He had lost.
He had lost.
He had lost to that...child. That insufferable child that was scared of his own shadow. How could he lose to someone like that? He had trained endlessly, for weeks he trained and pushed his body to its limits and beyond even that. The boy just fooled around with his friends. Or he had so believed.
Yet he still lost. He still couldn't comprehend it. He broke the boy's best moves again and again but he still persisted. He even attempted to take his mask off, everyone knowing the consequences if it came off. He failed with that as well.
It sickened him immensely.
The Chojin Crown was meant to be his win, not Kid Muscle's. He firmly believed this. The cheering from the fans, no matter how he detested the crowds that would pour around him, was meant to be cheering for him.
Kid Muscle has always been the better of the two. He'll win, I know it. He remembered a fan say before the match when he thought neither of the wrestlers could hear him in the stands. He might act like a scaredy cat all the time but he knows when it's time to be serious. He always wins anyway, not matter how stupid he acts.
You really think he'll beat Kevin Mask? His friend retaliated, grinning.
Hell yeah! Kevin's nothin' but a weakling!
Kevin had wanted to yell at him, to tell him that the Kid was nothing more than a bug beneath his shoe. But he didn't. He couldn't. After all, it wasn't an honourable thing to do. But the phrase boiled his blood.
He had vanished after the fight not wanting to be seen or corralled into an interview by the nagging reporters. He hated them. They asked too many questions for his likening. And they wouldn't have helped the ringing in his ears and the headache caused by it.
Kevin groaned as he spotted some fans that had obviously snuck past the security standing in front of his door, clearly wanting to catch him as he went there to retire. He scowled, sighing heavily. Kevin didn't want to talk to anyone, other than Lord Flash but even he had disappeared after the match.
Of course he would. Kevin thought miserably as he thought about his coach. He was Warsman in disguise and now his secret was out, he certainly wouldn't want to stick around to answer to anyone.
But that didn't stop Kevin wishing Warsman was still around, so he could tell the fangirls to move off so Kevin could get into his dressing room and rest.
Unfortunely, the girls spotted him and squealed loudly, the sound reverberating about in his mask, despite the distance and causing him to wince.
"Girls, if you please would move-" he attempted but was cut off by one of the girls, a bursting blonde chewing gum.
"Oh my god Kevin! You should have, like won instead of that Kid Muscle!" She shrieked, her friends joining her in agreement and adding to the noise, once again causing Kevin to wince.
"Ladies, please..." He tried again weakly. He wasn't good at talking to women. He normally avoided them all together or let Lord Flash-Warsman-deal with them. "I just want to be left alone..."
"Oh! Of Course!" The Blonde beamed at him, batting his eyelashes at her before thrusting a pen and notepad at him. "Can we just have your autograph please?" Kevin wanted to groan. He highly doubted he could hold a pen at the moment as his hands ached but Kevin wanted to get rid of these girls before he fell over.
"Alright. If it means you will leave me alone." Kevin grumbled the last part under his breath as he took the pad and pen, signing it sloppily. The blonde didn't seem to care, squealing as her friends excitedly held out their own pens and pads, all three squealing as he signed them as well. They dashed off as his arms fell to his sides. Kevin sighed again heavily, thankful they were gone.
"Kevin!" The masked Chojin groaned. What now? Kevin wondered as he turned around, wondering who wanted him now.
Kevin stared at the belt that had been shoved in his face before glancing at the one who had thrust it at him. Kid Muscle was grinning sheepishly.
"You can have it."
What? He hadn't realised he said it out loud until Kid started to shift from one foot to the other.
"You can have it. I only wanted to win the Chojin Crown so Roxanne would like me." He muttered, looking away sadly, showing Kevin the actual teenage Kid rather than the child Kid. "But she hates me still. I don't know why." Because you're an obnoxious, loud mouth, bad smelling, pig faced spoiled prince who normally gets his way with everything? Kevin bit back the words, knowing it would hurt the boy more than his wounds.
