Rock 4.8: Master of the Moon
Pixie
A bird with long, straight wings lands just outside the grass you're hiding in. Openliver scattered tiny pieces of bread on the ground to bait them out. Ew. Picking worthless food straight off the ground and eating it. A fox would never. And the birds sound so annoying! Even inside Openliver's home you can still hear them honking outside.
It helps motivate you; this one deserves to be punished.
A faint psychic link snaps into place as you prepare your attack. Rather than trying to disable a move you close your eyes, breathe, and imagine yourself launching forward through the link. Sounds and smells blur together before vanishing just as fast. Pain lances through your head but you press it down and open your eyes. The bird is stumbling around, eyes wide open as it tries to figure out what's going on.
Kalani swishes her tails and licks your forehead.
Another success!
Other birds fly over to help out their friend. Kalani just knocks them all out of the sky with a lazy blast of cold air. So powerful. You have the best mother.
"That was your best one yet," she says. "You aren't flinching so much at the end. If you recover first, you can lunge in for a bite to the neck. Good hunting tool."
Probably good for battling, too. You don't really need to hunt since Openliver is a good servant who brings you and Kalani all the food you need. And it's better than the food Skysong had. Almost all of it is fresh. She only gave you fresh food after she got her stupid rock bird.
Right. Skysong.
You need to find a curse for her. Her food could be stale. It wouldn't really matter since she hates food anyway. And all the good curses don't affect her either. You can't make her ugly or weak because she already is. Her only real strength is her words. Taking her words away wouldn't do anything since she can speak with her mind. Kalani isn't sure how to change that.
There was an old story on the mountain about a nine-tales across the sea that turned a human who enslaved her into a pokémon himself. That was the first curse any nine-tales cast. Except Skysong has told you that she thinks pokémon are better than humans. Even the classic is off the table.
Poor Skysong. She's so pathetic that you can't find an easy way to make her life worse. Except for Kalani's idea. The one that would kill her. And that one won't work at all. Skysong doesn't deserve to die and Kalani doesn't deserve whatever the humans would do to her for killing one of their own.
"What are you thinking of, Firstborn?"
You nuzzle in closer to her. It's only morning but it's already annoyingly hot.
"The curse on Skysong."
"Have you thought of something?"
"No." You tell her the ideas that you'd had and rejected. She pauses in thought at the end.
"I could make her stink," she says. "That way the other humans would leave her like she left you."
It might work. Humans are already smelly, especially when they haven't groomed in a few days. Their noses are so weak they barely seem to notice. Making the stench work could scare them away from her.
Leave her alone.
Her mother and siblings are dead or gone. Her father kicked her off their mountain. Was she entirely alone when she found you? She didn't seem to like the other humans much at the time.
You'll think about that curse. It might work, but you aren't sure if she deserves it. When she finally abandoned you there was someone to love you. Leaving her without anyone is a lot worse. And she's not even the reason you got hurt.
You grunt without telling her yes or no. Kalani doesn't press it.
"Try that attack again."
You do. Over and over. The pain in your head is more than worth the pride in Kalani's eyes.
Kalani rises as soon as Openliver and his mate have gone to sleep. She walks towards the entrance to the house, flicking you with a tail as a sign to follow. You hear Rockfur's talons clicking behind you. She walks straight through the flap in the door and keeps going all the way down the steps. Then she whips around and stares into Rockfur's eyes.
"You sleep at night," she states.
He nods. Like a human. Was he raised by them? You almost care enough to ask.
"Why are you following me?"
"Where are you going?"
Kalani hisses. It's disrespectful not to answer the question of your better. Rockfur doesn't even seem to care.
Kalani ends the staring match and talks first. She must not want to waste her time lecturing the dog every time he does something wrong. "Top of the hill."
Rockfur nods and turns back around. He stretches out for a yawn right before he goes back through the mini door. All of that for nothing. And Kalani hadn't even dismissed him! She's right that he would be a terrible mate.
