Long time no see, everybody! I won't say much, but churning out a new chapter here of 9 AM In Italy, so let's get the ball rolling once more!
Chapter 7: Bottom
Sitting on a park bench, with her rather large bags next to her, Ari sighed. Finally free of her self-imposed prison and free of the burden and restrictions of her parents. The young Italian was supposed to be happy. So far though, that hadn't been the case. She had missed home, and already she started to wish that she could have taken back what had just transpired hours earlier.
Wasn't freedom supposed to make you feel free? All it was making the young harbinger fill at this very moment was sad and guilty, and it was completely the opposite of what she had wanted. The Rock was right; freedom definitely did have a price. But was this the price of freedom that she was experiencing right now?
Watching the Rock jog around in a sleeveless muscle shirt and some track pants, Ari tried to nestle her back against the bench and relax a bit; just to take in the beautiful fall weather that the country of Italy was experiencing. Multiple colored leaves and light crisp air were just what she needed to stimulate her senses; autumn was definitely her favorite season. Ironically, it was also the same first name as her mother.
She looked over at some of the kids as she saw them setting up food stands, looking to make some quick euros by selling autumn season goods like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and most importantly, pie. Then an idea popped off in her head. She was going to go and buy the Rock a pie.
Taking a few coins that she had in her purse, she placed a few on a young teen's stand as he offered her a cherry pie, freshly baked and smiled. "Thank you," Ari said, offering a smile and blowing a kiss at the young teen as he fell over; completely enamored at the moment as Ari slightly laughed and made her way back over to the bench where the Rock had finally arrived after his workout.
"Hey hun, finished wih your workout?" she said, lightly kissing him to avoid the nasty sweat from his workout as the Rock kissed her back.
"Yeah, the Rock is finally done with his workout. You know nobody pumps iron and electricity in his blood and veins the way the Rock does," the Great One grinned, as Ari rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"Well of course babe, that's why I'm with you in the first place. By the way, I brought you a pie," she said with a smile, as she pulled the surprise dessert from behind her back and placed it in his hands.
The Rock raised an eyebrow. "What's the occasion?" he asked, and the harbinger shrugged. "No occasion love, but I just wanted to do something nice for you," she smiled before clutching her stomach slightly for a moment—worrying the Rock slightly more.
"Are you sure you're okay Arianna? The Rock says you look just a little bit pale, and the Rock ain't talking about glue either," he commented.
Putting an arm around her, he helped keep her from falling over. "You must be homesick or something, is that it?" he asked, and Ari nodded her head. "Yeah, I just need to get what happened earlier out of my system a bit," she said, leaning her head against his huge shoulder.
The Rock perked his ears up at the mention of system as an electrifying idea crossed his mind. "Say Ari, you're 21 now right? How about the Rock takes you to his favorite hangout spot? You can get to know some of the guys and we can have a couple of drinks to forget that this awful day ever happened?" he offered as Ari raised a brow in interest.
"You know you don't have to get me drunk to try and have sex with me right?" Ari joked, as the Rock smirked. "The Rock knows that Arianna, because he has you wrapped his around his finger," he laughed, as Ari blushed and slapped him in the shoulder. "But seriously, the Rock says he just wants you to have a little fun and forget your troubles for a while. Don't worry, the Rock can hold his liquor so he won't be too hazy to take care of you, he promises."
Ari finally nodded and smiled at him. "You always know how to make me feel better. I love you Great One," she said, wrapping her arms around him in a long amorous embrace. She was already beginning to feel the problems and memories with her family fade away.
"Come on, let the Rock take you to the Bottom Ari. Rock Bottom," he added. It was time to unwind and let loose.
The Bottom
The Rock led Ari into his favorite bar/drink hangout later that crisp Thursday night, after a long day of working out, training with the Rock to get better control of her powers, and of course, causing a little mischief by robbing an entire shipment of pies from the guidare pie factory.
"You ready to unwind Ari? The Rock says you're about to have a great time tonight," the Brahma Bull smirked, as Ari raised an eyebrow with a weary smile on her face. "Alright Rocky if you say so," she responded. After walking into the bar, they approached the counter where a man of tremendous girth stood before them, with imposing muscles. The size completely threw Ari off guard.
"Hey Mark, how's it going? This is the Rock's Italiana girlfriend Arianna. Ari, this is the World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry." Ari slowly shook the big man's hand as he nodded at her with a big grin.
"You're not going to roast me over a fire and eat me like a chicken wing with some sweet sugared drink are you?" she innocently asked, and Henry burst out laughing.
"So Rock, you been teaching her some of your jokes huh? I'll have to remember that when clearing your tab next time," he said as the Rock chuckled.
"Don't get mad just because she verbally laid the smackdown on your large candy ass," the Rock commented, as Henry laughed some more while Ari looked on in confusion. "What's going on?" she asked, completely confused at what was going on.
"Don't worry Ari, you're good. Just keep Shades here out of trouble," Henry joked in a jovial manner. Ari nodded her head at the big man. "You got it Mark," she affirmed.
"You're still full of monkey crap," Rock retorted as they all laughed and the powerful duo made their way down the stairs into the bar's basement where it was very dark.
