Some things are best learned in calm... [Closed]

[rainsrespite]

Who: Yuuna and Right
What: A trip into the mountains has some interesting results
When: Late Week 81
Where: Ice Rock




In the wake of the caves, memories of the unnerving encounters there fresh in her mind, Yuuna needed to get away. As far away as she could. Solitude was sometimes necessary, so with a quick kiss and a 'Back Soon, see you later' to Merrill she'd set out for a camping trip. She only had a few of her teammates with her, but after the incident with those damn frogs and Feliks, she made damn sure she had strong Pokemon on hand. She'd learned her lesson there. That was not happening again, but the crowds of nattering companions? Were just too much right now.

The first few days pass without incident, a meandering hike down to the hot springs and then up the mountain passes, and after three or four, she finds herself up on the Ice Rock. The cold is ideal, a distraction from a lot of the earthly troubles shes been having lately, and staying still even in the heart of summer is still an unpleasantly cold experience. Which is just fine with her, of course. That's the point.

Hours pass after her meditation begins, and so lost in thought and contemplation, guarded by a silent, stoic Golurk and Magnezone, she doesn't notice the storm coming. A powerful summer gale whipped up by the winds to the east clashing with the frozen air of the upper snowline. Thunder rumbles in, lightning slashes across the sky, but the rain doesn't fall yet. Ignoring all of that, Yuuna continues her vigil, though her thoughts turn away from the acts of her dark double and instead inward. They focus and fixate on something about that shade. The lightning. She'd often entertained the fanciful notion that she might Awaken one day, and wondered what her typing might be. Fire or Water, she supposed but now? She was suddenly not so certain.

In any event, there was something she'd forgotten to do. She hadn't told one of her students class had been cancelled for the week. And she'd also neglected to take her most overprotective motherhen Pokemon with her. Kokishi the Gallade, already in a tizzy about that, had dragged the student that'd arrived at the Dojo for class out into the wilds. The thunderstorm drove him even more frantic with worry as he charged ahead, barely waiting for the human beside him...

Comments

[lunchleader]

[Right hadn't expected to be outside in the middle of this storm. In fact, he hadn't wanted to be up in the mountains at all this week. After some of his Pokemon had gotten hurt defending him from one of his other friends (and the horrific truth that slowly came out during said encounter), he had wanted to stay in town and look after them until they were at least over the worst of it - nevermind that he's still hurting from the fight as well. thank you, type weakness... One of the injured was Soft Steel the Lucario, who did remind his human of his lessons with Yuuna.

Eventually, Right did drop by the dojo for a hopefully short lesson, but ended up talking to a very worried Kokishi that explained that Yuuna has not been back nor heard from for the past few days. Considering what he's dealt with in the caves, Right naturally grew worried as well. Thus, it didn't take much to follow the Gallade out of Union and up into the mountains.]

Wait up, Kokishi! [Right yells once he sees that the Pokemon was starting to get ahead of him. His side's aching from the strenuous activity of mountain hiking and eventually traveling through the snow pack that always seems to linger near the Ice Rock. Part of this is due to the fact that he hasn't fully recovered yet, but he naturally can't let himself be bedridden when a friend might need his help.

...the storm, however, worries him. He doesn't want to be caught out here any longer than he has to. Last thing he needs is to be struck by lightning - he'll never hear the end of it from certain beings if he gets hurt again so soon.]

[rainsrespite]

Kokishi doesn't stop, he just slows a fraction and looks back at Trainer's student with a worried frown. No small feat, considering he doesn't have a big mouth to begin with. Spindly legs carve forward through the snow, and overhead lightning stabs downward, a distant menace rapidly approaching.

"Hurry, human! My Lady may be in danger. She's not far, I feel her."

And he continues plodding ahead, and a large outcropping of rock begins to make itself apparent. Not far away, there's a visible tent, it's flaps whipping around in the wind, but the rain still doesn't fall.

[lunchleader]

Right appreciates him slowing down just a little. It at least helps close the gap between them a bit. He's silently cursing not having summoned his Bouffalant earlier as he plows through the snow. He's pretty sure Betsy's thick fur would shield her from this cold...

But the lighting flashes help illuminate the tent far ahead of them. And that helps spurn Right to go just a little faster, trying to ignore the pain in his side. They're almost there... He hopes that Yuuna's okay.

[rainsrespite]

When the group reaches the tent, thunder explodes across the landscape, a flash of electricity ripping through the sky and illuminating the campsite. Tracks in the snow lead away, up to a rocky ledge overlooking the area, and it's there that three figures are visible. A human shape seated on the ground, the hovering form of a Magnezone, and the enormous, towering shape of a Golurk.

Kokishi squeaks and starts rushing forward, scrabbling towards them up the snowy scree. He tries to call out but his cries are carried away on the wind.

Lady Yuuna! Sir! I brought help!

