BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The sound of Eddie knocking on the door of one of the back offices of The Lyons Den echoed throughout the building. It had been over a day since Victoria had locked herself inside, sulking over her loss to Kayla Richards. She had taken a backpack of junk food, an entire black cheer chocolate cake, at least two bottles of red wine and refused to come out. It was her fathers old office, the founder of The Lyons Den. It at least came with a private bathroom.
“You can’t stay in there forever Victoria.” Eddie called through the door, “You have to come out sometime.”
No response.
“C’mon. It’s just a loss.” Eddie said, “Be proud of yourself that you didn’t give up. Your body gave up on you but you didn’t quit the fight. That’s that lioness in you.”
Still nothing. Eddie sighed, this seemed hopeless.
“You’re still Vicky Two Belts.” he reminded her, “Don’t forget that. You’ve got to put this behind you and get ready for Luna. We still both need to leave High Stakes as double champions. I’m going to need your support because I still need to beat Aiden and LJ to get there.”
“GO AWAY.” he finally heard Victoria from the other side of the door.
“Victoria?!” he said, “Please, let me in. Just talk to me. We’re a team right?”
“I SAID. GO AWAY.” he heard her again, this time he also heard something hit the door, likely an empty bottle of wine.
“Victoria please.” he said.
Nothing. It was back to the silent treatment, with a shrug and a heavy sigh Eddie decided it best to try again another time, as he came back into the main gym area he was greeted by his girlfriend Sabrina.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“She spoke this time.” Eddie shrugged, “I guess that’s some progress even if she was just telling me to leave her alone.”
“So, she didn’t want to build a snowman?” Sabrina smirked.
Eddie smiled and laughed to himself.
“I guess not.” he said, “But as far as this loss to Kayla, she needs to learn to….let it go.
Sabrina laughed.
“Dork.” she said.
“You started it.” Eddie grinned back.
He was happy to at least have one sane woman in his life. It was always nice to just hang out with Sabrina and not worry about wrestling, SCW, winning championships and everything else that came as a result of being in the wrestling business.
“She’ll come around.” said Sabrina, “She’s gotta run out of wine soon enough, and that little bathroom has no shower.”
“Oh I know she will.” said Eddie, “I just need to get a feel of her state of mind. She’s taken two big losses recently, and some discredit her efforts in bringing home the mixed tag championships.”
“Well, you DID win the match for the team…” said Sabrina.
“Yes, but it was a team effort.” said Eddie, “I’ve said it before. It’s Victorias attitude that sucks, but when that bell rings she’s as tough as anyone else from The Lyons Den. When we won the tag championships, she did just as much to help bring them home as I did.”
“I suppose..” said Sabrina.
“She did.” said Eddie, “I know she’s not a very nice person, but we can’t take away her ability. You’ve seen it, she trains just as hard as I do. Just as hard as Cleo and Alex both do. Coach Kaiser pushes us all to be our best, and even if she won’t say it we all respect him as our leader.”
“Yeah I know..” Sabrina muttered, “I just wish she was nicer.”
“Yeah…” said Eddie, “Me too. But at the same time we just have to let Victoria be herself. We can’t force change on her any more than she can force change on me. I’m sure she’d love to see me become “Broken” Eddie Lyons or something, but that just isn’t going to happen.”
“You better not turn mean!” Sabrina said with a pouty face.
“Don’t worry. I won’t” Eddie said with a smile, “I don’t even think Coach would let that happen. He’d nip me in the bud real quick. He wants us to push on this whole light and dark, yin and yang thing anyway. So I can assure you, Eddie Lyons will always be a good boy.”
The two smiled at each other, and shared a quick kiss.
“You two need a room or something?” Eddie heard Victorias voice, and sure enough there she stood, looking at them. Her hair disheveled, and surprisingly not as drunk as expected.
“Victoria..” said Eddie, “..How’s it going? Feeling better?”
“I didn’t tap out.” she said.
“I know…” said Eddie.
“If my body gave up on me. I need to make my body stronger.” said Victoria, “Let’s train.”
“Sounds good to me.” said Eddie, “You sure you’re in condition to train though?”
“I can handle my wine Eddie.” said Victoria.
“Fair enough.” said Eddie.
“How are you Samantha?” asked Victoria.
“...It’s Sabrina..” Sabrina reminded her, “And I’m fine.”
The two girls locked eyes with one another.
“Okay, let’s take it easy ladies.” said Eddie, “Victoria, you said lets go train. So let’s go train.”
He turned his attention to Sabrina
“You’re welcome to watch, or hang out or whatever babe.” Eddie said.
“Sure, I’ll watch.” said Sabrina.
The trio headed off to find an empty ring and Sabrina sat on a chair near ringside and watched as her boyfriend and his cousin did their thing and prepared themselves for their upcoming matches. The first matter of course was getting Eddie to High Stakes to challenge Alexander Raven.
