We fade in on a Dairy Queen interior, where hardly anyone seems to be doing their job. While some are sweeping the floors and taking out the garbage, others seem to be passing time by messing with their phones, either playing the hottest new applications or calling relatives for seemingly little reason. Those were just the employees that the Cambot managed to see before being called back to the table Johnathan and his sister are eating at. Johnathan can be seen eating some chicken tenders with a medium Pepsi while Syndi settles for a banana split and a small Sprite. While not exactly a healthy or filling meal, they seem to be enjoying themselves while they're here. Knowing that Johnathan didn't have much money, Syndi has a smile on her face for her brother's selflessness. The knight, on the other hand, is smiling out of anxiety.

Due to his choice to stay at various motels to tour along with the federation, he's been far behind on the status of his family and the recent happenings. He's smiling in order to keep the mood up so she won't hesitate to tell him exactly why she took up two jobs. She looks up at Johnathan with an ice cream mustache on her face, hoping to get a laugh out of him. It manages to get a chuckle, but nothing more. She wipes the ice cream off her face and puts a disarming look on her face.

"You okay there, Johnathan? You haven't really touched your food since you picked it up."

He rubs his eyes, exhausted from that outing and uncertain of what to say next.

"Sorry, sis, I just had something on my mind that I've been meaning to ask you about ever since I saw you again."

Her smile drops as she moves her banana split aside to focus on her brother, who appears to be sweating a whole fountain.

"Are mom and dad alright? I mean, has dad retired already?"

"No, dad's still a maintenance worker at Six Flags, if that's what you're asking."

The knight sighs in slight relief.

"As I told you once, the 'X-Bux' you sent us through the mail have been rendered next to useless since no one knew how to convert it or what they were worth. So I had to take a second job just to help dad pay the mortgage and mom' hospital bills."

The relief knight felt before is gone, now replaced with worry and confusion.

"Wai-, mom's in the hospital? What happened to her?"

"She had a minor stroke, that's all."

"And you didn't even think to call me? I could have dropped everything to try to support you guys, and yet you didn't try to call me for help?!?"

"Johnny-"

"You honestly didn't think that for one fucking minute, I could walk out during the middle of a show to help you and dad with whatever you wanted?!?"

"It's not that simple-"

"Not that simple? It sounds pretty damn simple to me! Just call me, and I'd be there! What's not to get about that!?"

"Johnny, please-"

"I love my family just as much as you do, and you think my wrestling career is more important than the lives of my family? What the fuck is wrong with you?!?"

"Johnathan, listen to me!"

There is a brief pause after Syndi yells at her brother like that.

"Johnathan, I'm worried about you. You've been arguing with your own emotions as if they were real people. And the worst part is that we could hear them from the little bot that's been following you around. I don't think it would be right to bring you back to our family with your mind acting like the way it has. I'm sorry, but I don't want my mother coming into contact with you until your mind has healed."

Stunned silent, Johnathan stands up from the table and backs away from his sister.

"No...I swear, that's not how I really am...I'm sane, trust me..."

Johnathan enters the restroom, closing the door behind him.


Johnathan is washing his face in the sink to make sure that he isn't dreaming this entire day. Sadly, he isn't. He lets the water drop from his face as he gasps for air rapidly, panicking that his emotions have just about taken over his life, making him a madman that speaks out for the voices in his head. He grabs a nearby paper towel and dries his face off. His breath slows down to the point where he sounds like he's sighing with every inhale and exhale. Johnathan looks up to the mirror to see if his reflection remained the same after his short panic attack. Sure enough, it did. However, the masked figure of Doubt is seen standing not too far behind him, staring at Johnathan with those blank vacant eyes. Johnathan looks at the figure with disdain in his eyes.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble for me?"

"If anything, I haven't created enough."

The figure laughs at the knight, who rolls his eyes before turning around and staring at him face to mask.

"Look, I don't know what you want from me, I've been through my past, alternate present, and my future, and you want me to put on the mask to let you take over my body. If that's not what you're here for, then tell me exactly what you want!"

