Chapter 4: Training Time!
Word of the upcoming fight spreads through the mansion as well. On his way to the gym, Chris' grandfather Chuck confronts him about the match.
"Chris! What's this I hear about you being in a fight?" Chuck asks Chris, wanting a straight answer.
"Um well there's this new kid in town, Jake. And me and Jake are gonna fight in a few weeks. I-in a boxing match!" Chris finally answers him.
"A boxing match? Hm." Chuck says.
"I want to fight and-" Chris starts.
"You know, back in my day I was an accomplished boxer. If you're really going to go through with it, I could give you some pointers, teach you some combos that'll have that Jake down for the count!" Chuck says as the throws some jabs in the air and weaves a bit.
"I thought you were a wrestler." Chris recalls Chuck's boasting back at the Chaos Emerald tournament before he threw his back out.
"Er I was a boxer too. Like the old one two!" Chuck moves near a wall.
While trying to show off for his grandson, Chuck isn't watching where he's going. He throws a right jab and smashes his right hand on a nearby wall, and his left jab knocks an old vase off a table, crashing into pieces on the floor.
KRASH!
"Yeowch! My hand! And I think that was quite an old vase. Oops!" Chuck reacts to his sore hand the destroyed antique.
"Are you okay grandpa?!" Chris asks with concern.
"I'll be all right. My hand is rather sore though, so may need to take a rain check on any pointers. Good luck in your training!" Chuck says as he runs off to avoid the wrath of Ella.
Chris is left standing there, unsure what just happened. He shrugs and walks away when he hears a loud voice.
"Master Chris!" Mr Tanaka says in a tone that says Chris needs to turn around.
"Mr Tanaka! I can explain! Grandpa was-" Chris tries to start.
"I see. Well we'll get to that in a minute. I've heard news you'll be facing that boy Jake in a boxing match?" Mr Tanaka asks.
"Uh yeah. We're gonna fight." Chris answers with a nod.
"If you wish, I could give you some lessons on techniques. Also, I have some experience with tailoring, should you need some custom attire for the fight." Mr Tanaka offers his assistance.
"Oh! That would be great! I was thinking, maybe some boxing gloves and shorts in a blue, like Sonic. Thanks!" Chris asks with a slight blush, choosing a color of his hero and best friend.
"Ah! A wonderful choice, master Chris! I believe I can have them prepared for you in a day or two. Also, good luck training with Knuckles. He seems fired up." Mr Tanaka says as he leaves to make some custom boxing gear for Chris.
Chris makes a detour to his room before heading to the mansion gym. He changes into a blue pair of shorts and sneakers. Then he puts on a white t-shirt with blue sleeves. Ready to go, he runs back down toward the gymnasium, down a few stairs and turns. He soon arrives at the gym double doors. The second he walks through the door, he's greeted with a shout!
"You're late! What kept you?" Knuckles says, shouting to get Chris' attention.
"What? But I thought-" Chris starts to say.
"You're not late." Amy says, waking over and giving Knuckles a stern look.
"That's good." Chris breathes a sigh of relief.
"But we do have a lot to do. We need to get you ready fight Jake, and beat him!" Amy says, pointing out it will be tough training ahead.
They start the training right away. Over the next few days, they do a wide variety of workouts and drills. There's some running around the mansion grounds with Amy shouting encouragement. Jump rope, with Tails and Amy giving some tips. Chris gets tangled up at first, but soon gets the hang of it.
"Good! Now you got it!" Tails cheers Chris on as he finds the right timing for the jump rope.
"Nice work, Chris!" Amy gives some words of encouragement.
"Got it! Phew!" Chris nods as he finishes the workout.
Another couple days later, and Chris finally gets the boxing gloves and shorts Mr Tanaka made for him.
"Here you are, master Chris. I matched the material as close to master Sonic's shade of blue as I could. The gloves are made of regulation material, as are the shorts." Mr Tanaka presents Chris with the custom set he'll fight Jake in.
"Whoa! Thank you Mr Tanaka! I'm gonna a go try them on!" Chris runs off to his room. He puts on some blue sneakers, the blue shorts, pulls his shirt off, then puts the blue boxing gloves on.
He runs back to the gym in his boxing outfit to show everyone. Once there he puts his gloves up and throws a few punches in front of Sonic and the others.
"Heh! How do I look?" Chris asks as he tosses a few jabs with the new gloves.
"Nice choice of color!" Sonic gives a thumbs up, noticing it's his shade of blue.
"Now you look like a fighter!" Amy nods
"Good set!" Tails agrees.
