Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Acantha's Despair ❯ Chapter 2

Hikari watched, transfixed, as Asuka's body tried to bend over backwards, both holes seeming to gape open where the slime had penetrated her, eyes rolled until only the barest bit of the iris showed. The scream she was giving off, amplified rather than muffled by the slime in her throat and around her, touched something deep within the freckled girl. It spoke to her most basic instincts of never-ending carnal delight. Hikari felt herself get wetter and restrained the urge to walk over and stick her head in the slime so she could lick her friend's pussy. She saw Shinji take a step out of the corner of her eye before stopping, red as a beet, and turning around for the nth time through this impromptu show.

And Hikari was straight! Well, mostly. She watched carefully and ignored her desire as the slime creature finally began to disgorge her friend, drawing itself away and leaving her on the ground, covered in and leaking blue goo. Her eyes were still rolled, mouth still hanging open, which had Hikari worried.

"You two! Go into town and find us three rooms for the night. Asuka's going to need to rest." Hikari ordered her would-be boyfriend and his nerd-buddy. She'd been incensed that they hadn't bothered to warn her about this. She could've talked sense into the Red Terror. And they were stuck here for a week! They didn't have money for rooms for the whole week, and sleeping outside was suicidal, even in the newbie area. Which meant they would have to do a quest or two, since random monsters didn't drop money for anything. Hikari approached Asuka slowly, only getting close once she was sure the slime was out of sight. With a flair that was actually kind of cool, she summoned her spellbook and re-read how to perform the 'clean up' spell. She was sure it was going to get a lot of use. One cast didn't do much. Asuka was still covered, though the coat on her skin was thinner. Another cast cleared her skin, but her hair was still soaked with the stuff. And with those legs, that was a lot of hair. Five more casts cleared the fur and hair to just damp, and the sixth finally vanquished it. Hikari had to sit down instead of just crouching; this was actually tiring! She glanced at her spellbook again, glad the spell now read 'level 3'. Hikari grimaced as she realized Asuka was still leaking the stuff. That would have to wait, since she didn't have a spell for that.

"Rei, can you come over here and carry her?" Hikari asked. Was Rei smirking? No, couldn't be. Hikari snapped Asuka's top back on as soon as Rei had her up, "C'mon Shinji, we'll figure out what to do back at the inn."

Hikari knew Asuka was awake when tears started to roll from her eyes.

"Asuka," Hikari started, "Are you all right?"

"No. Go away."

"Asuka... what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"It's in the room, you know."

Asuka took a moment to process what 'it' might be, and when she came to a conclusion, she sat straight up, looking around fearfully. Nothing. She sighed, and lie back down. Asuka sat back up slowly, feeling her head.

"Do you feel better now?" Hikari asked, not sure what transpired in Asuka's mind. She'd just wanted Asuka to wake up, but something appeared to have had a positive effect.

"A little." Asuka curled legs up and set her chin on her knees before wrapping her arms around. They sat silently for a moment. Hikari didn't have any words to offer, and Asuka was hesitant to talk about what happened.

"We're stuck here, aren't we?" Asuka asked after a few minutes.

"Locked in for six more days." Hikari replied. Another few minutes passed.

"I want you to take over leadership."

"What?" Hikari asked, shocked. Asuka, let go of a leadership position? That thing must have jumbled her brain more than they thought!

"I... I don't play this type of game. I did something foolish, and it... it... I don't think I want to be responsible if it happens again. Oh God, I don't want it to happen again!" Asuka suddenly flipped, burying her head in a pillow.

"Asuka... that was a freak accident, you know." Hikari said slowly, ignoring the other issue for now.

"What?" Asuka asked.

"The slime that attacked you was a one in a thousand encounter. A named monster with special abilities, which it apparently demonstrated to great effect. You shouldn't have to deal with that again." Hikari explained. The GM had been quite adamant about keeping her away from named slimes for a while, as that one had nearly short-circuited Asuka's brain.

