Serious Training (For Bluemouse)

Chigusa was focusing pretty hard on her kicks, but she noticed Taylor had stopped and had approached her. She didn't turn around though, preferring to ignore Taylor, while sending kicks of increasing strength into the bag. It was almost as if she was demonstrating to Taylor how strong she could be. Then Taylor spoke up, right as Chigusa sent her most powerful kick yet, knocking a small cloud of dust out into the air.

Chigusa turned around. Taylor seemed much more in control now, unlike before where she seemed angry and nervous all at once. Maybe now the girl would be easier to talk to. With her hands on her hips, an even glare, and a small frown on her face, Chigusa listened to Taylor seemingly apologize. She actually thought the girl finally understood, and that they could make things right. Her frown disappeared and she was about to smile when Taylor said there was better ways to solve problems, that is until Taylor came up and shoved her into the wall.

"Ah!" Chigusa gasped in surprise, hitting the wall and closing her eyes. She turned her head for a second, inspecting her shoulder. When she looked back at Taylor, the girl was standing close to her, a sneer on her face. Chigusa recognized that look; it was the same one many mean brawlers gave her before starting a nasty fight.

"W-what do you want?" Chigusa said. Her legs bent slightly and she tensed up, ready to fight if Taylor was after her.

Taylor put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair. "Oh, come on." She said, somewhat annoyed and a little tempered by Chigusa's reaction. "Don't act like you've never fought before."

"Call it what you want, a little friendly sparring match, but I think we both know that the only way for someone like you and someone like me to be... not like this is to earn some of the respect you seem to think you deserve. Get it? How about 'let's see what you're made of', right? You've got nothing to worry about, anyway, since I'm such a failure. I want you to try to hit me," Taylor said forcefully. "As hard as you can."

Taylor flashed a sharp grin and bounced lightly on her feet before settling down into a stance, ready to move at any moment. She beckoned for Chigusa to come at her. "What... scared?"

Chigusa's frown turned into a scowl. "Now you want to fight?" Chigusa said, "Fine by me. People like you need some sense beat into them." Stood up off the wall, getting into a fighting stance of her own, though from Taylor's perspective it looked only like Chigusa bent her knees a little. There wasn't any need to telegraph that Chigusa was looking to fight Taylor herself.

"I think you've got the roles reversed here," Chigusa said, "You think I should be afraid? I've fought and beaten many people tougher than you. Don't look down on me!" With that, Chigusa would take a step forward, and swing out her back leg in a wide arc. Even though this seemed like an easily dodged move, Chigusa put a lot of force into it, and so her kick moved with more speed than anyone would expect. She wanted to be nice to Taylor, and she hoped not to fight her. But sometimes the only way to get words through is using force!

"Funny, I thought the same about you." Taylor said flatly.

Chigusa was faster than she looked on film. Not by much, but Taylor was still somewhat surprised by the speed of her kick. Still, she got the distinct impression that Chigusa was holding back, and that made Taylor angry. She was going to beat some respect out of this girl if she had to.

Truthfully, Taylor had no real interest in hurting her, but fighting was their trade, it was what they all did here. It was the only meaningful measure of a person here. Aside from that, she had to prove to herself that she really could hang with the veterans like Chigusa... anything to extinguish the doubt that her two losses had created.

Taylor leapt back just far enough to let Chigusa's kick sail by, the wind from it moving her hair slightly. She retorted with a kick of her own, taking one big step back in and throwing a high roundhouse kick that would arc towards the back of Chigusa's head and a little down. Chigusa would have to learn that Taylor was pretty freaking quick herself, and that she'd have to fight back or this would be rather unpleasant for her.

Little knots of other girls in the gym started watching the commotion from their various places in the gym, talking discretely to each other and laughing. Taylor didn't notice.

Chigusa was surprised that Taylor managed to avoid her kick, but then she telegraphed it pretty clearly with her setup and moves before. She quickly moved to recover before Taylor could respond, getting back into a ready stance. Then Taylor responded with a high kick of her own, aiming straight at Chigusa's head. It was very obvious what she was doing, so Chigusa avoided it by ducking down low right underneath and letting Taylor's leg sail over her head.

