34 CH11 (34), Sparring Preparations
The morning after Mikail had decided to temporarily stop his exploration he went to a clear area of their garden with Natu once they were done with breakfast.
"Natu we are not going out today.
We will practice fighting."
Natu flew down from his head and landed in front of him.
Mikail sat down and started explaining once he thought they were alone.
His parent's Pokemon did not keep a constant eye on him while he stayed on their property, so they were semi-private.
Natu simply nodded to express his understanding.
Mikail lowered his volume before he continued to talk.
"We are going over everything I want you to do during a fight.
Our strategies are limited by the moves you currently know however there are still things we can do with what you have.
Let's begin with the start of a fight."
While he was doing his explanation, he took 2 small pebbles that he placed on the ground between them and indicated that the one on the right depicts an opponent and the one on the left depicts Natu.
"This will be most likely only effective against non-airborne opponents but unless I tell you otherwise I want you to use our wide range Gust and create a breeze that stirs up the sand, dust, grass, twigs, and so on to obscure the view as well as distract the opponent at the start of every fight.
The aim of this opening move is a distraction so you don't have to perform a full-powered Gust for now.
Execution speed is the key so until you can perform a full-power Gust in a second or less, a low-powered but fast one is enough.
When you master Gust or a more suitable move we can think about adjusting the opening move until then this is how we will do it.
After you have done that or in case that you can't, you will have to start moving.
A moving object/individual is harder to hit so unless I tell you otherwise your second action is to start moving around.
It doesn't have to be at your fastest speed, a relatively fast speed that keeps you from staying at a location for too long while not costing too much energy is enough."
Mikail demonstrated what he meant by lightly blowing air at the foe-pebble while shifting around the Natu-pebble.
"Did you understand everything so far?"
Natu nodded at his question indicating his understanding.
"Good, then let's continue.
While you start moving I will give you 1 of 3 main instructions, Front-seat, Backseat, and Passenger.
These are going to be the fighting styles you will use until I tell you to change to another one.
When I say Front seat I want you to move towards the opponent.
While moving towards the enemy, I want you to use Leer on him before using Peck once you reach him.
You should have enough time to execute both but if you don't then ignore Leer and only use Peck.
If you feel that you have the opportunity to use either Leer or Peck more than once you may do so.
If I need to amend something I will give an instruction otherwise you will have to retreat and start moving around again in case the foe counters.
You will keep moving around until you or I see an opportunity to attack.
If that is the case, then you have to approach the foe again and repeat the attack chain.
So front seat means to approach, attack, retreat, dodge, and repeat until told otherwise."
Mikail lifted the Natu-pebble while he was talking and moved it towards the other pebble when talking about approaching, hit the other pebble when he said to attack the foe, as well as moving the pebble away and around when he mentioned retreat and dodge.
He demonstrated the pattern a few times after he told Natu that he should repeat it until told otherwise before he stopped.
"Did you understand what I meant with the front seat command?"
Mikail asked to make sure Natu was following his explanation.
Natu seriously nodded hearing Mikail's no-nonsense tone.
"That's good we are going to run through all instructions either way but you understanding my explanation is going to make it easier for us.
Next is the Backseat command.
The backseat command has 4 patterns, Backseat open, Backseat empty, Backseat free, and Backseat full.
For all 4 patterns, you have to move away from your opponent after performing the opening move to open up the distance between your foe and yourself.
The difference between them starts here.
Backseat open means you should perform Gust while moving around trying to maintain the distance and to dodge any attacks from the foe.
Repeatedly execute Gust while moving until told otherwise.
Backseat empty means you should perform Night Shade while moving around trying to maintain the distance and to dodge any attacks from the foe.
Repeat executing Night Shade while moving until told otherwise as well.
For Backseat free, you should perform Stored Power while doing the same and for Backseat full, you can choose to swap between all moves if you want to.
In cases where 2 moves are okay, I will combine two patterns for example Backseat open and empty, meaning you can choose between Gust and Night Shade.
You should not forget to try to evade any attacks and to keep your distance."
Mikail shifted the Natu-pebble further away from the foe-pebble while he kept moving it around.
When he talked about Gust he blew air at the foe-pebble.
Once he came to the part about Night Shade he seemed a bit confused, because he was not sure how to illustrate Night Shade before he decided to simply slap the foe-pebble with his free hand signifying the move hitting the foe.
Natu snickered when he saw his confused look and subsequent solution to his predicament.
Mikail glared at Natu before he simply continued with his explanation and repeated the slap for Stored Power causing Natu to snicker again.
Mikail briefly thought about using his telekinesis to hurl the pebble at Natu but decided against it at the end.
He did not use his telekinesis during his explanation in case his mother or one of the Pokemon decided to check up on them so he wouldn't use it now to hit Natu no matter how tempting it was.
It was one thing to speak softly in complete sentences because he wouldn't be heard from a distance and another to levitate pebbles and throw them at others.
"Ha ha, really funny.
