"Meet me at Suite 204 in the Alvear Palace Hotel. Bring your championship belt. You won't want to skip out. -Izumi."

That was the text message DeSean had gotten a few days after his Havoc match. But what could Izumi possibly want with him? He didn't have time for diversions. There was an important Aftershock title match at Endgame.

Not that any given title match wasn't important...this one more so than others. It was Endgame. The Wrestlemania of TCW. He would be facing another champion in this one.

Ding.

The elevator opened up, and he stepped into it, pressing the button for Izumi's floor.

This had been one hell of a week, too. People jumping people to no end, Izumi blaming him for the entire mess...

But that was then, this was now.

He lost to Darkness, but he sure as he wasn't going to let people forget the man who took him to the edge. Time to step up.

Ding.

His Aftershock title belt in hand, he stepped out of the elevator. A carpeted hallway stood out before him, a row of doors before him. He walked along, counting...

"201....202...203...204. This is the place. This better be good, Izumi..."

He gently knocked his right fist against the door, a rather ornate one furnished out of polished oak.

"Come in!" came a muffled voice from inside.

He obliged, turning the silver doorknob and stepping inside...

"Oh...you...damn show-off..."

Displayed before him was an exquisite hotel suite, a handmade carpet with an intricate pattern covering the floor. The windows were huge, furnished with silk red curtains. A brass chandelier hung overhead, it's bulbs shining brightly above. Two seats and a couch sat around a glass table, a black shroud covering the table top. The couch was facing across from a giant widescreen LCD HDTV...

And Izumi was sitting on that couch.

Playing a video game on the TV.

"Hiiiii~!" Izumi said, waiving a giggling.

"Daaamn. How much money did you blow on this thing, girl?"

"You don't wanna know. It's probably most of my Endgame payoff, but who cares? I wanted to splurge, this is a big event. I've never been on such a big show before."

"Okay, that's very nice, but get to the point. I know you called me over here for some other reason than to show off your freakin' wealth. I hope you're not going to start shit about me running in on your match, or how you lost to me and Matt at Havoc..."

"Naaah! I'm over all of that. I settled that with you before. Why hold a grudge? I don't need to get angry with you over that, or a loss in a match...even though you were still wrong..."

"What?"

"Oh nothing!" Holding the controller in one hand, she reached into a bag of chips with another and stuffed her face with a handful, chewing, crumbling rolling into her lap. She held the bag up to DeSean. "Want some?"

"I'm watching my figure. And you should too, you wouldn't want to ruin your own."

"Yeah, I probably should stop eating anyway, the grease is making it hard to hold this control-were you flirting with me just then?" Izumi blushed, giggling.

DeSean raised an eyebrow. "Like hell. I never said your figure was good, I just said you wouldn't want to make it worse."

"Alright, th-"

"Look, you gonna tell me the deal here or not, woman? Don't waste my time."

"Fine. Obviously, this is concerning that belt," she said, pointing directly at it. "We have a stage in front of thousands of people and viewers at home to prove which one of us is the better man, or in my case, woman...this one being a different venture than usual because we don't even know who the third opponent is. Isn't it exciting?"

"O-kay..." he said, tapping his foot.

"You may have lost to Darkness, but you showed that the belt you're holding isn't just some prop. Still, people these days don't see titles like that as a big deal anymore. You know how many times the IC title got left off of Wrestlemania? Everyone wants to see 'Indigo vs. Darkness', blah blah blah, they don't care about the lesser titles. I don't think Indigo can pull this one off anyway. Throwing Darkness over the top rope is one thing. Pinning for for 3 seconds is another. I saw Inferno fail to do it, twice, and that guy's as tough as they come. Darkness is like the real wrestling version of Triple H, he's the Antichrist of the wrestling world." Izumi said sarcastically.

"You're rambling," DeSean said, shaking his head. "What's your point?"

"I'm saying I want to build up the Endgame Aftershock title match," she said, pointing to her laptop on the couch. A camera was attached to the top of it, light blinking red...

"What's that?"

"We're live, right now. 193 users and counting, and that's just the beginning."

"No kidding?"

"On the TCW website. I got permission from Stern."

"What are you streaming for?"

"Take a seat and I'll tell you."

DeSean sat next to Izumi, who reached over, offering him an odd tea cup with a long metal straw.

"Want some mate?

"No thank you."

"Uh-uh-uh! Not the right answer," Izumi frowned. "In Argentina, you're supposed to say yes."

"Oh, fine, sure, whatever." He took the cup, and sipped out of the straw.

It tasted horrible, but he forced it down anyway.

"It's...freaking...wonderful..." he sarcastically said.

"Anyway, the first thing I wanna do is a promo war. You and I, one on one."

"A promo war, huh?"

"Yes. I want everyone in this title match to have a chance to put themselves over. We tell the live audience on the stream why exactly each of us deserves to hold the Aftershock title belt first, and then we do rebutt-hey, we broke 200 viewers!" Izumi smirked and flashed the camera a peace sign.

