Dark Winds

It was a great night at Tension so far, the matches had been solid and the crowd had been very much entertained. But the crowd was wondering about one thing in particular, there was to be a point in tonight's event where the renowned wrestler Ryan Knight. The newly christened Rebelling Paragon would discuss something with the world of Tension at large, however there had been an announcement that earlier tonight the man had been found allegedly harassing staff members in the arena. As well as vandalising locker rooms and defacing the walls as well, needless to say the crowd were wanting answers.

They wouldn't have to wait for long, as the lights dimmed in the ring and Ryan's new theme Raise Thy Sword would blare out from the speakers. Then a bright white spotlight would shine on the entrance ramp, revealing a very much dishevelled Mr Knight in a black suit. Accompanied by his right hand man John Carnaby and his Sister Lucy Grange. Ryan's face bore that eyepatch and several scratch marks on his cheeks and bruised knuckles.

Ryan Knight:

John Carnaby:

Lucy Grange:

Ryan walked to the ring at a brisk pace with his fellows in tow, he didn't even glare at any of the fans. Though Lucy did heckle several fans in attendance, at point even quickly flicking a fan's nose before moving out of touch from them. John simply scoffed at the peanut gallery, his main focus being on keeping an eye that his boss was going to be okay. Mr Knight yanked a microphone away from the ringside camera crew and slid into the ring.

"Shut off the music." Ryan said, with his theme song switching off. The lad stood in the middle of the ring with John and Lucy. The crowd, having heard of what Ryan had been up to today would promptly start alternating between booing, clapping and chanting "Why Ryan whyyyyy?!" no doubt stunned by how Mr Knight. The once noble and indeed at one time considered the standard of what men in Tension should be like was now a far cry from that, his wild demeanour and nature a start contrast from those days as the icon of the UK.

"Why?! Why?! Whyyyyyy?! You wanna know why I've done this?! Why I did what I did today?!" Ryan said, nearly clawing at his own cheeks as he bounced around from side to side. The crowd booed in response. Ryan went on with "Then I'll tell you why! Because I can." Ryan then stopped moving and stood perfectly still as he let that line linger in the air and sink in. Then he shuffle forward after that pause and scratched the back of his head and went on with "Wait, its not just because I can. I'm causing havoc because its merely the first step on the quest for the Warriors Without Borders. John and Lucy, they've had nothing to do with this. I requested to shoulder this burden alone."

The Rebelling Paragon would give a fist bump to John and a pat on the shoulder for Lucy, the artist smirked. Inwardly he was impressed by how brazen they had flaunted the social taboos, why be restrained in your creativity when you could explore how far the depths were he reasoned. For Lucy, this was so much fun! She had always had a wild and rebellious streak to her, but Ryan with his noble standard had sought to temper it. Now however she was given free reign.

"This was just a taste, a sample of the destruction we will wreak throughout Tension. The land will be conquered by us as we did so long ago. WE WILL DESTROY ALL WHO STAND BEFORE US!" Ryan yelled as he then rushed right at the ropes, getting right close to the camera in front of him. It was as if the viewers themselves would find his one eye gazing into their very soul!

"Speaking of so long ago, I know they're here. I can feel it in my blood......." the Rebelling Paragon hissed as he then turned towards the entrance ramp and pointed at the titantron. Ryan then darkly chuckled and said aloud "White Gale! You defeated us so long ago........What say you? I know your there.......why don't you grace the crowd.......face us again.........." he lowered the microphone, fell to his knees and placed his head and arms on the middle rope as he waited with a smile. Ryan was seemingly quivering in anticipation, the audience seemed to be quite intrigued also. After all these two teams were the ones that put Tension's groups on the map and made history back then........

While in between recording local promo spots, Lita observed on a nearby monitor what was happening in the ring area. She wasn't sure at first, but she thought she saw Ryan making his way ringside. John and Lucy out there as well tipped her off, but something about this didn't seem right. "Uh guys, you might want to look at this." Daisuke and Sion stopped what they were doing and looked at what Lita was looking at. Lina didn't notice right away, but when she got no response from them on which location they should plug next she peeked over their shoulders. "What are we looking at?" She asked.

"Better yet, what happened to his face?" Daisuke asked, noticing the eye patch.

As Ryan spoke, Lita remembered his breif run-in with Ryan a while back, spotting him during an unusual training session in a wooded area. Nothing she could recall from that day added up to what was happening currently.

