The two moons in the sky was a clear indication of only one thing, no matter how impossible it may sound.
 
 
"Gray…?" Mumbled Sonata as she tilted her head in the direction of her friend as he lay close to her. "Are we…are we really on a completely different planet?"
 
 
“Different planet, different dimension, different timeline…” Grayscale listed off various possibilities while still staring dumbfounded at the sky. “Wherever we are, we’re not on Earth anymore, that’s for sure.”
 
 
Sonata went back to staring up at the sky as he was. “This… this is a LOT to take in…” She hissed in discomfort, clutching her hands to her chest as she felt her guts tie themselves in knots in anxiety. For a moment she simply laid there, panting and shivering from the cold water.
 
 
SMACK!
 
 
She turned and looked over at the source of the noise. Grayscale was sitting upright and, without any warning, gave himself a sharp slap on the cheek.
 
 
SMACK!
 
 
“Gray! What the hell are you doing?”
 
 
SMACK!
 
 
“GRAY!” Sonata shouted, nearly jumping on top of him as she got up from the ground. Grayscale winced at the stinging in his face and looked over at Sonata.
 
 
“Nnnnngh…. Sorry Sonata.” Grayscale hissed, rubbing his face. “Just trying to make sure I’m not just dreaming all this. I’ve certainly had more than a few dreams about going into space... ” He looked up at Sonata and gave a nervous grin, holding up his flattened palm. “You want a slap too?”
 
 
“No.” She replied flatly. “I’m pretty sure this is all real.” Sonata grabbed Grayscale by the arm and pulled him to his feet, standing herself up in the process. “And panicking isn’t going to help us… Right now, let’s just try to find someplace safe to hunker down in until sunrise, THEN we can start panicking.” She shivered nervously, realizing more and more how completely out of her element she was. Her shivering transitioned to full-blown shakes- not of nerves but mostly just to shake all the freezing water out of her fur. Grayscale proceeded to do the same, trying their best to rid themselves of the chilling moisture.
 
 
“So, putting aside exactly WHERE we are…” Sonata pondered out loud, surveying their darkened surroundings. The only light they had was the natural light of the twin moons, which only provided just enough light to shimmer on the lake behind them and highlight the foliage of the forest before them. The leaves and trees were somewhat familiar, in that they could recognize them as trees, yet the leaves glistened with unearthly colors, some having an iridescent sheen like gasoline puddles. Beyond their immediate surroundings, the spaces between the trees were pitch-black, the darkness so thick it looked like it could be stuck with a knife. “...how, and why, did we end up here in the first place?”
 
 
Grayscale's eyes lit up, as if he was glad she asked. "Well, if I know my isekai plots, there’s at least three reasons we’re here.”
 
 
"Oh, for the love of…" Sonata mumbled, stroking the bridge of her nose. “Is this really the time for anime references?”
 
 
"Hey, isekai isn’t exclusive to anime," he said indignantly, crossing his arms. "Besides, what else have we got to go on?"
 
 
"Oh, fine!" Said Sonata, crossing her arms and turning her head to the side, figuring cockabull pop-culture inspired theories were better than nothing. Though, why should she complain? She was a pop-culture buff too.
 
 
Grayscale beamed, and held up his fingers, placing his right index finger to his left, counting off, "Well, we can rule out that we’re dead and we’ve been reincarnated as another creature, since we’re both still snerrets, so that brings us to theory number two: some alien race used their teleportation technology to bring us here. Probably either to hunt us down for sport, or they’re in the middle of an interplanetary war and had chosen us for our gaming prowess, and want us to help stop the evil empire by piloting giant robots into battle.”
 
 
Sonata's features soured. “Giant robots? Really?”
 
 
“Okay, maybe not that specifically,” Grayscale replied, “But either way, someone may have abduced us with some kind of portal machine, or spell, or whatever.”
 
 
“If this was deliberate, they sure did a shitty job,” Sonata snorted, waving her arm towards the lake. “I mean we nearly drowned for fuck’s sake! And why the hell would they bring us here while we were in the middle of…” She blushed, remembering their intimate moment just before all this happened. “...when we were in the shower?”
 
 
“That’s a good point,” Grayscale replied, holding up another finger. “Which brings me to my final theory.”
 
 
"Which is?" Asked Sonata almost reluctantly.
 
 
"That someone somewhere royally fucked up," he quipped. "Someone was messing with portals, but something went wrong… maybe they put in the wrong coordinates, or tapped into some kind of weird pan-dimensional energy… thingy, and then boom! Resonance cascade! Random portals opening up out of nowhere all over the place, and one of them ended up appearing in our shower, and sending us here!”
 
 
“And still no cake.” Sonata said with a sigh.
 
 
“Wrong game.”
 
 
“Whatever; they’re both from Valve.” Sonata grumbled. “So, if that’s the case, what do we do now?”
 
 
"Oh, I am glad you asked, Sonata," said Grayscale, turning towards the nearby trees and punching a fist into his other palm. "We're going to find whoever did this to us, and make them send us home!"
 
 
Sonata couldn't help but chuckle. Grayscale was trying to look tough, but she thought he just looked adorable, with his tough smile and clenched fists. He couldn't intimidate someone if his life depended on it, which, hopefully, wasn't actually the case, he was just too cute for his own good.
 
