In the small farming village of Terra, named for it's earthy people and their knowledge of the land, lived a close knit community of hard working people. Though there wasn't much here for them, the poor folk had made due with the rich bounty of the earth and little else, they prided themselves on what they grew, crafted, and created. Unlike the larger towns and cities it was not blessed with many monsters despite having a humble little Shrine. There was neither Ranchers or breeders, nor were there Saucer Stones from which monsters were born. The old priestess was kindly, slightly portly and a bit stout, but her position was now more like a retirement than it had been in her younger days. Once she had been lovely enough to be the Harvest Maiden at the fall festivals several times in her youth; now her hair was pale white streaked with grey, and her eyes had all but failed her. If the towns people didn't have the pride in their town that they did, the shrine would have fallen into disrepair long long ago. There hadn't been a breeder in Terra for many decades, until a chance happening by a fifteen year old boy that started him on the road to a grand adventure.
It was late Spring of year 1020, the sun was shining and the birds chirped merrily in their nests. Out on his family's field, a young boy toiled away in the cool air with a satchel of seed slung over his shoulder. His name was Joshua, and while Joshua was tilling the land to plant his family's strawberries he came upon something all together unfamiliar to him. With a hapless swing of his hoe, Joshua struck something hard-- not quite as hard as the bedrock but certainly more firm than a dirt clod. He lowered his tool and moved to kneel and to take a look at what it was he discovered. An odd colored rock partially protruded from the ground just enough to see a pattern on one side, and the young man gently brushed the soil away with curious hands. What he thought was an odd wheel was of sorts didn't have a hole in the center for the axel, and a peculiar insignia was carved into it and burned black. With no idea of just what he had stumbled across, Joshua picked up the disc and placed the surprisingly light stone into his satchel with the strawberry seeds. When the day's work was finished he returned home to ponder just what he'd found and ask the only person who might have some idea of the discovery; his sister. She was the one who had looked after him since their parents had gone to the city, leaving the farm and most of their money for the younger generation. It worked out better this way for them both though: the younger, stronger pair were able to do the farming, while their elders were able to rest easy and manage selling the produce.
"Did you get your work taken care of?" The woman murmured as soon as Joshua had opened the door. With her hair pulled tightly into a bun at the top of her head and a normally stern expression on her face, his pragmatic sister gave off the vibe of a school teacher. The bun on the back of her head was the first thing Joshua saw when he looked to their kitchen where she was busy stirring a pot of stew for their supper.
"Yeah... I found something weird while I was tilling too. Have you seen anything like this before?" Crossing over to the dinner table, Joshua removed his satchel from across his shoulder and moved to place it on the table before him with a muffled 'clunk' of the stone hitting wood. Gently he removed it from the satchel and began to brush some of the residual dirt from the grooves.
Turning to look over her shoulder at the large circular stone, the woman looked clearly perplexed. "That is odd...." She murmured thoughtfully as she lifted the stew pan and went to pour it into two bowls for them both. "No, can't say I have. Tomorrow we can go ask the Shrine's priestess if you'd like? I need to ask Mr. Talow for more eggs anyway..." With a few taps of her wooden spoon on the metal pan, she brought the two bowls over to the table and sat down. "For now, don't dirty the table cloth with that. Here, eat."
Frowning slightly at having to give up his treasure, the lad set it down carefully beside him and moved to brush the dirt onto the floor.
"You'll be sweeping that." Came a pointed remark from his sister as she lifted her spoonful of stew to blow on.
Flinching slightly at his sister's reprimand, Joshua smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Onna."
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With the coming day the pair dressed in their best clothes to go to market and find out just what the meaning of the strange stone was. Even though it was a small village, the open air market was bustling with the people of town on such a lovely spring day. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and even Onna had to admit it was a beautiful sight to look at.
"All right Joshua, I'm going to be taking care of the shopping, so you stay out of trouble, do you understand?" The woman warned with a pointed expression.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Joshua and his sister exchanged a smile before they parted ways. With his satchel carrying the little treasure, the lad was certainly looking quite pleased with himself as he hurried off through the crowd towards the Shrine.
