Chapter 32 (Daily)

It was another day at the gym. There were some sparring sessions, weight lifting, and other forms of exercise. A unique training method was one for Mantis. Using her acrobatic skills, the green martial artist leaped from the top of one corner post in a ring to another. She stopped along with everyone else when a whistle was heard near the elevator. They all gathered up surrounding Sayuri Rogue and Ryuji Hashimoto.

"She looks good considering the rough match she had the other night." Cleopatra said.

"Well, what do you expect?" Calypso asked. "She's a machine. I heard she competed against jackal Tojo in a test of endurance to see who would sit in a boiling tank of hot water longer, but after ten hours, they both got bored and left at the same time."

"Seriously?" Clover asked. "I could only make it ten minutes."

"All right, everybody." Ryuji announced. "We've had a good first pay-per-view. I think we can all agree that. Now, it's time to announce a few changes along with the new matches this weekend. First of all, each of our shows will now have six matches rather than five."

"That's good." Mercy said. "Give me better chances to show the chumps who's in charge."

"Anyway," Ryuji continued, "Our next change will be the Gold Card."

Sayuri Rogue held up a plastic card looking similar to gold in her hand. It had the Xtrema logo on it. "This little beauty is one of the most powerful items in this league. Similar to WWE's Money in the Bank, whoever has this card can give any one of you the power to challenge any champion for their title at any time. Unlike Money in the Bank, however, we have taken some liberties. Not only can one challenge a champion, but they will be able to dictate the conditions of the match as well as the time and place. You can make it a normal match, a ladder match, a last woman standing match. You can even make it a hardcore match outside of the league as long as you can get a certified referee to approve of it. You can also take the card from the current holder before they can use it, which would make you the current owner. Of course, the current holder's identity will be a mystery."

"So how do we win this card?" Mantis asked.

"It's simple. All you have to do is take it from me. I'll always keep this card within arm's length and the first woman to take it from me will be the first to be able to use it."

"How can we take it from you?" Zelda asked. "You're a wrestling legend."

"I said it was going to be simple, not easy. As long as you don't break into my house to get it in my sleep, you can use whatever method you want."

"Now that all that's settled, I think it's time to go over the next matches. For those who will participate that are not currently present, they will be notified on their e-mails." Ryuji said looking at his clipboard. "First of all, for our PPV's triple-threat winner, Eris, you will be against Mantis."

"Really?" Eris asked looking at the martial artist. "You okay with me squashing you like everyone else, little cricket?"

"Don't call me that." Mantis said sternly with a scowl. "It'll be my upmost pleasure to be the one to end your annoying streak."

"Next," Ryuji continued, "After their impressive performances and audience demands, we will have ourselves a battle between masked ladies. Scarlette will face off against Platinum Mask."

"It'll be an honor." Platinum Mask said.

Scarlette didn't say anything. She shifted her eyes to Carly X with a cautious look.

"Next, Diaz and Poison will be defending their tag team titles. Since Team Spirit didn't invoke their rematch clause, the challengers will be Atlantis Force."

"We were supposed to be the challengers for those belts!" Amazon Aqua said. "But you two took it from us after you ambushed us!"

"You have no proof." Poison confidently refuted. "What do you say, Diaz?"

"I'm okay with that. After we're done with those two, I'm setting my sights on the World Championship and become the Ultimate Champion."

"Coming up next is a match that was issued to Liza Surkova. Because of her ill-attitude to the boss, if she loses, she will be suspended until further notice." Mercy asked looking at the Russian. "Seriously? You pushed the boss that far."

"As a matter of fact, yes." Liza said. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I faced Ms. Rogue myself."

"As tempting as the idea is," Sayuri said, "I'm afraid this needs to be fair. Which is why instead, your opponent will be Madame Python."

"Bring it on!" Liza challenged.

"Fine." Python said. "Just don't blame me when you lose your next paychecks."

"Coming up next is our visitor's match." Ryuji went on. "Queen Bee will be facing off against Queen Elizabeth from GWM."

"Say what?" Clementine asked. "You're accepting challenges from GWM after what they did?"

"It was my idea, actually." Sayuri said. "Just one match between them to make up for the Aoife Leavy incident. Win or lose, this match is all we wanted."

"If you wanted to make up for it, why didn't you pit Queen Bee against Aoife herself?" Jasper asked.

"Between the two, I'm pretty sure Bee will want to face Elizabeth." Sayuri said. "Ryuji, our main event…"

"Our main event will be Thunder Mana against N-Bomb."

"Is that so?" N-Bomb asked. "About time, if you ask me. By the way, where is Thunderhead?"

"She's out to lunch with a party." Carly X said.

"Seriously?" Mana asked to Dawn as she sat on the opposite end of the restaurant table. Kaito sat on another part. "Miss X tried to bribe you with a match against Queen Elizabeth? Why?"

"I've got… history with her." Dawn said. "Let's just say I've got a lot of pent-up rage that I feel I should be ready to unleash on her now."

"Trust me. She's got a lot of rage against her." Kaito assured.

"Well, I've faced Elizabeth a couple of times back then and I just faced you." Mana said. "You seem pretty ready to me."

What they didn't know was that right behind Mana was another man sitting nervously on his table. It was Natsuki Okumura twiddling his thumbs and thinking to himself.

