Practice Makes Perfect [Jasper]

[Endre Arthmael]

ENDRE

Endre.. wasn't entirely certain whether his suggestions had actually been used or not, but Jasper seemed happy, and whatever-her-name-ended-up-being seemed happy, so he wasn't going to question it. "Happy to help." ..He thought. Maybe.

At any rate.. "..Ah. I just remembered!" The Pokemon having said 'ri-olu' together may have jogged his memory as to exactly what it was, though he still didn't know a whooole lot about it. "Riolu is a fighting-type, too, isn't it?" It seemed they were full of coincidences today!

Meanwhile, Emrik facepawed rather dramatically before looking up to his trainer, bewildered. Endre blinked down at him. "..Yes?" It was actually an answer more than a question, assuming that look had meant 'you just figured that out?' "Ah.. you should probably know most of my knowledge of Pokemon comes from personal experience more than books. I'm honestly not that familiar with species that aren't common in these parts.."

Emrik just stared blankly for a few seconds before twisting his mouth again. ..Well that might explain a few things.. Ah well. Hopefully his human would pick it up as they went along. He supposed in all fairness, his knowledge of their kind was relatively limited too, so that was actually fair enough.

Speaking of Pokemon frequenting these parts, Endre really did need to get back to looking for Anorith, but he never had figured out a better plan of attack, either.. Just teaming up with Emrik despite their relatively ineffective blows might not be toooo bad, except that from what he'd heard at the inn last night (couldn't very well let his first night eligible to stay and eat for free go to waste, right?) he'd been pretty lucky to catch just one Anorith alone rather than several together, and he'd squandered that chance, so...

Suddenly, an epiphany!

"Oh! Jasper!" Silver eyes were suddenly wide. "Both of our Pokemon are fresh from the Emissary, correct? Would you care to let them spar to help them get used to fighting?"

[Jasper Stone]

“It i-“ Jasper just seemed to keep getting cut off by pokemon today as it seemed Emrik’s reaction served as a better answer. He supposed it was better than being cut off by humans who tried to tell him they knew medical things that… weren’t quite medical, but still. Watching the brief interaction between man and pokemon, Jasper’s gaze had flickered over to… Aura who was currently doing a back bend into a hand sta- what. What was she doing- no why was she…..Well she was quite active, he had to admit. Hopefully she slept at night at least- well maybe he’d keep her in her pokeball to ensure that.

Endre’s voice nearly caused Jasper to jump, his head whipping back to the man in front of him and his eyes and ears ready to take in whatever information came his way. Get… used to fighting? Jasper paused for a moment. That really didn’t sound like a bad idea- though now that he thought of it, the doctor found he wasn’t quite sure what his little blue dog knew when it was all said and done. It couldn’t be that hard to figure out, though, could it? Certainly she had to know at least some basic moves of some sort. Hm, she didn’t have claws on those paws that he was aware of, so he doubted she would know Scratch but.. Oh right. “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he replied a bit in haste for having allowed a silence to slip in for a second or two. “Aura-“ he was going to have to get used to that name. “How about a little battle?”

The distracted Riolu bristled and stood up again quickly enough. Battle?! Were there renegades around??” Eyes sparkling, Aurora twisted her form this way and that looking every which direction in search of these supposed beings before her vision settled slowly again on Jasper. Where were the renegades?

[Endre Arthmael]

ENDRE

Ah, he guessed they hadn't used his suggestions? Oh well. Turning to Emrik, he asked, "Wha'do you say? Up for a fight?"

With her? Emrik blinked and thought on it, then grinned and nodded, jumping down from his little ledge. "Cham!" he growled excitedly. He was about to take this little girl down a notch or two! Oh yeah!

Endre smiled and stood as well. "All right then. Whenever you're ready," he announced, looking back to Jasper.

