FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A couple of hours after the sun rose, Cassidy entered the living room and greeted Fenny while passing toward the kitchen, who sat up on the couch while rubbing his eyes. She wasn't usually the breakfast type, especially since she almost always slept in, but wanted to grab something for her party.

Fenny eyed her frame and especially her hips and legs as she walked by. 'Good morning...'

Cassidy gathered everything and returned in minutes, handing Fenny a poké puff. "Here."

He took it while glancing up at her, scanning the light swelling present under her eyes.

"I don't think we will train today. I–"

'I want to.'

Cassidy shot him a look as if doubting his response. "You… want to?"

Fenny nodded.

"Sure... of course." While Fenny didn't have experience in various matchups like the rest of her party, she could get him there.

It'd help her party if she had friends with pokémon or attended the huge battle meets in two spots around the region yearly so they could practice against foreign pokémon, but too many people attended. One was located in Lumiose and the other in Dahara, which was a city far too big for her to entertain the idea of. She'd tried one of the meets before and felt overwhelmed the entire time.

Not to mention casual battles allowed dirty offense unless both trainers established competitive rules prior. It included pokémon sneaking in or going for attacks their trainer hadn't called for.

Plus, many of the trainers there were 'interesting,' to say the least.

She still remembered one of them distinctly. It had been her first battle upon arrival at a meet in Lumiose, where she was using Añu versus a boy wearing glasses and a striped shirt around her age. He had a dunsparce, who was resting on the city's pavement with buildings and markets around them. A section of Central was closed off during battle meets, but the marts stayed open for trainers.

"Alright, Añu, give it a bullet punch!" Cassidy commanded and pointed at the small yellow pokémon.

"Easy. Dodge it quick and retort with drill run." He chuckled and crossed his arms.

She watched Añu dart ahead with determination and leave a brief gust behind him, which wiped the expression off that boy.

"Eh, hey, how come that thing's so fast?" He looked at his dunsparce, who sprung up to the right, but to no avail, as Añu jumped to meet it and punched it directly to the ground with a dull thwap. "Ghee, Chuffy!" he exclaimed and saw the girl's riolu continue to pummel his pokémon. An undying flurry of fixed, impactful punches. "O-Okay, hey! That's enough!" He then ran at the riolu, which caused Añu to look up at the boy with wide eyes while stepping back.

Cassidy stood upright and slightly tilted her head. "Añu, come!"

Meanwhile, the boy crouched and patted his dunsparce. After a moment, he stood again and went back to his original position. "Alright, ready!"

"Ugh." Cassidy looked at Añu, who returned it with puzzlement in his eyes. "Bullet punch again, Añu!"

"Wh-What? No!" The boy ran and jumped in front of his dunsparce with outstretched arms. "You can't spam the same move! Come on! You just did that! Is that all your riolu knows?"

"Huh." Cassidy watched blankly as he continued shouting. "Spam?"

To sum it up, she had yet to return, which hadn't affected her path negatively so far. Personal training and sparring would suffice. Garna and Añu shortly after were her first two pokémon, with Añu having always been her most ambitious fighter.

She'd captured Violet a year afterward, who had caught up to Añu quickly. They were in tune and competitive rivals during sparring sessions, aiding each other in improving.

Garna was her party's sleeper. She was older, so Cassidy didn't use her unless necessary, but Garna was calm and collected in the tensest of situations, a brute force who always came through.

"Let me get ready and feed the others." She left Fenny and went into her room to slip into a new pair of socks, boots, and put on her Pokétch that she unplugged from atop the bed. What she wore currently would suffice for a casual training session. Cassidy returned after gathering more puffs and giving them to her party. She'd prepare a meal later. "Ready?"

He stood and tensed his legs with a slight wince, having finished his snack.

They went to the front yard, where there was enough grassy space to train. Cassidy had to fill in his required training anyway, so it all came together.

Pokémon training had become mandatory due to cases over a decade ago of trainers neglecting their pokémon in that regard for enough time that they saw cognitive decline, depression, or laziness in their companions. Upon taking them to pokémon professors and the professor running tests, the trainers were given training schedules to keep their pokémon active.

After more and more cases came to light to where it became a common occurrence, governments worldwide put trillions into studies concerning the issue and found that it negatively affected pokémon in several ways, physically and mentally.

Soon after gathering enough statistical proof, they united and created a law that would no longer allow it to happen. A trainer had to spend a minimum of three hours per week working with their pokémon on their corresponding movesets, or they risked having their pokémon taken. Authority didn't enforce it, but people could report it.

