David ran. He ran and shouted, and ran some more. Occasionally, Venonat and he would manage to pull off a maneuver and buy themselves some precious rest while Jenny and Venomoth adjusted. Venomoth wasn’t about to be hit by a Bug Bite, but a well-timed Nope could do a lot.
Twice Venonat and he managed to run into each other and suffer. Both times that happened the pressure had lightened up, Jenny too busy laughing to do anything else, but he refused to do it purposely for rest.
He still had some pride, vomit stains on one of his only two shirts aside.
After what seemed to be twenty minutes, but had to be an hour or two, Jenny called everything to a stop. He collapsed to the ground.
“Ten minutes rest. Take some time to say good night to your Venonat, and then we start with your Pidgey. Keep pushing. Don’t stop.” She chucked a water bottle at him. It sank into the sand by his waist.
He slapped the ground with his left hand, searching for the bottle. His arms weren’t getting the same workout as his legs, but they were drained all the same. The little needle jabs into his shoulders didn’t help either. Some spots were still numb. The first sip of the water was beautifully cold. Then the taste of his mouth hit his tongue and he gagged. Spitting out he needed to rinse once more before he could drink.
Venonat slumped down in the sand next to him. He let out a tired wail. Water drenched David’s Pokemon’s front - Venonat had stopped for a drink from the channels of water on their way over. Like David, they were too tired to do it properly. The rest of their bushy purple fur was in disarray, matted and with sand in far too many places. Venonat looked miserable.
“Hey,” David soothed, raising his tired hand to trail through the fur and pull out some knots. “You did good. Rest up, and we’ll brush all this out tomorrow.”
Venonat squeaked, but it was weak without feeling. David gave them another drink of water, pouring it from the bottle into his hands, before recalling his Pokemon.
He let his head fall back against the sand, ignoring the thought that his hair must be as bad as Venonat’s fur. For a moment he just breathed, then rolled to his side. His hand slipped a battered pokeball from his centise. Ten minutes. Not enough time to rest properly, but maybe enough time to prepare.
When he closed his eyes from the flash it took effort to open them again.
Cloudburst let out a shrill that rang in his ears as she saw him. She didn’t stop with the shrills as she turned to seek out the perpetrator.
“Woah, Cloudburst, it’s alright. It’s training. I’m fine.”
Her wings swept out as she spotted Jenny and Venomoth, who had wisely retreated to the other side of the arena.
“PIIIIIDGEEEY!”
David groaned, pushing himself up to catch her before she could kick this all off too soon. Cloudburst retracted her wings with his touch, but he could feel her blood pumping.
“Just wait, we’ll get a chance in a few minutes.” He stood and moved closer to her. There wasn’t much time, and if he wanted to move at all he would need to do some stretches in that time too. “Here’s what I’m thinking...”
That Venomoth would dodge everything his Pokemon could throw at it? It was time to see about that.
“Time!” Jenny shouted. Moving towards the center of the arena with Venomoth flying in sync to her right. “Get running.”
“Go, Cloudburst. Remember what I said - and not before. You have to let them go first.”
She gave a slow squawk, but took up and flew to the left towards Venomoth. He watched her go, readying to move, but more confident with Pidgey on the field.
Venomoth flew out to meet Cloudburst, maintaining slow wingbeats but advancing faster. Cloudburst screeched at the larger Pokemon and banked before they met.
Venomoth’s wing swept forward. The arena’s walls rattled, but Cloudburst was unharmed. She cawed, a mocking laugh. Venomoth’s wings beat a little faster. The chase was on.
David relaxed, adjusting his posture as the two Pokemon began their dance. He remained focused on the battle though, Cloudburst knew what to do, but he needed to be ready-
“Ow!”
He rubbed his chest with his right hand, head dipping as he followed the offending object’s fall to the ground. It was white, made from the wood that was so common around fuchsia. As it settled in the sand he got a better look. It was star shaped, with rounded edges like those gold stars you used to get from a teacher as a kid.
It was not a piece of the roof that had fallen. Or part of a door blown away by the Pokemon’s battle. The shape was too deliberate for that.
