SPLAT!!!
The sound is of snow slapping up against a
winter coat… and we come into view, outside and on a large hill… as we look
around, families are there with their children¸ sledding and playing. We follow around until we catch sight of
Chamelion, Raizzor and family… Sandra, Jasmine and young Daniel… The ladies are
sledding with Daniel, and Raizzor and Chamelion seem to have found themselves
in the middle of a war… their weapons of choice; Snowballs.
Taking up strategic defense behind a bench,
Chamelion quickly fires volley after volley at Raizzor, who stands defiantly in
the middle of the field, dodging each and every throw. Growling, but with a smirk on his face,
Chamelion sends a strong snowball hurtling towards his brother… Raizzor ducks
and returns fire with a side throw… and Chamelion has little time to blink
before the snowball connects with his face.
Pause for effect.
Chamelion falls backwards, landing solidly on
his back in the thick soft snow. Raizzor
walks up, tossing a snowball in his hand, and looks down at his brother.
“7-5, my
lead. You okay?”
Chamelion just stares up at the sky… not
saying a word for a moment.. and then, stretching his arms and legs out, he
begins to make a snow angel. Grinning,
he replies.
“Yeah,
I’m okay, bro… nice throw there…”
Raizzor shrugs and tosses the snowball aside,
reaching with his hand to help his brother up, but Chamelion shakes his head.
“Nah, I
like it down here….good time to reflect…. Why don’t you go play with your son
and wife? I’m just gonna lay here and stare at the sky.”
“Ok… yell
if you want a rematch…”
Raizzor walks off and Chamelion chuckles.
“Not
against an arm like yours… “
Blinking his eyes, Chamelion just relaxes
into the snow… but we wait, expecting a little more, and soon we’re not
disappointed.
“Day in
and day out, it’s all a struggle.. fighting, wrestling, trying to survive…
these moments are nice… to just sink into the snow, and not move…”
“Just
out here enjoying a day with my family… because it won’t last… Monday, back to
work against Tommy Riley… with whom I’ll get to in a moment… first, Ethan
Evans….I’m not sure where you get the idea I’m upset… hell, I didn’t expect you
to show up… and I certainly ain’t crying a river over what you did… hell, you
didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done.”
Chamelion thinks for a moment over what Evans
said… and crosses his eyes in confusion.
“Please
pardon the obvious use of words here… but what in the blue hell are you talking
about? I don’t choose sides, Nightmare
sided with Me, I sided with Nightmare… isn’t that the same as choosing? You really need to clear that one up.. and of
course Nightmare needed assistance… he was about to get his ass kicked in but
good from the most devious SOB in the business…I’m sure it was real comforting
to him when he discovered you believed he needed that help.. .won’t be the last
time….but be careful… even the Hunted can hunt…and this is one animal that
bites back very hard…. “
“Oh, and
one last thing for you… of course I’m Mark… Mark Sommers.. remember that
name!!!”
(Yeah, I know what you meant… heh)
Sitting up in the snow, he watches the
families around him play and laugh.. Looking over to the other side of the
hill.. he watches his brother and nephew messing around in the snow. Jasmine and Sandra stand around talking. Getting lost in the peace and quiet.. sans
the sound of kids laughing of course, Chamelion is startled out of his reverie
by the sound of crunching snow behind him.
He turns his head to see Ray Stanford walking up. Quirking an eyebrow, Chamelion regards him
with curiosity and Ray stops before him…
“Excuse me, have you
got a second? This is really important.”
Chamelion shrugs.
“Sure, why the heck not…
what’s on your mind?”
“ Thanks. I uh... I
umm... I'll cut to the chase here. You wouldn't be considering joining
Ethan Evans' Projekt, would you? With him and the big guy? Y'know... the big
guy in the leather?”
Blinking in surprise, Chamelion tries to make sense of
Ray’s question.
“You mean the same two
who attacked me? Has a bounty on my head?
