Graves breaks free of the crab, finally getting to his feet and preparing to finish off Charlie once and for all, but The Nickleman catches Graves' attempt at a strike and hits the BIG SIDEWALK SLAM ONTO THE OPEN CASKET! Water splashes as the bodies of the two men crash down onto it!


HHL: "Charlie took a ton of that impact as well! Whoever recovers first has this match won!"

Within the darkest recesses of Micheal Graves mind

Darkness fills the void around Micheal. Panic races through his heart. He knows that he's done. Nothing left. He has lost.


She knows this as well...


"Is this how it is to end?"


The darkness is wiped away by an almost blinding crimson light!


Micheal climbs to his feet, a wild and confused look in his eyes as they remain fixated on Miss Fury as she walks towards him.




"You, buried six feet under?" She asks as she steps around Micheal.


"You can't win Micheal." She says before leaning into Micheal's ear and whispering; "Charlie has played your game, and he has beaten you soundly."


"I... I killed you!"


Miss Fury laughs at the notion!


"You fool, I told you already, you can not die HERE!"


"No! I defeated you! I have control of it all!"


Micheal thrust his palms towards Miss Fury, but nothing happens. Micheal looks at his hands, confused by his malfunctioning magic. Miss Fury scoffs at the attempt.


"Fool, you never controlled ANYTHING! The simple truth is that your ego stood in the way of you doing what was right, but now you see, surely, that there is nothing left for you there? Your desire of becoming anything more than the butt of a joke will remain forever unfulfilled."


Exhausted both physically and mentally, this is all too much for Micheal to handle, and he begins to visibly lose his grip.




"Unless, of course, you submit to me." She says with an evil smirk.


But fire erupts from deep within his gut!


"NOOOOOOO!"


An invisible force explodes from Graves, knocking Miss Fury back and bringing the darkness back upon them both!

REALALITY

After some moments without a single movement, a hand raises up, shutting the casket and climbing out of the hole in the Earth.


It's…



It's…


IT'S CHARLIE NICKLES!!


He grabs the shovel and begins shoveling dirt and mud atop the casket, laughing like mad as the rain becomes more intense and the referee signals for the end!


MICHAEL GRAVES HAS


NO ESCAPE


As Charlie collects his " Goldie" and celebrates the successful defense over the fiercest challenge yet, the production team begins disassembling the lighting and camera equipment. By the time Micheal pulls himself out of the cold earth, he finds the last of the XWF staff closing the back door on the final production truck and driving away. Micheal collapses beside of the six-foot-hole that marked his final resting place in tonight's contest. He lays there for a moment, the rain pouring on his face, unable to move, both out of pure exhaustion and fear that this may not be the real world.


The main event for the evening saw Jim Caedus defending the Universal Championship against "The Mechanic" Peter Vaughn. That match was always midway through when Graves entered the arena that night. As per usual, everyone went out of their way to avoid Micheal back here. To say that he wasn't well-liked would be an understatement. Micheal may be the most universally unliked person on the roster seeing as how both face and heel seem to have issues with him. Needless to say, Micheal had long since grown used to it, and tonight he even welcomed it considering how down he was feeling after having his ass firmly handed to him by Charlie, plus the further revelationthat whatever piece of Miss Fury that was tormenting him from within his own mind had not been destroyed in their last encounter.


"Hey dude..."


Well, if it isn't the "Loverboy" Vinnie Lane.


"Tough break tonight." He says with an empathetic sincerity in his eyes.


Feeling a punchline coming on, Micheal walks past Lane while shooing him off.


"Not now Lane... I'm not in the mood."


Vinnie gently grabs Micheal's arm in an effort to stop him from leaving, but Micheal takes it as an act of aggression and spins around to face Lane, fist drawn.


"I said! NOT TO-FUCKING-DAY!"


But Vinnie is quick to throw his hands up and show Micheal that he means no harm.


"Listen, man, I know things have been a little... Hostile between us..."


Graves nods sarcastically.


"Understatement of the fucking year!"


"Dude, you date raped me!"


"Yeah, but I've told you that Miss Fury was in control!"


Lane sighs.


"I know."


He hesitates to continue, looking around to make sure there are no cameras recording them first.


Of course, Lane doesn't see this one because it's extra sneaky! Satisfied with his perception of privacy, Lane whispers something so low that even Micheal, standing just a couple of feet away from him doesn't hear it.


"What!?"


Agitated more that he has to repeat what he said, Lane kinda shouts it.


