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Prince Adeyemi · (07-27-2023)

“Air smells like piss.”

“Ah yes, but it’s our piss you see, that’s why we love it.”

“Animals.”

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Atsuya Tojo was one of twelve grandchildren of the Tojo Clan’s patriarch, Sautoro. Middle-aged, neither the oldest nor youngest of the lot he boasted a clean black cut, a trimmed moustache and goatee combo and a navy blue pullover.

Nevertheless, he was meant to expand the Tojo Corporation, and by extension criminal enterprise of the Tojo Clan, onto American soil. It was his mission, and his ticket to claiming the top position in the family once his grandfather passed.

He simply wished he’d been charged with a slightly more prestigious mission. Every one of his competing siblings, for in the family none were cousins only brothers or sisters, knew that the chances of success here were slim - it was a throwaway idea that grandfather have. None expected the forgotten middle child to make anything out of it, rather they thought him out of the picture.

How he worked with Isaiah to take down [j] “The Kingpin” Jeremiah [/j] and The Empire that currently ruled the New York underground his final assessment.

Atsuya knew his chances were slim - but there was to be a change of guard in the family and he was determined to be the one to lead it. He will be going all the way to the top.

“Couldn’t wait till we made it off the runway?”

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[Image: FlimsyCavernousJumpingbean-max-1mb.gif]

Isaiah let out a long sigh of relief as his feet touched home ground. Japan was great and all, but between fighting monstrous kaiju, hunting for his girlfriend and wrangling lions, he’d had as much of the Land of the Rising Sun as he could handle for the year. Not that he didn’t bring some souvenirs to remember his time by.

Walking out of the Tojo family’s private jet behind Atsuya, Isaiah knew he didn’t have much of a respite before diving back into the mess that was his life right now.

He and Atsuya’s grandfather had struck a dangerous deal, one that would ensure Isaiah had sufficient armed manpower on American soil but required him to find a way to outmaneuver his enemy, “The Kingpin” Jeremiah into giving up his criminal enterprise.

Jeremiah had been a thorn in his flesh for what felt like years but was only really a couple of months. He’d hunted Isaiah and his friends down, kidnapped Chae and forced Isaiah to do his bidding in Japan. Jeremiah, from his shadowy control of the events of the last few months, felt like an insurmountable challenge.

Isaiah knew his chances of victory were slim - but New York needed a new King in-charge, and Isaiah was determined to be the one to slay the old and bring in the new. He will come out on top.

“I am headed to the top.

I’ve been headed to the top since my first day here.

You and I know that right? In the most practical, realistic way possible, Isaiah King has etched his way through this business, through the undercard, through the mid-card… Even through the monsters at the top.

It hasn’t been all ice cream and cherries though - it’s been full of wins and losses.

But can anyone here confidently say that I have not gotten better every single day, that I’ve not gotten hungrier every single day, that I’ve not only gotten MORE focused to the top week in and week out as I bust my ass… NOT for anyone else but MYSELF.

Standing on my shoulders - I am making my way to the top.

Standing on the bodies of corpses - I am making my way to the top.

And I do it by getting better each day, coming up against another wall and figuring out how to scale it.

Jenny Myst, Dolly Waters, Bobby Bourbon, Dionysus, Ned Kaye.

All walls that have come in my path, all walls that I must scale if I’m ever going to be up top.

And the gods of fate have been so kind as to lay them all beautifully right in front of me.

Walls that have been turned into rungs of a ladder - each a step closer to the top.

And so, very soon, I will conquer each and every one of you, I guarantee it. I will watch, and study, I will train and emulate, I will scale this ladder to the very top and claim my prize.

Hell, Smith will even be the cherry on top of this victory sundae.”

Fast-forward to the day after the last Warfare.

” Paris. You’re headed to Paris?”

His voice still had a thick Japanese accent to it, albeit his life-long exposure to American popculture and particularly rap music has made Atsuya’s sentence structure somewhat understandable.

” That’s where the Leap of Faith match will be, yeah I’m going.”

” Speaking of which, how did you even get in there, didn’t you get your ass kicked yesterday?”

“Momma’ always said the fates had it for me, but really I think this is business.”

“Do tell, Mr Kingslayer, how a loser is good for business.”

“Six of us in the match, three of ‘em’ are deadbeat CTE recoveries and the other three… Fresh faces that are primed to push merch.”

The young Tojo had been trying to get a sensing of Isaiah’s industry, slowly learning the names of the many wrestlers and how exactly the wrestling business made money. The XWF was integral to helping Isaiah take charge of the New York underground.

“Even this little one… Dolly Waters?”

“She and Jenny could probably battle it out for the most brain-riddled jailbait wrestler award, one with her insane boyfriend the other win abusive family who let a CHILD get smacked in the skull for money. They’re part of what this business has to move along if it hopes to stay on top.”

