"......Shiny?"

"Yeah?"

"Wh-where did you get this?"

The towering, hulking form of a fully transformed, rabbit beast Shiny, let out a drawling "uuuuu-" as she glanced over to the item being gestured at by a conversely untransformed Dr. Minerva Talos.
The item in question was a genderless and featureless mannequin that towered over the meek little plague doctor, in spite of it being designed for average size clothing. Its body was made from a mixture of highly expensive ivory inlays and an elegantly varnished, polished, and smoothed down mahogany wooden frame, a construction that used to be of immeasurable value until the hired sword had haphazardly slashed, clawed, and gouged both a circular target symbol onto the chest, and a crude smiley face into the head, a mere few hours prior. Shiny knew full well that she had stolen the thing from an incredibly snooty clothing shop last night, having little worry for the consequences as she would never willingly visit such a place. But in her eagerness for today's events, the armoured mutant evidently forgot that Minerva was a snooty rich lady herself, and might've even been a regular at the storefront given that uh....yeah the boots she had on right now were the exact new model they were advertising earlier this week. Whoops.

"-uuuh, the dumpster." The rabbit-like lady then beamed, assuming her lie was perfectly believable.

Talos meanwhile was having a bit of trouble making heads or tails of it. The nerves she was feeling today were already scrambling her slightly, so with the introduction of such an....an....awful display of retrofitting an object that not even the blind would think to just toss in "the dumpster", she was now at a total loss for words. All she could do was shoot a pleading, hopelessly confused look to the hulking, grey-furred rat mutant leaning against the nearby tree, watching the scene with obvious amusement.

"I'm no snitch." Mercutio 'The Merciless' Hermes smirked with a shrug of his shoulders.

Minerva could only grunt and sigh in response.

Today was supposed to be a rather peaceful afternoon. Neither Minerva, Shiny, nor the Emerald Scarves had any contracts scheduled, and the combined profits from everyone's previous escapades tallied up to well over any expectant fees or expenses for the rest of the week, which meant that the band of outlaws could comfortably declare this as their 'day off', leaving them to do whatever they wished without worry.
Or so it seemed.
Because, whilst Minerva fawned over the chance to finally unwind and destress from an egregiously hectic few weeks, Shiny and Mercutio-probably mostly Mercutio-apparently had other plans already lined up for the lass. All it took was a surprise visit from the two all fluffed up into their frustratingly alluring beast forms, a vague 'we need your help with something' request, and soon enough the poor doctor found herself outside her home and staring down Shiny's absolutely hideous arts and crafts project. From there, she had received a brief Mercutio-brand lecture on how she 'needed to prove that she was really ready for an outlaw's lifestyle', before Shiny had enthusiastically chimed in with a blunt 'we want you to punch this thing' instruction, proudly patting her handiwork for emphasis.

Bless them for trying, really. But having spent nearly two dozen days with this little lass by now, the pair really shouldn't have been surprised that Minerva wasn't quite keen on playing along.

"Guys I-....haaagh..." The plague doctor's shoulders sagged. "I-I-I'm really sorry but....this is stupid."

"Pfft!" Shiny scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Oh c'mooon doc!"

"Don't tell us you're getting cold feet." Mercutio chimed in, his smug look not faltering.

"Yeah!" Shiny reinforced. "I mean, you're the only one here who's still wearing shoes too so...." She then paused, ears twitching, before glancing over to the rat man. "W-wait what do her feet getting cold have to do with anything? Don't we kinda want that actually? Y'know, get her bursting out and whatno-"

"I-i-it means I'm nervous, Shiny." Minerva corrected. "A-and with good reason, y-y'know?"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Mercutio replied whilst folding his arms.

"I mean...well, look at me!" Minerva tried to protest, splaying her arms out in the hopes of somehow improving her point. "I have no combat training, no combat experience, and definitely no combat calmness or whatever the heck you guys call it!"

"Yeah we don't call it that-"

"I'm a scientist! A biologist! I'm a doctor, not a warrior! The closest I get in terms of military skill is the officer role, and even then some of those get into more brawls than I do! I'm not cut out for battle at all!"

"Yeah, uh..." Shiny stifled a chuckled whilst rubbing the back of her head. "We kinda... sorta....know, Doc?"

"In fact, that's why we're doing this." Mercutio pointed out, moving out of his leaning position and stepping over to interact better. "You spouted on and on about how much you hate fighting, but that fight back at the meadow made it plain as day to me that you're lying right through your teeth."

"Or beak." Shiny winked.

"Well, probably not your beak." Mercutio continued. "Because you literally told me 'hey, turns out I just need to transform, and I can get over my stage fright', while you were wrestling and actually pinning down a heavily armoured opponent. You're perfectly willing and even eager to fight, you're just-"

"Too....s-scared...whilst I'm small..." Minerva finished, hanging her head in shame.

"Exactly, girl." Shiny chuckled as she patted Minnie on that aforementioned hung head.

"It's your paranoia, right?" Mercutio asked as he leaned in. "You mentioned a couple times in your lectures and notes that your anxieties are so extreme that they practically suppress your actual personality. I didn't know how far that extended until, well, you were petrified to even be a witness to our skirmish against those Science guild mooks, and then once you transformed you did a full 180 and saved my ass from a dude with a drill lance-"

"Was it not a drill sword?" Minerva glanced up to display her complete lack of weaponry know-how.

"N-no it was a lance." Mercutio shook his head to shirk off a bit of confusion. "It's like a big thrusting spike thing, it's a-a-a totally different-tha-th-that-that's not important. The point is, you are well able to do way more than you let on Talos, but you're actively holding yourself back. And, sorry to say this, but that's going to get you killed. You saw back at the meadow, heard what Shiny reported from the convoy, and I've got way, way more stories about the batshit crazy assholes from outside, and inside the law, ready to be lectures of my own. We're not living normal lives Doc. In a lifestyle like this, we are inevitably going to have to deal with incredibly dangerous people, and a good chunk of those don't think 'talking things out' is a good usage of their time. Because of that, we need to be dangerous ourselves, probably a lot more so. And, ironically thanks to you, we can. But we all have to be, not just some of us. Like it or not doc, but you're linked to us, and that makes you a target, just like me, just like Shiny, just like every single scarf that you have agreed to bear some responsibility of. And if you're not as strong as the rest of us....then you're a weak spot, and exploiting that is basically underworld instinct."

