Archie - Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 1
Blue - Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 0
{Monua 28th, 9:17PM}
{Mt. Coronet}
"I don't know how they do it," Warin sighed, deciding to take a break and swooping down to rest on a rock. "It doesn't even look like training. I'm pretty sure I've seen Pete re-do that somersault of his at least fifty times now- because what, he flew one inch lower than he planned? Sam keeps criticizing the angle at which Girish is trying to strike her and made him repeat it about as many times as Pete did a loop. I'm not sure that's training anymore."
"When we have had the opportunity to converse with Sam three days ago, she explained that, when you are training with Blue, he places a large amount of importance in the precision of your strikes," Prince said. "We rather admire Girish for being so diligent, especially if we are to consider the standards of his trainer."
"Has Sam explained why such précision is important?" Rapier asked curiously.
Prince nodded. "According to Sam, it is important because of the damage you can cause if you are not careful," he said gravely. "Strike in the wrong place, and what was intended to be merely a disarming blow can quickly become a fatal wound."
There was a heavy silence among the three.
"Makes sense, I guess," Warin eventually muttered.
"Blue and his companions are most wise indeed," Rapier mused. "Quel dommage! There is so much to learn from them, but I would likely find myself easily crushed training with them."
"Guess that makes Girish all the more impressive," Warin sighed. "That he can keep up with those kind of powerhouses...I'm kinda envious."
"Perhaps if our group is diligent enough in its own training, the idea of training with them is a possibility," Prince encouraged gently. The Prinplup then proceeded to stick his chest out proudly. "We, for starters, have every intention of catching up and requesting additional wisdom from them."
"Moi aussi!" Rapier said immediately, hopping on the spot. "I must hone my skills as much as possible, if I am to do justice to the épée which Mark has left behind."
"So we're all gonna practice how precise our strikes can be, now?" Warin asked. He rose off the rock he was resting and fluttered to a slightly larger boulder not too far away. "Alright, Rapier, how about this rock here? See if you can slash the same spot as many times in a row as you can with that new vine-trick of yours."
"Certainement, cher camarade!" Rapier said, waddling over proudly as fast as he could and- after a small moment of intense concentration- producing a long, pointy, sharp-looking vine from his bud. One enthusiastic battle cry later, the boulder that Rapier was facing was still in one piece, but it was clearly sporting a new, clean, diagonal cut.
"Impressive," Prince murmured, admiring the result. "And curious. Rapier, might we perhaps inquire as to the origin of a such technique? As we recall, neither Budew nor any of their evolutions are normally capable of growing vines."
The tiny grass-type turned and blinked up at Prince before its face made way for a proud and slightly smug grin. "I have already said it, non? This is the épée which Mark has left to me!"
The Prinplup stared quietly. As far as Prince could remember, he'd never seen the Gyarados wield any sort of vine. And he wasn't sure tearing a tree out of the ground and whacking a bunch of Galactic grunts with it counted as a sword. It was more of a big wooden club. And probably left you with a lot of shattered bones instead of a clean cut.
He pondered on the matter for a moment.
Maybe it had something to do with sentiments of revenge or justice and Budew could only start to use vines as sharp as that once they were on a quest to bring peace to the souls of the departed. He wouldn't know, he was neither familiar with the intricacies of the Budew line nor with the spirit realm. For all he knew Budew were spirit mediums and what Rapier was saying was that he was in the process of channelling Mark's spirit into some part of him.
"Very well, then, carry on," Prince said, deciding not to admit that he had no clue was Rapier was on about. The royal water-type turned and waddled away to find his own training spot.
Hopefully tonight's training would show a few results.
{Monua 28th, 9:24PM}
{Mt. Coronet}
"C'mon, Adam, don't you even have a hint?" Gary whined, pawing pleadingly at the floating Alakazam. "Like- Like- Like something I shouldn't do if I wanna win against Sam! That's not telling me how to win, is it? That's just- just telling me how not to win! You can do that, right?" he suggested.
"Alright then," Adam said, causing the Arcanine to perk his ears eagerly. "Your first hint is: do not use fire."
"Oh, right, because I'd have never guessed that," Gary scowled. "Using fire against a water-type, ceez, how could I have ever been silly enough to think that would work? Thank you so much for the hint."
