VS Round One: Morphio Vs Green

VS – ROUND ONE – Morphio VS Green

A man, bandaged from head to toe and while all the bandages weren't visible, he could safely say he had his own type of underwear! Oh yeah… nothing like silky yet scratchy, yet furry, ye- … What was he thinking about again?

Oh yeah, awesome bandages as underwear! Hell yeah!

Well, back to the point. The man was moving down a long hallway with at least a hundred paintings covering the walls; probably more if his ideas of pocket dimensions scattered about the Rest House were at all correct. Maybe.

Really, it was difficult to tell when he didn't have his usual power here. Ah well, confusion worked fine with him. The less he understood the more he knew! Of course… you had to be him to understand that contradictive statement. Suffice to say… there were quite a few "hims" running around out in the vast multiverse so at least he wasn't alone in his thoughts.

"Yooou're giggling to yourself again, cutie." A faint voice, a real one this time…. Not the usual ones that drove into his brain every second of every day. It was… much too sweet and seductive to be them. Nope, he knew who it was.


"Fiiii-Fiiii… Where are we again? Paaainting place of the worlds, right? Yeah, that place." He turned his eyes down and to the left to admire the beautiful, and scantily clad, pale woman. That white hair… so familiar, and not just because of HIS Fiona…. No, his old friend had the same hair. As white as the snow. He learned to never refer to him as 'Snow White' again. "I zoned out again, huh?"

She nodded, her well-manicured fingers moving to her lips to stifle a soft, tinkling giggle.

"You're cuuuute…"


"I know, buuut- We need to get you and Green set up for your fight now, don't we?" She smiled at him before squinting her eyes, and slapping him hard on the ass. The bandaged man yelped and immediately began to rub his rear end. "Now get that sexy butt in there and whoop some other sexy butts!"

He turned away from her, pouting just a bit, and let his mismatched eyes roam the picture in front of him. A forest filled with various plants and probably wildlife. It was green…. Oh my; it was a lot of green and… a bit of brown in the middle of the painting. He leaned in a bit closer, his hand migrating from his rump to his chin as he examined the painting; his nose nearly touched the portal. Yup, there was a large area of dead trees in the middle of the painting, and the green trees weren't quite as green as he thought at first glance. Nope! Lots of brown mixed with that green.


"It's not dead yet," he whispered with a slight smile beneath his wrapped face, "so… we can stop the death before it grows to a point of no return. Good." He let out a sigh as he felt gentle fingers sliding from his neck to his shoulder blades. Fiona was so swee—


"Ah!" The soft fingers turned to palms that shoved, and sent Morphio tumbling through the portal. The last words he heard from the other side were "Have fun Mysterious Man!"


As he fell from the sky he sure didn't feel like a superhero. Nope; superheroes didn't scream like little girls while hurtling thousands of feet towards the ground.

'Fool! You can shapeshift!'

Oops, that was his brother. Always so mean to him…. He was the older brother, damn it, he deserved respect! But then again, his little brother did have a point.


Red and white eyes narrowed as he focused his power and let his body grow smaller and smaller; feathers slid from his body while his skeletal structure shifted to that of one of his favorite avian species; the Cathartes aura, which was also known as… the Turkey Buzzard.

The creature appeared to have a mask that might be what a human's face would look like—but, you know, without flesh. The fleshy skin ended halfway down the yellow beak. His feathers weren't all that bad to look at in his opinion, and even if they were… he could fucking fly!

'Oh yeah! I'm king of the world!' The scavenger crowed as if he found himself some nice tire-marked opossum. He managed to glide between a few thick branches before slowing to a halt, and used his razor-like talons to grip onto a limb that was close enough to the earth below to, you know, not kill him if were he to shift back.

Turning his long neck left to right to be sure his opponent wasn't quite there yet, he nodded slightly before his feathers disappeared and he transformed to his former size. It was really too bad his talons turned back into feet and the branch was only about six inches around.

SNAP.
THUD.

"Ow! Fuck!" He whimpered lightly while looking back at his abused behind. "Good thing my ass broke my fall… I'm sorry butt-buddy. You just keep getting abused today, don't you?" Wow, everything he said so far sounded really, really, gay. Ah well.