 
"What makes you think they’re even here, Gray?" She asked as she slithered up next to him. "Maybe whatever caused this happened on our end, on our world, instead. It could happen, you know. Maybe one of our neighbors cast a spell and it went awry. "
 
 
"Nah, those neighbors moved out after that incident with the chickens," said Grayscale, shuddering at the repressed memories of that incident. “But yeah, you’re right, they could be anywhere. Still, we should at least try to look for someone, or something, to help us get home.”
 
 
Sonata gulped, some of her fear from earlier resurfacing, for the fact they could be stranded here forever was a very likely possibility.
 
 
Sonata had to admit, Grayscale looked surprisingly dedicated and motivated right now. She had never seen this side of him before and, in a way, it was refreshing, and not just his devotion to finding a solution to their conundrum. She had always insisted he be more assertive in his life, and seeing him take point in the situation like this was a welcoming change to his usual passive benignancy.
 
 
Though it was probably those adventure games he played that was the source of all his motivations and ideas.
 
 
Sonata didn't share in his enthusiasm much after taking another look at the foreboding trees surrounding them though, Grayscale seemingly lost some of his earlier bravado when he too got another look at the encompassing forest circumferencing the lake as well. Thankfully there was no noise other than the light rustling of the wind, meaning that, if something happened to be lurking in here, it was either asleep right now, or was too small to be of any significant threat. Though they shouldn't assume, they knew practically nothing about this place.
 
 
"Maybe…" said Grayscale, his voice slightly wavering. "Maybe we should wait until morning before we begin exploring?"
 
 
"Agreed," said Sonata in no less of a shaky voice, but a thought occurred to her that only increased her unease. "Provided this place even has mornings, or even a sun in general, for that matter..."
 
 
Grayscale gulped, looking up at the moons again and pondering if they were this planet's only satellites. “Ugh, so many unknowns…” They really were the metaphorical fish out of water right now.
 
 
Then, the most classic horror stereotype occurred to increase their unease.
 
 
"HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO!"
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale each let out a yelp as Grayscale jumped into Sonata’s arms, both of them clinging to each other for comfort.
 
 
"Well, we know they have owls here, at least," said Sonata with a nervous grin at Grayscale, who gave an equally nervous chuckle in response.
 
 
"Yeah," he said, looking forward into the unpredictable darkness that looked like it could jump out at them at any moment. "Uh… how about we stay put for a bit, at least until the sunrise? Or until our hypothetical abductor shows up… That’s survival tip number one, after all."
 
 
"Agreed," said Sonata, shifting her tail around both of them until they were both tucked up in a cozy pile of pink coils, Grayscale’s head resting upon Sonata’s bosom as she held him close, their combined body heat helping to stave off the cold night as well as what little water still stuck to their fur. Their shivering slowly waned until they were simply resting in each other’s arms, their eyes closing as fatigue sent them sinking into a near-slumber.
 
 
As they sat there by the lapping edge of the lake, the moons above slowly shifted position, climbing higher into the sky before cresting above in the center before sinking along the opposite direction. With their new position, something became illuminated in the distance, something huge and hovering in the sky that was previously concealed by the darkness. Grayscale was the first to notice, his eyes fluttering awake for a moment before jolting open instantly at the sight of the mysterious thing in the sky.
 
 
"Sonata! Hey, Sonata look!" He called, shaking his friend to awareness before standing up.
 
 
"Huh! What is it, Gray?!" Mumbled Sonata, springing up with Grayscale. Thanks to their long history of online live game streaming both were especially skilled in going from partially asleep to wide awake in a millisecond. After all, sometimes an audience enjoys an all night stream, and when that's the case, sleep is less than optional. Especially for those who make their living doing such things, like Sonata and Grayscale.
 
 
"Look, over there!" He replied, pointing a finger at the sky. Sonata followed his gesture, and her eyes widened in shock, awe, and a slight bit of hope.
 
 
There, silhouetted against the moons, through a gap in the trees, was the largest house either of them had ever seen. It was less of a house and more of a mansion, or perhaps a fairy-tale castle; multiple stories tall with extravagant pillars holding up pristine balconies, as well as multiple roofs that ended in narrow peaks. Seeing such a structure was an overwhelmingly relieving sight for Sonata and Grayscale for more than one reason.
 
 
Until now neither of them had seen confirmation that there even was civilization here at all. When they first realized that they were somehow on an alien world both had realized at the same time that it was very possible that there could be nothing on this world but wilderness, like that which surrounds them now. Now, right before them, was all the proof they needed to know that intelligent life did indeed exist here, and if that was the case, maybe there was a way home after all.
 
 
"Oh, thank God!" Said Sonata, beginning to slither towards the mystery mansion. “Maybe someone lives there! They could help us!”
 
 
"Hold on a minute, Sonata," he called out to her, Sonata thankfully halting her slithering and looking over her shoulder at him. "Let’s not get ahead of ourselves! It might be dangerous!”
 
 
“Gray, staying out here would be DEFINITELY dangerous. I’ll take “Might be” dangerous over that any time. Still, you’re right; we should be careful- who knows what’s in these woods… now, where’s my phone?”
 
 
Grayscale held up the little red device, still in its waterproof casing and thankfully holding a good charge. Sonata plucked it from his grasp and started poking at the screen. “Well, good news is it still works.”
 
 
“No bars, I assume?” Gray asked.
 
 
“Nope.” Sonata replied, showing off the sad little red “x” over the wi-fi symbol on-screen. “Still, there is one thing we can use this for.” She popped off the waterproof case and, with a flick of the touchscreen, activated the smartphone’s built-in flashlight, lighting up the ground between them with a bright white spotlight.
 
