"Hit Me Already!"

The day was bright as the harsh sun beat down onto the dried river bed which was practically bare from vegetation. The sun's rays were particularly attracted to a dark furred creature, somewhat similar to a fox but it lacked the red fur, fluffy tail, and pointy nose. The umbreon with diamond shaped rings made his way towards the dried bed, it was only a few days since he had appointed the latest apprentice to himself and it was time to do what mentors were supposed to do now that he had free time.

Krik waited on the soft sand, his hindquarters seated as he looked at the void of blue above him. The apprentice had been assigned as a knight...although he was more tuned for Scouting, he had learned fighting as well in his spare time when he was a scout. He had to protect his clan after all, and he would be the one to lead them into wars if such a time ever came.

The umbreon wondered if he should really be doing this, taking on an apprentice. Surely he could have been doing other things...but then again if he managed to train the apprentice, then the apprentice would train more beneath her wing, then so on and so forth until the training passed through the generations and spread throughout the entire clan long after both he and he apprentice passed into the eternal abyss of death.

He gave a huff, dismissing the doubts and excuses from his mind. What's done is done, if everyone were to dwell on the past then Kasai would be under constant attacks and would be killed off entirely. He guessed he had to be thankful that the leader before him managed to heal up the chain of horrid and bloodthirsty leaders that Kasai had suffered through in the past.

A short distance away from the dried riverbed Krik was seated in, a mostly white colored figure dashed in the direction of the riverbed, running at a fairly fast pace. The Absol had been running for, honestly, not all that long, but her panicking was making it seem like she was ages late for her first meeting with her mentor.
Yeah, perfect Tara, it's great when you find out you're going to be mentored by the leader of your clan, great until you're keeping him waiting on the first time you're actually-

The sight of the dried riverbed knocked her out of her thoughts as the Absol felt her paws touch the soft and cool sand that lined the dried riverbed, also taking note of the Umbreon sitting in it. Tara quickly planted her paws in the ground, making a small yelp as she skidded a bit, stumbling and nearly falling down just by her mentor.

"Sorry...kept...waiting...lost..." She managed to gasp out through panting, catching her breath as she walked in front of Krik, looking down at him. Realizing that she wasn't getting too far with her explanation, she simply focused on catching her breath, hoping she wouldn't get in too much trouble for however long she had kept him waiting...how long had he been there again? On second thought, Tara didn't know if she had even been keeping him waiting for all that long. Either way, she didn't want to start things on a bad note, and so she remained silent, finally catching her breath. The heat didn't seem to bother her too much, so at least there was that as a positive. Her white fur didn't exactly attract sunlight, though the darker colored portions were an entirely different matter.

The umbreon was a bit surprised by the grand entrance the absol made of rushing towards him and nearly falling over, her halt kicking up the loose sand that fell back to the ground and left a cloud that drifted off to who knew where.

He surveyed his new apprentice, they had no specific time set for training so technically the absol was not late. Not to mention he had not been waiting for long. His tall ears with the zig-zagged pattern of yellow that rounded them stood tall as the mentor stared at the apprentice, deciding on what to work on first.

"Next time i'd prefer you to be late than to come worn out. Its better to have the energy to fight and be late than run to your own death depending on the circumstances," he finally spoke.
He stood up, finally deciding it would be best to see what the absol could do right now, "All right then...if you haven't run your self to the ground already, I want you to attack me with everything you've got."

She frowned slightly, watching as the Umbreon surveyed her and wondering what he would say about her, still unsure of what his reaction would be to her possibly keeping him waiting. According to some rumors around Kasai, Krik was a bit of an irritable pokemon, so the Absol understood that screwing something up would mean having to deal with a bad impression throughout all of her training.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Tara quickly responded, hearing her mentor's comments on her showing up there. She couldn't place whether they were harsh or comforting, they felt like a really odd mix of both for her. The Absol continued to listen, hearing his next request and looking somewhat confused. Already? Well, okay...
"Okay, well I haven't run myself down yet. What sort of way should I attack you?" She questioned, unsure of how exactly she was supposed to hit him and hoping for guidance, not wanting to screw it up so early.

"Any. I want you to try your hardest to actually be able to hit me with anything you can come up with," the umbreon spoke. The white furred beast that he had to look up at seemed a bit confused, which only confused him on how she was confused by the statement.

The umbreon watched the absol, waiting for her to lunge forward in a regular attempt to tackle him or bite him or some kind of basic attack that might come to mind. He was curious on whether or not she would hesitate due to his status as leader or intimidation at the thought of how much more powerful and experienced he was than her. He did not intend to attack back, but merely to focus on avoiding her attacks. He wasn't scared for her to draw blood, it was a common thing in battle and to fear it would be to fear fighting itself.

