Wrestling with equality (for Caroline)

After what was a hectic time for her as of late, Kei was looking forward to taking a break from it at, or that was her intent. Just as she was about to make vacation plans she got a call from Lina. Lina was kind of cutting this close but lucky for her Kei was in a good mood, plus she, like Lina, knew an opportunity when she saw one. Lina tells her about a new wrestler she is managing and how she wants to get her started with some of Kei’s teachings. If Kei was gone there would still be good people to instruct the new comer in her absence, but this sounded like something that she wanted to be a part of.
Kei would look over Caroline’s medical information that Lina forwarded to her, which Kei had to look over a couple of times to be sure of what she was reading. She tells Lina to remind Caroline that while she will not discriminate that Caroline will be expected to work as if she was like everybody else.


Lina would be at the airport to meet Caroline when she landed and take her to where Kei does her training classes. “Good to see you made it in one piece. I’m not sure if the same can be said when we’re done today.” Lina tells her, as a reminder that Kei is a tough teacher, but a fair one.” Lina does not tell her that Kei cancelled vacation plans to work with her though.


At the workout facility, Kei watched on as other were working out. She has been through a lot in her career, but this would be a new experience for her and she hoped that she could provide the new girl with the knowledge that she is seeking. She had a feeling this would be a challenge, but it was one she was looking forward to.
Her husband Wes was leading a small group through some drills, while Jesse, one of her top students, was with a smaller group outside of the ring, working on other things.


When Lina and Caroline arrived, just before they were about to go inside, Lina would go to open the door but then stop. She looked at Caroline and told her “I know you want this but are you ready? When you step through these doors your life will change, forever.” She knew that Caroline wanted this though wanted to be sure that Caroline wanted getting cold feet.


Assuming her desire did not change Lina would tell her to go inside and go get changed, telling her where the change room was. When she was no longer in sight she would go find Kei and tells her that they arrived. “Thanks for this on such short notice Kelly.”


“No problem Lina. Of course Wes can lead things well if I’m not here, but when you told me about her this sounded like something that I had to see and experience for myself.” Kei was looking forward to this. She then asks Lina “She knows what to expect right?”
“Yes I gave her the 411.” Lina responded.


“Don’t worry though, if she’s as determined as you say she is she will be fine, she’ll be safe here.” Kei assured Lina. Lina would stay long enough to get Caroline and Kei introduced since she had some other business in town but wouldn’t be gone for long.

Caroline shifted uneasily in her seat as her flight crossed the US border into Canada. She stared out the window when plane's captain finally announced their descent, but she wasn't sure why she bothered. Even with her glasses, her vision was marred by scars left over from the surgeries she had endured as a child. She had no peripheral vision thanks to her condition; for her, it was like viewing the entire world through the neck hole of a t-shirt you hadn't finished putting on yet, and all she could see at the moment was an indistinct gray mass beneath her. These were the kinds of problems that had caused even the AFW to be apprehensive about the idea of giving the girl a pass to compete, but Lina had spoken on her behalf and convinced them to allow her in on the condition that she receive formal training before participating in any official matches.

Caroline had the utmost confidence in Lina as a manager and knew she would find her a good trainer, but Lina had exceeded her wildest expectations. In their last phone conversation, just that morning, Lina had dropped the bombshell of an announcement that Caroline would be training with none other than Kei herself. Kei, one of the legends of the AFW league, was a woman that Caroline held in great respect. The veteran had one of the longest careers in AFW history, and she had endured some of the most violent rivalries and injuries that Caroline had ever seen in the business. This woman knew a thing or two about fighting to beat the odds, and she was a perfect person to guide Caroline along a similar path...if she judged Caroline worthy of the opportunity, that is.

A loud rumbling noise indicated that the plane had finally touched down, and Caroline disembarked as soon as the aisle was clear, nervous but eager to finally meet her guardian angel in person. She found Lina waiting for her at the gate, though the woman only came into focus when she walked straight up to her for a greeting.

Caroline smiled at Lina's opening remark, though she didn't respond to it directly. “I'm ready to go when you are, just lead the way,” Caroline spoke in the soft, polite tone she had grown accustomed to using at home. Hopefully, the experience of being thrown into the proverbial meat grinder would give her a more strident tone.

