Pride of the AFW

From the first notes of Taylor's music, the arena was on fire. Taylor burst into view, her short, olive-plaid, pleated skirt fluttering behind her as she skipped yards at a time on the ramp. Her golden hair was in her signature pigtails, and she wore a slim-fitting, white, button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled to her elbows, with a black tie, black fingerless gloves, a short, pleated skirt, and combat boots. Her big, radiant grin shined all the way to the nosebleeds, and her deep blue eyes, with black eyeliner and bold eyeshadow, were focused and alive.

The big, shiny, gold belt perched on her shoulder pushed her spirits up into giddy, stratospheric levels. She couldn't have been happier.

Trailing behind her were two other girls, rookies, a youthful, tattooed redhead and a bigger, powerful-looking brunette, in matching white t-shirts. On the front, each one had a pink-and-black hand-sketched raised fist surrounded by a heart. On the back, their names: Shields for the redhead, Sanders for the brunette.

Taylor stopped partway down the ramp, spread her feet wide, and raised the belt high up in the air. The crowd roared, and Taylor beamed proudly. She took a moment to soak it all in, and then took off like a shot down the ramp. She made a fast lap around the ring, and took a moment to mingle with the fans while she waited for the other two girls to catch up, slapping hands and posing for pictures and giving out hugs. She lifted a younger boy up over one shoulder, and put him down laughing. She put her hands on her thighs and bent down cutely, peering up at the ceiling while a fan gave her a kiss on the cheek. Really, she could do this all day.

Alaina walked out behind Taylor, taking in the deafening noise of the crowd. As she walked it seemed like the whole arena was shaking! Alaina had never been a part of anything like this before, and was just as excited for the upcoming announcement as the people in the seats! Being associated with the champ meant big expectations, and the last thing Alaina wanted to do was let anyone down whether it be Taylor, the fans, or herself.

As she trailed behind, a few fans whistled at her and called out. She obliged them with a little flirty wink here and there, and by high fiving her way down the line towards the ring. However, almost everyone was fired up to see the new champion. Alaina smiled as she watched Taylor mingle with the fans and wait for her and Avery to make their way down. Alaina picked up her pace a little bit, making her way ringside.

Alaina climbed up and once she was on the apron she turned to blow a kiss to the crowd as a whole before climbing between the ropes to enter the ring, smiling as she stood by for Taylor to do her thing.

Avery Shields, of course, would not fall far behind.

Well, at least until Friction's newly crown champion exploded down the ramp like a bolt of lightning.

Ave's grin was immediately full of the freckled youth's typical exuberant charm. Unable to resist the urge, she'd shout a loud cheer of encouragement to Taylor. Hesitating only a moment to offer an overly excited laugh to Alaina, the fiery redhead would explode down the ramp and follow shortly behind the foots steps of her idol. Naturally, Ave would make her best efforts to high-five every outstretched hand that reached for her, but--despite her most earnest efforts--the gesture was almost unfathomable.

Taylor presence alone had the arena in a frenzy and Avery was only experiencing the residual effects of that!

The lively teenager soon bounded upon the apron and slipped just within the ring. Shifting her attention away from the crowd, Ave would lean slightly against the ropes with a smile, letting her admiring gaze fall back on the champ while she basked in her hard-earned glory. Even if Avery was now closer to Taylor Parker than ever before, part of her would always be a humble fan.

Taylor parted with the fans and leapt up onto the ring apron before slipping through the ropes. She ran a victory lap around the ring with her arms held out like airplane wings, and then jumped up into a corner and held her title high. She stuck out her tongue and nodded. That's right. Taylor's title.

She dismounted by way of a flash kick back flip from the turnbuckles back down to the mat, and bounced her way to the ropes to grab a microphone from the apron. She took a place in the center of the ring and spread her feet apart, holding the mic with both hands with her sharp, punky grin.

She began in Japanese. <Nice to meet you.> She bowed to the crowd. <I am the new AFW Friction World Champion, TAYLOR PARKER!> She crowed, and the crowd cheered back.

<I hope we can be friends.> She giggled, and a faint scattering of laughter ran over the crowd.

