Sophia dragged Mono towards the group’s room at H.O.R.S.E. with her ribbons grasped around his paws. She leaned her head outwards with an eager smile on her face. Mono’s feet dragged along the ground and he rolled his eyes.
“Is there a reason you are dragging me here, Sophia? I have yet to eat breakfast.” Mono asked.
“I’ll tell you when we get there, Mono. In the meantime, I suggest you hold your tongue.” Sophia stated with a confident smirk.
“I’m not exactly too comfortable where this is going, but you always do have a reason.”
“I did say to hold your tongue, right?”
Mono’s throat clenched at Sophia’s sudden words. Entering through the door into the room, his eyes picked up on a green-coated buck whose horns were studded buds. His eyes were green with the energy of a lively forest. The buck frowned at the sight of Mono.
“Are you sure he will be able to help us, Sophia? He doesn’t look like he has a spine.”
“Trust me, Bambi; he has one. I’ve told you all about Mono, haven’t I?” Sophia questioned.
“Ummm… who is this, Sophia?” Mono asked.
“Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Bambi. I am sure you are acquainted with my mother Lady Serva correct?” Bambi responded.
“I know your mother, but what does this have to do with the reason we are all gathered here?” Mono questioned.
Bambi pouted and blinked once. He grumbled underneath his voice. Sophia chuckled with a nervous disposition and rubbed the back of her neck with one of her ribbons.
“Bambi has some… mommy issues at the moment. You see, back before the Van’Goth invaded, Bambi was of the Deerope royal lineage along with his brother and sister. Because his mother was the diplomatic mind of the family, she was never around to raise Bambi.” She explained.
“My father was the one who actually raised me, but he and my siblings died when the Van’Goth invaded Deerope. Only my mother and I were the only members of royalty to have ever made it out of the country alive. Then, my mother got roped into politics and started ignoring me again.” Bambi stated with a low and rumbling voice.
“I still do not understand the current situation at hand. Should this be something you should talk about with your mother?” Mono asked.
“Honestly, I’m too frustrated with how she is never around. That’s why I want to go back to Deerope just to see my deceased family once more. At least they were there for me when I needed them.”
“But Deerope is destroyed. If my New World Geography is correct, then what remains of Deerope is upon the continent known as the Twiluminescent Jungle. We don’t exactly have a clearance to that continent yet.”
Bambi smirked and turned towards his side with his eyes closed in a smug fashion.
“Well, it’s a good thing that I am royalty, no? I could grant you all clearance to the Twiluminescent Jungle in a heartbeat.”
Bambi placed his front hooves onto the table in the briefing room, bringing up a map of the world. He tapped on a mass of land to the southeast of the Terraformed Wilderness, coloring it with a rich green color.
“That’s the Twiluminescent Jungle continent? I wonder why it is called that.” Sophia said.
“It gets its name from the ethereal and almost mystical glow it gets during the night time. As for the continent itself, it has a very humid atmosphere that causes the vegetation to grow to sizes that tower over the buildings of our city. It used to be higher north, but it shifted closer towards the equator of the world due to the unstable tectonics of the continent.” Bambi explained.
“You know your geography well, Bambi. Have you ever thought about joining H.O.R.S.E. in the field research division?” Mono asked.
“Not the point now, Mono. Besides, I’m on the fence when it comes to joining.” Bambi answered. “Anyways, this continent is home to creatures that are stories tall. We will need firepower to strike them down. Since you own an Exo License, Mono, maybe you could pilot a Class-D Fortress Exo there?”
Mono’s fur stood up from his body and anxiety gripped his spine, throttling it back and forth.
“I’m not exactly too confident in my exo-piloting skills to be able to pilot a Fortress Exo. I mean what if I hit something wrong and cause everyone onboard to die? I don’t want to put anyone through that.”
Sophia patted Mono on his shoulders with her right front paw and smiled.
“It’s a good thing it’s just the three of us then, right?” She asked with half-lidded eyes and a grin.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better, Sophia.” Mono responded with quivering lips and a nervous shiver down his spine.
“I didn’t drag you here because you are some half-baked pilot with quarter-baked potential. A voice told me that you have the skills to bring the three of us to the Twiluminescent Forest. Therefore, I have trust and confidence in your abilities as a pilot. Agreed?”
