“Pay Respects and Kiss My Ring, Even Elizabeth Said I'm King.” — Higher Power [I]
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Mav.
Posts : 31 Join date : 2022-03-03 Age : 23
Subject: “Pay Respects and Kiss My Ring, Even Elizabeth Said I'm King.” — Higher Power [I] Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:22 pm
— — —
It was only a day removed from the episode of APEX on TNT that aired and Jackwas inside of the Catch Sports Pro Wrestling Academy, beginning his training for his championship fight against Emmanuelle. The Inglewood native was fresh to the kind of training that took place inside of this particular gymnasium– the kind of training that Finnegan Wakefield would put his students through to make sure they become somewhat prodigies of his, but that’s not what Jack is here for, it’s to focus and to his harder than before.
The thought of putting his focus elsewhere haunted him after his match with Arata Asakura – to which his close friend, Jon, knows that all too well as the recent weeks have shown – but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to break that mindset that’s stuck in his head. Jack continued to land elbow after elbow but he was showing signs of weakness the more he tried to hit harder, Jon sighed as he watched his close friend tumble down onto one knee in exhaustment.
“Ya really lettin’ them get to that head of yours, Jack.” He exclaimed.
“Maybe they had a point, Jon– maybe they might’ve been right about something that I wasn’t aware of. But, if I keep trying and just make sure that I’m focused on one thing only—”
Jon interrupted with a loud scoff, shaking his head. “It ain’t gonna bring you anywhere, it’s what I’ve been tryna tell you for the last ten minutes, Jack. You’re not doing this to make yourself better but to punish yourself for how hard you took that loss against Asakura, and with that Emmy chick in your ear making you second guess yourself? That kinda shit is putting you off of a real goal.”
Jack glanced up towards Jon– who kept himself hovering over Jack as he knelt right in front of him.
“And that goal of mine being?” He questioned, almost mockingly.
“Ya want that championship, don’t ya?” Jon fired back with a question of his own, a stern tone in his voice when he asked Jack, which prompted the young man to go silent, pondering for an answer to the question but coming up short and silent when delivering one.
“Lettin’ that chick into your head isn’t gettin’ you far, but I’ll say this to you though– I know you have the way of getting back at her with your own words, and someone like them? They crumble at that sort of shit– just look at yourself, Jack. If ya really want to hurt her, try to throw her off, and get yourself a little advantage headin’ into this whole fight? Ya better fight fire with fire, bro.”
“...and you really think that’ll work in my favor?”
There wasn’t a single spoken word that came from Jon’s mouth, but Jack got the answer that he wanted— a simple nod of Jon’s head was exactly what he looked for when thinking of the solution to how to win within the next few days. Jack got right back up to his feet and nodded back towards Jon, before beginning to throw those sharp elbows right back at the punching bag.
— — —
“A guest of dishonor,” a scoff followed.
The voice of Jack Cole is heard as the vignette slowly faded in and brought us to an empty parking lot within the heart of Inglewood, California– showing Jack Cole sitting on the hood of the same Ford Mustang that was shown on the recent episode of APEX on TNT, keeping his head lowered as the camera came closer towards Jack and the Mustang.
Jack lifted his hood up and showed his face to the camera as he began to climb down off of the hood of the Mustang, jumping down off of the car and then leaning back against it as he crossed his arms, shaking his head in disgust. A deep sigh came from J Cole as he lifted his head up to look into the camera with a stern look in his eyes.
“To even think of giving me that kind of utmost disrespect for no apparent reason? To give me such a shameful name when you judge me on what I’ve done when you’re not around, thinking you’re just so much better than me because of the things that you’ve done elsewhere– it’s fucking typical, don’t you think?”
“When I first arrived here in APEX Wrestling, I made my intentions clear from the jump– I ain’t here to fuckin’ sight see or any other bullshit like that which others want to be doing when seeing all the big time stars roaming around and doing whatever it is they want, I came here looking to prove a damn point and to do whatever it is to make sure that people remember the name of Jack Cole. I made that damn clear when I put down Chelsea Creed, and I showed that same fuckin’ tenacity when I went to war with Arata Asakura and almost… ALMOST… came this close–” he pinched his fingers, bringing them up close to the camera to show just how close Jack meant. The scowling look on his face was strong, taking a deep breath through his nose before taking a few steps back and beginning to pace back and forth.