“Ah yes, both of them and… Bourbon, I assume. He has quite the reputation even back in Japan, though fading.”

There was no doubting the impact Waters, Myst and Bourbon had across the wrestling industry. Isaiah himself had grown up watching them and their contemporaries dominate the scene… They’d all shared the glory of fame for years now. Maybe a few years too many?

“They’re all sickening monsters, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t have long for this business… Less so, if I have anything to say about it. It’s time for us all to move on… To bigger and better things.”

“Out with the old, in with the new.”

“You get it.”

“But while you’re off fighting… You forget why I am here.”

“Paris… Has been fit into the plan. I think Jeremiah knew I was headed to Paris even before I did. He’s got some business to secure in Paris too, and of course, he wants his little b*tch to go and do it.”

Tojo arches his brow, Isaiah’s hatred of this man was unbecoming.

“Fits into HIS plans, but… What about ours?”

“Our connection there apparently did time with Jer up in Rikers, he’s handling Jer’s business interests there. Hopefully, we can get him to tell us a thing or two… Give us a lead.”

“With your fight, it doesn’t seem like you’ve got the time or… Focus to be walking dangerously.”

“Yeah, when I said Jeremiah’s b*tch, I meant you.”

Atsuya curses under his breath and begins to stand, which doesn’t even get a reaction out of Isaiah.

“What’d you think? You’ll be keeping your pretty feet clean? You’ll be dealing with YOUR business up in Paris while I… While I put on the grandest show yet.”

“Trophy Hunting.

Where the hunter curates his prey only to the most beautiful, the most well-endowed… Mature options.

All over the world, to raise funds for animal conservation and preservation countries and national parks will open up their gates for trophy hunters.

In this day and age, it’s almost vital to keep things moving forward, to keep beautiful species from going extinct.

For the sake of the many, the few are sacrificed.

For the sake of this business - you are sacrificed.

I’m sure more than a few of ya’ll are going to whine and complain about people not earning their way into this match - hell when I first got the call I was incensed. It felt like rubbing salt on a wound to get a… Consolation prize entry?

A pity party?

Only fuels the claims of favouritism, the claims that have ALREADY been made about a rocket strapped to my beautiful ass to the top by the powers that be.

But then I just had to sit and think about it, see the world through the eyes of the business and then have it make complete sense.

It’s dying.

It’s dying and it needs a desperate refresh. Come on, look at its state - what’s the last bit of juicy fun we’ve had here?

Page and the CCPE vs SAGA?

You can hardly call that a feud, I mean look at SAGA now, the winner was clear and unanimous. Look at CCPE at that, more of a record label than a group of curated killers.

We have COREY SMITH, truly the ghost of Christmas past himself digging around and reclaiming his throne. Alias came back to try and make a buck or two.

B.o.B is working its way to being the next CCPE, with half its members having already screwed off to non-existence while the other is trying to figure out if they’re gonna play nice or dirty.

THUNDER KNUCKLES is a challenge for the Universal Title. WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM? Honestly, this once great, sad excuse for a business hasn’t MADE a star since well… Kido - and we all know what I did to him.

I don’t see that lil kitty coming back anytime soon.

This business is dying and Theo, Vinny, whoever the hell is out back, is trying desperately to push some NEW blood into the scene, and hoping that by SHEER force, we’ll be able to flush out the old for some new.

Flush ya’ll out DECISIVELY.

So that you’ll never return, so that you’ll just be a pretty mounted head on MY wall.

Because oh you three are wonderful trophies - Bourbon one of the most dominant superstars of the old generation, the most knockouts of Wargames, the dethroner of Mark Flynn, the real reason B.o.B is still somewhat of a threat.

Jenny Myst, the Queen of Xtreme. With one of the most dominant showings, not just most recently but every time you’ve held the TV or Xtreme title. That division basically belongs to you, when you’ve got it in you to actually hang around and not screw off after every “undeserved” loss.

You quite dominantly left me to bleed out the last time, and since then I've gone on to what… beat some big names, lose to some others. I've gotten better, sharper, while you've… recuperated?

Dolly Waters, prodigious and entrepreneurial… But really you’re probably the least impressive of this lot. Truly retirement ready, I guess that’s what happens when you finish too quickly, hm? I don’t recall the last impressive thing you did really.

Really, what have you and Myst accomplished since we last faced each other in the ring?

Hell, with all the breaks the three of you can put together, how'd all of y'all land at coming back? Every time you left, every time you had some time to think about your career… Only to come back the same, doing the same old shit, spewing the same old filth…

All of ya’ll have only ever recovered, never improved. You came and proved your mantle, got arrogant and stuck with it until you lost… then you leave until we forget your losses and until YOU forget your losses and all you do is come back with that same arrogance.

Until you lose again.

