Monster Breeder

91. Return to the Warren, Part 1 (Cottontail)

It’s so nostalgic being back underground. The low-light ambiance, the smell of dirt, the feel of soil between my paws… I spent my whole childhood either down here or foraging in Fuzzy Field.

Yet, there’s something different about the tunnels today. I can’t put my finger on it, but I can’t help worrying.

Megan senses the tension in me the way she always does, takes my hand in hers, and gives me a reassuring squeeze. I look down at my little sister and wonder again how she got so brave. I know it doesn’t come naturally for prey monsters like us.

“Thinking about what you’ll say to him?” Megan asks. Her hand fits in mine so snugly.

I know who she means. “No, I’m trying not to think about that. Maybe if I ignore it long enough, it’ll be over before I have a chance to get scared.”

Her grip tightens. “Cottontail, I know it’s hard, but you can’t let him intimidate you! He’s a big bully; that’s all he’s ever been, and all he’ll ever be. But we belong to Alex now, and she’s going to be important someday. We need to start acting like the brides of an important person! Look, we’ve got four powerful predators with us. He’s the one who should be afraid.”

“Well said, little mouse,” Spindle says from behind us as she places a light hand on each of our shoulders.

I shiver runs through me. Miss Spindle is the scariest of Alex’s companions; just having her look at me makes my clitty stand up and my body tingle. I still can’t believe she let me stick it in her pussy last night! She let me, a little bunny, have sex with a strong monster like her! I really want to do it with her again…

“Like the view from back there?” Megan says as she sways her hips while we walk. Her pink jellyfish skirt swishes and her plump apple bottom seems to glow majestically in the dim purple light cast by Spindle’s amethyst gaze. My face heats up and I look away.

The Wicked Webling sensually licks her lips. “Very much.”

“Hey, no canoodling while we’re on a mission!” Gabby yells back at us from her place in the lead, making her boobies jiggle beneath her robes distractingly. Why is she so sexy when she’s angry??? My clitty doesn’t know how to react around her—well, that’s a lie, I get hard when she yells. “Do any of you want to explain to Alex we were too drunk on her pheromones from last night to finish the job on schedule?”

“You’re just nervous about the date you have with her later, Miss Goblin,” Spindle retorts. “Plenty of private time in the forest where you’ll have her all to yourself~”

“I assure you my main overriding priority will be getting stronger… any fornication that happens will be the result of simple expedient mark extraction for Alex.” The Goblin girl clenches a fist around the base of her glowing Apprentice Rod. “I can’t fall any further behind. I need to catch up to Alex so I can protect her!”

Megan frowns beside me with her eyes downcast. It looks like something is troubling her, but I can’t imagine what.

“Cottontail, it may be tempting to rely on them, but keep in mind you’re the critical piece in this mission,” Flou2 says from her place integrated into my outfit. I feel her many tiny lips and tongues on my breasts and nethers giving me reassuring kisses. She could get me off in a couple of minutes—she’s done it before—but Flou is only reminding me I’m not alone.

“Me?”

My sister squeezes my hand again as her attention returns to the conversation. “She’s right, sis. Gabby and Spindle can beat Peter and scare everyone senseless, but not even webs and vines can catch every mouse and bunny in the Warren. If we can’t convince Peter to work with us, they’ll scatter without a third-tier to obey and hide behind.”

“Mission failure,” Spindle agrees.

Flou2 continues, “Some will recognize me, but the majority of mice and bunnies fundamentally can’t trust a Slime. You’re different, Cottontail. No one in the Warren has seen a special bunny evolution in hundreds of years.”

“I’m not…”

“Special?” Megan interrupts me. There’s a spark of something in her eyes when she looks at me. Not envy, but I can’t quite put a word to it. She brushes her arm against my corset teddy. “Can’t you see you’re turning into something incredible?”

I have to admit the outfit is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I can take over the Warren or anything crazy like that. “My stomach hurts from all this stress.”

Sis gives me a worried look that shifts to a devious smile. “Cottontail, remember, you’re this little one’s momma,” she says touching her tummy where Alex’s mark displays the sleeping face of the baby girl I ‘fathered.’ “It doesn’t matter that we’re siblings anymore now that I’m pregnant. When this is over, I want you to push me down and release all that tension, okay?”

Megan stands on her tiptoes and gives me a kiss on the cheek. She smells like home. Then her mouse tail teasingly whip-cracks me on the butt and I’m so hard it makes walking awkward. I’ve fantasized about my gorgeous younger sister hundreds of times. She’s the prettiest, bravest mouse in the whole Warren. We did some things yesterday, but what she’s saying is just the two of us. Me. Alone. With sis…

“Can everyone shush for a while?” Olindia asks from a pink tentacle forming part of Megan’s dress. “This is supposed to be a ‘stealth’ mission or something, yeah?”

“You just want to nap until the fighting starts, don’t you?” Megan accuses.

“Ouch! Hey, aren’t you supposed to like, fear me and shit?”

