Tachimachi Moon (PG)

Tachimachi Moon

Chapter 1: Walk this forbidden forest path.

A boy of about 15 looked up at the deep night sky before him. It was a new moon, and the stars where left to shine alone in the overhead sea, without the moon’s brightness. His features where clearly visible against the dark world around him. He had short, scraggly-but straight-blonde hair. He was wearing a rather small gold-colored backpack over a simple whitish-tan top. He was wearing brown-gray shorts and green sneakers. The expression on his face was calm and relaxed, as he studied the sky carefully.

Then the transformation begun. He felt the world grow larger around him, it was subtle at first, but soon very rapidly he became smaller and smaller. The next thing he noticed was the hearing. Oh, the wonderful hearing. The sounds of wild Pokemon in the forest suddenly became much clearer to him. Suddenly, he lost the ability to stand upright and fell forward, landing on all four feet. He wagged his new tail joyfully, and felt for the coin on his forehead. Lastly, he looked and saw his skin was now covered in a soft, short off white fur. He also saw this through clearer eyes, which saw through the dark as we see through the day.

Happily, the boy-turned Meowth dashed off into the dark forest. Before long, he came to a clearing where other Pokemon stood. There was a Glameow with piercing eyes standing off to one side, gazing at the sky. It held its hand up to its head in an almost human-like fashion, squinting as though it was looking for something it was expecting to come. A Skitty was curled up next to a golden-furred Shinx, and while it was clear the Shinx was sound asleep, it was impossible to tell if the Skitty was, as Skitty have their eyes closed at all times.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Meowth Boy saw a Zangoose approaching him. It had a burnt scar on its left front paw.

“Hello Chuuya”, said the Zangoose in a deep female voice. This voiced had pierced the Meowth boy’s heart the first time he had heard it. It commanded respect, and nobody liked to disobey the Zangoose. Chuuya had yet to become used to this. “Hello, Miss Yofuke” he said under his breath, trying to show honor for the Zangoose. Yofuke noticed this behavior and gave a friendly, but almost mocking chuckle. She stood up on her hind legs and looked around, seemingly counting to see if everyone was present.

“Alright.”, said Yofuke.

Suddenly, the quiet little gang seemed to spring back into action. Upon hearing Yofuke’s voice, the Glameow jumped and manage to end up bouncing clumsily on his tail several times. Finally he righted himself and landed on his feet. He ran over and stood next to Yofuke. Meanwhile, the Skitty and Shinx got up with a start, showing the former had been asleep after all. The came up and sat beside Chuuya, who was facing Yofuke and the Glameow obediently. The four cat Pokemon silently waited for Yofuke to speak.

“For the next moon,” she started, “Yonaki and I are in charge of food collection and taking care of Aoi.” The Skitty jumped and squealed at her name for called for food collector. The Shinx had fallen asleep again. “Aoi”, prompted Yofuke. The Shinx didn’t make a movement. The Zangoose sighed and turned back to her speech. “Anyway, Shoya and Chuuya will be our patrols for this moon. There have been sightings of strange Pokemon in the area recently, and so our guard has to be more powerful then normal.”

Chuuya’s heart sank. He knew Shoya, the Glameow, was seven years his elder, and could easily reduce him to bloody shreds if we wanted too. Chuuya was rather afraid of Shoya, though the Glameow had never done a thing to harm him.

In reality, Shoya was very kind and warm. But his cold, rough outward appearance commanded fear from everyone except Yofuke, who was even older and stronger then Shoya, and feared very little anyway. Chuuya slowly turned to look at Shoya and faced his angry stare bravely.

What Chuuya saw in those ancient looking eyes shocked him.

Chapter 2: The hero.

It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t hate. It wasn’t cruelty. It was warmth. And benevolent kindness. And beyond all this Chuuya saw that Shoya was almost laughing with his now shining eyes. Before Chuuya could blink, Shoya darted off, heading for the far reaches of their territory, which where made of expansive pale, moon-flooded fields. Chuuya loved this huge place. It had a strange calming effect on those who came upon it late at night. Chuuya felt as though he could have stood in one place until daybreak, admiring the captivating sky.

Chuuya clumsily followed after his elder, scratching himself and stumbling all the way. He looked very inexperienced next to the agile and speedy Shoya, who raced most gracefully through the dark forest. Chuuya tripped over a root that was sticking up out of the ground. He yelled an unpleasant word starting with D at the top of his lungs before promptly landing flat on his face in the dirt. Shoya stopped abruptly and went back to him. “You’ve got a lot to learn, klutz.”, he sighed, looking down at Chuuya, who was still laying face down in the dirt. “Damf!” mumbled Chuuya. “Damf! Damf! Damf!”

