Onboarding the Newcomer - Takeuchi Style

There was something about the AFW onboarding process that just didn't work. It wasn't the part of signing the contracts - no, that had been easy as child's play. It wasn't really the part of getting a chance to perform in matches either - the managers were usually all too keen to put new talent, and new faces to the test. Even getting a place to stay and some initial funds for living was rarely a problem.

The real problem was navigation. Introduction and guidance to the AFW campus was laughable at best. The newcomers, the fresh wrestling talent, often struggled to find their way around, ending up mistakenly in inappropriate places, or even unintentionally wandering onto harm's way.

Then again, causing those kind of events to happen may had well been exactly the motivation behind maintaining substandard onboarding...

Serafina Kunisada - La Liana Azul:

Serafina Kunisada was certainly not the first newcomer to struggle with finding her way around, and she most likely was not going to be the last one. Having just arrived in Japan, her knowledge of the AFW campus was practically nonexistant. Still, while her sister Amelia had decided to go check out the shopping mall nearby, Serafina had decided to spend the time more wisely, and find a gym to practice in.

Finally, after a good twenty minutes of searching, she had found one! It was seemingly deserted, blessing Sera with the chance to let her guard down, and aim her full concentration at the punching bag in the middle of a ring. Tonight she wanted to practice her kicks to prepare her better for the battles ahead, and wasted no time before beginning to aim her legs hard at the bag in front of her.

Almost a veteran of the Tension ring and a frequent visitor of the Tension gym, Daisuke Takeuchi aka the wrestling prince was in a rather happy mood today. The Tension gym was one that was seldom used unlike the Friction gym which was much more active but it was all the much better for the prince, who preferred training alone. Although, working out with a sparring partner in the ring every now and then was not such a bad idea either but with the prince's superiority complex he rarely could find someone to regularly spar with.

Daisuke:

Today was probably not going to be any different either. Clad in his wrestling attire, he had his gym bag hanging on his shoulder as he walked towards the ring only to find someone unfamiliar doing her own work-outs in the ring. Daisuke would raise his eyebrow and had a unimpressed look on his face, "Tsk, more rookies" he said while dropping his gym bag down on the floor, near ringside.

With that, he would hop up onto the ring apron and make his way into the ring while casually walking towards the woman. "Just who are you and what are you doing in the ring of the wrestling prince?" he snarled.

"I have no time to be dealing with tomboy rookies who pose as wrestlers. So why don't you go hit the showers or relax in the sauna or whatever is it you female wrestlers come here to do" he said rudely.

Serafina was happy with the latest smack her roundhouse kick had produced from the punching bag - but then there was suddenly another smack from another direction. Glancing behind her shoulder, she could deduce that it was produced by the gym bag of a very sparingly-clad guy who had appeared behind her... Managing to catch her off guard, the girl quickly directed her attention to the punching bag again, trying to hide the blush that was quickly developing on her face...

But despite of Sera's best efforts at ignoring the guy, he seemed to refuse such treatment. Soon the girl could see him climbing up into the ring, forcing her to turn to face him. And apparently he had something to say.

Something that signalled that Sera was in the wrong place. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that-..."

But before she could finish her reply to the guy's question, it became obvious that he wasn't really interested in the answer. Instead, he came off as incredibly cocky and arrogant, which astonished the newcomer. Not really knowing how to react, Sera tried to still remain diplomatic. His attire wasn't helping with that.

"Oh, well, I came here for some training before my debut... But since this apparently is the wrong place, why don't you tell me then where I should be going?" It was evident from the girl's tone that she was already somewhat irritated by his attitude, but was still making great strives to remain polite.

The wrestling prince was glad to have garnered the attention of the seemingly rookie wrestler. Daisuke noticed the distraction caused the brunette to look over her shoulder, acknowledging that she was not the only person present in the gym or the ring. However, she quickly turned back to the punching bag and regained her focused.

Not letting that slide by, the wrestling prince would then have a couple of harsh words for her. Surprisingly and to her credit, Sera did manage to keep her cool at his initial remark and would apologize for her presence, innocently thinking that she might have actually been in the wrong place.

"Hmph training your debut? How cute" Daisuke would say, rolling his eyes in disgust at her. "Well you should be going either to a nearby kitchen or maybe in the corner of a real wrestler as a valet" he would say.

