The Seekers vs. Light in the Darkness

[Konrad Raab]

SCW World Tag Team Championship

4 RP limit for tag

No Word Limits

Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET Monday, April 15, 2024 (Show still takes place Sunday, April 14, 2024)

[Chance Owens]

Actions speak louder than Words

[Wisteria Waltz]

Throughout their careers, Amelia Blythe and La Pequeña Luz have prided themselves on being honest, hard-working, honorable wrestlers. Sure, it was expected of the both of them at first, Luz by her culture as not only a tecnico but also the daughter of El Espíritu Angélico and Amelia by her parents because winning through dishonest means was seen as a disgrace of the 'natural Blythe superiority' in wrestling, but even as they both began to figure out who they truly were beyond all of that, those virtues remained and evolved with them. Where they come from, everything is simple and clear in terms of how business operates:

You win, you earn opportunities.

You lose, you don't get opportunities.

You lose a championship, you go to the back of the line and start over.

For most of the time they've been wrestling, they had never known anything different. It didn't matter if the promotion was in Europe or Mexico, they knew how to handle their business and could hold to their personal philosophy of resolving wrestling issues in a wrestling ring. It made everything straightforward and allowed for them to put all their wrestling focus outside the ring on training for the next challenge and consistently getting better as time went on. That was why they had found so much success both together and individually, to the degree that it got them on SCW's radar in the first place and had them labeled as a hot prospect the company just had to have on their roster. Even back during their first stint, it had been the same formula all the way up until the injuries that had sidelined them.

Realizing the second time around that they may have simply gotten lucky during that first outing with SCW had not been sitting well with them for a while, however.

The minefield they found themselves constantly navigating throughout the time they'd been directly in the Tag Title picture was starting to take its toll on them, and everyone around them could tell. It hadn't seemed bad during their first reign, but that could be chalked up to a combination of the waters not getting too muddy up until the triple threat and having Caleb to worry about beyond the ropes. This time around, though, they'd noticed the couple return from just about every Breakdown looking exhausted even if they hadn't wrestled. Luz and Amelia constantly insisted they were fine and just needed to sleep, but there had been a few times when they'd heard the two of them crying to one another through the hotel walls, lamenting the mental struggle they hadn't expected to find themselves in because of all of this.

Both ladies knew full well they could open up to their loved ones and didn't need to shoulder any of the burdens themselves, but a lifetime of having to do just that made it a hard mentality to break free of.

After this latest Breakdown, the path ahead seemed to finally be clear at the very least. The Light In The Darkness would walk into Taking the Leap in Newark, New Jersey to have the first defense of their second reign against Chance Owens and Kelsai Adamson, who they knew were owed a proper title shot after not only fighting to prove they'd earned it but also after getting jerked around by both Dark Fantasy and Twisted & Sadistic heading into Retribution. Between that and the absolute chaos that was Glory and Brittany trying to simply take out the entire tag division to force a few hands back in Cleveland, it was starting to feel like this run with the gold would be defined by trying to clean up the collateral damage Twisted & Sadistic was leaving in their wake.

Maybe they wouldn't have felt so frustrated by the whole ordeal if the tandem didn't have a solid argument that put the champions in a catch-22 regarding their morals that had them spiraling back into darker headspaces.

At least, for the time being, things seemed alright with them. Since they were relatively close enough to justify it, Luz and Amelia had detoured to Bridgeport, Connecticut to train at Marilyn's wrestling school for Taking the Leap, determined to once again pass their first defense and iron out any flaws that existed in their game to try and make this reign even better than their previous one. Marilyn wanted to be proud of these two for how committed they were to a sport they loved almost as much as they loved each other, but she'd noticed a few things that felt off when she watched the duo training. Now, she's kept up with enough of SCW since getting to know these girls that she's picked up on enough basic information to help them prepare when necessary. That's why she knew something wasn't quite right when she saw the two of them barely accounting for any speed or aerial offense in their training, knowing full well at least one of their opponents was a match for Luz in that department.

After getting filled in on the key details from their friends, she knew she had a good reason to be worried.