He stood up and quietly brushed off the back of his trench coat, getting rid of whatever kind of dirt and grime that might have been stuck to the leather. He allowed himself to release a deep sigh while attempting to concentrate, and drown out the thousands of voices speaking within his ancient mind. Jesus, did they ever shut up?

Apparently they did, because after a moment he heard nothing but the soft hum of the wind drifting through the mess of branches above him; and with the wind came a soft, but grating melody. Honestly, the tune was perfect but the instrument that it came from seemed to have a… grinding quality? Maybe that was the word he was looking for, but he really wasn't all that certain and he didn't care all that much either.

His opponent was here and seemed quite relaxed. Arrogance? Nah, the music didn't match the soul of an arrogant man. How would he know this? He was a Solus! It was his duty to know the different types of souls and whoever the hell was playing that instrument was putting his being into it! Or maybe he wasn't.  But to him, and he was quite sure—or not—that the player here had a heart in him.

How rare.

How wonderful.

How fun.

Now if only he could whistle through his bandages, he might join his opponent for a duet. Crap! He was wasting time and yet… he was being carried to the music. It wasn't magical, there wasn't really anything forcing him to move, his body just knew how to work with the sane part of his mind to get things done when he couldn't be bothered to consciously do it himself.


It hadn't taken him too long to reach the crux of the problem, or present, or whatever you wanted to call it. Here he was, standing in front of a slender man with brown and… green hair? Green? Really, green?! That was soooo weird!

"You're finally here? Can we just settle this with words? I really don't want to fight you." The young man hadn't turned towards Morphio, nope, and he knew for a fact the kid couldn't have heard him since he was a good fifty or so feet away, and the bandaged man had made sure to keep quiet as he drew closer. So… how'd he know he was here? Oh, crap, the kid asked him a question didn't he?

"Uuuh…. Well, allow me to pause for a moment and… actually, I don't even remem- Oh, wait, yes I do! And I can't go breaking my gem, nope, I got too much at stake, I think… Nah, I do and I don't but we'll go with do! Yup, I have way too much at stake here and you might have the same. Probably do have the same since you're here!" He laughed loudly at the end of his speech. Quite happy with his clear answer to the boy's very confusing question.

The green bit of hair he could see grew much larger in area when the kid turned around. Wow, not just his fringe but a little bit up to the center? So weird. I mean really, who had green hair? Silver was much more normal in his esteemed opinion.  

Holy shit! Was that a peace sign?! Yup, it was…. Beneath the boy's neck was a pendent that he had long ago connected with hippies. It was pretty cool though; green, orange, and blue made up the color scheme of the individual sections of the pendent, or would that be a medallion? Meh, whatever. Point was it was colorful and the crazy in Morphio had him nearly appear in front of the boy, bandaged fingers sliding between his chest and the pendent while his thumbs caressed the exterior portion of it.


"So pretty!" He squealed like a little girl and brought his cheek to the metal, rubbing it back and forth, before he felt two skinny hands pressing against his shoulders. Probably the kid attempting to get him off… he wasn't THAT strong but also wasn't all that weak, and rather than force a fight earlier than he wanted, he obliged the kid and stepped back.

"For a man who feels like fighting, you aren't all that aggressive." The boy commented, a curious expression now adorning his young face. "Are you… Morphio? I believe I've heard a bit of talk about you from Winter; none of which was very flattering."

Of course this forced another pout from the man beneath the straw-hat.

"She's so freaking mean," he grumbled out and looked towards the ground, but only for a moment. His head snapped up so quick that a normal person probably would have developed a moderate case of whiplash. "And yes, I'm Morphio… Morphio Solus. Also… I haaave no clue who you are." He watched the boy move his hand over the trunk of the large tree behind him; he noticed that his eyes were squinted and he seemed to be concentrating on something while his mouth twitched slightly…. Was he holding back from talking?


Trees… and the fact he was a hippy. He was in this tournament so he had a power of some kind; he couldn't be one of those normal hippies, could he? No…. Trees, plants, grass.


