When Stars Meet Dragons

[deezcastforms]

Tiki Lowell

Tiki did not feel particularly optimistic as she sat waiting for her new wrestling student; Ai Hoshino, better known as Ai-chan, international megastar idol. It wasn't that the veteran was against the concept of idol wrestlers, she just didn't like training them. There were two types of idol wrestlers, but both always seemed to have issues committing.

The first type were the desperate ones. Clinging to their career as an entertainer by any means necessary, and trying to engage the public and attract attention more than they could as idols by becoming wrestlers. Many of those types accepted that they'd be jobbers and didn't even bother to train. But even those that did were usually still already putting their everything into their idol practice, trying to get good enough to be able to not need wrestling anymore. Wrestling training was only ever an afterthought.

Then there were the types whose careers had absolutely no need to try fishing for a shot in the arm by becoming a wrestler. The ones who did it because it was "trendy," or because it "seemed fun." The ones who treated wrestling like a game and quit playing the moment they realized that it actually hurt. Tiki had never sought out or chosen to listen to a pop idol genre song in her life, yet she could recognize and name at least three of Ai's songs upon hearing them, and also recognized the idol's face walking through the doors of the gym from halfway across the building because of the sheer volume of public exposure that this woman got as an idol. Ai-chan was undoubtedly the second type of idol wrestler.

The pay, while well beyond what Tiki would normally charge a more standard wrestler who maybe had an agent backing them up as opposed to a celebrity with an entire agency, wasn't what had gotten the veteran here in this gym today. When Tiki expressed her concerns about idol wrestlers, the man had sworn up, down, and across his heart that Ai was seriously committed to this. That she had turned down and put off other work so that she could devote herself to wrestling as much as she could.

Tiki hadn't been able to meet Ai to get a read on the idol directly, but she been convinced enough of her enthusiasm by her manager to agree to at least do a first session. But Tiki also hadn't left without telling him that there were no refunds if Ai decided to change her mind after she got put in a hold or two. So here Tiki was, skeptical, but willing to try as her new student came into talking distance. And hey, even if this went as badly as it feasibly could, she was still pocketing enough money off of this for it to be worth her time. "Well if you're anybody other than my new student, I think I need my eyes checked," she said. "Pleasure to meet you Ai. I'm Tiki Lowell, your wrestling instructor."

[The460Slayer]

Ai arrived to the gym of LAW, few weeks after signing contract there, and she was told to practice and learn moves with someone called Tiki Lowell, someone who never heard of but she realized that she has experience enough to teach the idol. She was wearing casual clothes and carrying her sports bag. The megastar idol wanted to give a pause to her singing career and decided to try something else, something different out of stuff related to music and singing.

Few minutes later after she changed her formal outfit to an improvised "gear" for this training, she spotted the green haired girl, and started assuming that she's the one they mentioned her about. Ai started climbing slowly the metal steps and stands over the apron, then she goes inside the ring a little slow, just to stand in a corner.

Ai chuckled after hearing the eyes check part, but she quickly changes into a barely serious expression, because she knew this business is no joke. "Well, nice to meet you, Miss Lowell. And yes, I'm the new member here, I signed few weeks ago." Ai said in response to Tiki's words before starting this lesson.

[deezcastforms]

Tiki noticed that Ai seemed a bit cautious as she entered the ring, a stark contrast from her public image as a unstoppably bright woman who charged ever forward into greatness. Perhaps it was an attempt at showing respect, as to not intrude on Tiki's space within the ring as the instructor, or maybe it was a bit of nerves from the knowledge that this lesson was probably going to be somewhat painful.

Ai seemed comfortable once she actually spoke, so Tiki thought that she wouldn't have to be too worried. "Right, your managers told me you spent some time with other instructors first to nail down the basics, before coming to me to help you figure out who you really are as a wrestler and really grow," Tiki said. While she didn't have a problem training a wrestler up from zero, she could also appreciate not having to go over the bare basics with every student she came across.

