Dot Hack FMG 2: Atoli's Strength Part 2

Note: Contains large female muscle growth and some giantess growth.

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"Should we just go into Avatar mode right away and Data-Drain her?" Haseo asked.

Kuhn shook his head. "I don't think we can do that immediately without risk; that AIDA has a strong hold on her. We need to try and force some kind of opening before we can Data-Drain it out of her. We'll have to fight her, weaken her. That's the safest way to go about it."

"Tch...I was really hoping we'd be able to avoid that..."

"We've done it once before. We can do it again."

"But you saw her! I mean, she...she's been hacked to have max stats, and then some!"

"You would still want to try anyway, wouldn't you?"

"...Yeah, I would."

"Then let's not complain. Let's just focus on saving Atoli."

Haseo and Kuhn stepped out onto the arena's main platform, being able to bypass the high-security data wall with little help from Yata and his Serpent of Lore. They slowed down to a calm walking pace as they drew nearer to the buff blonde. Atoli towered over Atelia's motionless avatar, staring down at it with a twisted expression of befuddlement. Her dress had been all but ripped to shreds from trying to contain her constantly bulging figure. Her arms were bigger than ever before, like massive timber logs, with her biceps particularly inflated in size. With the back of Atoli's dress being nonexistent by now, Haseo could easily make out the hundreds of different curvatures of rock-hard muscle mass that covered her back. Atoli was standing a full foot taller than before, peaking at seven and a half feet. Her legs looked like they could topple towers in a single kick; they were as engorged with muscle as her arms were, like steel bars the color of human skin, and her stockings were split down the middle.

Lastly, Haseo could see the faint hint of a black outline around Atoli's body, and tiny dark bubbles were flowing off of her skin. It was the AIDA inside of her avatar, controlling her mind, warping her body.

"Atoli..." Haseo called out to her to gain her attention. Atoli spun around in response, and upon seeing her two friends, she broke out into a cheerful smile.

"Oh! Haseo! Kuhn! You really came to see how strong I've become!"

"Yeah...we did..."

"Aren't you guys impressed? I can finally be useful in battle again! That's what you want, right, Haseo?" Atoli exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with a need to be appreciated; she seemed so much like the usual air-headed Atoli, it almost made Haseo wonder for a moment if she was really under AIDA's control. Of course, it was also likely to be some kind of trick to put his guard down. He wasn't going to fall for it. Haseo summoned his Lost Weapon, a large, ornate scythe, to his hands, and moved into an offensive stance. Atoli's expression fell.

"Atoli, please, don't try to put up a fight. We just need to knock down your Hit Points enough to be able to drain the AIDA out of you." Haseo told her.

"Haseo? What're you-""

"You don't realize it, but you're being controlled, Atoli! You have to understand! We need to do this for your own good!" Kuhn explained, bringing out his max-leveled bayonet.

"Kuhn! You...you guys...why are you doing this? Stop it! This isn't funny!" Atoli shrunk back, acting like a helpless little girl, despite actually being a towering mass of beefy, female muscle. The AIDA was flowing around her, surging, growing, like bubbles rising on the surface of steaming-hot water. Haseo and Kuhn didn't have much choice but to begin charging for her. They were stronger than Atelia's crew, true, but they still needed to be careful around a hacked character this strong. If they could knock her out before she could react, that would be best.

"Sorry, Atoli; this is for your own good! We want to help you!" Haseo swung his scythe at the Harvest Cleric. However, much to his surprise, Atoli had been able to catch the crescent blade with her bare hand. She clenched tight enough that her fingers went through the steel.

"Haseo..." Atoli whimpered, her eyes glazed over as the AIDA corruption grew stronger, "You just don't understand...you just don't understand how it feels to be weak and worthless!"

"What're you talking about? Of course I do! You remember everything that happened, with my friend Shino! And...and that's not what we should be talking about right now, anyway! Atoli, you're in serious trouble, and the only way to help you is if you'd just let us knock the AIDA-"

"Stop talking to me like I'm some kind of idiot!"

