Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ben nodded slowly. "Well, how do I know I don't like being shot if I haven't been before?" He replied. It wasn't an exactly-perfect comparison. But it also did a good job of sending home how he felt. "You can imagine it, right? You've even been kissed by a guy, and when you described it, it looked like it didn't mean anything to you, right? Even the memory is... A thing that happened."

This was a hard part of what to find to say. The answers really had to come down to her. "You can picture it, and cut and paste memories and realize what you actually enjoy thinking about or looking at, you know? Now if you prefer to explore, that's up to you. But that's your choice to make, not because there's no other way."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena listened to the sage advice, her face growing intense again as she stared at Ben until he was done. Then, she took in a deep breath and nodded. "I think I get it. I'm definitely going to explore it a bit more before I 'come out' to anyone." She paused, remembering where Benedict's allegiance lie. "Please don't tell Zack or Salieri or, well, anyone."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict frowned. Oh, right. People really did think they needed to make that kind of request, huh? He needed to remember she was new to this. "Hey, I'm not going to drag anyone out like that. This is your business and yours to tell people when you're ready." It would probably never come up unless Helena mentioned it, or some crazy antics happened.

"People in our community all know this pretty well. So anyone of us who does it is just a d**k. Also, pretty much any straight person that does it."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena nodded as Ben spoke and then sighed. It was a relief to have said all of that to someone who felt neutral. "Hey, I have an idea. How about we train together? Not necessarily fighting." She was so tired of fighting today. "but we figure out what we're both working on and compare notes."

Jerath and Metric were both quadruped Pokemon so they were the easiest to team up. Metric had been an abused Pokemon so it was an inspiration to see how Jerath moved, and fought, and hunted.

Manny and Loki were doing similar things with their psionic training. Meditative states where they could both delve into the psychic energies that existed between them.

Caboose and Feather were another group of learning to utilize their inherit energies. For Feather it was Fae, and for Caboose it was Electric but learning to feel and touch and manipulate that energy would be similar enough between them that they could train together.

Essence and Pan were another breed of skill. Pan spent a lot of time talking at Essence but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. To the Pokemon, Pan was practicing Parting Shot but all of his 'cool one liners' were garbage.


Francis and Ecarlate was a more one sided relationship.Francis had much more maneuverability in the air and so Ecarlate was taking pointers. As Francis flew above, Ecarlate's job was to keep up via tree tops. It was essentially a game of 'the ground is hot lava.'


Ricard and Tyrant were the last pair. As Tyrant's head came toward Ricard to smash into him, he held back his power. He didn't need to use the full thing to crush a weak Dragonite.

And then there were the humans. Ben, who was likely trying not to laugh.

And Helena whose hair stood up on end and every single time she touched anything metal she'd end up shocked.  

[Marsuru]

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

Zack reappeared in a flash of light. The farmhouse of Baa de Mer Ranch lay in blazing ruins at the base of the hill. Half a dozen trainers swarmed in off dirt roads and on the backs of fliers. Zack had to shield his face from whipping branches as one flew close by over the trees, but he didn't think they spotted him. He found Dexio unconscious in the bushes.

'Wake up,' he said, grabbing Dexio by the arm. Just as Dexio's eyes started to flicker open, Zack slapped him across the cheek, and the research aide sat bolt upright.
'Argghhhh-'
'Stop being stupid. We've gotta get out of here.'
'Oh, my, okay,' Dexio said, rubbing his cheek. 'Was I perhaps asleep? I do not remember being drowsy, however I was tired after our run so that might-'

Zack grabbed Dexio by the arm, yanked him towards Serene, then the group vanished in another flash of Teleport.

Anistar City Hotel

Robin left Benedict's hotel room with her hair still damp from the shower. She never normally got up this late, or hung out in hotels when a campsite would do, but then this trip to Kalos had been full of never normallys. She entered the hotel to lobby to check out, and while the guy at the counter ran through her details, she saw Wayne and Gremlin curled up on the seats in the lounge area. An exasperated clerk kept speaking to them in stressed-out Kalosian, but Robin didn't need to be a native speaker to know what sécurité meant.

