A Fistful Induction [SPAR]

Time: 2 Weeks Until Debut

Lucy (Girl on the left):

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Back when Lucy was with her parents on the wrestling scene, they didn’t exactly have a gym of their own to use. The wrestling league was too concerned about making money through advertising and TV deals to think about the development of its athletes. This forced every wrestler to go out and find a gym in each of the touring cities that they could use. Arriving in Japan and signing on to the AFW, Lucy was expecting the same thing here. What she discovered was that there was a whole dedicated gym just for the wrestlers. The whole concept was alien to her; a gym that was fully equipped to support wrestlers including training rings and the whole works. It was like a dream to her.

Of course, there were other gyms that she could partake in too. Many a wrestler, or former wrestler had opened a gym or training ground of sorts in the city, and the AFW had helpfully put together a directory on the wall to list every possible ‘friendly’ gym in the city. Lucy was browsing through that very list currently, taking in all the names and making a mental note to visit them all one day. She had worked her way down to the ‘R’ directory and out loud tried to pronounce the word ‘Rodriguez’ however she ended up pronouncing the ‘z’ at the end as ‘ess’. Lucy openly facepalmed herself. Somethings never changed. It was the one would that had flummoxed her since she was a child. Her parents had lived in Puerto Rico and Mexico over the course of their wrestling careers, and Lucy always had issues pronouncing anything that derived from the Spanish language. Still, she made a note to maybe avoid going to that particular gym, until she had worked out how to properly pronounce the name. Nothing like going in there and pissing off the owner by calling them ‘Rodrigueess’.

For now, Lucy would stick to the AFW complex. A city almost in itself. Turning away from the directory, Lucy made her way through the double doors opposite and into the gym proper. She took a moment to look at the wide space inside, rings along one side, mats to the top and a myriad of exercise machines on the other side. The gym was quite busy at this time of day it seemed. A few couples were already throwing down on both the rings and mats. Lucy wasn’t the kind of person to get nervous often, but right now she could feel those nerves of hers piling up. She was unsure where to even start. The AFW Officials had told her that it could be a few weeks until her first official matchup could come through, so she planned to use this time wisely to enable her to catch up and shake off some of the rust moving to Japan and not competing for a few months could bring. Infact, this entire move was the longest single break she had ever taken from competitive wrestling. Back with her parents she main rostered nearly every week, she was almost the main attraction. But here, she was a minnow, swimming in a tank full of sharks. No one knew her, hardly anyone would know she was a wrestler. Her parent’s prestige here meant nothing, not like it did back home. She was going to have to climb up the AFW hierarchy on the broke skulls of others it seemed.

Lucy, wearing a simple combo of black trainers, leggings and tank top, decided to start off her training session with some cardio work. Making her way over to one of the many treadmills, She worked her way onto the machine and began to set a steady jogging pace for herself. Back home she had always hated cardio workouts. Her parents scolded her for not doing so, saying it would weaken her chances of becoming champion. ‘No point being able to punch, if you only have the stamina to throw a single punch’ was one of the things her mother would regularly reminded her. Annoyingly, her mother was correct. Very quickly Lucy began to get outclassed, simply because the other girl was faster and could avoid her attacks and wait for her to tire out before going for the pin. Lesson Learned.

The cardio workout lasted for twenty minutes, which was ample enough time for the gym to quiet down it seemed. Many of the rings had freed up and Lucy was eager to climb into one and do a bit of moving around. She hopped off the treadmill and began to walk on over to the nearest ring, grabbing onto the bottom rope and using it to pull herself up so that her eet where now on the edge of the canvas. Splitting the top and middle ropes with her hands, Lucy walked through the newly created gap, ropes bouncing behind her as she let go, her feet not truly in the ring. The sensation felt weird but familiar. She knew that wrestling rings were bouncy, they needed that spring to survive the slams and bumps of two people beating the shit out of each other. It was just that she hadn’t been in one for a few months, and like sea legs, it could take a little while to get used to things again.

Lucy would, after half a minute of aimlessly walking around the ring, start doing some training. She started doing star jumps while moving around the edge of the ring in a circle, aiming ideally to cover roughly an eighth of the ring in a single jump. That was her usual pace back home, her mother would time her to see how long it would take her to do half the outerpart of the ring in four jumps. Back in her prime at the league she could do four star jumps in less than two seconds. Here though, she was struggling to even do it in five. She really had lost her shine over the past few months. A few more frustrated attempts at setting the pace ensued, before Lucy threw in the towel and bought herself to a halt. Clearly more training was going to be needed.

