A/N: Well, I went out of town for two weeks, and wanted to have Chapter 10 and this one up before I left, but couldn't finish in time due to major life **salutes to Major Life** events going on. So here it is!
I have so many ideas for upcoming chapters, it's a shame I simply can't shell them out fast enough. I have upcoming villains, Spirits, and other characters that I really hope you will like, detest, and enjoy.
Although I've made up a few of the upcoming Spirits, many are inspired by real myths and folklore, but I've taken some liberties with them and have exaggerated their abilities and powers quite a bit.
Thank you for your support in reading, reviewing and even faving and following this story. It really is an encouragement. Now please enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 11: Rulebending
It had just been a few Human World days prior that Cyprus and Pukje showed up at the Wood between the Worlds, and Cyprus had flung himself up against the trees' roots in a mix of pain and burning anger. Thankfully, Pukje had quickly leapt from the Kelpie Spirit's back before getting crushed between Cyprus and the trees' roots. He watched in fascination as Cyprus was cursing in some foreign language and slamming up against the trees' roots. Cyprus paused for a moment to study the scar that a certain swordsman had left him with.
"This is permanent!" Cyprus shouted to no one in particular, slamming up against a thick root with his injured side. How had that swordsman known that he was there? Quite obviously, the swordsman had been hindered while under the water, but he had unleashed a very powerful and painful attack upon Cyprus. Cyprus unwittingly flinched at the memory. The very thought of the swordsman sent fear through every inch of his Kelpie body. It annoyed and unnerved Cyprus that a mere Human could do this to him, a Spirit! Here was Cyprus the Kelpie Spirit, Guardian of the Wood between the Worlds unnerved by a mere, mortal Human! Where had his pride gone?!
He now had a scar that would outlive that Human. A constant reminder of how close he had come to death.
Cyprus finally stopped slamming himself against the roots and took a few deep ragged breaths before sinking into the water up to his jaw upper jaw. The water had a cooling effect on his body, but it took much longer to ease his raging temper. Once he had calmed down somewhat, Pukje tentatively asked, "Are you alright, Guardian?"
Cyprus fixed Pukje with a glare. "I'm in this situation because of you, Troublemaker. I thought that I was finding mere sailors to guide the Avatar—"
"As I recall, you volunteered to find guides!" Pukje quickly defended. "My job was to find our players, and to set up the rules of the game, along with finding suitable randomized islands that would entertain the guests of the Woods between the Worlds!"
"It's Wood between the Worlds, by the way, Troublemaker. And I had no idea what we would be going up against by choosing those particular guides. You made one too many enemies with this situation, Troublemaker. You have made some very powerful, very angry enemies with this game—"
"What could they possibly do to—"
Rising up out of the water and towering over Pukje, his gills and fins flaring out, Cyprus shouted, "LET ME FINISH!"
The outburst was so sudden, the other Spirits stopped whatever they were doing and stared, and a few even shrunk back. Pukje was one of the latter. He simply stared up at the Kelpie-Spirit, shut his mouth and complied with his demand.
"Anyway, you have made some very powerful enemies, and I will no longer be a part of this game in the sense that I myself will be personally aiding you. You can use the Fish for all I care, but leave me out of this game."
"Wait, you're blaming me?!" Pukje asked, his anger becoming quite evident.
"These people, whoever they are, have strange powers. I nearly met my death to one of them! I'm relieved that it was not the Captain that I faced, nor do I intend to face him. You can do that. Now leave me be, Troublemaker. After this game is over, I no longer wish to see you. Never, ever again. And if I see you in my Woods ever again, I promise you here and now that you will meet your end."
And with that, Cyprus dove into the water and disappeared. Pukje was angry and frustrated with Cyprus, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it as Neko-Mi was calling him over to her. It was then that Pukje finally took notice of numerous new Spirits, many of whom were surrounding Neko-Mi. Pukje joined the small circle, and saw that the Spirits had a small pile of gold, jewels and numerous other mystical objects in the center of the lily pad that they were all sitting on. Pukje couldn't help but eye the treasure, something that Neko-Mi quickly took notice of.
