Chapter 4: Goolin

Boros made his way through the increasingly run down and seedy streets until he looked and found he was standing in front of the red do which so happened to be a rustic looking bar with a sign hanging off the scratched up metal door saying: "Durf's Bar". Boros kicked the door in and saw the flickering neon lights of the bar falling on an orange ant like creature behind the bar and a metallic warthog in front. The warthog was holding what looked like a huge transparent sea slug with 4 pseudopods growing from its body. The warthog turned and exclaimed "My door! You fucker!" He then dropped the slug who gasped as he fell to the floor and said to the ant "get him!"

"Right away Mr. Durf!" replied the ant who suddenly emitted a red aura and began to float in the air. Boros was taken aback by this sudden power and left himself open to having some of the barstools flung at him with psychic powers. He quickly snapped back and deftly smacked away each stools and sent them careening into the walls. Just then he felt himself go rigid and a deep pain washed over him. He was being spun around while having his organs crushed, blood spurting out of his contorting body and breaking neck. Boros strained himself and his eyes became red and bloodshot as he began to glow brightly from the deep scars in his body. Slowly he was adjusting to the power and twisting himself back into shape. 1 step, 2 steps, 3 steps ever increasing in ease. Boros was breaking free while the ant had his veins almost bulging out of his head. The young alien at last grew so resistant that the binding was barely a hindrance and he charged. Suddenly he felt the bind go away and saw the beaten up bar stools fly at him. To power through Boros released his energy and shot forward, coming into contact with the ant's psychic shield. Boros rained a fusillade of punches down on the shield and could see it weakening. He raised his fist to deliver a finisher but was pounded from his left side and ent sprawling onto the floor.

Durf the metallic warthog creature had taken action and was snorting in rage at his underling's failure. "I gotta do everything don't I." Boros came at Durf with a barrage of kicks and a couple strong punches to end the combo but they all were stopped by Durf's solid silvery body. Though the impact had shattered Boros' bones he continued his fruitless assault. This was at last stopped as another punch from Durf knocked the wind out of Boros. He could barely keep standing but somehow managed to jump out of the way of the following blow but was not so lucky with the next. "How did Phedo lose to a twerp like you anyway!" shouted Durf as he barely missed his smaller foe with a wall shattering punch. Seeing where Boros was going the mob boss spun around and kicked Boros in the stomach before following with a two punch combo. Boros was so overpowered and his attacks didn't seem to get any reaction. He had to try though! Raising himself off the floor with a kick Boros struck Durf in the neck but didn't deal any damage. Then he felt himself unable to move. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the any using his power before it all went black when Durf ripped his upper half from his lower body. "Take his corpse to the incinerator."

Boros regained his vision and found he was being telepathically carried away from the bar which from this distance looked to be a 2 or 3 minute walk away by now. Noticing that the ant who was carrying him was grumbling absentmindedly he released some energy to propel his top half into his bottom half. When they collided they stitched back together and in the next instant he kicked the ant in the head before any shield could be put up. The psychic power vanished with the brain of the ant being damaged and Boros finished the job by stomping the ant's head into a pile of bloody brains. "I'm quite surprised I recovered from a loss that quickly." He turned back to face the bar and sped back with all his might. Within a few seconds he skidded in front of the open door and charged back in. Durf had gone back to harassing and threatening the transparent slug over the money the slug owed him and was met with a kick to the abdomen which astoundingly stung a little. He turned over to Boros and his eyes widened.

"How… do I have to turn you into bloody paste to kill you!?" He didn't wait for an answer and instead sent out a straightforward punch that to his surprise Boros blocked with both his arms. From then on Boros swarmed his much larger opponent with everything he had and actually caused his foe some slight pain. Durf responded with attacks that seldom hit his agile opponent but when they did only served to make Boros fight back even harder. The young alien twisted torso with his next punch to put the power of his whole body behind it and this time he actually managed to move Durf. Again and again Boros threw these full body strikes, ignoring the pain from any of the blows he was hit with. Eventually Durf crumbled when Boros landed a body shot so strong it sent a shockwave across the room, shattering bottles and embedding Boros' fist deep with Durf's stomach. The warthog like alien squealed slightly but was lifted up from the floor and lost the life from his eyes. The intense weight snapped Boros' forearm from his elbow and it fell to the floor along with Durf.

Boros leaned back against the bar counter and panted in pain and exhaustion. He eyed the slug who seemed to be fiddling with the register in order to find some cash. "Hey, got anything to eat?" inquired Boros.

