A Mauling [Subject X-Crown #1]
Oct 13, 2019 22:21:41 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Dave D-Flipz, and 3 more like this
Post by anthonycaffrey on Oct 13, 2019 22:21:41 GMT -5
Way in the distance, we can hear “In The Halls of the Mountain King”, but the camera first picks up on the sound of a rattling chain. A “BONG” is heard, followed by another, and then a few more in rapid succession. Each “BONG” gets quieter and quieter, but it isn’t an echo.
The X-Crown Championship comes into view, held in a prime corner of the cage. Wrapped around the goliath’s giant waist is the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, but the camera zooms in on three large scars running across the monster’s back. The source of the “BONG” becomes clear: it’s Subject 42’s massive right hand, banging into the bars of its cage.
While Subject could easily escape the cage if it were a taller structure like the Tower or the Vortex, the champion has another challenge keeping it from escaping. It is chained to the back end of the cage, with a restraint wrapped around its ankle. There is not enough give in the chain for Subject to make a run at the cage, so instead, it has to settle on breaking the traditional structure with its fists instead.
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The camera flashes back to Subject’s last match, against the talented, technological, and mystical Yuki Sakarba. Yuki emerges from the back with a space tiger. To the untrained eye, it seems exactly the same as a normal tiger, but Yuki’s insistence that it’s from space seems to mean there is more to it rather than just being a dumb monster. For the woman whose teleporters got Destiny Wrestling to its famous moon show in the first place, this occurrence is part of another Sunday for her, but the chance to make a name for herself and knock off the double champion is not lost on her.
Subject’s music hits. As it comes out, it takes a few moments to soak in the screaming cheers of the crowd. It nods, bending its head down, before raising it and letting out a massive “RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!” The crowd mimics this and the champion comes down to the ring, paying no attention to Yuki’s tiger. Instead, it slaps the hands of a few fans in attendance, potentially maybe even breaking one or two by accident, before shifting its focus to its opponent. Subject gets into the ring and takes it usual “Raght” corner, waiting for the bell to ring.
The match is maybe a little closer than Subject would like it to be, with the smaller and more nimble Sakarba keeping the monster on its toes. The Freak responds with an offensive flurry, battling its way back, before settling into a corner, waiting to deliver what everyone’s come to expect him. Tonight it’s a spear that could rip its smaller opponent in half, or at the very least break a few ribs and cause internal bleeding. The crowd is on their feet, chanting “SUB-JECT! SUB-JECT!”, knowing what’s coming.
Except they don’t.
It is at this moment the world changes for Subject, as the tiger itself has gotten dangerously close to the ring. Fans in attendance begin to rise up and yell and scream. The commotion catches Subject’s eyes, but it is too late to turn around and prevent the tiger from jumping towards The Freak. Subject tries to defend itself, but the tiger’s claws rip through its flesh with relative ease. The champion lets out a pitiful “RAGH” as it collapses to its knees.
Green blood begins to pour out of Subject’s back as it goes down to its knees. The referee, once its friend and now its moral enemy, doesn’t bother to stop the match or to even check on the Freak after the vicious attack. The tiger is shot with one of the sedative darts usually saved for the champion. The Freak is pinned shortly thereafter for the three count. It lays on the mat, still bleeding as Yuki has her hand raised by Subject's former best friend. The dart saved for Subject is almost redundant as Subject #42 slips out of consciousness from the blood loss.
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BONG.
The bars of the cage are shown again. They have been forced a good distance apart, but still not wide enough to free the massive figure. It takes a few seconds to regroup and catch its breath, before grabbing at its scars, clearly still feeling the injury. It slumps down in the box-like structure it’s seemingly stuck in, not knowing how to get out or break free.
Subject looks around at the cage, feeling defeated, and still clearly in pain from being mauled by the tiger a few weeks earlier. It looks back at the X-Crown championship in the corner before removing the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship from its waist. It stares at this second piece of gold, ignoring the agony of being trapped in a box without any obvious method of escape.
Subject stares long and hard at the gold, thinking about what the two championships mean to The Freak.
The X-Crown Championship comes into view, held in a prime corner of the cage. Wrapped around the goliath’s giant waist is the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, but the camera zooms in on three large scars running across the monster’s back. The source of the “BONG” becomes clear: it’s Subject 42’s massive right hand, banging into the bars of its cage.
