Kinnikuman 367

Taking the hint from the bloodshed of a bird, Robin has performed a desperate method by injuring himself and then hand-standing on top of Mammothman! But what will that accomplish against the massive power!?

Chapter 367: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (94): Mammothman’s Weakness!

90.
Suguru: Robi—n, have you lost your mind—Mammothman’s Big Tusks possess the property to react to the bloodshed of his competition opponent and stretch to it.
Announcer: Both of Mammothman’s Big Tusks are now reacting to the blood on the arms of Robin Mask, who is standing upside-down on both of Mammothman’s shoulders, and are starting to stretch to them---!!
Suguru: In short: if the Big Tusks continue to stretch, they’ll end up piercing both arms that you’re bleeding----!!
Robin: Mammothman, the annihilation of your mammoth family was through the Ice Age 10,000 years ago.
Mammoth: Yes…we ran out to the bottom of our food in the midst of the down-pouring ice and snow…me and my companions died one after another through the hunger and cold. By the time I realized it, I was within the icicle which was coldly shut…
(TN: I really have to say this now: the wooly mammoth, which Mammothman is one of, didn’t go extinct due to the cold…it was an increase in temperature that slowly made it hard for the mammoths to survive, leading to a retreat of glaciers and rising sea levels combined with the hunting by humans that lead to their demise…even if they’re correct in their final extinction being 10,000 years ago. The mammoth was made for the cold as opposed to the warmth)

91.
Robin: I had thought that a Choujin like you, Mammothman, wouldn’t be a thing I would really be able to bear of the dreadful veteran Choujin until now.
Robin: But I remembered a story from my father hearing that you were sealed within ice in the Ice Age.
Mammoth: ……!?
Robin: At the same time that he was a great wrestler, my father was also a collector of fossils of animals that had gone extinct. When I was young, I was shown my father’s collection.

92.
Robin: Ge! That’s a mammoth, said to have gone extinct in the Ice Age!!
Robin’s Father: Yes: all mammoths were said to have gone extinct by the cold of the Ice Age; but that’s a lie…
Robin: Huh!?
Robin’s Father: The mammoths, which starved to death in the cold of the Ice Age, were just a handful of mammoths that were weakened in physical and emotional strength.
Robin’s Father: In truth, the strong mammoths rejected the snow and the ice storms that fell, surviving with physical and emotional strength.

93.
Robin: So then, with these strong mammoths not starving in the cold, how did they go extinct?
Robin’s Father: Since the strong mammoths protected their bodies from the down-pouring ice storms and snow
Robin’s Father: By any rate they must have been strong animals from their two big tusks. Due to this, the mammoth’s big tusks slowly evolved from weak things to strong things…
Robin’s Father: However it was fine that the big tusks became tough through rejecting the ice and snow but, with that, the big tusks that had over-evolved to being gigantic started having the tragedy of stabbing these mammoth’s bodies; the strong mammoths gradually died one after another.
Robin’s Father: And thus, in the end, there came to be not one mammoth on Earth…

94.
Robin: Hm—m, even if the mammoth’s big tusks are broken, it’s because it broke its own big tusks with the agony of being stabbed.
Caption: OSAKA CASTLE—
Robin: I understand my father’s story!! Mammothman, you’re truly a weak mammoth, even within the Mammoth Family!!
Phoenix: Oh no: Robin Mask has seen through his weakness in emotional strength, which is the ultimate weakness of the Choujin Mammothman!!

95.
Mammoth: U…uo—Robin Mask, even with this, you’re saying I’m a weak mammoth!?
Announcer: Both of Mammothman’s Big Tusks are suddenly stretching, where they should stab both of Robin Mask’s bleeding arms!!
Robin: Even if it’s right, Mammothman, you are a weak mammoth as I thought---!!
Announcer: Robin Mask has barely escaped but, even with that, the Big Tusks are continuing to stretch aiming for the shoulders dyed with Robin’s blood!!

96.
Mammoth: Ugya---!!
Announcer: Mammothman has been stabbed in his shoulders by his own Big Tusks---!!
Mammoth: Guhe!!

97.
Announcer: Mammothman, whose own Big Tusks have entered from his shoulders and come out of both breasts, is unbearably down!!
Robin: Mammothman, I say you’re a weak mammoth, but I withdraw that! Until you stabbed your own body with those Big Tusks, you seemed to have defeated me…you’re a strong mammoth who possesses imposing courage!
Robin: Thank you, boy: if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had my miraculous reversal show.
Boy: Right, you should more thank Blue Thunder, who taught you the hint to capture Mammothman’s Big Tusks, over me.
Robin: Ooh, you’re right!!
Robin: Thank you blue bird of fortune…Blue Thunder.

