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X-treme Wrestling Federation »   » Archives » "Savage Saturday Night" RP Board
A Gilded Cage
Author Message
Raion Kido Offline
The Lion


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XWF FanBase:
Families & Kids, casual fans

(fighting the odds; helps others; disliked by most adult male fans)


#1
05-10-2022, 04:54 PM

By the look of things, it did not seem like the Ringmaster was going to take Raion Kido seriously - or even that he was going to approach this match knowing the caliber of the competitor he faced. Something Raion could take offense at, perhaps, but there were more things riding into this than whatever his opponent had to say or think about him.

“Let us not forget that Leap of Faith is coming - and I have no time, after having done heavy duty, to be derailed further!”

Time was of the essence if he was to make it to Leap of Faith, but there also was the issue of the attention he had received. Would he get another letter after the events of Warfare? Or had interest in him been lost?

“Besides, I did not spend my time in the Buddhist temple, and learn about the seventh sense, in vain. If such a thing indeed exists, I shall find it, and I shall master it.

And then, I shall finally prove myself in the big stages of the XWF.”

These were the thoughts of the Lion as he walked in the open air of the Vancouver Zoo. It is a fine morning, barely a cloud in the sky, and it was nice to be outside in the company of nature, such as it can be found here. Here he was gazing at the animals he was born, and had chosen, to act like.

Proud beasts with a noble look, heavy manes of fur on the males, penetrating eyes on the females. Stalking slowly through the lush green grass in their dwellings, the lions paid no heed to the visitors - minding their own business, in apparent contentment.

Taking care not to disturb them, the other guests, or the zoo staff that were tending to them, he drew closer to the cage behind which the lions lived.

“Oh, look! It’s the Lion, come to visit his kin!”

Somewhat confused, Raion turns in the direction of the voice, only to find a young man, about his own age, with a camera in hand. Perhaps the Lion’s sudden move startled him, but he was soon lifting a hand in apology.

“Wait wait! Sorry dude, it was in good fun - I’m a fan!”

The Lion draws a sigh of relief and lowers his head respectfully, a polite smile on his face.

“Oh no, no problem at all! I’m very glad that people are still enjoying what I do!”

“You bet! I know you’ll finally hit the big spot, and it might be even closer than anyone knows! I love your ferocity - very much like those big guys over there… even though they’re now doing the big sleepy cat thing.”

True enough, the lions in the cage were laid down, looking absent-mindedly about. Raion nods, but his smile now widens, and a knowing look is in his eyes.

“I appreciate the comparison, but it poses a bit of a problem. I don’t mean to disrespect our friends over there, but unfortunately, they are confined within this world around them. It’s the only thing they know, and it’s the only thing they will likely ever know.

Don’t get me wrong, however. I’m not saying their world is bad. They’re well-treated, they’re fed, they’re cared for, and they’re even loved by the staff and the people that visit them.”

Pausing for a second, the Lion turns back to the beasts on the other side.

“But are they truly free?”

The fan looks at them in silence, and shakes his head.

“Well, no, but it’s not like it’s a bad life, right?”

“Not at all, and I’m happy that they enjoy it. But see, it is a bit different for me. I am not just the Lion because I was born under the sign of Leo, or because I like the Gold Saint in Saint Seiya. I am a Lion because I was not born to be confined - not even within a gilded cage.”

“Ohhh, I see - that’s exactly what you’re trying to achieve, yes? And that’s why you go at it so hard. I saw that Ringmaster dude talk about intensity, but if there’s anyone in the XWF that shows it, that’s gotta be you!”

“And there you have the truth of it, friend - thank you very much for your kind words.”

Intensity was the word, what the Lion required. And no better opportunity to be intense than right after doing two shows in a row, winning one, and losing the other one because Charlie Nickles escaped.

The Ringmaster would try to escape too - but the Lion would not let him.

“I mean, I don’t think that guy even knows what he’s talking about! Of all people, he’s going to accuse you of being lazy?”

Both men now share a hearty laugh, and the Japanese wrestler raises a hand in apology.

“Oh, believe me, I wish I could be! Unfortunately, however, I don’t have the luxury, nor the resources, to set up a dojo. I don’t feel I’m fit to teach anyone anything, when I have so much to learn myself. But hey - if the Saints of Athena had been idle, I don’t think anyone would even have heard of them, and I would not be here today.

But the Ringmaster is probably right - I’m not worthy of standing in his gym. I shall have to show him that the work he does cannot even begin to compare with mine.”

After this, Raion nods at the lions within the cage.

