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The Friendship Test - Chapter 18 - Full Circle

It was early Saturday evening when Richelle arrived at the Dragon's Den facility, and the sun was just beginning to set.  The dwindling light had colored the sky a burnt orange, with streaks of yellow here and there.  The building had picked up the orange hue, and the overall scene had a soft, peaceful look to it.  Richelle's concerns about the upcoming meeting seemed to fade into the background, allowing her to be a little more rational.  In truth, there was nothing to worry about.  There was no reason her offer would not be accepted.

And really... how bad could Dragon be? she thought as she levered herself out of the car.

They'd met on occasion at different UMMA events and functions, but they'd never said more than a few words to each other in passing.  Truth is, Richelle got the impression the Den owner might have been in a little over his head.  He'd assembled quite a talented roster, though.  He'd also chosen a stable leader with the right balance of intelligence and humility to guide them forward.

Clearly, there had to be more to him than it appeared.

As the main entrance door slid aside, she was immediately struck by the size and opulence of the facility's lobby.  She glanced left, then right, unsure of how to reach Dragon's office.

On second thought, maybe Dragon just threw money around, and hoped things worked out for the best.

Richelle's train of thought was interrupted as she noticed Dragon appear, as if summoned, at the top of the stairs that flowed into the center of the lobby. His solid 6'4" frame and stubbled jaw may have made for an imposing figure save for the polite smile he wore along with casual jeans and shirt, a far more relaxed form of attire than most would expect from a UMMA stable owner.

"Richelle," he announced spiritedly in greeting as he descended the steps. "Thanks for making the trip."

"My pleasure," Richelle said, opting for the polite approach.

She had come directly from RSI, so she was still wearing her faded blue jeans and sneakers... her auburn tresses set off by a pale blue sweater.  The sweater was not all that much to look at, but it had a loose fit to it that she found soft and comfortable.

She was glad to see Dragon's attire was similarly casual.

Dragon hopped off the stairs in jovial fashion and motioned to the second floor of the building.  "If you're looking for my office, it's upstairs. Care to follow me up?"

"After you," Richelle said with a smile.  "I appreciate you seeing me on such short notice.  And, on the weekend, no less."

Dragon's Australian drawl and general appearance of a poor-man's Matthew McConaughey was a surprisingly calming influence and Richelle seemed to relax into letting him lead the way. As he took to the stairs again, Dragon turned to casually chat with the RSI stable owner as if their impromptu meeting wasn't even slightly out of the norm.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, but I must admit I'm very intrigued as to what I owe the occasion of your visit," he said with a mixed look of thoughtfulness and philosophical wonder. "But, we'll get to that. How has the UMMA been treating you? Well, I hope." He seemed sincere and relaxed, almost oddly calm. Of course, he didn't yet have the information Richelle held, and she couldn't help but wonder if he would be able to maintain his air of whimsy once she got talking about their current situation.

"Things have been going quite well for us," Richelle said.  "It was hard in the beginning, but we seem to be having some success, recently."

They made their way into the Den owner's spacious office, with Richelle taking one of the guest chairs as Dragon made his way around behind the large mahogany desk. Dragon smiled widely at Richelle's response and nodded. "I think 'some success' may be a modest understatement," Dragon suggested. "I do pay some attention to the goings-on in the organisation, and I must say your stable has always impressed me," he admitted.

Richelle nodded.  "I appreciate that," she said.  "I can't take much credit for most of what we've accomplished.  It's the women in the cage who do the hard part.  But, I think I made some good decisions in the leadership choices I've made."

She thought a moment about what was clearly her best decision to date.  She also thought about how close she'd come to throwing that away.

"And you?" Richelle asked.  "I trust things are starting to come together for your crew.  You certainly seem to have the facilities you need for success.  This is quite the place you have here."

Dragon eased into his chair opposite Richelle, laying back lazily in it as he made himself comfortable. As he found the right words to respond with, he almost looked serious. "Well," Dragon sighed, "honestly, the teething difficulties have lasted longer than I'd hoped, but it's all a process."

He then switched positions, leaning forward over the desk as his optimistic nature seemed to push through, yet he remained candid as he explained a little further. "I can't say I wasn't prepared for a challenge, though. I was under no illusions starting this place. I am aware my in-cage knowledge is limited, so I had to find another way to attract the team I wanted."

He leaned back again, both hands in the air as if trying to display the entire building.

"That's kind of where this fancy facility came from. They say if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh*t. So, voila, this place was born. I'd hoped if the right team had the right facilities to work with, we'd figure it all out."

He dropped his arms and smiled coyly. "Probably fair to say we're still doing the figuring out thing."

Richelle smiled.  "Trust me," she said knowingly, "I think your team is figuring things out just fine."

