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Post by Nal on Aug 19, 2021 1:05:02 GMT -8
Suddenly, the worm was torn out of the cave! Nal rode it, with an excited "Wheeeeee!" sound, grinning ear to ear - and trying to stay on the worm as it flailed and as Grisha grappled with the thing. It wasn't easy, given the carapace was still slippery with that weird goo, but Nal was also very stubborn and has, through a small miracle, managed to stay on the surface of the creature as it's second maw was revealed. The girl blinked - creatures with two heads weren't something she knew of before and even though that meant two faces to punch, it also meant a regular face punch was a far less effective, since it didn't feel as strong.
Those musings had to wait though, because there was a fight in progress. And a fight that needed resolving, because Grisha was shrinking, and even though he was being awesome and making use of his own strong techniques, but still, the worm squeezed, hard at that. But... that gave Nal an idea, so she slid down the worm's coils with a little joyous laughter, stopping next to where the still mildly enlarged Grisha was. Leaning in to whisper a Secret Plan to him.
"Hey, if you get it to squeeze you harder, I can make you grow again and then you'll explode the worm into eat-sized little chunks, which we can then fry and eat and maybe feed to the workers too. Do you like that plan?" - she asked, nodding to herself. This wasn't her best idea, but it definitely was clever. Other ideas involved... oh, that was a plan for later, she thought, no point ruining the surprise by thinking a lot and maybe saying it out loud. After all, she had a habit of doing that.
But the mention of eating the worm and feeding it to others made her wonder. Was it this black slime that made the miners sick? And if so, maybe she could study it... or bring it to a doctor, but she was a doctor herself! Well, sort of. She was a majin mage of the green power, which is the same thing, right? Maybe... the girl closed her eyes, her tendril pointing at the creature, trying to figure out it's ties to the sickness around the place. She knew that sensing wasn't like that, it just found life energy, but she tried anyway.
And surprisingly, it worked. Though not by sensing, but some other power. Some skill, innate to her green power, rose and enhanced her senses to see beyond the usual, like a third eye opened inside of her mind. And she felt it, this worm's connection to the illness. This was the culprit! But defeating it alone wouldn't make the sickness go away. No, she probably needed to get that black ooze to someone who knew how to fix things. Like... a real medic. And maybe learn from that person while at it, become a real (and probably world's first) Majin doctor!
Yeah, that thought absolutely got Nal giddy. She began bouncing, as she waited for Grisha's answer - given those thoughts took less than a full seconds to process in her frantic, majin mind. She would do that, become a doctor, maybe get a clinic someday, like only a Majin could have!
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Post by Grisha on Aug 19, 2021 18:29:30 GMT -8
Nal appeared to be having fun while he was stuck trying to kill the screaming and constricting creature. She shared with him a plan to explode the worm and Grisha looked up at the mouths trying to squeeze through the upper coil to bite him. “Okay. Hurry!” he said desperately.
The shock that passed through his body always surprised him. Grisha started to feel his body expanding again, growing rapidly until the worm’s coils became so tight around his waist and hips that their resistance to his growth spurt caused them to tear and burst apart. A black and mud-like sludge splashed onto the ground as segments of worm scattered like links of a broken necklace. The worm heads continued to scream and wiggle in their death throes. Grisha marched over to one and raised his leg before bringing his foot down with a thunderous thoom, crushing its head.
The project chief collapsed upon his bottom, watching as the literal giant Saiyan stomped one worm into mush before racing over to stomp the second one. When he was finished, Grisha glanced around at the still quivering and gushing pieces of worm. The battle was over, and he sighed in relief before dropping upon his own rear—which unintentionally caused a quake. He leaned back upon his hands posted behind himself and closed his eyes. That worm had been so annoying that he didn’t know if he had an appetite for it.
“Good plan,” Grisha praised Nal before he opened his eyes to see where she was. Sitting up, he crossed his legs and rested his hands upon his knees. He remembered her talking about cooking it up. “Grisha eat worm organs not skin. Worm skin no flavor. Taste like dirt. Organs good. Roast on fire or make soup,” he suggested.
The project chief raced over to Nal and Grisha. “Is that the last of them? I don’t want to see another mine worm again!”
It was difficult for Grisha to answer. He had no way of detecting if there were anymore worms in that mountain. “Mountain maybe worm home. Not safe,” he deduced. It had been the second worm they had all seen.
WC: 363 | 6,769
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Post by Nal on Aug 22, 2021 21:01:23 GMT -8
It was a child's play for Nal, whose mystic senses were well tuned and as Grisha mentioned there may be more worms in there - a fact that didn't cross the majin's mind before, being busy imagining all of the delicious worm dishes she was going to try - the girl tilted her sensing tendril towards the cave they just left. Sensing... sensing... sensing some more...
"Mm, yep. Lots and lots of them" she said, turning to Grisha. "Mostly in one place too. I think they make their home there! What should we do? Kick them out? I wouldn't like if someone kicked me out of my home, but I also don't eat anyone and spit black goo that makes people sick. What do you think?" she asked, both the saiyan and the flustered foreman. Though immediately, she muted out the latter, who began lamenting his truck, the general destruction in the area and who knows what else, Nal paid very little attention to what he was saying. Instead, she conjured up a Plan.
