Equestria, I Choose You!

by BronyDJ

Chapter 22: Everfree Part 2

"Stop flying around and fight me on the ground!" Stephen yelled out for the thousandth time at Gale's aerial barrage. "It's not fair, you being able to fly!" Swift Gale had been swooping in and out, and Stephen had been practicing for the last hour without his shield. Mainly, he had been dodging and rolling away from her head-on attacks, causing the usually cool Commander to be even more pissed off and frustrated at the human.

"You think that army of rogue changelings would have stopped flying because you say, 'it's not fair'?" Gale glared at the human. "No. They are relentless and their abilities are being used against their will." Her body took a pouncing stance once more. "And your whining won't make any sort of difference. Now, stop complaining!"

Swift Gale decided to take to the ground, and Stephen was not allowed to have his shield at the ready. She would lunge at random intervals and attempt the usual fake to catch him off guard, testing his reflexes. The human had been keeping his eyes on the Pegasus, but just barely dodged her tackles. He had started circling in reverse around the clearing, closer to the trees. This was unknown to the flying equine, who had been growing frustrated at this behavior.

"Oh, come on!" Gale yelled out. "At least try to hit me, Stephen!" With that she took another quick dash at him, as the human started to back up. "You're utterly weak without your Pokémon, so how are you gonna be able to fight me- WHOA!" At the very last second, Stephen dodged once again, and watched as his "instructor" collided head first into a tree trunk with a harsh WHAM!

~~~~~~~~~~

Swift Gale opened up her eyes to face a orange-red sky; it was already sunset. Stars were still flying in her vision, and she blinked several times to shake them off. Her body also ached and resisted any attempts to rise. She looked to the side and found Stephen laying down next to her.

"W-what happened?" Her voice was a little weak, as it would be after being knocked out for a while. "Why are we lying on the ground?" Stephen turned his own head and replied.

"Well..." He began, turning his head back to the sky. "You hit the tree head first and knocked yourself out. So, I decided to lay down so that everyone else would think we're chilling. The other two went out for some berries and edible herbs." He heard the pegasus sigh, and allowed an awkward silence to follow. She looked to her left and saw that High Marks and Mirror had already set up the three tents. One for her, the second for the changeling, and the lieutenant would share his tent with Stephen. Like he said before, the other two guards were nowhere to be found.

"I've never..." She broke the silence, her mind no longer fuzzy.

"Hmm?" Stephen looked over to see the pegasus slowly bring her hoof to her face as she shook her head.
"I've never been beat by a student, let alone an untrained civilian, in combat training." She sounded a little sad, disappointed even. "And you did it without even touching me. You don't know how to fight for yourself. You have no intent to counterattack for an upper hand. You didn't even reactivate your shield. I never said you couldn't use it."

"Oh." Stephen said simply, looking down at the small, Pokeball design bracelet on his wrist. He continued to listen to her criticism.
"One thing I do have to commend you on," Gale went on. "Is your dodging and reflexes. Where'd you learn that from?" Stephen had to think of what to say exactly before answering.

"Well, when two Trainers battle, 95% of the time, they will be standing right behind their Pokémon on the battlefield. Every single attack and tactic can do some kind of damage. Given enough practice, one learns how fast and where an attack can travel, and how to avoid it while still focusing on the battle. Even a weak attack like a Tackle or a Quick Attack can send a Trainer to the hospital for a day or two. Many attacks have been proven fatal, and could lead to the destruction of the world and universe if put in the wrong hands."

"How bad can it be?" Swift Gale asked, a skeptic smirk on her face. No doubt she had faced manticores with the same strength. Stephen pondered that thought and took a moment to collect his memories.

"Well, you know my Gyarados?" Stephen asked, and received a confused look. "I mean Tempest, my big, blue serpent." At this, Gale nodded. "Well, imagine being hit by her tail and sent flying about 15 yards and into the side of a cliff." He stretched out his elbow and back as the painful thought came to him.

"Well damn..." Swift Gale whistled. "That should have killed you!"

"I actually managed to hang on because..." Stephen trailed off as the end of that memory came to him. "Because of Nova. I'm alive thanks to her. She's saved me countless times and I couldn't save her this time." His hands balled up into fists as a tear rolled down the side of his face."God DAMN it!"

"Listen Stephen, calm down!" Swift Gale's 'Commander' guise fell as she tried to console the human. "It's not your fault! We can still-" She was cut off by Stephen abruptly rising to his feet and walking to his tent. She watched him enter and close up the tent quickly before laying still on her back and closing her eyes. Minutes later, they were opened by the sound of hoofsteps; Mirror and Marks had returned with supplies.

"Where's Stephen?" The lieutenant queried. "In the tents?"

"Yeah." Swift answered monotonously.With that, she rose and walked over to the water's edge to let her mind relax and wander. She felt like she should have said anything at all.

The stallion looked to the tent that he shared with Stephen and sighed. It was hard enough to get through this forest with an even head. To get through this place with negative thoughts would get him killed easily. They should all talk tonight about that. And just like that, an idea came to High Mark's aged mind.

"Campfire time." He said plainly, and he made his way to the stock of previously chopped logs.

Author's Note:

Once again, I would like to thank NightmareKnight for letting me use his OC, Swift Gale. Just thought I would use part of this chapter to get Gale and Stephen to have some common ground. I thought it was a good idea.

If anyone gets the reference I made here, you're awesome.

College has been rough. It's only been a week and I can feel it sapping at my energy and imagination, so I've barely got time to write this story. But please, trust me when I say that I WILL do my best to finish this story!

Also, I will start working on Tales of Ink Flow on the side. It's only 3 chapters so far, and a little more mature, but if you wanna check it out and give a little critique, I would greatly appreciate it. Link: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/74956/the-tales-of-ink-flow

Also, post-editing this chapter, im a little drunlk. But I loive all y'alll. Just letting you guys know cuz you guys are aweome/. thganks for liking this fanfic.
Editied by designerlemonade

Comments

[BronyDJ]

4976738
Wow you seem to be having some fun reading
Hope you enjoy the rest! Thanks for your critiques btw.

[BronyDJ]

4976530
Well, it's been said before that Nova and Stephen trained a bit with Riley and Riolu, so most of that training would have been aura or energy based, which is what Nova is using. She may be a little unwary about it, but she casts it aside because they were in a forest filled with foreign creatures and energies. Cautious about it, yes, but she needed to focus on the prime objective with Stephen.