OOC: After long hours of schoolwork and recording work (see my post in the OOC thread for more info), I am finally able to post in this RPG!
IC:
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"Don't worry about that," Yamiko said in response to Mackenzie's comment about Jolini. She gestured towards Lupin. "Lupin can pick locks as well--in fact, he's actually very good at it."
Lupin didn't dare blush, but he did put on a little awkward smile for a while.
"I think what she means is that I have lots of experience with it," Lupin commented. "Or maybe that's just me trying not to brag about my skills, which certainly isn't a good idea."
The two followed Mackenzie as he walked towards the city. Yamiko kept gazing at him, for the fact that he was a magician sparked something in her heart. As she kept looking at him, she saw something that both excited and astonished her. Mackenzie picked up a pebble, shaped it with his mind into a sphere, and turned it into a miniature stone Pokeball. Her eyes were glued to him for the next few moments, as a memory came back to her...
It was a cool day in the middle of the Saffron City summer. Pleased by the fair change in weather, three-year-old Yamiko stood in the entryway just outside the front door, enjoying the light breeze. As she gazed around, she saw the occasional person walking down the street. Rather than hiding in the shade of an awning or the side of a house (people would often walk onto Yamiko's front porch because the house faced north--thus the front was in shade), people walked out in the street, that is unless a car came. Yet there weren't very many cars out--it was a Wednesday afternoon, and most grownups were probably on a lunch break from work. But the kids, however, were out to play. Twice, a woman passed by with two happy children following close behind, playing catch with each other or having a toy car race. One boy passed by trying to teach a Rattata to use a hula hoop; one time, the hula hoop flew off the little Pokemon and flew at Yamiko, who caught it just in time and threw it back.
The fun continued on for a few minutes, but after that, the street was empty for a while. Gazing around, Yamiko spotted a little girl about her age emerging from behind the house directly across the street from her, one that was twice as big as her house. The little girl wore a pretty sky blue dress, white boots, and a broad white hat with a red ribbon around it. Her hair was navy blue in colour and her eyes were in shadow. At first she appeared to be tossing a ball as she walked, giggling as she went. But then Yamiko saw something strange: the girl's eyes--deep indigo like her own--glowed, and the ball did as well, hovering in midair. The girl raised her arms up and opened them, and the ball grew bigger. She cupped her hands together and the ball shrank. She pointed sharply to the ball and it popped and flew around, making a flatulent sound. The deflated ball passed close to Yamiko, who caught it.
Yamiko held the ball underneath her elbow and applauded, smiling at the girl.
"Yay, that was amazing!" she cheered. "How did you do that?"
The girl giggled, and pointed at Yamiko this time. Her whole body glowed with a bright green aura. Yamiko started to feel a strange sensation in her own body, as if she was getting lighter...
Yamiko's feet left the ground, and she floated out of the entryway and upward. At first she panicked a little bit, but when she realised she was flying, she actually enjoyed it. However, when she tried to spread her arms out to further simulate the flying experience, she found she couldn't move them, and her smile momentarily vanished. A few moments later, the sensation stopped, and Yamiko fell to the ground. After struggling to get up, she spoke again.
"So that's how you do it?" She pointed to the girl. "Like this?"
In her mind Yamiko pictured the girl rising off the ground, but the girl stayed put. She tried straining her eyes a bit so that they would glow, but that didn't work either, and her eyes stayed the same indigo shade. All the while, the girl just stood there, smiling, giggling intermittently. This continued for some time, during which Yamiko started to get a headache, until...
"That's enough!" said a man's voice. Yamiko looked up to see who must have been the girl's parents. The woman was looking worriedly at the girl; the man was staring at Yamiko, a stern expression on his face. "Not everyone can use telekinesis--in fact, only a select few can!"
"T-t-tele... kinesis?" Yamiko repeated. "B-but... I..."
"You're just an ordinary girl!" the man snapped. "Sabrina here--as well as the two of us--can use it, because we happened to be given that gift. It's a very rare gift, one you have to be born with."
"Honey," the woman started, but a gaze from the man silenced her. She looked at Yamiko for a while, then finally spoke to her, her tone sounding much less threatening.
"I've been watching you for a few days now, and I know how much you would like to have a friend, and how much you don't care for the other children. Unfortunately, Sabrina's too different, too dangerous for you. She has broken many things in this very house, and I fear for all of our safeties. I am very sorry that she hurted you; it's a fairly common occurrence. And I apologise for what my husband said as well; he's likely taking his frustration for Sabrina out on you."
