Post by Zasshu II on Sept 20, 2023 23:56:31 GMT
"Everyone has that one recurring nightmare.”
”You’re sleeping soundly. Best sleep of your life. You probably just flew over that park you played at in first grade when it happens.”
”That awful nightmare that replays in your head like one of those bad earworm songs from the 90’s you just can’t escape.”
”Over and over and over again until you eventually wake up.
”And when you wake up? You can’t escape it.”
”You ever wonder if the world really did end in 2012 and we are all living in some parallel reality?”
{ She asks with an earnest shrug. }
”I’m being serious. Like, think of all the crazy stuff that has happened since then. We had a celebrity guest president, that gorilla died, there was a pandemic that shall not be named, the government acknowledged aliens or at least UFO’s are real, the FBI tried to kill that senator and literally no one went to jail AND!”
“THE PACK IS BACK!”
“Or at least an all female version of the Pack is back and calling itself the Murder BECAUSE!”
“Girls get it done.”
“Someone should make a shirt that says that. But no, seriously! The world has been completely upside down for the last eleven years and I swear to god that I learned in school Mandela died in the eighties! Oh and Shazam was absolutely a real movie and I remember watching it on ABC.”
{ A coy smile escapes from behind her mask. }
”Ok, I can’t lie. I’m intimidated and that intimidation is slowly getting the better of me. I’m losing focus, giving into my latent ADHD and becoming one of those vapid air heads we are all tired of listening to.”
“HI PARTNER!”
“But what am I supposed to say? Rowan is literally the devil of women’s professional wrestling. Thank the lord she hasn’t heard IWF runs an intergender show yet because, and maybe you didn’t know this, she BEAT GOD ONCE!”
“How in the holy heck am I supposed to mentally prepare for this match! Rowan is like, THE BAR! Sure, we’ve had Tara and Shelly and that one girl who’s name has been completely erased from the record books but there’s only one Rowan.”
{ She lets out a sigh. }
”I suppose I should say all the usual stuff. I’m not afraid of her. I’m going to try really hard. I’m going to put in extra time at the gym. I won’t fall for the mind games. BUT I ALREADY ADMITTED THAT I HAVE!”
{ She throws her arms up in desperation. }
”I played myself. Simple as that.”
{ She puts her hands on her hips. }
”Rowan, I don’t expect you to remember me but I remember you. You leave an impact. And that memory? It has stuck with me for a very long time. I still wake up seeing your face leering over me with that sickening grin. Sometimes? Sometimes I wake up completely paralyzed with my eyes locked on the corner you should be standing in just waiting for that Balor’s Gaze to send me to the afterlife.”
“I’m tired of living with that memory.”
“I’m tired of living with that fear.”
“I know who you are. I know what you’re capable of. I know what you mean to the world of professional wrestling. And I am ready to push that all aside and rise to the occasion like I did against Tara Fenix. No one gave me a shot against her but I took Tara to the limit. I wasn’t the warm up match anyone was expecting and I won’t be just another body in your wake.”
“You’ll have to earn this win.”
{ She nods her head with confidence. }
As for April Madrox? I don’t know a damn thing about you besides you haven’t accomplished even a fraction of what your sister has. I suppose I should feel threatened by you, afterall, shit rolls down hill and you must have absorbed a couple of Brooklyn’s greatest shits.”
{ She laughs at her own funny analogy. }
”Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. After all, I'm teamed with the little sister of an incredible wrestler myself. Of course my little sister partner won the World title and proved on more than one occasion that she is every bit as good as her DNA dictates she should be. You, on the other hand, April? The jury is still out. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, I don’t take any opponent lightly. But it’s hard to take someone seriously who’s perfectly happy being a member of Rita’s puddy patrol and not the one wielding the scepter.”
{ She shrugs. }
”Then again, Rowan is perfectly happy being the Finster to Brooklyn’s Goldar. Maybe I can wake up from this nightmare and introduce you two to one of your own? One where two happy go lucky professional wrestlers with attitude beat the most feared woman in wrestling circa 2018 and her partner, Pudgy Pig!”
“It’s morphin time!”
Vasco Dias: Rowan cannot be stopped!
Terri Morasco: She isn’t just a wrestler she’s a force of nature!”
Terri Morasco: She isn’t just a wrestler she’s a force of nature!”
”You’re sleeping soundly. Best sleep of your life. You probably just flew over that park you played at in first grade when it happens.”
Vasco Dias: Balor’s Gaze!
”That awful nightmare that replays in your head like one of those bad earworm songs from the 90’s you just can’t escape.”
Terri Morasco: The Death Knell!
”Over and over and over again until you eventually wake up.
Vasco Dias: BALOR’S GAZE!!!!!!!”
”And when you wake up? You can’t escape it.”
{ We are several weeks removed from Zasshu’s loss to Tara Fenix. Most people would find themselves filled with rage or depression after losing to such an accomplished athlete but not Zasshu. She took it on the chin, the way her master had trained her. It also helped that Tara had taken her aside after the match to give her some advice.
But it isn’t that match that now lives inside the mind of Zasshu, it’s her upcoming match.
Zasshu II and Jennie Fenix versus Rowan and April Madrox.
Rowan.
The scourge of IWF Women’s Division. A woman so mad, so heinous, so evil that she actually lit an opponent on fire. A woman so synonymous with the World Championship that people still compare themselves to her despite all the years since.
Zasshu can’t stop thinking about her.
And her master knows that which is why he just called Zasshu three times in a row without leaving a voicemail. He knows she’s getting inside her own head, the head that Rowan has lived in rent free for years.
Rowan and one other.
