bravenewworld | Cue training montage

[Video]

[Hey look, it's a pompadour on your screen, followed a close-up eyeball as Kuwabara tries to figure out if this is working or not. Finally, he pulls it back a bit, and you get to see his face, with an entertained grin.]

Hey, everyone! This thing is pretty cool, heheh! I'm Kazuma Kuwabara, and I'm the worst punk at Union University! But that's not what this is about. I was just wondering, does anyone know how to get a pokemon to fight? I mean I'm not gonna force him into fights or anything, but he's scared of pretty much everything, so I wanna teach him how to fight, so maybe he won't be as scared, y'know?

[Action]

If you're wandering the streets between towers in the Residential District, you might see something strange - a teenager trying to get his own pokemon to attack him.

"C'mon, Eikichi, just hit me with whatever you've got. I promise it won't hurt me, I'm way too tough. I bet it won't even be that strong, you little wimp!"

The poor pokemon he's yelling at is an Espurr that's just staring passively at him. It might be a statue if it didn't blink periodically. It would be almost impossible for most people to tell how it feels about this, but someone that could sense emotions would feel that it's scared and anxious - not of the trainer, but pretty much everything and everyone else.

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Kuwabara looked down at Eikichi, and tried to lean closer and whisper lower. "It's simple, I just want you to attack me and act scary. I'll pretend to be hurt, and then Eikichi will have to rescue me."

Imogen gauged the boy she was dealing with. He was taller, looked kinda like he'd spent a lot of time fighting things, but seemed a little less mature in every degree. "I could hurt you."

Imogen was not very intimidating looking, but she packed a punch when it came to energy attacks. And she didn't really have anything physical to offer other than her energy attacks. So she isn't sure what she can do that won't hurt him.

Once again, Kuwabara had to resist the urge to argue, because he didn't want Eikichi to hear them too clearly.

"Okay, fine, then pretend to attack me. I'm a pretty good actor when I need to be, so I can make it look believable. And honestly he's pretty easy to scare anyway."

Imogen took a long pause to let the kid consider, but also so she can pick the move in her arsenal to do it. Fortunately, she did have something on hand she could make use of. It's accurate enough that she doesn't have to worry about accidentally hitting Eikichi, and since this guy is clearly Fighting type won't hurt him too badly.

Imogen hopped away, a dark energy forming under her right hand, she quickly threw a Shade Star. One of her own unique little energy attacks, it doesn't miss unless she's in a strong sunlight, and since it's her Darker half it shouldn't hurt the Fighting boy too badly.

He has to have some leveling to him to do this, right?

Kuwabara braced himself for the hit, but it was actually a lot harder than expected. However, he *was* an expert at taking hits, and dramatically throwing himself backwards actually helped.

He landed flat on his back, with Eikichi at his feet, who was completely confused and practically vibrating with terror. Kuwabara reached out to his pokemon and (with a real groan of pain) shouted, "I'm sorry Eikichi! She's just..." and then let his hand and his fall limply to the ground again.

Eikichi's eyes became wider than ever as it looked back and forth between its trainer and the girl. It was squeeking rapidly, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no"

That... looked a lot more impressive than Imogen was expecting, he clearly was good at taking hits and selling it! Or he's an idiot who asked a strange girl he's never met before and has no idea how strong she is to attack him and was completely incapable of taking the strike. But you would have to be a complete moron to go into this without having enough levels to you to be pretty sure you won't die.

Imogen didn't let any of her true emotions show, because terrifying that little guy seemed pretty mean, even if it was to help him. Imogen gathered more shadow energy into her palm creating a second star. But she didn't release it right away. She needed to give Eikichi a chance to attack her, to save his master. Otherwise this is all just cruel.

Eikichi cowered and covered his eyes... But then with a shout of, "I'm sorry!" his ears lifted and launched a small wave of psychic energy at Imogen.

Which does nothing. Because Imogen's inner darkness protects her from psychic energies.

"I don't think you thought this through at all," Imogen let the star melt out of her hand as she looked at Kuwabara, "You can get up now, he proved he can attack. And will probably hate me forever for this."

Eikichi opened its eyes and looked back at Kuwabara, who was already sitting up (with a wince - apparently his chest was bruising where he took the hit) and laughing.

"See, I knew you could do! That was great!"

Eikichi's eyes were welling up with tears, as it turned again to Imogen, "a trick...?" Then to Kuwabara, "It was a trick?"

Kuwabara felt another emotion rising from Eikichi, fear and confusion being pushed aside by... anger and confusion.

"YOU JERK" And just as suddenly, it fired another small blast at Kuwabara, just enough to make him wince again as it breaks over his face.

"Um, you probably shouldn't do that, cause I think I really hurt him."

Not that she thought the Espurr would listen to her, what with the whole angry over trick thing. She crossed her arms and waited to see how he smoothed this over. Cause this was the dumbest plan ever why did she agree to it?

"Heheheh, it's okay, he didn't really hurt me."

Kuwabara pulled himself to his feet, with obvious pain but no complaint, and lifted the Espurr to his chest, where it clung tightly. It was still upset, and Kuwabara was questioning whether putting it through that was really such a good idea.

"Besides, I probably deserved it. It's okay, little guy, let's go get you a treat, you earned it."

"But I think I did... You should probably see a healer."

Imogen watches him collect himself, his partner, and start to head off. He wouldn't comprehend the gravity of what she was about to say, but anyone else who knew her would understand, "You're incredibly weird, you know that right?"

"If you say so, but I've had worse before." Never mind that it was usually the result of a real fight, not a single attack. "And... thanks. It probably wasn't easy acting mean to such a cute little guy like Eikichi, so I appreciate it."

Cue training montage

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