Training? Really? (Dojo)

[Clover Frost]

Retro hadn't done the best job last time, but he was still up for another round of training. This was honestly a good thing, since Clover was wondering about when they'd be able to test out Retro's ability to actually use rocks in combat. He was a Rock Pokemon, after all.

Turns out, he was already able to do so. It took some time for him to charge up, but when he was ready, he could fire off a good couple rocks in whatever direction he wanted. Where did the rocks come from? Well, from inside Retro, it looked like. How all those big rocks came from such a small body was unclear, but Clover was willing to assume magic was involved.

The Dojo already had a couple targets set up, so testing to see how well Retro could aim and fire seemed like a good plan. At the start, it was nothing spectacular, with Retro only being able to launch the rocks about 3-ish meters. Not a bad start, but not optimal, either. Ideally, Retro would be able to fire fast rocks several meters like a cannon, but that seemed like a big ask for someone so inexperienced with using Rock moves. Well, they at least had plenty of time to work towards that ideal.

[Vulpix]

[dojo] 2|yrTfGT 

[Clover Frost]

After a good few days of relative peace and quiet, it was time for Cynder to ready herself for more battling in the future. After all, that was sort of the objective of their training, wasn't it? To get Cynder and Retro ready for whatever their line of work may throw at them? 

Most of the training they'd already done was great and all, but it wasn't really combat. Perhaps they needed something a little closer to the real thing in order to continue pushing forward. For that, there were a few options, perhaps the most enticing of which was...a Ditto. Yes, a Ditto that could transform into a Pokemon and copy their fighting style. That definitely sounded like good training, though for Cynder, it was also quite the odd experience.

"Woah," Cynder said, ogling the Ditto after it'd transformed into an identical version of her. "Is this what Clover calls a mirror match?"

To an extent, that was exactly what it was. The Ditto was strangely adept at copying Cynder, and even as it took a few swings at her, it was looking like it could fight like she did, too? That was...weird. But it could've been a good thing! She already knew everything the Ditto knew, so surely she had the upper hand!

[Vulpix]

[dojo] f5xeivgh 

[Clover Frost]

When it came to training that week, Retro wanted to hone his Rock Blast attack even further, and Clover was more than willing to allow him to do so. The only real difference compared to last time was that he wanted to hit moving targets instead of just regular ones. That seemed a bit...daunting, perhaps, but it was still doable. 

There were some things in the Dojo that could move things around, including some conveyor belts and such, so it made sense to use them. All Clover needed to do was put down some bottles, some cans, and a few things she found lying around the Dojo. Retro, for his part, didn't seem to be the most enthused by the impromptu firing range set up for him, but he wasn't complaining, either. After some slight hesitation, he began shooting out rocks in earnest, aiming for whatever was closest.

It was a bit of a learning process, maybe, but it wasn't the hardest thing in the world. The only major hurdle was the fact that he had to account for the targets being in motion while aiming, which wasn't too bad. The fact that he was covering the conveyor system with broken glass and shattered aluminum was a tad concerning, but it wasn't theirs to clean up, so...whatever, right?

[Gardeon]

[dojo]UxAWPql7

[Clover Frost]

Clover's newest companion didn't seem to be enjoying training that much.

Mileena seemed like she'd be a great add to Clover's team, given that she was a cool pre-modern Pokemon and seemed like a natural-born battler. Plus, she just seemed so cute! She seemed like she'd be able to handle training well, but in practice...she didn't seem too happy about it.

She was tasked with beating up a training dummy so that Clover could get a good gauge of what she was capable of, and from the looks of things, she could use her hands and claws effectively enough. The problem was, she didn't seem satisfied, even when she hit the thing with great force, and was growling some stuff in a low, bitter voice that Clover still couldn't understand. If one were to understand, though, the problem she had would become clear enough.

"Damn this thing! Could I really not get anything that fights back? This thing doesn't even bleed! What a rip!"

Yes, indeed, the training dummy, big and imposing as it was, was nowhere near the same experience that Mileena would expect to get out of a fight. Sure, beating it up was easy and all, but it wasn't like she could actually cause it pain, and it was even hard to damage. It was a shame, really; why couldn't she fight an actual living being instead?

