Las Vegas, Nevada
CurrentThere was one hard, fast constant within the hallowed walls of the GO Gym, more of an ever-lasting rule than anything else. And that was the belief that a student only stopped being a student when they were no longer active in the sport. It was not unheard of for students who had "graduated" from this premiere academy to return often to workout and maintain their in-ring skills so that they remained sharp. In fact, it was practically expected. Even when down and out with injury, "the White Wolf" Fenris could be seen at the weights. Once he had been given the green light from both his surgeon as well as Whisper who had helped him with rehab, Gabriel had reopened the Gym's doors for him to take full advantage of everything he and Odette had to offer. Yet it was what was taking place inside of the one of three wrestling rings that was the reason why we were here today.
As in only a mere matter of days, the "Amazon Bombshell" Tempest was being given the opportunity alongside Austin James Mercer to regain the Mixed Tag Team titles at Summer XXXTreme XI, becoming the division's first two-time champions. That being said, Gabriel had expected Tempest to be here until she had to leave for the Port of Los Angeles, readying herself for her biggest match in what seemed like forever. And he had made certain that Tempest would be prepared for anything those three other women could throw at her. He had set her up against perhaps one of the few women in the famed GO Gym who could, in fact, stand toe to toe with her if not by size then certainly by fighting spirit and determination -- namely Mackenzie Page of London Underground fame. There was absolutely nothing Mackenzie loved more than a good fight inside of the ring, and there was nothing Tempest wanted more out of a match than a legit challenge - of which for her there were few and far between. So, where these two were concerned, it was a win/win.
"God damn it!" Tempest growled between clenched teeth as her phone started to go off -- again. The one time she had forgotten or neglected to turn her phone on vibrate, she answered for it. Her workouts and sparring matches were of such notoriety in the Gym that even Fenris acknowledged her as such, stating, "Bitch is crazy!" A viewpoint that Tempest took neither offence nor umbrage too. Tempest stood up, Mackenzie still hanging off of her in the front chancery guillotine choke, and Mackenzie saying, "Just ignore it!" As Tempest turned her attention inside of the ring toward the outside where her gym bag had been set near a workout bench she had laid claim to for a post-match workout.
But this time the phone continued to ring, not letting up or stopping to take the voicemail option, so a slight worry started to grow in the recesses of the bigger woman's mind. "I've got to take this!" Tempest stated outright as she hefted the former Women's Tag Team and Mixed Tag Champion up and set her down with a gentle respect few would know she was ever even capable of. But when working out in the GO Gym, respect between students was key.
"Oh for fucks sake..." Mackenzie finally yielded with reluctance, setting defiant hands on her hips. "Fine, but make it snappy! I had you going!"
Tempest was stepping halfway through the ropes, between the top and middle, when she cane to a full on stop. She paused for a handful of uncomfortable seconds until she resumed her stance, standing on the ring apron and just looking at Mackenzie with a smirk, "Sure. You bet." To which Mackenzie smirked herself. Like two peas in a pod where these two women in particular were concerned. She then dropped to the floor and walked with purpose to her gym bag and snatched the phone from on top of it. Without even bothering to look at the Caller ID to see who had just interrupted her workout, she swiped up and barked, "This had BETTER be important!"
"Alleyne?" The woman's voice from the other end of the conversation spoke, a slight tremor behind her tone.
"Of course it's Alleyne, you called me!" Tempest answered hotly. "Now who the hell is this!?"
"It's Maile."
"Mai-" Tempest almost dropped the phone from her hand in shock at the name she had not heard in the past few years. Maile -- the older sister of Malulani, her deceased husband who had been killed in combat overseas. After finding her voice and regaining her composure, Tempest asked, "How did you get my number?"
"Your mother." Maile answered, to which Tempest closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. her mom. Her mom gave away her private number to the older sister of her husband, a woman who like her then-mother-in-law Mahina had never accepted her as Malulani's new wife following the death of his former. She had been treated like an outcast from the very get-go, and aided Mahina in removing Malulani's daughter -- her stepdaughter -- from her care.
"She gave you my number..." Tempest seethed, her eyes opening to mere slits but the emblazoned fury could be witnessed even then were anyone to take close enough notice. "I can not believe she...!"
"Mom died." Whatever else Tempest thought her ex sister-in-law might have said to her as to why she was calling out of the blue after more than four years, that was certainly not it. A part of Tempest wanted to tell her that she hoped her mother would rot in hell. But the part of her that yet loved and mourned Malulani prevented her from saying the scathing words. That was still his mother and she would not disrespect her -- no matter how much the bitch might deserve it.
