Tal's Grand Journey Part 3: Out the Jungle!
Alright, this is my most recent and longest chapter yet in Tal's Grand Journey! Well, they haven't gotten to the pyramid.....yet. Next time they most definitely will! I promise!! ^__^
This chapter has some decent action. And off course, plenty of gut hits! I managed to include some of my ideas for awesome gutpunches. I am holding back on the gut hits for later fights so they're more exciting. So, the best is yet to come.... Thanks for reading! And don't forget to comment!
Any questions you have, I'm willing to answer! Enjoy
A brawl is taking place in a clearing at the edge of an Egyptian jungle just where the desert begins. The sun is beginning to get higher in the morning sky, increasing the heat of battle where an anthropomorphic duo, of wolf and tiger persuasion, takes on a regime of reptilian naga atrocities.
Tal narrowly evades a blow to his head, as he nimbly hustles to the side of the metal studded club. The bewildered tiger watches as the club whistles past his face "The speed increase is incredible!" Tal thinks to himself, "My body is actually in sync with my already keen senses...." Tal grabs the naga's club wielding hand and briskly snaps it in a single motion, twisting it outwardly. The club falls loosely from the snake abomination's hand "AAHHh- guh!" The naga's high-pitched yelp is cut off as Tal yanked him forward and delivers a knee to his diaphragm, just below the chest armor. The tiger then swings himself onto the back of the doubled over naga's shoulders, mounting, and rapidly lands blow after blow into the snake's head. Punch! Elbow! Hammer fist! Elbow! Punch! Hammer fist; all landing with consistency in the same point of the creature's head pushing him to the ground. Tal, knowing what he has to do, continues....his eyes flare red and his brows furrow as he increases the speed. The naga, now on the ground winces and writhes with each strike until...CRACK! A punch flattens into the naga's head downing him for the count. Tal rolls away from him, ready to meet the next onslaught. A deep inhale makes Tal wary of sudden fatigue; it was a lot harder to take these enemies down without the strength bracer. He clutches the amulet around his neck, "This definitely makes up for it, however... Whatever that wolf's plan is, it'd better work; I'm not sure how many more I can defeat."
Vance somersaults past two nagas as they grab for him. He flips upright and effortlessly retrieves his staff that was just embedded in the tree. The staff's violet glow radiates in his hand. "Yeah, I miss you too babe!" As several nagas approach Vance, he grips the staff tightly, twirls it above his head, and then jams it into the ground, hard. The ground cracks in a wide circumference around the red and black furred wolf. Violet light shines between the cracks in the ground before blasting apart, and sending the nagas flying deep into the greenery of the jungle. Vance stares at his staff, "Whoa! Never did it like that before!" He looks at the glowing artifact on his wrist, "This bracer really packs a kick." Vance, with staff in paw, looks over to his target; the giant basilisk-scorpion's head, where the Chimera Reptile clan's leader, Seth, stands distracted by the show that Tal is displaying. A preemptive strike would be most ideal at this moment, with the main enemy's back turned....or a swift escape. Vance shook the latter idea from his head; he wasn't going to do that ever again...
Vance cautiously saunters around the back of the giant serpent, eyeing its swaying scorpion stinger tail. Vance analyzes the distance to the basilisk's head from his own position on the ground, gesturing with his hands, and muttering to himself. The young wolf looks at the device in Seth's hand,"That's gotta be it. Okay here I go..." Vance holds the staff directly in front of his face, vertically, and concentrates, his eyes tightly closed. Then, with a fervent leap in place, he raises the staff above his head and hits the ground, violet energy sparking upon impact. The strike sends the wolf high into the air, nearly directly above the basilisk's head, where Seth stood watching Tal struggle with the remaining nagas on the jungle floor. Vance begins to descend, the rush of wind blowing his long black trench coat back, making his unique, red and black two-tone fur pattern more distinct. He raises his staff ready to strike down Seth. Only four feet away, Vance is confident he's taken the lizard's back, " I GOT YOU!" Seth spins around, shocked momentarily. However, the battle savvy lizardman doesn't yield and, in a swift motion, he throws off the long shawl he'd been wearing into the naive wolf's face. Blinded, Vance's graceful descent is disrupted as he begins to flail wildly at the shawl. The young wolf's red furred belly is completely exposed to Seth. Vance continues falling with his arms and staff flailing wildly above his head. "That's very amateur, boy'O..." Seth then takes his right, gauntlet bearing fist and slams it rigidly into the red downy furred abdomen of Vance, midair, his fall abruptly halted. The gauntlet rams in deeply past the wolf's less-than-muscular gut, doubling the wolf over in an angle above Seth's head. The shawl drops away from Vance's head, revealing a wide eyed, pointy eared wolf's expression, with his mouth open and tongue stuck straight out.
