Story Notes:
Tried hard on this one!After such a long hiatus, one might figure I'd do something longer. Not so! I put a lot of love into this one, too. Also, for those who know French, Flame's friend's name will make sense. For those who don't, you'll find a translation in the End Notes.
Something Like An Argonaut
----
When he'd said that, I could not believe what I'd heard. So I lay down on my stomach, turning my head up at him quizzically, so that he would know I couldn't take him seriously. He looked back at me with that knowing smile, as though he'd expected my reaction and was playing off of it. I lowered my gaze to the grass just inches away from my face, then found his eyes, still staring at me. The moon cast an eerie glow to their typical coffee. I loosely wondered if mine were like his.
"You heard me, didn't you? If you hadn't, I'll repeat myself; we have to kill him!"
"But . . ." I stopped myself before I could object. He didn't like it when I went against his wishes. What to do, what to do? Should I have walked away? Attacked him? Or simply told him 'no'? Looking back, I probably should have.
"Good," he replied to my silence, suspecting I had more to say. "Remember that I'm older than you. I can beat you up, you know."
"I'm aware," I agreed sourly. I turned on my back, my stomach facing the starry night sky, my muzzle now in the grass I'd been looking at earlier.
"So? Are you in?" I was silent. I'd stopped rolling. What do I do? I was afraid of the immediate consequences of my actions (or rather, non-actions) and opted to go with him anyway.
"I suppose we haven't got a choice. Do you think he's left us alone yet? I mean, he's been at this for a while now, hasn't he?"
"He has. I say we prepare an ambush."
"We haven't got the time. Besides, you'd have to be the one to do it; I can't grab with my paws."
"Use your mouth, then!" My eyes find the grass again because of his brashness. He softened a bit, possibly because he realized he needed me, or maybe because he valued me as a friend. I'd never know.
"I'll do that," I answered hollowly. He nodded his furry head, and we looked up at the moon. We'd perched upon a meadow, which overlooked a large forest below, and had a crop of trees behind it. The trees down there were thicker than the ones up top, though the oxygen was harder to inhale where we were. The moon was full tonight, and the stars plentiful. I realized that I (if we lived through this ordeal) would need to return back to the city one day. They did not look at the stars in the city; the constant layer of smog in the sky obscured them. "Do you think we'll live?"
"If you act wisely, you can live through anything. That's what my Daddy told me when I was little." I nodded in agreement. He'd lost his father when he was really small. It made the mood a bit more glum when he brought it up. "I was thinkin' . . . maybe we should head back the way we came?"
"Why?!," I shrieked. "He's still up there! You can hear his footsteps!"
"'Cause I'm tired of runnin'. You got a home to go back to, but I don't. You got someone to take care of you."
"Which is why you 'ought to come back with me! We can . . . well, there ain't much to do in the stupid city. But, at least we'll be together! You ain't gotta survive no more! You can -"
"Stop it! Stop talking about that, that - that fantasy-land crap! It ain't gonna happen! I've had it with you tryin'a get me to come back with you! No means no!" I whimpered then, as my feelings were immensely hurt. It seemed like a good idea to offer an invitation, but . . . I had no clue why he would reject me so harshly.
"Sorry," I apologized, taking a deep breath. "I just thought . . ."
"Don't even bring it up, okay? Just shut yer big mouth." He curled into a ball. I could hear him holding back tears.
"Did you want to come? Ain't no reason to be afraid."
"I said shut up!"
"Okay. We're going to sleep?"
"Yeah. If he wants to come get us, we'll be dead by morning. If not, we can find a way to get ourselves out of this mess." I nodded and moved hesitantly near him. He turned and curled up tighter, so I moved away and glumly lay down, dozing off quickly.
**xx---xx**
I'm awake!
Slowly, I trotted out of my containment cage and crept toward my food bowl. It was empty, which didn't surprise me, given what I did. Or rather, failed to do. What a mess had been caused by my docile attitude, and my inability to act properly. But what would Master have me do? Be wild and rambunctious, so that I could not be controlled? Certainly not.
I gave a bark in the kitchen to let her know that I was hungry, but got no response. Perhaps she was still mad at me? I trotted lightly into her living room, nuzzling her shoulder (as I was big) for attention, but she appeared to be sleeping, so I left her to her own devices. Recently, there had been an outbreak of Ratatta in the streets, and the people would have none of it! So they sent letters to every Trainer within the city limits, begging for help. Literal piles of them collected in a heap near the front door, and it was my job to read them (if a Meowth could teach himself to speak English, why could a dog not teach himself to read words?)
I am an Arcanine, whose name is Flame. Okay, perhaps not the most original, but fun to say. I slid out of my house (which had a doggy-door fastened into the wall to allow my large body entrance and exit) and pranced down the street, preparing to deal with this issue. In my mouth, I held one of the letters, which tasted like old tabacco. The street I went down was wide, which allowed full view of the blue sky above it, and showcased the vibrant colors of the buildings and cars that passed through.
An elderly man was busy hanging a poster upon a telephone post. It read "MISSING" and had someone's picture posted below it. I nudged him in the back gently, and he turned and patted my head fur with the most delicate of strokes.
"Oh, Flame! You're going to take care of this Ratatta problem, huh? Good for you." The man began limping off with a cane, and I felt sorry for his helplessness. For him, I would surely exterminate anything that dared tamper with my territory!
~
"Are you coming?"
"Yeah, yeah," I confirmed, unable to really keep up. He was so fast! My stubby little Growlithe body couldn't match his smaller size! He'd led me to a small waterfall, with a stready cascade of water being fed from a stream above that was clean and fresh as mountain water. Why would he take me here? "What's this?"
"We're not going to take a bath or anything. It's for food."
"Food?! What do you mean?"
"You're used to being fed from a bowl. Out in the wild, you have to get your own food. The best way to do that (if you can't fight for your own) is to lure others out and take what they don't finish."
"So we're going to mark our scents here?" I was a bit tepid on the whole idea. Besides, he couldn't use his scent like I could; he didn't have a developed nose.
"Sort of. We're just gonna wait and see if someone thinks we're using this space. C'mon. We'd better hide." He leapt into the cover of dew-laced bushes, and I clumsily followed him, breaking autumn branches under my paws. I got a glare from him, but nothing more.
"What're we tryin'a do, anyway? Just wait? Ain't that kinda boring? Can't we talk?"
"Fine. We'll talk. What do you want to talk about, Blabbermouth?" I recoiled at his harshness, but then remembered that was how he was.
"
Well . . . about you! I know we ain't spent much time together, but . . . ever since I been comin' up here to visit, you seemed lonely."
"I am lonely," he retorted.
"Well, I'm here," I shot back.
"I don't care," he finished. I sighed and he turned to look at me.
"You never care. You don't have to be so cold."
"Sorry." That was the first time I'd heard him apologize in a long while, and it made me smile.
