Post by Kid Dynamo on Jan 23, 2012 2:14:00 GMT -4
Open to Link hanging up a framed collage in a workout room.
Venus walks in and asks, "What's that? You didn't tell me you were putting that together."
"It was kinda spur of the moment. I couldn't sleep, so I worked on this. Lucky we had the spare picture frame."
Venus nods, then walks over to hold Link's shoulders. Link smiles at his fiance, then looks at the collage, meaning to say something, but she beats him to speaking. So what are those pictures about?
There were only three within the frame. Link pointed to the one on the left.
It was a picture of Link from some random indy no one's ever heard of. Link was bulkier then, and had his opponent up in a fireman's carry, the position from which his old finisher was executed.
"Almost two years ago, Dad told me it was stupid to consider pro wrestling.
He showed me the surgical scars on his knee and how his hair was already graying. Wrestling had turned him into an old man, and I would just end up some bitter nobody if I went for it.
"I remember telling him that wrestling didn't make him an old man because he was ALWAYS an old man, and that when my hair color sarted to fade I'd just keep it shaved. I resented him so much for trying to piss on my dreams.
It should never be a sin to follow your father's footsteps"
He pointed towards the middle picture...
Venus's cheeks turn red and she looks away in embarassment.
A few months before, Jyushin Lhunder threw a party for his students to celebrate Marine Day, a holiday that commemorates the maritime industries that, for the most part, have fueled the country's economy over the years. His only requirement was that, in lieu of actual wrestling training, all of his students would need to create a character to pretend to be and act like that character for the duration of the party. While some students tended towards the uninspired, preferring to not stress over a holiday, Venus, who had been a wallflower up to this point, decided to go all out and make a scene.
So, she came dressed as Yasha Yakyuu, a former little leage baseball player whose team lost to an American team after a blatantly bad call by the umpire when she was at bat, calling her out when she only received a second strike. The dishonor of losing, especially by gross incompetence caused her to spiral downwards into madness, becoming a vicious psycho with no regard for her or her opponent's safety combined with the PTSD that can only come from immense dishonor.
Link was aware enough to know all the people in the Lhunder dojo, but this outfit convinced him that Venus was someone worth getting to know. He smiled to himself remembering their first conversation together...
[shadow=gray,left,300]...I was just tired of never being noticed, so I forced myself to...
I noticed you.
No you didn't.
Venus, you have more in your sports bra than all the other girls here COMBINED, and I'm a guy. I NOTICED.
When he proposed to her a few months later, she told him that a big reason why she said 'yes' was because of that one thing he said. It was a little thing - and CLEARLY chauvinistic - but it took a little thing like that to remind her that she wasn't "just a fat kid" and, well, as crazy as it sounds, whenever she started to doubt herself, she'd think about her "sports bra" and shake it off.
[/shadow]
"My dad told me it was stupid to get married so young...and to you", Link continued.
"He reminded me that I was 'supposed to marry a princess' and, well, I told him..."
"You told him I WAS a princess." She was quite fond of the story. It inspired her wrestling nickname, and she loved how Link never failed to make her feel special, no matter what it cost him.
"It should never be a sin to follow your heart..."
...Venus followed her heart to Japan. She didn't yet have her idol's eye, nor any reason to believe that she could live her childhood dream of professional wrestling, but, there was one thing she knew:
nothing was better than the life she left behind.
nothing was better than the life she left behind.
[shadow=gray,right,600]
Her relationship with her father continued to dwindle as his continual non-presence correlated with her developing independence; by her 18th birthday, she had no need for him at all.
But, it seemed he had a need for her. There was a boy who had taken a liking to her, well not her exactly, but her frame, close to her 5'5"-200 of adulthood. This "chubby chaser" also happened to be the son of the Garrison Commander...and SSG Demilo's boss. After being prodded by his son, the Commander invited the Demilo family to a social gathering. Venus, intuiting a negative denouement, fought strongly to miss the affair, but her father wanted to curry favor with the Colonel in hopes of getting a bump towards promotion.
Soon after arriving, her boredom found her wandering, and that's when his infatuation advanced.
She walked into a room, admiring a large display of trophies and medals...
...when the door suddenly slammed behind her. She turned around quickly, and saw a large teenage boy she had never met staring at her, his look that of a lion that had trapped a gazelle.
"You're pretty", he said with a tone and facial expression not only horrifyingly shuddersome but also nonchalant, as if he knew his intentions were sinister...and unencumbered by guilt thanks to his last name.
