Post by Damon Graves on Jun 1, 2016 16:34:25 GMT -5
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Scene fades in on the lobby of a hotel in San Jose, where Damon Graves and his tag team partner Aurora Knight are walking through the hotel’s front door. The lobby itself is fairly small; clearly not a luxury 5-star resort, but at least it’s clean. Damon purses his lips as he takes in the scenery, while Aurora peruses the various attraction pamphlets near the front desk. Damon approaches the counter as the receptionist steps in from a room in the back.
Receptionist: Good afternoon and welcome to the Comfort Suites. How can I help you?
Damon: Yeah, I’m here to check in… the reservation is under Damon Graves.
Receptionist: One moment, please.
She types in Damon’s information as Aurora turns to him with a couple of brochures in her hand.
Aurora: So check this out… there’s indoor skydiving… and some place called Psycho Donuts…
Damon smirks at his tag team partner as she continues to read off the various local offerings.
Damon: Tell you what… let’s get settled into our rooms first; then we can decide what to do first. Sound like a plan?
Aurora nods her head as the receptionist gives Damon a worried look.
Receptionist: Um, Mr. Graves?
Damon: Yes…
Receptionist: I’m afraid that there was a computer error around the time you made your reservation. According to our system, your reservation isn’t until May 29 of… next year.
Damon’s eyebrow shoots up as he stares a hole through the receptionist, who can only smile apologetically. Aurora sees this and places a hand on his shoulder. This gesture calms him down a little, and the redness in his face fades the second he looks at her.
Aurora: Now hold on a minute… maybe they can put you in another room.
Receptionist: I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that there’s only one room currently unoccupied, and it’s on reserve….
Aurora goes pale. Damon soon realizes that the only vacant room in the hotel has been booked by his partner. He looks at his partner pleadingly as she takes a step back with her hands on her hips.
Aurora: Now hold on just a damn minute here! What kind of girl do you think I am?
She stares at Damon in disbelief for a moment before turning to the receptionist.
Aurora: Surely you can find something, right?
Receptionist: I’m afraid not. Almost every hotel in the city is booked solid. This is, after all, the start of the summer season. I take it you are Miss… Aurora Knight?
Aurora nods her head as Damon begins to pace a groove into the floor, rubbing his head and face in frustration.
Aurora: Yes, I am.
Receptionist: If it helps Mr. Graves’s predicament, and makes things a little less awkward, your room IS a one-bedroom suite. The sofa pulls out into an extra bed.
For a moment, Damon stops pacing. He looks at his partner again, pleading as he stares into her blue-green eyes. She sighs.
Aurora: Oh, alright. But NO FUNNY STUFF! Okay?
Damon gets a look on his face that reads “who, me?” as he smiles.
Damon: Come on… in the time you’ve known me, how many times have I tried anything funny?
Aurora looks at the ceiling, contemplating Damon’s various antics since the pair first met as she counts them on her fingers.
Damon: I mean anything “improper”. Geez!
Aurora laughs as she turns back to the receptionist.
Damon: Please don’t make me beg….
Aurora: Yeah, he can stay in my room.
A look of relief washes over Damon’s face as the receptionist takes Aurora’s information. As she hands Aurora the folder containing the room key, Damon turns her around to face him, cupping her face in his hands.
Damon: I could totally kiss you right now…
Aurora’s eyes grow wide with shock as she smiles sheepishly at him.
Damon: But… I get the feeling we’re not quite there yet.
He chuckles, still holding onto Aurora’s face. She gently places her own hands on his tattoo-covered wrists.
Aurora: Um, Damon…
Damon: Yeah?
Aurora: Can I have my face back?
He quickly lets go of her face, holding his hands up as he backs off in a gesture of apology.
Damon: This is me… behaving myself.
Aurora grabs her bags as they head toward the elevator.
Aurora: Meh; it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve conked out on my sofa…
Damon: Yeah, but this time, it isn’t by accident.
Aurora: True.
Damon pushes the button on the elevator. After a few seconds, the doors slide open. As they step inside, he leans against the wall, letting out a deep breath.
Damon: I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing.
She smirks at him, playfully punching him in the shoulder.
Aurora: Don’t let that get out, tough guy… don’t want the rest of the world thinking you’ve got a soft spot…
Damon: Heaven forbid…..
As the doors close, Aurora presses the button for their floor. During the ride up, Damon looks over at her, cocking his head at unusual angles at times. Aurora turns to him to say something and notices this.
Aurora: Are you seriously ogling me right now?
Damon breaks into a sheepish grin.
Damon: Force of habit. Whenever I see something I want to draw, I kinda get lost studying it in detail…
Aurora’s face flushes a bit.
Aurora: I swear, if I find some drawing of me looking like some cheap slut….
Damon: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the hell did that come from?
Damon furrows his brow, clearly taking offense to Aurora’s tone of voice. She sees the wounded look in his eyes, and immediately takes it down a notch. She sighs, shaking her head.
Aurora: Sorry. It’s just that my asshole ex used to stare at me like that and it creeped me the fuck out.
At the mention of her ex, Damon grits his teeth.
Damon: If I ever see that moist bag of soggy dick lint again…
Aurora: What do you mean, AGAIN?!? What the fuck are you talking about?
Damon: That slimy little fucknugget came up to me at the Portland airport with a photo of you, asking if I’d seen you….
Aurora: FUCK!!! Tell me you didn’t let him know where I was….
Damon: Relax…with the whole stalker vibe he was giving off, I wouldn’t have told him how to find his own ass.
Aurora shuts her eyes, leaning her head against the wall of the elevator. A light thud is heard as her skull makes contact with the metal surface.
Aurora: God, when is he going to take the hint and leave me the fuck alone?
Damon: I doubt he’ll try asking me twice. I kinda gave him the impression that he’d be picking up his teeth if he didn’t get out of my face.
Hearing this puts Aurora at ease. She looks up, a look of genuine gratitude on her face.
Aurora: He never was one to stand up to someone that could actually kick his ass…. You could have easily not given a shit, but in some weird way, you stuck up for me. I… appreciate that.
Damon: We probably should think about something else.
Aurora: Good idea.
They both take a deep breath, and the rest of the ride is accompanied with an awkward silence. The doors slide open, and the pair makes the short walk from the elevator to their room. They arrive at the room, and after Aurora unlocks the door, Damon follows her inside. They both wind up in front of a mundane looking couch. Damon looks down and sighs.