The plague mask was pointed down, too ashamed to meet the rat man's gaze. "I-I-"

"Hey." The rodent hand planted on her shoulder shut off Minnie's response. "I not saying you're making excuses. You're just as frustrated by your difficulties as we are, hell you probably hate them more, don't you?"

"...y-yes..."

"I've got no idea how all of that came about. In fact, I'll admit, I'm not even sure if I know how it actually works. But, I get it. I understand it enough to know you can't control this. I know this is hard for you, I know that's legitimate fear because if you fake that kind of shaking, it's super obvious. And I know, from the way your mood visibly brightens up every time you see me, Shiny, or even some of my men, that you want to stay with us, even though the thought's drowning you in nerves. Right?"

"..y-.....y-y-....Yes." The tone started shaky, but Mercutio could see her posture stabilize slightly, and the voice trying to sound better determined.

"Then that's exactly why we need to do this. And not just having you go raven and sweep the problems under the carpet, I need to see that you can push past the doubts. If you can at least protect yourself, I'll be happy for today, because if the danger comes and you're not ready I-..." Mercutio felt a brief rush of worry start to wash through his own head, flashes of the good doctor's bloodied corpse barging into his thoughts uninvited, forcing him to pause and mentally shove them away, so to not show a weakness Minerva wasn't in the right mind to see. "...I-I can't- I won't, have that on my conscience. I and my scarves aren't just your responsibility, you're ours too. So just....Please just work with us here, alright?"

Minerva failed to stop a tiny squeak from exiting her throat as she finally plucked up the courage to make eye contact with the closest things she had to friends. "O-okay. I-I-I'll....I'll try. I-I mean, it's not like the dummy is going to lunge at me right?...R-righ-"

"AWESOME!" Shiny interrupted as she clamped her arms around the comparatively diminutive Minerva. "Don't you worry doc, we're gonna coax your warrior out in no-time! Let's kick this woody clothing statue man's ass eh?"

Minerva had been graciously melting into the supportive embrace, but her bliss was cut short as she blinked and fully processed Shiny's sentence. "..Woody...cl-clothing statue ma- you're referring to the mannequin right?"

Shiny looked at Minerva as if she just spoke in some alien tongue. "Man....E...Kin-What? No, I mean the woody statue clothing man thingy. The fuck's a Man-E-Kin?"

"I didn't even pronounce it like 'Kin', I said 'quin'-" Minerva murmured briefly under her breath before glancing back to Mercutio with a 'should I even bother?' look, to which Mercutio replied with a disappointed shake of his head. "...I-I-I'll just punch it."

"Oh-ho-ho-hoo!" Shiny then guffawed as she released the hug, spun around, and guided Minerva closer to the makeshift training dummy. "Not so fast Doc. You can't just swing any punch, you gotta pick the right one."

"Huh?" Minerva's head tilted.

"Apparently, Shiny's a bit of martial expert." Mercutio explained as he stepped closer, though not too close. "Allegedly she's got extensive training in multiple fighting styles, each one from a master of the respective craft."

"R-r-really?!" Minerva's eyes bulged in the lenses of her mask from amazement. "Th-there were combat veterans within the ranks of you caretakers?"

Shiny simply giggled in response. "Ah Doc, yah little cutie. If I had a copper for every time a foster parent wanted to make me a 'mini them' or a 'sidekick minion', I'd have.......have....." Shiny's smugness was replaced by a scowl as her eyes suddenly narrowed, seemingly a result of deep, frustrated concentration. Then, a paw hand went to her temple, scritching and scratching the fur as the ears flopped and twitched and went all over the place. Her other hand then raised to eye level, as the swollen digits curled and flexed and perked up in a fashion to indicate that she was trying to count with them. After that, her face wrinkled into in a snarling grunt, as both hands shot up to both temples as her frustration visibly increased, before the button snout snarled again. Then came a growl. A grunt. Another snarl. And then finally an inhale of breath that led into:
"I'm not finishing that sentence."

"Point is," Mercutio chimed in as he was rubbing his own temple. "Shiny's got quite a skillset, so she'll-hopefully-be a great help in getting you.....y'know-"

"Above shit level." Shiny shrugged to finish Mercutio's sentence.

"What?" Minerva squeaked in mild surprise. "Aw wha- okay, that's not fair, I did pretty good back at that expedition, didn't I?"

"eeeehhhhh..." Shiny cringed and grimaced.

"Well, did you?" Mercutio folded his arms again as he answered for a reluctant-to-answer Shiny.

"I mean, my wing still hurts a little from that wound it sustained, sure." Minerva confessed as she rubbed the spot on her back where the aforementioned wing usually sprouted from. "Bu-but aside from that, I managed to stand my ground, e-even though I couldn't pierce his armour, o-o-or actually land a-... h-hit on him. I-I-I mean his shield kept getting in the way, what with it splintering my beak like that, which... also really hurt, actually. And my toes too, I-I thought they were stronger than him but he stamped on them really, really hard. Bu-ye-a-a-an-and yet, I was still standing strong against that insufferable jerk, as I was...l-lying on the ground...c-crying, whimpering, really hoping the pain in my wing would stop as I just wanted to go home or hug a puppy- Oookay I see your point."

"Yeeeah." Shiny sighed as she plonked a beefy arm onto the little doctor. "Sorry doc, but there's no nice way to say this. You fuckin' suck at fighting. All of that was just...flailing your arms around the place. I mean that can work, it's worked for me. But probably not for you, cause you seem more comfortable with less chaotic stuff. You got your ass kicked, yeah, but there was passion in it, a love for it, the thrill of battle! So, honestly, yah shouldn't ignore it, girl. Why give up, what you can.....wh-what's the word for 'make better' again?"

"Improve?" Minerva titled her head.

"Improve." Mercutio confirmed.

"Yeah, that one!" Shiny beamed. "You've got a fightin' spirit in ya doc, so we gotta 'improve' it."

"R-right, okay." Minerva nodded as her hands fluttered at her sides, her gaze looking expectantly at the rabbit beast. "S-s-so, where do I start?"

