Clay - Solo RP & Special Missions

The tutoring taking a day or two seems like a bigger issue than the money, at this point - Clay has a ton of stuff he can sell to the vendors if he needs cash, but giving up his strongest team members for a couple of days now... At least they're not leaving for three days so he has time. And he does have the rest of his team still, so he nods and hands over the cash. "Okay. I think it's just this one technique."

He turns to Sandy and explains things to him - though his tones are higher than the deep croaks Sandy makes now that he's evolved, more like what he sounded like before. "You're gonna need to stay here for a day or two while she teaches you this cool technique, okay? I know you wanna keep me safe, but this'll help you do that."

Sandy looks a little dubious, but ribbits his acquiescence and pads over to Calli, looking up at her curiously. Clay gives her a lopsided smile. "Least it's somebody I know I can trust to take good care of him."

Clay waves back to her and slips out of the Water Branch... in order to head to Fire Branch instead, with Fan taking Sandy's vacated place loping alongside him. He has a much clearer idea of how to describe the technique he wants Fan to learn, once he finds someone willing to teach her.

... Granted, he has to figure out who in the branch it is. At least this time he isn't going to get roasted when he steps through the door. "Okay, sis, just like I told Sandy. We're gonna find somebody to teach you a cool technique you can make good use of, but you're probably gonna have to stay with them for a day or two to do it. It's not gonna be long, I promise, but you gotta stick it out to learn, right? Just like anything else. And then you'll be able to punch things with fire!"

Fan isn't any more enthusiastic about leaving Clay in this dangerous time than Sandy is, but she is enthusiastic about punching things with fire. As Clay steps into the Fire Branch, he looks around, wondering who he can ask about tutors in here.

"Oh, uh... hi, Lady Ashandra." He'd been sticking "lady" on Anya too but he's pretty sure Ashandra's the only one who actually insists on it, and seeing as she's clearly not in the world's best mood being polite would be a good idea. "I was just looking for the, uh... what was the word... tutors. Because Fan's evolved recently and I was hoping I could find somebody to teach her that cool fire punch technique. Could you point me the right way? Please?"

The word he only really just learned was the proper one, but Ashandra still makes him nervous and he lost it for a moment there. He decides not to comment on the disappearing Pokémon... for now, anyway. He could say a lot about the Usurper thing, starting with if you're expecting me to apologize for them taking us seriously, don't hold your breath, but again, he's asking her for help and also she can set him on fire if he ticks her off. So he tries a joke instead. "Wouldn't really call them my little friends, they're all taller than me. 'Course, so are a lot of people."

Fan apparently isn't inclined to be too trusting right now, and stares at Ashandra over Clay's shoulder warily as he tries to be polite. She's tall enough as an Infernape that if she really reaches for it she actually can look over his shoulder.

Clay considers this for a moment. A Rock-type move for dealing with birds would be nice - right now his only real answers to them are the one Sandy picked up and Thunder, who needs a bit of work come to think of it. But, well, he can't think of anything specific he'd want her to lose for it. And there's the matter of money. He could go sell stuff for more moves but it'd involve keeping her waiting, and when he's on the fence already it doesn't really seem so worth the effort.

"I think just the Fire Punch. But thanks." He digs out the money, with a little grimace. Clay's math is only passable, but it's obvious he's down an awful lot from when he started, between the staff and these tutorings. Still, hopefully it'll be worth it. "There, that's two thousand."

He switches over to Infernape speech as he turns to Fan. "Okay, boss lady's gonna teach you this move, sis. I know you don't like her, but it'll be worth it. The way you punch, with fire added on to it? Trust me, it'll be great."

Fan makes a grumpy, skeptical noise but knuckles her way over to Ashandra. Clay grins as he looks back at the Fire Branch leader. "I gotta warn ya, she's a handful. But I guess you know how to deal with students like that, huh?"

And Clay heads out to the paddock to pick up Tavi and Mufomono, just in case he runs into trouble while he goes out training. Hopefully nothing untoward happens today... He probably won't have time to pick up Fan and Sandy before Tiki's performance tomorrow, so he'll need to be prepared for anything until then.

Clay ducks his head slightly so Smith and his wife won't see him grinning. He thinks maybe he'll need to visit sometimes, when this is all over - loud and fractious as they are, the two of them seem like they'd make for good friends. And, well, Clay of all people isn't going to be intimidated by loudness and friendly arguing.

