Contemplation [Contract Search]

[Kato Hana]

Manzo stood on top of one of the statues looking across the valley. He remembered something about how these statues were important but for the life of him he could not remember why, and truth be told he really did not care. For him it was a place to look out and feel a bit of serene calmness. Something that had been lacking in his life recently. Ever since his battle with his newly discovered cousin everything had changed for him. He had taken the time and found out more about his adopted family history, a history that prevented Manzo from remaining part of the family in good conscious. He had tried to explain it to his parents, and while they said they understood he could see the hurt in their eyes. They felt he was rejecting them, which nothing could be further from the truth. They had taken him in when there had been nothing left for him, for that he would be eternally grateful. But keeping the family name, at least until this matter was resolved, was not something his honor would allow.

He had done more research into the history of his family and for the life of him, Manzo could not figure out why the leaf village had not risen up and killed the entire clan. The village may have been better off if they had. Instead the bad parts of his family had gone underground and were causing havoc, so well so that no one seemed to notice the devastation that was being wrought upon them.

Looking at the statue across the valley Manzo remembered that these statues had something to do with the village's founding. Would those founders look poorly upon Manzo for his family's actions. Would his honor be tarnished beyond redemption or was it something he could work to redeem?

Not sure what else he could do at this moment he let out a primal scream to he opened up all of his chakra gates, letting the chakra fill his body and letting the frustration leave his body. It was dangerous to let this much chakra fill his body at one time but he embraced the pain, let his muscles burn from being expanded so suddenly. He let his body take all that it could before he shut off the flow and let his body return to normal. He liked to think it was like any other muscle the more he held the more he could hold. So far he wasn’t sure of the results.

Honor was all he had, it was the birthright that his birth parents had left him and now he felt even that was being taken away from him. He needed to find his cousin and any other family member that was hurting the village, for whatever gains they might have set for themselves. He had started to find some leads but would they be enough?

As Manzo turned to walk back to the village he ran his fingers from his right hand across the network of burn scars across his left arm. A souvenir that his cousin had given him, one of many but the only one that could be seen from the outside. It was a constant reminder of his failings, a tarnish stain upon his honor that he strove regain.

As much as he wanted to face his cousin he knew he still wasn’t ready. He was working to find them, but even if he found them today he would not be ready to fight them. That much had been clear in their last fight.

Jumping to the nearest branch he looked around until he spotted Zenko. The boy was running towards him being chased by his kitten. Zenko assured Manzo that Kenji, the kitten would grow up to be a fierce panther or something, Manzo could never remember, but for now it was an adorable kitten that loved to play with Zenko. The pair had been helping Manzo trying to track his cousin down by smell, by going to all the places Manzo knew he had been. A task that had been less than successful, the scents always seemed to vanish. In return for their help, Manzo had taken to giving the pair private tutoring lessons.

As sour as his mood could be at times like this, seeing the pair always made Manzo smile.

”Are you ready to head back Manzo-Sensi?” there was something in his eye that gleamed as he asked that, almost like mischief. Before Manzo could reply he felt the weight of Kenji land on his back and the kitten roar in his ear. Manzo would never be as close to Kenji as Zenko was but he had been accepted enough for a little play. Keeping up with the play he collapsed under the weight of the kitten and was prepared to wrestle with it but it jumped off his back landing in Zenko’s arms just as Manzo hit the ground.

”That was good I did not even hear him this time” Manzo could see that Kenji was quite proud of himself, almost like he could understood Manzo’s complement. Perhaps he did, one could never be sure how smart a Inuzuka companion was.

”To answer your question yes I am ready, I don’t think we are going to find anything else out here. Feel free to go ahead though.” With that the boundless energy of the duo raced off seemly playing a continuous game of tag and chase, while Manzo took his time.

 

[Tomomi]

YOU HAVE FOUND THE SLUG CONTRACT! DO YOU ACCEPT OR DECLINE THIS CHALLENGE?​

 

[Kato Hana]

I accept

 

[Tomomi]

From the shadows, a creature was watching on as this trio of strangers journeyed to the Valley of the End and were heading out now after some playful engagements with the companion among the humans. It was an interesting sight at the very least, but the green and yellow blob of slime known as Sluggy was not completely impressed. He had seen other animals than himself before in these area and many of them were predators to his kind since most of them were so tiny and were prone to dying if they were caught up by a bird or a human being who wanted to salt them. Besides, the human race was notorious for destroying nature when they had to resort to careless drama like having a civil war that saw many people and animals dying in the process for the sicking gains of all parties involved. A lot of nature had been destroyed during that internal conflict in the country and it had handicapped many people, plants, and animals; this all had an indirect effect on everything involved in the circle of life.