[Jasper Stone]

Jasper blinked at the Riolu who was staring questionably now. Raising a right index finger, he made a gesture to the Pancham causing her vision to shift. Oh! Oh, oh ok! So these were the renegades? No, that wasn’t quite right. Even Aurora knew that, but they still wanted a battle! She could do that! Squaring her shoulders as best one with questionably tiny shoulders could, holding one frontal paw up, and sliding one back paw back, the small Fighting type settled into a comfortable fighting stance her eyes now directed at the Pancham. A grin flashed across Aura’s face thereafter as she waited for either some order from her trainer or for the Pancham to make a move. Rather than confidence flooding her, a sheer determination to prove herself bled out onto her features as she stood there.

That…stance. Jasper was at a loss for words. He was at least somewhat aware that many Fighting types had a particular stance congruent with some human martial art stances, and he could remember Nova using his thick Combusken legs to take on a kicking stance in a matter of days after he had evolved. However, seeing his small pup whom he couldn’t gather was either very young or just very emotional form a fighting stance of her own so... naturally? Well, anyone would be surprised, right? At Endre’s words, Jasper managed to smile a little before giving a brief nod. Now he just…needed to know what moves she knew. Well…..Tackle, maybe? Like Scratch for Torchic, it was a common move for some young pokemon to know, was it not? And he could imagine her body, though small, carrying quite a bit of muscle. Alright then.

Taking a step back as though to give her more room, Jasper glanced at Endre again and gave a nod. “Alright, Aura, how about a Tackle?” Jasper tried to sound confident in his order, but in the end it came out more like a question in hopes she would comply. The Riolu’s small ears twitched at the order. Tackle? She didn’t know- …did he mean Quick Attack? That was sort of like a Tackle! He had to have meant that, of course. Preening from her own logic, the Riolu slid her front foot about twenty degrees the muscles in her tiny legs reverberating the change in stance.

In a sudden burst of speed, Aura went bounding towards Emrik her small right front paw making to hit him in the lower chest- almost stomach region- with all the force generated by her own speed. Jasper’s eyes widened at the sharp acceleration that had transpired. That… was too fast for Tackle, wasn’t it? What did she even…? Quick Attack? Well it was pretty fast.

----
Notes:
Aurora attempted Quick Attack.
Jasper needs to brush up on his pokemon studies. Darn medicine getting in the way.

[Endre Arthmael]

ENDRE

Emrik had taken on a similar stance, but stumbled a bit from it as Aura- Aurora?- got so fast all of a sudden. The force of her blow caused him to stagger back a step or two, but fortunately after she went past--... through?-- him she came to a brief stop.

Endre's eyes had gone a bit wide, but now he exhaled in relief. Ah good. Hopefully she always needed such a moment between attacks, lest Emrik never be able to catch her. "Emrik, Tackle!" he called. He had taken the liberty last night at the inn of finding out what actual moves a low-level Pancham knew.. after trying the evening before to order him to use Scratch, of course.. Emrik technically did have claws, and had done so, but between how utterly unimpressive his claws were and the fact that it wasn't an actual move he may as well have been scratching a small itch for the Anorith.. and probably failing to even satisfy that.

It seemed the difference between a known 'move' and simply performing an action was rather great indeed. That wasn't to say it couldn't be better than his pitiful scratch, of course. Having a Snorlax fall on you would always hurt-- and likely kill a human if it fell from any notable height-- but not as much as if it had a move actually related to that, apparently. Endre had to admit, Pokemon were certainly interesting in how they worked.

While his trainer had been briefly contemplating the mechanics, though, Emrik had followed through on the order, devoting all the force he could muster- admittedly still not a whole lot; it was just a Tackle- into the effort of plowing into Ms. Pickybutt.

[Jasper Stone]

As she whipped past Emrik finishing her attack, Aura’s initial momentum broke causing her to slow just past the Pancham and eventually coming to a stop. In a smooth transition with her leading right foot, the Riolu twisted around to face the Pancham again a grin upon her features. She’d done good right? She did. Red eyes flashed up to meet purple ones, and she practically beamed upon finding the comfortable smile on her trainer’s features. Jasper was indeed smiling a little despite himself. Aurora’s confidence- or maybe just determination- was a tad, well, infectious.

