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Raion Kido · (08-24-2022)

“Ahh, Lexi Gold. One of the very first…”

Raion Kido had not forgotten, and would never forget, that the Madness wrestler had been among the first people to take note of him, and the kindness and friendship with which she had treated him when he was only a debuting wrestler.

“And now it’s time for us to face each other. Who would have thought I’d be where I am now, eh?”

The Golden Goddess had expressed her respect for the young Lion, and the interest in facing him some day, and it was only right for him to grant her wish.

“I made this match happen, and must now fulfill my charge. Miss Lexi expects the very best, and that is exactly what she shall receive!”

This is what goes on in the mind of the XWF Universal Champion as he gazes at the stars in the clear, early evening sky. Half a day away from Anaheim stands the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, where he is currently located - a breath-taking, majestic building in Classical Roman architecture, featuring no less than three domes, surrounded by a green park, where several telescopes laid out on the slope of Mount Hollywood.

The Lion is gazing through one of these, adjusting its angle and direction, among a crowd of onlookers; and with them stands a telescope demonstrator, as it is often the Observatory’s custom to host telescope displays.

“As you all know by now, there exist twelve signs of the Zodiac, each represented by one of the twelve constellations in the Earth’s orbit around the sun - though I’m sure you have all heard this already from our honored guest Raion. However!”

As the demonstrator finishes these words, Raion turns from the telescope and into the crowd, giving the demonstrator a thumbs up sign.

“We’re ready here, sir!”

“Thank you, Raion. However! Not so many years ago there was said to be a thirteenth sign of the Zodiac, named after the constellation that Raion has picked for today, and which he has been kind enough to point the telescope to see. Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Bearer - a figure holding a snake.

There might be some controversy about this, though, because the constellations and the actual signs are not the same. But it’s a quaint thing to believe, and a color note to today’s display. The Serpent-Bearer constellation is most visible at this time of year, only in the Northern Hemisphere, and only in the early evening. So we’re exactly at the ideal time and place to see it!”

At this point, the XWF Universal Champion breaks into laughter.

“Funny how the universe has a way of shaping events, isn’t it? It just so happens that I too am facing a Serpent-Bearer this Savage Saturday Night!”

A couple of visitors - a man and his significant other, by the look of it, are the first to speak, followed by the rest of the crowd’s murmurs.

“Ohh, right! That blonde woman that likes snakes! She’s hot, isn’t she?”

“I should smack you for saying that but she is, not gonna lie.”

“Beautiful, yes, but more importantly talented, and a very nice lady as well.

She’s had a tough road over there at Madness, but still she has the guts to come to Savage Saturday Night. And even if I were not Universal Champion I would have wanted a match with her eventually, but now I get to show her my gratitude with something to show for it.

And that, my friends, is why I’m here with you tonight, and why I have chosen Ophiuchus to show you on this display. Miss Lexi Gold is a women’s champion elsewhere, another entrant in the World Series of Wrestling, and one of the first people ever to notice me; and therefore, this is my tribute to her before we meet next Saturday.

Because just as the 12 constellations of the Zodiac have a Golden Cloth, it may only be right that the Serpent-Bearer be there too, even though it’s not formally one.

One might say, somewhat poetically, that the Serpent-Bearer too has… a soul of gold.”

The man now chuckles, amusedly, but not disdainfully.

“You pulled that one right out of your butt, didn’t you? Ha! You, you’re good, very good, Kido!”

The man’s girlfriend shoots him a dirty look, at which he’s visibly chastened, before she smiles at the Lion.

“Ignore him… I did like that comparison. You really do have a way with words, Raion!”

“Those who wish to take a look through the telescopes, feel free to go right ahead, but Ophiuchus is also visible to the naked eye. As a matter of fact…”

The demonstrator points at the night sky to where the constellation can be seen, the stars in the distance glinting clearly.

“Today it seems to shine more brightly than usual. It looks like it’s your lucky day, folks! Go right ahead!”

The crowd then proceeds with their stargazing, some camping on the grounds of the observatory, some others going to look through the telescope. Meanwhile, the Lion is approached once more, this time by the demonstrator, who shakes his hand.

“It’s great to have you here today, you’ve been absolutely fantastic, and I really liked the way you talked. You really appreciate this lady you’re facing, right?”

Raion nods gracefully, closing his eyes as he does.

