Post by sabrina on Aug 4, 2013 23:41:40 GMT -5
Sabrina felt small and drawn as she forced her breathing to slow and her body to stop trembling. Three times now she had pushed her powers to their limits, forcing the connection between herself and her beloved Alakazam to hold far beyond its usual distance, and with each attempt, they’d been able to move farther and farther apart from one another before the connection severed, snapping back like a rubber band pulled too tight. Three times, and they were getting closer now. With a few more attempts, she thought that she might be able to hold out until they could manage the far reaches of Johto and, with some practice, Sinnoh as well, but just as quickly as the thought came to her, it was refuted.
It isn’t a question of practice, it’s a question of power, and we don’t have enough. Though he did little more than cock his head at her, Warley’s voice resounded in her head. The Alakazam been with Sabrina since she was a child, when he was little more than a frightened Abra. He knew her well, knew how much losing Saffron had meant to her, and knew, also, that she would keep pushing herself until she crumbled under the weight of her own expectations. The connection between them, even after she was all but dead on her feet, was still going strong, and there was no doubt in his mind that she was a powerful psychic, but there was the realm of the possible and then there was the realm of wishful thinking, and this plan of hers, sustained only by the power that she possessed and the bond that they shared, fell firmly into the second category. What the two of them had to give was simply not enough, and he had to find some way of making her acknowledge that before she did herself some grave harm. Humans weren’t meant to do as she did, to reach and force their will to extend as she did. It went against the laws of nature as he knew them and yet, knowing how much she needed this, he had been unable to deny her when she’d first made the request. He’d had to try, even though he knew that it couldn’t be done. To be fair, she’d far surpassed his expectations regarding what he thought possible. She was far more capable than even he had known, but it had not been enough, and now it was his duty to convince her to try other methods and turn away from this path before it grew dangerous.
To extend the mind’s reach is to use the will to force it farther than it ought to go, to draw it out until it’s thin as a wire and just as likely to snap. Sabrina has done this thrice over now, and though she does not say a word, though the determination in the set of her jaw warns him that she is not yet done stretching herself thin, Warley knows that she will lose control of her powers and collapse into herself if attempts the journey again so soon. She has reached the limits of not only her abilities, but her self, and she’s too damn stubborn too admit it.
Look at you, you’re exhausted. You have nothing left to give. We can try again after you’ve had some time to rest.
Sabrina’s frowning at him. She knows that he’s right, her head is pounding, she’s bone weary, and she’s pretty sure that, at this point, she’s keeping herself upright by force of will alone, but that changes nothing. Saffron needs her and, if she’s to answer the call and prove herself worth of her city and its people, she has to find some way to make this work. She can’t stop, not now when she’s so close to achieving her goal.
”One more try,” she urges, and there’s a plea in her eyes.
No. Rest first and we can try again tomorrow. I won’t have you running yourself ragged on my watch. Which isn’t quite true. She’s already run herself ragged and then some, but he’s not about to let her make things any worse.
Sensing his determination, the former gym leader lets out a sigh. Pleas alone won’t convince him. She needs a plan, one that gives even him hope, something that sounds plausible, something that will give her the boost that she needs to make this work.
A boost. That’s when it hits her. All she needs to make this work is a boost, one hell of a boost to be sure, but with all of her pokemon working together it might just prove possible. ”I have an idea,” she tells him, but before he can respond, flashes of red light fill the room as Sabrina releases her other pokemon one by one. What are you doing? Warley asks, sensing that whatever she’s about to do, she’s not as ready for it as she thinks she is. ”Making this work.”
With a single unspoken command, Sabrina’s intent becomes clear in an instant, and the other pokemon begin to form a ring around her until she and Warley are alone at the circle’s center. Then they begin to hum. Though their lips never part, the single note rises from them, and Sabrina focuses on it until she is able to push everything else aside. She stops thinking about impossibilities and thinks only of bridging the gap between here and there, of success, because this will be enough. It has to be.
