16: On The Other Side

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On The Other Side

=Chapter 1: Changing your perspective.=

Florandus Vindivicus was enjoying a nice sleep when the sound of a window lock being picked woke him up. He looked at the window of his rented tavern room and saw a silhouette outside unlocking the window and peering in. It was dawn and the ranger couldn't identify who it was in the rays of the sun, as soon as that figure tried to go into the room Florandus grabbed for their arm. The person was pulled onto his bed and her arms where held securely on her back in not more than a second. the young man could now see that it was a fellow ranger he was holding, he let her go and grabbed his clothes. "Identify yourself ranger and tell me why you break into my room." The female ranger got up and off the bed, she moved off the bed and checked her arms for bruises. "It seems I found the real and only Master Ranger parading his underwear in front of his student, my name is Violet. How did you know I was coming in?" The black haired woman stood with a questionable pout. The master ranger dressed himself and took up his gear, he was still moody from having just woken up. "You took to little time to pick the lock, I could hear you scrape metal on the inside. Why did you let yourself get overpowered so easily, I was at a disadvantage with the sun." The lower-ranked ranger huffed. "I was still looking if it was you in the room." Florandus was now fully dressed and motioned to his green cloak. "When I sleep I hide this, had I not just taken this out you would have broken into a random person's room. Look through the window first, then pick the lock." Violet took his hand and pulled him towards the door. "I didn't come for a lesson and you don't have to be so stern, we're the same age. Please jut hear us out, you can say no after you've heard the plan" he young man was taken to the tavern bar where a third ranger was seated with three drinks in front of her. Violet introduced her. "Vindivicus, this is Arabella." The third ranger being a brunette smiled at them and her hand to shake his. "You may call me Bella for short." They shook hands and Arabella handed out their drinks. Florandus found his drink to smell strange, but didn't want to insult them by refusing. Violet took out a map of the area and showed a city not far from their location. "We have come here to ask our Master Ranger to help with finding a special item that can change a person's race, gender and appearance whenever they want." The young man took a sip of his drink to the unnerving delight of the girls. "can't you just do that by becoming a succubi?" Arabella giggled. "Succubi can't become males, just think about how you can shift your appearance and get out of trouble." Then Violet mentioned the catch. "There is however one requirement, you have to be female to enter the city. And you are not." Florandus shrugged. "So why am I here then, you seem to know the plan better than I do." The girls smiled pleadingly. "We can't do it without you, we still students in the guild. We would muck thinks up just like this morning." The young man nodded. "You do have a point there.. But still, I'm not a woman." Violet quickly followed him up. "You can be, temporarily.. If you where to drink a potion you could turn into a girl like us for a day or two." Florandus stood up and walked back to his room. "Not happening, bye!" Arabella stood up and ran after him. "You can't say no!" The master ranger turned around. "And why not?" From where he stood he could see Violet shake his drink with a grin on her face, he turned to arabella with wide eyes. "You didn't.." The brunette backed off for a bit, then she jumped the young man as he stuck his finger down his throat. The two girls kept holding him back for five more minutes till his dark blonde hair had grown to his waist and his armor felt uncomfortably tight. The girls looked at his changes before Florandus pushed them off and dashed for his room, he fell on his face twice with his bodyweight having shifted around quite a lot and thus his breasts making him fall forward. Making it to his own room he closed the door behind him and locked it with the key left in the keyhole. He felt all over his body to notice that he now had to much room in his pants and to little in his chest. He had the luck his leather armor was adjustable, yet he still didn't like the C+ cup that had grown on his chest. being in a state of total discomfort he got back into his bed and hid under the covers hoping the potion would wear out soon. The next thing he knew the two rangers came in through the window and dragged him out of bed. Arabella pulled off his blanket while Violet pulled Florandus away from the safety he had loved just a second ago. The black haired ranger was mercilessly dragging the blondine behind her while the brunette tried to console their just turned companion who was sobbing and threatening them with all the kinds of torture he could think of and actually perform.