Instead she asked, "What happened?"
"She had a heart attack." Maile answered. "The funeral is in..."
"I'm not coming to the funeral." Tempest interrupted her. But Maile answered, "We didn't expect you to. We probably would have been shocked if you did. But this isn't about Mom. It's about Anela."
Anela. Her Malulani' daughter, and the stepdaughter she loved like her own. When Malulani had first introduced them, admittedly Tempest was worried. Yes -- Tempest was worried. She was very concerned how the little girl would react to her Daddy dating another women, let alone marrying her. But much to her surprise and Malulani's relief, the little girl had not only been more than happy her Dad had met someone, but Anela herself seemed to be over the moon at having a new mother figure in her life.
And it was perhaps Anela's reaction to her that spurred her mother-in-law to work so feverishly to remove Anela from her care after her father's passing. If there had been any doubt to the girl's affection toward her, Anela's screams and cries at being removed from her house haunted her to this day. Almost as much as the feeling of being helpless at preventing it.
Tempest again had to swallow back the choke of memories and she found her voice once again to ask, "What about her?"
"CPS wants to take her away." Maile stated in a voice that cracked under the pressure of emotion, at both losing her mother and now possibly her niece.
"Take her away???" Tempest barked, her voice carrying across the Gym and the walls, having great acoustics to sound, caused heads to turn. Tempest quickly turned and walked past everyone, avoiding their eyes as she barged into the women's dressing room. Only then did she continue her conversation as she asked hotly, "How the hell can they take her away!? If your Mom had legal custody then they should be placing her with..."
"Mom never had legal custody, Alleyne." Maile interrupted, and judging by how frail her voice sounded at the very moment, it was as if she were waiting for the inevitable explosion from the woman she was talking to.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE NEVER HAD LEGAL CUSTODY!?!?!" Annnnd there it was! The explosion, and she was certain that everyone out in the Gym had heard her outburst and truth be told, she didn't give a damn! "Bitch, you better start talking...!!!"
"Alleyne!" Maile called aloud from her end, trying to both diffuse the growing situation and solve the problem as to why she had called. She had the given effect and the opening, so Maile continued, "You know better than anyone how the courts are when a child is involved. Someone at CPS did some digging and they found out Mom never got legal custody of Anela. Something happened to the paperwork on the judge's end and the custody issue was never notarized."
"What are you saying...?" Tempest asked, feeling almost paralyzed on the spit by everything that was unraveling around her right now.
"I'm saying..." Maile took a deep breath from her end of the phone. "That after Malulani's passing, legally you should have had custody of his daughter. You still can."
Tempest closed her eyes, and a lone tear streaking from her right eye and down her cheek as Maile continued, "Alleyne... the CPS agent said that if you don't make a case for custody, Anela will be taken away and placed in 'the system'.
Los Angeles, California
Port of Los AngelesThe opening shot is of none other than the Princess Cruise ship, an impressive monolith of maritime leisure. At over 143,000 tons and a length of 1,083, the ship held a total capacity of 3,560 between staff and passengers alike. A perfect setting for an epic summer extravaganza. In just a matter of eight days, such an event would be taking place ON BOARD this very vessel while out at sea, as famed SCW summer event Summer XXXTreme XI would be once again dominating the summer heat!
And as the camera slowly panned out, one such participant was standing on the dock in her summer street clothes, a teal colored tank top, cut-off denim shorts and high tops -- Tempest. Former World Mixed Tag Team Champion, and soon-to-be two-time co holder of those very same championships. Hands on her hips, Tempest kept a careful eye on the ship as workers went about their business, readying everything well ahead of time as the sun slowly started to descend into the ocean waters.
"As impressive as this sight is, I will go on record and admit that I am probably the only person booked on this show that wishes it was anywhere else but on a cruise ship. Not for any reasons that the so-called experts who ply their trade from their mama's basements and offering their views and opinions from the relative safety of a keyboard might assume. I'm not afraid of the open water nor do I get seasick. I don't mind narrow spaces like these cabins or interacting with the occasional fan who actually approaches me for a picture or an autograph. I simply lost my taste for cruises a few years ago. I haven't liked nor appreciated them since."