"I said even if it was her, everyone knows that it was still you! It's just weird!"


Micheal scoffs.


"You don't think it's weird for me too?"


Lane shrugs. "I dunno, you're into all sorts of weird stuff, man."


Micheal, not being weird Micheal right now, just rolls his eyes and pushes past Lane once more. This seems to rub Lane the wrong way, and what started off as a seeming apology, ends with a snarky diss.


"Yeah, well I was just going to say that it's too bad you aren't a better shooter! Maybe then Charlie wouldn't have been able to kick your ass all over the graveyard so soundly, dude!"


Micheal's skin crawls at the reminder of his performance tonight and he hesitates to continue away from Lane. As soon as Graves stops walking away, Lane's face drops. Micheal doesn't so much as look back before he continues down the hall and out of sight, and Vinnie seems pretty relieved.

NOW!

☆☆☆☆☆SHOOTER☆☆☆☆☆

A tight shot firmly squared on the worried brow of Micheal Graves.


"You know, it's really been weighing heavily on my mind."


FLASHES!









The ConfusionnoisufnoC ehT

The Illusion of control

"What in the fuck did Lane mean when he said that it was too bad I wasn't a better shooter?"


The camera pulls out from the tight shot to reveal Micheal Graves with a shotgun!




"It occurred to me that that fuck head had never even been to the range with me!"


Micheal pulls the trigger and with a loud BOOM the recoil stutters him as a glass bottle roughly 20 feet away explodes into shards!


A twisted grin forms on Micheal's face as you realize that this might not be the stable Gravy that we've taken for granted lately.


"Looks pretty spot on to me! And seeing as how my shooting skill plays into this..."


Micheal hesitates, realizing that he had not saved to memory exactly which type of fantastically hardcore bout him and The Chameleon would be partaking in. Micheal drops the shotgun to his waist and holds up his index finger to the camera.


"Hold on!"


He digs through his pockets and retrieves a finely folded napkin that he takes great care in unfolding without adding any creases at all because fuck slight inperfections! Upon unfolding the napkin, we can clearly see The Chameleon's name and the match type written under it. All in red crayon btw.


"Standard match!?" He says, absolutely stunned!


"Great! First, we can't use our spoon on Madness, now this! Why would Lane talk to us about shooting, if we can't use a damn gun in the match!?"


Micheal freezes and stares at the camera awkwardly, having forgotten that it was there for a moment.


"IS WHAT A CRAZY PERSON MIGHT SAY!"


Let it breath.


"If they were actually just a pretending to be crazy! Girls don't poop! AMIRIGHT!?"


The bad humor? The offensive language?


"Oh well! If I can't put my skills to the test in the ring, I'll just take care of business in the streets like a real G!"

THE IDIOCRACY!!!

Micheal takes a few steps forward and raises the hot barrel up, poking a man in the cheek with it. He yelps out in pain amidst sobbing in fear.



"Are you ready to die Chameleon!?"


But I think we all can tell which Micheal this REALLY is behind the wheel!



"MICHEAL, PLEASE LISTEN!"


Micheal swings the shotgun like a fucking club, wacking the guy and knocking him face-first into the dirt. Micheal drops his knee between the man's shoulders and presses the barrel of the gun into the back of his neck.


"I'm about to blow your fucking head off you shapeshifting piece of shit!"


"MICHEAL STOP! YOU'RE NOT WELL!"


Micheal smiles wickedly!


"I know Doc, and I wanna keep it this way!"


Micheal pulls the trigger and the blast echoes as dust flies and Micheal falls back to his ass. As the dust settles, there's no sign of the doctor anywhere! Micheal scrambles to his feet and looks around confused.


"I knew it! That "DOCTOR" was THE CHAMELEON this ENTIRE TIME!!!"


Probably not!


"What did you do Chameleon, turn into a little birdie!? You gonna fly away and try to get the dirt on Micheal Graves!?"


Suddenly the shot is cut abruptly as we switch to...











This majestic bird, a Western Meadowlark, which just so happens to be the state bird of Oregon, the hosting state of this week's edition of Savage.




The bird hops around, chipping happily. Eventually, it takes off into the air, soring high and proud.


































Gravy shows up hanging out of a flying fucking fucking airplane, just blasting the fuck out of everything!

*BLAM*

*BLAM*

*BLAM* *BLAM*

Or no, just the bird!


Later cops approach the plane as it lands and inform Micheal that he's under arrest for killing the state bird!


"No, it wasn't actually the state bird! It was The Chameleon!"