=Chapter 2: An introduction show.=

As they could see the target city getting closer Violet was now dragging two sobbing girls behind her. One that was forced into something he had never even thought of before as being a viable danger to him and the other girl who had snapped from all the punishment they would receive from their master once this would be over. Violet stopped the dragging them and shook Florandus around. "Will you stop condemning us already?!" The shaking caused the blonde's breasts to bounce around, that new feeling caused more depression as Florandus kept whining to them. "And then I will make you sleep with a weresheep and get a nightmare to make you suffer a hundred dreams, then if she stops because she pities you I will get another nightmare to go on with the bad dreams!" Arabella was holding on to his arm the whole time telling him she was sorry and didn't want any of the vast kinds of torture techniques he had told them through his sobbing. The black haired ranger's mental state was dangerously unstable having to drag two teen-age babies around. She was about to slap the blondine when her hand was twisted behind her back again and thrown to the ground. The blondy was now sitting on the pinned down Violet, she pouted with her head hanging low. his soft high voice still had a hint of his honeyed words "Bella, How long till the effect of the potion wears out?" The question distracted the sobbing brunette from her fate. "oh, maybe two days from now? and why don't you call yourself Flora for the time being?" She only got one response from the blonde girl as she prodded her own and then Violet's boobs. "I hate you both so much.." Violet turned her head and had a desperate expression. "But master, we just wanted your help.. And stop touching me there, I haven't forgotten you're still a man on the inside!" Flora gave her a cold judging expression that showed every little bit of the obvious guilt tripping the blond was performing on her. The black haired ranger laid her head back on the ground and sighed. "Punishment?" She endured feeling the blondine's hands grope her bust again while her captor agreed. "Punishment." Arabella was blushing heavily as she saw the two do this in the middle of the road with some female travelers and traders staring as they went by. "eh.. girls?" Only Violet turned her head, she blushed heavily as well. She spazed every now and then as the clingy hands touched her milk buds. "Wh.. what is i.. aahh.. it?" The brunette motioned three travelers and a trade cart that had stopped a few meters away, a crowd was gathering around the groper. Violet yelped and turned to Flora. "Master, look up!" The blondine's pout had turned to a grin till he was addressed, looking up and seeing the crowd made him pause his actions. He slowly got off his companion and sat next to her on his knees.

=Chapter 3: Mandatory inspections.=

Behind them a lizardwoman dressed in a fancy suit addressed them with a nervous smile. "Um, ladies. If you want to do 'those' things that's fine with me, but as a city guard I have to advise you to get yourself a room first and you're not amazoness, so that doesn't count." The three red-faced green-cloaked girls sheepishly followed the guard to the giant thirty meters high and ten meters thick walls that surrounded the huge city. A salamander standing at the Iron grate gate greeted the lizardwoman. "Are those the exhibitionists?" The lizardwoman rubbed her face and turned to the obviously surprised and embarrassed rangers. "H-hey, you where the ones doing that despite all the people that walked by." The salamander chuckled like a man and pointed them to a door in the side of the giant wall. "I'm definitely sure we haven't seen you here before, sorry but we need to check your gender and gear." They where directed into a room that was about six meters wide and long and around three meters high. Inside where two tables with one having a cyclops behind it and the other an arachne. "Welcome, we would like to ask you to place down your weapons and undress. We know the embarrassment this might cause you, but we're al woman here." The blacky and brunette nervously stared at the blondine. Flora walked ahead to the cyclops and showed her his two icepicks, a dagger, his bow, a bunch of arrows, four throwing knives and sword. The four women in the room had a united awkward moment seeing him pull out so many weapons out from under his green cloak. The cyclops didn't really know where to start as she usually only got one or two weapons on her table with every check. "Woah, I've never seen a demon steel & silver blend of this skill. Did you become the new demon lord or something?" The cyclops laughed till the moment she heard Flora respond. "She did give me these, though I'm not.." The cyclops stood up without a word and walked to the exit. "Having seen your weapons I fully believe you and that is why I'm NOT ever going to touch those things again." She left the room and the arachne behind. The arachnid was perplexed and pointed to the other two girls. "Do you also.." Violet and Arabella immediately shook their heads and showed their normal bows and swords. The arachne hesitantly turned to the blonde ranger. "O-okay, can you undress yourself now? I know your face looks feminine, but it's policy to undress completely at least once. It's for our own safety." Flora had put away his weapons when he yelped. "Can't I just pull down my pants for half a second?" A shake of the head is all that the arachne gave him. Flora took off his clothes and covered his private area, the two rangers motioned his breasts and the blondine rapidly covered those too. with his clothes and gear on the table of the arachne Flora had to stand against the wall while Violet and Arabella got naked as well. The three girls where very quiet as they where inspected by the arachnid, Arabella forgot to cover herself up with her hands and was staring at Violet and Flora's breasts. "Violet, they look smaller than Flora's.." The brunette received a hit to the head as Violet blushingly told her to shut up. Staring at the other two something between Flora's legs started to drip which panicked the ranger. "What is happening, why am I dripping?!" The arachne looked at her curiously. "Have you never been aroused before?" Violet covered the blond girl's eyes and joked to the arachnid. "She has lived on a farm all her life, she's basically new to everything." The arachne giggled. "That's cute, okay you can dress yourself again. Flora, is it? I'm going to have another look at you later with some other inspectors, You have not a single imperfection and seeing the kind of gear you use that's pretty much impossible. Enjoy our city while you can." Hearing that the three dressed and rushed back out of the room. The salamander seemed amused to see the trio back and opened the gates for them.

