“Martinez, move faster than that!” Teacher shouted from off to the sidelines of her dojo.

Martinez slumped down and leaned against the wall of the padded fighting room, gasping for air. He wondered beyond everything else in his mind why in all the universe he agreed to come here and train with the roided out goblin esc woman. This was torture, not training at this point.

“Come on, Ruh'ah. We still have another ten minutes of jogging,” Lysa purred, dragging her nails on his neck as she ran by with the other students.

Martinez looked up and barely spotted Lysa winking over her shoulder at him. Her tantalizing hips were well outlined by the short black shorts everyone was wearing, and her chiseled abs were easily seen as she turned back to run at full speed. Her raven hair was tied in a trailing ponytail, babbling up and down, letting him see her pale skin and those cute dimples just over her rump—similar to the ones on her cheeks.

Oh yeah, that’s why.

Martinez usually did not attend the classes Lysa’s Teacher offered, not because he did not enjoy Martial arts or because he did not want to exercise. Usually, he simply did not have the time between school, work, and spending time with Lysa. But today was different — somewhat.

Before Martinez and Lysa had some time away from one another after he fucked up royally, Martinez had agreed to try and help Lysa get ready to enter a competition representing Teachers Dojo. Today was his first day aiding her in that preparation because there was a small local competition at the end of the month, a few days before Lysa and Martinez were leaving for a few weeks— and that stubborn Teacher was insistent they prepared for that one.

Why the roid rage goblin was resolute in the fact Lysa should be ready for that one, not one of the undoubtedly dozens that would go on over the rest of the Local year, was beyond both Martinez and Lysa. Yet here they were, sweating, jogging, and training with one of the main classes hours before he would run their private lesson.

Martinez sucked in a sharp breath, jolting halfway out of his skin. Lira had just run past and slapped her heavy fur-covered hand on his back, “Come on, Henry, or do I have to thrash you again?”

Like Surail, Lira, and Feinel were Jurintik in all forms of outer appearance; they could be a stereotypical werewolf, but no, that was just a happenstance of their evolution. So Martinez did not have to worry about transforming come the full moon if they bit him. This was a boon for a few reasons; the planet of Aveion not only had twin suns over a dozen moons, but they also sported some wicked teeth, and he would prefer not to let them ever bite him.

Unlike Feinel and Surail, Lira’s figure was far more feminine, from having fur as white as snow, a more rounded, gentle face, a longer, softer-looking tail, and a pair of eyes as blue as cobalt, unlike the two males who looked straight out of an old wolfman movie.

Lira was definitely attractive in ways Martinez could not deny. He could think of more than a handful of Marines who would jump at the chance to have her howl their name. But she was not Martinez’s cup of tea—even if he would not deny that she filled out a pair of shorts very well.

“Yeah, yeah. That was a fluke last time, and you know it,” Martinez gibed, resuming his run, doing his utmost to catch up with her, Lysa, and the rest of the panting, sweating gaggle of aliens attending today’s class.

Oddly enough, Feinel was not in attendance today. As far as Martinez knew, the grizzled police Sergeant never missed a training opportunity if he could help it. He must be caught up at work. Lord knows, with all the Visage going around, they both had been busy.

Although, maybe he was lucky to not be here today. This was incredibly arduous.

No matter how much Martinez had been going on runs with Shiksie, it made no difference once he was inside these walls. Teachers' classes were just another breed of animal and made the most horrendous PT(Physical training) he had ever done with the Marines look like a walk in the park. They were long, grueling affairs that consisted of nearly constant exercises and sparing—Thank god that, at least today, Teacher seemed to be more in the mood to just PT the class to death instead of having them thrash each other in long bouts or a never-ending shark tank.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself, Lad,” Teacher chimed in, not one to let anyone have their chance at making fun of her students without her.

“I will tell myself that,” Martinez chuckled back, dismissing the doc-eared gremlin’s remark.

“Good, at least it means you’re breathin’,” Teacher ribbed. “Ain't that right, yah lazy bums!”

“Yes Mam!” The class sounded out in unison. A hallmark of these torture sessions.

The rest of the class took about an hour. It only consisted of more running, with five-minute breaks for the students to practice different techniques against either bags or mitts. The “breaks” were hardly that; the running around was the breaks.

But Martinez was taking what he could get for the time being and would not bring any complaints or gripes to Teacher. He liked his spine where it was, after all.

After class, Martinez, Lira, and Lysa were slumped against one of the walls, slowly drinking out of some water bottles while chatting and watching as Teacher sent off the rest of the students, hurrying them out the airlock doors and into Draun’s streets. Not that Teacher was doing so in any malicious manner; she just wanted Lysa and Martinez to get to practicing as soon as possible, and the other students lingering about in the mat room would not help.

