Picking yourself back up

[Teenwrestler]

The young rookie couldn't really say that he had many rivals in LAW. In fact, he really had none so far! There had been this heated moment with newest acquisition Madison Knox and surely a rivalry could develop there given her attitude towards him but he certainly did not have any bad blood towards her- at least not yet. Still searching for his big break, perhaps either in a tournament, a number one contender's match, even a non-title match against a match! Something to further his stock with management to get him in the main event of PPV's. A rival would be idea, someone who could give him motivation to train harder and the two spurring each other on to come out on top. A rival would be perfect to kick start his career into new heights. The fans love two opponents going at each other for supremacy, with one coming out on top after a long and grueling series of matches.

Problem was, Daichi wasn't really the type of person who could piss anyone off. He wasn't your average cocky or arrogant wrestler either so most people would usually get along with him well. That was great when it came to friendship and applies, but having a rival- even a friendly one, wasn't going to come when Daichi wasn't going to challenge the other or claim that they were better or wanted to be the best etc. He was busy training hard, focusing on himself rather than being out there in front of crowds and other wrestling talent to really create that fiction with someone. Perhaps today would be different?

Daichi

"Uh okay, okay...I think that's all" he would say, finish getting ready in his wrestling attire. Even though it was just training and gym exercises, you would never know who you would bump into. He did put on a sleeveless jacket, which was not part of his usual wrestling attire plus he was wearing gym sneakers instead of boots so people would know he wasn't schedule to wrestle. After getting ready, he would head out to the LAW gym area. He started off with some basic weight lifting, using the dumbbells and bench presses to get a good work out going. After that, a little bit of cardio on the treadmill to get that bloodflow going and working up a good sweat.

"Phew!" he said, wiping some sweat off his forehead as he got off the treadmill and drank some water. "Not done yet!" he would say before removing his sleeveless jacket and tossing it on the floor before getting up on the wrestling mats. Daichi would start punching, kicking and grappling the training dummy as he looked to improve his skills.

[skip-stop]

“Die! Die!! Die!!!” Nerissa was saying herself mentally as she was sending another punch into the punching bag.

Nerissa Labong

Having finished her warm-up long ago, Nerissa decided to pay attention to her punching technique, methodically working the punching bag for the last thirty minutes. Sweat was streaming down the Native American woman's body, and her muscles were already starting to ache with fatigue, but she didn't stop.

As she continued to waltz around the punching bag, she thought of nothing but improving her skills and her physical condition. She didn't care about fatigue, she didn't care about muscle pain, she didn't care about anything except one single goal.

She literally fucked up everything she had achieved. After losing in her last rivalry and losing two consecutive losses in the tournament, her ranking has plunged to the bottom. Therefore, Nerissa was focused on rebuilding her career.

“Die!!!!” This time, she said it out loud, not caring that there were other people around her.

After sending another powerful punch into the punching bag, she finally took a short pause. Nerissa was breathing heavily, so she had to put her palms on her kneecaps. Damn. She couldn't even remember the last time she put so much effort into training. Was it all just because of this woman?

“Damn it...” muttered Nerissa, trying to catch her breath.

She had been in an extremely bad mood lately. It seemed to her that she had found a way not to think about this woman, but it wasn't enough. Therefore, Nerissa decided to devote all her time to training in order to become stronger and get her career back on track. Yes, it worked, now she didn't have time to think about Clara, but at the same time she felt constant pain in her body due to excessive training. It was annoying. However... if it was a choice between physical pain and mental pain, Nerissa would prefer the first option.

“Okay... just a little bit more...” she told herself before taking a deep breath and then continuing to work with the punching bag despite the fact that sweat could be squeezed out of her gym clothes.

[Teenwrestler]

Daichi was usually quite the cheerful fellow. He always looked at the brighter side of things, even when things were going bad or he was at his lowest. Growing up as an orphan was tough, but now that he had a chance to make something out of his life, he promised to do it the right way! The young man got startled when he heard someone say Die. before hearing the noise of punches being smacked against the punching bag. Obviously, he was lucky enough that the word was not directed towards him but he was still curious about what the commotion was all about.

He would slowly walk up behind Nerissa, watching her hunch over and taking a moment to rest. She muttered something to herself, about doing some more of this and continued with her punches to the bag. He could tell she was very tired, perhaps even in some pain judging by the way she was hitting the bag. It seemed more like venting out some personal issues rather than just training.

It was not a good idea approaching from behind, he would probably end up startling her and would perhaps get inadvertently hit. So instead, he would move to the side and made sure he was in the vision of Nerissa before waving her hand to her and saying. "Hi there! he said with a smile.

"Uh, that's some pretty intense training regime you've got there Ms....?" he said, pausing a bit as he didn't know her name. "Oh by the way, haha, I like your hair! Quite unique" he said, genuinely never seeing someone with such long hair in this business.