Lucy had then decided to do a few practice rolls. Most of her training time when she was a developmental rookie involved learning how to roll correctly. Therefore, the motion of standing upright, leaning forward and then kicking away with your feet was natural to her. And after a couple of laps going backwards and forward between two of the turnbuckles, she was fairly happy that she hadn’t at the very least forgotten the basics. Jumping onto her feet once more she was starting to miss training with people. In the past she had never done gym alone. It wasn’t always with her parents however, she would train with the other wrestlers too. She had never done this alone though. It didn’t exactly contribute well to the acclimatisation vibe; a thing she was struggling to do since she had gotten off the plane at Tokyo airport. Still she could train at least. That was something. It could always be worse; she could be alone and not training.

At that point, rather than dwell on things for any longer and risk pulling herself into a depression spiralling circle, Lucy decided to let out some anger with some shadow punches. She had eyed up the punchbags when she first entered the gym, but now part of her refused to leave the ring because she didn’t want to risk losing it if someone else came along. As long as she was in here it was her ring. As childish as it sounded, she preferred it that way. She carried on throwing those punches, positioning her legs wide apart to give herself enough room to be able to sidestep a theoretical counter punch. While she had never officially taken up boxing before, she was fairly confident that she knew how to do it, even to a level where she could take on an actual boxer. She wanted to test that theory one day and she had already made a mental note that the ‘Rodrigueess’ gym was a boxing gym primarily. So maybe that was where she could go get her fix. But for now none of that mattered as it was just Lucy and her shadow punches, alone, contained to the ring, and happy. Well… sort of happy.

The sound of the steady crack of the rope washed over Ayame like ocean waves as she jumped rope. She often used high interval training when it came to cardio doing different sequences with her rope from doubles, to alternating feet and doing figure eights. For most, training is something to dread, they do it with bared teeth all in hopes to improve themselves. While others found hardship, Ayame Kurosagi found time for self-reflection and time just to let her mind wander. Most of her day was filled with interacting with others, whether it was in the ring or out of it. In the gym, however, Ayame felt at peace, everyone was far too concerned with their own workout to socialize. It's not that Ayame was opposed to socializing, it was just nice to get away from everything even if it was to push her body.

Wearing her gym attire, Ayame wore a white sports hoodie with a blue navy sports bra underneath with AFW imprinted under her collar bone in a sleek design. For her bottom half, she had a pair of tight black spandex shorts that clung to her hips and a pair of black gym shoes, streamlined in streaks of blue. With her light brown hair tied back in a pony tail, it bobbed up and down. Eventually, she finished up with her warm up. Heart racing, Ayame took a seat on a jump box, hunched over. Unzipping her hoodie at the front, she used a small white towel to wipe the sweat from her face and neck. After taking a short breather and a drink of water from her bottle, Ayame wasted no time in putting on her hands wraps and strapping on her red leather MMA fight gloves.

Putting on a pair of earphones, Ayame went straight to work. Constantly moving on her toes, shifting her weight on the balls of her feet, she began working combinations. Moving fluidly from one combination to the next, watching Ayame at work was like watching a form of arm. Visualizing an opponent, she was constantly looking for angles, changing her level and all while using textbook technique. As beautiful and elegant as Ayame's footwork and technique were, Ayame's kicks were just as terrifying and destructive. The flash of her leg moving followed by a loud crack of her lower shin colliding with the bag was like catching a glimpse of lightning before hearing the crash of thunder. Ayame's mastery and proficiency with with the roundhouse was gave her the ring name she uses today.

After hearing the timer go off, Ayame stepped away from the bag and pulled out her earphones. She then took her time stretching out her muscles. Finished with the heavy bag, she made her way to the practice ring. Smiling, Ayame eagerly wanted to see if anyone was down to spar. As she approached, she looked around for anyone who seemed to be looking for a spar. All of them seemed apprehensive, they were a little intimidated and understandably so. After that spar with Cecilia, who was the hardcore champ and now the current Friction champion, the two had ended up knocking each other out during a 'friendly' spar. After that, rumors spread and Ayame had difficulty finding a decent sparring partner.

Smiling, Ayame saw a new face in the gym. With a grunt, she pulled herself on the edge of the ring. Clinging to the top rope, she watched Lucy shadow box with discerning eyes. She didn't know who this girl was but she was pretty good. There was a lot of power or was it frustration in her swings, like she was angry at the air in front of her. Tilting her head, Ayame could tell she was a brawler. The style was a little unrefined for her tastes but it did it's job.

