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Pokémon Tastes Anew [two-shot]

1/2

Venia Silente

For your ills, I prescribe a cat.
Location
At the 0-divisor point of the Riemann AU Earth
Pronouns
Él/Su
Partners
  1. nidorino
  2. blaziken
Hello my readers, it's been a while. How about some writing featuring canon characters now? Also food, because why not. Here I bring to you some bits of worldbuilding and a bit of writing some canon characters. This will be a two-parter but let's start with Part Numero Uno.

Enjoy!




Tastes Anew​


Oohr y Drań Mahrneeĥ
(Dragonspiral Tower)

A few wooden crates and clay bowls flew across a large room and crashed to the ground, broken into pieces.

Dragonspiral Tower had woken up to a difficult day.

Three Haxorus wearing various pieces of small jewelry and rings attached to their scales as ornaments, clustered together in the darkness of one of the tower's ceremonial chambers — the one meant for food and tributes. Such were common ere the days of the Vale; now gone for longer than many dragons had lived, and forgotten by much of the outside world.

The three Pokémon had seen such better days, as evidenced by their golden scales and the dim light they gave off even in the night of the chamber.

Yet today the three Haxorus huddled together both in reverence and in fear, as the two dragons that lorded over the Tower and over all of the Moors' population rummaged about the chamber. Their luminous red and blue eyes darted about seeking for loot and found none. Their claws traced the spots on the walls where food shelves once used to be. Their voices came out in the frustrated and treacherous growls of dragons denied their treasures.

The three Haxorus shivered as the ivory, feathered figure of one of the dragon lord snarled. Despite the efforts to hide it, the Haxorus' ornaments and chains clattered with their quaking scales, all but betraying the Haxorus' patent fear.

The ebony dragon among the two lords flew overhead, and the Haxorus quickly shuffled about and bowed at his approach. Circling about the chamber, the blue-crested dragon, shoved a pillar and nosed around, before turning his sight to the roof of the chamber for a moment and settling down on the ground, bored of his fruitless search.

"How come?" demanded the dragon in a strong, reptilian voice, "that we were so trusting? We've only been away for some thousand years!"

The dark dragon then turned to the three Haxorus, his eyes digging into their scales and their souls. An eerie bright blue light emerged from the tail of the creature, starkly outlining him against the darkness of the chamber.

"Ool esĥ eĥd toskĥ na," [1] "thraĥ iń," [2] the dragon's voice boomed.
[1] "answer to the gods"
[2] "you three"​

The golden patterns adorning the Haxorus' scales shone brighter for a moment from their lord's electric glow. In but a moment, the three dragons were quick to prostrate themselves in reply to the light and the voice, as if they were physically compelled to squeeze their bodies against the rocky ground of the chamber.

Whistling and hushing immediately broke out at the edges of the chamber, among the other local Pokémon pressed against the walls just out of sight from the dim light: mostly the Druddigon, Mienfoo, and Golett who normally dwelt in the tower where the dragon lords lived.

"We did not exalt you," roared the black dragon, rising his wings, "so that our chamber would be bereft of tribute."

The sole mention of "tribute" silenced much of the hushing going about, and the Pokémon there remained still and well obscured, eager to not draw the attention of evidently displeased lords given they were so present and so close.

A few Mienfoo dragged themselves across the walls, headed for the opening of the chamber. Their fear and anxiety was well-founded for what they all knew of the lords: while they were known to have great power and to exalt lesser Pokémon to speak on their name, rarely if ever would they raise their voice to command to force their followers to follow their bidding.

The other dragon lords, looking like a bird-wolf covered in ivory feathers, had been contemplating the pillars and empty shelves for a moment. Now, he too circled about the chamber and approached the opening, much to the Mienfoos' dismay. The white dragon stepped in front of the entrance and stood there, watching the forceful command of his sibling.

One of the three Haxorus gulped, crawled ahead and carefully rose from the ground to face her lord.

"My l-lords... dragons all over the land usually come to pay tribute, but—"

"'Usually'?" inquired the raspy voice of the ivory dragon behind the Haxorus, making her flinch.