“When she puts it that way, then I guess I trust in your piloting skills as well.” Bambi commented.
Mono stammered and sighed.
“I guess I have to practice my fortress-piloting skills sooner or later. Better sooner than later.”
“So exactly how would you grant us clearance to head towards this continent, Bambi? I’d love to see you work your magic.” Sophia commented with a skeptical tone in her voice.
“Simple; I just put my mom’s password when the clearance cue comes up.” Bambi announced with a confident grin. He imputed a maelstrom of masterful strokes along the hologram screens appearing in front of his face. The yellow lock hologram had its handle lifted away and flashed in a green screen. “And done.”
“Let’s just hope Council Lady Serva does not catch onto us using her information.” Mono stuttered out.
The orange sun blossomed within the sky. The vines and canopies that strangled the continent basked in its juicy glow. From the left of its shore, a white mech the size of a house spiraled towards the land with smoke rushing out of the boosters on its back. Its arms and legs folded inwards and formed into a brick shape. It dug into the soft earth where the tide meets the sand.
The head folded upwards, forming a tunnel into its body. Mono, Sophia and Bambi stepped out of the tunnel with shaky steps and their heads held by their forelimbs.
“How I even brought us here in one piece will always be a mystery.” Through exhausted pants and a nauseated voice, Mono uttered. “I thought you said that we would be okay because of my skills, Sophia.”
“I did. We all made it out in one piece.” Sophia answered with a grin and her eyes shut. She looked back towards the exo and eyed the smoke coming from the shoulder blade of it. “Though it looks like our trip back home will be delayed… indefinitely.”
A smile cracked onto Bambi’s face.
“This is perfect! It will definitely give me enough time to refamiliarize myself with the land I have lost.”
“I thought we were just going here to visit the areas where your father and siblings died.” Mono stated with a dull fire in his voice.
“I did and we will. That would just be the last stop in our journey into the Twiluminescent Forest.” Bambi answered. “Every other H.O.R.S.E. operative I told this request to just laughed at me. Sophia was the only one who would take it.”
Mono directed an agitated stare towards Sophia, who flashed a nervous grin and chuckled.
“That wasn’t exactly a wise idea, Sophia. Did you know this would happen?”
“I did, but I really don’t care about the dilemmas that could occur. As a H.O.R.S.E. agent, I have sworn to take any request no matter how silly or ridiculous it is.” Sitting down and raising her right leg upwards in salutation, Sophia answered. “Or did you already forget that we have to fulfill our client’s wish so that his way of life may be preserved?”
Mono raised his paws into the air, looked upwards and shook his head with his mouth open in disbelief. He looked towards Bambi, who glanced onto a yellow flower below with a crisp smile on his face. He pointed at it.
“It’s a yellow tulip. I didn’t know that this flower survived the terraforming. I will bring this back into the exo to see if I cannot bring it back home.” He said, shoveling through the ground around the flower with his front hooves. He retreated back into the exo with the tulip.
Mono leaped onto a flat rock by a wall of spiked vines. He sat down and stretched his limbs. He glanced towards Sophia and and waved the tips of his paws towards her. Sophia grinned and jumped towards the rock, lying down beside him.
“Sophia, did you drag me along with your scheme so that it would just be the two of us out here with a teenage stag that would end up ignoring what we do?” Mono asked with a placid voice, stroking the back of Sophia’s neck with his right paw.
“Do you mind if I did that? It was the only way for us to finally be alone, after all.” Sophia responded.
The duo gazed out at the sparkling sea bringing in waves of salt onto the sandy shore. The waters spread out towards the edge of the exo.
“You know, Sophia, I really don’t mind what you did there anymore. I was upset at first, but then I realized that it isn’t all that bad. We have a stunning view and we still have each other.” Mono commented.
“Even in the body of a Meowstic, your petting still feels amazing.” Sophia purred out. “I like having these times with you.”
“I do as well, Sophia. I do as well.”
Bambi exited out of the exo and observed the sated smiles on Mono and Sophia’s faces. He grinned, holding back a chuckle that rumbled through his teeth.
