Post by Emperor Ninjin Hattori on Feb 26, 2014 23:09:00 GMT -5
The mud that Boglach had caked on Ninjin’s body weighed him down exactly like the heavy weights that he had worn so long ago in The Gauntlet had. Trudging through the mire that the swamp-lord called home was made that much more difficult. It was strange to remember the distant past in such a way, and be reminded of it in such a place as this. It felt like two completely different lives. One of a pampered prince, and one of a wanna-be king.
For five days Ninjin had been trudging through waist deep murky water and grime and had been bitten by all manner of venomous creature. Frogs with fangs, vicious and vibrant snakes, Eels, Insects, spiders, scorpions, and things the prince had no idea what to classify them as. Worse perhaps, was that he had been forced to eat all manner of poisonous things. Everything they came across that the swamp-lord thought might wreak havoc on the prince’s body he was forced to ingest. Boglach was certainly thorough in his training. Even creature they came across, or poisonous plant, animal, anything, Ninjin was forced to interact with.
The prince’s nights and days were filled with fever and ailments of all kinds. There were nervous system effecting plants, things that made his skin or eyes bleed, things that itched, things that numbed, things that stung. Feelings that Ninjin never wanted to have, or never wanted to have again, were forced upon him in a dazzling rainbow of poisons and venoms. Every time it seemed liked he was about to die Boglach would rise from the mud and would feed him a mossy mixture and suddenly it was like he had never been poisoned at all. The prince would be allowed to feel better for a couple of minutes and then the whole process would repeat. It had been the worst five days of Ninjin’s life, and he had been tortured. Professionally.
Boglach had ordered two of his men to stalk the front of Bubebolos’ cave in case a competitor arrived. The cave should have been easy to find, after all the only trail in the entire jungle led right to the mouth of his cave. Though getting there was much easier said than done. One had, to his credit, but he hadn’t lasted very long against the toad-dragon. His flesh had very quickly been peeled from his bones leaving nothing left with a yawn from Bubebolos. The others were still out there in the jungle somewhere, alive or dead who could be certain. There was one that above all worried the prince. Barren Maugh. He had the power-level to rival the prince, and seemed to be confident enough to be out in the jungle alone. Yes, Maugh was out there though, and Ninjin had a feeling the Iblisian was still very much alive.
Boglach whipped the prince sharply across the back of the head. Ninjin called out in pain and turned to face the thing angrily. The swamp-thing had done the whole whipping him across the back of the head multiple times. Every time Ninjin slowed his pace or missed a venomous or poisonous thing he was whipped across the back of the head. Every time his mind seemed to be somewhere else instead of here in the swamp he was whipped. A bruise was forming across the back of Ninjin’s head, and whatever mixture was that Boglach was giving him, it only cured toxins, not injuries. His body was covered with bites and scratches.
“Yer not paying attention. Auch, there’s a Slithering Monarch right in front of ye!” it was true however much Ninjin wished it weren’t. Winding its way in front of him was a neon green snake, thirty feet long and five feet wide, on the top of its head was a yellow splotch, a mocking irony of a crown. Ninjin reluctantly but dutifully stepped on its tail. It reared up, fangs bared and dripping acid. It hissed, and the prince rolled his eyes. They all seemed to hiss. The fangs bit deeply into the red-clad prince’s outstretched forearm. The pain came on immediately.
Like fire in his veins it was. He pulled back in anger and pain, but Boglach’s orders was that he couldn’t kill any of the creatures that bit him. They were not attacking him maliciously, but rather were going it out of instinct. And at least in the case of the Slithering Monarch Ninjin had directly stepped on its tail and provoked it. The prince clutched his arm and staggered away from the beast, which then slithered away. His vision became blurred almost immediately. It was another of the poisons his body had to experience, though this one seemed to be the worst thus far. A fever set in almost as quickly as the blurred and foggy vision. The staggering stopped. His muscles no longer seemed to be able to respond to his command. The Saiyan fell backwards with a splash into the murky waters. The fluids quickly filled his nose and mouth, but there was nothing he could do to fight it. He was going to drown. The sunlight flickered through the water as he sunk, and though it was only waist deep it was more than enough to drown him.
Boglach’s tendrils wrapped around the midsection of the red-clad warrior and ripped him from the water. Ninjin gasped as he was yanked from the mire, water splashing down off of him, even more dripping down as he choked it up. With the water came a stream of vomit. There was blood mixed within the water and vomit. He was going to die here in this jungle. Not from something so merciful as drowning but from a snake bite of all things. Certainly not a warriors death, certainly not the death for a prince. CERTAINLY not the death of the crown-prince of new vegeta on this world. No one would ever know what happened to him. Then Boglach shoved something familiar into the Prince’s mouth. Some mossy plant like substance. The fever broke almost instantly and when he looked down Ninjin could see the black poison running out of his bite wound.
“For the record Boglach. I really. Really. Don’t like this.” The prince said at last when his strength came back to him. The swamp creature laughed at that but said nothing else. It didn’t have to, they both knew that Bubebolos could do so so much worse. He simply set the prince back down in the water standing upright. They continued on.
More creatures, more plants, more venoms, more poisons. It seemed like a never ending stretch of torments. Then after what seemed like a week more of this crap, it all stopped. It stopped hurting. The poisons stopped being as effective, stopped having the same toll on his body. It took less of the moss concoction to stop the poisons from taking their tolls. Soon it took none at all; his body simply didn’t react to the bite of the Slithering Monarch or any of the other poisonous things that slithered in the mire. He could eat the poisonous things without puking his brains out. Boglach’s training had worked.
