- Soul of Steel -

Chapter 7: Just Count to 151

Morning would come much earlier for Haru this next time he would awake, with the familiar tune of one of his favorite games playing on his phone for his morning alarm. It truly was the best, slow way to wake up; the soothing piano melody graced his ears and then his consciousness as the eyes of his opened up. Outside it was still dark, and his Glaceon, Nora, still asleep on the foot of the bed. As per the conversation him and Nessa shared the other day, he was awake very early because she suggested something new to kill time; him joining her on a morning jog. Hilariously he would react a bit negatively but it's not that he was overweight or underweight, it was just due to the fact he hadn't exercised often in order to maintain his own stamina for doing such things. He was more of a lifter, and even then you wouldn't see 30 pound dumbbells laying around his home.

"It should be illegal for humans to wake up this early..." he mutters to himself, slowly heading to his shower to prepare for it. Dressing up, getting a protein shake, and leaving a note for Masako, his very strong and motherly Gardevoir that would keep the others in line when he wasn't around, saying "I'll be back later. Went to exercise with Nessa."

Not wasting any time since it'd go to figure that she would be waiting, he took an Air Taxi to fly himself to Hulbury. The very early morning did at least come with the caveat of viewing the period of which the sun would eventually rise from across the horizon.

- - - - - Hulbury - - - - -

- - - - - Nessa's Home - - - - -

The man who'd be pet-named 'Ruby' by Nessa made his way towards her place, still groggy, and knocked on her door. She opened mere seconds after it came.

"Ah, you did make it! Good morning sunshine: the Earth says hello!" came her greeting, already in a non-swimmer athletic version of her appearance that mimicked her Gym Leader clothing. Of course she would also be cheerful and much more awake than him first thing in the morning.

"Buhhhhh." he muttered as if slurring the idea of trying to respond like a normal human.

"Still sleepy I take it?" walking out to him, after grabbing a small pouch with two water bottles inside them.

Haru nods, yawning. His hand gestures apologetically from doing so before rubbing his eyes. "Apologies m'love. I'm a morning guy but it's not often that I actually wake up this early."

She'd be a bit understanding on his point before asking "So how active would you say you would be, Haru? I don't want us to go at a pace that's too much for you but also not too easy." For a second Haru had to think on it.

"I would honestly most likely be able to keep up a brisk walk-almost-jog for a good while. There was a lot of hours where I would do that with breaks in between when I was attempting the Gym Challenge, but back then there was also the parts where setting up camp for my team was necessary in between PokeCenter visits. Plus anything else that's small or filler stuff." he'd say with whatever amount of 'awake' he had within him to answer seriously before looking her up and down. "Can't say you won't make me eat your dust because you may do that but...I should be okay to endure. What are we going to do this morning?"

She'd point in a certain direction from where they were standing: roughly south-southwest. "We're going to go to The Wild Area and run two laps around it!"

"Ah I see, so will we-" Haru began to ask but Nessa cut him off for the mic drop.

"Ah-ah. We're going to also RUN there, too." She'd state matter-of-fact-ly with an index finger pointing at him then tapping his nose. The lady saw how crestfallen he became but gave a promising follow up by saying "I'll move only at your pace. If you ever feel the ability to go faster, we'll go faster. But don't feel bad if you need a break. Nobody makes progress without pain, but nobody makes progress on too much pain. Got it?"