"Now then, I'd suggest you take your sweaty, tomboyish self out of my ring and hit the showers" he would say, approaching the punching bag himself.

Serafina was trying hard to figure out who this guy was, and what exactly were his intentions. Yes, there was a chance that she had actually mistakenly entered the wrong place, and the guy was just rightly unimpressed by her being there. But then again... He was probably a wrestler after all. And based on his behavior, probably a heel one. And if so, should she just be the nice rookie girl to leave him alone? Or should she act like a real, confident wrestler, with her honor to defend, even if they were backstage?

Luckily, the guy was making the choice very easy to make.

Sera's jaw dropped down as she heard his words of being "a valet". And she was too amazed by them to react at all before he continued his little insults...

"Wow, I've never been called a tomboy before..." the Latin Ninja couldn't resist commenting, and it was evident by her tone that she was very much unimpressed with what Daisuke was saying. "I guess I should close my training down for the day then..."

But while her words appeared to be succumbing to Daisuke's will, her actions would soon be telling the guy otherwise. As he approached the punching bag from the other side, Sera decided to do one final hard Roundhouse kick to the punching bag - one that would send it straight towards Daisuke!

At first Daisuke was amused by that genuine look on her face. She seemed like a gullible woman, who actually did think for a second that the wrestling prince genuinely asked her to leave because she was in the wrong place. Her thoughts about that soon changed when Daisuke would really tear into her with his words.

When his rant ended, she stood there almost dumbfounded by everything he said and her first words were that she had never been called a tomboy before, which was not surprising at all given how she looked. Her next words were a bit more pleasing to the ear of the prince, who grinned in satisfaction and crossed his arms under his chest. "Good. I'm glad you see it my way" he commented while nodding.

With that, Daisuke walked forward thinking this was done and dusted. Once he was on the otherside of the punching bag, Sera would deliver one last Roundhouse kick to the bag, sending it towards the prince.

"Ouuff! H-HEY?!" he yelled while staggering away. After maintaining his composure and balance, the furious prince would turn to the innocent looking woman. "How dare a common, filthy, rookie wrestler touch wrestling royalty in such a way" he would growl.

With that, the prince would walk up to Sera face to face. "I will give you a chance to bow down and apologize to your prince otherwise...." he said, waiting for a response.

Yes, Serafina may have sometimes been gullible, but based on what she was seeing now, so was the guy in front of her. Or then he was just way too cocky and arrogant to realize that Sera was actually perfectly capable of being a threat to him... Either way, it earned the punching bag to his face.

Sera watched the guy's reaction to the turn of events in disbelief, and the disbelief was not clearing at all when listening to his words. "Filthy"? "Royalty"? What did those even mean? Why in the world would he consider her filthy? And why did he have any reason to call himself a royalty?

Well, if he really was a royalty, he certainly was one without any manners...

Sera prepared herself to kick the guy as he took steps towards her, but decided against it since he wasn't appearing to be attacking. Instead, he came asking for apology.

Wow. Sure, Sera could play along, but not in the way the self-proclaimed royalty was hoping for.

"A royalty? A prince? Well, I guess I must have been way too much of a tomboy to realize that. Good thing you mentioned, so I can give you the royal treatment you deserve..."

After those words, the Latin Ninja bowed down in the typical Japanese way... But only for a brief second, before surging down, placing her hands on the mat, taking a handstand and trying to swiftly snatch the guy's head between her legs, and then get him to bow a little further forward himself - all the way to the mat with a Headscissors takedown!

The wrestling prince had a knack for disrespecting his fellow peers, especially the rookies and upcoming talent. He was under the impression that he was wrestling royalty and those he deemed to be not up to the level of himself were simply his subjects and common folk. His gimmick had really gotten to his head and he forced it even backstage- which may or may not have gotten him into trouble with the other wrestlers.

Nevertheless, that did result in a couple of long running rivalries. What started off as innocent banter in the end could be a long term rivalry, which was to serve his purpose of having a big pay-off in the end, where he would stand tall to prove his point- if he were to actually win.

Sera's actions of knocking the punching bag towards Daisuke was seen as a sign of coup against Daisuke and he sought to immediately address it when he would march towards the female wrestler and demand an apology from her. Once more, falling prey to her sweet words, Daisuke would grin in satisfaction when she began to bow down and perhaps see the error of her ways.

