[Battling Class] Countering I

Lennox rolled himself onto the sparring field that morning looking vaguely grumpier than usual. His muscles were not doing him well today... if their was even a possibility that one could roll with a limp, Lennox was currently doing it. Ever since he had evolved, his muscles had been cramping and throbbing like they were too big for his shell. He had had a hell of a time even making it down the mountain to set all of this up. It was like his entire body was protesting the shape he had taken, and now he had to deal with the consequences. He grunted a little bit as he came to a halt in front of the couple of figures he had seen in the distance.

On the topic of this little "passion project"... Now that the bookkeeping was all said ad done, and he was finally sidling up to his first class... he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he had a "lesson plan" that some person or another had advised him to make, and sure, he knew generally how you go about countering a move, but he had no idea if he was going to do anything he was going to do "right." He had gone to see the local school and he hadn't liked what they did at all, but he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to improve on the system when he had no other point of reference.

Oh well. It was time to start.

"Mornin'," Lennox said in greeting to the class. He realized how rough his voice sounded as soon as it hit his ears and he tried to clear his throat. "Uhh… if you're here for the countering class, I'm your teacher. If you're not, I need you to clear out so that the rest of us can start." He waited until only his students were left before continuing. "Okay... I think we can begin now. I wanna start by gettin' to know you all some, since we're gonna be seein' each other a lot if you're a Battling major." He had to stop and shift position as the post-evolution pain started to build up a bit.

"Alright, let's go 'round clockwise. Go 'head and say your name, where you came from, and what you like to do in your spare time. Maybe also include your other major. Just enough to give everyone a good sense 's who you are. I'll start things off. My name's Lennox, and I came from the Mire. I... well I do a lot of battling in my spare time, frankly. Battlin' and trainin'." He neglected to add his newly-developed habit of binge-eating desserts. "I only teach battling. Spend the rest of my time keepin' up with student info. Just r'member that I see all," he semi-teased. Man, was he being witty? Shit, he was being witty! This was awesome.

He nodded to the next person. "Alright, you got the floor."

(I dunno if energy is even necessary for these threads but I'm gonna post the bug's anyways for posterity |D Also there's no specific post order yet so we'll just assume that "clockwise" is whatever order you post in)
Lennox the Whirlipede - 28 energy
Scolio-horn equipped.

The area around the academy was quite busy, busier than usual. All the running and stomping on the road to the school building were enough to startle a sandshrew awake when he used to be deep into a slumber inside his cosy burrow, deep below the ground. It took barely any time for Yigo to get his pink Trap Scarf around his neck and dig himself to the surface, poking his head out to make sure that he'd be safe surfacing. Even if he knew not what to do, following the crowd was always an option. Some of the potential students knew each other and were too distracted talking to themselves to notice the ground type following them. Eventually, the group of pokemon had lead Yigo to a sparring field. Seeing as most of the students just stood inside the area, Yigo separated himself from the group he was following, yawned and stretched his limbs on all fours.

A rather large pokemon came rolling about in quite an odd way, like if it was harming them to do so. Its shape was like that of a rather huge grey caterpie trying to use rollout which sounded hilarious to the young sandshrew, producing a chuckle. It was then when he said his name, Lennox, and asked the ones that were not in the countering class to just leave. The name was definitely familiar but the shape was not. Did that little bug change that much in such a short span of time? Yigo brought a paw to his chin as he sat on his haunches, wondering if he should have changed by this time as well. Once his rather short introduction was done, the Whirlipede asked the others to the same. Yigo was at the rightmost edge of the group at the moment, trying to avoid group interaction for the moment as he felt he was there to learn, not to make new friends. Actually, wasn't he there to make friends as well, albeit through battling? Yigo was not that sure anymore.

He got back on his fours as he took a glance at the group of students, some waiting for that unknown sandshrew to introduce himself "Uhm... my name is Yigo" he said, somewhat flustered and with not that much effort. He wasn't feeling like talking then as all those curious looks simply sapped every thought off of his mind. He waited silently for a few seconds, thinking that it'd be enough but... no one else decided to speak after him so he finally proceeded with some more details "I-I come from the desert and I came here because someone once taught me that words are not necessary to bond sometimes, just a good battle to get to know your rival" his words were a bit poetic but that was because he had practised that little speech a few times before coming to that class "uhm... I also like to go explore dungeons but I guess that's no longer an option if I want to keep coming here" His tone was somewhat neutral and that last bit barely passed as a joke. Barely.

Yigo's face was now rosy and he could feel heat inside his body, like if a fire started where his fire was. It hurt to speak some more. Wouldn't anyone just talk after that? After all, Yigo had said what he was asked to.

Yigo the Sandshrew - 19 energy
Trap scarf equipped

Yes, yes, yes, yes! It was finally time for battling classes! Osiris couldn't have been more excited. He was at peak excitement. Heh. Hehe.

He was previously enrolled at a local schoolhouse where he didn't do much but sit in a single classroom and read dusty scrolls and books about history and math and a bunch of other boring stuff. But when he'd heard rumor about another school opening up around the small pond that offered COOL classes? Hoo boy, he went straight home after school that day to tell his mom all about it.

And by 'tell his mom all about it', he meant beg her shamelessly like a little worm to let him learn about cool stuff like fighting and exploring.

Of course, she had her concerns about the suddenness of it all. She had to take some time to look into the new school herself to make sure it was legit and after that, they had to have a long sit down about what this meant and the commitment it was. Transferring schools wasn't something done on a whim and he had to be one hundred percent positively sure that he wanted to take this path instead. And yeah, he had no doubts whatsoever, because he wanted to go to the guild one day and be a super cool explorer. This was like a headstart! Learning how to battle from a bonafide combat teacher would put him a leg up on everyone who wasn't going to this hip new awesome school.

Too bad his mom made him made him double-major in Essential Skills. Ugh.