And then it came, though not the way they would have liked. Even with their latch match together was a ladder match that resulted in Sion and Daisuke winning the tag team championship, they didn't expect it to be the last they heard from them. While a challenge was not unexpected, the delivery was. Letting out a sigh for not knowing what crawled up Ryan's butt and knowing what was said couldn't be ignored. As he gestured to Daisuke for them to answer the call, Lita told them to wait.

"If you two want to go out there that's fine, but something tells me one of them might try something, and there's three of them." Lita reminded them that while the team's previous matches were against John and Ryan, Lucy was out there as well. "If Ryan has a change of attitude, who knows how the rest will react when questioned."

"I want to trust them. Maybe we can get through to him somehow, even if just a little bit." Even if Sion felt there was some hope, Lita didn't look as optimistic. "I'm coming too." Lita told him, getting a nod and a simple "Okay." from him before they headed on their way. Along the way, Sion and Daisuke tried to see if there was anything that might have heard that could explain this, but they don't recall hearing anything from anyone...except the time Lita saw Ryan. Nothing came to mind that would be cause for concern, other than Ryan's unorthodox training, but even that didn't raise any flags. There was also a match on an indy show not too long ago between Ryan and Kei that ended in a draw, but nothing seemed out of place there.

While the arrival of the recently former tag champions was a welcomed one by the live crowd, too much was on their mind to pay attention to the fans that were close by. If it were them coming down for a match it would be a different story, though these was a different set of circumstances. Lina caught up to the group just before they got in the ring. She got a mic for her group, and Sion was going to be the one to say something in response first.

There were a number of different things he could of said, and it looked like he wanted to choose his words carefully, not wanting to set Ryan off. Eventually, he decided to be blunt. "What the hell man?"

Ryan was the sort that could be patient, content to wait and let things occur for him. However his new state often left him erratic and fast moving, he rolled his head from side to side in anticipation of WhiteGale showing up. They had to be in the arena for sure, the team had been a hard working bunch and that work ethic had to mean they were in attendance. Otherwise it was highly likely that the Rebelling Paragon would simply have to trash the place even more until someone stopped him, he'd already trashed his own locker room among other things. But lo and behold it seemed that Sion and his merry band had been around and decided to head down to the ring and see what the commotion was all about.

Mr Knight began clapping loudly and said "Herro there! Let's give em a big round of applause folks! Glad your here!" John and Lucy joined in as well, the artist and the herald would do so politely and loudly respectively. Quite a large amount of the crowd did so as well. Ryan then hopped from side to side, he scratched his head and was about to raise his microphone but Sion had cut straight to the point. Asked just what the heck happened to Ryan for him to be like this.

Those who had met Ryan before his return would have likely noted him to be a somewhat eccentric but good hearted lad that was honourable in his dealings, WhiteGale interacted with the Paragon on enough occasions to vouch for that. The group had made history with their back and forth over the titles, which was already having the audience indeed curious as to what the next chapter would be like.......

Ryan patted his head with his microphone and then titled his head. He then said "What happened? Oooooooo boy where do I even begin?! Its been something!" the lad walked to the side and leaned on the ropes like they were a wall and said "Well here's the story folks! So you all know about Brexit yeah? So we went back to Britain, began protests against it. You know try and tell them how bad an idea it was."

John then motioned for the mic, Ryan extended his arm for the artist and he said "Yeah we toured up and down, doing all we could and spreading the word. Then we end up in London and we're at the bar middle of the night, celebrating a job well done."

Lucy jumped to the mic and said "We were trying real hard to save the UK from doing something real stupid. Then this fight breaks out in the bar, we try to help put a stop to it and then we....." Ms Grange however was cut off from continuing by Ryan. Who put the mic back to his lips, turning his head to make sure the cameraman there got a nice, good view of his eyepatch.

"Then I get a shattered pub glass in my eye. Then I just......blacked out. I wake up at the hospital." Ryan said turning to look back at WhiteGale, only proper that he see them as he addressed Sion's question. Mr Knight then started chuckling from his throat, after a few seconds of that he'd go on with "And I lay there, being told I couldn't have my eye back. It was then I realised, just how futile all my endeavours were. That how I went about things, it doesn't matter in the end. To be rewarded for one's efforts in such a way, I no longer saw the point of changing myself to those fetters! Ryan's voice was louder at this point, as if he was speaking from the bottom of his soul at this point. "So no longer are we British, we have no borders. We fight only to conquer now. We remembered the legendary clashes we had with you. Put simply. We challenge you once again. What say you?! Any rules of engagement?!" the Rebelling Paragon was hopping side to side as if he were in a boxing match. Lip bitten as he'd wait for a response......

