Chapter 20: The Title Match

Double D awoke to a sound during the night. He opened his eyes. He could barley see anything. He tiredly walked over to his laptop and opened it to see that's where the sound was coming from. He turned on the monitor to give him some light. "Somebody's contacting me at this hour?" he thought.

He read the message. It was from X again.

"Find the key in the lobby."

"Oh no, another mission." He muttered but made sure he hadn't woken anyone.

He didn't want to get anyone else involved.

"I must make sure nobody sees me." He said quietly to himself.

He dressed himself entirely in black, so if anyone was out there, they wouldn't see him sneaking around. He grabbed his laptop and prepared to walk out the door. Just before he did, he looked to Eduardo Jr who was still sleep on his bed.

"I shall return shortly, little one." Double D whispered, then walked out the door.

Unfortunately, he shut to door a little too loudly. One of the people in the room slowly arose to see Double D's absence.

Double D crept through the completely vacant hallway. It seemed awkward to be in the hall when even security had gone to sleep. His path continued until he reached the lobby room. Again, it was almost eerie to see it vacant. He needed to hurry, before anyone saw him missing. He crept into a corner and re-contacted X.

"Where is it?" He typed.

A few seconds later, a response came onto the screen.

"Behind a poster."

"Who are you, how do you know this?" Double D typed.

"It is not your concern. Find the key, and get out before you are noticed." X typed back.

Double D was worried. He didn't like to tamper with anything other than his own things, but he started to peel the posters off the wall cautiously, until revealing a key behind one. He ran back to his computer and typed.

"I found it."

"Good. Go to the storage room."

"Where is that?"

"Oh, that's right. Gonzalez went there the last time. I shall direct you, so pay close attention."

X gave him very intricate directions until Double D reached the door.

"Go. Hurry!" X typed.

Double D quickly ran in and shut the door behind him. The darkness inside overwhelmed him. Unlike the halls that at least had lights, this room was pitch black. Double D turned on a built-in light on his laptop.

"Go. Use the key to unlock the door." X typed.

A following beeping noise indicated that X had signed off the web. Now he was completely alone in the darkness. He was worried. At least while linked to X, he wasn't. But none-the-less, he directed his laptop light around the room.

"Oooooooooooooo." A distant voice moaned.

"Ah!" Double D shouted in panic. He ran to reach the door to escape but dropped his laptop in the process. The room dimmed into complete darkness.

"Oh my, no!" Double D shouted.

He reached around until he picked it up. It still worked, but the light was gone. It was useless to him. He put it away. Now he couldn't even see the door to leave.

All the while, the distant moaning continued.

Double D had no choice. He couldn't see the exit; thus he had to venture and unlock the door like he was instructed. His heart pounded as he climbed the cold, steel staircase. When he reached the top, the moaning had gotten louder.

He started breathing faster as he walked towards a door with a visible padlock on it. He slowly approached it and unlocked the door, carelessly throwing the key down the staircase. But what surprised him was that he failed to hear any sort of noise when it landed. But before he reached the handle, the door started shaking.

Double D retaliated and backed slowly away. "Oh my, oh my, oh my!"

He was near hyperventilating. He needed to remain brave. He was shaking, and slowly unsheathed his rod from his backpack. He wasn't sure what to expect awaited beyond the door.

He summoned every bit of bravery within himself just to approach the door. He was shaking and turned the handle of the door slowly. Then, he readied his rod and slowly opened the door.

He was greeted to the sight of two, distorted, pale-colored faces, both moaning. The two people fell down as he opened the door, one landed right on him.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Double D shouted hysterically.

"Daddy?" Another voice asked.

It was little Eduardo Jr, who had apparently followed him.

Double D didn't respond. The fear had made him fall into a complete faint…

"Huh?" Double D asked after he regained consciousness.

"Good." Eduardo Jr said.

Double D noticed he was still in the storage room, only now it was filled with security officers. He looked and saw a group carrying out the two people he found on stretchers. With the added light of the flashlights Security had, he saw who it was.

"That's Bandy Andy! And King K! What happened?" Double D asked.

"When I found you faint, I went and got the security dudes. I just came back with them." Eduardo Jr said.

"What could have happened to them?" Double D asked.

"I dunno." Eduardo Jr shrugged.

"Well, it's best if we leave the rest of this to security. We got to get back to the room." Double D said.

"Okay, I dig." Eduardo Jr said.

However, as they both walked down the stairs, Double D saw out of the corner of his eyes, Jolene standing at the door. As soon as he saw her, she shut the door and left.

"SIX AM!" Grubba shouted. "WAKE UP, THE PARK'S OPENING!"

Double D was eager to awaken that morning. He was now more determined than ever to become champion and get the star and leave.

"So, what happened to those two?" Mario asked.

"I found them acting like zombies last night. It turns out they suffered physical and emotional trauma. Bandy some time two nights ago, and King K yesterday. I think…" Double D lowered his voice to a whisper. "That they saw something they shouldn't have. No doubt, whoever is behind this is the one who threatened us and is after the Star."

"Oh, this star!" Mario groaned. "Why is this one taking much longer to get?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to go crazy if we don't get it soon. Anyways, I called the hospital to check on Andy and King K. They're in a coma." Double D said.

"Double D, come on!" Nazz shouted from the locker room. "We have to go reserve the title match!"

"Right!" Double D said.

"Good luck, Double D." Mario said.

It turns out Double D walked in too late, and that Nazz had already reserved it. The rest of his group was already formed, doing exercises.

"The time has come." Rolf said as the guard opened the door.

"Come." he said. They followed the guard out of the room. And in a different direction…

"Mr. Guard? Dude? That's the wrong way to the ring!" Eduardo Jr pointed out.

