Let's get out and do stuff! (For Tatyina)

"You know I think this Buriki thing actually did exist, back in the 90's. Probably went down cause of lack of finance. Like ECW then." Lucy said chuckling at her own joke. Still Gabbie was intrigued by this as Ms Grange hoped, the Canadian even using the ol Nak Muay term. Perhaps if the pair showed up earlier they could have signed up for that nearby tournament, but perhaps it was for the best. It was to be a day between two pals after all.

"Ok I know enough Japanese to read this right, let's see. So the left makes you move left, right is right. Holding both makes you block. And attacks are done with this joystick, moving it forward does a fast attack. Up then forward is stronger but slower and down forward is weakest but fastest, special moves are done with other inputs. They're on the cabinet though at least." Ms Grange was thankful for all those lessons now, another year here and she be a native speaker. "So it's pretty much like MMA, you can win with ko. Submissions and there's also decision. My style would be with Van Heyting the wrestler, he's retired now I think. Was pretty big in the Netherlands."

Though Gabbie did raise an important question, why did Lucy get into wrestling? The Canadian was correct, with how the Brit acted she certainly didn't seem to qualify as a proper fighter in the squared circle. Her usual schoolgirl attire and mannerisms didn't help much either. Ms Grange gave a laugh before saying "Well it goes way back, my Did did wrestling. Back in school I was a right spitfire, I wasn't one to get cowed let's say. Even if it were guys who were bigger than me I'd let them have it, didn't always turn out well but I made my point."

"So I got training from my old man and me and my Brother toured the Asian indie scene, we learned on the job with just street clothes. Learned what we could do really well, and not so well. Like one time Ryan near broke his arm after a suicide dive in Shanghai, but over time we learned. He went all formal and tossed people around like a natural disaster. I use my actual schoolgirl outfit and dye my hair blonde and flipped about in the air once we knew what we could do. What about yourself, how'd you get in the squared circle?" Lucy said, in a thoughtful tone before coming back to reality before the virtual battle begun.

Gabbie tested out each button as Lucy told her how it worked. She tried to get a feel for each move, but controlling a little stick and some buttons was way different than kicking with a leg or punching with an arm. Still, she had to assume that the basics of it were the same. Let the controls be an extension of your body and anticipate the movements of your opponent. She closed her eyes as Lucy told her tale and tried to get into that mode of thought.

When Lucy was finished, Gabbie shrugged a bit. "I guess it's kind of the same for me." She began. "My family owns a Savate school in Toronto, so I have been fighting my whole life. My whole family has. First i studied Savate and then kickboxing. My sister studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so I know a little bit of that too. It's just a part of my life."

However, she had not gotten to wrestling yet. "After I graduated, I went to Thailand to fight professionally in Muay Thai. I was doing well there, but wanted to step up my game. I wanted to do something with more of a spotlight to it. That's when I joined Momentum. I knew AFW was the tops for wrestling, and I had heard their boxing league would be in the same calibre. At least, I was told that. I had no intention of being part of the wrestling league, honestly."

She turned and looked at Lucy. "Well, my sister had joined Momentum too, almost coincidentally. And, it turned out, that her biggest rival in Canada also joined the league, though she was a wrestler. She was part of a wrestling Dojo that her friend and mother-in-law had started and I ended up helping them part time to train in striking and some kickboxing. Well, they both ended up leaving and I ended up staying and joining the Dojo full time. They told me I would end up like my sister's rival. She was broken by wrestling and quit. And her friend, Taylor, the former champ, quit too. Both of them after saying I wouldn't be able to cut it because of my size."

Gabbie's fist tightened around the joystick. "I don't quit." She said, looking at Lucy sternly. "So, I'm going to prove that I can hang with wrestlers. That I can hang with anyone, even though I've never wrestled in my life before." Gabbie tucked her head against her chin.

