Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 1

Love.  I used to see love stories in the movies when I was a kid, not romantic movies, no, that only got me interested much later in life, when I actually started falling in love, but they always put some kind of romantic angle in action movies or animated movies, actually, pretty much every movie. So, I grew up watching all those happy couples forming and thought that that was the norm; that eventually I’d just meet a girl, we’d fall in love and that was it. Happy ending.

At the time that wasn’t my main concern, though. Videogames, movies… That was my main concern. But when I started my teen years, that changed. Not to say that I stopped playing videogames and watching movies, no, that’s something I love doing even now, but I started paying more attention to girls, wanting to fall in love, and wanting to have that happy ending.
When I first fell in love I found out that those movies where but a big lie. She didn’t love me back, and I had to live with that, it wasn’t easy, I didn’t knew how to deal most of the feelings I felt during that time, and honestly I still don’t.

But this story is not that one, nor is it a love story. It’s a story about love.

It starts when I was a 20 year old kid. I spend half an hour getting my hair straight, before I gave up and went to get myself dressed. I picked up a pair of jeans, since I never bought anything that wasn’t jeans, and grabbed a button-down shirt. I looked at my phone to check the time.

I was late!

I jumped out of my room, grabbing my coat and wallet along the way, and went to the door, just to be stopped by my mother.

‘What’s with the shirt?’  She asked me.

‘What?’

‘I never saw you with that shirt.’

‘It was the first I grabbed. Now, I need to go catch the train! See you, mom!” I gave her a kiss in the forehead and left, leaving her saying something behind me. I managed to put some songs playing on my mp3, while jumping on the train and leaving to my date.

I had about one hour of looking in the mirror, thinking and listening to various songs, before reaching my destination.  During that time I thought about her, I had met her just a couple months before that, but I was completely in love with her. She seemed like the perfect girl, first of all she was a bit of a nerd, I knew only nerdy girls would like me, but that was okay, I liked nerd girls, secondly, she was beautiful, thirdly, she was nice, fourthly… Well, I could go on and on, but that was not the point. The point was that I loved her, and I was pretty much sure she loved me back, that day could very well be the day I’d finally get a girlfriend.

My stomach contracted with this thought. I was super nervous, but that was normal, after all, I decided to tell her I’d love her that day. I was never the courageous type, so I wasn’t even sure those words would come out of my mouth, but I had to do all my best to make it so.

And so I did, at the end of our date I grabbed her by her arms and muttered an “I love you” that I wasn’t even sure she could hear it. Though by her face, I concluded she did, and that she didn’t like it.

She shook nervously, or maybe it was me shaking her, I wasn’t sure. She shoved me away lightly, and muttered a ‘Sorry, but we can’t.’ And then she left.

I stood there, couldn’t even reply back, not that it would change anything. I saw her leaving and did nothing, my body didn’t move. All my dreams destroyed back into reality.

I should have expected that, really, I never expected anybody to like a no-life, idiotic guy like me. But I had hope, they say hope is the last to die, but it did die that moment.

I don’t know how long I stayed there, nor do I recall when I started walking back. I just recall getting myself in the park and lay down near a tree.

I would have cried, if tears still felt from my face. I felt like it, it would sure make things better, even if slightly, but my body refused to cry for her.

I felt like doing a lot of things, I felt like destroying stuff, it would help my anger, I felt like screaming, I felt like running and throw myself out of a bridge or in front of a truck, even if only for a fraction of a second. I felt like running after her and kiss her.

And yet I did nothing of that. I just stood there looking at the sky, waiting for the night to pass, listening to my music.

Minutes passed, and so did hours. I thought about my whole life then, my life in college, or should I say, my failure, my inability to attract girls, the fact that I was growing up and becoming nothing.  And I wanted her to come back and hug me, I really need it at that moment, but she never came, she didn’t love me. That was a harsh reality I had to live with.

‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!’

Okay, either my brain just took a mouth of its own and started screaming against my will, or was there someone on the other side of this tree lifting a bit of rage. And by the sound of it, it was a girl. I got up and looked behind the tree.

And that’s when I met her.

Chapter 2

She was screaming as loud as she could. Her brown eyes so open I was afraid her eyeballs would pop out of her head.

‘Hey’ I interrupted her.

Immediate silence, but I was expecting that.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked looking around. We were completely alone.

‘Mourning…’

‘About what, now?’

‘Myself.’

There was a small pause that I used to check her out better. Those brown eyes were still fixed on me, with a long light brown hair coming down her face till around her chest. She was quite pretty, but slightly younger than me.

‘I’m doing a bit of that myself.’ She finally muttered.

‘I noticed, this seems like a good place for that. Do… do you come here often?’

‘A couple times, for happier reasons. But I’ll probably won’t be coming here soon… If ever.’

‘Awww… So I won’t be hearing your screams again?’

For my surprise she actually chuckled.

‘If you liked it so much maybe we can organize a concert just for you.’ She sighed. ‘I’ll be going.’
She patted in my shoulder when she passed by me and walked back into the city.

I was ready to sit on the ground again when I saw something shinning in the grass. I laid down to see what it was. I found myself a sharp razor.

‘Hey miss!’ I screamed back in her direction while grabbing the object. She replied with a “What?” and I ran to her.

‘I think you forgot this.’ I showed her the razor in my hands.

‘You can keep it, or throw it away. Don’t care.’

‘Do you cut yourself?’

She did not reply, instead she grabbed her purse and took a cigarette from it. ‘Smoke?’

‘No, thank you. I don’t smoke.’ I replied

‘Me neither.’ She said looking at the cigarette and turned back. ‘Nor do I cut myself.’

I saw her leave while I hold the razor.

Interesting girl, I thought to myself, and stared at the razor for a minute or so. During that time I thought about a couple things. Why would people be driven to cut themselves? Would it really relieve stress? Wouldn’t it hurt? Did it really give pleasure?

The more I looked the more I had the urge to pass it through my wrists. When I realized this I let the razor drop on the floor and decided to let it there, shaking off those thoughts out of my head.
By this time it was pretty late already, so I decided to walk back to the train stop and hopefully get home before my mother called me asking where the hell I was. It was a fifteen minute walk from the woods till the station, but I didn’t mind. With my music player I felt quite relaxed. The moments of the encounter had vanished and the ones of the rejection had surface again. The walk helped me refresh my head, thinking about what I should do next. I had to move on, right? But how? That was the main question. It wasn’t just that simple. And keep going after her was out of the question too…

I sighed and sat on the train station waiting for my train to come. It was more twenty minutes of waiting. I could have stayed in the woods for a while more. It wouldn’t matter much, but it was a better place than in here.

‘Are you following me?’

I looked to my left side and almost let a scream out of my mouth. It was the exact same girl that was in the woods.

‘N-no. I’m just going home. I’m catching the next train.’ I said

She looked me in the eyes, probably to try to see if I was lying or was really a stalker.

‘You sure you’re not going to rape me?’

‘I’m just going home! I swear!’

She chuckled yet again. For someone that appeared to be in such a painful situation, she did chuckled a lot. Maybe I could learn from her.

‘I’m just messing with you. We seem to live close to each other.’

‘Yeah, I go to the end of the line though.’

‘Just one stop difference between us then.’

‘Really?  Though, this is the first time I see you. ’

“We probably already crossed each other’s path. But since there was no reason to remember our faces, you won’t remember it.”

“Makes sense… I’m Jack.” I showed my hand for her to shake, but she instead went right to a kiss in the cheek. I got pretty red and she probably noticed, since she chuckled again.

“Rae. My name is Rae.”

“Nice to meet you.” I said, smiling. “I guess since we’ll be together for most of the ride we can take a time to meet each other.”

“I’m 17.”

“I’m not hitting on you!”

“Sure, you’re not…” She chuckled again.

“Why are you so happy?”

She looked at me like I had just said something extremely weird. Maybe I did.

“I mean, you were screaming just a couple minutes ago, and your face at the time showed you were going through a very hard moment. But you keep smiling… How do you do that?” I explained.

She looked up, trying to think of an answer and then just shrug.  At the same time the train arrived.

“I just do it. I think it comes with a person.  You need to smile right? So I do it.” She got up. “I’ll be going in a different carriage. You don’t want to risk anybody you know seeing you with me and then thinking you’re turning into a lolicon!”

She pulled her tongue out and entered the train. I entered in a different carriage like she asked. I was pretty sure she was the one that didn’t want to be caught with me. I guess that’s natural.
I sat near a window so I could see the view outside and put my music at maximum volume. The whole trip I was thinking again on the woman who had just rejected me and how much I loved her. I knew it wouldn’t bring her back, it wouldn’t solve anything, and it would definitely not help forgetting her, but that was all I could do. My stomach hurt the entire trip and kept hurting for days and weeks to come. And even after that I still felt pretty hurt. But just before I went to bed, I actually thought about the girl I just met. Rae, was her? I’d like to meet her again. I really don’t have any love interest on her or any of the kind, but I’d like to know more about her and that razor she had.  

It was then that I remembered something. She said “lolicon”, not many people knew that term, except, mostly, for anime nerds. I was one, so I knew it, maybe she was too. I had to keep a note to ask her, if I ever ended up meeting her again.

And destiny would dictate that we would, a lot.

