Post by Kalidah on Dec 11, 2022 4:36:20 GMT
Red Tiger King wasn't sure why he was attending this meeting. It was a colossal waste of time, he should be preparing for the Hijo Invitational, not spending his time talking about his feelings to a small group. He had told his girlfriend and much, but Lucky had put her foot down and his mentor, Brutus Smith, had backed her up on this.
"You cannot possibly defeat your foes if you're at war with your mind," the masked giant had said. Well actually he had said, "I am Brute," but RTK knew what he meant. Brutus Smith had a way of articulating his message loud and clear despite apparently having a vocabulary of only three words.
And perhaps Brute was right, despite the hours of training with the Order of Brute, sometimes working himself until he collapsed from exhaustion. He was no closer to his goals. Time and time again he had would think he was on the verge of a breakthrough, only to freeze up or make a bad decision, and everything would fall apart. He really was starting doubt himself. Worse yet, Reo Ojima's kept ringing back in his head.
"What are you still doing in this industry?"
Those words had rung through his head for months. With every setback, with every loss, they had slowly eaten away at his confidence and made him feel less confident in his abilities, and don’t even get him started on what they had done to his dreams. Since the “incident” his hours of sleep were filled with nightmares of abominations with white porcelain masks, creatures trying to snatch him out of the darkness and that never ceasing cruel laughter. Following his last loss to Ojima, his former mentor’s words now echoed through the nightmare landscape he fought in every night when he tried to sleep.
Red Tiger King shivered and looked around him, on the crowded bus. No one here recognized him without this mask on, although with the way he was feeling right now he doubted many of the commuters would recognize him even if he had it on. Still, he wore a hat and sunglasses; no point drawing any more attention than he needed to.
He resisted the urge to look around for what felt like the hundredth time. RTK had chosen this form of commute in an effort to keep a low profile and possibly throw “him” off his track. Despite his best efforts though, he couldn’t help feeling like he was being followed; the sensation was unnerving. Perhaps Lucky and Brute were right, maybe he was letting his mind get the better of him.
The bus finally approached his stop and RTK signaled to get off. As he hopped off he fought the overpowering urge to run for it. It took every bit of his willpower to walk as normal as possible and walked up to the church across the street. He took a moment to take the building in, he remembered it. It was only a few short years ago that RTK had followed “him” here for a meeting of a different kind and unintentionally listened in on his secrets. How ironic that he should find himself here now, needing to pour out his own fears and frustrations to a group of strangers.
An elderly man stepped out from the church and smiled at him. He approached RTK slowly and gave him a nod.
“Are you here for the PTSD support group?”
“Yes I am,” RTK answered. He couldn’t help but give the man a bow.
Whether the elderly man found the gesture amusing or not, he didn’t let it show.
“First time you’ve done something like this,” the man asked.
“Yes, sir.”
The man nodded.
“Thought so. Well, my name’s Ron. I’ll be leading the meeting tonight. Why don’t you come inside with me? Everyone else is inside. You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to, no one’s going to make you. You can just sit and listen, and hopefully it’ll help you realize that you’re not alone here. There’s people who understand what you’re going through, even if your story is different from theirs.”
Ron walked back to the church and opened the door.
“So what do you say? Would you care to join us?”
RTK swallowed hard and nodded. Without saying another word, he walked past Ron and went inside.
***
“It’s an odd thing, cutting promos.”
Red Tiger King is sitting in the church basement. The meeting was done and there was no one around. He still needs to upload the video he had promised, so he had pulled his mask out and put it on before grabbing his phone, turned the camera on and pressed play.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’ve grown cautious about the words I use after making a fool of myself more than once in the past, making grand, arrogant speeches, only to fall on my face and lose.”
Beneath his mask, RTK grimaced.
“Then again, I’m barely saying anything these days and am still losing, so what does it matter?
RTK wanted to smack himself in the face. This promo was just starting and it was already a disaster. He needed to turn this around somehow.
Taking a deep breath, RTK began to speak again. A little more confident this time.
“I’m tired of losing. I’m tired of being overlooked, stepped on and stepped over. I’m tired of people stomping on my head and not expecting there to be any retaliation. A wise man once pointed out that a cornered animal is indeed a most dangerous creature. Well, with the Hijo Invitational only two days away, it feels like I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Cornered, beaten and desperate, I might be at my most dangerous right now.