Tremors shook the chamber ever so slightly as the dragon lord walked in and approached the three Haxorus by their side. While the two sprawled Haxorus remained in place, eyes well shut and throats letting out pitiful whines, the third Haxorus made an effort to stand her ground. She dug her claws against the sandstone underfoot with a loud clack and visibly gulped as the ivory feather god craned his head down in front of her and covered her with a wing.

The Haxorus breathed heavily and raised her arms defensively. She even briefly felt the light of her scaled, godly given, dim and fade, and she closed her eyes, certain that one ill-chosen word would spell her end.

"It was-was an honour to se-serve by your side, Sanguina," one of the other two prostrating Haxorus piped.

"Shhh! Akso-tol!" the other chastised, still lying against the ground as well but managing to bat the offender's flank with his tail.

A moment passed and the Haxorus dragoness opened her eyes, to find herself in front of the ivory dragon who was now lowered on the ground by her side, his head craned and muzzle half-open and all but pointed at the Haxorus' neck and head.

"E-er..."

Sanguina turned her head slightly and looked at the various Pokémon near the entrance, and caught sight of how a few Druddigon mothers were quick to make themselves scarce, dragging their offspring with them despite protests that they wanted to see the local gods. A couple Golurk remained still and barely made a noise. Sanguina sucked in a breath and quietly wished she had their composure.

The voice of the ivory dragon came with an impatient rasp. "Oskĥ ań." [1]
[1] "Speak to me"​

Sanguina's head sunk between her shoulders for a moment, and she instinctively dug her toes on the ground again. The clack of her talons against the sandstone rang all over the room, as if calling her back to life, and the dragoness let out a sigh to then face her god.

"Over the last years tribute and exploration have waned," the dragoness explained. Her voice started nervous but slowly gained a tint of bitterness. "Winters have become colder, as in the tales of old. Even for humans, life has become harsher."

"To say nothing of how humans' recent offenses against our Sanctuary also made the seasons harsher for your servants, my lords," piped one of the other two Haxorus.

The two dragon gods turned their sight to the speaker for a moment, staring with deep blue and red eyes. Sanguina tapped the ground with a foot and grumbled at the Haxorus who spoke to stay the hell quiet: despite the attack on the tower a few weeks past, it was not their place to make excuses and shift the blame of their current plight onto humans.

The ebony dragon morosely returned to his task, sniffing about the various empty shelves and running his claws on some of the brick walls. "Offenses," he repeated with a low growl. "That is something we have to deal with eventually."

The ivory dragon turned to face the other dragon, head tilted. "But they kept the food. Treasure we can reclaim later — but food?" he complained, fanning his wing arms and gesticulating for emphasis. "That was the best part!"

"We concur."

The blue-crested dragon stepped back and looked all around the chamber. He waved his claws as he went, as if mentally counting of what should have been there. "Meats and spices made this branch of the tower lively."

The feathered dragon looked down at the three Haxorus and buffed at them, then turned to his sibling and followed him.

"How would we do now?" he asked. "The respect towards our names seems to be gone."

The black dragon lowered his head and wings; the light from his tail dimmed until only mostly the light of his eyes remained.

"We'd have to start anew."

The ivory dragon furrowed his brow and shook his head in disbelief. "All the spices! The fine meat!"

The fuss was followed by a rueful growl from the dark-crested dragon as well.

"And to think we were promised exotic scale-fruit from the southern jungle lands," he muttered. "Alas the war came."

"Forget the war! That changes nothing" The ivory dragon exclaimed, adding a bat of his feathered wings as if to dispel a bad memory. He quickly turned to the three Haxorus, he almost roared at them. "From all the far lands, collecting tribute: how long would that take?"

Sanguina hunched over and looked at her two companions. The three discussed the matter in discreet whispers for a few seconds until, ultimately, Sanguina had to turn back to answer to her gods.

"It's... it's the end of summer, our lords. A few weeks... or months, at best."

"Oh please like it's really that hard."



The chamber fell mighty quiet as soon as those words were spoken, and Sanguina and the other two Haxorus suddenly felt as if all their scales stood on end. Whoever had dared...?

