during my recent relationship( together for 3 months) i was treated really badly i was always get accuse of cheating(M/ 18) ( F/19)everyday even though he had my location , i would always reassure him and would always check my phone everytime we would be together and made me delete my social media. would get mad if a guy i would get gaslighted and manipulated by him. made me cut off friends. i caught him once texting a girl and claimed it was just a “friend” he affected and drained the shit of me. i broke up with him because i couldn’t i still loved him but i knew i deserved better. for a month he would text me everyday and beg for another chance and “make things right” but that’s when i decided to give him a chance because i still loved him and i was really attached to him. he was my first boyfriend and my first everything. he did me so much worse he got back with me , to hurt me again because he claimed i “ hurt him first when i broke up with him” the night before he broke up with me he took me with his family’s house and introduced me to more of his uncles to break up with me through text at 3 in the morning. after he still texting me telling me he regrets breaking up and asked for ANOTHER chance and he won’t leave me alone, saying he can’t without me and can’t move on from me until i found recently out he’s in a relationship with this girl treating her way way better , he never wanted to take pictures with me but with her he did. why??? he let her have social media and post herself but for me he never let me, he had seriously bad trust issues but i never ONCE cheated or talked to guys when i was in a relationship with him, always respected him and our relationship.

I had segments of dreams throughout my morning. In the first, that I could memorize easiest; I was in the living room with my art teacher. She took over my living room, putting 'my so called life' on. The intro to columbia tristar played, so clearly. It felt as if I was actually there. 'Coming soon' Audibly spoke through the air. I don't think it was 'coming soon to vhs' because it seemed more like a dvd that she put in. We were supposed to be getting ready for school. My mom scolded us, annoyed. Outside, we stood out on the front porch; posing for pictures. The victorian porch was all cleaned off, clear of stuff. The floorboards were green. Across the street there were fall leaves, you could see; orange with streaks of green in them. It was fall. We were going to back to school. I woke up from the dream, mentally reminding myself to write it down later.
For now, I'm gonna fall back asleep and see if I dream of anything cooler. The columbia intro/bumper unnerved me when I woke up, among another few things. I was anxious and that could've gave me a nightmare. In the next dream, which I can't remember well. I was in my bedroom, with my man. A few females were there. We were hanging out, probably talking about something. I could remember seeing his face, but not if anything was said; which always happens in my dreams. My brain must get too excited to memorize anything else. Hence, this post is detailed with all the other segments/minor symbolism. It makes everything else more memorable. I sat with him, staring into his eyes and face a lot.
I was at my sister's boyfriend's house, looking across at him, my sister, and my niece. Tvs were on the floor, one was getting put away. 'Nooo' I said. It made me sad. The tv was either late '00s or early 2010s. I don't know which, but it was from when I was last over there. Before I started isolating myself. What tv they were using at the time of my trauma. The tv could've been the same one from the '00s that they continued to use, I can't tell if it was ever replaced. I sat on the edge of the couch, turning to see my man sitting next to me. At one point, I followed him up the stairs. It didn't look like the staircase in my house, or theirs. It was wooden and victorian; it looked like the stairs to my sister's new house with her current husband.
I don't remember what happened after going up the stairs, it probably just led to my bedroom. Downstairs, I was listening to an alt rock playlist. Full of 90s music. The cursor was on the song, 'miss world.' He was beside me on the couch. The song 'celebrity skin' was playing. I laid upside down on the couch.
'When I wake up, in my makeup.'
I fell out of consciousness, unaware that I do so. Spaced out. I knew that I wasn't physically in reality for a second. Through the lucidity, I was able to separate the thought.
After waking back up within the dream, I realized how loud the volume was. It had got up to like 50. My niece was there, occupied with something in front of her. I turned the volume down, scared that it would wake my dad upstairs. Even though it was my man who was upstairs. Whatever music I was listening to before that song, which was something masculine; I chose not to play any more music. I put malcolm in the middle on, leaning against him. It was a episode with a tv show in it, hosted by kelly clarkson and some other lady, in supermarket sweep style. Boxes of disney magic cereal got my attention; pixar movies digital print on the front. Toy story, and something else, that I didn't pay any attention to because there was a monsters inc one. Memories of my mom showing me cgi appearances of mike and sulley on tv went through my head, her trying to tease and scare me. I turned over and saw my dad sitting next to me. I told him that, and he just started laughing. 'She would show me the cgi appearances of mike and sulley and tell me they were real.' Or something along those lines, I said. And 'Try to scare me.'
I went into the kitchen, hearing a song play on the radio. It was called, 'lilith in scorpio.' I recognized it. I heard it once before. Just one other time. I went towards the stairs, waiting for the announcer to say the title of the song. To know who the band was, likely. I went up the stairs, going into my bedroom again. The energy turned frenzy. It felt as if the first segment in here from earlier was more recent/real, as it felt nightmarish some more. I felt as if I had a dream in here before I went up the stairs; maybe the familiarity is from the segment from earlier. I think there was a nightmare that was going on before taking the stairs. The energy was negative as soon as I went into the room. I went straight for my dvd player, feeling how overheated it was. Some other technological device I had was also heated alot. Wonder if I was in two places at once? now that I think about it. I can see his smile in my memories/head, as if I was with him. I looked through the buttons on it, needing to turn it off. I must've left the tv on for hours. Maybe it was still playing when I was at my sister's house as well. I looked down at saw my partner had shape shifted into a cat. Black and white/tuxedo. 'Baby, I need to turn this off.' I murmured, feeling his sentience. I had a red patch of skin over my nipple, it was sore and almost veiny. There was a pimple on one side, or maybe it was actually a welt. I don't know if I got to turn the tv and vhs/dvd player off, there was something playing on the tv. I was about to wake up and I don't remember if I successfully turned it off. I could also feel the vibration coming from the vhs-dvd player when I placed my palm on it. He stood at the end of the room, watching me. I fondled my nipple, pulling on it. It outstretched a little far, pointy. It was pretty, but swollen. It looked like there were cuts/nicks on the other side. I said his name lazily, shortening it. 'I need you to take me to the hospital...' I grew nervous, seeing how bad the injuries looked. I woke up not long after, immediately after asking.
Fearlow, 'more than fiction' was playing through my head as I woke.

Darkness lies within the hearts of those who sought to find the answer to their reminiscing torture; at least that’s what it thought. Chaos was reforming itself to consume the planet and everything within, of what was believed was the second coming of The Singularity.
The core within Copper-9 was collapsing. The air was thickening on the exhaust of the dead machines that lay on the burned soil, rotting. The anomaly has done what no great mind would possibly imagine.
Now, it was ready to finish off what it started, to consume the core and satiate its needless, eternal hunger.
It descended into the ground and made its way into the cathedral. It slowly and menacingly approached the pit of flesh, where hopes and dreams were sent to perish. Terror followed the entity where it went, and it was time for terror to harvest on the souls of those who dared to oppose the ultimate life form.
Approaching, however, came one soul flying out of the pit, carrying a corpse. It was none other than the very machine the anomaly was once affectionate for, who it used to treat as its own brother.
It began to speak.
“You did this to her”, it said with a faintly muttered. “You took away everyone”
It appeared that the “her” was the corpse the machine was holding in his arms.
The entity was becoming restless of this pesky defiance.
“You took away Tessa, the one who I looked up to. You took away V, my closest friend”, it continued. “J was led down a dark path and suffered a harsh price, because of you. And now, the love of my life…”
He grieved.
As tiresome as the entity grew, it could not help but for a slight moment feel regret. It alone was a tragic character, for it was once treated as mere nuts and bolts, seen as something to be disposed of immediately. After the gala incident, she no longer became the sweet, innocent girl that loved to play with dolls, with her older brother. Within her spiraled an everlasting curse that would be passed on generations upon generations.
The demonic intelligence quickly regained control of her, and it began to let out an ear-piercing screech, transforming in her eldritch form. The soul shriveled, and let loose of the corpse he was carrying.
He gasped.
“My Uzi, she suffered greatly because of the abhorred monster within her. Yet at the same time, she was still the same angsty fighter I admired from the moment my eyes laid on her. She reached the greatest of battles with herself.”
It paused.
“Unfortunately, her fiery spirit diminished, and it became too much. I had to put her down. And YOU made me do it, Cyn.”
The entity was not interested in the pest’s monologuing, and finally responded.
“I- did- this- for- you- N”, it uttered robotically. “You- al-ways- did- what- I- asked- of- you. Now, you- will- join- me- and- we- can- be-come- as- one.”
The machine resisted.
“No… it is far too late for that. The old, submissive boy within me died a long time ago.”
He stopped, with its visor blank, staring at the endless void within the pit of flesh.
The entity was somewhat struck, awaiting.
Suddenly, the machine began to let out a terrifying yell.
The walls of the cathedral shook. and the lights flickered repeatedly until they shattered. Within the dark, the machine slowly turns around with bright yellow X across his visor. His mouth was open, full of teeth so sharp it could slice a drone just by looking at it. He stares deep into the anomaly’s tar-colored soul, and extends his long claw towards it, then clenches.
It mutters in a thick voice “I, have come to take my revenge. I have nothing else left for me in this realm, nor do I fear what awaits me after death. I shall take the soul of my creator, she who has formed me into the very monster that has killed innocents.”
In an instant, the machine flies and charges towards the entity. Unbeknownst to him, his moves were already anticipated, and his attack was immediately deflected.
The machine roars, and activates swords within his arms. He takes a dagger at the anomaly; it dodges. This continues for several minutes, until the entity becomes frustrated.
It begins spawning clones of the machine, of which the drone slices each and everyone one of them. However, he immediately discovered it was a trick, as the anomaly lunged at him, bashing him to the ground.
“Try-ing- to- fight- me- is- point-less, for- I- am- the- Solver- of- the- Absolute- fabric”, it utters. “Your- back-ups- will- help- me- con-sume- the- u-ni-verse. Good-bye, N.”
It activates a powerful laser towards the drone, seemingly as if nothing could prevent his fate. Seconds later, light beams flash the windows of the cathedral, while the anomaly chuckles.
As the light dimmed down, the entity was frozen by what it saw.
Below in the center of the pulverized ground was the drone protected by a shining yellow ball of light. The light disappears, and the drone picks himself off the ground.
“I told you that I am not weak. After Uzi passed, she no longer continued as my administrator. Now I have no one to control me, and I can finally reach the zenith of my limitations!”
He begins to transform, laughing maniacally as he drives himself into madness. Robotic limbs start growing out of his back. “The demons… this is what it feels like to have power. Now, your soul is mine.” it says, deeply.
He swings a large fist at Cyn and barely misses. Slightly frightened, she circles herself around the cathedral and blinds the machine. It uses its claws to stab the drone, but it was sliced off almost instantly. The wound healed, and the machine let out a fiery blast to clear himself out of the darkness. Using his grown limbs, it points several lasers at Cyn, and fires.
It quickly dodges all of them, but leaves itself vulnerable to the machine dagging into her visor. She screams, and crazily shakes him off. The entity summons a dark cloud and manifests it into a powerful wind blast, sending it directly at the machine. He chuckles, and parries it with a light beam, evaporating the cloud and knocking Cyn away.
“I can-not- be- de-fea-ted!” she growls, and suddenly sends the two into the thin air.
N wakes up on the surface, staggered. He sees the anomaly, and it sees him. They stare into each other’s souls in the heat of battle.
The eldritch continues.
“I- have- brought- you- here- to- see- some-thing, N”, and slowly reveals a massive glooming null far into the distance.
“The Sin-gu-la-rity, it- is- in-e-vi-ta-ble. You- and- your- me-mo-ries, es-pe-cial-ly- with- that- pur-ple- haired- weak-ling, shall- crumble- the- same- way- this- pla-net- shall- crumble. In- the- end, the- Sol-ver- reigns- all.”
It laughs monstrously.
“The only thing I am afraid of is not avenging the loss of my loved ones” the drone responds, and lunges towards the anomaly.
The ground beneath him begins to shake, and the skies dry out of their bright colors. The null was consuming everything in its path.
While fighting off the ungodly eldritch, N ponders. He reflects on his days as a worker drone in the mansion, remembering simple times. He would have never imagined his life to come to dread, but now he must make the most of it to take revenge, as the only way to soothe his vehement soul.
Time passes slowly, yet blinking an eye can lose you the entire story.
At this point, the two kept fighting for what truly felt like an eternity. Bullets fired, lasers beamed, claws swinging. The null continued to consume the planet.
Life was disappearing before their very eyes.
Yet, the power of the Solver within left their spirits hungry for destruction.
The battle came down to the last straw.
“Give- up!” yelled the anomaly. It summons a formidable thunder storm over their heads, destroying the lands at random and attempting to strike N down. The machine was too quick, adrenaline in his oil.
The entity momentarily distracts itself with trying to manifest the storm and send down one final blast to finish the fight. The drone uses it as an opportunity to let loose a ballistic missile. As the entity releases the lightning from her fingertips, the missile swerves towards her direction and collides with the lightning.
An explosion so massive was created, it stuns the eldritch.
Falling to the ground, the machine slashes up the anomaly’s worm-like body into pieces, leaving just the torso. He lands, grabbing the entity into his arms.
After the fight died down, he quickly became calm for a moment. Despite the null unraveling towards him, he decides to confront the entity in a balanced manner, knowing that this would be the last he sees of her. Right before he pierces his claw into her, the entity stammers, coughing out some oil.
“Con-con-gra-tu-tu-la-tions, N. It- app-app-ears- that- the-the- uni-verse- will- be-be- safe- af-ter- all-all.”
The explosion was so devastating it temporarily disabled the Absolute Solver intelligence within her.
“I don’t care so much about the universe as much as I wanted to kill the monster who ruined my life, Cyn. I’m sorry that the Solver took away from me the one who I once saw as my younger sister.”
He tears up.
“Not-not- to- wor-ry, N-N. It- seems- that-that- I- have- left-left- a- strong- pos-ses-ses-sor of- the- Sol-sol-ver left- to- rule- the-the- uni-verse, if- that- is- what- you-you- wish. You- can-can- do- any-thing- you-you- want.
It begins to trail off.
"Thank- you-you… for- being- my-my bro-ther.”
As the null is seconds away from swallowing them whole, N dags his claw into Cyn’s chest, and rips out her heart. He pauses, closes his eyes, clenches his teeth, and crushes it.
…
The null implodes within itself, and everything stops, all at once. What lies on the burned ground is N, on his knees, weeping, holding the corpse of his dead sister.
He stops.
The damage cannot be undone, but no further destruction can be spread. Copper-9 is devastated, but the core is still intact, despite it being highly unstable.
The universe is at peace, for now.
The dead cannot come back to life, but N is satisfied with putting an end to his misery. He is now finally…
At rest.

My BF and I started dating when I was 18 turning 19 and he was 21. He was a college junior and I was a freshman. At the time he lived with a few roommates, that I never really knew. We have been together for 7 years now.
Now one of the roommates is getting married. His girlfriend asked me to be in the bridal party. I accepted and have been trying to get to know her better for my bf. On the bachelorette she told me that her and the guys in the house used to make fun of me calling me jail bate. She said after a year they knew they had to “try to start taking me seriously.” I played it off but my feelings were super hurt.
My boyfriend said he didn’t know that they were saying this and that he wants to give them a chance to apologize and then cut ties. I just want to get through the wedding bc I already made the commitment and it’s 4 weeks away.
I’m not sure if I’m overacting but I feel like this term is super misogynistic and something a pedo would say. I’m not hurt that they though badly of me, but more shocked that this is the character of people my bf has been friends with for years. I don’t know whether this saying is not as bad as I think it is, but I always think of some creepy old man saying this about some teenagers he is attracted to.
Should I continue to be around people who talk about women like this? Or should I listen to my bf and cut them off?

I’ve never, in my life, shipped three people being together romantically until I saw this movie.
It’s like Art and Patrick had feelings for each other. Tashi and Patrick had feelings for each other. Art and Tashi had feelings for each other.
The ending felt so unfinished because there wasn’t one particular man I wanted Tashi to end up with. I truly thought they should’ve all ended up together.
The relationship between Art and Tashi felt incomplete when they were together. The relationship between Tashi and Patrick felt incomplete when they were together. The idea of Patrick and Art being together felt incomplete.
I’ve never thought about throuples before. I’ve never seen them set up in anyway where it made sense to someone who has never been in a three person relationship but I wish they would’ve dug deeper into the throuple idea. It felt like the perfect set up.
Patrick lacked money and support on his tennis career - Tashi and Art had money and Tashi provided support on Arts tennis career.
Tashi and Art were missing something out of their relationship, Tashi immediately sets Art up to play against Patrick.
Spoiler:
I’m pretty sure there was even a part where Patrick was on Tinder and it showed that he had both males and females on his feed. I’m not sure if anyone caught that.
I feel like a happy ending for all characters would’ve been a three way relationship where she was training both.
All other endings feel so incomplete and empty.

• The idea that Art and Patrick restored their friendship dropping Tashi feels incomplete.
  
• The idea that Art and Patrick run off together as lovers feels incomplete because of the individual chemistry they both have with Tashi.
  
• Tashi being in a relationship with Art alone felt incomplete. They were literally on the verge of breaking up their marriage.
  
• The idea that Tashi and Art stay married and stay friends with Patrick feels incomplete because of the chemistry Patrick has with both Tashi and Art.
  
• When Tashi dated Patrick alone, it felt incomplete.
  

A throuple was the only way. Especially the part in the beginning where they were all kissing each other at the same time back in the hotel after Tashi’s party.
I always try to picture alternative endings and it just felt like Tashi would be cheating on Art with Patrick over and over. Plus Arts acceptance of her cheating with Patrick.

I’m 21. My sister and her boyfriend are both 24. They went to the same schools growing up and were friends. Last year, he finally escaped the friend zone and got with my model sister. During that time, her boyfriend and I got to become close friends. We would hang out just by ourselves when my sister was away for modeling or when she did not want to play sports or video games. Two months ago, they broke up and cut off all contact.
Even though I don’t see her ex as much nowadays, when I hit him up, he would still accept. I don’t talk about my sister with him and he wouldn’t ask about her. It’s just like we’re normal friends. I went fishing with him and a few of our friends yesterday and my sister saw me tagged in a few photos with her ex in them.
My sister called me and was infuriated that I still hang out with him. She said she doesn’t want to see any trace of him anymore. I told her she was being unfair and that he’s my friend now and our friendship has nothing to do with her. She told me to consider her feelings too and hung up. AITA for hanging out with my sister’s ex-boyfriend?

