A/N: I know my last chapter wasn't as great, but I've written a few ahead and they are getting better, I guess I was a bit burnt out with my muse last time, but it will get more entertaining!
"My, it would seem as if the wild one has been domesticated." Linda McMahon smiled to herself with a slight amused chuckle. "With a ring none other, the ring of subjugation."
"With my the what…?" Kari Ketchum blinked.
"Subjugation, meaning like it or not, without realizing it, you subconsciously control his will."
"I'm afraid I still don't follow you."
"The ring, it proves it. You gave that to him as a gift did you not?"
"Yes."
"And he didn't want it because it was, well, a ring…"
"That's right."
"And yet, he's wearing it anyway."
"Uh huh…"
"And that would be because of you if I'm correct, because you gave it to him, put around him, making him wear it?"
"…yeah…"
"So, in a way, you're starting to get close enough as friends to where you impact him in a way so much that it almost seems to overpower him."
"Oh." Kari blinked wide. "I think I get it now! But no, I don't want to do that, I mean…"
"You didn't do it Kari… he did it, he brought it onto himself."
"Hmm?" Kari lowered her brow.
"Don't you worry, this is a good thing, you just wait and see." Linda laughed, putting a hand on the so young girl's shoulder as she stared with a confused frown at the floor. Linda smiled warmly as she thought, "You really do love him, don't you…"
Kari was about to leave her office when, "Yoh."
"Chris!" She gasped, looking up as Chris Jericho burst his way in through the door.
"Oh good you're here." Linda smiled.
"Huh?" Kari looked up at her in shock.
"I've got something very important to tell you, so please sit down." Linda motioned to the chair. Chris reluctantly sat down as Linda went behind her desk, "Now, now, don't give me a look like that, this is a good thing."
"It is?' Chris blinked.
"Yes, very wonderful indeed! For you see, I believe you have finally earned a shot at the world heavyweight title."
"Whoa, really, for serious?" Chris's jaw dropped.
"Yup, that's right, it's true." Linda nodded.
"That's great news!" Kari beamed happily. "Congrats!"
"Wow, so when is this match going to take place?"
"Next Monday night on Raw, we'll announce the event during the SmackDown taping."
"Alright!" Chris clenched his fist in determined joy. "I can't wait!"
"Yeah, me neither!" Kari's eyes shook with excitement, imagine it, Chris Jericho, FINALLY the champ, just like he truly deserved.
"In the meantime, you should go prepare for your match tonight."
"Right, I'll be at the gym!" Chris bounded off.
"Wow, he sure does seem pleased." Kari giggled. Then she stopped and turned to Linda, "But… so who is set to win?"
"See, normally in cases like this it is predetermined, but Triple H specifically asked me to make this match."
"What?" Kari's jaw dropped in shock.
"He also told me to not set a pre-determined winner, he wants this to be a real fight and whoever finishes will deserve to really be the true champ."
"That sounds weird for a guy like Triple H." Kari lowered her eyebrows in pondering. "I mean is he that arrogant in thinking that he's better than Chris? I mean, I'll admit he could be a powerful foe to take down in the ring but, rrmmm..."
"I say just not to worry about it."
Kari grinned eagerly, "Alright then, I wont. Besides, I have faith in Chris, and I know he has confidence in himself."
"That's the spirit!" Linda smiled.
Kari went back to the hotel room to wait for Chris to come back, then they could go to lunch. But in the gym, Chris had finished his workout and stopped. He stood staring at himself in the mirror. He was fairly winded, he was panting a bit but not too tired. His face was slightly damp with sweat and his hair did look a bit matted, but he knew he could continue. He had to push his body to the limit for the week in order to prepare for this dream match, it would only come once in a life time and he just couldn't miss it. So he picked up some more weights and continued to up his workout. Kari waited and waited at the hotel room, eventually getting bored and turning on the television.
Her stomach growled, "Huh, oh…" She sighed and looked at her watch. "Come on where are you, it's already past one…" Just then the door opened and Chris shuffled in. "Hey there you are!" She propped herself up with a grin.
He wiped his brow, tired, "Hey, sorry, I gotta take a shower…" He panted and turned into the bathroom, closing the door as he turned on the shower.
"Aw…" Kari sighed with a sad frown. "I hope he doesn't over do it… why is he acting so weird anyway, it's almost as if this battle will have something more than the title involved. I mean, what kind of deal is Triple H setting up if he doesn't care who wins… No, something has to be going on here…"
Meanwhile…
"Oh you took care of that punk with no sweat champ. WOOOOO!" Nature Boy Ric Flair coached on his best friend.
"Nobody here could stand a chance to even pose a slight threat." Triple H walked back into the curtains as he headed backstage to the locker room.
"But why are you setting up your title match with Chris like this?"