He steps out into the back - he's not close enough to get the full blast from here, but he can still feel the heat of the forge. Smith's wife clearly wouldn't be intimidated by the Fire Branch's usual welcome committee. His eyes widen when the staff is unveiled, and he catches it easily when she tosses it to him. "Oh, wow!"

He spins it one way, then the other, testing the balance - just as she said, it's perfect. He goes through a simple circle-walking exercise that sweeps up into a kata of spiraling movements, swinging the staff and moving it from one hand to the other to keep balance as he strikes with the empty hand, then bringing the staff around again for rapid-fire strikes with either end. Clay is not quite ambidextrous but he's closer to it than many people, between his training and the simple fact that his family gets around by brachiating. Finally he dips one end to the ground for support as his feet come around for a kick, then drops back onto both feet again with the staff held level and bows to Smith's wife.

"You're right, it's perfect. Thank you so much."

In the morning, the first thing Clay makes sure to do is find Instructor Mason. "Hey, I'm planning on going up to Cerulean Village today to visit a friend. If I can find a place to stay the night up there, I'd probably just stay and meet the rest of the Branch when you get there. That wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

He doubts it will be, but he wants to make sure. Unless Instructor Mason has an issue with the idea, he'll head to breakfast. So, what does he need to do today before Tiki gets here? Pick up Fan and Sandy - which might mean waiting a couple of hours in Sandy's case, he's not sure how long Calidora will need to finish up - and hopefully get some training in. And then... well, hopefully, they can discuss their next step with Rei and Holly. Assuming they haven't moved on to Celadon by then, but he hopes they would have sent some sort of message if that was the case.

After breakfast it's time for some training! He runs with the same team as yesterday, for now - most of his A-Team at this point is nearly caught up to Fan and Sandy. Then he heads off to Fire Branch, since he knows Lady Ashandra probably finished tutoring Fan sometime yesterday after he stopped by and bugged her.

An hour or two is enough time for him to take Fan back up to the paddock and gather all of his Pokémon around to explain what he intends to do. This is slightly tricky since he can't channel all of them at once, so he has to basically do it in shifts. "Okay, here's the deal. We're gonna go up north to the town by the ocean. We're probably gonna be there a few days. You guys might spend a lot of time in your apricorns but I'll try to let you out as much as I can." He's not sure if he can arrange accommodation for them - if Kalani will be okay with whoever's not on his team hanging around at her place, or if Rei and Holly have made some sort of other arrangement if she isn't, or what. "There's some big stuff going on, a bad human and a big nasty death bird are gonna cause some sort of trouble, so I might need you guys to help me out, okay? It's gonna be dangerous, but we can do it if we all pull together, okay?"

Once he has everybody on board with the plan - and has privately resolved to give some of his teammates who are lagging behind time to train with the stronger ones - he loads everybody up into their apricorn balls and stows them all in his bag. He likes to have at least some of them out when he can, but trying to herd them all on the road would be an exercise in frustration, especially Missile and Nianyu who aren't great on land.

He settles on the ones who are going to be riding as his battling team for now - Fan, Red Child, Baloo, Kaa, Tavi, and Peng. Sandy might replace Red Child as an active battler once he gets him back, though Red Child is still Clay's best means of transportation. After that he kills a little time training with Fan, letting her show off her agility and give a little demonstration of the power of her new move. The scorched, blackened crater her fist leaves in the stone she used as a target leaves Clay suitably impressed.

When the time comes, he runs back down to Water Branch to pick up Sandy. "Thanks, Callidora. I owe you one, huh?" He paid already, sure, but it doesn't hurt to be grateful to a friend. (Lady Ashandra had gotten some stiffer, but respectful, thanks earlier.)

"Oof!" Well, Clay can't say he wasn't expecting this. He hugs Kalani back just as enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "It's good to see you, too! I'm so sorry I haven't gotten up here to visit more often. Life is a mess."

Fan refrains from interrupting the hug. There's a limit to how much little-sister-ing will be allowed to interfere with a pair of mates and she doesn't really want to test where it is.

"Food would be great! Do you want me to help?" Clay avoided eating before he started up, knowing Kalani would probably insist on feeding him. "I'm probably gonna be around for a few days, this time. My branch of the Guild is doing some training off west of here so I don't have to run back down every day."