L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Once Tiki announced that the next stretch would be a back bridge, Niko continued her policy of dissident compliance with a gesture to the camera. Making it clear that she fully understood Tiki was using her as fanservice. "What? I thought you liked showing off your body for the fans? And this time it doesn't even have to hurt. Er, the bridge specifically won't, I mean," said Tiki. Knowing full well that claiming Niko would have a totally painless experience would be total crap, and that Niko knew that too.

Once Niko had started her bridge, and Tiki had done her little surprise, "Tch, hehe," Tiki snickered after hearing Niko's reaction to getting her tummy iced. "For today Niko, you're not wrong," she conceded to the pinkette calling her a bitch. But despite her verbal freak out, physically, the addition of the ice seemed to bother Niko little.

Even as the heat of the gym melted the ice that sat on Niko's belly in the seconds she still had to endure, as one little stream of water melted off of the ice ran past her waist and down her thigh. While another went up her body and got caught in her cleavage, Niko's concentration held, and the ice stayed on until the time was up. The cameramen would not be wanting for good shots. "Alright, you can stop," said Tiki.

"Great job Niko, really, I mean it," said Tiki. "I thought you'd fail at least once from the surprise factor alone, but you held." Tiki grunted and shook her head. "Ugh. It makes me irrationally angry how much you actively avoid effort with how much latent potential that I know you have. Put a hard working girl's head on your shoulders and you could be Lightweight Champ, Niko."

Tiki knew what Niko had done to her. Knew that she felt genuine hate for that ignorant, self-centered, reckless kid who acted with the maturity of a girl half her actual age. But in her own wisdom and maturity, Tiki saw that Niko was just that: a reckless kid who did stupid shit, just like so many other people her age. The veteran recognized that doing an awful thing out of ignorance and a feeling of being wronged, something she likely still felt right now, didn't mean Niko herself was an awful person.

Tiki also knew what she saw in her abilities. Creativity in her offense and defense to cover up her lack of proper knowledge and technique, even the blackmail attempt that started this whole mess in the first place. Quick thinking to utilize the one advantage she had in an otherwise hopeless position. Niko wasn't actually dumb if she tried to think. Plus a physique that gave her strength and speed on par with Lightweights who actually trained even though she'd never put an ounce of effort towards getting it in her life. And physical assets as well. Her breasts and butt were perfectly proportioned to her body not just for sexiness, but for combat practicality. And her skull was an offensive and defensive boon that so many wrestlers would kill for. And she was still so young. Not even 20 yet. Niko's entire prime was still ahead of her if she'd only take it.

And for all her laziness, she was resilient. Not just with the icy bridge, but that fact that she keeps coming back to the ring to take beatings from stronger wrestlers for the sake of the paycheck. Real quitters, especially ones with Niko's body, would just look for a less painful way to get cash. If Tiki could just somehow convince Niko to put that resilience towards winning. Teach her maturity and how to think as she trained up the Lightweight's skill. For all the disdain Tiki felt for Niko of right now, her desire to see the Niko that she could become in the future began to overcome it. Tiki's desire to teach, to raise greatness when she saw it, to not let the immense potential she knew Niko had fizzle to nothing because nobody nurtured it.

Tiki couldn't resist. She would try one last time with Niko. Maybe in the final hour, the greenette could find the right words. Let her anger go, spare Niko from the plans of revenge, and try to show her something that the thickheaded kid would recognize as understanding. But Tiki was also realistic. She knew Niko would probably tell her off, take her punishment in full today so she had to put in no effort for the future, and Tiki would probably get pissed at Niko blowing off her mercy and kindness and take it out on her all over again. But Tiki sensed too much raw potential there to not give it one last shot while she could. She'd take whatever angry words Niko spat at her, then make her plea in return.

Niko quietly grumbled at Tiki and her words, not buying any of it at all and instead opting to continue bad mouthing and spouting discontent whenever she could. "I like to show off when I'm the one getting paid." She grumbled under her breath in response to what Tiki said while taking the necessary position for the stretch that Tiki had told her to take up.

