The next morning Skylar awakes giddy with excitement. She packs up all of her things and meets the boys in the lobby of their hotel. The drive to the arena is mercifully short. After she passes through security she pops her head into the ringside area to make sure that the ring itself has actually been set up. The loud boom of someone taking a bump on the canvas covered wooden beams reassures her that it's up and ready to be used. She parks her bag in the women's locker room just as she always does. To be on the safe side she checks in with Kevin Dunn to make sure that she isn't needed for any filming before putting her workout clothes on. Tying up her long black pony tail she strides through the backstage area, into gorilla and down the ramp where Luke and Karl are warming up in the ring.
She climbs the steel steps, wipes her feet on the apron and steps between the ropes. A feeling of awe washes over her even though the building is just being used for a house show. Here she is, standing in a real WWE ring for the first time in her life. The guard rails, the mats outside the ring, the stands full of empty seats... She takes it all in while trying not to grin like a complete fool. She props a foot up on a turnbuckle in the corner of the ring and gets to stretching.
In a few minutes she's warmed up and running the ropes with Karl and Luke. While they work on some tag moves she runs a few drills by herself to get back into the rhythm. Even though she had only been out of the ring for a little over a month she immediately feels the start of some ring rust when she takes her first bump. She catches Karl smirking as she pops back up. Finn joins them in the ring moments later. As soon as he's warmed up the four of them start to run through some of the basics.
Skylar and Luke end up teaming against Finn and Karl. She doesn't even notice the small group of people staring at the ring from the top of the aisle. Luke and Karl step down from the apron as she and Finn get caught up in their workout. Neither one of them take any crazy bumps but they still manage a few moves that are relatively unused in WWE. Skylar hits Finn with her Brother's V-Trigger knee and covers him for a pin. Luke slaps the mat three times signaling the raven haired girl's victory. She and Finn roll out of the ring and sit on the apron trying to catch their breath.
"Don't look now, Hoots," Karl makes a face as he whispers the rest of his thought and walks away. "But here comes the boss."
"Yeah and he don't mean Sasha Banks," Luke adds following his tag team partner.
Karl and Luke shuffle up the aisle to avoid getting themselves any heat with the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Triple H stalks down the aisle and around the corner of the ring, looking angrier than usual. Skylar and Finn exchange a look as he rounds the nearest ring post and stops in front of them.
"Skylar," his gruff voice sounds like he's trying to cover up any emotion. "We're going to have you go live on the WWE Instagram during the show. Do some interviews, get some live match footage."
"Awesome! That sounds like fun," Skylar says brightly. Hunter nods, giving the two of them a stern look and heads back up the aisle. She watches as he disappears behind the black curtain and then turns to look at Finn. "So, how much trouble am I in?"
Finn shakes his head and let's out a ragged breath, "I dunno. He looked like he wanted to say a lot more den dat."
"Well, I better go get cleaned up," she hops off of the apron and shakes out her already sore legs. "If I want to be allowed to work out in the ring I'd better not slack on my actual job. Thanks for training with me today."
"Any time," Finn chuckles.
She hustles to the back and enters the women's locker room. An awkward hush from the women in the small space almost stops Skylar in her tracks. They'd obviously been talking about her and her arrival interrupted them. Their eyes burn holes in her flesh as she digs through her bag for her shower supplies. They feel threatened and she knows it. Not willing to show her cards yet she doesn't say a word, just dips into the showers.
When she returns from the shower she puts on a simple black dress with a pair of black high heeled boots. She dries and curls her long black hair then starts her own makeup. Almost black smoky eyes and a dark nude lip. As close as she can get to a grungy punk rock goth look. She would rather everything be black but the company apparently frowns upon that, needing her to be a more relatable face. She finishes up her primping and sets out to find Hunter.
A quick rap on the door of his temporary office and she's invited in. Skylar takes a seat across from the COO, an intimidating place to be after sneaking into the ring without even asking. Ever the professional though, Hunter acts like nothing ever happened. He just gives her her orders for the night and excuses her from the office.
She starts by taking the WWE Instagram on an interview with the New Day. Then gives them a quick tour of the arena as it begins to fill with fans, even asking a few of them who they're there to see. The show begins and she takes a quick break before seeking out her final guest for the evening. She locates Charlotte Flair warming up just outside of gorilla. The tall blonde looks her up and down coldly. But when the camera goes live Charlotte is all business and gives a great little interview. The moment the camera is off though, the former women's champion gives Skylar a long tense silent look. The start of her music ends the uneasy moment.
"Good to see you're making friends," Seth Rollins smirks sarcastically as Skylar stands quietly. "What the hell did you do to her?"
Skylar's hazy blue eyes twinkle mischievously, "I may or may not have had a really good in ring work out today. And I think the girls in the locker room are intimidated."
