Las Vegas, Nevada - the GO Gym
Several months ago
A familiar enough sight in the annals of Sin City Wrestling history. Several SCW stars, male and female alike, both past and present, rose to prominence much in part to the top tier training they received from this very Academy. Such established names like Evie Baang-Jordan. Fenris. London Underground. Devona. Dani Weston. Ariana Angelos. Helluva Bottom Carter. And … Krystal Wolfe.
And now? There was about to be one more.
The yellow Nissan LV200 Las Vegas cab pulled into the drive and slowed to a crawl until it came to a full stop, leaving the engine running. The passenger rear door on the left opened and Alleyne Mahoe, known in the current time line as the aptly named Tempest, set foot out onto the paved drive. Even in her street attire, consisting of a camouflage tank top in black and different shades of grays, blue denim shorts and white sneakers, Alleyne was still an imposing presence. She turned around and reached back inside of the cab to retrieve her gym luggage, when the cab driver decided to tempt fate and find out just how imposing she was…
Cab driver: Hey lady! Where's my tip?
Alleyne turned around to look into the open window of the cab where the driver returned her look, but also had the chutzpah to hold his hand out to her in obvious expectation. She looked first to his open palm, and then at him.
Tempest: Tip? Let me give you a tip! First you’re not wearing a damn mask, and you drive like a maniac from my hotel like you were out to kill me! Then you barely acknowledge me the entire drive, preferring to complain to your buddy on your phone, while driving (!), about your problems with your ‘bitch!’ If you want a tip, next time earn it!
That being said, Alleyne turned her back on the surly driver who muttered a half hearted “Bitch..” beneath his breath, but not low enough as Alleyne spun around with a look of express anger on her face. The cab driver, about half her size, quickly averted his gaze and practically tore out of the lot with her watching after him until he was out of sight.
Only then did she turn around to face the facility and, like most others that were in the same situation, pondered whether or not she had the right place. From the outside the building was unassuming - much in contrast to what they find inside. She walked up to the front door and pulled, but found it fast locked. The windows were tinted just enough that seeing inside was nigh on impossible. It was then that she noticed the speaker to the right of the door, so she pressed the button. A brief moment later…
Voice: Helllllo?
Tempest: Yeah, it’s Alleyne Mahoe. This is the GO Gym?
Voice: Well if you HAVE to ask…
Tempest: Look, I have an appointment to talk to Gabriel Stevens.
There was a soft click and the front door to the gym was unlocked. Alleyne grabbed her bag and headed inside, finding herself in a small hallway. She walked roughly three yards before she found herself in the office lobby outside of the main floor of the gym, and paused as she witnessed a curious site; Despayre seated on one side of the desk, and the teddy bear Angel on the other -- playing cards. She slowly walked around behind Despayre until she stood at the front of the desk, watching with a curious frown.
Tempest: Excuse me…
Despayre: Hold on… I got Angel right where I want him!
Despayre slaps his cards down on the desk top with a bright smile.
Despayre: Gin!
But the smile melted into a frown and a huff of indifference.
Despayre: I know we were playing poker! What’s your point!?
It was then Despayre remembered his manners and turned his head to acknowledge the Gym’s guest, and he looked up - and up - and his eyes opened wide and he jumped to his feet, scattering the cards everywhere as he held his arms up in surrender.
Despayre: Don’t shoot, Masked Stranger!
And Alleyne wasn’t even certain how to respond to the boy’s actions, but she needn’t bother as he leaned in for a closer look, causing her to frown and lean back and away from him. Despayre then slapped his leg and laughed, pointing at her.
Despayre: Ha! ‘Masked Stranger!’ I thought you were about to tell us to ‘stick `em up!’ and rob the place! Then you woulda gotten it! Angel would have really tore you a new….
Tempest: I have an appointment! Can I go in or not?
Despayre turned to her and snorted back a laugh.
Despayre: No!
He walked around the desk until he was on the same side as the teddy bear and sat on the stool provided, while the bear was on the place of honor; a booster seat on the office chair. Despayre rolled his eyes at Angel while jetting a thumb back toward Alleyne.
Despayre: She has an ‘appointment.’
Tempest: Excuse me!?
Despayre: Look lady! Angel and I keep track of every one of Gabriel and Odette’s appointments in our journal!
He tapped a forefinger down pointedly on the surface of a ‘Hello Kitty’ journal. He flipped it open and through various pages and entries written in purple crayon.
Despayre: And looky here! No appointment for -- whoever you are.
Tempest: I came all the way from Hawaii to talk to Gabriel! Are you saying I’m lying!?
Despayre gasped, clearly affronted.
Despayre: I would NEVER say that! I mean, you are -- but I would never say it!
