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Description
For the Group.

Hybrid Monthly Challenge!

Haunter x Marowak (though the design looks like it may have some Misdreavus/Mismagius mixed in)

Name: Skeleorn
Restless Spirit
Type: Ghost type
A vengeful phantom, born from the lingering emotions of a human or pokemon who has died, Skeleorn appears to be a mass of dark smoke with evil eyes, but the more energy it leeches from the living, the larger, more solid, and stronger it becomes. In its full form, it has a dinosaur body with a heavy tail and sturdy legs. Bony plates protect its belly, and odd wiggling appendages cover its legs and shoulders. Its detached hands can operate independently from its body, but its floating skull remains hovering over the smoky hole in its neck. If attacked, Skeleorn summons a bone scythe and fights with startling agility for its size. It seems to glide across the ground as if never touching it at all, but every hit Skeleorn takes causes some of its energy to leak out. If it loses too much energy, it will revert to its smoky ghost shape and finally disappear without a trace. Some theorize that Skeleorn is actually an evolution of Marowak or an alternate evolution of Cubone, but these reports are unconfirmed.

And now, a short story inspired by the creature design.

_________________________________________

"Why Cubones Cry"
written by Amber Bevan (meroe1313)

Humans say that the skulls we wear echo hollowly when we cry for our dead mothers, as if they believe that every cubone has lost their mother... but for me, it's true. Maybe if I had only possessed more courage then, it wouldn't be so. And maybe Mom wouldn’t have become a monster.

After a heavy mid-afternoon snack of nuzleaf and bidoof eggs, I dozed in the warm fold of mother’s strong arm, dreaming of how I would someday evolve into a beautiful, powerful marowak like her. Suddenly lights flashed everywhere, and Mom roared. Barking, growling, and shouting engulfed me before I even fully woke up. Mom shoved me deeper into the cave and turned, her sturdy club ready, but I panicked and grabbed her hand. I couldn’t leave her! I tugged on her arm and whined until she ran with me. The intruders, two houndours and a mean-eyed lilligant with gnawed-on petals, charged close behind us. I couldn't stop crying. I knew my cries guided them straight to us, but the tears just kept streaming from my eyes and leaking under my helmet.

We ran and ran, through tunnels I didn't even know existed. The shouts and barks suddenly moved ahead of us. My vision blurred from my tears, and I stumbled over my own feet. Mom stuffed me behind her and raised her club again, but I just couldn't let go of her hand. The thought of her fighting alone while I ran away, possibly into the jaws of one of those houndours, sapped all the heat from my body. I tried to talk and squeaked instead.

Mom scooped me in her arms and ran for the both of us. I could hardly breathe through the tears, but Mom just smiled and nuzzled her smooth, boney nose into my cheek.

"You'll be safe," she whispered. "I promise."

And I believed her. She had always protected me. She was my mom. Her heartbeat was the first sound I had ever heard, and as I had cracked free of my shell and had smelled the raw earth for the first time, I had tumbled into her soft caress to stare up at her adoring eyes.

Mom hedged at an intersection, deciding which tunnel to take, as I sucked in more tears. There was nowhere for us to go. Shouts, barks, and bangs echoed off every rock, and random lights winked in the distance. The invaders had us trapped in our own home.

Suddenly the lilligant was there. Its eyes narrowed wickedly. Sparkly leaves flew over the rocks. I screamed and ducked into Mom's arms, without a thought for dodging or counter attacking. She turned, shielding me from the slicing leaves with her body. In one fluid motion, she set me down, turned, and hurled her hefty club. It spiraled straight for the lilligant's startled eyes, but one of the vicious houndours jumped into the tunnel at that moment. BAM! The houndour sprawled on the ground. Mom raised her hand, but before she could catch her club for a second throw, the other houndour leaped out of nowhere. It grabbed the bone club in its mouth. Mom leaped forward to catch the houndour, but it dashed behind the evil lilligant. It clapped its leaves together. Mom screamed as a cyclone of pink flower petals engulfed her.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I staggered forward and hurled my puny bone club. SMACK! The lilligant staggered back and started to dance erratically. Petals crashed into the walls and whirled through the air. Mom ducked out of the gale, wounded and barely on her feet. Suddenly the houndours galloped past her. Saliva splashed onto my skull helmet. I knew that I was dead; I could see my end in the houndours' sparkly eyes. At that moment, the earth shook, and stony darkness swallowed all of my senses.

