AS 104 - El Caidos versus Kagura Daikonran
- Thread starter Dave
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Richard Blonoff
Make America Rassle Again
Deadline has been extended by 24 hours.
Ty Burna
Getting Noticed By Management
Culiacan. El Caidos' home. There was no doubt that he has turned a blind eye for far too long to the ugly side of it. The cartel runs rampant, hell one could say they run this entire city, but they had never gotten to El Caidos. Even when it seemed profitable to them, they never approached him. He had far too many connections in a past life for them to know better. He was protected. And yet now, under the noses of all those keeping watchful eye, someone has stolen his identity, his very name he himself wishes to reclaim. Was this his ultimate test? Bring justice back to these streets in the only way he knew how. These thoughts run through his mind, perched high on top of the chapel overlooking his neighborhood. The construction of his new gym off in the distance, he could feel the pulse of the streets. They cried out for him, they cry out in fear for the false persona. He slides his bandana over his face, his hood up over his head once more.
He stands tall and falls from the top of the chapel, his wings spreading out as he floats to the ground into the shadows, his eyes glowing red as he watches four men standing on the corner, each with variations of the El Califa mask. He stalks in the shadows, reaching closer to the men. He reaches out and drags one into the shadows, the sound of a minor struggle can be heard before there is silence again, the other three men oblivious to their missing compadre. Suddenly a bloody mask falls in front of them, their eyes growing wide in fear as El Caidos' roar can be heard echoing throughout the block.
Thug: El Cadejo! El Cadejo!
The screaming man notices the red glowing eyes in the shadows, and immediately takes off running. Before the remaining two men can react El Caidos leaps out from the shadows, a feral growl emanating from him as he tears the two men apart, claws flashing through the air and soon two more masks are removed. El Caidos stands slowly, holding the two masks up before ripping them to shreds. The escaping thug looks back, ripping his mask off and throwing it down as El Caidos lifts his claw up, blood dripping from it slowly. His appearance suddenly shifts, disappearing into the darkness once more before appearing in front of the thug, slamming down hard to the ground, strangling him with one claw, the razor sharp talons digging just slightly into his skin as he stares right through him.
El Caidos: Tell him who leads this group.
Thug: El Cadejo p.p....p.please don't kill me. I can change. I swear.
El Caidos: El Cadejo? Why do you call him so?
Thug: A monster who stalks at midnight. With fiery red eyes. He tears apart the wicked and defends the good hearted. I'm sorry El Cadejo! I'll do better I swear!
El Caidos slams the man's head into the ground, cracking the ground underneath as he growls in anger.
El Caidos: El Cadejo it is then. He does not want to hear your please or excuses! He knows what this gang does, the women you have kidnapped have had their lives torn from them! And what gives you any hope that he would forgive such grave sins!
Thug: L....l...listen man! I can tell you where to find one of the gang hideouts. You can find more info there, just let me go.
El Caidos: Then start talking!
El Caidos roars loudly in the mans face, his claw digging deeper into the man's neck. The man yells out in pain, breathing heavily as he struggles against the claw's grip.
Thug: F...four blocks south. There's a big warehouse where they keep the women until they're ready for transport. One of the main enforcers runs that place. But he's got like 40 locos working for him at all times.
El Caidos looks south for a moment before nodding his head. He releases his grip and let's the man stand up, who holds his hand to his throat. He looks at El Caidos who has turned his back to him. The thug grits his teeth and tries to punch Caidos in the back of the head but El Caidos spins around him, grabbing him and throwing him head first into the wall behind them. The man crumples to the ground as Caidos suddenly takes flight, his wings appearing as he takes off into the sky as the scene fades away.
It returns to on top of the Aztec pyramid, the fire roaring high into the sky as the Shaman sits in front of it, holding the El Caidos mask in one hand, and the El Califa mask in the other. He watches the damage done to the El Califa mask slowly mending itself before taking a puff from his long pipe. He exhales slowly, the image of El Caidos stalking through the shadows going towards the warehouse, scoping out the guards.
Shaman: So The Fallen has found his purpose. Perhaps there is hope for the Caliph of Dragons to be restored.
The shaman lifts the two masks up high into the sky, but the eyes in the El Caidos mask begins glowing red angrily to the chagrin of the shaman.
Shaman: There shall be a war for his soul, the darkness shall not leave him so easily.
The scene fades back to El Caidos, standing behind some large pipes as he watches the large masked man watching over the ledge of the warehouse. He moves swiftly and before the masked man can react Caidos delivers a roundhouse kick, knocking the man off the ledge before flipping off the same ledge and falling to the lower level of the roof, landing directly on the masked man, knocking him out. He quickly moves over to a window, peering in silently. Dozens of young women sit in the center of the warehouse, tied up, and huddled together. Tear stream down their fear filled eyes while multiple masked guards stand tall over them, their arms crossed. Two exits, one to the east and one to the west. El Caidos counts ten men on the main floor, with an unknown number walking the rafters and stairwells above. Caidos slowly slides the window open, when suddenly running steps can be heard behind him. He turns and takes a straight right to the face, sending him through the window and careening to the floor. Glass shatters down onto the women, who cry out in fear and lower their heads from the glass. Caidos reaches out desperately, his claw grabbing the railing just above the ground floor, his body swinging wildly into the wall next to him before dropping to the floor.
???: El Cadejo. A monster that shreds the evil and protects the saintly. What gives you the right to judge people as so?
El Caidos: He is the one that will set things right.
