Attritional Transitional (WHC KM Main Event vrs. SEBIII)
Aug 13, 2020 22:32:28 GMT -5
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Post by wwjbcd on Aug 13, 2020 22:32:28 GMT -5
There are no words in the English language that can sufficiently summarize the thoughts going through both The #1 Hit-Maker Johnny Bonecrusher and his client "Deathwish" Hide Yamazaki's collective three brains. For Johnny, especially Johnny, he's been able to formulate his sentiments regarding the events of the past few weeks in the form of social media posts, targeting any and all associated with the clusterfuck. This is what he gets for trusting people. Maybe he thought he had a knack for turning former enemies into powerful allies; after all, his client Kenzi Grey-Lacklan started out as an enemy, and to this day she's remained loyal to Johnny, much to the chagrin of people like Sarah Grey-Lacklan and Roxy Cotton, in spite of them no less! So he figured that Sebastian Everett-Bryce III would follow suit. And for what it's worth, things were indeed going quite well in Johnny's camp. Sebastian's presence inspired the renaming of Team Johnny into The Uncommonwealth, and the tandem of he and Hide would even go on to acquire UGWC Cooperative gold. Despite being down several members, things were looking up for the group... that is, until WrestleStock, when the seeds of resentment were planted, unbeknownst to Johnny and Hide.
Now, for Hide himself, he's been unable to healthily express himself. All he knows is one day he and his friend were on top of the tag-team world, the next, that same friend turned his back on them all. Why? Because of what happened during their match alongside Angie Vaughn? He thought they were supposed to temporarily forget about camaraderie and go all-out on each other. This was for the biggest prize of them all - what did Sebastian want him to do, really? They say he's extra in his matches and he winds up losing as a result, but that night his extra-ness was more focused than ever before, he wins, and people are still unsatisfied? None of this made any sense. Would Sebastian only have been happy if he won at WrestleStock? Maybe once upon a time the thrill of combat was all that mattered, but the main event at Wrestlestock hit differently; it was as if Hide needed to prove something to himself just to say he could do it. And he did. And it cost him a friend.
The idea of visiting Doctor Numbers made Johnny's stomach turn. How could Johnny face the elder gentleman knowing he was the one who dragged him into his business in the first place, and it wound up costing him a visit to the hospital for a potential concussion. Traumatized the good doctor enough that he's refused to appear on UGWC TV since. With the idea of a lawsuit lingering in the air, Johnny needed to be extra careful with how he approached this situation. But, he couldn't hold off any longer; Hide practically demanded they go check up on Numbers, or, Johnny thinks that's what he said at least.
So, they head downtown to the doctor’s Chicago office. Outside the main doors, a woman in her late-20’s was about to push a button to buzz someone, but when the duo approach, she naturally turns to glance at them, but does a double-take.
Pointing at the stocky Canadian, she asks, “Hey, uh, aren’t you that wrestling manager who’s friends with Doctor Nummers?”
“‘Nummers’?” Johnny muttered to himself before his ego overruled his confusion. “Well, I mean, yeah, I am! Some people refer to me as Canada’s Greatest Athlete, but nowadays they call me-”
*SOCK!!!*
With as much force as she could muster, she planted her fist right into the side of Johnny’s head. Being caught off-guard, he staggered back a bit, but the woman merely moved forward and rained blows upon him until Hide was sufficiently entertained and he pulled her off his manager. Staring at the woman wide-eyed, he began favouring the side of his head.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, YOU CRAZY BITCH?!” he shouted, heavily contemplating getting in a cheap shot while Hide still had a hold of her.
“YOU’RE WHY MY DAD SPENT THE NIGHT IN THE HOSPITAL!!!” she shrieked as she desperately tried to flail out of Hide’s grasp, but thankfully for Johnny, to no avail.
Johnny narrows his eyes, suspicious of this new information. “Your... DAD?”
Later inside Doctor Numbers' office, the not-so mystery woman is serving both her father and even Hide some tea. Hide returns the favour by pouring the woman her tea. Johnny looks at all these cups of tea, then expectantly at the woman.
