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#Post#: 1367--------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 28, 2015, 10:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
This was definitely better.
No matter how they looked at it, having their arrangement made
official and pushed out into the open was preferable to the way
they'd been doing things before. No more late night training
after a full day of separate workouts. No more long weekends in
the gym. No more showing up in the morning looking like the
sleep-deprived parent of a newborn child.
And, most importantly, no more hiding or lying.
That's not to say this approach didn't have it's downside, too.
Being out in the open was uncomfortable, at first... especially
for Danni. Though Sophia had been honest with her teammates
about what was going on, Danni still felt like an outsider. It
had been one thing to be at the Den with Sophia and Briana, but
it was quite another to be there with the entire Den roster
present. She saw the furtive glances and the shared whispers,
but she didn't know what they meant. Were the others happy to
see Sophia taking steps to improve both herself and the stable?
Or were they angry that she felt the only way to fix things was
to bring members of a rival stable into their flock?
With no way to know what the others were thinking, Danni decided
to just keep her head down and focus on Sophia. If her being
there caused morale problems... well, that was really Soph's
issue to deal with.
It didn't take long for the blinder approach to go out the
window, though.
Danni was busy discussing strategy with Sophia, Bri and Steph
when a familiar voice cut in from behind.
"Looking to get your ass kicked, again?"
Steph gave no visible reaction. Both Sophia and Bri looked
shocked, and maybe even worried. But Danni...
She whirled around and came face to face with Josie Maran.
"That's funny," Danni shot back. "The way I remember it, I
dropped you like a ton of bricks the last time."
Josie shook her head dismissively. "Nope, don't remember that
one. Are you sure that wasn't in your dreams?"
"More like your nightmares," Danni quipped.
Danni and Josie seemed to stare each other down for a half
minute. Briana was visibly starting to sweat. She looked ready
to jump in the middle and break it up, but Sophia touched her
arm lightly as she watched, letting Bri know to wait a moment.
She couldn't quite tell if they were about to get into it or
not. As long as the Den had existed, Sophia had witnessed only
the utmost of respect from Josie, so this was odd. Still, she
remained cautious. The fact was she didn't know exactly how
Josie felt about the RSI/Den situation.
"You know, I seem to recall laying you out a few times, too,"
Josie replied. "There was even that one time I literally
smashed..."
"Don't you dare bring that up," Danni said sternly.
Neither Sophia nor Bri knew what the two veteran fighters were
talking about, but, as the staring contest resumed, even Sophs
was starting to think they might have to do something.
Suddenly, Josie and Danni practically launched into a hug.
Sophia and Bri simultaneously let out a massive sigh of relief.
"It's been a while, champ," Josie greeted the Rampage leader
with a grin.
"How have you been, Josie?" Danni asked, with a smile of her
own.
"Eh, you know... can't complain."
"Well, you could, but no one would care, right?" Danni said.
"Quite true."
"I hate to break up the reunion," Sophia said, "but would
someone care to tell me what the hell is going on here?"
Danni and Josie both laughed.
"Before Josie discovered her love of cupcakes..." Danni began.
"Hey!" Josie interjected, giving Danni a playful shove.
"...she was one of the top welterweights in the UMMA."
"We had some great battles," Josie said.
"We did," Danni agreed. "In fact, I learned a lot from fighting
you. It took me a long time to figure you out."
"Yeah well, you certainly seem to have things figured out, now.
Not only a long time champion, but also the leader of one of the
strongest stables in the UMMA."
Danni shrugged. "Things have been pretty good," she said
modestly.
Josie made a face at that, but decided not to press it.
"Well, I can't say I miss meeting you in the cage, but it's good
to see you. You're the talk of the stable right now, you know."
Danni's smile faded quickly.
"I'm sure," she said seriously. "Having Steph and I here must
have the place in an uproar."
