I asked, excited by the prospect of tossing a football around. The three older kids look in my direction, and I can tell immediately that they have no interest in sharing in my company.
”You want to play?”
My eyes light up, maybe my first impression was wrong. I begin to walk closer to them as I respond.
”Sure, we could play two on two!” I answer with that same excited and eager tone, not expecting what's about to come.
”Yeah, we'll let you play with us.”
One of the boys says with a slight grin on his face. I notice that the other two are whispering something to one another, their true intentions hidden by their laughter. I'm beginning to see through this facade, though. I'm used to being the odd duck out. I'm used to being targeted and picked on, but I'm naive, I still hope for the best in people. I'm usually let down...
”KILL THE WITH THE BALL!”
Suddenly the football is tossed high up in the air. I stare up at it, almost awestruck by the sight of it passing over my view of the sun. Then, like an idiot, I catch it. I'm not quick to react. I definitely spent too much time trying to comprehend the situation that I was in. By the time that I realize what's about to happen, it happens. One of the boys tackles me hard. I drop to the ground with him on top of me, my shoulder takes a nasty bump, but I hold on to the ball.
I know what's up now. Same thing it always it with me. They see a short kid who's overweight, and they see an easy target. I'm not much in the way of fighting back, but I am about sick of being bullied. I'm sick of everyone assuming that I'm weak, an easy target. I'm sick of everyone thinking that they are somehow better than me. I'm going to run this ball!
I get up, ball in hand, and I run. I run as fast as I can. One of the boys is gaining ground on me pretty quickly, my fast isn't very fast. A fact that I'm reminded of every time something like this happens. I'm tackled again, this time I bust my chin and bite my tongue as I slam into the ground. I taste the metallic flavor over my own blood as tears form in my eyes despite me wishing them away with my every fiber. Suddenly I hear a hard thud, and quickly realize that one of them kicked me in the gut. Coughing and gasping for air all at the same time, these three kids form a circle around me and continue to kick and stomp. I hold on.
”Hey!”
I heard a familiar voice call out.
”Get the fuck off of him!”
I think that I recognize that voice now, but I'm not sure. I'm just thankful that the assault has stopped.
”Yeah, and who are you, the nerd police?”
”You're about to find out who I am if you don't leave him alone!”
”Sit on it!”
”!”
I don't see what transpires next, but I hear it. I hear a couple of slaps followed by a heavy thud and somebody hitting the dirt hard.
”Screw you!”
Then the sound of two people running away.
”Mike, you okay?”
I open my eyes and look up to my savior. I'm surprised to see Bobby Evans standing over me with his hand outreached. I take his hand and allow him to help to my feet.
Bobby was a kid that I went to school with. He's much bigger than even I, but unlike me he likes to through his weight around. We've had our run-ins with each other, and he's always seemed to take pleasure in hurting me. So I was confused as to why he would help me out and not just join in. That seemed more like his MO.
”Are you alright?”
”Yeah, I'll be fine”
I hurt like hell, but “Mamma isn't raising no ”.
”That was impressive.”
What me getting my ass kicked by three guys? I think as I stare at him in a state of confusion.
He just points at the ball that I'm still tightly clenching under my right arm.
”You never let go. You do realize that would have stopped if you had, right?”
I know that, but like I said, I'm tired of being an easy target, I'm tired of people assuming that I'm weak. Bobby and I actually became friends after that. It was nice to have someone to talk to for a change, and it was nicer to have someone to keep other kids from picking on me. It was crushing the day that I came to school and found out that Bobby had died. He was a diabetic, and that didn't mix well with the liquor that he was drinking the night before. He should never have been at that party, he was only fourteen, but with his size, he looked much older, and usually hung out with an older crowd. In the weeks following Bobby's death, nobody really messed with me. I don't know if it was to allow me to grieve my friend or what, but eventually, the bullying started again, and it seemed to be harsher than it was before. Still, I held on.
Present Day
”The Universal title slipped away from my grasp last night. It's partially my fault for giving up the advantage early in the match by using that chair on Chaos, but I didn't think that I needed that advantage to win, and I really wanted to return the favor to Chris, from where he had smashed me over the head with a steel chair a few weeks back. However, the actions of Colten Kato at the end of the match are what really cost me the match. Chaos didn't beat me clean, and even though I once again walked away with a blemish on my record, the business between Chaos and I isn't over yet.
The two of us shared a ring for sixty minutes. We spent an hour tearing each other limb from limb. Chaos desperate to retain his title, and me just as desperate to knock him off his throne. By the end of that match, I couldn’t help but feel that Chris Chaos never really knew me at all. The man that he agreed to wrestle a match against and the man that he met in that ring were two very different people. Chris realized by the end of that match, that it doesn’t matter how better my opponent thinks he is than me, no matter what, I always hold on. I always push forward. Leading into that match, Chris said that I’m going to go down in the history books as a guy who always comes in second best, but I’ll be damned if that’s the case!
There's still LL, and a chance to earn a 24/7 briefcase. As I stated before, that briefcase is my second chance at Chris Chaos. It's my second chance to validate myself in both the eyes of my fans and myself. I'm now more motivated to win Lethal Lottery than I ever was before, and that spells disaster for Robert Main and Justin Sayn.
