Bopper's narration
After my first major win, Joe decided that I needed something that even the big leagues were too pathetic for.
At this point after beating the iconic Toro Tauro, I felt I would take any training routine.
Though I was far from ready for the real mess I was getting myself into.
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Normal POV
Empire City (Brook Avenue)
Joe leans against an old light pole, waiting for his student to come so they can get to work.
Ben arrives just in time and tells him. "I brought more water and some towels for today."
Joe nods and gestures him to follow. "This way, kid. We're setting up shop here."
The two walk down the empty street, with only one police car coming by during it's patrol.
After a few minutes, they reach an old worn out gym with faded paint, a broken bicycle rack and a sign that lost most of it's letters except for a "D" and a "E".
Ben asks Joe as he puts down the supplies. "What is this place?"
Joe answered with plain voice. "Dixie's Dumbbells."
Ben tilts his head. "Is this an old gym? Why is it like this?"
Joe replies as he tries to open the door. "Ever since IBT could afford it's own training facilities, Dixie's gym has been left behind by the league and had it's funding dropped."
Ben just helps pry it open once Joe got it budging a little, bringing them all inside the dusty interior.
The old treadmills, ellipticals and weights were left to be scattered across the room as dust and rust built up on them, with only the old boxing ring in the middle holding some of it's former looks.
Ben whistles in admiration as he looks around. "So this is where all of the legends worked out?"
Joe nods and points at one of the ellipticals. "Rivet used to train there back in the day."
Ben looks over at it in surprise. "That exact one?"
Joe chuckles a little. "Mate, I've been here so many times, I mapped out exactly where everyone usually gets their routine in."
The kangaroo points out different spots around the gym. "Toro used to beat up that punching bag when his horns were still the size of chess pieces. Valkyrie used to hang from rings on the ceiling up there. Gravedigger used to lift weights over there in that corner. And in his final years, Caesar jogged on that treadmill."
Ben looks at each spot in amazement, his imagination of the events taking control as he could only gasp out, "Whoa..."
An old female voice gave a small chuckle. "Yep...those were the good ol' days."
A Mobian Rottweiler dog came over to them, still wearing fitness shorts and shirt that showed off her strong build, despite her old age.
Ben extends out a hand. "The name's Ben Gruff. You must be Dixie, right?"
She took it and gave a hard shake. "Of course, teddy. Who else is runnin' this dump?"
Joe looks at her. "We came to use your gym and help rebuild it a little. Other than that, it's pretty much HQ for us."
Dixie waves him off dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, knock yourself out. Just make sure your buddy here doesn't bring the whole place down."
After she left, Ben asked Joe. "What changed your mind? Vickie threw in a few extra cash just to get you to scare me away?"
Joe shook his head. "Nope. Let's just say after seeing you pull that off.... I may need to apologize for misjudging you."
Ben leans against a wall. "No worries...just actually give me something to do, then we'll call it even."
Joe picks up a water bottle. "Ok mate, but you gotta put your A game into the special exercises I give you."
Ben puts his arms behind his head. "How bad can it be?"
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Normal POV
Empire City Streets
Ben stood on the sidewalk as he was in running shoes for this exercise.
He asks Joe. "What am I doing?"
Joe responds to him as he points to the sky. "You're gonna go to the top of the library steps before your opponent can."
A Mobian pigeon was about to fly past them, carrying a heavy bag filled with letters to various addresses.
Ben was confused at this choice of a workout. "You want me to race a mail pigeon?"
Joe shook his head. "No...you're racing his shadow. Go when he hits your line."
Ben nods and gets into a starting position, starting in a full out sprint down the sidewalk.
He already had a massive lead over the shadow.
There was no way he could l-
2 hours later....
Ben tiredly reaches the top of the library stairs, finally resting once he sat down.
Joe was sitting on a bench nearby, amused by Ben's naive choice to run.
He stood up and closed his newspaper. "First personal best?"
Ben pants and speaks between breaths. "How........did I lose.......to.....a pigeon?"
Joe sits down next to him. "The same way you almost lost to Toro."
Ben looks at him. "How? What does this have to do with fights?"
Joe asks him. "Remember what Mobian Caesar was?"
Ben thinks about it for a few minutes. "A wolf..."
