Commercial Break (Worm / Slut Life) (Borderline SFW)

Preparation 2.7

---

“Wake up, you sleepyhead,” Taylor heard a lilting voice say as she slowly returned to consciousness. “It is time to get out of bed.” That settled it, she decided fuzzily. Zecora was the one waking her up. A quick mental check revealed that her spiders still hadn’t hatched, she’d lost about a hundred bees, but it felt like the queen was laying again, so she’d have more soon enough, and the ants had a net increase of around a hundred individuals. Her crickets and millepede were also doing fine. All things considered, her bugs were doing a lot better than she’d expected.

“Give her a moment,” Cindy’s voice chided. “I’m sure you remember how disorienting it is waking up after the mods.”

“It did take me a while to stand,” Zecora agreed readily. “But then, I was not used to hands.”

“Sure, that’s what made it so hard for you,” Cindy rebutted. Taylor could almost hear the eyeroll.

“’M up,” she groaned as control started to return to her body.

“Take it easy,” Cindy advised. “You’ve been undergoing modifications for a full week.”

“Why did it take that long?” Taylor asked in concern. “I thought you said it’d only take a few days.”

“Your gills were quite hard to make,”Zecora explained, “they caused me quite the headache. The first three times weren’t so nice. Only the fourth would suffice.”

Taylor’s hands flew to her throat in shock as she searched for her new gills. “I’d forgotten about those,” she admitted. Finding nothing but smooth skin around her neck, she asked, “Where are my gills?”

“On you sides, to be concise,” Zecora explained, gesturing to a series of small flaps of skin covering slits on Taylor’s sides. “This way your breathing will work twice.”

Taylor stared at the humanoid zebra for a moment before turning to Cindy. “Can you translate that for me, please?”

“I don’t know all the details,” Cindy hedged, “but I think they set you up with a second structure in your throat, so you can switch between swallowing or breathing, like normal, but you can also switch to a third tube. When you try to breathe underwater, your diaphragm will draw the water into special pouches before forcing it through your gills when you exhale. I’m pretty sure they tweaked things a bit so you’ll be fine with a lower oxygen concentration when you’re in the water… or that’s one of the things they plan on testing when you’re in the tank.”

“Wonderful,” Taylor grumbled.

“Thank you, Cindy, for the facts you relayed,” Zecora said before turning back to Taylor. “Now, let’s look at the rest of you before we are again delayed.” She held up a small mirror, allowing Taylor to look over her face.

It was, as far as she could tell, exactly what she had agreed to a week before. Her lips were narrower, but not so narrow that they looked out of place, and the little aspects she had asked to have touched up were flawless. Over all, she was very happy with the outcome, even if something did seem off. “Is there anything else I should be aware of?” she asked, nervously. With everything going so well, she was rather worried about what else was lurking around the proverbial corner. It was about then that she realized what had been bothering her. She could see perfectly, but she wasn’t wearing her glasses. It was a disconcerting feeling, after having worn glasses for so many years.

Cindy shrugged. “The only thing I can think of is that they’ve cleaned up your genetics and installed the climax control and breast enlargement chips.”

“We like to calibrate while you’re in the tank,” Zecora added. “That way, you reaction on tape will be more frank.”

“Great,” Taylor sighed as she swung herself into a seated position. “Hey, my paunch is gone!” she exclaimed happily. “And I have boobs!”

Cindy smiled. “We’ll give you a few minutes to get used to the new you, alright? Just try not to get aroused if you can help it.” Taylor shot her a questioning look even as she was continuing. “We’ve got a lot to do today, and the first time your sensitivity mods kick in will be a doozy.” She shrugged and added, “Sure, we could push some of it back, but if you spend the next few hours exploring yourself, you won’t get a chance to check on your bugs or get any practice in on the firing range before your appointment to get empowered.”

Taylor nodded. “You’re right, I do want to check on my bugs. I think the spiders are getting really close to hatching, and I want to make sure they have food available right away when they do.” She hopped off the bed, and began looking around until Cindy pointed her towards a set of clothing. She quickly began dressing.

