Chapter Two: Snapdragon
When Sienna started to regain consciousness, she was aware of a prodding in her side. A very familiar prodding in her side.
Déjà vu? Sienna thought, struggling to clear the fog from her mind. She was aware that she was lying on a soft surface that was most certainly not her bed. Her bed wasn't nearly as comfortable. Her vision was still black, but she did feel the tickle of a breeze playing with her hair, and the sound of rustling leaves and grass.
"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted, exceptionally loud. Sienna started, bolting up into a sitting position instinctively in response to the loud voice still ringing through her ears. Or at least she tried to.
"Owie!"
"The hell?"
Sienna's skull collided into something hard, leaving her with a throbbing headache. The first thing she noticed was a girl her age, about fifteen, on the ground, clutching her head in pain, and Sienna was immediately concerned that she might have killed her. The poor girl was bone-thin and sickly-looking, with pale skin that had a wan tinge to it. Her clothes—a sky-blue tank-top under a black jacket made of semi-transparent material, and a frilly black skirt held up by a gold chain belt over blue leggings—hung loosely on her scrawny body, and numerous gold bangles and chains looked about ready to fall off her thin wrists, matching gold jewelry adorning her equally fragile neck. Luckily, Sienna found that this was not the case, when the odd girl started complaining.
"What the hell were you doing?" Sienna yelled in anger at the mystery girl, who looked up in confusion, blue eyes wide. Suddenly, she smiled widely.
"You're awake! Wow, I thought you were, I dunno, dead or something!" the girl piped cheerfully, adjusting the blue bow in her long hair: blond highlighted with cerulean. Her pain was seemingly forgotten as she sprang to her feet, then immediately tripped over air and face-planted into the ground. "Ow..."
Sienna was mystified by the antics of the overly-hyper girl, who was currently mumbling to herself. She went through different thoughts in her head, but finally decided on repeating her question from before. "What were you doing?"
The girl scrambled to her feet, thankfully not tripping this time. Dusting of her clothes, she smiled brightly once more and said, "Silly, I was waking you up! You shouldn't sleep on the ground like that, you could get pneumonia!" As she spoke, she wagged her index finger reprimandingly. She then paused from her speech, raising the previously waving finger to her pursed lips in deep thought, before adding, "Well, it's not like I know what pneumonia is, but it sounds really evil! And scary!" The strange girl giggled impishly, before rambling on about a variety of other subjects, that Sienna in no way cared about.
Sienna went from confused, to annoyed. Very quickly. Sienna did not deal with hyper people well. At all. To tune out the ramblings of the other girl, she closed her eyes, concentrating. First train of thought, how did I get here... I was in the Dark Cave... but why? To train? I hardly ever go to Dark Cave to train.
As Sienna mulled over her thoughts, a few of the other girl's words managed to penetrate the barrier of her ears. "And then I was invited to this super-cool tournament! It was all 'If you win, you get your wish granted'! And then..."
Tournament? Get your wish granted? Wish granted... Sienna snapped her eyes open and for the first time really noticed her surroundings without the haze of sleep clouding her vision.
Instead of the usual cerulean-blue, the sky was a shade of light turquoise. The field in which she stood in was made of a slightly gold-tinted grass. It matched the black trunks and autumn leaves of the trees scattered across the meadow. Some ways away she noticed a stream flowing despite the lack of any elevation in the ground. Mossy rocks were artistically placed, too perfectly to be natural, in a sort of rock garden. Off in the distance she spotted a brick pathway, as well as several small flower gardens, forming a park of sorts. She saw benches made of curving black iron and a fountain which burbled happily, a marble white Dewgong spewing water into the air. In the sky, powder-gray cirrus clouds lined themselves up in an odd formation, curving and spiraling around a single tower in the far-far distance, pure black with a silver steel skeleton holding it up. Sienna probably would not have noticed it if it weren't for its height and presence.
"What... What is this place?" Sienna murmured, perplexed and fascinated by this odd alternate world.
