Chapter 4: Training with Check

Stealth took three Pokeballs from her waist and tossed them into the air. Three 
flashes of black light shone momentarily then cleared. Rayten, Aronato, and 
Zephyr stood staring expectantly at her. She could never figure out how they 
knew what she planned to do before she told them. They must pay good attention 
to their surroundings. She was in the Trainer Arena after all, and what else do 
you do in a training arena than trainer? 

“All right guys,” she said, looking at each of her Pokemon’s expressions to see 
what kind of mood they were in before continuing, “as you’ve already guessed, 
you’re going to be doing some trainer. Aronato, you will go against Rayten. 
Alalia, you and Zephyr will have to train solo if you still want to train.”

‘How rude,’ Alalia said in a mortified tone. ‘I think I just won’t train at all 
if you’re going to be like that.’ She flicked her ears and marched over to a 
bench that sat near the wall. 

Zephyr shrugged and said, ‘Well if Alalia’s not gonna train I might as well take 
it easy too.’ He ruffled his feathers and walked over to sit beside Alalia.

“Lazy,” Stealth muttered, turned to face Rayten and Aronato.

‘I heard that!’ Came Alalia’s voice from the bench.

Stealth merely shrugged and spoke to the two Pokemon she had chosen to trainer. 
“Ok, I think we should start off by working on your agility, Aronato. Rayten 
does much better at maneuvering at high speeds than you and that gives him a 
real advantage.”

Aronato nodded his horned head and replied, ‘Sounds good to me. But ya gotta 
remember not to let me hit Rayten with any of my attacks. I wouldn’t want to 
hurt him.’

Rayten snorted. “Yeah, like I’m really worried about your attacks. I can’t even 
feel them, not usually anyway. The only exception is when Zephyr dropped you 
because you were annoying him so much.’

‘That was a strategical move designed to catch the opponent off guard. He didn’t 
drop me.’

‘Riiight.’

“That’s enough you two, you’re supposed to be getting ready to train, not 
bickering about the time Zephyr dumped Aro off his back.” Rayten gave Aronato a 
smug grin as he moved into a fighting position. Aronato grunted and moved 
backwards a bit to put some distance between him and Rayten. “Right, now, 
Rayten, I want you to fire weak jolts of electricity at Aronato. Make your aim 
random, just do your best to hit him. Aronato, you try to predict what Rayten is 
going to and dodge. Even if you can’t predict his move, do your best to dodge. A 
sloppy move is better than a hit.” Both Pokemon nodded.

Rayten stared unblinking at Aronato, waiting for the right chance to move. 
Aronato was becoming edgy. He never had much patience and standing still long 
enough to anticipate an attack was not something he usually did. It was one of 
the things that made it so hard for him to turn jump when he was running at high 
speeds. It took concentration and patience to learn to do something like that so 
well that you didn’t have to think about it. Aronato could concentrate if he had 
to, but not for long periods of time and he had very little patience.

Just as he was beginning to fidget from the anticipation, Rayten fired a small 
bolt of electricity. Aronato yelped and rolled out of the way just as Rayten 
fired the second. This happened three times before one hit. After that, 
Aronato’s movements were just as random as Rayten’s attacks. The only difference 
was, Rayten knew where he was going to fire and Aronato didn’t. This made it 
twice as hard for the Houndoom to move out of the way.

Finally Stealth called for them to stop. “Aro, you’re not anticipating his 
moves. You’re waiting until he launches an attack to decide which way your going 
to move. You have to watch him and move before he attacks. Otherwise your just 
going to tire yourself out and leave yourself wide open.”

‘I know, but you said it yourself, he’s faster than me. And how am I supposed to 
predict his attack? I’m not a psychic type.’

“Read his movements, watch him when he’s about to attack. No matter how subtle, 
there is always a sign that he’s about to attack. Now get ready to try again.”

Aronato made a disgruntled sound in his throat but moved into a fighting stance. 
Rayten stood straight, not moving a muscle. Stealth watched him closely, 
studying him. From the corner of her eye she saw Aronato shift slightly. She 
hissed at him and he stopped. Then she saw Rayten’s muscles tense ever so 
slightly. A second later a bolt of electricity zoomed its way towards Aronato. 
The Houndoom was slow to move and by the time he recovered his balance Rayten 
had fired another attack. Stealth sighed as the fire type leaped and dodged, 
unable to see the warning sign that meant Rayten was about to attack but also 
not paying enough attention to his opponent to discover it. After five minutes 
she called a halt to the exercise again.

‘I can’t do it, Atra!’ Aronato said, panting heavily. 

