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AerialKnight · **01-16-2015, 07:06 PM**

"Well, since Gator's stunt double act failed, it seems like he has no choice but to start focusing on the men that never got a chance at the silver screen again. How was the limelight, buddy? Short lived? That's exactly what I plan on doing with your title reign. Two defenses, two sips of the finest wine in the restaurant, and then the entire bottle is taken from you when the waiter tips it all over your fancy suit. Does that sound familiar to you? It should because that's exactly what you did to me. Just watch what happens when I become the television champion again, it'll last longer than two measly defenses. Same can't be said for your reign though."

We fade in on Knight flicking around a bone shaped controller trying to get a digitized video game character to move forward. The character he's playing as might as well be glued to the floor, because he isn't moving in the least bit. Enemies are approaching fast and Johnathan, slightly frustrated, flicks the controller a little harder in the vain hopes to get him to move. And then the enemy touches him, causing the player character to look at the player as if he's just been punched in the nuts. He then utters this phrase before jumping up and then falling off the screen.

"Awh, bummer dude!"

"Really? Sound clips stolen from an already shitty game? Man, I thought this thing was already awful, but then this line is spewed out and it ruins everything."

The character instantly respawns and the enemies teleport back to their original positions. Not wanting to put up with the bullshit for much longer, he pauses the game and cups his face in frustration. Since a face cannot be recognized on the Knight, the Cambot nudges it's way through and ends up recording the knight's nose. Knowing that the flying bot is insistent on recording, since he managed to turn it on somehow, he moves his hands away from his face, making the bot back up a bit and record his full face, which is showing signs of annoyance and irritation at the plug and play console he had to grin and bare.

"For whatever reason, I was chosen to promote some sort of XWF approved console that plays clones of preexisting games from the NES, SNES, Genesis, and various early arcade favorites. However, I wasn't given a second controller that's far more practical than this stupid bone shaped motion controller that doesn't fucking work. I put batteries in there, attempted to calibrate it, which didn't work out the way it should have, and made sure the batteries didn't fall out every time I flicked it trying to move my character. It's just a failure on all levels."

The knight walks over to the console and shows it off to the Cambot. The name of the console, XBone, is displayed front and center next to the power button. There's a cartridge inserted in the back of the console, like some sort of butt plug. No, that's not an analogy, the back of the console literally looks like an ass. Johnathan proceeds to throw the entire console against the wall, effectively demolishing the entire console, leaving shattered pieces of the exterior and the computer all over the floor. That puts a smile on his face for a brief moment before he realizes that he has to clean up the mess he made before leaving the hotel room.

"Well, this will be more fun than messing around with whatever the hell I was given. I'd make some sort of metaphor for the gauntlet match I'm in, but comparing any of my opponents to a fucking broken piece of shit that never worked to begin with is too low, even for the standards of the XWF."

"You have standards? Compared to everyone else, they're stooping quite low in order to get one step above everyone else. And you think being a decent human being will somehow make you pick up the victory over your three opponents. None of whom probably have any knowledge of humility."

"Well some of us do. Except for Maverick though, the bastard decided to shit on the belt while Madison looked away for a few brief moments. What a dick."

A mocking laugh can be heard from the mysterious voice in Johnathan's head.

"I know that you're excited to face off against Gator again and how you're going last in this gauntlet match. I also know that you'll be the freshest face out of the whole lot, even though the people before you won't be able to accomplish shit in this match."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"As I was saying, You're also a part of the three that can't do a goddamn thing to this man, even though you insist that he couldn't pin you justly in the matches you fought in. True, you only fought against him in matches where other people besides you and him squared off and he threw you aside to pick up the win in both matches, but what you fail to take into account is how you had the ability to stop both pins before the three count could even be called. Where were you when Jacob got the better of you in both situations?"

The knight is silent for a little while. He knows that Doubt is right, that he could have stopped the pin at any point in time after Gator tossed him away like garbage.

"I was reeling, laid out outside of the ring on both occasions."

However, that's the best answer he could give the snarky, seemingly all knowing voice in his head. It knows so and proceeds to laugh at the man's expense.

"Exactly. If you had any sort of drive for that belt, you would've broken up the pin both times to earn and retain that belt you desperately wanted. Instead, you decided to roll outside and take a nap. You are truly a terrible wrestler."

"I have ambition. I know that I can win that belt if I can just believe in myself.

Another mocking laugh from the mysterious voice of Doubt.

"Why do you think I'm here? I'm all your repressed beliefs that you shove aside before every match. Why else would I be here simply to tell you that you just can't get the job done? I don't like you, I never liked you, and there's no way that you'll get to hold that belt again as long as I'm around."

"You're just a voice. You have no physical form. What are you going to do to me that will somehow reconsider everything about my life? I didn't think so."

The knight turns around to see the figure that's been haunting him in his sleep. The same figure that dons a porcelain mask and a red hoodie with brown pants and shoes. The figure puts Johnathan in a choke hold and shoves him down against the bed. The knight tries to fight back by punching the shit out of Doubt, but all that ends up doing is the figure tightening the choke hold. This continues for a few seconds before the knight ends up passing out due to the lack of oxygen. The figure lets go of the hold and looks over at the Cambot, which turns towards it.

"See you in his dreams."

With that, the figure grabs the flying bot, making the scene fade into something different entirely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We fade in on a white background with Johnathan Heartsford laying face down on the ground, nearly unconscious. He slowly pushes himself up, unaware of what just happened, where he is, or why he's even here to begin with. He stands up and spins around in a circle, just to get a feel of his environment. As panic begins to set in for Johnathan, the voice can be heard humming to an unknown song.

"Where the fuck am I, you son of a bitch? Tell me!"

The voice laughs at the knight.