Atoli's left arm, the one holding back Haseo's weapon, grew several times larger, and the Lost Weapon shattered against her impenetrable skin. Haseo couldn't believe it. The rest of Atoli's body started to expand with more and more solid mass. New bubbles of packed muscle sprouted all over her, raising her higher up. There was barely any semblance of the Atoli Haseo knew anymore. She was over ten feet tall in a few minutes, and was still getting bigger. Her hair was long enough to touch the floor. Her biceps were as big as truck tires, her breasts bigger than Atoli's entire original body, and her dress burst apart with the subsequent growth of her abs, moving up from soda cans to beer bottles. Her biceps increased even further until they rivaled boulders. Her statuesque legs kept her magnificently stacked body balanced. A wall of unbelievably hard pectoral flesh nearly blocked her whole face from view.

The very arena was crumbling underneath her sheer power; the AIDA was tearing apart The World's data around it.

"Dammit, it's even worse than I thought!" Kuhn shouted, "We're going to have to go into Avatar mode and take her on! It's the only way now!"

"But you said earlier that it's dangerous for her if we used Avatar-"

"The AIDA is already going haywire, faster than I expected! But we can use this; our Data-Drain will be able to take the AIDA out of Atoli's body if we just force them to separate!"

"Okay, if you're sure it won't hurt Atoli in the process!"

"I'm...pretty sure it won't!"

"That's definitely reassuring!"

Nonetheless, Haseo prepared to summon his Avatar Skeith, as did Kuhn for his Avatar Magus. They were not worried about the reactions of the onlookers in the stands; when they went into Avatar Space, it would take them to another dimension within the system, away from normal players, and it would appear, to the average user, like the battle had only lasted seconds instead of the hours it actually did. Taking on the otherworldly forms of the Phases, Haseo and Kuhn confronted the transformed Atoli. The pious young woman had morphed into a destructive, raging demoness; the AIDA flowed off her shoulders, back and hands like flames, and even her eyes were expelling streams of the dark sludge. Her face was contorted into a snarl, unlike anything Haseo had seen on Atoli before. It wasn't anything like when the AIDA had last possessed her. This AIDA...it was clearly much, much stronger.

"Haseo...!" she reeled her arm back, body quivering as if she was struggling to hold back, and she swung at very well the speed of light.

Haseo had only avoided it out of sheer luck. He had felt Atoli's hand rush past him only inches away; it could have easily knocked him unconscious, even in his Avatar mode. Retaliating with his scythe, Haseo's empowered blade was finally capable of injuring Atoli, who stepped back. She did not look any worse for wear on the outside, but on the inside, she could feel it. The AIDA inside of her was screaming.

Kuhn struck next. Magus' tail wrapped itself around Atoli's waist to hold her still. Atoli, however, had no intention of letting him get away with it.

Atoli knocked the back of her hand against Kuhn's chest. Kuhn's player could feel the immense power behind Atoli's strike vibrating through his very bones, but he refused to yield under pressure. He squeezed tighter. Atoli tried to force him away, but it was still no use. He took every hit without any sign of going down, in spite of the pain it was causing both him and the player, due to their connection through the Avatar. Atoli continued to pound furiously on Magus' chest, her attention fully drawn to it. Kuhn, however, was looking over her shoulder, where Haseo had finished preparing the Data-Drain 'cannon' on his arm.

"You will...appreciate...me!" Atoli roared.

"Atoli, we do appreciate you..." Kuhn calmly told her, "But not as the way you are right now."

"How dare you say that! You should be happy! I can actually be useful; why do you say these things to me, Kuhn? You and Haseo...both of you have to die!" Atoli prepared her final strike, wrapping her muscular fingers into a fist, aiming for Kuhn's head. It would surely kill both Kuhn and the man controlling him behind the computer screen if he took the full force of the punch. Haseo aimed the digital weapon at Atoli's back, and fired.

In a flash, she was overcome with a cleansing light, and Kuhn quickly slipped out of the way. The burgeoning amounts of AIDA inside Atoli were forced from her Avatar with the Data-Drain; it was the only thing capable of doing so to such a powerful virus. It tore into the deepest reaches of her character's data. Gradually, the blonde Harvest Cleric's body started to shrink in both size and muscle mass. The black bubbles around her body dissipated, back into the stream of data from where they had come from.

