Unlikely Reunion

Around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a biker gang style motorcycle stopped in front of the AFW building. The rider took of his helmet, revealing the face of a man with brown hair and eyes who had a rather friendly look. The man wore a black hoodie with its hood hanging on the back and its sleeves folded just before the elbow. Inside the hoodie was a blue colared shirts. In addition he wore a grey-ish cotton pants and a pair of black boots. The man observed the building for a while before taking a cigarette from his hoodie's pocket and began to smoke.

"So this is the place," he said to no one in particular. "I wonder if that idiot is really here."

He would finished his cigarette before he threw it to the ground and stepped on it. As he entered the building, he would look around for a while. There weren't too many people at the moment it seemed. With his friendly smile, the man would continue to wander around a bit until he spotted someone passing by.

"Oi, you," he'd call.

Talia had just visited the General manager's office to discuss her future in the business. Despite her loss streak, the GM wasn't at all concerned for her since people lose matches all the time. It was Talia that was worried. There hadn't been a match where she wasn't injured. She was assured that she would always recover from them. Still, she was not confident.

"Huh?" she asked to the man who pointed her out. She was wearing a purple tank top and a matching knee-long skirt. She didn't recognize the man, and she had been here long enough at this point to know most faces. "Can I help you?" He wasn't the first biker she had met since she joined the AFW. "Are you new here? You're not the first of..." she gestured down at his outfit. "...this kind."

The man observed the girl he just called for a little while with an inspecting look. She was rather short, slender, and didn't really look like a fighter at first glance. He wondered for a bit if this girl was just a staff or an actual fighter.

"Yeah, something like that," he replied casually. "Name's Hyde Fukuzawa, but you can just call me Hyde since that'll be my alias here."

He'd gaze away for a bit before looking back the girl in front of him. She said something about not the first of this kind, whatever it was supposed to mean. He wasn't really interested about it, at least not at the time being.

"So like, mind showing me around here a bit?" he'd ask with a rather friendly smile.

Talia smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Talia Wilson." She hesitated before addind, "I guess I don't have an alias quite yet." Nevertheless, she nodded at his request to show him around. "Sure thing! Follow me." Talia gestured him to follow as she walked down the hallway. "So where are you from Hyde?" she asked as she opened up the door to the back rooms. Gesturing toward one door and said, "Those are the men's locker room," Talia then opened up the door to her right and nearly walked in. "This is the women's locker room." She stood there with the door open, she could see her locker but felt it unnecessary to explain.

She then opened up the doors to the stage right before the arena. "Do you have any experience in wrestling?" Talia then asked as she walked into the opening before the ramp. "I myself only trained in gyms before coming here. It's been rough, but you look tough so you shouldn't have too many problems with the transition." She gestured to the wide open arena space, the ring at the bottom of the ramp. It was eerily empty. She jokingly lifted her arms into the air, as if there was a crowd there cheering her on. With a grin, she dropped her arms and looked back to Hyde. "It looks so different with no one here."

Hyde followed Talia as she was showing him around the place. He put his hands on his jacket's pockets and walked casually. Hearing her question, he'd raise an eyebrow while still looking friendly.

"I'm from Japan, if that's what you wanted to know," he'd said.

As she showed him the locker rooms, he'd just humming in confirmation. The girl opened the ram, and showed him the arena, before asking him another question about his wrestling experience.

"A bit, I guess," he'd say. "Used to be on the streets before entering the ring a while back." Hyde would rise an eyebrow again when he heard a following sentences about training in the gyms and fighting in the ring herself.

"Wait, you mean you're a wrestler too?" he'd ask, looking slightly disbelieved.

Talia had expected a more specific answer on where he was from. Then again, his mention of growing up on the street making him tough meant home may not have been a big thing for him. She seemed a little smug when Hyde didn't seem to believe she was a wrestler too. "That's right, I wrestle for tension here," she said while jokingly flexing her biceps. "There are a lot of female wrestlers here. We compete against men all the same."

The bubbly girl gestured to the ring. "Though...I haven't won a match in there yet." Not very fazed, she turned to Hyde with a smile on her face. "But I guess that means we may be opponents some day!" she pointed out playfully. Talia stepped back towards the backstage and gestured for Hyde to follow. "So when do you start? What's your first scheduled day to wrestle?" she asked curiously. "Do you know who you'll be wrestling first?"

"Bu-BUHAHAHAHAH" Hyde suddenly burst into laughter after hearing Talia's answer.

He pulled his hands from the pockets and put them into his stomach, as if she just told him something really funny. He would continue to laugh loudly when the girl flexing her biceps. After a moment the man would finally stop laughing at her.

"Sorry, girl, I thought you were just a staff or somethin'", he'd say, still recovering from his burst. After hearing her explanation bout her experiences in the ring so far and the things she said about being opponent, Hyde would burst into a laughter again.

"HAHAHAHAH! Is that so? Well, that's expected, I guess," he'd said with a rather mocking expression as he glanced at her for a while before averting his gaze.

"Well, I'll start in about a week or so," he'd said as his expression was back to his casual self. "Dunno about that yet, but that doesn't matter. I'm ready for any kind of opponent!" said Hyde confidently with a grin.

"But actually, I'm lookin' for someone here," said the man as he followed Talia towards the backstage. "Not that I expect to fight him or anything. It just, he and I go back a long way, you know."

Talia went along with the laughter at first. It did seem odd because of her outfit and size. She could've fooled most people. She frowned, though, when he said it was expected. She ignored his gaze, trying to stay positive. "Yea..." she muttered. He did seem very confident in his abilities at least.

"Oh?" Talia asked at his mention of knowing someone in the league. He did remind her of a certain someone she had met not too long ago. She even had a limp from him. "I do know someone that is like you. Like I said, you're not the first street biker. There's one I fought a few weeks back by the name of Kido." Talia continued to lead them towards to the back. "He is a decent guy if so."

Hyde's expression suddenly changed when he heard Talia mentioned Kido's name. He'd look at her with a cold gaze, as if she just said something offensive to him. Of course she could have mean anyone with what she said. Kido wasn't an uncommon name after all. However, she did mentioned him being a biker, which sparked his interest.

"Really? You fought Kido?" he'd ask, still looking at her with a cold gaze. "What does he look like? And since you said you never won any fight, does that mean he won?"

Talia leaned back when Hyde stared at her coldly. Had she said something wrong? Maybe he was upset that she just assumed since he acted like a biker that he had to have known all other bikers. But the amount of follow-up questions answered her own question. "Y-Yes, a couple weeks back. We had a wrestling match. He...he had a pretty mean right hook." She shrugged. "And a kick that knocked me on my back."

Talia then raised an eyebrow. He was excited to hear about Kido...at least with his questions. Yet the cold stare gave an entirely different impression. "Do you know him?" she asked, fairly certain of his answer. "Use to be biker friends or something like that?" she suggested hoping they were on good terms. "You both do seem similar."