[Jet City]

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Greatest Challengers
San Diego, California  - Jet City South
12th SEPTEMBER 2023
OFF-Camera

The two of them had been going all day. Kris had broken down Jet City into three teams. Coby was paired with his sister Keisha, Kendall with JD, and Kris teamed up with Court. Whenever there was a pinfall, or a submission, the teams switched. Eiley and Oz stayed in the ring. At the beginning of the day, the champions were pulling away. Several of the early wins had been luck. Keisha and Coby each took a little while to knock the rust off. Kris and Court didn’t function particularly well as a team because of the ego they each brought into it. Kendall and JD were the most evenly matched with the champions in terms of size, strength, height and weight, but the married couple couldn’t keep up with Limitless, at least not at first. As the champions started to wear out, and the other teams got used to one another, the losses started to pile up. Kris and Court started functioning like a well-oiled machine after a few tries, and had been nearly unstoppable every single time that they had stepped up to the plate since. The experience divide was too much to overcome as exhaustion started to set in. Of course, it gave Limitless additional satisfaction that despite the bad run they had been on in the late afternoon they were still currently up two falls on the rest of the teams.

OZ: You six should be ashamed. You get to take breaks.

Despite the fact that he was barely able to push himself off of the canvas and back to his feet, he was still talking shit. He knew that after this much time it didn’t really matter if the other teams were getting a little time to catch their breath in between falls. Everyone was struggling, and running on mostly instinct, which was exactly what Kris had wanted.

EILEY: You couldn’t even catch up to us and you had all day!

Eiley was leaning against the ropes for support, and trying to figure out which of the teams was going to step up next. The order had been random in order to stop the champions from creating any kind of strategy, so any of them could jump into the ring at a moment’s notice.

COBY: You two should be up by way more than just a couple. Nobody but Court has actually competed in over a year.

Keisha looked a little worse for wear, as she had mostly been used in the offices handling all of the various sponsorships that Jet City had. She hadn’t been in a ring since she helped Court get ready for her first Blast from the Past tournament.

JD: In my defense, it has been a lot longer than that for me…

It was a similar story for JD. He had been around Jet City as a trainer for a long time, but his last job inside the ring was as a referee, not a competitor. He shouldn’t have posed a threat to the champions regardless of how tired they were.

OZ: No. Fuck that. I’m calling it. You guys have had all day to catch up and can’t do it. You lose. We win.

Kendall and Coby had been the wildcards on their teams, and honestly would have pulled out a few more victories had they been paired together. However, if Kris had done that then the champions wouldn’t have made it this far. They would have gotten in a hole early that they wouldn’t have been able to climb out of once the exhaustion hit.

KRIS: Sounds like you’re afraid. You’re only trying to call it off because you know that you’re not winning another one for the rest of the day. You can barely get up. Eiley isn’t going to be able to carry you either.

It was obvious that Kris and Court were on a different level than all of the rest of them. Despite the fact that Kris had been shot and was unable to do much of anything for most of the past year, he was still holding his own. Court appeared to be barely winded, which was to be expected by someone that had been working with Oz and Eiley closely for the last few months.

COURT: I say we go one more, winner take all.

The ego that had been an early pitfall for the Bombshell Champion and the Hall of Famer, was running unchecked now that they were on the same page. They knew that they had the champions’ number now, and there was nothing that the rookies could do about it. Oz wasn’t just going to hand them the victory though. He was more than happy to go down swinging, because he was going to have to listen to them run their mouths about it either way.

OZ: Alright! Fine! We’re up two, and you want to take a shortcut. I get it. You’re old and can’t go all day like we can anymore. Step on up.

All three teams gathered themselves in front of the champions, and both Kris and Court hopped up on the apron like they were going to step in. Oz wasn’t going to let them step into the ring cleanly. He stepped up to block their path, but Eiley felt like it was a ruse.

EILEY: Olly you shou--

He cut her off, not giving her a chance to talk him out of standing his ground against the two dictators of Jet City South.

OZ: No! It’s cool. Let’s go!