???: Is that so? Well the old legends say it was a howling wolf that would confront the sinners. Pray tell me then, why does a lowly lizard slink it's way into my own den?!
El Caidos looks around for the source of the voice, suddenly a large man walks to the center of the floor, the women immediately scrambling to the corners as the flicker light shines down on the man. El Caidos holds his right arm as he stands, walking up to the man who wears an exact replica of the El Califa mask. El Caidos roars loudly, anger rising up through him as his eyes glow a bright red.
El Caidos:He knew he recognized that voice. DeLeon! Of course you would disgrace the name of El Califa!
DeLeon laughs as he reaches up and removes the El Califa mask, tossing it away, revealing his face. He shrugs as he motions for his henchmen to surround El Caidos. El Caidos looks around, wincing at his arm that has not moved since his crash landing. He turns back to DeLeon, roaring once more.
El Caidos: He knew you were scum DeLeon, but trafficking women? He thought he at least taught you more respect then this!
DeLeon: I'll put it bluntly "El Cadejo", I don't give a damn about anyone else but me. Do you know what I went through after you and your sugar daddy kicked me out of the gym? Yeah, I know who's really financing that shiny new gym of yours. Shame it'll meet the same fate as the last one.
El Caidos: You....
El Caidos forms a fist with his left hand, ready to strike but DeLeon waves him off.
DeLeon: Relax, it wasn't me that burned your precious gym down, but it certainly brought a smile to my face. No, I had bigger plans in place. You see, I was approached with this opportunity. And who could say no? More money than I'll ever need, and a chance to ruin my former maestro's name. A perfect plan if I do say so. None of that matters to you though. You didn't give a fuck what I did after I left. You left me to die in these streets. But, your training did lead me to this unique opportunity as it was put forward for me. So now I serve the true El Califa, the one that everyone knows has always existed!
El Caidos: The real El Califa? What the hell are you talking about DeLeon?
DeLeon laughs as he unfurls his arms, taking a fighting stance, which forces Caidos back into a defensive stance.
DeLeon: That's for me to know, and for you to go to the grave not knowing!
The henchmen suddenly strike, launching themselves at El Caidos who knocks them back one at a time, though he continues taking damage, three grab hold of him as he kicks forward towards DeLeon. DeLeon catches his leg, forcing El Caidos to go for a flash kick. He flips away but DeLeon grabs him mid air, slamming him down on his immobile right arm. El Caidos roars out in pain as the henchmen converge on him, kicking all over as El Caidos can only hope to cover up. DeLeon picks up a large pipe and grins, spinning it in his hand as he walks over to El Caidos.
DeLeon: I've been waiting for this moment for so long.
DeLeon suddenly swings down, cracking the pipe against El Caidos' head, knocking him out as the red glow in his eyes go out. DeLeon lifts the pipe up and slams it down again, blood pouring down the exposed head of El Caidos. He lifts it up once more when his phone suddenly rings. He lowers the pipe and answers his phoen.
DeLeon: We got him boss. You want me to finish him? What? But he's ours to bury right now!
DeLeon sighs as he throws the pipe across the room, the women still shaking in fear at the sight they just saw. El Caidos slowly regains consciousness as he looks forward, suddenly seeing Katianna in the group of women. His eyes go wide as Katianna tries to reach out for him when DeLeon suddenly stomps down on El Caidos' head as he grins over at Katianna who pulls her arm back.
DeLeon: Lucky you El Cadejo, boss says we don't get to put you down like the rabid dog you are tonight. Get this piece of shit out of my sight.
El Caidos tries to reach out towards to Katianna one more time before falling unconscious once more as the masked henchmen lift Caidos up as the scene fades away. It returns to an alleyway in Culiacan, El Caidos face down in a puddle of blood as a rat scurries past him. El Caidos awakens, slowly rolling over and staring up at the night sky. Suddenly a familiar face appears above him.
Ty: El Cadejo huh?
El Caidos: Yeah, he guesses so.
Ty: How many names do you need anyway?
El Caidos: Three for now, though he's lucky you did not have to pick one for his gravestone tonight.
El Caidos slowly sits up, holding his head that is completely covered in blood. Ty reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out a rag, holding it to El Caidos who begins cleaning the blood off slowly. Ty paces back and forth, his arms crossed.
El Caidos: What are you doing here anyway Demonio?
Ty: To be quite frank, Ian asked me to come check on the progress of the construction. Appears there was some issues that had come up with the local government, or cartel I suppose. Something about made up licenses and what not. I believe we cleared that up rather swiftly if you catch my drift. And something interesting happened. While stopping for some food, I kept hearing about the appearance of El Cadejo, the hound with fiery red eyes that defended the innocent and destroyed those he deemed evil. Pray tell Caidos, how many people do you know with fiery red eyes?
El Caidos: So my actions precede me.
Ty: Want to tell me what this is all about Caidos? Is this what you meant by helping Culiacan?
Ty holds his hand out to his fellow Phantom of Chaos, helping him to his feet. Caidos lowers his head, gazing at the blood soaked rag in his hand. He grips it tightly in his claw, gritting his teeth.
El Caidos: Katianna. They have her Ty.
Ty: I'm sorry, I must be missing the entire story. Who is they?
El Caidos slowly reaches into his jacket, withdrawing a similar looking El Califa mask.
El Caidos: El Califa. They are El Califa.
Ty shakes his head, confusion spreading over his face.
Ty: Wrong. You are El Califa, where is this all coming from?