"So it's not true?" Yamiko asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.
"Sadly, it is," the woman answered. "Telekinesis is indeed a rare gift. No, don't be sad." Seeing Yamiko starting to fret, she knelt down and touched her on the shoulder. "You know, I do thank you for trying to be friends with our Sabrina. I fear she might become awfully lonely later in life." She paused. "You know what? I think there actually is a way that you might be able to..."
"That's enough!" the man blurted. The woman gave him a dirty look and turned back to Yamiko.
"The colour of your eyes," she commented, "it almost exactly matches that of Sabrina's. And I see a very similar light behind them as well. I think it may be that there is something in your mind that is capable of some supernatural power, although whether it's telekinesis or not I can't be sure. It could be a similar psychic ability. Maybe, judging by your sense of compassion, it could be telem..."
"I told you, that's enough!" the man shouted. "We shouldn't be talking about such matters with this girl!"
As the parents turned away and went back into their house, Yamiko backed away in sorrow. But in the years afterward she remembered what Sabrina's mother said, and everything that happened that afternoon as well. Hidden in the back of her mind was a desire to be able to use psychic abilities, and the hope that maybe hidden even further were the powers themselves. She gave up the struggle in her later days in lieu of other things, but ever it drove her... as it did now.
Thoughts about this power, including the possibility that she could even use it herself, swam around in Yamiko's mind as she came slowly back to reality. Although she had actually been gazing blankly for only five seconds, it seemed like a lot longer to her. So long that when she got back to reality and realised she had been staring at Mackenzie, she nearly jumped in shock, hoping for dear life that she didn't blush. To her even greater shock, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and heard Lupin's softly whispering voice...
"Amazing, isn't it? If you ask me, that was quite a performance coming from him. Pity that 'Pokeball' won't actually work."
Much to Lupin's surprise this time, Yamiko turned around and hugged him. He hugged her back, just to be nice, but he still looked up and gazed in no particular direction, as if to see all of his area of sight at once.
"I'm sorry..." Yamiko murmured, her voice muffled by the fact that her face was buried in Lupin's chest. "f-for gazing that is. I-I-I hope I didn't give you the wrong idea..."
Lupin cracked a slight smile. "When most people talk like that, it means they're lying." At this moment Yamiko froze, but Lupin quickly continued, holding onto her more tightly. "But when you talk like that, it means you're being honest, or so it seems. You leave me in mystery--and that's a good thing--and you leave others in confusion--also a good thing."
At that point, Lupin took Yamiko by the hand, leading her towards the city.
"Now we really must be going," he said to no particular person. After a while he looked to Mackenzie. "And the three of us, at least, should stick together for now."
There was a glint in his eyes as he said this.
As the three walked, it was Lupin's turn to flash back, though not nearly as far or deeply as Yamiko did. He didn't picture anything, but he thought briefly about his friend Merlin, another Black Cat Bandit. (The Black Cat Bandits were pretty much his only friends anyway, and of course Yamiko.) Quite different at least appearance-wise from the famous wizard of Arthurian legend, Merlin was both wise and very intelligent, and had a penchant for speaking in riddles and utilising unique greetings upon meeting someone. He was also a deeply spiritual person, and was a bit psychically gifted as well; although he couldn't quite use the powerful stuff like telekinesis or hypnotism. He was particularly gifted in seeing people's auras, and as a side effect, he could occasionally read a person's surface thoughts as well, although the latter was an ability he didn't have any control over. He often practised divination, especially with the crystal ball in his room; he also did tarot readings for people. In his free time, he was often either reading (often times trying to dechiper an ancient book from his parents' library), meditating, or at his little workshop, trying to experiment with psychic abilities like hypnotism, telepathy, and telekinesis. Once he reported that he managed to move a straw across the room with his mind, but as no one was there to see that, there was some doubt. What made Lupin think about him was not only Mackenzie's little act, but the fact that Mackenzie's manner of speaking was slightly similar to that of Merlin... Even Lupin stopped to gaze at Mackenzie one time, although more quizzically.
"Well then, I guess we're even," Yamiko remarked, seeing what Lupin was doing.
"And I guess I can safely conclude that gazing at Mackenzie this way is not the result of a crush," Lupin added matter-of-factly. Yamiko actually giggled.
Just then, one of the boys in the group spoke, reading something on a piece of scrap paper. He was suggesting that the group stick together for the time being, and the group should find supplies and a place to stay. Soon after Mackenzie replied, agreeing with him, and adding that finding food and water should also be a priority.
