Chapter Text
Zanka's pov.
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“I ain't green enough.”
....
Those words seemed to have comforted Remlin a bit, although only slightly, for having given me a different spell. But what I said wasnt for comfort— it was simply the truth. I'm not strong enough, I shouldn't be relying on whatever spell to win any fights, that'd be pathetic. Has to be my own strength. If I were strong enough, then I wouldn't be in the infirmary— the only one in the infirmary.
This is just like with Hyo— I wasnt strong enough to beat her back then, but now I gotta be strong enough to beat 𝘩𝘪𝘮.
Jabber Wonger. That insane son of a bitch. Just thinking about him sends Shivers down my spine. His crazy bright pink eyes piercing into mine, almost just as sharp as when mankira pierced my skin, injecting me with those nasty neurotoxins of his. What was it made from again? The gloopy gloop thing...mud snake...and a gottatrip mushroom....Ugh. The freak was practically hard as a rock during our fight!... No excuse to lose though. I 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 lose. As a Nijik-.... Let me rephrase, as a cleaner, I should never show such weakness. Especially when I could be getting stronger. That stupid Jabber Wonger and his stupid eyes, and his stupid neurotoxins, and his stupid—
“Zanka! Helloooo, earth to zanka?”
... Ah.
Turning to look at the voice, I saw my mentor. Enjin. He had his usual friendly smile plastered on his face, albeit a tinge of worry.
“enjin, sorry, s’just zoned out.”
I huffed out awkwardly with a small chuckle, my southern drawl seemed to seep out as I spoke, a result of my fatigue
, I suppose. I don't want to dissapoint anybody any further, so I 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to be
a-okay. It's either that or die of embarrassment from dissapointing THE enjin. My mentor.
“yeah, I could tell.... Seemed pretty zoned out, you sure the toxin's are 100% out of your body? Not that I'm doubting Eisha's work, I mean! It's just a little worrying.”
Worrying. Worry. Worried. THE enjin said he was worried. About 𝘮𝘦!!!! Enjin being worried about an average Joe like I am, hah! THEE enjin! I could not emphasize it more, THE enji— okay, snap out of it zanka. You HAVE to be cool. Lock the hell in.
“uh, yeah. No worries. Even for an average Joe like me, toxins like that shouldn't leave too much of a dent. I'm just a little tired.”
“Well, thats good to hear! But, I just have to tell you kid.... Try not to push yourself too much, okay? You're hurt, you have to heal. And being hurt and healing doesn't make you any weaker or more of an... Average Joe, or so you say. Just means you're strong enough to live after getting hurt, and strong enough to heal from it. Seriously though, kid. No sneaking out to train. I 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 be asking eisha to keep an eye on you if you try to go and walk away from this bed, alright?”
Enjin chastised me in a stern, but not an unkind tone. Like some worried paren- I mean mentor!... Way to go zanka, burdening eisha like that.... But then again... THE enjin is worried enough to ask someone to keep an eye on me... Enjin..!!! He even stayed after everyone had left to tell me to rest up and—..
Enjin then patted my head.
.......Oh my word. Enjin patted my head... That means... That means he 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 be proud of me! Way to go zanka!!! First he stays, then he tells me to take care of myself, and NOW he pats my head?!? Wait. Keep a cool head, zanka. Do NOT giggle.... Gotta hold it in...! Lock in!
That's strange, enjin is looking at me weird. Oh no— did I let my expression shift?! Godda—!!
“anyways, I have to leave you to rest now. Remember, take care of yourself, alright? See you when you're better, zanka.”
Then enjin headed out the door. I slumped in my bed in relief after that roller coaster... Maybe I should rest, after all, enjin specifically stayed behind to tell me to rest, how could I not?
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Third person pov.
It had been two weeks since zanka was out of the infirmary, having healed enough to be able to go on missions again, only with a light warning to not overexert himself too much so that he wont reopen any of his stitches. He could live with that. Zanka couldn't stand being cooped up in the infirmary for ang longer, after all, so he felt like he was finally stretching his limbs after so long.
He sat in his room, polishing his Lovely Assistaff— he felt that she needed to be pampered after not being used for so long. She was practically buzzing with urgency to get into action. It soothed zanka, spending time with his Lovely assistaff always soothed him. The way she buzzed under the pads of his fingertips, the familliar feel of her wood, smooth from the years of TLC and maintenance— nothing could soothe him more than sweet time spent with her, so as he wiped her down with polish, he mumbled some words of appreciation of his Lovely.
