When we last left Graves, he had just suffered through an annoying day's worth of Wet Willie's Swamp Tours and was ready to try and catch some shuteye in his makeshift living quarters on the pontoon boat that Willie uses for the tours. Before Micheal could fall to sleep, however, something watching him from the shadows drew him from his bed.

"WHO'S THERE!?"

Graves yelled as he scrambled to his feet and searched for a flashlight.

"I'M ABOUT TO FUCK YOU UP IF YOU DON'T ANNOUNCE YOURSELF!"

Finding one, Graves switched on the flashlight pointed it toward the silhouette as he stepped off of the boat.


"Aw fuck me! I'm starting to feel like the John McClaine of the fucking paranormal!"

Suddenly, Graves lost his footing on the slick wet dock. He flew backward with a strong velocity, striking his head on the edge of the boat before sinking into the swamp!

Dizzy and out of focus, it took Graves a moment to realize that he was drowning. With abrupt force, his previously lifeless body burst through the surface of the murky swamp water as he gasped desperately to refill his lungs with oxygen.

The burning in his chest began to subside and Micheal was quickly snapped back into the gravity of his situation. The Sasquatch's entire focus was squarely on Micheal as he kept knelt in the swamp, locked in a death glare with the previously believed mythical beast. The giant ape-man let out a roar as he pounded his chest. Micheal cautiously stood up and backed away as he carefully planned his path to survival. The ape stormed towards him with a thunderous sprint and Graves knew he was fucked, but instead of cowering as his certain demise stomped towards him, Graves tucked his chin and dug his shoulder into the monster's gut, flipping it over him with a standard body drop, but standing in the slippery swamp, Graves couldn't hold his footing and crashed into the water with the beast.

Micheal burst through the water and madly looked for any signs of the beast as he took in panicked breaths.

From behind, the bigfoot arose from the swamp! Startled, Graves turned to face his attacker, and as he did, the beast wrapped its giant mit around his face and lifted him out of the swamp! Micheal grabbed onto the monster's arms with both hands, desperately trying to release some of the pressure from his neck and spine! His feet kicked wildly, trying in vain to strike a lucky blow. The monster reared its free arm back and thrust it through Micheal's abdomen!

"GAAUUUHKKK!"

Blood began to flow from Micheal's mouth as his body went limp in the beast's grip!

The Sasquatch pulled its arm from Micheal's gut, but as it tried, a thick black tar-like substance kept hold of the beast's arm, pulling it back into the open wound. The Sasquatch panicked and released its grip on Micheal's head. Micheal's eye's opened, completely blackened, he smiled before punching the ape square in the jaw!

The Sasquatch stumbled back, rocked by the powerful blow. Graves remained attached to his other arm as the thick tar began to crawl up the ape's arm, slowly consuming him until the tar finally spread over his entire body, saving his face and eyes for last.


Suddenly!


Micheal jerked into consciousness and sat upon the small cot bed that he found himself inexplicably on now.

"What happened?"

Graves' eyes took a moment to focus with all of the candles lit around him. A figure stepped towards the bed. Micheal rubbed his eyes as that figure spoke.

"We thought we might have lost you there for a minute! Glad to see you up and kicking!"

Graves' eyes began to focus on the man in front of him. It was BIGFOOT!?! Graves jerked from the shock, nearly falling off of the cot before noticing that Bigfoot's head looked an awful lot like...

"Willie? What the fuck!?"

With a nervous smile, Willie laughed as he tried to explain.

"I'm sorry buddy, it's just a gag we play on the temp help. I didn't think you'd slip and hit yer head!"

Graves thinks about it for a moment. So everything after the slip was a dream!?

"Good thing Chinose here was around to tend to you!"

Graves looked over at the old woman. She was dressed in blacks and deep reds, her fingers adorned with silver rings and a small vial of some mysterious liquid tied around her neck. She acknowledged him with a hmph and a nod as she fanned smoking incense around the room.

"Well, I'll let you get yer rest. I hope you'll be up and ready for tomorrow's tours!"

Graves glared at Willie, wanting nothing more than to tear his jaw off and rip his tongue out of his mouth, but he resisted the urge since it would surely lead to the end of his run in the XWF, and as we've established, this is all he's got left.

"Thanks, Willie. I'll be ready..."

Willie nodded before stepping out the door. As he did, Chinose stepped in front of Graves and looked down on him. Micheal stared back as the tension between them built. He could tell that she didn't like him. Finally, she broke the silence.

"There is something in you, boy. Something evil, but-"

Micheal threw up his hand to interrupt her as he tried to come to grips with what she was saying.

"Hold on just a minute."

But Chinose wasn't about to be interrupted.

"Shut up, boy, and listen to me! This evil that's within you doesn't have a hold over you yet. Somehow you have managed to fight it back, but you are but a mortal man, and you can not fight against the will of evil forever!"

