07-10-2020, 03:11 AM
Ace
07-14-2020, 11:10 PM
07-14-2020, 11:51 PM
Some battles are easier to end than others.
That’s a lesson Aaron has had to learn the hard way throughout his life, as much as this was one instance where he wished things would be a lot simpler than they actually were. He could look back on a lot of issues he’d ended up having to deal with over the years and realize that, no matter how much he believed it could’ve ended a lot sooner or less damage had been done if he’d made one or two adjustments to how he handled it, that probably wouldn’t have been the outcome regardless. Some people out there were simply too obsessed with whatever they were hoping to get out of him or at his expense, or they were otherwise far too good at keeping out of sight while they caused their damage that it became near impossible to actually figure out what his next move should be. For every question he could ask himself about how he could’ve conducted his business, he was beginning to realize that the answer to every single one was, in actuality, a big fat ‘no.’
Could he have avoided losing half of a year’s worth of progress for his career had he been blunter about not wanting anything to do with Scarlet Grey?
Could he have been able to go into Rise to Greatness 2019 at one hundred percent and not feel haunted by the images of a man dying before his very eyes for the rest of his life had he been able to do more to try and stop Dylan? Would Andrew still be here if he’d tried harder to get him out of that relationship in the first place?
Would he be looking over his shoulder constantly or keeping better tabs on his loved ones because of a wannabe therapist trying to gather dirt on him for some reason had he stuck by his guns about seeking help at all?
Would he be living a repeat of the Scarlet Grey mess in a sense with Shilo Valiant if he had walked into this business as anything aside from himself?
In the long run, they made for great ‘what if’ scenarios to keep his imagination active attempting to concoct different ways he could’ve gotten out of each situation, but the more often they were introduced to his life, the clearer it became that the reality was he’d simply been very unfortunate to serve as a human magnet for individuals that just didn’t go away that easily. For them, every war had to be a long and drawn-out process, if not because they simply didn’t know when to quit, then because they believed there was some small sense of victory to be had in keeping Aaron tied up for as long as possible, either dividing his focus or weighing down his career enough that it began to mess with his confidence that he wasn’t making as much progress as he thought he could in the business.
As the road to Rise to Greatness 2020 began to come to an end, Aaron found himself conflicted as these thoughts began to cross his mind once more. On one hand, the biggest show of the year would hopefully be the end of the line for Shilo and the desire he had to upend the creative soul’s career, if only because if Shilo couldn’t prevail on his ‘home turf’ then how could he justify being able to continue trying to shadow the artist and play games with him? This had been going on for almost a year now, so surely even Shilo was running out of reasons to keep going with this. He had the stage he craved, the biggest spotlight he could have, all for his grand finale, so there was really nothing more he could hope to get out of this no matter the outcome.
On the other hand, however, putting Shilo behind him at long last only meant one less problem on his plate as the proverbial pile began to get taller and taller again. Even if he ignored the eventual meeting that needed to happen with Liane’s parents to hopefully put any potential hostility to bed once and for all so they could get married without any hitches, that still wasn’t going to mean the end of the woman who was inexplicably trying to learn as much as she could that she had no right knowing about Aaron and Liane for whatever twisted purpose she intended to use it for. Given that even James Marsh-Asher, who was well known for his psychological approach to people both inside and out of the ring even long before he earned his Ph. D., was trying to hunt her down, there were plenty of reasons to worry over whatever this woman was planning. Even if he could ignore her long enough, there was also the matter of The Wonderland that he didn’t feel was simply going to end if Owen put Giovanni away once again at Rise to Greatness, since Gio seemed obsessed with this idea of ‘destroying the future’ in hopes that all of SCW would simply go down with them, and that kind of fight wasn’t usually resolved so long as such a madman found a justification to keep pushing forward with it.
In times like these, Aaron knew the easiest way to try and clear his head was to simply lose himself in his imagination. It was easier said than done at times, especially as the stress of everything around him began to mount and threaten his ability to simply close his eyes and daydream for a little while, but he would always find a way to return to his safe haven when he needed to. With things having calmed down a bit after the last Breakdown once Owen had surfaced safe and sound, despite the huge mess that was raised on Twitter over the ordeal and further escalated by several people who were only good for trying to start fires, Aaron could take enough peace in knowing it would be a week before he would be seeing in-ring action again to latch onto something to carry him off into the depths of his creativity. After all, while he had plenty of time to create an approach to facing someone like Ace Marshall, he was going to need quite a bit of preparation in advance for however he wanted to play the grandest show of the year this time around.
