[FIN] Unpleasant Requirements

[BlackFireKitsune]

Two months, he'd thought. Two months after joining and he would be promoted. Or that's what he'd assumed, at any rate. Two months and a week or two of dull, grueling trainee work had passed, and barring the occasional interesting situation (if a showdown with a family of giant ice-birds or getting a face full of pepper spray counted as 'interesting'), it was more or less uneventful. Sync was more than ready to be promoted by now, even to a rank with such an unappealing name that he still thought was rather stupid, and yet he still remained a trainee. Perhaps he was rushing things to expect a promotion when scarcely two months had passed, but realistically he didn't much care. He was tired of being a trainee.

At the very least his superiors had taken notice of him, even if it was just to assign him to work with some agent to better his pokemon training skills. He still didn't see the need for the bothersome creatures, and would've been perfectly content to be rid of them, but for some reason the organization required them. That coupled with his assignment had brought the trainee to the training room designated in the message he'd been given. He arrived early if for no other reason than to begin warming up himself and his pokemon for... whatever it was the agent would have them doing. Three flashes of light left three similarly-sized forms in their wake - his Vulpix, Pikachu, and Cranidos - and a quick set of instructions had them off on their own. Sync acquired a medicine ball and set his fire-type to balance atop it as it slowly rolled around the room, while the Pikachu and Cranidos darted at each other and dodged whatever attacks they decided to use, while their trainer dumped his hoodie and pokeballs into a small duffel bag, dropped it off against one wall, and started stretching while he awaited whatever agent had been assigned to work with him. He opted to wear a sleeveless shirt and comfortable pants rather than his uniform, since the latter seemed more professional (objectively speaking, since subjectively he looked about as professional as an out-of-season Christmas tree in it) and not exactly good exercise attire.  

[TawnyAngel]

Alright, what was the next problem of the day then? Now dry from his post workout shower and dressed in fresh sweatpants and sleeveless top Aulus pulled up his schedule on his arm and grunted to himself; right, working with a Trainee whose name not given because that'd be way too helpful and who was apparently-

"Egregiously incapable in the pokemon training department? Who wrote this?"

Aulus shook his head; he still had a few minutes before it was scheduled to start and so he paused to refill his water bottle from the fountain in the changing rooms and ate some trail mix before heading towards the room.

About two minutes before the session was due to start Aulus arrived at the assigned room, paused to check that nothing too Interesting was happening on the other side as it was already marked as occupied, and then opened the door to enter. Once inside he surveyed the room's occupants but initially found that he didn't really know what to make of the sight that met his eyes. Was somebody training for the bloody circus? Okay he understood that exercises like that had their place, definitely the agility and balance work anyway, but this just wasn't what he'd expected to walk in to see. Given what his assignment had said however perhaps he should have, there was training and there was training and this was... Well...

...Whelp, whatever happened surely this couldn't be worse than Clancy.

"You must be the Trainee I've been sent to work with," Aulus began, he didn't see the point in standing on ceremony with these things. "I'm Agent Aulus, I understand you need some guidance on pokemon training?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Since he'd been assigned to work with an agent today, Sync had been awaiting said agent's arrival and thus wasn't surprised when the door opened. He didn't know what sort of person he'd expected - his message hadn't told him anything except rank - but it certainly wasn't the man that just entered. The trainee paused in the middle of stretching his legs out to straighten himself up to his full height - he seemed quite comfortable and relaxed despite standing tall with his back straight - and took a moment to look the agent up and down without trying to be subtle about it. Said agent was busy surveying him and his pokemon, after all, so why not do the same?

He hadn't expected the metal arm, nor had he expected such a muscly agent, but then again he hadn't known what exactly he did expect, so he set aside the matter entirely. Agent was, if he remembered right, one rank above grunt, so two ranks above trainee. If nothing else, he could assume this agent had done at least something to deserve the rank he currently held, so Sync opted to refrain from making any snide remarks - at least for the time being - much as he wanted to reply with 'and you must be the Agent sent to work with me.' "Trainee Sync," he supplied instead. His Pikachu and Cranidos both stopped their quasi-sparring to look at the newcomer, though the Vulpix - either due to her balancing act or because she was more determined to stay focused than her teammates - paid him no mind and continued rolling around the room. The smoothness of her movements hinted that she may have practiced such an exercise during training sessions before. Paying his pokemon no mind, Sync continued, "Apparently, based on the assignment this morning." Still, some notice was good, even if it was 'you desperately need to improve your pokemon training.'  

