Level Grinding [Karin's Training]

[Karin Norling]

One successful trip down. And with two new partners, Karin could already tell things were looking up for her journey through the Aina region. But success didn't come from exploring alone. Stronger Pokemon would lurk in the deeper, denser areas of the island, and she would have to be ready to meet them eventually. And...Pokemon League, yeah. She wanted to try and do more with that this time around. And that meant training.

Fortunately, all of the region's active Pokemon Centers came equipped with training grounds. They were a bit busy, but Karin had gotten lucky enough to get into this one. So, once she was there, she let out her newest partner, the Phantump she'd decided to call Skull Kid. He looked up at Karin with wide eyes, then around the room. "Ready to do some training?" Karin asked. "It'll make you strong, so you can be a guardian of the forest one day." Okay, admittedly, she was making that up as she went, but the little forest spirit seemed to understand, as he quickly nodded. "Alright. Let's try...covering the room in plants." That was also off the top of her head, but Skull Kid almost immediately turned his attention on a training bag, concentrated for a moment, then caused vines and branches to sprout from it as though they were growing out of it. Karin blinked, then pulled out her Pokedex. The convenient little device identified the move as Forest's Curse. "Not bad," Karin said. "Now try doing it some more."

Awhile later, the entire room was in fact covered in plants, as though it had become a part of the forest. Karin whistled at the sight, impressed, although she secretly wondered if that had anything to do with how Haalele Town was overwhelmed. That was a question for another time, though. "Great work!" she said. "We're done here. Let's go relax for a bit." She recalled Skull Kid, and almost as quickly, the overgrowth faded, leaving the room in its original state, plus a mess or two here and there. And with that done, Karin made her way out.

[Pap]

Nice job, Mac

You got it all figured out.

[Karin Norling]

It had been a bit since Karin was able to get into a free training room, but now that she could, she was taking full advantage of the opportunity. Her Pokemon had gotten stronger from her adventuring, but they all still had a long way to go. This time, she had decided for the time being to focus on Shiranui. The Litwick was already a fiery powerhouse, but had been running into trouble against heavily defensive Pokemon like Mirei and Van Morrison.

"Okay, today, we're going to train up your fire-starting abilities," Karin said, letting Shiranui down off her bag and urging her into the middle of the room. There were several logs lying around, some of which looked like they had recently been hacked apart. More importantly, nothing else in the room at present looked like it would burn. Good. "So let's start off little, and get bigger. Try with this," Karin started arranging the logs, pointing to one that had been cut so messily that large splinters were still sticking out of the top and sides, "And work your way up to this." When she had finished arranging the logs, the one on the far end was the largest of all, a sturdy and wet log that would take a lot of patience and effort to ignite. Once she was done, Karin backed away, and let Shiranui have at it.

After awhile, most of the logs were scorched, leaving only the last and hardest one. It had warmed up considerably, but had yet to burst into flames. Shiranui, meanwhile, had exhausted herself. "I think...that's enough," Karin said, noting unpleasantly that the room itself had heated up too much for her liking as well. "Let's get you some rest, and try this again next time."

[Pap]

Nice job, Mac

You got it all figured out.

[Karin Norling]

Another day, another training session. Or at least that's what Karin wanted to say, but it had been long enough since the last time she'd been able to get in that "day" was only accurate in that it was, well, a day. And a hot day at that, as Karin felt the moment she entered the training room. Had the Pokemon Center's air conditioning broken? "I'd love to let Aya have at this, but..." Karin thought it over for a moment, then decided to do it anyway. She'd planned on training Mirei some more, but with the heat it was hard to turn down the idea of training her lone ice type.

"Okay, Aya, you're up," Karin said, releasing the Snorunt from her pokeball. The small, hat-like creature looked up at her expectantly. "Your task for today is to make this room cooler." Aya gave a prideful huff that sounded more like a rattle. "Don't give me that," Karin said, putting a hand to her forehead. "It's almost unbearable in here, I'm not sure even you could make it much better." Aya glowered at Karin.