“Yes you can, you just have to concentrate. You’re letting the anticipation of 
the attack cloud your ability to focus on your opponent. Don’t worry about being 
hit, worry about seeing the attack. It’s not going to hurt you, just a little 
sting. Calm yourself and relax your mind. Look past what’s going to happen and 
focus on what is happening.”

Aronato shook his head and sat down. ‘I don’t have the patience, Atra. I never 
have.’ He looked hopelessly up at her.

Stealth sighed and walked over to her Pokemon. She knelt beside him and placed a 
gentle hand on his head. “You just need to practice. Everything takes practice. 
Nobody is born with patience, Aro. Some people find it easier to obtain, true, 
but they still have to learn it. Do you think I was always able to concentrate 
for long periods of time or see my opponents attack before they made it? You’re 
young, but you’ll grow out of it eventually.”

‘I guess so. I mean, I’m the only one of us who doesn’t know what out world 
looks like. I’ve never been able to smell the air in a place where I’m accepted. 
It’s just so much that I find it impossible to…’

“Hey, Stealth, how’s the training going?”

“Hey, Check,” said Stealth, standing up and turning around to face the man who 
had just entered. “Not bad, I’m trying to teach Aronato to see attacks before 
they happen. Or something like that anyway.”

“Interesting. It’s a handy technique I’m sure, though I’ve never tried it.” He 
smiled as she walked forward. He was a tall man of about twenty with dark brown 
hair and hazel eyes. He usually dressed in official looking clothes because he 
was a high ranking member of the Resistance. You had to be high ranking to get 
the job of guard duty, or at least someone who was trusted. Today he had on 
black pants, a white shirt, and a black jacket. Though he liked to look official 
and important, he often spoiled the effect by not brushing his hair, not wearing 
a tie, or wearing very odd shoes. Today they were bright green and red. 

“I’m guessing you don’t have guard duty today,” Stealth commented lightly after 
tearing her eyes away from Check’s odd footwear.

“Nope,” he replied cheerfully. “I thought I’d come down here and train my 
Pokemon a bit. I don’t want to get rusty.”

Stealth laughed softly. “I doubt that’ll happen. But I supposed it never hurts 
to be on the safe side.” She paused for a moment then asked, “How about a 
battle? I haven’t a match with anyone for a while. On my last mission I almost 
hoped I’d run into a member of one of the gangs.”

Check nodded. “I know the feeling. It’s actually worse for me because I so 
rarely leave the base. There have been times when I longed for an attack to 
happen. Don’t tell Boss that though. He’ll probably fire me.” He pondered 
something for a moment then added, “That might not be such a bad idea. Maybe 
he’d send me on some missions if I weren’t a guard. Anyway, does a two on two 
battle sound good to you?”

“Yep,” Stealth replied cheerfully. She nodded to Aronato and Rayten. The two 
Pokemon nodded and followed Stealth and Check over to a large area of the room 
marked off with lines. It was about half the size of a football field with 
another line through the center. A Pokeball was painted in the middle of this. 
Even though the items and training conditions were nothing like those from the 
Pokemon’s world, the Resistance had still wanted to make the battles similar. 
They even held tournaments sometimes, just for fun. Stealth had competed in one 
of these but missed the other two because she had been away on missions. There 
hadn’t been a new tournament for ages though and the rumor was there wouldn’t be 
one ever again. This was because three people had reported that they had come 
into the base and discovered that there was no guard on duty. The guy had 
skipped off to watch the battles. Boss had been very unhappy about this and 
every member had to line up to have their tattoos checked. 

“So you’re going to use Ray and Aro, eh? Ok, let’s see here…” He reached into a 
pocket and drew out two Pokeballs. The thought of how different these Pokeballs 
looked from the ones in the Pokemon world flashed through Stealth’s mind for a 
moment. Pure black with a dark grey button in the middle. They could be easily 
hidden and Stealth liked the look of them, but she remembered that she had once 
wished they were red and white. It would just seem more official than these. 

Check tossed the two balls into the air and watched as first an Alakazam then a 
Pupitar appeared. “You can make the first move.”

“Nice choice,” Stealth commented, gazing at the two Pokemon. Her mind zipped 
into action as she considered her options. Pupitar was a rock type so Rayten 
would have no effect. It also meant that Aronato’s attacks wouldn’t be very 
useful either. Physical attacks did little damage as well. She’d have to think 
carefully on that one. Alakazam was easier. She would take it out first. “All 
right, Rayten start off with Howl and Aronato, start off with Leer!” Rayten 
raised his head and let out a deep howl that appeared useless but actually 
caused his attack strength to rise. Aronato turned his head swiftly to stare 
Alakazam in the eyes. His eyes glowed eerily but it didn’t seem to do anything. 
Stealth knew that Alakazam’s defense was lower, though.

