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Date Posted: 10:03:21 10/14/01 Sun
Author: Jack Otis
Subject: All Empires Fall...

((( What was that, huh? What the hell was that? They call themselves wrestlers. Hmmph. More like cannon fodder. That's what they are. Cannon fodder. I came into the ring that day, expecting the worse. After all, these guys are some of the greatest, aren't they? Or at least, that's what I thought, you know? Not ow. But anyway, I prepared myself for the worse, and the best happened. If only things happened like that more often. Who were these people on Wednesday? Were they the same guys? These two have been in this federation for a long time. A very long time. Not as me, though. I've been here since the beginning, but still, these fellas are veterans here in the GWA. But what did they give me? A pathetic match. These two guys have beaten me before, and I expected much more. Have these people lost heart? Were they having a bad day? I dunno. Now I know how my teachers felt every time I passed in a crappy paper or report or whatever. But does it really matter? No. Hell no. I've got my Falconer Championship and it ain't leavin my sight unless I go to sleep or lose it.As I left that ring everything ached. It's funny the way every title match I've had for the Falconer Championship has been a ladder match... and I hate heights.

Jim Daher. This guy has been around so-o-o-o long. So long. It's a shame that he's never really gotten any better at what he does. He's a veteran, just like me, except not around quite as long. This guy... reminds me of me. Except the thing with not being very good. He's loud mouthed and obnoxious like me. I hate people who are like me. I still can't believe this guy actually beat me once. We've fought a lot of times, mainly because we are the best Falconer's on the circut. And you gotta give the guy credit - he definitely isn't a push over, but I dominated him and Anton Rayge on Wednesday.

Anton Rayge is still nothing but a joke. I promised him I'd take back the belt from him and I did. He's nothing but an anorexic joke and I'm glad I finally put that asshole in his place. Imagine him, acting like me when he isn't half as good! He shouldn't be so sure about how easily he'll beat his opponents. He doesn't even have the intelligence to say anything worth while listening to. Why should I even listen? If I didn't, it wouldn't piss me off, but I can't help it. I guess I'm too curious for my own good. Anton Rayge can come and try again when he feels he's ready. He can come even if he isn't. He'll still lose and I'll still walk away with him with a victory... )))

* * *


((( It's been a long time since Jack's been in a hospital. Jack is just like that. Not necessarily built tougher than most people, just less concerned about his body than others. It's led to developin ticks and twitches in his phalanges and probably a few bits of bone floating around his arms' and legs' flesh, but he never has gone to see anything semi-serious looked at. He's taken a lot of hits that he should probably have gotten look at, but never has unless someone forces him to do it. After a match, or any other sort of strenuous physical activity, Jack's fingers will twitch individually. They used to shake in unisin, but not after a few matches of slammed fingers and twisted wrists. Jack's back felt like if he bent it the wrong ways, his vertabrae would all detatch and fall in a pile on the bottom of the inside of his ass and his muscles feels like they stiffened over night, like a dead corpse gone through rigemortus. Jack has had this feeling before. You almost get the feeling as if you hadn't stopped moving and gone to bed, you wouldn't have become so stiff. Jack walks down the hall with Sherry, her arm around his aching shoulder, holding the Falconer Championship on her free shoulder for Jack. )))

Sherry: "Wow! No wonder champions always carry around these things when they win 'em! It feels great! A little heavy though... it is really gold, right?"

((( Jack is going to nod, but then thinks better of it, remembering the sudden jolts of pain he got in his neck when he got up and spoke. )))

Jack: "Yup. Everything except for th' leather and th' paint is pure gold. Seventeen karot, I think. That makes it sorta heavy. It's about thirty twenty five pounds. Definitely heavier than it looks anyway."

((( They walk down the hall slowly. Jack can still feel small jolts of pain creeping up his legs and into his mind and he can feel his joints creek, even though they walk slowly. Sherry, without looking at the belt on her shoulder, begins to trace the designs on it. )))

Sherry: "Can I wear it? I wanna see how it feels."

((( Jack catches himself again before he nods. )))

Jack: "Yeah, sure."