El Caidos: Someone took my name and is now using it for their own ill gotten gains.
Ty: Then where is this fake El Califa at? The Phantoms will take care of him no problem.
El Caidos shakes his head as he tosses the rag aside. He looks right at Ty, his eyes now glowing red as his El Caidos mask forms around his face, his fangs protruding out and his serpent like tongue snaking out.
El Caidos: This is something he must do alone Demonio.
Ty: Bullshit. What did I tell you? You are a part of my family. You're not the only one with connections in the underground. I'll return home and dig up some info on this so called El Califa. You will have your revenge El Caidos, I assure you.
El Caidos nods his head as Ty turns and melts into the shadows, El Caidos looks up at the sky, his mind flashing back to the warehouse as Katianna reached out for him, whispering something to him at the same time.
Katianna: Club Lagartos. Find me there.
El Caidos shakes his head as he looks towards the harbor, the glistening lights of downtown beckoning for the dragon masked in shadows.
El Caidos: He is coming Katianna.
El Caidos suddenly takes flight into the air as the scene fades away, the mask of El Califa and the mask of El Caidos side by side, the El Califa mask slowly burning away as the El Caidos mask disappears into the darkness.
He stands tall and falls from the top of the chapel, his wings spreading out as he floats to the ground into the shadows, his eyes glowing red as he watches four men standing on the corner, each with variations of the El Califa mask. He stalks in the shadows, reaching closer to the men. He reaches out and drags one into the shadows, the sound of a minor struggle can be heard before there is silence again, the other three men oblivious to their missing compadre. Suddenly a bloody mask falls in front of them, their eyes growing wide in fear as El Caidos' roar can be heard echoing throughout the block.
Thug: El Cadejo! El Cadejo!
The screaming man notices the red glowing eyes in the shadows, and immediately takes off running. Before the remaining two men can react El Caidos leaps out from the shadows, a feral growl emanating from him as he tears the two men apart, claws flashing through the air and soon two more masks are removed. El Caidos stands slowly, holding the two masks up before ripping them to shreds. The escaping thug looks back, ripping his mask off and throwing it down as El Caidos lifts his claw up, blood dripping from it slowly. His appearance suddenly shifts, disappearing into the darkness once more before appearing in front of the thug, slamming down hard to the ground, strangling him with one claw, the razor sharp talons digging just slightly into his skin as he stares right through him.
El Caidos: Tell him who leads this group.
Thug: El Cadejo p.p....p.please don't kill me. I can change. I swear.
El Caidos: El Cadejo? Why do you call him so?
Thug: A monster who stalks at midnight. With fiery red eyes. He tears apart the wicked and defends the good hearted. I'm sorry El Cadejo! I'll do better I swear!
El Caidos slams the man's head into the ground, cracking the ground underneath as he growls in anger.
El Caidos: El Cadejo it is then. He does not want to hear your please or excuses! He knows what this gang does, the women you have kidnapped have had their lives torn from them! And what gives you any hope that he would forgive such grave sins!
Thug: L....l...listen man! I can tell you where to find one of the gang hideouts. You can find more info there, just let me go.
El Caidos: Then start talking!
El Caidos roars loudly in the mans face, his claw digging deeper into the man's neck. The man yells out in pain, breathing heavily as he struggles against the claw's grip.
Thug: F...four blocks south. There's a big warehouse where they keep the women until they're ready for transport. One of the main enforcers runs that place. But he's got like 40 locos working for him at all times.
El Caidos looks south for a moment before nodding his head. He releases his grip and let's the man stand up, who holds his hand to his throat. He looks at El Caidos who has turned his back to him. The thug grits his teeth and tries to punch Caidos in the back of the head but El Caidos spins around him, grabbing him and throwing him head first into the wall behind them. The man crumples to the ground as Caidos suddenly takes flight, his wings appearing as he takes off into the sky as the scene fades away.
It returns to on top of the Aztec pyramid, the fire roaring high into the sky as the Shaman sits in front of it, holding the El Caidos mask in one hand, and the El Califa mask in the other. He watches the damage done to the El Califa mask slowly mending itself before taking a puff from his long pipe. He exhales slowly, the image of El Caidos stalking through the shadows going towards the warehouse, scoping out the guards.
Shaman: So The Fallen has found his purpose. Perhaps there is hope for the Caliph of Dragons to be restored.
The shaman lifts the two masks up high into the sky, but the eyes in the El Caidos mask begins glowing red angrily to the chagrin of the shaman.
Shaman: There shall be a war for his soul, the darkness shall not leave him so easily.
The scene fades back to El Caidos, standing behind some large pipes as he watches the large masked man watching over the ledge of the warehouse. He moves swiftly and before the masked man can react Caidos delivers a roundhouse kick, knocking the man off the ledge before flipping off the same ledge and falling to the lower level of the roof, landing directly on the masked man, knocking him out. He quickly moves over to a window, peering in silently. Dozens of young women sit in the center of the warehouse, tied up, and huddled together. Tear stream down their fear filled eyes while multiple masked guards stand tall over them, their arms crossed. Two exits, one to the east and one to the west. El Caidos counts ten men on the main floor, with an unknown number walking the rafters and stairwells above. Caidos slowly slides the window open, when suddenly running steps can be heard behind him. He turns and takes a straight right to the face, sending him through the window and careening to the floor. Glass shatters down onto the women, who cry out in fear and lower their heads from the glass. Caidos reaches out desperately, his claw grabbing the railing just above the ground floor, his body swinging wildly into the wall next to him before dropping to the floor.
