Vore in Arcana School

[Sabi1]

(Ok, some minor back tracking then. )

Well, that was surprising. She had sort of assumed that Keerlo would have more natural perception considering, in a way, he was like her. Though, perhaps it made sense. Even if they could do similar things they were at opposite ends of the spectrum it would seem. She was open so that she could take in, feed on, mingle with whatever energies she might find. Keerlo was designed to prevent those energies coming back, which meant he must have more natural defences against being influenced by said energies. Hmm, obviously he would require more work. "It's all right. We'll find the right method." She said to him reassuringly as they realized the normal beginner methods simply weren't going to work for him.

Meanwhile Carolina was doing, decent. As decent as any normal human would be expected to, at least. Everyone has that inate sense of whether something might be good or bad, safe or dangerous and this exercise was mostly about expanding those inate senses into something you could actively manipulate and utilize. It wasn't surprising that she wouldn't be the quickest learner in this case because she was so scientifically minded, but, it was a start. She wouldn't expect Carolina to become a world class mage or anything, but as long as she could tell the difference between being in a spiritually dangerous situation, and being safe, then she and Keerlo could continue their pred/prey relationship without worry.

Sif, on the other hand, was a completely different story. It seemed almost like it was completely natural for the squirrel girl. Probably because she was already more used to trusting her instincts and accepting of new possibilities than most. Of course just perceiving and recognizing the energies was only step one. Whether or not the girl could USE those skills still remained to be seen.

Voide... was proving to be distracted and fairly disappointing right now. Obviously there were things on his mind, but, unlike some of the other faculty, she gave her students plenty of warning and wasn't one to lash out at the first opportunity. His lack of participation and initiative though...

The big black dragoness rose from her seat and approached the students, those who were paying attention watched closely wondering what was going to happen, she didn't seem pleased. "Voide." She finally spoke up, drawing all eyes to him. "I asked everyone nicely to focus on the lesson. It may not seem exciting compared to some others, but it is very important. Perhaps more firsthand experience will help you with this." She said before reaching out, her belly pressing against a few of the students in the first row as her upper body expanded over those behind them. She plucked Voide out of his seat, then raised him up to her waiting mouth before dropping him in. She didn't make any extravagant show of it or make it fun or intimate like she did with Zaleila. This was just a straight-forward punishment nomming for him.

(Let's set this BEFORE Zal is digested for the second time so it's like Voide is a treat for her. )

She then returned to her desk. "Excellent work darling, I'd say you've earned yourself a treat. Perhaps you would like to try your new form on Voide before he joins you in spirit form for a while." She said, Voide would plop down into her belly moments after, leaving him at the mercy of Zaleila's new slimy form.


(And ok, we'll just go ahead and wrap up class so everyone's back to the same spot again.)

The students were given more time to focus and get accustomed to feeling ambient energy until the bell rang and class was dismissed. As it was she released Voide and Zaleila so they could return to the nearest reformers and prepare for their next activities. For Keerlo, she suggested he consider looking into meditating occasionally throughout the day as a way to help himself relax and open himself up more to the environment and energies around him. It was just a basic suggestion but maybe it would be a start.

The students were now free to go about their day, and the next stop for most, was the workshop to work on their familiars...

[Arthotus]

(To elaborate a bit.)

Keerlo simply couldn't feel ambient spiritual energy. It came part and parcel with his immunity to corrupting effects. Spectra would see that clearly, now that she inspected him. Being a creature of corruption, at least originally, the succubus would find a spirit and body fundamentally different than most.

The flip side was that his senses were oddly tuned to detect spiritual energies that crossed the 'threshold'. Clearly it was a tool of an undead hunter. They only needed to feed upon souls that were improperly persistent. Emotions were beyond him, but the spirits themselves, whether warm or cold or as black as night, he hungered for them like a bear hungers for salmon.


_____


Keerlo finally finished his familiar, and it was extremely unconventional. It couldn't even be stored in the typical fashion. He had to cart it around in a magi-glass tub.