“You two lovebirds better stop gazing at the ocean. It’s time to do what we came here to do.”
Mono stood up from the rock and slanted his eyes with a stone expression.
“We aren’t lovebirds.” Mono stated.
“Give us a few more minutes of staying on this rock and stroking and we will be even more than lovebirds, eh Mono?” Sophia teased, standing up and bumping her left front knee into Mono’s right paw. Her right eye blinked.
“Sure Sophia.” Mono uttered out with a nervous chuckle.
Beyond the mouth of the vines rested trees whose height rivaled that of skyscrapers. Thin vines hung down from the branches and barks of the palm trees within. The air steamed with the scent of coconut and melon. Light flickered through the leafy canopies and brought salvation down to the plants below. Mono lifted a green leaf that is the size of a tray.
“I never saw leaves this big back from where I came from.”
“These leaves are the product of alien technology after all, so it should be like this.” Bambi noted.
“It is interesting that you feel comfortable with your former home being like this, Bambi. Most Pokémon I know would have freaked out at such large changes.” Sophia commented.
“Whether this land has changed or not, it still is Deerope. Even if everyone is gone, I still will inherit this land one day. As the heir to the continent, I have to be able to cope with and appreciate its changes. Besides, deer operatives at H.O.R.S.E. are still the best operatives to go through this continent.”
“So where do we go first, Bambi?” Mono asked.
“We head over towards the Spring of the Ancients. My sources say that area is left untouched by the terraforming.” Bambi answered. “It is one of the major landmarks before the remains of the capital city.”
A wide grin appeared on his face. He leaped towards a vine, landing upon it with the grace of a beautiful gazette. He leaped towards another vine across the path, laughing with primordial joy.
“Wait! Slow down!” Mono shouted.
“Come on! We’re taking the adventurer’s path!” Bambi called out.
Sophia shrugged her shoulders. A grin appeared on her face. She leaped towards the vines, following in the path that Bambi blazed. Mono hopped onto the vines and trailed behind the two.
Bambi sprinted down the gnarled vine that spiraled through the canopy of the jungle. Running with the smell of hibiscus rushing through his nose, Mono looked below. A red theropod with yellow eyes and gray stripes looked upwards, inhaling a scent through its nose. It roared with a sound that causes the most strong-willed of stallion’s hearts to fall into their stomachs.
“That Tyrantrum-looking creature looks frightening.” With dilated pupils and his lips tucked in, Mono noted.
“Oh that? I suggest that you don’t go next to that Redclaw. It will tear you a new one, and that isn’t just intended as a pun.” Bambi commented. “Why else did you think I took the vines as our alternate route? Walking down the same path as that thing is just asking for trouble.”
“Again, how do you even know so much about this place?”
A quick snicker stifled underneath Sophia’s tongue.
Serva stormed through the door of the Pokémon room with her eyelids and mouth wide open in panic. Her hooves pranced along the ground and a nervous sweat broke out from her face. Jasmine, the only inhabitant within the room, looked onto her with a sojourn glint in her eyes.
“Oh dear oh dear oh dear!” She stuttered.
“What is the matter, Council Lady Serva?” Jasmine asked, floating by her side.
“My son! I couldn’t find him! I checked all over our living quarters and throughout all of Neo Canterlot and he is nowhere to be seen!”
“You have a son?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes.” Serva responded with a placid tone and serene stance. “But, I admit that I haven’t been the best mother in the world. I have been working day and night in my stance as a member of the council and have not been giving him the attention he deserves. But… that shouldn’t excuse him from running away!”
Jasmine’s eyes narrowed and her stance faltered at the sudden shouting from Serva.
“Please relax. You will not be able to get anything done just by screaming. Do you have any possible idea where he could have gone?”
“If he is not in the city, then I have the suspicion that… no he can’t be there.” Serva responded with an inside tone, shaking her head.
“Could have gone where?” Jasmine asked with interest peaking in her voice.
“I would have the suspicion that he went off to the ruins of the kingdom capital Sylvanstag, but that couldn’t be possible with just his own self. It’s too dangerous and an ocean stands between this continent and that continent.”
Spitfire hovered down the hall with a sleek tablet in her hooves. Seeing Serva and Jasmine, she smiled.
