With War Games on the horizon, all of the teams were finalizing their collective plans and preparing for unified battle against equally unified foes…at least, all but one…


They had already been all but written off by everyone who could see that the team Captain cared very little for those she had picked and even less for the idea of winning it all.  This was a last desperate chance to get the team back on track before it was too late and all their chances went up in smoke.

It was through the collective scheming of Sid’s Executive Assistant, Dani Chow and Jay Omega that they had come up with a plan for a team building session that would give them all a chance to come together and focus their efforts shocking the XWF and going all the way in War Games.


The afternoon sun waned and slipped over the South Asian beach-front nestled within the tropical bosom of the Maldives.  The sand was still white hot with a smattering of bright green palms scattered about over the landscape.  Brown topped huts stood out over the glistening blue water on stilts to give a view of the magnificent island paradise.  One of the larger huts housed the Golden Rumor Bayside Bar that would play host to the pre-War Games meet up of Team Drunky Kong.

Curious tourists and interested fans filled the venue as members of the ‘team’ sat up on the makeshift stage as promotional videos for XWF War Games played on the massive screen behind them.  In sharp contrast to the surreal beauty outside, the mood inside seemed dour and tension filled.  The only one who seemed to be having a good time was the ‘Captain’ Sidney Grey, who was a third of a way through her fourth drink and nearly halfway from falling out of her top.

Sid sipped the glass down to the bottom until the ice rattled around like dice and slammed the empty down on the table in front of her.  She bellowed loudly; “KEEP EM’ COMING!”  In answer to The Lady King, a scantily dressed island girl made her way out and quickly replaced her drink.  As the girl made her way back off stage, she gave Jay Omega a quick glance and a smile, which he returned with a curt nod and a wink.




Everyone started in their seats as the girl flopped to the floor, her serving tray and glasses shattering into millions of pieces.  Right next to the fallen girl, Dani Chow pulled in her outstretched foot, tucking it neatly back behind the podium she stood in front of.

“Oh! You clumsy!”  Dani shook her head. “I so embarrass for you!”  She turned, glancing in Jay’s direction as well, a quirky smile on her face.


Dani waited until the mortified waitress collected herself and scurried away in tears before turning her attention to the masses.  “Good evening, lady and gentlemen!  My name Dani Chow and I will be host and moderator for tonight Q and A with Team Drunky Kong, for XWF War Game!” 

Those in attendance clapped and cheered as Dani turned to the participants and a spotlight was shown on the man in the first seat.


“First up, and not because he only pick last, VAGABOND!” Dani announced loudly.  “Even though Vagabond eliminate first in Captain Match, he have good sense to step aside and make way for Lady King, Sidney Grey to become Captain of Team Drunky Kong!”  Vagabond couldn’t hide the look of bewilderment that crossed his face during Dani’s introduction.  “Where Vagabond lack in skill, he more than make up for in loyalty to The King!”

Vagabond started to speak up, but the light was abruptly moved off him, casting him into darkness as the person in the next seat was illuminated next. 


Dani could be seen visibly blushing as she struggled to hide the smile that tugged at the sides of her mouth.  “Next! He ruggedly handsome man of intergalactic myth and mystery!  The many tale of his exploit throughout the universe both inspire fear in his enemy and lust in his fan!  He destined to one day-”

“OH MY GOD!  YOU KNOW HE’S FUCKING MARRIED TO TWO CHICKS, RIGHT?” Sid yelled.  “HE’S JAY OMEGA, CAN WE PLEASE JUST MOVE ON?!”

Dani seemed dejected after having her thunder stolen, but only for a moment. “IT JAY OMEGA!” Jay scratched his head as he smirked at the over-the-top introduction.  Dani tried her best to catch his fancy as she twirled a lock of her dark hair from her tightly bound ponytail as she wet her lips seductively.

Thankfully…mercifully, the spotlight moved to the next seat.


“Next up, this man is true legend in XW-”

Dani was abruptly cut off as Sid drunkenly staggered over to the podium, pushing her aside.  “You better let me handle this one!  Take a minute and dry off!”  She waited for Dani to give her room before clearing her throat.  “It pleases me to announce the number one pick for Team Drunky Kong, a man who is a bonafide legend in this sport, CENTURION!” The fans cheered and screamed, but Centurion remained stoic as he glared right back at Sid, knowing that she wasn’t done.