"No thanks." He stood up out of his seat. "I don't have time for this crap. I should be training for the match. Izumi, don't ever bitch to me about not being focused ever again, be-"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Hear me out here. You've already faced me, I've already faced you, we know each other's styles, and if we're not already ready for Endgame by now, we won't ever be. We're already prepped. Relax. Trust me, it'll be fun! The winner of the promo war...as voted by the viewers...gets to pick the stipulation of the title match...""

"What about our opponent?"

"We're going to watch him after we finish." Izumi clicked the TV to the PPV channel. "I bought HeatWave on this, it should be starting soon...But for now, we have ourselves a battle of words. Of wits. Hell, if our opponent wants to come by and say his piece later we can invite him," Izumi said, then muttered under her breath, "I'm gonna prove why I bet I'd be a better champ than you..."

DeSean gave Izumi a death glare. "What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"I'm not deaf you know. Don't go acting like you're better than me, I've been in this business for YEARS. You've not even been in it one. Alright, you silly woman, I'm in on this promo war. Just don't forget, your ass wrote this check. So you'd better cash it. "

"Hey everyone, Izumi here..."

She cleared her throat, feeling as if it were filled with a lump. She paused awkwardly, staring straight into the camera eye, straight into the homes of 400 TCW fans and growing.

She realised she hadn't practiced, like her first promo. A nervous sweat began to appear on her forehead, and she felt her skin prickle all over. If she blew this, she'd lose fans, and maybe hurt the image of the title match itself. She had to at least look credible...

She just grinned stupidly at the camera.

"C'mon Izumi, hurry up or YOU're the one who's gonna look insane." DeSean said, tapping his foot.

Don't screw up, don't screw up...

"Hey everyone, Izumi here. A-as you know, I'm a relatively new superstar here in TCW. I had some matches in FWRFed for any of you who watched, and I decided to move here for...personal reasons. In any case. Endgame. The biggest pay-per-view in this company. Aftershock title match, against TWO champions. The odds aren't good. I have less than a year's total experience of wrestling. But, uhm..." She stuttered a little bit before continuing.

"I've been watching wrestling since I was a child. I'm not uneducated about the business. I watch tapes all the time of all sorts of wrestlers. Every time I wrestle, I get stronger. I find my mistakes and eliminate them with..."

Shit shit, what term, what term...Got it!

"...surgical precision. Now, I may not have the experience, or natural talent that DeSean does, nor our opponent. But let me tell you something: Through hard work, even a rookie can defeat an experienced champion. My inexperience may also be my strength. I have plenty of DeSean tapes to study. DeSean has less history on me, less..." She paused again, looking for a word once more...

"Less of a style to study. My style is still forming at this stage of my career. And so, neither of my opponents will be able to predict just what I'm going to do next. Like Rocky before me, I'm going to go the distance. At Endgame, I'm going to rise to the occasion, and become the youngest Aftershock champion in history."

Phew! There were a few more points I could have included or described better, but I did it!

DeSean clapped a small, golf-clap.

"Well, you didn't totally screw up, woman, I'll give you credit. You got some talent." He stepped towards her, regarding her carefully, before continuing.

She was alright. But now it was time for her to get her receipt.

"But you see, you remember you said Rocky, right? That was a movie. A story. He had no experience in a professional boxing ring before stepping in with the world's champion. He didn't even win in the first movie! Even if you don't count that one, the guy's got about a 50% win percentage throughout all the movies. Now let me tell you what would happen if a rookie like him stepped in the ring with the champ in the real world: He gets killed, demolished. It was a feel-good sports fairy tale."

Izumi looked steamed, but DeSean lifted his hand.

"Hey, I'm not trying to be an asshole by saying this, but real life isn't a fairy tale, Izumi. It's the simple truth. You step into the ring with not one, but two champions like myself, you're going to find yourself out of your league. I took the world champion to the hardest match he'd had in his year as champion. If you stepped in the ring with Darkness today, you'd lose just like a real-life Rocky would. Remember what you told me backstage, about his opponents? 'Kick-wham-Darkness DDT, three count.' Woman, you need a reality check.

"Have you even bled a drop for this business? You haven't even paid your dues to get this far. You can talk about how you've watched it all your life, but it doesn't amount to anything if you haven't experienced it. You showed me backstage the other day that you don't have a clue what this business is about. It's not about underdog fairy tales. It's about blood, sweat, and tears. It's about putting your own body on the line to beat the SHIT out of whoever they place across the ring from you. You can't claim yourself championship material if you don't understand the wrestling business."

That gave Izumi pause. She knew her promo wasn't perfect, but she didn't expect it to be thrown back in her face so hard!

She couldn't let that defeat her so easily, she was Izumi Matsushita, dammit! She'd seen tons of promos, she knew how they were done...

...but it was never easy actually doing one.

