The Stone shuddered at his steps. Every step was steady, controlled. His heart was anything but. Mamoru's great nostrils flared. His tail swept side to side. Trees splintered and fell. Pidgey and Spearow fled at his approach. They were wise.

It had been two weeks since the rest of his children had returned home with their bounty. He had not regarded them for but a minute before he sealed the Rhypherior away. They would not join him on this quest. They were weak. They would protest.

He reached out to the Stone. Its vastness comforted him, though nothing would tame the tempest that raged within his carapace. The Stone guided him. The wretches that had stolen Brother's brilliant eyes and defiled the sacred place under the mountain went this way. Their path was hidden well. It would have been difficult to track them without his two centuries of experience.

They had taken great care to avoid detection. The foul apes were well-versed in the terrain. No doubt natives of these wilds. Mamoru knew several villages in the area. Some offered tribute. Brother Taimu had stopped in several as they ventured on their last journey…

Mamoru's heart panged. His cold, hard rage retreated. Was Brother Taimu watching from his throne in the stars? Would he offer wisdom and guidance in his dreams? He had not allowed his mind the comfort of sweet sleep since Brother Taimu's rest had been disturbed and defiled.

It did not matter. Mamoru's will was of the Stone. The world would quake before his might until this wrong was righted.

He did not allow the thought of the brigands' escape to haunt him. They would never escape him. If they lived for another century he would find them on their deathbeds and entomb their bones in the Stone until they splintered and shattered.

Though they still drew breath, they were already dead.

Moonlight draped him in its cold embrace. He was a great shadow drifting across the land. Through the Stone he sensed many Diglett, Dugtrio, and Onix worming beneath the surface. They all fled at his footsteps. They knew him.

He stepped through a tree. Long slivers of wood and bark fell away from his carapace. Several Pidgey cried and fled in a flutter of wings. Mamoru paid them no heed.

Many leagues away there was a human village. Mamoru's nostrils caught the scent of fire and smoke and the stench of their works. The dead men had stopped in this place. For relief or sanctuary he did not know. It mattered not.

These humans were marked. They had associated with the dead men. One in the village bore the scent of stone and blood. All would pay their price.

Mamoru poured his rage into the Stone. It splintered around him. Earth crumbled and shook. Trees were upended. In the forest there was nothing but silence. All reasonable creatures had vanished long ago.

He made his way to the village.

TRTRTR

Mamoru watched the small village from a high hill. He had taken care. They did not know of his approach. The humans were few. Through the Stone he could sense less than a hundred. Their numbers were meaningless. A thousand men could strike him with their fragile metal weapons and arrows and he would feel nothing.

A Machoke helped carry loads of wood to a house. Several Machop slept in small homes. Several Pidgeotto and Spearow roosted in a small wooden tower. Useless. Mamoru regarded the village dispassionately. In but a breath he could slay them all.

His claws scraped against themselves. The Stone groaned at his will. Thousands of small fragments and pebbles and shards rose against nature's will and poised at his command. They would tear the human's feeble structures apart. Mamoru would explore at his leisure. The Stone would guide him.

Soft, dainty paws scuffed against the underbrush. Heat bathed him. A glow lit the night. The Machoke in the village turned to watch. The stones hung silently in the air, undisturbed by this new presence.

Mamoru did not react to the achingly familiar presence that sat by his side, as though it hadn't been nearly two centuries since their last meeting. The stars glittered overhead. He hoped Taimu watched them.

O Brother, it is a blessing to see you with mine own eyes. It has been many years since I last ventured from my vigil. I sensed your pain and knew it was time for our long-awaited meeting. What has become of you?

For the first time in two weeks, Mamoru felt his heart pang. He turned his great head and regarded the golden shape of his old friend. Sister Chinatsu had not aged a day. Her long fur shone golden as the blazing Flame embedded in her neck, a mark of Moltres' favor. The Ninetales' eyes burned a brilliant red, alit with mystery and ancient intelligence. She was pristine, untouched by the ravages of time. Though he could not die, he bore scars and grew larger and wilder.

She was the same. Chinatsu brushed her tails against his leg. The heat warmed him even through the hard stone of his skin. He relaxed. He had missed this dearly. If only mighty Shinobu were here…

Had only his flesh been unbreakable as your own. His tomb is guarded now by my specters. It will suffice until I return.

Sister Chinatsu wound her way about Mamoru, and regarded the human village interestedly. The Feather embedded in her bone and muscle and sinew shone brilliantly in her coat, searing away the cold darkness of night.

Though Fire guided me to you, I know not the nature of your distress. What terror has befallen you, Brother?