"An uproar?" Josie questioned sceptically. "I'd rather say it's
somewhere between states of confusion and intrigue. Everyone
takes things differently, but I think most are reacting
favourably. Trust me, you won't have to worry about the women
here. It would seem you and they want the same thing."
"Most?" Sophia asked tentatively.
Josie shrugged. "Well, Olga's not exactly a picture of perfect
moral health, so if you wish to discount her I think we can say
'all'."
Danni smiled. "No need to worry. Olga and I are close friends,
now."
Sophia snickered.
Briana's gaze shifted back and forth between the stable leaders,
waiting for an explanation. When none came, she decided to just
give it up.
"Don't forget her muppet, Adele," she said.
Danni gave a weird look. "You mean puppet?"
"Nope," Briana said shaking her head. "She's a muppet. An
absolute muppet of a woman."
"But I like the muppets," Sophia protested.
"Anyway," Josie continued, giving Danni a serious look. "If you
discount Olga and her muppet, who just like to be difficult, I
think you'll find the crowd to be an approving and appreciative
one with time."
"I'm glad to hear that," Danni said. "I wouldn't want to be
here if I was causing trouble."
Briana was smiling. "Josie, you're like the Den's matriarch."
Josie's brow furrowed disapprovingly. "Careful Briana, I don't
take kindly to being called fat AND old in the space of a few
minutes."
"I didn't mean to imply you were old," Briana protested. "More
like... seasoned."
"Still sounds like 'old' to me," Josie countered.
"Me, too," Danni agreed. "Bri, maybe you should take Josie over
there and show her how 'seasoned' she is."
"Yeah, Bri," Josie said. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."
"No... wait," Briana said, "How did this happen?"
She turned to Josie and said, "I think maybe you misunderstood.
I was simply complimenting the vast knowledge and understanding
you bring to the stable."
Then she turned to Danni and said, "And you, stop helping. I
get myself in plenty of trouble all by myself."
"Amen, to that," Sophia agreed.
Danni laughed and turned back to Josie.
"Thanks for coming over," she said. "Not knowing what the others
were thinking was bothering me more than I'd realized. I feel
better."
"Glad to help," Josie said. "And it really is good to see you."
"You too," Danni said with a smile.
#Post#: 1368--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 28, 2015, 10:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
As Josie took her leave, Steph said, "Can we get back to work,
now?"
Contrary to Danni, Steph never appeared uncomfortable with the
situation they were in. In fact, in her customary style, she
didn't seem to give a sh*t what anyone else was thinking. As
far as she was concerned, her mission was to help Sophia get her
act together, and the tools at her disposal were Danni and
Briana. End of story.
Sophia and Bri didn't really know what to make of Steph at
first, and that was just how Steph liked it. She deliberately
made herself hard to know... displaying little desire to
influence how she was viewed or engage in pleasantries with
people. It was almost as if she preferred to let others believe
she was her WWE character. To put it mildly, that character is
not a very nice person.
Danni knew that, to find the real Steph, you had to dig deeper.
Sure, she seemed cranky and difficult on the surface. With a
little effort, though, you'd find she was actually caring to a
fault... even friendly, in her own way. Above all, she was
someone you would want at your side when times got tough.
Meanwhile, those who weren't willing to put in that effort got
nothing more than the cold shoulder. Which, Danni reasoned, was
exactly the way Steph wanted it to be.
On the very first day, after the four women briefly exchanged
greetings, Steph said, "Sophia, why don't you and Danni head for
the cage?"
Sophia was taken aback. Since when was Stephanie McMahon in
charge? She looked at Bri, who looked just as bewildered.
Then, she turned to Danni, who nodded softly, as if to say,
"Just give it a chance."
"Uhm... okay," Sophia managed, as she slowly retreated.
As Danni stepped forward to follow, she leaned over to Steph and
whispered, "Try to be nice."
"I am being nice," Steph replied. "I haven't yelled at anyone,
yet."
Danni smiled, shook her head and made her way to the cage where
Sophia was waiting.
That left Briana standing uncomfortably next to Steph.
