Chapter Three: Belvedere
"Boom!" a resounding blast echoed through the open field, causing the golden grass to ripple. Clouds of dust spiraled and Crash's wicked laughter echoed through the haze. Even Gabriel, who never underestimated his opponents, had to wonder what the girl's plan was, opening a battle with an attack such as Giga Impact, which left her Pokémon open to assault so early in the battle. She seemed unworried, however, and cackled despite the disadvantage to her Electrode, who also laughed.
Gabriel's own choice of Pokémon managed to shake off the attack, ruffling her smooth white feathers and causing the triangular red and blue patterns to shift. The Togekiss spread her wings and took to the sky again, listening for her trainer's orders. "Togekiss, Aura Sphere."
Gabriel half-expected it to be some sort of trap, for something to pop out of the ground, but the pulsing energy ball hit the equally spherical red and white Pokémon easily enough, sending it rolling backwards.
"Awesome job, Boomboom!" Crash cheered, for reasons unknown to the slightly saner mind of Gabriel. "Hit him with a Giga Impact again!"
If she just keeps ordering Giga Impacts, even with the recharge time, she'll be in the lead... I guess it's time to play evasive. "Togekiss, dodge it by flying higher." The white Pokémon gracefully flew out of the way of the Electrode's pink and gold charge-attack, climbing higher into the sky.
"Fine, be that way. Dodging attacks, total lame." Crash stuck out her tongue childishly. "Okay, Boomboom, change of plans, go with a Rollout-Spark combo!" The PokéBall-like Electric-type grinned in a somewhat sadistic light. He began to spin, somersaulting forward at a high speed, high enough for the red and white of its body to blend into a pretty-pink color, which was covered up by the dancing of yellow electricity that arced in every direction.
"Togekiss, fly higher up. Electrode is bound to the ground right now." He assessed the field one more time to triple-check. The arena was completely flat, with no way for Electrode to get up while rolling. However, Crash started laughing mockingly.
"Bound to the ground? Ha, Sonic-boom!" Gabriel was a split second too late in realizing Crash's intentions. While still rolling, Electrode released an arc of pure sound and water vapor as the attack broke the sound barrier and struck the ground, causing the Electrode to fly high into the air, before crashing straight into the airborne Jubilee Pokémon in an explosion of electricity. Both fell to the ground, the Togekiss less gracefully. "Who's bound to the ground now? Giga Impact again!"
Gabriel would have face-palmed, but he had no time even to call out a command. Instead, he snapped once, and his starter's eyes snapped open, glowing a vivid blue. The incoming Electrode was outlined in the same hue as he struggled to charge forward and land the devastating hit. However, the Psychic attack gave Togekiss enough time to recover her composure and take to the sky again.
"Boo, unspoken commands, how boring," Crash whined. "Giga Impact, again, Boomboom."
"What's with you and Giga Impact?" Gabriel sighed exasperatedly, snapping once again as Boomboom rose into the sky, covering in a gold and pink aura. Just as he was about to make contact with Togekiss, he was stopped in his tracks once again by a Psychic attack. Crash, however, wasn't fazed.
"Thunder." Gabriel cursed himself. He really was off his game today. At point-blank range the Electrode exploded in electricity that lashed out and caught the Jubilee Pokémon unaware. Boomboom was released from Psychic's clutches, bouncing slightly as it landed on its face with a dull thunk.
Gabriel frowned, and clapped his hands twice, at the same time Crash shouted, "Sucker Punch the sucker!" Both Pokémon launched themselves forward at an incredible speed, one on wings of light, the other cloaked in darkness. The Extremespeed and Sucker Punch met in the middle, causing both Pokémon to be knocked back by the force of the resulting explosion.
"Use the cover of the smoke from the explosion," Gabriel called, as he snapped three times. A rain of blue fell down to strike the unknowing Electrode, who groaned as he was struck repeatedly by the rapid-fire Aura Spheres.
"Thunderbolt in the general direction of those Aura Spheres!" Crash shouted, her Electrode complying by sparking yellow and sending off bolts through the cloud of smoke, occasionally hearing a cry from his opponent. Even as the dust cleared, the two continued to exchange projectiles of yellow and blue.