Along the way, the lad found himself crashing into a behemoth of a man while daydreaming of what the stone might be worth. It was Marn, the wood cutter, and he was quite surprised to find Joshua colliding with his backside.
"Good morning, that's some greeting." The man chuckled as he reached down a massive paw to pull Joshua up by his shirt.
With a sheepish smile, Joshua fidgeted slightly when he was back on his feet. "Sorry Marn... Head wasn't in the right place today."
"Up in the clouds I suppose." The man murmured shifting his weight as a small group of people passed by them. He hadn't noticed the satchel Joshua had dropped, and for the moment neither did the lad. "Where're you heading in such a cheerful mood?"
Moving into Marn's shadow, Joshua took a look at the group curiously; they weren't from the town. "The Shrine.... who're those people?"
"Ahh, nothin' to worry your head over. They're just a couple travelers passing through. Might even stick around for the Equinox festival." Marn scratched his shaggy head and looked towards the Shrine at the end of the road. "I think they actually had a monster with them. Their little caravan is at the Shrine if you'd like to see it." He gave a hearty chuckle. "Kid like you would get quite the kick out of that."
"Yeah, sounds like a plan!" Turning, Joshua stopped at once and looked down; his satchel was gone. "H-hey! My bag!" A cold chill of fright ripped through him- no one had ever taken anything of his before, and this new hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach was not one he appreciated. Looking towards the small group of newcomers, the lad noticed a girl younger than he was holding the satchel hugged to her chest. "Stop! Thief!" Joshua began to run after them, pushing past his fellow townsmen as he raced after the travelers. They didn't notice him coming towards them until he had grabbed the satchel and gave it a tug-- the girl didn't let go of her end either.
"Wh-what're you doing?! That's mine!" She shouted, tugging back as her group members turned to look in shock and surprise at what was going on. With her colorful clothes and rich materials, it was a wonder that someone who exhibited wealth would need to steal.
"That's MY satchel! Give me back my treasure!" Joshua said with a glare, tugging the bag once more.
"If it's your treasure, why was it in the dirt?" The girl countered, frowning in return. "I found it, so let go."
"No, you let go!"
This tug of war went on for a few minutes before the girl's parents were forced to step in.
"Now now children.... Mint, give him his disc." Resting a hand on the girl's head, the woman smiled fondly despite her child's behavior. "You can't keep his monster."
At this the girl looked slightly indignant, but she shoved the satchel and it's contents into Joshua's chest. "Here." She muttered, pouting. "I didn't want that grubby thing anyway. It's probably some ugly Worm or something...."
Though he was knocked back a bit when the girl, Mint, gave him back the satchel, Joshua was very confused. "Monster?" He questioned, looking up at the woman. "What do you mean? It's not a monster, it's just a piece of rock."
"Are you stupid?" The girl asked with a frown, folding her arms over her chest. "That's a Saucer Stone! You have a shrine in this town and you don't know what a Saucer Stone is?"
"Of-of course I do....." Joshua said with bravado, though he had to admit he was more confused than ever.
"Mint, why don't you show him how to unlock his monster? Since you seem to know so very much about this sort of thing." The girl's mother teased, and gave her a gentle push. Her daughter who had been so withdrawn during their travels seemed as if she might find a friend in this boy who might just share the same interest in monsters.
With great reluctance, Mint's scowl turned into a sigh of exasperation. "All right... C'mon you. Let's get the stupid monster..." She led the way through the street while the pout on her face remained a constant expression. Joshua wasn't sure he trusted this girl who had taken his prized find, but he supposed if she knew what it was for he would at least get a chance to know something that had the aura of great importance. Tracing the pattern on the saucer stone, Joshua held it close to his chest protectively to ensure that no one else happened to take it from him. The walk there seemed to take no time at all as Joshua began to ponder the idea of actually keeping a monster of his own. The Zuum mailman that came from the city was exciting enough to see; to actually own one.... A grin spread on the fifteen year old's face just imagining it. He was startled away from his flights of fancy by a very loud grunt from something inhuman ahead of him. Lifting his eyes from his satchel, the lad gave a yelp when he saw what he'd nearly walked into. "B-B-Baku!!"
