AN: This hasn't been edited for literally years, I just wanted to split up a really long chapter. I'll get around to fixing it later.

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, in the next fight will be two up and coming fighters we like to call Victory and Big Time Blazek!!" They burst onto the main floor just as their names were called, and the crowd exploded into cheers and applause.

Zell ran left around the ring while Victory went right, and they met up again on the other side while the announcer continued to sing their praises.

"You've got to love this tag team. Victory and Zell Blazek are a set of twins who've been fighting together since they could walk, and fighting each other even before then. Pump up the noise for these two champs of last year's tag team tournament."

The crowd grew even louder as brother and sister met on the side of the ring they would be fighting out of. As usual they met by clasping their left hands together in the air, Zell's large hand almost totally covering Victory's smaller one. Their magic was pooled then and glowed gold around their black leather gloves, finally the light shot up into the air in every direction.

Crowds loved it when they did that, thinking it was for show. In truth joining their magic powered them up, mentally put them in tune with each other. There was no other tag team that could do this, although several had tried to imitated them over the years. They were also the only co-ed team around. The teams they fought against were always male since Zell wasn't allowed to fight against a tag team of girls.

The guys they would be fighting that night came out with a bunch of pyrotechnics and in showy costumes and masks. They had the robes of pro- boxers on, and threw the silky articles of clothing aside once they'd reached the ring. At the same time Zell turned Victory so she was facing the crowd with her back to him and slipped her warm-up jacket off her shoulders like a gentleman might, revealing her glittery blue sports-bra top. He tossed her jacket onto a chair while the guys in the crowd cheered upon seeing Victory's fit upper body. Zell took off his own jacket and his shades. He'd worn a black tee-shirt that was the perfect size to show off his massive build. On the front there was a huge "Big Time" logo that Manny had designed long ago in blue and white. On the back in white block letters were the words "TAKES NO PRISONERS". Amazingly they were actually able to sell a ton of those tee-shirts for days after fights. The rest of their uniform consisted of blue and black cloth pants that were a little baggy, and black Adidas Sambas Classics with triple knotted laces for shoes.

Compared to the costumes of other contenders they looked like they were ordinary street fighters.

The twins jumped up onto the side of the ring and grabbed onto the ropes, waiting to see which opponent would enter first. The smaller one in the really dumb costume managed to climb up and into the ring, and they snickered at how stupid he looked.

"I think I can handle this one, Zell. If nothing else, I'll whip his sense of style into shape," Victory whispered into her brother's ear, making him laugh.

They continued to watch as the "fighter" took a few practice swings at the air, looking like the amateur he was. He nearly tripped over his own cape twice.

Zell patted her on the back. "I'm going to have to agree with you on this one, sis. Go get 'em, Tory Tigaress."

She gave him a short glare for using her hated childhood nickname, then smiled at him and smoothly jumped over the top rope into the ring.

The ref made them shake hands in the middle of the floor, then sent them to their corners before signaling them to begin the match. Victory ran at a sprint towards the masked man, leaping high into the air and hit him hard in the side of the head with a devastating round-house kick, the laces of her shoes leaving patterned red marks on his face. He went down after that one hit, and as Victory landed she could hear Zell cheering for her from the sidelines. She watched emotionlessly while the other fighter got his count. He didn't even try to get up.

The second the count was over the bigger fighter was n the ring and caught Victory by surprise, putting her in a headlock from behind. At first she didn't fight back, thinking the ref would interfere. Her fight was over, Zell was supposed to take on this monster. The ref didn't make a move to break them up and the arm around her neck grew tighter and tighter. Victory could barely breath now, and she heard her spine cracking from the incredible pressure. He jerked her up off her feet, increasing the intensity of her strangulation as he whipped her around in a circle before her shoes were able to touch the floor again.

It was only then that she saw Zell balanced precariously on a post, his hand stretched out towards her as far as he could reach. She could see him yelling her name, but couldn't hear it. She'd blocked everything out, and even her brother's shouts seemed to be in slow motion. She let one hand drop from her attacker's forearm as she began to reach out to him, feeling her strength draining quickly. This guy was big, maybe even four hundred pounds. She stopped reaching out and used her magic to create and burst a ball of extremely bright light in front of the beast's eyes. He was distracted just enough for her to struggle towards Zell, dragging along the incredible weight on her back, and just barely touch his fingers.

Zell got his balance on the post in a crouched position, then launched himself into the air. He did an incredible one eighty turn upside down in mid air and landed on the big man's shoulders, feeling the fighter shudder under his weight. Zell arched his back and flipped them both over backwards, his legs locked around the man's neck until the point of no return. Only then did he let go and flip back, landing crouched on his feet like a big cat. His opponent wasn't so agile and landed hard, the wind knocked out of him.

Victory was now free, and she managed to get out of the ring, allowing her brother to take it from there. Of course Zell's stunt had made the crowd go wild. They'd probably never seen fighting like this before, and they wanted to see more. Zell was perfectly happy to give it to them. When the guy got up he charged Zell, only to have the teenager leap-frog him at the last second, turning and waiting for the next charge. He didn't avoid the raging man on the second pass. Zell punched him in the throat, stopping him in his tracks as he fell to his knees, gasping for air. Zell leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Now you know how my sister felt, you fucking bastard. If I'd hit you any harder, I would've crushed your windpipe. You're lucky I'm in a good mood, or else I would've killed you." Pulling away Zell circled him slowly as though stalking prey. He paused just behind him and then power bombed him hard to the mat. Zell bounced back up after his finishing move and Victory joined him in the ring while the masked fighter got his count.

