Number 16: Unknown!
After Lily Klein's entrance, it was time for the sixteenth competitor.
The sixteenth competitor is… Unknown.
"What did they just say?"
"They're keeping it hidden all the way to the end?"
"Did she come in from overseas?"
Selma and I had no other reaction available to us.
Then an entrance theme none of us had ever heard before filled the arena. Number Sixteen walked out to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 — the Fate Symphony.
Da… da-da-da DUM. Da… da-da-da DUM.
And the moment the wrestler stepped onto the stage, I nearly lost my mind.
"What the hell is that?!"
Number Sixteen was wearing the exact same mask I had stolen from Hexa — well, the one I'd been given, if we're being honest.
"What!"
Booker's flustered voice came straight through the television.
"What is going on right now?"
"I don't know. Jane must've lost it."
"Hmm. So the luchadora who attacked Paulo Hackman last time is coming out as Number Sixteen."
"There was a rumor that luchadora was Charina — but looking at this tonight, that doesn't seem to be the case."
"It still could be Charina."
"Booker! Get a grip! The winner of this match faces Charina!"
"Ah! So does that mean Number Sixteen forfeits in the quarterfinals? A walkover for Charina? Charina! That's cold. Did she set this up on purpose?"
Booker was spouting absolute nonsense.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
It was a familiar staff member.
"Orders from above — stay put. Don't come out, and keep out of the fans' sight."
"Got it. Understood."
Even Number Sixteen's gear was nearly identical to what I'd worn that night — black skinny pants and a slightly oversized black zip-up hoodie.
"Whoever she is, her build looks a lot like yours."
"Right? Who is that?"
Once she stepped into the ring, Number Sixteen shrugged off the hoodie and tossed it aside. Underneath she wore a long-sleeved unitard that kept skin exposure to an absolute minimum — clearly meant to hide any distinctive tattoos.
"Looking at her neck, though, her skin tone's darker than yours. And her chest looks a lot smaller, too."
"True enough, but I still can't place her. Who is she?"
At a glance, her height and frame were almost a perfect match for mine.
Thud. Thud.
Someone pounded on the door with a fist.
"Who is it?"
No answer — the door just swung open.
"Oh, look who it is. Rina's in here."
Olivia, Vianna, Hailey, Nadia, and the rest came pouring in.
"That mask last time — that wasn't you?"
"It was me last time. As you can see, it's not me now."
"Then who the hell is that?"
"I don't know. I'm going crazy trying to figure it out myself."
I answered Vianna and Olivia as best I could. A few of them, satisfied it wasn't me, turned around and left — but Vianna and Nadia made a point of coming into my waiting room and sitting down.
The referee delivered a brief rundown of the rules, and then the ring bell rang to start the match.
— Ding. Ding. Ding. —
The instant the bell sounded, Number Sixteen launched into a baseball slide and drove her boot straight into Lily's shin.
"Sh… she's fast."
Lily scrambled up and charged — only to be flipped cleanly with a simple arm drag. She charged again, got arm-dragged a second time, and the moment she hit the mat, Number Sixteen sprinted over and stomped the back of her head as she tried to rise.
— Ohhh! —
"That stomp landed at a perfect moment."
"The only people who use a stomp like that, at that exact timing, are Charlotte and Vicky Lynch."
"Charlotte's way taller. And the skin tone showing around her neck is even darker than Vicky's."
Number Sixteen turned toward the crowd and spread both arms wide — a ceremony that said, plain as day, I've missed this place.
Doing that mid-match is an ironclad invitation to get countered. Lily snagged Number Sixteen's head from behind and yanked hard. Number Sixteen went flying backward, and Lily dropped a knee.
— Thud. —
Even taking the hit, no scream came out of her.
Lily hauled her up, locked her head against her right side, hooked one leg with her left arm, and drove her over backward. The fisherman suplex hit clean. She bridged immediately and went for the cover.
— Slap. —
— One! —
— Two! —
Number Sixteen thrashed free on the two-count.
"Lily rushed it. She needed to wear her down more before going for the finish."
"That was always Lily's problem back in NEXT, too. She never knows when to hit the finisher. Sometimes too late, sometimes way too early."
From there, the match settled into a stretch of chain wrestling and corner work — simple offense designed to eat clock, lasting about three minutes.
Lily tried a crossbody on Number Sixteen, who was trapped in the corner. The first one connected. The second, Number Sixteen ducked. Lily crashed into the turnbuckle, spun around, and staggered out on unsteady legs. Number Sixteen bounced hard off the ropes, snared Lily's head, and planted a bulldog. Lily's face hit the canvas flush.
"Oh! Another bulldog. Are bulldogs making a comeback?"
"Hmm. This mystery woman's technique is remarkably clean. She looks like a veteran!"
"Booker! You said the exact same thing the first time you saw Charina. You were completely wrong."
"Hey! That one was a freak of nature! This one actually is a veteran. I'm sure of it!"
Number Sixteen waited behind Lily like a lioness stalking prey, watching for her to stand. The moment Lily wobbled to her feet, she locked on from behind and drove her over with a German suplex. She never released the grip — she spun and went for a second German.
"No way…"
Nadia, watching beside me, muttered it under her breath.
A triple German suplex wasn't a banned move. But it was so closely associated with a certain wrestler who'd been stripped of everything that no one used it anymore — not even as a heel. The crowd backlash would be nuclear.
Number Sixteen mercifully stopped at two.
