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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 22:12:35 GMT -5
 "Come on Sora, you can swim faster than that!" Wakka yelled down from his seat on the horizontal tree trunk. From the tiny raised island connected to their playground by bridge he looked down at the ocean stretching out into the distance. A small speck amongst the blue water was one particular brown-haired boy. "Riku would have done 5 laps by now!"
It was a cheap trick to mention Riku to motivate the kid, sure, but it was usually an effective one. If Sora wanted Wakka's help to toughen up then he'd just have to deal with it. The redhead was a demanding coach.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 22:20:22 GMT -5
 "Really?!" was Sora's reply to his 'coach'. He wasn't the best of swimmers, so he'd asked Wakka, the best swimmer HE knew of, to help him out. He didn't know it would involve swimming back and forth like this. Regardless, the comment about Riku being able to do five in the time he'd taken just made him swim faster. "Is this how you learned to swim so good, Wakka?" |
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 22:30:24 GMT -5
"Let's just say that I'm trying to teach it in an even better better way than I learned," the redhead called back, followed by a laugh. First he'd let Sora get nice and worked up while he studied the kid's form, then they'd move on to the finer details.
'Sora's come a long way from when I first taught him how to swim at all, at least,' Wakka recalled from years ago as he started to climb down the ladder at the back of the raised rock. He'd let Sora do ten laps out to a marker he'd placed in the water. by the time the brown-haired youth got back he would be waiting for him, treading water next to the island.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 22:35:32 GMT -5
 And by the time Sora was finished, the spiky-haired brunette was laughing between gasping for breath. That was tiring, sure, but it was also a lot of fun! There was nothing like swimming on a beautiful day like today. "Okay... I did it..." He said between breaths, grinning at his friend and instructor. "What's next, Wakka?" |
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 22:39:08 GMT -5
Wakka spent a few seconds going over some details about Sora's form, telling the kid to move his arms this way or to strop doing this or that with his head.
"There's plenty of different ways to swim, depending on what you need, but we'll stick with the usual for now. The way I swim uses the most muscles at once so you can get a lot of power from your strokes and a real good workout, ya?"
The teen's muscular physique was a testament to his words.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 22:44:42 GMT -5
By the time Wakka was done with his inspection, Sora was back to breathing normally. He did as he was told during the little inspection thingy, and he couldn't help but wonder what all this meant to Wakka. "Oh, so THAT'S how you do it!" Sora said after Wakka revealed his little secret about his swimming style. He'd been wondering how his redhead friend was so muscular; that explained it well! "So how'd I do?" |
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 22:52:24 GMT -5
"You're doing fine, but it's not as tight as it could be. Remember, one of the most important things you can learn in swimming is how to not waste your energy and tire out too soon. Practice in the water a lot like me and you'll be able to keep going and going for a long time. "
The teen then lightly punched Sora in the chest.
"And also learning to breathe better, of course," he said with a smile.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 23:04:00 GMT -5
"All I have to do is keep practicing, and I'll get better!" Sora replied, grinning back at Wakka and chuckling a little. He was learning from one of the best swimmers around, after all. "What're we going to do now, Wakka? More swimming, or do you want to do something different for a little while?"
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 23:06:54 GMT -5
Wakka shook his head. Sora meant well but his enthusiasm wasn't always focused.
"All right, before you get hooked on something else, at least tell me why you asked for some new pointers. I could teach you two different tricks today. How to swim fast to win a race, or how to swim strong and toughen yourself up."
Wakka wasn't sure if Sora was looking to best Riku in some challenge they had arranged or just wanted a new exercise regime to amuse himself with occasionally.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 23:15:06 GMT -5
"Well... I want to know how to swim better. I know I'm all right with it, but I want to make sure I can do it as good as I can if I really have to. Plus, swimming is really fun; it just makes it more fun if you know how to do it better, right?" Sora answered honestly, shaking some of the water out of his hair and looking so much like a dog after getting wet. "Um... I think I'd rather learn how to swim stronger first, really."
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 23:19:21 GMT -5
Wakka smiled at Sora's explanation and nodded.
"Yeah, learn to swim strong and you'll get better and better at it as you toughen up. Then you'll be even better when you learn to swim fast, ya?"
The redhead reinforced to Sora the motion he was already using to swim, both arms parting to the sides in front of himself, and offered some more advice on how to breathe in a different pattern while swimming.
"Keep those things in mind and you'll do fine practicing on your own."
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 23:27:37 GMT -5
Sora took careful notice of Wakka's demonstrations, trying them out for himself for a couple of minutes. Satisfied that he'd be able to remember it when he was practicing later on, he waded back over to his red haired friend. "Okay, I think I can remember all that for later. So, what're we doing now, Wakka?" Sora asked, grinning and fidgeting a little bit. |
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 23:31:19 GMT -5
All right, all right," Wakka said, shaking his head. Sora always did have something of a short attention span. The older boy couldn't help but think maybe he needed something he could focus on, besides the extremely vague goal of "beating Riku at everything". He and Tidus had sports, at least. "Let's get you dried off first, ya?"
With that Wakka grabbed onto the ladder and started to climb back up to the small island where their towels were waiting.
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Post by mrcrazycakes on Jul 28, 2010 23:38:29 GMT -5
Sora would have been just fine doing whatever in his swim trunks, but there was nothing wrong with drying off. After drying and reassuming his usual attire, he met Wakka at the clubhouse area, grinning and ready to start the next activity. "Hey, Wakka, I wanted to ask; how are you and Tidus doing on that underwater soccer game?" |
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Jul 28, 2010 23:43:17 GMT -5
"It's not an underwater game," Wakka said with a laugh, patting Sora on the shoulder. "You can't kick or throw a ball underwater, ya? But we're working it out pretty good. We finally found a good type of ball to use that bounces off the water just right."
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