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#Post#: 1444--------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 23 - The New Way Forward
By: Dragons Den Date: May 1, 2015, 3:35 pm
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Okay, this is the final chapter to this story. :'(
Many thanks to Richelle for being, well, awesome. Hopefully
anyone who has read all this has enjoyed it, and we hope you
enjoy this last bit. Thanks for reading, folks!
The Friendship Test - Chapter 23 - The New Way Forward
Danni and Sophia stood to one side of the open training area at
the Dragon's Den facility.
"So, what do you think?" Danni asked.
Both women took a moment to survey the scene.
A few feet away, RSI's Torrie Wilson stood chatting with
longtime veteran Monica Belluci of Dragon's Den as Hayley Atwell
and Allira Cohrs sparred in the cage behind them. The remaining
super heavyweights... all young and relatively inexperienced...
were arrayed around the cage, waiting to see what the two senior
fighters had to say about the action happening inside.
A little further into the room, FAC heavyweight champion
Caroline Wozniacki... one of the Den's finest fighters... stood
bracketed by Catherine Bell and Petra Cubonova of RSI. The
three were trading observations as young knockout artist
Samantha "Hammer" Hoopes was trading punches with RSI's Marzia
Prince. Though Marzia already had some great wins in her
fledgling career, she had yet to face someone like Hoopes...
whose boxing skills rivaled her own. On top of that, both had
the kind of fearsome power that could end a fight in one punch.
Neither appeared to require medical attention yet, so... so far,
so good.
Off to the right, a trio of champions led the featherweight
group, with Emma Watson showing no signs of intimidation in the
face of the combined experience of her partner, Tiffany Mulheron
and the Den's Rachel McAdams. Rachel actually had more wins
than Emma had total fights, but Danni never expected that to be
a problem. Emma's default approach to everything was a soft
touch behind that winning smile of hers. True, many an opponent
had experienced the ruthless efficiency and frightening power of
Emma in the cage. And a few, including Danni, had even gotten a
glimpse of Emma's dark side. But, you had to work pretty hard
to make that Emma appear. Up front, she was always friendly and
eminently likeable. She didn't have to command respect because
others gave it to her willingly. On top of that, Rachel
displayed every ounce of the confidence that comes from
prolonged and continuous success. She felt no need to impress,
and she treated the younger fighter with the esteem of a
contemporary from the outset. That was good news for the
collection of rookies gathered around them... the combined
talent and experience they were going to have available to help
guide them was almost unimaginable.
On the far side of the room, Emily VanCamp was basically holding
court. As with the featherweights, the Den had a wealth of
talented young fighters at the lightweight level, and all of
them seemed taken by the presence of a champion who would not
only deign to speak to them but was actually willing to help
them develop. Em was using the steps leading to the cage as a
platform, while Joss Stone and Roselyn Sanchez stood just to the
other side of the wire mesh, waiting to demonstrate whatever
technique Emily was describing.
The Den's lightweight champion, Olga Kurylenko, was nowhere to
be found. Also unaccounted for was her "muppet," Adele
Exarchopoulos.
Neither Danni nor Sophia were sad to see them missing.
Even at middleweight, things were going swimmingly. Danni had
worried a little about that one. The bond between Britney
Spears and Elisha Cuthbert was nearly impossible to penetrate.
If they got it in their head to exclude someone, then that was
that. But, they were both pros, and, deep down, Danni had fully
expected them to do whatever they could to make this work. On
top of that, Josie Maran had basically the same work ethic as
the dynamic duo. She had her lighter side, but, when it was
time to get serious, she was fully capable of focusing in and
getting down to business.
Sophia nodded confidently.
"It's impressive," she said.
Both stable leaders knew it was too soon to say how this
experiment would turn out. Everyone involved was making a
concerted effort to get along in the early going, but that
wouldn't last forever. Problems were bound to crop up.
Still... they couldn't have asked for a better beginning.
In the center of it all, stood Stephanie McMahon, stoically
looking over the room like a general in a military campaign.
Next to her stood Briana Evigan, waving her arms emphatically as
she tried to persuade Steph on some detail or other.
Danni and Sophia headed in that direction.
"All I'm saying is that we don't have to keep them separated
like this," they heard Bri say as they approached. "A
featherweight isn't going to curl up and die just because she
ends up sparring with a welterweight."
"And I'm saying, have a little patience," Steph replied without
taking her eyes off of her surroundings. "This breakdown is
fine, for now. As time goes on, we'll see what develops."
Sophia had no problem interrupting their debate as she and Danni
neared. "Are you two arguing strategy already?"