The slug who introduced himself as "Goolin" had agreed that he owed Boros for helping him out of a pinch and took him to an mechanical workshop in the seedy part of town right next to a small lot where various old vehicles and devices had been scrapped. "I'm happy to introduce you to castle Goolin!" the slug creature had as he pressed a button on the side of his workshop which prompted a metal door matching the same puke green color of the rough building to slide open. "Those bastards have been taking 70% of my revenue ever since they moved into the area and I just couldn't do it anymore." A bundle of sparkles dispersed through his body which was as clear as polished glass. "But now that you got me out of that pinch i'm golden!" Boros followed Goolin into the workshop which had brick walls and what would have been a large empty space had it not been cluttered by a mess of workbenches with tools, blueprints, and piles of scrap metal. All the tables surrounded a raised platform where there sat a mostly constructed one person spaceship shaped like a black egg with cluster of thrusters on one end and a slot for a key in the left side of the ship. "Real beauty ain't she? C'mon I'll hook you up with some grub." Goolin squirmed his way over to a door at the over side of the room and opened it to reveal a cozy room with a mattress over the ground. One wall of the room had a rack of keys and the other had a refrigerator. Standing in the corner was a nightstand where a hologram disc lay and projected an image of the weather channel. Goolin opened the fridge and motioned for Boros to take something. The spiky haired alien was only happy to oblige and took a large drumstick which must have come from some large bird. He chomped away at it greedily while Goolin relaxed over his mattress. "So what's your name bud?"

"Boros came the reply which was stifled by the full mouth which the hungry alien sported.

"Well Boros what's your deal? You ain't my guardian angel are you?" Boros shook his head in between bites.

"I'm just a traveler looking to fight and have fun." This statement was met with a hearty laugh from Goolin.

"Simple guy ain't you? I'm thinking grander; Someday I wanna become a big tycoon running a company producing spaceships that I designed myself." He leaned over to Boros. "I've got a real knack for that sorta stuff, i'm a lot smarter than I look y'know." He continued on despite Boros being more invested in his food than the speech. "I get some good business repairing cars and spaceships here but those bastards you killed were cutting into my profits so hard I couldn't even get a decent business going but know that they ain't here i'm gonna start soaring to the top." Goolin agained laughed in a much clearer voice than one would expect of a slug like creature.

Boros nodded along as Goolin spoke but was thinking to himself "Maybe I could get a spaceship from this guy but I don't have any of, what was it called again? Money?" Cleaning his drumstick down to the bone Boros let out a satisfied sigh.

Goolin rose "done? I'll take you over to the incinerator." He was cut off as he saw Boros swallow the bone as well. "Can't say i've seen someone who isn't a dissolving eater like me chomp down a bone like that before, just where are you from anyway? Boros put his hand on his ever growing head of hair and scratched it thoughtfully. Goolin sat still for a bit expecting an answer but became impatient quickly. "Hey you gonna answer or are you some kind of amnesiac? Hello? Boros adjusted his sitting position and looked over at Goolin with a bright smile.

"Sorry but where I come from we don't name everything like you. We only know our planet as home, nothing more, nothing less." He was enjoying his stay with Goolin, the slug seemed nice enough but a little rough around the edges, not to mention it was pretty neat that he made spaceships; at least Boros thought so. "By the way," he asked inquisitively, "why do people seem to exchange those small pieces of paper and metal you call money for goods? Would it not be simpler to just exchange goods for goods? For instance I could trade you a hunk of permium for one of those meat sticks."

"Money is more objective, you can assign how much something costs in money very objectively whereas trading goods can often lead to haggling over how much the goods are worth to each other. Also why permium as an example? That shit is so valuable you could buy my workshop with a pebble."

"Funny, the only thing tough enough to survive my planet is permium so I just assumed it was on every planet."

Goolin jiggled around in shock, "you oughta show me that planet sometime, ok buddy?" Goolin was silent for a moment before blurting out: "Hey where is your planet anyway?"

Boros responded by pointing left and saying: "3 stars systems that way."

"You can point out the direction but I bet you couldn't read the map to get there, geez what a guy!" Goolin replied

Boros had been evaluating this city since he had gotten here. It was fun when he fought those strong guys but he didn't think he would fit in here at all. Maybe he should try to find a wilder planet where he wouldn't have to deal with money or being a "responsible citizen". He looked over to Goolin "Do you think I could get a spaceship?"