It was a shame because Expeditionary Studies seemed pretty cool too. Still, when it came time to pick between that and Battling, it was no question. He had a little bit of practice under his own belt when it came to exploring dungeons anyway - anything else he needed to learn in that regard, he'd figure out on his own. What he wanted most of all was to be an ace fighter. To weave between his opponent's attacks with the experience of a pro, and learn super cool moves and be undefeatable! So that when he registered in the guild and found some teammates, he could impress the heck out of them the first time they got into a scrap. Then he'd be like the team captain and be super popular. He was pretty sure that's how that all worked.

The dratini was drawn from his introspection when a whirlipede rolled onto the sparring field and addressed them all. This was their teacher, an evolved poison type! Not bad. His voice was totally rough and he seemed totally nonchalant and cool. He said his name was Lennox and gave them all their first instruction ever: group introductions. Kinda lame, but necessary, maybe. Osiris waited patiently as the sandshrew a few feet to his side went first, introducing himself as Yigo. He seemed a bit hesitant and awkward but otherwise nice enough. Then it was his turn.

"Hi, my name's Osiris! I'm a dratini and I'm also an Essential Skills major." The other student seemed to neglect to mention their second major, but maybe he just didn't have one. Might as well mention his so as not to get on the teacher's bad side, though. Iris slithered in a quick circle so everyone could get a decent look at him as he finished talking. "I like making new friends, play- er, training in the forests around town, and exploring dungeons every once in a while."

Vesper had gotten to the school building a little earlier than most that morning and had spent the majority of her time before her class was due to start scouting the place. Sure, she had to pretend she wasn't a thief here, but there was nothing against looking around!

The school itself seemed to be pretty big; bigger than she'd imagined to be honest. Although the only actual building was some sort of admin building, there were a fair few pavilions scattered around the area and some nice open spaces for other activities. It was one of those open plots of land that she needed to head towards to get to her first class. She hadn't found anything particularly valuable though. At least, not anything that she would care to steal. Honestly, that was probably a good thing for both Vesper and the school.

As she wandered towards the location for Countering I, Vesper's keen eyes watched the others students milling around. Some of them seemed to have grouped up into small cliques, whilst others were content to study a textbook on their lonesome in the great outdoors. There was a fair amount of variety, but even so, the Roselia wasn't entirely sure how long the educational institution would manage to hold her own interest.

After all, it had mostly been Alki who wanted to go to the school. The Jigglypuff had mentioned something about a Performing Arts class, which Vesper honestly thought might be a bit of fun. When they'd both signed up for classes, they'd been allowed to choose two majors. Alki had selected Essential Skills, a major which Vesper would have turned her nose up at if she had one. It just sounded... boring. She knew how to look after herself and she didn't need to be taught how to cook things when she could just live off of the sunlight. Still, Vesper figured that at least the Battling major might actually come in handy in a pinch and so opted to go for the second major rather than sticking to one.

And thus, Vesper had begun her studies at Peak Academy...

... and promptly ended up nearly being late for her first class because of her wandering.

The Roselia deftly entered the area within the throng of students that were leaving at Lennox's request. She quickly gathered that the two stationary figures were to be her classmates and stood next to one of them, hoping that her guess was correct.

As the Whirlipede before her spoke, Vesper's posture relaxed a little in relief. He'd mentioned the Battling major, which could only mean she really was in the correct place. She listened as he introduced himself, and chuckled lightly at his comment of 'seeing all'.

The first of the students introduced themselves as Yigo. The Sandshrew clearly didn't want to be talking about himself in front of others. Vesper could practically feel the nervousness radiating off of him during the gap after he'd told them his name. Osiris seemed much more fun, and significantly less nervous. Probably easier to talk to as well.

Both of her classmates seemed to like exploring as a hobby. Was that what most pokemon did in their spare time these days? It seemed a little boring to say the same things that everyone else was saying, but she supposed that was the closest to the truth that she could get without being expelled on the spot.

"Nice to meet you all!" She grinned cheerfully, clearly not nervous at all, "My name is Vesper, and my other major is Performing Arts!" As she stated the major's name, she pulled her roses in close to her chest before flicking her arms outwards, using her Extrasensory move to generate some sparkling particles out of thin air.
A brief pause to let the supernatural sparkles dissipate, and the Roselia continued, a small smile on her face as she thought about what to say.
"I used to be from a forest a long way away from here, but I guess I'm similar to you guys in that I explore in my spare time. I also enjoy travelling and meeting new people. Although, I guess I'm sticking around Grassveil Town for a while since I enrolled here," she chuckled.
"The pancakes from that one stall in Grassveil Town square make it worth it though!"

She paused for a brief moment, one rose positioned under her chin in thought before she nodded to herself, "I guess that's it!" The Roselia then briefly bowed her head to Lennox, "I look forward to what you will teach us!"

Lennox tried to memorize everything as he was told it, but his brain didn't quite work that fast. He focused on the names first and foremost, because that was most important for him to get straight so he could, you know, call to them. Thank god there were no duplicate species in this class. When it came to hobbies... they kind of made it easy for him by all liking around the same things: adventuring and fighting. Made a lot of sense honestly; he had figured setting up in this area would attract a lot of guild hopefuls. Seemed like he had a pretty earnest group of prospects here... well, the yellow one honestly looked a little rough around the edges. Didn't mean he couldn't be a hard worker. He also looked pretty familiar, come to think of it...

"...Yigo?"

Ah, yes, Lennox remembered. The drunk mouse guy from the mountains. He was a good kid. He had been really helpful in getting Lennox to the mountains in the first place. He was glad to see him here. "Oh, hey, nice to see you again. I'm glad you signed up with the school." He tried not to dwell on it too long, so not to make the other students feel left out. "It's nice to have all of you here, Osiris, Vesper. And on that topic, don't you explorers get discouraged too soon. We'll be takin' field trips into dungeons for trainin', and also you're not limited to what you do in your free time. Save for crime 'n such. But as long as it's constructive, you might even get rewarded for it. Dungeons can be a good place to rehearse what you learn so y' don't get rusty." Was there anything else he needed to note on that subject? Probably not. ...although that mindset had almost gotten him buried alive in the mud before, so maybe he should make sure.

