Special Delivery for the Tag Champs!

"Huh, I wonder where they hang out."

Shido pondered to himself as he walked around backstage in Tension Arena. He was clad in a blue tracksuit and sneakers with his hands in his pockets as he walked from room to room, hallway to hallway.

"Do champs get private locker rooms? Dressing rooms? You'd figure I would have noticed one of those things by now. It'd be super lame if I were to come back and say that I just couldn't find the tag  champs, and I'll try again later. They've gotta be around here somewhere.

Shido continued skulking around, though he was trying not to look shady while searching for the Tension tag team champions.

Champs did indeed get private rooms, well the UK Elite had one already even before they became the tension tag champs. When they got the belts the first thing they did was get a bigger room, that doubled as a lounge for them on down time. It was near the entrance to the ring, with the faction name placed on the front of it. Just so people knew where it was.

Currently Mr Knight was in the corner of the room, peering into the depths of some big fancy book as he often did. Since the new year started the UK Elite were going to be doing what they did best, show that they were the best of the best of the best. Ryan had his tag belt on his waist at virtually all times in the Tension arena, a tad odd certainly. But Mr Knight cared little for the naysayers, eventually their voices all just melded together and were ignored.

Meanwhile Lucy had her legs crossed on the table, she was watching the Tension show. As good as Ryan and John had been doing so far Lucy last year had stumbled, she would admit that. This year there was going to be changes, a newer and more focused Ms Grange. Maybe a bit more brutal too, considering she was now sporting some tape around her wrists.

As for Mr Carnaby he was outside leaning on the wall, the artist was checking social media. The Tension fans were like they usually were, half and half towards the British trio. John was looking forward to taking some people on in the ring, Sion and Daisuke sprung to mind. That was going to be settled one way or another. But for now he waited, whatever his boss decided he'd stand with.

"Maybe it's down this way?"

Shido continued pacing his way through the back of the arena. He tried to avoid drawing attention to himself, which was easy enough. He was already a smaller guy and still new enough to AFW and no one really knew who he was or anything about him.

Shido had happened upon a few different private rooms before finding the one he was looking for. "Reira....Carmen Rodriguez.....Ah, here we go!" he didn't notice text explicitly saying that the following room belonged to them, but having spotted Mr. Carnaby, he knew he had to be in or near the right place.

He approached the gentleman enthusiastically, hoping to introduce himself. "Excuse me, Mr. John, sir! You're one of the tag champs right? My name is Shido. I'm new here. It's a pleasure to meet you!" He extended his hand for a handshake.

John was busy admiring himself in the reflection of his phone, while he was waiting of course for social media to respond to him. The master of creation wasn't putting out any new pieces for the local art scene, while he was currently holding the tag belt. Didn't stop the numerous requests from numerous people though, he did painting still. But only for recreation, when it was fun and not for profit.

His attention was moved to someone calling him Mr and with his name, John's eyes moved to the source of the voice. And it was some guy, brown hair and really short. Was he smaller than Lucy? Over in Friction that might not have been surprising, here though. Come to think of it Ryan did tell John about some Conza bloke, but he brushed that aside for the time being.

"Shido huh? Cool, name's John though you already knew that. Yeah I'm one half of the tag champs, before you ask no I'm not making any new pieces of art right now. You wanting anything besides that? My boss is a bit preoccupied right now." John said accepting the handshake of Shido and sticking his phone in his coat, while leaning on the door.

Shido got starry eyed and enthusiastic about the idea of getting a keepsake like a work of art from a tag champ.

"Oh! Awesome! Would you be willing to autograph it.....? Oh wait, you said you're not offering right now, haha. That's cool, then."

Shido stopped shaking John's hand and regained his composure to talk seriously for a moment, his hands still in his pockets as he looked up at John and began to explain "Actually. I'm just here on business. How familiar are you with the tag team 'Animalistic Tendencies'?" he asked.

John was wondering who this guy was, was he new? Didn't seem like that as he knew John as one of the tag champs it seemed, then again anyone who was interested in Tension knew that. Namely because of how he acted in regards to John stating he wasn't making new pieces of art anytime soon, Mr Carnaby proceeded to do something out of habit. He twirled the strands of hair that he dyed red.

Shido then proceeded to talk further, the artist frowned slightly as he suddenly seemed to do a 180. John folded his arms in response, he was listening before out of politeness but now the guy actually wanted something apart from an autograph. The master of creation lifted an eyebrow at the runt's question.

"Animalistic Tendencies? Well I know they're not the number one contenders for me and my boss's belts. They from friction? Probably why I ain't heard of em." John said with a smirk, was a team from Tokyo coming to try and take on the champs just because it might be a soft touch? That'd be a laugh.

