At the next morning they said goodbye to Rhea and moved north. The next badge was in Pewter City. Sephia looked at her friends.
"Ok, today is a training day. I think we should run a little bit to warm up, but not too fast, please. Is this ok for you?"
'Yeah, a good idea!', Articuno said. 'But I and the other birds may fly, right?'
"No, Articuno. I think it's a better training if you run. But let's say that you can fly for five minutes after running for ten minutes, ok?", Sephia said and Articuno nodded.
'Can I do it the same way?', Mew asked. Sephia nodded.
"Some more comments?", she asked.
"Maybe it's unfair. I mean, I was running through the world for years, I'm trained in running.", Suicune said. Sephia thought about it.
"Ok, I want you to run faster. When you are about 400 meters in front of us, come back to us and then, start again."
Suicune smiled. "A good idea. So let's start now!"
They started running down the street. Suicune ran very fast, but the birds and Mew had several problems. Their feet weren't made for running. Mewtwo ran with medium speed between Suicune and the others. Sephia stayed with the slow Pok�mon.
"Oh dear god...this is...very....straining...", she breathed exhausted. Zapdos looked at her.
'Well a little bit, but it's not too hard.', he said.
"You...think...? Wow...you're...very...strong...I....hate...sport....", Sephia panted. "Aww..my legs...hurt...and I...have...stitches in the side..."
'You have? Wow, and I thought I am bad in walking and running!', Moltres said.
'I'm exhausted, too!', squeaked Mew. Sephia smiled.
"Hehe. Cool, I'm not the only one! Ok, I'm feeling warmed up now, let's look for a place where we can train."
'We are running for about three minutes. Do you really think that's enough?', Articuno asked.
"You can run faster if you want", Sephia panted, looking left and right. The birds ran faster, trying to run together with Mewtwo. Mew stayed with Sephia.
Five minutes later, they reached a forest.
"Let's..search for a...clearing...where we can train...", Sephia coughed. "I can't run any further!" Mew nodded.
'Let's look for a clearing!', Mew shouted. The birds and Mewtwo turned around and nodded. They ran into the forest and immediately found a good place. They stopped and Sephia fell down to the ground. "Wow...this is...exhausting..."
Suicune arrived and looked at Sephia.
"Too exhausting?", she asked and Sephia nodded. Slowly, she sat up.
"Maybe I'm the wrong trainer for you. I mean, I'm bad in giving orders and even in running. You need an experienced trainer."
The Pok�mon gasped. "No, you are a good trainer. All of us must get better. And other trainers are just commanding their Pok�mon, they don't train with them. It's important that you train as hard as you can, then you'll get better. Of course, you need weeks, months or even years, but you can do it", Mewtwo said. Sephia smiled. If Mewtwo said something like that, it had to be true.
"Thanks, Mewtwo. Ok, now let's start the real training. It's difficult because you are psychic, water, flying, ice, fire and lighting Pok�mon. But you have to train with each other to get stronger. So let's look...yeah, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, fly up. Moltres, you try to hit Articuno with your fire-attacks. Articuno, you try to hit Zapdos with ice-attacks and Zapdos, you use your attacks on Moltres. You have to hit each other, but you must learn to avoid attacks at the same time. If you get hit, it really hurts because Articuno is weak against fire, Moltres is weak against lightning and Zapdos is weak against ice."
'Wow, that's a really great idea!', Moltres said and the other birds nodded.
"Ok, Mewtwo and Mew, do the same. Attack each other with psychic attacks and at the same time, use...yes, I think with Reflect you can dodge the other psychic attacks. If you can do both at the same time and your attacks are good and your level is high, you are unbeatable", Sephia explained. Mewtwo smiled.
"That's right! You're a great trainer!", he said. Mew nodded happily. Sephia smiled.
"And what about me?", Suicune asked.
"We'll train together, I think. Your best ability is your speed. So you must learn to run very fast and hit with your attacks at the same time. We'll practise that. You run as fast as you can and I do it, too. Then, you'll try to hit me with your Water gun." Suicune nodded. "Are you sure? It might hurt if I hit you!", Suicune asked, concerned.