“Oh shit.” By the time his mind caught on, and he looked up at the real threat, there was another star flying through the air towards him.
“I said run,” Jenny shouted, hand pulling back for another throw. The star pelted into his already sore shoulder as he tried and failed to dodge.
“Fuck.”
David ran.
They settled into a balance soon enough. Cloudburst and Venomoth chased each other. He jogged just fast enough to keep away from Jenny’s projectiles while focusing on the chasing Pokemon. Once he tried to return the wooden throwing stars, picking one up and flinging it back in his best imitation of Jenny’s technique. The less said about where it landed the better. Still, it was a lot easier and more relaxing than his time with Venonat earlier.
Which was probably why Jenny decided to change it up. She whistled, and Venomoth turned with surprising speed towards David.
He gritted his teeth and turned to run in the opposite direction, but didn’t panic. Cloudburst and he had plan for this. As Venomoth flew towards him, Cloudburst didn’t give chase, instead putting on a burst of speed herself and turning towards Jenny.
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Cloudburst cawed again, taunting the Venomoth as she turned the tables on the game.
Jenny’s hand sunk to her belt, cradling a blue pokeball.
Venomoth chirped and Jenny winced. Her hand fell to her side. Venomoth’s wings beat once, and David jumped to the side. Lavender lines struck the sand four meters away and threw a skip’s worth of sand into the air, blocking his vision.
When the sand cleared, he had just enough time to see Venomoth looming behind Cloudburst, wings a blur as they beat faster than ever before.
Venomoth squeaked, and Cloudburst wobbled in the air. She let out a shrill and began to duck and dive to escape the threat, but her flight was erratic in the wrong way. She would turn to the right only to bank back left, slowing herself down.
David’s heart sank as he recognized the condition. Confusion. Venomoth had caught Cloudburst in Supersonic, moving with a speed that proved they were holding back. David and Cloudburst were outmatched. They never had a chance.
As Cloudburst jerked slowly around the field, Venomoth turned back to David. Their wings beat faster.
“Fuck.” David started to run again.
-.-
Jenny handed him the water bottle this time.
David had trouble reaching above his shoulder for it, but she pressed it into his hand when she noticed. Cloudburst gave a shrill squawk from five meters away, warning Jenny to stay back, but she was too tired to follow up on it. David gargled the water and spat it out. His stomach had nothing left in it at this point, but the taste had lingered on its way out.
“You’ll be happy to know that’s the last of the shock training. It only really works once.” Jenny sat down on the sand beside him. “You did pretty well. Most trainers freeze up, or can’t keep track of the battle and give orders while moving themselves. There’s nothing like it that can prepare them. Multitasking isn’t the same thing. I’m guessing you’ve done something like this before?”
“That was about multitasking under pressure?” David complained. “Couldn’t we have, I don’t know, learned to juggle while battling or something?”
Jenny snorted. “Not quite multitasking as I said. I’ll keep that idea in mind though for the rest of your training.”
He groaned and took a gulp of the water. “There was a Geodude, on Route 16. We disturbed it, and it kept focusing on me. I was lucky I wasn’t killed.”
“Ah.” Jenny grimaced. “Some of the wilder Pokemon can be like that. The less interaction they or their parents have had with humans, the less they understand.”
“Understand?”
She raised an eyebrow at him and gestured towards Venomoth. “Pokemon don’t take it well when their trainers are threatened. And... some of the most dangerous work Rangers do is capturing rampaging Pokemon after their trainers die.”
“Aah.” he shared her grimace. Then raised an eyebrow back. “You did it first - besides, throwing stars? Really? Was there no other way of doing this?”
“Not really. It’s a shock to the system. No one enjoys it, and everyone should go through it somewhere safe.” Jenny shuddered. “I’ve worked with the Rangers before. Trust me it’s better than the alternative.”
Looking at her expression, David believed her, but he wasn’t ready to admit it yet. Instead, he took another gulp of the water, before standing to pick Cloudburst up. His Pokemon wasn’t thirsty, but she quite happily sat still while he combed through her feathers and brushed the sand out.
