< The Path We Create >
"Hah? Aura? S-sorry, but I don't think I follow you-" Suddenly, a blue sphere blush passed her hair, the wind around blew violently, and a loud thundering sound could be heard from behind her, when she look back, she could see a hole in the tree, there was smoke coming out of it, and the aear feel a bit charred.
"You see that just now, didn't you? This is the power of my training over the past forty years. Still, nothing compares to a Pokémon, but if it's a human, there's no way I could lose." With a grin, Mr. Marcelo sat down on the floor and looked at her straight in the eye.
'Aura is the life energy, it is present in all living beings, those include Pokémon and humans, and other animals too, but only Pokémon with its natural sense can harness it instinctively, and even for a human, most do not have enough Aura to even feel it.'
Mr. Marcelo's voice rang in her head, bombarding her with information she didn't know before.
"This is one use of Aura between the two; it can send out a telephatic wave similar to psychic energy type, meaning we could communicate with each other or even locate people just from their Aura alone."
Mr. Marcelo explained further, along the way, with his explanation, were the various uses of Aura, the basic thing being body enhancement, while not much, it would allow even an untrained individual to easily lift four hundred kilos, making the shield similar to a psychic energy shield, and various other uses, along with very limit information on what 'Aura Guardians' is, the man didn't seem to want to tell her about it.
But using them drains your life force, making you tired more than usual and needing a lot of rest, and what's more, there is a mental fatigue too.
"High-level trainers often unlock Aura without knowing. The people who know of the existence of Aura are so few that I don't think it even reaches fifty in this region. Overall, we probably have around a thousand, and training individuals like me is even less. Even most of the Gym leaders from various regions are not all Aura users, just unconsciously using it." Mr. Marcelo said, there was a hint of melancholy in his eyes, as if her was remembering the past.
"I never used to stay in one place for too long, but in Hoenn, I met a lover there, too bad we could only spend a few years together…" A hint of sadness appears, but it quickly disappears as he locks his eyes onto her. "So, what do you think? Even if you didn't want to become Aura Guardians, you will get stronger, of course, this needs to be kept as a secret from your mother, don't want to get into trouble after all."
To be honest…Felicia is very interested, but… everything comes so abruptly, not even leaving her room to think, what more, she will need to talk to her mother about Little Spirgatito too.
After all, she didn't have her ID, so naturally she would need at least an approval from the three parties, one being the ranger, the second being Pokémon Center, third being her parents. This isn't even including the league, which in most cases, didn't bother to show up, but this time it involves one of the regional exclusive species, so they most definitely gonan do a little investigation, at least to make sure she truly got Sprigatito through legal means with both consent.
Ah…Owning Pokémon…is actually this much of a headache. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Mom didn't own a Pokémon at all, even forbade Felicia from owning a Pokémon…
Speaking of headache, Sprigatito was now tired from playing chase with Lily, so she stopped running and let the Blissey rub her own tummy, on Felicia's lap too, so it was quite distracting.
She picked up the little Sprigatito, the blissful expression from before vanished, now replaced by annoyance, as she began to beat Felicia's face with her paw…
"...How long…how long would it take me to be able to use Aura?" Felicia asks, she finally settles the little villainess back to her rightful throne, her lap that is.
A smirk appeared on Mr. Marcelo's face. And he held up one finger. "Just one year, that's all it takes for you to be able to fully control your Aura on the basic level…" He pondered for a moment before holding up three more fingers. "Four years if you truly want to master the basics, the rest depends on your talent in a specific area, mine was in power, but yours is probably on the defensive side of things. I can only teach you the basics since I never had training in those areas."
One year for her to be able to use the basics of the basics, and another three years to truly master them… Honestly, it's not a bad deal, not at all. Considering she does not really have anything to do, by the time she finish, she would be twelve years old, still not her prime but it was an age where kid with ID start their adventure…albeit in a very childish manner, only a few name come up to mind when you things of actual accomplish trainer who still hadn't reach their teen years.
It would give her an edge in her trainer career, sure, a much stronger advantage, but…if it truly is all there is…to this? Why would he be willing to teach her all this? Who Mr.Marcelo even is, he says that he is an Aura Guardian, one who travels the world to keep peace, but he takes on clients, doesn't that… a little bit contradictory from…what his purpose is?