'Thank you,' she said to the receptionist before heading over to rescue the young teen. 'Sorry, sorry, he's with me.'
'Then please get 'im out of 'ere,' said the clerk, signalling to the sliding double doors. 'I 'av been trying to get 'im out for 'alf an hour!'

The clerk stormed off, straightening his cap, which had gone all wonky about five minutes after he lost his patience, and twenty-five minutes before Robin appeared. Robin placed her hands on her hips and sighed.

'Okay, Wayne, time to go.'

---

Anistar City was truly magical. Robin had travelled the world in her years since graduating from the academy, and still this place was impressive. Built over a lake, the entire city stood above the water, waves crashing below the city streets. Walking its roads gave the impression that one were traversing a city from some forgotten fairy tale, compounded once the evening fell, and the whole city was bathed in falling sparkles of light.

Then there was the sundial. Robin could see it from her hotel window, but its true majesty only became apparent up close. There one could see the solid pink gemstone mass that overlooked the lake. When the sun was out, it glowed with frantic rainbow light, burning from the inside out. It reminded Robin of a heart, with each edge and ridge trapping and refracting light to resemble a complex web of capillaries.

Wayne dragged his feet, hunched over like a movie zombie. Robin felt a tiny bit responsible for his current state, having taken him to that last party of the Caesura. She wouldn't normally go to something like that, but it had turned out to be interesting. More interesting than she thought she could take at certain points.

'Hmmmm...' Gremlin stared at her from his position atop Wayne's back. Robin was going to send him to Zack, but after some discussion, he had officially become Wayne's pokémon instead. 'HMMMM...'
'What?' Robin frowned, suddenly aware of how red her cheeks were. Aipom couldn't read minds, she reminded herself. This one just acted like he could.

'Guys, I'm starving,' Wayne whined, clutching his stomach. 'And hotel food sucks, they make you pay extra to get into the breakfast buffet, and then everything is on these tiny little sticks which really hurt on the way down.'
'We can go onto a route and catch some-'
'No, no, no!' Gremlin hopped from Wayne's back onto Robin's. 'We ain't having any more of that wilderness crap! We want real food! Right, Wayne?'
'I'm starving literally to death.'
'You're not-' Robin plucked Gremlin from her shoulder and tossed him away. The Aipom somersaulted and landed on a railing that overlooked a car park. 'Okay, okay. We'll find somewhere to eat. I'm hungry too.'

'Oh, I bet you are,' Gremlin said, clambering onto Wayne's back as the trainer punched the sky. 'Real thirsty too from what I hear.
Robin went red. 'No idea what you're-'
'I'm just saying that's the last time we stay in the room next door to you.'

---

Wayne seemed to perk up now that he was stuffing his face. The cafe owner had originally tried to give Gremlin a bowl of pokémon chow, but the Aipom sent him packing until he came back with the same as Wayne. Robin ate grilled Goldeen with fresh salad. She had gotten in the habit of roughing it outdoors and catching her own food, but it was still nice when people made it for you. She wasn't a savage, just disciplined. Her mentor said it'd make her a better trainer, and she couldn't argue with the results.

'That is siiiick,' Wayne said, staring at his holo caster display. He shoved the match in front of Gremlin, who took the opportunity to slurp Wayne's milkshake, and swiped back to make the battle replay. 'Dude finishes in like five seconds. I wanna do that. Robin, can you do that?'
'Let me see,' Robin leaned over as Wayne swiped back again. Her eyebrows raised as she watched Benedict's match against Olympia play out. Low levels, but no shortage of skill. She was weirdly proud. 'Could do. You'll have to keep watching.'

