Post by Kenzie Rydell on Jun 1, 2016 21:53:26 GMT -5
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DO YOU KNOW THE WAY?
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DO YOU KNOW THE WAY?
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Once you're ready and decide to hit the play button, you're greeted by a brand new format. The bright room looked like it was specially designed with this in mind, the brilliant fluorescent lights spread out evenly against the accent wall. Currently, it was painted a solid red, devoid of humanity while the circle at the bottom of the YouTube video slowly crept towards the right. Hearing the quiet mumbling coming from behind the camera, you recognized the voices instantly. Spencer and Kenzie, softly conversing as they adjusted the sound and made sure the focus was just right. The twenty-one year old's voice chirped melodically while Spencer's droned on, coated with remnants of snark. Once everything was in place, Kenzie strutted with as much confidence as she could muster right into the frame, that NGW Five Lakes Championship cascading over her shoulder.
"Have you ever had that one wake-up call? The kind that happens when you look face to face with a monster and you can't help but wonder, why can't you defeat it?" she began, her body radiating confidence while those eyebrows furrowed above those big bright hazel eyes, her jaw clenching. "Whether that monster's something big like beating a world champion or something as simple and relatable as self-doubt, we all have our monsters we need to overcome and I'm no different. And you can't just rush in and take it down, no. You need to think about it. You need to be smart. It's about beating your fears and showing them who's boss, but you need to take a step back and reflect on what you're doing wrong before you can take down the big bad that's been getting in your way since as long as you can remember and that's exactly what I've been doing lately."
She took a moment to look towards her shoes below, taking a deep breath until a genuine smile spread across her lips. Her hands unclenched and her body relaxed, a soft tone of levity filling the screen as you watched her begin to speak again.
"Let me back up," she muttered, resetting her body language like this was the beginning again, her solid hazel eyes looking straight at the camera while her hands slipped inside the pockets of her jeans casually. "On paper, the idea of the Angels Of Destruction was simple. We were going to cleanse NGW, make sure people like Dean Judas, Tee Voland, and most importantly Dirk Bentley couldn't run around doing whatever they pleased. We were supposed to be the police force that stood toe to toe with the worst of the worst and took them down a few pegs with the livelihood of NGW in mind," Kenzie spoke with passion in every syllable, biting her lip for a microsecond out of frustration.
"That's how Corey Bull described it to me, at least. He made it sound like some major conquest, dubbing us an army countless times like we would be standing up for something worthy of a fight just like all the men and women I met who lived in those military bases across the country, and that's how I imagined it," she softly admits her flaws for everyone to see, wearing her emotions on her sleeve. "Maybe those connotations carried too much weight. Maybe the term 'army' was just a throwaway word for a group of people to him, but when I heard the word, I automatically pictured a band of brothers and sisters standing side by side no matter the consequences. When one faced an optical, they all faced the obstacle, and that comradery, that idea of an extended family all working towards a common goal..." She sighed heavily, getting a little too emotional. "On paper, it was appealing. Especially since me and Gavin had a falling out."
"That whole thing between Gavin and I," she laughed nervously, thinking about it. "Boy, was that idiotic. I was so consumed with the idea that I needed to be the perfect good girl, that I needed to be this unyielding shield of justice that I got into a petty argument with a man whom I love like a brother. I was so concious of the fact that I wanted to be a 'good person' that I ended up making the most asshole mistake I've ever made." She paused, looking down at the floor in silence for a few long seconds. "Friends don't... Friends don't do that to friends. That was unfair. Gavin? Do you hear me right now?"
"So when Corey Bull came to me and told me he wanted me in his group, how could I say no? I was beating myself over what I've done to Gavin, how I lost his trust, and when I was given the chance to be a part of a family, a connected group of people who looked after their own like me and Gavin were supposed to do, I took it. I took it because I heard what I wanted to hear. And that mistake, that's something that's going to haunt me for a while," she told you, her eyes centered towards the lens in front of her. Crossing her arms, she continued her speech, getting more passionate the more she talked.
"Call me naive, say about me what you will, but once Corey drew the line in the sand and told us to run out there and attack the Marquee Champion Levi Daughterty and my friend Justin Harmony, I refused. They attacked all three of them, flanked by Avery Miles, and I just hung in the background, preparing for my match like any other night, watching 'my family' brutalize people I respect when here I thought we'd be clensing NGW. And then..." Her voice grew quiet, emotions running high.
"Dirk Bentley attacked Ashleigh Jericho and 'the family' who were supposed to clense NGW and be the ones who take down the sinners of the federation did nothing," she spoke, her voice quiet and nervous, the image still swimming in her mind like a never ending string of repeats on late night television. She was clearly shaken up over it, maybe even more than Ashleigh herself. "Where were you, Gray? I thought you were supposed to be Corey's number two. So then why weren't you running back there and helping out Ashleigh? Why did you just leave her to get a busted jaw?"
