Malaise

Kimmy Colton was now an AFW winner, but she didn't really feel like it.

Her match against the street fighter Ayaka had been very strange. The Japanese girl had gone down very early when Kimmy had applied some pressure to her left leg, and the match had been a veritable rout after that. Kimmy had acted, and Ayaka had reacted. The Japanese fighter didn't have a chance to stop Kimmy once she was relegated to fighting only on the canvas. It had been one of the strangest fights that Kimmy had ever been a part of, and even with the victory, it had left a bad taste in her mouth.

While she should have been celebrating her victory, Kimmy could not muster up the enthusiasm to do so. She had felt better about her loss to Valley Doll than she did about her victory over Ayaka. Talking on Skype to her friends back home, she got the sense that they felt similarly. The match against Valley had been spectacular, a close-run affair which had very nearly resulted in Kimmy pulling off one of the more remarkable upsets in AFW history. Though it had fallen just short of that, Kimmy left the arena that night feeling exhausted, but very pleased. Now, she just felt disheartened.

She wondered what had gone wrong for Ayaka. She hoped that she hadn't caused any serious injury to the Japanese fighter—though, as Al had mentioned to her on their Skype call, the purple-haired rookie had been acting like a "frickin' bitch." That did not warrant a career-threatening injury, though it did make it more difficult for Kimmy to feel bad for the girl.

Ideally, the Brooklynite would never have to see Ayaka again. That way, she could stop thinking about it, and, once she'd had a few more fights, earned a few more wins, she could move on for good.

Got a few weeks to muddle through before I get my next fight, though, Kimmy would think, as she walked out of the small convenience store that stood at one of the corners directly across the road from the AFW campus. The store had reminded Kimmy of the bodegas back home, only it seemed to have an even more diverse stock, if that were possible. Having bought a snack and a drink, Kimmy would cross the street, walking back into the AFW campus, heading for the gym to work out.

The days after the fight were rather tough on Ayaka. It took her two solid days to recover from the match, even though she didn't take a massive beating. It seemed that luck was not on her side this time. Still, she at least got her debut out of the way. She just had to simply forget about it and focus on winning her next match.

But Ayaka couldn't move on. She had ended up watching the match over and over again, focusing every time on that painful leg lock that she had been thrown into. Ayaka knew why Kimmy won. Simply because Ayaka couldn't use her leg. But that was still no reason why Ayaka should of quitted. Infact, Ayaka didn't know why. It was a rather heat of the moment thing. Still, the loss consumed her, over and over again. It was like a bad dream to her. Instead of focusing on her next match, she wanted to get revenge.

That was what bought her here. To this very weird store just outside of the AFW Campus. Simply put. Ayaka had tracked Kimmy to here. Turns out she isn't that hard to track. No one forgets rainbow streaks In her hair. Ayaka didn't know how to proceed however. She could try speaking to Kimmy first, then ambush her. But the element of surprise was always nice. And it was unexpected. So instead of directly confronting Kimmy, Ayaka moved into the shadows behind some dumpsters. She watched as Kimmy walked out, heading back towards the campus.

Ayaka would make sure she would never get there, Instead Ayaka would pick up an empty Trashcan and throw it towards the back of Kimmy's head. If it didn't hit there then at least it could hit her in the back. Ayaka however would disappear after throwing it, hiding behind the dumpsters again, hoping to try and goad Kimmy closer to her. Just like what she used to do back on the streets.

Kimmy was not expecting much out of this day. She had visited the little convenience store to pick up some snacks, then she would walk over to the AFW gym to get a little exercise in. Nothing too intense, of course, seeing as how she wouldn't have a match for another two weeks. Then she would go home, watch some television, and probably play some old Playstation game to take her mind off of that frustrating match against Ayaka. Kimmy was not expecting anything to happen to disrupt those plans.

She was not expecting for a small tin garbage can to come flying at her out of nowhere to strike the center of her back. Kimmy would wail as she tumbled to the ground. She skinned her left palm as she caught herself on the sidewalk surface. Her knees were stinging, but thanks to the thick material of her jeans she was fairly certain that they weren't bloodied. She turned around and looked at the heavy metal object that had hit her, a few bits of garbage strewn across the pavement. Kimmy would get up quickly and brush herself off. Her whole body started to feel very hot as she boiled over with fury. She had some idea where that garbage can came from, thanks to the onlookers glancing into the alley behind the store—and she had an inkling of who might have been behind it.