"I am so proud to be holding this," she declared loudly. "I'm so proud to be your champ. I made a promise before, and now that this belt is finally in my hands, I'll wear it for all of you guys who made my life so awesome. I promise that I'll always give everything I have to defend this. I want to build a legacy as the greatest pro wrestling champion of all time, because I've got the greatest friends, the greatest family, and the greatest fans of all time."

She bowed respectfully, turned and bowed again, until she covered all four sides of the ring.

"That being said..." The corner of her mouth pulled back in a cocky little smile. "Let this be a warning to every other girl on the roster. I'm Taylor Parker. I've beaten giants, I've beaten legends, I've beaten champions. I'm a force of nature. I'm a hurricane. I'm wildfire. I'm young, beautiful, and bad ass, and I'm unstoppable. I'm unbreakable. I'm the end of the road for anyone else who wants this belt.

"And Kelly Conway..." She said, and laughed softly. She looked over the crowd. "Cash in that contract whenever you want. I will gladly beat you down and pin you any time of day. Or maybe I'll make you submit?"

She giggled and shook out her pigtails and bounced in place on the balls of her feet while the crowd cheered. Her bangs hung down almost over one eye, and she blew them back to the side.

"And next, guys... I'm so proud to introduce to you... The Higurashi Dojo!" She swept her arm dramatically toward the two rookies. "Everyone, meet the dazzling, the glamorous, the uncanny ALAINA SANDERS! And everyone... meet the spunky, the stupendous, the fearless, AVERY SHIELDS!"

She jumped up and down and cheered for the two girls without the mic.

"And I'm so proud to help with coaching these girls as they climb up the Friction ranks. Take a bow, or something! Say hi, guys!" She gestured at Alaina and Avery.

Ave flushed at the complimentary introduction, but the tattooed tomboy managed to keep her cool with a confident smile, "Konbanwa, Japan! Maybe some of you remember me from Avalanche?" The freckled youth flashed the crowd with a encouraging wink. She found herself immediately rewarded with an enthusiastic cheer. "Awesome! I'm sure Kelly Conway remembers me too!"

"I look forward to kicking more ass in this ring. For the Higurashi Dojo and, of course, for all of you!" The fiery redhead glanced at Taylor. Her prideful smile only grew.

Alaina bowed politely, as she was a more subdued person than eboth Taylor and Avery. She was also the oldest woman in the ring, which she wasn't in any rush to bring to light.

Taylor, thanks for giving me the chance to be here today, and thank all of YOU out there for being awesome fans!" Alaina said as she pointed out, sweeping her arm across seemingly at everyone in the arena. The crowd cheered louder at further acknowledgement from the women in the ring. "I just want you to know that no matter who I face, no matter what venue it is, I am going to go all out and give you all 100% because you deserve to see nothing but the best! With the Higurashi dojo thats exactly what you will get!" Alaina shouted as the crowd roared louder.

Taylor bounced in place while the two trainees formally introduced themselves. When they were done, she cheered, and clapped her hands over her head and gave her hips a shake. She started to lift the mic back to her lips, but stopped short and only a trickle of an effervescent giggle floated out over the arena. She skipped in a circle around the ring, gave Alaina a playful punch in the belly with her boxing guard up, hugged Avery, and then jumped and dynamically landed on her spot in the middle of the ring with her feet set wide.

"You're in big, big trouble, AFW Friction!" She said, pointing a finger up the ramp at the locker room with a giggle.

She took a moment to settle down, and tried to put on a serious face, though her smile didn't budge. "I'm proud of a lot of things right now. This belt on my shoulder, and getting to represent it for you guys and for everyone who's helped me get this far. These two girls here and getting to help them like other people helped me. But that's not all!" She declared, pointing a finger up at the ceiling.

"I saved the very best for last. There's one thing I'm so, so, so proud of, more than anything else. That means even more to me than this title. And that... is..."

She danced in place, too excited to hold still. "INTRODUCING!" She crowed, and then paused. "Hold on, I gotta get up there."

She handed her belt to Alaina, and then vaulted over the top rope and landed in a neat roll and sprinted all the way up the ramp at full speed.

"INTRODUCING!" She repeated. "My favorite person in the whole world! The kindest, sweetest, most patient, most loving person I've ever met! The most ridiculously hot and bad ass and super cool person in the world! My husband! JOHNNY! HIGUURAAAASHIIIIIII!"

