Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers! #13 (Patreon)

The House With Pink In Its Walls, Part 10

In his hand, the pink stone, with its sharp geometries and strange glow, began to vibrate. "You can talk?" The voice was small and panicky.

"Obviously," he said. "Can you please stop trying to eat us now? That you're doing is cannibalism." A thought occurred to him. "Wait, is THAT what you did to my corpse in Quezon Circle? That's disgusting!"

"I didn't… ! I thought…!"

"What's your name?" Sanny demanded. Might as well give it a shot, right?

"Kim! Kim Bunhong!"

Wow. It actually worked. That was… kind of sad.

"All right, Kim," Sanny said. "First, you've going to stop eating us. Then, you're going to show yourself next to the big tree, and we're going to talk. There will be no eating. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes ma'am! I'm sorry, ma'am!"

Very sad.

Sanny tossed away the rock—it hadn't managed to penetrate his hand—and landed back on Tammy's branches. Lacking anything better to do, he bent down and knocked on wood. "Tammy?"

There was a beat, and then the wood shuddered, and a head poked out. "The rocks stopped trying to eat me. Was that you?"

"Yeah," Sanny said. "Listen, I need you to make an offshoot…"

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They disengaged and sent in drones.

Tammy wanted to stay and talk with Pinky herself, but Sanny wasn't having it. For one thing, they were, for all intents and purposes, in Pinky's mouth, since they seemed to control rocks, sand, dirt, and no doubt made this pit with their power. All they needed to do was close it, and the three of them would be devoured. Perhaps they hadn't realized that, but Sanny had, and he wasn't about to have a conversation in someone's mouth, not when he wasn't sure how good their impulse control over their urges were.

So while the three of them sent in drones—Tammy had gotten Willy's attention and told her what to do—they'd had their main bodies leave. It wasn't even all that disorienting to go down to the base of the tree while at the same time flying away for all they were worth.

There was a figure standing there on the pink sandy ground. It was an upright bilaterally symmetrical biped, of the sort you would find anywhere. It stood far too stiffly, as it if were a statue, and its feet were blending into the pink sand it was standing on. In general shape, it looked like a naked androgynous human with blank doll anatomy, but simplified, as if the usual curves at the limbs and muscles had been lopped off for being aesthetic. Sanny had almost expected caricaturized and exaggerated features, but no, it was blanker and smoother than a clothing store mannequin. There was a blank, curved surface, with only the faint hint of something resembling a jawline.

Tammy's drone dropped down onto the sand, then let out a squawk as she sank, the sand just flowing round her legs.

Sanny's drone, just about to land, immediately put power into his wings again, sending the fine pink sand flying as he kept his feet from sinking into the dirt.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Their voice came from everywhere, as if every rocks and speck of sand was vibrating and acting like a speaker.

Watching Pinky—Kim—move was strange. Rock monsters were a familiar element of fiction, and Sanny had seen a lot of different kinds of rock monsters at different levels of production values. For some reason, a part of him found it extremely disillusioning that Pinky—Kim—was like something between 'cheap rubber suit' and 'lazy motion capture and cheap ass CGI model'. Their movements were smooth, and there was no folding or hinging at the joints, not like there was with Tammy's wooden limbs. In a way, they moved like Willy did when she made her body into ice, as if they were some weird stop motion animation that was not being moved but instead replaced by a completely different solid figure in a slightly different pose. But it was too smooth, and didn't have that sense of mass properly animated CGI rock monsters had.

It was a very strange and irritating reminder that special effects were not actually accurate to real life. And that his real life now consisted of critiquing the movements of a bidepal rock monster—sorry, rock person—as not being 'realistic' because they were too fast and smooth. He moved the same way a normal person would as he shuffled nervously and apologized for Tammy sinking in the pink sand as he made the sand push her up and then fuse together to a solid platform for her to stand on.

Another platform fused together underneath Sanny, but he simply folded his arms and continued hovering in midair. Ah, sweet, sweet flight! Flying in one body was nice, but having two flying bodies was even better!

