adjustments (dojo)

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

Stuffing huffed. Her Pound attack was as fierce as ever. That was to say nothing of the ferocity of her Frustration. The buneary was wearing the training dummy out. With her experience, it was typical that a pokemon wouldn’t be able to put this much of a hurting on the wooden figure. Stuffing, however, was content to just go to town on the figure.

At the end of her latest barrage, she grinned. “Heh. I think I could beat just about anything.”

“With that Foresight of yours, maybe you could,” Inkwell noted with a swish of her tail. “If we get a psychic or flying type move on you, plus maybe a fighting type… I think you’d be pretty good.” The shinx tilted her head. Jeez, she didn’t usually have to think of type coverage. That was a trainer’s job.

Bii clapped her hands together. “Maybe the pokdex will say if you can learn any…!”

“Mm, in the meantime, maybe I can go beat up some ghosts to get us some wins in,” the buneary suggested. “You can take on more jobs as a ranger if we’re stronger, right? With that, we can get the cash rolling in!! And, I can get a good gaming system!”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Inkwell warned. “Most ghost types don’t have just ghost type moves.”

Stuffing rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Listen, unless it’s got, like, immunity to normal typing that I can’t get around with Foresight, I’ve got it.” The normal type chuckled, turning to Bii. “What’d ya find? I’d like a fighting type move first!”

“At… level twenty-three, you learn J-Jump Kick.”

“Seriously?! That’s so far away!! What about a flying-type move?”

The gijinka frowned. “Bo-ince at… level fifty-six.”

“SERIOUSLY?!” The buneary ruffled her ear wool. “Ugh, okay, um, how about a psychic type move?”

“... They are… status moves.”

Stuffing was quiet for a moment before going back to Pounding the training dummy. “Fine! Whatever! Who needs type coverage!! I’m gonna get so strong that I’ll just beat up anything in my way!!”

TRAINING STUFFING THE BUNEARY

[Gardeon]

[dojo]JpmO|dnm

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

Another smart aleck. Inkwell’s ear twitched back in irritation as the other feline swaggered about. It was good that Bii’s team was growing. Pokemon like Nightlight, Star, and Stuffing (when the mood struck her) were very useful companions. Others, like Buttons and Outlet, were trouble. Emphasis on Outlet being trouble.

Where did Buddleja fall on that scale?

“Take a picture,” xe encouraged. “It won’t last longer than me, but, ah, it’ll be something you can look at as much as you please.”

The shinx narrowed her eyes. “Let’s focus on training, huh? You’re pretty inexperienced.”

“Am I?” The skitty tilted her head. “I think I know plenty.”

Snorting, Inkwell gestured to the open space of the dojo’s rented room. “Let’s find out then.” The electric type mewed over her shoulder. “Bii, keep an eye on this. I want you to learn how to battle, too.”

“Okay!” The gijinka got her pokedex out. Time to learn more moves!

The shinx shifted her weight, preparing to pounce with Spark. “Alright. I wanna see how you—”

The sweep of a bristly tail made Inkwell flinch. Bii gasped.

“Fay… key. Fay-key Out.” She realized the word. “Fake Out!”

“Very good, Bii!” Buddleja praised. With that, they rushed to strike Inkwell again.

The Spark that had been blooming along her paws struck later.

“Soo-key’r Poonch. … Sooker Punch! Oh, um, Sucker Punch!”

The skitty purred. “That’s right! Aren’t they good moves? They let me put a real hurting on my opponents.”

“You got in a lucky strike,” Inkwell insisted. “Not everyone’s gonna get surprised by that.”

Her tail twirled. “Oh? Is that where you come in to save the day?”

The shinx narrowed her eyes. “... You’re gonna be a real pain in my paw, aren’tcha?”

The skitty booped Inkwell’s nose. “I’m going to liven up your life, li’l livewire.”

TRAINING BUDDLEJA THE SKITTY

[Gardeon]

[dojo]xO81q82u

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

How can one know things? One could, perhaps trust authority. If conventional wisdom could be trusted (Buddleja would argue not to do so freely.) then Bii was an authority to him. She was his trainer, provider of what he needed to continue his unlife; he was, in turn, a protector and companion. Though, he was still so weak…

Regardless, knowledge could not come from authority. Vivere had already determined Bii unreliable. He didn’t resent this. She reeked of fear daily; fear distorted truth, obscured even what was before a being to assess with every sense. Failing the gijinka, there was Inkwell who tolerated and even encouraged Bii’s untruths.

So, knowledge could not come from authority, for those in charge were fallible. Did knowledge come, then, from what could be experienced directly? Considering the fear that clouded Bii’s capacity to share truth, Vivere doubted this as well. If fear could distort the truth, then so could joy or anger or anything else that spurred a heart to slow or race.

