A casual tag team match is the next setting for the following scene with a well-known pair of army officials.

Tag Team Session

"You lost two matches in a row, Alonzo; you're starting to lose your touch, man." Blue and his older brother, Jamie, are taking a leisurely stroll to themselves after finishing up a practice session of their own at their home gym. Though Blue thought nothing of his last two fights, which were just casual, his older brother didn't think otherwise. To Jamie, his younger brother seemed invincible, having never lost a casual match before; to hear this news is quite a buzz in his ears.

After listening to his brother's complaint, Blue only grunts in rebuttal. He reminds Jamie, "If it wasn't for that last one, I'd have won. Eddie said it himself, that kick he pulled between my legs was accidental. Now if it was an actual match, he'd be disqualified in a heartbeat. Since it's casual, I'm letting it slide. It's not like we're out here trying to kill each other."

Jamis waves off the concern, dismissing the younger German Shepherd. "Eh, if you say so. Also, what's this I hear about two guys wanting to duke it out in a tag-team match?"

Retrieving his smartphone, Blue checks his messages and reports, "Something about this Eriksson guy wanting to see how we would perform in a tag-team thing. Him and some other guy."

"I remember you telling me that." Jamie rubs his chin in thought, "What's the guy's name? 'Alejandro' or something like that?"

"It's 'Alessandro'. And he said to meet us at the local– *BEEEEEPPPP!!*" a blaring car horn causes the two brothers to jump, alarmed. When they turn to the source, a familiar Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder stops, with the passenger side window rolling down. The driver and passenger are none other than the Novak Brothers themselves and they're just passing through.

Waving from inside the car, the two wolves greet the German Shepherd brothers with Stefan speaking first. "Hey Blue! Nice to see you again! Who's that with you?"

Gesturing to Jaime beside him in question, Blue steps forward to meet the two wolves inside the idling Huracan, beckoning his brother to follow. Out of curiosity and intrigue, Jamie shuffles in behind Blue, giving a wandering eye to the two wolves inside. Finally, it clicks in Jamie's mind and he points out in recognition, "Oh, you two must be Stefan and Eddie Novak! Blue's told me all about you guys!"

"And you owe me a rematch, Eddie!" Blue challenges the passenger in a half-joking, half-serious manner with the events of that session playing out in his head again. The golden wolf wordlessly nods when he raises his hands defensively, "Look, I said I was sorry, okay? We'll have our rematch soon!"

Suddenly, Stefan activates the hazard lights to the Huracan and quickly pulls over to the curb, having noticed something approaching in the distance. Before anyone can say anything, there is the sudden roaring of an angry V8 engine, along with screeching tires. This is mixed with the deep rumbling of a V12 engine, which prompts the four to wonder, 'Is there something going on?'

They soon get their answer when two cars streak by at high speed - a red Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and a white Mercedes SL65 AMG (R230). Recognizing the Challenger, Blue mutters offhandedly, "Seems like Javier got himself some competition. I wonder who that could be in that white car."

"No telling who's in that white Benz, but man," Jamie gives an impressed whistle, going on to reminisce, "When I test drove and bought one, I was disappointed with the top speed limiter, so I paid for it to be removed - left me screaming my head off flying down the freeway at over 200 mph!"

"You guys want to race, sometime?" Listening to their conversation, Stefan revs the V10 of his Huracan in a taunting, teasing manner. However, Jamie quips in a pouty manner, "Nosy wolf! I should smack you!"

"You'll have to get around me first to get to him!" Eddie plays along, adding to the playful banter. And it seems that Jamie is intent on actually making good on his promise. Narrowing his eyes, the older dog goes in for the kill when suddenly…

*WHACK!*

Jamie is whacked in the face by a backhand from Stefan, though Jamie managed to land a hit of his own, but softer, before being knocked away from the car. Blue just stands by idly, shaking his head in amusement. Knowing this is all play, the German Shepherd remarks, "If this was an actual brawl, I'd be joining in, but someone needs to work on their timing more."

"Shut up!" Jaime barks and punches his younger brother on the shoulder. With a smirk, Blue grabs his brother's arm and proceeds to flip him over.

