[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]she gives one last hesitant look before finally steeling her resolve. taking a seat on the edge of the battleground, she motions for her two pokemon to go on.
[break][break]from her pocket, she pulls a pokedex given to her by the rangers. their reasoning had been to encourage a love for pokemon by learning more about them. iris hadn't argued against their logic, lest they took it away. it's not too different to the stolen one she had at rocket--a bit more scratched, perhaps, but in working condition. the rangers weren't fortunate, it seems, when it came to budgeting.
[break][break]
"blue." she gives her command as she lets the machine scan her larvesta. without any warning, the bug pokemon's buried under a heavy AVALANCHE of snow. iris is looking through the pokemon's learnable moves when she speaks again. "flame wheel. don't stop."
[break][break]the larvesta blazes and spins from within the snow. as it melts, it weakens the flame; by the time the snow is cleared, the flame wheel has grown significantly. "stop," she order a beats later. the extra second helps dry off the larvesta somewhat, though a number of droplets are still visible on its half-damp fur.
[break][break]
"blue," she says again, before it can fully recover. taking out her phone, she takes a picture of her pokedex screen scrolled at several points. iris begins crossing out some moves.
[break][break]
this was just the warm-up.
[break][break][break]
[break]

[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]clumps of snow are still scattered around the larvesta when iris decides to put an end of the exercise. though its attacks had weakened throughout, the pokemon had worked hard to avoid suffocation. iris has been told this treatment was harsh, but results couldn't be argued with. that alexander has yet to make a comment is reassuring. his similar training regime catches her attention, though iris tries her best to not pay too much mind to it. she turns back to her own pokemon.
[break][break]
last week's battle had given her a good idea of her new pokemon. immobile, but a lethal attacker when given the opportunity; it was the latter she'd have to make use of. "flare blitz." with its firepower weakened, the attack doesn't come as quickly as it should have, but the larvesta charges at blue who continued to remain still. this would be good training for him too.
[break][break]
thr attack hits. the larvesta winces from the recoil. "again."
[break][break][break]
[break]

[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]it's not the first time she's heard that question, though it's been phrased differently each time. iris can't quite decide whether she expected it from alexander stone, however. her attention moves to him as her two pokemon continue in their repetitive cycles regardless of supervision. she blinks.
[break][break]
"seems like a waste of time." she answers honestly, because mister stone has yet to react badly to any of her truths. "results are quicker this way, and better."
[break][break][break]
[break]

[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]"you praise them, they grow up soft," she says. the words come out immediately, like she heard them countless times before. iris looks back at her pokemon as she tries to decide how to explain herself. "i'm not trying to raise pets, i don't need those. i need something that will do well in battle."
[break][break]
while she didn't understand, iris could see why some people treated their pokemon the way they did. but that was for civilians, who didn't know any better, and didn't have a need to utilise pokemon for their real purposes.
[break][break][break]
[break]

[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]she doesn't expect agreement--mister stone is not like the rangers. though she had known so for a while now, his response warms her to him nonetheless. "what do you mean motivate?" she asks, "they just do what i tell them too."
[break][break]
her larvesta faces a similar struggle. unlike in the charmeleon's case, she offers no assistance.
[break][break][break]
[break]

[attr="class","kheader"]

[attr="class","ithread"]his words are considered. "i don't know," she admits.
[break][break]
the larvesta staggers and blue kindly--she blames the rangers for this--hesitates. iris decides to allow a short break. "it never seemed worth trying. even if it does work, so does my way." her methods were tried and true; the unknown presented a risk of failure.
[break][break][break]
[break]