[#007] NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE.

❝ NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE. ❞
vs Allen Chaney; Champion's Showcase.⠀//⠀VICTORY XIX: WE CAN'T RETURN THIS.⠀//⠀#007.

THE IN CONTINUATION FROM BOTH STORIES:
THE MANDELA CATALOGUE I and MANTRA.

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[ JANUARY 25TH, 2022. – LONDON, ENGLAND. ]
[ EARTH VI. ]

His hands were covered in blood, his own blood.

Twelve hours have passed and the day has turned to night, his body still laid out on the flat of his back, still trying to gain some feeling in his body– finally coming back to his senses, finally coming back to life and feeling a little bit of freedom within his soul. However, the place he seemed to have been in was more absurd than he remembered himself to be in– this seemed like London with The Shard nearby, but everything was... different. It seemed more technologically advanced than he remembered being. This, of course, was when he came to the realisation that he was stuck inside of another alternative universe. The realisation that he was trapped in another universe with no way of escaping– the entity was gone, he was nowhere to be seen, he had disappeared with a brand new body that he used for himself. Jason doesn’t have a single clue as to what he looks like right now, he doesn’t know if he’s gone into hiding and left the body behind, was he expecting Jason to stay dead this time around?

Long was slowly walking through the emptied graveyard and seemed to have found himself standing right at the foot of The Spire, realising that he was in Canary Wharf, about twenty minutes away from being at the centre of London. However, it would’ve been hard to try and get back home– in this world, he was a world-renowned terrorist and a mass murderer of millions. The Entity didn’t just drop him in the middle of nowhere but in a place where he’s not safe– any corner of London would see him walking right into a trap placed out for him, they’d take notice to the face and might just shoot him on sight. The last thing that he needs right now is to find himself dead in an alternate universe.

He headed down the dark alleys and came closer and closer toward The Spire, reaching the door and walking inside– immediately, he was given shady looks from bystanders watching him look around the lobby area. It wasn’t because he was recognised, it’s because of what state he was in– torn up clothes, soaked jeans, he looked homeless — and was, but in a different sense of the word — which didn't receive the warmest of welcomes to anyone around. There was nobody at the reception, however, and he walked right past to head for the staircase– knowing that using lifts was more of a hazard to get up higher due to cameras in a highly advanced technological world, even just walking through a building like this should’ve raised some alarms by now.

Though, that was the least of his worries – for now.

As he reached the door to the staircase, the realisation had finally kicked in on just how tall this building was– it was, of course, the tallest building in London. Taking the staircase might not have been the smartest idea but he didn’t have a choice with the options that he was given in a world that he wasn’t too familiar with. But all he needed was to head up onto a few floors, find an empty space, and hide out there for the time being. All until he can figure out a way to get the hell out of here. All until he can figure out how he can get back home where he belongs– back to Savannah, back to his family, back to all of those that he loved the most, and to finally put a permanent end to The Entity once and for all.

He reached the seventh floor and opened the door to the hallways, it seemed like office spaces – all emptied – and there was something that didn’t sit right with him, a sense of deja vu like he’s been here before. At least, he thinks that he has but it’s hard to tell. A large room with a blank wall was where he stepped into from the staircase, the feeling had grown stronger the more that he stared at this wall and even stepped closer toward it? There was a tingling feeling running through his fingers as he reached out to this blank wall. Something about this room was trying to give a hint about something, he just wasn’t sure what it was.

‘Remember this, might be a ticket home.’

The voice inside of his head was making mental notes to remind himself in the near future as he headed down the halls on his right, trying to find a place to hide out for as long as he could– the whole floor seems to have been abandoned, deserted, not in operation as it was. A perfect place to spend the rest of the night and a perfect place to plan a way home. Somehow, he was going to get there. Somehow.

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[ JANUARY 13TH, 2023. – SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA. ]
[ EARTH I. ]

He lived deep in fear for the hopes that the alternate would come back to take his life away from him, always prepared for the day that they would come back and drag him right back through The Infinity Realms and leave him there to die– even if Meliodas was doing everything in his power to make sure that was never going to happen. Hell, it’s been almost three months since he’s even heard from Meliodas– ever since he initially found out about the whole situation happening in the alternate universe. There’s been no contact with anyone there at all, even with the alternate finding their way into this world and tracking Jason down, and that only made him become more worried about what was going on out there.

