A Newcomer's Workout (for ARStudios)

"Hup..! Okay, time for another set of sit-ups..."

Sanae Saitou had just recently been signed on to AFW. She hadn't even been booked for her first match yet, but now was as good a time as ever for her to start settling into her new routine. And first of all, she needed to hit the gym! She was familiar with what the workout of a professional wrestler involved from her time in other leagues, of course - and she knew that it was nothing to take lightly. But that was especially true now. This marked a new chapter in her life, and she needed to take it seriously. This was going to be her ticket to fame as a wrestler and an idol, and she needed to make sure that when her debut did come, she was performing at her peak potential!

That was what had brought Sanae to the gym, where she got down on the mat to go for a few basic stretches and exercises to get herself limbered up. Fresh off of some push-ups, she rolled herself into a seated position and reached up to wipe some sweat from her brow. She cast a glance over at the weights - she knew she'd have to cross that bridge eventually, and she gulped a little at the daunting thought. But that would come in time...

Spoiler:

While Sanae was distracted by the weights, her mind elsewhere, a figure suddenly slid into view. And we mean "slid" because she actually was sliding on her back across the polished gym floor in a track suit. She had a disoriented look on her face, her hair was a mess, and Sanae would notice a teardrop shaped birthmark on her right cheek right below her eye. This woman also had a very particular strange trait; orange skin. Actually, natural orange skin. It looked very strange.

This woman took a while to get her bearings before pushing herself up, straightening her hair, then wobbling. "All....right l, round....two!" She rolled up her track suit sleeve before going to whatever it was that has thrown her.

What was this enigmatic opponent? Turns out, a punching bag apparently.

Sanae had been so focused on her workout that she had taken her mind off of everything that was going on around her. When she had let herself get lost in her dedication to honing her craft - and in her hopes for the future - it was easy to let it slip her mind that she wasn't alone in the gym. But she would soon be reminded of that when she heard a girl land behind her with a thump, breaking her out of her concentration. She let out a yelp as she looked back over her shoulder, wincing a little at the thought of how hard the impact must have been. But then, when she looked around, she couldn't see anything that would indicate where the impact was coming from. There was no sparring partner in sight - only a punching bag hanging from the ceiling? That...was odd, she thought to herself, tilting her head in confusion. Surely anyone here would've been more capable than to get thrown aside by an inanimate object. For a moment, the woman's odd skin tone crossed her mind as well, but that was probably just a spray-on tan. Right?

Regardless, Sanae got to her feet and dusted herself off before she walked over to the new arrival. She hoped she wasn't hurt - but maybe, even if she was, she needed a hand. Hopefully she wasn't in over her head here. "Hey, uh...are you okay?"

The orange skinned woman was prepared to try her luck with the bag again, this time down on all fours, like a cat rearing to jump at its prey, before Same entered the picture. The second she spoke out, the woman immediately stood up straight, alarmed, before turning around to face her with a blank face. She really hoped whoever this was hadn't seen her get thrown by a punching bag.

Bringing a hand up to her head, she said, "Oh, hey, haha, hello there, d-did-didn't see you there, I was just really occupied with this...fella here." The woman pointed at the bag. She then started scratching her head, as she asked, "Eeeeeh....how long were you...there?" Her voice then shrank. "You...you didn't see what happened a few seconds ago, right?" Then it shrank to comical amounts. "Right?" It then shot up to normal, "But anyways I was just, practicing with the bag! You know, before I go out and go full pro, after all, you can't be TOO prepared, right?" She said with a swing of her arm, putting on a big grin though Sanae could feel that there was some nervousness in what she was saying.

Sanae spun around to face the new arrival, curious and a little bit worried for her well-being if she had let herself be thrown so far by an inanimate object. Almost as soon as she did, the girl started stammering nervously, like she had been caught off guard. Sanae shuffled her feet, glancing off with a nervous chuckle. This was likely an embarrassing experience for the stranger, and she felt a little bad about calling attention to it. Even when she tried to describe what had happened, it wasn't lost on Sanae that she wasn't exactly proud of her efforts.