Micheal tries to plead his case, but the cops don't seem very receptive to the idea of the bird actually being a shapeshifting pro wrestler who Micheal is getting paid to hunt as a build-up for a wrestling event. They inform him that he's under arrest.










Then they cuff him and confiscate his weapons into evidence!

LATER

Micheal sits alone in the interrogation room, cuffed to the table, but not for long as two officers walk into the room. One, a man in his mid to late 40's. He's fit and lean. Probably a boy scout. The other is a woman, late 20's, maybe early 30's. Either way, she doesn't look very experienced.


"I'm detective Dan, and this is my partner Chi Li."


The male detective takes a seat across the table as Chi Li leans in the corner behind Micheal.


"Is there anything that you would like to confess before we begin?"


Micheal leans into the table.


"Listen, I know you guys are upset about the bird, but you've gotta believe me, I thought it was this guy I know! Well, I don't really know him at all! Nobody does! See, he's a shapeshifter or something. Maybe it's just that chrome dome of his reflecting his opponent's faces as they fight? I dunno! What I do know is that word on the street is that the guy can change how he looks on a whim!"


"Cut the crap, Graves!" Chi Li snaps.


"I agree. Enough of this nonsense. That bird is the least of your concerns right now anyway!"


Micheal's eyes widen as he takes in a deep breath and tries to recall WHAT ELSE he might have done recently.


"Why don't you tell us about that convenience store you held up this morning?"


Micheal jerks at his restraints trying to look back at Chi Li!


"I didn't rob no convenience store! I spent all morning setting up the lighting for the execution of the guy pretending to be my shrink when he turned into a bird and tried to escape. I then tracked him down and PUT HIM DOWN with some air to air combat mechanics that prove once and for all that Lane doesn't know what's he's talking about if he thinks I can't shoot!"


The male cop looks at the female.


"That kill shot on the bird was pretty impressive. Are we sure this is our guy?"


With a huff, Chi Li produces a video on her phone that shows crystal clear the face of the man who robbed said convenience store.




Micheal's eyes widen at the sight of this man who looks so eerily similar to himself.


"You said that this happened this morning!? I haven't looked like that since yesterday! This proves my innocence! THAT'S THE CHAMELEON! HE robbed a convince store you say!? That makes sense, actually! See, his whole schtick is mimicking the other guy, like the comic book villain! Oh, wait, no! You probably thought of the Spider-Man foe, The Chameleon! That WOULD make sense, but that guy just made himself LOOK like the other guy. No big deal, the best he can do is frame a guy for a crime, which he did, apparently... But he's ALSO able to mimic peoples fighting style as well, so if he was going to rip a name straight out of Marvel, maybe he should have ripped the one that made more sense, but I DIE-TEST! Or so they say. The problem is, if The Chameleon is trying to copy me, he's going to also get all of my weaknesses, and HAHA as you know, I'm not the most STABLE guy aRoUnD and it's REALLY EASY to get lost in yourselves..."


Micheal gets lost in his own mind as he stares far off with a grin. After a short moment, he snaps back to reality and speaks in a more " normal" tone.


"But I'm doing MUCH better now."


Graves nods, reassuringly.


"I'm not buying any of this, are you?" She says as she looks at her partner.


"No, not at all!"


Suddenly there is an interruption.


"Excuse me, detective?"


Both detectives look to the door to see a uniformed officer peaking into the room, but her attention is only on Dan.


"Your wife is on 3, she says that it's important."


Dan huffs before looking to Graves.


"I suggest you use this opportunity to get your story straight!"


The detectives leave the room and Dan answers the phone as Chi Li stands guard over the door leading into interrogation. After a moment Dan returns.


"Everything okay?"


Dan shakes his head, annoyed.


"No, damned kid started a fight. I have to head down to the school. Can you handle taking him back to holding?"


Chi Li nods.


"Not a problem."


From the inside, we watch Chi Li open the door, and the shocked expression on her face when she finds a young woman cuffed to the table.


"Wh!? WHERE DID HE GO!?"


"PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE!?"

LATER STILL

We see the woman from earlier, now dressed in a long dark trenchcoat. She's walking down a dark street. Free because the cops don't believe in shapeshifters. Suddenly she dips into the shadows of an alley, and then out from the shadows walks Micheal, gun in hand, and looking for revenge at the only place he knows that he can find the shape-shifting demon that has caused him this unnecessary trouble with the law!

THE CHAMELEON - vs - MICHEAL GRAVES STUPID FUCKING STANDARD ASS MATCH!