At first one might assume he was using an enormous slime, but that wasn't the case at all. A huge mass of slightly opaque yellowish green acid burned into everything it rolled over. Inside the acid was the actual familiar. Ten rosy gold orbs swirled within the acid, each orb was a Mana-electric generator, as well as a complicated control sphere. The ten orbs, by themselves, were his body, and the acid was a combination shield weapon and concealment tool. His initial means of attack were hurling glowing globs of acid, though he had several tricks at the core of his design. He could throw lightning bolts of devastating effects, and when the acid was pulled away from the orbs, giant Arcs of electricity held them all together. He could shoot down projectiles and wasn't completely out of the fight until eight out of ten orbs were destroyed. He could also completely split his machine into two independent units, that he controlled by themselves. The two halves could launch lightning bolts back and forth over huge distances, essentially a way to catch fast movers by surprise.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

(Little vore scene with Voidy)

*Zal squeaked when Voide came a slipin down Spectras long neck to splash down into her body, her belly was facing up when he did and thats right where he landed, her yellow jelly like form just shloomping over him with a ton of jiggling*, "Hehe, looks like someone's trying to skimp out on work", *She stated plainly but let her foreclaws rest on that big gooey belly while Voides head poked out where her belly button would be if she were humanoid.* "Well, were both gonna get sloshed into stuffing for my queen now...thanks for joining me, she'll be extra thick tonight, Hmmhmm", *Zal rather gleefully toyed with her belly at this point, making Voide bounce about and slosh inside of her form slowly sinking down inside untill he was fully consumed into Zals tubby jelly belly.*

{Continuing from Above to help get everyone into the games}

*Zal started with a warm up match, a one on one with the standard intense Katana wielding maniac spam lord that thought they were invincible. It began in the desert, Zal wasn't aware of her oponents position imediately so she took the oppertunity to send out her 'Drones' getting them to tunnel about in the sand and scout around nearby, they could only stay within a certain range but Zal had modified them with air sensory, they could detect sounds extending her hearing range and thus her supply of data to work with. The Naga, piloting a Custom Gundam Exia model, modded with the cobra gundams base (literally a naga gundam from the G-fighters series), its movements were quiet, and there was a headwind in the rolling dunes, the serpent was made for desert travel, but she made the mistake of dragging her greatsword through the sand, thinking she was intimidating. The Lunas Drones crept up behind the sound like a pack of wolves then lept right through the opposing frame, boring holes into the naga golems core and ending the match in an instant, Zal didn't have to move from the starting point or reveal any other tricks other than the drones sensory abilities, this would also help her team understand what kind of fighter Zal was, and the purpose of the Hive luna on the battlefield. It was focused on Tactical Pressure, Endurance, and Information Gathering*

*The Naga was good practice and good eating, as was the tradition with winning a match in the games, the loser got nommed, and Zal still in slime form sported a big squirmy belly full of snake lady.*

(Wanted to give Keer a bit more incentive to join in, if he had the option to nom the opposition if he won(most of the opposition is composed of female combatants btw) he might get some inspiration to participate.)

[deadpoolfan]

(Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I'm sorry to say this, but they'll be a little delay before my next post, as i'm going back out again in a sec, but i promise the post is coming asap. Ttyl. I apologize again.)

[Arthotus]

(Honestly, that's even less incentive for him to join. Like you said, people don't win all the time, and he'd rather not be eaten than have extra meals. )

[Sabi1]

(I'd say that sort of thing would be more of a common side bet between the competitors because, otherwise a prey minded individual like Carolina has been doing it wrong. XD

"All right, if I win, I eat you!"
"Deal. And if I win... you EAT me!" Dramatic twist! Dum-dum-dum!!! XD

Although now I can totally picture that in this dramatic anime/manga style. The opponent is all big, scary, and threatening looking. "Hahahaha! You're going to regret the day you battled with me, when I win I'm gonna eat'choo up!"
"Deal. And if I win... you EAT me."
Big bad starts to look all weirded out and nervous.
"Wha--? Y--You're not supposed to WANT it...! You're messed up! I'm outta here!!!" As they run away like a scaredy cat.
"Groan Damnit... what does it take to get eaten around here?!" XD

Also, this wasn't specifically clarified, but, I kind of figured... I'm guessing the familiars thing works similar to the students with some sort of reformation or rebuilding? Kind of like a save point or something, just returns to the state it was last night if it's devoured by an opponent? )

[SakuraHanaryuu]

[OOC]

Spoiler: show

(Oh! Whoops, yeah okay in that case we'll make it more like, when you win you seem more attractive as the winner and tend to get more prey or pred offers. A prey or pred that is eaten normally aside from one's Alpha is called a 'standard', I'm thinking of making Voide Zal's standard to help him along, if it's okay with DPF, it just means he'll get nommed more often, and even 'assumed' he's been eaten during most classes. Basically, he can place himself in any preds belly he wants to chill in(the quiet wallflower thing is kinda making him hard to approach honestly, so I say GIVE THE NOMS!) XD)

(You see Zal doesn't have an Alpha prey right now, neither technically does Sif, but she has Carol near constantly at her side. Zal could really use a tummy buddy and I'm thinking she's starting to get used to nomming Voide by now. Perhaps she can share some of her bravado with him as well.)

