Parasites [Split]

Imugi threw a barrage of insults at the giant ape, just as the ape had thrown boulders at Imugi, this was truly not Zoki’s fight anymore, but there was a chance at a meal, both of their ki auras were roughly equal but of entirely different flavours, so to speak. The Demon's was strange, it was different to the witch but there was a similarity, although there was a great gap between the powers, there was something more based in reality for the one just ahead of him.

Meanwhile, the wild and primal power of Edamame channelling the great Oozaru was an ancient tradition amongst Saiyans, and this one seemed to control his rage and channel it to the inferior Demon. Zoki, of course, was completely hidden and merely had to wait, before a great gush of water rushed towards him, seemingly commanded somehow. It created a rude gesture before washing over Zoki, his spiracles momentarily covered; he had to breathe heavily once the water had passed. The rubble shifted with the onrush of water, allowing him to move once more.

He hissed with a series of clicks and growls, scuttling quickly across the ground he moved from cover to cover, hoping his lack of ki signature would allow him to slip back into stealth before rushing towards Imugi suddenly jumping into the air, attempting to pin his weight onto the smaller demon and bring him down underneath the overgrown insect.

“Zooookiiii Hungeerrr… Deeemooon… gooood.” He would his as he reached the foe.

Thread PL: 30000 x 3 = 90000!
KP: 4 + 2 = 6  (recovery)
MP: 3 + 1 = 4 (recovery)
HP: 250%
Resources: Antisense [Active],  Regeneration, Bare Knuckle Brawler [ACTIVE]
WC: Reset - 253  

The raging Oozaru, it seemed, had little to say to Imugi’s relentless taunting. Fair enough. Talk was cheap, but it afforded the demon a bit of time to regain their energy. Such a pain it was, knowing that there was a time when they could have matched this Saiyan in size and dwarfed him in power, yet stuck with this flimsy blade they were on the backfoot. Maddening, this weakness… Which is why they were glad to have caught Zoki’s attention, unexpected as it may have been.

Imugi wheezed as he bowled over their meagre form, having failed to spot the incoming creature in their blindspot. Parting the water around themself so as to not drown in it, they looked up at Zoki as he hissed to them. The ineloquence of his words unfortunately had them lost on the demon. Clutching their sword warily, they attempted to articulate a response only to spot a large shadow looming over them. With a grunt of exertion, Imugi’s stablizing aura wrapped around Zoki as well, propelling both out of the way of Edamame’s crushing weight.

As the Saiyan crashed into the battlefield where his target had been only moments prior, Imugi released the insect and righted themself in the air. Damn it all. Sucking in a breath, they tempered the hatred that smouldered in their left eye and looked to the Tuffle. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. Do I really look like the better meal here?” The demon puffed with the strain on their weak body. It pained Imugi to try and appeal to a creature that had attacked them — in self-defense, granted — but it pained them more literally to try fighting two opponents at once. Raising their sword, they pointed it to the Oozaru. “You have heard what that blowhard has to say about the Tuffles. Demon I may be, but this fool? He, who clings to a poisonous and violent rule like it is a lifeline? He deserves to be vanquished!”

The words tasted like bile to spit, but held truth. Their anger at Zoki could be set aside if it meant victory over the Saiyan and survival to the next day.

---

“Ants! They run like ants beneath the Saiya-jin boot!”
The Great Oozaru crash landed upon the growing pool of water fed by the destroyed tuffle infrastructure and belted out words with its deepened voice.


“You may run for now but I will catch you demon! You play the wrong game! A normal Saiya-jin soldier would do you just as well, but Edamame is no normal soldier freak, I am an elite prospect of the Saiya-jin forces! I will show you how bright my future is with the contrast of yours so dark! My teachings will prove you a true victim and receiver of Saiya-jin might and superiority!”
The voice of the Great Ape shook and destroyed the windows of the nearby buildings that had yet to shatter.

The Ape’s toes spread amongst the bottom of the pool of scum water, the top of his feet not even fully submerged. The city itself was mostly intact but each new movement from the giant one changed this fact with great effect. Edamame watched the demon flee with the worm and deduced what was happening.

“You plan to work together?! Futile! Demon, you remind me of the wretched in the Saiba-wastes.”
Edamame roared and opened its jaws to reveal a growing bubble of ki energy, dark in color and volatile in its presence.

