Reprieve

Tired.

This was the single word on Mike’s mind during his entire journey along the very same path taken when he had first journeyed to Tao Village by himself. His feet had trod over many different sensations along the way: from the melting snow covering the ruined Tao Village and Ranch, to soaked grass between Tao Lake and the neighboring forest, to the many fallen branches of Windswept Woods... and finally, to the familiar warm patches of thin and thirsty grass that peppered the plains leading to Gambitville. He knew he had arrived at that one place he could remember ever since first opening his eyes: home.

It was a long walk. He had at least walked for about two and a half days after leaving Castle Draclugia. There wasn’t any time for him to take a break along the path; he was simply too tired to rest in unfamiliar territory, odd as that may have been. All he had wanted was to go back to his fond abode and rest there. After all, his new home back in Tao Village was destroyed, and he had little to no hope that it would ever be rebuilt. Too tired to think about rebuilding, about Sorbet, about... anything. Hopefully his old room, and the much desirable bed, would be where they had previously been.

Mike went up to the door of his home, and as he clenched his claw into a sort of crude lizardy fist, he hesitated to follow up with the expected knocking on the door. "Aw man, I almost forgot, didn't mom leave me and sis back in Tao with a sort of sour note? Man, whatever... If she's gonna scold me, I'll take it. I just want my bed..."

Mike knocked on the door with a rhythm familiar to his mother and sister, and was greeted with no reply. "Huh, that's weird..." Mike knocked once more with the very same beat, and again, received no reply. It was then that Mike decided to grab ahold of the single handle on the door and pull on it. As he pulled on it, he instantly heard the sound of metal resisting Mike's tug on the door as it barely budged an inch, obviously locked.

"Wow, mom's out? Well I guess I oughta let myself in for the moment..." Mike walked around to the left side of the house and searched around the wood for a bit. "It should be around here... Ah, yeah! In here!" Mike placed a claw at a knot in the wood and pulled on it, revealing a hidden compartment within the wood containing a spare key to the house. "Mmm, it feels good to not forget about this little trick... it's nearly impossible to even figure this out... Mike grabbed the key and head back to the front door, where he proceeded to unlock it.

With a turn of the key in its proper keyhole, the metal bars that prevented the door from moving slid away and Mike was finally granted access to his mother’s abode.

A deep breath filled his lungs as he entered, the scents that accompanied it were one part dust, and nine parts his mother's... particularly pungent aroma, it was good to be back home to remember her smell. It was as if she hadn't left at all.

He simply walked to his room and was glad that it was left practically untouched, albeit a little dusty. His mother was particularly not the kind to clean her own room, much less her son's. It just didn’t matter now. All that mattered was shut eye. Mike pulled a small lever by the side of his door to reveal a sunroof opening in his room that allowed the sun's blistering rays bleach the curved stone platform which Mike would call his own bed. Sure, he was used to the somewhat plush beds that he had back in Tao, they were a different sort of bed, and his own mother and sister have the same sort of bed here too! It's just that for a fire-breathing lizard, nothing could beat baked rock and the constant sunlight.

---

How long had it been? Hours? No, not even half an hour. Mike's very brisk nap was torn asunder by the loud noise of the front door being kicked open and the grunting of his mother as she seemed to be dragging..

Wait, what was she doing?

Mike hopped up to his feet and slowly slithered out his door to see what his mother was up to. As he slowly peeked over the corner from the hallway, he could plainly see what was transpiring: his mother was busy dragging into the house a large Tauros... presumably dead, from the cut made to the neck and lack of mobility. Not to mention the large amount crimson-red blood that dripped from the cut... as well as from his mother's side...!?

"M-mom?! Are you okay?!" Mike yelled out towards his now-startled mother. "M-mikey-boy?! What the hell are ya doin' here?!"

"I-it's just, are you okay?! Look at you, what happened there on your hip?!" Mike had pointed out to the gash at Syrup's side, it was definitely leaking of her blood, and not just the Tauros's.

"Ah oh er, I guess this guy nicked me good. I di'nt even notice that..." Syrup let go of her bovine prey by the horns and started holding her wounded side as it continued to stain her apron with blood.

"Come on, let's get you patched up, hurry!" Mike urged his mother into the bathing room and opened a small box that was printed with a motif of an Audino's ears. "Yeah yeah, don' be in such a rush, I'm not gonna die now."

Mike was absolutely, positively, concisely sure that his mother wasn't going to die. It was simply a nick to the side caused by the horn of the Tauros. "Boy, I'm mad at myself for getting grazed like that Mikey-boy. You know what that means?!" Syrup yelled as she took a small corked flask sitting in a cabinet and began guzzling its contents.

"No... what does what mean? That you're uh... alive?" Mike guessed, but couldn’t come up with anything witty while busy stitching the wound.

"It means I got rusty. I tell you though, that bronto sure was fightin' for its life. That means he's gotta be extra tasty!" Mike was still amazed at how tough his mother was. Even as he continued stitching his mother up, she never did utter any sounds of pain, and even her speech wasn't flinching. It couldn't have been the alcohol her mother was already drinking, for it was too little to do anything; she was just naturally 'tough as a tank.'

"...there. All done." Mike breathed a sigh of relief as he applied Pamtre balm to the sewn up wound. "Good boy, Mikey! Glad to see your first aid skills didn't rust. I'm sure if I wasn't quicker than a lopunny sprintin' for carrots back then, this bronto would've probably gored me completely... but you would've fixed that up as well... khaw haw haw!" Syrup slapped Mike's back with force as she laughed heartily. It hurt... but then again, it was a good hurt, it brought back fond memories of his childhood, growing up with a very tough mother.

"Urp.... Now then, help me bring this meat into the cellar to cool down at least, we can then do something with it a little later." Syrup rose from her stool and headed to the living room while undoing her stained apron and throwing it into the hamper, code for 'Mike wash this up for me later.' Mike followed Syrup and on the count of three, Syrup and Mike began tugging the Tauros by its horns. Good thing there were two horns, one for each of them to grab ahold of... and man, it was... heavy!

"So... yeah, I know it was my bad, but I couldn't get an opening wif this guy. I had to play my cards right, and then Taunt him get close to me so I could deal him a killer hand..." Syrup was making light talk as they pulled and pulled the heavy mass of flesh toward the cellar.

"Oh... you mean Night Slash, right?" Mike knew what she was talking about. He knew her moves after all, as he would regularly train with her every week during his childhood.

