12 No Idea what to Name this Chapter...

To say that Kevin was embarrassed after reverting to his base form by how he acted as a Jolteon would be…completely incorrect. Embarrassment implies the ability to feel regret for one's actions, which the teenager was sorely lacking. It just didn't make sense to him to dwell on the past, as it usually ended with a bunch of useless 'what ifs' that would drown him in self-doubt.

Alice, however, didn't let up on trying to get a reaction out of him the entire way back. Seeing him act like a total idiot may have been annoying at the time, but looking back on it she couldn't help but chuckle at how spastic he was. It was just so different to his normal personality that she just had to rib him about it.

It may not have triggered the shame she was looking for, but her efforts did succeed in irritating him. He was able to bring it to an end when he brought up her fear of ghosts and threatened to try out his Spookeon form right then and there. The visible shiver that traveled down her spine and through her tail was enough to let both him and Lucretia know that it worked.

Speaking of the Harpy Queen, she was completely silent throughout the entire trip. She was too busy trying to wrap her mind around the fact that the current Monster Lord, a being stronger than any other monster on all three continents, was childishly hurling patronizing comments at a five-foot-tall teenager with enough elemental power to kill most monsters in one hit. When he shut her up with a threat about ghosts of all things, the harpy gave up on trying to understand their dynamic.

'I know powerful beings tend to be weird and eccentric, but isn't this a little too much?' she thought as Happiness Village came into view.

Upon drawing closer, they were treated to a sight that neither the Monster Lord nor the Queen Harpy thought they would see. Instead of the human women and harpies fighting over the abductions of the men, or the men lashing out at the harpies for hiding the state their loved ones were in from them, everything was peaceful. Well, as peaceful as a village half-filled with monster refugees who'd just been driven out of their homes could be.

It was explained to them by the old village chief, as well as his less-than-happy human wife, after they reached the village's center. It seemed that when the harpies came here with their 'husbands,' they were able to clear up what was going on with both villages. The knowledge that they hadn't been informed that their old families were suffering had made a few of the men become angry with their harpy wives, but their sense of decency prevented them from kicking them while they were down. After all, it was no secret after the long flight over that their practices of abducting every man in sight had led to the Harpy Village being destroyed. There was no need to kick them while they were down.

Lucretia was surprised by how understanding the humans were about their plight of not having enough harpies to continue thriving. It hurt her to think that if she had just tried to reach out an olive branch to them just once, she could have avoided having the walking natural disaster annihilate her their home in his attempt to get them to leave him alone. She felt like an idiot for bringing this ruin down on her own people.

Said natural disaster remained off to the side as the humans and monsters solidified their peaceful relationship with each other. While everyone in the village was happy for the moment, and trying not to think of the manhours that would be needed to rebuild the Harpy Village, he and Alice were watching on from the sidelines.

He couldn't understand how the men and women of the village could so easily forgive the harpies. Sure, they had a somewhat good reason for kidnapping all of the able-bodied men, but that paved way for a lot of pain in suffering on the side of the women of the village. They were lucky that none of them had committed suicide due to being overwhelmed by the grief of thinking the one they loved was dead. He'd seen it happen in his old life a few times, after all.

Yet here they were, celebrating the men coming home and the merging of the two villages into one big happy family. Either they were too forgiving, or too stupid to hold a grudge. Possibly both.

Beside him, Alice was busy with eating one of the last jars of Happiness Honey left in the village with a spoon. There had been more that the villagers had been keeping in reserve, but they were all given to Alice as thanks for stopping her companion from killing Lucretia. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't have gone so far as to murder her, but wasn't one to say no to free food.

"Hey," Kevin said, drawing her attention.

"Hm?" she hummed.

"I think we should leave before they finish celebrating."

The lamia quirked an eyebrow. "Why would we do that."

"Consider this: the moment they come down from this high, they will try thanking us even more for solving their problems. This means being mobbed by both harpies and humans, and being unable to escape without either accepting all of their words of gratitude one by one, or blasting them out of the way for being annoying," he stated.

