(Sean): You know, Maniac, I know, I was wondering when we’d end up facing one another.. It seemed inevitable at this stage, right?
It’s interesting you touched on not caring about wins and losses and only caring about pain and agony. tell me, when I was pounding Fallen’s face into mush, leaping off the underside of a steel cage 45 feet in the air just to inflict further punishment on him for what he did to Michelle…did that look like a man who cared about winning or losing or did it look like a man who only cared about pain and agony, hurting his opponent at any and all costs? Hmm?
Sean raises his eyebrows and shrugs slightly.
(Sean):? As for the whole “there’s a darkness inside of and I’m going to let it out” nonsense? Are you still pushing on with that crap?
Sean can’t help but roll his eyes.
(Sean): Come on man, that’s getting old, isn’t it? Is that really the best you can come up with? You’ve been getting your claws stuck into Matt and Jeremy for the last seven months, are you just stuck in an infinite loop and can’t figure out a way out of it? It got boring the 10 millionth time you reiterated that against Matt, it doesn’t even hold credence anymore, in fact, you know what, Maniac? It’s boring now. You’re boring. You know what I think? I think in that Asylum, Matt took something from you. You won’t admit but he took a piece of you when he leapt off that ladder into the burning wreckage of the ring and you can’t quite recover it, can you? It’s like that cut just won’t heal properly, leaving that scar tissue that is the constant reminder of what you’ve lost.
You’ve tried to recover with these twisted machinations you’ve been concocting with Erica and the wickedness she’s been showing, you poisoning William Draconis. That’s not evil or badass or even maniacal. You know what it is, Maniac? It’s desperate! You reek of desperation and it’s stinking out the place. I mean look at what happened at Art of War. In your own personal playground, a match you made famous, you couldn’t beat Matt. For all your bravado and hot air spouted in the days, weeks and months leading up, your promise to poison him and break his mind all turned into ash, didn’t it? Yeah, he might bear physical and mental scars but he doesn’t look like the broken man you envisioned he’d be, is he? That’s why you desperately wanted him to join you, wasn’t it? If you can’t beat me, join me? Even Jeremy! You attacked his dad, trying to evoke some feral, primal response, making him doubt himself. But all that went to shit, didn’t it?
Sean allows a wry, almost sardonic smirk to creep across his face.
(Sean): The truth is, Maniac, we’re on to you. You’re like Pennywise, you rely on fear, on creating this image of you as this man who anyone with half a brain cell should cower in the presence of. But the minute you stand up to him, show him you’re not afraid, you cower into this pathetic mess, desperately trying to hang on to whatever mysticism you’ve got left. I mean you dug so deep into your bag of tricks, you dragged out Dream Master, an entity Butch beat in the 2004 Ring Master Semi-Finals! And Matt made him look like a teddy bear! You’re done, Maniac. At Helloween Harvest, Matt’s going to finish what he started at Art of War and at Havoc, well, I’ve got nothing to prove. I beat Stu-E one-on-one with no outside crap to get in the way, I beat Fallen at Art of War, beat Legion before that. You’re the one that’s got everything to prove. I’m injury-free, nothing holding me back, I’m fresh as a daisy! The pressure’s all on you Maniac, what are you going to do about it?
Sean gives one last look to the camera before ending the feed and waiting for it to upload. After it’s complete and it’s in the queue on the HWA’s YouTube channel to air, he leaves the booth and doesn’t see Red Dragon coming his way.
(Red Dragon): Sean-Kun!
Sean looks momentarily startled as he’s looking at his phone and looks up to see Red Dragon in front of him.
(Sean): Sensei! Konnichiwa!
(Red Dragon): Have you seen Matt-Kun? Jeremy?
Sean shakes his head.
(Sean): Nah, not seen either of them since Havoc, Sensei. I texted Jeremy asking if he wanted to go on a hike with Michelle and I the other day but he bailed. What’s wrong?
Red Dragon looked like something was bothering him. He wasn’t his usual calm, composed, stoic self.
(Sean): Sensei, is everything? You look worried.
(Red Dragon): It’s not my place to say, Sean-Kun. If you hear from either from them, tell them to contact myself or Butch-san, hai?
Sean nods obediently to his Sensei.
(Sean): Hai, Sensei.
Red Dragon pats Sean on the shoulder in a thankful manner before disappearing through the adjacent set of double doors. Sean had a confused look on his face.
(Sean): Weird…
He brought his phone back out and tried to phone both Matt and Jeremy but he only got their voicemails. He walks out of the Academy, still trying to get through to them as the scene fades to black.
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