“'m sorry I haven't used you in action fer so long, Lovely. S’just sick and needed to heal for a bit...”
He once again felt the calming buzz of his jinki through his hands, sighing in relief
“Mm. Yer the sweetest staff to exist, lovely. The loveliest.”
He was basking in the moment. Here he was, all healed up, holding and pampering his Lovely assistaff in the privacy of his own room.
Unfortunately, the moment didn't last when a certain red haired cleaner knocked on his door— riyo.
“hello, zanka! How you doing?”
Riyo leaned against the doorframe, spinning the ripper in her hand. She was the same as usual, giving off that laid back demeanor. Although her eyes always held this sharpness to them, this underlying look only someone with years of experience could get— a look no teenage girl had any business of having.
“pretty good, actually. Was just polishing up lovely over here.”
Zanka set down the cleaning rag on his night stand before standing up, lovely assistaff in tow— if she was buzzing from pent up energy earlier, she was practically singing tunes now, aching for a fight.
“ooh, doesn't she look fancy? Well, lucky for you, you have a mission with me today! Just a small clean up at that town by the east. But they decided to just sed two cleaners because of the sheer amount of trashbeasts in the area.”
Lovely assistaff hummed in Contentment, and so did zanka. After being cooped up at HQ for so long, he and lovely were finally getting some action!
“well then, let's not keep that town waiting now, yeah? Cmon.”
Zanka huffed out, already in a chipper mood. Riyo chuckled at this, seeing right through him— he was itching for a fight, and a fight he will get.
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The pair had arrrived at the front desk where semiu had explained the mission— a bunch of medium sized trashbeasts showing up in the east, people complaining, and a casual remark about zanka's wounds. It sounded more like a treat to him if anything.
The team for this clean up were the two cleaners from team Akuta, and three supporters— tomme, Gris, and follo.
The three of them prepared to leave, zanka with his Lovely assistaff, riyo holding the ripper, tomme already with her note keeping notebook, follo and his hammer, and last but not least, Gris and his sheer amount of strength.
But before the five of them could step out, semiu called out:
“oh, and just a reminder to the team— no getting into unnecessary altercations, alright?”
Zanka's confused expression went as quickly as it came, he gave semiu a curt nod before heading off with the team.
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The mission was doing great so far, zanka and riyo were a great pair for demolishing trash beasts, getting the job oh so quickly everytime.
After slaying one last trash beast with lovely assistaff, she was reverberating with joy! And honestly, so was zanka. He had fun cleaning up all these trashbeasts. Now, all he had to do was check in with riyo to see if she was also done.
“hey, riyo! Are you—”
He paused. He didn't see riyo or the other supporters— strange, he couldve sworn he had just seen them.... Instead, he didn't see nothing. Or hear. He let out a heavy sigh, turning to walk a bit to find them. He must've strayed from the field a bit too much if he were to lose them.
Aside from this minor set back, he had a pretty productive day. He had polished his Lovely assistaff, he was almost fully healed, spent time with his fellow teammate, and he even got a good fight!
The soft crunch of trash underneath his boot crunched with every step. Problem is, he wasn't walking. It was somebody else's footsteps he was hearing.
His suspicions here proven right the moment he heard the voice of Jabber fucking Wonger.
“Yo! Who is that I spy with my little eye?! Is that Mr. Bad attitude I'm seeing?!”
Lo and behold, jabber Wonger in the flesh— he looked almost happy to see zanka, a wide grin on his face, mankira already activated and holding some sort of God knows what concoction, and his signature shit eating grin. Jabber was practically salivating at the sight of zanka's displeased face.
Jabber had launched into his theatricals, barely letting zanka speak before jabber had started to beg for a fight.
“c'mon, zan-zan! We've GOT to fight, man! Especially after you left me hanging in that trashbeast—barely lasted after I gave you a good ol’ prick from mankira over here”
Zanka's face contorted into the most disgusted look he could've ever conjured.
“shut yer trap, jabber. No way am I fighting with YOU.”
Zanka snapped, scoffing and turning away from Jabber with a huff
“awh, but c'mon, Mr. Bad attitude! Just think about it! A good old fashioned fight! You and me, fighting like we got no time to loooose~!”
Jabber crawled out his last word, giving zanka a knowing, pointed look, a lazy smirk on his lips as he tilted his head, some of his gold hair cuffs clinking together.
Zanka was about to retort, but jabber had already lunged forward, a crazed expression on his face once again— to be fair, jabber always had a crazed expression. It just seemed to double when lunging towards zanka.
