Post by Kimitsu Zombie on Jan 20, 2019 22:37:15 GMT -5
“I was never one for the self-help bullshit.”
Kimitsu Zombie runs to the corner of a ring and stops to catch her breath. Her hair is in a ponytail and she kneels and puts her back to the turnbuckle. She looks around the ring and her eyes go blank like she is viewing and reminiscing on some matches past.
“I always dive into everything headfirst without a second thought. It didn’t use to matter what happened to me as long as I was always moving. The process was the important part as long as I, you know… Did my best. I rolled through Union Battleground with that mentality and it got me to where I am today with this.”
Kimitsu reaches down and pulls out her Trench War Championship title from the apron. She puts it on her lap and pats it twice.
“I believe in this title since it solidifies my work at Union Battleground. I went on to fight for it after I saw my worth and built my name. It was my goal and I failed that first time. Then Union became more embattled. It put obstacles in my path in the form of the medallion and the War Horse title. It made you have to earn my keep all over again. The title was further away from me. I didn’t give a fuck about that either. I put my head down and ran toward my goal. It was always that Trench War title. Emery Layton was the enemy I had to defeat and she looked so good. I watched each of her matches as she defended it. Then it came to be mine. I made this my focus as I ruled over this company. I know everyone says that but who can back it up as well as I can?”
She gets up and stands up on the second rope. She raises her arm to take on the adulation of the silent screams of an imaginary audience. He head stays down and her arms drop.
“Still, it seemed like it was a weight off Emery’s back and she went on to win the ultimate prize here. I don’t know if she felt that this title was holding her back, but she filled that hole in quickly. I never let it bog me down. I went ahead and did my job. I still hold my championship. She couldn’t do hers. Now Alyssa Daniels holds it. There’s your history lesson. Saved you a bunch of time, Alyssa, didn’t I?”
Kimitsu jumps down and walks down the ring along the ropes in deep thought with her Trench War Championship on her shoulder.
“Now I don’t know if I was seen as a second rate talent at first when they put this title in my sights but I had blinders on and I ruined anything that was in front of me. As much as Salvation talked about domination they never came for me. Nemesis only talked about me after he left even after Viduus lost against me with those others. As I built my name they didn’t pay any attention. Or didn’t say it.
I’m not going to say it was out of fear… but they are all gone now. Maybe it was willful ignorance. I may hold this second tier title but I have added to its legacy. I called out for challengers and they peck at the challenge. Meanwhile, they attracted people from far and wide to fight for the King’s Cobra title and again they ignore me. I made the claim that I hold the true top prize and I’m mocked for it. Now I will swoop in and take their goal away from them.”
She reaches the other corner and taps the top turnbuckle with her fist then turns to the camera.
“I’m done with being the second tier and settling for running in the middle of the pack. I will lead Union Battleground to greatness. Fuck all of the past. Fuck traveling aimlessly in this world enjoying the view. I will go for what I want now with a clearer focus. I see the stack of potential bodies laid out in front of Daniels ready to burn. I want that pyre. I deserve their sacrifice because I have sacrificed so much to get here. Yet I am not satisfied. When I go through the list they all have escaped me. The roll call fills again and I want it.”
Kimitsu jumps up on the second rope and sits on the top turnbuckle.
“Alyssa Daniels has a target on her back but I bet she would never have imagined I could be the one taking it from her. I will not be ignored anymore. If everyone wants the Union Battleground title then I will take it. I will be the focus and that meek willed Daniels will have to hide someplace else.
“That is really the most interesting thing about you Alyssa Daniels. Tell us again how we both got to where we are now. Tell me about Elysium. Tell me about my failures elsewhere that got so bad that I put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger five times. Compare my reign to Emery Layton’s because that is what they will see. What you don’t see is that it is all in the past. When I am running straight at you I won’t be looking back. I won’t be reminiscing and analyzing my failures. I’m focused. The blinders are off. When I go at you it will be with the motivation of a falling comet blazing through the sky to crash down on you.
Make all the observations you want as you recall my past. I’m not who I was in season two. I’m a wayward star. I’m a starving lion. I need this to settle everything once and for all. I like to talk up this title of course because it is the one I have. Who wouldn’t, right? Well, I can talk about it until I am blue in the face but nobody will believe I am the best here until I take everything. You are nothing but an observer. You lay low while you take everything in stride. You shut up and train while the world burns around you and you see your moment to walk through unscathed. Then you talk about it like you are revealing some sacred truths. You don’t belong in a wrestling ring. You are a historian. An analyst. People like you are better suited at the commentator's table. Just remember that sometimes that can be the most dangerous spot of all.”