"I admit that I already have some assumptions about how you'll be, based on your background as an idol," Tiki said. "But I may as well take the time to know rather than just working off what I currently think. After all, your people set us up with this whole place to ourselves, it'd be poor form as a teacher if I didn't use it." Tiki stepped out of the ring, beckoning Ai to follow her, and made her way over to the edge of the gym, where a track was set up along the walls. "We'll start with some running, some stretching, some lifting," the veteran explained. "It'll give me a chance to get a better read on your physical abilities, and it'll give you a nice warmup before we get into the real stuff."

"We'll start with a run, no set time or distance. Just keep a step or two ahead of me for as long as you can, and we'll go until one of us outlasts the other," Tiki said as she set out at a light jog. As the two women ran, the greenette would slowly get faster and faster, wordlessly pressing Ai to do the same to keep pace. Tiki would would watch Ai throughout, checking her form, and looking to see how much effort it looked like the idol was having to put in to stay ahead. "So, you ever been in a real fight before?" Tiki would ask as they went, trying to fill the air a bit, considering this would probably go for a bit.

The hard jog, the point just before Tiki would be in a bona fide sprint, would be a point of particular interest, as whether or not Ai would have to sprint to stay ahead or not would be telling. But of course, the real test would come once Tiki did break out into a sprint. Naturally she'd pull ahead of Ai at first, since a sprint was naturally so much faster than a jog. Could Ai catch up with Tiki's speed? Could she outrun the veteran and pull away? How long could she keep sprinting before she had to slow or stop to catch her breath? Tiki was far from slow, but by no means was she a speedster. Above-average would probably be a good assessment of Tiki, so Ai could call herself fast if she could outrun her. Stamina was a different story, however. Tiki's endurance was one of the cornerstones of her skillset. The veteran understood that idol training and performances took a lot of energy to get through without dipping in quality, but Tiki would still be truly impressed if Ai managed to be the maintain the sprint longer than she could.

[The460Slayer]

Ai was listening with much attention to what they were going to. And Ai starts doing a slow run at the side of Tiki, and time after time, she increases the speed and tries to do the running exercise at the same as speed as Tiki, and a little time later, Ai starts running a bit faster than Tiki until she hears the question and stops. "Well, i didn't got into a real fight, fortunately. But if that happens someday, i'll be prepared." Ai said in response to her question while stretching her legs for little time before the next exercise. "Enough of this, what is the next thing to do?" Ai asked to Tiki before continue.

[deezcastforms]

Tiki knew that as an idol who was just beginning as a wrestler, Ai would very likely come to rely on her sheer athleticism to carry her at least through the early stages of her career. It was why the instructor was keeping an extra close eye on the purplette's physical abilities, at is would serve as a gauge for how successfully Ai might be able to actually pull that off.

As Tiki had been rather hoping for, Ai had been able to keep up with a pace needed to stay ahead of Tiki, and then outsprint the veteran once it got to that stage. As expected, Tiki's seemingly endless stamina eventually got her past the idol, but Ai still held on for an impressively long amount of time before her body finally made itself slow down. Tiki figured that she shouldn't be surprised. She'd never seen an idol show before, but could only assume that they took a fair bit of energy to get through.

"Next we'll do lifting to test your strength," Tiki said as she made her way over towards the weights machines. "This will go by much quicker, as I'll only have you do one max rep for three lifts to test different parts of your body. Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift." Tiki glanced back at Ai as she realized a possible issue, "Do you know the proper form for those lifts? If not, I can show you first."

[The460Slayer]

Ai looks at Tiki going to the weight machines, then she squeezes her own arms, then realizes she needs some muscle on those arms so she follows Tiki to the machines.

"Well, I would like to see how do these machines work before trying."

[deezcastforms]

"Well as you can see, we have numerous machines for various different lifts, but we'll only need this one," Tiki said as she placed her hand on a tall piece of metal, adorned in weights with a small bench folded up into it. "The three main parts are the bench, holders, and catchers, and you can reposition them to accommodate whatever lift you're doing."