For now while they walked, little Sluggy would watch in silent aside from an occasional spit of goo from his mouth towards them. None of his gunk shots would hit any of them, but it would at least alert them to his presence as his acidic goo would burn the ground around them if they continued to walk and the smell from his shots would at least be noticeable if nothing else. However, he would continue to sit on the tree-branch that he was on and watch them making sure to keep his distance for as long as possible from them since he much rather continue to hide from all predators and not risk his life for someone else's gain. It was inevitable though that he would eventually be found, but for now, he would hide.

 

[Kato Hana]

As they walked back to civilization. Manzo became aware of the sensation that they were being watched. It was a skill he had cultivated by going into random stores, picking up the merchandise and looking at it until the store clerks started to watch him. It was a bit on the strange side but like any skill, this one took training. He was trying to figure out where the sensation was coming from and who was watching them when he almost took a step into a puddle of acid. Was this an attack? If it was it was a very strange one because it seemed that the attack was not really directed at him.

Looking around he finally spotted what looked to be a giant green and yellow slug almost two feet long and portionally thick. It had a bit of drool hanging out that occasionally dripped to the branch it was sitting on, allowing Manzo to hear the sizzle of the drool eating away at the branch. This must have been the largest slug he had ever seen thought to be truthful that is not something that should have shocked him.

Zenko and Kenji kept walked blissfully unaware the Manzo had stopped to look at their observer. Unconcerned about them he decided to simply let them walk about. They would likely continue to play all the way back. Kenji seemed to be in a playful mood today and Zenko rarely did anything to dissuade that.

Deciding to address the slug Manzo spoke before it decided to spit more acid at him. ”Well hello there, We didn’t mean to disturb you, were we making too much noise? “

 

[Tomomi]

Unsurprisingly, one of the humans of the trio would spot little ol' Sluggy on his tree branch that was slowly disintegrating from his acidic drool. The silly little slug had not been paying attention to this at all and would probably be falling to his demise soon. However, his attention was not focused on the branch that he was sitting on, but the human who had decided to turn around and ask him a question about their noise quality. The larger-than-normal slug would not respond to him right away but instead spit some more of his acidic goo at the young man, but as before, they missed either purposefully or the slug was just not a good sharpshooter. It appeared Sluggy was not too pleased with this human interacting with him due to possibly events that were passed down from generation to generation or he was just a misanthropist; the human wouldn't know right away.

However, events would turn quickly for our little slug as a hawk would soar the skies above him letting out a screech. Little Sluggy would look up as he heard the hawk and its attention was fixated on the creature due to the minimum movement of the abnormal slug. This wasn't going to end well for our little blob-like friend if the hawk descended from the skies to grab him for a tasty meal. Fortunately, the slug had the human nearby and would use his assistance even if it was for his own survival. Turning his head ever so slightly to keep both human and bird in his sight, he would speak to the human: "I require your assistance, Human. That bird up there is going to try to get me since I look delicious to him. Help me and I will tell you why I shot acid at you. Don't help me and I will die and you will never know!"

And like magic, the bird began to descend from the sky towards the slug. It's talons were already ready to grab the creature and take it away to its family to eat. It looked like one determined and dangerous creature as it headed towards Sluggy. Of course, Sluggy would try to fight it while he waited to see if the human would do anything by spitting acid from its mouth. But the bird was easily evading the attacks.

 

[Kato Hana]

Manzo was not known for helping forest creatures, he normally believed that as long as they were not bothering the villagers what ever happened in the forest could stay in the forest. That being said this giant slug really peaked his interest. Not only was it talking, which presented its own arguments for saving right there, but it seemed to have a reason for sort of attacking Manzo and Zenko.

The truly interesting thing about this slug was it seemed to be more intelligent than Kenji, and Manzo had thought, well had been told, that Inzuka companions were the smartest animals out there. It seemed that someone was going to need a reeducation. No matter how smart Kenji was, he could not talk.