"THE POSE!" Shiny shouted, before hurrying to Minerva's side.

"Th-the-the what-"

"Your fighting pose Doc!" The murderbunny clarified as she gestured to her limbs. "If you're just standing normally, but then just punch someone, it's a bit clumsy ain't it?"

"Well, I do have a PHD in biological and zoological studies Shiny, I-I'm not completely in the dark about energy conserva-."

"One of my fosters pointed that out to me." Shiny continued, not listening, as she rose to her full height and faced the training dummy. "So he said that it's a better idea to 'prep' my punches. Think ahead about which arm I'm gonna use, aim it, and pull it back so I can build up more strength into it. I was like, 6, at the time, so I didn't really get what he was saying, but he told me to stand like this:"

As Shiny gave her explanation, she swiftly positioned herself into the pose she was trying to describe. Her paw hands balled into fists, before the left was held out in front of her, while the right reared back, her legs mimicking the movements down below.

"And it's worked out so far."

"R-right..." Minerva nervously replied, looking the rabbit mutant up and down before clumsily copying her movements, looking pathetically small and teeny compared to hulking beast beside her. A hulking beast that then failed to stifle an amused giggle at the sight. "W-what?"

"Doc." Shiny shook her head. "You said you were left handed right?"

"Y-yes? What does that....oh am I-."

Shiny simply giggled again and gently grasped Minerva to reposition the little doc herself. "Yeah, it's gotta be your stronger hand, duh." She beamed, as she helped Minnie rear back the aforementioned fist. "Front foot a little more forward too, liiiike...."

A small pink blush warmed Minerva's cheeks as she watched and felt Shiny use her foot to gently nudge Minerva's own forward. The size discrepancy between the two was ridiculous, for Minnie's teeny little boot was utterly dwarfed by the hulking toes that it was being nuzzled in between. It was so unbelievably small in comparison to just the meaty digits, let alone the rest of the paw, or the lady, for that matter. Even through the thick leather, Minerva could feel Shiny's flesh squish and bounce ever so gently as it pushed against her limb, and it made her mind grow cloudy with fantasies of just touching the pads herself, daydreaming about how good it must feel from Shiny's perspective-

"-that! See?" Shiny beamed as both her words and the withdrawal of her foot yanked Minerva back into reality, necessitating that the doctor pause briefly to remember what she was doing, before hastily nodding in confirmation. Her pose was now a perfect mirror of the stance Shiny took earlier, modified for her more dominant left side, and now that Minnie had gotten comfy, Shiny, -being ambidextrous- decided to copy that mirrored stance herself. "Alright, you got it on lock?"

"Mm-hm." Minerva nodded again, slowly but surely plucking up sufficient confidence.

"Awesome." Shiny grinned, before tensing up the muscles in her arms. "Now, before we start makin' this look sexy and flashy, let's see if you can get the basics in. Easy as pie this'll be. Just aim your fist at the dummyyy..." Shiny clenched her fist tightly as she stretched back as far as she could, and once Minerva meekly did the same, Shiny thrust her arm forward into the open air before her as she bellowed out: "Aaaand SWING!".

"NYEH!"

ponk.

Minerva followed Shiny's instructions to the very letter, summoned every fibre of courage she could, and ploughed every, teeny, tiny, itty bitty morsel of strength into her lunged out fist, only for it to bruise itself against the solid mahogany with an impact so wimpy, and so pathetic, that 'ponk' was the best sound effect I could think of to describe it. Utterly dismal.

"OW-OW-ow-ow-OWWWW!" Minerva then howled as she clutched her stinging hand like she had slammed a door against it.

Shiny herself could only groan and facepalm at the absolute embarrassment she just witnessed, while Mercutio sighed and uttered out a disappointed: "Honestly, I did actually expect something a little....better. But I...I can't really say I'm surprised."

A literal squawk of irritation shoved itself out of Minerva's mouth as she focused her regenerative healing into her injury. "W-well, there you go." She dryly snapped back. "Now you see what I'm talking about, don't you? I'm just really not cut out for fighting oka-"

"No-no-no Doc, you're not getting out of this." Mercutio sternly interrupted with a flick of his tail. "We're gonna figure out what you did wrong, and improve from there."

"Awugh!" Came the doctor's slumped reply.

"Ooo! I know!" Shiny then suddenly perked back up as she plopped her hands back onto Minnie's shoulders. "Maybe you're just not invested enough!"

"I-i-i-invested?" Minerva squeaked, before Mercutio chimed in with a: "What do you mean 'invested'?"

"She's not motivated enough!" Shiny explained as she excitedly moved back to the dummy. "We need to give 'er a reason to want to punch this guy. That way, doc, you'll be trying harder!"

"B-but...I-I-I'm a pacifist! A-a-a hero, even!" Minerva stammered in protest. "I never want to hurt people!"

"Ah c'mon, you're not that huge of a pushover are ya?." Shiny scoffed as she suddenly grabbed the dummy. "What if we try doing a hero thing then? Like, let's say, this guy's mugging you or something. He's holding a gun or knife at you and he's saying like:"

Shiny then proceeded to playfully shake the dummy in her grasp, as she mimicked a gruff voice saying "Rrr, I'm an asshole, gimmie your money or I'll kill you! Grrr!"

The rabbit's head then poked out from behind the dummy's own as she reverted to her normal voice. "Whadda you do?"

There was a brief, silent pause in the air as both rodent mutants gingerly awaited Minerva's response. And Minerva, who was seemingly, legitimately intimidated by the playful act, meekly stared down the fake assailant, before her hand slowly moved to her coat pocket and-

"You gotta be fucking-" Shiny's smile vanished.

"D-don't." Mercutio snapped as mild, irritated panic filled him. "D-do not- do not re- DO NOT GIVE HIM YOUR PURSE-"

"Well what else I'm I supposed to do?!" Minerva protested, loudly. "If he just wants my money, why wouldn't I just give it to him so he goes away?!"

"Cause he's an asshole doooc!" Shiny groaned so profusely that her head briefly tilted towards the sky. "That's your money, he's a random douchecanoe, and we're trying to, y'know, get you to punch him?"