"Let's find water first," Lupin suggested. "A person can survive far longer without food than without water."
"Fortunately," Yamiko added, "provided the city was only recently attacked, there should still be water flowing into it, even if the pipes are damaged. It might be the easiest thing to find in the city, second only to rubble and soldiers."
"And, it usually takes a long time for a group of soldiers, however large, to loot a whole city," Lupin continued. "Soldiers have a tendency to overlook some places, especially when they're shaken up by the very nature of war."
Meanwhile, Syterion was asking Artemis if she could find some water.
<"...Really, you don't have to call me 'Miss',"> she replied, sounding bashful. <"I'm used to being both an outcast and an outlaw, so the title hardly seems fitting for me. Well anyway, I'll see what I can do...">
With that, she started to sniff the air, closing her eyes and focusing her thoughts on the city beyond. She took deep, almost meditative breaths, focusing only on her sense of smell, as if all other senses didn't exist. Within moments, various scents reached her nose, subtle though they were, and she pointed them out as she noticed them.
<"There's the usual dust and rubble, the scent of sweat, indicating soldiers, and gunpowder... Then there's... tomatoes? Dry tomatoes, by the smell of it, and maybe no good. Then... let's see... ah, there's the sewer, although that likely doesn't contain clean water. There's the scent of wet steel close to it, and stale vapour...">
The Mightyena opened her eyes.
<"That must be where fresh water flows out of a pipe and cascades into a sewer,"> she concluded. <"I'll track that scent as we head into the city. It's a hard smell to detect in the first place, and nigh impossible if it's covered up by stronger odours, but provided my senses don't fail me, it's there.">
Just then, Artemis glimpsed something purple floating near the wall behind which the city stood. Recognising it as Laverne, she stood stiff, her tail twitching as it always did when she noticed something. She glanced at Lupin, who seemed to be giving her a look of warning.
Right, if I call out to her, soldiers might hear me, she thought. My guess is that she's scouting the area. That's something I normally do... then again she's harder to see and won't make any footsteps.
For a moment Artemis felt a little jealous, but then she remembered that Laverne didn't have her keen sense of smell, honed through many other scouting ventures. Indeed, the true reason why she was loyal to Lupin, despite her independent nature, was that she believed he could help her grow stronger. Before meeting him, she had thought that she was better off alone, but over time she began to see the virtue in companionship... It was a virtue that Lupin and Yamiko were beginning to see as well, especially in each other.
After a while, Laverne returned. Knowing that the trainers would not be able to understand her if she spoke to them, instead she formed a small ball of shadow energy in front of her, and with the force of her mind, kneaded it like a piece of dough. Then she made the mass take a small human shape, a shape that paced around with a machine gun perched on its shoulder. Then she reformed the shape into four human shapes. One was peering inside a hole, another was breaking a box with a crowbar, another was climbing around an invisible obstacle course, and the fourth was examining a wine bottle. Around these shapes was a thin square. The expression on her face grew a bit happier at the second image, and she mused a string of "Mis"es as she did so.
Yamiko nodded, having interpreted the images. This was how Laverne communicated with her, and she got to practise shaping her attacks in the process--a double deal. "Hm, I think this means that although there a few soldiers walking about and keeping an eye out for enemies, most of them are busy looting."
Laverne nodded, indicating that that was correct. Then she continued, this time shaping the shadowy mass into a drop of water. She made this drop of water fall to the ground, where it snaked along the ground in a stream. Near the stream she set up the faint outline of a building.
"Water running alongside the building?" Yamiko interpreted.
The shadowy mass then became a skull and crossbones, which slowly shook from side to side.
"That shaking indicates a maybe," Yamiko explained. "So the water may be poisonous. Or just dirty."
The last image Laverne showed consisted of a person-like figure walking up to a door, inserting a knife into the lock and jiggling it, opening the door, and turning into a downwards arrow. This arrow morphed into several drops of water falling down to the ground, where they manished in a shadowy mist.
"This image is pretty self-explanatory," Yamiko mentioned. "Although Laverne sounded uncertain about it. Apparently there's a locked door somewhere that leads to some underground place where there may be water."
"Laverne should know by now that that's not how I pick a lock," Lupin commented, more to himself than anything else. "Yet this got the message across better."
At this point, Velvet was sitting at Syterion's feet, pointing at the town with her forked tail.
"Fi, fi!" she said impatiently to the others.

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