We follow music, which echoes through the skies and brings us down to what appears to be a carnival. It's what you'd expect- a big wheel, one of those ‘test your strength’ things with the hammer, assorted games that are likely rigged and loads of kids out way past bedtime. There's also a tent in the corner, rather large, with a sign over it- “Dr. Pretorius’ House of MIRRORS!” As we enter, we see its bare. Silent...until we hear a creak. Then another. Then a whisper and finally…
EMERY LAYTON: “BOO! Don't worry, it's just me.”
Yes, a skinny reflection of Emery Layton makes her presence felt in a mirror.
“If you don't know nothing about me, it might shock you to know I'm a fan of Kate Bush. Thought maybe the red hair and spritely dancing mighta gave that bit away. But reason I like her- one of many- is cos when I get her songs, it makes me feel a bit clever, know what I mean? Like, she uses loads of, like, imagery and stuff. Yeah, go ahead and talk about Wuthering Heights and all that, but her best song is one I didn't get till later on. Think I told you lot about it once, but vaguely. It's called ‘The Red Shoes’, and lemme tell you about it again, but this time with feeling cos its very relevant to how I feel right about now!”
She passes along to another mirror, where she is now incredibly small. We have still not seen Em in the flesh.
“So there's this girl, yeah, this really young girl called Karen, and she's dead vain. She used to have some red shoes, but lost ‘em and now she gets a brand new pair and she wears ‘em everywhere. She wishes she never had to take ‘em off. One day she takes them to church, but that don't go down well at all. She ain't allowed ‘em, but this girl, she don't like being told what to do! She keeps wearing ‘em outta spite. They're hers, and ain't nobody gonna tell her otherwise. But then one day, this old dude meets her in the street and likes the look of her, the look of her shoes. So he puts a curse on her- as long as she wears those shoes, she's condemned to dance in them, constantly. That's all she’ll ever do. She'll never, ever stop and she can never remove them, neither. Even in death, she’ll dance and dance on forever. Gets a bit gruesome from there and I'll spare you the details but you get the gist. That's the bit you need to know.”
Tiny Em crosses over to another part as she sits cross-legged, now visible as we know her, but in two parallel mirrors. She is quiet. Contemplative. Her Union Battleground title is on her knees.
“I spent my life thinking ‘nah, that'll never be me! I ain't no spoiled girl with no red shoes’ cos I really haven't been. Everything I got in wrestling came outta me having to carve a name for myself, or having to crawl through crap and if I wanted something as a kid, Ma would just be like ‘eeehhhh, no you don’t, Emery- you wanna raise kids!’ But that wasn't what the story was about. I get it now. Coulda been anyone, that story. Everyone wants something and everyone thinks they want something till they actually get it. The point is sometimes you can have too much of a good thing and you can want something and say this and that but when you get it, things ain't always gonna go how you pictured.”
Taking her beanie off and beginning to play with her hair, Em places the title in front of her and turns Ninety degrees. We look elsewhere, to another mirror where the title is huge but Em is so, so far away.
“The day I came to Union Battleground, I wanted this title. I thought it'd be my ticket to the big time. But then I lost that first tournament. I won the Trench War Championship and made it the title everyone was gunning for, but in the back of my mind, I still thought ‘one day’. I thought I had 404 days worth of proof I could do it but now I look at it, it was more like 404 days of warnings. Ever since I became Union Battleground Champ, I had everybody weighing in, saying ‘there she is, that champ right there, she's the one I wanna go through’. I had Nemesis call me a fake champ, I had Devereux throw his personal stuff at my doorstep, I had people call me out here, there and everywhere, and it never stops. But I brought it on myself. I wanted this. This title is my red shoes and I'm doomed to dance forever. I became the girl. I became Karen.”
Standing up, Em is finally visible as she slings the title over her shoulder, but now every mirror has her in it, all moving a few steps behind her.
“All of its kinda made me realise something and I'm gonna butcher a quote from a movie me and A.J watched recently- you either die the underdog, or you live long enough to become the obstacle. Been here the longest and I feel like that's what's happened. I look at Alyssa Daniels and I see that underdog, now, and I see how everything's changed. When I started, I'd joke my way through stuff, mostly outta nerves. They'd go ‘there goes Emery, getting into trouble and dashing about and getting in trouble’, they’d ask how I was gonna win, what rabbit would I pull outta my eccentric hat this time. But now, I'm at the top of this place. And no one thinks I should be. And everyone thinks they should be. I remember feeling that way.