Sid blew him a drunken kiss, confirming his assessment before continuing on.  “It pleases me to announce that this is the first stop on the Thanks for Nothing, Centurion Retirement Tour!”  The fans booed as Sid snickered.  “Boo all you like, this fossil is about to be carted out of the XWF just like his idiot girlfriend!  That night, I beat her so badly that I became the Face of Anarchy…and after I Centurion bows out right after her, courtesy of your Lady King, I will add the title of Legend to my own growing list of accolades!”

Sid stumbled off in the wrong direction before being guided back to her seat, where she peered over at Centurion, still snickering.  Dani resumed her post, now completely dry and ready to finish off the introductions. “Wow! What an introduction from The King!  Congratulation on your impending retirement, Centurion!  It well deserved, Dani Chow sure!”


The spotlight focused on Sid, who was already nursing another frozen island drink.  “Lady and gentlemen, she architect of Team Drunky Kong, former Champion and forever Face of Anarchy, former and greatest Universal Champion of all time, and finally…your Lady King, SIDNEY MICHAELA GREY!”

There was a mixed chorus of boos and cheers for all the team members from those in attendance who had come to support their favorites and malign those they disliked. The lights came back up as they focused on all the members and Dani settled in to address them. 

“Okay, this open question for group,” Dani began.  “If you win against Team G00D-B01, you go to main event to face winner of other matches; who else you think might be in main event?”

“Personally, I’m hoping for another round with Corey Smith,” answered Jay before anyone else could pipe up, as he signaled to a waitress for another drink.  “And from what I’ve seen of Raion Kido, he’s got the chops to go all the way.”

“I wouldn’t count out Sarah Lacklan or Noah Jackson,” Centurion interjected.  “And Jenny Myst is something of a wildcard.”

“HA! Please!” laughed Omega.  “The entire team of T.E.A.M. is screwed! Corey himself is a huge asset to any team, and Dionysus ain’t no slouch; I’ll be keeping an eye on those two for sure.”

“Mr. Vagabond, you want add anything?” Dani queried.

“Hadn’t really thought about it.” Vagabond replied with a shrug.  “The card is saturated with talent and we could find ourselves facing just about anyone, if we make it to the main event. I’m just going to do my best to prepare for anything.”

Sid laughed at the answers from everyone on her ‘team’ as she nursed another drink after discarding the stupid umbrella that nearly poked out her eye.  “Listen to the three of you!  You all sound pathetic!  All of your idiots dreaming about this fucking pie in the sky!” Sid mocked their voices as she screeched; “Well, if I win I want to face blah blah blah, because BLAH BLAH BLAH!!”  She pointed at each one of them. “Get it through your thick heads!  I made this fucking team for one reason and once reason ONLY…to do with what I want!  If I want to watch all of your assholes lose, then that is what will happen!”  She smiled smugly, "If I decide that I want to win, then you’ll all do exactly what I want!”

Jay, Centurion, and Vagabond all started to yell collectively at Sid, but she ignored them all.  Dani, wisely seized on the sliver of hope that Sid had left for even attempting to work as a team to win.  “Ms. Grey…I know you speak to Jay Omega and you two make deal.  You say you actually try if Jay Omega get you date with Isaiah King, right?”

Sid laughed, but everyone else in the room was silent, waiting for her answer.  As the mood grew heavier her laughter softened.  “You were serious?”  She looked at Jay Omega. "Did you really talk to Isaiah?”

Jay shrugged. “Let’s just say that when I talk, people listen.”

Sid sat there unmoving, then a smile made its way across her face.  “Well…that would be a totally different story wouldn’t it?  Just think about it…The XWF with two Kings!  How magnificent that would be!”

Centurion groaned as his threw back his head.  “My God! Can you check your dried-up libido at the door and answer the question?!”

Sid started to yell at Centurion, but Dani interjected. “Ms. Grey, answer question please. If you advance-”

“WHEN!” She yelled.

Dani nodded.  “Pardon.  When advance, who you think there to face you?”

Sid sat back, lacing her fingers as she considered the options out loud.  “To be honest, there are so many who could make it to the finals just to lose to me.  I mean, it’s hard to bet against Kido, he’s walking around with MY Universal Title that he stole!”

Centurion added, “Pretty sure he beat you.”

“HE CLIMBED A GODDAMN LADDER! HE NEVER BEAT ME!” Sid screamed.  She glared at Centurion, then slowly returned to her musing.  “You have to be a fool to count out Mark Flynn or Bobby Bourbon.  Those are two men who are LEGIT legends…unlike some other pretenders…who’ll get what’s coming to them in very short order!”  Sid closed her eyes.  “Then there’s Noah Jackson, Ned Kaye, and of course Isaiah King…”

Vagabond spoke up this time.  “Are you just naming guys you want to sleep with?”