*CRASH!*

Winded, the older German Shepherd stands up, and Blue begins to slowly lose himself to a laughing fit. Ignoring his younger brother's giggling fit, Jamie dusts himself off and proceeds to march back to the Huracan to meet the two wolves inside. Brushing off their concern and worry, Jamie claims, "I'm fine, if that's what you're wondering. In fact, we all should meet together sometime, like plan a date. I'm interested to see what you two can do."

"Okay then. We'll see you guys later." Stefan and Eddie both bid the German Shepherd brothers farewell and proceed to pull away, leaving the two alone for the time being.

~~~~~

Blue and Jamie arrive at the gym moments later and are immediately met with a casual scene before them - two feline fighters, a snow leopard and a Bengal tiger in a casual fighting match between them. The two fighters are stationed in a large boxing ring that is located in the middle of the gym.

Seeing the two duking it out in the arena above them, Jamie notifies his brother and points to the arena, "Look up there - pretty cool, right?"

Blue nods silently in observance and whispers in return, "Yeah, I'll bet. I wonder if they've snagged any tournament wins before." Upon further observation, Blue mentions, "These two are martial arts practitioners too."

"I can see that too, I think…" Jamie lightly scratches his chin in observation while down below, spectating the two fighters in the ring above. "It's kinda hard to tell from down here."

"Once they're done, we'll see if we can join them inside that arena." Blue turns serious, finally shooting his brother a more pointed look, "Just need to be patient though."

Jamie feigns mock offense, playing along with his brother. "Me? Patient? I have all the patience in the world! Are you saying I'm not patient?"

Knowing how his brother really is, Blue plays along in following along with the conversation, but before he can respond, his brother begins rubbing his knuckles against his head in a noogie, earning laughter from them both. However, Jamie later admits, "Ah, you're right, 'Lonzo, I do need to work on that. But it can be hard when you're waiting for something very important or something minor."

"I know. Let's try watching the match so we can get a shot in? We're supposed to be in a practice session with them." Blue mentioned. He drapes an arm around Jamie and together, the two begin to spectate the practice match going on inside the makeshift arena.

Inside the arena is a snow leopard and a tiger fighting each other in a clash of strength, but this is all just casual practice and fun. No hard feelings involved. The snow leopard, wearing a blue Karategi uniform with a matching blue belt, slams a foot directly into the tiger's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him.

The tiger, shirtless and muscular while wearing black Karategi shorts and a red belt, backs off after the impact, stepping back to catch his breath. The snow leopard lets his opponent recover when he could have easily put the tiger down for the count; but he doesn't. Instead, the spotted feline holds his guard while encouraging his opponent to resume, "Tigers are stronger, Matthew! You have plenty of fight left in you! Come on, bring it! Don't give up now!"

Both felines are muscular and powerful in their own way. But they also have their weaknesses. Despite being heavier and more powerful than the snow leopard, Matthew points out, "A blow to the solar plexus is one that isn't so easy to recover from. I thought you knew that, Al!"

*WHACK!*

The tiger's head snaps to the side from a right side kick by Alessandro, making him snap back to the fight. Their hands and feet laced, both feline fighters continue their practice fight, unaware of the two German Shepherd fighters below spectating their session.

After a few more minutes of trading blows, the two fighters hop out of the rings. Matthew is the first, who is able to catch his breath after a few minutes. Next is Alessandro, who is stretching in recovery to relax. When he notices the two German Shepherd brothers observing them, the snow leopard raises his hand up in a greeting wave.

Blue steps forward to meet the two felines, with Jamie following behind. He greets the snow leopard back with a wave and a welcoming hug, pulling back for personal space. He then engages the snow leopard in conversation, with Jamie in the background folding his arms. "Hey! You must be the contact who requested us for something different, like some sort of team match?"

"Actually, it was more of Matthew's idea rather than mine. My name's Alessandro, by the way." The snow leopard points out, literally pointing to the recovering Bengal tiger in the background behind him. When Blue notices the tiger, he marches up to the tiger to greet him with a handshake.

"Hey there! My name is Blue, and it's pretty cool to meet you and your buddy! Shake on it?" Blue is certain that the tiger will meet him in return with a handshake, but the reaction is not what Blue expected in return.

With a happy chuffle, Matthew hugs Blue and begins rubbing his head against the dog. This is certainly not what Blue expected, and the affectionate tiger is already making him blush. If it wasn't for Matthew being so affectionate, he would have exchanged handshakes with Blue already.

Watching the affectionate tiger, Jamie pulls out his smartphone to snap a picture and record the little spectate. He comments, "This is too cute! I have to share this!"

"I wouldn't expect your friend to take this to heart if it affects his career and whatnot." Alessandro chuckled in return. "He probably wouldn't like it."