Have you been living under a rock lately? Of course not…”
“No, no I didn't
think so. Well might you be interested in joining my Projekt? You get a great
Projekt shirt absolutely free with the words "mine's bigger" on the
back and I might even lend you ten dollars for a pizza. Failing that, when I
win the Champion's Choice title I might even call it the "Poor wrestling
names" Championship, after you. What do you say?”
Chamelion just stares at Ray, trying to contemplate the
seriousness of his offer. Ray shifts
uneasily in the snow, under Chamelion’s gaze, before he finally answers.
“Over a dozen different
replies come streaming into my head, colliding with each other in an effort to
be the chosen words to which I will reply to you… but they all have one common
thread among them, for simplicity sake, I’ll just condense them all into one
word….”
Pause.
“No.”
Ray’s shoulders deflate, but non the less he smiles and
nods his head.
“Okay. Thanks for
your time. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.”
Ray turns and walks off, and Chamelion does a double take just to make sure he understood what
happened. Turning to us, he has a
perplexed look on his face.
“I think
someone’s got frostbite on the brain…..”
Shaking his head hard, Chamelion focuses back
on the issue at hand.
“Now
where was I? Oh yeah… the most important
aspect of this time devoted to the HiC… Tommy Riley…first off, kiddo… you
should pay a little extra to your production crew… your opening segment
repeated twice… and then, do check to see what you’re drinking…. I’m not sure I
understand the phrase…”I’m not here to make destroy my perceived enemies”…once
you cover those two items, I think you’ll be back on track. I certainly hope you’re ring skills are not as
rusty as your promotional skills.. .otherwise you’re in for one hell of a wake
up call tomorrow.”
Laughing softly, Chamelion rolls his eyes.
“Hell,
you’re going to be in for a wake up call anyway…. It seems that in many regards
we agree on things, and there also seems to be a touch of respect between us…
which can be a real hazard in this business… because of the fact we do talk
back and forth… each trying to puzzle the other one out and tear apart their
words… it’s a bit harder to do so against someone you respect then someone you
hate… it changes the battle field a little bit… “
Reaching down, Chamelion scoops up some snow
and begins molding it.
“But you
can respect someone and still follow the rules of the business… and in this
business it’s about survival, victory and surpassing those who stand in your
way… in my case, it means taking the road that leads me to the finish line..
whether it’s the high road and I fight you fair, or the low road and I
deviously trip you up anyway I can. You
can trust me, Riley, when I say ‘don’t trust me’…because when push comes to
shove… for every inch you try to take, I’ll take a yard…. “
Picking up some more snow, Chamelion
continues to round out what appears to be one hell of a snow ball. He looks over to where Raizzor is playing
with Daniel.. a slow smile creeps on his face.
“But
I’ll disagree with you being the best wrestler on the planet… though in your
mind I’m sure you see it that way… but that’s a difference of opinion, and
tomorrow is the chance for either one of us to turn that opinion into fact… you have strong history, and so do I… you
talked about your AOWF championships.. I’m the only man in wrestling history to
have 13 consecutive PPV victories… I won the first ever Rumble in the
Pushing himself to his feet, Chamelion puts
the finishing touches on the snowball as he heads towards his family. Sandra sees him and he signals her.. she gets
the idea and begins subtly moving Jasmine and Daniel to the left… while they
all continue to converse.. Raizzor’s back turned.
“I don’t
shy away from a challenge, Riley, I never have… the HiC said, ‘Fight Riley’ and
I said, “Sounds fun”… but don’t kid yourself.. when it’s over, the only one
going to be staring at the lights is you.
Then you’ll realize that indeed things have changed… for I’m the most
devious SOB in the business today.. and you can’t touch me…”
Rearing back, Chamelion launches the
snowball… and as it careens thru the air… Raizzor turns…
SPLAT.
Falling on his ass, Raizzor wipes the snow
from his face…. And Chamelion proudly smiles and winks at us…
“GOT
IT?”
He turns back and his face goes pale.. and he
turns, hard, and begins running as Raizzor is following shortly behind, and the
women and Daniel laugh in the background…
Fade