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X-treme Wrestling Federation »   » Archives » Relentless Day 3 RP Boards 2022
The Promise of Tomorrow
Author Message
Raion Kido Offline
The Lion


WWW

XWF FanBase:
Families & Kids, casual fans

(fighting the odds; helps others; disliked by most adult male fans)


#1
09-22-2022, 04:31 PM

Raion Kido feared nothing, much less Mark Flynn - especially after the latter had blown up in the exact way the Lion expected.

However, going into Relentless, the realization had hit him.

“This is the biggest show of the year… and here I am, defending the top title in the XWF.”

The responsibility that laid on his shoulders was, perhaps, the heaviest he had ever borne.

“The very name of the XWF and the prestige of the company… all now on me.”

These thoughts ran through his mind until Ryleigh Dixon brings him back to Earth, and to the animal shelter to which they were approaching.

“And this is the greatest responsibility of all.”

“...daydreaming again, my Lion?”

Ryleigh smiles sweetly at him. The XWF Universal Champion gazes at her dreamily, taking him several seconds until he’s finally paying attention.

“Oh! I do that a lot, don’t I? I’m sorry, just… thoughts were swimming in my head.”

“What kind of thoughts? Tell me.”

She wraps her right arm around his left arm and pokes his nose with her free hand.

“Just… Sunday. Biggest event of the XWF in the year, and here I am, defending the title. It’s like the company itself’s future depends on me. But then again… isn’t why we’re here a similar case? We’re going to adopt a life… and we’re going to give it a future.

It’s enough to make my head swirl, but now that I’m here at last…”

Not without some uncertainty, Raion holds the Crown Jewel of the Dixon Family close to him…

“... I’m the happiest man in the world that I’m here with you.”

… and, tentatively, almost as if he dared not, he gives her a kiss.

“This is what both you and I want… so let’s go!”

Before he can pull away, she embraces him and deepens the kiss. Perhaps this gives him an extra shade of red upon his cheeks. She smiles when she draws back and takes his hand in hers.

“Come on, then!”

She leads the way and they enter the Best Friends Animal Society together. Just as they cross the shelter’s door, they are greeted by its owner, a very amiable looking middle-aged woman.

“Ohh, hi. You must be Raion and Ryleigh! I’m Linda, we spoke on the phone. I understand you want to adopt a puppy?”

“Yes, that is correct. We’ve had a long talk and we feel like we’re ready for an adoption.”

“That’s right. Someone who will be a companion not just for us, but for Ricky and Lucy as well.”

She is, of course, referring to her exotic birds. Linda leads them to her office, where they sit down over three cups of coffee. The office is cozy, but there is an air of solemnity as Linda looks at both Raion and Ryleigh.

“You have to understand that this is no easy responsibility. So many people think of animals as toys to last a season, but they have needs just like humans do. Not just food or water or medicine, but they also need love. And that is a lifetime commitment, much like one’s own child.”

Child…

For a moment, Ryleigh looks away. A hand absently rests over her stomach. Thirty-five years and she doesn’t have a child of her own. She’s an aunt, not a mother. Still… she manages to smile. Raion places his hand on Ryleigh’s shoulder, and he nods at Linda’s words, with a little smile of his own.

“There is an old proverb that I was taught in Japan… about entrusting one’s child to another like an heirloom. When someone dies, they will only entrust their child to one who is true.”

“All animals here are our children, and we do not give them out lightly. We want to ensure that they are well looked after, and live full and healthy lives. You two seem like good people. Kind and loving and caring… the type of person that knows this is a life of which you will take care until its very end.

But that, of course, is the impression that I get. The real answer, however, must come from you. Do you feel like you are up to the task?”

The Lion and his Goddess look at each other, nodding in unison.

“We are, Madam. I swear to you that if you entrust us with one of your children, we’ll give it the care it needs and deserves.”

“That’s a promise.”

The couple smile. Linda smiles in return and rises from her chair.

“Follow me. There is someone I want you to see.”

Moments later, Linda is leading Raion and Ryleigh through the shelter’s area for the animal care. They see several dogs and cats in their respective rooms, resting, eating or drinking, looking on excitedly at the people that would adopt them. In one such room is a little toy poodle, who instantly rushes at them.

“Whoa! Energetic, isn’t he?”

“Awww, what a little cutie!”

“He’s 1 year old. He’s part of the litter of a mom living with a good family, but they couldn’t take care of the puppies so they brought them here. All of them are now gone, and he’s the only one left.”

The puppy nuzzles Raion’s cheek as he holds him close, and soon does it to Ryleigh. Linda looks on, smiling hopefully.

“And we would like nothing more than for you to take care of him.”

“Does he have a name?”

With a quick glance, there’s no dog tag on the small collar. Ryleigh tilts her head.

“I think it’s up to us to give him a name. Well… he’s energetic and bright… What about Sunny?”