"F-fine," she spat, "you got me on the Rocky example. You want a REAL example? New York Giants, just this last Superbowl. Hockey. USA vs. Russia in the 1980 Olympics. Both real situations in which underdogs trounced a far greater opponent. You see, it CAN happen, DeSean."

She thought for a moment before firing off her next point. "Hell, I'd go on to say your very own partner, Strikmore. Wrestled with a terrible neck against a monster in Inferno. I saw that with my own two eyes, and it was scary to watch. He won a championship with a bad neck against one of the most dominant monsters in TCW history. And as for not bleeding for this business? I'm willing to do it. I...I can put my body on the line.

DeSean smirked a little.

"Are you?"

He then continued on...

"So, you're Red Barker, eh?"

"Yeap! Revolution Champ 'n' all..." he said, while taking a big swig of a bottle of Jack Daniels and slamming it on the table. "Been holdin' onto this for a while...yeah..." He offered the bottle to Izumi. "Wanna drink?"

"No thanks. After what happened that one night in the bar, I've never drinking again," she said, looking at the laptop. Voting for the promo war ended in about a half hour, and so far, it seemed to favor DeSean. She frowned slightly.

"So, I hear you're in the Corporation," Izumi said, frowning even more.

"Yeah..."

"Why do you support such an unstable SOB in FWRFed? The guy's clearly off his rocker...he fired a shitload of people when he came to power, fired his own World's Champion...all at the expense of his own company. And even worse, it might be coming to bite him in the ass...Indigo got her title back anyway. What's more, IF she pulls a miracle, she might just take this title here in TCW too. Stern will sign her, and then Powers' entire company will go belly up. I shouldn't be rooting for the FWRfed gal, but in this case, Indigo is the way to go," Izumi said. "But you on the other hand...I'm takin' the Aftershock title, not you..." She smriked.

"Wha was all that?" Red Barker said. "You were goin' on and on and I didn't hardly catch half of that..."

Izumi just signed. "What I'm trying to say is..."

DeSean looked on, watching the two speak amongst themselves. His eyes first shifted towards Red Barker.

A FWRFed guy, Corporation kiss-ass, and a drunk...one would think he wouldn't be a threat...but there he was, sitting there with the Revolution championship. DeSean had seen him in the ring before, he was intense beyond anything. He was serious about this.

Unlike Izumi.

Something about her...worried him. Not just worried.

Angered.

"...so, you see, being on the side of a guy like Powers is just plain w-"

CRASH.

Shards of glass narrowly missed Izumi's face, as the empty beer bottle shattered right next to her. Izumi whirled around to see DeSean scowling behind her, holding the offending beer bottle.

"And then I stomped a mudhole in your unconcious body, making you unfit to compete at Endgame. Story over."

Izumi's face went white as she realised.

"I don't like your attitude, woman, not at all. You think this is some sort of game?! This ain't like the bullshit on TV. You're not gonna be able to Hulk up and win the match. This shit is REAL!" he yelled.

"D-DeSean..."

"I've been busting my ass in this business for FOUR. YEARS. Been in TCW for two and a half. I've been fighting a very real battle here..."

"DeSean, wait-"

"Me and my tag team partner have been been gettin' punked by guys like cuckoo Leroy in the back..."

"DeSean, please-"

"...and you sitting here calling me up on your damn cell phone and sayin', 'Hey, DeSean, let's go have fun! Let's do a little promo war!' like this is some sort of game! What the fuck?! I'm your opponent, Izumi. I could have blindsided you at any time and made the match that much easier. Now look, you've gone and take your eyes off him too..."

Izumi whirled around, facing Red Barker. He had a puzzled expression on his face

"What? I didn' do nothing."

Izumi jumped out of her seat, stepping away from both of them, her face as white as a sheet now.

"You see, that's how it is sometimes. Are you ready to hold a belt? I tell you, it's like having a giant target plastered on you. And I know what Darkness has to go through. I don't claim to especially like the guy, but he's got it tough. Being a champion ain't all about fame and glory and big shit like Andre/Hogan. Hell, I wish it were half of that. It's like Matt told you. This business is NASTY. It's all about hate and ego. What's gonna happen when you start making enemies? You think you can handle it on your own?"

"I...I can handle it! I'm not a little girl, I can take care of myself!"

"I don't doubt your abilities as a wrestler. You got talent. But physical talent isn't enough in this dirty business. A good percent of it is mental, too, and you know what, even I'm wondering if I want to do this shit anymore. I'm sick of gettin' punked and watchin' my buds get punked backstage, gettin' taken out of the game. I'm sick of busting my ass in real fights while a bunch of suits from Congress call all this business immoral filth. That's not why I got in it, man. So you need to ask YOURSELF: Can you handle this mentally?"

"I can..."

"Prove it to me." He walked over to the door and opened it. "You brought me here, now it's my turn to take you somewhere." His eyes shifted towards Barker. "You're comin' too."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"I'll ask you again DeSean, where are we going?" DeSean smiled at Izumi.

