Focus Shift

[MichaelaTheUchiha]

Miharu smirked, leaning back in her chair while drinking a sip of her own hot chocolate. "Did Raike not believe me about the hot chocolate?" she asked in response to Raike's reaction to the hot chocolate. "As for my favorite type of pokemon, it would have to be the dragon type. I loved finding all of my dragon types and training them up since they were such a hard challenge. My second would have to be psychic, since they are all brilliant and I have such close relationships to all of the my psychic types, although one could say that about all of my pokemon. How about Raike? What is his favorite type of pokemon?"

Miharu, while waiting for Raike's reply, finished off her small chocolate cake.

 

[Swolligator]

Anthony logged onto the PC there while Harley gave her Pokeballs to Nurse Joy. The computer beeped and logged him into his account where he could view all his Pokemon.

"I never knew this thing was actually used for something," Harley shrugged at Anthony. "And I thought I was the only one. But I've never practised it or tried to hone it or whatever, so I have no idea... how to have a vision without sitting and drawing for a long time and concentrating for at least an hour, but that doesn't seem the case here." Harley let go of Ceri's claw and handed over his, Appa's and Tarth's PokéBall to a nurse, nodding. "I seem to be the one who knows the least about... everything."

"That's understandable," he replied, "I mean, when I first Shifted, I was so scared that it took me a year to pluck up the courage to shift again. I thought the same thoughts as you, how old are you, like sixteen? I always wondered why I could do this and nobody else could, but then i realised, because I can do this and others can't, there must be a purpose for it." After a few more buttons pressed two Pokeballs appeared beside the PC and Anthony attached them to his belt. He motioned to a nearby table as Harley picked up her Pokeballs and they sat down. "For me, I needed a purpose in life, and being able to do this, knowing that this 'cloud' could potentially destroy the world was reason enough for me to live. My father once told me:
"Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.""

Anthony took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. "It's okay that you don't know much, I doubt any of us actually know much at all, but by going to Canalave Library, I'm sure we can find something. But first I think we need to follow Miharu's lead to the Distortion World." Anthony smiled, "You can only improve. You seem to be the youngest of us, but I'm sure you could become stronger. So which Pokemon have you chosen to bring along?" he asked quizically.

 

[Skymin]

Harley screwed up her face a little as she rolled Tarth's PokéBall on the table. She had colour co-ordinated them so she could remember whose ball was whose, even if she was delusional; Tarth's was blue, Ceri's was grey and Appa's was brown. Currently, Tarth was inside his ball, Appa was on Harley's shoulder and Ceri stood loyally beside her.

"Nineteen. I'm nineteen. I'm just short," the last sentance hastily rolled out of Harley's mouth. "I don't even think I'm the youngest. I guess I just want to know how to do this thing. Properly." Ceri growled a little, nudging Harley on the theigh. Harley replied with a rub on the shoulder and a small smile. She guessed it was his way of saying that he could help her and that they could do it together.

"I only have three Pokémon. Appa," she gave a little scratch under the Pidgey's beak. "Ceri, the Zoroark here, and Tarth, who's inside the PokéBall. She's a Lucario, my first Pokémon. What about you?" Harley pulled out her sketchbook and flicked through a few pages. "See, here's a few drawings I've done. On each double page, one is normal and one is a vision, see? Here's Burned Tower, my room, Olivine City, Goldenrod Tower, the library at Ecruteak, the train station. See?"

Harley felt a little more at ease with Anthony, she felt she didn't have to be rude or hostile towards him. Perhaps it was because he issued the call and her body felt like it was meant to be here.

 

[Swolligator]

Anthony watched as Harley flicked through the pages in her sketchbook, he was impressed at the drawings she had done, "Wow, Harley, these drawings are incredible." However he felt slightly embarrassed at getting her age wrong. "As you know, Pitch here stays by my side and is my first Pokemon," he said patting the Houndoom who gave a little bark, "inside this one," he lifted up a Pokeball that had a little black lightning bolt above the button, "is Thunder, my trusty Electrivire and finally Blade, my Ononokusu," holding up another ball.

Anthony clipped the balls back onto his belt, "For me, shifting is a natural reaction because I shift almost everyday. At the moment, all I need to do is touch Pitch and I shift into the Aether Realm. The best way I can explain it is that I let my focus shift. Try focusing on one thing, it doesn't have to be anything in particular, but keep focusing until everything around you becomes a blur but the item you are focusing on. Then touch Ceri and feel yourself 'shift' to the side slightly and appear in the Aether Realm." Anthony furrowed his brow as he tried to explain what to do; he did it so fast and so often that he had forgotten what he actually did.