"Oh. Well, that's good." Asuka said, swinging around to sit up. Hikari wondered why that sounded like a half-truth, but let it slide. "I still want you to lead us. You have RPG knowhow, and won't make the same kind of stupid mistakes as I will."

"You should know, Asuka, that if you fight again, you will be raped again." Hikari said carefully, "The Berserker class is usually chosen by those who want to 'have a little fun' every battle. We shouldn't have to hold back from rescuing you again, so unless we wipe, you shouldn't be in anything's clutches too long." Asuka was silent for a minute.

"I'll go. I can handle it. That makes sense, actually. I thought I could just run away while I was weak after Frenzy wore off." Asuka paused, "And another thing, why in the hell didn't the stooges warn us about this damn game!?"

"According to them, Shinji tried to. The clerk too, when you bought it. Ayanami didn't know either, but she noticed them try." Hikari said slowly.

"And the Red Menace just couldn't listen, could she?" Asuka asked herself rhetorically, looking very small.

"They still should've said something to me. I could've stopped them from letting you run into that thing." Hikari angrily insisted, then, calmly, "It is just a game, you know. Nothing here is real, and you shouldn't consider it so."

"Just lie back and enjoy it, huh?" Asuka sniped, then cringed, almost wilting, "Sorry Hikari." The creature may not have been real, but what happened in her own mind couldn't be faked. She still didn't know what had happened. Only that it was terrible and beautiful and incredible and frightening all at once. She knew, deep down, that she had almost lost herself. She knew some small part of her wanted to do it again. She knew also that if she did, she might not come back this time. She shuddered in fear, pretending to be fragile due to snapping at her best friend and feeling sorry about it.

"It's okay Asuka." Hikari smiled at her, "It's actually a relief to hear you being snappy."

"Yeah, Red Menace, I know." Asuka said quietly. It occurred to neither of them that Asuka had somehow acknowledged her own shortcomings of personality without realizing it. She wasn't even planning on changing them, but first steps are first steps, whether you realize you're walking or not. The silence stretched between them for several minutes, comfortable as Hikari let Asuka think herself through whatever mental crisis she might be having.

"Hikari..." Asuka suddenly said, "Would you please, um... sleep with me?"

"Sure." Hikari answered after a moment in which her mind took her dirty places before her more rational superego pointed out that Asuka just wanted a comforting body to lie next to. The perverted part of her mind argued back that with this pervy game they couldn't be sure Asuka didn't want to experiment, but was shot down by the rebuttal that Asuka needed comfort rather than carnality right now, not that the latter couldn't happen at some point. Hikari, disturbed that her rational side was considering an eventual lesbian encounter with her best friend, quickly disrobed to her silk shift and crawled in next to Asuka, wrapping her arms around the redhead in a sisterly manner as she lay with her back to Hikari. Hikari was reminded, oddly, of the night Sachiel had attacked. Hitomi had cuddled up to her in the shelter, crying, frightened with all the earthquakes and explosions above them.

Asuka was more... comfortable... to lie against, however. Her furry bottom half made her feel extra-cuddly, especially when Asuka's tail wrapped around her waist, giving Hikari a warm, fuzzy feeling. Asuka was snoring in moments. Hikari followed shortly.

It had been a rather profitable day. Asuka and Hikari gave the boys (and Shinji) a proper scolding for not trying harder to warn them. Then Asuka had ranted about her choice of race being unable to wear pants, because her clawed feet ripped right through anything she tried to wear over her bottom half. After that and breakfast (which took the last of their newbie coppers), Hikari had set the group to work through the newbie quests one at a time. Those went off without a hitch; even Asuka only got close to being raped once. By lunchtime, they'd gathered plenty of money to see them through the week, but another problem had come to Hikari's attention.

"PKers? What?" Asuka asked, still familiarizing herself with MMO lingo.

"In most MMOs it stands for 'Player Killer' which describes malicious players who kill newbies like us just for the fun of it. In this perverted game, well..." Hikari trailed off, letting Asuka complete the sentence herself.

"So why haven't they bothered us yet?" Shinji asked while Asuka gaped at the implications.

