Hey, I just met you...(For Tat and Blue)

Tai walked the halls of Friction, holding up a recent issue of AFW Magazine, which had a picture in it of Tai's old "nemesis", Taylor Parker.

"No no...H...Higurashi...I think...."

Tai thought, remembering hearing about how Taylor had gotten married. He had never met her husband Johnny before, but had heard he was a Tension wrestler, and, in his research to learn what had transpired in AFW since his retirement, he had learned that Johnny's mother had become Taylor's manager.

Tai considered his info gathering to be an important task. In the time since his retirement till his return, AFW had made a few changes. One of which was bringing aboard that beast, Iron Maiden, who, despite Ace's efforts, gained the victory over his client, delivering a punishing barrage of moves in the process. Even now, Ace was in her apartment, pressing ice packs against her bruises and her sore ribs, taking a couple days to lick her wounds before she went back to the gym. In the meantime, Tai had been doing his research, especially on Iron Maiden, whom Ace insisted on getting in the ring with again one day.

In his online searches, he found out that Taylor herself had recently had a match with Iron Maiden, and had beaten the woman down, eventually picking her up onto her shoulders and dropping her onto her head for a pinfall victory...

"Because of course she did..."

Tai muttered to himself, looking around for Taylor's locker room. That victory was why he was hear, as much as he hated to admit it. Ace was insisting on facing Iron Maiden again, and insisting on fighting another high level opponent, despite Tai attempting to convince her to start off with more mid-card level opposition. He figured, if he could get Ace a match with Taylor, someone more or less equal with Ace's height and build, then she could probably learn a few things from her, about how to deal with a beast like Maiden, picking up some tips from facing her in the ring, and it would satisfy Ace's request for a high caliber opponent.

"Note to self: Work on reigning in Ace's ego, instead of building it up..."

He muttered to himself again, fearing that his initial treatment of Ace as his "great discovery" might have made her think a bit too highly of her own skills, as that bitch Lukretia seemed to hint at.

Finding Taylor's locker room door, Tai knocked carefully, stepping back a little. Taylor had never exactly been a friend to him, so he had little idea what to expect upon her seeing him again.

Taylor Erin Parker Higurashi. Not Taylor Erin Parker-Higurashi, because that's dumb. Take the name or don't. Make up your mind.

Of course, Taylor was still Taylor Parker to the AFW and the general public, but she had made up her mind to legally become Taylor Higurashi or Higurashi Taylor or Higurashi Teira or whatever. Or Terror-chan. Happy Basudei Terror!

She hadn't told Johnny before she did it, it was a surprise. She liked to surprise him, and the surprise she'd been working on for the last couple months was going to knock his ass back to middle school. She couldn't wait.

She sat in her dressing room, one of the perks of apparently now being a big shot, and waited for her husband to show. He was bringing, unless he forgot something, dinner, wine, and... supplies. Taylor's blonde hair was still damp from the shower, and she had put on a white camisole that showed some of her midsection and had enough support to do her modest breasts a couple favors. Though without a bra, the two bumps of her nipples showed through plain as day. A pair of little blue retro-styled shorts with black stripes down the sides only just covered her butt and were notched up even higher on the sides, and left her sleek thighs bare. A pair of white socks came up just over her knees, one with a black star at the outside of her knee. She wiggled her toes in her cozy socks while she sat curled up on her chair, waiting to be fed.

Then came a knock. Taylor giggled. He was playing. She got up and shook her hair so that it partly hung across her face. She arched her back and stretched her arms way up high like she was just so tired, showing off every curve of her gorgeous, athletic body, and eased the door open.

"Hey, Tiger, I hope you're- TAI?!" She nearly jumped out of her skin and instinctively tried to cover herself, though she couldn't decide which parts were the most sensitive. She settled for clutching her forearms against her chest.

"Tai, oh my gawd! Oh my gawd! What the hell are you doing here? Why are you..." She hid behind the door and peered around at the ex-wrestler with a mixture of shock and horror on her face. "Oh my GAWD, Tai!"

Tai had told himself to expect anything from Taylor when she saw him, from a slammed door to a knee to the face.

What he did not expect however, was for Taylor to open the door and stretch in the doorway, showing off every inch of her body, which just happened to be clad in incredibly short and, in the case of her upper half, slightly see through attire. On the bright side, Taylor was showing off an incredible body, one that was fit, toned, and unbelievably sexy. A body that any guy would dream of his wife having. A body that was the result of hard effort, that was certainly intended to make her husband filled with desire upon her opening the door.

On the negative side....Tai was certainly not her husband, nor was he in any possible way a person she would want to see her in such an outfit. When Taylor saw that in front of her was not Johnny, but in a fact a very blushing Tai, who was frozen for just a few seconds too long before he was able to turn his head away, she would hide behind the door, yelling at him.

"I'm sorry! I'm Sorry!!!! I didn't think you'd be all....uhhhh...."

He stammered, not sure how to complete that sentence. After all, the last time he saw Taylor, she was interviewing him, hinting he'd be losing to a Kawaii, the three times before that however, she was beating him up. No point in their interaction had prepared either for this kind of scene.

"L-Look, I'm really, really sorry....I'll uh....I'll come back later?"

The brown haired, ponytail sporting ex-wrestler said, rubbing the back of his head and still looking away.

"What? No, don't come back later!!" She hissed at him. She wasn't sure why she was trying to keep her voice down. "I'll be... busy later. Johnny's... What the hell do you want? Ya know when Johnny shows up, he... well, he wouldn't kick your ass, but I'm thinking about it!"

Tai blushed again. He had enough late nights with Chigusa to know exactly what Taylor was trying not to say. Figuring he better make this quick before Taylor made good on her threat, he took a short breath and went into his explanation.

