With STAG licking their wounds and nursing their pride, the time had come to finish the Syndicate once and for all. Once Carver Island came under Saints control, the Luchadores and the last of the Syndicate would collapse. Pinkamena eagerly awaited the moment where she would personally end Killbane’s life.

Pinkamena’s day began with a phone call from the Genki sponsors of Channel 6. The producers had planned on the date of the upcoming Genkibowl VII and decided to make it happen just before Murderbrawl XXXI. To that end, they also wished to film three more episodes of Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax before the event started. With little time left until Genkibowl VII, the producers had decided to film those three episodes back to back.

Pinkamena had no problems with subjecting Playa to a marathon of episodes but the next call would make her nearly pity the Saints leader. Angel de LaMuerte requested her assistance in regard to Playa’s training regimen in preparation for Murderbrawl XXXI.

The drive to Angel’s gym in Bridgeport was uneventful if one didn’t count avoiding the STAG patrols and the raised bridges.

Angel was once again practicing the fundamentals of his art on a training dummy when Pinkamena arrived. “So, what did you need to see me about?”

After delivering one last piledriver upon the unfortunate dummy, Angel got on his feet to address the pony. “I’ve noticed that your leader favors comfort and avoids pain. I have to ask: do you follow in his decadence?”

“I grew up with an amish family that ran a quarry. Me and my sisters have worked with rocks since we were little fillies. We lived with only the barest of comforts: simple beds and three square meals that were seasoned with rocks. I haven’t forgotten my youth and it’s made my family among the toughest earth ponies around.”

“Heh,” Angel smirked, “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you until I see if your actions match your words.” Angel walked outside the gym and Pinkamena followed. The wrestler looked around until he managed to find a decent sized rock that he could barely hold in one hand. He tossed the rock to the madmare. “If you really did eat rocks, then you’ll--”

Pinkamena eagerly devoured the rock. Her earth pony magic made her teeth harder than the rock she devoured. Angel was surprised from the display. Looking around some more, Angel grabbed the heaviest boulder he could find and dared the madmare to endure the boulder or attack it. When he threw the boulder at Pinkamena, she charged at the boulder and smashed it into gravel with her bare hooves.

“Alright, I’m convinced,” Angel said. “Now then, think you can help me toughen your leader up before Murderbrawl?”

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

Since they were waiting for Playa to arrive, Angel continued his training by punching a sandbag while Pinkamena figured that she might as well get some exercise as well by bucking the trees in the nearby park using her normal strength.

Pinkamena soon spotted one of Playa’s many cars arriving at the gym. She hurried back inside to observe the Saint leader and wrestler converse. Playa ended up leaning against a torso dummy and fell over since the dummy wasn’t bolted to the floor. “Damn, why are you living in this shithole?”

“To remind me of what Killbane took from me. It keeps me focused,” Angel answered.

“Whatever works for you man, I’m just sayin’ I like my place with working heat.”

“So you hate discomfort. That’s the sort of weakness the Luchadores will capitalize on. Unless you harden up, Killbane will crush you. But don’t worry, I’ll chisel you out of diamond.”

“How?”

“By making you experience the worst pain imaginable...now come on, it’s time for you to play in traffic.”

“Again? You gotta be shittin’ me…”

“No matter what happens, you always end up getting run over by cars,” Pinkamena commented.

Playa sighed as he knew that the madmare was right. No matter whether he was in Stilwater, Steelport, or anywhere, as long as there were cars, he was going to end up playing in traffic.

Some days Playa wondered if he was a masochist.

Angel had Playa subject himself to a lot of physical abuse from cars all over Carver Island. By the time Angel felt that the Saints leader had enough, he was battered, bruised, and bleeding externally and internally. Because of that, Playa spent some time in the hospital while Angel planned the next phase of Playa’s training.

After Playa got out of the hospital, Angel was prepared for the next phase. While he was doing that, Pinkamena decided to have her friends assist her with taking over Bridgeport and New Baranec. Her friends were assigned the usual tasks except Moondancer would be assisting Octavia and Treehugger with the gang operations. With her magic, Moondancer would be able to wipe out groups of Luchadores in creative ways. Vinyl wanted to keep making modifications to her sonic boom weapon and promised that when she was finished, it would be awesome.

