So for those of you that have been keeping score at home… its Ember and Ashes zero and the rest of the rest of the SCW tag team division three. You can slice it anyway that you want to, but it doesn’t change the fact that the newest tag team in the SCW has lost every single one of their matches. Even explain away as the first lost was, because it was their first time teaming together. The Second time, because they were against a Hall of Fame tier team in the Hollows. Or finally, because Ryan Watson and Autumn Valentine got involved in their second match against The Red Empire. Even though each one is a valid reason for why they lost each match, they are also just excuses as to why they didn’t win. Ashe Harte, is a rookie to the business in terms of many things, but as a fan, a student of the game, and over all quick learner you would think that she would be able to see the wolves like Watson and Valentine coming. However, if not her than surely, Patience Young would be able to see them coming? She’s a veteran of the business has experienced that sort of stuff before, but more than that she’s a second generation superstar who grew up watching her father wrestle from the front row for many years.

If anyone should have had the foresight to see it coming it should have been her. Though, with that said when the announcement was made that Ember and Ashes were going to be a part of the tournament to determine who was going to take on The Jack Ass and Big Ass connection on the Rise to Greatness pre-show there was many people left scratching their heads. Ember and Ashes weren’t going to complain about it, because it was an opportunity for them to make a name for themselves in the division. However, one has to wonder why a team that has yet to find their footing in the division was getting a chance like this. Were they being set up to fail again? It was a possibly. The Red Empire are on a role, No Fucks to give could be the team that they are looking at for the next contenders, but then there was the Truelove twins. The team that has already failed in several bids at the tag team titles… this could just be another way to get them another shot.

Anything was possible at this point.

The truth of the matter though was that Ember and Ashes had a chance to walk out of Rise to Greatness as the SCW Tag team champions. They would just have to wrestle three times to make that dream a reality, but first they would have to do something that they have yet to do… win their first match. Ryan Watson and Autumn Valentine are formable foes they will have to take in the first match. The second match was a complete unknown to them, because was it going to be the team that has their shots and then some in the Truelove Twins or would it be the team that seems to already have their number in The Red Empire.

Only time will tell what is going to happen at the biggest show of the SCW’s year, but one thing is for certain the SCW tag team division is on fire.

Shopping for their new ring gear wasn’t going as they would have hoped, but then again with it nearly one in the afternoon now and both Samantha and Minka still haven’t arrived does take some fun out of things. Patience was a little more peeved at her friend and cousin than Ash was, but then again she was the first to show up and early, because she had other things she had to do today as well. Like helping her husband and Jimmy load up their stuff for their move. However, at this rate she is going to have to leave it all up to the guys to not mess anything up. Ashlynn, on the other hand was trying to find the bright spot in all of the mess that it gives them more time to bond as a team with it just being the two of them. Plus she as still holding out hope that Minka at least would make it.

For the most part the girls were just looking through racks and racks of different outfits trying to find something that struck their fancy without saying a word to one another. It’s not that they didn’t have anything to talk about, because in Ashlynn’s case she had a major conversation that they could have, but she just doesn’t think right now is the right time to bring it up. The silence is finally broken when Ash’s phone starts to buzz with a new notification of a text message. She takes a look at her phone and her happy front of a demeanor drops a little bit as it was Minka telling her that she wasn’t going to make it.

“Minka is out.” Ashlynn put her phone back away as Patience looked over at her.

“What do you mean she is out?” Patience angrily returned a shirt back to the rack she had just taken it from.

“Apparently her jeep broke down on the way here.” Ashlynn sighed, because she didn’t know if she really believed that or if Minka just forgot about today and was busy with her tenant. “She said no need to worry about her, she has Luke coming to pick her up.”

“Who the hell is Luke?” It’s been a while since the last time that Minka and Patience really chatted about anything that is going on in their lives. In fact, the last time that they really talked about anything that wasn’t wrestling related was the night of her wedding to Woody.

“He rents the loft above her barn, but I think there is more going on there than she wants to let on.” Ashlynn’s tone was that kind of conveyed a matter of fact opinion behind it. Patience just stood there for a moment a little bit in shocked, because she would have sworn that Minka would have talked to her about any new relationships she was in, but then again… after what happened with Blake maybe not so much.