Kalani walks briskly away from the building and towards the hill. It will be your first time going to the top. That's exciting. It's not tall enough for snow. Still good to be higher up. Unless you can't see anything. There was a small mountain you climbed before leaving Skysong. The winds were fierce like The Mountain but you couldn't see how small everything was below. It didn't feel right. And there wasn't snow. Yet.
All of the snow has melted now. Maybe you could ask Kalani to make more for you to play in? She's definitely strong enough. Yes, you'll ask her whenever it gets really hot. At least, really hot for the surface level. You shouldn't bother her about it every day. She's an important nine-tales with other things to do.
Kalani walks quickly but you keep up with her. It's easy walking on grass or dirt. With the sun down it's not even that hot. There are lots of pokémon scents on the trail. Sometimes Kalani will stop and sniff one before marking over it. There are weaker predators here: rats and bugs, mostly. Also steel jaws and stone wolves.
"Stonewolf," Kalani says after sniffing one marking. "This one challenged me, once. I bit off the end of his tail and sent him running."
So awesome! She can fight anything. And she loves you.
"Do not bite stonewolves," she tells you. "It isn't worth it. You should freeze them instead."
Very good advice. When you are a nine-tails you will freeze every stonewolf you find.
As you climb there's a patch of narrow ledges and jutting rocks leading up a cliff face. Kalani rocks back and pounces up. When her paws hit one rock she leaps again as if she was running straight up. Then she turns around and looks at you expectantly. You glance down and regret it immediately. That was weak. You shouldn't have acted scared. You can do this, too. Even if it's been a while since you had to climb like this.
You tense your back legs and pounce up to one of the larger rocks. You have to dig in your claws to stop yourself from sliding right off when you land. It still counts. Another jump carries you to a thin ledge. You press your body tight against the wall and look further up. Kalani is still looking down at you and watching your every move. Seeing if you're worthy. You are! You're the best vulpix and she should love you. Another jump closes a quarter of the remaining distance. Another brings you so close…
There's not another good landing place between here and Kalani. The ledges are too narrow to get a paw on and the rocks would break beneath you. The rest must be done in one jump. It's so far…
You meet Kalani's judgmental gaze and find the courage you need. You're good enough. You can do this! One. More. Jump!
All of your strength fills your hindlegs as you reach into the air. Wind rushes past your fur but your eyes never leave your mother. As you slow down you reach your paws out to the ledge and touch the dirt. And then the air. Your movement slows and stops before you start falling again. No! No. You didn't make it. You weren't good enough. You close your eyes and wait for the end.
If never comes.
Strong jaws close around your back and haul you up. Kalani drops you down on flat land. There's a storm in her eyes and she flicks an ear in annoyance. "I won't do that again." She turns around and sets off.
You weren't good enough for her. She's not driving you away. It's fine. More than fine. Next time you'll make the jump and then she'll never leave you.
The rest of the climb is easier with only a few smaller jumps to make. You get to the summit in no time. The Hill isn't nearly a tall as The Mountain. The human's city lights stretch out beside it and block out some of the stars. There are still more than there were at by the water.
You feel another pang of sympathy for Skysong, she who has never seen the stars. You tried to tell her about them but that's not the same as seeing the full number and beauty of your ancestors.
Kalani lies down beside you and swishes her tails around. Looking up at the stars with a nine-tales wrapped around you, this is the closest you've felt to home since Avalanche took you away. Every muscle relaxes one by one until you're lying flat on the ground and purring as loudly as you can. Your mother purrs beside you and everything is perfect once again.
You're woken up by a tail flicking into your side. It takes a moment to blink the sleep away before looking to Kalani. She turns to look up. There's a glowing bird descending near the base of the mountain. No, not a bird. A bat.
Lunala.
You watch in wonder as the moon itself comes down to earth. She passes so close that Kalani could probably strike her with ice if she wanted to.
"Why is she here?" you ask quietly so as not to disturb the goddess.
"Her human lives nearby."
