Arena México. Mexico City, Mexico. 8:35 PM.
A short hamster ran hurriedly to the champion's door. As he approached it, the arena began to shake as the fans above cheered for the challenger, La Lagartija. Without knocking, the hamster flung the door open and yelled over the crowd noise "Time to go Champ, let's give them a show, huh?"
A voice replied from inside the dark room "Well Mikey, whaddya think, should the Murray go for his first ever submission victory, or simply a pin?"
"I think that you should do whatever keeps you that title belt, but we gotta go champ, your entrance music is about to start.
The large hippo stood up from his seat, and casually walked past his manager and into the hallway, where several cameras were watching his every movement. Murray gave a little smile to the camera directly in front of him, then returned his focus to his upcoming title fight against La Lagartija. Using the techniques that he learned from the Guru, he channeled all of his emotions and centered them at his core, then pushed them throughout his body, establishing an equilibrium and removing any pre-match jitters. Murray took a deep breath as he reached the black curtain that was at the end of the hallway. A security guard pulled the curtain back, then began to escort Murray toward his match.
As soon as Murray stepped into the light, his music began to play over the speakers. "Helena Beat" was a solid choice picked by Mikey, not necessarily the greatest pump-up song in the world, but Murray grew a liking for it the more he heard it. The fans were now chanting "Murray, Murray, Murray" as the hippo slid into the ring. Murray finally gazed at his opponent, who was standing across from him.
The orange lizard was massive, only slightly smaller than Murray. The purple mask he wore only showed his mean eyes. Those eyes were not looking at Murray specifically, but rather the Heavyweight Championship. Murray looked down at his title belt that hung at his waist, then back at the lizard. "Is this what you want?" pointing at the belt. "I can't promise that, buddy. The Murray doesn't lose the things that mean the most to him." The lizard had no reply, continuing it's cold-blooded stare at Murray.
Murray slipped off the belt, and gave it to the referee, who then held it high into the air for the crowd to gaze upon. The crowd cheered and whistled, ready for the match to begin. The referee handed the belt to an executive who was standing beside the ring, and the bell was rung.
La Lagartija quickly lunged for Murray, who sidestepped away. The lizard wasn't fazed, and whipped Murray across the face with his tail. A loud slap was heard across the arena, and Murray fell back into the corner. La Lagartija, not wasting any time, began to punch Murray in the body. Murray defended himself, finally pushing the lizard away from him. Staying in the corner, Murray began to call out his opponent. "Alright chum, nice start, but is that all you've really got?" Murray extended his hand toward the lizard, and La Lagartija froze where he stood. Murray's figure looked like a man demanding money from his employer. The lizard could only look at the open hand in bewilderment. "The Murray has a large pepperoni pizza waiting for him when he beats you, so let's make this quick." Murray then curled his fingers toward himself. "Just bring it."
La Lagartija, insulted by the taunt, lunged again for Murray. Murray dodged again, and the lizard bounced off the corner turnbuckle. Staggering back, the lizard was caught by Murray, who raised him onto his shoulders and performed a Samoan drop. The lizard was slammed onto his back, and lay motionless on the apron. Murray looked at his opponent, then turned back to the corner. Murray climbed up the ropes to the top of the turnbuckle, and sized up his opponent, who was still on the ground below him. Murray leapt from his perch, tucking into a ball at the peak, then fully stretching body out onto the lizard. The thunderous flop shook the entire ring, and nearly crushed the lizard's ribs. The lizard began to roll around the ring in extreme pain, and Murray moved for the pin.
Remembering what he said to his manager before the match, Murray changed his mind and grabbed the lizard, holding him upside down, belly to belly. Murray leapt into the air as high as he could, spinning around with the lizard. The lizard's head hit the apron first, and Murray had performed a massive piledriver.
Murray immediately sat on the lizard, then grabbed La Lagartija's arms, placing them over the hippo's knees. Pulling on his chin, Murray put tremendous pressure on the lizard's back. The Accolade was the first submission maneuver Murray had ever performed in wrestling. The lizard, screaming in pain, began to tapout, and the referee motioned for the bell to be rung. The Murray had retained his championship belt over La Lagartija by way of submission.
The referee handed Murray his belt, and Murray held it high above his head once again. The crowd began to chant his name once more, and Murray soaked it in. Looking at his opponent, the lizard was still groaning from the match, Murray chuckled slightly knowing he defeated yet another foe easily.