"Yup, I sliced his neck clean and he dropped his chips. I guess in the middle of all that, he must've had a pair of aces and blew my side a bit, oh well...! Khe...!" The two finally dragged Syrup's prize all the way into the cool cellar. "Kay! This oughta be a good place to skin 'im later. I'm a bit bushed. How about you, Mikey-boy?"

As Syrup turned to look at Mike, he was more than bushed. He had fallen to the ground on his tush and fell asleep. He truly was tired, and Syrup could easily perceive that feeling. "Oh Mikey-boy... it's good yer home again... let's go nap."

Syrup picked up and cradled Mike into her arms and walked toward her room... not before closing the front door and locking it-- wouldn't want bandits to easily walk in, now would we? Syrup lied down in her own bed, and placed Mike right beside her, removing his hat and easing his head on top of her furry stomach. As Mike instinctively nuzzled the fuzzy warmth of his mother's belly, she nodded off herself. A small, touching welcome to a reunion, a break that would last just for a couple of hours.

---

A couple of hours had passed. The sun was slowly creeping down back towards the land in its never ending cycle of day and night. As Syrup snored in her nap, the sun began to shine through the bedroom window just at the right angle to shine directly into her eyes. Syrup's snore finally stifled and broke the rhythmic pattern and when she had finally woken from her nap, she began to lick her lips.

"Mmmn... aw shuckles, it must be 5 o' clock... Hey hey, Mikey-boy!" Syrup began to scratch at Mike's belly, using her claws to incite a slight prickly and ticklish sensation that would wake Mike. It did the trick.

"Mmmmm... Mom? What is it?" Mike was just as groggy as his mother, but Syrup aimed to recover from the grogginess without any moment's notice. "Hey hey... c'mon, let's get up and start makin' some quick cash so we get out and buy some dinner. Aren't ya hungry?"

Mike's belly uttered a long low growl, and at that point he finally remembered something he forgot for more than two days: he hadn’t eaten anything at all. When home is all you have in mind, nothing else competes, not even food or water.

Mike's face blushed with a red deeper than of his own scales, he didn't want to let his stomach talk for him. "I..." But before Mike could even start his own sentence, he heard his mother's stomach rumble with a growl more menacing than his own.

"Khaw... I guess we're both hungry pals, you an' I... well well, if you're gonna just sit there and do no work, might as well get on a dinner plate and serve yerself with some garnish or something 'cuz I just might have ta up an' eat 'cha!" Syrup grinned eerily at Mike and paralyzed him with a mean look before she couldn't maintain the face any longer and burst into laughter. "Khawhawhaw! Aw c'mon, can'tcha take a joke Mikey-boy?! I ain't one ta eat my own kin!" She vigorously slapped his back even more as she kept remembering Mike's stern look of fear.

"Y-yeah... That was just... a joke. Heh heh..." Mike tried his best to laugh along with her, but it didn't help that her stomach growled again. "Yeah, but it sounds like your stomach thinks otherwise..." Even if Syrup was his own mother, he would often recall bedtime stories that Syrup would tell him as she lulled him to sleep. Bedtime stories about the three little Mareep and the big bad Mightyena... and then stories of her own past adventures. One story that stood out was particularly the one where she slayed a Seviper outlaw in town and then promptly ate him as a stew. It left a bizarre nightmare one night where he was the scared little Mareep and the Mightyena blowing the door down was his own Mother...

...well, that was just a simple nightmare, and not reality, but just an odd little memory that he couldn't shake off.

"Okay. Well, I guess we should get started. What exactly are we gonna do today?" Mike spritely hopped up from his mother's bed and onto his feet. A small nap does do its wonders.

"Well Mikey-boy..." Syrup yawned briefly as she rose up from her bed and began scratching her tufted tush. "Aah... we'll be skinnin' and choppin' up that bronco I bagged. He oughta not be so stiff by now."

"Uhh... wow, really? Do you think we can get it done before the sun sets?" Mike was a little shocked at his mother's confidence. He hadn't really expected her to know how to do anything else other than be a mother to two children, fight, eat a lot, and apparently kill Pokemon.

"Yup! Now c'mon and git yer fiery butt down to the cellar with me. I'm gonna show ya a thing or two today!" Syrup hopped up to stand on her two hind legs, while stretching her forelegs up high, and then resumed scratching her behind while walking toward the cellar. Mike couldn't help but follow along to assist his mother, intrigued by curiosity and not out of fear from her fake intimidation. "Oh... man that blood trail in the house is pretty messy, I guess I'll clean it up after we have dinner..."

---

In the cellar, Mike was prompted by his mother to do whatever it was that she wanted him to do. "Hold this over here," and "gimme that knife," as well as "nick this spot over here." Surprisingly, after ten minutes of cutting, they were able to remove all of the fur from the Tauros in one go.

"Kheh, a little trick I learned before I had ya... ain't it cool?" Syrup admired that her son was always attentive and cooperative... even more than that, he was fascinated by her knowledge. "Now then, bring that pelt over here and let it soak in this water while we start cuttin' our flanks and such."

Syrup began chopping up the skinless Tauros and made the proper portions out of it. What used to be a whole Tauros a few hours ago had now become various cuts of steak, ribeye, rump roast, a pelt, horns, and many bones. Very little of the bovine had gone to waste.

Mike still was amazed. His mother barely cooked at all, so she would always serve up either pancakes, raw steaks or eggs, and water. That was all. Anything fancier than that would have to be brought in from the saloon in Gambitville that she would visit from time to time. Come to think of it... Mike had never been to that saloon in town, his mother would never permit it.

"Hey Mikey-boy, how's that pelt drying up?" Syrup asked Mike as she continued to cut up the Tauros for its succulent beef (all the while licking any stray blood that stained her paws).

"O-oh, it's... going okay." Mike sat on a small crate which, while he was dealing with any bones and such that his mother had left him to clean up, ensured that his tail's flame was positioned near the pelt which was being hung to dry.

"I'm fine over here..." Mike also couldn't help but lick the blood off his claws, it tasted delicious... but probably not in the same sense that the reader is accustomed to. At that point, Mike remembered that back in Tao Village he knew a handful of guild members and others that were particularly bovine. Even if what he and his mother were doing would be unthinkable to talk about in front of them, what he did at home was what he did at home. At the same time, whatever he did in Tao Village would stay in Tao Village. He wouldn't dare mention to his mother the many embarrassing details he had suffered. Perhaps if Mike ever came back to his position as Guild Leader, he would make sure that none of his easily preyed upon members would go to Gambitville.

