Ultimate Muscle Fan Fiction ❯ Rescue Rinko from the Demon Choujin! ❯ Kinniku Mantarou vs. Forestman Continued ( Chapter 3 )

Rescue Rinko from the Demon Choujin

 

All seemed lost now. Mantarou had no one around to give him motivation as he just lay there. He had taken in one of the most devastating attacks he had ever had to endure.

 

Forestman just looked down at him and grunted saying, “This isn't satisfying enough!”

 

That said, he stomped his foot on Mantarou's face repeatedly shouting, “LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE LOOKING LIKE A FREAK!!!!”

 

Mantarou couldn't believe the dishonor being shown here. His opponent was attacking him while he was down.

 

Then the kid remembered why he was in this match in the first place. He had to save Rinko.

 

Mantarou lifted up two arms grabbing Forestman's ankle. He winced when the thorns on the ankle pierced through the flesh on his hands, but he ignored the pain as he flipped the flower man onto his back.

 

Forestman couldn't believe this. How could Mantarou get up after that? Maybe this was the burning inner strength he had heard about.

 

Sadly, Mantarou had little energy to spare. He had lost a lot of blood from that last move and was breathing heavily, barely managing to stand.

 

When Forestman rose to his feet, he grimaced and said, “Next time I knock you out, you had better stay down!”

 

“Is this about the flower man remark!?” Mantarou asked, fear overcoming him once again, “Look, I'm terribly sorry for that comment. It was very rude of me.”

 

Forestman was silent for a while and looked down, arms folded, then he looked up and retorted, “NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!” sending his arm towards the kid's face.

 

But Mantarou saw an opening and thought of what Meat would suggest at a time like that. He simply bent down avoiding the arm coming back his face and grabbed onto Forestman's legs. Once again, the thorns caused his hands pain, but he ignored it as best as he could pushing forward and causing Forestman to fall forward, now mounted on Mantarou's back.

 

With that, Mantarou leapt high into the air, flipping his opponent's body in front of him, the thorns still digging into his hands. Then he placed his feet hard against Forestman's arms and aimed Forestman's head towards the mat.

 

“KINNIKU DRIVER!!!!” he yelled as he drove Forestman's head hard into the mat.

 

He finally let go, blood trickling down his hands as he breathed heavily. Now Forestman was down.

 

`What was up with that?' Mantarou thought, `He turned from calm to psychotic just like that. Maybe…'

 

Then it hit the kid. Maybe Forestman was picked on as a child. Maybe the other forest people he grew up around considered him weaker than them. Yes, Mantarou wasn't always the smartest when it came to theories of other choujins' behavior, so he didn't know that Forestman grew up around humans.

 

He'd have thought this over further had his opponent not regained consciousness, eyes glowing red. Mantarou trembled, backing up into the ropes and freaking out while Forestman slowly used his arms to push himself up into a sitting position. Then he grunted as he managed to support himself up, looking in surprisingly good condition considering what move he had just taken in.

 

Mantarou was more frightened than ever before as Forestman transformed his body into a wooden model of a human body, only he had tree leaves as hair and a bird's nest as a shoulder guard.

 

“Kinniku Mantarou,” Forestman said, “you have proven yourself to be a strong adversary, but you are not good enough to match blows with me.”

 

With that, he sent a karate chop to Mantarou's face. Since he was now made of wood, it was slightly stronger than a regular chop. Then he held Mantarou's face and slammed the face into his knee.

 

Mantarou's nose was now bleeding as he struggled to stay up.

 

“WHY WON'T YOU GO DOWN!!!??” Forestman spat as he wrapped his arms around the kid for a bear hug.

 

But Mantarou wasn't going to let this villain walk all over him anymore. He gritted his teeth as a mark appeared on his forehead. This red mark was the kanji for “Kinniku” and whenever this appeared, Mantarou would get a great burst of power.

 

Forestman was alarmed when he saw the legendary Kin mark but couldn't react as Mantarou lifted him up above his head. He then forced Forestman's legs into a splits formation and leapt high into the air. He had set Forestman up for the legendary Kinniku Buster, one of the Kinniku family's strongest finishing moves.

 

But his descent was cut short as Forestman spat, “YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE BETTER OF ME!!!”

 

That said, his body transformed back to that of a sunflower, much to Mantarou's surprise. Since it had been quite a while, Forestman's vines had returned to good health as they formed. Since the vines were ten times longer than his usual fingers, he was able to have them grab onto Mantarou's arms and pry them off of his legs.

 

Then he flipped Mantarou's body over, setting the boy up for a piledriver.

 

Mantarou's head hit the mat hard as he coughed up more blood. The Kin mark also started to vanish from his forehead as he just barely managed to maintain consciousness.

 

“You will never understand the pain and suffering I had to deal with!” Forestman snapped, “You don't know what it's like to spend your life laughed at for being different!”

 

Then it hit Mantarou. The reason for Forestman's behavior wasn't ridicule from his own kind. It was discrimination shown to him by humans.

 

But nevertheless, Mantarou had been ridiculed by his own people many times. He had been laughed at repeatedly for being an individual with different visions, made fun of for his occasionally clumsy nature and feared because of his mask. Did that lead him to start harming innocent people? No, and while Forestman's suffering was understandable, his actions were not.

 

The mark appeared once more as Mantarou slowly rose to his feet, Forestman gritting his teeth.

 

“I TOLD YOU TO STAY DOWN!!!” he spat as he started whipping Mantarou with his vines.

