Description: Adon has had a bad week. Still recovering from his fight with Sagat, he has his fourth guest in his hospital recovery; the NDP champ and former movie star, Johnny Jones. Mister Jones wasn't here to mock the Emperor, however. This was an intervention, based on a common 'friend' between the two men....
"OHMYGAWD IT'S MISTER JONES!!!!!!!!"
The shrilling squeals of fangirling nurses interrupts the calm of the hospital. None other than Johnny Jones Damon walks in through the main entrance. His arrival isn't heralded by a grand limo, or even a red carpet, in fact, he apparently took public transportation to get here just like any average Joe. However, his charisma and reputation are more than enough to grant him the admiration of all, people stand aside as he walks the hallways, they ask for his autograph, they reach out to touch him. Where a normal celebrity is hailed for their fame and fortune, Johnny's deeds speak far louder than any riches a man could hope to accumulate.
Strangely, whilst Jones grins and signs and waves, he doesn't say much, which is rather uncharacteristic of the smooth jive talker. But he doesn't need to.
Everyone knows why he is here.
And such topic is best left unspoken.
Johnny Jones gingerly knocks on the door labeled 'Adon' and waltz in with a smirk on his face. Rather than look for the patient directly, the ex-Movie Star goes to make himself comfortable on a chair and snatches a tray with some forgotten Jello. Hmmhmm, he does loves him some hospital food, as a professional fighter, he often ends up in places like this if only just for a few days and has grown fond of the food they serve here.
It is only after he has seated comfortably, one leg crossed and silently munching on his stolen Jello that he looks up, ever present shades reflecting the dim lights of the room.
"What's up?"
More guests.
The Emperor was growing more and more popular in his caged state, than he was in his free-roaming prowl. The Jaguar of Muay Thai was growing irate with how the world kept approaching his pen, pressing their faces against the glass. Teasing him. Poking him. MOCKING him. Adon had a lot waiting in the wings. He would lash out harder than he ever had before.
But for people like Johnny, he was nothing more than a defanged cat.
"Uuuugh. Who is it now?!" Adon groans, waking up again at the sound of his new guest. Eyeing the familiar man as he takes his Jello, the Emperor growls. "How DARE you take my- graaaagh." Was the whimper, and the sharp bed shake. Adon's attempt at rising up was halted by the straps at his arms and legs. The IV, happily pumping painkiller into the Emperor, kept him sedated, and the pain in his jaw down... as long as he didn't scream.
Hospital life, naturally, was hell on him.
Fuming, the Emperor glares at the familiar face. "You.... Mister Jones? You were that afro-wearing buffoon who is trapped in the past, living a life of child-like dancing with in-transit women. Feh. What business do you have with me? A murderer seeking to claim my life? Oh, or perhaps you are interested in a murder mystery? Or maybe, just maybe..." The Emperor flashes a weary grin.
"You are here about Quon?"
It takes one to know one, is what Jones thinks when Adon calls him a buffoon, and how is his afro anymore ridiculous than Adon's flat top hair style?
He represses those thoughts however, satisfied with merely sitting there, staring, eating, his shades reflecting the angry yet pitiful visage of a emasculated Adon, once so full of power he writhes now on a bed as if he were indeed a defanged cat.
But he doesn't say that either.
Jones didn't come to argue, he didn't come here to mock him, he didn't even come here to fight.
He is here because he wants answers to all the questions that raised when he heard the terrible news.
"Adon." Johnny Jones begins, calmly finishing the stolen Jello as he speaks with his usual, very casual gangsta' tone. "Do you have any friends, bro?"
Friends?
Adon's face twists up in disgust. In INSULT. "-Friends?-" The Emperor begins, nearly retching out the word. "I am the Emperor of Muay Thai! I have long grown beyond needing friends! I am above friendship! Just like Sagat once was! When you are the Greatest in Muay Thai, you do not need anybody else! Friends only get in the way of the true sport of Muay Thai!"
The Emperor pauses, taking a deep breath, and letting his jaw rest. Glaring upon the afro'd fighter, he stares bitterly at the man, forcing a half-grin, restrained by the pain. "Is that why you are here? Was Quon your 'friend?' Bah! You were a fool to care about him! You were all fools to place any trust in him! I saw him for what he was! A coward!" The Emperor narrows his eyes, helpless on the bed, but still lashing out any jabs he could unleash.