There was nothing around him, save for the darkness that he would emerge from, ready to do battle against the man who had sought to try and derail his career over claims of being a copycat. The only sounds he could hear was the roar of a crowd waiting in anticipation to see what he had planned and the skittering of several workers preparing the final touches of his march into battle on this colossal night. Cutting through it all was the sound of his own heartbeat, echoing against his chest with every pounding beat as it always did when the clock ticked down before he revealed himself to the masses, showing them all what could spawn from his mind in hopes that they would be inspired to do the same and never be held back.
When he heard a voice singing the words “I’m here for your entertainment!” that he knew the jester would recognize all too well, he steeled himself as the show was about to begin.
Slowly, he felt the platform he stood on beginning to ascend, eyes gazing up towards the opening where he would soon be visible to all. Some of the smoke that was covering the stage by now floated down through the hole, visible through the darkness courtesy of the spotlight that would be waiting for him as he decided that Shilo needed to understand the games he’d tried to play to others and that it wasn’t fun when you were the one having to put up with them. After a few moments, he could feel the smoke brushing against him as he rose through the fog, spotlight cutting through the darkness that allowed him to be visible to the masses, gazing out into the shadows for a moment as his ears were greeted by the full volume of a distorted melody that could only best be described as a surprisingly coherent mash-up of the song that typically accompanied his demonic entrances and the last song Shilo had associated himself with before changing it in this latest run with SCW.
Black pants over his usual knee pads and boots and a black hooded vest immediately brought to mind the image of his opponent as Aaron decided that if Shilo was going to accuse him of ripping him off several times over, then maybe he should see how far he could push the entertainer with that very idea. He mimicked the usual mannerisms of Shilo with crossing his arms in an ‘X’ pose before reaching up to the spotlight for a moment, hearing the roar of the crowd drive him on as he began his descent towards the ring, the spotlight following his every move as he’d grown somewhat accustomed to over the past several weeks. As he reached the ring, he quickly climbed to the top turnbuckle as he was known to do before reaching up towards the spotlight once more, only to then throw his arms out in a pose more familiar as his own to banish the spotlight and replace it with a revolving array of rainbow colors instead, replacing the darkness with the spectrum that symbolized his world. He hopped down into the ring and removed the vest, revealing the rest of his appearance as well: several words and quotes that were often associated with Shilo over the years painted all across his body as well as his face being painted on the right side in a fashion that resembled Shilo’s own half-mask from many years ago while the left side is painted to resemble the familiar ‘Cursed Design’ he had been introduced to that became a symbol of sorts for him in some respects. Aaron looked around the arena at the cheering audience before closing his eyes and basking in the moment, feeling that after quite some time to think it over, he’d settled on what he was going to do leading into the match so he could shift his focus towards how to play the battle itself now.
Only when the cheers abruptly stopped, like someone pausing a match they were rewatching for whatever reason, and were instead replaced by the haunting sound of only one individual slow-clapping, did Aaron’s eyes immediately open as all of his positive feeling about this vanished in a heartbeat.
The world around him that he’d painted into existence to suit the mental trial run of his Rise to Greatness plans was gone, including the ring he’d been standing in. There was only the dark void in all directions, pierced only by the familiar spotlight shining down upon him. Aaron could only let out a groan, fearing that he was slowly losing himself again to the idea that Shilo was in his head and now pretending to be a voice that just wouldn’t go away as it tried to drag him down by criticizing everything he said or did or tried to plan for its own self-satisfaction.
“I hope you realize this isn’t going to work anymore. Even if it slips on occasion, I’m still the one in full control here, and that will never change. This is my world after all, not yours.”
The warning did nothing to eliminate the slow-clap, and Aaron simply rolled his eyes in annoyance before trying to simply think up something else to create a change of scenery. He soon found, however, that no matter what he thought up, whether it was an existing location within his imaginary world or something entirely different being brought to life for the very first time, there was no change to his surroundings. He was still standing beneath that spotlight in an empty void and still hearing that monotonous sound greet his ears. Perhaps the only thing that had changed was the clapping sound getting louder, almost like it was getting closer to him, but Aaron wasn’t deterred. If something was keeping him from simply bringing anything into existence around him, then he would just do this the old-fashioned way and take a walk, knowing he’d either end up elsewhere soon enough to be able to snap his mind out of its self-induced imaginative trance so he’d return to seeing the hotel room around him that he’d erased through daydreaming in order to pass the time and piece a few things together.
He’d only taken two steps, however, before he found himself stumbling back a bit after literally walking into a wall.