((( They stop walking and Jack leans against the plain white wall. Sherry undoes the belt and closes it around her waist. )))

Sherry: "No wonder why they carry and don't wear it."

((( She takes the belt off and slings it over her shoulder again. )))

Jack: "Well, it's meant mostly for show."

((( They begin to walk again. Jack presses the ground floor button and they wait for the sound of the rising elevator. Sherry gives Jack a content smile. )))

Sherry: "Y'know, I think Frank's a little jealous. You're what? Two time Falconer Champion."

((( Jack's face remains unexpressive. )))

Jack: "Yeah... that's right. Not Anton Rayge, who would've become, what three time champ and not Jim Truth-or-Dare who would've become two time champ either. Now that leaves only one thing to do..."

((( Sherry's head tilts towards the wall as the elevator's whir gets closer, rising upward. )))

Sherry: "What's that?"

Jack: "PARTY!!!"

((( Sherry narrows her eyes. )))

Sherry: "Oh, McDonald's then?..."

((( Jack shrugs and then nods meekly. )))

* * *


Journal,

That was the first time in a long time that I have gone to the hospital. Despite all the blood loss and the possibly fragmented bones, I hardly ever go to the hospital. I know it's a stupid thing to do, because most wrestlers go to the hospital for at least a day after each match. My head hurts like a bitch and I'm sore all over. It felt like something broke, but fortunately, nothing. But I almost never get medical attention. When I was a kid, I would get all sorts of bumps and cuts and never pay much attenton to them. One day I fell off a log and got the side of my knee gashed, but only put a band-aid on it instead of stitches which were probably needed. That resulted in a scar shaped like a comet.

After I left the hospital, Ross Bobby caught up to me and asked me the usual questions. You know, about my previous match and my next one with Rade. Rade won't be much of a problem. He's just another one of those guys they use as fillers for the roster. It was pretty routine until he asked me a different sort of question: he asked me where do I think the furture of pro wrestling is going. These interviewers never ask you questions like that. It's always about the matches, nothing that took a lot of thought. I told him I didn't know and went home and thought about it.

Personally, I think the golden age of pro wrestling has long since past. I used to see great federatons like the IWO or DWF now gone down the drains. I think pro wrestling is reached an all-time low. I've looked for other federations. Not ready to quit the GWA, but just looking around for other federations that may contain as much talent as this place. I found nothing. Sure, there were a few wrestlers here and there that were about as half as good as me or some of the other top talent, but there was no finding anything worthwhile. I've gone to VERY famous federations, who supposedly, had great talent. What did I find? Some fools who didn't even belong in commercial feds. Some of these guys belonged in the indies still and they definitely would get torn apart in the Gladiator Wrestling Association.

Now, I don't know. Were they lying when they promoted their feds? Were they lying when they talked about how great it was? Or is it just the fact that they've never actually seen true talent? Great talent is mediocre in the eyes of most people you'll run into in the world of pro wrestling. That's what's wrong with feds now-a-days. You have to reach for the sky, but for most people, with a few wins on their record, they've suddenly already reached the sky and can no longer become better. Their expectations are too low. For them, the sky has become touchable... they're so full of intoxicating victory. And their world is small. No one really great has come to challenge them...

Now, I've seen them come and I've seen them go. Some stay longer than others. Some have stayed ever since they came, others quitting and returning, claiming to retire, but then returning to the action because they just couldn't take not fighting any more. Now, a lot of them have come and a lot of them have gone very quickly. I heard that most of them couldn't take it. They couldn't take the fact that they werren't as hot as they imagined. They couldn't take the fact that they would have to rise above what they once were. They didn't want to work. Which is understandable. Some people just don't have that sort of work ethic and never will. Some would rather compete where winning is inevitable. A place where they know, generally, what's going to happen.

