(A/N) I will, as always, make true on my promise. Christy will make a big shiny appearance in this chapter. However I do not own her or any of her buddies, just incase you forgot. So I don't want any more law suits. Heheheh… on with the story…

Chris was lying in his bed, trying to get some sleep when his phone rang. He was slow in getting out of bed to pick up the phone. When he got there, he was greeted with a distorted voice.

"How's the business Chris?" The strange voice asked.

"Could be better."

"Good. Chris we got ourselves a problem." Adam's voice rang out nervously. He had placed a silk handkerchief over the mouth piece earlier to distort his voice.

"You forgot to tell me who you are." Chris pointed out the lapse in procedure.

"God damn it Chris. You know it's me. Now is seriously not the time to fuck around Chris. Not the fucking time." Adam's voice rapped back. He was practically shaking.

"What's wrong Adam?" Chris asked, sensing that Adam had something important to tell him.

"Damn it Chris. I've gotta fight you."

"What?"

"In the damn tournament. Chris, it's me versus you. What the fuck are we going to do? Huh, what the fuck are we going to do?"

"Woah, hold up there. We are going to take deep breaths, and back up 1 sec. Are you talking about Hunter's stupid tournament?"

"Yes. Chris, our cover is blown."

"No it's not. Don't worry." Chris said. At the moment, he was definitely the calmer of the two. It was up to him to think of a plan. Except nothing was coming to him. He could see no easy way out. He wasn't going to forfeit. No way. He couldn't make Edge forfeit. Cena would get suspicious. And he doubted whether Edge would anyway. The only way to get through this, was to fight.

"We gotta fight." Chris finally said.

"What?"

"We gotta fight. That's the only way."

"I ain't gonna fight you Chris. No fucking way."

"Well if you can think of another way to get out of this without blowing your cover, tell me man. Cause I would like to solve this another way. But at the moment we are stuck up shit creek without a paddle. Fuck that, we don't even have a fucking boat. We are waist deep in this man, and there is no easy way out."

Silence descended upon the telephone line as Adam took his time to soak in Chris' reasoning.

"So we are really gonna do this then?" Adam finally asked.

"I guess we are."

"Well then, may the best man win."

The chilly night air bit into her skin as she wrapped herself up tighter in the woolen jumper. She hopped into the waiting car and felt the heat of the radiator kiss her skin. The redhead took off the woolen jumper and sat back in the chair.

"I don't think it is a good idea that you come Christy." Dave said, putting his car into reverse and pulling out of the driveway.

"We've been through this already Dave. I will support you no matter what you do, ok?" Christy said stubbornly. "Don't worry about me. I'm a big girl."

"I know that. It's just that the crowd there won't exactly be desirable."

"Dave, don't worry." Christy stressed.

Dave didn't say anything else. He was obviously worried about his girlfriend watching him participate in illegal proceedings, even though she constantly reminded him that she was brought up in a rough neighborhood where street fights were the norm.

Dave pulled up into his employee park space, right up the front of the club. He got out and escorted Christy to the door. They both entered together.

John Cena was walking around a packed 'Club Evolution'. This tournament was doing wonders for Hunter's club. Maybe he should organize something like this later on. But Cena pushed all plans aside as he scanned the place for a certain blonde haired beauty. He had about ten minutes before his fight against Batista, and he was desperate to find her. She was nowhere to be seen, so he relegated his task of finding and talking to her for after the match. Because currently, he was about to compete in probably his toughest match to date. Dave Batista was certainly going to be a very tough fight and Cena was going to need full concentration if he was going to stand a chance.

All the formalities had been said and dealt with and the two fighters faced off. The match began viciously. Both men were fighting at a quick pace and the crowd was certainly getting their monies worth. Cena and Dave traded blow for blow, both men holding their own against each other. The match continued at the same entertaining pace as it began for a couple of minutes until both men were worn out.

Dave was hitting Cena with everything he had but the man still wasn't succumbing to his power.

"What the hell do I have to do to make this guy stay down?" Dave thought to himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Christy cheering him on. He couldn't think about her now. He needed to concentrate on the fight. A fist collided with the side of his face. That was the price he paid for the lapse of concentration. Just a second of indecisiveness could cost him the game. But Dave bounced back and hit John with a fist of his own. The two men were even again.

John was getting a little frustrated. He had been the one making all the advances. Dave was just sitting back. John just couldn't knock this giant down if he wasn't going to come for him. John went in again with a fist and then a knee. Dave staggered back but came at him. John got a fist to the stomach for his troubles. Dave took a big swing at John's head but he ducked under just in time. The opportunity had arisen and John made no error on capitalizing. He brought his knee up to Dave's stomach. He hit him with his knee again and again until 'The Animal' finally fell to his knees. John backed up a bit and ran in with his foot which smacked Dave in the face. John now had the upper hand.

