» Sword-drawing! Grind! [Ajax&Nyx] «

[Rin]

►Stumping up to the training park, Ajax swung his claw with anticipation, slipping off the bag which was typically slung over his shoulder with a strap that connected over his chest and the side of his torso, reaching down to his gold chain belt and unlatching the Pokeballs attached to it. Nyx was in her Skarmory form, standing attentively by his side with her crimson wings spread, clipping a few twigs off of the tree that they were standing underneath. ”Everyone, time to stretch out and train!” He tossed each of his Pokemon out one at a time, the red and white capsules emitting flashes of bright red light as they touched the ground, each beam of light arcing high into the air and then forming the shape of a Pokemon. «

► The first one out was Styl, who fluffed her butterscotch-colored downy feathers, nestling into the wispy grass that she suddenly found herself in and closing her eyes, probably preparing to take a nice nap. The second Pokemon to materialize was the Cielo, Scilde. She sat down heavily, blinking her eyes and tearing at the grass restlessly with her long claws. Finally Weedy formed, floating close to the ground, burbling and enjoying the sunlight. Nyx flexed her talons as she watched them, eager to impart her knowledge in fighting. After all, she hadn't honed her abilities over the years for no reason at all. She angled her steely feathers so that the sun reflected off of them strongly, patterning the nearby trees with dusky gold. "Okay, none of this lying around, you lazy bums," Ajax called. "It's training time!" «

► Styl cast an amused glance at her trainer, promptly turning her back. Getting stronger would be nice, but for now she would rather stay here and relax in the sunshine. Similarly, Scilde turned, peering at Ajax and Nyx for a lengthy moment before she returned to mauling the stalks around her. Weedy was murmuring to himself, puffing his small chest occasionally as he blew bubbles languidly into the air. He batted his eyelashes at Ajax, but seemed too lazy at the moment to do anything. Snickering under her breath, Styl watched Ajax, wondering how he would take control. This had really been a bad decision, to have them train on such a nice day. It would have been better to choose some cold night so they would all work hard to keep their heat up. Then again, I suppose that wouldn't really work,

[/color] she considered, remembering that she herself was a fire-type and wouldn't be affected by the cold, while Scilde would actually enjoy the cooler weather. «

► Ajax looked downcast for a second. Then his pride and quick temper kicked in. "Oh, really? You're all that miserable and pathetic? You better get your sorry derrières in gear before I come and GET you up here myself!" he positively snarled, opening and closing his claw in anger and pacing up and down, kicking up small clouds of dust. «

► "Oh, no no no!" Weedy cried in his high voice, jumping up immediately and 'swimming' swiftly over, the fin on his back fluttering hastily. Bouncing upward, he nestled himself close to Ajax's cheek in a blatant invasion of personal space, nibbling on his ear apologetically (if Horseas can nibble). "Ajax, we're so sorry, of course I'll train with you! What would you like to begin with?" He nuzzled up against Ajax's face anxiously, an aghast expression on his normally innocent looking Horsea. "We didn't mean to make you mad! I'll go first!" Giving Ajax a little kiss he floated away, landing gently on the grass, a strangely determined expression appearing in his eyes as he readied himself, blowing a few bubbles into the air and preening himself as if there was an opponent in front of him. «

► As speedily as it had come on, Ajax's anger evaporated. ”You will? he asked, patting Weedy on the head thankfully. ”That’s great! In that case, let’s go over this way,” he suggested, pointing to a copse of trees several meters away. ”Maybe seeing you train will motivate these little punks.” He threw a reproachful but teasing glare at Styl and Scilde, the latter staring back with wide eyes, and stalked off with the Horsea in tow, saying to Nyx, ”Keep on eye on everyone, okay?” A general sense of amusement followed his stalking off—Ajax, of all people, could hardly accuse others of being ‘little punks,’ considering his own appearance. «

► ”So, A-jay, what do you want me to do?” Weedy asked curiously, swaying this way and that as he fluttered his fin, anticipating the training while ignoring the incredulous look that Ajax gave him in return for the pet name. ”Attacks? Speed? Endurance? You name it, soul brother!” he declared, shooting a Bubble attack into the sky to prove that he was truly engaged in the training. «

