-Training Day 1-
“Okay. We have a lot to work on to get you all ready for the Gym. Scyther, while we’ve gone through basic moves already, long-term specialty training for you is going to be as much about using new sword forms and types of energy as anything else. That is a slow process and unlikely something we can complete before the Gym. As such, we’ll focus your training on something more traditional and immediately useful.”
2B produced the TM for Brick Break, showing it to her newest Pokémon.
“This is a device that can teach you the move Brick Break. Since you already know Vacuum Wave, you have a solid feel for Fighting Type aura already. Brick Break isn’t as fast, but it packs a lot more power, which will give you an excellent option for the Gym. Pure Rock Types will suffer the most from the move, but even most of the mixed types used by the Gym here will not enjoy the experience.”
Scyther looked excited by the idea of a new move, even if 2B was a little annoyed she didn’t have time to work out something really good for her newest pokémon. She had several ideas, but most of them involved the more exotic energies his species could use. Cutting bullets, or in this world Hyper Beams, by coating his blades in Psychic energy would be a nice option. But such things would take time, and a First Badge Challenge was unlikely to feature Hyper Beams to cut, anyway.
Returning Scyther to her ball and applying the TM to it to start the process of training, 2B set both aside. It took anywhere from a half an hour to several hours, depending on the move and the talent of the pokémon for it, to learn a TM. In the meantime, she would focus on her other team members.
“Jigglypuff and Vulpix, you’re already in the midst of new training that will help. Vulpix, I want you to continue to focus on using the Aura Surge created by your Snow Warning ability to pre-charge Ice Burst Barrage. Losing the effect of Hail isn’t a big deal, since we haven’t yet trained you to properly vanish into it. Using the burst of aura it creates to charge up Ice Burst Barrage for instant use when you come onto the field is much more useful.”
Vulpix nodded, looking fierce at the thought of being able to instantly explode the enemy with icy wrath the moment she took the field. Grabbing her pokéball, she marched off to start working on it. With her pokéball unlocked, she could easily enter and exit it on her own to work on the ability.
“Jigglypuff. You know what to do. Refining Water Pulse into Pulse Machinegun will make you our Ace for this battle.”
Jigglypuff’s happy smile as she bounced off would induce nightmares in many. Doubly so if they realized the little pint-sized menace was intent on continuing their attempt to replicate Fairy Gatling with other energy types. It was much harder, since Water Type energy wasn’t a natural affinity for her species. Yet, Fairy Gatling was both her favorite move and her most thoroughly drilled. Better yet, Water Pulse was possibly her next most familiar move due to how she used it for mobility. With those factors as an edge, they were making significant progress on the variant. It would never be as strong as Fairy Gatling, since she wouldn’t get a Same Type Attack Bonus, but against the Pewter Gym it would arguably be even more deadly.
“Chinchou, we’re going to continue to work on your Water Echo. Now that you have Water Pulse and Confuse Ray down, I believe we can start making real progress on it!”
Chinchou looked at her with subdued glee, eager to have his first truly original move like Jigglypuff and Vulpix already did...
… … …
-Training Day 1-
“Right, Teddiursa! Fury Swipes into Brick Break!”
Zoey watched intently as her little bear pokémon tried to execute the combination, using the accelerated arm movements from Fury Swipes to carry the Fighting Type energy from Brick Break. Unlike the truly bullshit moves 2B was teaching her team, this was still just a combo move rather than a true original. Yet, it was still something she’d never have thought to try so soon without 2B’s example.
Not just the example for her, either. Teddiursa, having been exposed to 2B’s pokémon, almost certainly had a looser concept of what was possible than a normal young pokémon. It was something that Coordinators often saw, as it happened, when they raised a new pokémon alongside more experienced teammates that had already learned to modify moves. Which meant she even had some idea how to help her little bear through the mindset required. Now, she just had to see if they could make it work.
She was quite pleased that 2B had allowed her to borrow the TM for Brick Break back in Viridian City…
… … …
-Training Day 2-
“That was good, Chinchou. But remember, you’re going to have to stay mobile against some opponents. So you need to practice alternating between your new move and the movement version of Water Pulse.”
Chinchou bobbled happily, even as he accepted the recovery Berry he’d earned for managing the Water Echo move his Trainer had come up with. He’d managed to fake even Jigglypuff out with it…once. Which he clearly felt was more than deserving of a Berry or two. Not that 2B disagreed. It was a major accomplishment. Doubly so to have managed to get it down to that extent in so little time.
“Scyther, good job with Brick Break. I think you’ve got the basic move down, so today you’ll move on to trying to execute it on the move, using the obstacle course I set up during training yesterday. Got it?”
