Little Piece of Paradise

[Sage Clover-Greene]

Sage brushed a few branches away as he moved through the overgrowth, heading into the forest with a purpose. This small woodland was on the outskirts of the city, in between King City and the farms that stretched across most of the island. While most of what forest that was on the island had been cleared out by this point, this little stretch of plant life had still been untouched, with a paved road going through it as the only sign of development. The Shaymin Pokemorph loved coming out here, as it was a good place to go when he needed a quiet place to think for himself, and of course he loved surrounding himself with flora. But most importantly, hidden in a meadow in the deeper part of the forest was a personal project of his.

"Here it is..." He said to no one in particular as he came across a clearing in the forest. Many years ago, a small fire had cleared out this portion of the forest, and though since then it had largely recovered, there was still an open space in the trees left in its wake. It was here that Sage decided to experiment with his powers. All around the clearing were patches of flowers, flowers of all sizes, shapes, and colors, given life through Sage's powers. Using his abilities as a Shaymin he had created his own field of flowers, his own little paradise hidden away from the world. Some of the flowers had been placed seemingly at random, while others had been grouped together as he tried to create patterns pleasing to the eye and tried to decide what flowers looked the best when grown together. He had even experiment with some hybridization, creating some flowers that were wholly unique and probably didn't exist at all outside of this small clearing. Today's test was to see what he could do with green flowers. One could not see them too often in nature, so Sage wanted to try to make some new ones and see what other types of flowers they could blend with. Moving to an empty patch, he begin his work, holding a hand to the earth as a green aura flowed around it and began to cause a few flowers to appear as just stems from the soil before budding and blooming in mere seconds. He was starting with green orchids, since it was easier to start with something natural before trying to make something new. Kneeled over with his focus firmly on the ground, Sage was completely unaware of his current surroundings for the moment.

[Lily Oceania]

Today was turning out to be a nice, relaxing day; not that most days weren’t nice relaxing days anyway when you were a guardian of nature, it came with the “job.” While Lily loved her brother very much, sometimes he had to go off and do… boring things. He tried to explain it once, but she’d already forgotten. Or hadn’t listened. Not that she didn’t want to listen… whatever, it didn’t matter now.

Lily floated high above King Island, letting the warm updrafts flow through her feathers and keep her aloft without much effort on her part, like a leaf in the wind, or a bird floating motionless on a calm summer breeze. Her clothes tickled her body as the wind sifted through them; up here, she was calm, she was serene, she was one with the sky. She held her eyes closed, drinking in the soothing atmosphere for quite some time before allowing herself to be brought back to reality. She had dropped quite a bit of altitude during her air meditation, but she was still quite high and in no danger of falling; it actually provided her a perfect opportunity to admire the landscape.

While Lily rather disliked cities and heavily populated human areas, some of the spaces around them could be quite interesting, and ripe for exploration. As long as she didn’t go into the city itself, she felt okay. As her eyes passed over the forest, she felt a pang of resentment; large swathes laid low by the human’s need for expansion, a large asphalt road slicing through what little was left, this island didn’t have much natural beauty left. Even the large tracts of plant life were human-made farms, cultivated for their consumption.

The wind blew through her feathers at just the right angle to spin her in place for a moment, which might have caused first-time flyers to panic, but Lily just laughed at the sudden disorientation; mother nature was coy and playful at times! With a new section of the island under her scrutiny, something immediately caught her eye, something that stuck out like a sore thumb to birds of the air, despite being hidden to anyone on ground level; a break in the forest, a clearing, and the most beautiful assortment of flowers she had ever laid eyes on. How had she never seen this? It was true she’d only been to Cup Island a handful of times in her life, but she’d never noticed this. Surely mother nature was sending her a sign, what else could it be! She had to check it out.

Lily folded her wings to her body and tucked in her arms, causing her to start falling to earth like a bullet. As the treeline quickly approached, Lily flared her wings out and angled forward, leveling out just above the trees, the tips of the tallest ones whipping just inches from her stomach as she flew over them. As she neared the beautiful clearing in the woods, before she actually reached it she slowed to a stop and floated to the forest floor. Lily was not expecting anyone to be in such a beautiful clearing; this was natural, beautiful, vibrant, everything humans liked to destroy. She slowly wandered into it, transfixed on the alluring colors and overpowering, sickly sweet aroma. Lily knew nature, and gardens this beautiful didn’t just spring up randomly out of the ground. Some of the flowers had patterns. Someone was tending to this garden… her heart sped up a beat. What if they were still here? What if she was… intruding? Trespassing? But how could you trespass on nature? No one owned nature. Humans, though… they claimed to own it. They were cruel to it. This was not cruel, someone loved these flowers.