As he rubbed his face, he raised an eyebrow in confusion when he found no solid object that he could’ve bumped into. There was only the spotlight surrounding his form and nothing else. After reaching out, however, his fingers soon grazed something that felt solid but had no visible form, and it didn’t take him long to deduce that the spotlight itself was a prison of some kind: where the light ended and the void began, an invisible wall now existed to keep him from crossing that threshold. A low growl escaped the designer’s throat as he looked around, trying to focus on the source of that slow-clapping, but the sound seemed to emanate from all around him even as it seemed to be growing closer.
“I get it… the spotlight is the prison that exposes all my flaws and mistakes. Ha ha, real funny Shilo. It’s not going to keep me here, though… I’ve already pretty much evicted you from my head, and after Rise to Greatness, this is going to be over.”
Still no response aside from the clapping that was beginning to become the equivalent of that kid in a classroom trying to make somebody crack by drumming his fingers against the desk to cut through the otherwise absolute silence. Realizing that something was hellbent on trying to get to him right now, Aaron simply opted to sit down cross-legged in the middle of the light, closing his eyes and trying to shift his thoughts elsewhere. It might seem odd to think he was trying to play some kind of Inception-style card to slip out of this predicament now, but you have to remember that it’s his imagination, and therefore he’s the one that ultimately makes the rules. Even if that didn’t work, he knew well enough by now that if he simply did his best to ignore whatever was trying to get to him, it would eventually give up and he’d be free to go.
No matter how much louder the clapping got, Aaron didn’t open his eyes. He simply took deep breaths and tried to drown it out in favor of thinking about anything else. More positive thoughts such as soon being Liane’s husband or attending Alistaire and Peyton’s wedding or even potentially Owen and Jennifer’s down the line, the potential of what he could do and the success he could find once Shilo was finally in his rear-view mirror… just some of the things that put a smile on his face that doubled as an act of defiance against whatever was hoping to try and tear him down. That smile faded, however, when his thoughts were replaced by ones that weren’t his doing: losing to Shilo at Rise to Greatness and being haunted by him for the rest of his career afterward as one final joke for the entertainer to make sure he never forgot, Liane’s parents effectively disrupting his wedding enough that there would be no ‘until death do we part’ between them, the idea of him slowly going insane from something tormenting him from within his own imagination and not only being forced to quit wrestling but also spend time in a straight jacket locked inside a padded cell.
Something about that last vision really seemed to get to Aaron, closing his eyes tighter almost out of reflex to something that was both familiar and yet so far away, or so he thought. As the clapping finally reached enough of a deafening volume that he could ignore it no longer and a slight sense of realization began to set in, his eyes quickly opened… and he found himself staring straight into the malicious gaze of an entity he had hoped was long gone at last that shook him to his very core.
“You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”
It was hard to blame him for feeling shellshocked though. Between Shilo’s neverending games, the problems Gio and The Wonderland were causing on top of that, the bizarre situation with this mysterious woman trying to hunt for something to use against him in some unknown fashion for reasons he couldn’t begin to figure out…
He was under a lot of stress once again.
Why wouldn’t it refuel the monstrosity that embodied it all for him?
Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. People these days aren’t blind, and if you try to hide something, you’re only going to encourage them to start digging for answers. They won’t let you get away with a win at Rise to Greatness just because your opponent wasn’t fighting at one hundred percent going in, or you pulled some heinous stunt to in hopes that all you have to do when that bell rings on that fateful Sunday is simply push a proverbial zombie to the mat and cover them. And, like it or not, winning like that isn’t going to yield the rewards you believe it well. Sure, you won on the biggest show of the year, but if Sasha or any other member on the Board of Directors can watch back that match and the weeks leading up to it and realize what you had to do in order to get that win, do you really think they’re going to be so willing to simply reward you with the opportunities you keep yelling at the top of your lungs that you believe you should have?
Like it or not, reality’s a little more complicated than that, and the games you play can often have consequences you never considered for one reason or another when all is set and done.
Take my last ‘match’ for example, if you can really call it that. Owen and I teamed up to do battle with Gio’s goons, and after a brief exchange between Cain and myself, it was demanded that I tag Owen in just so we could be handed a win in the form of a ‘peace offering.’ That’s not the kind of win I want sitting on my record, but since when has the ‘warlord of the Wonderland’ ever cared about anything that’s not the endgame that makes the most sense only to him. He got what he wanted, unfortunately, which was a night alone with Owen that I can only hope ended alright for my best friend as he resurfaced safe and sound despite wanting some time to himself, understandably, but I don’t think Gio fully realizes what he lost in doing so. I’m not blind, I know what I had to say about Gio’s willingness to use an advantage given to him by a man who represents everything he wants to destroy was going to have some kind of effect, and after what happened on that Breakdown, I can clearly see that Cain’s faith in Gio’s leadership might not be as strong as it used to be. Maybe Cain’s starting to come around to the idea of doing things for himself and accomplishing whatever he wants to do instead because clearly he’s starting to see he’s getting nowhere following the preachings of a hypocrite.
