Chapter 10:Nice to meet you too?

As Melanee was lead to the room beside her's,she wondered what Azera meant when she said 'second half'.

"Keep in mind that you were announced dead eleven years ago. So don't be surprised if no one believes who you are." Azera said as she summoned the rooty door to open.

The room was as big and glamorous as her own room if not better. As Melanee followed Azera in the room,the first thing she noticed was that there was giggling. She looks and sees a male green evil nature dragon sitting on a pillow,like any other dragon in this place he had black stripe markings. His black horns sorta resembled Sypro's in shape. He looked about the same age as Melanee. There where two green female evil nature dragons by his side. One at the right,and one at the left.

She could tell that this guy was the smug kind of guy. And she could see the two girls weren't making it any better as they would constantly giggle and nuzzle him. Melanee just instantly didn't like him one bit.

He looks up and smirks at them.

"Yes?" He says.

"Zar,there is someone you must meet." Azera said referring to Melanee.

He brings his attention to Melanee and gives her a toothy smirk.

"Well if it's a date,I'm kinda booked. Try again later." Zar said as the two girls giggled.

"That is not an option Zar. She is the Great She. Her name is Melanee." Azera said as she nudged Melanee closer to him.

Melanee was getting uncomfortable by the second. She just wanted to get away from this guy.

Zar gets up from his spot,causing the two girls to aw in disappointment. He starts to circle Melanee,looking her up and down. This really scared Melanee. She wondered what he was thinking.

"Hmm...a little stripe-less aren't you?" He asked with a smirk.

"They come and go." Melanee says.

"Really now? Then that means you've been a long way from home. Haven't you?"

"Yes."

"Last I checked,you were suppose to be dead."

"Hey,we die hard don't we?"

"Apparently."

Zar looks over at Azera and asks "How are you so sure she'll be useful now? She doesn't even know how to summon her abilities I bet."

"Her abilities have been in slumber for eleven years. Now that she's home,only time will help reawaken them for good." Azera answered.

Finally having enough of this,Melanee said "Wait,I'm being informed of all these things of what I am and whats suppose to happen. Can't someone at least just show me some sort of proof?"

Zar smirked as he walked over to her,causing her to become more nervous. "I'll show you your proof." He then roughly grabs her paw,pulling it up.

"What are you doing? That hurts! Let go!" Melanee said as she desperately tried to pulled away.

She then feels his other paw rest on the palm of hers. Immediately on impact,she could feel that weird shaped spot on her paw heat up yet again. Only this time it was more noticeable,and it actually felt like it was growing. Shocked,she looks at their two paws touching and finally manages to pull away. She looks at her own paw and sees that the weird shaped spot was now shaped as a spiky leaf and glowing green. Then it just faded back to normal,as if it never happened.

Melanee looks up at Zar and says "What have you done to me?"

"Gave you proof. Just like you asked for."

"When you two unite by just contact,your marks will get the other half it's been missing." Azera said.

Melanee then notices that Zar had the same mark as her's,just on the opposite paw. It was indeed the missing half of her leaf mark. She just couldn't believe it. Her other half was HIM. The Great He. She just couldn't stand the idea of EVER uniting with this guy. She was glad of the idea of going home once she's learned enough.

"Well Melanee,since it's your first day here,you can just consider this as your do nothing day." Azera said.

"Really? No training to help me out?" Melanee asked.

"Your training will start tomorrow. Now run along if you like. If you need anything,just call for Angie,she's the servant girl."

Melanee nodded her head right before she dashed out of the room. She just wanted to be away from that guy,he seemed like no good. As she ran down the hall,she accidentally bummed into Angie,causing her to fall to the ground. As Angie looked up to see Melanee,she immediately jumped to her feet and said "I'm so sorry Master Melanee! Forgive me! I should have seen you. Would you like a healing plant? I'm so sorry!"

Surprised by her outburst,Melanee said "Whoa,slow down. It's ok. And what did you call me?"

"Oh! I've upset you. Forgive me again. Is there something else you'd like to be called?"

"Calm down Angie. It's ok,I'm not mad at you. It was just an accident. And just call me Melanee. Nothing else."

"Really? Your not mad?"

"Nope." Melanee said with a smile.

"So does that mean...you wont strike me?"

"Goodness,no! What gave you that idea?" Melanee asked,now concerned of what this servant girl has gone through.