"Now you don't want to trust me, I like it actually you're a quick learner but guess what I'm asking you this time, follow me if you truly want to learn something. I promise I won't attack you."

Izumi looked hesitant but she eventually agreed, he was a great wrestler and she admittedly was a fan learning some techniques from DeSean wouldn't be a bad thing. She looked over at Red who shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't care one way or the other.

"It's a surprise ok, you'll like it trust me." DeSean reassured Izumi as all 3 opponents left her hotel room, Izumi was the last to step out the door and before she did she looked back at the broken shards of glass that lay on the floor. Shaking her head, she quickly walked back to her laptop and looked into her webcam, her eyes were a little saddened and in an almost child like manner she spoke to the fans who were still watching the number had hit to 3000 viewers.

"Sorry guys but it looks like the promo wars are over, I'll be on later tonight to take your questions....bye." Izumi unceremoniously closed her laptop and walked out the room closing the door behind her.

_______________________________

All 3 sat in the back of a limo that DeSean stop being an cheapskate since it was Endgame and actually spend a little bit of his sponsorented out for himself, normally he would drive his own rental car to save money but he figured he would rship money. In a way he was saving money because he didn't have to worry about gas. He looked at Red who helped himself to the various bottles of liquor, DeSean didn't mind he wasn't much of a drinker anway. He then looked at Izumi who stood across from him, Izumi was young, athletic, pretty she had a future in the business but he wondered why she chose TCW? Could she honestly make it in TCW? DeSean felt compelled to help her for whatever reason, maybe it's because he's felt a little alone since his returned to the promotion, he had no one to really relate besides Strikmore and they just started to mend fences. All of his friends either left, retired or were injured.

"Where are we going?" Izumi broke the silence.

"It was supposed to be a surprise but we're going to a wrestling show"

"But isn't that.."

"What against the rules? No, we're not wrestling just watching as fans it's an small indy show it's been a while since I've seen an authentic, traditional lucha libre match."

"Will there be beer there?" Red asked as he drank more liquor out of the bar.

"Yes my drunkard friend, I'm sure there will be." DeSean answered back, rolling his eyes.

"How in the hell do you figure taking us to watch lucha libre going to help with our match?"

"Izumi, you wanted to steal the show ok? That's what we're going to do but we're going to do it in a different way."

"What do you mean?

"I mean I didn't go to a wrestling school, learn how to take bumps, travel on the road working in the indies, getting stiffed on pay just to come to TCW and have it flushed down the toilet." DeSean answered back.

"Are you saying you don't like TCW's style? I find that hard to believe considering you came back here after taking a leave of abscence and then you signed a new contract. You can only hate it but so much." Izumi told him.

"Granted I knew what I was signing up for but since I've been here I've watch friends leave, get injured, retire at young ages. Two of my best friends tortured my a psychopath who deserved to be in prison for his crimes. I have to deal wtih lunatics on a damn daily basis who live their gimmicks 24/7. Corrupt ministers, pyschiatrists, crazed scientists, hitmen, dumbass canadians, 400 pound monsters, ninjas. Multi-billion dollar conglomerates, a bunch of pot heads who managed to ride their bus anywhere in the world and explain that to me, an R&B singer who could never sing, two devil Japanese twins who were always horny, an ex-girlfriend who was brainwashed for two hours and during that time tried to kill me and an asshole conservative Senator who's threatening to shut down all of our livelihoods, yet we continue to paint a target on our backs with the same ole bullshit. So excuse me if I'm not really a fan of the TCW atmosphere right now." DeSean replied back rather annoyed, he sat back in his seat and grabbed a glass of scotch and drank it. He didn't realize the number of events that have happened to him in his 2 1/2 years in TCW, some of the events were even life threatening hell he was even arrested in a Puerto Rico one time.

"Izumi how old are you? 18?"

"I'm 19"

"19? Well I'm 23, my birthday was a couple days ago usually I go out with my friends. They treat me dinner, to a club of some kind and we all have fun. Wanna know what I did this year? I stayed in a hotel room the whole night, alone and bored. I took an ice bath and then I slept the night away. Sounds fun doesn't it?"

" No it doesn't sound fun at all." Red again chimed in, opening up another bottle of alcohol.

"It was an rhetorical question smart ass but it wasn't fun. Izumi you have a god given talent but talent only takes you but so far. You want to steal the show at Endgame? Fine we're going to tear the house down all 3 of us will and we're going to do it healthy. No attacks, no bullshit, just 3 people going into a ring and giving it their all that's what Professional wrestling is all about."

The limo stopped moving and pulled into a parking lot, DeSean looked outside through the tinted window and could see the small sports complex.

"Great we're here." DeSean said. "You're going to get an lesson on what pro wrestling is really about."

The three of them took their seats in the front row. Izumi had a bag of popcorn, munching on it. Red had a beer, of course.

"Well, this is it."

"Why the blue hell did you drag me here?" Red said. "I don't feel like being here."

"We're going to see what wrestling is -really- about," DeSean said.

