"So why were you naked?" Alex asked. She was trying to be casual but her eyes said otherwise.

"Oh, I got eaten," Caleb said. He stretched a bit, testing how well his new clothes fit.

"What?" Alex wasn't quite ready for an answer like that.

"Twice actually. First time was by that devourer swarm. Second was with the nanomagical girl." Caleb eyed the woman, now that they weren't separated by a rubble hill, he saw she was quite attractive. A looker, if you will.

She had brunette hair that went down to her shoulders. Her face was playful, he could tell she smiled a lot. Her eyes were the most striking, piercing and brown. He glanced down as they talked, seeing toned arms and legs under her cat-themed clothes. Overall, he got the impression of a playful, sporty woman.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't see how you would be able to survive that." Alex gestured at Caleb. Once again he was reminded at how fit everyone was in the apocalypse. All the men were Adonis and the women Aphrodite. And here he was, the pudgy cousin. He wasn't fat, or obese, but he had fat on him. Fat that wouldn't go away.

"I'm immutable," Caleb whispered mysteriously.

"Unchanging?" Alex replied. Caleb sulked, apparently she knew the word. "How does that even work? Wait if you couldn't change how would you get eaten?"

"Oh, I've learned to control a bit of it," Caleb said as both he and Alex started walking. She seemed to be tracking something. "See, it used to be nothing could affect me. All those monsters, their weapons, their powers, none of it could do anything. I walked through all of the dangerous stuff. It was pretty funny for a while, I even helped a buncha levelers by training mobs."

"I see," Alex said. She didn't know what he meant by training mobs but levelers probably meant people with systems.

"Yeah, of course, just running around in circles letting mobs chase you is boring, and I learned that exercising didn't change anything. Which is stupid. So now I look like the guy living in his mom's basement." Caleb soured, remembering all the useless work he did trying to get fit.

"That still doesn't explain how you got eaten," Alex said.

"I was getting to that. So along the way, I learned there were stages to this whole thing. Turns out, anything that eats at the cellular level, like a zombie virus, or perverted nanomachines, can destroy my body. But my mind, or soul, or whatever it is, can't be affected. And eventually, my body just returns to normal." Caleb kicked a rock as he followed Alex. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Well, he did. There was a hentai hive mind to kill, an HHM if you will.

"So you let yourself get eaten," Alex said, arriving at the logical conclusion.

"Well, I didn't try to let it happen. I still fought, but it does make it easier to kill the hive controller when you're a part of the swarm. So to speak." Caleb replied. He didn't want this woman to think he liked getting eaten. "I learned I could kinda control when I changed back. I spent a whole week as a drone, just to see what would happen."

As Alex led the two closer to their destination, Kit appeared in front and growled. Alex nodded. "Kit says there's something ahead. It smells dead but you never know."

"Bet you five bucks it’s a zombie," Caleb said.

"Make it a meal and you're on. If it is a zombie, I'll treat you to the best meal I can afford. If it isn't you treat me."

"Deal," Caleb answered.

Alex directed Caleb to jump onto Jim-Jam's back. "Let's go see who pays for dinner."

The two rode forth, reaching their destination in minutes. Jim-Jam moved with, well, catlike grace over the barren wasteland and rubble. Soon, the two were looking at what used to be a rec center.

"I never understood why these got built so far away," Caleb said.

A loud crash interrupted their conversation. The two watched as a side wall of the rec center fell away, revealing a rotting corpse and an armored man fighting in a gymnasium. The two were locked in combat. The corpse was large, had around 5 snakelike heads, each in various stages of decay. Caleb and Alex watched as the monster bit at the warrior, the heads trying to surround the man. But it was like each head was arguing with the other. One would strike out too soon, pulling another head away from a deadly blow. It also looked as if the man had some sort of future sight. Sometimes his body would jerk before a head stuck, moving him out of the way in the nick of time.

"He looks like someone from those souls games," Caleb remarked.

"We should help him," Alex said. She activated her appraisal skill.

CAT FACT #3241527453 Did you know? The nanozombie hydra isn't even closely related to cats!

"Dammit." Alex cursed.

"What?" Caleb said as he hopped off Jim-Jam.

"I owe you a dinner now. The thing's a nanozombie hydra." Alex said as she dismounted.

"Heck yeah! Free dinner and now I get to engage in some jolly cooperation! Let's do this!" Caleb recklessly charged forward.

Alex just stood there, opening her satchel she carried. "Ready Rocket?" She asked.

"Yes!" Rocket answered.

"Cat's out of the bag!" Alex cried. Out of the satchel came Rocket. He was by far the most deadly, and most monstrous of her cats. The pop-ups called him a Mishipeshu. He was sleek, panther shaped. On his back were several small fins, scaled and serrated. The scales stopped at the end of the fins, replaced by fur like an otter. His head was a mix of a shark's mouth and panther's features. But perhaps the scariest thing about him were his claws. There were three on each paw, long and sharp like a dagger. One swipe could dismember any creature.

For a second, Rocket hung in the air, curled up in a ball. At that moment, Alex placed her hand on him. "Catapult!" She exclaimed, flicking her wrist. Rocket blasted forward, his body cutting through the air at impossible speeds.

"Wheeee!" Alex heard the cat yell.

The Mishipeshu shot past Caleb, causing him to stop and stare. Once Rocket was close to the hydra, he came out of his curl. He slammed into the hydra claws first, puncturing deep into the monster's hide. And then he kept going, his momentum boring through the hydra's body. Claws pierced through the other side, followed by the rest of Rocket. The cat traveled all the way to the gym's wall, where he gracefully rebounded and landed on the gym floor. Rocket brought his claws to his mouth, licking them clean.

Caleb turned to Alex. "What the shit! That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"Rocket! No licking your claws! You don't know where that hydra's been!" Alex said, ignoring Caleb.

Rocket dropped his claws, looking ashamed.

The hydra's many heads were all staring at the gaping hole in its torso. It looked to be waiting for something. But the armored man wasn't going to give it a chance. But then the hole closed, healing faster than anyone could see. A wet pop sounded as flesh hit flesh. The hydra roared, ready to get back into the battle.

It took a step forwards, mouths open and dripping saliva. And then one head jerked, then another. Soon all five heads were spasming. A head tried to bite into the torso, looking to tear something out. It was then Caleb saw, tumors were growing out of the hydra. The hydra tried to rip them out, but more regrew in its place. They kept growing, moving up the neck and finally the head. The armored man just turned away and walked to the others. The hydra slumped, legs unable to hold the tumorous weight. Finally, all that was left was a mass of flesh.

"I take it back," Caleb said. "That was the most metal thing I've seen."

The man in armor walked right past Caleb and up to Alex. "Thanks for the help back there," He said. "My name's Nathan, Paladin of Pellere, the God of Impulse."