Took me long enough, eh? Well...I'm lazy. Also, I'm putting review responses at the end of this for anyone reading on FF.

Chapter Two: Never Split The Party

Oribe Mutsumi looked out towards the sea as she hugged her knees and came to terms with the situation at hand. Her plane for the class trip crashed, and everyone she knew, including her boyfriend, Sora Takahashi, and best friend/other romantic interest, Naruse Chitose, were likely dead.

She was many things, adorable, an insect enthusiast, the quiet girl in class, rocker of a kickass cowboy hat, and girlfriend to the world's biggest goofball. It was now time to add "Plane Crash Survivor" to that list, and maybe "Survivor on an Uninhabited Island" as well if she made it out of this alive.

She sighed as she stood up, dusting off the sand that stubbornly clung to her. There was no helping the reality of the situation.

As her boyfriend, Sora, would've put things: Shit was fucked.

And now it was time to unfuck it.

The survivalist training she had kicked into high gear. It was time to get to work.

"First things first," Oribe began. "I need to secure a source of food and clean water, then I need to make some sort of shelter."

Oribe had to keep her thoughts from racing again, the faster she got the basic steps done, the faster she could look for Sora and Chitose.

As she explored her current surroundings, prying a few dozen barnacles off of some rocks on the coastline for food. Barnacles, when cooked, taste pretty close to shrimp.

Suddenly, while in the middle of gathering barnacles, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Hey!"

Due to not expecting to meet anyone, and being so engrossed into her own activities, Oribe jumped practically ten feet in the air out of fright.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The cowboy hat-wearing girl screamed as she jumped back.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The newcomer also screamed, jumping back as well.

Their screaming was cut short as they finally got a good look at each other.

The person before Oribe was a tall girl with short brown hair and brown eyes, that wore a blue and white tracksuit.

Oribe blinked, not fully believing the sight in front of her. "M-Matsuoka..." She all but ran towards the girl and grabbed her shoulders. "Matsuoka Ayumi, is that you!?"

Matsuoka Ayumi, she was part of the basketball club, and in the same class as Oribe. They never talked much, but they didn't have a bad relationship.

Matsuoka stared at Oribe for a few seconds before hugged the smaller girl tightly and began bawling "Thank goodness! You're alive!"

While startled by the sudden hug, Oribe realized something. She wasn't the only survivor! That means there's no doubt that Sora and Naruse are still alive too!

Oribe hugged her back. "M-Matsuoka, where's everyone else?"

Matsuoka looked down, unable to meet Oribe's eyes. "I walked around the beach for more than an hour. You're the only one I found so far. I even found several houses and private houses on the way, but no sign of people living in them."

Oribe crossed her arms. "I'm the only one she's found so far? My odds of finding Sora and Naruse are looking lower by the minute."

She sighed, finding those two weren't a priority right now. And if either of those two found out she wasn't prioritizing her own safety, then she'd be getting the talking to of a lifetime.

So, what are the odds of rescue right now?

Oribe turned to her classmate. "Three days at most...That's how long we'll have to survive using our own abilities until rescue arrives."

Matsuoka blinked. "Why three days?"

"We've been placed in a hypothetical situation," Oribe began. "If people did live on this island, then we should have been able to contact the airlines ourselves and held would arrive within a minimum of 12 hours. But as you saw, Matsuoka, this is an abandoned island. So, thinking about it from the size of the plane crash, the Self-Defense Force should come to rescue us within three days at least. Therefore, the best measures that I can come up with at the moment to take are to not recklessly move around for the sake of the people who arrived here in the same way as me, and to procure food to survive for three days."

Matsuoka's perked up at the mention of food. "Huh? Food? Do we even have any food to survive?"

"Yes." Oribe motioned her hand over to the pile of barnacles she'd gathered. "Here, we have plenty."

Matsuoka gave the barnacles a cautious look. "You call this food…? These mountain-like jagged funny looking things?" She picked one up and tapped it against her fingernail. "I'm not sure I could eat something as hard as that."

Oribe nodded. "Don't worry, we just have to peel them out then cook them. Simple as that."

Matsuoka gave a bright smile as she heard the plan, then they went to work, gathering more barnacles and peeling them. They god flammable leaves and a mostly flat. Thin rock as their makeshift "grill" to cook food.

Unfortunately, Matsuoka's lighter was still wet from being tossed into the Ocean like Oribe. So, the resourceful girl took one of her yen coins and turned it into a convex lens using a droplet of water. Using the strong sunlight, they were able to start a fire and begin cooking their food.

As they wait for the barnacles to cook Matsuoka spoke up. "So…?"

Oribe blink. "Huh?"

"You're Sora's girl, eh?" She asked bluntly.

The sudden question caught her off guard. It was no secret that she and the goofball known as Sora Takahashi loved and cared for each other a lot. He often went with her and her teacher in relation to all things creepy-crawly, Enoki Inaho, on ecological trips to investigate local bug life. There were a few awkward moments when Enoki caught them being particularly intimate with each other. And there were also the few Enoki would...join them when if she caught them in the act.

