“Haaah… Haaah… Can we… please… take a… break now…?”

Rhys collapsed against the base of a large oak tree, his white t-shirt and black shorts drenched in sweat. He clutched his stomach and silently hoped the bile creeping up his throat wouldn’t explode onto the dirt. He leaned up against the bark and steadied his breath. Why’d they have to run so fast?

“Whooooo whee!” Harrison plopped down next to him, brushing streams of sweat off his forehead. “How many miles was that?”

“Too… many…” Rhys gulped as his head slumped into his legs. He hadn’t exactly been keeping count; for most of the run, he’d spent desperately dragging his legs forward trying to keep up. He didn’t exercise too often, which really, really didn’t help when working out with your best friend who was famous for running around Unova’s gym circuit in record time.

“Looks like it was about—ehh—whaaaaat?! Only two?” Harrison stared at his smartwatch, flabbergasted. “And that took us twenty minutes?!” He turned toward Rhys and smiled, nudging him lightly on the shoulder with his fist. “We could totally go a few more!” he snickered.

“Please no,” Rhys exhaustedly groaned. It’d felt like they’d been running through the woods for hours! With how shot his lungs felt, he’d have much rather stayed at home and gotten another migraine training Junior how to use Psychic. “You said that was gonna be a quick jog, not a marathon…!”

“I mean, it kinda was!” Harrison shrugged happily. “Twi miles isn’t a whole lot, and that was a real good pace we had! At least for a while…” He clutched his stomach after it let out a light growl. “Man I’m hungry… hey! Do ya think your mom could make us some pancakes when we get back?” The boy clutched his stomach and groaned in vexation. “Ooohh it’s startin’ to kill me…”

“How—gulp—do you wanna eat after that…” Rhys looked to the sky, the top of his head pressed firmly against the bark behind him. “I feel like I’d throw up the first bite…!” He let out an exhausted chuckle, thinking about how he probably should’ve just stayed in bed this morning. 

“I told you dude, it’s cause you gotta work out more!” Harrison shook Rhys lightly. “You’re always inside trainin’ Junior all day! If you don’t take care of your body, then how are you gonna keep up when he finally evolves and gets faster?”

Rhys shuffled in discomfort, his lungs and calves still burning intensely from the strain of their run. “I mean—We get out sometimes…” he muttered between strained breaths. “I don’t… think going this hard is warranted for training a… psychic type…”

Harrison sprang to his feet and spread his arms in disbelief. “No—like—ugh!” He slid his hands down his face. “Sure, yeah, I may’ve pushed the pace a bit much,” —he paused, momentarily gathering his jumbled thoughts— “but you got way too tired after the first few minutes! I nearly had to stop n’ drag you after a mile!” Tapping a finger to his temple, he began to plead, “Your brain might be a muscle too, man, but it can’t be the only one you train!”

Rhys gripped the tree beside him tightly while he lifted his scrawny figure off the dampened dirt. “Don’t worry,” he muttered softly. “I’m sure I’ll—urgh—be able to keep up with Junior…” Surely a Kirlia wouldn’t be as fast as Harrison sprinted… right? He didn’t let the thought linger for long, though, as a terrible head rush shot through his brain.

“No man, I’m telling you,” he continued. “You spend too much time inside reading n’ that’s not what bein’ a trainer’s all about! You gotta get stronger too if you wanna keep up with your pokémon!” The boy paced back and forth in the grass, two fingers placed firmly against his chin as he thought of a way to convince his best friend that working out wasn’t a death trap. Suddenly, it hit him. “That’s it!”

“Whuh…” a dazed Rhys muttered, still visibly woozy from the blood rushing into his head.

Harrison firmly pointed at Rhys with an ear-to-ear smirk plastered across his face. “You. And Junior. I’m gonna teach you two how to do some cardio!”

Rhys squashed his face into his arm, which was now resting on the tree. “Can I like… nap for a few months first… please?”

“C’mooooon dude! It’ll be worth it! I promise!”

“No offense man… but,” Rhys’ wheezed. “I’m still kinda dying… right now… ukgh…” The thought of enduring whatever workout Harrison was concocting made the bile creeping up his throat accelerate. Why was he even here again?

“Seriously,” Harrison asserted, planting his hand next to Rhys’ arm. “It’s not anything crazy. Just somethin’ that’ll give you some energy, especially if you do it every morning. I mean, look at you!” He gestured at Rhys’ figure. “You’re as pale as a Ralts!”

Rhys slowly turned his head and stared at his friend with begrudging amusement. “Really? Really.”

“Oh—shoot, haha,” Harrison laughed. “Too corny for ya?”

“Only a little,” Rhys coughed, gathering enough strength in his core to finally fully stand up straight. “Junior would find that reaaaaal funny, I bet…”

“Wai-wai-wait! Can’t he like, not fully understand words n’ stuff yet?” Harrison mulled over the thought for a moment. “Shoot…!”

“Sorta, I—I mean,” Rhys stuttered. “He can, just not verbally. From what I’ve gathered,” —he began tapping his fingers rhythmically on the bark— “he’s able to interpret the meaning of sentences based on the feelings I attach to each after my brain interprets them. It’s basically like a telepathic game of telephone, except he can just kinda… tell what words and things mean after he hears them in my head over and over.” His head slumped downward as brief memories of misconstrued statements and awkward clarifications flashed through his mind. “Talking for real is still a work in progress…” he sighed.

“You uh… kinda lost me after that first thing,” Harrison awkwardly smiled. Another patented Rhys Ramble had gone through one of his ears and straight out the other.

“Was that really that hard to get?” Rhys asked, suppressing as much of his cough as he could. He didn’t think he’d over-explained that much this time, right? The pounding in his skull slowly returned— a light reminder that he probably shouldn’t be rambling right now.

“No I just like actually zoned out for a second there while you were talking,” Harrison replied truthfully with a lighthearted, embarrassed look on his face. “Myyyy bad…”

“You like, actually suck,” Rhys laughed and sank back into his arm. “Anyways, I really, really don’t think I can take another workout…”

“Nuh uh, you’re doin’ this,” Harrison grabbed hold of Rhys’ arm and smiled. “A hundred bucks says you’ll thank me later! Bet on it!”

Rhys jolted at his grasp, then loosened up. “You’re not exactly someone I’d trust my money with,” he chuckled.

“Oh— come on, let’s get going already!” Harrison tugged Rhys forward and began the walk back toward Rhys’ house.

“Hey—HEY! Ow, ow, ow, ow…”