"You were instructed to wait in a different room to be escorted into the match." the guard said.

He led them into an empty locker room.

"Stay here." He demanded before shutting the door.

"Double D?" Jimmy asked. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you have waited for, the title match has begun! This match pit's the rising stars, team Eduardo, vs. the infamous Rawk Hawk!"

Rawk Hawk's fangirls started screaming the second he appeared on the arena.

"So, how do you feel about you're opponents?" Grubba asked.

"They're nothing. They were as nothing as Prince Mush was."

A few boos came from the audience.

"It appears we have some Prince mush fans in here, folks!" Grubba said.

"Who's that?" Eddy asked up in the stands. He had come to watch the fight.

"The first champion here. He vanished BOMB years ago, but he was the greatest." Master Crash explained, who was sitting next to him.

"Now, to introduce those very rising stars, Team Eduardo!" Grubba shouted. Everyone looked over to the doors.

They watched in anticipation… and watched… and watched…

"WHHHHOOOOOOOAAAAA!" Grubba shouted. "Where are they?"

"Uh oh." Nazz said, with an ear against the door. "It's starting without us! We gotta go!"

She struggled and shook the knob, but it failed to open.

"We're locked it!" she shouted.

"Oh curses!" Rolf shouted, banging on the door. "Stupid-anti-secure-boy, release Rolf!"

"Oh, what do we do?" Jimmy asked.

"Guys, clear a path!" Eduardo Jr said.

He walked up and stuck out his long tongue which wrapped around the knob. He pulled back on it for a few seconds, then quit and released the door.

"Allow me." Double D said. He pointed to the door. "Fire Ball!"

A ball made of fire shot from his hand and broke down the door.

They ran out and proceeded the correct way to the arena.

"I think this is a forfeit!" Grubba said. "We may have to-"

"Pathi-Flare!" a voice shouted.

The doors suddenly broke open revealing Double D and his aggravated team. They walked on stage.

"Whoa, so the chickens showed up after all." Rawk taunted.

"Shut up and fight, you cheater." Double D said. "We know you informed security to entrap us."

"Hm. Very well, let's get this going." Rawk said with a smirk.

"Time to BATTLE!" Grubba shouted.

And with that, the fight begun.

"HIYYA!" Rawk shouted, running, and preparing to kick.

Rolf ran ahead and deflected the blow with his own arms. He was probably the most aggravated.

"How dare you cheat Rolf as so, he-who-has-brawn!" Rolf said and angrily grabbed Rawk and with all the strength he had, lifted him into the air, then slammed him on the floor.

Rawk seemed completely unfazed, but threw a punch right at Rolf, who fainted instantly.

"All right, Jimmy!" Double D instructed, taking out his rod. "Time to-"

"D-D-D-D-D-double D? I'm kinda scared about this guy." Jimmy said.

"Oh, Jimmy. I thought you got over-" Double D stopped when he saw Jimmy wink at him.

"He has a plan. Best to go with it." Double D said. "Alright."

Double D ran at Rawk alone with his rod.

As he did, he called out "Flare!"

His rod quickly turned into a fire-sword. He jumped into the air and swung as hard as could. It struck Rawk as hard as he could swing, erupting into flames.

Double D stood back and waved his hand, dismissing the fire and returning his flaming sword back to a rod.

"You're the cheater, using a move like that." Rawk said.

Double D was about to swing again, but Nazz ran ahead and jumped into the air to kick Rawk. But in mid-air, she was grabbed and thrown down on the floor beside Rolf, who joined his faint.

"Let me try!" Eduardo Jr shouted.

He ran up to Rawk and Jumped on him a few times.

"No." Rawk grunted as he was weakening.

Double D let out a battle cry and ran at Rawk.

"Fire Ball!" The ball of fire passed right by Rawk.

Double D had been too careless in his attack. He stopped running. He felt a little tired already but didn't give up.

"Fire Ball!"

Another ball of fire shot from his hand and nearly hit Rawk. It erupted and struck a wall on the other side of the arenas, which Double D dismissed with a wave.

Rawk ran over to Double D with his fist and quickly took him down to the floor.

Jimmy was still reluctant to join, so Eduardo Jr. took the next move. He again jumped into the air and attempted to hit Rawk. This time, however, he was thrown on the floor.

"…Jimmy. Help." He said, but shouted when Rawk stepped on him, falling into a faint like the others.

Rawk continued to walk closer to the frightened Jimmy. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and help him up.

"So, what do you have to say, now?" Rawk asked.

Jimmy's face turned from frightened to satisfied. "Bye-bye."

"Pathi-Flare!"

Rawk Hawk shrieked and let go of Jimmy. He was thrown across the room and fell on the floor. He was out-cold.

Double D looked proud as he stood up. "Checkmate."

"HOLY CRAP!" Grubba shouted. "WE HAVE NEW CHAMPS! TEEEEEEAM EDUARDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Double D helped Nazz, Eduardo jr. and Rolf up, so they could all enjoy the victory together.

"GO EDUARDO!" Eddy shouted in the audience.

They also heard Mario and his group cheering them on as well.

"Here's your fight money." Jolene gave them 20 coins. "And you're champ's belt."

She handed them the belt with the faux-crystal star. "Allow me to personally escort you to the Champ's room."

She led them out of the major league locker room and down the hall to the champion's room.

"This is so sweet." Eduardo jr said when they finally got accommodated.

"No, it's not." Double D said. "6 people went into the hospital since we arrived, days of passed and we still don't have the star. I don't know why this is taking us SO long!"

Beep. Beep.

"It's X." he said, opening his laptop. "It's time to end this, once and for all."