The stands grew busier as the training group's matches continued. Like what happened yesterday, queues formed for the other pitches. Dirty looks began to be thrown their way as people recognized them and the fact that they had monopolized a pitch for the second day in a row.

“How about we end the battles here for today?” Sarah suggested after waving at someone in the queues only to be blanked.

“We could do some more training?” Tulia suggested. “I had something I wanted to show Danny.”

Danny nodded an eager confirmation, green headband slipping down. She pushed it back up unconsciously. The band was old, and clearly not as elastic as it used to be.

“I want to try something with Sand Attack and your Pidgey.” Terry added, looking at David.

“We could move over towards the seating? It would give us some privacy too.” Martin suggested.

The other locals answered with a round of nods. Danny and he looked at each other in confusion. There was no seating on the training grounds. There was some in the park, but you also weren't allowed to train Pokemon in a park.

Martin and Sarah led everyone over to the far end of the training grounds, where six tall metal boxes stood. Up close David could see that what looked like shipping containers were actually boxes on wheels with a big seam down the center.

“Most controversial addition to Celadon in the last decade,” Sarah announced, presenting the boxes with a wave. “Specially designed and built in Pewter. Seating in minutes, safely stored away in hours.”

“Why can’t people just stand?” Martin said in a scratchy voice, clearly impersonating someone. The joke fell flat on David, but the locals seemed to find it funny.

“Anyway,” Sarah continued, fighting back a smile. “They leave gaps between the boxes to make them easier to unpack. The gaps make for great training areas where you can hide from crowds of onlookers.”

David smirked as he figured out why the group, who only recently got Pokemon, would know about a hidden spot.

He moved closer to one of the giant containers to take a better look. The metal was dinged and a bit worn, but that appeared to be caused by use rather than poor manufacturing. A large hinge held the two separate halves of the shell together high above his head. The edges of the hinge and joint were clean and precise. Nothing about the construction was too different from what he’d see at home except the scale. No human would be setting this out or moving the container without heavy machinery.

It did make him question how these were manufactured. How advanced were this world’s instruments? Would he recognize any of their processes? How automated was their industry? Or was this built with the help of Pokemon?

“So, if these four have already split into twos, how about we work on something?” Sarah gestured between herself and Martin.

Martin winced. “Well… I was actually hoping to work with Tulia and Danny. ”

“Oh.”

“We’ll be working on Growth.” Tulia offered a bit awkwardly.

Sarah looked at Terry.

“Sand Attack. Something about the battle didn’t seem right to me.” Terry answered.

Sarah sighed. “I guess Nibbles and I will work on our own then.”

Sarah waved away Martin’s offer of working on something with her, and the group split up.

“So what were you thinking?” David asked Terry as Pidgey hopped in a circle around Sandshrew. He was a little apprehensive about training with Terry. She was the quietest in the group (outside of battle), and that was before he made a blunder by running out onto the pitch in their match earlier.

Terry watched their two Pokemon for a second before responding. “The Sand Attacks earlier didn’t have much effect. I want to know why. It might be your Pidgey using Flying type energy. Sandshrew should also be able to help your Pidgey with her Sand Attack too.”

David nodded. That sounded perfect to him. It was also the most words he had heard Terry say at once. Maybe with their help ‘Launch’ could become an actual move. He was also interested in finding out how he could avoid more Sand Attacks in the future.

“How should we start then? Try using the Move while Pidgey is still and while Pidgey is flying?”

Terry nodded and a minute later, a very disgruntled Pidgey stood opposite Sandshrew. Pidgey alternated between staring down David and Sandshrew, but thankfully she wasn’t using her mystery Move.

“Sand Attack!” Terry ordered with a shout.

Sandshrew dug into the dirt around it before scattering the piles forward at Pidgey. More dirt was thrown forward by light brown particles. The Move was noticeably slower than during the battle.