Zanka quickly activated his beloved assistaff and blocked jabber's blow— sparks errupted from the clash of metal against metal, with lovely assistaff’s metal handle scraping against mankira's sharp blades, creating this horrible screeching sound that Zanka winced at, and Jabber revelled in.
If it weren't for zanka's reflexes, the hit would've been fatal, combined with the toxins from mankira and the sharp blades she had, he would've been done for.
Jabber let out a low whistle, his eyes half lidded as his eyes grazed over zanka's form— perfect stance, with vice like grip on lovely assistaff, and he was giving jabber a look that felt oh so satisfying for the masochistic man— a look of pure, unadulterated disgust, as if he were a mere shitstain, And he loved every second of it.
“oh, stop it, zan-zan~! You're making me— BLUSH!”
Jabber unleashed a torrential amount of attacks on zanka, immediately pushing him on the defensive. Zanka cursed under his breath, his eyes narrowing at jabber.
Zanka had taken notice of the millisecondsecond jabber had paused, and used that split second to whack lovely assistaff’s spikes into his shoulder, dislocating his arm, all while jabbing sharp spikes into the wound. Zanka then struck up to jabber's jaw, making him cough up blood.
Jabber coughed, and zanka lunged. Jabber, however, didn't hesitate to activate mankira's full form. Forming a barrier of claws.
“shit... ! Ive got to go to riyo...”
Zanka cursed under his breath, he was worried about where his team mates were. He was out here indulging a masochist while God knows might be happening to them..!
“what this, zan-zan?! Thinkin about another woman while fighting 𝘮𝘦?!”
Jabber swung mankira's giant body to zanka. Zanka had dodged, albeit it was more of a reflex than a calculated move.
Jabber gave him a shit eating grin. And a face that made it obvious he was either going to say something so unbelievably dumb or so unbelievably infuriating— maybe both if hes bored enough.
“yknow, zan-zan. Youre kind of boring me. Maybe little miss bang bang braids would be a better toy!”
Zanka snarled at that, shivering at the mere thought of jabber abandoning their moment to fight with riyo instead of him.
“oh no, yer arent!”
Zanka yelled out, lunging towards jabber and ramming assistaff’s prongs in his stomach.
Jabber grinned, he grinned as if he was a kid that had successfully gotten a piece of candy. He was purposefully irritatinh zanka, and it was working!
“Boo, zanka! Pretty weak hit. You're barely strong enough to face me, this is like child's play.”
Each word seemed to infuriate zanka, zanka continued his onslaught of attacks, landing hit after hit, but never actually much damage to jabber— he was still grinning like an idiot that struck gold.
“come on, zanka! I know you know youre 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, that doesnt mean you can be so weak you can't beat me when I'm holding back!”
Zanka knew. He knew jabber was provoking him for his own sick pleasure, to get hit and feel the pain. But he kept going. Because he also liked it— the feel of cracking bones, the sound of gushing blood 𝘩𝘦 himself was the reason for, the bruises... The feel of warm crimson blood coating his hands feels so revolting and.....strangely good.
He snapped out of his little trance when jabber spoke another taunt.
“you can do better! Sometimes I feel like you arent so deserving of lovely assistaff, you don't use her right— to win! Bet them cleaners are just holding you back from ready turning into the beast that you are zan-zan! Because youuu are just like me~!”
Zanka snapped at jabber, shooting him the most venom packed glare ever that his neurotoxins be damned.
“you have no idea what yer talking about, you prick! Ive trained my ass off my whole life just to gain my family's approval, to get stronger, and to be goddamned amazing! And when nobody believed I could do that, I had ‘er, I had lovely! And you have the gall to tell me I'm unworthy?! My lovely assistaff is priceless, but I deserve her! I know that for a fact!” Zanka was seething. Utterly enraged. “And the cleaners helped me see that. They found and helped me when even my own family barely lifted a finger to find me, but the cleaners found me and convinced me to crawl outta that shitty well! So don't you go spouting shit you don't know!”
Jabber's face transformed from delightful glee to confused and slightly scowling
“ugh, what a turn off, man. I hate it when you go all emotional on me.”
Before zanka could even blink, jabber had already pricked him with mankira, slamming his body to the ground hard enough that he felt his stitches rip. Numbness spread through his body like a wildfire, zanka immediately fell to the floor, unable to move.
“see you, Mr. Bad attitude! Hopefully when you've gotten over those dumb emotions.”
Jabber's little stunt had reopened some old wounds within zanka, both literally and figuratively.
And just like that, jabber turned away from zanka, leaving him paralyzed on the floor.