[Gabe Alim]

Winter was coming, and that meant it was time to do some training in case they got stuck out in the cold again. Despite being mostly comfortable with his finances, Gabe was still unwilling to take any chances when it came to this. Wandering out onto the training grounds with only the bare essentials and a party of six, he found a nice spot away from other trainers and dropped what he had.

“Alright…” he murmured under his breath before releasing Liz. The Charmander already knew what was happening and smiled up at him. She too wanted to be prepared for anything. “Liz, let’s get a fire going,” Gabe started. “You know the drill, do you need help with the fire wood?” Liz looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head. She could use someone who had some extra arms. A small cry escaped from her, and that particular beat of her tone made it clear who she wanted. “Sure.”

Gabe fished out another Pokeball and released Roselle. The Ivysaur shuddered once at the cold and then looked irritably from her trainer to his favorite. “That time of year again, Rose,” Gabe replied. “Help Liz gather some firewood so we can get started,” he commented. The Ivysaur huffed softly and folded her vines in front of herself waiting. Gabe frowned for a moment before rolling his eyes. “Well, what’s in it for you is that we all have shelter and safety training in case winter hints while we’re out. Do you want to freeze?”

Rose huffed softly. She supposed that was a good enough excuse… for now. Humming a bit, she turned to Liz who had already started walking. Hopping after her, she was quick to start looking up at the various trees around them. Well she certainly didn’t want to damage anything if she didn’t have to. Hm, oh look a few sticks on the ground. A small cry from her redirected Liz’s attention. The Charmander looked back and then walked over to the sticks on the ground, lifting a couple up to judge how well they would burn. Hmmmm no this one was damp. No good for starting a fire. This one was alright, she supposed, and handed it over to Rose. The latter huffed but took it into her vines.

They moved on like that with Rose pointing out potential targets and Liz assessing them with a particular care. It would take a little longer but assure them both that what they put in the fire would inevitably burn.

With one set of Pokemon’s attention diverted, Gabe then turned to other matters. Two Pokeballs were produced, and from a stream of light came Crowlie and Frosty. “That time of year, you two,” he commented softly. Crowlie ruffled his feathers in response. Frosty gave a small salute and started up in the air. “Crowlie, find food with Frosty…” Gabe stated. Crowlie huffed. He didn’t want to work with that particular asshole. He wanted to find shiny things and be left alone. Gabe raised an eyebrow and stared him down for a good few seconds before the bird finally huffed and took to the air as well.

Flying about in a circular pattern, Frosty searched about for food. He knew well enough that there were plenty of winter berries if one knew where to look— and being an Ice type, he had a sort of natural affinity for finding them now and again. These training grounds, though, seemed picked clean by humans and Pokemon alike. He would have to be a bit more inventive if he wanted to bring back something of value. Calling over to Crowlie, he found the Murkrow was ignoring him. Eh, well that suited him just fine then. He’d be the one to bring back the most.

Crowlie, meanwhile, was scouring the area for any signs of something worth stealing. Anything shiny? Anything pretty? He wanted to find it first so that he could hide it away in his plumage and then in his Pokeball thereafter. He wasn’t invested in this strange survivalist training as much as the rest of them, granted he could reply on them for all of this the year before and hadn’t really thought about it until now. Hm… Actually, there did seem to be something shiny over there? Fluttering in just to see what it was, he immediately called irritated to find that it was just water instead. Clean water, but still just water.

The call had Gabe glancing up from where he was putting together a mach shelter. It was fast enough using the same slim poles he carried about on all journeys and the like. Setting the items down, he started in the direction Crowlie had called and followed along until he found the pond. “Oh, very good, Crow,” he called up. “You found us some fresh water.” Crowlie blushed a little surprised to receive the compliment. Well, he hadn’t necessaril asked for it, but if Gabe wanted to call him good, then he’d take it. A happy cry escaped from him thereafter. Gabe gave a nod and started back to camp.

Frosty, meanwhile, had been picking at various parts and pieces in and around shrubs. He found a couple of mushrooms that, while not worth any money, were worth plenty in terms of subsidence. Picking at a few moss and sorrel type plants, he sacked those as well. When he came across some winter berries, though, he was pleasantly surprised. Rather than call out, he bit one first to test it and then gave a nod of approval before sacking those as well. He’d leave them as a surprise for later.

Gabe, meanwhile, had come back and was working on that tent again. Just as he finished setting everything up, Gabe heard a call from Liz. She and Rose were coming back around with wood and stones in their grasp. Liz, for all she was and all she wasn’t, mostly carried the stones. Rose was far too dainty (and far too much of a lady) to be carrying such heavy things herself, or so she told everyone with her tone of voice alone. “Welcome back, you two,” Gabe commented walking over and looking over the space. “Let’s set that up here…” Both Pokemon nodded in general agreement.

Words: 1068

[Gabe Alim]

Rocks were set slowly and carefully around in a circle. Any extra space between them was dug into the ground so that nothing would burn around it. Only after that were sticks aligned within in a carefully constructed lattice structure. If Gabe were honest with himself, he’d admit he’d picked up the idea from jenga before he’d ever seen it on TV, but it worked well enough for what he wanted.

