The waves were nice and big when Adam decided to skip his work of flipping burgers at the local burger joint. Unfortunately, he had not ever finished high school because he thought it was not very important compared to having a fun lifestyle. Now, at age 25, he was still in a never-grow-up state of mind. He would always be immature until he decided to take his life a little more seriously. But, for now, surfing and partying would have to do. Beckoning him to come and play, the never still water taunted him with an excellent surfing challenge. They were particularly nice today with massive crests curling over on themselves. Adam had waxed up his board the day before and was ready for action. He quickly donned his wetsuit and hit the water with a sense of anticipation. He waded out far into the ocean while admiring the grandness of the waves. After finally getting into the perfect position, Adam patiently waited for the right wave to begin to ride. Finally, a rather large mound swelled up underneath him and he jumped onto the yellow surfboard.

He rode the wave all the way onto the shore with a professional flair. Adam had been riding waves like this for most of his life. He waded slowly back out to his starting position and waited to catch another wave. This time a massive wave came barreling towards him. “Excellent, dude!” He exclaimed as he jumped up onto his board. He rode the wave in for only few seconds before it completely overpowered him and crashed down on top. His board jetted up out of the water as the wave passed over. Adam, however, did not come to the surface. He was pulled under deep int o the ocean by the undertow. Unfortunately, he blacked out and did not surface. Later, he woke up on a dry patch of sand. He could not remember what had happened to him. At first, he thought maybe he had died, but later realized that it was not the case. He slowly stood up trying to shake the deep sleep out of his body. He found himself on the ocean floor far below the surface. A large bubble shaped dome kept the water from crushing him. “Whoa, dude! Where am I?” he thought out loud as he examine d his surroundings. The ocean floor under the dome was as dry as the beach up on the surface. It was strewn with many more shells than the surface and lots of dead fish bones.

The dome construction was like nothing Adam had ever seen before. It was supported by massive gray metal beams with a strange clear substance spanning between them. Adam could not figure out the composition of the clear material. It looked like a thin plastic film but he knew that such a film would be unable to hold back such tremendous water pressure. A closer inspection showed him that he could stick his hand through the film and into the water on the outside without bursting the bubble. The film clung around his arm and sealed itself tight. It was the most fascinating thing Adam had ever seen in his life. He looked around and guessed that the dome was probably about a half mile around. He looked through the wall and saw that there were many other domes that dotted the ocean floor as far as he could see. It was practically an underwater city the size of a large surface town. He looked around the interior of the dome with a sense of awe. That is when he noticed that there were several people off in the distance towards the center of the dome. Adam began walking to them as he dusted the sand off of his body and out of his hair. As he got closer he could see that they appeared to be scientists in white lab coats. They were surrounding a large saucer shaped metallic disk. They all had strange tools and appeared to be trying to repair the ship. They were surprised to see Adam and questioned how he got there. Shortly thereafter, several armed men in black suits came through the nearby wall between the next dome over and the one they were in. They pulled out the ir pistols and forced Adam to go with them.

They took him to another one of the domes where there was a normal looking building sitting on the bottom of the ocean. Inside the building, a room that looked like it was a sort of police interviewing area was their destination. They began to pick the simple mind of Adam after injecting him with some sort of truth serum. He spilled the beans and let them know that he had skipped work to go surfing, and that a large wave had pulled him under. He explained to the two men in black that he woke up in the dome and did not know how he had gotten there. After several hours of repeated questioning, the men were satisfied that he was telling the truth and had just accidentally discovered their location. He was locked in one of the rooms and allowed to sleep off the serum. Meanwhile on the surface, an exhaustive search by the authorities, lifeguards, and EMS personnel was being conducted to locate Adam’s body. One of the people tanning on the beach had seen Adam surfing and saw him go under. They had recovered his surfboard but were unable to locate him. After several days of fruitless searching, they figured the sharks had eaten his body or he was stuck under the water somewhere and they gave up. Adam had been living under the surface in the locked room. The men brought him food and water while they discussed what they were going to do with him. Clearly they could not allow him to go back to the surface. They had already had a funeral for him there. He knew too much to be released back into the public. They could not allow him to reveal the location of their secret base. After several more days and after consulting with the scientists, they decided to allow him to stay. The men in black explained to him that he had two choices. He could stay in their base for the time being provided he would help the scientists and become a sort of assistant. All of his needs would be met if he chose this option. Or, he would be released out of the dome wall and allowed to try to make it back to the surface on his own. They quickly explained that that would pretty much be suicide. They were terribly deep under the ocean. There was no way he could hold enough breath to make it to the surface. In addition, the crushing force of the water would surely kill him long before he made it to the top.

