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I'm Dreaming...; Chapter 21 [Showdown 27 - RP 1]
Topic Started: May 30 2008, 07:21 AM (55 Views)
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sVo Legend
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Where am I?

Groggily I shake my head. I can't focus.

Grasping for breath I stagger to my feet as well I can.

Alright, focus. Where am I? I look around at my surroundings but my vision is cloudy. There is a ringing in my ears and all I can smell around me is upturned dirt... and something else...

... the smell of battle. Of blood and sweat. Of pain and triumph.

Shaking my head again the cloudy haze distorting my vision is lightly broken in the form of two small halos, each still surrounded by a now slowly receding haze. Ahead of me I catch sight of a sole figure standing defiantly and darting his eyes quickly from me to my left and right. Following his gaze I realize that two of my allies still stand beside me. To my left, the ally in gold, a dollar sign covers his left eye. To my right, one of the men in black masks - a large white ankh covers the front of his mask.

Scattered around us are a dozen or so bodies, several are our allies, more are enemies. The four of us still standing look beaten and weary - and yet we all know that no one will fall without a fight.

In an instant, the man in gold charges forward towards the solitary figure standing before us and I am sure that finally this conflict is over, however to our surprise the figure in the distance dodges aside and grabs hold of our ally's head - before leaping and driving him face first into the ground. Without warning the man in the black mask charges forward carrying a ladder. I look around in confusion and see that we are still in the barren desert, a large chessboard lies half immersed in the sand while several human sized chess pieces stand on the edge of the board watching us intently. Above us in the sky, several huge, headless soccer players run about excitedly.

My attention immediately is brought more to our level as I catch sight of my ladder-wielding team mate crashing to the sand, the ladder toppling on to him.

Without a second of hesitation, the once distant silhouette vanishes and reappears behind me, grabbing a handful of hair - I manage to wriggle free and the next thing I know the two of us are on the ground. Instinctively I leap into the air, flipping backwards and falling forwards. Although I only jump from the ground, the fall seems to last an eternity and a tense, uneasy feeling quickly overcomes me before the eternity blurs into a crashing sensation on my chest.

An unknown pair of hands grabs hold of my shoulders and pulls me to my feet. At first I recoil, weary of further attack, but something tells me whoever this is means me no harm. As I reach my feet, I catch sight of my two remaining allies approaching me, followed closely by the blonde-haired, blurred faced silhouette I know to be Paige Johnson. As they approach, the two masks vanish - the man in gold now wears a gold pinstripe suit and his black hair hangs to his shoulders while the man in the black mask darkens and becomes almost a translucent silhouette himself. Paige approaches us but stops short several feet and stares into the distance behind us. The three of us turn as we follow the direction of her distant gaze, but there is nothing there but desert.

A sudden rumbling trembles the ground we stand on and in a matter of moments a familiar but distant sight literally materializes before my eyes.

A sight that has haunted my waking and dreams since I last saw it.

The mountain...

... and there, at the base of the mountain in a cave opening is the champion. Something seems slightly different about him this time, he has had his own battles, but this is exactly as I remember it.

Twice now we've fought for what he defends and twice now I have been defeated. But rather than dishearten me, each defeat has driven me to this point... to find the base of the mountain and try once more.

It is only now that I notice that both of my allies also stare at the mountain with the same hunger I know reflects in my own eyes. I turn back to Paige to ask where this came from - but before I can she begins fading away, vanishing into nothingness and effectively severing and remnants of a 'team'.

The looks on their blurred and featureless faces tell me exactly what I had suspected, they both felt the same shift and for a moment the three of us look at each other uneasily, unsure of who will make the first move. The dark silhouette darts his eyes from me to the man in the gold suit and back again. I echo his movements, however the man in the gold pinstripe suit looks at me coldly and from behind his featureless face I detect the distinct traces of a sneer - but something about him seems familiar...

... we've met before. As foes - and on that occasion I emerged victorious... I remember.

"You don't belong here," he snaps at me.

I stare at him in disbelief. "Didn't we just win that war together?" I ask him, I feel the anger burning beneath the skin of my face, "And haven't I already beaten you?" I lace the words with as much venom as I can muster, but it seems not to affect him.

"Doesn't prove a thing," he replies defiantly, "I'm still better than you."

Why does this sound so familiar?

Simultaneously the three of us turn and break into a run towards the mountain, which, almost on cue begins rushing away from us. It seems to be a common theme for me lately.

Neck and neck we run, each trying to outrun the other two. No one succeeds as we all accelerate at the same speed. The landscape around us blurs and in an instant the whirring light around us changes from a warm orange to a cold, sterile bluish-white and it takes me a moment to realize we are now running down a long, florescent lit corridor. The man in the gold pinstripe suit barges me and laughs as I stumble to keep my balance, but I manage to keep pace.

I find myself becoming increasingly wary of him, however I can not ignore the silent threat possessed by the dark figure on my other side. He still eyes us cautiously, but his eyes are cast ahead and I know that he is completely serious about reaching that mountain first. The man in the gold suit may be a more vocal opponent, but I know his type. They talk themselves up and dismiss those they face and seem completely unable to accept their own failings, instead choosing to continue talking. I choose to let my actions speak for me, but I will respond in kind... in the right time. He has already underestimated me and fallen as a result - it will happen again.

Ahead of us the corridor splits into three separate passageways - each containing a solitary door at the end of it. The man in gold veers off to the left while the dark figure takes the right path. Something inside me tells me that the centre path is the correct one for me and I follow it without hesitation. In an instant I reach the door, grip the handle and push through it.

