November 23, 2019. Chicago, Illinois. Allstate Arena. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019. I pondered how to start this pivotal entry in the histories of Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox. It had to be perfect. Maybe a bit dark and foreboding. Perhaps, I would speak in poetic tongue. So of course, this is what I decided on: You know exactly what took place on this fateful, cold autumn night in Chicago at the legendary venue formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon. To Chronicle these events, I partook in my first full viewing of them since that long past Saturday night.

The Kickoff Show was on-air. Someone had attacked Mia Yim in the backstage area. Her WarGames teammates Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae and Tegan Nox along with their friend and ally Dakota Kai watched on with great concern as medics attend to Yim. Kai who wanted more than anything to join her best friend Tegan on Team Ripley was rejected in favor of their mutual friend Yim. Although Kai was visibly upset on that night, she would come to take it in stride, even coming to Yim's defense during the WarGames Advantage Ladder Match on NXT TV.

The question on everyone's mind: Who caused this reckoning of Mia Yim?

This was not only Team Ripley versus Team Baszler. It was the historic, first ever Women's WarGames Match. And Team Ripley was down a soldier. NXT General Manager William Regal asked Team Captain Ripley what she was going to do. Ripley did the right and best thing she could do, which I'd argue she should have done in the first place: Ask Dakota Kai to join the team. Ripley didn't mince words, telling Dakota straight up: "You're in."

Kai was reluctant to accept the offer, admitting she wasn't prepared. But Ripley encouraged her, implying she had spent years preparing for such a moment. And it was a chance for Kai to get payback on her long-time tormenter, NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler whom Kai was eager to compete against in WarGames when petitioning to join the team weeks prior. Rhea proclaimed: "Tonight is YOUR night." Kai's bestie Tegan Nox added: "You know you can do this." It was not the words but the person who spoke them that convinced Kai to accept.

Mia Yim had been loaded into an ambulance. Regal closed the doors and the vehicle made its slow drive up that famous ramp as Team Ripley looked on somberly. Despite the dread of the situation heavy on her mind, Tegan couldn't help but still be overjoyed at what it brought about. Not only was she going to make her TakeOver debut, it was alongside her best friend Dakota Kai whom she spent nearly a year inseparable from during their ACL recoveries. As a bonus, Nox also got to compete alongside her long-time friend, big sister Candice LeRae.

Team Baszler would be a handful. WarGames a most violent affair. Baszler was a force of destruction built for such a match. Bianca Belair had much to prove. Io Shirai had gone to a darker, unhinged place over the summer. This incarnation of Io was not the same person Kai was friends with back in 2018. Lastly, NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray was no stranger to violent matches, having competed in all sort of hardcore brawls, including some against Nox back on the independents. Not to forget her Queen of Insanity Match against Viper (Piper Niven).

Unlike that goof Sam Roberts who disrespected Our Captain calling her a bottom of the barrel pick, the lively Chicago crowd warmly welcomed Kai to the fold during her introduction. Tegan too got a massive show of love from the fans. At home. In the venue. The greater Team Kick was excited to see The Captains teaming up at a TakeOver event in a historic match at that. But they would have to wait because LeRae and Shirai started the match for their teams. The remaining women awaited entry in Team Shark Cages on the entrance ramp.

The first interval was five minutes. After that, every three minutes the teams would alternate sending in a new member. Ripley came in second for her team, leaving Kai and Nox to come in at the third and final spots. They decided Kai would go in first. Kai's face was covered with a grin as her eyes were focused on the locked door with the timer counting down to Zero. Tegan rallied her on, excited to see her friend unleash her kicks on the opposing team. Nox rubbed Kai's shoulders, hopping up and down as the referee unlocked the door.

Dakota Kai marched out of the shark cage like a boss as Nox rallied her into battle. Kai stopped in her tracks on the ramp, still as can be for that fateful moment in time. Was there hesitation? Even a subtle hint of remorse? We may never know. Kai turned around, a scowl taking over her face. She took off like a cheetah, smashing Nox in the face with the Kaio-Kick. The crowd was a gasp, soon turning livid feeling just as betrayed as Nox would when she came to her senses. Dakota stepped away from Nox who fell in a heap.

Kai stood still for a moment, pondering fate. Was she having second thoughts? If so, she made the choice to forsake them grabbing Nox and wringing her against the right side of the cage then the left, repeat. Kai exited the cage, pacing for a moment sickly deciding what to do next. She grabbed Nox's hands through the bars and helped her up, smashing her hard into the steel. Nox toppled backward, landing face first. Tegan desperately crawled to the open door, which Kai slammed into the crown of her skull.

Shayna watched on from the opposite shark cage, smiling like a Cheshire cat at her opponents coming undone at their own hands. Nox cried in anguish as Kai slammed the door twelve times against the surgically repaired knee she had rehabbed alongside her. Kai ripped the knee brace off Nox and intended more damage but Regal pushed her off. Regal was livid at Kai, and this is a man who did some sadistic things back in his day. Kai didn't take kindly to Regal, attacking him with a violent push that would have topped him over if not for a referee grabbing him.

Dakota grabbed the knee brace, staring at the ring where Rhea and Candice could only watch on in horror. Shirai, Belair and KLR talked amongst themselves, perhaps even sharing in the horror. KLR and Io had known Kai for years and never saw this side of her. Even during a darker period of her days as Evie in New Zealand and Australia, such a violent streak was never present. Kai shouted a crude word at Ripley. The Captain scowled at Regal and the referee gaggle as they reprimanded her to leave. She would but not for long.

Nox cried in anguish caressing her possibly reinjured knee. Her screams worsened as Kai ran back out, pounding away at the knee of her now clearly former friend. She would switch over to tugging away at it, wailing like a banshee.. Regal managed after a struggle to pull Kai off Nox. Dakota paced back and forth for a moment before staring dead eye at Ripley from a far. Kai shouted that this is what Ripley wanted. She was correct. Ripley initially didn't think Kai had the violent streak in her for WarGames. Kai had just proven her wrong.

That was it. Dakota Kai had done what she felt she had to do. The Captain of Team Kick exited stage for the evening. Medics attended to Tegan Nox as the WarGames Match continued. Team Ripley won, giving both Kai and Nox their first TakeOver and WarGames match victory without even stepping foot in the rings. That was historic in itself but that mattered not on that night.

Sadistic. Cruel. Dastardly. Those are three words both the Dakota and Tegan Chronicler in me will freely use to describe Kai's betrayal of Nox. But there is one word both voices will not utter because they don't believe Dakota has ever been so: Evil. This anger came from a place of genuine hurt. Deep down, I believe there was still a good heart but it had to stop beating for a time for her to move forward. On that fateful cold autumn night in Chicago, threads were spun that set in motion all that was to come for Our Captain.

Additional Information | Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox defeated NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray (27:24) in a WarGames Match. The match took place on November 23, 2019 during WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.