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It wasn't long after he entered the cave when the splashing of water could be heard, huh and here he thought that this entire cave was completely frozen over. Ethan looked down to Malik and how his ears had twitched toward the same direction. With a simple nod of his head he silently ordered the fire type to follow along as the both walked along the cave, instinctively Ethan moved his hand toward a weapon he had forgotten that he left behind in order to force himself to depend on Malik. Right, training… he thought to himself as he bit his lip in slight frustration as they came up to where their target was located. [break][break]

Ignoring it, the man looked toward the little ball of fat that was a pokemon as it was slipping and sliding along the ice. The splashing coming from some water dripping down from above had had yet to freeze and seemed to be a little place to play for the seal pokemon. Good it was distracted which would leave it wide open for attack, his blue eyes looked down toward his partner as he nudged his head toward the pokemon wanting to give it a silent order to strike. Ethan wanted… no needed for Malik to become more powerful, he would help Team Virus in cleansing whatever was spreading to these blasted pokemon. [break][break]

With the gesture of his partner Malik growled as it moved forward enough to not be on the ice but close enough where he knew his attacks could still hit. With the Spheal now alerted that they were there Ethan couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Such a damn rookie mistake on the hound’s part, obviously it was going to need more training, but for now it was time to focus on the matter at hand. “Flamethrower on the ice,” Ethan ordered quickly as Malik followed its orders and did so as it melted more ice and hit the seal pokemon. Not having been prepared it had no defense against the attack which knocked it back and had it sliding on the ice and crashing into the cave walls. [break][break]

Fearing for its safety the water and ice pokemon looked around and attempted to flee rather than try to attack, it wanted to play! Not fight. Thankfully thanks to her plump little body the attack didn’t hurt too much, but it wasn’t interested in fighting back as she didn’t want to be caught. Though Ethan could already anticipate the pokemon’s attempt at fleeing as he pointed toward the rock path beside the small lake of ice, “Feint Attack!” he called out, Malik had to take a second to look back to see where his trainer pointed before following orders. The dark hound ran up the side to keep up with the fleeing pokemon before seeming to disappear and ramming itself into the Spheal, once again it was slammed into the cave wall this time having been knocked out from the force of impact. [break][break]

After the attack Malik showed obvious signs of discomfort of being on the ice and with a whistle from his trainer quickly attempted to go back, slipping several times before it was back on the solid rocks. Ethan stared at the pokemon for a bit satisfied for now as he whistled twice as a signal for the Houndour to come to him. The man recalling the training he used with his old partner pokemon in the force so that he could get the dog used to silent commands as he motioned for him to move on. He was going to need a stronger and possibly more violent pokemon if he did want anything to join him in this cave. The Spheal’s playful nature wasn’t going to cut it, not to mention that Malik was still very green. If nothing else this was decent for training. [break][break]

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Ethan paused to squat down at his partner taking a paw in his hand and squeezing slightly to ensure that Malik didn’t take any damage. After all it may had been just paw deep water for the pup but it’s not like he hasn’t seen cases where simple sprinklers could take out an improperly trained Onix, and that was exactly what Malik was, untrained so for now checking up on him was probably for the best. It was only when the fire dog removed his paw from his trainer’s grip with a bark causing Ethan to raise a brow at him. They haven’t been together for long so communication between the two wasn’t going to be what he used to have, baby steps Frye… Baby steps…[break][break]

Deciding to move on to continue their training, and maybe the possibility of getting himself an extra partner the two continued down the cave, the man huffing into his hands to try and keep himself warm as pounding could be heard. Thinking back to old habits he put a finger to his mouth to signal for Malik to remain silent as the approached the noise, the man watching as some runt pokemon was using pound on the rocks as if it were trying to make itself stronger. Checking his database with his gear, Ethan took a moment to examine what the pokemon was… Ice and Psychic. This baby pokemon could literally not be any more at a disadvantage against Malik, and honestly if he were a more merciful man he would probably leave it be. Though that mercy had long since died, and what was left was reserved for only his kids. [break][break]