"Uh..lets not forget what kind of creatures we are. When a servant messes up,or offends someone of the palace,we are struck. Struck so that we are sure to remember our mistakes."

It was then that Melanee noticed some slash marks on the servant girl's face,chest,arms,and paws.

"Angie,I'm not them. In fact,consider me as your friend." Melanee said.

"Melanee...I could get in trouble."

"Hey,I'm like the boss right? So if anyone has a problem,they can talk it out with me."

"Really? You'd do that..for me?" Angie asked,now less scared.

"Yes."

"But...forgive me for asking,but why? Why are you being so...nice? To me of all dragons?"

"Because you are nice. Plus I need a friend. Lets not forget,I just left home. I currently have no friends here. So do you want to be friends?"

"...yes." Angie said jumping up.

Melanee then noticed the servant's thin figure. She obviously didn't ever get to eat much.

"Hey Angie."

"Yeah?"

"You hungry?"

Hearing that question caused Angie to gasp. She looked around before whispering "Yes."

"Hm...how about you make ME dinner,and YOU eat it in my room?"

"...Sure. Ok! Thanks." Angie said right before dashing off.

"You know,that was very unwise." Said a slightly cold voice behind Melanee.

She spun around to come face to face to Zora.

"I'm sorry,what?" Melanee asked confused.

"If she gets caught,or if someone even thinks shes up to something,they WILL kill her...just like the last one." Zora said with a gloomy expression.

"Don't worry,I wont allow it. Lets not forget just who I am after all." Melanee said trying to reassure her.

"Hm...don't get too cocky kid. You may be on Azera's good side for now,but don't count on that making you untouchable."

"I'm sorry but...is that a threat?"

"I'm just saying,watch it. Your no supreme ruler just yet. And take good care of Angie. Since you apparently want to be her friend."

"Don't worry,I will. Hey um,what is she to you anyways if you don't mind me asking."

"She's my friend. Almost like a sister to me. I've always been there for her since the very first day she was captured."

"Captured?"

"What? You think she volunteered for this?"

"Oh,I see."

"Yeah,some race we are,huh?"

"Hey,how old are you?"

"I'm 15."

"Well that's cool. Hey are you like a servant too? Since your living here."

"...You know,you ask a lot of questions. I got to go." Zora said right before walking away.

'Was it something I said?' Melanee thought.

Just then she remembered what Zora said about the dangers Angie could be in.

'Well I better go find her then.'

Melanee then dashes back to her room. When she got there,she saw the thorny roots where again blocking the entrance. Stopping in her tracks,she began to focus really hard on making the roots go away. After waiting several minutes to no success,she begins to claw at the roots,but still nothing happened. Just then the roots sank back into the ground by themselves. Melanee looks up and sees a smiling Angie look at her while giggling.

"Just tell them 'please'." Angie said.

"...Uh what?" Melanee asked,not getting what she was talking about.

"The roots,just say please to them. That's how you can enter the rooms...well most of the rooms anyways."

"I...talk to the roots?"

"Yeah,through your mind."

"I can do that?"

"We can all do that."

"Oh,ok then. That's interesting."

"Yeah."

They then both enter Melanee's room with the roots closing the entrance again.

"So what did you get?" Melanee asked.

"I got a cuddles fish." Angie said while pointing to the good sized,dead fish on the floor.

The cuddles fish was another one of the Forbidden land's deadly creatures. The name its self was ironic due to the fact it was indeed a cuddly looking fish,yet it was anything but cuddly. It was known to have the look of the cutest fish alive,but when it attracted it's prey it would turn into a monstrous fish creature with yellow glowing eyes,and sharp teeth. If the prey made it to land,then the fish could easily chase after it using its jagged fins as legs. Melanee knew about these fish.

"Wow...that must have been hard to catch." Melanee said.

"Nope,these are the best for beginner hunters." Angie said right before biting into the fish.

"Really?"

"Well for us that is. Most other dragons get eaten by them for some reason."

"Yeah. I've heard. Hey...can I ask some questions? I mean,about us,our race?"

"Yeah,ask away. I can only imagine how lost you are."

Melanee then took some time to think about where to start with her questions. Everything she's ever been told about these guys were the simple 'They murder. Their no good. They are savage monsters. Their a freak of nature gone wrong.'

