Welcome to Gaia! ::

And Luka was back wandering Nimbasa City on his own. He had said his goodbyes and headed off to a nice café he'd spotted earlier. He was sat down having a lovely cup of tea, thinking about what had happened at the meeting today and what tomorrow would bring.

He had a feeling deep down in his gut. When he thought of tomorrow, it felt like a pit developed in his stomach. Something big was going to happen tomorrow, he could just feel it. But, then again, it could just be indigestion. He had wolfed down that pizza pretty quickly.

He looked towards the setting sun and made a decision, he was going to meet his favourite author, take on the gym and not die tomorrow. The not dying bit was particularly important. He kinda wanted to live into his old age. Dying would kind of get in the way of that and all.

Salieri

"Of course, I'm still game," Sal told Takamaru. A quick game of football with pokemon was a nice way to end the day, and a good team building exercise for her and TK. And on another plus side, she might be able to talk him out of ever mentioning her and Wayne dating agan.

"I just have to change into something else, so I'm going to find the sports facilities' locker rooms." As stylish as her new outfit was, she could picture the long flowing sash to get in the way of her game. The Battle Girl had other outfits for sports.

"I'll meet you at the Big Stadium field in like, ten minutes," she said to TK while walking away. Sal gave a backhanded wave to Wayne before crossing the street.

"See you tomorrow, cowboy."

****

Odin

Odin examined the costume as soon as he caught it. Once he spotted the accompanying mask, he sighed. Odin would have to put this through the dryer to make sure it didn't fit properly, and then he'd have a good excuse not to wear it.

There were many other ways he could disguise himself, and the fact he looked like a ten year old boy was one of them. Sure, a superhero outfit would fit the image of an innocent child perfectly. But Odin did not want to stoop so low.

The grey haired boy looked up, up, up at the huge man. "It's perfect for tomorrow," he told Goldberg flatly. "Thank you."

((I guess my idea of Odin and Goldberg disguising themselves as a Teddiursa and Ursaring got outvoted cry ))

Tk Nodded to Sal.

"bye Wayne" Tk called as he made his way into the big stadium. Unlike Sal he didn't have any need to change his cloths.

if the its name was any indication, the big stadium was BIG. with it getting so late most people where on there way out. there were a few people still around, Practicing, training and conditioning.

Tk leaned against the wall as he waited for Sal, Lancer doing jumping jacks and stretching. Tk chuckled as he watched his Pokemon. it was amusing to see such a small Pokemon getting ready to participate in a game that was mainly played by much larger men than himself.

"Uhhh, Lancer's my only Pokemon with any sort of arms. i have a drilbur but he has the problem that your Pawniard does" Tk scratched the back of his head. un sure of what to do. He had a Skarmory and Lairon but they weren't cut out for this type of thing. If iron hide had evolved into an Aggron then it would be a different story.

the young trainer pulled Two pokeballs from his belt and tossed them into the air releasing iron hide and spike. then put his pointer finger and thumb into his mouth a let out a loud whistle, signaling Saria to land. shed been following them from above since they left Henrietta's house. "See" he said motioning to his other Pokemon.

((Edited))

Taking a second to look over his Pokemon line up. Out of Saria, Spike and Iron hide, Spike seemed pumped and ready to play some foot ball. "well, C'mon spike" Tk called out to his drilbur who took a place at Tk's side along with Lancer.

"Well, heres my line up!" Tk said to Sal, ready to play some Football. the only thing he was worried about was the sharpness of his claws.

Tk went in towards Chen Zhen in an attempt block him. for the most part the agile trainer was able to keep up with the monkey Pokemon who was using acrobatics. both Tk and Chen Zhen jumped around doing flips and bounds of all sorts, Tk put on an excellent display but was eventually tripped up.

on the other end, Spike used drillrush upwards towards the blaze bounding Wukong in an attempt to block him from advancing. in the time all that was taking place Lancer, the smallest of the players was at the receiving end of the ball Sal threw. Tk having kept Chen Zhen from advancing as quickly.

However, right after receiving the ball Chen zhen was upon him.

[don't tackle me! don't Tackle me! Don't tackle me!] The small bug Pokemon repeated over and over as he ran away from the monkey Pokemon. towards his own goal..

With Deerling recalled, Wayne lined his pokémon up and placed his hand on each one in turn. Lilligant closed her eyes as his palm rested on her head, put opened them in surprise when their Auras connected. Hitmonlee maintained an annoyed expression, while Duosion was too busy bickering with himself.

"Okay, so you guys should now all know how to use Aura like Mega Deerling does," Wayne said, wiping the slime he got from Duosion on his pants leg, "so like, err. Go on. Lilligant, hit Hitmonlee with a Magical Leaf!"