“Make sure you have some fun,” Zecora said, smiling. “You’ll be quite busy before you’re done. It was a pleasure to work with you, now farewell, unless you’d rather stay a spell?”

“No, thank you,” Taylor said. “I’ve got a lot to do, so I should probably get started before we get distracted or something. I should probably get started now. I’m sure I can get used to my new body as we go.”

Cindy shrugged. “That’s up to you. I know it took me a bit to get used to it, but everyone is different.”

“Feel free to visit if you want to talk,” Zecora said as she led Taylor to the door. “Or if you’d like to try to make the bed rock. As I said before, you’re rather pretty. I wouldn’t mind getting down and gritty.”

Taylor flushed. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” She quickly made her way out side and started down the path back towards the storage shed housing her bugs.

“Bring your friends, the more the merrier,” Zecora called after her. “And remember, species is not a barrier!”

---

For the fifth time in as many minutes, Taylor attempted to adjust the glasses she wasn’t wearing. She and Cindy were in the storage shed, looking over her insects. As she’d expected, they were doing fine. Her golden orb weaver had even caught a few moths, judging by the silk wrapped bundles stored in her web. “Grah, that’s getting annoying,” Taylor grumbled as she caught herself attempting to adjust her glasses again. “I’m too used to wearing glasses. It feels weird without them.”

“We could always get you a pair with plain glass, if you’d like,” Cindy suggested. “Some people like the slightly nerdy look, so it shouldn’t cause any problems with your viewers. Just do whatever is more comfortable for you.”

“I’m probably going to need to get a pair,” Taylor acknowledged. “It feels weird not having them.” She grabbed a convenient case and began packing her egg sack and a few bottles of Cricket Crush into it. “I’m set here, unless there’s anything you think I missed?”

“I don’t think so,” Cindy replied. “Your housing should be set up soon, so they’ll move your insects into a spare room there in a few days, so there’s not much point in doing much more than the absolute minimum right now.”

“That was my thought as well,” Taylor agreed. “Especially if they’re in my range most of the time. I’ll be able to tell if they need anything.”

“We might as well get going, then,” Cindy decided. “We’ll grab some food on the way to the range, then you can practice a bit. After that, we’ve got the empowerment ritual to get through.”

“Do you know what that’s going to entail?” Taylor asked as she stepped out of the shed.

Cindy locked the door behind her before answering, “Not really. It’s not something I was ever really interested in, so I don’t know how it’ll compare to the usual methods. I do know that they’re shipping in a bunch of mana pools to use, though.”

Taylor turned to face Cindy before asking “Why? They already know what I’m planning on picking.”

“I think they want to make it a spectacle, since we rarely get a chance to record and televise them,” Cindy explained. With a shrug, she added, “If it’s impressive enough, it might just increase recruitment, which would be useful. Not every planet has people invading just to provide entertainment.”

“Will we have to worry about that here?” Taylor asked worriedly. Sure, she had wanted some experience before getting back to Earth Bet, but a full scale invasion was a little much.

Cindy thought for a moment before replying, “To the best of my knowledge, Babnockorty shouldn’t be too much at risk. Still, the other magical girls would know more about what happens here than I would.”

“I’ll have to ask them when I meet them,” Taylor decided.

“I think they’re setting up a meet-and-greet right before the ritual, so you should get your chance.”

“Oh, good,” Taylor agreed distractedly. “Hey, do you think we can stop there for breakfast?” she asked, pointing at a cafe.

Cindy shrugged. “I haven’t been to that one yet, so why not? Everywhere else here has been excellent, so I don’t think McBagles will be any different.” Taylor’s stomach grumbled, causing Cindy to ask, “Eager to try out the new stomach?”

“You replaced my stomach?” Taylor yelped. “I don’t remember agreeing to that!”

“No, no,” Cindy said placatingly. “That was a figure of speech. They did the tune up on your digestion and everything, but it’s still mostly original parts. Just… enhanced.” There was an awkward beat before she added, “Anyways, let’s get some food.”

