When Tarin had finally left to head to the shop that morning, Lee's original plan had been to go for a run later to try and burn off energy before picking Kevin up from school that afternoon. But as she left the bar after grabbing the payroll information from the previous week, as she did every Monday, Lee looked toward Central Park with a distinct lack of interest. Yes, she normally went running when she had energy like this. And while she had absolutely no complaints whatsoever about the reason why she had so much energy, Lee was not exactly eager to spend most of her time before school pickup running.

No, Lee decided as she made her way back to the apartment, the gym might be a good plan instead. Since she didn't normally head there on a Monday, she might be able to find someone she didn't normally see who would spar with her. Then after, or the whole time if she couldn't find someone, she could work out a good chunk of her energy on one of the heavier bags.

That decided, Lee stopped at home to drop off her work stuff, only staying long enough to grab her gym bag and a water bottle. Forty-five minutes later, Lee was walking out of the small women's changeroom at the gym in a pair of black shorts and a red tank top with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The bruises across her shoulders and back were finally changing from the green and brown of a couple days earlier to a more yellow colour; still visible, but far less noticeable from a distance than they had been even three days earlier. And since Tarin wasn't here to see them, it didn't bother Lee to have the bruises visible at this point.

Glancing around the gym, Lee saw that the ring toward the center of the large open area was empty. There were a few people scattered among the bags and a few more using the weights or equipment, but it appeared that early Monday afternoon was not exactly a busy time.

Pulling her thin, black MMA style gloves on, Lee started to stretch, eyes periodically scanning the gym. Of the people she recognized, none of them were the guys who would sometimes spar with her. Lee frowned as she continued stretching. Another day stuck with just the heavy bag.

Ranger wasn’t starting at square one, far from it. Ranger had years of training and an understanding of biomechanics that was translatable to whatever their body was doing. Ranger also had experience as Noel and memories they had lifted while using Noel’s power. However, the fact that Ranger now sometimes had a female body meant different biomechanics for themselves. Different lengths of limbs, different angles of joints. Enough of a difference that training specifically in the form was warranted.

Still keeping their male and female lives somewhat separate, Ranger had found a new gym to train at on days they found themselves in their female form. Not having true control of what form their power gave them complicated maintaining a regular training schedule, but Ranger was making due.

Walking into the gym, Ranger had a bag over her shoulder and her hair braided tight against her head. She went to a changing room and quickly changed into black longer torso sports bra designed for women practicing jiu-jitsu and tight shorts. Walking out of the changing room she was pulling on her fingerless gloves.

”New meat here.” Ranger called out as she approached the ring, ”Who wants t’ get whooped by the new girl?”

Lee was just finishing up her warm up and was making her way to the heavy bag when she heard a voice call out though the gym. Looking over, she saw a slightly younger woman walking towards the ring.

This…this could be exactly what Lee had been looking for that day. A sparring partner who wouldn’t hold back simply because she was a woman. Or because she was a foot shorter. Not that this meant that Lee would be able to use her powers any more than she could with basically any other sparring partner, she had hope that she would at least be challenged.

”I’m game,” Lee said as she started walking over to where the woman was approaching the ring. “I’m Lee,” she then said, extending her hand.

Ranger didn't have to wait long. Amidst a few odd looks towards the woman who was channeling the confidence of a frat bro, a woman a few inches shorter than Ranger herself approached.

The woman introduced herself as Lee and said she was game.

Ranger accepted and shook the offered hand. Then the came the awkward part. Well, it made Ranger feel awkward. Introducing herself. ”Howdy, Lee… I'm Michael.” once again Ranger wondered if she should pick a feminine name to use. ”As a warnin’, I'm no amateur. Just… out of practice.”

The woman shook Lee’s hand and then introduced herself as Michael. Lee blinked but otherwise didn’t react. It definitely was not a name she had been expecting to hear in introduction here, but it was far from the strangest she had heard.

”Well that’s good to hear,” Lee said in response to Michael saying that she wasn’t an amateur. Then she raised her voice as she shot a glare towards a couple of the men around the gym. “Because no one around here is actually willing to give me a challenge.”

Shaking her head as her eyes returned to Michael, Lee continued in a normal volume again. “Just because I’m a woman, they don’t think I can hold my own.”

It was sounding like Ranger was about to be in for a good roll. Lee was talking pretty big, but so had Ranger. Ranger also was inclined to believe what Lee was saying. Even Ranger was guilty of holding back against women when in his male form, but that had less to do with the woman being a woman and more to do with the woman normally being in a lower weight class. Ranger tried not to just absolutely body people that were smaller than them. Which was hard, in her male form, their power didn’t want to let others be stronger.

In her female form, that was not an issue. She had a huge speed advantage over most people but the technical part of the fight was more important. Which is why Ranger preferred gyms that didn’t force you to wear a gi. In a bar fight the person throwing chairs probably won’t be wearing a gi. This means Ranger had to work different techniques, she couldn’t do things like cross chokes from full guard as her opponent wouldn’t have the thick gi collar to grab.

”Oh, if y’ can keep up with me I’ll give y’ a challenge. I promise.” Ranger said with a smile and a laugh. ”Show these men that women can bring the hate jus’ a well as them.”

Ranger lifted a rung from the ring and climbed in. ”Just grapples ‘r we strikin’ too? I prefer t’ train how I fight, but I know some people don’ like seein’ red on the ground.”

This woman, Michael, was confident. If she could keep up. Lee didn’t even have to check her energy level that day, she was pretty confident she’d be able to keep up. Longer than Michael would last; not using all of the speed and strength her current energy level could provide, Lee was sure she could go for at least a couple hours today.

Not that that would happen.