"Stop talking to bushes aaaaand give me a name." Oh, that caused the teenager to react with a bit more emotion than before. Eyes snapped wide open and his head swiveled back towards Morphio. Oooh, Morphio oh so loved when he could surprise a person.

"I'm not duuumb, kiddo. Heh, just crazy. Aaaand unlike your human buddies I can sense souls and while trees don't have the souls I use… they do have essences. I'm not all that surprised, actually. I mean… sooomeone had to have that kind of ability in some dimension and world. Cool! I mean… sort of useless in a fight but still pretty damn awesome!"

"They're not useless and I'm not either." He seemed a bit angry, oh yes, but just a bit. Still a little too soft-spoken. "And you can call me Green."

You can call me? That's an odd way of telling someone your name.… Ah, it wasn't his actual name but that didn't so much matter. He just needed something to match the face.


"Well, it's nice to meet you Green! I'm Mo- I already introduced myself, didn't I? Well… uh… care to start?" He grinned beneath his bandages once more and Green tensed slightly. Boy, this kid really didn't want to fight, did he? Ah, but those eyes were so determined. He'd fight for whatever his purpose was and he'd fight hard.


"It's nice to see kids like you with that kind of fire." Oops, the kid tensed up a bit more and looked slightly… scared? Huh, probably had something to do with trees and forest fires. Man, Smokey the Bear must have traumatized the lad when he was younger.


"You said 'my human buddies,' does that mean you aren't human?" He looked and sounded a bit more relaxed now, but there was curiosity in those eyes or perhaps need to understand the unknown.


Another quirk he was beginning to notice was just how soft this kid's voice was. It sounded as if he weren't all that used to speaking to people… or maybe strangers? Guh! He needed to stop thinking and start speaking a bit more.


"Don't matter what I said now, do it?" No reason to speak properly, it wasn't as if he was getting graded on English or anything, right? That would just be ludicrous!

"Bu-"


"But you're curious, right? Ah…. Tut, tut, curiosity killed the cat!" A devilish smirk, hidden by bandages, spread across the shapeshifter's face. "But not this cat."

Those were the last words to come out of the man's mouth before his body instantly shifted into the form of a silver and black-striped tiger. He rushed forward, heavy feet crushing the grass beneath him; white and red eyes staring down its prey.

Now, some say tunnel vision is a bitch. These people are one hundred and fifty percent correct. Due to the fact he had launched himself at a good thirty miles per hour and had his concentration solely on the young man in front of him, who had actually stiffened from surprise, he probably wasn't used to the supernatural; he had never seen the branch of a nearby tree swing around and hadn't the visual feed to dodge. It didn't really help that the stupid thing was nearly a foot wide.

A little known fact about objects moving towards each other at the same speed: the collision of said objects quadrupled on impact.

Morphio felt his skull nearly crack; the large furry body went rolling backwards, head over paw and paw over head. His spine slammed into the trunk of an evergreen tree causing a low roar of pain to escape his maw. His body fell forward and all he could see for several seconds was white. He was thankful the tiger had a much denser skull than he did.

'That could be debated.'

Morphio scowled at the voice of his younger brother. Oh, right, he could scowl again. He must have shifted back when he hit the ground. Too much pain could force his transformation to expire. Still, that fucking hurt!

"What was that?!" He knew for a fact that Green hadn't commanded the tree to move! The kid was as stiff as a board! No way he had the mental prowe— Well… maybe he did. The subconscious, in a state of panic, could have tapped into whatever power he had and controlled the tree in order to smash into him…


Fuck, that was a hell of a defense. Now, how in the world was he going to manage to beat this kid in a highly populated area full of trees, vines, and grass?! Well, the grass wasn't that worrisome, but the trees were!

Now what, was that vine creeping closer to him? Was that vine slithering like a snake across the ground? Was that v-


'SHUT UP AND CUT THE DAMN THING! GODS BE DAMNED FOR CURSING MY SOUL TO BE BOUND TO YO—'

The voice was abruptly cut off as a bandage unraveled from beneath the sleeve of his jacket and shot forward; slicing clean through the plant form of a tentacle. He watched the bisected portion worm around for a few seconds before it went still.