Sanae held up her hands, trying to defuse the situation. "H-Hey, hey..!" she blurted out. "It's fine, really. I just wanted to make sure you were okay..."

The girl looked up, seeing that Sanae was just checking to see she wasn't hurt. She took a sigh, before going, "Ah, I'm....well, to be honest, I'm...." she looked down a bit, avoiding eye contact, "I'm...not really....okay, to be honest." She then perked up with a kind if sad smile. "But, thank you for asking. I really, REALLY, appreciate you asking." She then again looked down, and then up, "Um, I hope I didn't interrupt anything you were doing, I'm gonna, go back to what I was doing..." she turned around to face the punching bag she was facing earlier, before going, "I-I'll be fine! Don't worry, I can handle myself." With that, she did what seemed like a dance move, which looked like a twirl before striking a knee strike out at the bag.

The bag for hit, seemed to shake, then retaliated with suddenly rebounding back at her, smacking her back hard and sending her flying and sliding across the floor back at Sanaes feet. The girls embarrassed eyes looked up at Sanae.

Sanae had been concerned that this girl could have hurt herself, but it seemed as though she was in rougher shape than the aspiring idol had anticipated. There seemed to be an air of depressed malaise over her in how she hung her head low and turned away, and when she mentioned that she wasn't okay, Sanae let out a gasp. No matter how much she claimed that she would be okay and that she could handle herself, there definitely seemed to be something wrong. Sanae couldn't just leave her like this.

In fact, just a moment later, before Sanae could say anything else, the punching bag swung back again and slammed into her new companion, throwing her back off her feet! This time, Sanae rushed over to her side, extending a hand to her. "Hey, hey..!" she said. "If you need to talk about something, I'm right here. Really...what's going on?" She kneeled down by the girl's side, hoping to get closer to her level that way.

The girls mouth hung open slightly, not sure how to respond, before she slowly extended her own hand up and let Sanae pull her up. Getting onto her feet, the girl sheepishly put a hand behind her head, before going, "T...thanks..." she didn't make eye contact at first, before slowly her eyes met Sanaes and she gave a deep sigh.

"I...I ..." she seemed at a loss before her head drooped down, "It's just......I, have a..." The girl again looked at the punching bag, stared at it, then again looked at Sanae, her lips pursed. She definitely seemed to be having trouble wanting to talk about what it was that was bothering her.

"I, suck. And I, don't wanna suck." she said as she looked down at her feet. "I need to be ready for a match that's coming soon, or else...." she scratched her lips, whether out of stress or nervousness, while again trying to avoid eye contact. "My manager wants me to be ready within the next 2 months, and I'm still working and practicing but I...still don't, well I'm still working out to so I can be combat ready by then. But... I..." she then again locked eyes with Sanae, "I've been practicing for multiple months but I still feel...like I'm not...really, going, anywhere much. Like, I have FOUND a direction...but that's really it..."

It had been out of concern that Sanae was inspired to act, seeing the stranger thrown to the floor by the springback motion of the punching bag. After all, she could've been hurt! But even as she lifted the tanned girl to her feet, she still kept her gaze averted with a lilt in her voice - and Sanae could feel something sink in her chest. She was still concerned. As a matter of fact, she was concerned now more than she had been before. First she had been worried about this girl injuring herself in the commotion - but now, she seemed like she was on the verge of tears!

When Sanae heard her explain her struggles, she let out a gasp. Clearly, this girl was in a tight spot. She could see that she didn't want to be a disappointment, and that she had the weight of expectations bearing down on her, but she just didn't seem to know how to turn things around! She could see how much it harried her. But the last thing Sanae wanted was to see her in this much distress. Sure, she didn't know her - the two of them hadn't even interacted for much longer than a few minutes. But she didn't want her to lose hope! As an idol, she was supposed to inspire people, lift the crowd's spirits, and send them home happy. It might've been on a much smaller scale, but she wanted to do that with this girl too.

"Hey, hey..!" Just then, Sanae pulled the girl into a hug. "No reason to panic! Uh...I'm pretty new here myself, but maybe I can help! We could spar! Maybe then I'll have an idea of how good you are. I bet you probably aren't as bad as you think!"