LOVE AND SACRIFICE(v3)
Love and Sacrifice(v3): A break from the war
Swift woke up with a start, breathing heavily as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness that surrounded him. /Just a nightmare... Nothing to be scarred of from dreams.../ He thought to himself, sitting up and looking around, making out the shapes of the other sleeping hybrids. Judging by the rhythmic rising and falling of their chest, they were all sound asleep, and he was the only one awake, however, he caught a slight flash of light green in an isolated corner, and remembered that the dark hybrid had eyes of those color. Quickly counting the sleeping forms assured him that it *was* the dark hybrid's eyes that he saw, for there was one body missing.
Rising slowly, careful not to disturb those sleeping near him, he stepped over everything and everyone, making his way over to the dark hybrid. Why he was doing that, he didn't know, but he figured that if someone else was awake, he might as well talk to them or something. When he reached the other hybrid, he sat down, eyes transfixed on the older boy. "Why are you awake?" He finally asked softly.
The green eyes flickered open again and turned to look at the flying hybrid. They lingered there for a while before closing again. "I don't sleep at night."
The flying hybrid nodded, wondering why he hadn't thought of that. Of course the dark hybrid didn't sleep at night, that was the time that dark pokemon were most active. Same with some flying pokemon, which was why Swift found it easy to sleep any time, night or day. "Do you have any idea what the other hybrids have planned for tomorrow? We can't stay here forever."
"No."
"Why are you so withdrawn?"
The question actually startled the dark hybrid, for he opened his eyes and looked at Swift again. But he did not answer.
"I didn't expect you to reply anyway." The younger hybrid shrugged, drawing his wings over his body to keep himself warm. "And I understand why you keep to yourself, but you shouldn't be so quiet. You have more experience than the rest of us, and there's a lot you could teach us." He stood up, his wings still folded over his body. "I'm going back to sleep now." He walked off.
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"Hey, shouldn't we properly introduce ourselves?" Blade asked, getting up from where he sat at the round table.
Xeth put down the piece of toast he'd been about to inhale and nodded. "Great idea! Who want to start?"
From his seat next to Xeth, Tevas raised his hand. "I'll go first. As you should be able to tell, I'm the ghost hybrid. My name is Tevas, I'm from Corse, and I'm fifteen."
"My name's Xeth, also from Corse, fifteen, and the fire hybrid."
"My name's Devin, from Eurel, fifteen, the normal hybrid, and incase you were wondering, no I don't have a specified gender." The currently brown haired girl grinned, and then winked.
"Swift, from Eurel, sixteen, flying hybrid."
They went around the table, stating their ages, type, names and where they were from. When they were done, again, the steel hybrid stood and spoke.
"I know many of us are still suspicious of each other," A quick glance around the table. "but I have a feeling we're all on the same side, we all have the same goals, and if we work together, it'll be much easier for us to bring down Zentai." Here he paused and sighed, lowering his eyes to his plate briefly before raising them to meet the eyes of the other hybrids. "Unfortunately, I also have a feeling that's not going to happen. We're too independent, been working alone for too long, and we don't know how to work together. We can try, but by tonight, most, if not all of us, will be out on our own again. All I can say is 'Good Luck', and I hope we'll meet again, hopefully, as allies and not enemies." For a moment, he considered sitting down again, but decided not to. Instead, he left the table returned to the room where they had all gathered the night before.
He sat down on the couch he had slept on, tilting his head back and resting it over the edge. /We share the same pain of not belonging anywhere, but we do belong somewhere... We belong together. Why can't we all just see it?/ A slight smile crept onto his face. /How ironic of me. I give them a speech about how we will never work together, then I sit here and mope about how we should be together. But for that to happen, we need a leader, and who's willing to take that position? Me? Never./
The hybrid suddenly heard and chuckle infront of him, and he raised his head and opened his eyes. "What's so funny?"
Siana smiled and then sat down next to the younger hybrid, placing one hand on her shoulder in a rare gesture of intimacy, for those with psychic abilities tended to avoid psychical contact. "Why are you called Keisuke even though you are from Eurel?" She asked, ignoring his question.
"My mother was from Arasia." He replied, locking back the wave of guilt that washed over him. His mother had died giving birth to him, but had lived long enough to name him. "But what was so funny?"
"Your thoughts."
"You read my mind?"
"Not purposely. Humans and pokemon tend to project their thoughts and feelings without knowing it. I just happened to be passing by, and found what you were thinking humorous." Despite the smile that lingered on her face, there was no hint of mirth in her blank, golden eyes. "You constantly contradict yourself, and you realize it, but continue to do it."
He simply blinked, and she sighed.
"You will understand what I find funny later." Her tone was slightly disappointed, as if she had expected him to also find it funny. "The war has only just begun, and we have only just met. Oh, and yes, you are one of the very few people, or pokemon, who has ever seen me smile, let alone heard me laugh." She withdrew her hand from his shoulder and stood. "By the way, great speech. You got the other's thinking."
"Uh, thank you." He replied, though he wasn't sure if she heard him for she teleported out.
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Swift entered the training room in the basement and looked around, his blue and white eyes widened in pleased surprise. It was well equipped, and more than adequate for him to get a little exercise.