"Hmm? My dear, I'm sure you know the answer to that question~" an unknown voice purred. Sienna started at the unfamiliar voice. It had a trace of a giggle to it, similar to the other girl's, but a much more mocking kind of cheer.
"Who are you?" Sienna shouted, spinning around.
"Are you Arceus?" the blond girl exclaimed in shock, awe, and pure stupidity.
"Of course I am~" the voice sing-songed again, behind me. Sienna whirled around again, to meet nothing. "Where are you looking? I'm over here!" Annoyed, she pirouetted again, expecting to find air. However, she found her own clay-red eyes less than three inches from bright golden ones that examined her curiously.
"Ahh!" Sienna jumped back, arms flailing, and nearly bowled the other girl—who was standing behind her—over. The hyper girl instead jumped out of the way, tripped, and was now sprawled on the ground.
The golden eyes laughed. Or rather, the girl who owned the gold eyes laughed. "Aw, the Audiats are so cute this time!" Sienna's eye twitched, for numerous reasons, the three foremost being: she did not handle being called 'cute' well, she was perplexed by the term 'Audiat', and the gold-eyed girl's wings.
Wings. Some of the craziest wings Sienna had ever seen, and Sienna had seen pictures of a Sigilyph. Shaped similarly to a dragon's, a skeleton of ebony branches made up the frame of the wings. They provided something for the green leaves and brown pods to cling onto, creating a strange feathered appearance. They were definately the girl's most unique feature, but the rest of her wouldn't quite be called normal either. Her golden eyes were unnatural and eerie, but they matched the knee-length gold dress she wore, pitch black pupils coordinating with the dress' black ruffles and apron, which gave her the appearance of a really weird French maid. She only just managed to look Sienna at eye-level by floating a few inches from the ground. In one hand she held a white mug, in which the aroma of coffee flowed out of.
Perched on the bend in one of her wings was a sheep-like Pokémon. Its skin was coffee-black, and a shocking contrast of tufty white covered its back. Curls of green bordered its face, in which bright amber eyes peered. Sienna recognized it as a Whimsicott, a Pokémon native to Unova and found nowhere else. As far as Sienna knew, they were not in Unova.
The leaf-winged girl smiled slyly at Sienna's gaping mouth, twirling a lock of curly brunette hair as she did so. "It's impolite to stare, you know," she said casually, with a hint of smugness, fanning out her wings out and causing the leaf-feathers to rustle. The Whimsicott 'baa'ed in annoyance as it regained its balance. It then reached down and plucked one of the pods from the gold-eyed girl's wings, and split it open, reaching her tiny hand in to much on the contents. Inside were several white seeds that gave off a familiar rich scent. Chocolate.
"How can I not stare when you have wings? Made out of plants! That your Whimsicott is eating!" Sienna yelled irritatedly. The leaf-winged girl pouted, putting a hand to her hip. The other, which held her mug, she lifted to her mouth and took a swig from. She then smiled.
"Y'know, have you ever wondered if maybe it was you that's the weird one?" she said casually. Sienna's thoughts flung to her attire; a long-sleeved dull orange T-shirt, gray skirt, and black leggings. They had already dried from when Loren had dumped water on her, earlier. Her dark brunette hair was still as messy as ever, pinned up to appear shorter. Her bangs were held out of her burgundy eyes by orange clips. She frowned, maybe she wasn't the best groomed, but at least she didn't have wings.
"There's nothing wrong with me," Sienna scoffed. Her inner voice retorted bitingly, but she ignored it.
The other girl smiled in that smug way that made Sienna want to tear her wings off. "Maybe that's true in your world, but not anymore, Sienna Roux." Sienna stiffened, and her scathing inner voice muttered, Of course, she knows my name. Classic. Is this a badly written fanfiction or something?
"Woah, that's such a cool name!" the other girl piped up cheerfully. Then she paused a second, the gears in her non-existent brain apparently working. "Wait a second, how did you know her name? Oh wait, I know! Are you, like, psychic?"
"Sure am, dearie." The winged girl giggled, and the Whimsicott bleated its amusement. Then her expression turned passive as she looked over the sickly-looking girl, then smiled in an eerie way. "Feeling well, Mia McCarthy? You don't look too good..."