She didn't address it right away, however, because she was also assisting with another matter. In the wake of Caleb's arrest and The Empire somewhat crumbling as a result, one of the loose ends they'd all been addressing was the matter of Henry White, Caleb's nephew and former 'Golden Prodigy' of the group. Henry was legally an adult, maybe about two years older than Luz and Amelia in fact, but he'd effectively been living with his uncle ever since he was “saved” as a baby by Caleb while his actual parents were left to die, and fears of The Empire's remnants focusing on him with Caleb now locked away either seeking a successor or out of revenge for the role he played in finally bringing an end to his uncle's madness made it impossible to justify him staying in that messed-up mansion of madness any longer. He'd been fine with the idea of traveling with everyone and getting to properly try and connect with them to shed his former image and unlearn everything Caleb had drilled into his head all these years, but Marilyn, Avery, Darius and Evie all agreed that the young man deserved a proper home to live in where he could feel safe and comfortable when he got tired of being on the road, especially since the case regarding The Empire hadn't completely closed yet until the FBI and NCA were absolutely sure they couldn't rise from the ashes and become a threat again.

“Thanks again for allowing me to visit your parents, Marilyn,” Henry cautiously said as he accompanied the older woman into the training area of her wrestling school.

“To be fair, kid, they're your grandparents and it's only right you not only get to know them, but also see that we Clausons aren't whatever vile monsters your scumbag of an uncle tried to convince you we are,” Marilyn pointed out, getting a nod from Henry in return. It had been an awkward outing, especially when Henry had seen the permanent damage his uncle had done to the man he now knew was his grandfather, but he did admittedly feel a lot better getting to explore the side of his family he never properly knew.

If he hadn't already been thrown into a prison cell to rot, Marilyn would've made strangling the bastard a top priority of hers, even more than it already had been for far too long admittedly.

“Has Darius talked with you yet about a place to live?” she changed topics, wanting to try and cut any mention of Caleb out of the conversation for the time being, something Henry seemed grateful for.

“He's suggested staying with him in London,” Henry replied. “Not going to lie, it's incredibly tempting since he made the effort to try and bond with me while he and Evie were undercover as Empire members, but...”

“A little too close to his home?” Marilyn questioned.

“Well, that,” Henry shivered a bit at the thought of his uncle, “but also... I've kind of taken a liking to being out on the road with everybody. I know they'll all eventually have points where they aren't touring for wrestling and have homes they'll return to, but it's been hard to argue with how much progress I feel I've been making around all of them.”

“Completely fair,” Marilyn laughed. “Luz and Amelia seem to have that kind of effect on everyone they meet, even each other from what I've heard of their first few interactions. It's hard not to get attached to them or anyone else in their little friend group after a while, and next thing you know, we're all one big dysfunctional but happy family in a sense.”

“Well... does dysfunctional kind of describe that?” Henry asked as he pointed to the training ring that Marilyn knew she'd set aside for the couple to use while they were in town.

A ring that currently wasn't being used for the purpose she'd let them use it for.

While Luz and Amelia were at least in their workout clothes, they didn't look like they were doing anything at first glance. As Marilyn, with Henry in tow, moved closer with an eyebrow raised in confusion, she realized they were both seated in the middle of the ring, several sheets of paper strewn about between them as they faced one another. Once they were close enough, they could pick up on the conversation going on between the couple, and it was both understandable and somehow seemed to raise even more questions as far as she was concerned.

“I think they might find it a bit disrespectful if we got married in the cemetery, Lulu,” Amelia pointed out, “even if we have a very good reason for it.”

“Yeah, you're probably right,” Luz lamented as she tossed a sheet of paper aside. “I still think it's worth at least asking to see, especially given how important Día de los Muertos is in our culture and what it would represent if we could.”

“I'm also trying to think of how the guests would react to the idea, even if we explained it,” Amelia said as she pushed another paper towards Luz. “What about that chapel that's practically right next to that cemetery?”

“Doubtful, I'm afraid,” Luz sighed. “Aside from special Día de los Muertos services to help us welcome the spirits back to the land of the living and celebrate their memories, most churches throughout the country won't operate beyond that during that window. It's something else we can ask about, but I have a feeling the odds won't be in our favor, Ames.”

“Dang it,” Amelia tossed that paper aside with a frustrated growl. “It also doesn't help that we don't know if or what SCW is scheduling for that period of time so we can't even figure out what dates to reasonably set aside for this... at least not until maybe after Rise to Greatness is over and done with.”

