Chapter 111: Training in Progress
Before Scyther could even fully reset its stance after dodging the previous mud ball, another projectile whizzed past its head, launched instantly from Xiu's hand.
Instinct took over Scyther as its scythe flashed out, bisecting the incoming mud ball with contemptuous ease— but immediately, another followed, then another, then a rapid-fire succession.
Xiu became a whirlwind of motion, his arms blurring, scooping and throwing mud balls with astonishing speed and accuracy. It felt less like training, more like facing a relentless machine gun barrage.
For a few moments, Scyther managed to keep up, its scythes a continuous green-white blur, deflecting or slicing through the projectiles. However, the sheer volume and unpredictable angles of the mud balls soon overwhelmed it, slipping past its defenses, splattering against its carapace, breaking apart on impact— a few near misses forced awkward dodges, breaking its rhythm.
Within minutes, Scyther was covered in damp patches of mud, looking less like a sleek warrior and more like a child who'd lost a mud fight.
"Too slow!" Xiu yelled over the continuous thwack of mud balls hitting chitin or slicing through the air. "Your reaction time is lagging!" He kept up the relentless pace, offering harsh, immediate feedback. "Every miss adds five more balls to the total! Every direct hit you fail to block adds ten!"
Hearing the penalties, Scyther, already stressed by the constant assault, seemed to panic slightly. It missed three consecutive throws, taking direct hits that, while not damaging, were clearly frustrating. The impacts finally seemed to snap it back into focus, and it managed to cleanly slice through the next several projectiles.
"Add twenty-five balls!" Xiu roared mercilessly, showing no sign of slowing down. The pile of prepared mud balls dwindled rapidly. Once the initial pile was nearly exhausted, Xiu didn't stop. He started moving, circling Scyther, launching projectiles from constantly shifting angles.
He knew Scyther had found a rhythm defending against the frontal assault. Now, it was time for the next stage: mobile defense, reacting to attacks from unpredictable vectors.
Scyther, having just barely survived the initial barrage, tensed again as it saw Xiu circling, a new sense of unease evident in its posture.
Soon, the assault resumed, but the pattern changed. Instead of a continuous stream, Xiu threw sporadically – one ball from the left, then a pause, then two quickly from the right, then another from behind as he circled. The uncertainty, the constantly changing angles, forced Scyther to remain hyper-vigilant, constantly adjusting its stance, pivoting, anticipating.
This phase was incredibly demanding – not just for Scyther, but for Xiu as well. Maintaining the constant movement, the accurate throwing, while circling… it consumed a huge amount of physical energy. 'Good thing I kept up my own conditioning,' Xiu thought, feeling his own muscles begin to burn.
'Otherwise, I'd collapse before Scyther even broke a sweat.'
However, human stamina couldn't match that of a Pokémon's. The good times didn't last as after several minutes of the mobile assault, Xiu's throws inevitably slowed, becoming less accurate, less forceful. His own fatigue becoming the limiting factor. Scyther, despite its own tiredness, began deflecting the weakened projectiles with increasing ease, regaining control of the exchange.
Xiu finally stopped, breathing heavily, leaning over with his hands on his knees. 'This is stupid,' he realized, watching Scyther stand ready, barely winded now. Trying to physically match a Pokémon's endurance in a drill like this? Pointless. Their recovery rates weren't even comparable.
"Stop!" he called out, gasping slightly. "Take… take a break." He looked around at the training area. The grass was completely flattened, churned into mud, littered with broken mud ball fragments. Near Scyther's central position, the mud was ankle-deep. He checked his watch. 'Less than an hour has even passed... if I continue like this, I'll be the one collapsing first.'
'No. I need to change tactics.'
How to maintain the pressure, the unpredictability, without relying on his own limited stamina? An idea sparked, recalling Professor Oak's words: "Use Pokémon to fight Pokémon."
He looked over towards the edge of the clearing where Abra sat meditating silently. Its Telekinesis… it needed practice, needed to vent its excess psychic energy safely. Two birds, one stone.
He quickly walked over to Abra. "Okay, Abra, new plan. Need your help." He explained the training drill, the objective. Sometimes, Abra's versatility felt almost like cheating, especially its Telekinesis.
"Understood," Abra projected back calmly.
Xiu returned to the center of the muddy clearing. "Alright, Scyther," he called out. "New opponent." He gestured towards Abra, who now floated silently into the training area. "Abra will handle the projectiles now. Same rules: intercept everything, no Agility, no dodging unless absolutely necessary."
