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"Become Stronger" "Don't fight me, go fight ferals" "Ferals live far from the capital" "Don't go so far again!" the voices of the different pokemon that instructed her rang in her head. She was a bit irritated, to say the least. She had been instructed to grow in her skills of combat, but she was not allowed to spar with just any pokemon. She could fight ferals, but they did not live within the capital's walls. She had gone to where the ferals were located, only to be scolded for going so far from the capital limits. What was a Null to do in order to keep herself from becoming...obsolete?

Luckily, she had managed to come across a kinder soul that gave her the suggestion to check out Explorer's Respite. Well, "Kind" in Kala's definition was a bit different from the average pokemon's. The pokemon had berated her for not knowing of the dungeon, as it was only common sense that this was the best place to begin.

So, here she was. She had no idea that this was supposedly a hotspot for beginners, but she had passed this place by many times. The grass tickled her as it brushed against her body. She had to look down to make certain she was not about to step on some unfortunate soul. It would not do for her to return to her master with a dead caterpie. She was certain Indria would have been furious if the soul was not feral, she was certain of it!

She stopped though, voices had been heard not too far away. She froze to the spot as she heard some rather terrified cries. Was someone in danger? Was she needed? Her first thought jumped to what she had been made to do: Protection. She bolted towards the scene, the armor that hindered her weighted down and clanked as if to announce her presence. The cries were not something worthy of such a reaction from her, but she was in search of any reason to "protect". If she could protect, then she could practice. If she could practice, then she could train.

She approached the scene to see...nothing.

What?

She was fairly certain she had heard voices over here along with a rather distressed tone, where had they gone? It took a moment for her to notice the small clearing of grass the battle took place in, as it resided within a blind spot produced by the helm that hindered her. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she finally spied the petilil and the kriketot. Who were these two? She did not recognize them. Who was in distress? The Petilil appeared to be damaged, while the kriketot appeared to be panicked.

The self-appointed "Hero" was confused, but that was not going to stop her from the opportunity that had presented itself to her. "What's going on here?" she demanded.

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The fearful bug had been surprised by her arrival, though she was a bit oblivious to idea that she was possibly the one to be the cause of fear. The fearful kriketot squeaked an answer to her, though the petilil was displeased with it. She was a bit...conflicted. The petilil agreed with the bug, but that did not help Kala's case. If they were training, why did the kriketot look so fearful? Why did the petilil look so angry?

The petilil spoke up with a gesture to the kriketot as she explained herself. Kala listened as the green little pokemon informed her that they were here under the orders of General Electabuzz to improve the skill of the small bug type.

Kala knew of the electric pokemon. She was not a direct part of Invictus's militia, she was only connected as a Bodyguard for her master, but she had seen the electabuzz around town. The null studied the two before her before her directive was put into question.

She stood straight and tall suddenly as she spoke in response, "I am also here to train. I was told to make some improvements upon my strength in order to assist in the protection and guarding of Indria Indris of Invictus. I am in search of a feral to practice battle against. I thought I had heard a distressed cry and thought that there might have been a feral around here. It appears I may be wrong." She attempted to explain herself thoroughly. She knew she needed to be careful with her words around strangers. Indria had always told her to never tell her true age to another pokemon. She had always wondered why, but she never dared to break her mistress's order.

After all, if she were to be disobedient, then she would be obsolete. She would be useless, unworthy of being allowed to continue. Those who worked under Indria to create her had been sure to let her know that one step out of line could be her downfall. While this was not necessarily true, as Kala had messed up countless times before and nothing but a scolding had come of it, she still believed it.

Oh, that's right, there was one question she needed to ask the petilil still. "Why?" She requested. It was a question she probably should have asked before she gave the answer, but it was better late than never. She had not a clue that it was only fair since she had arrived onto the scene and demanded the very same, for her definition of 'fair' was quite different from the average pokemon's.

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The petilil confirmed once more that neither of them were feral, before she offered for Kala to join her and the little kriketot in training. The kriketot seemed on board with it,
at least in Kala's eyes. Her expression if it were visible under the mask that obscured her true head, changed to one of delight. She was being invited to join them! Surely this was by no means of some obligation and this was a genuine invite she could not possibly refuse!

"I'd love to join you two!" she chirped in a happier and less "official", as she puts it, tone. The petilil had said something that had bemused her slightly, however, as the grass type took on a more forward approach to what the task at hand was. The happy expression twisted to one of confusion that reflected itself more in the tilt of her large head as she looked down at the two small creatures before her.

The grass type had said she needed to teach the kriketot to "Grow Up", but Kala had never heard of such a lesson. She had heard the term "grow up" before, but what she knew was simply a natural process of a maturing body of an average pokemon. How could they possibly teach a pokemon to "grow up" if that came naturally whether a pokemon wanted to or not? Did she need to learn to "Grow Up"?

"How...do you teach someone to 'Grow Up'?" she asked, "Can you teach me?" she asked, a bit worried that she may have missed an important lesson of some sort. Kala adjusted her own posture to be a bit more relaxed rather than stiff and attentive. She wanted to make herself look less intimidating, seeing as these two seemed to be fairly kind if they were willing to let someone like herself join in on their session.