“Last I checked, I gave you both this ring to actually train in, not plan to tie the knot in,” Marilyn interrupted them, making sure her tone was clear that she was just teasing the couple, but the looks on their faces were enough to warrant the amused grin she got to wear after saying it.

“Lo siento, Marilyn!” Luz hastily replied as she and Amelia scrambled to try and gather up all their prospective plans scattered along the canvas.

“Ah, I'm just teasing,” Marilyn confirmed before Luz could say anything else. “You two do deserve some time to actually figure out how you're actually going to finally get married and all that mushy stuff, but I want to make sure you aren't forgetting that you've got a title defense coming up in just a few days as well.”

“We were going to get to work as soon as we hopefully settled on a few more plans,” Amelia admitted as she and Luz set the papers neatly beneath one of the bottom turnbuckles. “Trying to actually nail anything down for what we want to do is becoming a headache, though, with the uncertainty of our SCW schedule around the time we want to do this.”

“You could always ask for that time off to seal the deal, you know,” Marilyn pointed out.

“We're considering it,” Luz replied, “but we also don't want to give anybody any ammunition about putting our wedding day before our title reign if we're still champions by that point.”

Marilyn opened her mouth to respond to that, but thought better about it and just shook her head with a sigh before going a different route. “Wish I could give you two any advice, but I haven't exactly hit any home runs with my own love life to be of any real help.”

“I thought Lilith said something about you being married once before?” Henry innocently asked, which shocked Marilyn as she hadn't expected the young man to have known about that... or for Luz and Amelia to now know about it as well.

“You were married before!?” Amelia asked in surprise.

“I need details, please, now!” Luz exclaimed as she quickly ran over to the ropes, leaning on them in a way that reminded Marilyn of an overly excited puppy.

“Sorry kiddo, but it's not exactly a pleasant story that's going to be of any use to you and Amelia,” Marilyn groaned as she briefly shot Henry an annoyed glare for bringing that up in the first place. “It was one of those quick Vegas weddings... some con artist recognized me and thought he could sweet talk me into marrying him only to scam me out of everything I have to my name. Unfortunately for him, I saw straight through it and beat him to the punch. Haven't seen him since... maybe your friend Ivy has, though, since he supposedly runs a tourist trap or something out in Oregon somewhere.”

Marilyn got a good laugh out of the memory, though she trailed off when she saw how much Luz seemed to deflate at the story. Amelia walked over and gently patted her back, looking disappointed herself but definitely doing a much better job of hiding it. Whether it was just for Luz's sake or more things she had ingrained into her by her parents was unknown, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth all the same.

“Ah, cheer up, you two,” she told them. “I know you won't make the same mistakes I have when it comes to love, and the fact that you're making the effort to actually try and put this together in the first place is at least proof that you're healing and moving on from all the other nonsense we've had to put up with for months now, especially the both of you. Trust me when I say that you've got all the time in the world to put this puzzle together and have a wedding that's everything you could ever want and more.”

Luz and Amelia looked at one another before nodding, breathing stereo sighs of relief at the reassurance. Amelia took Luz's hand and helped her back to her feet as they looked around the ring, almost trying to decide what they wanted to do first.

“Hey, um... sorry if this sounds a little insensitive or anything, I truly don't mean it if it does, but... what's Día de los Muertos?” Henry asked, almost shrinking in on himself at the surprised and skeptical looks he got in return from the couple.

“You don't know what Día de los Muertos is?” Amelia had to ask. “No offense to you Henry, but I thought you knew a lot about us because of that monster's plans and all.”

“I do,” Henry shamefully admitted, “but all I know about that is it's a holiday that's important to Luz's culture. Any time I tried to look further into it... Caleb would... he would...”

“Hey, no need to fill in that blank, kid,” Marilyn reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder before he could start hyperventilating from the memories.

“I'm sorry for bringing that topic up,” Amelia added, the guilt strong in her voice.

“No, no, you're good,” Henry shakily sighed. “He's going to come up a lot more than I'd like in conversation for a while and I just need to accept that. I was tied to him so thoroughly for so long, after all... I can't even try to resume wrestling and figure myself out there until some of the heat's died down now that he's been exposed for the twisted, narcissistic sociopath he truly was all along.”