Just when I started to imagine I was dead for sure, something sharp poked my foot. Startled, I squirmed around, shifting rocks around me. A speck of light touched my face. I snorted back a fresh round of tears and wiggled until, finally, I scooted free of the rockslide. I sneezed away the dust and dirt and rubbed my eyes. Quiet darkness loomed all around me. The intruders had gone. Tears of relief cleaned the rest of my face. After another sneezed, I started to call for Mom. I danced around the rock pile, oblivious to everything I tripped over, sneezing and sniffling all the while.

That was when I spotted Mom's tail around the corner. My puny club lay beside her. I ran over and tugged her tail, still shouting senselessly. When I let go, Mom's tail flopped to the ground. I knew she was tired after her fight with the intruders, so I ran around the rock to hug her.

I wish I had never looked around that rock.

I still don't know how I managed it, but I somehow ran all the way outside without shedding a single tear. Only after the sun seared into my eyes did they even water, but I still didn't cry, and I cry all the time. It's just what cubones do. But I vowed in my heart that I wouldn't cry, not until Mom was whole again. The monsters who had killed her would return her head to where it belonged, or I would die trying. It was all I had left. The worst that could happen was that I died, too, but now that I was alone, that didn’t matter anymore.

I couldn't stay in the cave any longer, not knowing what was there, so I crawled down the rocks at a painfully sluggish pace and left my mountain home behind. The intruders had made no effort to conceal their tracks. They didn’t think there was any danger from me, a whiny cubone with a tiny club, but I clenched my fists and bared my fangs in a silent vow for revenge. It was there in a ditch that I discovered Mom’s club, or what remained of it. I rubbed the cracked, gnawed-on fragment, imagining it in Mom’s hand, as it had always been. I braced my feet, ready to hurl the scrap away, but my hand sank back to my chest. It was all I had left of her. I scrounged up a shoelace from the ditch and lashed the fragment of bone to my club. It didn’t look very sturdy, but the shape of it reminded me of the human symbol of protection and hope. It comforted me as I turned my back on my mountain home and headed down the road.

It didn't take long for me to find the monsters I was looking for.

All I had to do was gather some food scraps from several human camps and offer my findings to the pokemon in the area. Apparently, strange humans had arrived recently and built a soft den in part of the woods. As I peeked out of the bushes alongside a shrubby road, a pile of humans disappeared into the soft den. They lugged weird crates that stank disturbingly and a cage with a sleeping ursaring inside, but I didn't see Mom’s head anywhere. I had to get inside.

The very same pair of houndours that had attacked me lounged, chained, outside. One had a nasty bruise and scrapes on its face, while the other still chewed on part of Mom’s club. I forced my teeth to stop grinding, in case someone heard. I knew that I couldn’t face them, not the way Mom had. She was so much stronger than I ever will be. But she had taught me other ways to win a fight.

I stuck my club out of the bushes and wiggled it. "Hey! Anyone want a treat?"

Both houndours jumped up, wagging their stubby tails. They didn’t even bother to bark a warning to their humans; they just ran straight for me. WHACK, CRACK! I carefully dragged the unconscious pokemon back to their posts and posed them as if they were asleep. I dusted off my hands and smirked, despite the odd, sour sensation in my stomach. Then I crept to the front of the soft den and pushed my way through the flaps.

There were more cages and crates stacked up than I knew how to count, and all of them reeked of fear, anger, and death. I recalled a story Mom had told me once, about poachers, humans who killed pokemon for their body parts and captured pokemon for sport, not companionship. They were the worst kind of humans. But I wasn’t scared of the humans capturing me or chopping me up. Actually, it was better to say that I was no longer aware of the danger. I was so terrified that my legs would hardly move, and my teeth chattered, rattling my skull helmet, but all I could think about as I walked between the rows in a trance was how I would ever find Mom’s head before I lost mine.

As I stopped to peek at several humans arguing over a fresh nidoking skull, a quiet voice startled me.

“Come. Come to me...”

“Mom?” I whispered. I glanced about in an excited panic, but I shrank when I saw no one.

