It was a bittersweet feeling, to know that he had not been pinned. But the Warfare match still nagged at Raion Kido - he had lost, and there was no way to change that.

“But there is still something I am missing… and what could it be!?”

The thought was drilling into his head, but he was trying not to show it as he returned to the Edmonton Buddhist Temple, this time during a tranquil, clear afternoon. The silence within the temple entrance was very disconnecting from the rest of the world, but that just left the Lion at the mercy of his harshest critic - his mind.

“It’s not like I am doing badly. I have only lost three matches in my entire run so far. But it’s always the ones that have the greater consequences - and I need to do something for it to end!”

He drew a heavy sigh as he stood at the temple gate, clad in a simple black leather jacket and jeans, bearing a bottle of sake, looking somewhat out of his own head. He forced himself back to earth as he heard the wooden gate creak. After all, he had liked spending his time there, and still had to thank the old master whom he had shared tea with before last episode of Savage.

The old master, as he comes out to receive him, gives him an amiable smile.

“Ohh, here you are! It’s great to see you again. We saw you last Saturday and last Wednesday. You really looked magnificent, and it must have been hard to do one match right after another.”

“Thank you, sir, but I didn’t get the entire thing. But here.”

In typical Japanese fashion, he presents the bottle to the old master, extending both arms, and lowering his head.

“I owed you my gratitude for the last time, and I wanted to do something to return it before I leave for Vancouver.”

The master pats him on the shoulder as he grabs the bottle.

“Hoho, you really know how to make an old man happy! But you can’t fool me - there’s a heavy weight upon your shoulders.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, sir. I’ll have to grow out of it eventually.”

Clicking his tongue, the monk shakes his shaved head.

“Come. I can’t open this bottle without having you drink, eh?”

And so the Lion follows the monk in. Once they spend their meditation time, he invites Raion to the back courtyard, where, among the greenery and stones, there is a small pond. The monk sits on a wooden table facing the pond, and opens the sake bottle.

“So, here we go again, questioning ourselves and our entire being. Remember - people are watching you. How will seeing you having a crisis of faith reflect on them?”

The Lion did not need to think long to reply.

“If I don’t have faith in myself, why should they have faith in me?”

A sage nod from the master follows this statement.

“Exactly, but it goes much further. Remember what we spoke about the Buddha. When he decided to search illumination, he opposed his family, but he knew that, if he stayed with them, there would always be something that nagged inside his head. Sometimes you don’t need to have other people in your mind, Raion. Sometimes you just need to live for yourself.”

The Lion raises his head, and gives the monk a quizzical look.

“These people look at me because of who I am and what I do, and everyone that supports me does so because of it. Are you saying I should stop being who I am and care only about what I want to do?”

The old master shakes his head and raps the Lion’s hands with a twig, though as if sharing a friendly jape.

“No, no, no! You don’t get it! Listen. You’re too worried about the image others have of you that you want to maintain. You’re this upstanding young man that likes Anime and believes in not giving up. That’s what the world needs, and your own nature, so never lose that.

But ask yourself - if it’s always the big matches that something goes awry, why is it so? Maybe it’s because you’re too worried about the consequences of winning, rather than actually winning? When you’re in there, you just have to win. Let others think about what that means. This is your victory, and you need to achieve it.

Conquer those thoughts, master those thoughts - and focus on winning. Then you can go back to being the good kid you are. Remember - you are a Saint of Athena. When there’s someone attacking them - they finish them, if necessary, and that’s why they wear their Cloths.”

He fills his cup with sake, and then pours it on the Lion’s cup.

“Understand, young man? You’re on the right track, and this is just a further test. You just need to learn to rule your own thoughts, and not let yourself get in your own way. Ohh, boy, is my mouth dry.”

The Lion stares at the cup in silence, mulling over the master’s words. Was there not truth to them? Athena was, after all, the Goddess of War. What use would be a warrior that didn’t fight to end the fight? There was a foe in front of him, and his mission was to end him. For justice, always - but to end him, if necessary.

Perhaps it was time to put that into practice - and to make certain that every foe in front of him was ended.

After all, that was what was expected of him too.

“I suppose there’s no way about it, sir. It’s what I have to do. So let it be done.”

Raising the cup, the Lion looks up at the monk, and the master raises his own, a knowing smile appearing on his lips.