Before I can fully focus on Rise to Greatness and the so-called ‘entertainer’ who awaits me there after spending months trying to play games with me and finding every way imaginable to avoid any sort of proper conclusion to all of this, knowing that once we’re done he will lose the only thing keeping him anchored to relevance in SCW once again, I do have another match I need to tackle first. You might think that this is basically giving Shilo a free advantage like I mentioned to start this off, but I think it’s the other way around: win or lose, I’m heading into Rise to Greatness warmed up and ready to go while Shilo will be stepping into the ring for the first time since Taking Hold of the Flame. Inactivity breeds complacency, and Shilo will learn soon enough that wasting months doing nothing but parlor tricks and competing only when it suits his agenda is going to be his own undoing.
At least before I get there, I’ll be facing someone who understands what happens when you try to create an advantage for yourself and it ultimately blows up in your face.
I could say a lot about Ace Marshall honestly, even if this will be the first time I’ve set foot in the ring with the guy in a one-on-one capacity. The only time we’ve actually really crossed paths in the ring is actually a perfect example of the best laid plans blowing up in one’s face. I still look back to the End of the Year Open Invitational years ago where I made my SCW debut, recalling that this same incarnation of the match was the one Ace altered using the Trios contract he held back then. Adrenaline Title was on the line, everyone was mandated to wear some kind of skimpy attire as approved by you and Cassidy… ring any bells? Now, I know I didn’t exactly win that match either, but that night was more about making a lasting first impression to show the SCW audience a hint of what they could expect from me, and between the elaborate entrance that’s become a staple of mine and at least finishing in the top ten of such a crowded field, I’d like to think I accomplished that. You, however, were hoping to take advantage of the situation you created to make many uncomfortable and lost in the crowd because you allowed an bigger price to be dangled before many of them, and in the end, you ultimately couldn’t finish the job.
That said, I know better than to discount you Ace. Buried beneath all the antics that allow you to get through each and every day in your own way, even if sometimes they remind me of a certain jester waiting in the wings, you’re an athlete who deserves more respect than you get. You’re one of only a small handful of people who’s won the Trios Tournament on multiple occasions, not to mention you’re a former World Champion in your own right. No one gets to that peak without busting their ass to earn it in some fashion, and if you’re thinking I’m going to walk into this match buying into the fun and games, I think you’ll be surprised once we lock up and things take off from there.
We both find ourselves in a bit of an uncomfortable position, given that we both know this match might end up being tainted in some fashion. I’m not as concerned with Shilo since he clearly wants to try and play games with me from afar and do everything in his power to avoid a direct confrontation with me for as long as possible, but you find yourself going into a match at Rise to Greatness that not only has a title opportunity on the line, but also a crowded field full of people who only care about trying to simply destroy one another and anybody else because it’s the only thing they seem to comprehend. I wouldn’t put it past someone like Clyde Sutter to stick his nose into our business to try and gain any sort of advantage over you, even though I’d like to think he remembers how it feels to have his lights turned out by an Unchained Creativity. That’s a bridge we’ll cross if need be, though, because I think it’s clear we both want this win and the momentum that comes with it going into the biggest show of the year.
I hate to break it to you though Ace, but if I’m going to start trying to rebuild myself once Shilo is finally unshackled from me once and for all, I need wins like this… wins over talented wrestlers and former World Champions. After Shilo, the sky is the limit for me, but I can only start chasing after it and seeing where my story goes next is I can start that off on the right foot. And I can’t wait until after Rise to Greatness to get that head start.
I wish you the best of luck Ace, but I also want you to realize that you’re not getting the man who’s going to be putting down an entertainer who’s been plaguing him for months come Breakdown.
You’re getting the creative soul who will use every last idea he can come up with to overcome you and take that next step forward, just as it should always be when I set foot in that ring.
That’s a lesson Aaron has had to learn the hard way throughout his life, as much as this was one instance where he wished things would be a lot simpler than they actually were. He could look back on a lot of issues he’d ended up having to deal with over the years and realize that, no matter how much he believed it could’ve ended a lot sooner or less damage had been done if he’d made one or two adjustments to how he handled it, that probably wouldn’t have been the outcome regardless. Some people out there were simply too obsessed with whatever they were hoping to get out of him or at his expense, or they were otherwise far too good at keeping out of sight while they caused their damage that it became near impossible to actually figure out what his next move should be. For every question he could ask himself about how he could’ve conducted his business, he was beginning to realize that the answer to every single one was, in actuality, a big fat ‘no.’