"Awww, fuckin' hell!" Kimmy would spit, as she would pull her leg back and give the can a hard kick, leaving a deep indentation in one side of it and sending it spinning and careening across the sidewalk. It bounced off the corner of the convenience store and began rolling down the sidewalk in the other direction, almost as if it had somewhere to be. It was almost amusing, but, right now, Kimmy was not in a mood to be amused. She would stomp over to the edge of the alley, one hand on her sore back, glaring into the shadows. At least it was midday. Her assailant was not going to be able to hide from her for very long with this kind of light, even in the darker confines of the alley.

"Are you fuckin' kidding me, huh? Get out here!" Kimmy would insist, not wandering any further into the alley. She hadn't yet spotted her assailant, and she didn't want to take chances on an ambush. While she might not have been as street-smart as Ayaka, Kimmy was not an idiot. She would wait in the open space at the front of the narrow alley to see what would happen next.

Kimmy went down. And it got her attention. So for Ayaka those were positives. However Kimmy wasn't stupid. She didn't fall for the trap of walking right into the alleyway. Which was a massive shame. It would of made oh so easy for her. maybe too easy. This little standoff made things interesting at least. To begin with, she didn't really know how to react. Hiding, behind the dumpster was decent cover for her, and she could perhaps draw Kimmy closer, but the more she had to goad, the higher Kimmy's guard got, and less surprise she had.

So now was the time to strike then. She would grip onto the side of the dumpster and press her leading foot against the wall, essentially creating a Launchpad for herself. As Kimmy got as close as she could ever get, Ayaka pushed forward and around the dumpster. Staying as low as she could as she moves forward, making sure that she had the smallest profile possible; it was a habit she had learnt back in the days where her opponents had weapons, the smaller something is, the harder it is to hit. As she propelled forward she readied her fist, clenching it tightly and swinging her arm back slightly to get some momentum.

When she had finally closed the gap between them, Ayaka would let all of that momentum from her fist go, hurtling forward into a punch of fury aimed at Kimmy's gut. If it worked, Ayaka would carry on, not giving Kimmy a single second to think. Wrapping her spare arm around one of Kimmy's she would turn around, taking Kimmy with her. Once she turned around 180 degrees she would let go of Kimmy, sending her running deeper into the alleyway. With that, Ayaka would follow cautiously. Keep her distance incase of a sudden counter. This was how her debut was supposed to go down.

"So. Miss me Bitch?" Ayaka would call out, standing up tall and proud, back in her zone, though her left leg was still bent slightly upwards, signalling that Ayaka was still not putting any weight on it properly.

Kimmy knew what she was looking for. Even without any hard evidence as to who the perpetrator of that trash can-throwing might be, Kimmy knew. And, as she scanned the alley, looking for that telltale shock of purple hair, she knew that Ayaka would be hiding either behind one of the two big dumpsters, or perhaps behind the semicircle of smaller garbage cans and cardboard boxes that were situated a little bit further back in the alley. There was nowhere else to hide. Kimmy felt confident in her analysis of the situation—confident enough that she was not ready for Ayaka to actually try a frontal assault.

Even though she now knew that this girl obviously had it in for her, Kimmy had still not been thinking like the street brawler that the other girl clearly was. Kimmy had been trying to think rationally, something which Ayaka apparently did not do much of. The Japanese girl came at her with surprising speed, landing a hard punch to Kimmy's gut that forced the Brooklynite to stumble backwards. She would begin to catch herself, and steady herself, but as she did, Ayaka would grab her and fling her deeper into the alley. Kimmy would be forced to go along with the momentum of Ayaka's throw, only slowing down as she approached the wall at the other end.

She would turn around to face Ayaka again and glance around. This alley wasn't like many she had seen here in Tokyo. It actually almost reminded her of the alleys in her own hometown, back in New York City. Though maybe Kimmy was just too used to the glitzy, upscale parts of Tokyo and didn't usually take the time to turn the corner past that convenience store and walk a few miles into the working class part of the town.

