Post by "Cholo" Giovanni Santana on Apr 18, 2024 11:11:44 GMT -5
OOC: Story continued from Cholo is nobody's rebound
Cholo sits on a wooden bench inside an old, musty jail cell. He leans against the corner of the walls, unshaven, clothes dirty, looking like he hasn’t showered in days. The cell is small, probably 9x9 square feet, and where the bench ends, that is where a metal toilet begins, no lid, but thankfully looks clean and not clogged. Cholo looks out the bars at the commotion outside, but it’s all a blur to him, as he is lost in thought, thinking about Marky and if he was able to grab Cholo’s phone or if Paula was able to track and if so, to where? His train of thought is interrupted as a police officer comes over and unlocks the jail cell. Cholo sits up, thinking maybe it’s time for him to get out, but instead, they just throw a man in there with him.
Officer: Sorry Cholo, all the cells are packed, going to have to double up.
Cholo doesn’t respond, just goes back to leaning against the wall, but then turns his eyes towards the man who is now his cellmate. He looks to be about in his mid-fifties, long brown hair but thinning. Beard is heavy and bushy, hiding his over-sun-exposed skin but not the eyes of clearl mad man. He wears something around his neck that is held by rope, and Cholo could have sworn it was an animal paw of sorts but the man, catching Cholo looking at it, tucks it inside his plaid beige shirt which is half unbuttoned. The man removes his cowboy hat that has snake leather trim around it, runs his fingers through his balding head, removing any sweat before putting the hat back on and wiping his hand on his shirt.
Man: Whatcha lookin’ at boy?
Cholo barely smirks, but responds.
Cholo: You remind me of someone.
Man: Ya know another sexy cowboy like me?
Cholo: Sexy?
Cholo thinks for a moment.
Cholo: Nope!
He then turns his eyes to the wall where he carves a diagonal line across 4 vertical lines, clearly he has been keeping track of how long he has been here. That’s his eighth set.
Man: Yer been herr that long huh? What’s that? Forty days? Just over 5 Weeks? Can’t be months or years, cuz they’d shipped yer ass up to county already.
Cholo goes to respond but then Paula arrives. Cholo stands up quickly and meets her at the bars.
Cholo: Well it’s about time!
Paula: What? Relax okay, it’s only been forty minutes…
Cholo side-eyes his cellmate who he can feeling shaking his head at him in disgust; the man spits on the ground before proceeding to take over the bench, laying on it.
Paula: Who’s that?
Cholo: A man from a time long forgotten.
Paula: Oh, um, okay… Look, I just got to do some paper work, clearly this is all a big misunderstanding, all charges will be dropped and I’ll get you out of here… Just need about thirty minutes, okay?
Cholo: Yeah, that’s fine, but what about Marky? Were you able to track my phone? What’s his location?
Paula: We’ll talk about it once I get you out okay? Just sit tight for now.
Paula rushes back to the offices of the now obvious police station. Cholo leans his forehead against the bars of the cell, clearly worried about Marky.
Man: A whole forty minutes huh? Ya think ya can survive thirty mo’, tough guy?
Cholo: Cholo was bored okay?
Man: Who the hell is Show-low?
Cholo: Um, me, I’m CHOLO.
Man: Did ya just speak in the third person then?
Cholo: Um, yes, sometimes, force of habit…
Man: Ya must be one of them sports entertainers…
Cholo: No, I’m a wrestler.
Man: Is there a difference?
Cholo: Yes.
Man: Is that who I reminded ya of? ‘Nother ‘rassler?
Cholo: Yes…
Man: Who?
Cholo: Mac Bane.
Man: Never heard of him… But then again, I don’t watch that sissy sport.
He spits in the toilet this time, staining the clear water with chewing tobacco.
Cholo: Careful…
He spits again, and that is clearly starting to get under Cholo’s skin, causing the man to smile, revealing a set of stained and rotting teeth that causes Cholo to look away.
Man: ‘lax amigo, not lookin’ for a fight… at least not yet… Why don’t ya tell me about yer friend Mac.
Cholo: Oh, that pendejo is no friend of mine.
Cholo sighs.
