Home X2: 10 Years - Goodnight, but not Goodbye

There was a large crowd gathered. AFW has had several fans that have been lifelong viewers. They've watched every storyline, they've read every tabloid they could get their hands on. With the rise of Social Media platforms, fans could follow their favorite wrestlers and take all the action on the go with mobile apps and being able to watch their heroes and villains play it out for the world from wherever they are. The arena was sold out for a special Promo that was being cut, right before the live audience of 10,000 loving fans. Signs that they brought with them being waved in the crowd.

"Remember the First Day!"
"Minimal Mouse!"
"We Love Taylor Parker!"
"Bring Back Sex Wars"
"Brexit?!" With a certain Paragon's logo on it.
"Avalanche '17 4-Ever!"
"Fight to be free. Fight to be me."
"Nick x Cougra"
"I'm willing to understand you!"

The crowd roars to life as the lights cut on, enshrouding the ring with a purple light. Twelve people all stood in the ring, together. The first time that they had all stood with one another in the spanning ten years of this story. This would also most likely be the only and last time. Adults that grew up watching them. Teenagers that grew up hearing about what they had done. Young ones who had heard tales and gotten to see the archived fights online and had grown to love these wrestlers, maybe some were even striving to join AFW someday. Maybe some had been inspired already and as adults, stood backstage and watched as these people that spurred them to join the wild world of wrestling by hearing and reading of their exploits. The crowds cheers roar on for a solid two minutes. What felt like a lifetime of thanks and praise.

These 12 were dressed up for the occasion. Some of them hadn't been seen in a ring in years, having been retired.

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Raising a hand in the air, dressed in a brown suit, Nick Solem held a mic in his other hand. "Thank you. There are no words that I can really say, other than that. Thank. You. I know that I haven't been around in what seems like forever, but I know that you'll never forget me. Just like how I've never forgotten you. The Great Satoru Iwata once said: 'On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.'...He never forgot where he came from and who his audience was. Just like how even after I've moved on to work at Nintendo, I never forgot where I once came from."

Next, in a green dress, Yoshiro Onamay received the mic. "You loved all of the stories we've spun. How our lives played out in this ring, and on the grounds of AFW. All of our friendships, the break ups, the make ups...Everything that we put on the line."

She handed the mic down to a shorter young man dressed in a white and blue dress shirt. Conza Delejabon. "You wondered where some of us came from, and dug to find out, and somehow you maybe fell more in love with who we are after reading. And you wanted to experience and interact with us, which many of you did by coming day in and day out to see us.

He hands the mic up to a black-haired man who was dressed in a black sleek-looking hoodie. On the back read his namesake, Jay Zokaro. "You were worried when we fought with each other, wanting to mend those damaged binds that we brought here with us. Wanting to mend those binds. Maybe even...Create new ones with us..."

He handed the mic to a blonde with rabbit ears on her head who was in a beautiful white dress with a black flower on it. Anampo Yatgra. "We enjoyed every time that we got to meet someone new. For better or for worse. But through it all, you, the fans, watched it all and stayed."

A tall man in a labcoat was handed the mic. Alibaster Incarnivorous flipped his hair back. "Villains come and go. Heroes come and go. But you always stay. To some degree, that means we will always be here too, being kept alive in a type of suspended animation that we call memories. Where you can relive them every day and look back fondly."

Wearing a traditional orange Chines dress, Xuan Lee bowed when given the mic next. "You may have, in some ways, filled in the gaps that we were missing in our own character. Our own faults, you took them in and nurtured them."

In her Haxorus cosplay outfit, Auraborus Borialus gave Xuan a happy slug of the arm and took next. "Whether we willed some sort of random niche..."

Having her own headset as any idols do, and dressed as cutely as any idol could be, Raira Belheart cocks her hip out and struck a pose and flashed peace signs. "Even if we realized that we weren't really supposed to be here, it was a fun time anyway! We then moved on to other things, but always kept all you lovelies in mind!"

A redhead dressed in a sharp red suit, with a Marlin-inspired tie, snakes around and grabbed the mic. Around her neck was a large paper that would function as a temporary Visa allowing her in Japan just for this occasion. "And when I FINALLY peeked my sexy ass around, ya'll were in L-O-V-E with Juniper Nayle, and made me feel welcome as all hell around here. Made me feel like I could really be somebody. That I didn't need to be a Champion or even a Contender. Because at the end of the day, you all witnessed as I took on your favorite heroes and took a BITE outta them....And NIPPED at the heels of some heels...You loved me then, and I'm sure as hell you love where I'm at now somewhere else." She held the mic out to drop it.

Catching it was a bit of a meeker-looking woman who fixed her glasses and then her skirt and her turtleneck, she had a formal nametag on. Eske Mal. "While we showed off that not everything is about being loud and proud, and that the air of mystery is just as intoxicating..."

Lastly, a legend herself, who compared to the others, had been here even a few years longer than them. The familiar bone mask wouldn't be there. Sabre was defeated for now, and in her place was Diane Cavendish in a lovely pink and white dress. "And even though we may have been left or forgotten, when we came back around, you adopted us yet again. Because AFW never dies, and never will as long as the fans keep it going."

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The crowd would roar once more and again, even louder now as they were praised and given such thanks for making anything possible for all of these fighters in the first place. Television cameras panned as people waved to it, and people watching at home felt a heavy but respected heart. All Twelve of these wrestlers had their ups, downs, rights and wrongs. Some of them went out quietly and some with a bang. Some had moved onto other things, and some were choosing to still remain, still linger around and be available to the next generation for guidance and to be that helping hand and maybe even that inspiration to walk these same halls as they have, as they were inspired by legends even before them.

Nick Solem raised a mic once more.

"All of this. Everything. We've fought with a hundred different people or more, and definitely touched what feels like a thousand lives. Not to mention the thousands of fans who watched at home. Because they believed in us. And with that...This will never be a goodbye...But just simply a goodnight. Until we meet again.

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I wrote this with tears in my eyes, having to walk away from the computer several times. 10 years is a long time. A third of my life has been spent on this forum. I've been on this site for so long, yet it doesn't seem so at all. A blink of an eye. As Nick said, this is not a goodbye. I can never fully leave all the work I have done here, and maybe in the future I'll be coming back around. I still do sometimes to read and reminisce about the past. But, time marches on and I move with it. We all do. As of now, I write a Fantasy-based story on DeviantArt, and Juniper's story has taken her to be part of the management of a different wrestling company, based on her experience that she gained here. That I gained here. I thank you all, for everything. Until we meet again.