Yoshiro Namaka
Wonder Island, San Diego
The pounding in her skull was relentless. Yoshiro scrunched her eyes up, trying to ignore the throbbing headache that greeted her when she awoke. The headache was nauseating, and Yoshiro wanted nothing more than to make it go away so that she could go fall back into a blissful sleep. Steadily, she became aware of physical pains as well as the throbbing between her ears. Her limbs were limp with fatigue, the unmistakable complaints of cuts and bruises emanating from all over her body.
Pursing her lips in irritation, Yoshiro cursed the distraction from her rest. She tried to force her mind out of its groggy state. She’d been at a party. Yes, they’d been celebrating the end of the year at Wonder Island when there’d been an earthquake. Except it hadn't been an earthquake, had it? Her fuzzy memories began to return to her, images of orange jumpsuits and the pounding adrenalin as the prisoner had attacked her. Nightshade had saved her, but then she’d seen that other boy falling. There hadn’t been any time to think, she’d just acted on impulse.
Yoshiro grimaced, that explained the killer headache that she now had to deal with.
Shifting slightly, Yoshiro heard a flash of emotion through the foggy ache in her mind. Curious, she reached out towards the warm sensation. It was a comforting presence, although she couldn’t quite bring it into focus. With a degree of effort, the girl forced her eyelids to open and reveal the world around her. Instead of the roof of her bedroom, Yoshiro found herself greeted instead by the face of a boy about her age.
Narrowing her eyes in confusion, it began to dawn on Yoshiro that she was being carried rather than lying down. She blushed as she suddenly realised who exactly was the one doing the carrying. Wasn’t that Austin Flanagan? Wasn’t he one of the bad-boy types from school? Yoshiro didn’t think that she’d ever had any classes with him, but she’d seen him around and Sarah had crushed on him for a term. Yoshiro’s eyes widened with a jolt as she saw that Austin was wearing the Mask’s uniform, the remainder of her memory immediately jogging itself. He turned down to look at her, smiling as he realised that she was awake.
That was when Naja opened her mouth to address the group, but instead of words, a shrill wail burst out from her throat
Awaking with a start, Yoshiro’s eyes shot open to reveal her bedroom. The dream almost immediately faded into a half-memory, the merciless ringing of the alarm pushing aside the last vestiges of sleep. Haphazardly waving her arm across her bedside table, Yoshiro eventually felt the unmistakable shape of her alarm clock and slammed the snooze button with the full weight of her annoyance at the hateful device.
Sighing in relief at the resulting sweet silence, Yoshiro glanced lay motionless for a few more moments as reality once again took hold of her conscious thoughts. It had been two weeks since the party. Two weeks since the breakout that even now dominated the news cycle across the country, and undoubtedly two weeks of the craziest summer Yoshiro had ever had. Thin streams of light shone through the gaps in her curtains, and the girl glanced lazily at her clock’s display.
9:00am.
Still half-groggy from sleep, it took a few moments for Yoshiro to fully grasp the meaning behind the unexpected digits.
“Shit!”
All at once, Yoshiro’s bed erupted into a chaotic swirl of flailing limbs and bedsheets as she tried to untangle herself from her covers. With a surprised yelp, Yoshiro found herself falling off of the edge of her mattress and onto the floor. Only allowing herself a moment to recover, the girl quickly pulled herself to her feet and made a mad dash towards her cupboard, grabbing the first change of clothes that she could.
Yoshiro offered a wave of thanks to the bus driver as she exited at her stop, cradling a small stack of take-out coffees in her free arm. She was in a rush to get to the team meeting, already being late after sleeping in, but Yoshiro couldn’t help but stop and glance up at the Tower before her. For a moment, her legs kept her in place as she once again felt a sense of awe at her own situation.
Shaking aside the thought, Yoshiro broke into a brisk walk through the hallways – her pace kept just under a jog for fear of spilling all the coffee balanced precariously in her arms. She cursed inwardly, the embarrassment at being late to the meeting already sending a hint of colour to her cheeks. Truthfully, Yoshiro felt like she had been caught up in a whirlwind of a fluke. Over the past two weeks, the gulf between her own abilities and those of her new teammates had become increasingly apparent. The sense of achievement that she’d felt at opening bottles with her powers now felt like little more than a parlour trick. Roy and Red didn’t even have powers and yet were leagues above what she could even imagine herself being capable of. They were all so determined, willing to stand up against the world if it meant making a difference for the better. Smiling sheepishly, Yoshiro was just happy to hang out with the team – even if the best way she could contribute was by bringing them coffee and cheering on from the sidelines.
Walking into the meeting room with an apologetic grin, Yoshiro entered just as Naja asked for everyone’s attention. Trying not to be too distracting, Yoshiro handed out each of the cups of coffee to the usual suspects – having figured out who liked what over the past two weeks. She felt a burst of excitement as the team began discussing possible names; somehow it made everything seem all the more real. Yoshiro liked Mars’ idea, it seemed like it was an apt memorial for the Wonder Warriors and made a powerful statement – but couldn’t think of anything to add herself. She glanced around at the others, hearing their own feelings and emotions at the discussion but making sure not to pry rudely into their opinions. Yoshiro’s gaze met Red’s for a moment, and she offered the boy a friendly smile before looking back to see if Naja had anything else to say.
