Direction switch!

Tala Stripes and Ty sat in the forest earliy morning waiting for Kai and Blaze, they had been up since sunrise, it was a typical day for them.

Kai finally arrived a little after the trio had made it, looking wide awake as he got his normal morning run in, while Blaze yawned slightly. "Good morning everyone!" He added, grinning lightly.

Blaze stretched and gazed over at Stripes at Ty, "How do you both do this in the morning?" He asked, yawning again.

Tala gave a smile and stood on the fallen tree, "You boys get a start on training, Kai you come up here and stand next to me!" Tala said waving them over. Stripes and Ty walked over to Blaze.
"You kidding, we slept in to half past six this morning!" Ty groaned.

Kai crossed his arms and looked at Tala standing on a fallen tree until she told him to stand on it himself. "Alright, you've got it..." He said, doing as she told him to. "But uhh, why are we on a downed tree?" Kai asked, looking confused.

"Slept in?" Blaze asked, blinking in amazement. "Forget I even asked, What do you have for me now guys?"

"Ty is going to time us as we run through track as fast as we can! This will test your speed!" Stripes explained as Ty took a stop watch from Tala's bag.
Tala smiled at Kai, "We work on balance here, by shifting our weight on the tree instead of the ground!" Tala said.

"Alright!! This will be fun!" Blaze said, looking excited and wagging his tail. "Testing my speed huh? I'm ready!!"

"Alright, sounds like a unique way to train someone's balance, but I'm ready for anything." Kai said with a small chuckle.

Tala gave a smile as he got on, the fallen tree was loose and easily shook around. When she was sure he had his balance she shifted her feet and weight about making the tree shake around.
"Now first follow me as I walk you around the course..." Stripes said as he got ready to go for a walk.

Kai examined the tree and noticed how wobbly it was, and before he could say anything Tala shifted her weight and this nearly made him fall, but he quickly shifted his weight to stay stable on the tree. "Whew, don't send me flying Tala..." He joked, gazing down at his feet.

"Right, the course, I'm with ya!!" Blaze said, walking next to Stripes and taking in the surroundings.

Tala gave a devilish smile, "When on a board you will skate on tough terrain to balance on, and you'll also have to be able to change direction as well as stay standing on the board on these terrains, and this is just to help!" she giggled "Besides it's funny to see people fall!" she joked.
Stripes walked around vast parts of the forest going around tight turns, wide turns, narrow paths, while all the time giving Blaze advice like "When at a tight turn like this it is best to slow down slightly so you don't crash," or "Watch your footing in these narrow paths being very slightly slower at these path so you can be that bit more careful," but to be honest he wondered if the young growlithe even payed much attention knowing when you are younger you tend not to listen to older ones as much.

"So it's just another way to train on me staying on the board and another way to get some bumps and bruises?" Kai asked with a small smirk of his own. "Well, there's only one way to get better...show me what you've got!" He called out, flipping his hat backwards as he waited to react.

"Yeah, yeah...Something about slowing down in a turn and watch my footing in some path..." Blaze muttered, scratching at the ground slightly as he was ready to run. "And being careful, I got it, I got it...."

Tala smiled walking to one end shifting her footing more and more each step to make the trunks shift and turn till she thought Kai might fall off.
When Stripes and Blaze got back to Ty. Stripes let out a sigh and sat next to Ty. "When I say 'Run' you need to run...I'm starting the stop watch...now, RUN!" Ty called.

Kai quickly tried to counteract his feeling of being off balance by positioning himself like he would on the board, knees bent and arms out, and moving his feet to stay on the trunk, but eventually his feet crossed up and he fell off on his back. "Ugh...this is the utter definition of crash course..." He muttered, sitting up slowly.

Blaze on the other hand was being cocky and trying to show off again, and as Ty called out run, the Growlithe scrambled away and nearly stumbled over his own feet out of the start, but he made several mistakes that Stripes warned him about, such as not slowing down at a corner, in which he tried to skid to a stop, but faceplanted and lost his footing several times in narrow paths, not slowing down much.

