(A/N) WELCOME! First attempt at a full length story. Don't have a beta, so it may be a bit bumpy... Okay, very bumpy. If you want to volunteer, that would be great. Chapter 2 will probably be up in a few.. whether that be minutes, days, months, or even years, depends on y'alls reviews. I like to know someone cares before I put too much work into it.
Oh, And I don't own the Wizards universe, sad as that is.
On to chapter 1
I was walking down Main Street in a tiny little town called Beach, North Dakota, (Just think about the geography for a second.) minding my own business, kicking loose stones randomly. You know those things teenager guys do to try to look cool? Hands in my pockets, chest puffed up? Mmhm.
See, there was this girl; she was cute and I was an idiot. Oh yeah I almost missed one key detail: she had a boyfriend. Example idiot numero uno. So, basically, I hit on her and she sicced him on me.
So, there I was, running for my life for probably the third time that year, his breath on my neck and all I could think about was what she could possibly see in him. Maybe the pug she has at home? Believe me, this was pretty accurate description; his nose was squished against his upper lip, while his eyes were spread so far apart I could stick my palm between them. His chin (or was that his mouth?) was round and stuck out so far it could have been a pug's muzzle and he had tiny little pug ears. Yep, definitely puppy-love.
I could hear his breath grow heavier as he chased me and I realized, in some twisted way, I enjoyed this; hearing him suffer through the exercise he most definitely needed was kind of fun. After awhile, I heard him gasp behind me, it sounded something like, "face me like a man!" Yep, you guessed it, my stupid teen pride stopped me abruptly and I twisted myself to face him.
"Excuse me?" I asked politely.
He was bent down; hands on his knees, sucking in what must have been much needed air. He was winded alright, but I was barely fazed. 'Weird' I thought to myself, 'he must be more out of shape then I realized.'
He finally stood up straight, his eyes gleaming. "You should have kept running." he murmured. I was about to agree, I was busy thinking about how to best bring up getting him a personal trainer, when he lunged at me.
Energy coursed through my veins like I just had a triple caffeinated coffee, and everything slowed down for several seconds, next thing I knew, he was on the ground trembling and I was standing over him, hands vibrating. Vibrating? I looked down and saw electricity arcing between my fingertips. "Oh geez." I mumbled to myself, pug-face still on the ground, terror in his tiny eyes. I looked around cautiously. Only Puggy here had seen my freakshow and he probably wouldn't tell anyone, not as if anyone would believe him; I still couldn't believe it myself. This was like something out of a bad superhero movie.
I shook my hands, turning off the freaky electricity for the time being, as I ran off as fast as I could with my eyes closed; willing myself to wake up from this stupid dream. All I got was a tree in the face.
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I'm not sure how much time had passed, all I remember was waking up with a serious headache. I groaned and closed my eyes. "Idiot tree…" I moaned
A deep voice sounded from the tree I'd just insulted. "I can hear you, you know. "
"Idiot talking tree" I corrected myself, staring at the tree apprehensively.
"You'd think a Wizard would show some respect." the talking tree grunted, sounding a bit miffed.
I stared at it with one of my prizewinning shocked expressions plastered across my face. "I think you've got the wrong guy, I don't do card tricks." I edged away nervously but the tree didn't speak again.
I finally relaxed as I walked away. Curiosity gripping me suddenly, I turned back to glance at the tree, only to realize that it was gone. My eyes widened.
"Walking talking idiot tree." I corrected myself yet again, quickly scanning the woods around me. It was no good, the trees all looked the same to me.
After about an hour of wandering around looking for a road to lead me back to civilization, I collapsed in a small patch of long grass, only beginning to fall asleep before I was rudely interrupted.
"Hey Mister!"
I rubbed my eyes, looking blearily at my surroundings. "whasgoinon?" I mumbled.
"Hi!" the cheery voice chirped again.
I rubbed my eyes once more. "I'm either having a really bizarre dream or you're really a fairy."
"Pixie actually," The tiny creature responded. "There's quite a difference, you know. What are you?" It flew around me lazily.
"Uhh." I said stupidly
"Are you a hobo?" she asked suspiciously.
"Do I look like one?" I snapped crossly.