Arc 1 – Bandle City
Prologue – The door to the Glade

           Valoran has many creatures and legends, from the simple human, to the most grotesque of Orcs, but there isn’t any more loved in all of it than the Yordles.  The Yordles rarely grow past the size of a human child and they are generally distinguished by their peculiar skin colour. Generally purple, or blue, but that’s noticeable more in the females, since the male Yordles tend to have their bodies completely covered in fur, making them similar to rodents.  You can find them in their home town, Bandle City.  Most of them will be very friendly and social with you, it’s in their nature. In fact, not being with other beings for far too long may have very bad consequences to a Yordle. But there’s a little Yordle that prefers to spend her time in the forest than with other children.
           Lulu was very beautiful for her race, her smooth skin was light purple, and it was complemented by slightly darker hair that ran down past her feet and green eyes.  She never left home without her faithful golden hat that was almost her size, or her staff, made of an old branch of an even older tree.  She loved to transform things into little animals or plants. Or simply make things bigger. She could almost reach human size when she casted that one on herself.
           That day Lulu was doing what she did best, after saying goodbye to her friends, she set her feet on the forest and went to a world that belonged only to her.  The trees light the way, the animals celebrated her coming, and everyone danced in bright and cheerful colours, the songs reached far and wide, the fairies flew high above her and gnomes dig right below her.  This was a world that nobody but her saw, a world that existed not in reality, but in Lulu herself. The world of her imagination.
           She only met Pix a few hours later; she was far deep into the forest by then. At first she thought it was but a butterfly, it was only upon second observation that she noticed the dark spirit was slightly different.
“What are you doing around here? “  The creature asked curiously, looking at the purple Yordle.
“What do you mean?” The girl asked back.
“You… You’ve dancing around the forest; singing, avoiding things that I don’t see, talk to things I don’t see…”
The Yordle giggled.
“You have to use your imagination. This world is beautiful when you do it!”
The fairy tilted his head to the side. He found Lulu funny, curious… interesting. Everyone else lived in reality, but not her. ‘Hum… Would she do the same if she lived in my world?’ the creature pondered. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Lulu.”
“Well, Lulu, would you like to visit a world fit of your imagination? The world of the fae spirits, like myself? The world of the most beautiful places and creatures? Would you like to visit the Glade?”
Lulu smiled and didn’t even ponder the question before replying a sounding “Yes!”
The fae smiled at the answer and flew around her. “Great! Follow me then!”  He turned and guided her the way through the forest.
She didn’t noticed exactly when she left her world, but after a while the surroundings became fairly different. The creatures like the one that had guided her to that place now where everywhere around her. The trees changed colours and sizes, and so did the ground and the sky. The world was even better than her imagination.
“Who are you?” She asked
“Me? I’m Pix, the fae spirit!” he replied, smiling. “Do you like my world?”
“Yeah… Can I stay here for a while?”
“But of course!”
And so she did. Lulu lost herself completely in that world, playing with Pix and the others of his kind. He taught her how to improve her magic, and she felt happy… right in that world. The years passed and passed and she forgot completely about Bandle City. That was until she overheard one of the fae spirits saying it was going to Lulu’s world to another.
She ran back to Pix and told him to send her back to her world.
“But you love it here! Don’t you, Lulu?” He asked.
“I do… And I’d love to come back to play with you more, but this isn’t my home. Bandle City is, and everyone must be completely worried about me!”
Pix eventually ceded and guided her back to her world. She ran back from the forest to Bandle City, to meet with her mother and father again. Oh, how worried they should be! Pix flew right beside her, but when they reached Bandle City, she froze in place.
“What’s wrong?” Pix questioned Lulu, waving in front of her eyes.
Lulu didn’t move from the shock. No, this couldn’t be happening! It had to be a dream! Her eyes refused to believe it! The Bandle City she saw wasn’t the one she had lived in anymore. The buildings were now completely different from last time. The recently build fountain in the middle of the city was the only indication she was in the right place, but even then, it was now completely rusty, like many centuries had passed.
“What happened?” Lulu finally muttered to herself.

The Other

Every night I have the same nightmare, or it would be more correct to say, “memory”. The nightmare that I am going to tell here haunts me since I was six years old and shall haunt me for the rest of my life, whether I am thirty or three hundred years old.

This dream starts in a house where I lived for six years, but I do not have many memories of the place, and this few are extremely valuable to me, as they include my father and my mother. It was a big red house, with two floors, situated in the middle of the woods a couple kilometers from the city. In my dream I am in the living room and I am dining with my parents, my father warns me that my hair is touching the food and push the black hair back, and proceed to eat the rest of the food like there would be no tomorrow. In a certain way, I was right. My father was already tired of telling me not to do that, so he just nodded his head in disagreement. My mother watched the news, I remember so well, a woman knifed to death, husband and sons disappeared. A mysterious crime, that, as I recall, it wasn’t solved till today, and now it’s not relevant at all. I’ve finished my plate and went to sit in the sofa, I wanted to play some video games, but my father forbid me, so I get ready to go to my room when my mother calls me, asking me if I wanted anything for diseart. I said yes, I wanted scrambled eggs. And Lord Almighty, how I regret that choice. I could have chosen ice cream, fruit or a yogurt, like any normal person, but no, I had to chose scrambled eggs and my mother, in all her good-will, went to light the oven.

The next image is so present in my head that I can see it perfectly whenever I close my eyes. The match scratch the box and there’s an explosion that throws my mother outside the kitchen. I still don’t know exactly what happened. I am thrown back against a wall and everything goes black.

When I return to me the house is completely tainted red, the flames now cover the beds, walls, everything! I run, I don’t know exactly where I am running with the panic, but to the closest exit isn’t for sure. Eventually I end up hiding in my room, but the result is the same, not even here the fire stopped. I feel something hot falling on me, it’s the curtains, also on fire, I take them out of me the closest that I can, but it’s too late, it burns my shirt, and I take it too, but at this point the damage is irreversible. The burn left by this incident is, curiously, similar to a butterfly, but I did not noticed that in time, not only because I couldn’t see my back without a mirror, the situation did not left time to stop and look. I did touch my back and quickly wished not too. A wave of pain burst inside me, but my biggest horror wa teh texture of my back, it felt like it was melting.
I kept running till I saw two shadows, I approached them screaming for my parents, and I was right, it was them, they didn’t look like them, but they where. My mother little more was than a big dark and burned body and my father, although more easier to recognize, also had burns all over his body, and laid dead hugging my mother in a scene that seemed to be taken from a movie to make the most sentimental cry. I ran to hug them, but the same texture I had in my back covered their entire body. I let them go, with repulsion, and then I saw her, from the window, a small girl, around my age.

I will never forget that golden hair, those brown eyes, they looked at me for a long time, I tried to scream for help, for her to stop the fire, for her to call someone, something, but I wasn’t able to make a sound, I only looked back at her, and she lookin at me, smiling, but not a smile of someone who wants to hurt us, or that is having pleasure with this, she smiled to me like I was an old friend of her that she just recently met again.

I let out a scream, or at least, I think I did, but I hardly think she heard me over the sound of the flames.  But the girl must have noticed my mouth moving because she answered by shaking her hand in front of me, she was greeting me? No! Damn you, evil golden-haired girl! Save me!

The noise of the flames is slowly overthrown by the sound of sirens. The face of the girl gets a shiny blue tone and she runs away from the house. At this point I pass out, the last sound I hear is a beating in the door.

At this point I wake up. From what I recall, I was taken to the hospital where they assisted me, and a week later I got out to go live with my grandma.

As for the girl, still today, twenty years later, I haven’t seen her again, and I have found no further information about who she is. But if I ever see her again, even after all these years I bet I can still recognize her. I swear upon my name, Naviel!