Well, let me speed the process up a little bit. Bring me some new shit on Saturday, or when I take your heads off with this Guillotine, leave for good.

Don't you worry, I'll mark it out. I'll tell the world who I've defeated.

The most extreme, the big ol' king, the Muddy princess. I'll be sure to only tell them if your victories, I'll only remind them of your deserved arrogance…

All you have to do is realise you're done. You've been done.

It's time to hang your boots up on MY wall and call it quits.

It's time for a change of guard."

Isaiah sits on the edge of his ring, in the middle of his gym, with Ezekiel and Chaeryoung sparring in a blurred shadow behind him. His mind drifts to his many losses, faced at the hands of his coming opponents, and he smirks. In his hand, he twirls the gamechanger, the catalytic tool.

A now rusted wrench.

Not the most intuitive King slaying tool.

But definitely the most efficient.

His mind drifts back to watching the Wargames finals from the background, seeing on a tiny little monitor Ned Kaye’s arrogant begging of Flynn to drop the weapon and fight with his fists. A begging that Flynn conceded to.

Mark Flynn - Ex-Universal Champion and current Xtreme Champion.

Dropping a match-changing opportunity, a completely LEGAL match-changing opportunity… For the sake of what? Bravado? Definitely not honour. Not in a competition quite literally meant to mimic WAR.

All is fair in WAR.

And that’s something his other two opponents didn’t grasp quite so well. The Wine God of Virtue and The World’s Most-Repressed Highschooler.

Isaiah extends his hand out towards the camera, the wrench firmly gripped in it, and he cocks his head to the side.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you two, the two other bits of freshness injected into this match.

New faces that the powers that be are banking on.

Hedging of the bets, y’know?

Fools.

If the three, established, bedazzled veterans win the briefcase then the threat Corey faces will SEEM very real. They’ll milk it for a few weeks, maybe a few months, but at the end of the day, whenever it’s cashed in… Does it really matter if we trade Corey for Dolly? Corey for Bourbon or.. J- Actually, can we all agree nobody wants that psychominx holding our main title? Sweet.

BUT IF THEY DON’T.

They’ve split their money on a kingslayer, a winemaker and… A prepubescent teenager.

I’m talking about you Kaye, not Dolly.

With the three of us, the UNDERDOG story will be blasted through the airways.

Dionysus, your TV title reign, as short as it was - came off MY back. And so good on you for blindsiding me and taking your shot. A bad day in the office for the Kingslayer and a MONUMENTAL chance for a fresh face to make his name household.

Until ever-midcarded Vaughan came to sweep you off your feet the very next chance you got.

Why? Because while you’re brimming full of talent, you’re just another pretty face resting on his… Vines? Does that image work?

Did you LEVEL UP after beating me? No… You went back to your same ol’, I’m a good respectful guy who will give you a solid fight spiel. You simply don’t have what it takes to climb yet… Maybe next year?

Now… My dear Ned.

I know, it’s a little odd for Ned Kaye to be considered an underdog by any means but the celibacy that man has imposed on himself has certainly been enough for him to have never hit his growth spurt and unlock the powers of eternal youth!

Eternally on the cusp of greatness before his hand comes to clamp the tap shut and keep him from getting to the finish.

From getting to the top.

I COMPLETELY get the hope for glory, for an honourable glory.

But lord have mercy, I cannot begin to fathom throwing away a completely valid advantage, a possible victory… To be the bastion of virtue. Did you see how that sort of behaviour quite literally BROKE Raion Kido? Turned him into a hypocritical ogre.

Ned Kaye, you keep edging yourself like that, if you keep fighting your way up the rungs just to choke out on top… You’ll break.

And the cracks have begun to show, haven’t they? Your frustrations rise at every loss, how’d it feels to see Flynn catch the win and not our virtuous Captain? Is that why you butted your head in at the end? TO at least FEEL included in the finish? How’d it make you feel… Vindicated or furstrated?

This wrench, it’ll be what breaks you for good, what makes you see that it’s not virtue that’ll take you to the top, but vicious hunger. Not dishonour or slimy practice… INTENSITY.

On Saturday, I’ll let you edge your way up to the top, and then I’ll STEAL the victory from right under your nose so that you’ll finally see what I’ve been saying these last few weeks.

Between you and me - MY WAY is the BEST way.

The HIGHWAY.

Putting faith in yourself, your hands, your actions… Not on the virtue of others. Not letting others step all over you to get what they want.

Taking the Leap of Faith with yourself as collateral, investment and everything inbetween.

All of you are in MY hands.

And by MY HANDS, I'll climb up that ladder.

And by MY HANDS, I'll claim victory.

By MY HANDS, I will crown MYSELF King.”

[Image: tumblr_p64dod0k8J1u4tjqso1_540.gif]

[Image: tumblr_p64dod0k8J1u4tjqso1_540.gif]

Black.

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