“Howl and Leer? Well, it’s your choice. Alakazam use Psybeam on Houndoom, 
Pupitar use Rock Slide on Manectric!” Alakazam lifted the two spoons it held. 
They glowed for a moment then a rainbow swirl of lights shot out of them towards 
Aronato. At the same time, Pupitar began to spin. Whatever it was doing caused 
large rocks to form that shot, one after the other, at Rayten.

“Aronato use Smog and Rayten use Charge!” Aronato opened his mouth and shot a 
cloud of toxic gas into the air. It swirled as it flew towards Alakazam, 
blocking the two Pokemon from each other’s view and ensuring that Alakazam would 
become steadily weaker from the poison. Another effect of the attack was that 
Aronato only had to duck for the Psybeam attack to miss. Rayten howled again, 
but this was a battle cry, not an attack. His body was charged with electricity 
and the powerful jolts surrounded him, leaping through the air before returning 
to his body. The affect of this was to raise Rayten’s attack power while at the 
same time preventing the rocks from hitting their target.

Check seemed uneasy now. He had battled several members of the Resistance but 
most were like him. They wanted to cause as much damage as they could as fast as 
they could to end the battle quickly. He had never battled Stealth nor seen her 
battle before. She had a completely different strategy and he knew that he’d 
have to think of something to counter it with. But, on the bright side, she 
seemed to think that the best offense was defense which meant she wouldn’t use 
many attacks that caused direct damage. “Alakazam use Confusion on Houndoom! 
Pupitar use Earthquake!” Alakazam once again lifted the two spoons it held. It’s 
whole body glowed this time, then a blast of multi-colored light zoomed through 
the air towards Aronato. Pupitar seemed to be charging its strength. Its eyes 
were closed and it was concentrating hard on something. Then its eyes snapped 
open and it leapt into the air, coming back down with enough force the cause the 
entire battle field to shake horribly. 

Stealth gave Check an irritated look as she braced her legs and hoped the 
ceiling wouldn’t collapse. Aronato and Rayten moved towards each other and 
leaned up against each other to steady themselves. The attack was so jarring 
that it knocked Check and Alakazam off their feet. There were shouts from 
outside the room then three people appeared in the doorway. One was a girl with 
silvery blonde hair and green eyes who was wearing a red long sleeved shirt and 
tight fitting jeans. The other two were boys who were about five years younger 
than Stealth and looked almost exactly alike. They bother had black hair and 
brown eyes and bother were wearing black shirts with Typhlosion on the front and 
khaki pants. Stealth recognized the girl as Koko and the boys as Ritch and Ric. 

“What on earth are you two doing?!” The girl named Koko shouted angrily. “You 
nearly sent us into a pile of glass!”

“A pile of glass?” Said a very red Check in a sheepish tone. “Where did a pile 
of glass come from?”

“It came from a window that shattered when you used that Earthquake attack!” 
Shouted Ritch and Ric together.

“Umm, sorry,” said Check, standing up and rubbing the back of his head in an 
embarrassed way. 

‘I think I’m gonna be sick,’ said Aronato, staggering drunkenly across the room 
towards Stealth. 

‘Me too,’ said Rayten who’s legs were planted firmly apart with his head swaying 
from side to side.

“I don’t feel too great myself,” agreed Stealth, who, like Rayten, was standing 
with her legs slightly apart and her head spinning.

‘Well I feel all right,’ said a cheerful voice from above. Everyone looked up 
and saw Alalia riding atop Zephyr who was hovering near the ceiling.

‘Me too,’ said Zephyr just as cheerfully.

“Think how we feel,” said Check who was having to hold onto to Alakazam to stay 
standing. He glanced around and saw that no one had any sympathy for him. He 
sighed and said, “Alakazam can fix all the windows that were damaged by 
Pupitar’s attacks. Don’t worry.”

“Well he better do it fast. I’m sure Boss won’t be happy if he comes down here 
and finds everything broke.”

Check winced and nodded hastily. “Come on Kaz, let’s hurry up and fix those 
windows. Pupitar, you should go back in your Pokeball.” The rock Pokemon nodded 
and allowed himself to be recalled. Check then gave Stealth an apologetic grin 
and staggered as fast as he could out of the arena with Alakazam behind him.

“That idiot’s gonna be in trouble. Using Earthquake inside. Who in their right 
mind does that?”

“No one, but then, Check has never been in his right mind.” Stealth grinned and 
placed a hand on Aronato’s head. Koko, Ritch, and Ric all nodded in agreement 
then turned and left to see if anything else had been damaged by the earthquake. 

‘Well that was fun. I trust you learning something from that battle?’

“As a matter of fact I did, Rayten. I learned that battling Check is quite an 
interesting experience.”