The sick one reminded the young Saiya-jin of a dream it had as a child. A nightmare of its ancestors returned from the dead to claim honor Edamame had failed to grace them with through victory and battle. Edamame had long since overcame the self doubt and night issues that came with such dreams. His scholastic leaders taught him these were thoughts of the weak, something a tuffle would dream and to disregard them, to overwrite them with a darkness that only comes from becoming a true warrior, for warriors did not dream they only closed their eyes between battles and bloodshed.

The Great Ape watched the worm jump into action and took the strategic hint to join in the attack. The ball of ki shaped itself as best it could amongst the mangled maw of the giant beast and shot forth towards the demon target. Edamame would follow up with two more blasts from its mouth in an attempt to hit the demon, slow it down further or even to destroy its remaining scrawny limbs and to prepare it for the worm’s attack.

Zoki was surprised by the Demon’s strength, after being deflected from their initial assault, they were flung through the air, propelled by the force of the blade, as their sizeable dense form flew it reached its apex at the perfect time to be hit squarely in the back by the incoming ki blasts of Edameme. They flung the overgrown bug to the ground with a heavy thump “Youuuu…. Beeeetraayerrrrr…” he would hiss back to the Oozaru just as he turned the other way, several slashes made their way from Imugi.

They met their target as they struggled to correct themselves from the blasts and subsequent blasts. Were they both turning on him? Now, there was more shouting from above, this time, after the explosions had landed a slight calm allowed the sound to travel. The long-haired super saiyan was planning to blow up Plant! Dr Pafle’s programming flowed through Zoki’s brain, demanding he fight, in spite of the massive amount of ki energy that could be sensed overhead.

He looked from their forms high above the ground-level battle and turned to his fellow combatants. Were they to flee? Were they to fight? Only time would tell, but all this exertion had left the large bug ravenous, and he needed ki to satiate his appetite.

Zoki is staying!
Thread PL: 30000 x 3 = 90000!
KP: 5 + 1 = 6  (recovery)
MP: 6
HP: 250%
Resources: Antisense [Active],  Regeneration, Bare Knuckle Brawler [ACTIVE]
WC: 493 + 216= 709

Ever the charmer, this great, slobbering ape. Imugi had thought their ploy obvious, but Edamame was none too quick to dismiss Zoki’s cry of betrayal. Where had that attitude been when they needed it? Oh well, it might not have turned out anyways, given the worm’s professed interest in tasting demon over Saiyan. An adventurous palate. Imugi may have smiled at that if their spindly form wasn’t boiling over with frustration.

Casting their eye past the Oozaru and into the skyline, they could see where the Super Saiyans still fought. It had been the demon’s hope to watch, enjoy the fires Lottus spread on the king’s watch, and in the meantime entertain themself with his lowly devotees. Now? They were loath to admit it, but this battle was beyond Imugi. This damnable child bore power to match their deftness with the sword, and Zoki was yet to take a substantial blow. Their odds were long.

“Please, spare me your pompous threats, my ears ache more than my wounds,” They spat back at Edamame, glaring with the intensity to match his crimson gaze. “I wish I would never set foot on your sordid planet again, because your kingdom and its subjects stir only contempt and pity in me. You wish for glory, you wish to war, because you value a loyalty that is undeserved, unreturned! I hope you suffer for it, child! Your strength and kin, lost in service, so that when this farce of a rule falls to ruin, your identity dies with it and you are left a breathing, bleeding corpse!”

While Imugi had shouted at the Oozaru, he had gathered his attack. They felt it, the power surging inward, but committed to their barbed words. Oh, they hoped he would be haunted by them when the day came. Even if not today, at Lottus’ hand, but eventually. As the attack took form, Imugi recognized it as the same that had knocked them down and burned them so. Their blade rose in time with a sharp exhalation.

Imugi stayed fixed in the air even as Edamame’s roar threatened to rip them away in a gale. It would be difficult, but if they weathered this attack that required much of Edamame’s energy, there may be an opening. A chance, if they pushed themself, to cut out his galling tongue. He shouted its name, tailed by a mocking of the demon. Imugi spotted their chance, but… Their eye flicked to Zoki far below, and a sigh of resignation deflated their frame. Their odds were rather too long.

Exerting a shout immediately lost in the thundering, Imugi pressed their sword against the attack as it reached them. The demon’s blade and aura held against the first of the three, but only that as the others caught up. Guarding until the very last, they drew in a breath as the green glow intensified moments before the explosion shook the air.

