Every year, millions of people across the world make the pledge to lose weight for their new year’s resolution. 
Every year, most of those millions pussy out.
Wolf wasn’t sure if he was going to be one of them yet. Really, he wanted to shed the extra couple pounds he’d gained over the holidays, but he didn’t know if he had the willpower to actually keep at it for enough time to ensure such a thing. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try, though. No one could fault him for attempting, right?
As a matter of fact, he had the perfect excuse for doing so.
A nearby gym had just opened its doors, and was offering a free one-month membership to anyone who signed up the week after new year’s. Wolf was sure other gyms had similar plans, hoping to cash in on the resolution trend, but those were farther from his house, so they didn’t matter. 
The parking lot was relatively empty by the time Wolf arrived. He wasn’t sure whether that was because of the time of day he’d shown up, or whether that meant no one else was taking the gym on its offer for free stuff. Either way, Wolf didn’t mind. It made parking easier, and it probably meant he didn’t have to worry about fighting over whatever workout equipment was available.
He stopped the car, pulling the key out of the ignition and pushing open the front door. He climbed out with a huff, circumventing the vehicle to grab the bag of stuff he’d brought with him from its spot on the passenger seat. He’d definitely overprepared, Wolf thought, glancing down at the bag’s contents. Inside were several water bottles, a towel or two for if (when) he got all gross and sweaty, and a couple of those granola bars that crumbled into dust if you so much as looked at them wrong. He slung the bag lazily over one shoulder, striding up to the door and pushing it open.
Immediately the smell of rubber workout mats and sweat-stained metal slammed into his senses. He wrinkled his nose, immediately marching up to the front desk. There, a tired-looking employee looked up from their magazine, promptly sitting straight in an attempt to look attentive. 
“I’m uh, here for the free membership?” Wolf asked.
The employee looked him up and down, dark gaze scrutinizing. Wolf tried not to think about what they must be looking at. He knew he’d put on a few pounds, but he wore a baggy shirt just for the occasion- besides, this was a gym, this employee had to have seen fatter people. 
“Yeah, alright,” they finally said. They reached down, pulling out a manilla folder and gathering a few sheets of paper from within. “We’re just gonna need you to fill these out. I gotta give you like… an ID and stuff so you aren’t using our stuff for free.”
Ah, paperwork. The bane of Wolf’s existence. Regardless, he completed the several forms as requested, rarely if ever actually reading what was written. It was a gym. How complicated could the rules possibly be? So long as he didn’t break any of the equipment or get into fights with other weight loss hopefuls, he doubted he would get reprimanded.
He handed back the forms and the employee gave him an ID to keep with him for future visits. Wolf put the flimsy plastic rectangle in his bag along with the rest of his stuff, shuffling past the desk and into the open, workout-machine peppered space. Some of the equipment he recognized, while others… not so much. Even without a lot of workout experience it was easy to recognize a treadmill or an elliptical, sure, but some of these machines just looked like straight-up alien torture devices.
Wolf wandered among the rows of machines, giving them each a once-over. More treadmills, rowing machines, the occasional exercise bike. “Sounds fun,” he said, grimacing inwardly. Already he felt sore just looking at it, but if he wanted to actually lose weight, he was going to have to suffer to some extent. 
Each of these was supposed to focus on a certain part of the body, right? Wolf frowned. Yeah, shit. That was why people did ‘arm days’ or ‘leg days’ or whatever. Personally, Wolf wasn’t really picky so long as he got results, but it was probably best if he made sure he covered all of his bodily bases, right? Just so he got used to exercising each? If he was going to stay dedicated to this workout regimen, he needed to make sure he could handle whatever that required.
“I’ll just have to try a bunch, then, huh,” he concluded under his breath, less than enthused with the prospect of a workout gauntlet.
Wolf quickly determined that he needed to deal with his arms first. That way, if he did move to other machines, his legs weren’t in pain the entire time getting there. He scanned the available equipment, finally spotting one- a weight machine with a lateral pull-down bar and a spot to sit down. 
