A wager.

“The rules are clear, then,” Victoria confirmed. “I don’t care how much you hate them, wear your damn helmets. You’re also using boxing gloves with the heaviest padding I have. If you get too serious you could seriously hurt each other. I know you’re both serious, but this is still sparring. We’ll keep it at two rounds and I’ll stop the fight whenever I damn please. Those are my conditions if you want me to be a referee for this. If you want to continue fighting and disregard my judging then I’ll beat you both up myself. We good?”

Up on the ring, Angela finished tightening the knot on her gloves with her teeth and nodded. Valerie jumped a couple of times and checked her footwork one last time before nodding as well.

This was utterly ridiculous, but if Valerie wanted to get through to Angela, it wasn’t the worst approach.

When the girls showed up at the door to her gym asking her to be the referee for a fight, Victoria was taken aback. They looked serious, but it didn’t looked like there was any hostility between them. When she told them she’d only do it if she got a proper explanation, the girls complied.

Valerie was dating Leo now, and apparently so were three other girls. Not just sleeping around, but dating on an official capacity. Victoria understood why that’d be a big deal, and she had expected the boy to show up soon at her doorstep, so it was no surprise when she got a message from him not ten minutes ago. She wanted to talk to him, needed to, but this little dispute took precedence.

The wager was that, if Valerie won, then Angela had to give the polyamorous relationship a shot for a month, and if she still wasn’t satisfied, then that was that. Suffice to say, Victoria was surprised, maybe even a little startled by Valerie’s words. Just a few days ago that girl didn’t know what she wanted and now she was willing to fight one of the world’s biggest titans to help her boyfriend’s silly, selfish wish. Victoria felt like she missed a lot of the girl’s growth and it pissed her off a little.

“You know,” the redhead started. “We know what happens if I win, but what happens if you win?”

“Already thinking of losing? This was your idea,” Angela said.

“Yeah, but why did you accept?”

“I need to let off some steam. And other than the coach, there’s no one in this island who can keep me on my toes. So don’t worry too much. I’m not looking to get anything out of this other than a good exercise.”

“You’ll give Leo a chance if I win, though, right?”

Angela nodded. “But you need to win first.”

Victoria felt uneasy. It was true that both girls were already at a professional level. Valerie could climb the lower ranks with little effort even now and she’d probably reach the top fighters in one more year. She had trained her supernatural gift and kept getting faster. Her reaction times, the speed of her attacks, their angle, her defense, everything was at an exceedingly high level. Valerie was strong.

But she wasn’t Angela.

Angela had set foot on this island already with the potential to take on the world, and after training with her and learning effective techniques, her street fighting style had turned into something frighteningly deadly. On top of that, Angela had instincts that were borderline animalistic. Even with the amount of training Valerie had, this would still be an uphill battle for her.

Victoria stood at the center of the ring, with each girl at opposite corners, and got ready to start the fight. She wasn’t kidding when she said she’d beat them both up if they broke her rules, but she was also ready to jump in at the first sight of real danger. She wasn’t letting these girls’ careers end before they even had a chance to start.

“Okay, you both ready?” she asked. When the girls nodded, Victoria signaled the start of the bout. “Fight!”

She stepped away and Angela immediately rushed forward in the blink of an eye. She threw a fast hook that cut the air as it approached Valerie’s head. But cut the air was all it did, for Valerie saw it and her body reacted without trouble. She ducked out of the way of the punch and countered with a left upper to Angela’s stomach.

Her form was beautiful, her legs acting as springs to carry all her weight upwards. Her fist, however, landed not on Angela’s stomach, but on the knee she lifted to protect herself. Valerie used that chance to push Angela away and escape the corner.

Victoria let out the breath she’d been holding. Not ten seconds and they’d already exchanged blows that could’ve potentially ended a normal match.

Now with the whole ring’s space to move, Valerie began to move her legs. Short hops, shifting stances, building a good rhythm for herself. Victoria nodded. It was what she should do. Angela had the power to end it all on a single good blow, but Valerie had the insane speed and reflexes to avoid them.

Angela stepped close, carefully, gauging distance. Valerie had a stance with her arms slightly forward to stop incoming jabs. And then suddenly she stepped forward and threw a lightning kick at Angela’s left leg the moment she put it forward. The kick landed, making Angela wince but otherwise doing minimal damage.

Victoria nodded to herself again. This wasn’t boxing, but mixed martial arts. Kicks were allowed, and while Angela had better upper body strength and greatly preferred punches, Valerie undoubtedly had the faster legs. She aimed several more kicks at Angela’s left leg as she tried to pursue, all of which landed just as Angela stepped in. One kick may not do much, but seven landing on the same spot will make it start to hurt. Angela now had a slight limp to her step, and they could see in her face how she was growing annoyed and restless. She was starting to pay too much attention to her own feet, making it no surprise when Valerie landed a jab directly on her face.

