I realized I have no idea what the difference between djinn & djinni is. I think djinni is the singular. If I'm wrong don't hesitate to point it out.
Warnings: Flint and Sap are particularly talkative.
Pairings: Felix/Isaac as always, and a line or two that can be interpreted as Garet/Ivan. Seriously, though, blink and you might miss it.
Rating: T for very minor language.
Notes: Flint proves Djinni can talk in the beginning of the game, but they don't talk any more than that throughout the game. That's changing now. Also, Sap just magically followed Flint, because there is not going to be a chapter where everyone decides to return to Vault when Ivan gets reveal just so they can pick Sap up.
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Enter the Blond Midget
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"The world is ours to save or destroy. Our inaction may bring about its destruction," the Great Healer warned. His words were an echo of what the Wise One was telling him. "We cannot hope for salvation. We must save ourselves. Acquiring the elemental stars is your fate alone," the Great Healer continued. His statement was directed at the two young boys in the center of the sanctuary.
The mayor stepped forward in surprise and outrage. "Garet is only a child! You cannot possibly expect–"
"The Wise One has spoken!" The Great Healer shouted, cutting off the mayor's protest. "They are to make their own decision."
"Hell of a choice, eh Garet?" Felix said, smiling. No matter what anyone said, his decision was already made.
Garet turned to Felix expectantly. "I'm with you whatever you decide." Which was, of course, Garet-speak for 'I'm not sure what to do! You decide.'
Felix nodded, before carefully replying, "I'll do my best to save the world, but, to be honest, I just want to bring Isaac and Jenna back."
There was a choked sob from the small crowd behind the two boys. Garet jumped in surprise, and Felix cringed guiltily. The 'I' word! Felix had said the 'I' word in front of Dora!
The pair turned to see Dora, as expected, bawling her eyes out. She was crying like there was no tomorrow, which, at this rate, there might not be. What was truly surprising though, is that her tears were tears of joy. Dora was smiling like she hadn't smiled in years.
"Thank you Felix, It's so kind of you to promise to bring him back. I'm just happy to know I-Isaac's alive," said Dora.
This was all clearly an indication that the Wise One's prediction was off. Clearly the end of the world was already here. Next thing you know Dora would be saying the 'K' word, too.
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Felix and Garet entered Vault. The place was bustling with activity uncharacteristic of the small town. A tiny brown creature, no more than a foot tall, with large bulbous blue eyes (Bright blue like Isaac's eyes, Felix had thought) was trailing along behind them. It walked in a sort of comical waddling march.
The party halted. Or rather, Felix halted and Garet and the brown creature that called itself a 'djinni' followed suit. "Flint," Felix commanded, "look around town. Try to find any information you can about mysterious travelers."
"Yes, sir," the creature (apparently named Flint) replied in a gravelly voice. Garet might have laughed at its salute (for it used its tail, having no arms to do a proper salute), if Flint had not looked so serious. The djinni disappeared into the crowd almost instantly.
Garet eyed Felix's short sword with distaste. "First order of business: new equipment." Felix nodded and the two plunged into the crowded streets to find the nearest weapon shop.
---
After shopping for a bit Felix had insisted they go to the inn for a bit of food. They rented a two-bed room, too. There was a bit of confusion over how Flint was to find them, because no meeting place had been arranged, but Felix was first to point out that the inn was the most reasonable place to look.
Flint returned a few minutes after the Valeans had sat down at the inn table. The djinni had brought a friend (though Venus only knows where those things come from!) and both djinn jumped onto the table to report the information Flint had gathered. The innkeeper was not pleased.
"A lady outside mentioned some scaly foreigners heading North-East. Everyone else in town seemed concerned with missing items and a boy at the mayor's house with strange powers. I suspect psynergy, sirs," Flint said.
Felix nodded. "Very good, Flint. Who is this?" he gestured at the second djinni. It was slightly shorter than Flint and had a much longer tail.
"I'm Sap, sirs. I hopes to joins your quest. We djinns likes to stick togethers," the shorter djinni replied.
Garet began coughing. Felix couldn't be sure if he was choking on something, or if he was just covering his laughter. He postulated both were fairly likely. "Very good, you may join us," Felix said in an official voice.
A waitress made her way to the table the Valeans were sitting at and glared disapprovingly down at the djinn. "The innkeepa' humbly requests ya keep ya dirty animals off tha table, kind sirs," she warned in a high nasally voice. She waited until the djinn sat on the arms of a nearby chair before continuing, "Can I get ya anythin' for ya filthy animals, sirs?"
Felix opened his mouth to respond with an order, when he realized he had no idea what djinni were supposed to eat. He turned to Garet who merely shrugged in confusion. "Could you hold on, ma'am?" Felix requested, and without waiting for confirmation he turned to the djinn.