 

The kid simply lifted up his arms as the flesh started to cut open like trees had. But despite this pain, Mantarou ignored it.

 

“I'M GOING TO CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF!!!!” Forestman spat, but just as he came close, Mantarou grabbed onto all of his vines and crushed them against his hands.

 

“You will do nothing of the sort!” Mantarou snapped as he reeled Forestman towards him and punched the villain in the face.

 

He then hurled Forestman high into the air and leapt up at him, holding onto Forestman's legs.

 

“I understand that your past was painful!” Mantarou shouted as he wrapped his legs around Forestman's head, trapping his body in place, “Think about it! Does harming those who made you miserable make you any better than them!!??”

 

Forestman had to admit, Mantarou had a point. A tear went down his face as Mantarou descended toward the mat shouting, “MUSCLE GRAVITY!!!!” slamming the villain's head hard into the wooden mat.

 

Now Forestman's neck was covered with splinters as the part of the mat surrounding his head cracked open from the impact. Forestman was now unable to move as he lay there and uttered the words, “You have won, Kinniku Mantarou…”

 

Mantarou's eyes sparkled as he smiled and let down tears of joy. He had so many doubts during that match, but in the end, he pulled through like he normally did. He was just about to get up and leave when he heard a sound.

 

It was Forestman saying, “Thank you, Mantarou,” in a quiet voice.

 

Soon, Mantarou found himself back in the dark world as the cloaked figure appeared and said, “I must admit, I'm impressed you made it out alive. Unfortunately for you, that was only round 1.”

 

Suddenly, Mantarou's wounds open up again as he fell to the ground on his hands and knees, coughing up a bit of blood. He couldn't believe this. After that long match, his body was too weak to continue.

 

“What's wrong?” the cloaked figure asked as Mantarou let down tears, feeling sorry for himself for failing to save Rinko.

 

But just as all seemed lost, he noticed 6 figures leap into the scene as his eyes widened with shock.

 

The cloaked figure rose an eyebrow asking, “Who are these people?”

 

Mantarou recognized them all. There were the 3 I had already described, Seiuchin, Gazelleman and Terry the Kid along with 2 others who I haven't described yet.

 

One was a king of sorts. He dressed with a mantle over his back and wore a red T-shirt and red pants. Along with his king-like head that had a mask over his eyes and a crown along with red hair, he also had 2 chess pieces on his shoulders. One was a rook, which looked like a castle, and the other was a knight, which was shaped more like a knight's horse. This was Checkmate.

 

The other wore a trench coat over a black T-shirt along with black pants and blue boots. He also wore a blue mask over his face, only showing blond locks of hair. This man was Mantarou's rival, Kevin Mask.

 

But among them, which caused Mantarou to let down a tear of joy, was his trainer, Meat.

 

“HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE!?” the cloaked figure snapped, “The gate should have closed the second Mantarou entered!”

 

“I kept it open for us,” Gazelleman explained cracking his knuckles as Meat gasped, running over to Mantarou's barely conscious body.

 

“What happened?” Meat asked with worry as Mantarou grinned and said, “I defeated one of that guy's lackeys, no big deal.”

 

Then he coughed up a bit of blood while Meat started to worry more and asked, “Why are you all here?”

 

“We came to save your sorry ass,” Terry replied, “When Meat told us you were risking your life to save Rinko, we had to come and help.”

 

“You're our friend, Mantarou-san,” Seiuchin said, nodding his head and letting down tears, “We would never abandon you in your time of need.”

 

“But why is Kevin here?” Mantarou asked as Kevin replied, “The same reason Checkmate is here. We both sensed that something was wrong and insisted on helping. But don't get any ideas. I am only doing this to prove that I am still the best of the best.”

 

Mantarou let down tears of joy as he said, “You guys are the best.”

 

“Don't blubber like a baby, Mantarou,” Terry remarked, “We're best friends, and we look out for each other.”

 

“Well, since you are here,” the cloaked figure said, “I'll allow you to help. You will take on my four remaining servants, the Demon Choujin!”

 

This was his first time saying that term. Meat's eyes went wide with fear as he uttered, “D-did you say… D-demon Choujin?”

 

“Yes, you heard correct,” the man laughed as he said, “Now, pick your opponents.”

 

He directed them towards the four doors, each one inviting.

 

“I choose the one with the dessert skull!” Terry shouted as he quickly ran through the door without a second thought.

 

Seiuchin and Gazelleman looked at one-another, nodding, as Gazelleman chose the door with the eyeball and Seiuchin chose the one with the lightning rod.

 

Checkmate then realized there were only 2 doors left as Kevin placed a hand on the king's shoulder saying, “You go through the last door. I want to take on their leader.”

 

The cloaked figure hadn't considered this option.

 

He grinned under his cloak and said, “Alright, I guess I am due for some fun.”

 

That said, he whipped off his cloak to reveal a very threatening-looking man indeed. He had a body similar to that of a dragon, only he also wore red armor all around his body.

 

“I am known as Judas,” he stated, “I'm glad the Choujin Olympics champion decided to face me, otherwise I would feel very disappointed!”

 

(Yes, despite what the anime might tell you, Kid Muscle actually loses the Choujin Crown/Olympics. The anime had a different ending because due to the fact that the Japanese hated the edits made to the anime, it was cancelled before the Demon Seed arc. Anyway, don't forget to R&R, okay?)