The Hero Rests

The hero couldn't remain in standing light that pierced its shadow, so beneath the overhead light of the girl's room, it formed from her shadow to watch the moving images.

"Hey, look!" the girl said. "That's us from a week ago! Remember?"

New Bark Town was a small place, and the girl's room inconvenient for her to pet the whole of the rocks in the shape of a cat that she so liked to do, so the cat had stuck just its head out of its Pokeball, so she could pet it. It made a rattling noise akin to a purr.

They'd all come out now, for this homecoming trip. The dragon didn't much like the light, so it sat still, like a gargoyle. The treasure hoard bounced atop a big, melon-shaped doll, staring daggers at the statue on the wall. The evil forest creature stole through the girl's closet, with a look in its eye like it knew it could do better. The unusual floating object had beamed a small reconnaisance drone in its own shape out so that it could enter the room and look at the data on the girl's computer. A sickly little grub had just come alive, and it, too, was here, sparkling in the light, its wings with a pattern a bit like that hero on the screen.

All of them were here, alongside the hero—the allies who had joined it on its lonely struggle. Now, the girl that the hero had sworn to protect all that time ago had become a 'champion'... a moving image in her own right, much like the hero. It felt a pride rather like a parent's.

"There's Donald exploding!" the girl said. ('Donald Cashman' was the hoard's full name, but sometimes she also called it 'Dollachura'. The meaning was lost on the hero.) "Who needs special effects, right? Ugh, Gigi, they can totally see the wire you used to fly. Everyone can see it!" The forest creature made a rather vulgar noise.

Then, a scene right from the hero's memory. The towering titan appeared, and the hero stood to reach it. "And then you showed up, Hero!" She, like the fortunate bug, made the same pose as the suited hero from the time. "Shuwatch! C'mon, give me a 'Shuwatch!'"

The hero was not capable of saying 'Shuwatch!', but it stared at the images of itself battling against the shadowy titan.

Memories flickered across its mind. A holy warrior, from ages ago, clad in a halo from behind... They wielded two mighty hammers, to battle against a colossal beast, in a battle that was etched onto the walls of an ancient ruin for all time. A hero, who fought to protect, and a beast, who fought to destroy—a clash brought back to life in the present, and one in which the hero was endlessly victorious.

Was that story 'real', or was it 'fiction'? No matter the case, the hero 'existed'. Now it, a moving image, had become a moving image. Its battle with the titan which felt at once novel and familiar was captured here. The hero watched itself move for the very first time.

For now, there were no battles left to be fought. One day, the hero would return, as the girl's journey continued, no doubt—past the bounds of the circus, even further, to become a 'true' champion. But, for now, the world no longer needed a hero.

That night, once all the lights had gone out, and shadows could flicker freely into the dark, the hero laid itself to rest, for the first time in hundreds of years, and also, for the first time ever. For just a short while, it would be just like the statue, or the giant pillow—not a hero, but a drawing, on a girl's wall in New Bark Town, standing ever vigilant...

...until the hero would be needed once more.