"W-well I'm sorry but, i-i-it's just not logical to punch a man for something so easily resolved!" Minerva whinged back. "It's just money anyway, I can make that back, that's not enough to injure a living person over!"

Mercutio rubbed the bridge of his nose as he quietly murmured "Not everyone's rich Minerva..." under his breath, through his teeth, and to himself, hoping he didn't say it loud enough for her to hear.

Shiny meanwhile felt her smile slowly crawled back onto her face, as an idea popped into her brain. "Okay....okay, okay." She nodded smugly. "What if we make this personal then, eh? If you don't mind losing money, what about your pride? Let's say this guy is just a huge jackass eh? He doesn't see what a cutie pie you are and is just calling you, like:"

"Rrr!" The dummy was shook again as Shiny put on the exact same voice, encouraging Minerva to get back into her fighting stance. "You're short! And you squeak a lot! A-and, uh, you uh, you stink or something! And you're a nerd too!"

"That's a pretty douchy thing to say yeah?" Shiny beamed in her normal voice. "What're you gonna do about it?"

Despite herself, Minerva actually felt a smile creep onto her own face, as she remembered a technique ideal for such a situation, a trick told to her by her beloved mentor that she kept with herself for years after their last meeting. Steeling herself, Minerva took a deep, determined breath, glared right into the terribly gouged in eyes of the dummy, and smugly cooed:

"I, am rubber. And you, are glue. Whatever you say bounces of me, and sticks to you! Hmph!"

Mercutio's facepalm could be heard across the entire forest.

"Doc." Shiny could practically feel the vitriolic embarrassment. "You're killing me here."

"Ack! I'm sorry!" Minerva's smug confidence immediately shattered and reverted back into her sheepish wailing. "I-I-I-I'm just not a person who gets angry, okay?!"

"Oh buuuullshit doc! Everyone gets angry, especially us beasties! It'd be really weird if you didn't at all, honestly." Shiny sighed as she moved back over to the shaking Minerva, trying her best to stay supportive by draping an arm over the good doctor's shoulders and gesturing to the dummy. "Come on, there's gotta be something that really pisses you off. Like, something or someone that gets you super, mega, ultra angry, right?"

"I....I-I-I'm sorry..." Minerva apologized again. "B-but there really isn't...."

"Nothing? Nothing at all?" Shiny cocked an eyebrow. "You're a school nerd right? Went under a lot of that pressure or whatever goes in there? Has to be something that got yer blood boiling right? Like aaa....secondary school bully? A dude who drove over your pet? A mean girl who embarrassed you in front of the dance? A guy who dumped you? A girl?"
A sigh, as she was running low on options and just grasping at threads. "I-I-I dunno a bad grade? Shitty teacher? Loud neighbour? Loud...neighbour's pet? A....d-deadbeat dad-"

"hrRRAAAAAAAA-"

RIIIP-POP-SNAP

CRUNCH

The left sleeve of Minerva's coat burst and ruptured against an explosion of ink black feathers and bulging musculature, the fingers of her glove splitting against gleaming claws and swelling fingers, as the violently rippling, growing, swelling arm immediately reared back and lunged forward into a forceful, powerful left hook that smashed right into the dummy's target marked chest, sending chunks and splinters of ivory and mahogany all over the grassy ground.

All within a single roar of boiling, unrelenting fury.

A snarling, panting Minerva then grunted as she yanked her undamaged fist free from the massive crater left in the wooden torso, before the blazing yellow glow within her goggles faded in place of a shocked gasp of realization, and a squeaking: "Oooh...."

Mercutio and Shiny meanwhile were, of course, flabbergasted, their eyes wide and mouths clamped shut at the sight of such a ludicrous 360. Mercutio needed a little bit of time to recover from the whiplash, but once Shiny managed to process what she just saw, her face lit up with beaming pride.

"Heeeee-heh-eeey! There you go!" Shiny cheered gleefully as she practically bounced over to her employer and gave her the biggest sisterly cuddle she could. "See? What'd I tell ya? Easy as pie!"

"I....I-I...oooh....." Minerva could only stare at her newly transformed limb, in what appeared to be abject horror.

"N-not....something you wanna talk about?" Mercutio finally managed to speak, his eyes darting from the harpy's fist to the damaged dummy, as he remembered just how much bigger a fully transformed Minerva was in comparison to him.

In contrast to the mildly disturbing thoughts swimming in Mercutio's head, Minerva could simply let out an adorable squeak as she shook her head in response. "N-...n-n-no-not today...n-no..."

"Okay. Cool. Good." The rat man grimaced.

"Well, doesn't matter, cause we got that punch outta you anyway!" Shiny beamed as she supportively patted the partially changed Minnie. "Now, I've got a few notes, but we've got aaaall day to coax your beast out. C'mon, it's gonna be a blast!"

Minerva simply sighed and hung her head in begrudging acceptance. "O-o-okay.... let's just get this over with...."

And so, for the reminder of the day, the trio trained, trained, and trained some more.

Whilst Shiny provided some of her improvised martial knowledge to mentor Minerva on the various stances and forms unarmed combat often took, Mercutio steadily grew more and more eager to share his tactical habits and strategies, and slowly, tediously, they began to work their way though all kinds of trails and tribulations.
They darted from low profile forest navigation, to identifying structural weaknesses in ruined buildings. From using the situational advantages of the environment, to catching knives and arrows. From finding the right gaps in armour suits to strike, to tripping the dexterous volunteer scarves. And from hauling boulders twice her size, to running across acres of plains in less than a handful of minutes.
It was all an extensive, rather exhausting couple of hours, and Minerva struggled and whined extensively at the start.

She was too busy scribbling notes about the ruins she was meant to help destroy, requiring her notebook to be snatched out of reach.
The knives and arrows she was meant to catch with her fingers instead ended up in the meat of her palms, teaching the mutants that loud crying was rather disorienting to be around.
The scarves that volunteered to spar with her proved to be too intimidating for Minerva to want to show herself, in spite of them not even trying to be threatening.
And around minute two of the acre runs, she was wheezing and panting and spluttering like she was about to keel over and die from exhaustion.