“Yes,” the voice answered, softly and lovingly, just as I remembered. “I'm here... find me…”

Mom’s voice faded around the corner. I sniffled and chased after her without concern for anything else, not any humans or their pokemon, but somehow she guided me safely. The whispers quieted by a haphazard stack of crates. I slowed, my heart pounding. Perched carelessly on top of the crates was Mom's head… most of it, at least. The poachers had removed her eyes and lower jaw and all the important stuff inside her head, but as I stared into her empty eye holes, I heard her speak again.

“You found me.”

“Mom!”

“Yes. I'm so glad you found me...”

I clambered onto the crates and hugged the chilly skull. Somewhere in my heart, I knew Mom was dead, but hearing her voice and feeling her strong, warm arms around me made me forget everything I had seen. Really, I was too scared to admit that she was gone. That was why I had chased the poachers so far, why I had decided to die rather than keep going without her. As I said, I was a coward, but even cowards can evolve.

When at last I opened my eyes, Mom’s warm embrace faded, but her voice emanated louder in my arms.

“I’m so tired... I need food.”

“Anything! Just tell me!” I ducked closer beside the crates, fearing someone had heard, but nothing happened. “I’ll even hunt those grumpigs you told me not to mess with…”

“I know. What about those vile houndours?”

“Huh? We don't eat those, Mom...”

“Oh, but I'm so hungry. I’m withering away…”

Her longing squeezed my heart and stole my breath. My stomach howled. I squeezed it and glanced around, but again, there was no one around to hear. When had I eaten last? I tried to remember, but Mom’s hunger overwhelmed my thoughts. I slid off the crates and hurried back to the exit. Her soft whispers directed me down empty rows and away from human voices. Outside, the houndours snarled and barked for attention, but the humans ignored them. I ducked into the bushes and carefully turned Mom’s head so she could see.

“There, Mom. Are you… really going to eat them?”

“You don’t have to worry anymore. I will protect you. Now set me down and step back.”

Mystified, I placed Mom’s head outside the bushes. Then I ducked further back and hugged my club. I knew something was wrong, horribly wrong, but I was too scared to confront what lay before me.

The houndours trotted over to sniff and lick Mom. As they grumbled curiously to each other and argued over who got to chew on it first, violet smoke suddenly spewed from Mom’s head. Dark swirls engulfed one of the houndours. When the smoke retreated back into the skull, the houndour collapsed, white-eyed. The other houndour yelped and ran to the end of its chain, flipped back, and finally cowered on the ground.

“Mom?” I squeaked.

The violet smoke reappeared around Mom’s head and grew into a vague shape. It almost looked like Mom, except that her eyes were empty and cold. She glided towards the other houndour. It whimpered and gnawed on its chain, but it couldn't get away from Mom’s groping claws.

I admitted to myself then that Mom was long, long gone.

In a sudden fit of panic, I ran past her and kicked the post the houndour was chained to. The post popped out of the ground, but when it did, the chain flew through Mom’s neck. I shouted as the houndour yelped and took off, just ahead of Mom's talons. She slowly turned to me, and I almost stopped breathing. Her head had shredded from her body. In the gap floated a pair of evil orange eyes, colder than the bone club in my clutches.

“You have been a naughty girl,” the monster whispered. It started to grow taller before my eyes. “You must be punished.”

The monster rushed at me before I could move, even blink, eyes blazing and claws arced forwards. I braced my puny club before me and prepared to join Mom, my real Mom, but shouts suddenly clogged the air. Humans surrounded us. They pointed frantically at the dead houndour. Flashes and streaks of light surrounded us, and suddenly dozens of fierce-eyed pokemon, everything from alakazams to zubats, loomed over me.

“Good,” groaned the monster pretending to be Mom. “I am so hungry... and you… you all belong to me!”

I dove aside as the pokemon converged. Purple smoke blasted between them. Their bodies crashed to the ground, all white-eyed and screaming, and the humans screamed and ran too. The smoke engulfed the slower ones. As the humans collapsed to the ground, the monster grew larger and more solid until it was big enough to touch the tops of the trees. Shouts echoed through the soft den and nearby woods, but I hardly heard them as I stared up at the towering beast that was once my mother. Only its floating skull vaguely resembled her now, but even it looked wrong with its sharp points, empty holes, and detached jaw. The monster raised a hand, which shredded from its wrist and drifted higher of its own choosing. A giant bone scythe materialized in the monster’s grasp.