Kimitsu points over to the side of the ring as she jumps down onto the apron and takes a seat at the edge of the ring.
“I was never on the sidelines picking my spots. I was never at the top either. I earned this opportunity by being a menace since day one. You are still a guest here that has overstayed her welcome. And now they try to fill King’s Cobra with more guests? I don’t believe in that. I need to hold your title and I will be the one denying it to anyone that comes out of that tournament. I can’t trust anyone else to do that for UB. I definitely can’t trust you.
I’ve been building this place from the ground up. The titles I have gotten were just a byproduct of that. Union Battleground is now a victim to exhaustion and apathy. You are the perfect embodiment of that, Alyssa. You don’t care about being our champion. You only care about your murky reflection on that gold. I think that title needs a little more blood on it instead of being ignored. This is just another chance I will have to show you all what season three is going to look like. In one I cleared the field. In two I accomplished my obsessive goal. Three will be where I rule. I will look down at you and at anyone that comes here from any-fucking-where to enact my bitter revenge on the world.”
Kimitsu steps down off the ring and holds the Trench War Title to her chest as she looks at the ring.
“That ring gives me my purpose. People like me don’t get too far in life. We are forced to settle for the scraps as we trudge along in life. I never accepted that and I made something of myself on that platform inside those four sides of ropes. Since this business is about hurting people to make a point I will show you who I am, Alyssa Daniels. You are not going to waltz through another win without a challenge. Since birth, I have been breaking through the walls set up against me and I aim to break through the walls holding me back now. I’m going to be the Union Battleground Champion and it’s going to be a problem.”
The snow can't stop her. The frigid northeast temperatures won't stop her. Dressed in her workout pants and a hooded sweatshirt, Alyssa Daniels is not letting the weather stop her from getting in a distance run. Jogging at a fast but steady and careful pace, her face shows determination. Despite the stinging pain of the cold, despite how the frosty air burns her lungs when she sucks it in, she keeps pushing. Sure, she could be doing this from the comfort of a treadmill, but nothing about her line of work is comfortable. She doesn’t want to be comfortable. She wants to struggle, to hurt, to push through. Comfort didn’t push her to be the best.
Comfort didn’t make her a champion.
Flash!
It’s Coup de Grace. Alyssa, absolutely exhausted and sweaty, steps through the curtain holding the Union Battleground Championship on her shoulder. Her breathing is still slightly labored despite the match ending fifteen minutes or so ago. Despite SHIDO’s appearance, tears still fall in exhiliration from the big win over two of the greatest legends to ever grace a Union Battleground ring. As she steps through, a deep voice greets her.
“Congratulations, Champ.”
Alyssa looks up and her eyes meet her father’s, Keith Daniels. He smiles as he looks from the championship belt on her shoulder to her.
“I’m so proud of-- Oof!”
Alyssa runs into him and almost tackles the near seven foot figure in front of her. The metal plates of the belt make a thud as they slam into him, Alyssa having forgotten to drop it beforehand. He wraps his arms around her in turn. Alyssa speaks first, her embrace unrelenting.
“Thank you… Thank you for everything…”
“Don’t thank me,” he said in reply. “You did this. I had nothing to do with it.”
She pulls back and looks up at him.
“That’s not true. When you were touring the country and I just showed back up in your life, you didn’t hesitate when I asked to tour the country with you. You took me with you all across the country while you competed. If I hadn’t seen… Hadn’t felt that rush when the fans brought it every night, I don’t know that I’d have ever decided to do this.”
Keith laughs.
“Well, they didn’t like me very much so that probably still had little to do with me.”
Alyssa smiles.
“Well, when the fans react, they react big whether it’s good or bad.”
“Not to mention how often I lost toward the end. Couldn’t have been my success that inspired you.”
“But you lost, packed up your bags, and went to the next city to fight again. That’s more important than anything. Success isn’t simply measured in wins, it’s how you get back up when you could just give up.”
Keith shakes his head, still smiling.
“Well, hopefully you end up being a better champion than I ever was.”
Alyssa just smiles and hugs her father again, enjoying his presence.
Flash!
Now in an empty schoolyard, Alyssa is doing pull-ups on a set of monkey bars. Her motions are fluid despite the discomfort on her face as her bare hands grip the cold metal. Her sweatshirt is covered in, well, sweat ironically enough. She exhales as she pulls up, inhales as she drops down. After twenty more repetitions, she drops down to the snow. She stretches her arms out to the sides to loosen up.
