Rung By Rung (Gina Neon RP v The Requiem - Ladder Match)

I

Winter 2003

Trenton, New Jersey

'Are ya just gonna stand there all day?'

The unfamiliar voice caused Gina Carelli to start, completely ruining her attempt at self-induced shutdown. In one heart-sinking moment, she slipped out of the comforting blankness she had been trying to create for herself, and once again became aware of the very real predicament she was facing. Where before there had been an attempt to shut the world around her out, there was now an acute perception of the myriad different things happening within it. The way her legs trembled underneath her, for example, threatening to give way at any moment; the sharp winter breeze sweeping across her face and making her cheeks redden even further than they already were; the disgruntled voices of other children, whose playtime she was currently holding up; and, most of all, the cold sweat she could feel trickling down her back, even under all her layers.

She carefully, gingerly cast a glance behind her to see who had spoken. It was a boy she didn't know, a fair-haired fourth-grader in a bright orange parka not unlike her own. His cheeks were just as flustered as hers, and he was hopping from one foot to another, as if he needed to go to the toilet.

'Hurry up, willya? I'm freezin'', he complained, as he noticed her looking down. 

'Yeah', the boy behind him, a gangly nine-year-old in a green parka, adjoined. 'Youse holdin' it up for evahbody!'

'Shut up!' This voice Gina knew; it belonged to her best friend, Mandy. 'If youse guys don't wanna wait, go play somewhere else!' Then, to her: 'take ya time, Gigi.'

Gina was thankful for her friend's intervention on her behalf, but still could not help but feel a little guilty for making everyone behind her have to stand in line. Why, oh why had she rushed into this without thinking it through? What had made her think this time would be different from every other time she had attempted the same thing? Why today, of all days, when the playground was full and she would inconvenience all the other kids?

'Gina, you butthead', she scolded herself, 'now you gotta do it.'

She swallowed as she came to this realization, casting a tentative glance upwards. As ever, she became aware that there were not that many rungs between her and the biggest hurdle of her young life – much to the contrary. There were so few, in fact, that she could count them: one, two, three, four. But if there were only four, she thought to herself, just like every other time, why did it look like there were a lot more? Surely, something that high up had to take more than four rungs to reach? Unless the rungs were spaced really far apart – in which case there was the very real risk that, while attempting to step from one rung to the next, she would fall through the gap and hurt herself. The whole thing was an accident waiting to happen, one that was sure to end with Gina lying on her couch – or, worse, the hospital – with a plaster cast on her arm, or her leg. And if Saturday morning cartoons had taught her anything, it was that broken bones were no fun at all.

'Nope', she decided. 'I'm goin' back down. I can try again tomorrow when nobody's around.'

Her mind made up – and her conscience clear as a result – she promptly set about following through with her decision. She carefully brought her left leg down from the rung where she had halted herself, placing it on the one below as her hand slid an inch or two down the metal handlebars. She heard a sigh of relief emanating from the line behind her as she did so, and it helped spurn her on. She brought her right leg down to join her left, comfortable in the knowledge that soon, the line of kids would be moving; soon, she would no longer be holding anybody up with her indecision, and everyone would be able to get on with their playti--

'No, Gina! Don't give up!'

The voice – high and plaintive and earnest – stopped her in her tracks. She knew exactly who had spoken, and the words hit a very particular spot in her heart, one reserved for people who mattered. Suddenly, all plans to give up and return the next day for a fresh try went out the window; she was going to do this today, if it took her all afternoon.

She halted her descending motion and, instead, measured the distance between her current position and her objective one more time. She counted the rungs – one, two, three, four, five. Not that many. Not that many at all. And the gaps between them did not seem any larger than the one between the rung she had just climbed down from and the one she was standing on now. Of course, there was still the possibility that her eyes were tricking her, and the gaps would turn out to be huge once she actually got up there; but, to her surprise, she found she was willing to brave that chance. After all, he was counting on her.

''Kay, Gigi', she told herself. 'Here we go.'

Slowly, tentatively, she brought her right leg back up to the rung she had previously frozen on, hoisting her body up before bringing her left leg up as well.

'Four', she counted, under her breath.

Aw, come on', the kid in the orange parka complained from beneath her. This time, however, Gina made a concerted effort to shut his voice out and concentrate on her objective. He did not matter to her; she did not even know his name. There was someone else – someone far more important – that she could not let down. If that meant having to act like the line of kids behind her did not exist, then that was just what she was going to do.

Closing her eyes tight, she moved her right foot up another rung, her entire leg shaking like freshly made Jell-O as it ventured onto hitherto unbraved territory.