Welcome to The Oblivion Cycle universe, a vast setting spanning all of time and space and so much more. While many stories may shed perspective on this grand cosmic vista, there are also tales of adventure and sacrifice, romance and terror, grimdark corruption and scientific progress. To become immersed in the setting is to let the chaos of creativity flow through you, to let go of what is probable to discover what’s possible. I have created TOC for one reason, to inspire and entertain any who will listen. So please feel free to join me on this great adventure as I push the boundaries of what is possible and expand the limits of our creativity together. For more information on the setting and its lore there is a subreddit for TOC at TheOblivionCycle and a Discord server dedicated to it here [https://discord.gg/uGsYHfdjYf] called ‘The Oblivion Cycle Community Server’. I hope you find the following story entertaining and once more, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
+ E1:P1 + E3:P1 + Previous + Next +
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Continued From E3:P3
Balinski took a few steps down the hall towards the distant exit but stopped as he realised Daryon wasn’t following. He looked at her and the police woman seemed to shrink slightly. “What? What is it? We need to get moving, Daryon.”
He waited another second as she put her weapon away and compiled. She seemed strangely subdued now all of the sudden, as if she were embarrassed to be around him. They walked down the hall, thuds coming from behind them as the barred doors did their job. He reached out towards her but she flinched away slightly. “Okay, what is going on? What’s the issue?”
She walked a few more meters in silence and then spoke softly, “I jusst.. I didn't want you to have to ssee anything like that. Who I usssed to be.”
Balinski shook his head, he didn't care who she used to be in her past. He cared about who she was now. And who she was, was a friend. “Daryon, I don't give a znot’s ass about that asshole or what he said. You are my friend, and I promised that I would watch your back.” he had made the promise in order to calm her down, he didn't mention that he hadn't actually expected to have to cash in on it so soon.
She made a gesture of dejected misery, “I know you did. But you didn’t know who I used to be. What I did.. to ssurvive.” She looked at him and her tone became pleading. “Please don’t think less of me becausse I used to.. do things.”
Balinski shook his head. “Why would I think any less of you, Daryon?” She seemed to look at him in mild confusion, her faceplates cracking open to reveal the pink flesh of her lipless mouth. “I mean it. I have known you for a few months now, but we have been working together on this case for Siyel together for a few weeks now. I feel like we can trust each other with our secrets..” he trailed off, he was about to take a big step in trusting her.
He started hesitantly, now the large insectoid woman’s turn to hear something he didn’t like others to know. “Daryon..” he hesitated again and then took a deep breath. “I am not the hero that people make me out to be. I am simply the one that survived. And not even by being brave.” She looked at him, her head cocking slightly as he spoke. “I was placed on perimeter watch, I never even entered the complex before the destruction. Ima fraud, I never even fired a single shot at the rebels that day.” he stopped talking and slumped slightly himself.
It felt strangely liberating to get it off his chest, even if it was not the whole truth of what had happened in actuality. No, the whole truth was far too dangerous to share. “So now you know. I’m not the war hero who took out the enemies of the Union single handedly. I'm just the scared little boy that the commander of my unit did not trust enough to take into battle. And I have to live with that, the images still haunt me. My comrades shattered bodies, the blood.. The fire..”
He felt a wave of pain crashed through his mind, the memories once more causing the psychic anguish to overwhelm him. He raised his hands to his head and groaned quietly, he felt himself backslide towards that dark personal oblivion that was the pit of his past trauma. He stopped, or rather something stopped him.
He looked up as a voice brought him back to the present, “..can’t help you if I don’t know what’ss wrong, Balinski.”
He shook his head and stood. “I.. sorry. I have an.. a condition.” He finished lamely.
Daryon seemed to look him over without moving. Her bright blue compound eyes were able to see so much without her having to turn her head. She reached out and gave his shoulder a pat. “I get it. I think I do at leasst.”
He had a thousand things he could have said in response ranging from cruel to straight up flirtatious. But he never got to explore any of the options as just then a mighty crash echoed through the hall. This was soon followed up by the sound of distant screams and angry yelling.
He looked at Daryon briefly and then began running down the hall again. They skidded around the corner into the final stretch and up the slight incline towards the exit. Next to the door stood Dunmec and a slightly battered looking Terri, the yeown woman looked to be bleeding from several cuts across her forearms. They looked like they had been made by some manner of sharp objects.
Despite her oozing injuries the woman was beaming, her long pointed ears and wide predatory grin as gleeful as he had ever seen one of the big werewolf-like aliens. As they made their mad dash up towards the exit he also noticed that the tall umraghj was bandaging her wounds, the soft buzz of their synthetic voice echoing through the enclosed space.
“..andeged like this tightly or you may get infected. I don’t know why you had to go and do something like that Terri.” Balinski was able to pick up on the tail end of their muted conversation. “What’s that? Hey, it’s you two! You won’t believe what happened..”
Balinski skidded to a halt, breathing hard. Daryon was only centimeters behind. He saw Terri bristle, her mantle hair standing on end as she stood and whirled to face them. In her haste she scattered the small first aid kit that Dunmec had been using.
As she looked back and forth between them a gleam of recognition flashed in her eyes and she glanced at the umraghj who was busy trying to pick up the scattered debris of her suspicion. “This is the ones?” She seemed at once curious and skeptical.
He gave her a nod and a synthetic grunt as he stood with some difficulty despite the exosuit he wore. The gravity of the planet was nearly a perfect standard G, but the umraghj had evolved on a planet with much lower gravity and thusly had trouble standing unaided under standard gravity.
Balinski nodded to her as he reached them and then gestured towards the door. “We need to get out of here, like right now.”
“Too late, look out!” Daryon yelled as she dodged into the small alcove to the side of the chamber. Balinski twitched as he meant to follow, but in that second of hesitation he realised that Dunmec was entirely out in the open, and the approaching henchmen had drawn their guns.
The fool had gone for the exit, in a second he would likely be riddled with bullets and dead. Balinski stepped towards the man just as the thugs opened fire at him with an AP-6 submachine gun. He threw up an arm to shield his face as he felt a series of impacts against his chest and legs. He grunted in pain as he was thrown backwards by the force of the absorbed impacts. He swore internally as he slammed into the door right next to the cowering Dunmec, that was going to hurt like a bitch in the morning.
Dunmec lowed in fear, the electronic tone of the sound magnified by the distortion of his suit. Balinski coughed as he reached up and grabbed the man right as another flurry of shots flew their way. The umraghj jerked in either fear or pain as Balinski used his body to shield the man while simultaneously dragging him towards cover. He tried to send a mental alert to Caesar for backup but didn’t feel the transmission go. He couldn't be sure that the message had been sent, much less been received.
It looked like they were on their own. A bullet nicked his neck, causing him to jerk. With a last herculean effort he hauled the tall alien into the cover of the alcove while the other three tried to shelter in place. “Daryon, waste these fucks.” he shouted to her, unholstering his ThunderEagle and tossing it to her.
She grabbed it out of the air deftly and gave a grim looking nod, her antennae pressed down her back as she leaned out from cover and fired a shot off. He didn’t see if she hit anything as he was preoccupied with the whimpering Dunmec.
Terri was hovering nearby, her bloody wounds forgotten as the unfinished bandages hung from her arms. “Oh no! Oh-oh no.” the woman muttered as Balinski looked the suited man over. He had a small puncture in the shoulder of his suit, a thick green liquid seeped from the wound. The man’s chlorine based blood stained the fabric of the suit as Balinski checked him for patches.
He pointed to Terri, the woman still looking a little freaked out. “Hey, you.” Her chatoyant blue eyes snapped to his face. “First aid kit, now. I can help him if you help me!” He told her loudly as Daryon fired another two shots.
“Two down!” The vinarfel shouted. “I never sshould have let myssself get dragged in here.” He heard her mutter, as if anything he said or did would have stopped her from entering the building. She opened the revolver’s chamber and asked, “You got reloads?”
Balinski nodded and handed her a handful of bullets, AP, HE and others. He hadn’t looked, he had just grabbed some from his pockets as he lay on the ground wheezing slightly through the pain in his chest. Tarri had grabbed the first aid kit that Dunmec had been rummaging around in and he flung open the lid to see what he was working with. His own medkit he wore on his waist would come in handy if he couldn't find what he needed.
He looked through it as more gunfire erupted from down the hall, it sounded as if the gunmen in the hall had been reinforced. Balinski ignored it, instead focusing on the injured alien. Dunmec was breathing heavy, his eyes just visible through the HUD visor he wore. Balinski placed a hand on the man’s injured shoulder causing him to moan in pain.
“Hey, stay with me kid. This might hurt a bit, but I need to seal the wound. It looks like the bullet is still inside, I am going to have to get it out.” He watched as the man nodded, his breathing taking in a more fearful pitch.
Terri hovered by his side, dancing from foot to foot as she mumbled in some manner of near incoherent babble. He gave her a look, pausing in his work. “Terri, I need space. Most importantly I need you to watch my partner’s back. Here, take this.” He undid his ammo belt, handing it to her he gave her a small smile, “I got this. Don’t worry. I'm a professional.”
The yeown rushed off to help Daryon, now alone with the injured man he reached for the kit and located a small vitatector. He switched the portable MRI detector on and scanned over the wound. The small device beeped and showed an interior scan of the man’s injury. The bullet had been slowed by his suit, it looked like and embedded itself in the bone just next to his shoulder joint. It would be a difficult fix, but he had done this before on the battlefield on several occasions when a designated medic wasn’t available.
Balinski grabbed a small pair of packaged forceps from his own medical pouch. They had been stored in antiseptic fluid that he used to sterilise the wound as he ripped the package open. Dunmec once more cried out in pain as the liquid seeped into the open wound but Balinski sat him up against the wall and held him still with his free hand.
He looked at the man and asked him, “This is going to hurt. I don’t have any anesthetic that will work on you, I recommend that you hold onto my arm and squeeze as hard as you feel the need to.”
The umraghj nodded, their long double jointed arms reached out and his suited hands gripped his free arm. Balinski breathed deep and then pushed the tool into the wound to where the vitatector had told him to. It took a few seconds to find the bullet, in that time the man’s hands tightened down hard enough on his arm to make the allow creak concerningly. He felt the tool slip of the bullet and he swore.
“Luck damned thing! Come one!” He fished for it again and succeeded in getting a grip on it the second time. He had to work it back and forth a few times to loosen the projectile from its death grip. As soon as the projectile was free he dropped the forceps to grab some sterile gauze, he needed to stop the bleeding and didn't have a QTube handy. He needed to requisition more from the precinct when he got the chance.
He checked the man’s waist pouches quickly and found a patch kit. He squirted some basic medical foam into the wound, it would swell and keep pressure on the wound internally. It didn’t have the healing properties of a QTube, but it would keep the man from bleeding out. Balinski used a sterile bandage to clean the suit as best he could before applying the patch to it. Oxygen wasn’t harmful to the man, but it might not be good if the pressurised chlorinated atmosphere from inside the suit got out.
He reached for the first aid kit and closed it before patting the man on his shoulder. He was still lucid, impressive as most non-combat oriented species of the Union would quickly succumb to shocksleep when injured. Dunmec must be tougher than his lanky frame looked at a glance.
Daryon shouted as he stood. “Alright, they just got rushed by club staff it looks like. They are laying down their arms!” She scuttled back into the cover of the alcove as shouting replaced the sound of gunfire in the distance. She handed him his .50 calibre revolver and he replaced it into his shoulder holster as Terri rushed to Dunmec’s side.
She spoke quickly, “Oh.. oh Dunmec.. I’m so sorry. Are you alright? You got shot!” She added, a bit obviously.
The downed alien just coughed lightly and shook his helmeted head while reaching up towards the muscular alien woman. “I feel bad. But not as bad as I did before I met you.” He said the lines in an almost practised way, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity to use them for a while.
Balinski snorted slightly under his breath at the cheesy line causing Daryon to punch him in the shoulder. He gave her a glance as Terri lifted the nearly three meter tall man to his feet. He leaned heavily on her much shorter frame, but she didn't seem to mind. Her powerful muscles easily compensated for the additional strain as she replied to him, “Well, that was before. Now you don’t have to feel bad or scared. I will protect you now. I won't let anyone else hurt you, I promise.” Dunmec just chuckled and then groaned in discomfort.
Balinski stood straight as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, his hand flashed inside of his trench coat. His fingers finding the handgrip of his gun as a quartet of heavily armed people rounded the corner with MR-12s raised.
Daryon automatically raised her hands and after a moment he did as well, relinquishing his grip on the gun reluctantly. A tattooed nerivith female stepped forwards, her face taken up on one side by a flowing vine-like pattern that disappeared into the collar of her suit. She wore a bullet resistant vest over the top of it, very much business-combat attire.
She nodded her horned head to them and shouted loudly, “You two, get on the ground! No funny business or you will find out just how much I care about problem brewers in my establishment.” She stopped as Terri rushed forwards.
The yeown woman’s arms were still wrapped up in the bandages from earlier and spots of bright red blood dripped slowly from at least one of the deep cuts. “Stop! These two saved us, literally. The human took some bullets to save Dunmec, he got shot by those packbreakers.” She spat the last word with considerable venom. Her disdain for the submachine gun wielding men was obvious.
The nerivith woman looked from Terri to Dunmec a few times before stepping closer to Balinski with a suspicious look. “Hands all the way up, move and I’ll give you another orifice to breathe through.” She stepped close and opened his coat, her hand feeling his ballistic vest that had stopped the first burst of automatic fire. She nodded and then stepped back before lowering her gun.
“Don't touch that hand cannon in your shoulder holster, but I think I trust you. Who are you two and what the smeg are you doing antagonising these jerkoffs?” The pink skinned alien demanded as she looked between him and Daryon.
Balinski gave Daryon a glance and she nodded before raising one of her middle arms. “I can ansswer that for you.” She pulled out a physical badge from her back pocket and handed it to the woman.
The club workers' tufted tail flicked as she took it and Balinski watched as her raven colored eyebrows rose. “CPD? What the hel are you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Daryon spoke again, the nerivith woman frowning as she laid out the tale in as accurate a fashion as she could without compromising their true agenda. “Well, we were following a lead to a persson of interessst when we were accossted by these men for ssome unfathomable reason. We tried to run and when that didn’t work we defended ourselves to the full legal extent of the law. You may notice that I didn't shoot to kill, at least not on purposse.” She added with a slightly guilty hiss.
Terri let out a small noise as she said it. The woman likely still in some manner of mild shock, despite her species violent natures, death was not always so easy to grasp. The gun-wielding woman turned to the few other club workers that had come with her and commanded, “Tell the boss what happened, call the police. I want this wrapped up as soon as possible. I’m not taking the fall for this one.” She turned back to Balinski and punched him in the chest, not hard enough to be aggressive but still with considerable force. “I think I like you, big man. You got some horns on you, I guess I don't have to ask you to wait for the police to arrive to give a statement do I?”
Balinski chuckled and glanced towards Terri and Dunmec. “No, you don't have to worry. I will be submitting a full report of the events..” He wasn't able to finish as a loud thud echoed from the main door followed by a series of loud percussive noises. Everyone immediately went on high alert but Balinski raised a hand. “No, it's okay, that’s my backup. Fashionably late as usual. Here, let me get the door so she knows it alright.” He looked towards Terri who nodded.
The nerivith woman’s gun was still raised but she nodded too. “Be my guest.” She gestured for him to go ahead. He walked to the door and unlatched it before swinging it open slightly. Before he could say anything, Caesar burst through it as she pushed it out of his grip. He grunted in mild discomfort as she slammed into his legs and landed in a stunned heap.
Chuckling as the embarrassed looking dog stood to her feet, he watched as she shook her triangular head. “You big oaf. Everything is fine now girl, thanks for coming though.” he reached down and gave her head a scrub that made her grumble in annoyance like a put upon teenager.
Daryon scuttled over on her short, pointed legs and Caesar perked up a little. “Oh you brave warrior, you would have ssaved usss for ssure if Balinsski had just taken you with uss.” She gave him a look, her faceplates cracked in her version of a grin. He could only shake his head as the nerivith woman walked up to him once more.
“Alright, I need to get this mess cleaned up. I beg your pardon if I ask you not to come back here on official business again?” He nodded.
He pointed to the door. “It wasn’t my plan to cause such a disruption when I came in here.”
She shook her raven haired head. “It’s all over now. No sense worrying about what did and didn't happen. It just so happens that we have had trouble with these individuals before. So as far as I see it you did us a favour because we now have cause to bar them from ever coming back.” She nodded again as she said it, her smile flashing at him. As she did he noticed that she had several gold teeth.
She turned and stalked away, her tail lashing behind her. Balinski rubbed his chest and then glanced down at Caesar. “Yeah, you did good in coming. If we hadn’t been able to make it out your backup would have been the thing we needed.” She just gave him a little bark and then headbutted his thigh affectionately.
Daryon was talking to Terri and the still slouching Dunmec. Balinski got the feeling he didn’t need the support as much as he was simply enjoying being physically close to the brawny furred alien.
Balinski decided to walk over to them to hear what they were whispering about. He picked up on the conversation as he neared. Terri was speaking, “Yes. She likely will keep trying to force her ideas on me, but I already beat her once and she won't ever be able to forget that. It is an exploitable weakness if we should ever lock claws again. Thank you for your concern.”
The woman looked over at him as he approached, her eyes settling on Caesar. “Oh, what’s that?” She exclaimed.
Caesar tossed her little head and gave him a look as if to say, ‘What? Another one?’ He chuckled and gave her a pat on the head. “This is my erstwhile companion and oldest living friend, Caesar. She is a cybernetically enhanced dog, a Jureillion husky to be precise. She’s got cognitive implants, you can talk to her if you want.” He prompted.
The yeown woman gave him a look that seemed as if she was unsure of herself. Finally she reached out and spoke softly, “Wow, look at you. You kind of look a little like my grandmother, it's uncanny.” Caesar snorted at the comment and then walked over for free head scritches, grumbling contentedly as she received them. “Ok she is so.. I mean, you are so soft. I love her.”
Caesar seemed to be enjoying the attention. Dunmec spoke now, the suited alien’s robotic sounding voice wheezing out from his helmet’s speakers. “I just wanted to thank you again for saving my life, man. Here, take this.” the man handed him something, it was a datachip card. An old style one too. “If you ever want to get a hold of me..” he glanced at Terri and she nodded, “..or Terri. Just call me with the number on that card.”
Balinski had to nod as he heard the faint sound of sirens coming from the still open door. “I will do that. You two take care of each other.”
Terry gave a wide grin, her teeth clinting in the light. “Oh, we will.” Daryon gave her a pat on the back as she followed Balinski out the door. Caesar hot on her tail.
He took a few steps out into the night and then patted his pockets. He grunted in mild delight as he found what he was looking for. It was a small shiny package of pibbles, the small candies one of his favorites. He poured a few out into his open mouth and jerked as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced over, it was Daryon.
“Pibble?” he asked her with his mouth full. She seemed to smile slightly and offered a hand into which he poured a few of the colorful candies.
He chewed vigorously on the fruity sugar orbs as he contemplated the massive shitstorm they had just managed to walk out of. Daryon must have been thinking the same thing as she gave a loud sigh, “Wow.. that was. Well, it wassn't good.”
He just nodded silently. They stayed that way for another few seconds before he turned to her. “What did we actually get out of that old skorp? Anything that we can use to track down the one’s behind the attack?”
Daryon walked a few paces away and then returned quickly, the side-to-side scuttling motion of her pacing threw him off a little. “I really don’t know. The trail hasss gone cold, without another major lead I am fearful that we will losse them. That ssimply isn't acceptable to me.” He nodded, she was right.
He would have liked to respond but it was about that time that a series of screeching vehicles covered in flashing lights skidded into view at the end of the alley. He sighed and fished around in his trench coat for his credentials. “Here we go..” He muttered to which Daryon gave an amused hiss.
A series of officers rushed down the alley with guns drawn, shouts directed their way. It took only a few minutes of back and forth with them to convince them that they were in fact officers, or in Balinski’s case, employed by the CPD.
When it was over he gave a statement and almost a whole hour after they had walked down the alley he found himself leaving it. A bit the worse for wear but secure in the knowledge that they had at least put down a dangerous criminal for their trouble.
Daryon scuttled along beside him, “Gee, I ssure hope the club doesn't get into any ssort of trouble for thisss.”
The comment caught him off guard and he chuckled. “Yeah, they seemed like downright decent folk for running a burlesque underground club.” She gave him a pointed look, her antennae shooting up as she looked like she was about to rebuke him. He raised his arms in mock surrender before she could though, “Oh hey, not saying I didn’t like the place. Just that they likely were not excited to see the boys in blue.”
It was a fair point and she conceded. “Yeah, I ssuppose. But I think we sstill got out of there with a halfway decent lead.”
Now it was his turn to look shocked as they crossed the street, weaving between emergency vehicles to get to the opposite side of the gloomy street. The flashing of emergency lights was behind her and it made her eyes glitter like gemstones, he frowned. “What do you mean? That crusty old skorp didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already suspect.”
She raised an arm and pointed to the wall. He looked and noticed the graffiti for the first time. The one in particular she was gesturing to was a gang affiliated symbol for the Sunstarters. “I can ssay with sssome measure of certainty that we might be able to look around for ssome additional cluesss.”
The Sunstarters were known distributors for the Psychosis Division. It stood to reason that if the Pit Vipers had gotten involved with the Psychs then they were likely also involved with the Sunstarters. Balinski clapped his hands together and smiled, they might just have a lead indeed. What had the old skorp said? To follow the source?
They walked into the large parking garage and to his big blue truck, as they climbed back inside he leaned his head back. “That was a bit of a fuckfest. Are you hungry, I’m hungry.” Indeed almost as he said it he felt a small grumble from his middle.
Daryon made an affirmative gesture, her antennae moving excitedly. “Oh yess, where do you want to go for lunch? Ullnek’ss Hut maybe? McDoinkss?”
He folded his arms. He wasn’t really in the mood for greasy burgers or razah’voolian seafood. No, he would have to think about it. “Why don’t we just drive around till we find something interesting? We need to keep an eye out for any good leads too.”
He started the truck as the large insectoid woman gave Caesar a head pat while nodding. “Okay. But if you see a TFDs then we are sstopping immediately, isss that fair?”
Balinski shrugged. He liked fried drebble as much as anything else. Caesar however seemed very excited by the idea of crispy breaded arthropod as she woofed happily. He shook his head and looked back out the window. He would have to keep his eyes peeled for one of the yellow and black spotted stores.
**********
Balinski smacked his lips happily as he took another great bite out of the steaming fried drebbleloaf sandwich. The snallke was fresh and the pickles were crispy, just the way he liked them. Glancing over at the other two revealed similar scenes of personal enjoyment. Caesar was snacking on some popcorn drebble and Daryon was cleaning out a six-piece bucket of BBQ drebble graspers. Her long radula snaked from her lipless mouth between her opened faceplates as he watched, mildly intrigued to watch the alien woman eat.
He took another bite of his sandwich as Daryon sucked the meat off another fried and breaded grasper. Lacking a jaw she was unable to chew but her radula and powerful cheek muscles made up for her lack as she deftly disassembled the meat with the skill of a surgeon.
She waved the de-meated shell and gave a small hissing sigh as another of her ten arms reached out for the Smarkus grape soda sitting in the dash drink-holder. “Ahhh… Yeah, that'ss the sstuff. How’sss your ssandwich?” She looked at him without moving her head, her compound eyes making her constantly aware of her surroundings in a manner that some might describe as unsettling.
He got the feeling she was watching him eat too, his mastication of the sandwich as inherently alien to him as her own strange method of ingestion was to him. As he took another bite her curiosity seemed to get the better of her. He saw her head cock a little as she asked, “Sso, can you feel with your teeth? I know that you can’t tasste with them. I read that much on the hyperweb at leassst.”
He finished chewing and swallowed before giving her a wide smile. She froze, her fascination with his teeth obvious. “Yeah, kind of. I was lucky that I didn't lose them. It's not uncommon for people who go through.. what I did, to have their teeth shatter. And when they go they don’t come back.”
She nodded slightly as she took a loud slurp of her soda. “Yeah, I read that humanss only get a sssingle sset of adult teeth in their life. No wonder they are so hard, you have to keep using them for a hundred yearss.”
He looked out the window, they were driving slowly around the entertainment district looking for anything that might point them in the right direction. He wasn’t really too sure what he was looking for to be honest, but Daryon insisted that she knew what to look for. He nodded towards a distant structure, it rose so high it went out of sight. “What’s that there?”
Daryon made a loud noise as she cleared her throat. “That’ss one of the upper-city sspires. It connectss the people up there to the ones down here, think of it as a vertical metro..” She trailed off before pointing to something in the near distance. Her BBQ bucket forgotten. “Hey.. hey right there.. Sstop. Pull over.” She tapped him on the shoulder with one of her lower arms rapidly and he obliged.
He looked forwards and saw nothing out of the ordinary, a few people walking along the edge of the street. There was a tall human woman leaning against one of the street signs at the corner, she was dressed in some tight fitting dress and high heels but other than that looked as normal as the rest of them.
Daryon put her yellow and black spotted grasper bucket on the dash and cleaned her hands at the same time she undid her seatbelt and straightened her clothing. She stopped fussing after a moment and then pulled a soft cloth out of one of the inner pockets of her overcoat and used it to polish her eyes. She replaced it and then held out her arms, “Well, how do I look?”
Balinski took the opportunity to give her a completely unabashed once over. He shrugged, “You look like you. What can I say?”
She seemed to smirk. “Alright, good enough. You know you have a way with words Balinski, any girl would just swoon to hear such things.” He frowned but didn't get to reply as she continued, “I’ll be right back. Sstay there and try not to look too harmlesss. This will only take a ssecond.
She slithered out of the truck and he kept his eyes firmly forwards this time as she closed it and sauntered off, well as much as the fifty-two legged alien was able too. He noticed that she had once more adopted that somewhat provocative side to side sway in her stride as she walked away from him. He just shook his head, she was doing it again.
Continued In E3:P5
==End of transmission==