???: El Cadejo. A monster that shreds the evil and protects the saintly. What gives you the right to judge people as so?
El Caidos: He is the one that will set things right.
???: Is that so? Well the old legends say it was a howling wolf that would confront the sinners. Pray tell me then, why does a lowly lizard slink it's way into my own den?!
El Caidos looks around for the source of the voice, suddenly a large man walks to the center of the floor, the women immediately scrambling to the corners as the flicker light shines down on the man. El Caidos holds his right arm as he stands, walking up to the man who wears an exact replica of the El Califa mask. El Caidos roars loudly, anger rising up through him as his eyes glow a bright red.
El Caidos:He knew he recognized that voice. DeLeon! Of course you would disgrace the name of El Califa!
DeLeon laughs as he reaches up and removes the El Califa mask, tossing it away, revealing his face. He shrugs as he motions for his henchmen to surround El Caidos. El Caidos looks around, wincing at his arm that has not moved since his crash landing. He turns back to DeLeon, roaring once more.
El Caidos: He knew you were scum DeLeon, but trafficking women? He thought he at least taught you more respect then this!
DeLeon: I'll put it bluntly "El Cadejo", I don't give a damn about anyone else but me. Do you know what I went through after you and your sugar daddy kicked me out of the gym? Yeah, I know who's really financing that shiny new gym of yours. Shame it'll meet the same fate as the last one.
El Caidos: You....
El Caidos forms a fist with his left hand, ready to strike but DeLeon waves him off.
DeLeon: Relax, it wasn't me that burned your precious gym down, but it certainly brought a smile to my face. No, I had bigger plans in place. You see, I was approached with this opportunity. And who could say no? More money than I'll ever need, and a chance to ruin my former maestro's name. A perfect plan if I do say so. None of that matters to you though. You didn't give a fuck what I did after I left. You left me to die in these streets. But, your training did lead me to this unique opportunity as it was put forward for me. So now I serve the true El Califa, the one that everyone knows has always existed!
El Caidos: The real El Califa? What the hell are you talking about DeLeon?
DeLeon laughs as he unfurls his arms, taking a fighting stance, which forces Caidos back into a defensive stance.
DeLeon: That's for me to know, and for you to go to the grave not knowing!
The henchmen suddenly strike, launching themselves at El Caidos who knocks them back one at a time, though he continues taking damage, three grab hold of him as he kicks forward towards DeLeon. DeLeon catches his leg, forcing El Caidos to go for a flash kick. He flips away but DeLeon grabs him mid air, slamming him down on his immobile right arm. El Caidos roars out in pain as the henchmen converge on him, kicking all over as El Caidos can only hope to cover up. DeLeon picks up a large pipe and grins, spinning it in his hand as he walks over to El Caidos.
DeLeon: I've been waiting for this moment for so long.
DeLeon suddenly swings down, cracking the pipe against El Caidos' head, knocking him out as the red glow in his eyes go out. DeLeon lifts the pipe up and slams it down again, blood pouring down the exposed head of El Caidos. He lifts it up once more when his phone suddenly rings. He lowers the pipe and answers his phoen.
DeLeon: We got him boss. You want me to finish him? What? But he's ours to bury right now!
DeLeon sighs as he throws the pipe across the room, the women still shaking in fear at the sight they just saw. El Caidos slowly regains consciousness as he looks forward, suddenly seeing Katianna in the group of women. His eyes go wide as Katianna tries to reach out for him when DeLeon suddenly stomps down on El Caidos' head as he grins over at Katianna who pulls her arm back.
DeLeon: Lucky you El Cadejo, boss says we don't get to put you down like the rabid dog you are tonight. Get this piece of shit out of my sight.
El Caidos tries to reach out towards to Katianna one more time before falling unconscious once more as the masked henchmen lift Caidos up as the scene fades away. It returns to an alleyway in Culiacan, El Caidos face down in a puddle of blood as a rat scurries past him. El Caidos awakens, slowly rolling over and staring up at the night sky. Suddenly a familiar face appears above him.
Ty: El Cadejo huh?
El Caidos: Yeah, he guesses so.
Ty: How many names do you need anyway?
El Caidos: Three for now, though he's lucky you did not have to pick one for his gravestone tonight.
El Caidos slowly sits up, holding his head that is completely covered in blood. Ty reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out a rag, holding it to El Caidos who begins cleaning the blood off slowly. Ty paces back and forth, his arms crossed.
El Caidos: What are you doing here anyway Demonio?
Ty: To be quite frank, Ian asked me to come check on the progress of the construction. Appears there was some issues that had come up with the local government, or cartel I suppose. Something about made up licenses and what not. I believe we cleared that up rather swiftly if you catch my drift. And something interesting happened. While stopping for some food, I kept hearing about the appearance of El Cadejo, the hound with fiery red eyes that defended the innocent and destroyed those he deemed evil. Pray tell Caidos, how many people do you know with fiery red eyes?
El Caidos: So my actions precede me.
Ty: Want to tell me what this is all about Caidos? Is this what you meant by helping Culiacan?
Ty holds his hand out to his fellow Phantom of Chaos, helping him to his feet. Caidos lowers his head, gazing at the blood soaked rag in his hand. He grips it tightly in his claw, gritting his teeth.
El Caidos: Katianna. They have her Ty.
Ty: I'm sorry, I must be missing the entire story. Who is they?
El Caidos slowly reaches into his jacket, withdrawing a similar looking El Califa mask.
