OOC: Edited to fix some formatting. 

Coreytopia, Florida
Four Days After War Games

The rain hadn’t let up since he arrived after War Games, which had only increased the atmosphere of oppression governing Corey’s heart. Joachim’s mood was still largely traumatized and morose, and though Corey had made overtures to help (going so far as to call Thad Duke about his therapist as a possible recommendation), Joachim had remained insouciant about his own recovery and reintegration into society. Leading to this moment here and now.

Pan and Corey stood beneath the shelter of the ornate gazebo he had built in his backyard. Pan had always liked it, saying the structure reminded him of home. Corey hoped the scenery might make Pan a bit more open to his request. But the rain sullied their environs, turning to a hard beat against the wooden roof that almost served to drown out their talk.

Would you at least consider it? Corey inquired, raising his voice above the raindrops.

Pan stood still and quiet in reply, his profile facing towards Corey, and his lithe frame peering out through his sodden t-shirt. It’s not that simple, Corey.

But he’s terrified.

We’re all terrified! Pan turned to Corey, raising his voice higher than he might have liked. Lowering his tone, he continued. Death is a part of life, Corey. And what happened to Joachim is deeply, deeply unfortunate. But…

But, what? You have a whole tribe of kids you granted the gift of everlasting life to.

Pan held up a finger. Not everlasting.

Okay, fine. Damn close then. You yourself are hundreds of years old.

I can still die. Joachim could still die.

But not of natural causes.

Then have you considered this? Pan took a step towards Corey. We age normally here, on your world. For him to get the maximum benefit, he’d have to live in Neverland.

Corey cast his glance downward. I know.

Pan sighed, looking out at the driving rain. Have you even spoken to him about this?

I wanted to talk to you first.

That was a good idea. Look, Corey, the kids I welcomed into my circle were chosen very carefully. They were chosen because they had suffered so much in this world.

Pan, Joachim has suffered. Corey emphasized.

He has. But my Lost Boys have no one but me. Pan has you. He has friends. People who love him. People who can help him through this.

I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you’re doing this. Corey set his features into a harsh mien. It’s selfish is what it is.

Excuse me? Pan spoke softly, belaying the rising tide of anger in his voice.

It’s selfish! You created a whole cadre of people who would be your friends forever. That’s why you did it! So you’d never be alone with your immortality. So you’d never have to see your friends die. Unlike us mortal plebs here on Earth who have to deal with death on a daily goddamn basis. It’s selfish, Pan! Corey stabbed his finger at Pan for emphasis.

After a few protracted breaths, Pan offered a response. I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. And for the record, I offered YOU the gift.

And I turned it down. That’s not what this is about!

Is it?

NO! I don’t want to live forever for the same reason you made your own elite circle of immortals. Because I don’t want to never grow old and watch everyone around me wither and die. I don’t want to eventually be alone.

Pan looked stricken. But you have me! You’ll never be truly alone.

Corey folded his arms across his chest and turned away. Until you get bored with me. Until you move on.

Pan gulped, looking genuinely hurt. Gritting his teeth together, he struggled internally against his own best instincts. You want me to offer it to him? Fine. You get what you want. I hope you’re happy. With that, Pan stormed back out into the rain back towards the house. Corey watched him go, heavy with mixed emotions.

Orlando Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Now

The scene settles on the interior of…a lion’s den?



Once again Corey is standing just outside it at a safe distance. He casts his arm back towards the visage of a lion on the prowl in the exhibit and declares, Yes that’s right, we’re doing the entire animal kingdom. And I couldn’t think of a more appropriate animal given who I’m facing than a lion. But it reminds me of a story I once heard. A fable really.

A old wise man told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two lions in us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, lies, inferiority and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, empathy, and truth.” The boy thought about it and asked, “Grandfather, which lion wins?” And the grandfather replied, “The lion you feed.”

You might think on the surface that I’m directing this at Kido. But in all honesty, I DO think his lion is pretty good. I’ve knocked Kido about quite a bit, but I’ve never veered from admitting he’s a decent man.

No, this parable is for Dolly.

Dolly, the reason I’m so upset with you is because I KNOW which one you’re feeding. Oh, granted, I’m not sure I’d call you evil yet. I’m not that out of touch. But if I had to pick a direction that you’re trending in? If the bands you picked for May Day are any indication…yeesh.

All kidding aside, aside from her moral quibbles, Dolly has a herculean task to accomplish in the run up to this match. Not only does she either have to cop to her ethical compass being broken… or lie about it, but she also has to jump through hoops to explain why I’m not cut out to win this match literally right after she drafted me first round for War Games.

