All-Star Roxi Issue #2: Calm Before The Storm
{The scene opens in Roxi and Kiera’s home. Roxi is laying down on the couch, and Nate is seated next to her, also leaning back, watching Fraggle Rock episodes and as the next one comes on, Nate starts dancing to the theme song, and trying his best to sing.}
Nate – It’s a Fraggle rock!
{Nate looks over and sees Roxi dancing to the song too, clapping along as Nate smiles.}
Roxi – You like this song, huh?
Nate – Uh-huh.
Roxi – I used to watch this when I was a little girl.
Nate – You were little?
Roxi – Yeah, I was little once.
Nate – Now you’re big!
Roxi – Yeah, I’m all grown up. And one day you will grow up.
Nate – I am big, right now.
Roxi – I know you are. You are a big boy.
Nate – But, tomorrow, can I be little again?
Roxi – You will always be my little boy, no matter how big you get.
Nate – I’m gonna be big, and little.
Roxi – Exactly.
{Nate climbs into Roxi arms, using her as a human jungle gym for a brief moment before cuddling up to her.}
Roxi – I love you.
Nate – I love you too, Mommy.
{Nate kisses Roxi on the lips, prompting a smile and a hug.}
Roxi – I could squeeze you all day!
Nate – Don’t do that! I won’t be big!
{Roxi chuckles at this before letting Nate go off the couch and onto the floor where he stands up and walks to the nearby footstool where some Orange slices are on a plate. Nate begins eating a few as Roxi eases back into her position on the couch. Keira soon walks into frame, her hair and clothing matted with sweat as she breathes in heavily.}
Nate – Hi, Mama.
Keira – Hi baby.
Nate – We watching Fraggle Rock!
Keira – I can see that.
Nate – Mama, were you little like Mommy too?
{Keira chuckles at the question.}
Keira – Yeah, Ii was little once. Once I was two like you.
Nate – I’m two!
Keira – Almost 3. So, like, 2 and 7/8ths.
Nate – Huh?
Keira – Don’t worry. You’re getting bigger every day.
Nate – Mama… when I be 3?
Keira – Oh, in about a month.
Nate – Just one month?
Keira – Yeah, just one month.
Nate – Okay.
{Keira finally looks over at Roxi relaxing on the couch.}
Keira – Having fun?
Roxi – Tons. You?
Keira – I think I’m finally getting back in the swing of things. I mean, I haven’t wrestled since… geez, since the last Blast from the Past.
Roxi – Yeah, it has been a while.
{Keira gets lost in thought for a moment before turning back to Roxi, who is still lounging on the couch.}
Keira – Comfy?
Roxi – Very.
Keira – And when are you going to go down and train?
{Roxi just shrugs.}
Roxi – I dunno. I’m not really feeling the whole training this right now.
{Keira arches a brow, almost annoyed that Roxi is forgoing training.}
Keira – Not feeling it? You have a bombshell’s title match in a week!
Roxi – I know.
Keira – Don’t you think you should start?
Roxi – Probably.
{Keira puts her hands on her hips, a stern look on her face.}
Keira – You need to get off your lazy butt and get to it, missy!
Roxi – Maybe later. I’m actually pretty tired right now.
Keira – Roxi Noelle, if you don’t –
{Roxi just hand waves this away.}
Roxi – I will train. I promise. I’m just tired today. Can I not have one day where I’m not running around?
{Keira stops and although she wants to be upset, she calms herself down and relents.}
Keira – You better get to it.
Roxi – I will. Now, you need to go shower. Though you do look good all sweaty.
{Keira shoots Roxi a dirty look.}
Keira – You’re not funny. I am the funny one.
Roxi – Don’t you dare…
Keira – Every party needs a pooper that why they invited you. Party pooper.
{Nate cackles with laughter.}
Nate – Hahaha. Mama says “poop”
Roxi – Just like his mother.
Keira – Poop is a funny word.
{Roxi finally sits up from the couch and stretches a moment}
Roxi – You know what? I think I’m going to go take a nap. Yes.
