Post by Alice Harris on Jun 6, 2015 20:09:49 GMT -5
"Urgh... I wonder how it's going for them tonight..."
Alice mused to herself as she sat there in the gym she usually trained in. It was 11pm and usually the place would be closed, but being a good friend of the owner, Alice often got special privileges, which extended to the alarm code and the back door key so she could work out alone and uninterrupted. It wasn't unusual sometimes for Marty, the owner of the gym to pull up to work at 7am to get everything ready for 8am opening and to find Alice slumped across one of the benches passed out or just finishing off a mammoth long intense session.
This session though... It was one she could have done without, but at the same time she needed her mind to be fully focused and not drifting off like it had done just then.
Last time she hit the gym, she had a wager session with her older sister Krystal, an MMA fighter. Her sister said if Alice couldn't beat her by the end of the second round of their 3 round bout, a time limit of roughly 5 minutes a round, so 10 minutes in total... Alice had to set her up with one of her friends, more specifically the friend she was still working out her feelings towards. She knew Krystal was just screwing around with her, trying to fire her up for what is arguably the biggest challenge she will face in her career so far, a man who has 134lbs on her along with nearly a foot in height and a vast amount of experience. It had almost worked too, Alice had almost caught her in the 'Down and Dirty', a mat-based Octopus Stretch from a Russian leg sweep right on the dying moments of the bout, but before she could lock it in fully, the timer had went on the second round and her sister had won the bet.
"Snap out of it Alice... Just focus already!"
Dragging herself up to her feet, the Dirty Little Thing headed straight for the punch bag and started to lay into it with a series of elbows, forearms and knee strikes. Building herself into a rhythm, Alice tried to keep going, but she couldn't. The more she concentrated on her strikes, the more she kept drifting off. Annoyed with losing her focus, she slammed both her hands against the punch bag and screamed loudly.
"I'M SICK OF THIS... GOD DAMMIT... WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO GET IN OVER MY HEAD?"
Even though she was totally alone, the release of the pent up frustration helped. Simply hearing her angry voice echo around the empty gym made her smirk to herself.
"Wow... If I sound that intense in an empty room... God only knows what I sound like in the ring!"
Deciding to try a new method of focus, Alice walked to her gear bag. Opening it up, she pulled out her iPod and her iPod dock and hooked it up. Thumbing through her music, she eventually settled on something. Hitting play and turning back to the punchbag, the music began to kick in as she confidently walked towards it. The late 80's/early 90's inspired techno beat of "New Tech" by Paradelous, something which wouldn't have seemed out of place as background music in the Streets of Rage game titles started to kick into full gear and as it did, so did Alice.
Strike after strike - a flurry of punches, high knees, elbows, forearms and eventually some big swinging roundhouse kicks rained down on the punchbag. Sweating profusely by the end of the song, her knuckles, knees, shins, forearms and elbows all bright red and raw, Alice slumped down against the Punch bag and drew her knees towards her.
"I gotta keep going... This guy is bigger than me... He's called the beast for a reason and this really is one hell of a mismatch."
Pulling herself up, the next song on her workout playlist ticked over. Quite a departure from the retro synth driven track, "Pretty Little Sunshine" by Norwegian hard rockers Audrey Horne kicked in. Feeling invigorated by the pounding drum beat and full of attitude guitars, Alice clenched her fists as she turned back to the punchbag and once again started to lay into it. With every blow she landed, she could feel the stinging sensation. The burn of fatigue was slowly creeping in and she knew she had to keep going at this pace if she was going to get anything out of this evenings session.
"He is the beast.... But beauty can tame the beast... I'm not as strong as him... There's no way I can lift him without some serious aid or underhanded tricks... But I am faster than him and a well placed hit hurts just the same... It doesn't matter if you're 130lbs or 330lbs... An elbow or a knee in the right spots will have the same effect regardless!"
Alice grabbed hold of the punchbag with both arms and started to drive her knee's into it repeatedly.
"I can't back down, I can't run away, I have to fight this beast and overcome it... Alice White shown good faith in me by letting me sign a contract and giving me such a big match to make my debut in... I have to repay that faith with the performance she expects from me..."
Pushing off the punchbag, Alice sizes it up before throwing a huge roundhouse kick, the same style of kick she affectionately refereed to as "The Dirty Kick". As her lower leg and foot smashed into the side of the punchbag, she quickly followed it up with the opposite leg, hitting with the same amount of force and precision.
"If I can get the beast just right with one of these, he'll be a beast no more!"
Fired up mentally, Alice continued to lay into the punch bag relentlessly. No doubt she'd end up being woken up by Marty again when he turned up in a couple of hours time, but that was nothing new. He knew as well as anyone else just how much this match meant to Alice and if she was willing to push herself this much just to be in top shape for it, he was more than happy to allow her to have the time she needed to hone her abilities.