Chapter 5: Sand Attack has officially become a lot more complicated than it has any right to be.
The sun was slowly rising in the distance as a small Pokémon made her way to Fenix Town, wanting to get there early before anyone woke up. There was someone she had to find, and she was pretty certain she would find that Pokémon somewhere in this town. However, she was rather tired, and she hadn't gotten much sleep in the last few days. Since no one was awake yet, she figured it was probably best if she got some rest and begin looking for the Pokémon she was looking for later in the day when everyone was awake. Then she would have to try to figure out what exactly to do about the current situation.
She crawled into some bushes, figuring they would hide her from view so that no one would notice her and disturb her sleep. She had a lot to think about, but it could wait until she had gotten some rest.
Sera smiled as she polished the bronze colored top of the rescue badge with her paw, before putting it onto the bigger treasure bag they had traded in the old one for. She was feeling pretty confident, and couldn't wait to get another mission done. After eating breakfast with her family, she said good-bye and promised to be back in time for dinner, before heading out to find her teammates.
"Sera!" Chiaki's voice called out, and Sera smiled as she saw him and Blitz just ahead.
"Hey guys!" she responded, excitedly running up to them. "So, should we head straight to the HQ and find ourselves a mission? I'm ready for anything!"
"Actually, Blitz and I had a little talk, and we thought that maybe we should all head over to the dojo to train instead of going on a mission today!" Chiaki said in his usual cheerful voice.
"Huh?" Sera responded.
"Well, I wanted to learn some new attacks, so I asked Blitz if I might be able to learn some new things by training at the dojo," Chiaki explained. "And Blitz thought it was a good idea, and suggested that we all go!"
"Yeah, since we're a bronze rank team now, I figured it might be a good idea to train, you know, so we could be better prepared for tougher missions…" Blitz said, smiling sheepishly while rubbing his forelegs together. "I hope you don't mind."
"Oh! Of course I don't mind!" Sera responded, wagging her tail. "You're absolutely right; we should totally go do that!"
And so, the three Pokémon began quickly moving over to the dojo. Chiaki was getting really excited about seeing the dojo from the inside, and was curious as to what kind of training they could get there.
The rescue team entered the building, where they were greeted by a large bipedal dark blue beetle with a big horn. The Heracross smiled as he saw Blitz.
"Hey, Blitz! Good to see you!" Hercules said. "How are you today?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Blitz responded, seeming a bit relaxed than usual. "Our team is doing pretty well."
"That's good," Hercules responded, noticing Chiaki. "I see you have a new teammate as well?"
"Yeah, this is Chiaki," Blitz explained. "He joined our team a couple of days ago."
"Ah, I see," Hercules responded. "Nice to meet you, kid."
"It's nice to meet you too!" Chiaki replied, excitedly shaking one of Hercules' hands.
"Wow, you seem to have a lot of energy, don't you?" Hercules responded, before noticing the color of the rescue team badge on the treasure bag Sera was carrying. "Oh, I see you've gotten the Bronze rank! Congratulations!"
"Thanks!" Sera responded, happily wagging her tail. "We reached Bronze rank just yesterday, so we thought we should train so we can handle tougher missions and stuff!"
"Say no more," Hercules responded, gesturing for the three of them to follow him down some stairs. "This way."
The rescue team followed Hercules down the stone stairs, leading them to a large underground complex. There were multiple training exercises and obstacle courses set up within for the Pokémon who came there to train, focusing on different things that were important for rescue teams to be able to do. There were also several other Pokémon working at the dojo as Hercules' assistants, helping the Pokémon to train and watching over some of the training exercises.
"Cool…" Chiaki commented, looking around at the underground training facility.
"I know, right?" Blitz responded.
"So, where would you like to start?" Hercules asked.
"Huh? Oh, I'd like to learn how to use some more attacks, please!" Chiaki said. "Just using Pound all the time gets kind of boring."
"Ah, I see," Hercules replied. "I think Lotus can help you with that."
Hercules gestured for a small blue humanoid Pokémon with a white onion shaped head to come over to them, the Meditite quickly floating over to them.
"The Meditite species happen to be able to learn several attacks that Mienfoo can also learn, so she can probably help you figure out the technique for a few of your moves," Hercules explained.