God, I hope I don't start getting soft living it up like that, Kimmy thought. Of course, her apartment was nothing to marvel at, and she still had a pretty tight food budget, so maybe she had nothing to worry about. But it did occur to her how few actual Japanese people she had scene since coming here to Japan.

As Ayaka stalked towards her, her leg obviously still bothering her, but with an obvious leer on her face, Kimmy would growl frustratedly. Ayaka was throwing quite the impressive hissy fit right now. "This is so stupid," Kimmy would say, putting her hands on her hips. She was watching Ayaka closely now, of course, and was going to be ready to defend herself if need be. "Seriously, you think I enjoyed that match that much more than you did, huh? I don't know what happened to your fuckin' leg, but it ruined my first win. So, y'know, whatever. If this is some stupid revenge idea, I'm already pretty fuckin' bummed out, got that?"

Ayaka's plan worked. She managed to get Kimmy into the alleyway and made sure she was effectively trapped. Now Ayaka could give Kimmy what she deserved. However before she could run her mouth again, Kimmy spoke, spoke about not feeling satisfied, and being bummed out. The response caught Ayaka off guard. She was expecting Kimmy to be violent and tell her to get lost. Instead she sounded just as down as Ayaka did. Ayaka wasn't mad for not winning though. So the emotion soon went away.

"You won. How can you be bummed? Not only did you win, you won in record time, and with a surrender. What more could you want? Me? I lost. I had to go out of there a loser. This isn't about revenge fully. Now it is because you are being a snob about a win. I don't care that I lost. I care that you embarrassed me infront of everyone. You made me look an idiot. As if I couldn't fight. I am a better fighter than you. I don't need crowds to prove it either!"

Her little speech had pumped her up, and before she could carry on ranting, she rushed forward with some speed again, though her leg was hampering her still and not allowing her to sprint properly. When she closed the gap between Ayaka had one simple plan. Use brute force. It was a simple plan that required that all Ayaka did was jump up, pointing her right knee upwards, aiming to try and collide with Kimmy's Jaw. It would be nasty if it hit. But if Kimmy was able to dodge, it would put Ayaka in yet another bad position.

Kimmy was pretty sure that Ayaka wasn't as stupid as she was pretending to be. Kimmy remembered plenty of girls back in Brooklyn who bullshitted like this, pretending to be dense so that they could have a reasonable excuse for why they acted the way that they did. Of course, when it came time to throw down, those girls turned out to be not nearly so dumb after all. And that seemed to be the case with Ayaka. She should surely know why Kimmy was upset about the match, nearly as upset as she was. But she played dumb.

"I don't know what in hell is going on with your leg, you crazy bimbo, but I swear, that's the whole problem here. You have a gimpy leg and thought you could just go in there and fight with it all fucked up," Kimmy would fire back, even as Ayaka seemed to steel herself and was beginning to advance on her. Kimmy wasn't scared, though she was a little bit nervous as she watched the girl coming in towards her. She knew that Ayaka was a street fighter, and she wondered what sort of skills the Japanese girl had. She was on her home turf, now.

Kimmy wanted to try to be at least a little nice, even though she was hardly in the mood. "Y'know, if you had said your leg sucked, I wouldn't have gone after it," she would say. "It made the fight suck for me as much as it did you. No one wants her first win in a league like that, right? Genius." She spat that last word sarcastically at the advancing purple-haired brawler.

As Ayaka suddenly rushed at her, Kimmy would bring her hands up to stop the knee rising towards her jaw. But the impact of the blow forced her to stumble further back, approaching close to the wall behind her. She didn't want to be pinned up against there. That was a worst-case scenario.

"Hey, genius, think about how tough you'll look when people hear how you ambush girls buying frickin' groceries rather than just asking for a ring rematch!" Kimmy would shout as she put her fists up and dropped into a fighting stance.

Ayaka needed to push forward with her attack. Her attack connected but sadly Kimmy got wise and managed to raise her hands to block the attack. Then Kimmy started mouthing off. It felt weird listening to what she was saying. Everything Kimmy was saying was technically correct. But Ayaka's mind rejected anything she said. She also had doubts about what Kimmy was saying. She had a feeling that Kimmy would of still gone for the leg even if she had told her.