The road to the gym that Kei operated out of wasn't very long, and Caroline spent it thinking about the issues in her wrestling game that Kei might be able to help her iron out. She wasn't blind and wasn't incapable of defending herself by any means, but there were still some severe gaps in her senses that people could exploit for a cheap advantage. Not to mention that the young girl had never been allowed to wrestle before now, courtesy of her high school's infuriating decision to keep her out of sports.

As the manager and apprentice arrived at the door leading into Kei's gym, Lina turned around and delivered a final, ominous warning to ask if Caroline was really ready for what she was about to get herself into. It was an easy choice for Caroline; she had been preparing for this day for years now. She was ready for people to take her seriously, to not treat her with kid gloves, and she would earn that right even if she had to pay for it with sore muscles and broken bones. Caroline gave Lina a confident smile and nodded solemly. “Let's do this,” the girl responded confidently, lacking the soft tone from before. With that, the two headed inside.

Lina instructed Caroline to head into the locker room and change into her wrestling attire. The girl opted for something quick and simple, fitting herself with a light blue, one-piece swimsuit that she had brought from home. At the sounding of an alarm that she had set on her watch, Caroline also unpacked a small bottle of eye medication and turned her head up to allow two drops to the substance to drip into each of her eyes. She needed to keep up with her medication, to keep her glaucoma from getting worse. Finally, she removed her fragile glasses and replaced them with a pair of tight-fitting goggles that had the same type of lenses built into them. She would need these to keep up in the ring, without them the entire world was a blur to her.  

Caroline emerged from the locker room to find Lina gone and Kei standing in her place. Once the girl became aware of this fact, she blushed and offered a bow to the veteran. “Thank you for agreeing to train me, ma'am,” Caroline uttered, speaking softly again. “I'm ready to begin when you are.”

"It's alright Caroline." Kei tells with a grin and a slight chuckle. "Bowing's not necessary here but I know what you're saying." so she gives her one as well. "I was looking over your medical info that Lina provided and I will admit I've never trained with someone with your condition, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to." She slowly reaches a hand on and gets a feel of the goggles at Caroline put on before coming out there. "I hope those won't vibrate and cause you irritation." She wanted to also mention that those could be used against her, but would save that for later, wanting to have Caroline at least broken in a bit first.

"Before we begin, Lina mentioned that you haven't but I want to hear it from the horses mouth, before today, have you done any physical activities before, or been in any fights when you were younger?" She asked her this to get a feel of if there was anything that she could know that Lina didn't know already she might be able to use examples from it to help Caroline, but if she wasn't that was fine too.

Some of the students began to take notice of Caroline and Kei talking. While they learned not to judge others they were wondering how long she would last. Regardless of how that would be answered Kei already knew of how she would start her off. "Get stretched up and when you're ready go on in, but before you do that tell me one thing." She will move back about what would be the distance from one side of a ring to another. "Both with and without those how well can you see me?" referring to the goggles.

In the mean time Kei would go talk with her husband and asked him how things were going on with his group. He tells her that things are going alright and that they were about to move on to some other things. She asks him if she could hijack the ring for a bit and they have a brief discussion about something else. Wes then tells the group that he was with to take a break to go get some lunch, since they started at a different time than the group Jesse was with. Before they go he tells them that when they get back they will be setting up the second ring was was taken down a few weeks back for repairs, and everybody will be expected to help out. If you don't count the adults nor Jesse, there is about 8 trainees there plus Caroline.

When Caroline gets in the ring she would congratulate her on taking her first step into the world of pro wrestling. She would then call Jesse into the ring to join them, and Wes would go with the group that Jesse was just with. Kei introduces Jesse to Caroline, telling her that Jesse has trained with her on and off for about five years. Jesse would offer a hand out to shake as Kei tells Caroline that Jesse will be joining them today.

