Youngblood and old hands mix for a shot at new title hotness at Ultra Slam 2. A
Story brought to you by UOW.
Abbigail sits down and looks over at Valora as she holds the smartphone camera mostly steady. The copious amounts of tequila make her hand a little shaky but nothing the camera can’t handle. Jane turns to Abbigail as Valora turns the camera’s record function on and Jane, noticing Abbigail’s nervousness, smiles. “Nervous?” Abbigail nods. “Pretty sure this is my first interview.” Jane nods with a slight smile. “No problem, just answer the questions and be yourself. That’s generally enough. The main goal is to let the fans get to know you.” Abbigail responds to this with a nod. She takes a moment to breath; she can feel her heart throbbing in her chest. Jane gives her a few seconds as she does her intro, looking into the camera of the smartphone that Valora holds. “Jane Coughlin here, independent reporter bringing you my 2nd interview. You saw me talk with Valora Salinas. Now, we have her protege and wrestler who put in a solid rookie season and has followed that foundation with an equally solid sophomore season. Abbigail Dresden. Abbigail, thank you for joining us.” Abbigail smiles and nods. “Umm thanks for having me. Kinda weird... I sorta forgot I made it through my rookie season already.”
Jane lets out a laugh and nods. “I can imagine time blurs together after a while.” Abbigail nods eagerly. “Sometimes it just kinda blurs into one big beating.” Jane nods, opening her mouth. Then she pauses. The question on her lips is too heavy for an opening question. She can be a bit easier here. She closes her mouth and rethinks. “You’ve heard Valora’s take on Takuma Sato. Being his former tag partner, I wonder what your thoughts are. After all, his fans might say you are responsible for the breakup. You did attack him, after all.” Wasn’t much easier in retrospect, but it had the desired effect. Abbigail focused on the interview and got into it as she narrowed her eyes. “He jumped my mentor. Was I supposed to… what? Stand by and do nothing? Help him in the hopes a kid my age might deign to try and teach me a business he himself is still learning? He knew I would not stand by and let him hurt Valora with a cheap shot ambush. He chose to do it anyways. He decided his personal ambitions were more important than the team. Do I regret us breaking up the tag team? Hell yeah. We were gelling really nice, I thought we were serious contenders for the tag team titles. Unfortunately, the problems he and Valora have with each other made that an impossibility. I miss it. I hate losing a friend. But our singles match made me wonder if we were actually friends at all.”
Jane nods. “That was a brutal match. Can you expand on the friends bit?” Abbigail sighs. “Friends don’t intentionally set out to humiliate each other. Friends don’t toy with their opponent like a cat playing with a mouse. Friends don’t use a finishing move that is capable of killing their opponent. I’ve watched Valora fight Vastrix. I’ve watched Valora fight Kronin. I’ve watched them go full bore in the fight but still show each other basic God Damn respect. Sato didn’t do that. So maybe I was naive and thought we were friends when we weren’t. If that’s the case, thanks Sato. Lesson learned. I’ll be more careful with who I trust. But I’d be careful… because you didn’t kill me. And if you can’t back up your bullshit at Ultra Slam 2… well Val’s gonna kill you. Simple as that.”
Jane nods. “Moving the focus back to you. Your profile says you’re from Chicago. So…Cubs or Sox?” Abbigail’s anger at Sato breaks as she laughs, shaking her head. “Well. I might have grown up on the South Side. But Cubbies. And to cover the other bases. I pretty much root for Chicago teams across the board. Bulls for NBA, Sky for WNBA, Fire for MLS, Red Stars for the Women’s league. Blackhawks for NHL, Bears for NFL.. at least until they leave the City… they leave Chicago, I find a new team. Can’t run off to Arlington Heights and call yourself ‘Chicago Bears’ Abbigail says bringing a laugh from Jane. “You’re on the record! The opinions of one Bears fan, stay home in Chicago! Now, getting a little more serious. You’re an American citizen. You’ve been targeted by the McStrump regime. They say you’re a criminal and a terrorist. That’s gotta be a hard thing for someone your age to deal with.”
Abbigail laughs a bit and shakes her head. “Yeah, apparently in addition to training, fighting, and recovering from fights while preparing for the next one I’m also a major league drug dealer and smuggler. Oh, only I’m not cause I’m so poor I can’t afford to pay attention. Here’s a better question. If Sato and I were so dangerous, why did McStrump force us and the rest of UOW to go to North Korea and act as his own personal suicide squad to assassinate the emperor, a move which directly led to the nuking of Seattle and L.A. which means there are about…17 million people dead or homeless or displaced now. No one is pushing McStrump to explain just what that got us. They can consider me a criminal all they want, the only law I’ve broken is opposing McStrump. That is something I plan on doing. I remember America before McStrump. I remember what we used to be. I want to get us back to that.”