The Monster Lord had to fight her inner urge to cringe. Of the things she disliked dealing with, groups of people were high on the list, followed closely by superfluous thanks. Putting them together would make her skin crawl. If what Kevin said was true, and her gut told her it was, then now would be the perfect opportunity to hit the road and avoid the trouble.

So, she nodded to him, and they quietly sneaked out of the village.

It was around sunset when the impromptu celebration came to an end, and the humans and harpies looked for their saviors who ended years of pain and grief. However, the duo were miles away by then, neither of them social enough even consider dealing with that many people at the same time.

Lucretia found herself slightly grateful for this, unlike her subjects. She knew her people well enough to predict that their airheaded nature would lead a few of them to try and coerce Kevin into sex and marriage, and she shuddered at the thought of what he would do to them if they tried to take it too far. With how he played with her as if she wasn't a real threat, there was no telling what he might do to whatever monster tried to force him to do ANYTHING.

As such, she made a small prayer for the souls of any monsters who would mistakenly see him as prey.

***

<Miles away in an improvised camp>

Kevin sneezed as he finished setting up his tent. It had been a good purchase to make last time they were in Iliasburg and prevented him from needing to spend every night inside his backpack. It wasn't uncomfortable, but sleeping in his humanoid form was much more comfortable.

Behind him, a pot was simmering over an open campfire with the dinner he was preparing for Alice and himself. It was a really large pot, bigger than most crockpots, but it had to be for the sheer amount of food that Alice would consume. He knew for a fact that if he was the one paying for their meals, he would've said "fuck it" a few days in and done his best to abandon the lamia.

Said Lamia was leaning back against her tail by the fire, watching as the stew cooked with a small line of drool dripping out of the side of her mouth. The only thing capable of drawing her attention away from the delicious aroma coming from the food was Kevin sitting on the log he'd set across the fire from her.

"So? You happy we left early?" he asked.

She nodded. "Very."

Nothing more was said for the next hour. Between eating the relaxing atmosphere, neither of them had a real reason to break the peaceful silence. However, after the pot was empty and the two had enough time with their thoughts, Alice spoke up.

"Hey Kevin."

"Yeah?"

"I have a question I've been meaning to ask about your 'evolutions' for a while now," she stated.

Kevin waved a hand at her. "Go ahead and ask. Whether I'll be able to answer is up for debate, though."

Alice took that under consideration, before continuing. "While I understand that you have different forms that grant elemental abilities, the amount of damage you've been able to deal with them against your enemies has been…disproportionate. I know for a fact that the Harpy Queen shouldn't have taken that much damage from lightning, and Granberia's element is Fire, so she shouldn't have been harmed nearly as bad by your Ice attacks."

"Ah, exposition. The prelude to a question that should already have been asked," Kevin interjected, resting his chin on his fist in boredom.

"The point I'm trying to make," Alice said. "Is that your powers make less sense the more I examine them. I get that you won't tell me everything, but would you be willing to tell me what causes the spike in attack power you seem to receive."

Considering it for a moment, Kevin determined that explaining that little tidbit to the Monster Lord couldn't hurt. After all, the alternative was her bringing it up again and again in the future, and that would just be plain annoying.

"What you're talking about is called Type Advantages," he explained, straightening up again. "You see, not only did I bring all eighteen of the elements from my home with me when I came here, but I brought the Rules that come with them as well. I'm sure the elements you're familiar have strengths and weaknesses to other elements, right?"

She nodded.

The Eevee continued. "I don't really get how it works, but anyone I fight here is immediately classified under up to two of the Elemental Types from my homeland. There can't be any more than that, as none of the monsters in my homeland have more than two classifications. After that, my opponents are subjected to the rules I fight by, rather than the rules you've come to know.

"Take the Harpy Queen, for example. The moment we entered conflict, she was classified as a Flying Type. None of her other abilities or characteristics qualified her for any other additional Type. Flying types are able to deal double damage to Grass, Fighting, and Bug Types; and take double damage from Electric, Ice, and Rock Types. Using this logic, my Jolteon form was ideal to fight her, not only being super effective, but also taking half the damage I normally would from any attacks she made."

