Blood in the Water

Someone gave Jessica a mic. Ten times out of ten, that was a pretty horrid idea and whichever little grunt gave her one was probably going to be in hot water. She spun it around in her hand, idly waiting for something. Jessica didn't know quite what. The look on her face suggested that it was something sad or thoughtful. The truth was quite the opposite- she was thinking about Taylor Parker. Her win over Danika Gorski was fresh in her mind. That was very much the continuing of Jessica's welcome back 'tour' and Taylor got it in her stupid fucking head to rain on Jessica's parade. She got access to the video and was frankly a little surprised that Taylor flew at her with a goddamn chain around her fist.

Whatever. If Taylor meant business, then Jessica was prepared to go to war. Kelly didn't seem like she would be like someone who would back her up, even after all the favors that she got for free. To make matters worse, Jessica was no closer to a title shot. Hell, she was probably further away from it now. Sucking up never did anyone any damn good and Jessica was kicking herself for thinking that would help her out. While her mind was bent on violence, her sartorial choices reflected a night out on town. Her shirt was tight and plain and black, and her jeans were tighter and plainer and blacker.

If trouble came, she could probably get out of it by herself. Probably wasn't good enough for Jessica, not anymore. She looked over at River, her favorite drinking buddy/anarchist. "I'm ready. You ready to get this show on the road?" The time for preparation was over. She felt ready to launch a salvo that was going to ruffle a few feathers.

River Styx sat in a chair beside Jessica, doing one last check before showtime. Her boots were laced up, nice and tight. She wore her favorite top, the black Blasphemy a-shirt with an upside down cross, representing her favorite band. The real action was with her pants - loose, baggy, dark grey, with brass knuckles in one pocket and a packet of black mist in the other. Since Taylor was bashing people around with chains these days, it seemed prudent. Couldn't hurt.

She was dressed for war. So, when Jessica asked her if she was ready, Styx's answer was emphatic. "Fuck yeah."

She slide on her fingerless gloves while she looked up at the Violent Violet, nodding a little to reassure her. Jessica was one of the precious few people she would ever slap the 'friendship' label on. The two of them got each other. Tended to think the same things, want the same things, crave the same things. The purple princess was phenomenal in bed, and good for a great fight when they were both in the mood. Naturally, she was inclined to help her out when the occasion called for it, and it did here. Someone beat her buddy with a chain. That shit couldn't stand, and even though Styx wasn't crazy about getting near the whole Coalition clusterfuck and stepping away from her usual hardcore circles, in the end, it didn't matter. Jessica asked for her help, so she would get her help. Simple.

She stood up and glanced back at some of the backstage geeks, who were wisely giving them a wide berth. That might've given her a full smile, if the look on Jessica's face wasn't hampering her mood. "You sure you're ready?" Styx bumped their shoulders together, trying to spark her up. "This is your time. Get pumped."

A mean smile crossed her face. Hell yeah, she was ready. "Fuck yes, I was born pumped." Jessica stood up and gave the signal to one of the drones to play her music. She stepped up to the entrance of the wide arena and looked out. The ring had been cleared and the audience was milling about impatiently. They were waiting for something big, something spectacular. Jessica was more than happy to give it to them.

Jessica's harrowing entrance music lit up the crowd and got them booing like mad men. Moresoe when they saw Jessica's partner. Their opinion wasn't really that important to Jessica and she showed that with two middle fingers to the crowd. The ring couldn't come quickly enough and Jessica felt a surge of adrenaline and fury race through her. This act might mean more than war. It might mean that Jessica had a claim to more important words like legacy and title and champion. Those words were the ones stewing in her brain. And it was all going to start now.

She cast one long look at River. To the surprise of no one, Jessica didn't really have a lot of friends nor was she a social butterfly. But with River she had a lot more than a wide social circle. She had a fuck buddy, a confidant, a sparring partner and someone she could be proud to walk with. A quiet steady confidence came over her. She could do this.

