Ninjiro: Attack of the Liquidizer

	The following day came quickly, like Ninjiro hadn't even got any sleep at all. He didn't dream last night either, not that he could recall anyhow. It was surprising, one would think the events of it would have been swirling around in his head. Perhaps everything that happened WAS the dream.

	For a second, he even hesitated opening his eyes just in case it was all a dream. However, he would soon eventually pull himself up. Rubbing the area around his left eye, he could feel the scab forming where he was scarred. His vision was still hazy, but that at least confirmed his departure from the Moon's Eye Clan did indeed happen. Now that he was focused on it, he could even feel the wound still throbbing slightly.

	While Ninjiro was happy to be gone, he just couldn't stop thinking about his old friend. They grew up together and were practically like brothers. At least, that's what he thought until his clanbrother betrayed him to the clan so easily. Could it be that this feeling of kinship was always one sided and he was just too blind to see?

	Then he began to think about this new girl: Jen. Could it be that their friendship was doomed to a similar fate? Hell, what friendship was there? They only had one conversation after he broke into her apartment, albeit accidentally. She probably only let him in out of a tired sort of delirium, when she wakes up... wait!

	Ninjiro turned his head from the back of the couch to look at where Jen was sleeping. He shook his head and did a double take when he realized she wasn't even on the couch now! Looking at the clock hanging on the wall, he could see that it was 12:17 in the afternoon.

	Pulling himself off of the couch, he stumbled forward, nearly knocking over the TV on the stand just in front of him. After stabilizing it (and himself for that matter), he saw the very same window he was hanging outside of last night. It was closed now. It looks like she was up, but where she disappeared was anybody's guess.

	Ninjiro made his way to the window, pulled the curtains, and saw that it was STILL raining outside. Placing his hand on the glass pane, he was seriously considering just leaving before he started anymore trouble. He got as far as opening the window when he heard a door open behind him. Pivoting his head back, Ninjiro saw Jen standing in the doorway holding two small white boxes with some kind of red symbol or something. Almost looked like a pagoda, it actually reminded him of the Moon's Eye compound.

	"Don't tell me you were gonna leave without letting me treat you to breakfast at least," Jen said with a wry smirk while stepping into the room.

	Ninjiro paused, staring at the boxes in a baffled stupor.

	He then asked in a confused manner, "Treating me to breakfast?"

	"Got a problem with that?"

	"I guess not," he replied, scratching the back of his neck.

	Plopping down on the couch, Jenny patted on the cushion of the seat next to her.

	Ninjiro hesitated, glancing back at the window for a second. Then he turned back to Jen, who gave a bright smile and wave in response.

	He made his back way over to the couch and sat next to her.

	"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked. "I mean, first you take me into your place, let me sleep on your couch, and now you're even giving me food! I was taught that someone being this kind to me meant they were trying to kill me! There's not poison in this food, is there?"

	"Poison? C'mon, if I wanted to kill you, I'd at least do it with my own hands. I just thought I'd give you a last meal before I kick your ass to the curb," she answered.

	"I guess that's fair."

	Popping open the boxes, she handed then one to him. Inside was a mix of noodles and vegetables, all slathered in a tangy kind of brown sauce. Then she passed a pair of small sticks.

	Ninjiro glared at the sticks with his jaw slightly agape, then cocked his head up at her.

	"What?"

	"What are these little sticks for?" he asked.

	She couldn't help but laugh as she responded, "Oh! Are you for real? You're a ninja and you don't know how to use chopsticks?! Oh wow! Never would have guessed. You use them to eat the food, dummy!"

	"We just used sporks."

	"What kinda no budget ninja clan did you come from where you're eating with sporks? Jeez, dude."

	Fiddling around with the sticks, Ninjiro just couldn't get the proper grip. He'd try picking up a noodle and it'd just flop back into the box. He'd eventually give up after attempting to pick up a piece of broccoli and it went flying across the room instead.

	Again, Jen laughed, "Did your clan happen to specialize in killing people by making them laugh to death?"

