Chapter 2: Training Day
After a difficult rescue mission, the team decided to go train at the guild to further hone their fighting skills. Static upgraded his harsh training regimen out in the forest. He agilely moved through the trees with the grace and style of a parkour. Torrent and Blaze were sparring in the dojo with each other. Torrent felt his whole body quake he deftly blocked Blaze's Flaming Roundhouse kick aka Blaze Kick. As Blaze's foot grazed his arm he felt stinging burn and saw the red singe mark on his blue forearm. Torrent gritted his teeth to keep from crying out in pain, and his ice blue eyes began glowing in newfound determination. Using his foot that was still leveraged against Torrent's forearm Blaze propelled himself up in the in the air into an aerial backflip then taunted his friend with a hand signal. Torrent then charged with a forward jab, which Blaze easily dodged only to leave him open for a spinning back elbow to the jaw. Before Blaze could react to the crippling pain in his jaw, he felt a crushing blow to his stomach and abdominal region that made his insides churn. Faster than he could blink the blue turtle Pokémon had combined Rapid Spin and Double Kick to hit him with a 540 butterfly twist kick, that sent him hurling backwards while spinning uncontrollably. Blaze quickly ukemied to keep himself from tumbling any further, his claws scraping the ground in an attempt to keep himself steady. Out of anger, pain, and frustration Blaze felt his insides heat up. Torrent saw the fire lizard staggering to his feet obviously in great pain, his golden eyes flashing in anger and smoke pouring out his nostrils. The flame on his tail weakened a bit and then began to blaze even more brightly than before.
With a wild roar Blaze dashed at Torrent in a Rage, releasing a flurry of flaming claw attacks. Completely overwhelmed grazing and crushing blows from the lizard, Torrent withdrew into his shell. But Blaze persisted in his brutal attack. Soon Blaze acknowledged that his opponent wasn't fighting back and kicked the shell clear across the arena where it ricocheted off the wall and crashed into a pillar. After an awkward pause, suddenly the dormant shell began to tremor erratically as Torrent ran and jumped at Blaze with his head down surrounded by a silver aura, and slammed its head into the Charmeleon full force sending them both crashing through the dojo wall. As the smoke cleared the two teenagers squared off neither giving the other an inch. They stared each other down both covered in nicks and bruises, eyes gleaming in excitement and rushed each other in a full frontal assault each letting loose a barrage of punches, kicks, blocks, counters, jabs, knee and elbow strikes. Blaze dealt Torrent a hefty blow to the solar plexus, with a powerful spinning back kick that he felt through his shell. Before staggering back from the pain he grabbed Blaze's leg firmly with both arms, swung him around and toss him as hard he could before collapsing in exhaustion. The Charmeleon crashed into the dojo wall and landed with a harsh thud. He tried to struggle to his feet but ultimately fainted from fatigue as well.
Hours later they awoke at the Guild's Poke Center with Dojomaster Marowak looking at them with an amused smile. He was a short, but powerfully built Pokémon in his mid-fifties who walked around with a bone club. While he was friendly he was also gritty, old fashioned, tough as nails and loved a good brawl. "So you're the two knuckleheads that destroyed me dojo" He let out deep bellowing laugh "You're definitely not much to look at but you brats got stones."
"Look I'm sorry about the dojo, I promise we'll pay for the damages" Torrent stated apologetically.
Marowak just gave Torrent a confused look and let out another thunderous laugh "I don't want 'ur money, kid. I want you to do a job for me."
Blaze raised his brow in suspicion "What kind of job?"
"Nuthin' fancy just an escort mission" the old Marowak said ignoring Blaze's hostility "I've got some important cargo coming in from the Desert Region but the delivery caravan needs to be escorted here safely. I'd do it meself but Imma wee bit old for that sort of thing. Can I count on you lads to get me cargo here safe and sound?"
"Yeah, you can count on us, it's the least we could do after destroying your dojo and whatnot." Torrent murmured.
"Well then I guess it's settled then, you lads do me that one favor and your misdeeds are forgiven. I must warn you though; the Desert Region is one dangerous place." His tone got low and serious "They say there's a nasty Steelix out there who will give you a run for yer money and then some." Then he reverted back to his jovial state "Bwahaha! But that's just old wives tales and folklore. The worst you got to worry about is a Sandslash with a bad temper. Now I'll be on me merry way lads you boys rest up nicely now you got quite a journey ahead of ya. "