"You haven't written a chapter in close to... a year! What's up with that?" Rock asked angrily as he pointed accusingly at the Mysterious Author.

"Well it's still better than... uh... er..." The Mysterious Author thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. It's the longest period of time this series has gone without a chapter, huh?"

"Damn right! Now where's my back story you promised me?!"

"Been working on it... and so far, I came up with four different back stories for you, all of which end with you getting beaten up," The Mysterious Author replied before turning toward the computer. "Hmm... maybe I can just merge them all into one... ah... the comp crashed."

"What?"

"The comp crashed, but don't worry. I saved it on my MP3 Player."

"The same MP3 Player you accidentally dropped into the toilet."

"Yeah, that same... oh..."

"What the hell, man? Am I gonna go without a past for another 12 chapters?" Rock growled as he grabbed the Mysterious Author by the shirt collar.

"The central character doesn't have a past yet, either."

"The central character's not important enough to have a proper name, either."

"Good point."

*****
Title: WTF High's School Defence Force - Lesson XII
Class: 4D
Room: 104
Where's my candy, dammit?! (">_<)
*****

"Pretty crowded these days, huh?" Rock remarked as he looked around at the other people walking along the sidewalk. "Gonna be pretty hard walking through all this."

"It is hard enough just keeping this guy from running loose," Monica replied as she dragged Trent by the collar and away from another fire hydrant. Today, her hair was a little different. They were tied into two long pigtails flowing along the side of her head.

"Heh... dogs piss on it..." Trent chuckled mostly to himself. "They use dog piss to put out fires."

"By the way, did we just cross the street while the sign told us not to?" Rock asked as he looked behind his shoulder.

"We did? I guess we did not notice from following the sea of people," Monica replied.

"True... not like you can just stop in a crowd walking in one direction," Rock smirked. "So which hospital's Tim at? Heard he blew off both his hands or something while trying that Chi thing?"

"He tried to add spiritual energy to his guns, but they overloaded and burnt his hands," Monica explained as she pulled Trent away from an old vending machine.

"Know what? Screw this, I'm going on ahead of you guys," Trent laughed right before changing into his dog form in public. Shrugging off his clothes, the golden retriever dashed past the sea of human legs and made his way toward the hospital.

"Wha... wait a minute/moment," Rock and Monica exclaimed at the same time. Glancing around to see if anyone noticed, they hurriedly picked up their friend's clothes.

"Well... I guess that's one way to get past a crowd of people," Rock scratched his head. After a couple seconds, he blinked and asked, "By the way... where'd Needler go? That's what we're calling him today, by the way."

"Eh? He was here a moment ago," Monica glanced around, but couldn't find Needler anywhere.

Meanwhile...

"Ah... excuse me... no... Please go ahead..." Needler said as he tried to navigate his way through the sea of people. Looking past the crowd, he could barely see that his friends were already two blocks ahead of him. "Ah, wait a minute. Sorry! Someone pushed me into you. Um... do you need help with those?"

*****

"So what do the readings say? Any signs from the hospital?" Behind the wheel of a Lexus LF was a young teenaged girl around the age of seventeen. She had short curly brown hair with string-like sideburns and soft brown eyes. She wore a bright green tank-top and a pair of dark green jeans. Encircling her left wrist was a friendship bracelet. She glanced at her passenger. "John?"

"No, there aren't any," John replied as he clacked away at his laptop. He couldn't be over fourteen, yet the shape of his eyes and his mature demeanour made him appear older. "!X has never been wrong before, but it's still a little strange for one of them to leave no trace behind whatsoever. Even you, Synn, are showing up on my radar right now. It's fine while you're still in the car, but remember to hide it before you leave this time, alright?"

"Are you sure it's one of them?" Synn asked as she made a right turn at an intersection. "First the bridge behind the school building, and then the top of an apartment building? Seems kind of random."

"Trust me. No normal human being can cause a signal as big as those. Even elite psychics can only barely touch that level," John replied. "Huh... well this is interesting. Looks like we're gonna have to make a short stop pretty soon."

"Another lead?" Synn asked.

"Another lead," John confirmed.

*****

In an alleyway behind a restaurant, one of the part-time waitresses was taking out the trash. The stench of the dark and narrow space filled the air and the buzzing of the flies could easily be heard, but she was getting used to it by now. With some effort, she heaved the black bag of trash over into the dumpster, and then headed back inside. Unfortunately for her, she found it to be locked.

"Hey, c'mon! Open up! I'm locked out!" She shouted as she started pounding at the door. She looked to still be in her teens or at least college age. Her dark brown hair was tied into two short pigtails and her azure blue eyes looked lively with her freckled face.

Click! The door opened wide.

"Why's the light out?" She asked as she tried to peer into the darkness. Fumbling around for a bit, she finally reached the switch and turned it on.

Then she screamed.

Backing away from the kitchen, she turned around and bolted back into the alleyway and tried to find the nearest exit. Unfortunately for her, the nearest way out was blocked by a two storey wooden fence and the shop next door was closed for today. In her mind, there was absolutely no time to waste trying to climb the fence and opted to head for the intersection between alleyways for an exit.

"Heh... can't have a witness getting away like that," A voice smirked from within the once dark and silent kitchen. The voice belonged to a young man with messy platinum blonde hair and emerald green eyes. He was slightly tanner than your average beach-goer and had a pretty sturdy built. Protruding from his sleeves and from underneath his hunter green jacket were orange tendrils around an inch thick and several feet long.