“I owe her that much, sir. The wrestling business can be cut-throat sometimes, especially for someone who is just starting. Miss Lexi Gold has been nice to me when I was nobody. Now that I’m here, she’s said it would likely be years before we’d face, but I wanted to prove to her that I had not forgotten.”

Once he opens his eyes again, the beginning of a smile begins to form on the Lion’s lips.

“As for the soul of gold? I know that she has it, and she only needs to show it inside the ring. Whether she will…”

Raion’s smile now grows into a big, toothy grin, and before he finishes his sentence, he gives the demonstrator a mischievous wink.

“That, sir, is up to her.”

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

“This may be a non-title match, but it is a special occasion.”

In the California night, and against the lights of the gorgeous observatory building, the Lion’s Golden Cloth shines brightly as he begins his speech, truly the image of a Saint of Athena guarding his temple.

When he said Lexi Gold deserved his very best, the Lion had meant it - and that included his address to her.

“And this may be the first match on the card of Savage Saturday Night, but I’m no stranger to opening the show. For not only is it the duty of the XWF Universal Champion to defend his title. As I’ve been saying as of late, there is an example to set.

And for a Champion, whatever his station, it applies even more so. Whether the last thing the XWF Universe sees in the Main Event, or the first one at the start of the show, they expect a Champion to give them their money’s worth - and this Savage Saturday night, that task falls once more to the Lion.

The reason I am here, though, is a response to one of the first friends I have ever made in the wrestling world. One of the first people that saw I would become something.

Someone who has always been there for me, a soul just as precious as her last name.

A soul of Gold, of course, for Miss Lexi Gold.”

Raion smiles radiantly as he finishes these words, but let it never be forgotten that this did not stop being a wrestling match, and that he still was the XWF Universal Champion. It was time, therefore, to do that which had got him there.

It was time to make the cosmos burn.

“Now, about Miss Lexi, what shall we say? She’s had her share of trouble in Madness since January, but now she’s begun to turn back the tide, and she’s even stepped out to Savage Saturday Night to face Jenny Myst. And not content with that, she came back to beat Alex Minett Vega-Yin and Justin York, which takes an enormous amount of courage - just as it does for her to accept this match with me.

And that, Miss Lexi, is why I’m here. Because I know that you deserve it. Because you’ve come to Savage and proved that you belong. Because you just have it in you to trigger a change in the world, just as you triggered a change in yourself.

Because I was paying attention, Miss Lexi, when you were saying that to Jenny Myst, and in a landscape of so much egotism, it is a refreshing sight to find people like you. That means not everything is lost in this world. It makes people want to see you succeed. It brings hope.”

Raion clenches his fist, before his beatific smile adopts, again, that mischievous sly look. It was time for him to explain what hope actually meant.

“But here we come to the crux of it. Hope is the one thing we cannot ever lose, and must be the very foundation upon which we do everything we do, but hope by itself is not going to be enough. There comes a time, Miss Lexi, when continuing to get up after being knocked down just doesn’t do it anymore, pushing the envelope just doesn’t get it done, and doing one’s best may be just short of the goal.

I know I’ve felt it, several times in the past. And it’s in times like these when all you must focus on is to finally break that glass ceiling. Not just to do your best, but to go that extra mile! And Athena knows, Miss Lexi, that I have done that, and that is why I stand here to tell you this.

Now, before you get the wrong impression, I’m not trying to threaten you, or to be rude. I tell you this because it’s exactly what you said to Alex Minett Vega-Yin. Did you not say, after all, that you meant to put her through the wringer? That you wanted her to show you her aggression? Now put yourself in that exact position with the XWF Universal Champion, standing across from you.”

This time, the Lion folds his arms across his chest, standing square-shouldered before the Observatory. Lexi Gold had the right idea, but now she was in the other position.

And it was Raion Kido’s part to put her to the test.

“Because the title may not be involved in this match, but the road I’ve walked to obtain it is. That very thing that drew your interest in me in the first place; and I mean for you to get exactly what you asked, what you wanted to see, and more than anything else, the expectation that you, and the XWF Universe in its entirety, deserve from me.

That is why, Miss Lexi, this is a test for me to carry the worth and the wrestling standard of the XWF, but it’s much more so for you, because this is a test of your soul. How far shall you be not just able, but willing, to go against one of the best in the entire XWF? How deeply does that aggression you want to see run within yourself? To what lengths shall you draw your strength from your spirit in order to face the man that speaks about the power of the universe?

How far, my dear Golden Goddess, shall you go to make your cosmos burn?”