After a count of ten the ref raised their hands to signal their win and they were able to leave the arena, grabbing their jackets before jogging back down the steps to the quieter rooms below. It wasn't their style to play up the crowd after a big win.

Once they were alone back in the locker room Victory dropped her jacket and turned on Zell, punching him in the ribs. In retaliation he took a swing at her head, barely missing when she ducked just in time. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over her back, then tried to pin him down by placing her knee on his throat. He rolled to the side and bounced up, nearly kicking her legs out from under her. Victory easily jumped over his low attack, but got blindsided by his right fist impacting her side. She stumbled, but recovered quickly, stepping on a stool to boost herself into the air for one of her devastating 360 roundhouse kicks.

Zell saw it coming and sidestepped, catching her in mid-air. He pinned her arms to her sides, restraining her with his own arms around her, gripping his left wrist with his right hand. Victory struggled, trying to escape. She was fairly good at getting out of this kind of restraint, but Zell was too strong to fight off. He was the only guy she'd ever met who could successfully do trap her in this manner. She finally stopped struggling and began to laugh. Zell put her down, chuckling a little himself. Manny came in then, all smiles.

"Great job tonight, you guys. I changed my mind, I'm taking you both out to dinner. And Mazi and Brent can come too if they want," he said, speaking quickly and enthusiastically.

Zell looked at Victory. "Wow, something good must have happened. Manny's going to feed me. Usually that would leave him broke for weeks."

Manny rolled his eyes and shook his head at the young fighter's sarcasm. "Okay, I'll spill. I set you guys up right after the fight. You're booked to fight in a Pro tournament two month from now. After the job this weekend I want you two to start training until then, got it? We need to make a good impression. Now, we're doing great for funds because they gave us a ten thousand dollar bonus just for signing on with RCT, so you won't have to do any more extra jobs ever again. Pretty cool huh?"

Victory smiled, looking even happier than she was about winning the fight. "That's great, Manny! I can't believe it, we finally made it! We're going to be the youngest people ever to fight at the Pro level and no more extra jobs! I don't know what I'm more excited about!" she said, eyes shining brightly.

Manny smiled back at her. "I'm so proud of you guys. You sure will be something someday soon. By the way, when I walked in here, were you two fighting?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"Sure," Zell said as he dug through his bag, looking for a fresh piece of bubble gum. "After getting all pumped up we only fought for like two minutes. We had to expend the extra energy somehow. It's not like anyone we fight is ever even close to our level, so we fight each other. Tory, have you seen my gum?"

"No, Zell, I haven't seen your gum. Maybe you chewed it all."

Manny only smiled and shook his head, unable to see the logic behind any of the twins' oddities. "Okay, whatever. Get your showers in guys, the public is dying to see you again after that performance. Zell, I'll get you some gum, don't out in at least a half hour, okay?"

"Okay," they answered in stereo. Satisfied with their response the manager left, giving the two of them some privacy.

Having given up on trying to find his gum Zell pulled off his tee- shirt and tossed it into his bag. He was muscular. His stomach was washboard, and he had a black tattoo of a Chinese symbol representing strength and agility over his diaphragm. Zell had numerous tattoos on his body. "Big Time" was emblazoned across his shoulder blades in blue. Around his right bicep he had barbed wire that encircled his entire arm. On his left shoulder was the symbol he and Victory had drawn for themselves to represent their tag team. Victory's only tattoo was a perfect replica of that one, only it was on her back and usually covered by a sports bra.

Picking up their jackets from the floor, Victory put them on the table by her bag, then pulled off her top and tossed it absently next to her things.

"You want the shower first?" she asked, obviously not caring if he saw her bare breasts.

Zell was also un-phased. "Na, you go first, Tory."

Victory dug out her towel and a bar of soap, then entered the large shower room and stripped off the rest of her clothes, hanging them up. She took a quick shower then wrapped her towel around her waist and walked out to the main part of the locker room, her pile of clothes in her arms.

Zell had disappeared, but was back by the time she'd gotten dressed. He'd gotten a bag of ice from somewhere and set it down on his table. He grabbed her arm as she passed him, pulling her over to him and tilting her head back gently.

"Christ, Victory, the guy nearly ripped your head off. Why didn't you fight him as soon as he grabbed you?"

"I thought the ref would stop him. I didn't know I had to fight him."

"This was an amateur fight, the refs are all dumbasses. Another few seconds and I was going to jump in and take the bastard down if you tagged me or not. Your throat is black and blue. Lie down and ice it while I take a shower," he said as he let her go and started for the shower room, picking up his own towel on his way.

Victory grabbed him around the neck and hugged him tight before he could get away. "Thanks for saving me, Zell," she whispered.

He awkwardly hugged her back. "No problem," he said, seemingly caught off balance for once.

Victory quickly released him and he left the room to take his shower.