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Finn Kühn · (12-17-2022)

14 December 2022
Lake Louise
Alberta, Canada

"I hope you realize just how unsafe this is," I cursed under my breath while pressing the earpiece in deeper. Layers upon layers of clothes bundled me up snugly, providing me with needed warmth as I waded out with ice skates on.

"And I hope you realize that you'll be needing this experience under your belt in general, let alone just for Savage, boy."

The ever-sharp tone of Skyla Hawkins rang out through the earpiece, needling me and having an almost mocking undertone to it all. It earned a sigh from me, and I felt my balance on my skates wavering as the ice stood rigid beneath me. Just... Focus. Focus. Focus.

"This is the last time I ever tell you about something I had trouble doing as a child," I spat back at her.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Christine's near-hyperactive, eager voice almost chirped in my ear. "Finn, are you telling me you had trouble ice-skating as a child?"

[i]Oh, not again. I shook my head, grumbling out something incomprehensible under my breath. I started kicking out across the frozen lake, shaking and stumbling as I tried my best not to fall down.

"Fine! I admit it!" I said while shaking my head. "Fact of the matter is, I always had trouble ice skating when I was a kid. Mom and Dad used to take me out to these rinky-dink ice rinks out in the City, and I always ended up falling over and never skating right. And when that came up in a conversation with Skyla..."

"I took it upon myself to set up this little training exercise for dear Finn here," Skyla finished with a hint of smug pride in her voice.

"Oh. So that explains why we're out in Canada!" Christine said with certainty now restored in her voice once more.

It took me a minute to comprehend just what Christine was saying as my flabbergasted voice chimed out. "Wait a minute. It didn't occur to you to question what the fuck we're doing out in Canada of all places?"

"Well, I knew it was something Skyla had planned for training..." Christine mused with a soft exhale, "...And I also know quite well after the whole golden candy bar fiasco back around Halloween that I reaaaaally shouldn't question whatever Skyla has planned up her sleeve when it comes to this stuff."

That earned a loud laugh from Skyla, who's voice boomed over the other end. "Smart girl."

Glad to see they're acting all chummy right about now. I shook my head, continuing to wade forward as the object of what I was looking for was starting to come into view - a set of flags, raised on the ice, waving about in the frozen winds and staring at me with anticipation.

"Now, Finn," Skyla saw fit to gently guide me onto the task at hand here. "Right about now, you should see the flagpoles I mentioned to you earlier before you came out onto the ice."

"Yeah, I do," I responded. Puffs of steam escaped out in front of me, making it slightly hard to see, but I at least knew the general direction I was going in. My legs felt like they were spaghetti beneath me. It was hard to just keep balance, keep myself on pace, and to keep on going, and...

THUD!

"Fuck!" I shouted into the earpiece as I fell forward. My hands and knees jutted out, helping to break my fall, but in the process, I could feel brief bursts of pain entering my system. Nothing I couldn't handle, but it was still annoying.

"You alright, Finn?" Christine was the first to check on how I was doing, concern lacing her voice. Though she also didn't say anything, Skyla gave a small noise of concern that indicated she was in the same boat as her.

"I... I'm fine," I shot back as I forced myself back up onto my feet. Just had to keep moving. Keep skating. Keep pressing on. My shaky body waded out across the ice, trying to find my footing properly with the skates. "Just hard to... use these things and stay upright."

"If it's a balance issue," Skyla chimed in, "a useful tip is to keep your skates glued to the ice at all times. It's not like walking where you want to raise your foot above the ground. It's more of a... pushing motion off of the ice."

For the love of... Fine. I took a deep breath, having my eyes peeled straight ahead to the nearby set of flags. Just... push forward with your feet. Slowly, I forced my body to obey, going slow at first and trying to pick up steam.

"I... think I'm moving right..." I muttered as I held my arms out to stop my body from wavering.

"Good! Now then, Finn," Skyla remarked with more conviction in her voice. "Now that you have the flagpoles I set in your sights, I want you to go across to all of them and rip the flags off of the pole to collect them. There should be six in total. Once you're done with that, I want you to come back to shore."

"Lucky me..." With my task set before me, it wasn't like I had anything to do but the training exercise. And so, I slowly waddled my way forward, going as slow and steady as I possibly could.

