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Hiya, welcome back, coming up: The Royal Rumble, Jason vs. Shawn, who will win? How will the Rumble itself turn out? We're gonna find out… right now!

Here We Go!

Brotherly Hate-Chapter Forty Nine-Now or Never

The WWE Royal Rumble, the beginning of the road to Wrestlemania, some people saw it as a chance to skyrocket their careers, others saw it as one of the few chances they would get to prove themselves. Jason saw it as the chance to finally settle the score with Shawn, his mind was fully on the match with Shawn, the Rumble itself seemed days away, and considering how long his match with Shawn could go on that didn't seem unlikely. He was sat alone in one of the corridors, a usual occurrence for him now, hardly anyone from either roster spoke to him now, not that he cared. Since Friday the teen had undergone a change, he had shed his 'innocent' look as he called it, his hair, which he had been letting grow out, was now cut short and his eyes were hid behind a pair of dark sunglasses, in reality he only had the glasses to hide a monster of a black eye that one of Shawn's punches had inflicted, one punch? Even though it didn't look like it Shawn had a hell of a right hand, the eye itself was still red and bloody and stung whenever he so much as blinked. Jason barely noticed though, so focused was he on Shawn. "The Heartbreak Kid, the Showstoppa, the Headliner, the Icon, the Main Event, I'm gonna beat every last one of those monikers out of him!" He thought, his eyes narrowed as he started to think back to Summerslam when he and Shawn faced off for the first time, he still stung from that loss, he had Shawn beat! He knew he did, he just lost control, he proved that when he beat Shawn in the tournament, he kept his cool and he got the win, with an injured ankle, tonight he was one hundred percent, not counting the eye.

"Tonight the student outshines the teacher" He thought smirking. "But is that what this is really all about?"

"Don't you start" he muttered to his consience out loud. "It's hard enough with Shawn trying to guilt trip me as it is". He sighed then jumped as someone spoke.

"You know, talking to yourself is one of the first signs of insanity".

"No, answering yourself is". He smirked expecting to see Mara, to his surprise RAW diva Victoria stood in front of him. He quickly shook off his confusion and looked away.

"You sure you wanna be seen talking to me? Everyone else bar John and Mara has been avoiding me like the plague".

"Yeah well I don't care about other people's opinions, hence the reason Candice is the only person who hangs around with me and that's only because she needs some muscle to help her out against the girls who actually CAN wrestle".

Jason laughed. "Damn, that's almost as bad as the situation I'm in, the, quote, 'Good Guys' think they're too good for me and the 'Bad Guys' are all still pissed about me kicking their asses for the past eight months".

"That would class you as a 'Tweener' then".

"Nah, classes me as a loner, which I kinda like, ya get to kick whoever's ass you want without the guilt trip, gives you a wider set of opponents as well".

"Like I said 'Tweener'".

"Whatever" he muttered adjusting the glasses to cover the black eye better.

"What's with the new look anyway? Cutting your hair? Covering up those baby blue eyes that all the other divas are sighing about…"

"You included" he couldn't resist throwing in.

"No! Kid you're half my age!"

"Relax, I was just ribbing ya, I'm taken anyway, plus if I believed in teen pregnancy I'd say you were old enough to be my mother".

"Don't ever let anyone hear you say that, I feel old as it is, the only reason I'm still around is probably cause I can wrestle, if not then boom, out the door".

"Don't tell the boss I said this but the way this company's going then girls with wrestling ability ain't gonna be around much longer anyway".

"True, but you never answered my question, what's with the new look?"

"Let's just say I decided to lose the innocent little boy look, people seemed to think I was a pushover".

"Yeah, that's gonna cost you a few fans though".

"Surprised I have any left".

"I meant the other girls, they liked the innocent little boy look".

"Good for them, like I said I'm taken".

"Yeah we know, what wrestling school she go to anyway? She knows more moves than me and Trish put together!"

"She went to the same school I did, I joined a week after her, don't know why she needed training though, she knew more moves than the trainers, her brother used to train her at home apparently".