[Vulpix]

[dojo] OH6SUGTx

[Clover Frost]

Mileena was unsatisfied after not being able to fight a living being for practice, and after realizing that this was the issue, Clover was ready and willing to rectify the issue. The Dojo had a few options for more direct forms of training, so it seemed only right that they take advantage of that.

For one, there was a Ditto that could give her a good mirror match. Mileena was a bit confused at first, but when she saw it transform into an exact copy of her, it all clicked. Finally, some action! The two could swipe at each other, Mileena could triumph, and she could rub her victory in the pink blob-thing's face!

That being said, getting into the actual match, Mileena couldn't help but get a little...abusive, and not just in a physical sense. Though she was happier than she was before, she still had that pent-up frustration from the week prior, so she took it upon herself to give the Ditto a good berating.

"Geez, for an exact copy of me, you sure are pretty weak and pathetic!"

"Hit harder, sludge for brains! You're making this too easy!"

"C'mon! Are you trying to bore me to death, or what?!"

And so on and so forth. Honestly, at some point, it became less about fighting, and more about coming up with new ways to taunt her opponent. Not the most conventional way to train, maybe, but damn if it wasn't satisfying.

[Persian]

[dojo]7NCD5agr

[Clover Frost]

Clover recently got her hands on a little rodent buddy! Awesome. Just one problem really: Said rodent buddy was a bit of a handful. He was always nibbling on something or other, and he'd already gained a habit of stealing off other people's plates. That was...questionable. Surely, he just needed some good TLC, right? Well, taking him to the Dojo to let him run to his heart's content sounded great on paper, but in practice, the problems only persisted. 

Stuart still would rather eat than run, and not getting to eat meant being super uppity. He'd get all cranky, and wouldn't even give training the time of day. How was Clover supposed to motivate him to train when he seemed like he wanted to do anything else?

Well, Clover figured out a few possible ways to incentivize the little guy. First off, there was running on a treadmill. Not something Stuart wanted to do normally, but if there was a berry on a string dangling in front of him, he'd run on the treadmill as long as it took to get his paws on the thing. Plus, if all else failed, she could just throw seeds here and there on the ground and watch him zip around trying to catch them. All in all, a simple enough solution to their little problem.

[Arcanine]

[dojo]2pXTvyNo

[Clover Frost]

Mileena seemed to Clover like a rather feisty Pokemon, so it didn't surprise her all too much to see the young Sneasel so eager to test her mettle against something or other. She'd put in some good work already, so it made sense to have her try and continue putting in work, especially if that meant giving her means to show off her great strength.

Unfortunately, the way they'd be testing her mettle was...lacking, to say the least, in the Sneasel's eyes. Instead of something vaguely person-shaped, or an actual living opponent, she was being sent out to beat up...a rock. A rather big rock, mind you, but still a rock.

What a rip! She had her sharp, scary claws, and wouldn't even be using them? Talk about lame. At the very least, it still involved some physical force, so maybe there could be some opportunity to blow off some steam. But, then again, did she really need to blow off steam? She hadn't been slighted in days! So what was there?

Well, ironically enough, the fact that she'd been relegated to breaking a rock with her bare paws was pretty annoying in itself, so if she was going to do it, she could probably put in a good amount of vitriol. It wasn't much, but getting to crack and break apart a boulder all by herself wasn't all too bad, either.

[Haunter]

[dojo]lDph274U

[Clover Frost]

Clover had another new Pokemon to mess around with. And it was a fun one, too! Finally, she'd been waiting for what felt like forever to get her hands on a Pokemon that could act as her own little virtual buddy, and she'd gotten one. All was looking good...Or, at least, that's how it seemed up until it started spawning popups on her computer.

Okay, her little virtual buddy was a little strange, not to mention unruly. That'd be fine in itself under normal circumstances, but for a Pokemon that'd be living in her computer, she kinda just wanted to make sure it didn't try messing with anything important. Maybe some training would knock some sense into it, so to speak? That was what she figured.

Just by having it float around and knock whatever was in its way, it was obvious that it could do some damage, albeit not too much given its lack of experience, but its behavior was still off. Parts of it were bending at odd angles intermittently, it twitched violently a good few times, and when it tackled something, Clover could swear she heard what sounded like the high-pitched screeches of an old game console in the midst of crashing. Was her new friend going to be alright? Maybe, but she'd have to keep an eye on it.