_________
The cameras open on Eddie Lyons with the Mixed Tag Championship on his shoulder. He’s seated backwards on a chair, you know the cool way. He looks into the camera and holds up three fingers.
“Three warriors.” he said, “Three warriors who would love nothing more than to dethrone Alexander Raven as Roulette Champion and really stick it to the band of goons he runs with. Any one of us would love to see him return to Daddy Kevin a failure. I can say whichever of us wins, I’ll be rooting for you. But WHEN I win, I hope both of you will be rooting for me. I’m sure you will. Aiden himself has put me over as the man to beat Finn Whelan, and hey..he was sort of right. He just got the championship wrong."
He looks proudly at his championship.
“But now I have a chance to really do something special, something that few have done.” he said, “I could become a double champion. I know my tag partner isn’t everyone's favorite person, but I know how to handle her better than anyone. We’re not here to discuss that anyway. We’re here to discuss which of us gets the chance to dethrone Alexander Raven.”
He takes a moment to pause.
“Aiden, you were the one Raven defeated to become champion.” Eddie continued, “A match made as a result of my now mixed tag team champion, as some sort of punishment to me. This is a truly odd business sometimes, isn’t it?”
Eddie shrugs.
“And you LJ, you’re young and scrappy. Coming from a wrestling family, much like myself." said Eddie "I’m sure you want to truly come into your own, and not be seen as Miles’ little brother. You have all the ability to do so, and you got one over on me to earn an Internet Championship opportunity so I know first hand how good you are. I can start going on how I nearly ran the gauntlet and was getting fatigued, which is true to an extent but at the end of the day, you won and I lost. That’s it. I think I rebounded pretty well though."
He looks at his mixed tag championship again.
“I need to keep my momentum going fellas.” he said, “High Stakes could be a very big night for The Lyons Den. We both could leave as double champions and I really really like the sound of that. So understand I’m going to come at you harder than I have before. This isn’t our first dance either Aiden. You took the Roulette Championship from me, and I got a win back on you later. Still you and I are always an even match, because we’re built the same. We just want to go out there and give it our all. Tough luck recently against Cleo over in PWS by the way. She’s as tough as they come, we all look to her as one of the leaders around The Lyons Den.”
He takes another short pause.
“I’ve been waiting.” said Eddie, “Waiting for my chance to get my hands on Raven. I want to be Roulette Champion again, and I won’t let either of you get in the way of that. Aiden, with all due respect you’ve had enough chances against Raven. As for you LJ, it’s just not your turn my friend. Maybe you should ask your girlfriend why she’s causing chaos with my OTHER crazy cousin over in PWS. Damn..two crazy cousins, three if you count the one who left on a boat and probably crashed on an island somewhere, waiting to emerge even crazier than he was. I truly am the odd one of the family aren’t I?”
Eddie grins at the camera.
“I guess that's not my business though. My business that Roulette Championship." he continued "Like I said, I want it back. I’ve been waiting to finally punch Raven in his mouth for a while. All his little remarks about me on X. It’s time for him to pay the piper and the cost is going to be his Roulette Championship.”
He exhales before continuing.
“Getting that pinfall over Finn has lit a fire under my ass.” said Eddie, “And teaming with Victoria has taught me how to be more dangerous…within reason of course. But I am surprised that I’m learning a bit from her. Maybe my coaches idea of bringing light and dark together or whatever could work. Hopefully Victoria learns from me as well, we’ll have to see. Maybe LJ,. one day we’ll face you and Alexandra. Or maybe Aiden will bring Kallie back. Again, this business is truly odd, and anything could happen. Hell, maybe that third cousin of mine finds his way back, kicks my ass and him and Victoria unleash terror on everyone. Damn near anything is possible in this business.”
Another short pause from Eddie.
“At the end of the day, this is a war between three of SCW’s most promising talents." continued Eddie, "The three of us have had our ups and downs in our careers and I’d be hard pressed to find three people who are as equal as we are. I talk a confident game, because that’s what we do. But I know that this match is really anyone’s game. I know Aiden doesn’t care how many times he faces Raven despite losing to him so many times already, because sooner or later even a blind squirrel finds a nut. I know LJ is focused on his story and would love to capture his first championship. But you two need to know that Eddie Lyons has entered the next chapter in his story, and this is where the fun truly begins. This is the chapter where Eddie’s rise to the top starts to unfold and it’s going to start with the story about how be became a double champion, with one thing remaining constant throughout, and that’s HONOR BEFORE GLORY.”
He keeps a serious gaze on the camera, as the scene fades out to black.