"It's set up for squats right now, so I'll demonstrate that first," said Tiki as she grabbed the bar and set it on the holders. "First rule for any of these by the way, when handling the bar, use two hands, hold it close to your body, and for the love of God don't hold it horizontally."

"To do a squat, the form is just the same as doing a basic squat without a bar that anybody could do anywhere. I assume you at least know that, so handling the bar should be the only new thing for you," said Tiki. "You step under the bar and come up so that the bar is behind your collarbone and settled on your shoulders. You should still be in a slight crouch, and if you aren't, then you need to lower the holders a notch before starting again. You'll notice that the bar will have two textured sections on it, those are used to help you place your hands. For a squat, you'll usually set up so that the insides of your hands are just beyond the textured part."

"Once you're set up, you stand up, the force of which will lift the bar up off the holders, and then you take two steps back," Tiki said, demonstrating as she did so. "If you fail the lift, the catchers will catch the bar while you fall between them, keeping you safe. And if you do think you're going to fall, do everything you can to fall backwards. The biggest risk here is if you fall forward, and the bar come out of your control and rolls forward over your neck and head before you can fall enough to get below the catchers. The weight of the bar is already behind your center of gravity, so you'd almost have to try to do that, but it's still important to know." Tiki did her squat, and then began explaining how to finish, "Once you're done, you'll walk back forwards until the bar is over the holders, crouch back down until it settles in, then duck back out from underneath. Simple as that." Tiki then stepped out and gestured for Ai to enter. "Do a practice rep with just the bar first so I can make sure you're good, then I'll have you do the real rep," Tiki said.

[The460Slayer]

Ai walks with Tiki while looking at the weight lift objects, starting with the piece of metal with weights on both sides over the bench. Then she sees the weights of 20 kg each, but she'll think about changing the weights to ones of 5 kg each of those, then she hears the instructions of Tiki about it and does a squat of her own, flexing the knees and takes a right position before continue to doing squats.
"This isn't so bad as i thought, but I must be careful, or who knows what would happen to me..." Ai thought in her mind while still doing the squats, but gets a little nervous due to having Tiki in front of her.

[deezcastforms]

Tiki could see the apprehensive look on Ai's face as she set up. "I get that more serious weightlifting can be very unnerving at first," said Tiki as she moved behind Ai, as was proper for a spotter. "With all the weight in your hands, and all the warnings that come with it, I totally understand if what you're doing feels dangerous. But you don't have to worry, people have been lifting for so many years that we have the 'not dropping hundreds of pounds onto yourself" thing pretty well figured out. And like I said before, with pretty much any of these holds, it usually takes a gross amount of negligence and dumb decisions for anything to go seriously wrong."

Ai performed the practice rep to Tiki's satisfaction, so it was time to move onto the max rep. "Good work, now it's time to put some weight on there," she said. "Even if you're not used to lifting, I know that you still work out regularly for your job, and are already rather athletic as a result, so let's shoot for the weight of someone with intermediate strength and ability." Tiki moved to grab weights before glancing back at Ai, "You are actually 120 pounds, right? You're body weight influences what 'intermediate' means, like it would be expected for someone who weighs 220 to lift more me even if they aren't quite as skilled as I am. And I know idols will fudge those types of numbers for appearances, so I need to know if you're what you're LAW profile actually claims."

Assuming Ai answered in the affirmative, Tiki would put a 45 and a 2.5 on either side of the bar. Which combined with the 45 pound bar, would come out to 140 pounds of total weight. "Intermediate ability for squats is considered being able to lift your own weight, plus another 15-20%," explained Tiki. "Just gotta do it once. Lift it off, two steps back, down, up, come back forward, put it back down, and you're done. You can do it."

[The460Slayer]

Ai was watching and listening carefully to what Tiki was doing and saying, as the star was waiting until Tiki finishes with the weights. Once she was done, Ai would continue doing weightlifting but this time, with the 15-20% extra, as following her instructions.