Robin had spent the past week remaining relatively low-key and scoping out the competition. She intended to turn Kalos on its head with a mid-late game rush through for badges and make a name for herself. But plans had changed. Benedict had become her way to get to Balibar early. She finished her food and stood up.

'Right guys, I'll catch up with you later. I've got to get ready for a date.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Jerath was, of course, more than happy to teach his more natural instincts to someone. So he hunted pokemon to fight, and left them alive as he'd been instructed to do. Alive but defeated. [It's pretty easy once you know what you're doing. Most of them make way too much noise. You give it a try.] Being a rock-pokemon, most people probably didn't expect Jerath to be quite so light on his feet when hunting. But that was how you caught food.

Manny's training included telepathic attempts to delve Loki's energy in order to split some of his own. There was a move that helped with pain, apparently, and it sounded like a good foundation for something. Are you sure you're not telepathic? I have sooooo many questions for a master telepath. Ideally his pestering also helped with Loki's focus.

[So I guess I'm trying to tap into some kind of electric field in the planet? But that doesn't sound real, you know? It sounds made up.] Caboose was saying as he shared notes with Feather. According to Ben, supposedly it was screwed with by man-made stuff, but he was sure he'd have felt it anyway before then. [I think he's just screwing with me.] His attention was, of course, partially focused on making Helena suffer. He remembered her. She was an a*****e.

While Pan was talking at her, Essence was practicing her fist-fighting. Poison jab would come out faster, but she needed to first get a style down. She was mostly just replying to the weird things that Pan was saying and trying to punch the pokemon in the face.

For Francis, he was focusing on timing and aim. Strike at a small target, predict an opponent. So for his part, he was striking at the next bit of footing he would expect Ecarlate to land. He had restricted himself from attacking directly, this high up and with this much movement, even a stationary target was small and hard to hit. But also, wind and trees meant the trees weren't entirely stationary always. So good enough.

Ricard's hand caught Tyrant's head, pulsing with the Thunder Punch that had helped to mitigate the damage. There was still so much strength there. So much force. He'd been ready to just leave again, but here it was. [Do you have any idea how hard you have to push to reach this point?] There was a smile in his voice. Excitement. [How much you have to train? And then when you get there, what's next? Who's left to take you on?] He would look like he was holding Tyrant's head back, and with his tiny arms. Humans might think of a taller person holding back a shorter one by their head from a cartoon.

[Everything I do I have to hold back. Every fight. I can't kill this. I can't hurt that too badly. Imagine. Imagine feeling like everything is glass, on the verge of breaking at a breath. Being told not to break it.] Laughter sprang up. [I don't have to do that now, do I? You better take this seriously, Runt.] Dragon tail was the next thing to come out, aiming to smash into Tyrant's side and topple him.


Ben wasn't trying not to laugh. Helena's hair looked hilarious. "Are you doing okay?"  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

The caesura, while a nice change of pace for the trainers, left spectators with no matches to watch outside of reruns. If they were lucky, they’d get to see some publicized training regiments of a few sponsored trainers. The Gotengo kids were even luckier, because they got to see Salieri’s Pokémon training firsthand. And when Salieri’s team trained, that usually meant they were scrapping.

The kids had gathered on the porch to watch from afar as her team went at it. Biz Marquiz was lobbing Seed Bombs at Oberon, whose job was to dodge them. These bombs grew with tiny spines, prickly enough that the bombs would stick to whatever they contacted with. They didn’t explode on contact, either. Salieri had Biz working manipulating his Seed Bombs into different types of explosives. The Chesnaught was hard at work delaying the explosions and detonating the sticky bombs remotely. It was a lot to concentrate on.

Oberon was centering a field of gravity on herself. When she evolved, she’d allegedly be able to skip so lightly that she’d be able to walk on water. Salieri wanted to hone this trait early on, so her Clefairy was carthwheeling and flipping through the air, drifting as though she were floating in zero gravity. The levitation wasn’t an issue. Controlling direction and speed was another story. Still, she had yet to be hit by a bomb, if only because Biz kept detonating the wrong ones.