“That still doesn't make it right,” Luz pouted, hating the way Henry looked like he was suffering all because of choices he'd been forced into making because it was impossible for him to know any better until he was already so thoroughly in Caleb's clutches that it honestly felt like a miracle they'd been able to get through to him with the truth at all. After a few moments, though, her face lit up like a light bulb had turned on in her noggin. “I know! Why don't you train with us today!”

“Really?” Henry looked surprised, but his eyes began to light up just like Luz's the more he processed the idea. “You'd let me train with you guys?”

“Why not?” Luz shrugged. “You deserve to be able to stay in form for when you can return to the ring again, and we could use someone to run through some live drills with us to make sure we're ready for Taking the Leap. Plus, I can explain to you anything about my culture that estúpido probably could care less about just because it never fit his vision or whatever, like Día de los Muertos.”

“What do you say Henry?” Amelia asked as she opened the ropes for him. “You want to lend us a hand and stick it to your uncle in the process?”

“Heck yeah!” Henry couldn't help but exclaim as he climbed into the ring. He may not have been dressed for training, but it seemed like he didn't care.

The three of them spent the next half-hour running through some scenarios, with Henry playing the part of one of the couple's opponents so they could work out some strategies to make sure they could stay in the fight if things started to go awry. Watching from outside the ring, Marilyn found herself impressed by how easily Luz and Amelia were able to explain exactly what the holiday was and why it was so important to Henry while remaining focused on what they were doing to keep going at full speed. It honestly made her wonder how much the two of them had become masters of multitasking due to always needing to keep their eyes peeled for Caleb and his goons while trying to stay at the top of their game and keep improving week after week.

Closer to the end of that half-hour, though, Marilyn began to notice the same oddities that she had several times before since they'd swung by her school to train before they planned to head down to Newark for the pay-per-view. The more she watched, the clearer it became what the problem was, and a quick exchange of glances with Henry confirmed he was picking up on it as well. While there was no denying that Amelia and Luz had somehow become even more fluid in their teamwork and a lot of their techniques, even some newer ones they'd been working on, were about as polished as they could be, it was hard to argue that it looked like the tandem weren't even preparing to wrestle against Chance and Kelsai. If anything, the way they were operating almost seemed like they were expecting a match with...

“Stop,” Henry suddenly commanded, which brought Luz and Amelia to a screeching halt right before they were about to catch him with the Frozen Gauntlet. They looked at one another in confusion as Henry glanced over to Marilyn, almost silently asking if she was alright with him breaking the news to them. The look on her face made it clear she was hesitant, but she ultimately nodded.

“Something wrong, Henry?” Amelia asked as Luz offered a hand to help him back to a stand, which he gratefully took.

“I'm sorry,” he started. “I don't want to sound like I'm coming off as rude about this or anything, but... you two do realize who you're defending your titles against on the 14th, right?”

“Of course we do!” Luz responded, looking almost offended for a moment at the implication. “Chance and Kelsai, or The Seekers as they've taken to calling themselves now.”

“Then why aren't you actually preparing for them?” he bluntly said, cringing at the tone he ended up using but trying to shake it off as he believed it might help get the point across... he hoped.

He saw Amelia and Luz exchange confused glances for a moment before he continued. “I've thoroughly studied not only the both of you, in case I ever needed to meet you in the ring for one reason or another, but also most of the current SCW roster to prepare for potentially needing to fight through any of them to get to you as per one of my uncle's scrapped plans. Because of that... it's become painfully clear that you're training as though you're preparing to wrestle someone else entirely... someone like Twisted & Sadistic.”

“We're not-” they both began to say simultaneously, but Marilyn cut them off.

“Oh yes you have, and not just today either. I've been noticing it for a few days now, and I really should have said something sooner, but I've been trying to be respectful and hoped you'd realize it on your own.”

“Chance is a fair stand-in for Brittany because of his size and strength advantage, so that one was a little harder to realize until you start digging into moves,” Caleb noted. “Kelsai, however... she's more akin to you Luz, something I think you both already know. Glory does have some aerial offense in her arsenal, but she's more of a technical wrestler similar to Amelia, and that's primarily what you've been working with, which is the dead giveaway here.”