With Vance still on his fist, the lizard pulls back and pumps his iron gauntlet into Vance's gut, pushing him up and away. Gasping, Vance keeps his grip tightly on his staff as he lands rough on the basilisk's head, "Guh-huh!" The basilisk, alarmed, jerks its head in question. Seth kneels and pats his pet's head, "It's alright, Bangerz, we just have a bit o' company up 'ere. He was just fixing to leave. Right?" Vance staggers to his foot paws, using his staff for support. That punch had winded him a good deal. Now up close, Vance is able to get a good look at the wretched Seth. The lizard man is riddled with scars from years of constant battle and savagery. The shawl now gone, it is revealed that Seth is wearing gladiator armor covering his chest, arms and lower body, complete with a battle axe hanging on his side. He wears a gauntlet on his right hand, on the left hand that's holding the device, is a peculiar looking ring; aside from this, the lizardman was nearly nude. Seth takes a moment to eye his opponent as well. An odd look comes over his face as his eyes violate the canine's anatomy, "Ya know, at first I was going to kill ya, lad, but I've 'ad a change of heart. Being a tyrant gets kinda lonely, ya know? And you ain't half bad lookin' either." Vance cringes at the idea and smirks "Nah, I'm kinda focused on my career at the moment; avoiding ugly reptiles and all, but I'll let you know when I'm free, ok?" Seth grins widely and hacks a gravelly laugh from his throat, "Hahaha! I like a young'un with some sass...! I don't think I gave ya a choice, boy'O. Ya think yer good enough for a bout with me? That plan o' yers was a failure! " Vance sneers, "I only needed to get this close, in all honesty..." With that, the wolf's alloy staff flashes, sending out a radial light. The small cylindrical device in Seth's hand is destroyed in a small burst of flames. "Oh, and I can definitely take you down."
"Alchemy?!?!!?" Seth takes a step back, "Boy, you've got some explainin' to do..." Seth pauses, hearing monstrous roars from below. He whirls around to the scene at hand, where Tal is facing down the remaining nagas. The naga facing Tal stops in mid-assault, then spastically begins roaring and raving, like the rest of the nine remaining chimera snakes. It was as if though the nagas had just become aware of their surroundings; like they had been in a slumber. They're personalities had become drastically different as well; they were less sentient and more feral. This made the creatures seem at least twice as more terrifying. "Now it's just you, and don't even think these things would hesitate to attack you too, now that they're independent again," Vance smirks to himself at his own bold words, certain that he'd cornered Seth. Seth merely smirks back at the ever ignorant wolf "Hmph, you busted me catalyst, but I've still got this", Seth holds up his left middle finger, presenting it to Vance. At first glance, this looks like a bitter retort, but upon further inspection Vance recognizes the ring on the lizard's finger, "The enthrallment artifact! So that's how you've been controlling them all at once! I knew you couldn't have perfected that Mind Manipulation Catalyst, so you used that artifact for a boost... That's pretty clever for a dumbass." Seth scoffs at that remark and spits off to the side, "Heh, I expected ya to figure it out, after I saw what ya did with those weapons o' yours. It's my own alchemy combination of sorts... I'll admit I have me own limitations, but knowing that makes me a smart one too..." Vance readies his staff, pointing it directly at the lizardman, "Well, it's one on one now, and I'm fully aware of that artifact so it won't work on me! And somehow, I get the feeling you don't have the brain power to force an enthrallment on my mind...." Vance remarks this with an air of arrogance. Seth glares at the wolf, becoming angry, "That mouth o' yours will be ya death one day..." The nagas, now free of enthrallment, were wandering mindlessly, making occasional swipes, but weren't a threat if left unprovoked. Tal looks on in approval of Vance's cunning tactics,"Vance, do you need assistance? We need to leave as soon as possible. We'll make it to the pyramid a little past noon if we leave now." Keeping his focus on Seth, Vance mocks the militant tiger, "Sir! The situation is under control, sir! Will be ready shortly, sir!" Tal shakes his head in disbelief. Seth is boiling at this point and yells at the duo, "I ain't finished 'ere, ya blokes! Bangerz, sseek! Hunt! Capture, now!" Tal and Vance look at each other quizzically, puzzled at the reptile's random shouting. Suddenly the giant serpent's scorpion tail slithers towards Tal at a horrifying velocity.
