The Mountain

“To touch the sky, you just have to get that little bit closer.” ― Anthony T. Hincks

“It’s not the climbing of the mountain that amuses me most, it’s knowing the man that waits at the top. I have entered the battle royal that will determine the number one contender for the Baltimore City Championship. That man is my father. That man is the man that raised me, taught me everything I know about wrestling and life. It would not be the first time we faced one another, but the last time that happened there were no titles on the line, just pride. The pride of a son in facing a man who had taught him so much. The pride of a father in facing one of his children and students. It wasn’t a wrestling clinic we put on, no far from it, we were on different sides at that time. It was a striking clinic, who could hit the hardest to knock sense into the other. It was because of that match that I was able to turn the corner and get my mind right. I guess you could say that he knocked some sense into me. Because of that match, I was able to challenge for the tag team titles and the world title in one night. Boardwalk was an amazing place to cut your teeth, the talent there, much like Carnage was amazing. However, that was then and this is now. I feel like I’ve come a long way since then and this battle royal will be another challenge to overcome. The challenge of facing larger competitors and putting them over the top. The list is mostly new people to Carnage, myself included, I’ve had a couple of matches here but I have not yet had that defining moment in Carnage. Everyone wants that moment that screams, “I have arrived, and I belong here.”. Some of the folks in this match like Joe War and JD Mohr, they’ve been around the business for a long time and have reputations for getting it done on the big stage. I have that reputation as well, but not in Carnage like they do. The things they’ve done here, in this company are important and deserve respect. This kind of match though, it doesn’t matter how much I respect you. What matters in a match like this is the ability to think on your feet. The smartest person in these types of matches are the ones that win them. I’ve been in the business since I was fifteen years old, I grew up in it, to say that I know my way around the ring would be an understatement. I’m a third generation wrestler. Like my grandfather, my game is based on wrestling. Make no mistake about it, I can strike with the best of them and I know it will require a certain amount of that in this match. The thing that matters most is this, wrestling is all I’ve ever wanted to do. Being a professional wrestler is all I’ve ever wanted to be. I like to think my passion for this business makes a difference. I know that I can be a catalyst, I am the catalyst that lights the fire and we’ll burn it down at Isolation. ***

{Baltimore, MD} Off-Camera After a brief cold front, the weather had started to warm again, not much mind you but enough. I sit on a concrete bench not far from the hotel and continue my research. Ataxia had recently shown his face in Carnage, for good or ill I was glad he was here. If anyone could talk to Mia it would be him. I continued to stare at the image on my laptop, the three of them together, Mia with Su and ZQ. The resemblance was uncanny, they certainly appeared to be sisters. Thing is, in all the time I had known her, I always thought she had no family at all. Now all of a sudden, she has two sisters that even Ataxia didn’t know about? This really was starting to give me a fucking headache. I know the answer is right in front of me but I just can’t seem to put my finger on it. A dialogue box pops up on my screen, “keep digging, you’re on the right track”. “What in the actual fuck.”, I frown at my screen, I click the “X” to exit from the dialogue box. My security was always tight as hell, who could be hacking my screen on a secure network? I check the logs in my file system, grab the IP and begin tracing it back. The IP came from….”Canada?”, I only knew one person in Canada, well, one person I actually liked anyway. I take out my phone and send him a message, “You could just call instead of hacking my shit you know.”. Another dialogue box, “I know but this is more fun.”. “Okay Shad, not cool but still funny. He was an interesting guy, far too complex for the normal person to even try and consume. I also hadn’t heard from Zach in forever, I often wondered what he was up to these days. Smart guy, solid and a really good human being. Then there was Dorian and Chloe, I don’t hear from them often but I miss them terribly. I sigh a heavy sigh and continue my research. “The real question now is what or who do these three women all have in common.”, I say as I continue developing the query to run against the database. This would take a while to run, so I set the laptop to the side. My phone chimes again, an image begins downloading in my messenger application. Shad had sent me a photo of the business card that I had found. I thought I had left it in my apartment, not a big deal but that was a little creepy. With Pops and Jules at the hospital with Aunt Maggie it gave me some much needed time to think. “I think this is tied into a who not a what.”, I muse to myself as I watch the query continue to run. My mind is drawn back to the business card that I had found in the parking garage of my apartment complex. I looked at the image again, the name didn’t ring any bells but the name of the website. “Where have I seen that name before?”. “Not the name of the man, the name of the company on the business card.”, I study the image again, now saying the name out loud, “The Spirit Science Research Institute”. I canceled the query I was running, knowing I was following the wrong path. This time I go to google, with the filtering and censoring having been lifted it was easier to find things they didn’t want you to these days. The first article I looked at was about a book titled, “Amorality”, it had been written by Clyde Pierre. Some articles labeled him a hero while others painted him as the second coming of satan. I continued to dig through as many public records as I could find, feeling that I had the right trail now. “The OSA?”, I studied the document I’d found again. “The institute's version of the KGB…”, I allow my voice to trail off. I look at the image that Shad had sent me again, “Why were they in my apartment complex?”. ***

