He’s so proud of himself.

Steel-type bones and fighting-type muscles make for one strong little auradog, don’t they? Mike’s not light, either. He’s six-foot-four, coming in at close to three hundred pounds of pudge, and here Xavier is treating him like he’s the weight he was as a cyndaquil again - with minimal effort. See, this is why Xavier is the one training Mike and Lexi; he’s already trained his body to accept two humans’ worth of weight! Speaking of training, that’s actually how Mike got into this situation.

Everyone was at the park to relax, but Xavier found the breeze and sunlight optimal for squeezing in juuust a little bit of a workout. Lexi was convinced - of course she was; those two are lovebirds, but we’ll get to that another time - but Mike wanted to lounge about on the grass or across a bench. Xavier tried to insist that they would only be holding poses to train endurance, nothing too sweat-inducing, but Mike said he didn’t want to go home sore at all. “Besides,” he asked, “when’s the next time you’re going to 'hold' anything in a battle?” Xavier wandered behind Mike, telling him to imagine a fight against a heavy opponent, and how to use their weight against them. Two arms wrapped around Mike’s waist, aaand up he went!

I’m sure he’ll come down unscathed, don’t worry! Xavier wouldn’t do something risky - he’s not the risk-taking sort by any means. Mike’s perfectly safe up there, suspended by pure gosh darn strength. It’s funny, actually: Mike really misses being picked up like when he was an evolution younger, and one time he was lifted only a bit and it made him smile! But I think balancing carefully in an overhead pose has him rethinking some things…

Like, for example, why he shall never prank Xavier…

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Lines by  flytermo2 , color by me~! :D Original to be linked if uploaded!