Just Another Pawn
Edited as of 3/26/2018
Chapter 5: Weak, but With Potential
Throughout the 5 years with Professor Oak, I trained religiously. Whenever I wasn't studying pokemon or aura - which was quite often - you could find me training my body and mind. I had even found a way to meditate while training, taking advantage of the tedious repetition that often ensued. There was no slacking off.
Pikachu and I sat in the same clearing I had talked to Misty in. The clearing itself was quite small, consisting of only 2 small stumps. That was the reason I chose it. A big part of fighting is using your surroundings against your opponent, hence why I made Pikachu explore it when I had my talk with Misty.
I sat on the same stump as last time, while Pikachu took Misty's.
"I promised to make you stronger Pikachu, and I plan to uphold that promise."
"Pika!" Pikachu yelled, flexing his skinny yellow arms before running to the ground to do push-ups.
"Hold on there, buddy," I laughed. "I may have said strength, but that doesn't mean physical strength. No, first we will focus on more….minute parts of fighting. Here's what we'll do. Close your eyes. Focus on every single noise you can hear. Any rustling, leaves falling, pidgeys chirping. Everything, no matter how small."
Though surprised by the relaxing nature of the training, Pikachu slowly sat down and listened. He was quite fidgety at first, but I could see a sense of serenity wash over his body as he began to lose himself in the noises. However, the point of this exercise was not serenity; it was to make him rely on his hearing more. Sound has a 360 degree vision - better than eyesight.
I threw a rock directly behind him to keep him from getting too comfortable. The sudden sound disrupted the calm he was experiencing. Pikachu's eyes snapped opened, and he reflexively jumped into a battle position.
"Don't get too comfortable. It lowers your guard, making a simple noise sound like a threat. Now let's start the actual training. While you have your eyes closed, I want you to focus on my position. Using the best of your abilities, follow my movements. Always face me."
I started a calm stride, not trying to conceal my position. I walked in a simple circle around him, occasionally making a 180° turn to go in the opposite direction. Seeing he was doing fine with this exercise, I branched out a bit. Instead of walking around him, I walked in random directions. Although he seemed a little slower on keeping up with my movements, he was able to keep my general direction. Stepping up the training further, I started to conceal my footsteps to a minute extent. It was at this point that he seemed to lose track of me. Concealing my footsteps even more, I smoothly walked up behind him and knelt down.
"Hi there."
Pikachu's eyes snapped open for the second time that day. He didn't jump away this time - a promising sign - instead opting to turn and face me. A newfound respect shone from his eyes.
"You did pretty good. However, it seems you were having difficulty hearing my steps with all of the other sounds in the forest. We'll be doing this daily, so you'll get better. And although it's not the purpose, this doubles as help for meditation, which in turn will help you differentiate the different noises. A pretty clever exercise, I think."
The multi-purpose was completely accidental.
I stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, "Now it's time for a game of tag. The only thing you need to do is touch me. Though be warned, I'm a bit more agile than your average human."
With that said, I held up 3 fingers. As each second passed by, I moved one finger into the ball of my hand. Once my hand had formed a fist, Pikachu launched straight at me.
No white streak? Either he doesn't know Agility, or he's underestimating me. Whatever the case, he just lost a point.
Deciding not to let him get close, I jumped several feet into the air and landed on a branch. Pikachu visibly slowed down in shock at the feat. Not one to go easy, I continued to jump from branch to branch. It didn't take long for Pikachu to realize he needed to step up his game.
About 15 seconds into the chase, and Pikachu still had yet to use Agility. It annoyed me that he hadn't learned such a basic move, but I sucked it up and continued on with the training.
We went on for roughly 5 minutes of chasing. I made sure not to stay on the branches so I could see how well Pikachu fared in other areas. Honestly, it was disappointing. He got winded so fast, it made me wonder why the guy had ever been cocky in the first place. It was time to stop. I upped my speed and disappeared from his sight, only to reappear behind him the next second and pick him up.
"Well, this was just sad. I had intended to train you for longer, but you need more basic training. Arceus knows you aren't ready for training against an opponent."
I ran back to the clearing, weaving through trees and bushes alike. Once we arrived, I set him back down on one of the stumps.
I gave him a disapproving stare, "We'll start with more basic exercises. Given your species, speed is going to be one of your strengths. We'll work on boosting that and hopefully getting you up to agility speeds. To go with that, we'll need to work on your cardio. Being fast doesn't help if you can't keep it up. Thankfully, cardio increases while working on speed, so there won't be too much trouble there."
I stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, "Here's how we'll start; I want you to run up to me, tag me, then run back to that stump. Do this as fast as you can."
I held up my hand and, in a sharp movement, threw it down. Pikachu raced at me with a vigor that reminded me of myself. It seemed he was realizing that I actually could make him stronger. Still, his speed was disappointing. By the time he got back to the stump, he was breathing hard.
"Pika!" he shouted, a visible smirk across his face.
I walked up to him and gave a deep sigh, "What are you smirking about? That was pitiful."