	"No! Well, actually, there was this one guy-- ahhh, forget it!" Ninjiro said in frustration just before he raised the box over the lip of his mask and slid the food down it.

	After her laughter died down, Jen lightly punched him on the shoulder and asked, "So, how did you end up here, anyway? Not like ninjas are a common sight."

	Ninjiro raised his pointer finger, still chewing on the sheer amount of noodles he shoveled into his mouth. After a solid minute, he finally gulped it down and continued.

	"Well, it all began when I left my ninja clan..."

	"Why's that? Got sick of sporks being your only utensil option?"

	"There's a couple reasons. A major one is that I just wasn't comfortable with what we were doing. Assassinations, mercenary work, and working as bodyguards for some of the worst scum you can imagine. That's not even getting into the stuff the higher ranking members don't even tell us about. To be honest, I always wanted to be something more, something different. Use my gift for better purposes."

	Jen paused, raising her pupils up at him as she asked, "You went against them like that because you thought it was right?"

	"Yeah, I guess so."

	"You go, ninja!" she enthusiastically said with a genuine grin.

	"Well, that and I honestly hated hiding in the shadows like most ninjas tend to."

	"And yet you refuse to take off the mask that hides your face in shadow. Curious how that works."

	Ninjiro tightened the hood and mask as he said, "That's different!"

	Slurping up the last of his noodles, Ninjiro promptly stood up and sighed.

	"Well," he began, "I guess it's time for me to leave now. Nice meeting ya, Jen. Thanks for everything."

	Jennifer's eyes darted to the floor as she adjusted one of her bangs, "Heh, yeah. Same to you, Ninjiro."

	As he stepped toward the window, he felt something physically tug at his waist. Thinking it as nothing, he tried continuing forward. Yet, he again felt something tug. Turning his head back, he saw Jenny pulling the long red ties hanging off of his belt.

	"Hold on, Ninji! I... I uhhh..." she stuttered. "Would you... uhhh... would you like to stay here with me?"

	Ninjiro froze, unsure how to even respond. While he had been hoping she'd want him to stay, he certainly wasn't expecting her to actually want him to. Especially after she said she was gonna kick his ass to the curb only a little bit earlier.

	The two stared at each other awkwardly, Jen letting go of the cloth ties.

	Ninjiro finally broke the silence as he asked, "What made you change your mind?"

	"Well, I mean, it's only because I know you probably haven't got any other places to stay after that little sob story. That and, ahhh, well, y'know. It's not often I meet someone who can make me laugh like you have."

	Ninjiro stood still for a moment more, until he bolted up to her, lifted her off the couch, and gave her a strong hug, "Thank you."

	Jen squirmed for a second, before she relaxed in his comforting grip. Then, she finally reciprocated, "Hey, it's nothing, man."

	After their embrace, Jen made a quick clarification, "Alright, if you're gonna stay with me, then I can't have too many people knowing. I think Mr. Easten would raise my rent if he found out I got a roommate and something tells me you aren't exactly the working type."

	"Did you forget? I'm a ninja! Hiding is one of my specialties."

	"Didn't you just say you hate hiding in the shadows?"

	"Yeeeaaah, but it's not as bad when you've got someone to hide with you. Besides, nothing says I need to hide when I'm outside of here!"

	"I don't know about that, you could probably use some new clothes at least. If you're on the run from ninjas, then it's probably best if you don't go out dressed like a ninja."

	"That and you'd look utterly stupid if you did," she thought to herself with a quiet chuckle.

	Ninjiro folded his hands nervously as he responded, "I don't have any other clothes, though."

	Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, Jenny said, "Oh don't worry about that, I think I've got some ideas..."


	Elsewhere in the city, trouble was brewing at the Omnitropos Chemical Innovations factory. Walking on a suspended bridge hanging precariously above a vat of a strange pink sludge was safety inspector dressed in an orange jumpsuit and yellow hard hat. He was slightly below average height, but he also had the shoulders of a giant. His build in general was best described as stocky.