=Chapter 4: Already famous.=

The rangers walked through the gates and entered what seemed like a huge capitol of a city surrounded by walls. Half of it was farmland, yet it still had to hold at least five thousand civilians. The rangers walked to the center of the city and came to a big city market where small stands where lined up next to one another. As the three rangers passed mamono after mamono they felt as if they where being watched. The black haired ranger turned to the brunette and the blondine. "We seem to be attracting a lot of attention like this, how about I scout ahead?" The other two nodded at which Violet disappeared into a side street. Trying to fit in Flora went to a fruit store and chose an apple, the store clerk being a kikimora gave him a strange look. "You have awfully much spirit energy build up inside of you for a normal woman, are you feeling well?" The blonde ranger chuckled with a high tone. "N-no, I just got a strong spirit energy production I inherited from my father." The kikimora stared at him as she accepted the coins. "So your father filled you up with that.. Is that why you came to this city, to escape his molesting behavior?" Flora looked at her in confusement. "Molest? Hey, my father was a good man." The clerk's expression turned to that of pity. "Oh, of course he is dear. Here, have another apple." The kikimora waved her bye as the ranger left, he could just about hear the clerk mumble to herself. "The poor girl.." Arabella and Flora looked around them once they where in the middle of the city. The brunette spoke to her mentor. "Say master, where do you think we should go to find that special item?" The master ranger pondered and looked at the biggest building they could see. A small palace could be seen to the right of the city gate. "If the item you two are looking for is powerful it will be guarded, so start with the biggest buildings first." Arabella nodded excitedly to her master wen they where distracted by a sniffing sound. He turned around to see a werewolf pup holding her cloak and with her tail waggling behind her she took in Flora's scent. The ranger took the pup in her arms at which the pup immediately grabbed into his neck, pulling him in for a hug. While being held by the blonde woman the pup buried her face in his neck, sniffling the his body odor. It made the ranger slightly uncomfortable to be sniffed, though all the werewolf pups he had met before all had done the same. The ranger froze as he realized he every mamono up to this point could still feel his normal energy and could smell the scent of a man. If the mamono would not be able to see they would all still undoubtly claim him to be a male. At that moment he noticed a werewolf run up to him and grab hold of the pup. "I'm so sorry, she just ran off like that. Normally she never does this, wait.." The werewolf mother was now sniffing the ranger too, she pulled the blondine into a hug and buried her face in the other side of the ranger's neck. "I don't know why, but your scent. Your scent smells so good, If you where a man I would do you right here right now." Flora gave her a very intimidated expression making the werewolf back off with the pup in her hand. "Oh my, I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.." The werewolf practically drooled as she walked away from the ranger. Violet came running back and looked between the two girls. "What happened?" Flora sighed as he told them about his problem. Violet giggled at her. "You need a bath, are all men so laid back?" Flora gave her the same cold stare as before and walked in the direction of a sign that said bath-house. The black haired ranger felt the guilt from before stab into her. "M-Master, I'm only joking!" She ran after him, Arabella sighed to herself and followed. They came to the comunal bath-house and noticed a shedding lamia hurry herself inside. The two girls where about to say bye to their master when behind them the salamander guard came walking up. "Hey girls, mind if I join you?" Violet showed a naughty grin at her blond companion. "Actually, we where about to go look for a room while Flora enjoyed the bath-house. Why don't you join her?" The salamander chuckled loudly as she pulled the three with her. "You can look for rooms whenever, We should all go take a bath together." Three girls pleaded to be released, their pleas where not answered.

