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.