Alleyne bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists…
And inside of the famed Gym itself, Gabriel was talking on his phone when he heard a sudden ruckus erupt outside of the doors and in the lobby!
Gabriel: What the hell…!?
Gabriel pressed the button on the intercom on the wall.
Gabriel: Despy! What is going on out there!?
Despayre's voice: Gabriel! Help! There’s a really big woman with bad hair trying to get inside!
Tempest's voice: ‘Bad hair!?’
With a half muttered ‘shit!’Gabriel hurried out into the lobby, throwing open the gym doors to find Despayre wielding his stool like a lion tamer down -- all the better to ward off a very pissed off looking amazon! Gabriel jumped out into the middle of the fray!
Gabriel: Heyhey! Despy! Calm down! It’s okay! This is Alleyne Mahoe! She has an appointment today about joining the gym!
Despayre turned and arched a brow at Gabriel as he slowly lowered the stool, but keeping a close eye on the larger woman.
Despayre: Are you sure!? She hasn’t got an appointment in the book!
Gabriel: Despy -- did you check the appointments in the computer?
Despayre turned to look at the computer, then sheepishly explained himself.
Despayre: I can’t. Angel changed the password and he won’t tell me what it is.
Gabriel: Well trust me, she’s here to talk about signing up. Now you just keep up the good work.
Gabriel guided him to sit back down and only then escorted Alleyne through the open gym door as Despayre smiled at her, waving as if all the trouble from before were a thing of the imagination.
Despayre: Bye! Sorry about before!
Alleyne and Gabriel then set foot inside the state-of-the-art gym, and Alleyne gazed around in amazement, as if she had just stepped from one world into another. Gabriel allowed the gym doors to close and lock behind them, but not before they both heard Despayre out in the office…
Despayre: She seems nice, huh Angel? … What do you mean ‘what a babe!?’
Inside the office that Gabriel shared with his wife, the proprietor of the gym had a seat behind the desk as his guest took the seat offered to her, opposite him. Despite the tense spot from mere moments ago, Gabriel could not help but smile. Not because of his Despy’s actions but because the mere presence of the woman seated across from him had a foreboding presence about her. Something about her, aside from the fact she was twice the size of any of his and Odette’s previous female trainees, that went beyond formidable.
Gabriel: Sorry about that.
Alleyne cast a gaze back toward the office door before turning to address him, throwing a thumb back over her shoulder.
Tempest: What the hell was that!?
Gabriel: Trust me, Despy didn’t mean any harm, and he didn’t mean to offend…
Alleyne waved off his words and shook her head.
Tempest: He didn’t… well not really. Except for maybe the ‘bad hair’ crack -- but I thought….
Gabriel: You thought that it was all an act? A gimmick cooked up for him for the fans?
Alleyne found herself shrugging, but she did yield to his perception and she nodded her head. To which Gabriel shook his own.
Gabriel: Afraid not. No, with Despy? What you see is what you get. Everything you see about him is one hundred percent genuine. He helps train some of the students here sometimes. Usually only the men, as he doesn’t like being in the ring with women. But something…
He tapped a finger on the edge of the desk before pointing toward her.
Gabriel: Something tells me that if things work out here, that may have to change.
Tempest: What are you talking about?
Gabriel: I found one reason why Odette and I’ve had such success is we’re able to match up students to trainers. Usually she takes care of the women, and I the men. It works best when we have someone of similar size help train someone.
Tempest: You calling me big?
Gabriel: I’m saying you have an impressive stature.
Alleyne chuckled, sitting back in the chair.
Tempest: Well, you put it nicer than the way I usually hear!
Gabriel: I can imagine, but I’m being honest. That’s the only way things will work out for the best in this gym. If we take you on, you will be the biggest lady physically that we’ve trained. Aside from women like Odette and perhaps Mackenzie and Charlotte, we might need help from some of the men to train you properly. I mean, after all…
He leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the desk’s surface.
Gabriel: A cruiserweight can’t properly train a heavyweight the way that they need to be, and vice versa. Now, before anything else, I do owe you an apology. Usually Odette and I like to invite our students to interview at our home, but unfortunately with all of this Covid bullshit going around…
But she held a hand up and shook her head.
Tempest: No, trust me. I understand. I had enough trouble leaving Hawaii. You’d have thought I was leaving for another country entirely the hoops they made me jump through to be able to get here to Nevada.
Gabriel propped an elbow up on the desk and curled his fingers over his chin.
Gabriel: If you don’t mind my asking, why did you leave?
Gabriel slid a clipboard on the desk closer to himself, and lifted a paper on it to look at the application beneath it.
Gabriel: It says here that you currently own Mahoe Bonds.
He paused briefly before looking up at her with a coy smile.
Gabriel: You were a bounty hunter? In Honolulu?
