"We can probably cover a little ground before have to set up camp." Your companions look relieved to hear you say that.
The front door opens with ease. A slight chill has filled the valley while you were in there. Your travelling clothes keep you from feeling it too badly, but it's noticeable on any exposed part of your skin.
You eventually come across a small clearing next to a fairly sized rock formation. A layer of moss covers the slight overhang. Vance's words mimic your thoughts; "This looks like a good spot."
Robin and Vance begin unpacking. Absently you remember that you still haven't gotten a tent, or even a sleeping bag yet.
There's a little bit of work to do before everyone can settle for the night. It's getting decently dark now, but you figure you'll probably have a lot of time tomorrow morning to get some training in before arriving at Kindletown.
Vance sees you move to help out. "You really don't have to. I can take care of this. You should rest." He puts his hand on your shoulder.
You casually brush him off. "It's fine. I've been outdoors plenty. I can start a fire in my sleep."
Setting up the fire is easier than you thought. Devon helps of course. He's still looking a little beat up from his fights today, but he's still jumping at the chance to do whatever makes you happy. You lazily give him a scratch behind the ears.
Robin uses it to begin making dinner. The ingredients don't look all that great, but Vance steps in with some of the various spices he's carrying, and together they manage to cook up an very appetizing dish. Vance is difficult to read. Robin keeps a respectful distance, even if she's looking at him once in awhile in a way you're not sure if you're fond of. The dinner loses some of it's flavor when you drink it with your bitter medicine.
After dinner, Robin almost immediately announces she's going to sleep. The bags under her eyes are noticeable even in the low light of the campfire.
Vance is sipping on some sort of herbal tea. He'll probably be up a little longer.
Your body is tired and sluggish, but your mind is still fairly alert.
The temptation to curl up with your starter Pokemon is pretty great, but he's looking pretty worn out from today. Plus the thought of curling up with Robin instead sounds too fun to pass up.
"Robin, is it OK if I sleep in your tent tonight?" You gesture to to your nonexistent tent and sleeping bag.
She seems only half-there. "Huh? Oh sure. Just give me a second to change into my PJs". Well that's no fun.
The sound of the fire slowly dying and Robin's tent zipper fills the air.
You look towards Vance. "So Vance. You seem to know a lot about medicine. I didn't see any medical schools around your little beach shack."
Vance laughs. "No no. I'm really not all that knowledgeable. My sister is the smart one in the family. I'm hoping to send her a message to see how things are going with her when we get to the Pokemon Center."
There's no more sound from Robin. She must be done by now.
Your make your way quietly into Robin's tent. She's already fast asleep. She's had an exhausting time too, keeping tabs on you all of last night, and keeping pace without complaint. You haven't really had many people in your life you could call a friend. It's almost uncomfortable how quickly she's taken that role, but at the same time it's nice.
You do consider Robin a friend, right? Wasn't she supposed to be a mark? You can't be getting this soft, can you?
Robin is a friend. Maybe the first real friend you've ever had. You can hear the slow soft sound of her breathing, and with each breath you can almost hear how much shes' done for you already. You don't feel the need to keep your guard up with her as much as anyone else.
She's pretty cute though. Especially when she's sleeping. A small flush runs across your face as you remember a few less wholesome times with her on your short journey so far.
Still, you feel that letting her too close too fast might be a bit much. She's fun to tease, but for now, you think you'll just keep things where they are. You still have no idea what she thinks of you.
You'll have plenty of time to see where things go. For now just the company of someone you can trust is more than enough.
Will you have plenty of time though? You never really discussed what you'd do once you got to Kindletown. What if she stays with her dad?
Your sleep is dreamless, and not very good.
You wake up to the distant sound of knocking in the early morning. Robin is still dead asleep. You slowly get up, careful not to wake her, and check it out. Vance and Machop are training but striking a tree repeatedly. Vance waves to you briefly, but seems to want to keep pace and not stop to chat.
It's still fairly early. You have some time before everyone is ready to go.
You decide that Devon and Destiny could use some training before the fight. Devon has been a pretty solid battler so far, but there's still a lot you don't know about his abilities.
Destiny is a mystery too. You remember she demonstrated a move you weren't familiar with when you caught her. She also seems to struggle to move quickly on land, which could be a major handicap.
How will you train Devon?
You're curious about any potential moves Devon might know, or be able to learn.
"Devon," He looks up at you curiously. "Devon, I think you might be able to pull off more than I've seen so far. Can you show me what you know?"
Devon doesn't seem to really understand what you're asking of him. Or maybe he just doesn't know what he can do yet.
You have an idea.
"Devon. See that tree over there?" You point to the tree that Vance and Machop are vigorously attacking. Somewhere in the back if your mind, you wonder what it ever did to them. "I want you to hit that tree. But you can't use Ember or Roar."
Devon is at a loss for a moment. He's struggling to do something, but you can't tell exactly what. His body tenses and he opens his mouth. It looks like he's going to shoot off an Ember attack, as a faint red light builds in his mouth. Slowly, and with great effort on Devon's part, that red light turns black. A sudden beam of dark black energy bursts from his mouth.
Machop and Vance, who hadn't noticed what you were up to before, are treated to an explosion of power at the tree. They both dive out of the way before any serious damage can be done to them, but Vance lets off a series of profanities as he his the ground and bits of bark fly all over him.
