Spinning on Skates (Terryn)

Tuffle, huh? Terryn supposed that made sense.

His knowledge on Plant was shoddy at best. Terryn could only vaguely recall some of the history lessons they've gotten about Plant and her people back during his High School days. The Saiyans had been locked into a war with the Tuffles for Kami knows how long now. It must've been hard for Korado, Terryn wagered. Being a half-breed, essentially stuck between the two warring races...Sounded like a rough time.

"Didn't really take you for 'Part-Saiyan', so I suppose you're right about the Tuffles being more your style." 

Terryn spoke with a half-smile, glancing over at the hybrid with a friendly expression. Honestly, the Earthling was quite glad Korado seemed to lean more towards his Tuffle side. He hated to be caught in the crossfire of a pissed off, battle-hungry Saiyan. Especially someone as strong as Korado!

"Oh, by the way! If you wanna tinker around with robotics and stuff, make some good use of that brain power of yours, I hear West City's the place to be!"

The Earthling snapped his fingers, recalling a bunch of online job placements, laboratories and mechanical workshops back from his years spent in West City. Having spent most of his childhood there, Terryn knew the place like the back of his hand. Someone like Korado would fit in perfectly there!

"Place is packed to the brim with mechanic shops, laboratories, you name it. It's kinda where all the technological advancements happen here on Earth. You should check it out sometime!"

Who would've thought that Terryn's tidbits of knowledge regarding Earth would ever become so helpful? He'd always believed that the things he knew were all just...Well, obvious. Who didn't know about West City, for example? Well, a war veteran from another Planet, for one. Terryn never really considered the fact that space travel was a common occurrence these days.

"...Korado? I'm like, super curious...Can I try out your Scouter?" Terryn asked with an embarassed grin, gesturing toward the device. "I reaaaally wanna see what it's like! Just for a sec'...?"

---

Word Count: 2441 + 344 = 2785

Korado

"You got a half-sister? She still on Plant, or did she make the escape with you?" Terryn pried some more into Korado's personal life and history. Who could've blamed him? People like him were intensely interesting to Terryn, who hadn't seen a speck of real conflict in his entire life. Amusing it was, that Terryn hadn't realized that he already met Korado's half-sister before. Amara, that girl he played basketball with a few months back in South City.

If only Terryn was aware, he could've helped Korado track her down.

Their conversation flowed along nicely, with Korado taking no issue in lending his Scouter to Terryn for a brief moment. "Ooh sick!" He exclaimed happily, carefully taking the Scouter from Korado's hands and moving it over to his left eye. 

Terryn peeked through the lens for a bit before actually putting it on firmly. The sudden introduction of Korado's pet caught Terryn off-guard, who glanced down at the Hybrid's bag.

"W-WAAH!"

Terryn nearly dropped Korado's scouter in that moment, flinging it up as a knee-jerk reaction to seeing the slimy creature that was Sickle. The Earthling haphazardly juggled the Scouter for a moment in a panic before he managed to actually catch it. He sighed out, before leaning back into the bench.

"That's your pet?!" It was clear that Terryn hadn't ever seen anything like Sickle before. The Earthling wasn't particularly afraid or revolted by Sickle's appearance, moreso just...Shocked.

"What kind of animal is he? He from Plant, too?"

Terryn was busy positioning the Scouter on his ear whilst he asked his questions. He honed his sights onto Sickle. After a few resounding beeps, a flashing screen with [8000] appeared. Terryn nearly choked on his own spit. That tiny little slime was as strong as he was...!?

"Woah...!"

He took his focus off of the numbers and inspected Sickle for a genuine moment. Was this thing really an animal? Did slimey creatures like him even exist in the wild? Somehow, Terryn doubted it. He leaned just a bit closer to Sickle, humming with an amused smile.

"Y'know, he's pretty cute, in a weird way." Terryn chuckled.

Removing Korado's Scouter from his ear, Terryn gave the device back to the hybrid. Terryn sputtered his lips in amazement. "Gonna be honest with you- did not expect you to just, carry around a pet as strong as I am in that bag. How'd he get so powerful?" The Earthling asked curiously.

---

Word Count: 2785 + 408 = 3193

Korado

"Yikes man, that...Sucks. I'm sorry." 

It was all Terryn could realistically reply with upon hearing about Korado's family situation. A half-sister he hadn't seen in over a decade, a father that couldn't love his children freely due to their muddled blood, and all in the midst of a terrible war. Terryn couldn't even begin to imagine how awful Korado's life must've been up until now.

The Earthling sputtered his lips, noticing that the conversation quickly shifted over towards Korado's little pet-slime-creature. Probably for the best, he wagered. There was little use mulling over a shitty past at times like this.