As Lily walked through the garden, she rounded a cluster of flowers, causing a certain someone to shift into view, having been kneeling and hidden by foliage previously. Lily had been so distracted by the majesty of this place, seeing another living soul caught her completely by surprise; she let out an audible cry of surprise, probably scaring the poor thing half to death more than it had scared her. She quickly refracted the light through her feathers, going effectively invisible right in front of the other person.

[Sage Clover-Greene]

Sage had not noticed anyone else that was around, but when he heard a loud cry from somewhere behind he went 'Eep!' in a quieter but obviously surprised exclamation and fell backwards onto his bum. Looking around, he didn't seem particularly worried but obviously intent on finding where that noise had come from, but of course he couldn't see anything. Had it been a Pokemon? It probably was, especially since he could not find anything, but he did have to wonder what kind of Pokemon would make the noise that he heard. It sounded like a person...

The Shaymin Pokemorph stood up and brushed himself off, having lost his focus on his previous project. Was someone hiding from him? He didn't really know why someone would do that; it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong or illegal. "Um... Hello? Anyone out there?" Sage didn't really think anyone would answer, but it was worth checking. Maybe they were just shy? He could relate to that. He would wait a bit for someone to respond, and if no one would he'd eventually try to turn his attention back to growing flowers.

[Lily Oceania]

She stepped back as he got up, giving him room to walk around. He wouldn’t be able to see her as she walked around him, studying him carefully. It was… one of the most interesting things she had seen, a shaymin pokemorph, a rarity like herself, blessed child of the earth and plants. The pokemorph’s shape seemed male, but… everything else did not. If he was male, he was one of the cutest males she had seen.

”Um… hello? Anyone out there?” he called out, searching very intently for the source of her voice. A child of the earth… she felt a sense of safety in his presence; surely a being such as this, who loved nature enough to tend to it in such an intimate manner would make an excellent friend and ally.

Just as he was about to return to his flowers, she stood right in front of him, and dropped her light refraction, her form shimmering back into the visible spectrum.
“Here I am,” she replied honestly, smiling at him.

[Sage Clover-Greene]

Just as he was thinking that it was probably nothing and that he should just go back to what he was doing, the Shaymin looked up again to see girl appear in front of him out of nowhere, causing him to 'Eep!' again, though quieter this time and he didn't completely fall over. For a moment, he didn't say anything, just staring at her and just trying to figure who exactly this was and how they had come from pretty much out of no where. Then a vague recollection hit him, and he realized that she was a Latias... or, well, a Gijinka of a Latias, anyway. His moms told him a lot of stories about legendaries; mostly ones from Sinnoh legends, especially his own species, but he had heard about Latias too. Considering she could probably fly, it would explain how she found his secret garden so easily.

"There you are," He said, echoing her statement. "You surprised me... no one else has ever seen this garden before, as far as I know." He looked around at the clearing, a little sheepishly. "It's... not very organized. I kind of just do what seems right, with mixed success. It's my own little project; its not perfect, but its my own little corner of the world where I can grow what I want and bring life back to land taken by a fire a while ago."

He had been so busy trying to explain himself, he suddenly realized he hadn't even introduced himself. "O-oh... I'm Sage, by the way."

[Lily Oceania]

She smiled a little at her mini-victory; not only had she found his secret place, but she had startled him too! She giggled softly, giving him an affectionate pat on the head.