"So," Steph said, "anything I should know before we start?"
"Are you..." Briana stammered. "Are you talking to me?"
Steph raised an eyebrow.
"Do you see someone else standing here?"
"Uhm, right," Bri said. ""Uh... know about what?"
"About Sophia," Steph said, struggling to keep her voice level
and not sound condescending. "Anything particular you've
noticed about her game?"
"Oh." Bri was scattered and she couldn't remember being
intimidated by anyone like she was by Steph. There was something
about just her mere presence. And her seriousness. Seriousness
was Bri's kryptonite.
"Sophia's game?" She repeated aloud, trying to think. Her nerves
got the better of her and she moved into her comfort zone;
sarcasm. "Well, I've noticed it's not as good as mine," she
said, winking cheekily.
Steph gave her nothing and Bri's grin faded. Sh*t, she thought.
Tough crowd.
As Steph remained next to her, giving no reaction beyond an
expectant stare, Bri felt enormous pressure to think of
something smarter to say about Sophia's game.
"Um," she said, starting over, "Danni's been working hard to
break Sophia out of her habit of trying to predict her
opponent's moves. She still needs confidence though. It's almost
as if she's afraid to dictate the match herself. She's learned
to do better with that against Danni, but I don't know how well
she'll translate that to the league against other opponents.
She's not the most confident fighter. She probably needs to get
out of her own head."
Bri stopped and glanced up at Steph, trying to judge her
reaction as if there was a right and wrong answer. She couldn't
help but feel like she was back at school. And she hated that
feeling, too.
Steph took a moment to digest the information Bri had given her,
then gave a firm nod and turned her attention to the two
fighters in the cage.
Bri raised an eyebrow, then turned to the cage, as well.
I guess that's that, she thought.
"Just start things off however you've been doing it," Steph said
through the side of the cage. "Let me watch for a little
while."
Danni nodded, then turned to Sophia, who looked very unsure.
"Steph doesn't bite," Danni said.
"You sure about that?"
Danni smiled. "Just focus on what we've been working on," she
said. "Forget about Steph. Just let her do her thing."
Sophia shrugged. "Alright," she said, raising her guard as she
wondered just what this day had in store for her.
The two stable leaders proceeded to spar for about five minutes.
For a while, Sophia seemed able to hang with her counterpart.
In fact, she seemed to be dictating the action... pressuring
Danni with a flurry of punches, then backing out of range before
the RSI fighter could counter. She mixed up her combinations
well, and she was able to score with a few good shots. All in
all, she looked pretty damn good. Certainly a far cry from the
the way she'd looked in the beginning.
On the other side, Danni watched her opponent closely, her guard
always up. She pivoted to keep Sophia in front of her, but
moved little otherwise. When Sophia attacked, she was quick to
respond and defend herself, rendering most of Sophia's punches
ineffective. Sometimes, she would counter with a heavy
combination of her own. But, mostly, she just jabbed Sophia
away, and watched.
Stephanie stoically watched the action, while Briana split her
time between the cage and watching Steph. McMahon never said a
word, and she hardly moved, at all. Twice, Bri thought she
might have actually fallen asleep.
Sophia waded in again, testing Danni with the jab, then coming
right back with a combination. Jab, cross... she turned and
planted to throw a hook to the body, but it never happened. Her
plan was cut short as Danni's right hand crashed into her face.
Sophia stumbled away, both from the force of the blow and the
shock of how quickly Danni had moved. Danni stayed on her,
driving a left into her side. Suddenly, Sophia was against the
fence and in big trouble. She instinctively tried to slide left
and escape, but ended up sliding directly into a right hook from
Danni. The impact whipped her head to the right and dazed her
badly.
"Stop! Stop!" she said, throwing her hands up in front of her.
Danni let her hands fall to her sides and stood upright.
Contrary to how it had looked, Sophia was not begging for mercy.