Memory transcription subject: Zeel, Security Chief of the Red Sands District.
Date [Standardized human time]: June 3 2138
“This can’t be real right?” I hear from over my shoulder. “I mean, it’s got to be, what’s that phrase, click-bait?” I turn around to the young gojid intern watching the holo-screen over my shoulder. I flick my tail with a firm yes. “It has to be, other wise we need to start a murder investigation.” I blink, briefly reflecting that just a year ago I would have said predator attack without one thought that a fellow sapient could be responsible for a back alley stabbing. “B-but that blurred orange blob on the picture!” She replies, spins bristling. “Also fake.” I reassure my assistant. “Don’t worry Bavik. I watched their other videos. It’s just eye catching headlines and dumb kids looking for fame.” I sigh and turn back to the holo-screen watching the counter tick down. “I-I-I guess.” She replies, no less pointy than before. “I mean, a human actually e-e-ea… ingesting a sapient. That’s crazy right?” I can’t help but scoff, the only reason we had to waist our time on this nonsense ‘investigation’ was because of all the concerned phone calls demanding flame throwers and kicked down doors. Not that anyone even knew where on Skalga they actually where.
“What’s crazy is my pup refusing dinner because it smells funny. It did not!” It was Bavik’s turn to scoff. “And how would you know?” She asks, spines lowering as the mood relaxes. “Cheap! Shot!” I retort, holding back an amused bleat. “Look!” she blurts, pointing a claw at the screen.
[Live stream starting: 3… 2… 1…]

The view window opens on a blue painted wall. Scuffling sounds can be heard as the view wobbles and zooms out to reveal a plain wooden table with a metal dome covering a plate while a napkin, fork, knife and microphone sit off to the side.
“Are we rolling?” “Yeah we’re good. Connects a little slow with the anti-location finder but it’s going through.” “How many viewers?” “Uhhhh, three thousand, five hundred and counting.” “Really!??!! That’s great” “Some of these have got to be exterminators ‘Bonnie’ This isn’t a goo-“ “Oh hush, it’ll be fine. Come on! Sit!”
Coming into view from the left, a human of average height, red hair, and portly build wearing a simple beige hoodie, a baseball cap and aviator style sunglasses across his eyes took a seat behind the table. “Alright, introduce yourself!” The human sighs and gives his head a small shake. “Hi, people of the internet. My name is ‘Clyde’.”
He puts up his hands and makes air quotes while saying his name. Shortly after, a foggy grey furred venlil wearing a decoratively torn pink colored jean-jacket with her mop of head fur styled into a mohawk featuring yellow dyed tips while each ear had several clip-on earrings attached. “And I’m ‘Bonnie’!” she says excitedly, repeating the finger gesture while hopping into frame from the right and tossing an arm around the sitting human. “We’re exchange partners, best friends and partners in crime!” Her tail was swishing rapidly, signing happy, excited, good things and watch close in a blur that made things hard to read.
“Tell our viewers what we’re streaming today!” She bleats, jostling ‘Clyde’ who seemed to be trying not to show a toothy grin at his partners enthusiasm.
“Alright, alright. From the duo that brought you First Ever Venlil Skateboarding.” ‘Bonnie’ holds up her other arm, proudly showing off a wrist cast covered in signatures and doodles. “And Drunk Friend Mystery Tattoo” ‘Clyde’ rolls up his right sleeve, showing off what appeared to be either the side profile of a deformed horse or a very unfortunate dossur. ‘Clyde’ tugs down his sleeve and nervously taps his finger on the table. “What’s in store for our audience today ‘Bonnie’?” The venlil girl nearly bounces with glee and grabs the top of the silver metal dome. “Ven-Steak Dinner!” She yanks off the dome. A puff of hot steam clears away to reveal a slab of freshly seared meat with a sprig of parsley on top. “Ugh why is it purple!?” ‘Clyde’ blurts, jumping at the sight before him. “I don’t know, it cooked up that way. The stuff you eat turns brown.” ‘Bonnie’ says with a shrug while tucking a napkin into ‘Clyde’s’ collar.
“C’mon stick to the script.” She whispers taking a seat of her own. “So, ‘Clyde’, why are you eating genuine venlil meat today?” “Because you’re crazy?” ‘Bonnie’ giggles, swats him with her tail and continues, answering her own question.
“Because we are going to prove once and for all that humans are not ravenous beasts and can control their instincts around us poor meek venlil.” ‘Clyde’ rolls his eyes under the sunglasses.
“And that we don’t even have instincts like that. Really, it’s getting kinda racist.” He looks down at the cooked meal before him, lips curling slightly.
“Now, before anyone runs for the exterminator hotline, well those of you that haven’t fainted or run for cover yet, this is actually-“ “ME!!!” ‘Bonnie’ Jumps into her exchange partners lap, arms spreading to present herself. “Yes, you heard it right! That’s me on that plate. Believe it or not viewers, I borrowed a synthesizer from one of the labs that bought freedom for so many. Took my own cell culture and grew my friend here a lovely meal of grade A, free range, yours truly.” ‘Bonnie’ hops down, tail swishing excitedly and fur ruffled with glee. “So, since this is one hundred percent consensual, technically not illegal and ethically sourced, none of you FED loving traditionalists have any right to freak out!” She wags her finger at the camera, a human gesture she had picked up along with the late 2070’s neo-pop skater fashion sense.
“And much to my regret, I owe this, possibly one legit case of predator disease in the entire galaxy, a huge favor.” ‘Clyde’ chimes in while adjusting the napkin in his shirt, before pausing with a confused look on his half-hidden face. “…wait, I thought the tattoo made us ev-“ “Shh, it’s on.” She interrupts, gesturing at the camera with her tail. “All right good citizens of Skalga, you will now bear witness to history’s first documented expert taste test of ven-meat!” ‘Bonnie’ passes the fork to ‘Clyde’ and sits in her chair, practically vibrating with excitement and bearing a slight bloom across her face.
‘Clyde’ takes the utensils and starts to cut off a piece, his expression going worried and the sawing motion of the knife slowing to a stop half through the cut. “It looks like petrol in puddle.” He says with puzzlement. “What do you mean?” “The juice that’s coming out, it’s all shiny and metallic. What did you cook this in?”
“Nothing! Just the auto chef and some oil like you suggested, didn’t even salt it.” “Yenv- ‘Bonnie’ I don’t think I should eat this.”
“Oh come on, we went through all this effort! Don’t you wanna beat the products for predator channel? They did a fake heart and got over half a million subscribers, the real thing will bury that! Maybe even get us a sponsor!”
‘Clyde’ laughs and nods. “Alright alright.” He finishes cutting through the piece and brings it up to his mouth. The human pauses and sniffs at the shimmering purple seared, orange centered meat, wrinkles his nose and jerks back. “Well, uhm, it has a distinct grease trap aroma, with a hint of, ugh, paint thinner?.” “Is that… good?” She asks, having no context for smells “…No. ‘Bonnie’ I’m not sure this is safe.”
“Oh don’t be such a pup. It’s not like I’m serving you a flying machine.” She replies, playfully jostling her friend.
“That nutjob just wanted attention.” ‘Clyde’ replies defensively. “So do we! Go on, eat me!”
With a grimace, the human puts the piece in his mouth, chews once and immediately groans. “Well? Don’t leave us all in suspense. Are we really the most delicious thing in the galaxy? Are you ravenous for more? Perhaps something fresher? Am I *gasp* in danger?” She says, phoning in a fake fearfulness for the camera. ‘Clyde’, shivers, chews again, and forces himself to swallow. He coughs, pulls a water bottle from under the table to swish and spit into a garbage can beside him. “God, that is the foulest, gamiest thing I ever put in my mouth! UGH!!!” He pushes the plate away and wipes his tongue on the napkin. ‘Bonnie’ leans back in her chair, tail flicking curiosity and the bloom fading. “Really? But.. the arxur keep calling us delicacy.” She glances at the lab grown bit of herself still steaming on the plate. “Arxur don’t know [censored], meat shouldn’t be sour!” He exclaims, hacking a wad of foamy spit into the can again. “Jeeze, you need to lay off the junk food! It’s like you’re pickling yourself.” he scolds, more foamy spittle dribbling down his lips before he can spit again. ‘Bonnie’ whistles and purrs with amusement, offering the sprig of parsley. ‘Clyde’ flicks it away much to her delight. “Well, there you have it viewers, humans don’t even think we taste good. Guess we had nothing to fea-“
‘Clyde’ suddenly gags and claps a hand over his mouth hard. ‘Bonnie’ gasps, her joyful tail wagging coming to a halt as her humans expression turned pale and distraught. “I’m gunna…” ‘Clyde’ suddenly stands, tossing the chair he was sitting in as he bolted out of frame. “PHILLIP?!!” ‘Bonnie’ shouts as she too leaves the room. The camera view suddenly twisting and hurtling towards the floor where it blacks out.

Stream disconnected, standby…
[Memory transcript interrupted, warning, high stress and blood pressure levels detected. Resuming, time elapsed, two hours]
The window suddenly reconnects, showing ‘Clyde’ sitting at the table, cradling the garbage can in his lap, the plate and its contents gone from the room. His face was pasty, sweaty, his sunglasses askew and hat tossed next to the microphone.
“By the great protector!” ‘Bonnie’ bleats from off screen. ‘Clyde’ makes an “Uhh?” in response just before hiccupping and bringing his head over the can. ‘Bonnie’ comes into frame, tail signing reassurances to the camera. ‘Clyde’ relaxes and leans back again, looking rather unhappy. “Well, good news ALL TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND VIEWERS!!! ‘Clyde’ here is totally fine and making a steady recovery.” To which the human gave a shaky thumbs up. “Even better news!” ‘Bonnie’ whistles, tail signaling to fast to read. “Our predator friends CAN’T eat us!” She sidles over to her human and puts a reassuring arm across his slumped shoulders. ‘Clyde’ nods and sits up a little. “So apparently,” he begins after taking a breath, “The chemicals that venlil bodies use to metabolize air and exhale waste gas, the stuff that makes your blood orange like iron makes ours red, is moderately toxic to human biology.” Winded by the explanation, ‘Clyde’ slouches again and sips from the water bottle. “Yeppers! The [no translation available in English] reacts with human stomach acid like vinegar and baking soda, hence the foaming.” There is a brief pause, ‘Bonnie’ glancing at her human and giving a light tail tap to his leg. “Yes, it also causes nausea, vomiting, disorientation, indigestion and a lingering sour taste.” “And yet the arxur have no tummy trouble with any aliens. Why do you think that is ‘Clyde’?” ‘Bonnie’ prompts, her fur puffing excitedly again. “Uhh, if they are anything like monitors and alligators, then the Arxur must have poor taste buds and much tougher stomachs that can probably digest a truck tire. Human in cont ‘hic’ rast have been cooking for almost a million years. It’s far safer bacteria and parasite wise, more efficient for absorbing nutrients and *belch* excuse me.”
“Yes.” ‘Bonnie’ says, taking over the rehearsed lines “And as such they have at an evolutionary level, lost the ability to handle tougher foods like raw meat, bones, roots, bark and anything even slightly expired. So, even against us prey species with our multichambered stomachs and fermenting guts, our hominid friends have comparatively sensitive tummies.” She pats his belly, to which he briefly aims at the can again. ‘Bonnie’ twitches her ears in a concerned way before turning back to the camera.
“So, there you have it Skalgans! We had nothing to fear this whole time. All the running, hiding, mask mandates, exterminator rallies and stressing out was totally pointless. Because…” She drum rolls her paws on the table in dramatic fashion “We’re basically toxic!” “Or there’s something seriously wrong with this one.” ‘Clyde’ chimes in, smiling and giving a slight chuckle at her paw swat retort. “Hey, this means I can get drunk and tattoo you now, right?” “No it does not!” “Course I’ll have to shave you first.” “Ahh, that is not happening!” ‘Bonnie’ blurts, the bloom returning to her face. “Let’s have chat decide. How about it? Follow the link below and donate say… twenty thousand credits to the Thafki rehoming fund and you’ll get to see me ink a naughty word on ‘Bonnie’s’ shaved butt.” ‘Clyde says with a grin, his color starting to come back. Blooming brightly, the venlil growls and whacks the laughing humans arm with her cast and turns toward the camera. “Alright” She says, picking up a remote. “That’s it for the stream, next week we’ll continue our series of vintage Earth TV with… uhh…” “Jackass.” ‘Clyde’ prompts. “Right, we’re going to react to a twentieth century human comedy stunt variety show. It’s all public domain so you can watch live with us. No charge and none of those pesky U.N. restrictions!”
Bonnie and Clyde wave to the audience as the colorful venlil points the remote.
[Stream ended. Have a great paw, friends!]
I put down the holo-pad and rub my bloodshot eyes. What we just watched had my fur puffed, the phones ringing off the hook across several districts and my staff either clamoring to unlock the confiscated exterminator gear, fainted, frozen with dread or chatting rapidly over the outcome of the kids insane experiment. Amazingly, no stampedes where being reported, but the press was still going to have a field day.
After a shaky breath I spin the chair around to face my assistant.
We stare at each other. After a long minute, the bristling gojid quietly says. “Maybe I’m toxic too.” I blink slowly and reply “What’s stunt comedy?” Bavik flicks his ears in ignorance. “We could subscribe and find out?” Turning back to the holo pad, staring at the screen for a moment, I tap the button. Sending the counter up by one. Then throw a few credits at the donation fund. “Crazy kids.” I say with an amused tail flick.

i (21F) and my partner (21M) are in a 1yr and a month relationship. he had a history of micro-cheating during our relationship. due to our rocky relationship phase, he cut off all his toxic traits and friends, and tried to pursue me once again. it had me in so much trauma that as he managed to change and become better, i became the toxic one in the rs. fast forward to the present day, we both matured and learned our lessons not until i observed him changing and becoming harsh and rude around me. one time he threw the drink that i bought for him just because he was pissed. another was when he refused to fetch me for my hospital duty just because i offered him to use our car, i was almost late for my duty and he knew damn well how important hospi duty for student nurses. last time i tried to communicate with him by going to his house, he just left me there standing outside their house because according to him he needed to fetch his sister. and everytime i try to pinpoint my side and my issues abt him, he would usually answer me with ‘u just deserved that kind of treatment’ or ‘you dont belong to my plans if you’ll be this pain in the ass’. i would always try to talk to him by going to his house but during fights, he would always say ‘thats it? thats your efforts youre proud of?’ he was never this kind of man back then because if he was, i would never be in a rs with this kind of man. i have this gut feeling that he was advised by his friends to be this harsh, for him to be the alpha in our rs.
i just wanted to stop being this needy and lose care so it would be less painful this time.

