“I have to say, Susi, you Zebras are an impressive bunch when it comes to big city projects. Certainly the most dedicated individuals I have ever seen, both in real life and on the Internet.” I commented.

I, Susi, and even the new Queen have made our way to the outskirts of the city to watch the ongoing land preparation for this newly planned city block I have been wishing for some time now. Sadly, this meant that certain farmlands were going to be covered with dirt and sand while the fertile soil itself was moved somewhere else, basically relocating the affected farms further inland and digging out new channels to supplement these new farming grounds with both freshwater and the necessary minerals which the river also provides to keep the grounds nicely fertile for the whole year round.

This city and its farmlands actually acted as the desert's local breadbasket, which I wasn’t fully aware of until I thought about it.

It is actually kinda impressive how they do it, as this could also be the very method the Egyptians used to irrigate and cultivate their fields along the Nile. I am practically watching history unfold itself in front of me. Better than any program the History Channel or National Geographic channel has ever ejaculated onto the TV screen.

Because who nowadays was really going to start working like an Egyptian? Even if it was just for documental purposes. Decadent is the word, and humans of the modern era have truly become complacent with their lives thanks to the aid of machines and technology overall. I should know, because I am definitely one of those “complacent” people, maybe even more so now that I have to power to do so in an even more efficient way.

That is... if my newfound responsibilities as a King and a caretaker didn’t come knocking on my freaking door constantly every goddamn morning to foil my daily plans for procrastination. Quite literally, in fact, as I am not even allowed to sleep in anymore without a guard, a servant or a Susi giving my door a good spanking. I mean, what the hell has that poor door done to them? All it has been doing was acting like a freaking door by preventing chucklefucks like those from entering my room and disturbing my well deserved morning rituals. In fact, you probably don’t even want to enter my room while I am busy heeding to nature's call to arms to fight against morning wood and earlier day diarrhea. Because do as you wish, but eating and drinking dairy products for most of the day is inevitably going to slip through your system sooner or later. Same case for me, which is why I am not a stranger to irritated bowel emergencies.

This is probably a bit too much information for some to swallow, but alas, why are they reading my thoughts in the first place if they cannot handle my sense of disgusting humor?

Wait, what was I talking about again? Ah, yes, the whole preparing the ground thing outside the city limits to create perfect space for future building projects and extra housing. Because with every success and act of skill and strength I show to these Zebras, more and more nomads from the desert or steppes are tempted to come into the city to witness the rebirth of their ancient civilization first hand... or rather hoof.

Which is great, because those that do come are also most likely to stay after getting a taste of city life. And a higher population count also means more workers of course, or by Bakuss's plan, more potential soldiers to defend or help expand our lands beyond our current borders.

So, overall, expanding the city's living space is certainly a must at this point. And now here I am, watching these legions of workers do their thing in preparing the ground for construction because building anything on sand is apparently stupid. I can imagine.

Either way, during my mental ramblings to an invisible audience, Susi nodded to my comments as she too watched the ongoing hassle from afar, and being situated on one of the city's many defensive towers makes it pretty easy to do so. The view from up here is great, and also surprisingly windy.

Which is made even more surprising when you consider that the Palace itself isn’t that windy, even though it is the tallest structure in all of this city, situated on top of an almost 200-meter tall cliff and what not.

I began to scratch my chin as I started to picture streets and layouts of the city blocks for these new districts. Having played a lot of city building games during my time on Earth has given me a rather adept understanding of city planning.

Like how to minimize traffic with efficient road layouts. Granted, I doubt actual traffic is really going to be an issue in this city, given the fact that there aren’t any cars or trucks to clog up these roads, but in the future, there certainly could be a huge influx of pedestrians and carts instead of mechanized vehicles. Which is why the first thing I suggested to my regional architects is the construction of wide boulevards or avenue-like highways to act as the city's main travel ways from one district to the next, starting from the city's entry points and snaking their way all across the city's inner districts, before leading back out to different entry/exit gates of the city. Granted, this idea is going to require demolition of many existing structures and buildings to create such a wide space for those so-called highways to be built.

This is also why I am ordering the expansion of the city in the first place. To give the displaced a new and even better home at the shores of the Western river. Which, by the way, have no actual name and are just called the Western and Eastern river depending on which side of the city they are flowing through.