Her… human? Even The Moon has a trainer? Some human, Bloodrage, maybe, had said that once. You thought it was a joke. Humans are ugly. Why would the most beautiful light in the sky get near one?
"What human would The Moon go near?"
Kalani huffs. "The one who left you so long ago."
She can't mean Skysong. She wouldn't know about the others since she hasn't asked and you don't want to tell her about them. That leaves Firemane.
Kalani cursed Firemane. You yip in shock and turn to stare at her. "You cursed The Moon's human?"
She continues to stare in the direction Lunala flew. "I fought The Moon once. Her human had claimed The Mountain as her own. Openliver wished to stop her."
"I thought The Mountain belongs to The Moon?"
"I don't know," Kalani admits. "There was a threat in front of me and I fought it. Perhaps if I had won the nine-tales would have been allowed to freeze the entire island and make it our own."
Kalani fought The Moon and lived. She felt bold enough to curse The Moon's human. In most battles the pokémon are not supposed to kill. Insult them and things are different.
"Will The Moon curse you back?"
Kalani puffs her fur out and glares at you. "The Moon is wise. She will see the justice in my actions."
Or maybe she'll like her human too much. Kalani says that pokémon don't like their humans. At least, nine-tales don't. You've seen pokémon that do. Maybe you did, even. When it was just risking the anger of humans that was one thing. Insulting The Moon itself is much worse: humans might kill Kalani; the Moon could make her ugly.
"I don't think you should have done that."
Kalani growls from deep in her throat. "I did it for you. Why are you not grateful?"
"I am! I'm just worried about you."
She gives you a long appraising stare. You meet her gaze and get lost in her pretty pale blue eyes. They're the greatest. Except for maybe yours. Why are you fighting her? She's so pretty and she loves you.
"I can take care of myself," Kalani finally declares. "A child need not take care of her mother. I will watch out for you."
With that she envelops you in her tails and presses you against her side. She purrs. You purr back. Maybe you went too far. She fought The Moon before. Maybe her curse won't get noticed? Or even The Moon will be too scared to fight her over some human. You chose Kalani over your human. It's the right choice. She loves you enough to spite a god for you.
Maybe that's the point: if she'll take on a god for you, then no one will ever dare hurt you because they know she will come for them. And she will win because she is beautiful and smart and strong. And she loves you. That makes you beautiful and smart and strong. You purr even louder. If there was just snow under you then this moment would be perfect.
Another droning rises over your purring. You press your head out of Kalani's fur to look. There's something big and blue approaching. There's something familiar about it. Oh! It's the huge bug Skysong wanted you to fight. You just threw a few icicles at it and then it surrendered.
The bug flies up to the top of the cliff and stares at Kalani. She stares back. Its mouth is a lot bigger up close. You're so strong to have beaten this thing. Birds, though… the bird won't bother you again. That. You're strong. You are. Even if you need help getting up cliffs. You'll do that perfectly next time and Kalani will love you forever.
The bug and the fox continue to stare each other down until Kalani wins. The bug turns around in place (like Skysong sometimes did) and jets off into the darkness.
Wait.
Skysong was hurt during the fight with the bug. She was also hurt during the one with that giant thing that had hot water and painful thorns. It happened whenever she used the big moves. Or when she made your disable stronger. Kalani didn't know that when she said that Skysong never got hurt in battles. If she did know it, she wouldn't need to cast a curse at all.
"I want to talk about Skysong's curses," you tell Kalani. She turns towards you and tilts her head. "Skysong did get hurt in fights. She made me stronger but hurt herself."
Kalani grunts. "How?"
"Her head hurt. Like when I use the mind attack? And she fainted sometimes."
Your mother turns away. The grip of her tails against you grows tighter.
"Fainted?"
"Yes."
"Did she bleed?"
You aren't sure what she's asking. Yes, she bled. A lot. Usually when her paw got hurt. It also came out of her crotch sometimes. Not as often as Growlsleeper or Liar, but it did happen. It didn't happen when she made you stronger. That was just a mind pain, you think. You never actually asked her. That's probably what Kalani wants to hear: she already knows humans have blood and can lose it.