Contact Network History Project.
Joseph Burkes MD 2018
July 23, 2009, 2AM
I had just arrived at my mother’s house in LA after driving from Northern California near the Oregon border. It was usually a grueling 13-hour drive, but this time it took even longer because I made several detours to do contact network-organizing work. On the way down to Southern California I first stopped at a place called “Area 101.”
WE WERE BOTH CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BOOK “PATHS TO CONTACT”
Located in the Mendocino County, just off the highway of the same name, “Area 101” is a small complex of houses with indoor and outdoor meeting facilities. The exit from the road dramatically sports a large colorful billboard painting of a saucer craft hovering in the forest. There I spoke with a number of UFO enthusiasts about the CE-5 Initiative’s program of interacting with the intelligence (presumably ET) responsible for the UFO phenomenon. Paula Schurle helped me with the introductions. She is a dedicated Mendocino County volunteer contact worker whose story like mine appears in Jeff Becker’s anthology, “Paths to Contact.”
ANOTHER “PRIME CONTACTEE?”
From Area 101, I headed south into Sonoma County and met with a young man who described his having positive interactions with what he identified as “ETs” throughout his life. These encounters reportedly involved numerous sightings of UFOs that he claimed had an interactive component to them. After I explained to him a term that I had coined called “Prime Contactee” (reserved for individuals who can request a sighting and actually have one occur that can be witnessed by others) he thought that he definitely was a “Prime.”
RED ORB SILENTLY HOVERING OVER THE ROOF TOPS
After that meeting, I headed south past the Bay area. Fifteen hours from the time I left home, I finally reached the megalopolis called Los Angeles. My Mom’s house was near the city center in a community called Koreatown. I brought my luggage up to the second floor and looked out to the west through a wide screen window. It was 1:45 AM. The lights of the city reflecting off the overcast skies and lit up the neighborhood of densely packed old two story wood frame houses. The silhouettes of palm trees graced the horizon. I gazed out across the homes of sleeping neighbors and immediately noticed a slowly blinking stationary red light about ten degrees above the rooftops.
For over thirty years I had looked through that window on visits to Mom’s house and could not recall ever before seeing such a light in the sky. It was difficult to judge its exact distance, as there were no landmarks behind it, but it seemed to be just a few hundred feet away at most. It was relatively large, about one finger’s breath wide at arm’s full length. In trying to figure out what it was my first thought was of the flashing red lights on a radio antennae array some 3 miles to the west. They however are not visible from my Mom’s house and besides this light that I was looking at was solitary and far too large.
As I had this thought, perhaps even in response to my musings, the light began to slowly move horizontally to the north. It was totally silent as it slowly floated over the rooftops. This was no stationary aircraft beacon sitting on an antenna. Nor could it be a LAPD helicopter. In addition, the object was flying too slowly to be part of any fixed wing aircraft. At this early hour of 2AM, all was quiet in my mom’s residential neighborhood. The red pulsating globe moved behind a tree. I waited for it to emerge into view on the other side. It did not. I waited and scanned the sky and listened intently for the sound of aircraft. None could be heard. The sighting lasted less than 30 seconds.
ANOTHER RED UFO REPORTEDLY SEEN IN SAN JOSE
Was this just another "random sighting?" Or could it have been a consciousness mediated show of support for my networking efforts among the UFO experiencers that I like to call "The Contact Underground?" My guess is that it was indeed a show of support because the next day I got a call from a CE-5 researcher in San Jose. We were working pretty closely at the time. She told me that her sky-watch team had a sighting of a round red UFO at midnight the previous night. My route down US 5 to Southern California had taken me past a spot less than fifty miles from where her team was operating on that very night of July 22-23rd 2009. Her sighting was less than two hours before my mine. Was it the same unknown object that I had seen? Was it merely a coincidence? Perhaps, but I don't think so!
Links to Additional blogs about "Prime Contactees":
Prime Contactees: a Special Kind of Contact Experiencer and Why They are. Important
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/01/26/prime-contactees-a-special-group-of-contact-experiencers-and-why-they-are-important/
Contactees Identified as “Primes” Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg.
Prime Contactees are a special type of UFO experiencer. They have the capacity to request UFO sightings with others present, and anomalous aerial phenomena subsequently occur. What if there is a mental link on an unconscious level between UAP intelligences and every person that has a flying saucer sighting?
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/01/30/contactees-identified-as-primes-are-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/
One year after I volunteered to be a contact team leader, a Russian-Jewish Prime Contactee “surfaced” in the ER where I worked. Once “Misha” joined our group, the level of contact went way up.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/01/30/prime-contactee-misha-join/

Contact Network History Project.
Joseph Burkes MD 2018
July 23, 2009, 2AM
I had just arrived at my mother’s house in LA after driving from Northern California near the Oregon border. It was usually a grueling 13-hour drive, but this time it took even longer because I made several detours to do contact network-organizing work. On the way down to Southern California I first stopped at a place called “Area 101.”
WE WERE BOTH CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BOOK “PATHS TO CONTACT”
Located in the Mendocino County, just off the highway of the same name, “Area 101” is a small complex of houses with indoor and outdoor meeting facilities. The exit from the road dramatically sports a large colorful billboard painting of a saucer craft hovering in the forest. There I spoke with a number of UFO enthusiasts about the CE-5 Initiative’s program of interacting with the intelligence (presumably ET) responsible for the UFO phenomenon. Paula Schurle helped me with the introductions. She is a dedicated Mendocino County volunteer contact worker whose story like mine appears in Jeff Becker’s anthology, “Paths to Contact.”
ANOTHER “PRIME CONTACTEE?”
From Area 101, I headed south into Sonoma County and met with a young man who described his having positive interactions with what he identified as “ETs” throughout his life. These encounters reportedly involved numerous sightings of UFOs that he claimed had an interactive component to them. After I explained to him a term that I had coined called “Prime Contactee” (reserved for individuals who can request a sighting and actually have one occur that can be witnessed by others) he thought that he definitely was a “Prime.”
RED ORB SILENTLY HOVERING OVER THE ROOF TOPS
After that meeting, I headed south past the Bay area. Fifteen hours from the time I left home, I finally reached the megalopolis called Los Angeles. My Mom’s house was near the city center in a community called Koreatown. I brought my luggage up to the second floor and looked out to the west through a wide screen window. It was 1:45 AM. The lights of the city reflecting off the overcast skies and lit up the neighborhood of densely packed old two story wood frame houses. The silhouettes of palm trees graced the horizon. I gazed out across the homes of sleeping neighbors and immediately noticed a slowly blinking stationary red light about ten degrees above the rooftops.
For over thirty years I had looked through that window on visits to Mom’s house and could not recall ever before seeing such a light in the sky. It was difficult to judge its exact distance, as there were no landmarks behind it, but it seemed to be just a few hundred feet away at most. It was relatively large, about one finger’s breath wide at arm’s full length. In trying to figure out what it was my first thought was of the flashing red lights on a radio antennae array some 3 miles to the west. They however are not visible from my Mom’s house and besides this light that I was looking at was solitary and far too large.
As I had this thought, perhaps even in response to my musings, the light began to slowly move horizontally to the north. It was totally silent as it slowly floated over the rooftops. This was no stationary aircraft beacon sitting on an antenna. Nor could it be a LAPD helicopter. In addition, the object was flying too slowly to be part of any fixed wing aircraft. At this early hour of 2AM, all was quiet in my mom’s residential neighborhood. The red pulsating globe moved behind a tree. I waited for it to emerge into view on the other side. It did not. I waited and scanned the sky and listened intently for the sound of aircraft. None could be heard. The sighting lasted less than 30 seconds.
ANOTHER RED UFO REPORTEDLY SEEN IN SAN JOSE
Was this just another "random sighting?" Or could it have been a consciousness mediated show of support for my networking efforts among the UFO experiencers that I like to call "The Contact Underground?" My guess is that it was indeed a show of support because the next day I got a call from a CE-5 researcher in San Jose. We were working pretty closely at the time. She told me that her sky-watch team had a sighting of a round red UFO at midnight the previous night. My route down US 5 to Southern California had taken me past a spot less than fifty miles from where her team was operating on that very night of July 22-23rd 2009. Her sighting was less than two hours before my mine. Was it the same unknown object that I had seen? Was it merely a coincidence? Perhaps, but I don't think so!
Links to Additional blogs about "Prime Contactees":
Prime Contactees: a Special Kind of Contact Experiencer and Why They are. Important
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/01/26/prime-contactees-a-special-group-of-contact-experiencers-and-why-they-are-important/
Contactees Identified as “Primes” Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg.
Prime Contactees are a special type of UFO experiencer. They have the capacity to request UFO sightings with others present, and anomalous aerial phenomena subsequently occur. What if there is a mental link on an unconscious level between UAP intelligences and every person that has a flying saucer sighting?
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/01/30/contactees-identified-as-primes-are-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/
One year after I volunteered to be a contact team leader, a Russian-Jewish Prime Contactee “surfaced” in the ER where I worked. Once “Misha” joined our group, the level of contact went way up.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/01/30/prime-contactee-misha-join/

We open Part 2 on the RAW after Summerslam, with The Fallen Angels dripped in gold as they open the show. Daniels opens his session by congratulating Low Ki and Skipper on winning the belts and knows they'll be champs for a long time, especially under his guidance. As for his match, he's glad he managed to get the win over RVD and retain his belt, but he didn't appreciate him re-appearing and trying to jeopardize his protege's chances of winning the tag belts. RVD comes out, telling Daniels that he was giving Hurricane and Rosey a fair chance in the match, something which couldn't be done with him at ringside. Daniels feels there's more to it though, and asks RVD if that was his only intention. RVD says it was at first, but quickly changes his stance, telling Daniels he had him in that match and he knows he can beat him. Daniels looks at him, asking if he wants another title match. RVD says he does, but that doesn't work for Daniels, who tells him to get to the back of the line. RVD walks away, but quickly gets a cheap slap on him before rolling out of the ring and telling him he's coming for that belt.
Daniels doesn't let this deter him though, and to really rub it in RVD's face, he decides to host an Open Challenge next week for his belt. The call is answered by Frankie Kazarian, a man who's undefeated on Velocity and clearly wants to shoot his shot to the top of the card.
RAW, August 29th 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Frankie Kazarian for the Intercontinental Championship

