Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Ah the "Dude, Where's My Summer?" situation. I know it well. I'm never gonna get a summer break again and it kind of sickens me :O Are you getting X/Y? I think I'm going to have to go with Y. The better Mega Mewtwo sealed the deal for me.))

((Yeah man, so far they've revealed two different Mega Mewtwo forms. One's for X and one's for Y. I don't think they have any other version specific megas, or if they do then they've not revealed them yet))

((huh, didnt know that. truth be told, im trying not to learn too much about X n' Y before they come out :p
just a heads up, ill post an actual post a little later on tonight!))

((I just stare at all the pretty pictures.))

Azucena had made sure her Pokemon were all recalled before they got to the door.

"I only have two Pokemon," Azucena said as she looked around the porch. It wasn't the fanciest place she'd ever seen, but it was the fanciest one she'd ever been to. "One I got recently. I think there's a lot more that we can teach each other instead of fighting. Like music. What about you?"

***

((If you would be so kind please sir.))

Henrietta's face lit up like a christmas tree and she covered her chest. "I-it's a bikini top!" she protested but even that assurance didn't stop her from using her ability. The pink crystals would form a top over her own top for her, something she'd been practicing with during her stay in Nimbasa. It wasn't a full top - more like an breast plate of armor fashioned to resemble an over-sized sports bra.

"L-lead the way."

((Activity?! This is most unusual. Let's do this

Also, no problem Jump man, you do what you gotta do 3nodding ))

"I never really thought about pokémon teaching me anything before," said Wayne. The rain had him soaked by now, and though his hood had kept most of his head dry, his face and the front of his hair was still slick with wet. "I guess with my ability, it wouldn't take all that long at all, huh."

Noise began to stir on the other side of the door; the thick sounds of someone fumbling with locks and latches. With one last clunk, the mansion doors were unbarred and opened ajar.

"You two," the man who had opened the door peered out, taking measure of his new visitors, "You're pokémon trainers. State your business."

---

Clay said little on the walk back, mulling over the previous gym battle. A lot had happened in a short space of time. Gym challenges were usually more drawn out, especially against average trainers. Clay found that short matches were the domain of both inept challengers and skilled ones. He had to end the match quickly or else Henrietta would have.

He led her to his lounge. It was a huge dark room, decorated with wood furnishings, bookshelves along the walls and a roaring fire centrepiece with rows of pokémon heads mounted above it. Clay kept a series of comfortable leather seats in front of the fire, orange light licking at them. Clay sat in his favourite armchair and gestured for Henrietta to take her pick of the remaining few.

"Now alright then," Clay said, pouring himself a whiskey before holding the bottle out towards Henrietta, "What's all this about Aura?"

"Me too," Wayne said as he unzipped his coat. The mansion wasn't very fancy on the inside and smelled strongly of pokémon. The trainer could hear scratches and animal cries coming from the other rooms, bodies clattering around beyond the ceiling, which creaked with their weight. Rood's house was infested. Wayne glanced to Azucena for a second, giving her a quiet, worried look. Had they unwittingly entered the domain of a crazy person?

"Err... who are you?"

---

"Heh," Clay put his whiskey down on the table at his side. "Yer telling me that ya manifested yer Aura ability without knowing ought else about Aura?"

He shook his head while wearing a bemused smirk. People these days were always in such a rush to do things that they never took the time to do them properly. Still, how could such a young lass be capable of a full-blown Aura power without understanding the basics? This was worth investigating.

"Ah happen to be something of a master on the subject," Clay said with no small amount of pride. "All us gym leaders are in case ya were wondering. So why don't ya tell me what you know and I'll go an' fill in any blanks."

Team Plasma? Wayne's heart threatened to break his ribs, his breathing quickened. They had walked into a trap. Every time they'd run into Plasma, it had ended in some kind of life or death battle. He felt his Aura radiation go tense, like his body was coiled and ready to explode into action.

His face gave away his shock, and Wayne hunched slightly. Rood looked like a harmless old man, but Wayne already knew that Aura could turn even a 10 year old kid into a killing machine, and it could only get more powerful with age.

"Azucena," he said quickly, "Get out of here. I'll hold him off."

---

"Yup, that's about the long and short of it," Clay said. The crackling fire was well on its way to warming the sodden trainers, drying them off as they sat in Clay's dark manor.

"Aura comes from inside of ya, and gets stronger the more yer body is accustomed to it. Don't let all the spiritual mumbo jumbo bother ya. Just think of Aura as yer soul's muscle; the more ya exercise it, the bigger the effect it has on the physical world, though once it reaches a certain point, everyone's Aura levels out to roughly the same strength. That all make sense?"

Clay continued without waiting for a reply. "Now, at first yer Aura will be something ya have to consciously consider, like when yer learning a new skill, like embroidery or uh..." He considered Henrietta for a moment. "Or ballet dancing. After a while, ya can use yer Aura and ya don't even need to think about it. When that happens it's called Natural Infusion.

"Aura abilities are a lil different. Ah see you've already figured yers out so ah won't go into too much detail. Just remember that each'n'every ability is unique, no matter how similar they look. Usually people only learn their ability after mastering the basics, but it seems to me like you've gone and done it all backwards. In most cases, people with abilities have already achieved their Natural Infusion."

Clay paused, rubbing his chin. "What else... oh. All pokémon skills run off of their own Aura supplies. Ya mighta noticed in that there gym battle, but ah was powering up ma Seismitoad's attacks with ma own Aura. The more time ya spend around a pokémon, the more yer Auras mingle. We call that bonding, or friendship if ya prefer. Pokémon that trainers have bonded with can be boosted by an Aura link, making them stronger than they would be on their own. No matter how powerful ya think ya are, yer always gonna be stronger with a good pokémon at yer side. Ya can also use that there Aura link as a way to relay attack commands. Ah see you already worked that much out, or did you think it were strange that yer Blastoise did what you wanted it to do without ya saying anything?"