Recovery time in the gym (for WrestleAngel)

It was a lonely day in the gym. That suited Toshio Akamatsu fine. He preferred to be alone for now.

He took another deep breath as he leaned back on the bench, slapping the damp towel over his shoulders in an effort to better cool off. He was wearing a simple yellow t-shirt over black work-out shorts, and he had been hard at work here in the gym for the better part of two hours. Not his usual muscle-building exercise, though, but simpler stuff-- running, push-ups, situps...a list of exercises that wouldn't put too much of a strain on him. The doctors had prescribed it ever since he had been released from the infirmary.

That was two days ago. Being sent to the infirmary was more scary than even he had cared to admit, and the one bright moment of that occasion had been when Makie had come to visit him. He was happy that his little sister, at least, still wanted something to do with him, even though Kyo seemed to be of the opposite opinion. Makie had promised that she would try to talk to Kyo, to convince him to let him back on the team. If he says no, I guess its my own damn fault, he thought bitterly.

After his falling out with his own brother, he had struck out on his own, arrogantly calling himself the "Amazon Buster" and setting out to make a name for himself. He had paid for his arrogance with defeat and humiliation, first at the hands of Lisa Giordanni, and then, more brutally, at the hands of Nanako Jounichi. He sighed. He wanted to be out in the ring, but instead he was busy recovering in here. Karma's way of punishing him, most likely.

He shook his head. He might as well get the rest of the exercises over with. It would keep his mind off of all the depressing crap anyway...

A window of ten days. That is what Lisa got to prepare herself for the Tension Title Match. "Well, it seems like Friction wasn't a vacation as I tought, so I need to rest and train, get ready for my return!" she said to herself as she entered the Tension Gym.

Not that the tall Amazon was in bad shape: much in the contrary. The Italian girl's body was never as fit and toned as before. Her stamina was getting better and better, and Lisa was aware that her overall strenght improved a lot, specially the legs. A commentator said that a wrestler in between them would face a "bittersweet heavenly hell". That was funny, the Italian tought.

The gym was quite empty, except for one boy, working out alone there...

It was Toshio!

Lisa smiled as she saw her former opponent, and then yelled: "Hey Toshio!", waving to him and walking towards the oriental boy, not realizing that he wasn't as happy as her. He was one of the few nice opponents she had, and maybe she just found a sparring partner... or no.

Toshio was momentarily distracted from his moping by the sound of a female voice. Turning in the direction of the words, he blinked in surprise as he saw a familiar face entering the gym. Well...familiar face, and hips...and legs...and rack...

"L...Lisa?" Toshio was, admittedly, more than a little surprised to see the busty amazon who had handed him a rough defeat in the ring quite a while back. The loss still stung in his memory, but he was more surprised than angry to see Lisa Giordanni here. "I..um...hi." The situation was becoming increasingly awkward as he stood up. "Um...what are you doing here?"

Lisa waved and walked to the boy with a friendly smile. They were opponent's in the ring, but fortunately she was able to have a nice match with him. True, it was very rough, and might have pushed both over their edges, but Lisa didn't think he would have any resent... well, that's an easy thing to do when you were the one that won!

"Oh, right. I just came back from a season in Friction! It was pretty cool, despite some really exotic matches I did there and stuff... but now I'm back for a title shot! Isn't it great Toshio?"

The news caused Toshio to raise an eyebrow. Back when he had been styling himself as the "Amazon Buster," his big aim had been to go for the title and prove himself not just as good as Kyo, but better. But that was before he had been defeated again and again...and hospitalized...and before he'd ended up here.

"Great, I'm...happy for you, Lisa," he said unconvincingly. He didn't resent Lisa her success, but all the same, the humiliation of having his own hopes dashed still stung. "I bet you'll do well."

Lisa was feeling fine for seeing another fellow athlete that she had met in AFW, and he was someone that she didn't have any regrets doing so, unlike some of her opponents. But somehow, Toshio seemed sad...

"Thanks... but... is everything okay?" the brunette asked, not knowing what happened with him on his match against Nanako.

Slowly, Lisa reaches for his shoulder and arm with her hand, gently rubbing it on him.

Toshio was, admittedly, taken a little aback when Lisa started rubbing his arm. Blushing, he pulled his arm back out of her reach. "Fine, I'm...fine..." he said, rather unconvincingly. "Just...had a bit of training to get caught up on, that's all."

He realized he was being a bit of a jerk at that point. Lisa's concern seemed genuine. "Well...either way...you're going for a title shot? That's pretty ambitious of you." He gave her a mischievous grin. "You sure you're ready for it?"

Yeah, definitively somehting was bugging Toshio. He was just so different from when she first met him, walking out of that ramp towards the ring, shiny smile and full of confidence... sure, they were opponent's that time, but Lisa had a good impression of him right away in the beggining. Not only that the brunette found him a hunk and all, but also, he was a nice guy. One of the few she had met in Tension.

"Hmm, if you're saying it..." she said, as he refused her touch. Maybe he didn't like her much? Was he upset after their match? Wow, that was really long ago... and Toshio seemed ok with that!

But that commentary, with a kinda provocative smile, gave Lisa an opening to break the ice: "What do you mean with that? Hah, do you want to test me out?" she said, with a little laugh and forming a guard, staring Toshio with a grin of her own.

Lisaâ€s laugh put Toshio at ease. He found himself looking at Lisaâ€s fit, busty body now, remembering how powerful she had been in their last battle. He had taken quite a beating at her hands, but some part of him still wanted to tangle with her again…to try to win against her this time. If nothing else, he was in the mood for a tussle with a sexy girl.

“Damn right I do,” Toshio replied, standing up and rotating his shoulders. “How about a spar between you and me? We can do it prostyle or just do a submission bout with no strikes. Whatever you prefer.” He grinned at her. “Weâ€ll see how lucky you get the second time around…”

Lisa had noticed that Toshio was gazing over her body and blushed a little, but then shrugged it off with a smile. The boy was just totally more comfortable, and his worried face had vanished. The Italian felt happy, and a little proud in making him feel better only with her charms.

Still, Toshio kept his challenging mood, provocating Lisa to fight him again. A grappling contest was going to be a great way to train, and she was more than interested in tussling with Toshio again...

"Hmm, lucky? Hah, alright then... Let's do some grappling, I'm gonna make you sweat."

Lisa had looking foward for grappling for quite some time, as the brunette was already training boxing in the Mazaki Gym. And getting a cute guy to roll on the floor with was making everything even better.

Lisa walked towards the ring, swaying her curves as she looked back a few times to Toshio. "We could fight each other again, in the ring sometimes. If you think I got lucky, you should ask for a rematch!"