"But you can't deny that now, can you?"
No friends huh?
"And...how's that working out for ya?" Asks Jones with cynicism to his voice, it is almost unnerving to see him sitting there, so confident and smirking whilst Adon steps out of line to insult a dead boy. A dead boy that by all accounts he killed. Yet, Johnny Jones ain't so petty as to let emotions control him, in his quest to become the Groove Grandmaster he has grown above that, like the polar opposite of Adon, he isn't confused as to what true enlightenment really is. Jones just wiggles his foot and shakes a spoon at the wounded Jaguar. Others would yell at Adon, punch him while he is down, mock him for the sniveling coward that he is..but Jones? He just smirks. "With the whole broken ribs, jaw, people trying to kill ya at night while you're strapped to a bed. How's being the Emperor of Forever Alone treating ya eh?"
Not too good he'd say if he were to hazard a guess.
Jones sets his empty Jello dish on a tray and continues smirking even if Adon stomps all over the memory of Quon. "Care about him? You are the one bringing him up. Heck, you haven't stopped talking about the guy ever since I walked in. Shoo son, that's a lot of time spent on talking about one dude."
"That's a lot of caring for someone who says he doesn't care."
Jones was fighting with his words, not his fists.
But he was fighting, which was good enough for Adon. The Emperor scowls again, grimacing in pain. "I don't NEED- graaagh." He winces again, lower his voice. "I don't need to rely on people! That is how strong I really am! Assassins are knocked aside, and these wounds are nothing to me! I may be broken, but I don't need other people to come back again!"
"That is why you were a fool to put faith in Quon."
The Emperor doesn't snicker, but looks away, growling. "Quon... Despite what the world THINKS of me, I am disappointed in him as well. I was beginning to see him as a true rival, someone who would make it his goal to fight me. He was even learning Muay Thai, an honorable pursuit. Perhaps if he stayed on the path long enough, when I was old and grey, he could have become the next Emperor of Muay Thai himself. But no. This is what happens when you put faith in 'friends.' You felt it first hand! How did he react when he had to become responsible for his actions? He killed himself. Ignoring how much it hurt his friends. Ignoring how much it hurt the world. Ignoring how much it would wound Sagat. For all that was spoken about Quon, for all that was praised? He did the most selfish thing he could have done."
"Kill himself."
"He hurt you too, didn't he?"
Too quick to think and even quicker to act, Jones is indeed fighting as satisfying as it might be to Adon. Yet the fact remains, as Adon may remember when he decided to interrupt Jonesy's fight against Quon, a fight that now will never happen, a fight that Jonesy used to acquaint himself with the Emperor of Muay Thai to show him something. Jones can fight.
Jones can fight very well.
"Look, Imma be honest with ya." The ex-Action Star sighs and reaches for his comb to fluff out that kingly curly mane of hair. "I ain't too happy neither. You probably don't need to hear all the details, but I had in fact put a lot of faith on that boy and what he did stung me greatly. Something that you are no doubt experiencing right now." He smirks again, looking at the wounded Adon strangely. "If I was a fool to believe in him, weren't you also a fool to think him a worthy rival?"
Jones shrugs "Listen Adon, you and I? We ain't buddy buddy, you ain't my home boy. You don't like me, I..admittedly.. don't like you, but if there's something that I can't stand it's seeing people destroy themselves like you're doing. It's why I was helping Quon and it's now why I'm here sitting in front of ya. You know what? That's it really..that look you're giving me, reminds me a lot of Quon."
An eyebrow arches when Jonesy makes a startling realization. Something that Adon is more than likely not going to enjoy hearing.
"You remind me a lot of him. An ungroovy guy with a serious death wish, a meltdown waiting to happen. A danger to others...and himself."
Hurt Adon?
"KYA HA HA!"
THrough the pain, Adon laughs. He laughs hard, long, painfully. It hurts him so much. But laughter was the only response he could have given to the man. The laughter breaks, the Emperor gasping. "Kyahahah.... You think I had anything for contempt for the boy? I think you are showing your true colors, Mister Jones. You are here to do what so many have tried to do."