Johnny was surprisingly nervous as he waited backstage. It wasn't something that really happened to him very often but tonight, he kinda did. This was Friction. He'd only been in the arena when he was in the stands except for a very few instances. He was certainly never properly invited and he wondered what the crowd might even think of him. Everyone there was there to see hot chicks wrestle hard, not hard bodied boys like Johnny.

He paced a bit, waiting for the cue. Not to mention, it was his wife's biggest night. He wanted it to be perfect. Then he heard Taylor's voice shout his name into the microphone. He grinned. Maybe it already was.

Johnny burst from the backstage area as some special music began to play. He was dressed in his normal wrestling attire, with his brand new yellow t-shirt. He peeled it off and swung it over his head once and then tossed it into the crowd before he ran full charge at Taylor and crashed into her.

Barely breaking stride, he heaved her up so she could coil her legs around him and ride him while he ran. He picked up speed as he ran down the ramp, bent his knees when he was close to the apron and leaped, catching the edge with his feet and gripping the ring rope tightly so that it looked like he was barely holding both of them up. In truth he was, but he knew he could hold the position all day long.

He let Taylor slide off him and pulled him up so he was standing on the apron with her. He grinned brightly at her and touched her hand, taking the microphone before slipping into the ring.

"Oi! How you dude's doin!?" He said to the whole crowd, grinning. "I think we got the best chick for the job and junk when we got Taylor as champ, right!?"

Johnny's cheeks were bright red but the crowd roared. He stepped forward. He looked at Alaina and Avery. He knew Alaina but didn't know Avery at all. He walked up to her and gave her a handshake, putting all his strength into it, even though he gave her a goofy grin to accompany it. He did the same for Alaina too. He was still pretty nervous doing all this but he muscled through it.

He looked back at Taylor just to see if he was doing ok and then looked around. "I'm the kinda guy that usually just lets his actions do the talkin and junk. I think that Taylor's done that in spades and I can't wait for to see her kick a ton more ass cause I know that no one's gonna be able ta stop her and that anyone who ends up joinin the dojo is goin to be turned into a fightin machine too, man!"

He grinned and went back over to Taylor and put an arm around her. "I mean, look at us and junk!" He said with a grin, squeezing Taylor against her before raising her hand in the air again.

Taylor leapt up into Johnny's arms and managed a quick kiss before he took off down the ramp. The female fans made themselves known with a shirtless Johnny to whip them into a frenzy.

On the ring apron, she bent at the waist and leaned on the top rope while she watched Johnny start to work the room, with warm eyes and a flirty tilt to her hips. She slipped through the ropes and let Johnny raise her arm up high while she bounced in place, and then threw her arms around his neck and girlishly picked up one heel and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She pulled the mic over. "Awww! Isn't he cute when he's nervous?"

She giggled, and playfully chomped her teeth at Johnny's nose, and then took the mic from him.

"TWO YEARS!" She exclaimed, throwing two fingers up in the air. "It's so crazy! A little while ago we had our second anniversary. We've been married for two years! That's gotta be an AFW record! Like, a lot of bad stuff goes on behind the scenes at AFW, but some really cool stuff can happen too, and... I just feel really, really..."

She paused, with a helpless smile, as she began to get choked up. The crowd caught on and responded with a mostly feminine "awww".

"I feel really lucky," she managed, as tears hinted at the corners of her eyes. She tried to laugh it off, and grabbed Johnny's hand, and stood facing him while she looked up into his eyes. "Johnny, I'm really glad I married you. And I've been really happy for these two years, and I'm really glad we got to do it all here, and..." She shook her hand and tried to keep it together. She didn't want the rookies to see her start bawling in front of everyone! "And if I could, I'd marry you all over again. In a heartbeat."

Alaina smiled as Taylor spoke. She was the kind of person who believed in everything she said. Alaina liked that. Seeing Taylor with a title right alongside Johny gave Alaina a template of where she wanted to be herself. Mamouru had been great with Alaina. They had been together for roughly 6 months, and Alaina had improved in the ring.

Maybe, just maybe if things kept going like this, in due time Alaina could work herself to this very point.