He waited, studying the absol's body language and searching for a sign that she was going to attack, refuse, say something, or anything that could signal what the absol was about to do.

"Alright then..." Tara looked down at Krik, somewhat conflicted and hesitating slightly. He was the leader of the clan after all, and of course he would be capable, but attacking him just felt strange, mentor or not. What if she accidentally hit him harder then she thought, or cut him?

After a few seconds she took a deep breath, tensing up slightly in preparation and debating what to do for all of roughly one second. Huh...what am I gonna do, some sort of generic attack or something else or-probably shouldn't take too long to decide oh no. With the rushed and overly panicked thoughts in her head, the Absol quickly swiped out with her paw, aiming to swipe at the Umbreon. It might have been a good attack-had she not missed it, swiping the air just above him.

She paused slightly, a look of subtle embarrassment making its way on her face. I just...I just missed someone that wasn't even moving. Wow... Tara shuffled slightly, tapping the ground with her paw.
"I'm, uh, sorry, you're a bit on the smaller side, I guess..." She apologized, looking at the ground awkwardly.

The umbreon blinked in confusion as the large paw of the absol swiped at his ears, which he only had to pull them downward to avoid being scratched. The Kasai clan leader looked a bit foolish with both of his ears forming a 180 degree angle, but they soon stood back up as the umbreon listened to the absol apologize and come up with an excuse for her missing such an obvious target.

"Size doesn't matter when the target isn't moving. You either have something wrong with your eyes or you're hesitating. While the first option is possible the second is more probable and fixable. Don't think of me as your leader, think of me as your enemy. I'm here to destroy your clan, your home, family, murderer of everything you hold dear and the one that will take your closest friend or family's life if you do not attack."

When he finished his small speech he waited once more. He hoped that just him being leader was all that was bothering her, for if she hesitated for hitting anything she would be better off as a healer if she didn't get over it or even with not being able to deal with the stings of herbs that heal she would be useless on the field, and another use would have to be found for her. He would prefer that his first apprentice as a leader did not result in such a way, but Pokemon that can't handle the way of life on the battlefield should not be on there.

However if the absol DID have eyesight problems, they would have to try and find some way to make up for it. Strange items litter the ground of the clans that seem to appear from nowhere, maybe one of them would help out the absol like those strange objects with two ovals that were connected by a thin wire.

The Absol blinked her eyes and brought her attention back to Krik as he began to speak, listening to all that he had to say. Maybe I do have problems with my eyes...no, it can't be that. I haven't had issues like that before. It has to be the other option...

"I'm sorry, that was a bad excuse. I'll try again." She responded to him afterwards, not appearing to be too affected or distraught by what the Umbreon had said, though she had winced somewhat as he spoke before. While she didn't hear too much around the Clan, one thing she had heard that most seemed to say was that the leader was pretty hard on others, and so Tara had tried to prepare herself for that sort of personality training her. She couldn't mess up again, wouldn't allow herself to.

Nodding her head, she took a few more breaths, thinking of what to do. Deciding to try something a bit different then before, she lowered her head and lunged forward a step, not attempting to use a specific move, but simply trying to headbutt Krik.

The umbreon turned and leaped away for a moment before turning again to face the absol, he was not disappointed by the headbutt, though he would have been happier with a more offensive move than a headbutt, "What are you? An overgrown skiddo?" he commented.

"Hit me!" he demanded, seeing how she would react to training through insults. From when he had watched his warriors train their apprentices, some used insults to encourage them to prove they were better while others praised them, encouraging them to do better through reward. He suspected that this rather flustered absol was more of the praise type, but praising just wasn't this umbreon's style.

He always wanted better, a perfectionist as some call it, but not to the extent of insanity. Everything had to be close to perfection in order for his clan to survive, it was his duty to ensure their survival, and he wasn't about to let some soft-hearted absol be the weak link in the clan.

Frowning somewhat at the insults, she lifted her head back up and flinched slightly as Krik continued to demand her to attack him, quickly nodding her head.
"I'm aiming to, sorry!" Shintara continued to apologize, not even realizing how often she was doing so. Trying to not let up on her attempts, she pounced at the Umbreon, swinging at him once more with a paw. This time, her aim was much better, actually aiming towards Krik instead of the air above him. The Absol was trying to keep what he had said in mind, though couldn't completely push the idea out of her head just yet that it was the leader she was currently training with. Something about it just made her a bit fidgety, and she hoped that it wouldn't stay that way for long.