So, I think wrestling is going down the drains. I don't really know if it'll ever come back... oh, what am I saying? Of course it will. For me, pro wrestling is a way of life, for most, it's just a job. Just a fad. It'll pulsate just like a star hanging in the dark sky. It'll blow up and become huge, then slowly shrink back down, then get bigger again. Right now, it's making a desent. One that will hurt when it finally hits bottom, but I'm sure things will go up. There will be more talent working and more fans... but that's a long ways away. This generation of pro wrestlers... it was considered new, once, but now it's old and dying off. People are retiring, probably never to return to the ring again... only a few will remain. Like me. I'll never go anywhere...

People like Anton Rayge will come and go. People who are strong fighters and have a future in the business. Others will remain for as long as you can remember, like Jim Daher. Others like Rade, may stay for a while, but never have an impact on this federation... Sometimes I wonder if I'll make a dent on this place at all. Will I ever be remembered? Everyone worries about that sometime or another, but I don't see why. I mean, if you were an accountant or maybe an egineer, do you really expect to make yourself known? Those aren't the types of jobs that will put you in a history book unless you do something so incredibly extrordinary... But a wrestler. S/he's on television. I'm on television every week, but will I be remembered. Even when I win this belt for the third or fourth time, will I be remembered? Or will I just be some nobody on the list of the belts that were won? Will people ever look at a plaque on a wall of fame? Well, I'm not leaving the GWA until I get a plaque. Until I get a spot along side Reina Saiaki on that Wall of Fame. And I deserve it, too. I've been in the GWA ever since it opened, and not only am I standing the test of time, but I've been successful, too. It's about time I get some... long lasting.

----Jack Otis

* * *


((( Some parts of the library are old. Some of them are new. At least they feel that way. It seems as Jack passes by some of the older tomes, the air gets older. Like he is walking through a crypt that hasn't been opened in years. It is probably because the library gives the mind much power here than in normal reality. The books, created of mainly mental substance, glowed what was put into it when they were written and put together. Jack follows Bach through the new section. These books consist of anything made in the past two years. The air smells like the air you smell in any sort of bookstore or mall. As they pass through the ancient/destroyed section, it smells like the crypt of some ancient Pharoah. In fact, the rug blends into an old, tiled floor and the book shelves of wood slowly turn into solid granit. Here and there a cockroach or a spider or an adder slithers along. They walk well into the section and Jack stops. Bach takes a few more steps and looks back. )))


From Yerf.com



Bach: "What? What're you waitin' for?"

((( Jack scans his fingers over all the old, scholarly tomes in his reach. )))

Jack: "Whoa... so these things were actually burned or lost in a caved in chamber in some pyramid?"

((( Bach sat down on his haunches. )))

Bach: "Yeah, that's right. That book you hold in your hand there was a journal of one of Christopher Columbus's crew memebers. The convict happened to be able to write a little and did. Pretty interesting stuff there. In a way, I think he was smarter than most of those barbarians on board... You can tell he wasn't really formally educated, though. If he was, he would've written it in Latin. IT's pretty detailed... much more so than Christopher Columbus's reports..."

((( Jack opens the small, leather bound book and begins to read silently. )))

Bach: "Of course, it's hard to tell what is truth in there and what is mainly just what the crew memeber thought he saw... Doesn't matter much, though. I've gone back and seen more than once."

((( Jack closes the book and slips it back into its rightful spot on the stone shelf. )))

Jack: "How can you possibly read anything in these books? They're all written in such tiny, messy cursive... they're harder to read than my hand wirting. I mean, I can make out some stuff when I write something and come back later and try to read it, but that stuff is impossible."

((( Bach stretches. )))

Bach: "I'm sure they've got printed versions of them somewhere..."

((( Jack looks up and sees an old sign written with some gold-colored ink. )))

Jack:...Nostradomus Collection....?"

((( Bach looks up at the sign, then the extensive collection under it. )))

Bach: "Those were all books he burned. Many of them were history books. They hold a lot precious knowledge."

((( Jack takes a book from the shelf. )))

Jack: "And you guys never brought these to some sort of museum?"

((( Bach's tail waves side to side. )))

Bach: "These books don't belong in our universe's time any longer. It would probably fall back into dust if we did."

((( Jack carefully opens the tome he holds in his hands. )))

Jack: "So he was a book burner?"

