We're halfway there with this chapter! The Return - Remixed is only 40 chapters long, and this is the official halfway point. Are you excited yet? I know I am! Thanks go out to jcott3, as usual. Enjoy!
CHAPTER TWENTY
Another six-woman tag match had indeed been scheduled at Capitol Punishment, a match between Ashley, Mickie James, and Victoria, with Trish and Lita at ringside, against Kennedi, Veronica, and Michelle McCool.
Michelle stood backstage and smiled at the girls in front of her. "You really have been proving Layla and I wrong about bringing up new girls. I'm almost not ashamed to work with you anymore." She winked, and laughed. "Almost."
Kennedi leaned forward on her right leg, stretching out the muscles in it as she tied up her boots for the night. "Yeah, well. I'm almost not ashamed to work with people like DEAR, but that doesn't mean I like them." She switched legs as Veronica punched her on the arm. "What? Do you want me to lie to Michelle? Tell her I hope one day we can be best friends? 'Cause I won't do that."
"Don't worry," Michelle laughed. "As long as we stick to teamwork and don't turn on each other like Gail did to you guys, we should be fine."
Veronica rolled her eyes as she looked into a full-length mirror across from her, fixing her hair. "Please. I'm almost positive that you and Layla have no idea what you're talking about, but neither do you, Kennedi. You just think you're hot shit 'cause you're dating Edge."
"Trust me, I am hot shit." Kennedi laughed, and then shrugged. "No, I know I'm not."
Michelle sat down next to Kennedi on the bench as the door opened and their bodyguards walked in. Jeff and Matt Hardy had been assigned as unofficial protectors for Kennedi and Veronica, as Edge wasn't cleared for wrestling and Christian wasn't officially Veronica's bodyguard. Michelle had opted to do something unheard of, and hadn't called for a bodyguard, but said that if there was a man in the vicinity and she was being attacked, that he should come and get her. "So, tell me some more about you and Edge."
Kennedi smiled, turning around from where she'd been tying her boots to sit between Michelle and Veronica. "I don't know, there's just something great about him."
"You care about him?"
"You ask that like it's really even a question-it isn't. I care about Edge more than anything. If he got into the fray, I don't know what I'd do. His neck is really fragile." Kennedi frowned and put her head on Veronica's shoulder before hearing the boys clear their throats. "Jesus!" she jumped to her feet and put a hand over her heart as she turned around. "You could have warned me you were listening in on me gushing about my boyfriend."
"But that would mean that we wouldn't know now that his neck is really fragile," Jeff teased.
"Or that there's just something about him." Matt joined his brother with a laugh.
Kennedi's face turned the color of Veronica's hair, practically, and she stomped her foot. "It's not funny!" The Hardy brothers continued laughing, until Kennedi took the brush that Veronica wasn't using and threw it at them. Then, and only then, did they silence.
"Well, there's no need to be violent," Jeff said, tossing the brush back to Veronica. "We're just kidding, Kennedi."
"If I told Edge about this, you wouldn't be allowed without a five-foot distance of me." Kennedi huffed, turning around and sitting down.
Matt leaned over to his brother and whispered, "Maybe that'd be a good thing."
"Shut up!" Kennedi snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Why does he like her again?" Jeff asked as they turned around and decided to leave.
Michelle McCool told Kennedi and Veronica that she wanted to lead them out there with Layla by her side, and that she wanted to be the one to start the match. Henceforth, the Lay-Cool theme song was the one that lead them to the ring.
The crowd cheered wildly as the four of them entered, excited about seeing Michelle in action, as well as the two new prospects who were proving so far to be quite the talents. Seeing Layla at ringside was just a bonus for them at that point.
"Let me take on Victoria," Veronica muttered to the two girls with her as they turned to watch the DEAR entrance of the night.
"Rockstar 101" began playing, and Ashley led the girls out for once. Trish and Lita were just behind her, with Mickie and Victoria following them. Michelle, Veronica, and Kennedi stood fearlessly in the ring, showing no signs of any emotion as they backed up into the opposite corner of the DEAR girls and waited for the match to begin.
