Pokénin 026 (Pokemon/Naruto)

Following Lance past the paddy fields, and into the forest, they eventually stopped about a mile out from Blackthorn in a clearing. 

The area they were in was clearly marked by several signs as a place meant for practice. 

“I understand Cynthia has yet to teach you anything as of yet. This is good. Today, I will assess your skills. The next time we spar, I will see what you have learned.” Lance said in a flat tone, and eyed them sharply. 

Tekai grinned at his big brother. 

The guy was clearly looking out for him. 

By getting a benchmark of his current baseline, Lance would have a deeper understanding of where he was at. Tekai had no doubts that should Cynthia's training not be up to Lance’s standards, then he would do something about it. 

“Alright big brother, I'm ready.” Tekai unfurled his staff from his back, and stood in a ready pose. 

“Too much talking!” Zinnia shouted, and jumped at Lance with a full frontal kick. At the same time, she released her Pokémon behind Lance. “Bagon, use Dragon Breath!” 

“Gon!” Bagon reacted immediately, and shot out a purple-azure beam from his mouth. 

“Come on shiny!” Zinnia snapped at Tekai just as her kick was going to connect. 

“I'm on it!” Tekai grunted, as he followed up behind Zinnia down low, and moved to sweep Lance's legs with the hook of his staff. 

“You children are highly precocious.” Lance said with a smirk as he blocked Zinnia's full throttle kick with his forearm. 

“Oh yeah?! I don't know what precocious means, but eat this!” Zinnia comboed her kick into a forward flip axe kick, and brought her heel down on Lance’s head. 

“Your center of gravity is off. This flashy move has left you wide open.” Lance idly commented, and punched Zinnia in the stomach with a bored look on his face. 

Zinnia spat out a large glob of saliva, and ragdolled onto the moist grassy floor. 

The flames of Dragon Breath directly collided with Lance’s back, but didn't get him to budge whatsoever. 

“The bark is worse than the bite. Bagon, you can try harder than that. Hit me again, with everything you've got!” Lance glared at the Pokémon, and growled menacingly. 

Bagon quivered in place, but under Lance's command, shot a wave of Dragon Breath twice as big as before. Afterwards, he fell to his knees, and began to pant as the rapid expenditure of chakra took its toll. 

“Excellent. I look forward to your progress, Bagon.” Lance clapped. 

“Gon.” Bagon puffed up his chest in pride, and did his best to appear as if he still had some fight in him. 

Tekai took this time to open the First Gate, and Dragon Dance for a last second speed boost right before his staff was about to connect. 

“Your intent is to catch me by surprise. Commendable, but the attack at my legs was telegraphed 6 seconds before you struck. Your eyes, posture, it spelled your intentions before you even moved.” Lance jumped up without looking at Tekai, then kicked down, forcing the staff out of Tekai's hands. 

“Your grip is too tight.” Lance commented idly commented. 

Momentum carrying him forward, Tekai knew his range advantage had been eliminated, so he needed to close the gap. 

Channeling his emotions of anger, Tekai pulled out the Dragon Rage, and punched at Lance's heart, at the same time, he tried to stomp on his foot. 

“Single minded focus, you failed to notice your surroundings.” Lance crossed his arms and smirked. 

Tekai's eyes went wide as he heard the swoop of wings, and was sent flying a second later as a giant orange tail collided with his chin. 

Ragdolling in a path that led him next to Zinnia, Tekai got to his knees, and was panting heavily. 

“I think I've seen enough. I look forward to your future progress.” Lance nodded his head at Tekai, then mounted his Dragonite, and took off. 

“Oi, don't run, coward! I was just getting warmed up!” Zinnia shook her hand up at the sky, and threw a rock up at him, but it was to no avail as he was long gone. 

“Tch, your brother is a jerk! Won't even let a girl get a good hit in!” Zinnia crossed her arms and pouted. 

“Gon, gon.” Bagon crossed his arms, and turned away from Zinnia. 

“Whaaat? What do you mean he's respectable? Oi, bagon!” Zinnia began to argue with her companion Pokémon. 

‘Future. Us. Stronger!’ Gil urged on. 

Wiping some mud from himself, Tekai stood up, and held his knees as he gasped for air. 

‘That fucking. Dragonite. Was fucking. Dead.’ Tekai thought to himself as he sucked in wide gulps of precious oxygen. 

Eying the arguing Zinnia, Tekai slowly made his way over to her whilst she was oblivious, and slapped her on the shoulder, knocking her over. 

“Oi, you want some too?!” Zinnia sprang to her feet, and cocked her fist back. 

However, Tekai was already more than 20ft away by this point. 

