Feet now numb from the cold ground, the teen pads up to Lulu, who is standing and watching the sunrise with her back turned. One of her ears twitch, then she turns and smiles at him.
"Let's get this show on the road." Julian grumbles, rubbing his arms with his hands again. "I'd rather be sweating than shivering."
Lulu nods. With casual ease, she splits her legs out one-hundred and eighty degrees and lowers herself to the ground, then she almost lays her torso flat across her left leg, reaching for her toes in a mighty stretch.
Julian grimaces and tries to copy her. Keyword: tries. He stretches his legs as far apart as he can before falling to his rear, knowing if he doesn't give it his all, Lulu will stop her own warm-up to "help" him. His legs tremble, and he can't quite reach his toes like the Lucario can, but he pushes himself until can go no further.
Lulu glances over at him, approval in her eyes. Then she turns and reaches down her other leg.
The blonde teen grits his teeth and emulates her as best he can.
Over the next ten minutes, Julian follows Lulu's lead. Leg stretches, arm stretches, hip rotations, lunges, and a few Julian doesn't have names for. She stops a few times to correct him, but by the time she settles into a cross-legged meditation pose and gestures for him to rest, Julian can already feel his limbs beginning to burn. As he sits and takes deep breaths, Lulu shuts her eyes and meditates quietly, wisps of bright blue aura swirling around her body.
She isn't still for long, only ten minutes or so, but when she sharply inhales, Julian knows she's done and it's time for the next exercise.
Julian climbs to his feet as Lulu seamlessly rises. She takes a deep, chest-filling breath that makes the tuft of breast fur around her spike swell, then lets it out just as slowly. She moves to his right and falls into a faux fighting stance, her knees bent and arms held out palms first. Alrighty resigned to embarrassment, Julian copies her. Then as one, they start moving through different stances like a dance.
The young female Lucario starts slow, giving Julian ample time to follow and learn.
Palm out, twirl and block with palm, forward step and punch, back step and high kick, hold.
Julian struggles to hold his leg up, his supporting leg shaking and almost over-correcting his balance. He holds it for one, two, three…!
Lulu quickly drops from her stance and slides close, taking her human dance partner's high ankle in one paw and his shoulder in the other, holding him steady.
...Four, five seconds.
She lets go, and Julian tries to bring his leg down smoothly like Lulu, but the movement is jerky and too fast.
Lulu just smiles encouragingly and takes the starting stance again. "Crarr." She says, tone lacking any accusation.
"Tch…" Julian growls.
Palm out, twirl and block with palm, forward step and punch, back step and high kick, hold.
Leg sweep, elbow strike, high block, hop forward, deflect with palm and side kick, hold.
Duck and weave, right hook, left straight, crossblock, spin and deflect from behind, scissor block, lunge and dual palm strike, hold.
The slow pace gives the teen time to watch the Riolu partners a little bit away doing the same dance, all going much faster than he and Lulu. The grown Lucarios are flowing from one stance to the next like liquid, their grace utterly supernatural. Their dances are so quick and advanced that Julian can barely discern what they're doing. Some have already begun openly sparring, and the displaced teen gets to see the spectacle that is Pops fighting off Scout and two other young males with ease. The old alpha doesn't flow like the others, he simply changes position so fast it looks as if he teleported. He dodges everything his frustrated opponents throw with a dispassionate glower.
Scout rushes in with a daring feint, legs tensed to spring away if he fails, but Pops blurs forward to meet him, making Scout's eyes bug out. Pops' fist plows into Scout's stomach with a deep thud that Julian feels in his chest, and Scout falls to his knees with a strangled cry, looking like he's a second away from vomiting.
"Ririon!"
'Oops…' Julian turns, seeing Lulu frowning at him as she stops several dance steps ahead of him. "Sorry…" He mutters.
After what feels like a hundred mistakes that Lulu corrects, Julian is panting by the end of the dance. He tries not to see her pleased expression as condescending, but it's difficult.
Next is a run followed by a cool down, then the rest of the day begins.
Julian clicks his tongue, already knowing the little Riolus are going to lap him, but he tries to steady the shaking of his arms and legs so he can say he tried his best. He and Lulu walk side by side around the edge of the camp, the pace increasing to a jog, then to a run, then to a sprint.
Arms pumping and lungs heaving, the blonde teen runs as fast as he can. By his side, Lulu keeps pace easily, almost not needing to focus on her run. Then as a team, a bunch of giggling Riolu pass by, doing the same low stanced, arm-dragging ninja run as the adults.
Julian just groans and pushes himself harder. He knows the younglings aren't laughing at him exactly, but still…
Halfway into the second of five laps around the campsite, it takes Julian everything he has to keep his sprint going. He's so focused that he doesn't see Lulu's eyes slowly narrow in annoyance until she holds an arm in front of him and urges him to slow down.
"Huh…?" The boy pants, but doesn't bother resisting when Lulu takes his hand and leads him off of the beaten path of dirt that the pack uses to run on. "W-What…" He sucks down a lungful of sweet, life-giving oxygen before continuing. "What's wrong?"