	A name badge on his chest revealed his name to be Jake Jones, or Smalltime Jake as his friends called him. That was thanks to a lack of any aspirations. Jake never had any real goals or dreams in life. If not for the turn of fate he was about to experience, he probably would have drifted mindlessly from job to job until he died.

	Chomping down on a jelly filled donut, Jake hoisted his upper body over a thin rail guard, the only thing keeping him from falling into whatever that pink liquid was.

	Glancing up, he could see the bridge was only suspended by a few cables. Stable enough at the moment, but even the slightest upsets might be enough for them to snap. At this, he only shrugged.

	"Meh. Those'll probably hold," he said to himself.

	Looking back at his donut, he raised a brow as he continued chewing.

	"Ahhh, this fillin' ain't no good."

	He then tossed his half eaten donut into the vat of neon pink ooze, causing it to bubble. Then a huge plume of gas spat out, causing the walkway to rattle. Jake stumbled over the railway in shock. Gripping the very edge of the bridge, he tried to crawl his way back up. Yet, his efforts would be in vain as some of cables snapped, the surprise being enough to cause him to lose his grip.

	Jake fell into the bubbling pink slime, which felt like a blisteringly hot jelly. He tried to scream, but his cries were silenced as he was instantly enveloped whole by the thick gelatinous substance.

	He could feel his skin peeling away, the flesh and sinew beneath soon following. The burning was so intense, it overrode any kind of pain his nerves might have felt. That or the nerves melted away took quickly for the pain to process. One would think he'd be a dead man by now, but he could still feel himself holding on to dear life.

	His limbs, now reduced to bone, disconnected from the rest of his body in the waves. They would soon followed by his pelvis and a broken part of his spinal chord. Somehow, he managed to keep his ribcage, the remaining bit of his spinal column, and skull connected together.

	Mustering what strength he had, Jones pulled himself out of the liquid. Like a rock skipping across a pond, he leapt out of the vat and out onto the ground. Now reduced to a few mere bones wrapped in a thin membrane, he could only lay in silence on the cold concrete. A thousand thoughts were running in his head, the loudest of which being, "HOW AM I STILL ALIVE?"

	Jake could feel these thoughts not in his head, but all around him. It was a surreal experience, like his brain was now surrounding his entire body. Quieting his mind, he only had one thought, "MOVE..."

	With that, his torso rose up and he trudged forward like a slug, complete with a slime trail following behind. It was slow moving, but eventually he found himself at one of the exits. Once he made it outside, he would finally collapse in sheer overwhelmed exhaustion. Luckily, it was in an alleyway so nobody could see what he had become. As the rain poured down him, he was ready to die right there.

	Yet, something happened that would change his mind. He could feel each individual droplet of rain that fell onto him being absorbed into his membrane-like skin. It was an interesting sensation to say the least. Eventually, enough rain fell to the point that the pink goo around him was not just a thin skin, but a large glob that his bones were able to float around in.

	He found that sliding on the ground was much easier. As his body absorbed more of the rain, he would get to the point where he even tried growing limbs. An arm, or a leg, or something spat out from the goo, which he used to help pull himself forward. Then, another limb! A third would pop out and a fourth next!

	Try as he might, though, he couldn't stand on them. Each time he'd try, they'd just collapse in on his weight. Then he thought to thicken the limbs and that was enough to support him. He was a ball of slime crawling around on all fours for a moment. While practical, Jake couldn't stand how inhuman this made him feel.

	Attempting to regain some kind of human shape, he shifted his body. Naturally, the "legs" became more thick and squat to support the mass of his upper body. The upper limbs would shift into long, ape-like arms. He even managed to form three individual fingers on each hand.

	Stomping out from the alleyway, Jake wasn't even paying attention to where he was going as he tested his new body. Standing in the middle of the road, his mindless wandering would be interrupted by a horn. Turning his upper torso, he saw a car barreling towards him. He didn't have time to move as it crashed right into him.

