Rock'n'Rookie : A Competitive Meeting

[Bearhug Goddess]

It wasn't the first time Cleophée had used this machine but it wasn't a machine she used often either. In her family, strength was much more important than endurance and speed... It was rather ironic coming from the smallest and lightest member of the Ysé who was not as strong as her big sister or her mother but much faster. But that didn't mean she was going to lose this contest, she was going to give everything she had to show Chris that she was worthy of being taken seriously.

“Go!”

Cléophée got off to an explosive start as soon as the lavender-eyed wrestler announced the start of their first event. The French woman's body bent forward and backward quickly, her arms pulled and released the rope and her legs tensed and bent at the same speed. The execution was not only fast, it was fluid! Not a single member was faster or slower than the other... Everything seemed to be going well. The goal was to cover the longest distance in 15 minutes and unfortunately for Chris, Cléophée had the advantage!

Her legs were much longer and her speed seemed to be about equal, so she had some advantage, not enough that one back and forth would be equivalent to two back and forths from her opponent but enough so that she would cover more distance if they had done the same number at the end!

“Mnhh!...Mnhhh!...MNhhhh!!..”

But this exercise should not be underestimated, the body of the white-haired French woman burned enormously. Her body was full of sweat, her breathing was quite ragged and after about ten minutes her speed had just slowed down. She would have liked to see how well Chris was doing compared to her but curiosity was a bad weakness! Above all, she had to concentrate on herself until the end...

"Mnnnhhhhhh...!! Phiouuuuuuu..."

.. And the 15 minutes passed. It was long and exhausting and Cléophée immediately released the rope, raising her hand to show that she had stopped that very second. She panted long and fast, her heart was beating fast and she was slightly disheveled. She grabbed her towel, wiping her forehead and chest before drinking from her water bottle, hydrating herself before looking at the score she had...

3566 meters. It was huge, much higher than average. She smiled confidently, finally looking at her opponent with a serious and completely calm look, almost sure of having won this first challenge thanks to her score.

"I've done 3566 meters, how about you ? You can just lower your head and stay quiet if you've done less~"

[GolemGuardian]

The two may as well have been a fluid blur when they began. Chris was almost a little surprised by how quick the giantess was going, but not enough to slow down. The rowing machine was one of her favorite work outs, so she thought the advantage would be hers. But Cléophée was showing it wasn't as much as she thought.

Unlike Cléophée, however, Chris would slow down almost every four minutes, catching her breath. She was separating the bursts with about two minutes of near rest. It let the tension on the rope soften, allowing her burst when she recovered to be just as explosive as her start. The rocker still panted in exhaustion when she reached her breaks, but she had to work had to make up for whatever difference their body length made up for.

Cléophée, on the other hand, seemed to start slowing down after ten minutes. She glistened with sweat and her breath was ragged. The rocker hid a smirk as she caught it all in her peripheral, equally sweaty but not breathing as hard thanks to her pacing. Her confidence began to rocket once again, giving one final burst of energy to finish.

And finally the timer on her machine beeped, with time up. The rocker's arms seemed to fall to herside, looking up at the ceiling as she panted. "Huff... huff...." She listened as Cléophée seemed to gloat her impressive distance. "Not... huff... bad..." Chris admitted exhaustedly, lowering her head.

She said nothing immediately, letting the French girl raise her nose just a bit more, before her head turned over with a big smile. "But it's not 3817 meters, is it?" Chris jabbed her thumb at her screen, showing her victory over the giantess. "Hope you weren't counting on that extra half-foot to give you an incredible advantage, Ysé." The rocker said before reaching for her clear, lavender water bottle, rehydrating as the results sunk in.

[Bearhug Goddess]

At the end of this first exercise, Cléophée and Chris were both out of breath and sweating. This showed that they were working hard to beat the other, even if strangely, Chris seemed slightly less tired than the Frenchwoman. This made the French woman with long white hair a little doubtful about Chris's seriousness, was she really taking this duel lightly or did she have a technique that allowed her to use the machine perfectly?

The answers to her questions were quick because the wrestler with lavender eyes gave her her score. 3817 meters, almost 300 meters higher than her. Cleo had just been defeated, she could feel a little pang in her heart but it wasn't as unpleasant as she thought. On the opposite, it made this challenge even more exciting and she couldn't wait to win the next ones, especially since it was now up to her to choose the next event.

"I'm glad to see that I'm not competing with just anyone! You are impressive Lady Yukine... Hehe~"

She wiped her forehead one last time with her towel then took a few steps in the room, going towards another machine that was more suitable for her. More than endurance, little Ysé worked enormously on her strength to become as strong as her big sister or even her mother. Strength was the noblest thing in her family and for that, Cléophée chose a rather simple machine: the Pec-Deck!

"You may have beaten me in pure endurance but no one can beat me in brute strength! Plus, this exercise helps a little to enlarge the chest... You might need it~"

Another provocation, perhaps not necessary this time. She sat down on a machine and looked towards Chris with a little smug smile, looking amused and much more confident than before despite the fact that she lost the first round.

