A Walking Legend

Nyaro leaned off the edge of Chii’s shoulder. She lazily swung her paw toward me, slowly arcing down until her pads tapped me atop the head. She lifted it up to repeat the gesture. “Would you stop?” I whispered.

She lowered it slightly toward me, then scoffed. Nyaro reached over the side of Chii’s head to swing at Birtsie instead.

Chii reached up, securing her fingertips around the scruff of Nyaro’s neck. She held the cat out in front of her face, letting her tail dangle down helplessly, “I will put you on the ground.”

Nyaro hung limp. Her eyes darted up to Birtsie anyway, “Fine…” She mewed innocently. Her claws unsheathed themselves, flexing with her paws as Chii set her back up on her shoulder. Nyaro’s tail flicked back and forth.

I looked up at Birtsie, “Will Chii listen if you tell her to whisper?”

“Oh, n-no…” She chirped softly, “I don’t think she’d understand.”

“We’ve already gone this way…” Zane complained. I was surprised as he recognized the same large tree appearing in the path of his flashlight. He’d walked us all around it four other times, and I was more than ready to let him walk in circles all night.

“Let’s try this way instead!” Chii announced, pointing off in the distance. I sighed, it was definitely the right direction. My nose twitched, something down that way dawdled in the air. It was cold but toxically sweet. Overripe. Subtle but grand. Nyaro seemed to notice it also, and as we started in that direction, her fur bristled across her back. Nobody else mentioned it.

“Do you smell that?” I leaned toward her.

“It’s carrion, but fruity…” Nyaro held her mouth open for a moment, “Earthy, iron- sanguine, and… eww…”

“Eww?” I tried to smell it more deeply. I held my mouth open like she had. I didn’t get catch any deeper smell.

Nyaro watched me, “Can ya quit mimicking me?”

“Well, I’ve seen Nyaro do that to smell things better before… I didn’t know if Kichi could…”

“How many Nyaro have you met other than me?” She shook her head, “You can’t be that old. You’re tiny, even for a Kichi…”

“Well I…” I started.

“You smell young, too!” Nyaro’s head tilted back and forth, “Lots of errant fluff.”

Birtsie slowly lifted her wings up, “What happened to whispering? There’s a weird smell. What if it’s dangerous, you guys?”

Nyaro’s mouth curled up slightly, “I’ll give ya to it so I can run away!”

Birtsie quickly bent down, pecking against Chii’s hair. The trainer jumped up and down, “Stop! Stop that!” Birtsie tensed up, her tail feathers rustling behind her.

She chirped, “Sorry… Sorry…”

Zane lifted the flashlight up, “Come on, all three of you. Could you focus, please?” He tried whispering to Chii, but projected his voice halfway across the forest, “What’s got them all riled up?”

“These two are always like this,” Chii shrugged, “If Nyaro isn’t antagonizing her, she’s bugging me… I’ve usually got to give her treats so she’ll just go to sleep. If that doesn’t work, I have to put her in her Capture Ball.”

“I always keep Prince and Squirm in…” Zane said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, Twigbo I keep in the ball, too. He makes me uncomfortable, somehow.”

Birtsie tilted her head up, poking her beak into the air, “See, you both need to stop causing trouble! I’m not part of this.”

“Boring!” Nyaro hissed.

“Stop bullying the Kichi, and I’ll try to have more fun!”

“I’m supposed to, Birtsie! I’m supposed to!” Nyaro whined, “When you evolve into an Owloss you’ll get it!”

“No. You’ll get it,” Birtsie flexed her talon.

The fragmented, makeshift trail here was surrounded by wide gray boulders on either side. Long cracks split through them from years of freezes and thaws. A tree with pastel, red-brown bark lay collapsed just beyond the walkable path. Its roots were torn from the ground completely. Its body would have towered over most forests as a tree did over an anthill. Tall, red trees like this one dotted the local landscape, and as we drew further, we found more uprooted. For how far they must have fallen, none had sustained any other damage except small scratches in their bark.

At first, I didn’t hear it through the bickering of my compatriots, but here, even the wind was hushed. The clip of a broken breeze whistled and died quieter than silence. The slight smell, here, sprouted into a vibrancy that caught just behind my nose and burrowed into my throat. My eyes watered unwillfully. My stomach sunk, refusing, as my esophagus tried forcing it to retch. Nyaro reacted similarly.

Zane’s feet didn’t shift in the dirt. He looked down to see a path of blackened, shiny rock. It looked almost like glass, and long, swirling marks crossed its top like rippling water. It was uneven and jagged, filling long, elliptical areas. These ellipses came in pairs of two and led deeper into the woods, far, I knew, from any towns at all.

He knelt down, the light reflecting in a million starlike points off the blackened ground. His fingertips ran smoothly against the crystal, “It’s warm…” He noted. Of course it was warm. I pushed back the tiny bit I could while hanging onto his shoulder, away from the object. This was earth melted into glass. It was still warm enough that it reacted slightly to Zane’s touch, oozing a nudge away from him. This was new. There were plenty of Capmon who could create glass if they put the time into it. I’d only heard rumors of ones who could do such a thing with their mere footprints.

If only this had been yesterday, when I was myself. I wanted to turn and leave. I didn’t have Nidlord or the rest of my team, the ones who made me a champion, the ones I would need to confront something of this scale. Even beside the team that won a championship, one of few across the world capable of such a thing, facing a walking legend like this would have been a difficult task. One of the most revered champions in history died pursuing such a thing. I’d struggled to overcome a single Grandite.

