Chapter 66 - “Brothers”

(AN.: Ego is the tank-like creature that Spencer 'obtained' when he first arrived at the planet. I am aware of the similar entity in the Marvel Universe, but I don't really understand your issue. :) It's like saying that there's a Ben in my town, so there can be no more Ben's in the neighboring ones. Though that comment cracked me up quite a bit. :D)

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In the tranquil peace of the colorful jungle biome, a powerful roar could be heard reverberating. Following the dominating battle cry, a translucent ring made of energy shot forward crashing into a giant ape-like monster. The energy seamlessly entered the body of the black-furred creature, and in the next instant, it promptly fell to the ground. White foam began to gather at the edge of its lips, its black pupils received into the upper recesses of its skull, leaving only a marble sclera.

Looking at the other side, a purple tiger-like beast could be seen roaring fearsomely at the trembling beast. On its back, a platinum-haired humanoid figure was sitting, yawning uninterestedly at the sight.

"Just finish it, Tiger, we still have quite a distance to cover." He spoke insipidly, ignoring the ape-beast who was probably on its deathbed.

Approaching its enemy, Tiger quickly bit at the ape's skull, sinking its large fangs and shattering its skull and brain, killing it instantly. As the ape's trembling died down, Tiger released its jaws from its head. It looked at the side, with a happy, expectant glint shining in its right eye, hoping to receive its master's praise for a job well done.

Noticing it, the figure, Spencer, smiled faintly and patted its head lightly a few times.

"Alright, alright, you did a good job. Calm down, big boy. I gotta say, that sonic blast thingie you can do, is really powerful… Causing a seizure and incapacitating the enemy in one shout… I love it!"

Spencer had numerous ideas already about the possible uses of such a skill. He couldn't be sure about its current strength, and what sort of defenses would such a blow require to withstand, but he was sure that if he brought this skill back to Earth, not many would be able to take it and keep standing.

With some tinkering and experimenting, if he could combine the effects with the Martian's psionic mind-altering abilities and also figure out how to increase the range of the skill, he could deal with groups or even armies with much less effort and wasted energy.

Realizing its greater usefulness to him than he previously thought, he promptly entered his DNA archive and searched for the sample of Tiger that he had retrieved. Gently grasping it and channeling enough energy into the sample to cause it to greatly increase in its size and quality, bringing out the strongest traits hidden in the genome. Completing the process, he quickly left the archive and came back to his senses. Spencer filled with an urge to test this new ability. He hopped off of Tiger's back and walked over to a collection of the nearby trees. Taking in a sharp breath, he released an immense wave of sonic energy from his mouth, but unlike Tiger's, he released not only one, but twelve consecutive blasts of energy, completely mincing the area in front of him as the rings could be seen surpassing the height of the trees around them.

Satisfied with this new deadly addition to his arsenal, Spencer returned to Tiger's back and lightly patted the back of its head, causing it to continue slowly pace forward towards the direction they had been going for the past several hours already. As they passed by the now-dead carcass, Spencer reached out at its directions. The solid, dead body liquefied quickly and flew towards Spencer, merging with him. Unfortunately, besides getting high on the feeling, he could gain nothing from the defeated creature. Its strength was good, but he had no trait that would provide him with anything he didn't already have.

Several hours have silently passed by as the two charged through the forest. While most of the beasts knew better than to stand in the way of the tiger, there were the occasional ones that decided to try his luck. Obviously, all these efforts resulted in Spencer collecting even more DNA samples from the various creatures of this planet.

Eventually, by the time the singular star decided to dive below the horizon they reached the foot of a vast-looking mountain. Its highest peak pierced through the clouds, hiding from the curious gazes from the ground.

Stopping in front of the challenging sight that he more than likely needed to overcome, he jumped off Tiger and released another psionic pulse. A moment later, his face curved into a smile, the strong signal he found was definitely up ahead. The only problem was that instead of being above on the mountain, he sensed it coming from below the ground, deep in the depths of the planet.

"Maybe there's a cave system that would lead down? I do feel several, weaker further ahead. Is this a hidden tribe?"

An anticipatory look flashed through his eyes as he looked ahead. The strength of the signal gave him a chilling feeling, something he could rarely feel nowadays. His expectations were already sky-high, the thought that there could be something out there that could possibly threaten his life made him barely be able to contain his joy.

Instead of immediately rushing forward and searching for the supposed cave somewhere in the mountain range, he walked back and sat down, leaning against the closest tree. The purple tiger lied down to his right, gently pushing its large head in his lap.

