Post by Andy D on Mar 25, 2013 19:18:40 GMT -5
The true warrior enters the arena with all his powers at the ready – Akuma; Street Fighter Alpha the Movie
The climbing wasn’t the problem. The mountain was steep at this point, no proper gear on me and the rocks were kind of jagged nearly digging into my hands, but there wasn’t a problem. The cold though, that was the bit I hated. This high up in the middle of the Himalayas was always going to be cold. But damn, this was nasty. I was in danger of losing my grip simply from my hands freezing over.
I needed to get to my destination soon, although I wasn’t sure where it was. If my info was right, it should be on this mountain, and just a bit further up. If I was wrong though, then this journey will be over before it truly starts, and I’ll be looking for to start my next journey in the afterlife.
I came very close to the afterlife right near where (I hoped) I was headed. Trying to put my left foot on what I though was a stable rock, it snapped off and my foot went flying downwards. The echo of the small rock bouncing off the mountain face was the only thing that could be heard over my racing hart. Took awhile for the electrical impulses to my brain to act like Pheidippides and run the marathon from my extremities to my brain, where they burst into the HQ stationed in the grey matter and exclaimed “We’re still holding on”. Upon realizing that the body wasn’t plummeting to its end, the brain then decided to cancel the life story flashing before my eyes.
Finally regaining my composure and a new place for my footing, I once again continued up the mountain. My goal here was much too important, I had to find this one ingredient to make me complete, and it was here, I knew it was here. When my hands found the ridge that indicated a cave entrance my soul sighed in relief and nervousness. I climbed up and into the cave, finally standing up on my own feet instead of clinging to the side of a rock face. But at the same time, what I was about to do was scary. If this panned out, it could literary change my life.
I observed the cave. It wasn’t as deep or as big as I had expected, but it was as dark. I could hardly see much into it but I could hear the trickle of water falling down from most sides of cave. And that’s when I saw it, my goal. Placed on a humble pedestal towards the back of the cave was a small golden dragon head statue. I stared at it, wondering what I was to say
“Who Dares Disturb My Slumber?” came a booming voice, starting from nowhere and ending up everywhere.
“Umm… my name is Andrew” I stammered, trying to walk forward to the statue to address it properly. That was a mistake, as I would learn later, the statue itself was just a statue, and all though it represented the… being I was talking to, it wasn’t connected to it in anyway.
“Silence” The voice boomed again, stopping me in my tracks “Why Do You Intrude On The Temple Of The Great Shenlong”
“I am here…” I trailed off, nervously, before taking a large gulp building my own confidence once more. “I am here to become Jinchûriki”
I heard a booming laugh echo the cave that could probably be heard from miles away “You Wish To Host ME?” it spoke, abruptly cutting off its own laughter “And What Makes You Think You Are Worthy For Me To Possess?”
“Well how many other people have come up here?” I said, a little sarcastically, to which I got the dragon equivalent of a ‘humph’ “I Cannot say if I am worthy, but I am missing something in my life, I need direction, I need… I don’t know what it is I truly need. But you, you can give me that, you can show me what it is I need.”
“And You Think That By Joining With Me Is The Only Way To Achieve This?” I had peeked his interest, I could tell by his voice and that meant I had a chance of actually pulling this off. Soon, I wasn’t going to be the mere Andrew Dee I was before, I was about to become something more, something better.
“Call it payment for the deal.” I said, covering my building excitement “You help me find what I need to complete my life, and you get to walk the world once more.”
“Know This, Human” The Dragon started “If You Accept This, I Will Be Joined To You For The Rest Of Your Pathetic Existence”
“I know, and I agree” I said “I am ready to be joined. That’s what will happen right? I have your guarantee that you can’t just take over my body?”
I could hear Shenlong grin massively even though I could not see it. He simply responded “No”
And that was it. I could have sworn that the eyes in the statue started to glow as a searing pain and burning filled every essence of my body. I was being possessed now, my body taking on a being so powerful I would be lucky not to explode. The light intensified, my vision blurred until all that remained…
“THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!”
Everyone in the room practically stopped and looked at the 9 year old girl who had yelled out in the middle (well it was more towards the end) of my story. The small brown haired girl with a small budding ponytail was angry that I had told a story to which she was convinced was a load of bull excrement.
“Well of course not” I chuckled “Can you imagine me with a dragon living inside of me?” The kid was stunned, obviously she was used to people trying to keep up their lies whenever she knew something wasn’t quite legit, and my blowing my own story out of the water was completely destructive to the 9 year olds psyche.