And yet, no matter how much she complained, how much she begged to give up, how much she fumbled and failed, Shiny and Mercutio were there to help Minerva along every step of the way. They picked her back onto her feet, they reassured her to be brave, they helped nurse her wounds, they promised to give the notebook back, and they were all too happy to give her every word of praise she needed once she eventually got things right. They cheered for her successes, they let her use her own methods to work around her flaws, and they made sure to tell her that she was doing wonderfully, even though she faceplanted onto the ground half the time.

Through this back and fourth, the trio soon find their tutoring rhythm.
Shiny showed Minerva how to use her limbs to their proper potential, how to block with her forearms, how to sweep with her legs, how to poke someone in the eye with her fingers, how you hit men in the crotch and ladies in the chest, and even how to use her feminine body to taunt and distract those of easy persuasion.
Mercutio conversely showed how to understand the body of her opponent, how the side their weapons were holstered correlated to which hand was their dominant, how each style of weapon was suited for different purposes, how to look for certain fears or habits for exploitation, and how to study the enemy's own fighting style, and adapt her own to be an effective counter.
And soon, even Minerva herself started to chime in with some tips of her own, like how extracts of peppermint oil or smelling salts could easily substitute for noxious stunning gases, how strangleroot's aggressive behaviour could work as an emergency attack beast, how acids could eat away at vital connection points in armour, how the increased bestial strength lends itself to more unorthodox weaponry or fighting styles, and how some clumps of fur could be easily tossed into an opponent's eyes.

Slowly and steadily, to the outlaws' delight, Minerva was growing more and more invested with each passing test, both metaphorically, and literally. For with each punch, each kick, each second of excited hype, Minerva's body swelled, and swelled, and swelled into hulking size, fuelled by an educational delight that was warped and altered into something far beyond the normalcy of a scholar such as herself. Her modest and meek little plague suit grew tight against her increasing body, stretching and straining as her breathes quickened with newfound glee.
Soon, her remaining sleeve was getting too restrictive for effective punches, so with a grunt and a flex, the leathery material split and burst apart against bunching muscles and ink black feather fluff, all while the fingers of her glove snapped against her swelling digits and gleaming claws, a purposeful warp in her fashion to fit her own mental image of a brawler's fingerless bracers.
Her legs soon needed to support the extra weight, especially during the rock lifting tests, so pain crackled across them until her thighs grew fat and bloated, squeezed tight in her straining trousers until with loud, cracking rips, the material burst apart, changing her trousers into stylish shorts.
The occasional climbing challenges soon proved to be too needless and unbearable, so the backs of her coat and shirt begun to creak and strain as her spine arched and stretched and swelled larger, and larger, and larger, bubbling and writing and swelling until with borderline sickening crunches and loud tears, a pair of glorious, fluffy, ink black feathered wings ripped her coat and shirt wide open across her bulging back, while the seat of her trousers burst against tailfeathers that wiggled, fluffed, and fanned out to let her just show the pair that she could, y'know, fly over the big cliffs and trees, annoying the outlaws ever so slightly.
And soon, even her mask eventually proved to be too much of a nuisance, what with the lenses constantly fogging up from the biggest workout Minerva's ever had in her life. So, at one point during the trails, Minerva grunted with frustration before mentally forcing her skull into its avian shape, the smooth beak cracking and shoving itself through the bloom of dark feathers, before its sharpened tip gouged and pierced into the leather, tugging and digging until with a 'Crrrn-SNAP', the entire thing split wide open, letting her taloned hand wrench the rest of it off. And yet, as the good doctor blinked her adjusting eyes in the rush of fresh air and unobstructed sunlight, her gaze swivelled down to the mask slowly shrinking in her palm, and the freshly grown beak curled into a smile. By the time the other two had looked back towards her, they found a beaming raven visage accented by the scraps of her mask tied around her scalp, like the headband of a martial artist, the proudest of grins drawn across her face as the now comparatively little hat was plopped on top. Very cute.

Hours and hours began to slip by the trio as their haggard student bloomed brighter and brighter with each "again" they said, the fatigue fading and fading into jovial, bestial might.
Soon enough, she was soaring through the skies above the plains, throwing boulders with viciously calculated velocity, twirling and kicking dust into a dummy's fake face, snatching Mercutio's knives out the air without even looking, deftly wrenching piece's of Shiny's armour off the rabbit's body, and sweeping Kent off his feet before he could even ask why Mercutio wanted him to stand there.
Soon she could wrench the bricks of a ruin as if the mortar wasn't even there, soon her feathers let her almost melt into the shadows of the treeline, soon she could block and counter every punch and swipe and kick Shiny tossed her way, soon she could tell exactly what a distant mercenary's entire fighting gimmick was by simply using her heightened avian eyesight, and soon, very soon, her pants and wheezes of hopelessness melted into pants, wheezes, and giggles of gleeful gratification and excitement, as she, Shiny, and Mercutio, eventually reached perfect synchronisation against their sparring partners.

Minerva, the meek, tiny, cowardly little plague doctor scientist, who needed a supportive cane to even stand up just a month prior, could barely believe it herself. But Shiny was right, Mercutio was right, her own seductive, golden eyed, mental raven coos, all of them were right. She had a fighting spirit, a wild side far more grand than any book or clipboard would ever be able to match, she was a warrior beast just like any of the outlaws she had surrounded herself in, and she liked it. She loved it. And she was damn good at it too.

Thus, eventually, there was only one test left for her.

THUNK, pat-pat.

"Alrighty Doc!" Shiny beamed as she patted the object she just slammed down in front of the group. "We're almost done. Just oooonnne more little push, and I think Merky will finally be satisfied. Do I got that right, mouse boy?"

Mercutio just scoffed at the jab, his face unable to drop his smile.

"I'd tell ya what we want you to do doc," The armoured beast continued. "Buuuut...well, you're a big smart nerd ain't ya? I think you can already guess~."