Damon: I’ve slept in worse places…
Aurora sighs as they stare at the dull blue fabric. The look in her eyes is one of empathy as she opens her mouth to speak. Words fail her, so she turns and heads off into the bedroom, leaving Damon to unpack his suitcase.
He opens up the front zipper and pulls out a large sketchbook, which he sets on the table.
Damon: Some people may find my situation funny. No, not the sleeping arrangements, but the whole situation with the Angelz of Destruction. Just a short time ago, I made my debut in NGW. Not with a victory, mind you, but it was what happened later that night that made things interesting. The first warning shots were fired at the glittering muppets that Devlin Scott has tried shoving down the throats of the fans. Skip ahead and we wind up where we are now. Aurora Knight and me, taking on two other tag teams at the upcoming Vendetta in San Jose. One of those teams is ahead of us in the tag team rankings. The other is behind us…. Guess somebody has be the last in line, right?
First up, we have the Lee twins, Micki and Mandi… Double Trouble. No, you two are like Oreo Double-stuffed cookies… crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside. Neither of you have any sort of killer instinct. Doesn’t matter one bit to me that the two of you trained together or that you’ve known each other your entire lives; the mere fact that our “boss” ranked your rainbow-shitting asses ahead of us is enough reason for me to want to destroy you. What happened in Portland was a kindness; instead of drawing things out and seriously fucking up your day, you got off light. Trust me; San Jose is going to be a totally different story. Together or separately, Aurora and I are gonna run through you like a Ferrari through tissue paper….
Damon opens up his laptop bag and pulls out his laptop, setting it next to his sketchbook.
Damon: Mandi, Mandi, Mandi… trying so hard to prove that you’re a “bad” girl, but you have no fucking clue what bad really is. You’ve been all over the world… hell, you're “big in Japan”! So is buying used panties out of vending machines and tentacle porn. Instead of practicing your “resting bitch face” on Twitter, try hitting the gym and working on some other muscle group besides your mouth, you obnoxious little twat.
Let me tell you something, little girl. Where I come from, a chick like you would either get eaten alive, or run out of town. And yet there are guys like me that not only survive in that sort of environment; we fucking THRIVED! When are you going to learn that being happy and smiley all the damn time isn’t going to get you anywhere except the odd Disney holiday special. So if that’s the way you want to end up, fine by me. Go right ahead and knock yourself out. Just do me and the rest of the wrestling world a favor and stop shitting on this business by treating it like some fucking glitter party.
Let’s not leave out your brain-damaged brother, Micki. Why don’t you do something, ANYTHING, to prove that your David Lee Roth-wannabe dad isn’t right about you? Prove that you aren’t the biggest disappointment since “Batman vs. Superman”. You had the chance in Portland to shine, to show the fans in NGW exactly what you could do. Congratu-fucking-lations Mick, you DID show the world what you could do…. Which is jack shit! But who knows? Maybe Portland was a complete fluke, and secretly, you’re the second coming of Kurt Angle…. Aw, who the hell am I kidding? No, after Vendetta, you’re probably going to go back to sniffing your own farts, trying to evolve Pikachu in the latest Pokémon game, and wondering what a woman’s tit feels like. This is a GROWNUP sport, not Sesame Street. So tell you what, Sparky. When you finally outgrow your “My Little Pony” pajamas, which will probably happen…
Damon looks at his wrist, as if he were looking at a wristwatch.
Damon: ...about half past never, give the rest of us a call, and maybe we’ll let you play. But I have to warn you, kiddo, some of us play ROUGH.
From behind him, Damon hears Aurora clear her throat.
Damon: So, have you decided where you want to go?
Aurora: Well, you DID tell me to pack my bikini……
A smile creeps up in the corner of Damon’s mouth.
Damon: Indeed, I did…
Scene fades in outside the changing rooms at Raging Waters in San Jose. Because it was a holiday weekend, the water park was packed to the gills with people. Damon Graves stands near the door to the women’s changing room, wearing a pair of black swimming trunks and black sandals. As he stands there with his hands stuffed into his pockets, every so often, women walk out of the changing room in bikinis. Some of them, the younger girls, stop and stare at the tattooed wrestler, with flirty smiles on their faces. He nods his head and smiles, and then resumes his watch.
A few seconds later, the woman he is waiting on emerges from the changing room. Dressed in a shimmering black bikini, Aurora Knight steps out with a red towel draped over her shoulder. Damon can’t help but stare at her as she walks toward him with a smile on her face. She walks up, playfully pushing up on his open lower jaw.
Aurora: Hold up… you got a little bit of drool there….
Aurora takes her finger and wipes at the corner of his mouth. He just keeps staring at her.
Damon: Wow… I… Just wow!
Aurora: Are you always this articulate?
Damon snaps out of it, shaking his head and laughing.
Damon: Sorry… it’s just that you look… damn!
Aurora: If it will help you form a complete sentence, I can always go put on a potato sack.
He shakes his head again, waving his hands in front of him.
Damon: No, no, no, no, no, that won’t be necessary. Come on. Let’s go check out the park.
He motions for her to go ahead as he follows a few steps behind, groaning quietly to himself as he watches her walk. Judging from the grin on his face, he is definitely NOT regretting her choice of venue for their first date. They walk past the Johnny Rockets toward a small cluster of cabanas. Upon reaching a pair of white lounge chairs underneath a curved blue and green cabana, Damon looks on as Aurora lays out her towel. As they sit down on the lounge chairs, Damon pulls out a map of the water park.
Damon: So… which ride did you want to hit first?
Aurora leans over, getting a closer look at the open map. She glances up at Damon, smiling awkwardly before pointing at the image of a pair of green slides.
Aurora: Well, Shotgun Falls is right over there… why not hit that first?
Damon looks at Aurora, nodding his head.
Damon: Sounds like a plan to me.
They both get up and head toward the structure that led to the top of the slides. The ride attendant goes over the standard safety protocol, but her words are drowned out by the exchange of glances between the two tag team partners. After a mutual nod of their heads, they tear down the slide, with Damon landing first into the pool of water below. Aurora is quick to make her way into the water after him, and they wade through the water toward another slide that led to another pool. Again, they slide down the blue concrete slope together, landing with a huge splash into the water below. As they both get to their feet, Aurora’s foot slips on the bottom of the pool. Of course, Damon is there to make the save, scooping her up as she squeals.