~~~
“Aye yer good, but yer not ready yet.” Boglach said when Ninjin revealed his intentions to finally go and fight Bubebolos. They were standing around a small fire Ninjin had made in order to cook his celebratory first non-poisonous meal in days. It tasted delicious to the prince even though it was only barbequed frog. They had spent a total of twelve days in the swamp, far longer than Ninjin would ever want to spend there, and he had been infected with a ton of poisons and venoms. His strong and sturdy Saiyan body had built up a tolerance to them all. How in the world could it be that he was not ready? And yet that’s exactly what the swamp-lord was saying. This was preposterous and Ninjin let him know that was exactly how he felt.
“I’m completely immune to the poisons of this swamp! How am I not ready?” Ninjin asked angrily. It had been a long fucking week, and now here he was trying to go and fulfil his duty and go and kill the damn toad dragon, and here was a swamp monster telling him no.
“Ye think the only thing ta fear is the poisons and venoms o the vile one?” He asked as if he couldn’t believe what it was Ninjin was saying. Ninjin couldn’t himself believe what Boglach was saying. Then he whipped him right in the face. It had come faster than the prince could react to, which he then supposed, through the pain, that that was the entire point. Still it didn’t stop it from stinging like crazy.
“Point. Taken.” Ninjin said rubbing his cheek. “So what am I supposed ta do about the lightning fast whip tongue o’ the toad-dragon?” The prince asked in a mocking voice trying to emulate the swamp-monster’s voice, and then was promptly whipped across the face once more. It stung even worse than the first, and as the prince reached up and felt the growing welt that graced his cheek.
“THAT’S NOT HELPING!!!!” the prince screamed at the swamp creature that seemed more than happy to continue whipping the prince across the face. They shuffled around the clearing, each man eyeing each other. Finally Boglach cried out.
“Well then move ye wee bloody iditot!” He said again before pulling his tendril back and whipping the prince once more with it. To his credit Ninjin had tried to move out of the way that time, but the lash caught him in the stomach. A welt began to form there as well.
“Ye have ta move so quickly that ye leave an imprint of yourself. This confuses the toad-dragon. He’ll try to whip the self ye leave behind instead o’ yer real self.” Ninjin, for once, knew exactly what it was the creature was talking about. He had seen others use the move before, and he thought he could replicate it. The trouble was he had no idea how to go about doing it. Move so fast as to leave an image? That was some serious speed.
“Concentrate.” Boglach yelled out before whipping him once more. The Saiyan though he had it that time for sure, but sure enough the whip caught him in the stomach. The force of it knocked the air from his lungs and flung him backwards. With a ‘SPLURCH’ he landed and rolled for a few seconds in the mud. He groaned, but then something hard and weighty landed on his back. With a sudden realization the prince determined it was Boglach’s foot, if you could call it a foot. The very tall and very heavy creature then began to apply pressure to the back of the prince, shoving him further and further into the mud.
“The vile one weighs about one hundred times more than me. Ye get stuck under him, there’s no surviving that. Ye die. Like a squished grape.” With that the swamp-lord pushed down harder and harder. Ninjin squirmed under the pressure and weight of it, trying to slip out of the weight of it but found he could not. His body barely budged. The mud filled his nose and ears and mouth. With a roar of fury his True Power activated but he still couldn’t find purchase in the mud. His hands grasped at bits of long grass that was shoved into the mud. His hand somehow found its way out from under Boglach.
“Find yer way oot Prince Hattori!” The swamp monster yelled. He was not strong enough to lift the weighty creature, not like this… but perhaps… And just like that Ninjin knew what to do. He launched his moon-ball into the air with the hand that had slipped out from under the creature. Boglach would have raised an eyebrow if he could. With all his might Ninjin dug his head out from beneath and looked up. His eyes caught the light of the moon-ball and suddenly they bulged.
Muscles that were squished beneath the swamp-lord suddenly grew to five times their normal size. His arms swelled and hair grew in places where he never would have thought it could, had he not transformed into the great ape before. His back and chest rippled with muscle. Mouth and nose joined together to form a muzzle. His strength became enormous, five times what it was. The mud that he was still in covered every inch of him. It was covering him entirely, weighed him down just like heavy weights. But he was still so much stronger. Gone was the Saiyan that had been, in its place was a thirty foot tall great ape.
With arms that were five times longer than before, he pushed downwards through the mud until he found the hard ground. His legs soon met the ground as well and with a surge of strength he flipped the swamp-lord off of himself. With a roar he turned and faced the monster.
“Well this is a wee little surprise. Ye didn’t tell me ye could turn into a giant ape creature. This is an interesting development.” Ninjin slugged him across the face quickly before he could react. He stumbled back in surprise. One of his tendrils reached up and touched the area that the Oozaru had just sucker-punched.
“Oh it’s gonna be like that is it?” The swamp monster lurched forwards and whipped the prince’s Oozaru face. The Oozaru caught the rest of the tendrils and pulled the swamp lord forwards into a rushing clothesline. The swamp-lord flipped over and landed in the muck. He groaned and Ninjin kicked him in the side of where his ribs would be. It flipped over onto his stomach and the prince Oozaru dropped his full weight upon him with an elbow. Afterwards the prince rolled off of him and stood in a fighting stance. The swamp-lord raised his tendrils in a surrendering gesture.
“Auch! Alright lad, Alright. Ye’ve got some hidden strengths, but that don change anything. Ye would still get flayed ta death by the vile ones tail before ye ever got off that shiny orb of ye’s.” with that the swamp-creature whipped the mud off of himself and stood.
“And so ye still need ta learn the after-image. But point taken on the squishing ye thing.”