“Sunny is fine! We’ll gladly have him, Ms. Linda. And I make the solemn promise that he will live a full, happy life. I know a thing or two about responsibility… and of hoping for a brighter future.”

Did Raion Kido not, after all, hold currently a burden bigger than he’d ever expected to bear? Had he ever failed to live up to it? Life is the most precious thing of all - for a young puppy, to a human being, to a group of human beings pursuing their dreams.

Situations and importance may vary, but the responsibility is the same. All to leave this world a better place than before.

All for a better future.

The promise of tomorrow.

Raion kneels down, letting Sunny free. But the young puppy holds still, and looks at him almost expectantly.

“I swear this… on my honor.”

Almost as if he had understood the words that the Lion has spoken - and perhaps, he has -, Sunny lets out a happy bark, and gives him a lick on the cheek…

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

“This should very well be the greatest event of the year. The flagship Pay-Per-View of the XWF. The Showcase of the Immortals.”

The voice of the Lion rumbles upon the sound of a train on the tracks, and as the scene comes into view, the sun shines brightly over a moving train, atop which stands Raion Kido himself - his Gold Cloth reflecting the rays of the sun, and his white cape, as well as his hair, fluttering in the wind.

“This is the event where the cream rises to the top. Where the best XWF talent is displayed in front of the whole world, and where the foundation for the future is laid every year.

And in an event of this magnitude, the very XWF Universal Title is at stake, a prize that you have chased after for ten years.

If I’d been in your stead, Flynn, at the very least, I would have made certain I came here prepared.”

At this juncture, there was no more time to waste. The Lion looks straight at the camera, lips peeled back and canines showing, and the savage glint of the predator in his eyes.

Time for the cosmos to burn - the biggest bang of all.


“At the very least, I would have saved myself the embarrassment of saying Raion Kido’s biggest win was against Thaddeus Duke, when I overcame the likes of ALIAS, or Dolly Waters, or Charlie Nickles, or Bobby Bourbon… or Mark Flynn himself!

That’s the very reason we’re here, Mr. Grasping at Straws! Did you ever care to think that Chris Page cares about this match just because you and I are in it? Did it ever occur to you that you and I are the biggest winners of the monumental event he put together?

Did you not think this through, or are you so fixated on me holding this title that your own jealous, grudging rage against Theo Pryce has blinded you!?”


Gazing up to the sky, fists clenched and pulsing with power, Raion lets out a mighty roar that the wind carries throughout the length of the train track. Was Mark Flynn trying to demean him, or was he simply covering his eyes and ears as he shouted to drown every other voice?

“I mean, it’s almost, Flynn, like I saw this coming! It’s almost like you’ve said the same exact thing for months! Did you really think I would not have anticipated it all?

I’ve made certain to follow your addresses, Flynn. Month after month you talked about Raion Kido the Cho-KING, and after working to finally prove it wrong, I made certain to expect, at the very least, a complete dissection. And now, in the most important event of the XWF in 2022… you’re doing the same exact thing you did for every match!

The match of your life, Flynn, as I’ve had in the Leap of Faith, and the Cannabis Cup! The showdown between the two winners of Chris Page’s event, the anointed one by Page now to carry the XWF torch… and you’re going to do the same thing you do for a regular night!?”


One more bellowing roar by the Lion, filled with righteous fury. As ludicrous as all this was, there was something else that lay beneath.

If the traitor of his own partner dared call him a hypocrite, the Lion would revisit that courtesy on him.

Unlike Mark Flynn, however, the Lion’s own claims were founded.

“It would be comical to think this, were it not completely sad, but as predictable, and as disappointing, as you have been, the most irritating thing of all is that you have to resort to excuses. Yes, you threw a cinder block to Bobby Bourbon’s helicopter, but did you jump? No! None of those atop the Burj Khalifa did, but Raion Kido. And ALIAS was a carcass, yet he speared three people from the Velvet Rabbit into the streets of New York.

Who was it that stood up, Flynn? Who was the only one that dragged himself off the ground?

Who was it that put him down for good!?”


Silence falls after this, which would be deafening if not for the sound of the train on the tracks, and the XWF Universal Champion lowers his head, a dagger-like stare at the camera.

It was time for Mark Flynn to lose at his own game.

“But let’s indulge you, Flynn, and pretend for a fraction of a second that your criticism is something else than desperate lies. Tell me then, what’s your excuse not to defeat the sorry carcass that you claim ALIAS to be? Was your bootlace untied, or, even if you failed to win, must we credit you for snuffing his life out? And what about last Warfare? Is Theo Pryce somehow guilty for you not arriving in time to save your own team, or was it, quite simply, that you - gasp - choked!?

I distinctly remember admitting that your partner beat me. So did Nickles and Bourbon. And maybe I should have had War Games, or the Television Title, or been the King of the XWF. Alas, none of that happened, but then again, this is my first year.