"Did a hell of a job with her".

"Yeah" at this point Mara herself made an appearance, if she was surprised to see Jason sitting on the floor talking to a RAW diva she didn't show it.

"Hey Mara, Wassup?"

"Not much, John sent me to get you though, wants to talk strategy".

"Why does he want to talk strategy? He's only gonna be at ringside, it's not a handicap match".

"As good as" muttered Victoria.

"Don't start I was actually starting to think that ya sympathised with me",

"You're… Victoria right?" Asked Mara.

"That's what they call me".

"I've seen you wrestle, makes me kinda glad I'm on Smackdown".

"Don't say that, you should come to RAW sometime, me Trish and Mickie need someone to help us carry the division".

"Think about how I feel, I'm about the only girl on Smackdown without having to take my clothes off to keep the crowd interested".

"Yeah we got girls like that too, Candice, Torrie, Kristal, Maria… although she's starting to learn".

"Yeah, look who I got, Melina, Michelle, Jillian and Stacy are O.K. though, and Ashley's learning as well".

"I know, I'm glad she's gone because if she pinned me one more time that would be my career in the toilet, anyway I better go, me and Candice are drawing the numbers for the Rumble, so I'll probably see you then".

"Try and keep number thirty for me".

"That would be cheating… I'll try, see you around".

"Nice talking to ya" Victoria left but Jason remained seated.

"Jason, John's looking for you remember?"

"Yeah, but I don't have to go running every time he calls me".

"Alright" she sat down on the ground next to him, a question came into her mind, the problem was how to ask it without sounding jealous. "So, what did you talk about?"

"This and that".

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Oh sorry, we talked about how I'm apparently a 'Tweener', we talked about how you're a good wrestler, you probably heard that and…" he smirked as he pictured her reaction. "According to her half the RAW divas have a crush on me".

"WHAT?"

"I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"You're jealous".

"No I'm not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Fine, maybe a little, but then again how do think I'd feel seeing you talking to a woman you just met as though you'd known her for ages".

"Considering that she's twice my age…"

"How do I know you don't have a thing for older women?"

"Ewww! No! Especially not ones who were in double digits before I was even born! I'm taken anyway".

"Really? Who's the lucky girl?"

"Very funny but… she's the sister of a man who sometimes calls himself Curry Man, she apparently carries the women's division of her brand on her shoulders… name's Mara something but I can't remember, gets jealous pretty quick though".

"Will you get off the jealousy?"

""Fine, let's go find John".

"Alright, did you talk to Paul London?"

"Tried to, failed".

"What happened".

"Told me to go away, not exactly that polite, then he said if he met me in the Rumble he'd make me feel like Brian apparently does right now, bring it on, just another one of Shawn's protégé's to take out!"

Mara stared at him; in a flash he had gone from carefree to focused, the smile was replaced with a frown and his eyes had seemingly narrowed behind the sunglasses, without another word he stood up and walked off.

Later, just before his match with Shawn was scheduled to start, Jason, John and Mara stood with Josh Mathews about to give an interview on the match.

"Jason Cena, in a few short minutes you will be standing across the ring from your former friend the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels as you did at Summerslam, however unlike at Summerslam this match is, in your own word, personal, are you ready for the brutality that both you and Shawn will unleash upon each other?"

"Josh, if I wasn't ready then I wouldn't be in wrestling. Shawn Michaels! Tonight, me and you, one more time, only this time, no holding back, no regrets and no mercy!" He ripped off the sunglasses revealing his bruised and bloody eye. "Look at this! One punch did this! Take a good look because as bad as this looks and feels it is nothing compared to what you're gonna feel tonight! Tonight I'm gonna beat you so bad it's gonna look like you took a shower in your own blood! There is no risk I will not take to beat you tonight! And once I've finished tearing you apart I'm gonna go on to the Rumble itself, toss out twenty nine other superstars and go on to Wrestlemania and put on a show that even the great Shawn Michaels could only dream of! And if you ain't down with that…" He paused and smirked. "… F-U!"