Briana rested her arms to her side with a sigh and glanced over
at the two stable leaders. "Steph's being stubborn," Bri whined.
"Oh, because no-one's ever called you that," Sophia quipped
sarcastically.
Steph's mouth moved, but that was the extent of her reaction.
"Not stubborn - correct."
"See what I mean?" Bri said, giving Danni and Sophia a look.
"You realise everyone else is managing to get on like a house on
fire, while you two are doing the only squabbling," Danni
smirked.
"We're not squabbling," Bri and Steph both protested in unison.
Sophia rolled her eyes at the pair. "Oh sh*t, it's happening.
Danni, go find an exorcist. Quickly."
"Ha. Ha," Briana mocked. "We're not squabbling. We're just
discussing things. Like, contingency plans."
"Which," Steph continued, "we have no need for just yet.
Patience, Briana."
"As Danni said, things seems to be going well," Sophia
interjected. "Perhaps we can take our time on that contingency
plan, Bri. If it's broke, don't fix it, yeah?"
Briana shrugged. "Fine. I wasn't fighting it anyway. We were
discussing. Because we have that capability. Now if you don't
mind, we need to get back to work."
Bri dramatically turned her nose in the air and adopted the same
stance as Steph, similarly scanning the room as if with purpose.
Sophia leaned closer to Danni, but didn't bother lowering her
voice. "I'm starting to worry about those two."
Danni agreed. "It's pretty scary. Like Bri is being
assimilated."
Briana spun around and stuck her tongue out at the pair.
"Okay," Danni added, "maybe not totally assimilated."
"Actually," Steph said seriously, "it occurs to me that we have
a little bit of an issue."
"Oh?" Sophia said.
"I'm the only one here who is officially in charge of training.
I know we've all been working together on it, and that's fine.
But, as this goes on, we're going to need a more detailed
development plan. At RSI, I do that, but I'm not comfortable
doing it alone for the combined group. I think it would be best
if the Den appointed someone to a similar role. Someone to be
my counterpart."
Sophia and Briana looked at each other, both realizing that
Steph had a point.
Danni, meanwhile, knew that Steph was full of sh*t. One of the
reasons she was so effective at her job was that no one really
interfered with her. She preferred to work alone, and she would
have had no problem organizing the training for both stables.
No... there was only one reason Danni could think of for Steph
to bring this up. She wanted to give Briana her due. And even
though she'd sort of seen it coming, it still took Danni by
surprise.
"Woah," she said, giving Steph a little nod.
Sophia saw the look that passed between the RSI teammates, and
caught on quickly.
"Did you have someone in mind?" she asked Stephanie.
Steph hooked a thumb in Bri's direction and said, "She could
probably do it."
Bri looked from the thumb to Steph, and then over to Sophia.
"Oh, no!" she said. "No, no, no! That sounds like
responsibility, and I'll be having none of that, thank you."
"Why not?" Danni put in. "You're already doing it."
"Yeah," Sophia added, "and you two already seem to have a good
rapport going."
"No," Briana repeated. "No way! I can't be Steph!"
"No one could ever be me," Steph said flatly.
That stopped Briana cold. She slowly turned and arched an
eyebrow in Steph's direction.
"That was a joke," Steph said.
"It was funny," Briana said with a smile.
But, it didn't take long for her to turn serious again.
"Look, I appreciate..."
"Stop whining," Steph cut in.
"Hey, wait a second," Bri said, sounding a little hurt.
But Steph didn't wait.
"You're the one who spotted what Sophia was doing wrong with the
combo in the beginning. You're the one who figured out how to
snap her out of her panic attack at OFN. You know your
techniques and you're good at the people thing, which is not
really my strong suit."
"That's why they keep me around," Danni interjected.
"You know what you're doing, and you care about your teammates,"
Steph continued. "They respect you, and they're lucky to have
you."
Bri was rendered speechless. By now, she knew Steph well enough
to know, coming from her, this was the equivalent of glowing
praise.
"Steph... I don't know what to say."
"Just say you'll do it, and let's get back to work," Steph said.
Bri regarded Steph a moment longer. Then she shrugged, turned to
Sophia and said, "Okay. I'll do it."
"Good," Steph said. "Now, let's go figure out how we're going
to make sense of all this."
As they walked away, Bri had a thought.
"Hey," she said, "this means you have to listen to me now."
"No," Steph said, "it means no such thing."
"No, I think it does."
"In that little speech I just gave, did you hear me include
'thinking' on the list of things you do well? No. And there's
a reason for that."
They walked a few more steps before Bri persisted.
"I still think it does."
Steph sighed. "You've had the job less than a minute, and
you're already aggravating the sh*t out of me."
