Smackdown's Agonist

Remember Pain

*Third Person POV*

"And now, we have something to discuss concerning our next guest," Renee said to the camera standing quite a distance from her and Daniel Bryan. "Things have been getting quite heated between Maryse and Imigie."

She turned to her co-host, eyes narrowing.

"You have anything to say, Daniel?"

"Well, after attempting to get to my sister-in-law and her now fiancé, I really do think Maryse seems to have found her new target," he replied. "Imigie. I think Maryse feels threatened around Imigie but let's be honest here. Imigie may be short but she is not someone to underestimate. There's a reason why I chose her to be on Smackdown. She brings a whole new twist to the women's division. Maryse is likely threatened over Imigie's aura. That might explain these recent attacking and mockeries."

Renee just turned to the camera, deciding that she had heard enough. She quickly fixed her hair before looking up to the camera.

"And speaking of that, we have our next guest, Imigie."

She and Daniel turned to see the short raven-haired woman coming in, taking a seat next to Renee. However, they noticed something different about her. There was a hint of sadness in the young woman's eyes, something that caught Renee completely off guard for a moment.

After Imigie was settled in her seat, Renee was ready to ask the questions. She hoped that Imigie wouldn't react the same way she did the last time she was on Talking Smack. It hurt Renee to see the young woman seem so upset and she didn't want to say anything wrong this time, if she thought she said anything wrong.

"Imigie, we have a lot to discuss about what happened earlier," Renee said, turning to the twenty-year old woman. "You were suppose to face Mickie James today but then you were interrupted by Maryse..."

She paused, trying to figure out how to word the next part without upsetting her friend. Her heart hammered in her chest as she thought hard of what to say. After about ten seconds, she looked up at Imigie.

"Well... the rest pretty much speaks for itself."

She waited for Imigie's response to what she had said. Much to her surprise, Imigie just gave a small smile and nodded. At the same time, Renee felt relieved that Imigie didn't completely break down.

"If you want, you can speak about Douglas Montague's sudden appearance during all that went on first," Daniel suggested.

"No need," the raven-haired woman replied, her voice sounding like she was trying to hide the obvious pain and sorrow in it. "I'll make sure I won't overreact or anything. That was on me. I was just frustrated over what Maryse has decided to do."

Renee looked surprised that Imigie also seemed a bit more confident, despite the slight sorrow in her eyes and her in voice. Regardless, she just gestured to the twenty-year old to go on.

"I don't really know how Maryse managed to pull that together but I know for sure that she's going too far," Imigie said, her voice turning hard. "Maybe in the future, Asuka and I will settle who's truly the one ready for the other. Maryse needs to stay out of that. She's quite threatened over that I am simply put here to do one thing. That is to fight to win—" Her voice began to soften and the sadness in it was more evident. "Even when I'm in pain whether if it's physical, mental, or emotional. However..."

The young woman just let out a sad sigh as she looked down. Renee could see that she looked like she was close to tears, and it hurt to see her like this.

Daniel looked almost as equally concerned when he saw the expression on the newest Smackdown female draftee's face. This was the first woman from NXT he had called up since the recent draft who he saw had so much potential. Seeing her look so sunken and low in spirits hurt him greatly.

"Maryse really did the damage," the Smackdown draftee continued. "I'm not afraid to admit that. She went that low to do such a thing and to be honest, I don't want to remember it. I don't want to be reminded of that. All I want to remember is that I finally won the NXT Women's Championship. However, I'll make one thing clear."

She paused again before looking up with a serious expression on her face.

"Maryse can break me like that all she wants but in the end, I will show that she was wrong to underestimate me and to feel threatened over my message," she finished, her voice turned hard again.

Renee and Daniel turned to each other then nodded, understanding everything Imigie had said. They were now ready to ask her the second golden question.

"Imigie?" Renee said, turning to her. "We now have another thing to ask which a lot of people are wondering as well. This is concerning Douglas Montague's sudden appearance for the save when Maryse attacked you, while having The Miz with her—"

"Don't ask," Daniel interrupted. "I'm sure she'll have an easy answer for that."

"Douglas came at the right time," Imigie said with a small smile on her face. "Had he not come in, Maryse pretty much would've left me in the exact same state that she left me in after my first match on Smackdown. Then again, he is my best friend. He's been that since our NXT days. He knows about the times that I've been humiliated. As for who told him about what was going on with me, I don't know. I don't know who told him but he did do what was best. Stopping Miz from urging Maryse to carry on her assault."

She let out a sad sigh before changing her expression again. This time, her expression turned into a mix of anger, determination, and even a sliver bit of pain, especially in her eyes.

"Maryse just proved that she's a coward," she continued. "She's done more than enough to damage me and underestimate me. It won't be long until she finds out that I am not someone who should be underestimated. And going as low as using my doubts about my match against Asuka shows that she doesn't have very much to prove that she is ready for a fight. She isn't."

She looked down, her expression turning to anguish again. It pained Renee to see her friend look so stricken with sorrow. She just placed a hand for her shoulder for comfort.

"It'll haunt me for a long time," the twenty-year old woman said sadly. "But in the end, she won't know what's coming."

She gave a small smile before leaving the area, leaving Renee quite surprised. Renee had never seen her so conflicted in her emotions over what had happened.

"Let's just say that ended on a better note than last time," Daniel said.

Renee nodded in agreement as she turned to the camera. She and Daniel were silent for a moment before one of them spoke again.

"I think Imigie is ready to settle this face to face with Maryse," Daniel said. "I won't be surprised if it was next week."

Renee turned to Daniel then nodded in agreement. She knew that this time, Imigie was ready to get to the root of the issue. It would at least give Maryse one more chance to woman up before their upcoming match at Backlash.