"Newbie protection. It expires at the end of day six, meaning we'll be sitting ducks on day seven." Hikari said, all business, "If we keep training at the current rate, we should be passing the mid-twenties, early-thirties by then. That's about the point where most PKers will give up on a group the size of ours, meaning we'll be safe from any but the most dedicated and powerful." She paused, glancing at Rei, "Also, if your superiors don't let you off the hook..." She left the rest unsaid. The pilots were silent, but followed Hikari back out toward the questgivers. Touji and Kensuke were walking on eggshells, knowing that they could easily get blamed for anything, their fault or otherwise.

When they gathered for dinner, they had all reached level ten.

"Since we've arrived at level ten, we can begin to do class-advancement quests." Hikari said as the others picked at the remnants of dinner. The food here was pretty good. "I think we should get the first part of Shinji's done tonight, since it has to be done after dark. Then tomorrow, Shinji will complete the second half of her quest, since it has to be done alone. Once that's done, she'll have a reliable summon-creature." Shinji nodded. The Imp that came free until level 15 was unreliable, weak, and annoying. "Asuka will wait for Shinji to be done, and then they'll take care of Asuka's quest."

"Why do I have to go with the baka?" Asuka complained, though without any real heat. She didn't want to be told 'do you think you can do better?'

"Because Ayanami will be with me, and Suzahara and Aida will be working on theirs. Only yours and Shinji's quests can't be handled solo, but it'll be easier and quicker to double up. We'll all need to help Shinji on the first part, though there's an escort mission in it for us. And Asuka's is difficult because of her class' weaknesses."

"I'll go and collect it then." Shinji said, standing and adjusting her dress as if she'd been born wearing it.

"Sohryu..." Touji started, then stopped, "When you're with Shinji tomorrow..."

"Yeah?" Asuka asked aggressively.

"Take care of her, alright?" Kensuke broke in, easily reading his buddy's intention.

"I didn't realize you guys swung that way." Asuka said in a flat tone.

"It's not like that!" Touji shouted, standing up and glaring at the amused redhead.

"It isn't huh? 'Oh pleaaase Asuka! Protect my little Shinji-chan!'" Asuka mocked, conveniently forgetting the old adage 'he who proclaims his thruthfulness loudest is usually least worthy of trust.'

Rei and Hikari, for their parts, resisted getting drawn into that argument, as it might reveal their own protective feelings for the cute girl Shinji had become here. The taunting and yelling suddenly quieted when the front door opened and Shinji re-entered, looking frightened.

"C'mon. The sun's going down. We need to get to the graveyard." Hikari stated, "I already party-accepted the escort mission."

"Is it really tough enough that all of us have to go?" Asuka asked as they walked through town.

"Shinji?" Hikari asked, looking at the timid girl.

"I, um... have to use a spell to locate and dig up a bone. There's someone just outside that's going to give me the item that will let me cast the spell. Unfortunately, it also attracts zombies." Shinji explained.

"How many zombies?" Asuka asked.

"Typically," Hikari interjected, "According to the forum, an even-leveled party like ours makes it with only seconds to spare. Most of the members end up getting raped before the end of the battle. Touji and Kensuke will probably be bitten and have a short time limit until they switch sides. So... lots of zombies. It's going to be crawling with them, and not all human either."

"What kind of not human?" Asuka asked after a horrified pause.

"All kinds, you never really know what you'll see." Hikari answered bluntly, shivering a little herself.

It was really only a short jaunt to the graveyard, and they reached it shortly after the sun passed below the horizon. A crotchety old man with a pitchfork greeted them with a glare.

"I told ye once, I'll tell ye again! I won't be havin' no grave-robbers!" He shouted, brandishing his pitchfork at them. They paused for a moment, not sure what to do. Kensuke whispered in Shinji's ear for a moment, and then the quiet girl stepped forward.

"Kind sir, I am on a quest most perilous, and need the aid of demonkind to march onward, for the benefit of all. Would you not reconsider?" Shinji asked with archaic inflection, surprising everyone.

