The gutpunching home - Part 4
#4 of The gutpunching home
THE SNAKE THAT WISHED TO BE STRONG
Fortunately (or not so fortunately depending on how you look at it), Heliolisk did not take Draco's compliments seriously and nothing major came out of it. The tough frilled lizard shook hands with the four housemates (who had to kneel or coil down because of the significant height difference) and promised to come back on another day.
... granted, that does not solve a second problem - the way Blaziken, Dragonite, and Kommo-o would react to that accidental outburst.
They laugh. Even Kommo-o, the guy that is almost incapable of thinking of something that is not strength or fighting, laughs.
"Hah, so that's your type, Draco? Small guys with good muscles?" Dragonite says cheerfully, making the Serperior blush even more.
"Oh, come on, don't be so shy! That's perfectly okay!" Blaziken tries to reassure his roommate.
"We're not going to judge you on that." Kommo-o tells Draco as he tries to get serious again. "And besides, that Heliolisk has proven to be tough for his size, so I'd say it's a fine choice."
Ah, so he WAS being single-minded again.
"Guys, could we just... drop the topic?" Draco says in an embarrassed tone.
Dragonite raises his hands in a defensive way. "Okay, okay, if you're not feeling comfortable at it, we won't insist. Still, as we said, it's not something to be embarrassed about. I mean, we all like strong guys here!"
Draco's eyes widen in surprise.
"Well, except for Kommo-o." Blaziken clarifies. "He likes strength, and the rest does not matter." The Dragon/Fighting-type Pokémon nods at that statement. "Anyways, if you're not comfortable with that, then here is where we stop talking."
Draco sighs in relief. "Thanks..."
A few hours later, the four muscular housemates are dining.
Draco, being the sole carnivore of the four, is having a good amount of boiled eggs. Dragonite and Kommo-o, who are herbivores, are having a big salad with a wide variety of vegetables with them. Blaziken, being the only one of the group that is an omnivore, is having small portions of meat alongside a similarly-small salad.
"So, Draco..." Dragonite begins to say as he bites a bit of his salad. "I'm a little curious. How did you get so interested in working up your body and fighting? I mean, your species is not exactly known as a hand-to-hand combatant."
"Well, I kind of started liking the idea very early on, but only actually started doing so since I was a teen Snivy."
"A teen Snivy?" Blaziken seems surprised. "You mean you were still on your first stage as a teen?"
"Yup." Draco nods. "The thing is, Servine don't have exactly a balanced body profile for fighting so I wanted to train as much as I could as a Snivy, and then evolve up to Serperior as quickly as possible."
"Tiny legs, tiny arms..." Dragonite thinks, then nods. "Makes sense."
"Who did you train under?" Blaziken asks. "Because whoever trained you..." Draco gives a worried look.
"... did a fine job." Kommo-o completes... and makes Draco feel relieved.
"I had a single trainer." Draco explains. "He really helped me a lot at both learning how to fight and how to build up muscle. I still hold him in high esteem."
"Don't leave us with the intrigue." Dragonite says with excitement. "Tell us about him!"
Draco closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Well, he was..."
Many years ago...
In a rather simplistic-looking club, Draco is present. Back then, as a 60-centimetre-tall Snivy, he did not have the impressive body build he has as a Serperior. His arms and his short legs are thin, albeit they are a bit thicker than how they are on the average Snivy. His torso does not really show much either, albeit the upper torso is wider, and the belly region overall is way less squishy than on most. In terms of attire, he's wearing some adorable-looking brown-and-white boxing gloves and trunks, as well as a pair of comfortable white shoes.
Draco walks across the club and waves at the few other Pokémon that are present in it. Some are first-stage Pokémon like him, others are more evolved. Some are older, some are younger. Either way, he's not exactly out-of-place.
Eventually, he comes across the Pokémon he wanted to see, who is alone in a boxing ring. His 'mentor' or so to speak. This mentor, despite being both older and in a higher evolutionary stage than Draco, is actually slightly shorter than the Snivy. He's a Linoone - more specifically of the Hoennian variety. His 50-centimetre tall body, while clearly fit, is of the slim type, his musculature mostly being obscured by his light brown fur. You can only really notice that with his upper torso being slightly wider than his midsection, and his arms being noticeably thicker than those of Draco. He is too wearing boxing gear, but his is of the most typical red-and-white colors for the gloves and trunks.
