L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

The following takes place at an office backstage in a sports arena in The States, and during a live LAW show
The CEO/GM had a set office in LAW Headquarters in Japan, but you'd seldom find him there. Not only was there too much business to attend to abroad for him to stay put, but staying in one location for too long ran the risk of being harassed by not just the clientele and the business partners LAW worked with, but the wrestlers. And boy, did DeFranco hate being hounded by wrestlers, especially the more unsavory, malicious ones. On the good days, like today. The GM would hole up somewhere in an office in a LAW arena that no one would suspect he'd be at. And thankfully, today was one of those days.

"Phew..." After getting a little bit of the administrative work out of the way, the man let out a sigh of relief.

He could finally relax. Maybe watch a few matches and highlights from Fight The LAW last year. Maybe snack a bit. He opened a pack of almonds and a bottle of seltzer water. He pulled up the recording on his work PC. It was a pretty peaceful, pretty good afternoon. It was until...

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"FBI! OPEN UP!"

"COUGH" The sudden interruption shocked the man. He nearly choked on his water as it went down the wrong pipe!

"I'm kidding! It's just me! It's ya E-Girl! It's Jem!" Holland let herself in.
"Oh! Crap! Are you okay?!" She'd rush in and pat him on the back to try and help relieve the choking.

"I'm sorry! I thought it'd be funny! I didn't know you were eating! Need me to Heimlich you?" She'd offer.

"No...no, it's okay...just water." Dan would point to the bottle and explain through his coughing fit.

It took a minute or two, but soon DeFranco would recover. Jem stood on the other side of his desk. He adjusted his tie and put his hands together.

"So Jem...to what do I owe the honor? And...how did you even find me?"

"Oh you're a harrrrd man to pin down, Dan! I know we usually chat through email. I went through the hassle of hassling SO many goons in your IT department. Eventually, I found one who's a fan of your girl and that person was willing to share info with me liiiiike, which networks you were connecting to this week. Once I had that, it was just a matter of getting a map of this building's layout and knocking on the doors of a bunch of seemingly unoccupied rooms, bada-bing, bada-boom, now we're here." She'd emote and gesture with her hands while telling this story.

"Hmmm....I see..." Dan made a note to himself to send a mass email to all the LAW IT departments later.

"And you've been tracking me down for some rather important business, I presume?"

"Yes! Okay so check it!" Jem placed both hands on Dan's desk as she got impassioned.

"I've been working at LAW for several years now. I like to think we have a close relationship. I plug the company on my streams, I let you guys take a cut of my funds from twitch, fansly, and the like. You guys help drive traffic to me, and help me keep my online presence going strong. You guys let me do LAW-sanctioned matches on my streams just about anywhere! Heck, I could even wrestle someone in this office space right now and it would go down in the history books as an official match as long as I hand the recording over to production..." Jem would smirk at Dan. It was clear that the thought of wrestling him crossed her mind.

"Don't even think about it." DeFranco said sternly.

"Relax! Getting back on track, the point is that we have a very mutual thing going on! And now I wanna take it to the next level!" Upon hearing this, DeFranco raised his eyebrows curiously.

"I wanna go beyond! Do my own shows! High-production stuff! My own Cinematic matches! My own challenges! I wanna rent venues! I wanna do functions! I wanna keep putting LAW out there! I've got vision! Tons of it! I just need the capital to pull it all off..."

"Oh...so you want funding? Or do you just want a raise?"

"A fund would be sick! But if I got a raise, I could keep pushing the envelope indefinitely! So that would be a lot better, whaddya think, boss?" Jem drew closer to Dan.

"Hmmmm..." Dan would lean back in his chair. He reached for his pack of almonds, he put some in his mouth.

"How much were you thinking?"

"I want...!" Jem raised her hand up high and lifted a foot off the ground as she asked.

"I want a seven-figure salary! And I don't want it to start with a "1" either!"

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH" Once again, there was a coughing fit! Only this time, it was a lot worse than choking on water!

"Wait! Hear me out! I could get sick new gear! I could offer cash prizes to wrestlers! Think of all the possibilities!" Jem would go off. But this time, the coughing was so loud that it drew the attention of security. Dan was practically red in the face by the time they came in and started pulling Jem off the premises.

"I'm not gonna give up that easy, boss! You'll see! I'll climb the leaderboard for Apex if I have to! Become world champ! Then you can't possibly say no to me after that!" Jem hollered as she was escorted out. Cameras captured these events, of course. Soon the whole world was aware of exactly what Jem was trying to achieve. She went about it in her own way, of course. But only time would tell if she'd manage to win big so that she could earn big and bring all her wild ideas to life!

Operation: Courageous Courage
The following occurs at the BBB (Battle Bug Base), a personal living and hangout local for the Battle Bugs, separate from their individual resistances. This story happens the evening after Arachne's Apex Qualifier match against Courage Takemi. At the end of which, Arachne ALMOST ended up seriously injuring Courage and endangering her wrestling career. Due to an unfortunate combination of Arachne going too far with one of her signature submission moves (though not at all meaning to injure her to that extent), and Courage outright refusing to submit to said move. LAW's medical staff had to take Courage out of the ring.

The Battle Bugs

Arachne was laying on a coach at her stable's base, winding down after her match with Courage. The spider had been very concerned about the Young Lioness. But now that things had settled down a bit, Arachne was sure Courage was getting proper treatment and would make a full recovery. Though some guilt still lingered in her mind, much to the bug's annoyance. The lightweight heel absolutely hated the feeling of remorse. But her faulty yet still functioning deep, inner moral compass wouldn't totally spare her such an emotion. She distracted herself with her phone for the time being, anticipating the arrival of the other Battle Bugs.

Soon, Arachne noticed Honie's car pulling up from the window. The spider contemplated reaching into her Thorax Backpack for some earplugs, but the angry bee came bursting in too quickly. "AAAAAAARAAAAAACHNEEEEEEE!" Honie bellowed, as soon as she came in, forcing Arachne to cover her ears.

"Remember that talk we had about inside voices?" Arachne grumbled, before taking her hands off her ears. Honie ignored her spider-themed friend and stomped up to the couch she was sitting on. She pouted and puffed her cheeks out, waiting for Arachne to say something else, figuring the lightweight knew exactly why she was upset.

"....wHaT's uP, bUMBlE bUtT?"

"DON'T 'WHAT'S UP, BUMBLE BUTT' ME! Can you explain why your last opponent had to leave LAW Arena on a BUZZING STRETCHER?!"

"Ohhhhhhhhh. That..."

"YES THAT! THAT EXACTLY!"

"Well you see... That was all Courage's parents fault."

"BUZZ?!"

"For some reason, Courage's parents named her...well, Courage. So she courageously (and moronically) opted to endure my Silky Snare, instead of submitting out to it like a good little wimp. Instead of Courage Takemi, her parents should've named her Coward Takemi. Or Wussy Takemi has a ring to it! Or maybe SELF-PRESERVATION TAKEMI. That's Arachne's professional recommendation."

Honie reached down to grab Arachne's ankle with one hand. She effortlessly lifted the lightweight's body up, leaving Arachne dangling upside-down over the coach.

"Hey! Hey! Don't get so grabby."

"Arachne, this is serious! IS COURAGE OKAY?!"

"Well, if she was in the hold longer then.... Never mind! As it was, she'll be fiiiiiiiiiine."

"...You sure?"

"Of course! Arachne even threated one of the medical staff members with physical harm equal to Courage's suffering, if they didn't ensure Courage made a full recovery!"

"...Oh, well I don't know if that's nice or-"

"It's nice. It's nice. It's VERY heroic."

"Hmmm. For you anyway."

Honie finally calmed down, before releasing Arachne's ankle, causing the troublesome villainess to flop to the coach. She took a seat next to her unlikely yet dear friend and sighed. Arachne would sit up herself, before reaching out to touch Honie on her muscular shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry for making you worry about Courage. Arachne promises to be more careful with her submission moves, especially the Silk Snare."

"It's cool. I know you feel bad about what happened anyhow. Bring it in."

"Me? Remorseful? Hehehe-Ugggghhh...!"

Arachne's snickering was cut off, as Honie embraced the spider in a loving yet inadvertently tight and strong hug. After Honie released it, Arachne stretched her back and grumbled.

