A Summer Splash Charity Fund Raiser

"I don't want to lose a power edge, but I also want to branch out. If I'm a one-trick pony I'll never make it to the top. I need to work a lot on grappling and technique. I've made some headway with submissions and speedier moves though!" Alaina said proudly before realizing that she must have looked like a complete newbie. "I mean, I've been trying real hard to spend as much time working at it as.... wait, did you mean Taylor Parker?"

"Yup!" Cassie said proudly. "She's the best!"

She took a sip of tea, and continued to brag. "We trained at the same pro wrestling gym in New York City before she came here, and then I followed along a little bit later. We were even roommates for a little while there. We were roommates for a little while here, too, but then she got married to Johnny Higurashi, who is also the best. Now I live with Akashi Tanikaze, and the three of us are the bestest of buds. She's the best, too, just so ya know."

"Wow, that's really something else!" Alaina said as she followed Cassie's flow-chart of bests. Alaina felt really bland compared to all that. She never considered herself the best at anything.

"I live with my best friend Charlie and his dog, and had a regular old job before this. I guess I'm pretty boring huh?" Alaina said before she recalled something. "I got in touch with... Morgan is it? You know, Taylor's assistant. When she helped show me a few things I wanted to return the favor and invite her to my place for dinner. I haven't heard anything back, but she's busy. You know if you want to come too that'd be cool."

"Oh, you already met Taylor!" Cassie laughed. "How funny. And Morrigan, yeah, that's her assistant. Um..." She opted not to say anything about the suspect Irish girl. If she hadn't found out already about the way she was, then Cassie wasn't going to tell her.

"She is really busy, though, yeah, so don't feel bad if you haven't heard back. I'm sure she will soon. Actually, I could probably ask her about it. I see her all the time, because we train together. Oh, and sure, I'd love to! Why not?" Cassie said, once she realized she'd been invited too. "You guys are all new to Japan? It can be pretty tough to get used to as an American or a Canadian. I'm from Canada, if you can't tell..." Cassie's Canadian accent was fairly unmistakable, especially in Japan.

"So you had a match against a pirate? That sounds like fun. I'm not sure why, but it does."

"Great! I'd love to see you guys there!" Alaina said to Cassie after hearing that she wanted to join in. "Its been a couple months, but right after we got here my gimpy buddy got into an accident which caused him to earn the nickname gimpy. He was... depressed at first so I spent a lot of time helping him out. Since his rehab has come along the past month or so I've been spending almost all my time at the gym."

As Cassie mentioned Alaina's match with Z.Z, Alaina looked down a little. "Yeah... fun. She fought a bit differently than others I guess. She is the eye-gouging, type and her friend or captain isn't any better. They worked me over pretty good after the match." Alaina said as she pointed to her ribs and then to her head. "A donga stick to the chest a few times followed by a knockout blow ruined my day."

"Oh, no!" Cassie put a hand over her mouth. "That doesn't sound very fun at all! Someone should teach her a lesson on playing by the rules. Um..." She poked at the remnants of her food. "What's a donga stick?"

Well, it sounded bad.

"So I have to get back to training in a minute. Afternoons are for technique, and it's just me and Akashi today. I hope I learn something good." She finished her tea and began to neatly stack her dishes on her tray.

"As far as I can tell its a whoopin' stick of some kind." Alaina answered to the best of her ability.

"All right, have fun training and wish me luck! Also... well, if you happen to know of any guys out there who aren't taken don't be shy about sending them my way." Alaina said as she pulled out her phone. "Do ya want my number and email before you go so I can keep you in the loop about the dinner party?"

"Sure! I'll text you so you have my phone number." Cassie pulled out her phone to do the deed.

"And I don't know too many guys... I'm kind of looking, myself. What about your roommate? What's he like?" She asked hopefully. "Maybe you can introduce me at dinner. Not that... Well, I mean I'd meet him anyway, but like... You know what I mean. Is he... what's he like?"

"Oh Charlie? He's a sweetie. If he wasn't I wouldn't live with him. He can be pretty goofy and dorky sometimes, but he means well." Alaina said with a smile before she remembered something....

"He is actually out on a date with some office worker he met while dropping off medical paperwork, but its a first date and there's nothing really set in stone there." Alaina added. She forgot that Charlie met that woman the other week when he dropped off his rehab paperwork. Charlie was notorious for having awful luck with women, and while Alaina hoped everything went well on his date she wasn't exactly holding her breath. Besides, right in front of her sat a seemingly nice young woman with whom they shared a mutual acquaintance. "When we have our dinner party you'll get a chance to meet him, and who knows what'll happen from there?"

"Oh. That's neat." Cassie picked up her tray and stood up, but lingered a moment. "Does he go on lots of dates?"

She went to put her tray on a little conveyor belt that took it back into the mysterious AFW food service skunkworks. It seemed like every interesting guy she met was either taken, like Johnny, or had too many girls in the first place, like Mamouru and John. And maybe Charlie? But she was jumping to conclusions. She just needed to find her Johnny, that's all.

"Well, I'll look forward to dinner! I'll talk to Taylor about it and see what's going on. It was nice meeting you!"