CARD #2128.210 – RETRIBUTION
– PROLOGUE –
The dream envelops him once again. He is not himself. He’s someone new, better, more ‘hip’ than he actually is in real life. He is someone finally popular. He is in the arena on a souped up hover-cycle racing down a ramp towards a jump. He is bad ass. He’s dressed not in his usual black and yellow, but in red and black. Wearing the sweetest mask he’s ever seen. He is someone new. Someone better. Behind him, the entire GWF follows his lead. They are on hover-cycles as well. Following him blindly.
As soon as he’s airborne of the end of the ramp, the arena cheers. Cheers him. Or this new persona, actually. They are behind him as the hover-cycle flies through the fog in the center of the arena. The fog that shrouds exactly what it is he’s jumping over. It doesn’t matter.
His bad-ass bike sails through the fog. In seconds he’s halfway across the arena. He looks over his should and the rest of the locker room has stopped their bikes at the end of the jump. They didn’t follow him. Too shallow, too small minded. Not the great seer of the future he is. He smirks. Pussies.
At the apex of his jump, he looks down through the fog. He can vaguely see that he is flying over water. A tank of some kind. An enormous inky shadow slides under the surface of the water right in the center of the tank. He can’t quite make out the shape, though it is somwhwat familiar. The crowd cheers loudly as he nears the approaching landing ramp. He is no longer SWARM, ULTRAMANTIS BLACK and the crowd is cheering him! Finally! Finally…he is cool.
As the bike nears the ramp he awakes in his bed.
Breathing heavily for a moment, he reaches for his tablet computer on the nightstand, knocking over newly prescribed pill vials aside as he does. He begins sketching out the mask, the jacket. They have to be made fast. He will debut tonight!
– END PROLUGUE –
From the Albireo Bowl, Cygnus
EURITAR is here and he informs us we’re opening with the GALAXIAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP defense as, for the first time, one wrestler will compete for two titles in the same evening. BEX, who is undefeated in singles standings, will wrestle as one half of the IMMORTALS now and then in the MAIN EVENT, against HARBINGER for the GALAXIAN CHAMPIONSHIP. THis could potentially be a HUGE night for BLACK DEATH!
MATCH #1
GALAXIAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
IMMORTALS d. RUSH & TURMOIL via DQ when Rush refuses to leave the ring after a pin save attempt – ***** – IMMORTALS ran RUSH & TURMOIL all over the place. RUSH was not going to let TURMOIL get pinned and got himself DQ’d for trying to prevent it! These two will no doubt meet again. BEX took a little damage during this match, but should have opportune rest time as we have a bunch of other matches to get through before the main event.
MATCH #2
Monolith d. Bishop Hell (II) via DQ when Bishop Hell (II) lights the ring apron on fire and tries to slam Monolith face first into it – * – Is Black Death scared of the monster MONOLITH? BISHOP HELL (II) sure didn’t seem to eager to lock up with him in this match.
– BACKSTAGE –
We see PAYBACK and MANTIS talking suddenly SWARM comes through a door with a large brown paper bag.
SWARM: There you guys are! Look, I had a dream. I was on a bike and I was flying and the crowd was cheering. It was awesome. Anyway, I know what I must do now.
PAYBACK: Whoa, babe, slow down. What are you talking about.
SWARM (takes a big deep breath then continues): I had a dream. A vision. A way to lead the GWF against Black Death. It involves me getting a whole new persona.
MANTIS: A new persona? Geee dad I don’t think…
SWARM: Well, okay, it’s not a whole new persona. It’s more like an alternate identity. A way to confuse Black Death. Hit them from a bunch of different angles.
PAYBACK: Listen, angel, you are just coming back from a vicious attack that left you hospitalized and testing positive for–
SWARM: Don’t say it.
PAYBACK: Fine. My point is, you need to take it easy.
SWARM: No. No I don’t. I need to fight even harder! I NEED this. I need to become UltraMantis Black.
MANTIS: UltraMantis…wha?
SWARM holds up the paper bag.
SWARM: And I have the costume all ready to go. I just need a match.
MANTIS: Dad, we have a match already tonight. Against Black Death Revolution.
SWARM: And we shall wrestle it, and win, son of mine. But I need a match to debut UltraMantis Black! I need…
SWARM sees a handbill on the wall. He grabs it and reads it.
SWARM: This! This is it! I need to go get changed.
SWARM pushes past them.
PAYBACK: What are we going to do with him?
MANTIS: Nothing we can do. He’s Swarm.
PAYBACK (laughs): True. And that’s why I love him.
OVERTIME comes up behind them.
OVERTIME: Yo! PB, you ready to rock man?
PAYBACK: I am.
OVERTIME: Let’s hit it.
We cut back ringside as they walk off.
MATCH #3
WARRIORS BORN d. PAYBACK TIME via pinfall when Tharks pins Overtime with a sit down powerbomb – **** – A great back and forth. WARRIORS BORN look to be gelling as a team and get the hard fought win here. The TITANS were sorely upset after this one.
MATCH #4
Zygon d. Panther Warrior via submission with the HEAD TRI-CLAW – **** – ZYGON continues to cut a path of destruction through the GWF picking up a big win here. This should put him squarely into INTERPLANETARY contention.
OMEN is in the center of the ring. He has a mic.
OMEN: Nosfera! I have warned you and warned you that I would get even with you! I have put out a call for the toughest wrestlers in the world to come destroy you and it ends tonight! I have found someone who is willing to take you out to prove a point! So get out here.
NOSFERA wanders ringside. An animal lost, with no one to control him.