As each of the pokemon around her focus their power, a faint, flickering purple glow begins to rise all around them. One by one, the glow suffuses them until it looks as though the circle itself is made of pure psychic energy and then, all at once, that energy begins to move, focusing itself inward, pushing toward Sabrina and then into her in a rush. A single scream is heard throughout the gym as the sheer amount of psychic energy overwhelms her and, for several moments, she fears that she’s made a grave mistake. She loses all sense of time and reason, and finds herself floating in the midst of a brilliant purple storm. It begins to lash out at her as she takes notice of it, tongues of liquid energy snapping at her skin, searing it wherever it touches. Another scream tears itself from her throat.
All around her, the walls of the small back room lean in close, as though buckling under a great pressure. The screaming continues.
That same pressure pushes down upon Sabrina until she worries that it will crush the air from her lungs and, as she imagines this terrible new fate, it becomes reality. She feels the pressure shift, becoming more focused, feels the air being forced from her lungs until they burn like every other part of her. The energy is swirling now, pressing in all around her and she forgets the one rule that she must never forget: that it’s all in her head; that she is the master of herself.
Focus, Sabrina, focus! It’s all in your head. You’re allowing yourself to be overwhelmed. Warley’s voice cuts through the storm of energy induced madness. Remember your training. He isn’t entirely sure that the human body can master such a force, such a large amount of raw, unchecked psychic energy, but he has to say something, has to do something. Focus.
Sabrina can hear him, but his voice is faint. Faint but growing louder, and as his voice grows, as she focuses on it instead of the pain, instead of the breath being pulled from her lungs, the pressure begins to lessen.
It’s all in your head. You are the master of yourself.
Sabrina stops screaming and takes a breath. Her body ceases its wild convulsions, going stalk still, the purple glow grows bright until it nearly blinds Warley; hiding her body from view. It fades just as quickly, pulling inward until only a transparent haze of energy surrounds her body. When she opens her eyes, purple light flickers within their depths. ”Let’s try again.”
For several moments, the Alakazam stares in shocked silence and then his long moustache twitches upward in a proud smile. If any could force that much power to heel with her will alone, it was his Sabrina. It’s settled. Her voice is filled with determination when she speaks and the command is unmistakably. Let’s try again she says, but what she means is simply the latter part. Try again. And so they will.
Warley gives a brief nod before popping out of existence, reappearing as far as he dares. They made it as far as Ecruteak City the last time they’d tried, so he begins there and finds that the connection between them is still as strong as ever. Sabrina looks through his eyes. Back in the gym, she nods in approval. ”Farther,” she urges, and the Alakazam vanishes again, appearing this time in Sinnoh’s Solaceon town. The bond wavers a moment but holds. ”Farther. To Hoenn now.”
Warley winks into existence somewhere in Hoenn. He’s not as familiar with this particular region, having only been there once, and the name of this place escapes his memory. ”Lilycove,” Sabrina supplies the missing name with ease and revels in her success. Warley can feel her triumph pouring through the link between them and though the connection is weaker than it was, stretched far thinner now than it had been when he’d appeared in Solaceon Town, it's holding fast. They’ve done it.
The magnitude of their success nearly overwhelms Sabrina and, for a moment, the connection stretches tight, nearly severing itself, but she manages to regain control of it in time, funneling the gathered power back through the link between them before peering through Warley’s eyes. She’s never spent much time in Lilcove herself, or in Hoenn, for that matter, but even she can tell that things have changed, and not for the better. The reports weren't exaggerated in the least. Much of what she's seen through Warley's eyes has been dire, the efforts to rebuild the city, not enough.
She can't believe what she's seen. In just a few moments, the scope of the destruction is beyond impressive, and she believe she knows the culprits well. ” Lux," she and Warley growl as one and, for a moment, his trainer’s rage is all he knows. A crackles of purple energy flickers around him before Sabrina gets control of it again. ”I am the master of myself,” she says firmly, clamping down on her anger and locking it away for another time. She has much yet that she wishes to accomplish before she severs the connection, and she isn’t entirely certain that she’ll get another chance at this. She can’t allow anger to ruin all that she’s striven for. It’s time to get the ball rolling, and she believes that she knows just the people to help get things moving in the right direction.