[Now wait just a minu-] a storm of leaves battered into the Fight type, engulfing him in a green, leafy tornado. When it was over, he was battered, bruised and shaking off excess leaves. And not looking very happy.

"Right," Wayne bumped his fist into his palm, "now we know you haven't learned Mega Deerling's skill. But you guys do know how it works, right?"

[Um...] Lilligant thought about it. When Wayne touched her head, she suddenly felt as if she'd just spent hours practising a new technique and using it in battle. And she knew how it felt to be 12 feet tall and capable of pulling up trees with her bare leaves. But she also had a good idea of how to reach that state, even if she didn't think she'd actually be capable of pulling it off. She nodded, and her hair-leaves rustled.

"If I remember right, we have to start out by learning to draw out Aura. Even if we can't get you guys to outright copy Mega Deerling's ability, you should still have a good idea of how to do the basics." As with anything, the more basic you went, the more people could do it. They had to start out low, but it was better than stumbling around blindly trying to work it out. Besides, right now they all felt as if they'd already mastered this step.

"Everyone sit down somewhere nice and start trying to focus. Hitmonlee, you should be able to get this right away since you're already a pro at Meditate and Focus Energy."

The fight type seemed a little smug, and gave a sideways glance to his teammates, with Duosion returning a jealous scowl. He sat on a rock in the shade, while Lilligant and Duosion remained in the waning sunlight.

It took a while to get going. They knew what they had to do, but what had been true for Deerling wasn't necessarily true for Wayne's team. It was like having to repaint a picture they'd once done; they knew what it should look like, and knew how to do it, but the hard part was when they had to use a different hand to paint with.

Duosion exploded in a short, quick flash of psychic energy. His outer membrane looked a little charred, and he sat still blinking for a few seconds.

[Too much damn energy!] the little psychic squealed.
[This is haaaard... I give up!]
[Not on my life! I'm seeing this through to the end!] with that, Duosion shot Hitmonlee and glare. Wayne caught it, and allowed himself a grin. A little competition never hurt anybody, right? Well, except for maybe bungee jumpers who raced to have the longest tether.

"Need some water? I grabbed this from the pokémon center," Wayne held out a small bottle of water for Lilligant. It was from a vending machine, and cost Wayne his last dollar. Being a grass type, all this heat was liable to dry Lilligant up.
[Thank you,] Lilligant muttered and took a sip from the bottle. It was easier to concentrate when she was hydrated, especially in arid places like the desert. It was a far cry from the safety of the forest.

The grass type finished the bottle and huffed. And her breath was visible on the air, just like it would be during the winter. Except they were in a desert, weren't they? The sun was still up; the temperature couldn't be dropping already. Wayne frowned.

"Do that again," he said.
[Wha-?]
"Seriously, try doing that again."

Lilligant looked a bit uneasy but did as she was told. She inhaled, exhaled, but there was no mist. Wayne scratched his head.

"Did I imagine it?" No, he couldn't have. It was right there, he knew it. "Hmm... Lilligant, just keep practising your breathing, okay? You remember the technique Deerling learned, right?"
[Err- yes, I think so.] The grass type nodded. Before, it felt like she'd been learning how to use Aura for weeks, but that feeling had faded a little over time. She went back to training the technique, or at least what she thought was the technique anyway.

[Go away.]
"Aww, Hitmonlee, don't be like that! Lemme see how you're doing." Wayne dropped down next to the meditating fight type, who didn't even look at him. Wayne sucked his cheek, then leant over to poke at Hitmonlee's form. "Not bad, not bad. Looks like you got the whole buddhist monk thing down. You're even bald!"
[You want to see what I've worked out or not?!]

Wayne cracked a grin and pushed back onto his feet. Hitmonlee stood up, gave Wayne an annoyed look, then held out his hands to face each other. He closed his eyes, concentrating. And slowly, light blue energy crackled down his arms and reached his fingertips. Wayne felt a breeze pick up and sand started to drift around. Air swirled between Hitmonlee's hands and formed a tiny spinning ball.

The pokédex beeped and Wayne pulled it out of his pocket.

"Dude, it says you're using Hidden Power! Hey, it must be like a Flying type thing. Sweet!" Wayne's face dropped when he checked the data a little more closely though. "But oh man, you just lost all the bonuses you got from Meditate and Focus Energy. Not cool."

Hitmonlee was breathing hard and dropped to his knees. He caught sight of Duosion laughing at him from a ways away; the psychic was in the middle of shouting [Looooossserrrr!] when he blew up again.

"But if you were practising Aura the same way Deerling did and this happened... then maybe you learned Hidden Power by drawing out your Aura a little!" Wayne brightened and helped Hitmonlee to his feet. "Pretty much all pokémon moves use Aura, I think. That's why they're so powerful! But usually it's all subconscious, so actually purposefully drawing out Aura for attacks is really difficult."

