[Roux]

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Haunted
Hoia Forest - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
20 APRIL 2023
OFF-Camera



Camping hadn’t been something that was on my bucket list. I had to be coerced into even signing up for this tournament before this stupid tour was even announced. Usually whatever insane place they sent us was offset by Jet City footing the bills. That was off the table this time around. Mark forced everyone into the forest by some kind of decree. Granted, it wasn’t like we were all spread out in five dollar tents that would collapse in a light breeze. Everyone had seen from social media that J2H’s tent was basically a small house. The size and spectacle definitely went down from there, but nobody’s situation appeared intolerable. The real struggle had been setting up in a place that was outside the walking paths of this tourist trap.

I guess they had been lured by stories of disappearing little girls that came back years later yet not aged a day. Or maybe the man with a whole flock of sheep that disappeared into the forest only to never be seen or heard from again. That wasn’t the reality of the place though. The stories about witches, UFOs, and paranormal activity didn’t feel real when the only thing I had seen since arriving were co-workers and groups of amateur ghost hunters startling each other while looking for unexplained mysteries. Sometimes those two groups overlapped, which I found particularly sad. I was only here to compete at Climax Control. I wasn’t going to get sucked into the ghostly stupidity.

More importantly, the only individuals I was interested in were already on this plane of existence. I didn’t need to go exploring any others. Originally, I was entered into this tournament so that I could keep an eye on Jet City’s two new prospects. Yet, somehow I was the last one remaining. Eiley and Oz weren’t really to blame. Neither of them took the falls that eliminated their teams, and both of them had the bad luck of running into J2H and Devona in the opening rounds. It was the best thing that could have happened to them. There was no shame in being eliminated by the favorites. Unfortunately, that made them incredibly valuable to me this week. I may not have to hold their hands through their matches anymore, but I still wanted to sit down with both of them. I had already watched the matches back as many times as I could stomach on the flight to Romania, but there was no substitute for being able to talk to people that had already stepped into the ring with my next opponents. It is not like they could say no either. They were only holding their own inside the Sin City ring because of what the staff at Jet City had taught them. I was willing to take as much credit for that as it would take to force them to walk me through what they saw in the ring. If there was an advantage there, I wanted to find it.

The problem was, none of us had arrived together. We hadn’t coordinated where we were going to set up either, because we weren’t exactly sure what we were walking into. Oz had been convinced that SCW was going to set up some kind of little tent city for us. I expected the worst, having had some bad experiences before Jet City took over the travel arrangements, and over-prepared as a result. Eiley seemed to have faith that she would figure something out on the fly, and I hadn’t heard from her since. However, thanks to social media I did know that Oz was going to be out trying to find her; all I had to do was find him first. I tracked down most of the roster before finally coming across the right idiot. Since he didn’t have any match to prepare for, Oz had been living it up. Before I even knew it was him, I knew that the swirling lights up ahead had to be the result of someone partying a little too hard. When I caught up to him, it made a lot more sense. Instead of the regular headlamps that several people used as night approached, he was wearing a legitimate construction helmet with a light affixed to the front. The blinding white light made the bright yellow helmet stick out when contrasted with the forest, but also made it impossible to look directly at him.

COURT: Where did you find a mining helmet?

He jumped, having not heard me approaching. It’s not that I had gone out of my way to be quiet, he just seemed more focused on the job at hand. When I finally got a good look at him I could tell that he was taking the “haunted” part of this camping experience a whole lot more seriously than I was.

OZ: WHAT THE SERIOUS FUCK?!

He backed away from me, and turned the spotlight attached to his head towards me. Instantly, the entire forest around the light faded away. My eyes burned, and I raised a hand to block the light from them.

COURT: Take that stupid thing off….

I lunged forward, and took a blind swipe at his head, knocking the helmet backwards and off to the ground. As my vision started to clear and refocus I could see the light flicker on the ground before going out. Oz turned to it and slapped it a few times, trying to get it to turn back on.

OZ: Oh come on! Uncool! Now I’m basically blind out here and gonna get cursed by some evil bitch.

I rolled my eyes, and tried to remember not to take him too seriously.