'Three.'

Her left leg joined her right on the higher rung, each shaking so much that Gina was once again afraid she might fall off. She gripped the side handlebars as tight as she could, just in case, and once again took a step upwards.

'Two', she counted, as she placed her left leg on the next rung and paused for a moment ahead of another step. She assessed the distance left ahead of her, willing herself not to look behind, in case her resolve would shatter. Still, a freshly-renewed wave of doubt kept her rooted to the spot for a moment, before the youthful voice once again spurned her on:

'Go, Gina! Go, Gina! Yaaaaay!'

She looked up yet again. Two more rungs. Two more rungs and she would be there. She thought she could even see the slight curve where the rungs bled into the little wooden platform at the top. She was close. Closer than she had ever been before.

'One', she counted pre-emptively, as she put her right leg ahead of her once again. Her left came up a moment later, and just like that, she found herself looking directly at the wooden platform at the top. Another heave, and she would be there. Not just looking at it, but standing on it. Standing on the very thing she thought she would never be brave enough to reach.

Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she unclasped one of her hands from the metal railing and ran it over the surface of the platform. Even under her mittens, it prickled at the touch of the uneven wooden boards, a prickle which quickly spread over her entire body, making her feel accomplished, and brave, and grown-up, and proud...

'Hey, you gonna move it or what?' Her friend from down below sounded incredibly distant at this point, but his protest still reminded her that her goal had not been reached yet; there was still one rung left to go.

'Okay', she murmured, as she slowly began to bring her right leg up, bent at the knee. She placed it on the final rung of the ladder, moved her hands up the side handlebars accordingly, heaved her body up, and brought her left leg to meet her right, completing the ascending process one last time.

'Zero', she said, a big smile beginning to spread across her features. 

'ZERO', she repeated, louder, as the realization sank in. 'I DID IT! YOU GUYS!! MANDY!! TONY!! I DID IT!'

Her joyous whoop carried across the chilly New Jersey winter afternoon, bringing a smattering of cheers from down below. Gina did not dare look down until she was safely on the platform, in case anxiety kicked in again, but she thought she had a pretty good idea who was cheering. And sure enough, as she crept onto the reassuringly sturdy wooden boards and pulled herself onto a seated position, she could see them down below: her best friend and her little brother, jumping ecstatically up and down, clapping and yelling at the top of their lungs. She grinned brightly down at them, then let her eyes roam a little further, beyond the confines of the playground area, to where another familiar face was sitting huddled in a down jacket and woollen hat, scanning her progress just as intently. As he saw her look his way, her father waved, and Gina – the relieved smile on her features spreading ever further – waved back.

'Finally!' The voice of her orange-parka-wearing antagonist, drifting up from somewhere below her, made her realize that – for as big of a hurdle as she had just overcome – her goal was not yet complete. She had made it past the hard part – climbing up – but there was the still the other half of the process: getting back down. And that was somewhat scary in its own right.

Gina felt herself swallowing hard again as she looked down at the steep, curving expanse of sheet metal in front of her – the only thing currently separating her from the comforting familiarity of the sandbox. It did not look half as daunting as the wooden steps had a moment ago, but Gina still felt a twinge of apprehension at the thought of having to traverse it. Still, there was nothing to it now; she had put herself in this position, and now she had to follow through. It was either that, or calling for help from her father and looking like a big scaredy baby in front of Tony. And that, she realized as soon as she thought it, was something she was definitely not willing to do.

She felt her resolve deepen again as she thought of her brother watching her down below. It was he who had given her the courage to come up in the first place, and she could not let him down this close to the finish line.

Carefully, still half-fearing the seemingly safe boards beneath her might crumble and sent her hurtling to the ground, Gina moved her hands from the curlicuing hand-grips to either side of her and placed them on the narrow, slightly protruding metal bars framing the flat sheet metal surface. Then, closing her eyes so she could not see how far she was about to plummet, she took one last, deep intake of breath...

...and pushed off.

II

Twelve Years Later

Trenton, New Jersey

'...Gina?'

The familiar voice caused Gina Carelli to start, bringing her out of her trip down memory lane, and back to the reality of her small Trenton apartment. As her brain slowly began to readjust to her surroundings, she glanced to her right, to where her tag-team partner was giving her a pleading, helpless look.

'How do you use this, love?' Nicole Evans was holding her Nintendo Zapper as one would a plate of food, laid flat across both palms. Gina could not help but giggle as she gently took it from her and gripped it in the correct position, her fist closed around the plastic handle, index finger ready to press the trigger.