"'It's a date'? Why did I say that? Maybe when she gets here, I can probably play it off as a joke and…"

He stopped his thinking when his partner joined him at the table. One look at Kanae's cute top and jeans made Natsuki smile for a second.

"Sorry I'm late." She said. "I just had a bit of a hard time deciding which would be appropriate to wear."

"Uh… I get it." Natsuki said nervously.

Kanae smiled. "Just one question. When you called this a date before, did you mean it?"

Natsuki was at a loss for words. He knew he planned to play it off as a joke, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead, he barely stammered.

"I… Well… I mean, we do work together, and it is cool that you used to be a wrestler, and you are pretty cute and…" He just realized the last thing he said and silenced himself immediately.

Kanae chuckled at the slip up. "Don't worry. I don't mind."

"Really?" Natsuki asked.

"Sure. I mean, one date isn't going to hurt any of us. If it goes wrong, no one's to blame. Then, we can get back to being just partners."

Natsuki smiled. "Thanks. Now…"

"Hold on a second." Kanae said looking at the next table. "Is that…"

Natsuki turned around and widened his eyes seeing the three wrestlers in the next table over.

"Queen Bee, Thunder Mana, and Kaito Marx." He whispered. "I don't believe it."

"Don't let them know we're here." Kanae said. "You're closer, so see if you can figure out if there's any dirt."

"You sure?" Natsuki asked. "I mean, we are on a date."

"…All right. But still, keep an ear out." Kanae said.

The three Xtrema wrestlers continued talking until they all got notifications on their phones. Thunder Mana pulled out her phone to check her e-mail. She smiled when she found out the news.

"It looks like we got matches this weekend."

"We do?" Kaito asked.

"Uh, no, actually. Just me and Bee. I'm main eventing it against N-Bomb."

"That dwarf planet?" Dawn asked. "Well, I can honestly tell you that she's not going to be easy to beat. She puts the heavy in heavyweight."

"Thank you for your input." Thunder Mana said. "And as for you…" She widened her eyes and chuckled. "Oh, man. You're not going to believe this. Your next opponent is…"

"Me."

Dawn widened her eyes as she recognized one of the voices that haunted her the most. She didn't need to turn around to change her expression to anger, but she did anyway. She saw her old rival standing behind her with her white hair, blue shirt that matched her pants, and white jacket.

"Fancy running into you here, Sawyer."

"Liz Lancaster." Dawn growled.

Queen Elizabeth chuckled before turning her attention to the other female wrestler. "Thunder Mana. Shame you decided to abandon us." She turned her head to Kaito. "So you must be Dull N' Broken's arm candy. You remind me of her when she was younger, but better."

Dawn slammed her fist on the table getting her rival's attention. "Enough, Liz! What are you doing here?"

"Honestly, meeting you here is just a coincidence." Queen Elizabeth said. "But I'm glad I caught you. I've been meaning to get the chance to talk to you. I only just heard that I was going to Xtrema to stomp on my favorite punching bag again."

"That was a long time ago!" Dawn said. "I'm much better now! But don't think I've forgotten about you and Beatrice and what you did?"

"You're still hung up on that?" Queen Elizabeth said. "Come on, Dull N' Broken, why are you taking it out on us. I'm sure you'd be more upset at Fiona Fangs, not to mention the humiliation Maria Crawford gave you. I heard she actually became a wrestler."

"I may not like them, but they didn't leave our old gym to go bankrupt! And another thing, I hate being called Dull N' Broken!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes clearly annoyed. "If you're going to waste your career playing the Count of Monte Cristo, that's your business. But it's too bad your little revenge fantasy is going to end too early after I implant you to the mat… again."

"I'm not wasting anything! You're the one who decided to move to Japan for profit!"

Queen Elizabeth scoffed once again. "Listen, little bumblebee, I don't care about your petty grudge against me or the series of flukes you've been getting at that circus show, Xtrema, but after I beat you for the fifteenth time in a row, everyone will see that I'm the only one who deserves to be called queen. See ya then, Dull N' Broken." She started to turn around.

"Wait, Liz!" Dawn asked.

Elizabeth stopped, sighed, and turned back to her old wrestling dummy. "What?"

Dawn didn't give an answer after that. Instead, she swung her hand right across Elizabeth's face stunning her for a second while Mana and Kaito got up from their chairs. That's when she answered. "It's on, bitch."

Elizabeth growled before going on the offensive. She quickly caught Dawn Sawyer and lifted her up. When she dropped her, she (Dawn) crashed through the table she was eating from. Elizabeth got up and planted her foot on her breasts.

"Just like old times." Elizabeth turned around and left the restaurant.

Thunder Mana looked to the manager of the establishment and chuckled. "I'll pay for the damages." Kaito, meanwhile, helped his girlfriend up on her feet.

Kanae and Natsuki, who was watching the whole ordeal, were surprised at what happened.

"Did you see that?" Natsuki asked.

"Yeah. And believe it or not, this is definitely one of the most interesting dates I've had so far."

Author's Note: So, to recap the match card...

1.) Eris vs Mantis

2.) Scarlette vs Platinum Mask

3.) Diaz and Poison vs Atlantis Force (Tag Team title match)

4.) Liza Surkova vs Madame Python

5.) Queen Bee vs Queen Elizabeth

6.) Thunder Mana vs N-Bomb

For those who do not know who Queen Elizabeth is, she is a secondary character in Tiger Mask W. Give your predictions and await for the match night.

Any and all comments are welcome.