Gabriel started to snap, but before he could finish his third, Crash suddenly shouted, "Okay, use Screech, Boomboom! Screw up those nasty unspoken commands of his!"
Boomboom grinned as he cut off his electricity and emitted a sudden ear-piercing noise. Gabriel winced at the sound, but attempted a try at snapping, clapping, stomping... None of his commands were getting through to Togekiss, who had stopped mid-Aura Sphere at the high-pitched sound. Even when he tried yelling out a command his Togekiss either didn't hear him, or didn't want to take her wings off her ears. He saw Crash cup her hands around her mouth and shout something, though he couldn't hear what. Shortly afterwards, the Electrode plowed straight into Togekiss, with a Giga Impact.
"Togekiss, are you okay?" Gabriel shouted. The Togekiss still seemed disoriented from the Screech and Giga Impact, but nodded her head. "Alright, Extremespeed into a Zen Headbutt." Togekiss became cloaked in an aura-blue sheen as she climbed higher into the air, looped, and came hurtling back down at a stunning speed, crashing into Boomboom in an explosion of blue light and dust.
Crash laughed, despite the fact that her Pokémon just got hit. "Not a bad explosion. But, of course, it's still pretty amateur compared to us, right, Boomboom?" The smoke cleared to reveal a charred, laughing Electrode, who nodded, or nodded as best as a Pokémon with no neck can. "Let's show them what a real pro can do! Explosion!"
"Togekiss, Protect!" Gabriel shouted frantically, relieved when he saw his starter become surrounded in a globe of green. The PokéBall-like Pokémon changed from its normal red-and-white coloring to blinding white to pitch black, before the world the world in front of the two exploded in a cloud of dust, heat, and light. The golden grass was torn from its roots as it flew off in every direction, fluttering in the air like confetti. The sky turned gray as it was obscured by dust, and Gabriel had to shut his eyes to keep sand out of them.
When the cloud cleared, both Pokémon were on the ground. The Electrode was clearly knocked out, still rolling slightly from the momentum of the blast, a crazed grin plastered on his "face", eyes filled with swirls. Meanwhile, Togekiss rose, albeit slowly, clearly in pain from the numerous black scorch barks against her white feathers. Still, she managed to stand back up, victorious, with a cry of her name. Both trainers ran to their starters.
"Excellent job, Boomboom, excellent job! I think that Explosion was better than the one you used to slay the tree!" The Electrode grinned in affection and insanity at his trainer, as he was enveloped in red and returned to his PokéBall.
"You did great, Togekiss. Take a rest." Togekiss cooed as she wrapped her wings around her trainer in a hug, content to return to her Ball, knowing she secured a victory. Gabriel then straightened to look at Crash, who was surveying the burn marks on the grass with interest. "Why did you order that Explosion? You could have won."
Crash cast him a sideways glance with her single almond-brown eye. She then grinned. "You need to lighten up. You won, so why does it matter?"
"It does matter! It wasn't a proper win," Gabriel argued.
Crash shrugged nonchalantly. "You want an explanation? I like explosions. Now excuse me, I'm going to go heal Boomboom so we can go blow some more stuff up. Toodles~"
"Charlotte? Charlotte, is that you?" Sydney Bjornsen-Schjødt, commonly known as Sydney BS, because that's how he signed his name, and because nobody could every pronounce his name right, blinked once at the sudden noise. He soon disregarded the sound, however, because his name clearly wasn't Charlotte. Or at least he hoped it wasn't; he already got enough jest from his already girly first name.
He was proven wrong when he was tackled by a streak of green sweater and frizzy brown hair, sending him into the grass. Ow-ow-ow, he muttered in his thoughts, cursing his low bone density.
"Charlotte! How good to see you!" his assailant piped happily. "Is Edgar doing well? His heart condition is fine? Thank goodness, I've been worried sick about him; he shouldn't be working so hard! You know, the key to a good heart condition is-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second," Sydney protested, putting his hands up as he tried to comprehend this information. He wasn't doing a very good job of it. "First of all, who's Charlotte? Second of all, who are you? And third, can you get off of me now?"
