DISCLAIMER: Nope, Pokemon is not mine, I only own my own characters, not their respective Pokemon species.
2,552 words. Happy Holidays, everyone! I've been busy for the past few days, playing The World Ends With You. It's a great game, but the battles are pretty tough. I love Chrsitmas. Anyways, enough with my babbling, here's the story for ya. :)
Eleven: Lune
The sudden emptiness seemed to grasp Grovyle's lungs for a heartbeat as he watched the wall reform.
Good luck, Celebi… I hope you don't need it. And get back soon.
Conteur nudged his arm suddenly, and pointed with his nose to where Seul stood with Tide, Amarante, and Alessandra.
"Don't dwell on it," the Ice Type whispered. "It's midnight; those three should be asleep for the day ahead."
Grovyle nodded, thankful for the advice. He jumped off the raised platform and headed over to the other Pokemon, Conteur and Saif following behind.
"It's time you all went to sleep," Grovyle said as he approached the trio-plus-Seul.
"What? Me? I'm not tired!" Alessandra exclaimed. She stood a little taller and shifted her feet to get to optimum height, but stumbled a little. She blushed and raised her shoulders, as if to try to hide her face.
Ranta yawned. "I'm tired," the little fox mumbled. Although her tone showed exhaustion, her eyes were still slightly wide with the shock of seeing the Frozen Pokemon - she was obviously trying to be optimistic about the whole ordeal.
Grovyle noticed that Tide stayed silent. He felt a pang of concern at the look on the Piplup's face, but he said nothing.
"You should all get some sleep," Conteur advised, also noticing the quiet, thoughtful look on Tide's face. "Tomorrow, you're all going to be training."
Alessandra brightened. "Really?"
"Yep," Saif answered, already starting for the elevator. "We all need to be prepared in case anything happens."
Alessandra hurried after Saif, and the rest of the group followed. Seul herded Tide along; the Piplup seemed not to have noticed everyone start to leave.
As the Rotom brought them up, Grovyle keep stealing glances at Tide.
What's on your mind? You're not the same as you were last time… Grovyle made a fist with his hand at his side. I want to help you, but I can't if you don't tell me what's wrong… I'll have to ask you later. But not tonight; it's too late.
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The sun was just starting to peek into Tide's and Ranta's room when a knock at the door woke the both of them up.
"Coming!" Ranta called, standing up to shake her fur before jumping off her bed and heading for the door.
Tide stretched each of his limbs. He hadn't dreamt last night, and he was thankful for that. He hopped off his bed and splashed a bit of water from the pool onto his face.
For a moment he stared at his reflection, deep in thought. Last night, an idea had begun occurring to him. It wasn't being straightforward to him, however; no real worded thoughts were echoing in Tide's mind, only an urge to stop and think about a nagging unknown…
He shook his head and straightened up just as Ranta opened the door, revealing Alessandra.
"C'mon," the Chikorita called, "it's time to go training!"
Training…? Tide wondered. Then his mind suddenly clicked. Right… Conteur told us we were training today. But where, exactly?
"Hurry up, Tide," Alessandra commanded, irritated. "We don't have all day to get to the training room."
"I'm coming," Tide sighed, hurrying toward the door.
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It didn't take long to get to the training room. Apparently, there were two training rooms; one for those who donated to the BPP, and another for those who did not or could not. So the trio was able to take the elevator to the private training room, meaning that they didn't have to cut through the main room on the ground floor and wade through the mob of Pokemon down there.
The training room took up an entire floor of the Base. The circular room had a sparring area, lanes for target practice, a weight-lifting area, and some contraption that resembled an obstacle course. The wall beside the sparring area was lined with various weapons, such as Silver Spikes and Gravelrocks. A table beside the target practice lanes likewise held the same items as aforementioned, and also included less dangerous items like sticks and Gravelrock-sized beanbags. Pokemon of many different species were either training or talking to each other.
Currently, Saif was sparring with a bipedal dog-like Pokemon that Tide recognized as a Lucario. The Lucario made to punch at Saif, but the Gallade feinted and ducked under the Lucario's arm and attacked it from behind with his elbow blade, square in the back. The Lucario quickly turned and kicked at Saif's legs, causing the Gallade to lose balance.
As Saif went down, the Lucario brought its knee up and hit the Blade Pokemon in the face. Saif grunted in pain but nonetheless retaliated by grabbing the Lucario's leg and pulling it down to the floor. Saif brought his elbow blade to its full length and brought it down against the Lucario's neck.