Tears finally soaked my cheeks. Just when I thought I had found Mom again, this monster had jerked her away, and now it used her for its evil. And it was all because I was a coward. If I hadn’t cried and attracted the enemies to us, if I had ran and let Mom fight, if I had moved on instead of trying to get back what was already lost… I pushed myself to my feet and gripped my club with more strength than I had felt in my entire life.

It was my fault that Mom had died. So I would have to be brave for her now and make sure she died for good.

I charged mindlessly. The monster had its attention on several flying pokemon and didn't even notice me until my club cracked against its thick shin. Suddenly the scythe cleaved towards me. I thought about blocking with my club, but I thought better of it and dove instead. The jagged bone scythe split the ground like soft flesh and continued sweeping towards me, as if it didn’t realize the ground was there at all. I shouted and rolled aside again and again, all while dodging the monster’s stomping feet and swinging tail.

I mistimed my roll. The flat of the scythe smacked me like a golf ball. I landed between several trees and rolled into the bushes. As I lay upside down, I stared into those evil eyes peeking out of the monster's neck. That was when I noticed the pair of hands. The claws gripped the ragged end of the monster’s collar. I pulled my battered body up and steadied my shaky legs. The true heart of the monster was hiding like a big, ugly coward. So I would just have to drag it out into the open.

A new group of humans challenged the beast with their pokemon, but it glided away from their multicolored attacks. Violet smoke smothered the challengers. Desperate, I swallowed my terror and leaped onto the monster’s waving tail. The monster shrieked and spun in a tight circle. I screamed with my eyes squeezed shut. I almost dropped my club, but somehow I held onto it and the monster’s tail. As soon as it slowed, I reared my arm back and threw my club. The monster’s hands swept towards it, but my throw arced wide, just like Mom had taught me. I rolled off the monster’s tail and shouted in excitement, but when my club knocked against the monster’s skull, the monster hardly flinched. My legs gave out, and I collapsed, defeated, as my club slid off the skull and dropped into the monster's neck.

It suddenly shrieked, gurgled, and writhed. The monster’s hands flew erratically. The bone scythe slammed to the ground and disappeared. As the monster’s body fragmented into tendrils of smoke and Mom’s skull fell to the ground, my club dropped from the creature’s decaying chest. Hooked to the cracked fragment of Mom’s club was a blob of black smoke with evil orange eyes. I rushed over to grab the club, but the black blob screeched and splattered across my face. I screamed and flailed as it burned my skin. It squeezed under my skull helmet and groped at my face. I threw my helmet down. The evil eyes glared through the eyeholes.

“Dear one,” it whispered sweetly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Let’s be together again. Everything can go back to the way it used to be…”

Delightful, painful memories surged through my mind. I thought of those bright spring days when I would practice my bone throwing skills as Mom coached quietly from nearby. On hot summer days, Mom and I would relax in the cliff shadows and hear stories from other pokemon seeking escape from the heat. In harsh winters, we would cuddle under our piloswine pelt and listen to the secret sounds of our cave until we both fell asleep. Could all of that really be mine again? A fresh round of tears soaked my collar.

“All you have to do,” the eyes in the skull glinted brighter, “is feed me. Feed me more…”

I screamed and slammed my club down. The monster squealed. I struck again and again until finally, the skull fractured into several pieces. The monster sighed and burst into a cloud of purple smoke. As I fell back, the smoke drifted off into the sky without a trace.

Gradually, the humans and pokemon I thought were dead stirred and groaned. I crawled over to Mom’s discarded skull and peeked inside, just to be sure there was no evil left behind, but there was nothing special there. It was just a skull. I slipped it on and wiggled it into place. It was a near perfect fit, once I grew into it a little.

I jumped when something wet and rough passed over my hand. The houndour I had saved stepped back, panting. “Thank you,” he muttered. Then he scampered off to find his human before I could reply. A bunch of other humans showed up then, to yell at the poachers and put them in chains. While I was curious to see what happened to them, I suddenly realized that all the hard, burning feelings in me that had compelled me to hunt the poachers had dissolved away with the monster.

All I wanted to do was go home, bury Mom, and sleep for a while. That way, she would always be near our home, where she could watch over me and my children every time they were brave and when they cried.

pokemon (c) Nintendo, Game Freak

Description
For the Group.