Hanging from one of his tendrils by the hair was the dismembered head of the head cook. The fresh blood of the victim still dripped from the ripped jugular and splattered all over the steps leading up to the backdoor of the restaurant. Swinging the head gently from side to side, the young man tossed it into the dumpster and a grin etched maliciously across his face as he heard it smack against a bag of trash. With that out of the way, he started going after the waitress.

*****

"Take a left turn right here," John directed as he followed the radar on his laptop.

Synn responded by drifting the car at the intersection, cutting off a pick-up truck. After that, she swerve through traffic with expert timing and amazingly enough avoided causing any major traffic accidents. To the adults who act like kids... don't try this with your own car... or anyone else's car for that matter. In fact, if you were planning to try this, don't drive at all.

*****

"Do you feel that?" Monica asked as she narrowed her eyes and turned toward the source of energy she was picking up. She cursed herself for not bringing along her sword. She knew she could have carried it in a duffle bag or something, but figured she wouldn't need it for today.

"What, you mean right now?" Rock asked as he turned toward the same direction Monica was facing. "Now that you mention it... yeah. You wanna check it out or something?"

"Of course," Monica nodded her head as the two of them changed their destination.

*****

"Eria, wait here for me," Tim said as he threw his trench coat on and headed for the door. His bandaged hands were only slightly hidden by the sleeves, but they were less noticeable now. As he passed by Eria, he gently trailed his fingers through her hair and did it in a careful and cautious manner so as not to wake her up. "I just need to take care of something."

The door used handles instead of knobs, so opening it wasn't that hard. As Tim walked out of the hospital room, he tucked his hands inside his pockets. He made his way through the hospital without attracting any attention to himself until he was standing in front of the door to a room that was in a completely different section from his own.

Narrowing his eyes, the young man stared down at the door handle for a few short seconds before finally placing his bandaged hands on it. He straightened himself out in his mind first, and then pushed down on the handle. Stepping through the door, the first thing he noticed was the glaring sunlight coming through the window.

"Oh? How rare. Came to visit?" A middle-aged man chuckled once he noticed Tim at the door. His arms were almost like sticks and his hair most likely shedding away. Under the crimson eyes were thick black bags, which were good indicators as to the condition he was in. Despite his frail and sickly appearance, he grinned savagely as he asked, "Played with fire and got burnt, did you? Not exactly your usual cool self, huh?"

"That wasn't a very good joke," Tim replied with an indifferent tone to his voice. He sighed, and then added, "Shihfu..."

*****

The walls of the dark alley appeared smaller than they were before. The scent of rotting meat whizzed by as the rapid footsteps pounded away at the ground below. It was almost as if the air was taken away and replaced with toxic fumes. Just trying to move through the shadows between the towering buildings was like trying to move while waist-deep in mud.

What was that thing? What's going on? The terrified waitress asked herself as she tried to fine an exit out of the alleyway. Though she was running as fast as she could for dear life, the exit still seemed so far away! She could feel her own blood rushing around her heart as though intending to crush her lungs from the inside. What she couldn't believe the most was that she could still hear the calm footsteps of the monster closing in on her from behind. As soon as she reached the intersection, she found herself in another bind. "Ah..."

Closing off the intersection were super thin lines that could not be seen easily unless you were up close to them. They were all strung horizontally and around 10cm apart. Despite their thinness, they were very durable and before she knew it, the waitress found herself entangled by them. The lines bound her arms to her body and her legs together as they cut sharply against her skin. She struggled to get out of them, but once she felt some unseen force pulling against her hair, her attention was drawn towards it.

"My oh my, look at what the hair's dragged in," a feminine voice mocked from the shadows. The waitress' eyes looked forward and right in front of her was a young woman wearing a nasty expression on her face. With her platinum blond hair and emerald green eyes, one could deduce that she could be related to the young man with the orange tendrils. Her well-groomed and lively-looking hair reached all the way down just above the hell of her platform boots. She wore a white winter coat over a white dress with shoulder straps and whose hem reached down to the foot of her boots.

"I found her first, Neon," the young man with the orange tendrils smirked as soon as he reached the two girls. The sadistic bloodthirsty look on his face was still there.

"Too bad cause I caught her first, Krypt," Neon replied with an equally bloodthirsty look on her face. As though with a life of their own, her hair started growing rapidly as they reached out toward the bound waitress. The first thing they did was touch the name-tag pinned to the shirt, then ripped it away for Neon to see. "So her name's Gina. What a lovely name for a maiden about to die."

Gina was too horror-struck to say anything and simply hung there with tears of pain running down her cheeks. More of Neon's hair hung down from the rooftops and entwined themselves in the whimpering girl's hair. That was the invisible force that was forcing the poor girl painfully off the ground. With the wire-like hair cutting into her skin and her whole body weight pulling by her the hair, there was nothing for her to do except scream for help. Unfortunately, whatever sound she managed to get out was drowned out by traffic before a small blade was pressed up against her throat. That blade came from the end of one of Krypt's tendrils.

"Hey now, she might get too much attention next time she screams," Krypt smirked as he used two of his tendrils to lift Gina by the shoulders so that she was no longer hanging by her hair. The rest of his tendrils slithered forth through the air to touch the girl in some more intimate places.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Neon growled as several strands of her hair snatched the tendrils before they could reach her prey. She released her hold on the waitress' hair, but she continued glaring angrily at Krypt. Krypt got the message and released his hold on Gina's shoulders before backing off. Satisfied, Neon drew back all the hair that was binding Gina and watched as the terrified waitress drop down to her knees.