{Roxi stands up and walks towards the bedroom. Keira stops her, forcefully grabbing her arm. Keira speaks in a hushed tone}
Keira – Seriously…. You need to be ready.
Roxi – I will be.
{Roxi looks down at her arm, still held firmly by Keira.}
Roxi – Can I take my nap now?
{Keira finally lets go of Roxi’s arm, and she walks into the bedroom. A look of concern crosses Keira’s face as the scene fades.}
{A new scene opens with Roxi, Keira, and Nate all seated with a blanket under them, huddled under a tree and having a picnic. Keira sips on lemonade from a cup, and pours more into a sippy cup for Nate.}
Keira – Here’s some more lemonade.
{Nate takes the cup and instantly begins drinking it.}
Roxi – What do you say?
Nate – Thank you, Mama.
Keira – You are very welcome.
{Nate sits down with his cup, and looks around, curious like any normal child. Keira then places a bowl of pretzels in right beside Nate.}
Keira – There’s pretzels if you get hungry.
Nate – Okay.
{Keira again turns to Roxi, leaning up against the tree itself, her eyes closed as she daydreams.}
Roxi – I know you’re looking at me.
Keira – Just wondering when this secret is going to be revealed, that’s all.
{Roxi opens her eyes and looks over at Keira.}
Roxi – What secret?
Keira – Why you aren’t taking this match seriously.
Roxi – I am.
Keira – You haven’t done anything to train, you haven’t even warmed up in days.
Roxi – I will be ready.
Keira – You keep saying that, but I’m not seeing it. So either you’ve let something go to your head, or you know something I don’t know. And we agreed a long time ago that we would not have secrets anymore.
{Roxi sighs, and stretches.}
Roxi – There is no secret, Keira. I’m perfectly fine. I just want to enjoy this.
Keira – Enjoy what?
{Roxi looks out at the park they sit at.}
Roxi – This. Just being here. Being with you, and with Nate. Getting to just relax and enjoy the time I have to be with you guys.
{Keira gets close to Roxi.}
Keira – Are…. Are you…
Roxi – No. I’m not. Super healing, remember?
Keira – Don’t scare me like that then!
Roxi – I just want to be out here, with you, and Nate, and enjoy being a mom and a wife. Because soon, I’m back to being a wrestler. Soon enough it’s every other weekend walking away from you guys and competing. Unless of course, you want to keep going. Then, we don’t get to have those weekends anymore. Then we’re traveling all over the world. Again. So, right now, what I want to do, is relax and enjoy all this, before we find ourselves back in the old routine again.
{Keira takes all of this in, and slowly nods and backs away from Roxi, looking at her, and then at Nate, and a smile crosses her face.}
Keira – Wow… I never really thought of that.
Roxi – It’s why we’re taking it easy. Stressing over all this stuff never really helped anybody.
Keira – I still… I still think you should really train.
Roxi – I will, but I don’t want you to worry. Let’s just enjoy this. As a family.
Nate – Mommy?
Roxi – Yes, baby?
Nate – Member… Mama said “Poop”!
{Nate again cackles like a maniac. Roix just shakes her head.}
Keira – I did. It was funny. High five!
{Nate and Keira high five as the scene fades out.}
{The scene shifts back to Roxi and Keira’s home, it is now late in the evening. Keira once again emerges from the basement, another workout completed as she wipes herself off with a towel.}
Keira – Okay, it’s officially, you’re turn.
{Keira finishes drying off, but there is no Roxi to react to her request. Keira curiously looks around.}
Keira – Babe, it..
{Keira keeps looking, but there is no Roxi to be found. She doesn’t want to yell for fear of waking up Nate, who is fast asleep in his bed. Keira finds most of the lights off aside from night lights illuminating the hallways and doors. Keira makes her way to the bedroom, figuring maybe Roxi already went to sleep.}
Keira – Rox?