The rain drops makes it harder to run, but I can't stop. The apocalypse is here, and I'm one of the few survivors, and I'm not going to succumb now! That I will tell you!
Rip their hoofs, rip their eyes, you can even rip their heart, they still walk. The dead are really walking. Yet, a simple shot in the head, or any other way to smash their brains into smithereens and they stop. That's how I managed to survive, one shot to the head, no wasting bullets.
Finally, I can see my safehouse, not that you can call a house tree fortified with more wood a true safe house, but it managed to save me so far. I have to be careful with those pegasi though. I was hoping they couldn't fly since the unicorns can't seem to be able to do magic, but later days prove that theory wrong...
I feel a hoof grabbing my leg, I turn around, one bullet, one shot. I have no time to waste and I'm sure not going to die for a couple bags of chips... But damn, I'm hungry and the food is ending.
With one jump I get up to the safe house and close the door with me already inside.
Safe. Now to eat the chips...
"Help me" A female voice came from the outside of my window. I wouldn't have check it out if I didn't knew that the zombies weren't able to talk.
A gray pegasus was knocking at the window, she seemed hurt and tired. Now, I didn't had much space or resources to maintain more than one pony around, but I wouldn't going to say no to a pretty lady.
"Please let me in" She kept saying, carefully not to draw attention to potential pegasi zombies around.
"Get in here" I told her as I opened the windows for her to enter. That was when I first noticed her eyes.
"You alright?" I asked her, hopping the answer would be yes. I could not handle injured ponies around, I just didn't had the conditions.
"Yeah, yeah" She answered me.
She looked to me with her golden eyes, so dark, so ugly, so... beautiful. Never had I seen eyes so magical and so disturbing at the same time. The clock said I spent two seconds looking at them, but for me it felt like much more. A tear falling from her right eye waked me up from my trance.
"Thank you! Thank you so much for saving me!" She kneel before me crying.
"Now, now. Don't need to cry. But you have to promise me you're going to help me, I barely have enough resources for me." I told her.
She nodded her head in sign of agreement.
"Good. Now take this." I gave her a blanket so she could dry herself and one of the bags of chips I was able to get inside the store, for some reason I think I'm going to regret giving her the latest, but ladies first, that was what my mother always taught me. And it was nice to have company for the first time in weeks. At least not a company that the only word they can say is "argh".
"Argh" She screamed. Well, there goes my theory.
"You alright?" I asked her again, but this time not waiting for an answer I went to check her out.
Shit! Fuck! Damn! And whatever name you want to put in here! Thats a bite in her left wing... I can recognize that a mile away now. How many people around me died thanks to the deadly symbol of teeth I see now? My mother, my best friend, even my colleges. Once you're bitten there's no way out. And now she's here... She's inside my house.
"What?" She asked me. I'm too afraid to answer. Oh God... Can I kill her? Can I get the courage? I never had to kill a living one before, and I sure don't want to do it with her...
"Is there anything wrong with me?" She asked again
Could she not know?
"You.. You're bitten by zombie."
"So?" One word. One simple word can affect a pony so much. She does not realize her faith, she does not know that in a matter of hours she will be like the ones outside. Am I really going to be the one to tell her? I can't. I need to kill her right here right now.
"Nothing lady. Say, what's your name again?"
"Derpy. Derpy Hooves. Why are you shaking mister?"
Because you may turn into a zombie at anytime, I wanted to say, but I couldn't.
Then, an idea came to my mind. Did she really needed her left wing?
"I was looking to your left wing. It has gotten an infection." I told her. " We may have to cut it"
"Cut it?" I could see the panic on her damaged eyes. I didn't want to do it either, but it was the only solution.
"Y-yes. Please, it's for your own good. You know when we get serious infections we may have to cut them!"
"NO!"
I didn't even knew ponies could scream that loud. And to help the situation the scream was accompanied by the noises of the zombies that were attracted by it.
"Ok, ok. Calm down, sorry for suggesting something so horrible. Please, eat something."
I don't know much about fighting, but I do know that there's a right place in the neck, that if hit the person is knocked out. And I think it's right... there! While she was distracted with the food.
Now... Grab the cord and tie her down, and the saw...
Oh Celestia, am I really doing this? I close my eyes, but the sound of the bones breaking and the blood that splattered all around my body will remain in my memory forever. But it was all for her own good. She's better now.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The scream wake me up as the pegasus tried her best to get out of the cords. I knew it was a good idea to keep her tied. The first shock is too big.
"What did you do?" She asked me, her beautiful eyes full of anger.
"I saved you... The bite you have turned you into a zombie... I saved your life"
"Let me go! Let me go right now!" She tried to fly, to jump, to kick, but after all efforts she just fell into a corner too tired to even talk. Time to sleep, for both of us.
When I wake up Derpy still looked at me, much more calm.
"You feeling better?" No response, just the stare. "Ok, I guess I can untie you now. You just need to know that it was all for your own good"
As I went to untie her I felt a bite, her bite. She bite my right hoof? Her teeth were strong enough to rip my hoof off.
I felt in front of her, she still tied down, now eating my hoof. It didn't work, she became a zombie anyway, and now it was my turn. It seems I'm not going to be in history books.
Ah, at least I'll die looking into those beautiful eyes.

This scene starts in the backstage of Ignite, we are presented to a couple workers of HKW, none important, as they get startled due to someone screaming.
CARNIVAL: OBJECTION! OBJECTION! TAKE THAT! OBJECTION! MY BAD! TAKE THAT! TAKE THAT! TAKE THA-
From the corner emerges Carnival screaming at a brand new 3DS, everyone was just staring at her.
CARNIVAL: Mhmmm… The microphone must not be working anymore… another try! TAKE THAT! TAKE THAT! TAKE THAT! Ugh… fine… I’ll press Y.
Carnival continues walking down the corridor with her eyes on her console. She’s so focused on her video game, that she doesn’t notice three females approaching her. It appears to be the Diamond Twins, who are covering their ears, they are joined by Amber Monroe.
CARISSA DIAMOND: OMFG! What is the annoying noise, it sounds like someone’s suffocating a rat!
CANDICE DIAMOND: Oh, look! It is a little rat, Miss Roxanne, but no one’s suffocating her….YET!
The three girls step closer to Carnival. She finally looks up and notices them.
CARNIVAL: Oh! M’ladies! What a wonderful afternoon! Why are you approaching me in a threatening way?
CANDICE DIAMOND: Like you don’t know! You sprayed blue whatever in our faces last week….and my sister and I don’t appreciate that! YOU GOT A LOT OF NERVE SHOWING YOUR FACE HERE!
CARISS DIAMOND: Dead bitch walking….DEAD BITCH WALKING!
As the Diamond double team Carnival, Amber Monroe sneaks behind Carnival with a dazed look on her face. She even starts patting the top of Carnival’s head, letting out an evil giggle while doing so. Carnival, though, doesn’t seem nervous at all.
CARNIVAL: Why am I the one with a lot of nerve? You guys are the ones that showed your face here after losing and being sprayed with a mana potion. Now, if you excuse me, I have some business to take care, can’t you see I’m a lawyer?
Carnival shows them the console, where she is playing the newest Ace Attorney game. The twins both smile, nearly identically, then nod at Amber. The Cocaine Barbie grabs a handful of hair from ontop of Carnival’s head, she then wraps her arms around Carnivals neck applying a lot of pressure.
CARISSA DIAMOND: We ALSO have some business to take care of! You have the right to shut the fuck up!
Carissa shoves Carnival into the chest of Amber, gripping her face mocking her.. Before Carnival can even react Candice places a piece of red duct tape on Carnivals mouth. Once this happens Carissa assists Amber by grabbing her legs. Both women quickly drag Carnival to a vacant room, while Candice praises the whole thing. Once the get to the dark, cold room, there’s a chair in the middle, in the mean time, Carnival is doing her best to headbut and kick them with no avail. Her hands being the only thing she could use, but she seems to still be trying to play the game while all this is going on, never stop trying to scream over the duct tape, also not producing results. Her trying to fight only angers Amber even more, she tugs her by the hair, forcing her to sit in the chair. Amber gets her in the chair but gets a kick to the face while doing so, this causes Candice to pull out a large can of, it appears to be hairspray. She sprays Carnival in the face with the sticky substance.
AMBER MONROE: You really need to do something about these SPLIT ENDS!
In her hand is a clump of Carnival’s dark hair, she examines it before throwing it to the ground. The Diamond Twins begin to tie Dr. Carnival into the chair with pink and black rope, they of course start with her arms, then go to her feet. Only then do Carnival gets really pissed because, you know, she can’t play the game like this. She starts moving and trying her best to release herself, trying to kick and headbut the girls. One kick nails Candice right in her eye, she stutters back placing her hand over her face.
CANDICE DIAMOND: Ow! You little bitch!!
Seeing her sister’s small injury, Carissa slaps Carnival in her face. Amber then skips over, not affected by the chaos. She leans over to Carnival, attempting to play the Ace Attorney game.
AMBER MONROE: Ugh, this game is so stupid! Who would want to be a lawyer anyway? What’s wrong Roxie?! CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE?
She begins to laugh evilly, then aggressively rips the tape off of Carnival’s mouth.
CARNIVAL: ARGH! That hurts, you idiot! Gimme that! You obviously don’t understand a complex game like that, cuz you’re too dumb! LIKE YO MOMMA!
Carnival puts her tongue out, mockingly.
CARNIVAL: As you can see, the cat didn’t eat anything.
Amber’s eyes appear to go darker when the word ‘dumb’ comes out of Carnival’s mouth, she smacks Carnival’s face with the video game then smashes it to the floor. Her excessive anger, break both the console and the game inside. The Diamonds chuckle, waiting for Carnival’s reaction.
Carnival’s eyes open wide and she tries to get out of the ropes.
CARNIVAL: Did you just smashed my console!? You know how much that thing costed me? You must think every one is rich like you! You’re dead bitch! You’re all dead! When I rule the world you’ll be the first to go!
Candice still rubbing her eye, shakes her head. They look at Amber, who’s still grinding her feet on the leftovers of the video game. Noticing her cousin’s staring her down, she nods her head at each twin.
AMBER MONROE: Candice, Carissa…..GET THE STUFF!
Both girls go to the corner, where a large bucket of cheese is. Each of them pick up a side, they walk behind Carnival, who can smell the melted cheese. It’s when they go to pour it over her, that they’re interrupted by Yukiko entering into the room. She seems confused at first, glancing from Carnival to the Diamonds but once the situation clarifies the expression turns to a more serious one.
CARNIVAL: THIS IS SO CHEESY!!!
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: Release her!
CARNIVAL: Evil Asian! You came to save me! Okay… we really need another supervillain for you, Yukiko.
Hearing Yukiko demands, causes Candice to jump accidentally releasing the bucket. Carissa sensing it falling so she lets go, the cheese falls to the ground, some even splattering on the legs of the twins. Amber blinks repeatedly still unsure of what’s going on.
CARISSA DIAMOND: CANDICE!! Look what you did, you got cheese all over my socks!
CANDICE DIAMOND: It’s not my fault! That Asian dyke made me drop it….You scared me you whore!
Yukiko glares towards the two women both hands gripping at her sides.
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: I am not a whore! You are disrespectful and  both of you are cowards for tying up Carnival-chan.
She takes a moment to think over something over before speaking once more.
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: Or you do not have the proper skills to beat her?
Yukiko smirks towards the Diamonds. Carnival shakes her head.
CARNIVAL: No… you’ll get me on a 3 versus 1 match, next Ignite or something. Don’t do that.
With the Diamonds still wiping the cheese, Amber smirks rubbing her hands back and forward.
AMBER MONROE: A three on one, wouldn’t be fair, plus I have bigger fish to fly!
CARNIVAL: Fishes don’t fly, dumb ass.
CARISSA DIAMOND: Am-BUR! It’s FRY! You have bigger fish to FRY….
AMBER MONROE: Shut up Carissa, I’m not even hungry. So like I was saying how about next week on iGnite we do a tag team match, preparing for the tag team invite only match at Almost Famous. Yeah! How about that?!
Carnival just looked at Yukiko.
CARNIVAL: Just punch their faces so we can go?
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: Carnival-chan, I cannot go around punching them in the face however…
Yukiko rushes over to Carissa grabbing her wrist before wrenching it up and behind her back. With just as much speed Yukiko shoves Carissa into her sister sending them both stumbling.
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: I am not here to listen to you jabber about nonsense.
CARNIVAL: Well, you chose the wrong tag partner, didn’t you?!
The Diamond Twins stumble over to Amber, who helps hold them up. Carissa seem more angry than her sister.
CARISSA DIAMOND: How dare you touch me?! Eww, now I need to take an hour long shower! But Amber’s right, next week on iGNITE we challenge you sluts to a tornado tag team match!
AMBER MONROE: OMG, there’s gonna be a tornado next week! I didn’t know we were going to Kansas, duck and cover!!
CARNIVAL: This girl didn’t go to college, did she?
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: Carnival and I accept the challenge! You need to repent for your dishonorable actions today.
CANDICE DIAMOND: Why do you talk like you have a stick up your butt?!
AMBER MONROE: You’re so right Candice! Why are all Asians so serious, maybe it’s in the water! Look, even his face looks tight….I’ll loosen it up for you.
Amber pokes the face of Yukiko not giving her any personal space. She smirks before swinging her hand to smack her across the face until Yukiko grabs Amber’s wrist tightly. The palm of Yukiko’s hand smacks across Amber’s cheek before she releases the woman’s wrist. Amber steps back holding on to her face.
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: I am not a man.
CANDICE DIAMOND: OMG! How dare you! You slapped her face, we are #TOPNOTCH you peasant! Amber are you okay?
AMBER MONROE:......You just made the biggest mistake of your entire life….YOU CAN’T SIT WITH USSS!!!!!!!!
Stomping her foot hard, Amber begins screaming on the top of her lungs. She kicks the door open, storming off still clutching onto her cheek and screaming. Candice and Carissa both look at each other, upset and confused.
DIAMOND TWINS: Yeah! WHAT SHE SAID!
The twins then stomp out of the room, holding hands, while they call for Amber. Yukiko shakes her head before returning to Carnival’s side to untie her from the chair.
CARNIVAL: So… are we just going to ignore the fact that Twin number 2 used an hashtag in a normal conversation? Okay then. Then I’m the crazy one.
YUKIKO ICHIHARA: We are going to ignore the fact they stated I could not sit with them? Why would I sit with them when I could sit with you and Sensei? It does not matter.
CARNIVAL: Maybe they wanted a civilized dinner.
Carnival shrugs and skips out with Yukiko following her right behind as the scene fades to black.

