Post by Dakota Smith on Jan 21, 2019 16:11:14 GMT -5
The sound of a skateboard rolling on pavement opens up the scene as we are treated to Philadelphia's own FDR Skate park. The moon was out shining brightly for the most part, and spotlights have been set up around the main bowl in which we find our protagonist, Flash Kassidy. Flash was riding his board around the contorted bowl, as if he was riding waves in the ocean - looking as carefree as could be. He was shirtless, but dressed in a large fur coat and some red skinny jeans. Off in the corner you could see Jay Sinclair, and Charlie Blooms both dressed for the winter weather with heavy coats, Charlie wearing Flash’s signature shades. They sat upon the edge of the bowl, passing back and forth a blunt in which Jay had just lit. As Flash goes through the bowl - still surfing it’s edges the camera begins to zoom in on him.
Taking one foot off of the board, he begins to kick the ground gaining speed as he heads to where Jay and Charlie are situated. He goes up the slight ramp and jumps up, catching his board in hand and landing directly in between the two. He quickly drops to his ass and lets his board rest on his lap.
Jay passes the blunt to him and Flash takes a few puffs while pushing his hair out of his eyes, getting comfortable. It was then that Flash looked into the camera with a confident, if not cocky smirk - smoke seeping from his nostrils. His head bounced a tad bit as if there was a song playing that only he could hear. As he passed the blunt off to Charlie, The Burner began to speak.
“ Finny Slim! It been a minute ain’t it? We talked about it, shot the shit on twitter about what would happen if it was ya boy Flash’n’you goin’ face ta’ face! But here we is… Now I’m sure you wondering why I ain’t give you a round two, like I did Karny… Bet you wonderin’ why I ain’t playin that same game witchu’.. And I’ll tells ya’! It’s because I respect you Finny Slim. You ain’t like Karny, you ain’t like Nemesis or any other of them spookie-ookies I’m used ta’ facin’. No you real! You don’t need all the theatrics, all the fuckin’ flare. You just a bad motha’ fucka’. “
The air was frigid, Charlie’s hand shaking a little bit as she passed the blunt back to Jay. Flash pulls his coat a little bit tighter before continuing to speak in a rather upbeat attitude.
“ That shits been apparent since my early days here, you was always the dude who was making moves, being champion… But never getting that one you really wanted huh? Never that Union Battle stap that we all strive fo’! But at the end of the night? You just ain’t had that chance, have ya’ bud? Nawh. And I feel that, I see you grindin’ you’ve been all over the world, wrestlin’ here, wrestlin’ there. You have found great success, Well… In the past that is. What you been doin’ since tho Finn? I seen you over there in the corner four, shit didn’t work out too well fo you now did it? You thought you was gonna take shit by storm… But you sizzled out quicker than a joint when ya’ moms gets home. “
Pausing, Flash takes a few more drags off the blunt, taking in as big of hits as he can. As Smoke escapes from his lips, he chomps it back up in his mouth, like a fish at the top of the tank. He then passes the blunt back to Jay and pushes himself up to his feet. He stands there in the bitter cold air for a few more moments, letting the building wind roll though his hair. He then lifts his board up, jumping up in the air before landing on top of it as he goes skates down into the graffiti lined bowl.
“ I mean I see you bruh, see where your head's at. And it makes me question just what Finn Whelen imma’ be gettin’ this Lights Out. Will it be Trench War Champion Finn? Will it be the man that has flown around the world and the seven seas makin’ a name fo’ himself? “
As Flash curves through the bowl, he brings his hands up running then through his hair, letting out a slight sigh.
"Shit… I just ain’t sure my man. I mean… I know who I’m gonna be that night. I’ma be Flash Kassidy, same dude I am every night! Same dude flyin’ through sky, gettin’ high and makin my opponents lookin’ like they wanna’ cry. But I don’t expect no tears from you Finn…”
Quickly crouching down before jumping up Flash hits a pretty solid looking kickflip, before looking into the camera with confident, bloodshot eyes.
“ Nawh, because you better than that Finny boy, you gon’ take this loss like a champ! You gonna accept that them dreams of being Union Champ are just out of yo’ grasp. Because i’ma force you to do so! I ain’t gonna lose this match, I ain’t gonna give nothin’ less than my all! It’s that King Cobra on the line! That shit that I first signed up to win! I failed! This is my redemption! Not yours! You had yo’ chance! Tried ta move on and failed! I love ya’ homie, but im bout to fuck you up… That’s just real talk.”
Sliding the wheels of the board across the pavement, Flash breaks before switching position and heading back to where his friends are situated. He pushes off the ground once again, and rides the bowl up, snatching the blunt out of Charlie’s hands, giving her a little wink.
