Route 5, between Bolderton and Draughton
Finn, Poppy and Ember all woke up early the next day after a long day's travel. It turns out that a lot of aspiring trainers were dotted along the route, hoping to encounter a good battle. It meant that what would normally have been a couple of day's hike had turned into a long weekend of walking and battling. If nothing else, it had allowed Finn to train and get to know his new partner, Sneasel, a little better. According to their PokeNav, they were now only a solid day's hike away from Draughton. The route would take them through what is described upon the Nav as the Windy Valley, a steep rocky valley that slowly wound its way through the hills up towards the town of Draughton at it's peak. If there were no further distractions, they could potentially get themselves a warm shower and an actual bed by the end of the day.
Ember had been watching Finn as he battled the local trainers along their path. As exhausting as it was to constantly stop and start over and over again. She found herself intrigued by his battle style and the way that he and his pokemon moved during a battle. It was almost as if Finn took on some of the characteristics of his pokemon as they fought together. Seeing how strong his team was shaping up made her want to test herself to see where she measured up.
As the trio finished their oats around the campfire, Finn started limbering up for some training before they headed off. Ember removed her thick hoodie that she wore to stay warm when she wasn't hiking, unveiling her black lycra shorts and matching sports bra and asked him if she and Growlithe could join them. Finn tried his best not to ogle her sleek, toned body and agreed, telling her that he planned on going for a run first before doing some target practise for a cool down.
"Okay then, what's the route?" she asked as she warmed up her tired legs with a dozen knee lifts.
"We follow the path back down to the bridge we crossed last night and then head back up through the forest. I reckon it should be a couple of miles if you're up for it?"
"Sounds good, lead the way."
Finn whistled for Nuz to come down from whichever tree he'd been lazing in and released Sneasel from her poke ball. Ember did the same for growlithe. "Okay team, down the river to the bridge and then back up through the forest. Got it?"
All three pokemon nodded.
"Good, let's go!"
The small team set off from the camp, jogging slowly at first to wake up their legs. Growlithe raced into the lead, excitement clear on his face as he bounded through the long grass either side of the path. Ember watched Finn from behind and enjoyed watching his form. His footsteps were light and fast, almost as if he was expecting to have to change course at a moment's notice. She, on the other hand, felt heavy and clumsy by comparison, narrowly avoiding an exposed tree route that looked like it had been placed on the path specifically to trip her up.
"Do you and Nuzleaf run often?" she asked not quite out of breath. "You both seem to have great stamina."
Finn raised an eyebrow at the question, not only because he wasn't used to talking during a run, but because he didn't really see it as exercise. This morning's run was a warm up to get the blood pumping before target practise. "Not all that often to be honest. It's not often that Nuz actually runs on the ground. He much prefers to be up in the trees and that is a totally different movement. I suppose it's good to get him used to running on the ground for battles and the like though.
They reached the bridge faster than Ember expected, and turned off onto a winding path that followed the river through the adjacent woods, back up towards their campsite. Suddenly aware that it was uphill. Ember pushed hard to keep up with Finn and Growlithe.
Where were Sneasel and Nuzleaf? Ember thought to herself as she noticed the two pokemon had vanished as they entered the woods. A sharp gleam of light made her look up into the canopy of the woods to see two dark blurs moving from branch to branch at a quite ridiculous speed. Even Growlithe, with his seemingly endless newfound energy this morning, struggled to keep up. "Wow, they're fast!" she breathed.
"They're competing." Replied Finn. "But it looks like Sneasel is forgetting that she's in Nuz's territory now."
As he spoke, Ember saw branches falling up ahead as Sneasel used Metal Claw to scythe down some of the branches that Nuz was looking to swing to. Despite the nuisance, Nuz seemed un perturbed and carried on towards the end of the path, which was approaching fast. Growlithe, keen to join in sped up to keep pace with the two dark pokemon up ahead when he suddenly vanished.