“Hello, Council Lady Serva. What brings you around here?”
“My son has gone missing and I don’t know where he is.” Serva answered.
“Bambi right? I don’t know about his whereabouts, but you apparently gave clearance to Mono and Sophia so that they may enter into the Twiluminescent Jungle. Are you aware of that?” Spitfire answered with her right eye narrowed in suspicion.
“I never gave clearance for them to enter into the continent. But, that means… oh no! My poor little Bambi is heading towards the capital city!” She shouted.
“I’ve also checked that one of our Class-D Fortress Exos have been taken underneath Mono’s name as well.” Spitfire noted. A low growl emerged from her tone. “I cannot believe how deceptive those two are! When I get my hooves on them…”
“Ummm, Commander Spitfire, you’re getting angry again.” Jasmine pointed out.
“Considering you are the only operative in this room at the hour, you are coming with me to pick up those three hooligans!” Spitfire stated, pointing towards Jasmine.
“I’m coming too, whether you like it or not!” Serva announced.
“But council lady Serva, it will be too dangerous for you! Stay here and help maintain the city.”
“And what? Worry about whether my son is dead or fighting for his life?! Not going to happen. I have been doing a poor job as his mother for neglecting his needs. It’s time that I stepped up and become a doe worthy of the title ‘mother’.”
“I appreciate your dedication, but I’m still not sure whether it is actually the best decision for an Equusian of your stature to leave the city.” Spitfire said.
“You know I could have you demoted to janitorial duties, right?” Serva asked with a smug smile on her face.
Spitfire rolled her eyes and looked down onto the ground with her shoulders down.
“L-let’s just leave now.”
Bambi, Sophia and Mono leaped down from the end of the vine. A cool and wet sensation enveloped underneath their feet. Sophia lifted her right front paw from the ground and the sound of water welling towards the top made its way towards the group’s ears.
“We’re here at our landmark stop! This is the Sylvanstag Spring!” Bambi announced, letting the scent of water breaking through earth reach his nose.
“If this is a spring, then why is all the water under the dirt? Shouldn’t it be out in the open?” Mono asked.
Bambi stepped forward and struck the soft ground. The water erupted outwards with a volcanic force. He craned his head towards the ground and sipped at the water. A satisfied sigh passed by his lips.
“This spring is unique when compared to other springs. Because all of the water is hidden underneath the earth here, it acts as a sort of protection from unsavory bacteria and such. The dirt here is made from special minerals that filter out pollutants. So drink, my friends! You have nothing to be afraid of.”
Mono and Sophia broke the dirt underneath them, where water burst from underneath. Sophia lapped at the water at her paw tips and Mono scooped the water with his paws and sipped at it.
“This water tastes very fresh. It is as if this water had always been new.” Mono noted.
The water retreated back into the earth, where the dirt lifted itself upwards.
“The water retreated back.” Sophia stated with a frown and crestfallen tone.
“That is just how the dirt here acts. A few seconds and it absorbs the water. In a way… it’s like a mother asking her child to come back inside after playing.”
Sophia looked onto Bambi’s face, where a glint of melancholy flashed within his eyes.
“Are you alright, Bambi? You seem upset.”
“I’m fine, Sophia.” Bambi uttered out.
“Ummm, what is that statue over there?” Mono asked, pointing towards a stone statue depicting the vague shape of a tall and slender mare with six wings.
“I don’t know why, but she seems so familiar…” Sophia noted with a tilted head and her left eye narrowed.
“This statue was made by a sect whose members were from all parts of the world.” Bambi strained out with disdain in his voice. “They say that this what the true goddess of the universe looks like. It’s pure blasphemy how it still stands here!”
“Woah, sour much?” Sophia questioned with a mix of sarcasm and concern in her voice.
“Never mind. Let’s just go.”
Bambi leaped onto a separate vine that continued down the path. Mono and Sophia followed behind him, following in his tracks. Behind the statue, a bush rustled. Out of its leaves, a black boot stomped into the ground.
Through the thicket of the jungle and the end of the vine, the eyes of Mono, Sophia and Bambi picked up on the sight of blackened wood and shattered planks. Dropping off the vine, they saw large trees fallen from their stumps. Ashes and shattered metals littered the ground. The ropes that hung from above the canopies are sliced and bones littered the area. Bambi’s front hooves trembled.