“I don’t care what kind of word class technical wrestler you is, I don’t really give two shits about whatchu done. I know i’m the underdog comin’ into this ish. But I fly high my man, I burn bright! It’s who I is, who I always been. And I ain’t come back just to let me be snuffed out by Hot Topics Most Wanted, ya’ feel me? This gonna be a match for the ages, steal tha fuckin’ show no doubt! But I will rise above you FInny Slim, I will become the King Cobra….Just as simple as that, rather let my actions speak fo’ me. Rather shine through my talent, be that high above the comp that I so boastfully praise. “
Kicking the ground once again he starts to gain a good amount of speed, before ramping up the side of the bowl. He grabs the top of the bowl and does an eggplant, a skate trick where he does a one handed handstand on the edge of the bowl, while keeping the board planted on his feet with his other hand. Flash makes sure to take a good long puff of the blunt, as its orange cherry illuminates. After a few seconds of being upside down he lets gravity do its work and lands the trick.
“ I got all the talent in the world Finn, I’m young, i’m hung, and boy you best ready cause here I come! You can spit some edgar allen poe shit, be that dark broody boy that you so love to be. Ask why we all here, what we doin’? I know what i’m doin Finn… I’m tryin’ be the best there ever was, tryin’ live out my dreams of being on top of this company! I’m tryin’ not to disgrace all this love these fans give me! I’m tryin’ ta be the best Flash Kassidy that I can be! “
Flash stops his board, right in front of Jay and Charlie. Flash turns around and looks into the camera, taking another puff of the blunt before speaking his final words.
“What the fuck you doin’?”
With that the skate session is broke up as flashlight spotlights the group. A portly man dressed a security guard comes charging into the scene screaming that they were not supposed to be there. But Jay Sinclair was on that shit, Just moments before the guard was about to tackle Flash, Jay jumps off the edge of the bowl, tackling him to the ground. Knowing when to dip Flash climbs up the bowl and helps Charlie get to her feet before grabbing a hold of her hand and bolting towards the exit. Jay was not to far behind and the scene slowly fades to black with the sound of chain link fence being climbed.
Post by Finn Whelan on Jan 21, 2019 17:32:04 GMT -5
KILL4ME “Bloody noses are just like ROSES, but what happens when we're BETRAYED? Would you drag them to the shed and UNLOAD SIX ROUNDS in their fuckin' face?" MARYLIN MANSON
•••••
“Two-thousand and nineteen. Nineteen names put their notoriety into a bucket. Eighteen performed. Eight remain.”
White snow blanketed the world outside the window in a perilous blizzard. The room, lit by the fireplace, housed the basic comforts of life: a couch, a bottle of Jameson whiskey and warmth that didn’t exist outside. Finn Whelan stood, not mindlessly staring out the window, but his eyes were set on the bulletin board on the wall. The nineteen participants of the Crown of the King Cobra tournament were pinned, polaroid-pictured, and plastered to the forefront of his world. “X”-marks, drawn in Sharpie, were plastered over the ones no longer in the tournament.
Names that didn’t matter, like James Edwards, Konrad Raab, Will Neilson. Fallon Lockhart. It wasn’t that they were important in the worlds they found themselves in. It’s just that they didn’t belong here. Not in Union Battleground.
“I wonder what happened to some of these people, you know? Konrad Raab pushing for another moment of glory, trying to shine out of the dredges of the wrestling world. Maverick seemed promising, but couldn’t bypass Datura. James Edwards is a name known to all of us, but Lisa Seldon ran him out of town. Inaros and his little spokesperson destroyed Will Neilson, someone who stands at the height of his notoriety. Heathen Jones tried to scare us all into oblivion, but AJ continued Emery’s legacy and moved into the next round.
“Kaelan destroyed Treamon -- again, because it’s not that hard -- and Mikey…well, Mikey did what he did best and skated by with a win over Danny Colt. And me? I imprinted Fallon Lockhart’s face into the mat like I said I would in the end.”
With every name, Finn reached up and pulled the men and women who didn’t prevail down, ripping them with a vehemence that seemed to require more energy than it should have. Cords wrapped around the pins, pinning each new competitor together with their new counterpart.
“It gets harder every week, doesn’t it? Datura, Lisa. Inaros, Morales. Laughlin, Svarro. Whelan, Kassidy. Every week, we batten down the hatches, put our feet out into the ring and become something better than we were before. I have no doubts that Lisa Seldon will bring her deathmatch fighting qualities with her, and I have no doubts that AJ Morales will continue on his path of utter domination, just like his wife did. Kaelan and Mikey can burn the house down, just like they’ve burned their bridges, but in the end...I can’t even focus on any of them. Not just yet. Sure, I can shoot the shit with Svarro and make it seem like my focus is on him, but it isn’t.”
Finn moved his head to the side, swiping his hair back from across his face as he turned around and moved from the room, taking steps slowly as he crossed a hallway and moved into the kitchen. The fluorescent lights above his head shone brightly, and he winced as he set his hands on the counter and looked down at the granite top.
“Flash Kassidy.”
He took a finger, placed it on the top of the white marble, and traced a line of the grey color as it made a river through the rock. Then, out of the blue, his fingers clenched together, and he slammed his fist down onto the rock.