She nudged the skyward-facing Lily with her boot and rolled her over.
— Boooo! Boooo! —
Two consecutive Germans, then rolling the opponent with a kick — the arena poured out a torrent of boos. Number Sixteen didn't care. She climbed onto Lily's back, hooked both of Lily's arms back against her own knees, and wrenched her neck upward.
"Oh! An original camel clutch — it's been a while since we've seen one of those."
"Hmm. That's a move a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern wrestlers use… is she from that part of the world?"
A camel clutch locked in that cleanly was not something Lily was going to escape. She screamed and held on for a few seconds, but it wasn't long before she tapped.
"Hmm. Number Sixteen's in-ring work is seriously impressive. That matchup against Charina is going to be something special."
"Yeah. Looks like we're getting a war that can stand toe-to-toe with anything on the men's side."
Even in victory, Number Sixteen offered no special celebration. She turned slowly in place, taking in the crowd for a full circle, then left the ring ahead of Lily.
"Let's go."
"Yeah. We have to see who that is. Come on."
At Vianna and Olivia's urging, we left the waiting room and headed toward Gorilla Position. We weren't the only ones curious — most of the women's roster had already gathered, and a few of the men were there too.
We stood in the corridor waiting for Number Sixteen to come out. She didn't. Only Lily appeared.
"Lily! Good work out there."
"You did great. Tough match."
Aurora — who'd wrestled me earlier — and Vianna spoke up first.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"So where is Number Sixteen?"
"Number Sixteen? She's coming."
"But who is she? You know, right?"
"Heh. Who knows…"
Then Number Sixteen emerged — with John at her side.
"Keeping it secret from the other wrestlers worked great last time. The reactions were completely real. So we're doing it again. Don't try to figure it out."
"Are you serious?!"
"What the…"
"Hahaha! See? The reactions are perfect even now. Pure, unfiltered. And leave Lily alone — she doesn't know either."
John personally escorted Number Sixteen past us. She glanced at each of our faces as she walked by.
"Hahaha! I wasn't sure, but yeah — it's you. Welcome back. Good to have you."
Hailey seemed to have recognized her.
Number Sixteen paused briefly in front of Hailey, gave her a small nod, and followed John out.
"Hailey! Who is it? You recognized her, didn't you?"
"Hey! Who is that? Come on, spit it out!"
"There's a certain someone. And John just told you not to go digging. Hahaha. Number Sixteen is that one…"
Hailey laughed, clearly delighted, and headed back to her own waiting room.
Ugh. The curiosity was going to kill me.
John and Number Sixteen left the arena together and headed for the parking lot.
"So? How does it feel to be back?"
"Good. WWO and EAW might look similar from the outside, but the atmosphere is completely different."
Both were loud and rowdy, sure — but WWO drew more families, more kids, which gave it a brighter energy overall. EAW's occasional hardcore matches meant children were a rarer sight in those crowds.
"Your technique's improved a lot. That opening baseball slide and the camel clutch were especially clean."
"I just hadn't used them in a while. I always knew how."
"We can stretch the next match a little longer, right? Ten minutes is too short to show what you can really do."
At John's words, Sara laughed hard.
"Hahaha. That's not for my sake — that's for Charina's. You just don't want her to lose in some anticlimactic way."
John didn't bother answering that, and Sara didn't push.
"Practice still on the weekends, like last time?"
"Yeah. I'll set something up and let you know."
"Got it. Thanks for everything tonight."
"You did great too. That return match was excellent. Get some real rest."
Sara and John shook hands and parted ways. She climbed into the car WWO had arranged for her.
"Hotel, then?"
"Yes. Straight there, please."
Only after they had fully cleared the parking lot did she take off the mask.
Paul's refusal to hand her the inaugural title of the new brand had stung, but she understood. He'd never actually promised a specific date for a championship run, and he had committed to putting a belt on her within a month — a promise he intended to keep.
The masked-return scenario itself, though, she hadn't liked. Not at first. But once she was out there doing it, it turned out to be surprisingly fun. So this is why Vicky Lynch pulls this stunt so often, she thought.
And the fact that Hailey had recognized her on sight — that felt good too. She'd wrestled Nadia Jackson and Vianna Belair before, but the shared history there was thinner. With Hailey, they'd been tag partners. They'd feuded. There was real weight to that.
"Charlotte and Vicky probably recognized me too."
Charlotte was the wrestler she'd collided with more than anyone else. Their chemistry in the ring had been near-perfect — but Charlotte was also the one who'd cemented her as the permanent number two. A friend, and something like an enemy. The person who'd set in motion the chain of events that drove her out of WWO.
If she faced Charlotte this time around, there would be no losing scenario. If a belt had to change hands, she'd rather throw it to Hailey than hand it over to Charlotte.
About ten minutes later, she arrived at a hotel on the opposite side of town from where the WWO roster was staying. She pulled a cap low over her eyes and added sunglasses for good measure.
"Thanks for the ride."
"Just doing my job. If you need to go anywhere, call anytime."
"Will do."
The moment Sara got to her room, she flipped on WWO. The night's match highlights were already airing. A few bouts scrolled past, and then her next opponent appeared on screen — Charina.
She'd heard the line of wrestlers who wanted a match with that one stretched around the block. She'd also heard that seeing her live was even more impressive than the footage.
"Coming back was definitely the right call."
Sara leaned forward, face lit with pure excitement, and locked her eyes on the television.