(Lastly, The magitech machine in the warehouse is basically the greatest fabricator you could ask for, it can save up to three designs for each student (A B and C respectively) and can re'carve rune for rune any full loadout they could want with fresh modifications in about three minutes time, the only catch is they have to design it themselves, they can start with a pre made design from anyone but unless they know how that design works they won't be able to use it properly, or activate the runes it possesses, so many take a popular design like the Wing Gundam, or Burning Gundam, and rework the runes on it to fit what they know.)

-

[IC]

*The first match was against Team Gunsmoke, as the name suggested, they had a lot of firepower, carrying both Mana(beam) weapons and physical weapons, their offencive power was nothing to laugh at...but their tactics were crap, all they could think of was charge and shoot whatever they found, they didn't even have the common sense to use a radar booster, with the terrain being a Mountain setting, Zal was able to set up an effective ambush in the crags and lure them into a killbox, from there she just detonated the Hive Lunas pre placed air pressure grenades (her standard missiles) and dropped a cliffside on their heads, causing them to panic and scatter, the rest was just strategically picking them off, plugging them with shots from the groups main weapons. They never noticed the Drones buried in the ground and giving away their positions to her entire team through the [Air, Detect, Transfer] runes engraved on them. She'd studied hard in Rune Theory to master the new runes, but she could only imagine what other more experienced students were capable of.*

*Still their team was building some momentum, and the Hive Luna was already shining right out of the gate. She could plant those Drones and leave them, just making as many as she needed to create huge territories of inescapable detection, assuming a foe didn't stick to the sky the whole match that is. And indeed there were fighters in this circuit that could do just that.*

[Sabi1]

Carolina's main focus was actually on Sif. Getting her familiar properly suited up with weapons and making sure she knew how to use it properly. Formerly being a feral squirrel she was no stranger to fast paced fights, but there wasn't much strategy or skill involved in those type of battles. So this was an entirely new sort of thing.

Luckily Carolina was much better with her familiar than she would be in a real fight. Just blame it on plenty of time spent alone playing games, watching anime, or working on her own robotic experiments.

Shooting and distance attacks would still require some work and practice as Sif was more used to relying on speed and getting in up close, but Carolina could help with that. For initial matches she would set Sif up with a machine gun with plenty of ammo as her primary weapon. Basically all she would need to do was keep pulling the trigger and firing to keep the enemy off-guard until she got in close enough to use her blades and close range tactics.

Carolina, in the meantime, followed a similar tactic. Not because she needed to, of course, more to give everyone else a chance to shine and practice. She was already experienced after all so just blazing in and taking the glory would be pretty annoying. This way she was limiting her own options and allowing the others to play a larger part.

Her primary strategy was to remain aerial and mobile, drawing fire and distracting opponents until the moment was right, then swooping in with cover fire from her machine gun before using her vibra-sword to bring things to a quick end. Another advantage to her loadout being so minimal right now was that Tempest was moving RIDICULOUSLY fast. With only minimal extra weight and supplies the speed and reaction time of the familiar was practically unparalleled. Especially by a group like Gunsmoke who really didn't seem to put any forethought into their actions.

She didn't mind Zaleila and Sif taking the lead, it was good experience for them both. Besides, as quickly as Sif tended to pick things up, after just a few 'easy' matches she should be more than capable of truly holding her own with the rest of the team. For this first match though, she was best suited as a 'wrangler' to lead or force their opponents to their preferred destination to spring their trap.

After they were appropriately softened up by Hive Luna it was an easy job for Sif and Carolina to rush in and shred them before they could even hope to recover, especially surrounded by two high speed fighters at close range.

After the match she sought out Keerlo...
"Interesting design, provides a lot of versatility, but what about defense from projectiles?" She asked him. There weren't many people that were good enough sharpshooters to hit all those nodes from a distance, but it wasn't impossible either, and even with the acid, deflecting a high powered projectile moving at high speed was a pretty tricky thing without any added deflective armor or protection.

Of course, that was really just an ice breaker. There was a much bigger subject they needed to talk about... though that didn't mean she would be any good at bringing it up... "So... how are you doing?" She asked in a very general way.