Aurora: Nice catch.
Damon: I’ll say...
Damon winks at her as he walks her over to the edge of the pool, setting her back on her feet on the walkway between the pool and their cabana.
Damon: So, did you want to hit some more rides, or grab some food?
Aurora: One slide, and then you want to start stuffing your face?
Damon: Fine, which one did you wanna hit next?
Aurora: Either Serpentine Slides or White Lightning and Blue Thunder….
Damon: After that, we can grab some churros….
Aurora: Mmm, sugary goodness in my veins….
Damon: That way, we can hit more rides before grabbing anything heavy.
Aurora: Works for me…
Damon folds up the map, and the two of them merge with the throng of other happy park patrons.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Scene transitions to the interior of an undisclosed gym, with a ring set up over in the corner. Both Damon and Aurora are in the ring, working out some tandem strategy for their upcoming match at Vendetta. As Damon rolls out of the ring, from another section of the gym, NGW’s resident interviewer Hannah Lacey makes her way over, looking decidedly out of place in a pencil skirt and matching blazer. She has a rather snarky smile on her face as both Aurora and Damon take notice of her outfit.
Damon: Aren’t you a little overdressed for a gym?
Hannah looks down at her outfit as Aurora joins the pair outside of ring. They sit down on some nearby folding chairs.
Hannah: Well, I must say, the two of you certainly look cozy. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you two were a couple….
Aurora: Well, we ARE a tag team….
Damon: Not that it’s any of your business, Hannah, but I don’t see anything wrong with taking the time to get to know my new partner on a more personal level.
Hannah: Fair enough. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for agreeing to meet with me…
Aurora narrows her eyes at Damon, switching her gaze between him and Hannah. Damon in turn looks a little uneasy.
Aurora: Damon, do you usually invite other women to join you when you’re working out?
Damon: No… but she did ask for an interview… which I begrudgingly accepted. I simply didn’t expect her to show up HERE. Which begs the question, Hannah. How DID you find out where we were?
Hannah: Well, I tried your hotel, but they said you weren’t there. So I looked up the number for Aurora’s manager, and she told me that you two would be here after some “quality time”. So, here I am. I didn’t get you into trouble, did I?
Aurora: Hmph. I’ll let you have this one. After all, it’s important for us both to get face time. I certainly hope you don’t mind if I chime in now and then…
Hannah: Of course not.
Damon: Then this might just be somewhat bearable after all….
Hannah: The two of you made quite an impression at your debut in Portland. Involving yourselves in two separate matches after taking part in a battle royal didn’t sit well with certain people.
Damon: And who might those certain be, Hannah?
Aurora: Probably Gavin Grimes and his buddies….
Hannah: I won’t lie. Interrupting a Unified Championship match isn’t going to endear you to the holder of that title….
Damon: I’m not here to make a mark; I’m here to leave scars… lots of them.
Hannah: Is that why you and Aurora threw in with Corey Bull and the Angelz of Destruction?
Damon: That’s only part of it. Right after the battle royal, Aurora’s manager Alicia Perry convinced us to give this whole tag team a try. Considering that we were working pretty well together in the battle royal, it wasn’t much of a stretch. So regardless of whether we were joining the AoD or not, we would still be a team. It was Gray Malone that convinced us that joining up was the right thing to do.
Aurora: Gray Malone and Alicia Perry know each other quite well, having been tag team partners on many occasions. Once she let us know that he was on the level, we were more receptive to what he had to say….
Damon: The more Gray spoke, the more sense he made. Neither of us walked into NGW with blinders on. For me, this place was a perfect fit for my kind of chaos. Shaking up the status quo around here is one of the things that I’m truly looking forward to. I mean, look at what we’ve done after only one match! Every single “champion” in this promotion is on notice, looking over their shoulders. They won’t admit it, but we’re definitely on their radar…
Hannah: You definitely got the notice of the owner of NGW, Devlin Scott, who had the matchmakers book you and Aurora in a Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination match against two other new tag teams, Double Trouble and the tandem of KEG and Billy Ray Roberts…
Aurora smirks as she leans back in her seat.
Aurora: Suits us just fine….
Damon: Taking out both of those teams will bring us that much closer to The Genesis and the top of the tag team division. And once we’re there, the look on Scott’s face is gonna be priceless. Instead of having his photogenic, generic, cookie-cutter puppets as the face of NGW, he’ll have us, The Angelz of Destruction, making sure that his corruption is purged from this place.
The interview is interrupted by the sound of a cellphone going off. Damon and Aurora glare at Hannah, who sheepishly retrieves her iPhone from her purse. She reads what’s on the screen, and offers an apologetic smile to the pair of grapplers.
Hannah: I’m going to have to cut this short. I’m needed elsewhere…
Hannah stands up and turns to leave, motioning for her camera crew to follow her. They start to round up their gear, but Damon stands up and holds his hand out in a “stop” gesture.
Damon: No. We want the crew to stay. You can go, Hannah, but we still have more that we need to say.
Hannah: But we all came in the same vehicle….
Damon: And how is that our problem?
Hannah: Well how am I supposed to get where I need to go?
Damon: Call a fucking taxi! Surely, it’s not beyond your intellectual capacity?
Hannah storms off in a huff, trying to get ahold of a taxi dispatcher. As Hannah vanishes from sight, Aurora smiles.
Aurora: Good riddance. I thought she’d never leave….
Damon: Now that Hannah Lacey is gone, we can get the REAL important information out.
He turns to the camera crew, a menacing gleam in his eyes.
Damon: Hey, camera monkeys! I thought I told you guys we weren’t done?
A collective grumble can be heard as the crew resumes their previous positions prior to Hannah’s departure.
Aurora: Quit your bitching; you’re still getting paid.
Damon looks at Aurora with his eyebrow raised. She smiles even wider.
Damon: Anyway, earlier, we said our piece about those annoying Nimrod Twins… now onto the other team in this match… KEG and Billy Ray Roberts. Or, as I like to call them, the walking distillery and Over The Hill Bill. The two of you thought it was a good idea to hitch your wagon…
Aurora: Before KEG fell off the fucking thing….
Damon pauses, chuckling at his partner’s contribution to the conversation. He gives her an approving nod and continues.