"My, my, if it isn't my favourite punching snake!" The Linoone says in a friendly tone as Draco hops into the ring.
"And if it isn't VK, my favourite punching badger mentor!" Draco says while smiling, then the two playfully hit each other's fists. They always have that kind of greeting.
"I hope you are ready to give me a good fight." VK says, and smirks.
That makes Draco flinch back a little. "F-Fight with YOU!?" He's not exactly confident on the prospect of fighting his noticeably stronger mentor. Not to mention that... "B-But you told me I'd fight--"
"Someone else, I know." VK interrupts. "But the opponent I had arranged for you told me he's going to arrive in around half-an-hour. So I thought: what about a bit of sparring? Doesn't that sound like an interesting prospect?"
"Uhm..." Draco rubs his chin. "But you are going to..."
"Let me guess. You think I'm going to beat you handidly and then you won't be in conditions for the arranged fight. That's... actually I didn't consider, hahaha!" VK chuckles awkwardly. "Okay, okay, so what about a sparring session where you try to hit me and I don't try to hit back?"
"Are... you okay with that?"
"Of course!" VK pats his chest energetically. "I can handle it, you do not worry about that." He puts himself on guard stance. "For five minutes, I want you to show me your footwork, your technique, and your strength. Let's see how much you've learned!"
Draco's eyes shine in excitement of that opportunity. He really looks up to his mentor (figuratively; literally he looks down because Draco's taller) so he absolutely wants to give VK a good showing of what he learned from him.
"YES! I want to try that!" Draco says with a very happy tone.
"That's the spirit!" VK smiles. "Now, let's have a brief warm-up session so we'll be ready to spar."
Draco and VK begin to do warm-up exercises together for two or three minutes, such as jumping jacks, shadow boxing, doing pushups, etc. They're both pretty fit and in great shape, so they get through it relatively quickly. Then, the real fun begins.
"Well then..." VK clashes his gloved fists and places himself 30 centimetres in front of the Snivy. "Bring it! Do not forget, you have five minutes to land as many punches as possible on me!"
Draco nods and gets in position to start.
He first tries with some light jabs to VK's head, which the Linoone easily dodges and blocks with his gloves. Draco does not seem to get discouraged by that, and keeps throwing them at him. None succeed, though.
"Come on, Draco, those hits are predictable!" VK yells. "You are going to need much more than that to--UGH!" The Linoone groans when he feels one of the Snivy's fist on the center of his abdomen. He bends over and takes a few steps back. "Not a bad hit, but you're not going to have such an opening against a serious fighter." He straightens and stands again. "Try harder!"
VK is right. Draco needs to improve the technique and variety of his punches if he really wants to stand a chance against someone who will actually try to fight back. He thinks, and decides to start throwing combinations of punches at either the body or face... but VK keeps dodging or blocking them without much issue. As a Linoone, he's naturally much faster than Draco, and the difference shows. It shows enough that Draco's attempts to hit are interrupted when VK suddenly taps the tip of the Snivy's snout with one of his gloves. Draco is stunned and grimaces at the sudden move.
"Divert attention away from where you want to hit." The Linoone tells Draco as he pulls his fist away from the bipedal snake's snout. "That is especially important when you are facing a faster fighter... like the one I got for you for later."
Draco takes those words to the heart and nods. "Understood. I will try to do as you say."
"We are already one minute into the session, so you better make good use of it."
The Snivy is determined to impress his trainer with these new tips. The problem is... how to pull that off? Draco thinks, and decides to try some deliberately bad punches. He throws a rather low-effort to one side, then puts as much strength as possible to target the other one. The attempt succeeds... but only barely. Draco manages to land a "hit" on VK, but it's just his fist grazing the Linoone's left cheek.
It's enough to make VK smile, though. "That's more like it. Let's see how you continue..."
