Step by step

[skip-stop]

After exiting the elevator, Charlotte walked slowly down the corridor. It's been a while since she last visited LAW headquarters. The main reason for this was that the recent events in her life were definitely not pleasant. After she lost the title match, she literally broke down mentally, which led to a number of extremely stupid decisions on her part, including her confrontation with that blue-haired bitch.

Charlotte Ravel'

The series of defeats brought her to a point where she just didn't know what to do next. Because of this, she closed her martial arts school and took a break from matches, temporarily becoming something of a recluse. So why did she arrive at the headquarters today? Well...

"Okay..." the Frenchwoman mumbled softly to herself, stopping in front of the doors. "Step by step..."

She took a deep breath and opened the doors. At the same moment her ears were filled with the noise of the gym. The giant gym on the second floor of the headquarters was accessible to all LAW fighters, so there were always a lot of visitors. Charlotte definitely couldn't be called a regular visitor to this place because she has her own martial arts school, including a gym.

And yet she's here today.

The reason for this was the advice she had recently received. Not so long ago, a beautiful black-haired woman looked into her empty school. And although Charlotte did not believe in fate, this chance meeting could definitely be called fateful. The woman's name was Hana, and Charlotte received advice from her that if the Frenchwoman wanted to get a chance to reach the top again, she should find the strength to start moving forward again. Step by step.

The pink-haired woman decided that her first step would be to try to get out of her empty martial arts school. And she couldn't think of anything better than hitting the gym at headquarters. Of course, she wasn't going to approach everyone she met in an attempt to make friends, she just wanted to get used to the fact that in normal life she would be surrounded by different people.

After a quick look around, Charlotte headed to the locker room, where she wasted no time changing out of her casual clothes into workout one. Taking a bottle of water, her phone, and a towel with her, she returned to the main gym area.

Workout outfit

"Warm up first..." she reminded herself, heading for the gym mats.

After spending some time warming up and stretching her muscles, she decided to get the blood pumping through her veins using a treadmill. When the first drops of sweat appeared on her body, she felt ready to start the main part of the workout. She went to the barbell rack and prepared it with the weight she needed.

"Okay, let's see if you still have it, girl..."

Taking up a position, Charlotte pressed her shoulders against the barbell. The Frenchwoman took a few deep breaths and concentrated, after which she took the barbell off the rack. She was definitely a little nervous, but that didn't stop her. The pink-haired woman slowly bent her knees, squatting down. The moment she began to straighten to her full height, the weight of the barbell made almost every muscle in her body tense. When she straightened to her full height, she couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, baby, you still have it!"

Her mood improved noticeably and she continued doing barbell squats, working on her leg muscles.

[Teenwrestler]

Ryu "the Dragon" Hiroshi found himself in the LAW gym a lot these days. The Japanese wrestling veteran had a long and decorated career in pro wrestling before finding himself at LAW in the twilight of his career. At the age of forty, he was still going strong and his desire for competition and wrestling was still as fresh as when he started, even though his body may not be. Still, Ryu was still a physical specimen to behind. He was tall, dark and handsome. He was physically fit but his reactions and stamina may not be as good as when he was young. His career at LAW was a mixed bag too, but lately he had been on a good win streak. After defeating his rival Sheena, the Dragon found a new sense of purpose as he found that he could still hang with the younger and upcoming talent.

Thus, he found himself in the LAW gym more and more, wanting to train harder, do his best to keep up. He was not ready to hang up his boot just yet, there was a lot more that he could offer competitively. Making friends though, that was another story. Ryu was good at making enemies, rivals, acquaintances but never friends or lovers. The stoic man only had one love in life, and that was wrestling. Looking back at it now though, Ryu wished he wasn't so stubborn to push back people who wanted to befriend him. He tried to correct that here, where he made his first friend with Sheena.

Today however, was not about the past. It was the present and future.

Spoiler

Ryu was wearing his signature blue wrestling briefs, fingerless blue gloves and white gym sneakers. He had been in the gym for quite some time already, as evident from being drenched in sweat. He had done his cardio and strength training and was simply doing some last minute stretching before he would head to the showers. Until....

He noticed someone rather new at the gym, someone he had never seen before. After taking a second, he did recognize that person. It was Charlotte Ravel. He knew she wasn't new to LAW because he had seen some of her matches, but it was the first time he saw her in the gym. She looked....somewhat happy? Like someone finding a renewed sense of purpose, much like himself. He saw her working out doing barbell squats, her form was impressive and she even was hyping herself up.

Normally, Ryu would keep to himself and was not much of a talker but today....something was different. He approached her from the side, a towel hanging on his shoulder and a bottle of water in one of his hands. "Good form. Quite impressive" he complimented her as she did her sets. "But...given your incredible physique, I shouldn't be surprised that you know your stuff in the gym" he said with a smile.