{But Roxi isn’t in that room either. Keira checks many of the rooms and finally, sees a bright light behind a closed door. She slowly makes her way down and realizes it’s the duo’s trophy room. She slowly opens the door and Roxi is seated, having taken one of her bombshell’s championship replica’s out of the case. She cautiously approaches her wife.}
Keira – Hey…
{Roxi stares intently at the championship. She eventually turns to her wife and hugs her fiercely. Keira looks confused but hugs her back.}
Keira – Was was that for?
Roxi – For what I put you through for this.
{Roxi says holding the championship in front of her.}
Keira – Rox, that was ages ago.
Roxi – It doesn’t matter. I almost lost you forever because of this.
Keira – It wasn’t that, it was Cyrus.
Roxi – And the ultimate end goal was this championship. That place that I went, that feeling I had back then and what it did to me, and did to you, I swore that I would never go back to that place.
Keira – Roxi… what are you getting at?
Roxi – I have had this feeling inside of me since my match was announced. And I couldn’t place it. And finally, I found it, right here. This championship. The things I did and what it nearly cost me, I never wanted to feel again, but now, I have that in me, and it’s because of what I’m going to have to do.
Keira – Stop it. Tell me what the problem is!
Roxi – I’ve been listening and studying. And Alicia… Alicia has to pay, and I need you, more than anything else, to make sure, I don’t go back to that place next week. Because the emotions I’m feeling right now, and how bad it’s going to get, I’m going to dip my toe into that place again. I’m asking you to not only trust me, but just to be there to ensure, a toe dip, is all that happens.
{Keira doesn’t respond for a few moments. She runs her fingers through her hair, and then passionately kisses Roxi on the lips.}
Keira – I will always have your back. I will never leave you, I will never abandon you, and most of all, I will never lose you. Do what you feel you have to do, but when it comes down to it, I’ll pull you back.
{Roxi smiles and nods, gently placing the championship back in it’s container as Keira rests her head on Keira’s shoulders.}
Keira – Kick her ass.
Roxi – Yeah.
Keira – Let’s not wait any longer, let’s train.
Roxi – You got it.
{Roxi and Keira walk off, as the scene fades for the final time.}
“You don’t get it, son. This isn’t a mud hole. It’s an operating table. And I’m the surgeon.”
- Batman (The Dark Knight Returns)
Hello SCW.
Well, that’s one hurdle down. But the largest hurdle still to go. A warm up? A tune up? Yeah, that was fine. But obviously the challenge will be much greater in two weeks. And I know I will be ready for it.
You know, as I watched the Bombshell’s title match last week, nothing really felt out of place. It felt good to be home, it felt good to be around my friends and people I care about and to be part of the SCW family. Good times all around I must say. And then when Alicia Lukas retained the championship, I began to think, and imagine. There it is, the dream match. Roxi Johnson vs. Alicia Lukas for the bombshell’s title. I saw it. The billboard on the cruise one of the main events. To be back in this position and to have this opportunity to wrestle one of the best wrestlers in the world. I got the shivers. I got the goosebumps. I was excited as anything to have that moment.
And then, something else happened.
As this week has gone on, as the time drew closer to this match, I began to realize some truths. Things that maybe I was holding back on out of respect or out of just being a polite person in general, that I didn’t want to let out, suddenly were looking me right in the eye. And you know me very well SCW. I can’t really do anything else, but be honest.
Alicia Lukas is a bitch who no one should ever want to be around. She’s a terrible representative of SCW as a wrestler, and as a person. And there is no more reason for me to just not let all this out of my system. Though, you may want to grab a chair and sit down, because it’s really going to take a while for me to really get through all this.
Though, I suppose I should address this to her. Speak directly. Don’t want to be accused of not having the guts to tag her.
So here we go.
Hello Alicia Lukas.
First of all, congratulations on retaining your championship against Crystal, at Climax Control 245. Or rather, escaping with your championship. Sorry if that stings a little, but I was there, I saw it, and you are quite fortunate to still be the Bombshell’s champion. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you almost overlooked Crystal because you wanted to wrestle me so badly. It almost looked like instinct saved you from having to wrestle my wife instead of me.
Almost.