Minerva simply smiled once again at the tease, as her gaze fell upon the all too familiar sight. Shiny's pathetic little test dummy, now feeling more charming than embarrassing, was patiently awaiting its inevitable end, the gouged in eyes staring right into hers, as the massive crater in its side forced an amused chuckle out of her beak. It didn't seem to be enchanted by Serpent Oil from how none of the damage had healed, presumably because no-one in their right mind would ever think to damage such a massively expensive display piece. Hardly mattered by this point though, seeing how much of its value was now completely compromised, so there was no real point in mourning the loss of what was essentially a glorified clothing hanger. Plus, Shiny went through all this trouble just to help her BFF draw out her inner wild side, and who was Minerva to disappoint such a pretty face like hers?

Thus, the good doctor feigned the motion of cracking her knuckles-she definitely wasn't ready for that yet-, readied herself into the very pose Shiny had taught her to assume before, let her mind prod at the memories of school bullies intentionally spilling their drinks all over her sleepless night-fuelled homework, and...paused.

"Doc?" Mercutio inquired, his eyebrow raised slightly as his arms folded. "Are you....gonna punch it orrr..."

"Hmm...." Minerva replied in her more sultry, deeper raven tone, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm...I'm not quite sure..."

"Pfft, aw Minnie." Shiny giggled. "Don't tell us you're getting cold feet again!"

Minerva chortled back. "Oh no, no-no-no! It's not that, trust me. It's more like...I-I'm not really sure I want to 'punch' per say, I'm getting rather.... bored of 'punching'."

"Oh?" Shiny's grin grew a little more excited, as her head tilted and her gaze swivelled down.

"You wanna try something....different?" Mercutio chimed in, his eyes inadvertently mimicking the direction of Shiny's.

"Indeed I do." Minerva smirked back at the two of them. "I've gotten so well adept at using my arms, yet does a bird not primarily use her legs? I've not tried giving this silly little thing a good kick, have I? I've barely tried kicking at all, in fact. Even though, my physiology, my mutations, even my own desires, all are directly designed around the usage of my lower body. I'm not quite sure how well I'm articulating this but...w-well I...I-I-I... "

And soon, Minerva's own eyes eventually succumbed to the detail that was now distracting the whole trio, and swerved down to gaze upon Minerva's lower legs. For despite all this time spent in her beast form, all of the training she's undergone today, despite all of the mutations her body had entered:

Her feet were still untransformed, her boots were perfectly intact, and both had been so the entire time.

This occurred because Minerva didn't want to get too distracted during what she surmised were important lectures, yet eventually the contrast of the pristine footwear against the progressively monstrous body proved to be far more distracting than if the talons were freed, and by this point the raven's heartbeat was fawning too much at the thought of sweet release. And thus, feeling herself slowly succumb to her lust and instincts, Minerva simply smiled again, and felt her toes start to throb.

"...I suppose my feet....aren't really cold enough~."

The immense fatigue poor Minnie's feet had suffered through slowly began to melt away in lovely warm throbs, the teeny and dainty little things scrunching gently as they began to bloat and swell into far juicier forms. The boots quickly began to creak and tighten as globs of growth worked their way down her legs, the flesh starting to ripple and bubble as her legs inflated even larger than before. The strain of their expansion caused whatever what left of her trousers to crack, snap, and rip apart some more, pulling snugly into even more stylish shorts as feather fluff bulged out from the gaps. The non-feathered chunks of leg flesh that now slowly slithered out from the tops of her boots meanwhile slowly darkened from vitamin D deficient pale, to a smooth and sleek grey, growing softer and denser and thicker as the scaled chutes formed along the tops. The toes inside had already fused into sets of three, with the remaining two opposable toes slowly starting to glob out from her heels. Each one of these toes then began to swell in dollops as claws slid out from where her nails used to be, the rest of each foot ballooning out into hulking size to make her boots to pinch, and pinch, and pinch so wonderfully snug and tight, as their leather strained and discoloured and stretched and creaked and groaned and-

CRRRN-PAP, PAP, PAP-PAP

Oh it was luxurious, the sound of her boot straps straining so tight until they snapped and burst apart, with her ankles and arches swelling far too broad for her feet to fit inside footwear, she almost felt annoyed at herself for trying to suppress such an ecstasy earlier today. With the seams of her boots now starting to split, Dr. Talos figured that it was hardly worth complaining by this point, and instead got to work adjusting her position.

CrrrRRRnnNNnnnNNNNN-PAP-POP-SPIK-spikspik-spikpikpikpik-PAP!

With a twist of her aching heel, and a curl of her back, Minerva slowly raised up her left leg in a manner incredibly similar to how a bird like herself would do so. Her body wobbled slightly as she struggled to balance, but the sudden-

CCRRRR-PAAAPAPAP-RRIIIIIIPCRACK!

-bursting out of her right bare foot, and its subsequent bulge and puff and balloon of growth, granted the lass able foundation to rest upon as the talon swelled to thrice her raised foot's shoe size. The soft, squishy touch of damp soil against her toes and sole sent waves of pleasure through the bubbling, rippling bird monster, enough to slither up through her throbbing, freshly grown right foot all the way into her left, like a current of lightning travelling through wire into the glow of a lightbulb. Throb, throb, throb, throb, with each pump of her flesh, Minerva watched as her foot slowly expanded fatter and fatter, the boot creaking and stretching loudly in protest as more of the straps papped, popped, and snapped off, giving just barely enough breathing space for the foot to immediately overstuff.

Soon it seemed like the threshold of strain to explosion was just about ready to break, from what Minerva felt, so with a widening smirk, she began to wind herself up. The nostrils of her beak sucked it a healthy gulp of air. Her right toes tightly gripped the ground. Her wings and tail flared back for style. And the hat tumbled from her head from the sudden tilting back of her angle, as the raised foot pumped, and pumped, and pumped, pumped, pump-pump-pumped, until the tendons lashed, the musculature sprang, the bones lurched, and all within the same motion, the entire left leg both swelled to match the size of her right, and launched itself forward into a powerful kick.

CRRRRRR-RRIIIIIP-PAP-POP-CRAAA-AAACK-

CRUNCH

The momentum from the sudden shifting weight of the growth spurt proved to almost double the already incredible strength of the mutated kick, and the rapid increase of thick and squishy foot meat caused the remaining boot to burst apart at the seams, hulking talon flesh ballooning out of the exploding leather like a viscous liquid from a spilled glass. As footwear burst across her sole, Minerva's soft and toughened bare skin met expensive mahogany, and the sheer force of the impact caused half of the mannequins entire body to instantly crack and splinter apart, chucks of wood and ivory squished in between hulking, spongey toes.