"Come on, Neon. We can share this one, right?" Krypt asked with a coy smile on his face.

"You had your fun already," Neon replied with an equally coy smile on her face.

"This and that are different kinds of fun," Krypt answered. "Besides, we always have the most fun when we share, don't we?"

"Fine... but you owe me one, got that?" Neon didn't wait for an answer before turning her attention back on the prey she caught.

Gina could easily feel the stings left behind by the strands of hair and when she looked down, she noticed all the cuts in her clothes. Whatever that hair was made out of, she wouldn't be surprised if it was capable of cutting through flesh like a knife through hot butter. Shivering in fear, she found herself unable to look up at her predators' faces. She wanted to believe that all of this was just a dream, but the pain left behind from having her hair pulled and being bound by super strong hair kept her from doing so. Suddenly, she felt something pulling on her tongue. Looking down, Gina realized that Neon managed to slip a strand of hair into her mouth and around her tongue!

"It's quite simple, really. Do as I say or you'll get punished. Speak without permission and you'll get your tongue cut off," Neon grinned sadistically as she tugged on her victim's tongue to accentuate each point. Without warning, she started moving backwards while holding the strand of hair in her fingertips. With a playful tone of voice, she singed, "If you want to keep your tongue, you better start crawling."

Widening her eyes in fear, Gina quickly crawled after the cruel woman as soon as she felt the strand go taut. As she crawled, she felt something tugging against her pants. Afraid to look back, she continued following the sadistic woman as her pants continued slipping off of her legs. Of course, Krypt and his tendrils were behind this and he was rewarded with a very alluring view of the pigtailed girl's buttocks. Unfortunately, the pink cotton panties were still in the way. Fortunately, panties were easy to shred.

Panicking, Gina quickly kicked off her shoes and scrambled out of her pants. Her eyes followed the strand of hair and as the slack became tighter, her heart pounded faster.

"Good, we'll stop here," Neon smirked as she released the strand of hair. As it floated to the ground, the platinum blonde woman crouched down and moved her face closer to her prey's. Grabbing hold of the small pigtails, she forced Gina to look up into her hypnotic emerald eyes. As soon as Neon saw the terrified look on the girl's face and felt the uncontrollable shiver from the girl's body, she was instantly turned on. Growing horny by the second, the blonde girl leaned her head in and licked the trails of tears up to the eyes, one at a time.

Krypt's malicious grin appeared. His tendrils went to work and tore apart Gina's panties with ease. With the two orifices suddenly in view, he could no longer control his desires anymore. Two tendrils wrapped around the waitress' waist to as to act as her supports. Another two tendrils wrapped around the ankles to keep them in place. The last two went directly for the pussy and the anus.

Gasping with pain and shock, Gina felt her two holes suddenly violated without warning! As the tendrils forced their way in, the young waitress attempted to struggle but was held in place by both the tendrils on her ankles and the hands on her pigtails. Since her hands were still free, she found herself wrapping her arms around Neon's body for a reason she could not think of. Smiling, Neon reached up under her jacket and slipped the straps of her dress over her shoulders. She pulled down the top of her dress until both of her ample breasts were exposed. Taking the girl by the pigtails again, the blonde woman forced Gina's face against her breasts.

Gina continued shuddering in pain as more and more of the tendrils were driven deeper into both canals. She barely even noticed her pussy getting wet from all the attention as it slicked up the orange tendril that thrashed about wildly against the vaginal walls. The asshole, on the other hand, had no natural fluids that could ease the pain and suffering of the invading tendril. Desperate for relief from the pain, Gina concentrated as much as she could on the tiny speck of pleasure she was getting from the tendril in her pussy. Before she knew it, the speck snowballed until she found herself enjoying her rough treatment!

Wanting her prey to pay more attention to her, Neon brought on of her nipples up to Gina's mouth. With her mind overridden with an impending orgasm, the young waitress took the nipple into her mouth and started sucking away at it. Her tongue flicked up against the very tip as her saliva rushed out in waves to greet the skin of the dominant woman. There was so much saliva, in fact, that it came out from the side of the mouth as drool.

"Mmm... I can't hold back anymore..." Neon purred as she gently stroked the newly submissive girl's dark brown hair. Standing back up again, she hiked up the hem of her white dress until the hem was above her knees. Once that was done, she sat down on the ground with her legs straight out and spread before her victim's eyes. Lifted the front part of her dress, she forced Gina's face down onto her crotch. Unable to disobey, Gina planted the palm of her hands against the ground and allowed her head to vanish under the dress.

"I think it's about time to take it up a notch," Krypt smirked as even more tendrils sprouted from various openings in his clothes. Curious as to how much the young waitress could take, he forced two more tendrils past the cunt lips so that there were three tendrils in the pussy at the same time. Grinning as soon as he heard the howl of pain under Neon's dress, he sent another two tendrils to join the first three.

Gina's face was wet with tears, saliva, sweat, and the flowing fluids of the more dominant woman. All the muscles in her body tightened as one as she felt more intruders making their way into her cunt. She felt the five tendrils writhing wildly and independently from each other. Her fingers closed and she clenched her fist in pain. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she felt the tips of two more poking around her dark star.