---

“I hear you’re going to be becoming a magical girl,” the range master, Gaston LeGume commented as he handed a large rifle over to Taylor.

“That’s the idea,” Taylor replied, taking the rifle and quickly checking it over. Her temporary instructor looked on approvingly.

“You’ve only been on the range once, correct?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Taylor admitted. “Why, am I doing something wrong?”

The burly man shook his head. “No, nothing like that. Your previous instructor did a good job drilling in the essentials.”

“Well, he did have me learn how to disassemble, clean, and assemble the Arctic Warfare Super Magnum before I even got to the range,” Taylor began as she lowered the rifle before picking up the magazine and beginning to load it. “Then he had me practice with a few smaller rifles before he let me try the AWSM, drilling me on safety all the while.” With a shrug, she admitted, “I’m not the best shot yet, but I can cheat if I have to.”

Gaston raised an eyebrow. “Cheat? How so?” he asked.

Having two gnats fly over, Taylor positioned them on the barrel and explained, “By having two gnats on the barrel and one on the target, I can make sure I line up my shot correctly.”

“That might work in zero-g without any air movement,” Gaston noted, “but you would still need to adjust for drop and windage with any normal shot.”

“True,” Taylor agreed. “But it does give me a starting point, and bugs are really good at detecting air currents and stuff.”

“Still,” Gaston said, “that’s a bad habit to get into. It might work occasionally, but I’d rather you learn how to shoot the right way.” He gestured down the range. “Now, let’s get you practicing, and remember, no insects.”

“I’ll give it a try,” Taylor gamely said. At least she knew she wasn’t likely to break her shoulder or anything stupid like that. Laying down and steadying her rifle, she took her ten shots before kneeling back up. “So, how’d I do?”

“Not bad, not bad,” Gaston replied. “If you keep practicing, you should be able to get a Marksman ranking soon enough.”

“Thanks,” Taylor said smiling. “And I’ve been told that becoming a magical girl can help with that, too.”

“Don’t you believe it,” Gaston said dismissively. “Any skill you have will disappear as soon as you change back to your normal form, unless you plan on staying a magical girl all the time?”

“That doesn’t sound ideal,” Taylor noted with a wince. “I take it I should keep practicing like this, then?” She picked up a second filled magazine and fitted it into the rifle.

“That’s what I’d do, in your place,” Gaston agreed. “If you practice normally and regularly, your skill should carry over to your magical girl form.” He paused a moment before adding, “Worst case? It makes no difference and you’re still competent when you’re normal.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Taylor said. “Now, let’s get back to practicing. I’ve only got a little while longer before Cindy drags me to a meet-and-greet, and I’d like to try a few longer shots before we leave.”

---

“She’s almost here!” Hope Celandine called as she hurried to her place. As the magical girl with the best scouting capability, she had had one of her ravens flying overhead, watching for the new girl’s approach. “Everyone get ready!” There was a mad scramble as everyone found a place to hide, except for one little girl who stood in the middle of the room.

“What are you doing?” Joy Cassidy hissed from her position behind a couch. “You need to hide!”

Obsessive Rose shrugged. “I don’t see the point,” she opined. “Taylor already knows we want to have a welcome party, and she already knows where we all are.”

“Oh?” Lucy Lewd asked, leaning out of the closet she was hiding in with her children. “How’s that?”

Rose gestured to a fly buzzing around overhead. “She’s had a few bugs in here watching us for the last five minutes.”

“But Pip only just spotted her!” Celandine protested. She pouted and asked, “I take it that means I’m losing my position as team scout, huh?”

“Probably not,” Rose said. “I’ve seen what she sees through her bugs… it messes with Infestation somehow, and I’d be surprised if she can make much sense of it already.”

“Thanks,” Celandine said, smiling ruefully. “Anyway, she’s at the door, so we might as well let her in.”

“Aw,” Wicked Angelica complained. “I wanted to jump out and scare her.”

