Stand Our Ground

Partner

*Third Person POV*

It was Saturday evening just two hours before the Smackdown superstars had a house show. Imigie, one of the Smackdown superstars, was backstage, sitting in between two soundboards, writing a story with a pen a notebook.

It was just her up in her own imagination while writing down the words that came into her head. She always did this during her alone times but she didn't care. She was used to it. It had gotten to the point that calling her a social butterfly would only ever be appropriate when anyone wanted to really get to know her. She knew she had done this for a long time, even before she came up to NXT.

After a few minutes, she paused with her mind shifting to the mixed match challenge that was going to be happening soon.

Several thoughts ran through her head. Who would her partner be? When would she start? Would she hurt herself by trying to push herself too hard? How would she manage?

The young Smackdown draftee just shook her head, deciding that it wasn't time to try to find an answer to these questions. Stressing herself out like this would be the last thing that she wanted to do.

She turned back to her notebook then continued to write down her imaginations. It was her favorite preparation for her matches, washing away her mind of any troubles that occurred in front of her.

She was suddenly interrupted by something... or someone knocking on a soundboard. She looked up to see Douglas again. She smiled at him then he smiled back at her in return.

"Writing stories again, aren't you?" he asked.

"You're damn right," she replied.

He looked at her notebook, pondering for moment. His intentions were running high but he refused to let anything slip just yet. Instead, he had an idea.

"Mind if I can have a sheet?" he asked.

She nodded, tearing off a blank sheet from her notebook then handed it to him.

"You need a pen?" she asked.

"Would be much appreciated," he replied.

She gave him the pen then he wrote something down on the paper. She didn't dare peek at what he was writing so she remained patient until he was done.

After about a minute Douglas handed the pen back to his friend, who happily took it. He then gave her the sheet that he had written on.

The young raven-haired superstar looked down at the sheet then read it out loud.

Imigie, a fighter willing to fight through pain
That is something I most admire about you
A woman shouldn't shield or block her pain
Instead, she should use it to help her
I know where you're standing
You want to fight to win
So will I
But, neither of us should do it alone
Instead, we do it together
We will pave our way through the challenges that's thrown in our path
You and I won't give in
We will fight together against many others trying to stand against us and stealing our fight
Now I want to make something clear
What does this mean, you ask?
It is true
I want a partner for the Mixed Match Challenge
And that person is...
You, Imigie

The female Texan superstar's eyes widened with surprise. She looked up at her friend with a big smile on her face, noticing the big smile on his face. Did she just see this correctly?

"Wait, you're my partner for the Mixed Match Challenge?" she asked.

"Yes!" he smiled.

The young Smackdown draftee quickly stood up then threw her arms around Douglas, beaming with excitement. After swimming in her own doubts, she heard that she would be in the challenge. Not just that, but she would partner with her best friend.

Douglas hugged her back, also beaming with excitement. He knew this meant that he and Imigie would teach each other different things during their journey in the challenge.

They quickly let each other go before giving each other simple smiles. They were now excited for the upcoming Mixed Match Challenge.

"I wonder when the challenge will start and when we would first compete," said Imigie.

"I was actually thinking the same thing myself," chuckled Douglas as he took his friend's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

She just gave a quiet giggle when she heard him say this.

"We'll just have to wait and see," she said as she got up to her feet. "Are you ready for the challenge?"

Douglas smiled.

"Yes I am," he replied.

The two newly partnered tag team members turned to head to their respective locker rooms to break the news to their friends. They also wondered who they would compete against but they didn't say anything about that. They were waiting for the day that they would first compete in the challenge.