Damon: Good one, Harley. You two fucktards overworked that single brain cell that you share between the two of you deciding that having anything to do with that soon-to-be crippled shitkicker Dirk Bentley was the shot your careers needed. Oh, it’s a shot all right... a shot between the god-damned eyes! Right now, Bentley’s at the top of the AoD hitlist, and your sorry asses are going to share his punishment by associating with him.
KEG, a small part of me wondered for a moment about how you got the name... until I took a good look at you. It’s because you’re shaped like a keg. That, and the fact that any time you have blood drawn, instead of a needle in your vein, they shove a tap up your ass. While I’ve been known to knock back a beer or two on occasion, just because there’s grain content in the stuff doesn’t make it a suitable breakfast choice. Perhaps if you realized this little tidbit of information, you wouldn’t have been stripped of the Marquee Championship. That’s right, I went there, alky. I do my homework….
If you even think about coming to our match drunk, there’s gonna be a fight… the fight between Aurora and I to see which one of us gets to skin you alive. I’d rather you showed up sober… maybe that way you’d be in the right frame of mind to realize that signing on for this match isn’t going to get you any closer to the Tag Team Championship. I’d say stick to going after singles belts, but as any of Devlin Scott’s gold-bedecked dancing monkeys are in our crosshairs, it’d be much less painful for you to stay the fuck out of our way.
Now, out of everyone else in this thing, you’ve got the most history in NGW. You’re the only one that’s actually done something out of the rest of the scrubs in this match. You’ve got a nice championship résumé, but that’s about the only thing either I or my partner are going to give you credit for. The reason for that is because you and your geriatric partner are standing in between me, Aurora, and our path to the Genesis and their NGW Tag Team Championships. Legend or not, if you’re stupid enough to stand between us, your ass is gonna get mowed down. The biggest difference between you and the Angelz of Destruction is that we don’t have to guzzle liquid courage by the gallon before we get into the ring. Do yourself a favor, pal. Save the binge for after the match, when you can marinate your battered carcass in as much beer as you can get your hands on.
And you, Billy Ray-ncient, you’ve been in the business quite a while. I tried looking up some of your earliest matches, but they wouldn’t let me look at the cave paintings… To quote Dr. Evil, “There’s nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster…”
Aurora snickers at Damon’s Dr. Evil impression.
Damon: I’ve seen it a million times before… guys like you get all bent out of shape by a group that goes against everything he stands for; that spits right in the eye of the status quo, so he resorts to the only thing he can do, and that’s try and drive a wedge into that group. And he does it by pointing out one of that group’s brightest stars. Is Aurora a phenomenal wrestler? Yeah, she is. But there isn’t a damn thing she’s done in this business that I haven’t done. Think back to the last open Battle Royale we had. Yeah, I know it’s asking a lot for a man of your advanced age to remember that far back, but do it anyway. Think back to who the final three participants in that match were. And remember the last two to be eliminated before it came down to us three. It was Aurora and I that eliminated the Double Stuff Twins. And had it not been for Khonda grabbing me as Aurora and I knocked his fat ass out of the ring, it would have been Aurora and I standing there, and the world would have really had a chance to see what we can do in the ring. So you can take that bullshit about us never having been in the ring together and shove it up your ass along with your Preparation H.
Billy Ray, you brought up my tag team partner’s credentials, and how mine suck shit in comparison, but if you’d been paying attention, you’d know that we did the exact same thing before arriving here in NGW. We BOTH busted our asses all over southern California and Nevada. And the connections you praised Aurora for having outside the ring… those same connections are the ones that brought us together in the first place. Or did you miss the part where we said that her teaming with me was HER manager’s idea?
And so what if you don’t like the fact that the first thing we did when we got to NGW was group up with Gray Malone and Corey Bull? What makes you think that we give a flying fuck? You complain about a lack of competition in the tag team division, but the moment teams do come in, you piss and moan and say that “they can’t stand on their own two feet”. That’s how tag teams work, Captain Geritol! Teams work TOGETHER to get the job done! And with the same mouth you used to criticize me for “keeping Aurora from her full potential,” you contradict yourself by boasting about why you’re teaming with KEG. “I’ve got the advantage because he’s a legend! He wants to be a Triple Crown Champion!” Well, guess what, Magoo? As long as Aurora and I have anything to say about it, that’s not gonna happen.
Damon looks over at Aurora, who’s shaking her head with a wicked grin on her face.
Damon: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Portland was only the beginning. The Angelz of Destruction gave everyone a small taste of what was in store, but in San Jose, we open the fucking floodgates! The Angel of Hate, Corey Bull, will bury that walking hemorrhoid Dirk Bentley in a hole so deep, he’ll never see the light of day again; the Angel of Damage, Gray Malone, is going to show no forgiveness to that wannabe angel Kenzie Rydell, and in the process, bring home the Five Lakes Championship. And leading the charge in clearing out all of the filth and corruption in NGW, the Angelz of Rebellion and Chaos…
Damon indicates himself and Aurora.
Damon: Aurora Knight and Damon Graves. We get the pleasure of eliminating four obstacles that made the error of thinking that they could keep us away from our destiny. There’s no doubt that Levi Daugherty and Avery Miles III are going to be watching this match. After all, we wouldn’t want them to think that we’ve “blind-sided” them when we come after those Tag Team Championships. We want you to see us coming, Genesis! The anticipation of our inevitable confrontation is gonna make it even better when we’re standing over you, with the belts in OUR hands... Am I right, Harley?
Aurora looks at him warily.
Aurora: You know, that’s the second time you’ve called me “Harley”....
Damon: Well, it’s not because you look like Harley Race….
Both of them shudder at the thought.
Damon: You ride a Harley-Davidson and I saw a couple of Harley Quinn statues on a shelf the last time I was over at your place, so the name kinda fits…
Aurora flashes him a mischievous grin.
Aurora: OK… puddin’
The word “puddin’” was pronounced in Aurora’s almost spot-on imitation of Harley Quinn's voice from “Batman: The Animated Series”. Damon scrunches up his face.
Damon: Don’t call me “puddin”....
Damon likewise makes a slightly less successful imitation of the Joker’s voice from the same show.
Aurora: (still as Harley Quinn) Whatever you say… puddin.
Damon shakes his head in an effort to keep from laughing. Both Angelz get back in the ring to continue sparring as the scene fades to black.
