Heart of the Pokemon: Mother the Mightyena

by MightyDesoto

Mercy did not belong in the wild. Neither did humans and their strange ways, but the winds of change were coming, bringing old foes and new blood to the land that would test my pack and everything it stood for. I made no promises of what was to come because there were no words to fill a bite pokemon's mouth. Only teeth. And they were my mightiest weapon.

1. Origins

Prologue

"Origins"

I was born under a night sky filled with light. A moon so bright that not even the stars could shine beyond its glory. It was a moon never seen before. Crisp, clear, and shining white like the peaks of the mountains beyond the grasslands. The elders couldn't remember such a moon in their lifetimes. Only stories and tales passed on to them by the ancients. They said it was a special moon, filled with the blessings of the Mighty Hena Spirit, and all born beneath it would be special too. It was a time of much celebration and mystery because the workings of the wild were rarely so generous. The grasslands were filled with traps among the wildflowers, competitors within the forests, and enemies on the mountains.

The world was harsh and unforgiving. The hot dry summer days when the grasses scratched together often snatched as many hatchlings as whispers. The cold bitter winter nights froze even glalie into hiding. To survive, the Hena made the pack and became Mighty. With the Spirit of the pack, they instilled order into the rough and ragged world. The laws of grass and fang balanced. The fruits of stream and sky were no longer wasted. Life and death continued in harmony and the circle between them remained unbroken.

All because of the pack.

I came into the world as Kateri Moonborn and the elders told me I would be special because none of the others born under the Sun Moon like me had survived. They told me that my name would give me power, more than any other Moonborn hatched under the light of a bright night sky. They said that when the Spirit of the Mighty Hena accepted me, and I became a true member of the pack, I would be given a new name. I would be given a pack name and the power of the self would follow me into the pack, making that name too, unlike the rest.

With a pack name, a Mighty Hena could never die although the self might. When the self died, the pack continued to live as long as there were Hena to howl and hunt across the earth. Pack names carried more power than those of the self because, with the pack, there was purpose. There were those coveted by the Spirit like Alpha, Prima, and Beta. Others were blessed by the Spirit with skills like Tracker, Spotter, and Maw Mouth. Then, there were those disgraced and rejected by the Spirit. The unworthy Exile and Omega. Power, both good and bad, were known to the pack. It was why the Mighty Hena ruled both day and night with the strength of fang and fur. Attack and defense.

Some believed one better than the other. There were those that believed in absolutes. They believed that Alpha and Prima ruled all with greater strength, speed, and wit. That they were better than all others because they were always first. But they did not understand. They could not believe that there was a name higher than Alpha and hardest to earn. The name that taught Hena how to be Mighty, how to live, and ensured the survival of the pack by watching over all.

That of Matriarch.

I must remind the world every day of the power of my name. For if I don't, the Mighty Hena will not survive and the world will no longer have a light in the darkness. The moon would be dark and bathed in red forever. It was a threat the wild had burned into the Hena's very eyes so that we would never forget the dangers that faced us.

I am Mother and the Spirit of the pack is with me.