During the course of the training, the women had agreed that
something had to change. Going hard was fine, but every round
of sparring couldn't end with one of them practically knocked
unconscious. So, they started calling for a stop in the action
when one was in serious trouble.
Whatever Sophia's mistake had been, it was already done. Danni
continuing to pound away wasn't going to help her figure it out.
And it would be preferable if Sophia could focus on the problem
with a clear head, instead of wondering where all the little
birdies had come from.
Steph looked at Danni and waited. Danni nodded at her, silently
telling her to not to hold back. She should critique Sophia the
same as she would anyone else.
#Post#: 1369--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 28, 2015, 10:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"That was pretty good," Steph said, mostly just to soften what
was coming next, "but I wonder what your plan was."
"My plan?" Sophia said.
"Yeah," Steph said. She offered no further explanation.
Sophia looked at Briana, who shrugged.
"I'm not sure what you mean," Sophia said.
"You had a lot going on there," Steph said. "Lots of movement.
Good combinations. But, I don't understand what you were trying
to do."
Sophia thought a moment, then shrugged. "I was trying to knock
Danni on her ass," she said with a smile.
Steph's expression didn't change.
"That's the result you want," she said, "but I'm asking how you
were planning to do it."
Sophia just stood silently. With my fists didn't seem to be the
answer McMahon was looking for, but she didn't know what else to
say.
"Without a plan, you're just wasting energy," Stephanie
continued. "You're dancing all around that cage, but you're not
actually doing anything. Danni defended almost everything you
threw."
Briana gave a small shrug. Despite the fact that Sophia's
approach had looked good, she had to admit that Steph was right.
She never really did any damage to Danni.
Sophia, meanwhile, looked a little dejected. After weeks of
training and improving, this was not what she wanted to hear.
And Steph was far from finished.
"Also," she said, "you didn't move Danni, at all."
"Move her?"
"Yeah. She basically stood in the center of the cage while you
circled around her. You were doing all the work."
"How do I move her?" the Dragon fighter asked.
"Follow through," Steph answered. "Don't just attack then run
away. Keep coming. Make Danni be the one to back up."
Sophia didn't like the way McMahon had implied she was running
away.
"But, if I stay there, I'll be inside her range."
Steph spread her hands in front of her.
"Danni's a little taller than you are," she said, "so there's no
way you can be close enough to hit her without her being able to
hit you. And you can't win if you can't hit her."
Sophia blew out a sigh. Ten minutes ago, she had been pretty
happy with the improvements she'd made in the past few weeks.
In less than five, Stephanie McMahon had blown that all away.
Danni caught the look on her friend's face.
"Steph just tells it like it is," she said.
"She makes it sound like I'm hopeless," Sophia responded.
Danni shook her head.
"What did I just say?" she asked. "Steph never 'makes it sound'
like anything. If she thought you were hopeless, she'd have
said it."
Sophia looked at Danni for a moment, then turned back to Steph.
"Let's say you're right..."
"I am."
"...how did Danni do what she did? It was like she knew what
was coming."
"She saw something," Steph said simply.
Sophia looked at Danni, who nodded.
"What did you see?"
Danni nodded toward Steph, indicating that Sophia needed to
direct her question to her. Before Steph took over as the head
of RSI's development program, Danni had handled most of the
training. She was still heavily involved on that front, and
Stephanie welcomed the help. Though they had very different
styles, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. They
quickly discovered that one often had success where the other
did not. To that end, they agreed to keep things separate.
Neither interfered when the other was training someone.
Steph was training Sophia now. So, unless Steph asked her for
her input directly, Danni was nothing more than Sophia's
sparring partner.
"Figure it out," Steph said.
"Wow," Sophia said. "That's helpful."
"Do it again," Steph said.
Sophia looked at Danni again.
"She knows what she's doing," Danni said.
"She's just telling me what I did wrong," Sophia shot back.
"She's not teaching me anything."
"Do you trust me?" Danni said.
"Well, yeah..."
"Then trust me when I say you need to trust her."