"Pity Me."
Adon shows a vicious death glare at Johnny, threatening him for even dare thinking of it. "Don't you dare pity me Mister Jones. I am the Emperor of Muay Thai! I am the strongest there ever is, and the strongest there ever was! I am nothing like Quon! Quon is weak! Sagat was a fool to trust in him. Quon is just proof of how soft, how idiotic Sagat has become! Quon hurt Sagat more than anything that I could ever do to him, and that is the only good thing I can say about the boy! He means nothing! He was nothing! He was weak, a failure in everything he did. H-He deserved to kill himself!" Adon twists on the bed, wrenching side to side.
Trying to look away from Mister Jones.
Pity Adon?
"You gotta be freaking kidding me, mang."
Half of Johnny's mind wanted to press the nurse button when Adon began to writhe in bed in panicked laughter, looking at him now, laughing insanely despite the pain he felt, he could really see nothing but Quon. How he was eager to destroy himself over...what? Jones doesn't even know, it was never clear to him, he came in so late in the game that he only witnessed the fallout of Quon, Sagat and Adon's doomed triangle. Even if it affected him all the same.
The other half of Johnny's funky mind wanted to stay and watch, morbid curiosity setting him firmly in his chair forcing him to stare at this ticking time bomb in the disguise of a man. It was a side of humanity that Jones have always seen in the troubled streets of Metro City, but never to this magnitude. None of the gangsters back come could ever achieve this level of madness, they either were not powerful enough or they merely self destruct way before getting to Adon's level. It makes Jones wonder how Adon managed to stay alive all this time, even if he knows perfectly well why, Adon is so far in that there may be no hope left for him, his psychosis is the only thing keeping him alive. Where Jones even try and attempt to take it away from him, Adon might not make it out and then he really would be responsible for the death of the Emperor.
Back at the NDP fight, Jones said that he had pity him. But now..
"I don't feel anything for ya." Johnny gets almost an embarrassed grin, though Adon will probably not see it, averting his gaze as he is now. "Don't misunderstand me dawg, when I asked ya if you had any friends I wasn't volunteering for it." A chuckle "No, I don't think we could hang out. But I'll tell ya this; you can go explode yourself somewhere for all I care, take people down with ya? That's another story, son. I came in way too late to save Quon, he had already made his choice way before I met him, but I can't let ya do that to someone else."
Jonesy is a hero after all, he's all about putting himself in danger for the sake of others. "What you really need is a friend, but since you ain't having none of that I guess an enemy will have ta do, s'long as it keeps ya from taking on kids with issues." He reaches for his breast pocket again, flicking out a piece of paper where he writes something and tosses it at Adon where it gets neatly stuck on his hair.
"Here ya go, if you ever wanna dance. It ain't what ya need, homes, but it's the best you're gonna get from me."
Looks like Johnny just chucked a picture of himself at Adon, behind it his address in Southtown is written along with his phone number. Underneath it all? His signature, along with wise words if there were ever any for the Jaguar of Muay Thai.
Stay Funky!
"No, no, no."
Adon mutters, shaking his head. "You feel something. You are a fool to see Quon in me. I am not like Quon! I will never kill myself. I am too strong." Adon can feel the lies pouring through his teeth. "You aren't even worth to be my enemy? Do you think I care about some washed up movie star? You are lower than garbage! You are just some pretend martial artist! The Emperor just keeps lashing out, as the picture lands on his chest. He wanted to hurt Mister Jones.
Hurt him for seeing past him.
"Why does everyone blame Quon on me?" The Emperor finally confesses, his mind spinning. "I only challenged the boy. I only fought him. Is it because I was right? That he wasn't worth everyone's time? All I did was test the boy, and he failed those tests! I am nothing like him! Sagat never saw him in me. Sagat would..."
%Adon grows silent.
"... Have you spoken with Sagat, Mister Jones."
Mister Jones grins, he just never quits smiling, it's part of being an actor perhaps.
"You know mang, denial is a difficult thing to pull off when your body is in full exposure." Not even a child would believe Adon at this point, he is saying that he is strong? Strapped to a bed with wires sticking out of almost every inch of his body? Perhaps physically...but mentally?
