Kicking Queens

Gabbie nodded. "Good." The Canadian said. "I wasn't going to bother anymore if your heart wasn't in it. I know I didn't want to wrestle but it's a matter of pride for me to succeed in the AFW." She admitted. "Even though I'd much rather just stick to kickboxing."

Gabbie inhaled and looked over Jesse. She was a bigger girl. "So, why did you try and play her game?" Gabbie asked. "Alicai, that is. If she wants to be upright, shouldn't you try and put her on her back? I know I would be worried about that if I my sis hadn't taught me the basics of grappling." She paused. "It's definitely still a worry, but... it's just natural to try and get your opponent to fight your fight, not theirs."

That was a good question. The answer was easy for Jesse to pinpoint, but in hindsight she wasn’t quite sure if that had really been a mistake. Maybe it was, but it was hard to tell. “Well, I got a feel for how hard she could hit early. Figured a straight up striking match wouldn’t favor me. So when we first went down to the mat, I tried to make the most of it. But then while I was on her, she caught me in some kinda armbar/bodyscissor combo. The scissor part was what scared me. I got out of it before she could squeeze me too bad, but I had a feelin’ she coulda do some serious damage if she caught me in another one of those.”

A hand moved over her ribs, where Alicia’s steely thighs had constricted against her. She really felt that her foe that day wouldn’t have had much difficulty at all breaking some ribs with one of those holds if she got the chance. “She seemed like she was just as dangerous in grappling as she was with striking. I did go for a heel hold once, though I had to take some heavy shots just to be able to lock it in, and when I finally did she was already at the ropes... I guess at the time I felt more weary of her ground game than her striking, really. Felt my best chance to win was by catchin’ her off guard with a good, surprise hit to the head or somethin’.”

"That was a bad calculation then." Gabbie said once Jesse was finished. She looked over the blonde's body again. "I'm not going to insult you by questioning your instincts. I think you can fight as well. I... don't think you're a rookie or something." Gabbie wanted to make that clear.

"But your in-ring assessment could use some work. You need to train your mind, your ring I.Q. so you can make more educated assessments, so that you can study your opponent properly and have a good base of knowledge going into a fight so that when you're pressed to use your instincts you make the correct decisions. Sensei is the best person to help you there." Gabbie admitted.

Gabbie then turned her head. "It's something I've struggled with too, but I need to know something. Do you think you could beat her? Alicia?" Gabbie asked. "If you were better equipped? Do you think it was a matter of making mistakes and not being prepared or did she just outclass you?"

Now that was the million dollar question. And this time, it wasn’t nearly as easy for Jesse to answer. She thought about the match itself, and what she’d observed when watching it over in film.

“Mom and dad always taught us that anyone can beat anyone on any given night. But....” This part wasn’t going to be fun. Humble pie wasn’t exactly a favorite of Jesse’s. “She’s bigger, stronger, just as fast. She’d have an undeniable advantage in striking and grappling. Could I beat her? Maybe. But as I am I don’t think I could feel confident about my chances...”

"I'm confident about mine."

Gabbie said the words without a second thought and looked hard at Jesse. "I am certain I can beat Alicia. I might have my doubts in a straight up kickboxing match, but I've come to learn that as much of a disadvantage as wrestling might put me at as a kickboxer, it also gives me some advantages. She might throw me around, but all I need is one kick to beat her. All I need is one kick to beat anyone." Gabbie said with conviction.

"I'd like to meet your mother one day. She sounds like a woman who knows her stuff. Your lack of confidence will be the seed that grows the fruit of failure."

Being the most realistic thinker of the Rogers siblings came with a price. It made her pessimistic about a lot of things. She wished she had Julia’s unshakable confidence. The family’s resident luchadora could look any foe in the eye fully convinced she could take them down, no matter what the odds were on paper. In a lot of cases Jesse be much more confident than this in her chances against an opponent - she was rather difficult to intimidate. But after being beaten as decisively as she’d been, that was easier said than done. But she knew her mother would no doubt agree with everything Gabbie was saying.

“Yeah, you two’d get along great,” Jesse replied. That aside, she did understand what Gabbie was getting at: The moment you don’t think you can win, you’ve already lost. Replacing pessimistic realism with simple faith was just one more thing she’d have to work on, it seemed.

Gabbie lowered her head. She sort of felt like she was leaning on Jesse now. She didn't want to plant MORE doubt in the girl's head and shut her eyes briefly. "Next time you fight her, I'll be in your corner. I'll make sure you have the tools to win. As long as you have faith in yourself, I will too." Gabbie said, trying to smile and be encouraging.

"Uh, we can stop for now, though. Unless you want to keep going..."

“I think this is a good stopping point for now,” Jesse replied. It wasn’t that she was trying to get out of training. But she felt more confident in her ability to make the most of it coming into a session a bit more prepared. This had all been rather impromptu. And she still had a good portion of the gym to clean up.

“But how ‘bout we pick up where we left off later? A little while before dinner, maybe?” she suggested, and to what would’ve been the shock of both her siblings had they been there to see it, she mustered something that almost resembled a warm smile. It seemed deep down Jesse really did appreciate Gabbie’s blunt criticism. Or maybe it was her willingness to help and even be in her corner. It was probably a combination of the two. Regardless, Jesse now felt she had a lot more respect for Gabbie than she did at the start of this conversation.

Gabbie looked at Jesse's smile a bit awkwardly and returned a shy smile of her own. She wasn't that good at expressing herself either but figured things out well enough. "Ok." She said simply and turned her head. She looked at the rest of the gym and at the equipment. She didn't feel like training on the bag anymore.

"I'm, uh, I'm going to get some tea. I'll bring you some and, uh, help you finish cleaning. It's still weird that I don't have to do as much of that anymore." She said and then scurried off before things could get anymore awkward. All in all it had been a good "talk" and Gabbie didn't want to ruin the moment.