”A Mouse In A Trap”
Friday
7 June 2018
MouseTrap Fitness -- Orlando, Florida
[OFF-Camera]
She did not want to be in Orlando, but there was no way that she was staying in California with Mikah after everything that happened. She was not going back to Chicago to train. She definitely wasn’t going to deal with Kris in Seattle. None of it mattered to her. From the moment that she saw her name across from Amy’s on the card for Climax Control 206, she had one purpose: win. It had taken some persuading, but MouseTrap Fitness had agreed to let her use the premises to prepare for her match given that she did it after hours. People on the roster had asked her where she had been training while away from home, and she had refused to give up the information. She did not want company. People were distractions. The last week had been a painful lesson about that fact.
She looks up at the raised ceiling of the space, and took hold of the rope dangling from it. She looked down for a moment, a little skeptical about having put so much weight in the pouches around her ankles. After a deep breath, she did her best to leap from the ground, the added weight around her ankles eliminating most of her vertical jump. She wrapped both hands around the rope, and tightened her grip, stalling her momentum just as she started to fall back towards the ground. She dangled there for a moment, refusing to use her legs to help her climb. They hung away from the rope, the weights around her ankles desperate to pull her back down to ground level. It was not easy, but she raised her left hand, moved above her right, and took hold of the rope, raising her higher in the process. She continued, hand over hand, all the way to the top.
Court: ”Now the hard part… not dying...”
She could feel that her arms were already starting to give out. Climbing up the rope had always been the easiest part though. It was going back down with all the added weight that was helping her to add strength to each of her strikes in the ring. The trip down took almost three times as long as the climb up, and by the time she was just a few feet off of the ground, her arms gave out. Her grip started to slip, but her stubbornness was her real downfall. Court refused to wrap her legs around the rope to save herself, and instead dropping down to the mats below. She hit hard, but not anywhere close to bad enough to cause serious injury with all of the padding under her. However, as she laid back, trying to ignore the pain, she found herself laying in a shadow, even though the building was supposed to be empty.
Mikah: ”That wasn’t graceful...”
Court’s eyes adjust to the light around the head of the woman standing over her, but it was unnecessary. The blonde hair and salty tone of voice let her know exactly who it was.
Court: “I’m not sure how you found out I was here, but I’m kinda busy. I don’t have a trainer anymore.”
Court sits up and pulls the velcro strip loose on the weights around both of her ankles. Her legs already felt like jello from how long she had been at the gym already, and she was in no mood for a second fight with Mikah about her constant absenteeism. However, when she tries to push herself up off the mats, Mikah use the toe of her shoe to push her back over. It does not take much to put the rookie flat onto the mat.
Mikah: ”You’re probably pushing yourself too hard. By the time you get to the match you’re not going to have anything left.”
Court balls up her fists and slams them both down into the mat before pushing herself up off of them. She barely gets one foot planted firmly on the ground before Mikah effortlessly sweeps it out from under her and puts her down again, this time on her back.
Court: “What the fuck, Mikah?”
Not even Court’s tone of voice seem to get under the skin of the former Bombshell Champion. Mikah shrugs her shoulders, and the smirk does not come off of her face.
Mikah: ”Nobody is going to give you a break in a match, you know. There’s not any timeouts in wrestling. If you wear yourself out like this, people are just going to take advantage of it.”
Court rolls over onto her side away from Mikah, and up onto her knee. To her surprise, Mikah allows her to escape, and even lets her get up to her feet this time instead of closing the distance between the two.
Court: “I got this far figuring it out as I go since you didn’t want to help me. I don’t want your help now that you feel guilty about it though. I’m good on my own.”
The blonde bombshell raises an eyebrow at the younger one.
Mikah: ”You have this all figured out, don’t you? Do you know what you haven’t done, Courtney? That’s step into the ring with Amy. I have. Brush me off if you want to, but that’s a mistake.”
Court tries to brush it off, but she raised a good point. She was not going to let Mikah know that though. Not after how she had acted for the last month, and definitely not for the hell that the last week had been.
Court: “Yeah, you’ve beaten her. Like you have done to pretty much everyone that has worked in SCW in the last few years. You know it all. You have seen them at their best, and their worst. I never questioned it either. It’s part of the reason that I sought you out to train me. The problem is, you’re a trainwreck, and you don’t even care. I don’t want that rubbing off on me.”
It was the kind of brutal honesty that she hated being on the other side of, but got a strange sense of enjoyment out of dishing out at other people. Mikah had already let her walk away once this week, and Court was banking on her not putting up much of a fight this time either.
Mikah: ”Are you done with your little tantrum? Aren’t you used to people making mistakes by now or do they have to be perfect for you? Because if you were looking for a perfect trainer, you should’ve went to Melody Grace.”
Mikah just looks at the younger bombshell and crosses her arms over her chest. She waits for a response.
Court: “A perfect trainer? How about a trainer at all, huh? How about someone that actually shows up instead of sending Kris to annoy me on a weekly basis, and embarrass me in front of the gym?”