“Lira, shall you be joining us in preparation for the upcoming competition?” Lysa asked chipperly.

“If you are alright with it, Teacher kind of strong-armed me into attending this next one,” Lira replied before sipping her water bottle.

“What, did she threaten to stop banking with you or something?” Martinez joked, knowing Lira worked as a teller at one of the local banks.

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. Just know it’s embarrassing,” Lira replied, shaking her head and scratching behind her fluffy ear.

Martinez and Lysa both shrugged and left it at that.

He was not close enough to Lira to be comfortable prying or teasing her too much. Her life and business were hers. That and he wasn’t exactly an open book to most people. He might as well extend the same courtesy.

On the other hand, Lysa was a close friend of the white-furred Jurintik. They spent quite a lot of time out of class together, regularly going shopping, dining, or heading out to some of the hundreds of thousands of recreational activities around the city. As such, Lysa already had heard the story from Lira and was not about to air her friend's dirty laundry.

Last week, Lira sought Teacher’s council about how to ask Feinel out on a date and fumbled her attempt hard. She had stumbled over her words and ultimately failed to ask him properly. Somehow, during her abysmal attempt at asking him out, Feinel displayed a level of density Lysa had thought was only reserved for Martinez. The man somehow took her invitation to spend some alone time together as a desire to train. In her infinite wisdom, Lira ended up agreeing to train with Feinel at the shooting range.

Lysa did not see how that was a failure, but Lira did not see them spending time together, doing something as a date.

While shooting weapons was not what Lysa considered a flawless first date, it counted as far as she was concerned. Besides, Lira and Feinel got along well enough; how in all the universe she botched speaking to a man she spent several hours a day with was beyond Lysa.

That would be as embarrassing as if Lysa attempted to ask Martinez to Mordaine and ended up asking, “May I kick you in the balls”?

At least it was a start for Lira. She would fix it. The woman was sharp, after all.

They casually spoke for a few more minutes while Teacher finished up with the other students. Their conversation did not involve anything too eventful. Lira told them about a new clothing store opening, which she wanted to drag Lysa to—something, of course, she agreed to do.

Martinez bemoaned his recent stents at work and his encroaching midterms. At least, that was something Lira could understand, having graduated from Draun’s college only a few years ago. So, the pains of midterms and finals were relatively fresh in her mind.

“Oi, lad,” Teacher barked as she walked over to them, her bare feet plodding on the plush matting.

“Yes, mam,” Martinez replied, giving her a joking salute.

“Go ahead and teach ‘em some of your jiu-jitsu for the next hour or so,” Teacher said, gesturing at Lira and Lysa. “I got some paperwork to do. Once I’m all done, y’all can cut fer the day. Alright?”

“Yeah, no problem, mam,” Martinez groaned while he stood, both knees sounding like popcorn. “Anything specific I can’t teach them?”

“Nah, just don’t break ‘em,” Teacher replied before patting his shoulder and heading to her office.

“You two ready?” he questioned.

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Lira and Lysa nodded, scooting closer to the center of the mats. Both of them quickly relaxed and started to listen to the explanation of the basic rules of their practice. Most of what they discussed was to be expected: no biting, intentional hair pulling, grabbing of digits, punching, or kicking—all things Teacher typically enforced with heavy punishment for rule breakers. Not that Martinez was going to do that part. Punishing his Ruh'ah would be weird as hell, and Lira would get the same fair treatment Lysa got.

Martinez would focus on grappling with them and defer to Teacher regarding anything involving striking. Yeah, he had experience in Krav Maga and the Human Marines Basic Martial Arts Program, but he doubted anything like the good old eye gouge or groin strikes would be legal during their competition—or enjoyed by the recipient. While only Lira had claws, Lysa certainly kept her nails sharp.

Martinez had decided to cover the absolute basics for them for practice. Because there was hardly a month left and they would only be practicing twice a week, focusing on escaping and maintaining the mount and guard would be a lot of their focus for the next few weeks, and anything he found they needed or could use.

Today, they would focus on some of the simplest forms of breaking out of the mount and guard. Everyone needed to know how to do those if they wanted to be any good at grappling.

“Alright, Lira, go ahead and mount Lysa, and I will explain what I want her to do,” Martinez requested.

Lysa and Lira quickly got into position, with Lira straddling Lysa’s bare stomach. He briefly explained the goal of each step as they went along. The steps of today's maneuver were simple and practical, but the Lord knows that the techniques would work as long as your opponent had two legs and no more than four limbs.

