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#Post#: 939--------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 8 - Time to Step Up
By: RampageSports Date: December 21, 2014, 10:35 pm
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The Friendship Test - Chapter 8 - Time to Step Up
"I've trained with just about everyone," Danni said, "but I do
most of my real training with Amanda Seyfried. The two of us
training together was the reason we brought her on, and I set
aside time just for that. But, I tend to float around some and
see who I can help out. I used to just kind of wander from one
group to the next, but now I get direction from Steph. She's
taken over organizing the training, so she tells me where she
thinks I need to be. I train with Steph sometimes, too." She
raised an eyebrow before adding, "That can be painful. She hits
like a ton of bricks."
"I still wander, sometimes, though. I like to see what's going
on for myself."
"Yeah, you've wandered a long way this time." Sophia poked her
tongue out at Danni teasingly. Her thinking face returned as she
studied Danni's demeanour more closely. "Sounds like you're the
only one over there missing out on your own magic partner."
Sophia shook her head and widened her eyes in fear. "And I don't
think Steph McMahon counts. I wouldn't want to train with Steph.
I've seen her around at events in and out of the cage. She
scares me."
This time, Danni literally laughed out loud. "Steph can be...
intimidating," she said euphemistically, "but, she's really not
so bad. True, she's not good at being friendly. But, she takes
her training role seriously. She cares about those girls, and
they know it. She worries about them, too. So, she gets kinda
intense at the events."
"As for the 'magic,' I get what I need," she continued.
"Amanda's made a big difference. And, I learn from all of them,
really."
She paused once more to consider how to handle what she wanted
to say next. As usual, there was no way to go but straight.
"Sophs... what you said before about training with Briana," she
said gently, "I know you two are friends, but I'm not sure
training with her is the challenge you need."
The sudden switch in mood was evident all over Sophia's face.
She looked like a child lost in the mall. She even stammered
like one. "But, I, uh, we... but... it, I, if, I..."
She realized words weren't forming audibly and decided finally
to take a breath. She gazed down into space, trying to make head
and tail of Danni's suggestion. "But, she does challenge me.
She's a good fighter." She was still thinking, staring vacantly
ahead. She raised her arms in confusion. "I wouldn't know who
else to train with."
Danni stepped over and gently eased Sophia's arms back to her
sides. "Geez," she said with a smile. "Who's losing it, now?"
Sophia's breathing eased and her gaze followed Danni's slowly as
she recomposed herself. Then, a sly smirk crossed her features.
"Losing it? I think it's gone." Her mind then replayed what
Danni had said. "But, you're freaking me out here. Briana's kind
of the one thing I've got holding my sanity together in this
place."
"I didn't say you can never talk to her again," Danni responded.
"In fact, I don't think you can do this without her. I've read
the press releases. I've seen the way she supports you. She
seems to know what she's doing, but she also seems like she'd be
willing to tell you if she thinks you're f*cking up. Most
important, she has your back, no matter what. You're going to
need her in this with you."
"I didn't even say you can't train with her. I'm sure you can
learn some things from her, and I know you have things you can
teach her. I'm just saying you need to branch out. You need
someone who will push you."
Sophia realised her wise guru was making sense again, and the
possibilities of training partners all sifted through her mind
at once. None of them clicked instantly. Then, an instinctive,
automatic response came, so subconsciously that it skipped the
filter between her brain and mouth and just shot out.
"Like... you?"
Danni's eyes went wide at the suggestion. She shouldn't even be
at the Den in the first place. Training with Sophia... even
setting foot in the cage... was completely out of the question.
She relaxed a little when she saw the expression on Sophia's
face. Her friend looked just as shocked as she was. Clearly,
Sophia knew what she'd suggested was impossible. Truth is, it
wasn't really Sophia's fault. She was only working off the
suggestions Danni, herself, had made. Danni was the one who'd
walked right into it.
Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with
it.
She narrowed her eyes at the Dragon's Den team leader. "'Danni
f*cking Harris' doesn't train with just anybody," she said in
mock disdain. "Especially not with the enemy."
Sophia's mouth fell agape in exaggerated shock and she gasped,
as if utterly offended.
Referring to herself in the third person sounded ridiculous, and
Danni couldn't hold it. She let her expression melt back into a
smile. "Besides... I can't train you to win the title. My
heart just wouldn't be in it," she said to her fellow DEF
welterweight competitor. "For some reason, I'm kinda partial to
the current champion."
Sophia snapped her jaw shut and faked a pout. "Well, I think the
current champion is a jerk." She accentuated the jab with a poke
of her tongue. "Could you, maybe, train me to win a different
title?" Her facade started to break as she neared the end of the
sentence, realising how ridiculous of a suggestion that was,
joking or not, and she then started giggling uncontrollably.
