26 Useless (1/2)
”Would I always need to ... take off my clothes for this stuff?”, Arthur's uneasiness returned.
”Eh, no, if you reach a certain level it wouldn't matter either way, but you aren't ready for that. Baby steps first.”
”You see, usually children learn the methods stubbornly by the textbook without understanding what's actually important during breathing. The results are pathetic in the beginning but over time they slowly develop a better sensitivity for the correct execution with increased understanding of the theoretical knowledge behind everything.
Sadly, we don't have time for that in your special case. It wouldn't work if I just told you what to do. You also need to understand it with your body and soul if you want to make real progress!
”Even with intense training a normal person would still need a couple of months at the very least to sense the energy particles around them. The reason why I am attempting it though is ... your strong sense of awareness!”
”My, my awareness?”, was that a compliment?
”Your energy perception to be exact. Or that's what I assume you have developed somehow. Otherwise you shouldn't have stood a chance against that Rico brat at all. Yet you got a hit on him, a Infinity force practitioner and even saw his energy enforced attack coming.”
Arthur felt insulted and appreciative at the same time now.
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”Does that mean that I have superpowers? Is that rare”
”Hmm, superpowers? No. It isn't very rare but also not common. Especially in your age at the least. I can imagine that your little trip into the Viridian Forest unearthed some deep hidden potential in your body haha! Maybe it's because of the enormous stress you had to go through. Aren't there always stories about the people showing unusual powers in emergency situations? Whatever, the most important thing is that you learn to take advantage of this ability.
”Can this help with my Infinity Force training?”
”Of course! If your perception were to mature sensing and possibly manipulating the energy particles would become a piece of cake for you! Well, right now, it won't give you that many boons. But it could help you understand what it really means to 'breathe'. Only then can you take the first step in your training.
Arthur did as ordered and ignored the last remark. He slowly breathed in, expanding his abdomen, and breathed out, clearing out his CO2.
”Ignore all sounds, scents or any signals in your surroundings and only concentrate on my voice. In general there are four principles when it comes to breathing methods: Accumulation, Purification, Concentration and Conversion. You aren't ready for any of those, but we can try and see if you can do the initial steps of the accumulation phase.
Imagine yourself in this place right now in your mind. Imagine yourself sitting in a crowd of Pokemon with ... a weedle sleeping on your head, pfff hahah!”
”Gary!”
”Okay, okay, serious-mode activated! Hahaha ehem, imagine yourself in this beautiful small place surrounded by the peaceful Pokemon. Imagine my grand manly picture talking to you. Imagine the river in the distance, the endless trees here, the blue sky, the faint wisps of wind travelling through this garden. And then ... erase it.”
Arthur wrinkled his eyebrows and wanted to ask when Gary continued:
”Erase the feelings of your skin, erase the noise in the background, erase the wonderful scenery piece by piece. River, water, stones, ground, sky, wind, the grass and the trees. The Pokemon, the ground you are sitting on and myself included. Erase them all from your mind. What is left?”
”Nothing ...”, Arthur whispered under his breath. He saw himself floating in a black void, continuously breathing in and out.
”Perfect. But is there really nothing else? Try to concentrate on some spot.”
He tried. He looked around in this endless void but everything was just ... empty. He only saw himself and nothing el... Suddenly his mind noticed a faint movement in a corner. It might have been just his imagination though.
”What's wrong? What happened?”, Gary noticed his sudden puzzlement.
”There was something moving, I am not sure, was nothing probably...”
”No! That's good! Zoom in on that and observe further!”
Arthur's vision closed in on the spot he saw just now and then he dicovered ... something glittering.
”There is something glittering, almost like weak sparks.”
”Zoom in! Further! Even further!”, Gary ordered excitedly.
Arthur tried his best and his concentration rose to the extreme! Everything was blended out except for that glittering part of the space which was approaching him as time passed. Breathing became harder and harder and his brows wrinkled even more because of his increasing focus. The mental strain this action put on him became more and more difficult to control. But ... he succeeded!
The glittering came to an end as he finally approached the mysterious goal, and what revealed itself before him was a ball. A ball of light. A small glowing particle actually that moved around in no specific order. It just moved around endlessly in the infinite darkness around them.
”What do you see?”, Gary asked in a soft voice anticipating the result.
”A small ball of light. It doesn't do much, it just moves around and that's it.”
”That's it?! Arthur, you see a small ball of light in your mind and that's it?! That's huge?! Your energy perception must have helped you detect it otherwise I can't imagine a novice seeing an Infinity particle on his first try! WOW! I couldn't do that! What colour does it have?”
”Hm, white, why do you ask?”
”Hmm, white is it ... forget it, it's too early.”
”What do I do now?”
”Ah, yes, the next crucial step is, attracting it! You need to influence the particle towards your position!”
”Okay.”
Arthur tried concentrating on the particle a little more, imagining a hand that grabbed the particle ... but that didn't work out. Then he tried a rope wrapping around the particle and pulling it towards himself ... nope, no success either. He tried a couple more mental pictures but none really worked out. The particle didn't even stop or showed any kind of signs of having been influenced anyhow. The longer it took and the more he tried, the greater the strain on his body was and in the end the pain was just too much.