"It's okay," I said, meeting his gaze.
"Tell me about you, Flame." The hints of a smile played on his lips. I was surprised at how . . . ambiguous he was being with his friendly invitations. Did he really to be my friend? Or was he just using me to do his hench work?
"Well, you should kinda know, since you're always visiting me when we come up here. I live in a house way in the city, and sometimes Master brings me up here to play in the woods, and I -"
"I mean, you! Not where you're from."
"Oh . . . well. I was raised from a litter of three, but Master sold my sisters away before I could really meet them. I was lonely for a while, but Master gave me something to live for. Then I met you! And we can play together! Right?" I asked the last part quietly and slowly, so as not to rush things.
"Of course," he said gently, lowering his head in that knowing smirk. Then I pushed him into the water and he yelled.
~
My nose detected something peculiar, but I couldn't go any further. My method of getting rid of the Ratatta was to take out their leader. If I took out the head, the body would surely fall. Or migrate. Or whatever.
So here I was, out in the rather large park near the city outskirts, and I had picked up traces of brown fur. This let me know that a Raticate was nearby. The reader's intelligence is surely screaming, "HE'S IN A SEWER, HE'S IN A SEWER" but sadly, not quite. The park was fashioned in a rectangle, and had no sewers except on its edges. Even then, how would a six foot flaming dog get into a sewer in the first place?
The Ratatta had to have a nest somewhere. My intuition told me to check the soil near the tall trees for them, but sadly, under blue skies, they would be painfully obvious to spot. I knew I had them cornered. There was some way to get them, I was sure! But where were they?
I trotted around the area of the entire park, my long legs and hindquarters giving me speed to my step. It took little time to clear the entire space, and I had looped myself around in a full circle. My muzzle hit the ground in seconds, and I padded around, poking through the dirt. The smell intensified in certain areas, and lessened in others. When I reached the peak of the smell (which was still faint in itself), I knew where my culprits were: underground.
~
It had turned to night quicker than we had anticipated, so we had to stop off in a remotely safe wooded clearing. The idea with the scents had backfired; we were spotted and chased out by a Pikachu. I was the bigger of the both of us, so I took the brunt of the damage inflicted, which was a ThunderShock. My fur was still electrified, and stood up in spiky clusters.
"Okay," he told me, looking down. "That went badly." I couldn't talk well, so I simply nodded, as my jaw muscles were tightened and it hurt badly to flex them. "Here. I think there's something for that." He rolled a large red berry my way with his paw. A Cheri berry! With some trouble, I opened my swolen jaw and gobbled it down. Quickly, my paralysis faded from my entire body.
"I'll say," I replied much later.
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," he sighed at me, keeping eye contact. My eyes darted every which way, attempting to avoid him.
"It's not," I assured him hurriedly.
"It is. We wouldn't be pursued if I'd just let you play near your cabin."
"What's a little fun without risk, am I right?" He looked at me with a smile, small, and then it grew into a grin. "Oh, Flame! C'mere!" I playfully leapt on him, and we tumbled together in a roll. I didn't want him to be afraid to play back because of my size advantage, so I made my muscles limp as I leaped off, allowing him time to tackle me back. He never did.
"Ain't you two just the cutest?" I turned my head, and saw a Zorua walk our way from the shadows of the trees around us. We hadn't set up any camp nor did we leave a trail, so how she'd found us muddled both of us a bit. "Now, before you ask who I am, I'd like to ask you the same question. I'm up and around this forest day an' night, and I ain't never seen y'all around here."
"I'm not from here. I'm from the city." He hit me in the face with his curly tail, and it hurt. "What was that for?!"
The Zorua tilted her head back a bit, a coy smile working its way onto her ashen face. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really," he said, standing up to her. "Now back off."
"You ain't gonna last long with such a gutsy attitude, kid. Keep your mouth shut when you're not addressed."
"And just who are you?" I felt a fight coming soon, so I awkwardly stepped in the middle of it.
"Please? Can we not do this? We're trying to get out of the forest now, alright? We won't impose on your territory anymore." She smirked, and began walking off.
"Alright, kids. I'll leave y'all alone. But you come near here again, and I'll cut you. Bad. Name's Elk, by the way, if you ever need anything. Like getting rid of that big ol' Tyranitar comin' after you."
~
Even though I hated it (naturally), I had to admit that the rain that had picked up was a blessing in disguise. It would do one of two things: it would drive my rats out of the ground, or make the soil easy enough for digging. My options were defensive or offensive, respectively. I chose offensive.
Contrary to popular belief, most Fire-type Pokemon did not rely on their fire for life. Instead, they were warm-blooded creatures who only disliked water because it offset their internal homeostasis (their bodies had evolved over time to reflect their environment, which was clearly not a watery one). So, it only made me miserable as I used my large paws to plow through the limp dirt, spraying up piles of it messily behind me. I could feel the fear in my targets, and could imagine the terror on their faces as I came and demolished their entire population!
Eventually, the rain had picked up into a full-blown storm, so strong winds forced me into the tunnel I had found (yes, they were somehow big enough to fit my entire body. Don't think too hard about it). I wandered around a bit, aimlessly, due to the lack of light surrounding me. So, I applied a little Ember to help light my path, and found a very simple network of tunnels that served as a temporary burrow to the family's population. My intent was to find one and disable it quickly, then use it to draw the others out. However, they had the advantage here, so I opted to be cautious in my movements.
The entrances to many paths were actually fake. Some were too small to enter, others too large to be probable. I took the one I found least conspicous, at the end of the entire network, and it took me several minutes to finally enter a 'room'. There was perched a small Ratatta, crying out for help. I leapt atop it, and with my extreme size, used a paw to crush its back out. It yelped, my intent, and promptly died. The burrow was quite small, so the chances of finding any others inside were slim. But, I had to try to draw them out somehow. So, I readied the biggest, heartiest Flamethrower I could muster, and sent it spiraling through the nearest connection of tunnels, hoping to scorch them out.
~
"Do you want a family?" I asked arbitrarily, poking at the uncooked Magikarp before me.
"A family?" he responded, giving me a questioning look.
"Yep. With a mate. You know . . . kids. I do."
"Mm," was all he said, pawing at his own raw fish. "I'd want to be able to protect my family."
"From what?"
"Out in the wild, other people will want to steal your mate. So they kill you." I recoiled at this, because that meant that when he would grow to be older, he would need to protect his family with his very life. I was glad I didn't need to do that.
"How sad," I sighed, biting deep into the guts of my fish, then raising my head, and spitting out what meat I had collected in my maw.
"It's life. Life sucks," he agreed glumly, doing the same as I did. We both sat for a minute in the wooded clearing. We were higher up than we were two nights ago, now up back near where we began. My eyes found the burnt fish (my eyes seemed to be doing a lot of 'finding' in the course of this story) that I had made. It was my inability to control my abilities that led to our eating raw fish. Needless to say, he was not too pleased.