"Hey Swift, look at Shadow."
He turned to see the little steel hybrid watching the dark hybrid in awe, and his own jaw nearly dropped down in amazement. The dark hybrid was incredibly flexible! Like an acrobat or a gymnast. He was practicing on the equipment, and the ease with which he performed various moves was very deceiving to the actual difficulty of the exercises.
"He should've been born with wings..." Swift muttered under his breath, wishing the dark hybrid had been born with wings... The things he could have taught him to do! If someone could do what he was doing on the ground, with gravity, imagine what they could do in the air?
All of a sudden, the dark hybrid stopped, landing with a soft thud on the matt below the equipment. His eyes were closed, but his eyes were twitching in the way that the eevee evolutions' ears did when they were listening. They stopped moving, and he turned his head, eyes still closed, to the direction of where Blade and Swift were.
"You're very good." Swift said, causing the older hybrid to finally open his dead eyes.
The dark hybrid froze, looking from Swift to Blade. If it were not for the blank look in his eyes, his expression could have been described as that of a rattata caught between two persians. He seemed unsure of how to reply, as if he was not used to being complimented, which was probably the case. "A...Arigatou[1]." He finally repied, somehow forgetting that the other two hybrids most likely did not speak his native tongue. As soon as the word was out of his mouth, he slipped out before they could speak again.
"A bit rusty when it comes to interacting with others, don't you think?" Swift commented, looking at the door.
"Very rusty..." Blade replied.
The door swung open and an chattering Xeth entered, dragging a bewildered male Devin in 'default' human form behind him, while Tevas[2] floated by their side, an amused look on his face.
"Xeth, on the other hand, is definitely *not* rusty." Blade added, and Swift could only nod, a smile on his face as they watched Xeth exuberantly try and talk Devin into playing a quick game of basketball with him.
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/I wonder what they're talking about.../ Kaor thought to himself as he walked by a room and saw Siana saying something to Shadow. He'd caught the name 'Blade', and found it odd that they'd be disscussing the young hybrid. Well, not necessarily young as in he was several years younger than the others, but just that he seemed so much younger than all of them in his own way... He seemed so vulnerable really, though he wasn't, not with those steel blades, and judging from his little talk at breakfast, he was smart, and not afraid of saying what he felt. In other words, he was one of those people who fit under the category of 'Appearances are deceiving'.
Shrugging it off, he continued walking out through the hallways, simply wanting to find out where all the other hybrids were, and discover a little about the layout of the underground section of the dojo. Despite the tiny size of the upper part of the structure, the lower part was humungous, and although when you first entered it, it seemed rather tiny, after much exploration, he'd discovered countless paths and rooms. The training room had been one of the first places for everyone else to head to, and he would have gone in there, but he really didn't feel like using up his energy... Training really wasn't one of his top concerns, for he could easily kill someone if they even just touched him.
"But Deh~vin! Basketball's fun, and good exercise." Footsteps were heard running towards the poison hybrid.
"I said no Xeth. Ask Tevas, he's from Corse too."
"I'd rather not play basketball... Not my type of sport. Besides, I have too much of an advantage. I am the ghost hybrid afterall."
The three hybrids rounded the corner, and stopped in their conversation when they saw Kaor.
"Hey! I never got to thank you for saving me yesterday!" Xeth grinned, and walked up to Kaor. "You have good aim."
"Thanks. It's a handy skill when I can't use poison attacks."
"Yeah, well... Oh! Want to play basketball?"
Kaor shook his head. "No thanks. I'm not really a sports person."
Sighing, the fire hybrid snapped his fingers in disappointment. "D*mn, no one wants to play basketball!"
Rolling his... it's?... eyes, Devin finally gave in. "Fine, I'll play with you!"
"Alright!"
Kaor smiled slightly, actually glad for the presence of the three other hybrids. They were entertaining to say the least... Loud mouthed Xeth, relatively quiet, and reserved, Devin, and observant Tevas... "I'll see you guys later. Have fun with your game." Leaving as they started to argue about how long the games should be, Kaor nearly bumped into Merideth who was running down the hall with Vair close behind her.
"Hey Kaor!" The dragon hybrid chirped cheerfully, smiling warmly at him. "Want to play a card game with us? We need more players. At least three."
"Please Kaor? We're probably not going to all be together like this again, and tonight we all go our own ways." Vair added, a hopeful smile on her face.
Merideth intervened. "Aita doesn't want to play, Erian's pestering Kenji, Swift and Blade are talking somewhere, Xeth, Devin and Tevas are in the training room, there's no chance that Shadow, Siana or Indenki will play, Jorvis is talking to Erian's older brother, Hali is discussing something with Corvet, and that leaves us, and you."
Wondering just how she'd learnt the names of all the other hybrids so fast, Kaor dumbly nodded. "I've nothing better to do."
"Great! Have you ever played 'Eeveelutionary'?"
"No..."
"Well, neither has Merideth, I'll just have to teach you."
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[1] Arigatou - It means thank you. I might have spelt it wrong though... ^_^
[2] Heh, I keep forgetting whether the ghost hybrid's name is Tevas or Tevax... >_< I'm pretty sure it's Tevas though...
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