A Time to Train!

"We're finally here!" Avaritia said enthusiastically as her two companions, Aria and Skala followed closely at her heels into the big city of Rustboro. They took little time to see the sights, and instead found their way into a small park nestled near the center of town.

Ava found a wooden bench sitting under the shade of a large oak,'away from any inhabitants of the park. She chuckled as Aria and Skala wrestled about, itching to fight after not being met with any challenges on their journey out of Petalburg. "Hey, Aria, come here," she gently called to her Eevee, who obeyed, looking toward her trainer curiously. "I have something for you," Ava smiled, retrieving her newly purchased ThunderStone out of her bag. She gingerly held it out to her Pokemon, who cocked her head and eyed it curiously. After a few moments of studying the rock, she lifted one paw up and gently placed it upon the stone. Not a second later, a strange, unearthly glow surrounded the Eevee, and her features changed and distorted. Her fur became erratic, her body leaner, and her ears and muzzle extended before finally the glow subsided, and standing before Ava wasn't an Eevee but a Jolteon. Aria had evolved!

Skala bounded toward Aria and gave her a curious look over before letting out a playful growl underlayed with challenge. Grinning, Aria made a yip in acceptance to the challenge, and both Pokemon ran farther into the park to stage their rematch. Ava rolled her eyes, but even she was grinning toward her Pokemon. "Just don't hurt yourselves too much," she giggled.

[Training will begin on the next post, so I will be double posting, which is fine for a training thread. Note: I have updated Aria to include her new evolution ^^]

[Training Begins]

The two quadruped Pokemon eyed each other, Aria glowing with confidence in her new body and Skala already cockily grinning in victory as she looked toward Aria. She had already won once before, why would it be any different this time around? She was cocky, to say the least, and Aria sensed this in the air around her and growled, determined to make a different outcome this time around.

The two Pokemon began to circle each other. Aria had her strange, new ears tucked back behind her head, which was held low to the ground, and she bared her teeth, quietly growling as her feet stepped forward one after the other in a constant circle around. Skala also bore her teeth, but in more of a grin than a grimace. Her ears were forward and her tail held high in an obvious show of dominance. This caused Aria's featured to lower even more, showing an increase in her own hostility radiating off of her body.

It was Skala who made the first move, she opened her mouth and lowered her head as a hypnotic song burst through the air, echoing around the park and soothing the air around the area... it was relaxing... the perfect time to close one's eyes and rest...

Aria shook her head to clear the lole of the song away, and her growl intensified. Then, static suddenly jumped from her fur, and she gave a yelp of surprise. Turning to look at herself, realization crossed her face, and a mischievous grin spread across her face. She turned back to see Skala dashing toward her with a tackle, and she bound up to the Skitty with a sudden increased agility and speed from her evolution, matching the cat Pokemon with equal force and power. Both Pokemon were sent flying backwards upon the contact, but both recovered quickly, and began circling one another again.

Skala eyed Aria wearily, but knew to keep her distance now from the now more powerful Pokemon. She had cockily underestimated the new strength of the newly evolved Jolteon, and had learned her lesson from it. A battle was all about adapting, and she planned to do just that. Still, Aria as well as herself were both physical attackers in the past, so for the moment it should hold true for the time being. She would keep her distance and wait her friendly foe out, knowing that the Jolteon was now faster, and that would mean that her usual tactic of brute force would have to be put aside. It was a battle of skill.

Aria witheld her trump card for the moment, noticing how the Skitty was now keeping a fair distance away from her, making her grin. She could see from the other Pokemon's eyes that she had formulated some sort of strategy, but that strategy would become mute in due time. For now, she would lead Skala on, make her think that she had the upper hand of equal power. It was true that Aria wasn't used to her new body entirely, but they were equal, and Aria felt a strange new power come with her body. She was no longer an Eevee with limited and physical strengths. She was a Jolteon, with speed and electricity now at her side and hers to command. She nodded her head, knowing she would be the one to come out on top.

