Chương 9: The Wilds

After staying the night in the Pokemon Centre Magnus left for his next destination, Nacrene City where he'd take on his next gym.

Of course this was after he splurged a fit bit of money on all kinds of personal and pokemon products. Potions, antidotes, burn heal, paralyse heal, ice heal, the full lot. One of the things that was drilled into him by Drayden was to always be prepared for any situation.

While he did have some pokemon healing stuff, it was mostly just the basics. Now that he wouldn't be worried about cash for a while Magnus decided to get a decent bit of gear so that he isn't caught off guard by anything that happens to his pokemon.

Other than that, he bought more pokemon food and rations for himself. Nothing fancy, just the tasteless, hard nutrition bars and some tinned food that lasts age which he could eat if he was feeling fancy.

Since he wasn't in any rush Magnus slowed down their travelling speed while on route 3 so that they could get some proper training in.

Stopping at a small secluded pond, Magnus released Magikarp and Feebas while Rookidee floated down from off his shoulder. Ever since the gym battle Rookidee's been in high spirits, his confidence has been at an all time high and he's been desperate to improve even more.

On the way over here, Rookidee was darting through the trees practising his flying while Magnus was struggling to keep pace with the little rocket.

Now that they found a place to train Magnus told them "Right, now that we've passed the first gym, it's time to get some training in. Although Rookidee had a comfortable win in Striaton, I doubt that'll be the case in the next gym… Striations basically the gym where all the Rookies go to win their first badge"

"The rest of the gyms from now on are only going to get harder, and that's why we're all going to keep getting better" His three pokemon all showed similar expressions as they listened, even Magikarp.

Not letting his surprise show on his face Magnus gave them their training agendas.

"Feebas and Rookidee, you two are going to be working together. Feebas I want you to practice Dragon Breath and Hypnosis, we'll try and get their speed and power up as well as training your accuracy with them. You're goal is to hit Rookidee with those moves while he dodges'' Magnus explained to Feebas

"FEE…bas"

"That's what I like to hear" Magnus nodded before turning to Rookidee "You heard what I said to Feebas. This time you'll be practising you're evasion skills. You've not evolved yet, so there's not much you can do about your weak defence, that's why it's important - at least for now - that you get good at dodging. If you're opponents can't hit you, then there's no need to worry about your defence"

"And make sure to use Roost if you get hit, this'll be good practice for using it on the move. Alright?" Magnus said, Rookidee just done his cute little salute thing again with his wing and left with Feebas.

Watching for a moment as the two made their way to the middle of the lake, Magnus turned to his last pokemon, who somehow still hadn't wandered off yet. There's really not much to train Magikarp in, his species in general aren't the most trainable kind. Hence the reason why everyone doesn't have Gyarados on their team.

"Magikarp you're with me, we're going to train your movements as well as your muscles. There's really not much else to train until you decide to evolve." Magnus told Magikarp who was absolutely ecstatic to hear about his training.

He flopped around and barked like a dog once he heard this training would be using splash to move, that's only it's favourite thing to do. Magnus dodged side as Magikarp came crashing down on his previous position in excitement.

'This could work' Magnus thought as he came up with a game.

"Magikarp! If you manage to catch me I'll give you a treat!" Magikarp yelled at the giant red fish. It took a few moments for Magikarp's brain to piece together what he was saying but once he did, you bet that he moved quickly.

From then on, the game 'Dodge the fucking Carp' became the main method for improving Magikarps maneuverability.

Everyone trained with their respective tasks for a good few hours, before they took a break and began moving again. After training together Rookidee and Feebas became more comfortable with each other, spending the walk speaking to each other about who knows what.

Magnus on the other hand was far more tired than he could've been, had he not come up with a game for Magikarp. Seriously, who would think a Magikarp could be so energetic out of the water, his pokemon was basically amphibious at this point.

Even though he was tired, the training was good for both of them. Magnus could get a workout in while training and bonding with his pokemon, while Magikarp could have all the fun he wants splashing around on solid ground, building up his already impressive physique.

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The schedule of travelling and training continued for another three days, as they edged closer and closer to Lenora's gym. After having a few days to hone their skill, Magnus could see a solid improvement in each of his pokemon.

Feebas is finally able to fire off several Dragon Breath in a row without running out of steam, while also becoming more accurate with each of her attacks. During one of the battles Magnus had accepted while travelling, Feebas managed to shoot a Pidove out of the sky with hypnosis.

Even though Pidove aren't the fastest of pokemon they still have a fair bit of agility to them. A Feebas being able to track a moving flying-type with its bare eyes, and hitting it with a status move on top of that is impressive for her species.

Her training partner, Rookidee has also had his own fair share of improvement. Spending the best part of a few days dodging attacks has made him more agile in general, and has even improved his stamina and flying technique.

As Feebas began to get better, Rookidee was clipped by a few roasting hot Dragon Breaths that burned a good portion of his blue black and yellow feathers. The times that happened, Rookidee had to rapidly use Recover mid air, to prepare for Feebas's follow up attacks. Which proved to be a good threat to bring out the best of Rookidee's abilities.

Magikarp on the other hand was just getting better and better. Even though it has only been three days since he had started to properly train, Magnus could already see growth in the Water-type, both in the size and skill department.

Magikarps manoeuvrability on land was outright phenomenal now, he moved as he was supposed to be there in the first place. After the first day, which was mostly a hit or miss, Magnus found it increasingly harder to avoid his easily excitable Magikarp during their game.

But the real surprise in Magnus came from watching Magikarps powerful body expand with every training session. He even debated whether to call in and get Magikarp checked out, since he shouldn't be putting on muscle mass so quickly.

He was as wide as Magnus's waist now. A fucking tank of a mon' in Magnus not so humble opinion.

Just now they were walking down an off road path a few hours out from Nacrene City. Magnus and his pokemon were loving life, just an hour earlier they trounced a trainer that saw them training and picked up another sum of money.

Everything was swell… at least until Magnus and Rookidee began to hear a low sounding buzzing noise. What started off as a low hum gradually rose to a powerful droning sound that sent shivers down Magnus' spine.

A piece of information he saw at the pokemon centre back in Striation flashed in his head. 'Yanma swarms becoming increasingly aggressive within route 3' something that he put to the back of his mind since Yanma were very uncommon within the route.

They were already closing in so he had to come up with a plan fast.

Returning the two water type into their pokeballs, he yelled at Rookidee "Fly up and find the nearest body of water!" Magnus said this for two reasons.

The first was so he could let Feebas and Magikarp fight in an advantageous territory. The second was so he had somewhere to back into if shit hit the fan. Yanma avoid the water because their wings are extremely fragile and can break easily if wet, not to mention their flying speed would drop significantly. So holding his breath, submerging and having one of his pokemon swim him away is as good an escape as anything.

Rookidee cried repeatedly and flew in the direction of what was hopefully some sort of pond or lake. Magnus put his trust in his starter and started sprinting at full pelt after him, praying that the Yamna swarm wouldn't catch up.