"Now you try," he said smiling.

 

[Zamorak]

Josh didn't think it would be appropriate to shove himself into the conversation, as he listened he felt the same way he imagined he would feel if he was listening to a Mother explain to her 15 year old daughter "special" changes in her body. A small pain hit him as a cruel voice in his head exclaimed "Your sister never got that talk did she, mother and daughter gone before that time". He quickly recovered, having already spent years grieving over his mother and sister, and not finding any peace, happiness, or resolution from doing so. It still hurt though, he wondered if it would always hurt, and then he wondered what he would be when it stopped hurting. He stopped thinking, he had gone through this argument in his head so many times before and it was one he didn't want to have again.

At that moment the nurse returned with Odessa, still in her ball. Josh took Odessa's Poke-ball with a quick "thank-you" and immediately let Odessa out.

 

[Skymin]

"If I ever saw the cloud, I probably would have drawn it," Harley handed Anthony the sketchbook. "I would never have really noticed it as something odd since I always found them as odd as a whole. The... Aether World, that is."

Okay, so, focusing. Harley remembered that whenever she had her visions, she would always be drawing. That would always require focus, so Ceri would most likely nudge her and that might have triggered the vision. So she needed something to focus on, something simple. Harley stared at Tarth's ball. She studied its features. It was blue... And round. And shiny too. Okay, she was pretty focused on the ball so she put her hand on Ceri's head and looked up. ... Nothing. Harley frowned and clicked the ball on her belt. Obviously, she wasn't focusing enough or something. She would usually be drawing whenever she shifted so maybe...

Harley grabbed her pencilcase out of her bag and pulled out a red, felt-tipped pen and began to draw directly on the table. She drew wings, feathers, a crest, a tail. Ho-Oh was one her favourites, its red colours were always so beautiful in the history books. Ceri had tried to transform into it once, it only lasted a minute, but it was so inspiring to see in front of her even though it was just a copy.

Ceri nudged her hand and everything changed. The red pen dropped onto the table and had turned to grey. People in the PokéCentre were just ghostly images. This was a relief, at least she knew she could shift within 4 minutes.

Getting there, Ceri "said" to her. Harley smiled and nodded as she linked eyes with Ceri, relaxed and everything turned to normal.

"Well that worked," Harley put the pen back in her bag. She didn't bother to wipe the Ho-Oh off, it looked nice on the table.

 

[Swolligator]

Anthony took the sketchbook and flipped through it, amazed at the detail drawn, yet none had the cloud on it that he had seen. He looked up to see Harley trying to Shift, focusing on one of her Pokeballs, yet after a while she stopped, her attempt obviously failing. She reached into her bag and brought out a felt-tipped pen, drawing directly onto the table. He watched as her masterpiece came to life, portraying the legendary Ho-oh in magnificent detail. He stayed silent and watched as Ceri touched Harley and they both disappeared into the Aether Realm.

"Well that worked," Harley said when they returned from the Aether Realm.

"That's interesting," Anthony said, rubbing his chin in a thinking pose, "I mean, the drawing is amazing in itself, but the focus you put into drawing.....with practice it could take you seconds to shift." Anthony continued rubbing his chin, "I guess everyone has their own way of doing things."

He turned to Josh whom had joined the, "So Josh, how do you shift?"

 

[Nakuzami]

Kris Kollyns
And the fourth wall crumbles...

-----​

"I'm standing next to Anthony right now, am I not? Besides, I like Pokémon more than people."

Er...that's not really what I meant. Plus that's exactly how I feel too... I thought, but didn't say anything else. I decided to watch Harley and Anthony talk. As soon as Anthony said that he had thought Harley was the youngest, I almost laughed. She may be short but she's definately not the youngest, I am.

They talked about how they shifted, and I watched as Harley drew a Ho-oh on the table. It was pretty good, especially for a quick sketch. I watched as she disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing and saying, "Well that worked,"

Anthony said a little more and asked Josh how he shifted, but I kind of just butted in. "Well, here's how I shift," I paused to think, "Uh...I don't really know actually. I just try to focus and then shift. Though it doesn't always work very well...I guess that's why the RP is called Focus Shift"

 

[Zamorak]

Josh was surprised at being asked how he shifted, he had thought they were so concentrated on their own conversation that he had gone unnoticed. "I'm not really sure" he said, "it always seemed to be so easy, I just willed it and it happened" he said, not really sure he was explaining it right. "The first time it happened I just thought the world had lost color because I was depressed over my sisters death, it wasn't until the fourth or fifth time I shifted that I realized what I was doing" he finished, and then he realized he had probably said more then he had meant to and focused himself on keeping his face placid.

