The Defiant Darkness tries to get an Underling

After Akemi's last match had ended in such an abrupt way, Akemi was keen on finding that girl again. In her mind, she knew that she wouldn't have won without that random accident that happened at the end of the match. But there was no way she would ever admit it. Instead of apologizing for the grope or even talking about it, she was looking to make Gaia her underling! There was not many people who could understand her grandiose way of acting and talking, but Gaia was different. She understood her.

So there Akemi was at 5am in the morning, sitting by the front door of the gym. She didn't know when Gaia came by this gym, she had only just overheard from a few staff members that this is where she worked out. So of course Akemi's brilliant plan was to stay there until Gaia eventually came by the gym to workout. When she did, Akemi planned to jump up and order the girl to join her as her underling.

Of course it was easier said than done. Only after about thirty minutes of waiting, Akemi immediately fell asleep. She wasn't much of a morning person which is why most of her matches happened late evening. She would be asleep like this with her body curled up in a ball even when Gaia came by the gym.

She woke up a bit sore today with some lingering stiffness in her shoulder. Some may have prescribed themselves some bed rest to recover, but Gaia just took it as an opportunity to move up leg day on her routine. Up bright and early to hit the gym. She had made a light breakfast and tried to inquire if her sister wanted to join her knowing full well she wouldn’t, especially not at this hour. Maya had likely been up all night playing video games and now wouldn't wake up until the late afternoon. Still, she left out a plate with some breakfast for her anyway. If it was still there when she got home she could pack it up for leftovers.

Gaia Eden:

It was normally quiet at the Friction training facility that served as her personal gym these days, at least in the early morning hours. It remained open to members of the federation to come and go as they pleased so it made for the perfect one-stop shop for her workout needs these days. She threw on her gym bag, put in her ear pods, and hit the ground running starting things off with a brisk jog through the Tokyo streets to the building itself. It wasn’t a long distance from her apartment but enough to work up a nice sweat as a warmup for her routine once she got to the gym. As she neared the facility she slowed and took the final distance as a cool down lap, walking around the side of the building to the front. Though when she reached the large glass entryway she paused seeing a body crumpled on the ground.

Startled, she hurried over. Had someone been robbed? Had they slipped and fallen? As she neared though, she could see they weren’t so much as fallen as they were curled up and they appeared to be snoring rather peacefully… her head cocked in confusion. This was the woman she had wrestled just the other night. She couldn’t help but crack a smile at the oddness of the situation as well as just how adorable she looked in her little getup napping like this. She gave her head a small shake and crouched down beside Akemi, reaching out to gently place a hand on her shoulder to ease her awake.

“And I thought evil never sleeps.” She mused softly, rolling her shoulder to shrug off her gym bag to plop down beside her. “Good morning Ms. Darkness. You didn't happen to come by the gym today just to gloat about beating me?” She wouldn't have put it past the woman, after all, it had been her entire schtick in the ring. Still, Gaia couldn't be mad about it. The match itself had been pretty fun, one of the most refreshing bouts she had in a long while due to being able to play pretend hero opposite Akemi.

As Gaia walked by, Akemi was sound asleep, letting out soft snores. If this were an anime, there would be a huge bubble inflating and deflating from Akemi's nose. She could really sleep anywhere if she was tired enough. But that bubble would pop when Gaia sat next to her and gently woke the Defiant Darkness from her slumber.

"Nngh... Wha..?" she groaned, her head tiredly raising to look at Gaia. It took her brain a moment to understand everything that was going on around her. But when she did, she scrambled to her feet, her cheeks flashed a beet red from embarrassment as she got into the first menacing pose she could think of in a poor attempt to look menacing, but with the way she was blushing and the way she was shaking a little from the cold showed anything but intimidating.

"A-Ahem! BRINGER OF LIGHT! I HAVE COME TO MAKE AN OFFER OF YOU. ONE THAT YOU CANNOT REFUSE! I HAVE COME TO OFFER YOU UP THE POSITION TO BECOME MY LOYAL SUBJECT! NOW REJOICE! FOR YOU WILL NOW GET TO BE BY MY SIDE WHENEVER YOU WANT!" She announced to her, attempting to be as menacing as she possibly could to show how cool she was, even switching between multiple poses while she waited for Gaia's response to all of this.

Spoiler:

As Akemi shot to her feet, Gaia was left crouched, blinking as her eyes trailed up to the other girl to meet her face and happened to get a rather dubious view beneath her shirt from below by mistake. It was hard to not google a bit, the other girl had dressed rather enticingly. A faint hue of red started to glow on her cheeks before she leaned back, refusing to take any further advantage of her view angle. She peered off to the side as she collected her gym bag and hefted the strap over her shoulder as she rose. Once the two women were standing opposite each other she brought her gaze back to her fellow blond.

Gaia looked on with an air of curiosity and confusion, trying very hard not to giggle as Akemi flashed through various poses, some flattering but most of them rather silly. She had inadvertently leaned herself back, just to distance herself from the other woman’s raised voice… she was very loud and it was very early. A quick glance to either side saw some passersby looking at the two of them as if they were giant slugs or something.

“You can call me Gaia, no need to be formal from one hero to her arch villainess” She gave Akemi a small smile. She wasn’t exactly sure what this whole loyal subject thing was, but at the very least she was a fan of what the girl was doing inside the ring… and outside she supposed.