Matthew eventually releases Blue and lets him go so they can resume their activity. But when Blue notices Jamie with his smartphone out, he groans, "Jamie, you know how much I hate being recorded!"

"Your matches are always recorded or televised, so you should have nothing to say period about that." Jamie pointed out to his younger brother. Blue is unconvinced and his expression turns deadpan towards Jamie when he bluntly and sarcastically retorts, "Let me put up some weird moment of a big housecat squeezing you to death and put it up on Instagram for the world to see. I'm sure you'll enjoy that."

"The moment you do that, I'll kill you, resuscitate you, and then kill you again." Jamie sneered. Not taking this personally, Blue is about to challenge his older brother when Alessandro steps in, reminding the pair, "So are we going to do this tag team thing or what?"

"Speaking of, hey Jamie, have we ever done a tag team match before??" Blue tries to recall the last time he actually did a two-person team fight, even mentioning this to his brother doesn't help with Jamie shrugging his shoulders, uncertain.

Matthew scratches his cheek while staring off into space. He mentions, "There is a first time for everything. So this may very well be your first time."

"Yeah, this is our first time too, once you think about it." Alessandro rubs his cheek softly while commenting on the matter. But when he and Matthew climb back into the arena, Blue and Jamie join them.

(🎵 Carribean Queen (No More Love On The Run) - Billy Ocean [Grand Theft Auto 4 Soundtrack])

"So, how do we do this then? What are the new rules for this whole tag team thing?" Blue is already in a stance of his own, ready to get down and fight. Facing him is Alessandro, who explains, "This isn't wrestling. If one teammate needs time to recover, just slap hands and swap positions. To make this a simple session, you and your friend down there will have one combined chance to win against me and Matthew. Sound good?"

"This weirdly reminds me of Tekken. But okay, your rules. Just hope we don't literally throw you out of the arena." Blue agrees to the challenge, ready to fight. And with Jamie and Matthew both on standby, the match results can turn at any moment.

Suddenly and without warning, Alessandro charges forward with a diving roll to meet Blue. He didn't count on Blue reacting so quickly with a swift foot to the chin in a high arc kick.

The initial attack nearly knocks the snow leopard off balance but it only sends him staggering backwards. He wipes the blow off, acting casual. He only brushes it off like nothing happened. But this time, Blue leaps forward with a reverse Guyver kick in hopes of bringing his foot down. The snow leopard only manages to dart aside to evade. When Blue rights himself, he jumps over an attempted leg sweep and steps forward to slam a fist into the leopard's right side, causing him to yowl in pain.

Blue eases up a bit, backing off. "I didn't tag you too badly, did I?"

Alessandro caresses his side briefly, straightening back into his stance to jump up with a flying kick to Blue's face, only for the German Shepherd to duck underneath. When Alessandro recovers, Blue trips him over with a quick leg sweep, planting the snow leopard on his back. The snow leopard quickly gets up and drops back into his stance, squaring off against Blue.

"This'll be easy." Blue muses to himself. After blocking a series of incoming attacks, the German Shepherd attempts a spin kick on Alessandro's face, only for the snow leopard to draw back to evade. Then Blue follows up with a powerful knee aimed straight for Alessandro's stomach.

Alessandro barely manages to evade the knee attack, and he issues a quick knife hand to Blue’s cheek in return, smacking the German Shepherd with a flattened hand. Only thing Blue does is wipe the blow off in dismissal.

“Okay, time to get serious…” Blue switches to a different stance and goes for a leg sweep, catching the snow leopard by surprise and kicking him away to the edge of the arena. This would have resulted in Alessandro literally rolling out of the arena had the ropes not been there. Still, Alessandro isn't mad. While he stands up to brush off his outfit, he admits, “You're really good at this. Isn't working with beginners a waste of your time?”

“Pah! Beginner, professional, intermediate, I work with anyone as long as they don't cheat.” Blue dismisses Alessandro's remark, instead insisting that anyone is his fighting buddy as long as they're not dirty. While he smirks at Alessandro, he notices the snow leopard whistling and waving over his shoulder. Using this opportunity, Blue launches a swift right into Alessandro's stomach, right as Matthew climbs into the ring on the signal to see his partner reeling backwards. Immediately, the tiger goes on the offensive.

Already from the swings he’s evading, Blue notices that Matthew is a brawler. But even brawlers have weaknesses. The German Shepherd then notices another opening with Matthew going in for a deep left and uses this to cancel, sending a left kick straight into the tiger’s stomach. At first, a manic glint appears in Matthew's eyes but he raises back up, grinning at Blue. “Heh, nice block. You fight often?”

“I'm a black belt in martial arts. I don't let it get to my head, though.” Blue smirked with a chuckle. Then he challenges, “What about you? Think you can beat us both?”

*WHAM!*

A heavy knee to the stomach nearly knocks Blue down where Matthew follows up with a right hook to the face, decking the German Shepherd. Smugly and rhetorically, Matthew quips, “Does that answer your question?”