"No worries, sirs. We's Venus djinn, we's jus' takes nutrients from the earths," said Sap.
Felix nodded. "Right, then. Check please."
The waitress smiled. "That'll be five gold, sirs." The boys paid up and went upstairs, djinn in tow.
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"So what do we do? We only know they went Northeast! That's the only way Isaac, Jenna, and the kidnappers can even go!" Garet said mournfully.
Sap hopped to get their attention. "Whats we needs, sirs, is a windy djinni. They's good trackers, sirs."
Flint hopped in a mockery of a nod. "Sirs," it began thoughtfully, "Jupiter djinni are prone to listening better to Jupiter adepts. They won't like a Venus leader."
Garet raised an eyebrow in confusion. "But how does that hel–"
"What element was that boy with strange powers?" Felix asked, completely ignoring Garet.
"Without directly seeing him perform psynergy we cannot be sure," replied Flint dutifully.
Felix nodded thoughtfully. "Very good. You've worked hard today, rest while we go see this adept."
"Thank yous, sirs," Sap replied. Both djinn hopped from the nightstand they had been sitting on to the nearest lumpy inn bed to rest a while.
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A bit of directional aid from various random townsfolk led Felix and Garet to the mayor's house. There was no mistaking it for anything but a mayor's house. It sat on a ledge at the far end of town.
When they knocked a young boy, much shorter than either of the Valeans, stepped outside. He was so short compared to them that all they could really see was his blond hair. Circles of psyenergy surrounded him, rising and fading. Felix jumped as his mind was poked at by invisible fingers.
"Yes. I…I am the boy who possesses strange powers. You have them, too, don't you?" The boy said, replying to Felix's thoughts. The boy used his psynergy again. "So…this power, it is called 'psynergy'? I had no idea!" He mind read one last time before speaking again. "Oh! I had not realized you could feel my power, I apologize. I did not know my mind read ability was so uncomfortable."
Felix shook his head to clear the feeling. "It's alright. We came here wondering if we could possibly ask for your aid."
The boy hesitated before responding, "I am sorry. I-I feel I can trust you with this. You see, Master Hammet's rod was stolen, and it is all my fault. I am in need of assistance myself."
"We will gladly help you," Felix said reassuringly.
The boy smiled uneasily back. "Thank you, but I couldn't ask – I mean, I need to catch up with Master Hammet, I would be unable to repay you…"
Garet sighed unhappily and turned to leave, but Felix stopped him, saying, "That's quite alright. We would be happy to assist you anyway."
The boy immediately perked up. "Oh, thank you!" he said. When he looked up like that, they could easily see his violet eyes. Only in adepts could one see such an unusual eye-color, and it was the same shining purple that the Jupiter star had been. There was no doubt about it, this was the kid they needed. "My name is Ivan, and you are…?" he used mind read again. "Pleased to meet you, Felix and Garet!"
Ivan held out a hand to Felix, who mistook the gesture for a handshake. Needless to say he was surprised when suddenly he heard Garet's voice in his head saying Gah! Stop reading my mind Ivan, this feels so gross!
Felix laughed and released Ivan's hand. "It worked!" Ivan cried excitedly. "By holding your hand, you can also read the minds of people."
Garet grumbled and muttered a barely audible, "Not fair." Felix smirked at him.
"We can all read the minds of the townspeople to find the thief," Ivan suggested.
---
"This is your Jupiter adept, sirs?" Flint said skeptically. He hopped around Ivan to get a better look.
Felix sighed exasperatedly. "No, he is not our Jupiter adept. We're just helping the poor kid out, he has other things to do."
"I'm fourteen," Ivan offered. He looked young, but he wasn't that small was he?
Sap hopped after Flint. "I still says he's pansy, sirs."
Felix rolled his eyes at the djinn's antics. Both were still hopping circles around Ivan. Garet was laughing from the other bed. Felix ignored him. "Did either of you hear anything about suspicious-looking possible thieves?"
Flint stopped hopping, slowing to his waddle-march to better think. Sap continued hopping, and periodically bounced off of Flint's head. "Sirs! There were somes suspicious humanly things ins the inn room next tos ours," Sap replied.
Ivan gasped and attempted to make a break for the door, but only managed to trip over Flint. "Sirs? Is yous okey?" Sap asked, concernedly (perhaps concerningly) hopping on Ivan's lower back.
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"You two stay right here. We don't want to fight these guys, just corner them. It is your duty to make sure they don't make a break for the door," Felix ordered. Sap and Flint saluted with their jagged tails. Ivan exhibited more self-control than Garet and saluted back at the djinn. Garet just giggled.