"Before you learn the bodyslams, suplexes, and all that high flying stuff the kids are all in the rave about, you will learn one of the most important important things there is about wrestling. You will fall down, a lot. Sometimes the way you fall can't be helped, but for situations where you have the time to do so you'll want to reduce the risk of injury." She then goes off the ropes and then drops on her back in the middle of the ring. The sound of the impact is a good one as she landed square in the middle. She then got back up and then tells Jesse to do it, but without going off the ropes and to do a bit slower and to hold her landing when she hits the mat if she can. Jesse nods and tells Caroline to notice how Jesse lands, her arm placement and how she tucks her neck in. "If you were to land square on your back you also risk hitting the back of your head on the mat, which in this sport that will happen, a lot. The head sometimes can be the most fragile part of the body. I've seen people in various spots land on their head in various situations many times and be fine, and some just a couple of times and they're done. It will take getting use to and do not worry if you do land on the back of your head a couple of times doing this. I'm sure you know there are a lot of moves where the head is the critical point of contact, if you can at the very least minimize the contact the head takes it then in theory you will last longer in the ring. You've seen both Jesse and I do it, now you try."

She tries to sound positive and encouraging, not wanting to scare her early on, but when Kei first broke in many years ago she got a similar lecture. She tells her to give it a few tries, and if Jesse notices something wrong with Caroline's form then she will help her. After a few tries she would ask Caroline if she would feel comfortable with doing five in a row, and by that she means doing one, getting back up, quickly and repeating until five is done. If she wasn't Kei would be ok with that, wanting Caroline to get her form down before speeding things up.

Caroline gave her own goggles a tug after Kei had inspected them. They didn't vibrate, and wearing them didn't have many side effects. They fit comfortably without gripping her head too tightly, which was a huge help since people's heads already tended to take a lot of punishment in the ring. The only notable problem (aside from the risk of unscrupulous opponents tearing them off) was that the goggles had thick rims, which gave her tunnel vision. The glaucoma Caroline had suffered from all her life had already destroyed her peripheral vision, however, so “tunnel vision” was a constant affliction for her, with or without the goggles on. Still, this flaw in Caroline's vision could prove troublesome against fast opponents who were capable of ducking in and out of her field of vision. Caroline made a mental note to bring this problem up with Kei at some point in their training.

When Caroline was asked whether or not she had a history of physical activity, she gave an honest answer. “I've never been in a fight before,” the girl admitted to her sensei. “People have either treated me nicely or just avoided me for most of my life, so I've never had a reason or opportunity to fight others. The only thing I was allowed to do throughout my high school and college years was to work out regularly at the local gym. I kept myself in shape thanks to that, but I've never put my exercises to any use in the ring.”

At Kei's prompting, Caroline observed the woman with and without her prescription goggles as the veteran and a man she worked with carried on a conversation with some other students. With the goggles on, Caroline's vision was mostly clear, save for the utter lack of any peripheral vision. The other problem was that some portions of Caroline's eyes had scar tissue embedded in them, which created large, black blind spots in her vision. It was as if Caroline's eyes were a windshield, and the windshield had been vandalized with some splotches of paint.

With the goggles removed, Caroline's vision failed completely. The entire world was an indistinct blur, with people and objects around her blending almost seamlessly into it, unless they were very close to her. She would be helpless in this state, unless there was enough noise emanating from nearby threats for her to react to them on the basis of sound alone.

When Kei came back to Caroline, the young hopeful relayed her information regarding the quality of her sight to her teacher, before moving into the ring and shaking the hand of Jesse, the more experienced student that would be helping with her training.

Then the training began, and it started in a way that initially took Caroline by surprise. The bang that echoed throughout the gym when Kei slammed into the center of the mat shocked her, and the girl trembled nervously when, upon some more demonstrations, Kei asked her to take some dives into the mat herself.

The young girl had to admit, though, Kei's training technique was pragmatic, teaching her student about some of the basic dangers that she would encounter in the ring before schooling her in any methods of attack. Caroline did as she was told and allowed herself to fall back into the center of the ring, keeping her head tilted forward to save it from impact. “Oof,” the girl grunted on each landing, as her lower back, upper back, and occasionally her head, despite her best efforts, all grew sore as she continued to practice her backwards dive. Occasionally, Jesse would step in, verbally informing her of her mistakes or occasionally reaching out herself, taking hold of Caroline's arms or head to slowly guide them into the proper position. The young girl blushed whenever this happened, embarrassed but grateful for the attention to her form.

At the prospect of doing five of these dives in a row, Caroline frowned, but she did increase the rate at which she took her dives, requiring a little less rest each time.