((( Bach nods, then shakes his head. )))

Bach: "He was a fire see-er. He told the future by looking into flames. But it wasn't just normal flames he used, but they had to be fed off of old tomes. The more scholarly the better. A lot of history was lost in those books."

((( Jack shakes his head, putting the book back on the shelf among the other ancient tomes. )))

Jack: "What an idiot! Why th' hell did he do that?!"

((( Bach shrugs his tiny feline shoulders. )))

Bach: "Because... well... he was an idiot. Sometimes people believe in something so strongly, they'll do whatever it tells them to do... Unfortunately, many times it's misinterpreted and people do stupid things. For this Nostradamus guy, he believed he could see into the flames fed by old, scholarly tomes and see the future. They never were that exact. Very poetic. He smoked a lot, too, so maybe it wasn't entirely his fault."

((( Bach continues to walk down the aisle and Jack follows. )))

Bach: "Okay... over here."

((( They reach an iron clad door door with a card register on the side. )))

Bach: "Got the card?"

((( Jack says, "Yeah" and runs the silvery card through. The door slides open and they step through. ))))

Jack: "What's this place?"

((( Jack's voice echoes. He doesn't just here it, but he can feel it as well as the sound waves bounce off what barriers surround him in the pitch darkness. )))

Bach: "It's the 'Time Room.' TIME ROOM ON."

((( With that, everything is lit up by stars and planets that surround them from all directions. )))

Bach: "This is a map of the multiverse. With this you can see just about anywhere."

((( Jack looks around. )))

Jack: "Cool! How do you get it to show you Earth?"

((( That said, the stars fade out and in fades our solar system. Earth rotates slowly right in front of Jack's face. )))

Bach: "There you go. Not only that, but you can zoom in, too. Closer please."

((( Bach zooms in until they can see Boston, quite close. )))

Jack: "Whoa, pretty cool!"

((( Bach yawns. )))

Bach: "It can go to the past and a little ways into the future, too."

((( Jack raises his eyebrows. )))

Jack: "...can we take this into the future?"

((( Bach shakes his head. )))

Bach: "That isn't allowed, no. Why?"

Jack: "I wanna see th' future of wrestling... I feel like it's dyin'..."

((( Bach scratches his head with his hind leg. )))

Bach: "Hmm. Well, could be. No empire lasts forever."

((( Bach calls for the Book of Rules and it is brought to him from cyber space. )))

Bach: "The book says so, too. Once wrestling was big, now not as much. And when other empires fall, weaker ones do as well."

((( Jack frowns. )))

Jack: "...you don't think it will die off completely do you? I mean, I thought it would sorta pulsate."



((( Jack looks up at the image Bach called for. )))

Bach: "At one point, the Egyptian empire was very powerful. But it eventually fell as well."

((( The pyramid crumbles into a pile of rubble. )))

Bach: "Many times an empire which is big will get bigger and bigger until its foundations start to get old and eventually crumble. Breaking the empire apart. Wrestling... its empire has grown so huge and old that it's decaying. It will crumble and then be rebuilt again... but no empire lasts for eternity, no matter how powerful. In fact, the bigger and stronger it is, the more inevitable it is. Which brings me to the point of why I brought you with me."

((( Bach sighs. )))

Bach: "If you... keep living on through time without ever aging or getting old... your time gets old. It's... like a carpet getting rolled up. As it goes along, eventually the parts of the rug near the center start to get old and fragile and rip, causing problems. My time spans over millions of years. In the center, there are a few rips I think. It's making me lose control of myself."

((( Jack scowls. )))

Jack: "But what do you need me for?"

((( Bach starts to flicker. Changing form, but Jack never really notices, because time is being changed. )))

Bach: "I need someone living in this world's time... some things you'll be able to do that I can't. We need to go back and fix the rips. Even now I've changed from a cat to an elephant."

((( Jack frowns again. )))

Jack: "A cat? Dude, you always were an elephant."

((( The huge elephant shakes his head. )))

Bach: "No, no I wasn't..."

((( Something catches up with Jack. )))

Jack: "Come to think of it.... I do remember something about you being a cat.."

