X Chapter 4 X
Warning: Language, Depressing Themes
The sun rose over the hills. It cast brilliant rays of light on the saiyan camp. Pinach and Iseber had fallen asleep around the fire together. Pinach awoke as the light shone on his face. Picking himself up out of the dirt, he stretched the cricks from his neck and yawned. Iseber softly snored, still asleep. With a cheeky grin, Pinach leaned down and talk-whispered in Iseber's ear. "Breakfast is ready..."
Iseber's eyes slammed open, bloodshot, and he leapt up. Pinach cracked up at Iseber's eagerness. "Dumbass!" Iseber's stomach growled and he turned to Pinach, squinting. Pinach kept laughing. "It's not funny, Pinach! I hardly got my fill of that monster last night!" Iseber scratched his tuft. "Come to think of it, what did Ginge do with the rest of the meat?" Pinach shook his head. "She probably fed the pod-lings with it. What else?" Iseber stroked his prominent chin. Pinach shook his head once more. "Who cares anyway? Let's go wake her up to go hunting. And clean your damn tail; you just dipped it in the ash!"
They walked to Ginge's house; Iseber's tail shook like a dog fresh from the pool. Coming inside, they walked to the bedroom. Standing in the doorway, they gazed upon a sleeping Ginge. She was sleeping sitting up on a bed, surrounded by Arti and several small infants. Her tail was wrapped around all of them, acting like a cattle pen. The other beds were filled with toddlers.
Iseber started quietly laughing through his nose. Pinach looked over at him, fighting a grin but failing. They tip-toed inside. Around the room on some of the beds, were wooden bowls with meat-paste in them. Iseber picked up one of the bowls and showed it to Pinach. He whispered in his ear. "Look at this. I think I know what happened to the rest of the croc…" The two boys struggled to keep their laughing silent.
When Pinach took a step back, he tripped over Ginge's discarded armor, falling with a loud thud. All of the pod-lings awoke, crying. Ginge snapped awake. The two boys stared at her like deer in headlights. Her face turned bright red as she spotted one of the bowls in Iseber's hands. She went ballistic. "What the fuck are you two doing?!" The boys scrambled over each other, trying to get away.
They made it to the front door and took off flying. In their minds, they had at least a few seconds for a head start. Boy, were they wrong. She didn't bother putting on her boots and armor plates like they had hoped. In hot pursuit, she was right on their rear. Her long, wayward hair was being compressed straight by the wind. She bared her fangs at them when they looked behind them, bloodlust in her eyes.
Iseber turned to Pinach. "We've gotta split up! She'll get one of us but not both!" Pinach reluctantly nodded. They both peeled off in opposite directions. But before they could get anywhere, Ginge had both of their tails! She yanked the boys in and held them in front of her face. "Thought you boys were gonna pull a fast one on me? Think again!" Tying their tails in a knot, she tossed them like bolos at a lone tree. They wrapped around the tree and collided heads. Ginge flew over to them. "That's for snooping around! And if you tell anyone about what you saw, I won't stop there. I'll nail your severed tails on the wall as a trophy!"
The boys nodded, rubbing their head bumps. Ginge huffed and took off back to camp; her dark blue jumpsuit glimmered in the morning sun. After untying themselves, the boys flew back. Still rubbing his head, Iseber spoke. "Holy hell! She's worse than my mother!" Pinach stared ahead with rosy cheeks and a faint smirk. "Yeah... "
Flying over the camp, they saw a crowd gathered outside Ginge's house. Ginge was standing in the door, fully dressed and speaking to everyone. When Pinach and Iseber landed, she addressed them with a wink. "Ah, you boys are back from your scouting trip." Iseber turned his nose up at her, while Pinach looked at his boots. "Yeah. We didn't find anything." Ginge smiled innocently at them. "That's too bad." She turned to the others. "It's time you all started becoming more independent. Today, you little snots are gonna learn how to fly and use energy. I'm gonna teach you while these two boys go out for more food."
Iseber opened his mouth to protest, but Ginge shot him a peeved glance. "You boys will be better off without me. I'm feeling a little too hungry…" Flashing her fangs at them, they took off. When they were out of sight, she began lining out the others. "Everyone get with a partner!" Just as her lesson began, Tercres shuffled up to them from around the corner. "You're gonna teach them? As if! Stand aside!" Ginge closed her eyes and sighed before looking at him and smirking. She was already done with him today and it wasn't even noon.
