AN: Here we go again, my gentle perverts. It's time for another Pink Sugar Apocalypse!

Chapter 9: Forest at Dusk

The thrill of adventure, and the agony of the feet. Rather, the agony of his feet. Scott knew not how many hours passed as he walked, but even enhanced status did not give a man new legs to walk on. After the hard running battle, and the nearly non-stop walking, Scott was ready to call it a day soon. Twilight was upon the forest, and with it came a renewed sense of dread. What sort of horrors would come for his ass in the darkness? His thoughts were not of a figurative nature. The man sincerely feared for his anal virginity in this place of lawless wonder.

Hours passed despite his desire to rest. The night-time sky he feared, still did not appear. Had he misjudged the time? Was it possible that the angle of the sun simply caused more shadows now? It mattered, but not much. Either way, he continued to make his way through the ancient woodland.

He followed paths, what appeared to be game trails for large animals, whenever he could. When he did so, he scanned the area intensely for signs of life. The creatures of this forest could become quite large, after all.

It was true dusk before he stopped to take his rest behind a series of overturned trees. Scott leaned against the rotting wood and sighed. "Damn... What's going to happen next?"

Several minutes passed while he allowed his aching feet to rest. Scott took in several shuddering breaths and closed his eyes. Consciousness immediately fled away from the man. He knew not how long he was out, but the moment he regained his senses, he softly whispered, "Can't afford to fall asleep. Need a better place off the ground."

Evidently, some time passed while his eyes were closed. The world was even darker than before. "Shit!" he hissed softly. How much daylight was left?

Scott rose up, slightly renewed by whatever rest he'd acquired. His feet still ached, as did his legs, but there was less tension. However, upon reaching his full-height he happened upon a new concern. Up ahead in a forest clearing he could see more cosplay women. There were two of them in fact.

He silenced the sound of his movements and his breathing. Stillness. That was the key. Do not move. Do not breathe. There were women up ahead.

Scott was at a loss as to what to do. Did he call out to them? Did he try to circumnavigate the two? Before he could make a decision he had to know what they were doing. His desire for a second round right now was at an all-time low.

Their voices rang clearly in the early evening air. A blond woman with vibrant green eyes, and a sculpted metal chest piece that almost looked like real armor, called out. "So, this was your plan? Lure me into the Heartwood then attack me?"

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" replied a pink haired woman snidely. Even from the current distance, Scott could tell that she was not the same pink haired woman from before.

The blond woman leveled her spear before her. Her light green armor shimmered in the light. "You wanted me out of the way this badly? Is the tournament worth winning by deception?"

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough," called out the pink haired woman in a high-pitched sing-song voice. Two daggers appeared in her hands and she leaned downward in an aggressive forward stance. Her leather bustier must be magical, as her impressive feminine architecture threatened to explode out of her top with every rhythmic movements she made from side-to-side.

"Then come!" snapped the spear wielding woman in a deep and commanding tone.

Scott watched in rapt attention from his hiding spot behind a tree. The pink haired girl leapt toward the spear woman. Her daggers flashed in a rapid series of strikes that were almost too fast for his eyes to follow. Yet, the spear woman easily kept those attacks at bay. She maintained her proper distance and used her spear with great skill.

The pink haired woman managed to slip under the spear woman's guard after a feint, and slashed at her heavily armored wrist. Her armor withstood the blow. Scott's eyes narrowed slightly. He'd finally seen someone take an attack without their clothes flying off.

Dagger woman tried to continue her attack, but the spear wielder whipped the butt of her spear upward and narrowly missed slamming it into her opponent's chin. Scott decided to think of the women as Blondie and Pink after that. They were clearly similarly matched, and the fight could go on for a while.

Pink was forced to dodge back to avoid the strike from Blondie, but that only left her open for a follow up attack. The spear blade whipped downward in a hard strike that took her in the thigh. Pink screamed in pain and surprise just before her leather leg armor rattled and unleashed a definitive cracking sound. The attack did quite a bit of damage to her armor. Scott could not see it, but the cracking sound was the buckles of her thigh-straps starting to give way after losing a large amount of durability.

