[X] My Assistant

[rt117]

For the past week since she arrived in Noverus, Sera had dedicated two one-hour sessions to training with her team of three Pokemon in the Shady Acres Park. Every day she would come, allowing her Pokemon freedom from their stuffy Poke Balls, and time to improve their techniques. Fortunately the need for such training wasn’t demanding, but she still wanted to be prepared for anything. It had taken some getting used to, being in one place for this long. Normally Sera would stay in a town or city for only a couple of days, doing a few odd jobs to earn food and board, but this place was not like any other, and the change was almost welcoming, if not for the many rumours she had heard about people disappearing, all because of the conflict between Team Magma and Team Aqua. They weren’t new names to her, as since she started her trip through the Hoenn region, she had heard these names uttered a few times by locals in the various towns, how members of these two groups had stirred all kinds of trouble.

But, now was not the time to ponder over such thoughts, as they were quickly cutting into training time. Following the same routine as she had been all week, Sera trekked to the same spot she had been going to daily, a small section of the park that housed a pond, and plenty of open space for practice battles. Pulling three Poke Balls from her pocket, she tossed them upward into the air with a smile, and in a bright flash of light, saw her three Pokemon appear before her.

The first, being her oldest and strongest, was a Charmander she had long ago nicknamed ‘Cinder’, after the embers he spat out while using what was currently his only Fire-type attack. Following Cinder was a long blue serpentine Pokemon, Sera’s Dratini. She had been nicknamed Ryu long ago, named after an ancient translation of a dragon. Letting out a small sleepy yawn, Ryu looked up at Sera with greeting, eyes sparkling in the afternoon sun. Last came Sera’s newest team member, and easily the youngest: a Pichu. Nicknamed Spark, he always had the most energy out of the team, able to continue going when even Sera was tired out. She figured it was partially because of his inability to use proper use his Thundershock attack, which meant all of his electrical power was locked inside of him.

“Alright guys, you know the drill!” Sera cheered, Cinder and Ryu moving to one side of Sera, and Spark quickly moving to the other side, before facing one another. As every day, Sera would start off the three with some agility exercises, followed by working on new moves. Since Sera couldn’t find anything for Ryu to learn, she had her practice her combat skills against one of the local wild Pokemon, at least until they fled.
“Let’s start: Cinder, you’ll be using your Scratch attack, while Ryu uses her Wrap. Spark of course is the one who’s it. Whoever catches him first in five minutes wins!” Sera instructed, making it sound like a game more than anything. To Sera, her team was still fairly young, too young for serious training that would stress and exhaust them. But she wanted to see them improve more than anything.

With a smile, she called for the game to start, before sitting down and watching with a smile as her two Pokemon chased her Pichu around. Ryu would have to literally throw herself at Spark to attempt Wrap on him, but his rather skittish nature allowed him to dodge and jump out of the way. Cinder was a bit slower, so it took him longer to get to Spark, who was normally long gone by the time he arrived.

“Remember guys, it’s all about team work!” she smiled. In order to catch the elusive Spark, they would have to find a way to trap him, and keep him from getting away. Hearing her words, Ryu let out an odd cooing call to Cinder, before slithering into the pond, vanishing from sight. Seeming to understand, he proceeded to chase Spark down to the river, the Pichu unaware that his partner was hiding there. With a great splash, Ryu ambushed Spark, trapping him within the coils of her long body.

Seeing her Pokemon finish up, Sera clapped and stood up. “Great job everyone! Now let’s work on some move techniques, the break for a snack!” she called over, setting her bag down and rummaging through her belongings. All she had for them today were some rice balls she had made earlier, each one containing a berry at the center, accustomed to their tastes. They would enjoy those later, as she got out a couple of stakes with round pieces of wood attached, sticking a few into the ground as targets. Sera then sat back down, her Pokemon finally making it over to her.

“Alright, we’ll be picking up on where we left off last week. Spark, I think you’re getting close with your Helping Hand, as Cinder’s attacks definitely get stronger with you using it. And Cinder, you’re getting better with your Mud Slap, but you need to focus on your target, because your accuracy has been rather off.” She coached the two. Turning to her Dratini, she smiled. “We’re going to do something special today though. I figure that Spark should be fine taking a day off of his Helping Hand technique, and work on finally being able to use Thundershock properly. I think Ryu might be able to help, since she can use Thunder Wave.”

As Cinder proceeded to race forward to one of the targets constantly and fling mud at it, Sera took Ryu and Spark over several meters, having moved one of the targets over to them. “Okay, let’s see how this works. Spark, I want you to concentrate as much as you can on focusing your electrical energy, so that you can release it all at once in the same direction. Ryu will demonstrate with a Thunder Wave.” She spoke, gesturing to her Dratini, who in response closed her eyes, and shot out blue electricity at the target, encasing it in the bright blue light.

Rather startled by the display, Spark recollected himself as he adjusted his position toward the target, then hunching over in concentration, clasping his paws in desperation as he closed his eyes. The result of such a display was a bolt of electricity, though short lived, managed to hit its target and cause Spark to roll backward. With a small giggle, Sera scooped him up and set him back on his feet, patting his head. “That was great! With a little more work you’ll be able to do it more freely, and without knocking yourself over.” She smiled, watching with a sense of pride as her Pichu grinned happily, and attempted his electrical attack over and over with glee.

This post has been edited by rt117: Jul 15 2012, 01:20 AM