Post by Marautis on Dec 22, 2015 13:45:01 GMT
Marautis stood in close to the shoreline, a large shredded tuna in his hands, bloodied. With his other remaining hand he would toss chunks out an approximate 30 yards or so to attract the great beast. Today was the day he would catch it.
But it would be fair to say Marautis did not have the immediate task at mind, it was a bright and brisk morning and on such a morning he would allow his mind to wander back. Over his time so far on this anything but peaceful island. He remembers his first few days on the island, merely a month ago, they felt closer to years. But what had weighed heavily on his mind the last few weeks was what Marautis had learnt a couple or so weeks back, from the strange shaman who had called himself Thyalamus. He had revealed to Marautis the details of his past which he had failed to recall in his initial days on the island. Thyalamus was seemingly gone now. Marautis had visited the cavern many times to attempt to meet again with the man but his disappearance that night seemed permanent.
It had taken Marautis many hours to simply process the information Thyalamus had told him that night, and even now he was not sure he could believe it. But it was all he had and it seemed somewhat plausible. Any way to make sense of the outlandish situation Marautis found himself in currently was very welcome. He wondered what his parents were like, other “Zoonamites”? That’s what Thyalamus had called him and it had come to him days after that perhaps that’s what he was; his being was known as a Zoonamite. It’s not like anyone was around for Marautis to ask, and thus the question would remain unanswered.
Marautis let out a sigh, tossing another sanguinary heap of stinking tuna. A small fragment of excitement had washed up a few days ago. A few intact shipping containers that had most likely fallen off one of the many cargo ships that Marautis had grown used to observing on the horizon. His first time seeing one captured his attention, but soon realising they were nothing special; he soon lost interest in the occurrence of their passing by. The shipping containers that washed ashore the other day however, contained more than the usual spoilt food or mineral goods. Upon their arrival Marautis would crack the opening to peer inside and find a full set of body weights, in one piece as well to boot. Heavy at first, they noticeably weakened Marautis having to carry all the extra weight around, but he had grown used to them. Upon wearing them for the first time Marautis’ felt his power simply drained attempting to support the weights and stand himself up straight. Yet upon getting used to them Marautis didn’t bother to take off the weighted clothes, keeping them on as habit to maximise his training bouts and naturally strengthen his body.
More minutes of silenced passed and Marautis stood tall, letting the morning sun brush down upon his back, warming him. Chum in hand, Marautis prepared to toss out another ration, to bloody the waters and attract the monstrous being that had been whittling away the local fish population in the past weeks. He had only spotted it once or twice; a few times he had spotted its colossal shadow, patrolling in the waters around his island. Marautis did not doubt the strength and size of the beast, it deserved its acclaim. He had however sensed its power level, nothing near his own. It would be the act of capturing and taking down this mammoth marine monster without taking harm that’d prove the worth feat.
The wait would continue to drag on, Marautis was finely tuned in the art of patience and if an extended period of such was needed then Marautis would become a willing participant. Continuing to hurl bait into the now pungent and blood stained waters it was a wonder that the beast had not shown itself yet. As far as Marautis was aware, any slight movements in the water often drew the beast out to investigate and then if so, continue to devour helpless targets.
Casting his vision out over the waters, a dark lingering shadow began to draw his attention. Could it be the monster he had waited for all this time? The one he had slowly been plotting against this entire past week, finally had the resolve to rear its ugly head, could it be? To Marautis’ surprise the shadow that had cast itself in the water would only grow in size, perhaps, Marautis had underestimated the size of this creature all along and he only now knew of its true strength? This verity would fail to falter the nerve of Marautis, as he releases his grip on the shredded bait in his hands. Stepping further into the water, lowering himself to wash the filth off of his body. Returning to an upright stance he watched the dark silhouette out at sea and smiled to himself. This was going to be fun. Feasibly not for his adversary lying in wait in the depths of the ocean before him, but for Marautis himself, boy, he’d enjoy this very much.
Wasting minimal time he dove into the water, propelling himself to meet his unknown foe. Observing through the crystal clear waters ahead of him, he initially began to make out at least the figure of the beast. An elongated body, though rotund in shape, a long distinct tail and a piercing snout, upon Marautis’ first inspection, a shark apparently. Moving closer to confirm his suspicions and Marautis was correct. It meandered through the water, the swaying and shimmying of its body to Marautis seemed an astounding feat given the animals size. It would have at least had to have reached somewhere around 8 meters. Not only its length but the pure size and weight this creature had behind it shocked Marautis. Picking up its power level, he would surpass it by default, yet that wasn’t a fair estimation of this creatures power and its ability no doubt to tear chunks out of Marautis if given the chance. Attempting initially to make telepathic content with the animal, Marautis could not, this creature was primitive. It would bring Marautis no greater joy than to battle and capture this formidable fish.
