Chapter 31 (Daily)

Ryuji met up with her assistant in her office. She looked through her laptop grinning at the interest she was gaining. She chuckled.

"I haven't seen this much money since I won the lottery. Our first ever pay-per-view was a huge hit. It appears we're gonna make some changes around here."

"Like what?" Ryuji asked.

"Well, before, we could only afford to make five matches per night. Now, we can make it six. Also, we can finally get started on the Gold Card idea."

"That's great." Ryuji said.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Liza Surkova stomped in furiously. Sayuri sighed as she closed her laptop.

"Seriously, Liza? There's a thing called 'knocking', you know."

"Give me a rematch!" Liza replied. "That bitch, Eris, stole my win!"

"You knew the odds when you signed up for that triple threat." Sayuri said. "You even demanded it. In the end, you lost. No asterisks."

"I didn't deserve to lose." Liza said.

Sayuri sighed. "Look, even if I wanted to, I can't give you a rematch against either of them. Freya's taking a vacation to her home village to visit her wife and I've already booked Eris a match which will be announced in a couple of days."

"Then give me something!" Liza shouted. "Anything to prove my strength!"

Sayuri looked up at her. "Fine. I'll give you a match. Just give me a bit of time. However, for your little outburst, let's add some stakes to this. If you lose, you will be temporarily suspended. Do you accept these terms?"

Liza nodded before leaving.

"That was harsh." Ryuji said. "Just to be clear, you're not going to fight her, are you, Ms. Rogue?"

"Of course not. I may be firm, but I'm also fair. I wouldn't pit her against someone who she's bound to lose when her job is on the line. Well, I'll put a pin in that for later. Right now, Ryuji, what's next on the agenda?"

Ryuji looked through his clipboard. "Well, apparently, you have a phone meeting with Ms. X in two hours to discuss the Aoife Leavy incident."

"It feels like I'm preparing myself for one of Moses' plagues." Sayuri said. "Locusts, boils, darkness, Ms. X!"

"Are you sure we shouldn't invoke the rematch clause, Starla?" Isebella asked as they were sparring in the Xtrema gym. Her partner had her in a headlock.

"It's a terrible idea." Starla answered. "You know how Diaz and Poison decimated us last time in front of our fans. I don't want to disappoint them again."

Isebella slipped out of the headlock and put Starla in a full nelson. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She saw something that made her let go. "Speak of the devil."

Diana Diaz and Poison strolled in proudly. They looked around and spotted their targets. They went across the gym toward where Kaito and Queen Bee were training. Kaito was doing push-ups while his girlfriend sat on his back for added pressure. She groaned when she noticed Diaz and Poison coming their way.

"Heads up. Poison-breath and man-abs are here." Queen Bee warned Kaito.

"Them?" Kaito asked. "What do we do?"

"Just let me do the talking. You keep up doing your push-ups." Queen Bee said. As soon as the two arrived, she got up and confronted the two.

"What do you two want?" Queen Bee asked. "If you're looking for testosterone, I think you already absorbed it all."

"Very funny." Poison said. "Actually, we're here to announce Diana Diaz to be the Ultimate Champion."

"That whole thing again?" Queen Bee asked. "Hate to break it to you, but you're short one belt."

"We know." Diaz said. "That's why I'm gonna challenge you for your World title at the next pay-per-view. You are without a doubt the strongest wrestler in my eyes, so I won't be holding back like I was with the others."

"Just keep your eyes to yourself, psycho-size. I'm already taken."

Diaz laughed a little. "Why are you dating that twerp? He's just gonna end up holding you back. He can't go one work-out without being humiliated by a girl, not even now."

Queen Bee turned around and saw the Skunk. She was pressing her butt down on the back of Kaito's head. She rubbed it side to side for good measure. Queen Bee immediately ran from the two laughing heels and pushed the Skunk off of Kaito.

"What the hell?" the Skunk asked as she got up. "I was just getting to the good part!"

"You really think you can just sit on Kaito's head with me around?" Queen Bee asked while she helped Kaito up to his feet.

"What do you care?" the Skunk asked. "He's just your escort, right? Besides, this is payback for that humiliation he gave me at Olympia! No jobber makes a monkey out of the Skunk!"

"I insist you leave these two alone." Thunder Mana threatened from behind the Skunk. The stinker looked back and looked nervous for a second.

"Butt out!" the Skunk replied. "This doesn't concern you!"

"For your information, I'm still reeling from being attacked by a barrage of chairs, a submission hold through a ladder, and a crash through a table." Thunder Mana leaned toward the Skunk's face. "I'm in a really bad mood."

The Skunk looked even more nervous. She turned back to the ace and the jobber. "This isn't over." She walked away, which made Kaito nervous.

"Look, I get you lost, but it was a fair match. Don't just…"

Thunder Mana chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm not really that mad. I just said that to get her away. I just came to say congratulations, Bee."

Queen Bee smiled. "Thank you, Mana."

"One thing's still bugging me, though. Aoife said she did it because you crossed Ms. X. What did you do?"

"Well… X contacted me and offered me a deal that went against my beliefs. I said no, and she took it pretty hard."

"Yeesh. I wouldn't be surprised. Miss X isn't really one to take no for an answer. How about we talk about it more, like say, over drinks?"