Mickie stood in the ring across from Michelle first, and Michelle and Layla shared a quick laugh as they faked pig calls. Mickie's face reddened a bit as the crowd began chanting, in her hometown, "Piggy James!" before she dove for Michelle, taking her down instantly in a Thesz and beginning to wail on her with punches.
"Pick on someone your own size, Piggy!" Layla shouted, but she stepped away on her medical boot and knee brace as Mickie turned her glances to Layla. "Focus on the match!"
Michelle had enough time then to hit Mickie with an elbow smash, knocking her body away from Michelle's and leaving her time to get up and hit Mickie with a big boot to the side of the face.
"Get up!" Michelle shouted, clapping her hands together over her head to hype the crowd. The crowd began to clap with her, starting a new Piggy James chant as Michelle took the lead over Mickie James. Mickie had a spare second to tag in Victoria, however, and Victoria destroyed Michelle mostly before she tagged in Veronica.
Veronica did the same thing she had done in her other match with Victoria, analyzing the moves that Victoria was about to go for, and then reversing them quickly. When Victoria dove in for the lockup, Veronica grabbed her in a headlock and then turned it into a chokehold.
"Lullaby time!" Veronica shouted as she threw Victoria to the floor. She rocked back and forth in an almost sumo-like stance, before running in to hit Victoria with a punt in the corner.
Victoria rolled out of the ring, and Veronica fell to the mat, holding her ass as she rolled onto her stomach in pain. She had put too much force into the run, and when she didn't hit anyone, she'd fallen quickly and with pain everywhere. Victoria got back into the ring, but not before Veronica tagged in Kennedi.
Ashley shook the top rope then, animalistic as she shouted for Victoria to tag her in.
Kennedi stood back, a smirk on her lips as she looked at Ashley. "Bring it."
"You shouldn't have dared her," Victoria laughed before Ashley tagged herself in on Victoria's hand. Ashley darted across the ring, taking Kennedi down with a textbook clothesline and then using the ropes as leverage to hit her with multiple kicks to the shoulders and the skull.
"Back it up!" Mike Chioda shouted as he stepped in, starting the count on Ashley when she ground her foot into Kennedi's throat.
"Kennedi!" Layla shouted, stepping toward her protégé from the outside.
Lita walked around the ring to move Layla out of the way. "You'll be a girl with two fucked up legs if you don't back up. Let her fight. She is your secret weapon, isn't she?"
Kennedi managed to pull herself up to the first rope, wrapping her arms and legs around it as Ashley tried to get her off. Finally, she stepped on her arms and legs, using the top rope as leverage once again, this time to stand on the bottom rope and loosen Kennedi's grip. She removed Kennedi from the bottom rope.
Kennedi stood up from this position, and tried to dive in for the spear, only to be caught on the way down and put into the triangle choke hold by Ashley. The air flow began to cut off as Ashley increased the pressure, and Kennedi tapped out.
This didn't stop Ashley from continuing, as the girls on Kennedi's side of the ring were attacked by the DEAR girls.
Kennedi became completely limp and lifeless in the ring, but Ashley still wouldn't remove the hold. Finally, Edge came running down the ramp, and Ashley released the hold as she slid out of the ring. She dusted off her shoulders and shrugged as DEAR followed, Edge glaring at her as he picked up Kennedi in his arms.
Edge stood in the Diva's locker room later that night, the bodyguards and other Divas around him, as he tried to control his anger. Finally, he snapped.
"I'm going to destroy that bitch. I'm going to destroy all of them."
"You'd need an army to destroy DEAR," Kelly complained. Punk wrapped his arms around her in a hug as Edge frowned.
Suddenly, his facial expression changed, and he snapped his fingers. "That's it."
"What's it?"
"You guys are my army. My Diva's Army."
"The Diva's Army…" Alicia commented from her place tucked beneath Sheamus' arm. "I like it."
What do y'all think of the new name for the Divas facing up against DEAR? DEAR v. The Diva's Army. Sounds good, eh? Guess I shouldn't be making judgments of my own, it's my story and my decision-making, after all. Haha.