"I dunno, I never saw one before" she shrugged. My eyes narrowed. She spoke again. "So are you?"I rolled my eyes and stood up, walking away. She flew after me, keeping up without really trying. "If you aren't hobo, you must be a Wizard." She mused to herself.
I whirled on her. "A what?!"
"A Wizard!" she said triumphantly, as if she had finally caught me in some heinous act. "So, Mister Wizard, where you off to?" She questioned.
"Back up, back up. Why do people - or creatures - or whatever you are - keep calling me a 'Wizard'?
"The same reason my friends call me a pixie."
"Didn't your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?" I snarked, annoyed that she kept avoiding direct questions.".
"Yep." she winked cheekily. "Right after they told me that curiosity killed the Firecat." She rolled her miniscule eyes "Pixies don't have parents. Don't you know anything?"
"Uh no, when it comes to this place, I know nothing." I admitted. "Where am I anyway?" I asked "I'm definitely not in North Dakota anymore." It was true, wherever I was, it was not the planet earth; the sky had a weird purplish hue, and the ground seemed to have the consistency of 3 day old porridge, if you can imagine that.
"This," the pixie announced proudly. "Is the Wilderness. The place where all magical creatures come from-"
"Is that natural?" I interrupted as I stared at a giant blue beetle about the size of a Great Dane. Luckily it was about a football field away.
"Cool huh?" The pixie grinned "That, my fine friend, is a Ice Beetle, a lowly Ice creature.
I gave her another of my trademarked 'the heck?' faces.
Her grin shifted gradually into a look of impatience. "You really don't know anything, do you? I shook my head and she sighed. "Guess I've gotta start somewhere…" She grumbled "Okay here goes."
"This world is called the Wilderness, it's where all magical creatures originate; Humongofrogs, Skeletal Dragons, you name it, we've got it."
The confusion on my face must have been evident, because she was obviously getting more frustrated by the minute. Her voice changed as if she was talking to a three year old. "Big monsters here. Rawr?" She threw her hands up in a gesture that not even I could mistake as something friendly.
"I'm not a little kid!" I snapped.
She looked at me funny. "You sure? You were giving me a blank stare until I started treating you like a kindergartner."
I stared at her murderously. "If you weren't so quick, I would…" I simulated swatting a fly.
"Threatening a child." she tsked "I think I'll leave the rest of the explaining to your Wizard friends."
Okay, now I was really freaking out. Wizard friends? This was the third time I'd heard the term 'Wizard' in the last few hours from creatures that should have been impossible in the first place. Before I could open my mouth to ask if I'd been transported back to 2004, she winked and snapped her fingers. My last thought: 'Cliché much?'
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I woke up slowly, my headache now twofold, half expecting to see the tree I'd smacked into. "Nope" I groaned. "Not a dream." I'd just closed my eyes, or I thought I had, when I heard a couple of feminine voices conversing right above me.
"Do you think he's dead?" The first asked fervently.
"I think I would know." A second voice supplied.
"Says who?" a third voice sneered, "You're nothing but an apprentice."
"So are you!" The second voice said defensively, "In fact, you haven't even gotten your school assignment yet."
An embarrassing silence filled the air; I felt for the third girl, however grouchy she was.
I was still trying to figure out how the second girl knew I was alive, when my thoughts were rudely interrupted by a queer tingling sensation traveling down my spine. I shuddered; it felt as if I was just injected with Red Bull. I opened one eye and watched as a green robed girl, who must have been the second voice, lifted her hands (which were glowing green at the time, may I add.) away from my chest. I finally spoke. "I don't know what you just did, but I had my coffee this morning, thank you very much."
The girl in the green robe yelped and jumped away while another's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. The third girl, however, looked mildly amused by her cohorts' behavior and held out her hand. "Alex." she said simply.
"Uh thanks" I replied awkwardly. I turned around to find the other two girls staring at me with intense interest: the second girl, as if I was a puzzle that needed solving, and the first, as if I was the juiciest steak she'd ever seen. The second girl came to first.
"Scarlet." She mumbled and held out her hand, I took it and looked towards the first girl. She realized all attention was turned towards her, shook her head like a dog emerging from a pool and blushed so fiercely she almost turned the same shade of red as the robe she was donning.
"Jordan" she murmured, looking down at her shoes.
