Ann and the Beauty Transfer Machine (WIP Preview) (Patreon)

   A shiver went down Ann’s spine as she traversed the halls of the strange lair. It wasn’t the first time Mementos had put her in such a strange place, but the mixture of stone and steel as she delved further inside brought its own specific flavor of foreboding. The sound of sinister cackling echoing through the halls made her stop. Taking cover behind one of the corners, she desperately wished she was with her fellow Phantom Thieves.

   This trouble had all started when Joker picked up a strange envelope bearing a red marking. As soon as it was opened, he vanished in a bright white light without a trace. For hours on end, Ann and the others had combed through Mementos to little success. Splitting up to cover more ground brought Ann to finding a similar envelope with a dark green mark. Upon picking it up, she had been transported in front of a spiral hill and an ominous cave mouth that she suspected contained their missing leader.

   As the last of the cackling died down, Ann used her skills to stealthily make her way down the corridor. The task was made all the more difficult by the bright red, leather outfit adorning her body and her pair of platinum blonde pigtails. Clacking her high heeled, purple boots against the cobblestone floor, she tried to keep herself together. Sliding a purple-gloved hand against her cat-like mask, she reminded herself that she was Panther, a Phantom Thief that had been through worse situations before.

   Ann’s confidence dipped significantly as she heard lumbering footsteps running towards her. Preparing her whip, she got ready to face whatever monstrosity that came her way. So focused on the several corridors were something could be lurking, she failed to notice the loose tiles underneath her boots.

   The next moment, Ann found herself sliding down a chute deep into the depths of the lair. Losing her whip as she plummeted into a pile of cushions, she was left in a daze as she tried to stand up. She didn’t get more than foot out of her landing site before a set of bulky, green arms wrapped around her torso and picked her up into the air.

   “Let me go!” Ann shouted, her constant pummeling of the brutish, ogre-like creature doing little more than ruffling his white lab coat.

   “Ssstop hitting Klungo,” he said, a foul air clinging to his breath as he carried her off down the corridor. “Jussst ssstay ssstill and let Missstresss Grunty take care of you.”

   Struggle as she might, Ann could not free herself from Klungo’s clutches. Carried deeper into the lair, she could hear the whirring of machinery growing louder with each step. Shoving his body against a metal door, Klungo brought her to a large stone room that buzzed with the crackle of electricity. Located in the center were two steel pods covered in brown steel, wires, and pairs of antennae. Over the sound of purple sparks erupting from the tips, Ann nearly missed a familiar cackle sound from the corner of the room.

   Turning her head as far as Klungo’s grip would allow, Ann took in the sight of the obese woman with green skin and short black hair. Whipping around her purple scarf, the witchy woman shuffled across the floor towards Ann. The black robe adorning her body barely contained the blubber beneath and yet it was of no concern to the witch. Twisting her face into a wicked smile, she fixed her pointy hat and surveyed Ann with her big, yellow eyes.

   “For someone who looks like a kitty,” she began, her pointy noise mere inches from Ann’s face, “you don’t appear to be very sly, my pretty.”

   “Just who do you think you are?” Ann said, trying again to futilely break from Klungo’s grasp.

   “Many a person hear my name and cower in fear, but you may call me Gruntilda my dear.”

   “I don’t care who you are, let me go before-“

   Gruntilda threw back her head to let out another bout of cackling. “Oh I’ll release you from my lair, only once I’ve taken things like your slender body and silky hair.”

   “What are you talking about?”

   Waddling up to the pods, Gruntilda slapped her hand against it. “With this precious machine, my intention was to give my body a new, glowing sheen. However, things went awry when that troublesome bear took his sister and said goodbye. Though I had hoped to give chase to claim what was mine, all because of that letter they disappeared in a shine.”

   Ann mind shot back to something similar happening to Joker. Before she could get a chance to ask further, Gruntilda shuffled back to her and grasped her chin between her grungy, green fingers.

   “While it was unfortunate that the letter took my prey, it wasn’t a completely worthless day. By mimicking the accursed letter with my technology and spells, into my clutches did a suitable replacement fell.” Turning to the side, Gruntilda gestured towards the pods. “Into the beauty transfer machine you will go, where my attractiveness by sevenfold will grow. As for you my little kitty, your fate I can’t help, but pity. While I will have to beat off suitors with a stick, people will take one look at you and say ick.”

   “Ssshall we begin Missstresss Grunty?” Klungo asked, clutching Ann tight to stop her from breaking free.

   “Yes, get the lead out, you dolt, while I give my machine a bolt.”

   Lumbering towards one of the pods Klungo pressed a button on the side of the machine. As the door creaked open, he finally released Ann as he tossed her into the pod. Scrambling to her feet, she failed to escape before Klungo shut the door on her. Peeking through the porthole on the front, she watched as the wicked Gruntilda scrambled through her machines to ensure everything was ready. Showing off a malicious grin, Gruntilda waddled her way over to the other pod and opened it up.

   “You better not screw this up,” Gruntilda began as Klungo shut the door behind her, “or else in a shallow grave you’ll windup.”

   “Klungo do hisss bessst,” he replied, hurrying over to the controls.

   At the push of the button, the pod began to pulse with electricity. Ann got a glimpse of Klungo pulling down on a lever before her chamber began to fill with a misty green gas. Losing sight of the controls through the fog-like gas, Ann desperately searched for a way to break free from the machine. A glimmer of hope was found in the form of a seam between the metal plates. Desperately attempting to fit her fingers inside to get the panel open gave her a chance to watch her dainty fingers plump up with added heft.