but that rapid increase to mass and weight was exactly the thing he needed to send the both of them falling. Percy wouldn't know until later, but those instincts he feared so fiercely had allowed him to preform a near perfect body slam, the exact counter to Shiny's vulnerable position. Shiny herself was proud, but in the back of her mind she had no idea how she managed to teach him that. But it hardly mattered, for within the next second, Shiny felt the ground ram into her backside, the soft texture of the peat cushioning much of the impact, though not as nicely as her precious mats would do so. She watched as Percy's human features disappeared near instantly before her, and she smiled, knowing that he was going to be just fine. Open combat might not be his forte, but as his face fully stretched into that chipmunk muzzle, her many years of fortune's bullshit told her that he'll find a way to earn his place. There's a bright future with this kid, and his path will be his own. This right here...that's why she agreed to the teaching stuff in the first place. The look in a student's eye when it starts falling into place for them, it was a satisfaction so wonderfully different to many of the other indulgences Shiny had treated herself to.
It was a weird feeling, "pride"...but Shiny liked it, she liked it a lot. And even though he probably won't admit it, Percy clearly liked it too.
....But he did still have to learn that he shouldn't linger too long in this position, unless he found a way to pin her legs. Because immediately after the fall, with rather disappointing ease, Shiny quickly slipped her paws through Percy's legs, planted them against his chest, and gave the poor sod enough time to let out a "Guh-", before:
VVBMPH!
"GACK-"
THUD.
Shiny, with her powerful legs, hooked her feet from underneath Percy's body, and used his momentum to lift up upwards, sending the comparatively smaller warrior mutant head over heels across the air, landing face first into the muck, as Shiny effortlessly tumbled onto her feet, leaping upright.
"Hoo! Not bad kid!" Shiny then whooped, dusting herself off and turning to Percy, who in turn was groaning on the floor. "You weren't kidding about being able to read people, those lovebirds back at camp needed me to actually point out balance exploiting, but you got it right away. Aaaand look at you, all fluffed up already. Guess you do know how to do it, huh?"
"W-w-well yeah, I-I-I done it before, and-" Percy paused as the words clicked, his brain finally processing the much chillier breeze and the snugness of his clothing, prompting him to glance over his prone body. Shiny was right, he had fully transformed, nearly double his original height, and warped into a much more rodent-like stature. Tears and gashes were strewn all over his clothes and armour, fluffy light brown fur stuffing each one. His puttees were lightly torn around his ankles, and his feet were stripped bare from their prior swelling into those talon-like paws, the prehensile toes lightly squishing the glossy black pads in sheepishness. His gloves were largely intact, though claws had torn through the tips, changing them into fingerless style, and as he nervously curled and tested the movements, he watched a small, bushy tail swish and wag out from his lower back. A quick test from his tongue, and yes indeed, his face had changed as well, his gums now filled with fangs and sharpened buck teeth, with a brush from his hand notifying him of the fuzzy, muzzle-like shape of his skull. He was in beast form, mutated into the same, hulking chipmunk form that so many of his peers from the harder edges of the scarves sported.
A sigh left his snout at the realization, and begrudgingly he rose up to his feet. At least the softer ground was...comfy, against his paws. The fur was quite soft too, and he was a lot warmer against the cold air than he would be otherwise with so many breaches in his attire. The tail was...annoying, but it did feel more correct to have it with his digitigrade legs than not. And though he hadn't tried much of it himself, he was pretty well informed about how much this body could do in this state, how strong, how dexterous, how easily he could climb trees or survive the harsher ridges of nature. Percy didn't know if he'd ever be able to be a proper "warrior", by definition. But, if nothing else, it did feel...nice, to be a mutant.
Nice enough, at least.
"You okay?" Shiny tilted her head, her smile softening. "Changing does take a lot out of you, so if you need to catch your breath we can-"
"Um-no-no, I'm alright." Percy quickly reassured, finding himself smiling in turn. Funny...Shiny seemed a lot less scary now. "W-we can continue, I'm ready. But uh....thanks, for being patient. Sorry if I'm like...shy about this stuff, but...I g-guess I am willing to learn. It's just....a lot, y'know?"
Shiny's own smile widened again. "No worries kid, we've got all day to help you out. Thanks for not boltin' too though, that'd hurt my feelings~."
Despite himself, Percy found himself giggling at the joke, Shiny doing the same.
"Alrighty!" The mercenary then chirped, clapping her hands, before making her way over to the bag of weapons. "We've still got mostly the unarmed stuff to cover, but real quick, let's see how you do without weapons, against someone with weapons. Let's start with uuuh...the spiked hammer."
Percy's smile vanished.
"....the fucking what-"
So, had this art piece sitting in the bank for a bit, but once again struggled to find out a good story for it. I think this works though, since much like Einom's previous art of doing Minerva, this piece focuses on the martial prowess of the mutation, albeit much more lightly. This is another side of Shiny I'll likely not get to explore often, the idea of her being a combat instructor, since I imagined a lot of the Emerald Scarves' training with the mutation involved some classic martial arts shenanigans, mostly around the mutated ranks.
And for the students themselves, Percy is somewhat of a notable character, but mainly in the sense of just a named grunt, he'll have focus on a occasion sometimes, but not often. He mainly served to just get some perspective from the scarves themselves on all of Minerva's experiments, and the still relatively new presence of Shiny.
This is more just uuuh..."eh", story for me, I just wanted to see Shiny in Einom's style, and this was mostly the best I could come up with, I don't feel like this is some of my more passionate work. Plot is still developing relatively smoothly, but I'll definitely need to properly set it up. In the meantime, I'll keep dabbling a little with the tf-side stuff, just here or there.
Artwork by:
Einom
Category Artwork (Digital) / Transformation
Species Rabbit / Hare
Size 1863 x 1978px
File Size 277.3 kB
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