Micheal still struggling to follow, tries to interject once more.

"Wait! What evil!? What are you talking about!?"

Chinose glares at Micheal as if she suspects that he should already know.

"Internally, you fight another for control of your consciousness. Right now, you are in control, but are you always?"

Micheal thought about it for a moment. Sure, he had a regretful history that he'd love to heap onto someone else, but the fact remained that his mental health notwithstanding, his history was his to own.

"Yes."

Chinose raised an unbelieving eyebrow.

"Are you certain of that?"

Micheal had no more words. He could only consider hers.

"I do not care what deal you have with Willie. Make sure that you are out of here by Wednesday."

Without thought, Micheal instinctively responded.

"I will be!"

Chinose walked out of the room, leaving only these parting words.

"Make sure that you do."

Micheal wondered what the big deal was about him leaving by Wednesday as the scene fade out.


“I'm the fucking measuring stick of mediocrity. I was the one who challenged Dolly Waters in the midst of her iconic rise to the top as she walked the exact same path that you are on now, Jim, and I not only stopped her pursuit of a 24/7 case, I crushed her will to compete! Dolly Waters left the XWF immediately after suffering that sweet sweet pay-per-view loss to me and with every attempted return she has seemingly grown weaker and weaker. To the point that even with her processing my much stronger and naturally resilient body, she couldn’t even prevent Marf Swayson from stomping this body into mush for nearly 20 minutes straight! I, on the other hand, educated the world on the differences between us when I waged a bloody war against the two-time Television champion and defeated him at a show that was both named after and in his honor.”

“Think about that Jimmy boy, I beat Marf at the one place where I knew that he would come at me with everything he could muster, and at first Jim, I thought that I was doing it for Dolly, to get revenge for the beating that Marf had dished out to her while she wore this skin, but as the date grew closer and I explored every avenue of my feelings, I came to realize that beating the shit out of Marf wasn’t entirely about Dolly and our contrived frienemy relationship over the years, but was more about making a statement to you, and the rest of the roster, that the Micheal Graves that had plagued the XWF with his cartoonish hijinks and vulgar villainy was was not the same man that was being allowed to return under very specific circumstances after a PR nightmare earlier this year had led to the termination of my contract.”

“I would say that I accomplished my goal, and Marf even managed to earn my respect after fighting as hard as he did. Dolly sure didn’t fight that hard. Not against him, and not against me back in 2017, the last time that she actually had that spark of stardom in her eyes.”

“Now Jim, I set my sights on you, fresh off of your victory over Atari Thermos.”

Graves smiles as he winks to the camera.

“Sorry Atty, I’ll refrain from poking fun at your name from here out. I know that such things really tend to get under your skin. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words tend to crush Atara, in spirit anyway. That’s a fact that I’m sure that you’ve become very aware of Jim, considering that you are considered to be one of the harshest talkers in the game today. Personally, I don’t understand how someone could allow petty insults to interfere with their focus.”

“Make no mistake Jimmy, when that bell rings, I am going to be 100% focused on kicking your ass and taking that title. You can make yourself look like an idiot by questioning the spelling of my name like it holds any significance to the outcome of an all-out brawl, and you can hurl every other insult my way that’s been regurgitated a million times over since 2017, but that’s the thing about you isn’t Jim? You remember everything, you just aren’t around much to witness it?”

“You’re jokes are as dated as your knowledge. You say that I’ve failed to grow since AX3? HA! That’s a real laugh coming from you!”

“It has been approximately 4 years since AX3 disbanded, Jim. In that time, a lot has changed about me, but then again, you know that. You even tried to poke fun at it by bringing up the “reinventions of Gravy”, which again, is an old and played-out topic. Nothing has changed about me other than some mood leveling medication, life guidance by a therapist, and yes, I removed my mask, or I should say Dolly ACTUALLY removed it during that whole Freaky exchange between us. Also, Jim, pay attention. That happened months before Robbie took his mask off, not that I know what that would have to do with anything because once again, let me remind you… It’s a fight, and mask or no mask, it has no barring on what happens in that ring, and like most of the points you dropped in that very first promo, it was designed to do nothing more than rage me out, put me on the defensive, and cause me to lose focus on the goal.”

Graves retrieves the unmarked bottle of pills from his pocket and shakes them with a satisfying rattle.

“Not happening.”

He stuffs the pills back into his pocket.

“And no, Jim, you didn’t fish me out of anything. For a guy that claims to remember everything, it astounds me that you couldn’t be bothered to watch the footage yourself.”