Sid jumped up, pointing across the stage at him. “MAYBE I’M NAMING GUYS YOU WANT TO SLEEP WITH!”

Vagabond held up his hands.  “Geez!  I’m just saying.  Plenty of women in the match and you haven’t named any of them!”

“Vagabond have good point.” Dani added.  “You not think any women be in finals?”

Sid snorted, sitting down as she signaled for another drink.  “What do you want me to say? Sarah Lacklan, Angelica Vaughn, Atomic Bat?!”

Jay chimed in.  “Atomic Bat isn’t in this match.”

“Really?” Dani said.

“No, she’s not.” Jay said.

“Pretty sure she’s there.” Sid added.

“No, she’s absolutely not!” He corrected.

“Agree to disagree.” Sid said.

Jay ran his hands down his face. “Oh man.”

Sid finished.  “Look, male or female, it doesn’t matter. If…and I mean IF I decide I even want to be in the finals, it doesn’t matter who it is.  I’m The King of the XWF and that means I am better than everyone else on the roster!” She pointed all over the stage.  “Especially all of YOU!”

“OKAY!  Dani Chow think it time to change pace and cool off, little bit. Let me start with Jay Omega.”  She grinned coyly.  “Sid not think highly of other women in match, but what Jay Omega find most attractive in a woman?”

Before anyone could say anything, Sid cut in.  “OKAY! Enough of that!  This isn’t The Dating Game…” Sid turned her attention to the panel.  “...it’s my opportunity to make it crystal clear to all of you idiots that I am the Alpha and the Omega of this team!  I cobbled you all together to show all of the XWF what it means when you win it ALL and become King!  I hold your fates in the palm of my hand, and I can end all your hopes and dreams with a snap of my finger!”  Sid snapped, to add a bit of emphasis to her declaration; though it didn’t quite have the finality of The Infinity Gauntlet, the point was still made.

Dani was quick to seize the moment and draw attention to a rumor that had apparently escaped her notice.  “Ms. Grey, while Dani Chow agree with everything you say, what about statement from Vagabond?”  She pointed at the man who sat smug in his seat, barely able to contain the grin that threatened to spill across his face.  “Vagabond say that he play you Ms. Grey.  He hatch plan with Theo Pryce to get The XWF King on his team.”

Sid threw back her head and laughed long and hard.  “PLEASE!  That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”  She sat forward, turning her attention to Vagabond.  “There was no way in Hell that The King of the XWF was NOT going to be a Captain!  After I was wrongly passed up, I went to-”

“May Day.” Vagabond chimed in.

Sid narrowed her eyes at him.  “YES!  I went to May Day and then I arranged for a-”

“Private meeting.” Vagabond added again.

“DO YOU FUCKING MIND?!”  Sid screamed.

Vagabond raised his hands.  “My bad. Go on, you tell the story.”

She glared at him a few moments longer, then began again.  “I went to May Day and arranged for a private meeting with-”

“Theo Pryce, and he offered to make you a Captain, just like I asked him to!”  Vagabond finished with a broad toothy grin showing through his beard.

“NO!  No No No!” Sid protested, standing as she was forced to steady herself by holding on to the table.  “That never happened!  Theo knew that I should have been Captain all along!”

Vagabond shrugged his broad shoulders.  “Well, you probably don’t have a pretty good perspective on things, being The King and all, but that’s the point.  I didn’t have the first pick and I probably wasn’t going to get the second or third, so I made sure I’d get MY pick…The King of the XWF and I didn’t have to compete against anyone to get you…you made damn sure of that!” He snickered.  “Don’t take it wrong Sid, you’re a catch as far as War Games go, I was just a hell of a lot smarter about picking MY team than anyone else was!”

Sid was left furious and had to be restrained to keep from going after Vagabond.  Her face was flushed a deep red as anger and embarrassment surged through her, but still she denied his claim.  “Look here you scruffy looking curtain jerker!  No one manipulates me!”

“Like Gina Van Zyl did?” Centurion said, knowing that this would cut Sid deeply.

“YOU SHUT UP OLD MAN!” She screamed, turning her attention to ‘her’ number one pick as she pointed at him, stirring comparisons to the infamous woman pointing at cat meme.


