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Scoops McGee · (02-13-2025)

Darkness was all that greeted the group that had stepped inside the building that had loomed over their shoulders akin to a weight. Their footsteps clacked together on the hard marble floor, with brief rumblings joining them. Finally, however, a hand had managed to find a wall, rummaging about and clacking it on to reveal none other than Mister Oz’s own training academy.

The marble was quickly giving way to an expanse of black carpet that took up the entire rest of the main gym. Weights of all shapes and sizes were accompanied by benches and machines alike, and two heavy bags stood rigid, almost forming a wall between them and the cardio machines on the other side of the gym, with treadmills, ellipticals and more calling out to the arrivals.

Right in the center of the gym, perched like a crown jewel, sat the purpose of any professional wrestler. Oz’s wrestling ring was a bit smaller than the traditional XWF ring - their rings were twenty-feet on each side, whereas this one seemed closer to sixteen-feet. Still, its call was unmistakable. Between the perfectly white canvas and fluttering apron canvases, it knew what the newcomers really wanted to do.

Scoops McGee gave a haggard sigh as he walked forward, eyeing most of the gym with contempt as he muttered. “What the Hell did I get myself into…?”

And anywhere he went, Scoops’ cameraman Noah was sure to follow as he had done the job of making sure his camera got a look of the entirety of Mister Oz’s gym as the lights had turned on.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad!” he offered. Selfishly, Noah had to admit that this was a rare chance to see a real veteran at work - Scoops had been coy about showing him his training routine. “I mean… you were the one talking about how you were wanting to feel twenty years younger before we got here, right?”

“That ain’t the point, boah,” Scoops groaned in response, holding back the urge to facepalm. He did so successfully, instead turning to his new, ragtag partner of sorts. “You comin’, or what?”

“Of course. Though, it’s best to get stretching first, Scoops.” Oz smiled as he started doing a couple squats. Afterwards, he followed through as he lifted his right leg behind him. He grabbed his ankle and held that spot for nearly ten seconds before dropping it, then did the same with the other leg.

“We’re going to work on cardio first. I don’t need you to get fancy with shit like I do, but what I want is for you to not get so out of gas by minute 5 of the match, okay? Good cardio will lead to long matches that will make you look like a goddamn God to the crowd when you’re facing the greenhorns coming into the ring and outlasting them, y’know? Good cardio will also make sure that if you do anything that lifts people, you won’t look out of breath during a suplex. I’m gonna hit the ropes for a few minutes, I suggest you do the same.”

Oswald chuckled a bit, and patted Scoops on the back. “By the time the match comes, you are going to look and feel like a younger man again.”

Oz then slid into the ring, and started to run back and forth in the ring. Once he hit the ropes after a couple minutes, he started changing direction after each bounce off of them to help not just his cardio, but his raw agility too.

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Scoops grumbled underneath his breath. Noah could tell Scoops wasn’t exactly enamored with the whole idea of this sort of exercise, but he didn’t make a fuss out of it.

Scoops rolled his shoulders back a couple times, before gingerly raising a knee to his chest and holding it for a few seconds. Soon after came the other leg, and afterwards, Scoops started to lean forward to touch his toes. It took a bit of work, but Scoops managed to get his hands down. He held the form for a moment… and held… and held…

“Noah,” Scoops whispered.

Noah blinked, making his way over towards Scoops as he got a better look at him. “Uh… yeah?”

“Stay right there,” Scoops ordered before reaching over towards Noah, grabbing onto his knee and using it as a leverage point to straighten himself out. As he got back to a standing position, a few loud cracks made themselves present, causing Scoops to wince. “Yeah, that’s the stuff.”

As Scoops stood once again, a curious sight presented itself to him - about a dozen people rolling into the gym, each different sizes but wearing the same outfit, and sprawled out within. Some went to the half of the room for cardio, while some went towards the weightlifting sets. A small handful even tried to come shake Scoops’ hand, giving small greetings like “Pleasure is mine!”

“Y-Yeah…” Scoops nodded along, before turning his attention to the ring where Oz was continuing to run the ropes. He grumbled, before beginning to head inside as he called out to him. “The Hell’s this, Oz? The motley crew?”

Oz laughed in the middle of his running, going around Scoops as he got inside and starts to slow down before stopping completely, taking a few deep breaths before speaking. “My students, Scoops. I’ve been part of the XWF for, what I believe is going to be 11 years.”

He wiped the bit of sweat from his forehead with a small hand towel. “They want training to become a future XWF wrestler. It’s my duty as a vet to pass on all the knowledge of how we work in the XWF so they get a bit of push off the jump. So, I’m teaching them. Training them, just like I’m going to do with you. We need to work on our teamwork anyway.”