Corey playfully puts a hand to his mouth as if he’s speaking something taboo.

Uh ohhhhh…..

I mean, if your drafting predelictions aren’t a tacit admission of my readiness for the main event, then I don’t know what is. The fact is, Dolly, that even YOU know I can win this match.

Oh, and, uhhh while we’re on the topic…who else made it much, much further in War Games than you?

Ya huh.

Dolly Wolly, things ain’t lookin’ too good for you having the edge on me.

And you know what else occurred to me, as I sit here and watch these beautiful beasts before me?

Corey again gestures back to the lions.

Much like these lions, I’m the kind of guy that makes no qualms about staking out my territory. Oh sure, the Noah Jackson’s of the world bitched and moaned about me “jumping the line”, all the while proving their spineliness for standing and waiting in line in the first place, but I TOOK what I wanted. I bent Raion Kido to my will because I KNEW after observing him carefully all this time that he had the personality type that would fold. Armchair psychiatry aside, my point is this: I had the balls to step to the plate and call my shot.You know who didn’t?

YOU.

You, Dolly. You are one of the most tenured people in the XWF. How long have you been around? Six years? Seven? And in all that time never…NOT ONCE…have you staked a claim to the Universal Championship like I have.

So, what’sa matter Dolly? Does one of these big cats have your tongue? Are you one of the spineless line riders like Noah?

Or did you just think you couldn’t get the job done?

By GOD, all those years, biding your time and just waiting for management to finally throw Dolly Waters a bone. Instead of cashing in those years of dedicated service and all those mid card title reigns, parlaying them into an admittedly reasonable demand that you challenge for the Universal championship, you did NOTHING. You accepted what was given to you and took nothing more. I mean….what? Was it a crisis of confidence? Gah! All that time wasted in line, too cheap (or timid) to buy the speed pass. I can’t even fucking imagine it.

But you know what, maybe we should let Dolly speak for herself. I’ve yet to watch her promo, so excuse me a moment while I get caught up.



When we return, Corey is downing a hot dog.

Sorry, I love zoo food. And…uh oh…

Just behind him one of the lions has approached the glass, but he doesn’t seem to be doing well. His hackles are raised, rear end in the air, and he seems to be gagging and sputtering. Finally, he horks up a massive hairball coated in bile.

I don’t blame ya buddy, that’s pretty much my reaction to Dolly’s promo too.

Corey licks some ketchup off his thumb before continuing.

You know Dolly, I got some thanks for you too. Before I saw that, I was a little worried I’d come across as too egotistical lately. But after watching your Lewis and Clarke Manifest Destiny ass put together that ramshackle shitshow of a victory lap, I gotta say I’m not feeling so bad anymore.

I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Dolly, in the end, didn’t have much to say about me. I mean, what is there TO say?

Though I find it ceaselessly ironic that she went on about me being afraid to pursue the Universal championship when, as I’ve just pointed out, she’s had her entire career to do the same and passed on it faster than her daddy passes on an AA meeting. But way to try to paint ME as the coward. Christ, it really is all projection with you people.

But I’ll bite the bait. You wanna know why I didn’t pursue the Universal Championship? It certainly wasn’t because I feared Page, who aside from Kido was one of the most thoroughly beatable champions of the modern era. And I wasn’t afraid of Caedus either.

But I was afraid of Alias. Which I already admitted to. In the run up to your own show. Guess you weren’t watching the promo spots. And while we’re on the topic what does it say for me that I overcame that fear and beat the man?

Anyway…the Universal Championship. Why didn’t I pursue it? Because the last time I had that in my hot little hands I was a bonafide monster, enslaved to The Engineer. Now maybe you, like your buddy Sarah Lacko, simply don’t believe The Engineer was real. Whatever. But the fact is my last reign as Universal Champion, a time when I can safely say I wasn’t myself, is something I’m deeply ashamed of. My weakness let the Engineer in. And as a consequence lots of people got hurt. So, honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved to be Universal Champion. But then I realized something. I realized that while I could never completely wipe away that sin, I didn’t need to be beholden to it either. I realized I could do a lot of good with that championship. I could be the champion the XWF could be proud of. And I could prove to myself that I didn’t need The Engineer, or even Lux for that matter, to be a champion.

Let’s move on.