"But seriously. Isn't Courage like a Young Lioness? You should've gone easy on her."

"Arachne thinks you're the one that needs to show more restraint."

"Are you two done making up for the third time this week?"

"Antonia!" "Antonia!"

Honie and Arachne were so busy talking, that neither of them had initially noticed that Antonia had arrived and walked up to them. "Yes, my larvae. It is I, Antonia A. Aunt. General of the Anthill. Strategic leader of the Battle Bugs: Masters of the Swarm. Young Lioness Trainer. And LAW's most elegant, most dignified, most talented, and most beautiful wrestler to boot." The blonde bug boasted.

"Did you need to add all that at the end?"

"Yes."

"Oooh! Oooh! You saw Arachne's latest match, right Ant? Tell her that she needs to be more careful!"

"Hmmm. Yes Arachne, it was quite upsetting..."

"Thank you!"

"...that you failed to make a Young Lioness tap out."

Honie groaned and fell off the couch, prompting Antonia to hop onto said couch and take Honie's spot.

"OHHHHHH. COME ON."

"Nope. As our team's submission specialist, you should be able to make really ANY wrestler on this roster tap out with ease."

"You don't understand. This Courage, she's MADWOMAN. SHE'S INSANE. She literally chose enduring Arachne's torture over throwing in the towel. It wasn't even that high stake of a match! It was an Apex Qualifier! And when Arachne asked her why the heck she would risk her whole career over one little match, she said screw the future, that she 'aLwAyS fIGhTs FoR tOdAy'. Or some stupid, corny, inspirational, mumbo jumbo crap like that. Absolute lunatic. After the medics are done with her physical evaluation, they should give her a mental evaluation to check if she's sane. If she fails, she should be deemed as unfit to roam amongst society. And honestly...they're gonna have to put her down. HehHehHehHeh!"

"You're unfit to roam amongst society, Arachne."

"Awww, thanks Honie! I am a villainess after all."

"In any case, her mental state does not excuse your failure."

"I STILL WON THE HECKIN' MATCH. ARACHNE DOMINATED HER FOR MOST OF IT. I just had to choke her out, because she wouldn't submit! It's like if Katherine Kart magically passed on the power of never submitting to Courage, before Courage's body was strong enough for it. Which is GROSSLY irresponsible sorcery on Kat's part, if that was the case."

"You do realize you need to be able to make the Super Kitty submit too, right?"

"OKAY, SMARTANT-"

Background Music

"Hey girls!" Honie interrupted, making both her masked friends turn towards her. The Heroine of the Beehive got back up onto the coach. "I think we should do something nice for Courage. You know, since Arachne came close to seriously injuring her and whatnot."

"Hmmmm. Well with Oscar Orelash recently graduating. I AM in need of a new YL trainee. Now that I think about, Courage's resolve must be exceptionally impressive to refuse to submit to the Villainess of the Spiderweb. With enough refinement of her talent, I could foster such resolve into something truly powerful. Yes! I calculate that such a project is indeed worthy of my divine attention!"

"Now you're talking!"

"So once she recovers, which one of you shall retrieve Miss Takemi for me?"

"Arachne should do it to apologize for the incident. But she's not going to..."

"Not at all! That is non-villain behavior! And besides, Courage and her heckin' parents take shared responsibility for what happened."

"Wait. Why don't you just go tell Courage you want to train her yourself, Antonia?"

"It is much more proper for HER to come to ME. It'll be like her bringing her troubles to a GODDESS at the alter."

"Both of you are impossible."

"Nyhehehehe..." "Mwahahahaha!"

"Alrighty then! I'll go talk to Courage! BUT ARACHNE STILL NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED SOME BUZZING WAY THOUGH.

"Whatcha mean, Bumble Butt. I am involved. Like a good villain, Arachne started the conflict of this story."

"BUZZZZZZZZZ!"

"Relax, Honey Buns. We'll have Courage rematch Arachne in some way as either a pre or post YL graduation test."

"Oh! Well Arachne did wanna have fun terrorizing her again! HehHehHeh!"

"JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON'T-"

"I know! I know!"

"Alight then, Battle Bugs! Operation: Courageous Courage will soon be ready to kick off! LET'S BUZZING GOOOOOOOOOO!"

Touka had been relaxing in the lounge of LAW HQ, reading up on current events, and enjoying how the opening poster was one of her daughter proudly carrying both title belts she had. She knew how much Kyoko struggled and worked to win gold in LAW that wasn't her Belly belt, watching her crowned as champion publicly and rewarded for all of that work brought her to tears, a mother wanted nothing but the best for her kids and she hoped that she would see her son and Ayame win championships too, and see their hard work get the same ending.

Spoiler

She also wondered if she still had time to win anything like that. She still had a few years left before her time and her age started to slow her down and she looked back at some of the opponents she'd already faced, champions and contenders she'd fought and even beaten that proved Touka could do it, she knew that the championship was a tough road, but if she wanted to go for it she only had so long to go for it. She even began to wonder how good her career would be if she had decided to go for it when she was young and not wait this long, but her mom would've been breathing down her neck the entire time and she would've missed so many moments at home with her kids. It was a good what if to speculate but Touka knew that she'd make the same choice over and over again, she could ponder but she'd never regret choosing her life and closed the article to leave when she heard someone walking behind her.

Spoiler

"I know I taught you to not return to places fights broke out the last time you visited them. Are you waiting for her to show up again?" Ayane Yamamoto said. Touka's mother would take a seat right next to Touka. The mother of 3 looked at her own mother curiously, wondering what she was talking about, then noticed Ayane scowling at the article Touka had with Kyoko. Her eldest and her mom were not speaking with each other, Ayane wanted more credit for Kyoko's success and she refused to give it to her, for many reasons that Touka felt were justified. "You knew she'd win it eventually, I don't know why you're surprised." Touka said. "She'd be doing better if she listened to me more, something I want to prove with my new trainee." Ayane said. Touka knew about the girl she was talking about from Hideo talking about her, and she knew that Ayane hated anyone else getting credit for anyone she thought was her success, like Kyoko who credited her dad more than her grandmother. "Talking like that isn't going to get you too to make up, now what were you talking about before you saw what I was reading?" Touka asked, mostly to avoid the subject of her daughter with Ayane, as much as she loved her mother flaws and all she wasn't going to let hr go too far talking negatively about Kyoko. Ayane seemed to understand that, or whatever she wanted to talk about was bothering her way more, for she watched her mother take an uncharacteristically nervous breath before she continued. "Lydia Donelle. You never told me what happened between you two and I found out when she comes marching through LAW and the two of you starting a fight in this building like you were two teenagers? And it all started because of Denji? Is what I heard about her true? Did you really do everything she accused you of doing?" Ayane said. Suddenly Touka wanted to leave, Lydia was the one thing Touka ever kept from her mother. When Lydia was still her best friend Touka briefly considered being her partner, an idea Ayane pushed for thinking it would make it easier to keep Touka wrestling after she realized Touka wasn't enjoying it like she hoped. The fight and the aftermath was kept a secret because Touka knew if Ayane found out she'd never have let her walk away from wrestling.

"She thought I couldn't fight for what was mine...my own friend thought I was weak. After what she did I snapped, I'm not proud of it. I don't regret stopping her either, I realized that for all the support she showed she still didn't respect me and looked down on me." Touka said, she didn't want to directly confirm what Ayane heard. What she did to Lydia was something Touka never brought to anyone ever again, her betrayal hurt Touka bad and her friend being so upfront about how she thought she could get away with it unleashed something...evil in Touka. The kind of evil Ayane would've nurtured and forced out if she caught it, and even now in her old age she could see Ayane's rage in her eyes from not knowing that until now, going through almost 30 years of history that would've played out differently if she did know the truth back then. "I respected your wish to quit training...because you told me that your fallout with her broke your spirit...you lied to me." Ayane bitterly growled, Touka never lied to her mother before or after that day. Until now Ayane must've thought Touka couldn't lie to her. "You would've forced me to keep training if you knew what I did." Touka admitted, she knew that and Ayane didn't even try to pretend she wouldn't. She never lied to Touka either, and unlike her Touka knew Ayane couldn't get away with a lie. "Lydia and I are done, and once she gets a match and we finish this in the ring I'll put it behind me for good." Touka said and was getting ready to stand up when Ayane laughed.