The Required Promo

“Crash” by Decypher Down hit the arena, people looked curiously, to see who this new wrestlers was. Crash, an old school veteran from UWA slide down the ring and raised his hands to the audience.

Crash:
HEEEEEY! How is ever-

He never really got the time to finish his sentence has a chair shot hit him in the arm. He screamed and let the mic hit the ground.
I knew the guy, it was my cousin’s friend. He had retired pretty early after a car crash completely destroyed his left arm.
I didn’t even give him time to reply to my attack has my foot hit his chin for a perfect Memory Check. I looked at his unconscious body and then to the booing audience, before grabbing the microphone to deliver some words of my own.

Jack:
It’s really not the time for injured, half-assed, mediocre, old wrestlers to be joining, you know? You go back to the hole where you came from, because this screen time is reserved to me! And it’s too bad if you don’t like that because when I get that Deep South Title I’m sure has Hell get more screen time. Now, someone take this thrash back outside. We really don’t have space in the roster by someone who gets knocked out by a chair.
And let’s hope that Diego isn’t one to feint by a simple chair shot either, because if he is, that title shot will be easier to get than I thought.

I kicked Crash out of the ring and jumped on top of one of the corners.

Jack:
I really wanted to be part of the Sole Survivor, if I want to be totally honest, to have a chance to fight the best of the best and leave with the most important title.
But I can accept that I’m not there just yet. I need to be refined, polished, and cleaned up so that my skills can shine like a diamond. For that Diego is the perfect opponent. He’s not a weak opponent like the likes of Assassin, Dior or BG Jones. He’s someone I can actually respect in ring and actually do my best to win. For that I am happy that he’s my last obstacle in the road for the Championship… well, not forgetting the champion itself, of course.
And I’m happy. I am! Category Five, or Cat 5 as it is known now for the hip kids in town, is a fantastic and classic event, but who’ll win my match will get to go face the Deep South Champion in Moment of Glory IV, and Moment of Glory is the greatest arena we could play here in GIW. And to get a chance to become champion and shove it in all your faces there… I couldn’t be happier, really.

While I was talking I could hear a familiar voice humming, Puppa. I was not aware of what she was doing at the time. And so she calmly set up a table behind me and lit on fire. Then she grabbed the chair I had used to hurt Crash, kicking the still unconscious body a bit and approached me, on the corner.
She gave me that weird smile of hers that tell me that everything is going to be okay, and at the same time that not even she doesn’t believes in that. And then she hits me with the chair right in the face, making me lose balance and fall right in the table on fire.
I obviously start rolling around to stop the fire. Someone from GIW entered the ring with a fire extinguisher and used it on me and the table to finally stop the fire.
When I noticed I was fine I immediately got up and got really close to Puppa’s face.
Jack:
What the Hell do you think you’re doing?!!

Puppa:
I was just proving a point to everyone! You see, this is not a normal match, not by any means! This is a no disqualification match! In No DQ matches everything and anything goes and it will go! Chairs, tables, barbed wires, ladders, and who else knows! There’s no such thing as a low blow, anyone can join in the party, blood will probably run and I’ll be sure to be there to lick it.
In no disqualification matches, more than any other, the capacity to bear pain will be really important, since anyone can just grab a weapon and shove it up your ass. What I did was prove to you, Diego, Liggins and the audience that this is a point where you have a definite advantage! You’re someone who is familiar to pain from back in the day when you were my little doggy! Oh, I’m sorry, you still are!

She smiled, more happily and twisted now. I had gotten good in recognizing her smiles. They told stories on their own.
I looked deep in her eyes and sighed. She was right, about everything. This was a No DQ match, anything would go, hopefully not ladders though, I still didn’t feel comfortable in climbing that high, but chairs, tables, and everything else was allowed, and I knew I was resistant to pain. The question was if Diego was too. And finally, it was true.
I was still her dog.

Puppa:
People, I present to you, my dearest, the soon to be Deep South Champion, JACK WATERS!

I put my arm around her shoulder and we left the arena to the sound of “Mommy’s Little Monsters” by Creature Feature, Puppa’s personal theme song, and, of course, it was tainted by the sound of the boos from the audience, but that only made the whole song sound better.

KFC

That day I woke up with Puppa, my new manager, but old friend, poking me with those large sharp nails of her. When I opened my eyes and looked at her she was licking my blood of her nail.

Puppa:
Wakky, wakky, my sunshine. You really think you can face Diego by sleeping? If you don’t catch up you better not even appear in the match.

Jack:
What time is it?

Puppa:
It’s 2PM, so get up and come to the kitchen. I already bought something to eat and Gregory’s already there too.

I got up and went after her. When I got the kitchen I saw Gregory already in the table and Puppa taking out a couple KFC boxes from her bag.

Puppa:
Oh, by the way, I think I saw Diego at the KFC.

Gregory:
That’s racist.

Puppa:
What now?

Gregory:
Be-because, you know, that stereotype that all African-Americans like KFC.

Puppa:
What? Of course they do! It’s KFC! Everybody loves KFC, don’t you like KFC?!

Gregory:
Well, yeah.

Puppa:
Then what the fuck is your problem?

Gregory:
Nothing, nothing.

user posted image

Jack:
Anyways… So what? You want me to go there and punch him?

Puppa:
I was thinking about throwing him over a table, but yeah, something along those lines.

Jack:
How do you know it was even Diego when he uses that weird ass mask of his?

Puppa:
Based on the skin color, size and voice they were very similar.

Gregory:
And now you’re saying all black people are the sa-.

Jack:
GREG! Greg! Shut up! And I’m not throwing anyone over a table outside the match, especially when we don’t even know if he’s him or not.

Puppa:
Ah. You’re no fun...

I sat in the table and started to eat my box of fried chicken.

Jack:
I know this isn’t exactly as fun as you thought, Puppa, but you have to be patient. The time for the battle will be soon, and it’s a no disqualification match. You know what that means?

Puppa shrugged.

Jack:
That means you can get involved. Sure, so can Dr. Liggins or whatever, but he’s an old senile man, as opposed to… uh… whatever you are.
Anyways, and that’s your strategy! Diego can probably knock you out if he wants, but he won’t do it till you do something! That’s our advantage, you get that? When he least expects it, just use those claws of yours.

Puppa:
I get it. I get it. You really didn’t need to tell me any of that. Who’s the manager here after all? Now, I got better plan, though! I got you someone who’s going to help you in the match. He’ll come from behind the ring and knock out Diego.

Jack:
I’m interested. Who’s this person?

Puppa:
He’s right at your side.

Jack:
Gregory?

Puppa:
No, stupid. At your other side.

I look at my other side but I don’t see anyone, there’s only a pillow in a form of half a torso there. I ask the thing I didn’t want to.

Jack:
A pillow?

Puppa:
A pillow? Are you dumb? This is not just a pillow! This is The Pillow! He is practically a legend in this business. Here’s The Pillow’s profile in GIW.com.

Jack:
No, it’s not. That’d be ridiculously stupid.