"Yeah...I know...but what does that have to do with me?" Red said.

"You didn't have to follow us, you know," Izumi said between handfuls of buttery popcorn.

"Izumi, it actually concerns him too. And even me. You see, this is Endgame. What better way to get inspired for it than by watching a truly emotional wrestling match up close and personal?"

"Isn't this scripted?" Izumi asked.

"That's not the point...you've never watched a lucha libre match before, have you?" DeSean said. "It's heavily traditional. Masks are important in this business. They're a part of the wrestlers. We're going to see a mask vs. hair match right now..."

"Masked wrestling? Boring," Red said.

"Quiet! It's about to start."

Blue Tiger (the technico(face) with a blue tiger mask, hence the name) squared off in the ring against Red Devil (the rudo(heel), with red devil horns and long hair). Each of them worked a very different match than a normal United States match. Rather than the punch kick style of the WWE, it was of incredible speed and acrobatics. Even Izumi, who knew some flippy moves, had trouble keeping up with the moves and the transitions and the holds.

It wasn't just the moves though.

They both fought as if they HATED each other.

"How the hell do they...DO that?!"

Red grunted and took another sip of beer.

After a while and one or two kicked out finishers later, Red Devil came off the top rope with a nasty guillotine leg drop onto Blue Tiger's neck, finally keeping him down for the three count, much to the boos of the audience.

"¡Aquí está su ganador… El Diablo...Rojo!"

"Looks like it's over..." DeSean said.

Blue Tiger slowly pulled himself up on the ropes as Red Devil left celebrating. He leaned against the corner, panting, as the crowd watched silently. It looked like the world had come crashing down on him.

After a long period of silence...

his hands slowly lifted up...

and slid off his blue mask, gradually, as if a struggle...

until finally, his face was exposed at last, tears streaming down it as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Then he slowly walked to the back...hanging his head in defeat.

"Why is he..."

"This should speak for itself, Izumi," DeSean chided her, but continued to explain. "It's important. The mask is part of the luchadore. It IS the luchadore, sometimes. Blue Tiger hated the Red Devil so much that he was willing to lay it all on the line in this final feud blow off. And sadly, he lost. That's how the storylines go in lucha libre. But the emotion is real. You get attached to that mask...it becomes your gimmick. And sometimes you lose everything when you unmask, your career is hurt...but the crowd seems to like this guy. I'm sure he'll stay around for a while."

"How does this tie into our match?" Izumi asked.

"Yeah, I wanna know what the hell this all has to do with me," Red chimed in.

"You can answer that, Izumi. Think about it. Think about the emotion you just saw. Two guys fighting it out with the highest stakes on the line. But it's gonna be the three of us. The highest stakes. Busting out every move from deep within ourselves. Our spectacle isn't going to come from the 'Rocky Underdog' moments. No backstage attacks. No promo wars. No hate. It's gonna come from pure, all-out wrestling until one of us finally succumbs to a pin. See?"

"Screw this horse manure."

Barker. He stood up, kind of drunk but holding his liquor quite well considering all he'd had today.

"I ain't come here to watch no spanish guys fight. I ain't bein' dragged around to listen to no speeches 'bout inspirational wrestling. I want a real fight. I could care less 'bout what you two have between each other. You ain't given me a damn reason to be here. Now I'm gonna make myself a reason to be here."

Two more wrestlers were in the ring. Barker took one look at it, hopped the guardrail, and charged straight for them before either of them could react.

"Huh? Hey, where's he- hey DeSean, where are you going?" Izumi asked when she saw Red enter the ring and start attacking the luchadors, who, after a match, already seemed very tired.

The crowd starting booing heavily when Red entered the ring to shake things up. Red laid the two of them out with heavy clotheslines and looked at the mask that was lying on the ring. With the finished beer in his hand, he tossed it out of the ring and picked up the mask that formerly belonged to Blue Tiger. He decided he to put it on and continued to attack the two luchadors in the middle of the ring. It was so bad that security came into the ring, but it seemed none of the security was able to stop the experience of the bar room brawler. He just continued to lay security guards out from left to right until there were groups of them lying in the ring, much of them victims to his finisher, The End.

Piles and piles of plastic wrapping paper continued to fill the ring, as the crowd had grown furious at the cowboy for attacking something that was so sacred to them. They became even more enraged when the so-called security was unable to stop Red from his reign of destruction, and much of it seemed to cross the line when Red put on the fallen mask of their beloved Blue Tiger. When he grabbed a microphone and began to speak in mock Spanish, the crowd threw beer bottles into the ring. Red didn't seem to care at all. All that was important was now that he had made what used to be boring something completely relevant to him and more entertaining, from his point of view at least. He blinked when he saw DeSean entering the ring, belt over his shoulders, microphone in the other hand, accompanied with an extremely pissed off look on his face.

"Hey, what's with you?" Red asked, patting the Revolution title on his shoulders.

"You make me sick."