You put on your best 'sorry' face and wave apologetically.
Devon knows Dark Pulse!
From his cocky swagger, you feel that it isn't the only trick up his sleeve. In fact, you're not sure if that's what he was bred for at all. Still, it's time to focus on Destiny.
"Hey Vance. I'm sorry about that!" You yell over. "I didn't think that would actually happen."
Vance doesn't say anything, but he waves it off in a gesture that says not to worry about it. He seems a little peeved, but not in a serious way.
You decide Destiny needs to be able to move around without tripping over herself before anything else can get done. It won't do to have her be a sitting psyduck.
You place Destiny on the ground, and kneel down to face her.
"Destiny, I'm glad to have you on the team." She makes a happy face. Adorable. "But we're going to have to work on your mobility. The fact of the matter is that if you can't dodge or move, you're at a major disadvantage for all your battles." Destiny looks a little sad at that. That wasn't your intent. "Don't worry Destiny. I know we can work on it together."
She blows bubbles in happiness again. That gives you another idea. "Destiny, try to blow some bubbles in the air. If you can, make them float as long as possible." Destiny happily complies.
"Now I want you to pop each bubble without using any moves at all."
By now, Vance has stopped training and is watching you and Destiny. She struggles to close the gap between herself and the bubbles. Eventually she manages to slowly hop towards one, and fall over onto it.
"Ok. Good try, good try." You don't want to put her down, but it was a pathetic display.
Vance looks like he wants to say something, but he holds his tongue.
You give Destiny a new task. You tell her to focus on bouncing off of various trees and rocks, with the only goal of getting as much distance as possible. Her progress is slow.
While she's busy doing that, you turn your back to her and get Vance to do the same. You keep your tone hushed. "You look like you want to say something. Got any advice?"
Vance crosses his arms. He looks like you're not sure if you'll like what he has to say. "Your Horsea can move better, but she needs to be motivated. Maybe..."
You arch your eyebrow, urging him to continue.
"Maybe you should have your Magnemite attack her. If she's afraid of his electrical attacks, she'll learn to dodge much quicker."
That sounds a bit harsh. "What if I just toss something harmless she has dodge, like small pebbles or something?"
Vance closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Without any fear, without any pain, it won't be effective."
You've had to deal with abusive caretakers before. The thought of acting like that makes you recoil. You look Vance in anger. "No way. I'm not going to abuse the trust my Pokemon put in me."
He doesn't offer any reaction.
Fear isn't the only motivator. You let Vlad out of his Pokeball. "Alright Vlad. Remember when you were harassing Destiny before?" Vlad looks like you're going to reprimand him, and braces for it. "I want you to do it again." He's confused for a second. "I want you to taunt her into chasing you," you explain. He's perfectly happy to follow that order.
Vlad doesn't wait for you to change your mind. He starts swooshing by Destiny, almost knocking her over with the air he moves. After a few passes, she's had enough and gives chase. She's slow, but she does seem to be moving much faster than before. Then again, that's like saying ketchup moves faster than molasses.
Vlad has to keep flying back within range to keep her angry. Still, slowly but surely, she is making progress. She stumbles over a few rocks, but she gets back up immediately. After a few tumbles, she manages to catch herself without losing much speed.
She's really ramping it up now. Vlad is starting to dodge between trees to make it harder for you. That's not a bad idea either. You grab some of the leftover sticks from the campfire pile and start sticking in the ground. You motion to Vlad to fly through them. Destiny is still much too angry to notice at all.
Vlad makes a pass through with ease. Destiny...not so much. She bangs right into the first one and spins out. Still, she's back in a second and continues her chase. Vlad makes another pass. This time, she does better, but she still struggles to move between the tight spaces. Vlad passes by yet another time now, screeching loudly as he gets closer to her. You're pretty annoyed at that one, so you can't imagine how bad it is for your Horsea.
This time Destiny doesn't immediately give chase. Instead, she hops up as he passes, and bounces off of the tallest stick. It has a little spring to it, and she uses that to propel herself at him at an incredible speed.
There's a solid WHACK as she connects, and they both tumble and roll to the ground. Destiny is back up right away, but Vlad takes a few seconds. After he crawls up from being on his face, he lets out what you can only guess is his equivalent of a laugh. Destinies anger deflates a bit, and eventually she starts to laugh too.
"Good job both of you! Destiny, I'm sorry I had Vlad do that to you, but look what you accomplished! I'm so proud of you!"
Vlad beams with pride. Destiny lets out some small bubbles in happiness.
Vance, who's been watching the whole thing while leaning against a tree, watches without comment. He really can put on a good poker face when he wants to.
"Thanks for the advice," you say, keeping your growing smug feeling in check, "Using another Pokemon was a great motivator."
What you leave out says a lot.
He smirks a bit. "You took a different approach than I expected. I can't really take much credit." He begins to walk back to the camp. "I'm impressed though. It worked well." With that he walks away. You don't think it was condescending or misleading in any way. He really did sound impressed and surprised like he said.
It's hard not to feel a little giddy.
As you make it back closer to the camp, you see Robin is finally up. There's not enough time for you to do much, but you manage to get a few moments with all your Pokemon out, feeding them some quick treats. You let them play with each other a bit while you eat breakfast.
Finally, it's time. Camp is packed up, break time is over. Kindletown is a very short while away.
