Austin the Absol - The Treadmill

A curved, blue horn peeked its way through the flap of the Poke-door in the front door of the house. The horn lifted up the rubber flap slightly, and the head attached to the horn peeked into the room as well. The Absol, the Sassy natured Absol, Austin the Sassy natured Absol, looked around the living room with red eyes discerning and cautious. He then sniffed the air a few times, and gave a small mouthed, gentle smile when he found he could neither see nor smell any humans.

He stepped into the room and walked across the carpeting, still looking alert and wary as he entered the home. Then, he raised his right forepaw and yet out a loud mournful cry of pain, making sure to hold his paw limply while pouting with sad eyes.

When no human ran out to tend to him and no voice called out in concern, Austin’s smile returned and he put his paw back down decisively. He then trotted happily over to the sofa, wiggled his butt, hopped upwards, turned in mid air, and plopped himself comfortably onto the black leather cushions. He laid on his left side, his flat tail flicking left and right, his right hind paw scratching his left hind leg with a single claw, all as he rested the left side of his head on the conveniently placed pillow. He then reached his left foreleg towards the sofa’s armrest as he fixed his gaze on the mid-sized television across from him. However, rather than his claw touching the TV’s remote, Austin felt and heard the crinkling of paper.

Austin turned his neck and looked to see the sheet of lined note paper on the sofa’s armrest. Austin grabbed onto it between two claws and brought it to his face so he could read it (Yes, Austin knows how to read). The note read in his Trainer’s handwriting: “No TV until you use the treadmill over on the right. Love you!”

Austin frowned after reading this. He could read every single word, but he had no idea what a “treadmill” was. How does one mill treads? Or tread mills? Letting go of the note, Austin turned to look to the right of the room. There was something on that side of the room. It appeared to be some kind of flat machine that was low to the ground.

At first, Austin considered simply ignoring it and resigning himself to raiding the fridge of its MooMoo Milk and leftover Bitter Burger-Steak Curry without the benefit of TV to watch while he digested his plunder. However, he somehow knew that his Trainer would somehow know that he hadn’t used the treadmill thing. In normal circumstances, his Trainer wouldn’t be able to say anything to Austin about his stuffing his face due to the fact that it was hardly the Absol’s fault he’d been left unsupervised in the house all alone. However, the introduction of the note and the order it conveyed made things far less simple, and thus any such food gobbling would be seen as blatant disobedience. Not to mention, his Trainer’s cheerful phrasing of “love you!” was something Austin cherished a lot. So much so that even seeing it written reminded him of his Trainer’s happy voice that really sold the declaration of love as sincere.

And so, Austin sighed and got up out of his very comfortable position, jumped off of the comfortable sofa, and walked over to the new machine.

He approached the flat machine and took a moment to study it. It was essentially a big flat rectangle that was about one and a half times as long as Austin was from horn-tip to tail-tip, and about three feet wide. An interesting thing about it was that it seemed to be a gray plastic three-sided frame, with the majority of it being a black colored belt that ran from one short end up to the short sided frame on the other end. The long sides of the frame were nothing special, about an inch or two thick; but the one short side of the frame looked interesting, as it was thicker, had several lights and buttons on it, as well as a peculiar shape right in the middle of it.

Curious, Austin decided to get a closer look, and stepped onto the treadmill. The first thing he noticed was that the black belt slightly gave in to the weight of his paws. Then he experimentally pressed down on the belt with his paw pads. Then, feeling a little daring, he dug his claws into the belt. Much to his surprise, the belt stood up to his sharp, blue pointy bits. Austin couldn’t help but be impressed by the material’s puncture resistance, but he quickly let that go as he walked along the belt towards the head-end of the machine.

Once he reached the front, Austin realized that the shape he saw was the familiar white and blue three toed paw print of an Absol, albeit with a red glass circle in the middle.

Austin raised his own right forepaw in a reflex and stared at the underside of it. He actually took a moment to admire it, proud of his perfectly proportioned paw. Then he looked down at the paw print on the machine. He studied the size of the image, and his brow rose when he noticed it’s size. His curiosity at a peak, Austin pressed his right forepaw down on the print, and just had to smile when he saw that it was exactly the same size. Obviously this meant that his Trainer had customized this machine so that the paw print would match his own exactly, and Austin felt quite touched by this.

However, Austin’s warm and fuzzy thoughts were interrupted by a loud beep, accompanied by a flash of red light from the underside of his paw. Austin tilted his head, wondering if the machine had taken a picture of his paw or something. Then, he heard a humming sound come from the machine he was standing on. Shortly after that, he felt himself begin to slide backwards.

