AS43 - Phoenix vs. Drake Callahan (Lethal Lottery Qualifier)

[Ty Burna]

Due to popular demand, Ascension will play host to a rematch from last week featuring two returning superstars in Drake Callahan and Phoenix... this time however, for a chance to compete in the Lottery. Both men know each other well and will be revising tapes from last week to decrease any and all mistakes that could arise. Will Phoenix's second coming result in him rising to the occasion and winning that Lottery spot or will Callahan stumble all over Phoenix's path to the Lottery to take it for himself?

Deadline is Tuesday, January 24th at 11:59 PM Central Time.​

 

[Thriller Ant]

The scene opens with the screen filled with static. As it starts coming into focus, we hear Jack Cohen and Sebastian Copeland welcoming the audience to Meltdown 18 and the Battle Royal for an Elite X Title shot. The static picks up again, with the picture coming into focus but no sound this time. We see Phoenix making his way toward the ring, before being clubbed to the ground from behind by Drake Callahan. The screen jumps again, coming back into focus with Phoenix attempting to eliminate Callahan. Drake goes over the top rope, but not to the floor. Meanwhile, Phoenix is seen flying over the top and to the floor. The screen spazzes out again, losing the video, but the audio announcing Drake Callahan as one of the men moving on to the title match can be heard before the screen goes black.

That was my debut. That was the extent of my interaction with Drake Callahan. Until last week, that is.

The camera turns and we see Phoenix sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Minoru, his training partner from Kobe.

It was going to be perfect, Minoru. I was going to come back to WZCW and begin to achieve the glory I didn’t the first time. What I wasn’t expecting was for that drunken idiot to not only make his return, but spoil mine.

Isn’t that a bit egotistical?

No, no, no. You misunderstand my motivation. Ego has nothing to do with it, as I’m sure most of those people either don’t remember me, or don’t remember me fondly. I just want to know why Drake, a man who was the golden boy of WZCW for a few months, would use a debut of mine to springboard himself for a second time.

Golden boy?

Look back at the opportunities he was given. The week after that battle royal, on Meltdown 19, Drake won a match to become number 1 contender to the Mayhem Title. The next pay-per-view, he won it. A couple weeks after that, he earned a spot in a match to crown the first-ever EurAsian Champion. He probably would have won it that night too, if he hadn’t just finished a stupidly-named hardcore match right before. A couple weeks later, however, it became his in a match with Ty and Showtime.

Phoenix pauses for a moment, almost hanging his head in shame when he begins speaking again.

Minoru, I know you’ve tried to help me be more positive, and I am working at it. I did have a good career during my first go in WZCW. I could never wrestle again, and I would have nothing to be disappointed about. The issue is that I want more, Minoru. I want more.

Phoenix raises his head and stares straight ahead, continuing to speak.

I see how easy someone like Drake Callahan had it in WZCW, basically from day 1. He would probably be considered one of the best never win the WZCW World Title, all because he was given chance after chance.

Minoru is looking up at Phoenix, who is standing now and both visually and audibly angered.

And what did I get? I had to fight to form a tag team. I had to fight to get my tag title chances. I had to fight to get a chance at a singles career. I had to fight to get back to WZCW. Minoru, I will be damned if that entitled drunkard steals my chance at entering the Lethal Lottery.

Phoenix takes a couple deep breaths and sits back down.

Nothing can launch a career like the Lottery. King For a Day may also grant you a title shot, but the Lottery not only gives you that title shot, not only proves you are greater than 24 other wrestlers, but gives you the opportunity to main event Kingdom Come, the biggest wrestling show of the year. If there was one chance, one match, that could validate not only my comeback, but probably my whole career, it is the Lottery. That’s why I cannot and will not let Drake Callahan get the best of me for a third time.

Minoru signals to Phoenix to get up and they begin walking out of the room.

Well, let’s get to training then. We’ll start with counters to the submission he uses.

The screen fades to black.

