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Open Yoa the Utopia (non-pokemon)

If she weren't injured, Ismene would have gone with Jaijio without any hesitation. But she was, so there wasn't anything she could do except stay with Chsa and hope for the best. She eyed the structure nervously. What if something happened to him?
Loki hesitated for a few moments. Jajio was right. All those City Yoans were as dumb as rocks, but they had all the good supplies, clothes, everything. It didn't take too long for him to decide. He turned and half-ran toward the structure, already planning where to go and what to take.
 
The sun's reflection glared from atop one of the glass bubbles protecting the city. In truth, they were only half bubbles, wide at the bottom where they connected to the ground. As he neared he inspected for any signs of rust or decay on the metallic framework of the protective bubble, or for algal scum growing on the inside of the glass where condensation dribbled down the pane in the cool nights. Lack of repair usually meant security systems were outdated. Keeping about a hundred metres away, low in the grass, he especially kept an eye out for security cameras.

Sure enough, although small and hard to see they were installed at each strip of metal framework that met the ground vertically. Their blinkers feebly flickered as they turned their heads to scan the area below.

Jajio turned around for a split second to see if the others had left. It would be useful to know which direction they would be taking. He noticed a figure running closer, one of his "brothers" from the group. Relief overrid concern - he would need help with this.
 
Loki slowed to a walked, then crouched down next to Jaijo. He knew better than to just run up the dome and see what would happen. He mouthed silently,
need help?
 
Another rustle sounded next to the both, moving forward. Little Caleb watched the bubble with the intensity of a kitten watching a ball full of catnip. The mass of brown hair on his head somehow managed to blend in to the grass, then he glanced at the other two. "Are you guys coming or what?" he whispered hoarsely, a mischievous grin on his face.
 
"Not so fast" Jajio warned. "We need to find a way in without being seen."

A series of air vents ran along the bottom of the structure. Conveniently they had not been repaired in some time; the rain and the wind had rusted away the metal grids making them as strong as wet biscuits.

Jjaio carefully neared them, slowly as not to attract the attention of whoever was watching on the other end of the security cameras. By time he was under the blind spot of the security camera nearest to them he could see there was a fan lazily rotating behind the metal grid.

He gave the grid a swift kick, turning it into orange dust and fragments. The gap was big enough to crouch in. Another kick to the fan's propellors caused them to dent and jam in the framework supporting it.

He poked his head out and turned to the other two. "It's a tight squeeze but you can get in here." With that he disappeared to see if he could find a way out of the vents in to the city itself.
 
Caleb grinned and slipped inside, grunting and wiggling through the opening. One corner of his shirt got caught on an old corner, and it ripped as he squeezed past the framework, leaving behind a little bit of cloth fluttering in the slight breeze. Caleb crawled quickly through the ventilation system, exploring there as much as trying to find his way, and grinned when he was finally able to get to the inner wall. "Jackpot..." he whispered to himself, looking around for a minute before slipping out.
 
Loki took a deep breath and followed behind Caleb into the air vents. He thought he heard cloth ripping, but it was probably nothing. He was silent. Talking here wasn't a good idea; any city Yoan could easily hear them. In which case, they could fight and win or run, but it would defeat the purpose of coming here, anyway.
 
Crouching, Jajio shuffled through the air vent towards a source of light. When he approached it he noticed that it was blocked by a metal shutter. However, it was in a similar state as the grid earlier, and easily reduced to rusty fragments.

He didn't go out right away. It was necessary to observe the surroundings for a brief moment of time. There were appartment blocks scattered all over the place. There were no roads in this area, only pavement. A few electronic scooters were parked and chained to designated parking slots.

However these were not the things that struck him. The air was unnaturally still. A breeze blew in from the air vent, but in the city a stagnant stuffiness caused Jajio's breathing rate to increase. There didn't seem to be enough oxygen in the air to keep him energized. The air also felt incredibly thin, leaving an empty feeling to each breath. These sensations were not new to him, but they never failed to make him feel uneasy.

Thankfully there were a lot of shrubs and trees near the vent. It seemed relatively safe to walk around without being seen. He began to think of ideas in his head for items to steal. Not wanting to chance his luck, he thought about looking for light-weight items, like food or clothes, the things that many of the city Yoans took for granted but the wild Yoans had to work hard for - or go without.
 
Caleb slowly slipped out of the vent, dashing to a small enclave created by two buildings. He always had fun when city yoans were around, though there didn't seem to many about this area. Despite the young boy's apparent recklessness, he knew that to be caught meant death or worse. He glanced back at the vent where Loki was, glancing around before motioning the all-clear.
 
Loki waited a few seconds, then slipped after the other two and hid behind a bush, trying not to cough. The air here was so thin, breathing didn't feel right somehow. He gave Caleb a quick thumbs-up before focusing on the buildings in the city, wondering where to go first.
 