'You press here to shoot', she instructed her friend. 'It's real easy. You aim at the TV, and when the ducks come flying up, you shoot 'em. Here, I'll show ya.' 

She walked over to where her Nintendo Entertainment System – the same one she had played on as a child – sat on the carpeted floor, and turned the console on, resuming her seat just as the game's title screen appeared on her television.

'If I was playin' on my own, I'd choose two ducks', she told her friend. 'But seeing as it's your first time, we're gonna do just one, 'cause it's easier. Oh, and we're playin' the real game', she added, 'not that one with the plates. That one's kind'a boring.'

She aimed her gun at the first of the three options on screen, and pressed her finger against the trigger. 'Game A – One Duck' blinked for a moment, before giving way to a backdrop of high grass and a couple of scraggly trees. A moment later, an orange-brown cartoon dog came sniffing along the floor, before nimbly hopping behind a clump of reeds.

'Make sure you hit all the ducks', Gina said, 'or that butthead's gonna start laughin' at you.'

'Who? The dog?' Nicole sounded as if she was having a hard time believing this particular piece of information. 'The dog laughs at you?'

'Yeah. It's really annoying!'

Just as Gina said this, a digitized duck came flying out from behind the high grass, ascending rapidly towards the top of the screen. In one fluid motion, Gina aimed her pistol at its general vicinity and shot, bringing it plummeting down in a spiralling pattern. She then repeated the process with the next two ducks, missing on the fourth.

'Aw, crud', she moaned, as the dog emerged from behind the thicket to snicker at her. 'I got too much on my mind!'

'Don't worry, love', Nicole said. 'You're still doing better than I probably will...'

'Here', Gina said, transferring the pistol to her tag partner's hand as if on cue, 'you try it.'

And try Nicole did, with – unfortunately – rather disheartening results. At the end of the first wave, only one duck had fallen under the impact of her laser-light, and that one chiefly by accident; every other attempt had ended with the dog enjoying itself at Nicole's expense.

'Oh, fiddlesticks', Nicole sulked, 'I shall never get the hang of this, Gigi! I'm hopeless!'

'No you're not', Gina said. 'It's your first time! You just gotta keep playin' and you'll figure it out!'

'If you say so, darling...' Nicole still did not sound convinced. 'I just never seem to be able to aim where I want to! It always shoots off to the side!'

Gina shrugged. 'You'll get the hang of it. But yeah...maybe you need to try somethin' easier.' She thought for a second, then lit up again in a smile. 'Wanna play some Kirby?'

'Kirby?' Nicole frowned. 'Like the vacuum cleaner?'

Gina giggled. 'No, you butthead! It's a game! You're this pink blobby thing that can fly, and...'

Before any further explanation could be given, however, the two women were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, which sent both Gina and her Jack Russell puppy bounding towards the apartment's entrance hall. A moment later, the rookie was wrapping her arms around each of her best friends in turn, as Hammie yipped and leapt around their feet.

'Hey guys', she said. 'You're early!'

'Yeah', Amanda Fratelli said, returning her friend's hug. 'We were lucky. I got outta class early, so we made the early train. I was so early, Joey wasn't even at Starbucks yet when I got there. Right, Joey?'

Joey Zimmermann, however, was no longer listening to either of his friends. Instead, his gaze was fixed beyond them, specifically on the couch, from where Gina's attractive brunette friend was waving to him flirtatiously.

'Hiiii, Joey', Nicole husked, her British tones visibly causing a reaction with the young Brooklynite. He was spared any forthcoming embarrassment, however, when Gina stepped in, giggling.

'Nickyyyyy! Stop it! You have a boyfriend!'

'You're so mean, Gina', Nicole pouted. 'Won't even let me say hello to my dear friend! Isn't she horrid, Joey?'

Joey opened his mouth, but – as usual when in the presence of Nicole – no sound came out, other than a choked gurgle. The Brit was unable to suppress a giggle, even as her partner swatted at her forearm, gracing her with her insult of choice:

'You're such a butthead, Nicky!'

'Snap out of it, Joey', Mandy said, complementing her brief but significant glare with a well-aimed pinch to the Brooklynite's arm. The physical pain finally seemed to bring Joey out of his trance, and he started, with a yelp.

''Choo do that for?' It was the Brooklyn resident's turn to glower at her friend.

'You were comin' down with a bad case of the derps', Mandy retorted. 'Just thought I'd bring you down to Earth.'

'Whatever', Joey mumbled. 'Are we ready to make this video or what?'

