An Empty Cannon
May 11, 2016 23:08:18 GMT -5
Post by Fujiko Mine on May 11, 2016 23:08:18 GMT -5
The Last Real Man?
Yes, it’s some strike of deja vu, as I find myself once again opposite Johnny Cannon in a few short days.
I could go over the laundry list of things that I did last time, and really make this a deja vu moment for you, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll give you two things. One: Along with Tony Carmine, Johnny Cannon is going to to All Star Showdown to compete for the FGA championship. He has Tony Carmine to thank for that, as without Tony to keep him from getting eliminated and vice versa; it’s not likely he would be in the position he’s currently in.
The other, and more important thing? He’s ran from a fight with me before.
The man who claimed he was going to knock me out and break my spirit failed on both accounts back on January 9th, 2016 when both he and I went to a time limit draw. Being the woman that I am, I asked for five more minutes. I was confident that I could’ve beaten him with only five more minutes on the clock. He saw that, and instead of granting that extra five minutes? He backed away. Maybe he had a charlie horse, or a cramp or something. The point is: The Last Real Man, who takes what he wants and deserves only the best…
...couldn’t last five extra minutes with Lady Luck.
You know what’s funny about all of that, friends?
This matchup is going to be a little different. You see, after that match ended, and there was only one second stopping me from getting the victory? I was confident that I could’ve ended the match with only five more, as previously stated.
Now though, I’m sure I can beat him well before that point.
Johnny, before you faced a woman still looking for her footholds on the mountain known as Frontier Grappling Arts. You were terribly sure of yourself, and I? I was confident I could hang with you, and that if I stuck to the game plan I laid out that I could win.
Now, however; I know that I’m gonna win. Plain and simple.
You’ll throw out that you beat me to go on to win the Rumble, and that’s fine. I have no problems with the facts. You did, and congrats to you…and Tony...for doing it. But there’s one thing you still haven’t done. You haven’t pinned me for a three count. You haven’t made me give up. You can’t, and you won’t.
I’ve pinned you before, the only thing to take care of this time around is to make sure it goes on the record books as official. So if anything, Johnny: You are the one with something to prove still.
But please, entertain me with your excuses. Entertain me with your diversion of the subject, and talk about how I’m not worth your time. Regale me with tales about how I’m a cheap knock-off of some other wrestler, when I lasted longer than ANYONE else in the history of the Rumble. Tell me how I have no skills when I took your best shot TWO times now, and in the end you still needed help to throw me over the top rope and to the floor. Tell me over and over again about how great you are, because all people are going to see is…
...you’re still not better than me.
Throw your past achievements out there. I welcome them. Continue to tell me about how I am nothing. Pull a Zero or Carmine and talk about Tj Jones, or Arkia, or Renati, or Izzy, or whatever.
You will never take away the fact that I am better than you. You can’t cloud it with distractions, you can’t hide it under any rug, and you can’t mansplain it away. You have to live with it. Every time you see my face, whether it’s posted on social media, in a graphic on Vertigo, or even in person; that fact will creep into the back of your mind.
Fujiko is better than me.
It’ll continue as you walk down the ramp, that smug smile that you fabricate for the crowd.
Fujiko is better than me.
When I stand across the ring from you, ready and willing to kick your chin off until it dangles from the hinge like you’re on The Walking Dead.
Fujiko is better than me.
And beyond your loss to me all the way to All Star Showdown, it’ll still be clear.
FUJIKO. IS. BETTER. THAN. CANNON.
That fact is part of what got me through to the back after Gold Rush Rumble. It’s sticking comfortably in the back of my mind too, Johnny. It refuses to go away, and I couldn’t kick it out, even if I wanted to.
The truth works that way sometimes. You can laugh about it, and tell me I’m delusional. I expect someone in your position would do just that. That makes it all the better when I prove that everything I’ve said is the truth.
I am one of the best, Cannon; and I will continue to prove it in every single match.
I’m not some bimbo that upset you because I wouldn’t give you the time of day. Speaking of, let’s be real Johnny...you’ve probably had daydreams about taking me out on the town and having your way with me. I bet it breaks your heart to know that the only contact you’ll get with me is my foot connecting with your chin, and then me covering you for a three count. As far as your old claim of wanting ‘head’? Try something and I guarantee your empty little cannonballs will be crushed as flat as your “witty” attempts to insult me. You’ll explain it away by calling me plastic, but we both know the truth...that I’m more real than the insecure claims you make to seem like a real man. I’m also not some mediocre wrestler here to let you walk all over me, some sort of guaranteed win to make you look good. I’m better than that. I’m not at all like you: a clone of the alcoholic, vulgar manchild who has to act macho in order to seem intimidating and important.