~~~
Another two days. That’s what it took in order for Ninjin to master the after-image technique. It had started with a full day of nothing but being whipped over and over again. Every time the prince would seem to be on the verge of mastering the move, the bog-lord would whip him once more and he would get discouraged. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn that move, he did, and he trusted Boglach after the thing made him immune to the poisons of the jungle… it was just… Lilliana was somewhere out there waiting for him to return for the crown. He hadn’t even gotten the stone of Nurgle yet. He still had the Dark of Neapness to trek through. Whatever that was. This was taking much longer than he had thought it would.
Two more had made it to the entrance of the toad-dragons lair. Ninjin wasn’t sure who they were, all he knew from the descriptions was they weren’t Maugh, and it wasn’t the young Iblisian. The first one had entered the cave as though he was about to be crowned king, a foolish mistake. Bubebolos had taken the flesh from off of his chest with one lash of his tongue. With another lash he ate the man whole.
The second had had more sense than the first. Using the stealth that came naturally to his kind he entered the cave, attempting to steal the stone rather than take it by force. Though this was no doubt the best option for him, he was unprepared for the vileness of the toad-dragon’s lair. After an hour he began feeling ill. After two hours he began to vomit violently. After three hours, he lay dead on the pile nothing more than a rotting sack of skin.
Boglach’s men had told them of these events in great detail. Ninjin shook his head in disgust. All this over a crown. Though he couldn’t rightly look down on it, he was going through it as well. Not only that, but he would do even more for the throne of New Vegeta if he had to. Sure the crown of Iblis meant a lot to him, but being the crown-prince of the Saiyans meant even more. He would do what he had to for his people, and right now, that mean both the Saiyans and the Iblisians.
Another whip caught him across the face and Ninjin stumbled backwards. He was going to have welts for weeks after this that was certain… well if he lived for weeks after this. Despite all of this training Boglach seemed unconvinced that the prince could take on the toad-dragon and live to tell the tale.
“What happens if I do kill him?” Ninjin said after the first days training had ended. He still hadn’t quite mastered the move but the sun was setting, and it was dangerous to be in the swamp and not on dry land after dark, even for the swamp-lord. There were other things in the swamp vying for that title. Boglach bit into a stick covered in moss and chewed in contemplation of how to best answer that question. Finally he answered, face lit by the fire.
“Bubebolos canne really die. Not like me or yoo might. Sure ye can kill him. but he don exactly stay that way fer long. There’s an ancient evil about him. Can ye remember when I called him the thrice-cursed. He’s cursed to continue his vile existence for all time. So every time one of ye manages to kill him a tadpole is born from the remains. This tadpole grows quickly into the toad-dragon. And the cycle continues.” Ninjin thought upon the words the swamp-lord had just said. Even if he killed Bubebolos, it was just going to come back. Was there no way to end it permanently?
“And what if I kill the tadpole that emerges?” Ninjin asked as he bit into the leg of the juicy frog-on-a-stick that he was having for dinner. He had never gotten how some earthlings could eat frogs before, but when you’re alone out in the jungle with only a swamp monster to keep you company, whom had been feeding you nothing but poisonous plants and animals for twelve days before, boy they sure got tasty really quickly. Boglach considered the question heavily before responding.
“The beast would find a way to come back. He canne die. I don know how, and I really don care. Point is all ye have to do is survive that. What comes next I canne say, but for a few years this jungle will know peace.” For a moment it seemed like Boglach actually cared about the denizens of the jungle and the swamp. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t let Ninjin kill any of the things that bit him. The two stared at the fire without saying anything for a good long while. The noises from the swamp and jungle around them filled their ears. Croaks, chirps, howls, hoots, a veritable cornucopia of sounds filled the silence between them, including the contented pop of the fire. Somehow Ninjin felt safe in that moment though. Then the Saiyan thought back to creatures that killed the iblisians. Maybe the swamp lord knew what they were.
“Before meeting you, in my travels, two of the men that had ventured here with me were killed. I don’t know the manner of beast that did these acts, but the manners of deaths were horrific to say the least. Perhaps you could tell me just what it was that caused these gruesome acts.” Boglach said nothing but motioned with his moss covered stick that the prince should elaborate further.
“The first one had its head and spine removed from its body. Its intestines were used to make crude letterings on the trunk of a tree. Also it was nailed to said tree with a massive spear like… thing.” Boglach’s eyes grew wide once the prince finished his shaky description.
“Ye can be thankful it wasn’t ye that came across the Paninilla. The beast stands at eight feet tall, covered in tiny black spikes ye may think is hair. Its eyes are wee, too wee for its face, and glow with an intense red energy. They seem like their staring right through yer soul. Its face is like a wolf, though the damn things always appear to be smiling. That spear thing was its spine. These things grow em back so quickly it’s like they can’t give em away. They can also shoot them out of their backs like freaking missiles. They hunt. And they’re smart about it. They have no honor, so the only thing that matters to them is the hunt. They always, always, target the weak link of a group, or someone who’s wandered off by themselves. And they never pick a fight they think they canne win. They have no concept of… what did ye call em? Power-levels? So ye actually might have been able to fight one and killed it, though that’s no small task either. They don come solo. They’re pack hunters. As for the remains… They take the head and skulls as trophies, and ta eat the brains of whatever they kilt. They think that it makes them smarter. It don.” When he finished he looked around, as if the Paninilla might come out of the darkness that surrounded them at any moment. The thing was more terrifying than Ninjin had originally thought upon looking at the Iblisian nailed to the tree. And that was saying something. They sat in silence for a moment; Ninjin didn’t want to ask about the next creature yet. The first one had been bad enough.
“The other body had been drained off all of its bodily fluids by two giant holes in its neck. All that was left was a sack of skin.”
