A Couple of Wild and Crazy Girls (for Daaharu)

Carmen held on as best she could while Lorenza piled on the pain, laying into the bag with an excellent drill. It brought back fond memories - how many times had she been like this with her brother and her father? Just training, working drill, perfecting the technique. She had a heavy bag at home, all the training equipment she could ever need, access to rings to train in, and the Tension gym was pretty much all hers whenever she went there. But nothing came close to this. Being in a room, surrounded by future competition. Carmen could still feel that energy in the air, here. Still smell the sweat. If there really was such a thing as a soul, this place had it. It was alive. Old, decrepit, but alive.

Carmen took Lorenza's cue and moved back as well, getting into position. She took her time with the bag, slower and methodical, working on her footwork. A jab shot out, established the range, and another came right after, covering her before she threw out a thunderous straight, the real damage dealer. She pushed in, like she was going for a clench with the bag, duked down and threw out to quick, punishing hook. Hard enough to shatter ribs.

"Agreed. We're going to show the AFW what a real fight looks like."

She threw one, last haymaker into the bag, a final heavy blow to punctuate the sentence, as she stepped back, moving for the door. "This'll be the last time I see you before the match, right - just want you to know, whatever happens, whatever I say during the fight...thanks for everything, tonight." She gave Lorenza a short bow. Japan was rubbing off on her. "I'm glad I met you, Lorenza."

Lorenza held on tight as Carmen went to work on the bag, getting jostled around with each punch the other woman threw. The Puerto Rican went after it like the expert she was, starting slow, throwing very strategic punches, making every single one count. Lorenza could not help but be impressed by her friendâ€s form. Besides herself, she knew of no one who could box quite like Carmen did.

As Carmen stepped back, towards the door, Lorenza would do the same, mirroring her past and future opponentâ€s motions. She smiled as Carmen thanked her, bowing low and speaking of how glad she was that she had met Lorenza. The Mexican boxer felt the same way as her Puerto Rican counterpart, though she had yet to adopt that Japanese formality to the same extent that Carmen had. “Oh, come here, hermana,” she said, stepping forward and giving Carmen a hug. “I should be thanking you, you know. Iâ€ve been…Iâ€ve been in some dark places over these last few years. Mostly just because Iâ€m an idiot and punish myself for stupid things. But hanging out with you makes me feel happy, you know? I have a friend now. I like it.” She would clap her friend on the shoulder, pulling away from the hug. “And, hey, this feels like a goodbye. Itâ€s not a goodbye. Iâ€ll see you soon, right here. And afterwards…whatever happens in the ring, letâ€s get together afterwards and hang out, eh? Weâ€ll both have plenty of free time while weâ€re in the hospital.”

She would step back a little further and turn towards the door, ready for the long walk home. “Hasta luego, mi hermana,” she would say before exiting.

Lorenza was a good hugger, Carmen notIced. He helped that she was very well-endowed, lots of padding in all the right places. Couldn't help but flinch as she came in for the embrace, her reflexes taking over a for a moment, before she just eased into it. Accepted. The tigress squeeze to her heart's content. She felt privileged. This was her sister, the Lorenza Saldano few, if any else, ever saw. She was tough, strong, ferocious...but she was fun, too. It was Carmen's special little thing to treasure.

"Que te vaya bien."

She let Lorenza go for now, waving as she left. And taking a moment to look the place over. It really was fitting - their little feud was going to end in the same kind of place it began, going out like they started. The place had the perfect energy for it, ready to house just one more fight...and, now that she stopped and thought about it, maybe it could handle a little more.

She thought about it for a few moments as a faint idea crossed her mind, then stepped out. Tonight was fun, but she needed her rest. Tomorrow, she started the hard training.