About Heart

[STORM]

"This is the heart of it, man. This is where it's all gonna happen. Legends will be made, names will be etched into the history books." Looking around the The Honda Center arena from the top of the entrance ramp, a smile was plastered across the mouth of a very mesmerized Mark Storm, who clasped his hands together and licked his dry lips; in absolute awe at the setup for perhaps the biggest pay-per-view in the year for him, personally. "Damn man, it's an empty arena right now and I'm in absolute awe, in disbelief and already I've got butterflies stirring round my stomach. Not out of nervousness but out of excitement. I'm excited. I'm excited to what's in store for me later on tonight. Something I never thought I would be, but I am."

The biggest challenge of his career? An understatement. 

This wasn't just any wrestling match Storm would engage in, no; this, was war. A one night tournament consisting of several other combatants who all have the same mindset, the same drive, the same end game at the end of it all; to have a shot at competing for the holy grail of wrestling championships, the most prestigious of the prestige.

"This, this is what I'm talkin' about!" A chuckle escaped from his mouth after he finished his sentence and enthusiastically he walked down the entrance ramp with a beaming smile on his face, nodding his head as he envision a sold out Honda Center audience around him, cheering him on and shouting his name through the roof. "This is what it's all about, man!" He stopped, and turned toward the camera. He was dressed in a casual attire consisting of a white t-shirt with a black blazer over it, black trousers and white converses on his soles to complete the fit. 

"This is what I've been working for, and we're only a matter of hours away before Above and Beyond is live. Damn, can you believe that? It's crazy. It feels like yesterday I put pen to paper to this company but realistically it's been eight months. Eight months since I dotted the line and I haven't looked back since. Deciding to come here, I have no regrets about it at all because like I always say, this place is where the lions are and that's all I hunt for now. I'm tired of hunting for the fragile fray, it got too easy and I ain't okay with that. I had to come here and play with the lions. And through doing that, I've become one." He was tougher and that was evident in his speech and whenever you were around him, you'd feel a certain aura around him; an aura that spoke volumes indicating that this man was someone not to be messed with.

"I'm not a kid anymore." He admitted, placing a hand on the back of his head as he continued to walk down the aisle. "I've grown into a man and heck, I'm twenty eight years old. It took me a long time to get to where I am right now. It took me a long time to become a man but that's what I've done, that's who I've become. And I've become that through having to go through a series of trials and tribulations. There were times where things weren't going my way. Times where any other man, or woman, competitor, would've just given up and lost all hope in a happy ending." He shook his head, a smirk upon his lips. "But not me."

He'd reached the edge of the ring, placing his hands firmly on the ring apron he paused and looked inside the four sided ring. Was Mark Storm emotional? Of course he was. This, this was perhaps the epitome of his career thus far. Ignore the world championship victories, or the memorable matches from Japan and all over the globe. This was what he wanted, this is what he craved for. 

"I got up, dust myself off and kept going, and going, and going, and going."

You could hear a sense of pride behind his voice when he spoke, something that is so rare to find. 

"And I've found myself here competing in the Frontier Lions Cup here in Frontier Grappling Arts. A tournament so historic, so illustrious in it's history; it has literally paved the way for so many individuals who've gone and accomplished a hell of a lot in their careers. This tournament it's a stepping stone in an array of avenues and our jobs as competitors is to take that step up and find the right avenue to go down. It's up to us where we go from here! Whether we wanna be remembered as the winner or forgotten as second place, or even worse." He took a step back and placed his hands on his lips, a momentary examination of the ring ensuing before all of a sudden, he leaped onto the apron and held onto the ring ropes. Closing his eyes and exhaling heavily before entering the ring. "We decide our fates from here. First place.. that's what we all want." Standing in the middle of the ring, he paused and looked at the camera. 

"But that ain't gonna be easy, but nothing ever is."