"Hey, where's mine?" Johnny said obnoxiously.
"Oh, I'm sorry." the woman said. She then took out another teacup, poured some tea into it, made her way towards Johnny, then past him, dumping the whole shebang into the trashcan.
Johnny pointed at her, "Your bedside manner could use some work, you know that?"
"Oh my God, do you ever shut up?!" she foolishly asked.
"Never." Hide responded in Japanese as he aptly sipped his tea.
"A-ah, ca-can we, ah, you know, just, uh, please all settle down?" Numbers said as he gently held onto his daughter's arm. "A-and Elaine, cou-could you kindly take out my, ah, you know, my, ah, good china out o-of the trash?"
"Sorry, dad." Elaine sheepishly replied as she gently fished out the teacup and plate. She gave Johnny a dirty look as she passed him. After cleaning up, she returned to her seat to enjoy her tea.
"So... your name's really Doctor NUMMERS?" Johnny asked.
The good doctor looked confused, 'Ah, we-well, yes! Yuh-you, ah, you didn't think my real name was Doctor Numbers, di-did you?"
"Of course I didn't!!" Johnny barked back. After a few moments, he followed up by asking, "So your first name is..."
"Not-" Numbers began.
"NOT-" Johnny immediately copied.
"Doctor-"
"DOCTOR! Of COURSE it isn't! What the hell!" Johnny said, feigning insult. "Who would think either of those things were a sensible person's name?"
"Your last name is Bonecrusher." Hide responded slow enough that even Johnny should have understood what he said had he not been overwhelmed with this new information.
"I-it's Samuel." Numbers stated, bypassing any further stupid back and forth banter.
"WHAT'S Samuel?" Johnny obliviously asked.
"His NAME!" Elaine snapped. "I can't believe you've spent all this time with my dad and you didn't know his real name!"
"I KNOW HIS NAME!!" Johnny retorted. "I obviously... knew all along."
"Right." Elaine said as Hide just shook his head.
"All right, all right, all right, new subject!" Johnny said irritatedly. "Numbers.... Samuel... whoEVER you are today, can you PLEASE tell your CHILD that what happened to you wasn't my fault?"
The good doctor turned to his daughter. "No-now, surely you're, ah, you're not blaming, ah, you know, bla-blaming Johnny for what happened to me, a-are you?"
"If you weren't conned into this childish wrestling kick again, you wouldn't have been in that position to begin with!" she replied matter-of-factly.
"Now listen, you!" Johnny interjected. "Your dad's old enough to make his own decisions, don't you think? And besides, NO ONE thought what happened would ever happen! Sebastian turned on ALL of us, if you remember! AND he put his hands on all of us! AND and I made a specific point of swearing vengeance on that traitor and everyone who whispered shitty nothings in his ear! This Monday my man Hide here's gonna do to Sebastian what he did to Donovan Hastings last week, only WORSE! He's gonna stomp him and STOMP him and STOMP HIM!!! until there's nothing left of him but an uncased blood pudding-"
"A-ah, Jo-Johnny?"
"WHAT?! I mean, what?"
"I-I, ah, I think I can, you know, speak for myself here." Numbers said before turning back towards Elaine. "E-Elaine, what Johnny sai-said was, ah, it was corr-, it was corre-, he was right. I wanted some action, a-and I sure got it, huh?"
Numbers chuckled a bit, but this caused Elaine to smack his arm. "It's not funny, dad! You could have gotten a concussion! You could have broken your neck!"
"Right." Numbers replied. "But I-I didn't. I-I'm fine! Oh su-sure, I was pretty incensed a-at first. I was sore, sle-slept poorly at the hospital, and I thought I was, ah, you know, done with wrestling."
"Good!" Elaine said indignantly. "You should be!"
"Elaine." Numbers said softly. She rolled her eyes but settled back down. "But the-then, I, ah, I got to, to thinking... despite this, uh, you know, this particularly unpleasant turn o-of events, this is the, the most fun I've had in my life!"
Elaine's eyes widened, "WHAT?!"
