Slime Sister Saga: Part 9

Summary: Following the events of A Giga-Sized Glow-Up, Celes wakes up with powers she has difficulties controlling,  coinciding with terrible, otherworldly visions. She meets more strange slime girls like Feza, but are they friends or foes?

A trade with MRGIllusion45, who provided the illustrations; story is written by me; characters belong to their respective creators.

[Story Listing]

---

For a few weeks, Celes, along with Marin and Astra, coexisted on the island relatively peacefully. Celes' attitude towards the island had changed. She no longer felt trapped on this uncharted island. It actually began to feel more like a second home to her... and she rather liked all the perks of living in the tropics. 

She'd warmed up to the place considerably, and with the guidance of her adoptive sisters, she took her slime training more seriously. To listen to her body as an extension of her will, and to allow herself to flow as she needed. As she spent time with her sisters, he grew to emulate their mannerisms; in turn Celes found her ability to control and manipulate her own body became more sophisticated in turn. 

Still, old habits die hard, and she still considered herself human at heart, with human aspirations and human motivations. She rather missed her boutique back in her hometown, but she focused that energy towards fashion design. She had already designed outfits for herself and Astra. For whatever reason, the slime comprising their bodies was superior material to weave from, able to bind fabrics together and remake crafting material into whatever she could imagine... with a skilled hand, at least. 

Fashioning a mannequin out of bamboo, Celes hummed to herself as she looped around it; threads of thin slime trickled from her fingers; they twisted through the air, coiling into a thread that wove in, out, and around each other, forming a fabric that was glossy and shimmered from the rays of the sun above. 

Celes paused to survey her work. Her experiments with slime-weaving were producing some compelling results. She made a simple poncho, yet inky patterns of slime resembling her own skin swirled idly within the fabric.

"A waterproof poncho..." Celes rubbed her chin. "...If the poncho absorbs the rain, is it really waterproof?"

Celes leaned closer, rubbing the fabric between her fingers. As she considered its aesthetics, her hair tendril stretched away from her scalp and towards the base of a nearby palmtree. The tip prodded against an upright, empty coconut shell; as if the tip was a suction cup, it clung to the coconut and raised it to her mouth, where she took a sip of its contents... mm, homemade fruit punch. She put it back down a moment later. 

"It might not be as appealing if you wanted to stay dry..." Celes raised a finger, watching as a thin purple slime of ooze broke off from the tip, and sunk back into the slime-form poncho. "But... I suppose a slime wouldn't need to worry about such things."

She chuckled to herself. She tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Would Astra like it? ...Mm, probably not." Celes tapped her forehead. "She rather likes pretending to be a plant, and I bet she likes the feeling of the rain on her skin. Maybe Marin, or... mm, maybe Feza? Must be sick of the ocean..."

Celes' expression fell for a moment. There was a shift in the air. A slight, near-imperceptible tremor in the earth. Something that caused her slimy body to ripple, ever so slightly. She froze, attuning her senses to the slightest stimuli on her body. 

She understood this feeling. She was being stalked and watched from a distance. Definitely Marin. 

She looked upwards. Above her were flocks of bright blue birds, perched on branches overlooking the clearing. It was apparent to her that Marin knew exactly where she was... so Celes would have to act quickly, before-

"ROWR!!~" 

Seemingly right on cue, an enormous light blue tiger pounced from the tall grass nearby. Celes got a glimpse of Marin in her four o'clock. She must've been twice the size of a typical full-grown tiger, and when she spotted those gnarly claws tear a palm treat in half, Celes could only smile excitedly. This was going to be a fun chase. 

On reflex, Celes lashed her arms forward, grabbing for a sturdy tree branch above her; her arms retracted, sending her hurtling towards the air in a broad arc, with the pent up kinetic energy of an elastic band. She whooped with excitement as she narrowly avoided Marin's claws; Celes let go, hugging herself and bringing her knees to her chest, twirling in the air as she compressed her body into a ball. 

Bwomp! Aiming for an angled rock, she surged through the canopy. Before, Celes might've been disoriented from all the spinning, but she forced herself to perceive what was in front of her, and follow the instincts of her body. With minute course corrections, she bounded off palm trees, along capsized logs, and ripped through the canopy, her momentum outpacing Marin's destructive, reckless approach. 