“This… is Sylvanstag? I knew that it was in ruins, but this is too much. You can’t even tell that this was a capital city anymore.” Mono stated.
“My ancestral home… I saw the fires when they invaded, but I thought we would be able to return one day for when it is over. It’s worse than I thought.” Bambi said with his heart ripped out of his chest.
Sophia touched a small skull and frowned.
“Not even the children were spared…”
“That’s because I personally razed it all to the ground!”
Mono’s ears perked up at the shout of the familiar voice. The sounds of gunshots echoed from the canopies above. Mono sprinted towards Bambi and Sophia, scooping them into his upper limbs and leaping away from the trajectories of the shots. He stood up from the ground and stared into the sky with an indignant stare on his face.
“Show yourself, Giacomo! Do not think I don’t know you’re there!”
Giacomo leaped down from a branch in the trees and chuckled.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the pussy with his bitch and a bastard for a prince.” He taunted, waving the gun in his right hand towards the trio.
“Ummm, excuse me?! Did you just call me what I think you called me?” Sophia asked, walking towards Mono’s side with fiery eyes directed towards Giacomo.
“Yes. You are a female dog, right?” Giacomo questioned with genuine curiosity in his voice.
“I’m... well, I think I look more vulpine than canine. Of course, that could be arguable. But for Arceus’s sake; clean up your language! Nobody talks like that!” Sophia shouted.
“You!” Bambi screamed, pointing towards Giacomo. “You killed my father and siblings!”
“Ah, yes. King Sylvan and two of his three children. I still remember the sounds of their screaming as my scythe tore through their flesh.”
Bambi clenched his teeth to the point of fractures appearing on them. He sprinted with heavy hoofsteps towards Giacomo. An invisible force knocked him away and his back struck against a tree stump. He groaned in pain.
“Hah! Balls without wisdom. Truly, he is a foolish runt.” Giacomo taunted.
“It seems as though you gained some abilities since our last encounter.” Mono said with a stoic tone.
Giacomo smiled and held out his right arm, where a black device was imprinted into his gloves.
“I have you to thank for it. Without your usage of psychic powers against us, the Van’Goth would not have been able to make this into reality. But enough simple talk; I’m going to kill you and use your skull as a urinal.”
“You seriously are disgusting, you know that?” Sophia remarked with a serious tone. “But, I bet you were never hugged by anyone, weren’t you?” She said with a snide smile.
“You nasty skank… I’ll be sure to kill you first. But first…”
Giacomo placed a green bullet within the chamber of the gun and fired it towards Mono’s direction. Mono’s eyes widened from the strike on his chest. His eyes and mouth drooped to a close. He dropped to the ground, sleeping.
“Mono!” Sophia shouted, shaking him with her right front paw.
“He’s sleeping. You want him awake? You’ll have to fight me so that I won’t kill him.” Giacomo challenged.
“If it is a challenge you want, then it is a challenge you get. Try to keep up.” Sophia stated with a confident smirk.
A thick light blue mist emerged from Sophia’s body and covered the field. Giacomo looked around. His eyes were veiled by the contents of the mist.
“What is this shit?! I can’t see shit!”
A dark ball of shadowy energy shot towards his direction, exploding on contact. Giacomo grimaced, but then chuckled afterwards.
“Didn’t hurt that much, dipshit.”
“Who says I was trying to hurt you? I was merely just… testing your resistances with my Shadow Ball. It seems that you have a bit of a resistance level to my Shadow Ball. That means…”
Sophia’s body lit up with the image of a moon. An orb of lunar energy built up within her mouth and fired directly towards Giacomo. Giacomo leaped to his side, evading it.
“That’s a pretty shot. Too bad I avoided it.”
“There’s more where that came from. Try me.” Sophia whispered out.
Giacomo growled and fired a sleep bullet towards Sophia’s direction.
“Have fun with that sleep!”
“I’m not sleepy though.” Sophia said, pouncing onto Giacomo’s head. “As long as this mist is up, we cannot fall asleep, be burned, poisoned, frozen or any other one of those lingering side effects that are possible in this world.”