Johnny Jones could pierce Adon's spirit all day, but just like that, Adon will continue to deny him for all eternity. Ball was on his court now, Mister Jones ain't no shrink, he can't *fix* Adon, just show him the path that he /should/ take.
But taking that path was entirely his decision.
"Sure bro, you keep telling yourself that." Adon is not fooling nobody, and because of it Jonesy doesn't even try to argue. He might as well try to turn the flow of a waterfall by punching it than deal with Adon's will power..and actually that would be easier to accomplish. "If you really can't see the similarity between you and Quon then..well..you have a lot of growing up to do chum. But ain't yo' daddy, it ain't up to me to teach you those things. You're a big boy Adon, you really need to figure out why everyone's placing the blame on you, it's quite obvious, the former student of Sagat takes on the new student? Anyone can see it! Heck..I think I did a movie about that once, you should totally see it."
But enough about him. Adon wants to talk about Sagat.
"Sagat? Nope, but hey, why would the God of Muay Thai waste his time talking with a washed up pretend martial artist like me."
"Ya knaw what I'm saying?"
Adon was growing desperate.
"I am... I am not in denial. I've never been in denial." Came the petty words of a man in denial. "I am an adult! A full grown man! You are just... you are just trying to break me. To rub my nose into my mess, while I am down. I... I am not jealous. I am not jealous of Quon! I was never jealous! You.... you monster!" Adon is trembling now, he anger coming to a head.
"Leave!"
"Go away! Leave me alone! You tormenter! You monster! You fool! You jerk! You are horrible, to attack a wounded man like myself! I deserve better than the likes of you! You are just... just jealous of me! Everyone is jealous of me. The murderer. The ninja. Quon. I am the greatest Mister Jones!" The Emperor's eyes grow glassy. He was naked now. Exposed.
And utterly helpless to defend himself from the truth.
Despite what Adon may think, Johnny Jones didn't come here to torture him. Even if it has turned into a sort of a morbid guilty pleasure to see the man squirm like that.
When the wounded Jaguar begins trashing about wildly, almost screaming bloody murder, Johnny Jones looks at his watch and decides that is his cue to leave. Last thing he wants is to draw concerned medical staff coming to see why is Adon yelling like he's getting stabbed to death. Although judging by his expression, he would prefer that he was instead of having Jones tell him the truth.
Honestly, maybe it's just Jones, but has no other ever bothered to tell Adon the truth? That he was jealous of Quon? It looked very obvious to the Movie Star.
Maybe it was simply the fact that he was the only one with the guts, or the lack of tact, to come out and say it to his face?
"Wellp!" Either way, Jones stands up from the chair deciding to let the man be. "If you say so, but from the looks of it ain't nobody gonna want ta fight ya but me, pal. Not 'cause you're that good. " (Cuz he ain't) "But just 'cause you're bad rep! Anywho, I'll leave ya to your yelling....oh and thanks for the jello!"
As he turns to leave, opening the door, Mister Johnny Jones smirks looking over his shoulder deciding to give Adon one parting shot. A comment he had heard once before and rung deep on his soul from the truth of such words.
"Come back when you've grown up."
"NO!"
Adon was squirming, struggling. Helpless was driving into his heart. Rage was consuming him. He did NOT want to be helpless. He wanted to be strong. In charge. DOMINANT. And Mister Jones, in his mocking, only made him feel helpless. He was jealous of Quon. He hated how Sagat abandoned him. He hated how Quon hurt.... hurt Sagat. Betrayed him. His mind was swimming. No. He had no empathy for Sagat. He deserved his pain. And finally, as Mister Jones leaves, he leaves the most viscious parting words. To grow up.
"GRRRRAAAAAGH!"
Came the pained scream. Mister Jones was wise to leave. The popping sound, as well as the alarms, bring the nurses rushing to the hospital bed. Adon had burst from his straps, and the wires. He was getting his strength back. It wouldn't be long before he would be fighting again. Or at least, out of the hospital. As thu nurses quickly attempt to traquilize the beast, he thinks of how he had a mission. A target, in fact. There was another fight he would disrupt.
And Mukai and Athena would certainly be in for a surprise.
Log created on 17:52:45 05/16/2012 by Adon, and last modified on 22:59:18 05/17/2012.