►Ajax tapped his finger on his chin, considering. Now that he actually was training, he wasn’t exactly sure what to start with. Thinking, he cast around his mind for times when he had trained back at Telaseine. Hmmm…attacking, evasion, endurance, speed and agility, sustaining hits, strategy…well, I better start with the easier and more important stuff first, he thought, declaring, ”Let’s start with Smokescreen! I want to be coughing and dying on the floor by the end of this and totally unable to see!” «

► ”But I don’t want to hurt you,” Weedy cried in dismay. ”You’re my wonderful Trainer!” «

► ”Well, you’re going to have to be able to use a nice, strong Smokescreen someday, and if the opponent coughs, so much the better,” Ajax growled, clacking his claw. ”So get to it! Don’t think about me, focus on your attack.” Straightening, he folded his arms defiantly, waiting for a few moments as Weedy stared and then sniffing the air, eyeing the Horsea meaningfully and saying, ”What? The air’s still clear. That’s odd. Shouldn’t there be smoke floating around by now?”

► Weedy’s eyes glimmered happily—under all the toughness, he really could see Ajax cared, in some way or another. Well, that was enough for him. Sucking in breath, he concentrated and then puffed out his chest as he blew out a strong, thick stream of black smoke that spread quickly over the area, enveloping Ajax’s head, seeing the red claw waving away the smoke around him. His eyes widened. He did it, he did it! On his first try, too! Giggling happily, he tried again, puffing out his chest as he let loose another stream of smoke—or rather, only a dribble. Unable to hide his disappointment, he let out a little gasp, saying, ”What? Nooooo!” «

►Ajax coughed from the middle of the smoke cloud. ”Well, your second try kind of sucked, but the first one was great.” Motioning at Nyx, the Skarmory dæmon obligingly fanned away the smoke with her strong wings, and Ajax turned back to Weedy. ”See? Not too bad. But we’ve got to get it every time,” he reminded. ”Again! Not at me this time, though,” Ajax admitted, grinning a little, rubbing his eyes with his hand—they were smarting from the smoke. «

► Weedy offered a big smile back (or rather, the closest he as a Horse could get to a smile) and faced the other direction, puffing out smoke for the third time. The stream was steady, but it wasn’t a lot, nor was it only a trickle. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he tried once more. The fourth attempt was better, although it wasn’t nearly as good as his first. ”Keep trying,” Ajax suggested, and bolstered by the Scizor ‘morph’s confidence, Weedy tried yet again, sending thick clouds of black rushing from his mouth. Success! Now if only he could repeat the feat once more—he gathered himself and shot another billowing Smokescreen into the far side of the clearing. Ajax nodded, satisfied. ”Well, you might not be completely consistent, but you’re getting there. Anyway, now is when you put your Smokescreen into context. See this grove of trees here? You are to hide somewhere out in the open, but you’re allowed to run around if you stay in the trees, and you’re allowed to use Smokescreen to hide yourself. I’ll give you a headstart, and then I’ll try to find you and tag you, but remember I’m way faster than you are. You have to hide in your Smokescreen, and if you can hide for more than five minutes, you win.” «

► ”Sounds fair to me, A-jay!” the Horsea crowed, darting forward to give himself as much time as possible. The trees were large, and the shade that they offered was pleasant after all that sun. Taking a deep breath, Weedy spewed smoke around himself, making sure the passage was well-covered. Turning into another, tiny clearing, he used Smokescreen again, panting a little from the effort. Producing all this smoke was starting to get to him. ‘Swimming’ forward and preparing to Smokescreen once more, he jumped as he heard Ajax announce that he was coming in. Frantically, he blew out the attack – this time it wasn’t as effective as before – and attempted to conceal himself in the branches of a nearby spruce, spotting Ajax cringing as he began to wade through the smoke. «