=Chapter 5: A bubbly intervention.=

The salamander unintentionally forced them all to strip and placed their clothes in a locket taking the key on a necklace with them. The woman shamelessly slapped Arabella on her behind and lifted her and Flora under her arms to one of the private baths, Violet a bit embarrassed followed her as the salamander's tail excitedly waggled behind her. The two girls under her arms squirmed with all their might, but they couldn't get loose. The blondine and brunette where dropped into a small bath and the salamander threw in a small orb which when it made contact with the water created a layer of bubbles floating on the water. grinning she got in the bath and dragged the brunnette onto her lap, when the blondine poked his head out from the water he was pushed face first into Violet's breasts. Flora quickly locked her hands again and yelled at his student. "I don't wanna be touched!" The black-haired ranger gave her the same naughty expression from before. "Are you going to punish me again?" The blond girl blushed heavily as she released his friend, not a second later his friend jumped him again rubbing her body against his. "Master, don't resist. If I do this for you, you'll forgive me right?" One of her hands was about to grope and squeeze his breast and the other hand slid down between his legs when the salamander suddenly pulled Violet off of him. She threw the black haired ranger to the other side of the bath and went in to give her the same treatment. The salamander didn't stop till Violet fainted from overstimulation, then she walked back and hugged Flora. The fingers she had used on Violet were pressed against the blondine's lips and the salamander whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, I heard about your father.. Rumors spread quickly in this city, I'll protect you from any who would make you relive such a thing." Even while being half distracted from the flavor that passed his lips Flora thought to herself that that rumor was actually a pretty good excuse for being here, playing along would probably help if he didn't sugarcoat it to much. "I just want to forget about it." The salamander's expression softened and sat down pulling him on her lap. Meanwhile Arabella who had been thoroughly washed in all non-private places moved over to Violet seemingly to wash her as well, but actually just to keep her unconscious friend from drowning in the bath. The guard with the girl on her lap waved her hand through the bubbles as they sat. "Do you know why there are no men whatsoever in this whole huge city? Every single mamono that came here has had a somewhat similar experience to you. I for example was once a brave order hero that was destined to vanquish all monsters from this land, till one day a lilim defeated me and turned me into this." She held out her scaly arm and tail above the bubbles. "I wasn't able to return to my family like this and neither did I want to mindlessly mate with every man I met, so I came here to live out my life in peace. With the absence of men the beast mamono don't get influenced by mating seasons and other women don't get pregnant if they don't want to. And I haven't seen a single little child being wronged during my entire five years in this city." The ranger blushed as he felt the salamander press her bosom against his back. "S-so this place is a sanctuary?" Smiling appreciatively the salamander cuddled up against his soft skin. "Exactly, you're a quick learner. Oh, I also heard you had a run-in with a werewolf who became a little friendly right?" The girl in her lap nodded sheepishly. "I've heard this from quit a few who met you already with me being one of the few gate guards, They began to feel lustful when you came close to them. Just know that if any woman tries to get to friendly with you it will most likely be from the excessively high concentration of spirit energy in your body, This city isn't some Lesbian love fest." The salamander noticed her hands caressing the blushing girl's cheek and stomach which the salamander immediately retracted, she scratched the back of her head nervously. "Although it might feel like that some times.. We don't mean any harm by it." The salamander became red-faced as well. "I'm getting to touchy with your soft back brushing against me, I can feel the shame of being able to relate to your dad for touching you. It's best if I just eh.. go cool my head." The guard pushed the girl off her lap and stormed out of the bath, when her tail left the water the residual liquid on it evaporated in an instance and her tail flared up in a bright fire. She quickly ran out of the room holding her private parts tightly. Flora then noticed a disappointed look directed at him. "Bella, is there something?" The brunette pushed the black haired ranger securely out of the bath, moved over to him through the water and pressed his hands on her breasts. "Are these what excite you so much? Would you really fondle these all day instead of being an adventurer?" Arabella pressed his hands firmly against her soft hills as if she was trying to massage and glue them together at the same time. "If you want to play the sad little girl all day who needs constant attention and a teat to suck on then fine, misuse my body all you want for as long as you like. I don't care anymore for that artifact if the leader of the guild we are trying to prove ourselves to is just some needy, horny, lazy, little child who wants to do nothing but sit around all day playing the victim of scary rapey monsters!" The brunette half expected to see the girl start her sobbing again, but instead felt her breasts being released and the blondine walking angrily to the fainted ranger next to the bath. Flora back-handed Violet's cheek causing her to shock awake and turn her cheek red-purple-ish. "Fine, If you want my help you get my help. But don't expect me to give you the time to enjoy it or horse around!" The brunette slightly terrified at what she had released followed her without question and pulled her confused and hurt friend after their mentor.