”To Mossdeep now. Find Tate and Liza.” Sabrina commands, and Warley vanish halfway across the n the aforementioned city. He stands before the Mossdeep Gym. Vanishes again. Stands inside. It must look odd to those trainers who have taken up residence in the gym: a single Alakazam teleporting in by itself with no trainer to speak of. Weirder still is the fact that it strides, with purpose, toward the back of the gym, and speaks in each of their minds with two voices – one male, one female - as it moves.
”I need to speak with Tate and Liza.”
It isn’t a question of practice, it’s a question of power, and we don’t have enough. Though he did little more than cock his head at her, Warley’s voice resounded in her head. The Alakazam been with Sabrina since she was a child, when he was little more than a frightened Abra. He knew her well, knew how much losing Saffron had meant to her, and knew, also, that she would keep pushing herself until she crumbled under the weight of her own expectations. The connection between them, even after she was all but dead on her feet, was still going strong, and there was no doubt in his mind that she was a powerful psychic, but there was the realm of the possible and then there was the realm of wishful thinking, and this plan of hers, sustained only by the power that she possessed and the bond that they shared, fell firmly into the second category. What the two of them had to give was simply not enough, and he had to find some way of making her acknowledge that before she did herself some grave harm. Humans weren’t meant to do as she did, to reach and force their will to extend as she did. It went against the laws of nature as he knew them and yet, knowing how much she needed this, he had been unable to deny her when she’d first made the request. He’d had to try, even though he knew that it couldn’t be done. To be fair, she’d far surpassed his expectations regarding what he thought possible. She was far more capable than even he had known, but it had not been enough, and now it was his duty to convince her to try other methods and turn away from this path before it grew dangerous.
To extend the mind’s reach is to use the will to force it farther than it ought to go, to draw it out until it’s thin as a wire and just as likely to snap. Sabrina has done this thrice over now, and though she does not say a word, though the determination in the set of her jaw warns him that she is not yet done stretching herself thin, Warley knows that she will lose control of her powers and collapse into herself if attempts the journey again so soon. She has reached the limits of not only her abilities, but her self, and she’s too damn stubborn too admit it.
Look at you, you’re exhausted. You have nothing left to give. We can try again after you’ve had some time to rest.
Sabrina’s frowning at him. She knows that he’s right, her head is pounding, she’s bone weary, and she’s pretty sure that, at this point, she’s keeping herself upright by force of will alone, but that changes nothing. Saffron needs her and, if she’s to answer the call and prove herself worth of her city and its people, she has to find some way to make this work. She can’t stop, not now when she’s so close to achieving her goal.
”One more try,” she urges, and there’s a plea in her eyes.
No. Rest first and we can try again tomorrow. I won’t have you running yourself ragged on my watch. Which isn’t quite true. She’s already run herself ragged and then some, but he’s not about to let her make things any worse.
Sensing his determination, the former gym leader lets out a sigh. Pleas alone won’t convince him. She needs a plan, one that gives even him hope, something that sounds plausible, something that will give her the boost that she needs to make this work.
A boost. That’s when it hits her. All she needs to make this work is a boost, one hell of a boost to be sure, but with all of her pokemon working together it might just prove possible. ”I have an idea,” she tells him, but before he can respond, flashes of red light fill the room as Sabrina releases her other pokemon one by one. What are you doing? Warley asks, sensing that whatever she’s about to do, she’s not as ready for it as she thinks she is. ”Making this work.”
With a single unspoken command, Sabrina’s intent becomes clear in an instant, and the other pokemon begin to form a ring around her until she and Warley are alone at the circle’s center. Then they begin to hum. Though their lips never part, the single note rises from them, and Sabrina focuses on it until she is able to push everything else aside. She stops thinking about impossibilities and thinks only of bridging the gap between here and there, of success, because this will be enough. It has to be.
As each of the pokemon around her focus their power, a faint, flickering purple glow begins to rise all around them. One by one, the glow suffuses them until it looks as though the circle itself is made of pure psychic energy and then, all at once, that energy begins to move, focusing itself inward, pushing toward Sabrina and then into her in a rush. A single scream is heard throughout the gym as the sheer amount of psychic energy overwhelms her and, for several moments, she fears that she’s made a grave mistake. She loses all sense of time and reason, and finds herself floating in the midst of a brilliant purple storm. It begins to lash out at her as she takes notice of it, tongues of liquid energy snapping at her skin, searing it wherever it touches. Another scream tears itself from her throat.