Scyther, looking determined, crossed her arms in a salute, then took off for the arrangement of rocks and logs 2B had spent a good chunk of their training time the day before jury-rigging. Thankfully, the outskirts of Viridian Forest weren’t shut down for the moment, even if the deeper parts were still under a strongly worded travel warning. So she’d had plenty of material to work with, reproducing a crude version of the courses she’d created for Jigglypuff and Vulpix at the Oak Ranch.
“Vulpix, good job. Take a rest on the Ice Barrage setup for today while your aura recovers from the hard work you put in yesterday. Instead, we’re going to work on training Disarming Voice. Sadly, your typing and possible move pool isn’t great for the Pewter Gym, so I want you to focus on getting used to your Fairy Type energy. It will serve better against Rock and Ground, at least, and is a nearly unavoidable area of effect move that will serve the team well in the future.”
Specifically, 2B wanted to see what happened when it was used from the cover of the Hailstorm produced by Snow Warning’s default usage. If it worked the way she thought, it could prove to be a devastating ambush tactic in the long run. Vulpix was clearly disappointed that she wasn’t going to be very useful for the upcoming Gym…but she also admired Jigglypuff greatly. Glancing Jigglypuff’s way and getting a cheerful encouragement from her fellow pokémon, Vulpix puffed up proudly and settled in to work on her first Fairy Type move.
“Jigglypuff, I think you’re running into a mental block with the Type Energy. Come here, I’ve had some thoughts on Water Type aura while watching Chinchou work on Water Echo. I think I have a better grasp now on how it differs from Ice. Let’s concentrate on trying to get your old Swallow move to Stockpile Water Type aura instead of Fairy, and see if that helps with a breakthrough…”
… … …
-Training Day 2-
Zoey eyed Ponyta with approval. She’d had the pony pokémon work with Purugly while she’d trained with Teddiursa yesterday, working the young fire pokémon on general conditioning. After the night to recover, those positions had flipped, with her starter now working Teddiursa through his paces as she directly trained Ponyta. So far, he was looking good, showing signs of growth under the effects of the conditioning they’d started clear back on Route 26. Something Zoey felt was probably helped along by the carefully tuned diet that 2B had helped her construct.
“Alright, Ponyta! Fire isn’t a great element to deal with Rock and Ground types. But that’s why I’ve been focusing on you getting that Double-Kick move down since I first saw you attempted it against Purugly. I’m pleased to say that you’ve gotten a solid lock on using it, and it will be a big help in the Gym Challenge.”
Ponyta preened, clearly happy with the praise, but she was quick to burst his bubble just a bit.
“That said, a single partially mastered move isn’t enough to overcome the hurdle before us! Which is why, today, we’re going to focus on something that’s a much bigger part of your species’ reputation.”
Zoey paused, watching as Ponyta, who she was learning was a bit dramatic, deflated at her bubble-bursting, before perking up at the second bit. Lips twitching, she continued.
“Speed! Your pokémon line is one of the fastest out there! Not only that, but used correctly, speed will only enhance Double-Kick! Which means we’re going to focus on learning the Agility move. It’s an ability that comes naturally to your species, but unfortunately we don’t have anyone with Psychic Typing around to help you sort out the energy. Thankfully, I have trained pokémon with the move before, so we’ll push through! Are you ready?”
Ponyta reared and excitedly called out his name, causing Zoey to grin.
“Alright then, the first thing we’re going to do is…”
… … …
-Training Day 3-
The sounds of swords clashing moved around the clearing, with only one of the combatants truly visible. 2B was moving minimally, just enough to interpose her blade to deflect Scyther’s as she tried to cut the red cloth that had been tied to a pole behind her Trainer. Scyther herself was a blur, mixing Quick Attack with Agility to attempt to deliver the blow. Something made harder by the fact that she was only allowed to deliver said blow via Brick Break. The need to add in the new move caused her to occasionally stutter and break rhythm as she tried to call on the Fighting type energy in rapid sequence with a Quick Attack’s Normal type.
After deflecting yet another attempt, 2B spoke.
“No. You’re still coming in with slashing motions. You know you need to jab to make Brick Break work. Remember, the point here is to hit as small a surfaced area with a penetrating strike as possible, and then release the Fighting energy as an internal shockwave. Use the linear momentum created by Quick Attack to assist the jab, since it’s not quite as natural a motion for you.”
The next attempt was better, as had several other attempts been. Scyther was fighting existing instincts with this maneuver, though. 2B understood that and was content to be patient. The fact that this exercise was also refining the use of pinpoint Quick Attacks as a movement ability rather than an attack was also a nice bonus.