=Chapter 6: The toys of a god.=

Without giving his companions bodies even a glimpse he dried himself off and put on his gear using the keys they had around their necks. Leaving the lockets they walked in a quick pace towards the palace. Flora's face showed anger while Violet's became pale at hearing what Arabella had said to him earlier. They came to the palace where a few guards held the entrance secure, Flora walked to past the stairs that led up to the palace to his student's confusion. "Master, shouldn't we.." A quick snap was all she got. "Quiet, just follow my directions." The blondine came to the steep wall next to the stairs and took out his icepicks, chipping out handholds into the wall. Climbing up they reached the side of the palace where no guards stood, the only way up previously was the stairs. Followed by the other two the mentor pointed at a doorway. "look under the door and lockpick it." He himself inspected the inside through the windows and saw a large throne with on it an echidna speaking to one of her subjects. Going back to check on the brunette and the black haired rangers the blondine tripped and fell on the ground with a thud, he had still not gotten used to the shift in body mass throwing him off balance. He presumed the thud could be heard from inside as well and knew they had to hurry. Violet had managed to open the door and peered into a room behind the throneroom. The three moved inside and ran into a room holding six balls and eight pedestals. The rangers looked around the room and saw marking and symbols. Flora inspected the balls and noticed the markings on them correspond with a symbol on a different pedestal, His students caught on to what he had seen and they quickly moved all the balls to their correct pedestals opening a stone hatch in the floor. Going down it they came to what seemed to be a treasury of some sort, a room full of piles of gold and in the middle a pedestal with on it a small ball with runes all over it. Arabella and Violet where about to get it when Flora shot an arrow at it, launching the ball off the pedestal and making a trapdoor open up under the pedestal that caused it and the floor in a meter radius to collapse into a dark pit. The girls paused for a moment and looked back to the blondine. "Florandus, did you know that was going to happen?" Flora walked forward and prodded the gold piles for movement with his bow. "No, but it's always good to check beforehand." He stopped prodding the gold piles and walked up to the ball, he didn't want to pick it up himself not knowing what it would do. Violet excitedly grabbed the ball off the floor without thinking twice and showed it to Arabella. "Look, we got it! But, how does it work?" She squeezed the object at which a blue mist leaked out. Flora and Arabella took their distance from it while Violet dumbfoundedly watched the blue mist fill the room. The master ranger took a cloth from his back and held it to his mouth as the mist washed over him. The brunette followed his example as they both watched the ball do its thing. Having filled the room the blue mist now condensed in the form of an echidna that came barging into the room with two Amazonas guards holding large broadswords in each hand. The three blue half translucent figures peered down the deep dark pit and looked around the room ignoring the three present girls. The echidna spoke without a sound and the amazons nodded in understanding. The giant guards walked to the gold piles and stabbed their swords in them making blue translucent coins fly around the room. Annoyed with finding nothing they left the last pile of coins as it was and left the room, the echidna sighed to herself and pressed a stone in the side closing off the dark pit. She too then left the room for what it was. Watching the spectacle Flora noticed the untouched blue gold pile having a different shape than the actual gold pile in the room. He walked over to Violet and took the ball from her at which the blue mist was sucked back into it, he put the object in his bag. Violet took his arm. The blue coins littering the room disappeared with the mist "Hey, don't just take it. We all worked together to acquire it." The blondine took her hand and motioned the brunette to get in the gold pile. "We have to hide in here right now." The three struggled to cover themselves together in such a small pile of gold, they waited there for four full minutes pressed together when they noticed voices up the stairs. "He must have gone into the vault, let's go show him that no man can get in or out of this city alive!" The sound of large heavy footsteps echoed through the room and a lot of shuffling. "It seems that he knew more of that device than the common thief, Though the first to hold it was apparently also the last. If only my mother was still alive, she was a knowledgeable queen. She would have known how to catch the thief before destroying a Relic of the gods. Make sure that thief fell down the hole." The three girls heard gold coins fly around the room. They heard one of the Amazonas grumble under her breath. "Dumb thief, It's been to long sins a good fight." The sound of heavy steps on the stone stairs seemed further and further away. "I hope it was worth it, thief." A loud scraping sound shook the floor and a bang confirmed that the pit had been closed off. The scales scraping over the floor ebbed away and another soft bang confirmed that they had closed the stone hatch.

