Post by BrainScratch on Mar 4, 2022 23:59:10 GMT -5
After a grueling effort, Edward Zepp was not able to best the boisterous Vodka Fizz for the Spark title. Big Ed almost threw his whole arsenal at Vodka, but he faltered at the end, tapping out to Hair of the Dog shortly after forgoing his own submission attempts for a Mute Button punch that never hit.
However, that fist remained clenched for the entire walk to the back, and it finally connected with a brick wall. A Fireside camera follows the thud, finding a red splotch and a one inch indent into the brick. Edward is pacing back and forth in the locker room, seeming not to notice the plasma leaking from his knuckles. Sico approaches, in party mode.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
"Not now."
There's an anger in Ed's voice. Although that's not abnormal - he's a grumpy man in general - but this isn't his usual feeling of annoyance of the press. Sico rolls a few centimeters closer.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
Ed ignores the robot and retrieves his bags, wiping some blood onto a towel.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
Zepp sighs in disgust. With his non-bloodied hand, he deftly hits Sico's switch.
"Ahh thank you. Say, that weird journalist isn't going to swoop just as I ask a question, is he?"
Sico looks to its left and right, seeing no sign of Dig Deeper. Perhaps the slimy reporter is on a different assignment. Ed waves his hand uncaring.
"Right then. Valiant effort tonight, Mr. Zepp. You nearly defeated Vodka Fizz. Thoughts?"
"Nearly..."
"You did not win the Spark Title tonight, but you took the future Fireside contender to the brink."
"He's a better fighter than he looks."
Edward grits his teeth as he acknowledges the loss.
"Perhaps your next chance will go better."
Ed throws his bag to the ground.
"Don't console me. Listen. I wanted to knock the chip off Fizz's shoulder. I failed. I wanted to believe that knocking him down a peg was worth more than the belt. It's something my brother would say..."
As if on cue, his cellphone belts out the opening "HEY!" from the ATD-I's 'Pattern Against User', and Edward answers his brother Isaiah's call. He waves off Sico and turns his back, although the camera and robot stay close enough to listen in.
"My brother, I saw your match... You fought the good fight."
"Yeah."
"When you return home, we'll make some time to go over it, to show where you can improve."
"Can't make it this time."
"What, another random snowstorm?"
"No. Just can't. Gotta stick around here this month."
"... but Edward, the next WWZ event needs to be bigger and better! I need you to help make that happen, my brother!"
"You can handle it. Call up Waters again, he's a good kid. He can help."
"The biker boy from upstate? He can't run a whole show."
"You'll have to do the heavy lifting."
"Look just because you found some sweet little thing in Philly doesn't mean you turn your back on family..."
"Eye, shut it!"
"Well I never-"
Edward chucks his phone sharply into his bag as he fumes. He could have said a dozen things, like how he's only in Philadelphia to pay Isaiah's bills, but that's all after the fact. Maybe it's better that he didn't. In a humph, he turns around to see the Fireside camera still running. He grips his still-bloody hand around the camera, smearing the lens.
"Off. Now."
- - - - - - - - -
In the following days, Edward avoided the phone and enjoyed the quiet time with his sweet little thing in Philly. As he sipped a cup of tea next to Emily, a news crawl caught his attention. "California Wrestling Shows Turns to Riot." Ed thinks to himself, Cali's a big enough state, that could be any wrestling show, but the next scrawl alludes that a Senate candidate is in jail and Edward decides to turn off the TV.
After a bit of encouragement, Ed goes on a small spending spree for camera equipment. The last time he did any video editing was for Isaiah's overwrought promos, and he's had the inkling. He repeats some of the training method that gained him a victory over Hank, but instead of just jogging around he stops frequently to film the museums, markets and other sights he's grown familiar with. In the end, the footage he culls and pairs down amounts to only a minute, but Edward is always one for succinct brevity. He adds a voiceover to complete the project and uploads it.
We start with a sepia toned shot of the cracked Liberty Bell.
"Freedom. That's what I found here, in Philly. In Fireside. Maybe not in all the ways we want."
Cut to a shot of Edward holding a basketball roughly eight feet above a group of happy kids on an outdoor court.
"This city has accepted me. I do not understand it. Maybe they like a freak. Maybe they're the freaks."
Cut to Ed doing pullups on a steel beam as factory workers marvel and cheer him on.
"But I'm no longer in the shadow. Now I cast the shadow."
Cut to a restaurant server holding a quarter of a pizza up to Ed's gigantic hand.
"The Spark has evaded me in Fireside. I said I wanted it, out of spite, but it's not true. I'm not sure if the Spark is what I truly need. Or if I've already found it."
Cut to Edward's debut in Fireside as fans gawked at his height before a battle royal.
