Taylor was dubious, but she trusted Lisa. So with a mental shrug, because a real one would hurt to much, she forced herself to relax, and wait for her power to return. And it did, bit by bit. Her sphere of influence slowly expanded, the bugs within remaining longer and longer, sending marginally clearer feelings. It took time, maybe hours, but a map of the rough map of world around her coalesced. She even began receiving the instinctual feelings of what each bug was supposed to be! But what she found disconcerted her, to say the least. She was pretty damn sure that dragonflies weren't supposed to have two stingers instead of a tail.
She mentally shook off the though. She could examine the weird tropical bugs when they weren't stranded and possibly in danger. Sh focused her mental map, noting that they were sitting on a pretty deep crater, if the displaced earthworms -that spit fucking acid, somehow— working around her were to be trusted. She moved her attention out of the crater, noting the truly massive trees, as thick as she was tall, and burnt flora radiating from their hole in the ground. Beyond the damaged area, the trees stood tall and a myriad of plants and flowers that drawed the attention of most of the bugs around it. It didn't seem to be any animals around though. Maybe scared off by the obvious explosion? She tried to order the bugs in her control to explore the area, to some limited success. Most simply didn't do anything, almost if they were ignoring her commands. She found that a bit galling. The ones that did heed her directions did so for just for a couple of seconds before going back to what they were doing. She found that to make a bug stick to really do what she wanted to, she had to focus solely on it. And even then, it sometimes slipped from her mental grasp, twitching every other way.
The hell is going on! I could micromanage thousands of these things as a second thought! Why can't I do the same with you! Why do you fight me!
"Got anything?" asked Lisa, jarring her from her rant.
"I... don't know," she answered in a pinched voice, face scrunched in pain and concentration. "There's... There's some really weird stuff going on. I don't recognize any of the bugs here, and some of them seem do stuff that shouldn't be physically possible. Same deal with the plants. And it doesn't seem that there are any animals around, and I can't direct any bugs to look for some."
Lisa blinked. "Ok," she grunted as propped herself upright again. "Can you show me one of these bugs?" Taylor grunted her affirmation. For a moment, the blonde thought her friend might have forgotten about her request until she spotted a beetle flying erratically. She tracked it as it flew closer, and sketchily landed in her lap.
Again, Lisa blinked. The beetle looked fairly normal, if one ignored the fact that it was a metallic black -not that unusual— and that it was bigger than a freakin' baseball. But even with those features taken into account, she still didn't see anything reality breaking. Nature had made stranger things, and rainforests tended to be chock full of them. "Taylor," she said, "I'll admit this guy is a little weird, but I don't see anything..." She trailed off as another bug, a weird cross between a mosquito and a caterpillar, landed on the ground next to her.
The blonde started when the beetle shot a glob of whitish blue stuff at the wormsquito. The stuff immediately glued to the bug, quickly hardening. The bug tried to struggle, but soon it was completely immobile. The beetle jumped off Lisa's lap, and proceeded to eat the hardened glue, and the bug inside. Lisa stared nonplussed at the display, not sure what to think or say. She settled with an easy "That's new" as she flopped back. Taylor hummed in agreement.
An uneasy silence passed then, as the two friends left each other to mull on their own thoughts. Lisa went back to her breathing exercises, trying to get her headache to go away. Taylor let her conscious float through her small and inconsistent swarm, feeling as her power very slowly expanded and normalized. Not much happened then. It felt like hours had passed, but in reality, only half an hour passed, as evidenced by the sun's fractional movement.
It wasn't until shadows of some wayward clouds blanketed the sun that something truly dangerous happened. It has heralded when Taylor stiffened in surprise. "Lisa," she called.
Oh no. I know that tone, she thought. She sat up, her entire frame twinging. "Right, I take it we should be getting ready for a fight?"
Taylor propped herself on her side and cracked her eyes open for the first time, blinking the crust off. That's when she noticed that her glasses were busted, but that could wait. "There's something moving our way fast. The only thing I know is that it's large and strong. Can't tell what it is and I still don't have enough fine control to tag it. Best we can do is make sure it doesn' find us."