But it wasn't just the unconventional method of delivering her strike that proved to be the eye-catching factor, but the angle of the movements as well. For Minerva's kick wasn't just a straight jab forward, but rather a forceful, sweeping, 45 degree arc that used the prehensile capability of her now avian foot to gently grip the mannequin's sides and hoist it up. She had calculated this attack in her own academic mind, quickly ascertaining the correct velocity to strike, the exact nanoseconds to pop her boot for maximum pleasure, and the ideal angles to balance and sweep up for the most effective, leg-based uppercut an inexperienced bookworm like her could come up.

All of this, the kick, the growth, the sweep, and the math, was all executed within a fraction of a second, all within a single movement, all within a single, deafening crunch of wood, and it all congealed into a single, perfect strike that, naturally, launched the tiny mannequin right into the open sky like a lightweight sports ball.

It was so, wonderfully savage.

"WOOO-HOOO, ATTA GIRRL!" Shiny cheered and roared with delight as both she, and an extatically squeeing Minerva, hurried over to embrace each other in a fit of gleeful shrieks and giggles. "See, see?! Easy. As. Fuckin'. Pie!"

"GEEEHEHEHHEEEE, YES-YES, OOOH YEES!" Minerva was borderline incoherent, all of the smooth talking raven form charm now replaced with the excitable squeeing and squeaking that the now not so little doctor was well known for. "IAMAMAZINGOH MY GOOOOSH!"

"I.....he-hI-hiiii don't think we're getting that back." Not even Mercutio could stop himself from joining in the chortles, as he scanned the slowly sun-setting skyline for any sign of the mannequin, but found no trace of it left. "I hope that thing wasn't actually sellable."

"Oh sellable schmellable, Mr. Hermes!" Minerva giggled again. "I personally think it was quite a worthy sacrifice, regardless of its previous value."

"Yeah." Shiny chimed in while draping an arm onto the raven's shoulder. "Especially since it got us a front row seat to a show like that, eh Doc?"

"Y-yes, indubitably!" Minerva was now even clapping to emphasis her giddiness. "I-I-I can see why you guys like this so much. Th-this- This is exhilarating!"

Shiny chuckled as she almost literally swelled with pride. "Like I said Doc, everybody's got a wild side, and yours is just the cutest thing~."

"H-hahahaaww...thank you...." The raven blushed. "Th-thank you, both of you, thank you so much! I could've never, ever expected myself to be so capable, so strong, so...powerful...."

"Powerfu-" Mercutio's head titled back down to glance at the girls. "Whoa, ho-hookay doc, let's not let this get to your head alright?"

"Aw come on Merky!" Shiny playfully scoffed "Can't you not try to spoil our fun for once?"

"Yeah!" Minerva chimed in, sticking her tongue out.

"I-I'm just saying, girls," Mercutio protested, as he was starting to feel outvoted. "yeah we're strong, hell we're really strong, I get it. But we're not invincible, okay? Big part of fighting is knowing when you're outmatched, and when is a good time to back off, y'know?"

"Yes, yes, I know, Mr. Hermes, I'm not stupid." Minerva brushed him off like he was a nagging mother. "But come now, look at me. Look at Shiny. Look at you! We are apex predators now, all of us, beings far stronger than any average outlaw, or soldier, heck, with enough training, we could probably bring down a machine!"

"That's....u-uh-"

"All I'm saying, Mr Hermes," Minerva continued, not listening. "Is that maybe letting my ego swell a bit isn't too harmless, is it? We're strong, we're beautiful, we're free. And now, thanks to the both of you, we're ready to fight! Surely we can let ourselves be just a little prideful, no? Proud of what we're slowly changing into, from all of our meek, humble, unassuming origins?"

"I....I guess..." Mercutio sighed, not really having the energy to argue, but enough to let a bashful smirk dance across his snout, while a hand rubbed his engorged bicep. "We are....we are kinda cool, admittedly."

"And like the packs of any beasts of friendship, once we're all together....who really can stand up to us?"

"Not that man-e-kin, that's for sure." Shiny grinned with a wink.

And, even though the joke was kind of terrible, the girls soon erupted into uproarious laughter as they began to jauntily head their way back home, with Mercutio himself following behind, failing to hide his own gleeful giggles....




....And yet...that Mannequin in question....


Well, it certainly wasn't going to stay in the air forever, laws of gravity and all that. So even though the launch was strong, it eventually stopped going up, and soon started to fall. Down, down, down it went, falling straight into the thick treeline of the Clawlands, crashing through branch after branch as it tumbled, clattered, slowly sinking further and further downwards until, eventually, it slipped out from the upper foliage, and fell onto whatever happened to be directly underneath it.

Which, in this case, turned out to be some weird, horseless wagon.

CRUNK

"D'AH FUCKING-FUCK ME!" The driver suddenly roared, as the impact of the object startled him so badly, that he reflexively leapt out of his seat and right onto the rocky forest floor. "OW-...ow...ffff....aaaaugh...."

And then, soon after this sudden jolt of alarm, there was a rapid clanking of metallic armour quickly approaching the wagon, before a second voice joined in on the noise.

"WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?! What happened?! Are we under attack?!" The voice yelled towards the driver, similarly startled and seemingly expecting danger.

"...n-no....no we're fiiine." The Driver then growled in response, his fear soon replaced with out of breath irritation, mostly at himself. "A thing just...fell into the wagon and I uh...I got startled."

"Whu-" The second voice exhaled deeply, both out of frustration, and likely relief. "A 'thing fell into the wagon'?"

"Yup."

"And it scared you?"

"Yeah, I can experience emotions, ain't that weird?"

"Oh for f-... Armstrong you nearly gave me a heart attack, I-" The second person seemed ready to erupt into a tangent at the sassy retort, but he instead just managed to switch himself back into rational thinking, indicated by way of a deep sigh. "ugh...whatever. Is the 'thing' still there?

"I think so." The first person, the one called Armstrong, replied as he strained to stand back up.

"Alright, lemme go check."