"Do you like beautiful things, Troublemaker?" she asked, picking up a string of sparkling beads and letting them intertwine in between her fingers. "You know, there are those of us taking bets on whether or not the Avatar and his friends are going to make it back home… I'm one of the ones betting that he won't."
She eyed Pukje carefully before continuing. "I bet quite a bit of my treasure, you know. And I don't like losing. If I win, more than half of my winnings will be yours."
Pukje smiled, for he realized what sort of game that Neko-Mi had in mind all along. Sure, the Avatar could have help getting back, but that didn't mean he was going to make it.
"I have other friends here who don't like losing either." Neko-Mi placed the beads back into the treasure pile, and ran her hand through the pile. "They will be more than happy to ensure their victory."
"Why do you have so much hatred for the Avatar?" Pukje asked, genuinely curious.
"The Avatar took everything from me, a long time ago. Now, I will take everything from him. It is only fair, after all. Equivalent exchange, and all that," Neko-Mi responded with cold bitterness and anger in her voice.
"Now, now," a Bear Spirit said slowly. "Let's just have fun. That's what this whole thing is about, anyways. At least it is for me. I like having fun."
A beautiful female Spirit sighed, "Let's just see which one of us gets to go first," she stretched and sighed. "Which one of us confronts the Pirates first? That silly Kelpie-Spirit is a Guardian, and is not suited for battle, silly Spirit. It's no wonder he lost and got injured like he did, then he blames little Troublemaker, how silly of him. Sore, silly loser…"
"These Pirates have strange abilities, mind you." Pukje warned. "One of them managed to cut me with his sword without ever actually coming into contact with me, but it was more of an annoyance if anything else."
If Pukje had been honest with the other Spirits at that moment, he would have told them about the brief fear that he had had when he was cut by seemingly nothing. How fortunate he was that he had a disassembling ability, and that he had wondered what could have potentially been done to him. About how a single look from the man he had slapped that C-seal onto was enough to make Pukje not want to have personally anything to do with the Pirates any longer. Pukje would not reveal any of this. About the man in a straw hat who sent chills down his spine with a mere look and simple words. No, Pukje would be saying nothing about any of that, either.
He didn't want to lose the chance at getting treasure, and these Spirits were the ones that could help ensure him getting that treasure. Instead, Pukje came up with other plans to hopefully detain the Avatar. He had a few Spirit friends who owed him favors. They would most certainly jump at the chance to get their hands on some treasure. And of course Pukje would not tell them how much treasure there actually was. And of course, by having others confront the Pirates before he actually had to (if it came down to that, and hopefully it wouldn't) meant that he could at least know what they were capable of and he could try and prepare.
Pukje pulled some straws out of his hat, and held them up in his fist for the participating Spirits to draw. "The one with the red tip will be the first to go," he explained. "Afterwards, I'll talk with a few friends of mine. They're also bored, but don't like watching games; they'd much rather be participating in them."
The Spirits each drew straws, and the beautiful female Spirit drew the red tipped straw.
"Oh, my," she said with a smile, and she put a hand to her cheek. "Does this mean I get to go first?"
"Yes."
"Oh, yay! I can't wait to start playing. Tell me, Troublemaker, are the men on the Pirate crew handsome? I only add the good looking ones to my collection. Tee hee."
"I suppose," Pukje replied hesitantly. "I've never looked at Humans that way before."
"Ohhh, well. I'll find out when I meet them." She twirled her hair. "Are the women beautiful? I don't like it when they are more beautiful than me. If they are, I'll steal their beauty from them and make them ugly.
"My sisters envy my beauty too. The last time I saw Surriento, her eyes were bluer than mine, and I can't have that. My eyes need to be blue with hints of other colors in them. I've stolen the eyes of women so I can have this pretty, pretty effect. See?"
She pointed to her blue eyes, which indeed showed hints of other colors in them, much like light reflecting in the ocean. They were quite beautiful.