I am an absolutely gorgeous, intelligent, capable woman who is also...wait for it…
A better wrestler than you.
Have I driven the point home yet? Because I’m going to make sure you know it better than anyone come this Saturday night. In fact, you’re going to become my unwilling ambassador.
I mean, let’s face some more facts here, Johnny boy. You’ve made one smart decision in covering up your weaknesses by allying yourself with Tony Carmine. Outside of that? You’re really just a walking screw-up. Heck, I might just target those weary legs of yours. You know, those legs of yours that are tired from you running away all the time?
I have to wonder, where you get it from? Were you a daddy’s boy, and determined to follow in what I can only assume is his morally bankrupt footsteps? Or maybe your mother treated you poorly, and you decided you were going to act this way as a result? Or maybe, just maybe, you were bullied in school and this is your strike at revenge? It doesn’t matter, because the equation still turns out the same.
You’re still a lame boy poorly pretending to be a man.
Saturday can’t get here fast enough, Johnny. One of the number one contenders to the FGA World Championship, the coward masquerading as a man, and false royalty will fall to The Iron Goddess also known as Fujiko Mine.
There is nothing Tony Carmine, Quinn, or you can say that’ll change any of it. But hey, maybe you can pay Quinn a little extra to explain away that loss you’re about to take.
The Iron Goddess is born, and she is pleased to take you as the first victim.
After all, what’s a king to a Goddess?
The soft, muted patter of rain on concrete filled the ears of one Fujiko Mine. She glanced out the window, greeted only by the gloomy view outside. To see nothing waiting out there for her made her anxious. Her guest was meant to come by five, and it was now five-thirty. Fujiko reasoned that she was usually late, so maybe she was overreacting. Even with that thought in her head, she couldn’t get their last encounter to stop playing in her head.
As she wandered away, she kept watching Kayden walk out and slam the door behind her in her mind’s eye. It broke her heart to know that it had been almost a month since they last spoke. At the time, she was upset with Kayden for being upset with her, but now she realized how silly it was. She should’ve apologized moments after it happened. Her rationale was that she needed to focus all her energy into the Rumble.
She’d wished she’d known then what she knew now.
She paused her thoughts to walk back to the window and check it again. This time, a sleek, black Audi S8 plus turned the corner and pulled into her driveway. Pins and needles of stress spiked the back of her neck as she took it in. She could prepare herself nonstop for the moment in which they would confront each other, but when the moment actually came...she didn’t feel ready in the slightest. A part of her wanted to run out, and avoid it...but she couldn’t now.
"Gotta face the music…"
Fujiko approached the key hook to the left of the door, unlocked the door and took a step back. After a few moments, the dark eyes of Kayden Jones locked onto her own. Fujiko trembled as the gloom of the day retreated, revealing the rest of her. They stood on opposite sides of the door, staring into each other's eyes for a few moments until Fujiko broke the silence by stepping aside.
"Please, come in." Kayden paused for a moment, and then slowly made the necessary strides into the living room of the house. She turned to face Fujiko, who closed and locked the door behind her.
"I uh…" Fujiko started, trying her best not to see completely uncomfortable. "Wanted to thank you for showing up."
"Yeah. Sure. Thought it was about time we talked, anyway."
Fujiko cringed a little bit. She’d wished that it wasn’t raining today. It put her in a weird mood to begin with, and it also meant that she and Kayden would have to do this in her house, instead of outside. She elected to pull herself together and deal with it.
Moving over to the couch, she sat down and turned her gaze back to Kayden. As she did, the wheels began to turn behind her eyes.
Should she speak up first? Was she to begin with the apology, or start out with small talk? She began milling over her options as Kayden made her way over to the couch. Her reasons began to blur together as Kayden approached her. Time seemed to fluctuate from speeding up and slowing down in random sequence until Fujiko swallowed hard and opened her mouth to speak.
"Look, let me say something." Fujiko flinched in surprise as she barely uttered a sound before Kayden bent over the arm of the couch. Fujiko thought to try and interrupt, but thought better of it and just placed her hands in her lap.
"I know you ain’t mean what you said to come from a bad place. You just feeling like you got something to prove. Not just to the fans, and your opponents; but to your family as well. And I might have overreacted. But you gotta know where that hit me, and how it hurt, Fujicakes."
