The State of the Dojo

Even Junko had lost count of how many times she had blown that whistle. The elder sensei of the Higurashi dojo was known as a rather strict taskmaster during training time, but she had stood there with her arms rigidly at her sides blowing the whistle in rhythmic blasts for as long as she could remember.

The girls had all been called to the ring and Junko had not allowed them to make it past rope running drills. Although during training, she was pretty serious, her eyes held a deep gaze that seemed to bore through the running girls. Really, she was both there and not there. Her son and daughter-in-law were now in New York and while they hadn't sold their Hamamatsu house, Junko really didn't know if they were ever coming back in a real way. Even if they were, Taylor seemed like she was out of the game for good and even if she weren't the last time they spoke about anything regarding the dojo, there had been a fight.

Everyone who was in the dojo had been called to attention and no one had been safe. Even Akashi, who was basically a sensei in her own right, a long time veteran, multi time champion and still bearing stitches from her last rather brutal fight with Kelly was forced into the grueling day one activity. When she dropped to one knee and started panting, she lifted her head and glared back at Junko.

At first, Junko narrowed her eyes even more and blasted a shrill and prolonged shriek from her whistle. "Just what do you think you're doing, Tanikaze-san!?" She screamed. "Do you think you can take a break just because you had a title!? No one here gets special treatment!" Her cheeks were turning red but then she stopped.

She let the whistle drop and put a hand to her head. Suddenly she felt like bursting into tears and covered her bespectacled eyes for a brief moment. She then lifted her whistle and gave one last, half hearted blow and motioned for everyone to stop. "Onegai!" She said and sighed. "Everyone take a break. Let's... let's huddle up." She said waving to the bunch.

Nikolette and Gabbie both practically dropped to their knees, panting with their tongues out as sweat dripped off them. After a moment of catching their breath, they crawled out of the ring and walked to where Junko motioned. Akashi was quickly behind them but walked past the group and stood in front of Junko. "Sensei..." She said simply and put a firm hand on Junko's shoulder. Junko nodded and looked at Akashi, who then stepped back next to the other girls.

Far too proud to let herself fall, even given her current standing here, Haruna grabbed onto the rope to keep herself upright. Panting heavily, sweating profusely, even this intense workout was doing little to ease her boiling anger. It wasn't about being forced into training like this, in fact, Haruna still considered this time worthwhile. After suffering a slight concussion and minor spinal injuries back at Madison Square Garden, she hadn't been keeping up with her own regiment much, and needed to get back in form. And aside from that, her recent encounters showed her she needed to get much, much stronger. If she ever wanted revenge on that oafish Akashi, or ran into that violent gorilla Cecilia Northman again, she'd need more than her speed and her wits to come out on top. She needed some outright brute force to make sure they stayed down.

Back to her eternally burning hatred, it wasn't so much the training as having to do it with all these vermin alongside her, Akashi in particular, and also while under the shrieking of that abhorrent fossil, Junko. It seemed that witch finally burst a blood vessel or something. Purposefully lagging behind as the other girls slid out of the ring, the purple-haired diva kept herself near the back of the crowd, trying to maintain at least some distance from the rabble.

When it came to training, there was rarely an “easy” day within the Higurashi dojo. That was a lesson Julia had learned rather quickly after coming to Japan almost a year ago, and despite the oftentimes brutal nature of it it was a life she’d openly embraced. But today was a little different. Truthfully the blonde couldn’t tell whether it was the lingering effects of her hard-fought battle with Alaina at Avalanche, or if Junko was just making them run much more than usual. Probably a bit of both. Regardless, Julia couldn’t have felt more relieved when they were finally allowed to stop.

The cowgirl’s arms slung around the nearest top rope of the ring to catch herself from falling, and she immediately began panting. “Thank god!” she said in between breaths. Her legs felt like limp noodles, and it was a few moments before she felt confident enough in her balance to stand on her own.... But instead of testing it out, she eased herself onto her back and rolled under the bottom rope. Her red sports bra and black spandex shorts felt like they were as drenched in sweat as the rest of her, but she gingerly made her way to the front of the crowd gathering around Junko, wanting to get as close as possible so she could hear what she had to say. Though of course, she hanged back enough to give Akashi and Junko their space.

Standing hunched over and panting while resting her hands on her knees, Julia carefully watched Junko, having a feeling she knew what this was likely all about. There was a rather obvious elephant in the room. And though Julia very much missed Taylor, she couldn’t even imagine how Junko must feel right now. A lot had happened recently, and a lot of uncertainty had come about as a result. Surely there had to be a ton of questions floating through the heads of everyone here. But now wasn’t the time to ask. Junko had the floor, and Julia anxiously waited to hear what she had to say.