”I think we might be able to work something out” Manzo said as he started to act. Closing the distance between them he used his blood line ability to get there in a moment. The problem he now faced was he did not want to kill the hawk, it was simply acting as it always did. It did not know, at least Manzo assumed that it did not know that it had picked the wrong lunch.

Manzo was not known for his restraint in fights. Normally his idea of restraint was to no not push his body to the breaking point as he tried to break the opponent. He really needed to work on a better toolkit for situations just like that.

Erecting a barrier of purplish energy to surround them. Hoping that the hawk would lose interest in if it suddenly found itself unable to get at its prey. If the hawk decided that it needed more persuasive methods to keep away from the slug Manzo would give the hawk a bit of a shock, hoping that would persuade it to leave. The key in Manzo’s mind was to provide slowly escalating force to keep the hawk away. He wanted to save the talking slug and at this point he would treat it as if he would anything else he was protecting, but if he didn’t have to kill to do it all the better.

Assuming the hawk was persuaded to leave Manzo would find a new branch that was not all but gone from the acid and provide it to the giant slug as a new seat. ”Wrong place at the wrong time? ” he would ask the giant slug, indicating the hawk. He would let the slug get a bit more comfortable before pushing for why he was being attacked. Right now, he did not fear for his own safety so there was no reason to not let the slug feel safe before it started talking.



[ooc]

Spoiler

Quicksilver Step to get between Hawky and Sluggy
Barrier Mastered to protect Sluggy and him from Hawky
Storm Bolt rank 1 at Hawky if the barrier doesn’t convince Hawky to fly away.

 

[Tomomi]

This was certainly interesting to say the very least. Our little slug friend had continued to shot acidic bombs at the bird, but continually missed each time due to the bird being so agile and having the advantage of knowing how to fly and fight in the air unlike Sluggy who was typically ground bound or in a tree. Fortunately for our little slug friend, the bird was mere feet away from him before the human used some technique to get in front of him and throw a barrier out to protect himself and Sluggy. The barrier would stop the initial attack from the hawk, but it would only piss the bird off as it would peak away at the barrier causing small cracks to form after ten or so repeated peaks. Eventually, the barrier would crack enough for the creature to make its way past it, but the human would give the hawk a little jolt of electricity for meeting him. This jolt of electricity would cause the bird to fall to the ground and twitch from the shock, but it would be okay in time. After all, the technique wasn't a strong one but our little slug friend would not known the difference since the human blocked all the action from him.

Continuing with the human, he would offer a new branch for Sluggy to slide over to which he happy took. This is when the human would speak to him commenting on the slug being at the wrong place at the wrong time, it seemed. Of course being a wild animal still, Sluggy did not completely trust this individual that was being kind to him but he was willing to respond to his comment at the very least. It would begin slowly, but then Sluggy would continue to ramble on like this individual that commented was a long-time friend: "It appears so, Human. My kind always has to be on alert since there are so many predators to our kind including humans. If a wild animal is not trying to grab us, it is a human who have some fascination with putting salt on us to kill us. I have no idea why anyone would want to eat us considering we mind our business usually and just want to feast on plants and vegetables. I apologize, Human, I never asked your name...what do your kind call you? My kind call me Sluggy as a nickname. I know, it is so original since I am a slug just like everyone else."

As he had talked, the branch that he had been sitting on was slowly disintegrating as well due to his acidic droll dripping on it. Of course, the droll that did miss the branch would hit the ground below and leave a mark as well. It would not be surprising if other parts of this region were filled with burned grass and vegetation considering Sluggy had been shooting his attacks and missing every time against that hawk. Speaking of that hawk, it was still knocked out on the ground but it was only a matter of time until it woke up.

 

[Kato Hana]

With Sluggy safely on his new perch Manzo began to walk away from the hawk. The hawk may have been knocked out by the shock but it was only a matter of time before it woke up and Manzo really did not want to have to get in-between the pair again. Neither one deserved to be attacked so at this point the best solution that Manzo could come up with was to simply remove themselves from the threat.

