Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga
Chapter 49
Training and Tutoring
Bahamut, Dawn's garchomp, let out a mighty roar as he leapt straight up into the air.
"-A TORRENT OF EMOTIONS FLOW THROUGH ME!-" he cried out as a swirling mass of water surrounded his tail. "-Can you handle it? TAKE THIS! THE OVERWHELMING FLOW OF BATTLE! AQUA TAIL!-" Showing a surprising amount of aerial maneuverability, Bahamut suddenly flipped around and shot straight toward the ground. He curled up into a ball and started spinning around, giving the impression of a giant water wheel barreling toward the ground.
As he approached the ground, Bahamut then quickly uncurled and slammed his tail into the ground. The water around his tail shot out in a wave, rising up and towering over Bahamut's target. The wave crashed down on his opponent, washing the lizard pokemon out of its sight.
"-I believe this technique suits me well,-" Bahamut said, a wide grin plastered across his face.
"-That was pretty good,-" a pokemon's voice said from behind him. "-There's just one problem.-"
"-Problem!-" Bahamut growled and quickly turned around. "-And what problem is THAT!-"
In response, the green, lizard-like pokemon standing there brought one arm up toward Bahamut's face in an uppercut. A green energy blade shooting out from the pokemon's leaves slashed up along Bahamut's chest, and its fist slammed into his jaw. It was a surprisingly strong blow considering the pokemon it was coming from. The uppercut knocked Bahamut off his feet and stunned him briefly.
"-You missed,-" Sceptile said. Nearby, Melany was watching the exchange.
Even though I kinda knew it all along, and I had seen her pokedex, I'm still surprised by the kind of power Dawn's pokemon seem to have, Melany thought to herself. Already, Bahamut was getting back up and lashed out at Sceptile with his claws. There's a noticeable difference in power between Dawn's newest pokemon and the ones she had been training all along. The others really will need the most training in the next few days.
Wow! Bahamut's gotten pretty powerful since the last time I saw him! Dawn's glaceon thought, watching the exchange between Bahamut and Sceptile. I need to get strong too, then!
"-SUBJECT: Jack Frost, it is ILL ADVISED that your attention be withdrawn from the battle at hand,-" a metallic voice droned. Jack Frost, the glaceon, turned and cast a glare toward the metal monstrosity that stood before it.
"-Oh, be quiet!-" Jack Frost shot back and stood with his back arched as if he was ready to pounce. "-Why don't you try this on for size, ya tin can!-" The fur on Jack Frost's body bristled and an incredibly cold wind blew past him, crystallizing water vapour in the air almost instantly. The cold wind washed over Metagross, causing the pokemon to flinch slightly. To Jack Frost's dismay, however, the attack had little effect.
"-Ineffective. You were instructed to use your recently tutored technique, but you have not,-" Metagross stated rather matter-of-factly. "-There will be no retalliation until the subject has properly executed his tutored technique.-"
The thought of taking advantage of that briefly crossed Jack's mind, but he quickly dismissed it. There was a reason he was to use that attack, afterall, as this was meant to be training for him. Though he had only been brought up to date recently, he was to understand that Dawn had a major competition coming up and wanted to have all her pokemon ready to go. For that reason, it was important to practice his new technique in battle.
"-You want to see my new technique? Alright then!-" Jack Frost focused his eyes on Metagross, taking aim at the dead center of the 'x' on the steel pokemon's face. "-TAKE THIS! Spiralling... signalling... umm...-" Jack Frost struggled to come up with something hotblooded to shout as he announced his attack. He briefly wondered how Bahamut managed to do it everytime, and on a whim no less!
"-Aw, screw it! SIGNAL BEAM!-" Jack Frost's forehead shone briefly, then fired a spiralling, multi-color laser from it. The laser scored a direct hit at the exact spot Jack was aiming, hitting the center of the 'x' on Metagross's face. It didn't occur to Jack that the metal band forming the 'x' would provide extra protection, but it made little difference anyway. Metagross barely flinched.
"-Demonstration was adequate. Now commencing retalliation.-" Jack Frost stared in utter shock as Metagross, seemingly unphazed by his attack, floated off the ground and spread out its legs so its body was completely flattened. Then, with one leg held straight out in front of it, Metagross shot toward Jack Frost like a rocket.
"-Aw crap...-" Jack managed to get out before the inevitable impact. One second he saw Metagross's spiked limb barreling toward him, the next he was upside down and watching the ground rapidly passing underneath him as he soared backwards through the air. Soon, the ground turned to water, and Jack Frost splashed down next to a wooden bridge spanning that water. Moments later, he re-emerged, coughing and sputtering.