“It wouldn’t have worked,” Cassidy acknowledged with a sigh. “You might as well come on out and meet her with the rest of us.”

“Fine,” Angelica grumbled, even as she came out from hiding.

“Stopped hiding,” Taylor’s voice drifted through the opening door.

“Your abilities ruin surprise parties,” Cindy noted as she followed her charge into the room.

“I’m hoping it’s just as good at spoiling ambushes,” Taylor replied dryly. She looked around the room and gave a little wave. “Hi, I’m Taylor Hebert, as I’m sure you know.”

Cassidy stepped forward. “Hello, Taylor. I’m Joy Cassidy, or just Cassidy when you want to be informal and we’re in uniform. I’m the leader of this group.” Gesturing to each girl in turn, she continued, “This is my second in command, Hope Celandine. Next to her is Wicked Angelica and Obsessive Rose. Over by the closet is Lucy Lewd and her kids, Paul and Laura.” The girls each waved and gave a short greeting. “Grab something to drink and some snacks, and we can all sit down and chat,” she suggested before heading over to the refreshment table.

Taylor followed, looking over the offered goodies, a surprising assortment of treats and healthier food, and picked a few things to eat while they talked, along with a cup of the provided punch. Presumably, at least some of the magical girls were older than they appeared, considering that the oldest still looked like she was only sixteen or so. Then again, one of the girls who looked like a little kid had been introduced along with her children, so it was safe to say appearances were deceiving. Snacks in hand, she made her way over to one of the couches and took one of the end positions. Rose quickly claimed the seat next to her as the others found their own seats. Cindy leaned against one of the corners, obviously staying out of the event as much as possible while still being there.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to call yourself?” Celandine asked once everyone had gotten their food and seat. “The usual convention is your Well or Pit and then a name we can use as a shorthand.” She gestured to herself and then to Rose before continuing, “That name can be of a flower you like,” she gestured to the others before finishing, “or based off of your actual name in some way.”

Cassidy jumped in to add, “You can use pretty much anything you want, including your own name.”

“That’s what I did,” Angelica interrupted, jerking her thumb at herself.

Cassidy rolled her eyes and continued, “But it’s generally a bad idea if you’re worried about anyone tracking you down. The magical disguise field, not to mention our transformations, helps a lot, but the less you can connect to your real identity the better.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Taylor admitted. “Isn’t being a contestant going to mess with the disguise stuff? Everything’s going to be recorded and broadcast, right?” She looked around and added, “And do most magical girls use the Pits and Wells? I’ve only seen the emotional types so far.”

“I can answer your first question,” Rose piped up. “I’m not really a contestant myself, but I still have a bunch of cameras following me around a lot of the time because I’m the significant other of one, so it’s kind of similar. I’m contractually obligated to be in magical girl form anytime I have anything to do with magical girl activities, and I needed to have my name approved by a Slut Life representative to make sure it wouldn’t cause any problems. I happen to like roses, so...” She shook her head and got back on track, “Anyway, most people will forget about the connection when they aren’t actively watching the show. They’ll just think they watched two different people instead. You only have to worry about the most obsessed fans, but they’re supposed to be pretty rare.”

“It’s a bit annoying,” Angelica muttered. “I don’t like not knowing who I’m working with, but I get why you’d want to keep the fans away. If any of them get too pushy, I just punch them. Works well enough.”

Celandine signed. “We’ve been over this, Angelica. For some reason, Slut Life likes to have their secondaries keep their identities secret, at least while they’re part of the show. You remember Sayaka with the contract girls, right?”

Angelica wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, she was a bitch.”

Cindy took a step forward into the room and added, “I can answer this a bit more in depth, if you want.” When the others gave her their attention, she continued, “I looked it up, and apparently it’s because of one of our early contestants and her significant other. They were both magical girls, the contestant was an Obsession type and the secondary was a Cute type. They both used their real names, and the secondary quickly became more popular than the contestant. It didn’t end well, to sat the least. Since then, we’ve done our best to discourage secondaries from relying on fame and require them to keep their identities secret if they do anything that could attract too much attention, just as a precaution.