It doesn't shock me that Dolly would try to take credit for my win over Alias. Which is chock full of dummy dumbs because by that logic, only the general management team is responsible for anyone winning any championship. Don’t you try to deny for a hot minute that me beating Alias doesn’t shake you to your core. Yes, yes, we all saw him lose to Raion. But with Raion’s mediocre performance since then, it does make me question how that loss really came about. I don’t think the result of that match was so much about Alias losing as Alias DECIDING he was done. How else do you explain him falling to someone so mediocre after running roughshod, undefeated, through the roster for a whole year? It’s inexplicable. But the fact is, the man was never built for the spotlight. And his motivations are often as inscrutible as your ability to con actual grown adults into buying the product you shill. So no, I don’t think he lost that match because Raion was better. I think he lost that match because he was done being in the spotlight. Call it making excuses for Alias if you will, but it just doesn’t add up to me and never has.

But, anyway, I’m quite done talking about Dolly. Let’s move onto the Lion himself. Who…

Corey looks back and sees the lion from before eating his own barf.

Ya know, I honestly cannot think of a better image to get this rollin’ on. *snrkt*

Hey, I gotta get caught up on Raions shizz too so just give me another moment here.



These Spongebob timecards are pretty handy actually and WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE DIDN’T PROMO?

A voice sounds from off screen.

He didn’t cut a promo Mr. Smith.

Okay well can the “Mister” stuff I’m neither your dad nor particularly respectable but also BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It takes Mr. Smith a few additional moments to wind down.

Okay, so let me get this straight. This heart of a lion, indomintable spirit motherfucker can’t even be bothered to stand up for his own title reign? I was right, Kido, you really are a toilet tier champion.

Look, I’m not one of those fantasy loving assholes who automatically equates promo performance with in ring performance, but COME THE HELL ON, MAN. This was your chance to push back on all the shit people have been saying about you and your title reign, about my assertions about your weakness, and what do you do?

“Eh, fuck it.”

Wow. Spirit of a champion, folks. And maybe I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you’re so busy pumping iron ‘till you shit yourself that you just didn’t have time to cut a promo. And that there leads me to believe something else.

That you are running scared.

That your “mums the word, gotta train my ass off” philosophy demarcates you as a man who is deeply, deeply afraid of what’s going to happen at Weekend Warfare. And you should be! You haven’t been challenged like this since you faced Alias, and I’m the guy who BEAT Alias.

But here’s the thing. I wanna hear from you. I want you to take center stage and tell us why the people should believe in you. You’ve done it plenty of times before. Why not know?

Yeah, lets hear the great Raion Kido speak those oh so inspiring words…

…right before he crashes and burns for good.

God, I love the dichotomy.

So there we have it friends and members of the animal kingdom. My verbal punt to the head of Dolly and Raion. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have the once in a lifetime opportunity to feed these great cats. Just like I’m feeding Raion now with promo material so he can (feebly) clap back.

That voice from earlier speaks up again.

Actually sir, you can't feed the lions.

Again with the sir, look man….wait, WHY CAN’T I FEED THE LIONS?!

Its an insurance issue.

That’s bollocks. I want to talk to the guy who runs this place.

The camera pans around to reveal a middle aged man wearing business casual.

I am the guy who runs this place.

Oh. How did you know Raion didn’t promo?

I’m a huge XWF fan.

Ah. So what’s it gonna take for me to feed these stand-ins for my competition next Warfare?

It’s an insurance issue and…

How much would it take for it to not be an insurance issue?

Well…

How about me funding the lions for the next five years?

The man seems to be musing it over. I’d say thats fair.

Sweet! And I want to rename the puke eater Raion Kido. Don't worry, it's not a trademark or anything, he’s too dumb to do that.

I suppose so.

Corey claps his hands together gleefully. Wonderful!! Suck on this tiger king, lion king in the hizzzzouse! 

And with that, Corey heads off on his newly purchased lion adventure. Tune in next time for more verbal lacerations of your favorite XWF un-champion.

Coreytopia, Florida
Four Days After War Games

The shot reopens on Corey’s back after he ventures past the gazebo and into the rain. We draw down and into the foreground to see Duncan Light hiding behind the gazebo.

Oooohhh, so THAT’s what their up to! The kid’s gonna live forever. He snorts. Fuck, I wanna live forever!

Oh, but you can. A cool sounding female voice speaks from just off camera. The shot pans back to reveal a woman standing upright next to the crouched Duncan. The rain falls on her, but leaves no mark of it’s presence. It’s as if she’s not standing in the rain at all.



Her features are striking, sharp and eager. She looks down at Duncan and continues. You can have whatever your heart desires. But it is imperative that we get what Pan was talking about.

…for the boss?

She smiles, and Duncan is oblivious to how frosty it is. And for you!

Oh. Sweet. But how do I do this?

The smile bisects her face even further, looking positively ghoulish now. You’re an Engineer, Duncan, you’ll figure something out.