2~ Timeless Tuesday

Here's my little short story for Timeless Tuesday, a alternate universe in which Jack and Ashi are elite gymnasts trying to make it to the Olympics, because I love gymnastics

and I used to be a gymnast!


Once upon a time, there was a girl named Ashi who trained in a Gymnastics gym with her seven sisters. Their mother was a hard coach, training them since they were three

years old. Her dream was maybe one, or two, or three of her children would go to the Olympics and win the gold medal, since she never got the chance. Ashi and her sisters

loved gymnastics when they first started out. But when they turned five years old and made the level 4 team, they began to dislike it. Four to five hour practices that used to

be filled with fun now turned into a practice of torture they couldn't wait to be done with. When either Ashi or her sisters got hurt, their mother simply told them to wrap it up

and flip through the pain. Even worse, when their mother was in a bad mood and felt like her daughters weren't performing up to her par, she'd make them run laps outside

until she said they could stop, 100 rope climbs, sit-ups, push-ups, chin holds. Despite all this, Ashi became the strongest out of all her sisters. She learned the skills quicker

than her sisters. Because of this, her mother singled her out and pushed Ashi harder than the rest of her sisters, which Ashi's sisters didn't like. At meets, Ashi would win

first-place all-around. Her strongest events were floor and uneven bars. At the level 4 state meet, she got a 9.9 on floor, and a perfect 10.00 on bars, setting a record for her

gym. The years passed, Ashi and her sisters continued to train and move up the levels in gymnastics. When Ashi and her sisters were only ten years old, they were level 9

gymnasts training level 10. Ashi was so skilled and accelerated in her training, she competed both level 9 and level 10 at the same time. By the time the level 10 season was

over, Ashi was already training for elite. Ashi scored first place at the elite qualifier, and at age 11, she made her debut as a junior elite gymnast, the youngest in her gym to

ever become elite.


At Ashi's first ever elite meet, she scored first place on floor, first place on bars, second place on vault, and third place on beam. While Ashi was proud, her mother still found

faults in performance, which Ashi didn't like. Shortly after Ashi became elite, her sisters joined her in her elite journey. One day after a competition, Ashi met a boy named

Jack. He too was an elite gymnast at only 11 years old. Jack grew up doing flips around the house and climbing, flipping, and hanging around tree's, so his parents put him in

gymnastics after he broke his mother's favorite vase doing a forward roll in the house. Jack was very good in gymnastics, getting first or second place at meets. He didn't

compete two levels at the same time like Ashi, but after level 9, he skipped level 10 and went straight to elite. His strongest events were floor, vault, pommel horse, and high

bar. Jack and Ashi quickly became friends. They continued to see each other after each meet and even hung out outside the gym. For the first time, Ashi began to enjoy

herself at practice. Ashi's mother noticed this and punished her daughter for being "distracted," saying she was "ruining" her chances of going to the Olympics by being

focused on Jack. Ashi and Jack continued to train and do well at meets. People were amazed with their performance. Were these gymnasts human? How did they become so

good at such a young age? At world's, Ashi scored gold all-around, and Jack got silver all-around for the men's. At the start of the next elite season when she was 12 years

old, Ashi began training harder skills, and so did Jack. They practiced double layouts, double arabians, roundoff back handspring to a full twist with a double back pike on

floor. Jack learned how to do more difficult release moves on the high bar and rings. For her beam dismount, Ashi did two back handsprings to a double twisting back tuck. As

they trained, Jack and Ashi got closer to each other and developed romantic feelings for each other. When Jack and Ashi were 13, Jack joined Ashi's gym, much to her

mother's disapproval. She tried to break them up, or trick Jack into leaving the gym, but Ashi was wise and knew her mother's tricks. But Ashi's mother had a plan.


When Ashi and Jack turned 14, Ashi's mother sent Ashi far away to a different gym to train. Ashi's new coach was named Aku. Aku had been training gymnasts to become

Olympians for a long time. While he was in a way less strict than her mother, his demeanor creeped Ashi out. But Jack was determined to keep in touch wish Ashi no matter

what, and they began secretly writing letters and sending pictures to each other. Another year passed. Jack and Ashi were now 16 and were now eligible to qualify for the

Olympics if they were chosen at the trials that summer. Despite their distance between each other, Jack and Ashi still very much loved and cared for each other. Then Ashi

heard that there was a new girl training at her old gym back home, and she was giving Ashi a run for her money when it came to gymnastics. No matter what happened, or

whatever tricks her mother had up her sleeve, Ashi was going to the Olympics, and so was Jack.


At long last, the Olympic trials came, and Ashi and Jack were ready. People cheered for them, but people were also cheering for the new girl, Ikra, who gave Ashi a run for

her money. Ikra was 19, and she felt she wasn't going to get overrun by someone she felt was a "kid." As the trials went on, Ashi was nervous, and she saw how well Ikra

was doing, she began to lose hope. On the second and last night of the trials however, Jack surprised Ashi and gave her a kiss. This fueled Ashi, and she went out there and

put on a show. She was going to prove her mother wrong, and Ikra as well. She landed perfectly most of her moves, as well as Jack did. When the results of those who made

the team came through, everyone cheered when Jack and Ashi were chosen. Ikra was chosen, as well as one of Ashi's sisters. Ashi and Jack were ready to get out there and

make history. However, while they were training for the Olympics, Ashi had an accident and got a bad sprain in her right ankle. How would she go on? Devastated, Ashi didn't

know what to do. But Jack was there to help her, he helped her walk and nurse her ankle back to health with remedies his mother gave him when he had aches and pains.

Slowly, Ashi's ankle began to feel better. If she wrapped it up nice and tight, it barely hurt at all. And Ashi could land some of her flips by putting more weight on her left

ankle. Essentially, she was doing gymnastics with one leg.

Finally, the day of the Olympics for gymnastics arrived. Ashi and Jack had tossed and turned all night, but they were ready. Everyone was cheering for the teams. Ashi and

the rest of her team, along with Jack and his team made the qualifications and made it to team all-around. Ashi and her team won gold for all-around, Jack and his team won

silver. Then, as were the rules, only two could advance to the final. For women's individual all-around, Ashi and Ikra were chosen. For men's, Jack, and a young man called

the Scotsman were chosen. Everyone was on their edge of their seats as they watched Ashi versus Ikra, and Jack versus the Scotsman. In the end, for all-around, Ashi got

gold, and Ikra got silver. Jack got gold for men's, and the Scotsman got silver. Ikra was very upset that she got beaten by Ashi, but what could she do about it? Then the

individual apparatus. For floor, Ashi got gold, she got gold on bars, silver on vault, and bronze on beam. Her sister that made it got silver on bars, and silver on beam. Ikra

got silver on floor, silver on bars, gold on vault, and gold on beam. To Ikra, it wasn't fair. How did she get gold on vault and beam, but Ashi get gold all-around the other day?

Life didn't make sense sometimes. It must be the judges showing favoritism, she thought. Jack got gold for floor, vault, and high bar. He got silver for pommel horse, silver

for parallel bar, and bronze for rings. The Scotsman got silver for floor, vault and high bar. He got gold for pommel horse, but bronze for parallel bar and silver for rings.


Jack and Ashi had done it. They were Olympic gold medalists. Ashi had proved to her mother she wasn't "distracted" and "weak" when it came to doing well in gymnastics.

For weeks after the Olympics, Ashi and Jack appeared in interviews on TV and in sports magazines, they showed people their gold medals. Jack and Ashi were very happy and

very much in love with each other. They continued to do gymnastics and lived happily ever after.