Origins Chapter 3: Fogged Friends

Aria is pacing around her lightly-furnished home. The consequences of her transformation are starting to form within her brain. She stops pacing and sighs. "This is just great. I got turned into a magical air princess, which caused me to get on the news. What am I gonna have to deal with now?"

Aria doesn't have much more time to think until she looks up at the clock. It's 3:31 PM. She realized something: she had to go to work today. "Oh shit, work's gonna start in 30 minutes! How will I work dressed as this?!"

If worrying about her flight being caught on TV wasn't enough, Aria also has to worry about her work and its dress code. She barely has any time to think of a reasonable plan before she's late.

Aria tries to take off her crown again, but to no avail. Just like when she first got her royal attire, it's stuck to her like a leech. "Damn it, how am I gonna improvise?" Aria asks herself.

Aria enters her room and opens up her closet, which has her work outfit inside. Looking at the blue shirt and white and blue visor, Aria gets the idea to simply wear her work outfit over her dress. It was probably one of the few things she could do with the time crunch she was facing. She slips on the shirt and visor and rushes outside.

While tempted to just fly to her work, Aria wouldn't be surprised if someone easily caught her again and made her pop up on the news a second time. She'll just have to do things normally, no matter how fun or fast flying is. She enters her yellow car and speeds off to work.

At the Flying Chicken, despite it being the perfect time to grab a meal, it is still pretty quiet. Fiamma is by herself, waiting at the counter with impatience. It feels like nothing interesting happens around the Flying Chicken in Fiamma's opinion, aside from the occasional angry customer.

Aria enters the beige kitchen through the back door, gaining Fiamma's attention. "I'm here, Fiamma!" Aria greets her coworker.

"Ah, final-"

Fiamma stops when she gazes upon Aria's appearance. Something's up with Aria, considering that she has a strange dress under her work shirt and is wearing gloves and a literal crown. On top of that, Aria usually wore black pants and black shoes, not white pants and yellow boots. "Uh, Aria, why do you look so... weird?" Fiamma asks.

"Uhhhh..." Aria stammers, panicking a little. She wasn't expecting someone to see through her disguise so easily, even if it was very poor. Aria tries to make up an excuse instead. "Well, uhm, I have a dress under me because... I'm cosplaying for a convention?"

Fiamma raises an eyebrow. "Really? You never told me that you were a cosplayer, Aria."

Aria tries to dissipate Fiamma's suspicion. "Hah, it's a new interest of mine, is all!"

Fiamma smirks. "Well, you do know CosplayCon is in three weeks, right?"

"Uhhhhh..." Aria doesn't know much about CosplayCon, a convention in Ayres City where people dress up as various characters. Aria has no response to Fiamma's question. She was caught.

"Hah, I caught your bullshit!" Fiamma exclaims proudly. "Spill the beans, Aria, tell me what's going on!"

Aria sighs, accepting defeat. "Okay, you caught me! Let me explain if you can believe me," Aria begins, before pausing to remember what happened. "So, you remember that bracelet I found, right?"

"Yeah? You mean the one you apparently got from a talking bird?"

"Well, I think it was magic, and it kinda got absorbed into me. It turned me into a magical air princess."

Fiamma hesitates for a moment. "I'm sorry, are you serious?"

"Yep, I'm a magical princess now! Watch this!" Aria answers, before holding her hand out and summoning a cloud.

Fiamma's eyes widen at the marvelous sight. All she can really do is utter "What the fuck?!" in shock.

Taking a bit to recover from her surprise, Fiamma makes a connection in her head. "Hey, wait a second, were you the flying girl that appeared on the news earlier today?"

Aria sheepishly laughs again. Her friend is pretty good at knowing who she is. "Er, maybe?"

Fiamma hesitates again before breaking the silence. "Excuse me for one second."

All of a sudden, the maroon-haired worker rushes out of the kitchen, screaming. Aria goes up to the door, thrown wide open by Fiamma, and stares in shock. "Welp, that could have gone better," Aria says sarcastically.