"Yun Goeun, Molly Reid, Johnny Karma, Chandler Scott, Fujiko Mine, Savannah Taylor, and Dom Harter. You've got a concoction of the best men and women in this promotion battling it out in this one night tournament. This, this is like no other tournament imaginable. I've said it time after time after time this promotion facilitates the best of the best and just this one tournament, with the names involved, it's bigger than anything I've done in my career. Forget about my Stranglemania X win last year when I garnered the World Heavyweight title over at Extreme Wrestling Corporation. Forget about being heralded the first ever WARPED Wrestling Junior Heavyweight champ, this is bigger than everything I've ever done!

"This is about heart.

This is about who wants it more than the other. 

This is about what you're prepared to do to get what you want."

"If I want to win this tournament I've got to dig deeper than I ever have and find that mental strength that's gonna drag me through round after round. That's where the hard works begins, in your mind. A week ago my demons were telling me one thing and the other but I've got to a place where I'm only hearing one thing inside my head, and the only thing I'm hearing, is a gentle voice telling me that I'm going to win. I'm going to survive, and I'm going to reach the heights that I was destined for. I've trained my mind for this shit, a positive outlook on everything and that's not overconfidence, because I've always busted my ass off for the last few weeks and that's not just here, that's everywhere I am, I've busted my ass off. I haven't reached my epitome, or my pinnacle, but I'm sure as hell at a level to be proud of and that's going to transcend in my first round bout against Yun Goeun. And we've met before myself and Yun and I know the danger that she possess and she know's mine. We put on one heck of a match last time we met inside that ring and I'm excited to create some more beautiful moments inside that ring with her. Because first of all this is what this is, it's an art. That's what we're doing when we're inside that ring, we're creating an artwork and we are the artist, and myself and Yun, we've got made chemistry but when it comes down to it, the pretty sequences and the nice exchanges, they'll go out of the window. And our art will become chaotic but that's my specialty. I am the prince of CHAOS and when the going get's tough and I get rough and the likelihood is, you're not gonna be able to keep up with me. You play dirty, I play dirty times two. You kick hard, I kick harder. And it's an inevitability that our match will lead into some state of CHAOS, it's inevitable because of the stakes that are so high. We've got this opportunity and it would be stupid of us to just let it go to waste just for some pretty sequences and a really close call match. We're both going to lose our shit, we're both going to scratch and claw and tear each other apart but that's what I'm looking most forward to. That's the energy I need that pushes me to another level. I believe that I am going to beat you Yun as I've done it before and I'll do it again. But it won't be easy, none of this is easy." 

"This is all grueling. 

This is all agonizing. 

This is all suffering."

"But we all know that, right? Every artist has a story and in our art, most of our stories stem from suffering and a lifetime of it. Whether we'd like to admit it or not we've all suffered and that doesn't even have to be on a personal level. We've all suffered whether it's been in the hands of another competitor or if it's a personal struggle, we've all been through it and we're all going to have to go through it again if we wanna reach that finals. But I've become numb to the feeling of suffering. It's nothing to me anymore, because I've suffered so much, and I'm still suffering right now. I'm the schizophrenic prince of wrestling, that moniker in itself, speaks volumes. But that's what we signed up for, right? We signed up for this suffering and so we've got to put up or give up, and like I said, giving up isn't me. And I know that goes for a lot of you, too."    

"Molly Reid and Savannah Taylor; we came to this promotion around the same time representing a new wave of talent to influx this promotion and I look around and us three seem to be the only ones remaining. Everyone else, they bottled it. They're gone, they quit, it got too hard so they ran away and it used to make me sad, not having an array of talent but it finally dawned on me that I wouldn't have it any other way. Because I realized that they were weak. They left at the first sign of trouble whilst the three of us, we stuck through with it, we've won some and lost some and we're still here, chasing the same goal, wanting to become the best in this promotion."