He then turned to Abra. "Okay, Abra. Condense mud balls from the ground using Telekinesis. Target Scyther. Random angles, unpredictable timing. Control the initial force – start light, don't aim to injure, just test its defenses. Wait for my signal."
With the new parameters set, Xiu stepped back out of the immediate training zone, becoming an observer once more.
Scyther watched Abra float into position, its expression unreadable. It knew Abra possessed significant psychic power, far exceeding its own capabilities in that domain. Though they hadn't sparred directly often (Xiu usually kept their training separate due to their different needs), Scyther seemed to understand this would be a far greater challenge than facing Xiu's clumsy throwing arm.
Instead of nervousness, however, Xiu sensed a flicker of eagerness from Scyther, a desire to test its newly honed skills against a truly capable opponent. It's not just Abra who's been getting stronger. Time to show its real progress.
Abra opened its eyes. The damp mud covering the training ground began to stir. Small clumps lifted into the air, coalescing, compressing under psychic pressure, forming dozens, then hundreds, of fist-sized mud balls that hovered ominously around Abra, held suspended by faint blue energy. The sheer scale of the psychic manipulation was startling. One massive mud ball, condensed earlier perhaps just for show or intimidation, floated directly above Abra's head like a miniature moon.
Scyther stared at the swarm of projectiles now surrounding Abra, its earlier eagerness momentarily replaced by stunned disbelief. 'What is going on? Where am I? What am I doing? A mud ball that big… even if I could split it… I'd be buried!'
Xiu watched, equally taken aback by the scale of Abra's casual display. 'Did it just… gather all the mud?' He looked at the huge mud sphere hanging above Abra's head, then at the cloud of smaller projectiles orbiting it. He frowned, but didn't intervene. He trusted Abra. It wouldn't do something pointless or unnecessarily dangerous. This must be part of the training Alakazam taught it.
Still, he offered Scyther some reassurance. "Don't panic! Focus! React to the attacks, not the display! Remember your rhythm! Slice through everything!"
His mental encouragement seemed to work. Scyther visibly steadied itself, refocusing, its battle instincts taking over.
"Training begins!" Xiu projected the command.
Abra's eyes glowed with intense blue light, a psychic power so potent it seemed almost tangible. It raised its small hands. The swarm of smaller mud balls hovering around it shot forward simultaneously, a dense barrage raining down on Scyther from multiple angles.
Scyther reacted instantly, its scythes becoming a near-continuous green-white blur, desperately trying to intercept the onslaught. Clack! Splat! Thwack! Mud balls disintegrated against its blades, splattered harmlessly off its carapace, or were narrowly deflected.
But even Scyther's incredible speed wasn't enough. It only had two scythes. Abra, effortlessly manipulating five, six, maybe more projectiles simultaneously through Telekinesis, maintained relentless pressure. 'And that doesn't even seem like its limit,' Xiu observed grimly. 'What exactly did Alakazam teach it?'
"Focus!" Xiu projected again, seeing Scyther start to get overwhelmed. "Watch the trajectories! Don't let them force you into a corner! Keep moving, create space! Conserve stamina! Deflect, don't just block!" He offered tactical advice, trying to guide Scyther through the psychic storm.
He found himself watching Abra as much as Scyther. Abra's control was far more precise, its 'throws' far more accurate and varied than Xiu's own had been. It didn't need to move, didn't tire physically. Its psychic power allowed for attacks from any angle within its range, simultaneously.
'Yes, Xiu thought grimly, Abra is definitely a much better training partner for this drill.' Scyther, who had handled Xiu's amateur barrage with relative ease after warming up, was now struggling desperately just to keep up. The difference was stark. This is the kind of pressure it needs.
But as he watched Abra effortlessly sustain the high-intensity psychic barrage, another, colder realization hit Xiu. The reason why Abra could maintain this level of output… the sheer amount of psychic energy it was expending, seemingly without strain…
Its power is still growing, Xiu realized, the earlier anxiety returning with renewed force. Rapidly. And the training… it's accelerating it. This controlled exercise, designed to help Scyther, was simultaneously fueling Abra's uncontrolled growth.
'There isn't much time left.' The thought echoed ominously in his mind. If he couldn't find a way to stabilize Abra, to help it gain true control soon… no matter how optimistic he tried to be, reality would eventually assert itself.