Shido wasn't as animated as John was, at the moment. He still smiled, as was his nature, but he was focused doing the task he was told. He dug through his pockets, searching for something.

"Well they've heard of you...and after a previous run in with them, they asked me for a favor." He would pull a folded paper out of his pocket, handing it to John. A closer look revealed that it was a letter from the number one contenders, themselves, reading:

From: Animalistic Tendencies
To: The UKE

"We, Juniper Nayle and Sabre, challenge you to a fight! Nothing going for your shiny belt. Just another match to prove that our first one was a lucky shot for you! The match will be a tag team match and will NOT be over as quickly as last time. The match will be over when everyone on one side has submitted! And once you have, you been eliminated! "

Hate
        Juniper Nayle and Sabre

P.S.: "Everyone will also be barefoot. And expect to be bitten. Dont like those rules? Tough!"

"If it's not too much to ask, and if you guys aren't the type to harp on the messenger, could I ask you to pass that along to Ryan and Lucy?" Shido put an arm behind his head, asking his question in a much more lighthearted tone now that he was finally able to deliver that letter.

John wasn't expecting this, he frowned but took the letter. No doubt a couple of chumps trying to take a shot at the champs, fine by them. They'd just be knocked down, hey nothing like stomping on some fodder to build up your momentum. The artist was silent as he looked at the sheet of paper, his face now neutral as he assessed the contents of it.

Without saying a word he knocked on the door, Ryan put down his book. John must have knocked, no one else could do so without him doing it. He put the book down and opened the door, briefly looking at the runt next to the artist.

"What is it John boy?" Ryan said, the artist said nothing but handed the paper to the paragon of Britain. He quickly read it, speedreading was something he was good at. Mr Knight motioned for John to come in before saying to Shido "Wait there, don't even think of going."

After a few minutes of quiet chatting the British trio would come out of the locker room, Ryan was dressed in his usual wrestling attire. Not the MMA shorts, that was for title bouts only. Lucy would look Shido up and down before saying "Come with us, this is going to concern you too."

The British group would walk to the ring, Ryan and John had their title belts around their waists as per usual whenever they made their way to the ring. The show was just preparing to start, when emerging from the entrance curtain was the UK Elite. Pretty much everyone was surprised here by the sudden arrival of the tag champs, as usual the group got a mixed reaction. The entrance music of the team was about to play, but John quickly yelled "Shut it off, give us a mic!"

John got up to the apron, and opened the ropes for Ryan and Lucy. Even for Shido too, it was only polite after all. The artist would then procure a mic and hand it to his boss, Mr Knight would nod to Mr Carnaby before putting the microphone to his lips.

"Ms Juniper Nayle, I got your letter and your lackey here. And I'll bet that your here somewhere, get out here with your partner please. We need to discuss the terms of engagement." Ryan said bluntly as he looked at the entrance ramp.

Shido was perplexed after Ryan told him not to move. He looked behind and then back and him and pointed at himself "Uh, me?"

He'd pace back and forth in anticipation of what the three were discussing in their room. He was happy to be able to get the chance meet them all, but he got the feeling that it wouldn't necessarily be under the friendliest terms.

He would simply reply to Lucy's order with a nod and enter the arena with them. It struck him as funny because this would be his first time entering with any theme music, as AFW management still refused to play his own whenever he entered, for some reason. Though this was short-lived. He would enter the ring through the ropes John opened. Standing in the ring with them, he knew he had gotten himself mixed up in something he hadn't planned on involving himself in. Still, he was excited! A chance to do anything involving the tag champs was surely to be an awesome experience, even if they weren't on the best of terms with him.

After hearing Ryan's words, he'd say under his breath but still audibly enough for the champs in the ring to hear him "Hey, I'd like to think of myself as more of their friend than their lackey. I wasn't forced to do this."

The door to a broom closet opened. Nick Solem could be found coiled up inside, sleeping and snoring away, with several chocolate bar wrappers around him as well as empty bottles of alcohol. His animatronic ears twitch a few times. The woman who opened the closet, Juniper Nayle, sighed. "Come on Sabre, help me with him..."

The two big women would drag the man out of the room and stand him up. Nick shook his head. "J-Jeez...What time is it? I only went in there to get some shut eye..." Sabre wouldnt growl and slap the man, waking and nearly sobering him up. She looked to Juniper. "How come he's your manager?"

"Hes not. Hes my adoptive father. But I let him think he's my manager. Come on, we've already been called out. And we shouldn't keep them waiting."


The two women and a partially sober Nick would walk out into the arena. All of them getting into the ring, Nick stood between the two groups, much like a referee. He would grab Shido by the shoulders and move him to Juniper and Sabre's side. Nick then gave a friendly smile. "Alright...So whats going on here?" It would be obvious to the UKE that Nick was a bit off. And that he was oblivious to the situation.