Getting into the position was a pain, but once she had it maintaining wasn't too difficult, and Niko could do so with little trouble. So holding herself up even when some ice was dropped on her stomach wasn't TOO much of a problem, even if the initial coldness of the cube had made her shutter and nearly slip on the mats. Luckily that wasn't the case however, and Niko was able to maintain the position she had even in spite of the coldness all the way until the ice melted completely.

'Thank goodness.' Niko thought to herself once Tiki finally said she could stop. Unwinding from her bridge Niko would sit up right criss cross style while looking up at Tiki, surprisingly waiting patiently for her next challenge. Though far from what Niko was expecting she was actually met with praise from the older woman about doing so well.

'What is she playing...?' Niko thought to herself, not having a lick of trust in the older woman and instead figuring there must be kinda set up that had to do with complimenting her. "Hmph yeah yeah sure." She said attempting to downplay what Tiki was saying, not willing to take the risk of believing the woman and instead favoring just trying to push through the workout. "Anyways whats next?" Niko asked wanting to get the workout over with.

Though Tiki knew that it wasn't intentional, Niko pretty much just threw in her face the biggest reason for why what the trainer was about to try probably wouldn't work: Trust. Niko did not trust Tiki, nor did she have any reason too. The jobber couldn't even accept Tiki's genuine praise without feeling suspicious about it. She had to handle this delicately. And that would mean conceding some things to Niko that she may not feel in her heart, but could at least understand from Niko's point of view. For the sake of trying to empathize and connect with the Lightweight.

"Hold on on that for a second Niko," Tiki said, lowering herself into a seated position as well, to speak on the same level as Niko as opposed to talking down on her. She took a breath, "God, this isn't going to end well, is it?" Tiki asked herself. "I'm willing to put my anger towards you aside, and try to reach out to you one last time. And by extension, give you one last way out of this mess. I know you don't trust me, and I get it. I wouldn't trust me if I were you right now either. But please, seriously hear me out, and think on what I'm going to offer you at the end. As much as I may have insulted your intelligence in the past, I also know that isn't true. I've seen that you're capable of making good decisions if you try to think about them."

"First off, I want to say that I don't actually hate you Niko," Tiki confessed. "It's true that I utterly despised you during the... locker room incident, and in the immediate aftermath. But as the time between then and now passed, I've been able to look back on that, and our entire history together, and I don't think you're actually a bad person, like I had thought at the time." Tiki knew that beating around the bush, and taking as long as she would to get to the actual point as Tiki would was risky with a person like Niko on the other end of this monologue. But Tiki knew that she'd never get through if she just asked straight out. And she hoped that getting to hear her tormentor admit that she was wrong would keep Niko invested.

"Yes, you've done bad things to me, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're bad," Tiki said. Then trying to be as gentle as possible, continued. "You're ignorant, self-centered, impulsive, and reckless. Traits that came together in a perfect storm to draw my ire, but what I failed to realize through that anger is that you're also still a teenager. Personality wise, you're perfectly normal for where you are in life. In our first fight, you found yourself in a hopeless situation, utterly at my mercy, and on the spot you realized the one piece of leverage you had over me and did what you could to turn that into something. It made me angry at the time, but now it's what's made me realize that you can be smart if you put aside that impulsiveness. It made me angry because you got me."

"Then at the end of that fight, when I offered to train you," Tiki continued. "When you refused, I was upset because I felt like I was being blown off. First you blackmailed me, and then when I still reach out to you in spite of that you turned me down? With how angry I was in the moment over what you did, getting rejected only made me angrier. But when I looked back on it, you didn't blow me off. All you did was say no to something you weren't interested in, and even thanked me for the offer." Tiki then lowered her head, "My response was a massive, emotional overreaction, and I apologize for that. I realized I was going too far in the moment, which is why I let you submit instead of choking you out. But what I did was still too much." The apology over, Tiki raised her head again.

"And with that, I understand why you wanted and took revenge on me," said Tiki. "You felt like you were wronged, because you were, in fact, wronged. And looking back through that lens, with the exception of the hot tub, what you did wasn't... unreasonable." Tiki really, really didn't want to tell Niko her actions were fair or justified that day. It felt like she was betraying herself. But she also needed to make some compromise to have a chance at convincing Niko.