El Caidos: El Califa. They are El Califa.
Ty shakes his head, confusion spreading over his face.
Ty: Wrong. You are El Califa, where is this all coming from?
El Caidos: Someone took my name and is now using it for their own ill gotten gains.
Ty: Then where is this fake El Califa at? The Phantoms will take care of him no problem.
El Caidos shakes his head as he tosses the rag aside. He looks right at Ty, his eyes now glowing red as his El Caidos mask forms around his face, his fangs protruding out and his serpent like tongue snaking out.
El Caidos: This is something he must do alone Demonio.
Ty: Bullshit. What did I tell you? You are a part of my family. You're not the only one with connections in the underground. I'll return home and dig up some info on this so called El Califa. You will have your revenge El Caidos, I assure you.
El Caidos nods his head as Ty turns and melts into the shadows, El Caidos looks up at the sky, his mind flashing back to the warehouse as Katianna reached out for him, whispering something to him at the same time.
Katianna: Club Lagartos. Find me there.
El Caidos shakes his head as he looks towards the harbor, the glistening lights of downtown beckoning for the dragon masked in shadows.
El Caidos: He is coming Katianna.
El Caidos suddenly takes flight into the air as the scene fades away, the mask of El Califa and the mask of El Caidos side by side, the El Califa mask slowly burning away as the El Caidos mask disappears into the darkness.
Bernkastel
Reaper of Miracles
Kagura stared at the paper in front of her, her frustration growing. Try as she might she just could not put pen to paper. She held the pen in her right hand, twirling it around as she concentrated. She would try again.
She lowered the pen to the paper on the desk as she flicked her wrist, her arm darting back and forth in quick, clean strokes. And then she stopped.
Kagura had practiced the art of calligraphy exclusively in Japan during her years training as a priestess, and once she gained the ability to speak English, she began to write it as well. She soon expanded her vocabulary and literacy skills beyond what the book had afforded her. Soon afterwards her linguistics began to fail. And much to her horror she found that she was losing her ability to write.
Like a woman obsessed she began to journal every day, just to see if practice could delay her inevitable illiteracy. Writing helped jumpstart her brain as some words and phrases had become second nature to her, even if she had not previously known how to speak them before performing the ritual. Words that seemed to jump onto the page without her brain telling her hand to write them.
But it would only help to a degree. English sentence structure was the exact opposite as compared to Japanese. Even something as simple as “I want to go to the store” could be written as "Let’s go to the store," but in Japanese simply writing the sentence as “going to store” would mean the same thing. Simply put her Japanese language skills were fucking over her English language skills to a hardcore level.
‘Oh what was that word?’ she thought.
And in disbelief she slammed her hands on the desk, the pen flying out of her hands. She buried her face as tears of anger began to burn on her face. She looked down at the paper. She was trying to write down some simple sentences and responses before she lost all ability to communicate. Sasuke Gozaburo was no longer there to translate for her. She was on her own. And that thought frightened her to no end.
She glanced around her hotel room, as if trying to sense the presence of her lover Dr. Derrick Housman, only to realize that she had driven him away too. Her mind flashed back to an argument they had…
“So what do you plan on doing, Kagura? That book is dangerous. We still don’t know the side effects from performing the ritual over and over again.”
She shook her head.
“I won’t live like this Derrick. Being able to speak and communicate are important to me.”
“Then why don’t you learn it on your own?”
She shot him an incredulous look.
“Don’t you think I tried that before in the past? I couldn’t pick up the language fast enough. There’s no way I could survive in WZCW without a translator. But I’m not going to lower myself to that. Why should I? I have access to everything I could ever want right here.”
She gestured towards the book.
“And then what?” Derrick snapped.
“You’ll change again. Is this Kagura not enough?”
She shook her head.
“No it’s not. The current Kagura is defective. Obviously something happened and the ritual didn’t hold. I would be happier evolving to someone else.”
He gritted his teeth. “Well I wouldn’t be.”
She recoiled from his words in shock. “Why? I thought you liked being with me.”
“I do… I just… don’t know…”
She shook her head and narrowed her gaze.
“Don’t know what Derrick? If this body isn’t enough to satisfy you then I don’t know will. ”
“It’s your heart Kagura,” he interrupted.
“You may have given me your body but you never gave me your heart.”
Kagura was confused. Her heart? Of course she had given him her heart. She loved him. At least she thought she did.
“Every time I’m with you Kagura, it just doesn’t feel natural. You’ve become a different person since you performed that ritual. And if you perform it and change again then I fear that I’ll lose the woman that I once fell for.”
“What are you saying Derrick? It IS me. This has always been me!”
“Has it, or is something else? I have done extensive research on that book. I knew there was something dangerous about it. The mafia thought that they could curse others with it. But now I see. If you perform the ritual then you only end up cursing yourself. Don’t you see Kagura? You are losing yourself to that book!”
She screamed in anger and clutched the book to her chest. She glared daggers at the man who stood his ground.
“How dare you! This book is helping me reach my dream to become perfect. Don’t stand there and try and lecture me. This is what I wanted from the beginning.”
“Is it? Because I seem to remember a girl regaling me with tales of her journey, how she left her home in a small town and got to see the world. I thought that was your dream.”
Kagura stared at the ground and then lifted her head in defiance. “That was my dream at one point, but then I lived it.”
“And what about your goal of accomplishing what Sasuke did and becoming a world champion, I thought that’s what you wanted?”
