California Friends
Season 1, Episode 16: The Rising Champion
June 11, 2014 ~ The Season Finale
Previously On 'California Friends'; Eve fakes an injury and everybody believes her, thus cancelling the story-line with her and Melina. Nikki and John are finally in peace, they decide to get back together and embrace the whole pregnancy. Meanwhile Nattie is left bitter-sweet because Tyson proposes to her, she says yes, but she also has to leave him for Canada, where she'll be moving, giving them no time for a wedding. Both Roman and Nikki convince Brie that she should break up with Daniel already, but Brie is scared because only she knows how Daniel really is.
Starring~ Melina Perez, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Eve Torres, and Nattie Neidhart.
"From what I see on the x-rays, I don't see any bone fracturing, or anything really wrong with her ankle," The Doctor says as he shows Stephanie the x-rays.
Eve looks at the doctor and then laughs, "Doctor, I don't you know what you're talking about, I know there's something wrong with my ankle, period," Eve says, her speaking tone going up a whole notch.
"Uhh no Eve, take that period out and replace it with an apostrophe, because I'm about to finish this whole fake pathetic lie of your's," Stephanie says infuriated with Eve's actions.
The Doctor awkwardly stands there in the middle of the heat, "I should get going," he says, taking his stuff with him.
"Sorry about that, and thanks so much for your time," Stephanie says as she holds her phone to her ear.
"Don't think you are getting away with this," Stephanie says to Eve as she grabs the phone.
Eve looks at Stephanie with a gasp on her face, "Stephanie, I swear I'm not faking this injury, that doctor has no idea what he's talking about," Eve says, panicking of the consequences that could possibly come her way.
"Save it Eve, I'm calling my father, and you are apologizing to Melina, oh and that title won't belong to you by the end of the night," Stephanie says as she takes the title away from Eve's lap.
"You know what go ahead Stephanie, call him, at this point there's nothing else I can do to defend my title, I've tried to keep myself on top, but obviously that will come to an end tonight," Eve says as she snatches the title away and walks out of the room.
Stephanie watches her walk out, not feeling whatsoever sorry for Eve's doings.
Nikki and John sit calmly watching tv, when a commercial about baby diapers appears, Nikki then wonders about how her baby will be like. "John do you ever wonder about our future together, you know about this baby and our relationship in general," Nikki says to John as she runs her hand through his head.
John turns to Nikki, "Of course I think about that stuff, I think we'll make it, you and I are both two strong people, together it's an un-breakable force, we both lift each other up," John says as he kisses Nikki on the head.
Nikki smiles, "You're right, I also think we can strongly get through anything that's thrown our way," Nikki says, while her head thinks about possible scenarios that could happen in the future.
"For sure, we've been through so much already, and look at us, we're here, together," John says as he wraps his arm around Nikki.
Nikki rests her head on his chest, "We have, haven't we, I also trust in the strength of our relationship for us to make it though," Nikki says making sure she knows everything will be fine.
"Now don't worry, you're weeks away from giving birth to this new baby, be excited, because that's how I'm feeling," John says.
Nikki get's chills thinking about when that day comes, "I am excited, but I'm also nervous, luckily I'm also prepared," Nikki says as she lays back, without much worry.
Brie sits there wondering how things could've gone so wrong, she thinks about what she could've done differently in order to prevent things from going how they went a few minutes ago.
The memories start coming back, she remembers getting out of her car, she remembers taking a deep breath in as she walked up the driveway to Daniel's front door, a place where she hadn't been in months.
"Daniel I'm only here to let you know that I've moved on, we're over," Brie remembers saying to Daniel only a few minutes ago.
Brie then starts crying and screaming as she then begins to remember what happened afterwards, the events that she knew would end up going down.
In her poor tired mind Brie remembers the conversation they were having, she remembers Daniel trying to lie and say that he never really cheated, the loud argument they were having.
She then remembers walking away, and Daniel grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back, she then remembers turning back and trying to push him off, afterwards she remembers herself yelling for help.