Thrown back to the ground with a trail of smoke, Imugi landed with an all too unpleasant thud. Injured, but as their pained grunting would indicate, very much alive as they tried to right themself. It had gone about as well as anticipated, their defense failing to mitigate but a pittance of the damage. However, it had given them quite some distance. Enough for a spell, they roughly judged. Sheathing their sword, Imugi reached up with a trembling hand amid gasping breath, running their digits behind their ear and retrieving something. A mere stick of incense, which certainly hadn’t been present before. Holding it up to their mouth, they took a deep enough breath to make their order. “Yenneca. Planet Konats, now. I’ll give you ten years.”

Immediately, the stick began to smoulder, emitting a bloody red smoke. The barest smile cracked onto Imugi’s face. They hadn’t called on his help for years now, but fortunately, they weren’t as terribly injured as that last time. Floating into the air, Imugi’s smile faded as they locked their gaze back onto the immense body of Edamame, and somewhere, Zoki.

“This isn’t over! If nobody has the sense to get rid of your sorry carcass, remind yourself that I am still out there, that your death is only a matter of when!” They called out across the wreckage, speaking specifically to Edamame, but none too adverse to extending Zoki the same treatment. The red smoke billowed around Imugi, the stick already burned to nothing. An embrace, familiar and distant at once, enveloping them with a bitter warmth. With only a second more, the smoke condensed on the demon, and vanished the very next. Imugi was gone, but if their words were to be believed, not forever.

---

The Great Oozaru huffed at the demon as it cut through the seams of reality and disappeared before his very eyes. Edamame erupted in gloating celebration, his gigantic fists pounded his swollen chest in triumph of the fleeing being of demonic power. The Ape’s roar echoed throughout the city streets, the sonics of his pounding fists bounced off the sides of the nearby buildings that still remained.

“Demon you flee your fate of destruction! The Kingdom stands! Remember this demon scum! I am the hand of our King! Feel me! Edam’s fist of authority! GRRRAAAAAAGGGHHH!”
The Oozaru belted out another series of confident remarks and roared for all to hear.

The beast’s adrenaline rushed through him, the power of the Oozaru was familiar to the young warrior but he was no master of its constant fury. Edamame stomped his feet and swung his arms into the nearest tall building sending it crumbling to the street below. Electrical explosions ran across the ground along with smoke and dust that rose from the collapse. The destruction added to his momentum, the beast continued to the next building and then the next, only stopping to pound his chest and roar into the night’s sky.

Then pain shot through Edamame’s leg, the beast screamed out loud and looked down upon his aching limb. Blood gushed from underneath the jaws of the giant insect that spectated much of the ordeal with the demon’s spawn moments ago. The pain was so great that the Great Ape dropped to one knee with his eyes wincing in discomfort. Edamame swatted at the bug and attempted to catch it in his enormous hands to crush it!

---

Edamame squeezed his giant palms together, his fingers interlocked between one another and held tight, the worm would not go free if it was the last thing the Ape did. The pressure between his fury hands increased by the second, Edamame was trying his best to make his own meal suitable for drinking, the bug’s exterior looked a bit crunchy either way and the young strategist was used to his food being well prepared.

“You dare assault the hand of our King?! You go against the Saiya-jin kingdom itself with this assault! Do you know this insect?!”
Edamame shouted as he squeezed harder, spit and slobber flew as his jaws opened and closed with each word.

“The punishment for assault on an elite Saiya-jin prospect is death! Did you know this, little bug?! I pray you did not for why else would you bleed me?! WHY WOULD YOU BLEED THE GREAT OOZARU OF THE KING?! A PUNISHMENT WELL SUITED WILL BE YOUR GRACE! YOU DESSERT! DO YOU LIKE TREATS?! I WOULD HOPE YOU TASTE WELL FOR I SHALL CONSUME YOU MYSELF?”
Edamame squeezed harder and harder, he wanted to crack the bugs shell and squeeze out its juices.

Edamame grinned from ear to ear despite part of his mouth being heavily wounded from earlier. Blood and saliva rained down onto the bug, Edamame’s hands and the ground below in uneven patterns leaving behind an artistic rendition of life itself amongst the debris and chaos. The sky continued to crash and pop with whatever was happening far above by the heavenly Saiya-jin bodies, far from any concern of the Great Oozaru and his prey.

Edamame opened his mouth with a roar and from behind his fangs and teeth popped a large bloody tongue that would fall atop the bugs head. Edamame would then take one big lick of the bug to see how well it tasted, he hoped for a tasty treat. Regardless, he would commit to devouring the bug once he finished crushing his meal, but until then there was much work to do.

---