Kinda stupid and lazy, but it also gets the job done by giving everyone a pretty good idea as to where east and west actually are. I should know because even I have the issue sometimes in distinguishing the difference between east and west. Even with the rivers' helpful names.

But that is just me. I can be quite a disaster when it comes to very simple things such as these. Like also being unable to distinguish what left and right are. But of course, I managed to get that weakness fixed long ago.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!” Somebody suddenly called out.

This got my attention, of course, as I was forced out of my thoughts. I turned my attention to its source, only to be quickly met with a guard climbing up the steps leading into the interior of the tower.

He looked to be somewhat tired, probably because he ran all the way to me in order to deliver his message as soon as possible.

Or he is a smoker, who knows.

“That’s me. Being currently very high on top of a tower. Jokes aside, what is it?” I greeted, facing him.

He took a couple of seconds to compose himself before straightening himself up. He then fully addressed me as much as his current fatigue level allowed it.

“Your Highness, I bring urgent news, courtesy of Akunezzar himself. He discovered something which really needs your attention.” The guard stated in between breaths which made his news delivery methods rather unprofessional looking. Or rather, sounding, to be accurate.

Though I was still intrigued by this, no matter how many pauses he had to take in between sentences.

“Oh, and what might that be?” I asked before suddenly perking up with an idea. “Wait... has he, by chance, discovered the required components for a nuclear bomb? Finally, my inner Gandhi can finally live up to his name by threatening the world with world peace at the face of atomic annihilation! Truly, the only and most effective way of world domination!” I excitedly stated with a rather evil looking grin, which made both the girls and guys around me look at me in confusion.

“Uhm... Nuclear what, Your Highness?” The guard asked.

I waved my hand at him. “Unimportant. Anyway, if that isn’t the so-called urgent news, then what the heck is it? You can’t really expect me to just walk all the way back to the palace from over here? I have standards too, you know.” I stated, which in turn made Susi just roll her eyes at me.

She knew what I am talking about... sadly enough.

The guard paused for a bit before replying. “Well, Your Highness, it actually has something to do with the egg which you adopte...” He was about to finish before my rapidly processing brain cut him off.

“Wait... are you saying the egg has hatched?” I asked with surprise. “Why the hell haven’t you told me this sooner instead of... wasting our time by giving me the same greeting everyone else gives me when addressing me? The egg is much more interesting.” I stated, a bit angrily, in fact, which forced the poor guard to shut up.

To be fair, I wasn’t really angry at him, as everybody should already know that I am also a grand actor of life. The world is my stage and the creatures inhabiting it are victims for my mental and social experiments. A bit of a sociopath, if you will, but that is one big can of dog food I am not ready to open just yet. Because I lack the dog to actually feed it to. Maybe Penelope would be willing to eat dog food, but that would just be mean and disrespectful to her as a sapient being.

I might find a random Palace guard instead to eat the dog food then. No need to waste a good source of food, even if it's just for dogs.

I blinked back into reality when I realized that I was doing my typical thing again.

“No time for that. I have a new family member to greet and a new maid to babysit him or her for me because I cannot be bothered right now. So off we go, back to the Palace, to claim my prize of fish and mice!” I crazily announced in one single breath before strolling past the guard and down into the tower through the aforementioned stairs.

“Wait, Your Highness! What about the plan of talking with the local architects down at the contractions sites? You wanted to do that and also introduce the Queen to them! And maybe introduce the Changeling architecture to them!” Susi shouted after me while I was already on my way to spiral down the tower through the spiral staircase it has.

Quite the life-spiraling experience. If I went down it any faster, I might actually get dizzy from it judging on how many steps this stair actually has. This is a fairly tall tower, after all.

“It's fine, witnessing the creation of life is far more important than this. We, Changelings, have the same mentality to it with all of the nymphs hatching out of their eggs. It is very special to a lot of us.” I could hear Palmyria state before finally running out of earshot from the four-leggers still hogging the top part of the tower.

I may be a lazy ass, but when it comes to Kinder Surprises, I am always game. No, really, back during my childhood in Germany I was all crazy for these things, and I am of course talking about the one which encases a unique toy or collectible in a shell of chocolate.

