Killing Time [Maruca/Closed]

[Deleted]

"Yes, please do fight me seriously." she stated as she watched him emit a powerful wave of energy from his body. The red aura that surrounded his body was something of amazement to Maruca. She blushed realizing its color matched well with her own powerful aura.

Yet before she could make any stupid or serious comments again she heard him voice, "Here I come!" before zooming towards her at a speed that Maruca's eyes could barely follow. He had roared at her so it must have meant he was serious. It was strange that she could follow his movements as he sped towards her since the normal human eye would have seen nothing but a sudden dust cloud form where Nam had seen and a thunderous echo. He was moving so fast the air around him shook, but then this was what Maruca wanted. Her sky blue eyes could see him without doubt charging her like she wanted him to. The only problem was stopping him with enough force.

His fist sped towards her abdomen and Maruca readied her stomachs' muscles. She had trained long and hard with her martial arts and had developed a will to take pain thrown at her just a bit. Through her training she had managed to form a small set of four abdominal muscles that curved slightly inwards towards her belly button, but rarely did she let these muscles show except when she truly felt challenged. She focused her will on these stomach muscles and bent forward slightly and allowed her body to take the blow from his fist. She felt almost no damage from it though thanks to her ability to lean into the attack before he hit her.

When she did she was pushed back extremely fast and he followed her with lightning movements. He sent out a second series of attacks in the form of a flurry punches and kicks. Maruca had felt almost nothing from the prior attack, but these flurries of kick punches were much harder to manipulate to her benefit. She was moving her arms all over the place blocking one or two here and there, but ended up getting hit all over her body by them otherwise. He primarily aimed at her shoulders and the center of her torso it seemed since this was the easiest and largest part of her body to hit.

She had not realized it, but because of the first punch she and he had entered an aerial combat situation. Things were moving much faster than she anticipated, yet she knew if she could block a few of his techniques he was nowhere near his full power while she was using hers. Though somehow, she managed to work with this. What got her though was when he suddenly disappeared and came down over top of her with both fists. She managed to get her arms up in time to block this overhead strike to her head, but the force of his blow was so powerful that she was sent spiraling to the ground and ended up buried under a pile of boulders twenty feet under the earth.

(I am using full power. Sorry about that. I should have stated that.)

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam observed from above as Maruca buried herself into the ground. He had been paying attention to every aspect of her fighting. He noticed the tightening of her abdominal muscles in that brief moment of impact and acknowledged her ability to dodge and block his lightning fast strikes while keeping up to his speed. It was soon evident that Nam had been going about this entirely the wrong way. Here it was, at last, what he wanted to see.

Now he pondered whether he should continue to mercilessly attack her without giving her time to breath or just wait for her to get to her feet and attack. Nam slowly descended a few feet away from the rubble and landed as the debris began to subside and soon his opponent’s condition would be revealed. The wind blew and picked up some dust from the ground and rolled away; his hair pointing at the direction of the wind.

Attack me! He thought. He was tired of taking the offensive. Nam was the type of fighter who was most comfortable defending and countering, but Maruca almost seemed like she didn’t want to spar. –Or perhaps she was the same type of fighter as Nam…

[Deleted]

While Nam let the breeze blow around him and make him look absolutely cool. Well, Maruca was lying flat on her back thinking, "I totally egged him on now. This is what I get for sitting around with a guy and letting our tensions get high all of a sudden."

Maruca gazed at the fronts of her arms and noted Nam's sledge hammer fists had given her green bruises. He had made her arms begin to bleed internally. She had to admit he had a lot of force behind his attacks. She slowly sat up and then stood up and looked up through the top of a small opened that had formed when he smashed her into the ground.

"Time to surprise him!" she exclaimed. She looked at her left arm and watched as it transformed into a carnivorous plant head. This plant was the only plant with a name and its name was Junior, a flytrap plant that had been attached to her arm recently when her former arm had been poisoned and fallen off.