“Look. I have a lot of respect for a lot of different people. In a way, I respect the fuck out of Svarro, even though he’s a cunt at times. I even respect Kaelan, who likes to think she did more than she did to my ego, but whatever. The fact of the matter is that in this business, we’re going to face people we like and people we don’t like. I had no reason to disrespect or disregard Lockhart last time. I have no reason to disrespect or dislike anyone in this tournament at the moment. So when it comes down to it, Flash, this is a matter of personal pride.”
Finn took a moment to breathe in. He exhaled slowly, through his nose, before he looked up, eyebrows hardened, eyes set with a fire that hadn’t been seen in quite some time.
“The fuck were you doing for nearly a year, kid?” He questioned then, tilting his head to the side. “April, with the Outliers, was the last time we saw you. You took on Salvation. And then like the smoke you let fly from your joint, the one you let kill your brain cells, you disappeared. You flew the fucking coup.
“I could have walked when I lost to Emery. I came in for the tournament, I moved through the tournament, arguably getting the harder side of the bracket considering the names I faced, the level of skill. But I didn’t, and while you were fuckin’ around with Viddus and Nemesis, I was making a name for myself. Comeback of the Year. Finishing Move of the Year. You don’t gain accolades by sitting on your ass eating Cheetos, skateboarding, and making yourself a public nuisance.”
He shrugged his shoulders, pushing himself off the counter as if he were the calmest individual in the world. The bit of anger that seemed to flood through him was gone -- after all, he saved it for the ring.
“While it’s unfortunate that I didn’t gain the title, I wasn’t shooting for it. After July, I lost my fuckin’ mind, Kassidy. My kids died. My family was gone. I’ve lost everything, and while you get to sit around and act like you’re one of the best in this company, the fact of the matter is that no matter how much I respect you, no matter how much I think you’re a decent human being, I’m still going to imprint your weed-laced face into the mat. I’m still going to grab you, flip you around and slam you into the fuckin’ ground.”
He looked around the room for a moment, and lifted his hands upwards.
“Do you see distractions? Do you see anything that my mind would be on other than the Crown of the King Cobra? No. When I lost everything dear to me, I made a conscious decision that I wasn’t going to find something to take up my mind other than my work. I sat there and I believed that I was better than I was, simply because others told me I was. For a second, I believed in everyone else instead of myself. You want to know how crushing that was? How debilitating it was to sit there and go, ‘fuck, I’m nothing?’. Because that’s what I did. Perhaps you get rid of those feelings with a bit of chronic, but for the rest of us, we have to live with failure.”
He paused, and then he shook his head.
“I’m not meant to be a failure, Kassidy.”
Finn pressed his hands into the counter again, hunching his shoulders slightly as he looked straight ahead of him into the lens.
“I’ve fought everywhere I’ve been for recognition of my skill, of who I am. Deathmatch Wrestler. Technical Wrestler. I’ve never been afraid to take whatever leap that I need to do to make sure I push forward. I have no inhibitions except for being a little unsure of my surroundings, but that’s done. There’s some part of you, underneath all the synapse inhibitors, that’s shaking because you know what I can do, and what I will do, Kassidy.
“You don’t gain respect because you suck, you don’t grab attention because you’ve done nothing. I’ve made a name for myself in the Battleground here, and I refuse to allow myself to fall to someone like you. I put my work in throughout the whole of Season Two -- you disappeared and come back thinking you’re refreshed and better than everyone in the existence of mankind. That you’re gonna have even a glimmer of a shot.
“Not this time. I’m stomping out your gig, right here, right now. Call it something to be thankful for, Kassidy, because I know what’s ahead, and this Battleground...it’s not Devereaux and Nemesis anymore. It’s evolved, just like we’re forced to do every second of every day. This idea that you have of sitting there, doing jackshit and thinking you’re going to move ahead? I’m not a pissing, sodding clown who disappeared the second you beat him.”
Finn stopped then, and he glanced to the knife block next to him.
“But let’s close with this, bud. If you find a glimmer of a moment where you think you can outlast me, outfight me, outdo me, I want you to take it. I want you to take that moment and I want you to jab me in the fuckin’ heart. Break my ribs. Take a moment and destroy the person I am. Make it so I can’t fuckin’ fight anymore. Retire my ass. I want you to kill for me. I want you to want it that King Cobra title so bad that you’re willing to fuckin’ kill me for it.”
Resting his forearms on the counter, he leaned down, as if he was going to share a secret with Kassidy, and thus the world.
“Because if you can’t do that, then you’ve already lost. That is exactly what I’ll be doing out there, Flash. Your life is forfeit the second you step into that ring with me. I’m not in this tournament to play. I’m here to gain what I should have had last year, what slipped from my grasp. And you? You’re not going to be the one to stop me from that moment.”
Another pause, and then a derisive snort issued from his nose.
“None of you are. Learn it now. Learn it well. Finn Whelan is going to be the King Cobra in 2019. And none of you, not a single one, not even Svarro, can stop me.”