[Sabi1]

(Quick little addition just so Sif and Zal aren't left without any discussion to be had. )

It was exciting to win their first match, and as expected, Sif was catching on quickly, though she still wasn't entirely clear on the overall premise.As she'd demonstrated before, she was fine with vore, but it hardly motivated her actions. Perhaps that would change at some point, but for now, there were plenty of other things to focus on and be excited about. Which meant the purpose of their game was still a bit uncertain to her.

After their victory she approached Zaleila. "We did it!" She said excitedly, happy they had won, though she quickly followed up with. "So... is it some sort of dominance display? Do we get their land now? Or... no... probably not, I don't think any of the students own any of the school's land... so... do we get their... stuff? Carolina said it's for fun, but, I can think of a lot more fun things to do than fight people, so, what's the goal? What happens when you win?" She asked, still lacking the fundamental reasoning behind the game other than that people said it was supposed to be fun.

Perhaps it was just kind of like wrestling, rolling around and playing like she would do occasionally, though, this seemed far more involved and intricate than any playing she'd ever partook of as a squirrel and way more violent so, yeah, clearly more explanation was needed.

[deadpoolfan]

(am currently editing this into a proper post. it's taking longer that i thought. this is a long one. i'm debating whether i should just make another post instead, so it can be the most recent. did not think this through. almost done, though)

(Edit: (fuck it (damn it)))

[Arthotus]

Keerlo was actually looking a little upset. He was currently arguing with one of the staff coordinators, one of the people who kept track of numbers, victories, losses, standings, ect. Anyone who knew Keerlo knew that it was odd that he was argueing with an official of any kind, and he was being polite, but the stout, gnomish official was not budging an inch as Keerlo became increasingly frustrated.

"Surely you can just put me against an intermediate? I've been here a year, jus-"

The gnome cut him off, "No means no. You fight another beginner to set your score or you don't fight anyone. The official rules are very clear."

"But Sif-"

"The Squirrel girl joined a team circuit. Those have different rules. In the solo circuit you can't just jump in to higher rankings. No."

Seeing Carolina inspecting his 'tub', he just glared at the official and walked away, "Fine! It's a waste of everyone's time though!"

He heard her thoughts and he shook his head, "You'll have to see it in motion to see how hard that would be to pull off, but suffice to say the acid coat is tougher than it looks. It's got some interesting properties. Otherwise I'll just be vaporizing projectiles, especially solid ones."

Then she asked him a more general question. One he knew the more intimate meaning of. "I'm..." He frowned, looking a little angry, "why are you asking me? You're the on-"

The gnomish figure from before suddenly interupted, "You're up spider boy! What's your...thing even called?"

Keerlo swore under his breath, "Shit...I gotta go. I'll be back after I 'place'. stupid rules. I told you! It's called Synchronous!"

Keerlo had to jump into the 'piloting pod' and his tub was carted to a forest stage. Here he was placed against another players mech who was just starting out. The poor kid was using a newer Telestale model. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kni ... 0723164358. It was a simple magi-mech with back mounted arms for use with ranged 'magic rod' style weapons. It had a good mix of range and melee, especially with his sword and shield, but it was clear he was new and his mech wasn't really anything more than a base model. He hadn't customized it at all.

Keerlo did him no favours as he rolled on the stage, the trees literally being crushed and melted out of the way as he surged forwards. The kid he was against didn't even realize what was coming until it was almost upon him. He thought the falling trees were an attack! He fired his rods into the surging acid, but the fireballs just fizzled as they hit the flowing acid. He scrambled backwards, but the acid, while not fast, wasn't slow either and it just surged over the mech. Almost instantly, it began to flail in a strange fashion, and a close inspection would see sparks flying from various parts of the mech as the acid surged up and knocked it over, engulfing it until it stopped moving. After a moment, the acid moved on, leaving a melted pile of scrap, barely recognizable as a familiar. Keerlo returned his familiar to it's tub before crawling out of the pilot pod, "This is why I said that was a waste of time! Anyone without experience isn't going to know how to do anything against me!"

The gnome just waved his hand and walked away, "Not my rules kid!"