They eyed each other for a moment.
"Alright," Sophia said doubtfully, as she set her guard again.
#Post#: 1370--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 28, 2015, 10:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Briana was having similar thoughts.
"Aren't you going to tell her how to fix what she did wrong?"
she asked.
"She needs to figure some things out for herself," Steph
answered as the two stable leaders began to spar again.
"What sense does that make?"
"If I have to explain every single thing to her, we're going to
be here for the rest of our lives. The event is in three weeks,
so we don't have that kind of time."
Huh, Briana thought to herself. I guess it does make sense.
"I guess you're right," she said. "After all, if it takes the
rest of our lives, we'll all be dead. Won't do her much good,
then."
Steph remained expressionless as she continued to watch the
fighters in the cage.
"That was a joke," Bri clarified.
"It was funny," Steph said flatly.
Briana shook her head.
"There's something wrong with you."
"So I've been told."
Bri looked intently at RSI's lead trainer.
"I'm going to break you," she said finally.
"You would not be the first to try."
In the cage, Sophia tried working on some of what McMahon had
mentioned. When she attacked, she pressed harder... staying
inside Danni's range longer to keep the pressure on. Her
initial attempts were disastrous. Danni was able to defend and
counter easily, and Sophia absorbed a lot of punishment while
doing little damage of her own.
"You're going to have to defend better to stay inside," Steph
said. "Don't just trade punches with her."
Sophia tried, but saying it was a lot easier than doing it. She
kept at it, though. Once, twice... a dozen more times. Slowly,
she improved... taking a little less damage on each exchange.
She still wasn't having any luck getting to Danni, though.
"Can't just stay there all the time, either," Steph called out.
"You have to mix it up. Inside, outside. Inside, outside.
Make her wonder whether you'll stay or not."
On the next attack, Sophia decided to try a bigger combination,
and then get back out of range. Jab, cross... she turned for
the hook and SMACK! Danni belted her with the right again.
Sophia threw her hands up, more out of disgust than trying to
mount any kind of defense. It mattered little, as Danni hadn't
followed.
"That was better," Steph said.
Sophia scowled. How could it be better? She hit me in the same
place, with the same punch. It was exactly the same.
"You're making it too easy, though," Steph continued. "You're
moving all over the place, but you're coming straight in at her.
Use that movement to change your angle. Don't walk into her
defense. Slip and then attack quickly. Try to catch her before
she gets herself square."
Sophia was looking at Steph, but her eyes were unfocused as she
thought about what McMahon had said.
Was that the secret? she thought. Am I walking right into
Danni's trap?
She set her guard again and nodded at Danni.
Since Steph wasn't exactly the conversational type, Briana had
sort of wandered away. She spent her time drifting around the
cage and studying the action inside.
This time, Sophia was more deliberate in her approach as she
tried to remember everything at once. She used her jab to slip
inside on Danni, then tried to catch her with a quick hook
downstairs. Danni caught most of the blow with her elbow and
countered with a straight right. Sophia caught that on her
guard, then threw a right of her own. Danni was slow getting
her hands up, and the punch slipped through. Danni gathered
herself quickly, but Sophia had backed out of range before she
could counter again.
Sophia circled a little, then pressed forward behind the jab
again. She started to move inside, then slipped right and threw
another heavy right hand. Danni adjusted quickly and blocked
the punch, then moved right, as well. She countered with a
right as she moved, and the punch crashed into Sophia's chin.
"Remember to keep the guard up," Steph said. "Your opponent's
not going to wait around while you plot out your moves."
She's right, Sophia scolded herself. I'm thinking too much,
now.
Danni slowed her movement and peeked at her friend over her
guard, waiting to see what Sophia tried next.
The Dragon leader stepped forward. She got it in her head to
try that combo again, but to try throwing it from an off angle
to see if Danni had as much success defending it.
She closed the distance... threw the jab... slipped left as she
jabbed again... threw the cross, and then... SMACK! She was
sent reeling again by the big right hand.