"Savannah, you and I don't see eye to eye on much, I don't like you and you don't like me but at All Star Showdown, I gained a next level amount of respect for you because you pushed me to my limits. We put on one of the best matches in the pay-per-view, one that a lot of people got back and said it was their favorite of the whole damn show. That's something special, and something very rare considering the names involved in the latter matches. But we done it Savannah but at the end of the day, the people will always remember that I beat you, something you were so adamant wasn't going to happen. But I know you've got what it takes, I know how talented you are. But if needs be, I'll put you down just like I did at All Star Showdown."

"Reid, I had my return match against you in January and we tore down the place with the action we put on, and then we met on several other occasions in tag team scenarios and whatnot and then it all came to an end for us. I like you Molly. Despite your early belief in me being a pervert, I like you a hell of a lot more than I like most of the guys and gals in the back and that's because you're genuine, you're a good wrestler and unlike the egotistical fucks that infest this promotion, you don't talk too much. At least, you don't trash talk too much. You do your talking inside that ring and you're a loud speaker with your actions, one of the best, possibly one of the most underrated and a real dark horse in this tournament. You're not one of the top women, you're one of the top competitors and if we are to meet, I look forward to it. Because I've got some catching up to do with you Molly. You've had it over me for quite some time and you think I'm just gonna let that slide, no chance!"

"The juggernauts; Chandler, Dom, Fujiko, Karma."

"You've all been here for quite some time. Hell, Chandler you've been here since the inception holding down the fort with the likes of Preston. The fact of the matter is everyone will have their attentions on you four. You guys, you are the predicted winners of this tournament. Because of what you've done for this promotion, what you've accomplished, what you mean for this promotion and you four mean a lot. We've got former world champions, pride champions.. you four, you've got a chip on your shoulder but ya'll are accustomed to that, that's the responsibility you've been given as the old guard. Isn't it weird? This tournament is so damn split with new and old, it's a battle of the times man, the new age against the old and the older, it's not like their ancient, they've just been here for a long time. They've already had a taste of championship success, they know how it smells, they know how it feels and they're craving for that feeling again."

"Chandler Scott, he wants to be the number one man again and what a fitting story it would be, if Chandler Scott wins the Frontier Lions Cup, wouldn't it? After months away and a comeback a few weeks before, Scott wins the cup and books a ticket for a world title match. And he wins it! The fairy-tale ending that he wants and maybe the fairy-tale ending that everybody else wants. Scott is far from a good guy but he's a saint when you compare him to those other wits at the top of the food chain right now. But unfortunately for you Scott, this is a world where fairy tales do not exist. There is no happily ever after moment with the end credits rolling. We're not in a Shrek movie. You're the juggernaut Chandler, the guy that everybody wants to succeed and everybody associates this company with. You live for this promotion, Chandler! You'd die for it! Behind that bravado, you know you would too. But every legend has to end Chandler. Now I'm not saying that you should pass the torch to me as a symbol of one icon to the next. I'm not saying that at all. You don't have to pass anything down to me! Instead, I'll beat it out of your hands and take it from you. I'll grab that torch and set you alight diminishing and discrediting everything you've worked for! I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get passed you Chandler. And the same goes for Dom Harter, a former Heavyweight champion. I'll do whatever it takes to get passed you, heck Dom, I'll go through you, lift you up onto my shoulders throw you up in the air before driving my knee through your goddamn skull. Sending you into Dystopia! And Karma and Fujiko, who I've been inside the ring with, an opponent and a partner. Same goes to them.. the same goes to all of them."

Finally he stopped, walking towards the ring ropes and draping both of his arms over them. 

"This is about heart. 

This is about who wants it more than the other. 

This is about what you're prepared to do."

"Are you prepared to die?" He posed the question to the viewer; "Because I am." He approached the camera, a tenacious look in his eyes. "Are you prepared to lose everything?" Asking another question before answering. "Because I am." One last step, his face a few centimeters away from the camera, "Are you prepared to go above and beyond?" He asked he last question, a sadistic grin embedded on his face "Because I am, and I will."

The scene then faded to black.