Hybrid Monthly Challenge!

Haunter x Marowak (though the design looks like it may have some Misdreavus/Mismagius mixed in)

Name: Skeleorn
Restless Spirit
Type: Ghost type
A vengeful phantom, born from the lingering emotions of a human or pokemon who has died, Skeleorn appears to be a mass of dark smoke with evil eyes, but the more energy it leeches from the living, the larger, more solid, and stronger it becomes. In its full form, it has a dinosaur body with a heavy tail and sturdy legs. Bony plates protect its belly, and odd wiggling appendages cover its legs and shoulders. Its detached hands can operate independently from its body, but its floating skull remains hovering over the smoky hole in its neck. If attacked, Skeleorn summons a bone scythe and fights with startling agility for its size. It seems to glide across the ground as if never touching it at all, but every hit Skeleorn takes causes some of its energy to leak out. If it loses too much energy, it will revert to its smoky ghost shape and finally disappear without a trace. Some theorize that Skeleorn is actually an evolution of Marowak or an alternate evolution of Cubone, but these reports are unconfirmed.

And now, a short story inspired by the creature design.

_________________________________________

"Why Cubones Cry"
written by Amber Bevan (meroe1313)

Humans say that the skulls we wear echo hollowly when we cry for our dead mothers, as if they believe that every cubone has lost their mother... but for me, it's true. Maybe if I had only possessed more courage then, it wouldn't be so. And maybe Mom wouldn’t have become a monster.

After a heavy mid-afternoon snack of nuzleaf and bidoof eggs, I dozed in the warm fold of mother’s strong arm, dreaming of how I would someday evolve into a beautiful, powerful marowak like her. Suddenly lights flashed everywhere, and Mom roared. Barking, growling, and shouting engulfed me before I even fully woke up. Mom shoved me deeper into the cave and turned, her sturdy club ready, but I panicked and grabbed her hand. I couldn’t leave her! I tugged on her arm and whined until she ran with me. The intruders, two houndours and a mean-eyed lilligant with gnawed-on petals, charged close behind us. I couldn't stop crying. I knew my cries guided them straight to us, but the tears just kept streaming from my eyes and leaking under my helmet.

We ran and ran, through tunnels I didn't even know existed. The shouts and barks suddenly moved ahead of us. My vision blurred from my tears, and I stumbled over my own feet. Mom stuffed me behind her and raised her club again, but I just couldn't let go of her hand. The thought of her fighting alone while I ran away, possibly into the jaws of one of those houndours, sapped all the heat from my body. I tried to talk and squeaked instead.

Mom scooped me in her arms and ran for the both of us. I could hardly breathe through the tears, but Mom just smiled and nuzzled her smooth, boney nose into my cheek.

"You'll be safe," she whispered. "I promise."

And I believed her. She had always protected me. She was my mom. Her heartbeat was the first sound I had ever heard, and as I had cracked free of my shell and had smelled the raw earth for the first time, I had tumbled into her soft caress to stare up at her adoring eyes.

Mom hedged at an intersection, deciding which tunnel to take, as I sucked in more tears. There was nowhere for us to go. Shouts, barks, and bangs echoed off every rock, and random lights winked in the distance. The invaders had us trapped in our own home.

Suddenly the lilligant was there. Its eyes narrowed wickedly. Sparkly leaves flew over the rocks. I screamed and ducked into Mom's arms, without a thought for dodging or counter attacking. She turned, shielding me from the slicing leaves with her body. In one fluid motion, she set me down, turned, and hurled her hefty club. It spiraled straight for the lilligant's startled eyes, but one of the vicious houndours jumped into the tunnel at that moment. BAM! The houndour sprawled on the ground. Mom raised her hand, but before she could catch her club for a second throw, the other houndour leaped out of nowhere. It grabbed the bone club in its mouth. Mom leaped forward to catch the houndour, but it dashed behind the evil lilligant. It clapped its leaves together. Mom screamed as a cyclone of pink flower petals engulfed her.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I staggered forward and hurled my puny bone club. SMACK! The lilligant staggered back and started to dance erratically. Petals crashed into the walls and whirled through the air. Mom ducked out of the gale, wounded and barely on her feet. Suddenly the houndours galloped past her. Saliva splashed onto my skull helmet. I knew that I was dead; I could see my end in the houndours' sparkly eyes. At that moment, the earth shook, and stony darkness swallowed all of my senses.

