The Fighter *ON HIATUS*

Chapter Three: A Terrible Workout

The next day was the first day I would be working out with Axel. I had put on workout shorts and the one sports bra that I owned with a tank top over it. I waited for Axel to come pick me up as he normally did in the morning. As soon as he pulled up, I said goodbye to my mom and ran out of the house to his car. "Hey," I said, getting into the passenger side. Axel was wearing a t-shirt that had been cut down the sides into a tank top and basketball shorts.

"Hey. How was your night?" We spent the car ride having small talk, which was kind of nice. For once, we weren't having a deep conversation and we could just talk like the almost-strangers that we were.

It took less than ten minutes for us to get to the warehouse that Axel trained at. "Ready for this?"

"I suppose!"

We walked into the warehouse, which looked a lot different than the last time I had been there. The lights were all turned on and there were three rings that people fought in on one side, and a big area with mats and punching bags for people to work out with on the other side. Axel led me over to the area with the mats and the punching bag. "Alright, so, for a warm-up I am going to kind of see where your fitness level is." He dug into his bag and pulled out a stop watch. "So, we're going to start with a fifty meter dash first."

I groaned and I saw his shoulders shake with laughter as he turned around. He led me to a piece of tape and jogged to another one a while away. "When my arm goes down, you run!" he yelled to me, before putting his arm up. I got into what I thought was a running position and took off sprinting once his arm dropped. My legs burned as I ran as fast as I possibly could to Axel. Once I finally reached him, I stopped, putting my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. "Well... You got 10.6," Axel said, a small smirk on his face.

"Is that good?" I panted.

He laughed out loud, the first time I ever heard him genuinely laugh, and it was at me. "No, actually. That's really really bad."

"What?! You're kidding. What's a good score?"

"My record is seven."

"Screw you!" I exclaimed and he grinned.

"Alright, now we're going to see how many situps you can do in a minute." He led me over to a mat and had me lay down, before standing on my toes lightly to keep them on the ground. "Ready... Set... Go!" I did situps until my stomach burned, before laying down, trying to catch my breath. "Your minute's not up! Keep going!"

I slowly attempted another situp, my stomach shaking. Finally, he said, "Okay, time's up. You did seventeen."

"That's it?" I exclaimed, laying back down.

"Come on, you can't lay still, or you'll cramp up." He held a hand out for me and I took it, relying almost completely on him to help me up. Axel did this without a problem. "You have one more that I am going to make you do. That's pushups."

"Can't you just teach me how to punch stuff?" I groaned.

"No, you need to be in shape to know how to fight. If you're going to have any chance of taking out a guy my size, you need strength. I was going to see how well you did on these to determine how long you'd be working to get in shape."

"And I'm doing pretty bad, huh?"

"Yeah, you're doing pretty bad. But, we will see how many push-ups you can do in a minute! Real push-ups too, or else they don't count."

I got five. Five push-ups that he actually counted as "real push-ups".

"Sit down with me," he said as I took a drink. I sat down on the ground across from him. "So... Depending on how often we train, I think I am going to want to work on building your strength and endurance for three to six months. And while we're doing that, we'll also work on basic defensive skills."