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X-treme Wrestling Federation » Warfare Boards » Warfare RP Board
The Underdog
Author Message
Eobard Stone Offline
Registered but either hasn't added self to a roster yet or doesn't RP



XWF FanBase:
The 'cool' kliq fans

(booed by casual fans; opportunistic; often plays dirty while setting the trends)


#1
07-05-2021, 08:41 AM

Eobard remembered the first time he'd ever heard the term "underdog." It was in reference to a fictional crime fighting canine, a concept that seemed even MORE ridiculous than a blue puppy leaving clues for you to find. Nevertheless, Stone was five, and wouldn't find out the other meaning of the word until he was a little bit older.......................


"Excuse me," a nervous Eobard squeaked. "I'm here for the Magic tournament."

The scruffy looking man didn't seem to hear the future Game Master at first, being too busy gathering up cards for paying customers, as well as signing up the more established players. Stone stood there as patient as any ten year old could, but considering he was barely tall enough to peak over the counter, he quickly assumed the man did not see, nor hear, him.

"Excuse me.............."

The man let out a sigh and grabbed a piece of paper, which he slammed down in front of Eobard along with a pen. "Here!" he boomed, dropping a pile of deck boxes from his other arm onto the floor. "God dammit!"

It seemed like a madhouse, teens and adults alike hurrying to get their hands on the right card or two to put their deck over the top. It didn't quite make sense to Stone, who figured most people would be smart enough to prepare for an event like this well in advance. That's what his dad did, at least back when he was playing. Unfortunately for Eobard, his father was far too busy with football anymore, and not only wouldn't be able to plau in this tournament himself, he also wouldn't be there to see his son compete in HIS first, either.

Eobard tried to reach the pen and paper in order to sign up, but he was just a tad too short. Seeing no other choice, the younger Stone stepped onto the base of the glass display case and began writing his name.

"Hey!" the store worker from before shouted, stomping in Eobard's direction. "Get off the glass!" Of course, NOW he could see him.

Luckily, Stone had just finished writing his name and was planning on stepping down anyway. "Sorry," he apologized, taking his deck and heading for an empty table to sit down at. He was already starting to get discouraged, but was positive this one guy did NOT represent the community as a whole.

DING! DING!

The sound of the door being opened filled the air, signaling the arrival of even more players. This group seemed a bit different from the rest of 'em, almost like some sort of celebrity entourage. As soon as they entered the store, the entire atmosphere changed.

"Johnnyyyyyyyyy," the man behind the counter called out, blowing off the people he'd been so keen on serving just moments before. "What can I do for ya?"

Johnny, who seemed like the Fonz of this place, cooly strutted over to the case where Stone had just been standing and glanced over the cards inside. "Still out of Baneslayer Angel, I see."

"Sorry, Johnny," the flustered worked responded. "Nobody's tradin' 'em in."

"Shame," Johnny scoffed as the rest of his friends shook their heads in disappointment. At this point, Eobard wasn't convinced these guys weren't some sort of Magic: the Gathering Mafia by the way they were walking all over this guy.

"I assure you, the moment we get some in you will be the first to know!" the guy promised, though it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"Guess I'll just have to order some online," Johnny quipped in an almost threatening tone, sending the worker into a panic.

"Come on, Johnny, there's no need to do THAT," he pleaded, making it obvious now that he was the store's owner. "I can just sell you the ones out of my deck!"

"Do you have two?"

"Two?" the owner chuckled, turning around and grabbing his deck box. "I've got four!" He pulled them out and showed the group, who seemed rather pleased with themselves.

"Excellent," a pleased Johnny said in Mr. Burns-like fashion. "Because Travis needs two, as well."

The store owner, who wasn't looking to part with ALL his Baneslayer Angels, glanced at the burly one of the group, who bared his teeth with a condescending smile. Feeling as if he had no other choice, the man slid all four of his cards across the counter. "Whatever keeps you coming back."

Johnny nodded, grabbing the cards and handing two of them to his friend. "I knew you were a smart man, Jeff." He reached into his wallet and pulled out a crisp $100 bill, which he placed gently on the glass. "I believe this should cover it."

