A matter of finding oneself again

Spoiler:

Despite the sun shining brigth in the sky, it was a gloomy day for Justice Asuka, or Sanae Takamori as it was her name outside of the ring. Every day since her last match had been a grey one inside the bluette’s mind. There was a storm of dire thoughts inside of her that threatened with making her resolve crumble. Her return to the rings had been a mild one being generous with the veteran: first a sour draw against a male debutant and after that a solid loss against Alaina Sanders. True that the Amazon was another veteran with lots of experience and a true fighter, but Sanae was supposed to have been Japan’s champion, and now was rubbing her reputation against the mat and now she was thinking of another well known athletes that made a dent in their legend by returning and having some bad performance after their golden days, wondering if she had been better retired as a champion instead of coming back to the rings to be a mid-card wrestler at best.

Sighing, Sanae stopped the threadmill. Her mood was definitely ruined and that was working against her workout session. At that rate her morale would drop so hard she would stop her drills and become in even worse physical state. She needed to hit the gym if she wanted to go back to her golden days, and that was what she was doing at the moment, but her train of thought derailed and now she was feeling down. Maybe she was getting old for the ring. Without much resolve to her, she went to the fountain to get some fresh water in her bottle, a downed look on her as she walked all around the gym area.

Alaina came out of the locker room wearing a purple sports bra, white/purple sneakers and black skin-tight shorts that really left little more covered than her wrestling briefs. She was ready to work out doing a mix of strength training and in-ring endurance work today to try to get herself ready for her next matchup which was not going to be any small affair.....

Alaina had her own doubts in the back of her mind, having lost again to Charlotte at Avalanche and then getting a sort of pity rematch against Adrian who cheated Alaina the last time she wrestled Adrian for the title. If Alaina lost she was out, plain and simple. No more wrestling career. She had to wrestle a flawless match otherwise she would be finding new work.

As Alaina made her way towards her weights she saw a familiar face walking around the gym. "Justice Asuka? Hey, how are you doing?" Alaina said as she approached and waved to the woman whom she had just recently wrestled between the ropes. Asuka appeared much less lively here at the gym than she was in the ring, making Alaina wonder what could be going on.

Justice’s mind was miles away from where her body rested. She had long replenished her water bottle but was still occupying the fountain’s space with a absent-minded and preoccupied look on her face. A voice snapped her back to reality, a voice she remembered from somewhere but couldn’t pin where or when… When her eyes fluttered and she started actually using them, Asuka could see a figure she recognized from the ring. The woman was wearing some tight and revealing gym clothes, but even out of her wrestling briefs the figure and face of Alaina Sanders was easy to recall.

“Oh, hi Alaina… I was just taking some time to train, but I’m not in the best of days.” Asuka wasn’t sure why she started talking like that with a woman she didn’t share much confidence with. Alaina wasn’t a mean person, but in the end Asuka only knew the woman from the match they shared, and even if the Amazon had some character Justice could get along with, it was too soon. Despite all that, the blue haired talked, giving away how she was really worried. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be bothering you with my mumbling… Do you need to use the fountain, right?”, she said while moving aside from the water source.

Alaina tilted her head to the side as Asuka spoke. It wasn't the response she was expecting at all. "Oh it is no trouble at all and I didn't need the fountain or anything. I just wanted to say hello, but what has ya down?" Alaina asked as she leaned against the wall ready to listen to more of what Asuka had to say. She was hoping to try to figure out what was bugging the talented wrestler. Alaina really hoped she would be able to help her out, as she had done for women like Kelly in the past.

Justice thought at first that Alaina’s reasons to approach her were actually using the fountain, but it looked like the woman had an honest interest in engaging in conversation with her. Sanae wasn’t actually receptive that day given her gloomy mood, but the Amazon looked true in her words and was friendly enough to make the veteran bluette open a little. Justice was sociable and amicable enough to make friends out of rivals if they play by the rules, but she needs some more time to adjust to new people and even more now that she was so full of doubts, but maybe Alaina approaching her in the almost naive way she did was exactly what she needed at that moment. That was why she started speaking her heart without even noticing, being Alaina’s integrity her best calling card.