“That particular terror would be the Escorra. They’re a large reptile, like a damn twelve feet long. With even bigger wings. The worst part about em however is the stealth. Their wings make no sound as they fly through the jungle. That and the bloody things hide in the jungle like it was part of it itself. Ye canne see them coming. The two massive holes you found were from its fangs. It regrows teeth like the Paninilla grows spines. The venom that comes out from the fangs of the Escorra melts the insides of whatever it happens to have bitten into. Then a long proboscis like tounge comes oot and snakes its way down one of the bite holes. Then it sucks oot the soup of its victims and flies away to the jungle, prepared to do the whole bloody thing again. If yoo ran into that one, yoo’d probably have a chance. Although if it got its teeth inta ye, it would be the end of ye. The worst part though? Its cry. It sounds like a baby.” the fire popped and cracked and it startled both of them. Ninjin let out a nervous chuckle, as did the swamp lord across from him.
“Tomorrow ye master the move.” Boglach said confidently. Ninjin simply nodded.
~~~
The time had come. Ninjin stood outside the mouth Bubebolos’ cavern staring into the inky blackness. The stench was terrible. Boglach had prepared him, but his words seemed tame in comparison. Visible green acrid fumes wafted out of the cavern and washed over the prince making his eyes sting. No doubt they would be burning his flesh, but once again he had covered himself in the thick mud of the mire, and though it weighed him down it seemed to do its job of protecting his skin.
Before he stepped into the cave the prince looked backwards towards where Boglach and his men were standing. The swamp creature nodded in approval before he and his men slowly sank back into the mud. This was it. He was ready. The path was clear in front of him. He took a step forwards.
Something was blocking his path. Something he couldn’t see. The prince felt his heart sink even before the cry came out. The sound of a baby crying. He gulped, but it caught in his throat as he was slammed backwards by the Escorra’s tail. Somehow he knew he’d run into one of those damn things out here. It revealed itself and was more terrifying that Boglach’s description. It stood on all fours, a long and thick body topped with a massive reptilian head with rows of razor sharp teeth. Two of the teeth were much longer than the others. It, of course, hissed loudly at the prince.
“What’s next, one of those damn Paninillas?” and, as if on que, a large spear flew by the prince and landed with a thud in the shoulder, if you could call it a shoulder, of the Escorra in front of him. Ninjin turned to see a pack of Paninillas charging towards them. They all seemed to be focused on the large reptilian beast however. It was as if they couldn’t even see him. considering this, Ninjin realized their eye site must be based on recognizing heat signatures. Though the reptiles were cold blooded, being covered in the mud caused Ninjin to blend into the background even further than it, causing him to be invisible to the thing. The Escorra made the mistake of going visible at an inopportune time. In a blur the pack rushed by him and charged into the reptilian creature, and the entire group tumbled off into the underbrush of the jungle making quite a racket.
“Well that was entirely odd.” Ninjin muttered before turning back towards the cavern. A very low, guttural roar was emitted from the mouth of the cave. The noise had awoken Bubebolos. A wave of acrid air passed over the prince, but once again the thick covering of mud protected his skin. The prince steeled his resolve and stepped foot into the cave.
It was eerily light in the cave. The very walls themselves seemed to glow and pulse with energy. Though this didn’t make it any easier to see, the acrid smoke still hung thick in the air. The prince could hear the sound like a chuckle coming from further into the cave.
“I can see you little one.” From deep in the cavern came the voice of a horrible creature that could only be Bubebolos. It was deep and guttural like the laugh had been. It sent chills down the prince’s spine but still he pressed on into the heart of the cave. Then came the sound like the clicking of a tongue.
“You mortals never learn. I do nothing to provoke you, and yet here you are trying to steal what’s mine. Why is it that you have come here? You are unlike the others that have come before. There’s something…. Different about you. They all had a similar aura. Yours is different. More powerful. More intriguing.”
“Well thanks.” The prince muttered to himself as he made his way further into the cavern. At long last he made his way into the heart of the thing, and there, upon a massive pile of fetid treasure, lay Bubebolos. He was as massive and terrifying as the prince had heard, perhaps even more so. A toad he was certainly, as well as a dragon. His flesh was yellow and sickly. A fat body tapered off on both sides into a fat tail and a large round head. Its mouth was abnormally large, two thick tusks on either side, easily the size of the prince’s torso. A rotting horn sat atop his snout-like nose, and two pinky and puffy eyes sat on either size. Its tongue lashed out and caught a massive fly faster than the prince could see.
“Prince Hattori is it? I garnered that much from your scent. You reek of royalty. Already a prince and yet you seek a different crown. Why is that I wonder?” He said the question as he licked his lips. It was clearly rhetorical.
“You mortals have no concept of what’s really important. Wasting the precious little time you have on this plane of existence for what? To better yourselves? I scoff at the idea. There is no bettering you. Or any of your race. Or any race at all of mortals for that matter. You each think yours is the special one, yours is the grandest of them all. Here you are fighting for a crown that you have no claim to. Why not just go home Hattori? There’s no reason for you to be here, there’s no reason for you to have to die here at my hands. Leave. Leave and let the world be as it is. I envision a great rule for you on the Saiyan throne, but not the Iblisian—we have company.” He lifted his snout in the air and his bulk shifted as he did. There, sitting underneath him, was a pale green stone. It glowed with a soft energy. It had to be the stone of Nurgle.
“Ah… well that is an interesting development.” The creature smiled and lowered his bulk back down on top of the stone. The sound of echoing footsteps led down the hall of the cavern. Ninjin and Bubebolos waited to see who it was, and then the sound of something being thrown came to greet them down the cavern. Something squished in front of them. It was a bundle of heads. Three of them to be exact. With a wince of recognition and pain Ninjin saw that one of the heads was the young Iblisian from before.