His satisfaction was short lived, as the woman would suddenly press her hands against the ring mats and do a hand-stand, wrapping her smooth legs around Daisuke's head. "Nrgh, w-what the?!" he exclaimed before being flipped onto his back by Sera's impressive headscissors take down.

Daisuke grunted when his back hit the mat, he rolled away from her and stumbled outside the ring. Now, the prince was furious. He would push up on his hands and knees whilst outside, slapping the floor in frustration before getting back up on his feet.

"YOU!" he said pointing aggressively at her. "You, you, you.....have no idea what you have gotten yourself into." he said, chuckling a bit. Daisuke would slowly get back up on the ring apron and pretend to dust himself off before entering back in the ring. It took every bit of control in him to not simply attack her but he wanted to do this in a civil manner, as a prince of his stature ought to.

"You don't expect a prince such as myself to retaliate in such a barbaric and uncivilized way such as yourself. However...this act of treason will not go unnoticed. How about we settle this in a dual? You and me, one on one.....in a submission wrestling match? Right here.....right now" he said, stepping in towards her carefully this time.

Was that sneaky? Was that unfair? To bow down like that, only to take the other one down instead?

If you asked Sera, not at all, considering the "royalty"'s attitude. He only got what had been coming for him. It was just too bad for him if he had not been expecting it at all...

For Sera on the other hand, her successful little move was only bringing added confidence. If he was so easily taken down by a pair of headscissors, there wasn't too much she should have been afraid of in this "prince", right?

Then again, Sera had no idea who this guy was. Maybe he actually was someone important. Maybe she was dealing with some prominent figure in this league. Maybe she was indeed playing with fire...

And then again, right now playing with fire sounded like a very intriguing thing to do.

Not least because of how enjoyable it was to see the cocky guy stumbling and raging outside the ring... "And you apparently have no idea how easy it is to get de-throned." Sera's dry remark was full of pent-up satisfaction. Although it was obvious to see that the "prince" wasn't going to let her actions slide that easily... And indeed, his following words clearly indicated that he had full intentions of repressing the revolution.

So, he wanted a duel? Sure, that could have been a very effective way of getting some training, and in fact an offer that could have been taken up by La Liana Azul under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances. The arrogance the guy had shown meant that a duel right here, right now would not have been just for training. It was going to be a battle of honor. And for a battle of honor, a deserted gym was a very peculiar scene to take place.

So why was he suggesting it?

"A duel? Oh, I'm all for it. It's always a pleasure to show a "prince" who's the queen..." Sera began, trying to spark the guy's fury up even further. However, she wasn't about to just simply accept his terms. "But I don't even know who you are. And based on the fact that you're wanting to have a duel over your throne here, in an empty gym, tells me that neither do many others. Your kingdom must be rather petty..."

Sera held her voice for a moment, seeing if her words got any reaction out of the guy before continuing. "However, if I'm mistaken, I'm sure that a royalty such as you would have the courage to have a real duel in a proper arena. In front of your people. Be it a submission wrestling match if you so desire...I'm ready to do it for real. But it's your call..."

Sera managed to fool the prince into thinking she was going to apologize with a humbling bow. However, what came next was probably a shock to no one but the prince who was send tumbling outside the ring after being flipped and tossed in an impressive head scissors take down. A seething prince would rage on the outside before immediately making his way back inside the ring.

He would aggressively point towards Sera while marching towards her direction, reminding her of his stature and her stance as a wrestler in his ring. The brunette before him didn't seem impressed by his challenge of a wrestling match in the gym, where there would be no spectators to witness his pride falling so she had another idea.

"Queen? Tsk, oh please..." he would say, shrugging his shoulders at that comment. Sera would continue with her proposal, making some very valid points that would further enrage the wrestling prince who was now determined to put her in her place, no matter the cost.

"So, you wish to wrestle against wrestling royalty in front of my loyal subjects, is that so eh?" he would say, rubbing his chin. Daisuke would circle around Sera before stopping in front of her, glaring into her eyes.

"Its taking every bit of restraint in me not to take you down right now, put you in a submission move and make you tap and apologize like the commoner that you are but....since you have brought the aspect of wrestling in front of my subjects perhaps this would be a good way to remind everyone not to cross me. Fine, I accept the conditions that we do this infront of the live crowd. I shall enjoy making you submit" he would grin.