The mood in the bar's basement was very relaxed to say the least. There were a few guys that were sitting back in their seats smoking cigars. A couple of others were having a ton of drinks, varying from rum and ale to red wine. Ari immediately jumped for joy at the sight of these drinks, and quickly raced down the steps and into the room quickly grabbing a couple of drinks that were being served. "Damn, slow your damn role harbinger!" the Rock said, finally catching up to his Italian girlfriend. The young girl was immediately whisking away different types of drinks, but she immediately found one in particular she couldn't get enough of: bourbon.
Ari quickly downed glass after glass, and with no signs of slowing down, it seemed like she could go for the rest of the night. The Rock's peaked curiosity in her actions were interrupted when a cold hand touched upon his shoulder. The Great One quickly brushed it off and turned around, ready for a quick retort and fight if it had to come to that. The sight he saw though was a welcome...and unwelcome sight.
"Well damn, if the Rock knew that you were showing your ugly mug here tonight, the Rock says he wouldn't have even bothered coming out tonight," he quipped slightly grinning. The bald, slightly shorter man that stood before him slightly grinned at him back.
"Says you, ya mealie mouth bastard. Stone Cold was just coming out tonight to relax and knock back a couple of cold brews with the fellas, but I guess I just might have to open up a can of whoopass on you as well," Austin said, making the Rock shake his head in laughter.
"Says you jabroni. Maybe after the Rock is done whooping your monkey ass all over Milano, they'll have room to check you in to the Smackdown Hotel right down the road there. Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?"
"No, I don't smell what the Rock is cooking because it smells like a big pile of crap. Try flushing yourself down the commode, and if you do that, Stone Cold might just start giving a damn about ya," he flashed a toothy grin that the Rock sarcastically acknowledged.
"Mr. Elemental himself," the Rock said, readjusting the bull belt on his pants. "Been a long time," he said.
"Mr. Electricity himself," Austin responded, while adjusting the skull belt on his pants. "Damn right it's been a while. While your dumb ass was off running all over Samoa and Italy doing who knows what, Stone Cold Steve Austin was whooping ass on all planes, realms, and every other damn world you can pull out your damn ass," he said, picking up a couple darts, setting one on fire and tossing it at the dart board.
"You handle your business and the Rock handles his jabroni. There's a reason the Rock is the Great One and not you. You may be the elemental, but the Rock will still whoop that bald headed candy ass anytime and anyplace," the Rock said, a glare glistening over his eyes and the Texas Rattlesnake immediately took notice. Rock picked up a dart, charged it with electricity and threw the dart at the board, landing in the same spot Austin's did.
"Alright you dumb sumbitch, so let Stone Cold ask you something. If your so-called girlfriend over there is supposed to be protected, then why are you protecting her? That's the elemental's damn job, not the Great One. That should be Stone Cold Steve Austin downing beers and alcohol with that girl. Hell, that girl is only 21 and she's making you look like a lumbering chump when it comes to cutting back and having fun. She's probably homeless thanks to your dumbass too, isn't she?"
"The Rock says Arianna is in very capable hands, so how about the Rock takes the rest of these darts, sharpens the points, turns them sideways, and sticks them all straight up your candy ass!"
Austin wasn't fazed at all. "You got some nerve huh? You gonna stab me with those darts? What? Them darts? I said them darts. What?"
As the two "friendly rivals" continued to trade verbal threats with each other, Ari continued to watch from the sidelines, very intrigued by the words the two men were exchanging. What the hell was an elemental? Was it something that the Rock knew about and didn't tell her? Was it even detrimental to her? She definitely wanted to know, and if anyone knew Arianna, she wasn't going to be turned away.
Making her way over to the two, she couldn't have had worse timing. The Rock and Stone Cold had begun to brawl, trading stiff shots with each other, and using their environment to their advantage, started destroying everything in sight. Ari had to duck and dive out of the way multiple times just to avoid being hit by foreign objects.
"Knock it off guys! We're all trying to have fun here!" she yelled, but to no avail. The Rock picked up a steel chair from nearby, and tried to aim for Austin, but the Rattlesnake ducked out of the way at the last moment, and the next thing Ari knew, her vision was fading to black and she hit the ground in unconsciousness.
"Well, why the hell did you do that you dumb sumbitch? You just knocked out your own girlfriend! Some protector you are, ya bastard," Austin said, running his mouth. The Rock immediately delivered an electrifying slap to his face.
"Know your role and shut your damn mouth! That was your fucking fault!" he ran over to check on Ari's pulse, to see if she was okay. "Shit," he said, as Austin shook his head in amusement.
His ears perked up though, when he saw quite a few more people beginning to leave the Bottom and with that, Austin turned his attention towards the entrance to see a short slim figure of a woman with two men by her side strolling into the hangout.
"Who the hell are you and what do you and your two boyfriends want?" Austin asked demandingly. The slim figure of a woman just laughed and took her head off of her head, revealing herself to be Layla.
"You don't remember me Steve? I'm hurt," she feigned, making him snarl and spit at her feet. "Anyway, I'm not here for your hide, I'm here for hers," she said, pointing to the prone body of the harbinger Arianna. "And since you guys have already done the hard part, I'll be taking her away. By force, if necessary. Big Show, Del Rio, go get her," she snapped her fingers, and the two men were about to move in on them.
"Holy shit..."
There you go, a cliffhanger! Sorry for the delay, just been taking care of some things, but expect to see some more work from me coming soon! Stay tuned!
-Ronnie