Willy, who'd already been there as a large amount of water, simply appeared as a transparent, humanoid form standing on the surface of the water mixed in with the sand.

For a long moment, they all just stood there awkwardly.

"Uh, hi!" Tammy said, a smile forming on her offshoot. She'd gone full on 'cute plant girl', with an actual humanoid face, strands of grass for hair, fake ears, a flower at one temple like some kind of hair clip, and she'd even put on a skirt made of enormous flower petals. Though she'd at least had the presence of mind to not make it a copy of her real face. "It's very nice to finally meet you! I'm—"

"Green," Sanny interrupted. He gestured at Willy. "This is Blue, and I'm Yellow."

Willy said nothing, just looked like a special effect from the 80's as her blank, faceless head pointed itself at the pink rock figure.

"Do we have to do this?" Tammy said to his main body, a mouth opening on her coconut. "We already know his name, it's only fair that he knows ours."

"Secret identities are a thing for a reason," Sanny said. "You're not a billionaire industrialist with an army of lawyers. If your name gets to the government, what are you going to do?"

Tammy pouted, but didn't say any more. Instead, her offshoot said, "Sorry, but we'd rather people don't know our names. Secret identity and all that."

"Who are you people?" Kim the pink rock said. "I thought I was…"

"That you were the only one?" Tammy said, and Kim nodded. "Yeah, so did we at first. Then we met each other." She gestured at Sanny. "Though you might have heard of our work. That tree in Eastwood? Me." She patted her chest.

Kim looked at her, then at the huge tree next to them. It soared up like a World Tree from a videogame or manga, a massive, sprawling thing that should have taken centuries to grow, or at least a decent number of decades. "I see the resemblance."

"Anyway, we're heroes!" Tammy said. "Or at least we're trying to be. We fight monsters to protect people."

"It's a work in progress," Sanny said blandly. "And technically, we're more properly vigilantes."

"Oh, don't start that again."

"Look, 'heroes' are recognized by external public acclaim, not—"

"Everyone knows what I mean when I say hero!"

"It's still incorrect."

"Whatever!" Tammy declared with finality. "Anyway, we're really glad you finally stopped trying to eat us. Wanna join?"

Sanny did facepalm.

"You can't just ask someone if they want to join!" he said. "Have you not heard of background checks? References? At least checking the internet to make sure Pinky's not on any weird websites or videos?"

"But I asked you to join…"

"Actually, you asked to join me, remember?" Sanny pointed out.

"Oh, right…" Tammy said, as if remembering.

"Um, excuse me?" Kim said, raising a hand as if they were in class. "Join what?"

"Our team, of course! Our hero team!" Tammy said enthusiastically, a wide smile on her face.

"Vigilante group," Sanny corrected.

"What, like a gang?"

"No!" Tammy said.

"Yes," Sanny said.

"We're not a gang! We're a heroic group of heroes, heroing heroically!" Tammy asserted.

"We're a vigilante group who goes around killing monsters so they stop being a threat to people, and not doing very well at it," Sanny pointed out.

"I'm willing to meet you in the middle as 'heroic vigilantes'," Tammy said.

Sanny considered. "Good enough."

Tammy nodded, as if this settled something. "Anyway, would you consider joining our heroic vigilante group and helping us protect people from the monsters now appearing out of nowhere?"

Kim just stared at her. Even though their face was already blank, Sanny had the feeling that even if they'd had proper expressions, it would still have been blank. "Can I… think about it?" they said.

"Sure! Take all the time you need," Tammy said cheerfully.

Kim nodded. "How do I contact you?" he asked.

"Make a pink spire appear in the Sunken Garden," Sanny said before Tammy could reply. "We'll contact you there."

"I…don't think I should do that," Kim said. "Isn't that vandalism?"

"Didn't you just dig a big hole in the middle of a field?" Sanny said.

Kim looked up and winced, seeming to recall where they were. "I can fix it!"

"I'm sure you can fix the spire too," Sanny said. "We look forward to hearing from you, Pinky. Eventually."

They all abandoned their drones, leaving them to collapse, living but empty, at Kim's feet.