"Dammit!" she yelled.
"That was pretty good," Steph said.
"How can you say that?" Sophia said angrily. "Every time we do
it, it ends with me getting smashed in the face."
"Yeah, that's a problem," Steph answered, "but your movement was
better. Working the angles got you in a little further. You
got her to move off her spot."
"Right," Sophia said, "and then she punched me in the face."
"Figure it out," Steph repeated.
Sophia shook her head and brought her gloves up in front of her.
As the spar resumed, she decided to forget the longer combo for
a while. She focused on speed. She would close on Danni, fire
off a punch or maybe a short combo, then slide away. Sometimes,
she would work inside, trade punches for a while, then get out
of there. She kept herself moving, and worked angles to get
Danni moving, as well. She quickly discovered that keeping
Danni on her toes opened new angles to attack, and she worked
those, too. The longer the spar went, the more fluid things
felt. She developed a nice rhythm to her movements, while still
mixing her attacks to keep from becoming predictable.
It was the longest spar of the day, by far. In all, it lasted
over twenty minutes. They stopped occasionally so the women
could catch their breath and Steph could offer some advice, but
then they'd get right back to it. Most importantly, Sophia
never had to call for a stop because she was in trouble. She
stood her ground, and gave as good as she got. She focused on
what she needed to do, and she watched Danni closely... hoping
to find things she could exploit.
Through it all, it never registered that she was standing
toe-to-toe with the champion of her division. She was simply
too busy with everything else.
That, and she was obsessed with finding a way to land that
combination. After a particularly brutal inside exchange with
her opponent, she thought she saw a way.
She closed and threw the jab, then slid right and jabbed again.
Danni turned to square herself, and Sophia immediately switched
directions. The move left Danni wide-open, and Sophia snapped
her head back with the lead jab. Danni fought through it and
turned in time to stop the cross, but Sophia was still way ahead
of her defense. The Dragon fighter almost smiled as she turned
for the hook she knew Danni couldn't stop and... SMACK!
The punch caught her so cleanly that Sophia lost her footing and
fell to the canvas.
She sat up immediately, ripped her gloves from her hands and
threw them, one at a time, across the cage.
"I give up!" she said frustratedly.
Steph looked at Danni, and they silently agreed that sparring
was finished for today. Sophia was clearly out of patience, and
there was little hope she'd learn anything new in this state.
Besides... it had already been a very fruitful day.
#Post#: 1371--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 28, 2015, 10:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"That last round was really good," Steph said.
Sophia had had enough.
"Is this some sort of joke?" she said. "You keep telling me how
good I was, and yet here I am on my ass."
No one said anything for a moment as Sophia dragged herself back
to her feet.
"It's a simple combination," she continued, "but I can't land
it. I can't even finish throwing it. She keeps stopping me
with that same punch. Like she's reading my mind."
"I told you, she..."
"I know, I know!" Sophia cut in. "She sees something. What the
hell does that even mean? What does she see?"
"It's your feet," said Briana, who was standing almost directly
across the cage from Stephanie.
It was the first words she had said in nearly forty-five
minutes. Danni and Sophia had practically forgotten she was
there.
Steph, on the other hand, had been keeping a very interested eye
on her.
All three women now turned and looked at the younger Dragon
fighter.
"Don't be ridiculous, Bri," Sophia said. "What do my feet have
to do with anything?"
"Your friend is right," Steph said.
Sophia turned and stared blankly at Steph. She then gave the
same blank look to Danni, who nodded.
"I don't understand," she muttered.
"It's actually your whole body," Danni said, "but your feet are
a big part of it."
Sophia just stood there for a moment.
"Explain," she said finally.
"When you throw the one-two, everything is fine," Danni said.
"The jab is crisp, and you turn and get your weight behind the
cross, just like you're supposed to. But, when you try to build
off of it, you get lazy."
Briana slowly made her way around the cage and joined the group.