Sitting still as she was, Pidgey was coated in a fine layer of sand. She gave a shake and an annoyed squawk before fixing a stare on David. It seemed she had decided who the ultimate blame lay with. The shaking had removed some of the looser clumps, but particles were left on her feathers and a large clump on her forehead.

“Well that seemed to have been more effective?” David hedged. “Is there another way of testing it?”

Terry pursed her lip before stepping forward and drawing 3 small crosses in the ground in front of Pidgey. “Ask her to Peck each of the crosses.”

“Pidgey, tap each of the crosses.”

She tilted her head at him but made no other move.

“Like this.” David stepped forward and crouched down. He put his hand in front of his face and bent forward to hit one of the crosses.

Pidgey let out a chirp and hopped forward at the other crosses.

David stood with a smile which crumpled when he noticed Terry’s raised eyebrows. Her right had risen so high it had disappeared under her lopsided hat.

“Ehm... No point wasting her Flying type energy? Teach by example and all that?”

Terry nodded slowly, but David’s shoulders slumped. This was as good a sign as any that he’d spent too much time camping in the woods by himself.

Pidgey’s three pokes weren’t perfectly on target, but they were only off by at most three or four inches. It was a lot given how close Pidgey was to the target, but nothing compared to how big some Pokemon could get.

“I guess we should have asked her to try before the Sand Attack.” David lamented aloud.

Terry hummed before stepping over towards Sandshrew. “Will you clean her, so we can continue?”

Testing Sand Attack against Pidgey mid-flight was more difficult. The first three attempts were off target or only glancing hits. On the positive side, both Pidgey and Sandshrew seemed to enjoy this exercise more. While David and Terry discussed each failed attempt, Pidgey would land by Sandshrew and the two Pokemon would chirp and hiss back and forth.

A big clump of dirt hit Pidgey in the crest during the fourth attempt, making it successful enough to attempt the three crosses.

Pidgey struck three times and was off by what seemed to be the same amount. When the gap was only a few inches it was hard to tell if anything had changed.

“Maybe it was her takeoff?” David asked Terry as they examined the beak marks in the dirt.

“How?” Terry asked without looking up. She had been staring angrily at the crosses for a minute or two without speaking.

“Well Pidgey needs more Flying energy to take off than to fly.”

Terry looked at him blankly.

“Pidgey is heavy enough. It’s not just her wings that shoot her vertically up in the air.” David explained.

Terry nodded, and they moved to set up the next experiment.

Another few minutes later they were ready for attempt two of Sand Attack vs Pidgey’s launch. The first attempt had been mistimed and nothing had gotten close to Pidgey’s talons.

“1.”

“Go!”

David and Terry called out their orders together.

Sandshrew swiped forward, scattering some of the many dirt piles that now dotted the area.

Pidgey lifted her wings high and paused a second. David pursed his lips as the light brown clouds neared her. She missed the timing. This would be another failed attempt. Hopefully it wasn't because she was getting frustrated with this.

Pidgey’s wings swung down as they had many times before, but there was a new grace to the movement. As she rose to the tips of her talons and her feathers neared the ground, lavender twists spiraled out from under her wings.

The lavender flows of energy traveled without any set direction. Some darted into the ground where they disappeared or dispersed the waiting dirt piles. Others dissipated in the air. A few struck Sandshrew.

Sandshrew squealed and darted back.

“Shit,” David called as he and Terry hurried to get some distance between them and the lavender energy.

Pidgey let out a loud prideful chirp as she gently glided back around to Sandshrew. She landed and puffing herself up, held slightly trembling wings high. Terry ran forward.

Sandshrew let out a low squeal as Terry examined its scales.

Pidgey lowered her wings and looked over at the other Pokemon as David crouched down beside her.

“Is Sandshrew alright Terry?” He called over-anxiously.

There had been no denying that those lavender twists had been a Move. This was the second time Pidgey had used an untested Move against one of the group outside a battle and unlike her stare, this Move had hurt Sandshrew. What was the etiquette about surprise attacks outside of battles? Would this be the final nail in the coffin he had started building with his blunder earlier?