Ah, who am I kidding? That’s exactly what happened. Alicia Lukas managed to escape with her championship, because she underestimated Crystal. And I like to think I had something to do with that. Maybe that instinct kicked in because you realized that everything you have asked for, was almost taken away in an instant, and in your mind, you knew you were about to watch Crystal take the spot you wanted to create for yourself. Everything you would have worked for asked for, and had the chance at, would have gone and you would have looked like quite the fool. But, good on you for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. I was impressed.
The key word of course, is “was.”
Because while I was sitting there watching, For all the trash you talked about Crystal, for every moment you took to twitter and made with the gifs and attacks, for every sentence you spoke about Crystal is your bitch and you were going to end her… I watched and… you didn’t. You didn’t do any of that. The reality of it is, you are LUCKY to be having this match with me at Summer XXXtreme. And make no mistake Alicia, if THAT Alicia Lukas is on the cruise in two weeks, every word about a dominant championship reign, every snarky gif, with be worth nothing, because I will take that championship from you.
I suppose it’s why you wanted to fire the first shot against me. Try to put me on the defensive because you know, that wasn’t exactly your best performance. I expected better, and you know, based on your talent level, and everything you’ve been touting as of late, I am right to expect better.
And this is where you’ll think it over and say, a win, is a win. Inch or a mile, right? You can pat that championship right now, but Sunday, it looked more to me like you were clutching it for dear life. Happy and relieved you got away with a win.
So now you got that swagger back Alicia? Cool. Because that’s what I want. I don’t want you to tell me that you had a bad night or you weren’t ready or anything like that. No, I don’t want any excuses. I just want your best. I want to beat you at the very top of your game. As the kids say today, I want all the smoke. Because there’s no other way for me to do it. Not just beating you, not just putting your shoulders on the mat, but ripping that Bombshell’s championship from you, and restoring it back to where it should be, rather than where you’ve lowered it.
Now, I can see you sitting there, wondering how I am as confident and as harsh as I am now. Wondering how I can go from Bruce Banner to the Hulk like this. There’s your comic book reference you were probably going to use at some point, so you’re welcome. But you’re sitting there looking at me and wondering where I get the confidence.
It’s not from my experience, it’s not from my accomplishments, it’s not even from my legacy.
It’s from the fact that I have two functional eyes.
How does that old saying going? What a tangled web we weave when we aim to deceive. It’s fitting for you Alicia. Now, you may be asking yourself how I can say this about you, when you have so many accolades to show for your hard work. Your talent, skills and ability are not what I’m talking about. I can’t honestly sit here and deny that you are as good as any wrestler, man or woman, on the planet. But it’s the means you’ve used that I find highly questionable. It’s your attitude that I find dubious. You are the very first to point your finger and call out someone for a mistake, or a statement, but also the first to deflect when it comes back around to you. The first to make a moral judgement for an incident, but the first to cry foul when it comes back around. It’s the old proverbial don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house thing. You are a hypocrite Alicia. And the sad part is, you don’t even have to be. You just do it because deep down, that makes you feel a little bit of pride. Getting one over on this person or that person. You do it because you need to feel better about your own life. And most importantly, you do it because you want the attention to be on others for their shortcomings, so that people don’t look at yours.
But I see them. I see them all.
So let’s lay it out on the table, shall we?
Let’s just understand that you are not innocent in the grand scheme of things. You’ve done more than your fair share of whining and complaining when things don’t go your way. You curled yourself up in a ball when you lost the championship and proclaimed that maybe you should just quit. All because you lost? Do you know what that is? Its conduct unbecoming of an ADULT, much less a champion. You can wail and moan about how unfair this or that is, but if something benefits you, you don’t seem to have a problem with it. You’re all over the place Alicia. You call people trash, but in the next breath, claim that you’re going to tear the house down. Call people inferior, and yet, you never beat them. Which is it Alicia? You can’t have it both ways.