► ”Heh! I know you’re in there somewhere! No use getting away from me!” Now Ajax was charging up the corridor of trees that Weedy was in, coming dangerously close to the Horsea’s hiding spot. He pressed himself closer into the tree, but Ajax’s sharp eyes managed to see through the slowly fading smoke. ”Ha! I gotcha!” He sprinted forward, and Weedy did the only thing he could do—blast a thick Smokescreen right into Ajax’s face. He ‘swam’ hastily off, nervous about hurting his Trainer but at the same time a little proud of his quick action, turned a corner, and hid himself near the bottom of another tree, shooting out another Smokescreen. He was getting quite good at this. Ajax, meanwhile, rubbed his eyes and coughed for a bit before setting out again to see where his Horsea was. There were only three or so minutes left, and all the Smokescreens were really hindering things; he could hardly see his own claw in front of his face. Fighting the urge to crawl, he tore up and down the small maze of trees, searching for Weedy. A small smile crossed his features—this almost was like training back home. Pushing away the little bubble of sadness growing in his stomach, he ran by a tree and spotted a flash of blue. Weedy! «

► Weedy had shrunk back into the trees, red eyes darting from side to side as he heard Ajax’s footsteps thudding close by while the Scizor ‘morph dashed up and down the trees. He was quite speedy—it was only the Smokescreens that saved the Horsea from being tagged instantly, and to reassure himself, he blew a few more for good measure, pleased with how the streams of black came so easily from his muzzle. He heard Ajax run by the tree a third time, and then the footsteps stopped, accompanied with a triumphant yell: ”Aha! I see you!” Weedy jumped nervously—Ajax was practically zooming at him like a comet. Panicking, he fired another Smokescreen. It was just as strong as the others, but Ajax kept running forward, reaching out with his left hand. «

► Weedy’s backfin fluttered as he tried to escape; Ajax was just so fast! The Scizor pokemorph’s fingers snatched at the tree just where the Horsea had been a heartbeat before, and Weedy sighed in relief. He relaxed a little too early—he froze as he felt Ajax’s fingernails brush the spines on the top of his head. Tagged. ”I gotcha!” Ajax jumped into the air triumphantly, scaling a nearby tree and shaking the branches, clearly quite happy with his victory. While Weedy was a bit downtrodden that he had lost, he couldn’t help but giggle at his Trainer’s excitement. Hearing the laugh, Ajax spun around. “Good job! I think you’ve mastered it,” he declared, jumping down and patting Weedy on the head. ”Smokescreen, I mean.” «

► ”But you got me!” Weedy protested, using a fake-whine tone of voice. He blew out another strong column of smoke. He had to admit that it was quite easy for him at this point, but he wanted to try harder, for Ajax’s sake. ”Let me try again!” he protested, curling and uncurling his tail anxiously as he watched Ajax. Turning around, he tried again to the same effect—a solid, dense cloud of black smoke. «

► ”Nah, don’t worry about it,” Ajax replied, walking around the Horsea to avoid the smoke. It was beginning to collect in the sky. He half wondered if someone else would be around by now to see if there was a forest- or field-fire. ”I’m pretty good at fighting myself, and Nyx says I’m pretty competitive.” He winked. ”So no worries if you can’t shape up to me! Hehe.” He wiggled his eyebrows comically, then became more serious. ”Remember, just because you Smokescreen doesn’t mean no one will ever be able to hit you. You gotta dodge, too! But we’ll focus on that another day—for now, attacking! That is, Bubble.” Ajax led Weedy back to the more open clearing, gesturing Styl over. The shiny Torchic, who was napping in a patch of sunlight, opened one eye and glared at him. ”Looks like we’ll have to go over there, then.” Walking over, he pointed at Styl, declaring, ”Okay, strongest Bubble you can, straight at that pile of feathers right in front of you.” «

► ”What?!” Weedy half-shouted with surprise. ”I couldn’t just hurt Styl-honey like that!” «