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The small bug type stood up for himself, though Kala was still just plain bemused at the time. The bug had declared that he was, in fact, not a crybaby and that the plant was just being rude. Rude? Kala was often told that she was rude, mostly by the scientists back at Indria's place when she first came around to the lab. She had always persisted in asking plenty of questions and some seemed to have hit a few sensitive subjects. So from what she could gather on "Rude" was that the petilil had offended the kriketot, or in Kala's terms "made them feel really really bad."

Fortunately for her, the petilil explained what she had meant to accomplish by teaching the Kriketot to "Grow Up" and spoke of the development of the brain. But...wasn't that something that developed naturally as well? "Growth" could be taught? This term, "Childish" it was another she was quite familiar with. It was another label the researchers had often placed on her, along with many strangers. So...was this Kriketot basically like her? The answer was "No, not at all" but she did not have the opportunity to ask the question as the petilil went on to explain herself more. It seemed that the true thing being taught around here was combat. The ears underneath her mask flicked slightly as something she understood more wholely came into the subject.

The petilil moved to make a more aggressive looking stance. Kala's muscles tensed in response, but she did nothing as the grass type poke. Oh, were they going to begin?

She took on a more combative stance of her own as she spoke, "I would gladly show you my strength. What is our first lesson?" She looked between the kriketot and the petilil, unsure of who the first spar partner was going to be. She was not about to attack without given express permission, as she had learned from example that such an action could be taken horribly wrong.

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It never really occurred to Kala that she should introduce herself. Names were not what was important right then, what WAS important was the fact that the petilil had targeted herself as Kala's sparring partner. However, the Type:Null did not exactly wait for the Petilil to finish speaking. She had been given her target along with permission and she was ready to roll!

From what she knew of combat so far, it was imperative to use any sort of advantage she could get. She needed to act quickly and neutralize the target as swiftly as possible. Orders were to kill any aggressors, but she knew enough to not apply that order to this situation. This was a practice fight, not a real one. Since this was a practice battle, she would not aim for the end of the opposing life and merely to just pin them down and put them into a position where she could end it all if she wanted to.

The type:null's muscles tensed up before she pounced forward to attack the Petilil in a display of very little restraint as she trusted her judgment that the petilil surely must have been stronger than she. She said nothing as she moved in for the attack, announcing one's presence in the midst of an attack was dangerous and not much of a sneak attack.

Her emotions flared as she felt herself grow heated, the attack known as Rage took effect even if she were successful in the hit or not. If the petilil were to attack her, her strength would only rise.

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She had struck the petilil, but the grass type did not strike back. Instead, the pokemon had conducted a move Kala still was not familiar with. The type:null was not familiar with biding one's time to grow stronger, as she was far more inclined to deal as much damage as she could as immediately as she could whether she had been harmed in the midst or not.

Kala did not even bother to back away and access the situation in order to figure out what the creature was doing, as she instead swiped her claw at the petilil in an attempt to knock it over. She was much slower than the smaller creature, so it likely would have been easy to just back away from the attack. Kala unconsciously made up for this with unrelenting attempts to assault the petilil as much as she could in a Rage attack that dared the Petilil to strike her. The mask proved to hinder her greatly as she would have struggled to see the petilil if it moved around into blind spots.

She would have cursed the mask, but she did not know of any life without it. She did not know what it would have been like to fight without the armor that held her back.

She remained silent, not interested in small talk during a fight such as this. She was focused and in the zone, but whether or not that "zone" was good was a different story.

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Once again she felt the thrill of success as she had made a scratch on the opponent. Her body eagerly awaited to be struck back and utilize the pain to produce power, but the petilil appeared to be more cautious than that. The petilil was too fast for the Type:Null as she had backed away far enough to pause and perform another move. Kala was all too eager to charge right towards the grass type in a manner akin to a bull as her head lowered to smash into the petilil.

Her direct charge led to the certain connection of the seeds to her body as each planted themselves on her chest. Her talons dug into the dirt as she forced herself into a full on stop.

"What did you do?" she demanded even though the foe would likely not tell her as long green and brown tendrils sprouted from the seeds and began to wrap around her body. The null was completely distracted by the new problem that had presented itself to her as she felt an odd sting wherever the roots had touched her. Kala gave an angered cry that seemed akin to some sort of bark as she spent energy on the action of trying to tear the seeds off with her insect-like claws.

She failed, quite obviously, as the seeds merely increased in their growth the more she had struggled. The Null had wasted a few valuable seconds that would have left her vulnerable to any attack the petilil might have in mind whether it be physical or yet another status affliction that would have eventually led to her downfall for underestimating. If she were not incapacitated by then, she would have turned to attack the petilil once more with a newfound fury as her blood began to boil.

She would have begun to become lost in the fight as she would forget that this was practice. The primary directive in her genes began to resurface that demanded that she show this pesky annoyance who was truly powerful in physical combat.

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