The Elements of Change (Part IV)

[Stormm]

Water

His lungs started to burn. The blood pumping through his veins rapidly losing the oxygen needed to keep him conscious, but there was no struggle.

Tiny bubbles came to the surface from his mouth and nose, he was playing chicken with the break point. He did not fight against the hand that held him under, as that would only decrease the time he had left before then.

A minute or more had passed since Justin had been submerged in the Pacific, under the Santa Barbara pier, the spot where Dr. Damian Sorrow had almost killed him eighteen years prior.

It was their first meeting, and the Force of Nature was still under the impression that his father was the biggest threat to his life and career, not having come to the realization at the time that Gene was only protection Justin from Dr. Sorrow.

Stormm had just recovered from tearing the quad in his left leg the first time, having just turned twenty-one during the recovery process. His work in Japan had caught the eye of several in the states, but IAWF’s Joseph Remington Matthews was not about to let any of the rest have a chance at signing the wonderkid from the Midwest.

He’d signed a developmental deal with Joe, a six month contract for Justin to get back into shape and hone his skills in the IAWF training facilities across the country. That same night, after putting pen to paper, he had his first independent circuit match since his injury. A match against a man who the PCW faithful may have known better than Stormm has his mental health not declined so rapidly back then.

Steven Lee was a large part of Justin’s success in Japan. They were probably the hottest feud in the late nineties over there; the two American monsters duking it out over every heavyweight title you could name around Tokyo at the time. They were even roommates for a time.

He was there on the pier that night too, as they shared a drink after another half hour of work in Santa Barbara for some local booker. He watched Justin chase his father under the pier, and was there to pull one of Dr. Sorrow’s lackeys, dressed to look like Gene Michaels, off of him.

Rather than pulling Justin out of the water, his hand was not the one holding him under.

Over a minute and a half underwater.

“Damn it Justin!” Lindsay was also present, but didn’t seem to be fighting Steven to let her husband up. “He’s been under there long enough Steve, pull him up!”

Releasing the grip on Lee’s wrist, Justin gave Lindsay the thumbs up, and put his hand back in place. “He said to not pull him up until it felt like he was going to break my wrist.” Steven laughed, a large man himself, seemed unlikely to him for Justin, willingly being drowned, to exhibit that much force.

He hadn’t been under long enough. He hadn’t been under as long as he had been the first time. Justin was fighting with himself, hoping to feel what he did the first time, without his body betraying him, and trying to take a breath before he was ready.

“If I’d know this is what he was bringing us all out here for, I would have kept him at home!” Lindsay crossed her arms, not at all happy with the situation, as she moved her way past Steven’s long time girlfriend, Lia, and over by Brian and Catie McCallister, who had also joined the party. “How can you be okay with this?” She asked Brian.

“You married the man, you know better than any of us that he follows through with anything once he gets it in his head.” Brain shrugged, and his wife, Catie, nudged him with her elbow.

“He’ll be fine.” Catie assured.

The moment, just before you pass out when your brain takes control away from you, and forces you to inhale, even underwater, had all but crept up on Justin, and he finally pushed on Steven’s wrist. Each of Justin’s hands going in a different direction with such force that Steven knew that it was time to pull him up.

If there had been anyone on the pier at that hour, anyone at all, they would have heard him gasping for air. Lindsay was the first to his side as Steven let go of his t-shirt, and he crawled up the beach. Her usual playful smack had turned into a clenched-fist punch to the shoulder. “What the hell was that?!”

Justin chuckled as he sat down, far enough up the beach to mostly be out of the water, but his feet still in the surf of the tide. She punched him again for good measure, and his smile disappeared.

He nodded. “Everyone that was here the night I wrestled my first match in the states, that’s still around to be here… is here.” Lindsay still remembers the day she traveled with her father to California to meet “THE” up and coming young star. She was still learning the ropes of the family business, but she definitely saw the same thing her father did that night, and then some.

Steven remembers the incident, but what he remembers more was the debut of the Force of Nature. Justin had been using the Flash Flood as his finisher in Japan, and had only been working on a higher impact move to put his opponents down for the 3-count. The “Sinister” got to feel it that night, and it has been Justin’s go-to since.