Jeff looked down at the bill, which was barely enough to cover the cost of two Angels, let alone FOUR. "Baneslayers are going for $40 apiece, Johnny," the owner struggled to get out.

"Oh really?" Johnny responded, acting as if he had no idea he was under paying. "Well, these are from your personal collection, therefore I see no need to pay full retail price for 'em. Besides, what're friends for, RIGHT?"

Not wanting to lose one of his most valued customers, Jeff had no choice but to give in. "Right................"

"I knew you'd see it my way," the manipulative Magic player boasted, turning away from the owner and heading in Eobard's direction. "If you could sign me and the boys up, that'd be greeeeeeat."

"Absolutely," Jeff agreed, grabbing the pen and paper he made Stone use to sign himself up, and writing each of their names on it. "You guys are good to go!" he declared with a thumbs up.

Johnny acknowledged him with a Henry Winkler-esque thumb of his own, approaching Eobard's table and standing in front of him as the rest of the group surrounded the young Game Master from behind. Stone, who'd gotten bored of this wannabe Mob's shenanigans almost as soon as they began, was too busy thumbin' through his cards to notice any of them.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

Eobard looked up from his deck, unaware he was doing anything that warranted questioning. "Making sure I'm good to go," he quipped, giving Johnny the same sort of attitude he gave the owner. "Something you seem to know nothing about."

"Ooooooooooooooo," the four boys behind Stone responded, turning Johnny's face bright red in the process. Eobard wasn't afraid of him, or ANY of them, for that matter; afterall, what were they gonna do, beat up someone half their age in front of an entire store of witnesses?

"Well, you got me there............." Johnny finally spoke, his face slowly turning back to it's normal hue. "But, while we're on the subject of things people don't seem to know, are YOU aware that you're sitting at our table?"

Little Eobard looked from side to side, searching for any sort of sign that would give credibility to his claim. "I don't see your name on it!" he shrugged, angering the elder gamer some more.

"Yeah, well, most people are smart enough to know not to sit here."

"Are you?" Stone shot back.

"Am I what?"

Eobard stood up in an attempt to intimidate the bullies. "Smart enough to know not to sit here." Stone locked eyes with Johnny, showing no sign of backing down. However, before things could come to a head, Jeff made his way over to the wall behind them and taped a piece of paper to it.

"PAIRINGS, ROUND 1!!!!!!!!"

The owner scurried past the six of them as the rest of the store's patrons headed towards the list of match-ups. Johnny looked from Stone to the paper, realizing he had bigger fish to fry.

"You're not worth my time," he scoffed, walking around the table and joining his goons in viewing the list. "You'll be lucky to win a game, let alone an entire round!"

Eobard hugged the deck his dad built for him, knowing full what it was capable of. He waited for the crowd to disperse before getting up and looking for himself.

"Roland Wright," he mumbled, reading the name of his opponent aloud. "Table 9." Stone turned and made his way through the sea of nerds, squeezing past a variety of them who could barely scoot forward enough to allow him by.

Eventually, Eobard made it to Table 9 and sat down across from a little kid who was even younger than he was. "Are you Roland?"

"Yep," the kid answered, finishing off the juice box he'd been sipping on. "Are you Edward?"

"It's E-o-bard" an already annoyed Stone corrected.

The kid seemed to ignore him, shuffling his deck half-assed due to it being too big for his tiny hands, before plopping it down in front of Stone and drawing 7 cards.

"Uuuuuuuuuuum," the future Game Master uttered, staring at the cards in the kid's hand. "Pretty sure you're supposed to let me cut first." Eobard's father taught him to follow every little rule of Magic, knowing full well the higher up players would call him out for it, otherwise. Here he was in his first match, and Stone was already doing things the more established players did.

"Oh, right," Roland groaned, regretfully putting his hand back on top and allowing Eobard to cut it. "My dad never cuts my deck."

Fucking casuals.

Eobard's first round practically mirrored how Steven Cooper's LAST one would go years down the road. A little kid who barely knew what he was doing, getting absolutely slaughtered by someone who was just learning the ins and outs of Tournament competition. At one point, Roland tried to play a Yugioh card which, rather than call him out on it, Stone just destroyed, instead.