“Some fans might be aware of the history of the mask I wear. I know the Pollos do, El Hijo del Pollo certainly did. The man who wore this mask before me was a terror in Pollomania and caused a great deal of pain for the Pollo family, but he was also their company’s biggest star. Needless to say when I put this mask on I had big shoes to fill, and if I’m being quite honest with myself, I haven’t been doing a great job of living up to that legacy, even if I refuse to mimic the same methods.”
Mimic the same methods? Did that even make sense? He hoped so because he wasn’t about to stop the video and start again.
“Maybe it’s time I stop worrying about the legacy this mask has and start making one of my own for it, and Luke Marshall, I can’t think of a better person to start on this path on then against you. See, I remember what you did to me the last time we stepped into the ring with one another and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from it. It’s not that you beat me, I’ve been beaten before and I’ll be beaten again, but it’s how you carried yourself after the match. Winning isn’t enough for you, you had to rub it into my partner’s face when he wasn’t able to defend himself. Why? Because he beat you? Because he proved that you aren’t as good as you think? Well I dare you to try to do that to me. I dare you to try and stomp on my head! To leave me in a heap! You might be looking past me, to legends like Knight or van der Roost, or to get your hands on Menza one more time, but let me make one thing perfectly clear, my attention is solely on you.
“Marshall, I’m not going to lie, there’s something I find so very punchable at your face and I plan to take out all my frustration on it. Once I beat you, and you can bet I will do everything within the rules to do so, then, and only then will I turn my attention to the others and the potential dream matches against AJ Knight and David Troy, or the opportunity to go one on one with Pollo Dorado III and change the history between our two legacies for the better, or maybe even find out for myself what Eron Hunter can do in the ring.
“But before any of that will happen, I’m going to kick your ass first, and rest assured I might do my best to play by the rules, but I’m going to enjoy beating you down every second.”
Okay, he thought, time for the big close. Don’t mess this up.
“Luke Marshall! Hijo Invitational! Get ready, because I’m not just bringing my maximum effort, I’m coming to kick some ass too!”
What the hell! You’re blowing it!!! Try something different!
“Watch out everyone, this tiger’s on the hunt!”
Cursing himself for using THAT catchphrase, RTK ended the video and pressed send. Oh well, what’s the worst that’ll happen?
"You cannot possibly defeat your foes if you're at war with your mind," the masked giant had said. Well actually he had said, "I am Brute," but RTK knew what he meant. Brutus Smith had a way of articulating his message loud and clear despite apparently having a vocabulary of only three words.
And perhaps Brute was right, despite the hours of training with the Order of Brute, sometimes working himself until he collapsed from exhaustion. He was no closer to his goals. Time and time again he had would think he was on the verge of a breakthrough, only to freeze up or make a bad decision, and everything would fall apart. He really was starting doubt himself. Worse yet, Reo Ojima's kept ringing back in his head.
"What are you still doing in this industry?"
Those words had rung through his head for months. With every setback, with every loss, they had slowly eaten away at his confidence and made him feel less confident in his abilities, and don’t even get him started on what they had done to his dreams. Since the “incident” his hours of sleep were filled with nightmares of abominations with white porcelain masks, creatures trying to snatch him out of the darkness and that never ceasing cruel laughter. Following his last loss to Ojima, his former mentor’s words now echoed through the nightmare landscape he fought in every night when he tried to sleep.
Red Tiger King shivered and looked around him, on the crowded bus. No one here recognized him without this mask on, although with the way he was feeling right now he doubted many of the commuters would recognize him even if he had it on. Still, he wore a hat and sunglasses; no point drawing any more attention than he needed to.
He resisted the urge to look around for what felt like the hundredth time. RTK had chosen this form of commute in an effort to keep a low profile and possibly throw “him” off his track. Despite his best efforts though, he couldn’t help feeling like he was being followed; the sensation was unnerving. Perhaps Lucky and Brute were right, maybe he was letting his mind get the better of him.
The bus finally approached his stop and RTK signaled to get off. As he hopped off he fought the overpowering urge to run for it. It took every bit of his willpower to walk as normal as possible and walked up to the church across the street. He took a moment to take the building in, he remembered it. It was only a few short years ago that RTK had followed “him” here for a meeting of a different kind and unintentionally listened in on his secrets. How ironic that he should find himself here now, needing to pour out his own fears and frustrations to a group of strangers.