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As if turned out, Kim was not, in fact, able to fix the hole. Oh, they were able to try and close it, but there was the small problem of there being a huge tree inside the hole. As a result, the UP Diliman campus suddenly found itself the proud owner of a three hundred foot tall tree of unidentifiable origin, that managed to shade not just the sunken garden, but the buildings on around it as well.

Factions for and against cutting it down sprang up immediately and soon began protesting, counter-protesting, lobbying and counter-lobbying each other, instead of actually going to classes like they were supposed to.

The campus was closed for three days, making students protest not being to go to classes, and then it was reopened against with military personnel stationed on the campus in case anything like the Blood Bug happened again, making students protest about the 'intrusive military presence', and therefore making reopening the campus redundant for some because they weren’t in class anyway. All the wild areas, especially the Sunken Garden, were all fumigated to kill the insect life, which probably worked for about a week and was only good for signaling that the administration as 'doing something', even if it was completely useless.

There was certainly no shortage of insects for Sanny to take control of when he went back to the campus a week later. In fact, if the students knew how many insects were in all the kitchens, in the food storage, in among the plates, a and in the cafeteria, well, they'd… probably not be all that surprised and it would only impact their appetites for a day, because this wasPhilippines, after all. The insects certainly made it easier for him when his target went indoors, where his larger, bird-shaped surveillance drones couldn't follow. Insects, however, were everywhere, and could get into anywhere…

Really, bug control was such a convenient application of his powers.

He walked into the cafeteria, a book and folder full of papers in hand, his body configured to the feminine form he used with Tammy and Willy, if a bit shorter because the secondhand clothes he'd gotten were all too damned small. Just because he could literally where any size didn't mean he didn't have a preference! He'd also foregone the 'blonde gyaru' look so he could slip beneath notice. Entering casually, he looked around—not that he actually needed to, since his insect drones had been scouting the place constantly—bought some chicken nuggets as a snack, and headed towards an empty table, passing a couple sitting close together and holding hands with their heads close together. Suppressing his instinctive burst of envy, he sat down, set down his folder, opened his book—a reference book he'd had at home—and began pretending to read, occasionally grabbing a chicken nugget.

The tables on either side of him were empty, and the wall fans and what people there were generated enough noise that he couldn't possibly hear anything with normal human ears.

Humming to himself, he focused on the senses of a particular drone.

"—doesn't think I should do it," his target said. "He's says do what I think is right, but he's worried about me being hurt."

"And your mom?"

"Oh, you know her, she says it'll interfere with my studies, and that I need every advantage to land a good job, and having good grades are important."

Sanny winced in sympathy. Oh, he remembered thatnagging…

"I know they want what's best for me, but… I think this is important too. I've found people like me, and they…"

"They're inviting you to join their gang."

A sigh. "Yeah. It sounds really sketchy when you say it like that."

"I still can't believe you actually gave them you cell number and email!"

"It was a reflex, all right. I already heard about it from my parents…"

There was silence. Sanny pretended to read and actually did eat.

"My little brother thinks I should do it," his target continued. "Says it'll be cool to have a brother who's a superhero. My sister says exposing myself increases the risk of being locked up in a plastic tube and experimented on."

"A tube?"

"Well, I can turn into sand, so a cage wouldn't really work."

A cage wouldn't work for any of them.

"What do you think I should do?"

"Does it matter what I think?"

"Well, you're my girlfriend, so… yeah. I mean, we've known each other since we were little kids. I got the stupidest haircuts because of your advice. I don't think you telling me what to do is going to stop now."

Riajuu, please die. Normies, explode.

"I think you should stop fishing for approval and do what you think you have to do. You already know what you want to do, Kim. Do it."

There was silence.

"Well, I'll have to wait until it's dark anyway," Kim muttered. "And then who knows how long before they call me once I make a spire in the Sunken Garden?"

There was a snicker. "It still sounds so dirty."

A reluctant chuckle. "Yeah, it does, doesn't?"

Sanny had agree. He really hadn't been thinking that when he said it, but…!

He stood up, gathering his book, his folder, and the plate with a few chicken nuggets left on it. He walked a short ways and slid into the bench of another booth.