"Done? Are you kidding me Touka? I taught you better." Ayane said, making Touka stop at the way she said it. She wasn't amused despite her laughing, she almost seemed stressed about it. "She's a bully looking to get some revenge for something that's ancient history. You telling me I can't fix it with a fight? I scared her off once." Touka said. Ayane simply shook her head, still looking at her as if she was the foolish one. "To fix it? No, sorry Touka but this isn't fixable outside of two options. 1. You kneel down and take whatever licks Lydia wants you to take until she's satisfied and then you never show your face in her presence again. Or 2. You kill her. Because those are the only ways this ends with a woman like Lydia. Do you think I took an interest in her by accident? A snake like her who betrayed her trusted teacher only knows victory and she won't be satisfied until she's taken a piece of you for the hole you left in her soul when you did that to her. It won't end with you Touka, she'll drag you down into it, she'll drag her kids into it, she'll drag your kids into it. Whoever she has to bring in to achieve a complete victory over you, she'll do it." Ayane said bitterly as Touka looked at her mother with disgust. "Are you speaking from experience here? Is that what you would do in her place?" Touka asked as Ayane smiled. "Oh Touka...it's what I've already done once before." Ayane said proudly. Touka couldn't find what she could be so proud of. There was still a hint of bitterness to her words and expressions, but she didn't like how she now was starting to sound amused by how naive she thought she was. Touka had plenty of questions...but for once Ayane didn't seem willing to gloat about what she meant and which kid she dragged into a feud with one of her rivals.

"When you hurt Lydia she was still young, and learning. Wrestlers during that phase are always taking in the surroundings of their life to find ways to improve. But Lydia had potential and like me she thought she was destined for greatness. Do you realize what you did when you beat her down like that? When her pride was strong and her emotions were high, you gave her the beating of a lifetime and then you broke her. Someone that young in that state was susceptible to anything." Ayane said, Touka understood her mother's implication. "You're mad at me for not going further? For not breaking her more after I beat her up? How would that stop what's happening now?" Touka asked and Ayane scoffed and leaned in closer to her daughter. "Because at that moment she was scared of you. You should've made sure to hammer that into her mind, convinced her she never had a chance and reaffirmed that you were better than her. Instead you sent her away and let her heal on her own. With time that fear turned to anger and rage at being humiliated when you should've kept her around to remind her of that fear and helplessness, if you did Lydia would be too scared of you today to be coming after you, you let her heal and fill herself up with rage towards you for that act. Lydia won't rest until she's broken you in turn because she can't rest, revenge has been on her mind all this time and now that she's older she's not going to change her mind or turn course, you're past the point of no return and the only thing I can tell you is that you need to be ready...And part of me fears you're not." Ayane said. Now Touka understood the bitterness and the anger at this entire thing...Ayane was convinced Touka was in a losing fight against someone who would hurt her again and again and get away with it. Even now Ayane thought only she could solve all of Touka's problems.

"I'm not you mother..and I don't need to solve things your way, me and Lydia will fight and then that'll be it. If she wants to keep fighting so be it, but she won't break me and I won't lose to her." Touka said and this time she actually did leave, unsure what else to say to her now. It wasn't easy being told by your own mom that you weren't strong enough, the only thing she could do was prove her wrong. But for once she was disturbed because now she understood Ayane was afraid for her...something about that got to her, in all 40 plus years of her life, fear was never something Ayane showed her.

Platinum Sky Dojo

Haruna Yamamoto sat down and relaxed at the tatami room. A set of cups and teapot laid on the low table right beside her. Writing notes as she watches past matches in LAW to monitor her students' progress. Of course, the dojo mostly let each students do things on their own to break their limits in LAW. But Haruna made sure to note on several pointers on each of her students if they were to ask her on what to do next. And of course, to take note on actual proof her students did damage to the arena or violate the venue's regulations.

It was then, the sliding door opened. "Oh, Nee-san..." Kanata peeked into the room and glanced to the TV. "I... I see I came at the wrong time." Kanata stepped back and was about to slide the door close until... "Wait, I have the time, was it about... Her?" Haruna pointed to the TV, the match she watched in particular was that of a Bloodsport match between Yuzuha Takamiya and Alice Gaster. She paused it at the exact moment where Yuzuha was recorded smoking in a non-smoking venue with a bloodied head.

The sliding door opened again and Kanata entered, nodding softly before she closed the door and took a seat in front of Haruna. "I can tell, you're worried that she'd become worse than the past you right?" Haruna opened as she took a cup and pour a hot tea to serve to Kanata. Kanata nodded as she sipped her tea. "Can you turn that off for a bit?" Kanata requested, Haruna knew that her sister was concerned of their student and so she turned the TV off. "Thanks." Kanata replied.

The silence continued for a bit. "So... Can you tell me something more about the past you?" Haruna asked to break the silence. "Look, while I keep up with how you're doing while I'm away in America. All I got is only the surface, one that showed you as this ruthless, brutal, deathmatch wrestler who steps up her violence every time she's in the ring. What happened beyond the ring is unknown to me..." Haruna added, explaining that she herself too only know Kanata not that deep beyond her wrestling part. "Did you remember how we're not to provoke anyone we're feuding with outside the ring early in our career?" Kanata asked. Haruna nodded and now understands. "I keep myself that way while you were away, I only brought my violence in the ring, never outside. We're wrestlers, and we should keep our problems settled in the ring... It's just, that's the honor code I won't break." Kanata added on.

"Hmm... Yet, you were the one that brought young Yuzuha in right?" Haruna questioned. Kanata nodded slowly and looked away to the black screen. "Yeah... She idolized the past me on surface... And to know she's having it rough and really want to be her idol, I took her in. Perhaps I could teach her that she could be the next me but..." Kanata trailed off. "But she can't be you, from the beginning, you and her are already different, we don't have it rough compared to her. We still know our late father, she herself did not know her own father because... Sorry for the harsh word I'll say about her but. Punks like her definitely have a chip on her shoulder about the world." Haruna recalled reading on Yuzuha's biodata and read that her father's name was left blank. A thing that Kanata should know. "You... Or at least, the past you were her ideal figure to rebel against the world that treated her unfairly... She only knew you on surface, she don't know the honor code that you and I have beyond the surface. She can't be any version of you whatsoever, she can only be herself." Haruna finalized.

"So what do you suppose I should do then?" Kanata asked. "That still didn't answer my worries about her, she's just on a path of self destruction here..." Kanata added on, not just that she worried about Yuzuha turning into a worse version of her... She also worried that she's on a path that will endanger her life more than she ever was. "That... Is where the past you comes in Kanata-chan. At least... Part of it." Haruna answered as she turned on the TV once again. "Swim back up to the surface, be that person once called Roughhouse YAMATO again and lead her by example, words can't reach her... Not now at least." Haruna detailed, playing the footage where it left off. "In time, she will learn to be her own woman. Right now, she is lost, and guidance by words can't reach her... At the very least, you should lead her by example... Other students should keep close to her, let her know that she belongs here and to not have her feel it's her on her own against the world. I'll oversee this and take over should the situation get even more dire... And I think that's all I can say about the Yuzuha situation." Haruna concluded as she turned her attention to the TV once again.

". . . I guess you do have a point." Kanata let out as she stood up and leave the room. She was still conflicted about how to deal with Yuzuha, yet Haruna made a good point. It was her old in-ring self that Yuzuha idolized, Yuzuha won't listen to Kanata as she is right now. She know she shouldn't revert to that ruthless person she was... But she have reverted once in ring in order to prove that she still could hang with the current generation. If that alone was dire enough to revert... Then to set Yuzuha straight, she should once again revert to that person she was.

The following takes place a few weeks after Angelina Tarrant vs Shimmerlace I, a match in which Shimmerlace lost, among other things, molar #32 from the back of her jaw.

—

“So we’re just gonna take a quick x-ray of your jaw here, make sure everything there looks A-OK, and then we’ll get you some anaesthetic and get started on this implant!”

“Sounds grand Susie. Thanks a bundle.”

For the x-ray, Susie draped Shimmerlace in a lead-lined vest. She enjoyed the feeling of weight, which felt similar to the weighted blankets she liked to sleep under.

