Post by Ichiro Aihara on Mar 21, 2015 20:04:14 GMT -5
Ichiro lived in Shui City; however, that in no way meant that he could not branch out and visit other neighboring provinces as well. He often took Hercules, the to-be physical attacker of the group, to the fitness center in Bayonadaville. Since Hercules was still just a Magikarp, he would typically try and get him to do something simple, like flop around the obstacle course out back, or try and strike a smaller practice target. However, today was different.
Ichiro paid the relatively cheap entrance fee and went up to the second floor, Hercules’ pokeball in hand. He wiped some sweat off of his forehead- it was a pretty hot day. As soon as Ichiro stepped into the room, he headed to one of the punching bags, and took Hercules from his ball.
“Alright, Hercules. Today we’re going to be doing something a little different.”
The fish stared at him, confused. His facial expression (if you could call it that) was inquisitive. Hercules had never been to this area before. He didn’t know what to do- what were those black sacks hanging above the ground? What was going on? What was this lunacy?
Perhaps Hercules was confused because he’d never seen one of these punching bag things before; what were they for? For hugging? It was all so confusing! While Hercules stared at Ichiro with a blank, slightly derpy expression on his face, Ichi smiled.
“Hercules, use tackle.”
He pointed at the punching bag. Hercules flopped around a little bit, propelling himself towards the bag; he came close to hitting it, but alas- no cigar. Ichiro saw that his Magikarp buddy would need some coaxing- so he decided to provide a visual demonstration.
“Hercules, watch me do it. Then, you can try.”
Ichiro took a few steps back, then charged at a punching bag at full speed. He leapt in the air and dove into it- however, the sturdy bag was unyielding; it stood, unshaken, as Ichiro slumped to the ground.
“On second thought… maybe you shouldn’t try doing that.”
Hercules stared at Ichiro. It was quite obvious that he had not the slightest clue what he was supposed to be doing- however, Ichiro was oblivious. He motioned for his Magikarp to tackle the punching bag. This time, Hercules assumed that Ichiro’s gesturing towards the punching bag indicated he wanted him to go there, and pushed his body off of the ground with his tail. He missed the punching bag, but flew a couple meters through the air. Perhaps it would be necessary to work on a smaller target first?
Ichiro put Hercules back into his Pokeball. He walked down to the obstacle course outside of the gym, in the back. There were small practice dummies which children and little Pokemon used to train their basic attacking skills. The heat was intense. Ichiro, however, thought nothing of this. He and Hercules had a goal to achieve- and he would not rest until he achieved it. He took Hercules back out of the ball and gestured towards the smaller target.
“Go on, Hercules. Use Tackle.”
Hercules leapt towards the target- he used his tail to propel him again. He made contact with it, but it did not move.
“That’s it, Hercules! You’re doing much better. Now try a little bit harder. Use Tackle again!”
The positive feedback made Hercules think (and furthermore, realize) Ichiro wanted him to hit the target- which he did. Hercules used his tail to propel himself again. He waved it as he flew through the air some; this helped him gain a little more momentum, but when he hit the target, it only barely moved. Becoming frustrated and realizing what had just happened, Hercules flew again at the practice target, only to have it budge slightly once more. What was happening? This was maddening! Was he not building up enough momentum? Ichiro could sense that Hercules was becoming frustrated; however, instead of returning him to the ball like a normal trainer would do, he let the Magikarp continue attacking. He wanted to see what would come out of this exercise.
Again and again Hercules struck the target, and each time he struck it, it would move slightly more. Ichiro had stepped back and allowed Hercules to do his own thing, and it seemed to be succeeding. When Hercules knocked the little target down (after about an hour of repeated trials), Ichiro figured that it was enough. However, Hercules thought otherwise. His eyes widened when Ichiro pulled out his ball; he looked angry, almost afraid to go back in his Pokeball.
“You don’t want to go in the ball, do you?”
Hercules gave Ichiro a look that seemed almost like agreement. Perhaps this meant he would rather go back to the indoor portion of the gym and attack the punching bags again. As they approached the doors, Hercules trembled with excitement and anticipation. Ichiro honored Hercules’ ‘request’ to not be stored back in the ball; he carried him to the second floor of Bayonada’s Fitness Center, entered, and brought Hercules to the punching bags.
“Alright… Use Tackle!”
Hercules propelled himself with his tail towards the punching bag; it moved a couple of inches, but aside from that, no true impact existed. Not wanting Hercules to get downhearted, Ichiro reassured him with kind words.
“Don’t worry, Hercules; those punching bags are super heavy.”
Hercules wouldn’t have this. The little Magikarp wanted to prove that he was strong, as strong if not stronger than Keiko and Lucy, Ichiro’s other Pokemon. The fish steeled himself, before leaping towards the punching bag again, moving it a little bit further. Ichiro watched Magikarp try this multiple times, and the bag moved a little more each consecutive time. He decided to attempt to do something different; perhaps he could rest his vocal chords by teaching Magikarp a sound command for the Tackle attack- that way he wouldn’t have to shout for the fish to use tackle every 10 seconds.
“Ok, Hercules. When I snap my fingers like this-“ he snapped his fingers- “I want you to use Tackle on the punching bag. Do you understand me?”
To test this, Ichiro snapped his fingers; Hercules immediately rammed his little fish body into the punching bag. Little guy must have really wanted to please Ichi and get stronger. Ichiro responded with a smile.
“Excellent job, Hercules! And look- you’re moving the bag more now!”
Hercules did notice he was moving the bag more than before; each time he rammed it, the bag swayed a couple of feet backwards. He was getting stronger. However, he was starting to get tired. Ichiro snapped his fingers, and Hercules mustered up all the strength he had left; he rammed himself into the bag once more. It moved almost two meters- the Magikarp had mustered strength almost unheard of from any type of fish Pokemon. Ichiro picked him up and hugged him.
“Oh, Hercules… I’m so proud of you! You’re becoming stronger and stronger- soon, you might even evolve! But for now, it’s time to rest.”
The Magikarp seemed to agree- he went right back to his Pokeball, and Ichiro and his Pokemon traveled back home to Shui.
TAG | 000 | ▶ | CODED BY SYLVIE |