=Chapter 7: Forever young.=

Gold slid of the pile and the three girls emerged from it like a chick breaking out of its egg. Blond locks of hair whipped around as Flora looked at Arabella in a strict manner. "We got the thing you wanted, even though the effects it has is very different. Are you happy now, or am I still lazy?" Arabella smiled and crawled on top of her mentor. "All you did was solve a puzzle and hide, but I'm happy you are at least capable of that." Behind them Violet was giggling to herself. "Ah, two girls having their first fight and making up by getting lovey-dovey." The brunette got off the blondine and pouted at her friend. "It's not my fault he's a woman now, on the inside he's still that same man we met at the tavern. You are the one that keeps trying to grope his breasts and have him grope yours!" Violet grinned again at her friend. "He's the 'master' ranger, If I suck up to him he might promote me to a higher rank or something." Hearing Violet talk like that was like a stab to the heart to that master ranger. Flora sat himself down in a corner of the room and sobbed. "I hate you both so much.. You're just being nice because of my rank." Arabella sighed and held her hand to him while talking to Violet. "Oh, look at what you did. Now he's depressed again." Violet sighed deeply as she walked to her master. "Vindivicus, you know I was just joking. Turn around with that cute face of yours and at least cry on my shoulders.." The blond ranger looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "I'm still a woman, I don't like this at all. My stomach hurts for no reason and my back hurts from having to bend backwards all the time with these huge udders." Arabella noticed the lack of tears on his face while he sobbed. "eh, Violet?" Meanwhile the black haired ranger was to caught up in her guilt. "It-It's just your period coming soon, You will have turned back into a man before then. If you stop crying you can, eh.. Okay, If you stop crying you can kiss me twice." She had barely finished her sentence when the blondine turned around and kissed her lips. "There is a good girl, I almost forgive you." Violet fell backwards from the sudden treatment. "Wah, why? What are you doing?" She saw Flora smile widely at her while he giggled. "Haha, your facial expression cheered me right up." He glanced over to Arabella to see another disappointed dull look aimed at him. "Don't tell me you figured out how to exploit your feminine body.. Please do us all the favor of reminding us you are actually a man, don't ever giggle like that again." Flora moved his hands through his hair and walked over to the button that had closed the dark pit earlier. "Fine, let's leave then. The earlier we're out of this city the earlier I get back to normal." Violet gave him a confused look. "Why, we haven't found the item that changes your appearance?" The blondine stopped dead in his tracks. "The mist ball thingy wasn't it?" The black haired ranger shook her head. "No, we found that thing by chance. We are looking for an item that changes ones appearance." Flora pondered for a moment and ran up the stone stairs, finding out he couldn't open it from the inside he pressed the stone button that opened the dark pit. "To get that thing we need to get out of here first, the stairway is blocked off leaving us the pit." He took out his icepicks again and picked himself a ladder in the wall, repeating this he slowly build them a way down the pit. Not long after that he could see light at the bottom and commotion on top. The three of them had gone down leaving the treasure room empty apart from spread out piles of gold, Out of one of them a small portion had found its way into Flora's bag. Above them the echidna had heard the noise the pit cover had made during is movement. The echidna was now looking down the hole again with a frown on her face, her sarcastic tone echoed through the cylindrical hole. "Very clever, But don't you think for even a second that you are a free man now." Above them the stone cover moved back into place, closing off their entry point. The girls had to endure holding on to a wall for some time till Flora had made it to the bottom of the pit. It was a four meter drop onto the broken platform that they had seen earlier. The young blond girl jumped down making a rolling motion after he landed, feeling a numbness shoot through his legs. "I should have practiced that drop-roll more back when I had the chance.."