"Right, and staying in the big hole in the ground isn't good way to do so," said Lisa as she stood up on wobbly legs. She grimaced when she felt her back creak painfully and her ribs flare up. Yep, definitely a cracked rib. She shook her head. "Need help?" she asked her friend.
Taylor winced as she sat up straight. "Yeah, I think my ankle is sprained, at the very least." Lisa offered her a hand, and she took it. Both groaned in pain as Lisa helped her friend up, their combined weight straining their already battered frames. "We should hurry," Taylor panted. She pointed at some somewhere to their right. "He's getting close."
Lisa nodded, and did her best to climb out of the shallow crater they were in while helping her friend hobble along. They were nearing the edge when Taylor stumbled, dragging Lisa with her. "Shit!" they both yelled when they fell, their own injuries reminding them of their existence. They lay on top of each other, groaning and cursing under their breath. And then Taylor blanched as she turned to look at the fallen trees on the other side of the crater.
"It sped up," Taylor whispered, fear in her eyes. "We can't escape now."
"Maybe it's friendly and only wants to help?" Lisa hedged, not believing her own words.
"I wouldn't hold my breath."
"Ugh... A fight it is then?"
"Seems like it. Get ready, he's going to be here any second now."
Lisa whined in resignation, but stood up again anyway. She pulled her pistol out of her concealed holster at the hem of her pants, pointing it in the direction she expected their opponent to come from. She noted that the amount of bugs around them increased, but their flight paths were erratic, more than one smacking into her.
They waited a few tense seconds, vigilant for their adversary, ready to shoot it if necessary.
When he did finally crawled up among the fallen trees, they kinda forgot to shoot him, so great was their surprise. Of all possible things that they thought could have showed up, a cat boy wasn't one of them.
He, and it was certainly he, held himself aloft over a tree, allowing them a clear view to his powerfully build chest. It was slender, yet totally ripped; clearly defined muscles shifting and tensing under his black furred skin, moving with predatory grace. His long, dirty grey hair fell from his head and spilled over his shoulders. It was kept from his face by a small headband made out leaves. His face was humanoid in shape, yet feline in features and equally furred. He snarled at the two girls, showing a pair of long and sharp canines, fit for a carnivore. But his most striking feature were his eyes; two golden, slitted globes shining bright with the promise of malice.
Taylor was somewhat ashamed to admit it, but it was kinda sexy, in a weird way.
Or at least she thought so, right up until he finished pushing himself on top of the tree, and revealed that he didn't really have legs attached to his hip, but a long and scaly tail. And just like that, her opinion of him did a complete one-eighty.
Lisa winced where she was standing next to Taylor. Unfortunately for the blonde, she lost her hold on her power from the sheer surprise. And the intuits she got were, if anything, detrimental for their situation. She already knew that it was likely they would get their asses kicked. When the catboy showed up, she thought they would get eaten. But now her power let her know that it was just as likely that he would rape them. Quite honestly, she'd rather be eaten.
... In a non-sexual way, thank you very much!
"So," Taylor said from where she was sitting, eyeing the obvious carnivore as he slinked his way over the fallen forest. "How screwed are we?"
"Very," Lisa answered tinily. "Maybe even literally."
Taylor blinked confusedly, but any questions about what she meant were driven out of her head the moment the snake-boy exploded into motion as he reached the edge of the crater.
Lisa was expecting it, and managed to pull the trigger once. But he was expecting it too, and dodged out of the way. He reached the center of the crater, and coiled his tail, springing after them a second later. But he faltered halfway through when a bug rammed directly into his eye. He roared in pain, bringing his clawed hands to his eye. His charge missed completely, planting his face on the edge of the crater. Taylor scrambled out of the way as their assailant rolled down the slope, barely dodging out of the way. Lisa wasn't so lucky; the tail of the beast swiping her legs from under her. She fell on her back, the impact sending shocks of pain through her spine and ribs, robbing her lungs of air.
Taylor winced when she heard Lisa's pained gasp. She moved to help her, but that's when snakeboy landed between them, baring his fangs in an angry snarl. His eye was reddened, but still functioning. She tried to gather more bugs to her as he loomed over her, but the bugs still shrugged her control. The best she could manage was a thin cloud surrounding her. But it was enough to give him pause, yellow eyes darted between her face and the orbiting bugs.