As he walked away, he took note of the decaying status of Sluggy’s perch. Occasionally swapping it for a new one when the need arose. He was not sure what he would be doing with Sluggy but for now it was the highlight of his day. ”Well Sluggy it is nice to meet you, my name is Manzo. “ Manzo would reply when Sluggy would stop to take a breath. ”Though to be honest I have no idea why anyone would want to eat you, or put salt on you for that matter, that just seems a bit silly to me. “ He did not want to say it out loud but Sluggy might be big but there could not be enough of him to provide for a meal. For the hawk that made sense but not for a human.

As he swapped the perch for yet another one, he wondered if other slugs were this acidic, if so how did the forest survive. On the other hand, was Sluggy this acidic because of his size?

”Since we are walking is there any place you want me to take you?“

Once they were going in a direction, be it random or by Sluggy’s directions he would ask ”So were you spiting at me to send me away because of me being a human for a different reason. Hopefully if it is the former, I can show you not all humans are bad.“

[ooc]

Spoiler

Whenever Sluggy’s branch needs changing I will change it.

 

[Tomomi]

A downed hawk, a saved slug, and a confused young man were what one would see if they viewing the Valley of the End from a distance. It appeared the bird had been zapped pretty damn bad as it was still lying on the ground with his wings spread out and twitching from the shock that it endured. But as stated before, it was a good thing that Manzo refrained from going full out or else this could've opened up a big can of trouble for Sluggy and Manzo considering it was one hawk, but there were probably others watching nearby and preparing themselves to swoop down and slugnap our dear slug friend! But for now, human and slug would be safe, but that didn't mean that they would stay safe. Only time would tell.

Meanwhile, the human would give a proper introduction to Sluggy and the green and yellow blob of slime, which was also a slug, would nod at him as he continued to move on his branch to spread the acid equally before moving to a new one with the assistance of Manzo since Sluggy had no arms just like a normal old slug. As he moved from branch to branch with assistance, since they were low enough for a human to reach, the human among them would comment that he had no idea why anyone would want to eat one of his kind and question him on where he wanted to go and why he attacked Manzo. Of course, there are many places that Sluggy could go including a special place sacred to the slugs and the ones who made a pact with the creatures, but he decided against that for now as he wanted to see if this human was lying to him or if he actually wasn't a bad person unlike what his ancestors had told him.

So it was time to see what this young man was about. Our little slug friend would stop on the branch that he was on and look down at Manzo as he begun to speak, acid drool falling as he did. "I have no idea why anyone would want to harm us either, Manzo. I mean it is part of the circle of life I suppose, but there are other animals that are probably more edible than us. Besides, our family has already seen a rapid decline in recent times due to the civil war that plagued these lands. You see all the slugs in the world are under one overlord known as Za Kuroi. Unfortunately, many of us resided in this country and when the country began its civil war, we were separated from one another. Often, we would see our own families murdered for a source of food or mistakenly injured due to a misfire. Your country's war did more than you can imagine to unintended parties as the slugs have scattered into smaller groups and many of them are hostile towards your species due to the wrongs of your kind in the past. If you ask me, we have every right to be a little on edge considering the history that your kind did to us. However, prior to the war, we had no issues with your species as we all got along. Thankfully, Za Kuroi has been keeping up with all of us that survived and maybe someday we will be able to have all of us back together....someday." He would trail off as he finished speaking as his eyes went up to the sky as his mind started to wander. It truly had been Hell in this country and it was still Hell for many people, animals, and the nature.

 

[Kato Hana]

Manzo listened to Sluggys story as they walked through the forest seemly to be in a random direction. It was not as if he needed to go anywhere anyway so a stroll through the forest was nice. In the back of his mind, he hoped that the hawk they had left would be fine, he had used the lowest setting as possible but it still seemed to knock out the hawk. He hoped that its friends would not be coming back for revenge. Before today, he would think that that would be crazy but now he had met a talking slug that had just told him about an organization of slugs. What other mysteries of the world were there?

Listening to the story did not do good things to Manzo’s conscious. The time they had spent away from the village because of the Dymaio had caused more havoc than he realized. He had thought the toll had just been to the humans but it seemed that was not the case.

