No Step On Slime

Chapter 1: Human Mind, Human Ideas

Welcome to Chapter One. The story will not necessarily take place at the same pace as the anime, but all the events will be there.

This story will be written primarily in the first-person, but it may switch to the third-person at moments where I'd be unable to write from the perspective of the main character. I will ensure that these rather rare switches are not confusing.

. . . . .

It was dark.

Where was I a few moments ago? My van, and the explosion, that was what I remembered

I was laying down on a cool, hard surface. My immediate thought was that the firefighters actually managed to get me out and I was laying on the ground, but that probably wasn't it. I would've seen the flashing red lights through my closed eyes. There was also the obvious lack of sirens, or the crackling of my burning van, or any human voices at all.

The surface below was also too smooth to be asphalt. It felt more like concrete... or stone.

I wasn't hurting. Hell, I wasn't even drowsy. It took me only a moment to force my eyes open, only to peer up at...

Almost nothing.

A clicking sound soon followed, and the very faint lines and surfaces I could barely see through the darkness began to brighten and contrast. I blinked a few more times as my eyes adjusted at an uncanny speed to the darkness.

This wasn't a place that was familiar. I pushed myself into a sitting position to scan my surroundings. There were a few glowing crystals here and there, along with small weed-like plants growing across the ground. Otherwise, there was nothing else remarkable about the place.

My body... it felt different. Almost half-numb would be a way to describe it. I could feel the ground beneath me, and although it was cold it did not make me shiver.

Wait a minute, if I could feel the stone on bare skin that meant I was buck-naked!

I leaped up and felt all across my body, hoping for at least something to preserve my decency. Not only was there nothing, but a few times my fingers caught on odd gaps across my skin,

Very neat and straight gaps that ran up across the sides of my torso, across my arms, my legs, and even around my neck. I daringly wiggled a finger beneath the wide gaps of skin, only to feel metal beneath it

"What the fuck?"

I held a hand to my mouth. It sounded somewhat distorted, like someone speaking through a pipe and getting a metallic echo back. But I knew for sure that wasn't my original voice.

"Eh?"

I tested my voice again. It was light and high-pitched, definitely a feminine voice.

I wanted to panic, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. I allowed myself a good thirty minutes or so to organize my thoughts.

Did I make it out of the burning car? Judging from the place I am, I managed to get out. The alternative was this being a near-death hallucination, but it wouldn't feel so vivid if it was one.

I pinched myself once. And then again.

I could feel my skin being pulled and deforming slightly, before springing back. But there was no pain at all. Did that mean I was so close to death that I was numb to any pain?

Or was I somewhere else entirely?

Then there was the issue of my body. The metal seams along the sides of my torso and arms appear to be rather thorough; I couldn't get my fingers under the soft skin-like material my body was covered in.