 
"You sure that's a good idea, Sonata?" Asked Grayscale, lifting a hand to shield his eyes. "You'll run down the battery faster."
 
 
"I know, I know," said Sonata. "But I don’t want to be literally stumbling in the dark on our way there. Besides, the battery’s going to go dead one way or another, might as well get as much out of it as we can."
 
 
Grayscale looked back in the direction they needed to go to get to the house, noticing again the encompassing darkness. He was suddenly very aware of how naked they both were. “Good point.” He muttered, before bending down and picking up a good-sized tree branch, brandishing the pointed end before him like a spear. “Lead the way, cap’n.” He joked with a smirk.
 
 
Sonata smiled back as they began their trek through the forest. But they barely breached the treeline before Sonata suddenly flinched with a pained yelp. “OW!” She hissed, reeling back as she shined her light down at the ground where her tail had slid over. Something in the dirt reflected the light back at Sonata, practically blinding her. “What the hell is that?”
 
 
Gray knelt down and grabbed the offending obstacle, plucking it from the ground. It was some kind of metallic object, about three inches wide and ten inches long, rounded on one end yet jagged on the other, like the handle of an oversized piece of silverware. Thankfully there was no blood on it- an open wound in an alien forest was the last thing either of them needed.
 
 
“I don’t know,” Grayscale mused, turning it around in his hand. “It looks like a piece of jewelry, or- woah!” Turning the metal object over revealed a massive red gemstone set in the handle, the biggest one either of them had seen. Its many facets were smooth and polished, and glittered brightly even in the dim moonlight.
 
 
“Holy shit!” Sonata said, her eyes going wide at the sight of this newfound treasure. “Is that real?”
 
 
"Well, I’m no mineralogist,” Grayscale replied, tipping the gem this way and that to make its colors shimmer. “But it certainly looks more impressive than any costume jewelry I’ve seen, that’s for sure.” He held it up to Sonata to allow her a closer look. “What do you think?”
 
 
Sonata hmmed at the sight of the stone. “Well, whatever kind of gem it is, I’ll bet whoever lives in that giant house would be interested in it.” She gave a knowing look towards Gray. “Maybe they’ll be willing to give us some accommodations, or at the very least some more info on how we can get back home.”
 
 
Grayscale smiled at their current brain coupling, he and Sonata could think alike on any occasion. "My thoughts exactly," agreed Grayscale as he tucked the jewel away in his palm before stepping aside to allow Sonata to lead the way.
 
 
They soon discovered that the trees weren't nearly as thick as they had assumed, as the forest quickly gave way to a small grassy glade, giving them a clearer view of the massive building before them. They resumed forward, Sonata's light guiding them, piercing the shadows like a knife through butter where it struck but shadows soon took hold again once it passed by. Thankfully the light didn't illuminate anything to be concerned about.
 
 
"Where do you suppose this jewel came from?” Grayscale mused, glancing at it as he trotted behind Sonata.
 
 
"No idea," said Sonata nonchalantly, stopping for a moment and gesturing towards the thickest part of her tail-foot. "Here, take a seat, Gray- we don't want to get separated."
 
 
Grayscale quickly sat side-saddle on Sonata’s tail, holding onto her waist with on hand and holding his stick-spear with the other, scanning the nearby foliage for anything dangerous. "Oh, believe me, that's the last thing I want. That's how it starts, y’know- the party gets separated and picked off one by one."
 
 
Sonata would have scolded Grayscale for bringing up pop-culture again at a time like this, but couldn’t help but be reminded of the same sort of horror movies.
 
 
“Well, just watch our back and we’ll be fine.” She said, picking up the pace of her slithering as Grayscale rode along.
 
 
Unbeknownst to them one of the vines they passed began undulating like a waking serpent.
 
 
—
 
 
From within her sanctuary Lily roused from sleep, the hollow chamber within her plant body becoming illuminated as she voluntarily produced the luminous liquid that could be used to make the interior of her sanctuary visible.
 
 
She stretched and yawned, wondering for a second what had woken her before she felt a sensation from outside. It felt like someone was walking near her vines, the rhythmic patterns consistent with footsteps. The sensation was anything but surprising, for one of the functions of her vines was to sense the movement of nearby prey after all, it was how she so easily pinpointed the dragoness's location while she was so camouflaged she was practically invisible after all. Lily was long since used to it, but what could be stirring at this time of night?
 
 
Lily suspected it couldn't be any of the animals Nillyna had purchased for her that now roamed the estate, for, throughout her uncounted years rooted in that forest, she had come to learn that creatures like deer and such weren't active at night. Plus, the footsteps didn't feel cloven or quadrupedal.
 
 
'Maybe Nillyna's back?' She contemplated to herself, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, having to be extra careful with one due to it always being concealed by a curtain of her hair.
 
 
Several hours ago, after all the drama with that mirror and the lightning storm was over, Nillyna had resumed her self imposed task of finding something that she could enchant to allow Lily to separate from her plant body, form legs, and be able to walk around unimpeded, just like her girlfriend. But, sadly enough, it turns out, Nillyna's own stashes of exquisite jewelry, despite their vastness, didn't have a piece that met with the requirements, so Nillyna had come to her, explaining that if she had even a remote chance of making something for her she would have to go out and get it, and it was most likely going to take a while because she would have to buy multiple items, due to Nillyna's dedication to give Lily a choice of what she would wear.
 
 
Lily had tried to insist that what the object looked like didn't matter to her, but Nillyna refused point blank to just enchant the first thing that was suitable.
 