“In Heaven and on Earth, I alone shall be honored. Such are the words of the Buddha. He mastered himself, and then he mastered life. So that’s what you need to do, boy. Master yourself.”

In unison, both men take their respective cups to their lips. As Raion feels the alcohol of the sake burn through his throat, the final words of the master echoed within his brain like an incessant litany, and his thoughts turned to his opponent for next match.

He styled himself the Ringmaster.

But the Lion would show him what mastery meant.


“I am getting quite tired of having my time wasted while another chance slips away, and of being thrust back into the uncertain. But if this is what happens, then I’ll try again, and again, until this finally changes. For that is my charge, and I shall not let it go.”

The pond in the temple courtyard flowing behind him, and the sun shining brightly in the afternoon, are the scene as the Lion, now wearing his Gold Cloth, and the billowing white cape at his back, addresses the camera. Nothing but seriousness can be seen in his eyes as he begins speaking, but soon, he makes a sudden, violent shake of his head.

“Which means, ladies and gentlemen, that the past Warfare match changes nothing. Leap of Faith is still my target, and I can’t let myself fall again. I’ve been getting that done in the show where I belong, and a mere showcase match elsewhere shall not derail me.”

It was time for the Lion to peel back his teeth. If he was to master himself and end the foe, it was best he get to it early. His opponent might have been new, but he too was once in that place.

And it was time to show him how a rookie earned his name.

“Now, however, it is time for me to face the Ringmaster. He had a good enough debut, but so have I. He has gone against Charlie Nickles, and he has been pinned, and so have I. But that has changed in the last edition of Warfare - and that is where the similarities between us both end.”

Perhaps these circumstances were the premise for this match. But Raion Kido was not known as the Lion for nothing, and he had not earned his fame, nor had he entered this path, only to fail.

His efforts had to bear fruit. And the cosmos had to burn.


“Because ladies and gentlemen, see, I’m sure that the Ringmaster means well. I’m sure he’s a great competitor that will not back down, and I’m also sure that he can win the occasional match - such as when he made his debut and got a tag team victory… over a team that could not be bothered to say anything, and then his victory on Savage against the man he had as a tag team partner… who, likewise, failed to make any comments.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ringmaster, you’re no longer dealing with someone that cares about you that little. And furthermore, I am also able to pull an upset, and have, in fact, done so, in the two first matches I have had in the XWF. After that, my victories stopped being upsets - they became the probability.

Just as it is against you now.”

In his match against Charlie Nickles, the Ringmaster had shown his lack of awareness and his utter ignorance of the place and circumstances in which he was. Perhaps he came to this match expecting to prove that the Lion wasn’t actually that good.

But so had other people, better prepared, and they had failed. And he would too.

“But see, Ringmaster, there is a problem in me beating you. You said to Nickles that he could be considered as a legitimate Champion if he beat you. Great thing to say for someone who has won two matches not even his opponents cared about, I’m sure, but answer me this - the next time you gather a multitude of people in a college football stadium, what are they going to think when the hot-headed rookie comes to lose against one of the XWF’s newest rising stars?”

As he asks this question, the Lion gives a hard stare at the camera. To him, demagogy was unseemly. He appreciated the support of the fans, but far be it from him to be a public speaker in an entire stadium like a pandering politician.

This was the way to bring demagogy down.

“They’re going to think that maybe the XWF burden was too heavy. You attempted to lift it without gauging its weight, and it eventually crushed you. Your muscles weren’t ready. Your mind just wasn’t strong enough, and believe me - I can make this claim with no empty boast.

Do you wish to know why I say this, Ringmaster? It’s simple - you speak of being legendary, then you say your ego is non-existent. Moreover, after that, you claim you don’t need a marquee victory to boost your ego. Wait, I’m not sure I heard that right - the legendary Ringmaster doesn’t need a marquee victory? On a title match? Three matches into his career?

Is my brain failing me, or has the Ringmaster just put down his own supposed legendary value? Not that there’s anything to indicate there’s any truth to that status you claim, but I’m going to give you the benefit of doubt.

And if I wasn’t willing to give you the chance to earn the credit that you believe to have, I would call those claims utterly idiotic, but I’m simply going to call them false, because they are. Something easily demonstrable when we look upon the fact that the legendary Ringmaster has not even proved himself - and the first serious challenge he had, with a motivated opponent, he lost. The legendary wrestler that the Ringmaster purports himself to be was never a match for Charlie Nickles - at least the second time we faced, he was unable to pin me.

