Been a while, champ

[skip-stop]

"Pf... pf... pf..." Astrid was breathing heavily.

Having sent a right uppercut into the punching bag, the blonde took a sharp step to the left, simultaneously throwing her left hand forward for a cross. After taking a deep breath, she wrapped her arms around the bag and raised her right leg twice at a fast pace for two knee strikes.

After that, there was silence in the gym, interrupted only by her heavy breaths. Releasing the punching bag, the Norwegian woman leaned forward with her hands on her knees. Several large drops of sweat rolled down her face. She has never had any problems with endurance, but it seems she got too carried away. Break. Yeah, she needed a little break.

Astrid Arvidsson

Workout attire

Straightening up to her full height, the blonde went to the windowsill and took a towel to wipe at least some of the sweat from her skin. Her workout lasted for more than an hour, so after the towel, Astrid took a bottle of water in her hand. After taking a few sips, she looked around the gym. Despite the fact that this gym was located in the main LAW building, this place was not very popular.

The reason was that it was a small gym compared to the main gym on the fifth floor. Yes, there was also a ring and a sufficient number of exercise machines, but there was much less space. Therefore, at the moment Astrid was here in proud solitude.

But that's exactly what she wanted. After recent events, including her Apex match, she wanted some privacy. Just a few days ago she wanted to relax in the sauna, but even there luck gave her the middle finger. After she moved to Tokyo, she found friends in the person of Charlotte, Nerissa and Victoria, but the years she spent as a lone wolf still made themselves felt. So sometimes she just needed to be alone.

"What's next?" Astrid asked herself as she returned the water bottle to the windowsill.

Considering that she had already started to feel quite significant muscle pain, she decided that she needed to do one or two exercises at most, and then finish the workout. Her eyes once again ran through the gym, studying the possible options.

A treadmill for cardio? No. A barbell for pure physical strength? No. Suddenly, a slight smile appeared on the blonde's face. Yes, this is definitely a good way to finish her workout. With straight steps, the Norwegian woman headed for the abs bench.

She had already done abs exercises at the beginning of the workout, so her core muscles were warmed up. All she had to do was set the angle to thirty-five degrees, and then lie on the bench head down. After making sure that her feet were securely fixed, she placed her palms behind her head.

"Okay, let's go!"

Exhaling, Astrid moved her upper body to her knees, and then, taking a smooth inhale, returned to the starting position. Continuing the exercise, she intended to reach the number one hundred before finishing the workout.

[Fairy Dragon]

Keeping her word to stay active, Kyoko was already in the middle of preparing for her next match, even with the PPV still weeks away. This would be the first test of her time as a dual champion and that meant that she had to make sure she was at her best for the battle ahead of her. Her body had been improved through her years at LAW and Kyoko could say she never looked better, which was impressive when you were already the best and still reaching new heights. She just had to finish a few things before she was done for the day, not really needing the ab workout but still wanting to since it was usually the most relaxing part of her workout. She was grateful that the place was mostly empty, except where she was heading.

Spoiler

"Just my luck..." Kyoko groaned seeing a blonde already set to work there. Next to her were other stations where she could do the same thing but she'd been attacked in places like these enough times to desire as little company around her as possible unless that company was a trusted friend or family member. Kyoko moved in close ready to tell the girl to take a hike for the moment until she actually got close enough to see who it was. She wasn't a friend but she was a face Kyoko was looking to see again soon, and she introduced herself by putting her hand down on Astrid's bare abs. "Not there yet, you better clear your schedule for the next year to catch up to mine." Kyoko said to the blonde to get her attention and feeling her belly.

[skip-stop]

Trying to keep her breathing even, Astrid continued to strain the muscles of her core. Large drops of sweat were running down her body and she felt pain in her abs, because for her it was the final part of today's workout. Because of this, after the fiftieth time, she slowed down a little. After all, it wasn't about speed, the most important thing was to keep breathing and do the exact amount she had planned.

At one point, the blonde was even forced to close her eyes. It was an involuntary reaction to fatigue. However, she had no intention of stopping. She just decided to detach herself from everything around her and concentrate on finishing this physical exercise.

"Ninety-eight..." she growled through clenched teeth. "Ninety-nine..."

But before she could lift her upper body one last time, she felt something she shouldn't have. A touch. Right on her abs. It was just an illusion, but this touch seemed very familiar to her. And then she heard a woman's voice. At the same moment, Astrid's lips stretched into a smile. When she opened her eyes, she saw a woman standing over her, whom she was unlikely to ever forget.