Just when I started to imagine I was dead for sure, something sharp poked my foot. Startled, I squirmed around, shifting rocks around me. A speck of light touched my face. I snorted back a fresh round of tears and wiggled until, finally, I scooted free of the rockslide. I sneezed away the dust and dirt and rubbed my eyes. Quiet darkness loomed all around me. The intruders had gone. Tears of relief cleaned the rest of my face. After another sneezed, I started to call for Mom. I danced around the rock pile, oblivious to everything I tripped over, sneezing and sniffling all the while.

That was when I spotted Mom's tail around the corner. My puny club lay beside her. I ran over and tugged her tail, still shouting senselessly. When I let go, Mom's tail flopped to the ground. I knew she was tired after her fight with the intruders, so I ran around the rock to hug her.

I wish I had never looked around that rock.

I still don't know how I managed it, but I somehow ran all the way outside without shedding a single tear. Only after the sun seared into my eyes did they even water, but I still didn't cry, and I cry all the time. It's just what cubones do. But I vowed in my heart that I wouldn't cry, not until Mom was whole again. The monsters who had killed her would return her head to where it belonged, or I would die trying. It was all I had left. The worst that could happen was that I died, too, but now that I was alone, that didn’t matter anymore.

I couldn't stay in the cave any longer, not knowing what was there, so I crawled down the rocks at a painfully sluggish pace and left my mountain home behind. The intruders had made no effort to conceal their tracks. They didn’t think there was any danger from me, a whiny cubone with a tiny club, but I clenched my fists and bared my fangs in a silent vow for revenge. It was there in a ditch that I discovered Mom’s club, or what remained of it. I rubbed the cracked, gnawed-on fragment, imagining it in Mom’s hand, as it had always been. I braced my feet, ready to hurl the scrap away, but my hand sank back to my chest. It was all I had left of her. I scrounged up a shoelace from the ditch and lashed the fragment of bone to my club. It didn’t look very sturdy, but the shape of it reminded me of the human symbol of protection and hope. It comforted me as I turned my back on my mountain home and headed down the road.

It didn't take long for me to find the monsters I was looking for.

All I had to do was gather some food scraps from several human camps and offer my findings to the pokemon in the area. Apparently, strange humans had arrived recently and built a soft den in part of the woods. As I peeked out of the bushes alongside a shrubby road, a pile of humans disappeared into the soft den. They lugged weird crates that stank disturbingly and a cage with a sleeping ursaring inside, but I didn't see Mom’s head anywhere. I had to get inside.

The very same pair of houndours that had attacked me lounged, chained, outside. One had a nasty bruise and scrapes on its face, while the other still chewed on part of Mom’s club. I forced my teeth to stop grinding, in case someone heard. I knew that I couldn’t face them, not the way Mom had. She was so much stronger than I ever will be. But she had taught me other ways to win a fight.

I stuck my club out of the bushes and wiggled it. "Hey! Anyone want a treat?"

Both houndours jumped up, wagging their stubby tails. They didn’t even bother to bark a warning to their humans; they just ran straight for me. WHACK, CRACK! I carefully dragged the unconscious pokemon back to their posts and posed them as if they were asleep. I dusted off my hands and smirked, despite the odd, sour sensation in my stomach. Then I crept to the front of the soft den and pushed my way through the flaps.

There were more cages and crates stacked up than I knew how to count, and all of them reeked of fear, anger, and death. I recalled a story Mom had told me once, about poachers, humans who killed pokemon for their body parts and captured pokemon for sport, not companionship. They were the worst kind of humans. But I wasn’t scared of the humans capturing me or chopping me up. Actually, it was better to say that I was no longer aware of the danger. I was so terrified that my legs would hardly move, and my teeth chattered, rattling my skull helmet, but all I could think about as I walked between the rows in a trance was how I would ever find Mom’s head before I lost mine.

As I stopped to peek at several humans arguing over a fresh nidoking skull, a quiet voice startled me.

“Come. Come to me...”

“Mom?” I whispered. I glanced about in an excited panic, but I shrank when I saw no one.