"Huh, I didn't even know you wrestled," impressed by the news he smiles warmly.
"There's a lot you don't know about me Rollins," she shoots him a smirk of her own before sneaking out to the arena to film a couple of quick clips of the show for Instagram.
At Raw the next week Skylar finishes a quick workout with Karl and heads to the back. On her way to the locker room Hunter pulls her into his office. Stephanie McMahon's smiling face greets her as Hunter shuts the door behind them.
"Skylar, why didn't you tell me that you were a wrestler?" Hunter asks softly.
"I.. I...," she stammers trying to find the right worlds. "I was told that there were no wrestling positions available. And I didn't want to come here acting like I was owed something." She starts to babble a bit as the nerves take over. "I wanted to earn a spot just like everyone else. Not because someone thought I was pretty enough, not because of my brother, not because someone just handed me a job. So I took the position I was offered. I figured I could work my way up from there. I hope that me working out in the ring isn't an issue.."
"Whoa whoa slow down," Stephanie chuckles. "Who's you brother?"
Skylar looks at the ground then back up at her bosses, already regretting her word vomit, "Kenny Omega."
"Kenny Omega," Hunter laughs giddily. "Your brother is Kenny Omega? Like.. NJPW... Leader of the Bullet Club, Kenny Omega?" Skylar nods. "Seriously?" The grin on his face spreads when he realizes that she's not ribbing him. He looks over at his wife, "We're sitting on a fucking gold mine here." He actually laughs at the potential money making opportunities swirling around in his head. "I imagine that you'd rather be wrestling than doing interviews and backstage ga ga."
Skylar nods, "Of course, but... I don't want it to be just because of who my brother is."
"We've watched you working out the last few days with the Balor Club," Stephanie says sincerely. "You're good. Really good!"
"Maybe better than some of the girls on the roster now," Hunter admits. "Probably even better than a few of the guys. But I'd like to do some fine tuning to your style... And I want it to be done in secret. I don't even want the rest of the roster to know. Keep training in the ring before events, and we will keep pretending that we don't like it but can't stop you."
Stephanie grins, "And I'd like to see you come up with a finisher. Some gear ideas. You know, all of the important stuff. Figure it out, come to me..."
"Steph, I've got an idea," Hunter smiles wickedly. He turns to Skylar and says, "Get with some of our NXT graduates. Finn, Seth, maybe Paige. They've got a really good handle on what we want from our superstars as a finished product. I'll let them know that this is a private training thing, and not to tell anyone. Then once you're prepared for TV I'd like to put you with the Balor Club."
Skylar is quiet for a moment as she looks at the dollar signs in her boss' eyes, "Can I have a day to think it over?"
"If you think you need it, sure," Stephanie agrees.
"I do," she admits. "Thank you. I'm really excited about this. I just need to talk to my brother first." She pauses in a panic. "I promise, he won't say anything. He's a professional."
"I hope so," Hunter says.
The rest of the night is a whirlwind. Skylar does her job and keeps her news private, not even informing her riding partners. She's nearly giggling by the time she gets to her hotel room. Before her door even closes she dialing her brother.
"Hey Koneko, how was your day?" Kenny's smiling face appears on her phone screen.
"Hoshi, I've got so much to tell you! ... Are you alone?" She hopes that he is.
He confirms with a nod, "Yeah, I'm just about to play some Street Fighter. What's up?"
"So I've been working out in the ring with Finn, Gallows and Gun," she starts, ignoring the grimace on his face that he doesn't even try to hide. "Hunter has apparently been watching and he wants me to wrestle..."
"Sky, that's great news!" His face lights up with excitement for her. But her worried expression curbs his enthusiasm. "Why are you seemingly not as excited about this as I am?"
"Hoshi," she pauses. "I think he wants me to be you. He wants me to be with the Balor Club."
Kenny laughs, "And that worries you, Koneko?"
"Of course," she tells him. "I don't want to get a push because you're my brother. I want to get over because I'm good."
"You ARE good," he assures her. "And tying you in with a group that's already over isn't going to hurt you. Actually, it's brilliant! It's going to make a ton of money when people realize our connection."
She lightens up a bit, "So you wouldn't be upset if I ended up doing a Bullet Club thing?"
"Of course not," his blue eyes shimmer. "It's not like I created the Bullet Club. I'm just the leader for now. You'll be working with the actual creators. Sure you'll just be in a rip off of the original..." He jokes as she sticks her tongue out at him. "Really though, it's an amazing opportunity, I think you'd be foolish not to take it."
"As long as you're okay with it," she finally starts to smile.
"So let's talk specifics here..." Kenny gets down to business as the two of them talk well into the night about gimmicks, finishing maneuvers, names, gear ideas and every other possibility for her new character.