"HEY! Watch it!" Marcus called out indignantly from the bridge. "You're not the only ones trying to train around here!" he shouted. On that bridge with him were Conker the pachirisu, Ryu the lucario, and his own electric-type pokemon. It was a lion-like pokemon called luxray. The luxray wasn't actually on the bridge, however. It was floating over it. Ryu and Conker were trying to master a technique to do the same.
Dawn and Rina were also standing nearby on that same bridge, watching Marcus and the three pokemon. Pippi was finally out of her ball again and watching the tutoring with great interesting. Though she wasn't quite understanding the lesson, since it wasn't aimed at her, she was still making mental notes while watching Conker.
"Sorry, I didn't exactly expect that to happen," Melany called back, then shrugged. "But, hey, it's not like it hit you guys. I'm sure Metagross knew what it was doing."
"-There was approximately a 0.0% chance of the bridge being struck. Any possibility of such had been accounted for,-" Metagross said in agreement.
"Just watch it, alright?" Marcus replied, then turned his attention back to his two 'students'. "Alright, you two saw what Luxray did just now. Conker, try to match Luxray's charge. Ryu, since you can't manipulate electricity as well, try using your aura to boost your capability." The two pokemon nodded and closed their eyes, focusing. Static electricity began to fill the air around both pokemon, but especially around Conker.
Dawn's pokemon had been training hard since meeting up with Marcus. They had spent a better part of the day already training on route 205, just west of Eterna City. First her pokemon would learn a new technique from Marcus, for which Dawn would pay the appropriate shards. Then, her pokemon would train with Melany's, battling and practicing their newly learned technique. She had already switched around a few pokemon of the course of the day's training. Everyone was trying to move as quickly as they could, as the day of Dawn's challenge was fast approaching.
"I still can't get over how easily these pokemon can overcome gravity..." Rina said, her confused gaze fixated on the floating luxray. "It just learns this one technique and then suddenly... it can fly?"
Marcus grinned. "Maneuverability leaves something to be desired, but other than that it works perfectly. And it almost always catches people by surprise when the electric pokemon they're fighting takes to the air." Rina nodded slightly and turned her head to look at Pippi. She pictured Pippi flying through the air as if she were some kind of Superchu, zipping around and smashing things with a powerful Volt Tackle.
"It IS kinda odd to look at," Dawn said, interrupting Rina's thoughts. "But then again, that steel behemoth back there can fly..." Dawn jerked her thumb back, pointing at Metagross. "And Bahamut can apparently fly too, though I've never seen it..."
"Pokemon just generally don't seem to care what physics thinks," Marcus said to them. "And, hell, once you've seen a flying wailord, you've seen it all." Dawn and Rina's jaws instantly dropped.
"-This conversation of their's is rather... distracting, no?-" Ryu said indignantly. He was desparately trying to focus, guiding the aura around him while trying to draw out what electricity he could. Ryu had zero experience with electricity, though. Hearing no response, he opened one eye to look at Conker. The squirrel pokemon was shaking and grimacing in raw determination, but even Ryu could tell he was putting out far too much power. The air around Conker was starting to crackle.
"Whoa! Hey! Back it off a bit before you-" Marcus's warning was too little, too late. The electricity around Conker suddenly discharged. Between Ryu's metallic skeleton and his own attempts to focus electricity, the discharged electricity from Conker was drawn directly to him. Ryu let out a surprised yelp as a jolt went through his body and then he shot Conker a glare.
"-Sorry...-" Conker mumbled, turning away in embarassment.
"Went way overboard there, pal," Marcus said, waving his finger disapprovingly. "Feel out the current surrounding Luxray right now. That's how much electricity you need to put out to create a magnetic field that will allow you to levitate. In your case, probably even less. You need to work on controlling it better, too."
Conker nodded stiffly and closed his eyes again. The air buzzed with the static electricity his body was producing as he made another attempt at copying the technique Luxray was using. The technique was Magnet Rise. By generating a magnetic field around itself, an electric-type pokemon would be able to achieve a form of levitation. It was the same principle pokemon like metagross and magneton used to float around, though any electric-type pokemon was capable of learning it if they tried.
Of course, electric-type pokemon weren't the only pokemon that could learn this technique through training. Ryu attempting to learn it was evidence enough of this. With Conker returning to his training, Ryu deemed it safe to make another attempt himself. Sitting with his legs crossed and arms folded, Ryu closed his eyes and started to focus again. Static crackled in the air around Ryu, though to a lesser degree than it was around Conker.