Fujiko nodded, though the sting of Kayden’s words and feelings still lingered.
"I totally understand."
Kayden didn’t acknowledge her, merely looking around the room to avoid eye contact with Fujiko.
"We’ve been here for you for ages, and we stuck our necks out for you on more than one occasion. We feel like we’re all you need, so when you put all your energy in this lady who wants to stop you from what you’re doing."
Fujiko returns her gaze to Kayden, who was moving back and forth near the couch now.
"So I just felt like I was getting the shaft, you know? I thought we were like sisters, yo."
Fujiko put her hand up, to try and stop Kayden. She saw it and stopped, but not without a look on her face that told Fujiko she wasn’t pleased.
"Listen, Kayden. I get it. I was in the wrong. I’m fine with admitting it. But it’s all a moot point now. I thought about what you said and I realized that I don’t need it. I realized I need to be happy with my family as is. Stressing out, trying to find someone who may or may not still be alive? Just so he can tell me that he did it for some reason that won’t justify it? Or to find out he’s been dead for years and I’ll never find out? There’s too much pain there."
Kayden’s face softened as she listened.
"Pain that I don’t want or need. So I’m over it. I love you, Hiro, Angel, Arkia, Tj, and the triplets. I’m beginning to get closer to Marcia, but I am thinking I need to put that energy into FGA. I need to be that hungry and ruthless in the ring, not outside of it."
Kayden managed to stop her pacing completely and focused on the Iron Goddess as she finished up her speech. She turned the corners of her mouth up into something of a smile as she looked back at Kayden, and there was a short silence between them.
"Kayden, I’m sorry. Really."
Kayden didn’t return the smile. In fact, she didn’t move at all. Fujiko’s smile faded as she realized that Kayden might not forgive her. She sunk back into the couch, until Kayden’s smile mimicked the one she sported moments earlier. Fujiko’s smile returned as well, and Kayden moved around the arm of the couch to sit next to Fujiko. Fujiko embraced her quickly, her warm body providing a comfort that was missing in her life for some time.
"I missed you, Fujiko."
Fujiko gripped her a little tighter.
"Not as much as I missed you, KJ."
The embrace ended, and Fujiko leaned back into the couch. Kayden leaned herself against the arm, looking around the room.
"Hey, just wanted to say I think you did great at the Rumble, Fujicano."
Fujiko’s lips curled further into a grin.
"Really? Thanks." Fujiko settled in more, letting her mind wander back to the biggest night in her career thus far.
"Honestly, when I found out I was eliminated, I was absolutely crushed. I came all that way, and I got the shaft by two jerks who weaseled their way into the main event. Two cowards who couldn’t do it on their own. But then I thought about it, and I know that there will be another chance. That, and I lasted the longest out of anyone in the history of the Rumble. Can you believe that? Me?!"
Kayden let out a little bit of a giggle.
"Yeah you: the chick Noelle, Tony, and Carmine said couldn’t wrestle did all that."
Fujiko waved her hand.
"Err, I think Noelle and I are okay now. I mean, I’m only guessing. After that last match we had, we seem to have leveled off. So I wouldn’t involve her in that I don’t harbor any ill will towards her anymore."
Kayden tilted her head.
"How about that Cannon prick?"
Fujiko shook her head shortly.
"Oh, I’m planning on kicking his face into the tenth row for what he said about me." Fujiko tapped her chin, trying to remember his comments. She stuck her index finger in the air, some of it coming back to her in a eureka moment.
"Something about me being a carpet muncher with a nice pair of…" She gestures to her chest. "You know."
"Yeah, I get it Fujiko. He probably won’t let it go either." Fujiko could only roll her eyes in response.
"I don’t know if I can stand anymore talk about that absolute moron. Let him repeat the exact some crap that you’d find in a Tony Carmine promo. It seems like he’s not only content riding Tony’s coattails, but also spouting the same tired lies that everyone else has been relying on to try and get to me. Guess he’s really feeling the pressure of being a cookie-cutter villain with no real personality."
She places her index fingers into her temples, rubbing at them lightly in her annoyed state. Kayden offered up a smile to her, but said nothing. Fujiko took note of the silence after a few moments and looked up.
"Uh, what?!"
Kayden smirked devilishly at her.
"I see you Fujiko, with that edge showing." Fujiko felt heat flush her cheeks as she took in what Kayden said to her. She did indeed find herself being a bit more sassy lately.
