2 New World, New Me

It was a beautiful morning in the forest that bordered Ilias Village. The sun shone brightly in the sky; birds were chirping happily in the trees; flowers bloomed along the beat path that led to the Temple of Ilias. Any human walking through would be soothed by the calming atmosphere, awed by the beautiful flora and fauna-

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh."

-And slightly disturbed by the moaning that suddenly pierced through the air. If one were to follow the voice to its source, they'd be treated to an odd sight.

About a ten minute walk off the beaten path, lying face-up on the ground beneath the canopy of the trees, was a boy. He appeared to be in his late teens, and wore an all-brown set of cargo pants, T-shirt, sneakers, and an open jacket with creamy white fur inlaid around edges of the hood. Clutched in his right hand was a black backpack with multiple pouches that looked both brand new and fully packed.

Now, you may be asking yourself, what's so strange about this teenager, aside from the loud groans of pain he was making? Well, to answer that question, we will have to draw our attention to his other two physical characteristics.

Sticking out of top of his shoulder-length shaggy brunette hair was an extra pair of ears. Unlike the human ones located on either side of his head, these were coated in hazel fur and stood up like a pair of fox ears. If he were to roll over, one would also be treated to the sight of a similarly colored foxlike tail with a white tip. The way these three extra appendages twitched in time with the discomfort of their owner were evidence that they were not accessories, but attached to him.

As you might have guessed, this is Kevin.

"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy," he continued to moan, his mind still recovering from the unimaginable agony he'd been put through.

It had already been two hours since he'd been spat out of a portal into this new world, yet one does not simply recover from having their very soul torn apart and put back together. Add on the fact that he was being assaulted on all sides by the enhanced senses his new body provided him and the instincts that came with them, and you have a perfect recipe for a tortured teen.

Luckily, after the third hour of painful acclimatization, the pain in his mind and body faded away. Finally able to think straight after what felt like an eternity, Kevin sat up and looked around.

"Hm…" he hummed, taking in his surroundings. "Where…am I?"

As if to answer him, all of his memories came back to him at that moment. Dying…meeting the Being…getting told he was being sent to a new world with powers as both a reward and a punishment…it was all there.

"New life, huh?" he mumbled to himself, the gravity of the situation finally hitting him. He reached up to scratch his head, only to stop upon feeling one of his furry ears. "New body, too."

Standing up, he wasted no time performing a quick self-examination. From his fluffy ears to his silky tail, he poked, prodded, and pinched the new parts that came with his new body. Alongside the new additions, he also noticed that he was closer to the ground than before. His previous height of 5'11 had been reduced to a solid five feet. He kept his slightly pale skin and his toned muscles, but his face had lost a lot of its definition, rounding out to be more child-like.

"So…I'm an Eevee now. This must be the hybrid form the Being was talking about," he mused. "I'm definitely smaller, but that may be a side effect of this form. Eevees are incredibly cute, after all. I wonder if I can…no, that can wait for later. First thing to do when you get Isekai'd is to check what you have, and make sure you haven't been gypped."

Crouching down next to the backpack, he unzipped it and quickly took inventory of what was inside. Just as the Being had promised, there were three sets of clothes that were identical to his current set, three days' worth of food rations and water divided into individually wrapped containers and bottles respectively, an incredibly sharp knife in a sheath, and a belt that he immediately looped through his pants and the loop on the back of the sheath so he could have it ready at a moment's notice.

"Okay," he nodded, donning the backpack. "Now that I know what I have, I need to think about where I'm going to go."

If he remembered correctly from the brief glimpses he'd had of it while surfing the web, and the recommendations of his more depraved friends, the world of Monster Girl Quest was not a fun place to be. The game itself was an Eroge centered around the concept of Rape; more specifically, the raping of men by sexy, strange, and sometimes downright disgusting monster girls. Having been a virgin before dying and not being submissive in the slightest, Kevin wasn't entirely thrilled to be there.

Another aspect that may make this world more treacherous for him in particular is that he assumed that he would be the only male monster in existence. It was called Monster "GIRL" Quest, after all. The logical conclusion would be that most, if not all, of the monster species in this world would seek him out just for the right to gloat that they "own" or "devoured" the only male monster.

With that in mind, he immediately turned his attention inward to find some kind of solution to that problem in particular. He was told that he would instinctually know how to use the powers of every form he'd been given, so it stood to reason that those instincts would include how to shapeshift. After about five minutes of focusing, he finally found what he was looking for-

-and felt his heart drop into his stomach. It was just as the Being had told him: he was able to shift between hybrid and full forms for each of Eeveelution; however, what it hadn't mentioned was that he ONLY had access to the hybrid and full forms. There was no option to disguise himself as a human.