Smiling, Spencer began gently caressing its head, as he continued looking at what awaited him tomorrow. His thoughts began to go back to the story about that godly being. The records stated that he first ventured to the south and wasn't heard about for decades until he emerged and dominated the entire planet.

"Could there be any relation? Or maybe it's just my wishful thinking? The signal is definitely stronger than what I could feel from that Elder, so if nothing else, at least it would serve as a decent challenge."

He didn't know how long he was lost in thought, but the next moment he awoke and looked up, he could only see the clear night sky. A small smile curved his lips, the silhouette of the proud, and powerful lonesome woman, Sasha appeared in his mind.

"Although I got what I wanted from them, I should still at least say my goodbyes before I leave. They were surprisingly helpful after all…"

With the woman and her tribe crossing his mind, the constant memory of an enthusiastic little girl whose thirst for knowledge was only outmatched by a certain martian scientist resurfaced, causing a rare genuine smile to form on his face. Soon enough, Spencer closed his eyes and entered a sleep-like state, resting for the remainder of the night.

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Suddenly he was woken by the excessive roaring of two familiar presences. Two beasts, both sounding familiar, were growling at each other. As his eyelids fluttered and pulled apart, he saw as Tiger was standing off against a huge black tank-like beast, growling at each other menacingly, but none dared to take a step forward. That was until Ego abruptly rushed at Tiger with pure primal aggression, slamming its massive arms into Tiger's much smaller frame with full intention to kill. This quickly sent Tiger rocketing into one of the smaller rock formations.

Now beating its chest aggressively, Ego immediately rushed towards where he had flung Tiger, jumping into the air whilst raising his two massive front arms over its head. However, before he could slam into his target, a sonic blast knocked him off course, causing him to maneuver and land on his hind legs. Ego looked up in surprise as he watched Tiger rush back at him whilst blasts of sonic waves repeatedly slammed against his face.

Casually shrugging these off, Ego was beginning to grow annoyed by the fact that Tiger was still breathing; Tiger on the other hand was breathing heavily from receiving that first hit. Ego's eyes suddenly glowed a dark red hue as his frame quickly began to bulk up before he began releasing a type of steam from his mouth. Wasting no more time, Ego rushed at Tiger with a speed shocking for his size. He grabbed Tiger's leg as he tried to evade, whilst holding Tiger in place, Ego abruptly slammed him into the ground before jumping into the air and forming into a massive armored ball.

Plummeting towards the still disoriented Tiger, Ego let out a bone-chilling roar in anticipation of the gore that was about to come. But before it could finish its opponent, his trajectory was suddenly warped, sending Ego flying violently off his intended target.

Drawing focus to the cause of this, Spencer could be seen yawning, he casually scratched the back of his head as he turned to look at the battered Tiger in a small crater next to him. Crouching down and healing Tiger, Spencer then turned his attention to Ego who had regained his composure, he then waved at him to come over.

Tiger who had just recovered got up and began growling at the approaching Ego, which he had also reciprocated in a much more aggressive manner.

"Oh cut it out you two. Tiger, this numskull is Ego, your…" he looked at the beast for a moment thoughtfully, then as the thought crossed his mind he continued with a chuckle. "...your brother I suppose? Whatever you may want to call him, he was my first companion before you, so be respectful and don't fight each other okay?"

Then looking at the large beast, he patted its armored head with tender care.

"And you! How the hell could you sense me? It seems that it wasn't just the flower that allowed you to find me… Ego, you hold even more mysteries than I originally thought!"

Then, he gave a light slap on the top of its head and looked at the wincing giant with a solemn stare.

"Still, don't fight against Tiger! He was just trying to guard me!"

With an intelligent look in his eyes, both Ego and Tiger nodded at their master's words and took their places to his left and right. While they ceased their fighting, it was obvious they were not on friendly terms. They gave a threatening glance at each other from time to time.

Deciding to not bother with their shenanigans, and let them solve their disagreement by themselves, for now, Spencer looked at the mountain once more. After confirming that the strong signal did not change locations during the night, his eyes reached towards the top, as if trying to look through the clouds.

"Ego, Tiger." He addressed both while keeping his attention towards the peak. "I will go ahead alone. Both of you, stay here and wait for me. I will be back, hopefully shortly..."

As his words faded with the air, his figure was already gone, only to reappear high above the sky. A purple streak could be seen bolting towards the mountain range, Spencer's energy shrouded his figure with a protecting layer of a coat as he charged towards his next (hopefully) worthy adversary.