COURT: Witch.

He shrugged at me, still fiddling with the light and trying to get it to come back on. With each passing second he seemed to get more and more nervous.

OZ: Same thing. I mean, look at you sneaking up on me and murdering my helmet. Are you working for the spirits in the forest now? You trying to get me disappeared out here? I’m onto you! You’re not even real, are you?

He reached out like he was going to pinch me and I slapped his hand away without hesitation.

COURT: Stop it. It’s just like any other forest. None of the stories are real. It’s just like any other story about Romania. You have to be smarter than this...

I took my backpack off my and set it down on the ground between us. He raised his hands defensively like I was going to pull some kind of ghost or goblin out and attack him. Oz was relieved to see me pull out a second blue-light headlamp like the one that was positioned just over my ear. I clicked it on and handed it to him as an apology.

OZ: NIce! Apparently I wasn’t the only person that didn’t bring anything with them. By the time I was looking for one of these, nobody had one. The helmet was a last resort.

It was a story that I didn’t need. It just meant that he owed me yet another favor.

COURT: Now that you’re not going to blind every person you come across, have you found Eiley’s tent yet? I was going to pick your guys’ brains about what I can do to win this match against J2H and Devona.

His expression soured at the thought of being forced to do something less than fun. Not that it really mattered.

OZ: She’s about the only person that I still haven’t found. I feel like I have been going in circles trying to find her or something because I have been past my tent five or six times now.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. The fact that I had even considered using him as a way to lead me to Eiley was laughable. It would be faster for me to find her myself and then come back for him.

COURT: Well where is your tent?

Instead of answering, he turned in a full circle before heading off to our left. Through a handful of trees there was a small clearing, and a tent much better made than my own.

OZ: I mean it’s small, but I don’t have to duck down to get into it. There’s room for activities. It’s really not all that.

It was easily twice the size of the one that had taken me hours to properly put up. It was square with walls stretching up at least seven if not eight feet. The heavy supports at the corners basically canceled out any of the effects of wind and the canopy overtop was see-through plexiglass for stargazing. There was no way that he had found one like this at the last second, or erected it himself. The whole thing created more questions than answers.

COURT: How did you pull this off?

I started to make my way towards it but he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

OZ: I mean we don’t have to go in or anything. It was nothing really. When I got here, I kind of wandered around until I saw one that I liked, and threw money at it until the person that was in it left. No big deal… come on.

He tried to lead me away from it, but there was no way that I wasn’t going to check it out. If anything, I would just throw a fit until he let me have it and he could go stay in my tent. He didn’t have a match to prepare for, and we both knew that if he found Eiley’s he wouldn’t be coming back to this one anyways.

COURT: Nah. I want to see this!

He reached out again, but I shrugged his hands away effortlessly. He couldn’t keep up with me on his best day, and he was a few steps slower and sloppier than usual.

OZ: ...but we were looking for Eiley…

I unzipped the front of the tent and pushed the flap open. The inside was already lit up, and even roomier than it looked like from the outside. There was a queen sized bed along the wall opposite the source of the light. Oliver’s things were already strewn about the floor, which actually felt like it had some sort of foundation between it and the ground underneath. I turned towards the small desk in the back corner, only to leap into the air. I let out a scream that I couldn’t hold back. At the chair in the corner was an individual that I hadn’t seen when I pushed my way into the tent. Instinctively, I turned towards them with my arms coming up to my defense as I landed ready to fight. At first I thought the reason Oz had tried to lead me away was that there was no way this was his tent. I hoped that I had simply snuck up on a stranger that was equally as startled by my presence as I was by theirs. That was before my eyes focused on the man in front of me. He was a year older than he was the last time I saw him, but he was unmistakable. I had heard his voice through an intercom just two weeks ago, and Jason had refused to answer any of my calls or texts since.