...On that note, though, Mike wouldn't have minded devouring a handful of the cuts his mother was busily making... "Yannow... maybe if I could just have a bite right here.." Wait, what was he thinking? He shook his head to snap out of it. Clearly being famished had almost brought him to potentially anger his mother; he needed to stop this, or at least try asking.

"Hey mom, why can't we just eat these now?" Mike whined to his mother in hopes that he could do just that.

"Naw, can't do that! It'd spoil our dinner at the Saloon, and there's someone there I've been dyin' to show you to!" Syrup said as she continued to hack large pieces of beef into manageable sizes. "...there! I think that's the last of it. I hope you're done over there, cuz I am over here!"

"Oh! Yeah, I just finished cleaning these bones, and I think the pelt is all nice and toasty. What do want me to do with them?" Mike perked up at the mention of the saloon, as she had always talked about how it was such a grand place.

"Here's some rope. Put the bones in a bundle and wrap them all up inside the pelt. Make sure ya tie it up nicely too. That's our dinner money. I'm gonna just put all this meat into our icebox." Syrup started stacking the pieces of meat inside what looked like a giant wooden box in an orderly manner. It may have looked like just regular wooden box, but inside, it was lined entirely with a thin layer of nevermeltice, a wondrous substance that kept whatever was stored inside this box chilled. Such a fantastic invention would be incredibly useful in preserving foods for days and days... but for a very costly price, why should it simply be called an 'icebox'?

Finally, the two of them were complete with their task that would seem macabre to the many herbivorous residents of Tao Village, and just in time too! The sun had fallen halfway into the desert horizon, painting the once-blue sky with many hues of orange and red.

---

With everything prepared, they packed up the goods to sell, locked up the house, and left for Gambitville which was a good half hour's walk from home. They had just reached town just as the stars began to slowly glimmer in the sky, and quickly stopped by the local store marked "SUNDRIES" to make their coin. Mike never noticed it until now, but below the first word, he could see the words "Agave Subsidaries," alongside what looked like a red kecleon silhouette. "Wait... isn't that...? No way..." Was it related to a certain someone back in Tao Village? But before he could ponder it further, Syrup yelled at him to hurry inside before the store closed, and hurried he did.

It didn't take too long, the shopkeeper wanted to close up for the night so the transaction was made with little effort and Syrup was given her blood money--a fairly generous amount, at that. Pelts and beef were hard to come by in this area, and it was usually easy to tell when a greenhorn hunter wanted to die by proclaiming he/she would attempt taking down a nomading Tauros or Miltank. By then, either you get lucky or you get dead, because most sorely underestimate the raw power of a Tauros and get trampled or gored. The same went to Miltank who were more skilled with their fighting stances and would beat you until you were more than just 'black and blue.'

Syrup busted through the saloon's doors and shouted out joyfully, "Hey Donny pal!! Where are ya?! I got someone very special I wanna show ya!" as if she expected her loud voice to be drowned out by the chatter of the many people drinking and card playing and whatnot from the late night business. But, to her surprise, she and Mike were the only ones in the Saloon. "Woah woah, where the heck is everyone tonight???"

"Oh... hello Syrup..." Donahue peeked out from below the counter, startled by Syrup's glorious entrance. "Savannah's sick tonight, so she couldn't do her show..."

"Figures. They don't have a dame to listen to her crooning tonight... er, no offense there Donny... I hope she gets well soon!" Syrup was a little aggravated, she enjoyed being around company-- especially those she didn't know.

"Thanks, I greatly appreciate your sentiments there, my daughter is doing better already with your wishes... ah, Syrup? Who was it you wanted to show me to??" Donahue rose up from beneath the counter ready and willing to look at whatever man Syrup had fallen in love with.

"Here, it's my son! He's gotten old enough to stand his own ground in town, and he just came back from work to boot! I wanna give him the ol' experience I had in here! Say hi, Mikey-boy!" Syrup sidled to the right to show a young Charmander shorter than her, and wearing her own hat.

Donahue was a little perplexed, but not as much as to make a hypocrite out of him. "This is your son? Aha... that is... interesting!" Donahue laughed as hard as he could try.

"Khaw haw haw... don't be so dumb Donny boy! You're really cute when ya try ta laugh like that!" Syrup saw right through his good will and had a good laugh at that, it was that one aspect of Donahue she couldn't help but find to be absolutely adorable. If he wasn't so prickly, she would right up give him a smooch. "It's okay, I have an actual daughter of my own too, but she's outta town for the moment. Say, since the joint's all to ourselves tonight, how about you whip up some of yer hometown cooking, and heaping piles of it? I'm sure this will cover it!" Syrup tossed the little leather bag full of money straight to Donahue's counter, intending to spend all of it.

"Ah!! Thank you very much, of course I'd be glad to cook as much as you want for you! Please, go have a seat yourselves, and... what would you like specifically?" Donahue grabbed the bag and placed it underneath the counter, and rushed straight to his kitchen.

"Ah gosh... Lo mein... egg twist... Sechii-- I'UNNO those names are too fancy for me. Just gimme double of everything on that menu!" Syrup grabbed a seat and sat down in a posture that wasn't proper table manners. Mike was slightly embarrassed in the way she spread her legs like that, but at least nobody else was around to see... wait, did she always sit like that in the past?! Oh man... Mike just wanted to eat as well, so he pulled up a chair and sat opposite to where Syrup was seated.

"Ah yes! Of course! Gladly! Off I go!" Donahue rushed into the kitchen and began cooking with his oriental determination. He was glad that Syrup enjoyed his foreign cooking. He would always cook the same old regular food that the Gambitville inhabitants were used to, but Syrup was one of the very few who loved his natural cooking the most.

After a couple of minutes, Donahue arrived to the two's table with a large platter of dishes Mike had never seen before. A lot of noodles and vegetables, but barely any shredded beef or chicken in them. Couldn't hurt to try, I guess.

"Ah! That was just the first part of the menu, the second to pair that will be here shortly! Enjoy!" Donahue ran back into the kitchen to gladly cook more of the same that he just made, he knew this was barely enough for Syrup to be satisfied with, and perhaps maybe her son too.

