(Not) The Warmest Of Welcomes (for Teenwrestler)

...and finally we have arrived at the men's locker room! You probably know what to do in there. So, I'll save you the explanation.

A nameless female assistant said to Dirk as he was being directed to the men's locker room door. After her hand dropped to her side, Dirk turned to the woman and bowed his upper body and head as far as he could and stay standing. Trying his best to not seem like a total dumb foreigner that knows nothing of the traditions of the land that he is standing on.

Th-thank you very much for showing me around. I d-definitely needed it. I can't lie. I feel a little out of my element here.
He managed to stutter out as he stood back up straight and began scratching the back of his head with his right hand.
The woman chuckled a bit before speaking again.
Oh, think nothing of it! And, don't be nervous. I think you'll fit right in just fine! When the time comes, just get out there and show them what you can do! The rest will follow.
She said, placing her hands on her hips and looking at Dirk with a calm smile. Dirk nervously nodded his head, taking in the woman's words. I promise that I'll do my best out there.
That's all we ask. Now, if that's it, I must be getting back to my office. But, please feel free to come meet me if you have any more questions, ok? Good luck! Were the last words the woman spoke before walking away. Her heeled shoes clacking against the floor with each step she took down the hallway. Yes, ma'am. Thank you again. Once she was gone, Derek raised his head and turned to face the door that read "MEN'S LOCKER" in black letters over a small white rectangle with a picture of a male sticker figure underneath it.

Beforehand, Derek was given a tour of the Tension building in Kyoto, Japan. Derek couldn't help but marvel in awe at all the things he learned were available to him as the newest member of the AFW family. Private gyms, low-cost rent housing, catering and many more! Possibilities were truly endless for the rookie. But, he still couldn't shake off that feeling of being a fish out of water. Like, he truly didn't know what kind of world he just entered. To go from the American independents for about a year, to all of a sudden, being pulled in the direction of AFW was truly something he never thought would happen to him. Derek looked at his right hand, remembering all the hard battles he went through to get this point. With friends he met along the way, the enemies, the rivalries. And even, those lonely nights struggling to keep himself on this path when he could easily say "I quit" to all of this and go back home to the warmth, safety and care of his loving family. But, he won't quit. Not yet anyway. Not until he was satisfied and done everything he wanted to do in this career path. That's what he promised his mother, his father and his biggest supporter, his dearly departed grandfather who couldn't make it to his debut due to natural causes.

Watch over me, Opa(grandpa in german). Derek quietly said to himself as he clenched his right fist. After inhaling and exhaling to calm his nerves, he slowly raised that same right hand and reached it toward the metal rectangle to assist in opening the door. He placed his hand on the rectangle and pushed lightly...

Things were not quite as they used to be in AFW, this place was once filled with wrestling legends, many rivalries going on for years, title matches for the ages, the crowd buzzing for each episode and personal relationships getting in the way with professional ones. Despite things not being as they were back in the day, there were still those who stayed despite the flaws of the promotion. Every work place was toxic and had flaws but sometimes you just have to stay through the hard times to get to the good ones.

Ami 'the supermodel' Takeuchi was surprise when she head that some fresh meat was on his way to join the ranks of AFW. She certainly was no gate-keeper but she found it interested that a American male wrestler found his way to a Japanese wrestling promotion. As soon as Dirk was about to open the door, another hand came across and smacked the middle of the door to make sure he would get startled before opening the door.

"Konichiwa, Amerika no shinsen'na niku ga ochita mitaidesu ne?"[Well hello, looks like they dropped off some fresh American meat eh?" Ami spoke in Japanese, hoping the foreigner would not understand what she said with a devilish grin on her face. "My my, what's an American stud doing at a place like this? You lost your way out Mr. Red-White and Blue?" she mocked.

Spoiler:

Sweet infinite-!! yelled the rookie who was immediately knocked out of his daze when he heard the sound of slap on the door in front of him. He practically jumped out of his shoes! He noticed the source of the noise was the hand of a woman. He followed the hand and noticed the beautiful woman with long blue hair was standing near him. Perhaps she wanted to greet him with a light joke before welcoming him to Tension!