"Don't you dare think about coming out till you're done," Neon growled with a sadistic smirk on her face. With both hands, she grabbed hold of Gina's head through her dress and kept the wailing girl at her crotch.

Cling!

"Hmm?" Krypt smirked as he looked into the corner of his left eye. The source of the metallic sound came from the metre-long iron bar striking the side of the tendril monster's neck. With his index and middle fingers, he took hold of the tip of the iron bar. "What do you think you're doing?"

"*The hell?*" Monica's eyes widened when she realized her surprise attack didn't work.

"Not even a scratch?" Rock was just as shocked as his friend. He immediately snapped out of it and charged toward Krypt. "Fine then. We'll just try brute force!"

"Brute force you say?" Krypt grinned at those words. One of his unused tendrils flew out at the charging youngster. Right before impact, hundreds of small blades sprouted all over the tendril. Just like that, Rock was knocked aside and into one of the walls as a spray of blood covered the ground. The wall easily crumbled under the sheer force of the tendril and the empty room behind it came into view. However, Krypt was not quite done with his new victim just yet.

Rock gasped in pain as blood poured out from the side of his stomach. He felt something wrap around his ankle and found himself dragged out from under the pile of debris. Still shaken from the initial attack, he was unable to do anything to escape the second one. Before he knew it, he was flung through the air and slammed head first into the ground!

Monica looked on with a horrified look on her face as her friend was smashed against the concrete floor of the alleyway. Shattered pieces of the broken ground flew through the air as though to act as indicators of how much damage was done to Rock. One particular small piece of debris flew toward Monica's left eye as she stood frozen to the spot. It was until she blinked that she noticed the piece of debris was a mere half a centimetre from her eye.

Clang!

"Didn't you learn the first time?" Krypt sighed after the iron bar smashed against the top of his head. Releasing his hold on Rock's ankle, he brought up all of his remaining tentacles and all of them sprouted small blades.

Clatter...

Krypt paused for a second... then looked down. At his feet was a broken half of the iron bar used to smash his head in. It was only after seeing this that he started to comprehend the strength of the Japanese girl.

"*Heh... this ain't gonna help no more...*" Monica smirked as she tossed the broken iron bar away. By some sheer luck, she came across a bunch of iron bars that someone tossed out. Those same bunches of bars were inside the dumpster that was right beside her. Grabbing two of them, she faced her demonic opponent once more.

Amused by this new prey's determination, Krypt brought up his tendrils and advanced on the teenaged girl. While the idea of having two terrified young babes to play with got his blood going, the thought of taking down strong women and making them beg for mercy really got him going. He didn't mind a challenge and knew he wouldn't be disappointed once he got through with this girl.

"Hold it," Rock growled as he suddenly got to his feet. A tendril was thrown his way, but he already anticipated it and caught it with both hands. He didn't even wince when the small blades cut deeply into his hands and covered them with more blood. Before Krypt knew it, it was he who was flung through the air and slammed head first into the ground. The resulting impact was not unlike the one he did with Rock.

"Oh? That's some interesting prey there," Neon licked her lips as she watched the battle unfold before her eyes. As she stood up, Gina remained on the ground on all fours at the demoness' feet. Gina's face was covered with the hair monster's juices and her eyes seemed too had lost their light. Completely entranced, the waitress lowered her head and rubbed her cheek against Neon's ankle in hopes of getting her attention. Unfortunately, all she got was a kick to the ribs that sent her crashing against the wall. Neon smiled to herself, "Those new toys are much more interesting. I can't wait to play with them."

"Wait a moment! How are you even still standing?" Monica asked as she stared at Rock with her mouth gaped open.

"What? You mean these?" Rock asked casually as he pointed at the wounds in his stomach. "Just a bunch of scratches. No need to worry."

"You are bleeding everywhere," Monica gasped. "Are you really okay?"

"What about you? Your pride still in one piece?" Rock smirked as he turned his attention toward the two monsters.

"None of your business," Monica grumbled in response.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us this time," Krypt chuckled as he rose to his feet. As he dusted himself off, he addressed Neon, "So how you wanna do this?"

"Well... I think we should at least have our little fun elsewhere," Neon replied with a grin on her face. "Someone might had already walked in on that little paint job you left behind and with all that ruckus, someone's bound to call the cops by now."

"Looks like it's your lucky day," Krypt addressed Monica and Rock with a sadistic grin as he withdrew his tentacles back under his clothes. Neon followed suit with her hair and the two of them started backing off. "I won't blame you if you choose to run away, but if you don't want things to end like this, then come along into the battlefield."

"Come back here and fight!" Monica shouted angrily as she ran off after Krypt and Neon. Looking over her shoulder, she told Rock, "You get the girl to a hospital."

"Like hell I'm letting you face those monsters alone," Rock growled as he got ready to follow after his friend. However, he stopped as soon as he felt a hand on his ankle. Looking down, his eyes met the waitress' and he knew he had to stay behind after all. Sighing, he lit up a cigarette for himself before crouching down to help the girl. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

*****

"Hmm? Looks like they've started moving and pretty quickly, too," John remarked as soon as he noticed the signals. "Still can't tell what we're dealing with just yet. Might have to find out the old-fashioned way."

"That's fine by me," Synn replied. "How much longer?"

"Hmm... we might be able to cut off the signal's path right around... turn here and stop."