“Yes,” the voice answered, softly and lovingly, just as I remembered. “I'm here... find me…”

Mom’s voice faded around the corner. I sniffled and chased after her without concern for anything else, not any humans or their pokemon, but somehow she guided me safely. The whispers quieted by a haphazard stack of crates. I slowed, my heart pounding. Perched carelessly on top of the crates was Mom's head… most of it, at least. The poachers had removed her eyes and lower jaw and all the important stuff inside her head, but as I stared into her empty eye holes, I heard her speak again.

“You found me.”

“Mom!”

“Yes. I'm so glad you found me...”

I clambered onto the crates and hugged the chilly skull. Somewhere in my heart, I knew Mom was dead, but hearing her voice and feeling her strong, warm arms around me made me forget everything I had seen. Really, I was too scared to admit that she was gone. That was why I had chased the poachers so far, why I had decided to die rather than keep going without her. As I said, I was a coward, but even cowards can evolve.

When at last I opened my eyes, Mom’s warm embrace faded, but her voice emanated louder in my arms.

“I’m so tired... I need food.”

“Anything! Just tell me!” I ducked closer beside the crates, fearing someone had heard, but nothing happened. “I’ll even hunt those grumpigs you told me not to mess with…”

“I know. What about those vile houndours?”

“Huh? We don't eat those, Mom...”

“Oh, but I'm so hungry. I’m withering away…”

Her longing squeezed my heart and stole my breath. My stomach howled. I squeezed it and glanced around, but again, there was no one around to hear. When had I eaten last? I tried to remember, but Mom’s hunger overwhelmed my thoughts. I slid off the crates and hurried back to the exit. Her soft whispers directed me down empty rows and away from human voices. Outside, the houndours snarled and barked for attention, but the humans ignored them. I ducked into the bushes and carefully turned Mom’s head so she could see.

“There, Mom. Are you… really going to eat them?”

“You don’t have to worry anymore. I will protect you. Now set me down and step back.”

Mystified, I placed Mom’s head outside the bushes. Then I ducked further back and hugged my club. I knew something was wrong, horribly wrong, but I was too scared to confront what lay before me.

The houndours trotted over to sniff and lick Mom. As they grumbled curiously to each other and argued over who got to chew on it first, violet smoke suddenly spewed from Mom’s head. Dark swirls engulfed one of the houndours. When the smoke retreated back into the skull, the houndour collapsed, white-eyed. The other houndour yelped and ran to the end of its chain, flipped back, and finally cowered on the ground.

“Mom?” I squeaked.

The violet smoke reappeared around Mom’s head and grew into a vague shape. It almost looked like Mom, except that her eyes were empty and cold. She glided towards the other houndour. It whimpered and gnawed on its chain, but it couldn't get away from Mom’s groping claws.

I admitted to myself then that Mom was long, long gone.

In a sudden fit of panic, I ran past her and kicked the post the houndour was chained to. The post popped out of the ground, but when it did, the chain flew through Mom’s neck. I shouted as the houndour yelped and took off, just ahead of Mom's talons. She slowly turned to me, and I almost stopped breathing. Her head had shredded from her body. In the gap floated a pair of evil orange eyes, colder than the bone club in my clutches.

“You have been a naughty girl,” the monster whispered. It started to grow taller before my eyes. “You must be punished.”

The monster rushed at me before I could move, even blink, eyes blazing and claws arced forwards. I braced my puny club before me and prepared to join Mom, my real Mom, but shouts suddenly clogged the air. Humans surrounded us. They pointed frantically at the dead houndour. Flashes and streaks of light surrounded us, and suddenly dozens of fierce-eyed pokemon, everything from alakazams to zubats, loomed over me.

“Good,” groaned the monster pretending to be Mom. “I am so hungry... and you… you all belong to me!”

I dove aside as the pokemon converged. Purple smoke blasted between them. Their bodies crashed to the ground, all white-eyed and screaming, and the humans screamed and ran too. The smoke engulfed the slower ones. As the humans collapsed to the ground, the monster grew larger and more solid until it was big enough to touch the tops of the trees. Shouts echoed through the soft den and nearby woods, but I hardly heard them as I stared up at the towering beast that was once my mother. Only its floating skull vaguely resembled her now, but even it looked wrong with its sharp points, empty holes, and detached jaw. The monster raised a hand, which shredded from its wrist and drifted higher of its own choosing. A giant bone scythe materialized in the monster’s grasp.