“Well at least there is still hope that Sam shows up.” At least that was what Patience was telling herself, but who really knows how long her romantic morning with her husband was going to last.

“Have you heard anything from her yet?” Ashlynn picked up what at best could be described as a baseball hat that was bedazzled to death. To Patience it looked gaudy, but at the same time it seemed right up Ash’s alley for something for her to wear to the ring. So Patience was a little more than surprised when she put it back down.

“Not since last night when she confirmed the time.” Patience looked over at Ash who was rifling through a couple different stacks of pants towards the entrance of the shop. It was that moment that silence fell over the both of them again as they just continued to search fruitlessly for something that would work not only for both of them, but as ring gear as well. Which, Patience knew that she could’ve easily ended the search right now… her family has been in the business long enough to know enough seamstresses that could make and customize just about anything for the both of them. She didn’t want to call upon any of those old friends, because she really didn’t know how long she was going to be wrestling for.

“Maybe it would help, if we had a theme or a background that’s going on to tie everything together.” Ashlynn mused, as she picked up a pair of leather pants that looked like that they would be a perfect fit for Patience, but the moment that Patience saw them she didn’t want anything to do with them. As sexy as she would look in the pants she knew that they would be too uncomfortable to wrestle in.

“I thought we did… with the whole play on fire.” Patience was confused at what Ashlynn was getting at, because like she said. She thought that they had one and that’s how they came up with their team name of being Ember and Ashes, because it was a play on fire.

“That’s basic as hell, plus over done like playing of rain. Don’t tell Samantha I said that though.” Patience had to concede in the fact that it was pretty simply, because it took them less than five minutes to come up with it. “I mean look at you and Minka, Bad Behavior, and the play off one of you being an officer and the other an inmate.”

“Yeah, but we were playing homage to her dad and my uncle with that.” Which was true… Minka Pressler and Patience Young, weren’t the first team to wrestle under the name of Bad Behavior. Yet, at the same time they were one that made the team a legitimate threat in the tag team division winning tag team championships whereas the original Bad Behavior never accomplished anything. “We definitely can’t use that… Minka would have a cow.”

“Not saying we should… we could um dress like genies like fire and desire.” Ash was really excited by her idea, because she even found matching outfits to go along with it that look like something that a genie would wear.

“You say fire is outdated, but you use it and add in desire… I think Katie Steward would sue you for copyright infringement.” Patience burst Ash’s little bubble of excitement. However, as little as she knows about the SCW locker room she knows that some of them can be very protective of their stick. It’s in that moment that Patience catches a glimpse of Ash’s side profile in a mirror and realizes that she has a very similar facial structure to her own. “We could do a sister act, I mean we look like we can be sisters. May as well run with that. We could say we were separated at birth.”

“What? No… just no…” Ash quickly ducks down to look at some shoes to get out of Patience’s line of vision. So that she doesn’t see that she’s white as a ghost in the moment. Ash’s heart rate was nearly double what it should be at the moment as she had to consider if Patience was starting to realize what she had just found out or if she knew all along. There was also the fact that she had to look at it as it was just pure coincidental that she said that. “That won’t work. Plus, Truelove, The Jones, etc… too many other sister acts to follow.”

“I didn’t think of that… good looking out, Ash.” Patience sighed, because they were back at square one. The pair were striking out in the gear search, but also coming up with an identity for their tag team past their name. However, things were going to quickly turn around for the both of them in that regard. As a pair visitors to the mall, just outside of the shop, catch Patience’s attention. They seem to be wrestling fans, but too shy to actually approach the both of them. Deciding on just taking a picture from a distance instead before running off. “Hey Ash, I just had an idea.”

“What’s that?” Ash stood back up after inspecting the shoes longer than she should have to make sure all the color returned to her face.

“SCW is full of models, goddesses, and I think even some actors…” Patience’s idea was fully developed in her head, but for Ash she was having more than a little trouble following where she was going at the moment. With all the things that she mentioned they are all over played in the SCW and they would hardly do it justice given the likes of Sienna Swan and Peyton Rice on the roster. “However, there is something missing.”

“I give up, what’s missing?” Ash had a feeling that when Patience revealed to her what she was thinking about she was going to be kicking herself over it. However, in the moment she couldn’t fathom a guess at what it was. Patience without saying another word pulled her phone out and took a picture of Ash making she the flash went off for it. “What the hell! You trying to blind me?”