Could he have avoided losing half of a year’s worth of progress for his career had he been blunter about not wanting anything to do with Scarlet Grey?
Could he have been able to go into Rise to Greatness 2019 at one hundred percent and not feel haunted by the images of a man dying before his very eyes for the rest of his life had he been able to do more to try and stop Dylan? Would Andrew still be here if he’d tried harder to get him out of that relationship in the first place?
Would he be looking over his shoulder constantly or keeping better tabs on his loved ones because of a wannabe therapist trying to gather dirt on him for some reason had he stuck by his guns about seeking help at all?
Would he be living a repeat of the Scarlet Grey mess in a sense with Shilo Valiant if he had walked into this business as anything aside from himself?
In the long run, they made for great ‘what if’ scenarios to keep his imagination active attempting to concoct different ways he could’ve gotten out of each situation, but the more often they were introduced to his life, the clearer it became that the reality was he’d simply been very unfortunate to serve as a human magnet for individuals that just didn’t go away that easily. For them, every war had to be a long and drawn-out process, if not because they simply didn’t know when to quit, then because they believed there was some small sense of victory to be had in keeping Aaron tied up for as long as possible, either dividing his focus or weighing down his career enough that it began to mess with his confidence that he wasn’t making as much progress as he thought he could in the business.
As the road to Rise to Greatness 2020 began to come to an end, Aaron found himself conflicted as these thoughts began to cross his mind once more. On one hand, the biggest show of the year would hopefully be the end of the line for Shilo and the desire he had to upend the creative soul’s career, if only because if Shilo couldn’t prevail on his ‘home turf’ then how could he justify being able to continue trying to shadow the artist and play games with him? This had been going on for almost a year now, so surely even Shilo was running out of reasons to keep going with this. He had the stage he craved, the biggest spotlight he could have, all for his grand finale, so there was really nothing more he could hope to get out of this no matter the outcome.
On the other hand, however, putting Shilo behind him at long last only meant one less problem on his plate as the proverbial pile began to get taller and taller again. Even if he ignored the eventual meeting that needed to happen with Liane’s parents to hopefully put any potential hostility to bed once and for all so they could get married without any hitches, that still wasn’t going to mean the end of the woman who was inexplicably trying to learn as much as she could that she had no right knowing about Aaron and Liane for whatever twisted purpose she intended to use it for. Given that even James Marsh-Asher, who was well known for his psychological approach to people both inside and out of the ring even long before he earned his Ph. D., was trying to hunt her down, there were plenty of reasons to worry over whatever this woman was planning. Even if he could ignore her long enough, there was also the matter of The Wonderland that he didn’t feel was simply going to end if Owen put Giovanni away once again at Rise to Greatness, since Gio seemed obsessed with this idea of ‘destroying the future’ in hopes that all of SCW would simply go down with them, and that kind of fight wasn’t usually resolved so long as such a madman found a justification to keep pushing forward with it.
In times like these, Aaron knew the easiest way to try and clear his head was to simply lose himself in his imagination. It was easier said than done at times, especially as the stress of everything around him began to mount and threaten his ability to simply close his eyes and daydream for a little while, but he would always find a way to return to his safe haven when he needed to. With things having calmed down a bit after the last Breakdown once Owen had surfaced safe and sound, despite the huge mess that was raised on Twitter over the ordeal and further escalated by several people who were only good for trying to start fires, Aaron could take enough peace in knowing it would be a week before he would be seeing in-ring action again to latch onto something to carry him off into the depths of his creativity. After all, while he had plenty of time to create an approach to facing someone like Ace Marshall, he was going to need quite a bit of preparation in advance for however he wanted to play the grandest show of the year this time around.
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Darkness…There was nothing around him, save for the darkness that he would emerge from, ready to do battle against the man who had sought to try and derail his career over claims of being a copycat. The only sounds he could hear was the roar of a crowd waiting in anticipation to see what he had planned and the skittering of several workers preparing the final touches of his march into battle on this colossal night. Cutting through it all was the sound of his own heartbeat, echoing against his chest with every pounding beat as it always did when the clock ticked down before he revealed himself to the masses, showing them all what could spawn from his mind in hopes that they would be inspired to do the same and never be held back.
When he heard a voice singing the words “I’m here for your entertainment!” that he knew the jester would recognize all too well, he steeled himself as the show was about to begin.
