263 wandered aimlessly through a portion of the jungles surrounding Shokushu that it had been neglecting lately. The sun was just beginning to set, casting a beautiful hue of tropical orange over the sky. Details like the time of day had never really concerned 263, who functioned without a circadian rhythm or a reliance on ambient light. But it had started to take note of it lately. Perhaps this was due to a seemingly higher likelihood of catching a student alone and off guard once the sun began to sink. Night time was good to the tentacled beast, as were the numerous remote-but-not-too-remote areas that it had been mapping out during its tenure at the school.

It had not ventured to this particular area in some time. In general, there were better chances of encountering catchable students in other places, and such encounters had become the focus of its attentions recently. But the drive to explore still lurked in 263's instincts, and it never hurt to comb a new area for opportunities it might have overlooked before. If nothing came of this, it could still double back and travel overnight to make good enough time back towards the campus to hopefully catch someone sleeping in or taking the wrong road to class.

By now, it had begun to consider such options, as it had yet to encounter any signs of life whatsoever. However, as it began to debate whether it should return towards the dorms or the classrooms, its attention was suddenly drawn back to the present. There was the distinct rustling of movement in the grove ahead. 263 pushed forward, curious, and the sounds grew stronger as it approached. Sounds that loud and rough were more often the sign of another, likely more powerful monster than a girl. However, 263 could hear a faint breathing sound in the mix - ones that were decidedly more feminine. Remaining optimistic, it moved closer. The setting sun was pouring through the trees as its tentacles neared the edge of the clearing.

Soft panting was the noise indeed belonging to a human girl a tiny bit under 5 feet tall with surprising blue hair and red eyes as she was looking at various trees infront of her with a soft determined gaze. "Okay...one more time before I Head back.." She muttered. Before she dashed forward with a burst of running speed as she moved and focused on keeping her momentum going. She sidestepped a tree trunk and then hopped off the ground to kick off one of the other tree trunks to help her change direction as she kept moving around.

Slipping around, under or over various trees and branches around her without losing her momentum at all. The young girl was partaing in what was known as Parkour a rather unique exercise were people use the enviroment to keep their momentum going. The girl was using the parkour to run in a circle before she stopped back at where she started with a soft pant...sweat caking her form as she approached a nearby bag and brought out a water bottle and took a long drink of it before she sighed and wiped her lips.

As 263 grew closer, its certainty that it was indeed a girl who had attracted attention grew. It could hear her heavy breathing, tinged with her feminine voice, and it could smell her scent, heavy with her sweat. The girl was already physically strained, it seemed. Well, it could certainly help her further that if that was her goal. Something was interesting about her movement, though. Without sight, 263 couldn't see exactly what it was she was doing. Yet, it assumed that the other noises it heard were her moving around. Although she seemed to be moving in roughly the same area, the source of her footsteps and breath kept bouncing from place to place, moving much more quickly that it was used to hearing a girl travel. Whoever she was, this girl was clearly highly mobile. Maybe she was a monster after all.

Well, only one way to find out. Even if she was a monster, perhaps she'd enjoy its presence as much as it enjoyed hers. And if she did try to flee, 263's tentacles were surprisingly speedy, even blind. It had been developing a few tricks for chasing down wily students, and it would be interesting to put them to the test. Slowly, its tentacles crept through the brush. Because of its angle of approach, it couldn't help making a noticeable rustling as it drew near. It shook the bushes for several moments as it traversed them, before a dozen tentacles slowly entered the clearing, heading towards the sound of the girl's breathing.

Lucy sighed as she drank her water with deep gulps before sighing. "Alright time too head...." She began only to hear the rustling and glanced at the bushes. "What in the..?" She wondered before seeing the dozen tentacles entered the clearing. Heading towards her!? "W-what is that?" She gasped before not wanting to find out as she quickly moved. Moving in the opposite direction the tentacles were approaching from as she fled from the creature. Her fast movement would be a possible problem instead of trying to evade or fight back this one just went for straight running away...and fast too. Lucy's body kept her momentum going as she hopped over branches or sliding under them.