Joe continues with another question. "What are one of wolves abilities?"
Ben shrugs at this. "I don't know..."
Joe answered the question for him. "They have high stamina. Caesar could beat every opponent with ease because he used his energy wisely and sometimes goaded his opponent into doing most of the fighting."
Ben was surprised that Joe had brought up a strong point that now made more sense now that he thought about it.
Joe pats his back. "You got to learn to control how much you put into your punches if you want to avoid tripping over yourself to victory."
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Normal POV
The Mall
Joe tells him as they were in front of the escalator. "Once rush hour starts, run up the escalator that's going down. Get past anyone that gets in your way."
Ben nods and gets ready as soon as the stores start emptying of people.
He runs up to it and quickly makes progress, but had trouble once halfway there.
The bear had a tough time getting out of the way of ladies that were carrying large amounts of bags, even knocking a few of them over.
But he really messed up when he bumped into an old lady....who whacked him with a cane several times until they reached the bottom, with Ben apologizing the whole way down.
Joe couldn't help but laugh at Ben getting his butt handed to him by a granny of all things, which was worse than losing to a cancer patient.
Ben groans as he sits down next to him, muttering sarcastically at him. "Ha ha ha, very funny...
Joe asks him. "Wanna know who's training routine this is?"
Ben shrugs and takes a drink from his water bottle after drying off some sweat.
Joe answered his cluelessness. "Gravedigger."
Ben looks at him. "He spent his days dodging girls with bags?"
Joe chuckles. "Yeah. His excuse was that he got the idea after he got dumped during a date."
The kangaroo tells the reason for this practice. "Gravedigger never left his zone of impact at a big size. He was always dodging...giving the appearance of his opponent fighting a ghost. This helps you learn to dodge to the side quick enough at a moment's notice."
Joe then shows a recording of the last match. "If you can get clipped by Toro's horns easily, then the big leagues might as well let the food vendors fight you."
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Normal POV
Bernardo's mansion
Ben was hanging on the side of the pool by his hands as he was face up, trying to keep himself still.
The bear asked. "What's the point of this?"
Joe answered. "Valkyrie has the best legs in the tournament and used this as part of practice. Kick the balls before they hit the water."
Dixie tosses a beach ball at Ben, only for his foot to hit the surface too late.
Two more balls came in, but Ben only got one and came in too early for the other.
More and more kept coming in, but Ben just couldn't react in time to get almost any of them.
He eventually got out to dry off as Dixie pulled in the balls with a net.
Joe tells him. "You can't keep using your fists to fight. That'll get predictable in the long run and people will know how to always block your attacks. You gotta bring your feet to the fight too."
Ben nods and puts the towel around his waist. "Any secondary fighting styles you'd pick?"
Joe just hands him a shirt. "Once you can raise your feet high while standing, I'll teach you some Kung Fu kicks."
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Normal POV
The Library
They were both sitting at a tables as Joe holds a bunch of cards in his hands before putting them across the surface in an organized manner.
Ben tilts his head while whispering. "Why are we playing cards for training?"
Joe answered him while putting the box in his pocket. "It's a memory exercise. Get as many matches as you can before the hourglass runs out."
The timer was soon flipped over, starting the rush to get a high score.
Ben kept spending his first bunch randomly picking and getting the wrong ones.
By the time he got a match, Joe scrambled the cards around with a brand new pair added in.
Ben kept searching and searching, but he kept getting into a cycle of guessing wrongly.
By the time the hourglass ran out, Ben had only managed to get 4 pairs.
Joe puts away the cards and hourglass. "This is to help you memorize patterns in tactics. If you can figure out when they might make the move, you'll be able to force them to think out of their usual style."
Ben sighs and lowers his head. "I wasn't expecting all of this to happen.... I can tell you that. How am I supposed to get all of this in two weeks?"
Joe pats his shoulder. "You'll get the hang of these. You just have to spark that will of yours again to get past this."
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Bopper's narration
I had a long way to go if I wanted to come out of the next match in one piece this time.
Even if these were weird, embarrassing or gross, I couldn't give up yet.
I guess at the time I felt I needed someone outside of my career to help motivate me into getting my tough levels out.
Good thing some new friends were coming,
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That's it for this chapter.
If you have any questions please let me know.
I'll see you in the next chapter!