A little while later and the Growlithe stumbled to the finish, falling to his belly as he panted. "H-How was that?" Blaze asked, looking like a wreck.

"Three minutes four...too slow...Stripes, show the kid how it's done!" Ty said knowing that Blaze didn't listen to Stripes and his advice. "Happy to!" Stripes said standing then dashing off. Slowing at truns watching his footing he soon returned to the spot where Ty was sitting "My time?" he asked sitting as if it was nothing. "One minute five, getting slow in old age are we?" Ty teased.
Tala immediately jumped down "Are you alright Kai? I'm sorry I should've been more careful!" she said apologetically.

Blaze shook off some of the dirt and debris that had gathered in his coat and stood up once he gathered his bearings. "Heh, lets see..." He muttered, watching as Stripes took off. Blaze watched in amazement and crowded Ty in seeing the stopwatch. "I can't believe my eyes...that was blistering fast, I don't know how you did that, but I'm going to get there..."

Kai chuckled as Tala jumped down and he got to his feet quickly, "I'm fine, you don't have to apologize, I don't want you taking it easy on me, if Blaze is giving his all, I'm gonna do the same." He said with a small grin. "Throw whatever you've got at me, I'll handle it..." Kai added as he jumped back onto the downed tree.

Tala looked at him in disbelief, her older brother gave up at that point and he was older and supposidly 'more grown up' than Kai, being older that's what most people assume. The disbelief turned into a smile as she got onto the log again. "Fine, the foot that you have at the back of your board is the one with most balance, so stand on that foot and lift the other one, I wanna see how balanced you really are!" she grinned.
Ty took a deep breath and shook his head, "It took Stripes years to get where he is, and he went through the hard way of not having a mentor with helpful hints and tip. My advise listen to every word he says kid or you will have to learn the hard way too." Ty said calmly.
"You can't even run fast 'cuz of the pounds of cookies you've ate, and that's not in money but in weight my friend!" Stripes joked, "Come Blaze, I'll run with you this time and give advise as we run, you might listen this time!"

Kai smiled lightly and put the small amount of pain his back was in on the back burner, he was determined to learn every bit from Tala that he could, and seeing the disbelief on her face made him chuckle. "Alright, I'm lifting my front foot..." Kai said with a small smirk, lifting his right foot and balancing on his left. "Whatcha got?"

Blaze sat for a moment and focused in on what Ty had to say and looked a bit surprised, "Listen to his every word?" He muttered to himself, before hearing Stripes chime in with the joke. "Now come on, I don't want hear another argument out of you two, I've got teeth and i know how to use 'em" Blaze growled playfully at the two.

"Alright Master Stripes, lets have a run through..." Blaze said lowly as he stretched for a moment and dashed off at speed.

Tala done the same playfully shaking the tree to see if Kai could keep his balance. "The key is not to fall!" she said noticing the strain she was a bit more careful than previously.
Ty had set the watch and Stripes ran at Blaze's side, giving out the same advise at before, he was happy as Blaze seemed to listen this time.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he composed himself and worked at staying on the tree, using his arms to help him steady, he battled the shaking of the tree and stayed on a bit longer, only falling off when he overcorrected his weight, landing on his feet safely. "Thought I had it..." Kai growled, quickly jumping back up onto the tree, laughing slightly and trying again.

Blaze blocked out everything but Stripe's words and carefully navigated a sharp turn by slowing down and keeping his feet balanced underneath him, which allowed him to power out of it quickly and then was cautious through a narrow path, gliding through it with precision as he cleared the main obstacles that messed him up the first time, allowing him to sprint to the finish. "I-Its not as easy as it looks..." The Growlithe panted, glancing over at Ty and then Stripes, with a small, unsure grin.