 
When Lily questioned her thinking, claiming she really didn't understand why it was so important she pick the object Nillyna had to contemplate on the thought for a second, not having a clear understanding herself, actually before arriving at the conclusion that if Lily really wants to become part the civilized world and become more than she was she would need to figure herself out in subtle ways more. She explained that, since Lily didn't have much experience in the civilized world and had minimal opportunities to form her own personality beyond what she could consume next, she figured it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to discover more about herself, find out what she likes and what she doesn't. Lily, after having all the logic explained to her, actually found that, not only did it make sense, but sounds rather enticing.
 
 
The thought of being given the opportunity to be presented with multiple extravagant pieces of jewelry to choose from left her with a surprisingly pleasant sensation.
 
 
What was it called, anticipation?
 
 
And Lily had already been given the opportunity to provide her own input on the situation. Nillyna had intended to go somewhere called the Meadow of the Tetra, a trip, according to Nillyna, that could take days in search of the needed trinkets, but Lily reminded Nillyna that she had vanquished a dragon recently (meaning that she had shrunk the dragon with a spell before feeding her to Lily) and thus had a whole dragon’s hoard of treasure to pick through. Nillyna had taken to the idea immediately, while also not hesitating to berate herself for overlooking such an obvious solution, setting out earlier that evening to pick through the pile of spoils she had just left in that cave.
 
 
That had been hours ago, but Lily suspected it would take Nillyna some time to plunder the late dragoness's treasure since she set out from the beginning, given how much dragons were known to hoard.
 
 
Perhaps she came back early?
 
 
Slowly, due to her groggy state, Lily began to extract herself out of her sanctuary, slowly escalating her humanoid body towards the leafy aperture that was the entrance into this secluded chamber housed within her body. The leaves bloomed apart and Lily stuck her head out. She would have protruded out fully, to properly greet Nillyna, but another yawn struck her and she had to halt with just her head sticking out until it passed.
 
 
But it was a good thing she hadn't fully emerged yet for in the next second she heard a voice…
 
 
"Hey, Sonata! Shine the flashlight that way! I think I heard someone!”
 
 
…And it definitely wasn't Nillyna's.
 
 
It was male, for starters.
 
 
While she didn't know what a 'flashlight' is, she knew the word light, and ducked her face back within her plant body just as a pillar of light swept over her.
 
 
—
 
 
Sonata followed Grayscale's suggestion and waved her phone’s light off in the direction he had suggested. At first, they saw nothing but trees and bushes, but then the light paused as it lit up the massive, elegant pink flower blooming at the epicenter of the sizable cluster of leaves and vines, which seemingly spread all throughout the clearing.
 
 
"Huh, guess it was nothing.” Grayscale muttered. “That’s quite a flower, though.”
 
 
“I’ll say…” Sonata mused, tipping her head as she admired its colors. “Quite pretty.”
 
 
Grayscale would never admit it out loud but he agreed with Sonata's statement, though mostly because the flower's pink hue was very similar to her own coloring.
 
 
What he didn't agree with, however, was Sonata extending her hand, in an obvious attempt to touch the flower.
 
 
"Hey!" He said, grabbing her wrist. "What do you think you're doing?"
 
 
"What, Gray?" Sonata protested, yanking her hand out of Grayscale's grip. "I was just gonna get a better look.”
 
 
“Well don’t touch it!” Grayscale snapped. “It could be poisonous!” He gave a snort. “Besides, it smells really weird… Let’s just go get to that house.”
 
 
Sonata gave a sniff of the air. “Oof, you’re right… yeah, let’s go.” And with that she turned around and continued their journey, her roomie in tow.
 
 
Neither of them noticed the plant they had been examining began rustling as soon as their backs were turned, the flower slowly rising up on a slightly rounded platform topped with elegant green hair.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily extended herself from her plant body enough to reveal her eyes, one still obscured by her hair, poking out one hand to caress the flower growing out of her head protectively.
 
 
"Who do they think they are, calling me poisonous?” She mused to herself, her eyes narrowing angrily at the two strangers slithering away from her. “And I do NOT smell weird!”
 
 
But these thoughts were frivolous in Lily's mind. Her true forethought was about who these people were and what they were doing here. The very nature of Nillyna's home made it impossible for anyone to just drop by, especially unannounced.
 
 
Not only was the estate a proverbial island in the sky, Nillyna never goes out without erecting a near impenetrable magic barrier, so how did these two get here?
 
 
And if that wasn't enough, Lily had never seen their kind before. Over the years Shadow had lured all kinds of people belonging to different species to Lily for her to devour, and as that went on she had gotten accustomed to what could be expected when it came to sentient prey. But, of all the people who had been lured to her by the empty promise of eternal youth, Lily had never seen anything like these two before.
 
 
The only remote resemblance were lamias, but that was a rough comparison at best, and, truthfully, it only applied to one of them.
 
 
The one with the pink coloring slithered on coils and had a bipedal upper body like the half-snake half-human women, but that was the end of the similarities. Rather than having scales upon her snake half that gradually shifted to human skin, like a lamia, her whole body was covered in a fine, thin coat of pink fur, save for the sky-blue scales stretching from her jawline down along her belly and under her tail. She had no human features in her upper body to speak of either, apart from the full head of hair and the womanly breasts upon her chest, spouting a nipple each, tipped with small pieces of metal (Lily was vaguely aware of piercings, but saw them as rather useless decoration).
 
