World Tree MUSH

 
 Another Day. Another opportunity for Frost and Suiren to train. Now that Frost was staying at Suiren's home, it was incredibly easy for her to keep the Pokemon trainer and her Popplio in tip top shape. Frost had woken them up early as promised and she vaulted from the grounded at 6:00 AM sharp, rousing Suiren and Popplio from their sleep. She'd let them snack on something if they had the opportunity for it, but she had them all out the door in less than ten minutes. 
 
 Back in the Lin Kuei, Sifu Sub-Zero would have her and the trainees run five miles around the top of their freezing mountain peak to get them 'warmed up' for their daily training. That wasn't really a possibility with Iona though since she was not suited for running at all- so Frost did the best next thing. She had them all swimming. Frost plunged Suiren and Iona into the cold water of Alola and all three of them swam in circles for the better part of an hour until they had essentially swam 5 whole miles. Cyber Frost jumped out of the water and ran back the whole way back to the park, still with Iona and Suiren in a forced march. By the time they finished their 'warm up' it was around 7:30 AM and still no one to be seen in the park, the sun was only starting to rise in the horizon. 
 
 "Alright! Line up you two! Class is about to begin!!" Phew.. that was just the start of the class apparently. This training was definitely going to be brutal. Hopefully Suiren and Iona were ready for it. 

     Well, the water was cooler this time of year, but that only meant it was lukewarm instead of very warm, and Suiren was used to swimming year-round, Iona was born for it. The distance was new though. When they were done swimming and then running back to the park, with part of it having Iona riding on Suiren's back, the two did look a little out of breath, but still happy to be here as they knew there was a reason for doing this, and they had goals to achieve. "Alright, that was one heck of a warm-up. What do you have planned for us next Sensei?"

 
 "It's Sifu. Not Sensei, I ain't Japanese." Frost corrected as Suiren blundered and called her the Japanese word for teacher. To be fair, Frost didn't look Chinese either, which begged the question why did she insist on being called the Chinese word for Teacher. In fact, it was very difficult to tell Frost's heritage from looking at her, she kind of had very ambiguous characteristics, though that could be part of the cybernetic implants. Either way, it was probably -mostly- because Frost was teaching Suiren and Iona Tongbeiquan which was a very Chinese martial arts, so it made sense they stuck to the proper language. 
 
 Logistics aside, Frost was very eager to get started and after their little warm up she paced in front of Suiren and Iona, looking at them over like a drill sergeant. "Today we're going to practice blocking. You've learned how to anticipate attacks, now you're going to learn what to do about them other than getting out of the way. A good defense is a good offense, but the opposite also true. You can crush your opponent by destroying them for daring to attack you." 
 
 Frost paused in front and in between Iona and Suiren. "Here we go, ready? This is overhead block! Side block! Down block! Front Block!" She demonstrated by making several stances, overhead by curling her arm over her head, side block was making brush motions with the arms, down block was making hammering motions towards the legs, and front block was putting the forearms together meant to take a blow coming straight on. All blocks seemed to be done with the forearms. 
 
 "Got it? I'm gonna call out your name and make you do a block. If you mess up you get hit. Simple!" 

     "Yes Sifu." Suiren corrects as she nods. She listens carefully and watches as Frost explains what they will be learning today, and demonstrates the various blocks. She does her best to commit the motions to memory but also is trying to think of how they will work for Iona, being small and having flippers instead of arms/hands. Might work a little better once she evolves and gains a bit more reach, especially as Primarina. 

     Maybe Frost had some ideas on this front also, but she was happy to collaborate on helping to adapt techniques for her partner. Ultimately Suiren and Iona both nod. "Got it." Suiren answers as she takes a fighting stance like the last time they were training, and Iona balances on her tail, freeing up her front flippers.

 
 If Cyber Frost had any idea how these techniques might benefit Iona, she was not outright saying it yet. The truth was that she had no doubt in her mind this training would benefit Iona in some way, -anyone- could benefit from martial training, that was something even an ex street gang fighter like her understood. However, the application itself was still a mystery to Frost on how Iona was going to apply these concepts. She'd never train a Pokemon before and she figured that Iona would have to figure out how best to apply her new abilities herself. 
 
 Fortunately for the little Popplio, an excellent way of figuring out how to apply those techniques was to see her trainer execute the same moves. Thus, Frost decided to attack Suiren first. 
 
 "Suiren!" She called out and got into a similar fighting stance as the other blue haired girl. "Left side block!" 
 
 She gave the girl a second to prepare herself mentally before attacking. 
 
 "HIIYAAA!!" The cybernetic ninja swung a roundhouse kick at Suiren's left side aiming to crash her shin on the trainer's ribs. As before, Frost's eyes hardened just as she was about to attack, giving Suiren to clue in that a kick was getting sent her way. Now all she had to do was block it. If she didn't do it right she'd know because Frost's leg was going to slam on her ribcage. 