Josh took back the mic. "John you are going to be in your brother's corner tonight, is it just going to be for moral support or is there another motive for you?"

John didn't reply, he casually wrapped the chain up and put it in his pocket. "No comment".

"Damn right no comment!" Said Jason. "Look bro', I agreed to let you be at ringside, but what you have to realise is tonight, Shawn is mine! And I'm gonna beat him alone!"

Before he could reply he turned his back on John and headed towards the ring area.

Jason paced the ring waiting for Shawn to show himself, John and Mara were at ringside, Jason had been waiting almost a minute, Shawn had already begun the mind games, finally his music hit and he made his way out to the ring. There was no dancing, no kneeling down on the ramp, he just marched to the ring and got in yelling for the referee to ring the bell, he stood in the centre of the ring as Jason circled him, the teen stopped and got up in his face, he just returned the stare, his face devoid of any emotion, the referee eventually called for the bell but the two continued to stare each other down, finally they locked up.

Shawn once again gained the early advantage by out wrestling Jason, he went behind Jason and took him down slapping him round the back of the head to try and psyche him out, they locked up again and Jason went behind Shawn only to be taken down with an arm-drag, he jumped up and received another, he jumped up again and charged only for Shawn to backdrop him, Shawn then whipped the teen but he grabbed the rope and bailed. Jason circled the ring trying to come up with a plan, he exchanged a glance with John then slowly got back in the ring, they went to lock up a third time but Jason went for a knee to the gut but Shawn was wise to it and blocked it, he gave Jason a cocky smile then slapped him hard across the face, Jason reeled away then turned back into a huge right from Shawn that put him down, he bounced back up and Shawn ran him into the corner and unloaded with right hands, the teen tried to escape but Shawn threw him back into the corner and continued to punch away. He then lifted Jason's shirt up exposing his chest and opened up with chops, they were legal so the referee could do nothing but let him work, he lost count of how many he hit but when he stopped the teen's whole chest was bright red. He whipped the teen off the ropes and caught him with a Lou Thesz press followed by more right hands to Jason's injured eye; he let the teen up then ran forward and clotheslined him over to the outside.

Jason stayed down a little longer than he normally would have to catch his breath and think over a new strategy, he hadn't expected Shawn to be this aggressive, he slowly got to his feet and turned back to the ring only for Shawn to come flying over the top onto him, Shawn then picked the teen up and slammed his head into the ring and whipped him into the steel steps, he ran forward and booted Jason right in the mouth then repeatedly slammed the teen's head backwards against the steps, he picked Jason up again and slammed his head against the ringpost then whipped the teen into the barrier before slamming him on it, finally he rolled the teen back in the ring and unloaded with even more right hands. Jason fought his way back to his feet and Shawn whipped him, the teen ducked an elbow but Shawn sidestepped his charge as he came back, Jason went flying over the top-rope but grabbed it and skinned the cat back in, he charged Shawn again but this time received a backdrop that sent him flying back to the outside.

The teen got back to his feet again and glared at Shawn and got back up on the apron, he started to get back in but paused and stood up, he seemed to think things over then said. "I don't need this, forget it" before hopping off the apron and heading for the back! Shawn look confused then charged after him not realising that Jason was watching him on the big screen, he waited until Shawn was close enough then spun round and nailed him with a right hand!

"Did you think I'd run from YOU?" He yelled before picking Shawn up and running him back-first into the crowd wall, he dragged Shawn back to the ring and rolled him in, he followed and waited for Shawn to stand before running through him with a clothesline, Shawn crawled to a corner and Jason followed with a stinger splash and a suplex for a two-count, he backed Shawn into the corner again and hit a few right hands before whipping him and catching him with another clothesline, Shawn again went back to a corner and Jason charged only to be met with a boot, Shawn tried to come out with a clothesline but Jason ducked and hit a neckbreaker for another two.

