Chapter 5: Original Ten

(Jay)

Six weeks of scrambling.

Jay sat in his office inside the warehouse. The room held an old, rusty desk, a file cabinet with four drawers, and a medicine wheel pinned to the back wall. Its vibrant colors of black, red, yellow, and white caught the dim light. In the center of the wheel was a picture of a thunderbird, and a faded poster of a famous Native wrestler hung nearby.

“Jay! I went over the roster of talent. Most of them have little wrestling experience,” Kaya said as she walked in, flipping through a stack of photocards. Each card had a picture of a wrestler on the front with their stats and achievements on the back.

“I found some with experience, but the rest need to be trained up,” Jay said, rocking in his old desk chair, which wobbled dangerously because of a missing wheel.

“A legend and three with minor promotion experience. The rest have no skills,” Kaya muttered as she sat down across from him, still sorting through the cards.

“There’s one with MMA skills,” Jay added, leaning back without a care.

“What about her? Desirae?” Kaya asked. The photocard showed a woman with long dark hair, wearing Beats headphones shaped like bear ears around her neck.

“Desirae Big Bear,” Jay said with a grin. “Giant and cuddly like a bear. No wrestling experience, but she’ll make an impact with her size.”

Kaya nodded, then pulled out three more cards and laid them on the desk next to Desirae’s.

“Sha Warpony. A lower card. She was signed with a Canadian promotion but left after they mistreated her. She’ll be a great heel,” Jay explained.

Kaya read through the notes. Sha Warpony had a small build and fierce red hair. It was the black paint stripes beneath her eyes, though, that really made her stand out, even in the warehouse's dim light.

“Citana Star,” Jay continued. “Inspired by the first Native woman to go to space. She wears a mask now to hide whatever she found out there in the stars. Came back… with a different kind of fire in her eyes. Never got a push in Arizona Promotions, but she’s training in Indigenous Wrestling now.”

Jay moved Citana’s card aside as Kaya inspected the next one.

“She looks like she could get the uncles and aunties to wrestle for her,” Kaya joked, tilting the card toward the light to see the wrestler's face more clearly. “What about this one? Her resume looks solid.”

“Tessa Bison,” Jay said proudly, tapping the desk. “She started right here in high school wrestling. Former champion in Desert Wrestling. Spent some time in a Canadian promotion, too. She’ll help the roster grow.”

The card depicted a woman carved from obsidian, her shoulders broad enough to stack Blue Bird flour sacks and her thighs clearly built for crushing uncles. She was a total powerhouse.

“You can’t be serious. What about her?” Kaya asked, raising an eyebrow as she held up another card. Her smile faded.

“Jade Turquoise. She loves arts and crafts. Trained by a legend. No desire to be a champion,” Jay said, still smiling.

Jade’s card showed her with bright blue hair tied into two buns, her brow framed by a tapestry of glass seed beads that shimmered with every shift of the light.

“She had drawings of her favorite wrestlers, so I asked her to join,” Jay said. “She’ll be part of my great project… against Nakia.”

“Nakia?” Kaya repeated, shuffling through her stack.

“Nakia Waters,” Jay said. “MMA history. She’ll be the perfect rival for Jade. A warrior and a giant, clashing like the old stories.”

Kaya laid down two more cards.

“The people will love them. Middle card top heel and face in the company,” Jay said confidently.

“This one’s injury-prone and small,” Kaya said, her tone concerned.

“Mia Fox. Injured herself a few times in Desert Wrestling,” Jay nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one more card, laying it in front of her like a prized hand. “You’ll like this one.”

Kaya picked up the card. “Who is Syuri Kazumi?”

“Syuri Kazumi,” Jay said proudly. “She’s coming from Japan’s Star Gold Promotion.”

Kaya blinked. “How did you get a promotion overseas?”

Jay’s smile widened. “Thanks to Indigenous Wrestling. I went to Star for business and made a few friends while I was there. Syuri Kazumi’s one of Japan’s top talents. She’s beaten their best. Then I made a call.”

“That makes nine, including Ravina Hawk,” Kaya said, gathering the photocards back into a neat deck and shuffling them like playing cards.

“Actually, I have one more. Ursa Valkyrie. Found her at a local promotion where she was eager to join Thunderbird," Jay said.

Kaya grabbed the card, but the weight of it felt wrong. She turned it over once, then twice. There was nothing, no name, no date of birth, and no photo. It was just an empty plastic rectangle.

“She is in the middle of updating her wrestling ID and will join us in a few months,” Jay explained.

“You need someone to handle the important stuff," Kaya said, her voice trailing off. “Finances, talent, health, upgrades to the warehouse…”

“That’s why you’re here,” Jay said, sitting up straight.

“Me?”

“You’re the smart one. You're the only one in the village with a business degree, and you're not doing anything with it,” Jay said. “I’m making you CFO.”

Kaya stared at him. “Don’t I need to sign something?”

Jay slid a form across the desk toward her.

“I don’t know much about this wrestling stuff,” she said, picking up a pen. “But business? That I do.” She signed the paper.

Jay took the form back, grinning as he blew on the wet ink. “Welcome to Thunderbird, CFO.”

Kaya didn't smile back. Instead, she stood up and grabbed the stack of photocards, tucking them into her bag. “If I'm the CFO, the first thing we’re doing is buying you a chair with four wheels. I’m not having my CEO crack his head open before the first show.”

Jay’s laugh echoed off the warehouse rafters as she walked out.