"But I did not win the Crown. I do not deserve it." Kevin told him, surprised when Kid shook his head.
"No, you do. I only entered because I wanted to impress Roxanne. You did it so you could show your father how strong you were and to gain his respect." He answered back. "I would have run away otherwise and never shown my face to the crowd-well, I would never have shown my mask I should say." Kevin couldn't help but laugh at this. Kid grinned sheepishly again.
"Never heard you laugh before." He muttered. "At least, not a real one. It was always a scary, crazy laugh." Kevin rolled his eyes, the action missed by Kid.
"Tell me Kid-"
"Mantaro." Kevin paused, frowning.
"What?" Kid looked nervously at Kevin. The older man thought he could see the younger blushing by the tear in his mask.
"My name's Mantaro." He explained softly, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "The only reason people call me Kid is because Meat calls me that and that's because I'm the kid of King Muscle. Terry's called Kid as well sometimes and it gets really confusing...But my actual name is Mantaro. I want you to call me that."
"Alright Ki-Mantaro," He quickly corrected himself, wondering why all of a sudden the teenager wanted him to call him by his real name. "But I can't accept the belt. For whatever reasons you entered the Crown, you still won it. So it's yours by right."
"Just take it Kevin." Mantaro urged him, stepping away from him as Kevin went to hand him back the belt. "Or if you don't want it, just throw it out. I don't care. I don't want or need it."
"Mantaro, you won the tournament of tournaments!" Kevin was starting to get angry. Did Mantaro not understand that he had won a tournament thousands wished to win? And he was giving it away because of some girl that didn't like him? "And you're saying you don't want the title, because of some measly girl hating you?"
"She's not measly!" Mantaro protested weakly, tears gathering in his eyes. "It's just...I..."
"Love her?" Kevin finished for him, still frowning under his mask. He was getting irritable now. Well, more irritable then he was before. Not only was he tired and sore but angry at the fact that Mantaro didn't know the importance of the belt he was giving away. "Kid, I'll give some advice. If she hasn't accepted your feelings yet, she never will. I've seen her cheer for you when you are losing the match. She only ever likes you if you win. Between that, she hates you. Am I right?" Mantaro nodded, tears still clinging to his mask. "Then find someone else to love! By the Queen, you're a Prince! If you became a bit more refined," as he stressed on the word refined Mantaro chuckled weakly. "You could have any girl you wanted. Even that MacMadd Woman." He was taken back when Mantaro laughed.
"Jaeger's got her. Or should I say she's got Jaeger?" He said simply, a small smile on his big lips. "And I don't think I could have any girl I wanted, unless it was Rox-" He yelped when Kevin roughly pushed the belt back into his grasp, scowling under his metal mask.
"The girl is nothing but trouble." He stated. "Now, unless you have anything else to talk about, good day." Mantaro watched him stalk off, a dejected look on his face. He then glanced down at the gleaming belt. His face was contorted under the mask, trying to process what Kevin had said.
The belt cluttered onto the floor as Mantaro loosened his grip on it. He didn't bend to pick it up; instead, he turned on his heels and walked away from it.
After all, it was nothing to him other than a fanciful belt that once held his hopes and dreams. It held them no more.
A/N Can I say I'm surprised I spurted this out? I started watching Ultimate Muscle again (What for, I can't remember) and afterwards, I found this AMV called (Ultimate Muscle) Waiting for the End. It's a great AMV to round up the end of the series, if you ask me and I kept watching it, which in the end, made me create this monster. (It's not really. It's three pages long and I finished in probably 2-3hours?) Don't ask me what the plot for this little story is, because I myself have no clue. Whenever I write a story like this one, inspired by literally nothing, I do not know what I'm typing. I just go with the flow. Most of my stories go like this, might I say, which is a bit troubling at times with my more major projects but I still like what comes out. Anyway, at least I updated something. I might continue with this fandom, if I feel like it. You can find more stuff over on my Deviantart account (SilverForestWolf) if you want to check it out.