"Well prove me wrong, then!" Karin said. At that, the Snorunt hopped on top of a pedestal in the center of the room and started shivering as if the mere act of pretending to be cold was enough to affect the room's temperature. And sure enough, frost-laden air began to swirl around the snow hat pokemon.

Time passed, and eventually, the room temperature had dropped enough that Karin, overdressed and used to the cold as she was, was starting to shiver. Chunks of ice were materializing in the air and falling to the ground, leaving a thin coating of it on the ground. As one large and thick enough to not shatter on impact fell on and rolled into a nearby ball launcher, the Snorunt stopped radiating cold air and started panting in her rattling whine of a voice.

"Well, you sure did prove me wrong," Karin said, walking over. "I think that's enough for today."

[Pap]

Nice job, Mac

You got it all figured out.

[Karin Norling]

"Let's see, I can use Shiranui's heat to make the hatching process go faster. I'll still need some time obviously, but...hmm...oh, I'm here," Karin's stream of spoken thoughts was interrupted as she reached the Pokemon Center's only currently open training room. "Alright then." She stepped inside and rested the mysterious egg in one corner of the room under a table where it hopefully wouldn't get hit by anything. She sent out Shiranui and had her sit next to the egg, where she could provide it with warmth. Then, looking around, she noticed a sign on the ball launcher saying that it was currently out of order.

"I hope I didn't do that," Karin muttered, remembering how she had gotten ice in the launcher the last time she had visited. "Is this even the same room? ...Oh well. I hope they don't mind me using the balls at least." She pulled Aya's pokeball from her bag and tossed it to the ground in front of her. The Snorunt rolled out as soon as the ball opened, then hopped to her feet.

"First off, use Hail. It's boiling in here," Karin said. The Snorunt gave her a look that clearly said 'again?', but did so, causing small hailstones to appear near the ceiling and fall to the ground around them. After glancing back to make sure her egg was safe from the falling ice, Karin pulled one of the tennis balls from the launcher and held it out for Aya. "So here's what I want you to do. I'll toss you one of these at a time, and you'll freeze it over. Can you do that?" The Snorunt turned away, but Karin caught her nodding as soon as her back was turned. "Good enough. Here goes." She tossed the first ball.

Some time later, several balls laid at Aya's feet, completely encased in ice. Much like last time, the room had cooled enough that Karin was starting to shiver, and the ground was encrusted in ice in places. She tossed one more ball, and Aya caught it with an Ice Fang, freezing the outer surface instantly. She dropped it, letting the ice ball roll into a pile with a few others. "That's enough for today, I think," Karin finally said, returning to the corner of the room and scooping up the egg in her hands. "Let's get out of here before someone figures out we're trying to freeze the training rooms over."

(Egg post: 1/5)

[Pap]

Nice job, Mac

You got it all figured out.

[Karin Norling]

Well, that had been an excellent showing. Karin had successfully earned her first gym badge in the region. And she'd even had one Pokemon to spare. Which...was also the problem. Although Aya had earned enough experience to evolve shortly after, and Shiranui was feeling stronger than ever, Skull Kid had been left without a chance to fight. "Let's try and fix that," Karin said, leading her Phantump into the training grounds of the Hapuu Town Pokemon Center.

"Let's start with basics. Try covering the room in plants again," Karin suggested. Like his last time in one of these training rooms, the Phantump used Forest's Curse on several nearby training bags, causing plantlife to sprout from them. From there, Karin moved on to having Skull Kid practice absorbing nutrients and energy through Leech Seed, then Horn Leech, then finally outright attacking targets through ghostly tackles. By the end, the training room looked a bit like a snapshot out of Haalele Town. That just further reinforced the possibility that the town had ended up the way it was through similar means. Perhaps by several Phantumps, or its evolutions. Whatever the case, it was pretty impressive, and sharply countered the idea that nature was always at the mercy of mankind.

Not that Karin particularly bought into that to begin with.

"Another successful training day, I'd say," Karin said, looking at the state of the room. "How're you feeling?" Skull Kid gave a tired response. "Yeah, me too. Let's go relax on the beach for a bit."

[Pap]

Nice job, Mac

You got it all figured out.