Training day.
The kind where you wake up sore and still move anyway.
Tyrunt was up before me. He hadn't slept much, not really. Not since the Marowak fight. The pain didn't show the way it did in others. He held it behind his eyes, buried under too much pride to limp.
I let him out first.
He sniffed the fog, huffed once, then walked to a nearby tree and stared at it like it owed him money.
"Go on then," I said.
He didn't hesitate. Charged it, slammed his full weight into the trunk with a shoulder-first bash that shook loose a rain of brittle leaves. He staggered back, shook out his legs, then bit the base.
Hard.
It cracked.
I walked over slowly. Placed a hand on his side.
"Not a bad idea," I muttered. "Bite, uproot, throw. Use the world around you."
He growled. The low, content kind.
I turned back to the rest of the team.
"We're not battling Fantina in a forest. But that doesn't mean we don't learn from it. Ghosts don't play fair. So we stop fighting fair."
Grotle, Luxio, and Honedge stood at attention. Grotle looked calm. Luxio was buzzing. Honedge floated silently, as usual.
"Grotle, new tactic. You're a walking wall, but walls don't win fights. Try this. When you throw Razor Leaf, don't stay static. Push forward. Time the movement with the spread. You blind, then you break."
He grunted. Not doubt. Just acknowledgement.
"Luxio, you're our only eyes when they go invisible. You feel movement through air, through charge. Work on holding a charge, not just discharging. Make the field yours. Force them to come to you."
He crackled a little. Pawed at the ground. He understood.
I pointed at Honedge.
"You're already unpredictable. But I need more than elegant floating. You disappear too cleanly. Next time, leave a fake trail. Loop your shadows. Let them swing where you're not."
The sword tilted. Maybe approval.
Then I turned back to Tyrunt.
He'd broken the tree halfway. It leaned hard now. One more bite and it'd go.
"Don't break it yet."
He blinked. Waited.
I grabbed a heavy stone from the fire pit, walked ten paces away, and set it on a stump.
"Let's test it. Bite the tree. Throw it there."
He snarled like it was the best idea I'd ever had.
He backed up, charged again, tore into the trunk like it was made of paper. The tree cracked sideways, teetered, then fell with a thunderous snap. He grabbed a thick low branch in his jaw and spun.
Threw it.
The chunk of trunk sailed through the air and smashed the stone into fragments.
I blinked.
"...Okay."
Luxio yowled approval.
"Good. Now do it again."
And again he did.
By afternoon, the clearing looked like a war zone. Bark stripped. Ground churned. Razor Leaves embedded in trees. Burn marks from Luxio's voltage. A faint chill around Honedge that never quite lifted.
I stood in the middle of it, arms crossed.
No one was tired.
They were focused.
Not perfect.
But moving like a team.
And that was worth more than any badge.
I didn't say much. Just nodded.
Then said the only thing that mattered:
"Again."