Alaina was hurting from her match with Julia, and the rope running just highlighted all the little pains in her body! When the whistle blew... finally.... Alaina nearly feel over, going down to one knee before getting up to hobble over to the ropes. Clad in a white sports bra, briefs and boots she climbed down between the ropes, gasping for breath. "That was...." Alaina wanted to say fun sarcastically, but thought otherwise. "...productive."

Alaina got down from the ring and slowly made her way next to Julia, putting her arm around the cowgirls shoulders and pulling her close. She wanted to hear what Junko had to say. Stress and uncertainty had been swirling about since Taylor's departure to say the least. Anything Alaina felt must have been amplified for Akashi and Junko. Alaina had her own thoughts on that, but she kept her opinion to herself. She missed Taylor to say the absolute least, and she understood why she went back to New York. Alaina herself was close to her family and had planned on going back home to San Diego to see her sick dad.

But, there was still a small part of Alaina that felt like Taylor walked out on them.

Junko watched as everyone gathered to face her. The tough old Lioness felt like she was a soldier showing up at his buddy's house to tell his wife some bad news. Try as she might to stay positive, her face was entirely readable.

She let silence linger in the air for a long moment before finally she worked up the courage to speak. "Everyone..." She said. "I'm going to be giving you the rest of the day off. I know I've worked you harder than I should have today and..."

She paused. Apologizing wasn't like her. "Well, we have a lot to discuss, but, first things first. I want everyone here to give our girls a round of applause. Everyone did great at Avalanche. Everyone fought hard and..."

Junko dropped to one knee and felt tears well up at the corners of her eyes. She held up her hand and then stood up. "My daughter and I founded this dojo because we wanted a place where the best could grow and prosper and be among like minded individuals. Where those who were eager could learn from the best. Our goal was to turn young wrestlers into honorable young women who would make themselves, their families and their fans proud. Who could be role models to children and pillars of the community. AFW is not the most wholesome place on earth, but that does not mean we should trade in our values for success."

Junko swallowed hard. "Taylor has decided that she's come to a point in her life where wrestling is no longer the most important thing to her. She has a fine husband and a bright future in whatever path she decides to take. However, even if she's no longer with us, that doesn't mean we should give up the dream she and I shared. More than ever, AFW needs girls who are dedicated and proud of hard work and taking the right path. Not cheaters and opportunists who care little about our proud sport."

Junko was starting to get her fire back as she looked among the group of girls. "Everyone of you who fought at Avalanche did good. I'm so proud of you all, even Taylor. Especially Taylor." Junko held her head. "However, she was beginning to question the paths we were walking down."

Junko looked to Alaina and Julia and then to Haruka. "And questioning some of the decisions we were making. You may have heard the rumors that have followed her departure, well, now we decide as a dojo what path we are taking. Are we women of character or are we just like everyone else? Do we let the darkness swallow up our humanity?"

Junko looked between all the girls. "I need to know who of you wants to continue. We are a family, but if we've strayed from the path, then we will not allow our names to be tarnished any further. Do you understand?"

Julia listened intently as Junko spoke, and felt her heart sink at the news that reached her ears. It was hard seeing her fight against the strong emotions clearly desperate to break out, and she soon found herself fighting back some tears of her own. And it stung every bit as much as she’d expected when her sensei directed her words at her, as well as Alaina and Haruka. But it wasn’t without reason, and Julia understood it.

Once Junko had concluded with her question, Julia gave Alaina a pat on the back then took a step forward.

“I’m all in.” she said, then turned a bit to address both Junko and the rest of the group as a whole. “I know I didn’t have the best attitude ‘round here over the last few months. I let my head get too big for my own good, and I’m sure that didn’t do the dojo any favors either. I’m sorry about that. I’ll do my best to keep that from happenin’ again. And I wanna keep workin’ as hard as I can. I want this dojo to keep goin’ strong.” She turned to face Junko directly before continuing.

“I wanna keep that dream of yours alive, sensei, so that one day if Taylor ever does come back, she’ll be damn proud of what she sees when she steps through that door!” A hand quickly moved up to brush the tears out of her eyes, which by then had almost become too much to hold back. Julia may not’ve had as strong a relationship to Taylor as Junko, but there were few people on the planet the cowgirl respected as much. No one outside of Julia’s own family had ever placed the kind of faith in her as a wrestler right from the beginning like Taylor had. Being brought into the dojo had given Julia a family and friends in a place where she’d been all but alone. And she’d learned so much from the former Friction World Champion in the short time she’d known her. Julia felt like there was no way she could ever be able to repay Taylor for everything she’d done. But at the very least, she could do her part in preserving the dojo’s legacy as well as helping it grow. And that’s exactly what she intended to do.