Puppa grabs a laptop and puts me in the section of the alumni, and there, deep in the “Guys we really don’t give a fuck anymore” tab, I couldn’t believe my eyes…

Jack:
Real name, Bill Pillow? Theme song, “We have a theme song” by The Pillows…. What is this?

Puppa:
I told you, so. The Pillow even had a very important match against El Ladder, a legend in this business.

And that was when I simply got up and left the room, jumped on my bed, and wished I was but sleeping.

An Interview

There I was relaxing outside my locker room, thinking mostly about Puppa when she was a kid and how she changed nothing since then, when I was pushed back by a girl cleaning the floor. I looked up and recognized her as Orianna, one of the members of the short group called The Machines or something.

Orianna:
Would you mind moving out of the way?

Jack:
What are you doing cleaning the floor? Aren’t you a member of the roster?

I probably shouldn’t have said that since she started hitting me with her broom while screaming “Out! Out!”. I ran out of the way and hide behind her sisters that where coming down the hall.

Jack:
Your sister’s a demon.

Machina:
Oh, inter-cross RP!

eNigma:
We know she is…

Machina:
Wait! I got an idea! You! Let’s interview you.

Jack:
Me? I don’t think that’s needed...

I didn’t even finish my sentence, Machina had already made a couple signs with her hand and Quinn and Pearl appeared with a light and a camera. Quinn pointed the light right into my eyes.

Machina:
First question! What do you think of my boobs?

Jack:
Wha-? Jesus. What? My eyes. What?

Machina:
My boobs.

Jack:
I don’t know?

Machina:
Ah. You’re one of those. Okay, nothing wrong with that. Alright, second question, you’re Jack Waters right?

Jack:
Wait! That’s your second question?

Machina:
Well, are you?

Jack:
Y-yes… Yes, I am.

Machina:
Okay, so you’re the guy that’s going to face Diego dude. What are your thoughts on him?

Jack:
... I… uh… I think he’s going to be a tough opponent, but I’m not worried about the match, I’ll go to win and I’ll do my best to win. I’m confident in my abilities.

Machina:
And that’s it. Thank you for your time, see you in the next roleplay.

eNigma:
Wait, I have one last question, if you do not mind.

Machina:
Jesus, fine. But the man has other things to do, so keep it short.

eNigma:
Y…yes. Well, Mr. Waters, your fellow rival, The Sir, had some harsh words for you last week about your new manager, Puppa. He mentioned things about torturing her in front of you and such. Though he may not be your opponent this week, I was wondering if you had anything to say about that.

I blinked in surprise.

Jack:
That’s… That’s actually a good question, thank you Enigma.

Machina:
It’s eNigma.

Jack:
Yes, well, thank you. And about what he said… Honestly I find it funny and a bit sad. First sad because I seem to have affected him so much that he’d resort to the low blow of hurting someone that isn’t a wrestler and is a woman.
I mean, he was quite mad that his Dior got hurt and that’s neither a manager nor a woman, even though he seems to believe it is.
And secondly, I find it funny because he thinks that Puppa isn’t a dangerous woman. He should not be so naïve. Puppa isn’t a wrestler, but that doesn’t make her less dangerous from us. In fact, it makes her more!

eNigma:
What do you mean?

Jack:
It’s simple, really. A wrestler is someone that practices a sport, a violent sport that greatly improves your strength, yes, but a sport nonetheless. Sports have no chance to go against something like Puppa. She grew up learning how to be evil, how to manipulate and destroy. How to cut things from its roots and burned them up from there. She’d be the one teaching them the meaning of torture. I’m not the one defending Puppa, really, and this may sound bad to say, but it’s Puppa that is defending me. Because what best to support a wrestler than a non-wrestler? The Sir, and Diego, you both should be paying attention to Puppa, because she’s the real danger tonight. Thank you very much.

I left the interview to go back to my locker room where hopefully the weird quintuplet wouldn’t follow me.

A Bar Of Steel

As I’m struggling to stay awake, I ask for another cider to the bartender and he nods, quickly grabbing me one.
I had no idea what Marcus wanted with me to ask to meet him there, but I was starting to get annoyed and quickly thinking of just leaving before he got there.
What annoyed me the most, though, were the guys in the table to the left of mine. The four guys where incredibly loud, and after listening to a bit of the conversation, it was incredibly stupid and extremely random. Especially the guy they seemed to be calling Sergio.
I was amazed then, when Marcus finally appeared, to actually go to their table and talk to them, in Portuguese, before going to my table with two beers.

Jack:
I already have a cider.

Marcus:
That’s alright. Hey Pedro, one for you, in the house.

Pedro:
Really? Thanks, man.

One of the guys of the group got up and joined us at the table.

Jack:
Right. So what do you want, Marcus? You were very lucky I actually decided to come.

Marcus:
I know. But you kicked a friend of mine in the face yesterday.

Jack:
You’re talking about Crash? So what? You called me here to avenge him or something? Because I don’t have time for such stupid things.

Marcus:
No. I called you to know why do you wrestle.

Jack:
That question again? It’s getting old, you know?

Marcus:
I know. I’m aware. But still, I’d like to hear an actual answer from your mouth. To be fully honest to you, I’ve already talked to Gregory about it. He said that it was mostly because two things. One, because of your dad, and two, because you’re still looking for a way to catch the attention of some girl.

I got up and kicked the table and it flipped over almost hitting Marcus, but hopefully everyone moved in time, the only real victim of the action being Pedro’s beer.

Pedro:
Aww man… What was that for?

Jack:
You, shut up! And you! Don’t you call Rae “some girl”. What do you even know about me? We haven’t met since I was fifteen, that’s six years ago. During that time you didn’t even cared about me or Gregory, and even then my dad still liked you better! The one in the family that actually managed to be a wrestler! The pride and glory of my dad! And if that wasn’t enough, when my mom got tired from my dad she left to take care of your mother! She stopped being my mom to be yours, your sister and your moms.
I hated wrestling! I hated it! I hated it! But I still followed this path, and now you, out of everyone, you. Whom even when he was HERE living a couple hours from me, didn’t even bothered to visit your own family, you, who always step on me, you the weird little mentally handicapped kid that got all the attention when we were kids, you… You have the guts to come here and question my motives and actions? I do whatever the fuck I want, whenever the fuck I want and you have nothing, and I mean nothing to do with it.

Pedro:
Well, dudes, I’m out.

Pedro left to join the other three in his group, who were now all silent looking at our scene. Or should I call it my scene?

Marcus:
Look, Jack. I understand you, but this is not a question I’m asking for me, but for you. You have an important match and I just wanted to…

Jack:
What? Now you’re giving me wrestling advices? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m better than you! In such a short time I’m already climbing the ladders, I have a title match and after this I’ll get the chance to grab a title in Moment of Glory? Did you ever have that? Heck, did you even ever got a title? No, you didn’t! You’re a loser! My dad only liked you because you were the only one following the wrestling career. Fuck! The only time you actually got a good match, you ended up murdering your oppon-

I realized I had probably said too much when I felt Marcus fist hitting my face and I tasted the blood in my mouth. I got pushed over the table, but when he came to attack me again, I pushed him over me onto another table. I heard the impact and, contrary to the wrestling tables, this one kept quite intact, the only thing breaking probably being Marcus spine. But he was still not giving up, as he got up and punched me again in the stomach and when I crotched in pain, I got another punch right in the side of my head. I felt on the ground.
This was bad, this was really bad. So close to an important match like the one against Diego, one that was probably going to be intense and hard, I couldn’t get the luxury of getting myself injured right here.
When Marcus ran to probably giving me a couple more punches I kicked him back to gain some distance, he lost equilibrium and felt on the ground. When he was getting up again, I kicked him back to the floor and started kicking him in the stomach.
This was when someone finally though it was a good idea to make us stop and Pedro and his three friends come to separate and stop us.
I looked right in the face of my cousin and looked right in mine. I could see the old grizzly haired kid in his eyes, the one that used to run around talking to his self while his sister stayed away playing with us. She always said that “He was special, but it was okay, he was a good kid.” It felt weird hearing things like that from a younger sister. I remember he used to do a lot of superkicks in the air. Gregory and I used to imitate him, mostly jokingly, but weirdly enough that was what made me so good at them.
I scoffed at his face, the now older, bloody face of that kid of so long ago.
I made Sergio and whoever was his name letting me go and I left the bar with the rest of the people still with their eyes on me.

Jack Waters

The fight of the previous day was still making its effects be known. As I rubbed my face I looked at the Deep South Championship that I was holding in my hands.
Sure, it was not the real one, but for the last couple weeks it had served as a great substitute. It was not only a good reminder of my objective, it was also a good reminder of Her and the promise I did to her.
As I observed all the touches and imperfections of this cheap replica of the title I was trying to grab on so tightly, I noticed someone passing down the street.
I’d normally wouldn’t care, mind you, even in this empty street, it wasn’t uncommon to see people passing by every once in a while. But what caught my attention was that the girl was, or at least looked like, none other than Marcus sister, and my cousin, Angela Hister.
I saw her turning the corner and followed her. When I got to the other side, I had my suspicions confirmed, it was really my cousin.
Weirdly enough she was together with two other girls and a large man. They didn’t seem suspicious or anything, they were laughing all together like old friends.

Angela:
And so she said: “But you don’t have juridical personality!”

They all started laughing again to a joke I hadn’t really caught in full, but judging by the ending it was one I had been told one too many times.
Angela stopped laughing, though, once she noticed me.

Angela:
Oh! It’s Jackie! Hey! What are you doing here?

Jack:
Me? Oh, I was just around and I thought I’d saw you walking here. I’d decided to check to see if everything was alright.

Angela:
Ah, no. Everything is fine, really. Well, since you’re here you might as well meet my friends! This is Angelica, Angelina and this is…

The large man grabbed my hand and shakes it.