"Nice! And what better way to break the gloves in then with a punching bag session? Come on!" Knuckles waves Chris over to a nearby punching bag.
"All right!" Chris gets into position. He punches the bag and...
WHAM!
GONG!
The punching bag echoes like it's made of metal.
"Gah! What is this?" Chris asks, not expecting that.
"Sorry about that! That's the special bag Tails and Chuck made for me. Regular bag is over here!" Knuckles apologizes for the mix up and leads Chris to a normal heavy bag instead.
Chris runs over to the bag and hits it with a few punches. Knuckles demonstrates how to throw a better punch, then has Chris hit the bag a few more times.
BOP!
BOP!
"Yah!" Chris shouts as he hits the bag.
"Good! Just like that!" Knuckles nods his approval.
"Keep it up, Chris!" Amy cheers Chris on
Meanwhile across town at Kyrogk's gym, Jake is training equally hard for the fight. Kyrogk has Jake at the punching bag, ready to throw some punches.
"Hold on a sec there. Made up something for you!" Kyrok gives Jake a box.
"What's this? Whoa! Awesome!" Jake opens the box and sees that Kyrogk's made him some unique boxing gear to fight Chris in. It's some new blur boxing gloves, and a pair of blue shorts with a white section on the right leg, along with a red right boxing glove in a punching pose over a yellow fireball on the left side.
"Glad you like it! Made it while you were out. Figured you could use some new gear for the big fight! Even added that logo you like." Kyrogk says he made it in secret as a surprise.
"Thanks! I'm gonna go try them on! Be right back!" Jake runs off to change in his room. He puts on some blue sneakers with a white circle symbol, the custom blue and white shorts, pulls his green t-shirt off, and puts on the new blue boxing gloves. He walks back into the gym in his boxing gloves, shorts, and sneakers. Then he throws a few punches, with a big uppercut.
"Hyah!" Jake yells as he throws the uppercut.
"Look like a boxer now! Good! Let's try them out with some mitt work!" Kyrogk grabs some training mitts and motions for Jake to follow.
Kyrogk gets into position and tells Jake to punch high and low, and takes a few swipes at him. Jake bops the mitts in time, and moves to dodge the swipes too.
BOP!
BOP!
"All right! That's how it's done!" Kyrogk encourages Jake as he keeps up.
"Yeah!" Jake cheers.
Over the next couple weeks, Chris and Jake train hard for their fight. Chris spars with Knuckles in a ring, Amy and Tails help him with some jump rope too. Jake spars with Kyrogk. Kyrogk and Knuckles go a little overboard with some punches that knock the boy's back, but they recover quickly.
BOP!
"Oof!" Chris is sent a few feet back by Knuckles' punch.
"Whoops!" Knuckles says as her realizes he put too much power in the hit.
"Knuckles! Remember to hold back a bit!" Amy reminds Knuckles.
"Yes ma'am!" Knuckles says, embarrassed.
"I'm good to go!" Chris gets back up.
At Kyrogk's gym, a similar scene unfolds as Jake is leaning against the ropes after a solid straight that a little too much oomph in it sent him flying back a bit.
"What hit me?" Jake says as he climbs back up.
"Sorry! Got a little carried away! Won't happen again!" Kyrogk apologizes
"Okay!" Jake gets his gloves back up and continues to spar.
Both boys make good progress in their agility and punching power, being fast learners. The time passes quickly until it's a couple days before the battle.
"All right! That should just about do it!" Tails says as he and Chuck put the finishing touches on the boxing ring.
"Not bad!" Chuck approves their workmanship of the homemade ring.
"Great work!" Knuckles smiles as he sees the ring. It looks professionally built and sturdy.
"Wow!" Chris takes in the ring. Seeing it up close drives home the fact he'll be in a very tough fight in it soon.
"You got this, Chris!" Sonic reassures Chris.
"Training's done. Now you rest so you can be at your best to fight." Knuckles tells Chris.
"Thanks guys." Chris nods.
At Kyrogk's gym, Kyrogk likewise tells Jake that his training is finished.
"I'd say you're ready. Made some great progress, Jake!" Kyrogk gives his stamp of approval.
"Awesome! That was a lot!" Jake breathes a sigh of relief.
"That's the idea! Recuperate so you can be ready to fight. And remember, you'll do great!" Kyrogk gives him a pep talk.
"Right!" Jake nods with a big grin.
As Chris and Jake relax a bit, the next two days pass in a blur. Before long, the three days are up, and it's the morning of Fight Day!
Next time, Chris and Jake fight! They come out swinging!
To be continued…