For a moment, both Pokemon were still, each breathing heavily. Suddenly, Saif retracted his elbow blades and stood, holding out his hand for the Aura Pokemon. Grunting, the Lucario accepted the help and rose to its feet, muttering something too low for Tide to hear.
Saif laughed, blood dripping from his nostrils at the base of his 'head-horn'. "You did well, too!"
"He is a strong fighter." Suddenly, Conteur was beside Tide, who jumped in surprise.
Conteur laughed. "Oh, don't look so frightened. You didn't see me because you were too busy watching the fight. I was on the obstacle course; it's very challenging for beginners, but just because I'm starting to grow old doesn't mean that I don't have any agility left."
"Starting to grow old?" Saif walked over, nibbling on an Oran Berry. "You were old when I first met you, when I was a Kirlia. That was forever ago."
The Lucario he had been battling was walking behind him, arms crossed. "So you admit that you are old too, Saif?" it joked, its voice revealing it to be female.
"I'm not old!" Saif exclaimed. The Lucario just laughed.
Conteur laughed as well. "Well, let's not stand here and talk all day, all right? These three need to begin their training. Oh, and I don't believe that they've met Caden yet."
The Lucario waved her paw. "Pleased to meet you. You must be Tide and Amarante, correct?"
"You can call me Ranta if you want," the little fox said, her eyes wide in awe. "You're a good fighter…"
Caden smiled. "Thank you, but you didn't even see half of the fight. I was winning there, for a while."
Saif huffed. "Yeah, right."
Alessandra tapped her foot impatiently. "Can we train, please?"
"Of course," Saif answered.
"I call the obstacle course!" Alessandra cried, running toward it.
"I'll go with her," Caden offered, walking after the Chikorita.
Ranta looked around confusedly. "Where's Grovyle?"
"A Raticate got cocky while lifting weights. Grovyle took it to the infirmary after it broke its foot," Saif supplied. "Anyways, what do you want to do first? I'd suggest that you both do some target practice until Grovyle gets back. He's better at figuring out what a Pokemon needs to train for much better than I do."
"I'll teach you how to throw, Ranta, since neither of us have opposable thumbs," Conteur offered, leading the fox toward two open spots on the other side of the target practice area.
Saif rubbed his nose at the base of his head-horn. "Eh, I better go clean up this blood… I'll be right back, Tide," he said as he hurried away.
Suddenly left alone, Tide hesitated before approaching an empty lane of the target practice area, near the end. On his left, a burly purple Pokemon with a horn on its head - a Nidoking - was busy throwing sticks at his hay target. His throws had much power behind them, but the sticks never hit the center of the target.
On Tide's right, at the end of the line, a slender black Pokemon with gold rings stood with an Iron Thorn in her mouth. Her eyes studied the hay target coldly, until suddenly she jerked her head to the left then back, releasing the Iron Thorn. The weapon spun in the air, but it sailed straight forward until it hit the exact center of the target, its point embedded in the hay.
Tide stared in shock and awe at the deadly precision, his mouth agape.
The Pokemon turned to him. "I'll take your expression as a compliment," she stated coolly. Her voice was quiet, but strong.
"I-I'm sorry for staring," Tide apologized.
The Pokemon suddenly smiled. "No big deal. My name is Lune, I'm an Umbreon."
"I'm Tide, a Piplup," Tide supplied.
Lune nodded. "I've heard about you; my tribe leader was at the meeting yesterday. Anyways, aren't you going to at least try to throw something at your target?"
Tide jumped. "Oh yeah," he said, picking up a stick from the table behind him. He held it by its thicker end, aimed carefully, and threw with all his might. The stick arched threw the air, but fell short of the target.
"Eh…" Tide stuttered nervously, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
Lune chuckled. "No, I'm sorry, but you have no real power behind your throws. You need to rely more on momentum than your… lack of muscularity." She picked up a stick, and took her stance. She leaned her neck back to the side, then whipped forward, letting the stick fly through the air and hit the target.
"So I have to… twirl, or something?" Tide asked.
Lune shrugged. "Not necessarily, I think. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. But I have to get going. I hope to meet you again, Tide," the Umbreon said, dipping her head before padding away toward the elevator.