The umbreon received a more satisfying answer as the absol lunged towards him in attempt to swipe at him with her paw. Still, hesitation. It irritated him, why couldn't this absol get it right? Who needs to be told more than once to do something? The umbreon leaped away easily as the claws barely missed his hind-paws due to his delayed reaction in surveying her attack.

"Hesitation!" he growled, the absol's apologies beginning to get on his nerves as he guessed she probably would have apologized again given the chance, "Say "sorry" one more time and you'll be running to the celestial meadows and back!" he threatened his apprentice.

This was just irritating, he did not quite have the patience for this. He could not just back out of the training though after having assigned the absol to himself instead of handing her off to some other warrior. He needed to teach the clan how to fight again, it was growing rather soft in the recent time of peace, this absol's flustered nature about attacking him proved it. If something were to happen to him or if another clanmate turned against the clan they needed to be ready to take down the weak link. A weak link meant a weak spot, something that can be targeted to break the entire bind that held the clan together.

He HAD to train this apprentice!

What? Is he serious about that? How far away is the Celestial Meadows again? I thought I heard that was pretty far... The thought of having to run that far and back made her wince, face scrunching up for a moment. She was out of breath running simply to the riverbed, how much energy would it take to run all the way to the Celestial Meadows?

"Y-yessir. S-" Tara once again began to spoke, stammering slightly and catching herself before she said sorry once more. Pausing, the Absol shook her head and brought her attention back to Krik, feeling a sense of determination to prove she could handle being there and handle things.

This time, she crouched downwards and pushed off her legs, staying low as she lunged at the Umbreon and faked lashing out with her claws. Instead, she swung her paw down on the ground and pulled herself forward, attempting to bite at him and gain a bit of extra ground on her mentor to try to catch him off guard. Of course, as she wasn't used to this, she stumbled somewhat as she went, having a somewhat awkward look in her motions, and tried to push her hesitations out of her mind, instead trying to focus on Krik's harsh method of teaching he had been employing.

Krik hadn't thought that the Absol would attempt to bite him, he just barely avoided it. He was satisfied that at least he and stopped the Absol's annoying apologies and the absol was steadily becoming more aggressive towards him. The stumble was unfortunate, but that could be worked on. The umbreon moved just out of range once more, "Better, but try to not do something I would expect."

The umbreon had been over thinking things, he had expected the absol to try some fancy tactics and dance around him and attacking from behind. He was too stubborn to admit that he was surprised, but continued on with the harsh verbal motivation with a hint of a compliment inside.

"Your footing needs work, your speed needs work, a lot of things need work..." he mumbled under his breath before saying louder, "Hit me already! Show me what you have! Everything!"

All of this chasing Krik around and trying to get a hit in was starting to tire Tara out, though this didn't express itself in any other form then from a sigh as she kept trying to keep up. Every time I come at him he just jumps away, he's too fast for my attacks...maybe if I can just get his attention on something else... There was no way she was going to hit him fairly if her last few attacks were any example, while she wasn't much of a strategist that much she could figure out.

Still, what was there to distract him with? That part she couldn't figure out just yet. Until something came to mind, she would just have to keep going with it until she could figure it out herself. In the meantime, she still needed some sort of attack. Better to do something and get insulted then, well, do nothing and still get insulted.

"I'm working on it!" She piped up, still sounding somewhat cheery and hopeful as she, once again, ran directly at the Umbreon. Lowering her head as if to attempt another headbutt, as she neared him the Absol swung her head to the side, trying to catch him with the sickle-like horn on her head. Instead of stopping, she continued to run forward in case he jumped back, bringing her head back and hoping if she missed the first time, she would hit with the backswing.

The umbreon leaped to the side, the absol's horn slicing slightly into his hip and creating a small cut on his yellow diamond shaped outline on his leg. The umbreon, satisfied now that the absol had managed to even slightly cut him. The leader did not seem to notice on the outside though, as he merely stated, "surely you could do better!" As he spoke his voice seemed to come from different directions as multiple umbreon began to appear and surround the absol. All were sitting in the shape of a circle as they all watched the absol, "This is only going to get harder as time passes," they all seemed to speak.

Krik was hidden among the Double Team, his duplicates all staring off towards the absol as they awaited for the attack. Which one was real? Which one was the leader? Only the real umbreon knew. His duplicates could have represented a clock if the existence of the item was known to these pokemon. The absol would have been said to face three while the real umbreon stood at twelve.