Reynard was also in that fray, but not allowed to attack, much to her chagrin. Last week she had learned to make a watery Substitute, and could already make the clone act like her. Now Salieri was training Rey to reabsorb it. The Vaporeon continuously shifted into water, either trying to snap to where her Substitute was and merge with it, or trying to pull the Substitute to her for the same effect. Getting into contact between the random detonations of Seed Bomb was tricky enough. Actually pulling the watery mimic back into herself was trickier. Frustrated, Reynard took a second to fire a Water Gun warning shot at Biz Marquis. [Get a pattern, you idiot!]
[The pattern is random, it’s supposed to be random!] he yelled back, clicking at a seed shaped button he had grown on his finger to blow up more bombs.
[That’s not what pattern means!]

Banksy was spared from all the training. Salieri knew that Banksy was battle ready, just rusty. And she didn’t want to fight anyway. All the flying around was enough for her. The Torkoal was inside her shell with the children, providing a makeshift bench for Youngsters Carter and Anais.

Salieri had Ivan and Durendal off to the side. Ivan and Salieri had been brainstorming together over the caesura, since they were new to the team and had a foundation of Pokédex knowledge to work with. When Salieri had found out that Ivan could, for a lack of a better term, “pixelize” themselves in the real world, she immediately thought of ways to make them more convenient. She rubbed her chin as one of Ivan’s flippers disassembled into pixels, then reformed into the shape of a blue, three dimensional glove. It waved at her. “Disturbing, but realistic. Can you hollow out the hand? How many pieces can you split into at once?”

Without a device to give them a voice, Ivan was completely mute. They spun around frantically, waving their remaining flipper and their floating glove hand wildly. Sal grinned. One of the reasons she liked training Ivan was because they couldn’t talk while she was doing it. A few minutes of the AI not snarking at her was something she could look forward to.

“We’ll keep working on that while we shop.” Salieri turned her attention to Durendal. Her Pawniard’s armor was still cracked in a few places, healing in the aftermath of the Gym Battle. He was seated on a wooden bench next to Mia, looking rather embarrassed.
“You’re not gonna make him throw hands, are you?” Mia asked, spliff in mouth. She offered it to Durendal, who declined.
“No, he needs to stay out of battles for a day. I’ve got something specific for him to work on.”
“How do you train without exercise?” Mia asked.
“Not every move requires you to be active to learn. Some moves you can learn while you’re at rest,” she explained to the non-trainer, relishing the chance to be more knowledgeable on the subject than her nerd friend. “Ramos opened up a hole in our strategy. Showed me that Dune is weak to stall. Maybe my whole team is. Dune, I’m going to teach you how to Taunt.”

Dune tilted his head. “It’s easy. I do it all the time. But you have to be emphatic, can’t have you half cocked when you Taunt. You need to zero in on a flaw or insecurity your opponent has, then mock it mercilessly. Like, really make them feel bad.”
“I’m wary of the role model you’ve become.”
“If you’re gonna backseat train then get over here.” Mia stood up next to Sal. “Ok, Mia and I are going to taunt each other, so you can really see what I’m talking about.” Durendal nodded, preparing his mental notebook. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,” Sal assured Mia quietly.
“Uh-huh.”

Sal turned to Mia and cleared her throat. “Yo, your hair is soooo curly, you get conditioner by the gallon.” Sal flicked a thumb over her nose, proud. Mia squinted at her, not blinking while she hit her spliff. “Girl, your hair is so curly, Fletchlings land on your head cause they think its their nest. Girl-“
“You’re a flat, short, skank,” Mia said bluntly.
Sal stopped. She looked down at her chest, then up at her friend with quivering eyes. “Dude…”
“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Mia wrapped Sal in a hug, which Sal silently accepted. Mia gave Dune a wink. “I have defeated you for all time.”
Sal pushed Mia off her and heaved a sigh. “You get the point, Dune. Try Taunting Ivan.”