An elderly man stepped out from the church and smiled at him. He approached RTK slowly and gave him a nod.
“Are you here for the PTSD support group?”
“Yes I am,” RTK answered. He couldn’t help but give the man a bow.
Whether the elderly man found the gesture amusing or not, he didn’t let it show.
“First time you’ve done something like this,” the man asked.
“Yes, sir.”
The man nodded.
“Thought so. Well, my name’s Ron. I’ll be leading the meeting tonight. Why don’t you come inside with me? Everyone else is inside. You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to, no one’s going to make you. You can just sit and listen, and hopefully it’ll help you realize that you’re not alone here. There’s people who understand what you’re going through, even if your story is different from theirs.”
Ron walked back to the church and opened the door.
“So what do you say? Would you care to join us?”
RTK swallowed hard and nodded. Without saying another word, he walked past Ron and went inside.
***
“It’s an odd thing, cutting promos.”
Red Tiger King is sitting in the church basement. The meeting was done and there was no one around. He still needs to upload the video he had promised, so he had pulled his mask out and put it on before grabbing his phone, turned the camera on and pressed play.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’ve grown cautious about the words I use after making a fool of myself more than once in the past, making grand, arrogant speeches, only to fall on my face and lose.”
Beneath his mask, RTK grimaced.
“Then again, I’m barely saying anything these days and am still losing, so what does it matter?
RTK wanted to smack himself in the face. This promo was just starting and it was already a disaster. He needed to turn this around somehow.
Taking a deep breath, RTK began to speak again. A little more confident this time.
“I’m tired of losing. I’m tired of being overlooked, stepped on and stepped over. I’m tired of people stomping on my head and not expecting there to be any retaliation. A wise man once pointed out that a cornered animal is indeed a most dangerous creature. Well, with the Hijo Invitational only two days away, it feels like I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Cornered, beaten and desperate, I might be at my most dangerous right now.
“Some fans might be aware of the history of the mask I wear. I know the Pollos do, El Hijo del Pollo certainly did. The man who wore this mask before me was a terror in Pollomania and caused a great deal of pain for the Pollo family, but he was also their company’s biggest star. Needless to say when I put this mask on I had big shoes to fill, and if I’m being quite honest with myself, I haven’t been doing a great job of living up to that legacy, even if I refuse to mimic the same methods.”
Mimic the same methods? Did that even make sense? He hoped so because he wasn’t about to stop the video and start again.
“Maybe it’s time I stop worrying about the legacy this mask has and start making one of my own for it, and Luke Marshall, I can’t think of a better person to start on this path on then against you. See, I remember what you did to me the last time we stepped into the ring with one another and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from it. It’s not that you beat me, I’ve been beaten before and I’ll be beaten again, but it’s how you carried yourself after the match. Winning isn’t enough for you, you had to rub it into my partner’s face when he wasn’t able to defend himself. Why? Because he beat you? Because he proved that you aren’t as good as you think? Well I dare you to try to do that to me. I dare you to try and stomp on my head! To leave me in a heap! You might be looking past me, to legends like Knight or van der Roost, or to get your hands on Menza one more time, but let me make one thing perfectly clear, my attention is solely on you.
“Marshall, I’m not going to lie, there’s something I find so very punchable at your face and I plan to take out all my frustration on it. Once I beat you, and you can bet I will do everything within the rules to do so, then, and only then will I turn my attention to the others and the potential dream matches against AJ Knight and David Troy, or the opportunity to go one on one with Pollo Dorado III and change the history between our two legacies for the better, or maybe even find out for myself what Eron Hunter can do in the ring.
“But before any of that will happen, I’m going to kick your ass first, and rest assured I might do my best to play by the rules, but I’m going to enjoy beating you down every second.”
Okay, he thought, time for the big close. Don’t mess this up.
“Luke Marshall! Hijo Invitational! Get ready, because I’m not just bringing my maximum effort, I’m coming to kick some ass too!”
What the hell! You’re blowing it!!! Try something different!
“Watch out everyone, this tiger’s on the hunt!”
Cursing himself for using THAT catchphrase, RTK ended the video and pressed send. Oh well, what’s the worst that’ll happen?