Interlude – Steps (Part 2)

Interlude – Steps (Part 2)

INTERLUDE - STEPS (PART 2)

To Chase Karlson, life was about excellence.

Most humans would be satisfied with doing the bare minimum, drifting along the current and offering up no resistance. Living your life as a spectator, so long as you earned three meals a day, a warm bed, and maybe a trip or two per year. Then eventually start a family. This was what people thought was a good life, and honestly, could he really blame them?

Yes, he could, and he would.

In through the nose, out through the mouth. Chase felt the blood pump through his legs as he ran through route 207. After another thirty minutes of jogging, he would slowly increase his speed as time passed until he reached his maximum velocity. He jumped over a fallen tree trunk as if it was a hurdle. Riolu did the same, flipping twice in the air and landing gracefully without even a single noise. Chase paid it no mind. It was an expected performance.

This was their routine. They had been doing this for years, even before the Circuit started. Chase had implemented a workout regiment to bring them into top shape, and Riolu had taken it in stride, just like he had expected. They were so alike, Chase and he, and that meant they both expected excellence.

This was only the first section. First, they always worked on their endurance. Chase smiled as he began hitting his second wind. The pain was almost all gone now, and it was being replaced by numbness. The next thirty minutes went by in a flash, and he handed Riolu a bottle of water. The small Pokemon clumsily held it with both paws and downed the whole bottle. They could have done this in a gym— Oreburgh had many gyms adapted to Pokemon— but why practice in an unrealistic environment? Being a trainer was all about survival in the wild, and so in the wild, they trained.

“Alright, Riolu. Five minute break. Walk off the pain if it hurts. No sitting down,” He told his Pokemon.

Riolu looked at him with his usual determined stare. “Rio!”

As usual, Riolu simply stayed by his side, emulating his stretches. He always imitated Chase and looked to him for guidance. At the same time, Chase believed Riolu to be as close to perfection as it got. Sure, he had other Pokemon— two, in fact— but their bond went beyond that. It was in Riolu that Chase believed above all, and it was Riolu who would bring him the title of Champion.

Cecilia Obel.

Anger boiled up inside of Chase. Cecilia this, Cecilia that, it was all these losers could talk about! She was nothing! Some Unovan trash who was too scared to compete in her own region because that meant she would have to fight her brother. And yet, she was more popular than he was? Someone who had proven himself time and time again since the Circuit had started? These people were all trash—

“Rio!” Riolu yelled out.

Chase snapped out of his inner rant, realizing he had already cut a slice of chicken and was just slicing the plate, creating an eerie scratching noise. That had garnered the other trainer’s attention, and they stared at him with irritated gazes.

Don’t look... don’t look at me while I’m being mediocre.

Chase finished his meal quickly and left the center before his one hour break was up. He needed a distraction to put this moment of mediocrity behind him. So he decided to go to a battling arena a few blocks away from the gym.

“Hey losers!” He yelled as he walked past the door. “Who’s the strongest trainer here?!”

They stared at him like a group of confused Spinda. Chase continued walking, wasting his breath by asking around for the strongest trainer. This time, he got answers.

Soon they’ll understand. He thought. No— he would make them understand that he was the only name worth following in this League Circuit full of losers.

“One step at a time, I will reach perfection,” Chase murmured to himself.