OMEN: You stupid beast! Get prepared to be put down by…ULTRAMANTIS BLACK
ULTRAMANTIS BLACK makes his way to ringside. An flashy newcomer who looks fired up and ready to prove his worth to the GWF!
MATCH #5
Nosfera d. UltraMantis Black via pinfall after DEMON’S BREATH – SQUASH – NOSFERA destroys the newcomer in mere minutes. ULTRAMANTIS BLACK gets in zero offense and before he knows it he’s staring up at the lights and the ref is counting three. His loss is so comical, the crowd begins laughing at him! OMEN is jumping up and down, furious and he chases ULTRAMANTIS BLACK from ringside with his torch, vowing to get even with NOSEFERA soon!
MATCH #6
Coven Black d. Endgame via submission with BITE OF THE VAMPIRE – *** – GUARDIAN prevents COVEN BLACK from putting ENDGAME under his spell. BLACK holds a few surprise wins over ENDGAME. ENDGAME seems lost. The BLACK DEATH has him reeling.
– BACKSTAGE –
We see SWARM sitting in the locker room. He’s dressed in his normal ring gear. He holds the ULTRAMANTIS BLACK mask in his hands. MANTIS enters.
MANTIS: You okay dad? Our match is soon.
SWARM: Yeah. I’m good. (He chuckles and holds up the mask.) What the f was I thinking with this stupid UltraMantis Black thing?
MANTIS (laughs): I don’t know. But if I were you, I would tie that stupid get up to a rock and have Plethador drop it into the ocean.
SWARM: Ha! Yeah. (He’s quiet for a second.) Wait a minute. Ocean.
MANTIS: What?
SWARM: In my dream! God, I’m so thick headed sometimes. The dream wasn’t telling me to become UltraMantis Black, it was warning me from doing it.
MANTIS: How?
SWARM: Because in the dream, while dressed in this stupid get up, I jumped a shark. Man, I’m not bright all the time.
MANTIS: It’s okay, luckily, I got mom’s brains.
SWARM stands and balls up the mask and UltraMantis Black jacket and tosses them down the incinerator chute.
SWARM: Let’s go focus our plan for Havoc and Alpha Female.
The two walk off as we cut back to ringside.
MATCH #7
GAMEMASTERS d. FEDERATION DEFENSE FIGHTERS WATCHMEN when Thantos (II) makes HelSin tap to the MASTERLOCK – * – GAMEMASTERS make short work of HELSIN and PSI in this one.
MATCH #8
NO DQ OR COUNTOUT MATCH
End of Days d. Gryt via pinfall after UNLIMITED POWER – *** – The rematch for the ages and END OF DAYS just destroys GRYT. ABROZ is jumping wildly around the ring, happy that GRYT is finally out of their way and they can go onto bigger things. END OF DAYS is about to leave the ring, but pauses, turns back and helps GRYT to his feet. GRYT is shaky, but is able to stand. END OF DAYS pats him on the shoulder and then turns to leave. The ultimate sign of respect to the man who handed him his first loss.
MATCH #9
RECONCILIATION d. BLACK DEATH REVOLUTION via submission when Mantis locked Alpha Female in the PREY SNARE – **1/2 – A fantastic match! SWARM and MANTIS worked like a well oiled machine! Focused, quick tags, blistering double barreled offense! A huge loss for BLACK DEATH! In the ring SWARM and MANTIS hug, celebrating the win.
– BACKSTAGE –
Backstage we see DARK MENACE talking to ABROZ.
DARK MENACE: Listen, I need to leave for a few cards. Head out to the western part of the galaxy to check out a new prospect to add to Black Death. Could you manage a few of my guys starting on the next card?
ABROZ: Yes, I don’t see why not. As long as THE THREE approve.
DARK MENACE: I have their approval. I won’t be long, just a card or two.
ABROZ: Will do.
The two men shake as we head back down to ringside.
MATCH #10
GWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Mistress of Darkness d. Scorn via submission with BITE OF THE VAMPIRE to become the new GWF WOMEN’S CHAMPION – **** – This was a shocker! MISTRESS OF DEATH wrestles the match of her career and comes away with the championship! BLACK DEATH now
MATCH #11
INTERPLANETARY CHAMPIONSHIP
TORTURE CHAMBER MATCH
Aethran Overmaster d. Ghena via knock out when Ghena was rendered unable to continue by the refs at ringside – ***** – We knew it was going to be bloody. It was bloody. GHENA was stretchered out after this one. MEDICS worked on him all the way out.
MAIN EVENT
GALAXIAN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Harbinger d. Bex via knockout when the ref declared Bex unable to continue – ***** – Two KOs in a row. These two tore into each other like crazy and BEX was close to winning several times. HARBINGER was able to outlast him and retain the GALAXIAN CHAMPIONSHIP in his hardest match to date. As the ref counted three, the lights in the arena flickered. At ringside, ABROZ dropped to his knees grabbing his eyes. Black smoke rose from him as he writhed on the floor. SUR raced from the back and slid BEX out of the ring. He began dragging BEX from ringside and yelling at ABROZ to follow. GUARDIAN hopped into the ring and was smiling with HARBINGER as we…
FADE TO BLACK
– EPILOGUE –
On the cruiser from the arena SWARM sits looking through a book on his tablet. Every once in awhile SWARM makes sort of an odd sound with his mouth. PAYBACK looks over at him when he does.
SWARM: ‘deach dall’ ‘deach dall’
PAYBACK: What are you doing?
SWARM: Practicing a new hobby.
PAYBACK: I’m afraid to ask.
SWARM: Good. Cause I’m not ready to show you yet.
– END EPILOGUE –