The Pawniard stood on the bench and looked to Ivan, who had Converted their head to also be a glove shape. “Ivan! Listen up!”

The Porygon-Z spun on an axis to face Durendal, who stood at attention with his arms at his side. For a minute. Without saying anything. “Just give it a try, Dune.”

Another minute passed. “Literally, anything.”

Dune opened his mouth to speak. Sal and Mia leaned in, anticipation growing. He closed his mouth and shook his head. “C’mon, man.” Sal shook her head.
“Do you want me to Taunt Sal again, cause I’ll do it-“
“NO no no he gets the point.” Sal cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered at the kids. “Carter! Anais! You’re in charge til we get back! Everyone help Durendal learn how to Taunt, ok? I’ll buy you candy.”
Dune gulped. Cartner and Anais gave a thumbs up and a salute respectively. “We shall be firm but fair rulers!”
“Mia, time?”
Mia checked her watch. “2.”
“Ivan, follow us. Shopping montage time.”  

[Marsuru]

Moreau Library - Estival Avenue

The library was noisier than usual. League season usually saw an uptick in the number of visitors, but this year had been like no other. Instead, the Moreau Library was deader than dead, and after three days with barely a handful of visitors, Esme's Aunt Janvier had finally relented, and allowed the girls to have the television on. Talking heads blathered on while the two lab aides studied, buried above their heads in books.

'Three days have passed with no sign of Queen Antoinette,' said Elite Four member Malva Leroux, serving in her role as lead newscaster. An odd day job for a court noble, but when you ranked so highly, you could do anything you wanted. 'Eyewitness accounts report the terrorist "Ratio" battling against Quillon before kidnapping the queen. The attack on the funeral procession of Gabriel Leroux...'

Sina stretched both arms above her head and slumped in her seat. 'Maaaaan, this is boring. We should do somethiiiing.'
'We are doing something. We're studying,' said Esme, not looking up from her notes. She had a couple books spread out next to her, and a laptop to look up some online journals.

She finished copying a quote on evolution theory by Oak and Elm, then looked up. Sina already had her bottom lip stuck out. Esme smiled.

'I know it is not interesting, but we are nearly done. This is the last paper of the summer.'
'You're nearly done,' Sina pouted. 'I'm nearly started. My brain can't process all of this. Gimme an actual pokémon in an actual lab and I'll-'

Sina threw her hands around in what Esme assumed were supposed to be sciencey hand gestures.

'In other news, the investigation into the attack on Shalour City has officially concluded. An Orrean pirate named Skarada had attempted to take the city hostage, but the police were quick to take action...

'You know?' Sina sighed, staring at her nearly empty page. She had a few notes, but had been forced to scribble them out when Esme suggested that Sina reread the passage, and it turned out she had the wrong end of the stick. 'I just suck at this... Specifically just this. You know... you like to write papers.'
'No,' said Esme, going back to her notes.
'Ughh, you're so meaaan.'
'Just think of it this way: finish quickly and you can go back to chasing boys.'
Sina waved her holocaster. 'Did you think I was checking the weather on this thing?'

'A lone report claiming that the Nostrad family operated an off-route oil field has now been debunked. The report was linked to a small rise in anti-nobility sentiment, and its author-' The television showed a picture of Alexa, a few days into being chased by her Stalker, looking like warm s**t. '-has refused to answer our requests for a statement.'

'You do not need many boyfriends,' Esme said. 'Just one good one.'
'Babe, I would KILL for one good one right now, no lie.'
'Perhaps you should stop studying for now then,' Esme said with a smirk. 'Go, ah, stretch your legs.'
'Yes! I err...' Sina paused, her energy turning dour in a blink. 'Actually, we really should keep studying.'
Esme frowned. 'Is something wrong?'
'What? No! I'm just super behind is all. Like, what even is biology, you know what I'm saying? Haha, yeah you do.'