“Damn it!” Giacomo shouted. “And get the hell off my head.”
“Okay.” Sophia stated, leaping off of his head.
She spun in the air towards his direction and fired a Moonblast towards him. The blast collided with him, exploding on impact. Giacomo staggered backwards, gripping his face in pain.
“You’re another one of those fairy bitches, aren’t you? No wonder it hurts as much as that other one.”
“Yep.” Sophia responded with a shameless smile. “You may be nasty and abuse the language we speak, but you sure get upset easily. It seems like you can’t even land a hit on me.”
Giacomo held out his hand towards her direction. Sophia levitated into the sky, turning her head in two directions. She wriggled and grunted.
“I could strangle you if I wanted to. Actually, I think I’ll do that now. It’ll teach you for being as annoying as you are now. With your pussy of a friend there knocked out and that bastard unconscious, no one can save you as you are choked to death.”
A Dazzling Gleam shot Giacomo’s back, breaking the telekinetic grip he had on Sophia. He turned around, seeing Jasmine and Spitfire behind him.
“Game over, Giacomo.” Spitfire called out, pointing her cannon towards him.
“You are surrounded. It’s time that you pay for your atrocities.” Jasmine threatened.
“Try me.” Giacomo said with an eerie calmness in his tone.
Spitfire fired a blast out of her cannon. Giacomo deflected the blast away with his hand. With the window of distraction, Spitfire dashed at a blazing speed, unsheathing her laser blade and slashing him. Giacomo’s eyes widened from the strike and he gripped his slashed side.
“Was that a good hit?” Spitfire asked with a confident smile.
“It was. You were a bit of an ass to distract me with that though.”
Jasmine rushed towards Mono’s side and emitted an Aromatherapy. With the sweet smell hitting his nose, Mono awakened with life.
“Where am I? Was it all a dream?” He asked, rubbing his head.
“You aren’t dreaming, Mono.” Sophia said, rubbing her neck with a grimaced frown on her face. “Bambi’s been knocked out and that foul-mouthed Van’Goth nearly strangled me.”
“What?” Mono said with a darkened tone. “Nobody hurts Sophia. Nobody!”
Giacomo looked towards his left, where his eyes met with a geyser erupting out from the ground underneath. He dashed backwards and dodged it. His face met with a Psychic-infused paw by an angry Mono, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him into a stump.
“Bambi!” Serva shouted, running towards the unconscious Bambi. She pulled him off of the stump with her hooves. Her pupils shrunk at his beaten state. She shook him with her mouth open in panic. “Please! Don’t die! I don’t want to lose you… I love you, Bambi! I’m sorry I couldn’t be the mother I could have been to you, especially during the most confusing time in your life. Please, don’t leave me alone!”
She saw no movement from Bambi. Tears formed under her verdant eyes. She shoved her face into his neck and cried loud. She rocked him back and forth. Feeling his mother’s warm tears streaming down his neck, Bambi’s eyes cracked open. A small groan crept out of him.
“…Mom?” Bambi asked.
Serva lifted her face away from Bambi. A smile of a thousand splendid suns shined from her face and her eyes lit up with joy.
“Bambi!” She shouted, nuzzling and hugging him. “You’re alive! I thought I lost you!”
Bambi turned his head away and frowned.
“Please, mom, not in front of my friends. It’s embarrassing.” He requested, pushing his hooves against Serva.
“I’m going to hug and nuzzle you until you for a while, Bambi. There’s no way you can escape.” Serva responded.
“God! You all should stop ambushing me when my guard is down!” Giacomo whined. “You weren’t all this tough back several years ago.”
Serva let go of her grasp and turned towards Giacomo’s direction. Her stare caused the ground itself to rumble in fear.
“You tried to take everything away from me. You took away my city, my family and my people. You have torn my heart asunder, foul creature. For that, your life shall be forfeited.”
Her eyes flashed with an evergreen aura. Vines wrapped around the feet of Giacomo, snaring him onto the ground. Giacomo took out his scythe and slashed the vines.
“Not happening, you deadbeat mother. I know when my jig is up.”
Saying these words, he leapt into the air and disappeared. Bambi stumbled towards Serva, whose eyes stopped flashing. She looked towards him.