As Austin’s paw slid off of the paw print, Austin breathed out slightly in confusion as he naturally started to step forward to offset his backward motion. He slowly put two paws in front of the other two; front-left and back-right, front-right and back-left, front-left and back-right, etc.

Austin looked down at the belt he was walking on, and saw that his backward movement had been caused by the belt he had been standing on rolling backwards. Austin sniffed loudly, not seeing the point of this as he continued to take small steps in time with the belt. He quickly grew irritated with this, then looked down at the paw print. He saw that the red glass circle now had a light on inside of it, and it was blinking.

As Austin stared at the light, he noticed that the blinking of the light was starting to get a little faster. At about the same time, Austin felt himself begin to move backwards again, even as he was still walking. He looked down and saw that the belt had sped up some. Austin frowned and moved his legs a bit faster to keep up. As he did this, however, he could feel the claw-proof surface of the belt speed up even more. Austin’s mouth hung open as he transitioned into a slow run. Front legs, hind legs, front legs, hind legs.

Austin looked down at the image of the paw print on the machine, and the now flashing red light in the center. As he ran, Austin reasoned that putting his paw onto the light had to have been what started the machine, and therefore, putting his back onto it would most likely stop it. Unfortunately, this was made rather difficult by the fact that the treadmill was moving rather quickly at this point.

Austin huffed loudly as he was forced to run fast to keep up with the treadmill’s increased speed. He supposed that he could just stop running and let himself be thrown off, but he knew that it would hurt quite a bit to be thrown against the wall behind him. His tail flicked upward at this thought, as if it didn’t want to get crunched between Austin’s butt and the wall.

So, Austin lowered his head as he ran forward, making long strides with his legs to fight against the speed of the belt. Once he was at a swift and speedy gallop, Austin made up his mind and gave a quick burst of speed. He stuck his left forepaw out and quickly slapped the paw print on the machine. There was another beep, and his paw quickly slid off and back onto the moving belt.

Austin very nearly tripped due to this stunt, but managed to regain his footing and keep up his running. Austin breathed in and out heavily, not because he was particularly weak, but mostly because he was not expecting the impromptu exercise. However, a grateful smile came to his face as he felt and saw the belt slow down beneath his paws. He laughed and nodded as he went from a run to a slowere jog, alternating his leg movement to match the slower pace.

The Absol smiled proudly to himself as the belt got slower and slower. Austin couldn’t help but feel proud of the way he solved the problem. Filled with sass and confidence, Austin decided to take advantage of the slow moving belt by performing a confident piaffe. He sassily raised two legs high, then switched to the other two. Front-left and back-right, front-right and back-left, front-left and back-right. Austin stepped in a highly collected and cadenced trot, his hindquarters slightly lowered and the joints in his legs greatly bent. His tail swung back and forth like a pendulum as he piaffed. Eyes closed and a big smile on his face, Austin’s front legs were highly mobile, free, light, and very flexible. Austin had a clear and even rhythm, with a moment of suspension between each of his foot falls.

As the belt finally came to a stop, Austin ceased his piaffing, posed in a stance on his front-right paw and back-left paw. Austin’s right hindleg was bent in such a way that his paw pad was facing upward, while his left front leg was raised up slightly with the claws on his left forepaw wiggling playfully. Austin stuck his nose up into the air and gave his head a toss, slightly moving the tuft of fur that came down on the left side of his head.

Austin proudly stood in that pose for a moment, only for his eyes to blink open when he felt himself begin to slide forward. Confused, Austin put his paws back down and took a few steps backwards. It didn’t take long for Austin to realize that the treadmill was now moving in reverse, so now the belt was pulling him forward instead of dragging him back.

Austin did not like walking backwards, or moving backward in general, as he preferred to see where he was going at all times. It was very awkward for him to move in this manner, and a panicked expression overtook his face as he felt the belt speed up once again. Austin knew that he could not run backwards on all fours, and he cursed himself for not getting off of this horrible machine when he had the chance.

Panting with exertion as he felt his legs being awkwardly pushed to their limit, Austin did the only thing he could think of doing in order to keep his legs from getting tangled up. He took a deep breath, and pushed off with his forelegs and continued to walk backwards on his hind legs. His tail stuck itself out in order to keep the Absol’s body balanced as he took quick backward steps on his rear paws. Austin bent his forelegs and held his forepaws close to his chest as he focused on maintaining his balance while moving backwards. He knew the only safe way out of this would be to step on the machine’s paw print shaped switch, its red light flashing on and off as if to mock him. However, Austin knew that if he stepped on it with one of his hind paws, he would inevitably trip and end up with his face slamming into either the moving belt or the hand plastic.