[skip-stop]

Continuing to work with the punching bag, even despite sweat-soaked gym clothes and burning muscle pain, Nerissa couldn't help but notice how some pink-haired guy purposely walked around her in order to be in her field of vision right in front of her. At first, she didn't think much of it, because after all, it could just be a random visitor to this gym. However, this guy then addressed her directly, while simultaneously focusing on her intense workout and subtly asking her a question about her name.

“Nerissa Labong...” she introduced herself, ignoring the first part.

Even though she introduced herself, she didn't do it out of politeness. She did it just so that this guy would understand who he was dealing with. Yes, her name was definitely not as big as it used to be after all the shit that had happened in her career. Nevertheless, there was hardly a single fighter in LAW who had not heard absolutely nothing about Nerissa.

She didn't care at all that she didn't know this guy, so she didn't return the favor and didn't ask for his name. Instead, she continued to send punch after punch into the punching bag as if it were her worst enemy.

She stopped only for a moment, namely after this pink-haired guy made a kind of compliment to her extremely long hair, which, as usual, she wore in a braid. Nerissa stopped, taking a quick look at this guy. Whatever his intentions, she intended to clarify her position right away, so…

“Compliments won't work,” she said, then went back to working with the punching bag. “Now I'm not into girls or boys, now I'm into my career, so get lost.”

[Teenwrestler]

The young man could sense that Nerissa was quite upset. Maybe it was a break-up? a harsh loss? argument with family? It could be anything really and Daichi didn't really want to make any assumptions. He figured that perhaps he could talk it out with this stranger, maybe even make a new friend or something. After all, LAW could be a very lonely and dangerous place without friends and/or allies. Being an orphan, he knew all too well about that feeling and perhaps he could offer some sort of help.

That is, if she would let him. The first question did work, she let him know her name but that was all he was getting. His compliment did not seem to work and she quickly shrugged him off, letting him know that she was not here to find a girlfriend or boyfriend but that she wanted to focus on her career. But the key word was "now", as if she was into them before but not she's only into her career. Maybe something really did happen to her in that respect which upset her. Still, he chuckled a bit thinking he was trying to hit on her or was trying to find a girlfriend in the LAW gym.

"Uh well that's great. Focusing on your career and all buuuut, I wasn't trying to hit on you or anything- I mean, not that you aren't beautiful or anything haha, its not that. I just saw you quite uh...angry? upset? and uh, I figured maybeeee if you need some help or you want someone to talk to about...well, whatever it is that has gotten you so worked up?' he said with a smile. Daichi was never the best with words, stuttering and stammering his way to try and have a coherent conversation with Nerissa who perhaps did not have the patience to deal with this right now.

[skip-stop]

Nerissa had made herself very clear and therefore no longer paid attention to the pink-haired guy, being sure that it would not be difficult for him to understand that it was better for him to do as she said. But, apparently, this guy was far from the smartest because he remained standing in place. Moreover, he continued talking as if Nerissa hadn't told him to fuck off a moment ago.

The Native American woman didn't care at all about his admission that he wasn't trying to flirt with her, so she completely ignored it. However, with each of his subsequent words Nerissa's punches, which she continued to send into the punching bag, became tougher. She tried her best to contain her annoyance, but at the pink-haired guy's last word she sent a hard high kick into the punching bag before turning to face him.

“Who do you think you are?” She asked, pursing her lips slightly due to anger. “Instead of pretending to be a psychologist, it would be better to go work with a barbell, it would certainly benefit such a squishy guy as you!" Nerissa took a step forward and even tilted her head slightly. “Don't even try to dig into my soul, sucker!" Nerissa's voice became slightly hissing, which was the best way to show her annoyance. “I'm gonna say this for the last time, get lost or I'll personally kick your ass out of this gym.”

Even when it came to her friends, Nerissa hated it when someone tried to dig into her soul. And when it comes to some random guy she doesn't know at all… she literally hated that kind of thing. Who was he anyway to suggest talking about Nerissa's problems?

[Teenwrestler]

A smart person would have headed the warning, a smarter person would have headed the warning signs even before the actual verbal warning. However, Daichi was never the smartest tool in the shed. His intentions were never bad, in fact, they were the opposite. He saw someone having a bad day and he simply wanted to help. Obviously, Nerissa made it clear that she did not want to help nor was she in the mood to talk about her issues. However, sometimes the troubled never ask or want help. Sometimes, you just have to be there and try to force them to seek help and they would thank you later for it.

