Post by Coda on Jul 2, 2017 15:01:59 GMT -5
DATE: 07.01.17
LOCATION: Michigan
CAMERA STATUS: ON
As the video begins, you see Coda standing in a closet coated in darkness. Swinging back and forth like a pendulum is a dull light bulb, shadows dancing along Coda's visage as she glares your way with a stoic expression. The light playfully dances over the Young Lions Championship which hangs over her shoulder carefully and as she begins to speak, you're reminded of the promotional video she made when she debuted in Redemption Wrestling several months ago.
"Have you seen it? Have you seen what I have become?"
The words were vague, serious and alarming in their delivery.
"I am constantly touting this ability I have to send people to the hospital. I have belittled opponent after opponent, referred to them as practically worthless in so many words. I have spoken aloud more than I have ever intended on speaking. While aligning with Matthew Shields to benefit myself, I have befriended Kayla and Matthew himself in a relationship which was meant to be purely professional. I have even grown a fondness for the nickname the Redemption Wrestling marketing team have taken to calling me — 'The Destroyer' — so much so that I would suggest it be the name of me and Kayla when we were announced as a tag team for the upcoming tag team scramble match."
Her words slipped effortlessly from her lips in her usual quiet voice.
"Why did I do this? Did I believe 'The Destroyer' somehow encapsulated everything I was in a neat convenient package? Did I seek to belittle myself to the point where I would openly lessen myself to be anything other than Coda?"
Reaching up, she grabbed the string the light bulb was attached to so it would stop swinging. The shadows stopped dancing across her visage and her eyes still remained solidly forward.
"In an attempt to avoid becoming a cliché, I have fallen into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Should I be talking to myself and demanding I be dubbed 'The Next Monster Messiah' now? Should I call myself a 'legend' so I can water down the word even more than others have done over the years in this sport?"
Coda shook her head back and forth.
"No. These things would make me like The Karloffs. This is despicable."
"I have become too predictable, too complacent. Adrien Cochrane and so many others see me as a woman who only seeks to intimidate her opponent before a match but I would like to suggest an alternative: It is not intimidation I am searching for. I do not expect someone at Adrien Cochrane's level to suddenly fear a woman like me. He has faced hundreds of individuals throughout his long tenure in wrestling, men and women alike with highly-decorated careers far surpassing mine and an aurora more powerful than mine right now. Even as I hold this Young Lions Champion, I am reminded I have a long way to go before I become someone Adrien Cochrane will ever see as a viable threat. I have a long way to go until people like Gavin Grimes or even Matthew Shields for that matter see me as anything more than a one-note monster destined to fall by the wayside as the wrestling world constantly evolves towards something more."
"I have made opponents look like sniveling babies and still I feel like I must do more. I feel like I must step out of this comfort zone and make due on the promise my name symbolizes."
The name Coda came to mind. What did coda mean again? You paused the video and Googled it:
Initially, you thought that Coda was an arbitrary alias chosen randomly but looking at the definition, that couldn't be further from the truth. The symbolism entrenched within the name spoke volumes when it came to the woman herself. She sought to end the current structure in wrestling in favor of doing things her own way instead. Maybe there was more to it than even you considered but instead of going down the rabbit hole, you decided to switch tabs and press play on the video again.
"It is not intimidation I expect the likes of Adrien Cochrane and the rest of my opponents to feel. It is motivation. It is this need to prove me wrong and show me real strength the likes of which I have never seen."
"Strength to me... It is not simply the number of weights you can lift in the gym, no. It is near impossible to quantify in numbers. Strength encompasses skill, power, agility and the will to succeed. Strength is the shorthand I use which essentially amounts to becoming a better wrestler. Perhaps it is a gross simplification of the qualities needed to succeed in this sport, however, it gets the point across nicely."
"Strength is what I hope to attain. It is elegant in its simplicity. So I urge The Karloffs, I urge Alicia Hixx & John Blade, RC Tucker & The Jew Blazer and specifically the team of Adrien Cochrane & Honey to show me true strength. I urge each of these teams to show me the peak performance of their abilities so that I may learn in the process. Whether I win or lose, whether Kayla and I earn ourselves a chance at fighting Rebel Inc. for the tag team championships, I want to leave the ring stronger than the way I have entered."
"I want to feel the unyielding passion emanating from your bodies when I step into the ring with each of you. I want to see the zenith, the precipice of everything you stand for when we share the stage together and I want you to make me understand the full extent of your true strength. I know you will not back down. I know you will not cower in fear. I am not so ignorant. However, I do not know if the words I am telling you right now will have any impact on your actions in the ring. It is a pity."
Stepping out of the room, Coda turned to close the door behind her and made sure to lock it shut. With two more locking mechanisms above the handle, she locked them too. The room which represented everything other monsters would do, standing alone in a small room with a single lightbulb lighting their features as their eyes pierced your soul was now locked shut. Reaching for the key, she fidgeted with it in front of the camera as she continued to speak.
"I am not a monster. I am something more even more horrifying, something which haunts the dreams of many across the globe — I am human. I am someone with limitless potential and I have simply scratched the surface. I have no frills. I have no grandiose vision aside from the picturesque thoughts of becoming the best Young Lions Champion Redemption Wrestling as ever seen and I intend to fight anyone in my path to make it so."
"So I kindly ask you... All of you..."
Opening her mouth, Coda tilted her head backward and gulped down the small key. The room where monsters resided was shut forever, never to be opened again. Sticking out her tongue, she revealed that she had indeed swallowed it.
"Do not run. Fight. Teach me. I want to learn from your strength."