But let’s forget about him for now, even if it’s the greatest claim you have, because I’m going to give you a fair warning - the legendary wrestler that the Ringmaster believes he is in his own mind is nowhere near the caliber of Raion Kido.”

The Lion lets the words linger in the silence of the pond. In the case the Ringmaster was not yet aware, he was not here to indulge someone who came into the XWF believing himself more than what he actually was.

There was a comeback to make - and a Pay-Per-View awaiting.

“And before you accuse me of arrogance, I’m not overestimating myself, but simply dealing in facts. In my first month in the XWF, I was already considered a star - starting as a mere replacement in a January Pay-Per-View. In just three months in the XWF, I have been at a title match and the finals of an annual tournament.

And just this past month, I have been undefeated - something that you failed to do -, against a former Champion, and another new wrestler with a win column bigger than yours, just the very same night that you lost the biggest match of your life.

I’m telling you this because the people notice, and so far, not one of them has failed to acknowledge my talent. That, my friend, is called inspiration. It translates into leadership, and it is taught by example. It cannot be demanded in a speech in a stadium, it can only be earned through your actions in the ring.

But while you crave this leadership, I simply attempt to obtain it in the only way I know, the only way that truly exists - in the ring, where it matters. Granted, I have stumbled upon a wall - but it’s not the same to lose your first title match than to have your opponent escape you. I’m sure that he and I shall meet one more time - and that once that happens, it shall be his end.

Now, however, you find yourself facing me, and my goal has not changed - I shall earn myself a place in Leap of Faith, and if Jenny Myst’s insanity and Angelica Vaughn’s conviction could not stop me, neither will your false confidence. Commendable, but born out of ignorance - of the sheer lack of knowledge of what you’re going against when you find yourself facing the fangs of the Lion.”

This time, the Lion smiles his leonine grin. Was that not what the master had said? Was that not the mission of a Saint of Athena? He had been implacable, and it was time to end the foe.

As expected from a servant of the Goddess of War.

“And I say ignorance, because that’s what has pervaded every message you’ve addressed to the airwaves, Mr. Ringmaster. You’ve come into the XWF as if it were any promotion, and not one of the most storied and longest-running promotions in the world. You’ve done no research on your opponent, a Champion at that, and came at him with some empty lines I’m sure nobody had ever heard before - and a play on his last name.

And now answer me this. If that stadium you filled hasn’t already been emptied, and those people still remain, what are they going to think when the big, strong, dominant legend finds himself robbed of that strength with a single punch to his heart from a man one head smaller than him?

Because see, I too pack a punch. Seven people in the XWF have felt it, all more accomplished, and more talented, than you’ve so far hinted to be. Next Savage Saturday Night, it shall be your turn to taste the Lightning Bolt.

All that strength and power you exult yourself in - gone in the blink of an eye, for a long enough time for you to wake up staring at the ceiling lights, the ring of the final bell, and the voice of the announcer declaring me your victor, rousing you from slumber.

When that happens, on May 14th, at the BC Place in Vancouver, all those people, like you, are going to be shaken. They’ll still cheer for you, but you’re going to need to lead them, to reassure them. And most importantly - you’re going to have to regain your own faith. Because you will finally have learned that there are things that may never be mastered - that someone like the Lion is beyond your control!”

The Lion lets out his mighty roar, echoing across the silence of the temple courtyard. He had come back once before. He would do it again.

As many times as it was necessary, for that is who he is.

“And when that happens, in but a single instant, I want you to take a single lesson, and believe me - I say this to you as friendly advice. You style yourself Ringmaster, but you know nothing of mastery - not even what the word means.

Because so far, you’ve proven unable to master the ring, unable to master a motivated opponent, and unable to master the most important thing you need to master in order to become the wrestler you think you are: yourself.

But fear not, for the Lion is going to show you, and maybe after this, if your faith and your spirit are strong, you shall eventually learn. Maybe in the future, we shall face again. And if we do, you’re going to remember the man that taught you how to fight, and then you’re going to thank me.”

It was time to end this. The Lion points towards the camera, and then towards himself.

He would beat the Ringmaster - and it would be him who would master the ring.

“Because at this Savage Saturday Night, the ring, and your fate, shall be mine to command.”

Fade to black.