Tide picked up another stick and looked at it. On a whim, he spun on his heel (nearly falling over) and threw the sick. It sailed straight and far, and hit the target near to the outer rim, lightly bouncing off the target.
Well… it was better than before, Tide reasoned with himself.
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped. He turned to see Grovyle standing behind him.
"You okay, Tide?" he asked.
"Yeah," Tide gave an embarrassed smile, "you just startled me, that's all."
For a heartbeat, Tide saw uncertainty in the Wood Gecko's eyes, but it was quickly replaced with amusement, so that Tide wondered if his own eyes were playing tricks on him.
Grovyle ran his eyes over Tide. "I suppose that we should work on your speed and stamina. Because you have such short legs, your speed won't increase much on land, but at least you'll have some sort of speed."
"Hey!" Tide cried, indignant. "I'm plenty fast!"
"You weren't very fast when we were running from the Sableye," Grovyle pointed out.
"…That was a year ago."
"Hmph." Grovyle crossed his arms. "To make up for your lack of speed and attack power, you'll need more defense capabilities and stamina to withstand attacks. Today, we'll work up your speed and stamina in the obstacle course."
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The obstacle course consisted of a crawling area, followed by a climbing wall, and finished up with a zigzag course between course markers.
It was just about the most physically exhausting thing that Tide had ever done.
While it really wasn't too long of a course, it took Tide seven minutes to crawl under the brambles and thorns, fifteen to creep across the climbing wall, and another five to run through the zigzag course (the turns were so sharp that Tide slipped half of the time).
Though Grovyle showed sympathy to Tide, he was ruthless in the training. He would have the Piplup do the course twice in a row, rest for three minutes, and then have him tackle the course again. By the fifth run-through, Tide's legs felt like they were on fire, and his arms weren't that much better off. Hell, he decided, I hurt all over!
"Three minute break!" Grovyle called as Tide collapsed on the ground.
Tide lifted his head weakly from the ground and watched as Ranta threw sticks at her target, Conteur offering advice from time to time. He was surprised; while the Fox Pokemon didn't have a lot of strength behind her throws (she threw with her mouth, like Lune did), the stick always seemed to hit near the center of the target.
Lucky fox, Tide thought as Grovyle called for him to get up again. She doesn't have to run this course… And if she does, she has four legs to begin with!
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"That's enough," Grovyle called as Tide completed the course for the twelfth time.
As the Wood Gecko waited for Tide to stand back up, he noticed that the Piplup's feathers were drenched in sweat. Damn… I forgot that Piplup's aren't used to the climate here. I'll take him to the pool to get cleaned up.
Grovyle exchanged a quick word with Caden, telling her that Alessandra was to lead Amarante back to her and Tide's room once they were finished, and that he'd meet up with them later.
Tide, although visibly perked at the offer of going to the pool, walked slowly and stiffly, as if he had pulled a muscle or two when he was training.
The elevator ride to the pool was a short one, as it was only a few levels below the training room. Once again, Grovyle silently marveled at the expertise at which Celebi had carved out the great tree's innards. The tree was over a thousand feet tall, and yet not a single space was wasted, and stones lined the bottom of the pools of water so that the water would not rot the tree. It's like Celebi was born to decorate…
The pool was circular, and varied in depth at certain spots. Immediately, Tide dived in, swimming at alarming speeds around the otherwise empty pool.
I wonder why it's so empty, Grovyle wondered as he dipped his feet in the water as he sat on the edge of the pool. He wasn't too concerned, though; if there were Pokemon in the pool, they were usually here at night. And, only Water Pokemon usually were in the pool, and to get to the pool, you either had to be able to breathe air, or be able to hold your breath for a really long time.
Tide's face popped up out of the water. For the first time since Tide came to the future, Grovyle saw that he was truly happy. But after a moment, Tide's face became quiet and thoughtful, almost uncertain.
"You okay, Tide?" Grovyle asked.
Tide broke out of his trance. "You asked me that before, Grovyle. I told you, I'm fine."
"...I miss her, too," Grovyle whispered. But Tide had already ducked back under the water, and the words were left unheard.
Now we're starting to ease into Grovyle's point of view. I've always wanted to go into Grovyle's point of view like this; while he's such a good character, I can tell he has his own secrets. He had like, a million pauses in the game where he could have said something, but didn't. That's what I love about him in the game, he's so self sacrificial and willing to help others.
You've already read, so now you can review. ;)