“Well, the two matches I had since my return to the rings weren’t that good. I feel so out of shape and after… well, after all I achieved in the past now I start to wonder if I made a mistake when returning to the scene to perform like this...”, Sanae said with a defeated look on her eyes.

Alaina listened for a moment and understood how Justice Asuka felt. "I get that. I feel like I am older than most on the roster and with everyone on the rise my window of opportunity to get gold just might be behind me." Alaina said especially realizing the stipulation behind her upcoming title shot. Everything could be done for her in a moment if she loses at Cyber Saturday.

"I feel like you did well against me and I threw everything I had at you. I am a good deal heavier yet you were able to withstand some of my biggest moves while slamming me around like it was easy. I think it is just ring rust. If you keep working at it before long you will be back to your old form if not ahead of it! Besides, you hardly look like an old woman trying to wrestle again." Alaina said with a laugh and pat on the back.

Sanae wasn’t sure of what to expect from Alaina’s retort. She didn’t even know why she had opened what was inside her mind like that but the situation caught her off-guard and now she was sharing some in deep thoughts about purpose and some insecurities with that woman. The Amazon turned out to be a good listener, and she had some insight on what caused Sanae’s insecurities and doubts, being both women veterans of the ring. Justice hadn’t thought of it when she saw Alaina approaching her, but she shared some qualities with the woman.

“Oh, come on, you handled me pretty well. I’m not sore about the loss against you though, that was all on you.”, she said downplaying her own performance in the match. “But I feel like my prime days are so far and over. I’m older now, I put some weight on and it is taking quite more effort than I thought getting in shape. Heck, I didn’t want to go back to bring this performance, so I better start coming back to my old self or just retire. I feel like a fish out of the water: the league so full of those bubbly cheerful young new wrestlers while I’m 30 already and just trying not to fall behind, and failing on that...”, it was going to be hard to cheer the gloomy Sanae in this.

Alaina nodded and raised a bit of an eyebrow when Justice Asuka mentioned being just barely 30 and feeling left behind. "I am 32, I didn't start wrestling until I was 24. I didn't get here until I was 25. I also outweigh much of the roster at almost 175 pounds. You don't look out of shape at all." Alaina said with a smile.

"You know, maybe you can take your 'extra weight' as you call it even though you are super fit and just adjust. Be more power oriented? I could help ya with that if you wanted." Alaina said offering to help Justice Asuka out. Really the amazon would love a workout partner today or even semi-regularly. The more she worked against women like this the better she would be in addition to helping out Justice Asuka.

Sanae opening to Alaina and telling her insecurities to that former rival wasn’t unrewarded for the veteran. The Amazon also went into detail about her career and where it had taken her. It surprised Sanae a lot seeing how Alaina was actually older than her and not only that but how the Amazon was a late bloomer wrestler, starting her career when she was 24. It reassured the veteran in some way knowing that someone as powerful and successful as Alaina was actually a true veteran, but she still had some doubts since that woman had the physique of a superathlete while she herself was in bad shape since her early return to the ring.

Despite all that, Alaina was there trying to cheer Sanae up. It was a commendable effort and when the Amazon offered her to train together she wasn’t in the mood for it, but wanted to follow that woman and thank her for the effort in helping her. Maybe going like that her mood would lighten soon. “O-okay… I mean, if I’m not going to be a hindrance to your training… What did you have in mind?”

Alaina smiled and pat Justice Asuka on the back. "We are going to work on some strength, run some ropes and do some in-ring mat work. You did better than you give yourself credit for against me in our match so I am really eager to see wha you can do today!" Alaina said as she made her way over to the bench press to kick things off. "All right, we aren't going for a max but put on a heavy weight and we are going to do five sets of seven so make the weight a challenging one." Alaina said as she was ready to spot Justice Asuka.