“And besides, I don’t look as cute as those guys when I’m sleeping.”

The fan laughs again, but points towards a group of ladies rushing to approach them.

“I think that’s just about to be disproven, Mr. Gold Saint!”

“Raioooooooooooonnnnnnnnn! Please let me get your picture!”

“Me too! Boy, you’re adorable!”

“Me and my cursed mouth… It’s them you’re supposed to be looking at, not me!”

And indeed, soon enough there is a crowd gathered around the Lion - of both males and females, of all ages, looking to get their word and their picture with both the actual lions, and the man that went by the name. Raion Kido would attempt to please them, but there was something else he was here for. He was trying to break out, and finally be free.

Though there was always a new hurdle, he had begun to advance. This Savage Saturday Night was just another step, and Leap of Faith would be the culmination.

After all… a Lion could never be caged.

And Raion Kido would not be.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There is a truth that everyone should know, but yet one that I shall demonstrate next Savage Saturday Night:

A Lion, ladies and gentlemen, is never meant to be caged.”

Thus Raion Kido begins, somewhat removed now from the lions area, already clad in his Gold Cloth and white cape, and giving a quick, almost imperceptible, glance towards the cage behind which the savage beasts lie.

“It might sound obvious at first, but you shall soon see that it is something else that I am trying to convey. I’m trying to explain to our friend the Ringmaster that he is but a prisoner in a cage, but not the one we shall be locked in at Savage Saturday Night, but rather, a much more difficult one, of which to break out.

Because see, this is a cage that goes beyond mere steel bars. The type of cage that can do much more damage in the long run than any structure used in a wrestling match, as brutal as that may be.

The type of cage that not only confines the body, but also the mind.

A gilded cage, born out of his own foolish pride.

Don’t worry, ladies and gentlemen, I shall proceed to illuminate you now, but first, I shall ask for your assistance.”

No smile graces the Lion’s noble face this time, but rather, a grim, serious expression - the look a noble knight would take when a barbarian horde stands at his front. Perhaps not through bad faith, but rather through ignorance, Ringmaster had chosen to insult him.

The Lion would show him the depth of his mistake.

And that meant the cosmos had to burn.


“I need you, members of the audience, to help me understand something. Ringmaster, the man that has just opened a wrestling school, the man that called himself Legendary right after beginning his road in the XWF, is calling me too confident. Ringmaster, a man who claims he can make a star of anyone he meets, dares to call me too confident. Ringmaster, the very same man who claims his very mission is to be the best in the world, and to spread greatness, has the gall to call me too confident!?”

A ferocious roar erupts from the Lion’s mouth, almost as comparable to the roar one of the beasts in the cage would make when irate.

If the Ringmaster wanted to draw blood, the Lion would grant his wish.

“Seriously, Ringmaster, do you even listen to yourself, or are you just enamored with the sound of your own voice? First you have a stadium - an entire stadium! - of people hearing some motivational speech, and now you play the master, teaching students to play a game you, yourself, have yet to fully experience. I’m quite certain that any example I set is done not just through my words, but also through my actions - but I don’t expect that to fit into that addled brain of yours. Of course, you may think I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown, but I suppose it’s a bliss not to ever have to worry about that due to living without a functioning brain.

I mean, what exactly am I being accused of here? Not working out? Is that what makes a good wrestler in your eyes? I thought the very idea of this sport was that anyone has the potential to beat anyone in that ring regardless of size, strength, or speed. I’m very certain I’ve made it my life’s purpose to make people wonder if they’ve ever felt the universe within them.

But see, Ringmaster, I get the root of the problem. You’ve relied on being big and strong for too long. You merely have an outward strength. You don’t know what it means to actually fight to win. I’m not sure you even know what it is to actually fight at all.”


A heart of gold, but two eyes, and a voice, of steel. Such is the countenance of Raion Kido as he lets these last words linger.

If Ringmaster paid any thought to his words, he should have thought better than to provoke the Lion. And if, as it seemed, he had not, it was then time for him to know just how intense the Lion was, when his honor was at stake.

One way or the other, the Ringmaster would regret the foolishness of his choice of words.

“And the reason I say this, Mr. Meathead, is because not only did you want to talk about my confidence, not only did you want to talk about my hard work, and not content with that, you are also stupid enough to criticize my work ethic. Wow, I’m sure that not having missed any edition of Savage Saturday Night, and having signed up to two special occasions on Warfare, is not enough of a sample of work ethic. Before you start making claims that can be easily proven false, take the time and effort to check whether they’re true - that way you would not look like the meat-headed simpleton you’re proving to be.

