California Connections

"Oh I did all right, held my own and it ended up being a draw which kinda pisses me off."  Alaina said with a shrug, trying not to let her not getting a win bother her.  Kei ended up being a ton tougher than Alaina would have ever imagined.  Still, on paper a double KO was almost like a win for Kei.  Alaina had 18 years on her foe.

Alaina nodded empathetically as Amy mentioned how work had been shitty.  She went through a stretch like that, but knew there would be light at the end of the tunnel for Amy.  "I think everyone goes through downturns ya know?  I have been there and if you ever want to vent about work ya got my number."

Alaina realized the error of her clothing choice, but didn't mind it being a little cool outside.  Still... if Amy had business to take care of Alaina could change no problem.  "Yeah, I'll change in the locker room while you do your thing, best of luck to ya!"  Alaina said cheerfully as she temporarily bid Amy farewell, making her way to the locker room to change.

A few moments later, Alaina emerged after having changed. She realized Amy was still at her meeting, and saw a ring nearby. Alaina sat down on the apron and waited patiently for Amy.

Amy waved as Alaina took off for the locker rooms. The gym office wasn’t far. Steps.

Steps later, Amy knocked on the office door. “Come in,” a voice answered from the other side. The man at the desk looked up expectantly when she entered, and, after a brief awkward silence, Amy caught on. “Oh! I’m Amy Poford. I got an email saying I should come here.”

“Ah, Ms. Poford. Thank you for coming so quickly. Please, take a seat.”

Amy did as directed, falling into the chair opposite. The man was an office worker, through and through. Except for the blazer, which draped neatly across the back of his chair, he had on a sensible charcoal suit- as sensible, at least, as a suit can be at a gym. He wore his greying hair in an efficient haircut, and his tortoiseshell glasses were secured about his neck on a black nylon cord. He was thin- perhaps he was fit as a younger man. But he wasn’t an ex-wrestler; no, he was educated. He seemed particularly proud of his English, judging both by his deliberate enunciation and the way he’d opted for “Ms. Poford” instead of “Poford-san,” or even “Amy-san” as most of the Japanese staff had taken to calling her. At least fifty, if Amy had to guess, but it was hard to tell with Asians.

Without warning, the man reached under his desk and pulled out a very familiar-looking backpack. He dropped it onto the table, which resounded with a dull clunk against the metal desk.

“That’s mine,” Amy said automatically, answering the question before the man could ask it.

The man paused, then cleared his throat. “Yes. It has your name on it.” He unzipped the back pocket and withdrew a sizable bottle of Japanese whiskey. For a moment, Amy had the decency to look guilty.

He placed the bottle carefully on the tabletop between them. “You know that alcohol is not permitted in the gym, don’t you, Ms. Poford?” He asked wearily.

Amy shifted in her seat. “Yes. But I wasn’t drinking it. I just forgot to take it out of my backpack before I came to work out.”

The man folded his hands, unmoved. “Whether you consumed any or not, the rules are clear. The presence of alcohol is a safety issue, and even its possession will not be tolerated in this gym.” Amy’s bottle wasn’t even the first such contraband he’d discovered. The cleaning staff had reported that several containers of whiskey- all empty- had turned up in the trash over the past few weeks. The man didn’t know if drunk workouts were a recent trend, or if the problem was a persistent and ongoing one, but, whatever the case, he was going to put a stop to it. He continued. “Furthermore, we picked your backpack up next to one of the practice rings. We have a locker room, Ms. Poford, as I’m sure you’re well aware. If your bag isn’t absolutely necessary for your workout, it belongs in a locker." If, twenty years ago, the man had been told that he would be scolding grown-ass adults about drinking at the gym, he’d have laughed out loud. Today, though, he just wanted to get this conversation over with so that he could get this woman out of his office and move on to the next idiot-wrestler-engendered item on his agenda.

Sigh. Wife and kids. Wife and kids... The man fixed Amy with an authoritative stare. "Do I make myself clear?”

Amy nodded distractedly. “That’s my pool noodle.” Amy said suddenly. And indeed it was. Amy stood up and walked past the man (who'd removed his glasses and begun to massage his temples with a long-suffering sigh) to the box behind his desk. It was full of long-lost belongings, things she thought she'd never see again- besides her pool noodle, there was a sweater, combat gloves (she’d been looking for those!), a water bottle, a tank top... oh and this headgear was hers, too...

About half of the orphaned items belonged to Amy; her negligence even necessitated a second cardboard box to supplement the original lost and found container. Amy unsheathed the pool noodle and wiggled it genially in the man’s direction.

“You could have thrown this away, you know. These are, like, 50 yen apiece.”