VK steps away from Draco, goading his 'student' to approach him again. Draco charges towards VK and goes for a combination of punches. First comes an uppercut to the chin, which VK blocks effortlessly; then, a cross punch to the left side of his head, which VK steps back from, and finally another uppercut, except this time is to the gut... and it connects, solidly.
"Ah!" VK yells from the hit. His body arcs slightly and steps back from the fist... but finds himself cornered. His eyes widen in surprise, not expecting this situation.
This is Draco's chance. The younger but taller (and not so slim) Snivy has his trainer on the literal ropes, and all he can do now is strike. He throws punches wildly, with no particular destination (apart from them being thrown at the face or abdomen), and the Linoone is finding getting out of this difficult as, as it was agreed, he would not hit back, so he can only cover and tank whatever hits he cannot stop.
It lasts about 30 seconds, but Draco manages to land several hits on VK's face, belly, and sides. It's nothing major, as Draco, being a Snivy right now, is nowhere near strong enough to deliver very strong hits on the Linoone, but it's enough for him to make VK hug him.
VK chuckles while hugging. "Not bad, huh? I did not see that you were getting me cornered." Then, as per the rules, they break. Draco intends to continue fighting, but...
"Hello!" A somewhat youthful male voice yells. "You are VK, right?"
Draco and VK's sparring session is interrupted by a Treecko. As per the usual of his species, he's a 50-centimetre-tall bipedal gecko, with a green scaly body, a red underbelly, and a thick tail. Much like Draco, if this Treecko has somewhat developed muscles, they are barely visible, with some hint of thickness in his arms and legs. He wears lime green-and-yellow boxing gloves and trunks, the latter of which also includes a crude drawing of the head of a Sceptile, and wears blue training shoes.
"Ah! Hello!" VK greets back, sounding sort of surprised. "You arrived much earlier!"
"Sorry for that." The Treecko says while scratching the back of his head. "The delay I thought I was eventually going to have never came up."
"Understood." VK nods, and then looks a Draco. "Take a breather. We're calling off this sparring session. Drink something while he gets ready, okay?"
"Sure, sure." Draco agrees. He grabs a water bottle from the nearby table, and takes a sip. It tastes good, and the coldness of the liquid is a nice change.
VK hops off the ring while the Treecko, who says he's called 'Lag', starts to do warm-up exercises of his own, starting with a few sit-ups, which Draco observes to make a visual check of Lag's physique.
"Hey, hey, what's that for?"
"I am warming up my abs," the Treecko answers before he switches to some stretching.
"Do you find important to warm up your abs before boxing?" Draco asks innocently.
"Well, yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I need to do that?"
"It's just a different warming up exercise." VK tells Draco. "Yes, some think it's worth warming up the abdominal muscles, but all our bodies are different, so it's up to each one to decide how they want to warm up and in which order. For example, my species is quick on the legs, so I place importance on warming up my leg muscles. For other species one might want to start with the abs, or even the shoulders. There is no correct way, and each individual is free to choose their preferred method."
"Oh, I see." Draco answers. He keeps looking at the different exercises Lag performs, taking note of which ones seem the most effective.
As they finish their preparations, VK steps back into the ring and tells Draco and Lag to go to the center.
"I will be the referee of the fight." The Linoone says. "You two are going to have a three-round boxing fight. And since I'm going to play the role of referee, let me remind you two the rules: punches are only allowed, and the hits must land on the opponent. You can hit him anywhere, but the target is his face and midsection. No other parts. A fighter is declared victor when the opponent is knocked down and does not stand up in 10 seconds, or when they are knocked down three times in a single round. If either of these happens, the fight is over. Are there any questions?"
"No, none." Draco says.
"What if our fun little fight ends up with neither condition?" Lag asks, raising a good point.
"We'll call it a draw this time. After all, it's nothing serious."
Draco and Lag nod in agreement, and then they both step forward, ready to begin their fight.
The first punch is a right hook by Draco. It is aimed at Lag's face, and lands perfectly.
"Hah!" Lag yelps, and shakes his head.