"One more thing before I get into it, I need to know the moves you know. Tell me what you've learned up to this point, your strongest move in terms of power, and a time when you used it in combat and it just really worked out for you, or didn't if you wanna share that. After that, it'd be a good time to ask any remaining questions y'got." He felt like that pretty much covered everything that was important for right now. Once he knew their moves, he could start in on the lecture portion of the class.

He had a feeling that would be everyone's least favorite part. Including his.

All the students had finished their introductions, apparently. There was a dratini -a dragon!- among them. He looked kind of excited compared to how Yigo was at the moment, like if he was expecting the class to start for a long time. His attitude was active and happy, enough to make Yigo calm down a little and crack a smile as he heard Osiris talk. The other student was a roselia. To be honest, Yigo wasn't terribly excited to spar with a grass type. He has terrible memories of interactions with the ones of her kind including one where a weepinbell tried to eat him and some other pokemon that was accompanying Yigo. It was hard not to look to the side and try to ignore her, the smile and confidence that the dratini inspired on Yigo just leaving his own self.

Their hobbies were similar in nature, all enjoying exploring in their spare time. Yigo wondered if they did it for fun as he needed to do it to gather enough spare change to get through another day. As this academy was near Grassveil, a hatching nest for explorers of all kind, it was expected to be the host of many potential recruits trying to hone their skills before trying to enter the guild.

And so, the presentations were over. The teacher took a small time to appreciate Yigo for show up to his class. It was obvious now that this Lennox was the same he helped guide through the Mire and in the mountains. Yigo got back on all fours and lowered his head for a moment before nodding with conviction as a response. The teacher then suggested that exploring was encouraged since they'd be doing field trips and such as part of their classes. After that short clarification, he went ahead with another task that looked simple in nature: he wanted to know about their combat skills. That was an odd request since Lennox had already seen what Yigo was capable of and answered the task by tilting his head to the side, his mouth slightly opened, eyes blinking and ears twitching as if they were trying to catch some part of the speech he had been missing. His head then turned to the other students as to gather clues out of them of what Lennox had just asked before it had hit him. Lennox probably wanted the other students to know as well what he could do.

"Well... uhm... what I have learned..." He was starting to lack words once again. Well... there was some other way of showing off what he knew. He stepped forth and raised one of his front claws. They started to glow by themselves for a moment as Yigo focused before swiping the air in front of him, leaving a trail of white energy behind. It was almost effortless and was natural to him. He then looked at the other students, his eyes expecting a reaction out of him. Was his Crush Claw a lacklustre move after all compared to what the other students could do? "Uhm... I can also roll but I don't bite... I don't like to bite. This move was the last one my mother taught me. She was a great teacher. She taught me that I should run first and battle only as a last resort. I don't think I've ever defeated anyone on my own but this move was strong enough to break some chitin, scales, fur and hide. I think I merely open the way for others to land the finishing blow but, from what I've seen my mum do, it can win fights with one decisive strike" Yigo looked at his right claw, the shining energy having left that area, and back at the group of students. If anyone was looking at something more than his claws, they'd see Yigo's tail wagging calmly. It was a sign of relief and happiness, that he was finally opening up to the others. Even if he was a bit nervous and still extremely flustered, he was satisfied enough to smile even if Yigo wasn't aware of that at the time.

Heck yes they were talking moves.

Osiris was nearly shaking in excitement. This was something he had wanted for himself since he knew what the word "battle" meant. He'd actually gone looking for a teacher of his own on at least one occasion, and that was a story best left untold. It was part of the reason that he was so excited when this school opened up and offered battling lessons. Now he was here and the teacher was asking about what they were all capable of doing at this point! The dratini felt so pent up with nervous, happy energy that he wondered if he might burst.

It wasn't his turn though. He had to contain himself as Yigo, the sandshrew student, went first. But rather than just tell them all his moves, he went so far as to demonstrate one! The timid ground type swiped one claw through the air and Osiris marveled at the fluidity and power behind it, drawing back slightly in acknowledgment. That looked damaging! A nice, strong power move. He felt a little bit jealous, in truth. But he didn't show it as he listened to Yigo talk about the history behind his move and where he learned it, alongside his experiences using it. It seemed like this guy had been in a few scaps of his own so far. By his own admission, he hadn't won any but that was still more than Osiris could say. He finished on a bright note and even looked a bit more chipper by the end of it, and Osiris couldn't help but smile up at the big guy.

"I don't, uh, have anything super strong like that. I'm kind of all over the place in terms of what I can do actually." It stung a bit to admit, but this was something that had been on his mind for a long time. Unlike Yigo, he didn't have a solid go-to move for putting the hurt on his opponents. Actually, he barely had anything resembling a damaging attack. "The best thing I got is probably my thunder wave but that doesn't really end fights. It paralyzes things though, and that's super helpful.

"Otherwise, I know how to use dragon dance! It's a little jig I do that makes me faster and stronger every time I use it." He would have demonstrated a move or two like Yigo, but thunder waving someone just to show off sounded like a jerk move. And dragon dancing... kind of made him feel silly. Just like actual dancing. It was part of the reason that he usually went out to train on his own rather than with any of his friends. Dancing to get stronger was super girly. But it was a dragon move, at least... "And I can wrap around things too. Put the squeeze on 'em, but I'm not super strong so it's not like a good idea usually."

He was a little bit quieter toward the tail end of his explanation. It was more than a bit embarrassing to admit that his best attack was wrap.

