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Raion Kido · (03-27-2022)

“Go dance with the angels!”

Overlooking the city of Tokyo is Mount Fuji - a snow-covered peak that rises over 12,000 feet over the ground - the highest mountain in Japan, and a national symbol. On the road to the mountain stands the Chureito Pagoda - a five-storied temple that faces the snow-covered peak, with cherry trees all around. In the early spring morning, the sun begins to rise, painting the sky in a beautiful golden hue.

It is here, then, that Raion Kido is found, entering the temple and being greeted by a monk. By the looks of the holy man’s big smile, he seems a rather jovial elderly man.

“Greetings, young man! Are you here to see the sights? The early morning is the perfect time to watch Mount Fuji!”

The young wrestler smiles and makes a bow.

“Good morning, sir! More than sightseeing, I’m here to do the pilgrimage. I have a very important test ahead of me, and would very much appreciate the mountain spirits' blessing.”

“Ohh, a brave soul, you are! Then you have done well to come - a visit to the temple is mandatory for pilgrims, to purify the body and mind before climbing the mountain road. May I ask what sort of test you will have to face?”

“Well sir, I am a wrestler, and there is a competition that I am taking part in. I have been doing well, but there can only be one winner of an entire tournament.”

“You look in good shape. The road isn’t easy and people are discouraged from doing it outside the summer season, but you should be fine. Am I correct in guessing that it’s not the physical training that you fear?”

The Lion sighs, a note of uncertainty written on his face.

“I have only begun competing professionally, and I have been doing exceptionally well. However, I was given a title match that I later lost. But now there’s a bigger prize ahead of me, that may allow me to go back to challenge for it. And I don’t want to miss that chance!”

“You say that you were given the chance, and you feel troubled that you lost it. But look on the bright side, young man. Now you’re working for it, and if you do well, you will no longer have to worry about getting a chance to win that belt - for you will have earned it.”

The monk smiles, and the proverbial lightbulb ignites inside Raion’s head.

“When you put it that way, sir, it’s very hard to disagree.”

“And if you have earned the chance, what should you have to fear? Think of this tournament you mentioned as the honest work you put in, that nobody will question. The seed that you planted, and the fruit that it has given. Make sure it grows - and guard it, that it shall come to no harm.”

Raion’s eyes widen in wonder - the childlike wonder of the young boy that dwells in his soul - and quickly shakes the monk’s hand.

“You’ve really helped me put things in perspective here, sir! I feel my mind much clearer now!”

“I’m glad to have been of help, lad.”

With a big, toothy grin, the monk points towards Mount Fuji.

“Now go dance with the angels!”

Sometime later, the sun now shines over a Torii gate, at the base of the temple, that serves as the entrance to the road towards the mountain - two diagonal wooden columns and two horizontal beams that join them both - all painted red.

“Everything is easy when things go the right way, but it’s only in a true challenge that we can become the best we can be. Where we can rise to the greatest heights we can possibly reach - and to reach the very heavens and dance with the angels that dwell upon Mount Fuji - the icon of this land.”

In front of the gate is Raion Kido, dressed in his Leo Cloth golden armor, which shines bright in the sunrise over the temple, and his wild hair swept back by the morning wind.

“For myself, the ascent has already begun in the Elite 8 tournament, from the very ground that I was left on after the Charlie Nickles match. I was beaten bloody. I was punted on the face. I was hit with nearly everything Cage Coleman, former XWF 24/7 Extreme Champion, had to offer. And I won the match, and here I am still standing.”

“I said at the time that it would be the beginning of the comeback, but I didn’t say it only because it meant bouncing back after losing my first title match, no. I said it because, in this Elite 8 Tournament that March Madness will see finished, I not only have the goal to be the winner at the end, the King of the XWF. In addition to that, the goal for me is to give the Brotherhood of Bastards retribution.

Bobby Bourbon will hopefully be there, and maybe I’ll earn the Television Title shot once more - but before any of that happens, Thunder Knuckles, twice former XWF Television Champion and former XWF Tag Team Champion, goes down.

Because see, Knuckles, I could tell you that you’re just in the way, because you are. Even though you have two titles to your name, you haven’t been anything since October 2021, and since you beat Jason Cashe at Fire and Ice, you have done literally nothing but lose to Vita Valenteen. Barney Green might have been a lucky break to get here, but you’re not facing any of them now.

Instead, I’m going to tell you that you’re facing someone for whom this match, and this entire tournament, is personal.”