Ah, the rest of it was coming a lot faster now and… did Green look a little constipated? Nope, that was anger.


"Ho—Shit!" Several more bandages shot out of his sleeve before whirling around like fan blades, slicing the vine, and the twenty or more that joined it, into tiny bite-sized pieces. God, what he wouldn't do to have a hoard of rabbits there right then and there.


Still, that had halted the attack and yet… the hippie's face was turning red.


"Hahah, stop getting so mad. Those things have some deep roots, they'll be fiiine…. Probably. God, I hope they're not fine because that was scary." Morphio's bandages began to slink back into his sleeve as he looked over the field between the area of trees… Well, it wasn't so much a field as it was a patch of land.


He really needed to start doing his research on his opponents if he made it out of this. His gaze hadn't left the chunky bits of vines. Several different ideas flashed through his mind before he settled on the thing that made the most sense in a very, very, twisted sort of way.

In order for him to save this world, he'd have to kill a fairly large chunk of it.


"You hurt them…" the boy said. "They didn't deserve that!" Wow. That was a lot of anger and… guilt? He wasn't just mad—he was upset, sad, and feeling guilty over what happened?


My God.


He was a hippie!

"Dude…. Did you see them? They were after my sweet virgin butt! I've seen enough hentai to know what would have happened if they reached me!" Oh, he'd seen enough all right… and probably participated in enough of those scenes… Ohohoho.

"Shut up!"

There was no doubt in Morphio's mind, which was unusual, that this fight just got a bit more serious. He looked down at his feet when he heard his pants rustling. Was the grass growing? Well of course, grass grew, that's what it did! But, uh, he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to grow that fast and it wasn't supposed to start wrapping around his legs.

Yup, the fight had just gotten much more serious. Well then…


So would he.

He couldn't fail… He couldn't stay a part of this insanity, could he? He needed to win.

He needed to be himself, and goddamned if this brat was going to take that from him! He hadn't lived for as long as he had to be stopped like this. Sure, his plan hadn't started till he got word of the rules and sure it had changed from wanting Fiona to something much more.


His first separate thought and idea from the core had occurred that day and he loved it… he wanted it. He needed it! It was selfish, it was stupid, but he needed it!

"Sorry kid." The high pitch was no longer evident in his words. It was replaced with a low, confident tone. It was either a stigma of his insanity or his true personality, neither of which were really good for his opponent.

After all… a calm Morphio Solus was a man who had the knowledge of the universe at his beck and call.

The grass was up to his hips now; the rough leaves wrapping around his legs in various methods to keep him still. That was fine…. The further they went, the closer his prey would come. He already had an idea what the grass was going to be used for, and if he was right….

Green smiled a bit to himself as he slowly began to walk forward, his steps were light. Probably too damn afraid of hurting his 'friends' to let his footsteps fall too heavy. "Sorry for mutilating the vines?" Damn, he half expected to call them his friends. Ah well… It wasn't really that important.

Morphio didn't respond, opting to glare at the boy as he drew closer and closer to him. The grass had wrapped around his limbs now and up to his neck; thankfully Green didn't seem vindictive enough to strangle him. Good, that meant Morphio wouldn't need to kill the child.


Once the boy was eye to eye with the Solus he found reason to speak, if this worked he wouldn't need to continue with his original plan. "Nope, sorry for this, kiddy kid." His hand shifted into a circular saw that began to spin rapidly; cutting into the grass, weakening its hold on that arm enough for him to turn the limb just enough to tear through the grass around his right side. He saw a bit of his coat fly with the thick foliage, but that was fine; he'd get it fixed.

Green's face once again contorted slightly with anger in his eyes, but those eyes crossed when the bandaged man slammed his head into Green's nose; breaking the cartilage and giving Morphio enough time to cut away at the grass. His focus was his torso, cutting enough so that the grass fell away around his arms.


He didn't bother to watch Green hold his nose nor did he care enough about the blood running from his forehead and eyes. He had bled before and he'd bleed again; he did care slightly about the horrible migraine he had already being intensified by his attack.