"The one who does the most repetitions in 10 minutes won, is that okay ? Oh and, how much weight do you want to put on? Personally I can go up to... Hmmm... 50 kilograms?~"

[GolemGuardian]

Chris took pride in the single moment where Cléophée realized she lost. Granted it was only the single moment, before she gave the rocker praise and wiped her forehead again. "Don't expect praise to make me go easy on you now," she said harshly while wiping the sweat off her brow with her forearm.

Soon the two went to a new machine, the Pec Deck. Chris knew of it and how it worked, but only because of Fin. Actually using it, however, was a different story. Anything strength wise she avoided like the plague, other than when training for her final match with Veronika or when Fin convinced her with puppy dog eyes. And even then she didn't keep with it for any permanent gains.

She all but ignored the jab the girl tried to throw in, just getting herself set up at the machine by the rude French girl. "Shave off about 15 kg, and you have yourself a challenge." With a sigh, the rocker sat down. That was probably still a bit too much, but it would be more plausible than trying to do whatever the exercise would be called with more than her weight.

Chris said nothing if the antagonistic woman tried anything, just setting the weights to as close to 35 kg as she could. "Just say when you're ready." The rocker grabbed at the handles, timing her breathing before she began, and mentally preparing for the turmoil her body was about to go through.

[Bearhug Goddess]

Cleophée placed one of her hands on her hips as she watched Chris prepare for this challenge. The Frenchwoman had an advantage, not because she was used to using this machine but also because her upper body looked more trained than Chris's. Had she deliberately chosen a machine where she would be sure to win? Maybe yes, maybe not...

“Feisty, aren’t you?~”

Cléophée laughed lightly and installed the same number of weights to match her opponent. 35kg was a bit easy for her but she was coming off a rather tiring workout, it was probably the perfect weight for 10 intense minutes. She settled in and used the machine in butterfly mode, catching both bars and looking at Chris out of the corner of her eye with a big smile.

"Ready?... Go!~"

The timer was on and the Frenchwoman wasted no time in showing what she was capable of by pushing the bar with the sole strength of her arms and her pecs quickly and without much difficulty. Her look was a little more serious, the wrestler with long white hair was focused on her breathing cycle so as not to be embarrassed and remain efficient during her long 10 minutes. Nothing around her mattered anymore, she wouldn't hear or look at anyone except the stopwatch in front of her and the number of repetitions that she counted in her head.

[GolemGuardian]

Chris closed her eyes whilst Cléophée got ready. Even though she's the one who had suggested the slightly lower weight, it was still just a touch much. She already accepted it would be her loss, but there was no way she was gonna give the shit spewing newbie the satisfaction of a surrender. She'd just have do what she could, try to pace herself, and hope she wouldn't come off looking too bad.

On the word 'go,' the rocker immediately began the motions. She pulled her arms in towards her chest, immediately having a bit of difficulty. The smaller girl, both in musculature and height, was no powerhouse. While not a string bean, she by no means was going to impress anyone.

By the third minute her arms shook from strain, trying to control the repetitive motion and not cause the weights to crash down.

By the sixth she had to slow down considerably, feeling herself perspire more and more the longer things went on. She had to readjust her grip a few times, her sweaty palms causing them to slip now and again.

By the eighth she actually had go stop for a few seconds. Her breathing had become ragged and her face red from the exertion. She was almost there, she just had to keep pushing for two more minutes. Even if they were agonizing, Chris couldn't let herself just quit.

Once the timer rung, the rock star all but crashed into the seat, gulping air into her lungs. She vaguely was aware of how much she did, even if she almost lost count a few times from her arms, now limply swaying at he side, screeched in pain. 102 wasn't terrible, but it was far from a winning score.

Chris turned her head over to her challenger, her shimmering, red face just looking done at this point. "So... how far... above.... 102.... did you do?" She asked with a huff, hoping it at least wouldn't be anything too, too high.

[Bearhug Goddess]

Cléophée has undergone rather special training since she was little. In her family, only brute strength counted and even though she was smaller and lighter than the other female members of her family, she had to undergo the same training. Thanks to this she was able to acquire, in addition to her natural speed thanks to her weight, very good strength, resistance and flexibility, even if she did not stand out in any skill compared to her mother and her big sister. .

But it wasn't Cleophée's goal to be the best at something. She wanted to be perfect in everything possible to be completely perfect, she wanted to be a formidable wrestler without any major weaknesses and for that, she had to be the best at everything and anything. The ten minutes passed quickly for Cléophée who had not noticed the time had passed, she panted slightly as she released the machine and looked at her opponent next to her with a rather amused smile.

“102?!..”

The Frenchwoman was speechless at Chris's score. It's true that compared to her, the lavender-eyed wrestler didn't look as strong... But she didn't expect such a big gap between their points. She sighed as she grabbed her towel, wiping the sweat from her forehead before standing up, stretching and stroking her long white hair.

"Mhh... I did almost 100 more reps.. 194 to be exact..."

