Clay - Solo RP & Special Missions

Obviously he should've adopted his strategy from yesterday and asked at the front desk before wandering off. Oh, well... this tunnel's as good a place to start as any.

Now, who might have their branch in a tunnel? He knows more or less where Steel and Dark branch are (shiver), so none of these doors are likely to be either of those. Ground and Rock are the most likely candidates. Maybe Fighting is one of them too? That or Poison, because the next most likely Pokémon he can think of to live in a cave is Zubat, but he doesn't think Sano ever mentioned his branch being underground. He crosses his arms as he examines the doors thoughtfully. He really does need to learn to read better...

Well, there's at least one way to find out! If anybody's behind these doors, maybe they'll hear when he knocks. He picks the right-hand door arbitrarily. "Hello? Anybody there?"

"Oh, uh. Sorry." Clay looks a little embarrassed. He doesn't think he was being that loud, but he figured the stone door would block a lot of the noise. As for the door being open, well, he'd assumed they wouldn't want somebody just wandering in. Master Nob had at least impressed on him that most humans were bigger on privacy than Infernape who could just wander a ways off if they wanted to be alone.

"Is this the Fighting Branch?" he asks hopefully.

Clay waves the apology off easily. "Eh, it's okay, I've got a thick... skin." He finishes rather lamely when he realizes the big guy is already asleep again by the end of his sentence. First the turtles in Fire Branch, now him. He's starting to think everybody who spends the day in the Guild hall naps a lot.

Loud kiais are probably a pretty good sign he's getting close. But here's another intersection, though at least this one has pictures. Clay looks between the signs, trying to interpret the pictures. A closed fist and training sounds don't really need an explanation; clearly that's where people go to train and spar. The left path is equally straightforward - he's always associated running water with meditation, since the older Infernape liked to meditate under waterfalls. Master Nob's students didn't, usually, but Clay's pretty sure that has more to do with not wanting to have to go all the way to a river with a waterfall to meditate.

So, sparring people, meditating people, or the silent middle path with whatever the other hand means. On the one hand, Aura seems to be a mental thing, so meditating people would make sense... but meditating people would probably also not like to be disturbed. Training people are probably going to be more talkative, and he can't tell if there's even anybody at all down the middle path, so he turns toward the right and what he assumes will lead to something like Master Nob's dojo. If he's picked wrong, they'll presumably be able to redirect him.

Clay looks around at the people training, obviously impressed. He sees plenty of fighting styles - including a couple that resemble the one he adapted from his Infernape family, using every part of the body to fight. He almost jumps at the audible crack when someone pretty much puts their fist through a boulder. Of course, if Clay could do that he wouldn't be able to punch trees when he got frustrated, for fear of breaking them.

Once he's recovered his composure a little he goes up to one of the less busy-looking of the people he assumes are officers. It occurs to him that he doesn't even know if his own branch has officers apart from Lady Ashandra. "Um, 'scuse me?" He bows politely once he has their attention. "Name's Clay. I'm from Fire Branch, but there's something I'm trying to figure out and someone suggested that Fighting Branch would be the ones to talk to about it."

"I have a... ugh." Clay starts to phrase it circumspectly, then shakes his head and gives up. Being polite is one thing but it'll be much easier if he's straightforward with this instead of talking around it. "I can talk to Pokémon. Apparently it's not just another language, there's some sort of connection going on. And I've started being able to make them stronger with this weird glow. And the person I talked to said I should go to the Fighting Branch and ask them about something called Aura."

That's probably too many 'ands' but he's pretty sure it gets the point across.

Okay, time to show what he can do. Now, how to handle this... After a moment's thought, he calls out both Fan and Peng. He doesn't know whether it's something to do with her own talents, or just their close connection, but he can draw more different sorts of power out of her than the others. On the other hand, Peng's defensive skills have her beat.

He starts to speak in rapid-fire Pokémon language, switching fluidly between Chimchar chattering and Farfetch'd quacks as he addresses the two of them in turn. "Okay, we're gonna show off this trick with the glow. I was using it a bunch yesterday, I've got a handle on it now. First off, sis, burn that rock! Then you -" he turns to Peng "- show me some quick strikes, fast as you can!"

Obediently, Fan breathes out a spray of embers, scorching the surface of a nearby boulder very slightly, followed by Peng pulling his leek into ready position and twirling it through a quick routine of strikes to demonstrate his speed, making a loud slap each time he hits the stone floor.