Slowly, he felt the platform he stood on beginning to ascend, eyes gazing up towards the opening where he would soon be visible to all. Some of the smoke that was covering the stage by now floated down through the hole, visible through the darkness courtesy of the spotlight that would be waiting for him as he decided that Shilo needed to understand the games he’d tried to play to others and that it wasn’t fun when you were the one having to put up with them. After a few moments, he could feel the smoke brushing against him as he rose through the fog, spotlight cutting through the darkness that allowed him to be visible to the masses, gazing out into the shadows for a moment as his ears were greeted by the full volume of a distorted melody that could only best be described as a surprisingly coherent mash-up of the song that typically accompanied his demonic entrances and the last song Shilo had associated himself with before changing it in this latest run with SCW.
Black pants over his usual knee pads and boots and a black hooded vest immediately brought to mind the image of his opponent as Aaron decided that if Shilo was going to accuse him of ripping him off several times over, then maybe he should see how far he could push the entertainer with that very idea. He mimicked the usual mannerisms of Shilo with crossing his arms in an ‘X’ pose before reaching up to the spotlight for a moment, hearing the roar of the crowd drive him on as he began his descent towards the ring, the spotlight following his every move as he’d grown somewhat accustomed to over the past several weeks. As he reached the ring, he quickly climbed to the top turnbuckle as he was known to do before reaching up towards the spotlight once more, only to then throw his arms out in a pose more familiar as his own to banish the spotlight and replace it with a revolving array of rainbow colors instead, replacing the darkness with the spectrum that symbolized his world. He hopped down into the ring and removed the vest, revealing the rest of his appearance as well: several words and quotes that were often associated with Shilo over the years painted all across his body as well as his face being painted on the right side in a fashion that resembled Shilo’s own half-mask from many years ago while the left side is painted to resemble the familiar ‘Cursed Design’ he had been introduced to that became a symbol of sorts for him in some respects. Aaron looked around the arena at the cheering audience before closing his eyes and basking in the moment, feeling that after quite some time to think it over, he’d settled on what he was going to do leading into the match so he could shift his focus towards how to play the battle itself now.
Only when the cheers abruptly stopped, like someone pausing a match they were rewatching for whatever reason, and were instead replaced by the haunting sound of only one individual slow-clapping, did Aaron’s eyes immediately open as all of his positive feeling about this vanished in a heartbeat.
The world around him that he’d painted into existence to suit the mental trial run of his Rise to Greatness plans was gone, including the ring he’d been standing in. There was only the dark void in all directions, pierced only by the familiar spotlight shining down upon him. Aaron could only let out a groan, fearing that he was slowly losing himself again to the idea that Shilo was in his head and now pretending to be a voice that just wouldn’t go away as it tried to drag him down by criticizing everything he said or did or tried to plan for its own self-satisfaction.
“I hope you realize this isn’t going to work anymore. Even if it slips on occasion, I’m still the one in full control here, and that will never change. This is my world after all, not yours.”
The warning did nothing to eliminate the slow-clap, and Aaron simply rolled his eyes in annoyance before trying to simply think up something else to create a change of scenery. He soon found, however, that no matter what he thought up, whether it was an existing location within his imaginary world or something entirely different being brought to life for the very first time, there was no change to his surroundings. He was still standing beneath that spotlight in an empty void and still hearing that monotonous sound greet his ears. Perhaps the only thing that had changed was the clapping sound getting louder, almost like it was getting closer to him, but Aaron wasn’t deterred. If something was keeping him from simply bringing anything into existence around him, then he would just do this the old-fashioned way and take a walk, knowing he’d either end up elsewhere soon enough to be able to snap his mind out of its self-induced imaginative trance so he’d return to seeing the hotel room around him that he’d erased through daydreaming in order to pass the time and piece a few things together.
He’d only taken two steps, however, before he found himself stumbling back a bit after literally walking into a wall.
As he rubbed his face, he raised an eyebrow in confusion when he found no solid object that he could’ve bumped into. There was only the spotlight surrounding his form and nothing else. After reaching out, however, his fingers soon grazed something that felt solid but had no visible form, and it didn’t take him long to deduce that the spotlight itself was a prison of some kind: where the light ended and the void began, an invisible wall now existed to keep him from crossing that threshold. A low growl escaped the designer’s throat as he looked around, trying to focus on the source of that slow-clapping, but the sound seemed to emanate from all around him even as it seemed to be growing closer.
“I get it… the spotlight is the prison that exposes all my flaws and mistakes. Ha ha, real funny Shilo. It’s not going to keep me here, though… I’ve already pretty much evicted you from my head, and after Rise to Greatness, this is going to be over.”