Korado went on to explain how he...'made' Sickle. An elaborate story about a planet, and a virus, and nanobots, and...? 

The entire time that Korado had been speaking, Terryn's eyes were narrow with immense concentration. His hands moved in such a way that it was as if he was trying to mimic Korado's story, all in an attempt to better understand it himself.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh...?" He really tried.

Terryn blinked slowly once Korado finished his elaborate explanation. It took the Earthling a few moments, but he eventually locked eyes with the hybrid.

"I didn't understand a single thing you just said." Terryn admitted dryly, a sheepish smile on his face.

The Earthling quickly cleared his throat before he pulled a difficult expression. "Okay, so basically...-!" Terryn thought it best to try and put Korado's story into his own words. He wasn't the smartest guy around.

"You went to this planet, the planet had this crazy virus that almost killed you, you used some funky robots to cure yourself and then trap the virus, fed it some stuff, and your pet came from that...?"

Terryn quickly looked to Korado with a tense expression. Had he gotten anything about that right? He sure hoped so.

"Okay, okay okay. Then it got really strong because it can...Absorb mass? And it's carnivorous? So you're telling me that that thing-" Terryn gestured toward Sickle. "Could, and probably would...! Eat me."

The Earthling fell back into his seat, back slamming against the backside of the bench they were sitting on. His eyes were wide with a bit of overblown shock. Smacking his lips, Terryn let out a brief snicker as he glanced over to Korado.

"You are one crazy ass dude, you know that?"

Terryn meant it in the most complimentary of ways.

---

Word Count: 3193 + 397 = 3590

Korado

Well hey, look at that. Despite his lack of know-how, Terryn still managed to scramble together the important bits from Korado's story, despite all of his scientific mumbling. "Guess I might not be as stupid as I thought. Huh!" The Earthling shrugged, pleasantly surprised with himself. Luckily, Terryn had nothing to worry about when it came to the Korado's slimy, man-eating pet. Despite being a carnivore, the creature was pretty docile unless threatened. Good thing Terryn was likely the least threatening individual one would ever cross.

"Well, good to know this little guy won't devour me in my sleep." Terryn joked with a faint smile, taking after Korado and cautiously petting the slime with a single finger atop it's little head. He had to admit, it was pretty cute.

Korado at least agreed that to most people here on Earth, he sounded like some sort of mad scientist. With all due respect, he kind of was. Not like Terryn minded, though. He vaguely knew what it was like to be looked at by others as if you were some kind of strange anomaly. The reason was completely different, but Terryn still felt like he could relate to Korado a bit.

Fishing into his pocket, Terryn pulled out his phone to check the time. The sun was starting to hang fairly low, and he could feel his stomach start to rumble quite heavily. Just as he thought, it was getting fairly late.

"Hm," Terryn hummed. "I don't know what your plans are, but I've got wicked munchies. If you're down, I know this pretty good burger joint a couple of streets ahead?"

---

About time to wrap this up, I feel!

Word Count: 3590 + 271 = 3861

Korado

"Pffsh, I know, right?" Terryn laughed out in reply, raising a playful brow toward the battle-hardened hybrid. "You start talking about the flesh-eating, sentient viruses from another planet that lives in your backpack and most people here will definitely think you're insane." He let out with a snicker. "I'd think the same if you had nothing to back it up with."  Terryn joked, nudging Korado with an elbow before leaping off of the bench they sat at.

The Earthling took a moment to gloss over his phone. Opening up a mapping application, he took a few seconds to locate that burger joint he was talking about, before nodding to himself.

Terryn slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked to Korado. Sounded to him like he was low on cash. Terryn couldn't help but shake his head vigorously at the idea of Korado spending his last cents on some junk food.

"Nah nah nah, dude. You just worry about figuring out how you're gonna get around here. I'll pay." Terryn insisted.

And so the two were off, walking away from that nearly-abandoned basketball court a friend richer. Korado sure was a weird one, but Terryn wagered that that's exactly why he felt like he was such a cool guy. He likely had a lot to learn from someone like Korado- someone brimming with life experiences Terryn could only dream of. Terryn felt oddly intrigued by it all; Korado's history, the war he was a part of, everything! It made him appreciate his peaceful life on Earth all the more, too.

That slime pet he had was pretty cool, too. Oh, that reminded him.

"Yo, does Sickle eat burgers? Or does he, like, only eat 'meat' meat, if you know what I mean...?"

And off they went.

---

Exiting! That was a fun little thread!

Total Word Count: 3861 + 297 = 4158