"Oh, yes, it's a part of my training. Later, you'll train with Mew, so you have to avoid her attacks. But I'll explain this later. Ok, now, let's start. Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos, start now so I can see if it works fine before I start with my training."
The birds flew up and started using their attacks. Zapdos flew near Moltres and used a Thundershock, but was also hit by an Ice beam. Moltres tried to avoid Zapdos' attacks now and forgot to attack Articuno.
"Moltres, use fire attacks!", Sephia shouted. "Zapdos, avoid Articunos attacks! Articuno, Moltres will attack now, so beware! The one who will be defeated first has to catch the food for today!"
The birds tried to follow Sephias orders.
"This won't work! They'll crash!", Mewtwo said and Sephia nodded.
"Stay away from each other! Fly bigger circles!", she shouted. The birds tried, but Moltres tackled Articuno by mistake when he avoided a Thundershock.
"This must hurt", Suicune mumbled when Articuno tried to fly away from the flames.
"Ok, do your best!", Sephia shouted. "Ok, Mewtwo, Mew, start now!", she ordered. Mewtwo and Mew walked to the middle of the clearing. Suddenly, they were surrounded by flame, Mew in pink ones and Mewtwo in blue flames. Mewtwo summoned a ball of psychic energy and shot it at Mew. The small Pok�mon used Reflect just in time, the ball disappeared when it touched the psychic shield. Now Mew shot a beam of energy at Mewtwo. He flew up at shot another ball at the pink Pok�mon. Sephia watched the battle a few minutes.
"Ok, good work, keep it up!", she said and turned to Suicune. "Now, let's start training! First, try to run as fast as you can and use your Water gun to shatter the stone there." She pointed to a big stone. Suicune nodded and started running. Sephia gasped when her friend reached such an immense speed that she was unable to follow Suicunes movements with her eyes. Suddenly, Suicune used the Water gun and the stone shattered. The water Pok�mon stopped.
"Wow, great!", Sephia said. "Now, try the same with me...but please don't use the Water gun with full power!" She started running as fast as she could and a few seconds later Suicune ran again, too. Sephia tried not to run near the fighting psychic Pok�mon and was thinking about a way to avoid Suicunes attack when the Water gun hit her from behind. Sephia fell down to her knees and coughed. Suicune stepped to her.
"Are you ok?", the Pok�mon asked concerned.
"Yes, I am. Let's mo..."
Suddenly, they heard a scream and Moltres fell down from the sky. Articuno and Zapdos stopped their fight when they saw that Sephia and Suicune ran to the fire Pok�mon. A few minutes later, Sephia stood up.
"He's okay! Continue the training!", she shouted and the two birds started attacking each other again. Moltres stood up.
'I have to catch the food, right?', he asked. Sephia nodded.
"But don't worry, I'm sure you'll win the next time", Sephia smiled and petted the bird. Moltres nuzzled her and flew up again, looking for food. Sephia stepped to the psychic Pok�mon. They stopped when their trainer looked at them. Both were exhausted.
"And you claim to be the greatest Pok�mon? You are training since five minutes and you are panting now", Sephia said.
"We are both very strong Pok�mon. When we battle with full power, it's very exhausting", Mewtwo answered. Sephia nodded.
"Ok, I think we must change that as well. Five minutes aren't enough to beat Lugia. But for now, Mew will train with Suicune. Suicune will use the water gun, you'll use psychic. Suicune, you avoid the attacks as good as you can, but don't forget attacking. Mew, do the same as you did while fighting Mewtwo", Sephia ordered. The two Pok�mon nodded and started training. Mewtwo stepped to Sephia.
"And what about me?", he asked.
"Yeah, I'll tell you how you can be the strongest Pok�mon in the world now."
"Sounds good. But how?"
"Ok, you know that you are weak against a few Pok�mon, like steel and bug Pok�mon. So your psychic attacks are useless. But if you wanna be the strongest, you must win against these opponents, too."
"Yes, right."
