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Finn Kühn · (12-03-2022)

1 November 2022
Brooklyn, New York

So close, and yet so far. It was something that was quickly becoming a common trend in my life these past few weeks after everything that was being thrown my way.

I was traveling the world. Visiting the most beautiful locations people could only dream of. Performing in front of thousands of people that paid to see you. Having a job that gave you the power in your closed fist that you always had dreamed of. It feels almost wrong for me to complain.

All I've wanted from that though was to be able to face the best, to prove myself against them. To prove I belonged, and to prove I could be better than them. To some extent, that's been the case. Almost every single match I've been able to take part in was truly down to the wire.

One mistake against Isaiah King was able to lead to him locking in his finishing hold. I had taken part in a headbutting struggle against Charlie Nickles that could have led to either one of us bleeding first, but luck wasn't on my side. I was never pinned in my triple threat match with Ned and Goth, but I wasn't capable of breaking up the pin on Ned in time. I went the entire distance in the Rumble match in Tara Fenix's Charity Event from the number two slot all the way to the finale, only to be blindsided with a low blow and eliminated last of all. I was dropped on my neck twice over by Buster Gloves and that led to his victory.

And of course, what was the most important match of my career to that point was Raion Kido on Savage. It was a fight for me to earn respect. A chance for me to score an upset. A chance for me to place my name on the map.

But for Raion Kido, it was just another Saturday. That was the difference between us as we exchanged signatures and finishers as fast as the eye could move.

And of course... perhaps the most disappointing result of them all came at Warfare. My affairs were still being meddled in by someone else. I saw, along with everyone else, footage of me at Relentless that was utterly fabricated. The entire world at large now saw me as a liar and a cheat, including Buster Gloves. At Savage, I saw the real truth, but... I need to show Buster firsthand. If he were going to truly listen to me and believe me, then he'd have to see the footage. This coming Warfare would be the place to do it in, no doubt.

But of course, things were going to be hard up until that point for me and beyond. There was no rest for the wicked, though... For the time being, I still had a full plate - Centurion on Warfare, Micheal Graves on Savage, then Bad Medicine, which I fully intended to have a match ready for then. One step at a time though...

I was walking in the morning rain to get ready for a meeting with Skyla that she was calling me for. Oddly enough, we weren't going to the usual area we were frequenting. Rather, it seemed she had a more outdoorsy activity planned for me. As I walked, though, the pressure of the rain felt like it was almost killing my neck. It was stiff. Hard to move. Every time I craned it over to try and look for oncoming traffic or an incoming pedestrian, I had to try withstanding it all.

Christine Said:"Finn, you're acting selfish!" Christine finally said defiantly, leaning over and looking right into my lone eye herself. "There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and you know if Skyla were here right now instead of back in New York, she'd be telling you the same thing! You can't jeopardize your health like this with people telling you this isn't worth it!"

The forced memory forced me to pause in my tracks. There weren't many people out at this hour yet, so I was able to lean against one of the nearby building walls and collect my thoughts. It wasn't too much longer to Skyla anyway, but... my mind was racing. Dozens of questions whizzed around my head at what felt like light speed. I was starting to come to the conclusion that the droplets beginning to trickle down my face weren't just from the rain.

I could fight, still. But it was a miracle I didn't come out of that week with more injuries. Four matches in one week against top-tier competition. Nearly two hours of in-ring time spent between the mainland United States and Hawaii. Multiple scares in that entire week. When Buster dropped me on my head for that powerbomb, and then that Burning Hammer to end our match at the Charity Event... it felt like my vision was whiting out. I wasn't used to such pain, yet it was enough for my body to just cry out from it.

But nothing, somehow, was broken in it all. I didn't have a concussion again. I could still fight. So I had to fight. I had to uphold the promise that I made to myself, and to everyone else. It was that simple.

But the hot flashes and aches in my neck right now were screaming at me in unison, demanding me to know just how bad of an idea this truly was.

"What to do..." I muttered under my breath.

"Ah, there you are, Finn." The familiar voice called out to me amidst the gray, gloomy air, forcing me to look over as Skyla Hawkins made her way toward me.

Something was wrong. Skyla would have seen me staring off into space and taken the time to immediately hit me with that silly crimson spear of hers. After the lashing she made sure I received after failing that equally-foolish candy bar exercise of hers before Savage, I was starting to fear even her arrival. She did good work, of course - physically speaking, I felt like I would be stronger than ever if it weren't for these injuries. But right now... I wasn't sure about anything.

"What training exercise did you have in mind that you'd bring me out here in the early morning?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No training for now," Skyla said as she shook her head. Okay, something was really wrong now if she was holding off on training. Surely she was waiting on me to just lower my guard, and- "I figure there will be plenty of time later to go about that before your matches on Warfare and Savage. For now... I'm more interested in just talking with you. We can discuss your matches, and... other things while taking a walk without many people here in the early hours of the morning. I was hoping that we'd be able to enjoy some sunshine for this, but..."

The two of us looked to the murky heavens.

As if sensing my inner turmoil and my own body breaking apart despite my best efforts, the sky wept for me.

"...You can see how those well-laid plans turned out."

"That's an understatement..." I muttered under my breath. Skyla gave a small noise of agreement, before turning on her heel and beginning to walk forward. With a wag of her finger, she beckoned me forward, and the two of us trudged forward on the puddle-stained path.

Before I could say anything, Skyla decided to get right down to business. "Do you feel ready for Centurion? He's a tough opponent in his own right."

After this past week, it was hard to feel ready for anything.

"Of course I am," I lied through my teeth. "Been studying the notes on him Christine gave me. I'll turn things around starting with him."

Skyla was silent for a moment, weighing my words and my tone. Did she catch on that quickly to things...? The silence coming from her was almost stifling. I began to get ready to say something, but before I could form words, the response from her came. "Good to see you're so optimistic, then. I'm sure you'll be able to pull through."

If she did know, she wasn't going to press on it now. I decided to just take what I could get as I nodded.

"It's another match I've been looking forward to," I went on. "Out of all the people to respond to me when I made the initial challenge for the Road of the King, Centurion was the only people to respond to that directly. He's talented, experienced, knows every counter to every hold..."

"Skyla, can I just... what is this all about?" I said, finally deciding to get to the chase myself.

Skyla paused again, weighing her options, before humming to herself as she responded to me.

"It's quite simple, Finn."

"I'm going to help you out of your mental block."

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