Chapter 136 - Meal for One

In the Shu’s dressing room, the four girls were busy dividing up the glowing rocks amongst themselves.

“How about if each of us takes turns picking our favourite ones, that seems fair.” Mia said, finishing off another pastry.

“There’s eleven rocks, someone is only going to get two.” Diana frowned.

“Well, I was the one that found them.” Victoria said, “And Mia hid them for us. Ella helped pack them into the chest at Mia’s place.”

“I think I deserve three.” Diana countered, “After what happened earlier. My image was damaged because we decided to ask that stupid girl for help.”

“It’s a good thing Char Char isn’t here, we probably would have had to split them with her.” Mia nodded.

“I- I’m fine with two.” Ella said quietly. The shy girl was the least enthusiastic about the weird glowing rocks - something about them gave her a bad feeling.

“Ella, you need to stand up for yourself more.” Victoria said, “You can’t always just hang back, you know.”

“I know...” Ella hesitated, but grabbed Diana’s arm and gently pushed her forward, “But Diana can take three stones, I really am fine with two.”

“Ella!” Diana placed her hand against her heart as she showed a look of sincere appreciation to her friend.

“It’s settled then!” Victoria smiled brightly, picking up the largest glowing stone, “We’ll all choose one at a time.”

“I choose this one!” Diana reached for the second largest, but as she picked it up it suddenly slipped from her grasp, striking the side of the table before crashing against the floor.

“Careful!” Mia giggled in a sing-song tone, “You dropped it yourself, that one’s definitely yours now.”

“I didn’t-“ Diana looked down at the rock with a shocked expression, “It moved on its own.”

“How could it move on its own? Don’t be ridiculous.” Victoria scolded, then grinned cruelly, “Maybe you really are a clutz.”

“I swear that it moved...” Diana muttered as she knelt down to pick up the rock. She cradled it in her arms and put it back on the table, turning it around to examine it.

“Ah, there’s a crack on it now- See what you did.” Mia said, peeking around from behind Diana.

“Noo...” Diana whimpered.

Crack.

The rock suddenly shook as the small crack suddenly extended into a long line down its side. The green light from within began to pulse faster and brighter.

“What’s going on?”

The girls’ eyes widened as they watched the rock continue to tremble. Rocky shards began falling off onto the table and floor, revealing a hollow interior.

“It’s not a rock... It’s an egg!” Mia exclaimed as she came to an epiphany.

The girls gathered even closer, their faces almost right up to the mysterious rock egg that was hatching right in front of them. Only Ella backed up, subconsciously retreating closer to the door as a feeling of fear bubbled inside her.

With a loud pop, a large chunk of the egg burst off and smashed against the floor as a scaly brown tail suddenly freed itself from inside. It was wrapped in a mucous-y green membrane that glowed vibrantly. As the creature inside the egg struggled, the membrane stretched and split, and with a final thrust the top of the egg shell clattered to the table top.

The creature in the base of the egg shell was plump and round, with a long flat snout and tiny teeth. It had soft, round scales, oversized arms and stubby legs. It had bright yellow eyes with narrow pupils that blinked sideways as it looked around the room. The rock egg had been the size of a melon, but the creature must have been curled up tightly inside it. Stretched out, it now seemed too big to fit inside its previous vessel.

With a bit of struggling it finally broke completely free of the slimy membrane that was wrapped around it. The glowing green light slowly faded to nothing.

“It’s so... cute!!!” Mia squealed as she held her hands up to her mouth.

“They were really eggs...!” Diana looked at the baby creature with amazement.

“It kind of looks like a lizard.” Victoria said, “but it doesn’t look like any reptile that I’ve seen before.”

“Do you think it’ll bite?” Mia asked, timidly reaching forward toward the creature, which was busy falling over as it tried to climb out of the remains of its egg shell. “Here, little lizard, don’t be scared.”

“Careful-“ Ella called out. She felt her back bump into something - it was the door knob leading out into the hallway. She had subconsciously gravitated toward the exit while the other girls remained infatuated with the baby creature.

“Her scales are so soft!” Mia purred as she gently ran her fingers down its back.

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Victoria asked, reaching forward and petting it as well. The lizard did not seem to notice as it lazily flopped onto the table.

“Mother’s intuition!” Mia grinned.

“You’re not a mother, though.” Victoria said, “If anything, Diana would be her mother.”

Diana had a gloomy look on her face as she looked at the baby lizard. She had no interest in lizards or creatures, mumbling to herself, “So it wasn’t filled with crystals after all.”

“It’s not a big loss.” Mia smiled, petting the lizard even more affectionately, “You can’t eat crystals.”

“So you’re going to eat the lizard?” Diana snuffed.

Mia gasped, reaching over protectively to hug the lizard, “No! How could you even suggest such a thing!”

“Mia- I think maybe you shouldn’t be getting so close to it...” Ella said.