“So if you’d just bite down on this…”

The x-ray machine seemed to involve two components – a handheld gun and a block Shimmerlace had to hold in her mouth. The bit for her mouth was a black plastic rectangle attached to what she assumed was an electronic sensor.

In the ring, one of the worst things that could happen was for some nasty backbiter to shove something in her mouth. Cock, dildo, rubber ball—whatever. Point was it stopped her talking. But the dentist—that was another story. She enjoyed sitting in the chair while a handful of oral health experts stood over her, the light from the chairlamp hot on her forehead. Having to bite down on a plastic bit meant she couldn’t talk, yeah, but that was fine. Wasn’t like there was an audience of cunts here, was it? It was just Susie, and Susie had a cat named Harold and went to the beach on weekends.

“Alright, hold still…and…Good!”

Even as a young girl, Shimmerlace had enjoyed haircuts because it was so easy to please the dresser. Just sit still and let them do their thing. As an adult, she felt a pleasant tickle at her chest. Good! She opened her mouth so that Susie could take out the receptor, who went on to type something into her computer, and before long images of Shimmer’s jaw were projected onto a screen against the wall.

Shimmerlace stared at the image. X-rays always looked ghostly, to her. Semi-transparent light-gray teeth hung in a mist of barely there dark-gray jaw, except where they didn’t. There was a gap where tooth number 32 should have sat.

“Dr. Patel, x-ray is ready for you in dock #3,” Susie said into a phone.

Tooth #32. Shimmerlace had seen it for the last time on board the cruise ship. It had gleamed on the canvas of a wrestling ring, white and bloody with pale enamel on one end and a more yellow root at the other. She had only seen it an instant, but now that image was imprinted on her mind. Was it actually, though? Or was this just something she’d dreamed up, post-hoc?

She ran her tongue over the exposed gum. The sensation of her tongue over the smooth, firm hump of skin prickled, like a very lowgrade electric shock, since the local nerve tissue—well, for one thing, wasn’t meant to be there at all, since there was supposed to be a tooth, and what there was had been damaged in the trauma that knocked the fucker loose in the first place. All she got was the sensation of prickly pressure.
“Everything OK Ms. Lavigne?”

Shimmerlace blinked. A man in a white coat had walked into the bay. He looked young and had thick, curly black hair and dark skin. He was smiling thinly at her, and she saw concern in his eyes, which were so dark she had trouble distinguishing iris from pupil at this distance.

“Aye…yeah! Right as rain, Dr. Patel!” Actually, her heart was racing, and she felt suddenly grateful that Susie had already taken her blood pressure. “And eh…If it’s all the same to you, call me Shimmer!”

“Right, Shimmer. Of course. Well, Shimmer, these x-rays look good!” He gestured at the image, at the hole in her jaw that had suddenly become the absolute center of her focus. “The CBCT scans we took last time showed we had healthy jawbone to work with. You’ve got a good bite there! Good bone density, which means this guy…” He picked up a metal device from the tray beside the chair. Shimmerlace, trying to ignore how her skin was suddenly crawling, turned to look at it. “Is going to have a solid foundation in your jaw!”

At first glance, this guy looked like a screw—and it was. A pale, metal screw made up more than half the length of the device. This ran into a reflective metal cylinder, the color and texture of stainless steel, which had a round hole at its top.

“Looks like you haven’t chomped down on any rocks in the last week, so we’re good to go. I take it Susie told you about your procedure?”

Susie had told her about the procedure. Shimmerlace had been told so much about the procedure that getting informed consent began to have the tinge of a liability issue to it, which she imagined it was. Why couldn’t she breathe though? She concentrated on the count, in for five, out for ten. No matter how she controlled it, though, her lungs felt empty.

“So first we’re gonna get you nice and numb…”

Get her numb, then slice her open. Shimmerlace had a pretty exact idea of the procedure, since she had spent the previous night watching Internet instructional film covering her exact procedure. At the time, she had felt a kind of morbid fascination as she watched the dentist cut the gum open and use his instruments to pull the tissue away until the bone — which looked surprisingly bumpy — was exposed. Then he’d go in with the drill.

God. The drill. For the next little while, she would have perfectly healthy bone in her jaw. She had never before thought about feeling bone, but now she became aware of her skeleton, of how her skin and muscle was hung on this brittle framework of calcium compounds. Her meat felt heavy and viscous.

Dr. Patel would use two drills. The first was a general drill, not too different from the kind of tool you might use to put together furniture. It would carve the hole. The other was a specialized “shaping” drill paired specifically to the implant they would be twisting into her jaw. Its purpose would be to groove the long, dark tunnel in her bone to match the screw of the implant tightly and precisely.

The more Shimmerlace imagined it, the colder she felt. Her stomach started to feel queasy.

“...Hey Shimmer? Hey!” Dr. Patel’s smile had turned into a bright, toothy grin, and he put a hand on her shoulder. She swallowed and realized her breathing had become…pretty wet and pretty loud. She smiled, sheepish.

“Howdy.”

“You know what I think might be a good idea for you?”

She’d let her feelings bubble too close to the surface, and now the whole room had gone tense because the patient was freaking out. Just calm the fuck down. “What’s that?”

“Nitrous oxide.” He gave her shoulder a pat. She wasn’t sure if she found that reassuring or condescending, but she did find her breathing starting to settle. “Laughing gas. It’s a pretty common treatment, actually. It helps certain patients relax and manage their anxiety during procedures.” He leaned in and whispered the next bit through his interminable grin. “It gets you a little high.”

Fuck no is what she would have said if she were at LAW or anywhere near LAW or anywhere near a camera plugged into anything related to LAW. Like she needed a fucking handicap. She could handle her shit just fine, thanks.

But, said in a dental office, all that sounded pretty stupid. A lot of what went on in the ring seemed pretty stupid in a dental office.

“Eh…” She glanced to the side, then, slyly, back at Dr. Patel. “Well. But that would be denying me the opportunity to soldier through the pain, wouldn’t it? Gonna cheat me out of my pain tolerance training opportunity here ey?”

Dr. Patel laughed, and it sounded real—a chest laugh as he shook his head and gave her bare shoulder a squeeze. She felt a glitter of satisfaction. “If you feel so much as a pinch while we’re working, that means I haven’t done what I need to do as your dentist. OK? So you let me know if anything hurts. As for the laughing gas...” Dr. Patel unfolded his hands as he shrugged, as if weighing something in his hands. “That’s actually not really for the pain. It’s there to get you nice and relaxed. Lots of people feel anxiety, and…this helps.”

Her fingers were trembling. She caught them and started drumming them on the edges of her seat instead.

“I really think it would be a good idea.”

Shimmerlace sighed. Saying no at this point would be bad. It would let the dentist down and insult his expertise. He was her caretaker, right? If he thought she needed nitrous oxide, then she’d take nitrous oxide. “Sounds stellar.”

“Great. OK! I’ll let Susie get you numb and get you some gas, and I’ll be back when we’re ready to get started! Any questions for me?”

—

The local anesthetic was delivered via injection. It hurt like shit ― first there’s the bright point of pain when the sharp end first sticks the soft lump of flesh at the back of her throat. Next, Susie gives a squeeze. It lasts a long fist-clencher of a moment. You can call the shit pouring into the blood stream a “numbing agent” all you like, but there was nothing numb about the first entry. It burned, spreading out into the tissue and the blood, burned in bursts that made her imagine a web of lightning cracking once, twice, three times before it finally subsided.

It wouldn’t be quite right to say Shimmer liked the pain. But it was fascinating. It was her way of coping, not to look away or try and clench it all off, but to grab hold of the sensation and examine it. Like a flavor profile, different pains had different, sometimes complex tastes. The prick of the needle was cold and sharp and localized to one loud pin-prick. Meanwhile the injected medicine was hot and bitter and had a more liquid texture, and it was harder to say exactly where in her jaw the pain was coming from. It was pain that floated and would be hard to touch. Towards the end, her jaw started getting stiff, which introduced a third, distinct kind of pain. This felt like fatigue—like her muscle getting ready to snap.

Shimmer’s teeth clenched around her mouth guard, and she could feel saliva running down her chin. A long groan quivered up from her chest, and if her mouth hadn’t been stretched wide, she would have smiled.

“And…all done!”