"...Shhh!" a Druddigon spoke from behind the lines. "Dude, have you got, like, a death wish?"

The two dragon gods snarled as they turned to the opening of the chamber, where a few Druddigon and Mienfoo were bickering. The dragon lords carefully stepped closer and the three Haxorus, as if compelled by their force as well, also stood up and stepped together closer to the entrance.

"...suggesting to accomplish such?" one of the Druddigon was speaking while grabbing a Mienshao by the shoulders and empathetically shaking him.

"What? But it's easy these days," growled the Mienshao.

"The humans don't even ha—"

As soon as the Druddigon saw the elder dragons and their attendants approaching, five pairs of eyes trained on the group, he let go of the Mienshao's arm. The Druddigon and the others were quick to shuffle back against the wall, while the Mienshao remained in his place almost blissfully ignorant of the towering dragons before him.

The Mienshao gave a sort of shrug and held an arm before him as if to invite more conversation.

"Come on!" the Fighting type insisted. "Any of them can do it! Trainer knew this guy called Uber Eats..."

The ivory dragon snarled and called the Mienshao to attention. The various Pokémon around were quick to shut up and prod the Mienshao to step under the dragons' sight.

The poor Pokémon blinked and fidgeted with his fur for a moment, before turning back. He found himself currently facing the two elder gods' bellies, at best. Such a sight tended to be a poor omen for those who faced and did not satisfy the lords' commands, since it portended all but assured odds that the offender would end up in there.

The Mienshao stiffened up, and made his best effort to raise his sight and meet the visage of the gods before him, as they shot him piercing scowls down.

"You speak," the ebony dragon inquired, "that obtaining food is easy for humans?"

The ivory dragon narrowed his eyes at the Mienshao. "Food of anywhere?"

The Mienshao shuffled about and took a nervous step left and one right, as if wanting to measure how close he really was to the lords. "They can, uhm, get any food, yes."

The three Haxorus guardians circled around the dragon lords and came to face the Mienshao as he spoke. The Mienshao, noticing he was now the big center of attention, blurted a sort of apology and fidgeted uneasily with his hands, then left them clasped together.

"They have groups, uh, dedicated groups for finding ingredients, and dedicated groups for making food. When-when everything's done, t-the Uber Eats human will bring it to you."

The white dragon grumbled; in a swift motion he leapt forward and grabbed the Mienshao by one arm.

"Explain clearly what would we do to summon them here?" the dragon inquired, settling down in his place.

"U-uh..."

The Mienshao took a long look at his arm, clamped by the deity, and mumbled his thoughts for a moment before feeling content on what explanation to give.

"We would simply request a human for their machines to speak to those groups?" he explained, "And from there we would pay in part of our current tributes for them to make the food, transport it here, and deliver it to the chamber of tributes?"

The three Haxorus gasped at the suggestion.

"Would they really bring food all the way here from their settlements, for us?" asked Sanguina.

Akso-tol rose an eyebrow and snorted. "So you are proposing... what, that our gods beg for food and surrender our loot to bring humans into the tribute chamber?"

The Mienshao shrugged, then turned to the Haxorus. "Well, no, that's not at all what I—"

Sanguina raised a hand and clicked her claws to pause the discussion. "After what happened a few weeks ago when the humans broke in and woke up our gods from their slumber? Not even we have-!"

"Enough."

The four Pokémon turned about to see the ebony dragon stand up and head to the chamber's entrance. They, and all the eyes still pressed against the walls, followed the steps of the dragon. As the black dragon approached the entrance, his eyes and tail lit up, his aura pressed the lesser Pokémon even harder against the walls.

Sensing the black dragon's aura flare up, his sibling's aura also flared and shone in response. He turned to his attendants.

"You advise us to take lower paths", the ivory dragon spoke to the Haxorus and Mienshao in a soft almost trilling tone, as if to emphasize the message was a teaching and not an admonition.

"We shall seek on this a more definitive end." He turned his attention from his underlings to his sibling. "Though I wonder what is your plan? Am I to expect that we go out to hunt?"

