Post by Skyler Striker on Feb 13, 2009 11:39:18 GMT -5
The challenger breathes heavily, feeling the humidity making the air heavier, harder to breathe. The dead weight beneath his left arm is difficult to carry, but it’s comforting, familiar. It’s about knowing you’re in control. His feet feel like the gravity around him has been turned up to twice as much as normal, and his eyelids flutter, unsure of whether to stay open or just abandon the effort and remain shut. One more step, and he’s ready. This will finish it. The challenger raises his hand, enjoying his connection with the crowd. It’s subtle but he can hear the volume raise in the arena and it inspires him, boots his morale, it puts the image of victory into his mind. But the Champion is Champion for a reason, and he takes advantage of the two seconds it took for the challenger to raise his hand, springing to life with adrenaline running through his veins. He steps forward, and with that one manoeuvre the tide of battle shifts, the Champion is in total control and the challenger can feel the pain spreading. He understands the pressure on his neck, the loss of feeling and the growing blackness in his vision. When he can take no more of the intense pain, he raises his hand with what little strength he has left and reluctantly gives in, allowing the Champion to remain as such.
He will live to fight another day.
Remembering their last experience, the challenger, now knows more. He knows a part of his opponent, he knows the challenge he is up against. He knows this time, there is a referee who will be unpredictable. And he knows that most of all, this is a must win situation. There is no option to lose – not when his own flesh and blood is on the line. A flash of pain goes through his mind as he thinks of a life without the one person he really cares about. Seeing the Champion lying prostrate in the ring, the opportunity arises, and he has to take it or there will be no hope left. It has been a trying encounter already but he climbs, knowing height is his greatest advantage here. With a primal roar, the challenger leaps, and his body spins gracefully in midair, colliding hard on top of the Champion’s. The challenger hears a hand colliding with the mat, and a muffled set of shouts from the crowd, before an even more muffled and loud cheer rises from them. Looking beside him, he can tell something has changed. His daughter is his again, his crusade has ended.
The Champion is dead, long live the Champion.
Even won’t suffice. Not for the challenger. He knows even the Champion won’t see this coming. In one swift movement, he has the Champion down and removes the mask around his face, throwing it casually into the crowd. The look on the Champion’s face is the one he is searching for. Shock. Surprise. Fear. They’re only displayed for the most fleeting of moments before the Champion’s gaze steels, but this is it. The momentum has changed. Every movement he can see coming, every fight is one that’s already been won and that has already contributed to the end of the war. These are nothing but motions now, unavoidable and inevitable. One more time, the climb, the dive, the finale. The Champion is down again, but this time the sound is clear, the vision is perfect. The hand is down, once, twice, three times, and this is the moment the Champion has fought so hard for. Now he is at the top of the chain. The audience, filling the stadium to the highest and furthest of seats, are on their feet, supporting the Champion as he raises the belt in the air with adrenaline rushing through his veins. The thrill of this moment will not be lost on him.
Somehow he gets the feeling it won’t be over.
And that’s just it, isn’t it? It’s never over. Not for me. I’ve always got to return for one more, the lure of that match is one I can’t resist. Funny, although there’s always more and more things I CAN do, there are just as many I can’t. But I have no objections. Not for a match with such brevity as this.
In my time away, I have changed.
I’m no longer a gimmick or a catchphrase like I was foolish enough to be when I first entered this company. I’ve matured, lost fights, won friends, drawn lines and left battlefields. I’ve fought wars and sunk to lows I never thought I would.
It’s quite laughable, actually. For all my moral ranting and immature shouting, I never realized that deep inside, none of us are that far off being Jack of Blades. I’m no longer concerned with good and bad, or with who’s right and wrong. All I want now is my match.
It seems, Jack, we have something in common. Both of us were drawn back by the other. And for that, you have my appreciation. But alas, let our words be forgotten and our actions inside the ring determine which direction we go.
It is time to become a challenger once again.
He will live to fight another day.
Remembering their last experience, the challenger, now knows more. He knows a part of his opponent, he knows the challenge he is up against. He knows this time, there is a referee who will be unpredictable. And he knows that most of all, this is a must win situation. There is no option to lose – not when his own flesh and blood is on the line. A flash of pain goes through his mind as he thinks of a life without the one person he really cares about. Seeing the Champion lying prostrate in the ring, the opportunity arises, and he has to take it or there will be no hope left. It has been a trying encounter already but he climbs, knowing height is his greatest advantage here. With a primal roar, the challenger leaps, and his body spins gracefully in midair, colliding hard on top of the Champion’s. The challenger hears a hand colliding with the mat, and a muffled set of shouts from the crowd, before an even more muffled and loud cheer rises from them. Looking beside him, he can tell something has changed. His daughter is his again, his crusade has ended.
The Champion is dead, long live the Champion.
Even won’t suffice. Not for the challenger. He knows even the Champion won’t see this coming. In one swift movement, he has the Champion down and removes the mask around his face, throwing it casually into the crowd. The look on the Champion’s face is the one he is searching for. Shock. Surprise. Fear. They’re only displayed for the most fleeting of moments before the Champion’s gaze steels, but this is it. The momentum has changed. Every movement he can see coming, every fight is one that’s already been won and that has already contributed to the end of the war. These are nothing but motions now, unavoidable and inevitable. One more time, the climb, the dive, the finale. The Champion is down again, but this time the sound is clear, the vision is perfect. The hand is down, once, twice, three times, and this is the moment the Champion has fought so hard for. Now he is at the top of the chain. The audience, filling the stadium to the highest and furthest of seats, are on their feet, supporting the Champion as he raises the belt in the air with adrenaline rushing through his veins. The thrill of this moment will not be lost on him.
Somehow he gets the feeling it won’t be over.
And that’s just it, isn’t it? It’s never over. Not for me. I’ve always got to return for one more, the lure of that match is one I can’t resist. Funny, although there’s always more and more things I CAN do, there are just as many I can’t. But I have no objections. Not for a match with such brevity as this.
In my time away, I have changed.
I’m no longer a gimmick or a catchphrase like I was foolish enough to be when I first entered this company. I’ve matured, lost fights, won friends, drawn lines and left battlefields. I’ve fought wars and sunk to lows I never thought I would.
It’s quite laughable, actually. For all my moral ranting and immature shouting, I never realized that deep inside, none of us are that far off being Jack of Blades. I’m no longer concerned with good and bad, or with who’s right and wrong. All I want now is my match.
It seems, Jack, we have something in common. Both of us were drawn back by the other. And for that, you have my appreciation. But alas, let our words be forgotten and our actions inside the ring determine which direction we go.
It is time to become a challenger once again.