It takes several minutes for Aria to locate Fiamma, calm her down, and coax her into heading back to their workspace. Even back at the register, Fiamma has her chin on the pickup station with her hands wrapped around her skull. "So, I heard that Micah Phone released a new album," Aria tells Fiamma, trying to start a new conversation.

Fiamma pulls herself up and looks at Aria. "Really? That's what you're thinking of right now?" Fiamma snaps at her coworker. "You have the powers of a literal fucking goddess and that's what you're thinking about?!"

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing," Aria shyly replies.

"It's more than that!" Fiamma says, her arms up in the air. "Magic is an insanely rare gift people get! Imagine the types of crazy things you could do!"

Aria imagines what she could do as Royal Air. A bright cyan sky appears in her head, where she’s flying through the bright void. Fluffy clouds are whizzing by her as the sound of wind fills her ears. Aria sighs happily at the thought. “Yeah, I could do a lot.”

An idea appears within Aria’s brain. “Ooh, I should tell my friends about my new self!” Aria says.

“You know, you can get worldwide fame for your powers. Imagine if everyone knew what you could do!” Fiamma comments.

Aria rolls her eyes. “I already got on the news, Fiamma. And besides, I don’t want that much fame. I’m no Micah!”

Fiamma facepalms herself. “Oh my- You’re still thinking about her?!”

Aria and Fiamma’s work shift flies by with an impressive amount of boredom despite the revelation from the former. Unlike Fiamma, not as many people questioned Aria’s strange appearance. When Aria got enough free time, she decided to make the plans she talked about involving telling her special powers to her friends.

The blonde princess walks to one of her friends’ homes. The home is decently sized and coated in a lovely baby blue. Aria knocks on the house’s azure door.

The door is opened, revealing a young woman with long, wavy hair, blue eyes, and a light blue sleeveless dress with a slightly darker blue rim. The woman is also wearing black shoes.

“Hi, Marina!” Aria greets the woman.

“Oh, hey, Aria. You look pretty fancy,” Marina replies.

“I can explain in a bit. We haven’t met each other in real life in a while, haven’t we?”

Aria and Marina have been communicating with each other through phone calls and video chatting. It’s not like the two live far from each other; Marina and Aria simply couldn’t meet physically due to work getting in the way. “Yeah. We just haven’t gotten a chance to talk much. Come on in, Aria,” Marina says.

The two women enter Marina’s home, which is finely furnished with light blue wallpaper, a blue couch, a bookshelf, and other things you’d expect in a living room. In the corner of the living room, there’s a blue pet bed that a gray cat is lying on.

Aria and Marina plop onto the couch. “So, how’s Inn Island been?” Aria asks.

“The place has been doing good,” Marina answers. “We’ve been getting a pretty steady stream of customers.”

“Great! How about Catfish?”

Marina looks at the gray cat in the room. It meows as it rolls onto its back on the pet bed. “He’s doing well right now, as you can see.”

Marina looks back at Aria, staring at her new, regal look for a second. “So uh, are you gonna tell me what’s up with that dress, Aria?”

“Right!” Aria replies as she gets up. “I’ll explain now. I’ve become a magical princess lately!

Marina tilts her head, confused. “M-magical? What do you mean?”

“Watch this!” Aria says with confidence as she brings a cloud into existence. Marina’s mouth drops as she sees Aria holding the small, fluffy gas.

“Wooooah…” Marina utters.

“Ta-da! What do you think, Marina?”

Marina isn’t exactly sure how to respond or react. “That’s… uh… impressive?” She responds.

Aria puffs up her chest and smiles. “Heh, thanks!”

“You, u-uh… got some interesting abilities…”

Catfish gets up from his bed and goes up to Aria’s foot out of curiosity. He rubs his cheek against the fluffy top part of Aria’s yellow boot. “Aww, Catfish!” Aria coos as she pets Catfish in response.