COURT: What are you---

I lunged forward with both hands balled into fists. There was no Jason to stop me. There was no door between the two of us to stop me from getting my hands on him. He was finally close enough for me to get my hands on, or so I thought. Oz’s arms wrapped around my waist, and pulled me back at just the right time. The right-handed hook that I had thrown at Jaycee’s cheek came millimeters from landing before my forward momentum was halted. It missed, and I was airborne once again. I kicked my legs as Oz pulled me backwards, and elbowed him in the ribs. That managed to get me dropped back to the floor, but it didn’t break his hold on my waist. For his part, Jaycee hadn’t moved an inch despite all of this happening right in front of him. In fact, there was a smile on his face.

JAYCEE: I know you want to hurt me for what you think I’ve done. I get it. But you should know…. That was actually all -his- fault.

He motioned at Oz, which was enough to give me pause. When the usually quick-witted rookie was speechless, I knew that whatever Jaycee was saying wasn’t bullshit. A second elbow loosened his grip on my waist, and a third bought me all of the space that I needed to spin out of his arms. He put his hands up, but this wasn’t an actual match, and we weren’t at Jet City. One quick motion lifted my foot from the ground to his groin, and he dropped with a whimper. I wasn’t playing any more games. I turned back to Jaycee while Oz was writhing on the floor, and he held out his hands in a defensive posture.

COURT: Somebody better start talking!  I am tired of all this! It was super strange that Coby wanted me to join Blast from the Past! Then Mikah blowing everyone off didn’t make sense! And then you and Jason show up randomly in Hawaii! Now this! What the hell is going on?

Oz tried to push himself up off the floor, but I caught him in the ribs in a stiff kick that rolled him over on his side. From the wet, choking cough that came out I knew I knocked the wind out of his lungs. That would make him think twice about trying to put his hands on me.

OZ: Why the hell do I have to be the one that keeps getting beaten on? I didn’t even know the guy…. Yet somehow it is my fault that he got shot…

Everything started to come together a little more clearly. Jason had tried to tell me that it wasn’t all Jaycee’s fault back in Hawaii. Granted, he could have loosened his lips a little bit and filled me in himself. I thought that I was done playing games with that family when Kris got put in the ground.

COURT: Somebody better start spilling…

Oz tried once more to lift himself, but when I turned towards him to cut him off Jaycee finally leaned forward in his seat. I wasn’t going to let myself get wrapped up and tossed around for a third time in as many weeks. I can’t stand people thinking that just because they are bigger than me they can just lay their hands on me whenever they want. I wasn’t some child throwing a fit. I didn’t need to be restrained. They needed to start talking. I whipped back towards Jaycee, straightened my hand, and jabbed him in the center of the throat, cutting off his airway. His hands recoiled away from me and to his neck as he gasped for air.

COURT: Nobody has anything to say, huh? If training with me didn’t teach either of you to keep your damn hands to yourself I don’t know what will. I can take on the two of you for as long as it takes. Somebody is going to tell me what is going on.

Jaycee falls out of his chair gasping for air, but Oz finally starts to be able to breathe more regularly. Neither of them make any move to try to restrain me again, hopefully both having already learned their lesson the hard way. Still, my patience was already gone.

COURT: START TALKING!

In hindsight, I had tunnel-vision. I was too focused on making sure that neither of them made any more moves towards me that I didn’t feel the slight breeze in the room. I was so enraged that I didn’t hear the steps behind me. I didn’t feel another presence enter the tent. The two of them looked up wide-eyed, but they weren’t looking at me. They were looking past me, at the door. I turned, but got stopped in my tracks when my eyes found my assailant.

”Hard to answer questions when you can’t even breathe…”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. This had to be some kind of mental break. Ruby had warned me that if I let my anger control me that it would make my senses play tricks on me. In that moment, enraged in one of the most haunted places in the world, the dead had risen right in front of me. He smirked. I felt the same familiar knot form in the bit of my stomach that I used to feel during his “lessons” at Jet City. I forced the thought out of my mind though. I went to his funeral. I saw him lowered into the ground. Whatever this was, there had to be some other explanation.

COURT: You’re not real…

I felt my eyes water, and every muscle in my body tightened up. This was a cruel trick, but that is all that it was. He wasn’t there. He couldn’t be there. I swung at him, nearly convinced that my hand would pass right through him like I had seen so many times in the movies. I was determined to shatter the illusion, or pummel whomever was responsible. I never expected the strike to land on anything solid, but it did. In a flash, he raised an arm and blocked the shot. He pushed my arm away, but I countered with my free hand. It should have hit him in the cheek but he caught it with the palm of his hand and stopped all of its momentum with ease. The smirk on his face stretched into a smile.

