Part 30: A Mad Mocchi Malefactor

3Yr. 6Mo. 3Wk.

Well, I headed off to the Kalaragi Jungle, in search of the mysterious Mocchi molestor. The trip was pretty routine; iScream and Natsu plowed through all opposition, leaving nothing for Chucky to do.

Chucky replaced Thunder Lore with Hi Counter, which will make his counters more powerful. Natsu picked up Spiral, a short-range accurate guts-drainer--but it's Int-based, and Natsu isn't the sharpest crayon in the box, so I won't be making much use of it. Nor will I be allowing iScream to use Explosion; it's a powerful short-range attack, but (a) it's INT-based, and while he's not stupid, he's a bit stronger than he is smart; and (b) it does recoil damage, as you might imagine happens when you blow yourself up. Oh, and (c) it's pretty costly, Guts-wise, for what it does.



Other than those few items of note, nothing much happened until we found a clearing deep in the jungle... where we discovered the culprit wasn't a monster at all.



Apparently he'd somehow managed to miss the bright orange ball of fang and claw, the toy that will body-check you to death, and the bright red dinosaur I had in tow.



I think the jungle heat may have addled his brain.



I just had to laugh. This was like a mugger trying to rob Batman or something. He didn't seem to get the joke.



Or maybe he just isn't into physical comedy.



Like the rat he was, he tried to scurry off, but while he was gaping at Natsu, Rio'd circled around and let the Mocchi out of their cages.



I think he took it well.



Naturally, he was only too happy to tell us his 'master plan', which was as banal as it was evil: steal monsters from trainers, then sell them back at ludicrous markups. Unfortunately, before I could find out how he'd pulled it off...



...the bastard broke loose. I would have gone after him, but all of a sudden, the Mocchi all started crowding around me, making those... noises... they make.



I pointed out that I'm already raising five monsters, which got her off my back, at least for now. I dunno. Maybe I could try my hand at raising a Mocchi at some point. Chucky and the gang aren't going to live forever. But they're not going to croak any time soon either.



At any rate, Cortes dropped by the ranch shortly after we got back, having heard the news. I told him about the guy behind the scheme...



...who he seemed to have some history with. Good to know someone else is on that particular loose end.



Rio tried to return the bait, but he said we could keep it. I wasn't too surprised. She's got it in her room now.



Anyway. July is tournament month, and there really isn't time for anyone to get qualified--except for Gourdon, who has some unused Star Points. So the plan is, have Gourdon give the official tournament a try next month, and have Chucky, iScream, and Titan see if they're ready for the official tournaments in October. My life has a tendency to get exciting whenever Chucky goes up a rank, so I guess I'll hit you all with an update then!










3Yr. 6Mo. 4Wk.

So it turns out there's a little epilogue to my Mocchi story.

I'd just gotten back from a match with Titan--he won, by the way--when I heard a sound I didn't think I'd ever hear again.



It was a Mocchi.



It was... my Mocchi.



It seems that, much like Sherlock Holmes, reports of her death had been greatly exaggerated.



I just... I don't know what to say.

Except... thank you... Mocchi.