Celes remembered that a river was coming up; she bounced up and reformed into a humanoid shape as she hurtled through the air, screaming with excitement as she touched down on the water, skidding along her heels as they stretched into purple skis. Marin flailed through the water as she gave chase. 

"Having fun in the water??" Celes looked over her shoulder with a smirk, kicking at the water beneath her. A silvery fish splashed up and landed squarely in Marin's feline jaws. "Here! A quick bite to keep your strength up!"

"Haha! Yummy!~" Marin beamed. The two slime sisters shared a laugh.

It wasn't long until Celes realized that the forest had thinned out, opening into a clearing. And if the jungle had ended, it wouldn't be long until they reached the cliff; the river she was skidding along ended in a waterfall overlooking a sheer cliff-face into a lake below. A staggering, surely lethal drop... for a human, at least. 

She beamed, and hunched over, as if approaching the end of a ski ramp. She bent her knees... and jumped. 

Celes buried her hands and arms into her hair, stretching it in opposite directions. She whooped as her body caught an updraft, her wing-like hair stretching a sixteen foot span. She kicked her legs until they merged with the rest of her body, no extra weight that wasn't put towards improving her aerodynamics. 

Celes dipped downwards and, with a cry of excitement, pulled back. Her winged form had momentarily vanished in a thick cloud of mist, but she pulled up and soared. 

"WOOOO!!" She whooped with laughter, looking down to see the distant trees well beneath her. With a slight tilt of her wings, her body steered slowly to the left, then to the right, her wings catching slipstreams that caused her to soar through the sky like a paraglider. 

Out of the corner of her eye, a flock of Marin's light blue birds joined her on her excursion through the tropical skies. 

"Here to join me on this wonderful flight??" Celes flashed her teeth in a radiant grin. "Mmmhm, I suppose this is more falling with style, but... it's amazing! Can't believe you do this every day, Marin!"

Fly! Fly! Several of the birds vocalized with raucous, enthusiastic squawks. Celes had to stifle a laugh, lest she throw off her entire balance. They soared towards the beachhead where Celes had landed, marked by the palm trees that had collapsed under her previously gargantuan weight. She flew out towards the open ocean for a spell, before turning to follow the beaches along the way, watching as they turned to craggy cliff sides. 

"Woooow..." Celes admired the view from above. "Really gives you a whole new perspective on things. Wish I had a camera with me. The white-sand beaches... the natural rock formations... the wildflowers..."

SHOOOOOM!! Celes yelped as, out of the corner of her eye, off in the distance, somewhere over in the rocky crags... a massive pillar of light erupted from seemingly out of nowhere.

"A fireworks show!? HERE??" Celes hollered, eyes wide with panic. It was enough for her to lose her balance; she awkwardly flapped her wings and, despite the flock of Marin's birds, and their best efforts to keep her airborne by grabbing her with her talons, most were too small to make a difference... and a lot were simply absorbed back into Celes, which didn't help her precarious weight distribution.

Celes wailed as her wings flagged, sending her into an unprompted barrel roll, dipping downwards in a panic spiral...

"...aaAAAAA!!" She screamed as she forced her wings out again, catching an updraft as she shot back upwards. Feeling breathless and shocked to her core, she turned her head towards the pillar of light. She stared for a spell (a terrible idea, but it didn't seem like slimes were at any risk of eye damage). It had an iridescent quality to it, like a diamond filtering many hues of light. And the surrounding area, strangely, was no worse for it. 

"Is that... some sort of flare?" Celes muttered. She extended her wings and soared in its direction. She approached it carefully...

As she got closer, the light suddenly vanished, revealing the small chain of craggy rocks below. Among them was a familiar yellow shape that Celes recognized as Astra, but there was something... perhaps someone, that was bright pink next to her. Celes couldn't make out details from her birds-eye view, but perhaps it was...

"Another slime sister??" Celes murmured to herself. She tucked in her wings and accelerated as she dove towards the pair. Some 200 feet out, she was rapidly approaching the ocean's surface. She yelped, pulling back as she skidded and skipped along the water.

Celes' voice rattled with each bounce along the water's surface, until...