???:
Name’s Jack Waters.

I raised my eyebrow and then looked at my cousin but she nodded saying that it was indeed true.

Jack:
Well, so am I. Nice to meet you Waters. You have a good name!

He laughed happily. His laughs were actually quite friendly.

Waters:
Thank you, my good man. I heard about you, Angela had told me she had a cousin with the same name as me, but I didn’t believe her. Though I had a feeling it was you when I saw you in Revolt. You have the same passion in your eyes.

For some reason I wasn’t as happy about the compliment as I felt I should be.

Jack:
You watch Revolt?

Waters:
Of course! Every week!

Waters looked at the championship belt I had on my shoulder.

Waters:
You have a belt? I was sure you were actually going to have a match to be the number one contender for that match…
Oh! I see! It’s a fake one! But why do you carry that.

Jack:
Serves has a substitute until I get my title, and has a special meaning…

Waters:
Ah, alright, alright. Hey, sit here a moment, will you?

He sits on a step near a building’s entrance and pats his side for me to sit. I shrug and join him, didn’t see any reason not to.

Waters:
Tell me, why do you wrestle?

I blink in confusion to him. Maybe there was no deep meaning on his question. Maybe he just wanted to know if I had a passion or a reason to wrestle as oppose to just do it because. But after last night I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t just that. Maybe it was Marcus fault, or Gregory, or even Puppa, for always insisting on the same matter that I can’t even have someone legitimately ask what drives me to wrestle without flipping out.
Waters seem to notice my confusion has he decided to explain.

Waters:
I’m only asking this because I recall Angela saying something along the lines of: “The other Jack Waters, my cousin, he is the complete reverse of you. He’s shorter, for once, he carries a sad aura… and he totally hates wrestling.”
I can see the first two are right, so I am to assume the last one is too. That leaves a couple questions on the air: “Did you start liking wrestling along the way? And if you did, why?”, “If you don’t, why do you wrestle?” and “Is the reason you’re wrestling and your sad aura related?”

Angela and the other two girls decided that it would be better to walk around and put the conversation in day, leaving me and this man alone. If he was Angela’s friend then I’d trust him, and he was someone I’d probably never see in my life again, so what the Hell? I felt like this was a good place to let out some steam and actually talk about this seriously with someone, someone that wouldn’t just tell me to stop following Rae.

Jack:
To be honest, I don’t like wrestling. The reason… well, my dad was a wrestling addict. He only cared about watching it. He watched every major company and small company. He barely went to work and he barely was a father. I hated him for that and I hated wrestling for that. I never saw the appeal to be honest.
But still, my dad was always praising my cousin, Marcus for his path into wrestling, even when his actions ended up causing the death of Jonathan Steel, a friend of his. My dad actually paid for him to stay in medical center nearby here, near us, as opposed to one in Portugal, even knowing that my mom had run from him and was living with Marcus family, taking care of my aunt.
My dad was glued to the television every time my cousin was on screen, even though my cousin was a horrible wrestler. A mediocre midcarder that was never able to climb up or even getting a title, even if it was the singles division.
When my dad died and every one of his side of the family shunned me, I had to find a job. My dad had me have wrestling classes for a couple years when I was a kid, so I knew the basics. I knew GIW from my cousin, obviously, and if they contracted him they sure could contract me. I contacted Joshua, an old acquaintance that lived near me when I was a kid but that had moved here recently and I spend some days in his house, before grabbing an apartment for me.
Once I got in GIW I vowed to show my dad that I could be a great wrestler if I wanted and that I could be great and surpass everyone, especially Marcus. I would be something he never accomplished! I’d be superior in every way and climb my way to the top and grab a title.
And tomorrow that opportunity will be closer than ever, I just need to face Diego and then… and the end of the line, Lynch.
But…

I felt like Waters was going to say something, but I stopped him, I wasn’t finished.

Jack:
But I’d be lying if I said that was the only reason. When I was a kid I met a girl… I was in love, she was everything to me. She helped me through everything and she was always there to cheer me up with only a smile. For seven years she was there, and for seven years the only thing that I hadn’t blind with hate was her.
But her parents were from Canada and one day they decided to go back to their country. She, of course, went with them. I still remember the last time I saw her in high detail. As if it was happening right here, right now. I can feel the wind of that day hitting my face and her smell near me. I can feel her hand when I grabbed her. But nonetheless that’s a memory.
And for the next five years and counting, I am a man that lives within his memories. I’d like to think that when she was able to, she’d grab a plane and come visit me. But she may have forgotten me all together.
But maybe… just maybe… if I climb to the top of this place, maybe I’ll get to appear in a newspaper or an interview or anything that may, maybe, appear in Canada, and there’s a small chance she’s watching and that she remembers me. And if that happens, maybe she decides to return and I maybe see her again.

Waters:
That’s a lot of maybe’s you’ve got going in there, kid.

Jack:
I know, but if there’s a chance, no matter how small, I’ll use it.
Ah, and there’s a final reason, for this particular title, at least.
I met a girl that for a moment made me forget Rae… She died not long after I met her, but she told me to win that title, so I will, for her. That’s also why I carry this fake title, to remember of her.

Waters sighed.

Waters:
Look, kid. I’m not saying your stories aren’t sad and moving and good reasons to fight… but you won’t win like this. Because no matter how long you’ll be fighting for other people, if you don’t start fighting for yourself you’ll fail.
Contrary to comic books and anime, you don’t get strong by believing in friendship or any of that mambo jambo, you gain my working hard and having a bit of luck. To work hard enough, though, you have to be working for yourself. If you don’t like wrestling you’ll never go far, and you’ll always fail.

Jack:
Well, what do you want? For me to simply start liking wrestling?

Waters shook his head.

Waters:
No, you didn’t got what I was saying. Nobody that doesn’t like wrestling would go far. But you did. Why do you think that is?

Jack:
The p…

Waters:
Don’t say “The power of Love”, for God’s sake!

Jack:
Well, okay then. I don’t know, I guess I just am that strong.

Waters:
No, you’re wrong. The truth, and you need to realize this quickly, is that you’ve started to like this. You’ve started to enjoy your journey to climb the ladder.
You may tell yourself it’s to prove your dad, it’s for this Rae or for other love, you had. You can say it’s because of your cousin, friend, sister or even the pope. It won’t change that, for a while now, the only reason you’ve been fighting is because you want it, and because you enjoy it.
Just stop and think. Think about all the matches you had in your short career up to this point. Didn’t you enjoy them? Didn’t you have pleasure in them?
Think carefully.

And I did. I thought carefully on all the matches I had. From my first battle royal against The Sir, Sinful Sexuality and Dennis Driver, to last week’s main event where I actually faced Madison Seton and Alexis Terry, as well as Diego and The Sir, with Lynch at my side.
I thought about the match before that, and if I didn’t actually care about GIW, then why did I snapped and kicked Diego?
I thought about all my matches against The Sir, and how both had grew from that. I had started to enjoy my rivalry with that man, just as I had started to enjoy my hunt for Lynch.
I had started to enjoy it.
Wrestling, the stars, the audience, the adrenaline, the all the stories and matches that happened. Somehow at some point I actually started liking it.
I was snapped back to reality when Angela returned with her friends. The group said goodbye to each other and promised to meet there the next year or so. Then Angela took my side so I could take her back home.
Waters said “Think carefully” yet again before we left and I nodded with my head, but I really didn’t need to think more about it.

I liked wrestling.

Last Words

“Dragula” by Rob Zombie filled the arena, although it was quickly overthrown by boos. I know most people had gotten tired of me and though that I wasn’t going to bothered them more this week. But I had reflected on the man with the same name as mine’s words and I had actually gotten to a couple more conclusions. It was fun to discover myself.
I brought a shovel and a microphone with me. Before the scene I had prepared, near the ramp, a mountain of dirt with a hole in it reminiscent of a grave hole, waiting for its coffin.
I put the shovel nearby and grabbed a bag that contained three things.
I took out the first… it was a copy of Diego’s mask.

Jack:
I’ve talked a lot about fake names, and how I hate them. People basically hide behind them. It’s particularly worse when they pick a horrible or generic name like Assassin, J Nightshade or The Sir.
They try to pass the idea of things they are not and they can’t pass by alone. That’s why they use the name. “I’m an assassin, obviously, I’m called Assassin.”, “I have class! My name is The Sir.” Things like that are pathetic really, but if we’re talking about hiding the real you behind a mask, we might as well talk about the people who actually hide themselves behind actual masks.
Diego is one of those. Strong in raw power, but weak in mind, he even needs someone to talk and make all decisions for him. Liggins is an old senile though, otherwise he wouldn’t even decide manage Diego or someone with his skills.
Liggins probably thought that Diego was good enough to grab the title. Well, we’ll see soon enough, won’t we?
Anyways, what’s with this mask? Does it try to show any symbolism? Can you even see with this abomination? Or is it just ugly for the sake of being ugly?
We may never know…

I threw the mask to the hole and take a second mask. This one is more familiar to me, one that I even wore in a promo before.

Jack:
Ah. Michael Lynch’s mask… Mike, I know you’re sick and tired of me targeting you, be sure to know that I’m not targeting you in particular, although I find your lack of sanity… interesting.
In the end I’m just after the Deep South Title, and sadly that’s what you have on your shoulder. Granted, I never defeated you, but I’m improving, and you’re not, so I’m catching up.
Do you think you can stop me in Moment of Glory? Or will it be my moment?

I laugh and throw the second mask. Then I take the last object, this one isn’t a mask though it represents the same ideology. It’s a burned copy of the Deep South Championship, though I wonder if anyone can realize what it is.
It really doesn’t matter. I could have just has easily taken out a pen and give it the same meaning.

