Mystery of the Falls Part 1 (Violet's 1rst Lesson)

(I was thinking we could do this like you and Ripple did The Sacrad Lands. First the Falls, then the Ruins.)

Reiko the Shiny Medicham arrived at a strange waterfall in Shadowhue Forest early one morning. She was waiting for her student, Violet the Meinfoo to meet her for Violet's first lesson under Rieko's tutorship. "Well, I've certainly never seen THIS before. It's perfect." Rieko commented to herself. She walked over to the waterfall and took a meditation pose directly under the crashing wall of water and began meditating while she waited for her student to arrive.

Violet jogged through the dark forest, hoping to get to her destination as quickly as possible. She slowed down however, when she heard the rushing of a waterfall. The Mienfoo wandered into the clearing and glanced around. She spotted Reiko meditating under the waterfall and walked over to her teacher.

Rieko sensed her student, but didn't budge from her spot under the crushing power of the waterfall. "Like I told you before, your first lesson under me will be concerning your mental training. Which means meditation." Reiko started. Amazingly, her concentration wasn't even swayed a tiny bit by her conversation with Violet. "Now, there's no 'right way' to meditate' It's all about focusing inside yourself, without letting anything bother you while you do so." she explained. Rieko then pointed to a nearby rock that was sitting just next to the Waterfall. "Take a comfortable pose on that rock there and we will begin. Once you have had more practice, it will be easy for you to meditate anywhere, even under a waterfall." Rieko said as she returned to her original position under the Falls.

The Mienfoo nodded, making her way over to the rock that her teacher had indicated. She sat down before deciding that it would be much easier to focus if she was lay down. It was a personal thing that she wasn't sure Reiko would approve of, but it worked for her.
She lay with her head in the rock, but her knees were pulled in pointing upwards rather than just being splayed out on the surface of the rock.

Violet lay there, her eyes closed as she tried to ignore the sounds around her. Her mind seemed to not be able to concentrate because of the loudness of the waterfall and the little droplets of water that came from it. However, Violet didn't give up. She continued to try and ignore it. She tried to focus.

"That position is fine for this first lesson, although in the future it will be easier for you to take a sitting position." Rieko explained, not even flinching or opening her eyes. "Now, turn your focus inward, into your own subconcious. Don't try to, you'll only cause yourself to struggle. Just take deep, even breaths, and look into the dark places of your own mind." Rieko coached her student.

Violet didn't nod, for fear that she might lose focus, but she heeded her mentor's words. She lay there, concentrating on her breathing to start with.
In, and Out. In, and Out.
She slowly managed to even her breathing out, taking deep long breaths until she felt truly calm and tranquil.
The Mienfoo smiled slightly at how peaceful it felt just to lie here like this.

"Now, to mentally train yourself, you must first get in touch with the flow of chi that's all around you. This might be a little harder for you than it was for me because you don't have a psychic subtype to aid you like I did when I was learning from my own master, but every great warrior first learns to move with the flow around him or her." Rieko explained. "First, try to focus on the space around you. See if you can sense the pulse around you."

Violet heeded Reiko's words and tried to 'focus on the space around her' as the Medicham had put it. The Mienfoo found it hard however, as she had never done anything like it before. But she was still unwilling to give up.

"If you can't hone into the flow your first time, don't give up." Rieko commented. "I cam't tell you exactly how it feels when you are in sync with the flow, but you will be able to tell when you are. It almost feels as if someting just 'clicks' inside of you the first time you connect with it. After that.... well, it's an indescribable feeling."

The young Mienfoo kept trying, but she ended up getting frustrated with herself. Upon realizing this however, she made attempts to calm herself down again, trying to regain the peaceful frame of mind she had a few minutes ago.
Violet listened to the small breeze as it ruffled through the blades of grass nearest to the rock she was sat on. Despite being so close to the waterfall, she still managed to pick up that small whistling sound from the wind.

"Remember to keep stil and focus inside yourself. If it helps, listen to your heartbeat. That could help you to get in touch with the flow of chi." Rieko suggested as she sat motionless under the falls.

Violet took a deep breath and listened to her teacher's words. She focused inside herself, listening to her own heartbeat. She lay there, her eyes closed as she listened. Yes. There it was. Her heartbeat, clear as day.
The Mienfoo lay there for a little while, just listening to it, before she began to spread her focus to the area around her. All of a sudden, just as Reiko had said it would, it 'clicked'.