"You don't turn into the cross," Danni continued. "As Bri said,
the biggest tell is that you don't set your feet, but it's more
than that. You don't put your body into the punch. You just
kinda push it out there."
Sophia was confused. She'd been throwing that combination for
years. It was one of the first combos you learn when you're
starting out. The idea that she wasn't doing it right sounded
silly.
"Why would I do that?" she asked.
"In that combo, the hook is the big payoff," Steph said.
"You're cheating to get to it quicker. By not putting
everything into the cross, it's easier to shift your weight the
other way and get to the hook faster."
"Not fast enough," Sophia lamented.
"Once I knew what was coming, you had no chance," Danni said.
"I knew what I was going to do before you even finished the
cross."
"You knew I had this problem?" she asked Danni.
Danni shook her head.
"Not right away," she answered. "I didn't see it until after we
started going at it a little harder. To be honest, it's not
that noticeable. Someone would have to fight you quite a bit to
pick up on it."
Sophia's face fell.
"Someone like Elodie Frege."
Danni nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I wish I had noticed it before the last
event."
Sophia shrugged dismissively. There was no way she would hold
Danni responsible for her issues with Frege.
"Still," she said, "you did notice it. What didn't you tell
me?"
"We were working on a million things at once," Danni said.
"This didn't seem like that big a problem. I figured we could
iron it out along the way."
"But, you told Stephanie."
"I mentioned it to her, just so she would be aware. It was her
idea to play a little good cop, bad cop with it."
Both Dragon women turned and looked at Stephanie, whose face
remained expressionless.
"I was good cop," Danni said. "Just in case anyone was
confused."
A flash of anger coursed through Sophia.
"So, while you two were playing games, we wasted a whole day,"
she snapped.
"Not even close," Steph said.
Sophia narrowed her eyes at McMahon.
"I've been feeding you pointers, and you've been absorbing them
like a sponge," Steph said. "You thought I was helping you
solve the problem with the combo."
"But, you weren't," Sophia said.
"No. I was helping you with everything else, but I wanted you
to keep struggling with that."
"Why?"
"While you were obsessing over Danni smacking you in the mouth,
you proved what you could really do."
Having just scraped herself off the mat, Sophia found that a
little hard to believe.
"What?" she said flatly.
"You think too much, Sophia," Steph said. "You're fighting the
whole fight in your head. That's never going to work."
That was much easier to buy into. After all, it was exactly
what she and Danni had been working on when the injury happened.
"We don't have time to coach you throught it," Steph continued.
"You've got Frege again in just a few weeks. We needed to find
a way to get you to believe in how good you can be, and we
needed it fast. So, we tried giving you something else to think
about, and guess what. It worked. While you were worrying
about how easily Danni was beating you on the combo, you did
everything else right. That last spar was excellent."
Sophia still looked skeptical.
"She's not wrong, Sophs," Bri chimed in. "You just went back
and forth with Danni f*cking Harris for what felt like forever."
"That's another thing," Danni cut in. "You need to stop saying
that. Both of you."
Sophia and Briana were stunned.
"We didn't know it was pissing you off," Bri said.
"It's not. In fact, I thought it was funny, too."
Then, she pointed at Sophia and said, "This is about you. I
think when you say my name that way, it's not just you being
cute. I think you believe it. You believe I'm so much better
than you are, but I'm not. You showed that today. That's what
you need to believe."
"Maybe I'll believe it when I start winning," Sophia whined,
still throwing skeptical looks towards the others.
"Maybe you'll start winning when you believe it," Bri corrected
softly.
Sophia scoffed. "Ladies and gentlemen, special comments by
Featherweight prospect Briana Evigan."
Bri crossed her arms, looking rather unamused. "You get really
snide when you're frustrated."
"Snipe all you want, Sophs," Danni said, cutting in quickly.
"Bri's right. The only one standing in your way is you."
Sophia glanced between the two of them, and then at Steph, who
was giving very little away from her expression. She narrowed
her eyes at the RSI fighter.