Angela stepped back, looking staggered. Victoria believed Valerie would pursue, but she didn’t. And when she paid closer attention to what was happening, she understood why.

Angela took a deep breath and cracked her neck. Her shoulders relaxed and her eyes lost that annoyance and restlessness. She smiled. “Really. Whenever I start thinking I just feel sluggish,” she muttered.

She adopted a more squared up stance with both feet near parallel. She put her guard up with both fists close to the chin. This was a boxing stance. And then Victoria saw it happen from the outside.

For almost 30 seconds, nothing happened. Angela advanced by dragging her feet, little by little, while Valerie pulled back for every inch that Angela went forward, now extremely cautious. Most would wonder why Valerie now looked afraid, but Victoria noticed.

Angela was doing subtle movements with her shoulders and hips. Extremely effective feints when you know any punch could be a knockout. Angela followed the retreating Valerie, her presence a menace to the younger girl. What was she seeing? Victoria wondered. What did Angela look like to her? Those are the kinds of situations spectators don’t understand. When it looks like two combatants are just staring at each other when in reality they both know any wrong movements could lead to instant defeat. And it was maybe because Valerie was caught in such a mindset that she didn’t realize she’d been driven to a corner until her back hit the pad. The panic was clear in her face, and Angela took full advantage.

She threw a straight punch at Valerie’s face, and the redhead put her guard up to stop it. Problem was, Angela had never thrown the punch at all. She retracted her arm halfway in another feint, one built up over the previous 30 seconds. Then the blonde did something even Victoria did not expect. She jumped.

Angela put her hands on Valerie’s shoulders and jumped, wrapping her legs behind her back and bringing her down to the ground with her weight as she now held Valerie’s neck with her hands. She then trapped one of Valerie’s arms under her body and gripped her neck with her thighs.

It was a little different, but not unlike the triangle **** Victoria had used on Angela on their very first spar. And Victoria had never taught this to Angela. Not a single grapple technique.

It was over. Victoria ran up to stop the fight before it got worse. The **** was too perfect. Valerie didn’t have the strength or the means to escape.

“Alright! That’s enough! That’s enough!” Victoria broke them apart. Valerie’s face had begun to turn red from the lack of air. “Angela wins.”

The blonde fell on her back with a small, but satisfied smile on her face. “Can’t believe I got it first try, haha…”

“Are you kidding me?” Valerie asked, gasping and sitting up with her back against the corner of the ring. She was also smiling. “That was your first try?”

“Yeah. I’d been picturing it in my mind for… what, a month now? I’d been meaning to try it but the coach has yet to teach us grapples and submissions.”

“Yes, that’s next month, isn’t it?” Valerie nodded. “Urgh! Dammit! What the hell was that at the end! I could’ve sworn every feint was going to be a real punch!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why you kept falling for it.”

She didn’t know? Then was all that seriously just Angela going by instinct? God, this girl was seriously on another level.

“And why do you look so happy?” Victoria asked Valerie. “You lost, you know?”

“Well, yeah that sucks…” Valerie’s smile didn’t fade. “But it means I have more to learn. I’ll beat her next time.”

“Keep dreaming!” Angela laughed. “I’m not done getting stronger.”

The scary part was that was true.

“Okay, so you won,” Valerie said, taking a deep breath and massaging her neck. “Now you don’t HAVE to give Leo a chance. But still… What will you do?”

“…” Angela’s face turned serious and she remained silent for a moment. “I really am no good when I start thinking about things. I rather go by what feels right, so… I’m gonna need some time to feel things out. Think he’ll wait for me?”

“Meh. He was patient with me. I don’t see why he wouldn’t wait for you. He really does like you, you know?”

Angela nodded.

Huh. Maybe Victoria didn’t give these girls enough credit. They were a lot more mature than she thought. For a while she believed this fight was little more than them throwing their anger at each other, but now she knew it was far from that.

“What about you, coach?” Valerie asked her. “What will you do?”

Victoria blinked. “Me?”

“Yeah. Just so you know, I’m sure none of the other would mind if you also started formally dating Leo. I, for one, have no objections. Might even encourage it.”

“Alright, enough of you meddling in my love life. Go get cleaned up and get out of my gym. It seems you forget I’m actually a very busy woman.”

Victoria turned away before the girls could see the blush rising to her cheeks. She had entertained the thought before, but never expected the time to make a choice would come so soon.

She knew she didn’t feel jealous of Leo’s relationship with other women, but… did she really want something serious with the boy? Whatever the case, it was finally time to stop being so wishy-washy about it all. Her choices were clear.

She could either pursue a real relationship with Leonardo, or put a stop to it when the curse was lifted. She’d need to make up her mind by the time she next spoke to him.