Arriving at the training room I see Red in the back hitting her special punching bag. That's when I hear Wayne to my right.

"You mind if I train with you today."

"No, you could use a good workout."

"Hey now, don't forget I used to be bigger than you! Besides, not all of us want bulging muscles."

"Oh, so what are you doing here then?"

"I just came to watch Red whoop your ass is all."

He came to the right place then. She definitely gives me a run for my money, although I have to force it out of her sometimes. She might be a sexy, muscle-bound girl but she sure is gentle with people. Everyone else must seem so fragile to her.

"You never know, today might be the day I get the upper hand on her."

"Ha, like that'll ever happen!"

"You never know, she might feel like giving to charity one day."

"What's a 'charity?'

"Huh, well it's a--you know what, never mind."

We walk into the training room and the people focused on us. I lean over to Wayne.

"The hell are they looking at?"

"I don't know, maybe the lowest-ranked person who just beat the fifth-ranked."

"Shit, you think they'll challenge me?"

"Are you serious? I don't think you'll be getting any challenges."

"Why do you say that?"

"Do you not remember your matches? You survived Red, paralyzed Trevor, brutally beat a little girl down, and you almost drowned someone in their own blood just in your last match! Why the fuck would anyone want to get on the platform with you?"

Actually, I hadn't thought about that. When he puts it like that it does make sense that people wouldn't want to fight me.

"That 'little girl' was Carnie so it doesn't count."

"She's still a little girl."

More like a little monster in the form of a girl.

Walking up to Red I punch her in the shoulder, "Wayne and I are going to lift a little before we spar."

Red glances at me, then Wayne. She nods her head in acknowledgment to which I then walk over to the weights, waving Wayne to do the same.

Looking at Wayne, "I kinda feel bad about making her wait but she doesn't seem to mind. Too bad she doesn't lift."

"Who Red? She lifts."

"She lifts, why? What's the point when you are that strong? Wait, does she have a special weight rack too?"

Wayne puts the barbell on his shoulders as he speaks, "No, no special weights or anything. She doesn't do it when anyone is here but I've seen her lifting before. That's not even the weird part."

"You can't just leave me on that."

"Well..." Wayne looks over in Red's direction. She was clearly occupied with beating the shit out of her metal punching bag. Even so, Wayne spoke softer, "It looked like she was struggling with it."

"How many plates was she lifting?"

Wayne went down, doing a set of squats before responding, "Not many, no more than three if I remember correctly."

That doesn't make any sense. Red should easily be able to lift and throw that weight. Maybe I should ask her about it, or maybe I should keep it to myself. It might have something to do with her ability, no, it definitely does. She won't want to give away more information than she has to. I had assumed her ability was just a built-in function of her body but what if she can turn it off and on? That means she's beatable in the right circumstances. Still, it's doubtful I'll be able to beat her even if there are limitations to her ability. Huh, I guess I don't really need to beat her anyway, so why was that my first thought?

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I should be focusing on my next opponent, and whether or not that will be Jason. I don't really need to fight him but part of me wants to see how a match between us would turn out now with my new body and my ability together. Would I easily win or would it be a close match? I want to know so bad! However, this could affect our relationship and the last thing I want to do is jeopardize my supply. Even though he seemed to be fine with the idea of a match between us I never know how he will react if I beat him.

I took Wayne's place, putting the barbell on my back and using his weight as a warm-up. Finishing the set I racked the bar and that's when I heard a loud crash in Red's direction. Looking at her it seemed as if someone had dropped an entire weight rack onto her. I assessed the situation with the extra time I had due to my perception but I still couldn't make sense of what I saw. Sure a weight rack could have fallen over onto her but this couldn't be the case here. The rack wasn't on its side but rather straight up and down, as if it had fallen from the sky.

Hearing Wayne's voice I turned around and readied myself, "Watch out Tom!"

Scanning my surroundings I still couldn't see anything but the look on Wayne's face told me there was danger, somewhere. I then felt my body become weightless. So weightless that my feet left the ground. I could feel the fabric of my shirt pulled tight against me. I was being lifted by my shirt so I glanced at the only person I knew who could do such a thing. Red however hadn't moved. Not surprising considering it had barely been a few seconds since the loud crashing sound happened.

"So you're the new guy."

A voice came down from above me. It reminded me of the times when the warden would talk through the speakers, but this was no speaker. Just by the sound, it was obvious there was a person close to me. With every other area already checked I looked in the one direction I hadn't considered, straight up.

There, in the air, a man was floating. Not only was this man floating but it was clear he was lifting me up too. His arms were straight, his hands had a tight grip on my shirt. However he was lifting me, it wasn't with his arms.

"You don't look like anything special." his voice was condescending and scrutinizing.

I instinctively reached up above my head and latched onto his arms that held me. "Who the fuck are you?"

He looked down at me, my question bringing a smile to his face, "I'm the one whose spot you're trying to take."

The familiar voice of a bitch came down from the ceiling but sounded different, closer. "Let him go, Angel, he isn't your opponent yet."

The smile left his face and it became cartoonishly serious, "Of course." He let go of my shirt. I dropped a foot but still had a hold on his arms. I then felt his feet being placed on my shoulders and it wasn't long after that when I felt a strong force that broke my grip on his arms and caused me to fall back to the training room floor.