Her breathing was heavy but she still had enough energy in her. Not realising she was fleeing away from the campus. She would have to double back to return to her dorm. Sadly it was doubtful her pursuer would allow her that as she kept running. Only stopping for a brief moment to look behind her and take long deep panting breaths.

As the girl took off, the tentacles could hear her retreating footsteps. As 263 had expected, she was a runner, and a fast one at that. Well, it was fast, too. The tentacles tore the brush to shreds as they rushed through it, taking off after the sprinting student. Rapid cellular generation meant the tentacles could become practically as long as they wanted. At least, she had a long way to go before they reached their limits.

Despite her quick escape, she hadn't gained much ground, and the tentacles were closing in behind her. They could hear her well-paced breathing ahead, slowly losing the advantage. But they also heard the sounds of her movement, and this girl was everywhere - bouncing off of trees, ducking branches, clambering over rocks and zipping around corners. It was almost too much for 263 to keep up with. At one point, a few quick movements gained her a lead, and 263 was worried it had lost her. A moment later, however, it found that she had paused to catch her breath, and it was right on her heels again.

Lucy heard the noise and quickly moved. Her form dashing through the forest as she kept using her parkour to her advantage using the trees and any rocks she found to bounce and kick off. Allowing her momentum to continue. But sadly she couldn't gain more of a lead and she was already tired from her parkour workout before. Gritting her teeth as she decided to try something else. As she passed by a rather large rock she hopped off the ground and grabbed a branch before showing amazing skill as she was able to swing herself into the tree and stayed still and held her breath. Staying perfectly still and trying to avoid breathing...hoping this threw off whatever was chasing her...

Despite its tentacles' speed, 263 was having trouble keeping up with the nimble young girl. She kept ducking and weaving through the jungle, the speed-aids for her becoming obstacles for the blind tentacles to bounce off of and have to navigate. Finally, after several minutes, of barely keeping up, the girl leaped from the ground. 263 heard her swing from a branch, and then she was gone. The tentacles paused as all audible traces of the girl vanished.

263 reasoned that the girl couldn't still be moving while being this silent. She must still be nearby. It was time to give its new tricks a test. Slowly, the ends of its tentacles began to morph. Their bulbous heads caved in on themselves, sinking into a dish-like structure, the skin inside becoming considerably softer than before. A hard nub rose in the center of the dishes. The nub began to vibrate rapidly, emitting ultrasonic signals into the air.

Echo-location. It had observed this behavior in several of the animals of the island. And after weeks of refinement and practice, it had figured out a method to mimic this behavior itself. The tentacles swiveled left and right, up and down, releasing waves of high-frequency sound. Though the lower ranges of the noise could be heard by humans as a high-pitched, pulsing sound, the important part was the even higher-frequency waves that bounced off of anything in 263's path and back into the dishes. It turned its tentacles on the spot where the girl had disappeared and began moving closer, the echoes starting to reveal her form amongst the branches she stood on.

Lucy stayed still and silent as she could while the creature was closing in on her position. However soon she began to hear some kind of pulsing sound. She stayed silent and still but the tentacles were moving closer to her location. Did this thing have some kind of radar or something? She couldn't stay still and she had to run again and fast!

Taking a leap of faith the sudden noise of the branches rustling again was 263's first sign before the girl burst out of the leaves and tucked and rolled landing on her feet again. Not wasting anymore time as she quickly tried to run for it before the creature could make sense of what happened as she made a break for it running once again. Hiding from the creature wouldn't work now.

The tentacles jerked towards the sound as Lucy hit the ground. Hearing her retreating footsteps, the tentacles once more took off after her. She was once again dashing and dancing past branches and tree trucks, but 263's sonar scanning worked better than it realized was possible. The tentacles nimbly avoided dozens of obstacles, closing the gap where before they had stumbled or been bumped off course. Slowly, the tentacles were gaining ground on the girl.