=Chapter 8: Stranded..=

He suddenly fell to the ground and felt as if his body was about to explode, he grabbed his legs and tried to pull himself up. He could see his breasts deflate and his arms get bigger if only a little, he then tried to take off his pants as it suddenly became tighter and tighter sending pain through his loins. The two girls jumped down next to him and barely broke a bone. Only having heard him breath heavily and curse under his breath they now saw their friend as his old self, only now he had taken off all his clothes and was still squirming slightly from the last little parts of his body morphing. Having turned back he felt like his old self again. That was the moment he noticed the two girls leaning over him, as if they where hypnotized they looked over his features. Florandus quickly covered himself and began adjusting his clothes. Arabella was struck silent while Violet sat down next to him with a wide grin. "Before you change that outfit back to your male measurements.. We still have another one of those gender potions, I don't assume you want to walk through the city streets again as mamono bait." The young man inched away from her and put on his underwear. "Keep that bottle away from me, why don't you use it instead?" The black haired girl rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, but it's easier to change that spirit energy factory of yours to a weaker one like that of a woman and back than making a woman's weaker spirit energy production into a stronger one from scratch." Florandus chuckled. "So it only works on men, I could have guessed. I'm not gonna drink that stuff ever again." wondering what that light was earlier The young man followed the glow of light that came from a torch that hang lonely on a pillar above a reflective surface. Arabella blushed as she spoke in a very quiet tone. "I like you more like this anyway." Violet laughed loudly and patted her on the back. "Who's sucking up to who now, hahaha!" Their voices echoed through the room as if copies of them repeated it one after another from all sides. Their mentor patted both their heads. "As long as you don't trick me into drinking that stuff again I'll like you two just as much as you do me." The girls blushed when the flick of someone's fingers sounded through the room, a wave of weak magic ignited all the torches in the room. The rangers could now see that they where standing on a small platform in the middle of a giant lake-sized room filled with bright blue clear water, the platform they where standing on was ten centimeters higher than the water height and the pillar with the torch was just one of many all two meters apart. An echo sounded through the room. "Oh, but you will drink a lot more.." At one of the four sides of the room the echidna, the salamander, the cyclops, the arachne, the amazonas and a few more guards watched them. The salamander showed a sad expression when she recognized the two girls and the boy's hair color. "Flora, you where a man all this time?!" The arachne eyed the cyclops."I knew that skin was to flawless, I still could have used a second opinion." The cyclops rolled her eye to the arachne. "If you knew as much about weapons as me you too would have left that room when seeing those demon lord-grade weapons." The echidna spread her arms in a welcoming manner and smiled widely. "The girls are allowed to live and the young man too, on one condition.. The water you see all around you is no ordinary water, It does not harm women after all. It is only a male that experiences the effects, though you will find out about that yourself. If all three of you reach the elevated platform I am currently residing on no matter your bodily state, you will be allowed to leave this city alive and with all the possessions you have on you." Florandus watched the strange water, not at all at ease with what might happen where he to touch it. Arabella touched the surface of the water making a ripple in it that travelled through the whole lake, causing new ripples when it passed a pillar. She inspected the finger and smiled at Violet. "She wasn't lying about it not affecting women." At that the two girls lowered themselves into the water at knee-hight and slowly moved towards the echidna. half a minute later they pulled themselves up and looked back to the lone man. The two looked anxiously back at their mentor. "We're sorry, you're to heavy for us to lift and carry over. You have to find another way!" The salamander dragged them out of his sight and heard her yell at them about betrayal and how disappointed and heart broken she was. Florandus thought about what he should do. The ceiling was to high and he had nothing as a raft, then he calculated his chances of succes of he would jump from pillar to pillar.. Knowing that the later was the best shot he had he now looked at the consequences where he to fail. The ranger took out the Runic ball and squeezed it, making a red mist fill part of the room. The red mist now concentrated in the form of a harpy carrying a man over to his platform, leaving him there. The man reacted as if he was spoken to in the same manner as the echidna just had, the man soundlessly laughed it off and jumped into the water. He slipped and dipped completely into the water, when he emerged his body had taken form of that of a woman. The man panicked and ran back to the platform where he crawled up and continued his screaming fit. The red mist was sucked back into the ball when Florandus loosened his grip on it. Even over the long distance the ranger could still hear the echo of the echidna muttering to herself. "So that's what it does.."

