None which were answered mind you. Onima had been rambling on and on about basically nothing since her return. The night following her come back, Onima sat everyone down in the lounge and tried her best to explain what had happened.
"Ok...it was like this. I was, like, fighting off Zee and...well I can't really remember what had happened, really! But I woke up in my room. So I figured I had fought Zee off for good! But I also thought that she was going to come back for me. So....I ran!"
Zee only gave Onima an awkward gaze, and the silence didn't contribute to the situation.
Seeing as how it needed to be said, Zapook finally spoke up, "You do know you were eaten by her, right?"
"Say what? I was not! If I were, I wouldn't be standing here right now."
Zapook sighed, "That's why we're kinda looking at you funny. You were eaten by Zee. There's no doubt about it. How you're still here is...well..It defies all logic!"
"Zee didn't eat me! Right Zee..."
Zee was still staring at Onima confused, and finally spoke after a few moments. "Actually...I did...And when we were cleaning your room, I picked up on your scent. It never occurred to me until now but...How did you come back from that!?"
Onima had a very startled expression now. She then dropped to the floor and began bawling her eyes out. "I'M...I'M A ZOMBIE!!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!! I DON'T WANNA BE AN UNDEAD!!!"
Zee fell over where she sat, and Tina hung her head at the sight of Onima. Zapook merely walked over and kneeled down, looking Onima over. "I'm pretty sure you're not one of the undead Onima. There's something else about you...I'll have to bring you to my lab."
"I DON'T WANNA! YOU'RE JUST GONNA CUT ME UP LIKE SOME HIGH SCHOOLER IN A SCIENCE CLASS!"
"I am not! Now stop your bitching and get up!"
"Pardon me, Zapook," Tina interupted, "But I told you before. No experiments on house members without there consent."
"I am not gonna experiment on her! I just want to see something, ok?! Sheesh!" Zapook growled, storming off toward her room.
Onima reluctantly followed Zapook into her room and down into Zapook's lab.
She slowly looked around large room, like a lost and scared animal would, while Zapook rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a container. Eager to see what was in it, Onima skipped over and peered into it as Zapook opened it. Laying at the Bottom of the container were the same Purple, green and orange mushrooms that were in Onima's room when Zee and Zapook went to clean it.
Onima only stared at them and shrugged, "Ok...So you're picked a few 'follow me' fungi. What about it?"
"Follow me fungi? You've seen these things before?"
"Ya huh. Every time I get into a fight and black out like I did with Zee...I wake up, and they're always around me. It was kinda weird the first few times I saw them, but after awhile, I just ignore them. They seem to follow me around and ...So I call them Follow Me Fungi. I like the colors too, so I started getting clothes that were the same colors as them. Every time I see a patch...it's like... my mark... you know? Saying, ONIMA WAS HERE! ...I know...it's weird..."
"Weird ain't the half of it. I thought these were weird mushrooms that grew from you're wet towel being left on the floor, but...They were embedded in the floor when I tried to pick them."
"Oh yeah. They do that. Carpets, tile, stone, grass, marble, concrete no matter what, they just ...yeah. They sometimes are on tree branches or walls and ceilings too."
"...and you didn't think for a moment that it's abnormal for a mushroom to do that?"
"...Don't all mushrooms do that?"
Zapook smacked one hand over her face and sighed. "And they're there every time. Hmm?"
Onima nodded.
Zapook stared at the mushrooms, then reached over and plucked a tuff of fur from one of Onima's rabbit ears, causing her to jump up and squeal.
"I'm gonna need to run a few tests. Yinxao's transformation will have to wait."
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Zee was seen stalking Onima around Tina's house. Everyone saw it as a mindless little game of followed the leader, after it became clear that Zee wasn't trying to do anything to her, but to Zee, her mind was fighting her stomach. It wasn't until Onima was called into Zapook's room did she finally get her answer as to what she should do.
Onima hopped her way down to Zapook's lab, and Zee wasn't too far behind, following on all four.
Once they go to the lab, they saw Zapook holding a few sheets of paper and a baffled look on her face.
"I finally managed to solve a few questions, but that...raised so many more..."
Zee sighed, finally tearing her eyes off of Onima, "Will just just get to the point? Didn't you find out how she came back or not? You've been at this for nearly two days."
"I did, but...It's complicated. I mean...Upon further inspection of the shrooms genetic make up, I was sure that it carried the same coding as Onima, but infact...it's the other way around. Someone infused her with some really complicated magic to pull this off." She began pacing back and fourth, holding one of the mushrooms up. "It's as if it records genetic information for recreation, but it actually has the coding already, and...I'd have to test this whole thing out to see if it's true!"
Onima just stared at Zapook blankly, and Zee growled out of frustration. "Speak cat, damnit!!"