“Calm down everyone!” Dani attempted to bring some order to the growing chaos, to little avail.  “This supposed to be interview, so I ask question for Ms. Grey; Ms. Grey, what your plan for uniting team in victory at War Game?”

“Oh, I’m the man with the plan,” Jay interjected before Sidney could speak.  “You should be asking me that question. But to answer your original question, it’s always the eyes that get me first.”

Dani couldn’t help the smile that burst across her face as Jay recounted her earlier question about what he liked in a woman.  She chewed her lower lip as she blushed, batting her eyelashes as best she could, as her eyes were drawn back almost impossibly tight by her ever-present ponytail.

Jay continued. “And I’d like to clarify what Ms. Grey said; I am married, yes, but my wives and I enjoy an open relationship. Now, as to the nature of the plan–”

“NO!” Sidney screeched, as she rounded on Omega.  “I’M the Captain, I’M the King, I’M the one with the plan!”

“To win or to sabotage team?” Dani pressed her to elaborate.

“It’s not the team that she’s trying to sabotage, it’s me.”  Centurion added before Sid could spout off again.  All eyes turned to the legendary XWF wrestler, and Sid’s first overall pick. "There is no person on the planet that Sidney would hate seeing win this entire event more than me. The problem is, Sidney isn't completely confident in her own abilities. She can't rely on anyone else to eliminate me, so the only way she has any level of control over the situation is for me to be right next to her. Though, if that's not the case, then there is one other option, and that is this: Sidney wants everyone to believe that this is all a way to embarrass me, but the truth is…I think she likes me."

"THAT'S A LIE!" Sidney screams as loud as she can.

"Is it? I want to ask the whole world a question. If you were someone who wanted to embarrass and humiliate a person you absolutely despise, and who you see as a lesser being, would you willingly select them as a teammate? Of course not. You'd want them to be on the opposite team and try to knock them out. The only reason someone would do something like that is because they see an opportunity for themselves. Sidney doesn't see me as some weak, pathetic creature. She sees me as a rival competitor. One that is equal - or even superior - to herself."

"And YOU call ME delusional?!" Sidney yells out as she sits back in her chair. "HA! That may be the dumbest thing you ever said."

"You can sit there all you want and try to justify this decision in your mind." Centurion says back, looking directly at Sidney. "Honestly, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Saying that you secretly think I'm a great wrestler is actually a compliment compared to the other option, which is that you completely underestimated my skills and the thought of me winning the entirety of War Games never crossed your mind. So, what is it, Sidney? Are you afraid to compliment me? Or are you just really fucking stupid?"

As Centurion finished lambasting Sid for her shortsightedness in choosing him, she’d finally had enough and she made her way across the stage on wobbly legs.  Jay and Vagabond were quick to get to their feet and come between the two of them.  “You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you old man?  So, I pick you, just to screw you over…but then you go on to win it all and I look like a fool, right?”

Those in the audience cheered and clapped, prompting Sid to whirl around and hiss at them.  “SHUT THE HELL UP YOU STUPID FUCKING MARKS!”

“Ms. Grey, perhaps-”

“QUIET!” Sid turned on Dani next.  “If I want your goddamn opinion, I’ll give it to you!”  She turned back to Centurion.  “Okay…you want to ‘turn the tables’ on me?  You think you're going to go out there and win in spite of me? Well, we will see who turns the tables on who!” 

Without warning, but actually plenty of forewarning, Sid grabbed the table and flipped it over, sending Centurion, Jay, and Vagabond falling over.  In spite of her inebriated state, Sid moved like a cat as she pounced on Centurion, but the veteran wasn’t easy prey.  The two of them rolled around the stage, wildly throwing punches at one another; Jay and Vagabond struggled to get between them and pull the two apart as the fans screamed, hooted, and hollered.

Sid tore away from Vagabond, as she staggered back her rage filled eyes still fixed on Centurion. “No!  You aren’t winning ANYTHING! You can watch ME advance and suck on that…YOU BIG FAT IDIOT!”  Sid snorted.  “Check and mate!”  She turned and promptly fell off the stage, crashing into the fans in the front row, adding to the collective chaos.

“I’m, uh, sure she meant to do that.” Omega said, not sounding sure at all.

“OOOOOKAY! I think that gonna do it!  THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!” Dani said from behind the podium before sprinting to her employer’s aid, even as the rest of the team argued among themselves over whether Team Drunky Kong was actually united or not.