"Wish, ember, flame charge, and…" Cassidy listed three out of four moves that Fenny knew. Psychic was a close fifth.

He swished his tail and glanced back at it. 'Iron tail.'

"Ah, right. Haven't used that in a while. Need to check the memo pad more often." Cassidy kept detailed notes pertaining to her party's training, stats, and individual strengths and weaknesses. "Let's see you present all four to start. We need to warm up your stores."

Four to five moves at a time was the optimized global standard to avoid overwhelming the pokémon. Focusing on four moves granted the pokémon an achievable goal— to master them without their will faltering from knowing that twenty more complex attacks were ahead to grind. It also allowed the pokémon to keep them polished and powerful.

Cassidy brought up her wrist and went to her stopwatch app, pressing start.

---

Time passed quicker than expected. Over an hour had passed. Cassidy had focused on Fenny's key components, including agility, a bit of sloppy gracefulness, and the optimization of his attacks overall.

She raised her wrist and stopped the timer. "An hour and fifteen. We'll stop, but I have something for us to work toward."

Fenny eyed her.

She pointed to one of the two trees ahead of them in the yard that were spread apart by a few feet. "Try to knock over the one on the left with iron tail."

Fenny glanced at it, then back at her. 'I... knock it over? I don't–'

"Try."

He shifted his hind paws and turned to it, looking the trunk up and down. He sighed to himself and spread his legs slightly, glancing back at his tail while stiffening it. His fur tensed as was as hard as steel.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes tinged with determination, and ran at the tree. "Braih!" Fenny hopped off his paws and turned in mid-air as he closed in, striking the tree with his tail. A loud thud resounded upon his tail connecting. He landed on his hind paws, then stood upright and looked back at his work.

Cassidy approached a moderately sized chunk of dark brown bark lying in the grass, then looked at the tree that had a missing piece, exposing a light brown second layer.

'I can't...'

"Repetition and consistency are important, and we need to work on your form to put more power behind your attacks. It is mainly in your hips. Your strikes and iron tail will benefit from proper form." Cassidy looked at him and folded her arms.

Fenny looked down.

She sighed and dropped her arms, then went to rub his cheek. "You can't expect the results you want so quickly, Fen. It takes time, but it's in your soul. Cassidy placed her other hand on his chest and looked into his eyes. "Dans ton cœur (in your heart)," she intoned, tracing her index finger around the center over his fur.

"Coumarine proved that. You need to channel and bring it to life, and don't forget who you belong to. I'll make sure you get there. Manifest who and where you want to be."

He grinned slightly. 'Okay...' Fenny rested his cheek against her hand.

"What made you want to train this morning, anyway, mh?"

'It… I dunno. I guess I, uh, want to get better at battling… after that gym.'

"Vrai (True)? We'll train a lot more often, then. You could spar with Añu, too. You would learn a lot. Does that sound good?"

'Yeah... Thank you.'

"Come on." She yawned. "I've got to cook for everyone, and I know you are thirsty." She walked back inside with him accompanying her.

'What are you doing, Fenny?' He entered with his eyes on the floor.

"Water? Wafer?"

Moments later, he looked up at Cassidy holding a cup and a loose vanilla wafer before him while chewing. Fenny took both and momentarily grinned.

She swallowed. "We leave for Lumiose in a week, so we have more training ahead of us." Cassidy raised her arm and looked at him. "Can I log your stats after today?" She hadn't seen them in at least a year.

Her Pokétch had a built-in function for it called 'Pokémon List,' where she noted her party's development on the device's built-in memo pad through training sessions over time. If Fenny started training regularly, she would have to begin keeping up with his as well.

Fenny nodded and watched her lean in after tapping a few buttons. She then pressed her Pokétch to his side for around ten seconds until the buffer icon on the screen faded.

"Fini (Done). I will be back." Cassidy walked to the restroom while scanning a detailed vertical list of his stats on-screen with a mini icon of a braixen above them. Older Pokétch models displayed a basic outline of the pokemon's stats by bars that were more of an estimate.

The newer and more advanced models got, the more user-friendly and intricate the devices and apps got. "Attack 50... Defense 52... Special attack 78. Hm." His stats were below average on all accounts down to his speed. "His collective number should be 409, but it's 375." She'd log them in her memos and track improvement as they went.

She entered the restroom and leaned against the counter, holding its edges while staring into the mirror. She would have to efficiently train her other pokémon too before hurrying to Lumiose, which always brought her stress. Her party was usually a step ahead of the competition other than her losses and now and again when battles were too close for comfort.

Cassidy could take her time, but she wouldn't allow herself to slack; however, she didn't want to push her pokémon too hard.