Heroes of Dreamland, Book 5: Nintendo World: The Fate of All Worlds (OLD)

Yuki

Yuki's POV: (Sakura's memory)

"Cassiopeia, please stop, poko! I can't run anymore! I'm too tired, poko!" I sob, just barely avoiding another blast of fire from the evil snake-lady. "I really can't, poko! Please let me rest!"

"No way, Yuki. If you don't want the Ssssssssssssstar Warriorsssssssssssss to catch up with you, you have to learn how to run much fassssssster than thisssssss. What sssssssssort of monssssssssster can only run assssssssss fassssssst and assssssss long asssssssssss you can?"

Yet again, I dodge the flames just barely, trying not to look up at her piercing green eyes. They're scary, and some of the other monsters say that if you look at them too close, you'll explode. I've never actually seen that happen, but I don't ever want to, either. "I don't want the Star Warriors to get me, but I'm not gonna fight them either, poko! I'm not a monster!"

Sounding like she wants to help me, even though I know she actually doesn't, the monster-trainer faux-kindly goes on, "If you want me to sssssssstop, then make me sssssssssstop. You have the power to. You know the sssssssssspellssssssssssss that Andromeda has taught you. Sssssssssssso why don't you let your anger guide your actionssssssss, the hatred make your deccccccisssssionssss for you? It would be ssssssssso easssssssy..."

Shaking my head fiercely, I curl up into a ball in the corner of the training room, (which is a giant metal box with no way in and no way out) and sob, "Please. I really can't anymore. I need to rest, Cassiopeia poko."

Flame comes very close to my face. I can feel its heat, but it doesn't actually touch me. Now that I've quit running and proved that nothing's gonna make me run, Cassiopeia sighs and mutters, "Whatever, Yuki. I'm gonna break you one of thesssssssse daysssssssss. We'll have a new little ssssssssorcccccceressssss monsssssssster ssssssssomeday ssssssssoon! Won't that make Masssssssster Nightmare ssssssso very pleassssssssed?"

Continuing to sniffle, I disagree firmly, "I'm never gonna be a monster, poko! Never!"

A moment later, I feel myself get picked up by the delivery system. Like every day, Cassiopeia is sending me back to my cage that I spend all of my time in when I'm not busy being 'trained' to be a monster. I don't want to be a monster. I really don't. But when that's what you've been made to do, then, well... You don't really have a choice. I resist as much as I can, but I just know that someday, I'm gonna lose this battle. It's not like I'm a Star Warrior or anything, after all.

I'm a monster, made by Nightmare. I've lived here in the Fortress my whole life, and I'm probably going to have to keep living here for a really, really long time. I'm small, much smaller than most of the other monsters, only about seven or eight inches tall. I'm also young, probably only three or four years old. I'm smarter than I should be, too. I probably don't want to know how come. Also, I don't know what I look like, but I've been told that I'm white all over with chestnut-colored eyes that always say how I feel. I also have feet that are just a bit too big for me that I'm always tripping over. Supposedly, I'm eventually going to grow into them, but it's not fun having to wait, especially when so much of my life has to be spent running.

After pushing the straw on the bottom of my cage into a pile so I can be somewhat comfy, I sigh, flop onto my back, and stare at the blank metal ceiling. I'm a monster, whether I want that to be true or not. I'm just another creation of Nightmare. (I say 'creation,' but you can't actually create with evil. You can make things, but you can't create. It's not quite the same thing.) 

None of us monsters are actually 'alive' by any technical terms. None of us have a heart, for one thing. For another, we're not born, we're made. We have minds, but they're sometimes not our own. It hasn't happened to me yet, but the others say that sometimes Nightmare takes them over and does what he wants with them, especially if a monster has a moment of weakness and can't bring themselves to do what they've been sent to do. That would probably happen to me all the time, if I was ever actually sent out on a mission.