The Rhythm of the Night

James was home. For the first time in a very long time, he was truly comfortable. He had won his first match. Even though it wasn't a squash, it got him back into the rhythm he had so desperately hoped for. In his first match he had gotten royally smacked, and this was his big comeback. Sure, his opponent was some rookie trying to get more ring experience, but a win was a win, dammit, and that was a cause to celebrate.

He was relaxing. The VIP room in this club was fairly luxurious, and James was delighted he got in. The aerial ace was lounging in a chair, surrounded by pretty girls. Well, pretty for Japan, anyways. James could hardly speak more than two words of Japanese, but he had a raw charisma, one that attracted a whole menagerie of people towards him. His Japanese was moribund, but he understood the word wrestling. Funny how that was an international word. Plus, he could gesture enough to get beer, and the empty bottles around him testified to his mental state.

James had danced earlier. Up here, he could see the throng of people gyrating and moving, and he liked it a whole lot. Ordinarily, the strobe lights would have made him seek or annoyed him, but he liked it now. The music was banging, and James could not resist tapping along.

The purple haired man smiled. Everything bad in life was behind him now. Sure, tomorrow he would wake up with a hangover, and maybe an STD, but for right now he was perfect.

Ralphs life was pretty relaxed lately. But although he didn't get many matches he still regularly visited gym to stay in shape. And today wasn't anything different; he went to gym, did what he had to do and returned to locker room in order to take the shower. That's when he noticed a flyer on the bench and upon closer inspection noticed that there is some kind of party later today in nearby club. It's been a while since Ralph went to the party, so he decided to give a shot to that one.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Ralph asked his cousin Juni when he was getting ready to leave the apartment.

"Yeah I'm sure. Just don't get in any troubles, alright?" She chuckled.

"Well, you know me - I can't promise that." Ralph laughed and left. Club was really nice. He was positively surprised when he entered. Music, bar, decorations, everything was perfect. But there was something else that has to be done beside checking out the surroundings - Ralph had to get something to drink and first thing he did was ordering a beer at the bar. There was lot of crowd, so it took a bit to get a desired drink, but that was nothing new.

Ralph moved away and leaned on wall after finally getting his beverage. He had plans to mingle between rest of the people in the club, but for the beginning he just wanted to observe. He was looking at girls dancing, their butts and breasts; it was good easy to chill when searching for cute females.

James stood up, and the wrinkles of his nice suit gave way to the straight lines where they should be. After moving to Tokyo, James bought it straight away. It was tailored to every minute detail of his body, and showed off his frame perfectly. No one could mistake him for anything other than a muscled, strong, wrestling son of Iowa. He was a long way from those boring old cornfields, and very much happy of it.

The aerial ace then stood on the table. His shoes were the finest black leather he had ever laid eyes upon, and the girls around him looked at that before they looked up at him. He formed a cone around his mouth with his hands, and directed his shouting at the bar.

"Barkeep!" His voice rang out over even the bumping sound of the bass. "Give the best wrestler in Tension some goddamn beer!" He sat back down again. All the Japanese people around him glared at him. The nail that sticks up gets hammered, and James stuck out like a sore thumb, especially after a stunt like that one.

Some time passed and Ralph almost finished his beer already. There were still some of it inside the bottle, but he left it on nearby table and moved closer to the crowd. He was checking out one specific girl and moved closer to her now. She approached her from behind and start dancing with her. It looked like she didn't mind and both catched up really fast. They were dancing and grinding to eachother when suddenly Ralph heard some shouting from a distance. ...best wrestler .... Ralph didn't hear everything, but he heard enough.

"Give me few minutes so i deal with this cocky ass." Ralph said to girl and slaped her ass while walking toward table with James. James was getting a lot of attention and Ralph wasn't ok with that. Especially since he was sure that he's the better out of them. He grabbed his bear on the way there and slammed it on table once reaching it. "Hey you! Here's the beer you can have, but don't think you're the best wrestler." Ralph shouted and glared up in his eyes. Music was still blasting, but the few others already began backing away.

James cocked his head to the side. Here was this person, no, this boy, coming up to him and demanding things of him that he was not willing to give. The aerial ace did not feel as if he owed anyone in particular any explanation. But then again, he was pretty drunk, and maybe not in the best condition regardless.

"You think you're the best wrestler? And you bring other people their drinks?" He was staring into the boy before him. James was honestly not that impressed. He had never fought any men while he was here, and he liked it that way. Girls were always way more fun anyways.

"Why the hell wouldn't I think I was the best wrestler?" He probed.

James can think whatever he want about Ralph for bringing him a drink; German boy simply wanted to have something really close. Something he can grab and smash over his head. "Well, i never said i'm the best.." Ralph tried to remain humble, while at same time shutting down James. "But i'm pretty sure that i'm much better wretler than you are!"

Keep staring up in James eyes, Ralph grabed his ankles after he stoped with a banter. "Let's see how you'll deal with that!" He shouted and pull American's legs toward himself, trying to make him fall down on the table. There were few "Ahh" and "Owww" from others, but Ralph just backed away few steps and raised his arms to cover his face. "Are you brave enough to fight me?!"

James was ready. He had been in enough bars and talked shit enough times to know what was going to happen next. The person whom he had just verbally thrashed was going to accost him in some fashion. It was always the simplest thing- this time, the German boy grabbed at his ankles. This was something he was waiting for.

Hell, this was something he was somewhat looking forward to. The second the other man laid his hands on his feet, James immediately sent a kick towards him. It was a sloppy thing, borne of a handful of beers, but James was pretty sure it would find its mark nonetheless.

Ralph was bit too reckless when he charged straight for James's ankles. He should have kknow better that poking with head close to the feet is never a good idea. Lucky for him, the Aerial ace was a bit drunk already so consequences wasn't as harsh. Kick still landed right on his nose, which forced him to stumble backward a little with hand covering his face.

Once Ralph moved few steps away from the table, he checked the hand for any blood. Luckily, there wasn't any of it yet but to be fair, it wouldn't make any difference anyway. Well, he's not getting closer to table as long as James will stay on top of it. Ralph was just waiting for him to step down, where he would lunged toward him and tried spearing him through the table.

James thought that was going to be the end of it. The kick was a good one, and landed right on the boy's nose. Surely, that would be the end of it. James was a professional wrestler after all, and this punk was just a random nobody who wanted to make a name for himself. That one solid kick would knock a few people out.

So when he stepped down from the table, he didn't even pay the dude that much mind. He was fully ready to turn back to his drinks and get on with the evening. "So, why don't you just go back to your-OOF!" James was interrupted by the spear, and his body broke through the table. This wasn't a very good way to start off the evening. Not at all...

While Ralph was too reckless, James on other hand got bit too self confident. And self confidence and underestimation are often one of reasons for wrestlers losing the match. While this fight was still far from being over, it was at least good start for German boy. "You were saying?" Ralph asked provokingly while rolling off James.

After standing up, Ralph grabed half of broken table and throwed it away. He grabed the other half as well and start thinking wheter he should use it or no. At the end he decided to throw it away as well to make some space for them to fight. He felt like he had an upper hand at the moment, so there wasn't need for any additional weapons just yet. And he can always pick up something if situation got dire. Ralph just stood few feets away from Aerial ace and assumed fighting stance while waiting for his opponent to get back on his feet. Both of them got an early strike, so Ralph decided that it's time for them to start fight normaly.