All Good Things

Taylor's right hand was tucked under her thigh, while her knee bounced up and down under the wobbly card table. The fingers of her left hand brushed the pointed top of her little plastic bishop, and then indecisively jumped back to her queen.

Across the table from her was Nikolette Tesla. Not a bad wrestler, an okay boxer, but Nikolette was way smarter with this chess stuff than Taylor could ever dream. She was an engineer or a mechanic or something, and knew about chess. Taylor didn't really play board games much growing up, or games of any kind. She had always liked sports, but hated team sports. She had loved gymnastics, but hated the other girls. At no point in her formative years did chess ever enter the picture.

Who knew that it would come up in her career as a pro wrestler.

"Ummm..." She had to just make a move. She felt dumber every second that she stared stupidly at the board as if she could somehow make sense of it all and formulate a plan. There was no plan. Fuck chess.

She cautiously slid her queen forward three squares, careful to keep her fingers on the piece, and then peered up at Nikolette.

Nikolette was surprised when Taylor of all people asked her about chess. She didn't play regularly, but she was good. Chess was something that came naturally. She played Chess the way other people might play Simon. It was just a game of remembering patterns and Nikolette didn't forget something if she saw it.

She watched with a gentle smile as Taylor nervously looked to Nikolette for guidance. "Ya ain't gotta be good enough ta beat a grandmaster or anything, Taylor." She said and nodded at Taylor's move. "Even if you lose every game we play, if ya feel comfortable playin me, then I think you'll be good enough ta face off against Adrian."

Nikolette leaned back in her chair. "Or, I could show ya one way of doin it and a few ways ta counter a counter." Nikolette wrinkled her brow as she looked at the board. Taylor was leading her queen and just begging Nikolette to take it. She wasn't going to though. If she was serious, she could win in a few moves but how would THAT help Taylor?

"Stop going easy on her." The voice behind the magazine came. Morrigan had her feet on the table, leaning back and flipping through a magazine. She stifled a yawn and didn't even look up from her article. "She gets retarded if you don't step on her neck."

"Shut up, Morgan."

Taylor pulled her queen back to where it was and moved her bishop instead. "Man, Adrian's probably some super chess zen master or something but like, I'm a pro wrestler, right? Being geeky should not be a job requirement! No offense."

She stared at the board and tried to make sense of how to actually go about winning, instead of just making moves that didn't immediately lead to losing. It didn't matter what it was, she wasn't going down without a fight. Or maybe she was, but dammit, she was trying.

"I mean, like, I just have to not lose with the chess part, and then knock her ass the fuck out. It's that simple. I guarantee that bitch can't box for shit. When do we get to box, anyway? I'm like... My attention span is crying right now. Maybe we should put in a light jog on the treadmills while we play, I'd probably be able to think better."

Nikolette smiled at Taylor. as she struggled to maintain her focus on the game. Nikolette's hand moved almost automatically and by the time Taylor had pulled her hand back, the engineer had moved her rook into position.

"Hmmm..." Nikolette hummed. "Well..." let's see if we can't simplify things a lil bit." she said and looked at the tiny pieces. "The king is somethin you need ta protect. Imagine whatever it is you feel is important to ya. Adrian's tryin ta take that from ya. All YOU have ta do is whatever you think will keep that safe.' She said, touching Taylor's king.


"Uh...' Nokolette said blushing a bit as she looked at Taylor and smiled a little bit. 'Too sappy?" She asked.

"Yes." Morrigan said without pausing her article.

While Nikolette waited for Taylor to make her move, she began to think. Maybe it was better for her to NOT think about what she was doing. "So, how do you think Adrian's gonna box ya?" She asked. "She ain't dumb enough ta go in blind."

"Shit, I dunno. She'll try to load her gloves or find something to throw in my face or something. Whatever. She says she's done with that shit, but we'll see how squeaky clean she is when the pressure's on."

Taylor stared down at the board, and one by one the tried to look at all the different moves each piece could make. Then when she tried to think about what Nikolette would be able to do after each move, she always lost track. It was too much to hold in her mind at once.

"She's a little taller, but I dunno if she's even got reach on me. She's quick and stuff, but I'm not afraid of her power. I don't think she's got, like, crisp hands or whatever. I think she'll either try to run away and pot shot me, or go all psycho killer like she does sometimes and try to bull rush me. Either way, I'm not worried. I've got her no matter how she wants to play it. Fuckin'... in tight, cut angles, be physical, bully her around. Hooks to the body, circle, overhand up top or stay in the pocket and use the uppercut. If she wanted to be crazy, I can bullfight her all day until her face falls apart. Jab, jab, move, move, turn the corner, step, straight right, follow up or get out..."

She settled for taking what she thought was the safest move, and moved a pawn up one space. It didn't do much for her, but she didn't think she exposed her king at all with it.

Nikolette brought her knight forward and seized the pawn. It was a good move, but it wasn't the best. If Taylor saw, there was a good spot for her to take the knight with a rook and keep her king protected. Nikolette figured that the move she'd just made was one that an average chess player might take.