Doctor Samuel "Numbers" Nummers adjusted his glasses and reclined further in his chair. "No-now, you o-of all people know how Bubbeh and Bubbee were - nice enough people, but, I'd put goo-good money on claiming they invented the term 'helicopter parent', complete with a rea-real helicopter!"
Elaine tried suppressing a smile, but to no avail. "Yeah, grandpa and grandma were pretty overbearing."
"Loving," Numbers added. "But ye-yes, overbearing. A-anyway, there's nothing to, to, you know, ah, worry about. This was just one freak occurrence; there's no wa-way that it could, uh, could happen again, so don't worry."
Elaine slowly nodded as she breathed a sigh of relief. For a fleeting moment, all was well in the Nummers family universe.
"Oh. Uhhhh, about that." Johnny said as he visibly winced.
Later...
Johnny abruptly woke up from his nap, wiping the drool from his mouth. As he became more lucid, he found that his face was quite sore. "Ugh, man. Why'd you guys let me pass out?"
"Yuh-you didn't, ah, didn't quite, ah, pass out." Numbers said as Hide chuckled.
Johnny groggily looked around the room: first at Numbers, then Hide, then Elaine, whose chair happened to be on the other side of the room now. She was favouring her hand, resting an ice pack on it. Johnny's eyes narrowed. He pressed his hand up against the side of his face she struck him in, winced, then pressed that same hand against the other side of his face, which elicited the same reaction.
"DID YOU HIT ME AGAIN?!"
"You're damn right I did!" Elaine shouted back. "And this time you for SURE deserved it! Honestly! What sort of people do you work for?!"
Johnny turned to Numbers. "What did you FEED her growing up?!"
Numbers shrugged, as Elaine replied, "I've been taking boxing classes. Chicago's not the best city to be a woman in, not that YOU'D know anything about women."
Johnny glared at Numbers' daughter. "Fantastic. But anyway, HOW is a decision that good-for-nothing Rogan made in ANY way my fault?"
'You're my dad's advocate!" she said as she threw up her hands.
"Rogan's the Creative Director!!" Johnny barked back. "Now while in life I'm CLEARLY ahead, in the UGWC, HE'S got the power! He obviously made the Kobayashi Maru as awful as possible! What am I supposed to DO about that?!"
Elaine's eyes widened. "What are you supposed to DO about that? You throw the match! THAT'S what you do about THAT!"
"E-Elaine..." Numbers said.
"THROW THE MATCH SHE SAYS!" Johnny exclaims incredulously. "'Deathwish' Hide Yamazaki is the Unified Global Wrestling Coalition World Heavyweight Champion!"
"Jo-Johnny..." Numbers said.
"If he wins," she says as she points at Hide, who also points at himself. "My FATHER gets put in harm's way, but WORSE this time!"
"WHEN he wins," Johnny retorts, pointing at Hide, who again points at himself. "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it! But intentionally losing to SEBASTIAN, or anyone ELSE for that matter, is not an option!!"
Elaine rises to her feet, pointing at Johnny but eyeballing her father. "You see? He DOESN'T care about your well-being! It's all about him!"
Johnny, too, rises to his feet. "Now lemme make one thing... PERFECTLY CLEA-"
"OKAY, AH-AH, THAT'S, AH, QUITE E-ENOUGH NOW FROM THE BOTH O-OF YOU!!"
All three look at the now-standing Numbers, shocked that his voice was ever capable of that level of decibelity. But with all eyes on him (sorry, Sarah!), he turned a shade of red and shrunk down back to a seated position.
"He cleared his throat. "Ahhh... so... this punishment for winning dealie i-is some older concept brought back fi-five years later. The, ah, the entire point is that there's ul-ultimately no winners, o-only losers."
Elaine shrugs, as if the solution is obvious. "Okay then, if it doesn't even matter what happens, why not take the road that DOESN'T lead to my father being forced to wrestle with a whole bunch of I'm guessing equally insane roided-up assholes?"
"You listen here-" Johnny said before muting himself. This shouting match was heading nowhere. If he was ever going to get her on his side, he'd have to appeal to her penchant for violent revenge. "Elaine... Hide's opponent is Sebastian Everett-Bryce III, okay? THAT'S the guy who put your dad in the hospital to begin with."