__________
Eddie and Victoria sat on the edge of the ring after a training session together, it had gone well. Better than Eddie expected at least. When Victoria was focused on her wrestling and not running her mouth, she was a lot more tolerable. She did seem a bit meaner, more vicious. Perhaps the two losses had something to do with it. Luna definitely was going to be facing a more feral lioness at High Stakes.
Eddie himself was riding high as well. His confidence was high and he had a helluva lot of momentum behind him. Momentum he was working to continue past Aiden and LJ, and straight through Alexander Raven to becoming a two time Roulette Champion.
“So you feeling better?” said Eddie, “Because you know as well as I do, if you worry too much about your losses, you will lose again to Luna and this time you lose your championship too.”
“I’ll be fine” Victoria told him, “I become a different animal when my precious Rue is on the line. Luna is the one who should be careful, and shouldn’t rest on her laurels because she beat me once.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.” said Eddie, “But we both know she’s smarter than that. She’s gonna come hard, you need to come harder. We have our combined goal of being dual champions and I believe we can both achieve it.”
“So do I.” Victoria agreed, “So you need to make sure you even make it to High Stakes. Because LJ Kasey and Aiden have both beaten you in big matches before. You might have HB Carter if LJ didn’t beat you. You might still be Roulette Champion instead of chasing it if Aiden hadn’t beat you. Then we’d already both be double champions.”
Eddie sighed, Victoria was blunt but she wasn’t wrong.
“I know. I know.” said Eddie, “But I’ve got some momentum going since we won our tag titles and when I have something to strive for, such as us being double champions, that's when my inner lion truly comes out and that’s when I become a different animal.”
“Well, sounds like we’ll be the top team in town before long.” Victoria grinned.
“It’s going to be pretty damn awesome too.” said Eddie.
The Lyons Den experiment seemed to be paying off. Victoria and Eddie finding some mutual respect among themselves in the name of competition and success. There was still some animosity and even a hint of a personal internal rivalry between the team. But both wanted to become the best team in SCW and as the weeks went by they were getting better and better at working together.
___________
An empty warehouse opens the scene. A single pillar in the middle of the frame gives the illusion of the same room having two sides. One side is clearly more well lit than the other, which is mostly darkness and shadows. Eddie Lyons leans against the pillar on the light side, as Victoria does the same on the shadowy side.
“Light and dark, are seen as two opposing forces.” Eddie began as he turned his attention to the cameras, “But when they learn to work together, both can become stronger. After all, one can not truly exist without the other. Light can shine and show you the beauty hidden in the darkness.”
Shrouded by shadow on the opposite side of the pillar, Victoria turns her attention to the cameras now.
"In the dark, even the smallest spark becomes a guiding star, showing us paths we can't see in the blinding light." said Victoria. “We are the light and the dark, we are the Yin and Yang of SCW, and we are about to be on top of this entire company post High Stakes.”
“Which means disappointment for LJ Kasey and Aiden Reynolds.” said Eddie, “The darkness has shown me paths I didn’t see before and I can feel myself evolving into the next level of my career. Defeating Finn changed something in me, it woke me up and the two of you are about to find out what sort of new animal Eddie Lyons has become.”
“See boys.” Victoria said, “Eddie is part of my Queensguard now, which means he’s taking guidance from me on how to be more dangerous, more lethal than he was. He’s coming for your heads this time, and he’s coming for blood.”
“I may be more dangerous.” said Eddie, “But the darkness will never squelch my honor. It’s just going to continue to make me stronger. I want the Roulette Championship back and the two of you stand in the way of my chance to dethrone Alexander Raven.”
“You two stand in OUR way of both being double champions.” said Victoria, “A man who has already lost to Raven time and time again and another trying to move out of his more talented brothers shadow. You two don’t deserve it this time. Eddie deserves it and he’s going to show you why HE was the one who was finally able to put down Finn Whelan.”
“And why I will also be the one to put down Raven.” Eddie said, “On the same night she will defend against Luna. The Conspiracy will feel the power of The Lyons Den at High Stakes because we are on the rise, and with light and dark working as a cohesive force, it’s going to be tough to stop us.”
“We will make them so fearful, they won’t even think about coming after our tag titles.” said Victoria, “They will be forced to explain their failures to Kevin Carter, since it’s very clear who they answer to.”
“We don’t answer to anyone.” said Eddie, “We’re just looking to be the best we can be. We want it all at High Stakes. So Aiden, LJ? Knuckle up my friends, because if you want to clip the Ravens wings, you need to tame the lion first.”
“And you best be careful, because where he goes, darkness lurks nearby.” said Victoria.
“Change is abound in SCW.” said Eddie, “And we are at the forefront of it. We are The Lyons Den, your future dual Roulette and Mixed Tag Champions.”
“And as I’ve said before” Victoria grinned, “We are stronger together.”
The both step forward, now in front of the pillar, no longer divided and standing side by side as a team, each with their respective championships on their shoulders.
__________
