The next morning, I woke up with jasmine fully draped over me, with her drool soaked in my shirt. Pleasant start to the day. Gently, I rolled her off me, so I could go to the bathroom. After using the bathroom, and brushing my teeth, I figured I'd make breakfast, for us. I didn't make anything special, just some bacon and eggs. Just as I was about to go wake Jasmine, she walked into the kitchen, groggy as could be, and sat at the table, putting her head on the table.
"Good morning, lady. How'd yah sleep?" I asked
"Meh" She said, with a raspy morning voice. I couldn't help but to chuckle
"Not a morning person, huh? Well here, maybe this'll help" I said, before putting her plate in front of her. She sniffed the air, head still down, before looking up at the plate then at me, and stuck her arms out for a hug. I smiled, before hugging her and rubbing her head for a second
"You're welcome, lady. Eat up." I said before sitting down, and joining her. We ate together pretty much in silence, until I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door and was greeted by Anatara's Amazon stature. I swear she grew since yesterday.
"Morning" she said to me. I moved to the side, and welcomed her in.
"Good morning, Ana. I just finished cooking, there should be enough left over for you, if you'd like." I said to her. She went to the kitchen and sat next to jasmine before patting her head, and saying
" No worries, I ate already. Morning, cry baby" she said to jasmine, who immediately snapped back "I'm not a cry baby!" "Uh huh, sure you aren't. Looks like you just finished crying." "I just woke up, darn it!" Jasmine replied, and punched Ana on the arm. Ana rubbed her arm, and just laughed.
I sat down at the table, and joined in "Well I guess I don't need to introduce you two."
Ana replied "Nah, I met her a long time ago. Every once in awhile she comes over to cry about Toro not liking her, then fall asleep. drooling on my chest"
"What the hell, Ana!" Jasmine called out, and punched Ana's arm again, as Ana just laughed. I couldn't but to chuckle at how embarrassed Jasmine was, turning red as a strawberry.
"You'll be okay. But I was just coming over to make sure you were awake. You still gonna come train?" Ana asked
"Definitely. You'll be there, right?" She yawned and stretched, before standing up
"Yep. Either that or I'll sleep all damn day. So I'll meet you there. See yah later, cry baby." She said to jasmine, and rubbed her head before heading out
"I'm not a- ugh. See yah later." Jasmine sighed and looked at me, and pouted "I'm not a cry baby, darn it." I chuckled and smiled to her
"Of course, not." I said with a smile. We finished up breakfast, and jasmine went back to her place to get ready for work, and I made my way to the warehouse. I could hear a commotion going on from outside the warehouse, and it only got louder when I went inside.
There was a crowd of people circled around one specific area. I saw Toro watching, and made my way over to him "Hey, Toro. What's with the crowd?" I asked
"Morning Carly. First fight of the morning, before we start training. Check it out, we've got Lilith going up against Wreck. In case you didn't know Lilith used to be in the mma, before all this shit happened, she was a champion, too." He said, not taking his eyes off the fight
"Really? I never payed attention to mma, so I didn't even know"
"Yeah, Wreck is no joke, either. Swinging that big ass ball of steel, or whatever, around takes some insane strength." He's right about that. I hadn't even thought about it.
I watched as the two exchanged blows. Lilith was nimble, and she packed a punch. Wreck was having a hard time keeping up, from the looks of it. The fight didn't last too long before Lilith had Wreck in a chokehold, tapping out. "Wow. Is it always that easy for her?" I asked Toro
"Yeah, she usually mops the floor with anyone around. She's definitely the best hand to hand fighter in the MKE'S. obviouslynot the physically strongest, but the most skilled with her hands. But there's also those other guys. You know, Jay, his guys, and the Pyromancer. I don't think that I have to tell you that the Pyromancer is on another level, but so are Jay and his guys." The crowd dispersed as Toro talked, and I noticed Ana laying on a couch across the warehouse.
We caught each others eyes, so I waved, and she waved back
"You know her?" Toro asked, with a kinda confused look on his face
"Oh yeah. That's Ana. I met her yesterday, and we've been getting along pretty well so far. You don't know her?" I replied
"No, not really. Didn't even know her name. She's here pretty often, but I've never seen her do anything. She only ever lays on that couch, and drinks juice." He said, shrugging his shoulders
"Yeah. That sounds like Ana." From beside me a voice called out
"Hey Carly! You here to train?" I looked and Lilith, followed by a defeated looking Wreck, Approached us. Wreck was rubbing his neck, and winced in pain
"Why'd you choke me so damn hard? I tapped like ten times, Sheesh" He said.
