There were no humans on the streets of Hearthome as the pair made their way towards the gym. Applejack’s gaze flickered around her as she sensed eyes upon her from above and she glanced up to see several giant blue bats gliding on the warm breeze blowing through the air.
The sound of someone digging through a trash can caught her attention and she turned to see the light blue shapes of several small cat like Pokemon rummaging through it. Ohm mostly ignored all of the noise as he guided the mare down several streets, and headed towards a large two story building with what look like a four pointed black star.
Ohm walked up to the door and got on his hind legs to place one of his paws on a small pad on the wall. A red light blinked for a moment before it turned green and the door opened slightly after which the Luxray used the tip of his nose to pull it fully open. He held it with the side of his body for a moment so Applejack could enter.
The mare slowly stepped in to see a waiting room with one single light one in the middle, showing empty chairs and a single double door entrance with light pouring out under the cracks. Applejack’s ear flickered a bit when the door behind her closed and Ohm walked ahead and pushed one of the doors open, showing a very large room and two voices nearly screaming at each other.
“No. No. No. That rock was over there!” a female, shrilling, Prench voice stated fussily
“NO! It was not you obessive, slimy wench!” an angry, over the top male’s voice shouted back. “JUST LET ME WORK!”
“But you’re doing it all wrong! The rocks are not symmetrical,” the female shouted back, and the sound of something of magical echoed faintly in the mare’s ears.
“I AM DOING IT THE WAY IT’S MEANT TO BE!” the male shouted back and Applejack’s ears flattened as the sound of something crashing into the ground rebounded harshly through them. “They’re not meant to be symmetrical you Tentacool spawn! If they’re SYMMETRICAL then they’re easy to use and avoid!”
A soft sigh filled Applejack’s ears. “They’re at it again....” Ohm said as he walked in. The mare gave him a puzzling frown before she slowly followed.
As the mare walked into the room behind the lion she found herself looking at a very strange sight. Standing in the center of the room was a giant red lobster, a large golden star protruding from its forehead as it reared up on its rear legs. A pair of impressive claws, capable of tearing anything short of solid steel were poised to strike the creature opposite him.
His opposition came in the form of a... Applejack had no idea what it was. It was only about a foot taller than the lobster and it’s body looked translucent, but it was a very dark shade of purple with yellow glowing dots inside. A pair of white ‘legs’ and two ‘arms’ sprouted from it’s head, which consisted of two glowing yellow eyes and a purple beak. It’s hair... if the mare could call it that, was as thick as her arms but were decently short and were the same purple blue color as the head.
“Don’t you point those at moi!” she said, one of her arms slapping away from the claw. “If it weren't for me, you’d be in the safe with all the rest!”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW I WOULDN’T RATHER BE?!” the lobster roared in defiance, bringing it’s claws right back. “ALL YOU DO IS COMPLAIN! YOU SPINELESS OCTILLERY!”
The ‘octillery’ glared at the lobster, clearly insulted. “How dare you call me such a thing. You Shellder with legs!” her eyes glowed and a large rock flew out and hit the lobster on the side of the head.
“NOW YOU’VE DONE IT!” the lobster roared, bringing it’s claws down to grab onto the ‘octillery’s’ limbs and with a simple twist brought it crashing into the gym floor. “NOW APOLOGIZE!”
“NEVER!” she shouted back before her eyes glowed again and three rocks hoovered in the air and-
“Excuse me, but I need the gym floor,” Ohm said calmly, as he sat a few feet away from them.
It was as if someone had flipped a switch.
“Oh, hello Ohm,” the lobster said, his voice lowering to a normal level and losing its intensity as he released the ‘octillery’ from his grasp.
“Yes, hello Monsieur Ohm,” the ‘octillery’ said, her voice becoming less shrilling and more smooth in the Prench accent. She got herself up and began dusting herself off with her arms. “Why of course you can use the gym. We just finished sitting it up.”
“Mhm, and the little bits of dust from that last rock will add just the right amount of rubble to the arena floor,” the lobster agreed with a nod. “Well flung, you spineless tentacool spawned blood wraith,” he added to the ‘octillery’.
“Il n'y a pas de quoi,” she replied, a bit prideful.
The lobster just looked at her for a moment and from her place Applejack couldn’t tell if it as a smile or a scowl. “So, why do you need the Gym floor Ohm? I thought you were a bit too experienced to bother with this sort of thing.”
Ohm gestured over at Applejack. “She has the need to distract her mind from a nightmare she had.”
“Oh, then we are happy to leave you the gym,” the ‘octillery’ said with a nod as she glanced over at the mare. “I understand the same feeling, there are some bad nights where I can’t go to sleep without a couple of battles with this old Shellder,” she said glancing down at the lobster.