“But… why then…?” the kid stammered, the shock still affecting her ability to speak.
“Why tell the story? Well the question that Billy asked was why do I wear a dragon’s head on my pant legs” I said, pointing to young Billy as I did who beamed with a massive smile that I remembered his name “And you have to admit, that sounded way cooler than ‘because I think it looks cool’” there was a laugh amongst the group of children I had sat in front of me, even some of the parents at the back chuckled a bit
“Ok Children, that’s story time over for now.” Came the voice of Vivian White, PCW Spokesperson and general manager of today’s event. The group of kids all said ‘Aww’ at the same time, but none were louder than myself. I’d been enjoying this question and answer session with the kids a lot, and to hear it was over was legitimate disappointment on my behalf. Vivian shot me a glare, although I couldn’t work out if it was general annoyance or some bemusement over my reaction. “Andy will be available for autographs later, but for now there are plenty of other activities to enjoy”
“I say go get your photo with Leo” I spoke up really quickly “That dude is awesome.” And so the kids all stood up and ran off, some to parents, others to other events. I have to admit, this family (read kid) oriented section of a PCW pre-hype event for Mass Destruction 3 really was great. It’s amazing how many young fans the PCW has, but I suppose it’s a case of when the parents are into it, they get their kids into it, much like any sport really.
Along with myself and my awesome Q&A session, Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was on hand for photo’s with anybody in attendance, which included me at a very early part of the event instantly becoming my new twitter profile picture. PCW’s newest mascot was actually a bit of a hit with the kids, and the adult kids like Menace who couldn’t stop saying ‘Pizza’ and ‘Cowabunga’ every 5 minutes. Speaking off, Jackle and Menace were here as well as part of an activity allowing the kids to pin a PCW star to the mat. The 2Guys were obviously the stars, and actual PCW referees were on hand to officially count the 1-2-3. Tyrone Little was currently counting Menace as he literally laid down on the job. And of course every PCW star, staff or otherwise who showed up was scheduled for a Q&A session with the kids.
As the kids ran about looking for their next fun shot, several lining up to take on Jackle on the latest PCW Video Game pod (what were they calling this one again? Ah hell, I can never remember these things), I headed over to a bit of a side area for us attractions to rest up. As I approach, I got thrown a bottle of water and a very warm smile from another resting up staff member, referee Melina Cruz.
Apart from being here to be one of the Ref’s on the ‘You 2 can pin the 2Guys’ section (which it affectionately became nicknamed by Menace himself), Mel was an amazing roll model for young girls interested in the wrestling biz. Or at least that’s what marketing was saying to her for why she was here. I don’t think anybody but them really thought of her like that while she wad talking to the kids, although I’m pretty sure she was asked which wrestler she thought was the cutest at one point during her Q&A session.
“Grazie” I thanked her as I opened the bottle and took a sip
“So you speak Italian?” Mel asked, slightly impressed
“I speak a little of a few languages” I said, with a hint of smugness in my voice “Italian, French, German…”
“Dragon” Melina chipped in “You seemed to understand it fluently”
“No, actually Shenlong was so powerful that it could just instantly make me understand it’s…” At this point I realised just what I walked into and how stupid I was sounding “I am so not going into this with you” Melina laughed, pretty hard. This was a thing I really liked about events like this, a lot of people got to just let their hair down (so to speak) and just be a lot more like themselves than when at a show. Usually when on Trauma or a PPV, people like Mel or like Super Security Big Dave (who showed how strong he was earlier in the day by lifting me over his head) are always seen as super serious, because they need to be when they’re doing their job.
“So really, where did you come up with such a cornball story anyway?” I was asked when Melina finally calmed down enough from her laughter.
“Cornball? I’ll have you know that’s Harry Potter esc fantasy right there” I mockingly defended my story, raising another chuckle from Ms Cruz. “Anyway, I never did come up with that story. That was Vic, the guy who trained me. He always said we needed some fantastical back story to explain things, and to entertain his kids, nieces & nephews, etcetera. So he came up with the whole thing.”
“So the whole you searching for something right now never really factored into it?” I shot Mel a sideways quizzical look, since I had never told her I felt like I had been missing a part of myself “What, I do talk to other people you know”
“Looking for something? I’m not looking for something” I said, slightly more defensively than was needed. “Not anymore anyway” I added a sly grin on my face
“You’ve found it?” Mel asked “I thought you seemed more happy and relaxed. Well, what is it then? What did you find?”