Absent at Avalanche of course, Haruna cared little for Junko's sob story, trying hard not to roll her eyes while the other girls sniffled. Other than that one pushy incident with Taylor back after her match against Akashi, she had had pretty much no interaction with the woman. In fact, given that she had walked on out on her career so easily after just one loss like that, even though she was still so close to the top, the thought of it disgusted Haruna. Did she really get taken in under the wing of some craven coward?

Granted, to her competing in the AFW was still a stepping stone. Just a show to get her name out there while slowly gathering bits of information and power within the huge international corporation. She'd go on to prove her physical power, before attempting to seize control in the long run, and put her true power on display. Though things weren't really going to plan right now...

Haruna only really bothered to come today to show face, and didn't want to get dragged into some worthless, touchy-feely emotional talk. Dammit, she had more important things to be doing right now!

Alaina kept eye contact with Junko, nodding as the older woman spoke. Everything she said was true. Alaina was probably more responsible than the other two combined for Taylor questioning anyone's decision making at the dojo. "I was a petty bitch the last couple months, and I let jealousy get the best of me there is no denying that." Alaina began to say, keeping her eye contact with Junko.

"I've learned more here than anywhere else about wrestling, and I want to stay. I want to do things the right way, not the easy way ya know? Like, I will do everything in my power to not turn into a raging super-bitch again." She meant every word whole-heartedly. Alaina did want to keep training here, and to keep learning so she could be the best wrestler she could be, hoping to make it all the way to the top. She also didn't want to hurt Julia, Junko, or anyone else close to her again with her actions. Especially selfish actions.

Still, Alaina had a nagging... doubt? Issue? Regardless, even if it wasn't the smart thing to do, Alaina felt like saying what she had to say would at least keep an open air about her, and it was the honest thing to do. "I know I screwed up, and the news is a lot to process. I just can't help but feel that I would have liked to have heard how Taylor felt in person. I know I screwed up and she talked to me about the issues she had with me agreeing to that triple threat match, and not just bowing out to give Julia another one-on-one shot. I wish Taylor the best and hope against hope that she'll return, but I can't help but feel just a little bit.... " Alaina said, pausing as she tried to find the right word. Not betrayed. Not backstabbed. They didn't fit and were mischaracterizations of what Taylor did, on top of not really reflecting how Alaina felt. ".... I guess I just feel sort of abandoned."

"Now that ain't right!"

Nikolette said and turned to face Alaina. "Taylor's been real good ta all of us! It ain't as though she just packed up and left without a word! She had a chance ta say her goodbyes an ya couldn't be bothered ta show up! Worse yet, i had ta miss it too! She was a real friend ta me and all of us! She's right about a lot of things when it comes ta this league too, but she's a grown woman! She can do whatever she wants. Missin her is fine. We all do, but ain't no one gonna say she abandoned us." Nikolette nodded. "Least not while I'm around!" She turned and looked to Junko. "I'm all in." She said. "I consider y'all family." Her voice was firm and convicted.

Gabbie turned her head. "I liked Taylor a lot." She said suddenly. "I'm... a little disappointed she's gone. I figured she wouldn't have left like that but..." She looked up to see Junko narrowing her eyes a bit.

Gabbie shrugged. "I need to get better. I know no matter what I'm never going to leave like that. I'll make it in this league. Definitely." She said and nodded.

"Of course I'm still going to keep at it. I still feel like I have a lot to prove. Maybe more now, so it goes without saying. I'll do my best to try and help everyone out." Akashi said, looking over the girls.

Junko looked about. "Well, fine." She said, nodding a bit. "I'm glad you're all staying but I don't think things are close to being settled. Before we get on with things, I still need to know where one more person stands." Junko looked at Haruna.

"Haruna-chan, I know you aren't here by choice." She said. "That's not how we want to run our dojo. If you want to stay and be a part of this family, then fine, but you're not required to be here. You're free to leave and do whatever you like. I hope you at least learned something, but either way, I hope you make a decision with conviction."

Well that was... probably the best news Haruna had heard in a while. Just barely managing to hold back a grin, she nodded, acknowledging Junko's words. She'd never admit it, but she did learn a few things, such as her inability to deal with giants, and to never ever try to play the faction game in this place again. As the sole outsider, things were getting pretty uncomfortable, to say the least.

"In that case, I'll be on my way." She stated curtly. Taking a second to give Akashi a very obvious disdainful look, the purple-haired girl spun on her heel and walked away to grab her clothes.