Manzo crawled through the opening into the slug village. It was small enough that he had to work to get in, but that was by design. This was supposed to be an area safe for slugs, and only those that the slugs deemed to be their friends should be able to get in. He remembered it being a lot easier last time he had gone in but he had been a bit smaller than.
As he entered the village he was immediately greeted by his friend Sluggy
”MANZO it is good to see you, it has been to long. ” It had been to long, in fact as he looked at Sluggy it seems that some things had changed.
”Sluggy my friend, how are you? You have gotten much bigger.“ He could see the pride in Sluggy as he noticed the increase in his friends size.
”Yes, knowing that you might call me to assist you I knew I had to get in better fighting shape, it seems you have done the same.” Sluggy commented pointing out the increase in Manzo’s size
Manzo could only sigh, he had accepted that he was not going to lose the weight and had in fact taken to using it to his advantage but it did not help that he was reminded out it, even if it was something that Sluggy thought he should be proud of.
Sluggy could see the look on his face, though not sure why this would bring Manzo down. ”Come you have made it just in time, Mamma Hatsuko is just serving dinner for everyone. She will be happy to see you.”
It would be rude to turn down the food but Manzo stomach did not quite like the idea of eating the leafy dinner that they would be serving.
In the end politeness or ruled his stomach and he sat down with them to eat the non-appetizing food.
Sluggy was right though, everyone seemed to be happy to see him. The children slugs were clamoring over him, to hear stories. A tradition that he had established when he was first started building the village.
After the dinner was over Sluggy sat down next to Manzo to ask him why the strange look on his face earlier.
”It is nothing. I thought it was something I had come to grips with a long time ago, but it seems that I have some lingering thoughts on the matter. “ Manzo tried to pass it off but the look on Sluggy’s face told him that wasn’t going to cut it for an answer.
”The short answer is while growing in size and stature indicates power in slugs, it is often the opposite in humans. I have lost my speed and I have managed to turn my increased size into an asset but it is not the image I would like for myself. Not only that but i have had to change my fighting style and sometimes I think it does not agree with me. “
”Well if that is all you need then you just need to learn to fight like a Slug” Sluggy said with great enthusiasm, as most things he said were. ”Come we will start training right away. It is a good chance to show the young ones that it is never to late to learn.”
Manzo was about to protest but the last part about the young ones persuaded him to keep his mouth shut. He doubted that he would ever get anything out of it but if he could set a good example for them then who was he to say no.
”The first thing you need to know is we slugs use natural energy, not whatever nonsense that you have said humans use. If you can learn to harness this then our connection will be even greater. ”
”Can humans even use natural energy?“ Manzo asked.
”Sure, why wouldn’t you be able to.” Sluggy dismissed the notion that humans might be incopatable as nonsense. Manzo was always encouraged by Sluggy and his views on things. The little details like this just did not seem to matter.
”Right now you move to much, Manzo, you need to be more like a slug and slow down. Only when you are still, like a slug waiting for a hawk to pass overhead will you start to be able to gather energy.”
It wasn’t the best explanation, but Manzo had to think about things from Sluggy’s point of view. He remembered the first time he met Sluggy, he had in fact saved him from a hawk. If he could gather energy like his friends could then why not try and do a little meditating and see what happened.
”Oh good, now I am going to go over to the younglings you keep that up and let me know how you do.” Sluggy said as he left Manzo.
Getting comfortable Manzo began to meditate. He wasn’t sure if it was his state of mind, or if it was simply this place but he found that he could meditate far easier than normal. He normally struggled to calm his mind down enough but today he seemed to slip into a deep meditation almost immediately.
”Brother Manzo, Brother Manzo it is late it is time to go to bed” Manzo felt someone shaking him. The voice was that of one of the young ones. Opening his eyes he found that it was dark. Had he really let time slip by him that easily?
”Thank you Yaiko, I would have been out here all night if it wasn’t for you.“ He told the young slug as he stood up and found that he felt better than he had in a long time. He picked up the slug to carry him back and looked around and found that there were flowers all around where he was sitting.
”Did I miss something or were those not there before?“ Manzo asked.
”I don’t remember them, but flowers don’t grow that quickly so they must have been there.” the young slug Yaiko told Manzo with a bit of confusion in his voice.
The young slug was right, flowers don’t grow in only a few hours so Manzo just simply took it as he did not notice them when he sat down to start his meditation.