► ”Why did you call her that? That’ so weird,” Ajax commented with a slightly creeped-out expression. Sometimes Weedy’s…endearing labels were a little strange. There was A-jay, for starters. Rolling his eyes, he went on. ”You won’t hurt her…okay, maybe you will.” Styl threw him an angry and reproachful look. ”But you’ll be helping her train! Either she’ll dodge and practice dodging, or she’ll block, which is good, or she’ll just suck it up and get a little more used to water-type moves. Either way, good!” He folded his arms, satisfied with what he apparently that was obvious logic. «

► Lowering his head a little and batting his eyes in apology, Weedy muttered, ”Sorry…but I caller her Styl-honey 'cause her feathers look like that, honey in the sunlight! I could also call her liquid sunshine!” He grinned and used Bubble. Depressingly enough, only three bubbles came out of his mouth and he wriggled unhappily while Styl stared somewhat contemptuously at him. Deciding to use the same strategy as he used for Smokescreen, he sucked his breath in and then blew out powerfully. This time there were 4 or 5 bubbles and they headed straight for Styl, four of them smacking her golden coat. She leapt to feet in a flash, Growling, and as he felt his Attack going down, Weedy instinctually used Bubble again, shooting out another 5 bubbles that headed straight for the shiny Torchic. She ducked this time, avoiding all but one, and glared first at Weedy and then at Ajax. However, she didn’t run away. «

► ”Great! Keep going. I want this to look more like Bubblebeam when you’re finished. Don’t look so mad, Styl, it’s for your own good.” Styl ignored him and grimaced visibly as the next 6 bubbles broke against her shoulder, and she sucked her breath in, trying to brace herself. As Styl somehow coped with the attacks, Weedy worked to produce more bubbles and project them more quickly. At the moment, 7 seemed to be his limit. ”More! I want at least 10. Fifteen would be more acceptable, though,” Ajax demanded, keeping his arms folded. «

► At first, Styl tried to dodge, bobbing back and forth and looking fairly stupid as she attempted to weave in between the bubbles. They were just spread enough that jumping out of the way, she’d still be hit, while facing the attack head-on, the bubbles were dense enough she couldn’t avoid all of them. Then she tried simply turning her back—it was a no go, and the water that stayed there once they popped was more than annoying. Urgh! I hate water. Why Bubble?[/color] she thought miserably, jumping this time to avoid the bubbles and getting hit in the feet. Styl Growled again, knowing that she’d have to find some way to defend herself properly, or face getting seriously weak. Or fainting. There was no way she was going to faint—that would simply be too embarrassing.

►Wincing as she was hit once more, she decided to break the bubbles with her talons. This was much more comfortable, and while they popped with a small pinch on her toes, at least they weren’t breaking on her head and feathers, so overall it didn’t nearly hurt as much. As the minutes went by, she got quite good at it, and sometimes she was even able to pop all of the bubbles at once, darting here and there until she had gotten all of them. She didn’t even notice that Weedy was blowing more until Ajax yelled, ”Okay, stop! Guys, watch this,” and the Horsea proudly shot 14 bubbles from his muzzle, which whizzed towards a nearby tree and popped audibly on the trunk. ”Fantastic, Weedy! You’re done, go take a well earned rest. You rest for a while too, Styl.” «

► Happily Weedy flung himself at Ajax, tired but elated, and nuzzled him thoroughly before gently headbutting Styl affectionately. ”Yay! I’m done, I’m done~♪” he sang happily, wriggling around in the grass before bouncing off to a nearby pond that was still in sight of the group, singing to himself in his oddly high voice. Even with all the training, he definitely felt good. Really good—stronger, better! He whooped, diving into the pond, scattering droplets in the air, and beginning to swim around happily, popping up every so often to watch Ajax training Scilde. « [/blockquote][/blockquote]

Ooc:// There’s still more training during this session, for Styl and Scilde, I just want to see how many levels Weedy (and Styl) gets so I can plan accordingly for the others. [/size]

[Birdybot]

Weedy and Styl each gain 11 levels!