"Can I... Can I tell you something?' Her voice desperate and honest, she asked you the simple rhetorical question. "I thought about doing it. I thought about racing down there and helping her out, even if I knew I'd probably suffer the same fate. But then I thought, when it was happening, Ashleigh and Gavin hated me. They both wanted me out of their lives for being a bitch to Gavin and nothing I did would ever be able to correct it. So I just... I froze. I watched it all play out on my TV backstage, bewildered like everyone else, and I just... I couldn't move. I felt like my body shut down, like I was locked in place, like even if I did try and help, everything would just..."
"I was being a coward. When it came to that night, I can admit that. I fought against my instincts, watched it play out live, and I regret it. And... And that's the one thing me and you agree on, Gray. We agree that Dirk Bentley needs to pay for what he did. And at this point, I want to take him down just as much as AoD. It's the one common thread between us," she nodded softly, teeth clenching once again.
"That's where that wake-up call comes in," she finally states, going full circle with the way the video began. "I won't allow myself to be a coward anymore. I won't do things just because it's the role I wanna play. I'll put the people I truly care about first and I won't give a shit about what anyone else thinks of me,"
"That includes my role in AoD. That includes my role trying to be a goodie-two-shoes by befriending absolutely everybody under the sun and taking everyone's negative comments to heart. It doesn't work. Not in the real world. Ashleigh taught me that. So you can like me, hate me, whatever you'd like, but I'm still going to be me. I'm just not going to let it get to me anymore," she assured, oozing bravado as she smirked into the camera, arms crossed under her chest.
"Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business," she grinned, swinging her arms back down to her sides like a fourth grader, swinging her limbs back and forth for just a few seconds. "I saw your little press conference. And I— I appriciate what you said about Ashleigh. I guess I understand why you didn't help her out when it happened, you were hurt. And Corey wasn't even aware of it at the time. So I give you the benefit of the doubt. I just wish one of us would have done something, that's all. I think that's safe enough to say, right?"
"Truth be told, you're not a bad guy. You're the most relatable person I know on AoD, in fact. You give respect to the people who deserve it, and even the people who don't. And that's commendable. Behind all the things I'm going to say to you next, I want you to know that I appriciate that approach more than you know. It's just unfortunite that things had to happen like they did."
"But that corporate corruption bullshit dogma you keep trying to spew? I'm not the biggest fan of Devlin, everyone knows that, but the way you make it sound, you'd think Donald Trump himself runs NGW right now." Edited into the shot, you see a quick screenshot of Donald Trump eating a taco bowl in a picture he tweeted out to the world, ending in the words 'I love hispanics!" You can't help but laugh at that inclusion, but you noticed the editing could use a little work. It would probably improve over time.
"If anything, the 'corporate corruption' is in your favor. I mean, you've won no matches in NGW thus far," she addresses. "Let me repeat that: Your record is zero wins, two loses and you're in the main event against Shelley Silver and the reigning NGW Five Lakes Champion. You think that's fair? Are you going to complain like a conspirasy theorist who thinks George Bush caused 9/11 and the Earth is flat about how you shouldn't be in this match because the mere fact that you are points to obvious corruption?"
"You're like a walking, talking paradox. You're like a starburst contradiction, like an albino lifeguard or a screaming mime,"[/i] she nods, a hand cupping her hip. "And then you insult my title like it's just a part of your grand agenda, calling it pathetic garbage like you're just another one of those anti-corperation shills clogging the unemployment line right now."
"I've been NGW Five Lakes Champion for sixty eight days, longer than anyone else holding a title in all of NGW and IPW right now and the second lostest NGW Five Lakes Champion in its entire history. If you think I'm going to lose to someone who doesn't even know how to respect it, you've got another thing coming. And if you'd like a demenstration on what the title stands for, that it's not 'garbage,' then please, allow me to kick you square in the jaw so I can make you feel what Asheligh Jericho felt!"
"This isn't a joke, this isn't a game. This isn't just some match you can use as a message so you can run back to Daddy Bull and tell him what you did. This is a match, something you have yet to win in NGW, a match you don't deserve to be in in the first place, but here you are, a nausence in the way when it should be me and Shelley Silver one on one, but I'll be sure to teach you a lesson out there in front of that ruckus San Jose crowd."
"Oh! Here's something interesting. It's a story Shelley's been telling me in the leadup of this match and I got permission to tell it,"[/i] she suddenly blurts out, excitement in her voice. "Behind all of Gray Malone's pleas to end corporate corruption and that nonsense, the fact is, he's a real creeper."