Taking the young slug to his home Manzo laid down for the night, knowing that he would be awaken by young slugs clambering all over him.
Which is exactly what happened.
After a morning routine of playing with the young slugs, Manzo sat down in a clearing, making sure to note the vegetation in the area around him particularly the fact that there wasn’t any flowers around him. Almost as soon as he sat down he fell into a deep meditation. He could feel his chakra swirling around inside of him. He had grown quite in tune with his chakra since he had learned to open his chakra gates, but this felt different. Almost like there was something else there, a smaller pool that seemed to reside next to his normal pool of chakra. Was this the natural chakra that Sluggy was talking about?
Before he could contemplate this anymore he heard Sluggy coming up to him, ”Manzo, Yaiko has gone missing!” How had he known it was Sluggy he had heard?
”Wait what, what happened to him?“ Manzo asked quickly standing up in a field of flowers.
”He was last seen at the north side of the village. Some of his friends think he went exploring on his own. But he is too young to handle the world out there on his own.”
Without wasting a second longer on though, Manzo took off running after the direction of Yaiko. There were strange things happening to him in the slug village but he did not have the time to think about what was causing them.
As soon as he was free of the village he wondered how he was going to find the young slug. It wasn’t like he was Zenko who's tracking was his specialty. But he did have a connection to the slugs, somehow he had even known that it was Sluggy that was coming to pull him out of his meditation. His adoption into slug ‘clan’ had shaped his training and what jutsu’s he learned. This was his family. He had abandoned the human clan he had been adopted into because it was to shameful and to full of scoundrels but he had found a new clan with the slugs. He simply needed to use that connection to find the lost little slug before it was too late.
Curiously he touched that newly discovered chakra pool, if his normal chakra was blue, he pictured this to be orange, and similarly to how he would open his chakra gates freed the pathways from that pool to his senses. As he did this he could feel his connection to the slugs get stronger, almost a physical link between him and each one of them. He felt himself getting stronger for some reason and his skin felt a little weird, almost slimy. Feeling the connection between him and Yaiko, he took off running. All the other information that he gathered or felt was something to deal with for another time.
He was running through the forest, jumping from limb to limb subconsciously worrying and wondering how Yaiko got so far when he spotted him. He was being held by a human that was looking at him. He could also see a cook pot boiling near them. Was this guy actually going to cook Yaiko? Granted he was bigger than the average wild slug but still the thought of eating him made no sense.
Not wasting time with words he used his Expansion Jutsu to reach out and “touch” the idiot that was trying to eat his friend. It wasn't going to be hard, just a touch hard enough so he would drop Yaiko.
He was expecting his arm and hand to expand to cover the distance but instead it seemed like a trunk of a tree extend from his hand and hit the idiot.
Despite being shocked by his actions his intentions worked out. The idiot dropped Yaiko to the ground and looked for Manzo. Manzo had to give credit the idiot did not waste a second before drawing his sword and charging to attack.
This normally would not have been a problem for him but given the strange event of a tree sprouting from his hand instead of the expansion jutsu he was expecting he was a bit stunned. As such he almost did not get out of the way in time and felt the blade side down his armored left side. Manzo saw the attack land was a bit confused because at the angle it hit, it should have bit into his shoulder. He noticed that there seemed to be a film surrounding him that helped to deflect the blow.
Already wasting too much time as it was, Manzo burst into action, jumping back before attacking. He wanted to put some space between Yaiko and the fighting. Knowing that this was not the time to experiment but knowing that he could not resist he used the orange chakra pool using it to punch the sword wielder into the air, jumping up to his attacker he hit him again pushing him further into the air. It seemed to have worked because he had never hit someone this high, doing this attack combo. Just as the idiot reached the zenith of his arc up, Manzo appeared above him doing a flip landing his heel on the idiots chest sending him flying back down to the earth, creating a whole in the ground from the impact.
Satisfied that Yaiko was safe for now, Manzo went over to him and picked him up.
”You know you are not supposed to wander off alone. There is a lot of dangerous things out here.“
Sheepishly Yaiko looked up at Manzo ”I know but I wanted to have an adventure like you have in your stories”
He knew he was going to have to tone down his stories at this point. The last thing he needed was young slugs following him and getting injured. ”We will have to see about getting your own adventures latter, for now let's get you home some your family can stop worrying about you.“
”Ok” he said sheepishly, but then his voice picked up with his next question ”Brother Manzo, why are you glowing?”