[Rin]

► Now Ajax turned to the quiet ice lizard clawing at the grass. She hadn’t said or done anything much yet—when he had been training Weedy, he had noticed her trot over and sniff the smoke before recoiling and returning to the area where Nyx and Styl had been sitting. She looked up at him with her amber eyes questioningly. ”Training? Me?” She rolled over onto her back, belly upward, and sniffed at the grass, looking rather adorable. Her horns, normally pure white, were stained brown in a few places due to the dirt, and she squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing the dirt off onto the grass, rather looking like a little kitten. «

► However, Ajax had his head in training mode, and didn’t notice the cuteness that was the Cielo squirming in front of him. ”Up! Let’s go! You weren’t planning on sitting there all day, were you?” Leaning down, he promptly picked Scilde up with his claw by the tail. She emitted a startled yelp and quickly Scratched Ajax’s pincer, growling softly as her claws slid off of it with a clink and a high pitched screeeeeetch that resembled the sound of nails on a blackboard. Ajax shrugged, looking untroubled as she tried again, her claws unable to find any hold. ”Sorry, the claw’s that hard for a reason.” He walked the opposite direction to the trees he had been with Weedy in earlier, coming upon a fairly large hill of craggy rocks and gently depositing Scilde on one that was about eye level. Spitting angrily, she scrambled upward until she was a safe distance away from Ajax, nursing her tail and giving Ajax quite the reproachful look. When she was finished with that, she sniffed the air and peered around herself, enjoying her high vantage point. She could see Styl resuming her nap in the clearing, Nyx soaring around above the training area (probably spying on other Trainers and their Pokemon) and Weedy splashing around in the pond far below. And of course, Ajax watching her from a few meters away.«

► Untroubled by all of this, Ajax easily jumped onto the rocks, coming face-to-face with Scilde once more. He reached out with his hand and tapped her nose, and she blinked at him. ”You seem to be good enough at using Scratch, so why don’t you practice Powder Snow? You’ll need it anyway, for the next couple of Gym Leaders.” He paused, considering, and then said simply, ” ‘Kay, I’d like you to use Powder Snow to cover this whole rock structure in snow. I know it seems like a lot, but I’m sure you can do it.” «

► Whaaaaat? The whole structure? The thing was huge! The thing was practically a small hill—what Ajax was asking was practically to change the weather! “No!”

[/color] she responded, sniffing and clacking her claws. ”Too much!” She hopped a little higher, drawing her tail behind her back so Ajax wouldn’t grab it again. Well, might as well make him happy. Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused, and as she did so, flurries of supercold snow appeared, flying at the craggy rocks with a gust of wind. The moment they hit, they melted. That was that. ”See?” «

► ”Yeah, yeah. I don’t believe you. Keep trying. We don’t go back to the Pokemon Center until you do so.” Ajax sat down, tapping his foot rather rudely. In reality, he was trying out a strategy Nyx had suggested to him earlier—pushing the Pokemon until they overstretched themselves and did the impossible. He was somewhat doubtful, but what Nyx said almost always worked out. ”Helloooo! Powder Snow! Again!” he snapped as Scilde shook her head, closing her eyes. ”Come on! Go! You can do it!” Ajax was beginning to get rather irritated. «

► Sitting up, Scilde mewed, ”Hmph. Fine.” She looked up at the rocks again, faltered, then bolstered her courage up and used the attack, her claws clenching around the rocks as she did so. Again, snowflakes appeared in the sky, blowing towards the rocks. This time they stuck, but there weren’t nearly enough to cover the whole thing. ”You might as well just wait until I learn Blizzard,” she whined, and used Powder Snow again to no avail. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and thought—imagining icy mountains, glittering sculptures and howling white winds that blanketed the rocks with heaps of snow that towered over everything, even swallowing up the trees. Now! She released the attack, and opened her eyes gleefully as wind, swirling with flurries rushed towards the hill, peppering them with white. Still, no avail. «