"Life doesn't have to suck. You could come stay with me in the city. We'll have fun." I could sense a change in his normally tense posture as he considered it. Then, he sent a glare my way.
"I've told you -"
"Okay! Just a suggestion. That was all." I dipped my head down into my fish and began absently chewing, hoping he wasn't still looking at me like he usually did. It made unpleasant squishing sounds as I tried to force it down my throat.
~
I heard lots of feet hitting the ground, and the smell of burnt flesh, so I knew I'd hit my mark. They had been fleeing earlier when I first came in, but now they were evacuating completely, hoping to evade me. Unfortunately for them, I was one step ahead of them.
I made my way out of my tunnel and back into the main network, where I could sniff out the smell of scorched fur to determine my path. In no time at all, I found the main burrow: a straight line right through to the exit. That meant that many of them had escaped. But a few lingered behind, so curiously, I inched ahead.
The burrow was larger than I expected. It had an oddly nostalgic feeling to it . . . I couldn't remember why though. It was circular, with smaller tunnels on the walls for convenient escape. In the back (from where I was facing) was the main hole, which undoubtedly opened into a new city or sewer system. A lone Raticate squeaked something too low to hear to a Ratatta, and the purple creature zoomed off. Then, it turned to face me, fixating its coffee eyes on my large frame with a cold glare.
"What are you doing here, dog? Allow me my escape, lest I bite out your throat." He wasn't exactly scary.
~
"That Zorua . . ." I asked, letting the fragmented question linger in the air.
"Yeah?"
"What if we got into a fight? Me and you?" I was laying on my back, facing the starry sky. Our pursuer was getting ever-closer as we moved back toward him, having nowhere else to run to.
"I dunno. I don't want to think about it, either."
"So you're my friend?!" I jumped up excitedly, my happiness apparent in my tone. He smiled that knowing smile, and let his body relax.
"If we make it out of here alive, Flame . . . then I'm your friend." He got up, moved over to me, and shook my paw with his own. I could feel heat in my head! This was it! We were friends! We . . . we could do so much. This is what I've wanted. No more loneliness. Master would be pleased.
"I promise, we will." And he smiled at me. A real smile.
~
I had leapt atop the Raticate with easy, grinning the whole time. My superior weight outclassed his agility by far, since I'd taken him by surprise. He attempted to bite me with bone-breaking fangs, but I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"No, wait! You don't understand! I'm just trying to protect -"
Crunch.
I bit down as hard as I could, locking my strong jaws, and shook. His body couldn't handle the trauma, and went into shock, as he flailed and thrashed, trying to free himself. I intensified my saliva to make a Fire Fang, which cooked his fur and skin underneath, just to give him a little burn before his death.
When I released him, he was limp. His body hit the ground lifelessly, and blood erupted from the gash in his neck. He lay on the ground, twitching, and whispered something. I leaned it gleefully to hear his final words.
"Friend . . ." I cocked my head sideways, and asked him to repeat it, my murderous smile still attached. "My . . . family . . . Flame . . ." My smile died. I recoiled. How . . . how did he know that? I sat down, chuckling, then stood up, then sat down. Confusion struck me, then shock, then more confusion. His body released his blood in a small pool around his body. Cold eyes stared at the burrow's ceiling. They were coffee. Alarms went off in my mind as I processed what had just happened. I had . . . had I killed my best friend? Certainly not.
So, pretending to ignore the fact that it very well could have been him, I trotted off.
~
After what had happened, it seemed to open my mind to my surroundings. The rain on the surface was still pouring in a light storm, which soaked me to my skin and made me both angry and depressed. The idea of killing my childhood friend revolted me, yet intrigued me all at once. Where had he been this whole time? When did he raise a family? And why did he choose a town which was full of people, with lively colors and happy people? Bastard.
I regretted my disdain immediately, because it could not have been him. He would have said so earlier. But had I given him a chance to talk? Certainly not! Besides, he was causing the death of my townsfolk! That justified his murder, did it not?
Didn't it?!
My pace picked up speed quickly. I needed some time to cool down or I'd snap.
~
"Assume the position," he said in my ear, his eyes trained below him. I nodded, and bent over to allow him leverage and ease of movement. He nodded gratefully and crouched down lower.
We were near the summit of the mountain, near where Master's cabin lay. The land was rough, and dead trees lined the path, which made it hard for large creatures to pass through. There was an overpass above a glade, which was rocky and hidden from the sight of those below it. To them, it would appear to be the facade of a mountain. To us, it was escape from our hunter.
It was a Tyranitar, big and stupid. He was a very vivid green, so he stood out, despite the mist that clung to our bodies which should have served as natural camouflage for him. He at least had the sense to walk quietly, but attempted to intimidate us by using his size to break trees apart.
"I know you're in the area . . . hurry up and die, I'm hungry!," he would tease us with, cackling afterward. My partner was brave in all things, though, and would not be fazed by such petty tactics. He was coming directly below us, since the rock we were atop was seen as a dead end to him. We needed precise timing, lest our plan fail miserably. If we didn't kill him off now, we'd be stuck running up the mountain again, which would corner us and spell out our deaths.
Confused, the green monster was now in the middle of the glade. He'd bent down to sniff the tracks in the ground, which were so faint due to the misty conditions around him. If he'd have looked closer, he'd notice the tracks had led to a small passage that ramped upward to our hiding spot. My partner did not give him that chance.
Working his purple body to its limits, he yelled, "Now!" and moved to push the large boulder in front of him off the edge of the overpass. It budged slightly. I took my cue, and leapt off the side of the overpass, atop the Tyranitar. He looked at me with ravenous, dinner-plate eyes, and I could tell his tummy had told him he wanted me for his main course. My lithe (hehe, pun) body would not allow it. All of my fire puppy pride went into a tackle, but I was swiftly rejected by means of a huge slap to my ribs.
Hearing me yelp triggered the last survival instinct he had in him, and my partner tossed the boulder off the edge of his vantage point. It hit the ground near the Tyranitar with a dull thud, not even close to its target. But, my partner had other plans. He leapt off along with the boulder, and sent a savage barrage of swipes at his opponent's face. The Tyranitar grabbed hold of his tail, and tossed him into the dirt.
Bleeding and dizzy, I rose to my feet and leapt for his back. He didn't see my attack coming, and was caught off guard. Unfortunately, being a dog, I lacked the joint-functions to keep my hold, and was sent off of his body. I attempted to use my fangs to maintain a grip, but alas, it was useless. Now on the ground, I realized I'd need to re-think my strategy. Unfortunately, time was the world's currency, and I was flat broke.