Synn quickly obeyed and the car swerved sharply to the left before entering an underground parking lot. The parking lot they entered was pretty much empty, which wasn't surprising given that the shopping mall above was closed down for renovations. The parking lot was still open to the public, though, which was kind of pointless. Half the fluorescent lights above were burnt out and weren't going to be replaced any time soon. Drops of water from a leaking pipe above splattered against a forming puddle on the cement floor below. Synn parked the car in a space in front of a wall to get a better view of the parking lot.

"*Heh... an isolated underground parking lot away from the public eye, huh?*" Monica smirked as soon as she entered the underground parking lot. After running a couple blocks worth of distance, she was able to follow the demons to this place. Her hands clenched tightly around the metal bars she brought along from the alleyway, though she knew they weren't of any use by themselves. She knew that if she was to have any chance of winning, she had to use more than just brute force.

"Synn..." John nodded his head toward Monica as soon as he noticed her. "The signal..."

"Is it coming from her?" Synn asked as she opened up a compartment behind the hand brake.

"Still can't tell, but these readings are much higher than a normal human being's," John replied as he clacked away on his laptop. On the monitor was a night-vision image of Monica looking around for her enemies. "I'm getting approximately 17 kJ from her."

"That high, huh? Definitely not human. Might be tough," Synn remarked as she unlocked her side of the door. Getting out of the car, she slammed the door shut and approached the sword girl.

Hmm... she looks kind of familiar... John thought. Where have I seen her before?

"*Hmm? Bystanders? Not good,*" Monica muttered once she noticed Synn getting out of the car behind her. "Excuse me, but this place is dang-"

"Save it," Synn growled as she quickly closed the distance. In both hands, she wielded tonfa made out of reinforced steel. With one savage swing, she brought her right tonfa down upon Monica's head.

"*What? Damnit! It was a trap after all!*" Monica cursed as she quickly stepped back and blocked the tonfa with her iron bar. Between the two weapons, she had the advantage in reach, but... in the end, all she had were iron bars. The opponent, on the other hand, had actual weapons made for combat. The young sword girl would have gladly traded in both iron bars for even a single shoddy shinai.

Clang!

Monica's eyes widened as she felt the powerful resonance coursing through both iron bars. The sheer power alone from the tonfa strikes were enough to cause her hands to start shaking violently. All she did so far was block, but she could immediately tell that she should be grateful to even have iron bars to defend herself with. With a better picture of what would happen should even one strike reach her, she started paying more attention to the only other weapon she had left: Footwork.

Synn was quite impressed that her opponent was able to block and parry all of her attacks so far. However, she also noticed that the Japanese girl had yet to go on the offensive. With this in mind, the tonfa girl pressed on her attack with the full intention of overwhelming her opponent with brute force alone. A particularly powerful blow whizzed right over Monica's head and struck the wall behind. As a result, a trail around two feet wide, one foot deep, and five feet long was engraved into the wall. Debris from the attack crumbled to the floor as the sword girl made her move.

Clutching both metal bars as tightly as she could, Monica concentrated as much of her energy as she could into them. She focused on the resonance of the metallic material pressed against the skin of her hands. In time, she felt the energy from her spiritual force flow through her veins and into her weapons. Reacting to the spiritual energy, the iron bars started glowing with a pale blue hue.

"Hmm? Her energy output is rising," John noticed as he looked down at his laptop. "Synn, be careful. She's up to something."

"What? You mean besides those light sabre knockoffs she's holding?" Synn asked with gritted teeth. Rushing toward her opponent, she held nothing back as she unleashed a flurry of attacks with her tonfas. "Doesn't matter what kind of trick she's got up her sleeve! I'll just power through them all!"

"Wait a minute, Synn. Don't be-" John began, but was cut off by the older teen's war-cry.

Avoiding each and every single attack, Monica danced about in the darkness of the underground parking lot. Fragments of solid concrete flew up and filled the space each time the tonfas missed their target and hit something else. The young girl bided her time all the while keeping track of the distance between herself and her opponent. With careful attention and fast reflexes, she kept herself out of Synn's range and Synn within hers. Once the sword girl felt that the time was right, she struck out with both bars at the same time.

Clang! Clang!

Starring down at her weapons with a look of shock on her face, Synn tried to comprehend that... her tonfas were sliced in half!

"Damn it," Synn growled as she threw the handles away. "How'd the hell she do that?"

"Oh my, what's this? A new playmate?" Neon's voice echoed throughout the parking lot. "I enjoy a feisty one every now and then, but two at once? That's just asking for trouble."

"Who's there?!" Synn demanded as she glanced around to find the source of the new voice.

"Careful Synn. You might not be able to handle two enemies at once," John warned as he calculated Neon's energy output. He wasn't quite prepared for the result. "Synn... we're leaving. Now."

"So she's here," Monica tightened her grip on her iron bars and readied for a surprise attack.

"Like hell I'm running," Synn growled as she also prepared herself for Neon's appearance. In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a figure hidden in the shadows. Quickly turning toward the figure, she brought her fists up and fell into a fighting stance.

"Hasty, aren't we?" Neon smirked as she walked out into whatever light was still available. A devilish grinned etched across her face as she regarded Synn's battle-ready pose.

"....." Synn scowled at the mysterious monstress with fierce determination in her eyes. However, she found herself frozen to the spot. She couldn't quite explain it, but the atmosphere around Neon was strong and powerful. Her heart rate rose and she found herself sweating even more than when she faced Monica just seconds ago. Looking down, she realized that her legs were shaking and threatening to collapse on her any moment now. Was this... fear? Why was this happening now?