"Now look at you. When I first saw you, I thought that your were a fighting Pok�mon. You really could be one. So you have to learn fighting attacks to beat every Pok�mon", Sephia explained. Mewtwo thought about it for a moment before he started grinning.
"That's a really great idea!", he said.
"Thank you. So you'll train your fighting and psychic abilities from now on, ok?"
"Yes. So let's start!"
"Ok, first let's start with basic skills, I think. I'll train with you. First, let's see how strong we are. Please lift this stone up." She pointed to an one-meter-stone. Mewtwo stepped to it and raised it with ease.
"That's easy", he said bored. Sephia nodded.
"Ok, now give it to me." Mewtwo handed her the stone.
"Ahh!", screamed Sephia. The stone was ways too heavy for her. Mewtwo helped her to put it on the ground again.
"You're not as strong as I am", Mewtwo smiled.
"Yeah, I think so. Ok, search for a stone you can barely lift up. I'll do the same thing, too." They started looking for stones and finally they found some of the right size. Sephia put down her stone and looked after her other Pok�mon. Articuno and Zapdos were still fighting, but their movements got slow. Mews flames weren't as high as before and Suicune was not as fast as a few minutes earlier. But all of them were still training. So Sephia stepped to Mewtwo again.
"Ok, from now on, we'll do weight-lifting with these stones for about 10 minutes after every meal, every day. I'm sure we can use bigger stones, soon."
Mewtwo nodded and put his two-meter-rock down.
"For now, let's practise kicking. We'll use this tree. Let's kick it!" They went to the tree and tried kicks from different positions. After three tries, Sephias feet hurt a lot.
"That's...harder...than it looks", she panted. Mewtwo nodded.
They continued training for about ten minutes. Then, Suicune stepped to them.
"We are tired, Sephia", she said. Sephia nodded.
"Ok. Hey, Articuno, Zapdos, come down now!", Sephia shouted and the birds landed.
'I can't fly any longer!', Articuno mumbled. Zapdos nodded.
"Ok, this was a very good training for the first try." Sephia rubbed her aching feet. "Now tell me, what is your biggest problem when you are training?"
The Pok�mon looked at each other.
'I'm exhausted very fast when I fight with full power', Mew whined. The other Pok�mon agreed. Sephia smiled.
"Yeah, I think that's right. Hm, I remember a day when a Pok�mon trainer came into my orphanage. He told me that his Pok�mon were never exhausted because they were breathing in the right way."
'Do you mean that we must change our breathing? How can we do that?', Articuno asked.
"I don't know. But I know how we can find it out. Let's sing and dance!"
The Pok�mon looked at Sephia, totally confused.
"You mean...dance?!", Mewtwo asked curiously.
"I just said that!", Sephia smiled. "We can do this together. When you dance, you have to move very much. And when you sing, you must breath in a special way or your song will sound wrong because you make too many breaks for breathing between the words. And if you do both together, you will learn how to control your breath while fighting."
'Dance! Dance!', squeaked Mew and clapped her hands. The others smiled.
"Ok, Moltres will be back with the food soon. After eating, everyone can relax for half an hour, then we'll train again. Let's sing a little bit, too. We don't have music so far, so we'll buy a cassette-recorder in the next city."
'And cookies! Let's buy cookies!', Mew screamed. Sephia nodded.
"Ok, Mew, we'll buy cookies, too. But if you eat too much, you'll get too fat for fighting. So let's say you get one cookie every day."
'No! I want a whole package every day!', the little Pok�mon said. Sephia shook her head.
"No, Mew. But when you've done a good fight, you can have a cookie, too. Ok?" Mew thought about it for a moment and nodded. Sephia smiled. Suddenly, Moltres landed behind them, with some Goldeens and Pidgeys. Sephia finished her meal in no time and laid down. She was very exhausted and every inch of her body ached, but it seemed that the training was a good one.
"I'll sleep a little bit, please wake me up in 30 minutes", she said and Mewtwo nodded. She closed her eyes and sighed. Without any problems, she drifted into a deep sleep.
******
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