My partner had vanished from behind the lime monster, who turned his soulless eyes down toward me. I backed down a bit, recoiling in steps, growling in a bluff. A large footpaw was aimed at my face, and I bowed my head in a flinch, when I should have run. The sheer force of the kick sent me reeling backward and my entire coordination interface was scrambled beyond repair. Seamlessly, the hulking green beast moved in closer and picked me up by the tail, like a hunter would do with a newly caught fox. I remember thinking of my death.
Due to my importance as a main character in the story, or perhaps by divine intervention, I was spared the horrible fate of being eaten alive. A Hyper Fang to the leg left the large thing immobile, and in the shocking pain, I was set free. My partner nodded to me, and we both raced up the overpass, watching the disgusting sight of the Tyranitar reel in pain. We needed a way to kill him, and we needed one quickly.
~
I entered the town, but what I saw was not like what I was accustomed to seeing. Perhaps the rain had made it overcast, which is why everything seemed so . . . gray. Or perhaps killing my best friend had shocked me out of some major repressed trauma I was going through. Either way, I was mortified.
The wide street was in disrepair. Large potholes were strewn carelessly about, needing desperate tar fillings. Buildings which I had once thought were filled with customers and merchants, and were painted greens and pinks and purples, were just beige, with boards over their doors. The sky I mentioned earlier was black. A single street-light was still functioning, so it let me see just how dirty the sidewalks were. The missing sign of the woman from hours ago was torn to shreds by claws. I sighed.
There was really only one place to go, now. I had taken care of the rodent population; my mission was complete. It was time to head home.
~
After some careful timing and tactical manipulation, we had managed to kill the Tyranitar. All it really took was some herding up the overpass and pushing him off the cliff. With a crippled leg, the force of the impact had killed him. Yes, dear readers, that DOES make sense.
We sat in solemn silence for a long while. We had no fire this time, no light, no life. Just our combined breath echoing from the cold of the hilltops.
"We've taken a life," I said quietly, my eyes trained on my paws.
"That we did," he replied casually back.
"Does that mean we're murderers?"
"It was in total self-defense. He should have never picked on us!"
"Yeah, but - but, we've killed him! We strayed into his territory! We're the guilty party!"
"Don't give me that, stupid mutt!" I flinched again. He was so harsh sometimes! "You'll have forgotten about it anyway. Around here, killing the resident Big Bad means you're the new Big Bad! In other words, you're the local badass. And I'm not about to give that up because some wimpy dog is too cowardly to admit that he liked killing that walking abortion!"
My face changed to a look of immediate horror. I tripped over my tongue several times, before I could get out, "Wh - what?!"
"Yeah, alright. I admit it. I liked the thrill. But I didn't mean it." I nodded in agreement. Of course! He would never say something like that! I had no doubt in my mind that he regretted this whole mess.
"Of course. We should get back to the cabin." My eyes still found his purple form, giving him sidelong glances. Suspicion was aroused in my mind, and it had no intention of leaving quickly.
~
The door swung open silently as my large paw guided it open. Mist spilled into the cold house from outside, which gave it a decrepit feeling. It was eerie, to say the least. Eerie enough to make my neck hairs stand on end.
My nose detected a foul stench upon entry, but then registered it back to Master, who always smelled like that. It seemed to have magnified in intensity, though. The living room was cluttered with overturned bookcases and loose papers. On the carpeting was crimson; my heart fell dramatically.
I timidly approached the living room, where Master always sat. She neglected to feed me, and I was hungry. But . . . something felt wrong about this encounter. I was already on the edge of my sanity, so I figured I'd best avoid her. Yet, I kept creeping toward her, despite the warnings going off in my mind. I wish I had listened. I wish I had listened all the way back when I should have said 'no'.
She was dead. She sat in a recliner, facing the ceiling, dead eyes lolled over and her face contorted into anger. A single-barrel sat in her hand. We may all have been thinking she committed suicide, but no. I searched closer, and found bites marks. My bite marks.
I examined the room around me for the first time in six months. The blood on the floor was not hers. It was fashioned in a trail, which went out of the door, and around the living room in small splashes. It was my blood. The bookcases were overturned because of a struggle; my struggle. Near my cage was a bludgeoning instrument, bent with dents that no inanimate object could fill.
She had been beating me.
And out of self-defense,
I killed her.
The realization hit me, hard. I sat down at her feet, staring longingly into her eyes. This was why I had no food. This was why I got no answer when I barked at her. This was why the town was barren. I was the last living thing in it. She tried to kill me, because she didn't want to move like the rest of the town. She tried to spare me the loneliness that I'd have been feeling now, since everyone else left. So, since the rod didn't work, she tried to use a shotgun. And I killed her.
Everyone else who didn't want to migrate to a larger city had been killed it the rat infestation. And my best friend was at the top of it. He figured that this place was abandoned, because it was. And I had stopped him, because I thought it wasn't. I had killed him for no reason. Of all of the fate encounters we could have had, specifically at the cabin, we met here, and I ended up killing him.
I put a paw to her body, and it tipped over with my weight. I was able to deduce that I had killed her with several bites to the neck, though.
"Master," I whispered with unrestrained sorrow. "Did I say I was sorry when I killed you? I am now." I decided to leave her corpse in peace. Since I couldn't bury her, I closed the door to the room quietly, and made my way to the city limits, a short trip.
~
Now that he was dead, I could finally let the name leave my lips.
"Partis."
I sat vigil for my town at the city limits, where a small fence at the edges of a large, defunct road served as a border that divided the normal world from my own. This is where my city began and ended. There is where I began, and will meet my end. I secretly hoped a car would come and put me out of my misery.
The moon cast perfunctory rays down, making my dirty coat shine with oily autumn grime and sweat, opposed to its six-months-previous glamorous fiery orange. My ribs were exposed through my fur; I wondered what I had done for sustenance these past months, with no Master to feed me. My eyes reflected in the night, which made them green and like small beacons, advertising my silence and my guardianship over my territory.
Flashbacks erupted violent into my mind at random. Times with Master, her dazzling pale skin shining off the sun. My happy feelings, retrieving a simple ball, and bringing it back. My tongue, lolling out of my mouth, and her, reaching a hand to pet my head fur. Partis, looking at me with a smile, as we waged who could collect the most prey in one hour. Master, riding my back in midday, myself, barking at passerby children who had returned from the local farmer's store. Partis, as we ran through the forest past the cabin, no worries or danger concerning us. Master, teaching me to use different moves, but myself failing miserably. And her knowing smile, as she put her Trainer's Guide away, and curled up with me to watch a movie. And Partis, looking at me with his coffee eyes, as I stood over him with a murderous smile, whispering his last words.
My head shook at the overwhelming trauma those memories caused.
I would never leave this place. I was haunted by the ghosts of a hundred city men and women, and the specters of my Master and my childhood friend. I failed to stop rats from taking one, and I deliberately took the lives of the other.
I would stay until I died. Then I could meet them formally and apologize for being a monster. And perhaps, one day, they would come to forgive my abysmal sins.Chapter End Notes:---xxx---
Okay, so...