Amelia and Luz glanced at one another again before their eyes focused on the mat beneath them. They were clearly ashamed at not only having spent all this time preparing for the wrong team, but worse yet, not even consciously realizing it until someone had to flat out tell them they were doing so. They didn't have The Empire as an excuse anymore as far as possible distractions, and even planning for their wedding wasn't urgent enough to reasonably derail their thoughts, at least that badly.

“How did we make such a mistake...?” Amelia mumbled.

“How did we not realize it sooner!?” Luz yelled as she grabbed at her mask, as though messing with it would somehow give her the answers she was looking for.

“Are you two alright?” Marilyn asked, her concern evident as she climbed into the ring now. It was a bit jarring considering Marilyn had made it clear when they first met her that she wasn't a woman who openly worried about anybody except for herself and her immediate family, but being around Luz and Amelia had opened her up just a little bit more in that regard.

The couple didn't answer, instead slowly spiraling as they tried to find an answer that seemed to elude their brains. Frowning, Henry started racking his brain over recent SCW events, specifically focusing on The Light In The Darkness and the tag division as a whole. It took him a moment, but he thought he could pick out a pattern emerging with each moment he ran through.

“Twisted & Sadistic have gotten into your heads, haven't they?” he finally said.

The couple snapped their attention to him, eyes wide as they clearly wanted to refute such a claim. They had overcome the mind games of Ravyn Taylor on multiple occasions, after all, and she was arguably the greatest chessmaster in SCW history when it came to those tactics. A thought did seem to cross their minds, however, and as they began to realize what Henry seemed to, they could only nod in agreement with him as they slumped to the mat, leaning on one another in attempted support.

“They have... it's hard to think so, but they have,” Luz finally admitted. “And it didn't even take any mind games to do it.”

“They questioned our integrity, the one thing that defines us in this business beyond maybe our love for each other,” Amelia added, mental exhaustion shining through in every word she spoke. “They rightfully called us out for not actually beating them for the belts, but when we try to figure out a solution that actually addresses that without compromising every other team that rightfully deserves a shot, they just turn around and try to get what they want through brute force anyways.”

“It's not our fault we couldn't give them the match!” Luz cried. “We tried talking with CHBK last Breakdown to figure something out, and they went and solidified his decision by trying to bully the rest of the tag division to get their way! We can't honestly support or condone that, can we!?”

“I get it,” Marilyn mused as she knelt down to be more eye-level with the couple. “Your struggling with whether or not you made the right decision because Glory and Brittany are both right and wrong in this situation but have their heads so far up their own asses they refuse to see any fault in what they've done. All they care about is what they lost to you, and make no mistake about it, they lost those belts to you, end of discussion. I get that you have your whole sense of honor and everything, but if they deserved those belts then they would have walked out the champions that night regardless, and they didn't. And if they have such a problem with it, then they're the ones who need to talk to your boss about it, not act like spoiled brats who could use a time-out.”

Luz opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off as Henry jumped back into the conversation. “Look, they have a valid criticism, and you're letting that start to dictate your own thoughts and actions. And yet, when push comes to shove, do you think they'd be so willing to offer the same thing if the roles were reversed? Or do they only care about using facts to justify doing whatever they want until they get what they're after? And on that note... does that sound familiar to the two of you?”

Henry's voice grew more bitter with that last line, but he was justified as the realization hit Amelia and Luz like a freight train. While they doubted it was intentional, Twisted & Sadistic had effectively copied the signature tactic of Caleb White, abusing truths to try and manipulate the narrative to get their way believing they were entitled to exactly what they wanted no matter what they did. The mere idea of their actions having consequences was irrelevant because they believed themselves to be beyond that... hence why they had the hand they were dealt for Taking the Leap no matter how much they didn't like it.

“I don't believe it...” Luz finally uttered after reflecting on it all. “We fought for so long against Caleb's games that just when it finally seems safe to let our guards down, we almost lose ourselves to those same games from someone else... someone we didn't think would ever pull that stunt on us.”

“It's not just that,” Amelia realized. “At least with Caleb and The Empire, we could separate them and SCW knowing, at least for the most part, that we were safe with a clear divide between issues on either side. Glory and Brittany are on the SCW roster, they're gunning for us by any means necessary, and without that separation we almost lost ourselves completely to the desire to prove them wrong.”

“If you'd have completely given in,” Henry quietly pointed out, “then I doubt you would even make it to that point as champions to settle that issue.”