Although he drops to the canvas, Blue sticks his hands out to transition into a side roll where he is back up on his feet, glaring down the tiger. Then he quietly turns to Jamie and the two nod at each other, with Blue returning to Matthew and cracking his knuckles, “If it helps gauge who we’re dealing with, all the more reason to add more victories to our record.”

Suddenly, Alessandro charges forward, cartwheel forward and transitioning to an axe kick, which Blue ducks underneath to evade. The German Shepherd then punishes the snow leopard with a knee strike to the stomach, following this up with a high roundhouse kick to the face. However, Alessandro drops back, taking a quick breather.

“This is getting us nowhere!” Matthew complained while observing the snow leopard closely. “What do you think you're doing??”

The moment Alessandro shushes Matthew with a quick turn of his head is the moment he gets decked in the face by Blue. The snow leopard, however, recovers and growls at his rival, dropping back even more.

“What's the matter, kid?? Are you a sore loser??” Jamie taunted. He wasn't expecting what happened next...

Alessandro scoots himself back to the far end near the ropes and proceeds to dive forward, leaping up with a spinning scissor kick going straight for the face. And while Blue attempts to block out of surprise, the snow leopard also ends up tagging Jamie in the process.

Matthew can only watch as Alessandro is knocked backwards by an uppercut from Jamie where the older German Shepherd now steps into the fight. Giving his younger brother a chance to recover, Jamie goes on the offensive in taking Matthew on.

The older German Shepherd proceeds to send a series of kicks aimed at the tiger's head and face. Matthew only manages to block and weave around a few of them while getting decked in the process. On the last one, Matthew weaves to the side to evade and follows up with a swift right hook to Jamie's stomach, laughing afterwards.

Suddenly…

*BAM!*

The Bengal tiger ends up going down from a sudden high kick from Jamie, striking Matthew hard on the cheek. The impact is hard enough to cause Matthew to shut down, his eyes turning completely white. Then the large tiger timbers backwards, falling flat on his back. Watching his tag team partner end up spaced out and knocked down, even Alessandro is amazed from observing this.

The snow leopard suddenly has a chuckling fit, unable to hold back his giggling. And once he gets that out of his system, the snow leopard finally suggests, “How about we stop while we're ahead. If that was any harder, Matthew would be knocked unconscious.”

“Nope. You're gonna fight this one out instead of calling it quits and chickening out.” While Jamie turns down Alessandro's request, Blue remains silent, staying on standby in case of a partner swap.

While Jamie remains on the offensive, Alessandro is left on the defensive, until he intercepts a right hook meant for his cheek. Using his shoulder to block, Alessandro attempts a high spin kick, only to nearly lose his footing in the process upon landing with Jamie ducking under him. But when the two sides recover, Alessandro delivers a swift arc kick to Jamie's face.

Watching from the sidelines, Blue is unsure whether to continue or call it quits. He’s already witnessed Matthew’s sudden knockdown and Alessandro is next. But given how hard Jamie is going at it, both sides may literally knock each out.

Suddenly, both fighters go down in a crashing heap - while Alessandro nails Jamie with a high kick to the chin, Jamie rocks the snow leopard with a swift uppercut to the same area. However, the elder German Shepherd brother is the first to stand up, leaving the two feline rivals on the floor, too exhausted to stand.

Immediately the younger German Shepherd rushes over to assist Matthew first in hopes of finding him still alive. Thankfully, the tiger is still alive, just comatose with his eyes still white and blank. Whereas Alessandro moans while slowly getting up, Jamie scratches his head and kneels down to see for himself if the Bengal tiger is still breathing.

Bracing himself for what he's about to do, Jamie looms over Matthew and licks the tiger’s face directly. It has the desired effect but not exactly one that neither canine or feline anticipated…

*WHAM!*

Jamie's face registers nothing but shock upon a hard foot connecting with his pelvic region, and all activity stops with Jamie falling on top of the tiger.

“Get off me!!” Shoving Jamie aside, Matthew slowly stands up, with assistance from Alessandro. And the snow leopard also helps Jamie up. Blue, on the other hand, speculates, “Needless to say, this was a good match! But short, but intense. We should hold another one!”

Matthew grumbles, “You two are fortunate that this was a practice session and not a real public match, otherwise I’d be in the hospital now. And Al here would be trying to take your heads off.”

“Matthew, don't say that! In the time we've known each other directly, you and I both know we are not sore losers.” Alessandro jabs Matthew's right side with an elbow to quiet him down. “I don't care about a perfect win record and no one should anyway. Just like being in court -” seeing the confused look on Jamie's face, Alessandro turns blank. “Don't ask. That's another story for another time.”

Blue smirks and giggles, “Well if you guys are down for a bite to eat, I know a shop where we can hang out! We’ll race you there!”

“You guys didn't bring any machines to ride in, so I guess you two can drive our cars. Just don't destroy them or us in the process.” Alessandro cautioned.