While Subject could easily escape the cage if it were a taller structure like the Tower or the Vortex, the champion has another challenge keeping it from escaping. It is chained to the back end of the cage, with a restraint wrapped around its ankle. There is not enough give in the chain for Subject to make a run at the cage, so instead, it has to settle on breaking the traditional structure with its fists instead.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The camera flashes back to Subject’s last match, against the talented, technological, and mystical Yuki Sakarba. Yuki emerges from the back with a space tiger. To the untrained eye, it seems exactly the same as a normal tiger, but Yuki’s insistence that it’s from space seems to mean there is more to it rather than just being a dumb monster. For the woman whose teleporters got Destiny Wrestling to its famous moon show in the first place, this occurrence is part of another Sunday for her, but the chance to make a name for herself and knock off the double champion is not lost on her.
Subject’s music hits. As it comes out, it takes a few moments to soak in the screaming cheers of the crowd. It nods, bending its head down, before raising it and letting out a massive “RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!” The crowd mimics this and the champion comes down to the ring, paying no attention to Yuki’s tiger. Instead, it slaps the hands of a few fans in attendance, potentially maybe even breaking one or two by accident, before shifting its focus to its opponent. Subject gets into the ring and takes it usual “Raght” corner, waiting for the bell to ring.
The match is maybe a little closer than Subject would like it to be, with the smaller and more nimble Sakarba keeping the monster on its toes. The Freak responds with an offensive flurry, battling its way back, before settling into a corner, waiting to deliver what everyone’s come to expect him. Tonight it’s a spear that could rip its smaller opponent in half, or at the very least break a few ribs and cause internal bleeding. The crowd is on their feet, chanting “SUB-JECT! SUB-JECT!”, knowing what’s coming.
Except they don’t.
It is at this moment the world changes for Subject, as the tiger itself has gotten dangerously close to the ring. Fans in attendance begin to rise up and yell and scream. The commotion catches Subject’s eyes, but it is too late to turn around and prevent the tiger from jumping towards The Freak. Subject tries to defend itself, but the tiger’s claws rip through its flesh with relative ease. The champion lets out a pitiful “RAGH” as it collapses to its knees.
Green blood begins to pour out of Subject’s back as it goes down to its knees. The referee, once its friend and now its moral enemy, doesn’t bother to stop the match or to even check on the Freak after the vicious attack. The tiger is shot with one of the sedative darts usually saved for the champion. The Freak is pinned shortly thereafter for the three count. It lays on the mat, still bleeding as Yuki has her hand raised by Subject's former best friend. The dart saved for Subject is almost redundant as Subject #42 slips out of consciousness from the blood loss.
__________________________________________________________________________________
BONG.
The bars of the cage are shown again. They have been forced a good distance apart, but still not wide enough to free the massive figure. It takes a few seconds to regroup and catch its breath, before grabbing at its scars, clearly still feeling the injury. It slumps down in the box-like structure it’s seemingly stuck in, not knowing how to get out or break free.
Subject looks around at the cage, feeling defeated, and still clearly in pain from being mauled by the tiger a few weeks earlier. It looks back at the X-Crown championship in the corner before removing the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship from its waist. It stares at this second piece of gold, ignoring the agony of being trapped in a box without any obvious method of escape.
Subject stares long and hard at the gold, thinking about what the two championships mean to The Freak.
Because for Subject, it’s not about the gold itself, but the reaction it has gotten since becoming champion. People aren’t running in terror when it’s out on the street. People have stopped calling the police and animal control. Life has strangely become peaceful… and maybe even kind of pleasant, really.
Instead of cowering and running away, people have come up and approached Subject. Instead of screaming for their dear lives, they’re screaming “SUB-JECT! SUB-JECT!”. The people ask to take pictures. The thought of how many fans have come up and tried to do their own “RAGH” evokes a small smile on Subject’s face. For the first time in seemingly ever, people are starting to treat it differently. People are starting to treat Subject like a man, not a monster.
Subject spots the chain. It picks it up and looks for the weak point. Because The Freak sometimes operates like a charging elephant on bath salts, Subject’s mind is often overlooked, but it isn’t a dumb creature. It hooks its fingers around the chain and pulls with force, breaking the chain into two pieces.
BONG!
The next “BONG” we hear is even louder than the first, as it’s the sound of half of a cage wall giving way from having a 325-pound monster crashing against it. Subject takes a few moments to shake off the impact and think outside the metal box it was trapped in, before quickly remembering that it still has a title to go defend.
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The camera cuts to the arena of Destiny Wrestling’s pay-per-view event, Blood Moon. The main event tonight is the X-Crown Champion, Subject #42, defending its Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship against Yuki Sakarba in her home country of Japan. Three thousand fans pack the arena to cheer on Sakarba, but there are clearly many Subject fans in the building as well.
