Chapter 125 (Daily)
"The answer is no." Sayuri said.
"Ms. Rogue, be reasonable." Eris said standing across the desk in the CEO's office.
"Eris, no means no. I'm not striking your loss off the record." Sayuri said. "You lost."
"It wasn't a fair loss." Eris argued. "That fatass interfered with the match and caught me by surprise."
"Look at it however you want," Sayuri said, "But the fact remains that the Skunk didn't break any rules. She won the Gold Pass battle royale, which gave her the right to interject herself at any time during the Yin-Yang Tournament second round. Don't be mad because the Skunk found a clever way to use it."
"Then at least give me a chance to get her back." Eris demanded. "I want a match against her and…"
"Not possible." Sayuri said. "The Skunk is going to face Mercy at next week's show, and if she wins, she's going for the championship match at Dynamix. There's simply no room for you until afterwards."
Eris' eye twitched. She was clearly not happy about this decision. The turned around and said, "You'll be sorry" before leaving the office.
Sayuri sighed before turning to her assistant. "So what do you think? Did I handle that well?"
"Frankly, I'm surprised Eris handled it as well as she did." Ryuji said.
"It concerns me too." Sayuri said. "We're going to need a way to appease her before she decides to smite somebody."
"You know she's not really a goddess, right, ma'am?"
"Duh. Of course, I know that. I was just making a metaphor."
"All right then." Ryuji scrolled through his tablet until something caught his eye. "Ms. Rogue, I think I may have a solution for that."
Ryuji lowered his tablet so Sayuri could look at the screen. She looked at the screen and thought hard on it.
"Well, I suppose it'll satisfy her. And she is the top of the list. And it will bring in a lot of fans." Sayuri commented. "All right. We'll consider it. What's next on the agenda?"
"Well, according to your schedule," Ryuji said reading his tablet again, "It's about time we officially sign Viper Takagi into our organization. She's coming by in an hour to sign up."
"Perfect." Sayuri said. "Ready the contract."
"Will do. And what about all the other names? A lot of people are signing up for Xtrema after XAW."
"I'll audition them after Dynamix. There's no room for newcomer matches until afterwards. Well, save for Viper Takagi. I promised her a match as soon as possible."
"Very well. Also, don't forget, you have to talk with Martina, the recently ex-Black Swan. She's calling herself Fenix Malvada now, and she wants it to be officially branded."
Sayuri sighed. "All right then. When is it?"
As if on cue, two knocks were heard from the door. Sayuri called for them to come in, and Fenix Malvada entered the office.
"Right now." Ryuji answered.
"Right." Sayuri said. "Well, Black Swan, let's…"
"It's Fenix Malvada now." The luchadora corrected.
"Right. That's gonna take some getting used to." Sayuri said. "So before we get the paperwork ready, tell me, why did you decide to change your luchadora name?"
Fenix Malvada stared blankly before answering. "I had no luck as Black Swan. She was merely a reckless persona I donned because to me, masks were the ultimate accomplishment. Well, after my recent failures, I decided I'm done biting off more than I could chew. But as long as I still had my old persona, I'd never move on. This is what I need now."
"And does this mean you're done betting masks?" Sayuri asked.
"It'll be a lot less often, I'll promise you that."
"Okay. Let's get to signing, Fenix Malvada."
"And then, from out of nowhere, Ms. X calls us offering us a spot in her new wrestling company!" Milk expressed loudly as she, Mint, and Jun Juli sat at their booth in Matsuda and Juli's. Jun was on her lunch break, which gave her the chance to catch up with her two friends.
"And you just accepted?" Jun asked curiously.
"Well, now that GWM is shut down, we kinda need a new place to wrestle at." Mint said. "We would have signed up for Xtrema, but it's not often a job is handed to us."
"Oh! And the best part: our friend Haruna is there too!" Milk said.
"Who's that?" Jun asked.
"A friend of ours." Mint said. "And she's pretty tough. She may not look it, but she's so ripped."
"So do you think you can catch the press conference?" Milk asked. "It's next Friday."
"Wish I could, but I can't. That's Xtrema night, and I'm trying to get a match." Jun said. "Gotta keep my skills sharp."
"Okay. Who's your opponent?" Milk asked.
"Still trying to figure that out. But I did issue that I needed a match to Ms. Rogue. Hopefully, I can get something."
"And sign here… And here… And here… And lastly, here." Sayuri said as the woman in front of her signed her name repeatedly on a stack of papers.
"Viper Takagi."
"All right. Everything seems to be in order now." Sayuri said holding out her hand. "Welcome to Xtrema, Ms. Takagi."
"Thank you, Ms. Rogue." Viper said shaking her hand. "So when do I get my debut match?"