“Mom, did you really mean those words?” Bambi asked with uncertain hope in his voice.
Serva looked towards Bambi and smiled. She nuzzled his neck.
“Of course I love you, Bambi. I was always so busy that I could never show my love to you. I’m sorry that I was never around. I deserve to be called every name in the dictionary for never being around. I neglected you and it was wrong for me to do that.”
“Mom…” Bambi said. He embraced Serva’s neck with his front legs and wept. “I’m so sorry for running away from you. I’m sorry about shouting at you and saying that you should have died in dad’s place. You came for me when I needed you most… when I wanted you most.”
“That’s so adorable!” Jasmine called out, pinching her arms together and tilting them and her head to the side.
“Bambi… I know I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to take this week off from the council to be with you. I want to get to know my son like a real mother and tell you everything you need to know about what a stag in puberty needs to know.” Serva said.
“Really mom?!” Bambi asked with a tone rising in joy.
“Of course. We’ll go out for ice cream, too. That is if you like ice cream.”
“I would love it, mom. I would.”
Serva and Bambi hugged each other once more.
Mono sat alone within the Pokémon room at H.O.R.S.E., kicking his feet with a frown plastered on his face. His eyes were reddened and dried tears ran down his face. Jasmine and Spitfire walked into the room, waving and smiling towards him.
“Jasmine! Spitfire! What are you doing here?” Mono asked with genuine surprise in his voice.
“You kind of just ran away after we got back. And, from the look of things, you cried. Is there anything on your mind, Mono?” Jasmine asked, sitting by his side.
“It’s nothing… and it’s kind of stupid to even cry about.” Mono responded with a choked-up voice.
“You can tell us anything, Mono. At this point, we can be considered your family.” Spitfire said with a warm tone, sitting by his side and patting his back.
“Seeing Council Lady Serva and Bambi uniting and bonding… it reminded me of how my mom and I used to be.” Mono admitted. “I miss my mom… I wish that I never even ran down that alleyway. She would still be here with me had I not done that.”
Jasmine looked towards Mono’s eyes and detected tears rising from them. She brought his head towards her chest with her arms and stroked his head. She hushed him.
“It’s okay Mono. You don’t need to feel alone. Mommy will always be watching over you from above. No more tears. Just dreams now. You have me by your side.” Jasmine comforted.
Mono’s blubbering halted to a stop. He looked up towards Jasmine’s face with wide eyes and a mouth shrunken in curiosity.
“But… I still want my mom. I’ve never had my mom for a decade.”
“Mono, I don’t know about this parent stuff, but I really don’t mind being another mother to you.” Spitfire said. “We can spend time with each other and I could teach you some tricks and trades. I know I can never replace your mother, but it seems like you really do want a mother.”
“Really? But… why are you offering me that choice?”
“Truth be told, I was never a mother and I will never be a mother. I’ve always wanted to raise a child, but my lifestyle prevented me from doing so. Like what Council Lady Serva offered to her son, I could teach you on, well, how to be a better soldier and fit better into Equusian life. Plus, I get to snuggle you like the kitty cat that you are more often.” Spitfire answered with her tone rising at the end.
“That’s a bit weird, but I won’t complain.” Mono said.
“Good, because you and Sophia have to do one thousand laps around the track non-stop! Now get to it!” Spitfire commanded.
Mono’s back erected in an instant and he saluted towards her direction.
“Yes Commander Spitfire!”
Mono sprinted out of the room. Jasmine looked towards Spitfire with a questioning gaze.
"What? They both broke the rules? Sophia's already on the track and did ten laps already. But, she's a bit slow in her movements. With how Mono runs, he will definitely go through his punishment quicker. Isn't punishing children when they misbehave something a mom would do?" Spitfire said.
"I suppose so. Who am I to argue? You are my boss after all." Jasmine answered.
Spitfire smiled and chuckled.
"Hey, do you think Lith is around? I'd like to see if she would want a mother as well."
"I already took that position for her. But, I don't see why we both can be mothers for the two of them." Jasmine said.
"Mothering Pokémon... I'd never thought I would ever see that day."
The room became filled with the hearty laughter of Spitfire and Jasmine.