“She’s well trained. I was expecting her to appear while Venonat was still awake.”
David hummed, even as Cloudburst pecked towards Jenny. Compliments weren’t enough to forgive the offense.
“What’s next? I don’t think I can anymore.”
“Well,” Jenny stood and pulled a needle from her pocket. “Another jab of this, and then we talk about the plan for the next week?”
David leaned back. With all the running, the light jabs were easy to forget. He’d never gotten a good look at the needle either. Now that he could, it worried him. The base of the needle, where Jenny held it, was covered in some kind of cloth while the tip had a light purple liquid on it. What the hell had they given him?
“What the hell is up with those? What have you been jabbing me with?” He shouted.
“Poison,” Jenny said, holding up her hands to calm him already. “This is a very small dose, from some of the gym’s Venonats. It’s part of the training and has no lasting effects.”
“Poison? For fuck’s sake. Why? You couldn’t ask first? This fucking wor-” He cut off.
“Koga detected you already had symptoms. Given the... environment and timing, you falling sick was determined to be too risky. The earlier jabs were to make sure the running didn’t intensify anything.”
David flipped back and forth between angry and worried. Venonat. They were a Poison type for a reason. He was always careful to wear gloves while grooming them, but... the gloves didn’t cover anything. What were the effects of long term poisoning? In Celadon, when he’d been worried about it, Oliver had been... very concerned. Marie had been healing for months and she still had marbling. Could all that running have killed him?
Did he believe Jenny?
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
She gave him a sad smile. “You don’t. I’m not telling you everything, but I am telling you the truth about this needle and your condition. No one knows more about poison than Koga.”
He thought about it for a moment. They had lots of reasons to lie to him, but no reason to kill him with poison needles. It’d be easier to kill him with tea.
The water felt heavy in his stomach.
“What are they for? What training?”
Jenny sat down, within jabbing distance, but did not make any moves with the needle. “Your Venonat seems ready to learn Poison Powder. If you weren’t ready for that, it would be a disaster.”
“Poison Powder,” David repeated, rolling the words around his mouth. He wasn’t against the idea. It was an interesting move. It would give Venonat more options and provide a powerful deterrent.
“Yes. It’s the best Poison type move to start a Venonat with. I was thinking we could train that and Supersonic this week.”
Before he knew it, he was nodding along despite his undecided feelings about the needles. Both Moves would be welcome additions to Venonat’s arsenal. Two Moves in a week though.
“It seems like a lot to have battle ready in a week.”
Jenny nodded. “Most of the training will be focused on Venonat, but we may have to focus on one towards the end of the week. For your Pidgey, Whirlwind has been suggested, but I am open to your input.”
“Whirlwind?”
“It is a battle control move. While classified as normal type, it is nearly always used with flying type energy. The move influences a Pokemon’s miniaturization. For wild Pokemon, the effects make them likelier to back off, seeking safety and rest, while for trained it can force a recall.”
“That... sounds useful.” David’s eyes were wide as his model of how Pokemon worked was shaken again. If Pokemon can force each other into their pokeballs, could they catch other Pokemon too? Were pokeballs based on a Move?
Jenny nodded. “Are you learning any other Moves at the moment?”
“Confusion. I’ve been trying to get Venonat to use Psychic energy, so he’d have a ranged move, but it hasn’t been successful.” As he answered, David realized he was caught. He’d been hooked, and was already considering how to make the best use of the time instead of how to get away. “And nothing definite for Cloudburst, but I wanted to start into Sand Attack practice again.”
“Confusion... I have some helpful advice, but I am not sure if three moves at once is a good idea. As for Sand Attack, it is not a specialty, but I will ask around.”
David nodded. It was a plan.
“That will not happen today. My plan was for mediation training followed by lunch. We will need to schedule around your Venonat’s sleep, but for today there is much to cover. Starting with-” She rotated the needle in a circle.
David eyed it, then the screen door longingly. This week was going to suck.
‘Shit.’
“Let’s get this over with.”
His shoulder was numb for the next two hours.