 

[Swolligator]

(umm, i thought Kris was in the cafe?)

Anthony hadn't seen Kris come into the PokeCentre until he butted in, trying to explain how he shifted. Then he listened as Josh told him of his first time shifting, and then the subsequent times. It saddened Anthony to hear how Josh had lost his mother and sister, but he knew this world was a cruel one. "So Josh," Anthony started, "...is it the thoughts of your sister and mother that help you to shift?"

"I have no idea how our shifting works," Anthony said. "but like we say, its a matter of how we focus that allows us to shift into the Aether Realm." He then chuckled to himself, "a Focus Shift is what it is." It surprised him, Anthony had always thought that his way was the only way of shifting since he had not met others, but Harley had shattered that idea. "Perhaps," he thought to himself, "others could do it if they could focus like we do?" but rapidly shook his head, dismissing the idea.

"I think we should be heading back to the cafe," Anthony said as he got up out of his chair, "the others might be there already."

 

[Skymin]

Harley had already pulled out a blue pen and had started on a matching Lugia whilst listening to Anthony, Josh and... the other one, he hadn't mentioned his name. Harley was right, the other three, and pressumably the rest of the group, knew a lot more than she did. Harley didn't even know that the visions were controllable until now.

"Are there others like us?" she said to Anthony, not even bothering to look up from her Lugia. "Or... are we the only ones in the world, a bunch of teenagers?"

 

[Swolligator]

Harley's comment took Anthony by surprise, "Are there others like us?" she asked. "Or... are we the only ones in the world, a bunch of teenagers?"

He thought about it for a moment, not once before had he question the existence of others like him much less their amount or age. "Honestly," he said looking at her as she drew a Lugia to match the Ho-oh on the table, "I don't know, but I can't help think that we aren't the only ones, there must be others out there."

 

[Nakuzami]

Kris Kollyns
Just a bunch of teenagers...?

-----​

I listened as Josh explained how he shifted and Harley began to draw a Lugia to match the Ho-oh. Anthony said a few things to Josh before say to all of us, "I think we should be heading back to the cafe, the others might be there already."

Before anyone moved, Harley added something else, "Are there others like us? Or... are we the only ones in the world, a bunch of teenagers?"

I thought about that as Anthony replied. It would be a little strange for just us teenagers to be shifters. I mean, there's likely elderly people, adults or even babies being born this very second that should be able to shift. Unless you want to get all dramatic and say that the world picked us as the last generation of shifters, the rest are gone and the fate of the universe is in our hands. But, like I said, that's a little dramatic for reality.

 

[Zamorak]

"...is it the thoughts of your sister and mother that help you to shift?" asked Anthony. "No, if it was then I would have either gone insane or stopped shifting" Josh replied, a little more forcefully then was necessary,"The memories are just what kept me from noticing it at first" he stated. "I'm not really sure how I shift, I just have a desire to do so and it happens when I touch Odessa, simple as that." he finished.

Anthony had pulled the conversation back towards going to the cafe before Harley said "Are there others like us? Or... are we the only ones in the world, a bunch of teenagers?" . Josh thought over this for a second, he wondered over the thought for a second before talking "Their are probably more, maybe even in the Aether realm their is a limit to how far Anthony's message could go and that would explain why more people didn't come".

 

[Swolligator]

Anthony walked back slowly to the cafe, he was ready, but Harley's comment had him puzzled, as did Josh addition. Why hadn't others heeded his call? Why didn't older people come? He furrowed his brow and sat down at a large table outside the cafe next-door, waiting for the others to arrive.

 

[Skymin]

Harley quickly finished the Lugia, signed it and followed Anthony out the door and around the corner to the cafe. He sat down at a large table and Harley followed suit, sitting down on the opposite end of him.

"You know, maybe that call you sent out is like a kind of frequency thing," Harley said. "Like, the same way that older people can't hear high pitched noises and younger people can. And there is no one under 13 here because maybe... maybe they need to have had a vision before they can recieve a message." Harley shrugged. It kind of made sense. "Maybe the older you are, the lower pitch message you can send. Or... something."