“I am much the same,” the lobster agreed, slapping a claw against the female’s back. “An intense battle before bed is a sure-fire way to conquer nightmares. Even if it is with this weak spined, jelly eclair!”
The mare simply blinked blankly as she looked at the two. Do I even want to question this?
Ohm simply nodded his head. “I shall handle this, the two of you are relieved of your night duties for the moment,” he told them.
“Ah wonderful, time enough for a quick swim,” the lobster said, happiness filling his voice. “Would you care to join me, Eclair?”
“Why of course, Joe,” she replied, one of her arms warping around his claw and the two headed for a large side door.
Ohm shook his head as he glanced at Applejack, who looked at the two with a befuddled looked. “They’re the night guard of the gym, they have a rather... love-hate relationship... don’t really question it beyond that,” he told her as he walked to one end of the field. “And don’t go through that door.”
“Okay....” the mare said slowly as she shook her head. “So... what is your plan to help me distract my mind? I really don’t see any trees in here,” she said glancing around the large room. seeing some bleachers to the side and a large screen in the center of the right wall.
“Simple, by battling,” Ohm replied as he turned around. “Or more like you trying to hit me and I have to evade your attacks.”
The mare frowned, before she chuckled a bit in disbelief. “Really? That’s your solution?”
“Yes, why is that amusing?” Ohm asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Because what logic does me beating you up make sense in your mind?” she asked.
“None whatsoever, because there is little chance of it happening,” Ohm replied confidently. “In fact, there is very little chance of your landing a single hit.”
Applejack looked at him for a moment before shaking her head. “Okay... I don’t really how this is supposed to help, but-” she spread her legs out. “-if you’re asking for it, I guess I’ll bring it.” Her legs pushed against the earth and she broke into a gallop towards Ohm.
The lion stood completely still as she closed with him and her rear hooves speared out towards him. At the last second before they made contact with his face he stepped to the side and brought a paw up beneath her hooves, flipping her onto her back and letting her momentum carry her a foot away.
She landed on her back with a hard ‘omph’ and rubbed her right fore hoof against her spinning forehead.
“You were too slow to deliver the kick,” Ohm commented. “Put more spin in your fore hooves, but also make sure they are planted deep enough to carry your weight and momentum.”
The mare growled a bit as she rolled back up on to her hooves. “I know how to buck, thank you,” she said, dusting off some of the dirt on her back.
“As you say,” the lion replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
Applejack’s eyes narrowed a bit as she rushed in and swung left and right with her fore hooves. Ohm casually avoided each of the swings and then during a mid-swing he stepped forward, and drove his open palmed paw into her chest, sending her tumbling once more to the floor.
“You left yourself wide open,” the lion told her simply. “Do not extend yourself so far forwards with no thoughts to defense.”
The mare frowned at him, a bit annoyed at how easily he was able to dodge all of her attacks and flip her on her back. She got up and began to circle the lion, which Ohm followed in kind while moving in the opposite direction. Applejack’s eyes looked over his stance, attempting find some weakness in it. Doing her best to find some way to take him down. Her legs tensed before she galloped up to him, attempting to tackle him to the ground.
She found herself flying through the air and slamming face first into the ground before she even reached him.
“If you charge blindly at Cres or I, you will always end up with a large serving of dirt for a meal,” Ohm told her. “Take your time in the future, and make sure that you really have an opening.”
The mare spit out several pieces of rubble, evidence of the fight before theirs most likely. “How?” she asked a bit irritated as she got up. “You’re not even giving me a chance for an opening, or even letting me land one of my attacks!” she exclaimed.
“That’s hardly the point,” the lion replied. “Your goal here is to improve yourself and that will not happen if I spoonfeed you things. Besides the fact that it will be far less satisfying for you in the end.”
Applejack looked at him flatly. “...so I’m supposed to aimlessly try to hit you for the rest of the night?”
“I did tell you that when we started,” Ohm said with a slight shrug. “You seemed like you were confident in your abilities to prove me wrong. Have you lost that much confidence already?”
“No,” the mare hastily replied. “I mean... I’m still tired, I’m not as fast as I should be,” she weakly defended herself as she rubbed a hoof at the back of her neck. “Nor do I have my lasso...”
Ohm raised an eyebrow at that but simply shrugged. “Shall we continue then?”
She remained quiet for a moment before sighing and shrugging her shoulders. “I guess... there’s nothing better for me to do,” she said reluctantly as she got up and stood to face the lion.
“Then let’s us continue,” Ohm said as he awaited the mare to make her move.