Alyssa Daniels, you won Guerrilla Warfare, which gets you a shot at this title at Coup De Grace, but I'm facing people for the title every week so that could change. You could collect this from me at LiGHTS OUT and change it all. You're sat there now thinking how you're gonna take this off me, how this is what you've always wanted, how you've fought so hard to get here and I know cos I've been there myself. But you got a problem- this ain't Nemesis or Dick or even Tweeder holding the title...its Emery Layton. I’m the worst case scenario.”
She spins out of our view again and we turn to see a huge mirror with a sauntering Emery apparently increasing in height with every step.
“If this is my red shoes and I'm destined to hold this forever then I'm gonna make a damn good job of it and if there's one thing I do well, its keep a championship. People have sent masked men across the world to try and take titles from me, they've spent night after night tryna figure me out but then I've sent them packing then danced the night away with sunshine in my step. If you think you can take this off me, then you gotta be prepared. You gotta really, really want this cos I'll spare you the suspense- life changes pretty quick. If the idea of putting on red shoes and dancing forever don't sound like your glass of rum, do yourself a favor and avoid this championship at all costs. This thing is cursed.”
She stops, exhaling. Shaking her head.
“Yeah. Trust the ‘gypsy’ to end up with a curse, eh? Just a circle, life, innit? Like that Elton John song where he holds up the lion.”
A few moments of trying to think of the song name proves unfruitful, even after hesitation.
“So Alyssa, I'll see you in Toronto. I want you to bring everything you got. I wanna see you really give this dirty, no-good pavee a hard time. I wanna doubt I can beat you, so I can remember what it's like to be the underdog again. I can be that girl who's bad news for the bad guys and ruthless in the ring. I can be the Worst of the Pavees, the Lethal Lackeen.” Finally, as we turn around, there's Emery- in the flesh with the title on her shoulder.
“Alyssa, come as you are, looking for a fight...and I'll come in dancing, wearing in my red shoes.”
With a wink and a grin, Em holds the title in the air and moves down a long corridor.
Like a girl condemned, every mirror displays an image of Em. In a small, damp tent at a carnival in Canada, a She-King merrily dances the night away.
Post by Alyssa Daniels on Aug 19, 2018 18:27:41 GMT -5
“Life isn’t all that different from swimming and boating.”
Just under two-hundred and twenty kilometers north of Toronto, the site for Lights Out Twenty Eight, rests Canoe Lake. Surrounded by trees, the lake is calm and beautiful on this hot summer day. In this part of the lake, however, there isn’t as much activity as you would think there should be. The wake from other watercrafts is minimal to nonexistent, leaving the water to ripple softly in most areas. There is one watercraft, however. It appears to be a simple wooden canoe manned - though maybe that term isn’t the most appropriate - by a familiar woman with bright pink hair. The camera is facing Alyssa Daniels away from but in front of the watercraft as she rows the canoe further out onto the lake. Interestingly, she appears to be dressed like a pirate complete with a tricorn hat. In her left hand, Alyssa holds what appears to be a long steel rod like a walking stick. She scans the lake taking in its beauty as she rows.
“We all need to stay afloat most of the time. That’s the goal, right? At times, we can feel like we’re drowning. There are few better examples of that than Dick Devereaux right now, the poor guy.”
She grimaces out of sincere sympathy.
“Going through the loss he must be feeling, compounded with three straight losses since he ripped that Union Battleground Championship away from Nemesis… It seems things will get worse for him before they get better. But they will get better after Coup de Grace as long as he keeps fighting. But he’s just the most obvious example, not the only.”
Alyssa smiles and tips her tricorn hat to the camera with her free right hand.
“Figured I’d dress the part even if this part is only part time. You may be wondering to yourself why the Union Battleground Champion, the longest reigning Trench War Champion in Union Battleground history, and quite possibly the most recognizable figure of this company would feel like they’re drowning. After all, with Nemesis out of the way, her chances of continued success only grow, right?”
She shakes her head almost as if to punctuate the question.
“The sudden departure of Salvation is actually antithetical to her success, and more specifically to her entire Union Battleground legacy. I know, I know. Right now, you’re probably all, ‘what the…’ But bear with me here, kiddos. See, as disgusting and dark a time as it was, Salvation’s handprint will be remembered as the symbol of an era. Over time, they had members coming and going but Nemesis remained the one true constant. His nearly yearlong reign at the top of the Battleground will remain a benchmark despite the fact that he only defended that belt successfully once during that time. And ol’ Emery? She wants to beat that, to exceed Nemesis. It’s why she insists on defending that championship every week leading up to Coup de Grace. She wants to make up for lost time, time she spent letting others fight the fight she was meant for.”
Alyssa raises her right hand. She lifts her index finger as she speaks.
“Mark Storm.”
Middle finger.
“SHIDO.”
Ring finger.