"I see..." Monica muttered to herself once she noticed the state her former opponent was in. "A demoness can instil fear with energy alone. They're not on the same side... but then, who is she?"

"I don't believe I've introduced myself yet, now have I? How rude of me," Neon's trademark smile was still on her face. "My name's Neon and no... I'm not a demoness and the other one, Krypt, is not a demon. We're something much more dangerous than that."

"What?" That got Monica's attention. If Neon wasn't a demoness, then what was she?

"Tch, then you're one of them," Synn spat angrily. Fighting back her fear, she gathered up her courage and ran straight toward Neon.

"Don't be so quick to die," Neon suddenly jerked her hand back as though she were pulling on a string. To be exact, she was pulling on two strings.

"Wha..." Synn suddenly found herself falling to the ground. Before she knew it, she fell painfully stopping just a few inches away from Neon's feet.

"What?" Monica looked on in shock. She wasn't sure what to be more surprised about: The fact that Neon just used her hair like lassos to cut Synn's feet off or the fact that there were wires coming out of the cut!

"Damn it!" Synn growled as she looked back at her sliced-up mechanical feet. "Are you kidding me? That's reinforced titanium!"

"A... robot?" Monica gasped as she stared in shock at Synn. "Wait... no... there's a scratch on her cheek from her fall. She's bleeding, so... she's human?"

"What? Never seen a cyborg before?" Synn growled as she glared dangerously in Monica's direction. Thought missing both feet, it didn't look as though she was quite done yet. Slamming her fist into the ground, she launched herself toward Neon as she prepared her other fist to smash the monstress' face in.

"You never learn, do you?" Neon sneered as a wall of hair sprung up and sliced up Synn's robotic right arm into ribbons. Grabbing Synn by the hair, Neon caught the sliced-up cyborg before she hit the ground. "Do you understand now? Neither of you stood a chance against me."

Eyes widened, Motoko suddenly realized that a major attack was coming next. Waves and waves of hair sprung out of Neon and attacked random locations. Water started spewing everywhere from the pipes and gas lines started leaking. John had to duck down when the roof of the car was sliced up. There was nowhere to run at all. However, Motoko had no intention of running away.

*****

"That's all I can tell you about Neosphere," Tim's Shihfu concluded. "Everything else, you'll have to find out on your own."

"I see... thank you, Shihfu," Tim replied with a sigh as he looked out the window. Turning around, he said, "I think I might know someone related to all this."

"Heh... is that so?" Tim's Shihfu cracked a smile at that. "Then it's someone I don't know. Making friends at that school of yours?"

"....." Tim simply nodded his head before heading back out. As soon as he did, he noticed someone waiting for him out in the hall. Instinctively, he went for his guns... only to remember he didn't have them anymore. Even if he did, it wasn't like he could use them considering the condition his hands were in.

Wordlessly, !X headed off towards the roof of the hospital and motioned for Tim to follow. Not wishing to make a scene, Tim followed along all the while formulating a plan in his head.

*****

"Come on... come on... hurry up..." Needler whined as he repeatedly pressed the button to cross the street even though there weren't any cars around. He honestly couldn't believe how far behind he was from the others now. He couldn't even see them anymore! It was like they just upped and went off to fight a couple monsters or something.

As he continued pressing the button, he took notice of someone crossing the street. Crypt had a seemingly satisfied expression on his face as he walked past Needler. Whirling around just in time to see the platinum blonde head off into an alley, Needler briefly wondered why he was getting a dangerous vibe from him. Looking ahead across the street, he muttered a silent apology to Tim, then headed off after the mysterious figure.

*****

"My... how strange. All four limbs turned out to be machines," Neon mercilessly stomped on Synn's remaining robotic arm until it was just a pile of broken chips and twisted metal. Using her hair, she held down the cyborg to keep her from struggling, but she turned out to be much more stubborn than she first thought. Synn's struggles against her bonds resulted in the hair pressing deeply into her skin until her entire upper body was covered with gashes. It was not a pretty sight.

Though Synn felt no pain from losing her robotic arms and legs, the helpless position she was in more than made up for it. Her right arm was sliced into ribbons as though it was thrown through a propeller. Both her feet were sliced off and what was left of her legs was smashed to pieces. All she had left to fight with was her left arm, but she just lost that as well.

"Looks like you ran out of options, clock-work girl," Neon sneered as she crouched down to bring her face closer to Synn's. Reaching out with sadistic intentions, she ripped the cyborg girl's tank-top right off, revealing pert nipples on pear-shaped breasts. With the piece of clothing off, the red lines left behind by the razor-sharp lengths of hair were easier to see. With the motorized legs in the shape they were in, the jeans were easily taken off revealing what appeared to be a metallic chastity belt. "My my, just by looking at you, I wouldn't had guessed you'd be into such things."

"Sh-shut it..." Synn stammered as she did her best to hide her humiliation. However, it was painfully clear that she was now at the mercy of the white-haired monstress before her. She could do nothing as the lock on her chastity belt was sliced off. As the steel plate covering her crotch was pulled away, it was revealed that there was some sort of device resembling a dildo inside her pussy.

Neon withdrew the device to examine it further and realized it was much too complex to be a simple vibrator. There were electro-magnetic studs all around it and after slicing it open, microchips spilled out from it. The technology was way too advanced to be just a sex toy. Looking down at her prey, Neon understood a bit about what the device was for.

