"Actually, I was thinking of something else first." Ellie sighed, but still entered the building with her gym bag to help her with a problem. She missed her husband's attention. A lot. What did she get from him lately? A peck on the cheek before he left for work and then they dined together in the evening for supper. She went to bed mostly before him and he would eventually come in late at night, after endless repetitions on TV. There was probably no more in their marriage, but the female mammoth thought that they were both not that old. Did her husband have an affair? Maybe a younger and prettier lady in the office?

She shook her head as she stood in front of the counter, where a young cheetah was looking for something on the shelf. She didn't want to be so slim and could not even when she tries hard. But getting in shape a little more would be great, Ellie thought and made herself noticeable.

"Oh, I'm sorry I did not notice you right away, but mammoths don't usually have such quiet steps." She did try to not roll her eyes and smiled friendly as she explained what she wanted. Even though she knew what her counterpart was talking about, it was only pretentious mammoths, which let everyone know that they had entered.

"Hm? Yes. How about ten to fifteen hours a week?" Ellie widened her eyes slightly, than she only wanted to spend an hour here and maybe only every other day. But it's not like she has anything else to do at home. Peaches left the house for a long time and was now married. Unfortunately, there were no grandkids to deal with. She also couldn't bother her friends every day, just because her spouse needed or wanted to work so much. She wondered how the others did it. Should she also look for a job?

"Why not." She said and signed the contract, because of course she read through it before because she didn't want to do that forever. If she likes it, she could still change the contract.

Thus, everything was settled quickly and the young lad showed her a little here the facility. She was allowed to use all free devices as long as she knew how they worked. If not, she should ask someone who works here. These people could not be missed because they all wore the same shirt with the same logo on it.

The last thing he showed to Ellie was the changing rooms and the shower. Then the cheetah said goodbye, because his cell phone rang suddenly and he quickly disappeared back to the counter. Anyway, Ellie accepted that because she couldn't see through walls. But she now knew what she had to do and entered the locker room for women. Of course, there were also corners for larger and smaller animals. Maybe she shouldn't have come here alone, because somehow she had the feeling she would be bored if she had no one to talk to. Well, she could still use the earplugs from her phone and listen to some music while she was training.

Done changing clothes and stuff stowed away in a locker, she went back to the other big room. Well, it was more like a gym with exercise equipment. A well-built Panther gave her a quick look as she passed him. Inwardly, she immediately wondered if she was perhaps too much for a mammoth. She had never thought much about it. Or did she own the wrong sportswear? She looked down at herself again. No, that tank top and shorts was ok. It was best to ignore such animals and pretend train with the pedal boat. That's what she always liked to do.

Unfortunately, this is not offered by every place with a lake. Nevertheless that would be the right thing now. Blue sky and blue water, about which she drives quietly with her husband. She already had the boat, it just stood on the ground. The rest she had to think with the right sounds in her ear. Then she realized that a bear was staring at her. When they made eye contact, this looked quickly away. Again she tried to shake it off. But abruptly a familiar face appeared between all the other animals.

"Hey Gertie!" She just called after her to distract herself from the rest, because now at least she could talk to someone. The raptor seemed somehow caught. Ellie wondered why. Was not the younger one prepared to meet someone familiar here? With the head down, she came over to her.

"What are you doing here?" Nice welcome, thought the mammoth and still tramping on.

"I also need a bit more exercise. What are you doing here? You don't look like someone who needed exercise." Again the Dino made a strange face. Sometimes you would think that the Raptor would be in constant stress that it will not be able to smile.

"For your information, I don't see sport as a waste of time but as a good and fit-holding hobby!" Her interlocutor announced with crossed wings.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. So what are you doing here?" Gertie sighed and dropped her arms.

"Does the term 'martial arts' mean something to you?" It seemed to Ellie that the other was irritated by something.

"Yes, but I hope you don't hurt yourself here." Because it sounded dangerous in her ears.

"Well, not always. But it is good if you want to let off some frustration. At the moment I think wrestling is ok too." She nodded and thought for a moment about it.

"Hm, sounds interesting. Can I do that too?"

"Why shouldn't you be able to do that? Oh I understand. You have a too soft heart to measure yourself with others. Or maybe you don't want to break your too-colorful hooves." Then the bigger animal stopped pedaling to look at the hooves.

"Do you really think that's too colorful? I just wanted to try something new." Ellie just didn't know the latest trends since her daughter moved out. Yes, she could still look at the net or fashion magazines, but that was not the same on her own, and Shira was currently too busy with her newborn child.

"Well no, it looks great." She heard of a grumpy Gertie who hung her head a little more low and didn't even look at her.

"Do you mind if we spend some time together here?" Inquired the mammoth, because she should at least ask, because she didn't want to push herself to others.

"Me? With you?" She heard that in an almost shocked voice. Was that such a daring question, she thought and got up from the device. The desire for pedal boating had passed her.

"Of course with me. I just thought that you already know your way around better, so I don't have to constantly annoy an employee. But if you have something else to do, where I am out of place, then I just stay for myself. I'm stupid. You've made an appointment with someone here, already right? You always need two for wrestling. So I'll go.." Ellie wanted to move away from the Dakotaraptor.