Sienna was about to ask who 'Mia' was, and then realized she must be talking to the other girl. She frowned, it should have been a casual comment, but the way the winged girl said it...
Beside her, Mia became still. Her hyper bouncing ceased, the smile remained frozen on her face, and her blue eyes were blank and devoid of thought or emotion. For a second, Sienna thought Mia was going to go bat-shit crazy on the coffee-girl, but the blue-eyed girl simply unfroze, resuming her bouncing and smiling. However, out of the corner of her eyes, Sienna noticed that her eyes were still hollow.
"Wow, you know my name too? That's so cool! What's yours?" Mia asked, and her giggle seemed somewhat forced. The brunette chuckled, taking another swig from her steaming cup.
"My name, eh?" the winged girl paused a second, before smiling angelically. "I guess you can call me Cacao" The sheep-like Pokémon on her wing made an irritated bleating noise. "And you can call her Mocha. Nice to meet you, Sienna, Mia."
This unnerved Sienna even more, how this 'Cacao' person called them casually by their first names, despite the fact that they hadn't even introduced themselves to her. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream. Sienna pinched her arm, but all it did was leave a white crescent. Noticing it, Cacao smiled again.
"Still don't believe it's real, do you?" This time her voice seemed slightly sympathetic. "Hmm, I guess I should start doing my job now. Boss gets annoying when he yells." Sienna perked up, and even Mia's eyes gained a hint of interest, suggesting that she actually had a trace of common sense.
"'What is this place?'," Cacao repeated Sienna's previous question. "Does the name Nusquam Locus ring any bells?"
Mia waved her hand in the air. "Oh, oh, pick me! It's from that letter thing!" Cacao took on a look of mock-shock.
"That it is!" she said, clapping sarcastically. "Welcome to Nusquam Locus. Home of the clinically insane," she added as an afterthought.
"Wait," Sienna interjected, not satisfied with Cacao's answer. "What exactly is Nusquam Locus?"
Cacao pointed her coffee mug in Sienna's general direction, the Whimsicott copying her movements with a cacao bean. "A fine question from the young woman in the orange." The coffee-addict took another sip, biding her time.
"Nusquam Locus. You might not know this, but in Latin, Nusquam Locus means 'The Nothing Place'." Yeah, of course I just randomly happen to know random words in Latin. It being a dead language and all, y'know. "'The Nothing Place'. Quite a fitting name for a place like this. To put it as simply as possible, Nusquam Locus is nothing."
"Sure, everything we see now is nothing. But it's not a dream. How does this make sense, exactly? And where exactly do the wings fit in?"
Cacao put a hand to her hips, an expression of pure mischief on her face. "I'm not telling~" she sing-songed. Mocha made a face, sticking out her tongue mockingly. Like trainer like Pokémon.
"...Fine. But at least tell me, what am I doing here?" Sienna crossed her arms. "We're supposed to be here for some all-mighty tournament of doom, right?"
"Wrong!" Cacao exclaimed with a surprising amount of force, thrusting her coffee-mug-arm forward, nearly emptying the contents on Sienna's shirt, something she would like to have avoided. "You're here for The All-Mighty Tournament of Doom." Cacao paused, eyes drifting to the side somewhat to stare at the distant tower. She then smiled in the smug 'I know something that you don't' sort of way. "Welcome to Nusquam Locus. Home of the Cereus Calluna, tournament of dreams, clash of desires. May your deepest wishes be granted."
"Impressive, most people don't find the bar until after the ceremonies. Pity, I was looking forward to having the place to myself."
"Ha. No way I would let you have all that beer to yourself, flower-boy."
Zeru Finn and Bugle had only met five minutes ago. Zeru Finn and Bugle were already best friends.
A muscular man despite his middle age downed another shot of ale down, slamming the glass against the counter. "Cocktail, get me more beer!" he called to a Gardevoir in a waitress' uniform, as if he had seen Pokémon act as waitresses his whole life. The Psychic-type crossed her arms in annoyance, not budging.