"Neat," Chiaki commented, smiling at Lotus. "So, you'll teach me some moves?"
"Yes," Lotus responded. "So, let's just get started right away, shall we?"
"Sure!" Chiaki replied, following the Meditite to another part of the training facility.
"So, what should we do?" Sera asked.
"I guess it couldn't hurt for us to learn some new moves either," Blitz suggested. "I think I've finally grown strong enough to be able to properly learn the technique for Spark, so I'd like to work on that."
"Ah, well, we should do that, then," Hercules responded, before turning to Sera. "Which attacks do you know?"
"Oh! Well, I know Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand and Sand Attack!" Sera responded. "The basic Eevee stuff, even if I never seem to actually hit anything with that last one, though."
"I see," Hercules responded. "Perhaps you should work on improving your technique for Sand Attack, then."
"Isn't it just kicking sand in someone's face?" Sera asked, tilting her head in confusion. "How can that possibly require much?"
"Even simple attacks can have their techniques modified to make them more effective and work better depending on the situation," Hercules explained. "Sometimes, one has to be creative and think of new ways to use one's attacks."
"Oh, so it's one of those thinking outside the box things?" Sera asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Hercules responded. "I think Riley might be able to teach you something there."
Hercules gestured to a small blue furred bipedal jackal Pokémon that was currently talking to a small round owl like Pokémon that was keeping track of how much time it took the Pokémon training there to get through certain obstacle courses. The Riolu seemed to be pretty amazed by how well the owl was able to keep track of time like that, even though he knew the Hoothoot species was known for their great sense of time.
"Are you sure?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly. "Riolu can't learn Sand Attack, can they?"
"No, technically they can't," Hercules responded. "But that doesn't mean they can't help you improve on your Sand Attack technique."
"If you say so," Sera replied, walking over to the Riolu.
"Well, we should get started on your training as well," Hercules said to Blitz. "I think I know just the right training exercise for you to practice your Spark attack. So, just come with me."
Hercules lead Blitz over to what appeared to be a small running course with a small wooden target set up in the center. Near the start line was a chubby yellow Pokémon that seemed to be the one currently in charge of the course. The Makuhita seemed to be adjusting what appeared to be strange knot-like thing at the top of his head, when he noticed Hercules coming over.
"Oh, hey Hercules," the Makuhita said. "Are you taking over here for now?"
"Might as well," Hercules responded, with a friendly smile. "If you want to take a short break, feel free to do so."
"Thanks, Hercules," the Makuhita responded, smiling back.
While the Makuhita walked away to go take a short break from work, Hercules decided to go over the course with Blitz.
"So, as you can see, it's not really a difficult course," Hercules explained. "Some twists and turns, and a target at the end which you'll have to hit with Spark."
"I see," Blitz responded. "So, is there anything in particular I need to do to get the technique just right?"
"It doesn't have to be perfect, but for the best result there are indeed some things you should keep in mind," Hercules responded.
"Like what?" Blitz asked.
"Well, I think, for now at least, that you need to get the timing right on when you begin charging up the electricity before you tackle the opponent," Hercules explained. "You need to charge up the electricity while running towards the target, but try not to begin too soon or you might use up your energy faster, or too late and not charge up enough electricity to make the attack as effective as possible."
"Oh, I see," Blitz commented, while looking over at the course and trying to get a basic idea of how he'd have to go through it.
"Considering how your species builds up electricity through extending and contracting your muscles, I don't know if it would really be that much of a problem for you," Hercules commented. "But keep it in mind for now anyways."
"Okay," Blitz said, nodding his head.
"And when you get stronger, you'll be able to build up more electricity faster and keep the charge for longer," Hercules said, smiling at Blitz. "So, naturally it gets easier the stronger you get."
"Right," Blitz responded. "But even the strongest Pokémon aren't invincible, so you can't underestimate your opponent even if you do have the advantage."
"That's true," Hercules replied. "And it's good to see that you've been paying attention to what I have taught you in our previous training sessions."
Hercules called over a Hoothoot to assist as a living stopwatch for Blitz when he would make his way through the training course. The brown owl Pokémon flew over, before landing next to them, quickly hopping from one leg to the other.
"Well, let's get to it," Hercules said. "Begin on the Hoothoot's signal."