”Because,“ he answered without much thought ”I am just happy to see you safe.“
Wait, why was he glowing.
[MFT:2199]
[Topic Entered/Left]
As he entered the village he was immediately greeted by his friend Sluggy
”MANZO it is good to see you, it has been to long. ” It had been to long, in fact as he looked at Sluggy it seems that some things had changed.
”Sluggy my friend, how are you? You have gotten much bigger.“ He could see the pride in Sluggy as he noticed the increase in his friends size.
”Yes, knowing that you might call me to assist you I knew I had to get in better fighting shape, it seems you have done the same.” Sluggy commented pointing out the increase in Manzo’s size
Manzo could only sigh, he had accepted that he was not going to lose the weight and had in fact taken to using it to his advantage but it did not help that he was reminded out it, even if it was something that Sluggy thought he should be proud of.
Sluggy could see the look on his face, though not sure why this would bring Manzo down. ”Come you have made it just in time, Mamma Hatsuko is just serving dinner for everyone. She will be happy to see you.”
It would be rude to turn down the food but Manzo stomach did not quite like the idea of eating the leafy dinner that they would be serving.
In the end politeness or ruled his stomach and he sat down with them to eat the non-appetizing food.
Sluggy was right though, everyone seemed to be happy to see him. The children slugs were clamoring over him, to hear stories. A tradition that he had established when he was first started building the village.
After the dinner was over Sluggy sat down next to Manzo to ask him why the strange look on his face earlier.
”It is nothing. I thought it was something I had come to grips with a long time ago, but it seems that I have some lingering thoughts on the matter. “ Manzo tried to pass it off but the look on Sluggy’s face told him that wasn’t going to cut it for an answer.
”The short answer is while growing in size and stature indicates power in slugs, it is often the opposite in humans. I have lost my speed and I have managed to turn my increased size into an asset but it is not the image I would like for myself. Not only that but i have had to change my fighting style and sometimes I think it does not agree with me. “
”Well if that is all you need then you just need to learn to fight like a Slug” Sluggy said with great enthusiasm, as most things he said were. ”Come we will start training right away. It is a good chance to show the young ones that it is never to late to learn.”
Manzo was about to protest but the last part about the young ones persuaded him to keep his mouth shut. He doubted that he would ever get anything out of it but if he could set a good example for them then who was he to say no.
”The first thing you need to know is we slugs use natural energy, not whatever nonsense that you have said humans use. If you can learn to harness this then our connection will be even greater. ”
”Can humans even use natural energy?“ Manzo asked.
”Sure, why wouldn’t you be able to.” Sluggy dismissed the notion that humans might be incopatable as nonsense. Manzo was always encouraged by Sluggy and his views on things. The little details like this just did not seem to matter.
”Right now you move to much, Manzo, you need to be more like a slug and slow down. Only when you are still, like a slug waiting for a hawk to pass overhead will you start to be able to gather energy.”
It wasn’t the best explanation, but Manzo had to think about things from Sluggy’s point of view. He remembered the first time he met Sluggy, he had in fact saved him from a hawk. If he could gather energy like his friends could then why not try and do a little meditating and see what happened.
”Oh good, now I am going to go over to the younglings you keep that up and let me know how you do.” Sluggy said as he left Manzo.
Getting comfortable Manzo began to meditate. He wasn’t sure if it was his state of mind, or if it was simply this place but he found that he could meditate far easier than normal. He normally struggled to calm his mind down enough but today he seemed to slip into a deep meditation almost immediately.
”Brother Manzo, Brother Manzo it is late it is time to go to bed” Manzo felt someone shaking him. The voice was that of one of the young ones. Opening his eyes he found that it was dark. Had he really let time slip by him that easily?
”Thank you Yaiko, I would have been out here all night if it wasn’t for you.“ He told the young slug as he stood up and found that he felt better than he had in a long time. He picked up the slug to carry him back and looked around and found that there were flowers all around where he was sitting.
”Did I miss something or were those not there before?“ Manzo asked.
”I don’t remember them, but flowers don’t grow that quickly so they must have been there.” the young slug Yaiko told Manzo with a bit of confusion in his voice.
The young slug was right, flowers don’t grow in only a few hours so Manzo just simply took it as he did not notice them when he sat down to start his meditation.
Taking the young slug to his home Manzo laid down for the night, knowing that he would be awaken by young slugs clambering all over him.
Which is exactly what happened.