Caleb looked around again, taking as deep of breaths as he could as he identified any and all possible targets. Food was the priority, then other supplies. He knew that a couple of the other kids could use new shirts or pants, but his own clothes were good enough for himself. Caleb looked around a little, then easily slipped over to what looked like a grocery store. Avoiding any other cameras, he slipped inside, grabbed a couple of bags, and started loading up on all the supplies that he could.
 
Jjajio's heart skipped as Caleb entered the store. This was bad. There were bound to be people watching the tills and he feared they would know right away that Caleb was not from the city. He couldn't go after him though. Instead, he hoped that the shopkeepers were either gone for a moment or didn't see him.

It was easy to forget that even the children had grown up pretty much taking care of themselves.

He turned to spy the apartment block balconies. Each one conveniently situated above the other. With no city dwellers in sight he ran and grabbed the bottom of the first balcony before quicly pulling himself up and over the wall surrounding it. He could see in to their homes. It looked alien, everything was made of straight-edges, white and smooth in texture. He shook his head to himself as he ignored the uneasy feeling it gave him and looked up to grab the balcony above - there was nothing in this one.

City yoans had this strange habbit of sticking their wet clothes out on balconies as if it will help them dry any quicker. There was about as much air current indoors as there was 'outdoors'. Jajio grinned at the thought and began stripping the washing line. It didn't matter to him that they were still wet, though he made sure not to take too many of the wet ones to save weight.

Keeping himself below the wall of the balcony out of sight, he emptied a carrier bag full of pegs and started stuffing the clothes in. He looked at his own and how many holes were in the knees, and where immature moths had eaten away at the fabric, and where he had to use deer leather to fix up a hole in his shoe. This trip was long overdue.
 
Loki grinned gleefully and ran lightly through one of the alleys, careful not the make any sound. Where to go first? Food? Clothes? Both? He chose a house and paused, staring at the smooth metal walls of the many, many apartments. Their city was so strange; they had so much space, yet so little. Huge houses, but trapped in the bubble. And how stupid they were.. It was almost sad.. Almost. He jumped up and grabbed the railing of a balcony, using a bit of telekinetic power to reach. He pulled himself up, glancing inside the windows to make sure nobody was inside. Empty. He pulled the pack off his back and stuffed a few shirts and pants from the wash line inside, along with a dress for that girl who was hurt. Not that she mattered, but all of this stuff was right here..
Heh, shopping spree!
He shouldered the pack, then listened carefully for any sounds from inside. Silence..
Loki tried opening the door. Locked, of course. He focused and attempted to unlock it from the inside telekinetically. It would be faster and easier to just break a window, but somebody would hear it, or see the broken glass. This way, nobody would notice. After about two minutes, he heard a soft click. He tried to open the door again. It swung open. Perfect. Tiptoeing stealthily inside, Loki gaped for a few seconds. In the kitchen alone, there was more food than he'd seen in one place for a very long time. Silently cheering, he quickly started taking all the food that was small enough to fit in his bag.
Excellent! I'll be gone before they come back. Nobody will notice. They have all this food!
 
Jajio peeked above the wall of the balcony to get a view of where he was in relation to the air vent they entered from. A man in a blue cap had wandered over near by the air vent, holding a long hose. He appeared to be watering the plants in the area, since it didn't rain indoors, and had taken no obvious notice of the broken vent cover.

There would be no going home until he left.

Just as he was about to leap over the edge on to the ground below to look elsewhere for loot, a quiet hissing sound grew louder from the road ahead. A small vehicle quietly drifted in to the street, mounting the pavement and continuing in the direction of the entry point the three boys had taken.

A man and a woman exited the car, dressed in some kind of uniform. They casually wandered over to the man watering the vegetation. Jajio strained to hear them, but couldn't make out what they were saying. The gardener pointed at the air vent, and then the fragments on the ground before scratching the back of his head in puzzlement. The male in uniform brought a small device to his face and spoke into it.

Security was a little tighter than expected.
 
Caleb grabbed more and more of the food until it was almost too heavy for him to carry. He glanced around cautiously, making sure that no one was watching him before slipping towards the doors.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" a woman's sultry voice said practically in Loki's ear. The house hadn't been empty...it had just appeared that way. Jonalai didn't like intruders, though her small home seemed abandoned most of the time and invited other outlaws such as herself.
 
Loki forced himself not to scream, but did let out a choked gasp in surprise. This.. person wasn't that scary-looking, but he was caught completely off guard. For a moment. He grabbed his pack and backed away, looking around the room desperately for something to psychically throw in her eyes, the way the girl from before did to the soldier to get away. But there was no sand here, and he wasn't about to throw anything in his pack at anyone.
Ohcrapohcrapohcrapimscrewed!!
In a perfect world, he would yell a witty one-liner, bash her over the head with a large blunt object and run.
Argh, don't freeze, run!
Looking like a deer in the headlights, he finally remembered to move. Flinging the door open, he jumped down to the ground directly from the balcony. Ouch. Aside from getting a huge scrape on his arm that started bleeding a lot, he was pretty sure something in his arm just broke. Mentally kicking himself, he got up and sprinted away in a random direction.
 