► ”Nice try. But try harder.” Ajax said, watching her carefully and tapping his claw on the rocks with little sympathy. Snarling a little, Scilde swept the snow near her with her tail towards him ruefully and then closed her eyes again, putting aside all distractions. She sat there for a few minutes, not hearing the tap-tap-tap of Ajax’s claw, simply being. She consciously focused on each of her limbs—her tail, the tingling of her claws, the latent strength in her small legs and arms, the way the wind whooshed by her small horns and the white crystals on her back, tickling them a little. Searching, she found a slight freezing sensation at the top of her head near her white markings and prickling at her horns and claws. There! Scilde focused her power into those parts, and then pushed, bringing forward the Powder Snow attack. She gasped a little as her energy was sapped, but she opened her eyes, and snow flew towards the rocks, covering them with flakes! The attack didn’t stop until around 20 or so seconds went by, and her tail curled with pleasure and she let out a happy but somewhat fatigued cheer. «

► Offering a grin of encouragement, Ajax shivered. The attack had been a strong one, and caused the air around them to drop several degrees in temperature. "Good! That's one. Now five more times with the same amount of power. Like I said before, I want other trainers popping their heads up here wondering about all the snow." The flutter of his wings gradually slowed to cope with the cold, until they only waved back and forth on his back sluggishly, brushing against the stones behind them. He rubbed his arm gingerly with his claw--it was actually getting pretty chilly. Being part bug, he seriously didn't like the cold, so he took the pack off his back, rustling around it for his long coat, thinking ruefully, Well, since I'm going to be training Styl next anyway, I might a well just bear it...no sense taking it out when it's about to get hot... «

► "Whaaaa?!" Scilde had cried, feeling thoroughly exhausted and spent. But Ajax had already turned away, and he clearly wasn't going to budge until she hadfinished her training, no matter how arduous it was. She Scratched the rock next to her with impatience, grinning a little to herself at the long gray scars her attack produced. Well, looks like she'd have to get these five Powder Snows out of the way--at least she could make them as strong as possible. Closing her eyes once more, she searched for the same freezing sensation, finding it much more quickly than before. Eagerly she snatched it and used the attack, and while she felt her energy somewhat depleted, the second successful Powder Snow was just as good as the one before it, and it had taken much less energy. «

► Her third try was far from perfect, however, and she spent the next two hours before she was easily able to produce a strong Powder Snow every time, Ajax shivering beside her the whole time. By the end, the rocks were covered in an inch or two of thick, fluffy snow, and there was about a half-inch on the rest of the hill. Nyx had taken to the air, circling around at a height far enough from the snow that it wasn’t an annoyance, while Weedy had made a big fuss in the middle about the pond becoming super-cold and was put back into his Pokeball. Styl had warmed herself up by using Ember every few minutes, although she took the time to glare at Scilde and Ajax whenever she woke briefly from her dozing. At least she’s training…somewhat… Ajax mused, wrapping himself tighter in his coat. ”That’s good,” he said finally, and Scilde stopped the wind and snow, flopping down on the rocks and panting. ”It’s not over yet! Now, see Nyx flying up there? Try to aim your Powder Snow at her. Make it not just a spread attack, but try and pinpoint it to maximize damage. Don’t worry about hurting her or me; she’ll be able to take the hit fine, and she like the cold, usually, anyway.” «

► Scilde sagged. Again? Noooo… But she turned and squared her shoulders—now that she had done it so many times, Powder Snow came to her easily. It wouldn’t be too hard to concentrate the attack. Nyx was fairly high in the sky—briefly, Scilde wondered how the dæmon could be that far away from Ajax. The Skarmory-dæmon was around ten stories up, still able to recognize as a Skarmory, if one squinted. Scilde remembered that she had heard somewhere before that humans and daemons couldn’t be that far from each other, maybe Ajax and Nyx were weird or something. ”How can she be all the way up there?” she asked as she opened her mouth and shook her head, using Powder Snow. The attack covered the whole area, but she screwed up her little face, and directed the strength of the snow and wind into a cone-like shape, sending the point straight at Nyx high in the sky. It wasn’t as difficult as producing the attack had been originally, but it was more work than just using the move. «

