Kelli--some rambling thoughts about FyreCracka’s Fight Journal and where you go from here.
My favorite chapters of yours have been the ones with Natalie and Cynthia (chapters 26 and 38). The fights were the sensational, imaginative, long, brutal, back and forth battles you always give us, but there was much more than that. Both of the chapters have a backstory going back to your days in high school. Let’s look at Natalie first. After almost 20 years, she still came to the reunion targeting you for a fight, after hearing about one of your fights at Billy’s. Why? Is it just simply female jealousy—the “I can still take her—I’m still better than her” attitude? That is part of it for certain, but there may be something else. Picture this. She appears to have been very ambitious as a young coach, maybe wanting to move up the coaching ladder to a big college job. Her ticket to that goal would have been (a) producing high level recruits for colleges and (b) winning some state championships. She has her two best teams, but they get knocked out in the quarter-finals, and she looks at you as the cause. You weren’t as good as she was (or as good as Charlotte Powers was, in her eyes) and thus you were the supposed reason (in her warped mind) the team lost. That’s why she didn’t pass on the partial scholarship offers to you—in her mind you didn’t deserve them, because you cost her the opportunities she wanted. So you and Natalie will be forever enemies, because you both think the other cost each of you something you think you each truly deserved. The fight itself against Natalie was a tense, massive war of attrition that was glorious to read. You now respect each other’s fighting abilities, but your feud is nowhere near over.
As for Cynthia, your battle with her was equally loaded with backstory, and the fight that starts in the elevator, goes through the loading dock and into the dumpster is an all-time great fight scene. (I also loved Kiva’s add-on scene of you and Jake telling her the news). I think you are probably done with specific fights with her (unless Josh’s income would qualify her for the Palace or you create a 2 on 2 fight with you and Kiva vs. Cynthia and Charlotte, but Kiva has enough on her plate right now with her character’s issues, so this isn’t the time for that). But Charlotte is a must grudge fight in the main FFJ timeline. (Yes, I read “The Rivals”, and your story of what would have happened if you ran into Charlotte later that night after the basketball game was fantastic. But that did not happen in the main timeline, so it doesn’t count here.) She still hates you from back in your high school days, and you beating Cynthia will give her an extra reason to come calling on you. Your clash with Cynthia, as well as your recent clash with Natalie, has brought your latent hatred of Charlotte into the front of your mind. Outside of the epic fight that you will have with Jolene at some future date, a big fight with Charlotte is my most anticipated coming attraction.
Moving on, after your narrow losses to Jolene (Billy’s champ) and the world-famous catfighter Anna the Marine Chick, Billy will not let you go up the card to face Jolene any time soon. You already have a new outlet (Ms. Jones’ Palace) and your character gets in way more outside fights anyway. You have more than enough women already in your orbit to have rematches with (Jaymie, Natalie, the Doshi sisters, Lily, Miche, Cynthia, etc.), and much more variety of locations and scenarios to bring new women in. As for Jolene, there must be a final battle as an end to your epic rivalry. Rather than it be at Billy’s, where I think it would be considered Jolene’s home turf (with the potential of Billy cheating in some way), I would rather your final fight with her to be private, with only you, her and your respective seconds there for the occasion. The title that Jolene has matters little at this point, since Billy controls the matchups there. Meanwhile, if Jolene were to win, she would just simply try to bed Jake once or twice and then throw him away like a used paper napkin. Besides, Jake would ultimately be loyal to you under any scenario. No, this final fight is about “the championship of each other” and should be privately fought, one round to a final submission. It should be long, brutal, epic, back and forth, and ultimately triumphant for you.
As a side note, the term I used above, “the championship of each other” is not original by me. It comes from nearly 50 years ago. When Muhammed Ail and Joe Frazier had their 3rd fight, the so-called “Thrilla in Manilla”, somewhere I read that a scribe back then (I don’t know who) described the fight as being for “the championship of each other”, a final test to ultimately let history declare who of the two of them was better. I view Kelli and Jolene’s rivalry in the same light.
As for other ideas, rematches with Lily, Miche and Jaymie are musts. Lily has a righteous vendetta against you and deserves another shot at you in private. Just because both you and Lily wound up respectively with the right guy for each of you (as Michael notes in your excellent Chronicles story), doesn’t mean she is over what happened back then. Your fight with Miche was excellent, but it was one of your early losses and your character is much more experienced now. Finally, Jaymie and you need another showdown. She needs someone to take her down a peg, and I don’t think Allie is the person who has the ability or mindset to do it. Meanwhile, the Palace beckons with potential new matchups and ideas. Kelli can go on a bit of a winning streak, gain some new contacts (especially the women she defeats) and eventually come up against a suitable foe to battle in a high-stakes feud. This would transition her out of Billy’s place (and out of Jolene’s orbit after their epic finale) and into a new but similar environment of women to fight. So my wish list would be the epic finale with Jolene, a new battle with Charlotte, a revenge fight with Jaymie, rematches with Lily and Natalie, and a focus on fights at the Palace, as you ascend the ranks there and hopefully find a worthy rival there that would allow for a multi-fight story arc.
Kelli, again I must complement both you and your husband for crafting a series of vivid, innovative, competitive and brutal fight scenes, and I express my admiration to you for how you show the motives and emotions of the battles and for creating a very enjoyable world. Thank you for your contributions, and I look forward to whatever you decide to do with your character in the future.