That, certainly did not seem to be the case. When Daichi tried to force his hand, be slightly imposing on her- she would finally snap on him. It was not pretty either, she really tore into him. Daichi was taken aback by her rant too, taking a step back and genuinely seemed quite surprised at her outburst. He was just trying to help but it was clear that she was not in the mood for any of this. Obviously, there was only so much he could take too.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hey, just relax. Calm down, geez" he would say, waving his arms defensively at her. However, it didn't seem to work and she seemed to suggest that he was weak and she could kick his ass."Squishy? Kick my ass?" he would say, raising his eyebrow a bit, now seemingly annoyed himself. It was then that it just hit him, he knew who she was and he suspected the reason why she was upset.

"You really think you're that tough huh? Wait....hold on. I know you. Aren't you the one who lost a rivalry not so long ago? and then two matches in a row, being eliminated from the tournament?" he would say, scoffing a bit and shrugging his shoulders as he was not going to put up with the disrespect any longer.

[skip-stop]

If this meeting had happened a few months ago, Nerissa wouldn't even have started talking, she would have immediately used her fists. However, people tend to change, so at first she decided to use words to make it clear to this annoying guy that she was not at all interested in his company in any form.

But words proved to be an insufficiently effective tactic. Well, if words didn't work, then Nerissa had only one choice. Threatening to kick the pink-haired guy's ass out of the gym, she gave him a final warning. It might have even seemed to work, because at first he took a step back, waving his arms and making it clear that he did not want to mess with Nerissa. But then…

When the Japanese guy mentioned that Nerissa had recently lost a rivalry and then been eliminated from the tournament due to two consecutive defeats, the Native American woman's eyes widened. Yes, her first reaction was surprise. Why? Because she was really surprised that someone would dare to say that to her face, as if there would be no consequences afterwards.

The surprise on Nerissa's face seemed to be replaced by sincere rage at the snap of the fingers. Like a snake, she took a lightning step forward, grabbing the pink-haired guy by the collar with both hands. Pulling him sharply to her, Nerissa pressed her forehead against his. It wasn't a headbutt, of course, but it still hurt enough. However, despite the pain, not a single muscle twitched on Nerissa's face.

“What did you just say?" She hissed, ignoring the fact that what was happening was starting to attract the attention of the other fighters. “You say you know who I am?” Her eyes started flashing like lightning during a thunderstorm. “If that's the case, then you should also know that you just signed a death sentence for yourself and your ass." Nerissa's arms tightened even more as she held the pink-haired guy by the collar. “Just out of kindness, I'll let you choose where this sentence will be carried out, here and now, or in the ring?”

[Teenwrestler]

To his credit, the young man had been quite respectful in the start. He saw a stranger who looked a bit trouble and offered to lend a ear to try and help. Nerissa didn't think of it that way, she wanted to be left alone. She didn't need a strangers help to go through what she was going through. His persistence caused the situation to spiral out of control, with now tensions running high and a fight about to brew. Normally, Daichi was not a type of kick a person when they were down but he did not know what came over him. Perhaps the way she dismissed him, he could not handle it.

What he said next was out of pure impulse, but Nerissa did not care. They were fighting words and she just needed an excuse to get angry. In a flash, she took a step forward and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards her. He did his best not to flinch, even when they were face to face with Nerissa pressing her forehead against his in a heated staredown. Nerissa would then continue her rant, she was not going to stand for any disrespect, especially from a new guy like Daichi.

He didn't say anything while she talked, not until she gave him a choice. He simply moved his hand up to grab her wrists, forcefully pulling her grip off his collar as he would take a step backwards. There was no reason to continue this back and forth conversation, she made her choice very clear. Now, it was his turn.

"In the ring" he simply said.

[skip-stop]

Even when the pink-haired guy grabbed Nerissa by the wrists to remove her hands from his collar, the Native American woman had no intention of backing down. No, he won't get off that easy. Nerissa flexed her muscles, continuing to hold this arrogant upstart in place, thereby letting him know that she intended to hear his answer first and only then he would be allowed to take a step back.

And although it definitely didn't please him, the pink-haired guy quickly realized where the wind was blowing from. Therefore, he made the only right decision and gave his decision to Nerissa. After hearing the cherished words, the Native American woman finally relaxed her arms, releasing Daichi and allowing him to take a step back.

“Amazing courage,” she snorted. “But courage alone won't help you.”

Without any warning, Nerissa placed her left foot slightly to the right one. Allowing her body to spin, she swung her right leg. For sure, she could have decapitated him with this spinning heel kick, but her heel went right in front of the pink-haired guy's face, and then crashed into the punching bag, causing it to shift several meters to the side.

Spoiler

Under the shocked stares of several people, Nerissa turned over her shoulder.

“See you in the ring...”

Without saying anything else, she went to the punching bag to continue her workout. Funny or not, Nerissa has recently lost interest in finding trouble. However, she wasn't going to complain about the current situation. Maybe letting off steam in the ring was exactly what she needed the most at the moment.