"[color=0F52BA][i]Is this it, then,[/i][/color]" Alice asks, taking up Carroll in both hands; his parasitization started to creep up her left arm like a plant setting root. His roots dug in deep, claiming the whole of her arm. However, in contrast, a tangle of messy roots spilled over from Alice's right hand, and reverse parasitized him, selfsame, from his pommel to the base of his blade.

Because a Mad Hatter was already a creature corrupted by a parasite, Carroll couldn't just stake a claim on the body with ease, and Alice couldn't, instinctively, allow his transgression.

Thus, their symbiotic relationship held instinctive evenness.

"[color=9b111e][b]Don't underestimate them. They stand firm. They will neither buckle nor bow, if you approach them without intent to kill,[/b][/color]" Carroll says. "[color=9b111e][b]So, throw all notions of kindness to the wind, and breathe...[/b][/color]"

Alice nodded, and breathed in, and out, in steady measure...

In her hands, she held Carroll like a rank amateur; her two-handed grip absolutely clumsy on a one-handed axe - she'd garner more power upon her swing, sure, but her control was halved with the additional arm, and her range was quartered in addition. In mechanical terms, she went from a Standard Action to Full-round Action, from a Range of 5-feet to Range of 0-feet, and all for an increase of Damage plus Strength to Damage plus Strength-1/2.

However, there was a reason for that. Alice was built for Close-quarters Combat, due to her racial advantages. Mad Hatters were a walking plague of perversion, and their bodies where made firm by the colonization of the parasitic mushrooms from the cap they wore; which, in turn, generated new spores for parasitic breeding that were expelled as large clouds or copiously salivated to infect normal men and women - making the men more susceptible to their wiles, and women more willing to be turned into Matango.

In time, a Mad Hatter could take over entire villages by simply breathing - such was the madness of Wonderland.

However, Lady Kyouko's most dearest wish of her was likely for her to not do that again without explicit permission.

Unfortunately, this was combat, and she was alone, so that was a wish she couldn't grant...

"[color=0F52BA][i]Haaa...[/i][/color]" Alice exhaled an almost invisible cloud of spores.

"[color=9b111e][b]It's three-on-one, so take them on one-by-one, and keep that in mind,[/b][/color]" Carroll says. "[color=9b111e][b]Don't divide your attention unnecessarily.[/b][/color]"

"[color=0F52BA][i]Understood! Let's go, Carroll![/i][/color]"Alice says, dashing forward to her nearest for, counting on her spores to have set him off-balance.