It felt like hundreds of possibilities had just been opened as she felt the 'pulse' of the world around her. It felt like she could sense even the faintest rustle, the smallest movement. It felt... incredible!

Violet opened her eyes, trying not to smile at how little she really knew about the way the world worked. How it felt to be connected to it... even if it had just been for an instant.

Rieko could feel it when Violet "clicked". It was like an outside peice of energy rejoined the flow. Rieko nodded her head slightly in approval. "That's good. Now that you've connected to it, try to use it to "see" your surroundings. You'll be able to feel a small "feild" extending from everything in your surroundings. Close your eyes and try to envision in your head what you feel." she told Violet.

Violet nodded before closing her eyes again. She concentrated on re-finding the flow of 'chi'. The second time, she found it much easier.

Just as Reiko had instructed, she attempted to envision her surroundings using the different 'fields' she could sense.

Rieko waited for a few moments, fully immersed in her meditation. Then, without warning, she rose and stepped out of the waterfall. "Now, I'm going to show you how to merge This practice with your fighting technique. Try to standwithout stopping what you are doing now. Keep your eyes closed."

At this point, although it wasn't totally clear in the darkness of the forest, it was around noon.

Keeping her eyes closed, Violet slowly sat up. Trying desperately to keep her grasp on the flow of chi, she eventually got to her feet, watching her mentor through the 'fields' she could sense around her.

"Good." Rieko nodded. "Now, try forming an attack while watching that tree over there, then hit it at the point where the chi is strongest." Reiko explained to her student. "Don't let your own balance get thrown off." she warned.

Violet slowly turned to face the tree Reiko had mentioned. She could feel the energy coming off of it, but she needed to find where the energy was strongest. She scanned the entirety of its trunk before she went back over it, identifying at which points the chi was stronger and weaker.

Once she was confident she had identified the right place, she tried to decide what attack to use. Detect wouldn't do anything and Jump Kick she hadn't perfected yet, so those were off the table. Drain Punch was physical, but Swift was the move she trusted most.

Nodding to herself, she took a stance and formed a Swift between her paws. instead of a star shape though, she molded them into one big circle of Swift's power in order to hit the tree directly at the point she had found.

Rieko watched, impressed with her new student's learning capabilities. She stayed completely silent, so not to interrupt Violet's concentration, and watched as her student formed her attack in preparation to launch it at the tree.

Continuing to concentrate, the Mienfoo double checked the point she was trying to hit. She was determined to get it right, or at least extremely close. She wasn't used to using Swift in such a way though, so she wasn't exactly sure how this would go.

Violet then launched the Swift energy towards the tree. It collided with the trunk, only a few centimeters off of the point she had identified. All in all, Violet was fairly proud of herself for a first try.

"That was extremely good. Now, we're going to practice with a moving target." Reiko explained, taking a fighting stance. "Be sure not to lose your focus on the chi, or else you be bliunded in the heat of battle." she warned, jumping to a higher rock.

Violet blinked. A moving target? She hadn't even been able to perfectly hit the tree and Reiko was already moving on?
The Mienfoo wasn't sure if she could do this without more practice... but she decided to give it a try. After all, you never knew what you could do otherwise.

Violet also moved into a fighting stance, a lot of her concentration though, was focused on keeping sight of the chi. She didn't want to lose it and disappoint her teacher.

Reiko dashed foreward, slowely though to give Violet a chance to react. She wouldn't normally do that but she wanted to give Violet some pracice first. She prepared a simple punch for Violet to try blocking or even countering. She wanted to see how much of a role Violet's instincs played in her fighting style.

Violet was used to such attacks from when she trained with her parents, and so easily blocked it, still focusing on the chi around her. She then attempted to counter with a similar punch. Violet didn't actually expect to hit Reiko, but she was going to give it a chance.

Reiko danced swiftly to the side, having anticipated the counter. "That was good. The fact that you can counter already means that I can skip that lesson." Reiko commented. "Now, let's try something harder to dodge!" Reiko said as she prepared an Ice Punch attack. She then launched it at Vilotet, this time holding nothing back.