As always, Kyoko Akan looked full of confidence. It seems that the fact that she recently earned the right to be a middleweight champion has only inflated her ego even more. However, this was not surprising. Funny or not, a golden belt gives you an absolutely fair right to consider yourself a few heads above the others. Why? Because having earned a belt, you have earned the right to be considered the best. This is a fact.

"You think, huh?" Astrid asked with a slight twinkle in her eyes.

Removing one hand from the back of her head, the blonde reached for Kyoko's core in order to return the favor. Running her fingers over the bare belly of the Japanese woman, Astrid, as expected, felt hard metal. But although she wasn't going to deny the obvious, it wasn't enough for her to agree with Kyoko's words.

"Nah, you're definitely exaggerating!" Her smile turned into a smirk for a moment. "Now, if you don't mind..."

With that, she returned her palm to the back of her head and exhaled. She pulled her upper body up to her knees and stayed in this position for a few seconds in order to make sure that her exercise would be finished properly.

"One hundred..."

Filling her lungs with air, the blonde first pressed her back against the bench, and then removed her feet from the clamps. Landing on the floor, she straightened to her full height, then tossed her golden hair back. Standing face to face with Kyoko, she couldn't help herself. She couldn't say that she was looking for this meeting, but she was glad to see her. After all, Kyoko gave her one of the toughest matches in her life. And that's why...

"Been a while, champ!" She said with a sincere smile.

Along with these words, she clenched her right fist and held it forward, inviting the purple-haired woman to bump with their fists as if they were friends. Kyoko might not have agreed with this, but Astrid believed that their match made a connection between them. Besides, with these words and this gesture, the blonde wanted to show Kyoko that she recognizes her as a champion.

[Fairy Dragon]

Her hand was pressed on the hard working core that belonged to Astrid mid workout and felt the tense muscles herself. She always enjoyed feeling abs like this, many were toned but few were as tested as Astrid's were, even if they felt softer in certain places, but she enjoyed those as well. Astrid seemed to brighten up when she heard Kyoko speak, a rarity for people she spoke too who tended to feel their moods go in the opposite direction when Kyoko spoke. Astrid seemed to have a similar philosophy to Kyoko, which meant that they got along despite not being friends and Astrid proved that she could play around with her. The blonde reached out for her abs, running her fingers against Kyoko's abs, flexed so that she could feel out the strength of her prized core and show her the progress she had left if she wanted the strongest abs in LAW. Astrid tried to brush off the might of her abs and finish her workout, which Kyoko decided to allow since she could tell that it was mean to tease her even if her pride was prodding at her to respond. Once Astrid was done and on her feet she showed Kyoko something she rarely got directly, a fist bump to show respect to the Queen herself. Of course, Kyoko had won something recently that earned her a bit of new respect. Something no one could deny she earned.

"I've been busy, keeping one championship is hard enough without trying to win another one. It's something only the best can pull off." Kyoko said while bumping fists with Astrid. Many would see this as a rare thing from Kyoko to do, she and Astrid understood each other well. The important thing was the fight someone could bring you and Astrid wasn't afraid of a battle which Kyoko respected too much to ignore her. And judging by her the way her abs felt she had improved since they last met. "You've been busy too." Kyoko said, of course she wasn't talking about the workout. She knew someone of Astrid's caliber wasn't born that way and had to come from hard work and being very active in the ring to get better.

[skip-stop]

"I have no doubt, huh!" Astrid replied to Kyoko's words.

The blonde was certainly pleased with the fact that the Japanese woman accepted her greeting. Their fists collided and thus both women expressed respect for each other. Perhaps it was more than fair to say that they were both infinitely proud. However, Astrid's pride did not prevent her from respecting other strong women. And although Kyoko's sense of superiority could be heard in literally every word, the descendant of the great Vikings was pleased that such a woman as the Belly Queen was ready to exchange such a belligerent greeting with her.

"You know what that means, right?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Having two belts at once, you literally drew a target on your back." Of course, she wasn't going to teach Kyoko about life, but she knew for sure that sometimes pride prevents from seeing the obvious, so she wanted to make sure that Kyoko was aware that she had to be ready for future events. "Many people will want a piece of you and I'm sure that you are ready for this, but are you ready for the fact that not everyone will use honest methods at their attempts?"