Strangely enough, it was Ryu who first managed to use the technique correctly. As he continued his meditative pose, Ryu's body slowly began to rise. It was almost monk-like at first, the way he only rose slightly off the bridge. But then he rose higher. And higher. Before long, he was able to extend his body out into a standing position without losing any altitude or focus.
Ryu exhaled and finally opened his eyes, a smirk forming on his lips. "-I've learned Magnet Rise.-"
"-About time one of you did,-" Luxray growled irritably. Floating in place for so long was starting to get to it.
"Ah, our first graduate from Luxray's School of Magnet Rise!" Marcus said, grinning. He then turned his gaze to Conker, who was still struggling to master the technique. Try as he might, Conker couldn't seem to generate a strong enough magnetic field around himself. Marcus tapped his chin for a moment as he analyzed the situation, then suddenly snapped his fingers.
"Conker, are you checking Luxray's technique before starting or after?" Marcus asked him. Conker stopped and looked at Marcus with his head tilted to the side. "If you're trying to mimic the technique before gauging the power Luxray is putting into it, your own electricity is probably affecting your judgement. Try to get the technique down before you start."
Conker nodded determinedly. He looked up at Luxray, studying the pokemon's electrical output. Luxray was shaking a bit. Floating in place for so long was taking a toll on it. Fortunately, it wouldn't have to stay that way much longer. This time, when Conker focused and the air crackled with electricity, Conker began to slowly rise. Within seconds he was level with Ryu and finally opened his eyes so he could turn to the other pokemon and grin.
Marcus grinned and reached up to adjust his glasses slightly. "Alright, that's another two taught. Why don't you two try some aerial jousting?" Conker and Ryu nodded and then flew off over the water. The two then parted, distancing themselves before flying toward each other at high speed and colliding. Despite the method they were using to fly, they were fairly fast and maneuverable. Moreso than Melany's Metagross, at least.
"That worked out pretty well!" Rina said, smiling brightly.
"I don't know..." Dawn said, not entirely convinced. There was something about the way Ryu in particular flew that was bothering her. Arms at his side, electricity producing a yellow aura around him. Dawn was sure she had seen something like that before...
"Luxray, you're done for now," Marcus said. He recalled his pokemon and then turned to Dawn. "Alright, who's next and what technique?"
"Jax," Dawn replied, then took out the pokeball and released Jax. The four-armed fighting pokemon appeared with a wide grin plastered across his face. "Could you teach him Thunderpunch?"
"Sure," Marcus replied, then reached for a purple and white pokeball on his belt. There wasn't a single trainer that didn't recognize that pokeball. It was the rare and coveted Master Ball. "I'll just get Ursaring out to teach him that..."
Rina eyed the Master Ball in shock. Did he just say ursaring! She thought, then quickly shook her head and tried to calm down. No, there's no point getting worried over this. I mean, it's a big world, right? Someone else out there probably caught an ursaring like that too... Marcus just happens to be that someone...
"Ursaring! Let's go!" Marcus called out, turning away from the girls and releasing Ursaring from its pokeball. The bear pokemon emerged with its back to the trainers at first. When it turned around to face them, Rina instantly recognized it. Even though it was sometimes hard to tell one pokemon apart from another if they were the same species, the look this ursaring had in its eyes was all too familiar to her.
The familiarity only increased when the ursaring recognized her in turn. The bear pokemon already had a permanently pissed look in its eyes. But now, upon seeing Rina, that look changed from merely pissed to a look of bloodthirsty rage. Letting out a ferocious roar, Ursaring suddenly charged across the bridge toward Rina.
"What the hell! URSARING!" Marcus yelled at it, but barely avoided a swipe from Ursaring's paws as it rushed past him.
The sight of the charging ursaring, and the realization that it was the same ursaring she had caught in a panic, left Rina frozen in fear. "N-no way... it really is..." she uttered under her breath. Pippi was quick to act, moving in front of her trainer and charging her body with electricity. The pokemon that would intercept the enraged pokemon, however, was Jax.
"-HEY! Cool it, pal!-" Jax yelled as he put himself between Ursaring and the girls. Ursaring, of course, didn't listen. It lashed out with one clawed hand, aiming to swipe Jax to the side to remove the fighting pokemon from its path. Jax was ready for this and grabbed Ursaring's arm with both his left hands. Ursaring snarled and tried the same with its second hand, but Jax grabbed that one too. By the time Ursaring tried kicking, it suddenly disappeared in a flash.
"Well THAT was unexpected," Marcus said, returning the pokeball to his belt. He then turned to Rina, his sunglasses hiding an intense gaze. "Looks like you're his original trainer. You shouldn't try to catch a pokemon you can't handle, you know."