"All right! Let's dig in!" Syrup picked up a fork that were placed right next to a pair of what looked like small wooden sticks used for shish-ka-bob. They were always included with the meal, but Syrup never cared enough to know what they were for, all that mattered at the moment was eating, which she was already midway into.

Mike was eating the food way slower than Syrup was shoveling into her mouth, but it tasted fantastic. This was a taste he never experienced before in his life, it was really good! But just as he continued eating, his mother would take breaks from loudly slurping, munching, and gnashing the food as she quickly swallowed it, and would say a few words. "Mikey-boy, you better eat faster than that or else I'll eat everything in the table before you even get a chance to! Lighten up and just dig in, okay??"

Mike was just too used to eating conservatively back in Tao Village; when one barely had an allowance, one didn't have the luxury of eating quite as much food as he could right at that very moment. But that was back there, and this is home... and with that thought he began eating at the same pace he would in his childhood, and joyfully ate and ate . The food here was too good to not be eaten, and Mike was starving, he aimed to at least reach at least half of his mother's voracious appetite.

That only took two hours before the dinner was completely devoured. Mike could barely eat only a quarter of the food before it went down Syrup's gullet. At least it was a new personal record for him...

"Ahhh, man, that stuff hits the spot all the time, but we gotta 'git goin', otherwise I'm gonna just keep eating more food here and break the chair! C'mon mikey-boy!" Syrup slowly rose up from her seat carefully and grabbed the apron she untied during dinner to give way to her engorged belly, and walked out. "Thanks for the meal, and we'll see you again sometime soon, Donny-boy!"

Mike slowly got off the chair and proceeded to follow his pleasantly plump mother out the door, but he had to at least make a small bow to Donahue before leaving. "Thanks! It was really tasty, and I'm glad to have met you!" Mike could've bowed a little more, but it was hard to with all the food in his stomach, he was looking forward to walking for a half an hour home. He just wanted to rest... Oh well.

"A-ah... you too..." Donahue was less than reluctant to clean the pile of plates equivalent to the amount of a regular bustling night's worth on the table, but he was glad to see Syrup's face again. Even if she was rude, mannerless, and downright dirty, she always looked out for him and saved his spikes from being trimmed more than a couple of times.

As Mike and Syrup walked home, they were getting drowsy from having all that food sit in their stomach. It was hard to even be doing anything other than just falling asleep underneath the night sky, but that was too dangerous to do so in the middle of nowhere... so in order to keep awake, Syrup began a small conversation with Mike.

---

"So... how have you been?" More like a very light conversation, coming from Syrup's mouth.

"Kheh.. Uh... I'm... fine?" Mike nervously said as he tried to keep up with Syrup's walking pace.

"Really now... well, I guess that's all yer gonna say... for now..." Syrup knew something had been troubling Mike, even the fact that he came home was proof enough, but she knew nobody would be talkative about it on the first day. She'd bide her time until Mike cracked and finally talked to her, and until then, he should at least relax for a week or more. A very simple healing process.

Something had been on Mike's mind for so long that he couldn't keep it in him any longer. "Hey... mom, aren't you mad that I became a Rescuer instead of a Rogue like you always wanted me to be?"

Syrup was a little silent for more than a few seconds, making Mike worry that he had signed a death wish, but then she finally uttered something. "Son... I was itchin' for you to be a Rogue, just so you could have the kinda' fun I had when I was yer age... but... I guess I was too busy seeing myself in you that I fergot that ya already had something fun in yer life... an' it's Rescuin'! I'm sorry for bein' such a stick in the mud... so I decided to let you do whatever ya want... Hope you can forgiv' me for putting such pressure on ya'..."

Mike was just... stunned. Flabbergasted. He couldn't believe that his mother had come to terms with him being a Rescuer, and he felt completely ashamed that he wanted to quit being a Rescuer. "...mom, listen, I--"

But before anything else could be uttered from Mike, Syrup had some more to say. "Lissen, I know yer in a tight spot at the moment, it's why ya came home without Maple, but it'll be okay. Just stay fer as long as ya like until you feel ready to get back to Rescuin', but for now... less jus' enjoy ourselves."

Mike sighed with relief, his mom saw right through him, and he was glad that she was able to do so, she was his own mother after all. "Th-thanks..."

"Don't thank me yet!" Syrup suddenly lifted Mike from his tail and hanged upside down, it was a completely uncomfortable spot to be in, especially with all the food in his stomach. "Ya better tell me my lil' girl Maple's doin' alright!?" The light coming from Mike's own tail made Syrup's face glower in an eerie light, and transformed her momentarily, from mother to a monster.

"O-of course! She's alright!! She's with her boyfriend right now so she's all okay! Really!!" Mike tried saying anything that would make Syrup let him go, and it did the trick, as he fell with a thud to the dusty ground. Ouch...

"Khaw haw haw... of course she is! I raised her tougher than you are, so she must be fine! Right! All's well, and look, we're already home!" Syrup ran up to the front door and unlocked it so she could hurry to bed. She was definitely tired and wanted to lay down and rest so she could let all the food digest in her belly. "You comin' in?"

"Y-yeah, I'm coming..." Mike walked up into the house and closed the door, locking it. He also was tired, and he walked toward his room... but before he could settle into his own bed, he heard very loud snoring from his mother's room. Already a step ahead of him into slumberland... Mike wanted to sleep in his own bed, but he decided she deserved another break, and went to sleep with her so she wouldn't feel lonely tonight.

---

A day short of a week had passed. Not much had honestly been done, except for Mike just lounging in his sun baked rock of a bed as he tried to "relax," and "take it easy," concepts that almost became foreign to him when he lived in Tao Village.

Say, speaking of living in Tao Village, was he really going to go back there? He knew that he obliged to Fresnel and Maple before he left... but, was it really a promise that he was bound to? What if Mike never returned to Tao Village? Sure, more than a handful of people... well, no, more like almost everyone would think poorly of him, but then again, it wasn't like he wasn't always being judged either way...? Agh, too complicated. Mike knew he had a lot of qualms he needed to figure out and decide upon, but the easiest thing to decide and act upon was to fill his stomach. It's dinner time, and he was hungry for another fresh egg.

That had been the schedule with him and his mother after their grand 'Welcome Home' dinner, never see each other the whole day until it was either breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and only then would they see each other and eat a short meal and go back to their respective rooms. Mike still didn't feel like being talkative, and that was bad. It created an unnecessary tension in the household... maybe one day, like tomorrow, he'd be a little more open with his mother... or maybe..? Wait, where is she? She was nowhere to be seen around the dinner table.