"No."
She turns around and quietly stalks back to you. Her head lowers until her nuzzle is almost touching hers. You close your eyes and lean into the touch. A sharp pain flares up in your ribs and you can feel her claws against your stomach. You open your eyes in shock and see hers boring into you.
"Did she break bones?"
"…no." What's going on? Why is she mad. Her breath beats down on your face. There's the scent of blood in her breath. She must have hunted something when Openliver wasn't looking.
"Did she risk death?" Kalani snarls.
"Her heart was weird, once." You think that's a bad sign with humans. You've heard that sometimes their hearts attack them and they must fight it off. Somehow. Do they die if they lose?
Your mother shakes her head. It's very human. Your—your first mother would have flicked her left ear when she meant to say no. "They're never in danger. That's the pokémon's job." She growls and leans in any closer. "Why do you care so much about this human? Do you want to leave me for her? After all that she did to you?"
"No!" you squeal. Her jaws are a maybe a hair's length from your eyes. There's a thin trail of blood on her teeth. Prey. Food. Predators. Danger. "I love you."
She nips your ear just hard enough to draw blood. "She's worthless," she hisses. "Dangerous. Stupid. Ugly. Stay away from her."
Her tails pull you against her side and press you in. She forcefully sits down beside you and covers you in her fur. Both of you sit there until close to sunrise. Neither of you purrs.
It's hot the next day. Even for the surface. After knocking out three birds and a rodent your fur feels like it's on fire. You turn towards Kalani and droop your tails. "Can you make snow?" you ask. She approved of your last few attacks. Maybe she's forgiven you for… whatever you did last night. She thinks you'll leave her, even though you obviously won't because she's perfect.
Kalani huffs and puffs out her tails. Cold wind blows and the sky darkens. Soon the water in the air freezes and falls to the ground as snow. Snow! You yip in happiness and jump up to catch a snowflake on your tongue in midair. It tastes just like real snow. Kalani watches in amusement as the snow slowly comes up to your ankles and then your thighs. It's only snowing in a narrow patch, maybe twenty body lengths across, but that's more than enough to play in. The other pokémon run away from the cold and back onto their dumb warm beach. When the snow is up to your stomach you dive in and try to burrow. It doesn't feel real with green grass under you, even if you can still get snow surrounding you in almost every direction. The wind groans and the air grows even colder. Suddenly Kalani dives in beside you and snatches you up in her legs, rolling over so that her back is on the ground and you're held up above the snow. Above her. She splays out her tails behind her so that none are touching.
The snow keeps falling above you.
"You're the best mother," you tell her. "Strong and beautiful and cold."
She huffs in agreement.
"I will never leave you."
She pulls you tighter against her until your hearts and lungs are only separated by skin.
You stretch out and yawn. Kalani shifts beside you. There are two humans talking in the next room. Openliver and Firemane.
Firemane.
You wiggle your way out from under Firemane and walk towards the door. Kalani doesn't stop you. Her heart rate is normal and she doesn't seem concerned at all. If she's that sure her curse didn't get caught, maybe you can afford to scream at Firemane again. She tried to say she was sorry but maybe didn't do it well enough. Are you allowed to scream and the Moon's human, though? Probably. You did a lot of work against the Mooneater. Maybe most of it. Your screams are terrifying.
Firemane turns towards you when you enter the room. You whine at her and pick up the pace. She says she's sorry for abandoning you but hasn't done anything to make up for it. Maybe scratches could work. No, you don't want scratches from the human who abandoned you.
The Moon's human.
Maybe.
You stop just out of her reach and scream. She just bares her teeth.
"Hello, Pixie. Good to see you again."
You stare at her. There's a good scent near her. Food, maybe. You take a few steps forward and try to rummage for her food. You can steal it and she would deserve it and you would be full. She saves you the trouble by pulling it out of her bag. It's one of the grain ball things that humans like.