”I admit after hearing that I cannot blame you for trying to steer me away from you“ It made him think about some other animals that made themselves bigger and scarier than they were just to be left alone by potential predators. ”I have to ask though why stay in the country. Many of the humans from the village fled themselves to become refugees, why not either do the same and go to different country?” He thought about his statement for a second going over the problems in his head and speaking aloud. ”I am guessing most of your kind do not move quickly so I guess that could be a problem for long distances, and I can see not wanting to ask for help for fear that you might find the wrong human to help you. Yea I can see the need to stay in the village. “ he did not want to call sluggy slow, in fact the slug was moving at a pretty good speed for its size but there was part of the problem with long distances between countries, their size. Most slugs would be even slower.

”Well I have to say I do not envy Za Kuroi for trying to solve this problem for the good of slugkind.“ He was curious on how this saga would end but to be honest it wasn’t like slugs had headsets so once he deposited Sluggy he doubted he would ever see him again. ”If I can help let me know, I feel pretty bad for how my race treated yours during a dark time in our history. Just because my kind was having a hard time doesn’t’ mean we should take it out on your, and no matter who or what it was collateral damage is never acceptable. “

 

[Tomomi]

If the slug could say anything about this man thus, it was that he was caring enough to protect him and didn't just disappear as soon as he completed his deed. He actually was showing that he wanted to know more about the slug and the reasoning behind being attacked initially; however, he definitely wasn't prepared for a long-winded explanation on why Sluggy wasn't exactly feeling the highest level of trust towards him. Yet, he never judged the abnormal slug's words at all as he spoke and merely just listened and waited until it was his turn to speak. Quite polite and noble to say the very least. It was no surprise that the thunder man would speak as soon as little Sluggy was done speaking and it would be quite winded as well; it seemed long-windedness would be the method of discussion for now until something else came up.

As he responded, our little slug friend would turn his attention from the sky back to Manzo as they continued to walk. Listening, our human seemed to understand why Sluggy and his kind would be a little hesitant to engage with a human being due to the folly of men that wanted to war in the country. Of course, there was a followup question on why the slugs decided to stay and didn't just move from the country to another country or region. But he would answer his own question before the blob could interject prompting a simple nod. He would continue simply stating that he didn't envy Za Kuroi's job that he had to do for the well-being of all slugkind, but he also would offer his hand to Sluggy if he needed it which, individually, he didn't need it as much as the rest of the species needed it. A reasonable offering had been given and our little friend would not wait to jump on the opportunity at all.

See, Sluggy would continue to look down at Manzo as he stood there pondering his next action carefully. There was a grueling task that Manzo could partake in that would surely demonstrate to him the effect that war had on the country and that Hell certainly wasn't for children or slug babies. But before he even asked the human this question, he would wiggle a little on his branch and disappear from the area momentarily. The exact area was a well known location for slugs, but unfortunately our human searcher couldn't come along due to not being worthy. However, Sluggy would return within a few minutes to the same branch that he disappeared from in a poof of smoke with a stern look on his face as he looked back down to Manzo.

"You said that you wanted to help so I went to Za Kuroi first for permission and you were approved for the task. Your task is a simple one that will however take you some time to complete. Should you accept this task, you would be helping out the slug population significantly. We request that you travel around Fire Country and try to locate smaller groups of slugs who may or may not be hostile towards you. You will need to speak with them and bring them to a specified location so that we can unite our big slug family. There are many of us in these lands so it is not something that you will be able to take care of in one or two days. There is a second task as well which is to build us something for protection in the designated area that we select. After all, you might reunite all of us but if we don't have some of defense, the elements or predators will get us like that hawk tried to get me earlier. But think it over first before making a decision and if you want to discuss it with me, I am willing to talk about it."

What would Manzo do?

[OOC: I have no idea what is going on with this page and our posts. I don't think I did anything to skew the page like this o.o;]

 

[Kato Hana]

Manzo watched as Sluggy vanished, then reappeared. Today was shaping up to be a day full of strange. It also opened up a lot of questions. As his brain was contemplating the idea that this talking slug could vanish and reappear it almost missed the request that Sluggy was asking for him.

It was a little strange for him, Sluggy said he was being given a task, and he even had to ask for permission. Was this some kind of test? Was there some kind of reward at the end, the whole thing seemed a little strange. Sure he would help out, just how it was setup did not make a lot of sense to him. Maybe slugkind had some kind of hierarchy that required Sluggy to ask permission to ask a favor. Strange but that was just some other culture. He was willing to bet if he went to Suna he would find strange customs there too.