	He braced for impact, but didn't feel a thing. Not only that, but his gelatinous body completely absorbed the impact of the hit and forced the car to stop right in its tracks. Now he focused on the bystanders, all of whom were either staring at him in total disbelief or running away while screaming.

	Jake chortled as he said, "Guy could get used to this kinda attention..."

	Then he realized, he spoke! It was with a weird, warbly kind of distortion, but he could still talk nonetheless.

	He sucked his "stomach" in and then blew it back out, sending the car formerly embedded in there flying. His lower body then quickly retracted back in with an elastic-like motion. Shooting his arm forward, he caught the car in midair and slammed it back on the ground.

	"Hey! This is kinda fun!"

	Now EVERYONE was screaming and running away, which he found himself enjoying more than any sane person should. People used to pay him no mind, some even shoving him aside like he was dirt beneath their heel. Now? He was the center of attention! Everybody couldn't help but notice him and nobody could push him around.

	Grabbing another car, Jake lifted it over his head and pointed the windshield right as his skull. He pointed at the frightened passengers inside, all of whom scrambling towards the backseats.

	"Y'see this?" he asked, pointing back to himself. "Hah! 'Course ya do! Hard not to, right? Hahahah!"

	Tossing the car over his shoulder like a discarded piece of trash, he realized he could do something even better than mere terrorizing. However, this thought would be interrupted as he felt some kind of strange sensation in one of his arms. At first, it was a strange sort of tingling before it began shaking wildly. As the limb became out of control, liquid splashed out from it wildly.

	Jake began to panic, not understanding what was going on. He tried to grab it with the opposite arm, but his hand was quickly absorbed into the quaking limb. Then he could feel the density of the liquid in the arm shifting, as if it was lowering. It went from a thick and gelatinous ooze to something looser and free flowing. It was like his arm was becoming water.

	That's because it had, the transformation completely signified by the pink color fading away into something transparent. It seems like he could absorb the rain water around and adapt to its properties. This opened a whole new set of possibilities.

	It took a minute of concentration, but he caused the limb to completely change back to its original viscous consistency.

	Then, he shifted his entire body to water. He noticed that while it was harder to maintain a wholly humanoid form like this, he could travel far quicker this way. Like a miniature tsunami, he travelled down the road and rammed down everything in his path. Where to, you might ask?

	Like any thoughtless crook, he made a beeline straight to the bank to make a minor deposit.

	He crashed in through the front, smashing all of the windows. While at first it seemed like it was just a really bad flood, everyone in the bank soon realized it was something worse when they saw the water on the floor begin to gather itself and rise up into a bipedal form.

	Reconstituting himself into his pink liquid base form, Jake stomped over to the front desk. The teller was huddled behind it, shaking. He picked her up, grabbing her by the back of her shirt.

	"Give me all your money," he demanded, staring her down with the black pits that were his eye sockets.

	He then dropped her as he realized, "Wait a sec, I ain't no ordinary robber! What'm I askin' for here, eh? I can just take whatever I want!"

	 Pausing for a second, he snatched the teller back up to ask, "Where's the vault in this crummy place?"
	Wordlessly, she pointed to the back.

	"Thanks."

	Gently setting her on the ground for her help, Jake would make his way to the back to steal whatever he could...

	Back at Jen's apartment, she and Ninjiro were watching TV when a special news broadcast interrupted their watch session.

	"--and I am here live at the Secure Solutions bank," the reporter on the screen said. "There is currently a crime in progress in this area and according to eye witness reports, the perpetrator is some kind of blob monster!"

	Jen groaned, "Ugh, what kind of monster movie are they trying to promote now?"

	Then, back on the TV, the reporter was shoved aside by the mutated Jake Jones. Completely filling the screen, he had to hunch down to even get his face into view. Not that it helped much as his insides were obscured by the dollar bills and gold coins scattered within him.