Soon, they had the nitrous going up her snout through a plastic pair of nozzles in her nostrils. It made her feel old, like her gran hooked up to oxygen. She couldn’t smell shit, nor even really feel the flow of gas through the tube. For all she knew, the whole damn apparatus was one big placebo treatment. Her focus wasn't on that, though. Instead, eyes closed, she was feeling her jaw and tongue and teeth with all her might, focused on feeling the slow progress of the numbness in all its rich detail.

“How’re you feeling?” Susie was at the chair’s side.

“Right as rain!”

“That’s the phrase you used earlier.”

“Yeah, odd one, isn’t it?” A tingle ran up her lip, fluttery like the surface of a barely disturbed pond. She kept her eyes shut. “I mean, what’s so right about rain, ey? A lot of rain’s left, I figure. Though, wrong rain is less common, I’ll grant.”

“Mmhm.”

Shimmerlace concentrated. Hard. She put the current level of numbness at about a 4 out of 10. She could make out the contours of her tongue, when it pressed against the lip, precisely, and the touch created a grainy, almost painful sensation in her lip. No matter how hard she concentrated on the numbness, however, she couldn’t push away the nausea—nor the fluttering in her gut, or the still continuing struggle to get enough breath.

Fucking fuck.

This wasn’t like her. Occasional spikes of fear or anxiety—she felt them the same as anyone. Anyone. But this had been going on for like ten minutes now, and it was getting worse. Her hands felt clammy, and she couldn’t stop picturing the empty space in her jaw. It just felt so wrong in a way she hadn’t appreciated until now.

“...I don’t like it being gone, you know.” Shimmerlace cracked her eyes and peered over at Susie, whose back was turned to her. She was filling in information on their computer system, it looked like.

“Mmm, the tooth you mean?”

“Aye.”

“Well, that’s too bad, though I can’t say there’s anything unnatural about feeling that way. Good news is you’ll get a nice new on here before too long. Just a few weeks for this implant to osseointegrate, then we just…” she made a twisting motion with her hand. “Screw on the implant.”

“Yeah…Yeah.” Shimmerlace breathed. Deeply, except it still didn’t feel deep. It felt like sucking in from a balloon full of used breath. Carbon dioxide. Fallow and deathly. “But. Like. You only get one, you know? Tooth I mean. I mean I guess this implant is kinda like getting two, but um. You know, the ol’ number thirty two what used to be there…”

“Yeah?”

“It’s just kinda…kinda wild. Had that sucker for I guess twenty six years and now. Just a part of me…I didn’t even get it back, you know. That cunt took it. God knows where it is now.”

Susie raised her eyebrows at Shimmer. It wasn’t quite real disapproval, but also wasn’t quite a smirk. “You know there might be a kid in one of these bays.”
“Ah yeah yeah. Sorry. Eh. Guess the nitrous is doin’ its work ey?”

She really did feel bad. Last thing she wanted was to disappoint Susie. Still, this…whatever it was that got her heart racing wasn’t abetting. She just kept picturing that empty spot in her gumline. Photograph, x-ray, the YouTube video with the dentist’s drill tearing bone into a fine mist. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed. Susie grasped her arm and squeezed.

“It’s alright. Keep taking those big breaths.”

A tear ran down the side of Shimmer’s head. Fuckin’ Christ. That was the catalyst—the thing that sent a cold kind of shockwave through her body and made her realize something was really wrong. She didn’t cry, hardly ever. Maybe when the pain got intense, but that was different. Stress tears aren’t real. This was bite in the throat, burn in the nostrils kinda shit.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. “I-I don’t…I don’t know what’s eh…” She grinned. “Dunno what’s up. Eh…”

“Ssssh. You’re just fine. Keep breathing.”

Her tongue ran over and over the empty blank in her gums. She couldn’t feel it at all, now. She couldn’t even feel the left half of her tongue. She was 10 out 10 numb now. They could, and would, smash a hole into her jawbone, and she wouldn’t feel it.

“I guess we lose ‘em all eventually ey? I mean, it’s not like this one’s that special. Sure, I coulda taken better care, but it was gonna go sooner or later anyway, yeah?”

“Welllll.” Susie seemed to struggle with that. She scrunched her lips into a moue while she thought, biting her tongue. “Actually, lots of folks keep their smiles, Shimmer. If you take care of them, and brush, and don’t drink too much pop. And maybe get smacked around in the face a bit less. I think you could keep the rest of these a very long time. Maybe even your whole life.”

“Yeah but I mean after that.”

“After your life.”

“Yeah. Lose all your teeth then, yeah? It’s just. Numb.”

“...I suppose so.”

Shimmerlace did, eventually, calm down. The panic attack subsided after sitting in the chair with Susie’s hand on her arm. This put Susie behind schedule for the rest of the day, but if Dr. Patel minded, he didn’t say anything. During the procedure itself, the laughing gas kept Shimmerlace in the semblance of peace Susie had helped her achieve, and she even enjoyed the procedure. She liked being touched and being cared for while she did a good job sitting still, a good job being a good patient.

The implant was installed without further difficulty, and several weeks later Dr. Patel screwed on an abutment and golden prosthetic. It was not, and could never replace what Shimmerlace had lost—but if she had been able to wave her fairy’s wand and reclaim her old tooth, it wouldn’t replace this new treasure. So she departed Tokyo Sports Dentistry and returned to LAW poorer by many thousand dollars but richer in a more complex grin and a new golden doubloon hidden away in her mouth.

An Extra Thicc Alliance

Featuring the Booty Queens

And Featuring the Battle Bugs

Background Music

The following takes place in the royal domain of the Booty Queens. The two monarchs have invited all three Battle Bugs over, simply telling them they desired to discuss something important. Not long after the initial meeting, Honie had to break up scraps between Arachne & Melony and Antonia & Jasmine, after some shenanigans broke out between the two pairs of rivals. When things cooled down the Booty Queens asked to first speak with Honie privately. The two royals took Honie to a private meeting room, before directing her to sit across from them at a fancy desk. Melony combed her pretty pink hair, which had been left quite disheveled following her scrap with Arachne. While Jasmine sported a few bruises on her face from exchanging strikes with Antonia, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

While Honie had met and befriended her fellow bug girls after first coming to LAW, she had known Melony and Jasmine from an even longer ways back. This is because the Honie's country homeland was located right outside the border of the Booty Queens' domain. While neither royal currently had control over Honie's homeland, they certainly had a great deal of positive influence on it. People from Honie's town regularly visited both Jasmine's Kingdom Chrysanthemum and Melony's Nectarine Nation, of course including Honie herself. This paved the way for Honie for form deep bonds with both of them, but the full details of that story were for another time...

Honie pouted on her seat. Friendship was extremely important to her. She wanted nothing more than all four of her besties to get along just fine, even the pairs that were part of different wrestling stables. Upon meeting, Melony and Antonia had hit it off well. They were both intelligent and nerdy, respecting each other's wits and talents. And while Arachne's very mischievous disposition took a bit to get used to, Jasmine ultimately ended up warming up to the naughty little spider even faster than Honie and Antonia first did. While their morals didn't always align, their shared wild, chaotic, and fun-loving personalities mashed pretty well.

However, Arachne's mischief often came into conflict with Melony's prissiness. Made worse with Arachne's tendency to stir up chaos in her kingdom and challenge Melony to try and stop her. Regarding Antonia and Jasmine, their egos often clashed, with Antonia being particularly vain and snarky. Jasmine in turn loved teasing the easily flustered ant, and often attempted to facesit her. Though to be fair, Jasmine often attempted to facesit all of them. Regardless, Honie knew all of them more than well enough to know that all of her besties would become close friends with each other in time. But that didn't make the wait any less frustrating. It was no surprise the Booty Queens wanted to speak to Honie privately first, since she was already very close with both of them.

"So..." Melony sighed, still annoyed about her disheveled hair as she continued to comb it. "Honie sweetheart. Let's get down to why we've called you in today. Jasmine and I having been thinking, and it's about time we officially combine both of our kingdoms into something...greater. Our kingdoms directly neighbor each other and work in harmony at this point anyway."

"And we plan to call our shared territory...DEMETER DOMAIN!" Jasmine exclaimed excitedly. "Ya know dude. After the Greek goddess Demeter, since she's basically the goddess of nature, and both our cribs are nature-themed."