Could one then come to conclusions on anything through piecing together information from others and one’s own experiences? No. It was all imperfect. So, Vivere could know only this: confusion abounded. Incomplete knowledge and lies were more readily available than truth. Ergo, it ought to be easy to invoke that.

One dark arm raised, the wood-headed child gathered spectral energy into floating, blinding spheres of multicolor. Confuse Ray was an easy move. It would be easy to confuse another.

He aimed his attack at the training dummy. Though it struck true, there was no evidence of his actions. This thing was dead; it was wood as a preserved corpse, never to grow or burst green ever again. And, yet, he did not resent that.

“Good job, Vivere!”

The phantump looked up at his trainer. He liked her; this was not something he had puzzled through. He had decided it, accepted he would feel this way. The reality of what she might be or anything else did not matter.

He had decided regardless of what might be revealed that Bii was his trainer and he was her pokemon. Both of their pasts (their truths) need not effect this.

The child touched one phantasmal paw to her hand. “I want to eat.” Want. Not need.

She smiled, content to indulge him. “Okay! Let’s, um, check out and go…!”

TRAINING VIVERE THE PHANTUMP

[Haunter]

[dojo]ZrATW1cD

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

It was time to practice with Nightlight again. Bii considered his ability. Illuminate supposedly drew in wild pokemon. She couldn’t decide if that was a bad thing or not. Wild pokemon could be anything: friends or foes, allies or enemies, benevolent or malevolent. Perhaps in the right circumstances, pulling in wild pokemon could be a boon.

She worried that, more likely, it would just be an unnecessary risk. But, it was Nightlight’s innate ability… There was no real way to turn it off. At least he was a nice source of comfort in the dark cave of that one game…

“Hey, you okay?” the fairy type prompted, hopping over to where Bii was sitting.

She turned to him, ears flicking. “Oh, yes! Sorry… I was, um, your moves… A-And, ability…”

“You’re worried about wild pokemon?” Nightlight assumed.

Bii nodded.

The morelull chuckled. “I noticed you haven’t tried catching wild pokemon. Our teams gotten bigger through unusual means… Not that I’m complaining. I’m happy to keep you company while Inkwell and the others do the fighting. But, my Flash move can be useful, too, y’know?” He crawled into Bii’s lap. “I can light up dark areas way better now! And, sometimes, the brightness scares off wild pokemon!”

“Really?” Bii tilted her head. That would mean no more scary dark caves. But, Star was also good in those… Oh, jeez, she had more to think about. Inkwell had said she needed to start becoming a more competent trainer, but there was so much to keep up with! She’d have to consider this all more in the future. “That’s useful…”

Nightlight hummed pleasantly. “Right? Well, I’m going to go practice Absorb some. You think about that, okay?” He knew his trainer wasn’t very confident, but he was happy to be patient with her. After all, he was still figuring out how to be a good trainer’s pokemon himself! They could learn together.

Bii smiled after the grass type as he went to go suck whatever was left of the training dummy’s wooden vitality out with his move.

TRAINING NIGHTLIGHT THE MORELULL

[Haunter]

[dojo]PerqvJ4p

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

It would be a while before Stuffing learned any more moves. They’d figured that out last time they were in the dojo. Additionally, her range was pretty limited as far as typing. None of that mattered, though! She had Foresight and a set of killer normal type moves.

She could handle anything!!

Though, the dojo was getting pretty boring, honestly. The buneary frowned. She cound Pound this training dummy no problem. It was mind-numbingly easy. It didn’t dodge or counter attack or anything!! She wanted real action, like her video games!!

“Biiiiii,” the buneary whined after buffetting the wooden figure with a few of her attacks. “I want a reaaaal battle! PLEEEEEEASE!”

“Oh, um…” The woman looked up from where she was tending to Buddleja’s concerns. (A riddle.) (Bii was of absolutely no help.) “I… I suppose…”

“PLEAAASE!! Can’t you enter one of those li’l weekend tournaments or something?!” Stuffing threw herself at her trainers’ feet. “I want a new gaming system!! The old junk you got me isn’t fun enough!! I want a real handheld, something from this decade!! I’m tired of going to the library to play even browser crap!!”

“Oh, um…”

“We don’t have the funds for a gaming system or a good computer,” Inkwell said. “But, we have been saving up some… There’s this game shop I heard about. Ever thought of doing paper and pencil games? It’d be good for Bii to practice reading with, too.”

The buneary poked out her tongue, disgusted. “Ew, no!! Boring!!”

“You haven’t even tried,” the luxio hissed.