The woman spoke in her native tongue to him. Being completely transparent, Dirk didn't understand what she said. But, he believed he heard America somewhere in there.
Wanting to show respect and not wanting to seem like he was total tourist, Dirk took a step back, gathered his wits about him and immediately bowed, trying to respect the culture.

Y-yes! K-konichiwa! Hello! I'm Dirk Lewser. Nice to meet you!

After Dirk finished his greeting, he stood back up and the woman spoke again, this time in english! This caught Dirk a little off guard. But, he was happy to have met someone else that spoke english. Well, besides that nice office worker who gave him the tour not too long ago.
Wait... what was she saying? Did she just call him a stud? To Dirk, that didn't feel like the most genuine compliment, but he decided it would be for the best to shrug it off and keep the tone light. He already had his issues with that fiasco of a dark match the other day. He shyly scratched the back of his head and responded.

Oh, thank you... Heh-heh. Ahem! N-no. I'm actually a- a new wrestler here. And you are..?

This was going better than expected, not only was he new to AFW, he was extremely nervous about being here as well. Ami would slowly bring her arm down from the door towards her side as she placed one hand on her hip and leaned over towards him while rubbing her chin. He seemed to be in good shape- which was pretty obvious given he was here to be one of the newest competitors. However, having a good muscular frame was not the only thing needed to be a good wrestler, especially here in AFW.

His response did irk her a bit, she would raise her eyebrow while her left eye twitched while she faked a smile and attempted to suppress her anger just for now. Ami took a deep breath and did a small curtsey while brushing her long hair backwards a bit to get them away from her face.

"Ami Takeuchi, former world champion, I'm sure the pleasure is all yours Mr. Lewser" she said before taking a second to place her finger on her chin and tapping it. "Huh, that's funny. Lewser? So do you like spell your name "L-O-O-S-E-R?" she said giggling a bit.

Dirk watched as Ami did her curtsy and brushed her hair out of the way of her face. She was pretty, Dirk couldn't lie to himself in that regard. In fact, he wondered if he had seen a picture of her in a store or on a poster on the way up here. Then, she joked about his name.

Ah yes. The classic making fun of his name joke. It appears that even in the land of the rising sun, jerks still walk the hallways of places of employment. How woefully wonderful. Dirk chuckled a little with some minor irritation in his tone. Clever. Really clever.

Dirk looked down and raised his right hand up to his prescription glasses and pulled them off.
He lightly breathed on the front & back of both lenses, fogging them up. Then, he grabbed a part of his shirt and began cleaning. While doing this and not facing Ami, Dirk spoke calmly almost shredding his nervousness away completely.
 
Heh-heh. Well, not to sound trite. But, it's actually spelled "L-E-W-S-E-R" because, it references my last name, Lewison. But, you know what? I believe that marks the 7th time in my career that I've heard that joke about my ring name. It is quite funny, I will admit it. But, you know what's even funnier? When said joke maker receives a loss on their win-loss record courtesy of said "loser". Preferably by a submission or a knockout blow. To which, I have delivered both before. Several times. And will plan on doing the same here in this company. Whether they share the same gender as me or not.

Dirk tried his best to sound cool here. But deep down, he hoped that he would have to deal with as little women as possible in the ring. He feared his niceness and naviety would make him an easy target for the female members of the roster.

Dirk raised his glasses and looked them over one last time, still not looking at Ami.

So, from a future world champion to a FORMER world champion...
He said, emphasizing the word former and referencing what Ami said about herself earlier. Then, he placed his glasses back over his face and finally looked at Ami with his nervous smile having been replaced with a condescending one.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome and I'm looking forward to working with you. He said as he raised his hand in her direction citing for a handshake.

Dirk may be the nervous rookie wrestler or "new guy". But, this same rookie kid scratched and clawed his way to get here and he has no plans of becoming a physical or verbal punching bag for a woman again. He already went down that path once a long time ago...

One of the things that the supermodel was notorious for was messing with people. Her, along with her brother, had formed a unique partnership to help each other out in times of needs. Most of her wins were questionable but you don't become the world champion of Tension without being able to hold your own at some level. Many thought that a famous model would never make it into the world of pro-wrestling but the slender Ami proved everyone wrong. She had made an effort to do core strength training and cardio but she still cared about her good looks more than anything.