Again, Astrid wasn't her friend, but she didn't want Kyoko's self-confidence to cause her downfall. During their match, she managed to figure out what the purple-haired woman was made of. And she saw that someone else was hiding behind this mask of arrogance. She knew it. Even if Kyoko would never admit it. So it wasn't even advice or anything. Astrid just wanted Kyoko to be ready.

"Ah, yes, of course, huh!" The blonde put her palms on the sides of her waist. "It took a little longer than for my friends, but my Apex is over." Astrid raised her head slightly, as if with pleasure remembering each of the matches, including her match with Kyoko. "The gym is only needed to keep the body toned, but you can only really become stronger thanks to matches with strong rivals." The corners of Astrid's lips lifted a little higher. "So I became stronger thanks to the matches during the Apex, of course including my match with you."

Astrid didn't see the need to hide it. Yes, it really took her longer to get to the Apex match than her friends, the Frenchwoman and the Native American woman. But the fact remained. The blonde was glad that she was able to walk all this way with her head held high. And although this chapter of her life was left behind, life itself was not over. She knew she still had a lot of things to do. As far as she knew, Victoria had already started looking for potential matches for her golden trio, as she called them. Therefore, the Norwegian woman was sure that her schedule would be filled again soon enough.

"What about you?" She asked, quickly running her eyes over Kyoko from head to toe. "Decided to warm up a little before start beating up contenders for your titles?" The question was serious exactly to the same extent as it was playful, Astrid just decided to tease Kyoko a little, since she did not have the habit of conversations with a stone face as if it were a court hearing.

[Fairy Dragon]

Kyoko did know what she was inviting, she hoped it work. The visual of holding two titles was powerful and she hoped to maintain it and let the world watch her hold both for a long time by proving to be the best middleweight while continuing to show that she was the Belly Queen through it as well. As for cheats, they were part of wrestling and she'd dealt with them already like Emaline or Da Xia. "I'm prepared for it, and I look forward to breaking evertone, the honorable and dishonorable." Kyoko said. She didn't like losing and fought to avoid losing in any setting which included the loss she took to Astrid on the way to Apex. It being a match that favored Astrid was no excuse for her, she was upset she lost and ready for the next time to beat her, which looked far away right now.

"I decided to gt some work done, since it seems most people are a little intimidated by the double champ Queen. I'll b getting less bellies to punch and test than before, but I do hope that means the ones I do get are strong, it could be a blessing in disguise that I scare off everyone too weak to test me." Kyoko boasted and as she held both belts close to her her body seemed to look as strong as possible to prove a point, showing off for Astrid without trying with the way her muscles shined in the light.

[skip-stop]

"I thought so, huh!" Astrid smiled good-naturedly at the purple-haired woman's words.

It would be too naive to hope to hear some other answer from a woman like Kyoko. But although Astrid did not doubt the sincerity of her rival's words, she had a feeling that the Belly Queen did not fully understand the responsibility that lay on her shoulders. Every fighter has a legacy, but when you have a belt around your waist, then you have to take care not only of your own legacy, but also of the legacy of the title that now belongs to you.

However, Astrid was sure that Kyoko was not interested in the blonde's thoughts on this matter. The middleweight division is the most numerous and therefore the purple-haired woman, given her strength and skill, will have a long and great reign, Astrid had no doubt about it. So there was no need for her to give Kyoko any advice. Each champion is responsible for their title and their legacy.

"Ah, I see," Astrid's smile grew even wider. "That explains why you carry your belts with you even here, in the gym."

The Norwegian woman did not hesitate to continue teasing Kyoko, because she immediately noticed that her rival wanted to impress her. And, there was nothing to hide here, she succeeded. Astrid noticed that Kyoko's body had become even better since their last meeting. Of course, the purple-haired woman was already strong, but now only a blind person would not see that not only her number of muscles increased, but the muscles themselves definitely became firmer. However... the last thing required more thorough research…

"I wanted to ask you something, by the way..."

Astrid took a smooth step forward, leaving almost no free space between them. Her gaze once again ran over Kyoko from the heels to the top of her head, after which it was fixed on the Japanese woman's abs. The blonde intended to almost gently put her palms on Kyoko's waist and slightly pull the Belly Queen to herself, thereby forcing the hard muscles of their bellies to touch.

"Does it excite you when you meet someone with no less impressive abs than yours?" A playful twinkle ran through Astrid's eyes again.

