Disclaimer: I don't own shit. Except Maria and Angel. I'm a hobo. Back off.

A/N: This is my very first fan fiction, although I am not an amateur writer—I write stories of my own, this being the first of perhaps a few more chapters of such foolishness as Saturday morning cartoons… I just like to do my own thing. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy. And no, this has no yaoi in it. At all. I'm sorry for all you Male/Male fans, I'm not against shounen-ai or yaoi or anything of that nature, but I find it easier to focus on Fem/Male couples. Sorry to disappoint you.

EDIT: Sorry, folks, but no romance in this fic! At least, I'm pretty sure.

((By the way, this takes place a few months before the Ikemen Chojin Crown… Slightly AU sometimes, as I'm not entirely sure what they do in the Hercules Factory... I did, however, play the GBA version of Ultimate Muscle, so I got some glimpses… It's fun. Kevin Mask ownz.))

Chapter 1: The Hercules Factory

Kevin looked up from the television (which was showing a re-run of some old sparring match between Buffaloman and Ramenman) as Croe walked in, chuckling to himself and staring at an article in the newspaper that he obviously found amusing.

"What's so funny?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow under the cold exterior of his mask.

"Ah… I'm just finding it hard to believe. Did you know there's a girl who wants to join the Muscle League?"

"Oh, let me guess, that McMadd woman?" The azure-masked wrestler scoffed, turning back to the telly.

"No, no, I'm being serious! Take a look." He tossed the Style section at him, the paper fluttering down to rest on his face.

"So was I… and by the way, nice throw," he muttered sarcastically, removing the newspaper from his head. Lord Flash, who had had already disappeared back into the other room, did not hear him. Examining the article he was given, he found his comrade's words to be true—A young woman was grinning out at him from a color picture, standing somewhere outside the Hercules Factory, her arms around the shoulders of a few other wrestlers-in-training.

A long article of babbling words surrounded it, column after column, talking about this and that, and a bunch of other pointless rot he didn't care for. Frowning under the blue mask, he continued to examine her—She was tall, standing at somewhere around 6 feet at the very least, and lean. Kevin snorted softly. She was much too skinny compared to a Chojin, but from the looks of it, she'd be unfashionably robust compared to other women.

The woman—Maria Williams, the papers said her name was—was 20-year-old American of Irish descent with copper hair, and eyes the color of limes. Some rain had leaked through the protective plastic covering of the newspaper while it was outside, causing much of the color to be smudgy. It wasn't, however, so smudged that he couldn't see that she was purposely alluring. Your typical femme fatale, minus the dominatrix boots. (She opted for sneakers.)

He scoffed again and set the paper down, already making up his mind. "She stands about as much of a chance as a snowball in hell. She's too delicate!" he called into the next room before turning his gaze back to the re-run.

.:Intermission:.

Maria stepped off the treadmill, panting. 20 miles was pretty good for just an hour's run… But she could do better! She kicked half-heartedly at a wall before tearing herself away from her self-depreciating thoughts to look up at the clock on the nearly bare walls.

"Shit, I'm freakin' late!" she cursed and made haste, disappearing from her room in no time. (She even neglected to lock her door—And living in the same building as a bunch of other guys, things happened when she forgot.) Instead of being one of the first in class, as she usually was in her haste to show her dedication, she was one of the last, getting stuck with a second-row seat and a bad view. She was tall, but she'd been finding guys were usually taller and bulkier. At least there weren't too many other people sitting with her—The numbers tended to vary depending on who was being hospitalized at the moment.

Maria cursed softly to herself and settled back, getting ready for another long (yet always strangely stimulating) day.

First, it was lessons on rules, rules, more rules, dos and don'ts, blah, blah, blah… Then it was off to the ring, then lunch, and then some more training shit that she actually enjoyed. Today, she and the rest of her class had to scale some sort of cliff wall in the rain… Halfway up, Maria vaguely wondered whether the rain was planned or whether it was sheer coincidence.

Not that she minded either way, of course—She was much too caught up in her task to think of anything but putting one hand over the other, handhold, foothold. It proceeded this way for the next hour or so, the top of the cliff face still never coming into view. Her muscles were beginning to feel like something akin to lead at this point, and she was lucky to not have slipped or fallen yet. One of her classmates had earlier, and the screams of pain she heard once he had hit the bottom were almost enough to make her retch on the spot.