"I was aggravating the sh*t out of you before," Briana
countered. "It just feels different now that I'm 'officially'
aggravating the sh*t out of you."
The two stable leaders each wore a bemused grin as they watched
the pair go.
"Did you ever think..." Sophia began.
"No," Danni said. "Never."
#Post#: 1445--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 23 - The New Way Forward
By: Dragons Den Date: May 1, 2015, 3:37 pm
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They strolled over and observed the light heavyweights more
closely. There was certainly the potential for trouble, here.
It was a small group, and, experience wise, it was dominated by
Daniela Hantuchova and Alyson Michalka of RSI. Together, they
had nearly two-hundred fights to their credit. The other four
fighters in the group combined for less than one hundred. That
meant a lot of wisdom and knowledge to be shared, but the trick
was not to step on anyone else's toes. The Den's Susan Ward
might not have that same kind of experience, but she wasn't a
rookie, either. But, from the outside, it appeared to be
working. Susan was in the cage with Aly, carefully
demonstrating techniques as Daniela explained. Daniela's accent
was sometimes difficult to deal with, but the rookies of the
group, Michele Lewin of RSI and Alice Eve of the Den, were
paying rapt attention. When you have someone with Daniela's
talent trying to help you, you don't let a little thing like an
accent get in your way.
As Danni and Sophia looked on, they heard the sound of someone
clearing her throat behind them. They turned to find Richelle
standing only a few feet away.
"Ladies," she said.
Danni gave a little nod, while Sophia returned her focus to the
cage.
Soon, all three were watching the action.
"So, what do you think?" Danni asked Richelle.
"It seems to be working out, so far," the owner replied.
She made a conscious effort to make her voice sound positive.
It was much too soon to let doubt overshadow things.
In fact, she took it a step further.
"I'd actually say it's going pretty well," she continued. "I'm
impressed with the amount of work they're all putting into
getting along. It's a good group, on both sides."
Danni nodded her agreement. Sophia acted as if she hadn't
heard.
Danni and Richelle shared a quick look, then Richelle angled her
head, indicating she'd like a moment alone with Sophia.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," Danni said.
"I'll come with you," Sophia replied, a little too quickly.
Danni looked off in the direction of the bathrooms, then back to
Sophia.
"I really need to handle this on my own," Danni said with a
smile.
"Right," Sophia said, smiling faintly.
Being alone with the RSI owner was not something that interested
her, but she didn't have a ready escape plan, so she was stuck.
After Danni left, Richelle said, "How do you think things are
going?"
"It seems fine," Sophia replied, turning her attention back to
the cage.
Richelle studied the Dragon's Den leader for a moment. It was
obvious she was uncomfortable, but it was impossible to tell
exactly why.
She took a deep breath and decided to just do what she'd come to
do.
"Listen, Sophia... I... I know I said some things that day at
the hospital. Things I shouldn't have said."
Sophia glanced back at Richelle quickly, but she was clearly
feeling too awkward or intimidated to address her straight on,
and instead feigned more of an interest than she had in what was
happening in the cage before her. Her mind darted back to that
fateful day when Danni had injured her ankle and Richelle had
told Sophia that she blamed her for everything.
Sophia forced herself to look straight ahead, but responded
meekly to the woman over her shoulder.
"It's okay," Sophia said quietly. "You didn't say anything I
didn't know."
And then she hoped, foolishly, that Richelle may be somehow
satisfied with that response and leave her to watch the Light
Heavyweights.
"I appreciate you trying to be nice," Richelle said, "but we
both know that isn't true."
Something about the look in her eyes was off... as if they were
focused more on the mesh links of the cage itself, rather than
the activity going on inside.
"I was angry," Richelle continued. "Angry at the situation.
Angry at Danni. I blamed it all on you when that simply wasn't
the case."
Sophia glanced at the owner out of the corner of her eye. But
Richelle was too lost in thought to notice.
"Going to Danni the way you did could not have been easy,"
Richelle said, "but you did it, anyway. You stepped up and did
what you felt was best... both for you and your stable. That
took guts, and I should have had more respect for that."
She turned and looked directly at Sophia.
"I do, now."
A soft smile crept over Sophia's face. She recognised an apology
when she saw one, no matter how tentative or awkward it may have
been. The truth was that Richelle's words had rattled her at the
time, and she may have lost sleep afterwards, but she knew that
wasn't because of Richelle's anger. It was because she already
felt guilty about the situation. Danni had really stuck her neck
out for her, and Sophia hated what she had caused between Danni
and Richelle in that moment.