"Oh! Congratulations!" Honie buzzed. "That name definitely has a ring to it. But what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, as you know, Demeter Domain directly neighbors the countryside town that you reside in. And we already have much influence there. So we're considering..."

"CONQUERING IT!" Jasmine loudly teased. "We 'bout to pull an Omni-Man or Fire Lord Ozai on your behind!"

"Jasmine's joking of course. Haha. "Conquering" isn't the right word. We were just gonna just ask if your town would voluntarily become an official part of our domain. Obviously, we have to have a discussion with your town's major about that. But we wanted to run our thoughts by you first, given you're a dear friend that lives there and whatnot."

"Ah. Well I'm really not good that with politics. But I'm sure my people would love our town to become part of your territory! You've done a bunch for us already. And with you queens officially in charge, my major will have less work to do. So I'm sure he'll be down! And of course you'll have my support!"

"WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Thanks dude!"

"Much appreciated, my dear. Though I must correct you on something. Once everything in settled, Jasmine and I...will no longer be queens."

"Buzz?" Honie puzzled, tilting her head slightly.

"Think about it. Demeter Domain will be made up of my kingdom, Jasmine's kingdom, and your country-land. Not counting any other territories we may end up acquiring in the future, that is already three "separate" territories making up our domain. Which that knowledge in mind, what would you classify Demeter Domain as?"

"Hmmm." Honie thought about it for a moment, and then it hit it. "Th-That's an...EMPIRE!"

"Nailed it!" Jasmine beamed, pumping her fist into the air. "We're about to become EMPRESSES babyyyyyy!"

"Wow. I remember back when you two where still princesses." Honie giggled. "Going from princesses to queens to empresses, huh? As long as you can handle the increasing responsibility, then I'm more than happy for you!"

"We'll be fine." Melony assured Honie. "The rest of our royal families and our other governing officials help us manage things, especially when we're busy with LAW. Speaking of LAW, that brings our discussion back to you. The true reason we called you in here... We umm... We..." Melony blushed and started fidgeting with her comb, so Jasmine spoke up for her.

"I can't take the anticipation anymore! Honie Beatrice Bea: The Heroine of the Beehive! Heavyweight Battle Bug! You're gonna also be an official member of our wrestling team! Kay kay?"

Honie's compound eyes widened, and a blush grazed her own cheeks. "O-OH?! Y-YOU-YOU...?"

"We're getting ahead of ourselves." Melony spoke back up. "Let us explain fully first. Jasmine and I ended up joining LAW first, back when we were princesses. And we were planning on asking you to join our stable, when you decided to come to LAW as well. But when you came, unforeseen circumstances required us to focus solely on our duties as monarchs for an extended period. We weren't in matches during this time, and we were working on becoming queens."

"When we found out you'd formed another wrestling stable, I wanted to let ya know we wanted you to also join ours on the spot." Jasmine continued. "But Melony convinced me that then wasn't a good time, especially since we weren't even ready to start wrestling in LAW again. And even when we came back, we knew you already had a lot going on. Fighting through the Apex Event, working on your singles career, making your bug team's own mark on the tag division. Heck, you recently brawled with Alaina fudging Sanders for the Heavyweight Title! Buuuuut, now that things have settled down a bit, would you-?"

Honie stood up and slammed her palms on the desk, she smiled widely and her eyes glistened. "OF COURSE I'D LOVE TO TEAM UP WITH YOU GUYS! YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED ME A LONG BUZZING TIME AGO!" Honie exclaimed.

"Hahaha. Like I said, we just didn't wanna put too much on you too soon." Melony chuckled. "But that's wonderful to hear."

"This ended up being the perfect time anyhow!" Jasmine chimed in. "Since we're getting another upgrade in royal status, we need to change our wrestling name as well! We're gonna be known as the Booty EMPRESSES! And what better way to celebrate this upgrade, than inducting a new extra thicc member!"

"Hmmmm." Honie sat back down and pondered. "To be honest, I've also been meaning to ask if I could join you guys, it's just that I'm not a royal and whatnot..."

"Honie, listen to me sugar." Jasmine said, prompting the bee to lean forward a bit. "Yeah, we don't give a SINGLE FUDGE about that. Our families are royal and you're like family to both of us. As far as we're concerned, that makes you royal too."

"Aww shucks..." Honie smiled and sat back with sentimental tears in her eyes.

"Besides, I'm the only one of us that's a royal by lineage." Melony added. "As you know, Jasmine grew up quite poor. She only became a royal after helping to lead a rebellion that overthrew the former king of her domain, allowing her family to take over. So it isn't too farfetched for us to now induct a member that's only an Empress by gimmick. Especially considering you'll be living our domain. And you're already quite popular with our people, given the MANY heroic deeds you end up doing whenever you visit."

"I-I can't help myself..." Honie chuckled. "Okay! Okay! Oh my buzz! Oh my buzz! Oh my buzz! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! This is SO exciting! I'm gonna at least make sure I upgrade my wrestling attire, to be more cohesive with yours. I already have ideas buzzing around in my brain, but I know I'm keeping the bee theme regardless. Now I just need to talk to Antonia and Arachne to make sure they're cool with it."

"Of course. Now that Jasmine and I have concluded speaking with you privately, the other Battle Bugs can come in and-"

"Umm, Melony." Honie interrupted, as something else or rather the lack of something else caught her attention. "Where did your crown go?"

"Whaa...What?!" Melony's eyes widened, as she tapped her head and did not feel her crown anywhere. Jasmine looked at her with a puzzled expression, also unsure about the crown's whereabouts. The three of them looked around the floor near the desk, to see if it had fallen off somewhere, until an all too-familiar voice caught their attention...

"HELLOOOOOOOOO." A lightweight in a spider suit snickered, after coming out from behind one of the room's curtains. "Looking for THIS?"

"ARACHNE?!" Honie, Melony, and Jasmine all exclaimed at once. It was indeed the Villainess of the Spiderweb. She pointed at Melony's crown, which she now wore atop her own dome. Such antics had led to Arachne scrapping with Melony earlier. Arachne's hair had also been left messy from the rumble. But unlike Melony, the silly spider wasn't in any particular hurry to fix it. In fact, if swiping Melony's crown again was anything to go by, the spider may have been fixing for a round two!

"Arachne... You were supposed to be waiting with Antonia outside the room, until we were ready to speak together..." Melony grumbled. She had just finished fixing her own hair. And she didn't feel like having it get messy again, by engaging in another scrap with Arachne.

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH... Yeah, Arachne...Arachne doesn't listen."

"DON'T START THIS BUZZ AGAIN GIRL. GIVE MELONY BACK HER CROWN." Honie demanded.

"Awww, come on Bumble Butt. Don't baby Melony like that. Let her be a big girl and come over to try and TAKE IT!" Arachne snickered, now swirling Melony's crown on her index finger.

"Arachne dude. How the fudge did you even take her crown, without any of us noticing?" Jasmine chuckled, in an annoyed but somewhat impressed and curious tone.

"Arachne snuck in here ninja-style and stealthy crawled from window curtain to window curtain, until I reached the one behind Melony. Ya'll were too busy asking Honie to tag with ya'll to notice. Arachne's slick like dat."

"So you...already overheard our entire discussion..." Melony pouted.

"NO DUH." Arachne responded, before putting Melony's crown back on her own head. "Hey guys! Look at me! I'm Melony!" Arachne giggled, before mimicking Melony's voice and mannerisms. "Arachne. I'm afraid it is highly inappropriate for you to sneak into my domain at 3 o'clock in the morning, to blast off fireworks in my watermelon patch, while my people and I are trying to sleep. I must kindly ask that you immediately cease this tomfoolery, or I'll have no choice but to use appropriate force to subdue your face beneath my watermelon-themed bosom."

"Pssssthahahahahaha!" Jasmine couldn't help but laugh, Arachne's impression was spot on. Honie wanted to tell Arachne to knock it off again. But her lips quivered in an reflexive smile. She made noises indicating she also found it funny, but was attempting to hold back her laugher out of tact. However, some giggles from Honie also slipped out. "Nooooo-Hehe-Quit-Hehehehehe-Quit it!"

"Enough Arachne! Relinquish the royal crown to me at once!" Melony asserted, uncharacteristically stomping one of her feet. Ms. Peaches was usually very composed, but Arachne had a way of pushing her buttons.