Scene fades in on the lobby of a hotel in San Jose, where Damon Graves and his tag team partner Aurora Knight are walking through the hotel’s front door. The lobby itself is fairly small; clearly not a luxury 5-star resort, but at least it’s clean. Damon purses his lips as he takes in the scenery, while Aurora peruses the various attraction pamphlets near the front desk. Damon approaches the counter as the receptionist steps in from a room in the back.
Receptionist: Good afternoon and welcome to the Comfort Suites. How can I help you?
Damon: Yeah, I’m here to check in… the reservation is under Damon Graves.
Receptionist: One moment, please.
She types in Damon’s information as Aurora turns to him with a couple of brochures in her hand.
Aurora: So check this out… there’s indoor skydiving… and some place called Psycho Donuts…
Damon smirks at his tag team partner as she continues to read off the various local offerings.
Damon: Tell you what… let’s get settled into our rooms first; then we can decide what to do first. Sound like a plan?
Aurora nods her head as the receptionist gives Damon a worried look.
Receptionist: Um, Mr. Graves?
Damon: Yes…
Receptionist: I’m afraid that there was a computer error around the time you made your reservation. According to our system, your reservation isn’t until May 29 of… next year.
Damon’s eyebrow shoots up as he stares a hole through the receptionist, who can only smile apologetically. Aurora sees this and places a hand on his shoulder. This gesture calms him down a little, and the redness in his face fades the second he looks at her.
Aurora: Now hold on a minute… maybe they can put you in another room.
Receptionist: I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that there’s only one room currently unoccupied, and it’s on reserve….
Aurora goes pale. Damon soon realizes that the only vacant room in the hotel has been booked by his partner. He looks at his partner pleadingly as she takes a step back with her hands on her hips.
Aurora: Now hold on just a damn minute here! What kind of girl do you think I am?
She stares at Damon in disbelief for a moment before turning to the receptionist.
Aurora: Surely you can find something, right?
Receptionist: I’m afraid not. Almost every hotel in the city is booked solid. This is, after all, the start of the summer season. I take it you are Miss… Aurora Knight?
Aurora nods her head as Damon begins to pace a groove into the floor, rubbing his head and face in frustration.
Aurora: Yes, I am.
Receptionist: If it helps Mr. Graves’s predicament, and makes things a little less awkward, your room IS a one-bedroom suite. The sofa pulls out into an extra bed.
For a moment, Damon stops pacing. He looks at his partner again, pleading as he stares into her blue-green eyes. She sighs.
Aurora: Oh, alright. But NO FUNNY STUFF! Okay?
Damon gets a look on his face that reads “who, me?” as he smiles.
Damon: Come on… in the time you’ve known me, how many times have I tried anything funny?
Aurora looks at the ceiling, contemplating Damon’s various antics since the pair first met as she counts them on her fingers.
Damon: I mean anything “improper”. Geez!
Aurora laughs as she turns back to the receptionist.
Damon: Please don’t make me beg….
Aurora: Yeah, he can stay in my room.
A look of relief washes over Damon’s face as the receptionist takes Aurora’s information. As she hands Aurora the folder containing the room key, Damon turns her around to face him, cupping her face in his hands.
Damon: I could totally kiss you right now…
Aurora’s eyes grow wide with shock as she smiles sheepishly at him.
Damon: But… I get the feeling we’re not quite there yet.
He chuckles, still holding onto Aurora’s face. She gently places her own hands on his tattoo-covered wrists.
Aurora: Um, Damon…
Damon: Yeah?
Aurora: Can I have my face back?
He quickly lets go of her face, holding his hands up as he backs off in a gesture of apology.
Damon: This is me… behaving myself.
Aurora grabs her bags as they head toward the elevator.
Aurora: Meh; it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve conked out on my sofa…
Damon: Yeah, but this time, it isn’t by accident.
Aurora: True.
Damon pushes the button on the elevator. After a few seconds, the doors slide open. As they step inside, he leans against the wall, letting out a deep breath.
Damon: I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing.
She smirks at him, playfully punching him in the shoulder.
Aurora: Don’t let that get out, tough guy… don’t want the rest of the world thinking you’ve got a soft spot…
Damon: Heaven forbid…..
As the doors close, Aurora presses the button for their floor. During the ride up, Damon looks over at her, cocking his head at unusual angles at times. Aurora turns to him to say something and notices this.
Aurora: Are you seriously ogling me right now?
Damon breaks into a sheepish grin.
Damon: Force of habit. Whenever I see something I want to draw, I kinda get lost studying it in detail…
Aurora’s face flushes a bit.
Aurora: I swear, if I find some drawing of me looking like some cheap slut….
Damon: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the hell did that come from?
Damon furrows his brow, clearly taking offense to Aurora’s tone of voice. She sees the wounded look in his eyes, and immediately takes it down a notch. She sighs, shaking her head.
Aurora: Sorry. It’s just that my asshole ex used to stare at me like that and it creeped me the fuck out.
At the mention of her ex, Damon grits his teeth.
Damon: If I ever see that moist bag of soggy dick lint again…
Aurora: What do you mean, AGAIN?!? What the fuck are you talking about?
Damon: That slimy little fucknugget came up to me at the Portland airport with a photo of you, asking if I’d seen you….
Aurora: FUCK!!! Tell me you didn’t let him know where I was….
Damon: Relax…with the whole stalker vibe he was giving off, I wouldn’t have told him how to find his own ass.
Aurora shuts her eyes, leaning her head against the wall of the elevator. A light thud is heard as her skull makes contact with the metal surface.
Aurora: God, when is he going to take the hint and leave me the fuck alone?
Damon: I doubt he’ll try asking me twice. I kinda gave him the impression that he’d be picking up his teeth if he didn’t get out of my face.
Hearing this puts Aurora at ease. She looks up, a look of genuine gratitude on her face.
Aurora: He never was one to stand up to someone that could actually kick his ass…. You could have easily not given a shit, but in some weird way, you stuck up for me. I… appreciate that.
Damon: We probably should think about something else.
Aurora: Good idea.
They both take a deep breath, and the rest of the ride is accompanied with an awkward silence. The doors slide open, and the pair makes the short walk from the elevator to their room. They arrive at the room, and after Aurora unlocks the door, Damon follows her inside. They both wind up in front of a mundane looking couch. Damon looks down and sighs.
