Driftveil Arc: Strict Training Regimen
Mari spread a blanket on the floor and pulled two boxes from her bag. "Et voilá, something to eat!" As if on cue, Jacky's and Noibat's stomachs grumbled in sync and both had to laugh. "Oh dear... where would we be without you.",
"In the land of the starved Ursaring, probably", Mari commented laughing and sat down on the blanket. "Dig in, I've packed enough." She opened the cans and exposed donuts and sandwiches. She also placed some lemonade on the blanket. Noibat recovered at the sight of the food alone and hopped out of Jacky's arms. Its big eyes lit up at the sight of the donuts. Mari held one out to it. Noibat immediately pounced on it and nibbled away gleefully. Mari laughed and then handed one to Skarmory as well. Much calmer and more sedate than the bat, it pecked at the donut. "Bon appetit!" Jacky exclaimed, grabbing a sandwich. When Noibat had devoured its donut, it hopped over to the box of remaining ones, lifted one up with its arms, and held it out to Skarmory. "Prrr!" Skarmory croaked its thanks and nibbled on it. "When we're done, we'll visit Medicham. Yes?" Mari took a donut from the box. "Give this to it.",
"Thanks. It'll be happy... Hey, Noibat! Slow down!" Jacky laughed as it went to work on a sandwich. "Otherwise, your stomach's too heavy for training.",
"Noiiii!", it whined. Skarmory squawked in amusement. "Oh... Maybe, we should stop by Medicham now, after all, so that Noibat can recover from the meal before we continue training. I'm afraid it'll hit its stomach", Mari opined.
"Maybe... you're right." Jacky nodded.
After eating, Mari put the cans away again. "Come on, Skarmory!" she prompted. Skarmory squawked and flew after her as she walked back to the Pokémon Center with Jacky. Medicham was lying on a gurney in a treatment room, its chest bandaged. Nurse Joy was preparing a juice made of herbs, which she then made the Pokémon drink. Medicham grimaced in disgust, but bravely drank it all down to the last drop. When the girls entered the room, it looked up. "How are you?" Jacky asked. Meditalis smiled and put a hand on its chest.
"It seems fine..." Mari said. "A good thing. But such invisible injuries are certainly not pleasant.",
"Certainly not..." Jacky held out the donut out to Medicham. "Here, Mari kept this for you." Medicham accepted it, smiled gratefully at Mari, and then ate the donut.
They stayed with it for a while until Nurse Joy asked them to leave again. They went back outside to continue honing Noibat's flying skills. Skarmory took off again, this time immediately accelerating with Agility. Noibat eagerly chased after it. This time, however, Skarmory zigzagged so that Noibat could not take advantage of its slipstream. Thus, it was forced to use all its physical strength. Noibat wanted to follow, but Jacky stopped it. "No, fly higher!" Noibat obeyed and propelled itself upward. Higher up, the air currents were stronger than below, and the tailwind accelerated Noibat, allowing it to catch up with Skarmory. It flew higher and higher and even managed to work its way past Skarmory. Of course, the steel bird didn't put up with that. It glowed and folded its wings before shooting ahead at an even faster pace. "Noibat can't fly that high in an enclosed arena, and it can't take advantage of the wind in a building either", Mari indicated to her friend.
"True... What a bummer..." Jacky muttered.
"I have a better idea." Mari whistled for Skarmory and it flew an arc. It landed next to her. "Gardevoir, give us a hand." Her Gardevoir appeared next to her. "We can train Noibat's reflexes. Gardevoir will shoot at it with ranged attacks. Noibat will have to dodge. Agreed?", "Let's do it then." Jacky nodded. Gardevoir swung elegantly onto Skarmory's back. It held onto the steel bird with one hand as it took off again and shot into the air. "Gardevoir! Let's go!" Gardevoir nodded and fired bullets at Noibat. The little Pokémon dodged them and spun them away from itself with gusts of wind. However, a little later, it was hit by one of the bullets and lost altitude. It landed on the ground with squiggles in its eyes. "Noiiii...!",
"Oh dear... Its reflexes really aren't that great, as it appears... We really need to work on that", Mari realized.
"Noibat is still too young, it seems... Oh Arceus." Jacky lifted the bat on her arms. "Maybe, it's better to not use it at the tournament, after all...",
"You're going to march in with only two Pokémon? That could really end badly, in case you're allowed to use more than 2 Pokémon in a battle...",
"I don't know..." Jacky raised the bat in front of her face. "It's strong for its age, but I'm afraid it won't stand a chance.",
'"Medicham is failing. You need Noibat. You still have time.",
"Hm..." Jacky tilted her head. "I got it, Noibat is going to fight the gym leader in battle. You can't get better training than that.",
"The gym leader Clay uses ground-type Pokémon", Mari muttered. "Why not... If you insist.", "I don't care about the type.",
"That's wrong thinking. You've already had your ass whopped because of that in the electric gym. Types do matter.",
"Okay, I got it...",
"I'm just saying." Mari patted Skarmory and Gardevoir jumped off its back. "You guys need to keep up your training properly. In the meantime, I'll go to the market and see what's available.",
"All right. I'll get on with it then.",
"See ya!" Mari withdrew her Skarmory and disappeared. Jacky continued to train diligently.
In the evening, they met at the Pokémon Center. Jacky's face was bright red.
"So, how did it go?",
"Great. I think Noibat has become a little more persistent... I ran with it when it flew.", "Yeah, you look like it, too. A shower might do you some good.",
"Uh... Yeah... Hey, I'm going to challenge Clay tomorrow.",
"You feel up for it?",
"Yep.",
"Alright." Mari nodded. "Then go take a shower and sleep early so you'll have enough energy tomorrow.",
"Alright, Mom."
Mari laughed. "Well, someone has to look out for you.",
"Do I need a lookout duty?!",
"Maybe.",
"Pfft... It was the other way around a while ago. I was looking out for you then.",
"You were looking out for me? When? I don't remember that.",
"... Never mind." Jacky waved it off with a smile. "Well then... I'll take a look at the inside of the shower.",
"That's a great idea."