Lilith laughed and said "Quit being a baby. You're making us look bad" I chuckled a bit and said "You both looked amazing down there. I would love to start training with you guys."
"Good! It was gonna happen pretty soon, either way. We all train, but MKE's train harder. So I was gonna drag your butt here, eventually. I'll show you some basics, to get you started. Come with me. " And before I could say anything, Lilith was dragging me with her to the training area. It was padded nicely, so that was good. Shouldn't have to worry about getting hurt. Maybe. Lilith stood in front of me and said
"Alright, lemme see you take up a fighting stance." I thought about the stuff that Rico taught me, and put my hands up, the way he taught me.
Lilith smiled and said "Not bad. You're too tense, though. Your stance flows throughout your entire body. Here, like this." She said as she took up her stance, knees bent, arms up, and feet positioned ready to strike.
"You don't wanna be so tense. Let it all flow. Try to loosen up, and then let me see you throw a punch." She said as she turned her hands to me, for me to hit. I figured it'd be stupid to ask if she was sure, I know she is. So I just tried loosening my body, and took a deep breath, before I punched her hand, and looked at her to see how I did.
"Not bad. You've got some decent power in there. You could have even more, though. I want you to try again, but this time, twist your hip, and step forward with your leading foot. Left hand, left foot, right hand, right foot. Alright?" I nodded my head in agreement, and tried my best to replicate what she said. I looked to her for approval and she had a smile on her face
"Better. After awhile it'll be second nature. For today, I'll just help you with the basics, and we'll turn you into a fighting machine before you know it." She said, with a comforting smile. I nodded and smiled back.
We spent the rest of the time training, going over basics, with some light sparring, nothing crazy. It was honestly much more fun than I thought it'd be. It was also exhausting, though. When we were done I could feel my heart beating out my chest. I layed there on the mat and tried to catch my breath for a moment.
Lilith kneeled down beside me and said "Great job, today. I'm proud of you, Carly. How are you feeling?"
"I feel like my stomach is in my asshole" I said, fighting for my next breath after each word
"Sounds about right. Get some rest, lady. We train about three or four days a week, so we've got plenty of time. You'll get used to it." As she talked to me, Ana appeared standing over me
"Hey. You look tired." She said to me
"That's cause I am. I don't think I've ever really trained before. I like it, though." I said as I sat up
"Good. She'll get you nice and strong. Maybe one day you'll be strong like me. Probably not, but maybe." She said and shrugged
Lilith cut in and said "Still cocky as ever, I see." Ana shrugged and said
"I wouldn't call it being cocky. I just call it like it is. Just Ask Jay." Ana said with a slick smirk.
"Ask me what?" A grizzled voice, called out. We looked and there was Jay, with his group of friends.
"Baby!" Lilith called out and ran over jumping on Jay "You coming to walk me home?" She asked
"You ask me that every time I come, yah know."
"Shut up and be nice!" Lilith snarled back, at his rebuttal
"Okay, okay. Yes, lily pad. I'm here to walk you home, and I figured I'd say hey to a friend, too." He said before looking to Ana, as the stared each other right in their eyes. The air got thicker as they just stared at each other for a moment before Ana started to walk towards Jay. I don't know why, but the tension between these two is thick enough to cut with a knife.
I was worried about what Ana would do, but she just walked right past him, yawned, and stretched before saying "Good to see you, bud. Glad you guys made it back, safe. Come by my place, sometime, we should hang out."
"Sure thing." Jay replied. Ana left, waving her hand as she walked out.
"Well that was.... tense." One of Jay's friends said.
"Can we go home now, Jay?" Lilith asked "Yeah. Let's go"
"I'll see you later, Carly. You did great today!" Lilith said before her and Jay, walked off together. It was just me now, sitting on the ground exhausted.
A voice called out to me "Mind if I walk you home?" I looked and saw Toro by the door
"Sure you don't wanna carry me? I'm pretty beat" I jokingly asked.
"I think I could be convinced" we both chuckled before I got up and walked off with him.