The girl gasped, jumping off of Sydney to stare open-mouthed at the light-brunette teen. Her chocolate eyes looked hurt, but there was a strange clouded, unfocused look to them, which made Sydney slightly nervous. "Charlotte... Could it be... You don't remember me?"
"Um, you see, I don't think I even know you in the first pl-"
He was cut off as the girl interjected, "I'm Marydith Suesan Kanpeki, remember? We defeated Team Plasma together!" The girl then started detailing the details of their 'epic battle', and Sydney was only getting more and more confused. He was thinking of just ditching this girl until he heard a weary voice.
"Louise, let's give it a rest. I'm, um, sure that 'Charlotte' will eventually come to her senses... I guess..." The voice belonged to a boy his age: disheveled shaggy black hair, dark circles under weary blue eyes, unshaven stubble. To say that he looked like he needed some sleep would be an understatement. The girl, Marydith, Louise, whoever she was, crossed her arms.
"Butler, I've told you, my name is Marydith, not Louise," chided the Marydith-Louise girl, to her "butler" who probably wasn't a butler. "Plus, I can tell there's something wrong with Charlotte! She's not herself!"
"Um, sorry, do I get a say in this?" Sydney spoke up. He was ignored.
"I know!" Marydith-Louise suddenly said, eyes clouded yet bright with some idea. "Let's battle again, Charlotte. Just like that first time." Her "butler" looked ready to object, but Sydney beat him to it. Sort of.
"First ti-" Sydney cut off, shaking his head, realizing that protest was useless. "Fine. If I win, you'll stop calling me Charlotte, right?"
"Of course~" Marydith-Louise cheered happily, with suspicious confidence. Both trainers moved apart from one-another, creating a wide space between them in the golden grass.
"Er, 'Butler'," Sydney started awkwardly, not quite sure what to address him as.
"Josh," the teen corrected mildly.
"Right, Josh. You can referee, right?" The black-and-denim-clad boy named Josh lowered his head suddenly, a dark look coming into his eyes, which glanced at the Marydith-Louise girl in what looked like worry. Eventually, he raised his head to look Sydney in the eye, replying affirmative, as he took his spot somewhat between the two.
"This will be a... one on one battle?" He looked at both trainers who nodded in agreement. "Right, a one on one battle between Loui- I mean Marydith Suesan Kanpeki," he corrected as Marydith-Louise gave him a look. "And... what's your name?"
"Sydney Bjornsen-Schjødt."
"And Sydney Beeyoorn... Bajoorn... Er, and Sydney whatever his last name is." Sydney thought about correcting him, but figured it would be too much effort. "Um... Trainers, call out your Pokémon."
"Okay... Let's see... Skarla, come on out." Sydney reached for a red-and-white PokéBall at his belt, tossing it out in a flash of scarlet. The red died down to reveal a yellow, bipedal-ram-like Pokémon, pitch stripes decorating her horns, arms, neck and tail. A red pearl was set on both her forehead and the tip of her tail.
"Aw, an Ampharos? It's so cute!" Marydith-Louise cooed. She then held up her own PokéBall. "Let me show you mine."
"Go, Mew!"
"This will be a two on two double battle between Temperance Samson and Ryuuko Novik. Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon."
"Really, Ren? 'Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon'? Lame, lame, total lame. You could have said something like 'Warriors, release your minions', or 'Send out your Pokémon now or I'll beat you with a stick' or something cool like that. I'm ashamed to be your twin," the trainer known as Ryuuko sing-songed, a sly smile gracing her elfish features. She winked her right blue eye at her sibling, the counterpart brown eye twinkling in jest.
"...So basically, this is just the point where we release our Pokémon now, right?" said the other girl on the battlefield, Temp Samson, irritatedly. She had already picked her two PokéBalls which she fingered in her lithe hands impatiently.
"Yes, yes, ignore my little sister. She has no idea what she's talking about," the referee, Ren, replied nonchalantly, waving a dismissive hand at his twin, who pouted.