“Youuuu'rrreeee iiiiiitttt~~~” Tekai shouted from fat away, and flashed her a double thumbs up before he made a mad dash away. 

“Bullocks! You cheating cheater! You blastoise bubble blowing backstabber, youuuu!!!” Zinnia roared after Tekai, and ran at him like a woman possessed. 

Tekai laughed, and ran through the mist until he found the waters of the Lake of Rage. 

Zinnia had gained on him, and was just a foot away. Her speed and endurance were absolutely monstrous! 

“Get away from me, you gorilla woman!”

“You're it!” Zinnia crowed in victory. 

However, her hand swiped at nothing but air as Tekai had dove into the water. 

“See you at sensei's house!~” Tekai taunted back at her, and more than doubled his running speed as he took off. 

“Karp, karp!” Gil splashed a big wave of water back at her, then followed after Tekai. 

Leaving Zinnia in his wake, Tekai couldn't help but laugh uproariously to himself. 

He really couldn't wait to force this tough tomboy into something girly. 

“Karp, karp!” Gil chirped in agreement. 

However, victory wasn't automatically in the bag, as Zinnia had jumped in after him, and was giving everything she had. 

Her dedication to taijutsu wasn't for show, and her physicality in some regards actually surpassed Tekai's. 

Unlike with Clair, where he had to hold back, with Zinnia, he had to give it his all! 

“Huff, huff, let's go Gil, we can't lose!” Tekai said out loud for some encouragement. 

Gil only sent over feelings of mockery, as if to say ‘why haven't you activated the shared ability yet?’ 

Tekai shook his head with a grin. 

Not yet. 

He wanted to put his all into this little competition, and push himself without any gimmicks. 

To see how he matched up against this beast of a woman. 

At least he wouldn't use Swift Swim until he was at the end, or at threat of losing. The conditions of that bet were kind of steep! 

Grinning to himself, Tekai moved through the misty waters as he advanced at a rapid pace. 

Passing by fishing communities, and plenty of boats, Tekai breathed in the cool air, and felt alive as his muscles strained. 

The race began to heat up as Zinnia slowly closed the gap. 

For someone who was probably Dragon/Wind attuned-based upon bagon being her starter-Tekai was surprised she was such a good swimmer. 

“Huff, huff! You'll be my punching bag all dayyy!” Zinnia exclaimed. 

The tan slip of a girl managed to come within 10ft of him, and Cynthia's manor was coming up fast! 

“Oraaaa!” Tekai matched her energy, and Dragon Danced through the waves like a boat cutting through water. 

Pulling ahead, Tekai jumped out of the water, sprinted forward, 

When he arrived at Cynthia's manor, he jumped out of the water, returned Gil, and sprinted to touch the house. 

Zinnia was right behind him, and in fact, was gaining on him! She would surpass him in 5 steps, and the manor was less than 30 paces away! 

Thinking fast, Tekai unsheathed his staff, and used it like a pole vaulter would. 

Springing himself forward, Tekai hurtled through the air like a cannonball. 

‘Breaks, use the breaks!’ Tekai panicked to himself, his eyes widening as the wall came too soon and too fast. 

Tekai face planted on a large granite pillar, and slid down like roadkill. 

Falling onto his back, Tekai dazedly looked up to see Zinnia standing over him. 

“Cheater.” Zinnia accused. 

The tan girl was glumly pouting and had her arms crossed as she eyed Tekai with dissatisfaction. 

“Ah, ah, ah. I won, and you lost.” Tekai wagged his finger up at her. 

“Grrr. Fine. What do you want me to do!” Zinnia uncrossed her arms, and picked Tekai up by the scruff of his cloak. 

“Hey, hey, you said the other person had to do what the winner said for a day. You never specified which day. You'll know what I have in mind when that day comes~” Tekai wiggled his fingers, and laughed when he saw her expression slowly become redder and redder. 

“That's not fair!” Zinnia puffed her cheeks, and began pacing back and forth like some sort of caged animal full of pent up aggression. 

“Neither is ambushing your friend at 6 AM for a challenge race as soon as he answers to door.” Tekai pushed back. 

Standing on his own two feet, Tekai found himself once again prying Zinnia's hands off of him. 

Checking his pocket watch, Tekai found that they were a little more than half an hour early, and had some time to kill. 

Finding a nearby bench looking out into the water, Tekai plopped himself down, and released Gil into the lake again. 

Reaching to his side, Tekai took out a small canteen, and greedily slurped at the water. 

Zinnia roughly sat down next to Tekai, arms still crossed. 

“Pwah~~~” Tekai let loose a satisfied breath as he drank more than half of the canteen's contents. 

