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When Lyman brought his suitcase full of workout gear to the airport and bought a one-way ticket to the new island community, he could only imagine long runs through the trees and tai chi on the beach. He did not expect the amount of trouble he would face.
It was okay at first. Though he was shaken by a plane flown by flightless dodos, the touchdown was smooth. And Lyman knew A LOT about touchdowns. He finished up the long journey with placing a few items courtesy of what passed as island government. His bed was green. His walls were green. That was pretty much all he had, but it was perfect.
The only thing missing, really, was his workout bench. He borrowed a DIY bench from the island services tent and set to work pounding the iron. In no time at all he had... a warped piece of iron.
There was a sharp knock on his door.
"Ah, chips!" he said to the villager who entered. Flat face, ears on the side of their head, round hands: Lyman didn't know what kind of animal this was, but they seemed to be the first one on the island. Weird how they picked a spot by the waterfall instead of near the beach, but maybe it was a good swimming spot.
"Whatcha got there, Lyman?"
"Oh this? Well, it's still a work in progress, but it's a, uh, a barbell. I can't give you this one, but I can tell you how to make it. It's gonna take iron, like a lot of iron, so you better go get to breaking those rocks, like now, chips."
Shoving the scribbled recipe into their hands, Lyman gently guided them out the door. Well, maybe not so gently. He was stronger than he looked. And he looked strong.
When the museum opened, Lyman wasn't super thrilled, but decided to check it out. The dinosaur exhibit at least would have some huge ripped t-rexes. And he had to admit, it was pretty impressive. A huge towering architecture with stairs descending like he was entering a stadium... Very cool. He snapped some photos of bones jutting up towards the ceiling, and got an impressive selfie shot of the skull. And that was his biggest mistake.
"Uh," he thought, holding the decapitated brachio skull. "Okay, not a problem, I'll find the curator and just explain what happened. No one can be blamed for being too strong, right?"
He began to wander, but the ever-present Blathers was curiously absent. Lyman wandered over to the fish hall, pausing to peer into one of the tanks. Dang, the koi were muscle from gills to tail, huh? It must have been from all the swimming. If he could just get one and keep it in a tank at home to watch its strategies...
A door banged open somewhere in the museum.
Lyman panicked. He dropped the koi.
He also dropped the brachio skull.
It was gone with one gulp from the koi.
"Heeeey, chips!" Lyman straightened his back, overcompensated, and dropped into a lunge. "Man, I love watching these muscly fish. When I try to catch them on the beach, I think they're just scared of my huge, bulging muscles, you know? Well, nice seeing you."
Before the other resident could utter a word, Lyman hurried out of the museum.
Adrenaline was going through his body, and that meant a run was in order. After hurriedly changing into a different set of workout gear, Lyman took to the beach. Ah, the sunset. That was one thing he couldn't regret about moving; the sand whispered to you about how your body moved over it, and the sun beckoned you to keep your body moving. As he rounded the corner furthest from his house, he just about considered turning back. And then he tripped.
There was a hole in the sand, and the way he fell, there was definitely something living in it. A squirt of water soaked his running shorts. He was embarrassed, but not injured in any way, so he was just about to get back up, when that darned young villager turned the corner.
"Chips! They say sitting like this is great for your core."
"Oh hey! Lyman! I just wanted to say what a great resident you've been on the island so far, so I made something for you. I hope you like it!" With seemingly no effort, the kid pulled a huge barbell out of their pockets, and handed it to Lyman. He took it with a grunt and the wind whooshed out of his lungs when he set it on his lap.
"Wow," he gasped, "I'm speechless."
Lyman grinned, promising to stage a workout. The other villager seemed reluctant and ran off to go look at shells. Lyman waited until they were gone, and then used all his willpower to lift the barbell off him. Island life wasn't for everyone, but he had a feeling this one would be a knockout.