“Sorry, that was unintended, but my point is there is no paparazzi.” The moment that Patience finished, the light bulb went off in Ashlynn’s head, because she realized that Patience was right. For all the glamourous lifestyles on display in the SCW there isn’t anyone hounding them for photographs. Well… SCW camera teams and fans aside there is no ebb to their flow in the grand scheme of the show.

“That is brilliant!” Ashlynn was on the verge of shouting at how happy she was over the idea to where the shops staff and costumers were all staring at the pair in the moment. With the idea in mind and the fact that they have looked over the store several different times now decide that it is time to move on the next. If only to get away from all the eyes that were now on them. As they were walking to the between the shops looking for the next one that might have a decent selections of things that would work inside of the wrestling ring Ashlynn came up with an idea of her own to add on: “I know we are Ember and Ashes, but what do say about a sight name change?”

“I say no, because our name is fine the way it is.” Ashlynn nodded, because for the most part she agrees, but it wouldn’t hurt if they added a little extra flair.

“So… no on our name being Ember and Ashes, The Hotarazzi?” Ashlynn looked at Patience trying to get gauge her reaction to the small change to their name. At first it definitely seems as if it totally missed the mark with her, but after several moments of her saying nothing it becomes obvious that she is running through the name through her mind several different ways until she starts to smile. At that moment Ashlynn knew that she had Patience on board with the name.

However, the conversation is put on hold when all of the sudden Patience’s phone starts ringing with the sound of Luke Bryan’s “Play it again” and the moment that both women heard the ringtone they became really confused. As the only time either one of them heard that song play on Patience’s phone were either because Sam’s phone was dead or Chase was trying to a hold of Sam, but she wasn’t answer her phone. Patience and Ashlynn both looked at one another and knew that this was probably what they knew was coming in the back of their minds… the cancellation from Samantha.

“Hello, Sammy your on speaker.” Patience said, playfully as both her and Ashlynn came to a stop out of the way of the rest of the shopping center’s foot traffic and even though she had her phone on speaker she turned the volume down more than enough to where she could hold it in between herself and Ashlynn.

“Not funny, Patience, let me speak with Sam.”

There was no denying it that the voice that was coming over the speaker on her phone was Chase’s voice and the moment that both women had a chance to process what he said it left them both dumbfounded. He was calling them looking for Samantha because he thought that she was with them, but they were at the shopping waiting for her to show up, because they still believed that she was at home with him.

“Nice try lover boy, put Sam on. Make her do her own dirty work.” Ashlynn was defiant towards Chase, because she was firmly in the belief that this was a prank by the married couple. However, as she glanced at Patience she could tell that the woman who is unknowingly her sister as far as Ashlynn knew… had a different thought about the matter.

“Sam isn’t here. We thought she was still with you at home.” The statement just hung in the air like a line of line of laundry caught in a rain storm, because now all three of them were starting to get worried about Samantha.

“I haven’t been home since this morning. I got called in to work. Last I knew, Sam was going to the grocery store before meeting up with you girls, but she hasn’t been answering her phone for the last two and half hours.”

“We haven’t heard anything for her. Just from Minka who said she wasn’t going to be able to make it.” Patience’s mind was running a mile a minute in that moment, because there were literally a million reasons why Samantha wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be answering the phone. There were the options that spelled doom for her cousin as in accidents or medical emergencies, but she really hoped that it wasn’t one of them. She really hoped that it was best option out of everything that she could think of in the moment and that was in her anger over Chase deciding on going to work instead of spending the morning with her that she’s hooking up with Brittany Lohan to let off some steam.

“Look, Chase… Patience and I, aren’t really finding anything here. We’ll swing by the house and check on her.” Ashlynn looked at Patience and the other woman just nodded her head in agreement. Seeing as they don’t have anything else going on at the moment it was the least that they could do since he was stuck at work.

“Thanks, and I’ll be heading home shortly, but if you wouldn’t mind doing that for me.”

“Don’t mention it.” The conversation ended shortly after that as Chase had to get back to work and the girls started to head towards the parking lot and Ashlynn’s car. They didn’t know what they were going to find on the way to Sam’s and Chase’s house or there for that matter, but they hoped that it wasn’t going to be anything to serious.