He then turned his smile to a scowl, his eyes laser focused on Scoops. “I take this shit seriously, Scoops. If you put in the work, we’ll both land ourselves in the finals. And if you put in no work? Your back is going to feel a lot worse. Do you understand what I mean? I’ve had too many partners do nothing, and I do to them what I would to our opponents. I break them. I break their spirit and body. I will never betray my partner, until we’ve either won or lost. In the ring, I am laser focused on the opps. You could fucking tag me in with a punch, and I still won’t do shit to you until the match is over. It’s up to you, how healthy you want to be when it’s done.”

Scoops met Oz’s scowl with a glare of his own, his nose scrunched for a brief moment. “Boah, you ain’t got a thing to worry about with me. We both wanna get those fuckers outta our way and land ourselves where we belong.”

Oz placed a large hand upon Scoops’ left shoulder, smiling slightly as he clapped him. “Good. Now, let’s get your heart pumpin’. Hit the ropes a few times. Go as far as you think you can go, then go a bit further before you stop.”

Oz then moved to sit on top of a turnbuckle so he could watch over Scoops. Scoops took a deep breath, cranking his neck out as he started to rev himself up again. “Let’s do this shit, then.”

It was a fruitful day, to say the least. Oz kept his eyes craned over Scoops’ shoulder like a hawk, having watched and studied his moves intently. From running the ropes, to flailing the battle ropes, to having Oz’s students carefully helping him out with the rows upon rows of weights.

Scoops’ body hadn’t been tested like this in a long, long time. But no matter how much blood and sweat poured out of him, Oz could see that he was breaking new limits within himself. Whether it was the fact that Scoops had won championship gold recently again, or the fact that he really was dedicated to making this partnership work, one thing was for sure - the old man before him was starting to mold himself into a new shell.

Scoops stood in front of the camera with a haggard sigh as he straightened himself. His face was redder than a tomato, but it wasn’t going to stop him from talking. “Summer Page! ‘Spoiled’s a good title for some goddamn airhead like you! Spoiled like how y’ain’t been tested once in yer’ life! Spoiled like how you ain’t ever had to work a day in yer’ life, and now that you came to the XWF, you see that you just ain’t good enough to hang in that there ring! Y’ain’t ever had the chance to make good on yerself and win some gold, and y’ain’t gonna take that next step for yerself on this next Anarchy, no siree! The only thing ‘Spoiled’ ‘bout you now is that y’ain’t nothing but spoiled goods! I’m gonna take you ‘round the ring, lift you on high, and maybe when I give you the Big Scoop, yer’ gonna see y’ain’t cut out for this shit!”

“Summer, when I saw your name, I wondered why we were fighting someone with a name that gives off the thought of ‘Is that a stripper or one of those oddballs that believes in the ‘power’ of crystals’. You’re going up against a veteran in this business, and a veteran of the XWF. You were forced to team with someone I’ve beat before. Though, time hasn’t exactly been kind to him. This match is going to equate to nothing more than two gorillas going against the Cincinnati Zoo.”

Scoops nodded along with Oz’s words, clapping him on the shoulder. “Yeah, he’s right! And Richard Powers - I ain’t forgettin’ ‘bout you. You wanna stroll around the place talkin’ bout, ‘woe is me! I got my money stolen by Thaddy Duke! What am I gonna do now?’ Dumbass. If yer the type of idiot who thought yer only chance of success was only investing in some goddamn XBUX, yer even stupider than you look. When the fuck has that ever been a stable money source? EVERYBODY got robbed blind by Thad, and you don’t see them cryin’ foul every chance they get! You wanna stick it to the man so bad? How ‘bout you grow up, grow a backbone, learn some goddamn humility and take some fuckin’ lumps before you try and go for some real gold!”

“Or better yet - how ‘bout you quit the company, you sack o’ shit? You wanna talk about how much of a big-time player you are? You know what happens when employees get disrespected to that level? They take their talents, and they move the hell on! And you know what, you decide you wanna do that, Ozzy and I’ll show you the door ourselves, ‘cause there ain’t no one here who wants to tolerate you!”

“Dicky boy. It’s been a while, bud. Remember how you were supposed to beat me, but instead I pulled out all the stops and beat your ass instead? Everyone was believing you were going to win, but nah. That’s just you in a nutshell isn’t it? You’re only around for a funny time, not a, I guess you could say ‘fruitful’ time. Because it’s getting to be boring to see people like you, fill the air with your inane bullshit. Here’s what I’m going to do. To shut you up, I’m going to put one hand down your throat. The other, up your ass. And when they finally meet in the middle, I will pray for you. I will pray for you to finally learn your place. Forever and always at the back of the line where trash like you and Summer belong.”

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Scoops McGee and Mister Oz in... “The Shape of Our Lives”
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