Yuusha Yoshihiko to Pudding o Motomote (feat. Oko-san)

The hours of adventuring throughout the day had taken their toll on Yoshihiko and his party. Before the sun set, they found a small clearing in the woods, built a fire, and put on a pot of water to make rice. Their stomachs grumbled loudly.

"I don't think rice is going to cut it tonight." Danjo groaned as he rubbed his stomach.

"I'm so hungry!" moaned Murasaki.

"I can hardly hold my staff." replied Mereb.

Murasaki rolled her eyes. "It's not like that staff does anything."

Mereb opened his mouth to respond but Danjo interjected. "A fat juicy rabbit would do nice."

"Ooh, rabbit!" Murasaki and Mereb drooled.

Yoshihiko stared into the fire and nodded. "Yes, a rabbit would be good." He stood up. "Danjo and I will look for one."

"Hai," Danjo replied as he got to his feet. "Lead the way."

After an hour of searching, there was not a rabbit to be found. Just when they were about to give up the search, they saw a small dove walking down the road. They thought it strange that this dove was wearing a suitcoat and tie, but they were too hungry to ponder it further. Yoshihiko and Danjo bent down to keep themselves hidden and formulated a plan to catch the dove. Danjo would get in front of the dove and Yoshihiko would strike from behind. They dashed out of the woods and took their positions.

The dove jumped back at the sight of Danjo but easily avoided Yoshihiko's blade. He let out a loud "Cooo!"

"Why do you try to filet Oko-san?" He shouted. "Oko-san will not stand for this! Mighty Wing Attack!" He flung himself at Danjo and slapped him hard with his wing. Danjo held his wounded face and fell to the ground. Yoshihiko stepped forward, poised and ready for an opening to attack. "Doth thou wish to have some too?" Oko-san shouted and flailed. "You will not stop Oko-san in his search for pudding!"

Yoshihiko put down his sword. "Pudding?"

"The best pudding! Oko-san is on a journey to discover the Great Pudding! The pudding that puts all other puddings to shame and will save the world with its jiggly wonder!"

"That does sound good."

"Willst thou join Oko-san in his quest?"

"Well," Yoshihiko thought to himself. "I am supposed to be-"

"Then Oko-san will go on alone! Oko-san will find a place to sleep and will seek the Great

Pudding tomorrow!" He took a few small steps when Yoshihiko called out to him.

"Wait, why don't you stay at our camp? We're already set up and there is a fire going."

"Oko-san does not want to end up as dinner! Oko-san has beans he can share."

So Yoshihiko and Oko-san helped Danjo up and together they walked back to camp. Murasaki and Mereb were not too pleased to hear they would have to settle for beans instead of a rabbit but promises of pudding helped ease their hunger pains.

They trudged through the forest and over countless fields for what seemed like years. When they reached the end of the darkest forest, they came upon a clearing with a cracked temple with neoclassical and gothic undertones. Columns stood before a twenty feet high entrance.

Before they could enter the temple, a six foot cyclops jumped out from behind one of the columns. "You will not enter this temple," he slurred through his two tusk-like fangs. "Just try to get past me and watch your blood spill on the ground due to the death ray that will shoot out of my eye!"

"He sounds serious." Mereb said, looking at the rest of the party.

"Coo!" Oko-san screeched. "Oko-san is not scared of your death ray!"

"Then prepare to feel the pain of my death ray!" The cyclops turned his back. Yoshihiko and Danjo prepared their swords. Murasaki pulled out her dagger. Mereb held out his staff but was ready to dodge just in case. When the cyclops turned back around, he threw a small pebble at Oko-san. Oko-san jumped out of the way. The party stared at the pebble the cyclops had thrown.

“Um...” Yoshihiko started. “That is just a rock.”

“No,” the cyclops hissed. “It's a death ray! I'll teach you to disrespect my power!” He threw a pebble at Yoshihiko which bounced off of his chest.