"Well... I suppose I could make an exception for a pretty girl. You'll probably stir up the restless dead and get eaten anywho." The old man returned to his shack.

"What just happened?" Touji asked.

"I bribed him with some copper." Shinji answered, holding up a small paper charm.

"Good job Shinji. Most people just kill him and have to heal up before they go in, not to mention karma-damage." Hikari said.

"Kensuke suggested I bribe him." Shinji said, giving Kensuke a surprisingly good 'look' under which he quailed. He hadn't suggested money.

"Well, let's go then. We still need some sleep tonight." Asuka said, impatient. Shinji took only a few moments to cast the spell that activated the tracking charm for the bone she needed, and they entered the graveyard in a tight formation to protect the concentrating summoner. For the first row of graves, there was nothing. Then there was a moan, and a hulking undead stumbled out of the darkness.

"Ew..." Asuka said, "I do not want to get screwed by that. I'd stink all day tomorrow."

"You probably don't have a choice, pilot Sohryuu." Rei answered, swinging her great hammer and crushing the skull of the thing in one blow.

"That didn't look so tough." Asuka commented. There was a growl out of the darkness.

"Asuka, I know you read the Rules of Horror Movies, please follow them now." Hikari pleaded as she unleashed a bolt of white holy energy at a leaping undead dog. It seared the beast's shoulder, removing one leg and causing it to crash in front of Hikari, who stepped back as it fell. She let another bolt loose as it tried to bite her ankle, blasting a hole through its head. Shinji stepped past the third row of graves, and it seemed like the floodgates suddenly opened, spilling out a zombie horde. The moans came from everywhere as zombies stumbled into the light from all directions. A pair of dogs and a large cat were smashed in flight as they leapt ahead of the slower-moving human undead. Hikari was already dreading what would happen when they were too busy with the more numerous humans to deal with the quicker animal zombies.

Touji tossed fireballs, one of his basic skills, and soon the night was lit up in one direction as more and more of the undead caught fire and slowly took damage from it. That was a mistake, as it let them see just how far the horde went. They couldn't see the other side. Rei, next to him, didn't worry about how many there were, only swung her great warhammer again and again, the holy-attribute weapon rapidly sweeping undead from her sight. Kensuke was swiftly and efficiently beheading every zombie that came within range of his blade, though he seemed to be already tiring, his class designed more for one on one or small groups, rather than the endless horde they faced. Asuka was cautiously slashing with her claws, not yet activating her Frenzy move, and barely keeping the zeds away from the rear of the group. Hikari had withdrawn from the outer ring, standing inside and healing the minor wounds from flailing zombie fingernails, occasionally unleashing a holy blast when something would try to come over the outer defense.

They were all beginning to tire when Shinji announced "Found it!" and began to cast another spell over the charm. This was the part that took time, they knew. Unfortunately, Shinji's exultant cry distracted Kensuke, and he withdrew his bitten hand a second too late.

"Thirty seconds." Hikari told him, giving him the choice. Kensuke spun out into the horde without hesitation, recklessly destroying zombie after zombie on his side. Hikari stepped out to take his place, knowing she probably wouldn't last long. Shinji only needed a minute or two more.

Rei, on the other side, lashed into an out-thrust of undead with a powerful attack, scattering a dozen of them before her. Before she could raise her hammer from the attack, a dark form came sailing out of the night, driving her to the ground and then pulling her back toward the horde with teeth around her collar. She tried to swing her hammer at it, but it was too close and she couldn't get it to swing from the ground quite right. Rei unleashed a small bolt of holy energy, weaker than Hikari's but just as good when used point-blank into the zombie-dog's skull. Rei put her hands out, trying to stand in her heavy suit of chain-mail. Unfortunately, she was too slow, already surrounded by the undead men. They pulled her hammer away though she tried to hold it. They removed her armor like cloth, and left her hands trapped in her clothes while they pulled her bottoms off.