She felt the anger and frustration rise. He was opening up some old wounds.
“The old Kagura could have never become a world champion. But me, I can do what she could not.”
She held up the book, “And this will help me. Once I become perfect-.”
“Again with this perfection bullshit,” he spat.
“You were perfect before Kagura, can’t you see that?”
She shook her head.
“I see. You truly aren’t the same girl anymore. The real Kagura wouldn’t make such meaningless sacrifices in order to obtain shortcuts.”
“Lies! I just did what I had to do. I had to evolve and take the next step. I was stagnant before. I had nothing. I was never going to be anything more than a spot on the mid card and I’m better than that.”
Derrick nodded. “You are better than that Kagura, so why couldn’t you obtain success without abandoning your honor?”
“My honor? Only the previous Kagura got caught up in such petty nonsense. People change Derrick. Dreams change. Aspirations change. Goals change. And to keep up one has to evolve. This is happening whether you like it or not!”
He shook his head and stared at the ground. And then he looked back up at her, defeated.
“You’re right. People change. You’ve changed. And so have I.”
“Kagura,” he breathed. “You are no longer the same girl that I fell in love with, so I’m leaving.”
Her eyes widened.
“What? How can you say that? After all we’ve been through!”
“It’s true we’ve been through too much for me just too simply walk out and never look back. I wasn’t lying when I said that I loved you, Kagura. But I don’t love what that thing…” he said gesturing towards the book.
“… has done to you. I feel like my heart has ripped itself in two and I don’t think I will ever be the same until the old Kagura returns to me.”
Kagura stared at the man, her emotions slowly boiling over.
“So you want me to choose, huh? Between you and this book, well I’m never giving this up!”
“You’re nothing but a traitor Derrick. I know you were only staying with me so that you could steal it from me.”
He gaped.
“That’s preposterous!”
“Don’t lie! That’s the only reason why you would say that you love me, so that I would drop my guard. Well I don’t need your love, or your warmth, or your touch. And if it comes down to the book and you, then I choose this book!”
He barred his fangs and breathed one final farewell before leaving and slamming the door shut behind him. She stared at the door in shock. Never did she think Derrick would actually leave. She was a mess of emotions at that moment trying to digest what had just happened.
“Th-that’s right. Get out! Go! I don’t need you anymore.”
“I don’t… need you anymore…”
She broke down in tears and fell to the floor. As the tears flowed down her cheeks she felt the pain being replaced by anger. She tossed the book onto the bed and began to trash the room in a fit rage.
That had been several days ago. Kagura sighed and laid her head and arms onto the desk. She was still paying off the damage from the bill she was fined. She was alone now. Well that wasn’t exactly true. Late at night whenever she mediated she could feel the presence of the kami that inhabited all things. Along with something else… but she couldn’t exactly explain that presence. Perhaps it was just another manifestation of the kami. Many people in the company mistook this for her being able to hear voices. That wasn’t true. Her mind flashed back to an interview that she had done with that buffoon Johnny Klamor…
“So I don’t really understand this shine maiden business Miss Kagura,” the man had said.
It was post Ascension 103. Kagura had scored the upset win over Gold Rush favorite Flex Mussel. Kagura had declared that her road to the world title would start there, but then she started losing her ability to speak English and everything just went to hell. Survival became more important than winning matches. And instead of planning what outfit she would wear at her world champion coronation ceremony, she was busy trying to find a replacement for Ryuumi.
That shaman had been quite intelligent and her speaking abilities were impeccable, but they had limitations. She began to wonder if it was because she went beyond those limitations and learned more than what Ryuumi herself would have known. And that had been why the ritual began to break. So she needed to find a replacement that had a truly remarkable grasp on the English language and had plenty of charisma to express it all. She had narrowed down a few candidates but she hadn’t decided whom she was going to target.
But for now she was standing in the presence of this seemingly incompetent interviewer as she tried her damnedest to explain to him just what a shrine maiden actually did. Her English was incredibly broken at this point, but she could still listen and write quite well, so she did the whole segment on pen and paper, looking very peeved the whole time.
“Oh, I get it. So you’re more of a shaman than a priestess. So does that mean you can talk to spirits?”
She wrote down that the kami weren’t actually spirits but personifications of souls that inhabited just about every tangible and intangible object. Klmaor found the whole thing fascinating. Kagura didn’t. She would have thought that for as long has she had been in the company that everyone had picked up at least a running knowledge of Shintoism.
Klamor changed gears on her.
“Now that you’ve defeated Flex Mussel you’ve got another tall task ahead of you in the form of El Caidos. The Phantoms of Chaos are riding high after their world tag team title win. El Caidos now has the opportunity to climb even higher. What do you have to say to him?”
Kagura pondered and wrote something on her paper and held it up.
"Nothing…"
Johnny frowned. Kagured scribbled something else.
"He’s just another speed bump on my road to becoming the world champ."
Yeah, it had been a short interview. Pretty standard material where the interviewer would play up Kagura’s next opponent and she would respond, and really… she kinda dug the Phantoms of Chaos. They were exactly her type of people. Many of her peers avoided her and treated her as if she was insane, but that didn’t make her a bad person.
Kagura rose from the desk and gathered her thoughts. It had been bugging her lately, but what exactly made someone “bad” and what made someone “good?” She had been hearing an awful lot how malevolent she had become. But really she had been doing what she needed to survive. So what if she had to trample over some people in the process; that was just human nature.