 

[Thriller Ant]

The scene opens with the screen filled with static. As it starts coming into focus, we hear Jack Cohen and Sebastian Copeland welcoming the audience to Meltdown 18 and the Battle Royal for an Elite X Title shot. The static picks up again, with the picture coming into focus but no sound this time. We see Phoenix making his way toward the ring, before being clubbed to the ground from behind by Drake Callahan. The screen jumps again, coming back into focus with Phoenix attempting to eliminate Callahan. Drake goes over the top rope, but not to the floor. Meanwhile, Phoenix is seen flying over the top and to the floor. The screen spazzes out again, losing the video, but the audio announcing Drake Callahan as one of the men moving on to the title match can be heard before the screen goes black.

That was my debut. That was the extent of my interaction with Drake Callahan. Until last week, that is.

The camera turns and we see Phoenix sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Minoru, his training partner from Kobe.

It was going to be perfect, Minoru. I was going to come back to WZCW and begin to achieve the glory I didn’t the first time. What I wasn’t expecting was for that drunken idiot to not only make his return, but spoil mine.

Isn’t that a bit egotistical?

No, no, no. You misunderstand my motivation. Ego has nothing to do with it, as I’m sure most of those people either don’t remember me, or don’t remember me fondly. I just want to know why Drake, a man who was the golden boy of WZCW for a few months, would use a debut of mine to springboard himself for a second time.

Golden boy?

Look back at the opportunities he was given. The week after that battle royal, on Meltdown 19, Drake won a match to become number 1 contender to the Mayhem Title. The next pay-per-view, he won it. A couple weeks after that, he earned a spot in a match to crown the first-ever EurAsian Champion. He probably would have won it that night too, if he hadn’t just finished a stupidly-named hardcore match right before. A couple weeks later, however, it became his in a match with Ty and Showtime.

Phoenix pauses for a moment, almost hanging his head in shame when he begins speaking again.

Minoru, I know you’ve tried to help me be more positive, and I am working at it. I did have a good career during my first go in WZCW. I could never wrestle again, and I would have nothing to be disappointed about. The issue is that I want more, Minoru. I want more.

Phoenix raises his head and stares straight ahead, continuing to speak.

I see how easy someone like Drake Callahan had it in WZCW, basically from day 1. He would probably be considered one of the best never win the WZCW World Title, all because he was given chance after chance.

Minoru is looking up at Phoenix, who is standing now and both visually and audibly angered.

And what did I get? I had to fight to form a tag team. I had to fight to get my tag title chances. I had to fight to get a chance at a singles career. I had to fight to get back to WZCW. Minoru, I will be damned if that entitled drunkard steals my chance at entering the Lethal Lottery.

Phoenix takes a couple deep breaths and sits back down.

Nothing can launch a career like the Lottery. King For a Day may also grant you a title shot, but the Lottery not only gives you that title shot, not only proves you are greater than 24 other wrestlers, but gives you the opportunity to main event Kingdom Come, the biggest wrestling show of the year. If there was one chance, one match, that could validate not only my comeback, but probably my whole career, it is the Lottery. That’s why I cannot and will not let Drake Callahan get the best of me for a third time.

Minoru signals to Phoenix to get up and they begin walking out of the room.

Well, let’s get to training then. We’ll start with counters to the submission he uses.

The screen fades to black.

 

[Harthan]

It is a late afternoon in the city, the sun not quite setting but deepening to a reddish hue. A medium sized arena has just let out from the latest WZCW house show in Cleveland, Ohio. Fans are streaming out, buzzing about the great show they’d just seen. Threading his way through the crowd is Leon Kensworth, trying to enter the arena. He was there to grab a few post show interviews. He keeps his head down as he overhears the chatter of the crowd.

“Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be just like Drake Callahan!”

“Um, no, sweetie, you don’t.”

“Daddy, can we buy the magic juice that Drake has?”

“Uh, well…”

“Mommy, why does Drake stumble and fall down so much?”

“He’s, erm, he’s very tired, honey…”

Leon shakes his head as he hears the talk. The crowd breaks apart and he looks up at the entrance of the arena, clearing away of fans. He climbs the steps and enters the arena. There are a few stragglers about, but mostly the halls are populated by trash and employees cleaning up. Suddenly, a roar erupts from a small group of fans that had remained behind. Drake Callahan has entered the hallway from a small side door. He blinks at the roar and looks confused for a moment as a group of fans surround him.