Keerlo growled, "Ugh!" He turned back to Carolina, who would have been able to watch the very short match on a screen next to his piloting pod. His heat settled and he looked down, "I...Look, It's fine if you'd rather find someone else to be your alpha pred. I can't do spirit stuff I guess, everyone saw me in class today... so I have no way to figure out how to not, uhm...poison your soul? I can just eat normal food...I'm used to not having anyone. And Hey, it was fun! At least, for me, and most other preds won't threaten your soul, so it can't get much scarier than that right?" He tried to smile, but it was clear his usual, mischievous and overall more confident and happy self was not in it at the moment.

[deadpoolfan]

Voide was never one to, at least directly, admit that he was inattentive, but in truth it was kind of hard to deny. He was noticeably lost in thought, but he hadn’t quite realized that someone had indeed taken notice. The last person he’d want to in this situation. Again, as much as he might deny it, it was pretty clear. Pretty clear, as in, he didn’t even look up until several seconds after a shadow had been cast over him by a looming figure. Only then did he notice the shift in his surroundings, and he probably wouldn’t have even noticed that if it weren’t for her addressing him.

His face was blank at first, before the realization hit him and his blood ran cold. Well, it was already, but his expression instantly shifted to pure panic in that moment. Normally, his instinct would have been to run, but even if he somehow, against all odds, managed to escape the person who was reaching for him from halfway across the room, he couldn’t exactly stay away from someone he was obligated to see regularly, and he couldn’t just start skipping because of this. Wow, he really was stuck this time, wasn’t he? He was already lifted above her mouth in only a couple seconds after she had gotten her hands around him. In the split second before he was dropped down, he tried to be optimistic. Maybe she would let him ou- oh. “Firsthand experience” he had been paying enough attention to know what that meant. He would have sighed, if he wasn’t so scared. Or currently falling. Into a giant mouth. He had barely hit the tongue before a quick gulp and a jolt of muscles yanked him down deep into her.

The trip was probably less than a second, but it felt much longer. Than again, maybe it was longer, considering she was already walking back, as that was the only thing that movement could mean. Just before he entered the stomach, he heard her speak. Darling? Treat? Who was she… oh. OH! Well, this just kept getting better and better, didn’t it? Well, one positive thing he noticed, or at least as close as he could find, is that he was feeling more humiliated than scared this time. Yay? Well, at least that meant he might be getting more used to this. Not that he had much time to reflect on that, as he was now finding himself falling again, this time catching a glimpse of a familiar face before splashing into a pool of liquids, which also felt noticeably thicker. Actually, it felt thick enough that he was pretty sure he was suspended in the middle mid fall, which struck him as odd. Odder still, was the fact that he didn’t find himself coming back up after. It took him a quick moment to realize where he was, and when he did, he actually did sigh this time, despite the fact that the fear hadn’t diminished. Well, his fear AND his humiliation had increased. Wow, way to go. He looked at her, unspeaking, but with pleading eyes. She clearly didn’t seem to mind that, though. He wanted to respond to what she was saying, but he really just found himself trying not to think about it. She really wasn’t helping with his emotional dilemma here, but she seemed to be enjoying herself too much to care. He squirmed a little in feeble resistance, not being able to do much else, and trying to think of a way to be optimistic. Well, one thing he could have thought, had he been able to concentrate on it, was that the rapid, uncontrollable movement of his surroundings as Zal played with him, or at least played with her own body, was enough to distract him from the fact that he was slowly, or actually quite quickly, being churned up inside. Eventually, he passed out without realizing it, and the stomach(s) had no trouble dealing with him after that.

...and that is where he really had to learn an important lesson from this class. Which was that even after death, he STILL had to fucking sit through it. Well, that’s one way to learn your lesson.


Eventually, the class FINALLY ended. Wow, ‘bout time. He checked over his newly reformed body, before feeling content and moving on. Where were the others going for the rest of the day? Oh, right. Damn it, he really needed to find some things for him to do around here. He sighed again, before heading in the direction of the workshop. Hey, he HAD said that he would cheer them on, hadn’t he? Might as well live up to that. Also, his familiar could use some work, considering he, you know, had done literally nothing with it so far. Not that his lack of work was his fault, for once, but he did feel the need to catch up on that regardless. Well, time to put some ‘o those drawings to good use, eh? Okay, let’s see how this goes...