"And then there's my little sister, Paestum," she sounded quite bitter to the point of sounding like she was whining. "She's collected so many men, and everyone fauns over her. But no one pays attention to the fact that she picks up low-lifers and stragglers. No one sees that she doesn't pay attention to the quality of her men, that she'll take any man if she can. Unlike me," She brushed her blond hair that had various shades of blue and green highlights behind her ear before continuing. "I want to claim these big, bad Pirates as my own. Then, everyone else will see that I, Kapri, am the most beautiful and have the more lovely voice compared to that of my sisters."
She dove into the water and was about to leave, when she asked, "How do I find them? I don't know where they are. Somebody will have to show me. I'm so silly, silly for not knowing these things. I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll just wait here until I know where they are."
She then climbed back onto the lily pad, saying, "I don't mean that I'll wait in the water. I mean that I'll wait in this spot right here. It's more comfy. Besides, wherever the Pirates are, it's not the right time to meet them anyways. The setting isn't right just yet. If I go too soon, I'll look so, so silly."
Pukje doubtfully eyed the beautiful female Spirit, wondering what she could actually be capable of. She didn't seem to be that smart, and she seemed more interested in combing her hair, deeply studying her reflection whenever she saw herself, and complaining about her two sisters who were jealous of her, yet it seemed that she envied them as well. The way she talked about them it seemed that they had beauty and possessions that she desired, yet did not want because they had them, therefor those possessions had been somehow tainted.
Before the girl could go on another tangent, Pukje quickly spoke up. "Ah, I'll have an orb sent out so that we can view them. I know where they are…"
"Oh, do show me!" Kapri said, jumping up from her sitting position. "And hurry up!" A shadow passed over her face, and for a brief moment, Pukje thought that she looked rather ugly. Even though Pukje was not one to find other Spirits attractive, he had to admit that Kapri was quite alluring, even with her faults. But that ugly shadow was so brief that Pukje thought that he must have imagined it.
Pukje sent out an orb so that he and the other Spirits could observe the Avatar and his Pirate guides. The weather in this particular Human World was quite fickle; it either stormed terribly with wind, rain, and lightning, or even a mix of the three, or there was nothing at all. The orb kept getting thrown off course, so Pukje really had to focus and guide the orb to where he wanted it. So it was a bit of a struggle to find the players of the Spirits' game.
Upon finally finding the Pirates and their ship, there was a shout of triumph on Pukje's part. Kapri stared into the orb, watching each of the men carefully. She watched how they moved about the ship, and studied their faces.
"I like them," she said with a giggle, and her eyes narrowed. "I could just devour them whole! I've never seen Humans who look quite like that, before. They will make my collection quite beautiful. Surely, my sisters will be jealous of me!"
It was then someone on the ship must have spotted the orb, because everyone had stopped what they were doing and their full attention was suddenly on the orb. This also gave Kapri a chance to see the women of the crew, and even though they couldn't hear her, she threatened to steal their beauty out loud as if they could.
They watched the crew for a few moments longer when suddenly something black and shiny flew at the orb, and the image cracked and faded. Pukje sighed at the loss of his orb. But the other Spirits were quite excited, especially Kapri. She clasped her hands, and her eyes sparkled.
"I can't wait to make those men mine," she then turned to Pukje, "Troublemaker, guide me to where they are so I can meet them! I wish to claim them!"
"If the Siren fails, then I'm next… I wanted to go this time…" the Bear Spirit spoke up slowly. His comments lead to Kapri having various shadows pass over her face before turning to the Bear Spirit in anger, demanding,
"Do you think I will fail?! How weak do you think I am?"
While that was going on, Pukje went about sending another orb out to find the Pirates. Once he was able to figure out the general direction they were headed for a second time, he instructed to follow the second orb he was going to send out, and she nodded her understanding.
"I'm going to have so, so much fun!" an overjoyed Kapri was saying in a singsong voice. "My sisters are going to envy me so, so much!"
And with that, Kapri set out to find the Pirates and the Avatar.
A/N: To Artemis Decibal. Thanks for the review! If I can somehow work in some of the awesome vice-admirals that are out there, I will. If they do show up, I want to make sure that they have a part to play, and aren't there just to say, "Hey, vice-admiral Smoker is here! And now he's gone." You just have to look at Gambit in X-men Origins: Wolverine to get exactly how I don't want to write such amazing characters.