While it was cute to see Melony all pouty like this, Jasmine opted to placate her bestie. "Yo Arachne! Heads up!" Jasmine causally tossed Arachne her own crown. Arachne caught it, smiled and also put that one on her head. Jasmine then motioned at Arachne with her hand.

"Yeah, yeah..." Arachne snickered, before taking off Melony's crown and throwing it back to Jasmine, who proceeded to put it back on Melony's head. Just like that, Jasmine had gotten Arachne chill a bit, without even verbally telling her to knock it off!

"Thank you Jasmine." Melony chirped, happy to have her crown back. "But now Arachne has your crown."

"Eh. She'll give it back to me later." Jasmine assured her. "See Melony. Look at me with the peaceful, non-violent conflict-resolutions... Anyhow, can we start wrapping this up. I really want to go finish violently kicking Antonia's butt."

"I BEG YOUR PARDON." A voice spoke up.

"ANTONIA?!" All four girls exclaimed at once. It was indeed Antonia's voice, but the General of the Anthill was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh! So you're in her too, nerd?!" Jasmine exclaimed with a wide smile, standing up out of her chair and doubling up her fists. "SHOW YOURSELF BRO AND PUT UP YOUR DUKES! LEMME FINISH WHUPPIN' YA!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Arachne encouraged, though Melony and Honie frowned in disapproval.

"Jasmine. Please. Sit down." Melony asked.

"But..."

"SIT DOWN!" Honie demanded, having already broken up a fight between her two striker friends before, she didn't feel like having to do that again.

Jasmine pouted and took a seat. But her eyes widened, as she caught something crawling up their desk. "Is-Is that an ant?" Jasmine asked.

As it walked up onto the desk, Melony took a closer look at it. It was bigger and moved with more purpose than a regular ant. Though it moved like a living creature, there was an artificial air to this strange thing. A deeper inspection would reveal it was clad in tiny wires and screws. "It looks like a smaller version of the robots I saw Antonia use at Oscar Orelash's gradation party."

As fellow Battle Bugs, Arachne and Honie instantly recognized what it was. "That's right. This is one of Antonia's mini-'Robants', the smallest of her robotic ants." Honie explained. "She constructs Robants in various sizes to do various tasks."

"Oh... How... FASCINATING." Melony beamed, her eyes widening and glistening in excitement and curiosity. "What tasks are Robants of this size designed for?"

"Eavesdropping." Arachne snickered.

"I see." Melony pouted. "And I take it this is where Antonia's voice came from?"

"Correct." Antonia's voice emitted from the robot, which was connected to a device she had with her as part of her Ant Gear.

"At a later date, you simply MUST show me how you put together technology as impressive as this." Melony chirped. "Though I wish you and Arachne had waited until instructed to join the meeting, my friend."

"Well you see, Melony. You specifically requested that my larva and I wait outside this room, while you queens spoke with my other larva first. But once Arachne informed me she'd be sneaking in anyway, I sent my Robant in to also hear what was occurring. I am simply FAR too important to be the only one to not hear 100% of the conversation."

Jasmine rolled her eyes.

"But I didn't want to dishonor your request by sneaking in myself, so I sent my darling little Robant to do it for me. Thus, I heard the entire conversation, without breaking your specific request. Asserting my importance, while keeping your instructions all the same."

"......Thank you Antonia..." Melony sighed in a somewhat sarcastic tone. "So both you and Arachne heard everything already then..."

Melony did appreciate her ant friend's willingness to comply with her instructions, even if the loophole Antonia found completely defeated the point of them. The Booty Queens (especially Melony) had wanted to express their desire to recruit Honie as a member of their stable to Honie alone first, before allowing her current stablemates to chime in. They meant no disrespect of course. But they had been anticipating asking Honie to join them for the longest time, and things felt more personal in the way Melony intended. Antonia and Arachne understood this, but they couldn't help themselves.

"You are welcome. May I relocate my brilliant, gorgeous frame into the room everyone else is in now?"

"Very well."

Antonia came in. Similar to Jasmine, she sported a few bruises on her face from their scrap. But if her hair had gotten messy, the ant general had already fixed that.

"By the way..." Antonia glared at Jasmine. "Just so you know, before Honie intervened in our bout, I was prepping a kick impressively strong, skilled and precise enough to nail your temple and render you unconscious in a most humiliating fashion. For the record."

"YA WANNA FUDGING TEST THAT ASSERTION NOW?!" Jasmine challenged.

"You two can spar at a later date." Melony said. "Antonia, Arachne, would you two mind pulling up a seat and officially joining the meeting?"

Antonia and Arachne complied and took a seat on either side of Honie. Antonia picked up her robotic ant, while Arachne gave Jasmine back her emerald crown.

"It's cool that you two already heard the conversation. Now we don't have to repeat ourselves. Sooooooo, whatcha think...?" Honie buzzed somewhat sheepishly.

Antonia and Arachne looked at each other, before sharing a chuckle. "Honey Buns, of course we're okay with you also engaging in tag wrestling matches with the Booty (soon to be) Empresses." Antonia warmly assured Honie.

"Yeah, it's not like your leaving our team. If anyone asked you to do that, THEN we'd have to murder them. Hehehe." Arachne snickered.

"As leader of the Battle Bugs, I know I am strict in many areas. But I've never placed a hard limit on other teams you and Arachne can join or form...as long as you two are NEVER teaming up with someone WEAK. Because that would bring great shame to your first stable. Thankfully, Melony's plenty strong. And...I suppose Jasmine strikes hard enough to make my facial region ache..." Antonia admitted.

"Awwww, thanks Antonia. You strike hard enough to make my face hurt too, even if your face is stinging more"~ Jasmine teased.

"From what data did you draw that conclusion from?" Antonia grumbled. And what Jasmine said next would put her in a flustered, red-faced state.

"I mean like, your the one who started complaining about your face hurting, soooooo-"

"I WAS NOT COMPLAINING. I WAS SIMPLY STATING AN OBJECTIVE RESULT OF THE NERVE SIGNALS RESPONDING TO THE INFLAMATION UPON MY MUG."

"So you both respect each others' striking power!" Honie buzzed, interjecting before Antonia and Jasmine could continue arguing and end up throwing hands. She then addressed Arachne, to change the subject. "So Arachne, do you also think Jasmine and Melony are cool enough for me to tag with?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sure. They're cool. Hehe." Arachne causally snickered, before leaning back in her chair and putting her feet up on the desk.

"Arachne...do you think I'M cool?" Melony would ask the spider.

Arachne's eyes widened, when realized she had ended up complimenting Melony. "Oh! Well...! Like YOUR a big NERD." Arachne asserted.

"But, you are friends and stablemates with a nerd." Melony noted, referring to Antonia.

"This is true." Antonia reaffirmed.

"Are you...FOND of nerds Arachne...?" Melony asked with a smile. She had put the villainess in a bit of a dilemma. She couldn't exactly deny liking nerds, especially right in front of Antonia. "A-A-Arachne..." The spider stuttered. Luckily for the lightweight, Melony's prissiness got the best of her. She wanted to tease Arachne about her delayed response, but the spider's posture was starting to annoy her.

"Umm, would you mind getting your feet off my desk please?" Melony asked Arachne in a relatively fussy yet polite tone.

The chance to be defiant immediately snapped the naughty villainess out of her mild stupor. "Ha! How about you come over to this side of the desk and make-" Arachne started, only for Honie to interrupt her by grabbing her, effortlessly hoisting her up, and plopping her back on her seat in a way Melony approved of. "HEY."

Melony let out a sigh of relief. Not just because Arachne's soles were now off her freshly cleaned desk, but because the other Battle Bugs had been so cool about Melony and Jasmine asking Honie to also be a member of their stable. "Antonia and Arachne, thank you both for your understanding. Perhaps it would have been easier to speak with everyone all at once, my apologies if I was overthinking things. That being said, Jasmine and I were not planning on recruiting Honie into our stable, without her other stablemates also getting something out of it. Through having Honie as a shared team member, we propose we form an official alliance between our respective teams."

"No worries and I concur. In fact, I was just about to suggest the same thing myself." Antonia said. "I'm sure everyone's in agreement."