David waited in agonizing silence as Terry examined Sandshrew before she sighed and stood up.

“He’s fine. Try to get Pidgey to avoid using that much energy will you?”

Terry walked back over to where they had been standing without any further talk.

David turned back to Pidgey and picked her up to gently turn her head back towards him and not Sandshrew.

“Great job with the energy Pidgey.”

She puffed herself up as best she could in his hands.

“Could you not do it again?”

Pidgey shrank back and stilled.

“We will work on it later, but you can’t try these things out while we train.”

Pidgey tilted her head slightly.

“That could have been dangerous.” David tried. “Sandshrew was hurt. None of the lavender while we train with Sandshrew.”

She looked at him steadily for a second before slowly pecking forward.

“Thanks and great job Pidgey.”

Pidgey hopped over towards Sandshrew as he set her down.

“Defense Curl.” Terry shouted as David joined her outside their testing area.

David nodded. It was a good idea. Pidgey seemed to have understood something, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Sandshrew was more surprised than hurt.” Terry said quietly to him as they watched their Pokemon. “But he has been hurt in training battles before.”

David looked at her in surprise.

Terry indicated to the three grass types on the other end of the small clearing. “We all got our Pokemon a little early. Some Grass Moves don’t leave obvious damage. Sandshrew was hurt, and I didn’t have a license so no Pokecenter.”

When David turned to frown at Martin and Tulia, Terry shook her head. “They didn’t know. I got help, but I was very worried, and it took a while for Sandshrew to recover.” Terry looked at him closely. "I’m telling this, so you know that you aren’t the only one. It can take a while to realize just how much more resilient Pokemon are compared to us."

David nodded slowly, but he wasn’t quite sure if that was a reassurance for Pidgey’s wing and recent Move or a gently rebuke for disturbing the battle. Maybe it was all of the above.

Terry turned back. “Ready for the next try?”

David clicked his tongue as he stared at the three marks in the ground. The next attempt had been a faithful recreation of what had happened in the earlier match. Pidgey had diverted most of the Sand Attack away with the force of her launch but a glob or two had struck her anyway.

The results however didn’t tell them much. Pidgey’s beak marks were no more than an inch away from their target. Her launch could be making the technique about half as effective. Or their measuring system was just as inaccurate as their vague guesses for what an acceptable Sand Attack hit was.

“It doesn’t tell us much does it?” David asked.

Terry shook her head. “Maybe the difference would be larger in a battle? Less time for Pidgey to target.”

“Maybe...” David said with an exhale. “But it seemed like it affected the other...” He trailed off.

Sarah was over to the side practicing something with her Rattata.

“Give me a second.”

 

-.-

 

Sarah was a little confused with his request and not terribly eager to make ‘Chewy’ into a test dummy but allowed herself to be convinced without too much protest.

They performed three more tests, one with each Pokemon unaffected by Sand Attack and one with Rattata affected by Sand Attack.

Pidgey and Rattata had no issues hitting the marks perfectly when they were unhindered. Rattata under Sand Attack was another story. The lines it clawed into the ground were up to 8 inches away from the mark.

“So.” David started.

Sarah looked at him expectantly. She hadn’t been there for the earlier tests but was now curious. The three trainers stood in a huddle around the marks while the three Pokemon chattered away behind them.

“Using Flying type energy might weaken Sand Attack a bit or just make it harder for the attack to land. But we can confirm that Pidgey and possibly all Flying types are resistant to Sand Attack.”

"Not all Flying types. I've seen it work." Terry said, shaking her head. "But some yes."

Sarah poked Terry and asked her to explain.

David turned to look at Pidgey, a warm feeling growing within him. She was chirping away and hopping around Sarah’s Rattata as Sandshrew watched.

This was a step forward. Not a huge one but a good start. He would learn all he could about this world until its secrets became his strength.

Pidgey paused in her hopping and turned back towards him. She tilted her head to the side.

He laughed.