“Now, now” I said, like almost trying to calm down a hyped up child “That would be a spoiler. You’ll have to find out along with everyone else”
“Aw you’re no fun” Mel mocked, and I could have sworn she threw in a mock pout as well. “At least you’ll be super pumped now for you match”
“Perhaps” I said in my usually optimistic fashion “But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a walk in the park”
“Ok, since I’m curious how the mind of a wrestler actually works on this kind of thing, how about you explain that thought” Melina asked.
“Ok, you’ve got a champion who’s defended more times that Sean Rhodes has defended his World Title. You’ve got Murdoc who basically beat me into my last win. And with him and Eira in whatever kind of relation they’re in, it’s more likely they’ll team up than fight each other”
“But of course you’re not worried about Tyrone Smith” Melina said, almost as if that was the expectant comment from me
“See, that’s what everyone believes because he’s never beaten me in a match.” I started “But it’s just not true. Crazy Boy can be incredibly dangerous in his own right but in this kind of match? The guy could screw me out of a win without even beating me. That’s way more dangerous”
“Well if its any consolation, I believe that you’ve got a chance of winning the match” Melina said, taking a big gulp of water as I started to smile a little at her faith in my “Of course, as a PCW official, I also believe that Tyrone has a chance of winning, Murdoc has a chance of winning and Eira has a chance of winning”
“That’s why I like you” I started “Your unshakable unbiased nature”
“And here I thought it was my sparkling personality” Melina countered back
“Well, that and you’ve got a pretty face” I said with a grin on my face “But if your brother ever asks I will deny all knowledge I ever said that.” We both laughed as we were approached by Vivian
“Hey Andy, are you ready to do a round of autographs?” She asked, although I could read between the lines in that she meant it was time for me to go do autographs
“Yes Ma’am” I said, with a mini salute thrown in. I said to Mel I’d catch up to her later and headed back out to be bombarded by the younger PCW fan base.
Melina was right about one thing, now that I had found that missing piece of myself I was more fired up than ever for a match. And regardless if that piece is the spirit of a dragon, a photo with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or the Faith of a cute referee, I was back to 100% and ready for action.
Beware the Dragon’s Bite, my opponents, for it strikes without warning and destroys without remorse. And maybe, that might be the new me as well.
The climbing wasn’t the problem. The mountain was steep at this point, no proper gear on me and the rocks were kind of jagged nearly digging into my hands, but there wasn’t a problem. The cold though, that was the bit I hated. This high up in the middle of the Himalayas was always going to be cold. But damn, this was nasty. I was in danger of losing my grip simply from my hands freezing over.
I needed to get to my destination soon, although I wasn’t sure where it was. If my info was right, it should be on this mountain, and just a bit further up. If I was wrong though, then this journey will be over before it truly starts, and I’ll be looking for to start my next journey in the afterlife.
I came very close to the afterlife right near where (I hoped) I was headed. Trying to put my left foot on what I though was a stable rock, it snapped off and my foot went flying downwards. The echo of the small rock bouncing off the mountain face was the only thing that could be heard over my racing hart. Took awhile for the electrical impulses to my brain to act like Pheidippides and run the marathon from my extremities to my brain, where they burst into the HQ stationed in the grey matter and exclaimed “We’re still holding on”. Upon realizing that the body wasn’t plummeting to its end, the brain then decided to cancel the life story flashing before my eyes.
Finally regaining my composure and a new place for my footing, I once again continued up the mountain. My goal here was much too important, I had to find this one ingredient to make me complete, and it was here, I knew it was here. When my hands found the ridge that indicated a cave entrance my soul sighed in relief and nervousness. I climbed up and into the cave, finally standing up on my own feet instead of clinging to the side of a rock face. But at the same time, what I was about to do was scary. If this panned out, it could literary change my life.
I observed the cave. It wasn’t as deep or as big as I had expected, but it was as dark. I could hardly see much into it but I could hear the trickle of water falling down from most sides of cave. And that’s when I saw it, my goal. Placed on a humble pedestal towards the back of the cave was a small golden dragon head statue. I stared at it, wondering what I was to say
“Who Dares Disturb My Slumber?” came a booming voice, starting from nowhere and ending up everywhere.
“Umm… my name is Andrew” I stammered, trying to walk forward to the statue to address it properly. That was a mistake, as I would learn later, the statue itself was just a statue, and all though it represented the… being I was talking to, it wasn’t connected to it in anyway.
