Aspiring Rookies

"Ohhhh! This gym is awesome! It's even bigger than the one back home!



Moe Fukuouka was new to AFW. She had every intention of putting herself out there. And to do that she needed to be prepared. In her mind, there was no better place to get ready for her eventual debut match than the gym! She took a moment to few moments to scope the place out. It had everything she could need: cardio machines, weights, bags, even multiple rings set up for people that wanted to spar or practice moves, which worked out really well for her since she showed up to work out in her full wrestling outfit.

"Welp, better get right to it!" She told herself as she hopped on the treadmill and warmed herself up before taking on something more serious. After twenty minutes or so, she'd take a break and walk over to a nearby ring. She sat on the apron to rest. The gym was fairly empty that day, not too many people around training. She had noticed someone pass by. Something about that person immediately stood out to her.

"Blue hair? Huh? Ooops!"

Moe thought aloud. Perhaps too loud, as she covered her mouth, not meaning to question anyone's fashion sense out loud. It was a wrestling facility after all. People were bound to wear all sorts of irregular things.

Spoiler:

Wanting to improve her skills, Julia decided she needed to hit the gym. Dressed in her usual purple jacket she would grab a bag with a change of clothes and head to the gym. When she got to the gym she would quickly enter and walk right Moe. The blue haired gymnast was fairly used to people staring at her hair and wouldn't think much of Moe until she commented out loud. She turned towards the rookie and just smiled. "Yeah, it's blue. Awesome right?" she would say with a giggle. She'd then look the smaller girl over before continuing. "Your hair is pretty cute too though. Not everyone can pull off short hair. "

Julia would walk past Moe and throw her bag in the corner. She liked coming to the gym at this time because it was usually fairly quiet and empty. She would find an empty spot where she could start stretching her legs out. After a few seconds she would look back at Moe and start talking again. "You know I'm surprised to see someone else here. The past two times I've been here it's been totally empty."

"You really think so? Thanks!"

Miss Fukuouka blushed slightly upon receiving the compliment on her hair. "It's cool that it gets this empty at times. I'm new here. My name's Moe Fukuoka!" She hopped off the apron and extended her hand to properly greet her new acquaintance despite her being occupied with stretches at the moment. "It's awesome to meet you! Have you been here a while?" Moe would reply after the blue haired woman introduced herself. Moe would begin stretching as well as she had neglected to do so before just now.

Having already bend over to stretch, Julia would awkwardly look up at her apparent new gym buddy. "Yeah it's nice. Plus no one to stare at your butt when you stretch." She would joke, assuming that Moe wasn't going to stare. She didn't look like the kind to do something like that though. She would straighten herself out and then grab the rookie's hand to enthusiastically shake. "Well I'm Julia Hiroshi. Nice to meet you newbie."

Julia felt slightly bad calling Moe that since she probably hadn't been here much longer than the other rookie. "Well honestly I've only been here for a little bit myself." She would omit the part about her previous matches, not really feeling to confident after her most recent one.

Moe chuckled at Julia's joke. She seemed quite flexible, as Moe had attempted some of the same stretches she saw her new gym pal perform and didn't quite have the same range of motion. Though she didn't comment on it as the two were still getting to know each other.

The handshake and warm introduction made the green-clad wrestler smile. She didn't mind the "newbie" comment at all as, at this point, it was an entirely true statement. Moe knew how to wrestle, but she didn't have much experience and she didn't know the first thing about AFW. "Cool! Well it looks like you've been here longer than I have at the very least. It's awesome to meet you, Julia!" Moe turned her attention to the ring near them where she was sitting earlier and asked. "Since there's no one here, do you wanna hop in the ring with me and show me how people do things here at AFW? I should be debuting soon and I'd love to spar with someone to help me prepare!"

Julia saw Moe look at the ring and easily could guess what she would ask next. "Well if you wanna spar sure. Let's see just how far you can bend. Just let me get in a few more stretches." She would tease. She didn't actually want to hurt the rookie, but she would definitely try to test her limits. After a few more stretches Julia would stand up straight and make her way to the ring.

Julia hopped into the ring and would hold her hand out in case her soon to be opponent wanted a boost up. "Ready to rumble?" She would ask once the two were in the ring. She was hoping to keep things lighthearted. She didn't see any need to be nasty at the moment.

"Bend...? Is everyone around here that up front about their strategies? Haha, thanks for helping by sparring with me, Julia! I'm really happy to have met you!" Moe said in gratitude as she mentally prepared herself for her first in-ring encounter at this wrestling promotion! She followed Julia as the flexible woman nimbly made her way into the ring.

Moe would notice Julia offer had hand to her as she pulled herself up to the apron. She took her new friend's hand and accepted the boost up into the ring. She entered through the ropes and responded. "Always ready!" she replied s she nodded and put her arms up in a fighting stance.

"Standard rules, yeah? We can start whenever you're ready, Julia" Moe said with a confident smile, ready to get things underway.

It hadn't quite occurred to the blue haired girl before that saying something like that was giving away her strategy. She would just smile, a bit redder in the face than she was before. "Haha well it's good practice for me too." She stated. Julia needed the practice, and hopefully the rookie would be a good training partner. She would nod her head, agreeing to standard rules.

Julia would start things off quickly, aiming a kick to the girl's gut as soon as she was able. "First thing you should know is be careful here. Some people like to fight dirty." The gymnast would say after launching the kick. She would try to pull her kick, meaning more to prove a point than to actually fight dirty.

Moe delighted in the idea of the spar being mutual for the both of them. She was eager to see how she stacked up against everyone at AFW, and her first opportunity to test her skills finally arrived! She was in a fighting stance ready to go when a swift, toned leg came at her with the quickness!

Moe's experience in martial arts helped her train to react to strikes, allowing her to catch Julia's foot as it was about to connect. Moe would react by throwing a quick but hard jab at Julia's abs, and taking a couple of steps back to create some distance.

"Thanks for the lesson, Jules." she smiled as she continued. "But I've seen a heel or two during my training. If you were really a dirty wrestler, you'd have jumped me a short while ago!" Moe would dash at her sparring partner and leap to attempt to hit her with a running Drop Kick!

Julia thought herself quite clever until her leg was caught by her opponent. Moe was right though, if she wanted to catch her by surprise Julia should have tried harder. "Huh? Ouch!" She yelped as she was jabbed and staggered back a few steps. It seemed that the rookie wasn't nearly as inexperienced as the gymnast had thought. Julia's smile started to fade as she realized this might be more of a challenge than she thought.

It wasn't long before Moe was running at Julia. Having plenty of time to react, she would try to side step her foe and watch her land on the mat. Given the opportunity she would try to drop herself on the smaller girl and try to straddle her opponent's stomach.