It was still a little light outside seeing as it was only the afternoon – or at least that's what a nearby clock said – but when the Divas looked up as the note instructed them to do, an army of people in dark ninja garb took over portions of the sky. They leapt into action, some male and some female, and it seemed like trouble lie ahead for the Divas.
"Talk about ridiculous," chimed Maryse softly as she and the other Divas seemed quite overwhelmed and well-outnumbered by the surrounding black parade. "Do you think they wanna fight?"
"I don't think they wanna ask us for fashion advice," a fear-filled Eve remarked.
"Even though they really should," Maryse said. "Those are the gaudiest karate getups I've ever seen! And one of them is wearing pink shoes!" As the ladies stood, backs to each other and shoulders slightly against each other, the ninjas braced themselves for an unarmed attack. Likewise, the Divas tried their best to prepare for a battle despite overwhelming odds.
"Are you ready?" Natalya checked with the other girls, who all just nervously nodded and got into fight stances.
"Wait, we're not gonna huddle up and make a game plan first?" Maryse asked. Nattie assured her that there was no time for that. "Well, we can't just talk to them or anything?" The girls shot her short glances as to let her know that it is fight time once again. And with that, trying their best to display fearlessness and bravery, they sprang into action as the dark-dressed warriors attacked.
As expected, each girl was outnumbered no matter how many ninjas they took on. No matter how hard they attempted to fight back, the villains would gain the upper hand on them.
"There's too many of 'em!" Melina yelled as three of them had her in their group. Maryse was able to help Melina out, but the two would end up in trouble together as well. Even an assist from Eve and Natalya couldn't help the two. In the end, all four girls stood leaned against a tipped over Twinkies truck, pained and once again cornered by the warriors.
"At least we can say we tried," Eve said, stunned.
"Don't you mean we can say we got our asses kicked?" argued Melina.
"Now's not the time for negativity!" Eve blurted. But contrary to the statement, she knew it was true and faced the fact that they were doomed. As Melina had screamed earlier, there was just too many of them for the four girls to take on.
Just as they thought the end was near, a mysterious figure came in from the crowd. When she got closer, the girls noticed that the figure – obviously female – has a different colored outfit than the others. It was blue with "A.D.A." printed on the front and black in black, as compared to the rest of them who had the abbreviations in bright red on their black uniforms. Much like the others, though, her face was concealed behind a mask.
All the others simply moved out of the way and let her through. They ladies assumed she had to be their leader. The sign of respect was there as she passed right by them toward the girls.
"Haha. You realize that you shouldn't be here," she chuckled wickedly. "Well guess what? You're time...is well up." She then drew a sword from one of the other warriors. Nerves shot through the Diva's bodies as they feared the worst was about to happen.
"I'm gonna miss you girls," Maryse whimpered, who grabbed a small metal garbage can to ineffectively hide behind. "I can't believe it's gonna end like this."
But just then...STAB! The figure did stab someone, but it wasn't Nattie, Gail, Eve, or Maryse. It was one of the warriors. As the warrior fell to the ground, the others knew something wasn't right about this as they then attacked the woman. However, it was them who would not stand a chance this time as her sword sliced and pierced at the warriors, taking them out one by one - and often times two by two!
The fact that they weren't armed with any weapons yet she was armed with a lethal one would spell defeat for all of them. Soon enough, all the warriors were laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, defeated by a single individual and her blade of justice.
After the Divas were able to get Maryse to come out from behind the trash hid behind – a method she considered "trying not to die" – they approached the woman, shocked at what they'd just seen.
"Who are you?" is all Natalya could say.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" the woman said. It wasn't obvious to the other four, but when she finally removed the mask, it all became clear as the woman behind the mask turned out to be...Gail Kim. They ladies smiled in relief. "Are ya glad to see me?"
"Oh, more than you could imagine," Eve said, hand over her heart due to the shock. "You scared the crap out of us there."
"Yeah, why didn't you tell us it was you?" Maryse cried, still getting adjusted to seeing Gail wearing an outfit that she just couldn't stand to look at. "I hid behind that disgusting trash can for nothing!"
"If I didn't, my cover would've been blown," Gail explained. "I don't know how, but I woke up in the sauna of a karate dojo and the people in there were discussing some kind of an attack plan for trespassers. I had to dress like them to blend in. And now...here I am!"
"So where'd you get the outfit?" Maryse questioned. She didn't really wanna know, but felt it nice to ask anyway.
"Well, I actually found this sword lying around," Gail answered, putting the sword away. "I then noticed a woman going into a room with the word 'leader' written on the door. So after hearing that they had found three ladies with similar physical attributes to Eve, Natalya, and Melina going into a Walgreens, I secretly took the leader out with the sword and stole her uniform. I figured I could help you guys while also using the element of surprise. I'm guessing it worked."