Mike wandered around the house, and looked through the other rooms, not in the guest room, nor her own Room, or Maple's... how about... um, maybe the outhouse outside? No, maybe he should just wait at the dinner table, a good idea. That is, if it didn't become obvious that she was in the cellar as she roared in disgust. What was going on in there? Mike ran down to the cellar to see his mother fervently spitting at the floor with an unmarked bottle in her hand.

"Tarnation! This is awful, ugh augh awfull!!!" Syrup was doing all her best to remove the foul taste from her mouth that she even began licking her furry arm as a sort of makeshift brush.

"Uhm... Mom? What's going on?" Mike walked down the stairs into the cellar with increased curiosity.

"Nnnn? Ohth, helloth thereth Mihkey-bhoy." Syrup's unusually colored tongue hanged out of of her mouth as she tried her best to talk. "Holdth onth, can yah handth meh someth wotter?" Syrup pointed toward the faucet that was situated off to the corner of the cellar, and Mike got the idea and poured some water into a bucket.

Syrup glugged down the water, swished it in her mouth, and then spit it back out into the bucket. "Ahhhhhhhh finally! That taste wer' more rancid than that mukshake ah had back then as a dare! Khaha... did I ever tell ya that one, Mikey-boy?"

That sounded like a terrible story to stomach right before dinner and Mike couldn't bear to hear it at the moment. "Maybe some other time mom... but uh, how about you tell me what the kheh you were doing here?"

"Oh... thissin'... well, when you an' Maple left me to live in Tao Village, I up an' got bored an' decided to try some hobbies or two..." Syrup held up the bottle she had in her hand. "This here's some of what I made but, well, as you can see, it skunked an' it's awful. Maybe I shoulda' looked at it before leapin' in."

Mike was handed the bottle and he looked at it's contents. It was as purple as his mother's fur, but there was a sickly tinge of brown and green and other unsavory colors as he looked at it closer. He knew that brews of many liquor were of many bright, dark, and flavorful colors that came from the berries as he saw them on Hops' shelves, but this looked absolutely awful.

"Yeah, don' drink that. It's awful and it's so coarse it's like molasses. It'll stick to yer tongue bleeeehhhhh..." Syrup took the bottle from Mike's hand and threw it in the bucket, shattering the glass flask. "Yeah, good thing that were jus' one o' many. I hope the others' I made oughta 'ferment' better than this one." Syrup pointed behind her toward a crate labelled 'BREW' full of large corked glass flasks. "Allright then, let's git' up an' double up on dinner tonight. But... hey Mikey-boy, how about we talk about you tonight?"

As Mike walked up the stairs, he couldn't bare to think about that, much less talk about it. "I don't know mom, maybe... I'm gonna go get the table all set up." Mike hurried up the stairs to prepare the dinner table.

"That's how it's gonna be, eh, Mikey-boy?" Syrup was less than amused at that reaction, and impatience got the best of her as she grabbed a large jug from a crate labelled 'Gambitville Sundries.' "Tonight's gonna be a special night..." "Oooooookay~!" Syrup carried the jug with her upstairs as she went to (barely) prepare dinner for the both of them.

Tonight's dinner was the same as it was, just double the helping of raw eggs, stale biscuits (from the town store), and beef jerky (also from the town store), but Mike didn't mind. As long as the eggs had their savory yolk, he didn't mind if they were raw or not. But regardless of dinner, no talking ever happened during the course of it, until...

"Urp... thanks mom, that was tasty! I guess it's time to hit the sack.. lat--!!" Mike tried to slink away from the chair but was stopped by his mother.

"Nuh uh, you ain't goin' nowhere tonight. It's time we did a talk, heart to heart, my way!" Syrup sat Mike back down as she slammed a large corked ceramic jug into the middle of the table with two glass cups. "Wer' drinkin' tonight, an' I plenty know that if you get to drinkin' then yer lips will be looser than a Loudred's!"

"Kheh... what?! N-no way mom, I know you love drinking a whole lot, but I don't think it's fit for me, not right now either, I'm not even in the mood!" Mike tried to get up from his chair, but was interrupted as his mother laid her claw on his shoulder forcibly.

"Now Mikey-boy... I think ya've been easin' yerself a lil' too much lately, so you should lissen' to your mother's advice, 'specially now, more then ever!" Syrup put on an assuring, if somewhat intimidating, look at Mike. The latter definitely worked as Mike didn't even want to look at her face directly. But as he could open his mouth to speak, his mother preemptively stopped him. "Now now... you remember what happens if ya don't listen to yer mother... I'm sure ya don't want the Spittoon Treatment again, now do ya?!"

Mike reeled back and abandoned all hope for escaping drinking times with his mother. Nothing was worse than the spittoon treatment, and he didn't want to relive it. Belligerent children who talked back to their mother or behaved poorly often had their punishments, such as their mouth washed with soap... that is, if they had normal mothers. Syrup was different, she knew the best punishment would be the one that would not only make her children think not only twice, but at least ten times before committing what she would consider a misdeed after they suffered from it. The spittoon treatment was a vile punishment indeed, as she would spit into a glass laced with her potent purplish poison, and have the guilty forced to drink it. It wasn't the fact that it was gross, but it was more so that the poison would wrack their innards, guaranteeing them to be out of commission for a few days. "N-no... I'll drink with you, if you put it like that..."

"Khaha!! Well now..." Syrup grabbed the large ceramic jug and uncorked it. "Pick yer fav'rite glass and bring it here!"

Mike simply grabbed one of the two similar glasses and brought it closer to Syrup as she poured an opaque, indigo liquid into it. "Oh... figures it'd be Cornnbon Whiskey, it's her favorite..." He brought the cup to him only to stare at it, wishing it to be anything else to make this occasion... 'special', even if he didn't want it.

"Well... git goin'!! That drink ain't gonna git in yer belly all by itself!" Syrup nudged Mike in the shoulder to incite a reaction from him.

"Y-yeah... I will..." Mike didn't really drink much... as he was fairly new at it. The last (and first time) he drank was back in Tao Village during its Guild Appreciation Day, but that was only very light drinking. It was only to feel the fizz and such, as Chill and others were drinking in spirit of the party. "Well, might as well do it, anything beats mom's spit." Mike swiveled the colorful drink into his maw to down it as fast as possible.

