[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

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Jenso didn't get far at all, before the worm stood in its path again, attempting to swallow him hole for the second time. It was fast, but only underground. Above ground it was sluggish, blind, and not too bright.

Running all the way back to town would be impossible. The cave's entrance was made of solid stone though, as was the ground around it. Maybe Jenso could hide in there...?

[Jensoman]

Jenso attempted to jump out of the way of the beast's bite and dashed towards the entrance. 'Gotta get there..' He thought, looking over his shoulder briefly to see what the worm was doing.

[tex]

The worm followed Jenso adamently, not stopping even for a second, blindly diving in and out of the ground like a little missle. But for some reason, the closer Jenso got to the cave, the slower the worm moved

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked over his shoulder as the beast followed after him and gave a confused look. Was the ground near the cave harder and tougher for the beast to dig through? He wasn't sure. Regardless, if he would get to the cave entrance, he'd stand near the cave wall. "Hey, buddy! Over here!" He roared, hoping that the beast would leap right at him.

[tex]

With a slight struggle, the beast dug up and launched itself at Jenso from above with its maw wide open and pouring broken rock.

[Jensoman]

As the beast leaped at Jenso, he grabbed a large solid rock from near the entrance. It was about the size of the beast's mouth. "Here, eat this!" He shouted. He threw the rock at the beast's open mouth, hoping it would get stuck in it's throat. He quickly dashed out of the incoming beast's way.

[tex]

The worm latched onto the rock in midair with its teeth and cracked it easily, but with its moith full of solid rock, and with the ground below jenso solid as well, the worm crashed and flopped onto its side helplessly, looking for a way to dig back down.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at the beast as it lay helplessly on the ground. He wasn't one to finish off defeated foes, but this beast was dangerous. If it were to get into soft ground again, it would continue attacking people. And the creature would slowly die if it were to remain in it's current position regardless. Jenso climbed on the cave wall, and looked for the sharpest rock he could find. He jumped down, aiming to slam the stone into the beast's side combined with the gravity of his fall.

[tex]

With a might 'sloosh' the worm's wiggling ceased, and it fell silent as stones poured from its mouth. Now the entrance to the cave was in sight, and free for Jenso to explore further.

From within, he heard voiced, but he couldn't discern what any of them were saying. However, upon listening closer, he would be able to at least make out Bobba's voice clearly above the others.

[Jensoman]

Jenso dashed into the cave, keeping his guard up. He was unsure how many of Bobba's men would be inside, so he needed to be cautious. Upon getting closer, he began to sneak. He tried to peek from behind the wall to discern just how many people he would be dealing with.

[tex]

Jenso descended into the cave one step at a time. As he got deeper, the only thing lighting his way were torches along the walls. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, with large hollowed out sections of stone on either wall, but he knew he had to keep going. Bobba was in there somewhere.

---

~ End Of Chapter 11 ~

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Chapter 12

_{Bobba, The Merciless Merchant}

As Jenso made his way further, the cave's tunnel looped around 180 degrees and headed backwards, for much farther than it had gone north. He went deeper and deeper, but again, the tunnel changed direction. This time the downwards hill tilted up, towards the surface. But he could hear Bobba's voice clearly now, ordering his men around.

"Today's the day!" He shouted, "You two, support the base, this precious rock will bring a new majesty to my emporium! Daddy will be oh so proud!"

[Jensoman]

Jenso quickly kneeled down as he heard Bobba's voice clearly, trying to avoid being seen. He peeked from behind the wall silently, to see just what Bobba and his men were doing. It seemed to be about some rock, but he had no clue which one Bobba was talking about.

[tex]

Jenso's confusion was warranted. As he reached close enough to see Bobba and his workers, he would be able to take note of a massive area with platforms and ladders surrounding it. It took him quite a while to reach here, nearly as long as it took him to reach the cave's entrance from the city. Were they under the city now? Who knew. Bobba placed one of his hands on a massive support beam made of steel that held something above him. Bobba looked up and smiled. "Ah yes..." If Jenso got closer, he might have been able to see what Bobba was staring at, but from here, Bobba looked like an idiot. Workers moved to Bobba's sides and set up 4 smaller support beams that extended as they cranked a handle on their sides. They then locked them in place with a set of pins and backed away. "Use your bracelets to care away at its sides!" Bobba shouted, clearly referring to the rock-manipulating bracelets that the workers used on Jenso earlier. Seems like they were all armed with one of those things. Facing them head on might be suicide..

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at the men as they prepared to use their bracelets. He still had no clue what the big deal about this rock was, but going in carelessly was foolish. He'd wait until the men would start using their rock abilities, and grab a rock himself. He'd throw one at the back of a worker's head, aiming to knock him out. He hoped that all the rocks that would be moving would allow him to silently take one of them out while making it look like an accident. He quickly hid behind the wall again to avoid being seen.

[tex]

As one of of the guards lowered his wrist to catch his breath, Jenso took his shot and clunked him on the head. The spin on his throw made it look like it struck from above, landing near his feet just as the man was falling over. "Eh?" Bobba turned and nudged the man with his foot. "Why can't you ever watch your damn step? Charlie! Bring Higgins back to the surface. If he dies before you get back to town, dump him out in the wasteland for the worms,"

Another man, charlie apparently, nodded and ran over to higgins, pulling him by his feet towards where Jenso was. Fortunately, Jenso had several areas to hide behind wooden fences and a large boulder, but would higgins notice him on the way out?

[Jensoman]

Jenso listened as it seemed that his rock throw was succesful and Bobba ordered another man to take the unconscious man back to the surface. He quickly hid behind the large boulder, hoping the man didn't notice him. If he hadn't been seen, he would wait until the man was no longer in sight of the rest of the group and sneak up on the man from behind. He would place his left hand on the man's mouth quickly to stop him from alerting the others, and follow up with a quick punch at the back of his head with his right.

If he were succesful to knock the man out, he would try to catch the two bodies and gently place them on the ground behind the boulder.

[tex]

Jenso was stealthy, and easily turned the man's ability to walk and talk into an afterthought with a quiet KONK of the head. He then hid the bodies next to the boulder, but one of their bracelets struck the hard ground and made a quiet clinking noise. Bobba turned his head towards where Jenso was very quickly, but didn't look around for long. "Feh," He muttered, turning back up the the ceiling. There were other workers, but Jenso couldn't see where they were from where he was. The entire room that Bobba was in was surrounded in a fence of wood though, which could allow Jenso to stealthily navigate its sides without being caught, in theory.

[Jensoman]

Jenso hid further behind the big boulder as Bobba glanced in his direction for a moment, and afterwards began to sneak past the left side of the room from behind the wooden fence, to see if he could spot the remaining workers and whichever kind of rock that Bobba was looking at.

[tex]

Moving into the room, Jenso noticed that the edge of the cave was not only surrounded by fence, but scaffolding that reach all the way to the roof. The area was cylindrical, and from the center of the roof, hung a glowing orange rock with black lines coursing through it like frozen lightning. What the heck was that? It was being supported by the giant metal beam as the rocks were stripped away by Bobba's helpers. There were about 8 of them now, plus Bobba himself.