No other words were exchanged as, like a predator trading intimidation for ferocity, he charged at her. He grabbed hold of her, and immediately went to rip her shirt off of her, disregarding any emotion save a thirst to behold her naked body and utilize it selfishly.
...it was a split-second AFTER instinctively stomping on his foot that she understood what his intentions were. Fortunately, while HIS instincts were to take a moment to discern the newfound pain in his foot, HERS were a mental index search of the most appropriate wrestling move to diffuse the situation...
...both of their fathers stormed in at the sound of his cries for help and found him helplessly whimpering as he began to lose consciousness, Venus' legs wrapped around his neck and torso in a well-executed triangle choke, to include wrenching the outstretched arm. The past eighty seconds had been an act of survival...
...but to her father, it was an utmost betrayal. He would never believe that Venus warded off an attempted rape, even daring to tell his daughter "fat girls don't get raped". The Colonel was furious, and the Demilo family would be swiftly transferred to another base.
It was the scariest moment of her life, and as she grabbed that boy, believing that a chokehold was her ticket to maintaining her chastity, she could not have imagined the happiness that would be in her life just a year later.[/shadow]
But, it seemed he had a need for her. There was a boy who had taken a liking to her, well not her exactly, but her frame, close to her 5'5"-200 of adulthood. This "chubby chaser" also happened to be the son of the Garrison Commander...and SSG Demilo's boss. After being prodded by his son, the Commander invited the Demilo family to a social gathering. Venus, intuiting a negative denouement, fought strongly to miss the affair, but her father wanted to curry favor with the Colonel in hopes of getting a bump towards promotion.
Soon after arriving, her boredom found her wandering, and that's when his infatuation advanced.
She walked into a room, admiring a large display of trophies and medals...
...when the door suddenly slammed behind her. She turned around quickly, and saw a large teenage boy she had never met staring at her, his look that of a lion that had trapped a gazelle.
"You're pretty", he said with a tone and facial expression not only horrifyingly shuddersome but also nonchalant, as if he knew his intentions were sinister...and unencumbered by guilt thanks to his last name.
No other words were exchanged as, like a predator trading intimidation for ferocity, he charged at her. He grabbed hold of her, and immediately went to rip her shirt off of her, disregarding any emotion save a thirst to behold her naked body and utilize it selfishly.
...it was a split-second AFTER instinctively stomping on his foot that she understood what his intentions were. Fortunately, while HIS instincts were to take a moment to discern the newfound pain in his foot, HERS were a mental index search of the most appropriate wrestling move to diffuse the situation...
...both of their fathers stormed in at the sound of his cries for help and found him helplessly whimpering as he began to lose consciousness, Venus' legs wrapped around his neck and torso in a well-executed triangle choke, to include wrenching the outstretched arm. The past eighty seconds had been an act of survival...
...but to her father, it was an utmost betrayal. He would never believe that Venus warded off an attempted rape, even daring to tell his daughter "fat girls don't get raped". The Colonel was furious, and the Demilo family would be swiftly transferred to another base.
It was the scariest moment of her life, and as she grabbed that boy, believing that a chokehold was her ticket to maintaining her chastity, she could not have imagined the happiness that would be in her life just a year later.[/shadow]
"...should never be a sin to return home."
Venus snapped back to reality as Link finished explaining the third picture, Level One during his third World Championship reign, then the pinnacle of American wrestling as he was the pinnacle of top-rated APW. It represented the "stupid decision" to return to America as opposed to wrestling in Japan upon graduating from the dojo.
Link stopped talking as he realized how tightly his fiance was holding him. After all, he was still angry at his father, and he was still dedicated to becoming a wrestling superstar...
...but he loved her...even though he knew she loved wrestling just a little bit more...
The scene is a simple one, with Grant Square in their respective wrestling attire:
Link wore maroon trunks and boots with a white "G2" on the butt symbolizing prioritizing the team over himself.
Venus modestly wears a Jyushin "Tiger" Lhunder T-shirt with a slight V-cut to expose some cleavage and black tights that extended down to her black boots. She also sports a black headband with pink skulls-and-crossbones patterened across it.
Behind them, a green screen displays a flowing representation of the artistic version of their "Grant 2quare" logo.
It's no coincidence we're here. No one can pinpoint how those little things in their past brought them here, but they did all the same. I can think of HUNDREDS of things that led me here, to compete alongside by husband, at one of the biggest events in pro wrestling.
Well, I can think of one that stands out: This week on Overdrive, the crowd was hot, hotter than usual. It's easy to say that it was that show of patriotism since Action Packed was under attack heading into the Survive and Conquer match...
