Part 2: Getting Started

The very next day things were already looking up. I had managed to talk my sweet old Granny Louis into letting Mac and I stay with her, just until we made enough money to get on our feet. I could always count on Granny for help. The only problem with living under her roof was that she limited the amount of chocolate bars I was allowed to eat. Y'see, I'm what they call a "Certified Chocoholic", a connoisseur if you will. Quite frankly I just plain love chocolate, which explained why I wasn't in peak physical condition.

Mac was as eager to learn as I was to teach. It had been so long and I hoped I hadn't forgotten my old training regiment. Thankfully once we got to the gym and started, it all came back to me. But before any real training started I wanted to make things official. "Hey, son!" I yelled over to Mac who had already begun lifting the barbells. "You mind comin' over here for a minute?"

"Sure thing, Doc." He set the weights down and walked over to the locker I was standing next to. I sighed, "Mac, there's something I'd like to give you". He looked surprised. I opened the locker and pulled out a pair of green boxing trunks a black tank top and a pair of green boxing gloves. "What's all this?" Mac asked. I smiled and said, "this was my old uniform I used to wear in the ring".

"Wow… I remember from all the old footage and pictures. It's weird seeing everything in color."

"Well you'll be seeing a lot more of it because it's yours now, Mac."

"Y-you're giving me your old boxing uniform?" He looked down as I handed it over to him. "Doc… I… But why?"

"This old thing got me through a lot of matches without getting so much as a tear in the fabric or rip in the gloves. I wanted you to have some of the luck it's given me over the years."

Mac hung his head down holding the uniform, still folded. It looked as though he'd never gotten a gift in his life. "T-thank you so much, Doc." Mac's voice trembled a little. He put out his hand to shake mine and I happily obliged. Then he was off to change. I leaned on the ropes of the ring waiting for Mac to come out of the locker room. When he walked out it was like looking into a mirror from the past. "Lookin' good, son!" I yelled over to him. "How's it fit?"

"Not bad. It's a bit big, though."

"Well you gotta remember I was never a featherweight like you. I switched outfits once I outgrew that one but I knew it was a good idea to hang onto it."

"You called it, Doc."

Now that everything else was out of the way it was time to begin training. I had Mac go back to the weights he was lifting before. I didn't want to push him too hard at first, but we needed to work on bulking him up. "Listen up, Mac," I said. "You're quick on your feet but your weight is one of the factors that prevents you from being able to handle a punch."

"R-right," Mac responded while alternating between the two 20 lb weights in each hand, struggling to speak a bit. As Mac went on, so did my encouragement. "Work em, Mac. Work through the pain!" His forehead began to sweat but he kept on going. After about 15 minutes I told him he could rest. Mac quickly dropped the weights and his arms hung down. "Not too bad, Mac baby." I said. "Probably feels like you were pushing a truck uphill for two hours, doesn't it?"

"That's actually a pretty accurate way of describing it."

"Don't worry, it'll get easier."

The day turned to night more quickly than usual. I'd forgotten how easy it was to lose track of time while training. By the time the sun set we had covered nearly everything, and the boy took to it all like it was second nature. Jumping rope, sparring, sit-ups, push-ups. I thought to myself, this might really work. The only way we'd know for sure was to have Mac go against a real opponent. Fortunately for Mac, who was now exhausted from a hard day's work, that had to wait until tomorrow.

Back at Granny's house, we all say down to the nice meal she had waiting for us. I knew Mac had to be sore from head to toe, but that didn't keep him from being able to hold a fork. The poor kid must not have been eating very well when he was alone since he shoveled a turkey leg, mashed potatoes and green beans into his mouth all at once. "Chew, baby!" Granny said to Mac. He swallowed his mouthful, "sorry Mrs. Louis. I haven't had a meal like this in a while". Granny looked happy to see her cooking was so appreciated but still had to be the authority. "Well don't go choking down your food. Wouldn't want you to go through all that training only to die by turkey leg." Mac laughed, "you're right".

After dinner Granny went inside to watch her usual late-night television, while Mac and I sat at the table for a bit. "So where were you living before this, Mac?"

"I had an apartment a couple of blocks from here. Nothing special."