“Admittedly, I choked when it mattered the most. I failed when reaching the final hurdle. I shouldn’t have done it but I did it and it hurt me more than anything else had– you know why, Emmy? Because people like you use it to entertain others, seeing how people love to get off on people knocking on people’s losses. You go the cheap route, just like anyone else could’ve done, and made me look like a complete fuckin’ embarassment at your banquet to which you ended right as soon as I had gotten there. Is that the kind of person that you are, Emmy? The kind of person to make others be shown as an embarrassment before the big match so it’ll leave a lasting mark when you do happen to beat me clean in the ring?”
The sound of a scoff is heard from Jack once again as he shook his head, looking away from the lens and out into the distance out of the shot, but his focus is brought right back towards the camera after a moment. The look on his face was still kept to be a disgusted look as he was slowly shaking his head from side to side.
“It’s shocking to see you even go down a cheap route– considering how you act elsewhere, I really did expect something better from you, Emmy. When I’ve watched you in your very short stint in OWA, you were blasting off on everyone before disappearing like you never even existed there. When I watched some of your god awful workings on that fuck shit island you were on, I seen you show a more dominant side to yourself that you’ve never been able to replicate anywhere else– it seemed like you had a grip on the balls of some people there than anywhere you’ve been and they gave you the high regard. And what about Project: Honor– became Grand Champion for only a cup of coffee before being stuck back to where you were for about six to eight months of your tenure there.”
“Don’t you see it, Emmanuelle? Are you aware of what I’m trying to tell you here? You’re nothing where you can’t get control of what you are meant to show yourself as. Elsewhere you’ve been, it’s been a shitstorm that you barely even want to have your name being mentioned near.” He shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head from side to side, finally showing a smug looking smile along his face.
“And here you are, once again back in that same saddle, and holding a championship where you had zero real competition to go against when you first won that championship. But, you still hold yourself in the same regard as someone like Liz Karlson when she had beaten a legend of the game like Jacob Senn to win her title, so really tell yourself— what makes Emmanuelle so great, huh?”
“Taught by Carlos Rosso makes you so great, does it? Winning matches like the Dreamscape and the Seven Stages of Hell makes you a remarkable talent that should be respected, will it? I know damn well you’ll keep bringing yourself up as something great– of course, you name yourself ‘The Platinum Standard’ for a reason, don’t you? You have to be carried with such respect, shouldn’t you be? But you’re too up your own backside to even realize what you really are compared to anyone else.”
“You’re no legend, Emmanuelle, and you’ll never be if you keep up with the bullshit you let people soak up for their own entertainment sakes. I’m not like everyone else, I’m able to see right through the bullshit you paint yourself to be, so when it comes to Higher Power and I strip you of everything that you held up with such a high regard?”
Jack stood up with a straightened stance and looked down into the lens of the camera, keeping that same stern look into his eyes from the beginning of the vignette— a slight snarl before he would speak again.
“There’s not going to be a single person who’ll be looking to ‘sign a top prospect and high pritorial star’, their eyes wouldn’t even be onto you after they remember who stripped you of everything that you once held as a fuckin’ personality rather than being exactly what you are. And there’ll be one person you’ll have to thank for your entire career crumbling to nothing but ash and that’s me. Jack fuckin’ Cole. Emmy, you will remember that name for fuckin’ years to come when people ask you about what happened to everything you were once meant to be.”
“That name will echo throughout your head, it’ll haunt every single memory you have about this whole sport for years to come, and that name will bring FEAR TO EVERYTHING THAT YOU ONCE CHERISHED AS A MEMORY, EMMY! I will put the gun right to your head, cock it back and fire the bullet right through that skull of yours– putting an end to everything you once were, everything you once held yourself up to be, and end everything that was Emmanuelle.”
“And my foot… will be that bullet going right through YOUR FUCKIN’ HEAD, EMMY!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, his head shaking violently with anger as he looked dead into the lens of the camera– his teeth gritting against one another.
“...keep your eyes on the fuckin’ prize.”
His voice became a whisper as he leaned down closer, one final glare before he walked away from the camera as they backed away from the Mustang to which Jack entered the driver’s side of, after a few moments of silence? The engine of the Mustang breaks the silence, letting the sound of the engine roar through the once quiet parking lot.
The final shot seen in the vignette shows Jack Cole within the driver seat of the Mustang as he pulled out of where he was parked, driving out of the shot from the camera’s view and the feed slowly fading away to black.
— — —
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“Pay Respects and Kiss My Ring, Even Elizabeth Said I'm King.” — Higher Power [I]
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