"At the next show." Sayuri promised. "Just give me some time to find an opponent for you."
"Great. Looking forward to it."
As soon as Kaito entered his and Dawn's kitchen, he rubbed the back of his sore head.
"How are you doing, baby?" Dawn asked.
"Okay, all things considering." Kaito said. "Man, I can't believe Black Swan, or Fenix whatever she wants to call herself, kicked me from behind like that. And more than that, I can't believe she costed me the match."
"Yeah. One of the hardest parts of wrestling in a match: you can't expect the unexpected." Dawn said. "You remember that time Aoife Leavy interfered in the qualifying match between me and Thunder Mana?"
"Hard not to remember." Kaito answered.
"Well, she got her comeuppance, and I'm sure Fenix Malvada will get hers." Dawn assured. "In the meantime, we should look for another match for you."
"Okay. But against who? Fenix?"
"That's certainly a possibility. But don't forget, you have other enemies. Like the Skunk, who tormented you for years. And Whore-Ass, for dumping you."
"Whore-Ass? Don't you mean, Horace, like Catrina Horace, who now calls herself Hotrina?"
"I know what I said. Perhaps…"
DING-DONG!
Both Dawn and Kaito raised their heads and faced the door together. "Are you expecting anyone?"
"No." Dawn said. She got up from her chair and approached the door carefully.
As soon as Dawn made it to the door, she closed one eye and used the open one to look through the door hole. She then gasped loudly and quickly unlocked the door.
When Dawn opened the door, she came face to face with an older gentleman with brown hair that's connected to his mustache and beard. He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a green sweater vest over his gray shirt, and a pair of blue jeans over his brown shoes.
"Hey, Dawn. Long time." The man greeted.
Dawn was nearly choked up. She broke out a small smile before saying…
"Dad."
*Xtrema Shorts*
When Chibi Monica Everly appeared onstage, she waved to the crowd before sitting right beside her guest for the night, Chibi Kyoko Natsumi.
"Welcome to Xtrema Shorts, where we ask our beautiful, powerful characters questions from our dear readers. I'm your host, Monica Everly, and tonight, we have the kabuki with limbs as tough as logs, Kyoko Natsumi."
Chibi Kyoko chuckled. "Thanks for acknowledging my arms and legs, Monica."
"Hey. The way you display them, we have no choice but to acknowledge them. Now, you know the rules. A set of standard questions first, followed by personal questions asked by our readers. You ready?"
"Yes, I am."
"Good. Now first… Who was your debut opponent?"
"That would be Nyx, the wrestler who would then be Gwen, one of Midnight's brides. I put on quite a show and kept her on her toes, but her raw power got the best of me and I lost, but I still had my head up."
"What's it like facing Kaito Marx?"
"Well, if anything, he made good workout. I remember the times when I lifted him like a weight or did squats while carrying him."
"What do you think of Sayuri Rogue?"
"A fair, but firm woman."
"Who's the easiest opponent you've ever faced other than Kaito?"
"Hmm… I guess it would have to be Calypso. She was flexible and agile, I'll give her that. But when she tried pitting her limb power against mine, she lost by a hair."
"Okay then. Onto the personal questions. These are asked by Awesome ax10, and they ask… Did your family business improve after your XAW win?"
"Of course. A winner is always good for publicity."
"Should your theater keep getting better, will you keep wrestling?"
"Yes. I mean, this did start out as a means to an end for my theater, but after a while, I got good at it, and the more I wrestled, the more I promoted the family. It turned out well."
"Aside from Makoto, your XAW opponent, what other martial artist will you want to fight?"
"Let's see… Well, there is that one girl who broke Mantis during XAW. I'd like to know how strong she is. Then, there's that gangster girl who defeated Jun. She seems to have strong legs. Also, I have heard a rumor of a tall girl who can fight in midair. They call her the Airmaster. I'm certainly interested in that."
"Good. Now, for our guest."
"What?"
"That's right. It's a rare occurrence, but we finally have someone else to ask their questions. Now, these questions came from a guest review, so whoever that guest is, thank you."
"All right! What did they ask?"
"First…What martial arts did you learn before becoming a wrestler?"
"Well, I trained myself in kung fu, Muay Thai, BJJ, and krav maga. I also studied tai chi to better my balance onstage."
"What are your plans for the future?"
"Good question. Well, I suppose that depends on who wins the Yin-Yang Tournament at Dynamix. Since I'm a face, if a heel wins, then I'm going to challenge them. If not, then I'll keep making my mark on Xtrema, maybe even go for another championship."
"Well, that's all the questions we have at the moment. Thank you for reading, and an extra shout-out to everyone who asked their questions. If anyone has anything else they'd like to ask our remaining characters, feel free to. Any and all comments are welcome."