The black dragon tapped the ground a few times, and bat his wings in gesture as if to ease his sibling. "No," he replied while adding a head shake, "we'll make the humans give us their food."

The ivory dragon tilted his head; a gesture that the three Haxorus imitated in surprise.

"Uhm," asked Akso-tol with a bow to the dark dragon, "what would that entail, our lord?"

The black dragon stared at his counterpart and gave a smug snort. "We do know a human who can speak our commands to the others."

"...Oh! Ooooh!"

At once the ivory dragon let off the Mienshao's arm and approached his sibling. His eyes now wide and luminous with understanding, his jaw open and fangs ready for a hunt.

The ebony Zekrom ran a few calculations in his head for time of flight. "We shall go to Green-Mane and instruct him to have humans give us food," he stated, his voice shifting slowly to a roar. "As a king of his kind, it shall be easy for him to voice our concerns, and make them his command for humans: to gather our tribute long overdue."

Reshiram howled and went to fly a few circles around his sibling in anticipation. His tail and wings brimming with energy, he went to land right in front of Zekrom — thankfully obstructing Sanguina and her fellow guardians from his own view and his sibling's.

"Yes, yes. Green-Mane had good food when we met him. Scant platitudes then, but once he commands his vassals to gather..."

Behind the two dragons, the three Haxorus listened and briefly discussed the turn of events as they had not really gotten to meet this "Green-Mane" that the elder gods spoke of.

Zekrom pointed to entrance and pondered for a moment. "I think we can reach his lair from here."

"His lair?" Reshiram blinked and stepped back a few times. When had this happened?

"It is where we'd have to go."

"What? When was this?" Reshiram howled incredulously, forcing himself upon his sibling's snout. "You were in Green-Mane's lair?"

"Saw it," Zekrom explained, trying to wave the subject away with a hand. His voice mixed with a hiss. "While you were fawning over his lesser kin."

Reshiram stepped back and gave an indignant hiss back. He unfurled his wings before Zekrom and leaned closer to him, threateningly circling around his neck.

"Don't try to sneak away of this."

He pointed his wing at Zekrom's snout in a mock accusatory gesture.

"You know, so you make up for it! Ool foĥl wĥei,[1] oskĥ iń[2]?"
[1] "Which way to fly to"
[2] "Speak".​

Reshiram's tail rumbled and shone a bright orange light. "Oskĥ an! I want to see."

Zekrom lowered his head and pondered for a moment, if he should concede his one advantage over his sibling when it came to striking deals with Green-Mane.

The moment ended when his own stomach rumbled in complaint.

"Fine. It shall be how we gather our tribute, then."

The two dragons nodded to each other in agreement. They then turned to his attendants and beckoned them at unison.

A bit more relaxed now seeing how the mood of the lords had improved, Akso-tol was the first to bow. "Grace us, our lords."

Reshiram and Zekrom's auras flared and filled the room for a moment. Then they focused upon the three Haxorus guardians, floating around them and forcing the dim light of the Haxorus' bodies to come out brighter.

The two dragon lords thus spoke in unison, for everyone in the chamber to listen.

"Ool sno noskĥ ań, ool sno wĥei ań [1] ; N drań, sehsk y ań [2]."
[1] "We won't beg, we won't wait"
[2] "As dragons, we will make ours"​

The Haxorus' golden auras then dimmed back to their original form, and the three dragons looked up to their lords.

Reshiram craned over them and let out a friendly growl.

"You three ought to relearn this vision of the world. Embetter yourselves before our return."

Zekrom walked to the entrance and waved his hand to point to the entirely of the chamber.

"And make sure this is tidy by that time."

Reshiram and Zekrom did not wait for a response, and simply walked outside of the chamber and towards one of the ramps of the tower that led to the open roof. As they did, the three Haxorus remained in their place in the chamber and bowed in reverence to the departing gods; all the other Pokémon around, peeked from various corners to see the local gods setting out to travel.

By the spiral ramp, Reshiram looked up at the sky.

"You mark the way," he beckoned his sibling.