"Too much drinkin' fer ya' likin'?"

"Cut the crap. I'm not talking about your drinking problem and you know it."

"It ain't a drinkin' problem. I just happen to like whiskey an' beer a lot."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" DeSean yelled.

Red briefly put his Revolution title down and went over to DeSean and stare him right in the face. He made sure they were inches apart, and that DeSean would know exactly who he was messing with.

"Then why don't you tell me?"

"Like me, you're a fellow champion aren't you?" DeSean asked.

Not answering DeSean, Red went back to pick up his Revolution title and made sure he held it right in front of DeSean's face, so that DeSean could see clearly he was in fact, the Revolution champion.

"You may not be holding my Aftershock title, but you are a champion and you need to learn to act like one."

"I am actin' like a champion."

"No, you're not. You're acting like a little kid who disrespects everything around him. You don't seem to have any respect for the match you're in, you don't seem to have any respect for the match that went on in here, and I don't care whether or not you respect me or not, because I definitely don't respect you, but you don't seem to have any respect for my title. And if you don't respect this title," this time, DeSean repeated Red's actions as he held his own title up in Red's scowling face.

"Then you don't deserve to even be fighting for this title."

The crowd cheered loudly as DeSean spoke these words, finally proud that somebody seemed to be standing up for something here. He put respect to their match, and he was yelling angrily at the guy who had just laid out their beloved Blue Tiger in the ring, so that must have meant that he was a good, guy right?

"I've been in the wrestling industry longer than you have, and I've got a lot of it to show This here is my title, and I'm proud to hold it."

Gritting his teeth, Red put down his title and in a quick attempt, went after DeSean with full intent of hitting him with The End, but DeSean seemed to have had the finisher scouted and ducked out of the way just in time.

Feeling that she had seen enough, Izumi decided it was time to get into the ring to break everything up.

After receiving a microphone, she went into the ring to confront the other two.

"Hey, guys, look, there's no reason to do this now is there?"

DeSean turned at her, incredulous.

"No reason to fight? Have you heard everything I've just said? Don't you feel that right now there's every reason for us to fight? And what took you so long to get down in this ring anyway?"

"Look, I'm not saying I agree or disagree with what's been said, because I do have my own opinions and I'm going to keep them in check for now. Let's all try to have a cool head about this, please? We're gonna be fighting each other soon and we can't do this right now before our big match is gonna happen, right?"

And the three of them continued to stay in the ring, facing each other, until somebody decided to do something about it sooner or later.

"Fuck this I'm out" DeSean spoke into the microphone, he slowly turned away much to the chagrin of the fans who were hoping to see Red be put in his place. Red Barker is the definition of what's wrong with TCW, a bar fighting, beer chuging idiot who didn't have respect for the sport, the type of guy who got into wrestling just to beat people up, he didn't see it as an art form like DeSean did, he didn't have to go through the training, all the hard work that DeSean went through, the political bullshit. He took everything for granted and treated like it was joke, it pissed DeSean off to no end.

"Everyone just calm down" Izumi told to both Red and DeSean. "We can't do this here, there will be a time to fight. DeSean just stay cool ok? Take a deep breath, remember it's about the match, about promotion about making the Aftershock title means something.

"Yea, DeSean walk away. Do what she says because you're a bitch."Red told DeSean with a shit eating grin on his face. "This ring is for real men only, not for little boys like yourself who cry and moan all the time." Red added. DeSean clenched his fists but smirked and replied.

"Well would a bitch do this?" DeSean asked before swinging at red and connecting to Red's jaw. Red quickly grabbed him in retaliation and kneed DeSean in the gut, he then picked DeSean up and brought him towards the corner. He swung hard into DeSean's ribcage who cringed at the impact of the punches. Red then cocked his fist back looking to punch DeSean in the face but before he could finish, DeSean qucikly grabbed his throat, bringing Red down on the mat.

"Fuck you asshole!" DeSean yelled at Red while he connected some not so clean punches to Red's face. Red reversed momentum and ended up on top of DeSean throwing his own punches that never really connected cleanly.

"Guys that's enough!" Izumi yelled and even waved for security to break up the fight but no one came down the ramp. She decided to break up the fight herself, she ran over and tried to pry them off of each other but they both pushed her down. Soon the promotion's security ran into the ring and managed to at least have both men stand up while they continued to swing at one another. DeSean finally pushed Red off of him to give himself some room to work with, this gave security enough time to get in between them both and finally break them up. Both men were forced outside the ring. Izumi stood inside the ring looking distraught, she rubbed her hands through her hair and shook her head. Looking around the arena she could see the fans cheering, it was something they didn't expect, something new that all wrestling fans smart marks or not clamor for.

That surprise feeling, that feeling that anything can happen. The cheering of the fans became her drug, that adrenaline rush became her ultimate high, it gave her feeling that she could do anything. She looked outside once more and watch the pile of bodies try to regain some semblance of order. She shrugged her shoulders in a lackadaisical manner and ran across the ring, she bounced off to ropes to increase her momentum as she headed towards her opponents and the various security personnel. She leaped over the ropes with ease and twisted her bodies sideways. Though she landed her feet, she managed to almost managed to take everyone out.