"You ever play poker? I think you'd be really good."
Still nothing.
"And you'd be terrible," Bri said frustratedly. "You'd get two
bad hands in a row and cuss out the dealer. Like clockwork."
Sophia saw her friend's annoyance and decided she'd better slow
down and take that deep breath. Then, she realised Bri was
probably right. They all were. She also realised she'd best
listen and learn from it. Not just about what they had to say
about her technique, but about her attitude and mindset in the
cage. After all, that's why they were there. It would be
pointless continuously dismissing them in frustration.
"I'm sorry," she managed, glancing back at Bri. Her gaze then
shifted to Danni. "You're right. I do think you're much better
than me. I mean, you've proven it. I've proven nothing but how
far someone can fall from grace."
"Oh, save me," Bri smirked. "We're not interested in your sob
story. Just in what you're capable of."
"I..." Danni groped for more delicate phrasing, but eventually
realized Bri's approach was just what was needed. "No. Yeah...
what she said."
Sophia looked over to Steph, aiming for a third opinion. Steph
remained unresponsive.
"No thoughts?" Sophia asked.
Steph shrugged.
"If you can't believe in yourself," Danni continued, "it's just
going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy from the start. These
doubts are killing you. You have to get out of your own head."
Bri smirked. "I know it's a pretty head and all, but seriously,
it's not worth spending that much time in there."
Sophia's eyes rolled. "I stand by my 'special comments' comment.
You're a clown."
"If you keep losing just because you think you're supposed to,
then who's the real clown?" Steph said calmly.
Sophia turned to face McMahon, shocked at the way her casual,
smartass remark had been so abruptly turned against her. She
had no way of knowing if the Steph's comment was meant as an
attack on her, or a defense of Bri. Not that it mattered, at
that moment.
Steph stared her down intently, almost daring her to come up
with an answer. Having none, Sophia just stared back. As the
silence stretched on, the tension grew.
And Bri hated tension as much as she hated seriousness.
She looped an arm across Steph's shoulders, looked at Sophia and
said, "See? Steph's the sort who can appreciate the wisdom of
clowns."
Both Sophia and Danni broke into big smiles.
Meanwhile, the corners of Stephanie's mouth twitched
ever-so-slightly. You had to be paying close attention to even
notice it.
Briana, though, was paying very close attention.
"That was a smile!" she exclaimed.
"You say so," Steph said.
"Oh, no you don't. That was a smile. I saw it."
Steph just stood there, looking her usual irritable self.
"Give it up, Bri. You'll never get her to admit it," Danni
said.
"Shut up, Harris," Steph said.
Danni looked at Sophia.
"I think we're done for today," she said. "Think about what we
said, and show up tomorrow ready to be the fighter we all know
you can be."
"I'll try," Sophia said.
Danni shook her head.
"There's no more time to try," Danni said. "Tomorrow, we do."
Sophia smiled. Danni was right. And, if she couldn't find the
confidence she needed within herself, she would have to borrow
some of the faith her friends had in her until she could.
"Alright," she said. "Tomorrow we do."
The two friends made their way to the locker room, with Briana
and Stephanie trailing behind.
"I'm starting to like you, McMahon," Bri said. "I think we're
making progress."
Steph gave a shrug with a little half-nod.
"I'm hating you less."
"See? That's what I'm saying. Before you know it, we'll be
like peas in a pod."
"I'm hating you more, now."
"Meh," Bri said with a dismissive wave. "We'll work on it."
#Post#: 1373--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 20 - Driven to Distraction
By: RampageSports Date: March 29, 2015, 10:01 pm
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Just wanted to add a little extra note. Real life got in the
way quite a bit lately, which bumped us off of our schedule. On
top of that, we have some scheduling conflicts we knew were
coming that have now arrived. So, it looks like we won't be
able to finish up this story for a couple of weeks, at least.
Life... what can you do? ;)
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