Whatever, he had enough power to shift his entire body into a small robin and flitter away from the rest of the grass and land on Green's shoulder. He grabbed the young adult's ear with his beak and tugged hard, not doing any real damage, but that wasn't the point. The point was to provide Morphio some goddamned vindication!

He flittered off before the hand could smack him away. Green managed to stem the flow of blood enough to focus on the pain on his earlobe; how the bird managed to get through Green's thick brown hair and reach his ear was anyone's guess.


Don't ever doubt the methods of a mad man.

"You know," the same low voice spoke from several feet behind Green, "I'm going to have to say I couldn't locate your gem as easily as I thought earlier… I had hoped when you got close I'd see some shiny little object, even more so when I shifted into the bird… I couldn't find it." Loud whirring could now be heard in the small clearing. "So I guess I'll have to go with my first plan." He chuckled softly, almost darkly, and brought his 'hand' saw against the pine tree. Wood chippings and sawdust flew through the air from where the huge, circular saw—much larger than it had been the first time—grinded against the wood.

"Where is it?!" he yelled over the sound of his saw. "Where'd you put the Spark Gem?!"

Damned if the kid didn't seem angrier than he was before. Seriously? Were those trees moving now? Fuck. Well, at least he needn't worry about this tree.


He smiled slightly as the sound of the spinning saw was replaced with the thunderous sound of the large tree slamming into the ground. "Tiiiiiiiiiimber! W-was I supposed to call that before it fell? Aaaaw poop."

Maybe he shouldn't have joked because the tree on the other side of him slammed forward; it literally bent around the trunk in order to do this! Trees weren't supposed to be flexible! They were fucking trees!

'Shit, shit, shit.' Morphio cursed as he shifted into a bat and used the air pressure of the moving tree to swoop out of the way and flutter as far away from the stupid thing as possible. He didn't avoid the branch of another oak tree that swiveled around and slammed into his small body. Thankfully he wasn't moving nearly as fast as his tiger form had, nor was he as big, so the impact seemed a bit so- Okay, that was a lie.


Maybe it wouldn't have hurt as much if it weren't for the fact his bones were much more brittle in this form than they were in his Tiger form, but they were more brittle and the impact with the ground sure as hell didn't help.

The second he collided back with the earth, his body shifted back into its usual form and he looked, with acceptance, towards the tree coming back down to crush him. So what if he died? Yeah, he lost the ability to make his wish but it wasn't like his soul wouldn't return to the core. He'd be recycled, then he'd be placed in another universe to guard it for a few million billion years. He'd go back and forth through time to crush his boredom, mess with a few people, then probably die again.

All for the core, after all. Only the real Morphio mattered, he was just a finger of the real Morphio, or a branch, if the joke could be made…. Right?

"No…." The shapeshifter's voice was hoarse. He watched the tree come towards him in slow motion. "No!" He yelled this time. He couldn't… he wouldn't go back to that. He had to survive; he had to fight, not for himself but… for himself! He could be different, he had the option! He couldn't let it slip through his bandages; he just couldn't let it happen!

"Know what it means to be insane!" His eyes shut tight and he focused on the essence within Green before releasing his mind upon the other man's; thousands upon thousands of souls being forced into the poor boy's mind. He didn't look up when the tree halted; nor did he see Green clutching the sides of his skull; attempting to force the pressure out.

He simply laid there for several seconds. He could feel his ribs had broken, and breathing was difficult. He hadn't really noticed before. How could he? All of those thoughts and words had taken about four seconds. Now… he could feel it all. He was confused…. He knew where he was and he knew what he had to do but for some reason it was… foggy? Mental Instability… he used it? Yes, he had to have.


The kid couldn't use his powers if his mind was being attacked; he had saved himself.… Not the core, himself! Right, he had to finish this. God, it hurt to move though. Still, he used his good arm to push himself on his side and then thrust the opposing shoulder forward so he could roll onto his stomach.

'Fucking brat… crushed my ribcage… God, that hurts.' He knew it would, he had put his entire weight on his ribs and chest when he rolled over; but it was necessary. He wouldn't have been able to roll onto his feet had he stayed on his back. This way…


He pushed himself up to his knees with his good arm while the other hung limply. That was fine.… Now that the voices were gone he managed to dredge up his memory of the boy's pendent. When he grabbed it earlier… there was another necklace there.