Alice was shocked and more than a little worried about this explanation. It was one thing to exploit the weaknesses of others, but to impose weaknesses on others just so one could exploit them? The more she learned about her traveling companion, the more she thanked the First that he seemed to harbor no animosity towards anyone in particular. Well, unless they deliberately tried to piss him off.

"I've got a question for you, too," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Although, it's not quite as deep as yours."

"Go ahead," Alice nodded.

"Where should we go next?" he inquired. "I mean, we solved both the Bandit and Happiness Honey problems, and I don't recall hearing about anything else particularly interesting happening on the continent. Should we go back to Iliasburg?"

Humming to herself, the lamia took the opportunity to take the map of the continent out of her dimensional pocket. "To be honest, there isn't really much on this continent in the first place," she answered. "Other than Iliasburg and Happiness Village, there's only one other location marked on the map, and that's Iliasport."

"Well, it's not like we have anywhere better to go," Kevin sighed.

Setting the paper down, Alice furrowed her brows in thought. "Well, that isn't entirely true."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said there was nothing."

"Not according to the map or my travel guide," the lamia admitted. "But, I did hear a rumor last time we were in Iliasburg about a hidden village somewhere in the forest to the southwest of Iliasburg."

"Aaaaaaaaand…why should we care about it?"

"From what I heard, the armor they export is of amazing quality," she elaborated. "Despite your body being able to resist attacks depending on the form you take, I've noticed that your clothing doesn't have the same durability. They might be able to help you."

The Eevee had to admit, she did have a point. He'd noticed after the fight with Lucretia that although his clothes seemed to repair themselves over time, they didn't provide much in the way of defense. If anything, they existed purely for aesthetics. However, he didn't want to walk around in full, or even partial, plate armor.

When he expressed this to Alice, she smiled. "I understand, but from what I saw they don't craft with metal. Their armor resembles regular clothing, but is actually stronger than steel, if what the armor shop owner says is true."

"Regular clothing that's a sturdy as plate?" Kevin pondered out loud, then shrugged. "Eh, it's worth a shot at least."

***

<A few days later – Southwest of Iliasburg>

After stopping at Iliaburg to restock on supplies again, the duo left to try finding the mysterious hidden village of Enrika. A little more asking around had revealed that the village did often trade with Iliasburg, but they didn't allow men to enter or even come near their village. Only women.

While this was slight deterrent, Kevin nevertheless decided to at least try his luck. Considering the overall strength of the monsters and humans he'd seen so far, it was unlikely that the village had anybody capable of seriously injuring him.

If only he knew.

He was brought out of his speculation by Alice speaking up. "Hm? That's an unusual monster..." she stated before vanishing.

Suddenly, another woman stepped out onto the path ahead of them. At first glance, she appeared to be a human woman with tanned skin, white hair, and hazel eyes. On closer inspection, though, Kevin could see pointed ears jutting out from her hair. She didn't have much clothing on, her wardrove consisting of only a pair of fingerless glove, two pieces of fabric that covered her breasts and panties, and a pair of leather shoes. Hanging from her side was a sheathed sword.

[Dark Elf Fencer]

[Type: Dark]

That…was a little odd. 'Hey System, why isn't she also a Steel Type like Granberia was?' Kevin mentally asked.

[Dark Elf Fencer's skills with her sword were not deemed sufficient enough for the System to give her the Steel Type Categorization.]

'Huh. So that means that just because a monster has attacks of a certain Type, they won't always have that Type assigned to them?'

[Correct]

His internal conversation with the System was cut short when the Dark Elf spoke up. "Go back whence you came," she said, her tone and expression both conveying a warning. "This is a place humans must not approach."

"…If that isn't a sign that I'm going the right way, then I don't know what is," the Eevee mused. "Though, you seem to be confused about something, miss."

The Dark Elf raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

Kevin gestured to his ears and tail. "I'm not a human."

Taking a closer look, she noticed that what she first assumed to be accessories were real. Still, she remained resolute. "Be that as it may, I cannot allow you to come closer."

"What if I said 'please?'" he asked.

"The answer would still be no."