"Damn it all!" Tal runs, evading the long basilisk's tail with urgency. Bangerz's tail speed nearly matches Tal's speed, even with the speed amulet fully activated. The tail curls and coils making grabs for the quick cat, Tal ducking and dodging as best he could; at some moments he feels the slimy scales brush past his arms, alerting Tal to quicken his pace. Tal makes a sudden detour, attempting to head back towards the basilisk's body. Bangerz swipes his tail at Tal's scurrying legs, forcing him to make a leap of faith towards the great serpent's head. This was a huge, unavoidable, miscalculation for Tal. And he felt it. The gigantic tail curves back unpredictably, and whacks into the bulky tiger's bulgy gut, instantly winding the big cat. Eyes wide and cheeks puffed up, Tal is folded over the horizontal meaty tail and is carried backwards to- THWACK! To Tal's utter displeasure, another tree. Tal's back slams roughly into the hard bark of the palm tree, with the thick tail pressing into the tiger's abs. His abdominal fur is matted and his flesh is folded up against the pressure of the scaly appendage. "Shit! Tal!!" Vance starts towards the tiger but stops, remembering the primary opponent at hand. Tal utters a garbled groan, "URGHuh!" Seth grins widely, revealing his un-brushed, jagged, sharp teeth, "Now, ensnare!" With that command, Bangerz obediently draws back his incredibly lengthy tail and slams back into Tal's fleshy bulk, this time coiling it around Tal and the tree several times. "HOOHF!" Tal hacks a strand of saliva into the jungle air as the tail binds him to the tree. The coiling tail wraps around Tal in sections; binding Tal's arms to his sides, wrapping around his chest, his hips and snuggly against his waist with the stinger ending just inches from Tal's head. Venom drips from the stinger's tip to the jungle floor, combusting upon impact. "Now Bangerz," Seth gives a menacing glare, _ "Sting!" _ Bangerz gives a disgruntled, pleading growl. Seth raises his brow in question and rubs the underside of his elongated muzzle, "Eh? Ohh! I see...!" The tail-coil around Tal's waist constricts and compresses into this gut, grinding in an odd manner. "Oof-!" Looking at the basilisk's face, Tal sees a perverted look come across the snake's eyes. Seth permissively allows the snake to play, "Ok Bangerz!Then _ TORTURE! _" Bangerz hisses loudly in approval.
The coils around Tal keep his body bound firmly to the tree. The coil around his waist grinds, squeezes and compresses, crushing in Tal's normally burly gut, which is now mashed up in folds to the tiger's frame. Bangerz then begins to loosen and constrict this same coil, slamming rhythmically into Tal's defenseless belly upon constriction. Tal heaves and gags in sync to the impacts, "HUH! OFH! GUH! HOOO-FH!!!" Tal butts his head back to the tree in frustration, protesting the abdominal abuse. "GAHHHAAGH!" Drool leaks from the bound tiger's mouth, effectively soaking his facial fur. Seth turns back to face the mortified Vance, "Ya see, enthrallment works best when a bloke doesn't know about it. It works even bettah when there's a willing participant... That's how Bangerz gets along with me so well." Vance regains his attitude, gritting his teeth, "Bastard lizard!" He rushes at Seth striking out viciously with his alloy staff. The staff clangs wildly against Seth's gauntlet as the lizardman blocks frantically. The blows still send Seth stumbling in the direction of the hits regardless of the blocks. The Bracer of Ruin heightens the wolf's strength to match, if not exceed, Seth's power. Vance becomes more tactical with his attacks. His next move is a feint to Seth's right side, but Vance spins in reverse, twirling his staff to Seth's left side, forcing the reptile to block with his bare left hand. The metallic staff cracks over the knuckles of Seth's scaly pawed hand causing him to stumble back, writhing with his left hand painfully. Vance continues his assault forward, jabbing his staff into Seth's chest armor, attempting to knock him off the giant snake's head. Thoroughly dazed from the flurry of strikes, Seth attempts to regain his steadiness and rushes forward at random. THUDDD!!! This action allows Vance to sink his metal rod a good few inches into the lizard's unarmored scaly midsection, Seth's haphazard stumbling abruptly stopped. "UURRGHOoough!" Seth hunches over as the staff submerges into the deep crease it created on his stomach. This position his held for several seconds as Vance stood unyielding, until Seth steps back, relieving his guts of the foreign object jabbed into his bare belly, eliciting a low and breathy, gravelly snarl of pain and relief. "How's that, you gutless bastard?!?" Vance pants tiredly and pulls back, resetting to his fighting stance, as Seth doubles over slightly massaging his throbbing gut. Seth looks up at the resolute wolf, "You're pretty damn ballsy to take me on, lad", Seth grabs hold of his iron battle axe holstered to his side, "SO, you think you're somethin' special with those fancy weapons, eh? Let's have a go then!"
