The Challenge - Look at What it Started
by Valerie
Kelly hears about my first bellypunching experience


"Uuuuuummmmmm," purrs Kelly as she rolls over on the bed. "It's always so much
better the night you fight. I don't know where you get all the energy from."

"It's all fueled by you, beautiful," I respond softly as I stroke her face. "A
quick win in the ring means a longer, lovelier night in bed. And you make it
all totally worthwhile."

We smile silently at each other. It had been about a month since her first
fight against Veronica, and every time she brought it up, extra energy was
assured for our passionate evenings. Tonight, as we again lay looking in each
other's eyes, I notice a strange expression come across her face.

"Tell me, my inspiration. What's on your mind?" I inquire.

"Well," replies Kelly, after a slight hesitation. "I was wondering how you got
your start fighting. You didn't just walk into 'The Queen's Dungeon' and start
having matches, or did you?

"No," I respond. "I actually got started in high school."

"In high school! How old were you?"

"I was seventeen," I continue. "Here, get comfortable and I'll tell you all
about it." Kelly shifts under the blankets and gets set. I begin

When I was in high school, I did a lot of gymnastics and swimming. By my last
year, I had pretty much reached my full height, but had not "filled out" yet.
Because of those sports, my coaches always talked about my strong core. It was
something they wanted all their athletes to have.

Being high school, as you know there were always characters around who thought
they were better than everybody else. Chief among those was Carla, a blond
floozy who felt all the world should pay attention only to her. I had managed
to keep clear of her most of the time, but when I was named captain of the
gymnastics squad, that was more than she could take. She spent the rest of our
junior year hounding me, or trying to turn other team members against me.

You can imagine my surprise, when upon returning to school in September for my
last year, she was all sweetness and nice. Of course, I was suspicious, but
outwardly decided to play along. After one practice she annouced a little too
loudly that it would be a good idea if as captain, I would come over and help
her with some of the more complicated moves. Not being sharp enough to think
of an out, I agreed.

That evening, the 'new best friend' routine continued to the point where I was
actually beginning to think it wasn't an act. We had been doing various
exercises on the mats in her basement when she finally revealed her true
colours.

"I see what the coaches mean about your strong core," Carla said, as I
finished an element.

"Thanks," I replied graciously. "Most of it is natural. There were a lot of
athletes on both sides of my family. I guess I got lucky with the genes
thing," I finished shrugging.

"Yeah, well some of us have to work real hard at it," Carla returned with a
slight edge in her voice. Then more proudly, "I do 250 crunches a day. I bet I
have the strongest core on the team."

"You probably do," I returned agreeably, not wanting to start an argument.

"Why don't we find out tonight?" Carla asked quickly.

"Find out what?" I inquired suspiciously, too late growing cautious.

"Who has the strongest core," Carla answered.

Without thinking, I asked, "And how are we going to do that?"

"We'll have a fight," stated Carla with a tone of finality.

Now I was in for it. I knew if I backed out, Carla would take great delight in
telling the rest of the team they had a coward for a captain. And based on her
idea, I felt she had probably been preparing for this all summer. It had been
years since I'd even hit anyone in anger, let alone been in a fight.

I took a breath, and decided to jump in with both feet. "What kind of fight
did you have in mind?" I asked reluctantly.

Carla's face lit up. "A boxing match," she replied. "There are some old gloves
in a cupboard in the back."

Before I could say anything else, she was gone to get them. I just stood there
shaking my head in disbelief that she would go to such lengths to humiliate
me. I then tried to focus on what was ahead. Since she had talked so much
about our cores, she obviously was thinking about targetting my midsection.
What she didn't know was that I did as many crunches as she did, as well as
other strengthening exercises that had been suggested to me. I hoped it would
all be enough.

My ruminations were interrupted by Carla's return. She was carrying two pairs
of boxing gloves. She threw me a pair, then started to strip.

"What are you doing?!" I cried out, very alarmed.

"We're going to fight in our panties and sports bras."

"Oh," was all I could say. Then I began to undress. Next, I began putting on
the boxing gloves, using my teeth to tighten the velcro snaps. I stood staring
at the gloves wondering what I had got myself into.

"Okay, here are the rules," Carla said authoritatively. "No punches to the
face. I've got a date tomorrow night. No punches below the top of the panties.
Anywhere else is permitted. We go until one of us can't go on, or one of us
quits. Any questions."

"You've planning this for a long time haven't you?" I asked, having become
annoyed at the whole situation. A wicked, twisted grin was her only response.
I tried my best to reign in my emotions as I realized I was going to need all
my energy to get through this, especially when I looked down at her tanned
six-pack abs.

"Let's go," Carla said, putting her hands up in front of her in a fighter's
stance. I copied her stance and tentatively moved forward. Before I knew what
was happenning, she threw as a sharp, straight right that slipped between my
arms and smacked against my chest.

I coughed and stepped back. When I took another breath, my chest flamed
instantly in pain. Focusing for the instant on that sensation, I temporarily
forgot all about Carla. She quickly reminded me by throwing a left into my
midsection.

I had never been hit there before. Even though it was only an 'arm' punch
without much shoulder or leg, and even though the boxing gloves were well
padded, it still stung. For the first time, I experienced the lost, desparate
situation of being unable breathe. As I backed up and tried to refill my lungs
with air, I manage to look up and saw Carla, a wider, more wicked smile on her
face.

