Becoming Monsters 2:

Becoming Monsters Chapter 55: Birth Day Party

The pause that followed was...pregnant.

"How much time do we have?" Shilo asked, her usual playful mien replaced with the somber professionalism used to dealing with medical emergencies.

"Minutes." Honoka had never seen her uncle this worried, his face in her memory always so sure and calm. Without preamble, he strode to Padmava as he pulled out one of those arm pumps doctors tested blood pressure with. "Padmava, I remember from your medical history you had preeclampsia from a previous pregnancy. I was planning on running more tests for everyone next week, but I have to test you now to see if..."

"I'm fine, Honoka already took care of it." The rest of the women in the room looked like deer in headlights, Padmava was a sea of calm, taking long and deep breaths. "Girls, try and match my breathing rhythm. You'll thank me later."

"I thought we had more time," Honoka muttered, returning to herself as she finished allocating Abra's parts back. "You told us we would have years."

Akisame stopped and turned, hearing the worry and anxiety so very common in his niece. "You're about to become a mother, Hono-chan." Akisame put his hands on Honoka's shoulders, staring deep into cobalt blue eyes. "This is happening now and I can't do it alone. Will you help me?"

"I..." Honoka threatened to hyperventilate, fighting to match the pace Padmava led the other wives in. However, she was tired of being afraid. Straightening her back, she womaned up and set her jaw. "What do we need to do?"

"Believe it or not, outside of the warehouse I converted into a Racial birthing theater, there isn't a better place to have a baby than inside a dungeon. Dungeon's eat everything, including bacteria and parasites. The number one risk from a home birth is gone down here. All we have to worry about now is unexpected complications, Racial complications and pain management. Childbirth is much less dangerous since Status came into the world." Pointing to the large door leading into Padmava's bedroom, the Japanese doctor ran in the opposite direction, his wife and nurse following him. "I'll gather my equipment. You need to get them into the bath while they can still move under their own power. Remember, Legendary births are not normal, forget most of what you think is about to happen."

Easier said than done,

Honoka thought, sweeping the room with her eyes to assess options. Five pregnant women, five non-pregnant woman: the math should have been simple, yet it wasn't. Seven of those women were adjusting to Harmony changes, four of

those

to new Races. Three of the preggos were large enough to require cranes to move them if they couldn't move themselves, one now weighing over ten tons (9072 kg)!

Gwyneth put an ossified hand on Honoka's shoulder, the coldness of her bones giving Honoka goosebumps. "You're overthinking it." Walking forward, the Lich took on an imperial note to her voice. "Ladies, you are all about to be in a lot of pain. Hot water is going to help with that

and

it will speed up the entire process. So unless you want to be out here in more pain for longer, pick yourselves up and march."

It worked. Five women picked themselves slowly up and started their wobbling march - well, Banda crawled to keep herself from hitting the ceiling, two other girls helping Eve. Honoka flushed and fiddled with the temperature controls of the large bath to hide her face. She did tend to overthink. The former architect thought in terms of Rube Goldberg instead of William Occam, and Honoka's hesitation gnawed at her. Better to focus on what she could do, which was heat the water. Without safety regulations and the various tolerances Status brought to the world, the water could be set anywhere between twenty to two hundred and fifty degrees. Unsure what to do, a quick DiFi search got her informed enough to set it at ninety-two degrees and then looked around for the next thing to do, pushing away her lingering embarrassment.

"I know I'm supposed ta be nervous an' all, but is anyone else a tad relieved this is happenin' right now?" Quinn lounged in the same position as the other wives took, leaning back against the edge of the tub, splayed out front, stomach rising and falling with deep diaphragmed breaths.

"Amen!" Eve shouted, the last to splash into place as Dolly and Gwyneth heaved her a scootch against the edge. The hobgob gave the massive Banda a quick fist bump, sitting next to her friend.

"Except for Diane, you have all been pregnant for three days," Padmava admonished, half her snake body looping out of the tub to make room for everyone else. "You should deal with this for at least six months before you are allowed to complain."

"Is anyone else feeling...hot?" Dolly asked, standing behind Eve and idly rubbing one of her nipples. "I mean, you're all sexy and naked and I didn't think pregnancy was a kink of mine but...I'll shut up now."

"No, there's something going on here," Diane stated, peering around the room with narrowed eyes. "You're all more horny than normal, especially Dolly and Gwyneth. The only one with normal aura is Eve."