"Good game," Roland said, extending his hand in defeat.

"You too," Eobard lied, shaking his opponent's hand. "I gotta say, that Blue Eyes White Dragon REALLY caught me off guard!"

"It usually does," the kid proudly boasted, squeezing out of his chair and walking away. "Good luck in the next round!"

"Yeah, you too," Eobard awkwardly spoke, aware if Roland pulls that Blues Eyes on ANYONE else he's going to get called out for it.

Eobard sat alone at a table in the corner, wishing his dad could be there to keep him company. The time between the 1st and 2nd Rounds felt like forever, with one game going so long, it ended in a Time Limit Draw. But, alas, it DID eventually end and Eobard was able to check who his next opponent was once Jeff printed off the pairings and hung it on the wall.

"Travis Brenton."

Stone turned and made his way over to Table 3, where he was met by the very same Travis whom Johnny purchased 2 Baneslayer Angels for.

"YOU'RE my opponent?!" the overweight gamer sneered before turning and hollering towards the store owner. "Did I get paired down?!"

Jeff looked at his computer for a moment, before turning and shouting back at Brenton. "Nope, we have an even number of players!"

Travis turned from Jeff to Eobard, a befuddled look on his face. "You WON???" he asked, unable to fathom how the hell that could happen.

"Yep," the Game Master cooly replied, shuffling his deck in preparation for the biggest game of his life.

"Who'd you play?!?"

Eobard looked past his opponent to one of the higher numbered tables behind him and pointed in Roland's direction. Travis looked over his shoulder, only to see the little kid picking his nose and eating the contents inside.

Upon seeing this, Brenton let out a sigh of relief before turning back to Stone and making one last snarky comment. "Yeah, that makes sense."

What DIDN'T make sense to Travis was the next half hour. Everything he tried to play would either get countered, or destroyed within a turn or two of hitting the field, INCLUDING his $40 Baneslayer Angels. By the time the round was over, Johnny's buddy had his face buried in his hands with shame.

"I can't believe I lost............."

Eobard extended his hand, a sly smile on his face. "Good game."

Rather than shake his hand like a good sport, Travis grabbed his deck and got up to walk away, but not before trying to discredit Stone some more. "It's not that hard to play control," he jeered. "Anybody can counter crap, let's see you play a REAL deck."

Eobard ignored the rude comment, blowing a kiss behind Brenton's back as he stomped over to Johnny, who was still in the midst of his own battle.

"Didja win?" he asked, keeping his eyes focused on the game at hand.

"No," Travis answered with a sigh. "I got my ass kicked........."

"YOU got your ass kicked???" Johnny questioned, playing a card and motioning for his opponent to go. "Who'd you play?!"

Just as Stone had done for Travis, Brenton pointed at Eobard without so much as a word. It took Johnny a second to realize what he was doing but, the moment he looked up and realized who his friend had lost to, his jaw dropped open in shock.

"HIM?!?" he blurted out, gesturing in Stone's direction. Eobard waived at Johnny with only his fingers, an overly cute smile on his face while doing so. "You lost to hiiiiiiiiiim?!............. How?!??"

"I don't know, man," Travis responded, his voice cracking as if he were about to cry. "But I think I need to go home and pray............."

And just like that, Brenton stormed out of the store, leaving Jeff to question Johnny about his buddy. "I'm assuming he dropped out?"

"Yeah," Johnny replied, turning his focus back to his game. "I'd say so."

The next round came and went, with Eobard picking up a victory over another one of Johnny's friends. This guy wasn't as bad as the last one, though, actually shaking Stone's hand afterwards and wishing him luck in his next match. You could tell he was upset, but not enough to suddenly become religious over it. This didn't sit well with Johnny, who felt it was beneath ANY of them to lose to such a "noob."

"You should just drop, too," he told his friend in a somewhat harsh tone, making sure to be within earshot of Eobard as he did so. "If you can't beat him, there's no point in going on."

