ToT: Training Wreck

Marble looked at the latest newcomers and sighed. After sparring with that embarrassingly under-trained Charmander a few hours ago, the last thing she wanted was to have to deal with another recruit- and now there were four of them!

"Alright. Time for your training to begin" she said, standing up. “You seem to have found your way here just fine. That’s lesson one passed."

"Lesson one is finding a big clearing south of the tree" said David. "I feel smarter already."

"That’s right" said Marble, glaring at him. "You want to know what lesson two is going to be?"

"Enlighten me."

"Learn when to stow the attitude" Marble answered.

"Seems like an interesting lesson" said the Riolu.

"You’re about to find out firsthand just how interesting" said Marble. She gestured at the section of dirt behind her. "This is the sparring area. All matches are full contact, no holds barred. This means that everything is allowed. Except weapons. Those, you can leave on the table over there." She pointed to the table in question. David shrugged, drew his knife, and placed it where indicated.

"No holds barred?" asked Lin Lin. The Pancham looked surprised. "Is this not to be a practice match?"

"Practice match or real fight, it's all the same in the end" said Marble. "You won't survive very long if all you've ever prepared for is a practice fight."

"Oh- of course" said Lin Lin.

"Now, wise guy here just volunteered" said Marble, pointing at David, who didn't even have the grace to look annoyed. "I'll need one more."

"I will do it!" said Lin Lin, jumping forward. "Fighting new opponents can provide new lessons as well."

Marble stared at the Pancham. Absolutely true though her words might have been, Marble didn't have the heart to tell Lin Lin how lame they sounded when one actually said them out loud. David, on the other hand, clearly did, but his Sneasel partner clamped his mouth shut at the last second.

"All right, then" she said as the two combatants entered the sparring area. "The task is simple, so even you recruits should understand it. Stay in the sparring area and beat each other up until one of you either forfeits or is knocked out. Clear?"

"Yes" said Lin Lin.

"Crystal" said David.

"Good" said Marble. "Now start."

David moved like chain lightning, immediately going on the offensive with a barrage of ice punches. Lin Lin got her guard up in time, just barely, and only a few of them got through. Lin Lin kept blocking for a few seconds, and then grabbed David's arm and hurled him overhead.

At least, she tried to. David had grabbed onto her arm when she had grabbed his. He arced over her head, kicked her in the back, and landed in a somersault. Lin Lin staggered forward a few steps, but regained her footing and turned around.

Marble took the other two recruits to the obstacle course.

The obstacle course was a labyrinth of beams, poles sticking straight into the air, rope ladders and bridges, climbing walls, and mud. Marble and Cetra had spent three days working on it. She had yet to see anyone get through it without falling into the mud, tangling themselves up in a bunch of rope, or just plain getting lost at least once.

"Your job" she said "is even simpler. Get to the end of the course without touching the ground."

Penelope looked at her askance. "How do you expect me to do this at all? You do realize that I have paws, not hands, right?"

Marble scoffed. "That's your problem, not mine. You want to be a tracker, you need to learn to deal with things like this."

"That doesn't change the fact that I am physically incapable of climbing a rope ladder unaided" protested the Houndour.

Marble pointed at Samara. "Then it's a good thing there are two of you."

"Don't worry" said the Sneasel, a half grin on her face. "We'll get you up there."

Penelope stared at Samara. "Okay...?"

"Get moving" barked Marble.

Penelope jumped a little, and then she and Samara walked towards the first ladder. Samara started a little ways up the ladder, and then dropped down again. She bent down, extended her claws, and slashed the rope from its anchors.

"What are you doing?" asked Penelope.

"Getting you up there" said Samara. She climbed the rope ladder again. She was halfway up when Penelope got it.

"You realize that using this strategy means we'll need to finish the course on the first try, right?" Penelope shouted as she looped all four of her legs through the rope ladder.

Samara reached the top and looked at the mud below them. "I wasn't planning on falling. Were you?" With that, she grabbed the ladder and hauled Penelope up. Penelope struggled to keep her legs intertwined with the rope, but eventually made it up. They had a bit of trouble extracting Penelope from the rope, but eventually they were making their way across the course. Marble nodded to herself and walked back to the sparring area to check up on David and Lin Lin.

The fight was getting pretty heated. Unlike the aforementioned Charmander, David and Lin Lin clearly knew what they were doing. They were pretty evenly matched, too, with David's agility and move versatility acquitting itself well against Lin Lin's greater strength and stamina.

Still, this fight was gradually turning in Lin Lin's favor. David gave as good as he got, but his fighting style relied heavily on offense, while Lin Lin was good at both offense and defense. David expertly took advantage of every opening in said defenses, often with success, and managed to dodge many of Lin Lin's strikes, but there was no getting around the fact that Lin Lin was simply far more able to take a hit than he was. Plus, while both combatants were starting to get tired, David was the only one who had started to sweat.

Several minutes later, Marble was distracted by the sound of the bell that signified Samara and Penelope finishing the obstacle course. She turned to see the two dark types striding towards her. A good look showed that neither of the girls had so much as a speck of mud on them. Penelope was fiercely blushing for some reason, though. It probably had something to do with Samara valiantly trying not to laugh.

Suddenly, the fighting in the sparring area went quiet. Marble looked over her shoulder and saw something she honestly had not known could happen in real life.

David's ice punch and Lin Lin's arm thrust had collided, and his fist was now flash-frozen to her palm.

Lin Lin and David stared at it for about a second. Then, as Lin Lin tried to give it an experimental tug, David lunged. A barrage of ice punches similar to the one he had launched at her at the start, only this time it caught her completely flat-footed. Lin Lin was thrown off balance. David yanked his hand away from hers, and kept pressing the attack.

Suddenly, Lin Lin's arm shot out and grabbed his, this time not giving him a chance to do the same to her. She lifted him above her head...

...and his leg shot out just as she threw him. As a result, David got thrown on his back, and Lin Lin got kicked in the face. Both ended up lying on their backs, Lin Lin dazed and David tired. Penelope winced.

David looked at Lin Lin. "Want to call it a draw?" he said, breathing heavily.

Lin Lin nodded. "Yes, I think that is a good idea."

Marble nodded. "Alright, then, I think we're all done here." She picked David and Lin Lin up. "Now move. I've got more than twenty groups left to process."

"Oh, is that what you call this?" said David, wearily retrieving his knife. "Processing?"

"That's what I call it" affirmed Marble. "Now, get out of here."

Marble walked over to the obstacle course and started repairing the roughly two-dozen rope structures that had gotten slashed up by Samara and Penelope.

After a moment of silence, Samara looked at Penelope and said: "So, what did Xavier steal from you?"

Penelope's blush, which had mostly faded by now, came back with a vengeance. "Nothing important!" she said quickly.

"I think Xavier likes her" Lin Lin said cheerfully.

"Lin Lin!"

"He called you a 'nice young lady'" recalled Samara, who was clearly enjoying herself.

"Stop it!"

Samara looked at David. "Anything you wanna add, David?"

"I'm sure I'll think of something in a few minutes."

"Please don't" said Penelope in a tiny voice.