Blitz moved over to the start line, waiting for the Hoothoot to give the signal to start. The owl Pokémon continued tilting its head and rhythmically hopping from one leg to the other, before giving Blitz the signal to start running. Blitz quickly began making his way through the training course, slowly beginning to build up electricity as he reached the halfway point and increasing the charge as he kept getting closer to the target. He hit the wooden target with an electrified tackle, and heard the Hoothoot hooting to signaling for him to stop.
"How'd I do?" Blitz asked.
"Hmm… Not bad," Hercules said. "But, I know you can do even better. Want to give it another go?"
"Sure," Blitz responded, moving back to the start line and waiting for the Hoothoot's start signal again.
Meanwhile, Lotus was trying to teach Chiaki how to use Meditate, which was proving somewhat difficult as the young Mienfoo wouldn't stay still. Chiaki kept looking around at all the other obstacle courses and training exercises around them, curiously trying to get a closer look, only for Lotus to stop him and try to get him to sit down and meditate with her.
"Wow, look at all those Pokémon running around!" Chiaki said, pointing to one of the obstacle courses. "It looks like so much fun! Can we go train over there?"
"Right now, we are trying to teach you how to use a move known as Meditate," Lotus responded. "It will temporarily increase physical attack power slightly."
"Do we have to sit still, though?" Chiaki asked. "I want to run around!"
"It's not the time for that," Lotus responded. "Now, sit down, and do what I do."
"Oh, okay!" Chiaki responded, sitting down and assuming the same position as the Meditite. "Can we go run around after this?"
"You sure have a lot of energy, don't you?" Lotus commented dryly.
"Uh-huh!" Chiaki responded, nodding his head.
"Well, that's… cute, but right now focus on learning this new move, okay?" Lotus asked.
"You think I'm cute?" Chiaki asked, with his usual cheerful smile.
Lotus sighed and hit the palm of her hand against her forehead. It seemed like this could possibly take a while.
Sera looked at the sand pit in front of her, waiting for Riley the Riolu to tell her to begin. The small blue jackal-like Pokémon walked to the center of the sand pit, feeling the sand between his dark gray furred toes.
"Okay, show me what you've got," Riley said, assuming a battle position.
"Um… Okay…" Sera responded, moving onto the sand and getting into battle position as well. "Here I go!"
Sera attempted to kick some sand into Riley's face with her hind legs, but the sand failed to hit its target.
"Hmm… Not bad for a beginner, I suppose," Riley commented. "But, you'll have to do better than that."
"Isn't that why we're doing this, so I can do better?" Sera asked.
"Of course," Riley responded, smirking. "First of all, you need to use more force if you're going to kick the sand that way."
"Okay, anything else?" Sera asked.
"Well, there is something that is probably more important than that," Riley responded.
"Oh? And what's that?" Sera asked.
Without warning, Riley suddenly kicked some sand into Sera's face.
"Hey!" Sera exclaimed, while trying to get some of the sand out of her fur.
"The element of surprise," Riley commented, smirking.
"Very funny," Sera responded, wiping some sand off her face. "What else can you do? I was kind of expecting something… a bit more impressive, maybe?"
"Oh, well in that case…" Riley said, pressing the palms of his paws together and concentrating. A blue aura began emanating from his body, and soon started lifting some of the sand up into the air. A small whirlwind of sand began to take form, and soon began moving in Sera's direction.
"Uh-oh," Sera said, as she realized what was going to happen next. She managed to take a breath and close her eyes, just before the sand came crashing down on her, leaving only her ears sticking out from under a small pile of sand.
"Was that impressive enough for you?" Riley asked, while Sera just gave the Riolu an annoyed look from inside the pile of sand.
Blitz rushed at the target yet again, blue sparks of electricity rippling through his fur as he charged at the wooden target. He rammed into the target again, while Hercules and the Hoothoot looked on. After the Hoothoot gave the signal to stop, Hercules checked with the owl Pokémon on how Blitz had done this time.
"Well done, Blitz," Hercules said to him. "You managed to do it a lot faster this time."
"Thanks," Blitz responded, smiling at Hercules while trying to catch his breath.
"Guess you could use a short break, huh?" Hercules asked, petting Blitz on the head.
"Yeah, sure," Blitz responded, sitting down on the floor.
