The exercise:
Write something which takes place: in the garden.
Took the boys to see the Japanese Garden in Penticton this morning - they were pretty excited to see the many, colorful koi fish in the pond.
The exercise:
Write something which takes place: in the garden.
Took the boys to see the Japanese Garden in Penticton this morning - they were pretty excited to see the many, colorful koi fish in the pond.
2 comments:
That looks nice! I like that Penticton has a Japanese sister city too (I shall have to have a think about what that means for Sixticton now...), and watching koi swim about sounds relaxing :)
Right, let's introduce Bugsplatter Prime and then I think I'll put the pinchmon away for a little while until I have a good idea to continue them with :)
In the garden
The pinchmon prisons all worked in much the same way, and were all the same size (it wasn't unheard of for losing trainers to be captured by their opponents and kept in pinchmon prison for a week or even longer as part of their loss), so Bugsplatter Prime, when ejected from it onto the playing field, took several seconds to shake itself free and uncompress itself. Long feelers, slender and whiplike, extended from its head, and mandibles, sharp as steel, unfolded themselves from along a chitinous blue jaw that protruded forwards magnificently. Below the head were six thoracic segments, and legs unfolded from each segment: two pairs from each decorated with fine hairs used for smelling and hearing, and then kept unfolding until Bugsplatter Prime was standing on five-jointed legs and towering over the battlefield like some unholy triffid in an artificial garden. The last two segments were an abdomen and an ovipositor that waggled like a dog's tail, only rather more lethal. Finally, eyes opened along the length of the body, a pair for each pair of legs, and Bugsplatter Prime regarded Toby balefully.
Charisma darted high up into the air, realised that it couldn't get out of Bugsplatter Prime's reach, and sank back down to the ground, trying to blend in as much as an eyeball could with astroturf. Even Gra-dual sidled sideways so that he wasn't in a large sphere surrounding Bugsplatter Prime.
"I've never seen one of these before," said Toby. His voice was shaky, but he still called across the battlefield with an air of pride. "This is the final form of Grabbybug, right?"
Harmony smiled, white teeth shining in a bright, clean face, and her outsized eyes watering slightly.
"No," she called back. "Grabbybug is a garden-variety pinchmon and evolves, in its final stage, into Bugzilla and usually dies twenty-four hours later because of the size-volume ratio problem. Bugsplatter Prime is hostile-terrain-variety and is in its larval stage; if it feeds enough it will evolve."
Toby's smile looked forced.
"Charisma," he said, and paused, swallowing hard, "Charisma, use Hypnotize!"
The little flying eyeball lifted off from the astroturf and bobbed around in the air, trying to find a spot where it felt safe. Finally it started using it's talent, usually reserved for mating: an elaborate, graceful dance in the air that compelled the viewers to watch and not look away. It was a powerful distraction and was used by pinchmon trainers to slow down attacks when they were under pressure.
Bugsplatter Prime's eyes followed briefly, then one set closed and Toby's smile, even though forced, faltered. A moment later and Bugsplatter Prime decided it was under attack and that triggered it's defense mechanism: it opened a mouth in the middle of the central thorax and a mass of partially-digested insect were hurled into the air in front of it creating a sticky, hazy mass that rained down over Charisma and Toby. Charisma, being only small, was overwhelmed and pinned to the ground where it chirruped helplessly, and Toby staggered back from him podium, trying to wipe the mess of insect parts and stomach acids off his face -- and only now realising that the acids were strong enough to burn his skin and were probably killing his Charisma.
Greg - I look forward to reading about Sixticton's sister city!
That's... a hell of an entrance. With a rather devastating attack, for all involved I should think. Though I suspect that's not the last we'll see or hear from Toby.
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