Still no response aside from the clapping that was beginning to become the equivalent of that kid in a classroom trying to make somebody crack by drumming his fingers against the desk to cut through the otherwise absolute silence. Realizing that something was hellbent on trying to get to him right now, Aaron simply opted to sit down cross-legged in the middle of the light, closing his eyes and trying to shift his thoughts elsewhere. It might seem odd to think he was trying to play some kind of Inception-style card to slip out of this predicament now, but you have to remember that it’s his imagination, and therefore he’s the one that ultimately makes the rules. Even if that didn’t work, he knew well enough by now that if he simply did his best to ignore whatever was trying to get to him, it would eventually give up and he’d be free to go.
No matter how much louder the clapping got, Aaron didn’t open his eyes. He simply took deep breaths and tried to drown it out in favor of thinking about anything else. More positive thoughts such as soon being Liane’s husband or attending Alistaire and Peyton’s wedding or even potentially Owen and Jennifer’s down the line, the potential of what he could do and the success he could find once Shilo was finally in his rear-view mirror… just some of the things that put a smile on his face that doubled as an act of defiance against whatever was hoping to try and tear him down. That smile faded, however, when his thoughts were replaced by ones that weren’t his doing: losing to Shilo at Rise to Greatness and being haunted by him for the rest of his career afterward as one final joke for the entertainer to make sure he never forgot, Liane’s parents effectively disrupting his wedding enough that there would be no ‘until death do we part’ between them, the idea of him slowly going insane from something tormenting him from within his own imagination and not only being forced to quit wrestling but also spend time in a straight jacket locked inside a padded cell.
Something about that last vision really seemed to get to Aaron, closing his eyes tighter almost out of reflex to something that was both familiar and yet so far away, or so he thought. As the clapping finally reached enough of a deafening volume that he could ignore it no longer and a slight sense of realization began to set in, his eyes quickly opened… and he found himself staring straight into the malicious gaze of an entity he had hoped was long gone at last that shook him to his very core.
“You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”
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With a blink of his eyes, Aaron suddenly found himself in different surroundings, and after a few moments to adjust, he realized that he’d finally snapped out of his daydream and was back in his hotel room. At least, that’s what he wanted to hope, but a quick run of the old ‘pinch yourself’ test quickly established that he was, in fact, back in reality. He was alone for the time being, remembering that Liane had stepped out for a bit because one of her siblings was in town and she wanted to both catch up and see if she could get any more potential dirt about this Nancy woman since she’d been trying to talk with members of their respective families since the direct approach had now been shut down to her. Part of him wished she was here, though, as he stood up to go look at himself in the bathroom mirror and saw firsthand that his face almost looked as white as a ghost, not to mention the cold sweat he’d broken out into.It was hard to blame him for feeling shellshocked though. Between Shilo’s neverending games, the problems Gio and The Wonderland were causing on top of that, the bizarre situation with this mysterious woman trying to hunt for something to use against him in some unknown fashion for reasons he couldn’t begin to figure out…
He was under a lot of stress once again.
Why wouldn’t it refuel the monstrosity that embodied it all for him?
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As the clock ticks down towards Rise to Greatness, many out there will start going to greater lengths to try and get whatever advantage they can possibly take into the grandest show of the year. Last second mind games and cheap shots will no doubt be the calling card of many, because, at the end of the day, they think all that’s going to matter is that they’ve won on the biggest stage SCW has to offer. Who cares about the ‘how’ when you can just try to shove down people’s throats the result all on its own, right?Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. People these days aren’t blind, and if you try to hide something, you’re only going to encourage them to start digging for answers. They won’t let you get away with a win at Rise to Greatness just because your opponent wasn’t fighting at one hundred percent going in, or you pulled some heinous stunt to in hopes that all you have to do when that bell rings on that fateful Sunday is simply push a proverbial zombie to the mat and cover them. And, like it or not, winning like that isn’t going to yield the rewards you believe it well. Sure, you won on the biggest show of the year, but if Sasha or any other member on the Board of Directors can watch back that match and the weeks leading up to it and realize what you had to do in order to get that win, do you really think they’re going to be so willing to simply reward you with the opportunities you keep yelling at the top of your lungs that you believe you should have?
Like it or not, reality’s a little more complicated than that, and the games you play can often have consequences you never considered for one reason or another when all is set and done.