[Fairy Dragon]

The Belly Queen and the Golden Dragon were on the friendliest terms possible with a woman like Kyoko that you could be without her actually calling you a friend, only girls like Eirina or Tara managed to reach this point, and it showed parts of Kyoko that most didn't get to see. "I'm generous. Only so many people get to be this close to a Queen and a champ so I figured if I'm going to show up they should get the chance to see both, if they're not intimidated of course. Not anything you need to worry about, you look at impossible challenges like children look at cake." Kyoko said, and seemed to lean back to stretch as if she was trying to show off her abs some more, alluding to what she deemed to be impossible. Astrid was less subtle, the Golden Dragon stepped in close to ask a question and pulled her in slightly closer too, making sure they were rubbing abs.

"It does. I rarely get a real challenge so I make time to appreciate it before it gets crushed too." Kyoko answered, her already flexed abs running against the tight abs of Astrid. Kyoko had been working hard to get in the best shape possible and now she could say that was the case, which meant she had time to see if Astrid was in the same spot.

[skip-stop]

"Hoooooo..." Astrid drawled, a little surprised by Kyoko's words. "It seems you were also quite perceptive during our match."

Of course, Astrid has never hidden that literally the whole essence of her life is to look for the most difficult challenges. To seek and overcome them. The Golden Dragon believed that everyone is capable of a lot, but unfortunately, not everyone knows what exactly they are capable of. That was the answer she was trying to find. She was wondering what she was capable of. However, thanks to Kyoko's words, it became clear that the purple-haired woman understood Astrid perfectly.

Kyoko seemed to turn to stone the moment the blonde made their bellies touch. Not the slightest movement, as if she had been waiting for this from the very beginning. The purple-haired woman had strained her abs in advance and therefore it was not difficult for Astrid to feel the pure steel there, their bodies came into contact.

"I see you really did a good job on yourself," now Astrid has no doubt that since their last meeting, Kyoko has really made tremendous efforts to develop her muscles. "Nevertheless..."

After her workout, the Norwegian woman's abs were tight, but in order to return Kyoko's courtesy, Astrid strained her muscles no less than her rival. After that, the sensations of contact were not as pleasant as before, because now they could both feel every sharp unevenness on their bellies. However, Astrid enjoyed it no less, because she always had a weakness for strong women.

"Before it gets crushed..." Astrid repeated Kyoko's last words. "That's all you are, isn't it, huh?"

With these words, Astrid's hands began to slide up. Higher and higher. From the waist of the purple-haired woman to her shoulders. Slightly pushing her opponent, Astrid wanted to press Kyoko's back against the wall, thereby forcing their bellies to squeeze into each other even harder. Because of this, her already hot body became even hotter.

"I was also perceptive during our match," she said, slightly tilting her head closer to Kyoko's head. Astrid's hands went down again, sliding along Kyoko's torso and studying every curve of her muscles. "I'm sure you can crush them all, but what's the point if you lose yourself in the process?" Astrid's hands stopped on Kyoko's hips, and her face was so close to her rival's that she could feel her breathing. "But before that happens... why don't you tell you what you really want the most?" Yes, Astrid was really sure that the real Kyoko, along with her real desires, was hiding behind a mask of arrogance, and even if she didn't get an answer, Astrid saw no reason to hesitate to ask about it directly, because after all, she was not used to beating around the bush.

[Fairy Dragon]

Kyoko smirked when Astrid didn't deny Kyoko's assumption. The Golden Dragon was one of the easier people to read, her words matched her body language in a rare form. Kyoko could usually see when someone was being fraudulent, she enjoyed breaking those people and making them see how fragile and pathetic they really were. She enjoyed breaking girls like Astrid who were real more, when you honestly were everything you felt you were, there was nothing to block your mind or hinder you. As their match proved someone like that was tough to take down and that made them fun for Kyoko to beat. The shivers of anticipation that were running down her spine with Astrid's body pressed against her, telling her what was there to be tested and eventually crushed. Kyoko felt Astrid running them towards the wall, pushing the two of them until Kyoko's back was against it, but the Belly Queen didn't stop or show any signs of alarm, she knew this wasn't a cheap shot attempt, and she knew that Astrid wasn't going to hit her until she she was ready for it.

"The point is that I could, that's all I need to do or think about." Kyoko said her arms reaching back and hugging Astrid so that she was snuggled tight against her. She wanted the truth directly, straight from Kyoko's mouth. "What I want is to take you. I want to beat these abs of yours until you can no longer flex. I want to take you home and keep you on my punching bag as I test these abs of yours. I guess you could say that in my own unorthodox way....I want you." Kyoko said letting her tight abs express this as well by pressing into Astrid and letting her abs rub against the blonde.