"How do you feel?" Kei would ask her after observing for a bit. "I'm not going to lie, but I'm sure you already knew this since you've mentioned that you have watched wrestling before. Most likely you will get hurt." Jesse nods in agreement and tells Caroline "It took me a while before I got use to all of this. It may hurt now but you might regret it if you gave in. You're doing good so far though, it'll just take more practice. We can take a break from this for now if you'd like move on and come back to this later."


As Jesse talks, Kei tries to think of what they should do next. She doesn't want to the kid on her first day. Before she says what she was thinking of she mentions that if Caroline feels her head ringing to take it easy for a bit. She doesn't go into detail but wants to avoid her getting a serious concussion so soon. "How good of a runner are you? We'll keep this basic for now but let's get you running the ropes as they say." And by that she meant it literally. "Different wrestlers will do it a different way but it's kind of the same." She looks like she is going for the ropes but does a bit slowely, showing her how she grabs them to pull herself into them and to launch herself off. She tells Jesse to demenstrate what she wants to see. Jesse does about five exchanges off the ropes back and forth and finishes with a bump in the middle of the ring. "You don't have to end it like that if you don't want to" Kei informs Caroline. "I just want you to get comfortable before going full tilt so take your time and get to know the ring. I know this is mostly for AFW, but a lot of rings that both Jesse and I have been in, almost no two are alike. Some use a different style on canvas, some use different material for ropes. Some feel more rope like while some are more like cabling. Hell I've seen rings with six sides instead of four, those are popular in Mexico... Anyway, go ahead, the ropes don't bite." she tells her with a smile.


She didn't want to admit it but Kei was having a bit of trouble coming up with a lesson plan. She actually tells Caroline to stop mid-drill and asks her "Hold up a second." She then semi-shyly tells her "I hope it doesn't sound like I'm unprepared for you. I admit I didn't really have a whole lot of time to come up with a good first day lesson plan for you so I'm pretty much going with what I give for everyone else. Tell me though, what are some specific moves you would like to some day learn? Of course you still have to get to know the ring and your body better." indicating she still has rope work to do. Jesse could tell that Kei was wanting to be her typical tough but fair usual self, but at the same time she didn't want to scare her away. For a girl who has never really had a chance to do much athletic in life Kei wanted to really give her the full experience, but knowing that she wondered if her body would let her take it all in.

“I won't give up, Kei,” Caroline reassured her teacher as she continued to throw herself onto the canvas, getting the hang of how to protect her head in the event of a fall. “I'm feeling okay, except my back is starting to sting from absorbing the impact so many times.”

Actually, the girl was starting to get dizzy from all the times she had slammed into the mat, and when Kei offered Caroline the opportunity to switch to another topic for awhile, she opted to take the offer. She watched as Jesse ran from side to side of the arena, picking up speed as she bounced off the ring ropes before stopping in the center of the ring. The blind brawler was ready to try it for herself, but when she got into the ring, she was dismayed to find that even the simple act of running between the ring ropes was difficult for her. Caroline's lack of depth perception made it difficult to tell exactly when she was about to hit the ring ropes, which, in turn, made it impossible for her to capitalize on her ability to gain momentum by bouncing off of them. The girl ran from rope to rope several times, but she was losing momentum instead of gaining it, and it was evident from the way that Caroline was striking the ropes that she was having trouble seeing them clearly.

Staring at a corner turnbuckle in frustration, Caroline's face blushed as she was afraid to face Kei, who would surely have noticed how much trouble she was having. Instead, she stubbornly kept practicing, attempting to count the number of seconds it took her to run the length of the arena's edges, and using that to estimate in advance when she had reached the ropes. It helped a little, but Caroline still needed practice here.

Eventually, Kei beckoned Caroline to stop her drills and come talk with her. She asked what kinds of moves and techniques Caroline would want to learn, and the young hopeful wasn't wanting for an answer.

“Well, I was hoping to specialize as a grappler and a submissions expert,” the girl said. “Because if I'm able to keep my opponent grounded with my moves, I won't have to worry about losing track of them. That means I'll need to learn how to ground my opponents, as well as practice some submissions.”