[TawnyAngel]

Humm, okay then. Right. Where did he start? He should really draw himself up some basic lesson plans or something that he could draw from as needed rather than having to start from scratch every time though he supposed by doing so he was more... flexible? And paying attention to the person he was working with, not trying to hammer their needs into a set lesson. Oh well, something to think about.

"Sync, right," Aulus acknowledged with a nod. "Alright, so tell me, how much experience do you have of working with pokemon?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Since he was on the receiving end of the lesson and not the other end, Sync merely waited (somewhat) patiently while Aulus thought. Points for directness, too. "None until I joined two months ago when I was assigned my first pokemon," the trainee replied readily as he put his hands on his hips, then decided to be helpful and add, "I've seen Rapidash or Growlithe around occasionally when the Guarde used them, but that's about it."  

[TawnyAngel]

Well, okay, at least it was a blank slate? Tabula rasa, all that jazz. Aulus frowned and nodded. "Humm, okay then." Start from scratch.

"Okay," Aulus repeated as he reached a decision, "we'll go over some foundations for you to work on today and afterwards I'll send you some information that might be helpful to study. Before we get started on anything, what can you tell me about the three pokemon you have there?" Aulus nodded to them. "Species name, types, strengths and weaknesses? That sort of thing."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While Sync knew pretty much nothing about the vast majority of pokemon, he had at least taken the time over the past two months to learn about his own - mostly because they were a requirement to have, as much as he didn't want any. Did he want to be thorough? Not particularly, but it would probably be best if he was, then Aulus would know precisely what he knew and wouldn't waste time going over anything he didn't need to. "Vulpix," he began as he pointed at the creature, who paused when she heard her name, but didn't stumble as she continued to roll around atop the ball, "fire-type, type advantage against grass, bug, steel and ice; resistant to all of those as well as fairy and fire; disadvantage against water, ground and rock. It knows Ember, Tail Whip, Quick Attack and Confuse Ray." He paused for breath and to point to the next, "Pikachu," the little mouse similarly looked towards his trainer when addressed, "electric-type, has an advantage over water and flying, resistant to both those as well as steel, and has a disadvantage against ground. It knows Thunder Shock, Growl, Quick Attack and Electro Ball."

Since the other two had been mentioned, the fossil pokemon watched his trainer curiously. Unfortunately, as he was Sync's latest addition, the trainee had to pause and frown at it a bit as he attempted to recall everything, unlike the first two he knew more or less without thinking about it too much. "Cranidos is a rock-type and knows Headbutt, Leer, Focus Energy and Pursuit. It's resistant to fire and has a disadvantage against water and grass, but I can't remember its advantages or disadvantages off the top of my head, I'd have to look them up to remember," he ceded with a light frown as he folded his arms across his chest and focused on Aulus again. "I only got that one a few weeks ago, whereas I was assigned the first two within my first week or two of joining."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Good," Aulus nodded, it wasn't perfect knowledge but from somebody who'd previously had absolutely nothing to do with pokemon it was more than you might expect. It was more than Clancy knew, not that that was saying a lot. "And for the record it's weak to fighting, ground, steel, water, and grass; resists normal, flying, poison, and fire; while rock attacks are strong on bug, fire, flying, and ice; and less effective on fighting, ground, and steel. Rock has quite a lot of things to remember advantage and weakness wise."

Okay, so Sync knew pretty much what he was working with bar the minor memory slip for his Cranidos. What he didn't seem to know was quite how training for battle worked, it looked like when he'd entered the pokemon had been training their agility more than anything else.

"Right then, let's get started on some training." Aulus reached to his belt and released Char, who he knew he could count on to play the punch bag with good grace. "This is Char, a Charizard," he said with a gesture to the tall lean pokemon. "He's a fire and flying type." Right then, phrasing? "The way we train pokemon for battle is to pit them against one another directly. The more they use their moves, and the more times they fight - and preferably win - the stronger they will become in battle. Body conditioning work has its value too," he nodded to the Vulpix on the ball, "but it's not usually what people are referring when they say 'training pokemon'."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Good, but not as good as he could've done, so Sync accepted the praise with a simple nod before setting it aside, and focused more on the information instead. Most of it clicked immediately while some of it only sounded familiar, so Sync nodded once more and endeavored to file it away with the rest of it he'd managed to memorize. Clearly he'd need to go over Cranidos information later to ensure he remembered it.