“You are a kind flower child,” she complimented, looking around once more to emphasize her point. “My name is Lily. Your garden is so beautiful! You should be proud, I easily spotted it while cuddling the clouds!” she praised further. Lily’s elders had told her about a handful of other legendary pokemon, mostly history lessons; you had your kyogre, groudon, Arceus, dialga, palkia, the standard creation stories, but not much beyond that. It was lucky for her that one class she had paid attention to was pokemon studies; pokemon truly fascinated her, she simply loved them and all of the natural beauty they stood for. One fortunate crossing between these two was…

“Shaymin!” She suddenly said, excited. “You’re a Shaymin!” But… what did that mean? Hmm… Shaymins really loved flowers. Yup, that checked out. They could purify the land… he had said this place suffered from a fire. She was suddenly very grateful for his presence here; healer of the land, friend of the flowers! Lily felt happy enough about finding a fellow friend of the land that she actually reached out and gave him a hug! Not an overly aggressive squeeze, but a light, friendly hug.

[Sage Clover-Greene]

Sage thought it was strange to be pat on the head by someone he thought was probably younger than him, and her usage of the world 'flower child' to describe him (even if it was technically true). Or the 'cuddling the clouds' comment. Could you cuddle clouds? "Thank you..." the Shaymin said while blushing slightly. "I tried to make something nice, but... I never expected anyone to see it." In hindsight, considering how many people could either fly or had a Pokemon that could fly, including himself, he probably should've known how easy it was to spot from a bird's eye view.

The gentle grass type look a little surprised as she suddenly exclaimed his species. "Y-yes, I am a Shaymin-" Before he could say anything else he was hugged and felt even more surprised before. It was not a bad surprise though, and Sage quickly found himself hugging the girl back, smiling a little and unconsciously giving off a flowery aroma from the contact. "You're... a Latias?" Remembering their powers, he wondered if she was even a Gijinka all, but rather an actual Latias giving off an illusion. But if that was true, he would've felt it when she hugged him, right? "Its nice to meet another legendary... A-and such a nice one, too~"

[Lily Oceania]

She giggled at his reaction as she let go from the hug. Her favorite hobby was giving hugs, and she got that reaction a lot. It was cute. It seemed her hug had the desired effect as a heavenly aroma overpowered even the flowers! It was the sign of a shaymin’s happiness, and it caused her own overjoyed smile to bloom!

“I am!” She assured him, with a giggle to follow. “I don’t know how legendary I am, but… I am nice!” she agreed. A soft breeze started blowing through the forest… she closed her eyes and let it sift through her hair, clothes, and wing feathers. Her elders told her that in times like this, the spirits of the forest were trying to communicate with you… those long past wished you to remember them. As the breeze quelled, she opened her eyes and looked at him again.

“Do you think…” she started slowly, taking in the breathtaking flower garden before her; it was almost a shrine, a place of remembrance, a reverent reminder of ancestors long past, “your loved ones are watching over you?” It did sound like a weird question to anyone not born of Wand Island and the tribalistic nature of their culture, so she explained. “Our elders tell us the spirits of the forest talk to us. Your garden is so beautiful… it reminds me of the shrines we have back at home. The ones to honor our ancestors.”

[Sage Clover-Greene]

"I don't really know how legendary I am myself... I feel pretty normal for a Pokemorph, I think." Maybe he felt even more normal than other Pokemorphs, given that a lot of them were once Human. His body was only as artificial as the gene splicing done long before he was born made him though; as all 2nd Generations, he was born the way he was. He wondered for a moment if that made Lily more 'legitimate' as a legendary as him, considering no where in her heritage was there any manipulation of her DNA. Maybe if he was a 1st Gen, that would be the case. Sage's species was just a happy little accident though, and one that never could've happened intentionally; legendary Pokemon DNA is really, really expensive from what he'd heard, and his parents could hardly be considered rich.

The Gijinka's question made Sage think about something that he hadn't put much thought into before. "My ancestors...?" He never really considered his lineage beyond his two mothers. They must all be Human, considering his mothers were both 1st Gens, unless some of them got the procedure themselves. It was odd to think about, that most of his family must be a completely different race than him. If they were watching, would they even recognize him? "I've never really thought about ancestors or spirits much. I was born this way, but my ancestors are Human, actually..."

He considered the question again though, this time from the standpoint of what he knew about nature. "But I think... All life is made of pretty similar stuff when you get to the smallest parts, and when things die they decay and form the base for new life. All life is connected to each other. This part of the forest may have burned down, but its remains left the soil fertile and perfect for growing these flowers. So in a way... everyone that once lived is still there, in their children, in the trees and flowers, in the Pokemon we love and cherish." He smiled a little sheepishly. "Or I guess to shorten my answer: yes, I do think so."