They'd been at it for around an hour and already Hitmonlee was getting the hang of it. If he knew his pokémon as well as he thought he did, Wayne bet that Lilligant and Duosion wouldn't be too far behind. After all, they'd already become pretty powerful over the last week.

"Don't sweat it if it's still difficult. It was hard for Mega Deerling too, remember?" Wayne said but Hitmonlee gave him something of a blank look. "You don't remember? Actually... it's kinda hazy for me too." He seemed startled. "Guys! Do you remember anything from Mega Deerling's training? Anything at all?!"

[Only what I've been practising...] Lilligant said quietly. Duosion bobbed about furiously.
[That's why nothing's been working! All that info had a half-life of nothing!]
[Chill out, I'm still trying to-] Boom!

"Aw, great! Looks like we need to top up!" Wayne whined. He took out Deerling's pokéball and eyed it suspicously. The grass type would probably attack on sight after last time; he wasn't so sure he could absorb the experience correctly in time.

No, he had to do it. Otherwise what good was this training going to do for them? He gave Hitmonlee a serious nod and the fight type prepared his stance. Wayne released Deerling and the grass type materialised in a flash of light. He looked stern, not aggressive. When he spotted Hitmonlee, the deer gave a distasteful glare but carried on staring at Wayne.

[Here to attack me again? Think because I'm a pink deer I can't stand up for myself? a*****e! Who do you think you are any-]
"Damn it! I'm not getting anything from him!"
[-get off my head!]
Hitmonlee folded his arms, [Maybe he needs beating up first.]
[No, don't hurt him!] Lilligant rushed over. She only kept eye contact with Hitmonlee for a second, edging closer to Deerling. [He needs grass energy to use his ability... and I've got lots of that.]

Wayne watched quietly, impressed, as Lilligant made her case and formed another one-leaf Magical Leaf attack. It drifted into Deerling and disintegrated on contact with his Aura. The deer began to grow underhand, his joints popping as his bones lengthened a few centimetres, muscles bulking up and overall looking more ferocious. Still pink, but a bit nastier.

"Still nothing," Wayne said, sounding a bit defeated. "maybe I can only absorb the same experience once? That's kinda lame."

[You know, you could've just asked me for help,] Deerling said, growling slightly.
"Oh well, back to the ball you-"
[No!] Hitmonlee shoved Wayne's hand away, and the recall beam shot into space. It hit a distant Mandibuzz in the eye and the pokémon plummeted to death.
"What...?" Wayne saw Hitmonlee's serious expression. The fight type was slowly shaking his head, then stood aside so Wayne would look at Deerling properly. The deer wasn't attacking. Even after taking such a severe beating, it wasn't even...

"Wow. I am so sorry about before. I just assumed you were a jerk after you tried killing us."
[I am a jerk. I just can't stand seeing pokémon fail so much after trying to copy me. And when they're finished, they can help me get revenge against you.]
"Would you, maybe, please, offer some pointers to my pokémon about using Aura? Pretty please?" Wayne laced his fingers and smiled. Hitmonlee rolled his eyes.

It wasn't long before Wayne's team was sat down in a row and trying to concentrate. Deerling paced back and forth, back down to his original size again, and corrected their form. It turned out that Lilligant was having the least amount of trouble, while Duosion struggled to do anything except blow up.

[Sit up straighter! Breathe deeper! Picture a blank space and you opening a box! Stop being distracted!] the deer barked. Wayne sat back and watched. The whole thing gave a new meaning to the term 'pokémon trainer'.
[How can I stop being distracted if you keep shouting?!] Hitmonlee yelled back.
[What, do you want your opponents to sit down quietly and wait for you to power up?! Are you a naive b***h?!]
[You dare to-]

[I did it!] Lilligant shouted in joy as lump of ice the size of someone's fist span in the air in front of her. [Right? I think I did it.]
[Hm! Grass types win again,] Deerling said, strolling over to investigate Lilligant's technique. It was definitely a Hidden Power.

"Not bad," Wayne whispered to himself. First Hitmonlee, now Lilligant. Or maybe that cold breath from earlier was Lilligant being an inch away from her Hidden Power? The more Wayne thought about it, the more it seemed like certain common moves had links with Aura. Hidden Power was all about summoning a unique strength from your soul, or something like that. And that's basically what Aura is.

Not to mention Focus Energy. Maybe other moves helped draw out Aura more easily as well?

Hitmonlee's eyes bulged as he hunched over his hands, desperately trying to make another ball of air. Deerling strutted past and sneered. Just as the deer carried on, the fight type glared back and the gust of air blew up in his face. He sat there, slumped, with an ashen-faced Duosion next to him.

[Sucks, doesn't it?]
[Now you know how I feel! Ha!] Boom!

Hitmonlee covered his eyes in frustration.