“I wouldn’t have asked to let you camp in my cooch if I thought you’d betray Alex by harming me.”

“Alright, alright, I didn’t want to argue, all I wanted was—”

“Quiet,” Gabby says, her tone brooking no argument.

We’re at a fork in the tunnels. Now that I’m listening, my bunny ears can pick up the sound of shuffling feet coming from both directions. Actually, we should’ve run into a lookout a while back. Where is everyone?

A Mole-man comes snuffling and dragging his shovel at us from either side. Both of them are as horrible as I remember. Taller than a human, they’re squinty-eyed with clawlike nails and huge incisors. They’re covered in matted fur that’s crusty with dirt. They have bulky male proportions, hunched backs, and thick dangling schlongs.

Gabby and Spindle spring into action weaving their magic. The Goblin Apprentice dual-wields a rod glowing green with Plant Magic in each hand as vines shoot from the ground to entangle the western Mole-man’s legs. Meanwhile, Spindle makes string figures of purple energy between her four hands as glowing spider threads fill the tunnel in front of the eastern Mole-man who barrels headlong into them.

Both Mole-men struggle in their restraints. The western Mole-man digs his shovel into the ground at his feet to uproot half the vines. The eastern Mole-man waves his shovel around to catch the threads like a spool of cotton candy.

“Get closer so I can whack this guy,” Olindia says to Megan, who dashes forward without hesitation. Pink Slime tentacles separate from her dress to slap the Mole-man and stick like glue on impact. He begins to shriek from the Jellyfish venom, his struggles intensifying for a moment before he gradually begins to weaken.

A ruby dagger appears in my hand. “Throw it at him,” Flou2 instructs.

“Throw it?” I don’t know how to use a weapon like this!

“Just throw and I’ll do the rest!”

The western Mole-man frees his second leg with the shovel, but the tangling vines bought Gabby enough time for a follow-up attack. More vines erupt from the walls to grab his shovel arm and wrap around his neck. The struggle continues for a few more seconds as Gabby adds more and more vines until we hear the crack of his neck snapping.

The eastern Mole-man’s face has dissolved by this point. Olindia proceeds to consume his corpse with the caustic Slime of her tendrils.

“Cottontail, get me closer to him, please.”

I do as Flou asks, approaching the western Mole-man. A Furry maw-tendril lunges from my outfit to latch onto his exposed flank like a lamprey. I watch as Flou2 swallows gallons of his blood. Six ruby daggers appear at my hip, three on the left, and three on the right.

“Next time, throw when I say. This body only has one of my Multitasking Focuses and crystalizing blood takes a good portion of my concentration. It’s easier if you throw and I guide the weapon remotely with Blood Magic. I know it’s tough, at first, but this gets easier, I promise.”

Nobody says anything mean, but I feel a sour weight in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t do what I was supposed to, and Gabby picked up my slack. Everyone is so amazing! Megan wasn’t afraid of getting close to that Mole-man at all. When the pressure was on I froze. How does Alex do this?

“Shouldn’t you have Harpy Matron Air Blades at your disposal, Miss Goblin?”

Gabby harrumphs. “I have Aello’s spell memorized but can’t use third-tier magic until after I evolve.”

“Apologies, Spindle didn’t intend to touch a sore subject.”

The Goblin girl shrugs, clearly not wanting to discuss it further.

“What are Mole-men doing in the Warren?” Megan asks.

“Why wouldn’t they be here?” Spindle wonders while tapping her chin with a finger.

I blink in shock at the thought, but then I remember she’s a Webling with no knowledge of our home. “Peter protects the Warren from the Mole-men.”

Spindle and Gabby exchange a look I’m not sure how to interpret.

“Have you ever actually seen him ward off a Mole-man?” Gabby asks, her voice full of skepticism.

I shake my head and shrug. “No.”

Miss Spindle frowns. “That doesn’t sound like protection, it sounds like—”

Miss Gabby cuts her off with a soft hand laid on the Webling’s arm and another odd exchange of glances. When I look at Megan to see if she understands what’s going on, she has a stricken look about her that shocks me.

Then Gabby addresses Spindle aloud, “Optimally, we subdue the Bunny Patron and use him to control…” she glances at me, then back to the Webling, “I mean, to lead the Fuzzy folk in these dire circumstances. We’ll deal with suboptimal complications as they arise.”

“You’re such a lovely pragmatist, Miss Goblin. Spindle agrees; the details are irrelevant when the solution is simple regardless.”

With that apparently resolved, we proceed on the shortest route to the Warren’s hub.

I whisper to Megan as we walk, “Was that a predator thing? Or do you know what they’re talking about?”

Megan won’t raise her eyes from the floor. “That old bastard never fought for us once, but the Mole-men stay away from the Warren anyway.” She clenches her fists. “What do you think that means?”

A thought occurs to me, a thought so black and heinous that I immediately reject it as impossible. I stride forward with a shake of my head as if to hastily put the idea behind me. “Let’s hurry and convince Peter to help us so we can return to Alex.”

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