Did you understand me or was laughing too much of a distraction bird head."
Now it was Natu that was glaring at Mikail, who simply chuckled seeing his glare.
Natu grudgingly tolerating Mikail's retort before expressing that he understood.
"Na. Tu."
"Alright, then I will continue with the 3rd command.
Passenger means you should allow the opponent to approach you and use the time he is moving towards you to attack him.
Until he reaches you use long-range attacks and when he reaches you start using short-range attacks.
While you are attacking, you can't forget to move around to dodge as many attacks from the foe as possible.
We will mostly use this strategy when I think that the opponent is way faster than you and is a close-range fighter that definitely will be able to catch up to you.
So you will have to dodge whatever you can, negate any attacks if possible, and endure the rest while dishing out as much damage as you can."
Natu had an unimpressed look on his face when he heard what the 3rd command entailed, especially at the part where he had to take the rest of the attacks.
Mikail who saw Natu's look could only shrug.
"That's all we can do with the moves you have right now.
After you learn more moves, especially Teleport, we can adjust, and change the strategy but for now, this is our modus operandi.
I will naturally give direct and assisting directions if I see the need to do live adjustments but otherwise, this is how we will conduct most of our fights."
Natu nodded accepting Mikail's argument since he knew that it was true.
Mikail who saw Natu agreeing with him smiled.
"Once we/you have more experience you can sometimes try to fight more autonomously and I will only interfere if it becomes necessary.
We will go over the fights afterward and see what was well done and what could have been better.
This way we can prepare for cases where I can't take command and you have to fight on your own."
Natu approved.
"Na. Tu. Natu. Na."
He expressed that he thought it was a good idea as well.
Mikail planned to focus on Natu during the next two weeks before including Caterpie because he did not deem her ready yet even though she had as many moves as Natu.
Mikail wanted her to raise her parameters first and train her moves some more.
They spent the next 5 days repeatedly performing fight drills where Mikail would issue the commands and Natu would follow them.
Mikail would sometimes throw in other instructions to prevent Natu from being unable to react to sudden commands and preventing him from blindly executing the patterns.
They also did their normal training routine, to not neglect Natu's parameter training and to better his move usage.
Mikail naturally could not neglect the Caterpies because of this, so he allotted some time for them as well.
Thanks to all the training, combined with the supplements and the massage with his specially prepared lotion Natu's potential upgraded to Green on the fifth day.
When he checked Natu's status screen, he saw that some of his parameters as well as the mastery of some of his moves had increased due to their training.
'Species: Natu
Gender: Male
Type: Psychic, Flying/Air
Potential: Green (0.1%)
Parameters:
Stage: Iron Stage (low)
Vitality: H
Strength: G
Endurance: H -> G
Agility: G -> F
Energy Capacity: G
Energy Density: H
Resistance: Grass/Flora (Minor), Psychic/Psionic (Minor), Fighting (Major)
Weaknesses: Electricity (Minor), Ice (Minor), Rock (Minor), Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)
Condition: Healthy, Content
Masteries: Air Element Manipulation (Novice), Psionic E. Manipulation (Beginner)
Techniques: Leer (Novice), Peck (Novice) -> (Beginner), Night Shade (Novice), Stored Power (Beginner), Gust (Beginner) -> (Proficient)'
Mikail was happy about Natu's progress and he felt that they were as ready as they could be.
Not only did Natu's potential increase to Green but his progress with his moves and the increase in his parameters were enough for Mikail to have confidence in Natu.
He was planning to have their first mock battle tomorrow.
Natu executed his commands as well as he could without testing them during a fight and he saw no reason to delay it any longer now.
On a side note, the effectiveness of the Pidgeotto Crest Feather was reduced so much that it was not worth the effort as long as he had a substitute, which he fortunately did.
He could use the Fearow's Beak and the Float stone but he was already using them for the lotion so he was debating if he should use them.
Was the increase in potential worth the decrease in effectiveness that was going to affect the lotion as well?
He did not really think so.
In the worst case, he would use White Apricorns or one of those 2 until he found a substitute.
The next day Mikail went to the northern area to find a suitable Pokemon that he could fight.
He had to find someone that was neither too weak nor too strong.
Someone that recently advanced to the (low) iron stage would be the best.
He would prefer it if their first opponent was a Rattata but anyone that fit his requirements would do.
Mikail had found and asked 4 Pokemon that fit until now but none of them had agreed.
It seemed that being used to him was not enough to participate in a mock battle where they could get injured or caught.
It looked like they were not sure if Mikail would really heal them after the fight and not catch them while they were weakened.
Not to mention if he would really give them the promised reward.
After asking another 2 Pokemon and receiving rejections the third finally agreed.
Mikail was happy because it was a young Rattata that was at the (low) iron stage, meaning it should have recently advanced.
He would think about recruiting Rattata after the fight if it agreed because it had Yellow potential.
Its potential was not high enough for him to think that he definitely wanted that Rattata but he would take it if it accepted his offer.