Vance was instantly disarmed. Experience had clearly trumped prodigy in this scenario. Seth re-holstered his battle axe and the conflict became a fist fight. Vance managed to land some decent blows, as Seth's face was slightly swollen, but it seemed as though the bracer wasn't going to be enough to win. " Alchemy, weapons, smarts... that body!" Seth rushes Vance with his boxing stance. The wolf attempts a right cross that is easily dodged and countered with a harsh, gauntlet endowed uppercut to the youth's slim red-furred belly. "Gurk!" After being lifted slightly, Vance staggers back, and then he's brought to his knee by a swift left hook punching into the side of his snout. The wolf sits there atop the basilisk's head looking at the situation at hand. Seth continues, "You've got evr'y reason for me to keep ya alive, boy. Don't make me change meh mind." Vance looks over at the trapped Tal, their eyes meeting.
Bangerz's tail continues its unrelenting gripping and groping on the tiger's tenderized gut. Tal had managed to slip his arms up over his chest, attempting to put space between him and the giant tail. While this allowed more oxygen, the coil around his waist still winded him with assaulting constrictions. That coil suddenly gripped harder than ever before, making Tal believe that this was it. It abruptly loosens causing Tal to relax his gut involuntarily, but with great relief, his hefty gut bulging approvingly. Relaxation lasts for barely three seconds when the coil slams right back in and resumes its menacing grasp. This strike causes the tiger to hiccup, spewing a few ounces of liquefied mango. The basilisk hisses, in a rather humorous tone. _"OOO- urk!" _ Tal then hears an unpromising grumble deep from his insides, making him certain that he'd soil himself eventually, before, if not upon death. Tal looks at Vance, the wolf's eyes baring a strange familiarity the tiger had once seen in a mirror before... "Vance, leave this to me! GO! Go find Cheri, ok?" Vance just looks back, wide eyed, at Tal. Seth looks at Tal then to Vance, "Ya really need to forget about that bloke, boy'O ," Seth taps his scaly foot paw on Bangerz's head, "Consider 'im dead! Bangerz, finish it!" Bangerz's coils squeeze instantly tighter, making it apparent that the previous treatment was merely playtime. The tree began to crack and groan as much as Tal began to.
Vance looks down, staring deep into the scales of the Basilisk's head. Seth starts picking the tufts of red downy fur that were stuck in the joints of his gauntlet, as he attempts to induce the young wolf, "So how about it, lad?" The floating tufts become rigid and fly back into the reptile's eyes unexpectedly. Then, angrily, Vance stands, gritting his teeth, "How about the both of you shut up! This ain't over!" Seth, preoccupied with the stinging sensation of pointed fur in his eyes, allows Vance to make his move. Vance throws out two mini grappling hooks, one from each sleeve. Each hook trailed a long, violet, shimmering wire as they land on their mark; the pivot of the great basilisk's tail. Bangerz roars in painful contempt, as Vance tugs for security. Then the daring wolf rushes past the hindered Seth, dives down and swings with the wire, wrapping it several times around the gigantic tail. He then lands back on the giant serpents head where Seth manages to clear his eyes out just in time to witness a phenomenon. "1...2...3!" Vance counts and snatches hard on the wire material cutting the basilisks tail clean apart in multiple sections. Bangerz roars in utter melancholy, writhing furiously, his purple and green mixed blood spraying out from the gaping wound on his rear. Tal drops limply from his temporary prison that was the palm tree, along with the severed scorpion tail that landed with a sickly thud on the jungle earth.