Cholo: Too much to tell anyway, thirty minutes is nowhere near enough time.
The man can clearly see there is a lot of pain and anger inside of Cholo, wrapped by pent-up frustration.
Man: My momma use to say, keepin’ stuff bottled up constipates the soul.. Just like it out hombre, whatever is the first thin’ that comes to mind… Just let it out, or it’s just gonna eat ya.
Cholo looks at the man, a bit surprised someone like him actually got some wisdom to him.
Cholo: My mami used to say something similar… What’s your name?
Man: Not that it matters, but Steve.
Cholo nods, takes a deep breath, exhales, and then vents.
Cholo: Well you see Steve, Mac has taken something that Cholo loves, something that was fun for Cholo and completely ruined it because he has made this feud between us beyond personal. That something is wrestling. Cholo got into this business to be a “professional” wrestler whose only purpose was to have fun before, during and after every match… But what Mac has done to Cholo and his loved ones is anything but professional and definitely not fun. He’s an evil son of a bitch, sure, but he is sad and pathetic more than anything. You know what irks Cholo the most?
Steve: What’s that?
Cholo: He claims Cholo would be nothing without him but the real question is: what would Mac Bane be without Cholo? NADA. Where would he be? In darkness. Has he ever stopped to think about that? No, he hasn’t, because if he had he would quickly realize that it is Cholo that has made him mean something in wrestling today. At the Cannabis Cup pay-per-view, who made the world take notice of what Mac had done? Cholo! Had he attacked anyone else in that cup, do you think he would have gotten the attention he wanted or got? NO! Because Cholo is loved head and shoulders above everyone else in this company, and that’s not me being arrogant, it’s just a fact because Cholo loves everyone just the same… unless they give him a reason for Cholo not to show them any love. So far, that list only has 3 people, with Mike Mason and Sonya Benson being the two others.
Steve: What they do to piss on your cheerios?
Cholo: Let’s not even go there compadre. But had Mac attacked Adams or Dubois, would people have cared? Nah… He knew he had to pick Cholo because like Neo and Roman, Cholo is the one. Mac picked Cholo because he saw a gold mine and boy, did he strike it rich when Cholo won not only the cup but the world title. Now all eyes would be on him, because he was going to make sure he hung on to Cholo like a tick does to a cow’s ass… Actually nah, Bane is more like a leech because -
Steve: But is he still in the cow’s ass?
Cholo: Stop interrupting. He is sucking the life out of Cholo until he runs dry… Why did Mac have to cheat and bring help to win the title when he got the first title shot? Because he knew Cholo would beat him one-on-one and when that happened, he would go to the back of the line, back to obscurity where people would forget about him… Of course, he could have gone back and tagged with another guy that disappeared into obscurity, and that Mac leeched on to as well, Bam Miller.
Steve: It’s Miller time!
Cholo: How’d you know that was his catchphrase?
Steve: I didn’t, that’s the beer’s slogan!
Cholo: How unoriginal… Much like Bane, who if you blinked, you missed their title reign, and once they lost the titles, they were quickly forgotten about… You see Mac knows what is like to not be on the spotlight, what is like for the fans not to give a damn about you, for your merchandise not to sale and get thrown in the clearance rack… For your peers to not look up to you but someone else as a mentor and a role-model, and even worse, see him as a washed up has been. It is thanks to Cholo that he was once again relevant in 2023 and is relevant now, as he tries to hang on to a title that doesn’t belong to him at Wrestle Wars.
Steve: Wrestle Wars huh? That sounds interesting, tell me mo-
But before Steve can continue, Paula is back after getting his release for being wrongfully accused of being Marky’s kidnapper when in fact, he had been the one trying to save him. This story was corroborated by the kidnapper Cholo had knocked out when he was first chasing after Marky who is also in a cell here some where. The same officer promptly opens the cell and let’s Cholo out.
Steve: Well that was quick, can ya be my lawyer too sweetheart?
Paula: Maybe next time, let’s go Cholo, we got to hurry.
Man: I guess a raincheck on the rest then?
Cholo: After this is over, if you’re still here, Cholo will come and tell you more.