Oribe blushed. "O-Oh, uh, y-yeah. We've, uh...we've been dating for a few months now."

Matsuoka nodded. "Ah, you two did seem pretty close, even at the start of the school year. Though wasn't he dating Jinno?"

Oribe winced, Jinno was a touchy subject for Sora. "Well, you see...they were dating, but she cheated on him with one of her teachers. I, uh...I got the whole story from Naruse."

Matsuoka matched her classmate's wince. "Ooooo, that sounds like it ended with a nasty break up."

Oribe sighed. "From what I heard, a door was slammed particularly hard."

She gulped. "Yikes."

"Yeah..." Oribe looked off into the dense forest of the island. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

Sora POV

I gave a hum of thought as my tendrils absorbed more and more biomass into my body from the corpses of the many spiders that surrounded me.

I was in Japan. There giant bugs. And shit was wacky as all hell.

There's only one thing that's missing.

"Where the fuck is the EDF when you need them?" I asked, expecting crazy-ass weapons of mass destruction that would put Racket & Clank to shame to suddenly appear.

I mean, seriously, if Alex "Fucking" Mercer can pop in out of nowhere, why the hell couldn't some crazy military force that saves the world time and time again from an invasion of giant alien bugs not also randomly show up too? Would make my life a hell of a lot easier, but them again…

I twisted my body and grabbed the fangs of the huntsman spider than tried to get the jump on me from behind. I slammed it into the ground and stomped on his head with my muscle mass variation legs as hard as I could, splattering blue blood everywhere.

This was fucking fun.

"Man, I need to come up with a name for these things," I said looking at my mutated limbs.

But it couldn't be just any name. It needed to be classy, have wordplay, and be super anime. Maybe something to do with the world venom?

Venom Slashers could work, but that's too easy of a name to go with.

I need alliteration, another V-word.

Got it!

Vindictive Venom! Perfect!

"Wait, what was I doing again?" I asked out loud.

Stab!

My eye twitched as I felt the fangs of another huntsman spider embed themselves into my back.

"Ah, now I remember." I ripped the foolish arachnid off of my back and toss the damn thing into the large branch of a tree impaling it. "Just how many fucking spiders are in this damned forest!?"

Fuck it.

I didn't have time for this shit, and I've already gotten more than enough biomass from these spiders. About time I booked it.

But, as fate would have it. More spiders came out of the woodwork to rip me a new asshole.

But, as I would have it. I'd go full character action game on these overgrown, eight-legged, motherfuckers till I was out of here.

Once again, I charged towards seemingly suicidal odds.

"I SPEAK FOR THE TREES!" Was the sound of my battle cry before the carnage ensued once again.

Alex POV

Alex sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day as he watched his new pawn charge into another army of spiders with a ridiculous battle cry.

"Why did I turn him into an Evolved again…?" He asked himself rhetorically while staring at the increasingly ridiculous spectacle before him.

The sociopathic virus with a messiah complex couldn't wrap his head around the teenager known as Sora Takahashi.

Alex had met - and consumed - many people throughout his life. He knew enough about humanity to categorize the lot of them.

You had the fuckers that like to play God at Gentek.

The suicidal morons of Blackwatch.

The betrayers like his own sister, Dana.

The people too fucking angry to die, like Heller.

And everyone else just kept getting in his damn way!

Why did everyone keep getting way anyway? What was so wrong with his dream?

He'd seen humanity's true nature as he roamed the world. Alex saw them murder each other and cause each other suffering time and time again! All he wanted was to give humanity a second chance! No war, hunger, pain, and the rest of those useless things that bound them to their hideous nature.

Alex Mercer knew humanity. Or at least he thought he did. Because if he did, he'd know why this kid was like…

"AND HIS NAME IS SORA TAKAHASHI!" The teenage shouted as he suplexed a giant spider. "DO DODO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Like that!

He sighed once again.

Fuck it, he only really needed the boy for one thing.

Keeping James Heller distracted, and causing as much chaos as possible with Blackwatch. And when that cluster fuck kicked off, he'd start another outbreak and kill them all. After that, the rest of the world was his for the taking.

Alex left his new pawn to...he wouldn't call a fight, more like a one-sided slap fight.

As he made his way into the empty town, he heard a scream.

"Huh? People are still alive here?" The sentient virus questioned. "No, must be one of the plane crash survivors."

No matter, Genteks's pet project would kill them all in due time.

He tensed his legs in preparation to jump high into the air, but froze as he came to a realization.

These survivors were his new pawns classmates, people he cared about.

Normally, he wouldn't give a single damn about something like human attachment, but he remembered the reason why James Heller turned on him.

His wife died, and his child kidnapped. At first, Alex had his trust, then everything went to hell when James found out the truth.

He needed Sora's loyalty. And since he was a kid, that'd be easy to gain, he had already saved his life after all, and made him more than human! But, for Alex? That wasn't good enough for him, he needed something concrete, something that would make the kid follow his every word without question.

