Post by Alex Jones on Oct 28, 2008 20:44:45 GMT -6
The scene opens inside a gym, we see an old beaten up ring, Chris Mercury and Dylan sit with Chris’s sister playing cards outside as Samantha Noble stands next to the ring, inside it we see a young local guy and AJ Phoenix, AJ hits an arm drag on the young guy, the guy gets up and ducks a clothesline from AJ before locking in a side headlock, AJ grabs the kids wrist and spins out of it before hitting the “salvation”*rko*, AJ gets back to his feet and helps the young kid up who almost falls back to the mat, AJ pats him on the back and the kid shakes AJ’s hand, AJ slides out of the ring and puts an arm around Samantha
AJ:: “Well, I have to say I missed the old way of training...”
Sam:: “Old way?...you haven’t trained since you joined the corporate empire, all you’ve done is party, you’ve been protected AJ but this week you’ll have to face two men at once...”
AJ turns around and shakes his head
AJ:: “Protected?....you call facing Trent Helms protected?..”
Sam:: “Oh right right, the guy who just joined you and your friends?, c’mon AJ, you’re nowhere near in as good a shape as you were before you won the title...in fact...”
Samantha gets close to AJ and lays her hands on his midsection
Sam:: “I’d say you’ve gotten a little...soft...”
Dylan and Chris look at each other and nod before getting up and walking in the opposite direction. AJ smiles warmly, his arrogant exterior disappearing and for a moment the old AJ returns, no ego, just happiness, no arrogance, just a strange peacefulness, he looks into his friends eyes and then a flash of his nightmare goes into his mind, his smile fades and he looks away.
AJ:: “Yeah....you’re right, I guess I need to keep training and get back to where I was...”
AJ turns and picks up a towel whipping himself down, he takes his training shirt off showing his upper body, although still in great shape Sam was right...he has gotten a little...soft....
Sam:: “Hey I was only pointing out a small fact..are you ok?..”
AJ:: “Yeah I just have a lot on my mind...”
Sam:: “I know that look, that’s not just a lot on your mind that’s you over thinking...”
AJ sighs and throws the towel down, he could never hide anything from her.
AJ:: “You know why I called you?, I had this nightmare, I had this vision that Fate was going to take everything I cared about away from me, I saw you in pain, crying out for my help and I couldn’t do anything to help you, and it made me realise something, I’ve been so caught up in my own crap, the parties, the women, the fun, I forgot about the people who helped me get to where I wanted to be, I forgot about you, my brother, Chris, Allison, my friends, my family....I let it all slip away....I won’t let that happen again.....”
Sam:: “It was just a bad dream...”
AJ:: “Was it?...cause I think it was my mind trying to tell me something.....look, Steve, Kole, Doc, they’re my partners and they are my friends, and although they do things I don’t agree with, they’re still my friends, and I’m not going to walk out on them either, I did it to the guys in Lethal Intent, I did it to you and Dyl and Chris, I’m done doing that, and I’m done thinking the world is mine. I know I’m a great talent, I know I’m the future of this business, but I have to be patient, as I said, I’m the future, not the present.....”
“I haven’t been giving Hammond or Fate the respect they deserve, Hammond could be a great force here, but he’s lacking passion, and Fate?, He’s had one screwed up life, he has this inner darkness that no one can contain, but he’s trying, and he’s trying to get the X-Division title and become the champion...before I became X-Division champion I looked at Xavier Williams and I saw a man I felt was unworthy of the title, a man who cheated to win, who had other men have his back and do his dirty work for him, but the man I’ve become...I’m worse, and I haven’t been deserving of the title, but I guess it’s time for that to change, it’s time for me to get over it and just go back to being the best I can....and with your help I can do it Sam....”
AJ turns and shoots a warm glance at her, they get close, their lips almost touching when there’s a loud knock at the door of the gym, AJ stops and turns his head
AJ:: “Should we get that?....”
Sam:: “I don’t care who it is...”
AJ smirks and walks over to the window
AJ:: “It’s an NCW camera crew, obviously here to get comments and such about the match”
Sam:: “Those guys follow you everywhere don’t they?...”
AJ:: “It’d seem so wouldn’t it?....”
Another knock is heard, Chris Mercury seems to come out of nowhere and open the door, we switch to the live camera feed, the cameraman stumbles through the door with the boom mic operator, he gets close to AJ who just smirks and goes into “promo” mode
AJ:: “Well, what can I say about this match that hasn’t already been said?. It seems that everyone believes I’m not a real champion, that I’ve been protected, that I haven’t defended the belt to the best of my ability. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re not. But something I’m sick of is the so called heroes of this company. Angel for instance puts himself out there as a man of the people, but in the end he’s an egotistical loudmouth that is no better than the men in the empire he claims to hate, this is a man you want to follow around Hammond?.”