Waiting for the stranger to notice her or finish up her workout, she rested her cheek on her palm. She didn't want to interrupt, Ayame hated being interrupted mid-workout and knew the feeling.

"Hi! I'm Ayame. I couldn't help but notice you were new here and you're clearly know how to throw a punch." Ayame said with a smile. "I'm sorry to bother you, I was just wondering if you were interested in a spa or not? It's just been such a long time since I had a skilled partner."

Lucy was in a world of her own for the most part, bringing her arms around and throwing punch after punch, oblivious to the world around her. She enjoyed strike training the most and while she wished she had a bag to impact, she was hoping in her mind that she would have someone else to hit instead. Nothing beats the sensation you get in your arm and heart when one of your strikes catches your opponent off guard. It’s almost like falling in love, as your compacted fist digs deep into their skin, you heart skips a beat, butterflies appear in your stomach. Bliss. For now though it was just Lucy, throwing her punches and on occasion that odd kick, though more powerful than refined, her kicks were never something to look at it, just hope you didn’t have feel one. Her old bosses would always complain at how Lucy needed to show a more refined and artistic style. Lucy didn’t care about how she looked, as long as the other girl infront of her was screaming in pain, then it was just as effective as a refined, well thought out strike.

Lucy was coming to the end of her set now and she was slowing down her punches, focusing more on crosses and hooks rather than jabs, taking the time to set them up for maximum momentum and power. With a finishing uppercut, Lucy would visualise her invisible opponent falling to the floor in a daze, and that was all she wrote. Lowering her stance and taking a few deep breaths, it was at that point she heard a voice to the side of her. Turning to here this Ayame’s proposal, Lucy would smile. Her dreams had come true. She now had someone to punch.

”Sure. Could always use someone to punch rather than thin air. I just hope you hit back as good. Names Lucy” Lucy couldn’t help but notice the red mma gloves on the woman’s fingers. Making a note of that, Lucy slid out of the ring and went over to one of the cabinets near the ring, rooting around she found a pair of suitable black mma gloves to wear, sliding them onto her lithe fingers. The gloves were a little more padded around the knuckles, but they would do the job. She had never actually worn gloves before. The closet she had gotten to that was hand wraps during a main event.

With her gloves now secure, Lucy would walk back into the ring and grab onto the bottom rope and slide her way under the bottom rope, rolling into the ring and climbing back onto her feet. Once on her feet she threw a left and right shadow hook to get used to the extra weight the gloves added to her fists. ”So how do you want to do this? Throw a few light punches, work on dodging? Do some ground and pound techniques? Or just throw caution to the wind and just have at it like there is no tomorrow?” Lucy’s most preferred option. Lucy had never really been ne for sparing. The whole idea of fighting, but not really giving it your all and just holding back a bit, didn’t feel like it benefited her. She always felt like she had gotten more out of her fights than her training in terms of skills. Sure training had its place. It would always be needed to help hone new skills. But right now, after not fighting for a few months, Lucy was eager to see if anything had changed and scratch that fight itch that been building up over the previous weeks. Sadly, Ayame seemed to walk right into that crosshair.

At that point, Lucy tossed her arms around, stretching them, bending her legs and generally limbering her body for what would happen next. Regardless of whatever training/sparing/fighting that Ayame chose, Lucy needed to get that blood pumping to her muscles again lest she risk a silly injury before her first official match. An injury during an epic ‘spar’ didn’t bother Lucy. She could live with that because she was going at her hardest and so was her opponent. But to get injured because silly old her forgot to stretch at the start, that was something that Lucy could never live down. Too many a wrestler in the past had had to drop out of the main event due to an injury during training because of lack of warmup preparation. Lucy was determined to make sure she wasn’t one of them.

”Right so Ayame. What’s It going to be. Soft and cuddly or rough and nasty?” Ayame grinned as she finished limbering her body and began to bounce on the balls of her toes, keeping that momentum and blood pumping throughout her body.

"Well, I can tell you're new here. I wouldn't want to hurt you too bad before your debut." Ayame said as she looked at her foe with a sympathetic smile. "Not that I don't doubt, you can hold your own. I'm just being professional."

Ayame smiled as Lucy introduced herself, she seemed nice enough. Nodding, she slipped into the ring as her sparring partner went to go grab some gloves. The brunette began to stretch out her already warmed up muscles, she already had light sheen of sweat from skipping rope. It was always good to have the opportunity to stretch before a fight. Seeing her foe had taken the same initiative, she was verily pleased. After her stretch, she bounced back and fourth on the balls of her feet, heel's off the floor. Throwing a few quick combinations to loosen up her arms, she was taken off guard by Lucy's question as she was still lost in her own world of thought.

