I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Chapter 19

Virah opened her eyes, “uh, I don't feel it?”

6 days have passed since Virah had met Grene and she said it is now which is the perfect time- with all of them being free since it's Sunday, - for Virah to start being more “physical” with her Aura training.

So far Grene has only verbally taught Virah about Aura and has told her everything she knew, from all the “stances” that one can do while feeling for the energy, to the myriads of descriptions of how Aura feels like.

That last one- Virah thought that, after reading a lot of them, the descriptions of how Aura felt were rather… religious.

Things like, “Like the light of Ho oh shining down from heaven,” - “Like the stench of the wet grass in the morning,” - and, “Like the blazing campfire of a summer night, warm and comforting” - were ways of how Aura was commonly “felt” and Virah, for the life of her, didn't get it.

At all!

Where was the process? Where were the- the- the- steps? Where were all the actual notes of past martial artists and trainers who managed to achieve controlling the energy? Their opinions on methods? ANYTHING?!

All of those very valid ways to actually learn about Aura- and things in general, - were gone in the wind with a loud poof and Virah was left with nothing but “faith” and “belief” to guide her on the road to feeling the energy.

Why? Because martial artists didn't believe that one's Aura could be written down because it is “unique” to each individual who practices it and writing it down is simply a moot point, because one person could not “copy” the Aura of another.

Virah thought it was all taurosdung.

Grene stopped meditating herself and opened her eyes, the two of them locked gazes, “you will soon, just practice, we have only been doing this for 13 minutes.”

That was… rather specific, Virah turned to Whitney and motioned for her wrist and the pinkette grinned, and opened her Pokewatch, her expression quickly turned sour and she looked away from Virah in annoyance.

Okay… guess Grene was very good at keeping up the time. Great.

Virah frowned, “your martial arts have steps to them,” Virah started, “why doesn't Aura?”

“Because it is unique for everyone,” Grene answered in that same religious way as the last few times Virah asked and Virah felt tempted to ask if Grene had somehow been taught by the monks of BellSprout Tower on how to answer questions about Aura.

“Uhuh…” Virah looked away from Grene and towards her Machop, who, unlike Virah, was diligently trying to hit a wooden plank in half without using force- or rather, it was doing its best to hit the wooden plank with a karate chop without splitting it in half.

That was the method that Virah thought would be the best way for her to learn Brick Break- which was the move that Grene requested Virah to teach her Pokemon.

Soon enough, the Machop would learn how to control her strength, and when that happens, Virah would make her move on from strength control to exertion by making her shatter boulders with her fists, and then, bit by bit, Virah will tell her to control the cracks that formed from its punches before eventually getting her to split the boulder cleanly in half.

After that, Virah would tell her to cause all the leaves from the branches of a tree to fall by punching it in the trunk.

When the time comes that the Fighting Type succeeds, then Virah would just go ahead and make her imagine breaking barriers, by then the Machop should have enough mental discipline on punching things that it could, somehow, break psychic barriers with a punch.

Is it an insane method of getting a move? Yes, but martial artists are very diligent in their methods of insanity and Virah has created this particular training regime after reading the many books of martial arts and Aura Perception that Grene has lent her.

And even if Virah didn't harness her Aura-

She will, because she genuinely believes that Koga wasn't just a pure human who has trained to be a ninja all his life, he was doing something, and she considered- believes it was Aura that got him to the superhuman levels of movement that he could execute on a whim, 

- then she wouldn't mind in the slightest (she will,) because she's also learning martial arts alongside her Aura training so she'd be an adept fighter regardless and would be able to defend herself in a pinch.

“Virah, focus on me,” Grene's soft voice entered her ears and Virah felt compelled to listen to her newly found, ‘sensei’ or whatever title Grene had given to herself, “you have only started learning and being bored now can only mean pain for you in the future, you will struggle to accept the validity of Aura if you do not wholeheartedly believe in its existence,”

Virah sighed, “okay, fine-”

“No.” Grene's voice turned stern and she held Virah by the hands, somewhere to their side, the sound of a Meowth getting strangled came about. The two of them ignored it, as focused on each other as they were.