”Sounds simple enough on the face of it but it does present some interesting questions. How would I find these groups of slugs? The hostile part I can deal with, but if they are openly hostile I might not be able to get them to listen to me. Would you be going with me to get them to listen?

As for the shelter. I grew up on a farm so building something like that is well within my skill set. I may not be a master carpenter but i have helped in my share of barn raising. We would need to work out the details on dimensions partially on the openings. The opening couldn’t be too big need to keep out the predators but big enough to allow for any slug of any size to get in“ This last part was said almost like he was designing it in his head as he spoke.

Snapping out of his revelry he asked the most important question”But you were able to vanish and reappear can all slugs do that? If you can do that why not just vanish from predators or humans all together? Helping out is one thing, that isn’t a problem and truth be told I feel like humankind needs to do something to help out slugking but if you can do that doesn't that making building anything kind of superfluous? “

 

[Tomomi]

Not to the surprise of the moderator nor the slug, the human had some questions before they got down to accept or declining the task. His questions were nothing too complicated to have to answer and the abnormal slug would nod his head as more acidic would drip to the ground below him. However, our little slug would have to try to connect the missing links that came up due to his careless actions, but it would not be anything too bad that Za Kuroi would wring his neck for if that was possible. Still, he needed to be more careful moving forward with this human and any others that he would meet during his lifetime. In any case, it would be rude to make his human comrade wait too long before they went on their journey that would have a rewarding gift if he managed to complete it and didn't die in the process possibly. But for now, it was time to respond as who knew what would happen if they waited much longer.

After giving the customary amount of time for a pause between talkers, little Sluggy would resume the conversation: "I will accompany you to find them as I know where many of them are. But understand if you do this, you are going to be away from your family for quite some time. This isn't a request that can be partially done either so do think over it carefully before agreeing to assist me. Your task however will be to do most of the talking and I will only be there to ease any tensions that come up between them and you. As for your question on why we don't all vanish and reappear if there is trouble...that's complicated. See, it uses a lot of our energy and some of us do not have the ability to vanish like that right now. This is why there is a request to find as much of the slug family as possible and bring us all together under some form of shelter so we are safe from predators. Besides, the place that I went momentarily is a sacred place that only slugs or people who are deemed worthy may enter. You are not worthy to enter it yet, but maybe some day!"

The little slug would stick out his tongue after he finished and fortunately, there was no saliva that flew out and burned Manzo or anything around him. This was a lucky break for now, it appeared, as that acid would've burned the living daylights out of Manzo's skin and he might've had to go to the Hospital due to the burns. He would have to remember this if he went with Sluggy due to the mere fact that the slug could turn and shot him if he didn't agree with what they were doing. But that should be the least of his concerns as he had no idea what the other slugs looked like or if they had any interesting traits like Sluggy; he could shot acidic spit but would the others be able to shot poison, flames, gas, etc? Only time would truly tell for Manzo if he decided to go on this journey with Sluggy.

 

[Kato Hana]

Manzo was interested in Sluggy’s answers partically about this place he could go. It seemed that Sluggy was a more advance slug than the average slug. With not every slug being able to access this place, this slugvana it only made even more sense that those suck in the village would need a place to go.

”Ok Sluggy, let’s do this. I am not worried about my family; I have kind of disowned them anyway. Turns out, they are a bunch of criminals that I am currently working to bring down. I have some leave built up and some down time while I am waiting for some leads to bear fruit on the hunt for my criminal family.“

Looking down at the burn marks, he wondered what other kind of slugs he would find out there. He was sure most would be normal slugs he would have to convince to follow him but he suspected that some would be more powerful like Sluggy. Would they also have acid as an element or would it be something else? It would give him plenty of time to work on his own training.

He was going to need to grab some metal shoulders for Sluggy to sit on so he did not ruin his clothes. Sluggy might be fast for a slug but so far it looked like he would not be able to keep up with Manzo on his own.