"He has a REALLY good deck, Johnny!" the guy argued, receiving an eyeroll for his trouble. "And he's a pretty good player, too!"

"Ha! I'll believe it when I see it!"

The time had finally arrived for Johnny to "see it," as the two were paired against one another for Round 4. It was a match-up Stone had been anticipating since the moment Johnny and his goons stepped foot inside the store. Tension was at an all-time high, but Eobard knew half this game was mental and refused to let his nerves get the better of him.

"Well, well, well..........." Johnny snarked as he sat down across from his opponent. "If it isn't the world famous Eobard Stone!"

Eobard didn't look at him right away, instead shuffling his deck and staring off into space. "You know, you might want to get that checked out."

A puzzled Johnny raised his eyebrows, unsure as to what exactly Stone was referring to. "Get what checked out?"

"Last I knew," Eobard began, plopping his deck on the table for his opponent to cut. "Assholes weren't supposed to talk."

"Yeah, well," a crimson Johnny stuttered, grabbing hold of Eobard's deck and shuffling it thoroughly. "This asshole's about to shit all over you!" He placed Eobard's cards back down on the table and motioned towards his own. "You can cut if you like, though it's probably not gonna help you any."

Eobard looked at his opponent's deck for a second, before tapping the top card and sliding it closer to him. "You're good." It was a small gesture, but Stone wanted Johnny to know that he didn't care if he was cheating or not, he was GOING to beat him.

Things got off to a rough start for Stone, who got land screwed right off the bat. By the time he was able to recover, it was already too late and Johnny took Game 1 with as much ease as Eobard had in the 1st Round. And, of course, his opponent wouldn't let him hear the end of it as they prepared for Game 2.

"If this is what Travis and Dirk lost to, they should probably quit Magic altogether."

"If ANYBODY loses to someone who got land screwed, they should probably quit," Eobard fired back, irritated that his deck was letting him down when it mattered most.

"Sounds like an excuse to me," Johnny replied with a fake yawn.

Luckily for Stone, things began to look up in the second game. He got off to a great start, drawing the perfect combination of land and spell cards to counteract everything his opponent wanted to do. It got so bad for Johnny, that he began making excuses of his own.

"Do you run ANYTHING other than counters?!" he bitched, attempting to play another creature only for young Eobard to, you guessed it, play a counter spell.

"Sure do!" Stone exclaimed, drawing his card for the turn and immediately playing it. "Got a playset of Baneslayer Angels!"

Johnny leaned forward and looked at Eobard's foil copy of the card he'd managed to wrestle away from the store's owner, unable to do anything about the legitimate threat. He glanced at his hand, followed by his Life which, at a meager 4, wouldn't be able to take a single shot from the creature. Left with no other choice, Johnny casually gathered up his cards and began shuffling them together.

"You concede?" Eobard asked, not wanting to scoop up his cards just yet and get called out on any sort of technicality.

"Noooooooooo," Johnny said with the same sort of sarcasm Stone would eventually grow up to convey, himself. "Just figured we'd start the game over, you know, for the hell of it!" Eobard reached for his cards, but refused to actually pick them up until he got confirmation that he had, in fact, won. "YES, I concede!"

Johnny's outburst could be heard throughout the entire store, getting people talking about Stone even more than already had been.

Eobard grinned, gathering up his cards in preparation for the third and final game. "I just wanted to hear you say it."

Johnny clenched his cards, nearly damaging the highly valuable pieces of cardboard. "You know, one day, you're not gonna have the protection of being a child to save you from that mouth of yours."

"Doesn't seem to have stopped you any," Stone said, shuffling his deck and setting it down. "Then again, you probably can't even go to the bathroom without one of your private security guards holding your dick for you."

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!"

"You heard me," a fearless Eobard emphasized before pointing to his deck. "Cut?"

Johnny was about ready to burst, but knew he couldn't make anymore of a scene against this little kid than he already had. Keeping that in mind, he decided to let the final game do the rest of his talking, something Eobard intended to do, as well.