After a morning routine of playing with the young slugs, Manzo sat down in a clearing, making sure to note the vegetation in the area around him particularly the fact that there wasn’t any flowers around him. Almost as soon as he sat down he fell into a deep meditation. He could feel his chakra swirling around inside of him. He had grown quite in tune with his chakra since he had learned to open his chakra gates, but this felt different. Almost like there was something else there, a smaller pool that seemed to reside next to his normal pool of chakra. Was this the natural chakra that Sluggy was talking about?
Before he could contemplate this anymore he heard Sluggy coming up to him, ”Manzo, Yaiko has gone missing!” How had he known it was Sluggy he had heard?
”Wait what, what happened to him?“ Manzo asked quickly standing up in a field of flowers.
”He was last seen at the north side of the village. Some of his friends think he went exploring on his own. But he is too young to handle the world out there on his own.”
Without wasting a second longer on though, Manzo took off running after the direction of Yaiko. There were strange things happening to him in the slug village but he did not have the time to think about what was causing them.
As soon as he was free of the village he wondered how he was going to find the young slug. It wasn’t like he was Zenko who's tracking was his specialty. But he did have a connection to the slugs, somehow he had even known that it was Sluggy that was coming to pull him out of his meditation. His adoption into slug ‘clan’ had shaped his training and what jutsu’s he learned. This was his family. He had abandoned the human clan he had been adopted into because it was to shameful and to full of scoundrels but he had found a new clan with the slugs. He simply needed to use that connection to find the lost little slug before it was too late.
Curiously he touched that newly discovered chakra pool, if his normal chakra was blue, he pictured this to be orange, and similarly to how he would open his chakra gates freed the pathways from that pool to his senses. As he did this he could feel his connection to the slugs get stronger, almost a physical link between him and each one of them. He felt himself getting stronger for some reason and his skin felt a little weird, almost slimy. Feeling the connection between him and Yaiko, he took off running. All the other information that he gathered or felt was something to deal with for another time.
He was running through the forest, jumping from limb to limb subconsciously worrying and wondering how Yaiko got so far when he spotted him. He was being held by a human that was looking at him. He could also see a cook pot boiling near them. Was this guy actually going to cook Yaiko? Granted he was bigger than the average wild slug but still the thought of eating him made no sense.
Not wasting time with words he used his Expansion Jutsu to reach out and “touch” the idiot that was trying to eat his friend. It wasn't going to be hard, just a touch hard enough so he would drop Yaiko.
He was expecting his arm and hand to expand to cover the distance but instead it seemed like a trunk of a tree extend from his hand and hit the idiot.
Despite being shocked by his actions his intentions worked out. The idiot dropped Yaiko to the ground and looked for Manzo. Manzo had to give credit the idiot did not waste a second before drawing his sword and charging to attack.
This normally would not have been a problem for him but given the strange event of a tree sprouting from his hand instead of the expansion jutsu he was expecting he was a bit stunned. As such he almost did not get out of the way in time and felt the blade side down his armored left side. Manzo saw the attack land was a bit confused because at the angle it hit, it should have bit into his shoulder. He noticed that there seemed to be a film surrounding him that helped to deflect the blow.
Already wasting too much time as it was, Manzo burst into action, jumping back before attacking. He wanted to put some space between Yaiko and the fighting. Knowing that this was not the time to experiment but knowing that he could not resist he used the orange chakra pool using it to punch the sword wielder into the air, jumping up to his attacker he hit him again pushing him further into the air. It seemed to have worked because he had never hit someone this high, doing this attack combo. Just as the idiot reached the zenith of his arc up, Manzo appeared above him doing a flip landing his heel on the idiots chest sending him flying back down to the earth, creating a whole in the ground from the impact.
Satisfied that Yaiko was safe for now, Manzo went over to him and picked him up.
”You know you are not supposed to wander off alone. There is a lot of dangerous things out here.“
Sheepishly Yaiko looked up at Manzo ”I know but I wanted to have an adventure like you have in your stories”
He knew he was going to have to tone down his stories at this point. The last thing he needed was young slugs following him and getting injured. ”We will have to see about getting your own adventures latter, for now let's get you home some your family can stop worrying about you.“
”Ok” he said sheepishly, but then his voice picked up with his next question ”Brother Manzo, why are you glowing?”
”Because,“ he answered without much thought ”I am just happy to see you safe.“
Wait, why was he glowing.
[MFT:2199]
[Topic Entered/Left]