Shintara paused a moment and lifted her head back up, turning around. To her surprise, she managed to make out a small cut on his hip, a sign that she had actually hit him. Wow, I did that? Already? Maybe he let me hit him or something. What if he didn't though? I mean that's progress, not a lot but it's-

The sound of him speaking knocked her out of her thoughts as suddenly several copies of the Umbreon seemed to surround her, causing the Absol to pivot in place as she tried to see how many there were around her. I guess I shouldn't have expected him to gradually make things more difficult. All right then, here we go... She thought to herself, showing a small sign of a smile as she stopped moving, trying to figure out the best course of action.

Finally deciding on something, her sickle-like horn began to glow a white color, waiting a moment as she charged up a Razor Wind attack. Once she had finished, the Absol swung her head downwards, sending a blade of sharp air at the Umbreon she was facing(which would be the three o'clock direction), before turning to her right and swiping her claws at the one in the four o'clock position.

The copies disappeared as they were struck, not bothering to avoid them as two more copies took their place, keeping the number at a constant of twelve.

Krik watched the absol's movements, trying to figure ways to fix flaws. Her massive amount of unnecessary apologies could be fixed through punishment, and during that punishment the absol's speed and agility or perhaps endurance would be able to be helped as well as the long trip to the middle and back was taken.

He wondered if he would have to encourage the absol to make those trips faster if he had to, would she be self motivated enough to get back to training? Krik usually did not place himself on too high of a pedestal above the clan, but his thoughts ran along the line of whether or not this absol was okay with embarrassing each other in front of the clan by having to perform different punishment duties.

The umbreon waited for a moment, before getting up. His copies roused themselves from their seats as well as he warned, "You've got little time left before we start running, then even smaller before we start defending, then minuscule before we start attacking.

She sighed, the sound coming out as a slight gasp as she felt her attacks phase through, the copies reforming rather quickly. Alright, well those ones aren't him... Deciding her only idea at the moment was to make her away around the circle and hope to eventually find the real Krik, she turned to her right and lowered her head, slashing at the two in the five and six position with her horn in rapid succession as Krik spoke. What? I haven't even hit you yet like this, and you're already making it harder? Great...oh well. The Absol thought to herself, frowning slightly as she tried to narrow down her options, not doing a very good job of it as the two she attacked were also copies.

The umbreons seemed to be damaged at first but they disappeared soon after, revealing themselves to be copies. The copies were replaced once more with more clones and the umbreon all stood up, beginning to dart about. If the absol paid close attention to her hearing, she would be able to hear the footsteps of the umbreon to judge him to be the true Umbreon as the clones made no sound. If she paid close attention to her sight she would see the real Krik kicking up the sand as he ran. If she paid more attention to her smell...she would smell the Kasai scent all around her and would be wasting her time.

"How about this," Krik decided to cut a deal with the absol, "At least swing at the right me and you'll get brownie points"

Tara watched as the various copies of Krik darted about around her, completely disoriented by it. All sorts of different Umbreons were running around, all looking the same, and she was having a hard time keeping herself calm enough to think about what to look for. Where do I even start? I have no idea what to look for, which one is him, come on, look for it...
"What are those?" She questioned curiously as she looked around, trying to figure out some sort of way to identify Krik. As she did, she noticed two Umbreons running by one another, kicking up some sand, as opposed to the others. As they continued to run around, she immediately lunged at one of the two, swiping at another clone and guessing wrong.

The real Krik leaped away when the absol slashed at the clone, causing it to disappear. The umbreon unleashed another clone and spoke after he had tangled himself among the crowd of black and yellow flashes, "Close but not a hit!" he growled. He continued to leap about, keeping an eye on the absol to check her progress, call her out on mistakes, and point out mistakes she was making. He ignored the sand he was kicking up from his run, it would be a common enemy mistake, and he had to simulate it for her. Although the enemy would have been trying to attack or stall her, the umbreon was built for stalling. He could keep foes in place with his Mean Look, avoid damage with double team, and whenever the foe gets lucky he could set up his wish attack to regain the health. He had yet to some across a foe that could counter this tactic other than those with no-miss attacks, but those were few among the clans from his own experience despite the lack of turmoil and battles against other clans lately.

Wincing somewhat as she missed her attack, Tara quickly turned back to look around at the clones, trying to figure out which illusion was the real Krik. Alright, dust cloud, sand, whatever it is, look for that. He's kicking it up. It wan getting harder for the younger absol to keep up with her mentor, starting to grow tired from the running she had done to get there, and the attacking she had done while she was there.
Setting her sights on the Krik kicking some sand up, Shintaraa pushed her weariness aside and dashed at the Umbreon, giving another swing of her claws in an attempt to land another hit on him.