Rise to Greatness, the biggest night of the SCW’s calendar year. It’s a special time of the year for most people on the roster… hell I have to say that I’m shocked Ash and I are even on the show… albeit the pre-show, but with a chance to make it onto the main show in not just a match, but an SCW Tag Team title match against The Big Ass and Jackass connection. I mean, my friend Crissy Gardner, now granted she was working for the company off and on, but it took her four years to finally make it on to Rise to Greatness.

Ash and I are extremely humbled by the chance to step into the ring on such a big night for the company. The only regret that I have is that we don’t have any kind of momentum behind us. Two loses to Red Empire, one to The Hollow, and I even fell in battle to one of our first round opponents in Ryan Watson on this last edition of breakdown. To say that our fire is barely burning at the moment would be an understatement, but don’t mistake what I’m saying. Just because our fire is desperate need of some stoking doesn’t mean that our desires have dwindled in the slightest.

No Fucks to give, are a formable team to take on the first round of the tournament. Watson, the gobshite that is somewhat of a legend in the business. Autumn Valentine is no joke, because I remember watching her match against Crissy from a few years ago when she was the SCW Women’s champion. So I’m not belittling them in the slightest, because I respect them as a veteran of this business. They know how to play the game and I hate to admit, but they know how to play it better than me, because before my self-imposed sabbatical from the business I was still very naïve in many aspects of the “game”.

So no, not underestimating them, but what I am saying is this time we will be ready for the both of them. There is no sneaking up from behind us like you did during our match against Red Empire to give them the win. It’s also unlikely that you are going to be able to steal one from me again like you did in the fatal four way match on Breakdown this last week. As there won’t be anyone else in the ring at the same time that I have to worry about. No Truelove, No Scarlett… just me and either you, Ryan or Autumn.

Sorry to interject right now, but he could still surprise you and steal it from us. It’s a tag team match and blind tag happen all the time.

Of course, Ash is right… there is a possibility of one of you surprising me with a blind tag, because it happens all the time, but I’m tag team wrestling is where I have spent most of my career. Be it with Ash as my partner now, Crissy in the past, or when I was just a kid watching my dad teaming up with the likes of my uncle Rick, Chris Pressler, or even Ryan Singer. Tag Team wrestling has been my life… the ins and out of it are pretty well known to me and I’m passing that knowledge on to Ash.

She really is a great teacher too, because I have already learned a lot from her. I mean just look at each of our matches. Each week we have consistently gotten better as a team. We are finding our rhythm or chemistry… what have you. We are finding it and Rise to Greatness, we will be the best version of our team that the SCW has seen since our debut. Unlike, Ember… I see us going through No Fucks to give, because with a name like that do they really care about the tag team division?

I doubt it, but they aren’t the only team that we have to worry about. We have to worry about the tag team champions… eventually, but before that we have to deal with either a team that has had our number since the first time we stepped in to the ring against them. Well you could say that, because the first time we weren’t half the team we are now and the second time… they actually didn’t beat us without some assistance from… No Fucks to give. Makes you wonder what the outcome of that match would have been had team gobshite didn’t get involved in the match.

Then there of course is The Truelove twins, the uncrowned tag team champions of SCW. The faces of the tag team division… Jesus Christ, Ember… if they are the face of the tag team division this division is more trouble than anyone realizes.

 You can say that again.

The Truelove twins have had more chances at winning the tag team titles than I’ve had matches in the SCW since my debut, but they have something in common with me. I’m not too ego driven to admit it, but I have lost every single match that I have been in since signing with the company. I’m woman enough to admit it and strong enough to keep pushing myself to better myself whereas the Truelove Twins seem content on holding on to the notion that they are god’s gift to the division, because they were apart of Sienna Swann’s posse.

Girls, face it your more delusional than how much you claimed half of the former tag team champions were in James Evans. Girls, it’s a mockery that you are even in this tournament to decide the number one contenders to the tag team titles, because after all the shots that you have had you should be at the back of the line. I’d rather see Redemption in this tournament, or maybe even a team from EMERGE, because at this point they show more potential than the two of you. Now, I’m not trying to be like Babe Ruth calling our shot, but on the main show of Rise to Greatness, it will be the tag team champions defending Embers and Ashes, and we will burn it down.