COURT: Kris?

It was all I could manage to get out. All of the anger faded. It felt like all of the energy in my body disappeared in an instant. The light in the tent appeared to dim. The area surrounding us got hazy and undefined. The last thing that I remember was the feeling of falling, and then there was nothing at all.



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>COURTside: Last Best Hope

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I have heard people say that after last week I am Jet City’s last best hope to win this tournament…

When the scene opens, Court is sitting across from the camera. It is a little startling for fans that we are not sitting in the palm of her hand like normal. There is no wink and smile from Court that sends the camera flying through the air as if by magic. We don’t buzz around the forest around her, surveying the venue she chose to speak to both of her opponents. Instead, we stay focused on her, with the tents of other superstars and bombshells behind her in the woods. We can see the scattered camp fires, and hear the low chattering of the whole roster and crew of Sin City that filled this small corner of the woods.

I don’t really like how that sounds. I mean, I stand behind the talent that Eiley and Oz have, but let’s be real. Eiley was a project between Mikah and Jet City that just didn’t pan out. Oz has all the natural ability in the world, but he isn’t ready for all of this yet. I know that, because I had a hand in training the two of them. If any opinion of the two of them matters, it is mine. If anyone is an adequate judge of what those two were capable of, it’s me. That is why the idea that I have only recently become the best hope for our gym is downright laughable, if not entirely insulting.

Her tone shifts a little bit. The fans understand while we aren’t light-heartedly whizzing about. Court wasn’t her usual carefree self. Something had been bothering her. She wanted us all up close to hear what she had to say and not be distracted by the bells and whistles of it all.

From the moment that I signed up for this thing I was Jet City’s best hope of winning. The reason that Coby came to me was because he knew that when the rookies fell short, I would still be hanging around. He knew that it wouldn’t matter who my partner was, because I am able to put all differences aside because the match result is all that really matters. He knew that I would be able to adapt and overcome the challenges of this tournament even if the rookies fell flat on their faces. He realized that he couldn’t let the gym get embarrassed by not making it out of the first round. He wanted a sure thing. I was the answer to that problem, before the teams were even picked. I was the reason that he could take a risk on the rookies. I am more than good enough to make up the difference. I have proven as much in this tournament already. Last time I won the whole damn thing. This time around I haven’t even been challenged yet.

It didn't sound like she was bragging. For Court, it was all just a statement of facts. She wasn’t trying to insult her opponents from the opening rounds, or anyone for that matter.

Ken made sure that I didn’t have anything to worry about in the first round. He took care of business and all I had to do was not make any mistakes in the ring. That is how the teams in this tournament are supposed to work. You don’t have to like each other, but you do have to have each other’s back. If you do, you don’t have to cut corners and cheat like some teams have had to do.

It was an obvious dig at how her opponents this coming Sunday had advanced in the opening round..

See, when you work as a team, you can stay inside the rules without having to worry about falling apart. You can rely on one another. You know that if you reach out for a tag, that your partner is going to be there waiting on you because they want the win just as badly as you do….

Another dig at the dysfunction that her opponents showed in the previous week in the match against Ariana and Oz.

...no. Ken and I know what is waiting for us at the end of this tournament, and we are more than happy to do anything to make sure that we take home the prize. We may not have been the heavy favorites back when the teams were first announced, but I like to think that we have done enough in this tournament to get noticed for the threat that we pose to everyone else. Did anyone else literally choke out their opponent to advance out of the first round? Did anyone look as impressive as Ken did taking apart J Mont? My partner had an answer for every little thing that his opponents have thrown at him. He has proven that he is a former World Heavyweight Champion in multiple companies for a reason. He is a true veteran of this business that isn’t going to be caught off guard when someone tries to cheat him. He knows every trick in the book because at one time or another, he has tried to pull them himself. He isn’t some rookie that is going to fold under the pressure of Blast from the Past.