John continued his beat down of his opponent, not giving him any breathing space because he knew that if he gave Batista just one opening, he would be a goner. John had knocked Dave down onto the mat once again and he backed off so that the ref could begin the count. He turned around and his stomach did a back flip inside him. His eyes locked with hers and immediately he could sense her pain. A sharp pain of his own pierced his chest as he began to choke up. John just stood there, staring at Torrie, oblivious to the fact that the ref had stopped his count at 6 because Dave was now on his feet. Suddenly John was thrown into a world of pain as Dave clubbed him in the back of the neck. Dave damn near decapitated his opponent, and 'The Animal' knew that his prey was now easy pickings. He picked John up off the mat and threw him on top of his shoulders. He proceeded to driving him back down on the mat and the whole club shuddered under the impact. Even the crowd sensed that Dave had the match won and they were slowly turning to Dave's side.

John's vision was blurry. He could see basic shapes and colors, but they were all unrecognizable. He still hadn't entered the stage where he began to feel numb and pain shot threw his whole body every time Dave hit him. He couldn't focus. His mind was somewhere else. His mind was with Torrie. He couldn't let this happen again. He wouldn't. He clenched and unclenched his fist to get the blood pumping. His vision was slowly, but surely returning. Just as he felt that he could get up without Dave's help, he felt himself get lifted off the mat. Once again he was perched high up on Batista's shoulders. He lifted his head slightly to look at Torrie. She had a worried expression on her face. John raised his forearm and brought it down on Dave's face. The giant man stumbled. He brought it down again and again and again and Dave had no choice but to drop Cena. John slowly got to his feet to see Dave charge at him like a raging bull. He got low and wrapped his arms around Dave's piston like legs. He felt Dave's body mass crash into his shoulders as Dave fell onto the mat in a text book tackle. John scrambled to his feet as fast as he could and got Dave in a head lock before the large man could get up.

Batistafelt his oxygen supply slowly get cut off. He felt exhausted. He tried to stand up but his legs gave way under the combined weight of the two men. He managed to get an arm free and he punched Cena in the back. The grip loosened slightly. He punched again and again, it loosened. Dave took his time to catch his breath before Cena tightened his grip again. But that few seconds was all Dave needed, as the oxygen rushed through his body. He forced himself to push with every muscle in his body and he managed to get to a vertical position. He wrapped his arms around Cena's waist and with a great show of strength, he lifted Cena off the mat.

Cena felt his feet leave the floor. Dave had lifted him in the air and was about to drive him back down into it. If he succeeded, John knew that this fight would be over. He struggled like a madman to try and throw Dave off balance…and it worked. Dave fell. The large man stuck his hand out to try and break his fall but the combined weight of the two fighters caused his arm to bend in a way that it wasn't supposed to. John had heard the loud crack followed by Dave's screams of pain. He got to his feet and saw 'The Animal' lying on the ground clutching his arm. He could see the bone protruding out of the skin in a sickening way and he knew that only meant one thing.

He looked at the ref but he didn't stop the match. Randy had never said anything about this and so both him and the referee didn't know what to do under these circumstances. John saw a beautiful redhead holding her face, a frightened expression plastered on it. She seemed set to cry. He guessed it was Dave's girlfriend. He then shifted his glance to his ex girlfriend. Torrie still had that same anxious expression as before. John just wanted to go over there and wipe the sadness out of her eyes with a kiss. But the screaming of the crowd brought him back to reality. They wanted him to finish the job. Dave was now on his knees, still holding his arm. Dave was never going to be able to mount a comeback with one arm and he knew it too. So John backed up to the ropes. He charged at his opponent. Dave made no attempt to dive out of the way, but instead, he seemed to have accepted his fate. John's foot collided with Dave's face and Batista fell to the mat. The referee had no choice but to count Dave out and announce John the winner. The doctor of Thuganomics was the first fighter into the finals.

John hopped out of the ring and walked straight for his target. He made didn't even bother to clean himself up first. He just didn't care. He needed to talk to her, and that was just what he was going to do.

Christy rushed into the ring once the match was deemed over. She bent down and held Dave's head in her hands.

"Oh my god… Baby. Are you ok? Oh please say something." She practically sobbed.

"I told you not to come." Dave replied.

"Oh I know. But I wanted to. I wanted to support you. Come on, lets go get you cleaned up and get that arm in a cast." She proposed as the two of them exited the ring together.

When they stepped down, they were greeted by a furious Hunter.