Austin whimpered, his lip trembling as he could both feel and see the belt speeding up, the red light flashing faster. He knew he had to do something fast, and thankfully, as he looked down at the forepaws curled up against his chest, an answer came to him. Austin gathered up all his nerve and courage, swallowed the lump in his throat, and then quickly bent his hind legs and jumped straight up. The momentum of the belt sent him forward a few inches, which was what Austin was counting on as he flipped his body forward and extended his right foreleg. Austin stuck the landing, his forepaw falling right on top of the paw print as he stood standing on that single paw, his hindlegs kicking and tail twitching.

The machine beeped again, and Austin gasped as he felt himself fall backward. He quickly stuck out his left forepaw and hopped backward with his right forepaw so that both paws landed back on the still moving belt. Now Austin was heels-over-head, walking backward on his forepaws, teeth nervously clenched as he put his all into staying balanced. Thankfully, the belt was slowing down once again, and the wide-eyed Absol desperately continued walking on front legs until the belt finally came to a stop.

When the treadmill finally halted, Austin let out a loud gasp before falling backwards and landing on flat on his chest, the thick ruff of fur softening the impact.

Austin lay still for a moment, simply breathing in and out. Then, his red eyes narrowed as their color became a slightly darker shade of red due to rage. Austin jumped on his paws, and with a vicious snarl, swung his scythe-like horn to send a Night Slash right at the front part of the treadmill. The attack sliced right into the paw print and its red light, causing it to go out in a burst of sparks.

Austin glared at the damaged machine, then smirked triumphantly. At that moment, he didn’t care if his Trainer got mad at him for breaking the new treadmill. Austin hated the thing and never wanted anything to do with anything like it ever again. Confident that his ordeal was over, Austin walked forward so he could stomp on the treadmill’s control panel a few times before heading into the kitchen to enjoy some leftover curry.

Austin stomped the panel with his forepaws, and was in the midst of stepping forward the machine suddenly let out a very loud, ear piercing beep. Austin was stunned and had to stop moving as the sound assaulted his ears. He stood cringing and grimacing for a moment, and by the time he regained his senses he could already feel his hind paws being pulled backward. To his horror, not only the treadmill had suddenly turned on again, but now it was moving at full speed right from the get go.

Austin tried to run, but his hind legs could just keep up enough with the belt to stay in place. Desperate to get himself off of the horrible machine, Austin dug his front claws into the carpet in front of him and tried to pull himself forward. This didn’t do much of anything, as his hindlegs were moving so fast that he couldn’t move forward even a centimeter, let alone an inch.

Austin’s eyes widened as he was pulled backward, his claws ripping through the carpeting and leaving long, deep scratched behind. He cried out as his claws were ripped out of the floor as his entire body was pulled back by the damaged, out of control treadmill. Austin used his foreclaws to grab onto the top of the control panel, and pulled with all his might as the belt moved faster and faster. His hindlegs were quickly getting more and more tired as they were forced to run and run and run.

Austin’s eyes rolled up slightly as he felt his front legs getting stretched as the back half of him was slowly pulled backward. Then, unable to handle the stretch, Austin’s forepaws finally let go, and his hind paws finally tipped up. This sent Austin tumbling in mid air, and then he came down and bounced off of the belt first on his left cheek, a second time on his but, and a third time off of his front left leg. This third bounce off of his paw sent him rebounding up high and straight up, the tip of his tail nearly touching the ceiling. As a result, he came straight back down horn-first into the belt with a loud piercing crash.

Austin was breathing loudly as he chest heaved in and out. He stood on his head atop the ruined treadmill, eyes darting around nervously. When it finally occurred to him that the machine was no longer humming and that he was no longer moving, Austin’s eyes moved towards the treadmill’s control panel. In spite of his predicament, Austin smirked and folded his forelegs sassily, happy that he’d finally won.
Suddenly, the Absol heard the sound of the front door opening. “Austin!?” shouted the voice of his Trainer.

From his upside down position, Austin looked over at the human who just came home, then down at the treadmill his horn had impaled. Nervous at first, Austin quickly looked back up at his Trainer with the biggest, saddest eyes ever and whimpered a bit, all while holding his forepaws in a pitiful begging position.

The End

This was a Pokemon short story.

Staring the clever, beautiful, slightly cool, somewhat vain, and sassy. . .

. . .part cat, part dog, part pony. . .

Austin

MMXXII

Austin reclined on the sofa as he watched TV, his head in his Trainer’s lap. Austin sipped MooMoo Milk from a straw as his Trainer intermittently switched between gently massaging his back and legs and tenderly rubbing his paws.

Content, Austin let out a soft pur.