(Cancelled/Considering remaking) Heroes of the Azure Vol 1: Truth and Ideals

Chapter 4 part 11/15 - Magic Gene

A/N: I DON'T OWN THESE CHARACTERS AT ALL. ONLY A FEW MAIN OCS AND THE RESTS ARE JUST BACKGROUND CHARACTERS OR MINOR CHARACTERS. WARNING! - Swearing, Blood, Violence, Lewd Jokes, Deaths, Crossover Pairings, OCXCanon and Yaoi (Though, one of them is very one-sided). Enjoy my fellow ninjas and kunoichis.

(Meanwhile with Kokonoe's group)

As the group travels around the city, with Tager carrying E. Gadd and Kokonoe on both of his shoulders, Clank being carried as a back-pack by Ratchet, as he is walking alongside with Beta and Lambda, who doesn't have her armour anymore and instead, walks barefooted and wears a long, flowing cape that covers all of her body except her head and the bottom half of her legs. Clank looks around the area as he realises nobody is paying any attention to them and minding their own business, which made him a tad bit confused, so he asks Kokonoe.
"Miss Kokonoe, why is everyone not paying any attention to us?" Clank asked, "I mean we really stand out in this part of the road."
"That's because people are so used to weird shit happening to them all the time that seeing a robot, an android, an artificial human and cyborg is perfectly normal to them," Kokonoe answered his question.
"What about me?" Ratchet asked, "I'm basically outer space and no alien have ever been to Earth, only heard of them, so I'm sure they have never seen an alien before."
"Actually, they have," Kokonoe corrected him, which made him shocked, "Ever since the Shroom invasion, humans easily look down on aliens to the point they will try to kill them for 'self-defence' to avoid another potential invasion."

Ratchet gulps in fear and says, "But I'm not like that! I'm a hero, I swear!"
"I know," Kokonoe responded to his panic, "But I highly doubted they would believe you, especially their first encounter involved a very horrific invasion."
"Then how come they're not attacking me?"
"Possibly they have mistaken you as a cat Beastman thanks to your feline-features," Kokonoe answered, "So, as long as they don't figure out you're an alien and continue to think you're some feline Beastman, you should be fine."
"What's a Beastman?" Ratchet asked her.
"A Beastman is a race of sentient human-like animals," Kokonoe told him, "They have a much longer-lifespan and possess superhuman strength, but sadly, they are often treated as second-class citizens and often get discriminated against by others."
"...Oh, Arceus..." Ratchet gasped a bit.
"Well, look at the bright side, at least you wouldn't get murdered, so that's a bonus."
"...Yeah..." Ratchet responded dreadfully, ("Who would have thought most humans are so xenophobic?")

"Kokonoe, can I ask you something?" E. Gadd asked her.
"Sure, go ahead." Kokonoe accepted while playing around with her computer.
"It's about Sol," E. Gadd said to her, which peaked her interest a bit, "Something about him reminds me of an old friend I once had back in my timeline...I wonder..."
"Possibly just a coincidence," Kokonoe responded, "I mean, you did say it's been one hundred and one years since you last saw them before you jump into the future."
"...Yeah, you're right, I should forget about it."
"Good..."

(Meanwhile with the Phantom thieves)

As the Phantom thieves walking through the streets, Morgana notices everybody is minding their own business despite the fact they are wearing very strange outfits.
"Hey, why is everyone not, you know, noticing us?" Morgana asked Starlow.
"Maybe they have mistaken you guys as part of the circus," Starlow guessed, "Who knows."
"I guess so,"