Court defiantly stands her ground, not willing to let Mikah off the hook just because she very nearly died. She had been holding all of the frustration back since signing up for Blast From The Past, and had not even come close to venting it all at the hospital.
Mikah: ”I am sorry. I was self-absorbed and way too focused on my own life. I should have paid more attention to my job as your trainer. And there was a part of me, that didn’t want to help you because I thought you’d be facing me. And well, I don’t want you or anybody getting too close for comfort.”
She looks at Court and does not seem to be holding any sort of dishonest look on her face as she stands in front of the young woman.
Court: “You know how adults handle things like that? They talk to each other instead of just ghosting on people. That’s how this works. When I started training with you, you learned just about everything about me. You have helped me develop every part of my ring ability from the start. If anything, I should be worried about facing you, because there is nothing that I can do to surprise you. You could train with me every single day for years, and I doubt I would be able to learn everything that you know. I have watched every match you have been in, and I am still not sure how you pulled off winning half of them. There’s nothing for you to be afraid of. I left everything in my life behind for this opportunity, and you left me hanging out to dry by myself. How do you expect me to feel about that?”
Mikah looks at Court and draws in a deep breath, taking a moment to think about what she had said. She moves her eyes to look at Court.
Mikah: ”I do not let people in, Court. It is not the easiest thing for me to do. And I know that you don’t understand that but it is not something I can just change with a snap of my fingers. There has only been about one person who knew me like what you’re talking about, and he’s dead. So I am sorry that I can’t just open up to you like you want. I am working on changing that right now. I can only apologize for what I did in the past and we can only look forward and try to work past this... to get back to steady ground.”
Court shakes her head. It sounded good, but things did not work like that in reality.
Court: “It's not like I can just decide not to be pissed off anymore.”
A smirk returned to Mikah's face, and she shrugged her shoulders lightly.
Mikah: ”I'm not asking you to. I'm here to show you how to take that, and use it to win this match. Maybe I can start making up for everything by starting right here, and right now.”
Court's expression softens a little bit, as her curiosity was definitely peaked.
Court: “...and how are you going to do that?”
The smirk on Mikah's face widens into a full smile, and she gives Court a light laugh.
Mikah: "This is the fun part."
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SCWrestling.net Exclusive
[Court]side: Live! [From The Happiest Place On Earth!]
8 June 2018
As the feed starts, Court’s face is the only thing that can be seen in the frame. There is a smile on her face that the viewers can see clearly, despite the low lighting. She says only a single word before winking at the camera.
”Fly.”
She tosses the camera up into the air, and whatever device is flying it takes over, ascending up above Court. As we get further away, we can see that she is outside, surrounded by blacktop. It is already dark outside the dim lighting at her back coming from two street lamps that were meant to look much older than they actually were. As the camera keeps moving up, it adjusts to show a large building behind her. In the dark it looked even more intimidating. The neon sign halfway up the building reading ‘The Hollywood Tower Hotel’. Anyone that has ever seen it would easily recognize it as the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror from Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The camera does not linger on the building for too long as Court stops watching it, and turns towards the building. As she starts to walk up the small, winding path leading to an open gate, the camera descends. We fly past her, making it through the gate before the rookie gets to it. The camera does not stop and wait for her either. Instead, we fly through the first small room of the attraction, moving between pillars as Court has to walk around them.
”You know, Disney World is supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, but that’s not really my thing. I mean, I might still be a rookie, but I’m not a child. I’m not going to be sitting down and having tea with the Disney princesses. I’m not going to be aimlessly wandering around the park and greeting fans. That’s all a waste of my time. If I’m spending time in Disney World, I’m cutting the bullshit and only doing the fun stuff, Like a couple of heart-stopping elevator rides through a haunted hotel.”
Court moves around the pillars and the camera slows, not wanting her to fall too far behind. She comes into the smaller hallway, and starts to make her way through as a creepy video plays the looped message of the rides haunted story. She does not pay it any attention, as she closes in on the camera.
”Of course, I just had to bring all of you along for the ride. Or at least, the trek to the ride. Walking all this way without anyone to talk to would have been kind of boring. Maybe not as boring as having to wait in a line, but then again, I’m not the idiot dropping hundreds of dollars to do that kind of thing. I guess their lives are so terrible that they feel the need to escape to a happier place. A place where their kids will be too excited to notice that all their parents want to do is ignore them. A place where they can enjoy waiting for hours in lines, for two minutes of mediocre thrills.”
The camera rounds a corner, and Court disappears momentarily before stepping around. She leans against it, and chuckles to herself.
”What do I need to do any of that for? I am a rookie in this business that just won Blast From The Past in my first attempt at it. I didn’t even need a successful, veteran partner to do it. I did it based on my skills, and the work that Fenris and I put into it. I walked away as the number one contender to the Bombshell Championship, and I put a loss on Evie’s record. There’s only a few people that have EVER done that, remember? They wish they could have done it like me though, because while they put a loss on her record, I put the last loss on that bitch. Nobody has to like it, but it doesn’t make it any less factual.”