She clapped her hands and smiled afterwards, looking at Chris with a big, amused, almost mocking smile. She had won this second round and as a proof of good faith, she let her opponent choose their third round with a small taunt so that Chris would not find herself demoralized because of this defeat.

"I'll let you choose the next machine so, take something you're sure to win, okay?~"

[GolemGuardian]

Chris took as much time to rest as she could as Cléophée stared at her stunned. Either because she thought the score might be closer, or because she expected it to be much smaller. The latter was how Chris was feeling, at least. Small as it was, it was still higher than she expected.

Once she could feel her arms again, the rocker grabbed her bottle and took a few swigs from it. She vaguely listened to Cleo's further antagonism, rolling her eyes soon after. "Could you be less irritable for five seconds? Or should I expect as many jabs when you're out in the summer heat selling tickets?" She said as she stood up, rolling her neck and shoulders to loosen them back up, before wordlessly walking towards where the next challenge would be.

It wouldn't be a far walk until they reached a row of treadmills. Another simple machine choice, sure, and one where Chris preferred to go to at the end of her workout to cool down. But it was what she knew would let her take the third round. "Same rule for the rowing. Furthest distance wins, 10 minute time limit." She set her bottle in the cup holder, messing with a few of the settings. "Only flat running. No incline of any kind."

Honestly, this probably was the best choice for her. Unlike some who knew they were small and still tried to bulk up, Chris put all her eggs into her athleticism. It was what her mentor instilled in her, and what had gotten her as far as she was. Maybe a bit foolish, some could say, but she didn't care. It fit best for her and felt amazing to feel the air move around her as quick as it did.

Finally, after taking a few moments to count her breathing and set a rhythm, she looked over at the French girl who shared her hair color. "Got it, tank thighs?" She mockingly asked, showing how done with the bitch's rudeness she was. Maybe it would finally get a reaction from the girl other than cheerful mockingness.

[Bearhug Goddess]

Cléophée smiled while taking on an innocent look in the face of Chris's accusations, it's true that she was overly provocative but it was amusing in addition to growing the beginnings of rivalry between the two of them, at least, it was what Cleopheus felt. She grabbed her water bottle to take a few sips of water before quickly getting up and joining Chris in front of the treadmills. She listened attentively to the rules which were as simple as ever and sat down on one of the free machines.

"That looks great! You really have some great ideas!~"

One might have thought it was sarcasm but no, the French woman with long white hair was not used to having challenges in this type of machine which required endurance and speed at the same time. At the same time, before Chris, Cléophée only challenged her mother and her big sister and the two elderly Ysé only agreed to compare their strengths.

Cleophe was not the tallest or strongest member of her family but she was the fastest. She was confident in her abilities but also excited to see how fast she was compared to another lightweight. She turned back to Chris with a big smile and stroked her cheek as she spoke.

"Thank you for the compliment !~ I'm ready, shortstack~"

[GolemGuardian]

The more she interacted with Cleo, the more pissed off Chris got. She was really regretting her agreement now. 'I'm gonna have to put her in something embarrassing when she's selling tickets,' the rocker angrily thought as they made their way to the treadmills.

As Cleo gave her compliment, Chris just rolled her eyes without looking back. "Gee, thanks for praise on my simplicity." Her sarcastic answer was followed with her insult falling flat, and the bitch pulling her height into it. Oh no you're not, you iritable sky scraper." That she more whispered to herself, but if the French girl was leaning in maybe have heard it.

Chris put her feet on either side of the tread, pressing the button to start it up and waiting for Cleo to do the same. "Ready?" She asked, the belt speeding up second by second. Her eyes lowered, waiting until it reached the setting she selected. Faster and faster, and still she said nothing. The tension built, knowing Cleo was waiting for her word. If she honestly got so into her waiting she didn't immediately start, the rocker wouldn't complain.

"Go!"

Chris stepped onto the belt in a sprint, keeping up with the speeding belt like it was the most natural thing in the world. Rather than merely starting with a job and following along, the high flyer preferred to do the more dangerous option. Her eyes stayed forward, not looking over to see how Cleo was doing. Not even when she had to lower the speed down to a jog halfway through.

Chris was purely focused, the rest of the gym fading away from her mind. She didn't care for them. The rocker was in her own world, where her legs moved with fluidity. There was no competition, no annoying bitch. Just the delightfyl burn in her lungs and throat from her practiced, controlled breaths as she sped up once again in the final three minutes.

The only thing bringing her back to reality was the beeping of the timer, saying time was up. The treadmill slowed down, and the rocker with it, until they came to a complete stop. She almost wished she made her round longer, but there was still the final challenge to tackle. And if it was another strength based exercise, as was most likely, she needed to keep her stamina.

"So," she asked as she grabbed her bottle. "How far below two miles you go?" She asked confidently, before taking a swig from her bottle, finding out it was getting low. "Hope whatever you want to do next has us pass the fountain." She didn't wait to jear Cleo's response before she spoke, moreso thinking out loud than talking to Cleo.