When Zasshu arrived in IWF she was thankful for the opportunity and grateful that the time of Rowan had long since passed but now? Now she couldn’t help but feel like she was dreaming. She couldn’t help but feel like she was living a nightmare. One of those ones you dread when you close your eyes at night. One of those ones you pray to never have again.
She looked down at her phone on her master's fourth attempt. She should answer it. }
Zasshu: Hello?
Akihiro Nakamura: Do not let fear take hold.
Zasshu: But-
Akihiro Nakamura: The past is the past. We live in the present. You must always stay present.
Zasshu: I’ll try.
Akihiro Nakamura: You will. That is what it means to be Zasshu.
{ Her eyes well up beneath her mask. }
Zasshu: Thank you master.
But it isn’t that match that now lives inside the mind of Zasshu, it’s her upcoming match.
Zasshu II and Jennie Fenix versus Rowan and April Madrox.
Rowan.
The scourge of IWF Women’s Division. A woman so mad, so heinous, so evil that she actually lit an opponent on fire. A woman so synonymous with the World Championship that people still compare themselves to her despite all the years since.
Zasshu can’t stop thinking about her.
And her master knows that which is why he just called Zasshu three times in a row without leaving a voicemail. He knows she’s getting inside her own head, the head that Rowan has lived in rent free for years.
Rowan and one other.
When Zasshu arrived in IWF she was thankful for the opportunity and grateful that the time of Rowan had long since passed but now? Now she couldn’t help but feel like she was dreaming. She couldn’t help but feel like she was living a nightmare. One of those ones you dread when you close your eyes at night. One of those ones you pray to never have again.
She looked down at her phone on her master's fourth attempt. She should answer it. }
Zasshu: Hello?
Akihiro Nakamura: Do not let fear take hold.
Zasshu: But-
Akihiro Nakamura: The past is the past. We live in the present. You must always stay present.
Zasshu: I’ll try.
Akihiro Nakamura: You will. That is what it means to be Zasshu.
{ Her eyes well up beneath her mask. }
Zasshu: Thank you master.
”You ever wonder if the world really did end in 2012 and we are all living in some parallel reality?”
{ She asks with an earnest shrug. }
”I’m being serious. Like, think of all the crazy stuff that has happened since then. We had a celebrity guest president, that gorilla died, there was a pandemic that shall not be named, the government acknowledged aliens or at least UFO’s are real, the FBI tried to kill that senator and literally no one went to jail AND!”
“THE PACK IS BACK!”
“Or at least an all female version of the Pack is back and calling itself the Murder BECAUSE!”
“Girls get it done.”
“Someone should make a shirt that says that. But no, seriously! The world has been completely upside down for the last eleven years and I swear to god that I learned in school Mandela died in the eighties! Oh and Shazam was absolutely a real movie and I remember watching it on ABC.”
{ A coy smile escapes from behind her mask. }
”Ok, I can’t lie. I’m intimidated and that intimidation is slowly getting the better of me. I’m losing focus, giving into my latent ADHD and becoming one of those vapid air heads we are all tired of listening to.”
“HI PARTNER!”
“But what am I supposed to say? Rowan is literally the devil of women’s professional wrestling. Thank the lord she hasn’t heard IWF runs an intergender show yet because, and maybe you didn’t know this, she BEAT GOD ONCE!”
“How in the holy heck am I supposed to mentally prepare for this match! Rowan is like, THE BAR! Sure, we’ve had Tara and Shelly and that one girl who’s name has been completely erased from the record books but there’s only one Rowan.”
{ She lets out a sigh. }
”I suppose I should say all the usual stuff. I’m not afraid of her. I’m going to try really hard. I’m going to put in extra time at the gym. I won’t fall for the mind games. BUT I ALREADY ADMITTED THAT I HAVE!”
{ She throws her arms up in desperation. }
”I played myself. Simple as that.”
{ She puts her hands on her hips. }
”Rowan, I don’t expect you to remember me but I remember you. You leave an impact. And that memory? It has stuck with me for a very long time. I still wake up seeing your face leering over me with that sickening grin. Sometimes? Sometimes I wake up completely paralyzed with my eyes locked on the corner you should be standing in just waiting for that Balor’s Gaze to send me to the afterlife.”
“I’m tired of living with that memory.”
“I’m tired of living with that fear.”
“I know who you are. I know what you’re capable of. I know what you mean to the world of professional wrestling. And I am ready to push that all aside and rise to the occasion like I did against Tara Fenix. No one gave me a shot against her but I took Tara to the limit. I wasn’t the warm up match anyone was expecting and I won’t be just another body in your wake.”
“You’ll have to earn this win.”
{ She nods her head with confidence. }
As for April Madrox? I don’t know a damn thing about you besides you haven’t accomplished even a fraction of what your sister has. I suppose I should feel threatened by you, afterall, shit rolls down hill and you must have absorbed a couple of Brooklyn’s greatest shits.”
{ She laughs at her own funny analogy. }
”Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. After all, I'm teamed with the little sister of an incredible wrestler myself. Of course my little sister partner won the World title and proved on more than one occasion that she is every bit as good as her DNA dictates she should be. You, on the other hand, April? The jury is still out. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, I don’t take any opponent lightly. But it’s hard to take someone seriously who’s perfectly happy being a member of Rita’s puddy patrol and not the one wielding the scepter.”
{ She shrugs. }
”Then again, Rowan is perfectly happy being the Finster to Brooklyn’s Goldar. Maybe I can wake up from this nightmare and introduce you two to one of your own? One where two happy go lucky professional wrestlers with attitude beat the most feared woman in wrestling circa 2018 and her partner, Pudgy Pig!”
“It’s morphin time!”
Well howdy there pardner.