“Rogan MacLean.”
The hand drops to her side.
“All three came in from different places, for different reasons, and all three stood against Salvation. Rogan and SHIDO even plucked off a piece of Emery Layton while they were at it. And even I came here originally under Elysium’s banner to battle Salvation, and I came alone.”
Alyssa points to herself.
“I run toward the storm.”
She then points to the camera.
“You seem to be on evacuation protocol.”
With that, she jams the rod down and through the floor of the boat. The camera pans down to show that, yes, water is now leaking through the hole. Alyssa places her right hand over her mouth in mock surprise.
“Oh no! Your boat’s leaking, sweetheart! Thing is, Em, I once admired you from afar. I knew of you, thought you were funny, upbeat, seemed like a good-hearted person. Once I got to the Battleground and saw the state of affairs, I felt the truth. You’re still a perfectly nice person but you’re neglectful. You’re neglectful of the world burning down around you. As long as the fire doesn’t touch your skin, everything’s copacetic. And yeah, I know, you’ve got other places to be. I get that, I do. I was competing in the Summit Series for a chance to fight for Elysium’s World Championship when I first came here. When that fizzled, I moseyed on over to Fight Union and competed in a tournament for their top championship, a tournament I won. All the while, I competed as a running back in the LFL. Feel about that last one how you will, that’s your prerogative. Point is I’ve been keeping busy but I still manage to show up at every Union Battleground event ready to compete while you’ve made yourself a part-timer during the Salvation era. Oh, but once they start crumbling, you’re all ‘yeah, I’ll defend every night until Coup de Grace!’ And in your first defense? You needed Dick Devereaux to bail you out and preserve your title reign when Nemesis had you right where he wanted you. And you have the nerve to declare that this is Emery Layton territory now? You may have your own little reservation, but you don’t have the whole Battleground. I promise you.”
Alyssa looks down and sees that significant water is accumulating at her feet.
“So what do you do?”
She reaches behind her out of view and returns with a bucket. On the bucket in black marker, it says “UNION BATTLEGROUND CHAMPIONSHIP.” Alyssa then begins to quickly scoop water into the bucket and dump it outside of the boat. She speaks while she works.
“How long can you keep this up, Emery? Running around yelling ‘I’m the champ!’ is good damage control but it isn’t gonna plug the leaks.”
Alyssa suddenly stops scooping water, stands, and looks at the bucket with the writing facing her.
“Then, a few days from now, you could just lose that horse you’ve been riding so high on.”
She tosses the bucket into the lake, far enough that she can’t reach it even with the steel rod.
“Then what, Em? Then you wait a couple of weeks for your last guaranteed chance to hold the precious? Granted, you’re an upgrade from Nemesis as champion, but how much of an upgrade really? This place has seen you and Nemesis at the top for too long, watched as self-obsessed, self-absorbed champions run the Battleground, and they’ve started tuning out. Championship arrogance just ain’t gonna cut it anymore, deary. It’s time they had a champion that shows up every night, that fights with everything they’ve got every time out. You? Dick? Nemesis? You guys are the old guard. You’ll always have a place in history. But that’s where you belong. It’s time for a culture change around here. When I beat you and take that championship, I’m not declaring this my territory. I’m not going to recruit a bunch of minions. I’m simply going to help make this place what it was always meant to be: a place to compete, a place to let everything go and just fight, a place where only the best compete night in and out. I’m going to turn this place from the twisted circus it has been into the true Battleground!”
Alyssa notices that the water is up to her shins now. The boat is almost submerged at this point.
“I know what an honor it is to hold this championship. I also know that there are responsibilities that come with it, responsibilities that until recently haven’t been fulfilled. And with everything I’ve faced down since I walked through that door - darkness, betrayal, demons - I know what it’s going to take to be Champion of the Battleground. The time for novelty is gone. The real work begins now. And don’t worry, Em. If I’m holding that championship after Coup de Grace, I won’t be hard to find. I’ll be ready to face the best, whether that’s you, Dick, Finn, Elena, Kimitsu, the Outliers - though hopefully not both at the same time if I’m being honest - or whoever else gets thrown at me. I’m ready to face the challenge. But what’s down the road is just that. For now, Em, my focus is on you.”
With the boat entirely submerged, Alyssa begins sinking a little faster.
“And girl, you’re going to need something else besides that title to stand on. At Lights Out in Toronto, your boat’s going to fill with water.”
The water is rapidly approaching her head.
“Try not to drown, dear.”
Alyssa winks just as her head goes under, leaving behind only the floating tricorn hat.
Last Edit: Aug 19, 2018 18:29:38 GMT -5 by Alyssa Daniels