The teenager sighed. "Look, I just want to ask for some better clothes. I heard your people make armor, so-"

"If you do not retreat," the Dark Elf interrupted him, pulling her sword out. "I shall be forced to act."

He stared at her for a second. "Really? Someone tries to negotiate with you, and you resort to threats? And they allow you to be a guard?"

She continued to hold her blade at the ready, not saying anything.

"Okay then," Kevin shrugged. "If you want a beatdown because you refuse to talk like civilized people, who am I to say no?"

He had been hoping that the fact she wore clothing and didn't immediately try to rape him would mean that she was more reasonable than the monsters he'd encountered so far, but that apparently wasn't the case. He was starting to wonder if this was just going to happen with every monster he met, regardless of how peacefully he approached the issue.

"If you won't retreat, then I shall force you into depravation," the Dark elf stated, a lewd smirk on her face.

Before the battle could begin, Kevin considered his options. The System said that she was a Dark Type, which mean that any of her non-sword attacks would be super effective against his Spookeon and Pychic Type forms, so they were out. He could use any of the forms he'd already activated, but something told him that it would be a good idea to keep strengthening his base Eevee form with the elemental moves that came with using evolutions he hadn't tried yet. The only form he had that was super effective against Dark Types, though, was –

Upon realizing what form he would have to take on for the advantage in this fight, his heart dropped into his stomach. There was a reason why he was avoiding this form in particular, even more than his Psychic form. It was to the point where at that moment he was debating with himself whether or not the advantage and elemental control in his base form would actually be worth it.

The Dark Elf was waiting for him to make the first move, so he had time to weigh the pros and the cons. On one hand, there was the type advantage, extra Element for him to control, and getting the transformation over with so he wouldn't have to worry about how he would look. On the other, there was the dread of not knowing how that evolutions appearance would affect its humanoid form.

Seeing as there was only one Con and three Pros, he visibly shuddered.

'System?'

[Yes, Host]

'I don't want to do this, so can you trigger the transformation for me?'

[Which Evolution would you like for the System to trigger?]

Kevin internally sighed. 'Hah…Sylveon.'

[Triggering Evolution]

As with all of the other times, Kevin was enveloped by blinding light. Unlike the others however, the transformation into this form wasn't instant. The sight the Dark Elf was treated to was less a simple shift in form, and more an minute-long transformation sequence.

When the bright light faded slightly, the naked silhouette of a preteen girl appeared in his place, obscured by a pink veil. With dramatic bends and poses, clothing magically came into existence. Pink boots with pink and white bows appeared on his feet, followed by white socks that came up to her knees. A frilly dress was the next to manifest was a frilly dress with a ribbon that wrapped around her stomach and had multiple ends that floated and twirled through the air, as well as long sleeves that extended down to her wrists. Her hair came into being next, bright pink and with two pink and purple ears sticking out of the top, each with bows in them as well. The final aspect to appear was her eyes, both bright blue and filled with joy.

Upon the completion of the transformation sequence, the girl posed adorably and declared in a childish voice. "Magical Girl Sylveon has come to save the day!"

"…what?" the Dark Elf asked, confused beyond belief at the turn of events.

Far enough away to evade detection, Alice was having a similar reaction. She had no idea that one of her companion's evolutions was a girl! One that was just as short as his base form, too! And what was that about being a Magical Girl?! She had so many more questions now than she'd ever had before.

Seeing the Dark Elf's reaction to the sudden change, Kevin smiled sweetly at her. "I'm Magical Girl Sylveon!" she once again announced, before a glint of madness appeared in her eye. "And I'm going to defeat you with the powers of Friendship, Love, and Ultra-Violence!"

With no further warning, the adorable little girl launched herself forward, her murderous intent clear in her eyes.

***

(Author's Note: That's right! Not only is his Sylveon form a Magical Girl, it's an insane magical girl who fights with the powers of MAGIC and MURDER!

Personality: Bubbly and Insane)

<Author's Note 2: I literally had someone comment that they were stopping reading after this chapter because he wasn't a Trap as a Sylveon.

I understand, and have abandoned stories for less, but stating it so blatantly is kinda rude, tbh.

By this point the chapter comment might've been taken down, but I'm still slightly put off>