“Silence” The voice boomed again, stopping me in my tracks “Why Do You Intrude On The Temple Of The Great Shenlong”
“I am here…” I trailed off, nervously, before taking a large gulp building my own confidence once more. “I am here to become Jinchûriki”
I heard a booming laugh echo the cave that could probably be heard from miles away “You Wish To Host ME?” it spoke, abruptly cutting off its own laughter “And What Makes You Think You Are Worthy For Me To Possess?”
“Well how many other people have come up here?” I said, a little sarcastically, to which I got the dragon equivalent of a ‘humph’ “I Cannot say if I am worthy, but I am missing something in my life, I need direction, I need… I don’t know what it is I truly need. But you, you can give me that, you can show me what it is I need.”
“And You Think That By Joining With Me Is The Only Way To Achieve This?” I had peeked his interest, I could tell by his voice and that meant I had a chance of actually pulling this off. Soon, I wasn’t going to be the mere Andrew Dee I was before, I was about to become something more, something better.
“Call it payment for the deal.” I said, covering my building excitement “You help me find what I need to complete my life, and you get to walk the world once more.”
“Know This, Human” The Dragon started “If You Accept This, I Will Be Joined To You For The Rest Of Your Pathetic Existence”
“I know, and I agree” I said “I am ready to be joined. That’s what will happen right? I have your guarantee that you can’t just take over my body?”
I could hear Shenlong grin massively even though I could not see it. He simply responded “No”
And that was it. I could have sworn that the eyes in the statue started to glow as a searing pain and burning filled every essence of my body. I was being possessed now, my body taking on a being so powerful I would be lucky not to explode. The light intensified, my vision blurred until all that remained…
“THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!”
Everyone in the room practically stopped and looked at the 9 year old girl who had yelled out in the middle (well it was more towards the end) of my story. The small brown haired girl with a small budding ponytail was angry that I had told a story to which she was convinced was a load of bull excrement.
“Well of course not” I chuckled “Can you imagine me with a dragon living inside of me?” The kid was stunned, obviously she was used to people trying to keep up their lies whenever she knew something wasn’t quite legit, and my blowing my own story out of the water was completely destructive to the 9 year olds psyche.
“But… why then…?” the kid stammered, the shock still affecting her ability to speak.
“Why tell the story? Well the question that Billy asked was why do I wear a dragon’s head on my pant legs” I said, pointing to young Billy as I did who beamed with a massive smile that I remembered his name “And you have to admit, that sounded way cooler than ‘because I think it looks cool’” there was a laugh amongst the group of children I had sat in front of me, even some of the parents at the back chuckled a bit
“Ok Children, that’s story time over for now.” Came the voice of Vivian White, PCW Spokesperson and general manager of today’s event. The group of kids all said ‘Aww’ at the same time, but none were louder than myself. I’d been enjoying this question and answer session with the kids a lot, and to hear it was over was legitimate disappointment on my behalf. Vivian shot me a glare, although I couldn’t work out if it was general annoyance or some bemusement over my reaction. “Andy will be available for autographs later, but for now there are plenty of other activities to enjoy”
“I say go get your photo with Leo” I spoke up really quickly “That dude is awesome.” And so the kids all stood up and ran off, some to parents, others to other events. I have to admit, this family (read kid) oriented section of a PCW pre-hype event for Mass Destruction 3 really was great. It’s amazing how many young fans the PCW has, but I suppose it’s a case of when the parents are into it, they get their kids into it, much like any sport really.
Along with myself and my awesome Q&A session, Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was on hand for photo’s with anybody in attendance, which included me at a very early part of the event instantly becoming my new twitter profile picture. PCW’s newest mascot was actually a bit of a hit with the kids, and the adult kids like Menace who couldn’t stop saying ‘Pizza’ and ‘Cowabunga’ every 5 minutes. Speaking off, Jackle and Menace were here as well as part of an activity allowing the kids to pin a PCW star to the mat. The 2Guys were obviously the stars, and actual PCW referees were on hand to officially count the 1-2-3. Tyrone Little was currently counting Menace as he literally laid down on the job. And of course every PCW star, staff or otherwise who showed up was scheduled for a Q&A session with the kids.
As the kids ran about looking for their next fun shot, several lining up to take on Jackle on the latest PCW Video Game pod (what were they calling this one again? Ah hell, I can never remember these things), I headed over to a bit of a side area for us attractions to rest up. As I approach, I got thrown a bottle of water and a very warm smile from another resting up staff member, referee Melina Cruz.
