Optimal Fighting Condition (Dojo)

[Haunter]

[dojo]IB5K2D1a

[Niko Vesper]

It'd only been a short while since Amrock evolved, and sure enough, he was as excited about it as one could possibly be. After spending so long as a little chicklet without even having any arms to speak of, it really felt like a whole world of possibilities had been opened up to him. Really, the only question that remained was where to start.

Well, the most straightforward thing to do was test the true extent of his newfound kicking abilities. Sure enough, they were quite decent, and Amrock quickly got the hang of throwing out a quick kick or two. Really, all he needed to do was get the hang of striking in quick succession. He just needed to get into the right stance, look his target eye to eye, and wham!

At least, that was how things were in his head. As simple as it might've seemed, Amrock hadn't been a Combusken for too long, and getting the hang of throwing out moves in his new form was easier said than done. He just needed to focus, and take things slowly, and...One, two, one, two, one, two! It was that simple...or, at least he hoped it was.

[Gardeon]

[dojo]TjMTxDyV

[Niko Vesper]

Niko had high hopes for Regent, for sure, but after reflecting on the way she'd fought, both in practice and in actual battles, there was still room for improvement in his eyes. All things considered, she seemed perfectly content to rush towards the enemy and throw out attacks on all sides. This wasn't a horrible approach, but if they were to do more to have her fight smart, then he was sure they'd be able to bring out her most potential.

For the time being, though, it seemed to him like the best option for them to test this effectively was to have her come with him to the Dojo and fight that Ditto they had. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty much the best option they had. Going into it, Regent was swiping at the doppelganger like crazy, to limited success. Not really what Niko was hoping for, so he'd have to incentivize her to do things a little differently.

"Don't just stay on the offensive," Niko advised. "You gotta play this smart."

Regent sighed for a moment, but she supposed she'd have to try. If she was going to play it smart, she wouldn't just be able to attack, would she? She'd have to be unpredictable, bait her opponent into slipping up, and attack when they were vulnerable.

[Gardeon]

[dojo]M9DHYXbj

[Niko Vesper]

Nightwing had recently gotten caught in the sun for a little while, and was very upset as a result. Niko couldn't blame her, given her quirk, but it definitely pointed towards the fact that she hadn't done any training in a while, and was probably due for some more.

Sure enough, after that whole incident, being inside the Dojo and being able to bury herself inside of a bunch of sand was quite the breath of fresh air. For Niko in particular, though, it was an interesting look into Nightwing's odd camouflage abilities, with her being able to sort of disappear into the sand without much effort. In fact, if she dug into the sand a little bit, one could hardly notice she was even there, which was rather fascinating to see, especially when she popped up and went "Boo! Haha!"

That gave Niko a pretty good idea of how they could utilize her natural ability, so he encouraged her to try that a few more times. As he observed, she was able to not only able to remain inconspicuous and hard to spot under the sand, but could even move subtly and pop out unexpectedly. Was this a possible strategy they could employ in battle? Quite possibly.

[Arcanine]

[dojo]cMGm|pn9

[Niko Vesper]

Amrock was still plenty happy about his recent evolution, as well as the martial prowess that came with it. Niko couldn't blame him, as his new form definitely had its advantages over him being a little chicklet all the time. Even still, though, there were plenty of things about him that hadn't changed much, and Niko hoped that they'd be able to keep him up to speed when it came to his use of Ember, Peck, Sand Attack, and so on.

For the time being, though, they had something a bit different planned for that week's training session. With Amrock's new form came a larger gait, and with that came a better running speed. Thus, having Amrock run around the track a few times at the Dojo made sense to them. All Niko would have to do would be to use a stopwatch to measure how long each lap took to complete, and they'd be set. 

Sure enough, Amrock's speed had definitely gotten a boost thanks to his new form. Even with the track being pretty big, it only took about forty seconds for him to complete one lap. That was already much faster than previous training sessions, as far as Niko was aware. All they'd need to do was continue to make sure that wasn't just a fluke.

[Gardeon]

[dojo]J|V|FFMf

[Niko Vesper]

Looking at an identical version of herself in the eye, no mirrors involved, made Shard feel uneasy. Sure, she wasn't oblivious to the concept of Pokemon transforming and whatnot, but seeing her likeness perfectly copied was...strange. At least the duplicate in front of her wasn't trying to copy her movements or anything weird like that, but still.

She wasn't the most enthused to be matched up against a mischievous Ditto, but Shard figured she could handle herself okay, so long as she did things right. She just needed to give the thing a hard glare, make herself seem as intimidating as possible, and just like that, she'd have an edge.

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. The duplicate seemed unflappable, and immediately went into a defensive stance as they came to blows. Shard was a bit disgruntled at seeing this, but ended up having to focus on actually trying to exchange blows with the Ditto. It fought a good bit like her, using all her moves, but clearly wasn't as experienced as she was with tearing and smashing her targets. Even still, though, the doppelganger still got some hits in, which just had her wondering what she was doing wrong. Clearly, she thought, she'd have to redouble her efforts.

[Gardeon]

[dojo]2UAGRilr

[Niko Vesper]

Cavendish was once again given the task of showing off his relative mastery over the Grass type. Before, they'd seem him hit targets from far away with projectiles, and even spin a large fan with the power of a Leaf Storm, but they hadn't done too much up to that point to test how powerful his Grass moves could be. Sure, they could break glass, or cut cardboard, or whatever, but what about tougher stuff, like metal?

Well, they had some stone and some sheet metal, so that was a good start. Indeed, while Grass was very effective against Rock, destroying a boulder with leaves and seeds seemed like a tall order. Sure enough, sending a few leaves hurtling towards the boulder, most of them just kind of got stuck in it. It didn't break apart or anything. As for the metal, it wasn't the toughest stuff, but it was sturdy enough to have Bullet Seed bounce off it without much harm. This didn't particularly bother Cavendish, but it bothered Niko a little, worried to see him not doing as well as he'd hoped.

Seeing this, Cavendish decided to step things up a little. If a little bit of greenery didn't do a trick, perhaps a whole storm of the stuff would.

[Rowlet]

[dojo]AnUjfoyn

[Niko Vesper]

Amrock was understandably excited to give training at the Dojo another go after a little while. Though the place had already served them quite well already, there was still a lot they could do there, on top of the often present need to refine the skills that they'd already worked to develop. One of those was Amrock's ability to deliver hard pecks with his beak. That was something he'd been able to do for a while, but with him now being a Combusken, it became a lot less interesting to him as his ability to deliver even harder kicks. Still, it had its uses, and it seemed like something that they could stand to work on.

Standing in front of a punching bag that one would normally use for punching and kicking, Amrock wasn't really sure what to think. Sure, he could probably hit decently hard with his beak, but couldn't he do so much more with his kicking abilities? Oh well, it couldn't hurt to try, could it? Delivering a few sharp pecks at the thing, there definitely was some force behind it, as the punching bag swayed back and forth a little. There definitely wasn't as much force behind it as his kicks, but maybe if he kept at it, that would change.

[Haunter]

[dojo]zFQISJ0q