"Partis" (pronounced "Par-tee" and not "Par-tiss") translates roughly to "gone away". Fits quite well, if I might say so
When he'd said that, I could not believe what I'd heard. So I lay down on my stomach, turning my head up at him quizzically, so that he would know I couldn't take him seriously. He looked back at me with that knowing smile, as though he'd expected my reaction and was playing off of it. I lowered my gaze to the grass just inches away from my face, then found his eyes, still staring at me. The moon cast an eerie glow to their typical coffee. I loosely wondered if mine were like his.
"You heard me, didn't you? If you hadn't, I'll repeat myself; we have to kill him!"
"But . . ." I stopped myself before I could object. He didn't like it when I went against his wishes. What to do, what to do? Should I have walked away? Attacked him? Or simply told him 'no'? Looking back, I probably should have.
"Good," he replied to my silence, suspecting I had more to say. "Remember that I'm older than you. I can beat you up, you know."
"I'm aware," I agreed sourly. I turned on my back, my stomach facing the starry night sky, my muzzle now in the grass I'd been looking at earlier.
"So? Are you in?" I was silent. I'd stopped rolling. What do I do? I was afraid of the immediate consequences of my actions (or rather, non-actions) and opted to go with him anyway.
"I suppose we haven't got a choice. Do you think he's left us alone yet? I mean, he's been at this for a while now, hasn't he?"
"He has. I say we prepare an ambush."
"We haven't got the time. Besides, you'd have to be the one to do it; I can't grab with my paws."
"Use your mouth, then!" My eyes find the grass again because of his brashness. He softened a bit, possibly because he realized he needed me, or maybe because he valued me as a friend. I'd never know.
"I'll do that," I answered hollowly. He nodded his furry head, and we looked up at the moon. We'd perched upon a meadow, which overlooked a large forest below, and had a crop of trees behind it. The trees down there were thicker than the ones up top, though the oxygen was harder to inhale where we were. The moon was full tonight, and the stars plentiful. I realized that I (if we lived through this ordeal) would need to return back to the city one day. They did not look at the stars in the city; the constant layer of smog in the sky obscured them. "Do you think we'll live?"
"If you act wisely, you can live through anything. That's what my Daddy told me when I was little." I nodded in agreement. He'd lost his father when he was really small. It made the mood a bit more glum when he brought it up. "I was thinkin' . . . maybe we should head back the way we came?"
"Why?!," I shrieked. "He's still up there! You can hear his footsteps!"
"'Cause I'm tired of runnin'. You got a home to go back to, but I don't. You got someone to take care of you."
"Which is why you 'ought to come back with me! We can . . . well, there ain't much to do in the stupid city. But, at least we'll be together! You ain't gotta survive no more! You can -"
"Stop it! Stop talking about that, that - that fantasy-land crap! It ain't gonna happen! I've had it with you tryin'a get me to come back with you! No means no!" I whimpered then, as my feelings were immensely hurt. It seemed like a good idea to offer an invitation, but . . . I had no clue why he would reject me so harshly.
"Sorry," I apologized, taking a deep breath. "I just thought . . ."
"Don't even bring it up, okay? Just shut yer big mouth." He curled into a ball. I could hear him holding back tears.
"Did you want to come? Ain't no reason to be afraid."
"I said shut up!"
"Okay. We're going to sleep?"
"Yeah. If he wants to come get us, we'll be dead by morning. If not, we can find a way to get ourselves out of this mess." I nodded and moved hesitantly near him. He turned and curled up tighter, so I moved away and glumly lay down, dozing off quickly.
**xx---xx**
I'm awake!
Slowly, I trotted out of my containment cage and crept toward my food bowl. It was empty, which didn't surprise me, given what I did. Or rather, failed to do. What a mess had been caused by my docile attitude, and my inability to act properly. But what would Master have me do? Be wild and rambunctious, so that I could not be controlled? Certainly not.
I gave a bark in the kitchen to let her know that I was hungry, but got no response. Perhaps she was still mad at me? I trotted lightly into her living room, nuzzling her shoulder (as I was big) for attention, but she appeared to be sleeping, so I left her to her own devices. Recently, there had been an outbreak of Ratatta in the streets, and the people would have none of it! So they sent letters to every Trainer within the city limits, begging for help. Literal piles of them collected in a heap near the front door, and it was my job to read them (if a Meowth could teach himself to speak English, why could a dog not teach himself to read words?)
I am an Arcanine, whose name is Flame. Okay, perhaps not the most original, but fun to say. I slid out of my house (which had a doggy-door fastened into the wall to allow my large body entrance and exit) and pranced down the street, preparing to deal with this issue. In my mouth, I held one of the letters, which tasted like old tabacco. The street I went down was wide, which allowed full view of the blue sky above it, and showcased the vibrant colors of the buildings and cars that passed through.
An elderly man was busy hanging a poster upon a telephone post. It read "MISSING" and had someone's picture posted below it. I nudged him in the back gently, and he turned and patted my head fur with the most delicate of strokes.
"Oh, Flame! You're going to take care of this Ratatta problem, huh? Good for you." The man began limping off with a cane, and I felt sorry for his helplessness. For him, I would surely exterminate anything that dared tamper with my territory!
~
"Are you coming?"
"Yeah, yeah," I confirmed, unable to really keep up. He was so fast! My stubby little Growlithe body couldn't match his smaller size! He'd led me to a small waterfall, with a stready cascade of water being fed from a stream above that was clean and fresh as mountain water. Why would he take me here? "What's this?"
"We're not going to take a bath or anything. It's for food."
"Food?! What do you mean?"
"You're used to being fed from a bowl. Out in the wild, you have to get your own food. The best way to do that (if you can't fight for your own) is to lure others out and take what they don't finish."
"So we're going to mark our scents here?" I was a bit tepid on the whole idea. Besides, he couldn't use his scent like I could; he didn't have a developed nose.
"Sort of. We're just gonna wait and see if someone thinks we're using this space. C'mon. We'd better hide." He leapt into the cover of dew-laced bushes, and I clumsily followed him, breaking autumn branches under my paws. I got a glare from him, but nothing more.
"What're we tryin'a do, anyway? Just wait? Ain't that kinda boring? Can't we talk?"
"Fine. We'll talk. What do you want to talk about, Blabbermouth?" I recoiled at his harshness, but then remembered that was how he was.
"
Well . . . about you! I know we ain't spent much time together, but . . . ever since I been comin' up here to visit, you seemed lonely."
"I am lonely," he retorted.
"Well, I'm here," I shot back.
"I don't care," he finished. I sighed and he turned to look at me.
"You never care. You don't have to be so cold."
"Sorry." That was the first time I'd heard him apologize in a long while, and it made me smile.
"It's okay," I said, meeting his gaze.