The plant had sharp teeth an no eyes at all and was green with purple spots. It turned to Maruca and let out a few growls before she stroked its head and pointed her right arm up at the cavern ceiling's hole. "Go play with Nam," she cooed. Junior shoot up into the arm as Maruca forced energy into her right arm and made vines grow out of it to make Junior extremely tall and stable. He grew about thirty feet in length rather easily and popped out of the hole around where Nam was standing. When he got up into the light he trashed about wildly and opened his mouth as he lunged towards Nam.

Maruca was not about to fight Nam head on since her hand-to-hand combat was not worth anything at all. She only hoped Junior could hold off Nam for a while and keep him interested in this fight long enough to make a plan. One thing she hoped he did not do was accidentally rip out Junior since then she would either have to go back to the village of Ling to see Bao Ping, or learn how to regenerate her arm. Nam was powerful, but she doubted even he could do that.

[Nam Reikonaga]

As anyone would expect, Nam’s eyes widened and he gasped as the ground began to shake from the upheaval of giant vines rising up from the hole and following it the head of an infamous plant Nam recognized, but had never seen one in person –much less at this length; “Ma-Maruca…?” he exclaimed in disbelief, having thought that the woman had transformed yet again into this ‘thing’. He was pretty sure carnivorous plants weren’t supposed to be this huge and the first thing that came to his startled mind was either ‘blast it’ or rip it off its roots.

Nam barely got himself together by the time of the first thrust. He had only realized he was being attacked and reacted just seconds before impact as the colossal plant thrust at him and he took a back-step away and into the air. Primal instincts said that, ‘when facing a giant, you must fight in the air’. Right now, Nam was like a mosquito and the carnivorous plant was drooling with anticipation for all his bodily juices. He gulped and retreated to the left as to evade another thrust of the monster.

He wasn't very sure how to go about it, but assuming this was still Maruca and they, in fact, sparring. Nam refrained from the idea of ripping it to shreds or blasting it to bits. Instead he followed her lead and charged in with an impaling fist to the flat side of the head.

[Deleted]

While Nam was busy with Junior Maruca jumped up to the top of the ceiling above her and used a powerful kick to break through it. When she did rocks flew everywhere, but as she came up to enjoy her freedom Nam's fist had collided with Junior and sent him hurtling back in the direction she had come up from underground. She should not have surfaced since it was too soon for her to do so!

Junior's massive body slammed through the rocks she had kicked up and towards her and she had to suddenly use her strength to catch the giant plant. Fortunately, she managed to do so and stood now on her tip toes before Nam, trying to keep balance, with long vine around her feet and a giant plant head over top her head. She had not expected him to use this much force, so she allowed Junior to be sucked back into her arm. When he was though Maruca realized her arm had received more bruising.

"So this is the cost of using something like this..." she muttered to herself. Things were definitely less in her favor now.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam’s eyes widened in relation to see Maruca rising from the ground when he had thought that she had turned into this colossal flesh-eating plant. He had been pursuing the monster to further assault and continue the fight, but he quickly froze on the spot and refrained from attacking as Maruca saved the plant and lifted it by the head.

“What was that?” Nam asked as he descended back to the ground and watched the giant carnivorous plant turn into her arm. It seemed like it was another of her weird techniques but it didn’t seem to be very effective against him. His eyes glanced with concern at her bruised arm and started to contemplate whether he should go a little easier on her; then again, she wanted him to use his ‘full power’ so she’d only feel insulted if he tried to take it easy on her again.

[Deleted]

"It's my arm." She stated referring to the monster she had unleashed. She could hear the sound of concern in his voice and noticed Nam was looking at her bruised arm. She decided she would tell him what had transpired recently.