{Hotel Room - Several Hours Later} The last vestiges of sunlight were slowly disappearing, casting a shadow across the floor of the hotel room. The glare created on the screen of my laptop is the only thing that prompted me to even move. With a sigh, I stand up from the chair and desk that I had been working from. I close the blinds and draw the curtain in order to cut down on the glare. I realize that my cup is empty, grabbing it, I return to the wet bar and fill the coffee cup with scotch. “Real classy Jimmy, real classy.”, I say to myself, more amused than chiding. I took a sip, the woodsy flavor of the scotch was a welcomed thing. “Now then Miss Mia Rayne, Mitaxia, Loki Synn or whatever you’re calling yourself this week. I know, I know, why am I talking about her when I have a battle royal to prepare for. I thought it important to make my views on her known. See, The Forsaken were and are a family. We put the fun in dysfunctional. I mean that with nothing but love in my heart for it’s members. As a group, we put each other through hell and would walk through hell for each other. All the claims of abandonment? Bitch please. No one abandoned you but your fucking self.”. I walk back to the desk and pick up the cell phone. “I keep this with me at all times, this allows two people to talk to each other. All you ever had to do was dial a god damned number.” I pull up the missed calls screen and point to it. “Notice anything missing? You’ll not see one instance of a call from Mia. As for your assertions that you are a better wrestler than I ever thought of being?”. I take a deep breath, inhaling through my nose, “Ah yes, the smell of bitterness and bullshit, that’s what I smell everytime you speak.”. I shake my head in disgust, “Mia, your family loves you, we all need to understand why you are doing this.”. I pause for a moment, “Whatever this is.”. I walk back over to the desk and sit down heavily in the padded chair. “You found a family that you forgot about or were separated from, I’m glad for that honestly. Having family around you is important. If they are doing more good than harm. I don’t see any good, only harm. Otherwise you’d be Mia, not Mitaxia, but of course, you’re blaming this on Taxi right?”. I point to the image on the laptop, a picture of myself, Dorian, Chloe, Mia, Ataxia, Zach and Shadow. An image from the CWF show that we did not so long ago. We’re all smiling in that photo, it had been a good night, an important night. “That is also family, Mia.”. I close the lid of the laptop slowly, as a mortician would a coffin lid. It finally snaps into place with an audible click. “I feel certain that we will all come face to face to resolve these issues. I think it’s important that everyone gets to have their say Mia, and not have it be a one sided conversation.”. Fade. ***

“Oh, right, this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about why I make the best contender for that title. I’m also supposed to have watched the promotional videos put out by some of the others involved. Now then, if I actually gave a damn about what they had to say about who they are as professionals. If I valued their opinion of my capabilities or my skills. That would make perfect sense, to get a feel for what they are thinking and the things they are doing to get prepared for this match. I mean how in the hell am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to take them seriously? First clown up is The Empty, or as The Reason calls him,”His Creature”. I just can’t even with this guy. He’s a rip off of a rip off. You’re not even the best creature I’ve ever seen, you’re not scaring anyone with your shock tactics or your attempts at brutality. I’ve seen better in “B” movies to be fair and honest about it. Maybe once you’ve realized that you’re out of your element here you’ll just go ahead and take the mask off and be done with it. That’s all the legion really wants to know anyway, who’s under the mask? They want to know, I honestly couldn't care less. Regina Delgato or “Starburst” as she’s known. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use the moniker of a terrible second rate candy before. You could have gone with a good candy, like peanut butter cup or skittles? Oh, wait, that’s right, you were aiming for something a bit more exotic. A shooting star or a nova or something like that, yeah? Well then, funny thing about those kinds of analogies. The energy from those types of phenomenons fades with time. Wouldn’t you rather burn out than fade away? I know that’s my goal. To each their own I suppose. Angel Panic, I know exactly less than zero about you. Even if I had watched your promotional video, I doubt I would have learned anything new. Good lord, why am I even giving you time in my own promotional video, that’s just crazy. Moving on. I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that none you matter to me. What you have to say, what’s going on in your life. None of that matters to me, and if it doesn’t matter to me then why do you think the great fans of Carnage will care? It’s simple, they won’t”