=Chapter 9: Up and over.=

The young man took out his icepicks and during his jump ran them into a pillar, the hooks dug themselves into the stone. Back on the platform the guards gasped at seeing him make it. Florandus climbed himself to the top of the pillar and turned with his back to the next, he set himself off the top of the pillar and hooked into the next. His picks hooked him half a meter above the water and he began repeating the process again and again. The salamander re-joined the others with the two girls behind her, they all stood amazed to see the young man already be half-way. The male ranger hooked a pick into the pillar right under his feet, giving his legs something to stand on and giving his arms time to rest. Violet took out the reserve gender changing bottle they had offered their friend earlier and showed it to the salamander. "If he drinks this again, won't that temporarily change him into a woman and make the water ineffective?" The echidna took the bottle and emptied it into the water, a stream of the same colored liquid poured out of the bottle. "Drinking this little will make it temporary, but what ever gender he is. Touching the water in this room will turn him into a woman forever." The young man eyed very worn out as he grappled to the last pillar, yet again he paused stabbing a pick at his feet. Between him and the platform was a three meter distance. He yelled to the guards in his exhausted state. "Clear some room for me, I'm gonna jump to that platform and leave this city like you promised." He took in heavy breaths as he saw them move aside. "To think that appearance changing thing was the size of a freaking lake.." Arabella cheered for him to make him forget about his tiredness. "Go Vindivicus, It's just one jump!" The black haired ranger joined in as well. "Master, you don't want to be a woman do you?" To the echidna's surprise even the salamander guard cheered along. "Common you lying bastard, you can't give up after coming this far!" Florandus mustered his strength and with him being at the very top of the pillar he launched himself off the pillar and retracting in his feet to make himself smaller in the air. He flew over the gap landing barely past the edge, his right shoulder took the blow and his picks slided on to the back wall without him. He had made it to the platform without touching the water, a smile painted on his face till one of the amazon walked up to him. She raised her leg to kick him off the side, she tried to move her foot down when she noticed the three girls pulling on it. The queen moved to the young man and pulled him further away from the water. "You have done well, I'm very impressed. As promised you are free to leave the city unharmed. Just see to it that you don't miss use that relic, just see it as a gift." Florandus felt a pain stabbing through his shoulder as he tried to move his arm, he held in his voice. The two rangers and the salamander where about to hug him when the arachne moved in their way. "Don't think I can't see the look on your face, let me see your shoulder. My queen, could you kindly release your grip on him?" The echidna rose to attention when spoken to and placed the young man against the wall while the two rangers picked up his picks. The arachne moved with her hands past Florandus shoulder and wove a tight bind around it, she made him a mantilla and placed his arm in it so that his right arm stopped moving. "You fractured the spherical bone that normally moves in your shoulder socket, this binding should keep it safe till you reach a potion shop or healer." The young man turned to the queen, he was visibly regaining his stamina. "I guess you will now tell me to never enter this city again?" The echidna chuckled at his assumption. "Oh no, you 'have' to come back every once in a while." The guards gave her shocked looks upon which the queen would pat the thief's head. "I let one of my subjects ask around the city about your uniforms after I saw you climb down the pit, I can't let a chance go bye on getting a Ranger's Guild in my city. "A lot of the ten thousand residents in my city where once maidens with a goal in life, after becoming mamono they had no other choice than live out there lives behind these walls. If training at that guild can give them purpose again, then I'm more than happy to allow access to one single man. And I'm aware that your guild allows mamono to join, will you accept?" Florandus was struck with surprise, he didn't know how to answer till he saw the tail on the salamander flare up of happiness. "I-I, Master Ranger of the Ranger's Guild accept and allow the creation of a guild base in your city." Cheering came from the two rangers and the salamander as they jumped the young man and possibly injure his shoulder. "One more thing." the cheering halted and the four looked back at the queen who showed an unnerving smile. "If however you start treating this city as your own personal harem, I will slowly pull off your genitals and then your limbs one by one till you bleed out on the streets." Vindivicus was helped up to his feet by his students. "I'll.. keep that in mind." They then brought him to a healer in the city who patched up his arm.

=Chapter 10: Setting up camp.=

Once Florandus had been healed he gave his two students and three more girls who where sent there on request a special education training so they could teach the at of archery to any who asked and owned a close enough mindset to those of the ranger's guild. He made a list of requirements that the new guild building would need in terms of living space, classrooms to teach members about all the kinds of mamono and training ranges. He made a contract about the monthly needed bows and arrows that the blacksmith's of the city would provide and many more. The echidna queen paid for half the expenses, a fourth was donated by the willing citizens and the Leading Ranger's Guild paid for the rest. It wasn't much later than a week of the crafters of the city giving it their all and the help of those that hoped to join till Florandus was messaged by the guild to revisit the city for a for an informal appreciation gift. The ranger entered the city and was given a specially requested broche that would mask his energy output and smell when in that specific city. This time he entered without having drunken some weird liquid and he was greeted by citizens such as the kikimora as if he where just another person. He made his way to the half build rangers guild and inspected the process, after making some corrections with approval of the build mistress he was called to the palace. There he was directed to a room all the way in the back where when he knocked on the door Violet and Arabelle half naked pulled him inside.

After seeing the guild completed and the first members being trained Florandus exited the city, dropped off the broche again and walked out towards another adventure.