"But then you did hold me underwater in a hot tub until I fell unconscious," Tiki said, trying to temper her emotions as much as possible. "That, above all else, is why we're here today. It put me in extreme danger. The doctors said that it's a borderline miracle that I can still breathe properly. In that moment, I feared for my life, and what you did could have killed me. My desire to get back at you became obsessive. Because I needed some type of closure. I needed to be able to tell myself that... that... that I didn't need to be afraid of what you could do to me in the future, Niko." Tiki could only wonder what went through Niko's head when she heard Tiki admit that she had feared her for a time.

"And that fear made me lie to myself," said Tiki. "When you pleaded to the judge that you didn't know that the water being as hot as it was made your actions so dangerous, I knew you were telling the truth. But I just told myself that you were lying, because I just didn't want to accept it. Because it would mean that maybe you weren't some evil bitch I could hurt in revenge with no remorse. And you aren't. You're a kid who made some bad decisions that made you look a lot worse than you actually are."

"If you haven't been able to figure out where I'm going with this yet, it's that I still want to train you," Tiki said. "Two days a week, for the next four months, train with me. And not this training from hell with me actively screwing with you. Genuine, I want to turn you into the best wrestler you can be training. Agree to that, and you're free to walk out of here today without doing so much as another stretch." Tiki then took another breath, and a drink of water. Her throat dry from talking so much at once. "Now I have more to say if you're willing to hear it. But if you have any questions, or just anything you want to say about this now, then feel free. But I insist, wait to give me an answer unless you've thought it over and you're confident you're making the choice that you want."

Niko was still huffing a bit after that rather brutal stretch done at the behest of her captor, but she was at least standing now, and still relatively ok, if a bit slightly sore at the stressful nature of the stretch. But what had Niko more on edge right now was the apparent praise of Tiki. For lack of better word Niko didn't trust it whatsoever. In fact she was totally confident if was bullcrap and made to lull her into a false sense of security or something, even if the woman seemed genuine there was no way Niko could trust her.

Still it didn't stop Tiki from going on an impromptu speech, apparently deciding to end up being the bigger woman between them both physically and metaphorically as she, essentially forgave Niko and explained her actions through her point of view. Frankly Niko wasn't sure how to take it all in, but she did take it all in.

No interruptions, snide remarks or rude gestures from Niko aside from crossing her arms and turning her head to the side. Still she was listening to what Tiki was saying and.. she'd be lying if it didn't strike at least some chord within her. Sure Tiki was a awful old woman that beat her up, but Niko didn't really give the lady much other choice with how difficult she was being.

Not to mention that the whole legal drama behind Niko payback had been scary as hell and more than a bit eye opening. Though she tried her best to ignore it and do as she liked, but even she had to admit, that when her actions were put through the mouth of the green haired woman she could maybe, sorta, just barely understand why Tiki had been so mad, even if she didn't want to admit it, or her own wrongdoing. Honestly it, and the thread of possibly going to jail, was the only reason she had agreed to that match and showed up today, she figured she may as well have gone through this and wash her hands of Tiki once and for all.

That being said however... Niko was now being presented with a... different option. One that made her perk up slightly, even if she didn't want to look it. Still she had to admit.. the possibility of getting out of hellish training... did sound kinda nice to her. Though Tiki mentioned she would still have to work and train... ugh.. But only two times a week for a few months and on nowhere near as rough as what the woman was promising today to be.. She couldn't deny that there were more pros in that proposition than cons, even if Niko was as lazy as can be.

When the woman finally finished her speal everything was quiet for a moment as Niko silently mulled over the offer. The only sounds in the gym being the distance sounds of bodies hitting mat somewhere farther off in the gym. Eventually Niko would look up at Tiki and give a big, defeated sigh. "Fine. But I want the two days I work to be on the farthest days apart possible for maximum R and R and this better not be a trick!" Niko said, or rather demanded, still with a huff, but at least being somewhat cooperative as slowly and tentatively, she would raise her hand up for a handshake with Tiki, both as a form of at least begrudging respect, and a final test to see if she could trust Tiki.