The Lion thrusts his fist forward, the golden fist glinting in the starlight. Lexi Gold was no stranger to adversity, but so was he, and he would show him just how serious he was when he spoke about the cosmos.

It was what had got him so far.

And teaching this to the Golden Goddess would be the greatest gift that he could give.

“All these questions, Miss Lexi, are but a small part of what goes inside my own mind before I even climb that ring. And finding answers to all of them, to overcome every single one of them, is the exact reason why I do! Because in knowing the answers to them, I know what I must do to be worthy of my charge, first as a Saint of Athena, and then as a symbol of the XWF, for that is what being the Universal Champion ultimately is. You expect your mind and body to be challenged in every humanly way possible, but there’s going to be a twist: This test to your soul that I am making shall be just that step above humanity.

Because that is what I have always told since my very first match, and something of which I need to remind people occasionally - wrestling is above all else a test of the spirit, about how far one can push themselves, and that goes much deeper than mere body or mind. You’ve seen it with me against stars like Thaddeus Duke, legends like Centurion, veterans like Bobby Bourbon and Dolly Waters, monsters like Charlie Nickles, and would-be gods like ALIAS. These are the most notable names that I have overcome. And that, Miss Lexi, entailed more than physical strength, or any cunning. Because those were challenges that exceeded any human possibilities, and to overcome them it took that extra step.

That is the lesson that I come to impart today, my dear Golden Goddess. It involves more than getting payback on Reginald Dampshaw III, more than making the score even against Josslyn Spencer. A higher level, even, than your biggest tests in this company yet, Jenny Myst and the three-way match you won, for you no longer face someone with whom you have a grudge.

Now, Miss Lexi, you face the Lion - the XWF’s fastest rising star, the man that more than once has done the impossible. The embodiment, in fact, of all these things I’ve just said, and the man that has demonstrably proven the truth that lies behind my words. It isn’t an easy path, and no one has ever said there have not been obstacles - but there is always a way to overcome them, and I am the living proof!

And just as I am aware of your hopes and expectations for me, I have some of my own for you. It’s up to you then, Miss, to honor them, and to make me proud, because I do not forget that this was my offer - and offer that you accepted.”

This time, the Lion’s face turns serious, as he points to the camera. There is no malice in his eyes, but let it never be said that he took no match seriously.

After all, this was his friend. And it is the part of a friend to be honest and straightforward to another friend.

“You come into this match expecting your ultimate challenge, to face one of the best in the wrestling world, and that is exactly what I am coming to deliver, and the words that I have said are directed to someone that has the potential to be just that. Because it may be, my dear lady, that this may not be the last time we face each other. Maybe one day we’ll be doing this for gold, and if ever that day comes, I expect the encounter we shall have next Saturday to be burned into your mind.

It is my wish, Miss Golden Goddess, for this match we shall have to be the best you have ever had. The one that, regardless of its outcome, serves for you to become the best that you can possibly be. And I want you to remember, after this, the words that came from the mouth of Raion Kido, the lesson he tried to teach you, and the fact that you were not just a spectator, but a protagonist, in the grandest stage of the XWF.

And I want the people in the locker room, the XWF management, and all of those that watch this match, to witness the quality of the wrestling standard that I intend for the XWF banner to carry. For this may be the opening match, but the XWF Universal Champion shall take this as if it were the very Main Event. And I want you, Miss Lexi, to give it that very same effort. For this chance that you took when I offered. For the heights that this match means to you, and for the trust you had in me when I was nobody, just another rookie in the new year.”

The time for remembrance is now past, and the time to get in the ring is approaching, and therefore, it is time for this to end. The Lion slams his right fist against his left palm, the impact producing a slight clanging, metallic echo in the tranquil night.

“Here we go then, my dear friend. Honda Center, Anaheim, California, August 27th. The opening match that shall ignite the evening. The Gold Saint of Leo against the Golden Goddess. The Lion against the Serpent-Bearer. I come to show you not just the skill and the talent that got me where I am, but the spirit that lies within me - the power of the universe that I carry wherever I go. And I expect you, Miss Lexi, to show me something of your own.

I want you to show me your strength, your heart, that which dwells within your body and beats within your heart.

I want you, Ms. Lexi, to show me…”

One final point at the camera, an arched eyebrow, and a shining smile on the Lion’s face - glinting just as much as the stars, and the Ophiuchus constellation above the Griffith Observatory.

“... your Soul of Gold.”

Fade to black.

3000 words (wordcounter.net)

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