Buddleja snickered and didn’t bother hiding it when Inkwell looked xir way.

Bii waved off the concern. “Sorry, sorry… I’ll, um, see about finding us a battle… In the mean time, please practice… I’d really appreciate it.”

TRAINING STUFFING THE BUNEARY

[Vulpix]

[dojo] FcInABmu

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

“You’re too exposed.”

Bii’s newest team member hadn’t been found by the gijinka. Lapis Lazuli had found Bii.

“...?”

The Shulian deerling stepped within the dojo, only content to exit her pokeball due to the privacy the room offered with its doors shut and windows’ curtains drawn. She stepped from wooden floor to stone training corner. Her coat shimmered, hinting at a typing shift.

She was using Camouflage.

“We aren’t supposed to be out and about this much,” the blue grass type chided. “You should withdraw more. This job? Rangering? It’s no good. You should quit.”

Inkwell’s tail swished. “She needs money, genius.”

The deerling trotted over to the edge of the room’s pool. Once more, she used Camouflage to transform herself into a water type. “Oh, right… That.” She frowned. “Couldn’t you just come to the forest…? We could go there. I could how you how to live in secrecy.”

That was tempting. But, Bii knew she wasn’t strong enough. As much as she wanted to do that, she couldn’t feed herself. She was used to how things in civilization worked. Or, at least, she was used to things like doors and beds and artificial lights.

Besides, if she disappeared, it’d only cause problems… For now.

“Maybe in the future,” Bii suggested.

Lapis Lazuli huffed. “Well, then, I’m going to need to show you how to play people.” With ease, water works started up. “Seriously, I’m worried about you…!”

Inkwell got up, shuffling over to the deerling. “Hey, hey, we’ve got her! Everyone’s okay!”

As quickly as they’d come, the waterworks cut off. The deerling walked around the luxio. She’d used Fake Tears. “See? It can help.”

TRAINING LAPIS LAZULI THE SHULIAN DEERLING

[Arcanine]

[dojo]|aB17w4_

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

“You know I won’t be much for battling, right?” Nightlight asked.

Bii looked up from where she was reviewing his moves. “Hm?”

“For battling,” he repeated. “You’re better off focusing on Inkwell and Stuffing… Maybe even Star.” The grass type bent at his stem, looking as if he were wilting. “I mean, I’m happy you wanna help me train, but, y’know… It seems like you’re looking for protection, and I just can’t offer that.”

The deerling gijinka’s ears perked up. “... You wanted to evolve. Didn’t you? You… you mentioned evolving, once, I think…”

“Oh, well, yeah!” He chuckled. “Who doesn’t? But, well…” He sighed, thinking it over. “Someone else could use this visit better, I think.”

She thought it over. “... Inkwell is strong,” Bii admitted. “I trust her to, to keep me safe… To keep us safe. And, so is Stuffing so… Um, it’s okay… if you aren’t.” She smiled. “I’m not either.”

The morelull perked back up, dark eyes twinkling. “You’re right. And, hey! Some of my moves might slow down an opponent! Don’t tell Stuffing, but I might be the one that’s a good double battle partner!”

With that, the morelull went about practicing his Astonish and Flash. Astonish didn’t cause a training dummy to flinch, but maybe if it was paired with Flash it might increase the likelihood of an effect taking place?

TRAINING NIGHTLIGHT THE MORELULL

[Gardeon]

[dojo]7_RVxUCz

[Ilargi “Bii” Benigno]

Another training session with Star! She was always so enthusiastic. Though Bii had a hard time seeing in the room with the lights off, it made things easier on the deino. There was just enough light from the thin, drawn curtains for her to watch the little dragon type at play.

Her Dragon Rage lit up the room in a spray of gold and indigo. The move was reliable, but not particularly powerful. Then again, at their playing level, Bii wondered how strong Star needed to be. She found the deino impressive regardless.

The shiny pokemon kicked up her heels. A burst of Dark Pulse threw off her. It melted the room further in a swirl of chocolate and rich violet. Bii would have been scared of it if she didn’t know it was Star’s power. She felt safe with most of her team, but with Inkwell, Nightlight, and Star especially. The deino was earnest in her affections.

Right now was one such example. “Didja see that?!” the dragon asked, plopping down before the gijinka. She immediately began nibbling on the deerling’s fingers. Her bites were light and affectionate, unlike Outlet’s cruel nips. “I’m gonna get sooo strong! One day, I’ll evolve, and we’ll go flying together!”

Flying…? Bii didn’t even know Star could evolve. That sounded nice, though. “Okay,” Bii said, not really sure if she wanted to fly. But, doing anything with Star sounded wonderful. “I’d like that.”

TRAINING STAR THE DEINO