Valquist: Following the Fall

Orange and yellow and blue spirals twinkle in the height of the night. A city, liberated. A city, once again believers. A city united by its hero. Thousands clamber into a packed Infinity Arena, not for a wrestling show, but for the homecoming of their beloved wrestler. All eyes pointed towards the central figure, following a golden championship already draped over his right shoulder. Valquist.

“This is not a public address to foster hope. This is not a celebration. Yes, it’s a fitting homecoming, but if anything this is a declaration. You and I, we’ve all seen the eye of the storm, the perpetual struggle that cost families their homes and their livelihoods, it’s all coming to an end. This championship, this symbol of excellence, this isn’t mine. This is the culmination of two years consumed by the dark clouds, and murky waters, having finally began to see the cracks of light. Our economy is recovering, and the legal clout that my father has endured has begun to recede its jagged head. We have all prospered in an age of the voiceless, an age of the damned. Today I returned to my home, Infinity, to see that our restoration is at hand.

Every challenge has its giant hurdles. One turn of favour does not change the fact that we live amongst a growing and armed populace. We’re just floating above the waters, barely able to breathe, but to leap from continuing despair we must not treat this as an idle message. We must clamber to what made this city the brightest star from space. Industry galvanised towards entertainment. People, happy, and entertained.

This is a declaration of my intent to continue spearheading the revival of my home. Each and every time I’m out in the heat of expectation, I’m fighting for you. I’m promoting all of this, and all of you. This Visionaries World Championship is a bond between you and I, between each living soul that fears for their future when they lay their head to rest.

I regret so much of my past, but today at last I’ve been able to hang my head with a genuine smile. I’ve been the only one to stand up for my crimes, and make amends for how this City was laid to waste.

I offer you all the same message that I gave to the outside world, upon which this relic came. Welcome to the Age of Enlightenment. A reality of Full Measures.

The infinite city, valiant.”

“A city griped with sports fever?” an impassioned voice says, the P’s from his lips caught crisply due to a pop filter. “It’s your evening entertainment with Mike Rotunda, and let’s kick-off this live-on-air with the news story that by now you’re all familiar with.”

A black screen is overlaid with red and blue cubes that bounce around the broadcast recording screen to replicate the sound waves from the IRS host. Infinity’s leading airwave’s presenter, listened to worldwide in the millions, jumped on the hype trains of hot topics and stirring issues from the Infinite City.

“It’s that famed word, wrestling, that believe it or not catches a good headline tonight. Most of us have calmed after the fresh wound of Infinity Wrestling’s drawn out closure. Months of costly delays with the federation led its broadcaster, the Battle Zone Network, to cut the cord, and its millions of investments pumped into the federation. Overnight this city went from the deep of the black, into a cauldron of red. BZN’s failure to hold onto its key sponsors led to billions being withdrawn from Infinity’s economy. The Myriad Institute, the trio of merged banks from the Paradise, Fair, and Infinity regions, foreclosed on all of IWF’s assets, all excluding Infinity Arena, whose property is personally owned by Donald Osman, CEO of BZN. Acting against the nature of the Myriad, Fair National Bank was responsible for embezzlement of the ceased IWF assets, reputedly leading to the argued arming of the terrorist organisation, JORF.

The Justice of the Reformed Fair, backed by the FNB, led to thousands of linked deaths inside the first month of IWF’s closure, led to public revolt, and the permanent expulsion of any known JORF supporter. The Myriad was tried for seventeen thousand counts of murder, one count of Genocide against the Infinity City. Billions lost within the financial branch of this city, and billions more lost in potential financial backers for local and skyline residents.

It’s a story of the domino effect, with the first links to fall all fading. The Infinity Wrestling Federation, its owner CEO Roderick Blackmore, and COO, the lucidly named ‘Copycat Kid’, have not been seen since that famed night. Infinity’s leading public defendants, Derrida and Valquist Law and Justice Enterprise, helped protect the fleeing entertainers, and its thousands of workers who were consequently targeted by the JORF assailants.

On June 19th 2015, the body of a Reformed Fair fighter was found, and the cause for greater action was finally taken by the ICPD and the Skyline Guard, to grant substantial military action against the terror group. The male in question, identified as Jacob Dobrik, a Jewish refugee from Israel, was captured, deceased with signs of progressive augmentations. Dobrik was among the elite of JORF, responsible for hundreds of deaths alone in the prior twenty-four months.

I began this mentioning that fabled word, wrestling. We live in an age where that singular word brings so much baggage into the every day. We’ve been delving into the topic of the Infinity Wrestling Federation closing, and its immediate after effects, for well over a year, and at last it seems that one Infinity national, Valquist, has seized an opportunity outside of the cities borders that has brought all of these topics back to attention. Competing in a federation called the ‘Visionaries of Wrestling’, on July 20th in his 7th match with the company, Valquist won the Visionaries World Championship.

Since that day, July 20th, there has been no JORF attacks, no deaths other than natural, and on August 1st 2015 the City was granted re-entry to the New York stock exchange. Immediately, after an eighteen month hiatus of trading, seventy-six percent of all indexed business reported profits. Alia Hope, Primary, ala President or Minister, of Infinity City, announced an expanded living wage. BZN also reported a flouting profit margin, with interest once again growing in the grappling arts. The Infinity World Boxing Championship registered one million pay-per-view buys for the first time in three years. BZN also broadcast Valquist’s championship victory, garnering seven hundred thousand buys, second in the all-time wrestling charts within the cities districts.

What’s come of Valquist is a homecoming that wasn’t championed by celebration, but rather by a warning that he is going to spearhead efforts to re-galvanise interest in Infinity, all for the right reasons. Reunited with his long-time tag team partner, Isis Derrida, the two former Infinity members were put partly to blame for the IWF’s initial closure, with many sources citing that Derrida and Valquist would not work together in a management capacity within the newly re-imagined structures.

One small victory doesn’t change what has come before, and though not in any way directly involved with what was to follow, our new World Champion wrestler, has begun to sow together the ties that once banded this most infinite of institutes. In the coming months we’ll be detailing Val’s journey as a champion, and as an icon that this city needs in times such as these.

We’ve all needed inspiration from time to time. Val’s story is just that.

You can catch the Visionaries World Champion live on the Battle Zone Network in the Infinity district, live Monday August 17th on Breakthrough.”