Barren Maugh stepped out into the cavern, staring daggers into the very soul of Ninjin Hattori. And then he said something that the prince hadn’t been expecting.
“Ninjin Hattori. For crimes against the Universal Church of One you have been sentenced to death. Prepare to die heretic.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
For five days Ninjin had been trudging through waist deep murky water and grime and had been bitten by all manner of venomous creature. Frogs with fangs, vicious and vibrant snakes, Eels, Insects, spiders, scorpions, and things the prince had no idea what to classify them as. Worse perhaps, was that he had been forced to eat all manner of poisonous things. Everything they came across that the swamp-lord thought might wreak havoc on the prince’s body he was forced to ingest. Boglach was certainly thorough in his training. Even creature they came across, or poisonous plant, animal, anything, Ninjin was forced to interact with.
The prince’s nights and days were filled with fever and ailments of all kinds. There were nervous system effecting plants, things that made his skin or eyes bleed, things that itched, things that numbed, things that stung. Feelings that Ninjin never wanted to have, or never wanted to have again, were forced upon him in a dazzling rainbow of poisons and venoms. Every time it seemed liked he was about to die Boglach would rise from the mud and would feed him a mossy mixture and suddenly it was like he had never been poisoned at all. The prince would be allowed to feel better for a couple of minutes and then the whole process would repeat. It had been the worst five days of Ninjin’s life, and he had been tortured. Professionally.
Boglach had ordered two of his men to stalk the front of Bubebolos’ cave in case a competitor arrived. The cave should have been easy to find, after all the only trail in the entire jungle led right to the mouth of his cave. Though getting there was much easier said than done. One had, to his credit, but he hadn’t lasted very long against the toad-dragon. His flesh had very quickly been peeled from his bones leaving nothing left with a yawn from Bubebolos. The others were still out there in the jungle somewhere, alive or dead who could be certain. There was one that above all worried the prince. Barren Maugh. He had the power-level to rival the prince, and seemed to be confident enough to be out in the jungle alone. Yes, Maugh was out there though, and Ninjin had a feeling the Iblisian was still very much alive.
Boglach whipped the prince sharply across the back of the head. Ninjin called out in pain and turned to face the thing angrily. The swamp-thing had done the whole whipping him across the back of the head multiple times. Every time Ninjin slowed his pace or missed a venomous or poisonous thing he was whipped across the back of the head. Every time his mind seemed to be somewhere else instead of here in the swamp he was whipped. A bruise was forming across the back of Ninjin’s head, and whatever mixture was that Boglach was giving him, it only cured toxins, not injuries. His body was covered with bites and scratches.
“Yer not paying attention. Auch, there’s a Slithering Monarch right in front of ye!” it was true however much Ninjin wished it weren’t. Winding its way in front of him was a neon green snake, thirty feet long and five feet wide, on the top of its head was a yellow splotch, a mocking irony of a crown. Ninjin reluctantly but dutifully stepped on its tail. It reared up, fangs bared and dripping acid. It hissed, and the prince rolled his eyes. They all seemed to hiss. The fangs bit deeply into the red-clad prince’s outstretched forearm. The pain came on immediately.
Like fire in his veins it was. He pulled back in anger and pain, but Boglach’s orders was that he couldn’t kill any of the creatures that bit him. They were not attacking him maliciously, but rather were going it out of instinct. And at least in the case of the Slithering Monarch Ninjin had directly stepped on its tail and provoked it. The prince clutched his arm and staggered away from the beast, which then slithered away. His vision became blurred almost immediately. It was another of the poisons his body had to experience, though this one seemed to be the worst thus far. A fever set in almost as quickly as the blurred and foggy vision. The staggering stopped. His muscles no longer seemed to be able to respond to his command. The Saiyan fell backwards with a splash into the murky waters. The fluids quickly filled his nose and mouth, but there was nothing he could do to fight it. He was going to drown. The sunlight flickered through the water as he sunk, and though it was only waist deep it was more than enough to drown him.
Boglach’s tendrils wrapped around the midsection of the red-clad warrior and ripped him from the water. Ninjin gasped as he was yanked from the mire, water splashing down off of him, even more dripping down as he choked it up. With the water came a stream of vomit. There was blood mixed within the water and vomit. He was going to die here in this jungle. Not from something so merciful as drowning but from a snake bite of all things. Certainly not a warriors death, certainly not the death for a prince. CERTAINLY not the death of the crown-prince of new vegeta on this world. No one would ever know what happened to him. Then Boglach shoved something familiar into the Prince’s mouth. Some mossy plant like substance. The fever broke almost instantly and when he looked down Ninjin could see the black poison running out of his bite wound.
“For the record Boglach. I really. Really. Don’t like this.” The prince said at last when his strength came back to him. The swamp creature laughed at that but said nothing else. It didn’t have to, they both knew that Bubebolos could do so so much worse. He simply set the prince back down in the water standing upright. They continued on.
More creatures, more plants, more venoms, more poisons. It seemed like a never ending stretch of torments. Then after what seemed like a week more of this crap, it all stopped. It stopped hurting. The poisons stopped being as effective, stopped having the same toll on his body. It took less of the moss concoction to stop the poisons from taking their tolls. Soon it took none at all; his body simply didn’t react to the bite of the Slithering Monarch or any of the other poisonous things that slithered in the mire. He could eat the poisonous things without puking his brains out. Boglach’s training had worked.
~~~
“Aye yer good, but yer not ready yet.” Boglach said when Ninjin revealed his intentions to finally go and fight Bubebolos. They were standing around a small fire Ninjin had made in order to cook his celebratory first non-poisonous meal in days. It tasted delicious to the prince even though it was only barbequed frog. They had spent a total of twelve days in the swamp, far longer than Ninjin would ever want to spend there, and he had been infected with a ton of poisons and venoms. His strong and sturdy Saiyan body had built up a tolerance to them all. How in the world could it be that he was not ready? And yet that’s exactly what the swamp-lord was saying. This was preposterous and Ninjin let him know that was exactly how he felt.