Zinnia-like a squirrel interested in some nuts-repeatedly glanced at Tekai's bottle. 

Her thirst must have outweighed her anger, because a second later, Zinnia held out her hands for a drink.  In her haste to challenge him, she really hadn't thought about bringing the essentials when going out into the wilderness, did she? 

“Ah.” Zinnia verbalized. 

“What are you, a baby? Maybe a Pokémon? Should you start saying innia, innia!” Tekai teased. 

“Zinnia, Zinnia!” The tan girl laughed, and kept her hands out, Tekai's stinging words failed to land, and in fact, only made her smile. 

Tekai wordlessly handed over the bottle, and shook his shoulders as he laughed. 

Zinnia grinned at him, her bright smile was sharklike as she got what she wanted. 

Guzzling it all down like some sort of wild animal that might be attacked by a predator at any moment, Zinnia finished the rest of the water in record time. 

“Pwah~~~~” Zinnia leaned back into the bench, and patted her belly. 

Sitting together, Tekai watched as the morning mist began to burn off, and the sun rose, coloring the clouds. 

After about ten minutes of rest, Tekai stood up, and began to stretch, then transitioned into the Dragon Dance to recover some of his spent chakra. The mad dash over here had really drained him, and with no breakfast, he was really not looking forward to today's training. 

Closing his eyes, Tekai mustered his understanding of chakra control, and continued to streamline the technique he was most familiar with. 

By this point, Dragon Dance had become a bit of a meditative stance for him, and occupied a similar role in his life as yoga or tai chi did for others. 

It was quite therapeutic. 

Another 20 minutes had passed, and Tekai felt he had just about recovered what he had spent in the race coming here. 

He was about to check the time, when his nose suddenly twitched. 

Something was cooking. 

Snapping his eyes open, Tekai saw a fried-more like burnt-magikarp on a stick hanging in front of him. 

“Tekai, Tekai.” Zinnia called out with a big grin. 

Closing his eyes, Tekai ignored her, and went back to his practice. 

However, his peace and serenity were broken as Zinnia began to mutter to herself. 

“Hmm, why isn't he paying me any attention? What did grandma say to do in this situation? Was it punch him in the stomach, or twist his balls? But what are balls? Something in a boy's pants, right?” 

“Ha ha, ah, you say something, Zinnia? I’m all ears!”

“Ah! You're awake! Let's eat!” Zinnia shoved a burnt magikarp on a stick in front of his face. 

The greasy, charred flesh looked highly unappetizing, and smelt rather unappealing. 

Tekai looked at the savage as she eagerly devoured her burnt magikarp within a matter of seconds. 

“Ah? Not gonna eat after I went through so much trouble?” Zinnia frowned, and took a threatening step forwards. 

“Did your grandma teach you cooking too?” Tekai shifted to the side, and changed the topic. 

“No, this is my first try! Tell me how you like it!” Zinnia giddily clapped. 

Taking a deep breath, Tekai felt that he'd take at least one bite, and tell her the truth. No way he was going to lie and keep up this level of shenanigans. Zinnia was a tough girl-unlike Clair-she could take a blow to her ego. 

Smelling the burnt aroma, Tekai felt his stomach grumble, and couldn't help but grimace. 

‘Well. Here we go!’ 

Taking a bite, Tekai felt that the crunch of burnt flavor never touched his tongue. 

The meat was juicy, and that ‘burnt’ exterior ended up being some sort of spicy, yet savory seasoning. It had a wholesome flavor profile, not too hot, and anything but bland. 

Straight up, it was a 8/10! 

“...you really had no one teach you how to do this?” Tekai mumbled between bites as he practically engorged himself eating the fish. 

“Grandma took me around a lot of bars and gambling dens during her trips. I saw a lot, and picked it up myself!” Zinnia put her hands on her hips with pride. 

Tekai shook his head in disbelief. 

This was the same girl who devoured raw tentacool in the Dragons Den. There really was no getting a read on this girl. 

“Well keep up the good work. It was really good.” Tekai gave her a double thumbs up. 

“Yosh! A conquered stomach is the first step to a conquered heart!” Zinnia turned to bagon, and gave him a high five. 

Tekai was going to retort, however, Cynthia chose that moment to exit her manor, Clair came out behind her, evidently showing up earlier, or had returned with Cynthia to spend the night. 

“We're all here. Good. I have a tight schedule prepared for you all, so let's get started.” Cynthia said with a snap of her fingers. 

Bursting out of the ground, garchomp lumbered over Tekai like an apex predator. 

“I'll be spending an hour of one on one training with Clair. Garchomp here will keep the two of you company in the meantime.”