"A few days ago... After I left that place called Kami's Lookout... I had a few adventures and on one of them I came upon the town of Ling. There I met a girl who was named Bao Ping and she touched me. I did not know it then, but her body was poisonous and poisoned me. Thus causing my right arm to fall off. After much complaining she replaced it with the plant I attacked you with and told me her story. Apparently, she's a Florian whose mother lived on the planet 632 years ago as a child. Her mother escaped a terrible man and came to live in Ling. She grew up into her teenage years about the year 1415 and had Bao Ping in a lovely marriage. Bao Ping's mother was Florian, but because of wounds the man gave her long ago she died some time shortly after the girl's birth. Bao Ping then became a goddess of woe and sorrow due to the fact the people could clearly see her bloodline lived hundreds of years and brought this on everyone through simple touch. I know from her now that Florians lived on the planet then, or were going to, but I do not know who stopped them from doing that." Maruca clenched he right palm and looked deep into Nam's eyes as she told this story. "I want to make them pay."

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam listened intently at Maruca’s story, but the numbers didn’t seem to add up. Mother? Didn’t she mean great great great great great great… great grandmother? Those were probably one to many ‘greats’ but he added that last one for insurance since not everybody lives a full-fledged life and from the sound of it, a lot of them died from wounds, so maybe there were a few ‘greats’ short after-all. He could feel the intensity behind her words as she gazed into his eyes. He knew that feeling quite well, but that goal for revenge has been buried under immediate problems so many times that he no longer knows what he’d do if he ever saw his mother’s murderer again. He thought he might kill the man while they’re breathing the same air, but he didn’t really know anymore. –Then again, he might find out when he travels to Vegeta…

He walked towards Maruca and held out her arm to prospect it. “I had no idea… this looks just like your other arm.” He said, rubbing her arm gently. “Anyway…” he started, releasing her arm. “How can her mother live over 600 years ago? Surely, you meant a distant relative…” he broke into an amused smirk, realizing how silly it was to even entertain such a thought.

[Deleted]

"No, I do not mean she has a distant relative. I am almost certain she has the green blood of a Florian running through her veins. If she does she must have at least a couple hundred years of blood flowing through her veins. I assume that she has probably about half the life span of a pure Florian, which for us, that would be about 3000 years tops." Marruca smiled back at him and added, "Before you go guessing what my age is... I'm three hundred and sixty seven this year and still look an amazing twenty."

Maruca looked down at her muscles, especially abdomen and started to explain how they could have longevity, "Trees, if you know can live up to several hundred years, well, that's how Florians live so long. We do so at a cost though. We really don't like eating plants ever, since we are humanoid plants ourselves, so we consume a lot of meat and suck in sunlight and water too. This means we tend to get extremely fat or bulky later in life, but it really does not matter since most of the time we have altered our forms by this point to become like what most humans on this planet would call ents." Maruca only hoped Nam understood her explanation.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam blankly stared at Maruca as she began to correct him and declare that she, in fact, meant what she had said and it wasn’t a mistake. He wasn’t sure whether she was pulling his leg but being an alien anything was possible. She was quick to reveal her own age, which Nam was definitely wondering the moment she stated their approximate life-span. She then proceeded to explain why or how it was possible for her race to live for so long and with all honesty it made perfect sense. Her transformations, her attack and her appearance, from the leaves behind her head to the giant carnivorous plant; they all presented the likelihood of her relation to plants. They say that the way a person fights can tell you a lot about them, but Nam never thought about it to this extent. There were definitely many signs he had ignored until this point.

“I see…” he responded, still a bit awestruck by this realization. This also explained why she continuously wore so little clothing on her skin. It was to… photosynthesis… or whatever it is they do. He had come to understand her a bit better now.

[Deleted]

"I am a plant alien after all, so I'm sure this is making sense to you now. Anyway, do you want to continue this fight or not?" she voiced trying to see how he might respond to her. She felt pretty fine to continue fighting despite a few mishaps that had caused her to get bruised.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Hmmm… Nam pondered. It was weird to suddenly start fighting after this short distraction. But they had barely gotten started yet and Toshiro didn’t seem like he was coming any time soon. He grinned and tapped Maruca on the shoulders. “Only if you’re up to it.” He winked, jumping back a few feet to make up distance for round two. He power-up to reconfirm that they were going to fight seriously. He wanted Maruca to show him what she was made of while keeping it a fair and even fight. At the power they were both emanating, Maruca had every chance as Nam to come out as victor in this match; he only hoped she’d be a little more direct with her attacks this time.