Damon: I’ve slept in worse places…
Aurora sighs as they stare at the dull blue fabric. The look in her eyes is one of empathy as she opens her mouth to speak. Words fail her, so she turns and heads off into the bedroom, leaving Damon to unpack his suitcase.
He opens up the front zipper and pulls out a large sketchbook, which he sets on the table.
Damon: Some people may find my situation funny. No, not the sleeping arrangements, but the whole situation with the Angelz of Destruction. Just a short time ago, I made my debut in NGW. Not with a victory, mind you, but it was what happened later that night that made things interesting. The first warning shots were fired at the glittering muppets that Devlin Scott has tried shoving down the throats of the fans. Skip ahead and we wind up where we are now. Aurora Knight and me, taking on two other tag teams at the upcoming Vendetta in San Jose. One of those teams is ahead of us in the tag team rankings. The other is behind us…. Guess somebody has be the last in line, right?
First up, we have the Lee twins, Micki and Mandi… Double Trouble. No, you two are like Oreo Double-stuffed cookies… crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside. Neither of you have any sort of killer instinct. Doesn’t matter one bit to me that the two of you trained together or that you’ve known each other your entire lives; the mere fact that our “boss” ranked your rainbow-shitting asses ahead of us is enough reason for me to want to destroy you. What happened in Portland was a kindness; instead of drawing things out and seriously fucking up your day, you got off light. Trust me; San Jose is going to be a totally different story. Together or separately, Aurora and I are gonna run through you like a Ferrari through tissue paper….
Damon opens up his laptop bag and pulls out his laptop, setting it next to his sketchbook.
Damon: Mandi, Mandi, Mandi… trying so hard to prove that you’re a “bad” girl, but you have no fucking clue what bad really is. You’ve been all over the world… hell, you're “big in Japan”! So is buying used panties out of vending machines and tentacle porn. Instead of practicing your “resting bitch face” on Twitter, try hitting the gym and working on some other muscle group besides your mouth, you obnoxious little twat.
Let me tell you something, little girl. Where I come from, a chick like you would either get eaten alive, or run out of town. And yet there are guys like me that not only survive in that sort of environment; we fucking THRIVED! When are you going to learn that being happy and smiley all the damn time isn’t going to get you anywhere except the odd Disney holiday special. So if that’s the way you want to end up, fine by me. Go right ahead and knock yourself out. Just do me and the rest of the wrestling world a favor and stop shitting on this business by treating it like some fucking glitter party.
Let’s not leave out your brain-damaged brother, Micki. Why don’t you do something, ANYTHING, to prove that your David Lee Roth-wannabe dad isn’t right about you? Prove that you aren’t the biggest disappointment since “Batman vs. Superman”. You had the chance in Portland to shine, to show the fans in NGW exactly what you could do. Congratu-fucking-lations Mick, you DID show the world what you could do…. Which is jack shit! But who knows? Maybe Portland was a complete fluke, and secretly, you’re the second coming of Kurt Angle…. Aw, who the hell am I kidding? No, after Vendetta, you’re probably going to go back to sniffing your own farts, trying to evolve Pikachu in the latest Pokémon game, and wondering what a woman’s tit feels like. This is a GROWNUP sport, not Sesame Street. So tell you what, Sparky. When you finally outgrow your “My Little Pony” pajamas, which will probably happen…
Damon looks at his wrist, as if he were looking at a wristwatch.
Damon: ...about half past never, give the rest of us a call, and maybe we’ll let you play. But I have to warn you, kiddo, some of us play ROUGH.
From behind him, Damon hears Aurora clear her throat.
Damon: So, have you decided where you want to go?
Aurora: Well, you DID tell me to pack my bikini……
A smile creeps up in the corner of Damon’s mouth.
Damon: Indeed, I did…
Scene fades in outside the changing rooms at Raging Waters in San Jose. Because it was a holiday weekend, the water park was packed to the gills with people. Damon Graves stands near the door to the women’s changing room, wearing a pair of black swimming trunks and black sandals. As he stands there with his hands stuffed into his pockets, every so often, women walk out of the changing room in bikinis. Some of them, the younger girls, stop and stare at the tattooed wrestler, with flirty smiles on their faces. He nods his head and smiles, and then resumes his watch.
A few seconds later, the woman he is waiting on emerges from the changing room. Dressed in a shimmering black bikini, Aurora Knight steps out with a red towel draped over her shoulder. Damon can’t help but stare at her as she walks toward him with a smile on her face. She walks up, playfully pushing up on his open lower jaw.
Aurora: Hold up… you got a little bit of drool there….
Aurora takes her finger and wipes at the corner of his mouth. He just keeps staring at her.
Damon: Wow… I… Just wow!
Aurora: Are you always this articulate?
Damon snaps out of it, shaking his head and laughing.
Damon: Sorry… it’s just that you look… damn!
Aurora: If it will help you form a complete sentence, I can always go put on a potato sack.
He shakes his head again, waving his hands in front of him.
Damon: No, no, no, no, no, that won’t be necessary. Come on. Let’s go check out the park.
He motions for her to go ahead as he follows a few steps behind, groaning quietly to himself as he watches her walk. Judging from the grin on his face, he is definitely NOT regretting her choice of venue for their first date. They walk past the Johnny Rockets toward a small cluster of cabanas. Upon reaching a pair of white lounge chairs underneath a curved blue and green cabana, Damon looks on as Aurora lays out her towel. As they sit down on the lounge chairs, Damon pulls out a map of the water park.
Damon: So… which ride did you want to hit first?
Aurora leans over, getting a closer look at the open map. She glances up at Damon, smiling awkwardly before pointing at the image of a pair of green slides.
Aurora: Well, Shotgun Falls is right over there… why not hit that first?
Damon looks at Aurora, nodding his head.
Damon: Sounds like a plan to me.
They both get up and head toward the structure that led to the top of the slides. The ride attendant goes over the standard safety protocol, but her words are drowned out by the exchange of glances between the two tag team partners. After a mutual nod of their heads, they tear down the slide, with Damon landing first into the pool of water below. Aurora is quick to make her way into the water after him, and they wade through the water toward another slide that led to another pool. Again, they slide down the blue concrete slope together, landing with a huge splash into the water below. As they both get to their feet, Aurora’s foot slips on the bottom of the pool. Of course, Damon is there to make the save, scooping her up as she squeals.
