"Now on the other hand if I just kind of caught you off guard, and everything you said in your previous interview was a bunch of bullshit, and you would now like to take this time to share with us what I like to call the truth. Then maybe... just maybe you and I really do have a reason to crawl into that ring in a couple of weeks."

November - 08.20.2005

((Back in the Bay Area. A little before noon and the smell of sizzling bacon assaults his senses...))

((The meeting in Malibu had went well. Their agent had assured him that their clients would be on hand for any support he made need. "For old times sakes," they had said, but Kyle knew better. They never did anything without an ulterior motive. Now he just had to figure out what that was, and well... there was still Bryce to deal with. Though even that was going as expected. Though with two weeks to go there was still a lot of the unexpected that could happen.))

((Staring off across the Bay, and the ugliness behind it to the east Kyle frown and took a sip of his steaming coffee. She never understood how he could drink that stuff in this heat. He didn't know how one was to get through their day without it. He turns his head briefly to acknowledge the camera, and then pushing up off the wooden railing to his back deck, moves towards some patio furniture with comfortable looking cushions...))

November: I apologize...

((He begins with his back still to the camera, but then turns to plop down into a chair. Facing us now he takes another sip from his coffee and smiles weakly before continuing.))

... for a horrible attempt at being sarcastic. A wise man once said, "If you have to tell someone that you're being sarcastic, then you're not doing a very good job of it." So here's me apologizing for not doing a very good job of it. And I could have sworn that repeating the words "obvious" and "obviously" like fifty-billion times would have done the trick.

My bad.

((Another sip from his mug which is then followed by silence as he looks to us from over the lip of the cup.))

You have some cute one-liners there Bryce. I mean it's almost as if you've been sitting around these past few months jotting down or mentally filing away one-liner after one liner. It's cute.

No really it is. Serious.

But cute one-liners are no match for your own stupidity. You said it was me coming after you for this match and you were just signing it to humor me. I threaten to walk away, and now suddenly the truth comes out that you really did want this match. Stick with me Bryce it gets much better.

You tell me in a not so subtle way that I don't matter, and that I really don't rate in your world. I threaten to walk away, and low and behold suddenly I matter. Suddenly the truth comes out. I'm unfinished business that needs to be taken care of.

You tell me that I don't tell you what to do. I threaten to walk away unless you give me some reason to stick around for this match, and suddenly the truth comes out and your singing away like a nightingale in heat.

Truth... that's all I wanted from you Bryce. I wanted you to reveal to the world that it was you and you alone who's been looking for this match. That it was you and you alone who's been whispering nasty things in my direction. That it was you chasing me, and when you finally caught up with me it shocked you into lie after lie.

Like counting yourself among the human race? Give me a fucking break.

((Carefully he places his mug on the side table next to him and leans forward in his seat. His hands clenching together as he continues.))

See Bryce... it's like when a gnat is flying around your ear. You try to ignore it, but it continues to buzz in your ear. So you swat at it, but it keeps buzzing around in your ear. It gets real, real, real annoying. So finally you stand up and actively start to seek the little fucker out with rolled up newspaper in hand. Because once you kill it, silence it, the annoyance goes away and you're once again allowed to enjoy your retirement in peace and quiet.

I hope that analogy was sufficient enough in explaining to you why I finally threw the challenge out there.

And I also hope you realize that I'm calling the shots here Bryce. You've wanted a shot at me since LWF. Not the other way around. And thanks to you finally confessing that truth to an NGW audience of dozens the ball is once again back in my court. I'm in the drivers seat. I have the upper hand. I... well you get the point. I'm humoring you and not the other way around.

((He sits back again, taking up his mug once more, and takes a long sip from it. He allows his eyes to close for a moment before refocusing on the camera.))

So the way I look at it we can pretty much toss out your first interview as being a bunch of bravado and bullshit. So then all we're left with is your second appearance on the ol boob-tube. Where you stated I'd been played like a fool, and well "obviously" I've shown the world today that that wasn't the case at all, and in fact it is I that have been stringing you along since the word go. Tivo and replay this sucker if you need a refresher course on just how I've done that.

And well... that was pretty much the only significant thing you said. Of course had any of it been true it would have been much more effective, but still it was the only significant thing you had to say. Because Angelica... Marcus? What do they matter? Your significant other? I can't see the point in bringing her into this. This is about you and me and your inability to let the past go. This is about you finally annoying me enough to bring me out of retirement. This isn't about anything else Bryce. You can try and make it about something else, but it won't get you anywhere. Not with me. Maybe you can start a discussion with someone else on the roster who's in to dropping names and involving themselves in matters that don't really involve them, but I won't go that route. This is after all your final match. Don't you owe it a bit more respect and class?

But whatever. I guess I can't tell you what to do so go ahead and continue to lie and try and twist the truth and make a mockery out of your chance for revenge. I mean I guess I can understand it. You've never been involved in a match of this magnitude. You really don't know how to conduct yourself. You're still trying to be Nightstryker, but you're not that guy anymore. You're Bryce. You don't drink. You don't womanize. You don't wrestle week in and week out.

You're just Bryce.

And I'm Kyle Matthew Lee, and still very much aware of what I can and can't do.

((And I can't run, but I can walk much faster then this.))

((black))