“As to your other question,” Cassidy began, “Babnockorty tends to keep its magical girls separated by type. They figure we work best with others with similar power sets. Most of the larger settlements have a few groups spread around while the small ones usually have a least a small group, though they often have a mix of types. If a threat pops up that one group is poorly suited for or is larger than they can handle, another group can be called in to help.”

“That sounds a lot like how fire stations operate,” Taylor noted.

“More or less,” Cassidy agreed. “We’ve got two other stations here. One of those math girls with their AI-driven magical devices and a group of soul-contract ones.”

“And we don’t fight over territory or anything, right?” Taylor pressed.

Cassidy laughed. “Of course not. We’re magical girls, not a gang. There’s a dispatcher in City Hall who passes calls on to each group, usually based on how close the event is to a particular station or how big it is.”

“It also depends on what our schedules are,” Celandine noted. “Since there’s only a few of us, and we’re still human, or at least mostly human for those contract girls, they try to stagger our shifts for maximum coverage while allowing us a fairly normal life. That means there’s times when a station may be completely empty.”

“Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from staying here during your off hours as well,” Lucy added. “I’m here fairly often, since we’ve set up a fairly nice area for my kids and I do a lot of healing. It’s better to have the urgent cases come here or have me go to them to stabilize them before they go to the hospital.”

“’Course you might also be called away from school or any other job you have,” Angelica commented. “Most of them are pretty understanding about it, since it’s only done in an emergency.”

“They may even call you away from your owners or punishments,” Rose added, “though they may be a bit more annoyed about that.”

“It pretty much only happens once or twice a year, though,” Cassidy retorted, “So I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“That brings up another question I had,” Taylor interjected. “What types of things do we usually fight?”

“Usually we get these clay-based humanoids,” Cassidy replied. “They aren’t terribly hard to put down, but there can be a lot of them at once.”

“We usually try to get them into one place,” Lucy added. “That way Celandine can blast most of them at once.”

“The hard part is getting them into a nice, empty area,” Celandine muttered. “My best attacks are a bit too indiscriminate to use in the middle of the city”

“We also get some feral demons occasionally,” Angelica added. “They’re really fun to fight, but they cause a lot of trouble if we don’t get to them fast enough.”

“If they’re Shikima, we typically throw Lucy at them,” Cassidy commented. “She drains them slightly faster than they drain her, so it keeps them from going after everyone else, and it eventually defeats them.”

“Once!” Lucy declared while blushing furiously. “That only happened once, now can we please forget about it?”

“What’s a Shikima?” Taylor asked, having not heard the term before.

“They’re a type of sex demon,” Cassidy explained. “They tend to go after schoolgirls, and are a pain in the ass to deal with.” She shuddered before elaborating, “Tentacles. Lucy’s right, though. They don’t show up all that often, and there’s enough people who are into that kind of a thing that it isn’t usually too much of a problem.”

“That’s good to hear,” Taylor replied. “Anyways, I think I only have one more question. Do I get to learn your real names?” she asked. “You all know who I am after all.”

“Sorry,” Rose answered immediately. “I can’t tell you. It’s in my contract. No one here knows it.”

“As for everyone else,” Cassidy began, before looking around at the other girls. They each nodded in turn. “We’ll show you what we really look like and tell you our real names after you go through the ritual but before the show starts.” Looking over to where Cindy was standing, she added, “But we won’t be telling Miss Matos. No offense, but keeping our real identities private is important.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cindy said, waving off the comment. “I completely get where you’re coming from.”

Taylor nodded. “All right, that’ll work for me,” she said. “Do any of you have any questions for me?”

“Can you really control bugs like a dark magical girl?” Laura asked from where she and Paul were sitting, nibbling on some snacks.

Taylor smiled and stood up, walking over to the door. “Yes, yes I can,” she replied before opening the door, allowing a handful of butterflies to enter the room and flitter around the younger girl as she made her way back to the couch.