“ This wannabe who’s just angry cause he knows he’s good enough to be world champion but he hasn’t got the heart to pull it off?. He stands there and brags about how he’s beaten me twice, once in a one on one match that could go down as a true classic and the other in a fourway dance...I can be a man and admit he beat me...just like I can be a man and say that you’ve beaten me Jack...”
“You beat me in my first match here and I made a few mistakes and you were goods enough to capitalise on them and on that night you were indeed the better man, I can admit it, you beat me fair and square, then in a tag match you and Nelly Angel beat Steve Awesome and myself, that’s right, you stepped up and you and Nelly beat the X-Division champion and the world champion, you should be proud Jack, you should shout it from the rooftops that you’ve done that, it’s a great accomplishment and I applaud you and I respect it. But the last two times we’ve faced it’s been me on top, who knows, you may get the win over me this time, but I can promise you something Hammond, I will leave every part of me out in that ring and if you become champion, you’ll know you’ve been in a knockdown, drag out dogfight, you’ll have to leave your blood, your sweat and your soul in that ring to take my title, you may do it, you may not, but either way it’s an honor facing you Jack and I wish you the best of luck....man to man...warrior to warrior”
AJ smirks and folds his arms over his chest, his bright blue eyes staring into the camera
“And as for Fate. Well what can I say?. You’ve always been a little off, you’ve always had this darkness around you, but now you’re trying to come into the light, you’re trying to live your life, you’re trying to be the man your woman wants you to be, you should be rewarded for it, and you are being rewarded with an X-Division title shot. And I know firsthand that you could indeed take the belt from me, you could become champion, and if you did I’d shake your hand, and wish you luck, but I’m not ready to step out of the X-Division spotlight. This division means the world to me, when I first came here I had two goals, to be the world champion, a goal everyone has, and to be the best X-Division champion that has ever been known....”
“I have held the belt in a single reign longer than anyone else has in this company Fate, but that doesn’t mean I’m the greatest, I need to beat every X-Division star on the roster, I need to beat the likes of Ricky Johnson, Brad Kane, Nelly Angel...again, Angel, Xavier Williams....again and even Doc, I need to beat all those men and of course I want the scalp of one Trent Helms, perhaps the greatest man ever to hold the X-Division title. All these men are before me on my path to immortality, And I won’t let you, or Hammond or anyone else stop me. This is the path I have chosen to walk and I will leave beaten and bloody carcasses of my enemies laying upon it, you and Hammond will both be on that path behind me, as I walk towards the future, I’m not giving up my title easily, be prepared for the greatest fight of your life...be prepared....for war...”
AJ turns and walks away from the camera as the scene fades out
AJ:: “Well, I have to say I missed the old way of training...”
Sam:: “Old way?...you haven’t trained since you joined the corporate empire, all you’ve done is party, you’ve been protected AJ but this week you’ll have to face two men at once...”
AJ turns around and shakes his head
AJ:: “Protected?....you call facing Trent Helms protected?..”
Sam:: “Oh right right, the guy who just joined you and your friends?, c’mon AJ, you’re nowhere near in as good a shape as you were before you won the title...in fact...”
Samantha gets close to AJ and lays her hands on his midsection
Sam:: “I’d say you’ve gotten a little...soft...”
Dylan and Chris look at each other and nod before getting up and walking in the opposite direction. AJ smiles warmly, his arrogant exterior disappearing and for a moment the old AJ returns, no ego, just happiness, no arrogance, just a strange peacefulness, he looks into his friends eyes and then a flash of his nightmare goes into his mind, his smile fades and he looks away.
AJ:: “Yeah....you’re right, I guess I need to keep training and get back to where I was...”
AJ turns and picks up a towel whipping himself down, he takes his training shirt off showing his upper body, although still in great shape Sam was right...he has gotten a little...soft....
Sam:: “Hey I was only pointing out a small fact..are you ok?..”
AJ:: “Yeah I just have a lot on my mind...”
Sam:: “I know that look, that’s not just a lot on your mind that’s you over thinking...”
AJ sighs and throws the towel down, he could never hide anything from her.
AJ:: “You know why I called you?, I had this nightmare, I had this vision that Fate was going to take everything I cared about away from me, I saw you in pain, crying out for my help and I couldn’t do anything to help you, and it made me realise something, I’ve been so caught up in my own crap, the parties, the women, the fun, I forgot about the people who helped me get to where I wanted to be, I forgot about you, my brother, Chris, Allison, my friends, my family....I let it all slip away....I won’t let that happen again.....”
Sam:: “It was just a bad dream...”