Lysa had to take several steps to get out of the mount and into a more dominant position. While ending up in Lira’s guard was still not ideal, it was better than being in the mount where Lira could easily control the fight and press the attack.

Firstly, Lysa buckled up against Lira hard enough to knock her off balance and take one of her arms across Lysa's chest. From there, Lysa had to roll Lira to the side of the arm she now controlled. At that point, Lysa would end up between Lira’s legs and in the guard and have control of a single wrist.

It went incredibly smoothly after having to re-explain to Lira to not resist too much and let Lysa get a rep or two in the first round of training. Martinez should have expected that she tended to get slightly too enthusiastic from the few times he had practiced with Lira.

Martinez did have to admit hearing Lira yelp in surprise when Lysa nearly bucked her off was funny, with Lira tumbling onto the mats. Neither Martinez nor Lira expected Lysa to generate so much power that Lira was essentially thrown out of the mount and face-planted. But here they were—for a few rounds at least. Lysa also slowed down to let her practice the technique and not just muscle Lira off her.

Once Lira and Lysa swapped, they, funnily enough, had a nearly opposite issue. Lira was not used to grappling, and because Aviex and Humans had incredibly high muscular density compared to most, the white-werewolf esc woman could hardly move Lysa. At first, each buck only moved Martinez’s Ruh’ah’s bulk only a few centimeters.

Watching Lira struggle was somewhat sad. She was clearly trying, but biology was just not on her side for this matchup. Martinez and Lysa likely were two of the few people she would have difficulty grappling or fighting. After a few meager attempts at dislodging Ruh'ah from her waist, Lira was already panting and clearly starting to get frustrated.

Lira’s frustrations were not helped by Lysa’s hints of snark and cruelty she had with her friends and him.

“I would have assumed you, of all people, would do better than this,” Lysa teased Lira, a smug, toothy grin on her coal-black lips. She wiggled her butt back and firmly replanted it on Lira’s hips from the gentle attempt at a buck.

Lira growled at Lysa, not in any way with legitimate venom. Either that or Lysa and Lira just practiced together long enough to understand one another subconsciously.

Martinez found it strange how Lira growled. He had heard Feinel and Surail growl before, their growls felt territorial, like a hard line in the sand was being drawn moments before they snapped. Lira’s sounded softer, more refined in a strange sense. It reminded him of the sound a mother dog might make to their pup when they are out of line.

Lira brought her long legs up tightly to Lysa’s butt, halfway kneeing her. All the way from her toes, she bucked as hard as possible, grabbing Lysa’s hip as she did. Lira managed to send Lysa lurching forward with a surprised mewl, her butt sliding down forward on her stomach; where Lira snatched both her hands tightly when they landed on the ground to keep their faces from smashing together.

As quickly as Martinez expected Lira’s initial attempt to go, she snaked between Lysa's legs and flipped her hard onto the mats. Lysa tightly wrapped her legs and Lira’s hips and held her tight, setting up a powerful guard—as he instructed both to do.

“How about that one?” Lira jeered, sitting tall and proud, her trail brushing happily against the mats.

“Far more like you,” Lysa chuckled.

“Yeah, a few more like that, and we can move on to the next step: escaping the guard,” Martinez interjected.

Lira looked at Martinez with the strangest combination of surprise and a scowl. Meanwhile, Lysa slipped out and readied herself to reset for another attempt.

“Really, I have to do that again?” Lira bemoaned.

“Yeah, of course. Only completing one maneuver is nowhere near enough,” Martinez shrugged.

Shortly after Lysa and Lira had repeated one of the methods for reversing the mount a few more times, they moved on to the next step of breaking an opponent's guard.

Martinez had several different options for breaking the guard he could teach them, but with Lira’s slight variation in anatomy, he was unsure which ones would work. So, he had to spend a few minutes figuring out what worked best by trying a few of them. After ruling out a dozen options because they were not wearing Gi’s and could not punch each other, Martinez decided to teach them two.

The classic choice was to press your opponent's hips to the deck, then shimmy back until their guard opened.

The other option Lira was in no way happy about having tested on her. A sentiment Martinez understood, having someone drive their knee into your gooch and increasing the pressure until the pain was unbearable. But most people let go quickly once a knee planted itself into their groin area—Lira apparently was not like most people and wanted to be stubborn, pigheaded, and had something to prove. Whether she was proving it to herself, Lysa, or Martinez, only she knew, but the end result was the same.

All three of them apparently had that stubbornness in common because Lysa was giggling like a sociopath, watching her Ruh'ah and friend struggle to see who gave up first.