"Hm...where do I start? Um..oh! I thought evil nature dragons always walk on two legs,never four." Melanee said as she realized that they had been walking normal since they got here.

"Well we mainly walk on two legs when we leave the safety of our land. Plus if you haven't noticed,our kind is kinda on the small and short side. So we walk on two legs to make it seem as if we were taller. Plus it also tends to freak most of our opponents out."

"Oh. Well that makes sense. That does tend to freak others out by the way. It freaked me out."

"Haha,yeah. That's part of what we do. Freak others out. When an opponent is freaked out,they aren't 100% focused. That gives us an advantage during combat."

"Hmm...is it true that we only die by being drowned?"

"Eh...well that's part of it. Drowning is the easiest way to kill us. That's why its always the first option to others. But really we can die just like any other dragon. Old age,getting severely wounded,suffocation,disease,poisoned. Anything. Most just don't know that,due to the fact that we just don't die so easily."

"Wait,you said one of the ways we could die was by being poisoned."

"Yes."

"How is that? I thought we were poisonous ourselves."

"Well I don't know all of the things that can poison us,but the main concern is on a certain crystal. It's known as a rainbow crystal. Your familiar with those peace loving rainbow dragons right?"

"Yeah. Some referred to them as hippies."

"Heh,funny. Well they have these rainbow crystals on their land that is very deadly to us."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I remember when I was much younger,there was a time when there was a huge panic among the land. Our kind would feel weak,even sick,then some of them would just die. Some of us even got burns out of nowhere."

"Wow. How did you all find out what it was?"

"There was some hiding here. Some rainbow dragons. In case you don't know,evil nature dragons and rainbow dragons don't get along. They were always causing some great peace around the world. They loved peace,but hated war and death. While we craved it."

"If that's so,then why would they have been hiding here of all places?"

"Have you ever heard of evil nature hybrids?"

"Well yes but-"

"There was some forbidden love in our land. We don't know how this happened,but somehow a few evil nature dragons and rainbow dragons were falling for each other. And rainbow dragons tend to always wear those rainbow crystals around their necks for some reason."

"So as they were wearing those crystals,it was acting as a contagious virus to us wasn't it?" Melanee asked now interested.

"Yes. And when the hybrids were secretly here as well,they'd wear the crystal necklaces too."

"Whoa."

"Then the era of the 'purging' began. Which you may know as the era of the 'self killing'."

Melanee knew of that era,she learned of it at school. It was said to be the time of when the evil nature dragons began to turn on each other.

"Yeah. It was the time you were killing each other."

"It seemed that way didn't it?"

"Huh?"

"We weren't really killing each other. It was the hybrids that were being killed. Along with any parents of the hybrids."

"They were ALL killed?"

"Well most of them. Some of the hybrids still live. If the hybrids looked anything similar to a normal evil nature dragon,they were sometimes not killed. In fact,I believe there's a hybrid around this area. He's an orphan like the most of us."

"Cool. So what happened to the crystals?"

"Oops,looks like I got sidetracked with the story. Your question was about the crystals,not the rainbow dragons. Heh heh,my bad."

"No,that's alright. I learned something new today."

"Ok,well the crystals were carefully stored into our crystal building."

"This place has a crystal building?"

"Well not this palace,but this island does. It's a building where we store all sorts of crystal from anywhere and everywhere."

"Why,does this place have that? Are the crystals needed for something?"

"Hm...I don't know. Some say it's to better our crystal education. Others say that Azera believes it can help us later on in the future."

"Interesting."

"Yeah...well I hear today is like a day off for you since it's your first day. Wanna go do something before your training tomorrow?" Angie asked right before swallowing the last of the cuddles fish.

"Sure,like what?" Melanee asked.

"Hm..I don't know,oh! How about a tour? Since your going to be living here for awhile. I can show you around the palace,even the neighborhood if you want."

"Hmm..."

"Or you can sit here and do nothing. Maybe even run into Zar again."

"On second thought yeah,lets go."

"Great!"

Back at the temple,Julie and Sheldon were treating Ash and Floe in the healing room again. While Spyro,Cynder,and the dragon elders were having a meeting elsewhere.

"Can you please hand me the sponge Sheldon?" Julie asked as she was cleaning some of the thorn wounds on Ash's face.