"Got you a malasada. I remember you like those. Just, uh, don't make it the core of your diet, okay?"
She cannot give you commands. Although she can give The Moon commands? You would listen to The Moon. Ugh. Why does The Moon listen to her? She's warm and ugly and will abandon the goddess in time. It's what she does. What humans do. As soon as the food is within reach you snatch it up and walk away to eat it. You find a good spot on the floor, walk around it three times to make sure it's good, and sit down to eat the food. It's a little too sweet. Still good. You will accept it as the first of many, many peace offerings. No reason to deny good food just because of who it came from.
When you're finished you look back towards Firemane. She's looking at you. Evaluating you. Probably thinking about how pretty you are and how she shouldn't have left you. Now you'd be the second strongest and prettiest pokémon on her team, after The Moon.
"There was a ninetales taking care of you, right?" she asks. Openliver gives her a strange look. You think that's how humans show confusion. It's hard to tell since they're always confused about everything.
You nod. She can probably understand that.
"Ah, I thought so. Couldn't remember, though. I've been so forgetful lately." She bares more teeth and narrows her eyes. Her voice is as upbeat as it was before. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
You can practically feel Kalani's attention boring into you from behind. The Moon's human stares at you from the front. Do you lie to her, and The Moon by extension? Do you tell the truth and risk Kalani getting punished? Do you tell the truth and risk Kalani punishing you?
The goddess or your mother. Time to pick.
Kalani is perfect and she loves you. The Moon has no reason to. You fear her more than Kalani.
You very reluctantly nod.
"Thought so," Firemane says. "Met up with Nebby, Lunala, later in the day. She saw a curse on my mind. Which, can I just say, kind of dumb to try and get a mind curse past a ghost- and psychic-type of her caliber."
She called Kalani dumb. Kalani is not. No human has the right to say that about a nine-tails. You stay quiet so Kalani's punishment does not get worse.
"Anyway, she undid it in a couple minutes. And…" she trails off and closes her eyes. "She cast it for you, didn't she? Since I forgot you." After a long sigh she flips which leg is under the other and opens her eyes again. "I get it. Maybe I deserved it, even. I'll let it slide."
Openliver starts saying his own meaningless things to Firemane. Apologizing for something he couldn't have stopped. Fool. You just release the tension in your muscles and slowly sink back to the floor. It will be fine. Everything will be fine.
Firemane accepts his apologies and turns back to you. "Can we talk without the ninetales listening in?"
"Yeah." Openliver pulls Kalani's pokéball out and starts walking towards her bed. She scurries away and Openliver hears. "Fuck," he hisses before sprinting around the corner as fast as he can. He hits the button and red light emerges. Kalani screams in shock and anger but her call is abruptly cut off as the ball catches her.
Firemane kneels down to you and holds out a hand. You ignore it. Kalani would smell Firemane on you and you're already going to be in trouble. After a few breaths Firemane takes her hand back. "She's going to do something similar to your last trainer, isn't she? Or has she already?"
You don't want Skysong to be cursed. She's offering you a way out where Kalani doesn't ever have to know. You nod.
"Which—" She huffs. "Brought that on me. Alright, has she already cast the curse?"
You shake your head.
"Good. The next time they visit maybe Kukui can give me a call? I'll visit her a while later to get it undone. That way the ninetales thinks she did something without having actually done anything."
Openliver does a harsh throat sound humans do when they want to be paid attention to. It's like a scream, just less melodic. "I, uh, really wouldn't try that. She's one of the strongest ninetales in the world and has some bad history with Cuicatl. Unless Lunala's sure she can do something if Kalani gives the curse her all, it's best to just keep the two away from each other."
To keep Skysong away from you. That's… fine. She already abandoned you. You don't need her. Or want her. She's just a dumb, ugly, smelly human. You love Kalani a lot more. Just like you told her.
"I think she could fix it." Firemane frowns and stands back to her full height. "Necrozma did a number on her. Maybe they should just be kept apart."