Take my last ‘match’ for example, if you can really call it that. Owen and I teamed up to do battle with Gio’s goons, and after a brief exchange between Cain and myself, it was demanded that I tag Owen in just so we could be handed a win in the form of a ‘peace offering.’ That’s not the kind of win I want sitting on my record, but since when has the ‘warlord of the Wonderland’ ever cared about anything that’s not the endgame that makes the most sense only to him. He got what he wanted, unfortunately, which was a night alone with Owen that I can only hope ended alright for my best friend as he resurfaced safe and sound despite wanting some time to himself, understandably, but I don’t think Gio fully realizes what he lost in doing so. I’m not blind, I know what I had to say about Gio’s willingness to use an advantage given to him by a man who represents everything he wants to destroy was going to have some kind of effect, and after what happened on that Breakdown, I can clearly see that Cain’s faith in Gio’s leadership might not be as strong as it used to be. Maybe Cain’s starting to come around to the idea of doing things for himself and accomplishing whatever he wants to do instead because clearly he’s starting to see he’s getting nowhere following the preachings of a hypocrite.
Before I can fully focus on Rise to Greatness and the so-called ‘entertainer’ who awaits me there after spending months trying to play games with me and finding every way imaginable to avoid any sort of proper conclusion to all of this, knowing that once we’re done he will lose the only thing keeping him anchored to relevance in SCW once again, I do have another match I need to tackle first. You might think that this is basically giving Shilo a free advantage like I mentioned to start this off, but I think it’s the other way around: win or lose, I’m heading into Rise to Greatness warmed up and ready to go while Shilo will be stepping into the ring for the first time since Taking Hold of the Flame. Inactivity breeds complacency, and Shilo will learn soon enough that wasting months doing nothing but parlor tricks and competing only when it suits his agenda is going to be his own undoing.
At least before I get there, I’ll be facing someone who understands what happens when you try to create an advantage for yourself and it ultimately blows up in your face.
I could say a lot about Ace Marshall honestly, even if this will be the first time I’ve set foot in the ring with the guy in a one-on-one capacity. The only time we’ve actually really crossed paths in the ring is actually a perfect example of the best laid plans blowing up in one’s face. I still look back to the End of the Year Open Invitational years ago where I made my SCW debut, recalling that this same incarnation of the match was the one Ace altered using the Trios contract he held back then. Adrenaline Title was on the line, everyone was mandated to wear some kind of skimpy attire as approved by you and Cassidy… ring any bells? Now, I know I didn’t exactly win that match either, but that night was more about making a lasting first impression to show the SCW audience a hint of what they could expect from me, and between the elaborate entrance that’s become a staple of mine and at least finishing in the top ten of such a crowded field, I’d like to think I accomplished that. You, however, were hoping to take advantage of the situation you created to make many uncomfortable and lost in the crowd because you allowed an bigger price to be dangled before many of them, and in the end, you ultimately couldn’t finish the job.
That said, I know better than to discount you Ace. Buried beneath all the antics that allow you to get through each and every day in your own way, even if sometimes they remind me of a certain jester waiting in the wings, you’re an athlete who deserves more respect than you get. You’re one of only a small handful of people who’s won the Trios Tournament on multiple occasions, not to mention you’re a former World Champion in your own right. No one gets to that peak without busting their ass to earn it in some fashion, and if you’re thinking I’m going to walk into this match buying into the fun and games, I think you’ll be surprised once we lock up and things take off from there.
We both find ourselves in a bit of an uncomfortable position, given that we both know this match might end up being tainted in some fashion. I’m not as concerned with Shilo since he clearly wants to try and play games with me from afar and do everything in his power to avoid a direct confrontation with me for as long as possible, but you find yourself going into a match at Rise to Greatness that not only has a title opportunity on the line, but also a crowded field full of people who only care about trying to simply destroy one another and anybody else because it’s the only thing they seem to comprehend. I wouldn’t put it past someone like Clyde Sutter to stick his nose into our business to try and gain any sort of advantage over you, even though I’d like to think he remembers how it feels to have his lights turned out by an Unchained Creativity. That’s a bridge we’ll cross if need be, though, because I think it’s clear we both want this win and the momentum that comes with it going into the biggest show of the year.
I hate to break it to you though Ace, but if I’m going to start trying to rebuild myself once Shilo is finally unshackled from me once and for all, I need wins like this… wins over talented wrestlers and former World Champions. After Shilo, the sky is the limit for me, but I can only start chasing after it and seeing where my story goes next is I can start that off on the right foot. And I can’t wait until after Rise to Greatness to get that head start.
I wish you the best of luck Ace, but I also want you to realize that you’re not getting the man who’s going to be putting down an entertainer who’s been plaguing him for months come Breakdown.
You’re getting the creative soul who will use every last idea he can come up with to overcome you and take that next step forward, just as it should always be when I set foot in that ring.