Feeling she could make a short night of it, Carla moved in and started to
throw wide, wild punches. Most landed on my arms or sides, but they still
stung. Then the pain I was feeling started to turn to anger. I decided I
didn't want to be a punching bag for this two-faced tart.

I then realized that with the way she was throwing punches, her own midsection
was wide open. Focusing my energy, I threw a straight right into her belly
button. The punch produced a very satisfying 'smack' on her skin, and a loud
grunt from her mouth as she doubled over.

In just minutes, I had been hit in the abs for the first time, and thrown my
first gutpunch. As much as being hit in the stomach was a shock to my system,
hitting a female in the midsection provided a major boost. I felt strength
returning to my legs, and my mood lightened. I decided I would not repeat my
opponent's mistake and wildly charge in. I moved to my right to take stock of
the situation.

Carla took the time to slowly straighten up. The haughty look that had
accompanied her smirking grin was gone, replaced by anger and outright hatred.
Although I was also angry, I thought if I could channel my feelings while
inflaming hers, I might get her to make more mistakes.

Over the next few minutes, we took turns exchanging punches. Although hers
still had a lot of sting, I was taking them fairly well. Also, I could tell my
punches were hurting her. Soon she was trying to be more protective and less
aggressive. I began throwing wider punches to try and get around her arms.
Unfortunately, I had left myself open. Carla took advantage and drilled an
uppercut into my solar plexus. I pitched forward, arms wrapped around my
midsection as Carla proceeded to throw wild punches into my sides.

Somehow, I managed to keep my legs underneath me. I managed to move to my
left, get my right arm up on her right shoulder and push her away. I backed up
myself to try and get air back into my lungs. When Carla charged at me, I
circled away to my right to give myself more time.

"If you're not going to fight, then I win!" she yelled in frustration.

I took a big gulp of air and shot back, "I've got much more than you can
handle."

"Come on, then!" she barked, beckoning me towards her. I got my arms up and
slowly made my way forward. Carla again threw wild punches at me, but I was
able to block, side step or back away from them. Soon, I felt my strength
returning, and we were back to trading punches.

It was then that I noticed that Carla seemed to take a big breath before she
threw a punch, and not when she was just feinting or pawing. I then changed
tactics for the moment, and instead of trading punches, I would move to lessen
the impact or avoid hers while punching at her arms. Soon the rate and speed
of her punches slowed.

When I went back to trading punches, I used the signal that she was giving to
time my punches. Carla quickly became frustrated as I continually was able to
'beat her to the punch'. With growing confidence that my strategy was working,
I began putting more force behind my blows. In short order, she was breathing
heavily, her midsection a bright sweaty pink.

Trying not to get overly excited at my success, I continued to pound Carla's
midsection. Soon she was only punching back occasionally. With very little
behind them, I was able to take them without any problem. When she began to
draw in her arms in front of her, I took a step to one side or the other and
threw two or three punches into her side, bending her over.

Very shortly, when Carla stopped punching altogether, I knew I had her. With
each punch I threw, she would back up. When her back hit the wall, I grabbed
her wrists and put her hands up over her head. I held them in place with my
left hand, so that my right hand would be free. With her whole midsection now
wide open, I threw punch after punch after punch after punch into her abs,
delighting in sound of the air being driven from her body as the leather of
the glove smacked against her skin.

As each punch dug deeper and deeper into her abs, the expression on her face
grew increasingly desparate. I don't know which I was enjoying the most - the
sound of the punches, the grunts of pain, her mouth hanging open in agony, or
the combination of pain and defeat in her eyes.

"You still think you're the strongest, the toughest?!" I yelled. A moan was
all I got in reply. "I want to hear you say it," I continued. "Say that I'm
the best!"

At first there was no response. Then Carla shook her head. I responded by
driving another punch into her bellybutton.

"Try again," I ordered. When there was no response, I drew back my arm to
throw another punch.

"Please . . . gasp . . . no . . . gasp . . . gasp . . . stop . . . gasp . . .
gasp . . ." Carla managed to get out.

"I'm the best?! I'm the strongest?!" I prompted.

"Gasp . . . yes . . .gasp"

"And don't you ever forget it!" I admonished. I then drew my fist back and
threw my hardest punch of the night right into the middle of her abs producing
a loud grunt. I released her hands, and watched in delight as she collapsed in
a heap on the floor at my feet. I undid my gloves and dropped them at her
feet. I towelled off, got dressed, and left her lying on the floor moaning,
her arms wrapped around her battered midsection.

The next week at school, I learned Carla had cancelled her date, something
about being sick to her stomach. Whenever she saw me, she made sure she was on
her absolute best behaviour.

"Wha - ! You mean, that's it!" Kelly finally manages to get out. "Where's the
domination?!! Where's the sexy hot finish?!!!"

"I thought you wanted to hear about my first fight?" I respond, trying to
sound hurt.

"Well, uh, yaa - uh," stammers Kelly.

"That's okay," I laugh. "That didn't cum to me, so to speak until later. But
enough of the story telling. Let's get some sleep."

"Okay," replies Kelly snuggling close. "I can't wait for the next one."