Dragon cleared his throat as he realised he'd been rambling. "Sorry, I'm sure you didn't come here for a modern history lesson on this place," he laughed softly, somewhat self-consciously.

"So," he said, clapping his hands together enthusiastically. "What brings you over here?"

"Well, as I said earlier, I think I made some good decisions, as far as the women that run RSI," Richelle said.  "It turns out you made a pretty good decision, yourself."

Dragon frowned.  "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm not sure I follow."

Richelle sat forward on the chair and rested her elbows on her knees.  She steepled her fingers in front of her mouth as she tried to decide where to begin.

"I'm not sure if you're aware," she said, "but our stable leaders have a history together."

Dragon was trying not to appear confused in front of the other stable owner, but he was decidedly failing. "Sophia and Danneel? Sure, they worked together for four or so years on One Tree Hill."

He gave a thoughtful look, studying Danni for any sign of clues. "I still don't know what you're getting at, but as far as I knew they got along pretty well. Please don't tell me there's been a serious feud that we have to throw monstrous amounts of damage control at."

Dragon's assumption made Richelle wince inwardly, as she realized the only possible feud would be between she and Sophia.  A feud that she, herself, had started.

"No," she said as she shook off the thought.  "Quite the contrary.  It would seem that they've been getting along a little too well."

Dragon spread his hands in front of him.

"You said your stable is still doing the figuring out thing," Richelle continued.  "It seems Sophia is feeling the same way.  So, she turned to Danni for help."

"Help?" Dragon asked.  "What kind of help?"

"They've been training together."

Dragon's brow furrowed. "Training, like, for a charity marathon?"

Richelle shook her head slowly in the negative.

After a long exhale of breath, Dragon attempted to face what Richelle was telling him. "So, what you're saying is, the heads of our stables, whose responsibility it is to promote their brand, were off galavanting together, because... because, why?"

Richelle shrugged.  "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted.

But, as soon as he asked the question, Dragon realised he knew half the answer for himself. Where could Sophia possibly get the best advice on being an effective stable leader, if not from an established leader at one of the most successful stables in the UMMA? A leader who was also a divisional champion, no less, and knew what it took to get not just herself, but a whole team of other fighters, to win.

"Bloody hell," Dragon cursed, suddenly realising an epic failure of his in recent times. "Just how desperate was Sophs feeling?"

The question was posed mostly as open thought, and he quickly tried to move on as to avoid further opening up that can of embarrassing worms.

"How much do you know?" he asked Richelle curiously. "And how long has this been going on?"

"For months," Richelle said as ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

Part of her had wondered just how much Dragon knew about what Danni and Sophia had been up to.  If she discovered he was somehow in on it, there was no doubt she was going to give him hell for it.  However, it was becoming clear that Dragon was just as in the dark as she had been.  The realization left her a little disappointed.  She really needed to let her emotions go and have a good, rage-induced fit.

But now, she had no one left to yell at.

"Apparently, it started after the Lingerie tournament," she said.

Strangely, she didn't give a second thought to saying the word 'lingerie' in front of this relative stranger.

Only in the UMMA.

"I don't know nearly as much as I wish I did," she continued.  "I only just found out what's been going on today."

She thought for a moment, then added, "Unfortunately, Danneel has not been all that forthcoming."

Dragon was clearly stunned.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"Danni was injured," she said. "I visited her in the ER earlier today."

Dragon's eyes went wide.  He started to speak, but Richelle held her hand up.

"She's fine," she said.  "It's just a sprained ankle.  She won't even miss an event."

Dragon rubbed at his face.  Disaster averted, but only by sheer luck.

"The real question is," Richelle said, "what do we do, now?"

Dragon was surprised at being asked that question by Richelle, and he was almost feeling too guilty to answer it. It was becoming clear to him that at least part of this situation had been caused by Sophia not getting what she needed from the Den. And providing her with that, was just about his most important job.

Dragon's hand paused on his chin, clearly thinking. "First things first, we shut down that training regime of theirs and let you have Danneel back to train your own fighters." He lowered his hand and sighed. "I'll have to have a chat with Sophia before I decide what to do with her. I'm interested to know what the hell she was thinking."

"Unfortunately," he continued, "I don't think sole blame is hers. If she was as desperate as she must have been, I suppose I'll have to work out some serious changes around this place."

The look on Dragon's face came as something of a revelation to Richelle.  Here was a man who'd surrounded himself with beautiful women... women who's beauty actually seemed to intimidate him a little.  She'd seen the roundtable-style press releases from the Den.  They consisted mostly of Sophia and the others running the show, while Dragon stumbled and bumbled his way through, just trying to avoid being cornered by the women.

That left Richelle thinking being around these women was the end-all, be-all of his plan.  But, to see him now... it was obvious the difficulties at the Den were weighing on him.  On top of that, he seemed genuinely concerned about Sophia.

