This time Pip took the team's training a little farther away from the main boardwalk, so there would be less distractions for Chingling. They spent a little time with Little Guy one-on-one before taking out the second pokemon as well, to make sure that that at least one of the pokemon would walk away from the session having benefited in some way...
Little Guy had been, really, very well behaved, for the most part. He learned to respond to his name before it was even technically his name, and he was very attentive. Normally Pip would have expected to spend a lot longer working on fundamentals, but they were confident focusing on slightly more advanced work. He naturally liked to stay by Pip's side (they were worried it was because he would be prone to ankle biting, but they were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't), so it was just a matter of encouraging that behaviour and associating it with a verbal and visual heel command.
To that end, they kept Little Guy moving with them, at their side, while they worked on basic attention and recall with the Chingling. Although they had originally interpreted it's behaviour as playful -- maybe influenced by its bouncy way of floating -- but they realized now that it's attention to passers-by was more about defensiveness than anything else. It was weird to think of such a cute little pokemon as being serious, but it was probably the best descriptor. At least it wasn't outright aggressive. With fewer distractions, it was much easier to reinforce the trainer-reward relationship and work on recall.
... it sure would have been easier if they could decide what to call it...