The keyword is almost before she could even gather herself to get her wits about her, two security guards managed to grab her using the good old high/low technique. Izumi was then brought back up, along with DeSean and Red. All 3 of them are escorted out of the arena, while all 3 try to come up with multiple excuses to avoid any type of jail time. Luckily for them, the guards decide to throw them out on their asses.

"What the hell was that DeSean?" Izumi asked him while dusting off her clothes. "What happened to not attacking each other?"

"That was off when he disrespected me and attacked me first mind you." DeSean added while rubbing his shoulder.

"You shouldn't have gotten into my business." Red barked back at DeSean.

"It was never your business in the first place!" DeSean yelled back while moving his arm around in a circular motion. "Look on the bright side Izumi, you wanted promotion you got it, this will be everywhere."

"Yea but at what cost? I wanted to promote the match not have a cross promotion with some indie fed. Valerie isn't going to be pleased."

"Oh what else new? Don't worry about Valerie she won't do anything worse things have happened under her watch." DeSean told Izumi while simultaneously walking away.

"Where are you going?" Izumi asked him.

"Back to my hotel."

"What about us? We rode with you over here."

"Catch a cab or walk I don't know." DeSean told her casually while heading back to his limo. He opened the door to his limo, exhausted he sighed and sat back into the soft, plush,leather seats. He let Izumi down, all that talk about honor and respecting the business about making things right and after just one fight it was all for naught. He asked himself why does he even care about Izumi's feelings, he can't answer it himself but he does. Unless it's not really her feelings that he cares about, maybe there's a deeper meaning to it all. He looked out the window behind him and stared at Izumi and Red through his tinted windows. They both looked pretty pissed off and understandably but there was no way in hell they all could have driven back together not after what just happened. "All that talk" he thought to himself, he couldn't believe that he let Red get to him like that but again he couldn't back down and show weakness. Nevertheless he couldn't turn back the clock, change history he didn't have special powers and the last he time he wasn't a character on Heroes. He took the first shot whether he wanted to or not, the question was now who was going to retaliate., "this is going to be an interesting weekend" he told himself while taking a sip of red wine that he found in the mini bar.

Later that night...

Red Barker, in his hotel room was busy getting himself wasted. A good amount of alcohol would surely calm him down...or so he thought. After that brawl with DeSean his blood pressure was high. His instincts were awakened. He was a fighting man and he had a lot of pent up energy that he felt the urge to let loose at any moment.

No, he told himself, I've got to save this for Endgame, when I'm gonna kick both their asses and take that title.

*Knock-knock-knock...* at the door.

"Oh...you...sunovabitch..." he muttered, and grabbed a beer bottle. "I guess you couldn't resist coming back for more, could you?"

Whether he wanted it or not, it looked like DeSean wasn't done with him. "You want a piece of me?"

In a flash, he swung open the door, about to break the bottle over DeSean's h-

"AAAAIE!" Izumi jumped back.

"Izumi!" Barker said surprised, caught off guard for a moment. He mentally scolded himself, readying the bottle. "You better not come any closer, honey."

"Barker...I don't want to fight."

"What?"

"In fact...I'm here to apologize for what happened."

"Apologize?" It seemed almost foreign to Barker. His opponents never 'apologized' for anything...

"I'm sorry. I tried to have fun. I wanted to have fun promoting our match for Endgame and I tried to include you in it. But I screwed it up, and it just spiraled out of control. If I hadn't acted so damn childish..."

Red Barker tapped his foot impatiently.

"What I'm trying to say is I know you may hate me and hate DeSean for pissing you off. But no matter what happens, I don't want you to hate me or him. I don't hate you, or DeSean. Even though you may have done some nasty things before, and what you did at that show was despicable, this match isn't personal to me. Wrestling isn't personal to me. Matt told me not to become like him, so I’m not going to hold any grudges. Maybe you'll still hate me after this. But this is probably the last time I'll see you before Endgame, and I want to do something first that'll let you know I respect you, at least as an opponent."

She offered her right hand.

Barker looked down on it, and gave pause, thinking on it. Was it a trick?

After about 15 long, still seconds, he decided.

He took her hand, shaking it, very firmly, staring into her eyes competitively.

"Imma accept this...but it doesn't mean I'm going any easier on you, hon. It's a wrestling match, and I take it seriously no matter what I think of the people in the ring."

"I don't expect you to go easy on me. Hit me your hardest." Izumi grinned wide. "Just hit me because I'm your opponent, not because of how you feel about me."

---------------------------

Stern's office felt stifling, like a cell, every time DeSean was in it. He looked at the redhead, who just shook her head and sighed.

"I don't have time to deal with this shit." she said.