So Ringmaster, next time, preach to me about work ethic when you do three shows back to back to back, as I did in February, and as I’ve just done now. I will have had the same exact amount of matches in two weeks than you’ve had the entire month. You don’t know what work ethic means - and the fact that you intend to teach this to the students coming to your newly opened academy could only be described as laughable, if it wasn’t so completely self-serving.

But then again, everything about you so far has been substance-less falsehoods, so I suppose I should expect no better. I would call you a liar if it were not for the fact that, like many I’ve faced before, you’re entirely ignorant of what you’re coming to face. Which should be yet another lesson for your students to learn, Mr. Ringmaster - take the time and effort to acquaint yourself with the opponent you’re facing so you know exactly where to strike, and how to win.”


As the Lion finishes uttering these words, his lips peel back and his canines come to the fore. The ferocious snarl of his face, like his animal counterpart, spells out doom for whomever stands in his front.

And the Ringmaster was the poor unfortunate soul that chose to leap inside the proverbial cage.

“If you had actually bothered to do so, you would have seen that I speak of the cosmos and of the power inside of each and every one of us. You would have seen that I have bled, I have sweated, and I am willing to die, not for the business as you call it, but for my own beliefs - and you would have seen that I will not die. You would have also seen that I was talking about surpassing the body’s limits and drawing out miracles when all seems lost, before you even stepped into the company. You would have seen all this, and you would have given it at least a semblance of a second thought before blurting out words of something which you do not know, and can be demonstrably proven.

Alas, Ring Master, underneath that magnificence you want to portray, underneath that mockery of magnanimity of which you put on a show, there lies nothing. The only opinion you say I care about is my own, but take a good, long, hard look in the mirror, and see that your own voice is the only one to which you listen. It’s vapid, it’s conceited, and worst of all, it’s empty.

Which is why, I’m sure, you also feel like you’re intimidating trying to describe the horrible things you shall attempt to do to me, but by now you should have known that none of that means anything to me. If you’d actually bothered to take the time and effort to learn of me, you would have known people better than you have tried to put me down, only to find their very life slip away from them the moment they taste the Lightning Bolt - once, if they’re fortunate, and repeatedly if I bring the Lightning Plasma to bear.

If you’d actually bothered to learn of me, you would have seen that Charlie Nickles was right about to lose before he got a surprise win against me. You would have also seen that I have only lost three matches since being here, in comparison to seven I have won.

But I suppose that, for the man that acts like he’s a legend of which no one has ever heard, and now wants to spread a greatness he never had, and isn’t entitled to claim, that’s not being hardworking enough.”


This time, the feral look turns into an ironic, mischievous smile, though the eyes of the predator in the face of the Lion tell another story: The Ringmaster has chosen to become the prey.

“But please forgive me, Mr. Ringmaster, I shall endeavor to correct this. Maybe next Savage Saturday Night I shall make sure to render every one of your limbs unusable when the Lightning Plasma strikes your heart, and render you powerless to do anything but quiver and gasp for air as you watch me exit the cage - if you’re strong enough to even stay awake.

Maybe this edition of Savage Saturday Night, Vancouver, British Columbia, shall serve for you to find out just how far you are from being the best in the world. It shall, I hope as well, serve for you to learn to distinguish earned, warranted confidence, from empty arrogance.

And the most important thing of all, it shall serve for you to learn the power of the cosmos - the power of a Saint of Athena, when he has a point to prove.

So the next time you dare speak about intensity, and work ethic, and hard work, you shall remember that the Lion taught you the meaning of those words, and maybe you’ll try to match it thereon after. For Athena’s sake, I hope you do, and I hope that your eager, newly-minted students watch their trainer eat the very weight of his own words on May 14th.

Maybe then, after you and I are done, that speech about being humble shall finally become real - taught to the Ringmaster, in a show of character and dignity, by the hand of Raion Kido. Because all your speeches, and all your displays, as lofty and noble as they sound and look, are nothing but a gilded cage.”


It was finally time to end the Ringmaster’s delusion. The Lion clenches his fist, draws it behind his head, then thrusts it forward in a sudden, explosive movement - the gold-plated fist snapping the very air around it.

“And a gilded cage, Ringmaster, is still only a cage. You’ve already locked yourself in it. And unless you pay heed to the words of the Lion…

Raion Kido lowers his head, staring eye to eye with the camera, and his last words are the eerie whisper that the prey hears behind them, just before their life is over.

“... You’re not going to be coming out.”

Fade to black.

[Image: yfesfA4.jpg]

Signature courtesy of Atara Themis!
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