It was... sweet, but mostly dry. He would've appreciated those flavors... if only they weren't being masked by a terrible burn alcohol usually inflicts. Mike almost gagged, but managed the down the entire glass in one gulp.

"Khaha!! Good, good!! Felt great eh? Put a little ha-- er... scales, on yer... scales, right? Well here, it's time for a second glass!"

Mike panted from the shock of the taste as he gave the glass to her to pour more of the same excruciating brew for him to swallow. "Ugh, MORE?! I don't wanna do this anymore..." He pulled the filled glass back to him and gulped it down once again. Still the same burn, but it felt... less intense than before, but he didn't pay it any mind as he started feeling... strange. His arms and legs felt lighter, and so did his head... was this what being drunk was like? It felt surreal... but, a bit nice at the same time.

"Whoah there... I think yer almost there mikey-boy, but ah think another glass or two oughta do the trick!" Syrup continued pouring Mike more glasses of the cornnbon whiskey and then she began drinking it herself straight from the jug (without the use of a glass).

Mike downed his third and fourth glass with ease, no longer troubled with the sting of alcohol, and continued to feel distant and calm.

"Woah... that's... different." Syrup was surprised by the flame on Mike's tail. As his mother, she noticed the many emotions Mike had as he grew up, and the way the fire on his tail responded to such emotions. This, however, was new to her, as the flame itself looked... calm. "How ya doin' there, Mikey-boy?"

"I... I'mmmmmm feelin' pretty good!" Mike was drunk, alright. "Man... this feels... so weird but amazing. No wonder you drink a lot!"

"Mmhmm..." Syrup put her lips to the jar's mouth to guzzle more of the cornnbon whiskey. "So... Mikey-boy, how's about tellin' me why ya came back? No no... wait, how about... how was Tao Village like? Start there." Syrup's crude plan revealed itself.

---

"Wwwwelll... okay." Mike put the glass in his claws to rest on the table to begin speaking. "It, like... started when I sneaked outta the house... because I thought you weren't going to like that I wanted to be a Rescuer, mom... sorry."

"Khahaw... don't worry Mikey-boy, I did tha same thing when I was yer age. Anyways..." Syrup lounged back on the chair, placing her feet on the table, while she continued to guzzle down the whiskey.

"Well... so like, I came to Tao Village... and, ugh... Everyone was so mean to me. PK--"

"That purple lizard girl, right? The one with that huge ice dragon n' all?" Syrup stopped nursing the jug for a very brief moment to interrupt Mike.

"Yeah, her! K-kheh... her... she swindled me of all my money. And then left me to deal with Devonshire and... agh, that's right..." Mike started fussing, bringing up bad memories already.

"Hey now... things di'int havta be all bad, right? What about that... er, Chill fella'?" Syrup had to rescue Mike before he descended to sadness.

"Oh... him... yeah, Chill, Chill, Chill!! Aughhuaaaa..." Mike slumped his head on the table surface in protest to his mother's words.

"Wha! Whassa' matter, Mikey-boy?!" Syrup tapped on Mike's back with a single claw.

"N-nothing... it's nothing, except like... Chill was this guy I looked up and... hey, remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was a kid and Maple was... well, you know..." Mike raised to an upright position to make a gesture with this claws to that of an oval.

"When she were only an eggy, naw', even before that! I know what yer gonna tell me... Chill was actually that Minccino who saved ya when you were stolen from me back then, ain't that right?"

"Huhwhawhaaa... how'd you know that mom??"

Syrup took another quick guzzle from the whiskey jug. "Shuckles, even if I di'nt go to school or anythin' back then, it ain't THAT hard to put two an' two together! ...hic!"

"Yeah... yeah! Of course you knew that!..." This was the first he ever heard of this, actually. "A-anyways! So like, yeah... I was so surprised to see him there, he was my hero! Of course I looked up to him, and that stunt he pulled... it's what made me want to even be a rescuer at all!"

"Yeh yeh... an' if I weren't so fulla Maple back then and saved ya myself, I bet you would be singing a diff'rent tale now, but anyways..." Syrup gestured her claw to have Mike continue on as she continued drinking.

"W-well! So like... like... Chill wanted to start a Rescuer's Guild in Tao Village and I was like oh my gosh yes of course I want to be the co-leader, working with you! And he said something like, yeah bro!! Bro... man... if he really was a bro... I'unno, 'cuz like..." Mike started to fidget in his chair. "Like, after a few days he told me he wanted to set an allowance for me so we can save money. Sure, I said! And then the next day as I ate nothing but noodles I see him prancing around the village wooing every girl with his glinty... glint in his eyes... Wait, I'm not even sure he has eyes. Whatever, point is he got every girl in the village, bought them whatever they wanted like dinner, while I get stuck with gruel and nothing... ...waaaaaaaaa..."

"What is it this time... Mikey-boy?" Syrup was somewhat annoyed, not at her son's tears forming in the corner of her eyes, but at the fact that she drank the jug empty. "I was sure I had more 'round here..." Syrup got up from her chair to open the cabinet right next to the table.

Mike laid his face straight down as best as he could on the table surface, even if his snout wouldn't permit it. "Mom... you know how you wanted me to find the love of my life and get together and have children of our own, right?"

"Mm-hmm~" Syrup continued to rummage through the cabinet.

"W-well, do you think it's possible that I'll never find that someone special in my life?"

"Yess...." Syrup was happy as she plucked a glass bottle full of a differently colored liquid. As she turned around, she was surprised to see Mike silently sobbing. That was when after a long delay that it finally hit her. "Oh! Oh nnononononono I di'nt mean that, Mikey-boy!" Syrup quickly went behind Mike and started rubbing at his back in order to calm him down to at least stop him from crying pathetically. "C'mon, there's never a never... ever! It all starts with feelins! Did ya have any feelins' for somebody back over there?"

"Almond..." Mike sniffled.

"Who?? I... that sounds strangely familiar... Almost like somethin' from a ransom note or somethin' from the menu..."

"She doesn't matter anymore. She's gone now. Left after stealin' my hat and then I got it back..."

"Khahaw! I told ya that hat's lucky!! Well, except for that one part anyways..." Syrup went back to her chair to start on her next container of alcohol. "...but, I think yer not a one-lady man, yannow? Isn't there anyone else?"