~~~~~

After getting changed into more casual clothes, the quartet exits the gym and upon making their way to the adjacent parking lot, Blue recalls, “I’ll have to give Stefan and Eddie a call, see if they're up for a little rematch.”

Alessandro purses his lips, “Blue, is it really that serious? It's only practice fighting.”

Turning to the snow leopard, Blue wags his finger at Alessandro and remarks, “I have a reputation to protect. At the same time, it doesn't bother me.”

“Blue!! Come check this out!!” Rushing to meet Jamie, Blue pauses upon noticing Jamie eyeballing two high-end performance cars: a red Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and a silver Porsche 911 Speedster (991). When Blue notices them, he whistles in amazement and turns to Alessandro and Matthew, pointing to them both, “So who's car is whose? Those are some smokin’ rides you got!”

“The silver 911 Speedster is Matthew's and the red F12 is mine.” Alessandro reported. The snow leopard tosses his key to Blue while Matthew chucks his key to Jamie. Matthew warns, “Don't wreck them or wreck us in the process, okay? Cause if one of us ends up injured, it's your pelts that will be doormats.”

Jamie rolls his eyes and grumbles, “Can't come up with something better than that, can't you?”

When Blue clicks a button on the key to activate the car system, the F12 springs to life with the V12 engine roaring to life. Immediately Blue drools at the sight, becoming a puppy in a candy store. While he excitedly rushes into the driver seat with Alessandro riding shotgun, the younger German Shepherd admits, “Honestly, I have never driven a Ferrari before. Let's see what this thing can do!.”

“It's a powerful ride, pretty durable too.” Alessandro mentioned. “ 6.3L V12 engine and 730 horsepower. It's also my daily machine, though I have raced it a couple of times.” The snow leopard then turns curious and asks Blue, "Say, Blue, what car do you drive?”

Nissan GT-R - heavily modified to make around 2500 hp. But I only use that for drag racing.” Gripping the steering wheel, Blue presses the brake pedal and starts mashing on the accelerator, performing a burnout right behind Matthew and Jamie. Alessandro, on the other hand, is unbothered by the excited dog-turned-puppy who is able to keep the car stationary while heating up the rear wheels.

After the burnout, Blue is left giggling excitedly. When Jamie and Matthew exit the parking lot, Blue and Alessandro follow suit. Moments into the drive, the two hit the accelerators and begin rocketing off into the distance, their engines roaring.

~~~~~

Blue and Jamie belong to  bluewaterdog!