"I... I know that!" Rina replied indignantly. "But I didn't have a choice! If I didn't do something, it would have killed me!"
Marcus shrugged. "Whatever. Dawn, I'll need to take this lesson elsewhere, so what's next?"
"Ah... how about teaching Swift to..." Dawn quickly took out a pokeball and released the pokemon in question. "This one." The pokemon that had emerged floated around Dawn a bit, twin tails dragging behind it. It was none other than Dawn's legendary pokemon, Mesprit.
That pokemon... I'm sure I've seen it before, Marcus thought. "Well, if it's Swift, then it'll have to be this pokemon," Marcus said, then took a pokeball from his belt. The pokemon he released from that pokeball was a small canine pokemon that appeared holding its tail, the tip of which looked like a paintbrush.
"Smeargle, I want you to teach Swift to this pokemon here," Marcus instructed it, pointing toward Mesprit. Smeargle nodded and glared at Mesprit intensely, but no one but Mesprit seemed to notice it. "Jax, I'll need you to follow me so we can continue your lessons." Jax nodded and followed behind Marcus as he set off across the bridge.
"On that note, I guess I should switch my pokemon around a bit," Dawn said. As she turned to head across the bridge to where her pokemon were training, Jack Frost suddenly came skidding across the water next to the bridge and dropped in with a splash. This was followed shortly by Bahamut getting blasted back by a large yellow laser and splashing down in almost the same spot as Jack Frost.
"Oh, you two, good timing!" Dawn said as her two pokemon resurfaced. "That's enough training for now, I need to swap out pokemon."
"-Just... too powerful...-" Jack Frost groaned.
"-Tch...-" Bahamut pounded the water in a rage. "-Lucky shot... but I'll concede for now...-" Having no complaints, both of Dawn's pokemon were recalled and Dawn headed across the bridge.
"Switching up again? Those two still could have gone a bit longer," Melany said as Dawn passed by.
"That's okay, they looked like they had enough," Dawn replied nervously. "Anyway, even though there's still time left, somehow it feels like today is the most important day, so I'm going to go switch up for now."
Melany shrugged. "If you say so. I'll be waiting here when you get back, then," she said. Dawn then continued on her way and Melany turned her attention to Rina. Rina still seemed shaken after encountering Ursaring.
Geez... what were the chances of that? Running into that ursaring again... Melany wondered, then let out a sigh. Who am I kidding? With the way things tend to go, it was pretty much guaranteed...
Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Mesprit decided to finally introduce itself to Smeargle, even though the other pokemon was doing nothing but glaring at it.
"-Umm, hello!-" it said. "-I'm Mesprit and...-"
"-I know who you are, legendary pokemon,-" the smeargle said gruffly.
"-Umm...-" Mesprit blinked. "-Nice to meet you too?-"
"-You legendary pokemon think you're so special, think you're gods...-"
"-I... haven't claimed to be anything like that...-"
"-Hmph...-" Smeargle narrowed its eyes at Mesprit. "-Shall I explain to you, then, how this world came to be?-"
Mesprit shrugged. "-If it makes you feel any better...-"
"-This world was not created by any of you 'legendary pokemon', but by a being known as The Great Smeargle,-" Smeargle said tersely. "-The Great Smeargle was a smeargle of impossible size and two tails. One, the paintbrush, was the tail of creation. The other, an eraser, the tail of destruction. Thus The Great Smeargle could create or destroy anything. With these powers, it created a perfect world, and the first pokemon. Us smeargle. That's the short version.-"
"-Sounds interesting,-" Mesprit replied half-heartedly. "-So, can you teach me that technique now?-"
Smeargle snorted. "-Very well. Just keep that story in mind...-"
Meanwhile, just inside Eterna Forest, Marcus found some difficulty in teaching Thunderpunch to Jax. After the brief scuffle on the bridge, Ursaring had developed something of a grudge against Jax. Immediately upon releasing Ursaring from the Master Ball it began its assault against Jax.
"-Hey! Isn't that enough of this already!-" Jax said as he fended off another swipe from Ursaring. Ursaring just bellowed in rage and swiped at Jax with his other hand again.
"And here I thought I was done with this ursaring's bad attitude..." Marcus grumbled. "Guess I'll just have to improvise... HEY! URSARING!" he called out. The bear pokemon ignored him. "URSARING PAY ATTENTION TO ME OR I'LL SHOVE A QWILFISH UP YOUR ASS AND A CRAPLOAD OF REVIVAL HERBS DOWN YOUR THROAT!"
Both pokemon stopped and stared at Marcus when they heard him yelling this time. He definitely got their attention. Jax was shocked. Ursaring was glaring.