Esme gave Sina a funny look. She was used to her friends being weird, but Sina rarely turned on a dime, and Esme had never known her to prioritise studying over a good time. She got out of her seat, suddenly very thirsty.

'I am going to get a drink. Do you want one?'
'Huh? Nah, I'm okay. You could definitely get me some more M&Ms though. This study-train needs fuel.'

---

Esme descended the staircase in the centre of the library onto the middle floor. It was quiet now. Even the television was impossible to hear. She walked. Then stopped. Something felt wrong. Esme listened out more closely for the sounds of the news, the hum of the city streets through an open window. Nothing. It was a preternatural silence. One that could be cut with a sharp knife.

'What?' her voice hung dead on the air. She looked around, but nobody was there. A shadow caught her eye, but when she turned it was just a bookshelf. Not wishing to stay here any longer, Esme hurried down the steps, feeling a chill on her back as her adrenaline spiked.

Once she was downstairs, everything was fine. The sound returned, and Esme forgot all about it.  

[Spinne Biss]

When Jerath looked back he would see that Metric had just finished snapping the neck of his last victim. Each Pokemon that the Rhyhorn had taken out now lay in a path of broken bodies. This is what Metric had been taught to do while hunting for food in the wild. [Okay!] He said enthusiastically before charging at the next wild Pokemon.


Pain Split was one way that they could keep their psionic energies in sync. As Meditite would grasp the foundations of it via Loki's recover, another idea would start within him. [I cannot read minds, but do you know telekinesis?]

[Don't stress, child,] Feather said, the pride in her voice. [Just let yourself feel what you already naturally know is there.] She danced, fae winds coming to life like a solar storm in the atmosphere, painting the air around them with her movements. If Caboose calmed down and let himself become consciously aware of everything he'd begin to feel it too. Not just the latent electromagnetic energies of the planet but the stuff that humans utilized in the air. Radio Frequency was the source of human communication, and utilizing it in various ways was how things such as radio, or wi-fi existed. Any place where a holocaster could be utilized, Caboose would be able to feel these energies. [Once you can feel them, try touching them.] To get the point across, Feather would place her hand to the air, causing a pulse of pink fae energy that would radiate outwards until it became too thin to see.

[You can't even bench press a vegetable!] Pan said as he used the side of his fist to bat away the poison point at Essence's fists side. He'd take a step back to dodge the next one. [Your parents are so ugly when the doctor saw you he said it was illegal for them to breed!]

The trees along the route were sparse, causing Ecarlate to be careful that he did not trap himself on an impossible point as he moved from one of Francis' targets to the next. The rate at which he would plot out his jumps from location A to location B would slowly become faster. At first it would take him three jumps to get there, but it was starting to consistently become two as their training went on.

Tyrant would gladly jump into off-screen combat with Francis, the two of them slamming into each other and becoming a mess of draconian combat.

Marge Simpson - I mean Helena Redgrave - would stare flatly at Benedict. "No-ow." her lockets chain sparked across her neck. "No. Ow. I. Ow. Am. Ow. Not. Ow." Stubbornly, she refused to remove the piece of jewellry.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Jerath would step in front before Metric could charge. [Hold on there. We're not planning on eating these. We're not hunting for food right now.] He wondered if the other understood. [Restraint is important. Gauge only how much strength you need. Use this training to start figuring that out if you don't know how yet.] Pokemon like them could do a lot of damage recklessly. And this one would screw up the local ecosystem if left unchecked.

Manny would demonstrate Psychic for Loki. About that much, but nothing delicate. Just bursts of force. Like a punch. To punctuate he punched the palm of his left hand.