Kris flinched like he was going to get into the ring which made Oz nearly jump out of his shoes. When the Hall of Famer laughed at him, Oz’s face turned red, but before he could raise a fist, Kris shook his head. His six year old daughter was ascending the turnbuckle from the opposite side of the ring while his son was just waiting for his opportunity to strike.

KRIS: You should keep your eyes on your opponents….

It was what Eiley had been trying to warn him about in the first place. Kris points to the corner over Oz’s shoulder, which causes the champion to spin around to be on his guard. He is confused at first because all six of his opponents for the day had been lined up in front of him. However, when he turned, it was Kris’ six year old daughter on the top rope. She leapt off and planted both of her feet into his chest. KJ slid into the ring from the outside, and got down on all fours behind Oz’s legs. The Mixed Tag Team Champion may have been able to stay on his feet if he had the chance to take a step back and really get planted, but instead Lindsay rode him into the mat like a surfboard, driving all of the air out of his lungs. In a flash, KJ was on his feet, and both he and his sister piled onto the champion. Eiley tried to slide in and push the children off, but Court grabbed her by the foot. Kris slid into the ring and made the world’s fastest count before the children got up to celebrate their latest wins over the champions. The duo scooped up the Mixed Tag Team Championships and took off while Eiley and Oz were both too tired to make a move to go after them.

OZ: One of these days we’re going to see that coming…

Eiley crawled across the ring after Court released her leg, and then flopped herself onto her back next to him. She wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the energy to actually do so.

EILEY: You have to admit, they’re actually getting good.

The two of them probably had a career waiting for them the moment that they were of age to do so, but that wasn’t the point. Struggling to catch his breath, Oz looks over at his partner with his eyes wide.

OZ: ...and where were you?

This time the laughter comes easily. As far as she was concerned, they won the day. The kids were just having fun at their expense, and there was nothing wrong with that. It was the type of childhood that neither of them got to have, and she was happy that she got to be a small part of that. It felt like she was making the world a slightly better place, even if just on the smallest scale. Still, she wasn’t going to be blamed for him falling for it once again. All three times the children had taken advantage of them, they had pinned Oz.

EILEY: Oh, this is my fault now? They’re children! If you can’t kick out of that how are you going to handle Tempest sitting on you?

Instead of looking at that as a negative, Oz actually looked relieved by the thought. It was one of the few positive outcomes that had crossed his mind, with another being the fact that Austin could snap and get himself disqualified at literally any time. Oz knew that, because he had lived through it once already. This time it would be worth it though. Being brutalized but keeping his championship wasn’t the worst way to end the night.

OZ: I’d be good with that. She’d totally get disqualified and we win without having to actually win. It’s almost the best case scenario.

The shock on Eiley’s face more than proved to him that she wasn’t even considering that as an option.

EILEY: I don’t think that any of the fans would see it that way.

And now it was Oz’s turn to be surprised. Since the day that the two of them met they hadn’t really cared about the nameless and faceless people that they didn’t know. Back when they had nothing and were living on the streets of this city, they paid no mind to the people that they would take from. In their adult lives, their schemes had gotten a little more advanced, but the same rule applied. Take whatever you can, from whomever you can, and give nothing back. Their entire friendship had been built on having each other’s back regardless of who got left on the short end of the stick.

OZ: Since when do we care about any of that?

It was something that Eiley had been thinking about since she saw this date announced for Climax Control. There was something about San Diego that always stuck out for her. Sure, Oz had relocated more than half of the world away. She had run far away to Hawaii in an attempt to forget about the things that happened here. However, since being part of Jet City for a short time, she came to see it as a positive; or at least it had the potential to be.

EILEY: Normally? Never. It’s not really something that is on my radar. But, this is home for Jet City. I wouldn’t be surprised if they loved us despite the fact that we don’t care.