Splat! Celes collided face first into the base of the rocky islet, reducing her to a paste-like consistency. She groaned as her body stirred, trying to peel her flattened body off of the rock.

"Ooogh... my head..." Celes groaned, struggling to summon her voice from her flattened esophagus. "...Eep!"

Celes squeaked in surprise as dozens of thin yellow threads descended upon her, weaving through her purple slime and jostled her free from the surface of the rock. Celes was lifted in the air, suspended over Astra; Celes noted her unimpressed expression (which Celes had become familiar with as her default, baseline mood), and chuckled quietly.

"A-Astra..." Celes forced a smile. "How did I dooOOO!"

Wobble wobble! Celes' voice warbled and shook as Astra shook her form with her hair tendrils, unfurling her like a flag over the sea. Moments later, Celes gasped as she popped back into shape, before collapsing on the face of the rock. 

You should work on your landings. Astra's voice rang psychically through Celes' mind. Stand up straight.

Celes yelped as Astra commanded her body to rise up on its own. Celes grimaced as her hands slammed attentively at her sides, causing her entire body to wobble. She was then forcibly steered towards... a slime woman that Celes had yet to meet? Celes stared at her features. Her hair seemed to curl naturally into a spiralled ponytail, and her eyes... they seemed to shimmer with an iridescent quality.  There had to have been at least a foot and a half of size difference between them... gosh, she was tall.

You must show the utmost respect to Surai. 

Celes yelped as Astra made the purple slime bow at a sharp angle, seemingly out of deferring respect. 

"A-ah, Astra!" Celes yelped. "Is this really necessary? I-I'm sorry for how I made my entrance, but... but I'd like to have my body back now??"

"Astra. Relax." The pink slime woman raised her hand.

"Y-you can talk??" Celes gawked in surprise, only to yelp in surprise as Astra suddenly retracted her hair tendrils from Celes' figure, causing Celes to stumble forward. Surai approached Celes with a reserved, appraising look.

"...Celes...?" The pink slime slid very close to Celes. The height difference between them was so pronounced, Celes had to strain her neck to look her in the eye.

"Y-yes! That's me!" Celes nodded. "Did... did Astra tell you about me? Ah, Surai, yes...?" 

Surai paused, her eyes sparkling with intense thought. Celes stirred silently; she felt like she was being judged...

And then, suddenly, Surai's smile grew brighter than her eyes. 

"CELES! FINALLY! I GET TO MEET MY LITTLE SISTER, LIVE AND IN PERSON!~"

Surai wrapped her arms around Celes, pulling her in with a mighty hug. Celes squeaked in surprise as her face was forced into Surai's chest, her body tingling with excitement and... the familiar sensation of Celes' body hungrily absorbing Surai's slime essence. Her Unique was at work once again.

"MMRPH!" Celes flailed her arms as slime was forced to her head, her torso compressed like a tube of toothpaste. Her eyes bugged out, inflating like a balloon, until... 

POP! Her head exploded like a paint-filled water balloon, and her body oozed out of Surai's grasp... only to reform a foot away. Celes looked a little frazzled, but none the worse for wear.

"Ah... uwah..." Celes caught her breath, placing a hand on her chest. She fussed with her hair. "L-let me catch my breath, I'm a little dizzy from that..."

"Astra told me all about you, Celes!" Surai beamed. "Your incredible Unique, your commitment to your training... and oh my gosh, did you make this??" Surai tugged at the hem of Celes' dress. 

"O-oh, um, yes! Slime weaving! I figured it out during one of my, er, personal experiments. I use threads of my own slime to bind things I find around the island... coral, palm fronds, even pearls from Marin." Celes' demeanor lit up in a second as she eagerly gushed about her craft. "I could cobble something together for you in a jiff, if you like!~"

"Oooh, Celes, you are a slime of so many surprises!" Surai giggled. "Maybe I could give it a shot?"

"Oh! That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Celes clapped her palms together. "I'm something of a seamstress, so if you'd like any ideas I can- o-oh!"

Celes paused to gawk as Surai spun quickly on the spot, her features blending in a pillar of blurred pink slime; she was spinning too fast for Celes to make up her features. Yet as she continued to watch, the pink slime pillar began to glow in different colours, on different parts of her body.