"That's lame, you're only older by like, ten minutes. Remember, you're getting me a smoothie if I win. Which I will, of course." Ryuuko flicked some of her shoulder-length black hair out of her eyes, smirking at her twin, who rolled his also mis-matched eyes.
The auburn-haired girl opposite Ryuuko frowned irritatedly. It made her want to use the silver rapier at her belt, but the last time that happened, it was a real mess to clean up. Plus, the two twins had Johto's military insignia on their black jacket's sleeves, and Temp wasn't in the mood to get arrested, despite the fact that they weren't even on Earth at the time. Instead, she chose to interject by throwing out her PokéBalls, calling the names of her Pokémon. "Marley, Mikeal, you're up."
Two Pokémon materialized on the battlefield. One was an odd creature that yawned upon appearing. His unusual pink skin was smooth, contrasting with the jester-like red and white collar around its neck, and the gray shell-crown atop his head. The Slowking's partner ran around in a circle hyperly, the brown and cream jagged stripes on her long body blurring.
"A Slowking and Furret?" Ryuuko piped up from the squabble with her brother. "Interesting choice. Look's like it's my turn. Let's go, Vodka, Daiquiri!"
She also threw out two red and white orbs, that flashed red as they released Ryuuko's choice of Pokémon. One looked very similar to Temp's Slowking, Marley, with the same pink skin, size, and shape. However, while the Slowking had a spiral shell atop his head, 'Vodka's shell was latched onto his tail, and it had a look of blank stupidity on his face, unlike Marley's sharp, calculating glare. The other Pokémon was dark blue and insectoid in shape, with a forked horn, gleaming claws, but friendly yellow eyes.
"They're adorable, right?" Ryuuko's question caught Temp off guard. A Slowbro and Heracross aren't exactly my definition of 'adorable'...
"All right, let's get this party started, then. Temperence's Slowking and Furret versus Ryuuko's Slowbro and Heracross. Battle, start!"
"Ren, that's just as lame as 'Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon'."
"Why are there so many rivers in Nusquam Locus?" Sienna grumbled irritatedly as they crossed yet another arch of gray stone, their fourth one so far, bridging over clear running water. "And why do they all defy the laws of physics?"
"Silly, silly girl. You should know by now that Nusquam Locus isn't your normal setting." Cacao giggled, half-skipping, half-fluttering as she pranced ahead of Mia and Sienna. "Rivers are an important part of Nusquam Locus. There are five major ones in total: the Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, Lethe, and Styx. Right now we're standing over the Phlegthon. All five rivers go in a complete loop, and they all encircle one thing, the center of Nusquam Locus. That."
She turned, pointing to something in the distance behind her: the tower. At a closer glance, it seemed like the tower had a lot more quirks than meets the eye. Made of crystalline black material, it twisted, winded, spiraled into an odd formation. It was topped with what appeared to be a silver flower, and from that silver flower spouted... water? Intriguingly, the entire tower seemed to act as a fountain, water bubbling from the flower on top and falling in waterfalls down the sides of the tower.
"And that is," Cacao paused for a second, for lame dramatic effect. "The Thyrsus. The tower that feeds all the rivers in Nusquam Locus. You could also call it Nusquam Locus' headquarters."
"Oh, so that's where you and your flower-buddies go to plot our demise, right?" Sienna said sarcastically. Cacao stared at Sienna for a second, a completely serious look on her face...
Before she burst out laughing, which caused Mocha the Whimsicott to protest as she was jostled. "Oh, please!~ Me and my 'flower-buddies' have never even been in the Thyrsus."
Both Sienna and Mia looked at each-other quizzically. "But, aren't you, like, the runners of this tournament?" Mia asked, a look of confusion on her face.
Cacao shook her head in an annoyingly condescending way, Mocha copying her. "Nah, the 'residents' of Nusquam Locus are divided into two groups, essentially. I belong to the Ales Fiore, which is most of Nusquam Locus' 'population'. The Ales Fiore take care of Nusquam Locus, helping out the Audiats, organizing Trials, running the shops, that stuff. I, myself, own a spectacular coffee shop, the CHON and CHO Café-"
"Wait a second... Audiats, Trials, shops?" Mia interjected, looking as confused as Sienna felt.