El Caidos was a tough competitor. If she had to cheat to win did it make her a treacherous cretin because of it? Not in her opinion. Wrestling was just a game. A win was a win. And even if she did lose there would be other opportunities for her to compete for the top prize again in the future.
She had to focus on the more important issue at hand. She needed to find a replacement English speaker and soon. El Caidos was out; he was a foreigner. Spanish would do very little for her.
Searching through the list of available combatants on the roster she soon hovered over one name in particular. He had caught her eye before and the more she observed and researched the more he seemed like the perfect candidate.
She grinned devilishly.
“He’ll do nicely. Won’t he?”
As if to answer her question she heard a voice on the other side of the room. She glanced around to see nothing there. She shrugged and brushed it off as figment of her imagination. What Kagura did not catch was that the book was now wide open and had turned to a new page, waiting to receive the soul of its next victim.
She lowered the pen to the paper on the desk as she flicked her wrist, her arm darting back and forth in quick, clean strokes. And then she stopped.
Kagura had practiced the art of calligraphy exclusively in Japan during her years training as a priestess, and once she gained the ability to speak English, she began to write it as well. She soon expanded her vocabulary and literacy skills beyond what the book had afforded her. Soon afterwards her linguistics began to fail. And much to her horror she found that she was losing her ability to write.
Like a woman obsessed she began to journal every day, just to see if practice could delay her inevitable illiteracy. Writing helped jumpstart her brain as some words and phrases had become second nature to her, even if she had not previously known how to speak them before performing the ritual. Words that seemed to jump onto the page without her brain telling her hand to write them.
But it would only help to a degree. English sentence structure was the exact opposite as compared to Japanese. Even something as simple as “I want to go to the store” could be written as "Let’s go to the store," but in Japanese simply writing the sentence as “going to store” would mean the same thing. Simply put her Japanese language skills were fucking over her English language skills to a hardcore level.
‘Oh what was that word?’ she thought.
And in disbelief she slammed her hands on the desk, the pen flying out of her hands. She buried her face as tears of anger began to burn on her face. She looked down at the paper. She was trying to write down some simple sentences and responses before she lost all ability to communicate. Sasuke Gozaburo was no longer there to translate for her. She was on her own. And that thought frightened her to no end.
She glanced around her hotel room, as if trying to sense the presence of her lover Dr. Derrick Housman, only to realize that she had driven him away too. Her mind flashed back to an argument they had…
“So what do you plan on doing, Kagura? That book is dangerous. We still don’t know the side effects from performing the ritual over and over again.”
She shook her head.
“I won’t live like this Derrick. Being able to speak and communicate are important to me.”
“Then why don’t you learn it on your own?”
She shot him an incredulous look.
“Don’t you think I tried that before in the past? I couldn’t pick up the language fast enough. There’s no way I could survive in WZCW without a translator. But I’m not going to lower myself to that. Why should I? I have access to everything I could ever want right here.”
She gestured towards the book.
“And then what?” Derrick snapped.
“You’ll change again. Is this Kagura not enough?”
She shook her head.
“No it’s not. The current Kagura is defective. Obviously something happened and the ritual didn’t hold. I would be happier evolving to someone else.”
He gritted his teeth. “Well I wouldn’t be.”
She recoiled from his words in shock. “Why? I thought you liked being with me.”
“I do… I just… don’t know…”
She shook her head and narrowed her gaze.
“Don’t know what Derrick? If this body isn’t enough to satisfy you then I don’t know will. ”
“It’s your heart Kagura,” he interrupted.
“You may have given me your body but you never gave me your heart.”
Kagura was confused. Her heart? Of course she had given him her heart. She loved him. At least she thought she did.
“Every time I’m with you Kagura, it just doesn’t feel natural. You’ve become a different person since you performed that ritual. And if you perform it and change again then I fear that I’ll lose the woman that I once fell for.”
“What are you saying Derrick? It IS me. This has always been me!”
“Has it, or is something else? I have done extensive research on that book. I knew there was something dangerous about it. The mafia thought that they could curse others with it. But now I see. If you perform the ritual then you only end up cursing yourself. Don’t you see Kagura? You are losing yourself to that book!”
She screamed in anger and clutched the book to her chest. She glared daggers at the man who stood his ground.
“How dare you! This book is helping me reach my dream to become perfect. Don’t stand there and try and lecture me. This is what I wanted from the beginning.”
“Is it? Because I seem to remember a girl regaling me with tales of her journey, how she left her home in a small town and got to see the world. I thought that was your dream.”
Kagura stared at the ground and then lifted her head in defiance. “That was my dream at one point, but then I lived it.”
“And what about your goal of accomplishing what Sasuke did and becoming a world champion, I thought that’s what you wanted?”
She felt the anger and frustration rise. He was opening up some old wounds.
“The old Kagura could have never become a world champion. But me, I can do what she could not.”
She held up the book, “And this will help me. Once I become perfect-.”
“Again with this perfection bullshit,” he spat.
“You were perfect before Kagura, can’t you see that?”
She shook her head.
“I see. You truly aren’t the same girl anymore. The real Kagura wouldn’t make such meaningless sacrifices in order to obtain shortcuts.”
“Lies! I just did what I had to do. I had to evolve and take the next step. I was stagnant before. I had nothing. I was never going to be anything more than a spot on the mid card and I’m better than that.”
Derrick nodded. “You are better than that Kagura, so why couldn’t you obtain success without abandoning your honor?”