[SakuraHanaryuu]

(Zal actually uses spiritual possession to fuse with the Hive Luna, so if there are com panels in someone else's 'cockpit' (so funny when you spell it out) They'll see her in spirit form glowing yellow with a black/blue background through the monitor. It should also be noted, it takes a 'spiritual jammer' rather than a radio jammer to interrupt her ethereal link, or coms channel. Telepathic communication is really the most basic of basics when it comes to any of the three houses styles, parents would practice with their kids basically while their still in diapers, helps get past the language barrier.)
-

*Zaleila thought it over for a moment a puzzled expression on her face before an idea hit her*, "Well, sports are a favorite past time in civilization, you see, we don't fight over territory, we fight for different things, glory, respect, honor...and that feeling you get when you totally wreck a strong opponent", *que scary dragon face*, "...ahem, the Familiar games are a sport you see, competitive fun that tests your skills and what you know. In a way it's fighting and playing at the same time...er, Oh come with me."

*Zal lead Sif over to the leaderboard and pointed out their team name, team 'Scrappers' in the current years line-up*, "You see there's twenty positions, were currently at nineteenth place because we just won a match, the more we win, the higher we'll climb on the board. The 'teen' numbers are usually pretty casual, fluctuating wildly in whatever Arcade you're at, the top ten tend to be the grisly n' tough fights and their positions tend to be more stable as a result."

*Zal still in honey slime form, said all this with her collection of victories still piled up in her big jelly belly, the glutton having the time of her life honestly*

(Still confused on whether their in Familiar form within the Arcade, if they are then shes talking as the Hive luna, still with a big belly full of victories though, she made the luna vore capable. XD)

[Sabi1]

When Keerlo returned after his bout Carolina attempted to encourage him since he was obviously annoyed. "You know, it's not such a bad thing, going through the rankings. It gives you time to get used to using your familiar and lets you develop new strategies and skills." She said, having gone through it before. "Of course, if you really want to jump ahead, there are other ways to do it... For the tournament you have to go through the rankings like the rules say, but you can challenge anyone you want in an unofficial match. If you challenge someone high enough up and win, some of the people placed below them might choose to forfeit rather than go through the repair process to save themselves some trouble. I-if, you REALLY want to get ahead quickly, it's worth a try. But, you've also got to be careful, in an unofficial match there's usually wagers to make things more interesting so you don't know what someone might bet, but more often than not, it involves some kind of vore." She said, just to give him another option for how to increase his ranking a little quicker. If he built up a reputation as a challenge fighter some might simply fear they're outclassed and give up.

As he got back to the more important topic at hand, she was taken aback by how quickly and forcefully he said it. She wasn't exactly sure how to counter it. As he said how it 'couldn't get much scarier than that" she withdrew a little. She didn't mean to hurt his feelings when she said that, she was just being honest, besides it wasn't like she was so scared she never wanted to try again or didn't want to spend time with him any more, it was just scary, and apparently justifiably so, but that didn't matter.
"But I...it doesn't HAVE to." She countered. "Spectra, she said there are ways to protect against it and, last night was a high dosage, there weren't any lasting side effects the first time. Maybe, there are other options too, I could take a sample and work out an anti-venom in the lab to counter specific effects, I haven't even tried the scientific method yet, but, I bet I could..." She said coming up with alternative options. Of course there was still one ultimate issue that hadn't come up yet, she was anxious about even acknowledging it. "U... unless, it would be... boring... without it." She added, looking down as she did so. She knew it was always a possibility, but, things seemed to be going ok regardless. Still, he was part spider and the way they operated did tend to be notably different than other creatures so, the possibility was always there that the things he would want to do would just be, more extreme, than she had originally imagined. In which case a nerdy girl like her might just, not be exciting enough. If that was the case, there was really little she could do about it other than accept it. But they could still stay friends, right?


--------------------------------------
(Since they're looking at a leaderboard, let's say for now they're outside their familiars and Zal has a few challengers who decided to make wagers with her in her actual belly while their familiars rest in hers. )

"Hmm... a test of skill for fun." She summarized, before looking at Zal and poking her full and jiggly belly. "Though it looks like you've also found OTHER ways to add to the fun. So, there may be challenges and wagers to add to the fun as well. Is that one of the reasons you enjoy the games so much? Getting to enjoy more and new people to devour? I wonder why Carolina puts so much effort into it then? It certainly seems like she should be losing to enjoy herself more, don't you think?" She asked, now beginning to think about their individual motivations for playing the game as they were.

What did she want out of it? Hmm... that would be something she should certainly consider.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

-=-=-=-=-[The Arcade Layout]-=-=-=-=-
Long Version

Spoiler: show

(Ah I get it, there's an outer and inner Arcade. The outer Arcade(or Lobby) is a large building where the players true selves are, it has rooms for entering the inner or 'true' Arcade all around the outer wall, as well as a cafe, and private tables both for eating at and for practice duels. The Arcade is a large table in the middle of the Lobby and acts as a waiting room where players can roam in familiar form. Here players can choose to use the name of their familiar, like a masquerade party.)