Caboose watched Feather do things and frowned. She made no sense. [Okay.] He replied, and tried to become aware of things. Ben and Helena bith had electronics on them, that he could feel. That made sense. Ben let him play with that stuff. There was him. Magnet rise. Even humans had electricity. It took a moment to realize he was becoming more aware of other electricity that, now he thought about it, had no discernable source. Like it was part of something bigger than him. The planet? There was more. Things with sources, if he followed that current. Radio. He knew that. In cities. But it was so high up. And he felt like he could skim the music and relay it if he had to. There were signals everywhere up there. So much information. But the planet's electric field was how he could get there. Not just electromagnetic, but an actual electric field. One he could almost feel like he could surf on. [Oh. I guess it isn't made up.] And then he started rocking back and forth to a song no one else heard. [Any idea how to convert electricity to sound? Cause I have a funny thing I want to do.]

[I don't know what a bench press is.] Essence replied. Left. Left. Right. Step in. Gut punch. Left right. [I don't have parents. You're bad at this.] She kept focus on the fight for the moment.

For Francis, it was a matter of becoming more precise with his ranged attacks. So probably this training was better for Ecarlate than him.

And such a battle ensued between the dragons.

"That's, uh.. Why is it just you though?" Ben asked, letting himself be confused instead of laughing more. "Seems weird."  

[Spinne Biss]

Metric frowned as he looked up at Jerath. Helena had always put them in situations where killing wild Pokemon was a necessity. Or he'd been taught that it was. [If we're not hunting... we don't kill?]

[I have an idea that I've wanted to try. For now let's keep focusing on this, but next time we meet we should try telekinesis on those humans and make them fight each other.] Loki paused to hide his smile. [For training.]

[Nope,] Feather said, now in a song of her own. Not one that existed on an auditory level, but it was in the colors. It was in the way they moved. The inherit energies of the earth itself. Not exactly aura, but for a fairy type Pokemon it was close enough. Feather, after all, was learning to paint with the colors of the wind. All of them.

You're bad at this. The insult stunned Pan. Almost enough that he couldn't dodge the poison point. He'd take a step back and trip, hitting the ground and then quickly pushing himself to his feet. Taking a moment, he'd look over at the tumbling Dragons, their conflict a terrifying brutal display. But something was graceful about it as well. He had always known Tyrant to require skill, strategy, and numbers to take on. Fighting him head on was something that even Pan's father couldn't do. It was why he was trying to master this technique. His father was a one armed Pangoro, but with both arms the True Parting Shot would be invincible. Or so he'd always been taught. Watching someone take Tyrant head-on felt unreal. [You're just an obstacle,] Pan said as he turned to Essence once more, his eyes intense leading to a fierce expression. [Bring it on.]

[Faster!] Ecarlate called after Francis. The time was basically two jumps now. His route plotting could be sped up significantly and the Scizor planned to push himself only harder now.

He was alive! Tyrant roared, not with rage but adrenaline! He'd faced power opponent before, hunted them, but nothing like this. The puny humans electric type feared him, the giant stone-bird feared him. None of them faced him directly but this? This was a direct assault, this was exhilarating! This was combat! [You die well!,] Tyrant said in the midst of miscellaneous faux-death match, [I promise to take the memory of your glory into the next generation! My children will know it was a worthy man's heart I feasted upon this day!]

"I dunno, but we only got a few more hours before I need to get ready for a party. What are you doing later today?" Helena asked Ben, the word Ow. will following after every word she spoke. Even if it wasn't verbally spoken it was obvious on her face, in every wince and every moment of clear discomfort between winces.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Jerath nodded. [There is strength to be found in being delicate. Holding back is harder than always going all out. Everything is about judgment, and this can help improve yours. Read a situation. When the time comes again to go all out, I believe you'll realize you're stronger than you know.] If Metric pressed him further, Jerath would begin teaching him about ecosystems and the importance of avoiding overhunting.

I don't think I can do it with that much finesse. Just like... A punch. Manny punched his palm again to show Loki.

