Phantom Menaces

A soft coo crossed the lips of the Latina, Angel relaxing as Ace rubbed at her shoulder. She listened to the girl's words, then started to blush as Ace began to heap on the praise. Once she was done, she opened her eyes and shook her head, her voice soft as she spoke up again.

"No. I'm not the best. I'm one of the best, but I'm not the best. I still have a long way to go before I can claim that title, chica." She opened her eyes, and tilted her head upwards, to look back up at Ace. "Trust me though. I'll be the best one of these days, but I'm not yet. Not now at least."

She slowly reached up, resting her hand on top of Ace's hand, the one that was rubbing her shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "And Taylor's good. Taylor's damn good. Don't ever forget that, chica. The girl knows how to fight. But...you are right. I let her get in my head, and that's how she beat me."

Angel sighed, and closed her eyes again. "Next time though. Next time, that's not going to happen." She gave Ace's hand another squeeze though, and forced a smile onto her face.

"Thank you though. I think I needed this conversation."

"Well it better. I wanna see you holding that belt again one day, just like I will."

She said, standing up and checking her phone.

"Damnit...I'm sorry but I need to get going. I gotta catch a red eye flight back to Japan tonight for this autograph signing. At least the rest of you guys get some R&R before you go back to work..."

She blushed a little, rubbing her arm a bit.

"So...thanks for listening to me. I needed that."

"Hopefully it'll be sooner then you think," Angel smirked, before letting go of the girl's hand. She gave Ace a nod as the girl stood up and checked the time, then lifted a hand to wave her off.

"It's fine, chica. I wasn't expecting any visitors anyway, so I'm glad you stopped by. Go and catch your flight, and I'll be back in Japan before you even realize it. We'll meet up and hang out or something when I get back."

She opened her eyes and smiled at Ace's blushing, and gave her a friendly look at her last words. "Don't worry about it, chica. I needed someone to talk to too, you know? So thanks for that."

"Anytime, I mean that..."

Ace replied, giving Angel one last hug and waving goodbye before heading out of the room, feeling a little better about things, less upset and more determined to get her title back.

Angel watched Ace go, giving the girl a wave of her own, and then settled back down into her bed. She closed her eyes, and decided to grab some more sleep. She was feeling a lot better about things too, and was already planning on what she was going to do once she had recovered from her injuries and made her return to the AFW.