Sophia's laughter was infectious, and Danni didn't try to fight
it as she laughed along with her. In fact, she made it worse.
"Why?" she said. "Are you planning to lose some weight?" She
eyed Sophia's slender frame and added, "Or maybe eat a hot dog,
or something?"
After the women got themselves under control, Danni turned back
to the business at hand. Joking about her title was fine, but
it brought up an interesting distinction between the two of
them. When it came to being stable leader, Danni had a weapon
in her arsenal that Sophia didn't.
Not that she was a bad fighter. Sophia had held her own,
especially in the beginning. In fact, she had three early
victories over the vaunted Cheryl Cole, while Danni had lost
both of her matchups with the RWB stable leader in embarrassing
fashion. But Sophia's wins had come when Cheryl was just
starting out, while Danni had faced Cole in her prime. As their
careers had progressed, Danni and Cheryl had climbed to the top
of their respective divisions, while Sophia remained stuck in
the middle of the rankings.
Sophia had the personality of a leader, but in the UMMA, nothing
counts more than your record. If she was going to lead Dragon's
stable, Sophia was going to have to find a way to step up her
game.
"Sophs," Danni began, "the whole point of being a stable leader
is to help your teammates win. Your teammates have to believe
in you and, to do that, they have to believe you can help them."
She was trying to word her phrases as delicately as possible,
hoping to take some of the sting out of what she was saying.
"Hon, you need to show them that you know how to win."
"Ouch." Sophia's pout wasn't fake this time. "Kick a girl while
she's down why don't you?"
As much as it hurt, it wasn't the comments themselves that did
the damage, but more the realisation that Sophia was afraid she
couldn't change things. It was obvious to Sophia that Danni's
intention was to motivate, not to insult, and of course, she was
right anyway. But, it was no easy thing for a leader to realise
she simply couldn't perform well enough in the cage. And she
knew the best way to lead and to motivate her fighters was to do
so by example; with wins. The fact of the matter was, as Danni
put it, Sophia barely felt she knew how to win anymore.
"I know I've been a bit rough for a while," Sophia meekly agreed
with her eyes buried in the floor, "but, I mean, it's not like
I've been trying to lose. I'm not sure what you're suggesting.
What if I can't find the right partner to improve my game
enough?" Her eyes rose, but she still had trouble maintaining
eye contact. The realisation had left her embarrassed. "What if
I'm not good enough?"
Danni wanted to say something reassuring... to tell Sophia that
she was absolutely good enough. But, the truth was that she
didn't know that to be true. No one did. Not even Sophia. She
had shown herself to be a capable fighter, but she had never
striven for more. She went with what was comfortable, and
training with Briana was a prime example of that. Briana was
good, but she was not a challenge to someone of Sophia's
experience. The only way she could be was if she advanced
quickly enough to catch Sophia skill-wise. That would be great
for Briana, but it would be a disaster for her team leader.
Sophia need to push hard and learn fast if she was going to make
this work.
Danni told herself that, while she might not know if Sophia was
good enough, she also didn't know that she wasn't. And there
was only one way to find that out.
"Well, first of all," Danni said, "let's not talk like that,
okay?" She waited for Sophia to look at her before she
continued. "If you want this, then you need to try. And you
need to have a little faith in yourself. It'll never work out
if you don't think it can."
Here she paused again. Try what? she thought. Who did the Den
have that could push Sophia?
"You need to start with someone like Kate," she suggested.
"Becks?" Sophia mused aloud. "Well, she's got skills. I can
definitely learn from her."
Considering Kate had more experience than anyone in the stable
other than McAdams and Maran, Sophia agreed she was absolutely
one of the few that could help her move in the right direction.
So, Danni's suggestion made sense. But the Dragon stable leader
still had her doubts.
"But..." she continued thoughtfully, "she's had about as much
luck at the Den as I have. We may just implode together."
Danni knew her friend had a valid point. Kate, like Sophia, had
never really gotten above the middle of the pack. Danni briefly
considered that they might push each other to improve, much like
Britney and Elisha did. But there was something special between
those two, and Danni knew it was unlikely Sophia and Kate would
bond that way. Whether or not they could even come close, only
time would tell. And time was something Sophia didn't have a
lot of. She was going to have to be willing to push forward
quickly if things didn't feel right.
"If you don't feel it's working, you'll have to try something
else. Maybe even train above your weight," Danni said.
"Rachel, Josie... even Carolyn, if it comes down to it."
Sophia was about to respond when a thick Eastern European accent
cut through the air, jolting her and Danni. Sophia's face was a
mixture of surprise, confusion and worry as they were
interrupted by an unexpected intruder.
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