Man: Oh, I’ll be here, these turds ain’t lettin’ me go that easy this time.
Cholo leaves with Paula, but wondering just what that man might have done to get thrown in jail. Raincheck he tells himself.
3 hours later…
It is unclear how Marky was able to keep Cholo’s cellphone hidden from his kidnappers for all that time, but thankfully he did and Paula tracked the phone as Cholo had requested the night he was taken. The local authorities took over at night, and by morning, the FBI was in charge. The plane was tracked all the way to Airport Abelardo L. Rodriguez in Tijuana, Mexico, where, in a private hangar, the Mexican National Guard was able to surround the plane as the smugglers were disembarking. Some of them tried to fight them off, and a small gunfight broke out, but the kidnappers were heavily outnumbered, and it was only a matter of time before they were subdued. Once the survivors were taken into custody, the police raided the plane, and in the storage compartment they found not only Marky, but twenty-two other kids that had been kidnapped not only in El Paso or Texas as a whole, but all over the US. The center of the operation was in El Paso though, and the connection was here in Tijuana where from here, kids were sold not only in Mexico, but across Latin America. Cholo, now in Tijuana himself after a short flight over, sits in the back of an SUV along with Paula, looking out the windshield at the plane, and the bit of a mess left by the gunfight in and around the hangar. They look at each other with relief in their faces.
Paula: I’m glad we missed the fireworks.
Cholo:Amen hermana.
Their doors are swung open from the outside by soldiers who tell them it is now safe to come out. They both sigh deeply before stepping out and walking towards the plane, the soldiers at their side providing protection in case they need it. Once at the hangar, he waits for all the children to be returned from a nearby children’s hospital where they were all checked for injuries, only the physical ones, as the emotional and psychological ones will take a long time to heal and with a lot of therapy likely involved. A local bus, not a charted one, is being escorted by Mexican police and after clearing the gate leading into the hangar, it parks near the plane that brought Cholo which will be used to take them back along with all the children. As the door of the colorful bus swings open, one by one, children of all ages begin to get out, after checking in with an officer who checks off their names from a list. Cholo looks on, anxious, waiting for his kid.
Paula: Relax, the hard part is over, he’s been saved and you didn’t have to be involved which would have put you at risk.
Cholo doesn’t get a chance to respond as some of the kids rush towards him, clearly recognizing him. He is nice to every one of them, even though right now, there is only one kid he wants to see get out of that bus: Marky. But the kids surround him and overwhelm him and of course, being the man he is, pays attention to each one of them, answers every question and promises to get them all back safely. FBI agents start to usher the kids into the plane, and as Cholo turns his attention back to the bus, he is surprised to see Marky standing right in front of him. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out Cholo’s phone which has a crack on it. Marky looks at it and then back at Cholo.
Marky: This hit me right on the head!
Cholo, with tears in his eyes, can’t help but laugh.
Cholo: Is that your way of saying you broke my phone?
He says this as playful as he possibly can.
Marky: It really hurt!
To think he could be joking at a time like this, after all he has been through, makes Cholo love this kid even more.
Cholo: Get over here.
Cholo picks him up and hugs him, rubbing Marky’s head.
Cholo: I’m glad you’re okay Marky.
Marky doesn’t say anything, just hugs him tighter. Paula looks away and wipes her own tears. Cholo puts Marky back down.
Marky: Can I go see Maggy now?!
Cholo: Absolutely champ!
Marky beams at him and at Paula, whom he also hugs before falling in line with the other kids. Cholo is then approached by some of the Mexican officers and important looking people who want to shake his hand and thank him for helping them out. The FBI agents are next to do the same, with the lead for this case wanting to talk to Cholo a little bit longer.
FBI Agent: We can’t thank you enough for helping us put an end to one of, sadly, many human-trafficking rings in Mexico. This one in specific, was linked to one of the biggest cartels here, so this delivers a huge blow to not only their operation, but their financial books.
Cholo: I heard that you were able to raid their warehouses as well.
FBI Agent: Yes, that’s where we found the link to the cartel.
Cholo: Awesome.