They circled some more, with Skala sizing Aria up and awaiting the perfect moment to strike. It would only take an instant, all she needed was for Aria to get caught up in the repetition of the circle. They had both taken similar amounts of damage, it would only take one attack to reach the upper hand. Only one... As Skala thought this, her muscles tensed, and she suddenly turned, going up the circle in the opposite direction she had been traveling. Rearing back, she slammed down onto Aria just as the Joteon attempted to come skidding to a halt, but it was far too late to stop. Skala's plan had worked wonders, and she managed to barrage Aria with another tackle before the Jolteon could recover fully and jump backwards, putting distance between them once more.

Aria narrowed her eyes, and her chest heaved with heavy breathing. She was planning on waiting out Skala longer, but the Skitty had other things on her mind, and those things took their toll. It was now or never if she wanted to emerge on top in the grudge match. Howling a challenge, she growled menacingly, causing Skala to flintch slightly and her attack to lower. It would make her less of a threat. Then, just as Skala had done to her, she whipped her head back and launched a surprise attack toward Skala.

The Skitty had no time to react, and simply looked at the electricity hurtling toward her like bullets with a look of wonder. She hadn't expected Aria to be that fast in picking up the electric abilities of her new form, and she would pay dearly for it. Unprepared for a long range attack, the Thunder Shock slammed into her causing her to slam into the ground and take critical damage. Her ears fell back and she couldn't help but cry out. She was all too confident that this battle would turn out like the last, but if things kept going this way, she would be wrong. Shaking off her fatigue, Skala dashed toward Aria, but the Jolteon simply danced away with her superior speed. Skala dashed once more, but was met by another barrage of electricity that caused her entire body to shudder from the shock. She fell to the ground with heavy breaths to match Aria's own.

Aria paced back and forth as her labored breathing began to subside. She didn't allow herself to relax though, and the adrenaline of battle pumped through her body. It felt good to see Skala meet her match, the Skitty needed to be knocked down a few pegs, even if she were Aria's partner alongside her trainer. This was a battle, and there was no time for pity among rivals. If it were a wild Pokemon, Aria would not be battling this harshly. But that was the beauty of things, because they were rivals they were able to push each other to their limits and better the other. This was what truly mattered in their match. More static danced from Aria's fur as she took her final fighting stance. Her new use of long range attack was a huge asset, but things had to be settled in a true show of strength. She met Skala's eyes, and both recognized the intent of the other.

Skala met Aria's gaze and read her challenge perfectly. As the Jolteon crouched, she did the the same, and meeting her rival and friend's eyes, with a flick of her tail, she launched at Aria at the same moment she did the same. They collided in an instant, and were both sent backwards, hurtling through the air and slamming into the ground, rolling a few times until coming to a stop. Both Pokemon twitched, but Skala remained still, fainted.

Aria blinked her eyes opened, and once her blurry vision came back into focus, she rolled over and shakily got back to her feet. She stood up and gazed at the fallen Skitty. A flash of triumph shone in her eyes as a red light engulfed the kitten Pokemon, returning Skala to her ball for rest. Grinning, Aria looked to Avaritia, her trainer. She had won. With that though, Aria, too, closed her eyes and lowered to the ground, feeling herself become weightless just as her trainer returned her. She, too, would get a good rest.

[Training Ends]

"Good job, you guys," Ava murmured to her Pokemon before placing their respective balls onto her belt. She had seen so much strength come from both of them as well as wisdom. Both Pokemon had grown in power and became wiser. She couldn't have hoped for any better result from their battle.

(1296 words of training. If my math is correct, 130 Exp is to be distributed, so 65 for each of them. But, because of double exp going on, both will receive 130 as a result. Aria will become level 18 with 14 exp left over, and Skala will become level 21 with 6 exp left over. This is figuring their current exp into it, so don't worry about that. The only thing I've excluded is the moves they will learn as a result ^^)