"What?" the lich in question exclaimed, her voice surprised while absent hands ran up and down her ribcage like a xylophone concert. "How am I aroused? I can't be aroused...? Can I?"

"Two plus two equals four," Honoka said from the side of the pool, pulling up her Status and phone DiFi at the same time. "Hobgoblins are common, eldritch types are not. Not a lot on the boards for your new Racial Features, though

Spellz Eatz!

lets Eve literally devour spells, gaining magical bonuses from those spells.

Seez Abyzz

gives her unnatural magical vision to see through mundane or magical effects. No idea what

Thaum Thaum

or

Gobz Needz

are. I'm going to take a stab and say double thaum is about magic and what a goblin needs most is something sexual. You seeing anything on your end, Eve?"

"Notta," Eve said, her eyes moving in that unfocused way when looking over their Status. This was particularly weird because Eve's eyes now glowed a solid off-putting green, eye movements visible through little streams of green glowing smoke flickering around the edges. "I mean, a sexual aura

sounds

fun until you have to focus on something unsexy. How bad is it?"

"Like I've been on a tractor all day an' daydreamin' 'bout a long shower with the wand attachment," Quinn stated with a critical assessment, her hand reaching down to her clit and lazily flicking it. "So, a four?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling like I need to get milked and sexy Disney princesses keep popping in my head." Banda played with her teats and squirting streams into the bathwater, though she stopped when everyone smiled wickedly at her. "What?"

"Nothing, just wondering if Jasmine takes you to a whole new world," Miaka said with a sly smirk.

"Or do you prefer if Marian oo de lallies you in Sherwood forest?" Diane added.

"Go the distance with Meg?"

"Make a man out of Mulan?"

"Alright!" Banda made a little splash to the joshing pair. To the amusement of everyone, with Banda's new life as a giantess, this meant both of them became completely drenched from the little tsunami. "Princess porn is tame compared to some of the stuff you gals are into."

As the other wives laughed it off, Miaka turned into a cloud of steam when fire feathers boiled the water wave. Leaving Diane the lone sputtering wife, getting some of the water up her nose. Mid snort, the succubus suddenly stretched back and locked her legs and arms.

"OooOOOHH!!" Under the water, Diane pushed her pelvis out, whole body arced in pain with a scream. However, what set it apart from a normal everyday contraction was the bright light shooting out of her vagina. Suddenly, the women in the water were electrocuted like the Scoleri Brothers, which included everyone except Honoka.

"Pull her out of there!" Akisame shouted, arriving with Shilo at a run. Both were loaded down with duffels stuffed with medical equipment. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Diane's baby can't be in water, the shocks will get worse in the coming hours."

While the other wives recovered, Honoka and Shilo dragged a limp and gasping Diane out of the pool and lay her on a generous pile of towels. From one of the bags, Akisame retrieved a pair of goggles shimmering with a rainbow light. Strapping them on, he hovered over Diane, studying her womb intently.

"Fully dilated, umbilical is clear. You should feel contractions much faster now. The baby looks to be in a perfect position." Taking a wand made of clear glass out of his pocket, he waved it over Diane's head. "I know it isn't much, but that's all I can do for the pain. Racial births can't have pain meds or potions at this point because we can't be sure how it will affect the baby."

"You did that on purpose!" Diane accused, one hand crushing into Honoka's as she felt the buildup of the next contraction. "You never said anything about no drugs!"

"Surprise." Akisame rolled up his pants and removed his shoes with a careless disregard for the glares of an entire harem. "Honoka, I need you to stay with Diane. Her child has the highest thaumian reading and if something goes wrong, we might find ourselves standing in ground zero. A quick allocation could save our lives."

"I'm not a doctor!" Honoka panicked, though she moved between Diane's legs before the rest of the message punched through. "Ground zero? How bad is this going to be?"

"You'll be fine, just preparing for the worst." Without preamble, Akisame jumped into the pool and waded to the next contestant. "Padmava, how are you feeling?"

"I'm used to a lot of wiggling at this point, a baby isn't something that doesn't move." The naga was trying not to worry, but it wasn't working. "I'm guessing I'm already dilated as well: I can feel one of the eggs against my cervix."