► Nyx saw the swirl of snow coming for her and instantly knew what Ajax was doing. Obligingly, she veered to the side, cutting across the sky and giving a harsh cry to let Ajax and Scilde know that she was onto the plan. The point of snow followed her, although it took a wide turn, and she was able to make fast, sharp turns. Ah, so that was what Scilde had to work on—quickness and accuracy. The power was already there. As the cone of snow honed in on her, she turned again, only to find the attack had scattered and vanished. She hovered in the air for a bit, watching Scilde shake herself to clear her distractions and bring up the swirling flurries again. Nyx, pleased, noted that she was a fast learner. The ‘drill’ of the Powder Snow was already coming on faster and turning better. Even so, Nyx, having trained for a long time in her Skarmory form, was quite used to it, and could still fly faster than it. Trainers on the hills below would see the Skarmory shooting across the sky, flying in arcs, loop-de-loops, banking, twisting from side to side, diving, and zipping upward, all to escape the snow that followed her. In the end, however, Nyx was not hit and Ajax told Scilde she could rest. «

► Scilde, who was seriously worn out now, lay on the rocks, panting and regaining her strength. ”We’re going to have to work on your stamina,” Ajax noted, pulling out her Pokeball. “But you’ve done well. Don’t worry about hitting Nyx—she’s really fast, I’d have a tough time getting to her too. Oh, and…uh…” He suddenly turned away, looking seriously awkward, and then looked down at his clawed red feet. Scilde had to lean in closer to catch his mumbling. ”Um…yeah, well, we just can, we had to work at it for a while, but now we can and it’s convenient sometimes, like now.” Startled, Scilde tapped her tail against the rocks, wanting to ask more. It was clear, though, that it was something that Ajax really didn’t want to talk about for some reason. Suddenly wanting to comfort him, she crawled downward, rubbing her chin against his claw. Obviously trying to get off the subject, Ajax patted Scilde’s head in an embarrassed sort of way and then stood up, saying, ”I want to do the endurance stuff today, but you’re tired, so you can wait here and rest for now while I train Meccido a bit.” Scilde nodded, then curled up to rest a little. «

► Unclipping the Pachirisu’s Pokeball from his belt, Ajax stared at it a little distastefully, wandering down the hill, away from the resting Scilde and closer to Styl, who opened one eye, blew a few puffs of fire from her beak in an Ember attack, and fell asleep once more. Ajax sighed. He really was adverse to the electric squirrel, but he thought about the time he and Styl had fought Meccido, and he almost shuddered as he remembered that he had almost lost that fight. Next time, if I’m in a situation like that, I should’ve let him use the attack, then done double that damage with Counter again, he decided, flicking his wrist to send the Pokeball bouncing forward, releasing Meccido, who immediately started sparking at the cheeks upon finding himself surrounded by dusty snow. «

►Pulling his ears back, Meccido looked at Ajax. Considering Ajax hadn’t really used him in battle yet, he was feeling a little uneasy, and he scooted away from the ‘morph and his large claw. ”Training?” he asked, glancing around him and recognizing the area where he had slipped in a few times before, watching other Trainers working with their Pokemon. ”What will we do?” He eyed the snowy rocks and the trees, pulling his tail around him for warmth. Maybe Ajax would have him run, or practice attacks or climb the trees, or work on footwork? Maybe defense? His fur began to spike as he thought of the possibilities and he started at Ajax a little challengingly. ”Well, whaddya want?” «

► Ajax nodded approvingly, giving the squirrel a little salute. ”That’s the spirit! Well, how about we work on speed, endurance, and maybe your Spark attack for a bit. Actually, we can combine those together. Your task is simple: Spark is a tackling move, so just try and catch me and get me with a Spark attack. If you tackle me without electricity, it doesn’t count. I’ll be attacking sometimes or blocking with my claw, too, so you have to watch out for that. And don’t even worry about hurting me—I’m used to it.” He held up his hand, thumb towards his nose, and flapped it from side to side, almost as if he was waving away any worries Meccido might have. ”Nyx, follow us!” he called, and the Skarmory dæmon swooped downwards, waiting for the chase to begin. ”And Styl, Scilde, be good!” «