"YOU FUCKING GOOD FOR NOTHING SON OF A BITCH! I GIVE YOU ONE SIMPLE JOB, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN PULL IT OFF! YOU LOUSY…"

However, he was interrupted by an equally furious Christy. "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO DAVE LIKE THAT! HE DID HIS BEST IN THERE AND THAT IS ALL YOU SHOULD EXPECT OF HIM! IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE, THEN WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU DO IT YOURSELF THEN, INSTEAD OF GETTING DAVE TO DO ALL THE DIRTY WORK FOR YOU!"

Hunter was momentarily stunned by the ferociousness of the redhead, but quickly regained his composure. "Listen you slut, don't you dare talk to me like that, unless you don't want to have the ability to talk ever again."

At this comment Dave damn near lost his cool. He put his good arm in front of Christy and gently pushed her back. He stood face to face with Hunter, Both their noses almost touching. Hunter whispered something that only the two of them could hear.

"Uh uh uh. Don't do anything you will regret Dave. For your sake. Oh, and for Christy's sake."

The threat had it's effect as Dave backed down.

"I'm sorry boss. I shouldn't have lost the match and I promise it won't happen again." Dave said. He grabbed Christy's wrist and dragged her away to the dressing room.

"What the hell Dave?" She asked. "Hunter has no right. Absolutely no right to treat you like that. Damn it, you deserve better."

"Just drop it Christy. Please." He begged.

Christy sensed the desperation in his voice, but decided now would not be the best time to confront him about it. Instead she kept quite and accompanied Dave to get patched up. Christy was beautiful, talented, smart, but also very stubborn. She made a promise to herself there and then to get to the bottom of this. She knew Dave wouldn't just back down like that. Something had to be wrong and she wasn't going to rest until she found out what it was.

"Torrie!" John called out.

"Torrie! Wait, please. I just want to talk. Torrie!" she still wasn't turning around. John started to run and eventually weaved his way around the crowd and caught her. He grabbed her shoulder and she spun around.

"Leave me alone John! I don't want anything to do with you." She scolded.

"Now I know that ain't true. You don't mean it. C'mon please, I just want to talk to you."

Torrie looked into his eyes. She saw the determination. The tenacity. The ferociousness. All the traits of good fighter. But she also saw kindness, and love. Love for her.

"John, I can't. I'm with Hunter now. And Hunter would never lie to me. Not like you did."

"Torrie, please let me explain. Just give me a few minutes of your time. Look I didn't lie to you. I didn't kill Rick Jericho. I swear to you. I was there, I admit, but I give you my word, I did not pull the trigger."

"John, your word means nothing to me. Now please, just leave." Torrie said as she began to walk away.

"TORRIE! WAIT!" John called out. He ran after her but felt a fist collide with his face. John fell to the floor and grabbed his nose. He looked up to see who had punched him. Hunter loomed over him.

"What the hell do you think you are doing? Huh? You think you can just harass my girl without getting beaten down you little punk." Hunter said, already in a sour mood.

John got to his feet. He took a swing at Hunter's face and hit him square on the jaw. Hunter stumbled back. For a second, he was unsure whether or not he should strike back. But he couldn't just walk away. His reputation would be torn to pieces. Hunter believed fear meant loyalty. He couldn't let a punk ass like Cena jeopardize his rule. Hunter lunged at Cena and both men went crashing to the ground. Arms were flying everywhere and the crowd made way for this unofficial brawl. Randy and Ric rushed to Hunter's aid. They pulled Cena off Hunter and held him down. Hunter got up and brushed himself off. He then kicked Cena in the head.

"YOU DIRTY MOTHER FUCKER! YOU ARE GONNA PAY! I CAN MAKE YOUR ALREADY PITIFUL LIFE EVEN MORE MISERABLE! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM? I'M TRIPLE H YOU BITCH! AND YOU, YOU ARE A NOBODY. A FUCKING LOSER!" Hunter roared he continued to kick John while he was on the ground. Torrie jumped in the way.

"Hunter! Stop! That's enough. Let's just go." She cried.

Hunter stopped for a second. He looked down at John who was now coughing blood. He spat on him and kicked him in the ribs one more time for good measure.

"Ok. Let's go boys. Leave this piece of trash to rot." He said as they all retreated back into Hunter's office.

John lay there, spectators crowding around him to see if he was alright. Blood continued to spurt from his mouth as he muttered the words "Torrie…I…I didn't lie t…to…to you."

(A/N) Wow… long chapter that. And in it, a lot of interesting things happen. So John is the first into the finals. Surprised? Well a lot more surprises to come. Seems my writing block has passed by. Had lots of fun writing that chapter. Hope you have just as much fun reading it. Peace.