"Tell me about you, Flame." The hints of a smile played on his lips. I was surprised at how . . . ambiguous he was being with his friendly invitations. Did he really to be my friend? Or was he just using me to do his hench work?
"Well, you should kinda know, since you're always visiting me when we come up here. I live in a house way in the city, and sometimes Master brings me up here to play in the woods, and I -"
"I mean, you! Not where you're from."
"Oh . . . well. I was raised from a litter of three, but Master sold my sisters away before I could really meet them. I was lonely for a while, but Master gave me something to live for. Then I met you! And we can play together! Right?" I asked the last part quietly and slowly, so as not to rush things.
"Of course," he said gently, lowering his head in that knowing smirk. Then I pushed him into the water and he yelled.
~
My nose detected something peculiar, but I couldn't go any further. My method of getting rid of the Ratatta was to take out their leader. If I took out the head, the body would surely fall. Or migrate. Or whatever.
So here I was, out in the rather large park near the city outskirts, and I had picked up traces of brown fur. This let me know that a Raticate was nearby. The reader's intelligence is surely screaming, "HE'S IN A SEWER, HE'S IN A SEWER" but sadly, not quite. The park was fashioned in a rectangle, and had no sewers except on its edges. Even then, how would a six foot flaming dog get into a sewer in the first place?
The Ratatta had to have a nest somewhere. My intuition told me to check the soil near the tall trees for them, but sadly, under blue skies, they would be painfully obvious to spot. I knew I had them cornered. There was some way to get them, I was sure! But where were they?
I trotted around the area of the entire park, my long legs and hindquarters giving me speed to my step. It took little time to clear the entire space, and I had looped myself around in a full circle. My muzzle hit the ground in seconds, and I padded around, poking through the dirt. The smell intensified in certain areas, and lessened in others. When I reached the peak of the smell (which was still faint in itself), I knew where my culprits were: underground.
~
It had turned to night quicker than we had anticipated, so we had to stop off in a remotely safe wooded clearing. The idea with the scents had backfired; we were spotted and chased out by a Pikachu. I was the bigger of the both of us, so I took the brunt of the damage inflicted, which was a ThunderShock. My fur was still electrified, and stood up in spiky clusters.
"Okay," he told me, looking down. "That went badly." I couldn't talk well, so I simply nodded, as my jaw muscles were tightened and it hurt badly to flex them. "Here. I think there's something for that." He rolled a large red berry my way with his paw. A Cheri berry! With some trouble, I opened my swolen jaw and gobbled it down. Quickly, my paralysis faded from my entire body.
"I'll say," I replied much later.
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," he sighed at me, keeping eye contact. My eyes darted every which way, attempting to avoid him.
"It's not," I assured him hurriedly.
"It is. We wouldn't be pursued if I'd just let you play near your cabin."
"What's a little fun without risk, am I right?" He looked at me with a smile, small, and then it grew into a grin. "Oh, Flame! C'mere!" I playfully leapt on him, and we tumbled together in a roll. I didn't want him to be afraid to play back because of my size advantage, so I made my muscles limp as I leaped off, allowing him time to tackle me back. He never did.
"Ain't you two just the cutest?" I turned my head, and saw a Zorua walk our way from the shadows of the trees around us. We hadn't set up any camp nor did we leave a trail, so how she'd found us muddled both of us a bit. "Now, before you ask who I am, I'd like to ask you the same question. I'm up and around this forest day an' night, and I ain't never seen y'all around here."
"I'm not from here. I'm from the city." He hit me in the face with his curly tail, and it hurt. "What was that for?!"
The Zorua tilted her head back a bit, a coy smile working its way onto her ashen face. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really," he said, standing up to her. "Now back off."
"You ain't gonna last long with such a gutsy attitude, kid. Keep your mouth shut when you're not addressed."
"And just who are you?" I felt a fight coming soon, so I awkwardly stepped in the middle of it.
"Please? Can we not do this? We're trying to get out of the forest now, alright? We won't impose on your territory anymore." She smirked, and began walking off.
"Alright, kids. I'll leave y'all alone. But you come near here again, and I'll cut you. Bad. Name's Elk, by the way, if you ever need anything. Like getting rid of that big ol' Tyranitar comin' after you."
~
Even though I hated it (naturally), I had to admit that the rain that had picked up was a blessing in disguise. It would do one of two things: it would drive my rats out of the ground, or make the soil easy enough for digging. My options were defensive or offensive, respectively. I chose offensive.
Contrary to popular belief, most Fire-type Pokemon did not rely on their fire for life. Instead, they were warm-blooded creatures who only disliked water because it offset their internal homeostasis (their bodies had evolved over time to reflect their environment, which was clearly not a watery one). So, it only made me miserable as I used my large paws to plow through the limp dirt, spraying up piles of it messily behind me. I could feel the fear in my targets, and could imagine the terror on their faces as I came and demolished their entire population!
Eventually, the rain had picked up into a full-blown storm, so strong winds forced me into the tunnel I had found (yes, they were somehow big enough to fit my entire body. Don't think too hard about it). I wandered around a bit, aimlessly, due to the lack of light surrounding me. So, I applied a little Ember to help light my path, and found a very simple network of tunnels that served as a temporary burrow to the family's population. My intent was to find one and disable it quickly, then use it to draw the others out. However, they had the advantage here, so I opted to be cautious in my movements.
The entrances to many paths were actually fake. Some were too small to enter, others too large to be probable. I took the one I found least conspicous, at the end of the entire network, and it took me several minutes to finally enter a 'room'. There was perched a small Ratatta, crying out for help. I leapt atop it, and with my extreme size, used a paw to crush its back out. It yelped, my intent, and promptly died. The burrow was quite small, so the chances of finding any others inside were slim. But, I had to try to draw them out somehow. So, I readied the biggest, heartiest Flamethrower I could muster, and sent it spiraling through the nearest connection of tunnels, hoping to scorch them out.
~
"Do you want a family?" I asked arbitrarily, poking at the uncooked Magikarp before me.
"A family?" he responded, giving me a questioning look.
"Yep. With a mate. You know . . . kids. I do."
"Mm," was all he said, pawing at his own raw fish. "I'd want to be able to protect my family."
"From what?"
"Out in the wild, other people will want to steal your mate. So they kill you." I recoiled at this, because that meant that when he would grow to be older, he would need to protect his family with his very life. I was glad I didn't need to do that.
"How sad," I sighed, biting deep into the guts of my fish, then raising my head, and spitting out what meat I had collected in my maw.
"It's life. Life sucks," he agreed glumly, doing the same as I did. We both sat for a minute in the wooded clearing. We were higher up than we were two nights ago, now up back near where we began. My eyes found the burnt fish (my eyes seemed to be doing a lot of 'finding' in the course of this story) that I had made. It was my inability to control my abilities that led to our eating raw fish. Needless to say, he was not too pleased.
"Life doesn't have to suck. You could come stay with me in the city. We'll have fun." I could sense a change in his normally tense posture as he considered it. Then, he sent a glare my way.