"Ah, that's right, I didn't explain that yet. Silly me." The smug expression on Cacao's face said otherwise, looking as if she had been expecting that answer. "The Audiats are you. The participants of Cereus Calluna, the ones that have come seeking a wish. There are a rather large amount of Audiats, this time. Far more than usual..." Cacao trailed off, deep in thought, before saying brightly, "No matter, I guess it'll just be a teensy bit harder for you to win~"
"And that brings us to the subject of 'How do you win?'. Most tournaments have something along the lines of tourney trees and knockouts. But that's lame, and Cereus Calluna is cool, so we don't work that way. We operate by Trials. Trials can be anything from battles to tasks to something else that's really cool. There will be a Trial every day, starting tomorrow."
"So what happens if we don't complete a Trial?" Sienna asked, suspicion painting her features. "Let me guess, we die?"
Cacao giggled. "You have a very silly imagination, Sienna, dear. No, we don't kill our Audiats over something like that. In fact, if you fail to complete a Trial, you won't even be kicked out of Cereus Calluna. Besides, it'd be a pain anyway to return you to your world, and if you just sit around all day, that's boring. Nah, Cereus Calluna operates on a system of points."
"Points?"
"Yeah, points. Depending on how well you do in a Trial, you will be given a certain amount of points. And those points are tallied up when Cereus Calluna ends, and the wish is given to the one that is most worthy of it, based on the number of points he or she earned. Keeps the tournament lively and fair." Cacao twirled a lock of her curly brown hair. "Anyways, us Ales Fiore help with the Trials. Get things organized, make sure nobody gets killed, that sort of stuff."
"Okay, so then what are these 'shops'?" Sienna asked.
Cacao gave her a skeptical look. "They're... shops. I mean, you have them in your world, right? You go and buy stuff there? It's not like we invited you here so that all you do are Trials and sight-seeing. I mean, we have better hospitality than that. Like, we have restaurants with human food, and even clothing and souvenir shops. You should see the cute little commemorative snow-globes we sell there. Oh, and I think we might have a stripper's club t-"
"Okay never mind forget I asked," Sienna cut her off.
Cacao pouted, while Mocha snickered. "I said might. Besides, even if there is one, it's not like I made it. I'm fine with my coffee shop. Anyways, not all Ales Fiore run shops; we all have different jobs. Like, we'll need to check you two into the hotel sometime later."
"There's a hotel?" Mia asked wonderingly.
"No, we're just going to make you sleep on the ground," Cacao answered sarcastically.
However, Mia wasn't exactly known for her brightness. "Really? But that will ruin my hair!"
"Don't sweat it, sweetheart, I was joking. It would ruin Nusquam Locus' reputation if word got out we treated our beloved guests like that." Word got out to who? We're in the middle of nowhere, Sienna thought. Cacao smiled sweetly. "I guess we'll need to check you two in. Come on, chop-chop, the hotel should be this way." She started to walk off the bridge when Sienna suddenly called after her.
"Wait!" she cried out. "Before, you said Nusquam Locus' population is divided into two, with one being the Ales Fiore... What's the other group?"
Cacao arched an eyebrow. "My, my, my, how sharp of you, Sienna, darling. There is another division of Nusquam Locus. The Ales Custodes."
"Ales... Custodes?"
"Yeah. To be honest, even I don't know much about them," Cacao confessed. "All I know is that there are seven of them, and they're the head honchos of Cereus Calluna. They make the Trials, choose the Audiats, run this whole tournament... And they're always in the Thyrsus. Even I've never seen them before. Though, there is a rumor... They're supposed to be appearing at the opening ceremonies."
"Opening Ceremonies?" Mia asked, a curious look upon her face.
"Yeah, just an over-view of Cereus Calluna and how it's going to work. But usually all the stuff is relayed through another person; they've never shown themselves to anyone, not even us Ales Fiore. So that's all the info I have." Cacao shrugged. "Anyways, we need to hurry up. We'll get you checked in at the hotel and then we can head over to the CHON and CHO Café. I need some more coffee."