 

[Nakuzami]

Kris Kollyns
Frequencies...?

-----​

I followed Anthony and Harley over to the cafe. As we walked Harley explained her theory on the call. It wouldn't really make since for it to be on frequencies, but at the same time it did. It would explain why only young people were here but it just sounded...odd. Though the whole concept of shifters was a bit odd.

"That's a possibility..." I said in response to Harley's theory.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(OOC: GOD! I'm watching Lost right now and whenever I type Harley I want to type Hurley!)

 

[SkyisUmbreon]

-Raike looked down, thinking a bit. A shadow covered his face. When he looked up back at her, his eye had a bitter look, as if he was harboring some old grudge. He spoke plainly-

"I don't have a favorite pokemon really. I love them all, because they loved me, when neither my father, or mother would... Heh."

-He turned his head to the window, his eyes getting a far away look in them.-

"My parents never did.... never mind. Anyway, that's why I may not be the best talker to people. I don't see too many, I travel, even sometimes live in forests. I have basically spent my hole life, interacting with pokemon, I made a few friends, but I didn't capture them, as I felt they needed to stay in that area..."

-Raike grabbed his cup of hot chocolate, and drained it, not reacting to its flavor like he had before. He had a bitter taste in his mouth, his smile also vanished. His face showed evidence of sadness-

-Raike looked down, thinking a bit. A shadow covered his face. When he looked up back at her, his eye had a bitter look, as if he was harboring some old grudge. He spoke plainly-

"I don't have a favorite pokemon really. I love them all, because they loved me, when neither my father, or mother would... Heh."

-He turned his head to the window, his eyes getting a far away look in them.-

"My parents never did.... never mind. Anyway, that's why I may not be the best talker to people. I don't see too many, I travel, even sometimes live in forests. I have basically spent my hole life, interacting with pokemon, I made a few friends, but I didn't capture them, as I felt they needed to stay in that area..."

-Raike grabbed his cup of hot chocolate, and drained it, not reacting to its flavor like he had before. He had a bitter taste in his mouth, his smile also vanished. His face showed evidence of sadness-

 

[Swolligator]

Anthony listened to Harley's idea, "I guess that does make sense, but the youngest here is what, 15?" Anthony continue to stare at the table, "and I am the oldest at 21, does that mean that there is an 'age limit' to when people can be Shifters?" Anthony shook his head, as if dismissing the idea.

"I'm hoping when can find out what we need to know in the Distortion World and Canalave library," he said looking around at the others then gazing up into the deep, blue sky, "Canalave Library has been around for lots if years, there must be others of us in the history books."

 

[MichaelaTheUchiha]

Miharu nodded thoughtfully, feeling slightly empathetic with Raike. Although she had never seen her father before, she had seen the wedding pictures of her mother and her father and she could tell that they had both loved each other very much. She had always wondered why her father had to abandon Yuugao and cheat on her. When she was younger, Miharu would blame herself for the separation of her parents. Sometimes, she still does. Miharu shook her head physically to try to get rid of her depressing thoughts.

"I can somewhat understand where Raike is coming from," stated Miharu. "With myself I have never had a father, but I did have a mother that loved me very much and a sister who, although was barely there, expressed her love for me too. Honestly, if it was not for them, I think I would have turned out worst than I already am."

Miharu turned away, looking out the window and narrowing her eyes as she saw someone a bit familiar, before it donned on her who that person was.

What is a member of the disbanded Team Aqua doing here?

She motioned for the check, finishing up her hot chocolate. The waitress nodded, and walked over, placing the check on Miharu's and Raike's table. Before Raike could even think of trying to pay for it himself, Miharu grabbed the check, saw the total, and placed the amount of money stated, plus two dollar extra tip, inside the checkbook and stood up. The waitress smiled and nodded, taking the checkbook and saying something in french. Miharu replied with a polite smile before standing up motioning Raike to do the same.

"We should probably head over to the pokemon center now. They are probably waiting for us." Miharu glanced outside to see if the Team Aqua member noticed her, but it seemed to be in the negative.

---

Shelly walked through Slateport City, noticing the distrustful looks glanced her way as well as the mothers steering their children around from her. That was fine, she didn't mind the idiocy. Suddenly, something, or someone, seemed to caught her eye and she growled. It was that same person that had helped put her, her teammates, and her boss in jail. When the now older girl glanced at her, she continued walking, pretending that she didn't notice her. There seemed to by a guy with her too.

Shelly knew what she was going to do. She was going to take her revenge.