It’s night time in the Magic Kingdom. The fireworks display is exploding in the night sky. The hordes of gatherers (who really ought to know better, but that’s another topic for another discussion) marvel at the electric display. And why shouldn’t they? With the prices Disney charges for admission to their signature theme parks, you would hope those who stayed through the day for the nighttime displays would enjoy them.
But this is not one of those stories.
Because instead of being out in the night sky, Gavin Taylor is standing at a security desk, having a conversation with a guard.
“And that’s why she did that,” Gavin says, pleading his case to the guard in question. He’s wearing personalized mouse ears because who goes to Disney and doesn’t get those ears? “It was all about protecting the innocent virtue of one Daisy Duck.”
“Sir, your friend accosted a costumed performer in the middle of a routine,” the guard pointed out, painting a wider picture of what happened. “I don’t know what it’s going to cost to clean the mess off the Donald outfit.”
“If money’s the issue, no problem,” Gavin says, reaching for his wallet. “I can cover the cost of cleaning. Just, I kind of told some people that I’d take care of her today and I’d really like to get out of the park with both of my legs unbroken. I know the mouse has some powerful allies, and I have some devious plans to enact. Plans that would be severely derailed if I couldn’t walk. So how about we just settle this here… Duck and I can leave and you can save face.”
“It’s the principle of the matter!” the guard insists, getting more forceful. Gavin only scoffs.
“Principle?” he repeats with derision. “Guy, it’s a duck mascot… it’s not like she forced herself onto Mickey Mouse himself.”
“Our Mickey wouldn’t have fought that…” the guard admits.
“Really?” Gavin asks, intrigued as to what the actual answer is going to be. The guard nods in affirmation.
“Oh yeah,” he begins. “The guy in the Mickey suit is a total perv. He’s hook up with all sorts of women while on duty… you’d be surprised at how many women want to fuck the mouse.”
“This is getting a little far from PG,” Gavin remarks. “Why don’t you just fire him?”
“Fire Mickey!?” the guard reacts as though Gavin suggested murdering the actual Mickey. “He brings in the money… you can’t fire an employee like that.”
“He’s unionized, isn’t he?” Gavin asks dryly. The guard nods.
“Shitload of seniority, too,” the guard again confirms. Gavin nods in acknowledgement. “Look, I’m not supposed to do this, but I can give you five minutes with the perp.”
“The perp?” Gavin responds, almost looking concerned. “She had a run in with mascot duck… isn’t calling her a “perp” a little over the top?”
“Do you want to talk to her or not?”
“Oh,” Gavin nods his head. “Yes please.”
The guard leads Gavin through a maze of hallways until finally he is brought to the holding room deep underneath the Magic Kingdom. It is also the room where Nicole “Ducky” Kinneck sits in solitude. A bit over the top, but again this is Disney. What do you really expect? She sees Gavin and springs to her feet.
“Gavy, you made it!” she exclaims with jubilation in her voice. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, what?” Gavin is immediately taken aback by Ducky’s immediate readiness to depart the room. “Don’t you want to talk about what happened? I mean, it’s not everyday someone gets into a scuffle with Donald Duck…”
“Actually it IS everyday,” Ducky says affirmatively, handing Gavin a pamphlet. “It’s all included in that pamphlet that really needs more pictures.”
“Yeah,” Gavin says as he flips through the pamphlet. “Some pictures would really liven this thing up and… that’s not the point! The guards are saying some really serious things here. They say that cleaning the duck costume could cost money…”
“Disney has the money,” she scoffs. “They keep making all those movies.”
“They make movies to clean duck costumes?” Gavin is understandably skeptical, but Ducky is unflappable.
“Ducks, dogs, mice…” she lists off. “I could go on.”
“Please don’t,” Gavin asks.
“Now are you going to help me bust out of here,” Ducky begins. “Or am I going to have to do it myself?”
Gavin genuinely weighs his options. He could either leave now, knowing that he still has free passage out of Disney, or he could participate in whatever this woman, who he fought alongside over the course of a grueling month to earn Trios contracts with, had in mind. Although Gavin had no idea what that would be and, knowing the machinations of Ducky’s mind, that concerned him…
“I’m in,” he says, throwing his arms in the air. Ducky claps excitedly.