Jane nods, the accusations catching her off guard and she scribbles down a note to herself. “That certainly does beg a lot of questions. Unfortunately, if the questions are asked the wrong way…” Jane does not finish the comment but slowly drags her thumb across her neck. She then clears her throat and takes a breath. “You certainly sound like a patriot to me. But I have to ask… your personnel file now shows you have been granted political asylum by the British government.” Abbigail nods. “A friend there convinced me that one needs the protection of a government. The British government was kind enough to offer me protection and I thank them and the people of the U.K. for the compassion they’ve shown me and other American expats.”
Jane nods and decides to try and lighten the mood a bit. “Tag teams. You and Sato made a hell of a team. I’ve seen you in action and I agree with you, the two of you were on the verge of blowing up into a major tag team champion threat. I ran a poll on my blog’s website and 98% of respondents wanna to see you and Valora team up. Any chance of that?”
Abbigail looks right at Valora, giving the puppy dog eyes, tears welling in her eyes. From off camera we hear Valora curse in Spanish, before switching back to English. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! God damn mother fuckin’ puppy dog eyes… fine!” Abbigail jumps up and thrusts her fist in the air. “YES!” Jane looks at Valora. It’s remarkable. This young girl has clearly come to mean something to Valora. The cold-blooded ruthless woman now seems…
Human.
Jane makes a note to dig more into this at a later date and turns to the camera. “Well fans! You heard it here first! Breaking news, Valora Salinas and Abbigail Dresden will be entering the ring as a tag team! Now, speaking of in ring competition. How do you feel about your upcoming match? A huge battle royal.to determine the first ever young blood champion. A real title shot, but a huge mountain to climb to get it.”:
Abbigail punches her left hand with her right hand and nods. “I’m totally psyched! I’ve heard all kinds of stories from Valora. I’ve seen them on the net. I can’t wait to be in one!” Valora can be heard mumbling unintelligibly in Spanglish, English and Spanish merging together. Jane looks at her camerawoman and the noise eventually ceases. Nodding her head, Jane turns her attention back to Abbigail. “And The Reinhardts are also in the battle royal. Do you plan to work with them, maybe? Can you fight them?”
Abbigail shrugs. “I made a plan about that, but Valora told me to throw plans out. I don’t know when I’ll come in, or when they’ll come in, so it’s best not to plan too in depth on something that might not be possible. I have a ton of respect for both of them, however and would work with them or at the least, try to save them for last in the match.” Jane smirks and looks to her camera. “What does our camerawoman think? Valora scoffs. “Kronin sucks at battle royals. I don’t think he’s ever won one. But then again that was before he became Iron Man 2.0. Who knows how he’ll do now, be ready for anything chica. Battle royal is pure chaos.”
Jane turns back to Abbigail. “One more thing. You were raised by a guardian in Chicago. No idea who your birth parents were. I don’t mean to make light of the situation or anything, just find it potentially inspirational to others out there in your situation.”
Abbigail sighs. “Heh. My situation. I suppose that’s another thing Sato and I have in common. We both have at least one parent that doesn’t want us. To answer the coming questions, no. I have no idea who my biological parents are. Doesn’t matter. I’ve decided family is the people you choose to surround yourself with. Not people you’re bound to by some arbitrary genetic lottery. Yes, I am trying to find out, but at this point it’s more curiosity than it is a desire to go all reality tv or something.’ Jane nods. “Curious about?” Abbigail shrugs. “Why she left me with someone, mostly. Just curious... But it’s still a question.” Jane nods. Understandable, I guess. But It’s late and I’m sure you want to rest up so you can start training.” Abbigail nods. “Makes sense. Thanks for interviewing me.”
A short time later, goodbyes had been said and Jane went home to compile her data and get the files up on her blog. Valora looked around and leaned against the wall, arms crossed across her chest. Abbigail nods. “So… 1-10. Level of pain you’re in after the matches?”
Valora groans. “Fuckin’ kraut still hits like a mac truck... Every time he punches me it’s like my brain is fuckin’ pinata or some shit…Imma pay for this down the road...” Abbigail nods. “Yeah, getting hit by guys over a hundred lbs heavier than you might be bad for your health.” Valora laughs. “It is chica. But I went through med school. 85% of the shit we have to do every fuckin’ day is gonna kill us. We eat too much red meat. We eat too much chemicals processed into foodstuffs. We breathe… well fuck you coughed up the smog your first night in the Azteca.”