"They are right about AFW. It's a horrible place and no one is interested in real competition. Everyone just wants to beat up everyone because they are sadistic bitches... I won't let those kinds of people have the satisfaction of breaking me." Gabbie said finally.

She then found herself sighing, as if she was holding her breath in. She turned and looked at Lucy and blushed deeply. "Sorry.." She then patted the Brit on her back. "I know you're one of the good ones though, Luc. I'm glad we could be friends. A-Actually... I've worn those gloves you got me every match since. I think they're good luck, so, thanks again!"

Lucy couldn't help but be intrigued by what Gabbie was saying to her, it wasn't often that she heard other people's stories. When it was in the ring the Brit was more concerned with trying to beat them down and claim a win rather than hear the time they ran from a bear on nothing but a unicycle. Though this wasn't the squared circle, and Lucy was only having a virtual fight. Like all those For Glory sessions for example.

And from what Gabbie was saying seemed the Canadian had her fair share of adventures in the realm of combat, hitting Thailand too. Lucy hadn't ever been there, though she saw it on An Idiot Abroad where that guy did it blindfolded. Was that actually a thing? Ms Grange felt it best not to ask. And the AFW had a boxing league too? Well Lucy wasn't aware of that, then again unless it had been in Kyoto chances are Ms Grange didn't hear of it. Who was the world champ in Friction again?

"Yeah AFW certainly had everyone else beat with regards to women wrestling." Lucy said, come to think on it stars from other places ended up joining too, then Ms Desjardin went on to talk about that Dojo where she was training at. Taylor was someone Lucy vaguely heard about, but that was about it. Seems she and her friend quit though. That was something Ms Grange came to learn about this business, if you ain't careful or luck isn't with you then you can find yourself in the back of an audience in an episode of deal or no deal.

Lucy smiled as Gabbie spoke of how she wasn't one to quit, that was a main reason why the Brit liked Ms Desjardin. Ms Grange felt she could relate to her on quite a few levels, not like most of the people in AFW.

"I'm the same, throw the towel when's its laundry day. I like to prove that I can hang with them all, even the big boys over in Kyoto. Mean hey I managed to hold my own against a gal with moves like yours that I didn't see before, the pair of us could be great examples of where determination can get you I think." Lucy stated with a nod of the head. Hey Lucy reckoned if her sparring partner was a big British guy she could handle any other sort of opponent.

Ms Grange was also pleased to hear that Gabbie was wearing those gloves she got for the holidays last year, the ones tailor made with her in mind. Lucy gave a wide smile and giggled before saying "Luck's always nice to have, they saved me many times in my indie matches. You know if your ever doing a tag match or something and your sis ain't available let me know, I'm no stranger to them let me tell you. Anyway let's go on this here." Ms Grange said as she'd get settled to commence the virtual battle against Gabbie, to see if she could apply what she knew onto something like this.

"Ahh, well..." Gabbie blushed a bit at Lucy's words. "I'm not that interested in fighting men." She admitted. "At least not here. She had sparred with plenty of guys and if it were a normal boxing or kickboxing match, she probably wouldn't hesitate. But a wrestling match? She did not trust any of the Tension guys not to try and take things further than was decent. Not to mention even if they played it straight, she still didn't like the thought of some guy with his hands all over her. She just quietly blushed instead of explaining that to Lucy, though.

Gabbie shook her head and looked at the screen as it flashed and told them to begin. She moved her joysticks around, focusing on the action at hand until the round was over. She wasn't doing so good just yet and Lucy took it pretty easily.

"I actually never thought about doing tag matches..." Gabbie said sincerely. "I just thought that I needed to do everything on my own. I couldn't achieve my goals if I was with someone. But, actually..." Gabbie said, looking at Lucy. "It might actually be fun to try it out? Especially with someone I liked and trusted." Gabbie smiled at the Brit.