Aria and Marina continue to hang out for a while, but after a couple of hours, Aria decides to see another friend.

Aria decides to come to Tierra’s lovely brown house. Behind the brown home, there’s a large backyard filled with various growing plants. The garden smells of various bright herbs and savory vegetables. 

In the garden, Tierra is harvesting some cherry tomatoes. Aria flies to the backyard garden and notices her friend. “Hey, Tierra!” Aria says to get her attention.

Tierra looks at Aria. “Hey, Aria, how are you today?”

“Good!”

“What’s with the dress? Did you get a date or something?”

Aria nods no. “It’s something much better! I’m a princess now! A magic princess!”

Tierra plops a cherry tomato into a container. “A magic princess, huh?” She asks with a raised brow.

“Yep! Watch, Tierra!”

Aria leaps into the air and floats. She fires a cloud as well. Tierra stares at Aria’s tricks for a second. “Heh, cool,” Tierra responds.

“I can fly and shoot cloud and lightning stuff in this form!” Aria explains.

“Huh, that explains that flying girl on the news,” Tierra comments as she takes another cherry tomato. As Tierra puts it in the container, she chuckles a bit. “Maybe with that form, you won’t get as destroyed by me whenever you try to beat me in soccer.”

Aria smirks at the challenge. “Maybe I won’t! Let’s try it!”

“Right now? If you insist,” Tierra replies as she places down her container of cherry tomatoes and walks into her home. After a bit, Tierra comes back holding a soccer ball. She puts it between her feet. “Alright, Aria, let’s go!”

Tierra launches the ball towards Aria. Aria attempts to kick it back to her, but Aria misses and flips upside down. All Aria can do now is stare at the ball and see it bounce, then crash into the fence. “Awww!” Aria says sadly.

“Heh, I guess you’re still bad at soccer.” Tierra teases.

Aria flips back right side up. She looks down. “Even with my magic powers, I still can’t do anything to beat you!”

“You are facing a professional, after all,” Tierra says with a wink.

Aria lands on the ground with a great feeling of embarrassment. Too humiliated to continue hanging out with her friend, Aria starts to leave. “I’m… gonna go see my family.”

“Alright, see ya.”

Aria heads to her parents’ home. At the very least, she managed to get here before dinner. Aria might have had to eat with Tierra for dinner otherwise, which isn’t bad by any means, but Tierra’s homegrown veggies don’t have the nostalgia of eating with family.

In a yellow-colored living room in a large home, a man with dark yellow hair, a beard, a lime-colored vest, and jeans, is sitting on a brown couch watching TV. A blonde guy with a forest green shirt and blue shorts is working on homework on another sofa. A blonde woman with a ponytail, a yellow-green shirt, and black pants is in the living room, too.

There is a knock on the door. Aria enters the house a second later. “Ah, Aria!” the woman says.

Aria waves. “Hey, Mom, Dad, and Sparrow! I thought I’d visit my family today!” Aria greets the three.

“It’s always nice to see you visit, Aria,” Aria’s Dad says happily. “You didn’t have to dress so fancily.”

“Well, hey, checking in on your parents is a nice thing to do!” Aria mentions. “I recently became a magical princess, if you’re wondering why I’ve dressed so fancily.”

“...I’m sorry, what?” Aria’s Dad asks.

Aria ignores her Dad for a moment, focusing her attention on her little brother instead. “So, how’s school, Sparrow?” Aria questions Sparrow.

Sparrow puts down his school book, revealing an ornate pink flower pendant. “It’s been fine, Aria. Just a lot of homework,” Sparrow replies.

Aria gazes at the flower pendant for a moment. “Okay. Uh… what’s with the flower?”

Sparrow holds up this pendant. “Oh, this? It’s a transformation pendant. It turns me into Prince Spring!”

Aria’s eyes widened at Sparrow’s reveal, especially since it was so nonchalant with the way he revealed his secret identity. “What?! You’re a magical person just like me?!” Aria blurts.