“I’m completely immune to the poisons of this swamp! How am I not ready?” Ninjin asked angrily. It had been a long fucking week, and now here he was trying to go and fulfil his duty and go and kill the damn toad dragon, and here was a swamp monster telling him no.
“Ye think the only thing ta fear is the poisons and venoms o the vile one?” He asked as if he couldn’t believe what it was Ninjin was saying. Ninjin couldn’t himself believe what Boglach was saying. Then he whipped him right in the face. It had come faster than the prince could react to, which he then supposed, through the pain, that that was the entire point. Still it didn’t stop it from stinging like crazy.
“Point. Taken.” Ninjin said rubbing his cheek. “So what am I supposed ta do about the lightning fast whip tongue o’ the toad-dragon?” The prince asked in a mocking voice trying to emulate the swamp-monster’s voice, and then was promptly whipped across the face once more. It stung even worse than the first, and as the prince reached up and felt the growing welt that graced his cheek.
“THAT’S NOT HELPING!!!!” the prince screamed at the swamp creature that seemed more than happy to continue whipping the prince across the face. They shuffled around the clearing, each man eyeing each other. Finally Boglach cried out.
“Well then move ye wee bloody iditot!” He said again before pulling his tendril back and whipping the prince once more with it. To his credit Ninjin had tried to move out of the way that time, but the lash caught him in the stomach. A welt began to form there as well.
“Ye have ta move so quickly that ye leave an imprint of yourself. This confuses the toad-dragon. He’ll try to whip the self ye leave behind instead o’ yer real self.” Ninjin, for once, knew exactly what it was the creature was talking about. He had seen others use the move before, and he thought he could replicate it. The trouble was he had no idea how to go about doing it. Move so fast as to leave an image? That was some serious speed.
“Concentrate.” Boglach yelled out before whipping him once more. The Saiyan though he had it that time for sure, but sure enough the whip caught him in the stomach. The force of it knocked the air from his lungs and flung him backwards. With a ‘SPLURCH’ he landed and rolled for a few seconds in the mud. He groaned, but then something hard and weighty landed on his back. With a sudden realization the prince determined it was Boglach’s foot, if you could call it a foot. The very tall and very heavy creature then began to apply pressure to the back of the prince, shoving him further and further into the mud.
“The vile one weighs about one hundred times more than me. Ye get stuck under him, there’s no surviving that. Ye die. Like a squished grape.” With that the swamp-lord pushed down harder and harder. Ninjin squirmed under the pressure and weight of it, trying to slip out of the weight of it but found he could not. His body barely budged. The mud filled his nose and ears and mouth. With a roar of fury his True Power activated but he still couldn’t find purchase in the mud. His hands grasped at bits of long grass that was shoved into the mud. His hand somehow found its way out from under Boglach.
“Find yer way oot Prince Hattori!” The swamp monster yelled. He was not strong enough to lift the weighty creature, not like this… but perhaps… And just like that Ninjin knew what to do. He launched his moon-ball into the air with the hand that had slipped out from under the creature. Boglach would have raised an eyebrow if he could. With all his might Ninjin dug his head out from beneath and looked up. His eyes caught the light of the moon-ball and suddenly they bulged.
Muscles that were squished beneath the swamp-lord suddenly grew to five times their normal size. His arms swelled and hair grew in places where he never would have thought it could, had he not transformed into the great ape before. His back and chest rippled with muscle. Mouth and nose joined together to form a muzzle. His strength became enormous, five times what it was. The mud that he was still in covered every inch of him. It was covering him entirely, weighed him down just like heavy weights. But he was still so much stronger. Gone was the Saiyan that had been, in its place was a thirty foot tall great ape.
With arms that were five times longer than before, he pushed downwards through the mud until he found the hard ground. His legs soon met the ground as well and with a surge of strength he flipped the swamp-lord off of himself. With a roar he turned and faced the monster.
“Well this is a wee little surprise. Ye didn’t tell me ye could turn into a giant ape creature. This is an interesting development.” Ninjin slugged him across the face quickly before he could react. He stumbled back in surprise. One of his tendrils reached up and touched the area that the Oozaru had just sucker-punched.
“Oh it’s gonna be like that is it?” The swamp monster lurched forwards and whipped the prince’s Oozaru face. The Oozaru caught the rest of the tendrils and pulled the swamp lord forwards into a rushing clothesline. The swamp-lord flipped over and landed in the muck. He groaned and Ninjin kicked him in the side of where his ribs would be. It flipped over onto his stomach and the prince Oozaru dropped his full weight upon him with an elbow. Afterwards the prince rolled off of him and stood in a fighting stance. The swamp-lord raised his tendrils in a surrendering gesture.
“Auch! Alright lad, Alright. Ye’ve got some hidden strengths, but that don change anything. Ye would still get flayed ta death by the vile ones tail before ye ever got off that shiny orb of ye’s.” with that the swamp-creature whipped the mud off of himself and stood.
“And so ye still need ta learn the after-image. But point taken on the squishing ye thing.”
~~~
Another two days. That’s what it took in order for Ninjin to master the after-image technique. It had started with a full day of nothing but being whipped over and over again. Every time the prince would seem to be on the verge of mastering the move, the bog-lord would whip him once more and he would get discouraged. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn that move, he did, and he trusted Boglach after the thing made him immune to the poisons of the jungle… it was just… Lilliana was somewhere out there waiting for him to return for the crown. He hadn’t even gotten the stone of Nurgle yet. He still had the Dark of Neapness to trek through. Whatever that was. This was taking much longer than he had thought it would.
