Preparations (w/Special Guests)

[Amber Gianni]

I was a couple of days now since Amber had arrived in the US's capitol city. She wasn't here on an overly patriotic binge from spend as many days with soldiers from the US Army though. This was the hometown to the woman who had showed her the ropes so to speak. The legendary "Golden Goddess" herself, whom some 6 or so years ago had inspired Amber to become a part of professional wrestling through her own heart, will and determination.

And there she was, inside of Sarah Warfield's home gym. One could say Sarah Warfield's home actually was the gym. Standing 6'1" and weighing who knows how many pounds of lean muscle mass, Warfield wasn't the first "strongwoman" in the business, but she was probably a match for the most physically fit and gifted, matched only by the current XWA Diamond Champion in that regard.

Amber was dressed to sweat, in a black sports bra with her first named stitched on the right breast in pink, gym shorts to match and some training sneakers and ankle socks. Kinda of like how Kim Kardashian looks in the Sketchers Super Bowl commercial. Tasty.

Of course, it wasn't about looking sexy in skin tight training gear though-even if she naturally did. She had came her to prepare herself, believe that she wasn't as prepared as she believed she was after a lackluster effort at the Tribute show.

She was preparing, and she was sweating too. A lot. Her breathing was labored, but not heavy. Her body glistened with an ever so noticable glow of moisture, the result of a lot of aerobic work in this particular day of training. She was on a mat now, her arms stretching up over her shoulders, letting all of her muscles stretch and contract, loosening up. Her legs were already pretty "stretched" themselves, in a full split. For those who didn't know it, Amber was a pretty good ballet dancer, still practiced it, even got Jamie into it, and as result...she's very flexible.

From in the air, she lowered her arms now to rest her hands on her right leg, which was the one in front of her. She had been focusing on a lot the last few days, most notably her airport encounter with one Lilith Creighton, and most recently a response to her blog from the wickedly bizarre woman known as Hysteria.

Sarah herself had paid some attention to what she had been doing in that exhibition match, but all she had told Amber was that she was going to "assess" her soon. She had no idea what Sarah meant by that, but Amber heard some footsteps approaching her. She turns her head and smiles.

So, how am I doing?

[Sarah Warfield]

Pretty good I'd say.

Sarah smiles as she squats down ear her prized pupil. It was over a year since she last was seen in the XWA. Though she was no longer an on-screen personnel of the company, she still had a prominent roll as a talent scout. After finding such stars as Jamie Fury, Sonya Robbins and even a lot of the new signings that have come this year, it was a very fruitful and lucrative duty she had with the company.

But this was business of a different kind. Amber was like a daughter to Sarah. She literally watched her blossom into the successful superstar she had become, as savvy a competitor as she was in every other success she had going for her. Not just that though, but she had watched Amber grow into even more confident of a woman than she was even before she walked up to her those many moons ago and asked her about getting into the business. That's why it concerned her so much at how distraught Amber was when she arrived. It was not the same vibrant, energetic young woman she had grown to know and love.

This is why Sarah took her time. She trained with Amber, but she let Amber train herself more, and not so much her body, but her mind. Working with your thoughts can be a great motivator after all. She let Amber build her confidence back up, day by day, and it all led to this moment. It was the first time in as many days that Amber had smiled, and that made Sarah so happy.

I think you're ready for phase one now.

[Amber Gianni]

Phase one? You mean the last three days hasn't been phase one, two and three?

Amber looked a little puzzled by Sarah's words. She swung her left leg around and across the mat to sit up on her heels and hands, which were now leaned back behind her on the mat.

She'd been working hard these past few days. Weights. Calisthenics. Aerobics. Even some yoga, which she practiced regularly as well. She was pumped. She was motivated. Much more than when she arrived, but "phase one"? Was all that not enough, or was it just the beginning?

[Sarah Warfield]

I had to make sure you were ready for what it was that I had to show you first, Amber. I had to let you "meditate" and get your mind right. I think you've managed to do that these last three days.

Sarah rises to her feet. She herself was dressed in a white sports bra with white track pants that had gold stripes running down the sides of the legs, with white sneakers. She shrugs and shakes her shoulders out.