”It would most likely be a good idea to build the Slughouse first so we can tell them it is there. Being able to talk of something that exists goes a lot better for building trust in a situation like this, rather than talking about the dreams of a Slughouse“

 

[Tomomi]

Our terrestrial gastropod mollusc, Sluggy, would listen to his brown-haired, young helper as the man accepted his request and it seemed that they were finally making some progress with fixing the issue of separation for the slugs and making the hostility of his family towards humans disappear. After all, Sluggy had met Manzo and the man did not try to harm him at all even after he attacked the man with his acidic gunk shots. However, Sluggy was also a more reasonable slug than others under the watch of Za and so Manzo had best keep his guard up or he was going to get harmed in the process of helping them probably. But before anything would begin, Manzo would propose that they build the "slughouse" first before they did anything else as it would make it easier in his opinion for the slugs to have a place to go that was physical than to have some theory to believe would occur and possibly couldn't.

Unfortunately for Manzo, his slug partner had some comments regarding his plans. But, Sluggy wasn't a rude prick about it at all, he just had a different take on the whole situation and he hoped that Manzo would at least think it over before continuing on. The slug of acidic shots would respond: "So you accept our request...excellent. That is what Za and I were hoping you would do. However, I don't know if building a slughouse is the best decision to do first or finding more of my kind. If we build the slughouse first, we are leaving them vulnerable to predators that might attack them even though there is strength in numbers. As you are probably aware, many animals hunt in groups to save time, energy, and to keep the livelihood of their group intact. Most of my kind would be together so they could defend against predators, but if there is an equal amount on both sides of the field...my kind will die in the process for sure. But if we find all the slugs that we can first, you would have to be watching all of us to ensure nothing harms us which can also be problematic as you are only one person. It appears there are pros and cons for both options unless you have an alternative one from them. In any case, we shouldn't stay here for long as we are wasting time and that hawk is going to wake up eventually and either come for us or tell his friends!"

After he was done, he would've crossed his arms in front of his chest if he had any as a pondered look would surface on his face as he himself wondered what they could do. There didn't seem to be a win-win situation for them as one win caused a loss on the other side potentially. If they did nothing, it would be ultimately a lose-lose situation for them both and for all of slugkind probably. After all, Sluggy was just one slug and trying to predict what would happen due to events occurring or not occurring was way over his mind and pay level.

 

[Kato Hana]

Manzo listened to Sluggy’s recommendation. He had his own thoughts on the matter but Sluggy was more the expert in Slugs between the two of them. He brought up valid points. However, Sluggy’s points also slightly changed the plan for Manzo. Originally, he thought he was going to be running around telling the slugs about the Slughouse they were building and the slugs would travel there on their own and at their own pace. Sluggys idea and presumably was to have Manzo travel around and gather them up leading them to the promised Slughouse. Inwardly he smiled he was going to be the Slug Prophet building his followers of slugs, protecting and leading them to the promised land of safety.

It was most certainly an interesting image he had in his mind. Manzo partially like the part of protecting them from dangers. He seemed to like looking out for those not as strong as himself; it was why he joined the ANBU after all.

Picking up the branch Sluggy was on, he cut it off from the tree with his kunai. ” Well Sluggy, You would know them better than me and more importantly you would know their situation better than I would. So for now, I will be the driver and you can be the navigator, we have a road trip ahead of us.“ Manzo said with a smile. The more he thought about this trip the more he liked it.

”So which direction should we head to first?“ Manzo would ask Sluggy, whatever direction it was he would start going in that direction. While he did not fear the hawk he did not want to hurt it or its friends any more than he needed by keeping Sluggy safe. The best way to do that was to leave the area.

 

[Tomomi]

Our little green and yellow blob of acidic goodness would smile and nod as his human partner for this "mission" seemed to be relying on him to find the rest of his kind and Manzo was going to be more or less a bodyguard who would beat up any bad guys that decided to harm Sluggy or his buddies. It was a fair exchange, but tracking all of them was going to be problematic for either of them since Sluggy had no leads to where the others would be and hadn't seen another slug in so long. Truthfully, he had an idea of where some of them could be however but it was not definitive. It appeared that they would be relying on luck more or less, that had to make Manzo feel so good.

In any case, Sluggy would reopen his eyes after a brief moment and begin to speak to his partner in this all. Again however, he would ask if he was sure that he wanted to help out little ole Sluggy among other things. His words were something as followed: Hmmm, I suppose we should move from this location that we are at and head towards those statues. Can you get us on top of one of the statues so we can look around as it is likely that we can pick a direction easier if I can see what is around me. This isn't going to be a simple task at all, Manzo-human. Are you sure that you want to do this since it is going to be awhile till you can come back to the village and I really don't want you to be out here with me alone if you have loved ones like a girl waiting for you at home. I am forewarning you once more because the war separated us all into different directions and some probably did leave the country, but we need to find as many of my kind in your country before it is too late."