Zekrom took a few breathes and gave his sibling a curt nod. His tail started to bristle with energy quickly.

"Foĥl ań," instructed Zekrom. "We fly."

Reshiram hunched over, his own tail building up energy as well. "Foĥl ań," he repeated after his brother.

Streams of energy coursed the dragons bodies, as the other inhabitants of the tower, cognizant of what was about to happen, retreated to safe spots where to look in awe from. The streams from the tails let out a persistent thunderous sound, and the two dragons spread their wings in preparation.

All of a sudden, both of them leapt up from the ramp, and boosted by the energy they both had built, they flew up the ramp and in a loud blast of energy, past the open roof of the tower, to reach up to the Unovan sky.

The local dragons and golems looked at the two stars, one a threatening azure, the other a hot furious orange, circling for a moment above Dragonspiral.

Then, with a sonic boom, the two stars departed, to destinations unknown.



Back at the tributes chamber, most of the Pokémon had left to return to their routine.

The Mienshao who had spoken to the gods stood there, near the entrance, preening himself and relaxing a bit after the stressful moment.

"Well..."

The Mienshao took a look around the chamber. There were lots of broken crates and vases about, but nothing to worry. Today he had survived.

"Time to go back to my nest."

The Mienshao walked to the entrance and made motion to head off, only to suddenly find his legs and neck grasped by hard claws and his body dragged back inside the chamber.

"H-hey!" he cried. "What's the big idea?"

Promptly, the three gold-scale Haxorus put the Mienshao down on the ground and gave him purposeful scowls.

"See, our lords instructed us that we have to lord," spoke Sanguina in between licking her lips. She turned towards one of her two companions. "Arris-dis, I think this is good time to start."

The other Haxorus nodded and produced a few mantles and brambles that he put down by the Mienshao's feet.

"We were instructed to improve our vision," the aforementioned Mienshao addressed the Mienshao with a threatening roar, "and what do you know? Our vision was that this chamber should be clean and tidy."

The Mienshao looked down at the utensils at his feet. "Aaaaaand, who is gonna do that work?" he asked half ironically, in his mind already putting two and two together.

Sanguina tapped the Mienshao's shoulder with a claw. "See, since you were so proactive and helpful right in the face of our gods, we thought no one but you deserved such a high role."

The three dragons flashed teethy smiles at the Mienshao and waved their heads and tusks.

"Yes, for today you are master and responsible of the tribute chamber," spoke Sanguina. "And while we go out to seek out that vision of the world, you are going to make of this a nice place."

Not even waiting for the Mienshao's dumbfounded reply, the three dragons then turned tail and calmly walked outside, soon disappearing beyond the entrance of the chamber. The Mienshao looked at them be gone, and soon noticed also that most of the other Pokémon had also promptly gone away while he was busy being assigned his labour.

Seeing himself alone, in the enormous chamber with the broken vases, the Mienshao stood up and let out a long sight. It seemed that his tasks would have...

...to be continued.




Author's Notes​


First published in AO3. That version has a better rendered including Furigana annotations for the translations, and language codes. This version will be updated as support from Thousand Roads' engine improves, see Feature Requests here and here.

This was written originally as a birthday gift for @Umbramatic who is also a fellow author.

The language spoken by the dragons is derived from the Dragonspeak from Final Fantasy XIV.

Beta reading by @Spiteful Murkrow aka Fobbie and by /u/Lazzitron from Reddit's FFXIV's community.

Official article: "Tastes Anew" at the Suocéverse wiki - which contains information about the story and most of the worldbuilding.
 

lichhen

gay
Pronouns
he/they/ze
Partners
  1. metapod-shiny
hola author Venia Silente,

Thank you for putting this lovely piece together. The prose in the beginning caught me. The description of your characters and the setting, the wildness, was a very pleasant read.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters, especially Sanguina and Mienshao. I like the way you refer to characters and your sparse use of names.

When Mienshao started talking about Uber Eats is when it got very entertaining. The contrast with the described characters and setting was charming and hilarious. It also made me very curious to know more about this world.

Really fun and clever way to end for now. nice!
 
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