All around her, the walls of the small back room lean in close, as though buckling under a great pressure. The screaming continues.
That same pressure pushes down upon Sabrina until she worries that it will crush the air from her lungs and, as she imagines this terrible new fate, it becomes reality. She feels the pressure shift, becoming more focused, feels the air being forced from her lungs until they burn like every other part of her. The energy is swirling now, pressing in all around her and she forgets the one rule that she must never forget: that it’s all in her head; that she is the master of herself.
Focus, Sabrina, focus! It’s all in your head. You’re allowing yourself to be overwhelmed. Warley’s voice cuts through the storm of energy induced madness. Remember your training. He isn’t entirely sure that the human body can master such a force, such a large amount of raw, unchecked psychic energy, but he has to say something, has to do something. Focus.
Sabrina can hear him, but his voice is faint. Faint but growing louder, and as his voice grows, as she focuses on it instead of the pain, instead of the breath being pulled from her lungs, the pressure begins to lessen.
It’s all in your head. You are the master of yourself.
Sabrina stops screaming and takes a breath. Her body ceases its wild convulsions, going stalk still, the purple glow grows bright until it nearly blinds Warley; hiding her body from view. It fades just as quickly, pulling inward until only a transparent haze of energy surrounds her body. When she opens her eyes, purple light flickers within their depths. ”Let’s try again.”
For several moments, the Alakazam stares in shocked silence and then his long moustache twitches upward in a proud smile. If any could force that much power to heel with her will alone, it was his Sabrina. It’s settled. Her voice is filled with determination when she speaks and the command is unmistakably. Let’s try again she says, but what she means is simply the latter part. Try again. And so they will.
Warley gives a brief nod before popping out of existence, reappearing as far as he dares. They made it as far as Ecruteak City the last time they’d tried, so he begins there and finds that the connection between them is still as strong as ever. Sabrina looks through his eyes. Back in the gym, she nods in approval. ”Farther,” she urges, and the Alakazam vanishes again, appearing this time in Sinnoh’s Solaceon town. The bond wavers a moment but holds. ”Farther. To Hoenn now.”
Warley winks into existence somewhere in Hoenn. He’s not as familiar with this particular region, having only been there once, and the name of this place escapes his memory. ”Lilycove,” Sabrina supplies the missing name with ease and revels in her success. Warley can feel her triumph pouring through the link between them and though the connection is weaker than it was, stretched far thinner now than it had been when he’d appeared in Solaceon Town, it's holding fast. They’ve done it.
The magnitude of their success nearly overwhelms Sabrina and, for a moment, the connection stretches tight, nearly severing itself, but she manages to regain control of it in time, funneling the gathered power back through the link between them before peering through Warley’s eyes. She’s never spent much time in Lilcove herself, or in Hoenn, for that matter, but even she can tell that things have changed, and not for the better. The reports weren't exaggerated in the least. Much of what she's seen through Warley's eyes has been dire, the efforts to rebuild the city, not enough.
She can't believe what she's seen. In just a few moments, the scope of the destruction is beyond impressive, and she believe she knows the culprits well. ” Lux," she and Warley growl as one and, for a moment, his trainer’s rage is all he knows. A crackles of purple energy flickers around him before Sabrina gets control of it again. ”I am the master of myself,” she says firmly, clamping down on her anger and locking it away for another time. She has much yet that she wishes to accomplish before she severs the connection, and she isn’t entirely certain that she’ll get another chance at this. She can’t allow anger to ruin all that she’s striven for. It’s time to get the ball rolling, and she believes that she knows just the people to help get things moving in the right direction.
”To Mossdeep now. Find Tate and Liza.” Sabrina commands, and Warley vanish halfway across the n the aforementioned city. He stands before the Mossdeep Gym. Vanishes again. Stands inside. It must look odd to those trainers who have taken up residence in the gym: a single Alakazam teleporting in by itself with no trainer to speak of. Weirder still is the fact that it strides, with purpose, toward the back of the gym, and speaks in each of their minds with two voices – one male, one female - as it moves.
”I need to speak with Tate and Liza.”