Tala was happy to comply, doing the same technique as before. "Just tell me when you want to rest and sit down for a bit!" she said with a gentle smile.
Stripes turned to Ty who said "One minute twenty, see what happens when you listen?" Ty said emphasising the 'listen'. Stripes gave him a funny look and shook his head.
"We were the same ourselves, don't moan at him. When you're young you don't take into concideration about older people or pokemon having experienced things you are starting, it's normal!" he grunted "I even remember your stubborness to listen and done things your own way until it landed you into deep trouble!" Ty gave a glare and a nod "You don't need to keep bringing that up, I learned my lesson that day! You're right anyways, sorry for moaning kid!" Ty said with a sigh.

Kai was determined to get this balance thing down, but didn't let the thought of it consume him, he just set himself in the position Tala told him to and did his best not to fall, and even though he lasted longer than the previous run, he had to jump off as his foot nearly slipped. "Alright, lets take a break then, I need a drink of water anyhow." Kai said with a grin, grabbing his pack which had his water bottle inside. "Thats some tough work Tala, fun but tough."

"That was really that quick? I guess I did learn a lot just by listening..." Blaze said with a nervous laugh. "Its fine Stripes, I did get cocky again and tried to show off, I won't get anywhere if I keep trying to act like a hotshot, its fine Ty." The Growlithe admitted. "It is kind of entertaining to listen to both of your stories about when you were younger, I really should take what I can from that..."

Blaze simply nodded to Ty and Stripes, before sitting down and running the course through his mind again, it was amazing how just paying attention could do that, but what was even more amazing was the speed and agility Stripes showed, it made Blaze think to himself silently for a few minutes.

Tala hopped down with a smile taking some cookies out of her bag and handing them to the pokemon "I found that recepie you told me about, the one that Blaze likes and I brought them for him to taste!" she said putting it down for the pokemon to nibble on before sitting next to Kai. "Do you ever just stop thinking and look up to the sky? It's really relaxing..." she muttered.
Ty took a cookie then looked to Blaze "We could tell you some stories from back home in the ranch! I tell ya, nothing that happens there is normal!" Ty laughed before taking a bite of the cookie.

"Thats awesome Tala, I really appreciate that...I found a recipe for them to try some other time, I think they'll like it." Kai said with a chuckle. before taking a seat and glancing at Tala. "I do glance up once in a while, it is relaxing, my form of relaxation is fixing stuff though, if I'm bored or stressed out, I pick up a project and work on it until I either fix it or blow off steam." Kai said softly, leaning back a bit and glancing at the sky, thinking to himself.

Blaze looked absolutely excited at the scent of his favorite treat, "A cookie and a story? This is getting better and better!" He said happily. "You guys are from a ranch too? Sounds like a fun place!" Blaze said as he bit at a cookie.

"Well what do you wanna hear about fist, what an angry absol does to a zoroark that has used it's illusion ability to make itself look like the absol's trainer or why Instinct is no longer allowed in the near by museum" Ty laughed remembering both events as if they were yesterday. "Or something else?" Stripes suggested.
Tala gave a sigh and a smile "It's nice to sit and think...It helps you reflect on things..." she trailed off thinking of what she usually reflected on.

"Oh man, definitely the first one...that sounds like an entertaining story in itself." Blaze said, already looking entertained just by hearing the topics brought up. "Actually both do, but I gotta hear the first one." Blaze said with a snicker.

"Yeah, it can clear your mind of stuff bugging you, and helps you cool off when you're mad or frustrated." Kai added, also thinking quietly about his own topics. "I really gotta thank you for helping me again with all this, I just hope I can repay you in some way Tala."

"Well, Zola, Talas cousin's Zoroark decided to look like Tala and used a blow horn to wake up Talas Absol, Instinct! Instinct woke up and chased her through the whole ranch and finally into Tala's room. I was a Quilava at the time, me and Tala were listening to Evanesence. Instinct became confused and angry, Tala was very unamused, picked me up and left the room saying 'if you break something I'll kill you both!' we came back ten minutes later, Zola was unconscious with lots of brusing and Instinct was walking out saying 'absol score 92, zoroark score 0' that was a wild day! Poor Zola was getting beat up by everyone!" Ty laughed.
Tala gave Kai a smile "Just a smile and a 'thank you' is more than enough, besides I have nothing better to do!" Tala said.