“What are you doing over by the door?” Victoria raised an eyebrow at Ella, “Are you scared?”

“I just have a bad feeling... Shouldn’t we tell an adult?”

“They’ll just take Gao Gao away.” Mia said, “Oh, look Victoria, Gao Gao likes you.”

The lizard had stopped flopping around as it became accustomed to its surroundings. It lay on the table like a rotund baby crocodile, its big, yellow eyes focused intensely on Victoria. After a moment it began to crawl toward Victoria.

“You named it already?” Victoria grinned, reaching out to the lizard and petting it, though she kept her distance from it, not being quite as comfortable with the reptile as Mia. “We can tell someone later. There’s no rush.”

“Ok, that’s a bit too close, Gao Gao.” Victoria gently placed her hand on the lizard’s snout as it reached the edge of the table and tried to reach out to her. She stepped away from the table with a nervous smile on her face.

The lizard continued to stare intensely at Victoria as it began huffing in excitement. It sounded like it was coughing, or laughing. Its body expanded and contracted like a balloon with each breath.

“...Adorable.” Diana muttered, a disgusted look on her face.

“She looks like she’s about to cry!” Mia said.

“Or vomit.” Victoria replied, feeling uneasy under the reptile’s intense gaze. She started walking around the table, to try to move out of its view, but it rotated in its spot to continue looking at her, all the while hyper ventilating.

As she circled the table Victoria suddenly realized that several of the other rocks that were still scattered on the table now had cracks in them. They were glowing brighter as well, pulsing quicker as the life inside began to stir.

“Look, the other eggs-“ She said.

“They’re hatching too!” Mia’s eyes grew wide.

A large crack suddenly split the top of an obloid egg rock as grey shards scattered onto the table. An oversized paw still wrapped in a glowing green mucous membrane punched its way out.

A smaller egg beside it tipped over as a tail shot out from the side.

One by one all of the rocks on the table began to shake as if a signal had been received by them to hatch.

The newly born Gao Gao’s attention turned away from Victoria as it was distracted by the eggs. It took one last inhale and froze, opening its eyes so wide that they started bulging out of its eyes.

“Oh- She’s excited to meet her brothers and sisters!” Mia said.

At the door to the room, Ella heard a girl’s voice clearly speak to her. “Run for help!”

Ella’s eyes snapped away from the lizard as she looked around her for the source of the voice. A flowing lock of long white hair played at the edge of her vision, but no one was there.

After a bit of a struggle a small broad head appeared, poking out of its shell. Gao Gao stared it at for a few seconds then opened its mouth in a giant toothy smile that was so wide it practically split its face in two.

The newborn lizard barely opened its eyes, brushing away the mucous to see a giant maw closing in around its head.

CHOMP.

Diana let out a scream as Gao Gao cleanly bit off the head of its newborn sibling. The decapitated body hung in the air briefly and then smacked down limply against the broken shell underneath it.

Victoria and Diana were wide eyed in shock as they abruptly backed away from the table. There was a slam as Diana knocked over a chair, nearly falling over herself.

“G-Gao Gao, no! You musn’t-“ Mia trembled as she backed off as well, tears brimming in her eyes.

The rest of the body was devoured in several large chomps. All the girls could do was watch in horror. Gao Gao licked its lips voraciously as it swept its eyes across the table and pounced on one of the other eggs that was just about to hatch.

This sibling didn’t even get a chance to see outside its shell before it was chomped up furiously.

“Eeek!” Mia finally averted her eyes, unable to watch as the lizard went into a frenzy, smashing the hatching eggs around it with its oversized front paws and devouring each and every one of the lizards whole.

With a sweep of its tail Gao Gao swept the table clear of the rock shells. The sturdy table rocked and groaned under the lizard’s weight - it had grown nearly three times in size in an instant! Its skin, which had been soft and velvety, crusted over with hardened scales with the texture of rough hewn granite. Thick, sharp claws grew out of its oversized front paws.

The four girls were scattered around the room, pressed against the walls in horror and shock as the monstrous lizard stared around the room with its bright yellow eyes. It passed by each of the girls without showing any interest, until its gaze landed upon Victoria.

Its eyes bulged out of its head as it began hyperventilating, its whole body shaking in excitement. A wet, limp piece of flesh hung out of the side of its mouth.

Victoria was frozen against the wall. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her body was rigid and unresponsive. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the flesh that dangled from the lizard’s mouth. Though the lizard hadn’t moved from its spot yet, it was eyeing her with the same ravenous intent that it had shown towards its devoured siblings.

All Victoria could think of was how that dangling piece of flesh would soon be her fate. Her friends were crying out to her from the far side of the room, but their voices were muddled. Her whole world shrunk to that single piece of flesh.

At the periphery of her vision Victoria thought she saw long, white strands of hair blowing in the wind.

An illusory voice called out to her,

“Tear off your dress!”