"This does bring back memories though. Not personal ones, but professional. Because the last time I was on a Princess cruise for Sin City Wrestling and Summer XXXTreme in particular, it was for 2021's event where Austin James Parker and myself defended these very same championships against Miles Kasey and Seleana Zdunich -- successfully I might add. I won't lie and say that I didn't have my fun moments during the cruise. Mercer saw to that, which I suppose I am grateful for. It's just ... cruises don't do for me what they do for everyone else it seems. But, that is neither here nor there. Austin and I won this opportunity, and whether it be on a ship out at sea or on solid, dry land, we are going to make the most of this I can assure you that."
Tempest stops mid-promo for a moment to take a seat on a wooden bench as a seagull flies across the sky, it's screech heard by everyone in the vicinity.
"Austin and I are not alone in this endeavor. Like us, the other three tag teams in this Fatal Fourway earned their chances alongside us. By hook and crook, by sheer talent ... or just plain, dumb luck. You be he judge because I won't bother. My eyes are set straight ahead toward not just the three women that I will be inside of the ring with, but their partners as well. Because like it or not, this is a TEAM effort, and while I can't lay my hands on Peter or Alexander or Oliver, nor they me, it doesn't take away from the fact that we have to work together with our partners to achieve the same goals -- score the win and win the championships. And with all due respect to the other three teams involved in this match, there's only one team in this match with the proven history in this division as champions."
She tapped a forefinger into her own chest as the camera swerved around to catch her from the front.
"Austin and myself. Austin and I are the ones who held the championships for over five months. In that time, neither of us abandoned the other allowing another to simply be handed the championship without earning it. We kept those titles around our waists and defended them whenever the higher ups called on us to do so, against whomever they could find that were willing to take the risk. And yes..."
She nodded her head.
"Facing Austin and myself as a collective unit is a risk. You can put on all the false bravado that you want to in order to save face or prevent your toxic sense of masculinity from wilting like a flower in an oven, but it's the hard, cold truth that all three of these teams are going to have to acknowledge and accept. We have the size and power. We have the experience as a team. And we have the successful track record. And whom did Austin and I beat to get this far? None other than the team everyone wanted to see together, and a team I desperately want to face once again -- Sammi Marlowe and Ben Jordan. Sam brought it, I have to admit. More so than I ever thought her capable of. And the only thing that ruined our moment between our teams was Bea Barnhart who just could not accept the fact that she and her hubby were no longer in the running at the time. Still, a win is a win I suppose even though it wasn't how Austin or I wanted to get here, so winning the championships and meeting Ben and Sammi one more time will more than satisfy those lingering doubts."
"But what about you, Luna Vanity and Alexander Raven? I have literally no idea what is going on in that head of Luna Vanity, because as the name implies, the chick is about as unstable as a game of Jenga during an earthquake. Still, she has pulled off some impressive wins, such as beating Alexandra Calaway at her own game and being a former Roulette Champion - for about two weeks. To me, the true strength behind this team is Alexander Raven because the man has been nothing short of impressive since he first showed up. I am not so full off myself that I can't say that about someone on the opposite side. He's been the Roulette AND Internet Champion, and held both championships for an impressive run each. Jesus Christ, the man beat Fenris! Granted, some say that Fenris pretty much beat himself in their title match but like I said before, a win is a win and if anyone on this team is going to be the threat, it'll be Alexander Raven."
"Not that I'm not looking forward to stepping inside of the ring against Luna, because I am. I always appreciate new experiences inside of the ring, hoping for an opponent that might actually surprise me and give me the sort of fight that I am really hoping for. Zoey Lukas gave me that fight, as did Bobbie Dahl. Few and far between, but it happens. Can Luna do the same?"
She shrugged.
"It's possible. I mean, after seeing that wild match she had with Calaway I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility, but I have my doubts. That match had no restrictions. This one does, and Luna does not exactly strike me as the sort of woman who easily focuses with that scatterbrained mind of hers."
"But then again, Luna is not the woman I am really all that interested in facing the most out of this match."
She bit her lower lips with her teeth, a smile that was much like a hunter anticipating a meal wile she shook her head in the negative.
"No, that honor would fall most toward Kim Pain, a woman whose career I have followed even before she set foot in SCW. When she came here, all I could think about was the chance to wrestle this woman who's stepped inside the ring elsewhere with men twice her size and lived to tell the tale. The woman, who despite all intents and purposes, is a legit bad ass inside of the ring but displays a complete opposite side of herself once the match is over and business is concluded. I've heard enough about the good she's done for others inside the facility of Hellsgate, Carter in particular. Kim had absolutely no reason or obligation to help with some of Carter's rehab, but she did it anyway. Why? I never asked but I assume it was because she and Carter got along well enough, and because she simply felt that it was the right thing to do. I can respect that. Appreciate it, even. I can say as I would do the same because I'm just not that sort of person, but that sort of person performs outside of the ring, and that just is not where we're going to clash."