Daniels returns to his usual cocky nature, teasing Kazarian in the opening of the bout as he tries wearing him out with multiple holds. Kazarian fights back though, not wanting to let this opportunity slip away so easily. He manages to make it back to his feet, but Daniels cuts him right back down to size, increasing the pressure on the rookie here. Daniels decides he's had enough and plants him in the centre of the mat with an Angel's Wings to get a three coun...KAZARIAN KICKS OUT!! HOW HAS HE DONE THIS?!! Daniels looks at him, stunned in complete disbelief as the fans are clamoring him on to pull off a massive upset. Daniels knows something happened that shouldn't have as he picks Kazarian's lifeless body up and goes for a second Angel's Wings but he falls right down to the mat. Daniels laughs, picking him up ever so slowly as KAZARIAN HITS A BICYCLE KICK OUT OF NOWHERE!! BOTH MEN FALL TO THE MAT AS THE FANS ARE GOING ECSTATIC RIGHT NOW!!
Kazarian crawls over to the corner as Daniels is completely out of it, using the turnbuckles to pull himself up. Daniels starts making the climb back to his feet, but Kazarian is already waiting as he HITS BACK TO THE FUTURE!! 1..2..KICKOUT AT THE LAST MOMENT!! DANIELS STAYS IN THIS BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH!! Kazarian holds his head in frustration, not knowing what he can possibly do to finish this match off. He gets back to his feet and takes a moment to think before going back to Daniels, picking him up to his feet and driving him to the corner. He puts him back first on the top turnbuckle and lifts him on his head, looking to hit another Back to the Future BUT DANIELS DELIVERS A POISONRANA!! Kazarian is laid flat on the mat as Daniels gets to the corner, jumping up every turnbuckle and HITTING THE BME!! 1..2..3!! DANIELS RETAINS HIS TITLE IN A CONTEST MUCH CLOSER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Frankie Kazarian by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship (7:54)
Kazarian makes it back up to his feet as Daniels surprisingly offers his hand out. Kazarian looks to shake it BUT DANIELS KICKS HIM IN THE GUT!! He hooks his arms, looking to hit the Angel's Wings BUT RVD RUSHES OUT TO MAKE THE SAVE!! Daniels welcomes him to the ring as they go at it once again, throwing punches as RVD gets the upper hand, hitting him with a Spinning Heel Kick and almost going for the Five Star Frog Splash but Low Ki and Skipper make it down in time to pull him out of the ring, with RVD aiding Kazarian back to his feet as they stare down the Fallen Angels.
The Fallen Angels have a confrontation with RVD and Kazarian backstage, with RVD saying he wants Daniels in the ring tonight, which is something he isn't getting. Kazarian pipes up, throwing out the idea of a 6-man tag between The Fallen Angels and the three of them. Both the Fallen Angels and RVD are confused, but the looks quickly change as Ric Flair appears, asking RVD and Kazarian if they need a partner. They accept this as the Fallen Angels looks pissed off.
RAW, September 5th 2005:
The Fallen Angels (Christopher Daniels, Low Ki and Elix Skipper) vs Rob Van Dam, Frankie Kazarian and Ric Flair
Daniels and Kazarian start the match off, restarting where it left off last time as Kazarian shows much more confidence than last week, even bringing Daniels to the mat as the match starts off horribly for the Fallen Angels. It takes Low Ki entering the ring to get them on the right foot, bringing the fight to Flair as he stands out in this match, even going toe to toe with RVD as a striking war begins in the centre of the ring, with RVD eventually getting the upper hand, causing Low Ki to tag out, with Skipper coming into the ring and despite his best efforts, doesn't manage to wear RVD down enough, causing Daniels to be brought into the match as they go at it once again, with RVD still showcasing dominance over the IC Champ. He almost comes close to pinning the champ following a Split-Legged Moonsault, but Skipper comes to the save, beating him down and continuing to do so despite the ref's best efforts to get him out of the ring. The other participants in the match enter the ring now as this match descends into chaos, with the ref forced to call it off as a brawl is unleashed between the six men.
Result: The Fallen Angels vs RVD, Frankie Kazarian and Ric Flair ended in a no contest (11:38)
Bischoff is forced to come out, calling for the brawl to be broken up before he fires all six men on the spot. They eventually stop fighting as he announces that if they all want to fight, they can do so on Sunday at Unforgiven. Bischoff announces that Daniels will be defending his IC title against RIC FLAIR?!! Everyone in the ring looks stunned as it looked almost sure like RVD would be getting another title shot. Bischoff ensures there's more, telling RVD and Kazarian that they will both be fighting for belts as well as they will FACE LOW KI AND SKIPPER FOR THE TAG BELTS IN THE OPENER OF THE SHOW!! The Fallen Angels try to protest against this but it's too late for them.
Unforgiven 2005:
The Fallen Angels defend their titles against RVD and Kazarian in the opener of the show, with it proving to be an evenly contested match throughout, with no clear signs of a winner throughout. Skipper would be the closest to gaining a pinfall in first half of the match, hitting Kazarian with the Instant Replay, but only managing to get a 2.5 count. The second half would do a complete 180° as RVD and Kazarian look dead set on winning the belts, but an appearance from Daniels fights against this, pulling RVD off the ring mat when Kazarian looked to get the hot tag, leaving him all alone as Skipper would hit the Sudden Death to gain the 3 count and retain the titles.
- Christopher Daniels (c) vs Ric Flair for the Intercontinental Championship
Potentially the biggest match Daniels has had in his WWE career as he's been forced to defend the IC title against one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. The match starts off slow, with neither man wanting to rush into things as they exchange grapples and holds, with Daniels managing a firm hold over Flair in the opening of the contest, keeping him grounded and working on tiring him out. Flair isn't one to be knocked down that easy and fights against this, eventually getting back to his feet and taking Daniels to the corner, where he begins unleashing chops on him. Flair would control the match for most of the first half of the bout, with the fight even taking to the outside, with Daniels gaining the upper hand out here after driving Flair knee first into the steel steps.
Daniels doesn't give Flair a break in the second half of the match, unleashing hell on him as he hits a flurry of heavy offence, but nothing that manages to get a 3 count in the match. Flair would come back out of nowhere though, raking Daniels eyes and hitting an Atomic Drop BEFORE LOCKING THE FIGURE FOUR IN!! Daniels is left screaming as he tries crawling to the ropes, with Flair increasing the pressure the more Daniels moves. Low Ki and Skipper make their presence felt at this point, coming down to ringside to rally their mentor on as he makes it back to his feet. RVD and Kazarian arrive not long after, wanting to ensure no foul play goes on in this match. Flair and Daniels would wrestle a total of 14 minutes here, with Flair showing a great amount of resiliency as he managed to kick out of the BME. He would make it to the top rope, looking to finish the match off as he ATTEMPTS A DIVING KNEE DROP BUT DANIELS EVADES!! Flair clutches his knee as Daniels looks to capitalize, grabbing Flair and HITTING THE ANGEL'S WINGS!! 1..2..3!! DANIELS RETAINS THE IC CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST THE NATURE BOY!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Ric Flair by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship (14:02)
RVD and Kazarian would aid Flair to his feet as The Fallen Angels stand tall at the top of the ramp once again. Flair is insistent on walking on his own, but collapses, presumably due to the bad landing on the missed knee drop. RVD and Kazarian aid him up the ramp as they stare down the Fallen Angels, who laugh at the sight of the men they beat. All of a sudden though, KAZARIAN SLAMS FLAIR ONTO THE STEEL RAMP!! Even the Fallen Angels looks confused as he begins unleashing on RVD, driving him into the barricade before sending him back in the ring and HITTING BACK TO THE FUTURE!! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!! He makes his way up the ramp and offers his hand out to Daniels in the same way he did a few weeks prior, with DANIELS SHAKING IT!! He raises Kazarian's hand as it's apparant that The Fallen Angels have only grown stronger tonight.
The Fallen Angels take to RAW to discuss what happened at Unforgiven, with Kazarian surprisingly taking the lead instead of Daniels. He explains that he couldn't deal with being surrounded by losers, and reveals that he's been in cohorts with Daniels since before the supposed "Open Challenge". Daniels takes over, finding it amusing that RVD was stupid enough to believe that Kazarian would actually be on his side, telling him that this stupidity shows he clearly isn't worthy enough to hold the IC title. Kazarian then issues the challenge out to RVD, telling him he wants him in the ring tonight, desperately wanting to beat the life out of him. RVD comes out, telling Kazarian that he's a snake and can't believe he actually trusted him. As for the challenge, he accepts, as long as it keeps him close to the IC title he doesn't care.
RVD and Kazarian take to the ring next, with both men having a point to prove in this match. RVD looks to get himself closer to taking the IC title from Daniels and Kazarian wants to make a big opening statement as the newest member of the Fallen Angels. RVD fights with a load of aggression, which would eventually come to bite him in the ass as Kazarian would manage to evade a Five Star Frog Splash and hit Back to the Future to get a massive win. Daniels and Kazarian aren't done there though, laying a beatdown on RVD BUT MATT HARDY RUNS TO THE RING TO MAKE THE SAVE!! He drives Kazarian and Daniels out of the ring before grabbing a mic and telling them that he wants a tag match against both of them next week.
RAW, September 26th 2005:
- The Fallen Angels (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) vs Rob Van Dam and Matt Hardy
Daniels and Hardy start off the bout as Hardy looks to recuperate some of his lost momentum from his previous matches with Edge. He would gain the upper hand early into the bout, but Daniels uses some underhanded tactics to get his way before tagging Kazarian into the match. He continues to mount the pressure on Hardy, who is forced to get the tag into RVD, a man looking to get his win back from last week. He flips the script on this match, showing a completely different side to last week as he one ups Kazarian, almost gaining a 3 count on him following a Rolling Thunder, with Kazarian feeling the need to tag out, leaving RVD in the ring with the IC Champ once again. They go at it, throwing repeated strikes to each other before going agile with their moves, using their speed to try and outskill one another.
In the end, Daniels would hit RVD with the Last Rites, but only managing to get a 2 count from this. He drags RVD to the corner and jumps up the ropes, looking to hit a BME BUT HARDY STOPS HIM AT THE LAST SECOND!! Both men are laid out on the mat as they both crawl to the hot tag, with Daniels tagging in Kazarian and EDGE PULLING HARDY OFF THE APRON!! Luckily the ref didn't see it as RVD tries pleading with him that Edge is here but he doesn't believe it as KAZARIAN HITS HIM WITH A BICYCLE KICK!! 1..2..3!! KAZARIAN SCORES YET ANOTHER PINFALL OVER RVD!!
Result: The Fallen Angels def. Rob Van Dam and Matt Hardy by pinfall (9:44)
Daniels and Kazarian are in the ring next week at RAW Homecoming, feeling they have finally got a clear view of their future, and one where RVD and Matt Hardy aren't trying to ruin it. Edge and Lita would come out however, expecting some sort of thanks from Daniels and Kazarian for helping them win the match last week. They show no gratitude however, with Edge then threatening to take Daniels title off him. Hardy interrupts however, questioning how petty Edge is to still be going after him despite beating him multiple times. They go at it, with things turning more chaotic as RVD arrives, telling the rest of the competition that they won't be getting a title shot until he does. The bickering continues until Kazarian throws the first punch at RVD, with Hardy and Edge brawling after as the five men in the ring all get at it. This all leads to an announcement that next week, Daniels will defend his title in a FATAL FIVE WAY AGAINST EVERY OTHER MAN IN THE RING!! He protests, calling this a conspiracy against him as he now has to prepare to defend his title against four other men.
RAW, October 10th 2005:
- Christopher Daniels (c) vs Frankie Kazarian vs Rob Van Dam vs Edge vs Matt Hardy in a Fatal Five Way for the Intercontinental Championship
A lot of tension surrounds the five men in this match, with everyone having history with at least one person in this match. Edge takes on Hardy and Kazarian gets to RVD before he can get to Daniels, leaving the champ on his own. He decides to join his teammate in beating RVD down, seeing him as the biggest threat in the match. They would take him to the outside and take him out of commission early, driving him through the announce table with an Angel Wings. They then make it down to the ring once again, going after Edge and Hardy, who decide to take a man each, not letting them get between their blood feud as they eventually clear them away and continue their war in the ring.
Daniels would be seen a minute or too after, breaking up a pin from Edge after hitting an Edge-O-Matic, dragging him out of the ring and sending him into the steel steps as he looks to pick up the scraps of Hardy. Kazarian gets there first though, and tries his best efforts to put Hardy down for the 3 count, even hitting a Flux Capacitor which Daniels is forced to break up. He has a moment with Kazarian in the ring, but Van Dam somehow makes his way back into the match, hitting a springboard double crossbody as the fans begin rallying around him. He targets Kazarian as Daniels continues his fight with Edge on the outside, eventually sending him to the mat with a thunderous Roundhouse Kick, giving him the best opportunity of winning the match. He climbs up the ropes and HITS THE FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH..BUT DANIELS RUSHES TO THE RING AND PUSHES RVD OUT OF THE PIN!! 1..2..3!! DANIELS STEALS THE WIN FROM RVD!! HE KEEPS HIS TITLE BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Frankie Kazarian, Rob Van Dam, Edge and Matt Hardy by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship (14:51)
RVD has been robbed of the title and lets his feelings about this known, initiating a brawl next week on RAW as he tells Daniels he's getting that title no matter what. RVD is later seen in Bischoff's office, where he decides that next week, RVD will get his opportunity once again. Daniels hears about this and goes to Bischoff's office, tearing it apart and almost attacking the GM but security manage to arrive in time to stop him as they escort him out of the building.
RAW, October 24th 2005:
- Christopher Daniels (c) vs Rob Van Dam III for the Intercontinental Championship
A match that has been building for the past two months. There is no escape for Daniels now as the bell rings, with the two men locking up in the centre of the ring, both trying to overpower the other but neither can get the upper hand as both men share the same amount of determination and hatred to beat the other. Daniels eventually ducks into the ropes, breaking the hold as he uses this to his advantage, slipping under RVD and bringing him to the mat with a leg pick before working on RVD's head, trying to squeeze the breath out of him from the get-go. They pick up the pace following this, with both men displaying an overwhelming desire to knock the clean shit out of the other as RVD utilizes his martial arts expertise to gain an upper hand over Daniels in the first half of the match.
The match becomes much more fast-paced in the second half of the match, with both men performing great spots as the fight goes to the outside, with Daniels using the barricade to get himself back in the game. Once the fight returns to the ring, desperation kicks in as both men try hitting their finishers to no avail. They would secure a number of 2 counts, with Daniels getting the closest to winning the match after hitting a Last Rites. RVD would get a second wind however, and after a Spinning Heel Kick he crushes Daniels with a Rolling Thunder. Feeling this is his moment, he climbs to the top rope and HITS A FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH!! 1..2..KICKOUT!! HOW IS DANIELS STILL IN THIS?!!
We keep going in the match, with Daniels really struggling to get a breakthrough as RVD continues mounting pressure, feeling this is his moment to win the title. Daniels manages to capitalize on a quick mistake from RVD, reversing a Roundhouse Kick and dropping him with a Reverse STO. He drags him to the corner and jumps up the ropes before HITTING THE BME!! 1..2..KICKOUT!! DANIELS CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! RVD IS STILL ALIVE IN THIS BOUT!! Daniels is clearly experiencing delusion now, confronting the ref and telling him it was a slow count. The ref argues back and in a moment of frustration, DANIELS STRIKES THE REF DOWN!! He looks at what he's just done and realizes he's got a chance now as Kazarian rushes to the ring, coming into the ring to beat RVD down. Daniels orders him to get a chair as he enters the ring and passes him it. Daniels calls for RVD to get to his feet as he CRACKS THE CHAIR OVER HIS HEAD...OR NOT AS RVD DUCKS AND HITS DANIELS WITH A VAN DAMINATOR!! Kazarian tries rushing him but RVD KNOCKS HIM CLEAN OUT WITH A ROUNDHOUSE KICK!! Seeing this is his moment, he throws the chair out of the ring and climbs to the top rope before HITTING A SECOND FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH!! The ref is regaining his bearings as he sees the cover..1.....2.....3!! VAN DAM HAS DONE IT!! HE HAS FINALLY WON THE IC TITLE OFF DANIELS!!
Result: Rob Van Dam def. Christopher Daniels (c) by pinfall to win the Intercontinental Championship (16:39)
Daniels is enraged by this, and on the next episode of RAW confronts Bischoff, telling him he wants an rematch for his IC title and he wants it tonight. Bischoff tells him that it isn't possible, with RVD not in the arena tonight. Daniels grabs him by his collar, telling him that he's not leaving until he gets a rematch confirmed. Bischoff agrees to this, telling him that RVD will be at Taboo Tuesday tomorrow, so he can get his rematch there. Daniels seems alright with this, but Bischoff tells him there's a catch. Since the show is centred around the fans being in control, they decide what the stipulation of the match is. Daniels is fine with this, knowing there's no stipulation he couldn't beat RVD in.
It comes to the night of Taboo Tuesday, with the fans voting on what type of match Daniels and Van Dam will meet in. Gaining a majority of 62%, the fans have voted for the match to be A THIRTY MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH!! There's a mixed bag with this stipulation for both men. On the one hand, they have the opportunity to score as many pinfalls as they can. On the other hand, they have to remain at a top level for 30 whole minutes.
Taboo Tuesday 2005:
- Christopher Daniels vs Rob Van Dam (c) IV in a 30-minute Iron Man match for the Intercontinental Championship
They get the ball rolling quickly here tonight, initiating a number of roll-ups to try and score a cheap pin but neither manage to do so as Daniels brings the fight to the outside. They brawl on the outside for a bit before coming back in to prevent the ref hitting a 10 count, with RVD gaining the edge over Daniels and keeping him grounded. They both know to pace themselves in the opening of the match which causes them to both try and wear their opponent out early on. It's hard to score a pin when both men are taking it slow in the early goings of the match, with the closest to someone gaining a fall being after Daniels locked RVD in the Crossface, only to have RVD get a rope break.
It would take 18 minutes for someone to gain a fall in the match, with this coming after RVD managed to duck an Enzugiri from Daniels, converting it into a roll-up which only gets a 2. They both spring back to their feet as RVD rushes Daniels who ducks under and hits a reverse STO AND TURNS IT INTO A KOJI CLUTCH!! RVD HAS NOWHERE TO GO AS DANIELS HAS THIS LOCKED IN TIGHT!! RVD tries wriggling out, which only makes Daniels lock it in deeper as RVD IS FORCED TO TAP!! WE HAVE THE FIRST FALL OF THE NIGHT!! Daniels won't release the hold as the ref is forced to break it up, pushing Daniels into the corner and giving him a warning as he goes to check on RVD. Daniels follows though, pushing the ref away and continuing to attack RVD with the ref unable to break it up. This forces him to TAKE AWAY THE FALL!! WE ARE STILL AT 0-0 HERE!!
This forces Daniels off RVD, instead putting his focus on the ref, screaming at him and telling him to give the point back but it's ref's decision that's final. Daniels is pissed off now as he returns to RVD who's ALREADY BACK ON HIS FEET AND HITS DANIELS WITH A SPINNING HEEL KICK!! RVD rushes to the ropes, climbing to the top turnbuckle as he HITS A FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH!! 1..2..3!! RVD NOW HAS THE FIRST PINFALL OF THE MATCH!! RVD takes a second to himself as Daniels rolls out of the ring, needing to take a breather after what just happened. RVD follows him outside, not wanting him to gain any additional steam as they make it to the announce table where Daniels picks RVD's leg and sends him face first into the table. Daniels gains his bearings and realizes the opportunity he has right now, tearing the covering off the table and throwing RVD onto the table. In a repeat of the Fatal five way a few weeks prior, DANIELS PUTS RVD THROUGH THE TABLE WITH AN ANGEL'S WIN..RVD ESCAPES AND KICKS DANIELS IN THE HEAD!! Daniels falls on the table as RVD now is the one in control, and being the madman he is, decides to climb to the top rope and stares down Daniels before JUMPING OFF FOR THE FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH...
...BUT NO-ONE'S HOME AS KAZARIAN PULLS DANIELS OFF THE TABLE!! Kazarian tells Daniels to go do something about RVD as he pushes him into the ring and covers him..1..2..3!! DANIELS HAS PULLED IT BACK!! IT'S 1-1 NOW!! Daniels knows RVD is vulnerable now and decides to take advantage of this, pulling him up and HITTING AN ANGEL'S WINGS!! 1..2..3!! IT'S 2-1 TO DANIELS!! HOW THE TIDES HAVE TURNED ON THE CHAMP!! Pinfalls would be scarce from now until the final five minutes of the match, with both men starting to be hit by fatigue. This doesn't stop them from showing a desire to win the match, with both men suffering tight near-falls which amazes the fans.
We come to the final five minutes and things desperately pick up here, with Daniels wanting to secure his lead and RVD needing to get a fall back in order to keep himself in the match. One of the two would gain a fall, as RVD would pick Daniels up on his shoulders and hit a Steamroller Slam. With Daniels down, he climbs to the top rope and HITS A FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH!! 1..2..3!! RVD PULLS IT BACK TO 2-2!! It's all even now as both men are desperately scrounging for a third pinfall. Only one man can get it though as they throw everything at each other, but nothing seems to work. A last gasp cheap shot from Daniels puts him in the driver's seat as he HITS THE LAST RITES!! He then drags RVD's body over to the corner and HITS THE BME!! 1..2..KICKOUT!! HOW THE FUCK HAS RVD KICKED OUT OF THAT?!!
Daniels is kicking himself in the corner as just 30 seconds remains, knowing he has to do something fast to get the win. He picks RVD's lifeless body up and hooks his arms as HE HITS THE ANGEL'S WI..RVD SLIPS UNDER!! Daniels turns around AND GETS HIT WITH A DOUBLE UNDERHOOK FACEBUSTER!! RVD quickly rolls off and HITS A ROLLING THUNDER!! He uses his momentum to roll to the ropes, jumping up to the top and HITTING A FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH!! 1..2..3!! RVD SCORES A THIRD PIN IN THE MATCH!! THIS MATCH IS OVER!! All that can be done is watch the last five seconds tick down as THE BELL RINGS!! THE MATCH IS OVER AND RVD IS STILL THE CHAMPION!!
Result: Rob Van Dam (c) def. Christopher Daniels 3-2 in an Ironman Match to retain the Intercontinental Championship (30:00)
Things go from bad to worse for The Fallen Angels as later on in the show, they would end up losing their tag belts as Big Show and Kane would turn Low Ki and Skipper into a bunch of chumps, absolutely squashing them and winning the belts in under 5 minutes. This causes a tough night on RAW, with morale clearly low within the team. Well for everyone except Kazarian, who has promised to bring the IC title back to the Fallen Angels. Daniels is advised by Kazarian to pursue greater things now he's dabbled with the IC title, with Cena and the WWE Championship looking very appealing to him. As for the tag champs, they already have a rematch scheduled so they can be prepared for that. Daniels is thrown into the deep end now he's pursuing the WWE title, with Bischoff giving him a star-making match against KURT ANGLE!!
RAW, November 7th 2005:

• Christopher Daniels vs Kurt Angle

A man who is now on a warpath after losing his chance at the WWE Championship last week, Angle looks to regain his momentum here tonight against Daniels. Both men excel in this match, feeling they both have a point to prove as they try their best to one up the other. They go at it for 13 minutes in a thrilling contest, with multiple near-falls throughout the encounter as Daniels really shows he can hang in the main event spot. Tonight would not be his night though, as Angle would force him to tap out to the Ankle Lock, although Daniels has no reason to be upset after this performance.
Result: Kurt Angle def. Christopher Daniels by submission (13:05)
The next episode of RAW would be a very somber one, with the show celebrating the life and career of Eddie Guerrero. Daniels is featured within the ten bell salute, but isn't featured in a match on the card.
As we get back to regular programming, Survivor Series is creeping around the corner and Daniels finds himself embroiled in the midst of the Smackdown vs Raw feud. He would feature as one of the lumberjacks in the JBL vs Michaels match, which was eventually thrown out as a no contest after both brands began brawling with each other. This would all culminate in a 5v5 tag at Survivor Series, with Team Smackdown taking on Team RAW.
Survivor Series 2005:

• Team RAW (Shawn Michaels, Kane, Big Show, Carlito and Christopher Daniels) vs Team Smackdown (JBL, Batista, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Lashley) in a 5v5 Survivor Series match

Daniels would actually end up opening this bout, coming face to face with the rookie Lashley. Lashley has been on a tear since his debut, and continues this sharp momentum as he makes Daniels looks like the rookie, completely overpowering him and sending him into the corner where Kane would tag himself in. Daniels would remain on the apron for some time as the match would not go well for RAW, with Carlito eliminated first and Big Show following not long after. Low Ki and Skipper would make their presence felt, attacking both Kane and Big Show during the match which would cost Team RAW yet another member as dissension begins breaking down between Daniels and Michaels. They do manage to bring it to a 2v3, with Michaels and Daniels having to put their grievances to the side to work together. They both manage to eliminate JBL before Daniels scores a monumental pinfall over Batista, leaving it at a 2v1 as Michaels and Daniels take on Orton. Things would turn sour for Daniels as he would be on the receiving end of an RKO, with Michaels not showing any willingness to make the save. This would inevitably cost him as he would also eat an RKO, leaving Orton as the sole survivor for Team Smackdown.
Result: Team Smackdown def. Team RAW in a 5v5 Survivor Series match (24:33)
Daniels and Michaels would end up having a confrontation on the next RAW, with this eventually leading to Daniels attacking Michaels backstage. A six-man tag would then take place, with The Fallen Angels taking on Michaels, Kane and Big Show, the two men that the former champs took out at Survivor Series. Daniels would end up being pinned in this match following a Double Chokeslam, leaving his ship sinking even further. Things between Daniels and Michaels wouldn't be over there though, with the two being booked against each other for the next edition of RAW.
RAW, December 5th 2005:

• Christopher Daniels vs Shawn Michaels

An absolute dream of a match, these two put on a show-stealing contest in the main event as they have some tension to let out following Survivor Series. They go at it for 19 minutes, even taking the main event spot of the show as they put on a fast-paced, thrilling contest that keeps the crowd hooked the whole time. Once again though, it would be an unfortunate night for Daniels as he would hear the sounds of Sweet Chin Music, with Michaels picking up a win in his quest back to the WWE Championship.
Result: Shawn Michaels def. Christopher Daniels by pinfall (19:53)
If Daniels thought things couldn't get any worse, he'd be dead wrong. A rematch with Michaels in Afghanistan would be set for next week, but an attack from the Fallen Angels would cause this to be called off. This would lead to Daniels being forced to fight Cena in a non-title match, with the champ making short work of the challenger, leaving the question as to whether he's main event calibre material or not.
The time to prove himself would come the next week, as he'd be given an Elimination Chamber Qualifying match against Kane, where once again he'd come up short. On the other hand, Kazarian has found himself rising up the ranks nicely, getting himself into the Elimination Chamber match after beating Benjamin whilst simultaneously shooting his shot at RVD and the IC title. The pinnacle moment would come on the last episode of RAW in 2005, where Kazarian would do what Daniels couldn't and manages to bring the IC title back home to the Fallen Angels. They all enter the ring to celebrate as Daniels begins to cut a promo, but Kazarian stops him, telling him he has a few words he wants to say. He says it feels great to hold a belt in WWE, and thanks Daniels for giving him the opportunity to get into WWE. However, for the past few months he's felt there's always been something that's held the group back. Restricting them from reaching their full potential. Daniels is confused and asks what the issue is as LOW KI AND SKIPPER ATTACK DANIELS!! WHY ARE THEY BETRAYING THEIR LEADER!! Kazarian crouches down to Daniels' level, telling him that the issue has been him, before throwing the mic down and SMASHING THE IC TITLE ACROSS HIS SKULL!! The Fallen Angels walk away as Daniels is left in a pool of his own blood, with this clearly signalling the end of him in the Fallen Angels, which brings Part 2 to an end.

Garrick said a mouthful when he mansplained that more sister wives means less emotional support he needs to provide for any wife. His fantasy is him doing “man stuff” (read: dating) while the wives comfort each other.
This man thinks more wives will solve his problem of dealing with women’s disappointment and criticism. Let that sink in.