Afterwards Chigusa would stand up, her face not really angry as just very serious. "Why don't we take this over there?" Chigusa said, gesturing at the empty practice ring. She didn't want to draw too much attention or the annoyance of the gym staff by starting a fight on the gym floor. If it was in the ring people would just think it was a spar and leave them be. Either way, Chigusa wasn't too worried. From what she could see from Taylor's kick, the girl was fairly strong and determined, but without adequate control over her emotions she was at an obvious disadvantage.

Taylor didn't care that her kick didn't land. She could call it a warning shot. She cautiously eyed Chigusa. "Over there, huh. I... guess so." Taylor kept her eyes on Chigusa and backed up several steps before turning to sprint the rest of the way to the ring. She leapt up onto the ring apron and easily vaulted over the top rope. She almost entirely forgotten about her hangover in all this excitement.

With a wide grin Taylor ran to a corner post and took two steps up it before turning a backflip off of it. She landed in a deep, dramatic stance, imitating certain Japanese guys she'd seen, and beckoned for Chigusa to follow. It was her way of making fun of the Japanese style of showmanship.

"Alright, princess, you got your way, as usual. Now don't keep me waiting."

Chigusa leapt into the ring as well, taking the corner opposite of Taylors. She kept her eyes focused on her, a bit suspicious of why Taylor went with this so easily. The girl seemed incredibly stubborn before, refusing anything Chigusa offered, so why did she agree to go into the ring? Chigusa suspected that Taylor might have something planned, but then realized that the girl was probably not smart enough to think that far ahead.

Seeing Taylor adopt a fighting stance, Chigusa took one as well, taking a deep breath before settling into a relaxed stance, capable of making many different movements. She wanted Taylor to make the first move, but then the girl taunted her, which made Chigusa decide that she wanted to teach this girl a lesson.

Chigusa dashed over at Taylor, moving a bit slower than usual, but keeping her balance better. Once she got up close, she would attempt to kick upwards at Taylor's chin.

As soon as Chigusa started moving, Taylor stood back into her usual stance, light on her feet and mobile. She smirked. It looked like she was finally getting through to Chigusa and succeeding in pissing her off. Good, let prissy little miss perfect get angry. If she could make her lose her composure that'd be enough of a victory in itself.

With Chigusa coming at her at full speed, Taylor thought about getting out of the way and staying safe, but she couldn't resist the appeal of meeting her head on. She took a quick couple steps jumped up high, aiming to stuff Chigusa's advance with a dropkick. Chigusa's kick was left without a target, and it only stung Taylor's thigh as it skipped off.

Chigusa was angry, but she was also in full control of herself. She had been angry enough times before to know her limits, and right now she didn't so much want to trash Taylor out of fury as teach this girl a lesson about showing some respect to other people.

She was rather surprised when Taylor suddenly leaped into the air, her kick doing little damage as it hit Taylor's thigh. Chigusa knew that Taylor was going to try and dropkick her, so she bent backwards. The kick caught her in the chest, knocking her backwards off her feet, but Chigusa rolled with the momentum and doing a backflip, landing back on her feet outside of Taylor's range. One hand reached for her chest where Taylor hit her, a slight wince of pain on her face.

"Damn..." Chigusa said, "I guess I'll have to get serious." She took the t-shirt off over her head, tossing it aside, preferring to fight in her tight sports bra instead.

That felt good. Taylor hit the mat on her hip after her dropkick hit and immediately rebounded back to her feet. She didn't hesitate for a second, she pushed forward after Chigusa, not giving her a moment to recover.

"Worry about that later!" Taylor lunged at Chigusa as she was pulling her shirt over her head. She grabbed her wrist before Chigusa could get it off all the way so that the shirt was stuck webbing up her arms. With Chigusa's midsection invitingly open, Taylor grabbed a handful of Chigusa's hair and kept hold on her wrist, and then pulled her to the side to off balance her before slamming a knee up into her stomach.

Taylor was going to force Chigusa to respect her, one way or another. Taking it easy and taking her attention off of Taylor wasn't going to pay off for her.