Time to attack. Marautis manoeuvred himself into a torpedo position of sorts and sprung forwards. His legs moved uniformly up and down to generate a great thrust to move the young man through the water and eventually connect with the gargantuan fish. Bringing his fists out in front and connecting them together to spearhead his attack. He collided with the shark in short time, hitting it directly side on and much to the creature’s joint shock and surprise. Marautis really only comprehended the sheer size and weight of this shark upon colliding with it and realised he really was in deep water, both literally, and now figuratively.
The creature would flounder and initially look to flee, its tail flailing and aiding the beast in its getaway. Though upon its escape it would turn its body to get a view of its attacker; a much smaller, appetising, small enough to eat… fish man. Not that sharks can exactly smile, despite having the teeth to do so. A certain smirk like look almost seemed to appear on the head of the shark. Maybe Marautis had collided with the shark a little too hard and was slightly shaken, though he could have sworn the goliath antagonist he faced now, had sniggered. Retracting it’s apparent retreat, the shark would commence to make a direct charge at Marautis. It closed in quickly with a speed perhaps rivalling his, and would be upon him in no time, its jaws agape and ready to attack.
Marautis brought his arms to his front again and quickly charged a potent orb of ki to fire in an attempt to stop the shark in its tracks. Time to react was short, no sooner than it had appeared had Marautis launched it swiftly in the direction of the shark. The approaching animal would not even stop to flinch and connected directly with Marautis’ attack, quite unexpectedly for Marautis. It created a small explosion in the water and the battleground that had been mutually agreed upon by the two assailants was clouded by the resulting bubbles and white wash sprouting from the blast. Marautis would now stand his ground waiting for the dust to settle, figuratively of course, waiting eagerly to see what affect his attack had produced on the beast.
The delay was short lived as the bubbles would clear and rise, the obstructed view now clear. In mere seconds the shark would come flying out of seemingly nowhere, apparently unaffected by the attack to charge Marautis. Its mouth agape, revealing its many rows of teeth, each an individual armament about to maim Marautis gravely even without the support of the many others. Marautis hadn’t the time to react and was hit directly. The jaws of the shark wrapping around his torso, cutting deeply into his skin, drawing blood out through the many cuts now etched through Marautis’ mid-section. Continuing to drag its victim along, rag dolling viciously, the shark would not hold back.
Despite the pain it would only worsen and most likely prove fatal if Marautis didn’t act now. Freeing his arms as best he could and grasping on tightly to both the top and bottom jaw of the beast, gripping tightly, he would pry them open in order to release himself. The teeth now not only cut his torso but his hands as he would attempt his escape. The shark was strong, that was to be expected of a beast with such size. Yet it was not powerful. Marautis began to steadily overpower the jaws of the shark, as he now would simultaneously wrap his legs as best he could around the body of the shark. Of course his legs would not be long enough to completely coil around the huge circumference of the sharks body, but they covered enough area allowing him to tension them and straddle the shark. Finally at this point his grip has loosened the sharks hold on him and he managed to slither his bleeding body out of the beast’s jaws. The shark would begin to swim erratically and panicked as Marautis would now wrap his arms around it as well, straddling the shark preparing to take it down.
As the creature thrashed and flailed attempting to shed Marautis as if he was a parasite latched onto its body. Taking his left arm, still managing to hold on with his three other limbs, he gripped the shark by its lower jaw, seizing it strongly. The shark despite its best efforts to struggle, now seemed to know its fate was decided, and its death eminent. Marautis would not empathise with his victim, nor would he show pity and spare its life. It meant nothing to him. In fact, it had wounded him, and in Marautis’ eyes revenge was to be taken.
Taking his hand he had clasped in the creatures mouth, he would tension the rest of his body further, to anchor his weight to the body of the shark, then drawing his aforementioned arm down swiftly, along with the jaw of the shark, dislocating it. The jaw bone of the shark had snapped clean out of the socket and Marautis felt the tension in the muscles around it fall limp. He would then release the loose jaw and move his hand to the underside of it, pushing it up to meet the top jaw. While his other free hand would clutch the top jaw and make sure it would stay pressed against the lower jaw.
The shark’s movements became ever more frenzied. It would writher and twist, no doubt in all kinds of pain. It was too late; Marautis now would claim full control of this battle. Moving his head to meet that of the sharks as he clasped its jaws together, looking it directly in the eye, establishing a mental link to telepathically taunt the shark as we would deliver the final blow.
“Your days are finished.”