"You're in your own head, at the moment. I'm going to take you through a journey through the memories you managed to block out of your head. The memories that you thought were forgotten forever, the ones you thought could never come back to haunt you. They're back. And they will make you wonder what you are really capable of. But first..."

The voice scoffs.

"I'm going to give you a chance to smack talk your opponents. I want to see just how much your words change after I show you just what kind of person you really are. So go ahead, speak up and make your voice heard. Because this is the last time we'll ever get to see the Johnathan Heartsford of now."

There is a pause, since Johnathan is too stunned to say anything and Doubt has already finished his message to the knight. Finally, Johnathan takes a deep breath in and out before speaking against everyone involved in the gauntlet match.

"...Fuck, I don't know what's going to happen to me after this. I just hope it's nothing too bad."

He looks back up at the bot, worry is showing in his eyes.

"So, while I'm trapped in this vast nothingness of my mind, I might as well mention the men I may or may not be up against in the gauntlet match. Starting with the champion himself. Hell, since it's clear that he doesn't think I'm worth his respect or trust, I don't see why the fuck I should call him Gator anymore. So, as of right now, I'm sticking with Jacob. Jacob, you want to keep that belt and I want to be able to call it mine. I want that belt more that I won't be handed it to me this time. I want it more now that I won't be holding it for you when you get back from the hospital. And I want it even more now that I'm fighting you one on one, with no other schmuck fighting us at the same time. I don't expect you to be worn down by Mastermind or Maverick, hell, I could beat both those fuckers with one arm amputated if I had to."

Beat.

"But if you somehow manage to lose to either of those men, any amount of my respect for you that hasn't been erased after you tossed me aside will be gone forever. To you, that might not mean much of anything. Look at you, you made friends out of Vinnie Lane, one of the current best up and comers in this federation, alongside your other friend, Justin Sane. But to me, your reputation as a fighter would be tarnished. You might actually have to pack your bags and leave if that ever happens. You might have to change your mask if that happened. Don't worry, I have one already picked out for you. Cambot."

BEEP BEEP.

"Open photo: 'Gator's Second Mask'.

"See, that doesn't look too bad. In fact, I'd say that's slightly better than what you have on right now."

The knight laughs as the image fades from the bot's lens.

"Now why would I say that? Why would I act this way towards a man that is probably one of the best in the current roster so far? Simple. That man just can't pin me. He can't put away a man like me, so he has to toss me aside and take care of the man I had defeated. Coincidentally, both of those men just so happen to be going first and second in the gauntlet match. Hell, if I could put those two men away, there should be no denying that you'd be able to do the same. When you manage to pin the man who can't do shit except blame a doppelganger that walked around pretending to be him, expect a tough fight that will make those previous minutes feel like nothing compared to what I will end up doing to you."

"Is that stupidity taking the wheel again? No, once again, it's my confidence, my ambition, my need to come out on top in this match, that's taking the wheel. And if you happen to find a problem with that, too fucking bad. Even after I end up going through this journey of the mind, that will never change."

He smirks, all sense of panic gone.

"I suppose I should move on to the first two men now. Starting with the man who'll be dead at the starting gun."

He waves at the flying bot.

"Hey there, Mastermind. How does it feel to be the first, and undoubtedly the worst? I'd almost pity you if you weren't so certain that you'll come out of this match a victor. So, all that pity just turned into laughter. You think you're good? You're fucking horrible! All you do is pull off the most basic of shit while flopping around like a fish out of water. You've been here for so long and haven't accomplished anything other than laying on a few men for twelve whole hours to earn a title that means jack shit now. Well done, you actually did something that managed to equate to fucking nothing."

"So between acomplishing nothing, you also got your fucking facts wrong. I held the belt for a good month, not over it. But that means I've held a belt longer than you ever could, because most of your reigns don't even last that long. And you think you can master anything while on a massive losing streak? Good fucking luck with that. You can't even master your own fucking shoelaces now."

"Most laughable of all, you think you can beat me. I've seen you fight the worst the federation has to offer and you were left fucking reeling. You nearly lost to a damn chair! What makes you think you can beat an actual human being? You lost respect for me? Seems fair because I never had respect for you to begin with. Hardly anyone back in that locker room has any sort of respect for you, not even the men in the training room. What a fucking joke. That's all you are, a joke that falls flat on it's face because it's been used so fucking much."

"Tell you what though, when you show signs of success and when you're able to back up what you say against anyone worth a damn, come back to me, because I'll be holding this belt for you just to watch you fail again."

He takes a deep breath and calms himself down after his heated little tirade.

"Lastly, we have Maverick, the man who can't do shit against me. I told you time and time again that once you fought against me, you'll fail, because there is nothing perfect about you. And do you know what happened all three times? You lost. You lost when you had teammates, you lost when a football player was stumbling about while wondering just where the fuck he was, and you lost when you went one on one against me. Oh wait, you're going to blame a man that was masquerading as you for your losses. Sans the one on one match, where you got your ass kicked by the Three Kings you fucked up so badly, that was all you. All of those losses were on you."

"But who knows, maybe the fifth time, things will end up going differently for you. Maybe you won't end up crying like a little bitch and actually put in some effort for a change. You won't win, I know that for sure, but maybe you won't be completely useless in the match and end up doing something that might have a lasting effect on people's minds. Hey, if you're good enough, maybe you'll end up losing in a spectacular fashion before I can make my entrance. Maybe you won't be laughed out of the arena like Lane made you do last time. Who knows?"

He looks up at the 'ceiling' of his mind.

"What I do know is that I'm done wasting time here. I want to get out, and I can't find anywhere to run towards."

The voice laughs.

"You'll get out when I'm done showing you just what happened to you and what you're destined to become. I'm going to have a lot of fun screwing with your mind."

The scene fades out with the voice of Doubt cackling like a maniac.

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