The group wasn't sure if Ryan's reaction to their entrance was sincere or sarcastic, given what they saw and heard from Ryan, John, and Lucy before they joined them, but they did not question it. While the group heard of the political mess that was going on in the UK and knew how Ryan felt about it, this didn't feel like the entire story.

"Yeaahh, I heard about that." Sion couldn't deny how big of a news story that was. "I know it's a big deal to you, and I really hate to drag political matters in here so bear with me for a moment everyone, but news flash, it's not like the Government in Canada is any more stable, and depending who you ask, there's an expired can of Cheez Whiz in the Whie House." Daisuke couldn't help but snicker at that.

"And if that's what caused you to lose an eye believe me I do feel bad for you, and if you want nothing to do with England that's fine, but is that really what is causing this? If you feel the need to fight for yourselves and where you came from that's one thing, but this..." Sion wasn't sure how to finish his thought. "I can't say I've dealt with Lucy all that might to speak about her. John doesn't appear to be as different, but you man, homeland allegiance or none, you're not the same guy I know. There has to be something else to this. Did whats her name in the castle run over your dog or something? Come on, help me out here."

No mic was needed for Lita as she stepped in front of Sion and told Ryan "If you want them you better spill it, all of it."

Ryan wasn't really the sort to have actually been all that political to be perfectly honest, heck he had revealed privately that he was actually opposed to Britain's ways for quite some time. Instead he considered himself the sort that would simply point out when something was bad and try to help improve it, hence why Ryan had taken leave from wrestling in order to try and do something good outside of it.

Sion spoke about Canada and of course the numpty that was Mr Trump, the Rebelling Paragon laughed and nodded his head and said "Oh it wasn't because I was political, I said it was a bad idea. You never get anywhere by shutting yourself away from others in my opinion. I appealed more to common sense than anything else, turns out there was not a shred of that among them all!" Ryan hissed out the last part, then his face contorted into a wince and he moved his free hand to his eyepatch.

John patted him on the shoulder to see how he was doing, Mr Knight nodded to him before saying "S-Sorry there, the pain still flares up in it from time to time. Doctors called it nerve damage or something like that, I call it a reminder of my failures." the Rebelling Paragon would stand upright and nod to WhiteGale.

"Yeah my dog Duke did pass away actually. Gave him a good send off he'd done right. Your right I'm not how I used to be, I realised the truth. That fighting for ideals, for honour, for nobility and all that. I realised its pointless! Nothing more than pointless abstractions to cling to when we fall, its all for naught. Better to rule hell than serve heaven, I had half blinded myself to realise this revelation.......So now we fight only for ourselves, no nation, no allegiance save to each other, we're here to conquer and battle once again." Ryan chuckled a little at his own joke.

John scratched the back of his head and nodded to Sion before saying "Yeah pretty much, we're wanting to just kick ass and take names now. I'm gonna be keeping it just in the ring though, how else can we get the spotlight otherwise." the artist then shot a brief glare at Lucy for her earlier action towards a fan on their entrance.

Ms Grange chuckled and said "Hey I'm just curious about it all. You guys know I've always had a bit of a rebellious edge to me, now Ryan here's saying for me to fight how I want. So I'm gonna do what I like. Feel free to do that John boy though." raising her hands up in excuse and grinning.

Ryan looked at Lucy and rolled his one eye, so long as she brought results that was what counted. Mr Knight then raised his microphone and said "There's......no turning back.....All that remains is our warrior souls....Intent on regaining the conquered lands we once held......So what say you?" towards WhiteGale.

Lita stepped back when Ryan winced. Ryan's explanation on the political matter was enough for the time being, the less time spent on that the better. There was concern from the group when Ryan was reminded of his lack of eye and John comforted him. Sion didn't see what happened to Ryan to be John's fault, but Ryan continued before he could address it.