She nodded.
Gabriel: Like Dog the Bounty Hunter?
But to this question, she scoffed in disgust and rolled her eyes.
Tempest: Guy is a two-faced fake. One face for the cameras, one for everyone else. He puts on that whole ‘prayer’ schtick when the cameras are on but what else do you say about a man who lost his wife and not even six months later is engaged to his girlfriend? He’s trash.
Gabriel: Fair enough. Dangerous profession, still. And you were in the Peace Corp.?
Tempest: For four years. I wanted with everything to join the Army like my Dad and my brother but… they wouldn’t have me. And now, I wouldn’t if they come begging.
Gabriel: Do you mind if I ask why not?
He had asked the question out of genuine curiosity, but he wasn’t prepared for the wave of emotion he read almost immediately behind her eyes. She was a woman made of steel, he could already tell that, but there was a story behind that haunted look. It was just up to her whether or not she wanted to tell it.
Tempest: It’s personal.
Gabriel: Fair enough. Still, that … being a bounty hunter? That’s dangerous work. What made you switch to professional wrestling? Do you -- have the air that it’s going to be easy?
Tempest: Far from it, actually! I was a fan since I was a little girl -- well, since I was a girl because I don’t ever remember being little!
Gabriel chuckled. He couldn’t help it, it just struck him as amusing her taking that light hearted shot at her own expense.
Tempest: I always wondered what it would be like to go out to that ring and compete. To hear the crowd. Travel. Just -- everything! I love the physicality of it. I love anything athletic. Maybe I’m a thrill seeker or an adrenaline junkie, I don’t know. But I promised my mom I’d try something … less dangerous.
Gabriel: You don’t think this sport can be dangerous?
But to his question, his answer did not come as expected. Alleyne stood up from the chair she was sitting on and walked around the side of the desk until she stood before the man who would soon assist in her training. She reached up and pulled the shoulder of her tank top down just below the collar bone where Gabriel could see the puckered scar from an obvious gunshot wound. She then lifted the side of her tank and turned at the waist, so he could see another scar. One that ran long and thin but had long since scabbed over. A knife wound. Silence reigned between the two as she resumed her seat, and Gabriel simply stared at her.
Gabriel: Where are you staying right now?
Tempest: I still own Mahoe Bonds, so I have money. I got a room at the Comfort Inn just off the Strip. Why?
Gabriel shook his head.
Gabriel: Won’t work. So long as you’re training here, I’d prefer it if you took one of our guest rooms. Helps ensure you’re on time for all sessions. And so we can keep an eye on you.
Gabriel smirked as only he could, and winked. For the first time since they met face to face today, Alleyne’s face slowly lit up into a smile.
Tempest: I’m in?
Gabriel smiled and nodded.
Gabriel: You’re in.
"Why?"
"That's been the one question that I keep getting asked ever since Climax Control went off the air on Sunday. I was getting asked 'why' from the moment I walked back through the curtains. Staff. Wrestlers. Reporters. They were all up in my face, asking me that one word. Why did I play chiropractor and leave Sam Marlowe laying on the floor with a bad back? Why did I leave Sierra Williams laying in what was left of a table? And I'll tell you the same thing that I told all of them..."
Seated on the edge of one of the rings at the Go Gym, Tempest gives her shoulders a shrug of indifference and shakes her head.
"Why not?"
"I mean, originally I had no real plans to do it. I didn't show up at Sam's Town and think to myself, 'Oh hey! Why don't I just pick a couple of little girls at random and just go out there and hurt them!' Gabriel and Odette sent me there to just get a feel for the environment before I made my official debut inside of the ring. Staff wanted me there for photo ops. From the moment I set foot inside of that place, it was like everywhere else I go. Stares. None of the other girls in the place really came up to me to say 'hi' or to welcome me. The guys barely said a word to me. The only people who really could be bothered were staff, particularly Mark Ward and Christian Underwood. They shook my hand. They welcomed me to SCW and told me they couldn't wait to see what I brought to their Bombshell division."
The corner of her lips curled upward into a smile.
"I think I gave them their answer."
"Then they herded me off to the dressing room and before I knew it, there I was in my ring gear at their photography studio. Posing like they asked and just generally being myself. I watched all those men and women walking past, going back and forth to the ring and all I could think was 'God I want in on that!' And so...?"
Again she shrugged.
"Gabriel told me one thing before I went there; make an impression. So there I am, standing in my outfit and being told to turn this way, pose that way, when I looked over at the monitor and saw the match between Marlowe and Williams coming to a close and I thought 'f**k it.' I just walked out of that studio. I listened as their photographers called out to me, asking where I was going and telling me that they weren't finished yet. Somebody watching must have sensed something was up because as soon as i got to the curtains, I heard my music kick start and there was no going back, no changing my mind."