"Plus, with everything that's happened, I could definitely use some back up. I've met a lot of girls who aren't shy about bending the rules to get what they want." Gabbie frowned. "And, my sister um..." She paused. "I love her but... I can't say I'm very happy with her. We're not the same at all. I know if it REALLY mattered, she'd have my back and I'd have hers, but she just wants to waste her live having sex in the hentai league. She's wasting her talents. She's a better fighter than I am and I can't even..."

Gabbie mashed the controllers when the next match started. Her cheeks flushed and she growled as she mashed the buttons harder than normal, perhaps taking out a bit of her frustration on the video game. "Rrrrgghh!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow at Gabbie's words, the girl was aware that fighting the opposite gender wasn't for everyone. Lucy reckoned that about 80% of the current Friction roster probably didn't do it for one reason or another, with Ms Grange it was probably because she had been around guys her whole life. And she had gotten into her fair share of scraps against them back in school, Lucy had certainly done that. Her old man didn't like the idea of that, but he wasn't around anymore. Besides Ms Grange liked to think that at least she wasn't picky.

It seemed though that Ms Desjardin expressed interest in maybe trying a tag match down the line, Lucy was confident in her ability to be a pretty good partner in the ring. Granted she hadn't had much chance to prove that with the UK Elite, with Ryan teaming with their right hand man John. But with them MIA Ms Grange knew she shouldn't sit around, her Brother wouldn't want that she felt. "Heh yeah, I'd be up for it. Haven't actually done a tag match in ages." Lucy said with a grin to the Canadian, omitting the fact that match ended in a no contest.

Come to think on it Gabbie had mentioned a Sister, Lucy hadn't met her but heard of her. Didn't seem like Ms Desjardin was likely to go with a sibling tag team though, seemed it went more than that too. Sure there was of course the case of blood thicker than water, and Gabbie's Sister was fooling about in those Hentai matches. Lucy preferred not to go near those, the Brit preferred guys but wasn't gonna just jump in the sack with them.

Seemed like it was annoying Gabbie more than she was letting on, given that in the second round she put her movements into the aging cabinet. Gabbie talked about how her Sis had the better fighting skill, Lucy bit her lip thoughtfully. She knew better than to turn her head and break the spell the Canadian placed upon herself. The Brit continued her movements before saying "Hmm, well I won't say much on this Gabbie. But I can understand the view you've got though." Lucy liked her Bro and knew he could be counted on to do what's right. But damn his ego could be proportional to his height.

Lucy would battle the Canadian on this time, though once it was over Ms Grange had a smirk on her face and said "There was another one I wanted to show you, down the aisle there." the Brit would then walk to it and smile at what she saw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8cTdFqwdwc

"Know the Japs have the awesome stuff, they got a game that's about table flipping. Was thinking this might be a good way to get a cathartic feeling, you might want it. These things are very durable as well." Lucy said as she felt that maybe Ms Desjardin might want to vent out that frustration a bit with this device.

"Ok. Maybe we can try it sometime then..."

Gabbie Flashed Lucy a small smile as her words drifted off. She only nodded through the rest until they were finished. She had done well enough, but the Brit's experience had won the day. She'd have to come back and reclaim pride and victory for Muay Thai another day.

Though she wanted to keep going until she won, she was also a little grateful to find another game to try out. Though as Lucy described it, Gabbie thought Lucy was playing a trick on her. "What? How can you have a game like that?" She said. "I mean..." She tried to imagine the joystick but when they arrived, she was completely off. "It's... a table..." She said and peered at the machine.

"This is really a game? You have to show me..." She said and looked at the screen with the crazy angry pixelated people and the kanji and numbers scrolling along it.

Gabbie's reaction was indicative to Lucy that the Canadian wasn't too familiar with the stranger stuff that Japan had to offer, truth be told she had a similar sort of reaction. Though she found this thing in South Korea, it stuck in her mind cause it was the day after Lucy and her Brother actually won in their first tag match. All the times when they got swung around and did things that didn't go right for them finally paid off and the stars aligned, and they found a game that was about flipping a table. That served to tell them of what was to come, cards firmly laid on the table.