This could have been one of the most powerful Capmon ever born, a deity in shape, a god that could fit in a Capture Ball. My knowledge hammered in my heartbeat, threatening me if I should not convince everyone to turn and leave. My brain demanded otherwise, that I might never see this titan if not to worship it now. That ultimatum shook me. I straightened myself out, looking around carefully. Everyone dreamed of seeing a legendary Capmon with their own eyes, myself more than most.

We passed another of the fallen trees. The bottoms of its roots were melted until they were petrified. There were no marks of burning or any other evidence of heat. Zane’s flashlight flickered, the soft light reaching into the distance until its furthest reaches struck something. Dimmer than moonlight, there was a wall of interlaced crystalline scales climbing from the ground to the lower tree branches. Its sapphire face jutted out in the shape of a kite, eight ruby eyes carved into it like the totem of a spider. It hooted rhythmically, a collection of voices all emanating from the same place.

One of its feet lifted slightly, dripping with flashing, red glass, molten and viscous. The dripping glass plinked against the ground like wind chimes. With its face still turned toward us, it walked in the opposite direction. Zane ran closer to it. His feet pulled through the waxy, half-cooled glass on the ground. He stopped as we heard more rustling in the trees beside us.

Two men in black and white-speckled uniforms emerged. They sputtered, looking at each other, “Are we too late, Bro?” I recognized them, two members of the Starlight Gang. Zane and I had faced them before.

The taller man replied, “Look, the ground it’s new.” He turned slightly to see the titan stomping away, “Aieeee!” He fell back into his partner’s arms, “It’s right there! It’s right there!”

“You guys?” Zane walked up to them. Chii ran up behind us.

The shorter man pushed his partner aside, “Guys!?” He hissed, “We’re the nightmare you wished you never had!”

“The best of the best to ever do bad!” His partner continued.

“We’re the do-gooders the world really needs.” The shorter man winked.

“Those who show the lies where honesty leads.” The taller man bent down to twirl beside his partner like a ballerina.

“Bringing the world at last as one.”

“And, to be survived by none.”

“Dane!” The shorter man reached for a Capture Ball.

“Nate!”

“The fathomless Starlight Gang in the dead of night.”

“The most glorious of any sight.” They posed together.

Chii fell over laughing, “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen! What are ya, a couple clowns?”

“Come on!” Nate ground his foot against the glassy ground, “We spent nineteen minutes rehearsing that!”

Dane grabbed Nate’s pant leg, “They’re just kids, Bro. They don’t have a sense of taste.”

“Right… Right…” Nate gritted his teeth, “You know what. We’re the Starlight Gang! We won’t be made fun of by a couple brats!” He wildly launched a Capture Ball forward revealing a Wizzel.

Dane rolled his eyes, “Aren’t we here for the legendary?” He summoned his own Wizzel, “Well, Kids. You should run away screaming now so I can do more important things.”

I hopped down onto the ground as Zane carefully angled the flashlight forward. Nyaro whimpered, pawing at the side of Chii’s face until Chii finally said, “Fine… Go! Just don’t go nuts!”

Nyaro wrapped around behind me, her sleek body shining white in the slight warmth of the flashlight. She was slightly larger than the Wizzels and her eyes shined a bright yellow as she stalked around the battlefield. She made a clicking noise with her mouth and her tail twitched back and forth.

Nate and Dane stared blankly into the battlefield. Dane scratched the back of his head, “Uh… Do you guys have a flashlight we could use, too? I can only see what you’re pointing at!”

“Oh yeah,” Chii smirked, “Totally. Sharing is caring, right?”

Zane mumbled, “Really? Oh, I guess it’s important to fight fair.” He fished around in his bag for another flashlight, “Uh… Where was it?”

“I was kidding!” Chii punched him in the arm. Chii pointed at Nyaro, “Go. Pounce while they’re distracted!” Nyaro’s hips swayed behind her and she bounced forward. I could barely see a puff of white fur as she tackled one of the Wizzels and dragged it out of the flashlight. The Wizzel screeched wildly, and suddenly, it went dead silent. I breathed through my teeth.

The other Wizzel scurried back into the flashlight. It was shaking. Its legs moved slightly under it and its head swung back and forth. Nyaro lunged toward it. I didn’t know how she’d so quickly gotten all of the way behind it, so silently. She tackled it and flipped it over in full view of the light, then sunk her teeth into its neck. Nyaro dragged one of the limp Wizzels back to Chii rather proudly, “I got this for ya!”

Dane and Nate looked at each other, “Th-that wasn’t fair!”

“Who cares?” Chii rolled her eyes, “Ya said you’re part of the Starlight Gang. Everyone knows you guys are bad news. Besides, Wizzel… both of them… will get better, anyway! Bon voyage… Goodnight…”

“Don’t blow us off!” Nate yelled.

“Goodbye…” Chii flicked her hand at them. They ran away into the forest. Nyaro dragged the other Wizzel back to Chii’s feet. She took a bite out of its side, purring as she chewed it. Chii looked down at her, “What did I tell you? I said one thing!”

Nyaro looked at her blankly before taking another bite. Chii stomped, “I said… Don’t go crazy! Don’t! Bad!” She sighed, “Come on, we have to go or the giant, awesome, titan that we just saw is going to get away. Do you want it to get away, Nyaro?”

Nyaro carefully looked between the two Wizzels. She pushed the smaller one away with her claw and carefully carried the bigger one in her mouth as we continued walking.

We only barely caught up to the legendary Capmon before its body faded away, turning into mist. The ground started shaking in another terrible earthquake as it disappeared. The glass on the melted ground all shattered into tiny pieces. The sun was rising over the forest.