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Prince Adeyemi · (06-16-2023)

Continued from Back to The Hunt I: The Roaring Lion

“We have a Lion problem”

Ezekiel snorts.

“Whaddya know, we have a Lion problem too.”

Tojo archs an eyebrow before returning to ignoring the big man. One of his henchmen holds out a polaroid for Isaiah to take.

”What’s this, some kind of joke?”

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Tojo stares at him blankly.

“We are Yakuza, we do not joke.”

Isaiah looks at Ezekiel, who inhales deeply and frowns. This was not in the plan.

”That’s an actual lion.”

”What’re the odds, huh?”

”You’ll be the death of me.”

”It’s kinda poetic, come on.”

”THAT’S AN ACTUAL LION.”

Tojo’s head turns from one man to the other, an amused grin spreading onto his face.

”You find kitty for us - and we give your kitty back.”

Ezekiel draws out a long samurai sword of his own, while Isaiah cracks his knuckles.

”I guess it’s hunting time.”

The camera circles The Kingslayer. His eyes gleam against the light, a twinkle in them indicating something joyfully… Sinister.

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“Kitty cat, kitty cat, Kido on the run.

Kitty cat, kitty cat, not for some fun.

Kitty cat, kitty cat, Raion’s running hard.

Kitty cat, kitty cat, not from me; from his own heart.

Mr. Kido - when you look in the mirror what do you see?

Do you see the man you claim to be? The knight in shining armour, the saint staring back at you unblemished?

When you look into your eyes, at the reflections of your hands - is it purity and valor that you see?

The way you present yourself to the world, at least on the surface, as a honorable, unconquerable warrior.

Do you see yourself the way your wife never fails to whisper in your ear?

Her dear Lion, her perfect pet.

Or do you see a petulant child?

A wild cub whose been destined from greatness out of the womb.

Whose power and success have made a rookie’s heart turn to gold, cold and valuable but emotionless. Because when I listen to you spew your garbage I don’t see a hero -

I see emotional weakness hidden well by physical strength.

I see a punk ass bitch who thinks he’s better than everyone.

I see a little child who doesn’t know how to lose.

I see a villain in the making.”

The camera pans out from Isaiah’s close up, to reveal a monitor beside him playing through Raion vignettes and matches.

The Sham Lion Said:”I am angry because it shouldn’t have been this way - not because of me, because I’ve already proven more than once that I can pull my weight, but rather because the Kitty KAIJUS did not deserve their fate.

“The first sign of your downfall: The false altruism of a salty hero.

Your little team lost because you lost, Kido. You need to get that in your head.

This was WARGAMES.

Oh yeah, you do know we’re in June right? And not still at March Madness? All them head injuries seem to have taken a toll on ya’ memory Kido.

But I guess it’s easy to mix up your losses - you got kicked out of the March Madness tournament, so losing at WARGAMES must’ve brought back your PTSD or something.

BUT THIS WAS WARGAMES.

WAR - where all is fair.

The mighty lion conquered by a snake? Or the housecat conquered by the cobra?

You were defeated Raion - defeated according to the rules of the game you signed up for.

Sure, not your rules - as you might think everyone must live by because you’re the king of the jungle.

But you lost… Fair and square.

Against men and women wiser than you.

Against predators more dangerous than you.

Against a team more… United than yours.

I can point to a dozen different instances of you whining about your losses. Whining about a lowblow here and whining about a betrayal there.

You NEVER think a loss is your fault.

Because God forbid the indomitable RAION KIDO have a weakness.

I remember EVERY ONE OF MY LOSSES.

I yearn to make up for them.

To redeem myself from them.

That’s what drives MY obsession - I know it’s a sickness.

But it’s a sickness that will make me BETTER.

Your delusion though…

God forbid Raion Kido needs to grow.

Your ability to glaze over your losses will be your downfall.

Your inability to acknowledge weakness and strive to be BETTER will be your undoing.

You’ll never TRULY be at the top until you realise you have a ways to go.

You’ll never be someone’s first-choice pick until you realise you’re still just a petulant child in the grand scheme of things.

You had one damned good rookie year - both in the XWF and on our inter-promotional shores. You raked up the victories, the belts the accolades.

Rookie of the Year - no doubt.

Sure Raion - you’re somewhere at the top of this game, your belt proves it.

Your defences prove it… But your losses show us just as much

You’re just another star, trying to emulate his glorious rookie season and tasting the bitterness of defeat without acknowledging it.

Tell me Raion, what do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?”

They were sending him on a literal lion hunt. IN TOKYO CITY.

An actual lion was on the loose - the weekend before he had to face the Lion of the XWF.

Just his luck.

Some Saudi oil prince had brought the beast over, leashed on his private jet to meet with a Yakuza boss over some drinks. One too many sakes later, the man had woken up with the leash in his hand but the collar wrapped around a… Person, rather than his pet lion.