This 3rd and final showdown between the two would go on to be the closest match of, not only the round, but the entire tournament. Stone started off with a couple of counters, only for Johnny to fire back with some counters of his own! Eobard would play a creature to try and finish his opponent off, just to have it destroyed the following turn! Johnny'd respond with a creature, himself, just to have it removed from the game with a single card!!! It was a tug of war and, by the terrible stench filling the building, you could tell both sides were working hard to ensure they weren't the one to fall flat on their face.

It eventually got to the point where they were the only game left, with the entire store surrounding them in anticipation of a winner.

"I'll play Baneslayer Angel," Johnny snorted, feeling as though be just sealed the deal.

"In response," Eobard began, tapping three mana and dropping a blue card down. "I'll Cancel it."

Stone looked anxiously at all the land his opponent had open. Despite the fact Johnny only had 2 cards left in hand, he knew the chances of at least one of them being a counter were high. To make matters worse, Stone himself was down to 1 card and it was definitely NOT a counter.

Eobard's worst fear came true, as Johnny responded by turning three of his remaining eight open lands sideways and playing the very same card Stone just had. "I'll Cancel your Cancel............."

The crowd began to murmuring amongst themselves, well aware of how big that play was. Stone looked on helplessly as Johnny tapped the rest of his lands and cast a Baneslayer Angel, no doubt one of the ones he'd hustled away from Jeff just hours earlier. The irony of it all was, Eobard's lone card was also a Baneslayer Angel, normally a nice thing to have under most circumstances, but not when it's staring down two more copies of itself. There wasn't much Stone could do at this point except take a page out of Travis' playbook and pray.

"Pass turn," Johnny said with a cocky grin, leaning back in his chair as if to signal it was over.

Eobard gulped before reaching for the top card of his deck and drawing..................

[Image: 51DANwU3DVL._AC_.jpg]

...............................A DAY OF JUDGMENT!!!!!!!

By some miracle, Eobard Stone had drawn 1 of his only 4 cards to get him out of this situation, even more miraculous being the fact he'd already played 2 of them earlier in the game! His hands shaking the entire time, Stone tapped 4 mana(making sure at least 2 of them were white) and played the only card in his deck capable of taking out two Baneslayer Angels at once.

"Day of Judgment," Eobard gloated, knowing his opponent had no cards to stop it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Johnny sourpuss spouted, his face turning red with a combination of anger and envy. "Let me guess, you just top-decked it?"

"Yep," Stone confirmed, setting the card in his discard pile as a pissed off Johnny grabbed his two $40 cards and tossed 'em in his. "Oh, also..........." Eobard continued, tapping five more mana and dropping a copy of his own. Baneslayer Angel."

"Of-fucking-course," Johnny groaned, hoping maybe HE could pull some. sort of rabbit out of his hat, too. "My turn???"

Eobard nodded, his heart racing inside his chest. If Johnny couldn't draw a card to destroy Stone's Baneslayer Angel or, at the very least, block it, the game was all over.

Johnny slowly reached for his deck, grabbing at the top card and dragging it off at the speed of a snail. Upon finally drawing it, the confidence in his face disappeared as he dropped a mere Island onto the table, conceding defeat in the process.

"Of course it'd be a fuckin' land,"Johnny complained, seeing the irony of the entire situation.

"Man, you suck," Eobard joked, getting a round of laughter from everyone around him, including Jeff. "But good game, anyway." He extended his hand for Johnny to shake but, of course, the poor sport refused.

"You got lucky!" he barked, getting up from the table and pushing his way through the crowd.

Eobard couldn't remember how the round after that went, other than the fact he won. The victory meant he was 5-0 and had taken the whole entire tournament, as well as 5 packs of his choosing. Knowing they needed it more than he did, a cheeky Eobard gave them to Johnny and his buddies in the hopes maybe it would help them git gud. While they may not have appreciated the empty gesture, it wasn't gonna stop them from taking the free cards.

This would be the first time Stone had ever been an underdog, but it certainly wouldn't be his last. While he would go on to quickly earn respect in the world of Magic: the Gathering, it would take him a little bit longer to get that same sort of respect in the world of wrestling................