Mike tried to think hard to compose a list of names in his head, but it was difficult to do so when one is intoxicated. "Ruben... nah, her head's in the air. Auntie? No... I think she mentioned something about being married. Udon? No, she got mad at me. Merlot... no way, no how, even if she is giant. Uh... oh..." After about a minute of silence, Mike finally came up with a name. "W-well... there's... PK."

"Oh, that crazy Merchant lizard gal with the giant ice dragon, right? Makes sense, she's a lizzie, yer a lizzie..." Syrup started the fiddle with the fur on the side of her face. "Say... d'jya at least try gettin' her attention? How 'bout that er... tall dragon she had? He seems... nice."

"Oh... Sorbet... He's... something."

"Yeah yeah... All dragons are somethin' all right... Large and... ooh~" Syrup giggled with outlandish thoughts.

"Uh, well... as for PK she uh... Ugh man, she's like the hardest to even try. Everytime I try to get her attention she's like... 'Mike you idiot!,' or like 'Mike where's my money!,' or 'Mike no discounts, in fact you pay double this time,' or 'Mike don't talk to me unless you have cake or something,' or 'Mike this cake is so stale what did you even buy a bargain one? Pathetic!,' or 'Gee I'm full that's at least an F- of a cake if I ever had something even worse...' or 'Man Mike this ice cream isn't even five scoops, what are you, a baby?' or 'bend over, this'll hurt you, but in a good way,' or...

Syrup's face grimaced as she got the message: This PK was a dangerous girl and she would break Mike's heart in half quite easily, and it sounded like it happened already. "Say uh... Mikey-boy, ya sure you like her? It sure sounds like she were steppin' all over ya!"

"W-well... she actually did that to me... once... it felt kinda nice, you know... not like that but... like that, you know??" Mike started to blush.

Oh... I didn't realize that I raised my son to be a wimp in bed... eh... oh... well, I ain't gonna judge him, but I don't think I'll grandkids outta him if he keeps it up. Syrup could only guzzle more of the alcohol down silently as she thought to herself, but she had to change the subject a little. "...hic! So uh er, Mikey-boy... That PK sounds nice, but there's others, right?"

"Well... Maybe, if only Chill wasn't like some super duper chick magnet." Mike flumped his own back to the chair's back.

"Yeah, see..." Syrup pointed at Mike. "That ain't gonna flygon while he's disrespectin' you at least. He should at least... cool it! An' let ya breathe a lil', you should talk to him, y'know!"

"Well, it's kinda hard to when Chill... left the Rescuers and made me leader..." Mike tilted his head downward.

"Say... WHAT? Well, I mean maybe that ain't such a good idea to leave while yer appointed leader of the Rescuers, but... him dumpin' the work on you? I'm proud of yer promotion, sure, but... what?? What was so important that he had to leave?"

"Well, his sister got hurt really bad when he was doing business in his hometown, Snowy Village, and now she can't walk anymore."

"Oh..." Syrup could only drink solemnly to that.

"Well... I feel bad for him, honestly. I looked up to him, even if he was sorta obnoxious at times, but to see him leave like that..." The mood permeating the air turned into a sinking feeling.

If anything Syrup could do, it was breaking the ice. "Well... At least, yer a full fledged leader now... maybe the respect oughta start comin' yer way now, and the ladies too... ehh??? That can't be all bad now!"

"It's.. still the same. Except now I have the pressure of being judged by everyone even more and I still don't get noticed. Not even PK... waa waa I wish she would say nice words to me at least once! Oh well, at least she has a tall drink of a teaman that she loves... I envy him."

"Yannow what ya need? Ya need to make yer own respect, with some intimidation! Kinda like how I saddled into Gambitville! I mean, sure, they all called me a maneater for a week or two, but afterwards a lotta men couldn't stop starin' at my beehind..." Syrup snapped her two digits together. "That's it! We gotta find you an outlaw you can hunt and eat, and then they'll pay attention to ya Mikey-boy!"

"...zzz..." Mike passed out on the table.

"Er... guess that was a lil too much for ya, eh?" Syrup lifted herself from the chair and cradled Mike into her arms, clumsily bringing him to his own room and laid him on his stony bed. "Nighty nighty, Mike." Syrup retired to her own room and fell soundly asleep.

---

…

…?

Where was he? Mike wasn't sure where he was, or how he even got to this location... if you could even call it one. Was it even a place or not? He was unsure. All he could make out was a vastness of white, and nothing more. Was he lost?

Mike felt a strong pull from the bottom of his heart, his desire to discover in this unusual space was encroaching his willpower. Wherever he was, he just had to go onward. And he did... but it was hard to tell if he was going forward or anywhere at all? He couldn't really tell if he had a body or not, even legs or... himself. Was he walking? Floating in the pure abyss? It felt impossible to even coordinate if he was moving at all. But... he did.

As he continued onward, he suddenly felt streaming waves of heat blasting at him... he could feel it in his extremities... Wait! He could feel it in his arms, and legs! Even his face! Yes!! He had his body at least, no one would want to lose that.

All was well, if he had his body, he surely was alive... he hoped.

...That was until suddenly all the white surrounding suddenly melted into a deep red, and he was scorching with an intense heat that he could swear was hotter than the sun. He was burning away, but as he struggled to maintain himself with no guarantee he'd ever live, he kept conscious for as long as he could.

And then, it happened. Amid all the crimson red, two blue objects appeared before him... ...eyes? Even if he only had a split second, he could definitely feel that he was being stared down by some... higher being, if these even belong to someone or something. But it was too late for words or thoughts, his entire self gave out and he succumbed to the intense heat.

Everything faded to darkness, the polar opposite of what he considered was life, as he burned away... There was nothing more of him that remained, not even dust or ash... not even his own existence. He had become nothing.

…

That was when Mike fell to the hard floor face first from his stony bed and awoke.

---

"Ugh... what was that?" Mike was definitely awakened from that horrid nightmare... dream... whatever it was. It felt surreal, but.. the sight of it was etched into his very heart and soul... as well as his pounding head, and full bladder, and his nostrils that screamed with the smell of burning... "Oh... crap..."

Mike knew too well that whenever he had any exciting dreams, his body would respond to it. Sometimes in more ways than one: namely the fire on his tail could've sparked something. "Where is it?! Augh... my head..." Having the terrible burning smell coupling with head splitting pain was not enjoyable, but at least with quick glances the smell did not emanate from his room, which could mean it might've come from...! Mike dashed through his bedroom door to see his mother cooking something incredibly black in a pan.