"I've told you -"
"Okay! Just a suggestion. That was all." I dipped my head down into my fish and began absently chewing, hoping he wasn't still looking at me like he usually did. It made unpleasant squishing sounds as I tried to force it down my throat.
~
I heard lots of feet hitting the ground, and the smell of burnt flesh, so I knew I'd hit my mark. They had been fleeing earlier when I first came in, but now they were evacuating completely, hoping to evade me. Unfortunately for them, I was one step ahead of them.
I made my way out of my tunnel and back into the main network, where I could sniff out the smell of scorched fur to determine my path. In no time at all, I found the main burrow: a straight line right through to the exit. That meant that many of them had escaped. But a few lingered behind, so curiously, I inched ahead.
The burrow was larger than I expected. It had an oddly nostalgic feeling to it . . . I couldn't remember why though. It was circular, with smaller tunnels on the walls for convenient escape. In the back (from where I was facing) was the main hole, which undoubtedly opened into a new city or sewer system. A lone Raticate squeaked something too low to hear to a Ratatta, and the purple creature zoomed off. Then, it turned to face me, fixating its coffee eyes on my large frame with a cold glare.
"What are you doing here, dog? Allow me my escape, lest I bite out your throat." He wasn't exactly scary.
~
"That Zorua . . ." I asked, letting the fragmented question linger in the air.
"Yeah?"
"What if we got into a fight? Me and you?" I was laying on my back, facing the starry sky. Our pursuer was getting ever-closer as we moved back toward him, having nowhere else to run to.
"I dunno. I don't want to think about it, either."
"So you're my friend?!" I jumped up excitedly, my happiness apparent in my tone. He smiled that knowing smile, and let his body relax.
"If we make it out of here alive, Flame . . . then I'm your friend." He got up, moved over to me, and shook my paw with his own. I could feel heat in my head! This was it! We were friends! We . . . we could do so much. This is what I've wanted. No more loneliness. Master would be pleased.
"I promise, we will." And he smiled at me. A real smile.
~
I had leapt atop the Raticate with easy, grinning the whole time. My superior weight outclassed his agility by far, since I'd taken him by surprise. He attempted to bite me with bone-breaking fangs, but I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"No, wait! You don't understand! I'm just trying to protect -"
Crunch.
I bit down as hard as I could, locking my strong jaws, and shook. His body couldn't handle the trauma, and went into shock, as he flailed and thrashed, trying to free himself. I intensified my saliva to make a Fire Fang, which cooked his fur and skin underneath, just to give him a little burn before his death.
When I released him, he was limp. His body hit the ground lifelessly, and blood erupted from the gash in his neck. He lay on the ground, twitching, and whispered something. I leaned it gleefully to hear his final words.
"Friend . . ." I cocked my head sideways, and asked him to repeat it, my murderous smile still attached. "My . . . family . . . Flame . . ." My smile died. I recoiled. How . . . how did he know that? I sat down, chuckling, then stood up, then sat down. Confusion struck me, then shock, then more confusion. His body released his blood in a small pool around his body. Cold eyes stared at the burrow's ceiling. They were coffee. Alarms went off in my mind as I processed what had just happened. I had . . . had I killed my best friend? Certainly not.
So, pretending to ignore the fact that it very well could have been him, I trotted off.
~
After what had happened, it seemed to open my mind to my surroundings. The rain on the surface was still pouring in a light storm, which soaked me to my skin and made me both angry and depressed. The idea of killing my childhood friend revolted me, yet intrigued me all at once. Where had he been this whole time? When did he raise a family? And why did he choose a town which was full of people, with lively colors and happy people? Bastard.
I regretted my disdain immediately, because it could not have been him. He would have said so earlier. But had I given him a chance to talk? Certainly not! Besides, he was causing the death of my townsfolk! That justified his murder, did it not?
Didn't it?!
My pace picked up speed quickly. I needed some time to cool down or I'd snap.
~
"Assume the position," he said in my ear, his eyes trained below him. I nodded, and bent over to allow him leverage and ease of movement. He nodded gratefully and crouched down lower.
We were near the summit of the mountain, near where Master's cabin lay. The land was rough, and dead trees lined the path, which made it hard for large creatures to pass through. There was an overpass above a glade, which was rocky and hidden from the sight of those below it. To them, it would appear to be the facade of a mountain. To us, it was escape from our hunter.
It was a Tyranitar, big and stupid. He was a very vivid green, so he stood out, despite the mist that clung to our bodies which should have served as natural camouflage for him. He at least had the sense to walk quietly, but attempted to intimidate us by using his size to break trees apart.
"I know you're in the area . . . hurry up and die, I'm hungry!," he would tease us with, cackling afterward. My partner was brave in all things, though, and would not be fazed by such petty tactics. He was coming directly below us, since the rock we were atop was seen as a dead end to him. We needed precise timing, lest our plan fail miserably. If we didn't kill him off now, we'd be stuck running up the mountain again, which would corner us and spell out our deaths.
Confused, the green monster was now in the middle of the glade. He'd bent down to sniff the tracks in the ground, which were so faint due to the misty conditions around him. If he'd have looked closer, he'd notice the tracks had led to a small passage that ramped upward to our hiding spot. My partner did not give him that chance.
Working his purple body to its limits, he yelled, "Now!" and moved to push the large boulder in front of him off the edge of the overpass. It budged slightly. I took my cue, and leapt off the side of the overpass, atop the Tyranitar. He looked at me with ravenous, dinner-plate eyes, and I could tell his tummy had told him he wanted me for his main course. My lithe (hehe, pun) body would not allow it. All of my fire puppy pride went into a tackle, but I was swiftly rejected by means of a huge slap to my ribs.
Hearing me yelp triggered the last survival instinct he had in him, and my partner tossed the boulder off the edge of his vantage point. It hit the ground near the Tyranitar with a dull thud, not even close to its target. But, my partner had other plans. He leapt off along with the boulder, and sent a savage barrage of swipes at his opponent's face. The Tyranitar grabbed hold of his tail, and tossed him into the dirt.
Bleeding and dizzy, I rose to my feet and leapt for his back. He didn't see my attack coming, and was caught off guard. Unfortunately, being a dog, I lacked the joint-functions to keep my hold, and was sent off of his body. I attempted to use my fangs to maintain a grip, but alas, it was useless. Now on the ground, I realized I'd need to re-think my strategy. Unfortunately, time was the world's currency, and I was flat broke.
My partner had vanished from behind the lime monster, who turned his soulless eyes down toward me. I backed down a bit, recoiling in steps, growling in a bluff. A large footpaw was aimed at my face, and I bowed my head in a flinch, when I should have run. The sheer force of the kick sent me reeling backward and my entire coordination interface was scrambled beyond repair. Seamlessly, the hulking green beast moved in closer and picked me up by the tail, like a hunter would do with a newly caught fox. I remember thinking of my death.