Sitting! He liked sitting. That seemed easy enough to start with, Wolf concluded. After all, how hard could it be to repeatedly pull down a damn metal bar? He wandered over to the weight machine, checking over the amount already applied to it. Not wanting to tire himself out too quickly, he didn’t set the weight to anything crazy. He could work up to something heavier later, if he was still interested. Weight applied, Wolf walked to the bench, grabbing the bar and beginning his set.
It was easy at first, just as he’d assumed. It was just pulling a bar down, letting it come back up, then pulling it down again and again. Over time, however, he could feel his arms beginning to ache, already straining against the alien feeling of rarely repeated motion. Regardless, Wolf knew that if he gave up now, he wasn’t going to get anywhere with his weight loss goals. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself to continue, and then returned to pulling at the bar.
As he continued his pulling and relaxing, his tan face reddened from the strain. The color flooding his face seemed to drain the hue from his fingers, as his digits began to shift in shade. Lighter and lighter the skin got with each pull, fingers popping longer with the movement, curling tighter as his broadening palms clenched around the pull-down bar. 
The work done on his hands, the paling of his flesh moved to his arms, the already beading sweat serving to make the skin of his upper limbs shine. The tan seemed to leave with the perspiration, carried away like the fat. Slowly but surely his paling arms slimmed, each tug on the bar shedding a pound from his appendages. Each time he let the bar go, his arms grew sightly longer, the bones in his limbs yanked further along until they’d grown a couple inches.
Another series of pulls. He could feel himself getting into a rhythm, the creaking of machinery and the hum of the pulley in tandem with the thumping of his heart. Yeah. That was it. He was actually doing it! Wolf smiled, chuckling triumphantly to himself. This wasn’t that hard, not once he really got into the zone! 
He knew he probably shouldn’t have continued any longer than he was able to, and boy, did he reach that point quickly, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d found his rhythm. It didn’t make sense to give up now. He had to push himself, harder, faster. He added another weight to the machine, then another.
This time, the weight on his arms seemed to surge back- not with fat, but with muscle. Firm, tight biceps and triceps swelled into place along his paler upper arms, flexing with each little pull and release of the metal bar. His heart pulsed in his fingertips, a pleasurable burn surging through the layers of skin and muscle, his firming deltoids extending and contracting. Shit, man, he thought, a little delirious from the high of success. He was actually doing it! 
Wolf only stopped when he felt like his arms were ready to fall off. He brought the bar back up and rose to his feet, tipping his head back with a heavy sigh. His muscled arms fell to a clap at his sides, and he shook himself off, grabbing his bag from the bench. Yeah- he could probably use that again the next time he showed up. Hell, only once and he was already feeling ten times more powerful than before; granted, that wasn’t a very hard goal to reach, but it made him feel better when he thought about it!
Next up, he found a decline bench, free with a rubber padding foot roll at the top for him to hook his feet under for sit-ups. The prospect seemed daunting, but with his arms sore from both the exercise and the yet-unnoticed change, he didn’t want to do anything that involved his upper limbs for a bit. Gathering his courage, he got into position, head tilted closer to the floor than his legs as he laid down on the workout bench.
“Okay, one, two, three-” Wolf urged himself. On the call of three, he forced himself upwards, feet hanging on for dear life as he attempted to lift himself at the hips into a sitting position. After a few moments of floundering, he finally managed to pull himself upright, face red with humiliation and strain. He flopped back down, gathering the courage to try again. He clung tight to the foot roll, yanking himself up time and time again, sweat streaming down his forehead.
The sit-ups came faster in time, eventually worked into a steady rhythm like he’d done with the pull-down bar. Flustered, labored breaths gave way to evenly-paced intakes and exhales as he continued, his chest heaving with the effort.
Well, not just the effort.
Slowly but surely, the fat in his chest began to recede, burned away beneath the heat of movement and exercise. The skin pulsed, fat snapping into flatness like the recoil of an elastic band. Then, just as steadily as he rose, his chest began to fill back out. With each sit up he performed a firm layer of pectoral muscle built up on his chest, invisible beneath the baggy top, but there nonetheless. His sweat-stained chest paled like his arms, skin above prominent muscle growing lighter and lighter. 