“An offer I can’t refuse huh?” The blond canted her head slightly with a brief smirk. “...And if I do refuse?” She couldn’t resist the urge to tease the girl, just a bit before trying to get to the bottom of what exactly she was asking.

Akemi noticed that Gaia's cheeks had also turned red, but chopped it up to her being cold. Not by the fact that the other girl could look up her shirt and nearly see everything besides what her shirt clamped down around. Akemi hadn't really thought about her wardrobe when she left her home. She just wanted to beat Gaia there and be the first to arrive so she could be waiting for her here.

But then then Gaia interjected her little speech with a question of her own that threw everything Akemi had off-course. "Th-Then I'll make you my subordinate in the practice ring here!" she retorted. It was clear that this wasn't a part of the plan and she was inprovising at this point. She knew the only reason she won their previous match was because of an accident, but she felt like Gaia was challenging her and she couldn't back down.

Gaia pursed her lips at the explanation. Her goal had just to do a bit of cardio and call it quits but an impromptu match of sorts was hard to turn down. She turned her head to glance into the glass entryway of the training center. It seemed empty enough, certainly with no one in the ring at the very least. Perhaps this would be a fun little way to learn more about her “arch enemy” without the crowds there to be a bother.

“Are you challenging me? Because even as an off-duty hero I’m pretty sure I’m obligated to face evil wherever it rears its head.” Gaia had a small chuckle at that, shifting her weight on her legs to look Akemi over again. “Bold of you to think you can take me on a second time after only narrowly escaping the first… What exactly is all this subject and subordinate business anyhow?”

Although Akemi was about an inch taller than Gaia, the woman was doing a good job at making herself look taller anyways. Still, Akemi wasn't going to let herself be intimidated by her, so in an act of what could be seen as bratty rebellion, she would puff out her chest and walk towards Gaia until their chests were pressing up against one another. "" escaped"? No, I beat you." And I can do it again." she replied, looking her future opponent straight in the eyes.

To add to the effect, she would also get onto her tippy toes to make herself seem even taller than she was, almost putting her entire weight onto Gaia and letting their breasts squish together. "If I win, you become my subordinate forever! And if you somehow win... Um... I-I'll do whatever you wish for the rest of the day and night!" she said, not exactly knowing what she was getting herself into with those stakes she had just set.

She couldn’t help but be amused any time Akemi flustered, taking it in as the woman tried to come across as commanding dressed in booty shorts. She was a bit surprised when the other girl got in her face, pressing herself up against her. While still coming off as a bit childish, she couldn’t help but find her confidence a bit attractive. Gaia took in a deep breath to keep it together.

“I’d like to see you try.” The blond remarked almost wistfully. As Akemi pushed up against her even more, the feel of her body grinding into her caused her to momentarily tune out the moment and let out a soft pleased hum. It took her a moment to unpack what it was the other girl was saying. Forever? Gaia snickered softly and reluctantly took a small step back, giving her some breathing room and allowing her little rival to feel as if she had won their exchange.

“Forever is a long time, especially when you are only putting yourself up for a single day… Sounds almost like you think you’re going to lose…” Gaia reached out, giving Akemi’s bangs a light playful but with her fingertips to peek at her eye beneath. “If you can beat me, I’ll agree to be your subordinate, for a time. But since I’ll be winning this go around…” Gaia tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, flashing Akemi a smirk. “I’ll take your company for a day and evening. It’ll almost be like a little date.”

"Hmph!" she exhaled in annoyance at her enemy's response to her initial statement. As expected though, she felt like she won their battle of intimidation, a smug look on her face to show how she felt like she won their exchange while she placed her hands on her hips to show off her superiority.

But all that confidence started slowly draining from Akemi while Gaia would reach her hand out and start playing with her bangs. With the way she was starting to toy with her, Akemi couldn't help but get the feeling that Gaia was flirting with her. At least this is what Akemi thought flirting was like. She had never been flirted with before. Additionally, the counter offer was not what Akemi wanted out of this exchange.

"B-But..! Grrr... Okay." she replied. She accepted that she wasn't going to get to have Gaia forever, and normally she would argue for more time but she was desperate to have this so she agreed to Gaia's haggling.

She had a good giggle at all of Akemi’s huffing and puffing over this whole ordeal, not even bothering to hold it back anymore. When all was said and done, they had reached their agreement. The unexpected meeting had been interesting enough but the challenge had been an added bonus. She reached for the door of the training center and pulled it open, holding it wide for Akemi. A small smile played across her face when she had a sudden realization that the other girl might just be wrestling her dressed like that. It was a distracting thought but not an unpleasant one. She had already enjoyed a bit of their closeness and thinking back to their match, getting a chance to roll around with her in the ring… stop it Gaia.

She cleared her throat and gestured for Akemi to proceed, she would follow behind. Once the two were inside she’d make her way towards the empty training ring, peering sidelong to the other girl as they walked. “It's not too late to surrender now, after all, it's only a night together with me and you don't even have to suffer a loss at my hands.” if Akemi still seemed dead set on their challenge, Gaia wasted no time in discarding her bag ringside and sliding beneath the ropes.