Angel Survivors (For HighFly)

The sounds of daily workouts echoed throughout the AFW gymnasium, weights clanking heavily on the ground alongside generic easy listening j-pop playing non-stop throughout the intercom and giving everyone in attendance reason enough to have their Ipods on full blast to blot it out. Though while some people were muscle building or chatting it up with their friends, in the far off corner Mikoto was simply practicing her breathing exercises through concentrated motions involving lifting her arms upward and downward to match the movements of her diaphragm.

Dressed in her usual priestess wrestling attire, the lone priestess felt the need to practice her Zen techniques before her own workout routine, purposefully setting herself far away from the other resident gym members. The commotion in the crowd only made Mikoto shy farther away from everyone else, content and comfortable in her little corner of the gymnasium. Her behavior during her emotional debut against that wicked Chris Morgan was a rarity for the introverted Miko, still somewhat embarrassed at how she mouthed off so vehemently towards her opponent….that was just so not like her, just thinking about it makes her elicit an awkward groan.

The withdrawn priestess still felt like a stranger in a new world while exploring AFW and the incredibly varied roster they employed. Even with all the new faces surrounding Mikoto still hardly made any friends, her introverted ways keeping her out of the eye line of most people. By no means was Mikoto saddened by this fact,(or so she would say), working alone and shouldering heavy responsibilities were simply the norm for her, especially when caring for her younger siblings. With a slow exertion of air Mikoto continued her exercises and stretches in peaceful serenity well out of anyoneâ€s notice.

Suzumi took a deep breath as she confidently walked out of the locker room onto the gym floor at the Friction gym. This place had anything and everything, fitting for such a large promotion full of great talent. Suzumi knew that she fit in and could hang with most of these women, at least she could back in her Wrestle Angel days. The women she beat to get a contract were Friction hopefuls, not women who had already earned a roster spot. She was to find out today who her first opponent was, and when the match would be. Being someone as famous as Suzumi due to her prior wrestling and acting meant she had to be ready: First impressions were huge.

As Suzumi surveyed the gym she noticed a woman doing some sort of breathing exercise. She wore unique wrestling attire, looked fit, and for some reason this lady seemed familiar to Suzumi.....

Suzumi approached her and smiled before speaking. "Hello, thats an interesting breathing exercise you are doing. I know this is like, pretty out of the blue but were you ever in Wrestle Angels?" Suzumi asked. Surely, this woman would recognize Suzumi from her wrestling or acting and introduce herself! Of course, she appeared to be a loner... maybe she'd never been to the movies or her wrestling career didn't overlap with Suzumi? "Oh, I totally forgot my manners! I'm Suzumi Ishikawa, I wrestled a few years ago in Wrestle Angels and acted but now I'm like totally back and ready to take Friction by storm!" She added with a playful wink, grin and thumbs up to the woman.

Mikoto overheard footsteps approaching her from behind but kept to herself and maintained her disciplined Zen poses, not turning to acknowledge the approaching stranger until she mentioned Wrestle Angels. Assuming another bright eyed rookie had recognized her from the now defunct league, her tranquil state of mind burst into fits of nostalgia once she put a face to that friendly voice. Immediately recognizing Suzumi before the tsunami could say another word, the wide eyed Mikoto practically had to restrain herself from not wrapping her arms around Suzumi and hugging her as tightly as she could. Suzu was the first former W.A. she had seen since joining AFW, and was beginning to give up all hope on finding any of her old teammates.

Though her giddiness would be tempered once it was apparent Suzumi didnâ€t quite recognize the priestess, introducing herself for seemingly the first time. As if on cue Miko remembered how some things never change, the playful Suzumi notorious for being a tad…..absent-minded .

“Ah..ha…itâ€s me, Suzu…Mikoto…we…uh…our gym lockers were right next to each other?...I-I think we had a tag match together that one time?...” Miko shyly looked towards the floor while scratching her cheek nervously, listing several instances the pair were together in hopes of jogging Suzuâ€s memory. It wouldnâ€t surprise Miko if Suzu didnâ€t recognize her, although they both never left the mid-tier card, the loner kept to herself in W.A. just as much as she did now…

As Mikoto spoke, Suzumi definately knew her from somewhere... then upon mention of her locker location and the match it all hit the silver haired woman all at once. "Omigawd Mikoto! How've you been!? You look like you grew a bit, I think I remember you being shorter than that? Its soooo great to see you!" Suzumi said, rather quickly. When she got excited she tended to be a bit of a motor-mouth.

Suzumi gave Mikoto a big hug and squeezed, which gave the shy woman a chance to answer her hyped up counterpart. "So how have you been doing so far here? Is the competition good or do you dominate everyone?" Suzumi asked, this time in a much more calm tone than before finally remembering that Mikoto was one of the more reserved women she'd met.

Relieved when Suzumi remembered her longtime locker mate(Mikoto knew she didnâ€t make THAT weak of an impression)the priestess gave out a cute yelp from being lifted into Suzumiâ€s warm hearted embrace. Her normally non-chalant expression crumbled into a smile that she hid from view before being let back down, hugging Suzumi back with a firm grip and pleased to see an old friend again.