"Oh, hey, don't mind me," Marcus said, waving it off as if he didn't say anything. "Was just going to suggest you use Thunderpunch if you really wanted to beat this guy."
Ursaring turned to Jax and growled, then raised both his clawed hands. Electricity began to crackle around his claw-tipped fingers, which were then curled into a fist. He lashed out, aiming a blow at Jax with one electrically charged fist, then another. Jax remained on the defensive, using his four arms to block Ursaring's blows.
Clever kid! Jax thought, grinning. I'll just study how this guy's doing it while he's trying to take me out and learn it that way!
By the time Dawn returned from Eterna City, she found the bridge had been all but abandoned. Smeargle and Mesprit had already completed their training. Smeargle now sat near the edge of the water with Pippi and Rina. Ryu, Conker, and Mesprit, on the other hand, were all now engaged in combat with one of Melany's pokemon. Gone were Metagross and Sceptile, now only a rather large, white golem pokemon stood to battle Dawn's pokemon. At first she thought Melany might be easing up a bit, but she could feel a tremendous aura radiating from the pokemon.
"-I can sense your aura, and it is quite powerful...-" Ryu said as he circled around behind the pokemon. "-But even the strongest of pokemon can still be toppled! Take this!-" Ryu cupped his hands together and gathered aura to them, forming it into a sphere. He then thrust his hands forward, launching the Aura Sphere at the pokemon from behind. It slammed into the pokemon's back, causing it to emit a low groan, but the pokemon remained standing.
Wait... this thing's aura isn't just strong... Dawn thought, observing the battle from a distance. At first it seemed as though its aura was slightly weaker than Registeel's... but it's getting stronger by the second!
"-Aura, shmura! A jolt of electricity will finish this off!-" Conker shouted. He flew up and then came straight down from above the pokemon. Electricity surged around his body and then discharged in a forward wave, surrounding the large golem pokemon in static electricity. Again, it groaned in pain, but remained standing. After this attack, six gemstones set in the pokemon's chest suddenly glowed brightly.
The rising aura... it stopped? Dawn thought in confusion. But it's aura is so huge! A pokemon like this is on the level of... of... Dawn's eyes widened. Giratina!
"Looks like it's time..." Melany muttered to herself. Up until now she had been silently watching the battle, but had determined that now was the time to attack. "Regigigas! Attack both Ryu and Conker! Crush Grip!"
Regigigas's "eyes" flashed, acknowledging the command. It surprised Ryu and Conker with its speed, reaching back with its right hand to grab Ryu and reaching up with the left to grab Conker. Both pokemon cried out in pain as Regigigas began crushing them in its massive hands, then ended the attack by slamming both of them into the ground so hard it was leaving them both in craters. Neither pokemon was moving after.
"-Hehehe...-" the smeargle watching the scene snickered, a glint in his eye. The paint on the tip of his tail briefly glowed while Regigigas was using its signature move. "-Technique learned...-"
"-No way...-" Mesprit uttered in disbelief. "-Grr... take this, you monster!-" With a wave of its tails, Mesprit sent a barrage of star-shaped rays toward Regigigas. The stars homed in on it and managed to score a direct hit on the pokemon's face. To Mesprit's dismay, though, it was again still standing.
"Regigigas, again, Crush Grip," Melany commanded. Regigigas responded by jumping up to grab at Mesprit, who was floating just out of reach. Mesprit was snatched out of the air and Regigigas immediately began crushing it. The ground shook when Regigigas landed, its landing soon followed by its fist smashing into the ground while still clutching Mesprit. Finally, it released Mesprit, leaving the other legendary pokemon's broken form lying in a crater. To Melany's surprise, though, it soon began floating back up.
"Naturally," Melany said quietly. "In that case, we'll..."
"Mesprit, return!" Dawn called out, quickly recalling Mesprit before Melany could make another move. Blinking in confusion, Melany turned around to face her.
"Oh, you're back already?" she said, then flashed Dawn a smile. "Have those other pokemon you wanted to train, then?"
"Umm... well..." Dawn hesitantly looked toward the towering Regigigas, and then at her other two unconscious pokemon. "A-actually I think I'd like to wait for Marcus first..."
Though Melany's techniques were beginning to frighten Dawn, she knew she'd eventually have to train her pokemon against Dawn's again. The deadline was fast approaching. Only two days remained until her challenge.
Author's Notes: I think we covered a fair bit of ground in this particular chapter. Which is good, because the last chapter remaining before the challenge begins won't actually be training. Not specifically anyway. Instead, next chapter will find Dawn encountering an unexpected interruption on her way to catch the ferry...