Tiki had asked Niko to think and wait on giving her answer until the veteran was through the rest of what she had to say because she assumed that the sooner Niko gave an answer, the more likely she would be to dismiss Tiki out of hand. Niko did end up answering there and then anyways, but to Tiki's delight and surprise, she said yes. It was tentative, sure. But it was still an affirmative answer.

"R-really?" Tiki said, unable to hide either of the emotions she felt. Then the veteran quickly shook Niko's hand before she changed her mind. "To be honest with you, I was expecting to need to do a lot more convincing. But I'm glad you're on board," she said. "As for your terms, that would've been the plan anyway. Spreading out workouts evenly is much better than stacking them together followed by one long rest period. I'm assuming you'll want your weekends free, so we'll probably do Monday Thursday, or Tuesday Friday."

"Although," Tiki hesitated. She had wanted to ask for three days a week, but felt that might be pushing her luck. She'd try to get a bit more out of Niko if she could, but at this point, it'd be purely down to the Lightweight's own initiative. "I think it'd be the best for your growth as a wrestler if you tried to put in a little work on your off days as well."

"This isn't part of our deal," Tiki clarified. "I have no way to enforce this, nor will I try to. But I speak with knowledge as a trainer in saying that if you want to get anywhere close to what you can get out of these four months with only a two day training week, you'll have to put in a little more outside of our training days. It wouldn't have to be a lot. You wouldn't even need to lift a single weight. Let's just say we decide on Tuesdays and Thursdays for our training days. You can take the days after, Wednesday and Saturday, completely off. Do nothing, and take those as full rest days. But Thursday, Friday, and Monday, I recommend that you put in at least an hour of basic, simple exercises.

Tiki doubted this would go over well with Niko. But as long as she made sure Niko understood that this was completely optional on her part, and that Tiki wasn't trying to alter the deal on her, it shouldn't kill the progress that's already been made. "Something like a 30 minute run followed by 30 minutes of calisthenics or yoga, Tiki said. "Or you could even do it while you're relaxing. That's a proven way for people who don't enjoy putting in work to have an easier time with it. If you're watching a TV show, instead of just lying down on your back or sitting, you could do planks while you watch. And you'll barely even notice that you're exercising while you're focused on the show. And then you can do sets of push-ups, sit-ups, or other exercises during commercials. And I'm not asking you to seriously exert yourself or push hard on this. They're still rest days. I just want you do to enough to keep your body and your muscles moving throughout the week so that you can keep the gains that you make in our sessions. I'll even come help you with this stuff to if you want me to and ask for it. But if you just work out two days a week, then do absolutely nothing for the other five, again, you have that right. I won't stop you. But you'll also be spending so much of your training time regaining what you already had, because you'll have lost it over your time off."

But Tiki did have one more card to play. Something she felt just might get Niko to buy in to this. "I realize you probably don't care about doing more than what'll get you through this deal. But I think you're overlooking something important," said Tiki. "The money. Even though your salary is probably near the tops among jobbers because you sell so well, jobbers don't make that much in the grand scheme of things. Lower cards get lower pay. And you're fighting on those low undercards. I've gotten main event card pay before, and I've seen low card pay too. I can get paid more to lose than you might get paid to win thrice under the right circumstances. You do this for the money, right Niko?" Tiki asked. "I see real potential for you to be a main event wrestler. And these three extra hours a week of light exercise I'm asking you to put in could very well be the difference between you doing that and peaking in the mid cards or something." Tiki would try to push Niko into building up past that if she could, since that would only make her odds better. Maybe even try to convince Niko to take on that third day, or continue to train with Tiki past the fourth months if things ended up going really well. But with Niko, baby steps.

Niko really wasn't sure about what she was agreeing too still if she was being honest. Largely because it was such a.. commitment for her. But it honestly was a good deal, and she's rather four months of steady training on spaced out days versus one absolutely grueling day of it designed to totally humiliate her. Still... work was a four letter word to her, so she had her hestiations. But if nothing else it would at least get Tiki off her back and eliminate any other possible... nasty interactions later down the line, and that would be something she could look forward too in all honesty.