...but the live crowd knows better. See, just before the televised show began to broadcast, the "warmup match" had finished. In that match, a guy trying WAY too hard to look tough stepped out and pandered his half of the APW Tag Team Titles to an indifferent crowd.
Then, the strangest thing happened. A pair of vertically-challenged people stepped out as strange Japanese music played. One of them was a short but muscular guy with a buzzcut, and the other was a...
Link stops to look at his wife as he struggles to find the word he's looking for. She appears to give him a "go ahead" nod, then clearly rolls her eyes as he continues.
...well, a fat girl.
But, then she did her trademark ring entrance, where she seamlessly flows from running to sliding to tumbling to running to moonsaulting off the ropes, landing on her feet.
Woah.
Then, she flew through the ring, taking shots, but still managing to demonstrate a great high-flying repertoire.
Woah.
In the end, the tough guy got dropped, and this BBW of a wrestler climbed the turnbuckle...and performed the most awesome wrestling maneuver ever invented. The "Grant Finale" a.k.a. the shooting star press.
Double woah.
The fans were lit up. Something about this mysterious woman doing what she did just...
...it felt like there was magic in the air, like all around that night was a palpable aura...
Now I don't wanna over-hype ourselves or anything, but, to me, it felt like the start of something amazing. But, then again, this right here is amazing. How many kids dream of being a part of Action Packed Wrestling, and here I am. It's an incredible feeling to be here and I want more than anything to make the most of the little time that we get here to really stand out as much as I can.
Of course, there's the problem. I'm 5'10", 230. I admit my look is pretty generic, too. Though understandable since I've been signed for two days total now, I've never won a wrestling match. So what on Earth makes me think I can defeat a couple of seasoned veterans like the Martyrs of Madness?
...
You know, I'll be honest. I got nothing save for the whole "anything can happen" chant of the underdog, because that's what the two of us are here. An established tag team that is probably next in line to challenge for the Titles featuring a monster of a man who will tower seven inches over me, and I'M the tall one of the operation here. Rico Casteel is a former World and Suicidal champion, and spent most of 2011 as one of Asylum's best. Coupled with an exceptional puppet master in Mike Morrison, and this tag team just seems unstoppable, right?
It kinda makes me wonder how one guy is the tag team champions and a team not much older than we are is challenging for the gold instead of the Martyrs, but that's not something I get to decide, right? What matters is that at the Survive and Conquer show, it will be Martyrs versus Grant Square, and, as if APW experience wasn't enough of an advantage, you got one more that can't be put aside. You guys appear to be completely insane. It's a big deal, guys. Between Lhunder and Dynamo, V and I have been taught over and over again about a wrestling match being a chess game or maybe something more like poker, and any card shark'll tell ya: no opponent is more frustrating than the one without a strategy.
Don't get me wrong: I don't see the randomness as a flaw. Like I said, it's frustrating as your opponent. It didn't take a lot of looking at your footage in the ring to feel like there's just no point in doing any more research. You guys are crazy, and so this match stopped being a match before it even started.
This is a game of survival, that moment when the grizzly mother stands on her hindlegs and you have to start making some serious choices between discretion and valor. It kinda makes me wish I had a more hit-and-run repertoire, but that just isn't where my strengths lie. I'm a power wrestler, and, frankly, I'd like to think I'm good at it, but, well, I'm kinda feeling like the 300-pound giant...who just got pitted against a 400-pound giant. But I'm not afraid. Concerned? Doubting? Anxious? Yeah, well, any wrestler having to face a former World Champ and his insanity enabling partner is lieing if he doesn't confess to feeling the same thing.
But that's the beauty of it all, isn't it? It could be the Martyrs of Madness, Level One, or the 86-man Survive and Conquer match; once the bell rings we are all the same. Bleacher Report can predict a dominant victory for the Martyrs, but, in the end, we're all "three seconds from greatness", right? After all, this wouldn't be the first time in the history of pro wrestling that guys like us beat guys like you, and I bet it wouldn't be the last, right? There wouldn't be matches if we could just sit back and predict the winner and it stick. The bottom line is that the four of us will enter the ring and either the Martyrs or G2 are going to emerge the winner, and no predictions or hype will matter.
The only thing that will matter will be the final three seconds.
The official cameras cut and the two visibly relax. Venus smirks and gets Link's attention.
"Baby, I love you, and you are really talented in a lot of ways...
"But, right now, you suck at this. Next one, I take lead."
The camera zooms in on his look of confusion (since he thought he nailed it) and the scene fades.