Due to my importance as a main character in the story, or perhaps by divine intervention, I was spared the horrible fate of being eaten alive. A Hyper Fang to the leg left the large thing immobile, and in the shocking pain, I was set free. My partner nodded to me, and we both raced up the overpass, watching the disgusting sight of the Tyranitar reel in pain. We needed a way to kill him, and we needed one quickly.
~
I entered the town, but what I saw was not like what I was accustomed to seeing. Perhaps the rain had made it overcast, which is why everything seemed so . . . gray. Or perhaps killing my best friend had shocked me out of some major repressed trauma I was going through. Either way, I was mortified.
The wide street was in disrepair. Large potholes were strewn carelessly about, needing desperate tar fillings. Buildings which I had once thought were filled with customers and merchants, and were painted greens and pinks and purples, were just beige, with boards over their doors. The sky I mentioned earlier was black. A single street-light was still functioning, so it let me see just how dirty the sidewalks were. The missing sign of the woman from hours ago was torn to shreds by claws. I sighed.
There was really only one place to go, now. I had taken care of the rodent population; my mission was complete. It was time to head home.
~
After some careful timing and tactical manipulation, we had managed to kill the Tyranitar. All it really took was some herding up the overpass and pushing him off the cliff. With a crippled leg, the force of the impact had killed him. Yes, dear readers, that DOES make sense.
We sat in solemn silence for a long while. We had no fire this time, no light, no life. Just our combined breath echoing from the cold of the hilltops.
"We've taken a life," I said quietly, my eyes trained on my paws.
"That we did," he replied casually back.
"Does that mean we're murderers?"
"It was in total self-defense. He should have never picked on us!"
"Yeah, but - but, we've killed him! We strayed into his territory! We're the guilty party!"
"Don't give me that, stupid mutt!" I flinched again. He was so harsh sometimes! "You'll have forgotten about it anyway. Around here, killing the resident Big Bad means you're the new Big Bad! In other words, you're the local badass. And I'm not about to give that up because some wimpy dog is too cowardly to admit that he liked killing that walking abortion!"
My face changed to a look of immediate horror. I tripped over my tongue several times, before I could get out, "Wh - what?!"
"Yeah, alright. I admit it. I liked the thrill. But I didn't mean it." I nodded in agreement. Of course! He would never say something like that! I had no doubt in my mind that he regretted this whole mess.
"Of course. We should get back to the cabin." My eyes still found his purple form, giving him sidelong glances. Suspicion was aroused in my mind, and it had no intention of leaving quickly.
~
The door swung open silently as my large paw guided it open. Mist spilled into the cold house from outside, which gave it a decrepit feeling. It was eerie, to say the least. Eerie enough to make my neck hairs stand on end.
My nose detected a foul stench upon entry, but then registered it back to Master, who always smelled like that. It seemed to have magnified in intensity, though. The living room was cluttered with overturned bookcases and loose papers. On the carpeting was crimson; my heart fell dramatically.
I timidly approached the living room, where Master always sat. She neglected to feed me, and I was hungry. But . . . something felt wrong about this encounter. I was already on the edge of my sanity, so I figured I'd best avoid her. Yet, I kept creeping toward her, despite the warnings going off in my mind. I wish I had listened. I wish I had listened all the way back when I should have said 'no'.
She was dead. She sat in a recliner, facing the ceiling, dead eyes lolled over and her face contorted into anger. A single-barrel sat in her hand. We may all have been thinking she committed suicide, but no. I searched closer, and found bites marks. My bite marks.
I examined the room around me for the first time in six months. The blood on the floor was not hers. It was fashioned in a trail, which went out of the door, and around the living room in small splashes. It was my blood. The bookcases were overturned because of a struggle; my struggle. Near my cage was a bludgeoning instrument, bent with dents that no inanimate object could fill.
She had been beating me.
And out of self-defense,
I killed her.
The realization hit me, hard. I sat down at her feet, staring longingly into her eyes. This was why I had no food. This was why I got no answer when I barked at her. This was why the town was barren. I was the last living thing in it. She tried to kill me, because she didn't want to move like the rest of the town. She tried to spare me the loneliness that I'd have been feeling now, since everyone else left. So, since the rod didn't work, she tried to use a shotgun. And I killed her.
Everyone else who didn't want to migrate to a larger city had been killed it the rat infestation. And my best friend was at the top of it. He figured that this place was abandoned, because it was. And I had stopped him, because I thought it wasn't. I had killed him for no reason. Of all of the fate encounters we could have had, specifically at the cabin, we met here, and I ended up killing him.
I put a paw to her body, and it tipped over with my weight. I was able to deduce that I had killed her with several bites to the neck, though.
"Master," I whispered with unrestrained sorrow. "Did I say I was sorry when I killed you? I am now." I decided to leave her corpse in peace. Since I couldn't bury her, I closed the door to the room quietly, and made my way to the city limits, a short trip.
~
Now that he was dead, I could finally let the name leave my lips.
"Partis."
I sat vigil for my town at the city limits, where a small fence at the edges of a large, defunct road served as a border that divided the normal world from my own. This is where my city began and ended. There is where I began, and will meet my end. I secretly hoped a car would come and put me out of my misery.
The moon cast perfunctory rays down, making my dirty coat shine with oily autumn grime and sweat, opposed to its six-months-previous glamorous fiery orange. My ribs were exposed through my fur; I wondered what I had done for sustenance these past months, with no Master to feed me. My eyes reflected in the night, which made them green and like small beacons, advertising my silence and my guardianship over my territory.
Flashbacks erupted violent into my mind at random. Times with Master, her dazzling pale skin shining off the sun. My happy feelings, retrieving a simple ball, and bringing it back. My tongue, lolling out of my mouth, and her, reaching a hand to pet my head fur. Partis, looking at me with a smile, as we waged who could collect the most prey in one hour. Master, riding my back in midday, myself, barking at passerby children who had returned from the local farmer's store. Partis, as we ran through the forest past the cabin, no worries or danger concerning us. Master, teaching me to use different moves, but myself failing miserably. And her knowing smile, as she put her Trainer's Guide away, and curled up with me to watch a movie. And Partis, looking at me with his coffee eyes, as I stood over him with a murderous smile, whispering his last words.
My head shook at the overwhelming trauma those memories caused.
I would never leave this place. I was haunted by the ghosts of a hundred city men and women, and the specters of my Master and my childhood friend. I failed to stop rats from taking one, and I deliberately took the lives of the other.
I would stay until I died. Then I could meet them formally and apologize for being a monster. And perhaps, one day, they would come to forgive my abysmal sins.Chapter End Notes:---xxx---
Okay, so...
"Partis" (pronounced "Par-tee" and not "Par-tiss") translates roughly to "gone away". Fits quite well, if I might say so