Lazarus and his pokemon wake up early after a long night of campsite talk. Not wanting to delay the training any longer than necessary, Lazarus decided to leave for the fields first thing after breakfast.
"Goodbye, Aurora. You are such a cutie pie. I really, really hope to see you again." Cloey says to the fox sitting in the cruiser's front seat.
Aurora waves her paw at her. The woman is overly chatty, but she taught Lazarus how to brush her fur properly, so she has a favorable opinion of her.
Jazz tells Kamish about how cool it is to have a Dreepy as a pokemon and that he is going to become very powerful. Kamish nods in agreement.
Sol and Eidolon wave at Marin. They had fun listening to him talk about the fields last night. Especially, Eidolon, who is really looking forward to seeing all that he has heard about.
"Thank you for letting us camp with you. If I get to meet people like you everywhere, this journey of mine is going to be pretty fulfilling." Lazarus says to the three friends he made yesterday, they might never meet again, but he's glad to have met them.
After their goodbyes, the cruiser engine hums to life, and they proceed towards the heart of the fields.
After an hour of driving above the dirt tracks made by machines like their own, they enter the first part of Obsidian Fields, Horshoe Plains.
From their windows, they see the vast open grasslands, the clear sky with a few puffy white clouds, and huge herds of herbivorous Pokémon grazing on the lush green grass.
From time to time, they pass by trainers doing their own thing with their pokemon. From the windshield, Aurora and Lazarus see bird pokemon flying by with their flocks.
Small Starlys led by Staravias. Pideys led by Pigeottos. All of them are in search of food, trying to find any Caterpie or Weddles hiding in the grass or the berries and apricots from trees and bushes scattered throughout the grassland.
They stop on top of a small hill that gives a view of everything around them.
Lazarus gets out of the cruiser to take a better look. As far as he can see, he sees lush green grass on top of the wave-like hills. He can see pokemon grazing, but he can't tell what species they are from this distance, probably Taruoses or Bouffalants, going by their general shape.
"Okay." He takes a deep breath, the air is fresh, dry, and a little hot, "Time to get to business now."
He goes back to the cruises and lets his pokemon out.
Eidolon is the first to float out, followed by Kamish, Sol, and Aurora at last.
All his pokemon look around in wonder, so much empty space to run around.
Kamish looks at the blue sky above. He longs to fly, there are no ceilings or skyscrapers here.
"Go." Lazarus says, turning to his dragon, "Just don't go to far and don't get into a fight with a pokemon. Pokemon in the wild don't behave the same as the trained ones. They might attack in self-defense if you get too close to them. And don't stray too far. When you feel the psychic link weakening, come back."
Kamish's eyes fill with delight, there are no obstacle he needs to accommodate here, so he has no reason to hold back, dragon force swirls around him as he shoots for the sky.
They all see him as a blue blur. He makes an arc around them and then goes even higher, he does the acrobatics here that he couldn't at the battle arena.
"I... mean. I didn't say go that fast. Save some energy for training as well." Lazarus mutters as he shakes his head, but he doesn't ask Kamish to slow down.
Aurora looks at Kamish's flying figure with jealousy. He is out there flying with no worries, while she is almost lost in the grass. Her entire body is submerged in the grass, save for her head and neck. Sol is in the same position as her, but he can stand on two legs, so he's mostly fine.
Sol taps her on her shoulder and tries to cheer her up. He jumps up and down and then points at her and then flexes his non-existent biceps, wanting to lift her up so she too can be above the grass, but Aurora looks at him with suspicion. She appreciates the thought, but looking at his slim hands, she is not sure if he is even capable of lifting her.
Eidolon wants to ask Lazarus some questions, especially about the pokemon they see in the distance, but he isn't sure which one he wants to ask first, so he's thinking about that.
"Okay, guys, so what do you guys think? Do you like the place?" Lazarus asks.
All three of them nod, even Aurora, who, despite not having the time of her life right now, still thinks this place is amazing.
"Good. We are going to spend almost a month in places like these. For today and maybe even tomorrow this hill will be our camping site. Right now I have some training goals for you guys, and depending on how you perform, we either move to another location or we stay put. Understood."
They all nod.
"We are also not going to fight any of the wild pokemon for now. I want you guys to be able to work as a team before we fight anything. The risk of injury in individual battles is high so you'll start off by fighting as a team. I thought of a team dynamic for you. Eidolon will be the defense of the team and also the one who links the team together, Aurora will distract the opponents, Sol will engage in attacks, while Kamish will finish our opponents off with his speed. I'm not sure how well this strategy will work, but we will see. Any questions?"
Eidolon asks the first question. Totally unrelated to the issue at hand.
Lazarus sighs, "No, we can't go and see the pokemon out grazing. They might get hostile, but maybe one day. Any other questions?"
Eidolon thinks about Lazarus said about him being the defense of the team. He asks him about that.
Lazarus is pleased that his overcurious steel pokemon is finally asking the right questions, "You are a steel pokemon, you guys are made for defense, no other type can match your defensive abilities. And on top of that, your psychic typing can help you create shields made of psionic energy, which will block things for you. You are going to use your abilities to defend your teammates. Especially because they don't have defensive moves of their own right now. So, we are all counting on you."
Eidolon feels the weight of responsibility. But he is ready to help protect his family.
"Don't feel too pressure. You don't have to do anything alone. We are all here to help you. Okay."
Eidolon nods and asks how he can start.
"I want you to learn to levitate things before anything else. That is the most useful move set you can acquire right now. I want you to float around the place and find tiny stones. Try to lift them with your psionic power. After you succeed the first time, it'll be easy to do it again. You might even be able to do it today. Anything else you wanna ask?"
Eidolon shakes his head. He has no more questions, for now.
"Okay. What about you two?" He looks at Aurora and Sol.
Aurora yips in annoyance. She asks Lazarus to carry her, some of the grass is making her fur dirty.
"Don't worry, Aurora, you'll grow bigger. It might take the entire month, but you will grow. But I have something interesting to tell you, do you wanna know?"
Aurora wastes no time nodding her head.
"After Eidolon learns to levitate things, he can help you fly by levitating you in the air."
Aurora is shocked by that. She had tried to fly before, like Kamish does, the first day she met Lazarus but he had told her she can't fly because she doesn't have the biology for it, and that had made her sad at the time but now...
She barks at him, asking if what he said is true.
"Yep, it's all true."
Aurora giggles, her dream of flying through the sky might become a reality after all. No longer will she have to watch from the ground as her siblings fly through the sky.
She looks at Eidolon and yips at him. Encouraging him to get to work. In fact, she decides she is going to help him with his training. She looks at Lazarus.
"Well, you can help him by finding things for him to levitate. Small rocks, mostly, there should be enough of them nearby. You helping him look for the rocks will save him a lot of time. Take Sol with you as well. I need to setup some drone stuff. While I do that, you guys do this."