It wasn’t something that he could do to set him out there to find out, it seemed like random moments in time that would see Jason trapped back in the alternate universes. There was no way of telling how he could simply get himself out there, it all seems to happen out of nowhere– hell, he could even be living within an alternate universe right now and not even put any notice onto it, but the thought of that even happening right now was putting him on edge, his stress levels were rising rapidly. A man with zero fear has finally met his own match – himself, and there’s only one thing on the mind of that ‘match’ of his that they desperately needed the most, which was his death.

That’s something that they can’t have from him – The Entity.

He has spent the past year of his life being stuck here and with no powers to attack, all drained from him because he was granted the mortal life that he desired, stuck being a normal Jason Long than what he’s been used to in previous years. In that time, he’s become accustomed to this change. He’s become somewhat aware of the task at hand with life. He’s made his own changes, he’s made his own moves, he’s doing things the way that he wants to do things, nothing like what the alternate would’ve wanted. This was his own life and there was nobody that was going to take that away from him– unless the alternate would become successful in his attempts to kill the entity for good.

“I don’t know what to do,” he whispered to himself. Long took a seat right at his kitchen table and dug his head deep into his hands. For the first time in a long time, he was lost and without any sort of path to go down– no road to take, no way of help to come, he just had to face his problems head on. Not even the people in his life right now would understand the trouble that he was in right now, not when they can’t see the same thing that he does, not when they can’t experience the same pain that he goes through on a consistent basis.

Not even Kore would understand how to help him, her attempts have gone under completely within the past few months– attempts at taking him to see a psychiatrist have come up with no good results and Jason wasn’t going to just continue on going when it doesn’t do any favours for him. Jason began to bang his head down onto the table, not to hurt himself or anything– but to feel something again. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going completely insane in the head, to make sure that it wasn’t just some fucked up dream that he’s found himself deep in, but even then? He came up empty-handed. A series of footsteps are heard as Kore came rushing down the stairs and found Jason holding his forehead whilst still laying head first down onto the table.

“What have you been doing?” She questioned but he didn’t respond at all, he just laid there and grunted in the pain that he was enduring. Kore took a seat right beside Jason and brought her arm over him, trying to pull him in closer but he wasn’t budging at all. “You’ve not been yourself in a long time– it’s getting worrying now with the state that you’re in right now, you’re not getting any better than what you were beforehand, and I don’t know what to do because I don’t know what’s happening for you to be like this.”

Again, having to explain all of this to her would make him seem insane in the head. There wasn’t an easy way around trying to explain that he was from an alternate universe where he trapped the original Jason and now he’s coming back to take his life and leave The Entity for dead in the middle of the realms to turn into dust. “I thought I’d know what’s wrong with me too, honestly. But, I guess the only thing that’s left for me to do is to continue trying until I find myself in a better position than how I started. That’s all I can do with the current situation of things. I mean, what else is there to do about it?”

Lied right through his teeth just so he wouldn’t have to force all of that information onto her– though, he does plan on telling her at some point, but today is just not that day and he’s got plenty of more days to spend with her, to tell her the truth about who he is, and to help her understand everything that he is. However, the amount of days that he does have left is unknown– it could come tomorrow, it could come next month, it could come next year — but all he can do at the moment is wait. The match with Allen Chaney was coming up, his focus needed to be put onto that– a champion versus champion showdown was in the books to become a classic, and finally, a chance to show his own hunger for victory instead of having to face someone of the likes of Chelsea Skye.

But that's none of his concern right now, he had to make sure that he was in a clear condition to be left on his own, not trying to bash his own skull in because he’s feeling himself become insane. There was already some clear worry coming from Kore considering what had happened, her arm remained wrapped around him and didn’t seem to be ready to let go just yet. Jason pulled her in close for a hug, just to help reassure that he was perfectly fine as he was, however, he couldn’t help but look down the hallway leading to the front door– he remembers it vividly when the alternate stood at the end of the hall, staring right back at a fallen entity, and came rushing down that hall to stab him right into the stomach.

No matter how many times he tried to blank it out of his head, he could picture them standing at the end of the hall. He could see the alternate standing there. He could see him, blade in hand and a smirk resting along his lips, slightly chuckling or even laughing at the entity. Jason’s grip on Kore tightened and she wasn’t aware of what he was seeing with his own eyes– but a simple blink and he was gone, the alternate was gone for now.

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I showed magnificence.

My anger was on full display at Magnificence because of the dishonour that this company was willing to bring to this championship because of who they put as a first challenger– and whilst they would’ve been a match for Joe? Not for me, not on my watch.