He already had Heller and Blackwatch on his ass, and considering Sora's unique mutations, he would be a hard one to put down if allowed to continue growing.

Alex turned around, and leaped in the direction of the scream.

"Can't believe I have play babysitter for a bunch of brats." He complained as he glided through the air on wings of blood.

He arrived just in time to see a sporty young girl with ashen hair being pinned down by a giant swallowtail butterfly.

Biomass shifted around Alex's body until he became a human-shaped mass of dark gray metal.

His armor mutation, he hadn't used it in years, he hadn't used a lot of his abilities in years. But his near-death battle with Heller beat some manner of sense into him. He took one very big risk with Sora, he couldn't take another now. It was time for a more...hands-on approach.

Oribe POV

As Matsuoka and Oribe were exploring the island more to see if they could find someone, they heard a scream and began running towards it.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!"

"DEAR GOD! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE THINGS!?"

"D-D GET ANY CLOSER!"

The screams became clearer and more blood curdling as they got closer.

BOOM!

BGM: [PROTOTYPE2] OST - Operation Flytrap

The ground shook, making the two lose their balance and falling down. Even the distant screams were cut off.

"W-What the hell was that!?" Matsuoka shouted as she got up, rubbing her head.

Oribe blinked as the shaking stopped. "I don't know..." She shook her head. "We've got to get there now!"

They ran faster than before, panic in their steps. They arrived at a clearing and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them.

Most of their missing classmates standing in complete shock as they stared at the center of the clearing. There, a humanoid thing seemingly made of gray metal, it didn't even seem to have a face, just a gray dome.

It stood in a large crater - which explained the loud boom sound - and standing over one of their classmates, Inou Ai. But then Oribe saw the mostly obliterated remains of an absolutely giant butterfly around him, it would've been unrecognizable if it weren't for the two other giant butterflies - specifically Papilio Maackii - in the vicinity closing in on the metal monster!

Oribe saw the thing's arm shift in a mass of tendrils and red bioluminescence. In seconds, its arm had changed from a human look to what seemed to be a short, but deadly looking blade that-

It moved it's bladed arm faster than she could see, one of the Papilio Maackii, far out of the metal monster's reach was sliced cleanly in two, a dozen or so trees behind in fell down just like the insect. It gave a few twitches as blue-green hemolymph and some organs leaked out of the still twitching butterfly.

Then finally Oribe noticed it, its arm was stretched into an extremely long whip-like appendage that segmented with deadly blades.

She began to tremble, whatever this thing was, it was faster than she could process. Had a greater range than any of them could imagine out of a living organism. One single twirl and they'd all be in pieces from the whip.

The being's whip retracted and shoot it out towards the last remaining butterfly. It pierced through it like a hot knife through butter. The monster dragged the helpless creature toward itself, futilely struggling all the way.

Once the whip fully retracted, and therefore the butterfly along with it, tendrils shot out of the metal monster's arm and stabbed into the butterfly. Horrible crunching and tearing sounds echoed throughout the silent clearing and they all watched as this creature...absorb the giant insect.

"Oh dear god!" that one overweight male student said, Oda Satoshi, if Oribe remembered correct...before he throw up the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

Matsuoka let out a shaky breath. "What the fuck is that thing…?"

Said thing's head turned...towards Oribe and Matsuoka.

All was silent.

Chapter End

CLIFF HANGER!

Ain't I a stinker?

Review Responses.

975894247: I'll think about it.

Messiah of authors: Thank you, prepare for insanity.

krennin: It will be, brotha.

alucardeverlasting: Thanks.

carwash36: I know right, put some creativity into the mix with mixing and matching, and just straight up altering mutations, and shit gets FUN.

Artorias the Trenchfighter: I know right. Does it look like we have time for angst? Bitch, we want to enjoy our crazy awesome superpowers!

Thedarr24 and Draconis23: Hope it lives up to your hype.

Dark-Lord0: Ha! You think I'm #MOTIVATED enough for that.

The Draconic Ancient of Chaos: Thank you!

Fafnir1404: Thanks.

Dustier7: Damn straight.

Crotty666: I personally prefer Purposeless Rabbitholes's idea on it. Three Alex Mercer's. One's the one we know and love from 1, another is a corrupt asshole from 2, and the one that's basically Dante from DMC.

Guest: Well, now you know. Btw, MY POWER IS MAXIMUM!

AustAndFeathers: Have more.

Cyrus the Reader: Bruh, I'm not a psychopath.

lorenzo53lara: Thanks. I'm a fuckin' lunatic!

DungeonMaster: I never watched Lost, never played The Forest, and don't know what Btooom is. I have read Cage of Eden. There Starship Troopers bugs made by your's truly. And finally, fuck you, I can blame hormones if I damn well please! XD

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Ruberforumfree(Review2): Sorry, but that's not happening. T-T

Revamped Persona: I know right! Don't worry, I'm keeping the meta stuff to myself.

RoseWhiteLily: Because I have a fucking problem!

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Mirator Figmentum Scriptor: Ain't I a cold mothafucka?

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