Do Humans Dream of Organic Sheep (With Lame Names)? (2)
1000 Words
He summons more of his thunder clouds, trying to overpower me with his domain over the element.
I deftly dodge them all with evasive rolls.
And with each evasion, I am able to find an opening.
While he's trying to summon more of those clouds, I do another evasive roll just a few inches near him; and from there, I kick his shin.
He's then knocked off-balance.
“Argh! Outsmarting me with that lame move, eh? Now it's time for me to pay back the favor!”
He's now trying to climb one of the trees in this forest, hoping for an ambush from above.
And no matter how hard I try to stop him, even with my speed, he's just a bit faster than me when he climbs.
OK, I'd better watch for this ninja wannabe's pouncing attacks.
And he does pounce on me from above.
I, of course, evade him.
But what I don't expect from him as he climbs another tree...
...is that afterwards, he opens his maw and spits a vomit-like green liquid.
I get away from the liquid, and I realize later that it's highly acidic, as it just melted off a stray rock.
OK, then. Now I know what he'll do next.
He'll try to climb yet another tree, employ some stealth while he's up there, and then catch me unaware with either his thunder cloud, his corrosive acid spit, or even both.
And I'm proven right.
I can sense both an acid spit and a thunder cloud, both trying to touch me.
But I'm not having any of those, unmistakably.
The next few minutes is spent trying to read his stealthy moves.
If I can't detect him by sight, I can use the minute changes in air patterns to determine where he is, besides my already innate excellent sense of hearing.
It's another one of the sense enhancements the Gjallarhorn armor gives me.
Aha! He's in that tree over there!
I've learned from my battle with Satsujin Hornet, and thus I come up with my own anti-aerial attack.
“Vacuum Fang!”
I release an invisible force from my right hand and aim it towards a branch of the tree he's hiding in.
Bam! He's hit!
“BAAAAAHHHHH!!! It's not fair!”
“I've learned from previous battles, you know. And that's fair.”
“Whatever, you chintz! I'll just employ my own brand of unfairness instead!”
The monster who wants to be called The Sheep Overlord summons a much larger cloud – about the size of a sofa – hoping to finally roast me with its apparent million-volt bolt.
It's most likely his final attack...
...and thus something within the armor alerts me that I should go for mine.
An ice aura covers both my hands, and thus I'm ready for the second variation of Crucis Chop.
“Crucis Chop: Hyouryu (Ice Dragon)!”
I let the ice energy leave my hands and let it form a cross of ice, which then penetrates and neutralizes the large thunder cloud that is speedily approaching me.
The sheep fiend is horrified that his greatest attack didn't stick, and that my attack is sticking to him instead.
“You just stole my thunder! BAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
As the ice consumes and freezes his entire body, his death wail is slowly fading away until it is no more.
An explosion of ice particles then occurs, putting an end to the sheep monster once and for all.
Sighing a breath of relief, I regurgitate the ladybugs, undo my transformation, and look at the time.
“Oh crap! It's 12:50! I have to report back to work!”
I hurriedly make my way back to the hospital.
Fortunately, I return to my desk at 12:59 pm.
Berenice then notices my panting.
“What's the matter, Bernard?”
“Oh... *huff huff* that? I... *huff huff* just had a good workout.”
“Again? Really? Right after lunch? How many times I have to put up with your lame-o excuse?”
“Nope. I just took a 15 minute break first.”
“Yeah, well... I understand. I know for a fact that you eat pretty fast, and thus you usually finish your lunch in no more than ten minutes.”
“Thanks. You now realize how I roll.”
“OK. Get some rest first. Our boss has one more task for you this afternoon.”
“Suits me. I have no other tasks left waiting, anyway.”
The rest of the day is rather relaxing, as that task is not that heavy as I have initially thought.
The next day...
Whoa! Berenice wears something different from her usual blazer and penciled skirt.
Today, she's wearing a snow-white wool coat, complete with feathers on the collar and the ends of the sleeves.
By the way, for certain employees who do not deal with patients directly, dress codes are more relaxed. Smart casual is the keyword.
“Morning, Berenice! You look fancy today.”
“Yup. I'm wearing an artificial wool coat as my OOTD.”
“What made you wear this?”
“Well, my dream last night convinced me to wear it for good luck. Also, even though I bought this five years ago, it just languished in my closet since then.”
“Good thing it still smells fresh.”
“Thanks for the compliment. Here, I was expecting you to insult my get-up instead.”
“Why are you saying that all of a sudden?”
“Because I also dreamed that you got insulted by a talking sheep!”
What?!
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Monster of the Week Information
Name: Sheepbrat
Height: 156 cm (5' 1.4”)
Weight: 174 kg (383.6 lb)
Monster Type: Thunder-elemental humanoid sheep monster
A monster born out of discarded wool. Since wool conducts electricity well, this monster commands power over the element of thunder. A word of caution: If ever someone dismisses Sheepbrat's name as “lame”, or tries to berate his overall appearance, he/she will be zapped with great prejudice in return – though the result is more often than not non-fatal and thus does not merit a hospital visit. Besides the mandatory thunder-elemental attacks that he summons from his horns, Sheepbrat could also climb walls and other tall structures and then spew acid from his maw, both of which made him a much more dangerous foe. Gjallarhorn had some difficulty fighting the sheep monster due to the latter's set of abilities that he could combine and strategize to overpower the former. Fortunately, with some persistence and some strategizing of his own, Gjallarhorn was able to overpower Sheepbrat and finish him off with an ice-themed version of his Crucis Chop that neutralizes thunder.
- Writer
