New Beginnings

Pike is driving down a deserted highway, the road in front of him desolate and bare of any sign of life. Tumbleweeds roll across the highway in front of him, as the sun beats down on his truck. He turns to look at his companion in the passenger seat.

"Dang Dog it sure is hot in here. Wish we would've stopped in that little podunk town and gotten it fixed."

Pike shoots a glance at his companion

"What? No comment on that?"

Pike shoots another glance at his companion.

"Alrighty then, you just keep that tongue wagging, we'll get to another town soon enough. Maybe even see some old friends."

*Woof!*

Pike gives a chuckle

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that."

He strokes the big curs head as they continue to drive on. They pass a flashing neon sign, with the words "FI's Irish Pub, 2 miles".

Pike gets a grin on his face.

"Now see, what'd I tell ya Dog, we're gonna go see some old friends."

Pike puts on his turn signal and takes the exit to the bar.

He pulls up, shuts off the truck and steps out. He brushes the dust off of his blue jeans, and his red and black plaid long sleeve shirt. He readjusts his black cowboy hat and kicks his cowboy boots against the truck, knocking some old mud off of them. As he's stretching he can hear a commotion coming from inside the bar.

"Why you two timing, piece of crap, no good Irish punk, I"ll whip you for that!"

Pike walks around to the passenger side and lets Dog out. He looks down at Dog and gives a grin.

"Whelp, looks like we came just in the nick of time. Let's go see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into."

Pike pushes open the door and is greeted with a dense haze of smoke covering the dimly lit room. He blinks a few times to get his bearings and looks around trying to find his friend. Finally he spots him down at the end of the bar, having an argument with a fella that stands a good foot taller than him and is holding a frying pan. The aggressor holding the frying pan, has a mop of brown hair, is wearing khaki pants, and a tshirt. He's wearing a tan floor length jacket, known as a duster. He's holding up a beat up frying pan that looks like it'd been used on several people's heads. The little man, is a stoutly built irish looking fella. He's got a shock of red hair with some grey ones starting to poke through. He has a red beard, and is wearing jeans and a green irish clover tshirt. He's got a beer in both hands and is shaking them violently as he talks. Pike slowly makes his way towards the two men. He walks up behind them and taps the aggressor on the shoulder.

"Alright you two, what in the hell seems to be the problem. The last time I saw y'all, we were all whuppin up on some poor fellas in that dang ring in ISW. Now I know it's been a while, but we all go back to the good ole days of Hard Knocks, so lets just drop whatever this crap is and do what we do best...DRINK!"

The aggressor turns around and looks Pike dead in the eye. He pauses a beat and then drops the frying pan and gives Pike a big bear hug.

"Good to see you brother! Wasn't sure if you were gonna make it or not."

The smaller man approaches Pike and gives him a handshake.

"Oy it sure is good to see ya mate. This bloke just thought that he'd give this old fighting irishman one last try."

Pike laughs and the three of them sit down at the bar.

"Dom, FI, good to see ya fellas. Where's our esteemed boss? Chasm take off for parts unknown again?"

FI shakes his head.

"Aye lad, he said he couldn't wait any longer and needed to be gone. You know how he is, fiddle footed and all."

Pike nods his head slowly, "That I do. Well boys I just wanted to drop in and say howdy. On my way to some place called..umm...hold on I'll remember in a minute."

Dom begins laughing...

"Pike, you've always had a new place to go. Best of luck to you brother, and you know we'll always come running if you need us. Just pick up that phone and call."

Pike nods solemly

"Thanks Dom, lets just hope it's not like last time. Don't need a repeat of a HKW takeover again. I don't think this new crowd would like it too much. They're a bunch of young whippersnappers, and I'd hate to have us old farts show them up too much."

FI stands up quickly and grabs his trusty shilleiagh

"Who are ya callin old laddy? I may have a few extra years on me but I'll still hold my own against any young buck that wants to give it a try."

Pike puts his hand up and begins laughing

"Oh I know FI, and trust me if I run into any kind of trouble y'all will be my first call. But I gotta git, so y'all take care and I'll be seeing ya around I'm sure."

FI and Dom stand up with Pike.

FI shakes his hand and gives him a back slap.

"Take care of yourself laddie, and here take this for the road."

FI hands Pike a pint of beer.

Pike shakes his head, "Don't you know it's illegal to drive with this open, much less drink it?"

FI shrugs, "So..just don't get caught you dimwit."

Dom comes over and gives Pike a hug.

"Alright brother safe travels and let us know where it is that you end up at."

Pike gives them a wave as he heads out the door. He lets out a wolf whistle and Dog comes running and jumps into the open passenger side of the truck.

"Thanks boys..and oh yeah I remember where it is I'm gonna be at...it's called Fatality Wrestling."

Pike gets in the truck and pulls out of the bar, headed back down the road. He looks over at Dog and grins.

"Well boy, looks like we're about to start a new chapter. But it sure is nice to know some of the boys from our old life still have our back should we ever need them."

The road keeps flying by as Pike and Dog make their way towards Fatality Wrestling.