But I forget, owning up to your inherent need to be shady apparently makes it go away, right? We can just erase that part because you owned it. It would be something if any system worked like that, but the harsh reality is, it doesn’t. If you put a nail in the wall, and make that impression, and you pull that nail out, that impression is still there. It’s not forgotten, we can’t strike that from the record Alicia. Sorry to tell you, but you’re black marks are just as visible as anyone else’s. And then, there comes a time where you have to help accountable for your actions and words. You’ve insulted my friends. Dear friends of mine who haven’t done anything but try and make their way in this business. People busting their asses to get to places that you already have been. Only to have you, Alicia Lukas, degrade and belittle them. Why? Because of who you really are.. And those people aren’t in SCW, or haven’t been in a long time. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but YOU don’t get to decide who goes where, and who does what. I mean… seriously, who do you think you are? What, because you had a run of success you can tell people how they should do it? Does your opinion count more because you’ve won some championships?
Oh, I forget, you rose to the top in SCW and become the bombshell’s champion, so that entitles you to such an absurd disposition.
But let’s face it, you won that championship at a time where there really only was Crystal Hilton to stand in your way. The roster of women you overcame, does not compare to the quality of women that I did battle with. You have proven through your actions and attitude, that you don’t belong in the same sentence as people like Misty, Vixen, Odette Ryder, Mikah, Melody Grace, Evie Baang Or our lovely host Delia Darling. You, Alicia Lukas would not have lasted. Because you’ve already proven you couldn’t handle the competition when it is at its highest.
Instead you go into two modes, depending on when and where and to who you lose to: Whine and complain about unfair everything is, or faux-humble because someone beat you. And really, the faux-humble is only because you don’t want to look bad. You’re in good with people, and they aren’t coming after you, so just keep yourself on their good side. Only step on the toes of those who can’t fight back.
Because you, for as talented as you are, are far more shallow and empty. A scared little girl, hiding her insecurities behind brash bravado and ridiculous actions. All while searching for acceptance.
You are no better than Scut Farkas, Henry Bowers, or Biff Tannen.
Oh yes Alicia, I see you.
And I see the best you can really come up with, is the fact that you put my name on a list, and for that, you deserve all the credit in the world. Like you were the one that brought me back to SCW.
Hate to break it to you, but you made very little happen. If I hadn’t actually considered it, you’d be walking into Summer XXXtreme with no challenger. And you’d be calling for competition. And thanks to me re-signing with SCW, you have exactly what you asked for.
You’re welcome.
You wanted it, and now you have it. The question now becomes, what will you do now that it’s here? Will you rise, or will you fold?
Because I am unlike Crystal. You can’t talk about the choices I make. You can’t make judgements about my personal life. I don’t give you the low hanging fruit to come after me with. What? Are you going to go the sexual choices route? Because you have zero room to say anything given your choices of who you have been with. So let’s not even go there, only bad memories come from that, am I right?
I am unlike Kate Steele, or Brittney, even someone as sweet as Seleana. I am unlike anyone you’ve ever faced. Maybe I’m going against character a little, but I’m not going to sit here and blow smoke and talk about how much I respect you and how it’s an honor to be in this spot against you. Because you don’t have any honor. You don’t have any respect. You can sit there and you can say this or that, but we both know full well, that I’m telling the truth. And it may be harsh, but the facts are, you’re going to have to suck it up and deal with it.
And if you think I’m unloaded with both barrels yet, you got another thing coming Alicia. This is just the beginning. You can call this… a warning shot if you like. Because I haven’t even started. But I will tell you this, I may be rolling now, but in two weeks, I will without a doubt FINISH what you started.
Don’t call it a comeback Alicia. Don’t call it a nostalgia trip. I am back in SCW, to stay, and to right a serious wrong, and that wrong is you holding onto the SCW Bombshell’s championship. That championship has been around your waist for a long time, and each day that passes, you become more entrenched. I’ve dealt with champions like you before, so it’s not much for me to do it again. Once again, one more time, at the very least, I have to serve as someone’s reality check.
But that is another story, for another time.
Because for now, and only for a limited time, I’m going to let you off the hook with destroying every piece of the armor you shield yourself with. And by the time I’m done, you will have NOTHING left, nothing, but the SCW Bombshell’s champion.
And in less than two weeks, I’m going to take that from you too.