"I don't mean to pry, it just seems odd to see a kid your age on his own already. Don't you think your par--." Mac began to speak over me. "Oh! That reminds me I need to get my stuff out of there before they change the locks." I figured his folks were a sensitive subject so I didn't press the issue and went along with him. "We can stop by early tomorrow morning on our way out. What do you have to get, son?"

"Just some clothes and things. Also my old bike."

"A bike, huh? Tell you what, let's skip the gym altogether tomorrow and get some fresh air. I have somewhere I need to take you anyway."

"Sounds good!" Mac said, yawning. "Guess we'd better head in for the night, Doc."

Mac walked upstairs while I let Granny know we were heading to bed. I yelled into the TV room, "night, Granny. We're heading in for the night, got an early day tomorrow!" Granny yelled back, "you kids hungry?"

"No, Granny we already ate, remember? We're heading to bed."

"Alright then, have a good night." And with that I headed upstairs and prepared for the day ahead. Although it was Mac who would need to be prepared.

Dawn broke and surprisingly Mac was already up and ready by the time I woke up. I quickly threw myself together so we could be out the door. "Where did you say we were going today, Doc?" Mac asked as we left for his apartment. "I got a surprise for you, Mac baby."

"You seem to like surprises."

"That's because the world doesn't have enough good ones."

When we got to Mac's apartment I waited outside for him to come down with his things. I offered to help but he insisted he'd only be a minute. Sure enough he came out a moment later holding a small bag and driving his bike down the steps. "I'm sorry about you losing this place, Mac." He scoffed, "don't be. Everything I own is right here. I don't need four walls to hold all of this". It broke my heart to hear that everything was in one bag. He wasn't in the same position I was, his was much worse.

"Well, time for some training!" I said happily. Mac raised an eyebrow, "I thought you said we were skipping the gym today, Doc?"

"Oh we are skipping the gym. Your bike is gonna train you until we get where we're going."

"Riding a bike doesn't sound very strenuous."

"Don't worry, you're not the one who's gonna be riding it."

I hopped on the bike and grabbed Mac's bag, putting it on the handlebars. Without warning I began peddling and yelled back, "I wanna see if you can keep up!" Mac quickly got the idea and followed closely behind me. He was surprisingly fast and kept up very well. I rode alongside the waters of New York and gazed at the Statue of Liberty as we continued on. Mac, however, kept right on running, not paying much attention to anything else and focusing on his training.

We kept on going until we finally reached our destination. Mac breathed heavily and looked up at the tall building where we had stopped. "W-what is this, Doc?"

"Follow me, son." We went inside and I had Mac sit down in the waiting room while I went further inside. I didn't tell him where we were so he seemed a little on edge. About ten minutes later I came back out holding a piece of paper which I immediately handed over to him. He looked down at the paper as I said, "congratulations, Mac. You're now an official boxer in the state of New York".

"What? You mean this is a…"

"That's right. Your own boxing license. I took the liberty of phoning ahead to set everything up. You're all set now, son."

Mac jumped up and quickly shook my hand. I pulled him close and patted him on the back. "You won't regret this, Doc!" The look on his face was all the thanks I needed. "I promise you I'm going to be the greatest there ever was. I'm not going to let you down, Doc. I swear it"

"I don't want any promises, Mac. I know you have what it takes." I folded my arms. "Now your first real match is in exactly one week. We're going to get you in peak condition by this time next week, got it?" Mac just gave me a thumbs up and grinned.

With Mac having his boxing license, everything had became official in an instant. I had a real student and he finally had his own personal trainer. I had every intention on training the boy the way I remember training. It worked for me and I knew it'd work for him too. We had no idea who his first opponent would be, but I decided to make sure he was ready for anything. That day marked the beginning of Mac's career into the Minors.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to finish this part, guys! I had begun working on it right after the first part but didn't have a way of ending it. In fact I was a bit disappointed with the way I ended it anyway. I really wanted to get into Mac's first fight in this part but it just didn't seem to happen, so to prevent this part from being overly long I decided to dedicate the entire 3rd part to that fight. For fans of the series, you probably know what's coming. You're also probably wondering how an entire "chapter" would work for this particular boxer... Truthfull so am I... Either way, part 3 will be coming soon. Will Mac win or lose? If you really need to ask then you've never played Punch-Out!! before. Peace out!