"Woah!" Ember yelled, "Where'd he go?"
"Don't worry, he's just showing off his quick attack. He'll be waiting with a grin on his face at the end of the trail."
Sure enough, as the pair of runners reached the end of the trail that brought them back out to the clearing they'd camped in, they found Growlithe panting with a big happy grin on his face. Next to him, Nuz sat, laid back, fiddling with his whistle and Sneasel knelt, panting from exertion with an angry look on her face. It was clear, she was not used to losing.
"Great work guys. Sneasel, I loved seeing the inventiveness in our tactics to try and slow Nuz down, just remember, if you had focussed on out running him, you might have actually won."
Sneasel seemed to ponder his words briefly before nodding and sitting down to catch her breath. Finn walked over to Growlithe and patted the happy fire dog on his head, shocked at the comfortable warmth radiating off him.
"He didn't burn you. I think you've made a friend for life there Finn." Ember smiled. Truth be told, it was the first time she had seen Gru interact with another human that wasn't her parents. It made her feel warm inside. She took a moment to catch her breath before asking "What training did you have in mind for this morning?"
"I'm thinking that Draughton gym is predominantly flying types, so we're probably going to need to hone our ranged attacks if we're going to stand a good chance there. Give me a moment to set up and I'll come back.
Twenty minutes later, Finn returned to the group and ushered them further along the edge of the wooded area. He had set up a range of sorts with a number of downed tree trunks stood up to resemble targets side by side. "Okay, the aim of the exercise is to hone your range attacks. I'm not just talking about accuracy, I'm talking about power and strength of the attacks. The most effective ranged attacks have to knock the target off their stride or they become easier to shrug off. Sneasel, Nuz, to me."
The pair of pokemon jumped to their feet and rushed over to their trainer, each taking a spot just slightly behind him.
"Good. Now, Sneasel, I want you to use Icy Wind against the log on the right. Nuz, I want you to fire off a Razor Leaf against the log in the middle. Ember, have Gru fire an ember... that sounds weird to say out loud... at the trunk on the left. Everyone, give it your best shot, okay?"
Nuz and Sneasel nodded with their instructions as Ember and Gru raced into position. As soon as everyone was set, Finn gave the order "Let em rip, team!"
Growlithe excitedly jumped into action and fired it's ember attack at the trunk in front of him. Little balls of flame were fired from his open maw in an outward spread. The trunk, and the grass surrounding it, started to catch fire in places, but otherwise was unmoved by the attack. Ember rushed over to stamp out the small fires surrounding the trunk.
Nuz fired off a string of razor edged leaves at the tree that smacked the trunk with a sharp series of thuds. Again, the trunk didn't budge.
Finally, Sneasel took a deep calming breath and put all of her effort into her attack, sending a gust of frozen air at the trunk in front of her. The trunk was rocked upon initial impact but eventually settled back to its starting position as the ice crystals formed over some of the moss that had formed on it over time.
"Great work everyone. Ember, I think Growlithe might be close to turning his Ember attack into a Flamethrower. The power is there, but he needs to try and focus his attack to a single point on the target and put full effort into hitting it with as much force as he can."
Ember and Growlithe both nodded at the advice. Growlithe's goofy smile disappeared and was replaced by a steely look of determination. He took a deep breath and rested on his haunches, as if readying himself to pounce before leaping forward and firing more small balls of fire from his maw. This time, the balls were much more concentrated and peppered the trunk with small burns. It still did not move though.
Ember gave him a loving pat and ruffled his hair. "Great job, Gru!"
Finn refocussed on his charges. "Nuz, your Razor Leaf is getting stronger and is hitting with more bite, but I need you to focus on firing them off faster. That Rhydon could've been dealt with much easier if we could cause a bit more damage from a distance." Nuz nodded and fired off another salvo. This time, the leaves were fired off much closer to one another and the series of thuds sounded more like one hard smack. The trunk wobbled. "Great shot buddy!"