Two more had made it to the entrance of the toad-dragons lair. Ninjin wasn’t sure who they were, all he knew from the descriptions was they weren’t Maugh, and it wasn’t the young Iblisian. The first one had entered the cave as though he was about to be crowned king, a foolish mistake. Bubebolos had taken the flesh from off of his chest with one lash of his tongue. With another lash he ate the man whole.
The second had had more sense than the first. Using the stealth that came naturally to his kind he entered the cave, attempting to steal the stone rather than take it by force. Though this was no doubt the best option for him, he was unprepared for the vileness of the toad-dragon’s lair. After an hour he began feeling ill. After two hours he began to vomit violently. After three hours, he lay dead on the pile nothing more than a rotting sack of skin.
Boglach’s men had told them of these events in great detail. Ninjin shook his head in disgust. All this over a crown. Though he couldn’t rightly look down on it, he was going through it as well. Not only that, but he would do even more for the throne of New Vegeta if he had to. Sure the crown of Iblis meant a lot to him, but being the crown-prince of the Saiyans meant even more. He would do what he had to for his people, and right now, that mean both the Saiyans and the Iblisians.
Another whip caught him across the face and Ninjin stumbled backwards. He was going to have welts for weeks after this that was certain… well if he lived for weeks after this. Despite all of this training Boglach seemed unconvinced that the prince could take on the toad-dragon and live to tell the tale.
“What happens if I do kill him?” Ninjin said after the first days training had ended. He still hadn’t quite mastered the move but the sun was setting, and it was dangerous to be in the swamp and not on dry land after dark, even for the swamp-lord. There were other things in the swamp vying for that title. Boglach bit into a stick covered in moss and chewed in contemplation of how to best answer that question. Finally he answered, face lit by the fire.
“Bubebolos canne really die. Not like me or yoo might. Sure ye can kill him. but he don exactly stay that way fer long. There’s an ancient evil about him. Can ye remember when I called him the thrice-cursed. He’s cursed to continue his vile existence for all time. So every time one of ye manages to kill him a tadpole is born from the remains. This tadpole grows quickly into the toad-dragon. And the cycle continues.” Ninjin thought upon the words the swamp-lord had just said. Even if he killed Bubebolos, it was just going to come back. Was there no way to end it permanently?
“And what if I kill the tadpole that emerges?” Ninjin asked as he bit into the leg of the juicy frog-on-a-stick that he was having for dinner. He had never gotten how some earthlings could eat frogs before, but when you’re alone out in the jungle with only a swamp monster to keep you company, whom had been feeding you nothing but poisonous plants and animals for twelve days before, boy they sure got tasty really quickly. Boglach considered the question heavily before responding.
“The beast would find a way to come back. He canne die. I don know how, and I really don care. Point is all ye have to do is survive that. What comes next I canne say, but for a few years this jungle will know peace.” For a moment it seemed like Boglach actually cared about the denizens of the jungle and the swamp. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t let Ninjin kill any of the things that bit him. The two stared at the fire without saying anything for a good long while. The noises from the swamp and jungle around them filled their ears. Croaks, chirps, howls, hoots, a veritable cornucopia of sounds filled the silence between them, including the contented pop of the fire. Somehow Ninjin felt safe in that moment though. Then the Saiyan thought back to creatures that killed the iblisians. Maybe the swamp lord knew what they were.
“Before meeting you, in my travels, two of the men that had ventured here with me were killed. I don’t know the manner of beast that did these acts, but the manners of deaths were horrific to say the least. Perhaps you could tell me just what it was that caused these gruesome acts.” Boglach said nothing but motioned with his moss covered stick that the prince should elaborate further.
“The first one had its head and spine removed from its body. Its intestines were used to make crude letterings on the trunk of a tree. Also it was nailed to said tree with a massive spear like… thing.” Boglach’s eyes grew wide once the prince finished his shaky description.
“Ye can be thankful it wasn’t ye that came across the Paninilla. The beast stands at eight feet tall, covered in tiny black spikes ye may think is hair. Its eyes are wee, too wee for its face, and glow with an intense red energy. They seem like their staring right through yer soul. Its face is like a wolf, though the damn things always appear to be smiling. That spear thing was its spine. These things grow em back so quickly it’s like they can’t give em away. They can also shoot them out of their backs like freaking missiles. They hunt. And they’re smart about it. They have no honor, so the only thing that matters to them is the hunt. They always, always, target the weak link of a group, or someone who’s wandered off by themselves. And they never pick a fight they think they canne win. They have no concept of… what did ye call em? Power-levels? So ye actually might have been able to fight one and killed it, though that’s no small task either. They don come solo. They’re pack hunters. As for the remains… They take the head and skulls as trophies, and ta eat the brains of whatever they kilt. They think that it makes them smarter. It don.” When he finished he looked around, as if the Paninilla might come out of the darkness that surrounded them at any moment. The thing was more terrifying than Ninjin had originally thought upon looking at the Iblisian nailed to the tree. And that was saying something. They sat in silence for a moment; Ninjin didn’t want to ask about the next creature yet. The first one had been bad enough.
“The other body had been drained off all of its bodily fluids by two giant holes in its neck. All that was left was a sack of skin.”