“Uhh, no hablo ingles?”

The crowd laughs and Drake chuckles along nervously. They begin to hold papers and pens out at him, faces alight with anticipation.

“Seriously, no hablo ingles here…uhhh…Leon!”

Leon had walked by the scene, hoping to avoid it. He had other interviews to get to and he wasn’t keen on returning to interviewing Drake again.

“Can I help you, Drake?”

“These people, uh, these good fans, they, er, seem to want something from me…”

Leon rolls his eyes.

“Autographs, Drake, they want autographs.”

Drake’s face lights up in sudden realization.

“Oh! Right, right, fans like those, don’t they? Sorry folks, it’s been awhile.”

The crowd only laughs again, taking it all in stride.

“Okay, uh, who can I make this out to?”

“Jason, please, sir.”

Drake scribbles something vaguely resembling a J on the paper, followed by his attempt at his own name, which looks something like a kindergartener’s handwriting.

“Well, there you go, have a good one. Who’s next?”

Drake continues signing autographs for the small crowd.

“Who’s this one for?”

“Um, just make it out to eBay.”

“Ha, that’s a funny name. Your parents called you eBay?”

“Um, sure?”

Drake snorts as he holds back laughter.

“Sorry, there you go.”

The crowd clears off and Drake brushes his hands off on his pants and sighs deeply.

“Well, that’d be the last of them –“

“Excuse me, sir?”

A young, blonde woman that had stood apart from the crowd takes a nervous step toward Drake. She looks intently at his face. Drake looks back at her and gives his sloppiest grin.

“Well, hello, little lady. Can I help you?”

She keeps staring intently for a moment, before realizing what she’s doing and hurriedly going to her purse.

“Um, an auto, sorry, an autograph, please?”

Drake keeps smiling as he takes her pen and paper.

“’Course.”

While he’s signing, she returns to staring deeply and intently at his face, biting her lip a little.

“H….a….n….and done. There you go, miss!”

It takes her a moment to take the proffered autograph. She stuffs it away, barely looking at it.

“Um, thank you.”

She takes a few steps backward and Drake turns aside. She keep staring at him, but Drake has his back turned now. Leon, however, sees her watching. She makes eye contact with Leon and rapidly breaks off, scurrying out of the arena. Leon takes a look at Drake, who, oblivious, has stepped up to a concession stand.

“One of your finest ales, good innkeep.”

The young concession stand worker looks at him dully.

“We, uh, stopped serving anything an hour and a half ago…”

“Right, right, to everyone else, but come on, I’m Drake Callahan. You can give me a beer, right?”

The worker gives an uncomfortable glance at the floor before answering.

“No, er, I really can’t. Sorry.”

Drake is about to say something else, but the worker hurries off. Leon has watched the scene with a kind of tired resignation. Well, he had to interview Drake anyway.

“Drake, hey, are you up for an interview?”

Drake meanwhile, has been frantically running his hands through his hair.

“No beer, no beer, what am I going to do…”

“Drake?”

“Leon! There’s no time. We have to get back to...uh…you’ll see.”

Drake grabs Leon by the arm and charges toward the entrance.

“Drake! What’s the meaning of this?”

“No time, Leon, no time!”

Just as he reaches the exit, Drake suddenly exclaims out and turns around, smacking Leon headfirst into the side of the door.

“Drake!”

“Leon! We haven’t got time for your silliness!”

Leon groans and resigns himself to his fate. Soon, Drake has marched them back to the merchandise stand, where a worker is closing up.

“Hi!”

The worker looks up at them, Drake grinning maniacally while holding a breathless Leon at his side. He raises an eyebrow a little.

“Hi…”

“I need belts.”

“There’s a Men’s Warehouse on East 5th…”

“No, no, championship belts. Big, gold things.”

“Oh, we’ve got those. What’re you after?”

“One Mayhem, one Eurasian, please.”

“That’ll be….$550, sir.”

