The Snake Man's Tragedy - Great Encounter Battle Arc

Hiroshi stepped back up to the ring. He coughed and spluttered. The dust in the air was almost unbearable. He watched his opponent enter the ring, slithering in like a snake. Hiroshi gasped. 

His spine was so flexible! He slunk his way into the corner, not taking his black, bulging, angry eyes off Hiroshi. He stuck his tongue out at him; however, it was nothing like a human tongue. It was split into two at the tip, and it was long and wiggly, and vibrated upwards and downwards.

“Well, his name suits him perfectly,” Hiroshi joked to Kuro-Yami. “How should we take him on?” 

Kuro-Yami studied the Man with the Snake Tongue, looking for any form of weakness.

“Hmm, I don’t see anything too special about him, minus the fact that he can contort his body all weird. We need to attack him first to understand any weaknesses he may have. Remember, Hiroshi, do not use the darkness yet. Conserve your manna,” Kuro-Yami advised him, similar to a coach during a boxing match.

“Got it, coach,” Hiroshi smirked, playing along with the façade. He looked towards Alexander, who was already screaming into his microphone passionately.

“May the first match of the Second Round begin!” he yelled, slamming his hand down in the air, indicating the start of the match.

Hiroshi didn’t waste a second. He rushed forward, attempting to cover the ground as soon as possible. However, the Man with the Snake Tongue stuck out his tongue and side stepped quickly and landed a hard kick to Hiroshi’s stomach. He flew backwards, gasping for breath, and hit off the ropes on the opposite side of the ring. 

He got up swiftly and went for another attack. His opponent stuck out his tongue once more, vibrating quickly, and he landed an uppercut, straight into Hiroshi’s chin.

Hiroshi grunted and reeled back in pain. He got into a defensive stance, expecting the Snake Man to attack back with immediate effect.

The attack never came.

The Man with the Snake Tongue simply got onto the ground, slithering around the ring, circling him. Why didn’t he attack? It was a perfect opportunity too. 

However, just as Hiroshi’s thought process was just finishing, the Snake Man launched himself against the ground, and bit Hiroshi’s ankle. He yelped in pain and reeled back. He got space and examined his ankle.

There were bite marks. Specifically, fang marks.

“What the…hey, you better not be venomous!” Hiroshi cried out, which was responded with a laugh from his opponent.

“Oh, you’re so funny! I have never had that reaction before!” the Man with the Snake Tongue giggled, revealing his fierce fangs. Hiroshi knew that laugh all too well. 

It was a laugh hiding their inner pain. 

“I am not venomous, nor am I poisonous. I may be a monster, but I do not have the ability to kill people with my fangs.”

“A monster…you’re not a monster,” Hiroshi replied bluntly. The Snake Man was taken aback. Nobody had ever said that to him before.

“Shut up! You don’t mean that!” he retorted, his tongue licking the ground. He charged forward, his mouth opened wide, as if he wanted to swallow Hiroshi whole. Hiroshi backed off. He suddenly had a light bulb moment.

“That’s it! Hey! How do you like that tongue of yours?” he yelled out to the Snake Man. The man was surprised at Hiroshi’s seemingly random question; however, he obliged to answering.

“I hate it!”

“People bullied you for being different…didn’t they?” Hiroshi’s voice suddenly turned almost sympathetic and caring.

“What? What does that have to do with anything?” Suddenly, the Snake Man froze. He began to have a flashback, one that he chose to forget.

He was in the laboratory with his father. His father was a very smart man and wanted to eliminate the barrier between animals and humans. The younger version of him always loved helping out in the lab, desperately trying his best to aid his father towards his goal.

“Baby boy, I feel like I’m so close!” he jumped up and down with excitement. “With a couple more months of study, I can make a potion that can make humans understand animals! Isn’t it wonderful?” He embraced his son tightly. He loved and cared for him more than anything in the world.

Even after the accident.

One day, the boy knocked over a sample of the potion his father was brewing, and it got on his hand.

His spine completely contorted, and his teeth grew sharper. His tongue changed into the shape of a snake.

“I’m so sorry, my baby boy! I’m so sorry!” The boy’s father cried, but no amount of crying could save the boy. The potion brewed was a disaster. The next day, he was sent back to school. The children laughed at him.

“What a weirdo!”

“Creep!”

“Ewww! Disgusting! Look at that tongue flicker!”

“Gross!”

The Snake Man seemed to tear up. That was ten years ago. Despite his father’s constant search for a cure for his accident, there was no success.

“It was my fault! My father is an amazing man! His studies could one day have bore fruit, and we could speak to animals! But I caused the accident! His studies are now focused on curing me, and my stupid tongue! I hate myself!” he wailed. 

Hiroshi walked over, unsheathing his sword.

“H-Hey wait! Please, don’t kill me! I just wanted to win the Tournament to prove to people I can be like them still! That I'm strong! That I'm a normal person!” his tongue hissing at Hiroshi.

Hiroshi hunched low and used his sword as a balance as he put it into the ground.

“Hey, look at me.”

The Snake Man quivered in fear. He slowly looked up to Hiroshi and gasped in shock.

Hiroshi was smiling at him. 

He put his hand on the Snake Man’s shoulder. His smile wasn’t full of evil intent or malice.

It was a smile of kindness and sympathy.

“You are not at fault. Your father, pausing his studies to cure you. What a wonderful person. He must have raised you just as well…isn’t that right, Jeremey?”