The mention of Ryan's dog passing did get sympathy from not only the group, but many in attendance. Though that feeling didn't last as he continued. The thought of John and Lucy also wanting to be active wasn't an issue to them. Still, interest for another match between the two sides was brought up, one that couldn't be ignored, even if something something didn't seem right at first.

"Having been there before, and on behalf of everyone here, sorry for your loss." He puts a hand on Ryan's shoulder a moment as a mean of condolence before continuing and turning his attention to John. "From what I've come to know about you, I don't see what happened to him being your fault. Even if his injury was something that happened outside of the ring, we all know that things we do carry risks behind it both in and out. I'm sure I don't need to remind how some moments from Daisuke's day job has carried over to here, but that's another story all together."

Not wanting to be left out, Lita gave Lucy something to think about. "Well if Ryan's telling you to fight, we can't let those four have all the fun...unless you need to get your feet wet first, which is fine." Daisuke couldn't help but grin a little at being both blunt and somewhat subtle with Lita thinking Lucy might not be quite ready to face someone like her just yet.

"Anyway" Sion continued, "is it wrong for me assume that with what you're saying here that we'll be facing a different team than the one we and everyone here have come to know?" While he wasn't turning down the idea of them going at it again, he has reason to believe Ryan and John are now a pair that will feel the need to bend the results every chance they get.

Before either of them can respond, Daisuke feels the need to say something. "Would it be alright if I see it?" If Ryan doesn't clue in right away to what Daisuke is asing, she'd point to the eye patch.

John was the guy that was always loyal to his folks, it was why Ryan and Lucy hired him to begin with. Because they took him in, trained him up and he got a goddam title, what sort of person would he be if he did not return the favour? It happened on his watch, Ryan wasn't just his boss he was also his best mate too. Plus inwardly he was curious about the new path the Paragon was taking here, to skirt the edge of the abyss and dip your fingers in just a bit. It even extended to where his artwork had been credited with having a more darker form to it, much to rave reviews from critics. He'd simply nod to WhiteGale, but in his mind if he'd been a bit more on the ball Ryan might not have lost his eye in that bar brawl.

Ryan to his credit spoke with John, that it was actually a good thing somewhat in hindsight. As it made Ryan realise the truth of their folly and that they should only fight for themselves now, the lad nodded quietly to Sion's expression of condolences in acknowledgement and looked him man to man. Up till now Ryan had been loud and vocal, but this moment. He was contemplative, a bit of his light had gone that day. But he wouldn't dwell there, he'd carry the memory forward along with his path of conquest.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at Lita, the girl wondered what she was meaning there. But that was fine, could let the ring work speak for itself. Ms Grange chuckled a little though and bounced around from side to side, letting her new gothic princess attire ruffle about. She was quite proud of her new attire, it felt like it was fitting that she had these new dark clothes. As for the Warriors Lucy was their herald, the harbinger of doom to come.

Sion asked what he could expect from the former United Kingdom Elite, Ryan chuckled a little at this and said "We're a good bit more edgier let's put it that way, looking at stuff as suggestions than hard and fast if you know what I mean. Out of respect I'm telling you guys that beforehand, no one else would be getting that said to them beforehand." then he leaned off the ropes and pointed at Sion and said "And also I'm asking, you better have not been slacking off. Cause we want to feel that, that intensity from back then." something like that, that would make Ryan feel the spirit from within. He could still remember those matches, the stuff of legend......

Daisuke then popped the question, what lurked under the eyepatch. The crowd were roaring about it now, that was the million dollar question. Ryan looked around, then to the Canadian. Then to the crowd then back to her, then again. He lifted his mic and said "You wanna see it? You wanna see it?!" the crowd chanted yes twice. John folded his arms and looked down at the mat, Lucy looked out to the crowd.

Mr Knight would stuff the mic in John's hand, then with a casual attitude he'd raise his hand and yank his eyepatch off. Revealing a deep and fresh mini set of scars directly around his eye, said eye was half shut with a damaged pupil under it. It wasn't even really blinking, it was as if it were a detached piece put on separately. Ryan wordlessly rotated around the ring to make sure the crowd and the cameras got the view of it there. After a rotation the Rebelling Paragon would grab the mic and close his eye patch, once the crowd died down he'd speak out with "I pretty much can't see with it for the record, I was always right sided anyway." giving a little chuckle at his own joke. Before carrying on with "So! What say you guys, how we doing this for tonight?"

