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Dawn walked through the gate, exhausted. All of the other people from the survey dispersed, leaving her to walk to her dorm alone. As she slid open the door, a heavy sigh came from behind her.
"Zisu's training is the worst," Rei complained as he approached, "I feel like my limbs are about to fall off."
Dawn sighed internally as she shut the door behind her. She opted instead to sit on the ground and patted the earth beside her as she spoke, "I think the commander tops it, from what I've heard."
Her friend plopped down on the ground. "Supposedly, but his 'training' is more of a punishment than anything else. Zisu just thinks it's fun to wrestle Ursarings in her free time."
"Oh?" she perked up, "Does she actually?"
"Actually what?"
"Wrestle with an Ursaring," she clarified.
"I..." Rei paused to think, "Don't actually know. I've heard people talking about it, but I don't think anyone has ever really seen her."
Dawn hummed while considering this new information. "I'm gonna bring an Ursaring to her, I'll see you later."
With that she leaped to her feet, all previous exhaustion ignored and replaced with a burning curiosity. Rei was left behind, dumbfounded by the concept of willingly walking up to Zisu and risk being pulled into a training session.
Dawn made her way to the pastures and located the group of Ursaring she had caught in the Highlands last week. After careful selection, she trekked over to the training grounds and flagged down Zisu, who was in the middle of working a new group to the bone.
"Hi Captain Zisu!" Dawn cheerfully called out, "Can I interrupt for a moment?"
The large red-head turned to her, "Sure thing, just one moment," she turned back to the group and shouted, "I better not catch you slacking while I'm turned away! If you rest now, it'll make it harder later!"
Dawn chuckled as everyone groaned, "I just wanted to verify a thing I heard, that's all."
"What thing? I'm all ears, kid," The woman rested her hands on her hips and smiled.
"Well, apparently people have been saying you wrestle Ursarings in your spare time. I was curious if you did," she clutched the pokeball behind her back, "And, if you did, could you teach me how you do it?"
Zisu's smile faltered for a moment before turning sheepish, "Ah geez, of all the things..."
"So it's not true?" Dawn desponded.
"Well, no..." the captain replied, "But also, it's not entirely false."
The survey girl cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Back when I lived in Johto- that's just south of here- but back then, there was an incident with an Ursaring in our village. It wasn't really aggressive, but nobody wanted it around so I volunteered to chase it off. It didn't really seem to mind, just seemed like it wanted a good fight first. I gave it my all, but I certainly didn't win. Poor thing left after it won," she concluded almost wistfully, "I wish it didn't."
Dawn considered walking away at this point, disappointed by the false rumors, but she stopped herself and reasoned that Captain Zisu could still teach her something new, even if it wasn't quite what she'd been hoping for. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted before she could utter a sound.
"Why're you wanting to learn that type of thing, anywho? Don't tell me survey work's gotten too boring for you," the large woman looked at the smaller girl critically.
"No!" Dawn quickly defended, "It's fine. Everything is fine, I just..." She swallowed hard as she thought about what to say next. "The commander has tasked me with quelling the Lord of the Tundra. A-and I've been working towards that goal, but... B-but I keep hearing that Lord Avalugg is big. A lot bigger than the other nobles and- and they weren't exactly small," A shudder ran through her body at the remembrance of seeing Lord Kleavor for the first time, "I did a lot of thinking about it, and I think studying some of the larger pokemon — especially alphas — will help me- will help with that task. I've been considering different ways of going about it, but hearing about you I thought that, maybe you could teach me how to defend myself better," Her voice became tiny as she realized how long she had been rambling.
"Well," the survey girl looked up to see the captain beaming with joy, "you don't need some fancy excuse to come train with me. And you've come to the right person, that's for sure!" Zisu flexed an arm and set her hand over her bicep. "Ever since I lost to that Ursaring, I've been teaching myself how to win fights when my opponent has the upper hand. Now I'm so strong that I'm the one with the advantage!" She laughed heartily.
Dawn relaxed a bit and presented the pokeball that she'd hidden previously. "I don't know if it's a good place to start or not, but I brought one of the Ursaring that I caught last week."
She flipped the latch and released the Ursaring, which let out a grunt as it observed its surroundings.
"Great idea, recruit," the captain chippered, "I can demonstrate a few techniques on larger opponents. How's about it, big guy?"
The Ursaring nodded with a soft growl.