And then the gains disappeared. Despite overwhelming odds, the girl had managed to run far enough that the tentacles were reaching the limit of their distance. Growing farther was interfering with their ability to move and coordinate, the neural pathways ultimately too long to communicate efficiently. 263 was losing its advantage, but it wasn't out of options. The tentacles began to work their way around Lucy's right side. They were still behind her, and almost starting to fall back, but if it could just steer the girl to her left, she'd be in for a less-than-pleasant surprise.

Lucy glanced back and saw the tentacles were slowing down they must've been running out of range! She had her chance now she noticed the tentacles coming from her right side now as she turned left and headed left believing that this would bring her to safety as she continued running fast. Not knowing that the creature had a less-than-pleasant surprise for her.

The tentacles behind her slowly drifted farther and farther away, lagging behind. Eventually, they disappeared from sight altogether, as if they'd given up the chase. Lucy had a moment to slow and catch her breath. But that moment was short lived, as there was a rustling in the bushes ahead, slightly off to her left. A moment later, another dozen tentacles shot through the bush, the same sonar dishes chirping loudly as they zoomed towards her, moving fast.

Lucy glanced back and saw the tentacles vanishing from sight and panted heavily as she leaned on a tree trying to regain her breath from running for too long. Only for a rustling in the bushes ahead of her slightly to her left. Glancing in that direction only to widen her eyes as the tentacles shot through the bush as they moved fast. Too fast as Lucy tried to get running she didn't have enough time to accelerate this time and one of her feet got snagged as she cried out and fell forward her head hitting one of the trunks as she saw stars...her body limp as she weakly groaned.

It had been interesting running down a student for a change. 263 idly noted that it would have to try this more often, although it doubted many of the girls would have the skills or athleticism to give it this much of a chase. Still, the race was over, and in the end, the girl had practically given herself to it. Time to claim the prize.

The tentacles' heads returned to their original round shape as they slid towards Lucy. The first to reach her wasted no time in wrapping around her ankle, making sure she wouldn't be able to go any farther even if she managed to try. Immediately, the other tentacles began to crawl over her body, slithering across her like snakes. Surprisingly heavy snakes, at that. Their mass weighed heavily on the girl's body, making it difficult for her to move even if the tentacles hadn't begun to coil around her legs. They still did, of course.

Slowly, the encroaching hoard squirmed their way up her legs, reaching for her hips.

((OOC: What's Lucy wearing?))

Lucy was wearing a pair of tight black gym shorts and a white gym shirt mostly since they were easy to move in. Her body was still limp having been knocked on the head and was dazed. Groaning weakly as her legs were wrapped by tentacles while others crawled over her body. Her attire would be difficult to remove as it was elastic at least for the shorts so removing her attire would be a challenge as she weakly groaned...

263 could take it's time it seemed it's prey had a nasty bump on her head from the collision with that tree trunk. So she wasn't putting up any real fight right now.

As the tentacles crawled up her body and over her clothing, 263 made note of the tight, elastic shorts that covered her lower body. The bottom of the leggings snapped tight to her thighs, making entrance difficult. Still, the clothing was soft and not overly-thick, and it could feel her body through the clothing. As it neared her crotch, the tentacles coiling around her legs began to press into her thighs. Several tentacles pushed their heads higher, pressing their heads into her crotch, around where they knew her entrance should be. They began to rub lightly up and down her abdomen as more tentacles climbed higher.

As it moved, 263 begun to reach out psychically to the girl's mind. Interestingly, it found it could already hear her thoughts - jumbled and hazy as they were by the blow to her head. The monster had had this ability for some time, but often it took longer for it to be able to communicate with a girl it captured. Perhaps its proximity to her during the extended chase sequence had allowed it time to find her mind without it realizing. Whatever the reason, it could speak into her mind as well.

"Are. You. Awake?" its voice asked her mind slowly, trying to coax her back to lucidity. As it spoke, several eyes rose above the girl. Unlike the others, these eyes ended in round orbs that appeared very much like some demonic eye. They gazed at the girl as her body was slowly engulfed in the swarm of tentacles.