Aurora: Nice catch.
Damon: I’ll say...
Damon winks at her as he walks her over to the edge of the pool, setting her back on her feet on the walkway between the pool and their cabana.
Damon: So, did you want to hit some more rides, or grab some food?
Aurora: One slide, and then you want to start stuffing your face?
Damon: Fine, which one did you wanna hit next?
Aurora: Either Serpentine Slides or White Lightning and Blue Thunder….
Damon: After that, we can grab some churros….
Aurora: Mmm, sugary goodness in my veins….
Damon: That way, we can hit more rides before grabbing anything heavy.
Aurora: Works for me…
Damon folds up the map, and the two of them merge with the throng of other happy park patrons.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Scene transitions to the interior of an undisclosed gym, with a ring set up over in the corner. Both Damon and Aurora are in the ring, working out some tandem strategy for their upcoming match at Vendetta. As Damon rolls out of the ring, from another section of the gym, NGW’s resident interviewer Hannah Lacey makes her way over, looking decidedly out of place in a pencil skirt and matching blazer. She has a rather snarky smile on her face as both Aurora and Damon take notice of her outfit.
Damon: Aren’t you a little overdressed for a gym?
Hannah looks down at her outfit as Aurora joins the pair outside of ring. They sit down on some nearby folding chairs.
Hannah: Well, I must say, the two of you certainly look cozy. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you two were a couple….
Aurora: Well, we ARE a tag team….
Damon: Not that it’s any of your business, Hannah, but I don’t see anything wrong with taking the time to get to know my new partner on a more personal level.
Hannah: Fair enough. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for agreeing to meet with me…
Aurora narrows her eyes at Damon, switching her gaze between him and Hannah. Damon in turn looks a little uneasy.
Aurora: Damon, do you usually invite other women to join you when you’re working out?
Damon: No… but she did ask for an interview… which I begrudgingly accepted. I simply didn’t expect her to show up HERE. Which begs the question, Hannah. How DID you find out where we were?
Hannah: Well, I tried your hotel, but they said you weren’t there. So I looked up the number for Aurora’s manager, and she told me that you two would be here after some “quality time”. So, here I am. I didn’t get you into trouble, did I?
Aurora: Hmph. I’ll let you have this one. After all, it’s important for us both to get face time. I certainly hope you don’t mind if I chime in now and then…
Hannah: Of course not.
Damon: Then this might just be somewhat bearable after all….
Hannah: The two of you made quite an impression at your debut in Portland. Involving yourselves in two separate matches after taking part in a battle royal didn’t sit well with certain people.
Damon: And who might those certain be, Hannah?
Aurora: Probably Gavin Grimes and his buddies….
Hannah: I won’t lie. Interrupting a Unified Championship match isn’t going to endear you to the holder of that title….
Damon: I’m not here to make a mark; I’m here to leave scars… lots of them.
Hannah: Is that why you and Aurora threw in with Corey Bull and the Angelz of Destruction?
Damon: That’s only part of it. Right after the battle royal, Aurora’s manager Alicia Perry convinced us to give this whole tag team a try. Considering that we were working pretty well together in the battle royal, it wasn’t much of a stretch. So regardless of whether we were joining the AoD or not, we would still be a team. It was Gray Malone that convinced us that joining up was the right thing to do.
Aurora: Gray Malone and Alicia Perry know each other quite well, having been tag team partners on many occasions. Once she let us know that he was on the level, we were more receptive to what he had to say….
Damon: The more Gray spoke, the more sense he made. Neither of us walked into NGW with blinders on. For me, this place was a perfect fit for my kind of chaos. Shaking up the status quo around here is one of the things that I’m truly looking forward to. I mean, look at what we’ve done after only one match! Every single “champion” in this promotion is on notice, looking over their shoulders. They won’t admit it, but we’re definitely on their radar…
Hannah: You definitely got the notice of the owner of NGW, Devlin Scott, who had the matchmakers book you and Aurora in a Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination match against two other new tag teams, Double Trouble and the tandem of KEG and Billy Ray Roberts…
Aurora smirks as she leans back in her seat.
Aurora: Suits us just fine….
Damon: Taking out both of those teams will bring us that much closer to The Genesis and the top of the tag team division. And once we’re there, the look on Scott’s face is gonna be priceless. Instead of having his photogenic, generic, cookie-cutter puppets as the face of NGW, he’ll have us, The Angelz of Destruction, making sure that his corruption is purged from this place.
The interview is interrupted by the sound of a cellphone going off. Damon and Aurora glare at Hannah, who sheepishly retrieves her iPhone from her purse. She reads what’s on the screen, and offers an apologetic smile to the pair of grapplers.
Hannah: I’m going to have to cut this short. I’m needed elsewhere…
Hannah stands up and turns to leave, motioning for her camera crew to follow her. They start to round up their gear, but Damon stands up and holds his hand out in a “stop” gesture.
Damon: No. We want the crew to stay. You can go, Hannah, but we still have more that we need to say.
Hannah: But we all came in the same vehicle….
Damon: And how is that our problem?
Hannah: Well how am I supposed to get where I need to go?
Damon: Call a fucking taxi! Surely, it’s not beyond your intellectual capacity?
Hannah storms off in a huff, trying to get ahold of a taxi dispatcher. As Hannah vanishes from sight, Aurora smiles.
Aurora: Good riddance. I thought she’d never leave….
Damon: Now that Hannah Lacey is gone, we can get the REAL important information out.
He turns to the camera crew, a menacing gleam in his eyes.
Damon: Hey, camera monkeys! I thought I told you guys we weren’t done?
A collective grumble can be heard as the crew resumes their previous positions prior to Hannah’s departure.
Aurora: Quit your bitching; you’re still getting paid.
Damon looks at Aurora with his eyebrow raised. She smiles even wider.
Damon: Anyway, earlier, we said our piece about those annoying Nimrod Twins… now onto the other team in this match… KEG and Billy Ray Roberts. Or, as I like to call them, the walking distillery and Over The Hill Bill. The two of you thought it was a good idea to hitch your wagon…
Aurora: Before KEG fell off the fucking thing….
Damon pauses, chuckling at his partner’s contribution to the conversation. He gives her an approving nod and continues.
