09.27.21 | Road Map to Success

[Lochlyn Cade]

Road Map to Success 09.27.21 | AW | Dark Dynasty & Two Gents & Terry Colt Jr vs Alex Scott & Badass Bob & Flop & Ricky Schorg & Chris Schorg The car wipers couldn’t keep up with the torrent. The sound of rain upon their car reminded Lochlyn of the applause from a full arena, the way it drowned out any other noise. He squinted his eyes through the windshield of blurry shapes coming towards them, he’s barley able to see the white painted lines or the edge of the road on either side of the vehicle. Eli sits in the passenger seat next to Loch as he thumbs through Tik Tok videos; every so often Cade’s peripheral vision caught movements on the glowing screen of Eli’s phone. “Lochlyn I can’t find anything about our opponents on Tik Tok.” Eli states, elevating his voice so she could be heard over the sound of the storm they are driving through. “You should be helping watch the road,” Cade lectures, not lifting his gaze from the road. “I’m not driving,” Eli mumbles as he continues to thumb through the videos, unwilling to get into a verbal dispute. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he does see something; a shadow streaking across the road, directly in front of the car. “LOCH!!!” Eli shrieks as the cars back tires begin to sway with the sudden pressure of the brakes. “What the hell was that!!!” Eli says, as Lochlyn loses control of the tailspinning vehicle. Hix’s phone flies out of his hands and grasp the dash in a physical demonstration of sudden excitement. There was a muffled thud and then the front wheels bounced like they’d hit the curb as the car skidded across the embankment of the road. Eli Hix maintains his hold of the dash as if strangling the breath from a defiant opponent. It’s after a few moments that Eli Hix begins breathing again after holding his own breath. “I better make CruiserClash Eli!!” Lochlyn appears perturbed at Hix. “You and your short cuts!!!” Loch slams the car into reverse and attempts to back onto the roadway. It’s without much hope as the tires just spin in the mud created by the storm. “Son of a b…” Lochlyn slams the car into park before hitting his open palm across the steering wheel. “This feels like CruiserClash all over. We’re headed in the right direction and then… WHAM… right out of nowhere we’re stopped… First it was Two Gents and we finally got momentum after I pinned Jenson just for the Schorg Bros to put a stop on our trail to the Tag Championships. We should be battling over those titles two versus two but no. We’re skidded to a stop.” Eli Hix holds his phone up as if looking for a signal but a look of frustration comes across his face. His eyes narrow, his lip curls, and he lowers the phone in a seemingly defeated stance. “We’ve also got to signal and calling for a tow isn’t happening in this storm. I have no idea where we’re at…” Lochlyn Cade stares through him as if he’s looking to rip his head off and throw it out into the pitch black down pour. “What do you mean you don’t know where we’re at? This is your shortcut Eli.” Hix holds his phone up as he points towards it. “Hey, I was just following the phone’s direction. It’s not my fault you drove into a storm.” Loch for the second time slams his open palm into the steering wheel before he points towards his dash. “Get the map out of glove box!” Eli Hix stares at Lochlyn before he pulls open the door to the cluttered stash of restaurant napkins, old insurance verification, and finally an old laminated map. Written across the top in black sharpie is the words ‘Lochlyn’s Road Map to Success’. Eli looks at Lochlyn oddly as he unfolds the map to find cities across North American crossed out. “Loch… please don’t tell me these are the cities with your ring rats?” Lochlyn grabs the map out of Eli’s hands. “I’m not out here on the road looking for potential kids Eli. You think I’m Alex Scott or Flop having to pull into a dark alley with a fugly girl to swap fluids with?” Eli shrieks at the thought, “You think Donkey Boy has any fugley’s out here traveling across the globe? I mean… Even Bob’s got to have a girl someplace… Right?” “I’m gonna guess that Donkey Boy is busy trying to figure out how he’s gonna team with Flop and Scott after them fighting it out last week in a four way with Quid. You’ve got to imagine that Bob and Alex are pissed after losing to Flop last week to now being all cooped together as a team. Especially considering their faces the Champs, Two Gents, and the future Champs, Dark Dynasty, and that Colt guy we don’t care about.” Eli shrugs. “Colt? I don’t recall the name.” Lochlyn shrugs. “I don’t either. It doesn’t matter though. The four of us can take the five of them on any given day. And. That’s exactly what we’ve gotta do and what we’re gonna do so we can finally go after those titles.” Eli Hix holds up the folded map and begins to lay it out, from within the pages falls a single sheet of paper. Upon a close examination he realizes that the opponents of Lochlyn Cade are listed. Alex Scott tops the list. “Loch, why do you have a sheet of paper with the names of the people you’ve beaten inside of the ring on it?” Cade as if confused replies. “You don’t keep a list? I mean, come on, that’s the road map to my success. It’s the list that’s going to take us to Championship Gold.” Eli places his finger across each line as he begins to read the names. “Flop, Badass Bob… Hold on… You haven’t beaten these guys.” Lochlyn grabs the sheet of paper and holds it out. “What do you mean I haven’t beaten them? It should be a given that this coming week I get to rub out multiple names from the list. We’re going to win Eli. Right? That’s a given.” Eli Hix simply shrugs as he reaches down and pulls a pin out from the compartment that contained the map. He reaches over and takes the sheet of paper and scribbles something onto it before handing it back to Lochlyn who then reads what Eli Hix wrote. “Five time AW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions.” Lochlyn Cade smiles as he nods. “Eli, I like the way you think. Now, let’s get this car pushed back onto the road and get back upon that road of victory.” Eli Hix opens his door and goes to step out into the rain. He notices that Lochlyn Cade stays seated and doesn’t open his door. “You going to help push or what?” Lochlyn Cade smiles and then that ever present smug grin of his shows through. “It’s your shortcut and besides someone’s got to captain this ship.” Eli Hix slams the door closed and steps out towards the front of the marooned car. He knows that Lochlyn Cade is arrogant and believes he’s the best thing in this business currently, at least in his weight class. This doesn’t bother Eli though, if anything it only helps guide him as his concentration is usually upon the violence of the sport and not the accolades. He understand that to build his name he needs those accomplishments and right now he’s part of a five versus five match that he knows their going to win. That other team simply doesn’t have what it takes to pull out a big one like this. So Eli pushes and Lochlyn heads up the plans. It works for them and the team they’ve built.

2021 © 'The Promethean' Lochlyn Cade | '21st Century Trendkiller' Eli Hix