 
Her facial features were certainly far from human- it looked more like that of a pointy-eared weasel or mink of some kind, save for the scales on her jaw, the reptilian fangs protruding from her upper lip, and wild-looking eyes. Her companion resembled much the same, though he was much smaller in stature, appearing male (or at least breastless), and had a pair of short legs with a long serpent’s tail tipped with a bright orange rattle. A prime example of sexual dimorphism for this lamia-like species… though there was no such thing as a male lamia.
 
 
But as she thought about how different these two were to anything she had seen so far Lily also contemplated that this actually wasn't the first time someone other than her had been up here on Nillyna's property. There was the evil Lepidopteran Linda, the lamia, and a dragon that had deluded herself into thinking she had the right to torment and devour unicorns, all of which had met the same fate upon arrival. Nillyna, ever since adopting the life of a sellsword in order to further protect her, had taken up the habit of sending people to her on occasion to “dispose of them”, a thought that made Lily smirk.
 
 
'Well well well, looks like my dear Nillyna has sent me another feast!' she thought as she eyed the two morsels before her. 'She was headed back to the same place where she found that dragon, maybe she wasn't the only one tormenting the unicorns? Maybe these two were her accomplices, and Nillyna stumbled upon them and sent them to me to finish off.'
 
 
If that was the case Lily had no objections to consuming these two. No one messes with unicorns, no matter who they are. Plus, she was feeling peckish. But there was one issue that needed to be addressed first.
 
 
One of them had a talisman.
 
 
That light the pink one was utilizing to guide herself and her companion could not have been projected by a lantern or torch, it was too direct and bright. If one of them was indeed a magic user, Lily would be disadvantaged, as always. Still, she had faced sorcerer's and the like before and triumphed.
 
 
Linda came to mind.
 
 
Maybe Lily should utilize the same method she used on her?
 
 
—
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale hadn't traveled too far from the enticingly beautiful flower before another noise caught their attention.
 
 
SNAP!
 
 
"Huh, what was that?!" Asked Grayscale, clinging to Sonata's side as she shined her cell phone in the direction of the noise.
 
 
It illuminated nothing but empty space between the trees.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily smirked as the two she observed almost jumped out of their skin at the first noise she produced by snapping a twig with her vines. It had only been the first noise and she could already see the shock etched on both of their faces. Even Linda hadn't been that easily riled up.
 
 
If these two had such weak constitutions, she would be filling her belly in no time.
 
 
She just needed to separate them from the damn talisman…and maybe from each other as well.
 
 
After all, there was no telling what these two were capable of together, regardless of magic.
 
 
—
 
 
SNAP!
 
 
The second noise made Sonata and Grayscale jump more than the first, now coming from the opposite direction. They could easily dismiss the first as nothing to worry about, maybe a falling tree branch or something, but this second noise sounded too soon to be mere coincidence. It sounded like something was circling them, and getting closer.
 
 
SNAP!
 
 
This next one sounded closer still.
 
 
Sonata braced herself while Grayscale hopped off her back, brandishing his makeshift spear as best he could. “I don’t think we’re alone,” he whispered.
 
Sonata picked up a nearby rock, ready to hurl it at whatever was closing in on them. “W-who’s out there?” She cried, not nearly as loud as she meant to be.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily prepared herself for the next phase of her plan, handing two glowing objects off to her vines as she kept an eye on the two before her, their stances revealing they were this close to being whipped up into a terror endused frenzy already. They just needed a few more pushes and then she could get to the fun part.
 
 
—
 
 
SNAP!
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale turned towards the latest noise, but before Sonata could even position her phone they both could already make out something in the darkness. Two bright glowing yellow eyes peering out at them from the darkness, accompanied by a horrible shuddering sound that shook the tree branches above. The sight and sounds of the unseen beast made Grayscale scream in terror, shrinking back with a white-knuckle grip on his spear. Sonata screamed in unison and threw her rock, though in her panic she overshot her target, causing the rock to pathetically bounce off the ground a few feet ahead, not even close.
 
 
To add insult to injury, she also dropped her phone, snuffing out their only source of light.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily watched the two react to the sight of her vines holding up the two luminous rings, same as she had with Linda, noticing as the pink one’s talisman fell from her hands onto the ground. She was slightly flummoxed at this turn of events, not expecting it to be nearly this easy to scare these two. Though, considering these two were completely nude and unequipped save for literal rocks and sticks, they seemed woefully unprepared for any kind of assault. Though, that’s probably what that talisman was for.
 
 
As the object fell Lily cast out a vine.
 
 
—
 
 
The loss of Sonata’s phone immediately caught her attention. Immediately she reached down to grab it, only to watch it get yanked away by some unseen force.
 
 
"NO! She screamed and made to pursue her phone, slithering off on her coils.
 
 
"SONATA WAIT!" Cried Grayscale, running after her.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily smirked as the vine that had grabbed the talisman drew away with it, the pink individual in hot pursuit, just as she planned. And, in her haste to retrieve her talisman she had left a sizable distance between herself and her friend, who, Lily noticed, didn't seem to have a talisman of his own. That would make things easier.
 
 
She just had to prevent them from reuniting- She only had one plant mouth after all.
 
 
One at a time.
 
 
—
 
 
Grayscale’s footpaws pounded along the ground as he chased after Sonata, only now seeing that something had grabbed her phone and was dragging it away. He had little time to think about what was happening, completely disregarding the glowing-eyed threat that frightened them before, until something new grabbed his attention, along with his ankle, sending Gray face-first into the grass. Shaking the ringing sensation from his ears, he turned to look down at his feet, gasping in shock at the sight.
 