It was then that pikachu started to get angry.
"Pika!" he yelled.
I rolled my eyes.
This might be a waste of time.
My eye roll was the last bit of encouragement he needed. Giving a war cry, Pikachu tackled me with every ounce of strength in his body. It was powerful enough to make me lose my footing.
What the hell? Just seconds ago he was showing himself incapable of such power!
I caught Pikachu as his body was pressed against my chest and put him on the ground.
"Hmm, that was interesting. Although I couldn't say for sure, I think you used some form of aura."
Pikachu tilted his head in confusion, still peeved at my early dismissal of him.
"Aura is the energy that flows through all living beings. If you are capable of a large amount of focus, you can manipulate this energy to give yourself a boost in power. However, my teacher always told me only humans and a handful of pokemon are able to use it."
Was the Professor wrong? How else could his sudden boost in power be explained?
"Okay Pikachu, here's what we'll do. We're going to start meditation a little earlier than I had planned. To help you get a hang of it faster, I'm going to explain to you what meditation is."
I walked him over to a patch of green grass and had him sit next to me.
"Meditation is a mixture of two things: relaxation, and focus. Achieving relaxation is quite simple. A basic method is taking long, deep breaths. Simple, but effective.
You can also repeat a mantra; something simple, like 'I am relaxed. I am calm,' etcetera - though this is generally best for when you're already in a meditative state.
And one of my personal favorites, imagery. Simply imagining a limb is relaxed will help it relax. Or imagining you're on a beach, will make you feel like you're on a beach.
Of course, eventually, you won't need to use any of these. You'll be able to calm yourself in a matter of seconds just by thinking about it.
"Second is focus. Whenever you meditate, it's normally a good idea to set a goal. Generally this goal would be to sort out a problem in your life, but it could really be anything. This goal is your focus. Without it, you'd probably just fall asleep.
"I'm going to walk you through it. You'll find it's quite simple."
I'll do something akin to a hypnosis induction.
"Okay, I want you to start with deep breaths. Breathing in, and out. Focusing on each breath as they become more and more relaxing."
I continued on helping him to relax, repeating mentions of breathing and relaxing. Eventually, I started on imagery, making him focus on specific body parts. The hypnosis-esque induction worked great, and I could hear his deep breaths.
"You're doing great, Pikachu. Next, the focus. I want you to focus on your body as a whole. Imagine an energy flowing throughout your body. Feel it stemming from your chest and going through all of your limbs, where it exits. Focus on this energy. Feel its warmth. Follow it with your mind."
I continued this for about 10 minutes, keeping his focus on the imaginary energy. Once I stopped, I let him continue himself. It was kind of funny, seeing such a personality so relaxed.
As Pikachu meditated, I decided to work on my own body. The spearow made me realize I had been too lax in my training. My training was fairly simple, I ran as fast as I could through the forest, weaving through trees, leaping from branches; I did all of this for as long as I could.
20 minutes passed, and I was exhausted. It wasn't easy to keep your top pace for so long; I felt a bit guilty about my reaction to Pikachu. That vanished when I realized he probably didn't even know how to use his full strength. I walked up to Pikachu and gently shook him. His eyes blinked open, getting accustomed to the sunlight. I was surprised to see a yellow energy dancing across his pupils like lightning. As he awoke, however, the energy dimmed down, revealing his normal blue irises.
Yellow? Well it's not aura, that would be blue. I'm gonna have to meditate with him tonight and see if I can sense his energy.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, little guy." I lightly paced, "We'll be starting the next portion of your training. Everyone knows that a pikachu specializes in speed and that it doesn't get much strength until it evolves into a raichu. But if one could actually manage to get a pikachu strong, it would give your opponents a nasty surprise. After all, who'd expect a puny pikachu to pack a punch? So for our next exercises, we'll be focusing on raw strength. Given your current strength, we'll do basic things like pushups and pull ups."
"Pika!"
The next half hour consisted purely of strength exercises. Although I could tell Pikachu was struggling, he seemed to have gotten more motivated at some point and was trying harder. Who knows, maybe it was because of the meditation.
By the end, Pikachu was collapsed in a puddle of sweat.
He's gonna need a lot of work. We'll have to continue this schedule for a while before he's ready for an actual battle.
I leaned over him, "Okay, that's enough for today. As much as I'd love to continue, we need to get to Pewter City to get Misty's bike repaired."
Pikachu didn't respond, instead deciding that the grass was quite comfortable and closed his eyes.
I sighed for the nth time that day, "Fine, get some rest. We'll be leaving in an hour though, and I would prefer you not to be soaked in sweat, so I'd advise resting in the river if anywhere."
With that being said, I left to go find Misty.
o0O-O0o
I was surprised to find her in the Pokemon Center. She was happily sitting on a bench, wearing a surprisingly girly dress. I decided to ignore it for the time being, despite it how odd it seemed.
"Hey Misty, you about ready to leave?"
Misty gave a twirl, showing off her dress, and giggled, "Of course! I'm ready whenever you are!"