Elaine crossed her arms. "I-I know that..."
"Then you ALSO know that this is personal for ALL of us! Sebastian betrayed ALL of us, coveting that belt you see Hide stroking there. That's the top prize in our game! It's equivalent to the Stanley Cup, a Super Bowl ring, whatever prize you get for beating Wimbledon! NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY thought that my man here would EVER get a chance at it, much less WIN it! But now, so many people in the back are just changing their tune; NOW they're saying, 'Well, great, he WON the damn thing, but it's not like he'll be able to hold ONTO it, ESPECIALLY against Sebastian!' He's got those devils on his shoulders convincing him he's got this match in the bag! He's got into our heads! THEY'VE got into our heads! Some of the most vile, despicable, insidious minds in professional wrestling today - and Donovan Hastings - have all conspired to ensure their little puppet has ALL the cards in his backstabbing hands!"
Elaine just listens intently, as does her father. Hide occasionally looks up from shining his belt.
"Sebastian was convinced that we were all dead weight, especially ME, and I guess losing our Cooperative titles was the catalyst to breaking away, guilt-free. Guilt-free, in HIS diseased mind, that is! So, okay, take your parting shots at Hide, hell, take your parting shots on The Johnny, but then he just HAD to go from scoundrel to scumbag and-" Reading the room, he tries rushing away from painful reminders. "You know, maybe this was his plan all along. Maybe he was just using us as stepping stones towards his ultimate goal of the World Championship. Considering how quickly he just turned on us, I'd be more inclined to believe that, no matter what he might ACTUALLY say on the subject! What, did he think we wouldn't give him a shot at the title UNLESS he did this? I had NO issue having Hide and Sebastian in the same match, alongside Angie, back at WrestleStock; if he wanted Hide one-on-one, sure, fine, whatever happened, The Uncommonwealth would WIN! But NOW, Elaine, there's NO Uncommonwealth, NO friendship, NO NOTHING! I can't believe I'M saying this, but Sebastian crossed the line! NOW, Elaine, the ONLY person capable of exacting revenge on him... is The Strong Style Satanist!"
Elaine of course knew what Johnny was trying with her. She hated to openly admit it, but seeing the bleached-blonde, bare-chested, chain-adorned wild-man, she could only fantasize about all the ways he could torture the man who dared put his hands on her dad. How powerless she felt when she saw Samuel get effortlessly taken down by someone he once considered a friend. There wasn't even any time for him to register the betrayal before falling unconscious. And how, HOW could the good doctor be so calm about all of this? Maybe he's just confident that the universe will align itself just so? Then, maybe she should also express that same sentiment. After all, father knows best.
"All right, Johnny." she finally said after what felt like an eternity. "All right. We'll do things your way."
Johnny finally released a breath, as Numbers simply nodded in approval. It's now Hide's turn to read the room. He stood up, gently rested his title belt on his seat, and approached Elaine, resting his hands on her uneasy shoulders.
"Ms. Nummers, I want you to know one thing: I too have experienced heartache. I lost my wife and my child to a horrible earthquake. I survived, but I was utterly inconsolable. Johnny here took me under his wing, gave me purpose. I thought I could never go on after losing Mitsuko and Kenichi. I had nothing to fight for anymore. Little did I know that I indeed had things to live and fight for: my friends, the fans, good food, and even Mitsuko and Kenichi themselves! I could never return to them in the state I once was in. Now I have purpose. That shiny trophy over there embodies that purpose. When I die, I can reunite with Mitsuko and Kenichi and be satisfied with how I moved on without them in life. I assure you, madam, that I will not stop, and I will not die... until your father's been avenged.