Vesper listened as the teacher continued with the class. It seemed as if he knew the Sandshrew that was attending from somewhere, not that it particularly concerned the Roselia. Instead, she focussed on Lennox's mention of 'crime 'n such' as he put it. On the outside, she showed no acknowledgement of the comment, but internally Vesper vowed to be the best darn student she could be. They would never suspect her of being a thief if she was an exemplary student, surely!

As the class itself continued, Vesper watched as the other two students demonstrated their moves. Yigo started off with his strongest move, his claws leaving white trails as he demonstrated Crush Claw. The physical move wasn't really Vesper's style, the Roselia preferring to keep her distance whenever possible if she were completely honest. Nevertheless, she smiled at the Sandshrew.
"Oh! That looks pretty strong!" She commented, hoping that she could help temper Yigo's nervousness a bit. He seemed to be opening up alright on his own, but Vesper figured it wouldn't hurt to make a few friends either way!

Next was the Dratini's demonstration. In Vesper's opinion, Thunder Wave was an incredibly useful move. After all, if your mark couldn't move it made it all the easier to get what you wanted. Defense wise, you could stop an attack. She'd always wondered if perhaps she could learn something that would cause the useful status effect. Osiris's moveset only got more interesting as he stated that he knew Dragon Dance. Wrap was a little lacklustre of a move, but Dragon dance was interesting.

"Aw man, it's a shame you don't do Performing Arts, Osiris!" Vesper chuckled, pausing to imagine the Dratini. Admittedly what she was imagining the dragon dance to be was probably a little more elegant than the real thing, but no one was a perfect performer straight off the bat! "I reckon your Dragon Dance might look really cool up on a stage! Plus, you don't need to be super strong if you have all that utility~"


And then it came to be her turn. Vesper's moveset was... alright. She wouldn't say it was the best, although it did have its useful moments and she could work with them to make them look pretty.
"As for my moves... I have Growth, which is similar to your Dragon Dance, Osiris. Except this one improves my special attack!" The Roselia paused for a brief moment of concentration, her body beginning to glow with a faint pale light. When the light enveloped her, she did a small twirl. "Ta-dah!"

"As for my other moves, I have Absorb and Poison Sting, which aren't really very cool to look at. But, my strongest is undoubtedly Extrasensory, even if it doesn't match my typing. My dad knew it and taught it to me when I was really young," She smiled for a brief moment, fond memories of her parents brought to the forefront of her mind. Her expression then fell briefly as the familiar emotion of longing and regret coursed through her.

Quickly schooling he expression into another - albeit weaker - smile, Vesper continued her summary. There was a noticeable lack of flourish as she spoke compared to how she'd been only a moment ago, but she did her best to keep that cheerful expression on her face as she put the moment past her.

"Uhm... I guess, most of the time I try and stay away from combat. But, when I need to, I prefer special moves that can attack from distance. I don't really have one specific incident, but Extrasensory in general is pretty versatile depending on the situation."

It seemed like the students had already been putting a bit of a think into the moves that they had, be they by choice or by circumstance. Lennox was pleasantly surprised further by this, and by just how naturally things seemed to be flowing. He appreciated the thought that they were already putting in to what their moves could do. He figured that meant that they probably had enough of a feel for them at this point that they could skip a move practice for right now and focus more heavily on the situational aspects of countering specifically. "Well, gotta say I'm impressed so far. Sounds like we got a good mix of all kinds of moves here to experiment with." He nodded specifically at Vesper and added, "That extrasensory's a psychic move, right? Pretty versatile. It's a good choice for you if you're going for distance. I'll make sure to include some distance counterin' strategies for you movin' forward; there's a lot you can do with it. I can probably find a few good references who specialize in that area too if you're interested in hearin' from someone a little more experienced with it than me." He looked back around at everyone and mulled their stories over in his head some more. Yigo seemed to have a pretty good deal going for him with that extra move, though he didn't really use one of them so it was like having 4. He could definitely feel for Osiris too, just starting out with what probably felt like basic moves.

"On the other side of the spectrum, sounds like quite a few of us fight up in the close quarters. 'S definitely important to know how to properly complement that kinda style; if you go in swingin' with nothin' to back it up you'll probably end up on your ass. You got some pretty good utility goin' there, 'Sirus, you just need to get the right damage to back it up. Could probably invest some of your school credit into a TM if you don't wanna wait for the moves you'll get leveling up, but you're by no means in a bad way. Just gotta have the right technique."

That got Lennox thinking about something he hadn't mentioned yet. "...Speaking of school credit, if any of you wanna ask me about things, like move recommendations, or anything ya got on your mind really, you're free to drop by my office in the Admin buildin'. Battlin' majors don't need an appointment or anythin' since you're my students." It was a little off topic, but he preferred that they had that in the back of their minds early. He hoped that if it was just a normal thing, they wouldn't feel too shy about coming in with questions and the like. "Sorry to get a little off-track. Thanks for all of your input. Helps me help you figure out where your skills fit into all of this. Before we start thinkin' too hard about moves and such though, we gotta consider tactics. Counterin' relies as heavily on havin' good tactics and common smarts as it does on your moves. You gotta understand your situation in a fight before you can start to do anything about it. We can condense these down into a few basic steps for you to keep in mind. I like to summarize 'm in four points that I call 'the four S's."

At this point, Lennox rolled over to the supply bin on the green and grabbed a very large piece of parchment that he had prepared the night before, along with a piece of soft charcoal. He came back over and unrolled it in front of everyone, revealing a few small bullet points next to a big blank space, as well as a few crude drawings of an angry-looking Gallade and a Poliwag.