"So look...uh...I'm a manager for a new Friction girl now...aannnd... well in her debut match we kinda....lost to that big "Iron Maiden" woman, with the really creepy manager."

He said, sighing. It didn't reflect well on a manager whose client lost their first match. Still, he pressed on.

"So my client, Ace, is insisting that I both get her a rematch with Iron Maiden, and find her another "upper tier" opponent for her to fight....Ya see..I kinda did too good a job with hyping her up, and I think she believed more of it than she should of."

Rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed way, he continued.

"Anyway, I was looking up information on whats happened since I retired, and I saw that you had actually defeated Iron Maiden in a match, and...well, you've kicked my ass a couple times now, so I was wondering if I could convince you to...meet with my client. Give her a chance to pick your brain a bit on how you took on that beast...and I dunno...maybe spar with her a bit or something? Whaddya say?"

He finished, turning back towards her, a small grin on his face.

"Oh, right, yeah. I watched that the other day." Taylor was a bit relieved that Tai was there on actual Friction business. "Chick with the short hair. She seemed pretty cool."

Taylor looked down at the floor while she thought, still hiding behind the door but forgetting for the moment their original predicament. She thought for a moment that Tai was going to ask for a match with her, and if he thought Iron Maiden was bad...

"Oh. Um... Yeah, sure. That's cool. Does she live in Tokyo? Me and Johnny moved a while ago, but we can still use Junko's gym. Or the Friction gym, I guess, or something." She leaned out and glanced up and down the hallway to see if Johnny was coming yet. "Look, just hook up with Junko, man. She can set something up. She's the one you want, anyway. Without her I would've just been a smear on the mat, like..." Don't say Silver Ace. "...That Mai Nagasagawasawa girl. She's cool, too, by the way."

She started to ease the door shut. "So yeah, talk to Junko and stuff, and- hey, is her real name Ace? Because that'd be just... that'd be awesome."

Tai nodded.

"Yeah, she's staying in Tokyo right now anyway. A gym would be fine, she's going to be spending a lot of time in them anyway once she heals up."

Tai joined her in looking about. While this was by far the friendliest encounter he and Taylor had ever had, he wasn't exactly keen on letting her husband walk in on him talking to his wife while she was wearing such skimpy clothing. Even if Johnny was willing to hear him out, there was no way he'd believe what Tai had to say, given that Tai's reputation usually preceded him by a long shot.

"Junko huh...that's Johnny's mom isn't it? Alright, Thanks....I really appreciate this! Yeah, Ace is part of her real name!"

He said, starting to leave, before suddenly turning around, before Taylor could close the door all the way.

"Wait! Uhh.....I don't know where to find Junko....."

Taylor tilted her head at Tai and smiled. "You're a manager now. You've got to be able to figure that stuff out." She started to close the door again.

"Wait, what the fuck is on your head?" She craned her neck to see. "You have a pony tail? Ohhhh, man! That's... that's something. Good for you," she said, holding back laughter. "Now beat it. I've got to get ready for my man-friend."

She closed the door and began humming while she went about making sure her hair looked hot and that she smelled nice. It was still exciting when she knew Johnny was coming.

"Right....thanks anywa-Oh come on! What's wrong with the pony tail!? At least I'm not spiking it up and making it pink anymore! It's a more professional look!!!!"


He yelled as Taylor finally closed the door on him.

Shaking his head, he headed off, looking around for some sign of this "Junko" who had so helped Taylor out.


Luckily, he had a secret weapon on hand: He was a male who DIDN'T mind asking for directions!!

Thanks to the help of a few Friction staff members, he soon found himself outside a room they said was Junko's. They didn't actually specify if it was an office, locker room, bedroom or even personal arcade, though given AFW in general, any of the above could be plausible.

Sighing, he reached out and knocked on her door.

Junko was never much of a wrestler. Despite being in the sport most of her life, she was always content to stay by the apron and slap her hands against the mat to cheer on her charge. Even when she came came to the AF as a wrestler, she never did much beyond satisfying certain urges and mostly playing around witht he younger girls who were oh so luscious. Despite that, however, she always kept her body in fighting shape. As if the management could call her name at any moment and tell her to get int he ring.

Evenwhen she was a manager and wasn't even dreaming of getting int he ring, she stayed in great shape. Her and Taylor had come to the facility earlier int he day and Junko had decided, once she learned of her daughter-in-law's plans, to stay as well and use some of the stuff in the huge gym that even her own home didn't have access too. High tech machines that were just simply too expensive or too large for any non-corporate entity to realistically own. She especially enjoyed their sauna and hot tub facilities but after she had had her fill of those, she put in a rigorous workout on the basic equipment as well.

Now, while Taylor was still out, and she hadn't decided to pack up and go home yet, she had to consider what her next move for Taylor. She needed another solid match, but Junko didn't want to put her up against some brutal mass of woman like Iron Maiden again so quickly. Even if it made Taylor look good to take out these monstrous girls, Junko was not going to risk Taylor getting hurt. Those matches always came with that possibility. Much more than the normal injury risks of a match.

While she was pondering it, there was a knock on her door. Junko's head raised up and she looked at the door. She wasn't expecting anyone, but she had an idea who it was. She stood up from her couch and pranced over tot he door with a bright grin on her face. She tugged at her tight sports bra to make sure everything was comfortably in place and then opened the door.

"It takes longer than that to make a grandchild, Taylor-ch..." Junko frowned as she saw the opposite of Taylor standing in front of her. "Hmmmm..." She said, wrinkling her brow. "Not who I was expecting, but you do seem familiar..." She said. She lifted up her hand and covered her mouth. "Fufufu~ What can i do for you, young man?"