It is at this point that Raion’s face goes from mellow to serious, his lips beginning to peel back as his hands turn into fists. This was the one that looked on as Charlie Nickles waylaid him with a low blow and Bobby Bourbon attacked him right after, and that meant war.

Time for the cosmos to burn.

“You are a part of the Brotherhood of Bastards that needed to low blow me to retain the Universal Title and attack me after that match, but to me, this goes beyond all of that. The reason this is personal for me is because this is the road that transforms me from just a Star of the Month into one of the big names around the XWF of today. The change, ultimately, that you spoke about to Jason Cashe.

Don’t think for one second that I didn’t pick that up, Knuckles. You say that you and your brothers are the army that’s changing the land, the navy that will sink everyone’s ships. I say that the change you speak of has finally arrived in the form of Raion Kido - the one that’s been keeping the airwaves buzzing since his arrival on the scene, and the airstrike that will send your army and navy to the bottom of the earth and the sea where they belong.

So before you give me some Lion King metaphors as you’ve so cleverly hinted at, before you think every challenge you’ve had since the beginning of the year is the same as facing the likes of me, before you give me that old and tired speech about fighting to the end, take a look at my last two matches. While beaten and bloody, I never once stopped coming back to the fight. While working shows back to back to back, I’ve been coming back for more.”

Every time a Saint of Athena gets knocked down, they rise again, ever stronger, until their foe is finally gone. This was the time for the Lion to prove he was worthy of the reputation he has garnered all along.

And he would do this in front of his own people, with the entire world watching.

“Because see, It’s easy to hang back after Fire and Ice and work a show in a month, as almost every opponent I have faced has done. It’s a very different thing to be wrestling non-stop, and managing to win 4 out of 5 while doing so - against people that have the talent and the history to give me a fight - unlike Jason Cashe and Barney Green. And it’s a very different thing when you face someone that has an actual bite, and actually carries a grudge to see you and your sorry group gone. Add to that the fact that there’s a tournament at stake, and that the man that you’re facing is just coming from not one, but matches in which there was blood spilled, and has lived to tell the tale.

What do you think that man is going to do to you, Thunder Knuckles?

Think of that, if that tiny brain of yours can manage. Remember these facts well, and before you talk about that Thunder Strike that lays people out cold, remember that lightning is faster than thunder - and whether a Lightning Bolt stops your heart for three seconds, or the Lightning Plasma renders you incapable of doing anything but twitching uncontrollably on the ground, remember also that there wasn’t anything you could have done to prevent it - it was only the laws of nature. That very same mother nature that dictates that a Lion strikes the hardest when they defend their territory. You’ve already suffered the bite of a vampire, and now you’ll fall to the fangs of the Lion!

Because see, Knuckles, March Madness is a special event, held in a special location. We’re in my homeland now: the Land of the Rising Sun - a place that knows about loyalty and honor. You pride yourselves in the loyalty of the Bastards, so once we meet in the Tokyo Dome, you’re going to do exactly as that word entails.

You’re going to die out of loyalty, and you’ll be dancing with the angels. Meanwhile, I’ll move on to the tournament finals as is my natural mandate, and my mission.”

But the Lion isn’t done. He arches his eyebrows, and delivers the grim smile of the waiting predator that awaits his prey. Thunder Knuckles would fall, but there were two others to take on after. Raion didn’t forget that either Bobby Bourbon or Jenny Myst would go on to face him.

And when the time came to do that, he would be ready.

“And once I’m there, who shall I wait for? I hope, Bourbon, that you won’t commit the massive disappointment of letting me down and getting taken out by the psychiatric case before I get my hands on you after I’m done with your friend. Because see, after coming back from being absent since November, and doing so just at the end of my match, I just hope it’s you I face in the end.

Because I just want that extra vindication, Bourbon. Once this tournament is over I want the entire world to say “look, not only did Raion Kido make a comeback, but he took down not one, but two of the Brotherhood of Bastards - and the two former XWF Tag Team Champions and Television Champions, may I add, in one fell swoop!”

The Lion grins, though his eyes tell a very different story. This was what he had come here to do - to exact retribution. That the circumstances would make the outcome so much sweeter was just an added value.

At March Madness IV, he would make justice - as a Saint of Athena would.