That would still stop Kalani from cursing her. That's good. You don't even have to do anything. You can even make up a curse or agree to Kalani's. Good. Now she won't be mad at you.
Firemane and Openliver talk more. It's boring. You ignore it. How mad will Kalani be? You didn't want to say anything. You wouldn't have said anything. Firemane already knew. If you lied, it wouldn't matter.
The girl leaves. Openliver sighs and runs a paw through his hair. He glances at you before pulling out Kalani and Gillwailer's balls. "Guess we have to do this."
Your mother reappears with the ugly translator. She glares at you and the temperature drops to freezing in between heartbeats. "Come on," Openliver says. "You brought this upon yourself."
"Lies," Kalani huffs.
"Then you didn't curse her?"
Kalani turns away from him and starts walking back towards her bed. Openliver takes off after her with loud, angry steps.
"Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten yourself in? You've toed lines before but never like this. Did you really think that you would—"
Your mother whips around and the room gets even colder. Openliver doesn't seem to mind even though half his body is exposed and he has no fur. You understand why Kalani fears him.
"I almost defeated The Moon before. The next time I will win."
Openliver just keeps staring back at her as Gillwailer translates.
"It's not even about that," he hisses. "You win, so what? Do you think people will just forget what you did? That there wouldn't be any more consequences?"
"No one will challenge me if I can defeat The Moon herself."
Openliver sighs and sits down once he finds out what she said. Then he buries his head in his hands like a one-tails burrowing only her face into snow and believing nothing can see her. "In your world, maybe," he mumbles. "It would just scare the humans more. They'd get a judge on the case and… and it doesn't end well for you."
What is a judge? How strong are they that one could fight someone who defeated a goddess? And what won't Openliver say? The judge would kill her? Such a small word. Why can't humans say it?
Kalani growls in defiance. She isn't scared of the judges, whatever they are.
"Just stop hurting people, please? That's all I'm asking."
"You ask me to hurt things all the time," Kalani responds.
"Not humans. It's…" Openliver sighs and lowers his paws from his face. He looks defeated. Kalani has already won. "Humans set their own rules. I'm not saying it's right, just that it is. We're fragile. And if they see one pokémon able to attack and curse humans without consequences, then some humans will get scared. Worried that other pokémon will do it, too. Keep doing this and they'll make an example out of you."
Kalani huffs. "Then I will make an example out of them."
Openliver slowly shakes his head. He doesn't say anything more. Kalani won. She turns towards you and trots over. In one fluid motion she scoops you up and keeps walking while she holds you by the scruff. She presses through the small door in the bigger door and walks down the stairs to the sand. Then she turns around and walks into the space above the sand and below Openliver's home. She drops you roughly and stares at her with an ear tilted down.
She wants you to explain.
"She already knew."
Kalani doesn't move. That isn't good enough for her.
"You can curse Skysong! Whatever you want." That should make her happy. You love her and won't leave her.
"The Moon will undo it. That's what her human told you, right?"
And she already knows. So smart. So strong. So terrifying. To her prey.
"Yes…"
Kalani continues to evaluate you.
"Stay here until I come get you," she says. Then she walks back out from under the house, back up the stairs, back into Openliver's home. She leaves you alone.
She didn't hurt you. She loves you. You lower yourself into the sand and feel it get into your beautiful fur. At least it isn't too hot here. This is fine. You'll be fine. She'll remember how great you are and come back at any time.
The Sun leaves the sky. The Moon takes his place. Kalani doesn't return.
Rockfur does. He walks down the stairs and under the house. He stops near you and walks in a circle before settling down. An open paw tells you that you can cuddle with him. You do not want to. He is a rock. You would smell bad when Kalani comes back for you. You stay in place and keep glaring at him.
He falls asleep. Your stomach hurts. It doesn't matter. If you don't complain then Kalani will come back.
Rockfur wakes. The Moon leaves. Rockfur leaves.
It doesn't matter. It will be fine. You are loved.
You are loved.
Your mother is smart. She will remember you. She will come for you.
You just have to wait a little while longer.