The Hoothoot decided to take a break as well, hopping away to another part of the dojo. Looking around to make sure no one else was within earshot, Hercules decided to take this opportunity to have a little conversation with Blitz.
"So, good to hear that things have been going well lately," Hercules said.
"Yeah, Chiaki may still be inexperienced, but he seems to be picking up on things fast," Blitz commented. "He's a good addition to the team, and the fact that we've advanced to Bronze Rank is pretty neat too."
"I see," Hercules responded, again taking a quick look around to make sure no one else was listening, since he knew Blitz didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone but him about this. "Have you received any news from Lightning Plateau recently?"
"Huh?" Blitz responded. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious," Hercules replied.
"Oh, well… No, I haven't received any letters from home recently," Blitz responded. "I'm guessing that means nothing out of the ordinary has happened recently."
"Ah, I see," Hercules replied.
"So, I guess my mother is still waiting for my father to come home, while embarrassing Lita with her antics as usual…" Blitz commented.
Hercules nodded, to let Blitz know he was listening. Hercules knew that Blitz looked up to him, and so felt the need to be supportive and a good role model to the Shinx. Blitz would often come to the dojo, but sometimes would just be there to ask Hercules for advice and not really train. Blitz had had a pretty tough time after his father disappeared, and Hercules hoped he was doing a good enough job helping Blitz find the strength to stand on his own and trust his instincts.
"I think I'm ready to continue training," Blitz said, looking up at Hercules.
"Okay," Hercules said, getting another Hoothoot to come over to take the time. Blitz had been making progress fast, and Hercules was certain the young Shinx would probably have mastered the attack well enough by the end of the day.
Lotus smiled as she had finally gotten Chiaki to pay attention to her, and successfully taught the Mienfoo how to use his Meditate move. Since Chiaki had proven to be a pretty fast learned once he stopped being distracted by everything else, Lotus decided she could try to teach him another attack he would probably find useful.
"Okay, you seem to have gotten Meditate down, so now I'll teach you another attack," Lotus said.
"Do I get to run around?" Chiaki asked excitedly.
"… No," Lotus responded. "While this move will require some movement, it mostly relies on sharp senses."
"Oh," Chiaki said. "What is it?"
"Detect," Lotus responded. "It will allow you to foresee your opponents next move, so may quickly move out of the way to avoid being hit."
"Oh," Chiaki replied, tilting his head slightly. "But why can't I just avoid attacks by running around?"
Lotus hit the palm of her hand against her forehead once again. Hopefully this time it would be easier to get the Mienfoo to stop getting distracted and pay attention.
Sera was getting increasingly annoyed as each of her attempts to take the Riolu by surprised failed, and only got the sand thrown back at her.
"Sand Attack has officially become a lot more complicated than it has any right to be." Sera muttered to herself, while kicking the sand with her paw.
"So, have you at least learned something about the importance of the element of surprise?" Riley asked.
Sera looked up at him, before smirking and shaking the sand out of her fur so that it got all over Riley, finally succeeding in catching him off guard. Sera smirked and felt pretty satisfied with this.
"… I'll take that as a yes," Riley commented, while trying to wipe some sand off his face.
Hercules led Blitz over to another section of the dojo, where a blue otter-like Pokémon waited. The Dewott held up its two shells and assumed a battle pose.
"Now I'd like you to fight this Dewott here in a short practice battle," Hercules explained. "The purpose is to test your Spark attack in battle."
"Um… Okay," Blitz responded, getting into a battle position himself.
"You get to make the first move, so begin when you're ready," Hercules said.
Blitz still had plenty of energy left even after all the training he'd already done today, and blue sparks began rippling through his fur as he built up his electricity for the attack. Blitz then began charging at the Dewott, who swiftly knocked Blitz aside with his shells, but not without taking some damage from the electricity in the process. Blitz quickly got back up, and observed his opponent for a moment.
As far as Blitz could tell, this Dewott was stronger than him, but probably not as strong as Frederick was. Based on how the Dewott knocked him aside suggested that the otter Pokémon didn't know any good methods of blocking an electric attack, so it wouldn't be too difficult of a battle.
Blitz used Flash to make his body glow brightly enough to blind the Dewott for a moment, long enough for him to deliver an electrified tackle to it and knock it down.