"It's rare to have something you look forward to in this business that doesn't involve a championship, and while the titles are at stake here between us Kim, and I truly think this match will come down to you and me -- and of course our partners by proxy, this is what I look forward to. And while I hope that one day my curiosity will be satiated in a one on one encounter, for now this will have to do because I have no doubts that while you and I could steal the show, that Luna and ... **snort** Eiley will attempt to steal our thunder. What say you and I take a moment between ourselves, lay down our arms and take out the trash, then settle things between just us?"
She waved a finger between the camera and herself, a clear indication.
"Which brings us of course to the final piece of this little mixed tag team puzzle. And no, I did not save the best for last. if anything, I saved the least for last because out of every team in the entire mixed tag team division, this is the team I think the absolute least of! Oliver Zahn from Jet City and Eiley from ... whatever the hell Mikah calls where she dug this girl up from and trained her. Oliver and Eiley, or as whoever names these teams should refer to them as ... Mikah and Kris Ryans 2.0. Because honey, let's face it, when we see either one of them on the screen, you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a rerun of an old edition of Climax Control where Mikah and Kris were onscreen together. I am almost ASHAMED that Mikah calls Hawaii her home now because she is the exact type of person who natives of the state such as myself don't want around. Vain. Self centered and thinking the entire thought of an island paradise revolves around their own personal pleasure rather than maintaining the beauty and prosperity of the islands and the people born and raised there. But I can't say as I'm surprised, that's just the sort of person Mikah is. It's always been about herself and what people can do for her. Case in point... Kris Ryans. Before her retirement and kris's staged death, the two were revealed as being an item. Not surprising that they picked up right where they left off in that regard because every time Kris disappeared or took time off and returned, Mikah practically knocked everyone over that was in her path so she could latch her hooks into the man. It bordered on stalker obsessed behavioral patterns. But this time the chick outdid herself because now as soon as he returned, suddenly she's pregnant with his baby!"
She jetted out a lower lip and nodded.
"Well good for her. But if I were Kris, I'd get a DNA test done as soon as that kid is born because with her track record... Drake Green, Mark Ward, etc etc... the record is against him. Oh, wait... sorry!"
She lightly tapped the side of her head with the palm of her hand.
"I was talking about Mikah and Kris all of this time when I was supposed to be talking about their respective proteges, Eiley and Oliver. Easy mistake to make, considering they're practically mirror images of the other. Oliver really hasn't shown me much of anything, which is a damn shame considering his trainer Kris is a proven commodity in this business and a Hall of Fame recipient. But Oliver himself? I just can't help but feel he's hoping to use this new tag team division as a means to an end, as a way of boosting his standing elsewhere in SCW when HE should be the one boosting the division. Not the other way around! And Eiley...?"
She drew in a breath and chuckled.
"You know when she first showed up and we were told she was trained by Mikah, that was all I needed to hear. Yes, Eiley has gotten one or two good wins, but otherwise she's been an absolute bust in making any kind of impact. It's like Mikah wants her to be a mirror version of herself and Eiley just wants to emulate the woman who brought her into the sport! I always thought that a good trainer wanted their respective students to grow past them and become their own person but that just is not what I see in Eiley -- or Oliver for that matter. But Eiley is the one I have to deal with in the ring and oh...!"
She shook her head with an almost sadistic chuckle.
"I will do so GLADLY. And when the match is over and Eiley is put out to sea, I just wonder if she's going to try convincing the world that she meant to lose. That she wanted to lose the match and the chance for the championship, just like Mikah tried telling the world that she wanted the same when she dropped the Internet title to Devona. I mean, birds of a feather and all that."
That being said, Tempest pushed herself to her feet, the camera rising u along with her so she could stare straight into the lense.
"It doesn't matter. None of it. The saviors are not what they once were or had the potential to be. At least their presense here in SCW isn't, and that includes Kim Pain and Peter Vaughn. Alexander Raven and Luna Vanity have about as much chance of winning this whole event as the ocean has of turning into peanut butter. And Mikah and Kris 2.0 aka Eiley and Oliver? Say your prayers, kissos. The sea ha5s claimed enough victims these past few weeks."
She leaned in close and taped the lense with her forefinger.
"And it's about to claim two more."