She then starts to cry even more when she remembers him slapping her across the face and then him trying to take her back into his place, she remembers the hits she took from him throughout the months of them being together, she remembers the loud angry screaming and cussing.
Once she distanced herself from him, she felt free, but once again she felt like she was being dragged back to hell, by force, without doing anything to anger the flames.
Everything frightens her, from the punches to the choking, to the kicks, it hurts her mind just thinking about it.
She sits in her car on the far end corner of his neighborhood, crying her eyes out while she puts foundation on her left eye. Brie decides to wait in her car, until she's ready to go back home, she wants to get all of the tears out of the way before anybody sees her, she also doesn't know what to tell people when they ask anything anything about Daniel or if she'll be able to hide the bruises any longer.
Don't Go Away by Oasis plays in the scene's background, Nattie and Tyson stand in the airport, both looking into each other's eyes as they say their final farewell.
"Tj I'll be back one day, we'll get married as soon as we see each other again," Nattie says crying while she gives Tyson a hug and a kiss.
Tyson can't seem to hold the tears back anymore, "Don't worry your pretty mind, It'll all be okay, we'll be together again one day," Tyson says to Nattie as he presses his forehead on hers.
"I'll still love you the same way when we finally are together, just as much, and probably with our time apart, I'll love and appreciate you even more," Nattie says trying to speak clearly over her crying.
"We won't be apart for that long, I'll visit you whenever I can, I'll do whatever it takes, just to see you," Tyson says as he wipes the tears away from Nattie's face.
Nattie smiles through the tears, "I love you Tj, don't forget that, don't forget about me, your future bride," Nattie says as the tears come back.
Through the speakers they both hear Nattie's cue to leave, a cue they didn't want to hear yet, they still don't how else they can say goodbye, they both feel like they have so much more left to say.
"I have to go now, but know that I'll be thinking about you," Nattie says as she holds Tyson tight, in her arms momentarily and in her heart permanently.
Tyson gives her one last kiss, before she turns around to walk away, but he just can't help to cry as he watches her walk away, "Nattie... Don't forget about me," Tyson says to get her to turn around, just to see her face in person one last time.
Nattie turns around to look at him one last time, "I won't, I promise to keep you in my mind and heart," Nattie says as she holds the tears back and gives him one last wave.
Tyson stands there, watching the love of his life walk away, he would much rather see her walk down the church aisle. Nattie walks off, further and further, meanwhile Tyson walks the other way, further and further, they both walk further away from each other, yet there hearts stay close to eachother.
Eve enters the building through the back doors, just in time for her upcoming match, she looks around nervously. Eve starts heading towards the locker room, but before she does, she instead turns around and instead heads for the exit door.
Before Eve can get away with doing that, Stephanie sees her from her office window, she rushes out and yells, "Eve, Don't you do dare leave."
Eve's eyes widened, surprised that Stephanie caught her, "Stephanie why do you care so much, you're over-reacting," Eve says as she turns around to walk back to the locker room.
Stephanie follows her, "Eve please, I am not over-reacting, I am just sick and tired of you getting away with everything," Stephanie says.
"Really, I think it's because you are just jealous of my wrestling abilities, I mean after all you did fail to become a professional wrestler," Eve says as she continues to walk towards the locker-room.
Stephanie steps in front of Eve, "Eve don't you dare bring that up, and you know what maybe the reason why I am being so over-dramatic with this is because I actually did get severely injured," Stephanie says, but before she can finish, Eve interrupts her.
"You were under the influence and fell off a building, am I supposed to feel bad for you, I mean it's funny, you're pretty much a joke Stephanie," Eve says as she sarcastically laughs.
Stephanie crosses her arms, "Eve, I so badly want to fire you, but I won't because I know you'll use that against my reputation," Stephanie says, trying not to let the dark memory come back to her.
"Stephanie your reputation is already ruined, but since my reputation isn't ruined yet, I'll go out tonight and lose my title gracefully," Eve says with a fake smile as she taps Stephanie on the shoulder and then walks off.
Melina waits in then ring as her stomach tries to trick her into being nervous, but her mind knows that she's been waiting for this moment. She waits, until Eve's theme song plays, she watches as Eve walks towards the ring. "Eve finally returning after her 1 month injury," The Commentator says to the viewers.
