I Called You Friend
Chapter 2
Written by Michael Mark Maquilan

The lush, green meadowland did not stretch forever. There was a smoldering village to the north, a peaceful town due south, a stone-paved path at the east. And to the west sits a patch of green, leafy woodland, the source of wood for many nearby villages, and home to many spirits who have embraced the woodlander's life.

Menkyu and Poch passed through a secluded portion of the forest, where the leaves on the trees are thickest, allowing only little shafts of morning sunlight to illuminate the forest floor. Their sandals trod past brown, virgin soil, taking care to avoid the occasional rock or strange colored mushroom.

Menkyu licked his dry lips. "Ergh, Poch, how much further?"

Poch closed his eyes and thought aloud, "From the maps of the area, Wani's mound seems to be at the opposite of the forest. Seems like we're in the middle, so we should be halfway the-e-ere!"

Poch found himself biting the dirt. He had tripped over a loose stone large enough to cause him a loss of balance.

Menkyu stooped down laughing and offered Poch a hand. "Ha, ha, ha. What a fall you had! Shall we rest for a while, bro?"

Poch took Menkyu's hand and then sat down beside Menkyu. "I suppose so," the dog said, putting a hand to his neck. "Augh..."

Menkyu sat down in a cross-legged position and asked for the water canteen. Poch retrieved it from his folds, and Menkyu downed some of the contents. He offered the Poch the canteen, and the dog drank a few sips before screwing the cap back on and placing it back into his tunic.

Menkyu decided to find a topic of conversation. He said, "Poch, your stretch staff-it works differently from mine, doesn't it?"

Poch nodded, retrieving the stick from behind him. It was a stick shaped like a large bone eight inches long-all white except for the ends, which were emblazoned in a shiny yellow hue, almost gold, and a part in the middle of the stick, where three black buttons can be found in a row. "Yes, Menkyu. It's different from yours. The stretching feature of my staff is activated manually."

Poch pointed at one of the buttons on the side. "This one stretches the staff in that direction, while the button on the other end, stretches the staff in the other direction. Pressing the middle button shortly reduces the length of the staff a bit. Holding it down will reduce its size to what you see now." he explained. "And then about yours-it has no room for buttons, so I implemented Wani's mind-reading system into your brown staff. It's supposed to increase or decrease in size at whim-your whim"

"So that's it," Menkyu said, lying down on the ground with his arms behind his head. "Hmm... eh? Who's that?"

"Who's what?" Poch wondered. "I don't hear anything... nor sniff anything."

Menkyu stood up slowly and said, "There's someone over there. You stay here, bro-I'll go take a look."

"I stay here? Fine. If you say so. Just be-careful." Poch responded, almost rolling his eyes.

Another figment of his imagination. Poch told himself.

* * *

Menkyu took a few silent steps. He cautiously clutched his brown staff, holding it mere inches from his face. I have to be careful. It could be anything... he thought. Maybe nothing.

Menkyu looked around. The dark-green leaves above him formed a dismal roof supported by gnarled brown pillars, which extended in all directions, with the occasional shaft of light and break in the leaves. With pebbles littered everywhere, the soft ground below, almost a lifeless expanse, seemed to echo the silence that engulfed him.

Breaking the silence, Menkyu stomped his foot and declared aloud, "My imagination again! I'd better tell Poch it was nothing."

Menkyu sensed the rustling of leaves to his left.

He turned toward the sound. "Who's there?"

Then rustling in the darkness to his right.

He turned toward the sound. "Who's there!?"

There are few bushes in these woods. What's going on? Could be Poch playing a fast one on me. No, he wouldn't do that-what's going on? Something on the trees?

Menkyu's head turned left and right, surveying the area. His trembling hands clutched the staff more tightly, on guard for whatever monster might be stalking him. His knees bent slightly, forming his legs into a makeshift fighting stance.

The sound shifted into the leaves directly above.

"Who's there!!?" Menkyu shouted, looking upwards.

He shielded his blinded eyes from the sunlight.

And then a small red monster fell toward him with a red stick!

Menkyu screamed, closed his eyes, instinctively blocked with his staff.

Clang! The staff and the red stick met each other, pushing Menkyu back in a snap of force and the leap of sparks.

Menkyu shut his eyes more tightly. He took a few steps back. He swung his staff frantically, defending left and right.

Within the blackness, Menkyu tried to imagine an agile, powerful fighter-almost invisible from speed, in a mad rush, attacking left and right, overwhelming the defender-Menkyu himself-with repeated swings of the red stick.

Instead, he heard a light, hearty laugh.

"Uh? Who's there!?" Menkyu gasped, opening his eyes. Through the blur, he saw a small figure-about his size-a monster in red, with brown legs, holding a red staff, which it holds over itself, tapping its shoulder. The figure seems to be laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha!" it laughed. "You should be ashamed of youself! Are you really here to challenge me?" proclaimed a young female voice.

Who is she? Menkyu thought, waiting for his vision to clear. She doesn't sound very threatening...

As his vision cleared, he saw his "opponent"-a youthful figure wearing what seems to be a red coat (or blouse,) with yellow trimmings, its folds extending to below the pockets of her long brown pants. Small buttons held the coat together, and a belt wrapped around her waist. Her low-heeled shoes only served to tell Menkyu that she was only about his height. Her light tan face hid a sly smile, even though she seemed to be threatening him. She wears a deep golden-yellow hairband on her forehead, keeping her brown hair from drooping into her face.