“My honor? Only the previous Kagura got caught up in such petty nonsense. People change Derrick. Dreams change. Aspirations change. Goals change. And to keep up one has to evolve. This is happening whether you like it or not!”
He shook his head and stared at the ground. And then he looked back up at her, defeated.
“You’re right. People change. You’ve changed. And so have I.”
“Kagura,” he breathed. “You are no longer the same girl that I fell in love with, so I’m leaving.”
Her eyes widened.
“What? How can you say that? After all we’ve been through!”
“It’s true we’ve been through too much for me just too simply walk out and never look back. I wasn’t lying when I said that I loved you, Kagura. But I don’t love what that thing…” he said gesturing towards the book.
“… has done to you. I feel like my heart has ripped itself in two and I don’t think I will ever be the same until the old Kagura returns to me.”
Kagura stared at the man, her emotions slowly boiling over.
“So you want me to choose, huh? Between you and this book, well I’m never giving this up!”
“You’re nothing but a traitor Derrick. I know you were only staying with me so that you could steal it from me.”
He gaped.
“That’s preposterous!”
“Don’t lie! That’s the only reason why you would say that you love me, so that I would drop my guard. Well I don’t need your love, or your warmth, or your touch. And if it comes down to the book and you, then I choose this book!”
He barred his fangs and breathed one final farewell before leaving and slamming the door shut behind him. She stared at the door in shock. Never did she think Derrick would actually leave. She was a mess of emotions at that moment trying to digest what had just happened.
“Th-that’s right. Get out! Go! I don’t need you anymore.”
“I don’t… need you anymore…”
She broke down in tears and fell to the floor. As the tears flowed down her cheeks she felt the pain being replaced by anger. She tossed the book onto the bed and began to trash the room in a fit rage.
That had been several days ago. Kagura sighed and laid her head and arms onto the desk. She was still paying off the damage from the bill she was fined. She was alone now. Well that wasn’t exactly true. Late at night whenever she mediated she could feel the presence of the kami that inhabited all things. Along with something else… but she couldn’t exactly explain that presence. Perhaps it was just another manifestation of the kami. Many people in the company mistook this for her being able to hear voices. That wasn’t true. Her mind flashed back to an interview that she had done with that buffoon Johnny Klamor…
“So I don’t really understand this shine maiden business Miss Kagura,” the man had said.
It was post Ascension 103. Kagura had scored the upset win over Gold Rush favorite Flex Mussel. Kagura had declared that her road to the world title would start there, but then she started losing her ability to speak English and everything just went to hell. Survival became more important than winning matches. And instead of planning what outfit she would wear at her world champion coronation ceremony, she was busy trying to find a replacement for Ryuumi.
That shaman had been quite intelligent and her speaking abilities were impeccable, but they had limitations. She began to wonder if it was because she went beyond those limitations and learned more than what Ryuumi herself would have known. And that had been why the ritual began to break. So she needed to find a replacement that had a truly remarkable grasp on the English language and had plenty of charisma to express it all. She had narrowed down a few candidates but she hadn’t decided whom she was going to target.
But for now she was standing in the presence of this seemingly incompetent interviewer as she tried her damnedest to explain to him just what a shrine maiden actually did. Her English was incredibly broken at this point, but she could still listen and write quite well, so she did the whole segment on pen and paper, looking very peeved the whole time.
“Oh, I get it. So you’re more of a shaman than a priestess. So does that mean you can talk to spirits?”
She wrote down that the kami weren’t actually spirits but personifications of souls that inhabited just about every tangible and intangible object. Klmaor found the whole thing fascinating. Kagura didn’t. She would have thought that for as long has she had been in the company that everyone had picked up at least a running knowledge of Shintoism.
Klamor changed gears on her.
“Now that you’ve defeated Flex Mussel you’ve got another tall task ahead of you in the form of El Caidos. The Phantoms of Chaos are riding high after their world tag team title win. El Caidos now has the opportunity to climb even higher. What do you have to say to him?”
Kagura pondered and wrote something on her paper and held it up.
"Nothing…"
Johnny frowned. Kagured scribbled something else.
"He’s just another speed bump on my road to becoming the world champ."
Yeah, it had been a short interview. Pretty standard material where the interviewer would play up Kagura’s next opponent and she would respond, and really… she kinda dug the Phantoms of Chaos. They were exactly her type of people. Many of her peers avoided her and treated her as if she was insane, but that didn’t make her a bad person.
Kagura rose from the desk and gathered her thoughts. It had been bugging her lately, but what exactly made someone “bad” and what made someone “good?” She had been hearing an awful lot how malevolent she had become. But really she had been doing what she needed to survive. So what if she had to trample over some people in the process; that was just human nature.
El Caidos was a tough competitor. If she had to cheat to win did it make her a treacherous cretin because of it? Not in her opinion. Wrestling was just a game. A win was a win. And even if she did lose there would be other opportunities for her to compete for the top prize again in the future.
She had to focus on the more important issue at hand. She needed to find a replacement English speaker and soon. El Caidos was out; he was a foreigner. Spanish would do very little for her.
Searching through the list of available combatants on the roster she soon hovered over one name in particular. He had caught her eye before and the more she observed and researched the more he seemed like the perfect candidate.
She grinned devilishly.
“He’ll do nicely. Won’t he?”
As if to answer her question she heard a voice on the other side of the room. She glanced around to see nothing there. She shrugged and brushed it off as figment of her imagination. What Kagura did not catch was that the book was now wide open and had turned to a new page, waiting to receive the soul of its next victim.
- Status
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