I landed in Chicago just after noon the next day, with a small overnight bag and my laptop in a backpack. I'd never been to the city, and I didn't expect to do much sightseeing now, but it was a city that was on my bucket list to visit when I had time. Not that I ever had that time, but I could change that. After checking into the airport Marriott, I got in the rental car and went to find the TDFL offices.

               The address I got from Monica was for a boxing gym on Chicago's west side, tucked in next to a pizza joint, and I was already getting a sinking feeling about their setup. When I entered the gym, I was hit with the pungent aroma of sweat, and lots of it. There was also a lot of yelling, and a lot of thuds, no doubt punches being thrown. But luckily, there was a staircase to the left, and a stained piece of paper with TDFL written in sharpie and an arrow pointing up to let me know which way to go.

               Yeah, the first order of business was to find them a new office.

               The stairs led to a dingy hallway, with water stains dripping down the wall. At the end of the hall, was a single door with another piece of paper with TDFL on it. The door was already ajar, so I pushed it open as I knocked.

               "Hello?" I called out.

               "Hey!" came a call from another doorway. Moments later a tall, well-built woman with black hair came out the door in a pair of jeans and a red tee shirt with a crude TDFL logo on it. She quickly started dusting dirt from her knees. I was in jeans myself, black ones, and a matching black button down and black boots. I was glad I hadn't overdressed!

               But it made me think. After the new office, we needed to get new league merchandise!

               "Hi there. I'm Kris van Noorel. Are you Monica by any chance?" I asked.

               "Holy shit, you really came!" Her face broke into an excited grin while moving over to shake my hand. "I half expected you to have been a figment of my imagination."

               "Ha, no. I'm quite real. Busy day?" She looked out of breath from whatever she was doing in the other room.

               "It is. Big fight night tonight, so I'm trying to get the word out. I wanted to get some leaflets out and posters up. I was just about to start getting those copied."

               I frowned for a moment. "Do you use Twitter, Instagram or any other social media for that?"

               She snorted. "I don't even have that for myself, and the gym owners we use in the various cities don't really do that kind of stuff. It's all local."

               "I have good timing then. Before you copy that, we're going to get you online. I already have your new website done, and I'll get Twitter and Instagram up too. We're going to get you modernized so that by the end of the weekend you look ready to be sponsored."

               She was silent for a moment before sniffling. "You can do that now? Can we really get this league out there?"

               "Monica, the client we're pitching is Nike." I heard her gasp in shock. "And we're going to be presenting in under three weeks. I'm going to make a pitch that knocks their socks off, but that means your league needs to look like someone that Nike would want to do business with. Does that make sense?"

               "I still can't believe this. But yeah, that sounds great," she sat down at her rickety desk, and just smiled in a daze. "I've been doing this for ten years, and we've got branches in so many cities and countries, but it's really nebulous. The only money people get is from the gate at an event. Thinking about sponsors has always just been a pipe dream."

               "Yeah, well, dreams can become reality." I pulled out my laptop and started pulling up the websites I'd need. "Okay, before I start, do you have an official logo? The original website didn't, and I'd like one on all your social media accounts."

               "Nope. TDFL is pretty much it. The only logo we ever use is whatever gym we're using that night."

               "That changes tonight. We're not making the venue more important than the event itself. Do you stream the contests at all?"

               "No. Sometimes people will make some YouTube videos and post them, but nothing else." She sounded down about it. "This isn't going to work, is it?"

               I looked up over the top of my laptop. "Of course, it is. Before tonight, you're going to be online, and we're going to be streaming your fights on Twitch. We're even going to try and get Nike to watch the match by tagging them in it."

               "Damn! Oh shit, I'm going to need a drink soon. I'm kind of freaking out." She was almost shaking in her seat now, and I really hoped she could keep it together. If this was what she was like now, what would she be like in a meeting with Nike?

               "Monica, calm down. Just breathe deep for a minute, okay?" She nodded, and then closed her eyes for about thirty seconds before flashing me a thumbs up. "Do you have any of your competitors here today? I'd like to take some pictures."

               "Yeah, let me get some." Monica pulled out her phone, then started typing. "Okay, anyone in the building, or close by, should be up here soon."

               "So which cities do you do contests in? And what countries too?" I wondered. "I tried to find out on the original website, but it was hard to tell."

               She hung her head a little. "Yeah, we had a guy do that, one of the fighters' boyfriends, but I guess you get what you pay for.

               "Trust me, it's going to be a lot better. Here, let me show you what I have already." I brought my laptop over and showed her the design I had on the virtual server. "All I need is up to date events and a bunch of pictures. I want to get a few videos from tonight too."

               "Can I ask a question?" she started nervously.

               "Of course." I finished making up the Twitter account, and then got started on Instagram.

               "If the Nike deal falls through, what happens? I don't want to get my hopes up here, and then have them drop." I looked up at her, and she was staring at her desk with her hands clasped as though dreading some bad news.

"If it falls through, then we find more. You kiss each other for a living! Do you have any idea how many sponsors we can get? Gum, toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash, every lip balm on the planet! Don't even get me started on lipstick manufacturers!" I told her excitedly. "I wanted Nike because all your women probably already wear their workout gear, or something similar, and it would be simple for them to make them even more professional like some of the other women's sports. And if all of that happens, then we're going to get some broadcast partners or Pay Per View events. Maybe even some of those reality shows like Ultimate Fighter, but we'll call it Top Tongue or something."

She just shook her head. "That all sounds fucking amazing, it really does. You make it sound so easy. We're lucky to get pizza places to give us some cash for sponsoring a fight night. How can we go from that to what you're describing?"

"Well, when I'm done with you, they'll be begging you to take their cash and free pizzas. You have a very cool product. You just need the exposure. And that is what we're going to start with tonight."

               A few minutes later, half a dozen women filed in. "Hey boss, what's up?" a blonde with some of the biggest breasts I'd ever seen asked.

               "Everyone, this is Kris. I'd tell you her last name, but I'd butcher it, so let's just stick with Kris. Anyway, she's redoing our website and getting us online. If you want to be up there and promoted, then we're going to take some photos."

               "Ladies, I want to get one full body shot, one of your head and shoulders, and one of your lips" I explained.

               "Our lips?" a curvy brunette asked.

               "Yep. In a pucker position. We're going to show them off!"

               "We're going to be on the new website?" asked another girl.

               "Absolutely. We're going to get profiles on all of you. If you are on social media, we're going to provide a link to you, and you can follow back. If we all support each other, we all grow together."

               All the girls started talking animatedly as I got my small ring light out and put my phone into it. I'd probably want better ones done later, but for now, these would be a great start in comparison to what they had. We'd have to start organizing the league better too. It was too widespread, and it would be better to have it shrunk into regional teams that travelled for tournaments or something. Then the winners there could compete in individual and team championships, kind of like gymnastics in the Olympics.

               "Monica, we're going to have to do this for the other cities too, not just here. I have an idea on that though."

               "I'll get the word out!" she promised.

               "Okay, pucker up girls!"