Entering later than usual to “In The Hall of the Mountain King”, the champion is not amused, skipping the usual RAGH with its adoring fans as it stares down the ramp, eyeing up its opponent and the ringside area. The camera scans its back to reveal nasty scars, which look even worse with the bright arena lights shining down upon it. The monster circles the ring to fully get a sense of its surroundings, skipping the highfives as The Freak even checks under the apron. Finally, it climbs up the ropes and steps into the ring. Subject steps into the ring and takes a deep breath, knowing it only has to deal with a human opponent tonight.
Subject takes its usual corner, yelling “Raght” to the referee as it waits for the bell. The monster and its former best friend lock eyes. There is no love lost between them after a less than amicable break-up resulted in Subject sending The Ref through a cafeteria table. Some people have even blamed the break-up on Subject’s recent loss, citing that The Ref should have stopped the match after the tiger attack. Some Destiny Wrestling fans even wonder if Subject can still win without The Ref so firmly in its corner, but that debate will have to wait. The Freak has business to take care of tonight.
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The crowd chants for both competitors as the bell rings. Subject immediately manhandles the smaller and more Yuki, catching her and countering the nimble speed that had given the monster trouble in their last match. Subject then spins her around… and begins tearing flesh off her back with its bare hands. The relative ease in which it comes off its opponent’s body does not seem to satisfy the monster. Its focus is locked on, seemingly ignoring the crowd, who have immediately stopped cheering to look on in stunned silence. Yuki’s back is not a pretty sight.
For what it’s worth, Yuki Sakarba tries to escape with speed and agility, but the champion simply isn’t having it tonight. Subject crushes her with a brutal backbreaker. She can’t get any offense in as Subject wraps its hands around her throat and holds her high above his head, before Choke Bombing her viciously in the center of the ring. The camera catches her head bouncing off the mat with a sick thud.
Subject’s fans get back behind The Freak as it pounds its chest authoritatively, mentally writing off the violent ripping and tearing that they had seen earlier. They count along as their champion goes for the cover.
But Yuki kicks out at two and a half.
The Freak is not amused by the match not being over yet. It lines up in its corner, waiting to strike again, before stopping. It looks around the ring, double checking for the beast that made its life hell, and even losing its focus for a few seconds. Yuki Sakarba takes advantage of this and gets back up to her feet. She notices her opening and ascends to the top rope, waiting for her opening to take down the monster and take home the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.
Yuki finally sees her moment, leaping towards subject with a defiant aerial strike, but Subject spears her out of midair, seemingly breaking her in half on impact. The crowd begin to rise up and yell and scream, chanting for Subject as they love the carnage, but it’s clear that this is more than a title defense to the champion.
Subject doesn’t even afford Yuki a proper pinfall in her native land, forcibly jamming a foot down onto her chest instead. The Ref is left with no choice but to make the count, which count could damn well go all the way up to 100 at this point, but the bell mercifully rings after three. The victory is flawless, and Yuki’s breathing is the only thing that ensures there hasn’t been a fatality.
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The crowd roars along with The Freak as it holds up its two championships: the X-Crown in its giant left hand, the Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in its right. Subject places the championships around its gigantic shoulders and looks around the ring, but this time it’s looking for the camera instead. Once it spots what it’s looking for, the monster points towards the lens and sends a very purposeful message. Subject counts to three, and then points down to the decimated opponent it’s still standing on. The Freak pounds its chest, ignoring the ring crew wiping Yuki’s red blood off the mat.
The champion nods with confidence, knowing damn well that in the past four months, it has been an unstoppable powerhouse. It has won both its X-Crown and Destiny Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in multi-man matches, and defended the latter in one as well. It also knows its opponents: Bobby Barratt, a washed-up pencil pusher that doesn’t have it takes anymore; Psychotic Goth, a shit-eating man whose pathetic roar sounds like a cat’s meow compared to Subject’s RAGH; and well… Maverick, whose overwhelming tendency to come up just a bit short has somehow made him even more of a meme to XHF fans than Mike Lio.
But before the champion can get comfortable and head to the back, the crowd begins to cheer even louder, startling the monster. The commotion catches Subject’s attention, and this time a timer has been projected up in the arena. A large screen showcases the time: four minutes and thirty-nine seconds. The announcer announces that Subject crushed its competition in under five minutes. Yuki didn’t even land a punch.
Subject finally lifts its foot and nods, looking at the time and soaking in the crowd’s reactions. It looks down at its two titles as it exits the ring and begins gently highfiving the fans as it makes its way towards the exit. Subject seems to take comfort in knowing a fearsome truth.
At the End of Days Finale, none of his competitors are tigers. They are all merely men.
Subject #42 holds up the X-Crown for its screaming fans as the camera fades to black.