'Ready when you are', Mandy said, before turning to her friend. 'You ready, Geeg?'

'Yeah! Just lemme get dressed! You guys talk to one another!'

With this, and not giving her friends so much as a chance to object, the rookie shot off in the direction of her bedroom, to get ready for one of the most important videos of her short yet budding career.

III

Ten Minutes Later

Trenton, New Jersey

'Earth to Joey! HELLO-OOO?'

The sound of Mandy's fingers snapping in front of his face brought the aspiring wrestler out of his reverie, and Joey found himself staring down at a pleasant but not entirely appropriate sight. Flushing a deep shade of crimson, he quickly straightened himself up, casting his eyes upwards and away from the enticing view.

'Uhm...sorry', he mumbled, scratching the nape of his neck self-consciously. 'Didn't mean to..I was just, uhm, thinkin'. I wasn't really...lookin'. Y'know, at your...'

'It's fine, darling', Nicole Evans said, placing a hand on Joey's forearm. 'I didn't think you were.'

'Places, people', Mandy cut in irritably. 'Gina, get your butt over there!'

Gina promptly obliged, giggling all the while, and Mandy bent down to peer through the viewfinder of the old vintage camcorder.

'A li'l more to the left, Joey. No, not that far to the left', she groaned, as Joey pushed right up against Nicole Evans. Then, as the Brooklynite took an abashed step to the right, she held her finger up. 'There! Perfect!' She then held out three more fingers. 'You guys all ready? We're on in three...two...'

The other two fingers came down silently, in traditional cameraman fashion, and Joey promptly took a step forward, brushing the embarrassment from a moment earlier to the side as he slipped into his far more professional interviewing persona:

'Good evening, Visionary fans! This is Joey Z, bringing you an exclusive report on the Number One Contenders to the VoW Twin Cities Championships, the Neon Babes! Ladies, how are we?'

Joey moved over to where Gina and Nicole were standing, waiting for their cue, and held out his microphone in anticipation of an answer. Nicole was first to step up, but only got as far as 'Very excited, Joey' before the bouncing ball of energy that she called a tag team partner cut across with her own excited tirade.

'How the heck d'ya think we are, Joey baby? Pay-per-View main event title match?! You don't get any bigger than that! We can't wait to get to Puerto Rico and show Tyron and Heath our stuff! Sparks are gonna fly for this one, baby!'

'Tyron and Heath aren't the only ones you'll be showing your stuff to', Joey continued. 'A lot of people are saying you guys don't deserve to be in this match, that you got lucky. Do you agree?'

Once again, Nicole leant forward to reply, only to be cut off by Gina. 'Well, Joey...they kind'a have a point. I mean, if I was looking at this from the outside, I'd say we got lucky too. We didn't really pin the ChaosSworn – we won by disqualification. But you know what I'd also say, Joey?' The rookie paused a moment, for effect, before answering her own question. 'I'd say we didn't get pinned, either. I'd say we hung in there with the one team everyone and their dog is scared of...and they didn't get to pin us. We took it to them, we weren't scared, and they had to cheat to bring us down. And they still couldn't stop us from being here, now, lookin' at a Main Event opportunity against Heath and Tyron at Double Jeopardy. So what I'd say, Joey, is that we may have gotten lucky...but we got lucky because we kept our promise. We got lucky 'cause we used our Neon Power to make the ChaosSworn so mad, they lost the match for themselves. And that's somethin' you can take to the bank, baby!'

'Speaking of promises', Joey went on, grinning at Gina's turn of phrase. 'Do you have any for Tyron and Heath?'

This time, Nicole made no attempt at answering the question, clearly surmising it best to just let her friend handle the rest of the interview. As such, Gina was free to go on with her train of thought unimpeded.

'Promise, Joey? Only one – a great match, baby! Win or lose! And at the end, you're both getting Gina-hugged!'

Joey's smile broadened as he continued. 'So I take it you have respect for your opponents this time around?'

'Oh, definitely, baby', Gina enthused. 'Tyron and Heath are rad dudes! I'm real excited for a match where nobody's gonna try to cheat or be a butthead, or whatever. Just two guys, two girls, two titles, and a whole lotta good 'rasslin', baby!'

'Speaking of the titles', Joey went on, his tone now becoming somewhat more sober. 'They're going to be hanging above the ring on this occasion, and will have to be retrieved by climbing a ladder. Now, considering it's a tag team match, that means both members of the team have to---'

Gina did not let her friend finish. 'I know what you're drivin' at, Joey. You probably heard I'm afraid a' heights. Well, lemme tell you this: it's true. Anythin' higher than the turnbuckle, an' little Gina's not okay. So this match is gonna be hard for me. But I'll tell you somethin' else, baby...'