Reading Scyther’s movements again and deflecting despite the Agility Boosted pokémon being faster than her at this point, 2B took the chance to glance over at where Vulpix and Jigglypuff were engaged in a similar exercise. Jigglypuff was bouncing all around with her natural ability to float combined with Water Pulses, while Vulpix tried to tag her with Ice Burst Barrage and snowballs generated by condensing Powder Snow.
So far Jigglypuff was untouched, much to the growing frustration of Vulpix. Still, Jigglypuff was clearly working for that, running down her stamina far faster than Vulpix. In a real fight, neither of them would fight quite like this. It was fantastic training for accuracy and evasion, however. An exercise that would flip around after lunch as Vulpix got to practice trying to hide within Snow Warning’s hailstorm and Jigglypuff would be the hunter fighting to localize Vulpix through low-visibility conditions.
Satisfied with their efforts and progress, she returned to deflecting yet another blow from Scyther, who cried out her name in frustration. The bug pokémon was also starting to run out of steam, which meant it was nearly time to switch in Chinchou to the exercise instead. 2B looked forward to seeing just how effective the little pokémon could be in this exercise with his slowly-improving Water Echo…
… … …
-Training Day 3-
“Eye Slash!”
The name of the combo, intentionally worked on out of Purugly’s hearing, didn’t clue her starter into what was coming. As a result, Teddiursa using Baby-Doll-Eyes only to disrupt it the instant Purugly hesitated with her strongest slash came as a surprise to Zoey’s starter. Purugly was just too fast for it to connect, but it came remarkably close, getting a disgruntled noise from her starter. Zoey grinned, not letting up the pressure.
“Fury Break!”
This one was a combo Purugly had already heard, letting Zoey’s much faster, far more experienced starter easily dodge and move into Aerial Ace. That was alright, though, Teddiursa had come with a built-in surprise that had helped a lot with learning Brick Break.
“Counter!”
While the Aerial Ace hurt, Purugly was pulling his blows for training, and ended up with an unpleasant surprise as Teddiursa grabbed him and rotated. Purugly was slammed into the ground, grunting more in surprise than true hurt. Ultimately, her starter was simply too far above her newer team members to actually lose to them one-on-one. Yet, it was that and the sheer amount of time he’d worked with Zoey that made him such a good training aid. He didn’t need orders from her, most of the time.
Even now, he yowled a protest but just shook himself off and moved toward her expectantly. He already knew that Zoey had been happy with the result, and now wanted his payment of a Pewter Crunchy for deigning to act as a test dummy for their moves. Zoey gave it over happily, thanking him with pets and scritches as well for his hard work.
“Good job, Teddi! That was perfect! You’re going to knock those silly Rocks right out!”
Her adorable bear hopped around happily, and she grinned at the sight. Discovering that her particular Teddiursa had already known Counter of all things, likely getting it from a parent, had made her a lot more confident in the Pewter Gym challenge. It had meant the little bear was already familiar with Fighting Type energy, and had taken to Brick Break incredibly easily as a result.
She was still worried about the sheer size and weight disparity with some of the pokémon he might face. But that was really only the case if Flint pulled an Onix for their match. That was a bit of a worst case for Teddiursa, simply not having the speed or size to handle a large pokémon like that yet. She was, however, fairly certain that Ponyta could handle a lower-level Onix, at least. Simply by out speeding it, as Onix weren’t really all that fast by pokémon standards.
Yes. This Badge would be a bit of a challenge, as it worked against her current team. But she thought they could pull it off since it was merely a First Badge. She might have been far more worried if it was a third or fourth. Hopefully, by then, she’d have found a third teammate for her lineup to give the team a little more coverage and spread. She really didn’t want to use Purugly until the higher-level badges. Not only was it considered somewhat bad form, but it would allow the Gym Leaders to respond with a similar level of pokémon from their own lineup.
Which was fair in theory, but could be serious trouble in practice since it limited the ability to switch around. Switching was an advantage limited to the challenger until higher badges, and being forced to use her starter against their chosen ace limited its utility. For now, she thought she was fine, but doing the Gauntlet tomorrow would help her be more certain. For the moment, though…
“Alright, Teddi and Ponyta, switch out! Ponyta, this one is going to be a speed and agility challenge! Keep up with Purugly as long as you can!”
Training must go on. Tomorrow, they would take a rest day. Then would come the Gauntlet to get some more battle experience in, before returning to training to work out any kinks they discovered in the process…
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A/N 1: Our first really serious Training Montage Chapter! Here, I wanted not just to show their training, but some subtle differences in how 2B and Zoey operate. Zoey focuses on one pokemon at a time, letting her starter handle conditioning of the others while she does so. 2B juggles training exercises for all of her pokemon simultaneously instead, using her ability to multitask to keep track of it all. Note that I don't consider either method better or worse than the other. I just wanted to show that training can be handled very differently from Trainer to Trainer.