The two in front of him regarded him with surprise and sudden annoyance.

"We're waiting for someone," the young woman lied immediately. She was tanned, pretty, with curly hair and would have been way out of Sanny's league back in college, before he'd gone on the eldritch diet. "That seat's taken."

"I know you're waiting for someone," Sanny said, and the young man stiffened at his words. At his voice. "And now I'm here. Hello, Pinky. Ah, sorry, I mean Kim. I heard you've decided to join our gang of vigilantes."

The young man was staring at her. Medium build, slightly above average height but not enough to start triggering basketball comments, he was a bit on the pale side for a Filipino, with a mestizo look to him. South Korean on his grandparent's side, as Sanny had found.

"Yellow?" he said tentatively.

"Hai, hai, Yellow-desu," he said. There was no recognition. Sigh. Well, not everyone could be like Tammy. "I heard you wanted to speak to us? The other two aren't here, unfortunately."

"Have you been following me?" he said.

Sanny shrugged, the strap on his shoulder slipping down. Irritably, he pulled it back up. "It wasn't like we could just start calling your friends and family to get your references. I had to find out what kind of person you were. For all I knew, you were this close to snapping and becoming some sort of supervillain." He held up two fingers almost touching. "I've seen those episodes. Those are the episodes in superhero shows that are filmed like horror movies. Then it would be our fault for not noticing and stopping you. Can't have that. This city has enough monsters."

"He's not a monster," Kim's girlfriend snapped. He tried to ignore the glare the girl—Kim's girlfriend, according to his surveillance—was directing at him. All right, it was probably sucky he'd been watching the guy, but still, it had to be done.

"I know that now," Sanny said calmly. "But I didn't know it then. So could you really blame me for being worried?"

"Is this the sort of thing you guys do?" Kim demanded, voice level.

"Actually, this is a first for me," Sanny said. "So I'm kind of going overboard on the paranoia." He shrugged. "I understand you might be mad. But given how viciously you attacked us when we first met, can you blame me?"

"I thought you were monsters," he said.

"We thought you might be a monster too," Sanny said. "But we checked first to make sure."

Kim winced.

"The other two don't know I'm here," Sanny said. "They're still waiting for your signal. So if you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me. This is all my idea. And if you don't want to join up, that's fine too. But I figure you'd want a chance to ask questions first. So I'm here. Ask."

He spread his hands guilelessly.

Kim and his girlfriend shared a look. Then they both leaned forward intently.

"Do you know what I am?" Kim asked quietly. "Do you know why I have these powers I do? Why me?"

"I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea," Sanny answered succinctly.

"You said you'd answer my questions!"

"I thought you'd been asking about the group! I didn't think you'd be asking about existential stuff," Sanny said. "We don't why or what. Just that one day, I woke up and I was… like this." He gestured at himself.

Kim sighed. "So you don't know anything?"

Sanny shrugged. "I know I can violate conservation of mass and conservation of energy. I know sometimes the square-cube law doesn't apply to my physiology. But as to the big, lore dump-type questions?" He shook his head. "I have no clue. I'm still at the stage where I'm writing down my observations. I don't even have a hypothesis, much less answers. We're all making it up as we go along. But that's not what we're about."

"What are you about, then?" the girlfriend demanded.

"Monsters," Sanny said simply. "We're about hunting and killing monsters. It's our way of helping people."

"Why not let the police handle it?" Kim said.

"You've seen the news," Sanny said. "How many have they actually managed to kill?"

Kim slowly nodded.

"Look, if you don't want to join because I followed you, I understand," Sanny said. He pulled a sheet of paper from his folder and slid it forward. "Here's an email you can contact me on. If you ever run into a monster you need backup with, send me a message."

He finished the last of his nuggets, got up, and walked away.

Sanny took the long way home, commuting with public transportation since he had stuff with him. He stopped at a grocery for food. Had to meet with his office drone and absorb it to get male-appropriate clothes so he could enter his building as himself.

Eventually, he checked his email.

Finally, he let out a sigh of relief.

I still want to join, the email from Kim read.