AJ:: “Was it?...cause I think it was my mind trying to tell me something.....look, Steve, Kole, Doc, they’re my partners and they are my friends, and although they do things I don’t agree with, they’re still my friends, and I’m not going to walk out on them either, I did it to the guys in Lethal Intent, I did it to you and Dyl and Chris, I’m done doing that, and I’m done thinking the world is mine. I know I’m a great talent, I know I’m the future of this business, but I have to be patient, as I said, I’m the future, not the present.....”
“I haven’t been giving Hammond or Fate the respect they deserve, Hammond could be a great force here, but he’s lacking passion, and Fate?, He’s had one screwed up life, he has this inner darkness that no one can contain, but he’s trying, and he’s trying to get the X-Division title and become the champion...before I became X-Division champion I looked at Xavier Williams and I saw a man I felt was unworthy of the title, a man who cheated to win, who had other men have his back and do his dirty work for him, but the man I’ve become...I’m worse, and I haven’t been deserving of the title, but I guess it’s time for that to change, it’s time for me to get over it and just go back to being the best I can....and with your help I can do it Sam....”
AJ turns and shoots a warm glance at her, they get close, their lips almost touching when there’s a loud knock at the door of the gym, AJ stops and turns his head
AJ:: “Should we get that?....”
Sam:: “I don’t care who it is...”
AJ smirks and walks over to the window
AJ:: “It’s an NCW camera crew, obviously here to get comments and such about the match”
Sam:: “Those guys follow you everywhere don’t they?...”
AJ:: “It’d seem so wouldn’t it?....”
Another knock is heard, Chris Mercury seems to come out of nowhere and open the door, we switch to the live camera feed, the cameraman stumbles through the door with the boom mic operator, he gets close to AJ who just smirks and goes into “promo” mode
AJ:: “Well, what can I say about this match that hasn’t already been said?. It seems that everyone believes I’m not a real champion, that I’ve been protected, that I haven’t defended the belt to the best of my ability. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re not. But something I’m sick of is the so called heroes of this company. Angel for instance puts himself out there as a man of the people, but in the end he’s an egotistical loudmouth that is no better than the men in the empire he claims to hate, this is a man you want to follow around Hammond?.”
“ This wannabe who’s just angry cause he knows he’s good enough to be world champion but he hasn’t got the heart to pull it off?. He stands there and brags about how he’s beaten me twice, once in a one on one match that could go down as a true classic and the other in a fourway dance...I can be a man and admit he beat me...just like I can be a man and say that you’ve beaten me Jack...”
“You beat me in my first match here and I made a few mistakes and you were goods enough to capitalise on them and on that night you were indeed the better man, I can admit it, you beat me fair and square, then in a tag match you and Nelly Angel beat Steve Awesome and myself, that’s right, you stepped up and you and Nelly beat the X-Division champion and the world champion, you should be proud Jack, you should shout it from the rooftops that you’ve done that, it’s a great accomplishment and I applaud you and I respect it. But the last two times we’ve faced it’s been me on top, who knows, you may get the win over me this time, but I can promise you something Hammond, I will leave every part of me out in that ring and if you become champion, you’ll know you’ve been in a knockdown, drag out dogfight, you’ll have to leave your blood, your sweat and your soul in that ring to take my title, you may do it, you may not, but either way it’s an honor facing you Jack and I wish you the best of luck....man to man...warrior to warrior”
AJ smirks and folds his arms over his chest, his bright blue eyes staring into the camera
“And as for Fate. Well what can I say?. You’ve always been a little off, you’ve always had this darkness around you, but now you’re trying to come into the light, you’re trying to live your life, you’re trying to be the man your woman wants you to be, you should be rewarded for it, and you are being rewarded with an X-Division title shot. And I know firsthand that you could indeed take the belt from me, you could become champion, and if you did I’d shake your hand, and wish you luck, but I’m not ready to step out of the X-Division spotlight. This division means the world to me, when I first came here I had two goals, to be the world champion, a goal everyone has, and to be the best X-Division champion that has ever been known....”
“I have held the belt in a single reign longer than anyone else has in this company Fate, but that doesn’t mean I’m the greatest, I need to beat every X-Division star on the roster, I need to beat the likes of Ricky Johnson, Brad Kane, Nelly Angel...again, Angel, Xavier Williams....again and even Doc, I need to beat all those men and of course I want the scalp of one Trent Helms, perhaps the greatest man ever to hold the X-Division title. All these men are before me on my path to immortality, And I won’t let you, or Hammond or anyone else stop me. This is the path I have chosen to walk and I will leave beaten and bloody carcasses of my enemies laying upon it, you and Hammond will both be on that path behind me, as I walk towards the future, I’m not giving up my title easily, be prepared for the greatest fight of your life...be prepared....for war...”
AJ turns and walks away from the camera as the scene fades out