Mint had walked right up to the two Baku that pulled their caravan and began to stroke the long ears of one of them. The creature gave a whine and leaned his massive head affectionately against her, sending the girl into a fit of giggles. "What, you've never seen Baku before?" She smirked at him, looking excited. "Careful, they might eat you." The pair seemed to guffaw at the very idea, but neither of the beasts spoke it seemed.
Though he'd been standing in shocked silence with his mouth hanging open, when Joshua came back to his senses the young man glared at her vehemently. "Baku don't eat people! I've never heard of them doing that ever."
"Heh, you didn't even know what that disc was until you found my troupe." Mint said with a giggle that was poorly hid behind a hand. "C'mon Idiot, let's get that monster." She ascended the stairs into the small Shrine, leading the way for Joshua to follow.
The boy didn't like it much, but when one of the Baku gave a bark as he passed Joshua hurried after her much more quickly amid Mint's childish laughter. "That's not funny...." He mumbled before stepping inside.
"Visitors?" A quiet kindly voice mused as the pair invited themselves in. The old Priestess sat in a rocking chair knitting calmly while she watched the pair. "To what do I owe the pleasure my dears? Is there something troubling you?" Seated in the crook of the woman's arm was a bright yellow doll in the shape of a cat. For years, Joshua had thought he'd seen it move out of the corner of his eye on numerous occasions, but in the end he always told himself that it was no more threatening than a standard teddy bear.
"Nothing important, Priestess." Joshua murmured, thinking this was getting to be a bit silly. A monster couldn't come from a rock; that was ridiculous when he finally had wits about him to stop and think about it. Surely this was Mint's trick to make him look even more foolish. "I just found this funny rock you see, and this crazy girl told me it was a Saucer Stone. That's stupid right? Monsters coming out of a piece of earth..."
The old woman gave a humoring chuckle as she set the knitting down and held her doll in her folded arms as she stood. "Yes, it does seem foolish, doesn't it?" She crossed over the small threshold towards the pair; smiling almost as spritely as Mint was. Her eyes did still sparkle in her old age with the spirit her body didn't possess. "Let me have a look at it, won't you Joshua?"
The lad complied easily enough as he moved to take the Saucer Stone from it's cloth casing and held it out for the old woman's outstretched hand.
Eyes that could only see vague shapes went wide as her hands traced over the lizard pattern in the stone. She gave the faintest gasp, and looked up to Joshua with hopeful eyes. "My boy... come with me." She took him by the wrist, not giving him time to put down the Saucer Stone, and pulled him over to the center of the shrine. Between the four pillars with frightening bejeweled eyes was a circular indentation in the floor, and the old woman showed him where to put it. "There now, almost done.... Just one last thing."
"What's this?" Joshua questioned, though he was quickly pulled along once more.
"You'll see! You'll see! Oh I've been waiting so many years for a day like today. Oh my boy, you'll see." The woman's excitement had brought happy tears welling in her eyes. It had been so long since a monster was born in that Shrine, she had forgotten what it looked like. Though she wouldn't curse her old age or her poor sight now; the old Priestess felt blessed she had any left with which to witness such an event.
This strange new behavior from the normally very quiet and reserved Priestess brought about confusion to poor Joshua, but also a strange light-heartedness. He was pleased to have made her so happy, and stopped beside her and what looked to be a stone podium of sorts with a very large panel in the center. "What now?" He asked, not knowing what it was he was supposed to see, but offered the woman a humoring smile. Perhaps she'd finally gone senile?
"Press your hands onto the panel, dear. Everything will be explained when you do." The woman was suppressing a very large smile.
Though he thought it was silly-- he wouldn't be able to move a slab of rock this size, even if it was a button-- Joshua turned to look before him at his Saucer Stone and gave a sigh. "Here goes..." Some part of him hoped for a monster to appear here; to keep him company and share in the hard work and the rewards that came of it. To go on grand adventures with someday, and stake his claim in the world like the people of stories he'd heard so many times over. The lad hadn't noticed the faint glow of the panel as he contemplated these things that made his heart flutter with hope, and he pressed down into the pedestal as easily as tossing a pebble.