"Oh, I think it's a girl," the survey girl chimed in, "See, the fur on its shoulders is longer than most males."
Zisu looked at Dawn in surprise, then turned to get a better look at the pokemon. "Well I'll be honest, I didn't know there was any difference. You sure know your stuff."
"It's my job to know this sort of thing," she deadpanned, then immediately switched her tone to sound more upbeat, "But, ha, moving on. I can come to the training grounds every other day, if that's alright."
"Sounds like a plan," the red-head beamed, "Starting right now, I'll teach ya everything I can. Then you can go whoop that Lord's be-hind."
Dawn chuckled awkwardly, "I don't think the clans would appreciate people talking about their nobles like that, ma'am."
"I know kid," Zisu laughed, "That's why I didn't say it 'round them. Now, let's get into your training."
For the rest of the day, Dawn listened carefully to the instructions and guidance from the Captain of the Security Corps. Zisu stressed the importance of balance, explaining that larger people — and therefore pokemon — had a natural disadvantage when it came down to it. They struggle more to regain balance after it had been lost, creating openings for devastating attacks to be inflicted. She also mentioned that building muscle in the back and arms helped in terms of lifting heavy things.
"Why is that so important?" Dawn inquired.
"Because," Zisu approached Ursaring and wrapped her arms around it, "If you can manage to get close enough to your opponent, you can do this!"
In just a few short seconds, Ursaring had been hoisted a couple of inches into the air and cast to the side. It flipped onto its stomach and stood, growling at the captain. It had no malice in its voice, however, just a begrudging respect at being so easily overwhelmed.
Dawn gaped in awe at the sight she'd witnessed, and silently hoped that one day she would be able to overpower someone in a similar manner.
The sun had started to set when Dawn decided to call it a day. The survey girl made her way to the Wallflower, and found Rei sitting alone at one of the tables. She flopped down next to him and called to Beni for an order of potato mochi.
"Tired?" Rei asked quietly as he was scribbling something down.
"Understatement of the century," Dawn replied as the exhuastion of the evening finally caught up with the rest of the day.
"I told you it was bad. You didn't listen," the boy chuckled, "So did you find out the truth about those rumors?"
"Ohhh yeah I did," she replied languidly, picking at a splinter of wood on the table.
Rei's pen stopped as he glanced over, "And? Is it real?"
A tiny smirk formed on her face. "Is what real?"
"Akari," her companion muttered.
"What?" She replied innocently, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"The Ursaring, Akari. Does she actually wrestle them in her spare time?" Rei resumed his writing.
Dawn had to turn away to hide the massive shit-eating grin that was plastered on the front of her face, "Does who?"
She expected a smack on the back of her head, instead she got an annoyed sigh and the sound of pen on paper. A strange feeling bloomed in her chest, one that had happened many times before when talking to Rei like this. She tried to trace it, looking for a breakthrough in her lost memories. Unfortunately — and quite frustratingly — the feeling faded into nothing, along with the hope of learning who she once was. Disappointed, she gave up the teasing.
"It was an exaggeration, but she's strong enough to do it if she wants to," Dawn flicked the woodchip she pulled off, launching it at the doorway of the Wallflower. It hit the cloth and bounced to the ground unremarkably, leaving the girl with naught to do but pick at the table once more.
"Huh, alright," Rei commented, "I guess that makes sense."
Professor Laventon joined them a few moments later, just as Rei's order was finished. The three of them chatted about the results from the recent survey, with Rei once again remarking that Dawn's abilities were truly something else. She shut him down, trying to explain that the biggest difference between her and the other members was her lack of fear. Their arguments devolved into the same thing: fearing pokemon was common sense, nobody wants to go near the things that kill people.
She went to her dorm after the meal and sat on her bed. Her team was scattered around the room, all preparing to sleep for the night.
Her team. They weren't just pokemon, they were her friends.
Her Sneasel, Crest, lay curled up on a spare pillow, no doubt exhausted from sparring with the others. Her Kirlia, Night, was ensuring all of the other members of the team were properly tucked in. Her newest, a sweet little Gible she named Guide, was snoozing in the excess fluff of her alpha Flareon, whom she decided to call Esferion. Atlantis, her Samurott, padded up to Dawn and laid their head in her lap, snuffling out a sigh. She scratched her partner under the shell, earning a relieved grunt.
She smiled softly. These are her friends, her team, her partners in crime. She will never be afraid of them, no matter what people tell her.
They'll take on the world.
Together.