“That particular terror would be the Escorra. They’re a large reptile, like a damn twelve feet long. With even bigger wings. The worst part about em however is the stealth. Their wings make no sound as they fly through the jungle. That and the bloody things hide in the jungle like it was part of it itself. Ye canne see them coming. The two massive holes you found were from its fangs. It regrows teeth like the Paninilla grows spines. The venom that comes out from the fangs of the Escorra melts the insides of whatever it happens to have bitten into. Then a long proboscis like tounge comes oot and snakes its way down one of the bite holes. Then it sucks oot the soup of its victims and flies away to the jungle, prepared to do the whole bloody thing again. If yoo ran into that one, yoo’d probably have a chance. Although if it got its teeth inta ye, it would be the end of ye. The worst part though? Its cry. It sounds like a baby.” the fire popped and cracked and it startled both of them. Ninjin let out a nervous chuckle, as did the swamp lord across from him.
“Tomorrow ye master the move.” Boglach said confidently. Ninjin simply nodded.
~~~
The time had come. Ninjin stood outside the mouth Bubebolos’ cavern staring into the inky blackness. The stench was terrible. Boglach had prepared him, but his words seemed tame in comparison. Visible green acrid fumes wafted out of the cavern and washed over the prince making his eyes sting. No doubt they would be burning his flesh, but once again he had covered himself in the thick mud of the mire, and though it weighed him down it seemed to do its job of protecting his skin.
Before he stepped into the cave the prince looked backwards towards where Boglach and his men were standing. The swamp creature nodded in approval before he and his men slowly sank back into the mud. This was it. He was ready. The path was clear in front of him. He took a step forwards.
Something was blocking his path. Something he couldn’t see. The prince felt his heart sink even before the cry came out. The sound of a baby crying. He gulped, but it caught in his throat as he was slammed backwards by the Escorra’s tail. Somehow he knew he’d run into one of those damn things out here. It revealed itself and was more terrifying that Boglach’s description. It stood on all fours, a long and thick body topped with a massive reptilian head with rows of razor sharp teeth. Two of the teeth were much longer than the others. It, of course, hissed loudly at the prince.
“What’s next, one of those damn Paninillas?” and, as if on que, a large spear flew by the prince and landed with a thud in the shoulder, if you could call it a shoulder, of the Escorra in front of him. Ninjin turned to see a pack of Paninillas charging towards them. They all seemed to be focused on the large reptilian beast however. It was as if they couldn’t even see him. considering this, Ninjin realized their eye site must be based on recognizing heat signatures. Though the reptiles were cold blooded, being covered in the mud caused Ninjin to blend into the background even further than it, causing him to be invisible to the thing. The Escorra made the mistake of going visible at an inopportune time. In a blur the pack rushed by him and charged into the reptilian creature, and the entire group tumbled off into the underbrush of the jungle making quite a racket.
“Well that was entirely odd.” Ninjin muttered before turning back towards the cavern. A very low, guttural roar was emitted from the mouth of the cave. The noise had awoken Bubebolos. A wave of acrid air passed over the prince, but once again the thick covering of mud protected his skin. The prince steeled his resolve and stepped foot into the cave.
It was eerily light in the cave. The very walls themselves seemed to glow and pulse with energy. Though this didn’t make it any easier to see, the acrid smoke still hung thick in the air. The prince could hear the sound like a chuckle coming from further into the cave.
“I can see you little one.” From deep in the cavern came the voice of a horrible creature that could only be Bubebolos. It was deep and guttural like the laugh had been. It sent chills down the prince’s spine but still he pressed on into the heart of the cave. Then came the sound like the clicking of a tongue.
“You mortals never learn. I do nothing to provoke you, and yet here you are trying to steal what’s mine. Why is it that you have come here? You are unlike the others that have come before. There’s something…. Different about you. They all had a similar aura. Yours is different. More powerful. More intriguing.”
“Well thanks.” The prince muttered to himself as he made his way further into the cavern. At long last he made his way into the heart of the thing, and there, upon a massive pile of fetid treasure, lay Bubebolos. He was as massive and terrifying as the prince had heard, perhaps even more so. A toad he was certainly, as well as a dragon. His flesh was yellow and sickly. A fat body tapered off on both sides into a fat tail and a large round head. Its mouth was abnormally large, two thick tusks on either side, easily the size of the prince’s torso. A rotting horn sat atop his snout-like nose, and two pinky and puffy eyes sat on either size. Its tongue lashed out and caught a massive fly faster than the prince could see.
“Prince Hattori is it? I garnered that much from your scent. You reek of royalty. Already a prince and yet you seek a different crown. Why is that I wonder?” He said the question as he licked his lips. It was clearly rhetorical.
“You mortals have no concept of what’s really important. Wasting the precious little time you have on this plane of existence for what? To better yourselves? I scoff at the idea. There is no bettering you. Or any of your race. Or any race at all of mortals for that matter. You each think yours is the special one, yours is the grandest of them all. Here you are fighting for a crown that you have no claim to. Why not just go home Hattori? There’s no reason for you to be here, there’s no reason for you to have to die here at my hands. Leave. Leave and let the world be as it is. I envision a great rule for you on the Saiyan throne, but not the Iblisian—we have company.” He lifted his snout in the air and his bulk shifted as he did. There, sitting underneath him, was a pale green stone. It glowed with a soft energy. It had to be the stone of Nurgle.
“Ah… well that is an interesting development.” The creature smiled and lowered his bulk back down on top of the stone. The sound of echoing footsteps led down the hall of the cavern. Ninjin and Bubebolos waited to see who it was, and then the sound of something being thrown came to greet them down the cavern. Something squished in front of them. It was a bundle of heads. Three of them to be exact. With a wince of recognition and pain Ninjin saw that one of the heads was the young Iblisian from before.
Barren Maugh stepped out into the cavern, staring daggers into the very soul of Ninjin Hattori. And then he said something that the prince hadn’t been expecting.
“Ninjin Hattori. For crimes against the Universal Church of One you have been sentenced to death. Prepare to die heretic.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