Apart from being here to be one of the Ref’s on the ‘You 2 can pin the 2Guys’ section (which it affectionately became nicknamed by Menace himself), Mel was an amazing roll model for young girls interested in the wrestling biz. Or at least that’s what marketing was saying to her for why she was here. I don’t think anybody but them really thought of her like that while she wad talking to the kids, although I’m pretty sure she was asked which wrestler she thought was the cutest at one point during her Q&A session.
“Grazie” I thanked her as I opened the bottle and took a sip
“So you speak Italian?” Mel asked, slightly impressed
“I speak a little of a few languages” I said, with a hint of smugness in my voice “Italian, French, German…”
“Dragon” Melina chipped in “You seemed to understand it fluently”
“No, actually Shenlong was so powerful that it could just instantly make me understand it’s…” At this point I realised just what I walked into and how stupid I was sounding “I am so not going into this with you” Melina laughed, pretty hard. This was a thing I really liked about events like this, a lot of people got to just let their hair down (so to speak) and just be a lot more like themselves than when at a show. Usually when on Trauma or a PPV, people like Mel or like Super Security Big Dave (who showed how strong he was earlier in the day by lifting me over his head) are always seen as super serious, because they need to be when they’re doing their job.
“So really, where did you come up with such a cornball story anyway?” I was asked when Melina finally calmed down enough from her laughter.
“Cornball? I’ll have you know that’s Harry Potter esc fantasy right there” I mockingly defended my story, raising another chuckle from Ms Cruz. “Anyway, I never did come up with that story. That was Vic, the guy who trained me. He always said we needed some fantastical back story to explain things, and to entertain his kids, nieces & nephews, etcetera. So he came up with the whole thing.”
“So the whole you searching for something right now never really factored into it?” I shot Mel a sideways quizzical look, since I had never told her I felt like I had been missing a part of myself “What, I do talk to other people you know”
“Looking for something? I’m not looking for something” I said, slightly more defensively than was needed. “Not anymore anyway” I added a sly grin on my face
“You’ve found it?” Mel asked “I thought you seemed more happy and relaxed. Well, what is it then? What did you find?”
“Now, now” I said, like almost trying to calm down a hyped up child “That would be a spoiler. You’ll have to find out along with everyone else”
“Aw you’re no fun” Mel mocked, and I could have sworn she threw in a mock pout as well. “At least you’ll be super pumped now for you match”
“Perhaps” I said in my usually optimistic fashion “But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a walk in the park”
“Ok, since I’m curious how the mind of a wrestler actually works on this kind of thing, how about you explain that thought” Melina asked.
“Ok, you’ve got a champion who’s defended more times that Sean Rhodes has defended his World Title. You’ve got Murdoc who basically beat me into my last win. And with him and Eira in whatever kind of relation they’re in, it’s more likely they’ll team up than fight each other”
“But of course you’re not worried about Tyrone Smith” Melina said, almost as if that was the expectant comment from me
“See, that’s what everyone believes because he’s never beaten me in a match.” I started “But it’s just not true. Crazy Boy can be incredibly dangerous in his own right but in this kind of match? The guy could screw me out of a win without even beating me. That’s way more dangerous”
“Well if its any consolation, I believe that you’ve got a chance of winning the match” Melina said, taking a big gulp of water as I started to smile a little at her faith in my “Of course, as a PCW official, I also believe that Tyrone has a chance of winning, Murdoc has a chance of winning and Eira has a chance of winning”
“That’s why I like you” I started “Your unshakable unbiased nature”
“And here I thought it was my sparkling personality” Melina countered back
“Well, that and you’ve got a pretty face” I said with a grin on my face “But if your brother ever asks I will deny all knowledge I ever said that.” We both laughed as we were approached by Vivian
“Hey Andy, are you ready to do a round of autographs?” She asked, although I could read between the lines in that she meant it was time for me to go do autographs
“Yes Ma’am” I said, with a mini salute thrown in. I said to Mel I’d catch up to her later and headed back out to be bombarded by the younger PCW fan base.
Melina was right about one thing, now that I had found that missing piece of myself I was more fired up than ever for a match. And regardless if that piece is the spirit of a dragon, a photo with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or the Faith of a cute referee, I was back to 100% and ready for action.
Beware the Dragon’s Bite, my opponents, for it strikes without warning and destroys without remorse. And maybe, that might be the new me as well.
