Ced opens up at the first knock. "Well this is a pleasant surprise. What brings you to my humble establishment? More advice?" He asks in a mocking tone. I snort.

"Not only is nothing about you or your establishment, as you put it, are humble, but you are not the best at giving advice," I reply just as mocking.

"Well I gave you very good advice last time," Ced defends.

"Yes, that was simply a fluke. The last time I asked for advice, you told me I would be fine, and I ended up shot in the arm." I wince in remembrance.

"Touché. Anyway, why are you here, if not for my less than amazing, probably mediocre advice?"

"I want to use your training room. Too much on my mind lately." At this, Ced raises an eyebrow, but otherwise doesn't say anything.

"Go right ahead. There are some competitors training today, if you want to spar, I'm sure one of them would be fine with that."

I smirk. "Sounds good." I liked sparring with people, but Ced didn't, and I was not going to spar with Isa, so I hadn't had a chance in a while, unless you count my fight with Julia a few weeks ago. In the training room, there are five men in their early twenties training. They all glance up when I walk in. I roll my eyes and sit on a stack of mats. I pull off my sweatshirt to reveal a red sports bra, and pull my boxing tape out of my small bag. After I wrap my hands, I get up again, and walk towards an unoccupied punching bag.

I start with punches, working out my stress more and more with each uppercut and left hook. I pause after a while to tie my hair up, which was getting in the way. I glance around, and see one of the men making his way towards me.

"I haven't seen you around here before, or in any of the competitions," he says as he stops in front of me.

"I don't compete," I reply simply.

"Then how'd you get in?" He asks. "Ced doesn't let just anyone in."

I smirk. "I know him personally." More than you know, I thought to myself.

"Ah. So what is a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?" He asks.

"First of all, what you are implying is that beautiful women shouldn't be fighting, which is highly sexist. Second of all, what I'm doing here isn't any of your business, but if you really want to know, I'm training, same as you and the four other people here," I snap, fed up with this guy.

"I wasn't being sexist, just appreciating your amazing looks," he replies indignantly. I roll my eyes.

"While also imply that girls can't fight. Yes, I understand. But, in spite of my looks, I can kick your ass easily."

He looks surprised at that challenge, but quickly loses it in favor of amusement. "Sweetheart, I'd suggest you don't make threats you can't follow through on."

I was insanely angry at this point. This dude was sexist, cocky, condescending, and exceptionally annoying. "I assure you, I'll follow through on it. And do not ever call me sweetheart again. If you need to call me anything, call me Scarlet."

He nods, smirking. "Well, Scarlet, let's see if you can indeed kick my ass."

I smirk right back. "Bring it."

We walk to the makeshift ring set up for sparring. We get in position, and one of the other guys comes over to ref. At the word "fight," The guy immediately tries a right hook. I dodge and kick him in the gut. He doubles over, and I kick him again, knocking him down. He gets back up, angry now.

He tries an uppercut, which I catch, and send him one of my own, right on his nose. It starts bleeding, and he stops the fight. I roll my eyes. Weak. I walk out of the ring and unwrap my knuckles. Throwing the tape in the trash, I grab my bag and walk out of the training room, into Ced's office, where he is working on his computer.

"You have a fighter with a bloody, possible broken nose," I tell him.

He looks up. "Sparring incident?"

"Not my fault. The guy was being a sexist asshole and completely underestimated what I could do. He didn't see it coming, and I went easy on him."

Ced nods. "I'll check on him in a minute. You heading out?"

"Yep. I'm destressed, so I', heading home. See ya."

"Bye!" He calls as I start walking. "And bring Isa with you next time."

I smile. "Will do."