► Meccido huffed a little—he didn’t like being told what to do by Ajax, but a challenge was a challenge! ”Fine!” He suddenly jumped at Ajax, who jumped back before Meccido was even half-way to him. The electric squirrel, realizing that Ajax’s speed was not to be tarried with, Quick-Attacked, but Ajax was able to avoid the move by leaping high into the air, opening his claw suddenly as he sped downward at Meccido’s back. Alarmed, Meccido somersaulted backward—that thing was scary when it opened all of a sudden! But he had to ignore it for now—he had a battle to win! Growling, his cheeks buzzed and electricity crackled around his body. He leapt at Ajax, but the Trainer had actually turned tail and started running. He dashed after Ajax, keeping up well despite his small size. Whenever he tried a Spark, though, Ajax put on a little burst of speed and kept ahead. Curse him! «

► They ran down the hill, around a small wood, along the fence that marked the entire training area, up a small stream. By then, Meccido was panting. He snarled, his limbs aching as he dashed forward, only to see Ajax’s red feet sprinting father ahead. By Arceus, how was he managing to keep that kind of speed up?[/color] He hated to admit it, but his Trainer seemed to be a high cut over…pretty much all of the Pokemon he’d ever met in his life. The Scizor ‘morph wasn’t even breathing very hard, and they had been running at top speed (well, Meccido’s top speed) for half an hour now. Ugh. What was this? His tail bounced behind him, keeping his balance, but he could feel the weight of it dragging him down as he ran. Lungs bursting, he growled and tried another Spark, landing practically inches from Ajax’s feet. Drat! «

► Ajax actually felt the slight twinge of electricity, and that was good enough for him. ”I felt it. The place where we started isn’t too far ahead, so we can walk.” He slowed down until he was at a jog, thinking that Meccido had already finished. In reality, Meccido who was so concentrated on winning had ‘seen his chance’ and, he didn’t notice Ajax’s words. The electric squirrel was now flying towards Ajax with the most powerful Spark he could muster. As he collided with Ajax’s thigh there was a loud zzzzzptttt! and his Trainer immediately yelled, ”OW!” and winced, stumbling to a standstill. ”What in the world was that for? I just said we could slow down and rest! What the heck?!” he yelled at Meccido. «

► Meccido stretched himself to his full height (which wasn’t all that much) and growled back, ”You said I had to get you and it didn’t matter if it hurt, so I did! You lost fair and square! And I won your little game!” He stared right into Ajax’s yellow eyes defiantly, cheeks sparking as he kicked snow aside. He was angry, but somewhat pleased, too—the run had certainly made him stronger, and his Spark attack had a lot more power now. «

►Ajax rolled his eyes, rubbing the spot where Meccido had hit—it was numb. In retrospect, it hadn’t been that bad of an injury, but it had been startling—he hadn’t really expected the twerpy squirrel to hit him at all. ”You’re too full of it for your own good. Nuisance.” Once they had reached the hill they had begun the race at, he whipped out the Pokeball and threw it at Meccido, returning him before he could say anything else. ”I don’t care how many levels you gained, that’s what you get for being a royal brat. Attacking people when their backs are turned. I don’t like it,” he snapped at the Pokeball, Meccido inside leaning up against the wall and growling at him. In a thoroughly bad mood now, Ajax turned back to Scilde, who had jumped off the rocks now and was cleaning her scales while sitting on a stump several meters away. ”Get over here and get ready for your stamina and defense training, or I will be grabbing you by your tail again,” he threatned, grabbing a slender and spriggy limb on a nearby tree with his claw and ripping the branch clean off the trunk. «

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Ooc:// Actually, if Ajax and Nyx were Pokemon, they’d probably be in their mid-60s, maybe even higher. :U 10 years of training did have an effect, in the end. Haha. Anyway, more training to see what levels go where for Scilde and Meccido.[/size]

[Birdybot]

Since Meccido is already on a level similar to the others on his team, I'll let you split the 18 levels gained here in whichever way you want between Scilde and Meccido.