"The rest -- is history. I did what was suggested, and I left them with an impression. And now I get to do it all over again."
"When talks were going about my first match, I heard names like Apple Coren and Courtney Pierce being tossed around for my first opponent inside of the ring. Who knew that they would just toss all of that aside and instead put me in the ring against Krystal Wolfe, a chick that came from the GO Gym, just like me? And then..."
Tempest looked upward with a tight-lipped smile and shook her head.
"Someone showed me the tweets she was posting about me. I don't have a Twitter account. I have no use for social media. But there the girl was, talking about me as if I was already an afterthought. Calling me an unproven commodity, saying she was going to humiliate me. Telling the bosses that she was going to make me look like a fool."
Tempest leaned forward, her face darkening into a frown with a forearm propped atop of her knee.
"A fool? Really! Tell me something Krystal, if you're really as special as you seem to think you are, then why did you spend dwindling in obscurity in SCU, when I got hired straight up on the main roster? What do you have to show for your time there? A handful of meaningless matches? Maybe a title opportunity that was little more than them tossing a bone to you? I mean, let's face facts; I've watched SCU Underground and it doesn't exactly take a winning record for someone to be handed a title match there, does it? I mean, what about you? Four years in this Sport and what do you really got to show for it? Your time in Sin City Underground hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire, has it? If anything, I almost feel embarrassed for you. How long do you go between matches? How often do you have to go public and ask them to please put you on a show to wrestle! Honey, I have a little nugget of advice for you. Listen up, sugar."
"If you have to go about begging for matches, then the powers-that-be obviously don't see in you what you see in yourself. Typical Prima donna little Barbie doll. The truth is, is that you are constantly getting overshadowed by your own teammates, Ariana and Carter. Both of them just completed their one year anniversary, isn't that right? And compared to them, you haven't accomplished jack!"
Tempest begins counting off on her fingers.
"Carter? Two-time Television Champion and both times those GRIME fools had to gang up on him to steal that title away. Also, undefeated Pride Tag Team Champion. Ariana? Two-time Pride Tag Team Champions with two different partners. That girl didn't ever have to team with Alex Rush to walk away with that championship! And you?"
Tempest turns her head aside and cups a hand over her ear, leaning forward at the waist.
"Nothing? No. Well alright then. Maybe that's why you decided to pull double-duty and move up to the main roster, huh? To get out of the Shadows of your own teammates? Okay, yes! So I haven't had my first match yet. You know what the sad thing is? That you're going around acting as if your four years makes you some kind of grizzled ring veteran! You keep up disrespecting me little girl, and you're not going to make it to five years! It must be eating you alive that are all of your four years, I got more attention last week in one evening then you have in all of your appearances. And now, here we are! Just you and me. First time ever, two members of the GO Gym inside of the ring! So come at me Krystal!"
She claps her hands together and uses both to beckon toward her.
"Tell Auntie Tempest what you got! Now let me guess what you intend to do, your strategy. Same as every other big versus smaller person. When this match was signed, Gabriel took me aside and gave me a little bit of advice. I'm pretty sure he did the same thing for you so as not to play favorites amongst his students. You're going to attempt to do what every other smaller person does when they're fighting a bigger person. Two things."
She holds up her hand and counts off.
"Hit and run, and take the legs out. Well the truth is, both of those strategies have the same disadvantage and let me tell you why. It's really very simple. Hit and run, that's actually not a bad strategy to be fair. But for every strike you get in, it brings you in close to me. And sooner or later, I will get my hands on you and the moment that happens? You're done. You're faster than me, I will grant you that. But the first chance I get my hands on you little girl, and I am clipping your wings. Take your legs out, take your back out -- either works for me. There's no real need to go into extreme detail because the end result is the same. Once you're down, believe me; you're out!"
"And then, there's the option of getting me off of my feet. You always hear commentators and managers say if the smaller wrestler gets the bigger one off of their feet, then their size advantage is gone."
Tempest scoffs.
"Really! First of all, the chances of you taking me off of my feet are about as likely as Christmas being moved to the summer. And second, same end result. Even if you got me off of my feet and started to work on me -- once again; that just brings you close enough in reach for me to get hold of you. Then what? Same result. You're finished. Because what none of those so-called experts ever tell you little girls is that taking a bigger opponent off of their feet is one thing, but keeping them there?"
Tempest shakes her head in the negative.
"That's something else altogether. Your name, it's almost prophetic. Crystals are surprisingly fragile, breakable, and prone to scratches. Some even shatter without receiving a violent blow. You saw what I did to Sam Marlowe. You saw what I did to Sierra Williams."
She turned her head slightly and smiled.
"So try to imagine what's going to happen to you."
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