The Missing Plants from the Garden

“YES! Yes I do! The Yang family originated from Africa, where only the strongest survive. They did what they needed to, to make sure that they survived and others didn’t. That’s why Africa is a wasteland now; we made sure that—”

“Wrong,” Jiska interrupts.

“WHAT?” Nobu roars, getting angrier. As he leaps at Jiska, he starts transforming. Instantly growing fifty centimeters in height, his head starting forming into a bull’s, complete with horns, with his feet turning into hooves and his ankle moving up to where his knee should be to compensate for the change in anatomy. His knee juts out to form a near ninety-degree angle, his ankle doing the same, just in the opposite direction, and a relatively short tail with a small tuft of fur on the end sprouts from his tailbone. Putting on over a hundred pounds of muscle, and growing reddish brown fur all over his body except for the lighter skin on his hands, which also grew thicker and tougher. Needless to say, he makes up for (and then some) his nickname: the Minotaur.

He grabs Jiska’s neck and slams him into the ground, making a crater bigger in diameter than the height of his animalistic form. This sudden force and aggression causes Jiska to complete his transformation. His head turns into that of a wolf, a mane of white fur growing around his neck, forcing Nobu’s big meaty hand off. This fur spreads to the rest of his body, but instead of white, it’s a bluish grey. His feet and legs get the same treatment as Nobu’s but instead of hooves, they’re massive paws, and instead of a bull’s tail, it’s a wolf’s tail. All the while growing another ten centimeters and putting on 25 pounds in muscle.

He kicks Nobu off of him, and does a kick up to get back onto his feet. He seems to disappear as he dashes to where Nobu landed, and pins him down, using the Glass Cannon technique. “Listen to me! That story you just spouted? Nothing more than a bunch of bologna. Our family didn’t do that. Only two people did. Brothers, specifically. The original Yin and Yang.” Jiska says, hoping that Nobu would calm down for more information.

“What? How? My family’s story has been passed down generation after generation. How could you, an outsider, have more information about my own family than me?” Nobu asks, anger seemingly dissipating into nothingness.

“Let me tell you a story, one that the readers won’t get to read because of time constraints, one older than either of our families.” Jiska says, getting off of Nobu, telling him a tale that would help him realize the true origin of their families, and together, they would end the unending war. Not as friends, but as brothers.

But it won’t matter in the end. For I am coming. And there is nothing you can do to stop your doom. So build your settlements, stop your wars, “grind” to get stronger. It is all for naught. There is no such thing as power, when you are against a god.