"Bitch!" snapped Pink as she dodged another attack from Blondie. The spear wielder overreached in her enthusiasm to end the duel. She was left slightly off-balance due to the series of attacks. Pink lunged forward and unleashed two hard strikes to Blondie's armored torso.

Light flared from the green plate armor that Blondie wore then large chunks of it, especially around the breasts, exploded in a dynamic manner. Blondie's breasts strained against the fabric of her undergarment as the supernatural forces holding them at bay were reduced considerably.

Before the girl could recover, Pink slipped around to her back and delivered another hard strike that caused the armor to rip down the center. Her burgeoning bosom was unleashed! The hidden bounty of her bosom was freed from their prison of cloth and steel. In their joy at receiving the evening air, they bounced happily about for all to see.

"Ha!" cried Pink. "Serves you right."

"How dare you!" snarled Blondie, before she reversed the position of her last attack and slammed the butt of her spear straight back. Pink took the thick shaft to her face and was sent flying back.

The brown leather bodice that pink wore flew apart in a brilliant display of sound and fury, and she too unleashed her breasts upon the world. Scott bore witness to these happenings. As the battle wore-on, he could not help but wonder if he truly had stumbled into a world that ran on the principles of softcore anime porn. Why did clothes explode like that? It made no sense. He knew the answer, but the answer was illogical. Should he really accept that things just work that way?

Spear versus daggers, the battle continued. The femme fatales circled each other warily. At every sign of weakness one or the other would attack. Soon, both were near the point of complete nudity. They each had superficial wounds, a bloodied nose or lip. Pink had a few bruises on various parts of her body, and a long bleeding cut atop her breasts. Blondie had a series of shallow cuts in various areas that almost seemed artfully arranged. The wonders of hit points were seen in those injuries. Neither of them would lower combat capability in the slightest, but they showed signs of the struggle faced by these women.

It was then that it happened. Blondie moved forward for a decisive strike, but tripped on a partially buried root. Pink capitalized and lunged forward with great speed. Her breasts swayed heavily to one side as she attacked at an angle. Unable to recover in time, Blondie took a powerful double dagger strike to the center of her chest. She was sent flying back and her underwear, a rather scandalous bra and panty ensemble with lacey fringe, tore apart under the force of the attack.

She fell to the earth, naked in her defeat. Blondie panted then struggled to try and reach her feet, one arm across her chest to provide her dignity despite her loss. "So, you won..."

Pink kicked her legs out from under her and sent Blondie back to the ground. "Not yet..."

"What do you mean? I'm naked and defeated?" said Blondie with a hint of concern in her voice.

"You could always go back and put on some more armor. I can't have that if I want to win," said Pink, a dark expression on her face.

"That... you mean to kill me?" asked Blondie, incredulous a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Hey, look at you figuring things out," said Pink snidely while she tossed a dagger into the air and let it flip end over end in the air.

"Shit," whispered Scott angrily. What did he do? This was none of his business. He was exhausted, low on ammo, and knew he was outmatched in a straight fight. Yet, someone was about to die. A normal person would probably stay out of it, but his primary reason for being in this world was to be some sort of hero. Going against that could lead to his death just as easily as following that dictate. It was made clear that he would not be allowed to simply do as he wanted. He was given a job and a new life by the goddess of fate, herself.

Scott was not certain if it was the right thing to do. His life ended a while back on Earth. In this new one, he did not want to see what happened to him happen to others. He did not know either of these cosplay women, but he did not want to witness a cold-blooded murder if he could help it. The fact that the pink haired girl reminded him of the five forest bitches from earlier also helped his decision along.

"That's enough." said Scott after stepping out of hiding. Both Pink and Blondie looked over at him in shock. Whether it was because someone was nearby to witness their naked spectacle, or the fully erect schlong pointing at them, who was to say?

"Oh, it's just a man," said Pink after a moment. "Look little boy. Mind your own business."

Scott leveled his shotgun at Pink. "Murder is my business."

"What, your business is murder...? A male assassin? What will they think of next?" asked Pink with a laugh.

"Drop the knives and walk away. You only get one warning." he said, more confident than he really felt. He was not certain that he wanted to waste ammunition on this, but he was not about to just let this girl kill someone in front of him when they were not capable of fighting back.