“Fuck, for how long are you going to do that for,” Lira groaned.

“Until you let go, you realize in practice once it hurts, you can let go, right?” Martinez retorted.

“I won our last round; I’m not losing now,” Lira sneered.

“Lira, it's practice,” Martinez replied, twisting his hips and driving his knee further.

Lira gritted her teeth, growled, and tried desperately to keep her legs locked around Martinez’s hips, but this maneuver was perfect because no matter how strong you were, it both hurt like hell and forced your femur between their ankles and lock, preventing them from closing in more. It was only a matter of time until her locked ankles were forced open. Thankfully, that was only a few moments away.

“Fuck,” Lira gasped as her legs finally released.

“Ha, I win,” Martinez bragged.

Lira sat up and awkwardly shifted, clearly still in some amount of pain. “Yeah, yeah, you won that one. Now lay down. It’s my turn.”

“Go ahead and practice with Lysa a bit more. You both need to be on both ends of this,” Martinez gestured to them.

“Nah, I want to try with you,” Lira sneered, clearly having not given up on winning.

“You just wish to push your bravado,” Lysa replied.

Lira simply shrugged, not denying the idea in any way.

Martinez looked to Lysa for some support but received none. She clearly wanted to watch this.

“Fine, the two of you can use me as practice for this part,” Martinez shrugged, “Maybe seeing it and breaking the guard might be helpful.”

The rest of their practice was reasonably straightforward but not uneventful. Apparently, both Lysa and Lira were enthusiastic about showing how quickly they could learn how to break his guard. It was too bad for him and his family jewels; both were a bit too quick, and each ended up kneeing Martinez in the balls multiple times.

Once, he could see it as an accident, even if Lira’s sharp, bony knee made him see stars for a moment. Martinez could still believe it was an earnest mistake the second time around. But come the third and fourth, he was sure this was at least somewhat intentional. Their sniggers and sneers between the two alien women made it evident they thought hearing him trying to stifle groans of pain was hilarious.

“I’m glad you two are having fun,” Martinez groaned.

Both paused, looked at one another, then back at him.

“Oh, Ruh'ah you are tough. I am sorry if you were hurt,” Lysa said, patting his thigh.

“Sorry, we might have gotten a bit carried away,” Lira affirmed, averting her cobalt eyes and adjusting her slipping tank top.

“It’s OK. I think we have had enough practice,” Martinez whined after Lira forced his legs open and shimmied back, escaping a guard he had given up half a minute ago. “I don’t think the judges will let you intentionally knee your opponent's balls.”

“What if it was actually an accident?” Lysa questioned.

“I have no idea,” Martinez said, flopping flat onto the mats. “For all I know, your opponents won't even have junk there.”

“Some will, some won’t,” Lira shrugged.

“Well, keep it in mind,” Martinez said, the pain in his groin subsiding.

“Oi, you three, class is over,” Teacher bellowed, her voice overpowering the entire room.

Teacher walked over to them, her heavy muscles glistening in the bright lights of the dojo. Her breathing mask was slung around her heavily scarred neck. She already had her jacket in hand and was oddly wearing long, loose-fitting cargo pants—something noticeably unlike her. Martinez could not recall a single time he had seen Teacher wearing anything but workout shorts.

“Oh, must we depart?” Lysa complained, pointing at her recovering lover, “I think Ruh'ah wanted to spar a little bit.”

“‘Fraid so, I got stuff to do tonight. You two can keep picking on the lad in a few days,” Teacher said, sneering at Martinez.

“Very well,” Lysa replied, tugging Lira to her feet. “Come on, Lira, we shall go shower and change.”

“Righto, yall do that,” Teacher replied.

The pair quickly exited and headed toward the lockers down the back hallway, leaving Teacher and Martinez on the mats.

“So, how was practice?” Teacher chuckled. “Did they at least learn something and not just knee your nuts for the whole hour?”

“Yeah, they did learn something,” Martinez replied.

“That’s good. I never took yah for the cock and ball torture type,” Teacher laughed, hoisting Martinez up from his seat on the mats like he weighed nothing.

That was unsurprising. Teacher was built like a bodybuilder and likely weighed almost as much as he did despite only being a meter tall.

“I’m not,” Martinez chuckled, gently tapping her on the shoulder with his knuckles.

“Could have fooled me,” Teacher shrugged.

“Fuck you,” Martinez joshed.

“I told yah lad, I like my men with more meat on ‘em,” Teach replied without missing a breath, deflating any ground Martinez might have tried to retake for his dignity.