“Not to mention we would've proven Chance and Kelsai right about overlooking and disrespecting them...” Luz sighed, leaning closer so Amelia could pull her into a side hug.

“At least we caught it just in time,” Amelia noted as she looked at Marilyn and Henry, “thanks to you two. We still have time to make sure we're properly prepared for the right battle.”

“And we're here for you every step of the way,” Marilyn stated with a grin. “All of us... and that goes for your other friends and family as well.”

“We're all in this together,” Henry reaffirmed as he held out his hands, and Luz and Amelia gladly accepted his help back to their feet.

“Yeah... we're all in this together,” Luz breathed, that signature smile finally gracing her lips.

“How about we take a break for now just to make sure our heads are screwed back on straight?” Amelia suggested. “Maybe even watch some film on Chance and Kelsai just to fully remind ourselves of who really deserves our undivided attention.”

“Right,” Luz agreed. “After all, Twisted & Sadistic aren't going anywhere... and neither are we.”

Henry would look back on this moment and realize how helpful he'd been to the couple who had fought so hard to help free him from the corrupt influence that had dictated his entire life up to this point... a thought that would have seemed alien to him about a month or so ago. And yet, it was a sign that he was making progress towards figuring out who he truly was and wanted to be beyond Caleb's heir apparent. He even recognized that helping Luz and Amelia wasn't something he felt he needed to do to make him even with them for all they'd done for him... just like the couple themselves, he was a good person and it was simply the right thing to do for his friends.

He knew, deep down, that Luz and Amelia would regain the confidence in just how good they truly were, both as wrestlers and as people, and he was more than happy to help remind them of that whenever it became necessary. It was the least he could do... especially since the very thought of Caleb or anyone else acting like him make his skin crawl in disgust.

No one should ever have to go through what he went through at that man's hands... what Caleb had tried to put Luz and Amelia through... honestly, he could only hope that Twisted & Sadistic got some sort of reality check one way or another for trying to act anything like him, even if they didn't realize it.

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The Ironbound... a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey known for being a large working-class multi-ethnic community, built on immigration throughout the centuries of American history. German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Portuguese... so many different walks of life all coming together to form a melting pot of culture and dedication to the concept of working hard to build the life you want to live until you've achieved your dreams and goals, no matter where you came from or how hard you had to work to get there.

As we take in the beautiful view of this incredible neighborhood from up high, it starts to make sense why we happen to find The Light In The Darkness in a place that calls out to them such as this.

Amelia Blythe and La Pequeña Luz are sitting on the edge of one of the buildings, looking down at the hard-working people going about their everyday lives. They have no doubts that many of these fine folks will likely be in attendance over at the Prudential Center come tonight, watching them in action and cheering them on as they have the first defense of their second reign as SCW World Tag Team Champions. Those particular title belts are clutched in their hands, dangling in front of the ledge they're seated upon. The couple shift their gaze to look down at their prize for a moment, contemplating how hard they had to work to get here and everything they've had to face since returning to the top of the mountain. After a moment, they both look up at us.

“Actions speak louder than words.”

“That said, actions also have consequences.”

The couple exchange glances before sighing in sync, turning their gaze back to us. It's clear that we're not seeing the competitive spark that has been the norm with these two no matter what obstacle has stood in their way, leaving an odd feeling lingering in the air as they elaborate.

“Last Breakdown, the title match for Taking the Leap was solidified... and we know there are some people out there who aren't happy about it. We want to make something very clear right here and now: it doesn't matter what Glory claims, we're not afraid of her or trying to duck her. If there was any truth to that, then why would we have spent the past several weeks willingly saying we'd be more than happy to ignore one of the agreed upon stipulations from Retribution and prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that The Light In The Darkness can beat Twisted & Sadistic in a straight-up 2v2 match? The problem is... Amelia and I don't have the power that people seem to think we do. We're the World Tag Team Champions, yes, but that doesn't magically grant us the power to make matches as we see fit. We don't have any sort of leverage from an understandable marketing mistake, we're not on the Board... we're just wrestlers, and that's all we really want to be. The best we can do is talk to the boss and pitch ideas in hopes that he's on board with what we want, and I'll be honest when I say we've gotten pretty lucky that our pitch happened to align with what CHBK thought would actually be a good idea from a booking and marketing standpoint.”