Mamoru's claws scraped against his hide. Brother Taimu and his empty sockets, bereft of the shining sapphires that occupied the stone before. His long hunt of the dead men that had led him here. Tracing their paths through the Stone…

Chinatsu's coat burst into roaring flame. Her eyes narrowed. Her tails swished, sparking cinders raining away. White-hot fires raced through the forest floor and greedily devoured every bit of fuel they could find. Mamoru was undaunted by the flames. He basked in their warm touch, unhurt by Chinatsu's spawn.

He knew that she would not try to stop him.

Let us begin our bloody work!

Mamoru allowed the stone shards to fly. Screams greeted him. It did not bother him. A rolling hill of stone erupted beneath his feet. It would carry him down to face these humans himself. Sister Chinatsu was no more, a swarm of blazing blue wisps with a core of gold at their center.

They would not ask these humans any questions. They would find whatever they needed in the ashes.

TRTRTR

Mamoru did not chase the fleeing humans. Many escaped his wrath. Some had fought, but they had died. The village was no more. What was not swallowed up in the vast chasm he'd carved in the Stone had been devoured by Sister Chinatsu's wisps. Smoke clogged the air.

It was like old times.

Only one had been spared. A man. Young. It was difficult for Mamoru to discern human ages. It did not matter. This man would not live long. He had died as soon as he had guided the foul brigands to Mamoru's home and uncovered the hidden way to Brother Taimu's tomb.

The stars glinted above. Mamoru was bathed in their light. Sister Chinatsu reconstituted her physical form with ease, the blue wisps that had swarmed the village coalescing together into her golden shape. He admired her for a moment. She had grown much in their time apart.

This is one of them?

Mamoru's mighty foot on the puny human's chest was her answer. The man soiled himself. His pants were dark and wet. Mamoru's nostrils twitched. Pathetic creature. Had he not imagined how this would end?

"Please! Please don't do this!" The dead man gibbered and gesticulated with soon-to-be-broken limbs. Tears streaked his face. Brother Taimu would never have dishonored himself so. "Please! I didn't mean to take them there! I just needed to eat. Please -"

Chinatsu's bloody red eyes stared into the human's. The man went slack, then screamed. Weak. Mamoru glanced down at Sister Chinatsu. She paused, then huffed and strode away.

One of the human's hands reached out and grasped one of her flowing golden tails.

Mamoru's eyes glinted. It had been centuries since any creature that walked this earth had made such a dread mistake.

Chinatsu froze. Her Feather flared. The man sobbed as his hand burnt away in a flush of golden fire, burnt away so cleanly and so hotly that not even ash remained. It stopped at his wrist.

Fool! To violate my glory so… you are doomed! Egg-cracker, thief, knife in the dark… do not seek to mislead us. You are no innocent. I have seen your deepest desire, your darkest crimes. I have seen you. You have committed deathly crimes against our Brother, young Haruto, and for that this land will suffer.

She calmed, then swished her tails. The creature shrieked underneath Mamoru's weight as the human's eyes shone the same red as Chinatsu's. Mamoru stepped off.

It was time he fulfilled his promise. Mamoru poured his lust for vengeance into the Stone. The human's cries muffled and went silent as he was entombed in stone. He would not live long, but his soul would forever be trapped. The thief, the foul egg-cracker that Chinatsu had named him, would never join Brother Taimu in the stars.

He searched the Stone. They would pursue the humans who had fled this place. They had a single goal. The Stone whispered to him. If he followed, they would find the others. They would find the sacred sapphires he had shaped into Brother Taimu's eyes.

Mamoru snorted and left the shattered, burning remnants of the village behind him. Chinatsu trotted alongside him, serene as ever in the face of their justice. He was glad she had joined him on this quest. It had been many decades since he had been blessed with true companionship.

Lead on, Brother. We will restore our Master's memory. His spirit will not find its rest broken for long.

Chinatsu swore those words upon Fire. A warmth flushed his chest. Several trees were trampled underfoot as his trusted friend strode gracefully by his side.

Only one of the dead men had been rightfully punished. There were countless more hidden away in the squalid dens humans had erected in Mamoru's territory. In days past they remembered his strength. His history. His partnership with the greatest man to have walked this base earth.

Ai Taimu had conquered this land once. He had carved his path to Fuschia with the last sons of Indigo and small bands of inspired veterans at his back. Mamoru and Chinatsu had stood at his side then.

He would reconquer this land in the name of Ai Taimu. These crying apes would remember Brother Taimu's name. They would beg forgiveness. They would beg mercy.

Mamoru had none.

The Stone sang to him at every step the humans took. They fled into darkness.

They would lead him to the dead men.

They would lead him to his stolen children.

They would lead him to justice.

Most importantly, they would lead him to his brother.

The stars twinkled overhead. Mamoru liked to think Taimu was watching.