"Allow me to explain. See, Gray told Shelley that he'd rather get to know her than go up against her. And that sentence alone should tell you how seriously he's going to take this matchup, guys. Isn't that telling?" she smiled playfully. "More to the point, according to Shell, Gray was already making plans to accompany her to EWC. And why's that something worth noting?" She laughed, a genuinely sweet laugh like she knew the punchline before she even said the words.
"The show's in Belgium!" she suddenly exclaimed, like it was the funniest thing she's ever heard. "To recap, tall dark and broody Gray Malone over here wanted to travel halfway across the country on the night before Vendetta just for the ounce of the possibility that maybe, just MAYBE, he'd get in her pants. And to top it all off..."
"She's already with someone," she stated proudly, telling the absolute truth. It sounded like the kind of gossip that's etched across the bottom of the cover of People magazine, something Kenzie clearly understood and fully embraced.
"Face it, Gray. She's just not that into you. She told me herself. But you'll continue living in your fantasy world, thinking you'll get the girl after the loss of your wife — my condolenses — when all you're doing is just making her uncomfortable."
"If you got a problem with that, she'll be sharing the ring with me and you, Gray. So fight. Fight like your life depended on it, take all that anger out on me and her, and we'll end the night with a bang that'll be remembered for ages!"
"Oh, but you'll end the night without the championship, that's a given. It's not like you give a fuck about it anyway, so it's no big loss. Just like you hrdly give a fuck about Shelley Silver either. The best scenerio? This is some mind game, keeping your enemy close to know them inside and out when you have to defeat her, but on the other side of the scale?"
"There's a chance you're just a pathetic boy desperately trying to act like someone else to impress a girl who's already in a relationship with the hope that maybe, just maybe, you'll get lucky and it'll be the best night of your life. 'Cause let's be honest. The best night of your life certainly won't be Vendetta, huh?"
"Oh, was that too harsh?" Ashleigh would be proud, you thought to yourself. She sounded vicious. "Should I go easy on you? I mean, we are technically still part of the AoD, right? And you haven't won a single match, so maybe it's warrented that I try to make you look good, right? No. No, that's not going to happen. You're not getting any sympathy out of me. You disrespected my championship, you disrespected my reign and you disrespected me in the process. And you don't want to know the punishment I have in store for that sin. It won't even take one night to get it done." The way she talked. Sin? Was that just a way of mocking AoD's agenda? You thought so, but you were a little unsure of what AoD's agenda was at this point. You imagined you'd find out soon. Corey Bull or Gray himself would probably monologue about it soon.
"And as for Shelley, we've already cleared things up, haven't we? I understand that you thought I stole the spotlight, trust me, I understand. The truth is, just like I told you in private messages on Twitter, was that I just accepted Gavin's challenge. I had no idea your match wouldn't be for the title until they announced it right beforehand when I was watching Vendetta from the back. And that's a fact." She took a deep breath, concentrating on the camera now.
"Listen, I'm gonna be honest. You deserve this match. You gave Gavin a hell of a thrashing, despite the losing effort, so this match is a fitting one. Despite Devlin thinking this is my punishment, I'm actually looking forward to it. I mean, fighting the Scream Queen of Wrestling herself right after she made her impressive return in the main event with the NGW Five Lakes Championship on the line? I couldn't have booked it better if I tried. You know, besides the Gray Malone, but I digress.
"My point is, I'm ready. The point is, as much as it pains me to say it, your record here isn't much better than Gray's, to tell the truth, and that's saying something. I get wins and losses aren't everything, but give me all you've got, okay? Show me what the Shelley that faught toe to toe against Gavin can do. All out, no hesitation, blind fury, c'mon! Show San Jose why you deserve to be the NGW Five Lakes Champion!"
"It sucks to say this, but... Even with everything you have, you're still not going to beat me," she says confidently all of a sudden, that vicious streak coming back once again. "The fact is, when I won this championship in the battle royal, you didn't even make it to the top three. And with the ring rust, and everything you've got going on right now, I can't see you all of a sudden taking a win from me right now. I'm at the top of my game, best shape of my life, eyes on the prize, and I plan to be the longest reigning NGW Five Lakes Champion yet, raising the title up to greatness and frankly..."
"I don't think you could do that. You're just not the type. But hey, keep leaving and doing your movies, I don't mind. That just means one more person ran away after finding out I was the woman between them and greatness, and that's just priceless, isn't it?"
"And if John Blade, Jessica Jones, Rogers, Tee, or Axle couldn't beat me, what makes you think you can, Shelley?" Those harsh words gave way to the end of the video, your suggested videos popping up next. Gray Malone's press conference was a choice, and so was Shelley Silver's response.
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