"P-please... put... p-put it... ba... ck... in... please..." Synn begged tearfully as her bare pussy started convulsing violently. Her eyes rolled back and her tongue hung out, but she was losing her mind not to pain but to pleasure instead. Her modified pussy was designed so that her vaginal walls were a hundred times more responsive and her clitoris a thousand times more sensitive. The clitoral hood was evidently long gone, so even exposure sent her near the edge. From the puddle that had already formed under her ass, the amount of girl juice coming out of her had also increased as well. Whoever made these modifications also messed with her mind, preventing her from passing out from orgasms. Evidently, the chastity belt was made to counter these modifications.

"My... it doesn't even look like I have to use my own juice," Neon smirked as she brought her fingers up to the cyborg girl's pussy lips. Trailing the tip of her finger from the base of the lips up to the spot just under the clit, she watched Synn's reaction with intrigue in her eyes.

Synn's breathing sharply increased for the light touch was already sending her over the edge. If it wasn't for the additional modification to her psyche, she would have blacked out by now. Unfortunately for her, she did not have such luxury. Instead, she had to endure as the tip of Neon's middle finger flicked the tip of her highly sensitized clit. As though a thunderstorm was brewing inside of her, she screamed out as she came over and over and over...

"Stay the hell away from her!" John shouted angrily as he suddenly appeared from behind Neon with a giant rock in his hands. He immediately brought the rock down upon the monstress' head... only to watch it crumble to pieces.

"Oh my? You're still alive?" Neon seemed impressed. Before John could react, he was punched in the gut causing him to slump to the ground in defeat. It was like what would happen if one of those bowling ball pendulum experiments went wrong. Ribs cracked and his pride broken, the young teen could do nothing but lie down and not move for a while.

"What did you mean by your 'own juices'?" Monica's voice was projected from somewhere in the shadows. Due to the echoing, it was hard for Neon to figure out the sword girl's location.

"My, so you're also still alive," Neon had a hint of irritation seeping into her facial expression. Crouching down beside the convulsing Synn again, she coolly placed her hand on the broken girl's flat stomach. With her other hand, she popped a finger into her mouth and seductively moved it about. As she withdrew her finger, a thread of saliva was clearly visible even in the dim light. "My fluids... all of it; they've been specially created to act as a sort of aphrodisiac, you see. Just a drop of it can be as potent as Viagra and it works for both sexes. Come to think of it, that waitress back in the alley got a face full of my pussy juice. I wonder how your friend's holding up with her. You know I can see you, right?"

"*What?*" Monica blinked once she realized that her attempt at a surprise attack failed. She was standing over Neon with her 'weapons' raised above her head. The scratches she suffered from the wild hair attack earlier decorated her body from her neck down. Apparently, her face was intentionally left alone, which made her start to wonder if the attack earlier was indeed wild or not.

"Your blood has a very unique smell, you see," Neon explained with a nasty grin on her face. A single thread of her hair was in her hands as she brought it up to her lips. Licking it with the tip of her tongue, she smirked, "Tastes delicious too, though far from ripe. I wonder... just how much tastier you'll be once you've had time to grow."

"*Shut the fuck up, you freak!*" Monica growled angrily as she brought two energy-covered iron bars down upon the platinum blonde's head. Unsurprisingly, she was met with a shield of hair, but to Neon's surprise, the iron bars remained as two pieces of weaponry. It actually took all of the monstress' concentration to keep the hair shield up, so it ended up as a stalemate.

"My... I underestimated you a bit, didn't I?" Neon licked her lips as she jumped back to end the power struggle. As soon as she did, all the hair under her control slithered back under her clothes. With that, she turned around to leave, "Even though I coated my hair with my saliva, you don't seem very affected at all. Is it willpower? No... maybe it's the opposite, as hard as it is to believe let alone understand."

"Where do you think you are going?" Monica demanded as she pointed one of her iron bars at her retreating opponent. "Did you think I would allow you to leave like that?"

"Of course, because you see... that cyborg girl doesn't look like she'll last very long," Neon smirked before disappearing into the shadows.

"*Damn it...!*" Monica cursed in Japanese as she violently threw her iron bars down. As it clattered to her feet, she turned her attention toward the broken cyborg.

"You... you're not... one of them?" John gasped as he looked up at the sword girl from the ground.

"One of...? No... I' am not," Monica smiled assuredly in response.

"This... put... this... in Synn... please..." John pulled out a metallic rod that was not unlike the one taken out of Synn.

"I understand," Monica nodded as she bent down to take the rod.

"You have to... make her... come... with it... first..."

"*What?*" Monica blushed.

*****

Standing atop the hospital building were two figures that looked ready to duke it out. The breezy wind shifted around causing the bed sheets that were hung out to dry to flutter about. The sun was still out and shining just as brightly as before. Somehow, the setting seemed much too peaceful to serve as the battlefield between fighters such as these two.

"You... you're not human, are you?" Click asked with crossed arms. He studied his opponent carefully with his visible robotic left eye.

"I'm human," Tim simply replied as he kept his hands in his pockets. There was no need to show any sign of weakness to the enemy. "Believe it or not. You?"

"Don't lie. No human can produce an aura as dark as yours," Click growled as he gripped his right arm. With a forceful tug, he pulled the skin right off of his right arm revealing a mechanical skeleton! "As for me, I'm an android. That means I'm all machine, so I won't be easy to beat. Save yourself the trouble and tell me the truth. What are you? Are you one of them?"