"I'm fucked," he concluded, turning to bang his head against a tree. "All of this power, and I can't even hide from the crazy monster girls that will try to rape me the moment they see it. *Sigh* At least I'm not completely defenseless."

Indeed, while he'd been searching for the nonexistent "off" button for his hybrid state, he'd discovered that even as an Eevee, he could sense how the elemental energies within his body interacted with the world around him. In particular, the nature powers of his Leafeon form seemed to be bubbling to the forefront of his mind, eager to be utilized on the forest he found himself in. It took him all of his self-control not to give in.

Unfortunately, his self-examination was cut short by the sound of an explosion, the origin of which was in the air above the canopy of the forest. His instincts screamed at him to move, as the source of the explosion was coming his way; but, despite having the speed, reflexes, and instincts of an Eevee, he was still new to his body and wasn't able to react fast enough to avoid the incoming projectile.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

He was incredibly fortunate that his current body was not only reinforced with dense muscles and bones, but also the overall physical resistance present in seemingly all pokemon; otherwise, he'd likely have become a smear on the forest floor. Instead, he was merely laid flat by the sheer force of whatever had collided with him and buried beneath it.

'Fuck,' he mentally grunted, feeling his bones creak under the weight of whatever was on top of him. 'I wonder what the fact that it's been less than a day since I've died and that I've already experienced more pain than in my whole previous life combined says about my existence now.'

Existential quandaries aside, he opened his eyes to see what had decided to crush him before he could even start his journey. What he saw were deep red scales that covered his entire field of view, and from what he was feeling with the rest of his body, they seemed to belong to some kind of snake. This, of course, increased his confusion by several magnitudes.

'What the hell was a snake doing in the sky?' he pondered incredulously.

Not wanting to continue being crushed by an overgrown reptile, the teen used the enhanced strength afforded to him to push the creature off of him and roll away. Getting back to his feet and dusting himself off, he glared back at the serpent-

-only to double-take at the full scope of the monster it turned out to be.

Instead of the scaly head he'd expected to see at the top of the beast, there was instead the torso, arms, and head of a woman. Her skin was purple and decorated with tribal tattoos up the left side, with only petal-like swatches of black fabric and gold decorations to cover her private parts and breasts. Pointed ears stuck out from her waist-length white hair, as did a few pink flowers and a pair of forward-facing horns. Everything about her screamed nobility and power, albeit in a kinkier way than Kevin was used to.

In hindsight, Kevin admitted that it probably would've been a good idea to just leave and not get involved with whatever situation this woman was involved in. He was genre-savvy enough to recognize a plot point when he saw one after all.

However, none of those logical conclusions were able to break through the layer of curiosity that had superimposed itself on his mind. After all, this was the first time he'd seen a non-human humanoid in person in his life. All he could do was stare at her and ponder how her body worked. Was her stomach in her human half, snake half, or both? Was there a purpose for her breasts other than luring in males? What was with the weird vertical eye design on her hair? Why-

"Uuuunnngh." A feminine groan snapped him out of his musing, drawing his attention to her face.

The monster girl was waking up. She opened her yellow slitted eyes, her expression one of confusion and discomfort. She continued to lay there with a dazed expression for a minute, trying to get her bearings. Upon realizing she wasn't the only one there, though, she immediately sprang into action.

Within moments, Kevin was once again immobilized by the snake-lady, this time with her being coiled around him to restrict his movements. She pointed an unfocused glare at him, clearly still disoriented but unwilling to display any form of weakness to a potential enemy.

Shifting her coiling body so she could look down intimidatingly at him, she spoke. "Where am I?"

"…what?" Kevin replied.

Luckily, the monster girl didn't deem it necessary to tighten her grip as she repeated herself in the same neutral voice. "Where am I?"

Now, most people in Kevin's shoes would do their best to express their similar confusion about their current location to the scary snake lady in the politest way possible, given the position they were in. They may even stutter over their words at the combination of strength and beauty the lamia possessed and try to make the best impression they could.

Kevin is not one of those people.

"Fuck if I know," he nonchalantly shrugged.

This was not the answer the woman was expecting. She expected the man in her grasp to quiver in fear and answer her question without hesitation. Well, she got one of them right, at least. Unfortunately for him, she didn't believe him, proceeding to tighten her coils around him and narrow her eyes.

"Care to repeat that?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"I said 'fuck if I know,'" he replied, only slightly shifting in discomfort. "As in 'I have no idea where the hell we are right now.' I can say we're in some kind of forest, but that's about it."

The monster girl raised an eyebrow. "How could you not know where you are? Don't you live around here?"