FBI Agent: You know, we could use more celebrities like you who want to get involved and help children like these. You seem like a natural fit, we would love to have you in our team.
Cholo: Well thank you, agent?
FBI Agent: Jimenez.
Cholo: Thank you agent Jimenez, I’m flattered, truly. But I’m helping children in my own way, plus I also have unfinished business… elsewhere. But I’ll try to help in any way I can, even from a far.
Agent Jimenez: Thank you Cholo, you are a class act all the way. Safe travels to all of you.
They shake hands again and then Cholo and Paula get on the plane after the last kid and shortly after, the door closes and not long after that, the plane takes off, heading back to El Paso.
A few weeks later.
A co-ed youth soccer game is taking place at Southwest University Park, home of to El Paso Locomotive FC, which play officially in the USL, a tier lower than Major League Soccer. The stadium fills a modest seven though seats and probably a third if that is filled. The game seems very competitive, and after a very creative play, the Locomotive FC Academy team scores what appears to be the winning goal. Two of the players celebrating are Marky and Maggie, with Maggie being the goal scorer after Marky gave her an amazing pass. Maggie points to someone in the stands and then does a little cumbia dance which her teammates try to imitate. The person she pointed to in the stands is Cholo, who is returning the little dance followed by clapping and whistling. Celebrating with him is Paula and their adoptive parents, The Cruisers. As the celebration dies down, Paula turns to Cholo.
Paula: Can you believe it? Who would have thought after all they went through; this is where they would end up.
Cholo smiles brightly.
Cholo: I do believe it… Good things happen to good people, good children, and nobody deserves a happy ending more than these two.
Paula nods in agreement and then the crowd cheers loudly as the game officially ends with the home team winning. The Cruisers along with other parents and dozens of others rush down to celebrate with their kids while Cholo and Paula just sit back and watch.
Paula: So, what are you going to do now?
Cholo:There is only one thing left to do.
Cholo turns to us, breaking that fourth wall as he loves to do and winks at us.
El Closing Shoot
This is it for Cholo.
Mac claims to have Cholo’s number and who knows, he may be right… But Cholo says this not because Mac has defeated Cholo both physically and mentally, because he hasn’t… Not alone anyway… In our previous three matches, he has found the easy way out because like Cholo has said many times, one on one, Mac cannot win. But even though our boss has said that anyone that gets involved will get fired, Cholo knows that Mac will likely bring someone from the outside to get involved… Sure Chris Page may beef up security and what not, but men like Mac always find a way to lie, cheat, and steal. Men like Mac aren’t men at all, they are cowards… and no matter how great of a game they talk, how great of wrestlers they might be, at the end of the day, they are just looking for an easy way out. Men like him, unlike men like me, can’t admit when someone is simply better than them, pound for pound. Men like him can’t admit when they have been outmatched… They can’t be honest with anyone, specially themselves. They can’t look at themselves in their mirror and admit that someone may have their number mano-a-mano. They can’t handle it; they can’t deal with failure and so they find every loophole possible to get their way… Cholo will never be that type of man…
So, this is it for Cholo…
Maybe. If Mac would have beaten Cholo legit those two times, then Cholo would have given Mac his flowers and moved on to other things until Cholo had earn himself another World Title shot, vs. Mac or whoever the champ may be in the future. But Cholo hasn’t lost fairly… and he hasn’t won fairly either, not his doing of course. It eats Cholo up every day that his one win against Mac came via disqualification… That win feels like a loss for that and many other reasons, but mainly, because at that moment, Cholo felt betrayed by Mac. Cholo didn’t understand why Mac would do something like that… We had been partners, we had shared drinks, Cholo won’t go as far as to say they were friends but they were on the same side… but that night something changed in Mac, and it changed our relationship, no, it didn’t change it, it destroyed it. Maybe Cholo was naïve in liking and trusting someone like Mac Bane… Maybe Cholo should have seen the devil in the blue dress and known better. Maybe Cholo should have seen just how significant, Bane’s greed is.
So, is this it for Cholo?