Jack:
This last one is special. Why? Because it’s mine, and it represents me.
I’d like to talk about Madison Seton for a bit, if you don’t mind.
I’ve faced her a couple times now and I’ve noticed I’m miles away from her in terms of ability. I also noticed that everyone else is. I really don’t see the rest of the people in Sole Survivor to win against her.
She exists in a place above everyone else and she looks down on everyone, till someone manages to climb and push her from her throne.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I will be that person. For now my goal is the Deep South Title and I will keep my focus on that. But I have a question for Madison.
Do you enjoy that? Do you really enjoy it?
Not having a challenge here? Always fighting the same people over and over again? Getting here and jump right to the top?
As for me, I’m a bit different. I started in the bottom of the barrel. I debuted in an Open Battle Royal that I lost.
I saw my opponents skyrocket to be champions, or champion contenders, while I stayed down and faced things like BG Jones, Chuck Love-Man or Jadore Dior. But slowly I climbed the ladder up. Defeating Assassin and Chris Callum helped me get some recognition.
The Sir was someone that climbed with me and that was always a step further, but I feel like I’ve passed him now. Today I am the bigger man, and if he wants to have another match with me, he better improve and follow before I get out of reach, for I will continue climbing, upwards and upwards.
Soon I’ll grab a title. I can see it hanging there, just a couple more steps in the way, the Deep South Championship.
I will make that title mine, but I won’t stop there. I need to keep climbing, and I will.
I will climb until I reach you, Madison Seton.
This Moment of Glory I may get to face Michael Lynch for the Deep South, but what about next year?
Madison Seton, you, who stay high above everyone else, who do you fear?
Do you fear the ones that are closer to you? The ones that face you over and over again, and that, maybe one day get lucky and take that title out of you?
Or do you fear the ones below that? The new faces and the ones that want to climb up, that struggle and strengthen and that soon will be able to look up and see you there?
You should not fear anyone in the company right now. You should not fear me. Not the me that stand here right now, but you should fear the future me, the one I will become, because I will not take you from your throne, but future me might.
This me… I… I’m not a main event. I am not a face of the company. But I will beat the main events and the faces of the company. I am not a champion, but I will beat champions. I am not the strongest, but I will beat the strongest. I am not the good guy, I will never be the good guy, but that doesn’t bother me, because I want to beat the good guys, the one you cheer and love while you hate and boo me.
I am Jack Waters, and I want to prove that I am better than the main events! That I am better than the champions, the strong, the intelligent and the freaks that live in this building!
I am Jack Waters! And I will be a main event, I will be a champion, I will be the strongest and the most intelligent!
I am Jack Waters, and you better remember that name because that’s the name of someone that wants to change this place and make it mine.
My name is Jack Waters.

I throw the title to the hole and cover all the three things with dirt with my shovel. Afterwards I just leave the arena. And go get ready for my match.

Rest

I was sitting near Her grave, the title hanging on my shoulder. I had taken time to ask around about her to old friends and even doctors.
It appears she was the silent type. She wasn’t one to flirt with men or having one night stands. It seems her scars where mostly from her time in prison too.
She was a strange girl, but what most people described me was not the person I met. They said that nobody had seen her for a couple years, so I wonder how much she changed in that time, but the conclusion I got was that she simply wanted to be someone else in her last day, to try something new at last.
I guess she didn’t like it that much, but the question that remained in my mind, and that still continues to this day was: “Why did she pick me?”
Out of everyone in GIW, in Galveston, in Texas, in USA, in the World… why did she pick me?
Was I that special to be worth her last day on Earth? I didn’t know, and I’d never know.
Nonetheless I decided to give her a little tribute. Most of her friends’ testimony had one thing in common: she loved fire more than anything.
I put the fake Deep South Title on top of her grave and lit it on fire with a lighter I had carried in my pocket. And then I just sat there observing the fire. I could understand her, it was beautiful and relaxing.
Eventually the fire stopped and showed me a completely burned championship. I sighed and grabbed it, looking at the grave one last time.

Jack:
Thank you, Naviel Sunderland.

Dear Rae
It’s me, Jack. How long has it been? 5 years? I think it’s almost six. Ah, who am I kidding? I know exactly how long it has been. I’ve been counting the time passing by. I’m counting it right now, actually.
It’s been five years since that last time and I want to tell you that you were wrong. I still remember you, Puppa still remembers you and Gregory still remembers you. We are still together, even Puppa, she returned from Germany a while ago and I think she’s here to stay.
She didn’t change much. She’s still the same one as you knew. That’s why I and Gregory still are around her, I guess. We still have a space reserved for you, in The Lonely Hearts Club.
But I wonder, are you lonely? Are you different? How much did you change? If I meet you again, will I recognize you? I love the you I know, but I’m afraid I won’t love the you that you can be now. But maybe that’s good, maybe I need that closure. But I’ll never have it until I see you again and look deeply into your green eyes.
Do you think of us once in a while? Or did we vanish from your memories?
I wonder if you heard my name again, in Canada… People here know my name. I’ve found a job here, I don’t know if you heard. I’m a wrestler.
Yeah, I know, I had a couple conversations with Gregory about it, I’m supposed to hate wrestling, but you know the strange thing? I learned to love it. I enjoy stepping in the ring, I enjoy the people here. I had a huge rivalry with a man called The Sir. I didn’t enjoy what happened to him last week, though. Some new guy called Awesome Xombi beat him to a bloody pulp. He was effective I give you that, but I wonder if he’ll still be when he faces Tony Miranda. Miranda’s a legend here, I was supposed to face him this week, but I ended up not to, since I had a more important match to participate, but I’ll go into it in a second. I wanted to face Miranda, he’s one of the best, and I’m just starting to make my mark here. A couple weeks ago nobody cared about the name “Jack Waters”, but today my name is the biggest in the poster.
Jack Waters versus Michael Lynch it’s what it reads. He’s the champion, you know? If I win I’ll be the one carrying that title.
Champion.
Sounds weird, doesn’t it? I never thought I’d have someone call me that, but I can be one, I just need to win this match. I had my chance last week, but things went bad. A dude that’s not very fond of Lynch decided to join in the match, leading to a disqualification. Technically I won the match, but I didn’t win the title. But this week they gave me a second chance. It’s a hardcore match, which means everything goes. I like that, specially knowing that I have Puppa on my side.
People say that Michael Lynch is like me. I guess I gave them a wrong vibe, he does remind me, however, of Puppa. They both try to be leaders and they both have the same aura. You know Puppa’s aura… it’s not really something pleasant for most people, it’s dark, it’s sad, and it’s tense. We know she can flip out at any moment and we all saw her in that state… it was the scariest moment of my life. Facing Lynch would be scary, but it’s not, most of it it’s because I do have Puppa by my side. The other part it’s because he’s not Puppa.
What makes Puppa scary is not when she flips out. It’s how she behaves when she doesn’t. She’s always so nice, so full of hope, at first sight you may even think she’s a normal girl, albeit a bit eccentric. I always found her cute and adorable, and a girl I’d follow till the end. She’s a true leader.
But you don’t know when she can flip. And if she does, and you’re around, you’ll be sorry.
Lynch doesn’t have that side of him. He’s devoid of hope, of happiness, of normality. He’s full on crazy and delusional. Puppa is not delusional, though I won’t argue she is crazy.
So I’m not afraid of him, he’s just a bland rip-off of my manager, why should I be afraid?
Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. I need to win this match, I need to win this championship and I wouldn’t let some fear get in the way of it.
Why must I? You ask? You don’t, but I like to think you would, even if just to entertain me. I know most of the questions you did to me were for that, and I thank you.
So I shall answer for my own pleasure, I know I’m selfish. I want to win because I want people to hear about it. I want you to hear about it. I want you to be proud of me. I want Puppa to be proud of me, and I want Gregory to be proud of me.
Puppa put a lot of trust in me. She thinks I can stand by myself if I make a name for myself here. And if I can… well, then so can she and so can Gregory. I guess in the end we all want to be like you… or at least the you we imagine you’ve become.
You were always different from us, I think.
Remember those flags that Puppa used to carry around? I didn’t though much of it, I guess Puppa always knew the meaning behind them, but me and Gregory never cared, it was just small flags that she carried around for the group meetings, but the moment you grabbed them you noticed that they would form a heart when joined together. And even then, you’d be the one that joined them, the only full heart in our group.
So the group thinks you made it alright. I think we refuse to think that you didn’t because that would ruin our dreams. And I know you’re not the Goddess I sometimes picture you to be, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t pretty great and strong, so I know you’re doing well.
Maybe when we’re both ready we can face each other and smile. I wonder if you’re waiting for that moment, observing calmly…
I promise you I will rise above for myself and I will renew myself.
Talking about renewing myself, Puppa had an idea, she said we needed a new approach to GIW, GIW is the place where I wrestle, by the way. She wants a more aggressive approach, and I will do it, mostly because she said that with that approach she’ll show me her true self.
Aren’t you curious about what Puppa is really like? I know you are. I’m pretty sure that was the only reason you joined our club. And you can know now, but you have to tune up and see GIW every week and look at me and Puppa.
Well, I guess I’ve written too much already, it’s about time I st


Puppa:
Dinner time.

I looked down to the letter I had just written. After re-reading it twice I threw it in the garbage and left for dinner.