"I guess it’s because I’m tired of hearing the same crap over and over again about how I’m just some air-headed girl. Yet, I’ve outsmarted some of the so called geniuses that made their way through here. I have to hear over and over again about how I’m nothing but a pair of boobs...but I’ve had more wins and more championships here than Johnny Cannon has. In fact, this so-called ‘pair of boobs’ basically beat him the last time we faced...and I’m going to beat him this time. I’m just done with hearing the same recycled insults that are supposed to meant to describe me, when they are further from the truth."
Kayden simply nodded.
"Girl, no one knows that better than we do. We’ve been with you since day one, practically. We’ve watched your struggle. We were there for it. Even when we were apart, and you were down in Texas…"
Fujiko’s memory lit up with memories of her time in Lubbock, Texas. She had gone there to run away from the Jones family after Tj took her spot on the Phoenix Wrestling Revolution roster. She was furious with him, and chose to leave them and strike out on her own. It was there she began to emerge from the immature cocoon she’d been occupying, and began to become the person she was now. She’d stopped placing the Jones’ wealth at the forefront of her desires, and learned to care for and support herself.
"Yeah...who could forget."
"We know about your time in iiW and FFW."
Fujiko’s mouth screwed up, displeased with where the conversation was going.
"Rather not talk about those times, if we can help it." Kayden seemed to acquiesce. "But you are so much more complex than all of them really know. They don’t care to know, but you’ll show ‘em. You’ll tell your story through your fights. They’ll feel the pain that you survived. Pain that they would collapse under. They don’t want none of the fire that forged you, Fujiko. They’d melt. But you...you’re made of stronger stuff."
Fujiko felt a sense of pride as she listened to Kayden. It was almost as if they’d picked up where they left off the last time they were together. That was something that Fujiko found interesting about the Jones’. They tended to forgive easily. Fujiko herself seemed to take that on. Once she and Arkia ceased their private war,, there seemed to be little of the animosity that lingered from before.
"Maybe...no, you know what? No more “maybe this, maybe that.” If Johnny Cannon doesn’t learn after I beat him, then fine. I don’t care. Whoever doesn’t learn from this, they were warned and then they chose to ignore it. Let each of my opponents learn at their own pace. It’s not my problem. Not anymore. I will save FGA with or without them. All that matters is that I do it."
Kayden inched a little closer to her. Fujiko barely noticed, instead staring forward. Kayden then put her arm around Fujiko. She looked over at her.
"I’m proud of you, Fujiko. I really am."
Fujiko thought for a second...and then looked over at Kayden. Her face was flat, unfeeling. She was thinking of putting a hurting on Johnny Cannon.
"Yeah. Me too."
Yes, it’s some strike of deja vu, as I find myself once again opposite Johnny Cannon in a few short days.
I could go over the laundry list of things that I did last time, and really make this a deja vu moment for you, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll give you two things. One: Along with Tony Carmine, Johnny Cannon is going to to All Star Showdown to compete for the FGA championship. He has Tony Carmine to thank for that, as without Tony to keep him from getting eliminated and vice versa; it’s not likely he would be in the position he’s currently in.
The other, and more important thing? He’s ran from a fight with me before.
The man who claimed he was going to knock me out and break my spirit failed on both accounts back on January 9th, 2016 when both he and I went to a time limit draw. Being the woman that I am, I asked for five more minutes. I was confident that I could’ve beaten him with only five more minutes on the clock. He saw that, and instead of granting that extra five minutes? He backed away. Maybe he had a charlie horse, or a cramp or something. The point is: The Last Real Man, who takes what he wants and deserves only the best…
...couldn’t last five extra minutes with Lady Luck.
You know what’s funny about all of that, friends?
This matchup is going to be a little different. You see, after that match ended, and there was only one second stopping me from getting the victory? I was confident that I could’ve ended the match with only five more, as previously stated.
Now though, I’m sure I can beat him well before that point.
Johnny, before you faced a woman still looking for her footholds on the mountain known as Frontier Grappling Arts. You were terribly sure of yourself, and I? I was confident I could hang with you, and that if I stuck to the game plan I laid out that I could win.
Now, however; I know that I’m gonna win. Plain and simple.
You’ll throw out that you beat me to go on to win the Rumble, and that’s fine. I have no problems with the facts. You did, and congrats to you…and Tony...for doing it. But there’s one thing you still haven’t done. You haven’t pinned me for a three count. You haven’t made me give up. You can’t, and you won’t.