Now it was up to Isaiah and Ezekiel to find this great domesticated beast and return it to its owner, to both assert some soft humiliation on one of the Yakuza’s potential partners and bring honour to the Yakuza.

And for Ezekiel and Isaiah - the way to get back their friend, Chaeryoung.

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The two find themselves looking up at the opulent villa that housed the Saudi prince, the perimeter was covered with suited-up Yakuza members and Saudi secret service whispering things into their comms. The door to the villa had a huge gash on it, three actually, that showed the pair how exactly the beast had left the premises. A Yakuza guard had his arm wrapped in bandages now stained red.

They approach him.

”Tojo-san sent us, we are to find the Lion. I am Kingslayer, and this is my friend… Knight.”

Isaiah gestures with his hand to Ezekiel, the man glares at the two and grunts.

”Mmm, stupid Raion almost kill me. We think it still in the neighbourhood, people is screaming randomly and we is going to check. How you goin’ to capture it?”

Ezekiel lifts up a duffel bag, a Don Quijote plastic bag peaking out of it.
(That’s one of Japan’s largest multi-purpose stores, it even has it’s own iconic jingle)

On their way to incident site, the pair had made their way to Don Quijote this MASSIVE superstore full of everything from peanut-filled mochi desserts to anime-related sex-toys. There they’d stocked up on a rope, durable and flingable dildos and a couple of bottles of whiskey that they’d hoped might help to knock the cat out.

”Tojo said you have the leash.”

The injured Yakuza man nods curtly, taking the leash out of a bag of his own. It had smudged lipstick marks around the collar.

”Your death.”

Just then a scream peels through the air.

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”Sign two of your downfall: Isolating selfishness.

You wanted to be the last team standing? Yet you have no clue what team means.

Adding you into their team, regardless of your might, was the Kaiju’s downfall.

YOU were the last MAN standing, but from the bell-ring did you think of your team once?

Vaughan tried to protect HER team, Vita protected you - and what did you do for either of them?

Even Noah Jackson, that selfish prick, did more for his team than you did for yours.

You couldn’t give two shits what happened to the Kitty Kaijus.

Raion is the only Kitty that matters.

You’ve always just been Raion Kido.

Look at the the team that won - OUR team.

The team that you got left out of because Ned would rather a team of well-fitted, victory-focused villains than a selfish little shit like you.
Did you see how Ned heroically saved his team mates? How he event melted Flynn’s black heart? How he LED us to victory.

Like a captain should. Like a champion should. Like a LEADER should.

Hey, universal Champ - you can hold on to that title for a year and you’ll never lead us anywhere.

Because you’re in this game for yourself, and yourself alone.

You’ll never admit it - but your actions expose you.

And if there’s one thing I hope to do this weekend, it’s to show the world who you truly are.

To make the fragile facade of the hero crack - to show the world, to show the little kids who might still cheer for you, that you’re more Giovanni than Ash Ketchum.

The top villain with no friends - remember Cashe?

When you lost your tag-titles, you blamed HIM for tapping out.”

Another recording flickers.

the sycophant kitty Said:“The SAGA is now gone… but it damned certain did not fail. I know I did not fail!”

“OFCOURSE he’d walk out on your selfish ass. Even after all that…

You can see that YOU BOTH LOST.

That’s what tag-teams are about, you numbskull.

Blaming your partner for taking the pin is some real diabolic shit, even for Flynn. At least he’ll backstab his partner, and CLEARLY be the reason for the loss.

You? You’ll stab them in the back with a smile on your face, professing love.

And so when Cashe saw through your bullshit and left…

…Where was the Saint of Athena then? Did you go and rescue him? Did you go and mend a friendship?

No. You let him walk out, because you probably thought him deadweight.

How dare he put a loss on your record, right? Humiliate you by dropping titles.

By ending your INFLATED double-champion dreams.

Sorry - did you say I was the one with ambitions too big?

You ain’t no Saint of Athena - You’re just… Uhm… You’re just…. Someone help me out here…

A Fiend? A Demon? We’ll work on that.

As SAGA crumbled - WHAT DID YOU DO?

Nothing - you moved on and traded one dumb name for another.

With the Kaiju’s gone as quickly as they came…

What do you have left?

Isaiah scrunches his nose, spitting on the floor aggressively.

“How do ya like some wordplay?

You seem to dislike my ambition, beyond my abilities… An arrogance, an issue of pride.

But my little Lion…

…If anyone has a problem with pride - it’s the Lion without His pride.

The Lion who thinks he can walk alone.

The Lion who thinks he needs nothing because he is perfection incarnate.

A Lion who has never lost - only been screwed out of victory.

A Lion who has never had bad intentions - just misunderstandings.

