|
|
"Ahhhh! There is something HUGE and UGLY and SCARY out there!"
Falcon had been with the senshi long enough to know that there were lots of things that Chouko found "huge", "ugly", or "scary", but he hadn't ever heard her use all three words to describe one thing. "What is it?"
Chouko was hiding behind him at this point. "Huge, ugly, and scary," she informed the boy.
"Yeah, you said that," he grinned. "But what is it?"
"I don't know," the brown-haired senshi admitted. "It looked like it wanted to eat me."
The boy looked around to see if there was anyone else more qualified to deal with a Huge-Ugly-Scary-Chouko-Eating-Thing than he was. Which basically boiled down to anyone at all. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't. "I'll go look," he suggested.
"Take this." Chouko offered him a metal cylinder.
"What is it?" Falcon asked, interested. It looked like a lightsaber.
The blue-eyed girl looked serious. "It's a pole that extends to ten feet. You might need it." She promptly hid behind the couch as Falcon shook his head. "I'll say something nice at your funeral."
Falcon rolled his eyes. It couldn't be that bad...
Could it?
"Mic!" Falcon called, waving. "Hey, have you seen a 'huge and ugly and scary' something or other around here?"
The Corellian Jedi frowned. "That sounds like a description Chouko would give. No, I haven't. But there was a slight disturbance over there."
Falcon looked in the direction that the Jedi pointed and gulped. Mic noticed Falcon's paler shade and smiled. "You want some help?" the older Jedi asked.
"No, I ca..." Falcon started to say, his voice squeaking. Then, getting himself under control and clearing his voice, he started again. "I can handle it."
The boy walked with feigned confidence over to the glade the Mic pointed out. I'm dead, I'm dead, he thought. They're going to find pieces of me all over the Temple...
Mic hadn't meant to listen in, but couldn't help smiling. He decided to go get at least one of the other Sailor Jedi in case there really was something worth panicking over.
Falcon had his ten-foot extendable pole at the ready as he peeked around the corner. There, sleeping on a bed of uncomfortable-looking thorns, was the ugliest animal that he'd ever seen. It had a long, tapered face that was bare of the coarse, black fur that covered the rest of the animal. Its mouth sported large, sharply pointed teeth. Its front legs were long and bony, and the creature sported an arched back with ridges, all covered in thin, coarse hair. The ears on the animal were pointed and had a greenish-brown tint to them like the rest of the creature's skin. It was also drooling.
He gulped and tried to think. All right. What would Mom do in this situation? The boy had a feeling that "run very far and very fast" wasn't the right answer.
"Obviously," a slightly cultured male voice said, "neutralize the perceived threat."
Neutralize the perceived...? Oh!! Falcon grinned. He could do that. "Uh... how?"
The voice was more annoyed this time. "With. Your. Li-gh-t-sa-be-r."
"Hey! I'm not stupid," Falcon protested.
"Then stop acting like it!"
The boy blushed. "Sorry. Uh, I don't have a lightsaber." That wasn't quite true, but it was close enough. In the future, Falcon had a lightsaber... but in the past, the lightsaber still belonged to Kousotsu.
"Humans," the voice sighed. "They may have opposable thumbs, but they have no reasoning skills. Here."
A metal cylinder dropped from the sky and hit the boy in the head. "Ouch!" He picked it up and looked at it for a moment. "Hey, this looks like Chouko's pole." Then the black-haired boy paused. "What are you anyway?" Falcon protested softly, so he wouldn't wake the monster.
The owner of the voice sighed. "I'm a falcon, and my name is Person."
"Cool!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm a person, and my name is Falcon!"
Person groaned. "Is nothing sacred?"
Falcon finally located the avian. The bird of prey was perched in the tree above him and had a wing over his face. When the bird moved his wing, Falcon saw that Person had on tiny, bird-sized spectacles. "Cool!"
Unfortunately, Falcon's exclamations had awakened the sleeping creature. It grumbled, turning huge black eyes on the boy. The creature cocked its head to the side and made a sound somewhere between a questioning growl and a questioning gurgle. Falcon had no idea how to answer it, so he reached out with the Force and tried to calm the creature.
Instead, it had the opposite effect. The animal unfolded its gaunt and bony legs, raising itself to a standing position. It gurgle-growled at Falcon then began advancing on the boy, its head low and its black nose sniffing.
Falcon obviously had no idea what to do. He looked back and forth for a minute, before looking up at the avian above him.
"Turn on the lightsaber and scare it!" Person told the boy, flapping his wings.
Falcon looked panicked and pressed the button on the cylinder. Instead of the reassuring beam of a lightsaber, Chouko's ten-foot pole lengthened and bopped the animal in the head.
"Fledglings," Person moaned. "I'm working with fledglings!"
By this time, the ugly creature was understandably upset, and Falcon had moved beyond being merely panicked. With a yell, he began running. The animal began chasing him. And all the while, Person was yelling at Falcon.
"TARG! HIghoS!" Targ! Come here! Nom shouted, seeing her pet chasing the poor boy. "Targoy... bImoHqu'." Targ... you are very ugly.
Mic, who had called the senshi, was trying not to smile at the boy's predicament.
Falcon paused and looked back. "Uh..." He looked at Nom, looked at Targ, then made the wisest decision he could. "Don't hurt me!"
"I apologize for this hatchling's stupidity, Ms. Da'Gara," Person said, landing on Falcon's shoulder. "I will personally make it my mission to keep him out of trouble."
"You're hurting my shoulder," Falcon complained, glaring at the bird. "Ouch! And you don't have to call me names."
The bird narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Obviously, I do, because you aren't listening!" Person knocked Falcon in the head with his wing. "Hatchling!"
The commotion brought several other senshi running. "Hey, a bird!" Mika exclaimed. "He's beautiful!"
Falcon grinned. "This is Person."
"Hey, that's pretty neat! You're a person." Mika pointed at Falcon. "You're a falcon." She pointed at Person. "You're Falcon, and you're Person!"
Person sighed. "That, Ms. Kaipi, is going to get very old. Very, very old."
While Person was being introduced to the senshi - the names of which he already seemed to know - Falcon decided to see what his lightsaber looked like. Holding it pointed safely away from the people (and bird) around him, the boy thumbed the switch. The hilt of the saber was smooth with only a few slightly raised areas. The grip felt perfect in his hand as he moved the silvery blade. "Cooool!" The blade was silvery purple at the base, fading to pure silver at the point.
"Wow!" Annika gushed. "That's so awesome! Hey, look at the hilt."
Falcon looked at the hilt in his hands, surprised. It was slightly warm and glowing along before-unseen seams. The stripes of sliver fanned out from the on switch and several other buttons like veins. Falcon grinned and shut the saber off, watching the glowing hilt fade back to its normal state. "Hey Person!"
The avian lifted himself with his powerful wings and flapped over to the boy. "What?"
"So are you like... my pet, or something?" Falcon asked, curious. "You know... like Priire-sama has Solai, Ippin has Schylar, Kiri has Kaze..."
Person looked offended. "Most certainly not. Ms. Seijoutai's cat is not a pet, per say. Solai is a guardian, as am I." He stared at Falcon with one black eye. "Unfortunately."
"Hey!"
Person didn't pay attention to Falcon's annoyed outburst. "I am now going to make myself at home. If you'll excuse me, Ms. Kaipi, Ms. Nesicha, Mr. Autry, Ms. Da'Gara... Stupid."
It took Falcon a minute to realize that Person was referring to him with the last word. By that time, the falcon was too far away to hear the boy's annoyed shouts.