She started to walk, or float, off, when Mia suddenly stopped her. "Wait a second!"
Cacao seemed slightly annoyed to be stopped again, but asked, "What?"
"You said that Trials involve battles, right?" Mia said cheerily. "Well then, why don't me and Sienna here have a battle? You know, to warm up for the actual tourney?"
Cacao seemed to give this some thought. "Well... I do need my coffee... But that sounds like it'll be interesting. I'm up for it." The winged coffee-addict and Mia both turned to Sienna expectantly. She sighed, sure that this hyper-active moron would hardly be a challenge. Then again, she hadn't had a real battle with someone other than Clair in a long time.
"I don't think I have much of a choice in this matter... But you're on!"
Even in the day-time, the Thyrsus remained shadowy, courtesy of the slightly-translucent black crystal that formed its walls, preventing much light from coming in, tinting the outside world dark.
Hummingbird pressed herself against the transparent walls, squinting her orange eyes as she surveyed the surrounding area, careful not to fog the glass with her breath. She was intrigued by the human creatures who wandered about. Who interacted, who battled, who argued, who laughed together. It made the winged child frown as a strange foreign emotion swelled in her, though she didn't know what.
"Feeling lonely?" a voice familiar to Hummingbird spoke up. "Or perhaps jealous?"
Hummingbird turned around, her sunset-eyes somewhat angry and hurt as they met Nightingale's streetlight ones. "No, I'm not!" Then she seemed to catch herself and said in a quieter, more forlorn tone, "I mean, I'm not lonely. I'm fine with just you and Skylark and everyone else. You're my family. I don't need anyone else." Hummingbird somehow managed to rock on her heels, despite the fact that she wasn't standing on solid ground, as she stared sheepishly at the ground. "I was just curious about these human creatures."
"That's right, you've never seen them before," Nightingale surmised. He then shrugged. "Well then, I guess I can't blame you for being a little intrigued. But you'll see the truth soon."
Hummingbird frowned. "The truth?"
"That humans are despicable, vile creatures," Nightingale said, a dark smile on his face. Hummingbird cocked her head in confusion.
"Why do we have Cereus Calluna, then," Hummingbird asked innocently, a pondering furrow in her brow, "if humans are such bad things?"
Nightingale smiled again, more genuinely, but still with an air of eeriness. "Hummingbird, you've seen Loon and Gyrfalcon play chess, correct?"
"I hate it when you change subjects," Hummingbird said irritatedly. "But yeah, I watch them play all the time. I don't really get it, though..."
"Well, let me teach you a bit, then. In the game of chess, there are five types of pieces. The King, Queen, Bishops, Knights, Rooks, and finally, the Pawns."
"Pawn... That means, um, what does that mean again?" Hummingbird asked.
"Servants. Slaves. Sacrifices. Things to be manipulated. In all games there are the players and the pawns, the controllers and the ones that are controlled. Cereus Calluna is the same. Humans are just pawns to maneuver for our own uses." Nightingale stepped forward to look through the black glass, observing the ignorant humans below.
"But why do we need them? If they're such weak things that are so easily manipulated? Why can't we get that thing by ourselves?" Hummingbird asked.
Nightingale paused as he thought over his answer. Finally, he replied, "Pawns are interesting little things. Adversity and ambition allows them to bloom into knights and queens. Danger and desire are the keys."
"But even as pawns grow stronger, they are still only pawns." Nightingale smiled. "Pawns in the palm of the player's hand."
Trivia:
~The title of this chapter, the Belverdere, can mean 'Into war', or 'I declare war against you'. It's mostly symbolic of so many battles starting in this chapter.