"Stop telling lies. If I had told you about my leg you would of gone for it either way. And that even if there was something wrong with my leg. Which there isn't. And I don't need people to think I am tough. I am better than you. Always going to be. You just managed to get me on the ground. And don't panic I will get my revenge in the ring one day. But for now I will just enjoying beating you up"

Sadly Kimmy had got into her fighting stance. So now things were more even. It meant that Ayaka had to rely on her pure fighting skill. Closing the gap between them, Ayaka rushed forward and tried to catch Kimmy off guard. If she could get close enough without Kimmy grabbing or countering her, Ayaka would throw her left fist out, trying to catch Kimmy in the ribs. If it worked Ayaka would throw her right fist towards Kimmy's jaw. The entire time she would try and keep to close as Kimmy as she could. She was hoping that Kimmy couldn't cope very well when her opponent was extremely close to her.

Ayaka was obviously some sort of unhinged person. Kimmy had no idea what this girl's life had been like, but she was certain that it hadn't been very pleasant to turn out someone like this. Of course, the last time Kimmy had thought that, back at New York Female Wrestling, she had later found out that the girl she had beaten had two loving parents and grew up with a six-figure family income. Sometimes the world just turned out assholes regardless of the circumstances in which they grew up.

"Do you think I want to be the person who ended people's careers? Huh?" Kimmy would say, throwing her arms out in an incredulous motion, practically begging Ayaka to give her an answer that made even the tiniest bit of sense. "Maybe you aren't very familiar with professional wrestling and stuff, huh? Even if you're the worst kind of enemies, you do not try to end someone's career like that! Frickin' dumbass!" Kimmy then slid down into a fighting posture, ready to defend herself against Ayaka. She was getting upset, and now, Kimmy mostly just wanted to kick Ayaka's ass again. The way this girl was acting, Kimmy was almost tempted to go for her leg. But she knew doing that, even if it won her this fight, would only turn out poorly in the long run. Especially after what she had just said.

When Ayaka rushed her, Kimmy was ready to get close with the girl, but Ayaka wanted to get really close. She got right up in Kimmy's face, close enough that Kimmy couldn't get her hands up in between them. Ayaka was pressed right up against her, uncomfortably close. Kimmy couldn't see the fist that buried itself in her ribs coming, and, having been unable to brace herself for the blow, she ended up coughing and spluttering, vulnerable to the right hook that Ayaka threw after that. Kimmy's teeth clamped down on each other hard when the punch hit, and it rattled her whole skull. Her head snapped to the side and spittle flew through the air to paint the ground with dampness.

But Kimmy was far from finished off. She had taken harder punches before and kept fighting. Snapping her head forward again, she would swing her own fist at Ayaka suddenly, using that same closeness that had helped Ayaka as she aimed an uppercut for the purple-haired brawler's jaw.

For Ayaka, it felt good to it Kimmy. Feeling her fist connect made her smile and grin. This was how her first match was supposed to go down. She wasn't expecting Kimmy to recover that quickly though and got caught off guard from the returning punch. Staggering backwards, Ayaka grunted as she got hit. It hurt like hell. But was nothing new.

"Don't call me a dumbass! I am smarter than you. And you might be moral enough to end a career. But I can assure you. I am not!" She grinned as she looked over to the nearby dumpster and saw a long old plank of wood propped up next to the dumpster "I have no issues with ending the careers of little good faced punks who make me look like an idiot because they get lucky with a single hold!" Her last statement had caused the blood to boil inside of her. Deep down, anger and resentment were forming, causing the adrenaline to pump faster around her body.

With her body pumped, Ayaka picked up the long plank of wood, gripping it tightly as it felt good in her hands. She focused her attention back to Kimmy. Grinning, she took a sole step forward, letting the plank of wood drag along the floor. Taking another step forward, she would raise the wood up with her one hand, up above her head, bringing her other hand up to grab it too Ayaka would bring the wood down like an axe, aiming to bring it down onto any part of Kimmy. Ayaka didn't care where, just that she put all the power she had into it.

"I don't care much for the rules see"