"Here you go Miss Julie." Sheldon said handing a sponge to her.

"Thank you Sheldon. You can go now if you want." Julie said showing the little green dragon the door.

"No,I want to help. I-if I can that is."

"Sure,you can help."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome sweetie."

"H-hey,Miss Julie?"

"Yes?"

"Is...is Melanee really...gone? Did she really leave?"

"Yes,she did."

"W-why?"

Julie knew he would ask this. He was Melanee's friend after all.

"Well...she left so she could um..learn. Learn more about her element." Julie said.

"Ohh,like school?"

"...Yeah,like school."

"When will she be back?"

"I...I really don't know. Soon I'm sure. She just wants to know a little bit more about herself."

"Oh...they wont hurt her. Will they?"

"No sweetie."

"Well that's good. I hope she has fun at her new school." Sheldon said as he tended to the thorns on Ash's back.

"Well I-"

"AHHH! Easy with the yanking!" Ash interrupted in pain.

Julie looks and sees Sheldon spit out a big thorn saying "Sorry."

"Unfortunately this is the un-fun part. There really is no way to remove the thorns without feeling pain." Julie said as she got ready to get the thorns off Floe.

"Good to know." Ash sarcastically said.

"Hey it's no that bad. At least we're not as hurt as last time." Floe said.

"Yeah? Wait a few secs then tell me what you think." Ash said.

"What do you-AHHH!"

"Heh,you were saying?"

"Oh hush."

"I'm sorry Floe. Only a few more to go." Julie said.

"Hmm...hey what's secs?" Sheldon asked.

Caught off guard by the young green dragon's question,Julie unintentionally yanked two thorns at once.

"I beg your pardon?" Julie asked in an uneasy tone.

"...ow." Floe whimpered while burring her face in her pillow.

It may have seemed like a harmless question to the young dragon,but little did he know,they all heard a completely different word than what he was really referring to.

"What Ash said. Secs,what does that mean?" Sheldon asked.

Julie then sighed in relief realizing what he was really asking.

Ash then answered "Oh,that was just uhhh..some improper slang of mine. I meant to say seconds,but just cut it short."

"Oh,I get." Sheldon said as he hopped up and down with happiness.

"But it's improper speech. So it's best you don't use it dear." Julie said.

"Yes Miss Julie."

"Hey what do you think the meeting is about?" Floe asked.

"I'm not sure Floe. I'm not really ever involved in that kind of stuff."

"Oh."

"I wouldn't worry too much. They always have meetings."

"AHH!" Ash yelled in pain.

"Um Miss Julie,this thorn is REALLY stuck."

"AHH!"

"It wont come out."

"Please stop Sheldon!"

"Here,let me help." Julie said walking to them.

Back at the palace,Angie had just finished showing Melanee all of the rooms.

"And that's all there is in this palace." Angie said.

"Wow,that was a lot of rooms. This palace is huge." Melanee said.

"Yep. Want to see the neighborhood now? I can show you more of our land."

"Maybe later. Azera wont be very happy if she finds you two breaking curfew." Said a slightly dark voice behind them.

"Huh?"

They turn around and see Zora.

"Oh! Man! I forgot! We have a curfew here. Once the sun is beneath the clouds,we are to report back here." Angie said.

Melanee looked and saw that the sun was indeed under the clouds.

"But it's not even dark out." Melanee said.

"Yes,but Azera want's to make sure everyone is rested up and ready for training. It's our everyday routine here."

"Oh."

"Yeah,so it's best you both get to your rooms." Zora said.

"Ok then. See you two tomorrow." Melanee said before she dashed back to her own room.

When she got in her room she wasn't tired so she just decided to sit at her balcony. It was barely sunset outside.

'Well this is it. The real deal. I'm finally fitting in.'

She curled up in a ball as she got comfortable.

'Hopefully I don't mess up here too. This is a whole different world.'

She looked up at the potted plant beside her.

"Even the plants are different."

7-15-12

Wow this took forever,yet it's so little. But better then nothing right? Even though I seriously doubt that anyone is even reading this. =l

Funny fact: I always had a super HARD time figuring out a name for Zar. He was originally just called Zack since I had to call him something,obviously. But then the name Zar just randomly came to me at the last minute. Yeah sounds strange,but for the record,'Cyril' isn't exactly a normal name either,...so yeah.