From the other side of the table, a younger man—wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest and tie, as well as black dress pants—chuckled softly at the Gardevoir. "C'mon, Cocktail, give the man his beer." When the Gardevoir simply turned away crossly, Bugle sighed, running a hand through his ashy blond hair. "Cocktail, you know that every time I go back there my wings knock everything over."
The Gardevoir opened her slitted scarlet eyes wider to glance in amusement at the bartender's wings. They were the epitome of masculinity. Vivid indigo and lavender flowers, tiny and bell-shaped, bloomed on light branches that made up the frame of the wings, that stretched for a wingspan of nearly two meters. Flower-wings, totally manly.
With a sigh, the green and white Pokémon lifted a white hand, which took on a blue glow in the dim-lit bar. A few seconds later, an amber bottle floated off the rack in the back, and with a flick of the wrist, it flew towards the winged man, who caught it deftly. He cracked the top off and poured the amber liquid into Zeru's glass, sliding the drink back.
Zeru took another sip of the drink, eyes glancing at something behind Bugle. "Dude. Is your Kecleon wasted?"
"Probably." Bugle didn't even have to turn around; he knew what he would see. A green chameleon half-passed out in a puddle of wine, surrounded by bottles of alcohol.
Zeru shook his head in admiration of the strange drunken Kecleon, chuckling in amusement. His gaze then turned serious, as he drummed his fingers against the ebony counter-top. "So, let's talk business."
Bugle raised an eyebrow as he leaned against a wall, careful not to damage his wings. "I don't like business. Business usually means work. And I don't like work."
"Why exactly do you own a bar, then? Not that I mind, of course."
Bugle cracked a grin. "'Cause it's fun to watch people get smashed."
Zeru shrugged. "Can't argue with that logic. Anyways, I'll make this business short, then. How exactly did you get your wings?"
"I thought I already told you. I'm an Ales Fio-"
"Not why do you have wings. How did you get them?" Bugle casually plucked an indigo blossom off his wings, smiling as if he had been expecting that answer.
"Hmm, wouldn't you like to know?" His demeanor was casual, but his golden eyes carried a hint of amusement and flashed tauntingly at the middle-aged man, who in turn, cocked his head at Bugle.
"I'd prefer to do this the easy way, but I have no problem taking this outside." Zeru cracked his knuckles threateningly. "So just tell me now, and I won't tear your pretty little wings off, kid."
Bugle simply tilted his head slightly, a smile still etched onto his face. "I wouldn't call me 'kid', if I were you. You shouldn't always judge people by their looks. It'll get you into nasty situations. Of course, you've had your share of nasty situations, haven't you?"
Zeru clenched his fist around his glass, threatening to shatter it. "I'll-" His voice trailed off as he noticed the figure behind Bugle. Cocktail's normally crimson eyes glowed threatening blue, sign of a Psychic attack. Floating above her ivory hand was a chipped alcohol bottle, jagged and dangerous, also shimmering with the same aura. Zeru pondered his chances of winning against an angry Gardevoir with a weapon. Or rather, an angry female Gardevoir with a weapon. Because it made all the difference.
Zeru was saved from making a decision when the amber bottle swung... towards Bugle. However, he stood still, unflinching, eyes crossing to examine the jagged glass less than an inch away from his face. He smiled, cheery as ever, as Cocktail sighed irritatedly, eyes dimming as the bottle dropped to the floor, shattering against the tile.
"You're cleaning that up, right?" Bugle piped, casual as ever. Cocktail shot him a look that said 'You know you're not supposed to do that', and Bugle sighed reaching over for a broom in the corner. Before he started sweeping up the shrapnel, however, he glanced at Zeru, before saying, "Drop the wings issue. You'll get your own chance to make your wish come true, in the tournament. Besides, I know you have trouble with getting kicked out of tournaments. Trust me, you don't want to know what happens when you break the rules of Cereus Calluna."
Then, as a cheery afterthought, he offered, "Meanwhile, why don't I supply you with some more beer?"