Jason smirked as he started to pick Shawn apart he whipped HBK and caught him with a powerslam, instead of covering he waited for Shawn to roll to his knees before hitting a shining wizard for a two-count, he picked Shawn up and hit a reverse DDT for another two, he whipped Shawn again and tried an elbow but Shawn ducked and went for a clothesline, Jason ducked however and dropped Shawn with an impaler for another two. The teen sighed and climbed to the top-rope, he waited for Shawn to stand and came down looking for a cross-body but Shawn rolled through into a pin! Jason just kicked out and knocked Shawn down with a massive clothesline and locked on a sleeper, Shawn showed signs of life but after a minute went limp in, the referee went to check Shawn's arm but HBK started to fight out before going limp again, this time the referee was able to check his arm, it fell twice but before it could fall a third time Shawn stopped it and began fighting to free himself, Jason's hold started to slacken so he tried to put Shawn back down by turning into a choke but Shawn began throwing elbows, finally he got free and whipped Jason, he lowered his head but Jason countered by dropping down and punching him in the face, he reeled away then turned back into an x-factor.

The teen stood over Shawn, the Miami crowd was really starting to show their hatred, they were flipping him off, some where throwing drinks at him, he responded with a grin then went for the Five-Knuckle-Shuffle, pausing to make the DX sign before he hit it, he called for the F-U and lifted Shawn but HBK slipped behind him and pushed him away, he then went for a clothesline but Jason ducked, both men then hit the ropes and hit each other with flying forearms, they were both down for nine of the referee's ten-count before both nipping up and exchanging right hands! Jason took control and whipped Shawn, he went for a leapfrog but Shawn hit the brakes and stuck out his knee causing Jason to give himself an atomic drop! Shawn followed up with a couple of clotheslines before slamming the teen, he climbed to the top-rope but Jason was already standing, in one fluent movement the teen leapt from the mat to the top-rope! He set Shawn up for an impaler but HBK fought out and pushed him down, he backward rolled to his feet and cut Shawn off again, this time he went for a superplex but Shawn again fought out and sent Jason to the mat face-first, he then stood up straight, made the DX sign and dropped the elbow, he crawled to the corner and tuned up the band before attempting Sweet Chin Music but Jason ducked and hit a big dragon suplex! This wasn't as impressive as the one on Viscera but it still looked good, the referee was caught out and was slow to make the count allowing Shawn to kick out at two.

Jason slowly got back to his feet, he shot a glare at the ref who responded by holding up two fingers, Jason picked Shawn up and hit a quick back suplex before climbing to the top-rope, he went for a frog splash but Shawn moved, Jason rolled through to his feet and saw Shawn pulling himself up, he charged forward but Shawn exploded with Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere! Jason dropped to the mat and Shawn staggered around trying to stay upright before falling as well, he crawled over to Jason and draped an arm over him, the referee counted… but Jason just kicked out! It had been so close that John was halfway in the ring. Shawn staggered up to his feet and went to the corner, he tuned up the band again but as he started forward Jason spun round and hit a superkick of his own! Shawn went down but instead of covering Jason pulled him to the middle of the ring and locked on the sharpshooter! Shawn tried to fight out of it but Jason had it on perfectly, Shawn started struggling towards the ropes, his fingers grazed them but Jason walked back out to the centre of the ring, Shawn seemed to go limp but then tried to reach the ropes again, he got to within arms reach but as he went to grab them John pulled the bottom rope away! Jason had his back to this and didn't see but seemed to realise Shawn was near the ropes and pulled him back out to the middle again, Shawn started to crawl forward one last time but Jason leant back even further increasing the pressure and immobilising Shawn, HBK raised his arm to tap then suddenly grabbed Jason's ankle and tripped him, the teen fell to the mat and Shawn stood up with the sharpshooter now on Jason! Now it was the teen's turn to feel the pain, immediately he reached for the ropes but Shawn pulled him away and sat on his back leaving the teen unable to move, still he refused to tap, even going as far as to clench his fists together to make sure he didn't do it involuntarily, suddenly he reached behind him as Shawn had done and tripped him he stood up and tried to put the sharpshooter back on but Shawn kicked him away. The two climbed back to their feet and Shawn charged but Jason ducked and lifted him up for the F-U! Shawn struggled and just managed to free himself, he landed behind Jason and tried Sweet Chin Music but the teen ducked again and lifted him up and this time landed the F-U! The impact was so great that Jason bounced back to his feet before dropping, John screamed for his brother to cover as Jason crawled towards Shawn, he hooked both legs as the referee counted but Shawn still kicked out!

