"Surrender!"
"Never!"
"Surrender"
"Never!"
It was a show for the naked eye. Both Flashy and I fought against the tyranny of Aoi. As she moved on an electric bike near us, she encouraged us to surrender as we ran uphill. Every time we reject the chance of surrendering, she would spray us with water using a water gun. At this point, my legs felt as if they were made of jelly, and I was sweating buckets, too. After watching both of our races, even if both of us won, she decided we were lacking in two things: discipline and guts.
'I... I can't anymore!' I thought almost ready to give up.
The goal was not so far from our position. I can see the summit of this street, the sweet victory not far from this place, but I can't anymore!
"Surrender," I got splashed in the face with more water.
"Never!" Said Flashy, who was panting as well.
"..." I remained silent this time.
"Hell no, you are not betraying me!" Said Flashy, pushing me to keep going, literally, she was pushing me as she was behind me.
"Surrender now and maybe I will give you girls half a parfait each..." She tempted me even further.
"Keep going, Meek! Don't let her dirty tricks fool you!"
200 meters left to get to the goal, maybe even less. And if I stopped, both would lose our desserts for tonight, that was the resolution Aoi had taken in order to motivate us into running uphill to train something she thought we both lacked.
"Come on! Come on! Surrender already!"
Both of us got splashed again.
'Does that silly toy have infinite water, or how does it work!?' I thought.
A week had passed since my second victory, and the training intensified even further. But that damn useless system gave me fewer and fewer points each day, it feels as if I'm scrapping for leftovers. But even so, my resolve grew stronger, I can't let Flashy go without her desserts...
'Who am I kidding? I'm doing it for my own desserts!' I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I kept pushing forward, using the remnants of my sanity to push my limits. "C...Candy! Cake! Carrots! Whoaaaaaaaaa!"
"Meek! Your sacrifice won't be in vain!" Flashy said with tears in her eyes, she didn't look as tired as I, but she looked battered too; maybe her limit was just a little further.
Both of us rushed forward as a pair of monsters chasing their prey... and prey we were chasing, Aoi had a bag with many tasty things... and under 30 seconds later, both of us arrived at our intended goal, and Aoi stopped the cronometer.
"2 hours and 16 minutes," She announced, "Tomorrow you girls must do it under 2 hours and 15 minutes."
"Ha...Haiii!" Flashy said, raising a trembling hand to the sky.
I just wanted to lie down and be eaten by the ground, but that won't happen. What had motivated this? From Aoi's point of view, even if we are just in the junior year and both Flashy and I are still growing as Uma Musume, we'd better get used to the demands of the G1 races sooner rather than later. And according to her, we were still taking it easy.
(Gust +2, Stamina +1, +30 uma coins)
'Uuughh... guts.. why does it have to be guts training'
I looked down the mountainside we had climbed and felt a chill. Obviously, we weren't at the summit, and we were using available routes. The training wasn't at full speed; it was just a test of endurance, to fight against the mind, the feelings of wanting to give up, and there works wonders the extra little motivation.
Aoi smiled and nodded after finishing taking notes.
"We are taking the ferry to go down!" Aoi announced, "You girls may take a bath; meanwhile, I will order some food, and after that, we will visit the onsen."
"Onsen...!" Flashy was suddenly surrounded by an immense energy that irradiated a gentle glow.
"I have never gone to one before," I said, trying to remember, but that wasn't anything like that in my mind.
The waters of the onsen are supposed to have healing properties; they could partially heal minor wounds and help prevent some tragedies, but even I imagine they should be so warm and relaxing...
"Hey, Meek, don't stay behind!" Aoi called my name, surprising me. I had been stuck thinking, while she had already returned the
I wanted to run to them, but it was surprisingly hard, and my body didn't want to answer, so I walked to them, trying to hurry up a little, which was even harder after reaching this place. But before I sink back into reflections, I was splashed with more water on the face, bringing me back to reality.
"Ughghgh!!" I blocked the rest of the water with my hand. "Ahhh, why was that? I didn't surrender!" I complained and pouted a little.
"Yes, and because of that, there is less for me," Said Aoi, defeated. It seems the last attack was just a tantrum...
'Wait... are we really training or was she just trying to get our part of the food?'
...
...
...
Yes. I slept all the way from the ferry and the car to the dorms. I was jolted awake by the annoying Flashy complaints; if I didn't wake up and take a bath, then I would be left out of the table and starve to death until morning.
"Uuuhh, I'm beaten," I admit as I reach the shower.
Flashy, on the other stall, was already under a well-earned relaxing hot bath.
"Well... if you didn't lack the spirit to keep running, we wouldn't be climbing that mountain," She said, teasing me.
"Heee? Okay, I admit I was complaining about the number of laps at the track, but wasn't you the one having troubles on the uphills?"
"Haaa!?" Flashy stopped the water. "Those are lies!"
"..."
"Only a little!"
Well, at least the all-mighty Flashy Step admitted it; she was having trouble with something. It wasn't really something game-changing, but Aoi noticed how the speed of Flashy clearly plummeted on the uphills on the tracks. It seemed Flashy had never practiced in those conditions, and just running like one normally would do burns too much energy and slows the pace. Aoi had complimented both of us, but she gave a cold analysis, pointing at our current weak states. But luckily for us, Aoi knew a good routine, or so she said.
"And want to know something terrifying?" She suddenly said, picking my attention again.
"What?"
"This is just the start"
As it sank in on both of us, we laughed and finished bathing to reunite with Aoi. At least the hope for a tasty dinner and the onsen were a bright light in the darkness.