”Oh, that’s good,” Lee said with a smile as she climbed into the ring. “These guys are long overdue for a show to prove that when a woman says she’s capable, that she is capable.”

Michael trained how she fought? Lee’s head tilted slightly as she appraised the woman on the other side of the ring. “If I just wanted to practice grapples, there’d be no point in getting in the ring,” Lee replied. “The mats over there work perfectly well for grappling practice. Plus, you’re never going to encounter just grappling anywhere outside a gym. And if you manage to get my blood on the mat, I deserved the hit.”

Would Lee be this confident in a real fight? Well, probably. She had been in the past. She wouldn't be this vocal about it, though. But this was just sparring, just practice. She wasn't worried about any serious injury or blood loss.

Ranger smiled. Lee was game to truly go hands on, which meant Ranger could really work in the art of eight limbs. Muay Thai.”Oh. I picked the right day t’ come t’ this gym.” Ranger said as she stretched her arms and legs.

”Alright. First t’ tap, say uncle, ‘r take a nap loses.” Ranger stepped toward the center of the ring and held her fist out to Lee. Tapping gloves before a fight being a sign of respect.

Then Ranger stepped back, put in her mouthguard, and brought up her hands with open palms.

Lee smiled when Michael said that she had picked the right day to come to the gym. She could not agree more. If this sparring match went the way that it was sounding it should go, this would turn out to be Lee’s best day at the gym in ages.

”Sounds good,” Lee said as she stepped forward to tap Michael’s glove. She knew that it was impossible to know for sure beforehand, but Lee had no intention of tapping out. The only reason she’d tapped out when she’d sparred with Blaine years ago had been because she’d helped twist her ankle as he was putting her in a leg lock, and there had been no point in injuring herself further during a friendly match when they were then going to walk home afterwards.

Following Michael’s lead, Lee rolled her still slightly bruised shoulders to try and make sure that they were loose as she popped her mouthguard in.

The thing was, unless she was planning on going in hard and fast without worrying about how much she might hurt the person, you know, like in a real fight, Lee tended to wait and react to what her opponent did. Because of the typical size difference, it tended to work better for her.

So rather than advance, Lee started to slowly move around, sideways as she raised her arms, attentively watching Michael for the slightest indication of how she was going to move.

Lee was moving cautiously. That was fine. Ranger was used to being on the offensive. A hand to hand fight often was like a firefight. Momentum and aggression were often keys to victory. Ranger knew she needed to not get into a situation where her power wanted to switch. It would be awkward for everyone involved for Ranger to suddenly be a male again while fighting Lee.

That meant while being aggressive, Ranger had to be smart. Not get herself trapped ina situation where she needed her enhanced strength or defenses.

So speed and intensity were the game plan. Opening with a simple Muay Thai move. Ranger closed distance and jumped her weight from the back leg (her her right) to the front (her left), her left foot twisting perpendicular to Lee’s and her right leg swung around to hook her ankle around Lee’s leg. At the same time she swung her right arm around to push the right side of Lee’s face. The arm first shooting corss body so it could rotate back toward Lee. An outside lead leg sweep. Classic Muay Thai.

Lee was watching, Lee was waiting. But Michael was fast when she decided to move. Lee saw the arm coming up and raised her right arm quickly to block it. The quick sweep Michael made with her foot at the same time struck true, unbalancing Lee.

Grabbing on to Michaels arm where it was still beside her face to try keep herself on at least one foot, Lee shifted her weight onto her other leg, using the momentum to push her swept leg between Michael's, using just a bit more strength than might be expected to try and kick Michael's planted foot out from under her as she let go of her arm, Lee's left hand shooting straight out to push Michael backward.

The move connected. Everything was going well, Lee had been unbalanced, but she had snatched Ranger’s arm and used that to buy her enough leverage to shift weight and then redirect the momentum on her kicked leg to put it between Ranger’s.

Lee’s kick to Ranger’s planted leg, coupled with a push, Ranger’s left arm shot forward, guided unconsciously by Ranger’s power, to grab the back of Lee’s neck and pull her with Ranger as Ranger went to the ground to take guard. Her back against the ground and her legs wrapped around Lee. She could hold Lee close to limit the power behind a punch or use the positioning to go for a submission.

Good news, Lee’s counter to the sweep worked, Michael was heading toward the ground. Bad news, Michael had managed to get a hand behind her neck and she was going down as well.

And to make matters worse, almost the moment they hit the mat, Lee felt Michael’s legs wrapping around her.

Pushing herself forward, Lee planted her hands on Michael’s upper arms near her shoulders as she tried to raise up onto her knees.

They went down and Ranger pulled guard. Her ankles locked together behind Lee’s back. Lee planted her hands on Ranger’s arms near Ranger’s shoulders and tried to push herself up. Ranger didn’t have good movement of her arms and decided it would likely be easier to break guard to get back into the fight.

When Lee tried to push herself to her knees, Ranger unlocked her ankles and brought her knees in toward her chest using the distance Lee was creating. Ranger grabbed Lee’s arms near where they grabbed Ranger’s shoulders and used them as an anchor when she rolled her back to bring her knees toward her face like she was about to perform a kip-up. From there she tried to plant her knees on Lee and shove.

Ranger had speed on her side, not strength in her female form, but even with unempowered strength her legs were mighty.

Lee felt Michael’s legs unwrap from around her as she was pushing herself up onto her knees. And her hands managed to grab onto Lee's arms. Honestly unsure what she was supposed to do in this situation, Lee hesitated.

And found herself with Michael's feet on her chest shoving her way. Well, that worked, didn't it?

Using the momentum that the shove had given her, Lee continued moving, doing a backwards summersault to put more distance between them and gain her feet.