Pokémon story prologue pt.3

Working for Kurt and the Kiln was a good start to get some money coming in, with Ran’s first week of labor having resulted in his first payday ever. Now that the weekend had arrived and both Kurt and the Kiln were closed, it was time for another and arguably far more important event. His budding partnership with Ekans was developing nicely, the purple poison-type not appearing to hold a grudge over its capture and in fact proving remarkably willing to listen to Ran’s commands.

He’d already proven his strength in their first training session and by getting them to the sponsorship final. But, in order to take on larger jobs for Kurt and the Kiln, Ekans would need to be stronger. Plus, if he was going to become an unsponsored trainer, his starter would probably have to be strong enough to carry Ran and his team through the first few months of his journey without any major delays, to ensure there’d be enough money coming in to compensate for the increasing costs that came with a growing roster of Pokémon.

So, to help his starter get stronger, they’d headed out late on what was otherwise an unremarkable Saturday evening and headed to a secluded clearing near the southern edge of town. Not so far away from civilization as to risk the attention of wild Pokémon, but hidden away enough to realistically expect no disturbances from any curious passersby. Additionally, this place, unlike the ‘official’ park, unremarkable as that was, wasn’t really claimed by anyone in particular, leaving Ran free to take to it with the shovel he’d dragged along from home.

It’d taken well over an hour, but he was rather proud of his work. Although Ekans’ doubtful hiss, as his gaze swept over the field Ran had tirelessly prepared, was less than encouraging.

“Look, I know it’s hardly a professional course or anything,” Ran admitted begrudgingly, as his starter peered at him in disbelief, “But give it a chance! I did a lot of research and there’s a logic behind every last bit of this, alright?”

Ekans didn’t seem convinced in the least, but a slow, unthreatening wag of his tail, which Ran had quickly learned to differentiate from the far more energetic shaking that was meant to cause Ekans’ trademark rattling sound, at least showed the poison-type’s willingness to hear him out for now.

“Alright, first of all, I’ve done a lot of research on everything there is to know about your species. The whole reason why we didn’t come here any earlier in the day is because you’re generally nocturnal, just to give the most obvious example.” Ran explained proudly, his enthusiastic explanation undeterred by Ekans’ unimpressed eye roll.

“Second, Arbok generally favor physical attacks, supplementing a wide range of biting and immobilizing attacks with a number of poison-type projectile attacks. Seeing as you don’t really get any natural means to increase your speed, like Quick Attack or Agility, that makes your speed and endurance hugely important. Which is honestly perfect, as speed and endurance are two things we can easily train without needing a Pokécenter to patch you up at the end of the day!” Ran continued, now properly on a roll. Ekans slowly perked up as he spoke, clearly increasingly interested in his trainer’s explanation, which further emboldened him.

“So that’s why I’ve dug those ditches and pits for you. We’ll start out by having you race through the gates and I’ll time you as you do so. Hopefully, over time you should get faster at it. Then, I brought this bag of tennis balls. I’ll be playing the part of a ranged attacker and you need to make your way across the field to Wrap me up without getting hit,” Ekans was clearly fully on board by this point, gaze turning to examine the field far more closely than before, clearly already plotting his eventual approach, which forced Ran to raise his voice slightly to ensure his starter was still listening, “Be gentle though, I’m not as tough as the pokémon you’ll be fighting!”

Ekans’ head bobbed up and down slowly in agreement, his agreeable body language allowing Ran to lower his voice once more as he continued. 

“Finally, to finish, we’ll be picking out a few trees with different trunk sizes. Small to big, you’ll Wrap them up and try to squeeze right through them! There’s no way we can reliably quantify that to compare it to your future progress, but it’s the best thing I can think of for you to work on your core strength. Or that’s the goal at least, we’ll see if you can actually manage that much already, or if we need to start a bit slower and ramp up gradually.” Ran finished kindly, not wanting to discourage Ekans by possibly demanding too much on their first day of real training.

The poison-type clearly took offense at the apparent doubt in his abilities however, as ran was met with a sharp Glare. His muscles locked up instantly, only his fortunately solid footing keeping him from keeling over like a freshly felled tree. 

By the time his muscles relaxed and he finally managed to look around properly once more, it was to find Ekans impatiently slithering over his feet, lithe purple form covered in dirt and splotches of mud. A brief look towards the field showed the clear signs of Ekans having raced through it at what was likely an impressive pace. Which left only one problem.

“You’re going to have to go again, I didn’t time you.” Ran told his starter dryly, only to be met with an aggrieved though thankfully not Glare-empowered look.

“Hey, don’t look at me!” Ran retorted, “You’re the one that paralyzed me!”

Ekans’ whole body trembled in clear agitation, but Ran merely waved him back towards the track, “Yeah well it’s your own fault. Now, go again!”