VK pays attention at Draco's performance during the fight. He knows Lag's faster, which gives him an advantage in reflexes and throwing hits, but at the same time he's physically weaker, so as long as Draco understands how to land hits against a faster opponent, he should have a good chance to win.
Lag steps back and plans a counter-attack. He decides to throw a straight left jab at Draco, who dodges by ducking under the incoming fist and delivers a uppercut, hitting Lag's chin.
"Ow!" The Treecko cries out, and staggers.
Draco tries going for a left hook at Treecko's gut, but the punch misses.
This gives Lag the chance to go for another attack, and he throws a right cross. It connects with Draco's jaw, and makes the Snivy stumble.
Draco collides with the ropes, and Lag tries to go further with a hook to the middle of Draco's belly. The attempt to hit Draco's abs succeeds but, to the Snivy's surprise, Lag's hook wasn't that strong. It's enough to make him slightly wince in pain, yes, but this actually gives Draco an opening for a follow-up blow.
He goes for a straight punch, aiming to connect with Lag's gut, and he manages to do that.
"Gah!" The Treecko's reaction to Draco's punch is one of shock, followed by a groan. He steps back, clutches his belly, and doubles over.
Draco is shocked that a single hit to the gut could cause such damage. But he cannot stop. He attempts to capitalize on his advantage with a hook on Lag's side, but he doesn't manage to land. Instead, he finds himself in a situation where his entire body is exposed, and he is vulnerable to a series of punches from his opponent.
Lag makes use of this vulnerability and lands three punches - two on each of Draco's sides, and the third is a straight hit to his gut.
"Ngh... Nnnng..." Draco is unable to say anything after that. The Snivy finds himself literally on the ropes again, with one hand covering his recently hit belly.
Lag wants to keep pummeling Draco so he goes for a cross punch to the face. He does not expect Draco to dodge it, however, and he is surprised when his arm passes through empty space. Now it's the Treecko whose body is fully exposed, and he is completely defenseless.
Lag's eyes widen, and they widen even more when he feels his belly being subjected to an incredibly powerful punch.
"Aaaagh!" Lag's scream is muffled, as he is now trying to cover his stomach with his arms.
Draco goes ahead with a pair of cross punches to Lag's face. He follows them with a straight right that hits Lag on the chin, and then he lands a left hook on his midsection.
"Ugghh! Ahhhhhhh!" Lag screams, and he drops to his knees, clutching his abdomen.
Draco steps back as he is not allowed to hit his opponent as long as he's down. Lag can wait a maximum of 10 seconds before getting up, because if he doesn't, he will be declared the loser.
VK, in his role of referee, begins to count. "1... 2... 3..."
Groaning and clutching his belly, Lag manages to get up right when VK was counting the number seven. While VK stops counting and very briefly checks with Lag to ensure if he can continue, Draco is standing in a corner, waiting for Lag to continue fighting.
And continue fighting he does, as he stops clutching his belly and begins to walk towards Draco to continue the fight.
As Lag finishes walking towards Draco, and he continues the assault on his body with a left jab followed by a straight punch. Draco is still in a corner, and he has no choice but to try to defend himself.
His attempt to avoid the hits is futile though, because both of Lag's attacks connect with his body.
The first one makes Draco stumble, and the second one sends him towards the corner post.
Hitting the corner makes Draco drop his guard, and he is hit by a left straight to his face.
Lag is pleased with the result. He smiles as he walks away, and Draco falls backwards, hitting the floor with a loud thud.
Lag waits while VK gets next to Draco and begins the countdown.
Draco manages to stand up at around 8 seconds. He is given a clear from VK so the fight can continue.
The two fighters approach and... the bell rings. It's the end of the round.
Draco and Lag go to opposite corners and sit down to relax and drink a bit of water for a minute. They are allowed to rest and catch their breath for the time being.
In terms of damage sustained, while Draco has received more hits, Lag has been hit harder. Draco has a red mark on his midsection where Lag punched, while Lag has a large bruise on the side of his jawline (the red coloring of his belly conveniently hides if Lag also has any bruises there).