I don’t recall what my dream was, but it ought to be something horrible, assuming by the way I woke up, sweating everywhere… Did I scream? I think I did, but I am not sure.
I got up and walked to the bathroom, to clean my face. That was when I got the feeling something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, so I just finished cleaning and went to the kitchen, grabbing a sandwich that would serve as my breakfast. I turned on the Television, but it wasn’t working, just static. Weird… I wasn’t rich, but I definitely knew I had paid for cable. I finished eating my sandwich, looking at the static when the TV sound became loud and distorted, I pushed my hands against my ears to try to diminish the agony caused by the sound and, as I desperately looked for the remote controller, I heard it.
It was hard to hear it and pinpoint its cause or location, but I could definitely hear it, the sound of metal clashing against the walls… Close walls, walls inside my own house.
I turned off the TV by pulling the plug out, finishing the sound once and for all.

Jack:
Puppa? You’re doing anything weird again? Gregory?

It was unusual that they’d be up at this time, but not unseen. Especially after the loud sound the TV made. However, there was no answer except that repetitive, slow, metallic sound. I walked to their room, but weirdly enough, the door was locked.

Jack:
Guys? You inside?

Still no answer. I guessed they were still asleep, but the metallic sound was definitely coming from inside it. I thought if I really wanted to know what Puppa was doing… and I decided that no, I really didn’t, and so I decided to ignore the sound and go take a shower. The water muffled the sound, at least. When I got out of shower I looked at the mirror, wondering if I should trim my beard or let it grow gloriously for a bit more, when my eyes moved from my facial hair I noticed him.
A weird guy, with a hoodie that covered his face, was looking right at me, from outside the bathroom. I turned around, hoping to not actually see him there… that this was just like a horror movie, and the ghost would vanish, but that wasn’t the case. The guy was still standing there; the guy must have been at least 6 foot tall. The static started again. He looked at me from under the hood, but I couldn’t really tell who it was, and then… he just left. I tried to run and follow him, but it wasn’t such a great idea as I slipped and hit my head on the floor.

When I woke up I was still in the bathroom floor, a bit dizzy. I swore I saw Michael Lynch and Diego looking right at me under their respective masks, before leaving the room, even though I know this was impossible.
When I finally was in conditions to wake up I shook my head and looked around. The bathroom was as it normally was, so I walked to my room and got dressed.
When I left I tried once again to knock on Puppa’s door. No answer, but not sound either… now it was starting to get really weird. I looked at the clock at the end of the hallway, I had been unconscious from five to ten minutes. Everything was completely normal in my house with the exception of Puppa’s room. I decided that it was not normal anymore, so I kicked the door trying to bust it open. Didn’t work the first time so I tried two more times, but I was stopped by a sound.

Static.

I ran to the kitchen and my fear was confirmed. There, in the corner of the room, our small TV was emitting static… despite being plugged off. To top that, something had started to smell like it was burning. I punched the TV a couple times but to no effect, it actually seemed to be getting louder and louder. I was so concentrated in this bizarre effect that I didn’t realize the other until it was plainly obvious. There was smoke everywhere in my house, something was really burning and it came from within. After a small search, I concluded that the source was, again, Puppa’s room. I tackled the door with all my might, throwing it down and hurting my shoulder in the process.
The entire room was covered in smoke, but from within, I could see someone, but it didn’t look like the small Puppa or even my cousin Gregory. This figure was far more imposing and enormous. When the smoke started to diminish, I finally realized that it was the hooded man from before. He pointed at me and I noticed he was wearing MMA gloves, but I really didn’t had much time to ponder on that fact, because he rose a revolver and pointed it at me, ready to shoot. I quickly threw myself to the ground to avoid the shot, but there was none. Actually, when I looked back I noticed that he was gone. Slowly I got inside the room, nobody there. Neither the hooded man, nor Puppa, nor Gregory… By this point I had started to freak out, but thankfully, the static seemed to have passed.
I got out of the room and tried to get out of my house, but that was when the true strange things started to happen.

The moment I opened my door I found myself back inside my house. I closed the door and opened it again. This time I found myself in front of the kitchen.
Close. Open.
My room.
Close. Open.
Bathroom.
Close. Open.
Hallway.
Close. Open.
Puppa’s room.
Close. Open.
Kitchen again.
I was freaking out. I got inside the kitchen and opened a window to try to scream for help, but I quickly jumped back when I saw the head of Diego looking outside and the static starting again, as if to announce his presence. He got inside the kitchen and that was when I noticed it wasn’t Diego.
It had Diego’s head or, at least, mask. But the actual body was a bizarre insect-like creature that seemed to be trying to get out of a giant garbage can. Another small creature seemed to be locked in the garbage can with him and that one was crying. Now, if this was a bird or something, maybe I would try to help them, but what I did instead was to run away and close the door behind me.
In the hallway the smoke had returned, I looked from side to side and noticed that in my left corner another grotesque creature, this one crawled onto itself and with the entire face covered in what seemed to be cigars that came out of its skin, I pinpointed this creature has the source of the smoke. I observed it, and although I was incredibly scared of it, I concluded that it didn’t seem to want hurt me, as it was moaning in the corner, as if it was crying. The creature on my right though… I was not so sure.
It was connected to the roof, by its sharp metallic claws and it looked at me with a grin from ear to ear. Its hair was long and curly and covered most of its face. It started walking in my direction, the static growing louder and louder until it was unbearable.
I entered my living room, still looking to the entrance as the creature crawled inside… but then I noticed that this wasn’t my living room. This was a big arena. I looked around and found myself in front of the Blackout ring, with the entire arena empty, with the exception of the hooded man, that was sitting in the middle row, right in front of me. He didn’t move, just observed.
The first creature crawled up to me and opened its arms, raising it claws in the air. When it did this the Titantron suddenly started emitting a static sound that filled the arena and almost made my ears bleed. The weirdest thing, though, is that I could hear Puppa clearly from under the static. She was reciting the promo that we had done the night before for GIW.

Puppa:
And so we are at it again! Tony Miranda vs ZZTOZNYMIZZRAZNDZAZZZ Jack Waters! Two went out… now we wonder how many are left. Is it ZZ0ZZ merely two, or will we have to do the three of them? Questions… questions… I ask you all a question, then. What is Tony ZZHUZZNTRZZ Miranda trying to accomplish here?

The image of the Titantron now showed a green eye observing me attentively as I felt to my knees, my head still hurting.

Puppa:
ZZDEZZATHZZ?Z
He’s trying to prove us wrong! To prove us wrong for ZZHIMZZZ you all. He’s not “hunting” anyone! He’s clinging to the past and in denial! Look at me! ZZZPLEASEZZLOZZZOKZZZ I can still hold up against the new talent! I am not a fossil! I am still relevant!
Fact, Tony, you’re only still here because you’re a cash cow. Yes, that is true, more than Aspen Chauds, Matt Kluges ZZWAKEZZZWALZZKERZZ or Alex Castellanos… Tony Miranda sells! He’s the fan favorite. That’s why he “retired”! ZZLIESZZZ

I noticed now that there wasn’t only one hooded man in the room now, but actually about five, scattered across the arena. They had started to join to listen to Puppa. As for the other creature, it pranced around the ring, the sound of the claws hitting the floor helping the madness that was already going on in my brain.

Puppa:
He never planned to stay retired; he was a liar, ZZZLIESZZ a big, fat, liar, who knew that it would make him sell more products! The documentary, the shirts, the compilations… All ways to suck your entire money from your wallets, and you felt for it.
GIW is right now dancing on your money and ordering Tony Miranda around, and it’s all your fault, because when Miranda returned you, the fans ZZARZZEYZZOUAZZZFANZZ?ZZ of Tony Miranda, you should be the first one to tell him: “No Tony, it’s time to stop, you are not the same, you had a good run, you should live on the legend you made”.
But no! No! You cheered for him! It’s all your fault! ZZFANSZZ
You thought he could do it, but he barely made it past the first round ZZ1ZZ2ZZ3ZZ, and we all saw what happened in the second round? You think your dear Tony Miranda is still the same? After that brutal match?! He’s ZZDEAZZDZ not. Nor physically nor mentally! ZZLOSTZZ

At this point at least half the arena was filled by hooded men. The creature had paused in front of the ramp, observing me together with the eye and all the rest. As if the words where mine.

Puppa:
Tony Miranda is fading away. ZZINTOZNOTZZZHZINZZGZNESSZZ He’s doing is final walk, a walk that will end today. First ZZZBLOODZZ blood match! Hell, I could face him in this match!

Out of nowhere the creature jumped and ripped one of the hooded men in half, throwing his lower half at my side, covering me with blood. Then it returned to its previous position.

Puppa:
I would win. I know it. So Jack will too, if nothing else, because he has me… We are the Demonic Duo, and we are ZZONEZZ together in this battle. That gives us the mental advantage. Jack has the physical advantage all by himself.
Tony Miranda lost this match before he even got inside the match! ZZBLEEDZZ
His rugged skin will probably rip open just by the sheer surprise of Jack’s power!
This match will only end one way! Jack holding the bloody ZZCORPSEZZZ body of your dear legend!

When Puppa finally muttered her final words, the arena was full of hooded men, but one in particular was standing, not in the seats, but right in front of the ring.
He got inside and stopped in front of me. Even after I got up he was still towering me. That was when he turned the hood down and revealed his face…

Tony Miranda.

A giant Tony Miranda, the thing that scared me the most was his eyes. Those eyes didn’t belong to Tony Miranda, those green, green eyes could only belong to… her.
All the hooded men started removing their hoods to reveal to be just clones of this bizarre Miranda, all with their green eyes centered in me.
The one in the ring grabbed me by throat and raised my high in the air, way too high, I was at least 3 meters in the air thanks to a monstrous arm that was almost as big, if not bigger than the Miranda itself. I started screaming, getting dizzy, my mind going blank only the sound of static filling it.
Everything was gone. Only one thing was left….

Static.

I don’t recall what my dream was, but it ought to be something horrible, assuming by the way I woke up, sweating everywhere… Did I scream? I think I did, but I am not sure.