"You better tell me what you want, or so help me God, I'll kill you five times over!"

Not recognizing that voice, Johnathan gets chills running down his spine as he looks around for the source of that rather deep, effeminate...thing. Doubt, however, laughs at the poor bastard searching for the other emotion that has come out to play.

"I see you heard your anger, Johnathan. Would you also like to see it? It certainly isn't a shy lass, after all."

Johnathan turns around as soon as he feels a strange appendage on his shoulder. He sees a strange multicolored demon wielding whips of its skin color. It only has one eye on it's face, but has two more on it's chest, but it uses two glowing red dots on it's face to see. The creature has six horns, two on the back of it's head and four emerging from it's shoulder-blades. Muscles are exposed on the creature's skin, making look decayed and more inhuman. The teeth are fanged and plentiful, surrounding the creature's circular maw, like a rotary saw blade.

"These whips used to be a part of my body, but I tore them off and used them as whips because you're such a shit fighter!"

Without warning, the creature raises it's whip up into the air and strikes Johnathan across the face, leaving a nasty cut on the side of his face.

"Why do I have to be stuck with a loser like you? Why can't I be stuck with someone that has talent instead of this middle aged fucker!?"

It goes to strike him with the whip again, but Doubt walks over to the demon and holds her arm back, not wanting to knock Johnathan unconscious.

"Easy, girl, no need to kill the man yet. He still has a lot more to learn before he's ready to die."

The knight groans as he holds the gash on his face.

"As I told you before, Johnathan, there are others standing by to get some good shots in at you. Anger here just so happened to get hers."

"And if it weren't for this masked jackass here stopping me, I would've had you, you weak son of a bitch!"

"I know that deep in your internal thoughts, you pushed her aside and lied about how you really felt, making her even madder. You haven't found a good release for her, so she's been building up until couldn't take it anymore."

"I USED TO BE BEAUTIFUL BEFORE YOU FUCKED UP SO BADLY! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU I LOOK LIKE THIS!!!"

Anger shoves Doubt aside and rushes after Johnathan. She would've had him if his sister hadn't suddenly ran in, making them both vanish from the room. However, the deep cut on his cheek remains, leaving Syndi baffled as to how he got it in the first place.

"Oh my God! What happened to you? Did you do this to yourself?"

There is a moment of silence before Johnathan could answer her.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

With that, the scene fades out.


"Well, there's a king stepping up to the plate, and only one king. Theo, the unlucky bastard that he is, has been the only one on his team that's been pitching the balls of trash in our direction, and they either missed us entirely or beaned us. No strikes, no outs, not even a nasty look. Somehow, I expected better from the first ever King of the Rin-oh wait, let me correct myself, King of the XWF. For some reason it irks the man just to call the title the way it is now instead of the way it was back then. Maybe he hates the way things are presently and wishes that things should just go back to the way they were? At least back then, the crown, and by extension, Theo himself, actually meant more than a fancy title. Now he's just fucking about with two other men that have held glory before they fell back down to Earth. Hell, this guy thought it would be a good idea to bring up people that held their belts longer than they have as some sort of defense. It doesn't make them look good, it just tells me that the tag division in this federation is nearly dead and needs revitalizing. Why do you think we're here, Hoss?"

He scoffs.

"You want to know what I've done, huh, Pryce? I'll tell you what I've done. I've gotten better. Every person I fought, whether I won or lost, I've walked out of that arena learning something that day, whether it's something minor as to wait before pulling off the big move or something as major as learning who to trust in this federation. That's gold enough for me. You? You think that the only way a winner can be defined is through the belts they held or are currently wearing. Do firemen not count as winners because they aren't wearing enough belts to fit around a giant's waist? That's some pretty bullshit logic to have there, King."