Pink lifted a hand to her beautiful lips then laughed against her knuckles. "Only one? What a cheapskate."

Her hand flashed forward with great speed, enough speed that Scott almost missed it. Her dagger flew through the air like a rocket and slammed against his forehead. He could feel the incredible pressure of the blow, and he was staggered slightly by the attack. However, both his forehead and his armor held.

"What? No way..." cried Pink in surprise. "How could you survive that?"

His armor seemed no worse for wear, but a thin trickle of blood slipped down his forehead. Her attack had been mostly negated, but it was strong enough to leave a minor wound despite the bizarre protections that equipped clothing afforded. He wore no armor on his head equipment slot, after all.

Pink tried to move forward to finish the job, but despite her great speed she was not faster than the blast of a shotgun. She inadvertently ran straight into the path of the shot that Scott fired off.

The pink haired assassin took the blast square in the chest and was sent flying back. Her panties exploded in mid-air and she landed hard upon the earth. Blood oozed from dozens of tiny wounds on her chest. She had not had much in the way of clothing left. The blast was not negated to as great a degree as it might have been otherwise. Though, he now knew just what he was in for if she managed to attack again. The fact that she could withstand damage twice what the first group of girls could withstand, and receive little in the way of damage in doing so, told Scot everything he needed to know about her potential lethality.

Pink gasped for air, as the last intake of breath had been driven from her chest by the blow. Naked and afraid she started to curl up in a ball. By the time she completed the motion her opponent was on her feet, spear in hand.

Scott glanced over to the spear wielding woman. He watched carefully as she moved to her downed opponent. He waited, ready to fire if she tried to deliver a killing blow of her own. He did not know either of these people, but he had acted to stop a murder not enable another.

"She'll live," said Blondie after a moment. She looked to Scott. "Thank you for your assistance in this matter."

"Sure," said Scott in a non-comital manner. He was still not certain what the situation really was, but at least no one was dead.

The pink haired girl gasped then slid one hand down between her thighs. "So warm..."

Blondie glanced down at her, surprised and a little disturbed. "What is it that you are doing?"

"You mean that's not normal?" asked Scott. All five of the other girls had acted like that to some degree after he made their clothes fly off.

"What? No..." said Blondie while Pink panted loudly between soft moans.

Scott took a moment to reload another shell. Only six shots left. He hoped that he had not just wasted one.

"What will you do now?" asked Blondie. She glanced down at Pink then back over to Scott. She made no attempt to cover herself despite her naked glory, though she did hold her spear in a tight grip.

"Maybe you can help me with that. Is there a town or something near here?" asked Scott.

"You don't know?" asked Blondie. It was rare to see a male traveler alone. Bad things could happen to a man who traveling by himself.

Scott shook his head without taking his eyes off of her. Blood from his head wound started to trickle down the side of his nose before he spoke again. "I'm pretty sure that I'm not from around here."

"I see. A traveler lost in the wood?" asked Blondie. After Scott nodded she said, "I will personally see you to town. I should also offer you a reward for your actions."

"No need, though I won't say no if you do," said Scott before levelling a smile at her. Blondie inclined her head then allowed a slight smile of her own.

"I can't believe I lost to a boy," muttered Pink, before moaning softly and biting her lower lip.

"Are you going to behave yourself now?" asked Blondie.

"Yeah, yeah. Geez. What else am I gonna do?" replied Pink before she sat up. She turned her head toward Scott. "Don't you go bragging about this!"

"Wouldn't dream of it..." remarked Scott as he attempted to understand the atmosphere. Why were these two acting like all was forgiven when they had just fought each other so bitterly?

Pink eyed Scott's powerful erection for a moment then made a whistling sound. She nodded her head twice then giggled softly. She placed her hands to her breasts to cover them in an act of demure modesty and gazed at him with soft, but intense, eyes. "Fine. If you spare my life, I'll reward you later," remarked Pink with a flirty wink.

"No need, but I won't say no if you do..." replied Scott, an amused smile on his lips. That brought a laugh from the two naked women. The tension in the air was dispersed, but Scott still eyed them critically. Their defenses were gone, but who knew what they would try next.