"Hello, assholes. How are you this evening?" Jessica deadpanned. The crowd did not like Jessica toying with them at all. "Looks like you guys haven't forgotten that fucking fluke. But it is ok. I promise you soon will. See, I have been practicing. Really, really hard." Jessica let the sarcastic word hang in the air, to see if these bumblefucks got it. "I've been wrestling alligators, been chopping trees, been doing work. You're not gonna see that same little girl that let things fucking slip at the last second ever again. No, I'm a professional, and I am going to close down. And when I close down, I close down hard. I've been in the Pacific Ocean, throwing the whales around. I've been up Mount Fuji where I sent a rock to the hospital. I'm so damn bad I make medicine sick. So Tokyo, get ready. I'm coming to town and I'm going to do it better than anyone else alive. When AFW scouts picked me out of Iowa to come here they picked me to big the biggest brightest star of them all. Tonight, we are going to bring that out in the open. Are you ready, Tokyo?" Jessica held the mic down and sneered out at the crowd. She wasn't trying to hype them up. She was trying to challenge them.

"And I don't give a damn what any of you think. Yeah, I did all the shit you people accuse me of. This is fucking wrestling. People get hurt. Things happen. And more and more people are going to get hurt if they step into the ring with me, I fucking promise you that. This is a dangerous place as long as I am here. This is the fucking jungle and I am a goddamn tiger. If any of you sheep want to step in here, you're welcome to." Jessica paced around the ring, eyeing the crowd.

"But you guys didn't come here to just here me jabber, did you?" Jessica walked to the center of the ring and sat down Indian style. "Let's talk about something that is harming the AFW. Taylor Parker, the former champion, is out here making the belt look bad. Honestly, I don't even know if I want the belt that I am going to get knowing that Taylor Parker once had it. She can't defend herself as her broken-ass nose attests to. She can't defend her little dojo buddies, as, well..." Jessica shrugged and earned herself another torrent of boos. "Just come on out. Give us your excuses. Tell us why you have been getting your ass kicked all up and down by Kelly. Tell us why you're so fucking useless all the time. The people..." Jessica looked to the crowd with a mocking expression, "want some answers as to why exactly the former champion is so goddamn pathetic. So come on out. Let's talk. It will be like a fucking tea party."

Styx was known for getting on the microphone and cutting it up herself, but this time she held back and let Jessica do all the talking. This was her party, after all. No sense in trying to steal the spotlight. And quite frankly, after a crazy ass speech like that, there wasn't much left to be said, anyway.

Styx didn't have much idea what she was talking about for the most part. Especially with the alligator wrestling, which sounded insane, but Jessica did have purple hair. Hardly mattered. She delivered it all fine, had plenty of passion, even if it was all wasted on the sheep in the audience. Styx gave her a little clap when she was done, then hopped up and sat on the turnbuckle, looking towards the entrance ramp.  She was relaxed on the outside and kept a calm face, but inside, everything was boiling. If this was going to go the way they expected, company would be coming soon...

Right on cue, the music kicked in, so loud that it drowned out everything else in the arena.

A moment later, Taylor strode confidently out onto the ramp, brimming with energy and light as a feather. She held a microphone in one hand, and wore a black tank top, cut low in the sides to show her black and red sports bra, with the pink heart-in-a-fist logo of the Higurashi dojo on the front and the words "Love changes everything, if you're willing to fight". It was long enough to almost cover her short denim cut-offs, and her sleek, muscular legs were bare down to her black combat boots. She was adorned with brightly colored bracelets and a necklace and a clip holding each punky pigtail.

She leveled her deep blue gaze at Jessica and made eye contact just long enough for a wink, just for her, and then raised the microphone to her lips.

"Awwwwww, Jessie! You're gonna hurt somebody's feelings if you keep talking like that!" She said, loud and brash and fearless. "Like, Muhammad Ali's feelings. If you keep butchering his material like that. It's okay if you can't come up with anything on your own, but... Next time, leave the mic at home, a'right?"

She paced one way before returning to the middle of the stage to stand tall, her feet set apart and her shoulders back. "So I get that you're mad that I beat your ass the other day," she said. "Right off the top, let me just say that... The chain was a little much. Sorry. I just wanted to make sure I got the message across, and I should've known that my bare hands are more than enough to tear a paper tiger like you to pieces.