The wagon creaked and shifted against the clunks of metal-soled boots, as the shadows of two figures slowly hovered over the unexpected mahogany stowaway.

The first was a rather young man, barely a year older than Minerva Talos, but with a stature far more imposing than anything she could ever hope to recreate. From head to toe, the lad was covered in layers upon layers of armour, padding, and chainmail, pouch-laden bandoliers and belts of tools, munitions, and other less specific equipment littered all over him, whilst his metal-clad legs were neatly hidden in the wide cloth of a waist mounted cloak. The majority of the armour was coloured a mix of silvers and greys, yet the plates upon his left arm were instead a finely polished black in stark contrast, his own way to indicate that it was not an organic limb. And the helmet upon his head was of similar protective value, hiding his identity well, but seeing as it was only him and a close friend present, the man felt comfortable taking it off to better process what he was seeing, unveiling finely cut brown hair, and stern, almost lifeless brown eyes.

Soon afterwards, a second figure joined his buddy, the man dubbed 'Armstrong.' He was almost a direct contrast to his partner, for not only was noticeably older and more masculine than his younger compatriot, but even the tone of his skin was a darker, brown-like shade, something not at all native to the nation of Engrievion. Across this skin, most notably on the bare scalp of his beard-sporting head, were rather beautiful and intricate markings and patterns, tribal tattoos that almost seemed to some foreign scripture, a scripture that was similarly present across the inlays of an expertly crafted pair of gun-axes. And in addition to more of these mysterious markings, his armour meanwhile was far lighter and leathery in many areas, closer to half-plate than his partner's full set, with the fuzz of hand-skinned fur neatly clamped into various sections, a beloved fashion style of his homeland.

For these two were not quite like the other more common mercenaries found around the province of Mixholme, not terribly far from the norm mind you, but enough to make them...notable.

The man known as Armstrong, was in truth, a man named Duncan Armstrong, blood clan healer of the mountainous nation of Scornvolk.

And the younger, more armoured, cybernetic bearing lad, was in truth, Lieutenant Brian Smith, former military engineer of the Engrievion Imperial Army.

And together, these two were known across the province as very, very talented monster hunters, regular hired rangers for the Trapper's Union, and expert exterminators....

For rampaging Mutants.

And now, midway through a simple transporting contract these two rangers found themselves staring down at a strange, mysterious, heavily damaged mannequin, that seemed to have just fallen out of the sky. And they reacted like they always would, in situations as bizarre as this...

"Damn." Duncan eventually blurted, after the pair had been staring at the thing for almost a minute. "That thing is ugly."

"Pfft, I know right?" Brian scoffed in agreement. "I mean just look at it. Cheap fake ivory inlays, badly polished mahogany that wasn't even cut to the right lengths, hastily carved in eyes that looked like some kind of cat scratched it in instead of, y'know, a chisel, hell that torso looks like it was stepped on by a walker. This thing looks like it came from a shop, but frankly it belongs in a dumpster."

".....You got all that from just lookin' at it?" Duncan questioned with a bemused look.

"Armstrong, I'm the last remaining member of a highly respected family of blacksmiths, and then got adopted by the owners of arguably the largest and strongest industrial power to ever exist on this nation. I know shoddy craftsmanship when I see it."

"Pfft." Duncan simply chuckled. "Okay show off."

"So are you gonna help me move the boulders out of the way or not?" Brian glowered in response, as he gestured his mechanical hand towards the gargantuan set of rocks that lay directly in the wagons roughly marked path.

"Yeah yeah, I will just.. uh..." Duncan replied, before gesturing back down at the weird wooden statue man. "What are we gonna do about that?"

"Ah, yeah, right. Iiii....I think it's someone's stolen property, so we should report it once we get back to town." Brian responded as he began to step back down from the wagon. "Looks like a clothing shop mannequin, the kind that wealthy people go to, should be easy to narrow down."

"A....a what?" Duncan blinked at the word he never heard at all up to this point, his gaze whipping back and forth from the statue to Brian. "Man....E...Quin? Excuse me?"

"I didn't even pronounce it like 'Quin', I said 'Kin'-" Brian murmured to himself, before switching to calling to Duncan. "W-well it's like uh....uh...y'know clothing shops right? And how they....need to show their clothes-Ack, shit, we don't have time for this, I-I-I can tell you on the way back, it's fine, just put a cloth over it and help me with rocks okay?"

"You got it mate." Duncan called back with a thumbs up. However, as Brian started walking off, grumbling about how he'd stab whatever prick caused these boulders to end up here, Duncan paused midway through covering the weird woody clothing statue man up, as a thought suddenly struck him.

"Hey Brian?" The outlander called out.

"Yeah?" Brian called back.

"Do you ever just get hit with the feeling of suddenly very ominous dread creeping up on you? Like some weird, tiny, unassuming detail of the environment is giving you very concerning connotations about possible future events. Like uh...uh...a shadow on the forefront, of sorts?"

"Oh, all the time." Brian replied with an almost nonchalant demeanour. "Not a minute goes by in my life where I feel safe, people like me need to be vigilant for very possible sign of bad shit to come, even if we really don't want to be, it's an ingrained habit. I mean some medics I know called that 'anxiety', and apparently that's 'unhealthy', but even though I keep getting nightmares about incredibly horrific events happening because I overlooked some very crucial details, I like to think it's largely working out for me, to be honest with you."

"....oh...." Duncan blinked again, slightly horrified. "....d-....do you uh.....do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay."

---

Hooooo, finally, this one took an ass amount of time to make. But finally, at last, I've managed to finish the "Minerva becomes competent" story. Yey.

Now, I have absolutely no fucking clue how you're supposed to put a training montage into text form, but this version left me more satisfied than the stupid "FUNNY ALL CAPS TRAIL NAMES" bit I was originally planning, so just be glad I didn't do that.
Also, I'm not quite sure if this is 100% what the sole of Minerva's raven form foot looks like, I think it'd look slightly closer to a smoother human-like sole, but eh, the commission was just to see how the artist renders her in their style, I can always commission another foot shot some other time.
Also, also:

The clock is now activated.

Artwork by:  Einom

(PS: Original file was slightly too big for FA's uploader, had to shrink it a bit.)