Perhaps. Cholo didn’t see it, and instead, he respected Mac. He likes to claim that only Tristan Slater showed him the respect he deserved. What a load of caca. Cholo gave it to him, and out of the whole WGWF roster, after Peter Vaughn and Chris Page, Cholo respected him the most… But he didn’t want Cholo’s respect, he threw it away and for what? Jealousy? His quest to become champion? No, because at the cup, no one knew the winner was going to be awarded the World Championship… NO ONE, and Cholo doesn’t care about how much Mac says he knew, how this was all part of the plan… BULL CACA… Maybe he saw himself, from 20 years ago in Cholo and wished he was still this young, this strong, this fast, and just, simply, this gorgeous… But he does get credit for motivating me to continue in the cup and to prove that despite him, Cholo could succeed… and succeed he did. Cholo was just happy to win the cup, but when Chris Page put the cherry on top, that ate Mac up because he knew that could have been him, but it was never going to be him because he couldn’t beat Cholo.
No, this is not it for Cholo.
Can Cholo compete with Mac’s greed? His jealousy? He got Cholo’s title, but that’s not enough for him… He wants to end Cholo’s career, he wants to see Cholo buried for good, wants to put that last nail in Cholo’s coffin and twice now he thought he had done that, but Cholo keeps coming back for more, but…
THIS IS IT “between” Mac and Cholo…
This is the very last time, for better or worse…So if he must drive that last nail, he is going to have to drive it in Cholo’s heart because death will be the only thing that stops Cholo from regaining his precious.
BUT NO! THIS IS NOT IT FOR CHOLO!
Cholo is not made of any weak metal or anything else that can easily be manipulated, Mac… Cholo was Cholo long before you came around and he will be even bigger and better long after you’re gone. Mac didn’t make Cholo famous, Cholo made the word ‘famous’ be synonymous with Cholo… He made that word mean something in WGWF. Again, Mac’s plan may have been for me to become Cannabis Cup winner, but not World Champion, because not even Page knew, until Enigma decided to keep Smash title instead. So when Cholo was awarded the World Title, it was because he earned it. So Bane is only lying to himself and we can all see through him, fans, and wrestlers alike. Cholo is not a fraud, and Mac thinks he is going to expose Cholo? There is nothing to expose! He may cheat him yet again, outsmart him with his old man savvy or outnumber him with all his hired friends but…
HE WILL NEVER, EVER, BREAK CHOLO.
You have this mantra about “Dancing with the Devil” Mac, and it’s nice and catchy and Cholo is sure it has sold you a lot of merchandise but Mac, Cholo is done dancing! This damn party is finally over… He’s sick of this dance, he’s sick of this tune, he’s sick of you being a false champion! Carrying something around that doesn’t belong to you because simply, you haven’t earned it on your own like Cholo has. You’ve never beaten Cholo on your own and you never will… At the pay-per-view, Cholo is putting the devil out of his misery… Just like the Archangel Michael cast Lucifer out of heaven after the great Angel War, Cholo is going to cast you out of the WGWF after Wrestle Wars… Once and for all.
Mac claims to have Cholo’s number and who knows, he may be right… But Cholo says this not because Mac has defeated Cholo both physically and mentally, because he hasn’t… Not alone anyway… In our previous three matches, he has found the easy way out because like Cholo has said many times, one on one, Mac cannot win. But even though our boss has said that anyone that gets involved will get fired, Cholo knows that Mac will likely bring someone from the outside to get involved… Sure Chris Page may beef up security and what not, but men like Mac always find a way to lie, cheat, and steal. Men like Mac aren’t men at all, they are cowards… and no matter how great of a game they talk, how great of wrestlers they might be, at the end of the day, they are just looking for an easy way out. Men like him, unlike men like me, can’t admit when someone is simply better than them, pound for pound. Men like him can’t admit when they have been outmatched… They can’t be honest with anyone, specially themselves. They can’t look at themselves in their mirror and admit that someone may have their number mano-a-mano. They can’t handle it; they can’t deal with failure and so they find every loophole possible to get their way… Cholo will never be that type of man…
So, this is it for Cholo…
Maybe. If Mac would have beaten Cholo legit those two times, then Cholo would have given Mac his flowers and moved on to other things until Cholo had earn himself another World Title shot, vs. Mac or whoever the champ may be in the future. But Cholo hasn’t lost fairly… and he hasn’t won fairly either, not his doing of course. It eats Cholo up every day that his one win against Mac came via disqualification… That win feels like a loss for that and many other reasons, but mainly, because at that moment, Cholo felt betrayed by Mac. Cholo didn’t understand why Mac would do something like that… We had been partners, we had shared drinks, Cholo won’t go as far as to say they were friends but they were on the same side… but that night something changed in Mac, and it changed our relationship, no, it didn’t change it, it destroyed it. Maybe Cholo was naïve in liking and trusting someone like Mac Bane… Maybe Cholo should have seen the devil in the blue dress and known better. Maybe Cholo should have seen just how significant, Bane’s greed is.