Now that your heads, clear...you can focus on what I'm about to say, absorb it in your brain and hopefully use it out there. Shall we head to the ring?

Now, you had to guess that Sarah had a ring in this state of the art gym set-up. Full-sized with all the trimmings. Rare was it that it used though, mainly for some mat work with a sporadically arranged sparring partner, but it was going to meet it's full potential today. The two women stepped through the ropes.

Okay. Do you want to know the reason why you were eliminated so quickly in your match, Amber? It's because you've forgotten the most important thing in this ring. How to protect yourself.

Even more important than beating an opponent is making sure that you take as little damage as possible. Doesn't matter if you're up against one person or three people, the one who is the most cautious and the most focused is the one who comes out on top.

We need to get that focus back in you. When the bell rings, you want to play to win, but you also don't want to allow yourself to be hurt too badly.

Offense might get the glory, Amber...but defense wins the game. Do you understand?

[Amber Gianni]

She did. There were words that ring out loud in Amber's mind that had been said. Caution. Protection. Focus. These were the ideals coming from a woman who had been in the business for over a decade. She traveled the world. She faced some of the greatest to ever compete, which was why she regarded as being one of the greatest to ever compete. That doesn't come without using your head a little.

Amber rewinds. She was in the ring with three women who in their own distinctive ways were dangerously aggressive, and it was caution & focus which she had lacked, for with those intact, she surely would have protected herself a lot better than she did.

She nods.

Yeah, Sarah. I understand completely. So...what're we going to do?

[Sarah Warfield]

Not what we're going to do, Amber. What you're going to do.

Sarah had reclined herself in a corner of the ring, her arms stretching across the top rope.

I'm going to come at you, and you? You're going to try to stop me. Doesn't matter how, just as long as you do it. You've got to work on improving your reflexes.

She shakes out her shoulders, making circles with her arms to warm up.

You ready?

[Amber Gianni]

Amber's eyes were bulging out of their sockets. Come at her? As in offensive "come at her"? It had been a while since she had to go through this kind of drill.

Um, I guess I have no choice, huh...

Before Amber could even finish her sentence, Sarah had already come charging in and before she could blink she was on the receiving end of a hard shoulder block that sent her crashing to the mat. She now lay in the fetal position thinking to herself...

That's it...I'm gonna die today.

She slowly got back started to get back to her feet when suddenly Sarah came from behind her and grabbed her by the arm, throwing her around towards the ropes. Amber rebounded and was now on a collision course with her, more like when a Porsche runs into Peterbilt. Another shoulder check and she's down again.

Porsche loses.

Owwies.

This time around, Sarah didn't wait for Amber to get up though. She hovered over Amber's carcass and drop down in position to grab her in a side headlock, squeezing at Amber's brain with her massive arms. Meanwhile, Amber's mind is on overdrive right now, trying to think of how to get out of this situation. She tried to push Sarah off of her, but that much weight was impossible to move while she was on her back.

Instead, she starts to work her lower body, kicking up her legs and curling herself up so that they could get up in the air and over Sarah's head. She wrapped her calves around each side and then used natural motion to straighten her body out. This in turn pulled at Sarah's head, forcing her to break her hold. As soon as she let go, Amber rolled up and back to her feet, breathing heavy and taking position in the corner of the ring, preparing for whatever else Sarah might try.

[Sarah Warfield]

Sarah stands in the center of the ring. She was quite impressed with Amber's performance there. Wiping some sweat from her brow, she nods to display her satisfaction.

Nice, Amber. Very nice. I think I see what the problem is, or was. It wasn't that your skills diminished. Just a severe case of ring rust. That's what happens when you get out of practice for a while.

Hopefully, you've learned a lesson that no matter what you've got going on for you out of the ring, good or bad, you have to spend some time and effort in the ring and the gym training if you're going to be successful. Or at the very least if you don't want to be womanhandled. You know I've been working close with the XWA in terms of the Diamonds roster. This year you're going to be dealing with serious competition, and I don't just mean Jamie.

You're going to have to be more focused than ever before.