Drake raises a hand and opens his mouth, but stalls there. He gives a quick look to Leon.

“No way, Jose. What happened to your winner’s purse from Ascension?”

Drake gives him an incredulous look.

“What do you think happened?”

“Stupid question. How much have you got?”

“$40…but I was hoping to eat tonight.”

The clerk clears his throat.

“I, uh, have got these micro toy foam belts…they’re ten apiece.”

Drake lights up.

“Great! One Mayhem, one Eurasian, please.”

They quickly complete the transaction and Drake takes his new belts. He moves to grab Leon again, but Leon shrugs him off hard and they walk back to the exit together.

“What do you need the belts for?”

“You’ll see.”

Leon rolls his eyes again.

“Where are we going, Drake?”

“Shh, you’ll see!”

They quickly reach the street, backed up with traffic. Drake looks for a cab and rapidly enters a car.

“Driver! To West 9th, stat!”

Drake looks out the window at the arena and drums his fingers happily on the sill. He sees Leon approaching again, quickly.

“Good, he’s catching up…why’s he look so freaked out?”

Leon reaches the car and starts hammering on the window, but he’s inaudible to Drake.

“Hmm, I’ll have to let him in.”

He tries to slide over, but encounters resistance. He looks down and sees an eight year old little girl looking back at him, wide eyed.

“Oh, hi.”

“Hi.”

“Could you move over?”

“Um.”

“Hey, whoa, are those pony action figures?”

“Yes…”

Drake gives a furtive glance around the backseat.

“Fluttershy is my favorite, but don’t tell anyone.”

“O...k…”

The door rips open and Leon grabs Drake, red faced and panting.

“Drake! This isn’t a cab!”

“Wha?!”

Drake looks around and sees that he is, in fact, inside a small grey sedan with a terrified young woman in the front seat.

“Please leave my car.”

“Are you sure you’re not a cab driver?”

“Yes, please leave.”

Drake sighs glumly.

“Darn it. This always happens to me.”

He exits and waves goodbye to the little girl. He shuts the door and the car speeds off as fast as possible.

“I knew she didn’t smell very Turkish…”

“Drake!”

“Leon, hey, we need a cab.”

Leon looks as if he’s about to start ripping his hair out.

“Drake, you are going to get arrested one of these days.”

Drake beams.

“Already was! Got off scot free. Pretty sure that makes me invincible in the future.”

“That is so far from an accurate depiction of the legal system, I couldn’t even begin to explain it.”

Drake, however, has happily drifted back to the sidewalk looking for another cab. Leon angrily goes to him.

“Look, I’ll get the cab this time, okay? Just, please, settle down.”

“Can I have juice?”

“I haven’t got any juice.”

Drake pouts.

“I never get any juice…”

Leon rubs his temples. How had his day gone so wrong, so fast? He hails a real cab and the two step inside. Drake inhales deeply.

“Ah! Now that’s Turkish.”

“Er, Drake, where to?”

“West 9th, please.”

The cab takes off. Drake starts humming to himself. Leon breaks the silence.

“Drake, mind if we get some material on the way?”

“Shoot.”

“How do you feel about the win last week?”

“Good, I guess.”

“You sound uncertain.”

Drake shrugs.

“I wanted a title match. It’s part of the Great Drake Retri…wait, I can’t tell you about that. Not here. Wait.”

“Alright…are you confident about facing Phoenix again this week?”

“Well, I beat him once. Pretty easy to do it again.”

“Do you think you should be more cautious about underestimating your opponent?”

“I don’t really think these things through, Leon. I just, you know, give a little bit of the one-two, a suplex here and there, and hopefully things come together. Maybe sometimes I try to think about what my opponents are like, but Phoenix is kind of like 'Whoa, who's that guy, man'. So, I’m mostly going for the strategy of ‘beat him up until he stops getting up’.”

“Truly, you are a wise master.”

“Thanks, old buddy.”

Leon suppresses his groan this time. The cab pulls up to the street. Drake rapidly exits the cab, leaving Leon to pay the fare. He grumbles about it a little and shoots an angry glare at Drake when they’re both on the street. Drake responds with an innocent grin.