Mr. Bryce-Everett III allowed himself to succumb to greed. He shed loyalty and friendship for a chance to take my trophy away from me. Maybe one day he'll succeed, but not at Kobayashi Maru. I will prove that I am the champion our company needs. I will face this challenge head-on. It won't be easy, but life itself is not easy. Fighting for what's right is not easy. But I will do what I must. With tears in my eyes, I will tear my old friend apart. I will break every bone I can. I will be the conductor deciding when he screams deeply and cries piercingly. There can be no mercy for someone the likes of him. For Johnny, for your father, for you, and for me, I will end Sebastian Everett-Bryce III. Once and for all. Forever."
Hide then removed his hands from Elaine's shoulders, and sat back down, resting his World title on his lap. All Elaine could do throughout Hide's soliloquy was nod. Now that he was done, she spoke up, "So did anyone else understand a word he said?"
Johnny sighed, "I'll get you the replay of this video when the editors are done with it."
Now, for Hide himself, he's been unable to healthily express himself. All he knows is one day he and his friend were on top of the tag-team world, the next, that same friend turned his back on them all. Why? Because of what happened during their match alongside Angie Vaughn? He thought they were supposed to temporarily forget about camaraderie and go all-out on each other. This was for the biggest prize of them all - what did Sebastian want him to do, really? They say he's extra in his matches and he winds up losing as a result, but that night his extra-ness was more focused than ever before, he wins, and people are still unsatisfied? None of this made any sense. Would Sebastian only have been happy if he won at WrestleStock? Maybe once upon a time the thrill of combat was all that mattered, but the main event at Wrestlestock hit differently; it was as if Hide needed to prove something to himself just to say he could do it. And he did. And it cost him a friend.
The idea of visiting Doctor Numbers made Johnny's stomach turn. How could Johnny face the elder gentleman knowing he was the one who dragged him into his business in the first place, and it wound up costing him a visit to the hospital for a potential concussion. Traumatized the good doctor enough that he's refused to appear on UGWC TV since. With the idea of a lawsuit lingering in the air, Johnny needed to be extra careful with how he approached this situation. But, he couldn't hold off any longer; Hide practically demanded they go check up on Numbers, or, Johnny thinks that's what he said at least.
So, they head downtown to the doctor’s Chicago office. Outside the main doors, a woman in her late-20’s was about to push a button to buzz someone, but when the duo approach, she naturally turns to glance at them, but does a double-take.
Pointing at the stocky Canadian, she asks, “Hey, uh, aren’t you that wrestling manager who’s friends with Doctor Nummers?”
“‘Nummers’?” Johnny muttered to himself before his ego overruled his confusion. “Well, I mean, yeah, I am! Some people refer to me as Canada’s Greatest Athlete, but nowadays they call me-”
*SOCK!!!*
With as much force as she could muster, she planted her fist right into the side of Johnny’s head. Being caught off-guard, he staggered back a bit, but the woman merely moved forward and rained blows upon him until Hide was sufficiently entertained and he pulled her off his manager. Staring at the woman wide-eyed, he began favouring the side of his head.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, YOU CRAZY BITCH?!” he shouted, heavily contemplating getting in a cheap shot while Hide still had a hold of her.
“YOU’RE WHY MY DAD SPENT THE NIGHT IN THE HOSPITAL!!!” she shrieked as she desperately tried to flail out of Hide’s grasp, but thankfully for Johnny, to no avail.
Johnny narrows his eyes, suspicious of this new information. “Your... DAD?”
Later inside Doctor Numbers' office, the not-so mystery woman is serving both her father and even Hide some tea. Hide returns the favour by pouring the woman her tea. Johnny looks at all these cups of tea, then expectantly at the woman.
"Hey, where's mine?" Johnny said obnoxiously.
"Oh, I'm sorry." the woman said. She then took out another teacup, poured some tea into it, made her way towards Johnny, then past him, dumping the whole shebang into the trashcan.
Johnny pointed at her, "Your bedside manner could use some work, you know that?"
"Oh my God, do you ever shut up?!" she foolishly asked.
"Never." Hide responded in Japanese as he aptly sipped his tea.
"A-ah, ca-can we, ah, you know, just, uh, please all settle down?" Numbers said as he gently held onto his daughter's arm. "A-and Elaine, cou-could you kindly take out my, ah, you know, my, ah, good china out o-of the trash?"