[lunchleader]

Right grows worried upon seeing no one at the actual campsite, but his fears subside the moment that he sees those tracks in the snow. Breathing hard and wincing from the pain, Right follows the Gallade until he spots them.

And he gasps upon seeing the other human just...sitting on the ground. "Yuuna...? Yuuna!" He calls out to her as he follows the path in the snow made by Kokishi as quickly as he's able to.

[rainsrespite]

Something told her that she just needed to, even if she’d barely heard the storm approaching. She’d felt something, the spark inside the void of her meditation joined by something new to focus on. A tiny blue fizzle of electricity, like a lightbulb just suddenly coming on, or a Rotom passing through an old streetlight. It was definitely something she hadn’t expected; given that the nature of the exercise was emptiness save for a single spark it just didn’t belong. The Spark and the Void, an old trick Master Yashio had imparted as a means of focus for an overactive imagination. A little light, a candleflame set against a sea of black. Now illuminated in blue as the new spark began to float towards the old…

Right’s forward motion is very likely delayed as the lightning storm starts in earnest. White hot bolts of electricity ripple across the sky, striking the ground all around them. Snow fountains, flash-melting into steam near instantly, and it’s only due to the sudden heat that Yuuna opens her eyes. Surprise takes hold of her, as if she’s been kicked out of a deep sleep by a raging Garchomp, and the two Pokemon with her hover protectively, trying to shield her from the storm.

“What? R-Right!?” she calls down at the sight of him. “What are you…get out of here! It’s dangerous!”

[lunchleader]

"What about you?! It's dangerous for you and your friends, too!" Right flinches as a couple of lighting strikes get a little close to him. But that doesn't deter him from trying to continue forward. He can worry about his own safety once Yuuna's under cover, he thinks. Maybe he can drag her to sit under the rock cropping...

[rainsrespite]

"I'll be fine! Go!" Yuuna doesn't stand, still intent on the void, the Golurk towering over her like a living shield. And that's when it happens.

In her mind's eye, the old spark meets the new, and all hell breaks loose.

She feels a surge deep inside, a sudden crackle, and a booming crash echoes directly overhead. And then a column of electricity erupts from the sky, a radiant blast of light, sound, and heat striking all around Yuuna...

[lunchleader]

"But--" Right's cut off by that sudden crash. He stops dead in his tracks, staring in horrified shock as that huge electric column radiates down all around his friend.

"Yuuna!"

[rainsrespite]

The pillar strikes her, full on. Light and sound echo across the alpine waste, and she drops to the ground, knees buckling under the overwhelming pressure around her.

But there's only one spark now. One singular point of light amid a sea of nothing. And that's what she reaches for as she falls, face first, into the snowbank.

[lunchleader]

"YUUUUUNAAAAA!!" The scream tears from Right's throat as he scrambles towards his fallen friend. Oh, Gods, no; please. Please don't do this to him. Don't take Yuuna away just as he starts thinking that everything's going to calm down for a while

[rainsrespite]

She lays there, motionless as he scrambles up the last of the slope. The Golurk and Magnezone don't seem to block his path, and there's definitely the smell of ozone and burned hair in the air.

Electricity arcs along her arms and legs as she lays there, still as death. But inside? Oh...inside there's a storm. Understanding, life, light, the raging storm and the potential strength to move mountains. Something's happening, she's dimly aware...but she's not quite able to move just yet and answer the boy...

[lunchleader]

"Yuuna!" Right half-kneels, half-collapses next to Yuuna, shaking her shoulders for a moment. He then tries to see if she's at least breathing. In his panicked state, he hasn't fully registered the electricity along her limbs.

[rainsrespite]

His lack of care is actually rewarded with an astounding jolt of electricity! A static discharge slams him backwards into the Golurk, who catches him with mighty hands...carefully. And then gently reaches down and grounds out the residual electricity.

And Yuuna? Coughs! It's not much, but it's definitely something...

[lunchleader]

...owwwww... [Right groans as he slowly shakes his head to clear it from the shock. He then looks up at the Golurk.] Thanks...

[And then he hears the cough. He immediately focuses back onto Yuuna, and tries to rush back over to her.] Yuuna! Are you okay? Hang in there!

[rainsrespite]

"R-Right?" Yuuna weakly calls out as she lays there, feeling hands against her now. Her whole body is rigid, numb, and only the pressure helps her feel like he's even got hands on her. All around them, the storm begins to die down, to slacken. Curious thing, that. It's not gone, just...normal...is all Yuuna's addled mind can note.

"What happened? Why am I soaking wet?"

Because she's sitting face down in a puddle of flash-melted snow...

[lunchleader]

"You got hit by a huge lightning bolt! And--oh...guess it kinda melted all the snow..." Right looks around the snow for a moment...but only a brief moment. His eyes starts getting misty as he continues. "Why on earth were you meditating out in this storm?!"

[rainsrespite]

"It wasn't storming when I started...geez...I guess it was a few hours ago now," Yuuna mumbles as she sits up. She definitely doesn't seem like someone who was just struck by a thunderbolt. If anything? She seems somehow healthier. More fit than she already was.

"How long have I been out? When did this happen?"

[lunchleader]

"Just now, within the last couple of minutes... Gods, I'm so glad you're okay." His voice cracks during that last part as he attempts to give her a hug. He's shaking a little - whether from the cold or from the subsiding fear, he can't tell.

[rainsrespite]

She blinks, hugging him back, and when she feels him shaking her arms clamp down a bit. Far, far stronger than they ever would have before. She's been having odd spurts like that for the past few days, but now it's more telling, and Right might just feel a little bit compressed.

"Yeah...yeah! I'm just fine. A little ozone never hurt anybody I guess."

[lunchleader]

"Erp--!" Right's a little taken back at the strength of her return hug. That's...definitely stronger than what she normally shows.

"Uhh...a little? You're sure?"

[rainsrespite]

Yuuna frowns and lets go...and a crackle of electricity runs through her hair again. Despite having been grounded out...

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? Why?"

[lunchleader]

Right's a little glad that she let go; it was starting to get a little difficult to breathe.

"Well...you're kinda sparking. A little."

[rainsrespite]

"I'm what?"

Yuuna held out her hand, looking at the fingertips as tiny jolts of electricity danced along them. And they didn't hurt. Really? They felt pretty good.

"Wait. Wait, huh?"

[lunchleader]

"Yeah, that's what I'm wondering, too..."

Though now that Right's starting to calm down, his mind is slowly putting two and two together. If her having electricity doesn't seem to cause her any pain...

"Hey, Yuuna...think you can make your hands spark?"

[rainsrespite]

"Right. That's just silly. I'm not like that."

She kept her hands up though, humoring him with a half smile.

"This has to be just residual electricity. I mean...I'm wearing a Ground Typed Jacket."

...which means it's quite the opposite. And she's just being stupid. Closing her eyes though, she concentrated on that spark in her mind's eye, like before and the electricity begins to grow. Sparking and shining there, it danced along her nails...

[lunchleader]

[Right's eyes grow wide again...but this time with delight.] I knew it... Yuuna, you're an Electric-type now!

Please do something drastic, haha, or she's going to be acting like a child XP

[rainsrespite]

"No..." Yuuna contradicts him out of habit, eyes still shut. "I'm not. I can't be."

Would this be drastic enough?

[lunchleader]

"You are..." A huge grin nearly splits his face as he suddenly hugs her. "You really are! You've Awakened!"

\o/

[rainsrespite]

She splutters when she feels arms on hers, finally opening her eyes and staring first at him...and then at her fingers. And immediately does her best bug-face impression.

"...How?! What?! I'm...I'm too old. I didn't die. Not like Martin. And what? Electric?"

[lunchleader]

"So? Does it matter if you're just Awakening now? The important part is that it just happened!" Right looks like a puppy that just got the best treat ever.

"...though I'm not really sure why you got Electric. Always thought you'd be a Fighting-type."

[rainsrespite]

"Well, it definitely changes how I'll be approaching problems." Like the Warp Band interference.

"And, you know I don't know why either. But I could be dual typed. Fighting...isn't necessarily very obvious. Though there's a few tell-tale sighs..."

Yuuna rubs her chin and steps over towards a rock. Now, she could ordinarily have probably broken it with effort, but now? When her fist comes crashing down on it? It splits in two. Cleanly.

"Well, I'm physically stronger at least."

[lunchleader]

Whooaah...definitely! [Right walks over to her...and then does a double take. Something else seems to be changed as well...]

[rainsrespite]

"What? What is it, Right?"

[lunchleader]

Right starts measuring his height to her's with his hand.

"...no way. You're taller than me now."

[rainsrespite]

"...Huh. I...guess I am? Anything else look different?"

[lunchleader]

"Hmmm..." Right looks her over a bit more. "Nothing that comes to mind. Other than the height growth and the new types...guess you haven't changed all that much."

[rainsrespite]

"Guess that's good. But it'll take some adjusting I guess." So she doesn't walk into door frames.

[lunchleader]

"That's true...I remember when I last went through a growth spurt. Not only I couldn't fit into certain places anymore, it kinda hurt, too."

[rainsrespite]

"I'd say this is more than a growth spurt, honestly..." She laughs though, and hugs the doofy boy.

"I cannot believe this, still."

[lunchleader]

Right hugs back with a silly-proud grin on his face.

"It's pretty amazing, seeing someone's Awakening. Rather scary at first, but still amazing."

[rainsrespite]

"Y-Yeah." Yuuna sighs...

"I guess it means we should get back to town though. Merrill's going to wanna hear this."