Short version

Spoiler: show

The Lobby: The outer part of the Arcade, players take on their true form and can enter the true Arcade through 'dive' rooms that circle the outer wall. So they can keep their true identity secret.

The (true) Arcade: The inner part of the Arcade, after diving, players take on the form of their Familiars entirely in a huge open world with ten different biomes, there are sometimes quests and daily events for fun, but the main attraction is the Tournaments. Players are warped to the battle location in question and a ring-out line is drawn once a Timer reaches zero, usually about ten minutes between matches, enough time to make quick repairs at the Lobby and hop back to the Arcade for the next warp.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

*Zal giggled as Sif prodded her tummy, hitting a ticklish spot*, "Hehehe, yeah, well just because Carol is a prey doesn't mean she doesn't have pride. When you enter the Arcade you feel differently than in real life, there's a sense of strength or freedom you may not have had before. We gamers call it 'immersive empowerment', perhaps Carol just can't allow herself to lose due to her pride as a gamer?", *Zal received several comments from her occupants, some not very civilized, she responded with a hard slap to her belly with all four claws and snapping*, "All right all right get melted into dragon blubber you salty girls...", *with her transparent belly, Sif would see the three girls shed gobbled up rapidly churn into rather colorful slime versions of themselves before mixing up into a rainbow swirl in her stomach, Zals belly sloshing about the whole time, it only took her about a minute to work the girls into that state so it was rather mesmerizing, and a little terrifying. From there her 'assets' began to balance out from largest to smallest, butt, belly, and breasts. Though none were average at this point.*

"The prey certainly helps, but it's really just icing on the cake", *Zal stated resting two arms on her inflated hips, and two on her bloated belly while taking a seat at one of the tables*, "hey, wanna have a quick practice battle for fun? We've still got fifteen minutes before the next match."

(This match will simply help Zal realize how Talented Sif is as a pilot, Zal is a builder her design is amazing for a beginner, but her piloting skills are lacking as she's never spent excessive time in martial training being the daughter of a duke and duchess, it wasn't required of her to go through self defense so she focused on her dreams.)

[Sabi1]

Sif wasn't too concerned by how Zal was treating the people she had within her. It just seemed to be normal around here, besides, maybe they would enjoy it like Carolina did. No real reason to think otherwise. She still didn't quite get it, her squirrely instincts continuing to tell her it was best to be off the menu, but who knew, maybe even she would experiment with it some day. Just not right now since they still had other things to do.

"Ok. I've only trained a little with Carolina though and had that match so I'm not sure how challenging it will be." She said keeping her expectations quite humble.
Since her current setup was still pretty minimal, Sif would have to rely on her natural reaction speed and adaptability to keep up with and, hopefully, somehow find a way to surpass Zaleila in their challenge match.

As the two entered for their match they arrived in a lightly wooded field. It had a big open section of clearing, but some trees and wooded areas dotted along as well.

Sif would need to get in close, so she did what Carolina told her... Jumping up and bouncing off a tree for leverage she propelled herself forward moving at very high speed. She didn't quite have the high power boosters that Carolina's Tempest had, so an aerial assault wasn't really an option, but that was fine anyway, she was used to moving like this when she would ACTUALLY run around the woods as a squirrel so it was second nature to her.

Once Zaleila's Hive Luna came in sight, she began to open fire with bursts from one of her machine guns, doing as she was instructed using the numerous rounds released by the weapon to create a distracting barrage to keep her opponent disoriented as she continued to quickly close the gap between them.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

"A forrest? Interesting, she has the home field advantage...however", *Zal whipped her head around and turned hearing a tree bend and KER-THWASH! in the distance as Sif used it as a springboard, the Luna didn't even have her drones out yet, how did Sif even find her location? She must have some sort of sensory upgrades in that simplified frame...a good call for a speed type, close range combat didn't mean jack if you couldn't find your target.*

*Zal released the Lunas drones like before spreading them out and 'planting' them around the meadows parameter while she raised her shield and put her frame into hover mode, slowly backing away, she focused her eyes and saw Sif weaving between the lines of trees as she approached, using bursts of concentrated fire to try and pin Zal down...but that was gonna end fast.*