Caboose shrugged. Next time then. For now, he just had to figure out how to use this field to fly. Maybe he could, like, surf it. That would be fun. [Hey do that wind thing again.] And if she dis, he would use it to try and help him with the surfing. Maybe he could call the move the electric slide?... No. That was a bad name.

Essence waited patiently for him to get up. This Pan needed a better teacher for insults. She liked people. Definitely more than fighting. When he stood up, she smiled. It was a polite, friendly smile. [Better.] She punched, and this time when he went to block, worry seeds would burst from her arm to attach to him and unfocus him. [Keep going.]

Richard was alive again after what had felt like years. For him there wasn't a roar. There wasn't laughter. It was a pure, graceful joy. Dragonites were among the fastest pokemon out there. Grace and speed was his thing. But there was definitely trash talk. [You'll end today filled with such shame your own kids will disown you after hearing about it.] He replied. To be fighting and struggling again. To be... whole. That was a real wonder.

Ben took a moment to think. "If it's the same party I heard about, I was thinking of being in town but going somewhere else." Just in case everything blew up in their faces and he had to show up. "But I probably need to mentally prepare for our meeting tomorrow. That's gonna be a lot on its own."  

[Spinne Biss]

Metric listened to Jerath but it didn't make any sense to him. [I don't understand why we'd leave them alive? What if they come after us? Or their kids come after us?] He shot a glance at Pan.

[Work on it,] Loki said as he continued to synchronize psionic energies with Manny, working on the Pain Split technique.

With a dark blue woosh of Fairy Wind, Feather would lift Caboose up higher into the sky.

Anxiety ate through Pan as he stumbled backwards from the Worry Seed. Resolving himself through it, he'd continue to think and dodge, though the added obstable making that harder.

"Wanna keep jogging?" Helena asked and, if Benedict accepted, they could timeskip to a few hours later.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

[Why would they?] Jerath asked. He looked back at the bodies and gestured with his horn. [They're the ones whose families you have to worry about. And if they had families and survived, why would they abandon them over a lost fight? Pride isn't a driving factor for everyone. In fact, it takes a pretty massive shift or destructive change to an ecosystem to make that likely at all.] He looked at Tyrant. Like that one. [If they come again, win again. That can help you grow too. If death is all you know how to bring it will consume you. And you won't even be able to imagine the devastation you leave behind.] Jerath remembered the stampede. That had been dangerous as all heck.

Caboose could feel, more than see, the field as he began to be pushed. At first it was clear he was being lifted, but with time it would start to look like he was surfing on air. On electricity.

"Yeah," Ben replied. It seemed like a good time for a time skip.  

[Spinne Biss]

Three and a half hours past on that route with the two sponsored trainers training. Not all of it was hard work, some people passing by asked for pictures. Sometimes there was a battle. All in all, it was a relatively nice day of mostly co-operative training.

By the end of it Jerath and Metric had gone on a nature walk, discussing the lives of wild Pokemon and learning how to non-lethally take out wild Pokemon for the sake of combat. By the end of it Metric was feeling torn about battling wild Pokemon in general so the two simply rested.

Loki had learned from Manny as well. Psych Up being taught through their shared psionic bond while Manny got down the fundamentals of pain split.

[This time you have to get up there yourself,] Feather would tell Caboose. It was time for their last ride before everyone packed it up to go. More like, they had been told to come back to be recalled and Feather was pushing Caboose to give it a final shot.

Pan's insults were slowly getting better, but he was still having trouble with it. By the end of their training, Essence would see improved footwork while Pan had managed to end up exhausted.

The battle had been glorious! Bloody, brutal, and majestic as all true battles should be. Tyrant looked up, too weak to fight back now. It was time for Ricard to land the final blow and, head held high, Tyrant was ready to be fainted.

Helena had just finished texting Henrietta that she would be there soon. Azucena had apparently gone on ahead to help setup since K-Rok would be DJing for the party. They had done plenty of jogging, and then walking, and finally some yoga. "If I don't see you at the party I'll see you at the dinner tomorrow?"