Winter’s wicked wind whips against the mighty manor. The building braces against the blustery blows.

The mansion prevails! Huzzah!

The south easterly draws back its quiver and lets loose once more.

Again, it strikes!

Again!

Again!

“Again!”

“Again!”

“Again!”

The gravelled voice of Mr. Oz fires off commands in rhythm with the shaking of his home's walls.

In front of him, a wee lad from foggy London channels the storm outside and puts all he can into a swinging right hand. The resulting power was less hurricane and more two-year old blowing out birthday candles. With just as much slobber.

Roger's arm drops limp against his side and he falls against the punching bag.

“You're going to have to step it up if you want to win, kid. I've faced our opponents, and I've beaten each of them before. I know what it takes. And you - both of you–”

He drifts off as he glances across the room to where XWF newcomer “Lucky” Louis Hero is trying to flip a coin landing heads up 20 times in a row.

“6… 7… 8…”

Roger's attention is quickly snapped up by Louis's quest like a magpie who spied a shiny bottle cap. Or like Tommy Wish spotting some uncovered toes. Or like Charlie Nickles spotting a way out of paying child support.

Roger practically floats over to Louis's side.

“Hello Loius the Hero, my name is Roger, and I can't believe you’re going to do it!”

“18… 19… 20!!!”

Both Louis and Roger's eyes widened. They simultaneously burst into cheer as if they had just won the Superbowl.

“YOU DID IT! LOUIS THE HERO, YOU REALLY DID IT!”

“You see, Luck is on our side, boys!”

An unimpressed Oz slaps his hands together and instantly commands the respect (and attention) from his two teammates.

He clears his throat.

“As I was saying… BOTH of you are going to need to dig deep. You don't want to be the Tommy Wish of the team. See, Tommy, he thinks he can hang with the big dogs because his best friend, John Black, made waves, became a singles champion. But in tag teams, what has he and JB done? As a tag team member, Wish is going to be the worst of the three. It takes people who have the DRIVE to win. Because when you have experience, when you have that drive, when you have the balls to take on anyone, tag teaming with people will be the easy part. Wish knows nothing about any of that, and that is why he’s going to be the reason their team loses.”

Oz claps once more, as an exclamation mark.

“Now get back to the bags!”

Roger takes a deep breath and whispers to himself.

“What would Barney Green do?”

Inspired, he rushes back over to the training bags and drops into the very famous and very deadly Nigerian flat bug fighting stance that he mastered while sharing a bowl of English stew with his friend Prince Ibrahim of Glorious Niger after Ibrahim threatened to add spices to it.

Louis, wearing only a pair of North Carolina basketball shorts because he once heard Michael Jordan say how lucky they are, hurries on over as well.

Roger fires off another punch.

The force upgrades to that of an old pedestal fan set to medium.

“Better.”

Roger smiles the kind of smile that one smiles when one knows that a garbage man drunk on White Claw would be proud of them.

Feeling himself, he tees off again…

“WWBGD!!!!”

And he misses the bag.

Louis chuckles to himself while Roger sprawls out on the ground.

“I still don't understand how you survived as long as you did in War Games.”

Oz turned to Louis.

“Your turn now, Lucky Boy.”

Louis straps on a pair of gloves with an eager grin and steps up to the punching bag. Mr. Oz braces behind it, his grizzled expression sharp with focus

“Alright, rookie. One-two. Let’s see it.”

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

“Again!”

“Again!”

“AGAIN!”

Louis pounds the bag. Not quite the hurricane that was blowing outside but with enough force to make Oz flinch.

“No coin flipping this time is there big boy. Luck can't stop the pain… what are you gonna do to them at Anarchy?”

Louis keeps punching, his voice steady despite the exertion.

“Gonna show them!”

“Show them what?”

“That we mean business!”

Oz smirks, shaking his head slightly.

“It’s gonna take more than that. This is your first match. No one’s scared of you.”

Louis steps back, pulling his gloves off with purpose. His playful demeanor sharpens into determination as he faces Oz. Roger sits up from the ground and watches nervously, sensing the sudden tension in the room.

“I’ll tell you this, this TEAM… is making it to the next round in whatever this Bashmaster tournament is. The other guys? Fairytale over.”

Oz raises an eyebrow, intrigued but skeptical.

“Tommy Wish, is going to Wish he hadn't. Charlie Nickles? His mind is elsewhere and as for.. Big.. Dick… Powers… I have a tip for Dick.”

Louis remains laser-focused.

“You’re going to need to pace yourself, Dick! Because I'm coming… and I'm coming hard! I’ve been watching Dick for a while now and, honestly, Dick is good. Dick is very good, Dick is solid!”

The corner of Oz's mouth twitches with a smirk while Roger nods enthusiastically, oblivious to any and all entendre.

“You tell ‘em!”

Louis continues, matching Roger's sincerity.

“I even looked up tape on Dick, and you know what I discovered? Dick strokes it well!”

“WHAT!?”

“Oh, yeah! Google it yourself. Top 10 Dick Power Moves. That man has the smoothest arm drag in the industry. If he were here right now I would say DICK! You drag that arm like no one else… but you never let it get to your head and I respect that.”
Oz pinches the bridge of his nose, his patience wearing thin.
“Yeah! Despite the respect I have for him…”

Louis steps right up to Oz, staring him down with fiery conviction.

“I’ll never let Dick get in my head!”

Louis thrusts his hand out toward Oz, expecting a handshake. Oz stares at it for a moment, then begrudgingly shakes his head, muttering under his breath.

“Okay, Roger. You're up again.”

But the plucky archenemy of that bitch Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn't respond. He seemed entranced by the coin that Louis had been flipping earlier.

“Roger!”

Roger held the coin up for the other two to see.

“A nickel…”

Oz and Louis share a glance, and wait on Roger to use the segue to no doubt launch into a scathing rebuke of all things Charlie Nickles, as if his sad existence didn't rebuke itself.

The diatribe never comes. Instead, Roger sighs…

“It's just a nickel - an unimportant American coin that has no real value in today's world. I mean if one had TWO nickels… maybe that would be something worth talking about.

‘Where did you get that nickel?’

‘I found it in a hallway that was open 24/7!’ (As all good hallways should be.)

‘And the other?’

‘I beat a Shark for it! Thank you for listening to my tale!’

Of course… it is just a tale, isn't it? It's not true. And even if it were, it's not a fancy gold coin. It's just… a nickel. There's a whole Universe of coins out there and yet this nickel is supposed to have value? It's funny how low some people set their expectations, isn't it? Striving to stuff their pockets with TWO consolation prizes as if it holds the same value as something… bigger. Because that bigger thing will NEVER come their way. That Universe will forever remain unexplored. So all one is left with is chump change…”

Bewildered, Louis and Oz blink.

“You okay there, Bud?”

“Huh? Oh, yup, I was just having a read of what was on your magic coin.”

He shows off the coin

“I didn't really understand any of it though…”

Shrugging, he flicks it over to Louis.

It was a bad throw, falling short of target.

Louis thrusts his foot out and catches the coin with it at the last minute, kicking it up and into his hand.

It was Roger’s turn for bewilderment.

Louis winks.

“Lucky catch.”

Both he and Oz look down at the coin, and sure enough, etched into the tails side (that Louis never saw earlier), was teeny tiny writing that should be impossible to read.

It is exactly what Roger had just recited.

“Whoa…”

Oz just grunts

“Back to training!”

Roger obediently jumps to his feet and falls in line again next to Louis.

“Again!”

The wind falls quiet outside, but the violence just gets transported inside as the sound of pummelling punches and… whatever it is that Roger is doing… overtakes the building.

“Again!...”