“Come on, Leon, I have something to show you.”

Drake enters a small apartment building on the street and ascends to the third floor.

“This is a place I’m renting in the city. Come on.”

He unlocks the door and steps inside. The apartment inside is small but relatively well kept. A small living room is dominated by a table too large for the room, on which is a great poster board.

“What is –“

“Shhh, Leon, first things first.”

Drake enters the kitchen and returns with two beers.

“Drake, I can’t drink on the job.”

“Oh, I know, these are for me.”

He cracks open the first and downs it so fast that Leon has to blink to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him. He puts back about half of the second one and then smacks his lips.

“Oh, yeah. That’s the good stuff. What are you just standing there for, Leon, we have things to do!”

Leon shoots a baffled look at Drake’s back as he goes to the table. Leon joins him and examines the poster. Drake sets down his title belts in two certain locations on the poster, then steps back to admire it.

“What is this, Drake?”

“Do you like it? It’s the Great Drake Retribution Project for the Restoration of Glory to Inebriated Gentlemen! Or the GDRPRGIG, for short.”

“I, uh…I don’t know what to say, Drake.”

“That’s okay, I was pretty awestruck when I thought it up myself. It Is pretty impressive, I know. Here, let me show you.”

He points at the top of the poster.

“See, the first step I have to take to retribution is remembering the past. I’ve pieced it together, up there. The title belts are supposed to be reminders of the belts I held, back in the day. See, the first thing up there, the Sprint for the Spot…then the tag team with what’s his name, Chock-a-holic, or something…then I wrestled for the Elite X Championship, remember? But then it gets good…see, there I win the Mayhem belt, then the Eurasian…then…”

Drake has come to the end of his past section.

“Then you get destroyed by Showtime and carted off by Reider.”

Drake drinks deeply while staring at the board. “Yeah,” he says, melancholy in his voice.

Leon sees the sadness come over Drake, so he tries to encourage him.

“So, uh, what’s next, there?”

Drake perks up a little.

“Okay, so, this is the present section now, right? So you can see there is me returning, and then I beat Phoenix. And now…now my match this week, this is really important Leon. Because, you know, when I got taken out last time, I was on my way to the Lethal Lottery. And now we’re headed back there. Somehow, Leon, I know…I know that if I had just made it to that show, I’d have beaten Showtime, I’d have kept my title, and I would have gone places…but I lost it all, and I never got there. But I know that if I can get back there this time, I will, Leon, I will find the success I left there...”

“So you need to beat Phoenix this week, to get into the Lethal Lottery. Then, you get to the show, and you channel the success you would have had two years ago…to win.”

Drake grins widely.

“You’re so smart, Leon! That’s the plan, yep. So you see here, I win the Lethal Lottery, and then I go on to Kingdom Come…and there, I become…”

He pulls aside a small cloth that Leon hadn’t noticed before, unveiling, in the bottom right corner of the poster, a nearly perfect replica of the WZCW World Heavyweight Championship belt.

“This is, um, where most of my purse went to.”

“So that’s what you’re after, then?”

“It’s the only thing I’m here for, Leon. I need it. I need to be champion, because that’s what I was destined for then. I’m on my way back now. I need to prove that I can fulfill my destiny. That just because I lost it once, doesn’t mean it’s lost forever.”

Leon nods.

“I understand, Drake. I wish you the best of luck.”

He offers his hand.

Drake spits in his and shakes Leon’s hand with deadly seriousness. Leon grimaces and recoils as soon as his hand is free.

“Drake, uh, one more question. Off the record.”

“Sure.”

“That girl from the arena today…did you know her? She seemed very interested in you.”

“What girl?”

“The blonde, you signed an autograph for? The last one?”

Drake screws up his face.

“Nope. No idea.”

Leon shrugs. “Just a thought. Never mind. I’ll leave you to your planning, then.”

Drake has already returned to his board, pencil in hand, making revisions here and there while muttering to himself. He waves vaguely to Leon as he shows himself out. On the landing, Leon takes one more look at the door, and walks away. The only thought he can’t get out of his head is this:

Who was that girl?