"Hah- Cuddling, huh?" Ayame said with a chuckle. "Tell you what, it's clear to see you want the satisfaction of beating my face in. Why don't you go all out? Try and impress me, newbie."

"Then Mayyyybbbeeee...." She grinned as she gave Lucy a wink. "I'll give you a taste as to why I'm one of AFW's most feared strikers."

She knew that last moment would set a fire in Lucy. Ayame doubted Lucy was someone who would let someone else put themselves above her, even if it was subtle. Lucy would probably want to make Ayame eat her words and Ayame was fine with that. It made the spar that much more exciting. Besides, What was wrong with a little competition between them?

"Well, ready when you are."

Squeezing her hands into fists, Ayame stepped away from her corner, shoulders lose and hands held just above her chin. Without tension, she kept her body loose like an elastic band ready to snap at any moment. The friendly smile on her face vanished and replaced with a cold glaze of indifference in her eyes. Putting herself in a generic orthodox fighting stance, she would circle her way around the ring keeping a careful eye on Lucy.

Lucy almost hung onto each word that came out of Ayame’s mouth. She was primarily interested in seeing what she had to say in response to her comments. She wasn’t expecting the response that she did get however. Listening closely as Ayame explained that she didn’t mind Lucy going as hard as she wanted, caused a smirk to arise on the brawlers face. She wasn’t so fond of the last part. Lucy knew that the AFW was going to be filled with rather brutal strikers. Most feds had one or two who were, and the AFW was considerably larger, so she expected there to be large number of striking cohorts.

So why was she one of the most feared? Or was it just a made-up title. It had to be made up right. There was no way in hell she had just bumped into the best striker around. If it was true however, Lucy was about to start her AFW career by earning herself a crown.

”Well I am not entirely sure if I believe you when you say you are one of the most feared strikers. If that is true, well you are about to be in for a shock. But let’s just both agree that neither of us be nice to the other person.”

That was about as direct as she could have been. As Ayame raised her fists, Lucy followed suit, her hands were slightly lower, coming over the tips of her breasts, but not as high as to go up to her chin. Another quirk, well, not quirk but more astute observation was that Lucy led with her left foot and left hand.

”I just hope you don’t make any mistakes, because if I see an opening I am going to exploit it”

After she had finished her piece, Ayame asked her if she was ready. Rather than respond, Lucy now nodded. She was more focused now, that last second being enough to pull her into fighting mode. While Lucy hadn’t started with a smile, like Ayame, Lucy was now covered with a serious focused expression. Both fighters were in position and ready. So now the fight began proper.

Lucy was in the zone and began to move forward, and left, circling or at least trying to circle Ayame, who she was convinced was going to try and do the same thing. Lucy wanted to, and no doubt most hardcore fighters would want to, lead in with a punch to the face. While her heart yearned to just punch the girls face in, her brain knew that right now not only was a face punch expecting, but Ayame was ready for it. You had to work your way up to the face when the opponent had their guard up.

Lucy had very little boxing training, so her stance wasn’t as tight, nor as fluid as a boxer. You could see elements of the boxing style within it, but it was far too sluggish to be classed as anything professional, or even amateur. Lucy was ready to strike now and she did so rather quickly. Knowing that power could come later, she just needed the hits right now. Taking a full step forward, leading with her left foot, Lucy bought her left arm back slightly, chambering the bicep into position for a punch. Once she had completed that step forward she fired her left arm of like a gun. Her left arm fired off arcing as wide as it could as it headed towards Ayame. Lucy was aiming to throw a punch that curved around Ayame’s guard and into her right waist; just below the ribs, but not lower enough to sink into the hip. Lucy knew that using the arcing shot made her punch harder to avoid as it was harder to tell where it was going, but by the same merit a lot of the punches potential kinetic energy is lost performing the arcing manoeuvre. It would regain some energy on the final approach, but not enough to make up for lost energy. The punch was going to hurt, that was a given, but it wasn’t exactly going to knock Ayame for six either.

Once the punch had been performed, Lucy withdrew her arm rapidly. She didn’t want to give Ayame a window to counter punch. Though that was impossible to avoid, the longer she waited, the more time Ayame had. She would recoil her arm back into the original position, leaning just above her chest, waiting and watching now. She was going to follow up, but caution was starting to edge in. Usually she would throw caution to the wind, but the threat, nay, statement, that Ayame was one of the most feared AFW strikers had subconsciously put her into a more cautious mindset.