Boing! It bounced up into a ball, and Surai quickly reformed into the air, landing squarely on the rapidly formed soles of her feet. Celes gasped as she looked at Surai's form. Surai's skin was glowing; her body shone like a neon billboard, the lights wrapping around her curves to resemble short-shorts and a tight-fitting blouse. 

If Celes wasn't wowed then, the pose Surai struck did; she pointed a finger to the heavens, and from the tip erupted a thin laser beam that shot into a cloud above... narrowly avoiding a flock of light blue birds (creatures that Celes recognized as Marin's pets... or rather, Marin herself. It was weird). Around Surai's form, a spotlight shone down on her; she looked all the part of a confident diva, and Celes was immediately enamoured. 

"Wooooow...!" Celes applauded her hands. 

"You like it? Oh, I'm glad you do!" Surai bounced on her heels. "Astra tells me you have such a discerning eye, so I really wanted to impress you!~"

"Me? Discerning?" Celes blinked. "Astra said that?"

Um. 

Astra averted her eyes. One of her hair tendrils slithered towards Surai's neck, prodding it bashfully as it connected with her. 

Surai? The test? Astra prodded Surai with a reminder. 

"OH! THE TEST! Right!" Surai clasped her palms together. "Celes, how's the training been going?"

"Test?" Celes blurted. "Oh, Astra and Marin have been teaching me all sorts of things about moving around like a proper slime! A-and you saw me flying up there, right? I didn't know I was capable of that!!"

"Your enthusiasm is delightfully infectious, Celes~" Surai chuckled. "Astra's been keeping me updated. Actually, she concocted her own test for you, but I hoped that I would be the one to take you up on it."

"Mmhm! A test." Celes nodded enthusiastically. "I think I'm ready. I've been really serious about getting more in touch with my... slimy side, I guess, heh. What would you have me do?"

"Oh, it's really quite simple." Surai tapped her forehead. "I would have you probe my head and view my memories."

"...Ah." Celes grimaced. "You mean with... Astra's Unique, right?"

"I want to see your abilities firsthand." Surai nodded. 

"Well, um..." Celes brushed back globules of her head. "Honestly, I... haven't used Astra's ability as much. The idea of, well, brainwashing someone is..."

Celes felt several sets of expecting eyes on her. She gulped, and straightened up.

"I-I'll give it a try." Celes clenched her fists. "I, er, did it once before..." Celes momentarily recalled the time she took over the minds of an entire crew of sailors, seemingly effortlessly... but probing the mind of a slime was a whole different can of worms, especially if it was the mind of a slime she had barely met.

Celes focused. Through the inky purple slime comprising her skin, veins of yellow coursed through her head through to her hair. Like Astra, her hair began to rise on its own, tendrils swaying and splitting into myriad threads. They floated in the air, twisting as if searching for a target. 

Celes opened her eyes, and turned her focus to Sura. All at once, her hair pierced through Surai's soft body. Surai moaned as her body rose in the air, entirely suspended by the strength of Celes' hair. 

Veins of purple clutched at Surai, vines burrowing into her head. She reopened her eyes, now a foreboding shade of purple. Celes' mind resonated with Surai's; she closed her eyes as their thoughts began to intersect. 

Celes grunted; it was proving difficult to probe the mind of a slime sister. For the humans, it felt like plugging in a cable. But Celes' projected consciousness felt like it was wading through an ocean of pink slime, shimmering fragments of ideas, thoughts and memories that, in pieces, were hardly cognizant to her. It was like pressing through a great mental fog...

Celes was also being overly careful in Surai's mind, as every place she touched with myriad tendrils of thought-turning slime turned to a shade of deep purple. In the back of her mind, the uneasiness associated with Astra's terrifying unique bubbled up. Celes was determined to leave Surai's mind intact. She didn't know how much damage she could possibly do to a slime's mind, and she didn't want to find out the hard way. 

Fragments of memory twisted, first like fine grains of sugar crystals, then into sparkling lights. They moved on their own, gravitating towards one another, merging into bigger and bigger pieces. Like pieces of a puzzle, they assembled, stacking all around Celes' vision until the world had changed all around her. 