Abbigail sticks her tongue out. “I honestly expected to cough up my lungs.” Valora smiles. “Welcome to Mexico City, chica. Anyways... I’m gonna go to bed.” Abbigail grabs a bottle of massage oil. “Wait, old woman. Let me help you recover.” Valora smirks and shakes her head. “Too God damn eager to please. That’s your problem… but fuck it... I’m too sore to argue… but if you call me old woman again Imma beat you bloody…then I’ll heal your ass and beat you again.” Abbigail laughs. “You talk big, but you love me for some reason.” The two head off with Valora mumbling something unintelligible.
A couple days after Valora’s interview. Mexico City:
Valora and Abbigail are enjoying the morning air in a cafe, the two women each drinking coffee. Abbigail looks over at her mentor, drumming her fingers nervously on the table. Valora raises an eyebrow. “Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t read minds, chica. What?” Abbigail clears her throat, taking a sip of her coffee before deciding to take a detour before trying to muster up the courage. “So umm.. The massage?” Valora nods. “Slept like a fuckin’ baby. You got a good touch there chica.” Abbigail nods. “Isn’t that essentially, ‘chick’? Valora raises an eyebrow. “Don’t go snowflake on me. I could always treat you like Wesley. “Good night, Abbi, good work, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.” Abbigail points at her. “That was an awesome movie, and you’re not a Dread Pirate.” Valora shrugs. “You know he wasn’t the character that really inspired me from the movie?” Abbigail smiles. “Inigo Montoya.” Valora points at Abbi. “Got it in one, chica. ” Abbigail nods and clears her throat deciding now is as good a time as any. “I umm looked up some more of your career. Why did you do it?” Valora leans back in her seat and laughs a bit. “Wanna narrow that down a bit chica? I’m old and been fighting for a long time. You could make a 5-season long netflix series about my goddamn life. Why did I do what?”
Abbigail pulls out her smartphone and goes to a captured screenshot of Valora standing by Anderson. She narrows her eyes a bit. “What do you think me telling you is gonna do?” Abbigail shrugs. “Well, you told me to wage psychological warfare. Get into my opponent's head. I don’t know why Takuma Sato went all… I don’t even know if he’s evil! Throw me a lifeline here, coach.”
Valora sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose muttering swear words in Spanish before taking a deep breath. “He doesn’t think he’s evil. Probably isn’t. Just some fuckin’ pendejo who can’t see he’s being manipulated and will be discarded once he’s no longer useful. As for why? Lots of reasons chica. It’s the short, easy path. You’re asked to do one thing. Small thing, no big deal, right? I’m just showing I’m a team player. Before you know it, you’re in so deep it’s hard to see light again.”
Valora pauses and lets out a breath. “As for me. Part of it was… I was a mercenary. Anderson’s checks cleared and he offered me more than the others. He was also literally the first person in my life that didn’t try to change me. Loved me for just who and what I was at the time. Oh, and umm in addition to everything else, he was brainwashing me. Finding that out is what brought an end to our relationship.” Abbigail blinks, confused. “But… if he was paying you…” Valora smirks. “Anderson is as paranoid as he is intelligent. A mercenary you’re paying is only loyal to you until there’s a better offer. So, Anderson decided he wanted to pay a mercenary who would be loyal to him no matter the other offer.” Valora hand waves the conversation off for the time being and sighs. “Bah! Enough about me, we can come back to this later if you really want. For now, we need to focus on you.” Abbigail smirks, leaning forward. “Fine. You know my birth mother.” Valora raises an eyebrow. “Again, this knowledge does what for you? You ask the wrong questions, chica. If you’re right and I do know, I’m obviously not gonna tell you about it. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. Either way you still has about as much information as the meme cat has cheeseburgers.”
Abbigail giggles and shakes her head. “Wow... Valora knows internet memes. Mind. blown. But you do know who she is?” Valora sighs and nods. “Yes. But again... What good does that knowledge do you? You know I know your birth parent or parents. Now, you need to convince me to tell you this information and then what? You’re going to go off looking for them?”
