"It's too cold here master."
"You must learn to control your body before you can try to control what's around you."
"Master, may I please put on more clothing for this."
"If you don't train now, you will not complete any training in time for the tournament."
"But master, what if."
"There are no buts, you must continue your training or else you will not be prepared when the time comes for you to prove your worth. Now, begin."
The scene is blurry, but can be made out. A young man wearing a loose pair pf gi bottoms only is bowing before an older man in a dark blue gi. The two stay in this way in the woodlands around them for a few seconds as the snow begins to fall again on the white powdered forest. In the distance, a twig snaps as a rabbit jumps; both men flinch their knees at the sound and take a defensive stance. As the camera focuses in more, a young Alex Cutwright is training against a man in his late thirties in a heavily wooded landscape infront of an ancient castle.
Alex rushes the man and quickly crescent kicks only to be dodged and kicked at himself in the knee. Alex jumps to the side and kicks yet again in the same motion to have it blocked by a quickly lowered forearm; the master strains to maintain the block as Alex continues in the motion. The old man steps back and regains footing as Alex plants his feet firmly on the ground.
"Good, Alex. Now, try again and actually put effort into it. You're barely even trying."
Alex took off running at his master again and punched forward with his right; though the old man only leaned back and stepped sideways, letting Alex punch right past him. But, Alex brought his left knee up and jumped with his right, slamming into his master's side. The old man stumbled backwards and caught himself on his hand as he knelt down. In deep wheezing, he spoke.
"Good Alex. You're....... getting much better as l...... long as you try hard. You mus..... You must remain focused on your opponent."
"Are you ok, Master?"
The old man lunged forward and threw a hard right hook at Alex. With the last split second of realization, Alex jumped back and dodged the punch, sending his master to fall flat on his face from the lunge.
"Good Alex, you've done well in these last years training here with me. You will do fine at the tournament. Rest well tonight, we have a long journey ahead of us."
Alex bowed and lowered his head to his Master.
"Yes, Master."
Alex raised up and walked to a tree to lift a white cloth folded over itself. Under his bag, though, was dark blue gi baring the symbol of Kyokushinkai,.
"Master, I can't possibly be ready to don this yet."
"Alex, you have trained hard to earn the title of Master. Wear that at the tournament with pride."
Alex turned to face his master who had come behind him and bowed down; the bo in his hand brought behind him in respect to the new master he had trained.
"Thank you much, Master. I will keep this gift from you for the rest of my time."
"Alex, you must remember that material is not important, it is what you have in your heart and not your hand, that matters in the outcome. Keep your mind pure, your heart clear, and your generosity at its best always.
"Yes, Master. I understand."
"Good, now go rest. The journey tomorrow will be long."
Alex nodded to his master and turned. He carried his head high as he traveled down the path into the forest towards a small village.
Alex stands in a dimly lit room adorned with paintings of parts of Germany. Against the far back wall is the young Alex with the old man both in their dark blue gi at a tournament in eastern France. Between them is the championship trophy and a pure ivory bo of five feet length. Above the photo rests the staff, to the left is the trophy in a redwood case with glass windows, and to the right is the dark blue gi, torn from the years past, folded tightly and wrapped in a tattered black belt baring a single gold mark at one tip. The sun sets fully to the right of the room and no light reaches the room now. Alex sighs and turns on the halogen bulb above. The hardwood floors creek as the boards move under pressure.
Alex moves forward, stepping slowly towards the far wall with his relics of a former life. As he moves towards them and sighs, his hand extends and comes to rest on the now dust covered gi. A small puff comes from behind it as the pressure pushes off some of the dust. Alex breathes out deeply as the dust rises to his face and turns around to breath in. Christine is standing in the doorway looking solemnly into the normally locked room.
"I......"
"You didn't know that I had done this?"
"No, I didn't. I never knew that you....."
"Don't worry. No one else did either. Except for Master Fitkin.
"Do you ever regret leaving from Europe."
"Had I never left, I never would have returned to you, Christine. Without you, I'm not going to make it anywhere in life. I lost you once, baby, I'm not going to loose you again."
They kiss deeply and passionately for a moment in the doorway. As they slowly break she looks to him innocently and speaks.
"I'm sorry Alex. I didn't know how much you went through over there. You never said anything about it."
"I needed to find myself while I was there. I thought that if I stayed gone long enough, either I would find me, or you would find me. But neither happened, and luckily, we found each other later in life and can stand here today."
Her hand stretched out and she looked at the diamond engagement band she had just received days earlier. She smiled and kissed Alex again.
"I'm glad we found each other."
"So am I."
A cough came from the stairway two yards away. They both turned to look as a XWF camera man stood there with the first bag of his equipment. Alex and Christine smiled as they knew they had been caught in the act of falling for each other, again. Christine stepped back and smiled as she walked away from the two.
The camera sits in the back of an editing room of a television station. Alex Cutwright and the camera man from the previous day are currently working with a film editor to piece together the promotion that Alex had cut the day before. The near pitch black room was lit only by computer screens and a single raised lighting by the door. Wires ran across the floor and on the walls to screens and systems set around the fourteen foot by eight foot room.
Now that they had finished adding in CGI, the only thing left was to make back-up copies and send the finished product to broadcast. As the final reel is removed and packaged, Alex speaks from the back of the dark room. "Well, we've seen each piece lain over the next, but can we all see the finished copy before we send it off?"
"Yeah, hold on a second and let me load it."
She played at the desk a moment before switching the monitor over to view for all three of them. The room went dark as all the screens turned off. Then, the one immediately before them came back on in static.
A table suddenly appeared on screen with a bottle of generic pain killers resting. The bottle explodes instantly and the yellow and red capsules fall over the table spinning, some even falling off. The Canadian Anthem kicks in as the Canadian Flag flies high over the Chateau de la Frontenac in Montreal. The flag stops waving and locks into a still image of the outstretched flag. A gold belt fades into existence from behind the flag and they merge into one; the XWF Canadian Title Belt. The belt is focused on screen and all goes silent. For three seconds the screen stays on the belt with music slowly fading into the foreground. After the Flesh plays as the image or Blizzard fades into the left edge of the screen. On the right edge of the screen, Zach Rizza comes into view. Crimson Kline comes into view next to Blizzard. Finally, as the music slows, Alex Cutwright comes into view the clearest of all the others. As the names appear around the screen, only Alex's has high color and definition to the image.
"26 June, 2005" appears on screen. The four men begin to rotate around the screen in 3D as one fades into the back one into the front and two centered on the sides. They rotate clockwise around, starting with Rizza.
"This Sunday, these four men will enter the ring, one a champion. But only one can leave with a prize in hand. On one hook, the Canadian title, but on the other, a contract for Anarchy. Which will the winner choose, and who will the winner be?"
The scene image stops on Alex with the other three faded into the background, Kline more so than the others. An explosion occurs and the image goes to a happy family sitting in front of their television. As the father changes the channel, he comes to the XWF Massacre show, watching Alex beat on Zach Rizza just weeks earlier. The sons eyes go wide and the parents panic.
"Order now and be sure to get the great action of the XWF live in your home! Don't miss it!"
The television goes dead for a few seconds and then static. Alex smiles and the others just look at him and his approval.
"Now all that's left is to finish working out. I suppose it's time to get to the gym. Send it to the station for broadcast. I think people will get the point plain as day."