"Sorry, dad." Elaine sheepishly replied as she gently fished out the teacup and plate. She gave Johnny a dirty look as she passed him. After cleaning up, she returned to her seat to enjoy her tea.
"So... your name's really Doctor NUMMERS?" Johnny asked.
The good doctor looked confused, 'Ah, we-well, yes! Yuh-you, ah, you didn't think my real name was Doctor Numbers, di-did you?"
"Of course I didn't!!" Johnny barked back. After a few moments, he followed up by asking, "So your first name is..."
"Not-" Numbers began.
"NOT-" Johnny immediately copied.
"Doctor-"
"DOCTOR! Of COURSE it isn't! What the hell!" Johnny said, feigning insult. "Who would think either of those things were a sensible person's name?"
"Your last name is Bonecrusher." Hide responded slow enough that even Johnny should have understood what he said had he not been overwhelmed with this new information.
"I-it's Samuel." Numbers stated, bypassing any further stupid back and forth banter.
"WHAT'S Samuel?" Johnny obliviously asked.
"His NAME!" Elaine snapped. "I can't believe you've spent all this time with my dad and you didn't know his real name!"
"I KNOW HIS NAME!!" Johnny retorted. "I obviously... knew all along."
"Right." Elaine said as Hide just shook his head.
"All right, all right, all right, new subject!" Johnny said irritatedly. "Numbers.... Samuel... whoEVER you are today, can you PLEASE tell your CHILD that what happened to you wasn't my fault?"
The good doctor turned to his daughter. "No-now, surely you're, ah, you're not blaming, ah, you know, bla-blaming Johnny for what happened to me, a-are you?"
"If you weren't conned into this childish wrestling kick again, you wouldn't have been in that position to begin with!" she replied matter-of-factly.
"Now listen, you!" Johnny interjected. "Your dad's old enough to make his own decisions, don't you think? And besides, NO ONE thought what happened would ever happen! Sebastian turned on ALL of us, if you remember! AND he put his hands on all of us! AND and I made a specific point of swearing vengeance on that traitor and everyone who whispered shitty nothings in his ear! This Monday my man Hide here's gonna do to Sebastian what he did to Donovan Hastings last week, only WORSE! He's gonna stomp him and STOMP him and STOMP HIM!!! until there's nothing left of him but an uncased blood pudding-"
"A-ah, Jo-Johnny?"
"WHAT?! I mean, what?"
"I-I, ah, I think I can, you know, speak for myself here." Numbers said before turning back towards Elaine. "E-Elaine, what Johnny sai-said was, ah, it was corr-, it was corre-, he was right. I wanted some action, a-and I sure got it, huh?"
Numbers chuckled a bit, but this caused Elaine to smack his arm. "It's not funny, dad! You could have gotten a concussion! You could have broken your neck!"
"Right." Numbers replied. "But I-I didn't. I-I'm fine! Oh su-sure, I was pretty incensed a-at first. I was sore, sle-slept poorly at the hospital, and I thought I was, ah, you know, done with wrestling."
"Good!" Elaine said indignantly. "You should be!"
"Elaine." Numbers said softly. She rolled her eyes but settled back down. "But the-then, I, ah, I got to, to thinking... despite this, uh, you know, this particularly unpleasant turn o-of events, this is the, the most fun I've had in my life!"
Elaine's eyes widened, "WHAT?!"
Doctor Samuel "Numbers" Nummers adjusted his glasses and reclined further in his chair. "No-now, you o-of all people know how Bubbeh and Bubbee were - nice enough people, but, I'd put goo-good money on claiming they invented the term 'helicopter parent', complete with a rea-real helicopter!"
Elaine tried suppressing a smile, but to no avail. "Yeah, grandpa and grandma were pretty overbearing."
"Loving," Numbers added. "But ye-yes, overbearing. A-anyway, there's nothing to, to, you know, ah, worry about. This was just one freak occurrence; there's no wa-way that it could, uh, could happen again, so don't worry."
Elaine slowly nodded as she breathed a sigh of relief. For a fleeting moment, all was well in the Nummers family universe.