After a minute passes, the bell rings and Draco and Lag go to the center of the ring. Round two of three starts.
Both are ready, and the battle is back on.
Draco is the aggressor this round, and he comes in swinging. He begins with a flurry of punches, which, unfortunately for him, misses the target. Lag ducks under the blows and lands a blow to Draco's midsection.
"Ngh!" Draco moans in pain, but he does not stop his assault.
He takes a few more blows, but then he finds out he has Lag cornered. Cornered, the Treecko cannot dodge Draco's strikes anymore, and he is forced to attack or block.
At this point, both fighters neglect to block and begin to exchange blows.
First, it's Draco landing a couple of jabs on Lag's face, and then he follows them up with a straight right to the stomach, just above the belt.
"Gah!" Lag gasps, and retaliates with a right hook that connects with Draco's cheek.
Then he goes for a left straight to the head, only to be blocked by Draco. Draco moves in close and attempts a punch, but Lag blocks the strike with ease.
The Snivy then gets a strong feeling of one of Lag's fists on the side of his head, and he tries to duck, but he is too late.
A powerful fist hits the top of Draco's skull. And then one on his gut, and another hit... is what Lag would have wanted to do, because despite the strong punch he landed on Draco's stomach, he feels a lot of resistance.
Resistance in the form of Draco's own gloved fist on Lag's own abdominals.
Lag is surprised by the strength of the Snivy, and he falls back onto the mat.
Feeling his bruises, Draco steps back as he waits until the maximum 10 seconds Lag has to stand up. Draco is sure he will get knocked down, and he is proven... wrong.
Lag gets up at the last second, albeit in a painful manner, and Draco stares from the center of the ring in order to assess how much damage that last punch did.
Draco is not happy with the result. He expected an outright knock-out, but Lag is still ready for more. Still, it's clear for Draco that every hit he lands on the Treecko, it saps a good amount of energy.
Draco signals Lag to come closer, but the Treecko does not comply. Clearly Lag understands that he cannot take many more hits until he gets knocked out.
So, knowing that Lag won't charge, Draco decides to move head on.
He lunges forward and sends a powerful punch towards the jaw of the Treecko... but it misses.
Draco is frustrated, and he wants to end the fight, so he comes in with a wild combination.
But Lag is prepared, and he deflects all the punches with his arms. He even returns with a cross punch to Draco's left cheek, and a counter uppercut to his chin.
The blows are hard, and they hurt a bit, but Lag's punches don't have enough force behind them anymore.
The hit on the cheek makes Draco spin bit and he makes a daring decision - using the momentum from the spin, he tries to land a very powerful hook to Lag's right side. But the Treecko is fast, and he avoids the blow.
Not only that, but now Draco himself is cornered. Lag has him in a very advantageous position.
Lag lands a straight punch to the middle of Draco's stomach, and a follow-up right hook to the same spot.
Then he rushes in, trying to finish things off with a left straight punch.
But, overconfident, he dismissed that Draco managed to tank the two hits, albeit with a very clearly pained reaction, and delivered a counter uppercut to Lag's upper abdominals.
"Ugh!" Lag exclaims, and he drops down into his knees.
His face shows a very pained, and he can feel the pain in his stomach.
Draco moves out of the corner, doubling over and clutching his belly. He might have knocked down Lag twice in this round, and there's still over a minute left, but he knows that he might get knocked down soon as well - the pain starts to spread.
Lag is not about to let him get away. After not even five seconds, his eyes are wide open, and he stands up in a flash, preparing for a comeback.
VK's eyes widen in realization: Lag's very pained situation seems give him some sort of adrenaline rush. But then the Linoone shakes his head, as while that might be advantageous for Lag, a hit or two will completely knock him out of that rush.
With newfound ferocity, Lag charges at the Snivy.
Draco is taken by surprise and he doesn't have time to dodge or block.
He receives an uppercut to the chin, which almost instantly knocks him down.
Lag takes a breather as he steps back and waits the maximum 10 seconds for Draco to stand up again. The Snivy is feeling his chin, as if he had been hit by a car. Draco is in a lot of pain, and he is starting to show signs of fatigue.