“It’ll be just like old times!” she exclaims. “Okay, the first thing we need is a paperclip, a piece of yarn, and a rotary telephone. Now, I have the phone…”
“Wait,” Gavin interjects. “You just happen to have a rotary phone with you.”
“You can never be too careful,” she points out. “What if you’re trapped in a maze and the only way out is to mimic the sound of a rotary phone dialing the number 12?”
“There’s no 12 on a rotary phone!” Gavin exclaims. At this point, the guard returns… this time with another hulking presence behind him.
“Okay… uh… you two are good to go,” the guard says nervously, unlocking the holding room.
“Oh, I wasn’t held here against my will,” Gavin points out. The guard just laughs.
“Right,” he says. “You just happened to “agree” to come down here on your own. You weren’t tricked at all.”
“That’s right,” Gavin says, before realizing what happened. “Wait… hey!”
The guard looks to the looming shadow and makes a hasty exit. Finally, Xander Valentine steps into the frame, looking at Gavin and Ducky both.
“Bailing you two out again?” he asks, dryly. Gavin protests.
“I wasn’t held there!” he insists. Ducky, however, only waves.
“Hi Xandy!” she says before nudging Gavin. “Wasn’t that a great plan?”
“Getting Xander to bail you out?” he asks. “That was your plan?”
“And it worked!” she correctly points out. The scene fades…
“Okay, where to begin? I guess the beginning… or Under Attack. You know what? I never doubted us for a second! I knew from the moment our teams were announced that Gavin Taylor, Xander Valentine, and Nicole “Ducky” Kinneck would be a force to be reckoned with, capable of overcoming any of the other trios put in the Trios Tournament! I knew that we had the potential to win it all, and all we had to do was become something that no one expected from three individuals such as us.
A unit.
I’m no secret to tag team success. Every tag team partner I’ve ever had, I became Champion with… whether it was Sabra Esther Mizrahi in Mexico, Ariel Phoenix in Australia, my darling wife Maddie in Texas and Canada, or Andre Jordan in IWC… when you put Gavin Taylor in a position for success with a team, I rise to the occasion. Trios 2021 was no different. We had a goal in mind and on the road there, we gained so much more than contracts. Maybe not Vin Diesel levels, but we gained something of a rag tag group of friends to count on. But with Trios over, reality comes back. Team Smashmouth Unicorn Puke may not be a regular functioning unit, so we have to go back to doing what we do. And in the case of Gavin Taylor, that’s taking on top tier competition.
And it doesn’t get much more top tier than this week at Breakdown, now does it?
Anyone who has been around SCW for a minute knows what Syren is capable of. She’s done it all, including having been inducted into the Hall of Fame. You’d have to wonder why she stays around when she’s done as much as she’s done, but that’s not a question for me to ask. Only Syren can really answer that question. All I can do is theorize… theorize that maybe she needs the thrill of the ring to cover for an empty life outside of it… theorize that she sees the up and coming talent nipping at her heels and gets desperate to do whatever she can to cling to her spot, much like her old pal CHBK has been known to do before… theorize that maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t know what there is outside of the ring for her, so she stays because she’s scared shitless of having to actually face it. I don’t know… all I can do is theorize.
But do you know what I really think?
I think that, deep down in her heart, if Syren were to look far enough into her soul, she would recognize that the little hourglass is starting to run out. I think she understands that this isn’t a forever prospect and she’s trying to push one more run out before she does ride off into forever. And I can’t begrudge her that. I more than anyone can admire the drive and determination to hold on and try to make a statement. I do that myself every time I step in the ring. And I hope that when the final bell rings, Syren can look at The All-Star and know that the future of the industry is truly in good hands… mine. Because just like my Trios contract allows me to dictate my destiny and will it into being, it’s my God-given talent that’s going to drive me over the edge and make me the modern day icon that I know I can be.
And speaking of my Trios contract… hey… wait!…”
The camera quickly cuts to black before Gavin can elaborate on his plans of what to with the contract he earned.
"The All-Star" Gavin Taylor 