"If there are little worms in that place, we can scare them off and once they run away from the cave..." she turned to look at Grisha with a grin. "You can stomp them! Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed, then took off into the cave, air roaring around her head as the majin flew into the tunnel, swiftly stopping in the cave they were mining at. Now that this was all over, there was a whole lot of this smelly black ooze - this would require some thorough cleaning by the miners later. For now, the majin looked at where the iron vein was torn out of the wall from and noticed there was a cave down beneath, flying into it and following a giant worm sized tunnel. She could hear the writing of the smaller worms already. Wondering how scaring of the worms would be achieved - maybe they were scared of ki blasts? Nodding to herself, Nal grinned, sure her blasts were weak, but this was more about the sound and the bang, right?
Turns out, the issue was not really an issue to begin with, for as Nal rounded a bend in the worm-carved tunnel, she saw them. Even baby mine worms were the size of a truck. And hungry. And they just noticed a very tasty thing flying in the middle of their nest. Many a tri-sected maw opened and let out a similar scream to their parent worm outside. Then, several dozen "small" worms began their chase. Nal blinked, then turned, beginning to fly out of the cave - limiting her speed to be within reach of the hungry worms, to be a good bait. The gray gal grinned to herself, as the ooze-cave was passed, the tunnel was flown through, and then, the light at the end of it was visible. She was being smart today and that was awesome. Smart heroes are the best heroes! And she would be smartest of them all.
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Post by Grisha on Aug 23, 2021 17:57:47 GMT -8
Grisha curiously watched her strange head tentacle raise and point at the cave. He bared his teeth some in a look of disgust. It was so creepy. He didn’t know her hair could move like snakes.
The project chief desperately answered her question, “Yes! Kick them out. I don’t care. I want them gone. They’re spreading sickness, and this mountain is Ox Corp property!”
Grisha frowned in silent contemplation when Nal asked him. He felt the same way she did about the matter. He didn’t like kicking animals out of their habits, especially if they were there first. They never did it on Kousetsu. They respected nature. So, when the foreman seemed eager to have the worms gone, Grisha growled some. Nal seemed to no longer care about the worms as she suggested he stomp them. She was in such a hurry to get the extermination job over with that he didn’t have time to protest even if he wanted to.
The giant rocked forward and rose to his feet. He watched the jelly girl vanish into the cave, and while he waited, he took a moment to appreciate the view. She really had made him enormous, and he couldn’t stop smiling about being large. He could see the horizon, the mesas, and the heat rippling like water across the plains. If it wasn’t for the unbearable heat, he might have found the desert beautiful and a place where he could call a second home.
Soon, Nal had raced out of the cave, and a mine worm poked out snapping its jaws wildly and slinging ropes of drool as it hissed. Grisha reached down to snag the creature by its neck and jerked it out to toss it behind him. A second worm immediately poked out its head, searching for the flying gray jelly. Like the first, Grisha tossed the second one out. When the worms were exposed to the sun and dry, hot sands, they squirmed and screamed as they started to burn. The Saiyan continued to yank out worms until he was reaching an arm into the cave to noodle and remove the last ones like catfish. Once the ground was covered in squirming and screaming worms, Grisha walked along and stamped their heads. He somewhat felt bad for doing it, but it was a kinder fate than letting them burn to death. Once all the worms were slaughtered, Grisha gave Nal a thumb up.
“Soup time!” he happily exclaimed.
“Is that all of them?” the foreman asked.
Grisha looked over to Nal to answer the question. She had been on the inside and seen what he hadn’t.
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Post by Nal on Aug 27, 2021 23:40:40 GMT -8
The majin turned her tendril towards the cave, focusing. Sensing... sensing some more.
"All in here" she said, pointing at the cave. "But there are more out under rocks and sands. You probably shouldn't dig too deep to not wake them all up again and cause more sicknesses." she said to the foreman, nodding her head and immediately forgetting the man existed as she turned to Grisha, with a grin.
"This should be it! Now we just have to get some of these worm things to a doctor to find a cure for their weird black slime. I think I'll drop a worm off at the doctor and then go find Zam, because you just have to meet her! I promise you'll like her and fighting her will be great fun and I will get to watch it, so everyone wins. Okay! You can have your soup and then I can come back for some! Laters!"
Saying this, Nal flew to grab a somewhat more flat worm, then soared at high speeds towards the city. The local pharmacy would find a dead sandworm with a note attached to it on their doorstep. A rather confusing gift, no doubt, though the note did explain these things were the cause of this sickness that hurt everyone and that studying them might help. Nal may even drop by later to ask how that went! Meanwhile, the Majin soared off, grinning to herself. Zam had to be found now and told about this Grisha fellow, who was strong and awesome. And maybe could be a good friend too! He seemed on similar levels of smart and instinct as the pink menace has been. They could be good friends! Maybe better than she was... he felt more Majin-like than Nal.
She didn't like that thought.
[300|8009] [Word goal reached]
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