"Nice to meet you all!" I said brightly. We sat there in an awkward silence for a moment before I realized they were expecting my name… My name… Oh gosh I had forgotten my name! After a few minutes of my blank stare, the brunette named Alex began to speak, it was at this moment when I'd realized she wasn't wearing robes like the others. She was wearing a T-shirt that read 'bite me', torn jeans and a pair of blue converse. I mentally gasped. Some of these people were sane! After I'd made this mental note, I realized that Alex had finished speaking. 'Crap.' I thought to myself. 'Just agree, it's always safe to agree.' "Yeah, totally." I said stupidly. She looked at me as if I were an idiot, which is arguably true.
"Scar, Jordan why don't you guys head to your classes, I'll take our friend here to Mithrandil." Alex suggested quickly. Jordan looked as if she were about to argue, but Alex cut her off curtly before she could. "I have to go to Mithrandil anyway, like you said." Her eyes flashed dangerously.
"But-"Jordan pouted.
"No." Alex cut her off again.
As we moved off, I noticed that Alex was glaring daggers in Jordan's direction, so I tried something an older brother of mine taught me. "Are they always like that?"
"Like what?" She cocked an eyebrow quizzically in my direction.
'Shoot.' I berated myself and blushed furiously. To be fair, whenever I asked people something like that, they usually told me what their shtick was with the party in question. Not this time. I shrugged casually. "They just seemed… Shy."
She snorted. "I wouldn't call either of them shy." she grumbled. "Jordan is a social butterfly, and Scarlet doesn't shut up for, normally, anything."
"She shut up there." I observed. "Any clue as to wh-"
"No idea." She interrupted sarcastically. "Complete mystery." She looked down at her converse and bit her lip in concentration. "Speaking of mysteries." she glanced towards me, our eyes met, and suddenly I was captured by two emerald beauties. Dangerous, and yet, alluring. She seemed to be searching my soul and I felt exposed. I hate feeling exposed. I pulled away and coughed weakly.
"You- you have nice eyes." I managed.
She rolled them and took my hand, ignoring my stuttered protests. "Come on; we have a puzzle to solve."
On our way to what she called the Headmaster's tower, I began noticing my surroundings. (Alex told me we were in the commons.) A large pond sat in the middle of what seemed to be a park and around it, kids (also in robes) chatting, reading and studying under large trees that circled the pond. Little creatures that chased each other and floating broomsticks that had just been dismounted were scattered amongst them. My eyes widened, and I tapped Alex on the shoulder. She turned around and gave me an impatient scowl as I pointed towards the floating broomsticks incredulously. She surveyed my expression, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of her scowl and took my hand again, yanking me towards a large tower.
"Bu-but" I stammered.
"Not now." Alex barked sternly, a smirk still pasted to her face.
I was officially crazy; broomsticks don't fly, not unless you're Harry Potter. When we entered the tower, I fully expected to see Dumbledore sitting behind his desk. Turns out, I was partially right; someone who seemed like he could be Dumbledore's twin brother got up to shake my hand.
"Welcome young Wizard to-" the older man began.
"Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, yadda yadda." I interrupted abruptly; I scanned his office interestedly, looking for a hidden camera of some sort. Instead, all I found were mistakes. I pointed at the owl in the corner of the room. "Aren't you supposed to have a phoenix named Fawkes, not an owl named-?" I squinted at the name scrawled on the bird post.
"Gamma?" someone said. I looked around, spooked.
"Alright, very funny, which one of you-?" I began.
"It was I, young Wizard." the voice hooted again. I turned around slowly to find the owl staring at me. I stared back and pointed.
"The owl can-?" I muttered softly and it nodded. I was flabbergasted, this definitely wasn't Hogwarts. I turned around sheepishly.
"Sorry, please continue?"
The headmaster looked just as mystified as I was, just for other reasons.
"As I was saying," The headmaster began again slowly. "Welcome young wizard, to-" Before an explosion rocked the room.
"Headmaster-?!" Alex shouted as a roar echoed through the room.
"Forgot to lock the Stormzilla's cage." The old man's lips twisted into a grimace before SNAPping out of existence.
Alex swore and dodged out of the way of a flying piece of debris before grabbing my hand once again and yanking me towards where we'd entered. Before I had the chance to add my own expletive, a chunk of ceiling came loose and knocked me and my poor melon senseless for the third time that day.