The pink fog clung to her peripheral view, but colours began to dot her vision. They swirled together indistinctly, a myriad of hues in a fuzzy, almost drunken haze. But Celes focused her attention on a massive green shape that took up the majority of the view. 

Her vision sharpened, the visuals sharpening in mere moments. Celes recognized the silhouette well before her vision had focused... but it was the details around that silhouette that chilled her. 

It was Feza. But her visage was chilling. Her eyeless face was contorted in a vicious snarl. Her stature was more terrifying still; an assortment of fishing vessels in the pier that Feza stood in offered a sense of horrifying scale. 

Feza had to be hundreds of feet tall, an unfathomable stature. It was nothing like how Celes encountered her before, and the capsized, crushed vessels in her wake spoke of the disasters that followed her. With even the slightest shift of her body, Celes watched as tidal waves crashed against the shacks lining the beachfront. She wanted to look away, yet her vision was locked squarely on Feza, unflinching.

Of course. She was seeing through Feza's eyes, after all. 

Feza raised a fist, and brought it crashing down! But before she could strike, a sound like a crackling fire preceded a cacophonous explosion that sounded like it went off right in her ears!

KRAKOWWWW!!

"UWWAAAAAHH!!" 

Celes shrieked, closing her eyes and tumbling backwards. The visual she had witnessed had turned black and silent. She blinked, wincing at the natural sunlight. She was back on the island rock, with Surai and Astra gawking at her with intensely curious looks. Even Marin looked worried... or, well, as worried as a bird perched on Astra's head could look. 

Celes glanced down, watching her purple hair tendrils slither along the ground as they drew back into her head. 

"You're trembling," Surai muttered. "Did you see her?"

"Her? F... F-Feza?" Celes stuttered, before nodding hurriedly. "She was... massive... that poor fishing village."

"Aha! So you caught a glimpse at one of my last encounters with Feza." Surai folded her arms. "Had I not gotten involved, there would be no village left. Feza's destructive tendencies would allow nothing less..."

"Destructive... tendencies...?" Celes rose her head, a sense of dread bubbling up within her. If she had peered into Surai's memories, then what she saw was real. It chilled her. 

"Astra, would you say Celes makes the grade?" Surai turned to Astra. "I'd say she passes with flying colours, don't you?"

Astra paused for a spell, before nodding slightly. Surai turned to Celes with a wide smile.

"Well done, Celes! Astra's notoriously hard to please!~" Surai slid over, taking Celes in for another tight hug, one that caused Celes' head to inflate like an exaggerated stress-relief toy.

"Ah-" Celes yelped, wincing as her body tingled... that sensation of her body thirstily absorbing more of Surai's essence. Celes paused for a moment. Her trembling ceased within Surai's tight, yet tender grip. "So we're sisters now...?"

"Ohhh... we've always been sisters. We just wanted to make sure you were ready for anything." Surai patted Celes' shoulders. "I've been so eagerly awaiting this day, Celes. There's so much we need to talk about! And so much to catch on, my dearest sister!~"

"Sister..." Celes smiled bashfully, prodding her fingers together. "I-I never had sisters before... I wasn't prepared for something like this."

"Oho, don't undersell yourself, Celes! You went toe-to-toe with Feza, and lived!" Surai beamed. "I don't think anything could stop you, if you put your mind to it!~"

"Awww...~" Celes blushed. Astra paused, jerking her head up as if to get a word in. A yellow tendril slithered towards Surai's head, but she batted it aside, eyes focused on Celes.

"Come on! I know the perfect spot for reminiscing. Astra, Marin, could you excuse us? I have a lot to catch dear Celes up on~"

The pair stood at attention, rather quietly and meekly. It was normal for Astra to be quiet, but Marin was chittering silently as well, all bird-like. Celes tilted her head in slight confusion, but Surai's grip on her hand pulled her out of her reflection in a hurry. 

"Mm, I'll take that as a yes! Celes, c'mon, this way~" Surai waved to Celes, hopping into the water; her lower body shifted into a mermaid's fin.

"Ooh! Mermaids! My favourite! How'd you know?? Did Astra tell you that too???" Celes quickly shapeshifted, surging to catch up with Astra, inadvertently splashing her with her tail. 

Celes and Surai shared a laugh together, the two slime women charting a course towards the main island once more...