A conflicted Sluggy was conflicted to put it mildly. He seemed to want the help of Manzo, but he also was trying to show that he was understanding of the human's time. After all, Manzo had been somewhat thrown into all of this simply because Sluggy had shot gunk shots at him initially. Now, he was helping the slug that had been scared and angry at him with a task...this world was strange to say the least, but then again human beings were also strange creatures. In the end, it was ultimately up to Manzo on what he wanted to do since he was the one that wanted to assist initially to somewhat make up for what his kind did to the slugs, but he could always have a change of heart and mind!

 

[Kato Hana]

It almost seemed as if Sluggy was trying to talk Manzo out of the trip. But as much concern that Sluggy now seemed to be showing Manzo, he had made his mind up. Too much damage had been done to the non human inhabitants of the forests surrounding the village, at this point Manzo felt that he should do what he could. Perhaps after this pilgrimage was done he could find other creatures and help them. Surely other animals faced similar fates.

Looking back to the statues Sluggy pointed out, the same statues he had recently been standing on. Manzo quickly started moving towards them. ”Sure we can check that out. “ As they moved he explained to Sluggy a bit about himself ”I don’t have a girlfriend back home, and right now I am playing a game of cat and mouse with the criminals in my family so it would be good to get out of town for a bit, let them lure into a false sense of security until I came back to deal with them.“

Standing on top of one of the statues he looked out over the valley. He did not have much hope to spot slugs but anything was worth a try at this point. ”It really is a big area out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could just pick any direction at random to start off with, unless you know we're a group is right off the bat.“ Manzo suspected that this was going to be a case of find a group and have that group lead them to the next group until they had a parade of slugs following behind.

 

[Tomomi]

That little silly smile of Sluggy's would resurface on his face as Manzo agreed to take him to the top of the statues. However as they moved, Manzo would respond and reassure the abnormal slug that this is what he wanted to do and the situation surrounding him right now. Fortunately for Manzo as they moved, the branch that Sluggy had been on was a big one so his acidic drool slowly was eating away at it as they headed to the top of the statues in the area. As they did though, little Sluggy would respond back to him: "Ah, that is right. You told me that before, but I guess I either forgot or thought that you might be lying to me just to make me feel better. Seems you are not however so let's continue on our journey as you already said!"

After he spoke, they would both end up on the top of one of the statues and could overlook the entire area and then some. It was truly a breathtaking sight for Sluggy since he had never been this high before without being on the ground. In some aspects, he felt like he was seeing life for the first time up here but he also was making himself more prone to being spotted by other animals which could include slugs. Unfortunately, their presence wouldn't alert any of his kind to come out of hiding in the particular area but it didn't mean that they weren't hiding. Of course, he would near Manzo speak and tell him that it might not be a bad idea to randomly pick some place to start, but Sluggy didn't like that idea at all. No, he had an idea based on the environment and what he could see even if it was just a hutch.

After he thought about it some more, he would look at Manzo and nod. He knew what he wanted to do as he spoke: "I have an idea, but I am not one hundred percent sure about it. I think some of the slugs are probably hiding in this area out of plain sight for fear that they will be seen, but I also have a feeling that there may be many of them on the outskirts of the country and others hiding out near human civilization. In other words, I really have nothing but there seems to be a lot of smoke coming from this direction so let's check that out first I suppose, Manzo. If there are any slugs hiding around here, they will be safer here than in the opening anyways."

In the distance, one could make out a lot of smoking coming from one area and it appeared to be near what the human residents of the country called Crater City, a "village" where illegal activities were perfectly legal and the public turned a blind eye. It was probably not surprising to anyone that knew the history of the area, but obviously the slug population, or at least Sluggy, had no idea about any of it which is why he merely pointed in the general direction as it seemed like a logical choice in his slug mind! If he knew more about the area, his thought process would definitely be altered and they would be avoiding the area. But as of now, it seemed that he was in the driver's seat and they would be heading to wherever he thought was best and a reasonable area for slugs to be. Manzo had best be careful moving further in any case.