As the Smoochum continued to her own little self-training montage once again Ethan attempted to communicate for Malik to attack while the element of surprise was still on their side. Though once again the fire dog didn’t seem to want to listen as it barked to let itself be known, catching the kissing pokemon’s attention. Malik didn’t care to much for his trainer’s wants of these sneak attacks, he wanted a challenge, not to just knock a pokemon who was not prepared for battle! Choosing to ignore his trainer he huffed a breath of fire in a challenging way toward the other pokemon. Telling her in his own way he wanted to battle which seemed to excite the ice pokemon as it rushed forward at Houndour to attack with a Pound attack. [break][break]

Though Malik was faster as he dodged the attack but side jumping to the side, the hound taking in a large breath before unleashing a Flamethrower at the ice pokemon causing it to fly back from the damage. Already it was weakened as it struggled to get up, obviously there was a fighter burning within her. Malik looked back toward his trainer who looked unimpressed. Did his trainer not want to catch her? Was he angry that he disobeyed? Though while distracted by his trainer’s lack of reaction he failed to realize the Smoochum coming at him with a Pound attack to his head making a pained yelp escape him. Malik shook his head to get himself back together before finally his trainer spoke up. [break][break]

“Finish this now,” Ethan grumbled obviously not pleased with the pokemon’s behavior, and honestly feeling that finishing this battle and moving on would be for the best. Last thing Ethan needed to do was reward bad behavior. Wanting to please, Malik brought his attention back to the Smoochum as it tried to go at him again with a pound and once it was close enough he used a Fire Fang to strike to ensure there was no chance for it to miss. After the bite the hound threw his opponent back who was not knocked out cold. There was no comment on his battle Ethan just moved forward moving on deeper into the cave ignoring how cold his body was getting. Once more just giving a whistle to tell his partner pokemon that they were moving on and leaving the baby pokemon.

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So far his visit to the ice caves have been somewhat disappointing, he had hopped for maybe a decent ice pokemon to work with as he has heard of them being quite useful. Though the more Ethan thought about it the more he knew ice types didn’t fit him too well. Well at least not from what he was used to, he was a fighter and with the exception of a small handful of pokemon most of his previous partners were fighting pokemon. Though with his new life, with his new alliance he thought maybe trying something new, though as he and Malik kept going through the caves he was starting to think that maybe he was getting too old to try and be adapting to new styles. Maybe if nothing else having trained Malik this day would but its own reward. [break][break]

It wasn’t long before more pokemon were spotted this time several of that one penguin pokemon Ethan could never remember the name of, the same he could recall taking his kids to when they were younger during Christmas time. A useless pokemon really outside the holidays, and honestly with his body starting to temple lightly with the cold he would have to call it an end after this. “Will you listen this time?” he questioned to his partner as he looked down to the hound, the fire pokemon nodding though Ethan still had a feeling that Malik would want to do this fairly.[break][break]

Fine this time he would go along with it as both trainer and pokemon made themselves visible to the gift pokemon, Ethan just smiling at the opportunity for this, “Flamethrower,” he simply ordered and Malik obliged as he let out a large flame from his mouth and with fear most of the penguins fled. Though one did decide to stay behind and rise up to the challenge. Whether it was thinking it could protect its friends or if it wanted to battle with them didn’t matter in the end. Free experience was all Ethan could view the ice pokemon as. [break][break]

The bird went first as it got a present from his bag and threw it at the pair, “Brace yourself!” he commanded expecting the worse from the present. Though there didn’t seem to be any pain, in fact both Ethan and Malik were confused at first before a green aura covered the hound and made it clear to all three as to what just happened. Oh how sad, was all he could think of with a smirk as he pointed at the target ordering one more flamethrower as they added another knocked out pokemon to their count. Okay time to go for now, his joints could only take the cold for so long. “Good work,” he complimented Malik as he motioned that it was time for them to go.

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