True Magic
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
A/N: This is just a trial story. I don't know if I really will continue it or not; it just depends on the feelings of the readers, so please review and let me know what you think.
Chapter One
"Here."
Lucas popped up from behind a bookshelf suddenly and deposited an enormous stack of books in Dawn's arms.
"You can start with these."
Dawn gaped.
"You're kidding! There've got to be at least two hundred books in this heap!"
Lucas shrugged and pointed Dawn to a sturdy desk.
"Then you'd better get started. Those are only the beginner books for magic. They don't even teach you spell-casting yet."
"What?" shrieked Dawn. "Then what are they for?"
"They teach you the basics about magic," Lucas said patiently. "I gave you the choice between reading and hearing me lecture, and you chose reading."
"Well, I didn't know that I would have to read a mountain of books, did I?"
"So would you rather hear me lecture you, even if it'll be, I quote you, 'Boring and boring and more boring'?"
Dawn nodded fervently and Lucas smiled.
"Alright. Put the books away."
"Sure."
Dawn quickly relinquished her grasp on the volumes, the huge pile tumbling down.
"Hey, hey!" shouted Lucas, throwing out a hand and forming a net of aura to catch the books. "I said to put them back, not drop them," he said severely, pointing at the bookshelves.
Dawn moaned. "If you were asked to do it, you could just snap your fingers and enchant the books to make them go back by themselves. I actually have to do it by hand." Grumbling, the girl slowly picked up book by book and placed them back while Lucas held his aura net in place.
"Could you speed it up?" complained Lucas. "I'm dying over here."
Dawn shot him a nasty glare. "Then do it yourself. Besides, you're not even the one doing anything. I'm the one dying."
True enough, Dawn was soaked with sweat, considering that the library they were in spanned the length of about a mile. Lucas glared back.
"Here's your first lesson in magic. Using any spell takes lots of energy, and uses your aura – your magical force – to generate the magic. For beginners like us, even this simple net I've made here costs a lot of energy for me."
Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Then enchant the books."
"I don't know how."
Dawn gasped dramatically. "Do you mean to say that the mighty Lucas doesn't know something?"
"Just hurry up," demanded Lucas irritably. "You've got at least a hundred books left, and none of them can touch the ground, or else they'll get dirty and Professor Rowan will be really mad."
"Fine," sighed Dawn, speeding up her pace slightly.
By the time Dawn had put the books away, Lucas was panting for breath as he collapsed on the floor. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he hurriedly grabbed a glass of water from the desk and gulped it down. Dawn was tapping her foot impatiently.
"Now that I've put the books away, can the lecture begin?"
Setting the glass down, Lucas turned and nodded. Reaching behind the desk, he pulled out a board and some markers.
"Are you ready?"
"Totally."
"Alright, pay attention." Lucas began to draw on the board, and he soon had a neat diagram. "Here we go. Now, magic is the physical representation of aura, the magical force that wizards possess. This circle," Lucas tapped the shape, "represents aura. Branching off from this, we have many different kinds of magic.
"For instance," Lucas pointed to a square branched off from the circle, "we have here elemental magic, consisting of any magic related to the four classical elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Then, we can branch from elemental magic into other kinds of spells related to the elements, but not specifically any of the four elements. Spells utilizing ice, lightning, plants, and other elements fall into this category.
"Separate from this, we have another section of spells called summoning spells. These, as their name indicates, produce, or summon, something depending on the spell that is cast. There are more types of spells other than elemental and summoning, but you get the idea, right?"
Dawn nodded attentively.
"Good. Let's move on."
As Lucas began to talk about the properties of aura, Dawn slowly began to zone out into her fantasy world. Staring at Lucas, she smiled shyly. The nineteen-year-old lab assistant helped the famous regional professor, Professor Rowan, in his research about magic and its evolution over time. Of course, each region had its own professor, but Rowan was the master in the Sinnoh region. Dawn's grasp on her attention to Lucas's lecture slowly slipped as she completely blanked and focused simply on Lucas.