“Cussing doesn’t change the fact that you need to improve a lot, kid.”, said Shoya, helping him up. “You always look like a total idiot and it’s rubbing off on us. Stop getting your stupid on us, stupid.” Chuuya noticed his mood had suddenly changed. The two of them silently got up and continued walking slowly toward the far fields. Eventually they reached the edge of the forest. While Chuuya sat there dreamily looking around in complete awe of his surroundings, Shoya kept on walking. Only when he was halfway across the field did he look back and yell at Chuuya. “Get over here now, you lazy bum!” he snapped angrily. Chuuya shook his head in shock and quickly tried to catch up with the Glameow.

The rest of the night, Shoya and Chuuya stalked the fields together. They didn’t trade many words. Chuuya was too afraid and Shoya had too much pride. The night watch was uneventful, that is, until daybreak. It was then that the two witnessed something that would continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives. Just as dawn began, Shoya started to lead Chuuya back home.

Suddenly, the later looked up and saw four figures sailing through the sky. While the details would have been impossible to view with human eyes, Shoya and Chuuya’s superior vision allowed them to see perfectly the fight that was taking place. Of course, if one would have asked them, it is likely they would have said they wished they had human vision that day.

In the sky where three Staraptor and a Staravia. The meek-looking Staravia was wearing a delivery bag of some sort. Chuuya’s heart sank when he realized the Staravia was covered in cuts and bruises. He knew instantly: The Staraptor where out for blood.

This is one of the first lessons all young Pokemon-and by turn, all young Tachimachi-must learn. Kill or be killed. But what Chuuya didn’t understand is why these Staraptor had suddenly turned to cannibalism. He knew there had to be something else going on. Territory? Food? Was it something personal?

He did know one thing though. For this Staravia, there was no way out. The Staraptor had probably been harassing him for hours, and he could probably just barley stay aloft. He was also breathing heavy, a sign that he was exhausted. It was the end of his time on earth. It seemed like the Staraptor where just having fun with him, trying to make his last few moments as miserable as possible.

Finally, one of the Staraptor, the one in the middle of the mob, lunged and gripped the helpless Staravia around the neck with its talons, cutting into his throat like a sword and probably serving to strangle him.

The two spectators on the ground gasped simultaneously when they saw the blood spill out. The other two Staraptor flew in and joined the attack. For five long minutes they kicked and pecked brutally at the flailing Staravia, who, amazingly, was still trying to fight back against his attackers. But it was hopeless. He was dying as he fought.

Chuuya greatly admired this Staravia who seemed determined to go down fighting. In the end, the three Staraptor backed away to let their prey die. Shoya and Chuuya watched with great interest as the Staravia plunged toward the ground.

Even though he saw it coming, Chuuya was sad when he saw the Staravia was no longer struggling. He had a resigned expression as he fell. What happened next was the most shocking thing of all. Chuuya had often witnessed Yofuke hunting small Pokemon.

While this was brutal, it was obvious she had great respect for the Pokemon she hunted, and nothing was ever wasted. So Chuuya felt like he was witnessing a nightmare when the three Staraptor simply flew away, laughing a chuckling to one another.

Chuuya felt his legs buckled underneath him. Suddenly he was running. Running to the place where the Staravia had fallen. He couldn’t help it. At first he was sure Shoya would chase him down and stop him, and probably administer some harsh discipline. But when Chuuya looked to his right, he saw Shoya was doing the same thing. His eyes where wild with the horror of what he’d just seen. He was looking straight at where the Staravia had landed, intent on getting there fast.

The two where ment with the sight of a mangled bird Pokemon with blood-soaked feathers. They where both terrified and slightly happy when the realized the Staravia was still breathing. There where letters and gray feathers scattered on the ground around him, and nearby was the bag he had been carrying.

While Shoya gathered the letters, Chuuya looked the Staravia straight in the eyes. “Wha-what is your name?” he asked, shaking. “Ustello…Phoenix. Forsaken Staravia Tachimachi…and son of Muku-clan…” uttered the Staravia, gasping for his words.

Chuuya jumped. The Staravia was a Tachimachi, just like he and Shoya. “I-I’m a Tachimachi too, Mr.Ustello sir.”

The Staravia smiled, but what he said next didn’t seem to match his expression. “You…beware the wrath of Runious. Beware his armies, and his mind games. And you…finish my mission for me. I cannot do it myself.” At the mention of “Runious”, Chuuya saw Shoya pause and mutter something out of the corner of his eye. Shoya walked over and stood next to Chuuya.

“Did you say “Runious”, my friend?”, said Shoya with an intense tone. “Runious, the great evil Staraptor spoken of in Tachimachi legend?” The Staravia didn’t say anything for a long while. It was obivious he was going fast. Then, he uttered his last words to them.

“He’s not just a legend.”