Chapter 25 – a training session with Falkner
"Mirror Move!" James said, as Espeon jumped out of the way of a Gulpin's Sludge Bomb. It steadied itself, before the gem on its head glowed and a ball of poison formed in front of it. The attack shot toward the opponent, hitting it square on but doing little damage. Of course, James could have easily told Espeon to use Psybeam, which probably would have knocked the poison type out, but this was only training. His sparing partner had sportingly agreed to help James try out his newest pokémon.
"All right, Umbreon your up," James said. The moonlight pokémon, who was sitting behind him, didn't really want to stand. It still hadn't gotten completely used to James yet, as Espeon had, although after a nudge from Eevee it ran onto the arena.
"Tackle!" His opponent said, and the Gulpin bounced forward.
"Dark Pulse!" James said. A blast of darkness erupted from the glowing rings on Umbreon's body, and it knocked Gulpin backward.
"Alright, that's enough." The Gulpin's trainer said.
"Okay, thanks," James said. He knelt down to be closer to his pokémon's level, and started to pat them. Espeon and Eevee leapt into his hands, and within a second Umbreon had joined them. He would get used to James with time; sleeping on his bed every night helped.
"James?"
He stood up and looked at the speaker – Falkner.
"Um, hey Falkner," James said. He hadn't spoken to the battle instructor very often, and still slightly uneasy around him.
"I saw you on TV, when you were at the Battle Tower," Falkner told him, "You and Wally did well. Suppose he went back to Verdanturf?"
"Yea, he has relatives there." James said.
"Shame, he's a good battler, and God knows we need more good fighters here." Falkner said, looking around at the battlers. James glanced around too. Most of the trainers had first or second stage evolution pokémon, and the one or two who had a final stage – apart from James – didn't look like they really had full control over them yet.
"You however," Falkner said, "You have real talent."
"Do ya wanna battle me?" James asked, suddenly getting excited.
"No, you're not that good." Falkner said. "However I wouldn't mind giving you a quick training session, maybe teach your Sceptile a very handy move."
"Why Sceptile?" James asked. Falkner was a famous flying-type trainer. Why he would have chosen James' grass starter to mentor was beyond him.
"I just know what they can do," Falkner said.
"But why do you want to help me train anyway?" James asked, before realizing that it might have come off very rude, "Sorry."
"Na, that's ok," Falkner said, "Its mainly because, well, I would love to say that I mentored the champion of the pokémon league."
"All right," Falkner said, once they were standing out the back of the colosseum. Both James' Sceptile and Falkner's Dodrio were out of their balls, and they were standing on a patch of flat ground. A safe distance away, a few students were watching.
"Now, the move I'm going to try to teach you is called Detect. Its very useful, cause it lets you dodge all attacks."
"That's cool," James said. He had seen Detect on TV, but he hadn't really known what it did.
"Now, first of all, to demonstrate Detect, I want Sceptile to attack Dodrio. Dodrio knows Detect, and It'll use it to dodge Sceptile's attacks."
"Okay then," James said, "You ready?"
"Go on," Falkner said.
"Leaf Blade." James said, and Sceptile walked forward, its blades glowing. It slashed out, and Dodrio's heads moved easily out of the way. Sceptile readied itself, before suddenly slashing low, however Dodrio again stepped easily away.
"Detect wont work forever, because after repeated use your pokémon will loose concentration." Falkner said, "But when faced with a powerful attack, Detect can be invaluable."
"So how do we learn it?" James asked.
"Sceptile has the speed," Falkner said, "It just needs to concentrate on the opponents movements. When Dodrio does Detect, it closely watches your Sceptile, and the smallest movements make it dodge. Come on, try it now."
After about half an hour, Sceptile was beginning to get it. However, it was still having difficulty. Although, using Detect, it could dodge most of Dodrio's Fury Attacks, it took too long to ready itself.
"Good," Falkner said, returning Dodrio to its ball, "I think your getting pretty good."
"Not really," James said, slightly embarrassed.
"Don't worry," Falkner said, "Its easier to learn moves by accident then through training. Though, I know a place where I think Sceptile will learn Detect very easily now its got the basics. Its where I practised."
"Where?" James asked.
"Just at a cove on the cost," Falkner said, "We can go now, make it back in time for dinner, if you have your Gallade with you."
"I don't," James said, "But I can call it." A few seconds later Gallade had Teleported to them, and now stood there, brilliantly cool looking.
"Okay, lets go," Falkner said.
"To the coast, Gallade, thanks." James said. The blade pokémon nodded, before there was a flash of light, and they were suddenly standing on sand.
"It's a bit further down that way," Falkner said, "Around the corner, past those rocks; you might want to Teleport again." After another jump, they had reached the correct location. This area, despite being right on the shore, was made of rock, not white sand, and one had to walk with care. Or at least, they did. The inhabitants however, didn't seem to have that problem.
Swampert.
Very big Swampert.
"They aren't as fast as Dodrio," Falkner said, "but their much stronger. Do you want to try using Detect on one of them?"
"Not really," James said. One of the five or so Swampert, noticing the trainers, picked up a rather large rock and threw it at them. Sceptile dived at them, knocking them to the ground, hard, as the rock landed behind them.
"Thanks, buddy," James said, dimly recognising his bleeding elbow. "You okay Falkner? Was that a Rock Throw?"
"I'm fine, and I think that was just it throwing a rock at us." The gym leader said.
"What's the difference?" James said, before he realized that the Swampert was picking up another rock. "Sceptile, Leaf Blade it!" Sceptile ran forward, and slashed the bolder in two. The halves fell down on either side of the Mud Fish pokémon, which looked at them for a second, before suddenly punching Sceptile, hard, in the chest.
A Hammer Punch.
The forest pokémon flew backward a few metres, before landing on all fours.
"Your going to have to dodge those, James, use Detect." Falkner said.
"Okay, I'm getting there," James said, "Sceptile use Slam!" The forest pokémon ran forward, and threw its hard tail at Swampert, who caught it. It really was strong. Swampert opened its mouth and blasted Sceptile with Muddy Water.
"Detect, James," Falkner said, as Sceptile broke free of Swampert.
"Solar Beam!" James said. Sceptile started to charge energy, however it was late afternoon, and there was little sun. Swampert smashed the ground with its front legs, sending out a quake, which knocked both trainers and Sceptile off their feet.
"Slam it!" James said, getting up. Sceptile ran at Swampert again, which readied itself to catch Sceptile's tail.
"Detect!" James said, and his grass type jumped out of the way of Swampert. The mud fish pokémon let out a bellow, and shot a Muddy Water at Sceptile, who dodged out of the way, using Detect.
"Leaf Blade!" James said, pulling out a spare Poke Ball from his pocket. Sceptile slashed Swampert across the belly, before using Detect to dodge out of the way of a barrage of Hammer Fists.
"Solar Beam!" James said, and Sceptile began to absorb light. However, before the attack was ready, Swampert let out a cry and ran, on all fours, toward the sea. The others joined it. Within a few seconds they had disappeared beneath the waves. Sceptile let the Solar Beam loose into the sky. James put the ball back into his pocket.
"You scared them off," Falkner said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "And good job, that Detect is pretty decent now." James hadn't even realized he had started to use the evading move. For a second there, the Swampert had been his.