"It certainly did," Eve said. "Well, it looks like it's just the five of us. I guess that note me and Maryse found was serious then."
"What note?" Gail cluelessly asked.
"Ready to tell this story again, Maryse?" Eve nudged Maryse in the shoulder. Along with Natalya and Melina, they filled Gail in on everything.
"Wow. Am I the only person who feels like I'm in a badly written action movie?" asked Gail.
"See! I'm not the only one!" Maryse exclaimed, glad that her and Gail had similar views on the whole situation. "Now does anyone have any idea where we go from here?"
Suddenly, Melina heard the sound of aggravating static coming from underneath a pile of bricks. She alerted the other girls and together, they went to check it out. Moving brick by scarlet-red brick, they discovered a mysterious indigo-colored plate with a light beaming in the middle. "I wonder what this thing does," Melina said as Natalya slowly picked it up and dusted it off.
"I fear it's gonna explode just like the index cards," Eve predicted, guessing by the flickering light. Suddenly, the light started to flicker faster and faster by the second. Natalya tossed it quickly before a beam of light burst from the item and into the air, forming what appeared to be a screen right in front of them. "Well, I was almost right," Eve remarked with her arms over her face as a result of the bright light the screen gave off.
"I've seen this in a lot of movies and TV shows," Gail commented. "Only an evil mastermind could've pulled this off."
Out of nowhere, a voice emerged: "And you'd be right!" Gracing the screen was a young female with shoulder-length black hair and flawless pale skin, wearing a white lab coat with glasses on and her bright-red lips in the shape of an arrogant smile.
"Well, well, well," the woman said. "You know, it was WAY sooner than I expected, Eve and Maryse, but you were actually capable of seeking your Diva comrades. I will now do something I've never done for either of you before and applaud you." Without taking her eyes off the girls, she loudly clapped her hands four times, probably two for each of the Divas she'd just referenced. "Congrats."
"Who the hell are you?" a fiery Melina yelled for an answer.
As a reply, the youngster simply chuckled and pushed her hair back out of her face. "Oh, how disrespectful of me. I hadn't the class to introduce myself. My name is Sydney Larx, senior year college student, longtime wrestling fan, and midnight shiftwoman at the local Krispy Kreme Donuts, located at…wait, that's not important! Force of habit. Anyway, I am also the leader of the A.D.A. Any questions?"
"Um…YEAH!" Melina yelled. "Where the hell are we?"
"What in the world is going on around here?" Natalya asked.
"What is the A.D.A.?" Eve added.
"Why does it look like the day after the end of the Armageddon EVERYWHERE we go?" Maryse complained.
"Wow, that's a lot of questions," Sydney remarked. "I guess I'll answer Frenchie's first. Do you like it? A good friend of mine put it together. You'll probably meet him later. He has a twin sister too. And they BOTH love a good fight!"
"Look, dude, whatever this little game is that you're playing, we're not down with it," Eve argued. "And guess what: we want out."
"Yeah, so if you can just open up the little portal or magic door or pothole or whatever you used to get us here so we can leave," Maryse demanded. "In fact, I'm just gonna go look for one right now." Maryse started to walk around the area looking for a portal or anything to get them out, but Natalya grasped her arm before she could, preventing her from doing so.
Sydney extended the long cane she had been using. She didn't have any particular reason to carry it around. She just wanted it to make her look more evil. "You know, I would LOVE to do that…wait a minute…I LIED! Do you girls actually think that I'm gonna let you off the hook that easily? Trust me. The fun has just begun."
Melina's fiery temper was unraveling further. "Look, you better tell us what's going on here or else..."
"What are you gonna do, Melina? Slap me? I don't care. You don't scare me. And as for what's going on...well...why don't you just ask...Kelly here." The Divas heads turned at each other as they feared what they thought was about to happen was indeed about to happen...and it did. As the villain walked over to the center of her lab, she showed them that she had kidnapped Kelly Kelly, tied her to a chair, and taped her mouth shut. The girl's mouths lay wide open. "Kelly, you wanna tell them about my brilliant plan?"
Kelly mumbled, frustrated. She was unable to form a coherent word on account of the duct tape.
"You better let her go now!" Natalya demanded.
"Oh. I feel so ashamed," the villain mocked in a high voice. "I kidnapped a Barbie and now the great Natalya is threatening to beat me up. Oh!" She then straightened her jacket and returned to her normal voice. "Look. I kidnapped Barbie here for a reason. You see, she represents EVERYTHING that is wrong with your little Divas division today. She has no idea what he's doing, she has no business being there, and the only reason she's being kept around is because she's long overdue for a damn Playboy cover! And lemme tell you what: I'm all for a girl with a pretty face - in fact, I befriended a few in my time back at the University AND let's face it, I AM one…" The ladies looked at each other wondering why Sydney went off course. "But the fact that it seems like that's the only way to earn success in the WWE nowadays makes me wanna puke up blood and then drink it!"