Snorting at him, she shot back. "How's your arm, little boy?" Tercres stopped in his tracks, boiling. "Just fine, bitch." He spat on the ground. Ginge put her hands up. "Oh ok. Well next time Pinach busts it, don't look at this 'bitch' for help. But in any case, why don't you kindly stay out of my way or piss off." She turned back to the others and continued the lesson. Tercres stared with piercing hatred at the back of her head. Stupid wench. I should be the leader, not her! Though he really loathed her, he knew it would be suicide to challenge her. If scouters were around to read their power levels, hers would be 850, while his would be only 675.
Pinach and Iseber flew for miles up and down the river. They were searching for a croc monster just like the one from last night, but they were having no luck. Pinach was becoming frustrated. "It's no use! That monster must have been the only one in the whole damn river!" Iseber stroked his chin. "Monsters have to eat, Pinach. It had to be eating something…" For several more minutes, they flew upstream. A swamp came into view, which spanned as far as they could see.
"Holy shit, Iseber! Look at that!" The boys landed at the meeting between grassland and swamp. The vines and leaves obscured all vision on the ground level. An eerie calm floated in the air. There were no sounds; nothing coming from inside. "I don't like this, Pinach. Why aren't there birds or animals?" Pinach looked at his friend, who was bug-eyed and slightly shaking. "Don't be a wimp, man. They're probably just hiding from us." Truthfully, he too was disturbed by the lack of noise. But it was either enter the creepy swamp, or go back to Ginge empty handed. Both boys gulped at the thought of the latter.
Pinach raised his hand and blasted a path through the foliage. The floor of the swamp was covered in slimy mud and moss. His boots sank halfway into the ground when he stepped on it. Motioning the cowardly Iseber to follow, they trekked into the swamp. For half an hour, they walked farther in. Pinach kept blasting the leaves and vines to make way. Haphazardly, he stepped on ground that wasn't really ground. Pinach disappeared into murky water.
Iseber rushed to where Pinach had been. "Pinach!" The boy frantically searched for any sign of his friend. Suddenly, Pinach surfaced, spitting out algae and water. "Pinach! Take my hand!" Iseber pulled him from the water. Pinach coughed and choked. "I thought… I was gonna die." When he finally caught his breath, he noticed something strange. His friend caught on as well. The path that they had made, was gone as if nothing ever happened. They were surrounded by impenetrable swamp.
Iseber started to lose it. "No no no no. This isn't happening. This isn't happening. I knew we shouldn't have gone in." Pinach was awestruck for a time before snapping back. "Just calm down, man. We can fly, remember?" That calmed Iseber down. They flew up through the canopy. What they saw renewed their fear. In all directions, the swamp stretched as far as sight would go. Pinach cursed. "What the fuck?! There's no way! We didn't even go a mile!"
His friend began crying. "We're gonna die out here, Pinach! We're lost!" Pinach waited for him to settle down. "Are you done? Good. We're lost, not dead. We'll fly back the way we came." Iseber wiped away his tears and they took off. But after several minutes, it became apparent that Pinach's plan wasn't working. There was no sign of the grasslands anywhere.
Night fell. The two boys were fatigued from hours of flight. They elected to spend the night in a tree. It was a big boy, standing several feet taller than the rest. It's red leaves and twisted trunk were no different from the others, however. There was no moon out that night, and strangely, there hadn't been a moon since the children arrived on the world. As they settled on one of the great branches, they noticed how warm it was. It was like someone turned up the thermostat. The difference in temperature between the grasslands and swamp, puzzled Pinach. Too tired to care, he laid down and closed his eyes.
The boys slept for a couple of hours before being awoken. The branch they had been sleeping on, began twisting and turning like a snake. Not like a snake; it was a snake. The sleeping beast had blended right in with the tree. Pinach and Iseber both screamed, making it mad. The head of the snake came around and went for Iseber. Pinach shoved him out of the way, getting caught in its mouth. The jaws of this colossal beast were much stronger than the croc monster's. Pinach struggled to keep himself from being eaten while Iseber hovered, shaken with fear.
"Iseber!" Pinach was screaming for his friend. "Iseber!" Iseber was completely frozen, unable to act. "Iseber! Shoot it!" Finally, Iseber shook it off. Charging a blast in his hand, he unleashed it on the creature's huge green eyes. The explosion mangled the creature's face and knocked out its vision. It let go of Pinach. They weren't safe though; the snake could still sense their body heat. Pinach took Iseber's arm, and took off with him while the snake flailed at them. They escaped.
In the pitch dark, they flew for miles. Eventually, they came to rest on another tree. After stomping firmly on every branch, the boys fell on their stomachs and passed out. They awoke when the sun had risen high in the sky. Sleeping on the bumpy, uneven tree branches made the boys very sore. They stretched hard and rubbed their necks for many minutes until they noticed something odd. "Pinach, do you see that down there?"