Beyond the door I find myself in one of the last places I would have expected to end up. But it is a pleasant surprise - the attic of my memories.

Hanging around the room haphazardly are photos... well, not really photos, they look like photos - but I know that what I look at are still frames capturing moments in my life taken directly from my memories. One image in particular captures my attention, an image of myself and Master Kimura, both several years younger. In the image Master Kimura beams at me proudly as I gaze in awe at a black mask emblazoned with the night sky on it in my hands. My face also wears the mask in the image, but I know this was not the case.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" a voice yells at me from somewhere behind me, the sound of disbelief not even remotely concealed from it.

"Who are you to ask?" the question bursts angrily from my mouth before I can think it. I turn to face whoever this intruder is and instead I find myself staring stunned at a faceless samurai. His armor seems to be decorated with patches of the night sky and I recognize him immediately as the deceased captain of my personal guard... from what seems now to be a lifetime ago. So shocked by his appearance, I stammer before actually being able to speak, "I... I thought you... died."

"I am back now as I am needed," he replies cheerfully.

Of course... I'm dreaming.

"So what do you think you're doing up here anyway, sir?" he asks me, his tone immediately becoming more tense, "Weren't you chasing something?"

But his reappearance has reminded me of something. Perhaps the sub-conscious reason I would stall rather than chasing that mountain once more.

"The last time I tried..." I hesitate, the memory of my immense loss swimming through my mind, "... I lost everything! My stronghold, my hope, my dreams... even you..."

Despite his blurred features I detect a smile as he interrupts, "But you must do this."

What if I fail? I have failed before.

"You were not ready then, but you had to try," says the captain, his voice as wise and sagely as I remember it, "By facing the champion before you developed in yourself a desire a competitive spirit. You are not the same Night now as the man who faced the champion twice before and failed. You have fought and won wars. Your spirit has toughened and you are ready."

Am I?

...

I... I am!

"Good! Now you had better beat those other two or you will be forced to wonder if this could have been your time," he barks at me and I know he's right.

Without any further hesitation I rush down the stairs into the old attic and continue through into the house down the hallway and through the front door. Once outside I see that once again I am dressed in a similar fashion to the captain who has re-emerged in front of me now flanked by five others like him. As I approach them, the six samurai bow simultaneously. I return their gesture and in an instant we have set off on foot.

However, instead of running towards the un-pathed road leading to the run down house, we charge towards a dense forest next to it. At the edge of the forest a lone doorway rests, seemingly leading to nowhere but into a cluster of trees. The captain grabs the door-handle and shoves me through. Un-prepared for his push, I stumble through the door and land on the ground beyond.

Through the door there are no trees, I now find myself in a lush green field. Ahead of me the landscape becomes steeper and a river crashes between two rolling hills. Beyond these hills I see the base of the mountain. I am close but how long did I spend hesitating? How far ahead of me must the two others be by now? Deciding I can't give up at this point I stand and immediately begin running towards the distant mountain.

Behind me I hear someone trip and fall and as I turn I see that both the man in the gold pinstripe suit has tumbled through the door but immediately stands and runs at me while the dark silhouette, now shadowed by six or seven similar figures which seem to extend out from behind him likes echoes of himself charges out of no where and also rushes towards me.

The sight of both men closing in on me urges me forwards and I am relieved to see that my guard flank me closely, further driving me onwards.

Faster and faster we run, for a while we lead the way, but soon are overtaken by the man in the gold suit, and his lead is soon replaced by the dark shadows, who I am soon able to pass to once again lead the way. We exchange the lead this way over and over and the rolling hills seem to go on forever, the mountain still appearing a lifetime away.

The hill seems to incline upwards and even in my dream I feel myself weakening from the effort.

Finally ahead a glimmer of twilight illuminates the peak of the hill with a reddish/orange hue... but something in wrong.

As one we all grind to a halt. This is no hill, it's a cliff!

Looking out over the edge is a drop, several hundred feet deep. I crane my neck skywards and catch sight of the mountain, several hundred feet above us. The champion stands proudly at its base, looking down on us confidently. Looking from the shadow to the man in the gold suit, I know that we share the same thought - to reach him one of us must fly.

As one we turn to the cliff edge and run, accelerating quickly and leaping into the unknown, each man fueled with the confidence that HE is the one...



-------------------------------



Uh...

What time is it?

With a groan I reach to the bedside table and grab hold of the alarm clock.


08:27am

Lying back in the bed my entire body still aches. Sunday was a huge night for me. Incredibly successful, but physically grueling. Pulling double-duty on any night will leave you sore, as Vendetta already proved for me. The Organized Chaos match alone would be enough to leave anyone sore for a long time to come.

But a title match and then Organized Chaos? That was hell.

I have to admit though, the two extra checks in the 'W' column, the extra dollars, a chance to become the number one contender for the sVo World Championship and not to mention, the sVo International Championship which now sits, folded neatly on my suitcase certainly lessened the pain, but it's still always worst in the mornings.

Using my arms to push myself into a seated position and swing my legs out of bed and for a moment the enormity of Redemption, Organized Chaos and this upcoming Showdown weigh on me, forcing my face into my hands.

Wiping the sleep from my eyes I stand, ignoring the various aches and pains that instantly attack me. There is too much to do to rest now.

I'm so close to getting back to the mountain.

And one more shot...

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