A noise like pop rocks and soda being mixed together cracked over her head. Looking up, she realized what it was, recognizing the distinctive shape of rocks… They could be flying rocks, of course, except there was no reason for their trainers (or gravity) to be so merciful to them.

"…Fuck," she muttered, face emotionless for a second. Then it really kicked in. "Fuck-tards!" she yelled, frantically looking around her to see if the others had noticed what she had. Apparently not. "Move, move, damnit! – Shit!" Luckily, no rocks seemed to be falling for her (directly.) So, she grabbed the nearest person, pulling him without warning to her.

"Hey, bitch, th'fuck's your problem! What're you—" He was silenced when a boulder, much bigger than it had looked while falling, smashed a fissure into the cliff face. Right where he had been.

"Yeah, I thought so." She responded, releasing her death grip on his arm to let him get back to where he was a few seconds ago—Or, rather, what was left of that spot. That was the worst of the tumbling rocks, so she continued upwards, ignoring the scratches and bruises and scrapes that she would surely find on herself tomorrow from the smaller debris that hailed on them until they reached the top.

God, she just loved this.

.:Halfway There Intermission:.

Just a little over a month passed very quickly, and the Ikemen Chojin Crown was coming up like a cheetah on every confident wrestler's ass. Kevin Mask, of course, was no exception. Lately, he had been training in local gyms against pathetic excuses for combatants—Who now all lay on the floor, out cold.

"Hopeless…" he muttered, picking up his trench coat to leave. These blokes would be no help at all. Kevin stepped outside, the change from the dark gym into the sunlight making him squint and almost sneeze.

"I'm FREE! I'm FREE, I'm FREE, I'm FREE!"

"Oi! Get back here, you left your luggage in the cab!"

"I don't care! No more sitting through boring classes about rules! FREE!"

A blur of green and orange shot past him, yelling and shouting excitedly. "Yes! This is GREAT! Ahh, hello again, earth! Hello, random pedestrians! Hello, giant guy!" The blur flew past again, slowing down just enough so that he could see it was a copper-haired woman. The young chojin thought about it a moment… 'Oh—It's that Williams girl. From the papers.' But why was she running around like a bloody madcap?

"GET BACK HERE, YOU BLEEDING LUNATIC!" The sharper, steely voice drew his attention—The owner was across the street, a bit hard to spot due to being short. Black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes… She also looked pissed off at the world, as if her expression said—all the time— I don't want to be here. The article in the papers might have said something about her, but he wouldn't know—He didn't read the bloody thing. Maybe she was Maria's manager? Probably. Kevin continued to watch the scene for a few more moments, until the dark-haired girl's eyes caught his and narrowed. There was something very, very strange about this girl. She didn't seem older than Maria at all… If anything, she could have been younger. Kevin let the matter drop from his mind, hopping onto his nearby motorcycle. Like he cared.

.:You're Almost Done Intermission:.

"So, where the hell are we going again?" the small girl asked, finally having gotten Maria to calm down. They were walking along the sidewalk that the cab had left them on, passing curious children and adults, townhouses and apartment complexes, shops and outdoor markets… At least Maria seemed to know her way around the place. She couldn't even remember the name of the freakin' city.

"To an old friend of mine's place… I haven't seen him in over a decade." She bounced slightly in her step at this, grinning.

"If that's the case, I don't want to come. Your friends are weird. They usually say weird things, have weird habits, and have weird styles of dressing. And you're excited to see this one..."

"That's alright with me, go look for a hotel room or something."

Angel left abruptly, rolling her eyes and entering a nearby shop that sold chocolate. Chocolate was always good, especially after dealing with a kid like Maria all day.

Five minutes later, Kid Muscle, Wally, and Dik Dik looked up from a television program at the knocking sound on the door.

A/N: I was going to include more in this chapter, but I'm such a freakin' lazy bum. Sorry! Next chapter will come soon, tell me what you think in a review, blah, blah, blah. Here, I just really wanted to establish the characters of Maria and her manager, Angel, and sort of tell Kevin's first impressions of them.))