Gabriel Volantis marveled at the sights surrounding him. They reminded him of the legends he would study; the unnatural colors, strange symmetry, but most of all, the strange winged girl that had confronted him earlier, and the things she had explained to him. Green skies, winged people, granting wishes... It was most odd, Gabriel concluded.
He didn't know that it was about to get odder.
His dirty-blond hair whipped, his blue blazer flapped, and he had to squint his hazel eyes from the sudden burst of wind and light. It died down quickly, however, leaving in its place a wind-blown field, scattered dust, and a very miffed Gabriel. He found the culprit of the explosion, a girl with spiky and wind-blown scarlet hair, peering into a large hole, presumably from the explosion, where a slightly singed Electrode laid. Or stood, Gabriel couldn't really tell or care.
Gabriel frowned, and called out, "What were you doing!"
The girl tilted her head towards Gabriel, and he saw the other side of her face for the first time. Her other eye was covered by an eye-patch, and underneath it was what appeared to be a long burn mark. In fact, her arms and legs and legs were covered with red welts and black ash. He also noticed that she was grinning in a slightly crazed way. Only slightly, of course.
"Well, that winged chick told me this is a 'very special place'." The psycho-girl made exaggerated quotation marks at the words 'very special place', her voice obtaining a sarcastic tone. "So I wanted to see if this 'very special place's trees were incombustible. Turns out they weren't." The girl and her Electrode cackled in harmony, annoying and creeping Gabriel out at the same time.
"...Did you really have to blow it up?"
"Of course! Me and Boomboom had to show the tree who's boss!" she said, gesturing towards the Electrode. She then added loftily, "No surprise that we came out on top, of course."
"It's an Electrode versus a tree, of course you're going to win," Gabriel said in a slightly irritated tone. The girl cocked her head arrogantly and put her hands on her hips, posture tall and proud.
"Oh really? Then let me, Crash Fields, show you what we can really do."
"Are you suggesting a battle, Miss Crash Fields?" Gabriel said with forced formality. The girl, Crash, giggled with wicked delight.
"Not too scared, are you?" she queried mockingly. Her Electrode copied his trainer's arrogant smirk, sparking in anticipation of the battle.
Gabriel tightened his fists, inhaling deeply to calm himself. He hated these types of people, acting high and mighty. "One on one?"
"Bring it."
Trivia:
~The title of this chapter, the snapdragon, in the Language of Flowers, stands for deception, mystery, dazzling-ness, and presumption.
~Bugle's namesake, the Bugle flower, in the Language of Flowers, means 'a cheerful soul'. Cacao comes from the cacao bean plant, used to make chocolate.
GUESS WHO UPDATED JUST IN TIME FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY!
Anyways, I really do hate this chapter. It flows so... ugh. But at least I got it published in less than a month, so I'm happy. Next chapter will probably come quicker because it involves battles and battles are easier for me to write.
I know some readers will probably be skeptical about the flower-winged people... and I don't really have a good defense. Nusquam Locus kinda drifts this story into a supernatural type of setting. I know I messed up with the description and stuff really badly... And I probably screwed the bar scene up. Sorry, but in my defense, I only turned fourteen today; I don't think I'm supposed to know what goes on in a bar...
Well anyways, I'm sorry I only introduced four new OCs in this chapter. I'm trying to spread the love slowly, like sticky peanut butter on sliced bread. More OCs will make an appearance next chapter, so don't be upset if yours was not shown. I still welcome new OCs, so bring them in~
Meanwhile, twenty-one reviews for one chapter? I LOVE YOU ALL. Seriously, you have no idea how flippin' happy I am. I've gotten so much amazing concrit, and OCs, and really... you all are amazing. Way too amazing for me. I don't know why you still stick around my inferior self.
Credits:
Mia belongs to Black Mareep
Zeru belongs to Megalink1126
Gabriel belongs to WereDragon EX
Crash belongs to Indigo Hare
All other characters belong to Me or Chewpacabra
Thank you so much for sticking around and reading. Reviews make me happy.