~You probably found the names of the rivers of Nusquam Locus familiar, particularly the last one. They all come from Roman mythology (Well, technically, it could be Greek, too, but Roman links to Latin, and this whole story revolves around Latin, so I'm going with Roman), the rivers of the Underworld, Pluto(Hades)'s realm of the dead. In myth, it's said these five rivers run around the Underworld (Similar to how they run around Nusquam Locus), and that these rivers are what lost souls must cross, and what prevents them from leaving. In myth, it's also mentioned that after you cross all five rivers, you will reach the adamantine gate, that lead's to Pluto's palace (Which relates to the Thyrsus)
~The Acheron is the River of Woe, the Cocytus is the River of Lamentation, the Phlegethon is the River of Fire, the Lethe is the River of Forgetfulness, and the Styx is the River of Hatred and Promises. Since Mia and Sienna are standing by the Phlegethon, it may or may not have to do with foreshadowing for next chapter.
~Thyrsus in Latin means 'stem', which relates to the flower theme, and the fact that the Thyrsus sort of resembles a flower. It can also stand for sting, spike, goad, and other rather negative things.
~Ales Fiore in Latin means 'Winged Flowers'.
~Audiats in Latin means 'Wishers'.
~Cacao's coffee shop's name, the CHON and CHO Café is derived from the chemical equations for caffeine and sugar. Caffeine's composed of four elements: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen, whose periodic symbols spell CHON. Sugars are composed of the three elements Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, hence, CHO. So basically, it's a nerdy way of saying 'Caffeine and Sugar Café'. Currently, I'm pronouncing it 'Kon and Ko Café', simply for alliteration, but you are free to pronounce it however you wish. (It also sort-of has the same acronym as the title of this story. And it technically follows the Latin motif too, since element names are Latin)
~Ales Custodes in Latin means 'Winged Watchers'.
Well, here it is~ Finally, chappie three of CC, yippee~ (Okay I'm stopping now don't shoot me)
Looong trivia section this time. Like, added-five-hundred-words-to-my-word-count long. Looong chapter too, my longest chapter ever written at about five-thousand-seven-hundred words.
But anyways, next time I say I'll be updating soon, shoot me. On that note, I will be updating soon. Now I will go hide from the gunfire.
So, today's a very special day for me. June twenty-fifth, 6-25. 625 is a perfect square of a perfect square, making it a fourth power, and then four's a perfect square. Which is bad-ass. And then I updated this at 4:00, my time, so... (In case you couldn't tell, I have an obsession with perfect squares)
Three notes for readers. One, your OC might not appear for a while. This may be because they have an important role that calls for them at a later time, or it might simply be because they are not quite adequate for the occasion.
My second concern is OCs via review. It's against FF's policies, plus they clog up my review box, which is why I'd ask you to refrain from sending them in a review.
Finally, your OC will not win/be bad-ass at everything. I'm sorry, but it's true. It's not because I hate your OC or anything, but it's impossible for every OC to always win. I will try and balance out the win-lose ratio for each OC, though.
Moving on, this chapter wasn't too bad, but it was mostly for introducing OCs, and explaining some stuff behind Cereus Calluna. Plus the foreshadowing in the end. Sorry to those who thought this wouldn't be a lame-cliched-fic-with-a-conspiracy-behind-the-tourney... Or is it? Hopefully it will still be interesting enough.
I hope the battle was alright. And I feel like I made all the characters OOC, so tell me if there's anything you want to do, and I'll do my best to change it in the future. And speaking of OCs...
Sydney belongs to Kyuuketsuki Fang
Marydith/Louise and Josh belong to Megalink1126
Temp belongs to Gweniveve Skyes
Ryuuko and Renton belong to Hitoshura-ha
I'm not going to repeat credits for OCs I've already credited, as I'm lazy. You can go look at previous chapters for those.
Also, a dedication to Kyuuketsuki Fang and Megalink1126 for having that little contest with me. It was a big help in getting me not to procrastinate. You should totally check out their stories, Fin de Siècle and Renaissance, respectively. I also dedicate this chapter to the amazing Hitoshura-ha. Whose stories you should also check out, such as black cherry pie. All three of them are bad-ass and have better stories than me. They also make bad-ass-amazing OCs. Filled with love. Like jelly doughnuts.
Wow, even this author's note is long. (I would make an incredibly inappropriate joke about what else is long, but I rated this fic as T, sooo...)
Thanks for reading, reviews are amazing, and I love you all anyways~