You two have seemingly been having a field day with the fact that Peter Gilmore and myself haven't been focusing on our match with you. The two of you have been gallivanting around XWF running off at the mouth, spitting out nothing but lies and false bravado. Well buckle up boys, cause Graves and Gilmore did not come out on top at Savage, and now your weak ass team is all either of us is focused on!
Robert Main has run off at the mouth about how Gilmore and I are great, but maybe not so great anymore. He questions what we've done lately to be relevant in this match. How about the fact that he's Peter “F'N Gilmore and I'm Micheal Graves!? When you've built up a list of accomplishments like the two of us have, this is no longer a what have you done lately business, it's a HOLY SHIT, GILMORE AND GRAVES ARE HERE, business. Instead of worrying about what we've done recently to earn our status, to earn our names, perhaps you should just worry about just who in the hell we are, and what we are going to do this Wednesday. What have we done lately? We knocked Robert Main and Justin Sayn out of the Lethal Lottery tournament, that’s what we’ve done!
Last Warfare, you were a part of a team with Shaun Crowe that defeated Chris Chaos and Gabe Reno, and you're obviously proud of that. I would be too, but last night I had a champion beaten one on one, and once again a member of management involved themselves and cost me the match. It's beginning to become a damned theme around here! Graves moves up the ranks, gets a title shot, and management stops me from winning the gold. It happened with Robbie Bourbon when Jefferson Jackson involved himself, and it happened again with Colten Kato last night. I'm beginning to wonder why the XWF management team seems to have it out for me. Does this trace back to the comments that I made about the old guard being better than the current generation? Did I upset you guys with that? You work soooo hard to make the XWF as great as it once was, and here I am saying YOU SUCK!
If that's the case boys, then I'll tell you right now, this isn't how you change my mind. Maybe I'm looking back to the old era with nostalgic rose colored glasses, I'll admit that, but general managers costing me title match after title match doesn't do this era any favors. It's fine though, at least I can count on this match being a fair contest, and that means that Peter and I are moving on to round 3.
Now, allow me to explain to you two imbeciles why we are going to win. My return to the XWF has not at all gone how I had planned for it too. At every turn, I'm losing a match. Loss, loss, loss, oh hey look, loss. I'm fully aware that I'm basically on my mast leg here. If I can't turn this around and do it soon. I'm going to find myself out of a job. That spells disaster for the two of you. The absolute worst thing that could have possibly happened for team Robert Sayn is exactly what happened last night. I took ANOTHER loss. Now I am about to come at you with the same fire and determination that I came at Chris Chaos with. The same determination that had him scared and on the ropes, the same determination that had him beaten before Kato got involved. You think you know me Robert Main!? You think you know me Justin Sayn!? You don't know ANYTHING about me! You're taking one look at my return statistics, and you think you've got me figured out. You smile smugly and assume that I'm just going to continue to lose match after match and be content with just having a job here in the XWF. Not happening! I'm winning this damned tournament, I'm taking that briefcase, and I'm cashing it in on Chris Chaos! That's not a prediction, it's just how it's going to be! It's reality on the rocks as Jim Caedus would say!
After last night, I'm now even more determined to prove myself in the XWF, but it's no longer the roster or the fans that I have something to prove to, it's myself! I know what I'm capable of, I know my potential, and it's now in my hands to prove it to myself! Robert Main, I'm better than you, dispute my track record this far! I may be a labeled loser right now, but me and Gillmore are going to ensure that you're something far worse. A one but wonder. A guy that does something amazing then slips and falls into obscurity! You came into this tournament red hot, and now you're destined to fizzle out. Justin Sayn, you don't even have a purpose here anymore. You act like you want me in the ring, but you don't need this kind of negativity in your life! Cadryn has already laid your ass down once, and I'm far more menacing than he is.
So to the two of you, I say this. Bring whatever it is that you've got that makes you think that you stand a chance against us. Bring it and bring it hard, because, at the end of the night, I promise that it won't be enough! Peter and I are a unit. We are more than capable of working together as a team. If Peter wants to take the lead, so be it. If he wants me to do all of the work, and then scoop up my scraps like Doc did last round, that’s fine too. I don’t really care how we advance, just as long as we advance. I know that in Peter Gilmore, I have a partner that I can count on to get the job done. You have a partner that you can’t even count on to find his way down to the ring. The kid just tried to leave the world of wrestling leading into round one because he’s not a wrestler, and doesn’t have any drive to succeed. Go back and watch the promo’s, Robert. He doesn’t even want to be here, he’s just showing up for a check until he can find a “better” job. That’s your partner, that’s what you have to count on in this match. A guy who doesn’t really give a damn. You can be as sure of yourself as you want to be. You can talk about what you’ve done in Japan like that’s some damn elite level shit or something, but none of it is going to matter. You’re in the XWF now, this is ELITE, and you’re saddled up with a sack of rocks! So the question that you need to ask yourself isn’t, “Am I better than Graves or Gilmore”. It’s “Am I better than Graves AND Gilmore.” The answer to that is most assuredly a HELL NO! ”
The following 4 users Like "Dark Warrior" Micheal Graves's post:4 users Like "Dark Warrior" Micheal Graves's post (02-27-2017), JimCaedus (02-27-2017), Peter Fn Gilmour (02-27-2017), The Monster of Htaed (02-27-2017)
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WITH THE BALL!”