"He will soon now why."
"But I wanna know now!"
"Naich." Triple H continued to speak in a calm deminer, sometimes the most quiet types of conversation can be the most deadly.
"Eh?" Flair stopped in his tracks, knowing this man for long enough, he could tell when he was angry. He only yelled when he was truly pissed off, and Triple H was so confident and powerful that he hardly ever got into those kinds of situations to where he had to raise his tone.
"You are starting to become annoying." Triple H shot a death glare at his friend.
"Er, sorry champ…" Flair gulped as Triple H continued to go along.
Triple H walked down the hall, his eyes focused amid his calm face as he thought to himself, "Chris may not realize it yet, buthere issomething that I want, thatI need to take care of, and I'm willing to put the title on the line to get it, even though I know he could never be truly great enough to inflict any serious damage on me anyway…."
As the hours went on and the days passed, Kari trained herself and Chris focused his mind and went to the gym to prepare his body. Kari lay in the hotel room waiting for him to come back from another session. Rather than just head to the shower, he sat down on the other bed to watch some television.
Kari turned and looked at him, "You know, I've noticed something about you Chris..."
"Oh? And what's that..."
"The others, the other superstars, after a show they go home, but all you ever seem to do is take out hotel rooms. Don't you have a place to live?"
"Well sure I do!" Chris scoffed almost laughingly. "This is my job though, a home to a working man is just a chore of a place to sleep on weekends really. I don't have a wife or family to worry about like the others do, I can relax just as easily in a hotel in some other town than go home to my parents." Chris stopped and looked back over at her. "Well what about you, I can say the same."
Kari sighed and looked away, "Oh, er, well... I, don't really have a home to go back to..."
"Oh?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not welcome, my family wouldn't want me back there..." She frowned and stared at the floor. It seemed like it's been so long, but really...
"Hmm..." Chris sighed in thought as he stared back at her. She looked back up and flashed a quick smile before leaving the room. She blushed as she carefully walked away, maybe she shouldn't have mentioned anything, she didn't want to bring anything like that up, she'd said to much.
A week past quickly and soon the main event of Raw had arrived…
"Oh boy here we go JR, I can't wait for this one!"
"Truly the underdog, Chris Jericho finally has a chance to achieve his dream King, the dream of becoming the WWE champion."
"But you forget, he has to go through the baddest man in this industry, Triple H!"
Chris Jericho and Triple H stood in the ring staring at each other once their entrance music's subsided. The fans were roaring, the crowd was nuts for this match. Kari watched in the gorilla position on the TV set there.
"Come on Chris! Woohoo!" She cheered.
Ric Flair stood outside the ring looking up as Triple H was the first to speak, "You seem eager to begin."
"You should know I'm ready to kick an ass the likes of yours any day!"
"So it seems to be that you know this is more than a title match."
"Say what?" Chris was caught off guard.
"My chance." Triple H smirked and rushed forward, punching Chris in the eye and as he fell back, he grabbed him tightly by the neck.
"Whu… hey!" Chris growled between chokes.
Triple H glared up sternly as he lifted Chris off the ground, "This is hardly a match for the title and you know it. You know what I want."
"What?" Chris opened one eye.
"And what I want, I get!" Triple H punched him on the side of the face again.
"AH!"
"Chris!" Kari cried.
"That's the way man, you show him!" Ric cheered outside the apron.
"What is going on here?" Chris thought angrily to himself as he struggled to breathe. His one eye was starting to blacken as both eyes were starting to glaze over from the lack of oxygen.
"This is hardly a match." Kari struggled, tears forming in her eyes. She struggled to keep her feet on the ground backstage, "What is going on here? Chris..." She choked, frustrated that she couldn't go out yet and help, she'd yet to reach debut status in training. "But I just can't stand here!" She closed her eyes as the tears finally came out from the corners.
"You had what I wanted… I wanted Stephanie McMahon!"
"What?" Chris's eyes came back to life as he heard the name.
"She may be just a girl, but she's no normal girl. Any other diva is just a human, but Stephanie was immortal to me, a goddess, for she having the name of the company in her status."
"What, why you…" Chris growled savagely.
"But she was infatuated with you and it angered the life out of me that she was the only one I wanted and yet out of my reach."
"So was it him that…." Kari thought to herself as she heard this, her eyes shaking.
"I wanted to kill you, I wanted to make her mine… but with all that has gone on with you betraying each other, her falling into a sleep and then running away, it seemed to be my chance, but nowshe is even further away from my grasp… and it is all thanks to you!" He tightened his grip as Chris cried out, Triple H punching him repeatedly.
"Oh this is a slaughter King, it's hardly a match." JR commentated, but really they both had no idea what was going on either.