98.
Announcer: Among his many competition opponents, Robin Mask is the first that has put Mammothman down on the canvas----!!
Omega: Stand—Even if for Phoenix-sama, stand up—Mammothman!!
Mammoth: …………
Omega: Mammo~~th!!
Phoenix: Mammothman is of no use to us anymore with those injuries.
Omega: Phoenix-sama.
Phoenix: What’s left is just to hit it in the hand ahead of time while the wound to Team Phoenix hasn’t spread much. Omegaman, lend me your ear.
Omega: Ooh—Phoenix-sama, that’s a dreadful way!!

99.
Robin: Well, Mammothman.
Robin: Before giving the finisher, tell me one thing.
Robin: From among the numberless strings surrounding this ring, I know of your Roulette String, Mammothman, but
Robin: Tell me the places of the Roulette Strings
Mammoth: Ugu!!
Robin: That are connected to the remaining Prophecies of Phoenix and Omegaman!!
Announcer: Robin Mask has screwed Mammothman into a Bow and Arrow!!
Robin: You should know this: the place of the Roulette Strings for all your members---!!

100.-101.
Mayumi: Ooh—it’s quite effective—we’ll see Mammothman talk for certain---!!
Meat: If he finds out the places of the Roulette Strings for all members of Team Phoenix, it’s a matter of time for Prince’s succession to the Throne----!!
Mammoth: Uuh…switch…
Announcer: Robin is frantically screwing Mammothman’s body, but it can’t be help that they’re too close to Team Phoenix’s corner---!!
Announcer: Is…something the matter? Phoenix and Omegaman in Team Phoenix are suddenly stomping on the ring without taking Mammothman’s switch tag and it’s starting to shake the ropes!!
Suguru: Wh…what’s that behavior---!!

102.
Mammoth: Wh…why, why aren’t you taking my tag, Phoenix-sama!?
Phoenix: Why; because the duo of you and Robin Mask will die now together; it’s ridiculous to tag a corpse.
Mammoth: !?
Suguru: Geee, Robin’s coming-apart Roulette String is increasingly falling apart by those two shaking the ring!!
Suguru: To…Mammothman’s as well!!
Announcer: The two fraying Roulette Strings are becoming worsened; and Robin Mask and Mammothman’s Prophecies, which were connected to them previously, are rapidly falling into the torch---!!

103.
Robin: Uwaa---!!
Mammoth: Gyaa---!!
Neptune: Aah—with the Prophecies being lead to falling deeper from this to the torch, the black discoloration of Robin and Mammothman have reached the area of their solar plexuses!!
Suguru: Really, to erase both a teammate and a hostile Choujin if they come to be of no use truly makes that man Phoenix quite a rascal!
Audience: At this rate, both of them will burn out their Prophecies and be annihilated from this world simultaneously---!!
Omega: With a bit more, we’ll completely cut the Roulette Strings and both will be annihilated, Phoenix-sama.

104.
Mammoth: Will…will it come to that---!!
Announcer: Mammothman has broken the Big Tusks that had stabbed his own body---!!
Phoenix: Wh…what are you doing? Mammothman, your main techniques were completely sealed by Robin Mask and you shouldn’t have anymore techniques to send out!!
Mammoth: I had reserved a special hold for this such time---!!

105.
Mammoth: ICE ROCK GYRO----!!
Announcer: Robin Mask’s body, which had been thrown by Mammothman, is revolving above Mammothman’s head with earth-staggering speed, as if he’s being thrown into a zero-gravity area----!!

106.
Robin: Uwaa---I can’t la—nd!!
Suguru: Aah, Robin’s body is freezing!!
Neptune: Due to revolving in the air with too much speed, the air of Robin’s spinning is cooling; this frozen air is adhering to Robin’s body!!
Suguru: It’s as if he’s an ice meteorite dancing in space!!
Phoenix: Good, Mammothman: you’ve done well for the victory of our Team Phoenix by reserving this sort of high-grade technique---!!