The rookie moved closer to the camera, her tone and demeanor similarly becoming more serious than before – a shift signalled by the removal of Gina's trademark shutter shades.

'When I was little', she began, 'I was afraid to go on the slide. 'Cause it was way high up, and I was afraid to fall. Monkey bars, too. Same reason. But at the same time, Joey...at the same time I kept thinkin' it must be real fun. I mean, all the other kids liked it, right? And I really wanted to try it, 'cept I was too scared to. So at one point, I had to make my mind up. I had to think about what was more important – my fear of heights, or how much I wanted to try it. And I decided I wanted to try it bad enough that I could make myself forget I was afraid. So you know what I did, Joey? I tried to go up that slide. The first time I couldn't do it, I backed down. Second time, too. An' the third. I backed down a bunch'a times, but I kept comin' back. Until one day...one day someone special told me I could do it. And that day, Joey...that day I did it. For them. 'Cause I wanted them to be proud of me.'

The youth paused again, as much for effect as from exhaustion from the long tirade. After taking a moment to recover, she continued:

'In Puerto Rico, Joey...it's gonna be the same. I'm probably gonna back down off the ladder the first time...and the second...and maybe even the third...but I know eventually, I'm gonna do it. You know why? 'Cause there's someone special countin' on me. A lotta somebodies. All of my Neon Knights, in that arena and watchin' at home! They're gonna do what Tony did for me when I was little. They're gonna make me go up that ladder, and grab that belt, and forget I'm afraid. 'Cause they want me to do it...and I wanna make 'em proud!'

A long moment of silence followed these words, as everyone was clearly touched by Gina's analogy. Eventually, however, Joey was able to recover enough to ask yet another follow-up question:

'Now, regardless of your motivation for this match, another thing a lot of people are commenting on is the fact that Tyron and Heath are best friends, and have been for quite a few years. Do you think that's something that could cause problems for you and Nicole?'

Gina pondered on this for a second. 'Y'know, Joey...they gotta point. I mean, if I was taggin' with my best friend, with Mandy...that's her over there behind the camera, by the way. Say hi, Mandz!'

The rookie waved at the camera, but her friend responded with only an eyeroll, silently indicating they were in the middle of making a video and it was not the time. Gina therefore gave up the ghost, returning to Joey's question with a giggle:

'...she doesn't wanna...but anyway...yeah, if I was teamin' with Mandy, it would be different than teamin' with Nicky, 'cause we grew up together. I know how Mandy thinks, and she knows how I think. So yeah, if it was the two of us, we'd kick butt! But it's not like me an' Nicky met yesterday...y'know? We knew one another from PWA, and we've been hangin' out together a whole bunch. And we worked well as a team against ChaosSworn the first time! So yeah – I guess Tyron and Heath kind'a have an advantage, but those boys better not think they got that match won, 'cause the Neon Babes are no pushovers, baby! Plus...'

Gina's grin gave everyone in the room a good indication of what was coming, and Nicole – who had been content to stand in the background for a long few minutes – stepped forward in anticipation. 

'...plus', Gina continued. 'We've got somethin' they don't. Somethin' that's gonna help us reach new heights at Double Jeopardy, and walk outta Puerto Rico as the NEW VoW Twin Cities Champions! An' I bet you know what that is, don'tcha, Joey?'

'Yup.' Joey grinned. 'But why don't you tell our audience anyway?'

'They know it too, baby! They know it, The Requiem know it, the Visionaries know it, EVERYONE knows it, baby! It's right there in our name! We're the Neon Babes, baby! And what do Neon Babes have?'

Nicole took another step forward just in time to join in on the catchphrase:

'NEOOOOOONNNNNN POOOOOWWWEEEERRR!!'

Catchphrase complete, the two members of The Neon Babes double-high-fived one another. By the time Mandy had turned off the camera, complimenting everyone on a job well done, Nicole was locked in a Gina Hug, and it took the Brit a few seconds to regain control of her own movements. When she did, she made a point of planting a kiss on Gina's cheek.

'You knocked 'em dead, babe', she praised. Then, turning to the other two members of the unusual group, she suggested:

'Shall we go out to dinner? I'm buying.' 

The offer was met with protestations all around, as each of the youths insisted on paying for their own meal. Nicole, however, put an end to the hullaballoo with the wave of a prim hand.

'Consider it a gift', she said, with a smile. 'From a future Twin Cities Champion.'