Jason's hands instinctively went to his head and he lay back on the mat. "What more do I have to do?" he thought, how much more could one man take? He looked up to see Shawn almost to his feet and he fought his way up as well, Shawn went for a right hand but Jason blocked and hit one of his own, Shawn tried again but received the same result, he grabbed the ropes for support as Jason charged and hit a clothesline that sent both over the top to the outside. Jason recovered first and forced himself to get back up, Shawn was on his hands and knees so Jason hit a big kick to his ribs, the teen then headed round to the Smackdown announce table and began dismantling it, he had just removed one of the monitors when he noticed Shawn moving out of the corner of his eye, he looked up to see Shawn taking a running jump off the steel steps and instincts kicked in causing him to throw the monitor at Shawn, the glass screen connected with Shawn's face knocking him clean out of the air, since he hadn't technically used it the referee couldn't disqualify him for the monitor, he picked Shawn up and smirked as he saw blood pouring out of and open wound on his forehead, he rolled Shawn onto the announce table and drove his fist into the cut a few times and rolled back into the ring. He seemed to be using this as a chance to catch his breath then suddenly walked forward and climbed to the top-rope! The referee tried to stop him but he shrugged him off as both Mara and John ran round to stop him, he ignored them both and stared at the gap he had to clear then looked to the sky. "God, I know I don't deserve it but I'm gonna need your help on this one" He then looked back at the gap, took a deep breath and jumped, the scene seemed to play in slow motion as he cleared the gap perfectly and crashed down on Shawn with a massive frog splash! The table exploded on impact and Jason felt all the air get driven out of him, he lay there for a moment trying to clear his head, he felt something in his throat and opened his mouth to see blood come pouring out! He panicked thinking he had done some internal damage but no more followed and he sighed with relief, or tried to he didn't have enough air in his lungs to sigh, his body felt wrecked and he was sure he had broken at least one of his ribs, God only knew how Shawn was feeling. John and Mara were staring in shock at what they had seen when John suddenly realised that the referee was counting and grabbed Mara.

"Distract the ref".

"What?"

"Distract the ref or he's gonna get counted out!"

Mara nodded and climbed up on the apron, the referee turned to deal with her and John raced round the ring, he grabbed Jason and dragged him to the ring before rolling him in, he went to give Mara the signal to stop distracting the referee but felt Jason's hand grab his shirt.

"J… John, roll Sha… roll Shawn back in… back in here".

"What? Bro' you're gonna win!"

"I don't want to win by… by count out, I can beat him by pin John I know I can! Please roll him back in".

John sighed then went and grabbed Shawn, he wasn't quite as gentle as he was with Jason and threw Shawn in with considerable force to make sure he wasn't near any ropes, Mara hopped off the apron and the referee turned to see Jason forcing himself to put an arm over Shawn, he counted… but Shawn kicked out again! John threw a fit outside and Jason probably would have done the same if he had the strength, as it was he was barely able to make it to his feet, John hopped up on the apron with a chair, he offered it to Jason but the teen shook his head and picked Shawn up, he tried a whip but Shawn reversed it, John didn't get off the apron and as Jason came back Sawn caught him with a flapjack into the chair! John fell to the ground and Jason reeled back into a roll up, the referee counted but he just managed to kick out. He lay on the mat trying to shake away the dazed feeling he now had, he raised and hand to the side of his head and felt warm blood pouring out of a cut, he and Shawn both struggled back to their feet, both favouring their ribs and now both bleeding freely, Shawn charged Jason but the teen sidestepped and tripped him, his head went between the top and middle ropes where John was there to meet him with a shot with the chain! Neither Jason, Mara or the referee saw this but Shawn certainly felt it, he fell backwards and Jason was there to roll him up, the referee counted and Shawn came to his senses a fraction too late to give Jason the win!