The shift in complexion dribbled down his torso like perspiration, conquering his stomach before long. His core tightened with the repeated movements, pudgy gut pulled tight against his frame. Another sit-up and his back popped, pulling him up another couple inches. Without missing a beat, he adjusted himself on the bench, returning to the set. Prominent abdominal muscles ballooned along his stomach, carving canyons beneath his sweat-stained top. 
He liked it, the sweat, the burn. It meant he was pushing himself. It meant he was getting stronger.
Wolf climbed off the bench before long, swiping a hand across his brow. He needed to refresh himself. He’d gotten so into the rhythm of workout that he’d nearly forgotten to drink water! Determination was crucial to a successful exercise, but so was hydration! He grabbed his bag, unzipping it to grab one of the bottles he’d brought with him. 
Unscrewing the cap, he brought the rim of the bottle to his lips. He swallowed several mouthfuls, throat bobbing with each intake. Before long he’d depleted the plastic container of its contents, and summarily tossed the bottle into the nearest trash can. He sighed, the sound coming out gruffer and… older. Older, yeah, that was it. Some could probably say he was getting too old for this- if they were cowards. That wasn’t a good enough excuse! There was never a good enough excuse to stop pushing yourself to do your very best!
Hydration break complete, Wolf sought out his next target- the exercise bike. Setting his bag down beside the machine, the young man mounted the equipment, stuffing his feet between the pedals and the straps attached to them. He started pedaling, a small interface lighting up between the handlebars to display his progress.
His rear slimmed down as he pedaled, glutes tightening as heavy perspiration slicked his slimming, ever-moving thighs. Slimmer, then thicker, powerful corded muscle surging into place to make up for the lost weight. The muscles rippled down his paling legs, calves firming in the wake of the intense effort. Wolf found himself adjusting his position again and again, sitting higher as his pumping legs strengthened to match his extended arms and torso. It wasn’t voluntary, any of it. He’d worked out far too many times to lose precious seconds fussing over slight adjustments. All he could focus on was the nonstop pedaling, his feet creaking a touch longer in his shoes as he pressed ever onward. A little discomfort was nothing. In fact, it was expected!
A few more minutes and he hopped off the bike. He grabbed another water bottle, quick to replenish himself. Arceus only knew how much fluid he was losing, sweating as he did. But he’d done a good job. He could pack it in now- he deserved it.
Reaching back into the bag, he pulled out the towel he brought with him. He dumped a bit of the water bottle’s contents onto the fabric to dampen it before getting to work scrubbing his face. As he did, the shift in complexion finally reached his features, mapping his skin in totality with the new shade. Each scrub wiped the stubble from his jaw, leaving him clean-shaven before long. His face drew inward, the swipes of the towel pulling the weight from his aging, hardening features. Signs of increasing age crept in in creases in the corners of his narrowing eyes, above the bridge of his nose. His black hair lightened to an older gray, first at the brows, then all over his scalp, a few whiter strands shooting through at the roots and along the sides. Wolf brought the towel over his head before letting it rest over either shoulder, his hair pulling out of its topknot as it shortened up past his ears.
His clothes were still a sweaty mess- but Wolf came prepared. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he marched into the locker room, peeling off his stained attire and pulling out the extra set he’d brought with him, a vibrant set that definitely hadn’t been in the bag when he entered. Piece by piece he slipped it on, sturdy white and red shorts with his League number, a black undershirt accented with crimson swirls that mimicked wisps of fire, and a red shirt atop it with a dark, flame design across the front and back. Slowly he pulled his red and yellow socks up to his shins, slipping his red and black shoes on thereafter. 
Tossing his sweaty clothes into his gym bag, Kabu rose from the bench, striding out of the locker room exhausted, but contented. He walked past the front desk, right past the befuddled, underpaid employee that definitely didn’t see him come in.
Today had been a good day, Kabu thought, stepping outside. 
Tomorrow, he’d push himself even harder.