The shark would stop for this second. Perhaps confused and dumbfounded at Marautis’ attempts to communicate with it. Or perhaps its body had tired and given up the struggle to survive. Marautis decided it was time and to be finished with the shark once and for all. He charged up a ki blast quickly and no sooner than it had formed would it pass through the mouth of the shark and puncture its skull. Blasting through the other side in a spectacular burst of blood, flesh and brains, the shark was now dead. Its body fully limp and lifeless, Marautis would release his hold on the shark and let it drop slowly. Its dead carcass would surely feed the organisms in these parts for a week if not two. It seemed like a fitting way to go for a creature that had claimed so many lives itself.
Marautis watched the dead remains sink before examining his own battle wounds. The cuts from the shark’s mouth had ravaged his mid-section in many places. He was not in good shape. He bobbed in place for a few seconds before a rising power level caught his attention. How had he not sensed it before? Where was it emanating from? Unlike the creature he had just disposed of, this power level trumped his by a few thousand! Honing in on it as it approached he finally traced it; behind him, arising from the depths. Marautis would turn on the spot and meet with the strong power level he had sensed. Who was this new being?
“My pet…you…killed him!” the childish voice wailed, as an ominous figure rose up to greet Marautis, albeit rudely. Marautis would establish a telepathic link to the being for not being fluent in any language.
“And you would be?” Marautis could view the figure in clear sight now. He appeared small in stature, childlike simply. A small body, appearing similar to that of an Arcosian, a fact Marautis would remain oblivious to. Though not quite an Arcosian, with a set of writhing and wriggling tentacles covering the lower half of his face and the upper half of his skull quite cone shaped. His fleshy appearing body in most parts seemingly covered in some sort of armour, if not, a shell or sorts. In short, to summarise his appearance…squid like
“Calamaridus. Prince of the Molluscatites, Son of the late King Octopidus, and owner of the recently deceased Whitey!” the seemingly young boy pronounced.
“You mean to tell me that poor excuse of a shark was a pet of sorts…named Whitey?” Marautis would reply, taking in this information whilst slightly taken aback.
The prince, so it seemed, nodded, looking rather browbeaten. Marautis would chuckle seeing the young lad looking so defeated.
“Just so you know, he couldn’t put up much of a fight, went down quite easily to tell you the truth,” Marautis mocked the young boy, rather harshly in all honestly.
“You shouldn’t lie like that, someone might take it the wrong way and puncture some more holes in you!” retorted the boy.
Marautis had completely forgotten his bloodied and cut up waistline, although the bleeding had stemmed, it was still quite noticeable. Sensing the power of the young boy he would realise that this new arrival might have the upper hand if the two were to make combat. Which at the rate at which this conversation had begun to travel downhill, seemed a rather likely. Marautis however wasn’t intimidated by this, there was an idea that had sprouted in his thoughts a few days back, which he hadn’t given much thought to as of recent, but seeing the opportunity for battle had arisen, the repressed thought seemed quite relevant.
“And whom would I owe the pleasure to? It would take quite the skilled warrior to do me any worse,” Marautis would chortle, testing the waters.
“I will.” chimed back the Calamaridus.
Perfect, thought Marautis, let’s just see what this kid’s made of.
“Oh you poor Zoonamites, always over confident in your abilities, prepare to die.”
There it was again! Calamaridus had referred to Marautis as a Zoonamite, this kid might be a useful source of information, Marautis decided that after he finished beating this kid up, he’d keep him around a little longer to see what else he might know. That was a sound plan indeed.
The small prince would rush forward through the water his arms extended, seemingly attempting to grapple Marautis. Upon his approach Marautis would simply lean back extending his left leg to connect with the chest of the boy, knocking him back successfully.
“Ugh! I wouldn’t take me so lightly,” specified the boy, “You’ll come to regret it.”
The boy attempted to charge again, head first. Marautis this time opted to hold him back by the head by extending his arm to do so, preventing his little arms from reaching anywhere even slightly close to Marautis’ body.
“Hehe, your power level indicates you should be much stronger than this, why is it you’ve failed to lay a single hit thus far?” taunted Marautis. The little boy would retreat back, floating a few metres clear of Marautis.
“Why does every battle seem to end this way? I get so sick of having to do this!” complained the youngster. “Time for you to face my Drain Choker technique,” he announced, not sounding particularly enthused with this decision at all.
The prince would then lift his tentacle like appendages which had once covered his mouth to reveal a gruesome cavity which would drip a truly horrid appearing juice of sorts. A long stray tentacle would then emerge from the cavity, lingering for a few seconds allowing Marautis to truly grasp was he was witnessing before him. It then would swiftly dart forward and wrap itself around his neck, taking a tight grip to prevent his escape. Marautis, in horror, would grab the arm that had seized him and try to rip, claw, cut, anything really to get it to release him, but he could do nothing but watch.