It wasn’t difficult in doing do either when dealing with someone who was nowhere near ready to go face to face with someone quite like me, I stepped into that show and I walked in with my head held high and a championship held high above my head– and I walked out the very fucking same. I knew that I was going to achieve that and it wasn’t any secret either, everyone knew it was going to happen, there was never a doubter in sight. And I believe that my words, my demands, were made clear when I said that I wanted to face the best of the best or I’ll turn this place into hell for everyone near me– because I have got the biggest of them all, the Excellence Champion himself has come to fight me in a little champion versus champion showdown and I’ll be completely honest with you all, I never thought that Allen would come down and give me the time of the day!

After all, you’re looking at someone who’s been on his A Level ever since the start of this new season and he’s been on a massive roll as champion, he’s been doing everything it takes to become the true excellence, proving he can be the best Excellence Champion that there is– and he’s almost there with the record coming up to breaking Damian Ayla’s, one hundred and sixty-eight days as of recording this little thing for Allen. An impressive feat– and I’m quite shocked that you stand here before me, Allen, because I’m sure you’re aware of what I’ve said in the past about who you just faced at Magnificence because it’s kinda shook me a little bit since then. I thought they would have beaten you and I really did, not because they’ve beaten me but I could see something in Otto that I never really saw in anyone else here on the roster.

And I won’t lie when I say that I feel partially stupid for making that remark against you, Allen. You’ve actually shown me something about you that I never thought that I could’ve understood at first. See, when I first watched you wrestle here? I wasn’t particularly sure as to who and what I was looking at back then– I just thought of you as someone who got lucky one time, end of story. I never put any pass on what you did after that night until the night that you and I faced in that tag team match. That’s when it began to click into place a little bit. The kind of man that I saw in the first place? He wasn’t there anymore, he was totally gone and without a trace of him left. So, you beat me and my partner– but she was pinned and I just let it happen because I knew that was dead weight to begin with. I think you knew that as well, mate.

Though, I wasn’t pleased with the fact that you did your ‘absolute best’ to get under my skin just by saying that I lost a couple of times in my beginning here in Pro Wrestling Excellence. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that you want me seething, you wanted me to be livid because you said that Issak Otto is on a higher level than I am. I mean, I wasn’t going to lie about it either because he manhandled me around the ring a few times before I even won the Impulse Championship– and yeah, he did beat me for a chance at your championship and that’s something that I won’t shoot down. I’m not like Joe talking about him taking the loss to me because he believes that he deserves to be going against you or even winning a tournament.

If you wanted me to seethe, to be livid, to be filled with anger, Allen?

Then do better than that.

I mean, honestly, do you expect me to be really mad about some losses that I took in the months that it took me to find my footing again in wrestling as a whole? If I had to be mad at just about every single loss that I took in that span of time? I’d be pretty fucking pissed each and every single day for the rest of my life. I ate losses like they were nobody’s business– and as much as that’s not something I would be happy to admit, I am admitting it right now because it happened. There’s no point in hiding it from anyone, it’s out there– people have seen it happen time after time again. So there’s most of your point broken away into pieces, Allen.

And you want me to give a fuck again about what I do? You want me to come down to the ring each and every single week that I am booked, you want me to come down there and see me give a fuck about anyone that comes my way for a match – whether it be for this championship or not – and you want to see me seethe, be livid, be bursting at the seams to just really fucking hurt someone? You want me to really give a fuck again, Allen? You really want that?

… okay, sure.

(This is me actually giving a fuck, by the way– like what I always have done.)

Let me break it down for you, Allen, because it’s very simple on what I just think about you as a whole. You love to bring this whole stigma with you that you’re the best thing going when you speak, you know how to really get people going and you know what? Sometimes, that actually works. Sometimes, that does get people going because they’re all so weak-minded to be fooled by someone like you. They’re willing to get all heated up and get angry– or, as you’ve told me to be– they seethe, they get livid, they become angry and they just want to beat you up. That never works because I’m sure someone like you has used that anger many times to your own advantage.

But that little stigma that you carry around? It’s not impressive, not at all. Shit, at a time– I used to think the very exact same thing as you do right now. I thought that I was the talk of the town, I thought that I could speak and it would be the greatest thing that’s ever been heard, I thought I had a special power the second that I opened my mouth! It wasn’t that, however, because I kinda just came to the realisation that talking doesn’t do anything for my in-ring performance and I was just a very quick witted kind of person. You could be speaking to me right now and I’d shoot you down within an instant, those are the facts but that’s not what we’re here for though. And whilst you can make the argument that you’ve gotten people angry with your own words– it’s not really because of that, you just sound so idiotic with your words that it would drive the casual person completely mad to the point that they really want to kick the shit out of you.