When I seen the prompt for this booking, two ideas came to my head. The first was Samoa Joe, who would have went on a complete run of dominance similar to when he arrived in TNA. The man I've went for however is Christopher Daniels, who unlike the other big names in TNA at the time like Jarrett, Joe and Styles, never actually had a full run in the company. This then sparked my interest and as to what would happen if he did decide to jump over to the WWE in the Ruthless Aggression era.
To begin this booking, Daniels needs to be taken out of TNA somehow, and I've decided that his last appearance would take place at Destination X where he'd originally have won the X-Division title in a Fatal-4 way match and would be the start of his, at the time, longest X-Division title reign. Instead, Daniels would go on to lose in this match and news would soon break that his contract has expired with TNA as he looks for a new place to call home. Dirt sheets claim that Daniels looks for a return to Japan but this all changes once vignettes begin airing on WWE television after Wrestlemania, taunting the arrival of a "fallen angel" to WWE, which to casual fans means nothing, but to a certain percentage of wrestling fans, they know where Daniels is headed next.
Daniels makes his debut at Backlash, appearing at the top of the ramp following the opener between Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho for the IC title. Benjamin tells Daniels to get in the ring and come face to face with him but he opts to just stand at the entranceway, appearing to have his eyes fixated on Benjamin and not the title sitting on his shoulder, making the Fallen Angel's intentions unclear on his arrival in the company.
Daniels opens the RAW after Backlash, feeling glad to finally be at the promised land of wrestling, a place where he can be his best while wrestling the best. His promo is cut off though as the man he confronted the night prior, Shelton Benjamin, comes to the ring and ask Daniels why out of every man on the roster and every match on the show, he decided to come out after his match. Daniels is able to give Benjamin a real good answer, telling him that when he watches him wrestling, he sees something unique. A talent like no other. A talent that should be sitting where his OVW classmates, John Cena and Batista are sitting at right now. But no, Benjamin's not doing that at all, and the reason? He's lost. Benjamin looks at Daniels like he's a crazed man, telling him he's not lost at all and that's evident through the fact he's been holding the IC Championship for the past 200+ days. Daniels admires that he's been champion for so long, but what happens once he loses the belt? Daniels just wishes to give Benjamin some guidance, lead him onto bigger and better things in the company. Benjamin calls Daniels insane, instantly rejecting his offer and telling him he's gonna prove he's not lost in the Gold Rush Tournament, starting his run tonight with the first match against Shawn Michaels.
Daniels appearing near the end of this match, where it actually appears like Benjamin is going to pull off the upset but a Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere quickly fades his dreams to dust as Daniels enters the ring, approaching Benjamin in the corner with a mic and offering his hand out to him, telling him he can guide him in the right direction. Benjamin isn't wanting to hear any of it though and slaps his hand away before rolling out of the ring and walking up the ramp with shame on his face.
Daniels' debut match would come on the next episode of RAW, facing Val Venis and beating him in just over two minutes with the Angel's Wings. Daniels grabs a mic following this win and in a similar manner to last week, approaches Venis with his hand out who actually accepts it and makes it back to his feet. Daniels speaks, telling Venis that when he looks at him, he sees a sad, pathetic man who has no direction in his career. Daniels is fine with this though, and tells him that he is here to guide him to superstardom. Venis tells Daniels he's grateful for the offer, but declines it. Daniels looks at him with disgust on his face as he begins pummeling Venis, driving him into the corner and stomping down on him but Benjamin rushes to the ring as he comes to blows with Daniels for the first time, driving him out of the ring and raising the title up, essentially telling Daniels he has the belt and he can't have it.
Daniels and Benjamin come face to face once again on the next RAW, with Benjamin genuinely wanting to know what Daniels deal is. Why is he asking people to join him when he knows nothing about how to climb the ranks in WWE? Daniels says he might not know as much about WWE as most on the roster, but what he does know is how to lead. Take a good guy and make him a great guy. Take a great guy and make him a star. Benjamin isn't convinced, but tells him that if he wants to put his money where his mouth is then next week he should appear at ringside alongside Benjamin in his IC title match against Christian. Daniels and Benjamin shake on it, but the tension is clearly felt between the two men.
Benjamin and Christian have their match on RAW and as promised, Daniels is at ringside trying to guide Benjamin to a win. Things look rough for Benjamin in this bout, almost looking to feel pressure with Daniels at ringside. The win looks to be set for Christian, looking to hit the Killswitch but in a last gasp effort, Benjamin manages to push both himself and Christian through the ropes and out of the ring. Daniels goes over to check on Benjamin as Christian pushes him away, wanting to win the IC title desperately. He rolls Benjamin in the ring as the ref checks on him, giving Daniels the perfect opportunity to HIT A LOW BLOW ON CHRISTIAN!! He rolls him in the ring as he shouts at Benjamin to get the cover, who does so and retains his title in the process.
Benjamin thanks Daniels for the win on the next edition of RAW, but Christian has a bone to pick with the two of them, demanding he gets a rematch after Daniels' low blow cost him the match. Benjamin is confused, asking Daniels about it but he flat out denies it. Christian is able to show proof though as Benjamin comes face to face with Daniels, but Christian isn't going out that easy, telling both men that he wants them in the ring tonight. Benjamin doesn't seem so willing to be defending his title two weeks in a row, but Daniels is up for the fight, telling Christian that if he wins, he can get his match against the both of them next week for the IC belt. Benjamin doesn't like Daniels calling the shots but he reassures him it's gonna be alright.
RAW, 6th June 2005:

• Christopher Daniels vs Christian (If Christian wins, he faces Daniels and Benjamin next week for the Intercontinental Championship)

The first big match for Daniels here as he looks to silence Benjamin's competition and keep his protégé running strong. They go at it in the opener of the show for 11 minutes, with Daniels getting to show off his abilities in the ring unlike his debut match with Venis. Christian wrestles like a man on a mission though, wanting to add another IC title reign to his record and by the end of the match, he looks to be getting one step closer to that as he sends Daniels face first into the canvas with the Killswitch and pins him for the 3 count, getting his title match next week.
Result: Christian def. Christopher Daniels by pinfall (11:06) (As Christian won, he faces Daniels and Benjamin next week for the Intercontinental Championship)
We jump to the night of the triple threat match as Benjamin and Daniels confront each other backstage, with Benjamin clearly furious that Daniels couldn't get the job done last week. Daniels gives Benjamin some reassurance however, telling him that this is all part of the plan and with him making it a triple threat, there's no way things could go wrong. Benjamin wouldn't have it any other way as he walks away from Daniels, barging into him as the Fallen Angel lets out a grin before getting the last preps in for the match.
RAW, 13th June 2005:

• Christopher Daniels vs Shelton Benjamin (c) vs Christian for the Intercontinental Championship

We make it to the match and all three men are standing in the ring, with Daniels focusing on Christian whilst the other two competitors have their eyes on both opponents. The bell rings as they begin circling the ring, with Christian jumping out of the ring and telling Benjamin and Daniels to go at it. Benjamin looks ready to fight but Daniels rolls out of the ring, chasing after Christian who rolls in the ring and gets taken out by Benjamin. Daniels essentially watches on the outside, almost acting as a manager in the match despite being an official competitor, only getting involved when Christian finds himself on the upper hand.
Things would change however once Benjamin confronts him on the outside, pushing him repeatedly before launching a right hook which causes Daniels to snap, driving Benjamin into the barricade and the steel steps. The shackles appear to be off the Fallen Angel now as he takes the fight to both men for the rest of the bout, but his focus still doesn't appear to be on the Intercontinental Championship as he never seems to capitalize on his biggest opportunities. However, he does end up breaking up Christian's pin on Benjamin following a Killswitch, leaving everyone confused as to what his motives are in this match. The match would come to a head after 14 minutes, with Benjamin hitting Christian with a T-Bone Suplex BUT DANIELS THROWS HIM OUT OF THE RING AND GOES FOR THE COVER..1..2..3!! DANIELS HAS STOLEN THE IC TITLE FROM BENJAMIN!! HE HAS PLAYED HIM LIKE A FIDDLE!!
Result: Christopher Daniels def. Shelton Benjamin (c) and Christian to win the Intercontinental Championship (14:23)
A mighty impressive feat for Daniels despite only being in the company for just over a month, and one he feels the need to celebrate as he opens the next edition of RAW to a thunderous reign of boos. Daniels acknowledges the boos, and tells the Phoenix crowd that he did it. He exposed Shelton Benjamin as the fraud he truly is. Without his belt he's now nothing and once he comes out to the ring which he knows he will, he'll prove him right even more. Right on cue, Benjamin makes his arrival to the ring, clearly pissed off at Daniels for what happened the last week. He begins by telling Daniels he can't believe he fell for his stupid trick to gain the belt, but once the rematch rolls around he'll put it right back where it belongs. Daniels just begins laughing, with Benjamin asking what's funny. Daniels ends up calling Benjamin predictable, knowing that once he came to the ring the first thing he'd mention was his belt. He tells Benjamin that he never wanted the belt in the first place, he wanted to prove a point. That point being that Shelton Benjamin is nothing without something to cling onto. First it was being Kurt Angle's lackey. Then it was tagging with Haas as the "World's Greatest Tag Team". And now its the Intercontinental Championship. Essentially Daniels is telling Benjamin he can't be someone without clinging on to something else. He can't put himself first, there is always something that makes him relevant and now without the belt he's irrelevant. Benjamin is done with the talking, lunging at Daniels and displaying an aggression never seen before from him as he plants him with a T-Bone Suplex and tells him he'll see him in the ring on Saturday at Vengeance.
Vengeance 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship

Benjamin jumps Daniels in the corner right from the get-go, clearly showing his intentions of getting his title back. Daniels reverses the pressure onto Benjamin though, bringing him down to the mat and essentially toying with him, using his newfound aggression against him as he tries slowing the pace of the match down to a level he'll enjoy. It's a back and forth tussle in the opening minutes of the contest, with neither man really showing signs of dominance as they slip back and forth into reversals and agile moves that really impress the crowd. The match progresses on and it continues to look even throughout, although the intensity has increased significantly, with both men desperately trying to outmaneuver the other in an attempt to win the match.
They both attempt to put the match away on multiple occasions, with Benjamin coming closest following a Superkick for a 2 count. Daniels can't get close to hitting the Angel's Wings however, with Benjamin evading every time and even reversing it INTO A T-BONE SUPLEX!! 1..2..KICKOUT!! BENJAMIN WAS MILLISECONDS AWAY FROM TAKING HIS TITLE BACK!! Benjamin looks bewildered at this point, wondering what the hell he could do to keep Daniels down for the 3 count. He takes a second to himself but suddenly Daniels theme song plays. Benjamin looks up the apron in confusion as a cloaked figure begins walking down the ramp before standing on the apron, with the ref trying to get him away from ringside. Benjamin's focus shifts for a second, with this being just enough to cost him the title as ANOTHER CLOAKED FIGURE SMASHES THE IC TITLE OVER HIS HEAD!! Daniels crawls over to the cover as the cloaked figures run away, with the ref counting..1..2..3!! DANIELS RETAINS THE TITLE BUT THE BIGGER QUESTION IS WHO ARE THE MEN WHO HELPED HIM WIN?!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Shelton Benjamin by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:49)
Daniels rolls out of the ring as the cloaked figures stand at either side of him, revealing themselves to be ELIX SKIPPER AND LOW KI!! TRIPLE X IS REUNITED HERE IN WWE!!
Triple X open the RAW after Vengeance, with a lot of mystery surrounding what the hell happened in the IC Title match. Daniels first of all gives gratitude to Skipper and Low Ki for their assistance at the event, and understands the fans are confused. Why did they help him retain the title? Daniels says his aim when he arrived in WWE was to guide a lost wrestler into becoming a star. Clearly he didn't realise the toxic atmosphere he was entering, with no-one accepting his calling. Luckily for him though, he had some friends on the outside who wanted in and were willing to leave everything behind to become the top guys in WWE. The first step in this path to glory is rebirth, and for Daniels he has decided to rechristen them as The Fallen Angels. He orders the fans to stand and cheer for the new stars of WWE but they get booed heavily instead. The crowd's reaction quickly changes though once BENJAMIN MAKES HIS ENTRANCE WITH A HEAVY LOOK ON HIS FACE!! He rushes the ring and begins taking on all three men, but quickly gets mauled down as the Fallen Angels make a statement on to the entire roster that they aren't to be messed with.
The Fallen Angels are then seen backstage the next week, interrupting Bischoff and Benjamin discussing a fair rematch for the IC Title. Daniels tries to dispute that the contest was fair but even a blind man could've seen what happened, with Bischoff deciding to book Benjamin and Daniels next week in a title rematch, and to ensure no outside interference, it'll take place inside of a steel cage. Daniels storms off as Benjamin is left with a big grin on his face, but will Daniels be able to wipe that off his face next week and keep the belt away from Benjamin?
RAW, 4th July 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Shelton Benjamin II in a Steel Cage match for the Intercontinental Championship

If there's a time and place for Benjamin to win the title, it's here. A patriotic Sacramento crowd rally Benjamin on, who dawns the red, white and blue for Independence Day. Daniels however isn't feeling the festivities, opting to wear only black as he enters the USA themed steel cage, making sure the title stays a fair distance away from Benjamin. The bell sounds and they waste no time getting into this contest, throwing shots at one another before Benjamin takes the upper hand and begins throwing Daniels from one side of the cage to the other. He continues mounting pressure, not letting Daniels get an inch as our champ is clearly in trouble.
He uses his heel tactics to get through this bad spell though, throwing the occasional poke to the eye or even tying Benjamin up in the ropes to stop him from attacking. They would both have their big moments in this match, kicking out of each other's finishers and stopping each other from climbing out of the cage. The match would culminate with Benjamin and Daniels duking it out in the middle of the ring, showing heavy fatigue from the brutal 17 minute encounter. Daniels almost appears to get the advantage with a big rolling elbow BUT BENJAMIN DELIVERS A SUPERKICK OUT OF NOWHERE!! Daniels falls to the mat as Benjamin sees this as his opportunity to escape the cage, wanting to win the title in the most satisfying way possible. He makes it to the top of the cage, but Daniels is surprisingly willing himself up to his feet. Benjamin notices this and realises Daniels could still make it out the other side so he JUMPS OFF THE TOP OF THE CAGE BUT NOONE'S HOME!! Daniels managed to back up in time as Benjamin crashes and burns, with Daniels deciding to add the final touches with AN ANGEL'S WINGS!! 1..2..3!! DANIELS RETAINS THE BELT INSIDE THE STEEL CAGE!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Shelton Benjamin in a Steel Cage match to retain the Intercontinental Championship (17:32)
Now with Benjamin in the rear view mirror, The Fallen Angels appear on the next RAW, with Daniels laughing at the fans who believed he wouldn't be able to retain in the Steel Cage. He admits that he did take the title off Benjamin to try make him into a better man, but now with the belt on his shoulder the past few weeks he's taken a liking to it and has decided he wants to keep it. Permanently. That's not the biggest topic of discussion though, as he promised Low Ki and Skipper that when they arrived in WWE, he'd turn them into stars. And with the IC belt on his shoulder, he's decided the best way for them to become stars is to get championships of their own. This leads to Daniels calling out The Hurricane and Rosey, telling them to get to the ring and defend their belts right now against the Fallen Angels. They don't get the answer they want, with the Heart Throbs coming out and claiming they should be the No.1 contenders to the belt, and not these ugly new guys. Lance Cade and his new tag partner Trevor Murdoch are out next, wanting to make a big impact and taking the titles off the champs right off the bat. The teams begin bickering, which eventually turns into fighting after Low Ki unleashes a deadly kick to Antonio, with everyone else fighting it out after as Daniels exits the ring and watches the carnage from the outside...
...or so he thought as BENJAMIN ATTACKS HIM FROM THE CROWD!! HE STILL ISN'T DONE WITH DANIELS AS THEY BEGIN BRAWLING AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE RING!! The tag teams eventually spill to the outside as Daniels and Benjamin take centre stage, continuing on from their match last week as security and Bischoff are forced to come out to stop the brawl. Bischoff looks around the ring and notices a load of people brawling, which gives him the idea. Benjamin clearly wants another shot at the belt, and Daniels wants him away from the belt full stop. So, next week, Daniels will defend his title against Benjamin once again IN A LUMBERJACK MATCH!! Daniels looks disappointed in this decision, but this look quickly changes once Bischoff announces that if Benjamin loses next week, he can't challenge for the IC title as long as Daniels is champion. Benjamin has a look of dread on his face as Daniels tries softening him up for next week but Benjamin manages to avoid and drives him down to the mat with a T-Bone Suplex before locking eyes with the IC title, knowing he has one last chance to take the belt back home.
RAW, 18th July 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Shelton Benjamin III in a Lumberjack Match for the Intercontinental Championship (If Benjamin loses he can't challenge for the IC title as long as Daniels is champion)

Three seconds. That's all it's gonna take for Benjamin to either get his prized possession back, or lose and have no direction for his career. Daniels walks into this match with a heavy smug on his face, clearly feeling confident about his ability to beat Benjamin for a third time. Benjamin has determination on his face, but clearly masking the pressure on him to actually come out with the win in this match. Most of the RAW roster arrive next to take their spot at ringside as the match gets underway, with the two men locking up in the centre of the ring. Their athleticism shows in the early moments of the bout as they try wearing each other down early with holds and light strikes to pace themselves, but Benjamin decides to take it to a pace of his own liking, something which would eventually cost him control of the match as he'd get dumped to the outside and beaten by the Fallen Angels until they get driven away by Cade and Murdoch, allowing Benjamin to get back in the ring and continue to fight against the odds.
He would manage to turn the match on its head, taking control of the match and showing signs of promise as Daniels' cockiness quickly fades, with Benjamin outwilling him and showing a greater determination to win the bout. Daniels would end up having his fair share of run ins on the outside as well, but uses the Fallen Angels to protect him which leads to all hell breaking loose as the tag champs get caught in the crossfire when the Heart Throbs and the Fallen Angels are brawling, leading to almost everyone fighting on the outside. Daniels gets away from this chaos and enters the ring where HE GETS HIT WITH A T-BONE SUPLEX!! 1..2..KICKOUT!! Benjamin punches the mat in anger, wondering what on earth he can do to come away with this win. He takes a minute to think, but amidst the chaos a steel chair is thrown into the ring, with no signs of who did it. Clearly taking this as a sign from God himself that he should use it, he picks it up and looks set to use it, but can't seem to bring himself to do so, not wanting to win the title in a shady manner. Daniels capitalizes on this softness, hitting Benjamin with a low blow before PLANTING HIM ONTO THE STEEL CHAIR WITH ANGEL'S WINGS!! 1..2..3!! CHRISTOPHER DANIELS REMAINS IC CHAMPION!! BENJAMIN'S DREAMS HAVE FADED TO DUST!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Shelton Benjamin in a Lumberjack match to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:08) (As Benjamin lost, he can't challenge for the IC Championship as long as Daniels is champion)
Daniels is in a celebratory mood here tonight, but there is still some business to attend to, with The Fallen Angels being placed in a Fatal-4 Way match for The Hurricane and Rosey's tag belts. He cuts a promo before the match, telling the WWE universe that he's feeling confident in his protégé's abilities to take home the belts. He then shifts his focus to his own state of affairs, stating that now he's planning on keeping this IC championship, he needs challengers for it. However, when he looks at RAW and their roster, he doesn't see much talent. Despite this, he has been told by Bischoff that tonight there will be a No.1 contenders Battle Royal main eventing tonight to decide the next challenger to the belt. Daniels welcomes the challenge, knowing he can beat anyone in that locker room.
The tag team title match takes place first in the show, with The Fallen Angels, The Heart Throbs, Cade and Murdoch and Hurricane and Rosey all fighting for the tag belts. They stand out as the most technical wrestlers in the match, standing head and shoulders above the whole competition. Fate would not be on their side though, with Hurricane stealing the pin from Skipper in the dying moments of the bout.
As for the battle royal, it's every man for themselves as they all gear towards a shot at the prestigious Intercontinental Championship. A few names stand out in the match, including Kurt Angle, Carlito and Edge, but the match would surprisingly be won by Matt Striker, who pulled off the upset by eliminating Angle last. Daniels is impressed by this and enters the ring to congratulate Striker, but it quickly turns sour as Daniels hits him with the Last Rites, leaving him lying in the center of the ring as he walks up the entranceway with confidence oozing out of him.
RAW, August 1st 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Matt Striker for the Intercontinental Championship

Daniels comes into the match cocky as ever, knowing a jobber like Striker won't do anything against him. He even offers Striker a free hit before laying a beatdown on him, telling him he's nothing and he never will be. Daniels decides that he wants to end this match quickly, attempting the Angel's Wings BUT STRIKER HITS THE GOLDEN RULE OUT OF NOWHERE!! Daniels manages to roll out of the ring before Striker can get to the pin. He goes on to the outside, putting his heart and soul into trying to beat Daniels, utilizing everything on the outside he can before bringing him into the ring before the 10 count. This would be the end of Striker's momentum though, with Daniels becoming more vicious than before, essentially toying with Striker before pulling out a BME to finish the match and retain his belt.
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Matt Striker by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship (4:31)
Daniels wouldn't stop after the match, bringing the Fallen Angels down as they initiate a 3v1 assault on Striker, using weapons to try and put him out of action permanently. The Hurricane and Rosey rush to make the save but at that point Striker's ankle was already shattered by a steel chair, with The Fallen Angels instead taking the tag champs out and holding all 3 belts in the air, showing what the future could potentially hold for the trio.
Next week, the Fallen Angels are out in the ring and clearly have a lot on their mind. They address the attack on Striker, labelling it necessary to show him he should stay away from trying to put himself in scenarios he doesn't belong. He then moves on to the tag champs, calling them out and telling them that his men will be getting a rematch after the shenanigan's involved last time. Bischoff comes out and announces that the Fallen Angels would be facing Hurricane, Rosey and a mystery partner. Daniels is not having this, telling him he wants the tag title match tonight, not a 6-man tag. Bischoff says he's saving the rematch for a later date which visibly makes Daniels angry. He asks Bischoff who the mystery partner is, but Bischoff won't tell him anything.
RAW, August 8th 2005:

• The Fallen Angels (Christopher Daniels, Low Ki and Elix Skipper) vs The Hurricane, Rosey and ???