"Unlock!" The old woman called out in unison with Mint, and the pair stood still behind Joshua as the room suddenly began to grow darker as the jewels in the statue's eyes began to glow and balls of energy appeared like electricity in their mouths. The disc in the center began to turn round and round, and instantly the balls of energy seemed to electrocute the spinning stone and it lifted into the air. Hovering there, it began to glow too until it was no more than a ball of light. It shattered into thousands of pieces whirling there; like a mini-universe unto itself while a single piece remained as nucleus. The spiraling began to slow and gather around the center piece, taking shape, and suddenly there was a burst of light.
Joshua shielded his eyes with his forearm and cringed when this blinding force came. What had he done?! What was this magic that had been unleashed after humoring a simple old lady? Behind him he could hear giggling, and as he opened his eyes he could see it wasn't blindingly bright any longer but his arm still impaired his view of what was in front of him. Turning to look at the two women laughing he lowered his arm, confused. "What's so funny? I told you monsters didn't come from rocks! You both played a trick on-!"
"Boing!"
Joshua stopped his rant before he'd even got started at the sudden noise behind him. The stunned expression he had made the women laugh all the harder. "What.... was that?"
"Look behind you!" Mint giggled, covering her mouth with a hand before she could laugh harder.
Anxious, fearful, and slightly frightened, Joshua slowly turned to look before him at what had just been born from his disc. For a monster, it was far from a manly creature. Even with it's bright red dragon scales, little leathery bat wings and fierce yellow eyes, this creature was barely the size of his forearm. The beastie's long spindly toes curled and uncurled, it's round ears twitched, and it's nose sniffed as it chewed on one of it's paws. Testingly, it got to it's feet and flapped it's little wings as it's tail flailed to help it get balance.
"Boing!"
Mortified as he looked at it, Joshua turned to look back at the women with an expression of shear disgust. "This thing is a monster?!"
"Well, he's a lovely little Draco Hopper." The old woman chuckled, smiling for him and looking over to the monster. "Why don't you go make friends?"
"Friends?! That-that isn't a monster, it's a rat!" Joshua shouted, throwing a pointed index finger at the Hopper. "How can something like that even fight? He can't stand up even!" His fears of what monster would appear turning to anger and an odd betrayed feeling, Joshua stamped over to the Hopper that had just gotten onto his feet and crouched down to it's level- his first mistake. "Look at you; you're pathetic! I bet you're not good for anyth-- OW!!"
The little Hopper had socked him, rather hard, right on the nose with a very squeaky little growl. It's wings flapped, and it bounced slightly on it's over sized feet without leaving the ground.
Joshua was knocked back, holding his nose and whining loudly as he tried not to cry. It might not have been broken, but there was a rather large scratch where he'd gotten punched. "What was that?!"
"Hoppers are little scrapers; you're lucky it didn't breathe fire on you! It is part dragon after all." Mint chimed in with her two cents, smiling at the little Hopper cheekily. "They attack with moves similar to a boxers', but they normally don't get as strong as a Hare's One-Two Punch."
"Oooo..... you could have told me sooner...." Joshua winced, taking away his hand and seeing there wasn't even enough blood to stain his fingers. Getting up, the boy looked to the Priestess. "I don't want it. Can't I trade him for something better?"
"You know as well as I do there isn't a Monster Market here, Joshua." The Priestess reminded him as she moved over to where the Hopper was. The little creature had it's fists up waiting for Joshua to try again, but it calmed the moment the Priestess began to stroke it's head and scratch him right behind the ear. "There now... settle down." The Hopper began to give a slight purr, a foot twitching happily with the scratching. "You'll have to look after him Joshua; he's only a baby and no one else will take on a monster."
Dismally Joshua stood up and looked to the little monster. "Fine.... C'mon... you."
"He needs a proper name." The Priestess scolded, frowning slightly as she picked up the Hopper to hold out to the boy. "Take him."
With a grimace, Joshua took the little Hopper and it's tail curled around his forearm. He supposed it was kinda cute, in an annoying sort of way. "Pain." He said frowning at it. "Because I know he's going to be a pain in my backside when I have to explain this to my sister...."
Ran-Ran-Chan Community Member 
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