"Now, I understand you're a little retarded..." She cringed inwardly. She kicked herself for saying it like that... "Ya know? You're a little slow, so in case you didn't get that message, let me spell it out for you. Friction is for professional wrestlers. Girls who fight their guts out from bell to bell, and then shake hands after. You're not a professional. You're barely a wrestler. Ya know what you are?

"Garbage."

Taylor's eyes narrowed slightly, and her voice dropped into a growl. "You like to hurt people. You bit off more than you could chew with Avery, so your true colors came out. You're a coward, and you can't deal with a challenge. I've seen your matches lately, against girls with no business being in the ring, and I bet you feel like a such a tough guy when you beat them down... after the bell. You're not a wrestler, you're nothing. You're trash, and you don't belong in that ring."

Then she lightened up and gestured down at the ring with a big friendly smile on her face. "Speaking of, aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?"

Jessica was feeling good. She had thrown the hook out and the little fishy came along to bite. This was going to be a lovely evening. Jessica arched her eyebrows and pretended to be really interested in what Taylor had to say. That little wink of hers was classic. God, what a fucking class act. Jessica wanted to leap at her right now and tear her throat out. But she didn't. She remained sitting, cross-legged and smiled her ersatz smile. Garbage. Paper tiger.

The Violent Violet sighed. "I saw a few of your press conferences. You seemed so full of...what? Spunk? Pizzazz?" Jessica wrinkled her nose. "And now you are out here boring everyone to death. Yeah, ok, you were afraid so you brought along a chain. It takes a big girl to admit you're afraid. Just come on, do it. Hell, you might like it. It might feel a bit liberating to admit you're a washed up has-been who hides behind your little dojo bimbos. There wasn't any message to get across. You think you are some great hero, but you're not saving anyone now. This is a brave new world we live in Taylor. This is a world where you can barely even save yourself any pain. This is a world that will be shaped by one Jessica Wright." It occurred to her in that moment that Kelly might be listening. Good. Let her.

She leaned back and rested on her arm. If she was lucky, the camera might zoom in on her arm which was quite a bit more vascular than it had been previously. "Fine. I fucked up. You know a lot more about that than I do, Taylor. I am not the one whose voice sounds stupid because I have a broken nose. If you want to come down here and shake my hand, you're welcome to try. I have been getting bigger, stronger, better. I have forgotten more slams than you have ever learned."

The Violent Violet leaned forward again and gazed into Taylor, through Taylor. "And you're right of course. You're a smart one, you are! Aren't we all grateful that we have the genius Taylor Parker to set us straight, ladies and gents?" Jessica aped a look of curiosity to the crowd. "I am not a wrestler. I am the wrestler. As in the strongest, the best. The only true colors I've got are violet..." Jessica pointed to her violet hair, "And red..." Jessica made a throat slash gesture towards Taylor. She was feeling good and really hitting her stride now. "And those girls belong in the ring. Maybe with twerps like you. But they sure as hell don't belong in the ring with me. See, Taylor, no one calls me the Friendly Violet. No one calls me the Kind Violet. No one calls me the Blonde-ass, Cheerleader-looking, Tryhard Violet. They call me the Violent Violet. Want me to explain why? Or do you want to set a date for another little tea party and figure it out what my puppies," Jessica flexed her left arm, "do when they are hungry?"

Then she got to River. Her friend. Jessica was usually the protective type to people she felt strongly about, but the nice thing about River is that she required very little protecting. The smile on her face became warm, almost nice. "This is a couple hundred pounds of indomitable rage by the name of River. She is pretty badass. Maybe we should all get acquainted. Taylor, this is River Styx. River, this is some little bitch or something." She dismissively waved her hand towards the blonde girl.

Styx simply stayed quiet and watch from her perch as Taylor spoke, keeping her eyes trained on the former champion with an analytical stare. Right now, she was just the big, dumb nameless muscle in the ring, and she liked it that way. The less Taylor knew about her, the more she underestimated her, the easier it would be to take her by surprise when the time came.

She couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head when Taylor talked about Friction being for professional wrestlers, though. The 'boyfriend' crack didn't get a response, she'd been called shit like that her entire life, but this mouthy bitch's little delusion about the company? Priceless.

She kept it to herself, though, staying with her silent while Jessica replied in her unique, crazy-ass, indomitable way. When the focus shifted Styx's way for a moment, she just gave Taylor a little wave and a smile. "She really thinks she's funny, doesn't she?" Styx said under her breath, just loud enough for her partner-in-crime to hear.

"Okay, waitwaitwait..." Taylor waved her hand in the air and grinned down at Jessica. "Yes, I hit you with a chain, and it was a heat of the moment thing, but can we just agree that you brought a TWO HUNDRED POUND DUDE OUT HERE BECAUSE YOU'RE SCARED I'D DO IT AGAIN?"

Taylor was doubled over by a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and her infectious giggles and sighs spread out into the crowd.

"And don't pretend you forgot my name. I know you've been thinking about me." Another little giggle escaped her. "Probaby a LOT. Right?"

She began to stroll down the ramp, taking her time with each loose, relaxed stride. "So, you call yourself a violent flower, and you call your veiny arms dogs. You're quite the charmer. You're so charming, you make your friend look boring! Ha!"

It was funny because River Styx looked about as interesting as a two hundred pound sack of potatoes.

She stopped before she approached ringside, and motioned for the two girls inside to back up and give her room to enter. She wasn't dumb enough to just let them jump her while she was sliding into the ring.

"You've got a lot of funny ideas, Violet. I get that you probably think pretty highly of yourself because you handled girls half your size with no experience and stuff, but sweetie? Honey bun? Pork chop?" She cocked her hips to the side and closed one eye like she was aiming down her arm when she pointed at Jessica. "You're in way over your head, here."

Jessica backed up. Slowly, hesitantly, but she backed up. It was kinda dumb to show that she was afraid right off the bat but she was in no real outfit to fight. She could have kicked herself- this would be more effective if she was in her usual wrestling outfit. She cast a glance at River when she said the words that only the Violent Violet could hear. A shrug was all she could really afford to do and she returned her attention to Taylor.

The Violent Violet was standing now. She put her hand on her hip and glared at Taylor with her purple eyes. "See, honey, the difference between you and me is that I have friends. I have back-up. When shit gets real we get realer." Jessica stuck her finger in the air. "Hey. There's an idea. Why not a tag match? You can scrap through the dojo to see if there is anyone who could even hold a candle to us, then watch us annihilate her, then you. Wouldn't that be a lovely evening?"

"Why on Earth would I need to be charming? Genghis Khan wasn't charming. Muhammad Ali wasn't charming. And I am sure as shit not charming. I would rather be dominant and powerful and unstoppable. You can be popular with doe eyed teenagers. I don't mind. But I am going for something a little bit better. And if you think I am in over my head you have another thing coming. You got a couple chances at the title then fucking lost it almost immediately. You didn't deserve it." Jessica looked around then at River. "I am just saying what everyone is thinking."

Styx wasn't moving.

She'd taken up a nice little perch on the turnbuckle and was rather enjoying the position, and so far as she could tell, there was nothing Taylor possibly had to say that would require her to be inside the ring. If space was an issue, she could go around the ring and come in from the other side. But this, her little gesture, it was just another attempt to belittle Jessica and give the crowd one more reason to cheer. Not happening.

So, she was a little disappointed when her lover gave Taylor the space. Her face dropped for a moment, but she quickly brought it back. Styx understood. She didn't like it, but she understood. When this was over, the two of them would need to have a talk.

She wanted to hold her ground. She wanted to stay. She wanted to stomp Taylor's back the moment she popped into the ring. But this wasn't about her. It was Jessica's moment. Styx was backing her up, and that meant standing at her back. For now.

She rolled her tongue around her mouth for a moment, staring down at Taylor with a placid expression, and then she suddenly jumped down and made the ring quake. Styx calmly strolled behind Jessica, whispering as she passed. "You're better than her." She spoke under a sigh as they briefly brushed shoulders. "Get in her face. Own the ring."