Uncle Aki nodded, pulling his glasses up and waving his wand over her. "Egg birth it is, they aren't hatching inside. And you are dilated by twelve centimeters. An egg birth needs at least twenty. That pressure you're feeling is the eggs helping widen you further along than human normal." Searching around the room, he appeared mentally calculated while surveying the available wives. "Abra, can you come here?"

"Me?" Abra asked, looking around as if there were another wasp in the room. "I'm not qualified for any of this, how can I possibly help?"

"Don't be nervous, Padmava has been through this before...sort of. Egg labors are the most uncomplicated types of Racial births, you just catch them and set them outside the water. It will happen really fast, and then you monitor the babies as they hatch, which will come right after. The only foreseeable problem is the eggs are large. Even with Padmava's size, she is going to have trouble pushing them out."

Whether Abra was ready got pushed aside for the rest of the family. "Is this normal?!" Eve shouted, summoning Akisame to the writhing hobgob.

From her vagina a constant flame burned - immediately dowsed - yet hot enough the water around her simmered.

"No," Akisame said, splashing over quickly and pulling his goggles down. "Your fire child is breach. Shilo is coming here and prepping for a cesarean while I check on the rest of the family." Waving his wife over, Akisame studied the flames and felt his legs singe from indirect heat. "Miaka, your new Race is fireproof. I need you over here to help Shilo and me so we don't broil."

"Lucky I'm the one who can't feel pain and heal up really fast," Eve said with a smile, this whole experience feeling like yummy sex, smiling blissfully while Miaka cautiously testing her hand against Eve's rocket crotch. "Otherwise this would suck."

"Don't make us force Honoka to allocate your precious Features off ya!" Quinn shouted through grit fangs, stomach looking like the twins inside her were having a boxing match inside her. "Ladies of lesser upbringin' might take yer braggin' the wrong way!"

"Well, this is a first," Uncle Doctor said when he focused on the large otter, adjusting the glow of his goggles as he walked around her. "Quinn, your children are fighting each other to be first in line. It wouldn't be much of a problem if they were human, but one is a stone golem and the other is a complete mystery to me, I think in the dragon family. Both are strong enough to damage you or themselves, and I see their umbilical cords twisting. If it gets much worse, we'll c-sec you as well, but Eve has the priority at the moment."

"Can I stay with her?" Dolly asked, kneeling beside Quinn in the water, her upper body still able to stay well above the water line. "I have experience birthing horses at my parent's ranch."

"Good enough for me," Akisame said, peering at Banda's largeness through his goggles, having trouble getting a solid view, sloshing back and forth in the bath while staring intently. "Hmm, I think you might have gotten too big, girl. Your baby is some form of air elemental and with your size, you might not have the ability to contract with enough force to push him out."

"Him?" Banda asked, all kinds of excited at hearing that single word.

"Dang it, slip of the tongue," Uncle Aki said as he patted her arm. "Congratulations, its a boy." He went quiet for nearly a minute, thinking about the problem. "I don't want to cut you open if I don't have to. Air Races have a tendency to dissipate unless it is vaginal birth, something like a thirty percent chance. There's a procedure a doctor came up with in Sweden that..."

He trailed off, smiling as he smacked himself in the head, a motion so identical to Honoka's own occasional self-duh there was no questioning their familial relation. "I'm so stupid, the answer is obvious. Banda, you need to be smaller. Think you can handle this as a human?"

"I...I guess?" Looking around and seeing all the other wives engaged but able to reassure the taurine nonetheless, Banda's soprano voice (which had surprisingly maintained its pitch despite her increased size) grew more confident. "Whatever's best for the baby."

"Hono-chan, allocate Banda's taurine Race over to..." Looking around, he spied Gwyneth staying out of everyone's way. "Gwyneth, can you help Banda here? Everyone else is going to be busy."

Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, maybe Akisame meant to have Gwyneth get a crash course in allocation, maybe if Diane wasn't contracting again Honoka would have understood there were two different sentences said by her uncle. Whatever the reason, Honoka didn't put any thought into pulling up her Status and sliding all of Banda over to the unprepared Gwyneth.

"I'll be glad...tooo

OOOI'm growing!"

Gwyneth's cries grabbed the attention of every woman not currently distracted by a contraction, skeletal structure translating the combination of a lich with a celestial taurine in a unique way. Honoka, bent over and allocating spare Health from Padmava to shake off the latest lightning jolt, was disappointed she missed the show.