- REPLAY - Shocking even me, the rage and hatred within begins to melt away as I watch my former friend float unconsciously down the River Thames. I run through our short though storied history in my head. The recent bad times. ...The good. _Was_ it all an act? _Was_ it a fool's errand all along to believe Graves was my brother-in-arms and close comrade? Judging from his apparent programming to hunt me down, yes. So...so why am I feeling that ache of regret? Why is it magnifying with each passing second I see his still form carried away by the current? The guy tried to kill me a few minutes ago by conjuring a fucking DRAGON. An emergency crew halts Dark Weapon's aquatic progress. A stab of relief pierces my heart. I watch as they remove him from the river and begin administering medical care. Am I an idiot for feeling better that this...creature is being cared for? He had a hand in costing me the Universal Championship for fuck sake. And yet................. I'm sorry Mikey. Swift recovery my......my friend.

”My friend… Famous last words, yet here we are all these years later, and suddenly it’s, “codependent doofus, “fringe-placatin' pissant”, and my favorite, weak link. AX3 may not have been about friendship, Jim, but you know Goddamned well that it WAS intended to be a brotherhood. We swore to stick together through thick and thin, but as we parted ways, it became evident who the odd man out was Jim, and yeah, I’ve been a little bitter about it ever since, but don’t act like I haven’t had the balls to call you straight to your face over it. Going back to our first match Jim, all of these feelings were out there, presented to you with a bow just as they are now, in the hopes that you will spend the coming days savoring the flavor of my words and inventing new and unique ways to hurt me, because Jim, make no mistake, I want you at you mad Jim. I want you to enter this fight without the thought of holding back. I want the Big Dick Daddy to come down to that ring and smack me with his thunder cock, because that’s the guy, Jim, that I want to defeat.”

“You surmise that I am uncomfortable in my skin? That’s not entirely untrue, but one thing that I am confident in is my ability in that ring. We are far removed from AX3, and in turn, I have had time to not only shake the insecurities that plagued me upon my initial return to the ring, but despite your inaccurate review of my abilities, I have in fact learned a trick or two over the years, and I promise you, Jim, if you check my bout history between the four fine promotions that I have worked for since my return, you will see that the wins far outweigh the losses these days.”

“But thank you, Jim. Thank you for admitting to what I have claimed for four whole years, and what you, my friend, have vigorously denied. That you and Main dumped me because I wasn’t good for your image. Why was that so hard to admit before, huh? It’s good to be honest with yourself Jim, and even better to be honest with your friends. Here’s some honesty for ya, Jimmy. I am jealous of you. I’m jealous of the fact that grown men tend to piss themselves at the mere thought of having to lace up against you. I’m jealous of the respect that you’ve earned around here. Respect that runs deep enough, that even with your many fuck-ups and wig-outs in the past, the fans, the staff, and the boys have all made it clear that the vast majority of them want you right here in the XWF!”

“In contrast, nobody wants me here, Jimmy. Least of all you. It’s funny when you think about it. Years ago, when we supposedly weren’t being friends in AX3, I remember you confiding in me your insecurities at the time. How you felt unwanted and unwelcome in the company that you had chosen to call home. All of the little signs that you would point to as evidence of your claims. I thought that you were crazy, and yeah, in some cases, maybe you were a little paranoid, but here we are 4 years removed from that conversation, and I find myself in the same position that you once did.“

Graves stared down at his trembling hands. He balled them into fists, trying to maintain control over his emotions. With a deep exhale, he looked back up to the camera.

”I understand that respect now, Jim, and I understand why they give it to you. I wasn’t playing mind games at the beginning of this when I apologized, Jim. I do see the wrongs that I committed to our friendship. I understand that I lost my mind at an inopportune time for AX3. I’m sorry that Dolly Waters bashed my brains in with a baseball bat and I returned to work a week later for YOU, I'm sorry that I haven't been quite right ever since, and I’m sorry that I played a role in costing you the Universal Championship… but I need for you to understand that I do not carry the blame for the strain on our friendship alone, and hey, I’ll understand if we never speak again after Wednesday Night, but the last act of kindness that I ask of you comes in this match.”

Graves closes his eyes and tucks his lips into his mouth as he takes a deep breath in through his nose. He exhales and opens his eyes, looking directly into the camera.

”If we were ever REALLY friends, Jim, then don’t hold back. Take everything that I’ve said, and use it for what it was intended for, let it fuel you, Jim. Get angry and go to that special place that you goto to fuck people up and come at me with all the vile and hatred that you can muster, I plead of you, because if I’m ever to try and erase the mistakes from my past and crawl out of the hole that I have dug myself into, then I’m going to need to face the best competition at their best. I want you at your best Jim. I’m not looking to play mind games or cheat, Jim, and I’m damn sure not looking for a lucky win, and hey, despite all of our bullshit, I’m not even looking to hurt you, Jim.”

“I’m just looking to beat you.”

“Because winning the Xtreme Championship is a feat in and of itself, but doing so while also stopping Jim Caedus from securing a case on the cusp of his fifth defense? That’s something for the history books, and a hell of a start when it comes to digging myself out of this hole that I put myself in.

The camera draws back to reveal Micheal standing in a shallow grave. He grabs a shovel and begins to dig as the scene fades to black.