Kevin shook his head. "No. I just woke up in this forest a few hours ago. I'm probably more confused than you are."

Surprisingly, the lamia couldn't detect any deception coming from the male in her grasp. If what he was saying was true, then he was useless for finding out where that troublesome woman had knocked her to.

Before she could sink any deeper into her thoughts, he once again spoke up. "Hey, can you let me go?"

Her focus came back to him. "Oh? Why should I?"

"Well, my tail is starting to hurt, for one," he deadpanned.

Alice's thoughts screeched to a halt as his statement reached her ears. Up until now, due to the slight concussion caused by impacting the ground at the speed of a train, her vision had been slightly blurry. Now, it finally cleared up to show her just what she had wrapped herself around.

A male monster.

She had learned from her mentor that it was possible for males to be born from monsters, once in a blue moon, but they were always human. They might have oddly colored hair, or maybe some increased strength or stamina, but there had never been a single case such as the boy in her coils. There were too many features to discount him as a mere descendant, or even son, of a monster-human pair. The ears, tail, and oddly adorably pure brown eyes all pointed to one conclusion.

She was holding a male monster.

Seeing the Lamia seemingly short-circuit at the mention of his tail, Kevin let out a sigh. The woman had checked out from reality, leaving him still immobilized by her snake half. Luckily for him, her distraction led to her gradually loosening her grip until he was able to use his full strength to remove himself from her clutches and walk a short distance away.

It took a few minutes for her to realize that he was no longer in her coils. Snapping her gaze back to him, her expression still remaining neutral. "What are you?"

It was Kevin's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Is that really your first question to someone you just met? You sure are rude, aren't you?"

The monster girl frowned in irritation. "You look like some sort of Kitsune, but your smell…is unlike anything I've smelled before."

"…thanks, I guess?" Kevin said, unsure of how else to reply. After all, how was someone supposed to react to being told how he 'smelled?'

Alice continued to stare at him, as if expecting him to answer without a fight.

Kevin sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you, but only if you do the same."

"And by that you mean…?"

"I have no idea what you are either. Never seen someone with a snake body instead of legs before. I'll only tell you who and what I am if you do the same."

Her eyes narrowed. "What if I refuse and just force you to tell me?"

"Then I will have no choice but to object in the most violent and inhumane way I know, possibly leading to you losing more than half of your body mass," he shrugged, as if that was the most natural answer.

It took her a minute to ponder what her next step would be. On one hand, she had multiple means of subduing this male monster and getting answers out of him, up to and including hypnotism. On the other, the power that she felt coming from him was both immense and restrained, leading her to the conclusion that she may not come out of those endeavors unscathed. The way the trees and plants around him seemed to slowly inch toward him, as if begging to be used by him, was enough to put her slightly on edge.

With too many questions and not enough answers, she came to a decision. "Fine. I'll conceded to your terms. My name is Alipheese Fateburn, but I'll allow you to call me Alice. I'm a Lamia, or an Echidna if you want to be more specific. There, are you happy now?"

"Very." He already had an idea of the type of monster she was, but wanted to get back at her for being so rude. With nothing to lose, he replied in kind. "I'm Kevin, no last name. As for what I am? Well, that's a bit complicated."

Understatement of the century.

Alice huffed in annoyance at his apparent stalling. "Oh really?"

"Tone down the sarcasm a bit," he admonished before continuing. "The simple answer is that I'm what my people refer to as a Pokemon, more specifically an Eevee."

"…" Alice stared at him. That hardly explained anything! "I'm assuming there is a more complicated answer?"

He nodded. "There absolutely is."

"…"

"…"

"…are you going to tell it to me?"

"Not really, no," he replied, turning around and walking away with his hands in his pockets.

Alice had to use every ounce of her self-control to prevent herself from springing forward and crushing every bone in his body. 'This may be the most infuriating boy in the whole world!' she internally screamed. "Where do you think you're going?" she questioned through clenched teeth, a vein popping out on her forehead.

"No Idea," he replied with as little care as possible. "I'm hoping to find a village or something nearby. Judging by the faint smell of freshly baked bread, I'm assuming there's one in this direction."

As he walked away, Alice debated internally on whether or not she should stop him, ignore him and go on her own way, or follow him. The first option was quickly discarded, as despite being an incredibly powerful monster in her own right, she had no idea whether or not this male monster could actually put up a fight against her. The casual threat he made earlier of making her lose body parts felt very real, after all.

Option two almost guaranteed that she would never have to put up with his annoying existence ever again, but was that truly the best course of action? He would obviously become the target for other monsters, the majority of which were unlikely to concede to his requests or threats. Was she really comfortable with the idea of this male monster slaughtering her subjects just because they wouldn't take no for an answer?

