Post by adm on Jun 23, 2011 10:24:07 GMT -6
*Three Weeks Ago*
Baby blue, the sky and the siding of the house. Kristoff Liam Bates stares from across the street at the for-sale sign that his ex-wife has put up for the home they once shared together. He is not wearing his typical Suit-and-Tie getup, but instead he has a slightly older jean jacket on, along with a pair of jeans and a Celldweller t-Shirt. He looks at the life he's left behind. The paint on the white picket fence is beginning to fade. He knows they have someone scheduled to re-paint it before the final sale. He knows Kendra has already moved, the house is empty, like his soul. The eye-like windows are sadder than they once were, the steps look dingier.
"I've left it all behind, to go once again onto the road. To try to live the dream."
He turns around and begins to walk up the street to the car he was driving, and through his slow movements, you know he is crying as he walks away from the life he left behind.
****
"Seventy-one...seventy-two..."
Kristoff Liam Bates is back in the gym, a slightly different one this time. It isn't as dingy and dirty as the last, and a little better lit. It is still vacant, save for himself. He has booked this place for the week, using some of his well-invested funds from his prior stint in nCw to pay the owner to have it closed for the week of Reborn. The windows have cardboard over them, but the light showing from outside lets us know it is daylight.
Bates, sweating heavily, hits the one hundredth sit-up and gets up. He moves to a steel chair, placed near the mat he was just exercising on, and begins to take a drink out of the water bottle. The gym around him is like a reborn version of the ones he's "enjoyed" the last few weeks. Nothing is electronic, it's still all very manual. The main difference is a new paint job on the walls and nothing is rusty and worn. The aesthetic of all free-weights is still there.
"Welcome to my new home. The place where Kristoff Liam Bates is reborn."
He stands up and looks around. Sweat pours from every pore on his body. He moves to the pull-up bar. He leaps up and begins to do reps, pulling his frame up and down. The muscles on his body are beginning to bulge out beyond the flab and fat he had just a month ago, and his body is beginning to re-form to the shape it once was in.
"I must be ready. I must be prepared. Fifteen...Sixteen..."
Biceps, deltoids, and triceps all flex and relax as his body moves up and down. The California tan of his skin makes the sweat glistening off his muscles appear slightly more intense, like an action hero preparing for battle.
After fifty pull-ups, Bates drops down and shakes off the burn from his arms. He moves back to the steel chair and sits down, looking at the room around him.
"I've been working very hard to get back into shape. I've been trying to become what I once was. I was feared, I was one of the top men in nCw. I had beaten many of the former champions, and many who had become champions. I have beaten Spike Kane, Ace, Falcon, Adam Knite, Jack Hammond, and Gib all at some point during my career. You can't say I haven't been toe to toe with the best, because I have. I need to be back there, and stop being placed in the realm of the Joe Everyman's and Nathan Webb's. I'm sorry, but you two are silent for a reason, you both are afraid, afraid of Pooler and I.
I can't believe you two are even in this match, you don't deserve the honor, of being the #1 contender for the Honor Title. Joe Everyman is the living joke of nCw, and no matter how many times you say it, it's STILL the truth, and will NEVER change. He's like Reckless Jack, a living and breathing joke of Wrestling. The jokes are slightly different, but they both exist and they still are around. And Nathan Webb, what the hell are you? You think you can win titles as the FREAK you are. I don't even think the two of you are WORTH my time, I seriously don't think you are. And then, I see that Pooler spent a whole segment just ranting on how terrible Joe Everyman is, it's over-done, but yet it ALWAYS needs to be said, because it's the ONLY thing to be said. Why? Because he's a joke, a gimmick based upon failure. He's going to be the first one to be the antithesis of Falcon, soon to be the first with 100 losses. And Nathan Webb is just another fresh face who has a few wins, is gaining steam, but in the end means NOTHING."
Bates grabs his bottle of water and takes a long drink, then douses himself with just a little to try and rinse the sweat off his body. His eyes are intense, his hair is mangled and unkempt due to a mix of sweat and exercise. The intensity in Bates' eyes is like that of a man possessed by his own inner demons.
"So, Bob Pooler, what do you have to say about me? The reason you have such a great win-loss record here so far is me. If it wasn't for me, you'd have floundered. You have skill, but you don't really fit in here, not yet anyway. Without me, you'd have been a blip, a nobody, never even had this shot. And without you, I'd have been a failure because I wouldn't have been able to get back into shape fast enough to face the Falcons and the Diamonds of this place once again. In the end, we OWE each other our current situation of being the two big men in this small pond of a match. However, which of us is bigger? Which of us is stronger? Which of us has the pure wrestling technical chops? Well, if you look at my past, you'd say yourself, but you'd also be WRONG! Look at the technical expertise I've been showing off in the matches we've been in. I've shown that I can make men submit, I can pin them, I can beat them into a pulp without even busting out a single one of the weapons I used to use. And you have a good deal of your own skills, but are they enough to beat me?
I would like to remind you, the answer is, and always will be no.
You are from some other world, a world where you thought Sexy Jason MEANS something. I can't even believe that you even gave him a second's thought. You are still young, fresh, and altogether GREEN compared to the man I used to be, the man I am trying to become once again. To reclaim my honor, to reignite my career with the fire and passion I used to have. The man who used to be feared, the man who used to be SOMEBODY. And you will always just be a STEPPING STONE to me, Pooler. Whatever happens, you're just a man in the way of my rise back to the top. My rebirth as a legendary wrestler in nCw."
Bates stands up and stares into the camera with two piercing icy eyes. Muscles beginning to form out of the fat he had just a few weeks back.
"Look at where I've come physically in just a few weeks, Pooler. Can you REALLY beat someone like me, with drive to turn twenty pounds of fat into twenty pounds of muscle in under a month. I'm bigger, I'm leaner, and I'm definitely stronger than I used to be. And then you look to the other two, they definitely don't have the fire, the passion, the intensity that I do. You can't even come close to the fire this Phoenix is burning with at this point. I have fallen from grace, and now it is time for my rebirth and ascension back to the top. You will all see a new, better Bates on Sunday, and there is still a few more days of training before I get there. So be prepared, and I look forward to hear from ALL of you. Till then, I will SHUT UP!"
Ash on and old man's sleeve
Is all the ash the burnt roses leave.
Dust in the air suspended
Marks the place where a story ended.