She slowly turned to face the RSI owner. "Thanks," Sophia said
softly, "for understanding. I mean, it's not like I expected you
to greet me with flowers and a hug."
She smirked as she recalled the menacing look of death Richelle
had shot her way that day. Now it seemed so strange having been
replaced by something much softer and accepting. "I had a
not-so-strange inkling you might cuss me out," Sophia continued.
"But I preferred that over the idea of Danni getting it. Her
only crime was kindness."
Richelle chuckled.
"Oh, Danni had already gotten it, by that point," she said.
Her features darkened as she added, "She didn't deserve it
either, though."
They were both quiet for a moment while Richelle shook that
memory off.
"You have a good group here," she said finally. "And Dragon...
he's not exactly who I thought he was. I think the Den is going
to be immensely successful."
Sophia's face brightened considerably. "Few of us are often who
anyone thinks we are at first glance."
She studied Richelle carefully, realising she may have made a
brash assumption about the stable owner herself.
"And thanks," she said. "I'm feeling pretty good about our
chances, too."
Richelle nodded.
"With you at the helm, it's pretty much a sure thing."
Sophia raised an eyebrow curiously. It was one thing to soften
up a little and offer an apology, but that high praise just rang
alarm bells. "I think that's a little generous," she admitted.
"Why do I feel like you're going to ask me for something?"
Richelle laughed as she realized what Sophia was thinking.
"Hmm. Maybe I am overdoing this."
That gave them both a quick laugh.
"I'm not asking for anything," Richelle said, "but I will offer
you this: if something goes wrong and things go south here at
the Den... come see me. There's always room for someone like
you at RSI."
Sophia smiled.
"I won't be able to offer you the stable leader position,
though," Richelle continued.
She paused as she looked off in the direction Danni had gone.
"I already have everything I need there," she concluded.
Sophia watched as Richelle kept looking across the room... as if
she could somehow see Danni through the walls.
"You know, it's weird," the Den leader said. "I've never seen a
pair of redheads get on the way you two do."
A puzzled look came across Richelle's face.
"Danni's not a redhead."
"You've never noticed the red highlights in her hair?"
"Sure. They're highlights. That doesn't make her a redhead."
Sophia shrugged. "I've always thought of it as her inner
redhead, trying to get out."
"Her..."
Richelle stopped cold and her face went totally blank as she
considered what Sophia had said. Slowly, she turned and looked
across the room, again. Danni had just returned and was slowly
making her way over to them.
"Her inner redhead," Richelle said to no one in-particular.
"That would explain a lot."
Danni stepped up next to them and said, "What are you two up
to?"
"Sophia was just changing my view of the world," Richelle said.
That made Sophia actually laugh out loud.
"What did you say?" Danni asked.
Sophia just kept laughing as Richelle put her hand to her
forehead and said, "I feel like I need to go lie down."
Just then, a commotion broke out among the lightweights. The
trio turned to find RSI's Brittany Tacy on the floor of the
cage, having been tossed there by Alex Morgan of the Den.
"That's how a real athlete does it," Alex said.
Brittany sprang to her feet.
"I'll show you a real athlete, b*tch," she growled as she
charged at the young soccer star.
Richelle looked at Danni, who held a hand up.
"Let's see what happens," Harris said.
Suddenly, a third voice joined the fray.
"Knock it off! Both of you! Or I swear I will kill one of you
and beat the other with the dead body!"
"Was that Emily?" Richelle asked in astonishment.
Danni looked across and found Steph, who gave a little I told
you so shrug.
"On second thought," Danni said, "maybe we should take a walk
over there."
Both stable leaders stepped forward, moving almost in unison.
Richelle hung back and watched them go. After a few steps,
Danni turned and looked at her.
"You two have this covered," Richelle said. "I'll go find
Dragon so we can pretend we're doing something important."
Danni smiled and continued along with Sophia.
As Richelle watched, she couldn't help but think this crazy plan
might just work out, after all.
#Post#: 1447--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Friendship Test - Chapter 23 - The New Way Forward
By: RampageSports Date: May 1, 2015, 5:50 pm
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My thanks to you, as well, Dragon. It's been a pleasure, and I
love the way we've left the door open for more. ;)
Thanks also to those of you who've been following along. You're
kind of a quiet bunch, but we feel confident you do exist. :D
Lastly, a message to any other managers who are thinking of
doing a combined effort like this: if you see something from
Dragon-land that piques your interest, be sure to get in touch
with him. He's very good at it... much better than he'll ever
admit. :P He knows exactly who he wants his characters to be
and how they'll behave in a given situation. That makes
everything flow with ease. ;)
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