"...'Scuse the drawings, I ain' much of an artist," he said bruntly. It wasn't enough to cover up the hint of sheepishness in his voice. "...But anyways, let's start off the list of essential things to consider when you want to pull off a good countering move." He tapped the blank space left for "the four S's" with his piece of charcoal to bring attention to it, and then rubbed some of the charcoal onto his spikes so that he could write. "First, S - Strength. How much do you got? How much does your opponent got? This includes anything that affects your basic attacking traits: abilities, training, and even evolution stage. This is like the bare backbone of how a fight plays out. If you got more strength, you're ahead. That said, it doesn't mean you're set." He looked around; it seemed like they were getting it so far. It was a pretty basic concept in all fairness.

"The next S is Situation. How's your health? Who's got the element of surprise? What's your terrain like? It's pretty easy to pick these things intuitively, but it's more difficult to figure out how you can actively use them to give you an edge. Third S - Supplies. We won't cover items much today, but using the right item with the right timing can be the key to tipping things in your favor. Final S - Speed. Timing's not just important for items, its important for every other thing here. You gotta understand how quickly you can physically react. These all probably sound pretty standard, and I bet you already account for some of these things subconsciously. Even so, it's crucial to pay close attention to them - especially while you're learning and even more so when you're in a critical situation. Even pros need to be aware. And good awareness comes from good practice. Once you've done it enough, you can come up with a strategy in a split second."

Satisfied with the points he had made, he now gestured down to his two drawings. "Let's try using 'the S's' in a basic analysis, point by point, so we can see where they fit in. Here we got two aggressive pokemon - a Poliwhirl and a Gallade. Tell me which do you think poses a higher threat to you in a battle, and why? Just go by first impressions. Your answers don't have to be the same."

It looked like it had made it work. The other students were actually impressed with his move! Yigo sat on his haunches once again and simply heard what the others could do, expecting a bit of a demonstration as well. What Osiris could offer was indeed a bit simple. Wrapping around foes is something that any arbok could do and nothing that fitting of a dragon. Couldn't dragons breathe fire? Summon thunder? Fly high into the sky? Maybe Osiris didn't know how to do all of that yet or maybe the ground type was wrong. Perhaps Osiris was the least experienced of them all, which calmed him a little more knowing that someone was potentially setting the standards lower than Yigo was.

On the other side, Vesper did show herself doing... something? 'Growth' she called it, which it was said to increase the non-physical moves. Those definitely looked scary. Absorb and extrasensory were not exactly pleasant experiences as Yigo had suffered them himself. He hoped that Lennox could teach him how to avoid those two particularly since ranged attackers usually don't care that much about charges if they have some distance over their foes or are in hiding where their moves can go undetected. Even though Vesper's speech was fairly cheerful in tone and helpful in content, Yigo could not help but show a worried expression, ears dropping and gaze low.

The teacher seemed content with what the students offered and gave them some small advice and suggested that they reached to his office if they needed more information. Yigo already had a few questions in mind but he was waiting for Lennox to finish the class before making them public. Speaking of, the teacher had revealed a piece of a white material with drawings and characters in it. Yigo frowned at the image. He could clearly see that something in there was supposed to be a poliwag but nothing came up to his mind when staring at the tall figure with the angry face at the side of the water type. The words over them were a complete mystery as well since his mother forgot to teach him how to read and the few things he could read were basic words and instructions, none of which were present.

Giving up on the paper, Yigo started to pay attention to the lecture. There were four important points: Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed. And they all started with the letter S! It was so easy to remember that way. He mumbled the names for a moment, eyes closed, to remember them better.

'Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed
Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed
Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed'

Yup! Piece of cake to remember. The definition of them made a lot of sense as well. Unconsciously, Yigo and his mother had already been using all those four points at any encounter. His strong point was probably the Situation and Speed since Yigo was taught that terrain and mobility were key with awareness of the foe being a bonus. The sandshrew noded at every point and uttered an 'understood' once the teacher had finished the explanation and before he gave them another exercise to think about.

The latter was an interesting one as well. They were to compare two pokemon and guess which one was the most threatening to each of them, presumably using the four S's method showed to them moments ago. While Yigo could clearly see the huge threat that a poliwag posed to him and since the identity of the other pokemon by the name of 'Gallade' was unknown to him, Yigo could only speculate at what it could do. The 'gallade' looked like a mix of a hitmonchan due to the slim body and hair and a machoke with that accessory at the hip so Yigo deduced that it was a fighting type and would treat it as so to avoid making a fool of himself.

"Well... uhm... Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed - Strength, Situation, Supplies and Speed The poliwag seems to be weaker than the gallade at first glance. Fighting types hit hard most of the time and are reckless and fearless at that where water types would just squirt water from far away but they can't be too far either because the water will end up falling and not hitting their target. However, the skin of poliwag is too bouncy. My claws can't cut it without slipping off in another direction" it was hard to explain what he meant, even less so on the spot "When it comes to the situation... most of the fighting types I've seen wander off alone and are easy to avoid most of the time if you are faster or use a few tricks like that thunder wave Osiris has. A water type like poliwag is hardly far from a source of water so I expect it to reach to a pond or river if a battle breaks and... I don't have a chance if any foe is near water. It disables me completely. I can't get close, it makes me sick, I can't aim well and I can't dig below it. It's a nightmare..." Yigo looked down for a moment and remembered a painful moment in the Misty Mire where he found completely surrounded by water in a muddy patch of soil while water and hovering psychic types crawled to his little island. It was truly a nightmare.