The suspicious men were on the far side of the room, attempting to stay as far away from Ivan as possible. They were much faster than the young Jupiter adept, as well as Felix and Garet, and only narrowly avoided getting caught when they tried to break past the djinn.
A change of plans was in order. The trio regrouped by the djinn. "We can't catch them, they're too fast!" said Garet.
"Sirs! Might I suggest a splits?" Sap replied.
Felix nodded. "Of course. Ivan, you go left, Garet you on the right, and I'll try to herd one of the men toward you."
The second plan was a success. It was no trouble at all to catch one of the men when Felix chased him toward Garet. Ivan followed, and a quick mind read proved them to be the culprits, as well as revealing the hiding place of all the stolen goods.
The trio grabbed their faithful djinn and ran back outside the inn to the hole in the roof the loot was in.
Garet stepped forward first. He paused to concentrate, and after a few moments, conjured a giant glowing and floating hand that proceeded to push the giant crate to the side to reveal a doorway.
"Good job, Garet, how did you know there was a doorway there?" Felix commented.
"Er…natural genius," replied Garet. He figured it made more sense to go with Felix's idea that finding the door was intentional, as opposed to a feeble attempt to impress Ivan. Ivan bowed and thanked Garet before rushing past both Valeans into the newly-revealed room.
Felix and Garet followed their eager friend to find a man bound and gagged on the floor. Ivan pulled a short sword from his belt and cut the ropes, the man removed the gag on his own. "I was fixing the roof when I saw this area and there was this huge crate and next thing I know WHAM I'm out cold, and then I woke up in here," the man gushed.
Sap appeared on Felix's left shoulder. "Sirs, I thinks this man mights have been hitsed too hard."
"So you've found our stash, eh?" A voice from behind called. Flint hopped up and whacked the bandit in the face with its tail to give Felix and friends time to regroup.
The apparent leader smacked at Flint, only succeeding in hitting himself. Flint hopped back to Felix's side as the bandit spoke, "You're pretty persistent for one of Hammet's whelps."
"Tch yeah, why does some stupid stick matter to you so much anyway? You could have just bought a new one," the left bandit added.
The right bandit spoke in a high reedy voice, a contrast to his companions, "Hammet's already caught by a bunch of bandits way worse than us."
"What?" Ivan pointed his short sword at the right bandit.
The bandits' leader replied, "I heard Hammet went to Lunpa after the eruption."
The man that had been tied up jumped in surprise. "Lunpa?" said he, "A man with Hammet's wealth shouldn't go anywhere near Lunpa!"
"What's wrong with Lunpa?" Garet asked cautiously.
"Oh, nothing really. Lunpa was the name of the founder. He was once known as the noble thief, his son kept up the family tradition, too. A bunch of real nice guys, they were. But Dodonpa, Lunpa's grandson, he's a little different…" the left thief trailed off.
The right thief smirked. "Dodonpa's an evil thief. No morals at all – he's truly vicious."
"Compared to a man like that, we're pretty harmless. So whaddya say, are you gonna keep quiet?" Their leader said.
"Hell no. Bring it on," Felix replied, grinning.
"Looks like we'll have to keep you quiet ourselves, then. Boys, get 'em," the bandit leader demanded.
Both side thieves rushed at Felix, who held them off with the help of his shiny new long sword, and two very energetic djinn. Garet rushed at the leader with his axe, while Ivan began concentrating on his whirlwind psynergy. The bandits never stood a chance.
---
"So I guess this is goodbye?" Garet said. Ivan nodded mournfully. Felix looked off into the distant horizon. The sky was already beginning to dim. They had decided to not even bother with the inn room.
"We'll see each other again," Ivan said optimistically. "I can feel it."
Sap reappeared on Felix's shoulder. "Yesh, if a windy djinni master-guy says its, then its must be trues. They's never wrongs."
Ivan laughed at Sap's accent. "I hope you find those people you are looking for. I am sure that Isaac and Jenna will be pleased to see you." He waved before disappearing into the horizon.
"So I suppose that means we're going to chase those scaly freaks, now, right?" Garet said hopefully.
Felix nodded. They set off on a path slightly eastward from the one Ivan had taken.
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AN: I can't seem to find a consistent or clear djinn height, so I just kind of assume they're about as big as a pikachu. Maybe a little shorter (pikachus generally measure at about 1 foot/12 inches/30 cm for anyone that isn't enough of a dork to know that). For the most part they seem to be really tiny, like palm-size, but that just doesn't suit the story.
There will be many djinn outbursts. I think they might get to be fairly major characters. The two biggest will, of course, be Sap (because I'm already attached to it) and Ember (though we don't get to that one 'til Tolbi). I'm kind of making up djinn facts as I go, like for instance, Venus djinni use photosynthesis. I'll try to include as much information as possible.