The man swiveled in his chair. He was cleaning his glasses to mask his exasperation now, with a cloth he’d pulled out of somewhere. “I would have liked to, but that is against policy. Most gym patrons claim their lost items within a week or two. You, on the other hand…” He trailed off, then moved on. “Now that you’re here, you can take your things off of my hands. If it can't all fit in your backpack, please feel free to take that box with you.”

Amy turned around and peered back into the box. “Well I don’t want any of this stuff anymore. Well, most of this stuff, anyway.” She reached in and pulled out her sweater. She began to tie it around her waist until she realized how dusty it was, at which point she began to beat it with her noodle. Each whack generated a soft puff of dust that floated gently to the floor.

The man’s eye twitched. “Ms. Poford, it is not my job to throw away your trash. If you don’t want your belongings, please throw them away yourself.” He sighed again. “Alcohol; can I count on you not to bring it?”

Amy sighed too; there was a lot of stuff. She began to sort her things into the cardboard box. “Yeah. Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

When she finally left the office, backpack over her shoulder and box of junk in her arms, Alaina was already outside, waiting. She was sitting patiently on the ring apron, dressed in a tank and shorts, looking for all the world like she was about to start a workout. Amy took a second to take Alaina in, thinking, before sidling up to her, dropping her box and backpack on a bench along the way. “Hey,” Amy nodded playfully toward the ring. “Wanna go a round before we head out?”

Alaina waited quietly thinking about a few things on her mind. Her SS match was a draw. Not a loss... but it sure wasn't a momentum building win either. Still she fought hard and that hardcore match took its toll on her body. She had to try to get Charlie back on track too... there was drinking then there was Charlie drinking these days.

As Amy made her exit Alaina smiled and walked over. Before she could say a word Amy offered a spar. Alaina'a head was still pounding and her chest still sore from her SS match. This was a delicate situation she was in. Be smart and pass on the spar to recover, or not let Amy think she was weak. If Alaina turned down the spar she would look timid and almost scared to spar with someone much smaller than she was.

There was no way Alaina could back down. "Yeah sure. I can wear this, or I can change again I have a one-piece swimsuit with me too. Either way is fine with me!" Alaina said, gently stroking her hair to hide the bandage right at her hairline. Hiding such a thing was easier for someone with a lot of long hair such as herself. "No matter what I wear you better be ready.... I tend to throw my weight around in there." Alaina said with a playful wink, trying to look much more energetic and healthy than she indeed felt.

She’d brought a swimsuit, too? Poor Alaina. The weather was supposed to be gloomy all week, but, if things weren’t too bad, maybe they could fit in a quick visit to the beach tomorrow before she went back.

Or she could put it on now, if Alaina really didn’t want to have wasted that luggage space. It didn’t matter much to Amy: “Up to you, bay-bee~,” Amy sang as she climbed into the practice ring, a big dumb grin on her face. A champion-tier sparring partner. The last person she fought at that level was Domino, and that fight ended with her smeared across a ringpost and knocked the fuck out. Alaina and Amy were just here to spar today, so she doubted that things would go that far, but that didn’t stop Amy from wondering how far she’d come since then.

Already limber from her session at the studio, Amy bounced from foot to foot, making her ponytail and the drawstrings on her top hop up and down in a wild, anticipatory dance. Amy had never heard of the Entropy Belt before Alaina had mentioned it the first time that they’d met. She’d learned enough since then to know that the Entropy belt wasn’t the title for a third AFW franchise, but rather a subbelt under the Friction banner. Amy didn’t understand why there were two, non-specific championships for a single program, but she hadn’t bothered to find out. The important thing was that Alaina represented a certain caliber of fighter, and, today, she was going to be Amy’s benchmark. More than that, though, Alaina just looked like she'd be fun to fight; if you had asked Amy a year ago what a female professional wrestler looked like, she'd have pointed unflinchingly at Alaina's pin-up. This girl, right here, she might have said.

Amy’s grin tore a little deeper into her cheeks at Alaina’s wink and bravado. Her fists came up and she began to throw some practice punches. She was heating up, chomping at the bit. “I’m ready. You bet your fucking ass I’m ready.”

Alaina had really done it now.... there was no turning back. She was injured but felt confident she could hold her own still. "I will go change into the swimsuit I guess, I am used to it in the ring ya know?" Alaina said with a shrug as she went to the locker room again. She wore the one piece, since it did a way better job of hiding the bruises on her chest. Certainly better than the pink bikini would have.

Moments later, Alaina emerged in a plain pink one-piece swimsuit. She climbed into the ring as fluidly as she could, not too hard since moving didn't hurt her the way it did the day after her hardcore match. Alaina did some stretching and saw how eager Amy was. She had 'high energy' written all over her. Alaina took a deep breath as she lowered her stance and moved towards Amy, holding her hands out for a lock-up. "Wanna kick it off the old fashioned way?" Alaina playfully asked her smaller, younger opponent.