"Let me explain what went on-"

"I'll tell you exactly what happened-you went to another promotion, HOPPED THE BARRICADE, and started a fight in their ring."

"Barker was the one who...I was going to stop..."

"Nevertheless you got yourself physically involved. You should have waited for security to take care of him. Instead you got yourself involved. I've got the phone ringing off the damn hook with all the shit that's been going on, I don't need an angry promoter screaming at me about doing cross promotion without his permission! So I need to convince him that you guys all acted on your own in addition to all the other things I have to deal with. You have no idea how pissed I am...at all of you!"

"Then why am I the only one here?!"

"After what happened I'm keeping you guys apart. I’m calling in Izumi and Red seperately. By the way, if anybody touches anybody before Endgame, bell time, here on out, I'm taking them out of the match. Yes, that's right." Stern said. "You want to get physical outside the ring, you won't have a match."

"Alright-"

"And, one more rule...” Stern began. “None of you are allowed to get disqualified directly, no hitting anyone with a chair, none of that shit. You guys are representing TCW. If you can't put aside your frustrations and have a clean wrestling match, then you can go take out your frustrations elsewhere, if you know what I mean,” she said, making a slicing motion in the air. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do. Out. Out." she said, shooing DeSean outside.

DeSean sighed in relief as he left. He thought for sure he was going to be fired, right then and there.

It made things easier for him at least…but he deserved to be jumped in the back. This was his fault, ultimately, he felt.

Did he even deserve this title? He was supposed to be a champion and he let himself get goaded into a fight by that no good, son of a…

*beep*

His cell phone beeped, and he pulled it out.


1 Message: Izumi M.

“Hey, DeSean. I just wanted to say it’s okay for what happened earlier. No matter what happens I respect both of my opponents. Yes, that means you too. ^_^ Life’s too short to worry about stupid little fights and rivalries.

I kind of feel like you did teach me something. It didn’t hit me til I really thought about it…but that mask vs. hair match was brilliance. DeSean, I know I can’t be Rocky and pull off a miracle. I no longer expect that. But I wanna be like those two luchadores…fighting with everything they have, with the highest stakes on the line. All I can do is give it my all and hope that’s enough. And that’s what I’m gonna do. I hope you and Barker give me your best. Now I’m gonna finish writing this message and go back to working on my kickass new entrance video. It’s ENDGAME, after al! ^_^

<3 from Izumi”

“Hmph. She’s still a rookie but I guess she’s smarter than she looks,” DeSean said. With one text message his day brightened a little. It looked like things weren’t going to be so bad after all.

But he wasn’t going to let this loosen him up so easily. It was nice to know Izumi still had respect for him, but in the ring, that wouldn’t matter.

The players had made their moves in this game of human chess.

Now they were in the last, crucial moments when everything mattered and no mistakes could be made.

Now he needed to be stronger than he could ever imagine himself to be.

This was the final destination.

This was the Endgame.

Why did you become a wrestler?

It was a question that a trainer asked him and a group of others in a small, dirty, gym with a ring that smelled like a mixture of sewer and bird shit. It was a question that all types of people in and out of the business have asked him and each time they gave them the answer he felt they wanted to hear, more importantly it was an question he had an answer too, nowadays he was running out of answers and that worried him. He sat in the lockerroom not alone but in the company of the rest of the roster but he felt alone. The atmosphere around him was subdued, every once and a while he would stand up, hop in one place, throw some shadow punches. A lot of that time though was him sitting on a bench, eyes closed, listening to his MP3 player and the sounds of Young Jeezy and Kanye West.

I put on, I put on, I put on
I put on for my city, I put on for my, I put on my city, I put for my city onnnnnn.

I Feel like it's still niggas that owe me checks
I feel like it's still bitches that owe me sex
I feel like dis but niggas don't know these stress
I lost the only girl in the world that know me best
I got the money and the fame and that don't mean shit
I got the Jesus on the chain man that don't mean shit
cause when the Jesus pieces can't bring me peace so I need just at least one of Russel's nieces onnnnnnn
I let my nightmares go I put on everybody that I knew from the go
I know hoes that was fronting when they knew we was broke
they say damn yezy yezy you don't know us no more
you got the big fame homie and you just changed on me you can ask big homie man the top so lonely I.....
so lonely I...
let me see what we have tonight
I'm high as a satellite I see them flashing lights cause every night I put on.

He followed a ritual warm up then concentrate on the match or rather we should say fight at hand do that until someone taps him on the shoulder that Sweeney is ready for him. This time it was Sweeney himself who tapped DeSean on the shoulder, from there they walk while Sweeney talking into an headset signals for the production to be in position. He gives DeSean some instructions on the way to the ring, mostly about any problems they've had with DeSean's entrance which there were none. Sweeney leaves him and DeSean waits behind the curtains, waiting for his song, the beginning chords of Oasis' Supersonic starts to play.

Why did he become a wrestler? He was starting to run out of answers but one answer he could still give was for the moments like this, the ones that will last forever.