*The top half of all four of the Luna's wings rose up to a horizontal X formation and flipped open, revealing a full dozen cylindrical missiles that all slid out from the wings and spread out on a wire frame web to launch simultaneously, due to being wind based, these missiles would not be able to be targeted by heat tracking devices. They peppered the forest in a wide pattern, a total of twelve missiles per wing making forty eight charges in all, they detonated almost simultaneously, sending huge blasts of dense air in all directions and turning the forest into splinters, as if a giant axe had cleaved a half circle right out of the woods. The impact of the air flung Sifs frame skyward, bouncing her between the blasts but not damaging her frame much, the splinters on the other hand, would clog up her joints and any exposed pieces of armor...but that was only a side effect of Zals intention, the forest was shredded in an instant, and Sif had no cover*

*The Lunas belly began to shrink as Zal closed the missile silos and loaded the processors in the upper wings up with materials she had gobbled up from previous opponents, as she moved its lance over to the lower right arm and drew the long rifle clipped behind the shield into her upper left, a mount sprung out of the shields side, which she placed the rifle on for balance, the lance still at the ready as she took aim and began to fire off nimble burst fire physical rounds at Sif from her hovering position, using short bursts of air to slightly maneuver from side to side after each shot, 'burst strafing' to preserve her shields integrity.*

[Sabi1]

Zaleila did a good job of getting rid of Sif's cover, but that was really about all she did.

She might not have seen it as things went flying and the air filled with smoke and debris, but Sif began to spin, using her familiar's tail and the vibra-swords in her arms to protect herself. The vibration of the blades and the big battering ram of a tail on her butt doing a good job of breaking the airflow around her as well as deflecting some of the debris.

Surely Zal had seen squirrels performing acrobatic leaps and recoveries as they bounded through the treetops before. Again her feral beginnings came in useful as the squirrel was more than ready to handle a fall.

Not having any cover was bad though, it really only left two options, to continue charging in anyway and hope any damage sustained on the way would be manageable, or try to use her machine guns for more precision strikes. Even that would take forever though as the tradeoff with hers was that they had a LOT of ammo, but not a lot of true firepower.

Or... perhaps...

As Zal fired at her in bursts, she countered easily by jumping to the side. The distance may have kept Hive Luna safe, but it also meant Sif had plenty of time to prepare and dodge whatever attacks she might try and throw at her.

It would appear it was time to use the upgrades Carolina helped her with. Zaleila would see numerous hatches pop open on the big squirrel tail behind her, as suddenly hundreds of missiles began to fly out, swirling wildly before locking onto their target and rushing at Hive Luna leaving spaghetti-like strands of smoke in their wake as they went.

Taking advantage of that moment, she began to fire with both of her machine guns again as she resumed charging in towards her target.

(One surprise left, but for anyone who's familiar with Guyver, it probably won't be all that surprising. )

[Arthotus]

Keerlo shook his head, "It's not that. I don't want to hurt you...not really. But...I do. It's not easy to really explain but," he paused as another student walked past, giving them both an odd look. He continued once they were alone again, "I'm not something so melodramatic as a split personality, but I have...internal conflict, lets say. I'm elvish, so I want normal stuff like everyone else, but I'm also a drider. That part of me wants to be alone in my abode and kill anything that steps foot inside. It's...confusing at times as to what I should do. I don't want to hurt you because I like you! But whenever I start feeding on you, whenever you act preyish, I can't resist taking advantage...it's just so easy to go too far. I gave you twice the dose last night that I did our first encounter. Do you know how little of my venom that actually was? I could bite every human student in this school with that much and still have enough left to put down Zaleila. If I had really unleashed on you...I'm not saying I don't want to try and make it work, but I'm not exactly trustworthy Carolina. I...Look, the fact that I almost killed you, like really killed you,...that excites me. I can feel it in my blood. The part of me that hates it here, that hates living amongst people, that hates that any prey I eat just pops back out of a reformer as good as new, I...I don't like it, but that's just how it is, how I AM...I know that doesn't make any sense." He sighed, "That's why I think you should find someone else. Someone who isn't a monster like me, or just one who can actually act civilized. Like Spectra said, I'm a trouble maker because I can barely stand to be here, and relationships...I'd probably just fuck those up too." He sighed. He'd clearly thought about it a lot. Acting as the lone trouble maker was certainly a step back from evil monster, but in a school setting, what with the bombastically over the top godly figures that ran the school, 'troublemaker' was about as close as one could be to solitary hunter.