Either way, back to the Palace, then, to see what wonderful Kinder Surprise I managed to get this time. More collectibles for my collection and more things to complain about later on when I once again realize that I had to walk this distance all by myself for a second time this day. I will remember that for sure as my feet will feel it later.

Having a sore foot is really uncomfortable.

.............................................................................................................................................

Akunezzar was too busy staring up at the... thing, to really start jutting down anything like how he would normally do. He still didn’t exactly trust the thing which levitated little miss Penelope all over the place. He once tried to stop it when he regained his composure after seeing this thing for the first time, but all he got for his efforts was a first-hand experience of how it feels to be lifted off the ground by an invisible force. The sensation luckily was only brief as he found himself being pushed back towards the door after he tried getting closer to these two.

His panic was quickly cleared though when he realized that all this... creature was doing was playing with miss little Penelope by making her fly around the room. The giggles coming from the small drake and the rather pleasing looking smile coming from the creature were good enough to guess that. Plus, so far the creature has done nothing else ever since he asked a guard to go fetch the King post haste. Though now it actually has been quite a while since the guard went out in search for the King. At this point, he was mentally getting anxious for something to explain this to him. He would normally be in the Royal Archives right about now, searching for this creature's specifics or possible details. But he obviously could not leave Penelope with this thing alone. No matter how drake-friendly it seemed.

“Akunezzar, sir!” Someone suddenly announced.

“Uhm, yes?...” Aku responded after turning around to address the newcomer.

It was none other than the same guard he sent off to go search for the King an hour or so ago. This realization gave Aku’s mind a sense of ease as this must mean that he has most likely succeeded in his task of finding the aforementioned monarch.

Good, because he could seriously use some company in trying to decipher what this creature actually was instead of just staring at it blankly. And just on time, the previously mentioned King and his group of followers finally rounded the far corner of the hall.

Good, because maybe he would be able to get close to this creature unlike him. The egg did choose him after all when he tried to give it away to Lady Mystic Gem. Or so he thought.

.............................................................................................................................................

“Oh, look at that. Aku is already expecting us. How quaint.“ I commented.

“Your Highness! Thank the Gods you are finally here! I have been anxiously waiting for you for almost an hour now, sire. The creature which has hatched out of the egg has been toying around with little miss Penelope this whole time, with neither me or anyone else being able to get close to it or her. Perhaps you could though, the egg did choose you from the start as far as I understood it.” Aku explained, sounding a tad exhausted and on edge judging by both his tone and state, his magnificent Babylonian beard looking a bit chaotic and messy by the looks of it.

But either way, neither his appearance nor emotional state did matter to me too much as I was far more interested in the information he has given me so far. The egg, the thing, and the relationship it and Penelope shared right now.

From a deep dark corner, a voice in my subconscious mind was making me feel a tad bit worried for Penelope’s wellbeing after Aku’s mentioned of it toying around with Penelo this entire time. But a much bigger part of my brain was casually telling me that everything should be A-okay with those two, otherwise Aku’s look and expression would have been more dramatic than it actually is and there would be a lot more guards present around my door.

So overall everything seemed to be alright so far. Which is good, both for my stress, and gemütlichkeit.

“Is that so?” I began, rubbing my chin. “Well, I guess it is once again time for me to save the kingdom or whatever. Gosh, being the hero of this story can be quite exhausting sometimes. Even for someone of my status.” I quickly added with a fake sigh before moving past the old hobo and making my way towards my door.

The one guard stationed in front of it obviously gave way as I approached.

“Your Highness, be careful there. It doesn’t seem to be hostile, but I would still advise caution. This being can apparently teleport things, as it has happened to me when I tried to get closer.” Aku warned.

“Ah, don’t worry. When it comes to toddlers I am the very form of caution. I know how to handle newborns and babies.” I stated, which wasn’t exactly a lie as I am naturally cautious around toddlers.

Those little bundles of fleas can be quite a handful with their constant pissing, shitting and even barfing. And let's not even get to the situation where these little things start to produce the most unholy screams imaginable.

But those aren’t really issues I have with little li'l Penelope here, as she is... quite... tame...