"Mornin' Mikey-boy! I... well, I tried to do something fer yah but yannow... I ain't too good at this sort of stuff still..." Upon another glance, it was obvious with the eggshells littering the floor, the black remains in the pan were burning eggs.

"It's okay... I-- Bathroom, no time aahhh...!" Mike felt his bladder wanting to explode from pressure, as he dashed outside to go relieve himself in the outhouse.

After Mike did his natural duty, he returned back to the kitchen table to have whatever his mother prepared for him.

"Well Mikey-boy! How ya doin'?" Syrup laid plates down and poured water in a cup for the both of them with a humming note.

"I... head... hurts..." Mike's head started to pound even harder as his first hangover greeted his first experience with alcohol intoxication.

"Huh? Oh~! I fergot that ya don't have the same kinda liver me an' Maple, have..." Syrup began to rummage through a cupboard and pulled a small, hand sized glass flask, half filled with a pale golden liquid. "Here... drink this, it'll fix what's troublin' ya! But ya might wanna drink it all without stoppin', as it's pretty powerful stuff!

Syrup handed over the liquid to Mike, and he took his mother's advice to drink it without hesitation. It was good thing he did so, as he almost gagged from the incredibly bitter and dry taste the liquid had, and amazingly, his hangover melted away. "Wh-- what is this thing?"

"Ganlon Tonic, it's mighty helpful for people who can't handle the ol' art of consumin' firewater like we did last night... Khahaw!"

"Wait, so it's of no use to you or Maple, right? So then... why'd you have this in the first place?"

"Well, Mikey-boy, that Ganlon Tonic is as old as Maple!"

"Wait... huh? I don't get it..." Mike was puzzled by what Syrup mentioned.

"Well, Mikey-boy, d'ya remember that time we had a visitor with an old friend of mine? Yannow... Mac?"

"Oh... yeah, but I couldn't remember, really... he was that Krookodile right? What'd you mean by... wait.." Mike couldn't have understood what Syrup meant back then, but now that he was aged, he definitely did.

"Yup, Mac was the man's man of a Krookodile who blessed mah bosom with Maple... khahaw~! Just when I thought I was only gonna have you, he came an' surprised me!" Syrup laughed, then sighed wistfully at the past. "Awwh~ I miss him... Well, let's eat! I know I brutally destroyed the eggs, so I thought you might like a nice thick cut of raw beef to go with it!" Syrup laid down the plate containing more-than-well-done eggs coupled with not-so-well-done steak at Mike's side of the table. "Better eat up! Today's gonna be a long day!" Syrup began to tear into her breakfast with enthusiasm.

With a clearer head, Mike joined his mother as he began to devour the raw, dripping red steak that were beside the eggs that would never be touched. "This taste... it's definitely that Tauros mom hunted down a week ago. It's really good!" The savoriness of meat was something Mike missed dearly ever since his departure for Tao Village.

After a couple of minutes, breakfast was done and over with. "Urp... Well, that was all good n' such. Feels nice to have a belly fulla meat, eh? Okay! Let's git warmed up an' start trainin' today!" Syrup got up from her chair and got ready to go outside.

"Oh, this is what she meant by a long day, huh? Well, no complaints from me. I feel good enough to pound something..." Mike got up from his chair to follow his mother outside, but stopped for a bit to notice a picture he had never seen before: A Stunky with a hat like his riding a Ponyta. It was oddly adorable looking. "Huh? Is this... mom?"

"Mikey-boy!! Ya comin' or not?!" Syrup yelled just outside the house door, waiting for Mike to come with her.

"Uh, yeah okay, I'm coming!" Mike couldn't afford to investigate the picture any longer and abandoned it to go run off to his mother, after which they locked the door to the house and went off to their usual location for training.

After their arrival, they wasted no time in beginning their routine training. Clawing the rocky walls was one exercise that aided in practicing various cutting techniques they possessed, such as Mike's Metal Claw and Dragon Claw, or Syrup's Night Slash. While they cut away, Mike felt that he had to tell his mother everything that happened at Tao Village, for fear that he might have not been entirely truthful or mistaken many details during their drunken state last night. Syrup mostly kept a straight face during Mike's explanations, but she clearly disliked what her son had been through. Being caught by Merlot and wearing a maid dress... whoever this 'Merlot' was, Syrup felt that Mike was greatly exaggerating her size and Mike could've done much better than being caught and forced to wear a shameful dress...

Then there were moments that Syrup couldn't keep a straight face any longer. The words 'Maple had a few moments of trouble' coupled with 'no, I wasn't really there with her' just put anger in Syrup's expression as she began to pound away at the rock with increased vigor. Kheh..!! I raised the two of 'em to be brother an' sis, but he oughta have been with her then!! At lleast Maple's still doin' alright and it prolly gave her some experience under her gut but tarnation! Syrup decided she was going to at least have Mike repay for his lack of brotherly obligations, at least, in her own way. "Mikey-boy... let's try somethin' else... like practicin' yer observational skills..."

"Huh?" Mike couldn't really pay attention to what Syrup said as he was busy cutting into the rocky wall. Mike stopped to turn around but he could not find any trace of his mother anywhere. "Mom...? Where are you?" Mike kept looking, but locating his mother was of no avail, and that was when a chill ran down his spine. "Oh... crap, when mom does this is when she's about to...

"TOO SLOW!" Syrup pounced at Mike with all her weight and caught Mike off guard. The crash was eventful enough to create an explosion of dust surrounding them, and as it slowly settled, it was clear that Syrup was the victor in the scuffle, with Mike hanging from her jaws as the prize.

"Ah--ow! Okay mom, you got me... can you let me go now?" Mike was helpless as he was bitten at the side of his torso and was still hanging from her fangs. "This kinda hurts!"

"Mmmph?!" Syrup could only grunt in response to Mike as she bit down even harder. Mike began to wriggle as much as he could to free himself from her jaws and the excruciating pain, but before he could free himself, Syrup let go of him... only to hold him up from his tail.

"Yeah?! Imagine this but a heckuva lot worser and that could've been Maple, yannow?! I raised ya both to be real close to one another through thick 'n thin but that didn't sound like you necessarily did so?! C'mon, we're done here, I need'ta cool off, 'else I'll end up killin' you." Syrup turned around and walked back home while carrying Mike by the tail, much to his discomfort.

---