"Oh. Uhhhh, about that." Johnny said as he visibly winced.
Later...
Johnny abruptly woke up from his nap, wiping the drool from his mouth. As he became more lucid, he found that his face was quite sore. "Ugh, man. Why'd you guys let me pass out?"
"Yuh-you didn't, ah, didn't quite, ah, pass out." Numbers said as Hide chuckled.
Johnny groggily looked around the room: first at Numbers, then Hide, then Elaine, whose chair happened to be on the other side of the room now. She was favouring her hand, resting an ice pack on it. Johnny's eyes narrowed. He pressed his hand up against the side of his face she struck him in, winced, then pressed that same hand against the other side of his face, which elicited the same reaction.
"DID YOU HIT ME AGAIN?!"
"You're damn right I did!" Elaine shouted back. "And this time you for SURE deserved it! Honestly! What sort of people do you work for?!"
Johnny turned to Numbers. "What did you FEED her growing up?!"
Numbers shrugged, as Elaine replied, "I've been taking boxing classes. Chicago's not the best city to be a woman in, not that YOU'D know anything about women."
Johnny glared at Numbers' daughter. "Fantastic. But anyway, HOW is a decision that good-for-nothing Rogan made in ANY way my fault?"
'You're my dad's advocate!" she said as she threw up her hands.
"Rogan's the Creative Director!!" Johnny barked back. "Now while in life I'm CLEARLY ahead, in the UGWC, HE'S got the power! He obviously made the Kobayashi Maru as awful as possible! What am I supposed to DO about that?!"
Elaine's eyes widened. "What are you supposed to DO about that? You throw the match! THAT'S what you do about THAT!"
"E-Elaine..." Numbers said.
"THROW THE MATCH SHE SAYS!" Johnny exclaims incredulously. "'Deathwish' Hide Yamazaki is the Unified Global Wrestling Coalition World Heavyweight Champion!"
"Jo-Johnny..." Numbers said.
"If he wins," she says as she points at Hide, who also points at himself. "My FATHER gets put in harm's way, but WORSE this time!"
"WHEN he wins," Johnny retorts, pointing at Hide, who again points at himself. "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it! But intentionally losing to SEBASTIAN, or anyone ELSE for that matter, is not an option!!"
Elaine rises to her feet, pointing at Johnny but eyeballing her father. "You see? He DOESN'T care about your well-being! It's all about him!"
Johnny, too, rises to his feet. "Now lemme make one thing... PERFECTLY CLEA-"
"OKAY, AH-AH, THAT'S, AH, QUITE E-ENOUGH NOW FROM THE BOTH O-OF YOU!!"
All three look at the now-standing Numbers, shocked that his voice was ever capable of that level of decibelity. But with all eyes on him (sorry, Sarah!), he turned a shade of red and shrunk down back to a seated position.
"He cleared his throat. "Ahhh... so... this punishment for winning dealie i-is some older concept brought back fi-five years later. The, ah, the entire point is that there's ul-ultimately no winners, o-only losers."
Elaine shrugs, as if the solution is obvious. "Okay then, if it doesn't even matter what happens, why not take the road that DOESN'T lead to my father being forced to wrestle with a whole bunch of I'm guessing equally insane roided-up assholes?"
"You listen here-" Johnny said before muting himself. This shouting match was heading nowhere. If he was ever going to get her on his side, he'd have to appeal to her penchant for violent revenge. "Elaine... Hide's opponent is Sebastian Everett-Bryce III, okay? THAT'S the guy who put your dad in the hospital to begin with."
Elaine crossed her arms. "I-I know that..."
"Then you ALSO know that this is personal for ALL of us! Sebastian betrayed ALL of us, coveting that belt you see Hide stroking there. That's the top prize in our game! It's equivalent to the Stanley Cup, a Super Bowl ring, whatever prize you get for beating Wimbledon! NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY thought that my man here would EVER get a chance at it, much less WIN it! But now, so many people in the back are just changing their tune; NOW they're saying, 'Well, great, he WON the damn thing, but it's not like he'll be able to hold ONTO it, ESPECIALLY against Sebastian!' He's got those devils on his shoulders convincing him he's got this match in the bag! He's got into our heads! THEY'VE got into our heads! Some of the most vile, despicable, insidious minds in professional wrestling today - and Donovan Hastings - have all conspired to ensure their little puppet has ALL the cards in his backstabbing hands!"
