Serious Training (For Bluemouse)

Chigusa grunted in reply, as her nose and mouth had been sealed off by Taylor's hand. Her free arm grabbed that hand by the wrist and tried to pull it off, so that Chigusa didn't suffocate, while the other arm holding Taylor down reluctantly let her go. Still, Chigusa had to leave a parting present, balling the hand into a fist and aiming a punch at Taylor's solar plexus as the girl straightened up. Chigusa would also attempt to buck upwards to force Taylor off of her, not wanting to end up on bottom.

"Umph!"

Again, with the midsection. From her back Chigusa couldn't put much power into it, but Taylor felt it, and she didn't like it. She let out an aggravated growl and with her head now free she pulled back and got back to her feet. She went after Chigusa's leg again, wrapping one arm around behind the knee and tucking Chigusa's shin under her arm. She lifted up so that Chigusa was only touching the mat from her shoulders up. Of course she knew what was coming.

"I know you're jealous of my abs, but you don't have to be a dick about it." Taylor complained. She kicked with one leg to step over Chigusa and try to roll her over onto her stomach. Then she could make her regret talking to her like she was a chump.

The punch seemed to only piss Taylor off more, instead of actually winding her like the way Chigusa wanted. Still, Taylor got up, which allowed Chigusa to sit back up as well. But before she could properly get onto her feet, Taylor grabbed her knee and lifted her legs up off the mat. Chigusa's eyes widened; she knew what was coming next.

"No!" Chigusa gasped. Taylor began trying to turn Chigusa over onto her stomach, but Chigusa resisted as best as she could, pushing back the other direction with all her strength. Her free leg kicked out at Taylor's shins and ankles to try and either distract her or knock her off balance.

Taylor was breathing a lot harder than she thought she should. She was still trying to catch her breath from Chigusa's abuse, but she'd have all the time in the world to do that once she rolled her over...

But she was having a hard time getting the girl to actually turn over. Then came a kick to her shin that stung followed by another to her knee that almost buckled her leg. Screw it, she thought. Angrily, she gave up on her hold and instead stepped back with one leg to give herself a lot of room to wind up. Then she kicked the toe of her boot into Chigusa's spine and tossed her aside.

She took a few steps back and bent over, putting her palms to her knees while she took a few deep breaths to help unkink her stomach and her lungs. "You're scrappier than I thought you'd be. I like that. But then, I'm scrappier." She huffed and straightened back up.

Chigusa sighed in relief as Taylor decided to let her go. It would've been really bad had she been caught in a submission, especially since there was nobody to stop the match if Taylor went too far. But before she could get up, Taylor's boot slammed into the small of her back, making Chigusa yelp and roll away to the side of the ring, one hand covering her back.

"Oww..." Chigusa groaned. She grabbed onto the ropes and began pulling herself up to her feet, watching Taylor and ready for the girl's attack. She knew that Taylor wasn't going to let this kind of a chance pass up, with Chigusa weakened and completely open like this.

Taylor put her hands on her hips weighed her options, and half smiled. What she decided on felt... unsafe. Still, it was worth a shot. She walked over to Chigusa as she was reaching for the ropes and stopped. She leaned down and stuck out a hand to help the girl up.

"Thanks. Sorry. Nice to meet you." Taylor felt like she'd gone far enough, and if there was anything to prove then maybe she'd proven it, even if it was only to her crazy self. "You're pretty quick, ya know." She said with a smile.

Chigusa looked up at Taylor with suspicion after the girl came over and extended her hand. She wondered what the hell was going on. One second, the girl was mean and stubborn, frustrating to deal with, and trying to beat the crap out of her. Now suddenly she was nice and trying to make amends? What was going on?

Chigusa decided to give Taylor the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the girl was trying to be nice, instead of pulling something mean. She let go of the roped and grabbed onto Taylor's hand. "Thanks," Chigusa said, though she still had suspicion in her eyes, since she was leaving herself completely open if this was a trap.

Thinking about how she'd acted earlier in the morning, Taylor was a little embarrassed. Maybe it was the hangover... and of course all the self-doubt that her losses and her run-in with the champ and the bunny girl had put in her. Maybe all the things people said about Taylor were true. She certainly acted like a punk, and hadn't had the slightest bit of success with... anything, really. Maybe she was an idiot. Well maybe she'd see about changing some of that.

And speaking of that hangover, Taylor suddenly remembered how much her head ached, and how freaking bright the lights were in the gym. Did they have to be so bright?

An awkward moment passed while Taylor just stood silently in front of Chigusa. She looked her in the eye, then looked away. She lowered her head shamefully, though she tried to play it off, and looked at her shoes. Finally she forced herself to look Chigusa in the eye again.

"I meant... before, when I said I...uh. I'm... I shouldn't have said... it's just that sometimes it feels like, ya know, like I need to... I dunno. I'm really sorry. Not about the fighting, I mean... it's what we do, ya know? And you're pretty good." It was agony. Taylor hated more than anything to show what seemed like vulnerability to anyone, but she really wanted to do the right thing. If it ended with her getting her ass kicked anyway, she knew she deserved it.

Seeing Taylor not attack after pulling her up, Chigusa decided that it was probably over. The girl maybe finally got some sense into her. She loosened up a little bit, her suspicious look slowly becoming a bit softer, though it was obvious that Chigusa was still on guard. The girl seemed unsure, pausing and stuttering a little bit when she spoke. Perhaps she had never said anything nice like this before?

"Look Taylor," Chigusa said, "I can see that you've got some issues that need working out, but you're not gonna fix anything by going around and being all obnoxious." She reached over and put her hand on Taylor's shoulder. "But I forgive you for that," she said, "I think I know what you're going through. You're scared, aren't you? Afraid of being a failure forever?" She smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry about that," Chigusa said, "From our little spar, I can tell that you're plenty strong. You just need to work on it a little more, and it'll be fine!"

Taylor reacted with equal parts shame and anger when Chigusa suggested that she had issues. Neither part won her attention, and instead she simply watched Chigusa blankly and listened to what she had to say.

"Hey," Taylor began, but then waited for Chigusa to finish. "Okay, I am not scared, of anyone here or of being a failure. And I'm already more than strong enough to take out any of the ridiculous bimbos in this league. But..." She calmed back down. "Thanks." She said genuinely, without a smile.

After a short, somewhat awkward pause, Taylor slid out of the ring and started making her way back to the heavy bags. "Well, I've still got to train, hangover or no hangover. Um...bye." She gave a wave over her shoulder and shook her head. That was weird and awkward and Taylor thought that she had even less of an idea of what she was doing than she did the day she arrived in Japan. It was unsettling, but... she'd get the hang of it eventually.