Mage's Rooms

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Down in the further reaches of Sector Seven was a small collection of rooms so rarely used that Kokonoe's bare feet left footprints in the dust on the floor. "Hmn...I may need to send Noel down here to clean this place up..." she mused to herself. Books lined the walls; this place seemed to serve as an archive of sorts, mostly books of an occult nature. There was what looked like a steel operating table in the middle of the room, covered in a sheet. There looked to be old blood stains on the floor near it. She yanked the cloth off the table, revealing it to be cushioned. "Come lie down, Hakumen."

Hakumen's mood darkened as the surroundings became more and more untouched. Did the cat really know what she was doing? Could he really trust her? Hakumen slew the notions as they appeared, not only was he sure Kokonoe was skilled enough to perform the task, he had no other options. Left with no alternatives, he silently entered the hidden archive taking note of the vast collection of knowledge and stains. The warrior briefly wondered what had occured here during the room's last use as he laid back on the table.

"Remember our accord grimalkin, without me you will never have your vengeance. It would not be wise for you to attempt to doublecross me now." he said darkly before settling back for the operation.

"Double cross? I may be sly, but I'm no traitor. Now, you will sleep until the procedure is completed. You will feel nothing until you awake. Time will not seem to pass...it will be as if you were a human under anesthesia. Seeing as I don't know if you breathe anymore, nor weither there's actually an arm in that sleeve for me to stick a needle into, more drastic measures must be taken." She closed her eyes and a soft blue light appeared around her hands. She moved the spell over Hakumen's body and let it settle like falling dust. "Relax now, the next thing you know, you'll have your wish granted," she said. His vision would go blurry, and by the time she finished speaking her words would sound garbled, and then he would be unconscious, knowing nothing and seeing and feeling nothing.

Hakumen made no motion of hearing Kokonoe's words. It was true that he had neither lungs nor veins within his armor, only his will and his purpose remained. But that was more than sufficient, it was all he ever needed. As the blue dust fell around hin, Hakumen slowly felt his grip on consciousness fade and he gave no effort into fighting it. Soon he lay perfectly still upon the table, if one did not know his identity it would be easy to confuse him with just another empty suit of armor within an ancient castle.

Kokonoe reached out and touched the Boundary....that was the purpose of this room, afterall...to make it easier for Kokonoe to break the border between the real world and the boundary. She closed her eyes and held her hands on Hakumen's breastplate. Slowly she found the enegry within the boundary that was Hakumen's. She could feel it all around her as she gathered it and concentrated it. She didn't take all of it...just most of it; enough to complete the task that needed to be done. She opened her eyes to see a ball of swirling black and blue energy between her hands.

The task now was similar to the process she had used to bring Noel back to life. She had to keep the energy stable and force it into Hakumen's "body". Unfortunately for her, this energy was much more difficult to keep stable than Noel's Soul had been. It constantly fought her hold, trying to retreat either back into the boundary or into Hakumen. She knew however, that if she let it all flood back into him the way it wanted, he would surely die of the shock. She narrowed her eyes and FORCED her will upon the energy, causing it to stabilize.

Slowly now, cautiously, she let the energy seep into Hakumen, bit by bit.

Finally the last bit of power was well within Hakumen's body and soul. She wiped some sweat from her brow and took a few deep breaths. "Now then...there is something I've been wanting to try..." she said to herself, going over to the large desk in the room and taking a dusty book off of it. She blew the dust off the pages and smirked.

SOME TIME LATER...

Hakumen would find himself waking up...but he would feel a bit different...that was because Kokonoe...had turned him into a woman.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," she said.

Hakumen's vision gradually returned and examined his surroundings. The catgirl was still standing over him looking quite pleased with herself. This slightly unnerved Hakumen but he put it out of mind while information flashed across the inside of his helmet informing him that he was now operating at 45% of his maximum power. That was more than double what he had upon his escape from the Edge. Hopefully it would be enough to end this once and for all.

"You have my thanks grimalkin."

Hakumen said but immediately noticed something wrong. His voice was...feminine. He sounded exactly like a woman! Glancing at his body, Hakumen found even more startling changes. His chest was now home to a pair of rather large breasts and the rest of his once wide form had taken on an hourglass-like shape. It appeared that Kokonoe had done far more than restore some of his power. Jumping up from the table, Hakumen prepared to unleash a verbal assault when yet another strange sensation caught his, or was it her, attention. She could feel her breath. It was an odd sensation she had not felt for years.

With slight hesitation, Hakumen removed her faceplate and looked into a nearby mirror. Staring back at her was a very human face which bore only a hint of similarity to Jin Kisaragi. A long ponytail of silvery white hair still trailed down her back and piercing green eye's light up her face. Hakumen was almost speechless, emphasis on almost.

"Give me one reason to let you live grimalkin. This...humiliation! This was not a part of our agreement!"

"Now Now," she said with a smirk. "I never said I would be doing this to you for free...nothing I do is ever free. This is simply the price, Hakumen-chan," she said, with the emphasis on the "Chan". She smirked broadly. "Besides...without me, you'll never get the rest of your power back."


((Appologies for the shortness))

Hakumen literally shook with fury, her clawed hand wrapping around the hilt of her mighty Nox Nyctores Ookami but eventually fell to her side. No matter how easy it may have been to kill her, Kokonoe was still the only being capable of restoring his powers let alone his true form. As long as she had that usefullness, Hakumen would have to leave her alive and unscathed. Still snarling, Hakumen turned and left the room without another word, her white mask held in her left hand.

==========> Lobby

Kokonoe cackled to herself, then chased after Haku-chan.

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