“Don't do that.” Yoshihiko said sternly. “It hurts.”

“Does it?” asked Mereb.

“Well, a little.”

The cyclop's eye widened. “See? My death ray will be the end of all of you!” He picked up another pebble and threw it at Danjo who blocked the hit. The pebble bounced off of his sword and back to the cyclops, hitting him in the shoulder. “Ah!” he screamed. “To use my power against me! How heinous!” He fell to the ground, defeated, and disappeared.

The foyer led to five long hallways with gray walls, a white marble floor, and windows with a single column separating the openings. The party each took a hallway but in the end they all ended up in the same place; a large marble room with a chest in the middle. The lid was heavy and it took both Danjo and Yoshihiko to lift it. A bright light blinded everyone. When the light finally subsided, Yoshihiko peered inside the chest and then looked back at his party.

“There's... nothing there.” he mumbled. The others rushed toward the chest to look for themselves. Indeed, the chest was empty.

“Aww,” Murasaki whined. “So much work for nothing.” A mischievous look begot Mereb. He cast the spell “Sweets” on Murasaki with a wave of his staff, making her crave sweet things. Murasaki balked. “What the hell did you do that for?”

Mereb played with his blonde locks and looked on in arrogance. “For calling my staff useless.”

“That's not fair! Take off the spell!”

Mereb did not look at Murasaki but held out his staff. “Apologize to my staff. You hurt its feelings.”

Murasaki scrunched up her face. “...I'm...s-”

A drop of cream colored goo fell onto Mereb's head. He felt his hair and looked up. “I think a bird just crapped on me.”

Another fell on Danjo. He put his hand on his head. “He did it to me too!” Mereb was still looking up when another drop fell onto his eye.

Yoshihiko, Oko-san, and Murasaki looked up. “I think it is coming from the ceiling.” Yoshihiko said.

“What is it?” asked Murasaki.

Oko-san sniffed the air. “Oko-san's nose does not deceive him! It can only be-” At that moment, a giant cream pudding fell onto the chest in front of him. It was ten feet high and covered in strawberries. The party could only admire its delicious appearance before it lifted itself off of the ground and moved toward them. Strawberries fell to the ground. Everyone prepared their weapons except Murasaki who dove head first into the gelatinous form and started devouring it in whole mouthfuls.

“What is she doing?” Danjo panicked. “Is she crazy?”

Mereb put his finger over his mouth in thought and then gasped. “It's the Sweets spell! I never took it off!"

Yoshihiko's eyes widened. He whipped his head in Mereb's direction. “Mereb! Cast the spell on all of us! We have to help her!”

Mereb nodded. “As you wish.” He shook his staff at Yoroshihiko. “Sweets!” Yoshihiko roared and plunged into the pudding, making a hero-shaped hole in its form. Mereb then cast “Sweets” on Danjo who licked his lips. “Let's have a nibble!” he said, and sliced chunks off to eat. When Mereb cast the spell on Oko-san, Oko-san began to run the other way.

“Wait, where are you going?” Mereb shouted.

“Oko-san is a dove! Doves do not eat pudding! Oko-san is off on a quest to find sweet corn and satisfy his great need for saccharine avian delicacies!” And with that, he was off.

Mereb looked at himself and turned his staff inward. “Sweets?” Instantly he felt a wave of sugary addiction flow through his veins. He mindlessly dropped his staff and began shuffling like a zombie to get at the enormous dessert in front of him. When they all came back to their senses, the only evidence of the Great Pudding Monster was a sticky trail and four fattened adventurers asleep in the temple.

“Yoshihiko,” a voice boomed from the clouds. “It's the Buddha! Now is not the time to be sleeping! Oy! Oy! Wake up, all of you!” But despite the Buddha's best efforts, he could not wake up the party from their coma.

(I know I should have put Buddha in the story for longer, but this took me a week to write. I tired.)