Adam thought hard for a moment, and then spoke. “O. K. dudes, you are saying I can stay here and help the science dudes or I can die trying to go back home. Right?” The men in black nodded their heads in affirmation. “Well I guess I am staying with you guys then. All right!” The men looked at each other and shook their heads while laughing. Adam stayed down in the secret base for months and months. He ne ver really caught on to what the science dudes were doing but he had an awful lot of fun helping them. He would go get them tools and parts that they needed at various times. Finally, one day the scientists felt bad about holding Adam captive in their underwater world since they could come and go freely to the surface at night via special ships. They held a conference amongst themselves and decided that Adam had never really comprehended what they were doing. They reasoned that his intelligence level was low enough that anyone on the surface would never truly believe a story he told about the base. They decided to knock him out and take him to a far off city on the other coast. They waited until he was sleeping for the night and injected him with a sedative. They loaded the out- cold Adam on to the ship and flew out of the dome and to the surface. It was midnight and dark as they zoomed across the continent in the classified ship. They dropped him off just outside of New York where it was very early in the morning. The scientists flew back to their base and forgot about Adam. When he woke, he had a terrible headache. He found himself somewhere near New York. He wondered what had happened to the science dudes, but was happy to be

back on the surface. He got a job at a local restaurant as a dishwasher and found himself an apartment. After many months he began to miss his surfing action. He saved up some money over time and bought a one way ticket to Hawaii. He eventually became a professional surfer and competed in many large tournaments to earn a living. He loved his life and was grateful that his major ‘wipeout’ was not fatal. The mysterious scientist dudes who lived under the water gave him a second chance at life. Of course, nobody really believed his story but they listened just to be nice.

THE TEMPLE OF STONE

So, here we are. Ready to make my debut in the XWF. And who do I get to face in my first ever match? Peter Gilmour and a Kimberly Anderson. Good opponents I guess. Then again I don't know anything about this company or the guys that go out there each night. Like my partner for example. Biggs. I've only seen footage of him and my opponents but that's not enough. I need to be in that ring to find out what i'm up against. It's easy to trash talk and say that i'll kick their asses or this that and the other but the fact of the matter is that it won't mean a damn thing until I get in the ring. Biggs, you and I have work to do. We need to work together to win this match and take out Gilmour and Kimberly. After that, we can go on about our lives knowing we got the W. So what do I say to opponents i've never met or faced? Only this.....My name is John Stone and I am hungry. Just like a rabbid wolf out in the woods of Africa looking for that next meal.

But my meal won't just be small animals. I am hungry to take out the bigger ones. The elephants, the giraffes, the wildebeasts. And eventually, the Lion. The king of the jungle himself. I know i'm getting too far ahead of myself but after eight years in the indies, it's finally time to prove why I am here. It wasn't because some scout thought I had talent. It wasn't because the fans beckoned for me to get shot up to the big time. It's because I busted my ass time and time again. Tomorrow night, John Stone makes his debut and it's going to be a big one! Peter, Kimberly, I hope you've gotten your rest and have gotten in some practice. Because I am coming with moves you've never seen. It's time to stand up, look at myself in the mirror and tell myself that I am here for a reason. And that reason is, to win! Will you be ready?!