Maryse raised an eyebrow. "Look, we're sorry you feel that way, but..."
"Shut up, Frenchie! You're one of those very Barbie doll types I'm talking about! Sure, you may have some skill - and honestly, I will give Eve props because she also has some potential - but neither of you are even close to championship level, no matter how much WWE wants us to think so." Snarling, she violently grabbed a lock of Kelly's blonde locks and aggressively pulled her head up. "You see her? You see her? She is what the Divas have turned into, and I, along with the rest of the Anti-Diva Alliance, wanna put a stop to it!"
"I'm assuming that's what A.D.A. stands for?" Eve questioned. "Anti-Diva Alliance."
"Oh, correct my brunette blossom," Sydney teased. "If was there in person, I'd reward you with a box of cookies and some lemonade!" Eve didn't seem amused.
"So that's what this is about?" Gail asked.
"Exactly! If Vince wants to slowly kill the Divas Division his way, I'm gonna be the one to put it out of its misery before it's too late. And if you don't believe me, just look at your other locker room companions!" The girls couldn't believe what they saw as they bear witness to the rest of the Divas locker room tied up in what appeared to be an old, dusty, grey dungeon. From Kaitlyn to Alicia Fox to Layla to Rosa Mendes, all the Divas – still in their ring gear – had been held down by ropes and wooden chairs. All of them, that was, except three. "Not to worry, though. I gave them all a proper lunch…and by that, I mean a honey bun and a bottle of V8."
"Wait a minute," a near breathless-at-the-sight-of-the-scene Eve said. "Where are Beth and the Bellas? I don't see them anywhere."
"Great question, Torres. BTW, sorry. I couldn't think of a nickname for you. I was gonna call you Botchy, but my brother is a huge fan of yours and I didn't wanna get into another argument again." Eve was clearly offended by his comment. "Anyway, you wanna see The Glamazon? Well...here is your Glamazon." With an open hand, she pointed to the end of the room, where Beth Phoenix stood. She was still in her ring attire as well, but her hands were chained to the ceiling and exposed feet chained to the ground. "She was way too powerful for normal restriction. So I took it a step further. Pure titanium. Impossible to break out from even for the strongest of mortal specimen."
She then flashed an arrogant smile to the girls, who were almost at a loss for words at what was going on. "What do you want us to do?" Natalya said, feeling determined.
"Hmm. Simple," he eerily chuckled. "You five have been chosen by the A.D.A. to rescue your little Diva friends. You rescue your friends, you save your Division; I set you free from what you feel is this hellish nightmare. But if you fail or ultimately DIE on this mission, then as will the rest of your fellow Divas. It's simple as that."
"How are we supposed to get there?" Gail questioned.
"Oh, that's the fun part, Gail. You should've let me finish. The only way to get to my fortress is through a series of 'stages'. In each of these stages, you will have to fight your way out against other members of the A.D.A. in order to attain 10 keys that will get you into my fortress. You win your fight and earn those keys, you advance to the next stage. You lose your fight, you're GONE! Simple as that."
"What is this, a video game?" Maryse loudly asked.
"Mmm…in a way," Sydney answered. "You see, it's a very real world, yet it does not exist. Just think of this adventure as 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World', except you're fighting for a group of girls and not just one. This place also has no over-the-top-yet-entertaining comic book graphics. Oh, and as we've already seen from Torres and Neidhart, you can bleed, too. MUCH different from what you Divas do on television every week."
The mission was finally clear to them. They were on a chase to save the rest of the girls and a division as a whole. Their futures – as well as the future of the Divas Division – was on the line. "So what's the first stage," Natalya asked with her game face on.
"Oh, that's just it, Neidhart – sorry, I couldn't think of a nickname for you, either," Sydney said, moving back over to where she originally stood. "But you've already passed the first stage…and the second stage. Only a number of other stages to go. In fact, stage three begins in…3…2…1…"
After she hit one, the ground started to rumble. Soon enough, it also started to break. The girls knew immediately that it wasn't a standard earthquake as a trench soon formed in the ground, cause the five of them to fall right in. "Good luck girls. I hope you fail…" Sydney could be heard saying while pulling an apple out of her pocket before the screen disappeared.
As the Divas fell, they had no idea what lie ahead in stage three…or why they hadn't earned even one key from the first two rounds. Even more importantly: where were they falling to?