The order from Endre that followed caused both trainer and pokemon to snap back into reality- not nearly quick enough for Aura not to suddenly find herself tackled and knocked over. The Riolu yipped upon colliding with the ground before she forced herself into a crouching position and shaking her head twice her small ears twitching briefly. Ow….That may have hurt but she wasn’t going down that easy! An elated sort of grin flashed across the Riolu’s features again as she stared at Emrik at least appearing to have some fun with the situation.

“Quick Attack,” Jasper continued with the only move he was sure of therein. A part of him worried Aura’d been hurt from the Tackle, but considering how fast she got back up, he assessed it wasn’t too detrimental yet. Not bothering to force herself to stand, the Riolu instead extended her leader leg back in a runner’s stance before her muscles clenched briefly and she exploded with speed again this time hoping to hit Emrik with her full body- as if the Tackle had reminded her that was a thing.

[Endre Arthmael]

ENDRE

The force of the blow sent Emrik tumbling backward, and with the momentum that meant Aurora sort of tumbled over him, but within a few seconds he'd done a full backwards somersault (causing a very slight involuntary shudder in Endre at how very not-manly that maneuver was) and managed to roll right back up on his feet so that he and the Riolu were once again face to face and just a few inches from each other.

"...Tackle," Endre stated dryly, borderline regretting the word even as it formed.

Complying, Emrik threw his weight at her.. again...

This.. was going to be a dull battle at this rate..

[Jasper Stone]

Knocking into Emrik before curling and tumbling over the panda pokemon, Aurora felt briefly disoriented from the maneuver though not enough to destabilize her standing back pawed form. Pupils shrank as the Riolu came face to face with the Pancham startled at how close he’d suddenly become. Not getting a chance to take even a step back as the Tackle was ordered, she squeaked upon being knocked into, though this time as she fell back, two arms reached to catch her. She was in a spider crawl position for less than a moment before her forearms shoved forwards forcing her to stand, and rather than wait for Jasper’s order, she used the still close proximity to use yet another Quick Attack, her small body once again accelerating.

Jasper was not as bored with the battle as Endre was. In fact, it had been a rather long time since he had battled, and adrenaline had managed to work its way into his veins. Though he only knew one move with which to order her to perform, akin to the days of Nova only knowing Scratch as an attacking move, and though the battle was repetitive in orders, it was still strangely exciting to the doctor. When his Riolu chose to attack rather than wait for his order, Jasper’s mouth twitched a sort of “Aur-“ escaping but not quite a rebuke to her actions. To his eyes, she had assumed he was going to repeat the order and just took it into her own hands, and though some trainers would not readily have liked this, considering it was a sign of inpatients and inattentiveness to orders, he couldn’t quite blame her. Ever still, Jasper’s lips pressed together firmly in a line caught between ‘should I say something?’ and ‘no, oh well’.

[Endre Arthmael]

ENDRE

After the two collided yet again, Emrik was fully prepared to repeat himself when he heard Endre say, "..Give her a right hook." ...What? He turned to cock an eyebrow for a second, and saw Endre throw a fist through the air in demonstration. "Punch her."

Uh.. He could do that? ..Sure. Shrugging, he moved in to do just that, swinging a paw with.. considerably less than all his might. All that he could muster without the energy charge of it being a real move, anyway. Yes, Endre understood continuing to Tackle might have been the statistically wiser thing to do. He didn't tend to fight based on statistics, though. Also, it was exceedingly rare that something bored him, so clearly something had needed to change.

[Jasper Stone]

Though it was hard to tell from her expression, Aurora was growing a tad sore- ok maybe a lot sore. She sorta wanted to stop and just take maybe a fifteen minute nap- and then they could get up and play again! Or… battle, rather. Yawning briefly, she stretched as Endre gave the clarification on his order. Jasper was just a little dumbfounded by Endre’s order, the confusion on his face evident enough. However, as the Pancham complied, and effectively hit the Riolu, she yipped startled in the middle of yawning only to shake her head a little and punch back- her force considerably lacking for the same reasons. Jasper, meanwhile, derped on what to do. “Aura-“ he started as he tried to find something to say but faltering. “Quick Attack, Aura,” he ordered—but the Riolu was scantly listening now.