"Them?" Tim quirked an eyebrow at that. Realizing that there was no use in talking to the android, he took his hands out of his pockets and brought them up to his chest.

Shing!

From each of his sleeves, a stiletto blade around a foot long sprung out. Pointing one of them at his opponent with an indifferent expression on his face, Tim said, "I'm an ex-assassin. I won't be easy to beat, either."

*****

"Let's see... this must be the place," Rock noted as he stood outside the door of what appeared to be a broken down apartment. On his back, he was carrying Gina, who still seemed pretty out of it at the moment. After the run-in with the two mysterious figures in the alleyway, he figured it'd be best to take the girl home first. After rummaging through her purse to find her address, he threw his jacket on her and carried her home.

"Mmm..." Gina purred as she nestled her head against the back of Rock's neck. Since she wasn't really able to clean up, Neon's pussy juice still coated her face. Her own juices were running down the insides of her legs and soaked the back of Rock's shirt. If the jacket on her was even an inch shorter, her gaping anus would have been easy to see.

"Wonder how Monica's doing," Rock grumbled as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Glancing around, he noticed that it was a single bedroom apartment. The bathroom door was open and through it, he took notice of the single toothbrush sitting in there. That meant Gina lived alone. Entering the bedroom, he dropped her off onto the bed and started heading out again. He had to find that Krypt fellow and teach him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

"Wait..." Gina reached out and grabbed the teen by the wrist. With a flushed face and pleading eyes, she begged, "Don't leave..."

*****

"Hmph... another nosy one?" Crypt smirked as he stood at one end of a fenced-in basketball court. The court was full-sized, but wedged in on three sides by the backs of three apartment buildings. Since it was a little out of the way and the apartment buildings had little to no tenants living in them, it was pretty much empty most of the time. The only one who ever goes there anymore was Virginia, an Italian girl with pigtails and green eyes. She had the unfortunate luck to bump into the tendril-using blonde.

"Mmph!" Virginia tried screaming, but the tendril forced inside her mouth prevented her from doing so. She tried biting, but the thing was harder than diamond! The tendril around her wrists and ankles were too strong for her to shake off, but she continued struggling anyway. Crypt knew he could just subdue her right away, but decided to enjoy her vain attempts at escaping.

"Com... completely... different..." Needler simply stood there frozen to the spot at the opposite end of the court from Crypt. He knew that there was something strange about the other teen and his intuition told him to follow, but now he wasn't sure that was the smart thing to do anymore. The dangerous vibe he got was now a suffocating miasma threatening to end his life right there and then. The tendril monster was in an entirely different league and they both knew it.

I should run.

Sure, Needler picked up a few tricks from Sera's training and sure, he learnt some useful stuff from Monica, but in the end he was still new at using energy. Before he arrived at Windroy Twelve Forrest, he was just a normal high school student with a bit of an attention problem. Monica trained to become a demon slayer. Tim was a former assassin. Rock came from a family of summoners. Trent... well... he could turn into a dog. What was he before all this?

I should run.

As he stood there frozen to the spot, he thought back to his reactions to... well... all the strange stuff that happened so far. Why did he accept it all so easily? Was it because he somehow knew all of it was going to happen? Was it because Sera's 'gift' softened the impact of all those events? In the end, did he just become a puppet for the demoness? Now his intuition was telling him to fight...

I should run.

"So? You going to just stand there? That's fine. Always good to have an audience every now and then," Crypt smirked without even looking at Needler. His attention was on the girl in his grasp. "Those last two were pretty annoying. A samurai wannabe girl and a cockroach that just won't die. Strong though, so I took an interest."

What? Monica and Rock? Needler blinked as he stepped back in fear. Did he...? No... something tells me they're all right. Wait... that's not reassuring enough. No... better trust it. It's always better to... did I always think like that? What the hell's wrong with me? I'd run, but... my legs won't move.

"Once I'm done here, I'll be going after them," Crypt grinned sadistically. Did he somehow know that Needler was friends with Monica and Rock? Maybe he was goading the new intruder into a fight. "Neon might've already taken care of them already, but who knows? Either way, I'll be having a lot of fun with them. Hmm? What's that on your forehead?"

A silver glint of energy appeared on Needler's forehead. It was in the exact same spot that Sera touched him on that fateful day when he first stepped into their world. For some reason, he felt calm. He remembered now. When he was in the world of darkness that Sera put him in, he was suffocating, afraid, and in pain. However, when he felt Sera's finger on his forehead, all his doubts and fears vanished. He no longer felt threatened by the ominous energy he was picking up from his new enemy. In fact, he felt as though he could beat him.

I should fight.

(to be continued)

*****

Character Profile Section:

Name: Motoko 'Monica' Kurenai
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Height: 5' 3"
Weight: ???
Occupation: High School Student, Swordswoman

Miscellaneous Information:
-Likes baked potatoes, clam, macaroni and cheese, and campfire stories
-Is a little afraid of black cats
-Favourite season is Spring
-Able to recite most of Shakespeare's play by memory
-Favourite subject is Music
-Least Favourite subject is Math
-Ring tone for her cell is the theme song for 'Raiders of the Lost Arc'

Estimated Physical Statistics (before Sera's training):
Strength: 3500lb dead lift
Speed: 25m/s
Stamina: 400 miles