"There are a lot of seeds that can stop a foe if you have good aim or improve oneself and there are scarfs that protect you from specific damage so, whoever has the supplies is more likely to win, regardless of the user... this gallade seems a bit slow and a heavy hitter so I imagine that outspeeding it is not an issue. I can probably roll much faster than it can run or jump and while poliwag have a really hard time walking on their feet, their swimming is fast and can slide on their bellies as fast as I can roll in the rain. Oh, did I mention that poliwag can make the clouds rain? It's scary..." Yigo brought his claws together and had them poke against one another in uncertainty. Would the other student and Lennox think that he was being silly for fearing a poliwag over an evolved fighting type? "Well... as a ground type that can barely stand water, I think that I have more chances to avoid losing to a gallade than to a poliwag"

It took everything that he had to avoid blushing when the roselia student - Vesper - commented on his dragon dance, and even then he was pretty sure he failed. He hadn't even demonstrated it but he was getting all sorts of commentary from both her and the teacher. Osiris hadn't really thought about it the way Lennox put it but maybe he did have the beginnings of a decent arsenal. Firepower was all well and good but from the way the teacher was talking, utility was just plain useful. Still, he needed some way to hurt his opponents, and Lennox told him as much. The dratini nodded along dutifully at the teacher's advice. It was something that he himself had suspected but never really acted on. He'd been hoping that as he grew he might learn some kind of attacking move but sitting around waiting for one to fall in his lap was just lazy. Maybe he could get his hands on a TM instead...

He was quiet during the lecture, taking extra care to pay attention and soak up everything he was being told. It all made pretty good sense. Osiris had never heard someone break down fighting like this before - like there was a science to it. The way he was speaking made it sound like there was always a right way to address a particular fight and by following this first step - the four S'es - you could make the right judgment.

It was incredible. This was everything that he was hoping for and more. He didn't know what he'd expected coming out here to his first class but it blew past any and all half-cocked expectations he had.

Lennox then went on to propose a little hypothetical for them; Which pokemon was more threatening to them? Yigo went first and his analysis was impressively in-depth and rational. The sandshrew was clearly drawing on his ample experience fighting other pokemon. It was more than a little intimidating. He actually ended up choosing the poliwag as the bigger threat which surprised Osiris. But it made sense the way he put it, him being a ground type and all.

"It's the gallade for me, no two ways about it." He raised up slightly, looking down at the picture. He tried to keep the four S'es in mind but he was lacking two in this scenario: situation and supplies. Lennox would probably get to it in a second. "He's evolved so he's probably got fighting moves and psychic moves that are really strong. The poliwag isn't too threatening to me since I resist water attacks pretty good. If I t-waved it I'd have some time to at least figure out how to get away, if I couldn't beat it."

Vesper nodded as Lennox addressed her about distance countering. Such classes would probably be incredibly useful, even if she did have a little more practical experience than what she was letting on.
"That would be awesome!" She grinned, all evidence of her brief moment of hurt gone as she considered how handy lessons for her style of fighting would be. The Roselia listened as the Whirlipede gave advice to the other two students and reminding them that they could come and see him any time if they had questions. Vesper noted that information for future reference.

Lennox then brought out some parchment, explaining about the four S's; Strength, then Situation, then Supplies and then Speed.

To be honest, now that she thought about it, Vesper had been unwittingly using some of these techniques in her encounters with hostile pokemon already. Perhaps it was a skill born of needing to protect yourself? Keeping the four points in mind should definitely help in the future though.

As Vesper listened to her classmates, she considered the two conceptual opponents. Like Osiris, she would probably immediately pick the Gallade as the more troublesome opponent. The Whirlipede teacher had asked them to analyse their situation based on the four S's though, so that's what she did when her turn came.

"As for me... I also think the Gallade would be the biggest challenge to overcome. Being an evolved pokemon, it's naturally stronger than a Poliwag, but I also have Absorb, which would be really effective against a water type. Yigo brings up a good point about it's bouncy skin making it harder for physical attacks to harm a Poliwag, but since Absorb is a special move, I would be able to bypass that defense mechanism with my ranged special attacks."

The Roselia glanced at the area around them as she spoke. It was a pretty big, mostly wide open space with little water. Especially here in the sparring area.  "I think...the only time I think i'd have trouble might be if I were in a situation where Poliwag had it's home advantage of water to use against me, since i'm not a very good swimmer." Although she was confident that she could defeat a Poliwag 99% of the time she faced one, Vesper couldn't help but consider what type of situation might cause the Poliwag to turn the tables on her. Situation was the second of the four S's after all.
"Poliwag are certainly faster than me in water, but if we were using the sparring field as our hypothetical battle location, I think i'd definitely have the upper hand."

"When it comes to Gallade, as well as being a twice evolved Pokemon, they are capable of knowing psychic moves. If it were to get in close with those, I wouldn't stand a chance against it due to my poison typing. It's fighting moves shouldn't pose too much of a threat to me though..." Vesper trailed off for a moment, as if thinking of something else.

She then continued, her tone thoughtful as she considered alternate routes of dealing with such an opponent."I think Gallade are also a better physical attackers than a special ones? If it happened to not know any special moves, I could theoretically combat it by trying to keep my distance. My own moves are more focused on range after all. I think a situation like that, or one where I was in an area like a forest where my smaller size would be more advantageous to hiding from view, might allow me to win against one."

Vesper paused again, crossing her arms and leaning her head on one of her roses for a moment. She then snapped to attention, "Oh! Sorry. I guess I just sort of said everything I could think of!"

Wow, they were really putting a lot of thought into their responses. Lennox was seriously impressed with the level of dedication that everyone had to learning proper thus far. It was really getting him motivated, as well. He hadn't thought he'd be this excited about his first day, but hearing these guys talk and thing through their problems was just.... he didn't know how to describe it. He hadn't expected to have this much dedication so soon. He straightened up proudly as he prepared to respond.