Damon: Good one, Harley. You two fucktards overworked that single brain cell that you share between the two of you deciding that having anything to do with that soon-to-be crippled shitkicker Dirk Bentley was the shot your careers needed. Oh, it’s a shot all right... a shot between the god-damned eyes! Right now, Bentley’s at the top of the AoD hitlist, and your sorry asses are going to share his punishment by associating with him.
KEG, a small part of me wondered for a moment about how you got the name... until I took a good look at you. It’s because you’re shaped like a keg. That, and the fact that any time you have blood drawn, instead of a needle in your vein, they shove a tap up your ass. While I’ve been known to knock back a beer or two on occasion, just because there’s grain content in the stuff doesn’t make it a suitable breakfast choice. Perhaps if you realized this little tidbit of information, you wouldn’t have been stripped of the Marquee Championship. That’s right, I went there, alky. I do my homework….
If you even think about coming to our match drunk, there’s gonna be a fight… the fight between Aurora and I to see which one of us gets to skin you alive. I’d rather you showed up sober… maybe that way you’d be in the right frame of mind to realize that signing on for this match isn’t going to get you any closer to the Tag Team Championship. I’d say stick to going after singles belts, but as any of Devlin Scott’s gold-bedecked dancing monkeys are in our crosshairs, it’d be much less painful for you to stay the fuck out of our way.
Now, out of everyone else in this thing, you’ve got the most history in NGW. You’re the only one that’s actually done something out of the rest of the scrubs in this match. You’ve got a nice championship résumé, but that’s about the only thing either I or my partner are going to give you credit for. The reason for that is because you and your geriatric partner are standing in between me, Aurora, and our path to the Genesis and their NGW Tag Team Championships. Legend or not, if you’re stupid enough to stand between us, your ass is gonna get mowed down. The biggest difference between you and the Angelz of Destruction is that we don’t have to guzzle liquid courage by the gallon before we get into the ring. Do yourself a favor, pal. Save the binge for after the match, when you can marinate your battered carcass in as much beer as you can get your hands on.
And you, Billy Ray-ncient, you’ve been in the business quite a while. I tried looking up some of your earliest matches, but they wouldn’t let me look at the cave paintings… To quote Dr. Evil, “There’s nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster…”
Aurora snickers at Damon’s Dr. Evil impression.
Damon: I’ve seen it a million times before… guys like you get all bent out of shape by a group that goes against everything he stands for; that spits right in the eye of the status quo, so he resorts to the only thing he can do, and that’s try and drive a wedge into that group. And he does it by pointing out one of that group’s brightest stars. Is Aurora a phenomenal wrestler? Yeah, she is. But there isn’t a damn thing she’s done in this business that I haven’t done. Think back to the last open Battle Royale we had. Yeah, I know it’s asking a lot for a man of your advanced age to remember that far back, but do it anyway. Think back to who the final three participants in that match were. And remember the last two to be eliminated before it came down to us three. It was Aurora and I that eliminated the Double Stuff Twins. And had it not been for Khonda grabbing me as Aurora and I knocked his fat ass out of the ring, it would have been Aurora and I standing there, and the world would have really had a chance to see what we can do in the ring. So you can take that bullshit about us never having been in the ring together and shove it up your ass along with your Preparation H.
Billy Ray, you brought up my tag team partner’s credentials, and how mine suck shit in comparison, but if you’d been paying attention, you’d know that we did the exact same thing before arriving here in NGW. We BOTH busted our asses all over southern California and Nevada. And the connections you praised Aurora for having outside the ring… those same connections are the ones that brought us together in the first place. Or did you miss the part where we said that her teaming with me was HER manager’s idea?
And so what if you don’t like the fact that the first thing we did when we got to NGW was group up with Gray Malone and Corey Bull? What makes you think that we give a flying fuck? You complain about a lack of competition in the tag team division, but the moment teams do come in, you piss and moan and say that “they can’t stand on their own two feet”. That’s how tag teams work, Captain Geritol! Teams work TOGETHER to get the job done! And with the same mouth you used to criticize me for “keeping Aurora from her full potential,” you contradict yourself by boasting about why you’re teaming with KEG. “I’ve got the advantage because he’s a legend! He wants to be a Triple Crown Champion!” Well, guess what, Magoo? As long as Aurora and I have anything to say about it, that’s not gonna happen.
Damon looks over at Aurora, who’s shaking her head with a wicked grin on her face.
Damon: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Portland was only the beginning. The Angelz of Destruction gave everyone a small taste of what was in store, but in San Jose, we open the fucking floodgates! The Angel of Hate, Corey Bull, will bury that walking hemorrhoid Dirk Bentley in a hole so deep, he’ll never see the light of day again; the Angel of Damage, Gray Malone, is going to show no forgiveness to that wannabe angel Kenzie Rydell, and in the process, bring home the Five Lakes Championship. And leading the charge in clearing out all of the filth and corruption in NGW, the Angelz of Rebellion and Chaos…
Damon indicates himself and Aurora.
Damon: Aurora Knight and Damon Graves. We get the pleasure of eliminating four obstacles that made the error of thinking that they could keep us away from our destiny. There’s no doubt that Levi Daugherty and Avery Miles III are going to be watching this match. After all, we wouldn’t want them to think that we’ve “blind-sided” them when we come after those Tag Team Championships. We want you to see us coming, Genesis! The anticipation of our inevitable confrontation is gonna make it even better when we’re standing over you, with the belts in OUR hands... Am I right, Harley?
Aurora looks at him warily.
Aurora: You know, that’s the second time you’ve called me “Harley”....
Damon: Well, it’s not because you look like Harley Race….
Both of them shudder at the thought.
Damon: You ride a Harley-Davidson and I saw a couple of Harley Quinn statues on a shelf the last time I was over at your place, so the name kinda fits…
Aurora flashes him a mischievous grin.
Aurora: OK… puddin’
The word “puddin’” was pronounced in Aurora’s almost spot-on imitation of Harley Quinn's voice from “Batman: The Animated Series”. Damon scrunches up his face.
Damon: Don’t call me “puddin”....
Damon likewise makes a slightly less successful imitation of the Joker’s voice from the same show.
Aurora: (still as Harley Quinn) Whatever you say… puddin.
Damon shakes his head in an effort to keep from laughing. Both Angelz get back in the ring to continue sparring as the scene fades to black.