Between shooting up from her tall and willowy 6'8" (203 cm) to a broad and imposing 16'0" (488 cm), other interesting changes took place well outside the norm, even for Honoka's unique family. Not only did the ossein of Gwyneth's body thicken beyond the bony girth of a holstaur or taurine skeleton, dozens of extra bones grew in place where bones shouldn't or couldn't exist on other creatures. Plates curved around her shoulders, thick bones wrapped around the humerus, ulna and radius. Her ribcage rippled and extended downward, creating what resembled ab bones while the breast formation on her chest split apart and reformed larger, then splintered again and reformed larger. In fact, the explosion of her chest as it simulated breast growth was highly unsettling and loud, causing many wives to look away as they focused on their own tasks.

"I think this would be more...something...if I weren't undead," Gwyneth commented, exploring how her bovine shaped skull and trying to come to terms with her newly acquired bones

flexing.

"Can I schedule a time for more when we aren't in a tizzy?"

"Still hurts!" Banda shouted to Honoka, holding her shrinking tits as they fountained yellowish milk into the air and generously coated everyone in the room with lactation rain. The humaning Native American girl wanted to say more, but the shrinking of her massive womb to a normal one triggered her first contraction. Banda's stomach bloated five times its size in less than a moment, compressing down suddenly before a burst of compressed air shot out of her vagina and detonated the water of the bath, effectively cleaning off the milk shower for the family.

"This is turning into a real circus," Miaka commented to the room, talons under Eve's thighs and holding her up like a wheelbarrow for Shilo to mark the incision lines with a marker and properly align the hobgoblin for surgery. This position, easy to hold for the fireproof phoenix, put the shooting flame out of Eve's pussy in direct line of Miaka's own love bud. Fireproof, yes, but not sensation proof. Miaka discovered her Race could experience a heatgasm and fought to stay standing while it built up again. "Hey, did we figure out how to shut off Eve's sex aura?"

"Probably a good thing for all the laboring girls, orgasms are shots of morphine to the brain. Also loosens the vaginal canal

and

releases oxytocin." Doctor Akisame - despite his words, sweat from more than just the boiling bathwater around Eve - kept his mind firmly on RBI statistics, laying out his scalpels on the edge of the bath. "It is only a problem for the rest of us."

"You hear...

aaaaaah!...

that?" Diane asked Honoka, her upper body bending forward as she pushed with the contraction, a lightning bolt arcing so strongly across the floor it left another dark groove. "I think I'm giving my new Racial Feature a test drive."

"Wait!" Honoka tried to interject, but it was too late.

The laboring succubus' eyes rolled up and her body tensed as she twitched and spasmed. And it worked as advertised - much to the surprise of Honoka - multiple plasma bolts shot out preceding the crown of a head peaking between Diane's legs. Some bolts hit Honoka directly, but her Health was cranked above forty points and felt no worse than sticking a nine volt battery on her tongue: shocking, but not incapacitating. Every pleasurable contraction was a

contraction

for the succubus, ligaments loosening unnaturally as either her Race or something from Honoka got involved. The baby didn't just plop out, so Honoka reached down and cradled the head of her child in her hand. Every pulsing convolution Diane clenched was full bodied and brought the baby through another half an inch. Within another couple of minutes, Honoka held a baby in her arms.

Then it opened its mouth and cried.

"WAAAAHH!!"

This wasn't just the sound of a baby, this was the cry of a nascent thunderstorm. Honoka felt her eardrums burst when the red hair on the baby's head burst into crackling red lightning and the little baby shocked Honoka so hard she was afraid her heart would stop. It took all of her willpower to prevent her arms from spasming as she collapsed to the ground from a kneeling state, rolling to keep the baby safe. The baby girl, Honoka noted, because despite the pain, she cried openly in pure joy.

"Gah!" Akisame yelled, the blast of sound hitting his ears like an entire Oingo Boingo concert all at once, vision blurring. Which was bad, his scalpel cutting away fascia inside Eve. He paused, shaking his head violently to focus on the delicate surgery. "Shilo! I can finish up here. Go around and check the babies, get the umbilicals clamped."

His wife not responding, Akisame reached over and nudged Shilo, startling the woman. Another couple of seconds pantomiming what he wanted, the polar bear woman nodded and stood, gathering the tools from a bag and exiting the pool.