Meanwhile, Angel was making Playa experience the heat of a fight with Killbane by making him wear a flame suit and ride an ATV around town while destroying things. Playa had forgotten how hot it could get inside a burning flame suit and it wasn’t pleasant back in Stilwater. By the time Angel was satisfied with testing Playa’s heat tolerance, the Saint’s leader was on the verge of heat exhaustion. To help with this, Playa mugged a jogger and stole his water bottle to quench his thirst.

Playa had hoped that the worst was over. After all, after being battered by cars and roasted in a flame suit, there was no way Angel could top that.

Playa could already hear Pinkamena’s laughter ringing in his head. He made the same mistake Pierce made when he thought STAG couldn’t send worse than an aircraft carrier. Even if he thought about it, he had already invoked Murphy’s Law.

As he considered his misfortune today, there was one question that resounded through his mind as he was driving around town with his new companion:

“Where the fuck did Angel get a tiger?!”

Angel’s next task for Playa was to drive around town with an irritable tiger in the backseat of a car that didn’t have a rooftop.

Playa’s poor driving skills had finally come back to bite him as his crashing was angering the tiger and causing the feline to maul him. The Saints leader received a number of scratches and bites from the beast as he did his best to actually drive better. The media only made things worse as the camera flashes were making the tiger angry.

Playa had to drive the tiger all over the district as if she or he was a tourist; an irritable, furious tourist. During this time, Playa’s body had been made as the beast’s scratching post and he had wounds all over his body.

Angel called the activity to an end before Playa ended up in critical condition but he needed to go to the hospital immediately.

Pinkamena watched the Saints leader get carried away in an ambulance before she turned her head toward Angel. “So, do you think he’s ready?”

“He braved the trial of the tiger and while he suffered immense pain, he now knows what he can expect from Killbane. I think he’s ready.”

“Good, but now I need to go be a commentator for a few episodes of Genki and he’s in no condition to compete.”

“You still have Johnny, don’t you?”

“Johnny and Playa entered together but the rules state that in the event that one of the contestants is incapacitated before the show, a proxy must take their place or both contestants are disqualified.”

“What about you?”

“I got banned from competing because I killed too many mascots. None of the others are crazy enough to compete which leaves us with...” Pinkamena left the sentence hanging to give the wrestler the idea about her plan.

Angel quickly picked up on her suggestion. “I am a wrestler, not a murderer.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Pinkamena fake pouted. “If only we knew that your mask was alright, It would be a shame if Treehugger burned a place down and accidentally torched your mask.”

Angel glowered at the pink madmare, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’m pretty sure your mask is in that casino at Port Pryor. And yes, I’m quite daring.”

“How dare you threaten a luchador’s mask like that!”

“Look, all you have to do is compete in a few episodes of Genki and I’ll apologize to you and your mask when we get it back, deal?” Pinkamena extended her hoof.

Angel thought about it for a moment before begrudgingly shaking her hoof in agreement.

“Welcome to another exciting episode of Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax,” Zach began.

“This is something you don’t see every day, the Lieutenant of the Saints is here but the leader was replaced by someone else.” Bobby added. “Can you explain this, Professor.”

“I had to get this guy to compete in the Saints leader’s place due to some recent severe injuries that were inflicted upon him as a result of the training he went through that was orchestrated by his replacement.”

“Really? What happened?” Bobby asked.

“Would you believe he got mauled by an Angry Tiger while he was driving around?”

“Angry Tiger the character, or the real thing?”

“If you signed a contract with the tiger then yes.”

The event soon began. Unlike Playa, Angel was more careful about not getting zapped or burned. Johnny was as ruthless as ever. Both Saints murdered a number of mascots as they came and both made it to the end. During episodes where the hunter made an appearance, Angel ended them by using one of his wrestling techniques to twist the brute’s head.

While Pinkamena enjoyed the performance while Playa was around, the two being careful and not getting themselves hurt by the obstacles only made Pinkamena feel bored. She could only hope Genkibowl would lift her spirits better than what happened during the course of the three episodes she had to watch.

Author's Note

Don't worry, Playa will be out of the hospital soon enough.

In the meantime, I have another DLC to get through that is not Genkibowl and this one might be a little ridiculous.