It seemed this was not the first time someone had made a joke about that, which meant he was obviously ready for anyone here who wanted to bully him about it. The guy seemed prepared, more prepared than Ami was giving him credit for. Some guys would get aggressive, others would get bullied but he seemed to maintain his cool. He got his glasses off and started to clean him- Ami thought of him imitating Clark Kent or something.

Then he said something interesting, one which made Ami grin and then burst out laughing. She would bend over and place her hand on her belly as she laughed hysterically, wiping out a tear from her eye as she would straighten up. "Hahaha that was quite the speech there. You should have been a comedian not a wrestler." she added.

"Trust me, the last thing you want to do....is get in the ring with me" she said, stepping up towards him, face to face, with her hands on her hips.

Again, with the underestimation. Guess it just came with the territory. Dirk let his hand drop to his side as the supermodel laughed in his face. Obviously, the feeling still wasn't mutual. This only served to annoy the rookie. And he didn't even respond to her "comedian" comment.
He just decided to let her have that one.

However, things began to heat up when she got up in his face. Dirk stood there and stared her in the eyes, refusing to back down. And spoke with some determination in his voice.

Well, I guess it must be my last day on earth then. Because, I would love nothing more than to get in that ring and show you and everyone else in this company what got me here in the first place.

There was no way she was going to let this damn new guy get away with trying to look tough. The AFW locker room was always riddled with politics and gatekeepers trying to prevent newer wrestlers from working their way up to the top. When Ami came here, it was the same for her and now it was time for Dirk to pay his dues before he could even think about going for the top spot. He didn't respond to her taunting comments but he was certainly unhappy about them.

Ami stepped up to his face and he would stand his ground, staring right back into her beautiful eyes. "Hehehe be careful what you wish for...boyo" leaning in even closer to get her lips dangerously close to his while she whispered those words. "Especially when you don't have anyone to watch your back" she would say before suddenly taking a step to the side.

That was the signal, for the wrestling prince to blindside Dirk from behind with a brutal chair shot to his exposed back. "ARGHHH!" he grunted in effort while striking the male wrestler down. Meanwhile, Ami would bend over to reach down and grab Dirk's hair, pulling his face up to force him to look at her.

"I accept your challenge. I'll see you in the ring....bitch" she hissed before the two siblings would begin stomping down on his body. All that commotion caused security and staff to rush to the scene, looking to break the fight up.

Dirk's been in this situation before. Standing his ground against some bully. What he was not expecting was this bully to lean in so close to his face! He had the perfect view of her beautiful well maintained lips and face. Was she about to kiss him? N-no! That's stupid. It was all a trick to get him to lower his guard. He told himself that he would never fall for a woman's charms ever again! It only and inevitably brought him nothing but pain. And he had yet to meet a woman that didn't want to hurt him. But, it appeared his words didn't work and he blushed a small bit.

He didn't expect what was next either. She spoke about him watching his back and she quickly stepped aside! Dirk was confused by this. What was she doing? What was she talking about? Before he could say anything, Dirk was immediately struck in his back by a chair!

DAAAWWGH!! Agauh! He groaned as he fell to his knees and dropped onto stomach on the cold floor below. He placed his left hand on his back in an effort to try and nurse this new pain.

Eh-leh..! Dirk groaned as he was yanked up by his head and forced to look up at Ami and this new man who held the smoking chair in his hands. In his pain, Dirk managed to finally put two and two together and realized this was all a set up. Dirk only had time to grit his teeth in anger before his head was thrown harshly back down into the floor and the two began stomping down viciously on his body!

Dirk endured the assault with his arms and knees trying to block the shots! He grunted and groaned from all the pain! Suddenly, some members of AFW staff would come in and separate the siblings and Dirk. Hey-hey! Break it up! Stop it, you two!

After successfully pulling them apart, staff helped Dirk sit up against the wall. Dirk laid there, breathing harshly, eyes closed and with teeth gritted. There was only one thing on his mind and it was revenge! And by hell or highwater, he was going to get it against those cocky siblings!