“Oh...no, well…..” Mikoâ€s eyes would suddenly shyly start counting the floor panels, memories of her disastrous debut match with Chris Morgan flashing through her mind. Although her odds of winning were slim at best, it ended up being a spectacular bout where the priestess fought with such determination that all the nay-sayers in the crowd started to believe that a perpetual mid tier fighter could pull off the upset of a lifetime. But….her personal feelings clouded her judgment, and what followed was the worst pain she had yet to experience. Miko knew Suzu was just asking a friendly question, but she honestly didnâ€t know where to begin. Sheâ€d eventually have to warn Suzu to watch out for Chris herself…

“….I-I donâ€t think Iâ€ll be dominating anyone just yet, the roster here has some of the strongest…and strangest wrestlers Iâ€ve ever seen. For my first match I faced…uhm….[size=85:1zmdqmgj]Chris Morgan…..y-you remember her right.…Wrestle Angel World Champion….” Miko forced a nervous smile on her face when she looked back up at Suzu to try and hide the scars that match left on her psyche. “I…uh, did my best you know…but…it wasnâ€t meant to be...heh…”

"Chris Morgan? The bosses pet that got every cop-out to keep the title? Did she really hurt you?!" Suzumi asked angrily. She never fought Chris Morgan but recalled how that woman ruined Wrestle Angels after Suzumi retired post-injury. Putting a sweetheart like Mikoto through a torturous match? It all proved to Suzumi how much Chris Morgan sucked.

Other than being big and having giant tits what did Chris Morgan have that Suzumi didn't? Suzumi was more talented and her own chest was a head-turner. Mikoto was also a good wrestler from what Suzumi recalled. "You know what? What if we showed the AFW what real Wrestle Angels can do? We'd be like the best, cutest team of all time! Ever!" Suzumi proclaimed. However..... who would lead and who would be the sidekick?

“Y-yeah, thatâ€s the one. But Iâ€m fine, really!!” Mikoto waved her hands to try and signify that her whole ordeal really not an issue, knowing how fired up Suzu could get once she got an idea in her head. “Just promise you wonâ€t go looking for trouble with Chris, I donâ€t know what sheâ€s thinking but she has it in for us!!” The thought of Suzu mouthing off to Chris would surely have spelled doom for the fiery tsunami, even if her heart was in the right place.

The priestess did relax a little when she mentioned a team-up, chuckling a little at how suzu was more concerned at how cute their team would be rather than if they abilities meshed well together. The tag match Miko mentioned was years ago, although their hasnâ€t been a Wrestle Angel tag team since Megumi and Chigusa….b-but Suzu was jumping ahead of things. Miko still had questions!!

“Ah ha….Iâ€m uh, sure weâ€d be adorable….I-Imean-!!” Miko would shake her head of these weird thoughts to try and get back on track. “What are you doing back in wrestling tights? I thought your film career was doing so well youâ€d never need to toss any around ever again. Plus after you're injury...” Miko would look down at Suzu leg with some concern in her eyes.

"Oh that? This leg is just as good as ever!" Suzumi said as she stomped the ground a couple times as if it helped her prove her point. "I did well in acting but... its crazy. I actually missed wrestling a lot, like more than anyone would believe!" Suzumi said with a smile. She missed competition, even though getting beat up did have its downs. Also the fans... they were right there and screaming as the action happened. Movies weren't the same. Suzumi was sure she'd make a mark in the AFW.... even if she really hadn't wrestled a proper opponent in a couple years.

"I am just as good as I was before Mikoto... even if my speed isn't quite where it was." Suzumi said, trying very poorly to hide the gnawing bite of worry and doubt that popped into her head whenever she thought of the after-effects of that injury. "Who have ya faced other than that blonde bimbo?" She asked, trying to change the topic.

Mikoto wasnâ€t entirely convinced by Suzus half-hearted assurance of her legâ€s recovery, hiding her concern for now under a friendly smile as she demonstrated herself to be in tip top wrestling shape. Miko decided to drop the subject since she didnâ€t want to pry into an issue that may have been a private matter. “Thatâ€s a shame, Iâ€ll miss seeing your name on the big screen and telling people ‘I know that girl…*giggle*…”


Raising her finger to her cheek, she contemplated Suzuâ€s own way of asking who else she had fought. “Well….besides Chris my only other match was against Lisa Sands, or ‘Divastatorâ€, as she likes to go by. She can be sweet at times, but those anger issues of hers….OH, do you know who your first opponent will be yet?”

Maybe it was because Suzumi was so excited to be back, or maybe it was the rush of seeing someone she knew.... but she had no clue who her first match was against. "I.... you know thats a really good question! Like, I have no idea who I am facing."

Suzumi was torn on this. She didn't want to get her ass kicked, but she would feel disrespected if they threw a bottom-of-the-barrel woman at her who was either really new, or just around for other women to pad their record against. Suddenly Suzumi had an idea. Maybe not the greatest idea, but it wasn't too shabby either.

"Mikoto... what if we had us a little matchup right now for training?" Suzumi said with a giant, enthusiastic smile.