"No!" It came a little louder from the Dino and this looked also fleetingly embarrassed. Or she imagined that. Gertie then turned away, but the mammoth still noticed how she played with her claws. Almost as if the younger one was nervous. The bigger one wondered why? Because of her? But she was not as scary as her husband sometimes was when he got angry. Anyway, Ellie thought that.

"I mean, you can come with me and take a look at the movements. I always come alone and if anyone is there, I finish them. Lately, strangely enough, nobody here is in the mood for martial arts or wrestling, so I'm training alone." The girl is definitely going too harshly with everyone, that nobody wants to spend time with her anymore, Ellie thought and knew it wasn't Gertie's fault. If you are educated only by a rough father who knows as little about sensitivity as her husband, the result was no wonder.

"I'll give you a suggestion. You teach me something about wrestling and you don't have to train on your own. Maybe we can compete against each other for fun." She said, what was in her head, because she had nothing else to do anyway.

"Pff, I have years of experience. Do you think you can fight me after a few hours?"

"Maybe not. But I'm learning fast." And I'm more agile than I look.

"So maybe we can have a friendly match in a month or two." Ellie found herself, that sounded too self-confident. At home, she first should zoogle wrestling.

"In such a short time, you'll never be ready to compete against a pro like me." It came a little annoying from the Raptor. Probably because she took this sport lightly.

"Well, since you're my teacher from now on, we'll see how long I need to get ready for the first match." Again she got the shocked look. But it quickly changed to something else. She saw something like fire in Gertie's eyes.

"I will train you to the best and then you will defeat everyone here."

"Actually.."

"Merciless until no one is left."

"That doesn't sound.."

"You will be as good as me and then maybe one will finally be up to me. Yes, that's really a great idea." Ellie now saw that her opposite could be happy, but apparently only when others feel bad. Maybe she can help the Dino to see the world differently.

So the days, weeks and even months went by and Ellie came here almost daily, just because sport was fun. You just had to find something you liked. Wrestling had not been her favorite pastime, but she loved spending time with Gertie. The young woman was really nice when you got to know her better. Somehow she would like to spend time with her outside of the gym but the younger one wouldn't like it. After all, they were only friends because Gavin and Manny had become such big buddies. Although she heard that Roger has a girlfriend now, Gertie herself seldom talks about her love life.

Well, actually it's not her business at all, but she wanted to help the Dakotaraptor a little, after she helped her get back into shape. She really would like to go shopping, but all the other girls were busy. Peaches has to take care of her husband, who broke his leg while rescuing small birds. Shira is hiking with Diego in the mountains. A saber tooth thing. And dear Brooke is still on honeymoon with Sid. Manny has never been able to make a big impact on her, even when it comes to underwear, and her brothers always thought it was deadly boring. At the moment she did not have anyone outside of this place with which she could do anything.

Questions cost nothing, but she did not want to take a pejorative look from the female Dino. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but maybe she could persuade Gertie to do wrestling. But Ellie didn't find herself very good at it, even though she had been training it for a while. Nevertheless, she found that the only way to persuade the Raptor to something else. Maybe Gertie even liked doing something outside of here in the end. If not, they could always meet here again.

"Didn't you say we'll compete against each other?" The Dakotaraptor jumped a little when the mammoth mother stepped closer to the younger woman, who seemed to hide something behind her.

"Oh, hey, I didn't hear you come in. Don't sneak up on me like that!" Gertie fell back into her usual pitch, not to sound unsure.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, but what about wrestling now?" Ellie inquired, trying not to care what the younger one hid from her. That certainly was none of her business.

"There is nobody here except us." Said the dino lady as if it should tell her something.

"What do you mean by that?" The taller one looked around a bit, because maybe others were expected. In fact, she found it strange that when they were both training, they were always alone in the ring or in the room. Rarely were other animals here and when, they were just about to leave.

"Well, you do not want anyone to witness if I lose, I mean, not that I'm going to lose you, but still, there should be a fair referee."

"You're probably right, how about Mister Retnap, he's a .." Ellie has already been interrupted.

"Nice guy, yes, of course, he will not do that!"

"Why, what do you have against him?"

"He's staring at you all the time ... I do not care ... I do not want him okay, I'll ask the tussie from the counter." With that, the Raptor disappeared and the other felt as if she had done something wrong. Maybe it was not a good idea to wrestle today. But Gertie could have canceled it too. Then Ellie came back to her mind that the younger one was not one to say no to a challenge. No matter what it was about. The mammoth hoped that her new friend would not feel bad or anything, because when she came in here earlier, the raptor's face looked a little pale. Ellie had often made it clear that the other person could talk to her about everything.

Through the open door she heard the other two women approaching. Well, Gertie pulled the leopard from the bar rather here.

"But we do not keep you from work?" Wanted to know the biggest in the room, because the Dino was sometimes really rough.

"No not true." Rejected the young leopard, but still Ellie would later have a word with her friend about the fact that you can not simply drag animals from the place. After all, the employees can not just take care of them. Now there was no time left for readings, because Gertie was already getting ready for the fight and she was reluctant to let her wait. At the same time, the mammoth mother wondered what she had to do if she lost. Moments later she was already in the ring with Gertie. She looked at her sharply, as if she had done something wrong. She wondered if that was the usual battle view. She tried to do the same and looked challenged and cold.

"Ready?" The Leopard wanted to know again and they both nodded. Then even a bell rang and wrestling started.