"You know, for a couple of blokes who like to run their mouth, Them No Good Bastards sure don't have much to say! I suck? I suck?!? Congratulations, boys, you've figured it out! Eobard Stone is the weak link in EXP! Who would've EVER thought someone who's only wrestled two matches in his entire life would be so much worse than his partner who's been wrestling since before he was born?! I mean, it's not like Tag Team Turmoil wasn't my debut or anything. Nor did I give the former TV Champion a run for his money a couple months back. I'm learning on the job, fellas, of course I'm gonna mess up a couple orders along the way! What's important is that I'm learning from my mistakes and improving upon 'em. That's all anyone can do."

"Me and Cooper are NOT the Disintigrators. We don't have a stupid catchphrase, or tight pants that make us look like girls; just two pissed off son's a bitches lookin' to kick some Bastard ass! I may suck at wrestling but, luckily for me, this isn't a wrestling match, it's a fuckin' fight; and I've won PLENTY of those! Just because you didn't see 'em, doesn't mean they didn't happen............ then again, y'all seem like the type who'd deny the existence of air just because it's invisible to the naked eye! If the two of you want to dig up my past, how 'bout focusing on everything as a whole, as opposed to the part where I got fucked in the ass? Hell, I'll even PAY TK to do a little bit of research if it'll get us a good match out of ya. Don't wan't any excuses once these 'losers' fuck YOUR asses up!!!!"

"You guys may be the bar, right now, but that bar is ALWAYS raising. It doesn't matter if it's the Tag Team Titles, or Universal Championship, there's ALWAYS someone bigger and badder out there looking to knock you off your pedestal! Cataclysm leapfrogged the 'Cunts, then Continuum surpassed them, only for y'all to come along and do the same thing to THEM! Hell, even Cooper and I will be overthrown one day, most likely by the oh so lovable Mr. Vacant. Nothing lasts forever, not even EXP................ it's the circle of life! I would've thought Bobby Bourbon learned that lesson when Ned(the man who signed me) took his Hart Championship off him, but I suppose he'll need a friendly reminder. I'm sure Cooper would be willing to remind TK of his lost Title reigns, too!"

"You see, you're only nobody until you become somebody. There was on point where nobody expected the two of YOU to be as successful as you've become! Most of them looked at you like a second rate D.D.S. until you started having actual success. We're no more a joke to YOU than you were to THEM! If you think we're not gonna approach this with the same sort of poise the two of YOU did, then you really DO need to do your research! I wasn't afraid of Andre Dixon, I wasn't afraid of Johnny Combo Player, and I'm CERTAINLY not afraid of Them No Good Bastards! If I was, I wouldn't have dropped them on their ass............... twice! If the team of a couple washed up mid-carders frightened me, I wouldn't have declared us to be the ones to end their reign in the first fuckin' place!"

"You guys somehow found out my secret, which means you also know that there is NOTHING either of you can do to me that will be worse than what happened to me that day! Beat me, bloody me, toss me around like a ragdoll, NONE OF IT will EVER hurt as much as what my teammates did to me!!! I'm number than Chester Bennington, I can't feel the way I did before. And you know what? As much as you would think it's a curse, it's actually a blessing; because I will NEVER allow bullies like them no good bastards to EVER hurt me again! You can say what you want, do what you want, it doesn't matter; only I can decide how those actions affect me! I didn't lay down and die when my teammates betrayed me, I gave them a taste of their own fuckin' medicine! You can call me a quitter like the rest of 'em, but I know the truth and, at the end of the day, that's really all that matters. If Robbie Bourbon can live with the fact he whored himself out like a dollar store Thunder Knuckles, I can live with an entire town hating me over something they know NOTHING about! If stepping out of bounds for the sake of proving a point makes me a loser, then I'm the biggest loser around! And you know what?.............. I'd do it again, too; just like me and Cooper would attack Them No Good Bastards over and over again! Because YOU don't dictate our success, WE do! And, come Wednesday night, we're gonna be awwwwwfully successful once we end the reign of TK and Bobby Bourbon! Hope y'all saved to your memory cards, because EXP's about to turn the power off on your reign!!!!!!"
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