	"Hey! Don't turn that camera off! Keep recordin'!" he yelled. "To all my friends who said I wouldn't make it? Just check me out now! Screw you! I ain't Smalltime Jake no more! Call me Bigtime Jake!"

	"Th-that name sucks..." the camera man quietly protested.

	Jake grabbed the camera and shoved the camera man onto the pavement. Aiming it over his head, he glared up and said, "Y'know what? Maybe that asshole has a point. Jake was nothin', but I'm a somethin'! Yeeaah! Call me LIQUIDIZER!"

	Last thing to be seen was him raising the camera up further and then throwing it down as the screen went black.

	Ninji and Jenny just gazed vacantly at the screen for a second until Ninji spoke up.

	"I, uhh, I think that was real."

	"Yeah, no, that was actually real."

	Ninjiro hopped up from the couch, again nearly knocking over the TV in the process. He caught it before it fell, but that didn't stop Jen from giving him a nasty sneer for his troubles.

	"You know how much that thing cost?"

	Ninjiro waved his hand as if he was literally brushing it aside, "Aaah, forget about that, there's more important things! Someone's gotta stop that freak!"

	"And that someone's gotta be you, right?"

	"Right!"

	"Well, I guess you did say you wanted to put your abilities to better use. Can't think of a better one than that."

	"You really do get me."

	"Just don't get yourself killed out there! I'll be really mad at you if you do."

	Running backwards, Ninjiro only gave a nod and two fingered salute as he leapt out the window.

	Jen ran up to the window's ledge and looked out, seeing him fade away into the distance as he swung off.

	Ninjiro had no idea where he was going, seeing as how he just moved here and all. How could he know where Secure Solutions was? That wouldn't matter, as long as he could find a clear path of destruction.

	Thankfully, the storm had finally dissipated so that made the search much easier. It didn't take long for him to see trails of smoke rising up, followed by the sounds of gunshots and sirens. It'd be a safe bet that this creep was probably in that general area.

	Swinging towards the sounds and sights of destruction, his suspicions would be confirmed as he heard that distinct warbling kind of voice he heard on TV screaming something as he approached.

	Landing on the road with a three point crouch, Ninjiro looked up at carnage surrounding him. Cars were scattered across the area, some even tossed into nearby buildings. Fire hydrants were torn from the concrete and debris was everywhere.

	Yet, he didn't see Liquidizer anywhere. That was until he saw a large shadow cascade behind him. Standing up and turning around, Ninjiro turned stiff as he gawked at the monstrous behemoth looking down at him. It looks like he didn't destroy those hydrants just for destruction's sake.

	"Heh, wow..." he began, "you look even bigger than you did on TV."

	"It's the result of my new liquid diet," Liquidizer retorted, revving his massive hand back.

	Ninjiro readied himself, closing his eyes and holding up his two fingers.

	As Liquidizer swung his hand forward, Ninjiro gracefully leapt over it and rammed a fist right into his towering opponent's stomach as soon as he landed. It would have been quite effective if he weren't punching something akin to jelly.

	Unfortunately, Liquidizer only scoffed at this sorry attempt of an attack and sucked the ninja into his body. Ninjiro was taken by total shock at this, barely able to let out a scream as he was absorbed into Liquidizer's mass.

	Liquidizer would then spit Ninjiro out of his backside, but not before the ninja was able to snag a single hundred dollar bill. At first, the monstrous mountain of mush carried forward like nothing happened but then something caused him to stop.

	It was Ninjiro calling out to him while snapping that crisp bill, "I think you dropped somethiiiiiiiiing!"

	Liquidizer's entire upper body unnaturally twisted backwards to face Ninjiro. He balled his hands into fist as he screamed, "Hey! That's money I rightfully stole! Give it back!"

	"You're gonna have to catch me first!"

	Ninjiro started running, throwing a red band into the air as he swung away. Liquidizer gave chase and quite loudly at that.

	Ninjiro didn't even know where he was leading this monster, but there had to be something he could do. Unfortunately, what felt like a surge of water blasted him in the back before he even had a chance to react. This caused him to twirl around and then come crashing down onto the road right on his back.