Caroline swallowed nervously as she prepared to ask Kei about another aspect of her training, one that could very well be the most intimidating. “I also need to practice getting out of submission holds, and that means someone will have to perform them on me.”

Kei listens to what Caroline was interested in learning and nodded, interested with not only her response but with her logic behind it. "That's a good way of thinking Caroline. However it does help to know a few things outside of their comfort zone, just in case if you run into an opponent that is ready for your preferred style. I can assure you that we will get to all of that, but not today."

Jesse would mention that usually classes start with some some bumping and rope running, and some times different types of rolls. "It never hurts to brush up on the basics, plus you never know when you may have to dodge."she adds.

Kei would tell her that depending how things go maybe Caroline can get her feet wet with some grapple moves, but suggests she takes a break for a few minutes.

Caroline nodded to Kei and Jesse, and agreed to take a short break. If she was going to start learning to grapple, she should probably be rested to some extent. The young girl looked around the training facility, which was nearly abandoned save for the three of them as Kei's husband and the other students were out doing something else at the moment.

"Umm, where could I get something to drink here? Just water or something," Caroline asked, her mouth sticky and dry. All the heavy breathing she had been doing had evaporated most of the moisture in her mouth, and she was sweating, which meant the possibility of dehydration.

Jesse would show her, though tells her she can bring her own as well. While she leads her there she tells Caroline asked her if she found what she was learning so far to be difficult. She mentions that some trainees take awhile getting things like the above down before being allowed to work on new things so she shouldn't be afraid of repetition. When they back Kei informs Caroline that they will have to wait a bit before continuing, because she's about to take part in a group lesson.

It takes a few minutes for the others from before to return. Just as they show up she tells Caroline "Some call this paying your dues, some call it showing respect for the business, some call it other things but what you're about do with everyone is something nobody, no longer how long you have been in wrestling, are above doing."

She then gets everyone attention.

"As everyone knows a little while ago some complications came about and we had to take the second ring down. Well now comes the fun part, putting it back together. Most large sized companies have their own ring crew, while many small ones rely on rookies or friends for this, but if you ask me nobody is above not helping set up the ring. Some of the places I have been over the past year, even if to visit friends in other promotions, I offer assistance, but enough chit chat, we took 'er down, time to put 'er back together."

Jesse offers to help Caroline when they go to fetch some of the pieces of the ring, like the ropes and canvas. Other people there get the heavier things like the frame and the other parts that give the ring its shape. One of the students, not noticing her before, gives her a very big sheet of wood, which Jesse offers to help her carry. Neither Jesse or Kei mentions how there are rings of different sizes and shapes of rings since Kei mentioned it before.

When the actual physical construction of it begins Jesse tells Caroline to step back and watch and see where everything goes. Wes goes up to them and tells Caroline "It's one thing to be in the ring, it's another to be in a ring you helped assemble." He tells her with a smile. "When I was younger I would do this multiple times a week. It was hard work, but it helped me learn a lot."

“This stuff isn't exactly complicated, but it's still hard to get the hang of,” Caroline replied to Jesse before downing a paper cup full of water, then a second, then a third. “I'll keep practicing it, every day from now on if I have to.”

Caroline walked back to the training area, where Kei was waiting alongside some other people and an assorted mess of parts and equipment. Upon getting closer to the group, Caroline recognized the group members as the students who had left earlier, but the purpose of the other materials continued to elude Caroline until Kei explained everything to her.

“I'll go grab the ring ropes,” Caroline uttered, eager to help out. She left Jesse in the dust and grabbed some thick lengths of rope, following the other students to their eventual destination. The girl tried to untangle them, but she couldn't see the knots with enough detail to work them out, and after a minute Caroline reluctantly abandoned them in favor of more carrying. The sheet of wood another student handed her was too big for the girl to handle alone, and at the sight of a second pair of hands grabbing the board to help out, revealed to be Jesse's, Caroline graciously accepted.

While the ring was being assembled, Kei's husband introduced himself to Caroline and shared some wisdom with her. Most of it went in one ear and out the other, however, as the young girl was too distracted with thoughts of what she'd be doing when her training resumed. This lack of attention was reflected in her vacant stare, but thanks to the way her eyes were, they always looked sort of like that.