Elaine just listens intently, as does her father. Hide occasionally looks up from shining his belt.
"Sebastian was convinced that we were all dead weight, especially ME, and I guess losing our Cooperative titles was the catalyst to breaking away, guilt-free. Guilt-free, in HIS diseased mind, that is! So, okay, take your parting shots at Hide, hell, take your parting shots on The Johnny, but then he just HAD to go from scoundrel to scumbag and-" Reading the room, he tries rushing away from painful reminders. "You know, maybe this was his plan all along. Maybe he was just using us as stepping stones towards his ultimate goal of the World Championship. Considering how quickly he just turned on us, I'd be more inclined to believe that, no matter what he might ACTUALLY say on the subject! What, did he think we wouldn't give him a shot at the title UNLESS he did this? I had NO issue having Hide and Sebastian in the same match, alongside Angie, back at WrestleStock; if he wanted Hide one-on-one, sure, fine, whatever happened, The Uncommonwealth would WIN! But NOW, Elaine, there's NO Uncommonwealth, NO friendship, NO NOTHING! I can't believe I'M saying this, but Sebastian crossed the line! NOW, Elaine, the ONLY person capable of exacting revenge on him... is The Strong Style Satanist!"
Elaine of course knew what Johnny was trying with her. She hated to openly admit it, but seeing the bleached-blonde, bare-chested, chain-adorned wild-man, she could only fantasize about all the ways he could torture the man who dared put his hands on her dad. How powerless she felt when she saw Samuel get effortlessly taken down by someone he once considered a friend. There wasn't even any time for him to register the betrayal before falling unconscious. And how, HOW could the good doctor be so calm about all of this? Maybe he's just confident that the universe will align itself just so? Then, maybe she should also express that same sentiment. After all, father knows best.
"All right, Johnny." she finally said after what felt like an eternity. "All right. We'll do things your way."
Johnny finally released a breath, as Numbers simply nodded in approval. It's now Hide's turn to read the room. He stood up, gently rested his title belt on his seat, and approached Elaine, resting his hands on her uneasy shoulders.
"Ms. Nummers, I want you to know one thing: I too have experienced heartache. I lost my wife and my child to a horrible earthquake. I survived, but I was utterly inconsolable. Johnny here took me under his wing, gave me purpose. I thought I could never go on after losing Mitsuko and Kenichi. I had nothing to fight for anymore. Little did I know that I indeed had things to live and fight for: my friends, the fans, good food, and even Mitsuko and Kenichi themselves! I could never return to them in the state I once was in. Now I have purpose. That shiny trophy over there embodies that purpose. When I die, I can reunite with Mitsuko and Kenichi and be satisfied with how I moved on without them in life. I assure you, madam, that I will not stop, and I will not die... until your father's been avenged.
Mr. Bryce-Everett III allowed himself to succumb to greed. He shed loyalty and friendship for a chance to take my trophy away from me. Maybe one day he'll succeed, but not at Kobayashi Maru. I will prove that I am the champion our company needs. I will face this challenge head-on. It won't be easy, but life itself is not easy. Fighting for what's right is not easy. But I will do what I must. With tears in my eyes, I will tear my old friend apart. I will break every bone I can. I will be the conductor deciding when he screams deeply and cries piercingly. There can be no mercy for someone the likes of him. For Johnny, for your father, for you, and for me, I will end Sebastian Everett-Bryce III. Once and for all. Forever."
Hide then removed his hands from Elaine's shoulders, and sat back down, resting his World title on his lap. All Elaine could do throughout Hide's soliloquy was nod. Now that he was done, she spoke up, "So did anyone else understand a word he said?"
Johnny sighed, "I'll get you the replay of this video when the editors are done with it."
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