"Ooooh! Does that mean we can jump people unprovoked 5 V 1?" Arachne asked, in a somewhat joking tone.

"NO." Honie and Melony said simultaneously.

"OH. But we can SMOTHER someone 5 V 1 provoked though!" Jasmine excitedly exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.

"Haha. I suppose that would depend on the situation." Melony chuckled.

"Most importantly..." Honie spoke up, speaking in an incredibly cute and wholesome voice. "A group alliance between stables means each us will always have each others' backs no matter what, in LAW or anywhere else! And that also means that all members of the alliance need to a be able to get along and be best buds with EVERYONE!"~

Melony exchanged awkward glances with Arachne, and Antonia exchanged awkward glances with Jasmine respectively.

"EVERYONE BUZZIT!" Honie loudly snapped, starling everybody by going from zero to one hundred in an instant, making even Jasmine flinch a bit. On a dime, the killer bee then switched back to her adorable tone. "And do you four know the best way for us to kick off our alliance of friendship?"~

"Though a professionally-typed, legally-blinding contract?" Antonia suggested.

"Oh yes. I can get such a document printed out in a jiffy." Melony chirped.

"NO. A GROUP HUG." Honie explained. At that declaration, all of Honie's friends grew slightly nervous. Honie had the tendency to occasionally forget her own strength and deliver loving, yet inadvertently painful bearhugs. At surely enough, the heavyweight heroine proceeded to effortlessly scoop up her friends one by one, before embracing all four of them at once in her muscular grasp! While Honie didn't mean for the hug to be THIS tight, she did intentionally hold Melony and Arachne in one of her brawny arms, while Jasmine and Antonia were held on the other one. This forced the two troublesome pairs into a state of physical intimacy.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Easy Bumble Butt! Arachne's sides are still sore because Melony HAD to crush me between her freaking thunder thighs earlier!" Arachne complained, referring back to her scrap with the Booty Bullet. "AND YOU'RE MAKING HER OVERSIZED RACK SQUISH ONTO MY FACE TOO-MMMMMPH."

"Now Arachne...Owwww...I'll take it as a compliment this time, but "thunder thighs" is generally considered to be an unflattering term. And my bosom is naturally sized, even if it is rather large. Nonetheless, Honie has requested we get along better. And since becoming irate only seems to encourage your naughtiness, you leave me no choice but to subjugate you with compassion."~ Melony explained, before leaning in to kiss Arachne on the forehead, flustering the spider. "Mwah."~

"QUIT IT. YOU'LL START DRAINING THE MALEVOLENCE FROM ARACHNE'S BODY."

Meanwhile, on the other side of Honie's body, Antonia and Jasmine were also groaning in the tight embrace.

"Ughh... Heh. Guess Honie's got even more raw strength than both of us, Antsy." Jasmine grunted, with a pained smile.

"Nghh... I suppose so..." Antonia admitted. "But my superior frame can endure this embrace longer than yours."

"I'LL TAKE THAT BET DUDE!" Jasmine beamed with glistening eyes, excited to get another competition between them going. "You're SO on!"

"Very well. I won't tell Honey Buns I'm ready to end this embrace until after YOU admit you can't handle it anymore."

"But that's NEVER gonna fudging happen!"

"Nghhh...! Arachne did not agree to this! Honie, can you put Arachne down now?" Arachne complained. Much to her dismay, her face and mask were already covered in quite a few pink kiss marks, courtesy of Melony's juicy lips. The peachy monarch had continued teasing Arachne, by planting more sisterly kisses on the lightweight's cheeks and head. Honie had missed the bet Jasmine and Antonia had made, too mentally distracted by the euphoria of "cuddling" with all of her besties.

"Buzz...? I'm sorry Arachne, but leaving the group hug before everyone in the group is ready is a violation of friendship code."

"WHAT."

"Ughhh...! Look on the bright side Arachne, now I can continue asserting my affections on you until any trace of lingering resentment between us has completely dissipated." Melony chirped, before continuing to kiss Arachne's face. "Mwah. Mwah. Mwah. Mwah..."~

"Owww... You can cry uncle anytime now Jasmine..." Antonia snickered.

"Ahhh.... NOPE. THE BOOTY BOMBER AIN'T NO WUSS. WE CAN STAY LIKE THIS FOREVER."

"Gaahhh... All of you quit it! ARACHNE'S suppose to be the impossible one!" Arachne protested, before enduring another teasing forehead kiss from Melony.

"MWAH."~

"Ugh... We all might up end up passing out like this...... Again..."

"I think ya'll are making a bit of progress!" Honie buzzed. "I buzzing love you all..."~ She had planted some seeds of friendship between the pairs of bombshells she was crushing hugging on either side of her, even if those seeds needed to be properly nurtured. Honie closed her eyes and hummed happily to herself. If she wasn't so caught up in her thoughts about this alliance, making all of her besties close friends, and how much fun she was gonna have tag teaming with all of them, Honie may have actually realized she was hugging too tight this time. Nonetheless, she began to exit the room with all four of her squirming and groaning besties in tow, filled with nothing but hopeful and exciting visions of the future!

TO BE CONTINUED.

Sperzana

kosuke

Speranza is sitting in the woman locker room. She drinking some coffee and texting on her phone. Looks like she talking to her federation valkryies of wresltering. She the COO.

They are talking about what the plans are for next year. They went on a hiatus due to rostwr restrictions and other things ( blame 2k)


It nothing money related. Speranza didn't need to put she did give some earnings1 in L.A.W into VOW. It just a small amount fo elbow room but they already had tgwt to behing with.


The real things that they need are signings into the comalnt for next year but that has to wait. She not here recruiting. She goes and lays bsck on the bench.

She starts to humming to herself staring up at the ceiling. She gonna leave but she deciding to chill for a bit.

All the sudden she sees red hair lady hovering above her face. Who is none other than her own adopted daughter Kosuke Doncy .

"Oh hello daughter, did you come all the way ocer to see your momma. Sooo cute! Come here and give momma a big hug!." Speranza said and stretches out her arms. However Kosuke just kiss her forehead and that it.

Speranza went to go sit so her daughter can sit next to her. She sat next to her and gav her a hug anyway. "I win!".


"MMMM yes you did." She said. She was worried about what she gonna tell her own mother and she shows that she worried a little bit to her. Which she forgot how easy she can pick up on stuff like.that. she crack her shoulders when she remembered that.

"I saw that! Whaaaaatttt are you hidddiiiiing!? Hmmmmmm!?" She egg on her with her oooo your in trouble side.

" Oh. I see. Your got into the company didn't you?" Speranza quickly figured it out. Kosuke is adopted but mother knows best.

She sighs. " Yes. I am a team manger and wreslters. They are still deciding on a name. I wanted to go into on ahead and they where omay with it. Remember how in that one other fed ( it not my fed so I am not gonna say the name But it exist) there where RWBY people. This one is also all RWBY. Probably different timeliness though but still. Well I guess different timeliness. No idea.

Speranza went oooo and laugh. "When you said you where going to advance your wrestling career this is not what I expected. I know the bank does stuff with L.A.W and now your wrestling there like that one co worker you have Gavin mansion was it? Oooo is he gonna give me grand babies?"


"MOM!! HE JUST A CO WORKER! One of the people I MANGE!!" kosuke yelled at Speranza.


She laughs. "I'm kidding kiddo. Weather you go for him or not. Who ever you want. Oh,oo, oo one more. Is your team gonna give me grand babies?" She laughs again.

Kosuke puts a hand over her face. "Well might as well tell you. I stated I would be picky but I am in the hentai division as well. I know you don't want me to make the same mistakes you did but it my choice. Sorry" She said with the upmost regret.

She laughs hard and sort of gave Kosuke a hard slap to the back. She knew she was upset by what ahe just heard.

"Well... at least you got say and you can reject it. Might be harder with a time. Just remember people can be very brutal. Not gonna tell you abandon ship because other people are involved and that not right for them.


Well I hope it works out well for you. It can be ahrd getting tag team matches over here. Singles not so much. Unless your blade HA! Anyway, I hope ot works out well. Dodut you guys will be facing me and such.' Speranza said with a heavy heart.

"Ya, I know. Thank you mom.Uh... want to leave this place? Get some grub?"
kosuke asks.


"...Ya." She replied.