I’ve pinned you before, the only thing to take care of this time around is to make sure it goes on the record books as official. So if anything, Johnny: You are the one with something to prove still.
But please, entertain me with your excuses. Entertain me with your diversion of the subject, and talk about how I’m not worth your time. Regale me with tales about how I’m a cheap knock-off of some other wrestler, when I lasted longer than ANYONE else in the history of the Rumble. Tell me how I have no skills when I took your best shot TWO times now, and in the end you still needed help to throw me over the top rope and to the floor. Tell me over and over again about how great you are, because all people are going to see is…
...you’re still not better than me.
Throw your past achievements out there. I welcome them. Continue to tell me about how I am nothing. Pull a Zero or Carmine and talk about Tj Jones, or Arkia, or Renati, or Izzy, or whatever.
You will never take away the fact that I am better than you. You can’t cloud it with distractions, you can’t hide it under any rug, and you can’t mansplain it away. You have to live with it. Every time you see my face, whether it’s posted on social media, in a graphic on Vertigo, or even in person; that fact will creep into the back of your mind.
Fujiko is better than me.
It’ll continue as you walk down the ramp, that smug smile that you fabricate for the crowd.
Fujiko is better than me.
When I stand across the ring from you, ready and willing to kick your chin off until it dangles from the hinge like you’re on The Walking Dead.
Fujiko is better than me.
And beyond your loss to me all the way to All Star Showdown, it’ll still be clear.
FUJIKO. IS. BETTER. THAN. CANNON.
That fact is part of what got me through to the back after Gold Rush Rumble. It’s sticking comfortably in the back of my mind too, Johnny. It refuses to go away, and I couldn’t kick it out, even if I wanted to.
The truth works that way sometimes. You can laugh about it, and tell me I’m delusional. I expect someone in your position would do just that. That makes it all the better when I prove that everything I’ve said is the truth.
I am one of the best, Cannon; and I will continue to prove it in every single match.
I’m not some bimbo that upset you because I wouldn’t give you the time of day. Speaking of, let’s be real Johnny...you’ve probably had daydreams about taking me out on the town and having your way with me. I bet it breaks your heart to know that the only contact you’ll get with me is my foot connecting with your chin, and then me covering you for a three count. As far as your old claim of wanting ‘head’? Try something and I guarantee your empty little cannonballs will be crushed as flat as your “witty” attempts to insult me. You’ll explain it away by calling me plastic, but we both know the truth...that I’m more real than the insecure claims you make to seem like a real man. I’m also not some mediocre wrestler here to let you walk all over me, some sort of guaranteed win to make you look good. I’m better than that. I’m not at all like you: a clone of the alcoholic, vulgar manchild who has to act macho in order to seem intimidating and important.
I am an absolutely gorgeous, intelligent, capable woman who is also...wait for it…
A better wrestler than you.
Have I driven the point home yet? Because I’m going to make sure you know it better than anyone come this Saturday night. In fact, you’re going to become my unwilling ambassador.
I mean, let’s face some more facts here, Johnny boy. You’ve made one smart decision in covering up your weaknesses by allying yourself with Tony Carmine. Outside of that? You’re really just a walking screw-up. Heck, I might just target those weary legs of yours. You know, those legs of yours that are tired from you running away all the time?
I have to wonder, where you get it from? Were you a daddy’s boy, and determined to follow in what I can only assume is his morally bankrupt footsteps? Or maybe your mother treated you poorly, and you decided you were going to act this way as a result? Or maybe, just maybe, you were bullied in school and this is your strike at revenge? It doesn’t matter, because the equation still turns out the same.
You’re still a lame boy poorly pretending to be a man.
Saturday can’t get here fast enough, Johnny. One of the number one contenders to the FGA World Championship, the coward masquerading as a man, and false royalty will fall to The Iron Goddess also known as Fujiko Mine.
There is nothing Tony Carmine, Quinn, or you can say that’ll change any of it. But hey, maybe you can pay Quinn a little extra to explain away that loss you’re about to take.
The Iron Goddess is born, and she is pleased to take you as the first victim.
After all, what’s a king to a Goddess?
The soft, muted patter of rain on concrete filled the ears of one Fujiko Mine. She glanced out the window, greeted only by the gloomy view outside. To see nothing waiting out there for her made her anxious. Her guest was meant to come by five, and it was now five-thirty. Fujiko reasoned that she was usually late, so maybe she was overreacting. