I stared up at the glowing orb in the sky. I had no idea how late it was exactly but it felt as if the sun should've been closer to the horizon. I had no idea where the Hunt's main base was located but I was definitely experiencing some jetlag from the teleport, guess it should be called teleport-lag but that just doesn't sound nearly as good.

The sun shone down on the colorful trees in Rosefort Forest. Bird Pokémon flew through the skies above us and I saw various sorts of bug Pokémon crawling over fallen trees. Luckily none of them were particularly bothersome. I spotted a rather big Staraptor watching me carefully at first but when it became clear I wasn't going to be a threat to its flock the bird left me alone.

There was one thing annoying me, however.

"You are not bothered by it?" I groaned loudly.

"Why should I be bothered?" Fay sniffed the air, "Actually, I think it smells great."

{Meh, kind of average.} Luna shared her opinion.

I stared horrified at Fay.

She stared me dead in the eyes. "Wait, you don't like the smell of roses?"

"It's not that." I tried to argue, "Sometimes there's just too much of something."

The problem with Rosefort Forest was the ever-present scent of roses in the air, probably why this place is called the 'Rose'-fort Forest, not sure where the 'fort' part comes in. Maybe this forest was a fort made of roses because I couldn't walk a full minute without coming across a patch of roses. They were virtually everywhere. Growing on the ground, in the bushes and up the sides of the trees. If Floaroma Town is going to be like this I might actually skip it.

"You're just being pesky," Fay said accusingly.

"Well, excuse me princess but being pesky is one of my best qualities," I countered.

Fay stuck out her tongue at me.

Luna rolled her eyes and sighed a bit too loudly. {Are we gonna do something already?}

"Of course, let's do some testing." I declared with a smile.

"Testing?" The blue Riolu tilted her head.

"Yup," I tapped Luna on her head and Fay on the nose. "You two have new moves and skills, I think it's time to experiment a little and see what we can achieve, which might come in handy during our next tournament and Gym battle."

Luna grinned sagely. {Yes, we are going to crush everyone!}

"I guess it would be good to find the limits of our powers," Fay admitted.

I clapped my hands together.

"Alright, let's find a clear space and the testing can begin." We headed North through the surprisingly dense forest. There was no distinct path for us to follow but I used the directions on my Pokédex to make sure we were heading in the general direction of Floaroma town.

After an hour of not finding an open space, we ultimately settled on a hilltop that allowed us to train and set up camp without disturbing the local wildlife. After that was all done we could finally begin.I took out a coin from my pocket and flipped it.

"Heads or tails?"

"Tails." Fay shrugged.

{Guess I'll go with heads.}

I moved away from my hand to reveal the outcome. ""Fay, you get to go first,"

"Alright," she did some stretches in front of me as if she was about to do some heavy workout routine. While she was doing that I flipped open my Pokédex and scanned Fay to see if she had learned any new moves or if something else was new.

Pokédex Lady's voice came from the speaker. "Currently known moves are: Quick Attack, Counter, Metal Claw and Vacuum Wave.""Huh."

"'Huh?" Fay repeated me.

"That's weird."

{What is weird?} Luna asked while leaning over my shoulder, something she could do now if I sat down, still took some time to get used to. Luna must have sensed my feelings because she gave me a warm hug out of nowhere. It felt pretty good.

"What is weird?" Fay narrowed her eyes at me, or so I thought until Luna stuck her tongue out at her from behind my shoulder...weird shiz, I know.

"Uhm, you remember the shield thingy you did in the desert? With the sandstorm?"

"What thingy?"

I blinked. "You know, with the aura bubble that shielded us…"

The blue Pokémon stared at me like she saw a ghost, then a light switch suddenly got flipped inside her head because she started to smile all of a sudden, very creepy seeing how she rarely ever smiled in the first place.

"Wait, Aura shield? That was Aura!?" Fay excitedly asked.

I assumed it was, considering it was blue and kind of trippy to look at. Seeing how Riolu's are known Aura wielders, or at least their evolutionary form there were not a whole lot of other options.

"Wasn't it?" I frowned, wondering why she was so hyped up all of the sudden.

"No, you are right. Now that I really think about it, the feeling that surged through my body at that moment was Aura!!" As Fay kept talking ghostly blue flames flickered to life around her eyes. The same flames extended towards her paws as well, surrounding them with an ethereal glow that made me feel trippy by just watching them.

"Oh, wow!" Fay gasped and stared at her own hands. "I finally did it."

"Did what?" I tried again.

She looked at me with joy. "I finally unlocked my aura."

Silence.

"You hadn't before?" "...No…" Fay said with awe. She waved her paw in front of her face, watching the afterimage left behind in the air with great fascination.

"This is amazing."

"Yeah…" I stuttered, kind of taken aback by Fay's sudden excitement.

"You don't realize how special this is! My mom always told me this would happen one day!"

"Wielding Aura?"

Fay nodded. "Yes! Now I am finally becoming stronger!"

She looked at me with such pride it was almost infectious, I started to beam too. "Well, that's great for you." I still wasn’t entirely sure what Aura exactly was. I assumed she already had it, with her being able to see it. But apparently not? There was information on Aura online, but there was a lot of conflicting material.

Fay was excited about it though. Maybe it was a big thing among the Riolu species? Like some sort of transition from child to adult?

"So, what does this mean? Can you now do Aura spheres?" I asked.

Fay's smile dropped. "Uh, actually I don't know."

{You don't know?} Luna said skeptically.

"Well," Fay looked down, all the previous excitement suddenly left her body. With a small voice, she explained. "My mom said she would teach me everything once it was unlocked."

"Oh." It was all I could really say. "That sucks..."

The moment I said that I realized how hollow that must have sounded to Fay. But what is one supposed to do when you hear such a thing?

{Hug her.} Luna telepathically whispered into my ear.

'What?!' I mouthed at Luna, wondering if she had a sudden heatstroke.

{Do it!} She insisted, making sharp but subtle gestures with her hands.

"That will be uncomfortable as heck!" I tried to tell Luna without waking Fay from her depression. I'd like to think I managed to get the message across because Luna pressed her hands against her sides and gave me a serious look.

{She needs comforting.}

Deciding there was no point in arguing I took a deep breath, knelt down in front of Fay like I was going to propose to her and without a warning, I pulled her into a hug.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Whaaa!" Fay cried out, surprised. "W-what are you doing!?"

"I'm hugging you." I deadpanned as I gave Fay a little more space, "You look like you needed one."

Fay's cheeks turned into an interesting shade of red. "N-no I didn't!"

I gave her my best, you-broke-my-heart-look and said with a pout. "So you don't like it?"

"No, that's not it! But but but..." Fay tried to come up with something but she was clearly at a loss for words. Seeing how silence counts as an agreement, I enveloped her once again in my embrace.

"Testing! We should be testing!"

{She does have a point.} Luna smirked at me.

"Please let go of me."

I let Fay go and she coughed a few times. "As I was saying, I'm not sure how Aura works."

"Guess it lands on our shoulders to figure it out," I smiled.

{Ooh, can you make the bone?}

"Bonerush?" I pondered, "I'm not sure she can do that yet, assuming the control over her Aura is good enough to construct shapes other than spheres."

"No, I can do it," Fay argued.

Without waiting for my command she stretched out her paws in front of herself. The blue glow that had been fading away before flashed violently to life and began flickering around her paws like they were ghostly flames.

"I've seen my mom do it once," Fay reassured me. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She began moving her paws away from each other and to my surprise, a stretch of pure light was formed between them. As she moved the two paws away from each other the flickering light began to reshape itself into something thicker, something more solid than just Aura flames.

I didn't say anything, too afraid that I might make Fay lose concentration.

The form between her paws was first nothing more then an illusion, a play of light. But as the shape became sharper and more refined it also became more present. It was as if it was slowly being drawn into reality and taking on the shape of a bone. Now that I think about it, the way she was shaping the bone reminded me a bit of Doctor Strange. It was about the size of Fay herself.

When the Aura wielder finally opened her eyes she gasped. The glow of the bone lessened, although it was still glowing. Even without being an expert in Aura, I could say there was no more Aura being channeled into the structure. It had solidified into a shape.

Fay held the bone in her left paw and looked at it like she had drawn Excalibur from the stone itself. Awe and relief were written over her face. She lightly swung the bone in the air, testing the balance of a blade when suddenly it shattered.

Like it was made of glass it broke into a thousand glowing shards, some not bigger than a speck of dust while other pieces were about the size of a big coin. They floated in the air like puzzle pieces made of pure light before fading away into nothingness like leaves in the wind.

"What?!" Fay stared at the vanishing light of her weapon in shock. "But I had it!"

{Maybe you're not strong enough?}

"No, I had it right there!" she insisted angrily..

"I think you might be a bit underleveled, I mean have you ever seen another Riolu use it?"

"Well no but it looks so easy. I really thought I could do it."

Personally, I think that drawing magical weapons out of nowhere should never be classified as easy in respect of those that couldn't and were forced to do with guns and knives.

"Mmm, well there's still hope." I mused.

"There is?"

"Well, you did manage to shape your Aura, whatever that stuff may be, into the shape of a bone. That's already useful if only as a fear tactic."

"I suppose," the Riolu muttered, clearly disappointed with my answer.

"Although, I think you could try to pay a little more attention to the process of shaping the bone."

"What do you mean?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, I don't know how you do it but I had the idea you stopped reinforcing the bone after it had taken shape."

Fay nodded. "Yes, that's how it's supposed to be done, you craft it out of your own Aura and then let go of it. That's what my mom used to say."

"I assume that the crafting part happened while your eyes were closed, am I right?"

Another nod.

"And right after you stopped reinforcing the structure it broke right?"

{Splash.} Luna added some context.

"Uhm, yeah?"

"Well, what if you don't stop reinforcing it?"

"Huh?"

I shrugged. "Try shaping the bone but just don't let go of it. Might get us different results."

"Mmm," Fay put her paw underneath her chin, "That sounds kind of wrong."

"Why?"

"You are supposed to let go of it," Fay stated.

"But what if you don't?" I asked. "Doesn't hurt to try an alternative method right?"

"Well, I guess."

Fay stretched her hands out in front of herself and moved them away from each other. Once again a thin string of light was formed between them, this time significantly faster with the Aura flames directly feeding into the construct. The form grew thicker and turned into the shape of something resembling a bone.

"So is it tiring?"

"Not really," Fay said, "But it does feel like I'm draining my own source by reinforcing it."

I nodded, trying to puzzle together how the exact process worked. It seemed as if the 'letting go' part of the process was cutting off the Aura supply which, if my theories were correct, was constantly being refilled up to that point. I imagined it was like blowing up a balloon, but instead of just filling it you also have to shape it. Letting go would be tying the knot at the end.

Maybe Aura is a bit like mana in those RPG games, or Chakra. Whatever it was, it looked hella exploitable.

"Try to swing it around, but don't let go of it...metaphorically speaking of course."

Fay gave me a slight nod before carefully moving the glowing bone around. Slowly at first but when it didn't shatter immediately she became more daring and made a wider arc with her makeshift sword.

"It doesn't shatter." It sounded like Fay herself couldn't believe it either.

I nodded. "Well try hitting something with it. Luna, please give me a nice boulder."

{Boulder incoming!} Luna grinned and I took a few steps back. A second later a boulder the size of a small car had appeared with a bright flash.

"Well, try hitting it," I said while taking another step back for my own safety.

Fay jumped on top of the boulder with one mighty leap while still holding onto the bone with her left paw and pushing power into the bone.

She raised the bone above her head like it was an ax and swung it down on the rock.

The bone collapsed with the boulder and tore into it. A loud crack was heard as tiny fractures began to spread from the point of impact and spread out like a cobweb.

She didn't break the rock immediately but I was sure if she hit it a few more times it would shatter.

"It doesn't break," Fay muttered aghast.

"Tada!" I smiled. "Not gonna say I told you so, but I am definitely thinking about it. However, now comes the real question."

"What question?" Fay tilted her head. "What's more to seek, we already have the...um jackpot?"

"Tsk tsk," I shook my head, "I bet we can even take it further."

"How?"

"Well, how about you try to shape the bone into something else?"

"...Something else? What could that possible even be?" Fay wondered.

"Let me answer your question with another question, why do you shape it into the form of a bone?"

"Because it's the signature move!" Fay insisted, "It's like tradition or something." She didn't sound too sure herself. "But I guess I could try something else."

She finally gave in after seeing my 'so what?' stare.

{Try adding sharper edges.} Luna suggested.

"How do I make sharper edges?" Fay scowled at Kirlia.

"How do you construct the shape of a bone?" I wondered out loud.

"Well, I imagine it and my Aura does the rest."

"Welp, try imagining a sword, just a simple one." After all, there isn't too much of a difference between a bone and a sword, besides the form, material and usage. Actually, didn't prehistoric humans stab each other with bones or is that just a cartoon movie trope?

"Here goes nothing." Fay closed her eyes to focus.

She held the Aura bone in front of her, she took a deep breath to focus.

In front of our eyes, the bone began to reshape itself into a smoother form, the heart-shaped ends disappeared and made place for a much smoother joint with a cross at the midsection.

It kind of looked like a Pokémon evolution with the bright lights making it hard to see what was actually going on. After 5 seconds Fay opened her eyes and stared at the object she held in her paws.

Fay was no longer holding a bone, instead she was holding a stick with a pointy end and sharp edge on the shaft. The soft glow was ever-present. It looked like a medieval style, European sword, nothing fancy about it except for the fact that it seemed to be made out of pure light, yet Fay was holding it in her two paws.

"Wow." With big eyes Fay watched the sword, which was kind of too big for her small size.

Saying I was not excited myself would be a straight-up lie, this was huge!

"Well, swing it, King Arthur!"

"Who?"

{Swing it already!} Luna yelled, clapping her two hands together in excitement.

"Fine, here I come!" Fay raised the sword above her head and swung it in a downwards arc with a loud cry.

The sword of light hit the boulder but the blade didn't bounce off, instead it dug through the stone and the shaft disappeared almost completely into the stone before Fay could no longer push it any deeper.

Saying it looked cool as fuck would’ve been an understatement.

"Well, that's fucking awesome." I grinned.

Fay smiled as well, the blade shattered into shards of light as Fay let go of it so she could rub some sweat off her forehead. "Y-yes this is awesome. Phew."

"You're okay?" She was looking exhausted.

"I feel a bit tired." Fay admitted reluctantly, "I think that using Aura this way is draining my energy. I feel a bit dizzy."

She jumped off the boulder and landed on her feet, she struggled to walk in a straight line towards me, as if she were drunk.

I booped Fay on the nose. "Don't worry, you did great. You can take a rest now."

"Yes, a rest sounds nice," Fay replied with a dazed voice.

She lay down on the grass and closed her eyes.

{That's fast.} Luna leaned over Fay's face and waved her hand.

{She's already sleeping.}

"Well, she deserved it."

Man, was this hype. Fay's potential just went from 0 to 10. After all, those who can adapt survive and her Aura is very versatile.

{Now my turn.} Luna smiled happily.

She walked towards the boulder and jumped on top of it, once she had done that she did a ballerina-like spin and faced me. {What would you have me do?}

"Uhm," I quickly went to the notes I made in my Pokédex regarding Telekinesis. It was a powerful move but also a tricky one because the exact workings of it are different per Pokémon. Some can lift entire arenas up in the air while other species of Pokémon can barely move a leaf. Of course, Telekinesis is a very broad subject.

Moving objects with the mind doesn't really cover it in the world of Pokémon considering most Pokémon have a way of manipulating matter without using physical contact.

I mean, even the most simple Magnemite can levitate itself, does that mean it counts as Telekinesis?

I took a deep breath and rattled off the list; "We need to test range, Manton limit, weight, speed, energy management, pressure, reaction time, manifestation, cooldown, line of sight and the amount of control you have."

Luna stared at me in awe.

Yeah, we're gonna be here for a while.