"How do ya like that?!?" Vance sarcastically asks Seth, who's currently beside himself. Seth sobs inconsolably with his pet, "Ohh my baby! Bangerz, it's gonna be okay! Shh shh!" Vance, keeping his balance on the writhing snake's head, looks down to a motionless Tal who's faced down in the ground. He shouts out to the tiger, "Tal!? Tal!!!" Tal doesn't budge and Vance gets flustered, "Don't tell me you didn't see that, you pussy!" Tal's ears perk up and he begins to shift and stir under the rain of basilisk blood spraying about. Vance let's out a breathy sigh of relief "Come on, naptime's over! Let's wrap this up...!" Seth comes up behind Vance, wielding his battle axe. WHOOSH! Vance just scarcely avoids decapitation with a furious dodge-roll. Seth is seething indistinctly, mumbling and then "....Son of a bitch!!!" Seth, in pure rage, swings down at the wolf. Vance scrambles to his feet, evading the blow. Unfortunately for Bangerz, the blow sinks into his head, gashing another wound. Bangerz lets out another roar of anguish, tears streaming down the snake's face. "BANGERZ, NO!" Sobbing again, Seth curses inaudibly at Vance, taking wild swings at the frantically evasive wolf. Tal raises his head slowly to gain his bearings on the situation at hand. Wiping away the waste from around his mouth, Tal sets his fiery red eyes on Seth, who is now making swipes at his rescuer. Tal inhales then exhales calmly, a quiet storm brewing in his eyes. The Amulet of Light glows brightly and, in a heartbeat, Tal dashes up the snake's back to the head, where Seth makes countless attempts at Vance's life. Tal, furious, starts at Seth but slips in the pool of blood from Bangerz's new head wound. Not having fully recovered from the binding torture, Tal's equilibrium was still off. In addition to this, the basilisk blood began to make a stinging sensation all over his body. Seth takes notice to the new company atop Bangerz's head, "YOUUU!" Seth raises his axe to finish the weakened tiger.
Arching far back, Seth takes a mighty swing. Tal cringes.... but there's no follow through; Seth had faltered for some reason. Behind Seth, Vance holds steadfast onto the lizardman's raised weapon, holding it place. The Bracer of Ruin was still plenty effective. Tal looked up; in his perspective, was the lizardman's broadly arched back abdominals, widely presented to the angry tiger. His ribcage accentuated in the stretching pose, Seth's scale's shimmer in the daylight, his belly scales are noticeably a lighter shade of green, maybe turquoise? Tal hops to his feet drawing back his fist heavily. Seth tugs in vain against Vance's sturdy grip, "Let...go... you mother fu- _ KUGHOUGH! " Tal rams his fist deeply into the arched gut of the lizard beast, sinking his crème colored paw up to the wristband. Tal's biceps bulge as he grinds his fist into Seth's unprepared stomach. **"_ACK!**" Seth let's loose a strand of saliva as another uppercut from the brawny tiger sinks in, lifting him to his scaly paw toes. Seth finally lets go of his battle axe, going limp, hunching forward fully supported by Tal's fist, now snuggly jammed in his gut. His expression is a listless 'O' shaped muzzle, with drool dangling from his mouth, his pupils now pinpoints in his eyeballs. Tal pulls back, allowing the lizard to double over and ache.Vance loses his balance from the sudden lack of resistance from Seth and falls backwards off the snakes bobbing head, "Whoa!" Vance lands roughly, but unscathed on the soft jungle floor. Lying there, he holds up the Enthrallment Ring to the daylight, "Heheh, a nice souvenir too... EEP!" Vance draws to the side as the battle axe lands blade first into the ground beside him. Something else catches his eye; the nub of the basilisk's tail begins to contort and mold into a new stinger.
Vance is on his feet again, "Tal, the basilisk is regenerating too!" The tiger looks back in time to see the stinger arched and raised directly above him. Bangerz lets out a spiteful roar and sends his stinger towards Tal. At the ready, the tiger swiftly avoids the assault, allowing the stinger to plunge deep into the giant snake's cranium. Bangerz's roaring rises in pitch. Seth, still cradled to his knees, sighs in disgust, "You went and made the simplest mistake Bangerz...." He places one paw on the tormented basilisk's head. Tal looks on, with a slimmer of pity rising inside him, but the thought is dismissed as the snake's convulsions become ever more violent. Tal looks at where the stinger made contact; there's steam rising rapidly from the wound. The usually composed tiger's eyes grow wide with anxiety. "Hey what's going on? You gonna finish him off or what?" Vance looks at the stunned tiger, puzzled. Tal hops down from the giant serpent's head in haste, "No time... The venom is combustible and it's gotten in his bloodstream! We have to go!" Vance and Tal make a mad dash for the jungle exit as the giant basilisk begins to boil and distort. Seth calmly rubs the giant snake's head with his own head pressed somberly against his fading pet. Tal grabs Vance under his arm and increases his speed, the Amulet of Light brimming with a bright white glow. The jungle clearing is engulfed in an eruption of flame.
END PART 3.................................................
They'll be at the pyramid next time I swear T_T