"Those were all great responses, you all. Seriously good job," Lennox began. He took a breath of pause to think about their responses individually. "It seems like you all have a pretty good grasp on how this all works. I figured since you lot do a lot of training in your free time, You've probably already considered all of these things. I don't even know how much I can elaborate on from here, but I'll give it my best shot," he admitted with a slightly sheepish tone as he took another quiet beat to think. "Well, Yigo and Vesper, for example, you two picked up on your type disadvantages really quickly. You know that you got a better chance of resisting one over the other. You should keep what Vesper mentioned about defenses, though. You even subconsciously touched on what Vesper mentioned about defenses, what with your weaker defense generally being special defenses. 'Siris you don't have an apparent type advantage, and as I recall dragons have pretty round defenses, so you were kinda in the clear this time around. Kinda. I should probably remind all of you of one key thing that I don't think I heard mentioned though: Poliwag also has access to ice type moves. Gallade does too actually, now that I think about it. Ice is a weakness that you all share, so it could be fairly important to you. We covered the posibilities of terrain; pretty sure 'Siris here has a home team advantage when it comes to swimming - unless I'm wrong, in which case 'm sorry. And of course the slower pokemon on average would be the Gallade, disregarding level or training. You might not think it, but Poliwag are tricky little buggers."

"That pretty much sums that first excersize up. Clearly you all get the gist of what these steps are for, and why they're important. This was a pretty bare-bones situation, as well. You all wouldn't have to do so much speculation in an actual setting; you'd have far more context right off the bat," Lennox concluded upon feeling satisfied with the answers that they had given. "'Course, you're normally not gonna get that much time to make those kinds of assessments when you're actually fightin'. It's gonna happen much, much quicker; prob'ly within the span of a couple seconds or less. The idea behind gettin' you to do it out loud like this is that it'll work it's way into your brain so that you can get full assessments from your brain without even having to think. Whenever you get into an encounter from this point forward, you all should try and think about these things just like that so you get the practice. The more you do it, the more you're gonna make it feel comfortable with your own style and the better you're going to get. Practice is really important to this whole battlin' major, really. The more times you do it, the more it's gonna pay off for you."

After he finished talking to everyone, Lennox rolled over to the supply bin again"If you have anymore questions, feel free to add them in now. For now, I'm going to jump back in and start on the next step: applying the '4 S's' to a countering situation. It's gonna be largely the same: this time I want you to get in a formation -" He used the flags he had grabbed to show the students where to stand, "- and then run an analysis on me as if I were your opponent. I'll give you a few things to get started: I'm level 11, my ability is one that causes my speed to climb steadily throughout a battle. I haven't used or held any items in this circumstance, and the terrain is the field that we're on so it shouldn't cause you too much trouble. I'm not going to tell you my moves yet, though. In a normal combat situation, you usually don't start with the knowledge of your opponent's moves until you actually get into it with them. After you all make your initial analyses, we'll go around again- and this time, I'm going to randomly use one of the moves I know. I want you to react to it with whatever you think would be best, be it a move or a dodge, and then I want you to explain why you reacted the way you did and how it changes your initial analysis. I'm not going to use the same move twice in the first round, so be prepared. After that, we'll do another round or two using your newly-modified impressions. I'll take breaks to explain things when I need to. If that all sounds clear, let's start back at the top with Yigo." Lennox turned to face the sandshrew, considering what move he would use against him. Yigo was unfortunately a bit of an outlier, as they had worked together before so he already had an idea of what Lennox's arsenal looked like. The large round bug decided to try and pick a move for him that he likely hadn't seen.

Even though Yigo's points had been reasonable, the other students had decided that the gallade was more dangerous. Both Osiris and Vesper had touched upon how the poliwag's attacks meant little to them due to type advantage and, in Vesper's case, the ability to ish super effective hits that wouldn't care for the natural slippery bouncy skin of the poliwag. The sandshrew felt low after hearing them be just that sure about their answers. Was Yigo wrong and making a fool of himself? After all, he didn't know much about gallade before that day. For starters, gallade was an evolved pokemon which probably meant that its physical and mental capabilities were far superior from those of an unevolved poliwag; moreover, apparently, they could use psychic type moves. Psychic and fighting type moves, breaking mind and body! It was terrible! Now he could see why the other students had chosen gallade over the poliwag.

Yigo was shaking a little, mumbling some low growl as his paw fiddled with themselves and about to speak up to announce that he had changed his mind and haven't thought it through when the teacher proclaimed that he was actually delighted about what he had heard, exploring some other points that the three students had missed. Discovering that poliwag could learn ice type moves was surely a shock, another reason not to get closer to them but Yigo had already heard of fighting types mastering elements to their will and applying them to their fighting styles before. Some could channel fire with their kicks, some strike with their heads as if they were made of iron and some others infuse their fists with venom.

After a moment to ask some questions -none of which came from Yigo whose nerves had been eased after knowing that his analysis was not as wrong as he thought it was- Lennox introduced their next exercise of the class: they were to analyse the whirlipede himself and then use that analysis to counter one of the moves he would use against them. Some free information was given along with a warning: you may not know how the enemy will strike in a real battle. However, that wasn't true at all on this case since Lennox and Yigo had been travelling together for a few days. the ground type know that Lennox is quite fond of rolling and has some close quarters poison type moves while the teacher knows that Yigo was carrying an item that has to do with ground type moves, moves that he hasn't revealed to the class yet. Either way, following Lennox's wishes, Yigo moved to where the teacher had planted one of the flags while he himself got to the other side of the field, far enough to avoid a tackle head on but not that much as to let Yigo time to channel the powers of the earth without being punished. Lennox had thought the position through quite well.

It didn't matter either way since, even with some of his moves discouraged from being used Yigo had quite an idea of what Lennox would do. How could've he been so blind? The distance between the two was just perfect for Lennox to roll, pick up speed and crush Yigo under his weight. Yigo smirked as he got on all fours, ready to stand his ground even if he was sure that it would not be even necessary. Rolling, especially offensively, required precision and, even when Yigo had been rolling throughout his entire life when he was lucking for some fun on the road, bumping against a tree, building or missing a foe were common occurrences. If he just digs his claw into the dirt and waited for Lennox to charge at him, he can blind the rolling whirlipede and have him miss. "You done there, Yigo?" Lennox asked "You've been there smilin' quietly for a while now. It's startin' to creep me out"

"Ready!" The answer was somewhat cheerful, his tail wagging excitedly being enough to assure any watcher that it was the case. However, contrary to his expectations, Lennox remained still for a moment before hopping barely a few inches off the field and releasing a venomous aura upon landing to strike attack Yigo with! The poisonous pulse travelled in a straight line towards the flag, catching Yigo by complete surprise who, in a panic after having his plan frustrated, squeaked loudly and in a high-pitch before hopping and curling in until he had the size of a ball. Lennox's moved raged on the start but, by the time that it had reached Yigo's position, it had barely scrapped Yigo's hide like a once mighty wave on the ocean barely covering a beach's sand. If there wasn't by a few dark violet stains on Yigo's pattern, he'd have sworn that it had no effect on him.