The Fallen Angels wait to see who they have to face as the tag champs arrive first. They enter the ring with massive grins on their face as the Fallen Angels just want to know who they're facing. Everyone waits in anticipation as ROB VAN DAM IS THE MYSTERY PARTNER!! HE'S NOT MEANT TO BE BACK FOR MONTHS!! RVD rushes to the ring as the 6 men begin going at it, with the fans all chanting for RVD as this appears to be a genuine surprise for them all. Daniels and RVD take center stage in this match, putting on a show when they're both in the ring which leaves the fans wanting more as RVD would eventually pick up the win in this bout, hitting Skipper with the Five Star Frog Splash to win his return match.
Result: The Hurricane, Rosey and Rob Van Dam def. The Fallen Angels by pinfall (10:42)
Daniels is seen in Bischoff's office next week, complaining that they were disadvantaged because they didn't know about RVD's return. RVD interrupts, telling Daniels that he shouldn't just be worried about losing the 6-man tag last week because now he's back, he's coming for gold and he wants that IC title. They get in each other's faces, with Bischoff holding them back and telling them if they want to fight, they can do it tonight. Daniels agrees to it, but only if he doesn't have to defend his title. RVD is fine with this, not wanting to take things for granted immediately and says that once he beats Daniels in the center of the ring, he'll take his IC title match.
RAW, August 15th 2005:

• Christopher Daniels vs Rob Van Dam in a non-title match (If RVD wins, he gets an IC Championship match)

These two continue to steal the show as they both continue what they started last week. The match is fast paced and stacked with plenty of action which makes the fans only want more. We get a 12 minute match here as they are given enough time to put on a show, with multiple near falls and high risk maneuvers throughout the contest. In the end however, Daniels would spike RVD on the mat out of nowhere with a Brainbuster before dragging him to the corner and going for the BME...BUT RVD ROLLS OUT OF HARMS WAY!! They both make it to their feet as RVD HITS THE VAN DAMINATOR!! He climbs to the top rope as the roof has blown off the arena, with RVD HITTING A 5 STAR FROG SPLASH!! 1..2..3!! RVD HAS PINNED THE IC CHAMP!! HE'S NEXT IN LINE FOR THE BELT!!
Result: Rob Van Dam def. Christopher Daniels by pinfall (12:18)
Things may be looking down for Daniels, who now has to defend his title at Summerslam, but it's not all bad for the Fallen Angels, with Low Ki and Skipper having a confrontation with the tag champs, Hurricane and Rosey. They state their claim for the belts, wanting a rematch against them at Summerslam, which the champs are happy to accept before a brawl begins between the two teams, with Low Ki and Skipper standing out on top over the tag champs.
Summerslam 2005:

• Christopher Daniels (c) vs Rob Van Dam II for the Intercontinental Championship

Daniels is way more focused in this bout than on Monday, knowing there is a legitimate threat to his title reign. He takes control in the beginning of the bout as they perform a sequence of grapples before the fight is quickly taken to the outside with both men falling through the ropes. The pace picks up here, with RVD managing to one up Daniels by performing a unique crossbody off the apron. He tosses him in the ring following this and goes for a quick cover which only gets a 1 count. RVD mounts the pressure onto Daniels, although displays some signs of cockiness over the champ. This would cost him a tremendous amount of momentum as Daniels is persistent on wanting to retain his belt, upping the ante as the match becomes very level headed.
Entering the second half of the match and it's still not clear who's going to win this bout. Although Daniels shows a greater drive to win the bout, RVD comes closest to winning the bout, almost gaining a 3 count after hitting a Rolling Thunder. Daniels won't go down without a fight though, and becomes more ruthless with his attacks, even going deep into his arsenal to unleash a Koji Clutch to try and make RVD tap. He breaks out of it though, and drops Daniels with a Van Daminator. The crowd rally him on as he climbs up the ropes, doing his signature taunt before HITTING THE FIVE STAR FROG SPLA...DANIELS WITH THE KNEES UP!! RVD bounces right off his knees, rolling around the ring clutching his stomach as Daniels gets up to his feet and DROPS RVD WITH THE ANGEL'S WINGS!! 1..2..3!! DANIELS RETAINS HIS BELT IN A GREAT CONTEST!!
Result: Christopher Daniels (c) def. Rob Van Dam to retain the Intercontinental Championship (15:37)
Later on in the show, we see Low Ki and Skipper taking on Hurricane and Rosey for the belts. Daniels joins them at ringside as they appear to dominate, but all of a sudden something snaps in the champs and they take control of the match, completely flipping the match on its head and almost winning the match on numerous occasions. Daniels is forced to get involved in the match, but is eventually driven out as RVD rushes to the ring, brawling with his opponent earlier in the night and driving him into the crowd as the fight takes them away from the ring. With Daniels gone, you'd think The Fallen Angels would crumble, but they actually manage to comeback and in a massive moment, take the titles from Hurricane and Rosey, with Low Ki hitting the Ghetto Stomp on Hurricane for the win. Daniels rejoins them, grabbing his belt as the three men pose at the top of the ramp, all holding gold as part 1 comes to an end.

I was trying to post with photos of the pipe but Reddit mobile is being an asshole so I guess just here’s the text 🙄
Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/badroommates/s/gHdeTwy88n
I wanna start this off by saying thank you to all the kind words from people and support. A few people even reached out privately to check on me and I thank you for that.
I realize now that I probably shouldn’t have waited to post that until I had a clearer head. I WAS very reactionary and not in a great headspace I will own that. This is evident by the fact that I missed blurring out some things in some spots.
Yes he had meth in his room and he’s it was a meth pipe. I will also be posting the image. I blurted it out originally because I wasn’t sure if it was allowed on this sub.
Yesterday at 5 pm the property manager sent the roommate a text message telling him that their previously agreed upon time was up for him to hand her his past due rent. He responded with more excuses as to why he didn’t have it. She then sent the photos I sent to her of his pipe and told him he needed to leave. Yes she DID contact PD but I misunderstood. She submitted a form with the narcotics division or something online she didn’t call 911 or anything. That was more to have a paper trail to cover herself and the landlord for legal reasons. She did end up reading him the riot act over bringing drugs into the house on top of everything else he’s done since he moved in. But we all have him the time and space to pack his stuff and leave. She’ll be giving him a window tomorrow to come and retrieve his furniture but her and the landlord have stated that it will be with police escort.
I have done some thinking on this and I am working on finding some resources for addiction recovery and mental health that I can send to him. It was brought to my attention that I was once in his shoes and y’all are correct. Even with all the bullshit I had to deal with from him he’s clearly in crisis. I can’t promise he’s going to use any of the resources I find but hopefully he will.
I will NOT apologize, however, for feeling unsafe in this situation. As a former addict I spent time around addicts and I know how irrational and easy to violence they can be. Especially when they feel like they’ve been slighted by someone else. He had also demonstrated those behaviors to a lesser degree in the past. So yes, I was anxious. I was worried he could hurt me. I took steps to try to protect myself. And I made plans for if those steps weren’t enough.
Lastly but just as important, I would like to apologize for the comment about the women’s clothes. It was not said in a derogatory way. I understand how that can be interpreted from an outside perspective. It was said simply as an observation and quite honestly it surprised me. He had made homophobic, transphobic, and even racist comments in the past so that was not something I had expected to see. No I didn’t go rifling through his room it was all out in the open hanging on the walls or on shelves just like his pipe was.
I almost forgot. The “mirror incident”. People kept asking about it. I was referring to a time when he’d been living here for about a week and I’d walked into the bathroom and one of the mirror panels on the bathroom vanity was just gone. Like it had been unscrewed from the vanity. I was confused but I knew the property manager had been in and out all week because they’re doing renovations to the house. So I asked her if it broke or something and she had no idea what I was talking about. She then took it upon herself to send a message to the group chat asking where it went. He responded and admitted it was in his room. He apologized and put it back. That was the first thing that threw up a red flag for me as far as his behavior being “tweaker behavior”
As for you people defending this man, I know some of you are doing it from a place of caring and that’s ok and perfectly acceptable. However those of you who are just straight up being dicks? Lol please get a life. And have the day you deserve.

I think Tupac may have been bisexual. Hear me out, this isn't a troll post or a dig at him. I know many of his followers get emotional about topics such as these, almost like they're being personally attacked.
Pac was a theater kid who studied ballet at a liberal arts school. This doesn't make him gay at all, but a good number of theater kids are in fact homosexual or are experimental and very open minded at the least. Again, doesn't make Pac gay or bisexual
For one second though, circumsttial evidence almost points to the probability that Pac was bisexual at least. He was very articulate and nothing like the thug persona he presented after he began his rapping and acting career. Many of you know of his interview as a 17 year old. He was very effeminate in that clip. That was the real Tupac.
Many know this as well but Queen Latifah shared a story about doing a show at a gay club in 1990 San Francisco while Pac was still with Digital underground (who were labelmates with her). She invited him to the show and they all had a great time. The video is below:
https://youtu.be/Ta8xIg1gmmE?si=Uo-9zkTZR3RQKnNA
The Pac persona developed at Deathrow that saw him call out Dre for having a thing for Trans women would've never been seen in a gay club. He was playing a part to fit in with his environment at Death row. Suge Knight even called him out for being a homophobe for allegedly not wanting to work with Dre because of his sexuality. Suge Knight claimed Pac called Dre the F word. Pacs family contended that he wasn't a homophobe and used the example of Pac being 'great friends ' with the late openly gay Gianni Versace as proof of this
https://www.tmz.com/2012/05/16/tupac-gianni-versace-gay/
Pac's close friendship with Jada Pickett is another one that might make you wonder about his openness sexually. Pickett has generally always been openly bisexual, if anything you could say she's polyamorous or maybe even Pansexual just based on some of the things she's said about her sexual and dating activities after she got into Hollywood. Pac would've known this, and perhaps it's something they shared?
And finally, many won't buy this, but there's a guy named 'Eskiah' who claimed to have been in a gay relationship with Pac back at the arts school in Baltimore.
This a transcript from an interview about his claims back in 2014:
Just days before the anniversary of late rapper Tupac Shakur’s demise, new rumors surface concerning the star’s supposed homosexuality.
Yesterday a man wishing to be known only as “Eskiah” contacted National Report claiming to possess countless love letters that he received from Shakur over a period of six years. Eskiah tells us their relationship started when they were only teenagers.
“We met while studying ballet at the Baltimore School for the Arts and from there just hit it off” Eskiah said. The couple maintained an on-again-off-again homosexual relationship that spanned the rapper’s entire career.
Eskiah has allowed National Report to publish some snippets from one of these letters. In this particular note sent during Tupac’s 1993 incarceration on abuse charges Shakur writes erotically, referring to Eskiah as “Esk”.
The evidence, if legitimate, is absolutely condemning. We at National Report have taken it upon ourselves to compare the letter with known handwriting samples of Tupac Shakur.
When ask why he has finally decided to come forward after all these years, Eskiah stated:
“I’m doing this to call more attention to gay acceptance within the black community. There’s a big issue with homosexuality among African Americans. It’s sad. Black culture seems to look down on gay people. Take Antwon Dotson for instance. He was ridiculed by his family and friends until he broke down and conformed to the heterosexual lifestyle that was expect of him. Maybe his supposed “friends” would have thought differently if they knew Tupac was a gay male and had many similar mannerisms as Dotson behind closed doors.”
Eskiah continued:
“Think about it, people. He majored in drama. He was a poet. One of his favorite artists was Sarah Mclaughlin. He attended gay pride parades with close friend Queen Latifa. Why are you all so blinded by your intolerance?
If Tupac was still alive he would have come out of the closet by now. He told me many times that he wanted to. I think ultimately, Pac’s death was a major blow to gay acceptance. Homosexuality in the black community would have been completely different if not for Tupac’s death. It really wouldn’t surprise me if Knight had him killed to prevent him from going public about his homosexuality.
I realize many of my brothers and sisters will hate me for going public with this info. I in turn ask you why? Would you love Tu Pac any less because of his sexual preference? Would it affect the impact he’s made on people’s lives? Destroy what he stood for? No, of course it wouldn’t. Yet, I expect many people to be outraged. All I’ve gotta say is: Don’t shoot the messenger.”
As further proof of the rappers sexual lean, Eskiha cites a 1988 interview with the then 18 year old Shakur.
“That’s the flamboyant thug I knew. Soft spoken. Respectful. His entire “hard thug” persona was created by Suge Knight specifically for Death Row Records. I didn’t care for it. He didn’t either but it paid the bills. Made his Mama proud. Allowed him a life style he had never been able to experience before. He was an actor at heart, you know. He just played the part he was given…”
Eskiah is currently working on a book detailing his life with Shakur in which he will publish all of the letters he received from Tupac as well as candid, never before seen photographs of the rapper.
I think its possible that under different circumstances Tupac could've been a magnificent gay icon

My mom and dad are morbidly obease. I used to be bridging on it (I do blame them) until I actully did something about it. From 12-14 I was 100kg less than a year lost 30kg and realised they are jsut full of shit and excuses. I genuinely disgusts me when they walk around the house in underwear (idc if u think I’m fatphobic). My dad is abusive in his own ways which I could write about for a longggg time but recently my moms victim complex has been unbearable. They left for a week and it was the best week ever me and my sister did everything cook,clean take care of dog. Occasional bickering but nothing compared to our parents fights and their constant lectures or bitching. I was alone and had privacy. I knew my mom didn’t respect privacy but having that one week made me really feel it. She always wants to know everything and put her input. Like being upstairs and getting to relax without someone coming up and asking 21 questions,complaing about something,giving new tasks,etc. or being told to come down and eat the second I get back from school. None of that bullshit. I didn’t miss them. Not at all. My mom is always upstairs always I never get to be alone. And I want to be alone I’m at the age where k need to be. They came back today and I’m already sick and tired of it. My mom was upstairs (me and my sisters room and our bathroom that’s all that’s here) in her underwear which is jsut disgusting imo (how fat she is and walking around and our windows not having curtains) just doing random bullsjit to stay upstairs and nag. I cleaned the whole house alredy so there wasn’t anything for her todo there was a bit of trash in the trash cans and then bam the rant of recycling. SO MUCH COMPLAINING I HATE IT JSUT SHUT THE FUCK UP. then she wants to examine my face (I’ve had bad acne since my irregular period flared up which she knows) and she’s likes hmm what you doing to ur face (in a rlly bitchy tone) what shit are you using. I’m using completely normal shit that I’ve been using that actully helps the brand in question La Roche posay sensitive line. Skincare doesn’t work overnight on horomonal acne 😱 shocked. I also accidentally ripped some skin off under my eyebrow when I waxed over it too many times so it’s a bit red and dry it hurts a bit too. The. She starts insisting that my products did it to me. When I legit did it to myself and say it happend irl. Then I tell her no it wasn’t the products “well maybe they made ur skin more sensitive you don’t know it all” bitchy tone again. So I had an attitude back and jsut told her I’m done and going to bed. And then she had an interrogation on why I’m acting out and “wha going on” then she started insinuating that me and bf are going through problems? The fuck? She always using that one which annoys me so much. Anyway is it normal to dislike her this much ?

Would this story be acceptable for plausibility? If we say, "I made it out of there by ascending the silver spire" or whatever, and that it is a memory, does that suffice? The part 1 is below
​

I died and went to Hell. Next to the Lake of Blood, I found a list of rules [part 1]