Still it seemed that Gabbie didn't know too much Japanese, Ms Grange picked up the words from her time spent listening to announcers on New Japan and those audio apps that was on everyone's smart phones nowadays. Lucy tapped her nose and said "Yes my friend, indeed it's a table. Though it's nowhere near the level of even something from Ikea, behold...." the Brit would probably end up talking about the discussion of what a potato counted as.

With that Lucy used a 100 yen coin in the machine and looked at what was being displayed, before putting her hands on the place where they were marked. "Now you get yourself ready by pounding the table to get it sent further and then when the screen turns red....."

Ms Grange then said "John!!! No sugar with my tea!!!" before flipping it and the screen having the table and it's contents sent flying. And those were words often said by Lucy, her Brother liked sugar with tea but Lucy didn't. And their right hand man made that mistake many a time when he first started, and Ms Grange the odd cuppa here and there.

"Ah that felt good, have a go Gabbie. If you got any bad feelings just picture them and give the table a flip." Lucy stated as she took a few steps back and gave a smile.

Gabbie stared utterly puzzled at Lucy as she explained things but watched with careful interest. She just couldn't really get how this was a game, though it seemed fairly simple.

She watched as Lucy smacked the table and then screamed out what the Canadian could only assume were frustrations and then "flipped" the table. It was still pretty bizarre, but she could maybe see what Lucy said by Gabbie playing it.

"No sugar with your tea?" Gabbie said and then muffled a soft giggle. "Luc, that's what keeps you up at night. I wish those were the worst of my frustrations..." She said and then stepped forward. She looked at the screen and then waited for the signal. When it came, she slammed her fist down as hard as she could.

"Ma sœur!" She screamed in French. When the time ti flip came, she heaved it with all of her strength. <You're wasting you life!!!>

She was red faced when she finished and looked around, at least a little embarrassed. She was glad she spoke in French. She didn't really want people to hear her. She looked sheepishly at Lucy. "Ok, I guess it was kind of fun.." She said with a shy smile.

Sugar with no tea wasn't the thing that kept Lucy up at night, no it was the worry of where her Brother was. She knew that he was a tough guy and had some odd habits here and there, but it was natural concern for him. As far as Ms Grange knew he was still in Japan, probably camping somewhere given that she and John had checked his girlfriend's place and he wasn't there. Still the Brit pushed those thoughts in the back of her head, it wasn't the time or the place.

Still it was great to see Gabbie getting involved in the crazier stuff that Japan had to offer, and she shouted in French too. Lucy knew what she said, her Brother knew quite a bit of French and called her that when he was irked by her from time to time. Aside from that though Ms Grange doubted she'd be able to hold a conversation in it. Gabbie looked a bit red-faced, but Lucy reckoned she'd gotten some of that anger out of her. A bit of negative emotion relief was good after all.

"Heh it's a nice change from lifting weight after all, alright let's bounce and go somewhere else. C'mon." Lucy said patting Ms Desjardin on the shoulder and motioned to head outside after taking the small escalator, Ms Grange would move her hand up outside in response to the shining bright sun. After walking a little a group of people dressed as power rangers would move past Lucy and Gabbie, with the Brit turning her head in surprise.

"This place has all sorts." the Brit said to her friend with a chuckle and shake of the head.

"Yeah, I guess so." Gabbie said and looked at the flickering screen. She didn't know what it meant, but it felt kind of good. She smiled at Lucy. "It was fun, for sure." Gabbie admitted. When Lucy said it was time to go, Gabbie nodded. The arcade was great, but she didn't want to spend all day there.

"Ok, where to next?" Gabbie asked and walked with Lucy. She passed by the group of super sentai and gave them an odd look. "This kind of stuff doesn't seem so bad considering where we work." Gabbie said, looking over the colorfully suited super heroes. "I don't think I would be surprised if any one of them was in the AFW." She mused.