"She'll be thinking in boxing the way you're thinking in Chess. She'll just be trying to protect the king. Who cares if you beat her around if you can't win the chess battle. All she really as to do is time you out in the chess portion." Nikolette said.

"She really doesn't even have to go offensive there either." Nikolette frowned. It seems teaching wasn't her forte and Morrigan was quick to point it out.

"Why'd she call you in here? If she just wanted someone to make her look bad at chess, I could have done that."

Nikolette furrowed her brow and looked at Morrigan. "Ya really gotta be here!?" She said in an annoyed tone. She then furrowed her brow. "But... she's kinda right." She said as Morrigan smugly turned the page of her magazine. "What we need to focus on is getting ya to clear your mind. Go head and make you're move so we can finish this game. Then, I guess the real trainin can begin!"

"If she freaks out and faints, do I still win?" Taylor asked, and made the first move she saw that looked pretty good.

"But yeah, you're probably right. I wonder if she'll try to pull the Philly shell on me!" She laughed. "But yeah, no counter punching. But lucky me, jumping in guns blazing is what I do. I'll either knock her out, or knock her so stupid she runs out of time."

She couldn't stay sitting any longer. She stood up and bounced slightly back and forth on the balls of her feet while she stared at the board. She tried to predict what move Nikolette would make next... which was really just a guessing game. "Man, sorry in advance if I knock you the fuck out. I've got a lot of energy all pent-up right now."

Nikolette watched as Taylor made her move. She moved her queen into position and that was that. "Checkmate." She said and looked up at Taylor. "Well, I guess we could take some time to box." She said, looking at Taylor. "I'm not sure if I can match Adrian's fighting style though, unless ya want me ta just run around and rope-a-dope ya!" Nikolette laughed.

She carefully cleaned the pieces from the board and then stood up. "Ok, We'll do a round of sparring? I'd like ta see how good ya are, actually!" She said with a delighted grin.

Nikolette looked at Morrgian. Can ya time our rounds, please?" She said with a hopeful smile.

Morrigan stood up and closed her magazine. "Nah, got shit to do. I've just been waiting for a call from Jiro anyway and flipping through Tycoon magazine to see if I could find any good articles for our business pro here." She said as she stood up and yawned. "You want some water for your little punching party?" She asked.

Taylor frowned at her deceased king, but she couldn't stay upset for long. Now she got to punch people, specifically Nikolette, and she had been excited for it all day.

"Oh man," she grinned. "Akashi can hit hard, but she can't box. Cassie can kickbox, but she can't hit hard. I can't wait to see what you've got."

She skipped off to her gym bag where it lay against the wall and dropped to her knees to pry it open. While she fished out her sparring gloves, her phone rang. She glanced at it, and then quickly snatched it up. She held up a finger to Nikolette and excused herself out into the hallway to take the call.

"Hi, this is Taylor!" She answered eagerly, and then switched to the most polite Japanese she knew.

<Hello! How are you?>

<I am well, thanks. How are->

<Oh? About what?>

There was a long pause on Taylor's end of the conversation, and when she spoke again her voice was balancing politeness and panic.

<What do you mean? I don't... I don't understand, what are you...>

Her voice accelerated as she tried frantically to explain. <Nonononononono, wait, no, see, I was trying to stop that from... No, I just wanted to... No, I understand, but the reason for that is...>

She took a breath to try to calm herself, but her palms were already sweaty. She wanted to cry.

<Well, can we talk about this? In person? I'm in Tokyo, I can be there in less than an hour! I'm sure we can... No, I don't think so either, you're definitely right, yes, but at least give me a chance to... figure it out! I can't... It means the world to me!>

She stopped, closed her eyes, and leaned her forehead against the wall. Her voice shrunk, defeated and dejected. <Please don't. Please let me change your mind. Just give me a chance.>

<Okay. Goodbye.>

She ended the call and dropped her phone, and pressed her hands over her face while her faint, gentle sobs drifted through the door.

Nikolette was both eager and nervous. It seemed like Taylor wanted an actual match and not just a spar. She didn't mind either way but she hoped her boxing skills measured up to her chess skills. She knew they didn't. Boxing was a good outlet for her. In the ring it was easy to brawl, especially while her mind ticked and whirred to help predict her and her opponents next move. She had skill but she certainly wasn't good enough to go pro. She figured her skill set put her at about mid-tier amateur level. She wasn't going to get into the Olympics or golden glove competitions either but she could probably hold her own and keep a record that had more wins than losses.

However, her thoughts were stalled as Taylor's phone rang. Nikolette smiled at first. She could understand Taylor's end well enough but knowing Japanese didn't help hear the other side. However, it was easy to figure out that it was not the kind of conversation that Taylor WANTED to have. When it was over, Nikolette's eyes widened as she saw Taylor.

"Uh... Taylor, is everythin alright!?" She said, jogging up next to he and putting a hand on her shoulder. She was acting like someone had died but the conversation definitely didn't have that tone to it. The engineer wasn't sure what to do.

Morrigan hopped off her seat and followed behind them. "What happened?" She said more bluntly. It was her job to know and a phone call like that was pretty surprising. Still, Taylor liked to get emotional It couldn't have been THAT bad, whatever it was.