At around the 9 seconds mark, Draco finally stands up and is ready to continue.
Lag does not relent, though, and with the same ferocity as before, he attempts to land a succession of punches on Draco's midsection.
Draco manages to avoid most of them, but he is unable to stop all of them. He feels a few impacts, and he is definitely hurting.
But Lag isn't done yet and keeps trying to hit Draco's gut, but then...
A lucky blow, a single moment of respite that Draco finds and he manages to return at least one of these blows. It lands on the left of Lag's stomach.
That hit alone somehow stops the Treecko's assault, and makes him let out a prolonged groan of pain.
Draco takes a deep breath and, with Lag still stunned from the hit, delivers a strong cross punch to his face, and then an uppercut to his upper abs.
The latter is so powerful that it causes Lag to stumble backwards, and he ends up on the ground.
Draco is panting heavily now, and his eyes are half-open.
But it's over. Lag has been knocked down three times in the same round, meaning it's a...
"Knock-out!" VK yells. "Draco wins the fight!"
Almost immediately after hearing that, Draco, while weakly smiling, also drops to the floor.
VK feels proud over not only the performance of his trainee, but also of Lag, especially since it was the first fight ever for both. Satisfied, he goes to help the two very exhausted fighters up.
Lag is in a daze and he can barely move. Draco is in a great deal of pain, and he is panting like crazy. Their faces and bellies show plenty of bruises and red marks of various sizes.
The Snivy and the Treecko approach each other for a sporting hug.
"Good... fight..." Draco tells Lag while panting.
Lag nods in agreement. "One day... I will have my revenge." His eyes are full of determination, and he is already thinking about what's next.
Draco smiles weakly. "I hope so..."
"And that was the story of my first fight ever, under the eyes of my trainer." Draco finishes explaining to Blaziken, Dragonite, and Kommo-o. By this moment, the four had finished eating.
"I knew you were tough from the beginning!" Dragonite says happily.
"Yeah, you're pretty good, Draco," Blaziken adds.
Draco blushes. "Why... thanks, guys..."
"Do you understand what we've been telling you?" Kommo-o asks Draco. "For your body class, you are strong, even if not as strong as us."
Draco is a bit embarrassed, but he knows that they mean well. He just doesn't know how to respond. "I... guess you are right..." He ends up replying, more of politeness than of actual affirmation.
Dragonite laughs. "You don't need to be humble, Draco! You've done very well to reach this point with your body and skills, and you should feel proud of yourself!"
Kommo-o and Blaziken nod in approval.
Blaziken then hums to himself. "You know... the whole matter of a club where many Pokémon train to become tough boxers with rock-solid abs... it makes me think... what if we made one? Something that would let interested Pokémon, regardless of their species or gender, participate in our own little gym."
Draco, Dragonite, and Kommo-o are all surprised. They never even considered it.
"That's... actually a fine idea." Dragonite manages to say.
"Yeah!" Draco agrees. "And let's call it 'The Abs-olute Strength Club'!"
There's no response for a few seconds. Draco even begins to think that the name might have been a bad choice.
Then, Kommo-o speaks up. "I like the pun in that name. Abs-olute Strength because it's about tough fighters with tough abs."
Blaziken and Dragonite laugh.
"Abs-olute Strength..." Dragonite repeats, trying the name out. "Yes, I like it."
"But how are we going to set up a club?" Draco asks while crossing his arms. "Those things are expensive, and--"
"No worries." Blaziken lightly punches his own chest as he says that. "My parents are very wealthy, and I'm sure they'd have no problem funding a place for such a thing."
Draco looks at Blaziken, amazed. "Really?!"
Blaziken nods. "Trust me, Draco. Out of all problems this idea could have, money isn't a big deal."
"But that leaves the other problem." Dragonite says. "All the bureaucratic processes to actually get the place running."
Blaziken then rises up from his chair. "Let me investigate everything, and then we shall discuss it, okay, guys?"
Dragonite and Kommo-o agree.
Blaziken walks out of the room while Draco rises up as well and follows him. After all, they share a bedroom... and the same bed.