The boy looked down. "Yeah...what the hell?" They dropped down. In front of them, stood a short, stone pillar with geometric carvings. It was covered in moss, which Pinach removed. "Who put this here? I thought we were alone on this world." The boys studied it for a minute, unsure. Finally, Iseber spotted more. They were placed in a line, leading somewhere. "Good catch, Iseber. Maybe this will lead us out." Following the stones, they tread ground.
For hours, they walked. Their journey took them to a small stone pyramid in a clearing. There was a faint and unsettling humming of energy in that place. It was even quieter than the rest of the swamp, something they thought impossible. No wind blew. They stood in front of a small hole in the pyramid, just large enough for a full sized man to go through. It was pitch black inside. A long period of silence and inaction followed.
Finally, Iseber spoke. "I'm not going in there. I already listened to you one to many times!" Pinach turned to him with a cheeky grin. "Oh come on! We're already lost! Let's see how far the rabbit hole takes us!" He started laughing. Iseber stamped his foot. "I'm serious, Pinach! I'm staying up here, where at least I can see what's trying to kill me!" Pinach's laughter died down to a chuckle. "I'm just kidding, man. I'm with you on that. Now come on, let's get out of here."
Flying up, they breached the canopy once more. Once more, the sight of the horizon surprised them. The grasslands were at most, a mile away. The river was there too. Both boys rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't seeing anything. When they were sure that their observation was based in reality, they booked towards it. The two boys landed in the teal grass and rolled around in it, laughing. They ran over to the river and drank from it. After several gulps, they stopped and looked at each other, grins cracking across their faces. Frogs croaked.
Ginge sat in front of her dwelling; she was worried. She had looked everywhere for Pinach and Iseber. They hadn't returned the night before and the sun was again starting its descent. The young matriarch wanted to go farther to look, but she couldn't leave the pod-lings for long. She cursed herself for letting the boys go alone. I'm such a fool. They weren't old enough to go on their own. And I was so mean to them. Now they're gone. If I could just talk to them… I'd…
Her thoughts were interrupted. "Hey! Ginge!" Pinach called out to her as he and Iseber landed, with arms full of dead frogs. Silence. She stared at them. They stared at her. "I'd throttle them!" Ginge leapt up and ran at them. The color drained from the boys' faces as they looked on at the speeding 'freight train' coming toward them. Tackling both of them at the same time, she sat on them. Her fists pounded on both of their chests, tears ran down her cheeks. "Don't you guys ever do that to me again!" She leant down and started sobbing, her hands rested on their cheeks.
The others started to gather around, looking at the commotion. Ginge noticed them and leapt off of the two boys, dusting her slender self off and wiping her eyes. Her display hadn't gone unnoticed, but no one said anything. The boys got up and picked up their haul. The saiyans dined on frogs that night.
Another bonfire was lit in the middle of camp. The saiyan children all sat around it, listening to Pinach and Iseber tell their hunting story. Two were missing; Ginge and Tercres. "Iseber here picked the worst spot to sleep ever. Turns out the giant tree we nodded off in, had a big ass snake in it. I nearly got eaten alive!" Iseber squinted at Pinach. "Yeah, well I didn't want to go in the swamp in the first place!" Pinach laughed at him as did others. Iseber turned red and punched Pinach in the arm. Pinach backed away. "You should have seen how he cried when he realized we were lost!" While Pinach and everyone laughed, he ran away while Iseber chased him, throwing rocks.
Inside her house, Ginge was finishing up her 'momma bird' activities. Much of the food went into feeding the pod-lings, leaving many older children wanting for more. The toddlers were still eating when she finished feeding the infants. Unknown to herself, she was smiling sweetly at them all. Catching herself, the smile turned into a scowl. These pups are saiyans. As am I. Someday, most of them will be as ruthless and strong as dad was. What would he say if he saw me doing this? What would mom say?
Ginge felt a tiny hand tugging on her leggings. She looked down at a little girl, no older than two. Her spiky black hair hung down to her mid back; a poofy mess on top spilled over into her face. "M-momma. I done." The toddler offered her bowl to Ginge.
The elder saiyan's heart broke into a thousand pieces. Her lip pouted as she fought back the tears. She covered her mouth and turned away. Holding it in, the young 'momma' turned back to the girl. She knelt down and took the bowl. "Ok. Now climb in bed." The little girl grinned at Ginge and did as she was told. Ginge returned the grin sheepishly. When all the children had finished their food, she collected all the bowls and tucked the little ones in. She closed the hatch on a lit furnace, darkening the room. After doing so, Ginge walked into the barren storeroom and closed the door. She let everything out in there.