"How long…did you stay here?" Felicia asked bluntly; she didn't think that subtlety was good for this situation. Just being blunt was good enough.
"Hm…trying to prob on the clients, eh? Well, they didn't care about it much; they just said give enough clues to let you figure it out on your own, so…I guess, around four years ago? That's when they first contracted me."
Four years, that's not really a large timeframe Felicia can work with, she didn't involve with anyone who seemed suspicious or even dangerous, she certainly didn't know someone important….
If there is one important person that she knows comes to mind, then there is probably only one answer: her Father. While he was a researcher, there was honestly no information on him on the internet; she couldn't even find his basic information or his face.
Honestly, that is the most probable cause, but why? They have never on contact for eight years since she was born, he has already divorced her mom too, and honestly? Felicia didn't really want anything to do with him.
But…nothing matches right now besides her father, but why would he want this? What does he need from her? Why was Mr. Marcelo sent instead of coming here himself? Probably fear of getting beaten to death by her mom?
Huh, that could be the case, her mom is quite scary when she's mad after all…
Though mom never talked about her father, she never said anything ill about him, too, nothing positive either, so it felt as if she felt nothing for him…
…she really can't make any other connection… It's not Kelly either, if it were her, then the woman would just rush straight for Felicia. Besides, Felicia still isn't strong enough to surpass her, so she won't come.
The fact that she never knows who this mysterious person is kinda makes her feel a bit conflicted.
'You only live once, make it count.' …is a quote she knows, probably from her past life, quite funny, isn't it? Here she is living twice in an unknown world. But…those quotes…still ring true, it's not like she will keep repeating on like this forever, if she could only truly live once, why not make the most of it?
"When do we start?" Felicia asks.
"Ideally, it would be today, but I got a lot of things to work on, so probably next week, but I will give you some homework to do." Mr. Marcelo pulled out a piece of paper from his backpack, then started scribbling away. "Here, until next week, I want to see you able to run five hundred meters without stopping, no jogging, alright? I need you sprinting like a Rapidash, understood? Good, k bye now, Ponewt! Send the girl home!"
Before Felicia could even protest, she got picked up by Ponewt, along with Sprigatito.
"Ah! W-wait! I didn't agree yet…forget it…" Felicia sighs as she watches Mr. Marcelo slowly disappear in the distance. Looks like they come in pretty deep into the forest.
So, while getting picked up by Ponewt's leg, Felicia got safely dropped off at the edge of the forest. When she finally gets to stand on her own, Ponewt suddenly uses her wing to pat Felicia and Spirgatito on the head lightly.
It feels…very soft, like a proud mother touched. Which… makes Felicia feel a bit weird, while her relationship with her mother is good, very great even, she never felt something like this before…
But it's not bad…
Ponewt cooed lightly before taking her hand off both Felicia and Sprigatito's head, while Felicia didn't know what Ponewt said, Sprigatito seemed to understand and even push her torso out proudly.
Seeing Sprigatito like that, Ponewt let out a low chuckle, then with a light nod, she flew off back into the forest.
Felicia waved her goodbye until she could no longer see the silhouette of the Giant Pidgeot. Suddenly, Felicia felt an itch on her leg. When she looked down, she could see Spirgatito was licking at one of the cuts she didn't know she got.
"Thank you." She kneelt down and tried to pat the Grass-type Pokémon, only to get bitten instead, but this time, it was a very gentle bite. "Hehe…Let's go home, Spriga…hmm…Keep calling you Sprigatito is a bit handful, do you want a name?" When Felicia asks that, Sprigatito releases her from the vicious little fang and stares at her.
Felicia tilted her head a bit, only to be mimicked by Sprigatito, and when she tried to lie down sideways, Sprigatito also lay down sideways with her.
Felicia thought about all of her encounters with Sprigatito, about how strong-willed the little Pokémon is, but also how cunning Sprigatito is, much more cunning than most of her kind, not as playful, lazier than most, and…a coat much more beautiful than anything else…
"Alright…I decide, Magia. Tricky like a Magician, and graceful like a Dancer. Truly, I think this name suits you the most, a lazy little magician, my lazy little magician." As if to respond to her, Sprigatito just rolled into her embrace, not even trying to bite her hand or anything.
"Alright! Magia! Let's go back home!" Felicia yelled with so much energy she never felt before, and Magia, in response, let out an energetic meow too.