How do you account for not winning any of that in ten years!?”


The Lion’s stone face now turns into a savage grin, betrayed only by the glint in his eyes - a tranquil fury that would be so no longer.

“For Athena’s sake, Flynn, this is downright pathetic. I should be getting a lesson from a veteran. I should be expecting the fight for my life in the one show where the XWF Universal Title must be defended, against the man that waited ten long years for this opportunity, and what do I get?

I get a jealous, resentful, hypocritical whiner! I get someone who committed the ultimate betrayal and threw a name in the history books down the drain, and now has the gall to question my character! Tell me, Flynn, what reeks of opportunism? Winning several multi-person matches, or turning on the one person that pinned the Universal Champion just so he wouldn’t challenge me!? By the way, I wasn’t the one that meant to bring my partner to Leap of Faith. Blame Theo Pryce for that one too, but at least I won that one fairly, as every other match I have had.

Even Nickles dared not go as far as to claim that it wasn’t him I pinned for this title, and now you’ve sunk yourself lower than he ever would, much like Biff Tannen waxing George McFly’s car. By the way, you seem to have mistaken me for Ruby, but if you think a kidney punch is not something a Saint of Athena is meant to do, you’re coming to the wrong battle.

For I’m not meant to be a superhero. I am meant to be a warrior, and a warrior’s charge is to fight.  But of course, leave it to Mark Flynn, at the most important match in his life, to resort to this kind of stupidity. As if I hadn’t had worse from Nickles, ALIAS, or Dolly Waters.

It’s a disgrace, it’s sad to see, and it’s my duty to put you down. Not merely to defend the title, or the future of the XWF, but for a humane cause - to put you out of everyone else’s misery. Say how I’m not a hero because I hit someone in the kidneys. You might be stuck in Micheal Graves’ body, but at least he was more creative when he tried to accuse me of punching ladies in their breasts.”


Drawing an exasperated sigh, the Lion waves that off. As much as Flynn would like to quibble, there was a critical mission ahead.

One day, certainly, the Lion would lose the title, as ALIAS did before him. But not here, not now.

Not at the biggest extravaganza of the XWF.

“But back to what really matters. I’ve carried myself with pride, but I’m not done just yet, and certainly not in the XWF’s flagship three-day event. Because there’s the most important battle to fight, the one final hurdle before I can look back without any regrets.

Because above all, the fact that I’ve made it so far represents something for the entirety of the roster of the Xtreme Wrestling Federation, and the very thing a Saint of Athena embodies: Hope. Hope for the bright-eyed people out there that want to get in the ring that they too can become Raion Kido. Come out of nowhere like I did, and reach the ultimate heights in the time that I have.

The one thing that is never lost, Flynn. The wish towards the future. The promise of tomorrow.

You want to call this a sales pitch, a corporate choice, I say this is a statement - a promise for the XWF Universe. Because there was one man this year that came to shake it to its very core, and now represents everything the XWF is meant to be - and there is power in that, Flynn. When Raion Kido was announced to be the Universal Champion, the XWF entrusted me with their present, and with their future - with its very life. That’s the biggest responsibility that can be entrusted to a man, and it means that the one that receives it must be true.

That, Flynn, is why I have put myself through this ultimate challenge, and come to face you on your very own terms. Because I’m done with having my name doubted, with the likes of you trying to discredit me for having done what you couldn’t in a lifetime. The time to make the ultimate statement has come, and I come to Relentless to render you catatonic with Heaven’s Treasure - little more than a corpse to be flung out of the train - or until your fear of that end is greater than the one you felt when the North Korean War Criminal pinned me.”


But for the Lion, fear would not factor into this. There was, more than ever, an example to set, and a war to fight.

And it was time to end it once and for all.

“One way or another, Mr. King of the Midcarders, your reckoning is coming. Maybe you’ll come back the next Pay-Per-View, or maybe it’ll be another ten years before you get this opportunity once more, but the only way the biggest XWF event of 2022 is going to end is the way it should - with the crowning achievement of the Lion having performed a role worthy of legend.

The final jewel in the crown that shall make the cosmos burn once more, and shall send the thousands in attendance, the millions watching at home, and the people in the back, with a renewed hope in the power of the universe…”


The young Osaka wrestler points towards the sun, shining brightly above the train, its rays reflecting on his burnished Golden Cloth.

The ultimate proof of his worth and valor.

The proof of being a Saint of Athena - and worthy of the XWF Universal Title.

“... and the promise of tomorrow!”

Fade to black.

3000 words (wordcounter.net)

[Image: yfesfA4.jpg]

Signature courtesy of Atara Themis!
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[-] The following 5 users Like Raion Kido's post:
Charlie Nickles (09-22-2022), Dolly Waters (09-25-2022), Marf (09-23-2022), Mark Flynn (09-26-2022), Theo Pryce (09-25-2022)




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