Lush Prairie

[Disco]

"Of course I don't! I've never battled anyone! Not until I came here!!," she snapped, as light began to fill her eyes. "Why do you think I tried avoiding it!? But I can't!! So I'm going to do what I have to do to help make sure everyone stays safe and doesn't die!!"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut listened. His eyes and core dimmed and he lowered his head.

"Do you want to learn?"

 

[Disco]

Mellow blinked and the glow in her eyes seemed to fade away.

"...I do.", she mumbled. "...It would be nice to have some help..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut sat on his haunches, though he nearly slid onto his belly by accident. Cursed rear end. He hadn't had to deal with one of those before. "What is it you're looking to accomplish, exactly? 'Learning to fight' is vague. Without a concrete goal, it will be hard to measure your progress."

 

[Disco]

Mellow tried to think about this. "Well... I'm, uh... really good at using Sunny Day. And I learned how to create a Will-o-Wisp, for reassurance... what could I do by using those?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"That radiant beam of yours looked might similar to a Solar Beam." Bahamut paced back and forth. "I daresay you could cast Sunny Day, then use that beam to strike." He paused and shook his head. "The issue is that our enemies seem to shrug off moves like Will-O-Wisp with hardly any effort, so unless you can find someone willing to combine Will-O-Wisps with you, I doubt it can offer much use.

"But that's beside the point." Bahamut turned to Mellow. "You can't strategize until you learn to effectively call upon your moves whenever you need them. Drawing up energy for an attack is like using your muscles. The more you practice it, the easier it becomes." He squared up his stance and raised his prismatic arms up. "So, go on, cast a Sunny Day or a Will-O-Wisp."

 

[Disco]

Mellow listened and frowned to herself. She didn't want to use that attack. She had been so angry, and it just made her angrier, until Bahamut had surprised her enough to let it go. The Charmander effortlessly conjured a ball of light to float above them instead of dwelling on the past fifteen minutes.

The other took more time and a phrase mumbled under her breath, but she held two pale blue flames in her hands for her effort.

"I'm really good at Sunny Day. Will-o-Wisp is harder... I just use it for a warning..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut pointed a metal claw at Mellow and released a tiny burst of psychic energy. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to snuff the Will-O-Wisp out. "Again. As I said, it's like working muscles. You need to keep doing it so you can train yourself up to cast it effortlessly."

 

[Disco]

"Alright..."

Mellow frowned, then muttered the name of the move again and tried to hold on to it this time.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut pointed his right arm at Mellow. "Now, dodge!" And out came a small burst of psychic energy.

 

[Disco]

She squeaked and tried to dash to the side, but a little too late; she wasn't fast enough. Mellow summoned the Will-o-Wisps again and resigned herself to an afternoon spent training...

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut kept his arm raised. "It's a start." His blue eyes turned green. "You see, feral pokémon are driven by instinct— their will to survive. They can either attack or dodge, but rarely can they try both at once." His eyes shifted back to blue. "Often times, when pokémon are learning to dodge, their instincts get the better of them and they try to move as far from the attack as they can."

He shook his head. "But that is not always necessary." Bahamut leveled his arm at Mellow. "You're small, thus you need to jump to move the same distance I could with, say, a single step. For you, it's a good area to develop first. You'll do single hops. To your left side for now. After each hop, you'll try a Will-O-Wisp or some other attack. Then we'll switch directions.

"Don't worry about your stamina." He dropped his tattered bag on the ground. "I'll give you elixirs. After all," he smirked, "it all goes on Maple's tab."

 

[Disco]

Mellow frowned and shuffled awkwardly at his choice of words ('"Feral"? Seriously?'), but tried to follow along with his instructions regardless. If Maple was paying for it, that was fine. As long as the Smeargle wasn't anywhere nearby. She jumped to the left and threw the little balls of fire at Bahamut, though her aim was a bit off.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Good. That's good improvement." Bahamut bobbed his head in time with Mellow's hops. "It seems stupid, I'm sure, but these simple exercises can help develop your legs and make dodging second-nature so you can focus on attacking."

 

[Disco]

Mellow smiled slightly at his encouragement. Then the Charmander kept at it, until she at least had a good rhythm and a better idea of how to use one of her less practiced moves...

Maybe she'd get as good at it as she was with Sunny Day, in time!

 

[Ambyssin]

"All right. Let's see what happens when I try attacking..."

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

Energized after weeks of recovery, many of Team Spectrum relished the idea of getting out in the sun, in the warmth, and in fresh and open air. The sky was a brilliant blue and only a few clouds in the sky. Lush Prairie hadn't been touched too badly by the cataclysm, though some parts of earth had been upended, and in this part of the prairie, near the edge, a few trees still looked a bit wet.

Still, it was relaxing. It was a bit strange, however, that Bean, of all Pokemon, elected to come with them. Diyem seemed just as confused, though he wasn't about to disobey a prospective Overseer when he'd spent a whole half-year not getting any demands whatsoever.

They wound up starting a small picnic to pass the time. They brought all the fixings, and for some, it would be the first outside meal they'd enjoyed in weeks.

"Oh, it's so nice to see all of you up and out again," Bean said with a cheerful smile. "How are you all feeling?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa sipped at a leppa cider with a weak smile on her face. She hadn't spent that kind of time in recovery for months, and she'd been going stir crazy. Even a sunny picnic with a crowd of friends was a warm relief from such torpor.

"Ain't too bad m'self," she drawled in reply to Bean. "I'm told things're goin' well in the world, anyway. Just glad to be doin' somethin' aside from restin' up."

She sighed wearily. Her next combat match couldn't come soon enough, but she'd jogged most of the way to the prairie in zeraora-form to start getting back in shape, and it had taken a lot out of her, mentally as well as physically.

 

[Ambyssin]

Being that eating and drinking served no purpose for him, Bahamut was lying by himself in an area with no trees to obstruct the sunlight. He didn't respond to Bean, knowing full well the more talkative types would distract the zydog.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I don't know whether to consider it a blessing or not that I didn't get to see the worst of what happened," Cynthian muttered to herself, holding a basket of food for the picnic as she looked for a place to sit.

"Spoiler alert. It was about as bad as when your dark matter tried to chuck your planet into the Sun," Ivy replied with a yawn.

"Huh? How do you know that?" Cynthian asked, giving her a dazed glance.

"Your memories. They flow into my head sometimes."

"Oh, it's so nice to see all of you up and out again," Bean said with a cheerful smile. "How are you all feeling?"

"Well it could've been worse," Cynthian replied, tilting her head as she chuckled. "Though I still feel a bit sore. Being under the sun again is a nice change of pace."