...Annnnd that’s where my thoughts stopped still when I finally came face to face with this so-called “thing” Akunezzar and the guard were talking about.

This thing, this... yellow and gray thing with two separate tails and a levitating exterior looked so incredibly familiar to me that I couldn’t put a finger on it. This is actually why I went so still, because I was to busy rummaging through my messy collection of unnecessary memories to get a perfect match for the image I was presented with in front of me.

A yellow bowl-shaped scalp with gray and yellow colored face, closed eyes, a large red gem thing at the center of its forehead, a small gray body and two separate tails that ended up with two...

“HOLY SHIT!!! I remember what this thing is!” I cried after my built-in search engine finally succeeded in finding the one tidbit of information I was looking.

“Really, what is it?” I heard Aku asking far behind me, which kinda almost fell on deaf ears as I was too busy reliving my childhood in my brain. Well... more specifically, my high school days, which weren’t exactly as tame as my normal elementary days, mind you.

But either way, my outburst finally got the creature's attention as it turned its gaze to me with its closed eyes. Not really sure if I can phrase it as a gaze or not, but fuck it, this is a gaze and go chew on a pickle if anyone has a problem with that.

But one thing was sure. With its full visage now facing me, tilting its head a bit in curiosity, I was one hundred percent clear with my assumption as to what this thing actually was. I mean, I should know, as he was one of the few Legendaries I ever possessed in any goddamn Pokémon game I ever played. Because trying to be the cool guy in class is one of the many necessary requirements when it comes to passing through high school without too many incidents along the way.

Maybe I should make my own Ned's Declassified guidebook where I list down all the “ACTUAL” requirements and tricks in how to really get through high school and not that nonsense crap the show spouted.

I shall call it “Alexander's Survival Guide For The Most Depressing Period Of Your Life”! I am sure it will be an instant hit, especially with those still suffering through high school worldwide. But I am just getting off topic again, so fuck it.

Either way, I still had to announce what this Pokémon was, but instead, I ended up singing the original pokemon theme while pulling out an Ash Ketchum right out of my shirt.

Finally, my dreams of making a butt load of cash with a rather questionable method can finally become a reality! I am going to be rich... well... even richer then I am now.

Hey, you seriously cannot have enough money, in the end, to submerge your woes fully. Money means power, after all.

Author's Notes:

Please read this first.

I know what you are all most likely thinking about the true revelation on what was inside that egg. You are either feeling indifferent, confused, or even thinking WTF after realizing who it is. And let me tell you, this is no going to end up with a big fat crossover.

Its just going to be the three lake guardians. No one else. Because I came up with a back story concept as to how these three can kinda fit into this world, specifically the Zebrican lands which this story mostly takes places on. At this current moment.

You see, for starters it is pretty clear (or so I think, if I have made references to that in previous chapters) that the continent is pretty much divided in three prime biom’s. The deserts to the north, the savanna like steppes at the center, and with the thick misty jungles to the south. Of course their are a lot more geographic features on this continent besides these three. Like lakes, (could be made something for these three) canyon’s and mountains to name a few.

It is just that these three land features are by far the largest on the continent, and could also be tight up by some sort of historical or perhaps even supernatural connections with these three spirits. (Uxie being desert)

But that is not all. In a later chapter I wrote (because I am faster then my editors.) I hinted that these three may also have ties with some of the old powerful artifacts which once belonged to the ancient line of Monkey Kings in the past. Such as the Phoenix crown for example. One that can give its wearer eternal youth and some other effects when actively worn. Incredibly powerful artifacts which where once guarded by these three.

Plus I also have an idea as to why Uxie’s spirit was sealed away inside the Idol in the first, and also why the Idol was taken away from the Gazelles as well.

All to add a little bit more backstory lore...which has been kinda void up until now. With most of them only being suggestions of the past, and speculations from Alex.

Then again, he never really gets the time to fully explore the history of these lands without getting distracted one way or another.

But overall. I have ideas for this. But of course, if most of you feel that this is getting a bit to messy at this point, just tell me. I can remove the concept of having the lake Guardians and place something else inside this egg.

But if not, feel free to share your own ideas on what the overall role for these three can be. I might pick those instead if they are good.