Sion did have to give Ryan credit for being honest about it, and he did have a point. After all it's not every day someone would be completely open about how one would got about his or her business. "I'm sure you've noticed" Sion brings up after asked if their efforts would still be the same, "We kinda don't have the belts anymore, but that doesn't mean we're not the same team that beat you for them a while back." The day the lost them was a rough one for her to remember, but she managed to get off a nod after a few seconds.

There was no reason not to believe Ryan about his missing eye, it's one of those wanting to see it to really believe it, and to try to understand better what Ryan is going through. They got what Daisuke asked for, and it wasn't pretty, as their faces showed. After Ryan finished his display, Daisuke thanked him for it. "Thanks. I'm not quite sure what to say about that." She looked like she wanted to say something supportive but words weren't coming out other than an unsure "Sorry?" with a shrug.

Sion and Daisuke stepped away from everyone else to take a moment to discuss the matter that remained. As they spoke among themselves, Lita felt a loose part of Lucy's clothing. "I'm not sure this quite fits you to be honest." Lita had the feeling Lucy didn't want to fight her, but that didn't stop her from seeing what Lucy's new limits, if any, are, curious if anything might provoke her. With how things were between the rest of the group she had nothing against Lucy, but since the others have had a number of matches between them, it felt natural to want one of her own with the other member the former UKE that hasn't faced any of them yet. Even though this was new attitude for the group as a whole, part of her legit felt it wasn't quite right. "If I were you I'd", Lita's attempt at giving fashion advice gets cut off by Daisuke and Sion.

"If you guys want to go at it again, you're on, just not tonight." Sion knew that wouldn't be a popular answer. "I know I know, don't me wrong, if this happened a couple of days ago then there would be no problem in having it tonight." Truth be told, Sion wasn't sure there would be time or not tonight to squeeze it in and he thougt it would be better to hold of until next time rather than say sure and have there be a short time limit for it.

Ryan was hoping that WhiteGale had been keeping up their wrestling practise, while Ryan and his merry pals had been away from Tension they had been following the scene there and knew that Sion and co had come up short and lost the gold belts they had taken after besting the former UK Elite. Ryan spoke aloud his thoughts with "If your not I'm gonna travel back in time and fight you there!" pointing at Sion and then shooting his hand upwards to emphasise the point. Perhaps it was that incident where he lost his eye had made Ryan get a sense of nostalgia, perhaps he felt the best place to start his conquest was to face WhiteGale once again.

Daisuke seemed to have some possible regret there at asking Ryan to unveil his damaged eye, Ryan however couldn't really care less. It was there simply to keep it protected, the Rebelling Paragon would nod at her with a casual tone. She might have expected him to be angered or display some scorn, but the guy was still a polite sort when he wasn't in the ring he reasoned. Far be it from him to hinder curiosity, to add a bit of humour to the reveal Ryan made the got my eyes at you gesture towards the girl for the sake of irony. Speaking of curiosity it seemed Lita was curious about the new attire that Lucy was donning, having a feel of it as it were. Lucy rather than tell her to back off instead simply lifted her arms into a T pose at Lita. "Pffffff, you cannot grasp my true form. This is merely a shape that you are comfortable with you mere mortal, for I am the herald of destruction!" their little banter was cut short by Sion.

Seems like they needed to take a rain check on a potential match idea for tonight, Ryan leaned in close and tilted his head to one side. Before scratching his forehead with the mic, then looking at John and muttering to him about something and patted him on the shoulder. The Rebelling Paragon said "Well.....fair enough suppose. I ain't in my ring attire I guess, heck I probably pulled a cool aid on you. Same time this week though?" towards WhiteGale. Once that was established Ryan would then yell "I'm going to that forest, I am staying there till we throw down! Then when we clash, make peace with yourselves and prepare for the arrival of those with no borders. And nothing to lose........" with that he flung the mic out the ring and rolled out the bottom rope and lept over the barricade and ran into the crowd.

John looked onwards and then sighed "See ya then I guess." he said with a nod to WhiteGale before he rushed out the ring and made to make sure Ryan was covered at least. Who knows if any of the smarks would take a shot at the Rebelling Paragon, Lucy smirked at Lita and then flipped herself over the ropes and said "TTFN!" before skipping out to play catch up with her bro. Ryan was slapping his cheeks and head as he moved through the crowd, likely to prepare himself for the clash to come............