I wouldn’t call it a strength, or a gift, but there’s no better way of putting it that you’re a bumbling fucking idiot who also does comedy and believes in being the main character– so yeah, I don’t know how else to put it straight for you. Your acts of stupidity is what drives people insane, not your ‘gift to gab’ or however that saying goes. However, with me, you don’t need me to be angry with you to get the best fight out of me. You don’t need to hit me with the hard-hitting facts to just get me going and try to piss me off to an extent. The thing that you have on your shoulder is enough to get me going, to get me thinking in that mindset, to make me click that switch and put on a performance of a fucking lifetime for you, Allen. All I ask is for you to bring your best fight, bring your best anger, bring the most that you can give into this fight because I don’t want Allen Chaney at ninety percent or even ninety-five percent– I need you at a hundred percent, all focus onto me, because I’m not someone that you can brush on by and hope to the lord above, you get away easy.

No, Allen, you’ll be praying that survival comes your way. You’ll have to pray that I don’t hurt you in a bad way before anyone else comes along to pick up the scraps. The names are all after you, it seems. Joe Monturroi, Damian Ayla, Issak Otto, and much more if they come knocking. All eyes are on you and this match, Allen. There’s a whole world that’s going to be watching you and hoping that you walk out of this unscathed because they know better than to doubt me. You might not think that but I do. I’ve come a long way to get here to these crucial moments, Allen. After all, I’ve been in your position many times before and I know what weight is carried upon your shoulders to be a defiant champion. Hell, I do the same for this championship of my own. And I plan on it when Casanova English comes knocking and wants to take his shot at me, I’ll be waiting for him and I’ll show the defiance that I’ve put into this championship.

The best thing though?

I’ve got nothing to lose heading into this fight, Allen.

See, I’m – technically – the next level below you and I’m fighting to get put into the same level as you are standing on right now. To lose this battle with you, I don’t get knocked down a peg. I stay where I am and you prove why I’m only the Impulse and you’re the Excellence. I don’t lose anything by being beaten here in this situation, I can only gain from a victory over you– defeating the Excellence Champion is a big task in itself. I win, I gain some extra respect on both my name and this championship’s legacy. And, for you, people begin to doubt you. People begin to wonder why you – of all people – are losing to a lower-tier champion. And I know that if something like that happens, a little thing inside of your head is going to click and you’re going to lose control entirely.

The anger is going to be unleashed, the only emotion you feel is being livid, and the only thing you can do is seethe in that moment. Allen, you don’t control my emotions but I sure as fuck can control yours. And if you ever leave yourself in a vulnerable position when in that ring with me? I will capitalise, I will strike at that weakness, and I won’t stop until that victory is in my name and not yours. That is something you cannot deny being a possible ending, that is something you cannot stop me from achieving unless you find a way to really give me the fight that I’ve wanted from you, but you will clutch that championship after the bell and you will hold her tight because I don’t plan on proving who’s a better champion or who’ll come out as the top draw here in Pro Wrestling Excellence– I plan on giving a warning shot to you, or whoever might be the champion, for the day that might come where I am the one who’s challenging for that championship.

My plan from the very beginning was to prove that I am excellence, my plan from the very beginning was to become Excellence Champion – either taking the short way or the long way to get there – and having this championship of mine? This is only a stepping stone to get there to that championship. And I will defend this until I am stopped, I can guarantee you that– but the main prize has never ever left my sight at all. Not once, not ever. And you can sit there and believe that I’ll never get a crack at you or that championship but I am only an inevitability, Allen. I cannot be contained for long until I start fighting my way out and trying to pry my hands on you and that championship. So winning here is key for what the future might hold, Allen. For me and for you.

But if you want to play the mind games, Allen? Then let’s play. I can go all day and all night with these. I’m not going to call myself a master of it, much like you’ve done with ‘trash talking’, but I can do it. I can show up and show out. You don’t fill me with anger at all, I’ve kept myself calm and collected this whole time, because you, Allen, are the biggest joke of them all. To me, you’re only the opening act for my performance. There’s no validation to be rewarded here on this night, there’s no applause for you to collect at the end of the show, there’s only you to sit in the middle of the ring after the show goes off of the air and you begin to think to yourself about who exactly you are.

You’re not the final act anymore, you’re no longer the main character, and soon enough, you’re not going to be the champion who has got all of the eyes focused on. The real ratings come in when I’m involved. But, alas, my time is up. Although, I would like to leave you with a little joke to commence a new age for Pro Wrestling Excellence– much akin to The Comedian himself.

Hey, Allen.

Here’s your punchline.

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