Grene met Virah's eyes, “say it with me, I believe that Aura exists,”

Virah looked around in discomfort, she refused to meet Grene's gaze, “is this- is this necessary? I mean-”

Suddenly, the warmth holding her hands went away and moved to her cheeks, her head turned on its own and Virah came face to face with Grene's bright red eyes, Virah's comprehension of words and languages rebooted as her brain overheated alongside her cheeks- “uhhhhhh-”

Her cheeks felt hotter now and what poor Meowth that sound came from must be dying.

“Do you believe in Aura?” Grene's hot breath caressed Virah's nose and her intense stare was hypnotizing- “Virah.”

“I-” she nodded, which was hard to do on account of the whole hands holding her cheeks thing, “- I do,”

“Good,” Grene let go and leaned away, she went back to sitting crosslegged, “then you should believe that this is only the start, be patient Virah, for Aura does not come immediately,”

“... I guess?” Virah closed her eyes and went back to feeling for the Poison Type Aura emanating out of her body.

She really wasn’t sure how it would feel and all the quotes she'd read about how it should feel felt ultra religious to the point that Virah was confused about how all of them could possibly be believed by those reading them.

Seriously, the sentence- “like the acidic tang of tangerine mixed with the bitterness of citrus,” - is not something that should be taken seriously! Or better yet- “like the smell of gasoline during the rain, overpowering in its stench that it pollutes the refreshing scent of dew,”

Virah sniffed and something sickeningly sweet scented her nose- ‘mercury?’ 

She had only smelled that particular scent once- before she was taken out of the house by the Sudo Woodoo of a police officer and- and- Virah started to heave as the stench of iron and the feeling of metal washed over her tongue- her breathing was all that she could hear-

She snapped out of her daze and the first thing that she came to was violent shaking, “Virah, do not let your Aura overpower you-”

“Shut up!” Whitney covered Grene's mouth and pushed her head away, the pinkette looked over Virah with eyes full of concern, “are you okay?!”

“Uh, yeah, just some bad memories,” Virah shook her head, that time had been hazy for most of her life. Mostly because it was when she was a toddler and more importantly when she…

Virah smiled, “I'm fine, really,” she got up and pushed Whitney away, “maybe I should stop with the whole Aura training for now and focus on increasing my stamina and start working on my cardio,”

“Uh… okay?” Whitney raised a hand to stop her but stopped, she pursed her lips, then said, “I'm going with you,”

Virah looked her friend up and down, “do you?” She asked as she eyed the short skirt and floral cardigan that Whitney was wearing, which was very casual compared to Virah's sweatpants and white T-shirt as well as Grene's martial robes, “is that even meant to be used for exercise?”

Whitney huffed and rubbed her nose, “yes?..”

“No it's not,” Grene stated as she walked in front of the pinkette, dusting herself off with an irritated look all the while, “you should go change into something more comfortable-”

“Don't tell me what to do you homewrecker!” Whitney pointed accusingly at the martial artist.

“Homewrecker..?” Grene pointed at herself in confusion, “what is that?”

Virah had to agree, she too didn't know what that word meant.

“I-” Whitney turned to Virah and quickly zipped her mouth, she huffed and crossed her arms, “whatever, I'll sit here while Virah exercises, you-” she pointed at Grene, “teach me Aura,”

“Do you want me to?” Grene asked calmly.

"Yes.” Whitney nodded, “now sit down with me here and teach me stuff,”

Virah watched them both get into cross-legged sitting positions as she started her first lap, and all the while the back of her mind was occupied by what she experienced during her… trance? Was it? She's sure that is what the book of Aura Perception called it. 

And speaking of the Aura Perception book, she had also read about Aura being hindered by past traumatic events and… Virah shuddered, she wasn't sure if she could confront that anytime soon.

Cardio… should probably be prioritized.