“It takes a lot of work to be a champion, more than it ever took to become one.”
Alyssa drops down to the ground and reaches a foot back to hook one of the step-up bars on one end of the monkey bars. She lifts her other foot to hook the next step and the other to hook the top. Once she’s got both feet on the top bar, she begins to do push ups, her hands sinking into the snow. Alyssa’s voice sounds as narration over the scene.
“The championship chase is exciting and enough to keep you going, hoping for that chance to become champion. But once you’re at the top, once you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve, what then? Some people rest on their laurels, comfortable in knowing that they did it. Then when the time comes to get out and prove themselves in a championship fight, it all falls apart as the next hungry competitor comes along, fighting at hyper speed to take it for their own. You’ve seen it, haven’t you, Kim? You watched Rogan Maclean take the Trench War Championship from Emery Layton, then turn around and lose it to you a month later. Then Finn comes along after a couple of defenses and takes it from you. It was in that moment that you knew that you could never get too comfortable as champion. And now here you are, reinvigorated by the hunt, the chase.”
After finishing her set of push ups, Alyssa stands and rubs her hands together, using the friction to heat them up.
“And there’s just something about the chase.”
She steps away from the monkey bars and moves to where some tires have been lined up. The style is irregular, not just one on each side alternating but some of the spaces are missing tires where there would normally be one.
“And you? You’re one heck of a competitor even with nothing on the line. You’ve battled through good times and bad but you keep battling, keep fighting, keep winning championships despite any shortcomings you’ve faced. When you came back and took the Trench War Championship from Finn, you showed just one more example of that. But both of your current promotions, 4CW and Union Battleground, you just haven’t quite been able to take the top championship. You’ve been Pride Champion and Trench War Champion but as they say, always the bridesmaid and never the bride.”
Alyssa’s trip through the tires shows her reasoning for the design. As she quickly steps from tire to tire and comes to a missing spot, she hops quickly and lands in the next tire, using the irregularity to add difficulty to the agility exercise.
“It’s something I’ve no doubt you’ll accomplish in time, but I can’t let you do it now at my expense. I didn’t put in that hard work to get here just to be here. I’m not content to just have achieved this much. I didn’t let the chase wear me out. I’m intimately familiar with what it takes, not just to win a championship, but to be a champion and keep that title. I know that every time I walk down that ramp to the ring, I’m going to get everyone’s best effort, title fight or not. Everyone under contract wants to dethrone me. Some might be uncomfortable with that, but me? I embrace that discomfort. I embrace being hunted, getting everything from my opponents every night I step into that ring. Being a champion means my opponents can’t waste the opportunity. There are no easy wins. There’s no coasting. I want to face the very best and right now, I’m not at all ashamed to say that that’s you. With the King Cobra tournament currently ongoing, someone will rise from that with an opportunity to pick off the Union Battleground Champion but that’s then. This is now.”
She slips on one of the tires during this pass but catches herself and pushes forward.
“And you deserve this.”
Alyssa turns at the end and immediately takes off once again.
“But this isn’t just an opportunity for you. For me, I get the opportunity to prove myself against the Trench War Champion. I get to face the best in Union Battleground if I weren’t considered. This is the best opportunity I could hope for. Honestly, if I had to pick someone to face in my first defense in my hometown of Philadelphia, it’s you. And it makes sense, right? Both of us have taken championships from Emery Layton, the person voted Champion of the Year for season two by the fans. Now, the Female of the Year faces the Rising Star for the top championship in this business. This is a roster of all stars and you and I, we are currently at the top of that mountain. When January twenty-fifth arrives, I know that I’m going to get everything you’ve got, all that excitement, all that adrenaline, all of your skill, and every bit of gas you’ve got in that tank. I know that you aren’t underestimating how much this opportunity means for you, thus far the eternal bridesmaid.”
After a final run through, she stops and catches her breath.
“But I’ve long since finished celebrating this championship. I’ve been working hard to come back even better than the girl that emerged victorious at Coup de Grace. I’ve worked and wrestled in other promotions during Union Battleground’s offseason just as you have. I do not rest on my laurels and at Lights Out, Finneran Pavilion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I’m showing up to earn another day with this championship. I can’t let anything hold me back.”
Alyssa stands and takes a deep breath before jogging away.