"So, uh... Finn. Considering how... rocky you are on the ice, you think you're ready for Savage against... Man, what was his name? Manny... Manny something..." Christine snapped her fingers, trying to make the name on the tip of her tongue come to fruition.

"Emmanuel D'Monstre," Skyla gently pointed out as I pressed onward.

"Yeah! Him!"

"What the fuck?" I cursed, flabbergasted. "Christine, isn't it kind of... your job to be in the loop when it comes to these guys?"

"I know! I try! I really do!" Her voice pleaded through the earset, though considering the circumstances with this case in particular, I wasn't sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. "He's just kinda... there, though! Like, how did he even get a contract with the XWF?! He's pushing SIXTY, for crying out loud! And there's NO footage of him in any kind of wrestling scenario that would justify him being given a contract! Finn, I think you could just sneeze on him and he'd just topple over!"

It was at that moment I made it to the first flag, trying to fiddle about with circling around it. I managed to find my way though, using the pole for support, and before skating off I managed to snatch the flying black flag. "Charming."

"Well, old age aside, I'd say you still can't afford to underestimate him." Once again, as if trying to even cut off the thought of not giving this match my all, Skyla decided to interject. "For one, he's got years of experience in several combat sports. Considering his experience has him as a judoka, one wrong move means you could be thrown right through the ice. And I'm sure we wouldn't want that, right?"

"Of course not," I sighed. Flag number two was now within my reach too, and I was bobbing and weaving through the poles now.

"Well, not for nothing, but he also lost to Ring Master. And not that Ring Master hasn't improved and all, but at the same time... he was also a lot more focused on BOB than actually trying to deal with him," Christine sighed. "Like, really. Ring Master just went on a podcast before Bad Medicine, and BOB was all he was talking about. So much for trying to hype up your match..."

"Admittedly, I find myself struggling to care as well," I said, ignoring the bitter chill as I pulled down my third flag. "Not in the facet of 'he's a crotchety old man who shouldn't have been even given a contract,' but rather... he's not the kind of man I wanted to face. From the start, I've only been looking to face champions. You know... the best of the best to try and prove myself against. Ever since I've started the Road to the King, though my win-loss record might not be up to scratch, my standard of competition has been one of the highest in here. Kido, Kaye, Centurion, Graves... Manny feels like he's sticking out like a sore thumb. What am I going to prove by dunking a near-senior citizen into freezing water?"

"You can prove that you won't be letting yourself be caught off-guard by granting yourself a deserved victory before you have to focus on bigger matches," Skyla pointed out. "After all, the potential to be the first Number One Contender for what will be the newly unified Television title is going to bring out the best possible competition."

That was a far more valid point as I took my fourth flag. I was starting to rack these up now...

"Fair enough. I just don't like taking off days, is all..." I responded back.

"While we're on the topic of future plans and all that jazz..." Christine said with an unusual lace of seriousness in her tone. My brow furrowed together, wondering what could be coming- "Finn, you wanna explain what you're doing in WGWF as of late?"

Ah. There it was. I snatched my fifth flag as the question came, with only one more to go a while away. I slowly exhaled, figuring this was going to be coming up sooner or later.

"Well," I began, trying to find the right words to say, "I'd say it's simple. I came in to help my... I'm still not sure if friend is the right word, but I'll say ally. I came in to help my ally Buster Gloves settle the score with Peter Vaughn, and tried my best to handle CCPE interference. I took a contract because I see that as the... snake's den, as Buster would probably put it. With Chris Page at the helm there, a lot more gets done by him. Corruption almost fills the air there. I see it as a natural next place to try and help restore, as it were, alongside here. And besides, there's plenty of other champions there who I can try and face and better myself there. All a part of trying to be the best-"

"-or be broken, yeah. I guess I get that. Just... be careful, will you, Finn? It's just as dangerous over there, and we don't need to talk about how you've been putting your body through the wringer with your matches. I'm sure you'd at least want to win some gold first before you get put on the injury list..."

Six out of six flags taken.

I smiled at the bundle of black fabric in my gloved hand, nodding as I did so.

"I'm not planning on leaving any time soon, so long as I can help it."

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