"Please… stop…." Kari shivered in pain at each blow after blow, Chris was bleeding and beaten, he couldn't even defend himself!
"And now, you must die." Triple H finally released his grip, Chris crumpled into a heap as he coughed and gasped deeply for air to fill the bottoms of his lungs, blood coming from his mouth, his one eye completely swelled shut. "Little one…" Triple H smiled as he raised one fist.
"You show him boss, WOOOOO!" Ric cheered.
"NO, CHRIS!" Kari cried bitterly, tears flowing from her eyes.
"What the…" Triple H froze…. He turned to the stage. "Nobody is there… but then how… I just heard…" He shook his head, putting one hand on his neck. That cry...
"Bad move." Chris barked angrily as he jumped up and tackled Triple H full force. They toppled down and rolled over and over on the ring until they fell out on the apron.
"Screw you!" Triple H roared, he growled, what was going on. That voice… it was a girl…
"This is stupid, I won't win this way!" Chris ran back up the ramp.
"No you fool, get back here!" Ric cried as the referee engaged a ten count.
"Come on Naich, after him." Triple H got up and gave chase.
"Oh yes sir!" Ric followed.
"What is going on here?" King asked, and really, he did not know…!
"Quick, cut to commercial." Linda commanded in the back truck and Kevin obeyed.
"Chris!" Kari gasped as he ran back through the curtains backstage.
"Kari?" He looked over at her. "Whoa, look out, he's coming!" He turned around.
Triple H barged through the curtains, "You!"
"Whoa, Triple H!" Kari gasped, but her awe quickly turned to anger as she growled up at him.
"Who…" Triple H turned at the voice…. It was her voice, but why… what did it… His eyes widened, "You look just like…" He shook his head and growled at Chruis, "What's going on here!"
"Well it would seem if our match is over." Chris balled up his fist. "But the battle has just only begun!"
"Enough!" Flair called. "Stop this now, this isn't sanctioned, Linda could have our heads!"
"Grr." Triple H growled. "You're right my friend… oh, brother... we'll settle this another time." He turned to go.
"But…" Kari blinked. What about the match?
"Chris explain to me now what happened out there." Linda asked sternly.
"I really don't know, Triple H was acting… well, weird."
"He seemed so viciously demonic, like his true intentions were beating the life out of Chris, thrilled to see the blood on his hands."
"No…" Chris spoke up, causing Linda and Kari to turn to him. "He wanted something alright… and what he wanted he couldn't have. He, like myself, yearned after Stephanie McMahon's heart."
"Oh, I'm sorry Chris…" Kari looked at the floor sadly.
"No don't be." He smirked a bit. "Not at all, on the contrary I should be thanking you."
"Wait, what?"
"Your voice, it got to him somehow. He called all divas mere humans in disgust, while Stephanie seemed so regal and godly immortal as a McMahon. You may be just a regular human diva, but because you looked and seemed so much like Stephanie to him, it shot through to him. And, you really saved me out there."
"Oh." Kari blinked.
"Come on Chris, let's get you to the trainer asap, you need medical treatment." Linda stood up.
"Alright." Chris gave in with a sigh and followed her off.
"Poor Chris…" Kari frowned and stared at the floor as she sat alone in the office in thought. She stood up sadly and walked out, down the hall back to the locker room…
All of this pain and deception over the love of one woman, Stephanie McMahon… How could the love of that one diva cause so much trouble in the world of the WWE? Kari may not have been there long enough to know every person inside and out, to know every story and epic that took place when the cameras were off and the superstars became themselves backstage, but somehow she knew it, she could feel it. This wasn't the Stephanie McMahon she knew and saw from the shows on television. Something bigger was going on here, something more that lay deeper… but the better questions yet still lay remained to be answered… Triple H seems like Chris Jericho's most formidable foe in the ring, and a true enemy in life. Triple H, a man who lives, eats, breathes and sleeps this wrestling business, he hates the fact that there are women wrestlers now because he feels it distracts the crowds from the true reason that they're there, to watch him beat the snot out of every and any one else. But Stephanie was different, at least he felt that way, he would gladly get rid of every other girl himself if to just have her there, because she had the power, and that's what he wanted. But the event that started it all, if it wasn't Triple H that attacked Stephanie McMahon that night, then, who was it, and why did he do it… did he want to start all of this for his or her own selfish reasons, or was this coincidence all going acording to some plan? Sooner or later if they kept going on, the person would just end up soon to reveal himself, but until that time came, all they could do was lie in wait…
Next time…After one of Kari's training session, two failed local wrestlers gone criminal are found harassing a young boy whose dad they killed in a bar fight. Kari gets involved of course and as usual Chris must come to the rescue to not only save the boy, but Kari as well.
Coming up soon, The Little Orphan Boy!