“That, by the way, explains why we didn't answer Glory and Brittany at the start of the show, or were even anywhere to be found while they were out on their little rampage. We were talking with CHBK, trying to offer some sort of compromise so he'd reconsider, and we thought we might have actually been getting through to him... all we needed was a little bit of patience, and it's shocking to say that Glory couldn't show that. All it took was for CHBK catching word of what she and Brittany were up to, and our lengthy meeting to try and get something set up went down in flames. Chance and Kelsai were declared our challengers for Taking the Leap—as they deserve, if I'm going to be honest since we're clearing up all the misconceptions here—and Glory and Brittany are now forced to reap what they sow. Maybe, if we were talking about the Glory Braddock that we thought we knew and respected, the woman I had no problem losing my Television Title to last year and the woman we were proud to lose these titles to about two months ago, this would be a different story. But Luz and I have made it clear time and time again that our philosophy is to resolve wrestling problems in a wrestling ring, and if Glory and Brittany want to act like bullies to try and force CHBK to give them what they want, then the two of you have no right to question our integrity when you clearly have no problem kicking dirt on whatever integrity you may have once had.”

Luz suddenly swings her legs over so she can stand up and approach us, with Amelia following suit but staying behind her fiancée to make it clear this is her moment to get all the focus.

“Do you want to know what bothers me the most about what Twisted & Sadistic did in Cleveland? Exactly as Amelia said, they were trying to bully their way back into a title picture we were actively trying to work on getting them back into, one way or another. They thought if they could push everybody around and make demands, they'd be honored. You two want to hear the truth about our response that night? Delivering the bad news CHBK settled on and not flinching when you thought you were about to get your way had nothing to do with our integrity or our philosophies on this business... when I was growing up, I was bullied quite often. I was seen as the weirdo that no one wanted to hang out with, the social outcast that didn't deserve to be around anyone. My father was a veritable legend throughout the country of Mexico by that point, and no one believed that I was his daughter. Even when they had concrete proof staring them in the face, even when my dad was present and praising me for being his daughter and the bright future he knew I had before me... everyone believed it to be some sort of prank. My father was important because of who he was, and I was just someone to push around because there was no way I could be telling the truth about something like that! Maybe if there was some truth to it, then I could be pushed around and beaten down so that someone more 'worthy' could take my place as the child of El Espíritu Angélico... that's what people growing up with me actually thought! I learned, at a young age, that bullies only have as much power as you give to them... and you want to wonder why Amelia and I weren't too keen on giving you what you wanted after you decided you couldn't be patient enough to give us a chance to honor our word.”

“There's something to be said about the mentality of a bully... I speak from experience because that's exactly what my parents wanted me to be growing up: a bully, flaunting my status and family connections as proof that I was superior to everyone around me and no one could dare hold a candle to who I was destined to become. I was given no choice in the matter, I ultimately broke down and became just that, and I hated every second of it. I hated pushing people around, I hated acting like there wasn't a wrestler on this planet who could ever outwrestle me, I would look in the mirror and be disgusted by the reflection staring back at me. When Luz and I were staring Glory and Brittany down in that moment, it almost felt like I was looking into that mirror all over again, witnessing as Glory Braddock became everything that I hated about myself and watching as she learned the same lesson I had to in order to be free of those shackles: your status means nothing and you can't always have your way, and sooner or later, you will ultimately fall, no matter how invincible you perceive yourself to be. If it's any consolation though Glory, Luz and I do hope that you come away from your match as the winners and hopefully learn something in the process, because we want to inevitably cross paths with the Twisted & Sadistic who beat us fair and square on that Breakdown months ago so we can show you how much farther we've come since then... not the Twisted & Sadistic who only care for championship gold and not the fight that comes from reaching the top of the mountain.”

Luz is noticeably trembling at this point, and it's only because of Amelia's comforting hand on her back that this rare display of anger from the luchadora is restrained. Still, Amelia's eyes retain a coldness that she's clearly not comfortable with, but knows it's necessary right now to drive home the point she and Luz are trying to make.