Surprise, surprise.

"Also," Dragon added, "I honestly haven't had to reprimand a fighter quite like this before. Can I ask what you plan on doing with Danneel?"

Richelle gave a quick laugh.

"My immediate response didn't require a lot of planning," she said.

Dragon looked puzzled.

Richelle sighed.  "My reaction to the situation was somewhat... emotional," she admitted.  "'Reprimand' does not begin to cover it."

Dragon's expression turned serious as he realized what Richelle was alluding to.

"You didn't..." he began.

"I overreacted," Richelle said with a nod.  "I would caution you against doing the same."

"I think I can handle the situation appropriately," Dragon said, a little defensively.

"I don't doubt it," Richelle answered.  "I'm certain the women knew they were doing the wrong thing.  They were certainly clandestine about their activities.  But, they thought they were doing it for the right reasons.  That's especially true for Sophia.  She had to swallow a lot of pride to be willing to turn to Danni the way she did."

Dragon nodded thoughtfully, taking in what Richelle had to say. "I imagine you're right. It's not an easy thing to admit you're in over your head. No doubt our struggling form as a stable has weighed on her heavily. It's the kind of thing that can drive people from the job."

Of course, anyone would be forgiven for mistaking Dragon as talking about himself, and he was quickly becoming aware of the similarities between Sophia's position and his own.

"You know, Sophia's more than just an asset to this stable," Dragon explained. "She may be a good fighter and a great leader, but she's an even better person."

Richelle nodded steadily.  Her opinion of Sophia had come a long way in the past hour or so.  Even if the Den leader didn't realize it, she definitely had what it took to succeed.  In fact, if things didn't work out for Sophia at the Den, Richelle would give serious consideration to bringing her on board at RSI.  She and Danni together would be something to watch.

That was quite a turn-around, considering Richelle had been cursing Sophia's name only a short time ago.

"If her options were Danni or bust," Dragon said, "I'm glad she went with Danni."

Dragon's compliment of RSI's stable leader made Richelle squirm a little.  It would have been nice if she'd approached the situation with Danni as logically as Dragon seemed to be doing with Sophia.

"Honestly," he continued, smiling sheepishly, "I'm feeling grateful that Danni was willing to help. She really stuck her neck out for Sophs, and for that I can't thank her enough. Obviously she was there when no-one from here could help. That's a pretty big thing. I'd say you're right in assuming that both women had only the purest of intentions. It definitely sounds like Danni did. And it's hard to mark against that, even if logic dictates we should."

Yeah, Richelle thought to herself, Danni stuck her neck out, and I cut her head off for her.

Not only that, she had blasted Sophia.  Basically, for being desperate.

It really had been a banner day.

She still had a chance to fix it, though.

"Actually," she began, "I'm wondering what you think of the idea of letting them finish what they've started."

Dragon's eyes went wide. "Um... what?"

He was lost for words. Nor could he make head or tail of why Richelle thought that was a good idea. She had a stable to run, as did he. Why on earth either of them would want their leaders of all people to be away from the center of their own stable, was a difficult concept to grasp.

The shocked look on Dragon's face caused Richelle to laugh slightly.

"You're suggesting we have Sophia and Danneel train together?" He looked genuinely puzzled. "I must admit, that isn't a position I expected you to take."

"That's certainly understandable," Richelle responded, "considering that it's not a position I'd expected myself to take, either."

That didn't do much for the Den owner's questioning look, and she felt she needed to explain herself further.  Too bad she didn't fully understand why she was doing what she was doing in the first place.

She sighed and did the best she could.

"I've come to trust Danni completely," she said.  "I rely on her for just about everything.  So, while I admit that I don't really know what she's thinking in this, I want to let her see it through."

Dragon thought hard about the idea of the two stable leaders meeting together. Maybe it was more than just fight training. Maybe it would strengthen the leadership of both. After all, experience is vital to leadership, and this would be a completely different experience again. If the opportunity was there for each to learn a few things, then, was it really a bad idea?

Also, Dragon decided that Richelle must have known what she was doing, even if the idea seemed an odd one at first. Really, if either of them knew what was good for a stable, it was her. She was the one in the room with success at all levels and a sleuth of champions. Dragon had little to no success, really. Just frustration, average at best fight records and an estranged stable leader. He was in no position to think he knew better.

"Well, okay," he agreed thoughtfully. "I'm open to it."

Richelle nodded.

"I'm thinking of allowing Danni to come here and work with Sophia a couple of days per week," she said.  "Early in the week, if possible.  I'd prefer she be back at RSI as we close things out each weekend."

"That's fine," Dragon said agreeably.

"Good," Richelle said.  Then, she thought for a moment and added, "I do have one other request."

"Oh?"

"I'd prefer Danni not come alone."