An: Ah, another one bites the dust, huh? It's barely been a week and I'm already twelve chapters in. I think that's pretty damn good, if you ask me. I hit thirteen reviews (not ten individual reviewers, but fuck it, it's my story, and i want to tell you about Nikolai.) so the special double (now that i think about it, probably triple) will be uploaded in a few days, still have to write it out.

Now, I'm actually curious, did someone share me or something? Because my regular readers seems to have doubled. Which, i admit, makes me happier then a goblin in a bar, but still, i wanna know who to thank.

Now, i usually ask for reviews because I'm a whore for them (if you couldn't tell) but i actually just want this info from you guys, nothing more. Is anyone actually interested in the story idea from last chapter? Seriously, just review or message "yes" or "no" dats it. Although, reviews are nice...

Oh, one last thing, you can also do the same if you want to actually see what Nikolai and Grubs get up to, but for the sake of concluding the plot arc, we'll just skip over to him tracking down the 'meat puppet'.

Now, dear readers, onto the story!

Chapter 12: Worst Mimicry Ever. Of All Time.

Rubbing his aching skull, Nikolai frowned and slowly ate the strange plant Paggy had given him, saying "it be getting worse before it getting better". Whatever the hell that means, he thought, glaring at the ground. Stupid sun, making Nikolai's eyes hurt.

As the pain subsided, he dropped the odd plant into a mound of dirt (as to Paggy's instructions) and shook himself, focusing on the task at hand. He regretted ever listening to Grubs, but at least he knew where he was going ; The Evil forest.

Nikolai dropped to all fours and began to trot at a quick pace, the wind rushing against him, making him grin. He loved to run, and loved even more when his running surprised people. Sadly, no one was around to gape at him, so he let his mind drift back onto the mission.

The Evil Forest had always been a place Nikolai hated to go, full of undead monsters and things that made Nikolai look normal in comparison, like the Sign Zombies. Horrible creatures, Nikolai thought, things had tried to tear him apart, and the end result was many splinters in Nikolai's paws. Sniffling at the memory of trying to remove tiny slivers of wood with massive clawed fingers, he ducked under a large root, entering the evil place.

He always found it odd that in some places that things simply stopped: The Fire Kingdom and Ice Kingdom, for example. The same was for the Evil forest, one moment Nikolai was next to pleasant scenery, the next he was surrounded by tree's that almost seemed to want to attack him. Shuddering at the thought, he continued deeper. His aim was the clearing in the middle of the dark woods, where he presumed he would find the puppeteer that had lead the vile beast into the fray of the Gala. He had heard rumours from the Lycans (his understanding of them came from many years he spent with them, honing himself, before departing, deciding that he had grown stronger then them) that would visit him from time to time, to share info on the latest things and who was doing who, (Lycans are strangely gossipy, not much better then teenagers, and twice as hairy and smelly) told him that they had seen a strange creature enter the forest, skeletons following him like a perverse conga line.

Reaching his destination, he slowly hid in the bushes around the clearing, eyeing it warily. He watched, and took in the area. The clearing was bare of grass, or any life forms, excluding a massive and withered tree, it's branches looking more like skeletal arms then wood. Sitting atop the tree was the creature in question, a strange fellow if Nikolai had ever saw one.

Sniffing, he smelt the smell of a wizard, along with sulphur. Nikolai frowned, sulphur always meant bad magic. (or juju, as Paggy would say) The strange wizard looked human, excluding the massive wings protuding from his back, made of decaying flesh and bone. He found the strange man was wearing what looked to be a Jester's outfit, originally green, it seemed, but now stained red and black from the various monstrosities that he had no doubt created. His face was pale and sickly, devoid of much emotion, it seemed. His eyes were pitch black, no iris in sight.

Nikolai frowned, his mind drifting back to the conversation he had with Paggy earlier in the day


"Mon, ya shouldn't be drinking so much, yah? Moreover, never drink with a goblin, little tings can drink their own weight." Spoke the old wiseman, watching the beast wince at any small movements.

"Nikolai knows!...now, at least." He lamented, stroking the pounding skull that he wished would stop.

"Nikolai needs help. Nikolai needs to kill Necromancer." He growled out, wishing that the sun would burn out.

"Mon, that be Bad juju! You need to know whatcha be doing, or ya might end up one of their puppets, ya?" he said, sitting down, and stroking his chin.

"Necromancers are those who bring back the dead, ya? They control the dead, use them as tools. Horrible magic, and even worse Juju. They be the opposite of old Paggy. I be a Jujumancer. You might call me a Life Shaman, depending on your origins, and all dat! I use my powers to flourish life, and in turn, it assists me. Thats the difference between us. They control, we help, yah? But old Paggy knows just the trick for ya, my furry friend!" he explained, lifting himself up and searching through various chests and bookshelves.