Both Eve and Melina stand in the middle of the ring, both of them finally facing each other, for the first time.
The former friends start with basic moves and as the match goes deeper into time, the moves get more technical and complicated. Eve walks to a corner of the turnbuckle and stands there out of breath, with sweat running down her face, she pauses and then starts climbing up the turnbuckle.
Both Eve and Melina know how the match will end, the plan is for Melina to roll her back into a victory pin, but Eve is frozen with fear, she watches Melina's shadow walk towards her, she feels Melina's hands trying to bring her back, but Eve instead holds on the ropes, not letting go of them.
Melina continues to tugg on Eve, "Eve let go," Melina whispers to Eve. Eve instead pushes her back but before Eve can do anything else, Melina grabs her and pulls her back, for her first ever Finisher.
Melina forcibly leans her back, she then screams through the top of her lungs, she brings one of her legs up over Eve's neck and drops Eve on the floor in a split position, The Sunset Split.
Melina raises her arms up in the air, the referee counts away till he and the world can call Melina the new champion. The bell rings and Melina hears as they announce her the new champion, she stays on the ground, while they give her the Championship, that now belongs to her.
Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson plays in the next two scenes.
After months of trying, she finally achieved what almost seemed impossible for her to achieve, at least in everybody elses eyes, but to her it was all something she knew would one day happen.
She always knew she would rise up to become Champion, she always had a vision for herself, that vision is slowly coming to life. Melina try's not to, but she just can't help it, she cry's but the sweat luckily blends in well.
Melina holds her title up, not believing how far she's come, not believing how much she's improved, not believing how far she has risen.
In the audience Lita claps for her, she catches Melina's eye, and she gives her a thumbs up. Seats away from her, Jillian stands cheering for Melina, she smiles as she watches her friend meet victory. Stephanie and Trish watch from backstage, as they too cheer for Melina, meanwhile Brooke has just been proven wrong, as she stands with a gasp across her face, Melina has not only proved her wrong, but a number of other people.
Nattie sits in the airplane that is now up in the sky, she grabs her laptop and begins to go through photos and videos of her and Tyson, she looks out the airplane window and takes a deep breath in, she then smiles for whatever comes her way, keeping the tears away by reminding herself that they'll get married one day and that new opportunities will come her way.
Eve walks out of the ring, not believing Melina would pull it off, disappointed that her plan has backfired, her allying with Melina, only for Melina out of all people to overthrow her, she feels like karma might have hit her right back.
Nikki Bella sits on the couch hoping everything works out with her pregnancy, she hopes it all goes perfect, she sits back and try's not to stress out about it, she knows that John and Brie are both there for her.
Brie Bella drives home, she watches all the couples as she stops in a stoplight, she wonders what they're going through behind closed doors, and she wonders how she'll go from Daniel to Roman, what's next for her.
Melina closes the light beige curtains from her room, but she knows she'll be opening them again, except this time she'll also try to open the window, to let the sun illuminate her.
~ This year was crazy, I've come such a long way, It's really a year where I rose above. I mean who knew I would be here a year ago, who knew all of this stuff would happen, I couldn't predict any of this, I didn't know what to expect, but I've learned so much. Orange County has kept it interesting for me, so has all the people around me, it seems like all of those things I left behind have now just become nostalgic memories, I was able to move on and I did fly away, I'm still learning, and I'm still finding my freedom.
Special Guest Stars~ Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, Daniel Bryan (In Flashbacks), Tyson Kidd, Lita, Jillian Hall, Trish Stratus, and Brooke Tessmacher.
Music Credit~
'Don't Go Away' by Oasis
'Breakaway' by Kelly Clarkson
~I do not support Domestic Violence, Put a stop to Domestic Violence, once in for all.
~Thanks, for those who read along the way, and those who understood the artistic meanings behind each symbolic poetic line. Also thanks for the music that's inspired me to write certain scenes, and for certain TV shows that inspired this.
Created By~ Jonathan Nunez