“Just don’t try controlling them yourself around her,” Rose grumbled. “I can’t make heads or tails of real bug senses, and whatever she does scrambles things so I don’t get the magically clear images I usually do.”

Cindy looked at her watch before cutting in, “If anyone else has on questions, you’ll need to make it quick. They want to start the ritual at twenty-six thirty, and it’ll probably take us a while to get everything set.”

“It’s that late already?” Lucy asked in surprise. “I need to be getting the little ones home, it’s almost their bedtime.”

“Aw,” Paul whined, “bud I wanna play wid the budderflies.”

Taylor chuckled at that as she stood up. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to play with them later.” Heading over to the door, she paused and asked, “Where are we doing the ritual, anyway?”

---

“Hello and welcome to a rare treat,” the unseen announcer said as the camera panned over a large chamber with an indistinct magical circle in the middle of eleven large and oddly colored crystals standing on pedestals. There were also two empty pedestals that were obviously still part of the circle. “Most magical girls are empowered in the field, but today we’ve got an inside view of an out of combat empowerment! Don’t adjust your screens because you can’t make out the details of the magic circle, that’s intentional. These rituals can be deadly if performed incorrectly.”

A sliver of light appeared from ‘behind’ the camera as a door opened, growing to show silhouettes before Taylor walked into the middle of the room wearing a simple white robe and carrying a book and a chain with a glowing white crystal hanging from it. Two others followed in elaborate costumes, but stopped outside of the magic circle.

“This is going to be an emotion-based empowerment,” the announcer continued. “That said, those who are versed in these things may note that this chamber only holds eleven mana repositories instead of the full thirteen. This is intentional, as Miss Hebert will be participating on Slut Life. Due to issues with mana overloading previous contestants that drew from them, the Light-alignment Lewd Well and the Dark-alignment Carnal Pit are blocked by the circle in this chamber.”

Taylor had been instructed to lay down in the middle of the circle, the book placed in one of the smaller circles next to her and the pendent placed in another circle on her opposite side. Once she was situated the other two started around the outside, sparks of light jumping from their fingers as they touched each of the crystals. Each crystal started to glow as it was activated, and those observing carefully would note that they alternated between each other as they moved around the circle. Once they were done they said something to Taylor, before both reaching down and touching the very edge of the circle. A moment later it glowed, and the two retreated, closing the door behind them.

“Now it’s on Miss Hebert,” the announcer whispered, as though speaking loudly would cause problems. “She’ll need to focus to pull on the reservoirs.” The crystals visibly pulsed, and a tendril of energy reached out from one of them towards Taylor. “And there she goes. Unless I’m mistaken she’s going to be drawing upon the Light-aligned Will well.” The tendril made contact with Taylor’s chest, then the energy spread out to cover her entire body. Tendrils then came from half of the remaining crystals, the ones in between them having their glows fade.

When the other tendrils were all connected, the glow around Taylor became fully obscuring, just before two tendrils formed from the glow around her. The new tendrils reached over to the book and crystal and coated them as well. They were also fully obscured by the energy a moment later.

“Now we must wait while she communes with the Wells to make her choices,” the announcer said in their normal voice. “While we won’t know what those are we can try and make educated guesses when her new form is revealed. Unlike a field empowerment she should have plenty of time to make her choices. When she’s done with her choices the reservoirs will glow a little brighter as the stored mana is used to lock her choices into place.”

The unused crystals suddenly pulsed, their glows returning to full strength before a tendril reached out from one of them. The announcer seemed to be in a state of shock as the tendril reached into, but did not seem to connect with the glow obscuring Taylor. A moment later the remaining crystals also reached out with tendrils that joined the first.

“I...” the announcer said, sounding unsure of themselves. “I’m not certain how or why, but I believe the Dark-aligned Obsession Pit just activated. This isn’t supposed to be possible, and the experts we have watching are just as confused as I am.”

They didn’t get to speculate any further as all of the crystals seemed to explode with light and energy, the feed cutting to static a moment later.