"You are most welcome," Adam replied.
"Shouldn't you be coming up with your own strategies anyway?" Pete asked, swooping down to settle next to Adam. "I mean, if you really wanna beat Sam and be recognised as the real second-in-command, you're gonna have to prove that you've got the smarts for it too, not just the power or the advantage."
"Hey, I wasn't asking how to actually beat her!" Gary objected.
"No, you were just asking how not to beat her," the Pidgeot conceded, "but if you ask it often enough you end up crossing out all the possibilities that don't work until you're left with nothing but the possibilities that do work, so it's still cheating."
"Alright, fair enough," Gary sighed. "I'll just stick to 'do not use fire' as my biggest hint."
The Arcanine's ears flicked before perking up again as an idea visibly struck him. "Oh, oh, I know! I'll just get Blue to teach me something that does work against water! Like a grass move!"
"Yes, because a fire-type learning a grass move is something that happens on a completely natural basis," Pete said. The sarcasm dripping from his tone of voice may as well have been burning holes through the ground under his beak.
"Oh come on, you gotta admit that'd be pretty badass!" Gary grinned.
He bounced on his paws to face the other way and up toward the cave's ceiling.
"SOLAAAAR...BEAAAAM!"
Gary stared at the ceiling expectantly.
"Maybe if you're lucky Sam might fall over from you yelling at her too much," Pete said.
"Shut up! Solar Beam is totally a cool move to have! It's like Hyperbeam, except solar."
"Amazing," Pete said. Maybe the ground under his beak would've had a hole the size of a Togepi by now.
"Well, we certainly wish you the best of luck in learning your grass move," Adam encouraged brightly. Pete rolled his eyes.
{Monua 28th, 9:32PM}
{Mt. Coronet}
"Alright, that's enough for now," Sam declared. The Gabite lowered his claws, panting.
"Ah, really?" Girish asked. "I would have imagined at least another ten minutes before our next break."
Sam blinked. "No, not just a break. I meant that we're done for tonight."
Girish returned the blink. "Already?" he asked, almost sounding incredulous.
"Girish, you're exhausted," Sam pointed out. "You've been slashing at my shell for plenty of time already, and even if you hadn't it's about time everyone went and got some rest. We've got to get to Hearthome in the next couple days."
"I haven't reached my limit yet," Girish replied.
The Blastoise sighed. "Look, I admire your persistence and how well you've been keeping up with me. You've only been with us for two days and I'm sure Blue is proud to have you as our ally. But you also have to keep in mind that over-training isn't good for you either. Being powerful is great and all, but power is worthless if you're too tired to actually use it when it's most important. Imagine if we continued training for another hour or two and one of Galactic's strongest head honchos suddenly showed up- you'd be a sitting Psyduck."
Sam let that sink into the Gabite's head for a moment, Girish simply staring at her. "Very well, then," he finally agreed. "If you do not mind, Sam, may I ask who or what Galactic is?"
"A bunch of crazy humans that we're trying to rattle to see if they've got any brains in there," Sam snorted. "They've killed a fair amount of humans and Pokemon already and blown up a few things, and we're basically trying to stop them from causing more damage- hopefully before we discover whatever messed up reason they have for their actions."
"I would've expected you to first gauge their reasons and then determine whether or not their actions are worth it," Girish said.
"Killing is wrong no matter how good you think your reason is," Sam replied bitterly. "Just hope that no matter the circumstances, you'll never be in a situation where you have enough time to come up with a reason to kill. Taking a life just isn't worth it."
"You make it sound like it was almost personal experience," Girish noted. "Do I presume that you or one of your partners have lost a cherished one to another who thought their reason was good enough?"
Sam didn't answer.
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Reminder that this week there are two chapters and not just one, so if you don't want to miss anything make sure you also take a look at the next one ;)
Another short-ish chapter because I'm subtly shoving in some fillers but hopefully they're more entertaining than Naruto ones. The next couple still have character development going on but at least they're getting their asses on the way to Hearthome.
ARCHIE
Shanks the Sharpedo, Prince the Prinplup, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Basil the Buizel, Rapier the Budew
BLUE
Sam the Blastoise, Pete the Pidgeot, Adam the Alakazam, Gary the Arcanine, Girish the Gabite