Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 19 - Unorthodox Training

*

Training began like usual, with us splitting off into pairs in the cold. As promised, Midorima was my partner for the day. We fought each other for a good hour or so, before he encouraged me to switch over to Grovyle in order to work on my bond with him some more.

Much like the other training sessions before, I tried to minimise the time it took for our bond to take hold, whilst also attempting to maintain it for longer before we were forced out of sync. As usual, Jordan was monitoring us from afar, his laptop picking up our link.

"Hmm..." The green-haired boy looked at the screen without blinking, watching the readings.

"What is it?" Xene leant across.

Jordan looked up for a moment before shaking his head. "There's no more growth..."

"Huh?"

"Toby and Grovyle. The bond – look here." He pointed to the percentage that was displayed alongside two wavelengths. 20% was showing, and occasionally it would drop to 19% but never for long. But it wasn't rising.

"Still only twenty percent?" Xene looked up at the battles going on.

"They've been slowly but consistently improving every time, but it looks like they can't go any further..." Jordan frowned.

"Really? But Shu and his Delphox operate at a much higher percentage – what's the difference?" Xene asked.

"The conditions are worlds apart." Coach Kudou said, standing behind the two boys.

"Coach?"

"Shu's bond taxes his mental fortitude because of the nature of Delphox being a Psychic-type." Kudou explained. "Because he is able to clear his head and concentrate fairly easily, his bond is strong."

"So then, what about Toby and Grovyle?" Jordan asked.

"Theirs is more about physical capability." Kudou folded his arms. "It encompasses strength and stamina, but also pain tolerance, as well as everything Shu is good at. Toby is getting better at the mental side of controlling his bond, but without a solid physical base, that means little."

"You mean he's physically too weak to withstand the toll Grovyle puts on him?" Xene began to understand.

"Exactly." Kudou nodded, his eyes focused on the one in question.

"If that's the case... Why have him train on focussing his mind if it makes such a small impact on their style of bond?" Jordan wondered.

"Because that is the foundation. Without the ability to bring about the bond at will, there would have been no point in training." Kudou stepped forward. "However, since you boys have pointed out that he isn't improving anymore, that means its time to switch tactics."

"You'll have him train his own body instead?" Xene blinked. "Our match is in less than a week! How can he prepare in that amount of time?!"

"He'll have to." Kudou said simply. "He'll have to, or he'll crumble." He looked over to his right. "Nelly!"

"Yes, Sir?" She turned to face him.

"Fetch Toby for me. Then please take Midorima to the storeroom and have him help you carry out the large black bag you'll find in there."

"Right." Nelly went to it straight away.

*

I listened in disbelief as Kudou told me what he had told Xene and Jordan. I had hit a wall and charging at it the way I had been would no longer be enough.