"It doesn't matter who I have and haven't beaten, what matters is who I will beat tomorrow. In that very ring, I'll end up beating a former COO, a senator, and a man that has the mindset of an islander. Will it surprise you, the other kings, and everyone else in the arena on Wednesday? Fuck yeah it would. You know what else it would say about us? Despite the fact that our manager is being treated like the biggest joke in the entire federation, we don't have to suffer from his misfortunes. To think that the Kings could be stopped by normal men. You say that we can't beat you? Well, as a knight, I'd have to disagree, because I feel that your opinion as a former king, doesn't matter. You may think you have some authority over me because you were a king, but your time has just about ended. The Underground's time? It's coming soon. We're going to crawl out of that hole people have dug for us and show everyone that we are the future generation of the XWF."

"Now what else could your brilliant mind say about us? You are the most charismatic man out of the kings after all, what with Samuels MIA and Madison just coming out of his rock. You said that I couldn't get a show out on time? At least I'm not as bad as fucking Maverick. The fucker lost the tape because it was buried in his shit. Besides, the show's still being edited, what with multiple takes and the frustration of not getting the celebrities we needed on time. The reason I haven't been seen for two days? I was thoroughly analyzing your words and how bullshit your claims were then. I needed the time to grace you with a response worthy of your time, even if you'll end up hating it."

"Do us a favor, Theo, and buy yourself some Kleenex after this match. The floors have been waxed and they don't need any of your salty ass tears ruining their hard work."

"Speaking of Madison, holy shit, what took ya so long? Your 'crown' broke so you rushed from BK to BK just to find one still giving away crowns? I don't know why else you'd hide away in that fast food joint that serves the second worst burgers known to man. No, I'm a Hardee's guy, born and raised. I'm also a Fraiser guy, because I was told that Friends was full of unfunny airheads that told the worst jokes in the world in the hope that they would get a pity laugh out of the audience.Sure enough, not only did I find a guy that willingly eats at Burger King, but also finds the weakest television has to offer hilarious. What a sad human being he is."

"Oh, what else did he say? He said that Gator no-sold my shit? Clearly this guy thinks that men like Mastermind, Duncan B. Deadly, Griffin the Second, and, as much as it hurts me to say his name twice, Maverick, are the top dogs of this federation. How else would it explain why he fast forwarded the match for no other reason than 'he doesn't like me'? You want to hear me say that Gator ate the beans of the beanstalk to become stronger? Fuck that noise, you'd be more likely to hear me say 'Death by explosive diarrhea' than ever say what you wanted me to and mean it. It wasn't even a loss either, we just ran out of time and Ozy decided to give Gator, me, and Fern (before the bastard backed out because he didn't want to cross the moat) another shot."

"You should be in a comedy club. you know that?"

"You said that the Kings would give 150%. You didn't say that they each would, but just that they would give that amount. You're calling your own team weak, you know that? You're giving 150% while we're off getting ready to perform 300% each. Not just because I'm a cocky son of a bitch, but because I'm stating the future Three Kings. The end of three old men that think they still got it, only to fall and lose to the younger men in this federation because they're more determined to remove the belts around your waists."

"Now how could I lose to Gator, even though it was a sure fire victory for me? Simple. That guy was determined to keep his belt. He knew that it meant something to him and didn't want to lose it so soon. Even the most exhausted of men can pull off miraculous feats when time requires them to. Now as for you three? You would sell those off because you were out of dinner money and had to go to the nearest Mexican restaurant for a quick feast. To tell you the truth, TJ, Swann, and I plan to tear those belts away from you before you could make a single cent. You could spend hours sitting in your golden limousines talking about the unfortunate because they hadn't paid their taxes, but you know that, somewhere, sometime from now, that there will be people just waiting to tear your head off because the king has gone mad with power."

"Now, to answer your main question, Why do I deserve a trios opportunity? Other than being booked by the higher ups, I'd say that I deserve this opportunity because it's simply time to prove the skeptics wrong. Anyone can pull off the impossible with enough determination and bravado. I'd also say that I deserve a shot at this belt to show the future knights of the realm that, no matter how powerful an adversary, they can be trumped as long as they refuse to go down."

Johnathan chuckles.

"See you tomorrow, Madison. Cambot."

BEEP BEEP.

"Turn off."

The scene cuts to black.