25 Training

Daikon woke up to a stick slapping his head.

"Wake up already. Wasting the day away." Gerald said viciously.

Daikon looked around weary eyed, "The sun isn't even up yet old man, leave me alone." Daikon grumbled as he rolled over, covering his face with the blanket.

Gerald didn't reply and walked away causing Daikon to smile with his small victory.

Suddenly a large stream of water engulfed him, soaking him with ice cold water.

Gasping for air, Daikon sat up in panic only to see his grandpa standing there with a Kingdra behind him.

Gerald gave a smirk at Daikon before saying, "Dry off and get dressed. It is time for you to train."

Daikon glared at him walking away before getting up.

'Silly master, you should know by now your grandfather means what he says.' a voice chided him in his head.

Espeon walked up to Daikon and sat down, licking her paw.

Daikon did as his grandpa said and quickly got dressed. By the time he walked over to the edge of the lake where Gerald was, the sun was starting to rise. Daikon was still wearing the gravity bracelets so walking the short distance caused him to breath a little heavy.

Kingdra and Dratini were swimming in the lake, Dratini was trying to play by splashing Kingdra with water but Kingdra ignored him.

The rest of Daikon's pokemon had gathered around, with Espeon following him.

Togekiss let out a happy cry while Vibrava flew over and landed on his head.

"Good morning everyone." Daikon said, taking off his backpack, he started to take out food and dishes for his pokemon.

Soon everyone was eating but when Vibrava went to eat Gerald stopped him.

"Both your dragon pokemon will be eating these." Gerald said as he took out two blood red gems.

"What are they?" Daikon asked, inspecting the gem.

"Blood Crystals. Very good for dragon pokemon but can be deadly to other types." Gerald said, placing one in front of Vibrava's face.

Sniffing it, Vibrava gave a happy cry before eating it. Daikon could feel a rush of energy build up in Vibrava and a little bit was absorbed by him.

"Incredible…" Daikon said as he watched his grandfather give the other one to Dratini.

Gerald then removed some gravity bracelets from his ring and started putting them on Daikon's pokemon.

"The most important thing for a pokemon is there body. Doesn't matter if you are a special attack type pokemon, you still will need a strong body. That is where training starts." Gerald said as he threw three pokeballs out.

Soon a Hydreigon, Tyrantrum and Drampa appeared. These pokemon gave off a powerful pressure that caused Daikon's pokemon to step back.

"You five will be training with my pokemon while I whip my grandson into shape." Gerald said as Daikon stared at the powerful dragon pokemon with his mouth wide open.

Tyrantrum stood 2.5m tall, towering over everyone while Drampa was 3m long, making him the longest pokemon. Hydreigon hovered in the air with his 6 black wings steadily flapping. These pokemon were strong and looked down on Daikon's pokemon.

They particularly glared at Togekiss, who was a fairy type, their weakness.

"Aerodactyl will train Togekiss." Gerald said after thinking it over. "Now go and train."

The nine pokemon left Daikon and Gerald and went to far side of the valley. Kingdra swam around the lake, not taking notice in anything.

"We will train your hand to hand combat first." Gerald said.

"But I use a sword." Daikon said, patting the sword on his waist.

"And you will always have access to a sword? Everywhere? At all times?" Gerald asked with a raised eyebrow.

Daikon understood what he meant and shut his mouth.

Gerald continued, "We practice a martials arts exercise called Dragon Body. It tempers our bodies to cultivate draconic energy better and strengthen it. There are 3 stances and you will practice them every morning before training begins. This is the first move, watch closely because I will perform it once."

Gerald took a particular stance and started a series of simple and complex movements. He finished after a few minutes and looked at Daikon expectantly.

Daikon stood up, his face filled with concentration on trying to replicate what he just witnessed. His movements began to mimic his grandfathers and although they were rough in the beginning, they slowly got smoother.

After finishing the first stance, Daikon was covered in sweat and out of breath. The series of movements didn't seem like much but they pushed and stretched the body in difficult ways.

"You need to work on your flexibility." Gerald said coldly. In his heart though he was shocked on how well Daikon had performed them on his first try.

Daikon nodded, knowing he needed more time to master the first stance.

"Now we start in hand to hand. Attack me." Gerald said, standing with his hands behind his back.

Though his grandfather looked full of openings, Daikon wasn't naive enough to believe that. He threw a punch towards his grandfather's face, while keeping his other fist close to his face for defense.

Gerald easily avoided the punch and slapped Daikon's arm away.

"Attack me like you mean it!" Gerald yelled at Daikon.

Scrunching his eyebrows together, Daikon became bolder with his attacks and started to attack with less restraint.

Gerald continued to slap away Daikon's punches but didn't return any and when Daikon threw in a kick, he calmly slapped that away as well.

Finally Gerald returned a punch that sent Daikon to the ground.

Folding his hands behind his back, Gerald looked down at Daikon. "You caution towards me in hindering your attacks. You're mindset is messed up. When you attack me, you will hurt me. When you are defending, you will protect yourself. No in between. Now come again." Gerald said to Daikon, telling him to get up.

The day continued like this, Daikon getting knocked down again again with his grandfather telling him to get up. They stopped for a quick lunch and continued for the rest of the day. The sun started to set before Gerald called in for the day.

"Make sure you cultivate tonight." Gerald told him before walking away.

Daikon limped over towards the makeshift shelter he made the day before. His entire body was covered in bruises and hurt to move.

Soon Daikon's pokemon returned from wherever they were training. All of them looked exhausted and dirty. Espeon's ears were drooping, same with Togekiss' wing. Quilava and Dratini were leaning against each other as they collapsed to the ground.

Daikon smiled at his exhausted pokemon and carried his exhausted body over to them, bringing out food and water for them. As they started to eat, Espeon came over and laid her head into Daikon's lap.

"Tough day?" he asked her.

'Those dragons are monsters, absolute monsters.' Espeon said, her voice sounded tired.

"One day we will surpass them." Daikon smiled as he petted her head.

Espeon gave a light smile as she shut her eyes, enjoying Daikon petting her.

After eating, Dratini wrapped around him and rested his head on Daikon's lap while Vibrava sat on Daikon's head.

Closing his eyes, Daikon started to absorb energy from the two dragon pokemon. He quickly noticed that the absorption was quicker than before and the energy also flowed through his body easier.

'Looks like that old man isn't full of shit…'