The appendage would start to sizzle and electrify. The surge of power travelling along it before it met Marautis and began to electrocute him. Whilst his electrocution took place, Marautis would feel his energy begin to drop. An increasingly feeling of weakness and tiredness began to set in. It seemed that the attack was draining his energy!
“I get so bored you know? Always the same, getting embarrassed in physical combat, always having to rely on this technique, it just gets to you ya know? I mean seriously just eats away…” this was all Marautis would make out of the Prince’s rant as his senses would quickly begin to fail him. He needed to act fast. His vision would now start to blur and slowly waver… a blast, that’s all he needed, a quick ki blast!
Lifting his hand sluggishly, it would tremble weakly. With all of his remaining strength that remained undrained, Marautis gave a quick push to his tired and slow body. Producing a quickly forming orb of ki, this was quite small in comparison to what Marautis usually would conjure up. Marautis swiftly released the attack it with the very last of his strength, hoping for the best.
The blast had sufficiently been quick and surprising enough to throw Calamaridus off his guard and to retract his appendage. Though Marautis was weak and his senses still comatosed, he remained in a state of illusion, still not quite sure of his surroundings. The only thing he was certain of however was the he wouldn’t have long before the Prince would launch another attempt to finish him for good. There was one thing that had made itself clear in the mind of Marautis. His longingly contemplated idea, he supposed it was a transformation of sorts. He had come to learnt how his body worked and functioned and he had come across this idea in his daily training one morning. If not then… when? There seemed no better time than now to use this, though Marautis would have to focus intently; only having seconds to play with.
It would all start with relaxation. Given Marautis’ condition this came quite easily and he could pass this stage without much effort at all. The second step would be a feeling of awareness. The individual would have to connect with their body and feel each little interaction with the oceanic world around them. To Marautis, this was the gentle push of the current, the buoyancy of the water holding him in place, just the little things. Next Marautis would have to visualise, the pores of his skin opening up and filling like giant sacs of water. He would feel a light sensation engulf his body, not too dissimilar to that of goosebumps that he supposed, signalled the occurrence of the aforementioned. The final step, once the pores on his skin had filled to their capacity, would be to tense his body and close them up, to retain the water absorbed. With his newly gained strength, Marautis had succeeded in this feat. A newfound vigour flowed through him, a feeling of energy and strength. He had now unlocked, the Water Bulk Transformation. His now swollen and muscular body dwarfed that of the Princes, who now knew he was clearly outclassed.
“Hahaha, your technique has failed you! I’m surprised, you don’t look as pleased as I imagined, is it fulfilling to see someone overcome your crude tactics?” Marautis laughed, his new transformation filling him with confidence and wit. “Prepare to pay young one!”
To match the look of shock and dread upon the face of Calamaridus, an attempt would be made by the young boy to turn and flee from the newly transformed Marautis who closed in on him with a great speed, easily outmatching his opponent. Grasping his small frame from behind and locking one of his arms around the neck of the young boy, choking him a little. Then twisting the boy’s body to bring him to a horizontal position, even against the struggles of the small one Marautis would win out on strength, his new transformation greatly surpassing the once dominant power level of the Prince. Releasing the choke hold and bring his arms to the top of the boy’s body which lay on the horizontal plane, Marautis drew his knee up with speed whilst simultaneously from the opposite direction, dragging down with his hands. Bending the torso of the Prince from both the force from his knee and his arms, the boy squirmed in pain, now too winded to speak.
Remembering his plans for the boy, knowing that he may possibly have valuable information for Marautis he felt that he would show mercy and subdue his attack. With his new Water Bulk form activated there was no way the Prince could overpower him now.
“I think you’ve had enough, you can come with me for now, I think you might have some information that’s somewhat valuable to me,” Informed Marautis.
“You’ll pay for this, remember who you’re messing with, I WILL destroy you,” the self-claimed Prince of the Molluscatites coughed out, recovering still from the blow delivered by Marautis.
“Save your breath, you still have a lot to answer for little boy,” Marautis had dragged the helpless child over his shoulder and made for the shoreline. He wondered just what this boy knew; he certainly was an intriguing character.
Marautis felt now as if the answers to his unknown past were within reach. The boy claimed to know of the “Zoonamites”, a piece of information that would lie key in helping Marautis find out how exactly he had arrived on this planet, and still more about his apparent race of people. Who knew, maybe Calamaridus, the Prince of Molluscatites would prove somewhat of an ally to Marautis. Only time would prove the deciding factor in separating the facts from the fiction, and only time could separate the known from the unknown.
WC: 4053
Requesting PL for this solo.
Medium Weights Bonus Applied.