As much as the idea had baffled him originally, it didn’t actually sound like a bad idea when she phrased it like that. It’s not like it would be a permanent change for the two of them. It would be somewhat of a surprise for their opponents to have a crowd get firmly behind the champions when they had been booed out of literally every venue. Any kind of change that people aren’t ready for is a disadvantage, especially if it is the crowd. They had a way of making any environment feel inhospitable, and there was no way to block that out when you are in the ring.

OZ: It might be fun to actually care for a week.

Eiley nodded her head. Maybe it was just the fact that they were both exhausted, but the conversation was going much more smoothly than she had anticipated. Oz was usually the one with the big plans, and she simply followed them. He wasn’t one for doing something unless he could take credit for it, but he was actually listening for once.

EILEY: Austin and Tempest are easy for a crowd to hate. It could be a really big advantage for us this week though. Jet City fans could tear the roof off that place and make it really uncomfortable for anyone trying to make us look bad in our own house.

He couldn’t find a fault in her logic, assuming that people would actually show up to support them. Of course, that remained to be seen, but with Kris throwing a huge party at Jet City on Friday, it was certainly possible.

OZ: I like it. Why fight two-on-two when we can go out there and convince 17,000 people to join our team?

She shrugged her shoulders, and made sure to reinforce the idea that it wasn’t something that would work every single week. However, they wouldn’t be facing Tempest and Austin or defending their championship every single week either. It was this week, and this Climax Control where they had this problem, and this was the simplest solution to gain an edge that their opponents may not have planned for.

EILEY: Sounds like it would be hard to maintain week after week, but it could be fun for a one-off, and we probably won’t get a chance like this again for a while.

Oz’s wheels were already turning though. If they were going to do this, they couldn’t just wait for Sunday to roll around and cross their fingers that it was all going to work out. They were going to have to do something big before the weekend if they really wanted to rile up the fan base.

OZ: In that case, I have some ideas. It might be a little bit over the top though.

Eiley’s eyes lit up. It wasn’t just that he was buying into one of her suggestions for once, but the way that he did it. The mere suggestion of putting on the facade for a week had energized him in a way that she took pride in. They needed to ride that wave if they were going to survive and keep their championships.

EILEY: Nonsense! The bigger the better.

Oz sat up, and looked in the direction that the kids ran off to before turning back to his partner with a devilish smirk on his face. He would need time to work out the finer details anyways, but they had a more pressing problem. There was no way that the champions were going to be able to do anything without the Mixed Tag Team Championships. They had goblins to go hunt down.

OZ: Unfortunately we have to beat up some children and get our titles back first.



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>Home Field Advantage

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The video opens with the sounds of cheers filling the speakers before there is any movement on the screen. As the camera pulls back, we can see a crowd of people with their phones out, ready to snap a picture of the hometown favorites for this week’s Climax Control. The camera continues to pull out, showing the massive crowd that has formed on the outside of the newly redesigned Jet City South. They had taken up all of the space in the parking lot, and even spilled out over into the street, with several holding up signs that would likely make appearances at Climax Control in a few days. The crowd isn’t centered at the front of the building, but at a corner balcony raised only four or five feet off of the ground. It was enough to separate the masses from being able to climb up, but not so high that the people up front couldn’t see what was happening. The double doors leading into the building from the balcony open up, and the camera closes in, cutting more of the crowd out of the frame in the process. Even though they can no longer be seen, the fans can definitely be heard, as they explode with cheers when the Sin City Wrestling Mixed Tag Team Champions step out and hold their titles high in the air.

”Let’s hear it, Jet City!!!”

The already raucous crowd gets even more unyielding as Oz does his best to hype them up. Oz walks all the way to the edge, and reaches out to the nearby fans as Eiley lowers her championship belt down onto her shoulder.

”That’s what I like to hear! You people wouldn’t believe how much hate we get absolutely everywhere else in the world. It’s good to know that the people right here in San Diego know our value. Eiley and I grew up right here. We trained right here. And now we brought the Mixed Tag Team Championships right here where they have always belonged. These championships never should have left Jet City in the first place. They were retired in our honor, and if they were going to be defended in a ring once again, they would be doing so around our waists. These belts belong to this gym, and they belong to each and every one of you that showed up for us!”