After a match, he always scanned the crowd to see if any of his friends had made the trip. Not finding any, he began to walk back toward his locker room. As he passed various fans, he gave them fist bumps and high fives, even signed a little boy's hat for him. Right before he entered the tunnel, however, he saw a green turtle wearing a sombrero and glasses. The turtle was holding a sign, which read "I found him." in bold letters. Murray stopped in his tracks and his happy expression was lost. "Did Bentley really find him? Where is he?" Murray said to himself.
Bentley rolled his chair around and began to make his way out of the arena, and Murray walked slowly into his locker room, dumbfounded and anxious to see his friends.
When Murray finally arrived at his home in Mexico City, it was almost three in the morning. A green pickup truck was already in the driveway, so Murray parked the van on the street. Strolling to it, he gazed at the handsome truck. Manual transmission, wheelchair accessible, Murray hadn't expected anything less from his friend.
"I built it myself, it took a few days but it was a simple enough task." Bentley was sitting on Murray's porch, enjoying a glass of water.
"Geez, Bentley. You scared me, I didn't see you there." Murray walked away from the customized truck and wrapped his friend in a big hug. "How are you doing little buddy?"
"I've been doing pretty well, I enjoy your place here, extremely pretty. Also, great match earlier tonight, as my alculations before the match figured, you won easily."
"Well, the Murray always enjoyed a quick fight, that punk had no chance." Murray was hesitant, but the issue was too great on his mind. "Where is Sly?"
"Murray, I think that Sly may have travelled to Ancient Egypt." Bentley pulled out the postcard and showed Murray the hieroglyphs. "See the drawings? I think the one on the left is Slytunkhamen Cooper II and the raccoon on the right is Sly." Murray studied them, and a smile cracked on his face.
"That's him alright, how did you find this?"
"Flip it over."
Murray looked at the back of the postcard, and his smile faded. "Oh no, Bentley, no, this can't… Bentley we can't trust this at all! For all we know this could be completely fake and just a little game for her to watch us scramble over." He shoved the postcard back to Bentley and walked into the house.
"Murray, I understand that she can't be trusted, but what choice do I have? If this turns out to be real, we know exactly how to reach Sly. I'm going to Giza, and I came here to see if you were going to come with me."
Murray hesitated, training wouldn't start back up for about a week, and there wasn't anything else that Murray would be missing. Penelope had betrayed the Cooper Gang before, what was stopping her from trying to get revenge for foiling her plans as the Black Knight? Murray decided to take a chance. The hippo took a deep breath, then nodded. "I'm in. We've got to go get Sly. The Murray is ready to squash any obstacle to find his friend."
Bentley chuckled, "Go pack your bags, we leave in the morning."
"Where are the others?" Murray questioned as he turned to head into his room.
"What do you mean? It's just us."
"I don't think so. There are two other important people who have been wanting Sly back as nearly as much as we have."
"If you're talking about Inspector Fox, I think it's best if we leave her out of this for now. I don't want to involve her until we know for certain."
Murray laughed from the other room. "Okay Bentley, Carmelita might be upset about not telling her, but if you think that's the best option, we'll go with it. However, I said two people."
Bentley sat confused, "Who's the other person?"
Murray began to laugh even harder, peeking his head out of his room and at Bentley. "'I am not cold-blooded my friend, I am cool-blooded!'" Murray began to hold his gut as he was borderline hysterical. "I laughed so hard when he said that, Bentley."
Bentley slapped his hand on his forehead in realization. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about him. "Alright Murray, I'll figure out where he is, we'll see if he wants to join us. Then we immediately head to Giza." Murray, still giggling, turned back into his room to finish packing his bags as Bentley pulled out a laptop and researched where the next Disco Diver episode would be filmed.
A/N
Yes, I know, I am a huge wrestling nerd. Yes, I used the Rock's "Just Bring It." Yes, I used Rusev's Accolade. Yes, I used a Frog Splash and a Piledriver and a Samoan Drop. I just thought that I would try to get familiar with writing action scenes. If you have any comments on how to improve that area of my writing, it would be much appreciated.
Also, I love Helena Beat by Foster the People. Not many people have been as exposed to it as it should be. It is never played on the radio here in the Pacific Northwest, so if you've never heard it, go listen to it!
Please continue to follow this story, I'm just starting to get warmed up. ;)
Icemyster
