Percy put his Pokédex back into his pocket and watched his Pokemon train on the ground. Only Pharaoh was up in the trees with him.
He wasn't worried about being found by his ex group right now. By now they were traveling to Viridian City. He would travel later in the day when his Pokémon finished their training. He could guess when he was approaching their general area.
He could follow their footsteps so they didn't surprise him. Percy jumped from the branch and landed safely on the ground. He would train with his pokemon for their last two hours. His body wasn't able to last as long as theirs.
Their Defense training was meant to increase their toughness. It involved a lot endurance training as well as some muscle building.
Their Special Defense training was a little more specialized. Special Defense was the Pokémon's ability to take hits from energy based attacks. The special Defense relied on the Pokémon's internal aura. Some species have more or less. Pokemon generally work on this through a form of meditation.
It can also just be increased if a Pokemon has a better understanding of their aura and can manipulate it to defend itself better internally. A lot of it is completely subconscious until the Pokemon enters higher ranks. But it was mostly a question of experience.
Speed training was pretty self explanatory. Percy had them set on an explosive training regiment for half of their speed time and long form training for the other half.
HP was being trained through mostly taking damage and resisting it. It wasn't a pleasant process but it had decent results. Percy would work on a better workout, but for now that's all he had.
Attack was increased simply by increasing the strength of the body with weight training. There were other ways that Percy knew, but it was not something he had enough experience with to do right now.
Special attack was increased by becoming more efficient with the aura energy outside of the body. This always manifests as a move as 99.89 percent of Pokémon can't control aura outside of their body without using a move. But the way to become better was to practice with moves and specifically the energy in them.
Percy himself would just be doing hundreds of body weight reps. He did pull ups, chin ups, push ups, crunches, as well as different variations of those workouts. He would pump out reps until he failed and took a small break. By the end of the two hours his body was burning with heat.
Sweat covered him as he climbed a tree. It felt safer up there and all of his Pokémon joined him. "Good work today guys. Let me get a 15 minute rest and we'll start traveling." Percy said. Him and his Pokémon rested for a little. He grinned as he sat amongst some of his best friends. This was way better than the Honey Clan group. He was happier here.
Percy groaned as he pushed himself off the branch. His pokemon followed him down the tree and gathered around him. He called back Pharaoh and let the rest of his pokemon walk or fly behind him as he began to head to where he remembered the camp was. He was confident that Noctowl could find him.
Once at the old camp, he confirmed they had fully left and packed up. It was fairly obvious what direction they headed off in. A group of 11 people were easy to track when they weren't hiding it. Percy followed behind carefully making sure to not get careless. It was about 4 pm now and Percy was about 5 hours behind on his travel time.
At 7, Percy set Dustox off into the forest to keep an eye on the group. At about 8 Noctowl returned. Percy was walking when Noctowl suddenly appeared from some branches ahead. "All good? Is Dustox in place? How far are they?" Percy asked. Noctowl nodded its head to the first and second question, and took off deeper into the forest.
They were following behind the footsteps but Noctowl seemed very confident. Percy just assumed it would lead him to an area that's relatively close to the group. And that's what Noctowl did. Percy could see the distant flickering of a fire in the forest.
He rubbed Noctowls head and retreated to a more secluded space. When they got to a small clearing a decent distance away from the group, Percy let out Pharaoh. He just needed to explain Noctowls training schedule.
Since Noctowl was wild, it had pretty good battle sense and move mastery. But it's physique was lacking as highlighted by the storm. It was able to be pushed back and beaten by the storm even though Fúria, who was a lower level at the time, could withstand the storm.
Noctowl could put off the move training for now and focus on its physique. Pharaoh joined Noctowl and Percy in training. Darkness fell over the forest as it started getting late.
Percy would be worried about nocturnal pokemon potentially causing trouble for him. But Noxtowl and Pharaoh were stronger for the area and scared off any Pokémon from attacking them. The local ecosystem was still shaken up by the storm. They all enjoyed the four hours of training.
It was nearly midnight when they finished. Percy had made sure to push Noctowl pretty hard. It was the first training session he's had with the group and by the end its chest was rising and falling quickly. Percy pulled out a large pot from his Pokédex and built a small fire around it.
As the fire reached the proper heat a knocking sound permeated the forest. Percy signaled to Pharaoh and Noctowl who lounged next to the fire. Pharaoh shot to his feet and looked into the forest alert.
Noctowl flapped its wings and took to the branches. "Find what it is." Percy said. Noctowl took off into the dark trees while Pharaoh stood by Percy's side. The knocking continued. It sounded as if someone was striking wood with decent strength. Percy waited a minute as Noctowl investigated. Moments later Noctowl silently landed on a branch in front of Percy.
It cooed quietly which Percy understood as, 'There's a girl.' Percy raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Let's go check it out." He said. The three of them quietly made their way toward the knocking sound. It only happened once every 10 or so seconds.
As they neared the sound Percy saw a flash of black hair through the branches of a tree. Zaria was running through the forest with daggers in her hands. She cocked her arm back and let a dagger fly as she ducked under a low hanging branch.
The dagger smacked its side into a tree and bounced off into some bushes. She threw another dagger which flew through the air and similarly smacked uselessly against a tree. The knocking sound. Percy watched as Zaria dashed to the daggers and immediately went back to running. She ran as if there was something chasing her. The movements were seemingly eratic, but Percy quickly realized she was seeing different things.
Her mind had created a scenario and her body was acting as the fake threats attacked. Percy watched as she ducked and jumped over invisible enemies. She stabbed and flipped. Her acrobatics were quite impressive as she released the two daggers again. Both pinged uselessly off of trees.
Now she slowed and sighed loudly. She was disappointed with the throws and slowly bent over to pick them up. It seemed whatever training she was doing was coming to an end. Percy watched curiously from a bush. She had ended up getting closer than he wanted.
Zaria wiped sweat off her forehead and began to sheath her daggers. Suddenly she stopped. Her ears moved and she became completely still. Percy stopped breathing as her eyes scanned the dark forest around her. The bush rustled slightly as he tried to slide backward from sight. He was a little visible if she was looking hard.
As soon as the bush rustled her hand moved. The dagger left her fingers and sped toward the bush Percy was hiding in. Pharaoh was crouched right next to his trainer and blasted the dagger with a flamethrower to stop it. Percy grinned as he backpedaled backward quickly.
He recalled Noctowl and told Pharaoh to follow him. Zaria's dagger had been oriented so that it would have hurt Percy real bad. She was starting to get a hang of it.
Percy quickly pulled the Koffing mask he had used a while ago from his pokedex and slipped it on. Thankfully he was wearing clothes the Honey Clan had never seen him in. He finally had access to his own things again. "Hey! Who are you!? Come back." Zaria shouted as she chased Percy into the dark forest. Pharaoh ran next to Percy as the chase started.