He gestures to the passionate flock of fans around him. Most of them are wearing merchandise associated with one of the stars that Jet City produced. However, the orange and turquoise color scheme in the audience is more than enough to prove that the majority of the crowd is probably actually there for an appearance from Kris and Mikah instead of Limitless.

”No King for a Day is going to be able to take these away from us; not here. He’s not going to be able to come down to our city, in front of our people, and weather the storm necessary to walk out with our Mixed Tag Team Championships. I don’t care how dominant his partner thinks that she is. I see a whole fucking sea of faces out here to support Jet City, and I know that the crowd on Sunday isn’t going to look a whole lot different than this one right in front of me. The King can bring his immovable object, because I know that each and every seat in the Viejas Arena will be filled with an unstoppable force that is going to steamroll Austin and Tempest once and for all. We will banish the two of them to the bottom rung of the Mixed Tag Team ladder, and we will continue to cut down every single team this company has until people realize that these championships were created for, and to be carried by, Jet City. Period.”

Almost as if on queue, a replica of the Mixed Tag Team Championship floats up from the crowd, and both of the young stars smile before signing their names on the side plates of the belt. Like magic, the belt disappears back into the crowd.

”...and it’s not necessarily anything personal. I’d be saying this same thing to any of the teams that thought they could step into our backyard and take what is ours. It is just an insane thought that this is the match that Austin wanted. He could have gone after the biggest prize in the division like Zoey did last week. He could have tried his luck for the Roulette division considering he appreciates beating opponents unconscious with a chair when he realizes he is going to lose otherwise. He could have stepped to Calvin Harris if he wanted someone with a similar list of accolades in this company. He didn’t do any of that though. He decided to come after Jet City on their home field. I don’t know if that is because he just doesn’t think that he can hack it alone. I don’t know if he just doesn’t believe in himself as a singles competitor anymore. To me, it seems like the guy feels like he needs Tempest in order to succeed, even though they have never been very successful together either.”

A stagehand comes out onto the stage with a stack of shirts. Oz and Eiley both pull out sharpies and start signing them. As they get done with each one, Eiley tosses it into the crowd, keeping them frenzied even as Oz talks.

”...or maybe it is just the same bullshit that we have been talking about all along. Last week Wolfslair used their fake-ass temporary powers to book themselves against Jet City in a championship match. This week the GO Gym is getting in on the action as well. These people won their big opportunity to finally force themselves into positions to make their dreams come true, and instead they just keep coming after us. The GO Gym even had a graduate try to jump the Bombshell Champion before her defense to give Wolfslair a better chance at winning. The fact that these two gyms are working together to screw Jet City isn’t new, and shouldn’t be surprising.”

He breaks away from signing things, and focuses his attention specifically on the camera behind the crowd. Closes in around Oz, giving the viewers the impression that now he is talking to his opponents watching at home.

”Maybe it is just a coincidence though. Maybe it seems like you people are only singling us out because we are always the ones holding the pretty things that you can’t ever seem to be able to hang onto. Maybe it seems like you are always chasing us, because we are always so much fucking further ahead than all of you. Have you ever thought that we are in the position that we are in because we are the second generation of an in-ring philosophy that has dominated this company for the majority of the time it has been around? Kris was basically unrivaled inside the ring. Mikah was unstoppable at every point in her career. Neither of them ever set a goal in Sin City that they didn’t make good on, and they are the ones steering the new group of us through this business. Nobody should have been surprised when Court and Ruby won Blast from the Past. Nobody can say that their championships are safe when any of us are around. We have always, and will always, be just a bit faster, smarter, or conniving than the people that step up to us, and that is why we will always be on top of this company.”

The crowd erupts into cheers loud enough to cut the young champion off. Eiley motions for the crowd to keep it going, and Oz raises and lowers the microphone several times before he is finally able to speak and be heard.