There was no doubt in her mind that he was handsomest, cutest man she had ever seen in all of her eighteen years of life. She began to look at every little detail on him. His blue hair spiked inconsistently, but was hid by a neat beret. His eyes were a lovely stone gray that could be filled with warmth and promise and sometimes harden to resemble real rocks. His eyebrows scrunched slightly whenever he focused, and they were currently tensed. Dawn decided that he looked cuter when he was relaxed. Her gaze lowered slightly as she examined his mouth. The smallest amount of stubble was slowly appearing over his lip. His jaw was moving rapidly, and the motion suddenly snapped Dawn back to reality and the fact that she was supposed to be paying attention to Lucas's lecture.
Desperately, she attempted to snatch onto the last bits of what he was saying.
"…and so, with my aura, I find that aura spells – another branch of magic that directly utilizes aura – is easier. You probably noticed that from my aura net earlier. Thus, we have concluded that a person's aura leans towards certain branches and categories of magic. Again, I've found that aura spells are to my preference, but let's do a little experiment with yours, okay?"
Dawn nodded.
"Hold your hands out and cup them together. Then, imagine your aura. Whatever you feel like it should be, it is. When I first summoned my own aura, it was exactly as I imagined it – a sort of pulsing, glowing field. Let's see what you come up with. Evidently, the appearance of your aura can indicate the spells that your aura prefers. I'm going to get a book, but try to do it, okay? Summon up your aura into your hands."
Dawn followed his instructions dutifully and closed her eyes. Breathing softly, she relaxed completely as she thought about what aura would be like.
Hmm… I never really thought of it like Lucas did. What did I think of it as? A foggy glow? No, that's not right… A flowing ribbon? Sort of, but not right either… Oh! That's right!
Dawn opened her eyes and looked at her cupped palms. Sure enough, her aura was sitting in her hands.
"Lucas, I did it!" she yelled. After a few moments of rummaging, Lucas appeared from behind a bookcase looking extremely surprised.
"Already?" he asked, amazed. Toting a book with him, he glanced at her palms and then stared queerly at it.
"What?" asked Dawn.
"You imagine aura to be… vanilla ice cream?"
"Yeah!" said Dawn happily. "It's like a really thick ribbon that's really soft and absolutely luscious! And it's shiny and it glows!"
"Well, this is just strange." Lucas looked away from the glowing soft serve in Dawn's palms and attempted to locate it in the book he had found. "If I had to guess, I would say ice and water spells are your preference. Yep," he said, finding the passage for vanilla ice cream auras. "It says right here. 'Wizards with auras resembling vanilla ice cream or soft serve generally tend to be in favor of spells based on water and ice. However, they also excel at casting spells related to air. These wizards are typically not proficient in casting spells of other elements, although their abilities in other branches of magic are not disrupted by this.' Hmm… it also says to not confuse vanilla ice cream auras with other flavored ice creams. Apparently, the flavor of the ice cream determines the preference. That's just weird."
Snapping the book shut, he put it on the desk for future reference and smiled slightly at Dawn. "That was fast. It usually takes more than a few minutes for a wizard to pull up the aura. It took me almost five tries to get a tiny trickle of it."
Dawn grinned. "I guess I'm a natural then."
Lucas nodded. "Alright, I won't hold you anymore today. You can go, although I recommend taking some books to study from. Not any spell books, or you will regret it," said Lucas, severely cutting off the hope that had flashed in her eyes. Dawn grumbled and refused to take a single book.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then," said Lucas, seeing Dawn to the door.
"Yep!"
He smiled his small smile again. Dawn grinned back and left the library, trekking back to her home. Lucas watched her leave and then went back to Professor Rowan's lab.
Dawn collapsed on her bed back in her own home and thought over her day. Deciding that it was good, she contentedly decided to sleep. There was only one thing that bothered her. Lucas's smile seemed a little off for some reason. It was there, sincere, but something was wrong. Dawn was slightly worried, but quickly brushed it off. She needed her sleep for tomorrow, and she was going to get it!