Throughout my life, I was always a piece of shit. From an early age, I joined a gang and started selling drugs. Anything from weed to heroin to crack sold itself, but on the unforgiving streets of the city, a single mistake could be fatal. I always carried a cheap burner pistol that I could throw away after using it. I know quite a few friends and acquaintances who died from drugs I sold them- some overdosing, others crashing their cars while high. A couple of them committed suicide during opiate withdrawals. One got cut in half by a train while nodding off.
But by seventeen, I had committed my first confirmed murder- a rival gang member and drug dealer who pulled a gun on me first. I had probably killed people before, but I never watched the news after a shooting or a stabbing to see the result. I wasn’t interested in the slightest.
In this case, I had just been slightly quicker than my rival and, a fraction of a second later, his forehead imploded like a smashed pumpkin in front of me, spraying bone splinters and brains all over the sidewalk. He stumbled forward a step before falling forward. His pistol went off in his dying hand, but it went low, the bullet disappearing with a crack into the nearby street. He fell forward with a dull thud, his legs kicking as if he were seizing.
The sidewalk of the dead end street we stood on spun around me for a moment. The many abandoned, rotting houses of the city loomed over us like hanging corpses. My ears gave a high-pitched shriek of tinnitus from the gunshots.
Nervous, I looked up and down the side street. The entire place seemed silent and dead. Then I heard voices nearby and saw lights turning on in the front yards and windows of houses. Without a moment of hesitation, I took off, sprinting blindly away from the crime scene, not caring much where I was going. Someone a few houses down came out, an old black man in his boxers and slippers. He saw me running and called out something in a quavering voice. I didn’t slow down for a moment.
Not long after, I heard the wailing of sirens off in the distance. They were drawing closer by the second. When the street abruptly ended in a cul-de-sac of mostly abandoned and dilapidated houses, I chose one at random and cut across its back yard, jumped over the rusted metal fence and kept on running, cutting across random yards and jumping more fences until I started making my way back towards downtown.
After about five minutes, I got to a street with a lot more traffic and people. Covered in sweat, I walked casually back towards my tiny, cockroach-infested apartment.
I thought I had gotten away with it. I thought I had been able to kill this worthless scumbag without anyone noticing. But there were more eyes glittering behind the veil than I realized at that moment.
I went back home- and that was the night I died and went to Hell.
***
I lived on the first floor in a building with falling-down rafters and a flat black roof like an infected scab. The paint on the outside was the color of vomit, the windows cracked and broken. Moreover, the place always smelled like Mexican food and chemicals, and every night, I would hear gunshots and panicked screams outside.
I sat down at the table and opened a beer. The ancient CRT TV was on, showing some old horror movie from the 1970s. I took a deep breath, relieved. I didn’t expect a thing to happen at that moment.
Suddenly, my door burst open as if someone had fired a cannonball at it. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Standing there, I saw a dozen black police in SWAT gear holding rifles. The laser sights jumped and danced across the floor before they converged on my head and chest. Someone screamed something in a hoarse voice, but I didn’t understand. The words sounded garbled, like the whispering of a demon. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.
I fell back in my chair in surprise. A single breath later, one of them opened fire. I felt the first bullet crash through my left shoulder, felt the bone shatter and the flesh explode behind it, warm blood running down my back and chest.
The next moment, others joined in. I didn’t feel the bullet that smashed into my head and sent me to Hell. It moved fast, faster than my nerves. It must have moved as fast as death itself.
The blackness descended on me like a cloud.
***
I don’t know how much time passed. It seemed like an eternity, full of freezing darkness and screams that came from everywhere and nowhere. I remember coming awake suddenly, standing before a face formed from blinding white light. I was healed without any signs of wound or blood from the gunshots. I found myself standing naked and alone in the freezing winds.
I was shivering, my arms wrapped protectively around my chest as I stood on a flat plain of cracked, gray stone. The wind whipped around me as if I were in a hurricane, blowing sand and dust across the eternal plains. The features of the endless face constantly melted and shifted, spiraling out with bolts of lightning that cracked and sizzled all around the hurricane of light. The face seemed to stand miles high with eyes that spun like the Sun.
“Where am I?” I whispered in terror. The face of infinite light stared down at me with a blinding intensity. It seemed to see every thought, every feeling, every memory. I could feel it looking through me as if I were glass.
“You are in the Bardo,” the being said in a voice like an exploding nuclear bomb. “I am the one who sees. I am GOD, the creator of the universe and all who live within it. In the end, to Me you will always return. Did you not know you would one day have to stand here?” I shook my head.
“No… I… I…” I stuttered in terror, unable to respond.
“I have seen your evil, for indeed, I am closer to you than your own jugular vein, your own heart. Did you not see the suffering of those who harmed the innocent, those who murdered and stole and lived their lives wallowing in filth? Did you not see them get wounded, shot, stabbed, strangled and imprisoned? Did you not see them die in their evil and return to Me?”
“I did,” I admitted. “Many times.”
“And yet you have fallen into the sickness yourself,” God said in a voice like a rushing waterfall. Fury and anger seemed to seethe from him. Dozens of bolts of lightning flashed out from all sides of that radiant face. “For this, you must be purified. Your soul must be cleansed with fire. For that is the fate of those who harm the innocent- they fall down to the bottomless pit, to the blazing inferno whose fuel is men and stones. The flames eat them all greedily, and then the fires cry out to Me for more.”
My body felt like it was covered with stinging hornets. Excruciating pins and needles ran all up and down my legs and arms. I looked down, seeing a swirling dark hole opening up underneath me in the field of gray stone, spitting out drops of liquid blackness. They splashed upwards, burning through my skin like napalm, but no blood came out. It was as if my body were dissolving into dripping shadows that pulled me downwards. I felt myself slowly falling through the eternal stone plain as unseen hands dragged me away. As I descended, I heard the voice of God one last time.
“Down into the pit you will go, to the valley of wailing and the lake of flames where the damned scream for peace that never comes, to the city of shadows, to Naraka…”
***
Beneath me, the shadowy tunnel descended. I fell through it like lightning. Everything spun around me at an incredible speed. Suddenly, I broke through something, some invisible barrier in the endless darkness. I found myself falling through a cloud of suffocating smoke, and then the world opened up all around me.
A blood-red sky with thick black clouds extended out in all directions. I glimpsed a world of sharp cliffs and rivers of lava that wound their way down mountains of obsidian.
I fell through the middle of the sky at a tremendous speed, the wind whipping around my ears like a hurricane. A scream ripped its way out of my throat, but I was traveling so fast I could barely hear it as the echoes disappeared above me. Below me was what looked like a massive lake filled with blood about half a mile wide, and it was coming up to meet me fast. Many struggling bodies writhed in the currents, trying to claw their way out. I crashed through the surface at an incredible speed, going deep under the warm crimson waves.
The bloody water of the lake filled my mouth and nose with the overwhelming taste of copper and iron. I started trying to swim back up to the surface, frantically kicking and pushing with my arms and legs. I opened my eyes, and the salty blood stung them. It looked like I was peering through a translucent red film into a world of deep-sea abominations. Long snakes with two heads swam all around me, snapping and biting at each other and any legs or arms nearby. I saw them drag people down one by one, wrapping their slick bodies around their struggling victims as they drowned.
I broke through the surface, inhaling deeply. I was worried about the snakes and whatever else was slinking around down there. Thousands of people treaded water in the massive lake, trying to make their way to the shores. The nearest person to me was only ten feet away, a young woman with panicked eyes and wavy black hair. As I watched her, she gave a scream of terror and then was dragged under the surface, struggling and kicking. She never reappeared.
All around me, I smelled the fetid rot of decaying bodies. There must have been thousands and thousands of corpses at the bottom of this bloody lake. Some of them floated on top of the surface, rancid and swollen, their sightless eyes staring up at the fiery sky. The surface of the lake constantly bubbled and writhed, though whether this was from the rotting of so many bodies or from hidden monsters breathing under the surface, I didn’t yet know.
Frantically, I looked around for the nearest shore to get out of the danger. I saw that if I swam past the direction where the young woman had been, I would only have to go about two hundred feet. But my heart hammered in my chest as I remembered her being dragged under, her frantic, panicked struggling. What if the same creature was waiting over there, waiting for someone like me to try to swim over?
There were dozens more people between me and the nearest shore. Most of them climbed out, dripping drops of crimson onto the black volcanic sands of the beaches. I made my way as fast as I could in that direction, deciding to take my chances with the snakes. Otherwise, I would have to swim at least four times as far to get to the next nearest beach, which also swarmed with masses of naked people clawing their way out of the bloody lake.
A small group of people was concentrated only twenty feet away, three men who were swimming in the same direction I was. One started screaming suddenly. A purple tentacle the color of an old bruise broke through the surface of the water. To my horror, I saw it had black spikes that clicked and clacked together all along its massive arms. The spikes resembled long, hollow hypodermic needles.
The screaming man tried to swim in the opposite direction, but the tentacle wrapped around him, pulling him above the water. It tightened like a boa constrictor, the black spikes stabbing into his chest and stomach. Countless punctures opened up all along his body. The black spikes flexed, and his ribcage ripped open with a wet, ripping sound. The man’s screams abruptly cut off as his head lolled. With a sucking sound, the hollow spikes began drinking, consuming the man’s spurting blood with a sound like an inhalation of air. Slowly, almost lazily, the tentacle began dragging his limp corpse under the surface, back towards the main body of whatever monstrosity it belonged to.
The other two gave panicked sobs as more purple tentacles broke through the surface of the lake. Frantically, I started swimming around them, giving them a wide berth. Within seconds, the other two men were dragged under, deep stab wounds opening in their bodies as the hollow spikes drank greedily with loud sucking sounds.
“Fuck!” I cried, horrified. I felt something brush past my leg, something slimy and eel-like that writhed and slithered under the opaque crimson surface. In horror, I felt its slimy skin wrap around my leg, at first loosely slithering, then tightening. Two black faces with white, lidless eyes rose out of the water, the faces of serpents with fangs like switchblades. I saw both heads were connected to a single slithering body, one that wrapped slowly around my legs and arms, strangling me. Screaming, I felt its fangs dig into my neck. As the twin pairs of lidless white eyes stared at me, I tried to fight, tried to raise my arm, but it was far too strong. It dragged me under the surface.
Struggling against the beast, feeling its poison coursing through my bloodstream like lava, I drowned in the lake of blood. The experience of drowning is horrifying beyond all measure- the overwhelming fear and anxiety when you realize you have no air, the sensation of inhaling the bloody water, the sensation of dying. My vision turned black as a suffocating, clenching fist squeezed my heart. It felt like it took an eternity, but it was probably only a couple minutes at most. Death came over me then, cold and filled with small, suffocating agonies. That was the first time I died in Hell, but it would not be my last.
For in Hell, as I quickly learned, you never truly died, but were just thrown back to the beginning.
***
I felt myself falling again through the black clouds, the Lake of Blood beneath me. It all repeated like before. I screamed as I fell through the water at an incredible speed. Eldritch monstrosities were dragging people under the surface all around me. As quickly as I could, I swam towards the nearest shore. I dared not look down, didn’t dare slow for a single moment. A few times, I was nearly swiped by large, writhing tentacles, but they found other shrieking victims nearby to my immense relief.
I didn’t want to die ever again. It was a horrible sensation, though one that I would, sadly, become used to. Death followed me like a shadow, and starting over in Hell was always a nightmare.
I gave a gasp of joy when my feet touched bottom. Running through the rippling currents of blood, naked and gasping, I came upon the black sands of the shore. Looking around the lake, I saw there were four beaches, seemingly placed at each point of the compass underneath the spinning, blood-red sky.
At the end of each of the black sands lay a sparkling silver gate fifty feet tall and hundreds of feet across. The thin strands of silver intertwined like the fine filaments of a spiderweb, spiraling around each other in graceful, curving arches. Embossed over the top were the words, “ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE.” No one seemed to pay the gate any mind. Naked crowds of struggling people stumbled through it onto the streets of Hell, streets that were paved with human bones and stretched off to the horizon.
Skyscrapers made of obsidian with spiraling windows like the murderholes of a castle stretched hundreds of stories up into the blood-red sky. As I staggered out, pressed body to body in the thick crowd of crying, wailing people, I saw ahead of us the second mortal danger of Hell.
There were countless gangs of mostly men gathered on the streets of bone, the desperate soldiers of this apocalyptic wasteland. They huddled together in groups of ten or twelve, attacking and murdering random people who tried to sprint past from the Lake of Blood. They wore crude leather tunics and pants that looked like they were made from human skin. Some wore crude masks of human skin on their faces, ragged patches of flesh that had been cut from the bodies of the dead. They stared out with cold, emotionless eyes through the holes in the dried, leathery skin, surveying the surging crowds like lions surveying their prey.
They held primitive weapons in their hands, clubs and maces made from bone, swords sharpened from obsidian glass and even wooden spears. The wood looked strange and dark, almost like mahogany. Next to them were fires with sharpened spits of roasting human meat. The fat dripped off the dismembered arms and legs sizzling over the flames. It gave off a smell like roast pork that permeated the area, rising up in thick, fragrant clouds.
I followed the surging crowds, watching in horror as the groups of armed men attacked and killed random passersby in the crowd, dragging their limp bodies next to the fires where they stacked the unconscious or dead people in stacks like cordwood. I figured they would inevitably roast their flesh for food or make pale leather armor from their dead skin. I felt myself being pushed over in the direction of the nearest group of armed thugs. A few of the nearest men wore masks made of people’s faces, though those behind them did not, only wearing the crude leather armor instead.
One of them standing only ten feet away met my eyes, his cold killer’s gaze boring through me. The mask of skin made him look like some monster from a horror movie, with its ragged, mutilated edges and garish black stitches. He took a step towards me, raising a short spear made from a human leg bone and sharpened to a blood-stained point.
In panic, I looked around, seeing a young woman in her early twenties standing next to me. She was looking straight ahead with panic and terror in her eyes, not paying any attention to me or the men that crept towards us. With all of my strength, I shoved the woman towards the masked killer. She stumbled back in surprise, falling into the man’s weapon. His bone spear stabbed through her stomach. She looked down at her naked body in horror when the point emerged from her navel, dripping rivers of blood down her trembling legs. As she spit up trickles of blood and collapsed to her knees, I ran. A sickening crack rang out behind me like a shattering of bones, and I knew they had murdered the young woman.
I sprinted away from the gangs of cannibal killers as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast considering how many naked, screaming bodies pressed in all on me from all sides. I felt myself being carried forward by the surging masses towards the silver gate. Hanging from the delicate silver threads, I saw signs written in many languages. I found one in English and started reading it with rapt attention, even as I was relentlessly pushed forward and elbowed and kicked.
I still remember what it said by heart.
“Rules for Naraka:

1. Those who are damned will be fed from the fountain of life. GOD will ensure your rebirth at the Lake of Blood. Though death may crush you over and over, there will be no rest.
2. Stay away from the Screamers, the faceless ones who roam the land. Those who are taken by the Screamers will know endless torment and madness in the caverns deep under the ground.
3. When the sirens in the center of Naraka wail, the firestorms are coming. Seek shelter immediately.
4. Those rare ones who ascend the silver spire at the end of Naraka may find salvation, even in the city of shadows.”

As I was pushed forward, I read the sharp, copperplate engraving scrawled across the silver signs in glowing red letters, trying to memorize every single word. At the time, none of it made much sense, but I instinctively felt that it was immensely important in some way I didn’t yet understand.
Immediately outside the gate, the beach turned into a road paved with bones. Leg bones and arm bones were laid side by side, yellowing and drying under the dark crimson sky. Skulls embedded in the center of the road grinned up at me, laughing at silent secrets I could never hope to comprehend.
Naked and barefoot, I sprinted down the road of bones between massive skyscrapers of black obsidian and gleaming red volcanic rock. People started to thin as the survivors scattered in all directions. I felt the sharp points of bone stabbing into the soles of my feet.
That was the moment the sirens began their eerie wailing, rising and falling in a dissonant cacophony, slower and deeper than any tornado siren I had ever heard. It sounded almost like a whale call, stretching out over the infernal city. They sounded from all around us, seemingly ringing out from thousands of speakers hidden throughout the obsidian towers.
I looked up suddenly. The crimson sky had changed rapidly, forming into a cyclone that swirled overhead in great black and red spirals. It met in a fiery eye at the center. As I looked up, I saw glowing orange hail soaring through the air, leaving behind streaks like thousands of comets. It fell towards the naked masses of tens of thousands of bodies pressed together on the streets.
At that moment, I remembered the rules. Some of the others apparently hadn’t read them during the panic and horror of the escape from the Lake of Blood, and they continued surging forward down the road as fire began to fall like drops of napalm all around us. Wails of agony rose up from those who were covered in the glowing lava. The people in the front of the crowd immediately fell under the heat and destruction of the firestorm. Their hair lit on fire, their skin melted and blackened, and still more fire rained down from the sky, sweeping relentlessly in our direction.
I saw an obsidian skyscraper with a great, open archway only a couple hundred feet away. The nearest of the crowd scrambled to find cover under the safety of the building. I sprinted along with them. As I reached the threshold, I felt the first burning drops of magma land on my back. I screamed as I smelled my own skin cooking and my own hair burning, and then I was through the archway. I fell, rolling on my back, trying to put out the sizzling fires that burned me like some corrosive acid.
I felt rivers of warm blood running down my back as more people ran past me, deeper into the hall. The skyscraper was massive, not only in height but in width. The hallway ran for hundreds of feet, disappearing into doorless thresholds on both sides cleaved out of the obsidian, as if the entire structure had been carved from one enormous piece of glassy stone. In the center of the hallway, it opened up into a spiraling staircase.
I looked up abruptly to see three men wearing masks made of human skin standing over me, each holding primitive bone spears in their filthy, blood-stained hands. They looked emaciated, wasted away, like the walking corpses of a death camp. To my utter astonishment, even through the layer of dried, ragged skin, I recognized one of them. It was in his gray eyes, and the twisting dragon tattoos that covered his arms and chest instantly brought a flash of memory.
“Shooter,” I said as they raised their weapons. “Shooter, it’s me. Remember me? It’s Richie.” He froze in place, looking down at me with widening eyes.
“Holy shit, Richie?” he said, tearing the mask off. “What are you doing here?” It was an absurd question, of course. What were any of us doing here?
The last time I had seen Shooter, he had been sitting a pile of blood in his car. He was one of the designated gunman for the Solid Ones, the gang we had both joined when we were young. The amazing luck of finding another Solid in this place of death was astounding. But, then again, I had known many people who had died, and I had a feeling the vast majority were here somewhere.
“I guess I died,” I said sheepishly, giving him a faint half-smile. The other two men standing by his side lowered their weapons. “Fucking pigs came in and shot me.”
“Ah, yeah,” he said, unsurprised. “They do have a tendency to do that.” He gave a low laugh. I took a long look at Shooter, who was wearing the pale skin of some unknown victim or victims of this place of agony. He reached a trembling hand down and pulled me up from the smooth surface of this strange skyscraper. More naked, scared people continued to stream past us as the sirens continued their infernal shrieking outside. Many of them had horrific burns all over their body, and a few were clearly on the verge of death by the time they had made it inside.
Farther down the hall, another ten men wearing the same garb as Shooter came towards us, holding sharpened swords of obsidian and thick clubs made of bone. Shooter put his hands up.
“Hey, I know this guy,” he said calmly, motioning over to me with an apathetic wave of his head. “He was in the same gang as me! We used to go around having a great time, I’ll tell you. Remember that time we shot at that cop and he pissed himself?” He gave a racuous laugh at that. I smiled as the memory flooded back. Shooter had definitely hit him, though I think I probably missed. I remembered the blood soaking over the arm of cop’s uniform as he lay there, gasping and turning white, his face looking bloodless and shocked. Shooter and I had run away, high-fiving each other and grinning like maniacs.
“Yeah, I do,” I said, grinning. The other men surrounded me in a semi-circle. Shooter knelt down and extended a hand to me, helping me off the ground.
“Well, you’re in good company,” he said. “Here, we can do whatever the fuck we want. What’s going to happen, after all? It’s not like we can be sent to Hell.” He laughed, and that laughter writhed with the insanity and bloodlust that seemed to be eating him from the inside like a cancer.
***
“We still need to take him to the Sergeant,” one of the masked men next to Shooter said. “We can see if he has the right stuff needed to fight with us.”
“What happens when you guys die?” I asked. “I mean, obviously, you restart at the Lake of Blood, but how do you find your way back to your gang?” Shooter shrugged.
“We always find each other again eventually,” he said. “It’s not like there’s any lack of time here. All we have is time- and fresh meat, of course. There’s always more fresh meat streaming in through the Lake of Blood. We can take whatever we need from them…” The wailing of the sirens suddenly ended as he spoke. I looked around, seeing burnt and dying people still struggling into the front hallway of the skyscraper. The smell of burning hair and searing flesh filled the entire area.
“Come on,” one of the men said. His voice was gruff, as if he had been chainsmoking five packs a day since he was a little kid. “The Sergeant is on the top floor. You’ll have to talk to him.” I nodded, knowing they would certainly kill me if I did not join their group.
But at that moment, something much worse than dying, blackened bodies crawled in through the archway. I saw it before the group of men did. Instinctively upon glimpsing it, I knew it was something terrible, something that could only live in the depths of a psychotic’s nightmare.
It stood nearly ten feet tall. Its skin was as pale as a writhing maggot. On its hairless face, I saw no eyes, no nose, no ears, just smooth, bone-white skin. It had thin lips tied together with black thread, the garish stitches poking out from the ragged, bloodless flesh. Its arms and legs looked inhumanly long and thin. Its ribs and spine jutted out as if it were a starving, rabid animal. From all around its body, an inhuman wailing started, as if dozens of demonic voices were shrieking in unison. Yet its mouth stayed firmly closed, still stitched shut.
Its fingers jutted out like railroad spikes, each a foot long. As its screaming intensified, it ran towards us, crushing the dying and injured under its naked, twisted feet. I stared into its pale, bloodless face, and even though it had no eyes, it felt like it stared straight back at me, looking into my soul.
“Don’t look at it!” Shooter screamed next to me, turning his face away. The rest of the men closed their eyes or turned away, backpedaling away from the abomination. “It will take on the shape of what you fear most! It’s a Screamer!” But it was too late. At that moment, something strange happened to the pale, naked body of the Screamer. It rippled like a mirage sizzling off the sands of a desert. Its body squeezed and contorted as the distorted shrieking around its pale, naked body grew louder and more insane.
Thin stalks of black, spidery legs began jutting out of the sides of its chest. Its face melted like wax as glittering compound eyes sprouted from the top of its head. Within seconds, it had turned into a massive spider, a black widow whose head nearly scraped the ceiling twenty feet above us. The red hourglass on its back shone brightly, as if in reminder of the imminent death it brought to anyone it touched.
I hate spiders. I’ve always hated spiders. When I saw that skittering, crawling monstrosity, something in me broke. I sprinted towards the group of men who were trying to do their best to escape without looking directly at the Screamer, hoping that the spider would choose one of them instead of me. But I heard its massive bulk following closely behind me. I could feel its insectile breath on the back of my neck.
Naked and frantic, I sprinted behind the nearest of the men and used the same tactic I had used escaping through the silver gate: I pushed the unsuspecting figure towards the abomination that rushed towards us in a blur, its eight legs pounding the glassy floor with reverberating thuds.
Drops of clear venom dripped from its fangs as it grabbed the struggling man. It bit deeply into his leg, and as the venom dripped onto his skin, it seemed to eat through his flesh like some sort of acid. The man screamed as red streaks rapidly spread up his leg throughout the rest of his body. His teeth began chattering and his pupils dilated as he stared at me accusingly. But he did not die.
The spider grabbed him and dragged him away down the hallway, down to wherever the victims of the Screamers go. I saw a dozen more of the pale, faceless monstrosities rushing in to take his place. The men looked up, and the Screamers erupted into monstrous shapes: giant, slithering snakes, a floating eyeball with black, squid-like tentacles writhing around its central mass, enormous brown recluses and black widows and faceless Grim Reapers who floated over the ground in black robes. The overwhelming sense of fear and panic I felt at that moment still stays with me to this day, and even though this happened a couple days ago and I did eventually make it out of that den of horrors, it still leaves a deep scar across my mind.
As visions from a nightmare approached us, I turned and ran.