By the time Yigo felt safe enough to return to his usual stance, he was met by the gaze of his teacher, looking down on him at a paw's reach "Y-You... you played me!" Yigo said, loud and somewhat offended while one of his front paws stomped on the dirt as a sign of complaint or disappointment "Don't lose your temper. The key to our exchange's been our situation, unique to the others. You were expectin' something else, weren't you? As much as you can use the '4 S's' method, so can I. Remember that's nothing exclusive to just you. This goes for you all as well" Lennox said, looking at the other two students "'Siris, you're next"

"'Siris, you're next."

Osiris was a bundle of nervous excitement and anxiety as he slithered over to the flag that had been pointed out to him. The idea that the teacher was going to use a move on him had butterflies fluttering around his stomach. It wasn't a bad sensation altogether. He could do this. Two analyses, one general one on Lennox and one after he used a move on him. It was pretty obvious that Lennox was a big threat to him. He was the teacher, for crying out loud.

"Alrighty, well, in terms of strength you obviously have the edge. There's not much I can do to really nullify that. I don't know any of your moves yet but you've gotta have something better than what I got." Osiris' snout scrunched up as he studied the bug-type in front of him, and then his gaze swiveled around to inspect the terrain they were fighting on. "I definitely don't have anything super effective on you, at least.

"As far as the situation goes... it could be better. It's good for you and bad for me, honestly. This field is nice and even and fair. No big hills or any kind of cover to hide behind, and that's bad for me. The last thing I'd want in a fight with you is an even playing field. Uh, no offense." It didn't really occur to him how underhanded that sounded until he'd already said it, and he found he didn't much regret it. Why fight fair against someone who was way tougher than you? Unless that was the point of it in the first place, that is. The dratini swallowed nervously before continuing. "Supplies are kind of a non-factor here...

"And you definitely take the cake in speed. Your ability takes care of that even if I was faster to start with. Not that I am, which just makes matters worse." Saying all of this out loud really painted the picture of how much stronger his teacher was than him. It kind of stung to realize he didn't have much to offer in a scrap against him. But thinking about it as he stared long and hard at Lennox, he realized that speed and mobility might just be his teacher's biggest strength. And he could screw with that a little bit.

"I think I'd start off by testing the waters. Maybe kinda dance around you until I knew how much faster you were than me. Then I could thunder wave you when your ability made you super fast." It was becoming apparent just how useful his thunder wave was. It was kind of his go-to answer for everything in his analyses so far. "I guess I could try tying you up at that point. If I could get around you long-ways and squeezed hard enough, maybe I could keep you from rolling. I'd need to use dragon dance quite a bit to get that strong, though. It'd only be feasible if you reacted really bad to the paralysis. Like if it just completely shut you down."

It was an incredibly tall order. Personally, Osiris thought he had no chance of ever pulling something like that off, but it was better than nothing. For his part, Lennox nodded as much as a wheel-bug could nod, looking thoughtful at the end of his analysis. "That's pretty in-depth, good job. Its got its fair share of holes but it's a start. We can go over those after I give you a move to consider in your next analysis. You ready?"

"Yessir!" His reply was chipper. The dratini loosened himself on the ground, prepared to dodge whatever kind of move his teacher busted out.

The whirlipede began his approach slowly. He rolled forward in an anticlimactic fashion, turning slightly every few inches as he crossed the distance between them. Osiris merely slithered in place as all the nervous energy inside him made him feel like he was going to explode. He had to react fast. Dodging was definitely his plan here. He was relatively quick and definitely small. Just getting out of the way and making a break for it would probably get him in the clear. Distance was his friend here.

Lennox thought much the same evidently, as he shot forward quickly. After the move he used on Yigo, it made sense that he'd go with something a bit more physical. He closed the distance between himself and Osiris almost faster than the dratini could react. As Lennox got closer, Osiris shot off to the right of the bug-type. His teacher either saw the move coming or he simply had quick reaction time - his trajectory changed abruptly, cutting off his student's route of escape with no warning whatsoever. The dragon type reacted poorly to this revelation, coming to a hasty halt before shooting off in the opposite direction.

He was trying to juke out the much faster pokemon and it went awfully. Lennox merely reacted once more to the much slower pokemon's movement and brushed up against the serpent pokemon almost gently - the difference in experience and power couldn't be more apparent. For his part, Osiris felt a powerful stinging sensation on his side before he found himself scrambling through the dirt, flopped over on his side. He didn't have time to react or even cry out before it was all over and he was tangled up in the way only a snake could be.

"Uff. Okay, so I should probably... be less confident." Osiris rolled back over, hearing a nearly silent chuff of laughter somewhere above him. He realized his mistake at the same time everyone else in the clearing probably did. "I shoulda just thunder wave'd you immediately, huh? And not just assumed that I could dodge around you 'cos you're bigger than me.

"Probably would have helped if I kept my distance. Like, ran away from you as you ran toward me. I coulda gauged your speed that way, too." He blinked a few times, gathering himself in the aftermath of Lennox's showing. He didn't feel all that hurt, either - his teacher must have been very careful with how he used his attack. No doubt he could have done some damage if he wanted to.

"You keep thinkin' on it - you're on the right track. Vesper, you're up next."