Clay draws in a deep breath and focuses. A blue glow starts to shine from his forehead, and a matching aura from Fan's brow answers it. "Another Ember now!" Fan spits more fire at the rock - this time significantly hotter, leaving a much more noticeable scorch mark. Then a pinkish-purple glow forms on the ground around each of them - but after a moment, the aura around Fan's feet travels to surround Peng's webbed feet instead, and when Clay orders another round of rapid-fire strikes, Peng launches into his routine almost before Clay's done quacking, and the barrage of slaps comes much faster now.

Both the blue glow and the pink one wink out. "Can't power them up more than one way each at a time," he comments shortly. Then he calls out to the two of them, "Sis, strike! Peng, defend!" It's Fan's turn to go through a routine of rapid-fire attacks now, as Peng tries to parry her punches with his leek. He's not entirely successful and a couple of strikes get through his guard - until a new aura starts up, a yellowish glow focused around Clay's shoulders and his own, and suddenly his blocks become that much more proficient. Then the yellow glow disappears, and Clay's fists and Fan's as well show a reddish shine as she starts to strike harder and faster, battering through Peng's guard.

Dropping back into human language, Clay calls out, "Enough! Good job, sis, Peng." For a new addition, Peng's performing quite well, but of course his natural discipline helps there. Clay turns to the instructor and bows again; Peng follows suit, though in turning to do so he 'accidentally' cuffs Fan with his wing so that she remembers to do the same. "I can get up to about three Pokémon at once. Usually it's me and my friends' teams when we're out together and run into a pack of wild Pokémon. There's a... sort of connection, I used to feel it a little sometimes when I was talking to Pokémon but it's a lot clearer since I've been able to do this. It's like drawing on one of their strengths to help another, or feeding it back to them." Clay explains this part slowly, his brow furrowing as he tries to put the strange sensation into words.

"Oh, and I can kinda get a feeling when somebody's bad news. It's... not exactly fun." Considering his first real example was D'mara's extraordinarily dark, powerful aura. "I've been hearing that it's weird a lot - mostly the talking to Pokémon thing. I always figured it was because I grew up with them." Of course, Infernape don't channel Aura nearly as much as some other Fighting-types, so it's less surprising that Clay didn't encounter more familiar forms of it before.

Clay chuckles quietly as he recalls his Pokémon. "Honestly, I was just hoping to find someone who had an idea what I was actually doing. I always just thought I could speak their language. But Miss G - uh, Miss Genevieve - said the same thing as you, Rei's never heard of it before either... I think the person who suggested I come here just did it 'cause I had a bad reaction to her aura. If that's what you call it when somebody has a stare like a hungry Arbok."[/i][/color]

Having his fight-or-flight response kick over to "freeze" unsettles Clay even with a very busy day between the event and now. He doesn't usually think of himself as prey. He's also trying to be somewhat circumspect about mentioning just who pointed him this direction, because he suspects that D'Mara's name would get a bad reaction.

"I don't wanna take up too much of your time or anything. You've got plenty of students and I'm not even in your branch. Though I'd be grateful for any advice you can give me, of course, Master...?" He trails off, realizing that he never actually got the instructor's name.

Clay's eyes widen as he watches the older man demonstrate what his Aura can do. Now that is impressive, though he guesses it's pretty much of a piece with Lady Ashandra throwing fire. Sometimes he wonders how different humans and Pokémon really are.

"Wow, that is cool!" He'd feel kind of lame about his "Aura" powers not being quite so flashy, if they didn't obviously make his team much stronger - and besides, he wouldn't trade being able to talk to them for anything. Look at all the trouble he went through in just one day without Fan. "Thanks for listening, at least. It feels a little better showing somebody and getting it clear in my head."

He wonders distantly if he could ever learn that technique, but he suspects his talents lie somewhere else. He might not be able to throw energy or punch quite as hard as that guy breaking boulders, but he's got speed on his side and a much deeper connection to his Pokémon than most people - indeed, apparently than anyone in the Guild. Even if it makes things confusing, being special is kinda nice.

Clay nods thoughtfully as Instructor Mason explains more about Aura. Parts of it do seem similar to what he has - it would explain why he can occasionally pick up on a Pokémon's presence without seeing it, like those turtles that heat the Fire branch. Maybe he should see if he can meet one of these Aura-using Pokémon sometime... though he imagines the skilled ones would be hard to get to. This seems like the sort of thing that solitary meditation is good for.

It would also explain how some Pokémon seem to see attacks coming sometimes. Like that incredibly annoying swarm of Yanma yesterday. "Thanks again, Master Mason. It's a lot to think about... But I do feel like I understand things a little better now." The Fighting branch's Aura skills may not be quite the same as what he can do, but it's a lot closer than anything else he's come across so far.