	Looking up, he saw Liquidizer standing over him with his forearm raised up. It looked different, more runny and clear. Evidently, that WAS water that hit him. Not only could he absorb liquids, he could even become them.

	"You bother me, little man. This ain't just about the dollar now. I'm gonna make you regret even bein' born!"

	Ninjiro rolled out of the way just as Liquidizer blasted a geyser of water out of both of his arms directly in the spot the ninja once laid. Using this opportunity, he tried attacking from behind with a rapidfire explosion of every kick and punch he could muster, but nothing really registered.

	Liquidizer only growled in response, "You really thought, huh?"

	Now understanding how dire the situation really was, Ninjiro ran for his life. He had to think of a solution quickly or else he'd be done for! Thankfully, an answer would come soon as he heard a mechanical sort of churning in the distance.

	It was a cement truck! He had to be quick, though. Looking back, he could see Liquidizer absorbing some water spouting from a hole where there was once a fire hydrant.

	Then he could hear the sounds of water whirling towards him like some kind of tornado. He threw an arm band forward and used it to slingshot himself to the truck in record time. He forward rolled onto the ground, right next to a lever towards the back of the truck.

	Reshaping himself into his normal form, Liquidizer stood in the middle of the street, his legs spread apart and his arms set far out at his sides. He was downright fuming by this point. Not only that, but he was notably smaller than before due to both having used so much of himself for that guiser attack and the general splashback from swirling himself forward. Even worse, almost all the money he had acquired was now spread about everywhere!

	"You're looking a bit malnourished, ugly!" Ninjiro quipped, confidently leaning against the truck. "Maybe your liquid diet could use something a bit heavier!"

	Ninjiro pulled the lever, causing a slide to roll out from the back of the vehicle. Liquid cement slowly poured down.

	Liquidizer growled, "No two-bit freak in mask is gonna push me around! I'm better'n you, you just don't know it yet!"

	Stretching his arm forward, he absorbed the cement and turned his whole body into it.

	"Y'might make for a poor ninja, 'least that's what I think you're goin' for, but lemme tell ya: you're gonna be a great decoration atop my new mansion's fountain!"

	Liquidizer attempted to spew cement on top of the ninja, yet Ninjiro was much too fast. Not even a drop of the stuff got on him. By this point, the stone lummox realized his reflexes were greatly reduced and were only gonna get slower from here.

	"I didn't know this stuff dried so quickly!" he said, the panic in his voice all too clear. "It can't happen like this! No!"

	He tried to search for a source of water, but he found that his legs unable to move. In one last desperate attack, he reached his hand out to try grabbing Ninjiro but was completely solidified before he could even fully raise his arm.

	Ninjiro gave a heavy sigh of relief as he looked upon his now statuesque foe. Triumphantly placing his arms akimbo, he chuckled as he said, "Gonna need a new name after that. How about the Concrete Cretin?"

	That's he heard when the news vans start rolling in. For just a second, Ninjiro considered sticking around to flaunt his ego a little, but decided it was best to lay low for the moment. He leapt up into the air and swung away.

	Unbeknownst to him, watching this unfold from the distance was a hooded figure standing atop one of the many roofs in the area. Dressed in dull browns with black gloves and boots, the most remarkable thing about this unusual character was their "face." It was a mask cast in bronze and sculpted with a permanent open mouthed demonic grin. Two black holes for eyes and simple pair of skeleton-like nostrils rather than a complete nose completed their scary visage. Hanging above it, just sticking out from the hood, was long, stringy, and messy black hair.

	Glaring at the departing ninja, the mysterious figure said to themselves in a distorted and deep voice, "Not bad."

	With that, the unknown watcher ran in the opposite direction and jumped high into the sky with the assistance of the springs embedded in their heels. This freak has clearly taken a vested interested in Ninjiro, but whether that's as a friend or a foe remains unclear...