“Yep! I’m the guardian of Spring!”

Aria takes a minute to process everything. After a bit, Aria asks a seemingly random question out of the blue. “Huh. Can you change back and forth?”

Sparrow looks a bit confused. “Yeah…? What’s with the weird question?”

“Tch, of course…” Aria says under her breath, feeling envious. “You’re lucky compared to me, Sparrow. I can’t transform out of this form, unlike you.”

“Ah, tough break, Sis.”

As Aria and Sparrow are talking, their parents are listening to their conversation. “Heh, even after all this time, those two always have parallel lives,” Aria’s Dad comments.

“Yeah. It makes you wonder if Sparrow’s gonna find himself in a chicken restaurant the next few years.” Aria’s Mom jokes.

“That reminds me, what’s for dinner, honey?”

“I’m thinking pork chops today. I’ll go ahead and make them now.”

And so, Aria spent her evening with her family, telling them a bit more about her newfound abilities, reconnecting with them, and enjoying a nice slice of pork with creamy potatoes. It was nice for Aria to see her family again after a long time.

When the night began to reveal itself, Aria left her family’s home to head back to her own. While walking to her home, she begins to talk to herself. “This was a great day. I wonder what else I can do and what things I’ll get into with my powers?”

Aria chuckles to herself, thinking about what could happen. Perhaps she could fly again, hopefully not causing another news uproar. Maybe she could help people by getting to hard-to-reach places, saving cats stuck in trees, or even jumpstarting cars with her electric powers. Maybe Aria could even mess with her friends with her abilities.

“Wait!”

Aria’s thoughts are interrupted again by that high-pitched sound. She looks up and sees the same fat yellow bird that keeps trying to track her down. “Stop, I need to explain to you, Royal Air!” The bird says.

Aria screams. “It’s that creepy bird again!” She shouts, starting to bolt.

As Aria runs, the yellow bird follows her. “No, don’t run!” The bird pleads. “I won’t hurt you! I just need to tell you something!”

Aria looks in front of her, seeing her apartment’s door. It was a matter of time for her to escape the talking bird. The bird is still trying to talk to Aria. “I need to tell you something very important, Royal Air! I need to explain your powers! Your mission! Your-”

Aria manages to open the door and slam it shut, preventing the bird from getting to her. Aria can hear the bird hitting her door with a loud ‘BANG!’ alongside the bird saying ‘Ow!’ in pain. Aria stands still for a moment, catching her breath and letting herself calm down.

“Phew… I hope I don’t keep running into that thing…” Aria comments to herself.

Aria slowly goes towards her bedroom. What was that thing even talking about, anyway? She thought to herself. Aria was so focused on running away that she wasn’t exactly paying attention to what the talking bird was saying to her.

….It was probably nothing important. Aria thinks. She heads to the couch and begins to watch some TV, ready to wind down and rest for another day. There was still a lot on Aria’s mind about her new transformation, but at least she had gotten telling her friends and family about her true self out of the way.

Aria turns the channel to a show called ‘The Sugar Squad’. It’s a bit of an old, yet cherished show involving a chef-like heroine named Sweetie Strawberry, dealing with the evil Bitter Bunch trying to make all food nasty. Apparently, it was based on a true story, but that’s something hard to believe, at least to Aria. Either way, the show was something she watched when she was a kid, and even now, there are still reruns of it airing.

One particular episode of The Sugar Squad shows how one of Sweetie Strawberry’s partners, Sweetie Vanilla, became a magical heroine like her. Aria is about to change the channel when she stops to look at this episode in remembrance for a moment. “Oh, I remember this show.” Aria murmurs, paying attention to it.

However, a thought suddenly hits Aria as she sees Sweetie Vanilla turn into her form for the first time on the show. It may seem a bit trivial, but the thought was making Aria think quite a bit. After some time, she says the idea out loud.

“...Am I the only one of my kind, or are there others out there?”

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