He began peeling the banana he had just stolen. His eyes eyebags taking up almost all of his eye area.
"Stealing is easier than I thought." He whispered, before taking a bite out of the banana.
"I haven't been caught by an agent in some time now." Sa-iq took his free hand and began rubbing his forehead.
"Tsk! I shouldn't have thrown away my phone! I would be up to date on my situation damn it!" He shouted before throwing the banana on the ground.
"Whatever, I think I'm close to the Turkish border soon, once I cross countries it will be harder for them to find me." He stood up and put the hood back on. He took out his hand and reached for his bag, getting ready to walk towards the border again.
"Heya electroboy! Where do ya think you're going?" He heard from an unfamiliar feminine voice, he looked around and started shivering a little. He then summoned his sword and stood in a defensive position.
"Forget it City-Agent! You won't get me!" He said out loud. Out of a tree fell a girl, she had black hair styled in a bun and blue eyes. Sa-iq was shaking more and more. He then wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"I am no City-Agent." She said menacingly. Sa-iq blinked and was shook after seeing that she no longer was there. He looked to his left and saw her standing right there, looking at the direction his back was facing. Sa-iq jumped backwards a little and the girl looked at him.
"She looks around my age?" Sa-iq thought to himself. Sina reached for her pockets and showed him her badge.
"Just give up, as you can see I am B-ranked." She put her badge back into her pocket. Sa-iq dashed towards her, trying to end the fight in an instance. When he was supposed to hit her, she "disappeared" and stood on the branch right above them. Sa-iq looked up and saw her standing there, she then pushed herself towards him, her sword in a striking position. Sa-iq barely managed to block the attack, he then pushed himself off her to analyze her movements.
"She's careless, if I outsmart her I can win." He thought to himself while gritting his teeth. Sina looked at him and began smiling, her teeth white as snow.
"Come on you idiot, give up so I can do what I'm trying to." She thought to herself.
"Here to make this fair, I'll let you strike me first, strike wherever you want, miss and you'll be dead" She opened up her arms leaving her defenseless. Sa-iq was surprised and skeptical.
"So, your ability must have something to do with bait? I won't fall for it that easily!" He thought to himself. He then got ready to strike his sword and release a channeled thunderbolt. Yet he hesitated. He tried again, and again he hesitated. His eyes widened, his sweat travelling down across his head.
"What's going on?" He questioned. His eyes then sharpened, he rose his sword, ready to fall for her trap and strike. He ran towards and rose his blade, just before he hit her, his body stopped itself.
"What's wrong? Can't attack me?" She began walking around his "frozen" body, smiling from ear to ear. Sa-iq began tearing up, however even he was confused.
"wh-why do I feel bad for her?" He asked himself. Sina created some distance between her and Sa-iq. Sa-iqs sadness suddenly disappearing.
"That was my ability, to manipulate emotions." She said, letting her guard down.
"Taking that ability off me will be a mistake." He said, Sa-iq then channeled his sword and threw a ball made of electricity towards her. The impact caused a lot of dust, however Sina got out of it unscathed, her face looked angrier.
"I can also manipulate my own feelings, making me more motivated to battle." She rushed towards Sa-iq looking to punch him right in his stomach. Sa-iq took up his hands to defend, the impact of Sinas punch being so strong that Sa-iq is convinced she broke his forearm. Sa-iq backed off, hoping he'd able to heal his arm before she struck him again. Sina then moved so fast that it had looked like she disappeared, she appeared again behind Sa-iq and kicked him, making his body collide with the ground.
"My ability isn't really the greatest, I need a lot of focus to manipulate other people's emotions, so I almost never get to manipulate their emotions unless they are weaker than me. My ability helps best when paired with others, I can boost other people's confidence and strength by putting them in their right state of mind." She played around with her sleeve while stepping on Sa-iqs back. Sina then bent over, her mouth right beside his ear. Sa-iq shut his eyes out of fear.
"If you want to live a semi-normal life, then you should be better at hiding yourself, you were easy to find. Sa-iq, I am not here to hand you over to the organization, I am here to help you." She whispered to his ear. Sa-iqs eyes widened. Sina then took out her hand to help Sa-iq back up.
"Help me? Why?" He said while getting up.
"We can get on that later. I take it you already know who I am. In case you don't, I am Sina Jibar, lower rank 3." She said enthusiastically.
"Sorry for attacking you, I wanted to test your strength and combat." She chuckled a little at Sa-iq, Sa-iq stared back at her.
"Unbelievable" He thought to himself.
"I'll train you in this forest for you to get stronger, use that strength to only defend yourself." She put her right hand on her left shoulder and moved her shoulder a little.
"Learn how to use your ability, in our fight you barely used it other than giving yourself speed boosts." She said, Sa-iq seemed visibly annoyed by this.
"Use everything you know about your ability on the trees." She pointed on one of the trees, Sa-iq looked back at her with confusion.
"But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of staying hidden?" He asked
"You're with me, as long as Ms. Yuki isn't the one to find us we're alright." She answered. Sa-iq looked at the tree and dashed towards it before slashing it, making it fall.
"Hmmm, you can cut a tree, great. Now demonstrate a little more on the other trees, I know you got more." She said. Sa-iq looked to the left, channeled his sword, and cast a thunderbolt on the tree. Thunder sounds ravaged through the forest, and smoke came out of the now damaged tree. Sa-iq began gasping for air after that attack.
"Is that all? You're super uncreative!" She told him. Sa-iqs face started wrinkling, he then clenched his fist.
"Listen here this is MY ability not yours so quit controlling me." He shouted.
"Wow a lot of nerve against me, I can turn you in and get millions of dollars you know." She responded. Sa-iq was dumbfounded.
"Oh yeah I don't know if you've seen, but your bounty doesn't exist anymore, the only ones looking for you are upper and lower ranked agents." She said while playing with her hair.
"Huh?" He kept looking at her, his eyes wide open.
"Wow you look like you've seen a ghost, but yeah they found out the demon within you is around B or A-rank. Did you even know that?" She chuckled.
"The hell is she laughing about this is serious!" He thought to himself.
"Anyways, you WILL listen to me. Because I at 15 years old and was able to become a lower ranked agent. While electro boy cant even win fights against Z-ranks. I read about your fight in school, that one was embarrassing." She kept playing with her hair. Sa-iq was embarrassed, he clenched his fist even more.
"She's only older than me by 2 years but she's in the lower ranked division. No, being in the lower ranked division is nothing special, being in the upper ranked division is. The upper ranks are the 6 strongest Dermine agents around the globe. The lower ranked don't have to be the "strongest" to get in the lower ranked division. They just have to hope that someone else from the upper-ranked division accepts them as their lieutenants. Right now, this girl Sina, is the lieutenant of the upper ranked 3 agent, Sophie Stoneheart. Obviously they still have to be highly ranked, but I am pretty sure as long as they're B-rank or higher they can get accepted into the lower ranked division. Normine is an A-rank she's practically stronger than Sina! Still, being a B-rank at 15 is amazing " He thought to himself, the realization then hit him.
"Wait, if you're 15, how were you able to become Dermine, you're underage." He asked.
"Hmmm" She rubbed her hand against her chin. "I'm special apparently." Sa-iqs eyes widened.
"I-I'm special too!" He stuttered.
"Yeah yeah sure you are. Come on let me teach you how to use your own ability." She said.
"Can't we rest first? I haven't eaten anything nutritious in days now." Sa-iq asked. Sina accepted and they walked off to the store.
"Put a hood on, I don't want eyes to stare at us." She said. Sa-iq nodded and put it on.
"Hopefully this is the last time I put the hood on" He whispered to himself.