Nam lowered himself into a fighting stance, something he hadn’t had the time to do in real fights like Touketsuki’s. The rush of battle and the threat of death made him lose his form and fight in a way people would probably call ‘freestyle’. The point was to evade their attacks and counter; as long as you could manage these two things, it really didn’t matter how you fought. Nam’s stance consisted of the leading right arm arched in front of him at a 90 degrees angle and bent legs with his other arm cocked and resting at the waist.

[Deleted]

Maruca felt Nam tap her on the shoulders and say, "Only if you're up to it." She nodded quickly and noted he had powered up again and now was entering very low fighting stance. Maruca almost wanted to giggle at it since this fighting stance seemed impractical. She readjusted her power so she would not lose her current power and then put her left leg in front of her right leg and put both of her fists on her hips, taking up a walking stance as she made both feet parallel to each other.

"I really think I only know very basic tae kwon do right now, but please do continue this fight with me." Nam's stance looked far less basic than her own. He had his right arm turned at a 90 degree angle towards himself followed by his left resting on his waist. His legs were bent and he seemed comfortable enough, but did it really mean he could fight like that?" Maruca would have to find out.

She took the initiative and walked towards him, one foot at a time, making sure her feet were constantly parallel with one another. She moved at a rather slow pace, despite this being an important practice match, but when she reached him made a quick decision and punched with her right fist attempting to aim at his left shoulder. She soon followed with her left fist and aimed at his other shoulder. If she punched him twice very quickly without pause she was sure he would have some trouble with her.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam repressed a chuckle as he observed Maruca’s pose. One step at a time she slowly and cautiously closed the distance between them. To him, she appeared like a rooster; all she needed was the cocking of the head by moving it back and forth. He reconfirmed his position, getting into focus and took a short and smooth breath. He was measuring her movements and trying to read her actions before she performed them.

Once they were close enough, it was that last tap on the ground that foreshadowed her attack. The way she stepped on it and anticipated an attack; it was as if she had stopped thinking through and decided to thrust in that instant. Nam’s form was designed to block and counter with the swift move of his body. As Maruca’s fist swung forward, Nam took one step forward with his left in the lead. His entire body would shift to the other side and his previously cocked arm which rested on his waist would rise from the inside and collide with Maruca’s forearm, pushing it aside and rendering her attack ineffective as his right arm ended at his thigh.

He was now back in his same stance with just a single step forward and the shift of his arms. Maruca thrust for a second try and instead of stepping forward he simply raised his right arm from below and pushed it aside like the last; simultaneously he’d lower his left arm across his chest and thrust at the elbow, ramming the flat side of his fist onto Maruca’s left cheek.

[Deleted]

Maruca hated that he toook a step forward to cover the short distance between them. His body, shifting to the side was trouble she felt he forearm get pushed to the side and could not believe him and his fighting stance. His arms had now switched places where now his left hand was more prominent and stretched out towards her while his right was near his thigh. He seemed to push this left hand back quickly again and punched across her from his chest at Maruca's left cheek.

She was having a had time understanding his fighting style so she took the blow to her face, fortunately not faltering under the attack's power, and slid around with her right foot backwards. She was attempting to wheel around in a half circle and smash Nam with the knuckles on her right hand, so she pulled her left hand back in towards her waist and swung her right arm out wide, keeping it straight, to preform a backwards clothesline like technique to the back of his head.

It probably would not be effective thanks to his good form, but it was a start. Frankly, she kind of wished to grapple him and hold him down and maybe end the match with her victory. That would be nice, but he probably would try to stop her.