So she agreed, despite the reservations and Tiki seemed both happy and a bit surprised, which was clear even to someone like Niko who was usually bad at reading people. Still even though Niko had agreed to the initial idea of being trained by Tiki the woman still seemed to want a bit more from Niko despite her agreement. Not wanting another misunderstanding or to actively fight against the green haired woman Niko sat back and listened, knowing it would be better at this point to let Tiki say her deal without interruptions.

Although admittedly what she proposed wasn't TOO horrible. Still not what Niko wanted to hear, but it was at least something she could moderately see herself doing... If she was bored and had nothing to do. And a good outfit to go out in that day. So even if it wasn't still ideal in Niko's point of view the pink haired girl would look up at Tiki. "I will... think about." Niko said admittedly with some reluctance. She really didn't like the idea of working more than she had too, just because she enjoyed her free time plenty and didn't want to jeopardize that at all.

Though as Tiki continued and brought up the point of more money if Niko did improve, well that definitely did spark some interest in her and and made the girl perk up. "Wellllllll." Niko said, already her greediness starting to trample her laziness, even if somewhat. "I'll maybe see about a extra jog here or now, cause those bigger paydays do sound nice." Niko chirped out, still somewhat fawning over the idea of more cash in her pockets. If noting else she at least knew what she wanted, and now Tiki knew how to motivate her when it would come too it.

Tiki saw the light flash in Niko's eyes once she started mentioning paychecks. Even before her new student revised her opinion on extra training, the veteran knew that she had a solid motivator to work with now. And with someone like Niko, that may just be the magic key they need. "Good," Tiki smiled. "And remember, we're both committing to this. If you want running partner, or some help with exercising, just call. Obviously I have a schedule too, so maybe try to give me some advance warning before you need me."

"Alright, so from here we have two options," said Tiki. "As we agreed, you can leave, go home, and we can schedule our first session sometime next week. Or if you'd rather, we could have our first session right here and now. Your call. Considering we're already both ready for a training session, I'd certainly like to take care of this now. But I also understand if you'd rather just go home and celebrate not getting the stuffing beat out of you. I'd like to work on your form and technique first, if that information will aid in your decision making."

Money was the core reason behind everything Niko did. Money to live, buy nice things, have good food, all of that jazz. It's what mattered to her regardless of how selfish it was. So when Tiki flashed the idea of her potentially being able to make more money with more training it was definitely the right kind of motivation that she needed to actually get off her ass and do stuff. Well besides avoiding an absolutely hellish attitude.

Speaking of... naturally Tiki presented her with the option of actually going through a workout today. Which didn't sound too bad but... "Ughh its so hot though." Niko whined which was... honestly a fair point. It was still as blistering as a hot sunny day which would make any workout stuff harder than normal. "Even if you ask them to turn it back down it'll take foreverrrr..." Niko said before sighing and holding her hand out. "So how about... tomorrow I guess?" Niko asked, hoping that would sound good to the woman.

Tiki's first thought was to say that she'd done outdoor workouts in weather as hot as this before, and that is wasn't that bad once you got used to it. But the veteran repressed those thoughts from coming to words. Niko wasn't Tiki, and it was also true that some people just didn't handle heat as well as others. The last thing Tiki wanted was to pressure Niko into working out, and then killing the trust that and been built up by giving her a heat stroke.

Not to mention, whether intentional, or through simple lack of thought, Niko had made a concession that Tiki believed was rather meaningful to the Lightweight. "I didn't expect you'd pick Saturday as a workout day, but if it works for you, then it works for me," Tiki said as she moved to accept the handshake. The veteran more than half expected Niko to yank her hand back and correct herself to Monday or Tuesday before reextending her hand, but Tiki didn't have a problem letting her if she did.

Nico had indeed realized she had picked Saturday for the workout day. Not to say she was happy with herself or anything but TECHNICALLY Tiki was supposed to have her all day today and was being actually pretty nice and letting her off... So just this once Niko would sacrifice one of her weekend days to do as Tiki said. Just so that way the two would be completely even from here on out.

Extending her hand out and squeezing her fingers over Tiki's the pink haired girl would nod. "I don't have anything planned tomorrow." She said giving a weak excuse for why she picked Saturday of all days to start her part time training with Tiki.