Amy watched Alaina disappear into a locker room before jumping into some stretches. Big girl, good muscle on her; hugs like a bear, and gots a body like a rock. And didn’t she mention that she fought hardcore matches? Amy could believe it- girl looked like she could weather a chair-shot and keep on coming. Amy couldn’t overstate how lucky she felt right now to have run into Alaina and Charlie in the mall that day, how glad she was that Alaina called this afternoon.

“HA!” Amy shouted suddenly, and the earbud-less among the treadmillers snapped their heads her way, startled. Amy was pumped. She was beyond pumped.

When Alaina got back to the ring, she was sporting a fetching pink one-piece swimsuit that was surprisingly convincing as a wrestling singlet- more of the runners’ heads turned their way. Amy didn’t think too much about Alaina’s stiff entrance into the ring. The woman had just spent 6 hours on the road, so some soreness was to be expected; she could be rid of the aches in no time with some warm ups. Sure enough, once she was in, Alaina started in right on the stretches. Nothing to worry about. Amy grinned. “Whenever you’re ready, baby. Take your time.”

Then Alaina crouched down low and offered a lock-up. Amy laughed; this was not going to end well. “Sure, let’s do it.” She took a step back, then another. Then she charged forward in a run, clapping her hands on Alaina’s arm and around her neck, looking to compensate with momentum the clear disparity between their physical strengths.

Alaina took a few steps back as Amy crashed into her for the lockup, finally getting her feet set and stopping her aggressive advance! This was going to be a long spar.... or if Alaina didn't focus a very short one! Amy was one of those women who had tons of fight in her, and could keep going for days! Alaina grit her teeth and grunted as she struggled against the lightning fast Amy. "Hngh... damn you are feisty aren't you?" Alaina said, doing her best to sound confident on top of trying not to look too stiff.

Alaina tried to force Amy's arms up and hook one of her arms underneath, using her strength and positioning to hit Amy with a hiptoss! Alaina let out another grunt as she made sure to put a bit of extra exertion into the hiptoss to try to slow down the spunky striker!

Amy pushed Alaina back one, two... three (!) steps before Alaina was able to stop her advance. Amy was pretty impressed with herself. And she wasn't the only one.  "Thanks!" she managed brightly, baring her teeth in a quick grin before she put her head down and started pushing with all she had.

But, to no one's great surprise, they weren't going anywhere Alaina didn't want to go. By now, she had completely killed Amy's forward charge; what's more, Alaina was able to deftly pull everything Amy was exerting into a twist, flipping Amy bodily over her hip and onto the mat.

Amy hit the ground with a grunt, then a burst of laughter. Well, no duh. Amy salvaged what little was left of the throw's momentum to quickly return to her feet, helped by the fact that Alaina had apparently supplied her own dose of oomph to the maneuver.

So yeah, that worked about as well as expected. Amy ignored the fresh sting on her bottom as she hopped from her left foot to her right. To make any kind of showing at all, she'd have to play her own strengths, not Alaina's. To that end, she darted back in with a right uppercut aimed at Alaina's midsection, intending to dart just as quickly back out after impact. Tit for tat.

Alaina was happy to have stopped Amy's advance, but the sudden uppercut to her mid-section caught her by surprise! Alaina let out a grunt as she doubled over. That punch would have hurt her on a good day, but today it was especially painful. Alaina had gotten her bearings back but Amy was already out of counter-attack range. "You little.... damn it...." Alaina muttered in frustration.

Damn those small speedy people. Alaina tried to step forward at Amy, aiming a punch of her own towards the side of Amy's head! This little speedster was proving to be quite a pain but Alaina's strikes weren't shabby. She had worked on them and prided herself on being able to take a few hits while dishing out a quality beatdown. She could only hope that she had enough in her tank to be able to do something to Amy before Alaina herself wore down.

It was pride more than anything that was going to even let Alaina keep fighting at all in this spar.

Maybe Amy ought to have insisted on some warm-ups first. Amy hit hard for her size, and that was something she was proud of. But to double over a girl built like Alaina with just the one punch- luck? Maybe surprise? And the rebuttal… Alaina’s fist was plenty dangerous, to be sure, but Alaina delivered it like her shoulder and chest were stuck folded up in a box for an hour. Amy ducked down low and let the punch fly overhead. Crampy.

Whatever. They were in it now; Alaina could warm up on the go.

Amy stepped into Alaina’s body under her arm. She was dragging her fist behind, looking to bury it straight into Alaina’s gut once more before twisting out of reach again. “‘You little’ what?” Amy asked cheekily. Alaina seemed frustrated, close to cussing her out, a stark contrast to Amy’s playful mood. Amy wasn’t so nice that she would give Alaina a free hit, but if it seemed like Alaina wasn’t having fun, Amy was open to stopping.