"Oh! Oh!" Ryuji called like a child trying to get the teacher's attention.
"Yes Ryuji," Starlow asked.
"Well, you see..." Ryuji thinks of how to start the question, "My partner got injured and Ragna helped him by using some kind of healing magic and he said he only know the basics, so what does he mean by that?"
"Welp...this is a very long explanation, so you might want to have a notebook on you."
"On it!" Both Makoto and Futaba said at the exact same time as they both pull out some notebooks and pencils.
"Good, well here goes," Starlow then started explaining, "Only people with 'Magic gene' can perform any sort of magic, which is part of their genes, though it sorta depends on the parents, such as if neither parents have Magic genes, then there's only a ten percent chance of them having it because everyone has one or more ancestors who have it, fifty percent if only one parent has it and finally, ninety percent chance if both of them have it, but never a hundred percent chance, so it is possible to have two parents with Magic gene to have a child with no Magic blood at all, though it is a bit unlikely, but not impossible."
"I see, that makes sense," Ryuji complimented her, "You know, you are better at explaining shit then Morgana.
"Hey, shut up!" Morgana told him off, which made him glare at him while he glares him back.
"Hey knock it off you two!" Ann told them off, which they stop, "Good, now what type of magic are there?"
"There's a lot," Starlow told her, "So here's the list; fire, electric, earth, darkness, light, ice, psychic, wind, healing, strength boost, copycat, talking to animals, speed boost, defence boost, metal and much more. However, there quite a few forbidden ones as well."
"And those forbidden ones are?" Makoto asked while writing down everything Starlow is telling them.
"Illusions, necromancy and shapeshifting, there's more, but those are just three examples," Starlow tells them, "For many reasons, such as illusions can be used to take advantage of someone's weaknesses, shapeshifting is used to disguise as someone else and take full advantage of it to frame someone, and finally, necromancy causes way too many incidents and side effects that they have to make this type of magic illegal."
"How do you make magic type illegal if it's part of your genes?" Haru asked.
"Ahh, well this is where you misunderstood," Starlow corrected her, "Magic gene only gives you the POTENTIAL to cast magic. The type of magic, however, is up to you. For example, if both parents know ice magic, then the child can choose to learn wind magic instead."
"Oh, well that makes sense in a way, I suppose." Haru nodded. "But, how do you know if you have the Magic gene?"
"A doctor appointment of course," Starlow told them, "Every child must attend a magic detection test to see if they have the gene or not once they become around four years old."
"I see..." Makoto said.
"This will help parents which school a child is able to go since some schools only accept children who have the Magic gene or at least, being a magical being, like vampires," Starlow explained.
"But isn't that selective?" Akira asked.
"Well...sadly yeah," Starlow admitted with a depressing look, "There...have been many protests caused by non-magical people, who are strongly against this type of education and it often leads to violent protests in the past...
"..." Nobody said a single word

"Anyways," Starlow smiled nervously and continued explaining, "there are also levels of how magic works, such as beginner, standard and finally advanced."
"Oh yeah," Ryuji remembered, "Ragna said his healing magic isn't as advanced as Peach's."
"That is correct," Starlow confirmed, "Beginner mages tend to only know the basics, thus the weakest place to be, but it is possible to grind it up to the top."
"And how do you suppose to do that?" Yusuke asked.
"A shit ton of practice, of course!" Starlow said with a smirk, "But how much practice depends on the type of Magic you're practicing, such as healing, it's easy to get into, but very difficult to master to the point there's only ONE advanced healer in the world, who is Queen Peach herself, so most healers tend to be beginners and some are standards. While fire magic is hard to get into, but easy to master, so advanced fire mages are pretty common such as Mario himself."
"Wow, I never knew learning healing magic is that difficult," Makoto said.
"Well...there used to be two advanced healers, but she...well..."
"She died, correct?" Akira interrupted her, which she nods.
"She was murdered by a Gear," Starlow told them, "...That's all I could tell you at the moment."
"Huh?" Ryuji asked, "Why the hell not?!"
"...I promise a certain someone I'm not allowed to speak in more details about her identity," Starlow explained, "All I could tell you is she was one of the two advanced healers and her death, that's it. Please understand I really don't want to break my promise, especially to a close friend of mine, okay?"
"And what if we found out on our own?" Akira asked.
"Then keep it to yourself," Starlow told them strictly, "Whatever you do, do not, I repeat, DO NOT let Luigi find out! Ever! Got that?"
"...If you say so," Makoto obliged, "I'm sure your friend has their reasons."
"Thank you, now how about we move on?"
"If you say so," Yusuke responded.

And thus, the group moves on to find the two angels.

A/N - Oh look, a Partner in Time reference! Yeah, all of those RPGs adventures Mario and Luigi had are canon in this world. Well, except much more references in the future, especially the two angels that will come up later on. Also, the Magic gene stuff is something I completely make-up, to fit the sci-fi, futuristic, yet magical and fantasy-like world. I hope you're enjoying the story so far my fellow ninjas and kunoichis. Kuno out!