The Avatar Space deactivated, and Haseo and Kun were standing back on the arena stage in their human forms. Haseo held up the unconscious Atoli in his arms; she had returned to normal. There was not a trace of her bountiful physique left on her body, although her clothes were still shredded. The crowd, unaware of what had just occurred, burst into another round of applause regardless. The commentator was even caught in the uproar of excitement. Not willing to stay for an interview, Haseo and Kuhn quickly took leave, carrying Atoli with them.

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A week passed without trouble. Haseo had left Atoli in the care of the Serpent of Lore's denizens, as there was nothing he himself could do for her. Yata, Pi and Kuhn all knew Atoli very well, and while Haseo's Data-Drain had saved her mind, there was not much else that could be done but to run some tests and to wait. Haseo hoped that he would receive notice soon on her condition. He felt partially responsible, even if Kuhn tried to convince him otherwise, because he had unintentionally made Atoli feel like she was useless. He tried to shoulder the burdens of the whole team because that was his way of doing things, and Atoli misread his actions, thinking it was her own fault. She was well-meaning, but a little naive. Haseo wanted to apologize to her once she woke up.

And then, in the midst of walking around the server town, he was suddenly whisked away to the Serpent of Lore by Yata's devices.

"H-Hey, what the hell was that? How did you do that?" Haseo exclaimed, shaken up by his spontaneous transportation.

"Atoli has awoken." Yata said.

"What? Really? That's great! Where is she?"

"Haseo, you should listen. About Atoli, she awoke some time ago, but she asked a request of me after opening her eyes..."

"What do you mean?"

"Haseo!" cried a familiar voice.

Before Yata could explain any further, Haseo was embraced from behind by Atoli. She squealed his name into the nape of his neck, and lifted him a few inches off the ground. For some reason, the girl was surprisingly strong to accomplish this. A little too strong. Haseo felt like he was encased inside a brick wall, unable to move a single muscle. And that was when he noticed Atoli's own muscles, which were quite prominent all over her arms. Her biceps were the size of hams, and she had forearms big enough to match. Haseo slipped himself away and turned around to get a better look at her. She had short hair again, her hat was back on, her uniform was normal...but she was as buff as the day of the incident. Haseo could clearly see the outline of her pectorals and her abs straining against her dress. It really didn't match very well with her otherwise cute appearance. Yata sighed.

"Like I was trying to say, Atoli asked me herself to give her these...extra attributes, because it made her stronger."

"That's right!" Atoli beamed, "And now we can fight together, Haseo! We'll reach max level in no time! Isn't that great?"

Haseo wasn't as pleased with this development as Atoli was. "Isn't this just going to encourage her to keep acting like this?"

"You should learn to be more thankful for what you are given, Haseo. This just might prove to be helpful for your endeavors, don't you think?" Yata tapped the bridge of his glasses. Kuhn shrugged, and Pi just sighed. That was that.

Haseo looked over at Atoli again, recalling that he had something to say to her. "Look, Atoli, you don't have to blame yourself for any of our failures. I never meant for you to feel that way. Atoli, I'm so-"

"Haseo, we can talk later; we should go to a field and fight some monsters! I really want to try out my new power for you!"

"But, Atoli-"

Atoli placed a hand on Haseo's shoulder, and grasped so tightly that it actually put a crack in the young man's shoulder armor. Something that should normally be impossible. "I said we should go and fight some monsters now, Haseo." she repeated.

"...O-Okay."

"Yay! Let's go!" Atoli cheered, and the two of them logged out of the Serpent of Lore. Pi looked over at Kuhn.

"Aren't you going too?"

"Do you think I should?" Kuhn replied.

"Atoli is still unstable; you need to keep an eye on her for us! Don't joke around!"

Kuhn started to log out, grumbling under his breath, "Okay, okay...man, I think it's probably safer that sweet, lovely Atoli is the crazed muscle-girl instead of it being a someone like you..."

Without realizing it, Pi began to imagine just what it would be like if her character had gained that much muscle mass. It wasn't a disapproving image in the slightest, not at all.