 
A green vine, thick as his wrist, was wrapped around his ankle. What’s more, it was coiling further up his leg.
 
 
"WHAT THE HELL…!" As he screamed, multiple other vines lunged out from nowhere, wrapped around the rest of his limbs, pulling them in all directions as more vines slithered over his back and tail, pinning him to the ground like a net.
 
 
"SONATA!" He screamed desperately, tugging on the vines and squirming in an attempt to dislodge himself but his restraints held firm, his tail thumping hard enough in the ground to leave divots. "SONATA, HELP!"
 
 
Sonata’s ears perked up at the sound of her friend's cry of distress. Abandoning her pursuit, the light of cellphone vanished into the trees as she turned to find Grayscale writhing on the ground a fair distance away. In the light of the pale moonlight she could make out thin, wriggling forms encompassing her friend, like multiple slithering, coiling snakes.
 
 
"GRAY!" She screamed in terror.
 
 
—
 
 
Lily almost whooped in triumph as her multifunctional plan succeeded.
 
 
She snatched the talisman, drawing its owner away, leaving her to ensnare her comrade, and, now without a talisman or any backup that might have come from her friend, all that was left to do was ensnare the other one too. Lily contemplated on how she should do it. Should she use her vines to grasp her by her arms and coils? If she did she could bring her before her humanoid body and…entertain herself for a while. Those breasts looked positively perky, and it had been a while since she had felt a barbed tongue against her body.
 
 
But the desire to do as such faded away from Lily's desires the moment, Nillyna's beautiful visage appeared in her mind. What use did she have to engage in such things when she had someone like Nillyna around? No, no matter how enticing this lamia-like creature may seem she wasn't Nillyna, and Lily couldn't bring herself to do such things with anyone else… at the very least, not with that little green creature struggling against her vines at the same time. That would have been distracting at best.
 
 
So, instead, she went with her original plan of taking care of the pink intruder- she’d have just as much fun with her that way anyway, and perhaps with the male as well. As Lily watched the naga-weasel thing hurry to rescue her companion,the nearby trees suddenly began shuffling as something emerged from their depths.
 
 
—
 
 
Grayscale was struggling against the vines in desperation, looking back up to Sonata in the distance desperately, who thankfully had noticed his plight and was about to head back in his direction. But then Grayscale noticed something emerging from the trees behind his friend and his eyes widened in terror.
 
 
"SONATA, BEHIND YOU!" He screamed.
 
 
Sonata heeded her friend's warning, turning on the spot.
 
 
What she saw made her freeze up in terror and incomprehension. Something thick extended upwards before her, colored green and covered in veiny patterns, much like the vines that held Grayscale but thick as a tree. She slowly followed it up, noticing it was topped by a tremendous, bulbous object, just as veiny as the pillar it was attached to, a lipped seam around its circumference. It tilted down towards Sonata, who blinked just once as it appeared to almost be deliberately facing her.
 
 
Then it lunged forward, Sonata getting a brief glimpse of the thing splitting open wide to reveal a toothy maw before her upper body became enshrouded in wetness and soft flesh.
 
 
At this Sonata finally screamed and began thrashing, though by now she could feel that these encompassing jaws had a good grip on her, a grip she would be hard pressed to break.
 
 
"SONATA, NO!" Screamed Grayscale as he watched the jaws of the massive mouth close over the upper body of his friend, only Sonata's rear end and coils visible to the outside world, her tail thrashing in a vain attempt to get free.
 
 
He watched, helplessly, as the massive plant monster hoisted Sonata off the ground, holding her prone in its mouth, her tail thrashing wildly, her rear wiggling with the movement.
 
 
Despite what she does for a living, Sonata was no fool. This was not some sensual, intimate moment of one creature eating another, where both predator and prey would take pleasure in the meal; this was a heartless, feral devouring, one that would surely spell her doom. The fleshy walls around her drizzled her with sweet smelling salive, drowning her in both smell and liquid. She thrashed and squirmed, desperately trying to wriggle free, but only succeeded in brushing against the moist entrance to the tunnel beyond the squishy tongue she felt beneath her breasts, reminding of what was to come.
 
 
"GRAY! GRAY, HELP!" She cried desperately, despite being aware that he was in no position to help at the moment. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
 
 
Grayscale heard Sonata's muffled pleas for his help, a gut wrenching sensation of helplessness coursing through him as he watched his friend being devoured, all to aware himself that if this continues it wouldn't be like all the time she had eaten him. Once she slipped past those lips she would be gone for good.
 
 
"NO! NO! SONATA, I’M COMING!” He shouted, despite the odds of escape being stacked so far against him.
 
 
“Ah ha ha ha ha!”
 
 
The cruel laugh brought Grayscale’s attention to the plant they were examining earlier, watching with shock and fear as something began to protrude from it.
 
 
Grayscale gawd, before him was what could only be described as a cross between a plant and a human woman, the flower from before protruding from the part in her long green hair.
 
 
"What…what the hell?" He muttered in shock.
 
 
"Gray, what's going on out there?" Asked Sonata, her voice still muffled, still flicking her tail and wiggling her bottom, though it still did nothing to aid in her release from the jaws holding her. "Is someone there? Help!"
 