Rei squirmed and kicked, but the dead men showed no hesitation, and were not stopped as they finally stripped her naked. Her albino skin glistened with sweat in the moonlight, her chest heaving with exertion. A pair of hands grabbed her small breasts roughly, and she instinctively tried to draw her legs up in defense. Two of them got a hold on her legs and swiftly turned her over while another caught her trapped hands to force her to hold herself up. They set her knees down, still with a grip on her legs like iron. One of them slid under her and roughly grasped her hips with his hands, trying to force her down on his surprisingly solid cock. He missed, but tried again.

Rei hadn't really known what to think about this game. The act of gaming wasn't really a chore, and the Commander required it of her. The physical act of non-consensual mating shouldn't have bothered her. But she felt... fear. Would it hurt worse than boiling LCL? Rei admitted, privately, that she wasn't afraid of pain. Pain had been much of her life... or lives, rather. No, what she honestly feared was that it would change her. Asuka had been raped by the slime-creature, and enjoyed it. The next day, she had given up the leadership position, and been much less sure of herself. If Rei changed so much that she was no longer useful... despite being replaceable, she didn't want to die.

All thoughts were driven from her mind as the undead creature hit its mark. Her expression changed only subtly, but the slight blush, the minutely open-mouthed pant, and the half-lidding of her eyes were still more extreme a change than had been yet witnessed. Touji, spotting it through the crowd trying to organize itself for the gang-bang, nearly shared Kensuke's fate when it distracted him for a moment. 'If Rei showed that much expression, it must be pretty extreme', was his line of thinking. She vanished again, and he could concentrate on keeping them off Shinji once more. Strangely, the falling of Rei created a gap in the attack where all the undead from that direction stopped to get some.

Rei was unable to appreciate this fact, however, as her mind reeled with sensation. She could find no words to describe the feeling, torn between pleasure and horror, disgust and desire. It thrust into her unmercifully, both painful and pleasurable to her truly virgin pussy. She felt another pair of hands on her waist and wondered, in the small part of her mind that remained aware, if another would fit in her stretched opening. Rei had no time to worry whether a second phallus would tear her open, as the creature unerringly shoved itself all the way into her asshole on the first thrust. With nary a pause, it matched pace with the other, rhythmically disappearing between the pale cheeks of the albino bluenette. They thrust on, unaware of the girl's scream and another beast taking quick advantage of the open orifice, incapable of appreciating the way her muscles clenched and rolled around their decaying phalli, unknowing of how her limbs shuddered and shivered in the iron grip of their comrades.

The remaining three fighters fought a delaying action, barely holding back the hordes of undead. Hikari promised herself to apologize to Kensuke after she took his head off when he finally turned. It seemed they would make it in plenty of time, until Hikari shrieked. Asuka spun around, still holding back her trump card, only just in time to see a grinning, pupil-less Touji tackle Hikari back into the horde, already starting on her clothes. In the same instant she saw past the intensely concentrating Shinji, as several zombies rose from where Rei had been making a gap, revealing the bluenette to be covered in and leaking some viscous brown substance. Asuka fought back a wave of bile as she quickly assessed Shinji's progress. With a sigh, she turned back to the zombie horde. The Red Devil, as she was, is, and will be known, became a red blur to the eyes of the surrounding monsters, quickly clearing a space around the summoner. It lasted for only a few seconds, and Asuka despaired as she stumbled, her strength and speed leaving her and then some. Hands clawed at her back, and her struggles found no purchase as she was drawn into the horde, tears running from her eyes as she tried to reach out to Shinji, torn between yelling 'save me!' and 'save yourself!'

"Got it!" Shinji cried. The surprised redhead fell gracelessly on her furry ass as the zombies faded to dust with an almost audible 'poof!' To one side, Hikari groaned as she shakily stood, only a few scraps of her clothing left. Rei was down for the count and neither of the boys were anywhere to be seen. Shinji looked around, blushing at the sight of Rei and Hikari, who was tenderly limping towards the unconscious girl.

"Good. Good, Shinji-chan. I wouldn't want to try this again." Asuka said, forgetting her usual contempt as she sat back, exhausted from the busy day and this last ordeal.