Abbigail clenches a fist here, getting a bit angry as she narrows her eyes. “I don;t know... I’m getting tired of people abandoning me. Mom fucked off and left me in Chicago, Sato fucked off to go play Fight Club. I guess I’d like to know why I wasn’t good enough for her.” Valora leans back in her chair and shakes her head. “Heh... course you’d jump to that conclusion. Did it ever occur to you that maybe there was a reason she left you in Chicago? Maybe she was on the run from some enemies. Maybe she wanted to give you time to grow and develop into your own person. Maybe she was young and couldn’t afford a kid. There’s lot of reasons that don’t include a personal insult to you.” Abbigail turns to Valora and Valora decides to use this to help her protege focus. “I’ll make you a deal. I’m not going to say you need to win… but you focus on training, and you turn in a good performance. Say…you eliminate at least 3 people and/or make it to the final part of the fight where it becomes a traditional wrestling match and I’ll answer any and all questions you have on this topic as honestly as I can. Deal?”
Abbigail gives Valora a skeptical look. “3 people? Setting the bar a bit high. What if I don’t make it?” Valora grins. “Then I either don’t have to answer the questions or will give you a number of questions based on how well you do perform.”
Valora rounded the corner and led her protege into a bar. Abbigail looked around. “A bar? How does this tie into training?” Valora smirks. “Hey! Some of my best training happened in shit dives like this. Sit down, shut up, and pay attention and I might just learn ya something. First. Let’s talk theme music.”
Abbigail clenches a fist and shakes her head. “Seriously?! How the hell is music going-” She falls silent at a glare from Valora. “Hey chica… how many fuckin’ World Titles you got?” Abbigail is silent and Valora nods. “Thought so. How many fuckin’ titles period?! Cause if memory serves... Your trophy chest looks like mother Hubbard’s cupboard.” Abbigail’s face actually turns a bit red here and Valora smiles. “Good, chica. Get mad. That shows me you wanna get rid of the fuckin’ goosegg you got in titles. Now. Next step is you might wanna listen to the bad puta whose won gold everywhere she’s ever fought in her fuckin’ life.” Abbigail pinches the bridge of her nose, and chokes back an angry retort. “Fine… tell me, honored leader of mine... What influence on training does theme music have? How does it help me prepare for the biggest match of my career so far?”
Valora nods. “You know, too many people put emphasis on the wrong shit, chica. Fuckin’ monkeys and chmps and apes can throw fists and hands. Got enough patience you can teach a monkey martial arts… throwing hands is just one part of the puzzle. You need to get into the right mentality. You gotta be comfortable hurting someone. You gotta get comfortable being hurt. For no other fuckin’ reason than to amuse some bloodthristy fans in the fuckin’ stands. Theme music is a big part of that. You’re not just telling the crowd and your opponent shit’s about to get real. You’re reminding yourself of that too. The Skillet bs ain’t cuttin’ it, chica. You need something to get you pumped. Pick something you like... I notice you train and exercise a lot unstoppable from Sia.” Abbigail laughs. “My win loss record doesn’t-” Valora holds up a finger. “Then make the song a goal. You’re shooting to win every single game, as the lyrics go. Pick a song that speaks to you. That gets you ready to kick ass. I want you to think about that as you go through your training.”
Abbigail blinks. “We’re in a bar… what kinda training can we do?” Valora smirks. “Battle royal chica. It’s chaos.” She buys a bottle of tequila. And walks past Abbigail. “Conventional trainin’ no good for a battle royal... Imma show you how I trained.” She says as she reaches the door. “This door, chica. To pass the test, you need to walk out this door.” She looks to the patrons of the bar who are standing. “Begin.” Valora says as she opens the door and walks out as the bar erupts into a brawl.
About 15 minutes go by, Valora calmly drinking her tequila and singing along to ‘Prayer’ by Disturbed and if you remembered that this was a entrance song of Valora’s at one point, you win the weekly fan challenge! Abbigail flies through a window and lands at Valora’s feet. Valora sighs and shakes her head. “Not the door, chica… try again.” Abbigail coughs and spits up blood. “ Why do you hate me?” Valora laughs. “This is called tough love, chica. Be careful what you wish for when you tell me to train you,ya?” She says as she throws her protege through the window back into the bar.
5 more minutes pass and finally the door opens and Abbigail stumbles through and falls face first onto the ground. Valora looks at the young woman with a smirk and pride shining in her eyes. “Good job, chica! I knew you had it in you! This is the way.”
Abbigail coughs. “Fuck you…” Valora smirks. “I’m sorry, I’m old and my hearing is crap;...say that again…” Abbigail groans as she gets to her feet. “This…is the way.” Valora smiles. “Good girl. Come on.. Let’s get you ready for Ultra Slam 2.” She says, putting an arm around Abbigail as the two head off to finish their preparations.