((( Bach forces time back to its original spot and he slowly shrinks down to the small white cat he was before. )))

Bach: "I need someone like you as an anchor... You'll help, right?"

((( Jack nods. )))

Jack: "Yeah, sure. What first?"

* * *


Journal,

Bach was right about how empires rise and fall. It's true. When an empire rises, it ends sooner or later. You don't wanna believe it, but it does eventually. And the bigger, the more prone it is to a demise, seeing as the biger it is, the more people there are. And the more people there are, the more places you have to check up on. The Roman empire lasted pretty long because of the fact that they put all their soldiers in unfamiliar places in their empire. That way there was no rebellion. They would grab a guy from Africa and put him in Rome and a guyfrom Gal and put him in Africa. That way, they would have no spirit or confidence to fight back. Not only that, but the soldiers were trained in some engineering abilites, so even though they were often out numbered, they used different tricks to beat larger amounts of enemies.But even they didn't last forever. Even pro wrestling will have to rebuild itself eventually.

* * *


((( Like a stone, he will be there as long as anyone can remember. )))

* * *


((( It's a thoughtful question. One, that if asked, will get different responses depending on who you ask. You can't expect to get one universal answer with questions like these. It's a good question for entertainment purposes. You know, if you feel like talking. Not really a question that can be answered by anyone but yourself though. Although, sometimes, to form an opinion you need other's feedback. A lot of things are like that. How can we learn to form opinions if, at first, we are told what to think and not to think? Dark Tiger brushes his hair back sighs. )))

Tiger: "I dunno. I guess things like wrestlin' go up and down. First it's popular, than it loses popularity, than it gains it. Except for th' true fans. They'll always stick around. I guess you jus' gotta decide if you're gonna disappear with everything else, or if you're gonna stick it out. That's what makes legends. Legends are always there, in spirit or actual physical presence, they're always there."

((( Jack nods and walks away... )))

* * *


((( The place is very crowded and Jack never has liked LA. The loud lights flash in every direction as he makes his way into the hotel. It isn't any different from any other entrrance. They always pick big cities, but it's never that hard to get a reservation. In fact, they already have one for you. Jack checks in around nine o'clock and sleeps. Or at least tries to. The noise outside is even more than Boston. Jack often has trouble when he sleeps somewhere quiet because he isn't used to it. He's used to the city sounds, but not as much as Los Angeles. So he lies in bed for a few hours before drifting off into an uneasy sleep. It isn't really unpleasant. Just boring. A restless lie in a bed is no fun. But then again, sometimes more fun than having to fight in the ring. Especially bigger opponents like Rade. Rade is two hundred seventy five pounds heavy. Jack is one hundred seventy six pounds. Ninety-nine pounds heavier.But just because it isn't fun, doesn't mean Jack doesn't like to do it. The fun part is leaving the ring with a win. And it's not like Jack gets to fight people his own size often. Rade is going to be a problem, but Jack is sure he'll find some way. )))

* * *


"Here I am, yer frikken' hero. I bet you guys didn't think I could do it, well I did. And let me tell ya, it feels great. This belt is finally in the hands of someone who deserves it. Not Marcus Gaines, not Anton Rayge, not Jim daher, but Jack Otis. Me. You want this belt? Well, yer gonna have to take it outta my hands after I'm stone dead. This belt is the Jack Championship, got it? Yer hero's title. I feel pissed, though, havin' to represent some of the sad-asses on the roster. I remember back when lightweights were good. Now, what've we got? nobody as far as I can see. Anton Rayge disappeared somewhere and Jim Daher ain't even worth it."

"Yeah, wrestlin' is definitely goin' downward. Some of you will be here with me. Others will disappear off somewhere. I hope those who stay with me will be worth the competion, because the guys here now sure aren't. Back in the day, and believe me, I was here since forever, there was some real wrestlers. Wrestlers that'd make me proud to fight them."

"Rade is just another nobody who will disappear in a while. But, Rade, if you wanna prove me wrong. If you wanna prove your worth to me, you beat me. But, heh, that ain't happenin' is it? No, I think not. See you guys later..."

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