Awoken by the stewardess from a dream where he was a masked, sword-wielding barbarian fighting back-to-back with a 6'4 Amazon warrior in a chain-mail bikini and pitch black hair that fell all the down to her knees against a horde of serpent men to the tune of Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper', the newly minted ADCC world champion staggered off the plane. Beneath his ever-present mask, he blinked his eyes and began the process of knocking off the lingering cobwebs and convincing himself that he was definitely not off in some ancient land with an awesome name before the dawn of recorded history.

Although, as he shivered in the biting Michigan cold, it was definitely before the dawn and in some ways Michigan could certainly pass for the Conan the Barbarian's homeland of Cimmeria, at least as far as the temperature was concerned. However, it wasn't half-human, half-serpent hordes he was faced with, but a much smaller, though no less vicious group of journalists.

Reporter 1: How do you respond to findings by ADCC officials that you utilized performance enhancing drugs to carry you through the ADCC tournament? And what of the allegations that it was in fact, a different competitor beneath the mask for each match of the tournament?

Reporter 2: Your opponent in the ADCC finals, Jorge Rodrigo, has allegedly required crutches following the ankle-lock you placed on him. Apparently he has also been kicked off his team and removed from his teaching position at Gracie Bara. Do you feel any guilt over your use of performance enhancers to possibly cripple a man and ruin his career as a jiu jitsu competitor?

KnightMask flashed back to the finals of the ADCC, what could have been a moment of triumph, marred by the possibly permanent injury of his opponent. He saw once again the beautiful face of Jorge's daughter, Natalia, staring at him, staring into him, accusingly, hatefully. He was going to do everything he could to help Jorge and Natalia out; if his victory over Jorge had made the man an instant pariah in the jiu jitsu community and deprived his family of an sort of income, he had already determined to do everything, anything he could to help them out. The steroid accusations stunned him, though he doubted the reporters could see his shock beneath the cover of his mask. But in the end, it didn't really matter.

Reporter 3: Also, how do you feel about being permanently banned from the ADCC and also by NAGA, Grappler's Quest and every other grappling organization in light of these charges?


The great thing about going through life wearing a mask almost all the time was that made it a lot easier to give the appearance of stoicism. His eyes teared up at the realization that the sport he had given his life to had essentially rejected him wholesale but those tears were hidden behind his mask's ruby quartz vizor.

KnightMask: I'm with the XWF now, my grappling career is in the past. If they've banned me, then their doing me a favor. Now its no way but forward and I'm going to remember that in the gym and in the ring. Right now, my thoughts are on one thing. My debut against World-1 International. And as far as Jorge goes, there's never shame in defeat. If anyone should be ashamed, its those guys that so find it so easy to mock a great competitor who gave it his all. If they feel Brazilian jiu jitsu's honor was stained by Jorge's loss, they should realize that catch-wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu only make each other better by going up against each other.

Ed Hooray, a fellow grappler and teammate who also competed at the ADCC tournament, interjects himself between KnightMask and the reporters.

Ed Hooray: C'mon bro, lets run while we still can...I didn't win my weight division at the ADCC's just to get hassled by a bunch of reporters...besides, its almost 4:20 in the morning, you know what that means man!

KnightMask (whispering) : I have no idea what that means, Ed.

Ed Hooray: I don't either, what does anything mean? Telling something what it means, is really mean, actually.

The reporters, noticing Ed Hooray, begin to harass him as well.

Reporter: Ed Hooray, does your inability to place in the ADCC tournament disprove your claims about the supposed superiority of your so-called 'Mary Jane Jiu Jitsu' and your 'Gumby Guard' techniques?

Ed Hooray: Lemme ask you a question, babe. How much does the Illuminati pay you? I'm outta here...

KnightMask: Ed, you think its a little funny that our teammates didn't come to pick us up at the airport or anything?

Ed: What I think is funny is that the Free Masons are runnin' the world and all these clowns think that just 'cause they do their bidding their gonna get spared when they attempt to poison all of us with the emissions from those electric cars. Their gas-masks aren't even gonna work, man!

The two grapplers manage to hail a taxi and take a ride back to their training facility, the Mongoose Den. Unsurprisingly, due to the early morning, the gym is empty. KnightMask takes out his key, only to see that the lock is changed. He looks up to see a sign declaring, 'NO JUICERS ALLOWED!'

Ed: Hey, look on the bright side...that doesn't include me, right?

KnightMask looked up at the sky. Everything, it seemed, had been ripped away from him. All he had left was to pray to God for strength and perseverance to get him through these trials.

With nowhere else to go, KnightMask returned to his apartment. He half-expected the locks to his room to be changed as well. At this point, it wouldn't shock him. Opening the door, he tossed his bags in and plopped down in front of the computer. Not bothering to call up anyone from the Moongose Den for an explanation, he started scanning Youtube for any footage of his upcoming opponent, World-1International. Of course, he'd need to find somewhere to train for his match...but he didn't feel like thinking about that right now.

After a bit of searching, he found a highlight package of World-1 International's matches. At first, it was hard to focus, his mind continually drifting back to all the troubles that'd been placed across his shoulders like a man-eating albatross on steroids. He saw him hit a couple face-cutters, neckbreakers, spears...all well executed, but still, fairly basic moves. Nothing special. Maybe, he thought, he just go to bed and sleep it all off.

Then came the shooting star-press.

KnightMask had seen the move done before, but nothing, nothing like that level of execution. He rewound it, pausing each second to slow down the motion.

It was followed by footage of W1I tapping out an opponent with a sharpshooter, then another hapless foe with a crippler crossface. But what really stunned him came next; he man wasn't more than 165 soaking wet, but there he was, gorilla-pressing his opponent over his shoulders and launching him into a face-cutter on the mat. And there was that kick...that one where he turned away, back-flipped through the air, and actually managed to nail his man in the head with pin-point accuracy...

KnightMask: Man, I gotta get more footage of this guy...lemme see, HighSpots.com, maybe...?

Suddenly, the masked wrestler realized what had happened. That he'd been happy...and inspired...for the first time since waking up today

KnightMask: Thanks, World1-International. Hopefully I can do for wrestling fans what you just did for me bro. Thank God for professional wrestling.

KnightMask popped in earphones beneath his mask, switched it to Iron Maiden's 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' and went out onto the streets to look for a place to train.