Not just that.

There was a Spark Gem.

He pushed himself off the ground, stumbling slightly once he stood completely up. The bandages around his face were soaked with blood. Internal bleeding? Probably. His ribs must have cut into his lungs; no wonder it was so hard to breathe. It was a good thing… he lost all control of those bandages once he used his power or else he might have suffocated on his own blood and cloth. The bandages were loosening, and once he took a few steps, they completely fell away from his face.

Had Green been able to see through his own pain, he'd have seen the grimace on the uncovered face of the Solus. He'd have seen the blood rolling down his lips, not that that was the only bit of blood. The majority of his face was coated in the red life water; the majority seeping from his hairline from the fall he took earlier; while another bit had come from his forehead after the headbutt.


But Green would have also seen the man coming closer to him. As it was, he didn't notice Morphio until there was a jerk against the back of his neck, the string that had held the Gem snapping. "T-this. This i-is—" the bandaged man turned his head and coughed hard, several globs of blood spraying from his mouth and soaking the ground, " – Mine." He dropped the Gem and slowly lifted his foot over it.


"No!"

Apparently Morphio had taken too long and the boy managed to escape the voices, or had enough willpower to fight through it, and tackled the man around the waist before he could finish the job.

Morphio felt his jagged ribs cut deeper into his lungs, forcing him to gasp for more air. But he wasn't done. Not yet, he fought too hard!  The voices were back and that meant the souls that powered him were back as well. His bandages didn't need for him to be in good health, just his shifting powers, and damned if he'd be beaten to death.

His bandages snaked out from the sleeves of his shredded brown coat and wrapped around Green's throat. The younger man managed to get on top of Morphio's chest, knees placed on either side of the bandaged man. A crude position but an effective one as he'd been laying punches into his face…. They weren't too painful, not really, the boy didn't seem suited towards physical fighting but apparently Morphio wasn't the only one that had to win.

But unlike the boy, he would kill for his goal if he had to. The bandages tightened around his neck which forced Green to stop punching in order to pry and claw at the fabric. His young face was turning blue from the lack of blood moving towards the brain and…. Yes. His arms dropped to the side.


The bandages quickly loosened enough to once again allow blood to circulate, but not enough for the boy to drop on top of Morphio. Instead he forced a few more of his bandages to grab the boy by the arms and legs and gently… okay, that was a lie—he slammed the kid into the ground at his side. The little bastard nearly killed him! The hell would he be gentle for?


'You're going to die if you don't hurry up and break his Gem…. Get back to the stupid house and heal.'  Ah, the always caring voice of his younger brother. Where the hell had Eco gone? He needed crazy happy instead of just crazy…. Or angry. Really.

'Is now the best time to be talking to yourself? You're drowning in your own blood. Move!' He did but not quickly; he was crawling across the ground. He couldn't stand anymore, his ribs couldn't support the weight, and honestly it hurt to be on his stomach, but… he had to. If he didn't he'd… he'd cease to exist. He wasn't too far, at least, only a couple feet from the gem and once it was in sight he forced his bandages from his body once more. This time the cloth shifted itself into a spear and shot forward, slamming through the gem and releasing the power Green had stored inside of it.

Once that was done he forced himself over on his back and stared up at the sky… while his throat began to fill with blood. Oops, he'd forgotten it was kind of dangerous to stay on your back when your lungs were filling with blood.

"Oh Morph-Morph! Look at you… you're hideous!"

Woo, Fi-Fi returned to save the day… and insult him. Wow, that was harsh. Ah well.… If he could respond he'd have told her that he could still give her one hell of a hentai scene.

Thankfully for his sake he couldn't talk, or the pale woman probably would have forced him to show her. It was also a good thing the world was starting to turn an amazing shade of black. Oh no wait, he was losing consciousness.

'Win or lose, kid.… Your friends are going to be just fine now....' With that thought he allowed the blackness, and the silence, to overtake him.