"Looking good." Menkyu grinned, adjusting his stance and his grip on his staff. "What are you doing hanging out at a place like this?"

She dissolved her fighting stance and spoke, "I came here for peace and quiet, but you fighters seem to be after me! Leave me alone for one whole day, will you?"

"Fighters? What fighters?" Menkyu wondered.

The female monkey held the back of her head. "Oh, sorry. I mistook you one of the fighters from that video game-you were wielding a staff."

"This staff? My staff?" Menkyu snarled, "How could you say sorry so easily? You half-scared me to death, you..!"

Menkyu pointed his staff at the girl. "If you want to challenge me, then I shall fight, upstart!" he proclaimed.

The monkey in red held her forehead. "Oh, no, not again. Why do you all get me wrong?" She took her own fighting stance and pointed her own staff at Menkyu. "Well, then..."

She leapt upward through the trees.

Menkyu could not follow where she went.

Once again, Menkyu clutched his staff tightly. His mind filled with thoughts. She's up there again, attacking from the sky. No, I can't look upwards; I'll be blinded. What can I do? I've gotten myself into trouble again... Damn, I don't know how good she is. Nah, I'm better than her. I'll prove it!

Menkyu closed his eyes and listened to the surroundings. No rustling.

"Where are you!?" Menkyu taunted, a slight quiver in his voice.

He felt three taps on his shoulder. His hair stood on end, his teeth came together like two colliding swords, and his legs melted.

Then the stealthy figure pushed him off his pedestal. Menkyu and his right shoulder ran head-on into a tree trunk.

Menkyu opened his fearful eyes in pain. He found himself watching the sky-and a red staff swinging downwards like an axe towards his forehead. Menkyu desperately swung his own staff to block the move. He shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the clang of metal and the force that would knock him out.

Menkyu shut his eyes tighter. No clang.

Another hearty laugh pierced the blackness.

"You shouldn't close your eyes in a fight, friend." the same laughing voice advised. "Unless that is to your advantage. Come, let us end this useless encounter."

Menkyu took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and shouted, "Never! I shall win, no matter..."

Then he "realized" that he was flat on the ground, and the mysterious monkey was standing next to him. He kept his staff beside him and sighed, "Oh, all right. I suppose I lost..."

Inside, he was planning to deceive her, to attack when her guard was down.

But then he saw her smile. He saw her put away her staff, offer her right hand, and introduce herself: "Come, I'll help you up. I am Valerie. How about you?"

Menkyu's right hand froze on the staff handle, and hesitated on his approach. His heart crumpled within his chest, clashing with his arrogant desire for victory.

Valerie's smile persisted. Her head cocked to one side as she wondered what was bothering Menkyu.

Menkyu smiled. He put away his own staff, and took Valerie's hand. "I am Menkyu. Pleased to meet you."

Valerie nodded, saying: "Pleased to meet you too, Menkyu."

Menkyu was pulled up to his feet by his right arm. His shoulder bit him as he stood, and he was unable to remain standing. He clutched his painful shoulder, almost collapsing if it had not been for Valerie catching him.

"Easy, easy," she assured Menkyu in a low voice, "take it easy."

Menkyu looked at Valerie. She carried the same smile she had when he first "saw" her. And the same smile with which she accepted his challenge. What's with her? he thought. She's been smiling all this while. Why?

And Menkyu saw Valerie raise her left hand.

"No, wait; please!" Menkyu begged.

Valerie laughed Menkyu off. She brought her palm down on Menkyu's painful shoulder.

Menkyu's face shifted into a slight grimace, but it disappeared with the pain in his shoulder. The pain had intensified for moments, then dissipated.

"Hey!" Menkyu exclaimed, standing up by himself, stretching. "Hey... how did you do that?"

Crossing her arms, Valerie smiled and said, "You should be more trusting, Menkyu."

She snapped her finger.

Suddenly, a cloud flew down from the sky and landed in front of Valerie. She hopped on the cloud, waving "Goodbye!".

And then she and the cloud flew into the heavens, leaving a long trail of snow, which, after giving a show of temporal ermine splendor, dissipated into the air.

Menkyu sighed. "How rude." he told himself. "She introduced herself to me... but she didn't even tell me where she was going. Hey, she didn't even answer my question! Boy, she did something to my shoulder..."

"So," Poch said, emerging from the back of a nearby tree trunk. "it wasn't a figment of your imagination after all."

"Yeah, so?" Menkyu said uptightly, turned to Poch.

Poch furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. "So? So you shouldn't be challenging figments of your imagination with superior fighting skills." he advised. "I gave you your staff over two months ago; she must've been practicing with hers for years..."

Menkyu gave a slight nod, sarcastically barking, "Yeah, yeah."

"By the way, Menkyu," Poch added, "How's your shoulder?"

"Shoulder?" Menkyu placed his left hand on his right shoulder, then spun his right arm around like a wheel. Sensing its healthy crack, Menkyu continued, "It's not painful anymore."

"Looks like she fixed it. Anyhow, we should be leaving. Wani expects us."

Menkyu agreed. He picked up his staff and walked by Poch as he led the way towards Wani's house. Thoughts began to run in his mind. Valerie. What a strange name... what a strange way to fight... that... that girl, making fun of me like that... I'll... I'll... maybe I should forget about her. After all, we won't meet again, I'm sure of it.