“Luz and I aren't hard to read. We wear our hearts on our sleeves and we don't care if anyone thinks that's a weakness, we're honorable competitors who simply want to wrestle at the highest level and prove ourselves against the toughest challenges. Beyond how much we love and care for one another, there's not much more to us than that, and there doesn't ever need to be. That's why we're getting fed up with people thinking they have any right to question our honor, our integrity, when all we've done since we first showed up here years ago and since we came back is try to prove ourselves and elevate everyone we do battle with in the process, hoping that our next encounter will be even better and push us to keep getting better. We openly acknowledge our shortcomings just as we openly acknowledge when someone deserves an opportunity, perhaps even more than we do. Just like the people of the neighborhood of The Ironbound right here in Newark, we respect those that work hard and push themselves to always reach for greater and greater heights.”

“That's why we truly have to ask you, Chance and Kelsai, why you felt the need to question us just like Twisted & Sadistic have over the past several weeks. Now, we'll give the both of you the right to be angry over what they want, even if Amelia and I concede that we owe it to them, because you were right there in the same boat we were going into Retribution getting jerked around by them and Dark Fantasy. If they hadn't been at each other's throats and felt the need to keep us in the middle of it, then we would have just passed on our contractually-obligated rematch and started over, letting other teams have their chance while we worked our way back up to where we are now. That's why we understand where you're coming from... but that doesn't explain why, when we were just trying to get a feel for what awaited us next for this new reign as World Tag Team Champions, the two of you felt it was necessary to interrupt us and claim that we were disrespecting you. The Light In The Darkness—the team that Jonathan Knots himself claimed on commentary were too nice to be able to get the job done in that triple threat match back at Retribution—disrespecting The Seekers... all because we're not psychics and were still getting our bearings for even being back in this position in the first place?

Again, we don't have the power people seem to think we do. We don't just snap our fingers and magically we have a title defense all set to go... honestly, the temptation was even there to pass over the two of you as well, especially when you incited that brawl a few weeks back that led to Ames being hit in the eye with a microphone by Glory all because no one wants to let us try and sort this out to the best of our ability in a way that actually, hopefully, works out for everyone involved and instead wants to try and make our decisions for us.”

“Chance, Kelsai... do you want to know why the two of you still have this opportunity, even after all of that? It's because we do believe you are owed a proper chance at these titles after you were pushed around going into Retribution all just to be part of a twisted game of one-upsmanship. It's because we do, honestly, wholeheartedly, believe you are good enough to call yourselves World Tag Team Champions, and we're willing to give you that chance to step up and take your shot. But make no mistake, you two... questioning our integrity and thinking we had any slight towards you whatsoever was the wrong move, because all you've done is given us all the motivation we could ever need to make sure you walk away from this match not only empty-handed, but also knowing exactly how much this means to us and why we will not take being disrespected like that lying down. We've put up with that enough growing up, and it stops here and now. Bring your absolute best, bring everything that you have to give to prove to the world that The Seekers have what it takes to one day be SCW World Tag Team Champions, please...”

“But also understand that you are getting nothing less than our absolute best and beyond, as undeniable proof that you both truly are no different than any other challenge we have ever faced. We didn't want to be back in this position so soon, but we are ready and willing to walk through hell if that's what it takes to lead by example and make sure that you, Twisted & Sadistic, and the entire SCW locker room know that The Light In The Darkness are everything that we've always said we were, and we will keep on fighting with everything that we have until we've proven to everyone, especially ourselves, that we've become the kinds of wrestlers we aspired to be growing up and can't climb any higher. Just because we're champions again doesn't mean we're there just yet.”

“Not when we still have so much work to do, so much fight left to give, and a statement to make that we will not be kicked around or disrespected anymore by anybody in that locker room. Sometimes, all it takes is a little patience and a little faith in us to prove that we are women of our word... hopefully the two of you will remember that the next time we cross paths, because we will not be leaving Newark without these titles, no matter how badly you want to try and take them from us.”

Luz and Amelia both step back to the ledge and take a seat on it once again, letting out shaky breaths that make it clear this got a little more intense than they would have liked. It's only by looking down at the life in this neighborhood that they finally seem to calm down once more, leaving us with hope that people will stop trying to question their integrity and just give them what they want above all else: incredible matches in the ring against the very best that SCW has to offer, all in the name of proving that any claims of them being a part of that list were well and truly earned with their own bare hands, the way they want it to be.