"Sounds good. Kaito, you're paying right?"

"What?" Kaito asked. "Well… All right."

Thunder Mana looked across the gym and saw Carly X working out on a sandbag. "Excuse me." She left the conversation and started a new one when she approached her old boss' daughter. "Hey, kid."

"Hey, Mana." Carly said.

"I saw your match with Neko Girl. It was pretty epic."

"Thanks." Carly went to a nearby bench and took a sip of cold water. "Not sure if you've heard, but before the pay-per-view, I kinda confronted my mom."

"You did what?" Thunder Mana asked. "What happened?"

"I tried to get an answer out of her, and the most she gave me was saying that I'm not cut out to be a wrestler. So from now on, I'm not going to fight for her approval anymore. From now on, I'm wrestling for the sake of wrestling."

"That's a good motto." Thunder Mana commented. "Look, I'm sorry about the whole thing about me and your mom…"

"Hey, it's okay." Carly interrupted. "I don't blame you. In fact, if you like, I'd like to train with you some more."

"I'd like that." Mana said.

"Great." Carly said. "It's the strangest thing. In my match against Neko Girl, I thought for certain that her mother was going to show up."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that." Mana said with a small grin. "I may have kept her from leaving the locker room."

"Really?" Carly laughed. "Nice. But you better watch your back, though. If Mewlie's anything like her daughter, the old cat's going to hold a grudge."

"Hey, I can handle it." Thunder Mana assured.

"Oh, you should have seen it, Mom!" Jason declared as his dad was in the middle of packing. "Mercy had her on the ropes, but the moment she started to disrespect us fans, Scarlette broke out and made her regret it!"

Emily chuckled trying to feign her shock. "Sounds like you had a good time, Jason." She did her best to hide her pains she still had from her match. "Anything happen?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Emily noticed her son's face began to turn red. "I… may have connected with one of the other wrestlers."

"Really?" Emily asked in her thoughts. "Who would that be? Sam Hamilton? Kaito? One of the Team Spirit girls? I know he's not dumb enough to befriend Diaz."

"Which one?" she asked outwardly.

"It's… Carly X."

Emily looked stunned. She remembered her few interactions with Carly X and how she acted around the others. Emily could only describe her as rude and ill-tempered, so she had no idea how to respond to it.

"Is that so?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. We watched the main event together, and we were both pretty excited at the end." Jason said. "She is known for her attitude, but I think I saw a new side of her the other night. I don't know how else to describe it."

"Jason, it's time to go." Isaac said. "We've got to be at the airport an hour-and-a-half early."

"Right." Jason said as he picked up his suitcase. "I'll be in the car."

As he left, it was just Isaac and Emily alone. They gave each other happy grins in silence until Isaac broke it.

"It was great to see you again."

"Yeah. You too." Emily responded.

Isaac sighed. "Look, Emily, I'm not mad at you for what happened. I understand, but you gotta know it wasn't your fault."

Emily frowned. "I know, Isaac, but I can't stop thinking about it. I may not have gone through with it, but I was so close to. I don't know how to come back from that."

"Well, when you do, me and Jason will be waiting." Isaac said. "We'll be happy to have you back in the family. As far as I'm concerned, you were always a part of it."

Emily smiled again. She reached under her bed and pulled out a small box in colorful wrapping paper. There was a sealed envelope taped to it. "I know Jason's birthday is in about a month, so when it comes, do you think you can give this to him? It's that limited edition Xtrema ring toy he wanted so much along with a Scarlette figure that comes with it."

"Thanks, Em." Isaac said. "You're the best woman I ever met." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

Emily caressed her cheek as she saw her husband and son drive away on their way to the airport. It warmed her heart to hear Isaac say the very words he said that made her fall in love with him. Then, her mind drifted to an earlier part of the conversation.

"Carly X." she whispered to herself. "I've got to get to the bottom of this."

Sayuri smiled as her time came. She pressed the button on her office phone letting it beep for a second. After that, a familiar voice answered.

"Rogue."

"X." Sayuri said. "When you sent Aoife Leavy to sabotage my pay-per-view, where exactly did you see that going?"

"First of all…" Ms. X started to say.

"Rhetorical question." Sayuri interrupted. "I already know."

Ms. X sighed on the other end. "What are you goin to do?"

"Normally, I'd sever my ties with your company, but we need your part in the Pandora Project. But you'll still need to compensate for your attempt at sabotage."

"What do you want? Money is no object."

"I'm a multi-millionaire, X, and thanks to Olympia, I'm already halfway to being a billionaire. You can't just buy me off. Besides, I hear that Tiger Mask fellow just defeated Red Death Mask. If he succeeds and shuts down GWM, you're going to need to make every coin count." She could tell that Ms. X was grinding her teeth at the sound of it. Just then, an idea popped in Sayuri's head. "But you know, there is one thing you can do for me. One minor favor and I'll forgive the whole thing."

Ms. X took a moment to consider and replied, "What is it?"

Author's Note: It's good to be back. So here's my plan: I'm going to write down one more Daily chapter before working on the two-part match night, most likely before December starts and I begin my Christmas special. Until then...

Any and all comments are welcome.