“Alright Liz, light ‘er up,” he commented. The Charmander beamed, turned to the fire, and spewed the flames forth. The wood was immediately roaring and cackling. The heat that rushed off of it had Gabe grinning wildly in response. It felt so good to be so warm out here in the cold. Even Roselle had to admit that it was just her cup of tea for the moment. If this had just been a standard camping trip, they would have been roasting marshmallows right then and starting up a sing along or something. This was practice, though, and more work was to be done soon enough.

Fishing out a pair of Pokeball, Gabe tossed it open. “Gum, Leo,” he called. The Ditto blinked and smiled happily. The Wartortle folded his arms irritably. “Crowlie identified some water over that way, mind bringing it back?” Gabe asked making a small head gesture the way he had come. The Wartortle huffed but nodded. Of course, he would. He was a hero. Gum, meanwhile, smiled not entirely sure what was going on.

“Gum, we’re going to need something to store water in, alright?” Gabe asked. The Ditto immediately understood what that meant, though, and went through a couple of form changes before settling on a pot. “Perfect,” Gabe nodded.

Leonardo huffed softly to himself and picked up the pot before starting off towards the lake water. While he could be irritable and hateful of Gabe’s very existence all day long, Leo at least could acknowledge that Gabe was taking steps to make sure they were all well and safe. At the very least, he truly did care for his Pokemon which was a lot more than Leo could say about other trainers.

A few cries from the air had Gabe’s head tilting up again. Crowlie was back with bringing a strange item… it looked a bit like a raddish but was far too big to be one. Gabe stared up at it trying to determine what exactly they were supposed to do with it at first— at least as it was dropped into his hands. “Uhmph…” Gabe winced at the pressure and then stared down at the item.

It was solid, heavy, and probably some kind of strange wild berry now that he considered it. Definitely not one of your average run of the mill berries that were bred to taste good and be good for you. Gabe looked down at it and then up at the proud bring who had brought it. A soft sigh escaped from Gabe, and a small smile quirked on his features. “Thank you very much, Crow….” he answered back. “We can probably try and cook this….”

Walking over to the fire and setting the strange berry into it, Gabe slowly smirked on watching the hard-shell start to crumble away from the flames. The interior looked a lot more edible. Maybe he could even cut it and split it with whatever Frosty came back with (if anything). “Good work,” he mused softly after the thought. Crowlie gave a salute back.

Liz sat tending the fire herself. It was her favorite job and the least amount of work once everything was done and ready to go. It was also their lifeblood and a vital task as any. That was her justification for doing nothing else, anyways.

Rose meanwhile was picking a few stray flowers here and folding them into flower crowns and necklaces. She hadn’t been given any extra orders just yet, so she would do what she liked, and that was that. Still as she caught Gabe’s eye right then, she blushed a little and then immediately threw one at him. Gabe immediately had a face full of flowers and only laughed harder. “I wasn’t laughing at you,” he promised with a coy grin that she didn’t really trust to be genuine. “I just thought it was rather regal and cute to see you boosting morale.” Because clearly that’s what she was doing and not just picking flowers. Rose perked up on hearing such a justification. Yes yes that was exactly what she was doing, yes. A cry of happiness escaped from her. Gabe only smirked to himself. Liz rolled her eyes.

Words: 785 (+1068 = 1853)

[Gabe Alim]

The little survivalist practice excursion was going well enough. They had fire, water, a shelter built. Gabe would even go on to reinforce the latter with the help of the team. If a winter snow blew in, they were going to need something a lot sturdier than a simple tent. With some creativity in mind, a stick wall was built around the perimeter. When the birds finally returned with more worthwhile food, Gabe cooked.

woNBA77Jp_

It… it was somehow more than decent? Or Gabe’s taste buds were so fried from the numerous terrible things he had eaten before to get by that he really couldn’t tell at that point what was good and what wasn’t. He had to wait for the Pokemon’s verdicts to really determine, but even they seemed to enjoy it?

Liz liked the texture well enough even if she did set it on fire and then also eat it because that was the best way to enjoy something. Leo chomped down and seemed pleasantly surprised before giving a small impassioned cry about how it would revitalize him thereon. Roselle was a little critical, but all the same, she was always a little critical in one form or another. Meh, it was alright. Gum thought it was pretty good. Crowlie was disgusted but wouldn’t let on. Frosty figured he’d done about all the work in getting the food, so he was going to eat it no matter what it tasted like. It was decent enough.

After that, though, there was nothing really survivalist left to train for. They’d managed to get everything set up, had preparations made, and showed enough prowess as a team to get by. That was what Gabe had come out there for— at least at first. Now as he sat back and watched his Pokemon settle, he debated whether or not he wanted to actually train with them the other way or not. Maybe he’d give them all (and himself) the rest of the day to do nothing. Yes, that sounded like a good idea and not at all laziness on his part, heh. There was plenty of time (now that he was sure they had some plan in place, anyways).

This really wasn't a bad outing now was it. Next time they really needed to train in other ways, though, heh. For another time, though, for another time.

(rolled for +1 cooking still and succeeded).


Words: 413 (+1853 = 2266)

[overlordie]

Congratulations!

Your training thread has now been locked!

Gabe Alim

For finishing a training thread with three posts and 2266 words, you have received:

+1 cooking

9 levels to use as you please

90 pen

2 rare candies

2 random pokeballs
 x1 repeat ball
 x1 luxury ball


4 random common items
 x1 cheri berry
 x1 pokeball
 x1 pecha berry
 x1 white apricorn 

thread has been locked and items are being sent your way!