”On the other hand, maybe it is a little personal. I have forgotten what Austin did to me the first time that we were in the ring together, and I can remember having to save Eiley from injury during the match at Summer XXXtreme. I can remember being told over and over again that we had no chance to walk out with our championships. I can remember Austin and Tempest saying that even though we won, our time in the spotlight was going to be short. I can remember the two of them echoing that being from Jet City didn’t make us Reckless Elite. I heard the negativity. WE heard the negativity. Yet, we’re still here. We’re still the champions!”

Oz raises his championship into the air once more before lowering it and securing it around his waist. He slaps the centerplate of the belt twice before continuing.

”This is where this belt belongs, and this is exactly where it is going to stay until they have to retire it for a second time because every other team in the division loses hope. Nobody is going to take them from us, and they definitely aren’t capable of doing it in front of our crowd, in our city. Like I said, we grew up here. We were the dirty forgotten street kids that everyone pretended not to see. We were molded by this city. We were emboldened to rise up from nothing so that one day we might have a shot at having everything. Every step of the way through the muck we had to fight and claw for what little we could get. We brought these championships back to Jet City because we haven’t forgotten that it was San Diego that raised us! And we wouldn’t dare let anyone take these championships from you in your house!”

The camera shakes from the ferocity of the cheers from the fans in attendance

”I don’t care that they are bigger. I don’t care that they are stronger. There is nothing that I won’t do to make sure that we walk out with these championships. There’s no rule I won’t break. There’s no risk that I won’t take. You people showing up on Sunday is all the motivation that I need to make sure that we don’t fuck this thing up. It doesn’t even matter that this is the only thing happening on Climax Control that actually matters. Nothing and nobody is going to stop Eiley and I from having our hands raised at the end of the night. It doesn’t matter which one of them that we pin. It doesn’t matter who we make tap out. Eventually that place is going to be so loud that they aren’t going to be able to think, and that is when Eiley and I are going to take their legs right out from under them. By the time that they realize how big of a mistake they made trying to challenge us on home turf, Eiley and I will already be headlining the after party.”

The cheers break as a wave of laughter comes rushing through the crowd.

”From the first moment that I stepped into the ring, I couldn’t wait to do it here in front of all of you. I know that we are hated everywhere else in the world, but you guys made it all worth it by loving us anyways. That’s why we can’t let you down. I don’t care if Eiley has to break one of Tempest’s limbs to keep her on the mat. I don’t care what kind of beating Austin thinks he is going to give me. All I know is that whatever they have to throw at us won’t be enough; not here, not Sunday.”

A loud “LIMITLESS” chant seems to take over over the crowd, and both champions exchange a look showing that it took the two of them by surprise. Hearing the crowd, a smile crosses Oz’s face. It started as a smirk and grew wider as his eyes focused on the crowd. He dropped the microphone from his hand and unstrapped the Mixed Tag Team Championship from around his waist before handing it off to Eiley. He motions for the crowd to get their hands in the air.

”Bring on Wolflair! Bring on the GO Gym! It won’t matter where they're from, because down here it’s not just Eiley and I that they have to worry about! If they want to come to San Diego for a shot at our championships, they’re gonna have to fight the whole fucking crowd! This is Jet City! And we are LIMITLESS!”

The crowd roars, and the camera pulls back again to show the mass of people with their hands in the air. Without any hesitation, Oz takes off running back towards the crowd and leaps from the edge of the balcony. He is caught by the outstretched hands of the cheering crowd, and within moments has drifted into the center where he could barely be seen on camera. Eiley stands center stage laughing at him, before shouldering his half of the Mixed Tag Team Championships. She looks back and forth between the two belts with a smile on her face before picking up the microphone herself.

”You guys can keep him! These both look better on me anyways!”

The crowd cheers, but Oz can be seen pointing back towards the stage. The fans respond to his command, and as quickly as he had drifted out, they propel him back to the stage, where he lands on his feet face-to-face with his partner. After a feigned stand-off between the two of them, motions for her to hold up both of the championships in the air, and as she does, he lifts her up onto his shoulders while the fans cheer the two of them. With a shot of the champions with their titles in the air, the feed cuts out.