"No, no, no...dats where i left that! No, no, no, no, Ye-no, don't need ya turning into a cactus, now!" he spoke rapidly, searching high and low, dust flying about from the old books. Pulling a book from the shelf, he smiled. "Here it is, mon!" he cried, opening the dusty tome.

Speaking some strange language, Nikolai watched the Earthen floor come to life, grass and flowers growing rapidly. In the center of the room, grew a strange sight; a green rose. Plucking it gently, he handed it to the large furry man and smiled. "Dis be powerful Juju. Plant it where he resides, and the earth shall be your sword and shield, mon!" he also handed him a strange root, the thing smelling fouler then Grubs after a good year of not bathing. "Eat this, plant it in some dirt when only ting left is da bottom bit. Make ya feel better, it will!" he sang out, causing Nikolai to snarl. He fled the home as he broke out into some song about "one love" or something, clutching his aching skull.


He plucked the rose from his fur where it had snugly stayed, and looked at it. It seemed the almost give out life, and the smell was intoxicating. and he smiled to himself. Whatever the smelly wizard had given him was going to make this very funny. Planting it gently, he watched the earth give off a pale green glow. Grass began sprouting, and the dead plant life that made the Evil Forest so intimidating rapidly Disappeared, being replaced by wild plant life, the grey and lifeless area now becoming Green and quite lovely to look at. The Necromancer, noticing this, gave out a ungodly shout and leaped off the tree, attempting to stamp the grass away. Nikolai watched as vines grew from the ground, gripping the man, as he screamed for assistance. Coming from the darkness of the rapidly less ugly forest, various undead came lumbering out to save their master. However, the earth seemed intent on making them come back to where they belonged, The vines grabbing them and sucking them deep underground.

Nikolai smiled gleefully, watching the man panic. He enjoyed watching the man who caused this all suffer, and left his hiding place, blood lust in his eyes. The necromancer saw him, and cried out. "Miero needs help, slave! Free me, quickly!" the Necromancer cried, presuming Nikolai to be his Meat Puppet. Nikolai snarled and barked at him, causing Miero to cry out. "Your not him! Where did you put Miero's slave!" He yelled, his leg being pulled deeper still.

Nikolai grinned, and approached ever closer, his claws aching to dig into the horrid man's pale flesh. However, he found himself instinctively leaping to the side, as a furry thing charged at him. Looking away from the annoying mage, he saw what must have been the cause of his problems. Eyeing it, he growled. This thing looked nothing like Nikolai! He snarled, even more upset with the situation.

The meat puppet was roughly Nikolai's height and size, but the similarities ended right there. It's face was stitched together, puss seeping from the poor stitch job. The things eyes weren't even the right beast, one of them seeming to belong to a bear, the other some form of lizard. It's body was no better, stitched together from various different corpses, none of them matching very well.

He snarled at the meat puppet, which returned it with a growl that sounded like a dog going through a blender. He charged the creature, intent on ripping it apart like a present on Christmas day. Quickly closing the gap, he dug his claws directly into it's chest, and attempted to rip them out again for another stab. However, he was alarmed to see his paw stuck, the creature grinning wildly, attempting to bite Nikolai in the throat. He dodged the snap, and growled. He hated doing this, his thoughts becoming errant, as his body once again grew. The beasts mismatched eyes flew open in surprise as the paw stuck inside it's belly grew, slowly forcing the beasts insides apart. Looking up, it saw that Nikolai had become taller and larger, his green eyes being corrupted by red, seeping in from the edges of his pupil. Howling, he ripped his claw from the beasts chest, and pushed it down, roughly stomping onto it's head. With a sickening squish, the creature became nothing more then bits of putrid flesh to pick out of Nikolai's fur.

Growling and slowly shrinking again, he snarled at the Necromancer, who had begun to panic even more. Feeling his neck gripped, he was roughly pulled out of the earth, and was found dangling in the air.

"Why you attack Diplomats." he growled out, trying his best not to snap his neck and let it be over with.

"Miero will never- ack! I'll talk, I'll talk!" he cried, his neck slowly being crushed by his massive paw. "Miero was paid alot, he was! Told to use slave to attack Diplomats, try to kill the Candy Kingdom Princess!" he cried, the squeaky voice driving Nikolai's nerves to the brink.

"By who?" he growled, wishing dearly that he didn't need him alive.

"Some odd fellow, said something about 'removing the problem so he could rule all of Ooo with a iron fist'." he snitched, wanting very much to keep himself alive, as he had for the last several centuries.

"Nikolai want name. Or your head on pike. Both work." He barked out, watching the sulphur smelling mage flinch.

"He never gave me a name! But i can tell you, he was a candy person! Oh yes, oh yes, i saw even thought he didn't want me to, he was made of candy!" he cried, hoping to be released by the massive beast.

Nikolai snarled, and began dragging the man through the woods, crying out as he was dragged over various sharp things. Nikolai would bring to Princess, get name cleared. Then yell at her for being so mean to him and friends. Then go sleep, he decided, watching the creepy man cry out again, as he was dragged through a rose bush.