Neither of those seemed good enough, so…

Without saying another word, she slithered after him.

He didn't stop walking when he heard her behind him. Instead, he calmly looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "What? I thought we were done."

Catching up to him, she slowed down when they were next to each other and glared at him. "Of course, we're not."

"Hmm?" he hummed curiously, "And why is that?"

"How are you a boy?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"…I don't understand the question."

"Then let me spell it out for you: in the thousands of years that monsters have existed, not a single one has ever been male. There have been male human children born from monsters, but that's as close as anyone has ever come. And yet, here you are, walking around and defying the laws of nature like it's no big deal. I want to know how."

Kevin stroked his chin as he thought of what he could say. In all honesty, he trusted Alice about as far as he could throw her…which would admittedly be pretty far in his Espeon form, even if her snake tail did add a hundred or so pounds to her, but that's beside the point. He couldn't just reveal that he was a transmigrated soul that didn't even come from this universe and was here as a reward and punishment. So, he went with his favorite kind of truth.

The technical truth.

"I don't know what to tell you," he shrugged as he ducked beneath a branch. "I've never had anyone comment on the fact that I was a boy like this before. I came into this world like this, and up until now I didn't have any reason to question it."

Silence fell between them as they made their way through the trees. Something deep in Alice's gut told her that while there wasn't a single lie there, a lot of context was being left out. She remained deep in thought, trying to understand the puzzle that was her temporary travel companion. It was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that he knew more than he was telling her. So, she stuck to examining everything he'd said so far.

It was a few minutes later when they reached a dirt path leading through the woods. It looked relatively well traveled and maintained, if the rough cuts through the branches that reached toward it were anything to go by.

This was also the point where the smell of bread was strong enough for Alice to finally acknowledge it, eliciting a growl to come from her stomach. A little drool slipped from the corner of her mouth as her head turned to the right, in the direction of the village where the bread could likely be found. She was snapped out of her daze, though, by a question that came from her side.

"Where even is your stomach?"

Her head snapped to look at Kevin, noticing that he wasn't looking at her face, but at her snake half. "What?"

"Just a question that's been going through my mind for a while now," he replied, eyeing her up and down. "That growling sounded like it came from your entire body at the same time, which leads me to think that your stomach is more in your tail than in your torso. Then, that begs the question of what kind of organs are taking up the space that a stomach normally would in your torso."

"…" Alice was momentarily at a loss for words. When she found them, her neutral expression became even more deadpan. "You have an attractive monster girl walking-"

"Eh, more like slithering," Kevin corrected.

"-beside you, wearing just enough to cover her decency and nothing more, and you're wondering how her internal organs work?"

"Iiiiiiiiii don't understand the question," he said, obviously acting more oblivious than he actually was.

A tick mark appeared on Alice's forehead, in typical anime fashion. "You damn well know what I mean, you infuriating little fox," she growled.

"Well, excuse me for not thinking with my dick like the majority of men," he shot back, turning to walk in the direction he assumed the village to be in. "I much prefer to ask questions about how your body works, rather than stare at it like a braindead moron."

Once again, Alice had to slither a bit faster to catch up with him. "That makes even less sense," she stated, leveling a critical eye toward him. "All known cases of male humans born from monster girls have a higher sex drive than regular human men. The fact that you are a full male monster should make your libido higher than the average monster girl."

"When did the conversation turn from talking about your weird snake body, to asking why I'm not a satyromaniac?" Kevin questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Silence met him for a few brief seconds, before Alice broke it again. "A what?"

"A satyromaniac. It is the male equivalent to a nymphomaniac," he explained.

"Do I want to know why you know that?"

"Probably not."

The conversation ended there, with Alice once again trying to examine Kevin's words, and Kevin focusing on finding a village. It was about half an hour later when they left the covering of the trees and were able to spot a gathering of small buildings in the distance.

Surprisingly enough, there were no people walking around. Even with a village as small as this one was, there should've been at least five or six adults going about their business on the pathways, with maybe a few local children playing here and there. Instead, there was complete silence, as if the place had been abandoned.

"Huh," Kevin hummed, not stopping his approach. "I wonder where everyone went."

Alice was about to reply in her usual snarky manner, when she sensed the reason for the village's seemingly empty state. Instead of telling Kevin, though, she decided to move back to the forest as stealthily as possible and watch what was about to transpire.

The Eevee almost immediately noticed that his temporary travel companion had disappeared, which immediately raised red flags in his mind. He didn't have time to dwell on it, though, as a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Hahaha, a delicious looking boy showed up!"