 
"Let her go?" Said the humanoid plant, Sonata shrieking as the mouth that held her suddenly shifted forward and, unbeknownst to the individual it held in its jaws, brought her rear end before Lily. "Why should I?" She held up Sonata's phone, its light still flashing. "You don't have your talisman anymore, although," she examined the phone closely, puzzling over the odd symbols and pictures on its screen. "This is the oddest talisman I have ever seen. It doesn't even look like you can wear it anywhere."
 
 
"Who are you?" Shouted Sonata from within the mouth, oblivious to Lily's examination of her phone, her tail and butt still thrashing. "What are you doing to me?"
 
 
"What am I doing?" Repeated the plant girl, tossing the cellphone aside." Isn't it obvious?" She asked, walking two fingers across Sonata's bottom, her tail thrashing in response. “I'm eating you."
 
 
"HEY!" Protested Sonata as she felt the finger's trailing her backside. "GET YOUR HAND OFF MY ASS!"
 
 
"As for who I am, not that it matters to you, but my name is Lily," said Lily, Sonata's demand was left unheeded as the hand lay flat against her butt and began stroking her up and down.
 
 
"HEY!" Grayscale had been transfixed by the emergence of this creature up until now, but the sight of Sonata’s rump getting molested snapped him out of his stupor and made his blood boil with so much anger, he nearly burst from the vines from sheer rage. "Get your grimy hands off Sonata, bitch!”
 
 
Lily smirked. For whatever reason Nillyna had sent these two here for her to eat, they at least had a true bond with one another and truly cared for each other. That didn't mean she was going to be lenient though.
 
 
"I'm humbled that you have such concern for… Sonata, is it?" said Lily, grabbing a handful of the now named Sonata's booty, making her gasp within her plant mouth. "But I have no reason to grant your request. Besides, she's too delicious to just let go. But don't fret, you'll be joining your girlfriend in here soon enough."
 
 
"She's not my…!"
 
 
"He's not my…!"
 
 
"We’re not…!"
 
 
Lily arched an eye at their simultaneous denials before she shrugged and said, "Whatever. Either way, you two are going to be within me soon, so you better prepare yourselves and make peace with it however you can." She turned completely to Sonata's protruding rear and smiled. "In the meantime…"
 
 
From within Lily, Sonata continued to thrash, even resorting to biting at the flesh surrounding her, but it proved too tough and rubbery to phase her devourer apparently. Then the tongue beneath her began to shuffle forward, and Sonata could feel it slip past her waist and through the lips gripping her around the hips. If it continues it would no doubt touch her…
 
 
"AAHH!" screamed Sonata involuntarily as she felt the massive tongue swiping over her slit. "HEY! AH! WHY YOU…! OH…AH…STOP IT!”
 
 
Grayscale clenched his bound fists as he watched Lily ravage Sonata, her snerret tail thrashing blindly around, but unable to grab hold of anything, the tongue lapping at her sacred entrance visible to him clearly from his face-down position pinned to the ground. He couldn’t take this lying down, literally! Sonata was his best mate, and he wasn’t going to let some perverted plant-bitch ravage and devour her right in front of him!
 
 
Thinking quickly, Grayscale whipped his tail forward and smacked it hard into the vines holding him down, then reared it back and smacked them again. Aside from its distinctive rattling sound, a snerret’s rattle also doubled as an impromptu bludgeoning weapon, and judging by Lily’s reaction, it was more effective then it appeared.
 
 
"OUCH!" She called out, feeling the pain reverberating throughout her vines at the sudden impact. She had left that guy's tail unbound because she didn't view it as a threat, for it was too short to reach too far, and she thought the rattling sound was fairly cute and wanted to listen to it through this ordeal, but now realized she had greatly underestimated the tail’s capabilities. What's worse, the sensation had been so jarring it loosened the grip of her vines.
 
 
She managed to maintain her grip on Sonata, but the other…
 
 
Without hesitation, Gray slithered his noodly body out from under the vines, springing up to his feet and sprinting as fast as he could towards the plant-maw trapping Sonata. Lily's eyes widened, so stunned by the sight of this little creature’s escape she didn’t have time to brace herself for his next move.
 
 
"Keep your tongue to yourself, bitch!" He hissed, spinning around and whipping the underside of the plant-maw hard with his tail, making it reel back a bit as Lily let out another pained noise. Another smack hit the giant tongue assaulting Sonata, which reeled back inside but the jaws still maintained their grip upon her.
 
 
Lily shook her head, groaning in pain and frustration- she clearly underestimated this creature. “Hey! Cut it out!” she hissed.
 
 
Grayscale didn’t respond- instead, he grabbed at Sonata’s tail, pulling at her with all his might, trying desperately to free her as his footpaws dug themselves into the dirt.
 
 
Sonata felt a familiar pair of paws wrapping around her tail. “Gray? Gray! Is that you? Get out of here!” She cried, trying to push the plant’s jaws open as it sucked at her upper body. “Save yourself!”
 
“No way, Sonata!” Grayscale yelled, still stuck in a tug-of-war with the plant. “You’re all I got left here! I’m not letting you go!” He looked around, the gears in his head spinning full-tilt trying to think of something to aid him- the adrenaline rush could only carry him so far, and this creature had him beat in size, strength, and number of limbs. Tightening his grip on her tail, Grayscale quickly dashed over to a nearby tree and wrapped Sonata’s tail around the trunk, her tail suddenly coiling around it the rest of the way, wordlessly following through with his plan. “Okay Sonata, now pull! I got you!”
 
 
"Aw, how sweet," cooed Lily, immediately interrupting his heroic moment.
 