So, is this it for Cholo?
Perhaps. Cholo didn’t see it, and instead, he respected Mac. He likes to claim that only Tristan Slater showed him the respect he deserved. What a load of caca. Cholo gave it to him, and out of the whole WGWF roster, after Peter Vaughn and Chris Page, Cholo respected him the most… But he didn’t want Cholo’s respect, he threw it away and for what? Jealousy? His quest to become champion? No, because at the cup, no one knew the winner was going to be awarded the World Championship… NO ONE, and Cholo doesn’t care about how much Mac says he knew, how this was all part of the plan… BULL CACA… Maybe he saw himself, from 20 years ago in Cholo and wished he was still this young, this strong, this fast, and just, simply, this gorgeous… But he does get credit for motivating me to continue in the cup and to prove that despite him, Cholo could succeed… and succeed he did. Cholo was just happy to win the cup, but when Chris Page put the cherry on top, that ate Mac up because he knew that could have been him, but it was never going to be him because he couldn’t beat Cholo.
No, this is not it for Cholo.
Can Cholo compete with Mac’s greed? His jealousy? He got Cholo’s title, but that’s not enough for him… He wants to end Cholo’s career, he wants to see Cholo buried for good, wants to put that last nail in Cholo’s coffin and twice now he thought he had done that, but Cholo keeps coming back for more, but…
THIS IS IT “between” Mac and Cholo…
This is the very last time, for better or worse…So if he must drive that last nail, he is going to have to drive it in Cholo’s heart because death will be the only thing that stops Cholo from regaining his precious.
BUT NO! THIS IS NOT IT FOR CHOLO!
Cholo is not made of any weak metal or anything else that can easily be manipulated, Mac… Cholo was Cholo long before you came around and he will be even bigger and better long after you’re gone. Mac didn’t make Cholo famous, Cholo made the word ‘famous’ be synonymous with Cholo… He made that word mean something in WGWF. Again, Mac’s plan may have been for me to become Cannabis Cup winner, but not World Champion, because not even Page knew, until Enigma decided to keep Smash title instead. So when Cholo was awarded the World Title, it was because he earned it. So Bane is only lying to himself and we can all see through him, fans, and wrestlers alike. Cholo is not a fraud, and Mac thinks he is going to expose Cholo? There is nothing to expose! He may cheat him yet again, outsmart him with his old man savvy or outnumber him with all his hired friends but…
HE WILL NEVER, EVER, BREAK CHOLO.
You have this mantra about “Dancing with the Devil” Mac, and it’s nice and catchy and Cholo is sure it has sold you a lot of merchandise but Mac, Cholo is done dancing! This damn party is finally over… He’s sick of this dance, he’s sick of this tune, he’s sick of you being a false champion! Carrying something around that doesn’t belong to you because simply, you haven’t earned it on your own like Cholo has. You’ve never beaten Cholo on your own and you never will… At the pay-per-view, Cholo is putting the devil out of his misery… Just like the Archangel Michael cast Lucifer out of heaven after the great Angel War, Cholo is going to cast you out of the WGWF after Wrestle Wars… Once and for all.
Word count: 4000 via wordcounter.net
OOC: Huge thanks to Mac Bane for the best feud I've had with Cholo, and easily top 3 overall feud in my long career. It's been a helluva rollercoaster, here's to finishing out the story, *cheers* really appreciate you.