"Well done," Hercules commented, smiling at Blitz. "I think you can continue working on improving the technique without my help from here."
"Thanks," Blitz responded, smiling back at the Heracross.
Lotus eventually got Chiaki to listen to her again, so she could teach him how to use Detect. He did listen to each of Lotus' instructions, even if he did interrupt her a few times to ask her some questions. She did her best to answer the questions, and eventually managed to explain all Chiaki needed to know about Detect.
Although, even though Chiaki did listen to and say he that he did understand everything, Lotus still wanted to make sure he would be able to use the attack.
"Okay, if you really understood everything, then I guess you won't mind using Detect right now to dodge one of my attacks?" Lotus asked, smirking slightly.
"Sounds like fun!" Chiaki said, with a cheerful smile.
"All right, then," Lotus responded. "I shall unleash my Hidden Power!"
Lotus calmly closed her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands together, while Chiaki tried to focus on foreseeing Lotus' attack as instructed. Lotus' body began shining with a green glow as she called upon the Hidden Power inside her, and soon orbs of green light imbued with grass type energy floated in circles around Lotus. Opening her eyes, Lotus sent the green orbs flying at Chiaki.
Chiaki's eyes glowed for a moment, before the Mienfoo jumped out of the way so that the attack missed him and only hit the floor.
"Excellent," Lotus said with a smile.
"Yay! I did it!" Chiaki said, cheerfully jumping up and down. "Thank you for teaching me those two moves, Lotus!"
"You're welcome," Lotus responded, smiling at the Mienfoo. "There's probably more I can teach you as well, if you're interested in training with me again sometime."
"Really?" Chiaki asked, seeming very excited at this offer. "There's more you can teach me?"
"Yes," Lotus responded. "However, promise me that if you do come back for more training, that you will pay attention right from the start, okay?"
"I promise!" Chiaki said, eagerly shaking Lotus' hand. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome," Lotus responded, smiling somewhat awkwardly as Chiaki continued shaking her hand. "... You can let go of my hand now."
Somehow, Sera's training session with Riley eventually degenerated into just playing around in the sand. At least the two of them seemed to have a lot of fun while running around and tackling each other into the sand.
As the day was nearing its end, Hercules congratulated Blitz, Chiaki and Sera on how well they did during their training sessions. The three thanked him and his assistants for their help, and said good-bye before heading back outside. The sun was starting to go down in the distance.
"So, now that we've got some new moves, I guess we're ready for our first mission as a Bronze rank team tomorrow?" Sera said, smiling confidently.
"Uh-huh!" Chiaki said, cheerfully nodding his head.
"I guess so," Blitz responded, before he suddenly noticed another Pokémon standing a short distance away, curiously looking their way. "Hey, who's that?"
Sera and Chiaki looked over at the other Pokémon in confusion; it was a small green humanoid Pokémon with a big head. It had two small green oval eyes and three differently colored fingers on each of its hands, one green, one yellow and one red. The Elgyem just curiously looked at the three Pokémon, not saying or doing anything. For some reason, it seemed particularly interested in Chiaki, staring at him for several seconds.
Chiaki wasn't sure why, but the way the little green Pokémon was looking at him suddenly made him feel... strange. Before Chiaki had a chance to say anything to it, though, the Elgyem turned around and floated away, taking one last look over its shoulder at Chiaki before leaving.
"… That was weird," Sera said.
"I don't think I've ever seen her around town before," Blitz commented. "At least I think it might be a "her"."
"How can you tell?" Sera asked, tilting her head.
"He's right, she's female…" Chiaki somewhat distractedly responded, nodding his head slightly.
"Are you okay, Chiaki?" Sera asked, noting that the Mienfoo seemed a bit zoned out.
"I… don't know," Chiaki replied, rubbing his head with a paw.
"Maybe you're just tired from all the training you did today," Sera said, patting the Mienfoo on the back with her paw.
"Yeah, let's go home and get some rest," Blitz said.
"Okay…" Chiaki responded, still seeming a bit confused.
After the usual good-byes and "see you tomorrows", Sera went home to her family, while Blitz and Chiaki headed back to their house. As they walked home, Chiaki couldn't get that Elgyem off his mind. Why was she looking at him like that earlier, and why did he feel so strange when she did it? Was there some sort of connection between them?
End of chapter 5.