Lia remembered watching her beau fall into a heap after being hit with the new finisher, and thinking he was dead. He turned out okay, of course, but it nevertheless looked brutal. Then, on top of it, having to call 911 later that evening, thinking Justin was dead. The two of them hadn’t gotten along very well to that point, but had more respect for one another after that. In recent years, her standing by Steven’s side, despite all of his health issues, and Dr. Sorrow influence, not just to Steven, but her as well, Justin realized that a once good friend of his would not be in the place he was at the time if it wasn’t for her.

“So why are we here?” Brian asked.

“In case I died.” Justin laughed, a morbid joke for sure, and well deserving of the third punch he received from Lindsay, and the sandal that Catie had thrown at him. “A part of me was left in the water here that night, you all play a big roll in my life in some way, and wanted everyone here when I took it back.” He paused, but only briefly. “When I started my career all over again.”

The night he almost drown the first time had nearly defined his life for eighteen years. With Dr. Sorrow gone, Steven rehabilitated, and his life in a good place, there was still something missing. Taking that night away, and making it a new experience under his own control, he was hoping to wash away the past.

His career was in a good place, but nowhere near where he wanted it to be. He’d never won a World title more than once.

He knew better than to think of as a curse, but superstitions are ever present in competitive people. Reliving the experience again was not some desperate act to improve his luck however. “I didn’t want to do this, hoping that things would just start to go my way. I didn’t want you all here to see this like it was some cry for help. I know I’m not going back in time two decades to start this fucking crazy mess all over.” He reached out, and Steven grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. “I’ve been drowning myself for years, not necessarily as a result of this happening the first time, but it had certainly started me down the rabbit hole to where I am now.”

Lindsay took comfort in knowing her husband was aware that it was kind of a crazy idea, but like everyone else, kept her attention on Justin as he explained himself.

“I’ve been trying to be this person, this cornucopia of personalities, all rolled into some flawless bullshit persona for years.” Wrapping his wet arm around Lindsay’s shoulders, a smile on his face as she rolls her eyes, he presses on. “My biggest issues in life have had little to do with other people, and more to do with trying to be something that I don’t care to be anymore.”

Reluctantly, Lindsay wrapped her arms around her soggy husband. “So does this mean you’re going to be an even bigger asshole moving forward?” Brian joked.

“Maybe.”

Everyone paused, unsure if Justin was being sarcastic or not.

“I wanted to drown the man that tried to be everything that everyone wanted him to be. If that means I end up being an asshole, then so be it. At least I’ll actually be myself.” He smiled, and glanced down at Lindsay, who, despite her gaze being elsewhere, was smiling as well. His glance moved in the directions of everyone else, who nodded in agreement.

The three couples stood there, under the Santa Barbara pier, waves crashing against the pillars as the tide came, in quiet contemplation for quite a while after that. The moonlight finally broke through a large wall of clouds down onto the California shore, and brought everyone back to reality from their deep thoughts.

“So, how soon do you want to lose that title?”

Steven’s question came, being the least familiar with Justin and his more recent plans, and the Force of Nature laughed. “I don’t throw matches, I never have, and no matter how much shit I talk, I never will.” He affirmed. “While the suits may not want me to take on ‘Player 1’ while I’m still North American Champion, Grimm is going to have to do more than just show up to take it from me. In fact, he gets to be the first to see the real Stormm.”

“Make him wish he’d gone after the World title again!”

Justin looked down at Lindsay, who had used her left pointer finger to poke at his side. “Rub it in why don’t you?” He laughed back at her.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

Shaking his head, his mouth opened, but nothing came out. His head fell, and his gaze landed on the wet sand for just a moment. “I just want people to know when they step into the ring with Stormm, they’ve got more to worry about than ego, and catchphrases; black hands, and followers; suits, and money.”

His eyes return to the group. Lia has a nervous smile on her face, and Steven is nodding, knowing firsthand the kind of attitude he is referring to, as it was the man he wrestled two decades ago overseas.

Brian and Catie began to see some of the determination that had made him such a visionary when it came to those first few years at Havoc Entertainment, and his drive to succeed in whatever he set his mind to.

And Lindsay caught a glimpse of the man she fell in love with in the first place, no longer hiding scared behind past failures, and personal issues.

“They will stand across from a man with nothing to hide, and nothing to fear.”