“I mean, you just had to come and get involved, and now that you’re here, I’m going to knock you back to that absence all of you seem to be so fond of taking when you find yourselves against greater talent. Because see, Bourbon, there was one thing you said that was right - one thing that sets me apart from all of you. You mentioned I had spirit, and I’m even willing to believe you did so without derision.

That’s the same spirit that made me accept Thaddeus Duke’s challenge, that kept me from flinching knowing that a legend in Centurion was in front of me, and that made me sign up to this tournament even before I knew I was going for the Television Title. That very same spirit that burned out Cage Coleman. And after what you’ve done, I’m going to show you just how far that spirit of mine can go.

And when I do that, you’re going to be exactly as powerless as that Kryptonian imitator you beat to get here has so far been in the XWF. Just as Cage Coleman was last show. Just like Thaddeus Duke, and Centurion, and Xavier Lux have been in the time that I have been here.

That’s another thing that sets me apart, and the problem with everyone else remaining in this tournament - they haven’t faced the challenges that I have. All of you have been feeding from scraps and I got the actual competitor that was ever worth something, and that’s even barely.

But as it is often said, the cream rises to the top, and March Madness IV is where that saying turns true for Raion Kido. Thunder Knuckles goes down on the first round, and after that, whether it’s one of the top 50 wrestlers to ever grace this company, or the longest reigning champion of some defunct title, I will be there to meet them - and to send them back to the oblivion they came from, and where they should have never left.”

The Japanese wrestler drags a thumb across his throat, before pointing at the camera. There was one more remaining - and it was only right that he should address her as he did the other two.

“And if it’s you, Jenny Myst, that manages to take him down, I’m going to give you a warning. That same night Centurion beat you, I made my debut and won against one of the newer members of the roster. That same night you took down Erica Marie, I beat the last man that beat you. That X-Treme Title you pride yourself on having held three years ago, I beat a former Champion just the very last show.

You may try to have us think that beating people like the Latina Submission Machina, Barney Green, and getting some inexplicable win against Angelica Vaughn - who has more talent in her toes than you have in your whole body - is some kind of accomplishment, but here you face a beast of an entirely different kind - one that has beaten mightier and more decorated names than you, and one that has neither the time nor the inclination to indulge in your revenge fantasies, and isn’t the least bit impressed by your psychotic assaults on those that can’t fight back.

This isn’t Thelma and Louise or Natural Born Killers, and you’re not Harley Quinn. The only thing you are is a cheap knock-off, an imitation of something the world has already seen and moved on long ago, which should speak volumes coming from the mouth of a Saint of Athena. But I suppose I shouldn’t blame you, it’s probably all you’ve been exposed to in those 23 hours a day you’ve said you’ve been without contact with the world.

Unfortunately, the moment you came out to the sunlight again, you’ve proven you’re not fit to live amongst regular people, and you have no place in the XWF except as a bottom feeder, which, for someone who has held a title before, is quite simply sad. Because that’s all your messages to the XWF airwaves show, and in the end, all that you are - a sad girl looking for attention, lashing out at a world that has none to give, taking it out on whatever unfortunate soul gets in your way. A so-called Queen that the world would rather forget, yet cries to the four winds about how she was wronged.

So should you and I meet in the finals of the Elite 8 tournament, I’m going to do the XWF, the world at large, and yourself a favor, and I’m going to end your pain. I shall send you to a place where you can do no further harm, and where no further harm can come to you. Come March Madness IV, the Lion is going to put you, once and for all, in the place that you deserve - in the ground, and out of your misery - and that of everyone else.”

Raion’s fist clashes against his left hand as he stands ramrod straight before the Torii gate that guards the road to Mount Fuji - the guardian of a road that only the worthy may cross.

It was time to defend his home - and to end this already.

“So Knuckles, Bourbon, and Jenny, heed my final words. This is my land. This is my chance, and my destiny. At March Madness IV, all of you are going to know what happens when the Lion has something to defend.

Come one, come all, it makes no difference. In the end, the Elite 8 Tournament belongs to the one that rises to the challenge every single time, and his name is Raion Kido. The warning has been given, and your fate is now your own. Accept it quietly, or fight it to your very bitter end, but the outcome is the same.

The mantle of King of the XWF belongs to no one else… but the Lion.”

A thrust of his fist forward, cutting the very air around, and a final zoom of the camera to the face of the Lion - resplendent in his golden armor that matches the golden sky above Mount Fuji.

“Now let’s go dance with the angels.”

Fade to black.

3000 words (wordcounter.net)

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