A subtle smile crosses her lips, bringing her to her next point.

...and that is all that the so-called favorites have had to deal with in this tournament. I know the level of competition that they have faced, because I am the one that trained them. Devona and J2H have advanced through the other two representatives of JEt City, but what did they really prove in that time? Devona had the chance to school Eiley in her first ever match. Did that happen? Of course not. J2H had to bend a few rules when nobody was looking in order to steal one. He even came out with compliments for how Eiley did in the match afterwards. He was surprised at her ability to hold her own inside the ring. She apparently exceeded his expectations by such a wide margin that it inspired him to be humble in a victory….

Court shakes her head, not impressed in the least.

I got to see Eiley up close and personal on a daily basis in the lead up to this tournament. I wasn’t surprised by what I saw. She performed the way that I knew that she could. And know what else I already knew? That I am lightyears ahead of her in that ring. We aren’t even in the same league. She is a long time away from rising to the level that I am on, and that is so obvious that it is hard to even argue against. If J2H was so taken aback by Eiley’s ability that he felt he needed to keep himself in the match and cheat to win, what is he going to do when I step into the ring with Devona?

[She paused and allowed the fans a moment to do that mental math before shifting to her next point./i]

...and what should we expect to see if J2H does decide to try and handle this match all on his own? I am not bringing some untested rookie to the ring like Oliver Zahn. I am bringing a battle-tested veteran of this business. I am bringing my own nearly unstoppable force with me to the ring. I have a partner that competes in this business week-after-week, month-after-month. Devona is saddled with a primadonna that only steps into the ring a couple of times a year. Devona is bringing a partner that couldn’t gain traction against Jet City’s cockiest rookie. J2H had to depend on his partner when Oz was giving him all that he could handle last week. Why? Not because Oz is amazing in the ring, but because J2H looked rusty. Any offense he tried to pull off eventually got countered. Any punishment he dealt out got returned twofold. Devona finally had to tag herself in so that she could save him from getting embarrassed, and we all saw it happen.

She shrugs her shoulders again, but looks visibly annoyed.

...but Devona and J2H are the favorites. They always have been. They were always going to be. People were always going to focus on how unstoppable they seemed on paper. People were always going to put more weight on their reputations than what they were actually doing in the ring. Everyone was supposed to feel intimidated by them before any of the matches ever got underway, and that has been the biggest joke of this whole fucking tournament. These two haven’t done a single thing that can be considered impressive. They haven’t worked well together. They haven’t been on the same page, and they have had to lie, cheat, and steal to get as far as they have gotten.

Court shakes her head confidently.

That ends at Climax Control.

She states her claim with more conviction than we have ever seen from her. She wasn’t hedging her bets. She wasn’t giving herself any space to save face later on. To Court, there was only one way that this match could end.

Come Climax Control, I am going to push Devona to live up to her team’s “Best in the World” label. I am not going to let her coast on whatever heist her partner can pull to steal the victory. If she wants to make it to the finals, then she is going to have to go through me to get there. I know that Ken Davison is going to give a “Godly” effort to make sure that J2H has to summon up every ounce of what made him the greatest superstar in the history of this company just to keep up. We are going to put these two to our test, and they are going to fail in front everyone watching.

It doesn’t seem to bother her that she is promising more than anyone ever expected from her team.

We aren’t going to be in awe of these two. We aren’t rookies to push around, or middle of the roster hacks that never had a real shot to win. Ken and I are a team that should have been taken a lot more seriously from the jump, and this week we are going to step up and prove it to all of our doubters. The only history that matters between the four of us is that I have already been here and done this once before. I know what it takes. I know what it feels like to be the team with the best chance, but zero recognition. Fenris and I already walked this path once before, and Ken has already done more in this business Fenris ever dreamed of doing.

She stands, and moves around the campfire to the camera. As she lifts it there is no blown kiss, or wink like we would usually get. Instead Court stares confidently right down the lens of the camera.

I am not the last best hope for Jet City. I was always the only one that ever had a chance of going the distance. Ken Davison and I should have been the favorites all along. This is our time, and nobody is going to take what is ours.



*edited to fix a coding problem*