Both Shawn and Jason lay on the mat finally giving in to the pain, Mara was in the ring before the bell even rang to help Jason while John took his time, the teen practically crawled to the ropes before dropping to the outside, when John and Mara helped him up he turned to his brother.

"Told ya I didn't need ya".

"Yeah, yeah you did" replied John slipping the chain back into his pocket.

Teddy Long, Palmer Cannon, Jonathan Coachman, Candice and Victoria were in one of the offices in the arena where all the superstars had been drawing their numbers for the Rumble, only two remained each reserved for the Cena brothers. For the umpteenth time that night Teddy and Coachman were arguing, Cannon was surprisingly trying to keep the peace, Victoria and Candice were watching with bored expressions, Candice suddenly opened the container and pulled out the remaining two orbs.

"Candice? What are you doing?" Whispered Victoria.

"I'm seeing what numbers the Cena boys could get" she replied opening the orbs and unfolding the pieces of paper inside, her eyes went wide and she grabbed Victoria's arm.

"Vickie! Look at this!" She hissed, showing her the papers.

"Crap! At least one of them is gonna be happy".

Candice quickly folded up the papers and returned the orbs to the container, none of the men in the room noticed, then the door opened and the Cena's walked in, the two divas gasped when they saw the state of Jason, dried blood covered one side of his face' his black eye dominated the other side, his ribs were bandaged up and he held an icepack over them, he looked like something out of a horror movie, the one piece of good news was that he hadn't broken his ribs, instead of going to the trainer to get cleaned up he had simply got Mara to check him over, his ribs were badly bruised but that was about it. Teddy, Coachman and Cannon were still arguing and hadn't noticed them come in, John walked over to the RAW divas.

"What are they arguing about?"

"Coachman, he's letting the whole Spirit Squad enter the Rumble".

"What? All five?"

"Yeah, and as one entrant as well, they get to come out together and you gotta eliminate all five".

"So instead of thirty this is now a thirty four man rumble?"

"You got it".

Teddy finally noticed the Cena's. "Ah! Gentlemen your numbers await you".

Jason opened the container and pulled out both orbs, as he was doing this Victoria grabbed Mara.

"You're never gonna believe what numbers are left".

"What?"

As Victoria whispered it to Mara Jason put the two orbs behind his back. "Pick one bro'".

"Uhhh… the left".

Jason threw the orb to John, they both opened them and unfolded the papers at the same time, then Jason's hand went to his head as he stared at the big 'ONE' that was written on it, he went to ask what John had but his brother let out a loud "YES!"

"What did you get?"

"See for yourself". John held the paper inches away from his face and he couldn't help but laugh at the big 'THIRTY'.

"I told you to save thirty for me" he laughed at Victoria.

"I tried, you picked the wrong one".

"Ah well, look I better go, if I'm number one then I'll be up soon".

He headed out the door and Mara ran after him.

"Jason, you sure you'll be able to handle this?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well considering the match you just had with Shawn do you think you might be pushing it by going in at number one?"

"Well, yeah but there's nothing we can do about it, c'mon we better get out there".

In the ring Howard Finkle had just finished explaining the rules of the Rumble.

"And now, let us find out who drew number one!"

There was a slight pause then Jason's music hit and the teen staggered out to the ring still holding the icepack over his ribs, when he got in the ring he threw it to the crowd and closed his eyes trying to focus himself on what he had to do… and pray that number two wasn't going to be that tough.

"Please God let it be someone easy, let it be someone easy, let it…"

"Behold the king! The king of kings!"

"I'll get you for this God" he thought as Triple H made his way to the ring.

End of Chapter
Well there ya go? How will Jason fair in the Rumble? Will he get as far as John? Will Shawn even enter the Rumble? Why do Jason's matches with Shawn always end in roll ups? Find out next time when Jason takes on the world in the Royal Rumble!

R&R

HOO-RAH!