Master's Favorite

Favorite Girls

In a basement room filled with strange workout equipment was a young man, back against a wall, sitting on nothing. Beside him in the same position, wearing similar but nicer workout clothes, was a much younger girl.

On the other side of the room, a gardevoir stood among misshapen iron rods. Before her, a group of the rods floated together making about half a cube. The gardevoir looked over the rods scattered until gesturing to one. A bead of sweat dripped down the gardevoir's face as the selected rod rose into the air. The rod precisely slotted into a space among the floating mass.

Trembling with the effort of staying in that position, the girl asked, "Is this really necessary?"

"On path of pokemon trainer," the trainer said adopting a comically gruff tone, "pain and suffering there is much."

The girl groaned.

"Seriously," the trainer said dropping the wise man shtick, "when training pokemon you're going to push them to their limits. Before you can do that you need to learn what it is like to be pushed like that. You need to experience the frustration and pain that comes from it, so you can help guide your pokemon through it."

The girl muttered a comment about her mother under her breath.

"And while she is a fine pokemon trainer in her own right, she is not one of the best," The trainer said. "This is the difference between those who are great and those who are merely good. To be good you need to understand your field. To be great you need to do more than just understand it, but also experience it from every perspective possible. Being great requires a level of dedication that many would call insane, and to explore the rules that others don't even realize are there."

The girl thought about this before asking, "Does that mean you've had pokemon attack you."

"You definitely are a clever one," The trainer said with a smile. "Yes, I've made it a point to experience just about every attack a pokemon can use. Some of them hurt like crazy, but I'm a better trainer for it."

"Are you going to make me," the girl trailed off before finishing the sentence.

"That depends, do you want to be the best?" The trainer asked.

The girl took a deep breath and nodded.

"Then I think you know the answer to that question," the trainer said. "You shouldn't worry about that yet. It's a long way off"

The trainer's phone started to ring. He pulled it out and smiled as he looked at the name on the screen. "Sorry, do you mind if I take this?" The trainer said.

The girl groaned in what could have been interpreted as an affirmative manner.

"Thanks," the trainer said with a smile. Raising the phone to his ear, "What's up girl?"

Pausing to listen to the response, the trainer blushed. A glance down at the girl beside him. "Not now. I'm teaching here."

"Yeah," the trainer nodded. "Hold that thought," the trainer said as he looked at the clock. Covering the bottom half of the phone with his hand he turned to the girl and said, "Break."

The girl collapsed.

"Go on," after waiting a moment to hear the response he shook his head despite it being useless for a phone call. "Sorry, I can't. Later we'll be going to the gym. Start teaching my little student how to take care of rock types."

The girl perked up a bit from her exhaustion.

"I suppose you don't exactly need me for that," the trainer said glancing at the gardevoir on the other side of the room. "I could ask her to go there without me. No promises, but if so call it an hour and a half. Maybe two."