And right to the meat of the lesson - he liked that. Shifting to lean his weight on his other foot, Sync folded his arms across his chest and looked this 'Charizard' up and down. Given his lack of experience with it, he had no idea what constituted 'normal' for its species, so as far as he was concerned, they normally looked like that. Pit them against each other? That was downright barbaric -- he liked it. Plus what better way to get them experience? Such was usually the case in martial arts and similar fields of interest as well - it was difficult to fully learn it without putting it into practice. Practical practice. "So you want my pokemon to attack him, then?" The trainee hazarded a guess; it would probably be a good idea to make sure he understood the agent's meaning rather than sic his pokemon on it and find out later that he'd meant something different.  

[TawnyAngel]

"That's right," Aulus nodded to Sync, "use their strengths, and defensive capabilities, to fight him. He'll be attacking in return but pulling his punches." Otherwise it would be a very short battle and that was definitely not the point here. "Okay," Aulus slapped Char on the shoulder and moved out of the way, "whenever you're ready then Sync go ahead."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

So they'd actually be fighting, rather than using him as a punching bag. Very good. "All right," the trainee said and took Aulus's cues; he turned and moved away from the Charizard to give enough space, then turned to address his pokemon while he jerked a thumb over a shoulder at Char, "You heard what you're doing: Go fight him." So saying, he settled his hands on his hips and waited expectantly.

At first, only one of his three pokemon reacted; Vulpix immediately rolled her ball around over to Sync and hopped off it, then darted towards Char in a Quick Attack. Taking her cue (and not their trainer's somewhat vague command), both Pikachu and Cranidos darted forwards next, with another Quick Attack and Headbutt respectively.  

[TawnyAngel]

H'o...kaaay then. Clearly he'd not adequately explained here, he wasn't really used to people with no real concept of battling with pokemon. "Okay, you need to give them all some more direction." Aulus turned to Sync while Char 'oofed' slightly as the attacks smacked into him. "Your Pikachu has an advantage over flying types but only when it uses electric typed attacks. Your Vulpix using Quick Attack is okay but at the start of a battle you want to get an advantage over your opponent if you can...." Aulus looked Sync up and down thoughtfully; the young man was clearly fit and he had a certain air about him that civilians tended not to. "You done much fighting yourself?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sync and his pokemon all turned to look at Aulus more or less at the same time, though the trainee frowned a bit. Aulus hadn't given his pokemon direction, so he thought he didn't have to direct his - apparently that assumption was erroneous. How was he supposed to use his Vulpix to get an advantage... Ah, Confuse Ray perhaps? That might... Huh?

"I have, yeah," he replied with a questioning look, his expression briefly and mildly confused as well as quite skeptical. What did this have to do with anything? Deciding to continue to be cooperative - thus far he hadn't seen any reason why he shouldn't - he elaborated, "I learned a bit from a few different styles of martial arts, so mostly just a mix of stuff that focuses on dodging or using the opponent's movements against them." His skeptical, confused frown deepened. "Why?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Why was everyone looking at him?...

Oh, well, he hadn't said anything to Char had he? "Char's really just there to be a target so I didn't give him any direction myself.... Though to be honest I seldom do these days anyway," Aulus shrugged, "he's experienced enough to make his own decisions for the most part - once he knows what result I want - which leaves me free to focus on other things. While pokemon are still learning though you need to give them direct orders to get results."

Hum, and so Sync did have some fighting experience. He wasn't entirely sure where he'd been going with this but.... Ah, right! That was where he'd been going, and in fact Sync had given him a very hand lead in. "Right," Aulus nodded, "using your opponent's strength against them is great. Your Vulpix for example, you know its ability?" Maybe Sync would enjoy coming along to one of his classes to keep his hand in? It might not be the same style but that would probably be good for everyone involved, it wasn't like you got to pick your opponent based on your own style in a real life situation.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ah, that made sense, he supposed, so the trainee nodded his understanding. "You've had him long enough that you don't need to give him direct orders all the time anymore," he guessed - or assumed - more than queried, then looked down at his Vulpix who, along with his other pokemon, had returned to an area vaguely near him, as opposed to hanging out near Char. Vulpix's ability... "Flash Fire," he replied readily enough, but had to think a moment or two about what it did, "powers up fire moves?" Somehow... If a fire-type pokemon hit it, or just a fire-type attack, or something like that. Whichever.