"That was you wasn't it?" he spoke, to Taylor's immediate and great surprise. He laughed at her because of it. "You're one of those are you?" he said with derision. "You off-worlders are always the same. They look down on us simply because we don't adhere to your standards. Think us to be..." He ignored the bugs and reached, gripping her neck, his claws drawing blood. She squawked in surprise, but choked half way when she was lifted clean of her feet, bringing her to his eye level. "... Stupid," he finished airly, breathing right into her face. He grinned maliciously. "They always end up the same."
A sharp crack rang, and the catman screamed. He twisted, allowing to see Lisa propped on her side, pistol pointed unsteadily at their attacker. He growled, but then grinned again as his eyes darted to Taylor for a second. She looked to Lisa, catching her alarmed face for a second before she was bodily thrown at her.
Both cried out when Taylor's body impacted. The force was enough to push them a good four feet. Both also heard the telltale snap of a rib breaking. Lisa wheezed in pain as Taylor groaned on top of her. She was pretty sure that her rib was poking something important, if the blinding pain in her chest meant something.
She screamed again when something wrapped around them and squeezed. They were lifted upright, bound together by the tail of the predator. He was leering down at them. He put his hands on their heads, and caressed them almost lovingly. Taylor was left wondering why the thing was suddenly being so affectionate, at least until his crotch split open and two barbed dicks spilled out. Then she could only tremble in fear. He let out a dark chuckle, gripping their hair and pulling their heads to his crotch. He settled them at either side of his penises, one girl for each, and began rubbing himself on them.
Taylor whimpered and scrunched her eyes as she felt the rubbery barbs press and scrape against her cheek. She had no illusion of what was going to happen, and the mix of utter disgust and fearful desperation was making her stomach churn. It didn't help that she could smell his strong heady musk. It was one of the single most disgusting things she ever smelled.
Lisa, on the other hand, was a more preoccupied by the creeping darkness in her eyes, slowly losing her grip on consciousness.
Their rapist chuckled again, and separated their heads from his members. "Now, hope you are ready, because I certainly am," he said as he brought their mouths to to the tip of his spiny cocks. Taylor clamped her lips as hard as she could, refusing to let him in. Lisa, offered no resistance, but she might have as well been a dead fish, her mouth offering no pressure or play.
The catsnake frowned, but then just shrugged. Irresponsive as she may be, it was still a warm, wet hole. If anything, her friend should more that pick up the slack. Oh how he enjoyed it when they fought! His leer doubled in intensity as he focused on her. He pulled her a little higher, and to the side, exposing her shoulder. He licked his lips, and bared his fangs. He moved her gaping maw down on her, her sharp fangs piercing the thick but flimsy cloth covering her, but only to be stopped dead. Mildly surprised, he tore the blue cloth, revealing a second layer. This one was a dark grey, much more finely woven and skintight. He raked his claws along the surface, and found the cloth intact. Where he in any other situation, he'd be annoyed. However, his prey was already defeated, her resistance token at best. A mild challenge. One that he was set to enjoy.
Taylor felt her head being pulled to the side, felt the tiny dots of great pressure on her shoulder, the sound of her hoodie being torn. She cracked one eye open, just in time as she saw thing run his claws over her suit, finding no purchase. She thanked whatever gods there might be out there for spider silk. Only they know whatever he was trying to do.
Then her head was jerked upright again, and felt the tip of a dick insistently poking her thin lips, looking for a way in. And it did find it, the sharp point settling between her lips and forcing them apart with ease. Tears spilt from her closed eyes as the head violated her mouth. She tried to push it out with her tongue, but it did exactly the opposite of what she wanted, the owner of the dick grunting and pushing harder against it. She realized that this was a fight that she wasn't going to win, and began to sob around the intruding member.
Psss-zrap!
A noise that Taylor never heard before screamed into the clearing, the rapist catsnake along with it. His hands left their heads to reach for his back, allowing their mouths to pop free, and in Lisa's case, to loll back bonelessly. He twisted his body, looking behind him. The strange hissing and crackling sound returned just as the feline's head jinked to one side, letting a bright red flash sail past.