     It also helps that Popplio are generally pretty smart, and Iona is no exception. She inquisitively watches both Frost and Suiren as Frost calls out which block Suiren should use, and follows with a kick. Iona doesn't like seeing Suiren get hurt, but has come to understand that this is training for both of them. 

     Suiren hears the called-out block type and locks her gaze to Frost's eyes. When the kick comes, she tries to mimic the motion Frost had shown earlier and brush the blow away from her. She's a tiny bit slow and her form isn't perfect, so the kick still lands, but in a less sensitive spot and with less impact. Iona continues to watch Frost, also looking at the eyes, knowing she may be next.

 
 Taking a kick anywhere in the body was usually lethal for a regular human. Even if blocked, Frost could put enough power in her kicks that she could easily split a stone beam in half. She wasn't trying to kill her apprentice though, and for the purposes of the training she was taking a lot of power off her blows. The kick landed on Suiren and while her form wasn't perfect, the important part was that she was taking the attack on her forearm and not her ribs. With practice, her forearms would strengthen enough that she'd eventually be able to mitigate strong attacks by taking it on her arms, but this was merely the first of many steps. 
 
 Frost gave a nod and stepped back. "Good enough for now." And just as Iona anticipated she was next. 
 
 "Iona!" She called out and looked at the Popplio. "Overhead block!" This was a little easier since there was only one way this attack was going to go, directly a top Iona's skull. Frost glared at the Popplio, giving her a moment to prepare just like her trainer.. and then-- 
 
 "YAAAH!!" Cyber Frost brought her leg high up, almost on a 90 degree angle, and then she swung it down at Iona, trying to smash her heel on the Pokemon's head. Frost did know what she was doing though, those flippers had a very large area of control thanks to the fact they were big and flat- all Iona had to was put her flippers in the way and she'd block the kick. The important bit here being that Iona had to realize she could do things like that and that she could use her flippers in ways that she might initially not known she could do. 

     Suiren nods and steps aside a bit so she had a better view to watch Iona who was likely getting attacked next. Sure enough, as her name is called, Iona tenses up a bit, and when Frost's leg goes up, she quickly lowers her body to the ground and swings her flippers upward, trying to block the heel as it comes down toward her skull. Her flippers aren't as rigid as a human arm, and her front ones aren't as strong as her tail. Also, while it still hurts having the kick strike her flippers, and it doesn't stop the blow entirely, it still was better than taking the kick directly to the head, which even with Frost pulling her punches, would likely have knocked Iona out, or at least come close. Suiren gives a cheer and claps some for Iona, and tosses her a Pokeblock as a treat, which she happily eats.

 
 Not bad. Iona's flippers were still too squishy for Frost's liking, but the Popplio had the right fundamentals there. It was also important that she instinctively knew to lower her body and get herself more grounded in order to defend herself. Balancing on her tail was a neat trick, but to land solid attacks and solid defense you wanted to have a strong stance which Iona apparently knew already. It didn't really matter that Frost could easily push her way through Iona's defense and hit her in the head anyway- just as with Suiren, Frost just wanted for Iona to realize that she could use her flippers to block. 
 
 "Not bad." Frost pulled her leg back with perfect balance and straightened up. "Iona has a lot of potential. Those flippers of hers are still a little weak, but with enough training and technique I can see her easily slapping attacks away. It will certainly increase her defenses- which she needs." 
 
 Frost resumed her pacing in front of her two students. "Don't get too ahead of yerselves now, that was just a little taste. Eventually I'll want you two to start doing things like this." 
 
 The cyber ninja summoned a large block of ice in front of her that was as tall as her. Then, she got into a fighting position in order to demonstrate. 
 
 "Left block! Right Block! Down Left! Down Right! Overhead! Front! Front! Right block! Right Block! Down Right! Down Right! Front! Front! Overhead!" Frost unleashed a flurry of attacks that smashed hard into the block of ice, rapidly alternating attacks as she called out the blocks, kicking with roundhouses, front punches, axe kicks and sweeps all with devastating fury on the ice block, until it eventually shattered to pieces. It was clear that if she had done that to a human body they'd be a mangled pile of broken bones and blood. She glared back at Suiren and Iona. "By the end of the day I want you two to be able to block at that pace! Got it!?" 

     Suiren nods in agreement with Frost. Iona was doing a good job getting the hang of the fundamentals, but her seal-like body wasn't really built for this sort of Kombat. However, with training, she'll get stronger, and evolve to be even stronger still, and while she may never be a master of close-range fighting, she'll at least be able to do a lot better than she can now... That is if they both survive this after Frost's demonstration and order that they'll be able to block that flurry of attacks by the end of the day. Suiren blinks and nods, swallowing hard before responding. "Yes Sifu!" They both look a bit worried even if Suiren is trying to hide it. If it wasn't clear to the pair before, it certainly is now, that Frost could turn the both of them into a gory mess on the ground if she wanted to.