 
Sarcasm aside, Lily genuinely was moved by Grayscale's words. She hadn't grabbed him immediately after he escaped because she was curious to what he might do once he got free, fully confident she could get him again, whatever his actions, and had decided to just see how it plays out. His attempts to aid his friend actually were quite touching.
 
 
"Well, if you don’t want to let her go,” She said as a pair of vines suddenly lunged towards Grayscale. “I’d be happy to assist.” The vines quickly bound his wrists to Sonata’s tail, squeezing them tight as a third vine went and grabbed his own tail, pulling him up and against Sonata until he was bound to her straightened-out tail like a turkey on a roasting spit. “I don’t normally eat two creatures at a time,” Lily mused as the plant-maw made a loud swallowing noise, drawing Sonata’s upper half down its stem as it slowly began snapping its way down towards Grayscale. “But for you two, I’ll make an exception.”
 
 
Grayscale couldn’t retort, staring wide-eyed at the encroaching jaws of the plant-monster that was slowly making its way down Sonata’s body and towards him. If he didn’t do something soon, they’d both be done for, and nobody would know what had happened to them! Even if he hadn’t lost that stick in the fray, what good would that do? But he couldn’t just lie here and be plant food!
 
 
Of course, there was one more thing he could do. He didn’t know if it would work, nor would he enjoy it either way, but it was all he had left. Reeling his head back, he bit down hard on the vines wrapping around his wrists, scrunching his face as he sunk his fangs in as deep as they could go.
 
 
Lily flinched a bit at the sensation of Grayscale sinking his teeth into her vines, before suddenly feeling an overwhelming numbing sensation spread out from her vines and up into her body, making her shiver and shudder like she was having a seizure. She clutched at her head, reeling over in dizzying pain. “W-w-w-uh… what did you do?” she stuttered, her speech slurring as a bit of drool trailed out of her mouth.
 
 
Snerrets were a venomous species, though their venom wasn’t nearly as deadly as it used to be in ancient times. Many modern snerrets didn’t even produce venom, and those who did could at best paralyze their target for a short time. Both Sonata and Grayscale were venomous, though Gray’s venom was the more potent of the two, as Lily learned the hard way (Sonata’s venom only produced a mild numbing, tingling sensation throughout the body that some considered oddly pleasurable, which she would use from time to time in bed).
 
 
Grayscale just pulled his fangs out from the vine and smirked in triumph. “How’d that taste going down, you-”
 
 
His quippy remark was interrupted as Lily collapsed to the ground along with her plant-maw, dragging Gray and Sonata along with it. The plant-maw’s jaws parted limply, and with a mad thrashing and scrambling, Sonata managed to wriggle her way out of the slimy throat of the beast, gasping for air as she got back upright. She was drenched from head to hips in syrupy yellowish fluid, but otherwise was unharmed. Once she had her breath back, she looked down at Gray, who was busy kicking the vines off himself. She noticed one of the vines had some fresh bite marks in them.
 
 
“Did… did you bite her?” Sonata gasped, wiping the slime from her hair.
 
 
“Sure did…” Grayscale replied, spitting on the ground to get the taste out of his mouth. “Ugh, I’m gonna be feeling that in the morning…”
 
Sonata let out an amused snort, then grabbed Grayscale’s hand. “Well, come on, we gotta get out of here… we don’t know how long she’ll be out.”
 
 
Gray nodded, looking over at Lily’s twitching body. “Well if she does come around,” He yelled at her, “There’s more where THAT came from!”
 
 
In truth, there wasn’t more where that came from- like all snakes, snerret venom took a good amount of time and nutrients to produce, so Grayscale only used it in serious emergencies. Even then it was only a last-minute resort, as afterwards he would feel a mildly unpleasant tingling in the back of his head as his venom glands refilled themselves over the next few hours.
 
 
After quickly retrieving their phone, the red gem, and Grayscale’s pointed stick, the two snerrets headed back off on their journey towards the giant mansion. They even managed to get a few feet farther ahead before their journey was cut short by a flash of bright blue light.
 
Sonata and Grayscale were suddenly forced apart and suspended in midair, four luminous blue rings made of glowing runes surrounded both of them, one at their heads, one at their chests, one at their hips, the last ones at the tips of their tails pulling them both ramrod-straight (though in Sonata’s case, she had her tail bent back and around behind her like a paper clip). They found that they were unable to move a muscle, even speaking wasn't in their capabilities. The only thing they could still do was breathe, blink, and move their eyes. The latter ability they used to exchanged confused glances, unsure of what was happening or what they could do.
 
 
They heard slow, soft footsteps behind them, and before long a figure in an extravagant white long-sleeved dress strode between them, elegant, stunning, and carrying a regal air. The figure walked over to Lily's limp body, dropping the glowing metallic walking cane she held in one hand, before dropping a large sack from the other, which hit the ground with a clattering thud. The newcomer bent down and placed one of four hands to the plant-girls brow, stroking her affectionately before leaning down and planting a gentle kiss on her cheek. The figure stood back up, its posture so rigid it might be able to hold up a two ton weight.
 
 
"I don't know who you two are or how you got here," the figure said with a soft but sharp feminine voice, turning to look at the two with large, black, pupiless eyes set on a triangular white face, topped with a head of silky white hair and long, fluffy antenna. "But you will pay for hurting my girlfriend!"
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale exchanged another sideways glance, gulping nervously at the appearance of this strange insectoid woman.
 
 
And…that ravenous monster has a girlfriend?