Tears finally soaked my cheeks. Just when I thought I had found Mom again, this monster had jerked her away, and now it used her for its evil. And it was all because I was a coward. If I hadn’t cried and attracted the enemies to us, if I had ran and let Mom fight, if I had moved on instead of trying to get back what was already lost… I pushed myself to my feet and gripped my club with more strength than I had felt in my entire life.

It was my fault that Mom had died. So I would have to be brave for her now and make sure she died for good.

I charged mindlessly. The monster had its attention on several flying pokemon and didn't even notice me until my club cracked against its thick shin. Suddenly the scythe cleaved towards me. I thought about blocking with my club, but I thought better of it and dove instead. The jagged bone scythe split the ground like soft flesh and continued sweeping towards me, as if it didn’t realize the ground was there at all. I shouted and rolled aside again and again, all while dodging the monster’s stomping feet and swinging tail.

I mistimed my roll. The flat of the scythe smacked me like a golf ball. I landed between several trees and rolled into the bushes. As I lay upside down, I stared into those evil eyes peeking out of the monster's neck. That was when I noticed the pair of hands. The claws gripped the ragged end of the monster’s collar. I pulled my battered body up and steadied my shaky legs. The true heart of the monster was hiding like a big, ugly coward. So I would just have to drag it out into the open.

A new group of humans challenged the beast with their pokemon, but it glided away from their multicolored attacks. Violet smoke smothered the challengers. Desperate, I swallowed my terror and leaped onto the monster’s waving tail. The monster shrieked and spun in a tight circle. I screamed with my eyes squeezed shut. I almost dropped my club, but somehow I held onto it and the monster’s tail. As soon as it slowed, I reared my arm back and threw my club. The monster’s hands swept towards it, but my throw arced wide, just like Mom had taught me. I rolled off the monster’s tail and shouted in excitement, but when my club knocked against the monster’s skull, the monster hardly flinched. My legs gave out, and I collapsed, defeated, as my club slid off the skull and dropped into the monster's neck.

It suddenly shrieked, gurgled, and writhed. The monster’s hands flew erratically. The bone scythe slammed to the ground and disappeared. As the monster’s body fragmented into tendrils of smoke and Mom’s skull fell to the ground, my club dropped from the creature’s decaying chest. Hooked to the cracked fragment of Mom’s club was a blob of black smoke with evil orange eyes. I rushed over to grab the club, but the black blob screeched and splattered across my face. I screamed and flailed as it burned my skin. It squeezed under my skull helmet and groped at my face. I threw my helmet down. The evil eyes glared through the eyeholes.

“Dear one,” it whispered sweetly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Let’s be together again. Everything can go back to the way it used to be…”

Delightful, painful memories surged through my mind. I thought of those bright spring days when I would practice my bone throwing skills as Mom coached quietly from nearby. On hot summer days, Mom and I would relax in the cliff shadows and hear stories from other pokemon seeking escape from the heat. In harsh winters, we would cuddle under our piloswine pelt and listen to the secret sounds of our cave until we both fell asleep. Could all of that really be mine again? A fresh round of tears soaked my collar.

“All you have to do,” the eyes in the skull glinted brighter, “is feed me. Feed me more…”

I screamed and slammed my club down. The monster squealed. I struck again and again until finally, the skull fractured into several pieces. The monster sighed and burst into a cloud of purple smoke. As I fell back, the smoke drifted off into the sky without a trace.

Gradually, the humans and pokemon I thought were dead stirred and groaned. I crawled over to Mom’s discarded skull and peeked inside, just to be sure there was no evil left behind, but there was nothing special there. It was just a skull. I slipped it on and wiggled it into place. It was a near perfect fit, once I grew into it a little.

I jumped when something wet and rough passed over my hand. The houndour I had saved stepped back, panting. “Thank you,” he muttered. Then he scampered off to find his human before I could reply. A bunch of other humans showed up then, to yell at the poachers and put them in chains. While I was curious to see what happened to them, I suddenly realized that all the hard, burning feelings in me that had compelled me to hunt the poachers had dissolved away with the monster.

All I wanted to do was go home, bury Mom, and sleep for a while. That way, she would always be near our home, where she could watch over me and my children every time they were brave and when they cried.

pokemon (c) Nintendo, Game Freak