107.
Mammoth: This technique I’ve chosen for when I’m betrayed by you two---!!
Phoenix: Uwaa---!!

108.
(SCRAMBLE FOR THE KINNIKU THRONE ARC)
SPECIAL VTR LXXXI (XXXXXXXXI)
ROBIN MASK VS. MAMMOTHMAN

TN:

(The camera turns on as Edgar Winter Group's "Frankenstein" blasts in the background)

Announcer: Alright, all you five or six people reading this, time once again for:

ATARU'S SCIENCE CORNER

Where Ataru tries to explain science in a way that will probably make him sound like a complete loser and that will screw up everything regardless! Now, take it away, Ataru!

(As the music silences, the translator enters the room, his body a complete shadow except for a long white lab coat and shiny glasses, making him seem like Professor Tomoe from Sailor Moon S)

Thank you. Today, my friends, we shall be learning a lesson about the peculiar elephant-like creature who evolved and adapted to one of the coldest periods in Earth history: the mammoth. The mammoth is actually an entire genus known as "Mammuthus" in the Family Elephantidae, where the elephant comes from and separated into several different species, from the massive Songhua River Mammoth to the tiny River Mammoth. The most well known species of mammoth is the "Woolly Mammoth" (Mammuthus Primigenius) that you always see on "The Flintstones"...er, in museums. This mammoth is an evolution of the Steppe Mammoth, arriving from the Siberian Peninusla and becoming prominent during the last two major glacial periods of the last Ice Age in and around areas including Siberia and the North American continent. Their most notable features include ears much smaller than the elephant, long trunk noses and a thick layer of shaggy fur used to protect them from the cold. However, the most important and crucial matter of a Woolly Mammoth are their tusks, which grew up to 16 feet in length and used their curves shape to scoop up and move snow like a shovel used by humans.

Now, as you all know, the Woolly Mammoth is extinct, thus why you didn't see any this morning when you arrived for the lecture. But how: how did this notable creature go away as recently as 10,000 years ago? Well, we have had words from a man in Britain who wears a strange blue mask with a mustache who has attempted to tell us "blame the tusks". The weaker mammoths all died out due to not having will or strength or even tusks strong enough to withstand the cold while the stronger mammoths came to have tusks so huge that they poked their own eyes out. The moment we got this information from this blue-masked man, we ended up tearing the letter up and laughing hysterically throughout the lab. This is how the mammoth went extinct!? Well considering that this Brit's main occupation is wrestling, no wonder he has no idea! Let's take this apart one by one:

1. How in the world can you say the Ice Age, the period the mammoth thrived in, ended up killing the mammoth? Now I understand natural selection and evolution being able to give an animal the means to survive over time, but the mammoth was essentially built through evolution to make it through the snow and ice! Saying that the very Ice Age the mammoth thrived in made them go extinct...you do realize that there is a massive difference between them and, say, dinosaurs, whom many agree had a major extinction due to a massive drop in temperature and the failure of many to adapt to such extreme changes. (well...aside the ones who were on their way to becoming birds)

2. While I can understand natural selection allowing for mammoth evolution over time, the tusks being the main cause of it just doesn't fit in my imagination. The tusk is a major factor of mammoth life, but it isn't everything. Yes, I agree that the mammoths can evolve tusks over time to be useful, but small or large really has no bearing on success when they're all living together in the same herd, eating the same meals and fighting off the same predators.

3. How can a mammoth's tusks just grow and grow to a point it will kill the one it is supposed to help? Wouldn't natural selection and evolution just prevent that, allowing for the mammoth to survive even with larger tusks?

4. It wasn't the Ice Age that killed the mammoth...it was the end of the Ice Age: when the Earth became warmer again and the glaciers receded, the mammoth couldn't adapt due to the conditions it had evolved under; under environmental stresses, the animal eventually went extinct. Thus a further evaluation that the mammoth could live in the ice and snow...and not more temperate realms.

So there you have it: everything you did (or didn't) need (or want) to know about mammoths! And once again: if you try to get a lesson from a man whose specialty is wrestling...then you really need to read a book. Until next time, this is Ataru saying "And no, the mastodon isn't a mammoth, stop asking!"

(The end of "Frankenstein" blasts as the camera fades out except to Ataru's glasses, which are still ominously shining)

BTW: Yeah, I know there was a lot more to the chapter but I think most of it can hold off until next time...well except for Mammothman being a "small-tusk mammoth Choujin" and Robin exposing his insecurities regardless of his strength, that was actually sort of cool.