A thud followed by a scuffling sound caught Jajio's attention. He carefully peeked over the edge of the balcony, careful to avoid being seen by these official looking city dwellers.

It was Loki, running across the street from goodness knows what. Jajio cringed in fear as the police-like figures dashed into their car. The vehicle reversed out of its parking space, before hastily screeching forward in Loki's direction. That outburst had caught their attention. For dumb city Yoans, they responded frighteningly quickly. Almost as if they were born to do their assigned job.

The blood litterally drained from Jajio's face. His oh-so amazing plan had turned into a nightmare. He couldn't see Caleb anywhere, but now that the city Yoans knew they were here he knew that Caleb would need to get back to the exit quickly. As for Loki, it was impossible to say if he would be returning to the exit at all.

Jajio swung himself over the balcony wall, hanging from the edge before carefully dropping to the ground. He staggered as he collided with the dry earth, kicking up fine dust. He paid no notice to the gardening spectator, not caring if he could see him. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. His heart pounded nauseatingly from within his chest, panic rising with every beat.

He wanted to look for Caleb first of all but there was no way he could leave Loki to fend for himself against those officers. The decision made him feel sick, but he finally decided he would have faith in Caleb's smarts and run after the screeching vehicle that was rapidly gaining on Loki.
 
Kitten blinked a little at how fast the boy had jumped away, then flinched a little at the crack that she faintly heard. She went over to the balcony, watching as police and another young man went after the first. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the destroyed ventilation grate. {Wild yoans...} she thought, looking back at the other two boys. Kitten stood there for a few moments, then jumped down from her balcony as well, going into a roll as soon as she hit. The young woman quickly ran off after them, moving a little faster than the second young man and catching up to him quickly. "Jumpy boys, aren't you?" she said, running alongside him.

Caleb quickly slipped out of the grocery store, trying to slip through the crowd as quickly as he could. He could feel a growing sense of danger and urgency growing around him, and the tension was making him more aware and jumpy than usual. He probably looked like a frightened young animal conered in a strange environment.
 
Several incoherent thought were rushing through Loki's head, mostly along the lines of well, this sucks and many many swear words. There were cars following much faster than he could run, and Jajio was somewhere close by. Caleb.. he didn't much care where Caleb was at the moment.
He couldn't go back to where they'd gotten in, and he couldn't run forever. Meaning..
Skidding to a stop, he jumped into a random alley and went around the apartment building, doubling back to a different one. Looping between as many buildings as possible, he stopped in an unfamiliar area of the city. Great. At least, he'd probably lost the police cars. But now Jajio was probably in trouble, but he'd have to take care of himself for the moment. Running this fast non-stop was taking it's toll quickly, and the thin air here was not helping. His breathing ragged, Loki half-ran to a nearby shed next to another apartment building and slipped inside, shutting and locking the door quietly. It was dark in here, but turning on any lights would be suicide. Tripping over what seemed to be furniture and tools of some sort, he collapsed in the corner and threw up. Barely able to move, he huddled miserably under a broken table. If anyone got inside, there was no way he could fight or run again.. even the word run made him want to be sick again.
GonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI..
 
The car hurried round the corner, probably in hopes to catch up with Loki. Jajio could run no more - he felt fatigue attack his muscles as he tried to get enough air into his lings. The lower gravity allowed him to run faster but he also used up energy a lot quicker. He just hoped that Loki managed to keep running a bit longer than he did.

By this point spectating city dwellers had accumulated on the street, some shielding their children. Others hurried into buildings and watched from windows. Terrified but morbidly curious creatures they were.

An alarm echoed throughout the enclosed glass bubble frame, flashing siren lights attached to the metal framework acting as indicators of danger in the area. At the very instant the siren could be heard, more people began to rush indoors, as if they were familiar with and prepared for the incident.

Is this because of us?

He looked back to where he had ran from. Jajio could not see Caleb. Basic survival instinct was preparing his muscles for a sprint back to the exit, empty-handed or not. Another side of him could not leave the other two behind, but the longer he remained, the more danger he was in.

A different kind of siren faintly caught his attention. It was much like the siren from the other car, but there was more of them. This was it. Flee now and be safe, stay to find the other and most likely be shot dead. He couldn't believe he was considering leaving the others, but his judgement was clouded by the instinct to survive.

Slowly he began to stagger back, looking for Caleb around corners and in alley-ways and trying to see if he could be spotted amongst the masses of scared civilians in the shop windows. The louder the sirens grew, the quicker his pace picked up.
 
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