"But the answer is found, one way or another, through Donzig. Step into this shadow, and what you fill find..."
Edward sits atop a museum overlooking gigantic chess pieces.
"Is dead silence."
End.
However, that fist remained clenched for the entire walk to the back, and it finally connected with a brick wall. A Fireside camera follows the thud, finding a red splotch and a one inch indent into the brick. Edward is pacing back and forth in the locker room, seeming not to notice the plasma leaking from his knuckles. Sico approaches, in party mode.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
"Not now."
There's an anger in Ed's voice. Although that's not abnormal - he's a grumpy man in general - but this isn't his usual feeling of annoyance of the press. Sico rolls a few centimeters closer.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
Ed ignores the robot and retrieves his bags, wiping some blood onto a towel.
"Happy Birthday Paulie."
Zepp sighs in disgust. With his non-bloodied hand, he deftly hits Sico's switch.
"Ahh thank you. Say, that weird journalist isn't going to swoop just as I ask a question, is he?"
Sico looks to its left and right, seeing no sign of Dig Deeper. Perhaps the slimy reporter is on a different assignment. Ed waves his hand uncaring.
"Right then. Valiant effort tonight, Mr. Zepp. You nearly defeated Vodka Fizz. Thoughts?"
"Nearly..."
"You did not win the Spark Title tonight, but you took the future Fireside contender to the brink."
"He's a better fighter than he looks."
Edward grits his teeth as he acknowledges the loss.
"Perhaps your next chance will go better."
Ed throws his bag to the ground.
"Don't console me. Listen. I wanted to knock the chip off Fizz's shoulder. I failed. I wanted to believe that knocking him down a peg was worth more than the belt. It's something my brother would say..."
As if on cue, his cellphone belts out the opening "HEY!" from the ATD-I's 'Pattern Against User', and Edward answers his brother Isaiah's call. He waves off Sico and turns his back, although the camera and robot stay close enough to listen in.
"My brother, I saw your match... You fought the good fight."
"Yeah."
"When you return home, we'll make some time to go over it, to show where you can improve."
"Can't make it this time."
"What, another random snowstorm?"
"No. Just can't. Gotta stick around here this month."
"... but Edward, the next WWZ event needs to be bigger and better! I need you to help make that happen, my brother!"
"You can handle it. Call up Waters again, he's a good kid. He can help."
"The biker boy from upstate? He can't run a whole show."
"You'll have to do the heavy lifting."
"Look just because you found some sweet little thing in Philly doesn't mean you turn your back on family..."
"Eye, shut it!"
"Well I never-"
Edward chucks his phone sharply into his bag as he fumes. He could have said a dozen things, like how he's only in Philadelphia to pay Isaiah's bills, but that's all after the fact. Maybe it's better that he didn't. In a humph, he turns around to see the Fireside camera still running. He grips his still-bloody hand around the camera, smearing the lens.
"Off. Now."
- - - - - - - - -
In the following days, Edward avoided the phone and enjoyed the quiet time with his sweet little thing in Philly. As he sipped a cup of tea next to Emily, a news crawl caught his attention. "California Wrestling Shows Turns to Riot." Ed thinks to himself, Cali's a big enough state, that could be any wrestling show, but the next scrawl alludes that a Senate candidate is in jail and Edward decides to turn off the TV.
After a bit of encouragement, Ed goes on a small spending spree for camera equipment. The last time he did any video editing was for Isaiah's overwrought promos, and he's had the inkling. He repeats some of the training method that gained him a victory over Hank, but instead of just jogging around he stops frequently to film the museums, markets and other sights he's grown familiar with. In the end, the footage he culls and pairs down amounts to only a minute, but Edward is always one for succinct brevity. He adds a voiceover to complete the project and uploads it.
We start with a sepia toned shot of the cracked Liberty Bell.
"Freedom. That's what I found here, in Philly. In Fireside. Maybe not in all the ways we want."
Cut to a shot of Edward holding a basketball roughly eight feet above a group of happy kids on an outdoor court.
"This city has accepted me. I do not understand it. Maybe they like a freak. Maybe they're the freaks."
Cut to Ed doing pullups on a steel beam as factory workers marvel and cheer him on.
"But I'm no longer in the shadow. Now I cast the shadow."
Cut to a restaurant server holding a quarter of a pizza up to Ed's gigantic hand.
"The Spark has evaded me in Fireside. I said I wanted it, out of spite, but it's not true. I'm not sure if the Spark is what I truly need. Or if I've already found it."
Cut to Edward's debut in Fireside as fans gawked at his height before a battle royal.
"But the answer is found, one way or another, through Donzig. Step into this shadow, and what you fill find..."
Edward sits atop a museum overlooking gigantic chess pieces.
"Is dead silence."
End.