She pushes away from the wall, and moves past the camera. It follows behind her for a second before zooming around the corner over her head. She looks up into the camera, the smile still on her face.
”...and yeah, people are going to give all of the credit to Mikah probably. Sure, she trained me in the beginning. You want some cold, hard truth though? Mikah basically wrote me off from the moment that I signed a contract in SCW. As soon as I was entered into Blast From The Past, she didn’t want anything to do with me. I went through the first few weeks on my own, pissed off, and wanting to prove myself. What happened, huh? A veteran tapped out and a champion found themselves getting pinned by a rookie. Blast From The Past is a team game though, and when it came down to the wire, it was Fenris and I game planning, strategizing, and working to help one another that made the difference. I told everyone that Evie was full of shit, and then here team went out there and fell apart just like I said it would.”
The camera drops down in front of her, staying close down the winding path. Court does not even seem to take notice of the flickering lights, or the signature music that accompanied every version of The Twilight Zone.
”Contrary to popular belief, and whichever one of the hamsters wrote this card, this isn’t the first time I have stepped outside of team competition though. Feel free to believe that it is. That is only going to help me. I would like to forget about losing to Evie too, but we all live and learn. I knew going into that match that I was over-matched. I looked at it like a learning experience, and I didn’t let myself down. I lost the battle to win the war against someone more experience, more polished skills, and a hell of a mean streak.”
The camera moves away from her as the small hallway opens up to a large room. Turnstiles fill the small space, and the camera pans away from Court to show a dimly lit elevator on the opposite side. When the camera comes back to her, she is combing her way through the turnstiles. The camera drops down closer to her in order to capture her words.
”To go from that, to Amy Marshall though? That’s definitely a drop off that I didn’t see coming. Here I was thinking that a rookie gearing up to challenge for the Bombshell Championship would be battle tested week-after-week leading up to the match. I didn’t think that Mark or Christian wanted me to have it easy. I thought they would want me to prove that I could carry a championship by taking on the best of the best that SCW has to offer today...”
She chuckles to herself again.
”...not the crackwhore ghost of pornstar’s past.”
She gets to the last turn, but instead of walking to the end of the aisle, she climbs up onto the bars, and sits down on top of it. The camera backs away into the small space between the end of the line and the elevator leading to the start of the ride.
”I’m sure that Amy Marshall may have been intimidating at some point. A few years ago when competition was softer, and Jessie Salco could actually win a match, Amy had some success. On paper she is one of the most accomplished people around Sin City. I’m pretty sure she’s even up there close to the most matches, if she doesn’t already have it. I’d have to ask the statbook, and I’m not really fond of talking to her.”
She shrugs off the idea of wasting any time talking about Mercedes, and does not stray from her point.
”The fact that you all view Jessie as a colossal failure, but still prop up Amy is laughable. Have you all forgotten that they have basically been inseparable until recently? Have you forgotten how many of Jessie’s failures were also Amy’s too? You want to separate her from all of that because she was one of the last people to realize that Jessie was full of shit, and wanted to wash the stank off of herself before it became permanent? Don’t be naive. She’s just as bad, just not as stupid.”
Court holds out her hand to the camera, and shakes it back and forth a few times, not wanting people to get the wrong idea.
”...and I’m not saying that Amy is brilliant by any means. She’s into shitty music, has terrible fashion sense, and used to fuck for money but realized there is a lot less chafing involved in running the cameras as opposed to spreading her legs so a few guys can make her airtight.”
She shrugs her shoulder unapologetically.
”I have done more in my first month than Amy has done in the last year. Yet, she is the one that is supposed to be in the prime of her career. She is the one with the accomplishments. She is the veteran walking into a match with a rookie. Yet, I am the number one contender to the Bombshell Championship, after winning a tournament that she couldn’t get two different partners to carry her through. She is the one that bombed out of the Mixed Tag Team Championship match while I was busy beating one of the best females to ever compete in this company. She is the one stacking loss. I am the one whose stock just keeps going up.”
She smiles at the camera as it comes a little bit closer to her.
”If success is currency, I’m just trying to get rich.”
Court drops down off of the railing and makes her way across the small space leading to the elevator. As she approaches, the chime sounds through the area, and the doors creak open.
”I don’t know how much a win over Amy Marshall is going to help me in the long run, but I’m not going to complain about having an easy night come Sunday. I’ll just have to settle for getting my thrills the middle-class family way since beating her is going to be a snore.”
She steps through the doors into the elevator, and turns back to face it. When it does not follow, she seems concerned.
”Not coming with?”
The camera moves quickly back and forth horizontally before focusing back on Court. She frowns a little, but leans back against the railing of the elevator.
”That’s too bad. I guess you’ll all just have to wait for Climax Control.”
The chime goes off again, and the doors slide closed in front of her. The camera focuses in on the dial above the elevator as it rises before slowly fading out to black.