This foolish Lion’s pride is what leaves him pride-less.

When you look in the mirror - do you see the lonely Lion?

While I…

The Hunter…

I see prey.

So when I crush you this Saturday, you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.

No lowblow to blame.

No snake to blame.

You’ll just have you - and that dissonance will hopefully blow a hole right through your head.

As you come to terms with your weakness, YOUR failure…

That’s when I’ll swing down the blade and take your head for a trophy.

When I’ll spew your diseased, evil-infested blood across the ring for the world to see.

To show them that you’re just a jackal in lion’s clothing.”

The two dash towards the screaming, the cat was nearby, their prey should just be around the corner. They definitely didn’t want to have to capture it with a dainty japanese woman in it’s mouth.

As they skid around the corner, the sight before them was… Amusing.

In the middle of a park, now mostly empty, was a massive purring lion of the african savannah. He was sprawled out across the grass, and the lap of a poor woman. She was pale, face drained of blood, with a stiff hand stroking the lions back.

Her eyes widen an inch more as she sees the two. She screams silently.

“We’re all about the hostage situations, huh Iz?”

“Mmm, poor girl is probably going to die.”

“What’s the plan?”

Isaiah’s brow furrows, the leash still in his hand. He sucks in his breath and accidentally makes a whistling sound.

The Lion’s head jerks up to meet his gaze.

The three humans freeze.

The Lion lets out a tremendous roar.

The girl SCREAMS.

The Lion bounds off her lap and towards Isaiah and Ezekiel.

Ezekiel sighs and steps forward, Sword in hand.

“No! You can’t kill it.”

“Shut up.”

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Somehow, Ezekiel already has a lit cigarette in his mouth.

He darts in just as the Lion seems to be a bound away from him - and it is glorious.

He ducks under the first paw -NOPE, it just about knicks him in the forehead, drawing a splatter of blood. Ezekiel turns the blunt side of the blade towards the beast, slamming it against the Lion’s underbelly and knocking it off its course.

The Lion slams into the ground and slides from it’s momentum - Ezekiel bleeds from the head, Isaiah stares in awe.

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Ezekiel raises the blade once more and steps forward to strike again - while the Lion whimpers.

The great beast’s eyes aren’t full of anger, they’re full of yearning. They glance at the collar in Isaiah’s hand and the beast crawls it’s way towards it. Isaiah narrows his gaze and inches closer to it, holding out the collar.

The domesticated animal slips it’s large neck into the collar and visibly grins as it snaps into place. Isaiah stands proudly, leash in hand - Lion captured.

"Aww, look's like kitty cat just needed to feel safe and loved."

The Lion purrs.

”Oh what a load of bullshit.”

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“Villainous flaw number three: You’re a coward.

And we all know its from cowardice that villainry arises.

You'll never risk a loss, never risk humiliation.

You sit in your tower and horde your title. I mean you won't even put it on the line before me.

ME - A guy who just lost his title.

ME - A guy whose still finding his footing.

Legends and killers line up to face you, and what do you do? Dance around their requests, obfuscate your intentions through unnecessarily long speech (yes that’s irony).

Like a villain you pick and choose who to face.

Defend your title to the bare minimum - only as much as the powers that be require you to.

I might not have been a convincing TV champ - but I was a fighting one, Raion. A bleeding one. A suffering one.

But you're terrified.

Terrified that somebody will figure out how to crush the Lion.

You're terrified that someone will expose you to the world as just another puffed up muscle head.

That someone will prove you're not all that.

You probably sit at home praying Flynn will be content with his belt and Ned busy fighting his demons to come for your throat.

Praying that Theo still gives a damn about you and won't book you horribly.

But having chased most of SAGA away - who's going to watch your back Raion?

You've got a big ass bounty on your head, a target on your back.

Riley can't protect you - she's the only one hanging around and whispering disgusting nothings to you.

Where will you go?

Down. That's where.

There are too many hungry, salivating murderers in the XWF for you to stand up top for too long Raion.

And I’m the first one - I'll draw blood young kitty. And set the rest of this company on you.

It’s about time someone put you in your place, and humbled you properly.

Your pride will be your downfall.

It’s chased every ally you’ve had away.

It’s revealed how blind you truly are to your own weakness.

And it’s revealed how hollow your ambitions truly are.

It’s about time someone put a leash around your neck and walked you out like Thad Duke.

When I’m done with you, you and the WHOLE world will see you for what you truly are.

A villain playing a hero.

A loser, playing a champion.

A whipped kitten, playing a prideful lion.”

This time your screen flickers to what looks to be Raion’s face, staring blankly into the camera. He seems to be lying down on what looks like a wrestling ring. As the camera zoom’s out, his neck seems to be bleeding profusely. Just as the zoom reaches his nape, the feed cuts to black.

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