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Low Point
San Diego, CALIFORNIA -- Jet City South
3rd NOVEMBER 2023
OFF-Camera
Things have been pretty quiet over the last couple of weeks. Oz had no idea where Eiley went off to, but didn’t really feel like he was in a position to ask too many questions. The two of them were no longer undefeated because of him. They were no longer champions because of him. The fact that she wasn’t around felt like the punishment that he deserved. It also felt like all of the things that everyone was whispering behind the scenes were true. Jaycee had been hyped up about being the next big thing when he came back at Summer XXXtreme. Eiley had just won future star of the year at High Stakes. If there was a weak link between the three newcomers out of Jet City, it was clearly him. So the fact that Eiley had better things to do than waste her time with him made sense.
It didn’t mean that he stopped showing up though. He came to Jet City daily, and allowed the remaining trainers to put him through the paces. He studied up on his opponents, even though he was more than familiar with the two of them over the last couple of months. All-in-all, he should have been confident. Ariana and Carter had fallen to teams that Eiley and Oz had beaten effortlessly. The moment that this match was made, he should have been able to do the mental math required to turn this into a win. He didn’t have it though. Not anymore. His team had been torn apart by two people that couldn’t stand each other. They got exposed, and all at once, the comparisons between Limitless and Reckless Elite became punchlines. The rookies’ time in the spotlight was over, and it was likely that the team would be as well. Eiley definitely had better prospects than being handcuffed to him when her career had the potential to take off.
All he wanted to do was get changed and get out of sight before Kris, Mikah, or Eiley showed up to tell him how big of a piece of shit that he was. However, as he was getting changed back into his street clothes, a hand hammered on the locked stall door behind him. He hadn’t even heard anyone enter the room.
OZ: Occupied. Fuck off.
He didn’t hear footsteps backpedal away from his stall, so he turned and unlatched the door as he pulled his shirt over his head. As soon as the lock was disengaged, the door came flying back towards him, knocking him off balance and causing him to fall back onto the bench that gear was still sitting on.
KRIS: Where the fuck is your partner?
Oz wasn’t surprised at all that the door got kicked into his face when he realized exactly who it was that was doing the kicking. This was the kind of situation he had been trying to avoid.
OZ: Probably doing everything she can to stay as far away from me as possible.
The words seemed to catch Kris by surprise. He took a few seconds to process them, considering the two of them were never far from one another’s sight. Most of the time the whole gym joked that they were literally connected at the hip because despite not being in a real relationship, they lived, traveled, and always worked out together. In Kris’ mind, if that had changed, there could only possibly be one person at fault.
KRIS: Why? What did you do?
Oz wanted to be offended, but all he could muster was a laugh.
OZ: You mean other than be the weight around her neck that cost us the Mixed Tag Team Championships and our undefeated streak?
The door started to swing closed, separating the two of them, but Kris pushed it back open, and then held it for a moment to make sure that its momentum had stopped before turning his attention back to his protege.
KRIS: That’s it?
The way he said the words actually pissed Oz off. It wasn’t as if he had given some small or arbitrary reasoning for his partner abandoning him. He cost them their championships. He was the one that came up short, and that had been a trend of their match-ups, even when they pulled out a victory eventually.
OZ: It’s kind of a big deal. It was the first thing that either of us actually won.
Kris shook that excuse off without even considering it.
KRIS: The two of you have successfully robbed scores of people blind. You have too many wins as a team, inside and outside of the ring, to let one loss tear the two of you apart. You have to have done something if she is actually mad at you…
Oz shrugged.
OZ: I don’t know. I guess I’d have to actually talk to her in order to find out. I haven’t seen her since High Stakes.
As he spoke, Oz turned his back to Kris and started throwing all of his loose gear back into his bag.
KRIS: She’s not returning your messages?
Oz shrugged again without turning back to face his mentor, and zipped up his bag once he had packed up all of his things. He put the strap over his shoulder, and tried to push past Kris, but the Hall of Famer wouldn’t move out of his way. He was trapped, and forced to actually answer the question.
OZ: I’d have to send some to find out….
Kris rolled his eyes, and then took a deep breath in an attempt not to blow up at yet another student. He wanted to be better than he was with Court. He didn’t want to make the mistakes that he made with Jaycee. Oz wasn’t making that very easy though.
KRIS: So what you’re actually saying is that you have been too afraid to talk to her, and have been wallowing in self-pity for two weeks instead of picking yourself up and actually getting back to work.
Oz wasn’t going to take responsibility for Eiley not being at the gym though. He had been here every single day since High Stakes.
OZ: I’ve been showing up everyday!
That wasn’t good enough for Kris though, and the rage finally boiled over as he started to yell loud enough to be heard outside in the gym.
KRIS: No, half your team has been showing up everyday, and by any metric, 50% is a failing fucking grade! I don’t care how sorry you are feeling for yourself! Pick up your phone, make a call, send a text, and figure this the fuck out!
However, Oz didn’t feel like pressuring Eiley into a conversation that she didn’t want to have was a good idea. In fact, he had seen someone go overboard on the Summer XXXtreme cruise for trying to do that very thing.
OZ: I don’t th--
Kris wasn’t going to let him make any excuses though.
KRIS: I’m not fucking asking you a question, Oz! I am telling you to talk to your partner or get the fuck out of my gym until after you do!
Kris stepped to the side of the stall to give Oz an open path to the door if that was what he chose. Honestly, he shouldn’t have expected the rookie to make the hard choice, because Oz didn’t even think twice before shaking his head, and walking out.
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>Meh…
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”I don’t know how I am supposed to be excited about this match…”
”Eiley and I are coming off of the worst outing of our careers, and that is mostly my fault. I figured that we might not be the next in line to get our championships back, but I never thought that we would fall so far as to be teaming up against people in the bottom half of this division….”
”...and yeah, I get that Carter has had some amazing matches in the main events of shows lately, but tell me how many of them he has won. I understand that Ariana is carrying around a championship belt now, but tell me which champion she actually got the better of in order to win it. The two of them might seem formidable on paper, but if you look a little closer you can see that these two are about as disappointing as they come. So much so that the Sin City world only thinks that they can hang with us at our lowest point.”
”I mean I can remember back to Summer XXXtreme where Eiley and I had to take down the best teams that this company had to offer, but I don’t remember seeing them there. I am not even sure that Carter had a match for the majority of the cruise, and if Ariana did, I guess it was a loss because it doesn’t ring any bells either. Yet, these two have continued getting opportunity after opportunity in an attempt to sell you people on the idea of them actually being worth a shit. Here’s a spoiler: they aren’t.”
”If Eiley and I were still the champions, this match wouldn’t be happening, because the two of them are so obviously beneath us. As it stands, I guess this is how far down the ladder that Mark and Christian think that Eiley and I have fallen.”
”....and I guess that is my fault.”
”...so maybe this is the match-up that we earned with our last performance….”