Glaring at Zee, Zapook grumbled, "Ok fine! Let me put it in a way you two can understand. Onima here? Came back because of these things." She growled, holding up the mushroom. "After digging into this whole thing, It's obvious someone used a powerful spell on our friend here. Every time something happens to her, these mushrooms appear, and soon after, Onima appears with them. I thought at first, one of these mushrooms take her ...coding...or rather, information, and just makes a new Onima, but it's more complicated than that. These shrooms COME from Onima!"
"How the hell is that even possible?! She's a bunny! Not a fungus!"
"That's half true! She is a bunny, but she has certain traits of a mushroom. Including, but not limited to expelling spores."
"When I ate her the first time, I didn't seen any spores."
"That's because they're visible to the naked eye. With these spores basically...it's like someone making a backup disk. once the spores take hold, they began recreating Onima just as she was before she was attacked. Now...There's still a matter of how exactly it does that, when these spores are expelled, and what exactly triggers it. Which is why I'm glad you two are both down here."
Onima was looking down at her self and mumbling. "I'm a ...mushroom?"
Zapook had pulled out a high tech camera and sighed, hesitating before speaking her next few words. "Zee...I'm gonna need you to...eat Onima again."
Both Zee's and Onima's ears perked up. As they turned toward each other slowly, Zee had a huge grin on her face, and Onima's face was stricken with fear. Zapook was only able to shake her head and raise her camera just as Zee tackled Onima. In but a few seconds, Onima's screams were muffled, and minutes after, she was no where to be seen.
Zee leaned against a nearby table, patting her belly a content smile on her face, Zapook took a few more shots, and started to go through the snap shots, zooming into some of the picture in such a way, that you couldn't even recognize what it was a picture of anymore.
"Looks like there's a few spores on you, Zee. Don't think it'll be a problem though. I mean..if it were, you would've had them growing on you from the first time around. Looks like the moment you made contact with her, a few spores were expelled. Also...when you burped after you were...finished. Hmm...There's a large concentration on the floor in front of you too...." Zapook trailed off, then grabbed a roll of table from a draw, and made a large circle on the ground with it. "I'm gonna keep watch for the next few days. See what happens."
Zee spent the rest of her day lounging about happily, as she usually does after a big meal. Zapook stayed in her lab, going back to her transforming experiments as she waited for something...anything to happen within the marked circle on the floor. 7 hours later, getting close to midnight...Zapook was about ready to call it quits, and began cleaning up. As she did, she noticed that a few mushrooms had grown within the circle, it being the same orange, green, and purples from Onima's room. She began to look over them, doing her best not to disturb them as she did her examination. in the middle of the patch, she found small bits of green fuzz. Against her better judgment, she reached out and picked at the fuzz, and began pulling it out of the floor like tissues from a tissue box. That bit of fuzz stretched out into one large green rabbit ear. Zapook could only stare in amazement and continue pulling at the ear, pulling out Onima's head as if the floor were nothing more than some kind of strange foam. Deciding to leave her there, Zapook grabbed a blanket and stayed near the spot, waiting...and falling asleep as she waited for Onima to awaken.
The next morning, Zapook exited her room with Onima stumbling behind her, wrapped in only a blanket and shaking. Zapook, however, was holding an old book, and was excited about what had went on. She went into the kitchen, slamming the book on the table, startling all four; Tina, Zee, Wolven, and Whiplash, who happened to be in the room.
"Μπορείτε να δοκιμάσετε πάλι!!" Zapook yelled, as if they had understood what she had said.
Zee just stared in confusion, along with Wolven and Whiplash.
Tina leaned toward Zapook, "Pardon me?"
"It's Greek! A greek spell! 'Fungal Renewal'. Someone used this spell on Onima a long time ago. It's a really old spell, that suppose to, and I quote 'breath life into one who's time has not yet come, and let them spawn from the fungus of mysterious color'."
They all continued to stare, and Zee finally spoke up, attempting to make sense of what was said. "So...Every time Onima dies, she pops up in a patch of mushrooms..."
"Correction! Every time she's murdered, she pops again. If she dies of natural causes, she's gone for good."
"Oh! ...That makes no sense at all, but ok!"
"There are a few downsides to the spell, though.." Zapook continued.
"First, as I've said, as long as it wasn't natural, you know, sickness, natural disasters, what not, she'll come back. Second one is, while the spell brings her back in the same state she was before she was attacked...she has no memory of how she was killed."
Tina winces, "That...Could pose as a problem. One could take advantage of such a flaw if they knew of her condition and were an enemy."
Zapook nodded, "And the third is that there's a cool down. It takes time for that spell to build up energy again. If Onima is killed again while the spell is in it's cool down period, she stays gone."
Zee grins. "So if I were to eat her right now..."
"Yes Zee...She won't come back. It takes time for those spores to build up again. Also, she has to expel a certain amount of spores. If enough don't get out or clump together, the patch won't be big enough for her to be brought back."
"Damn. ...Onima, how many times have you blacked out."
Onima turned toward Zee, only shrugged, "I...Kind of lost count."
The three of them only stared at Onima blankly, out of worry, concern, and all in all, disbelief.
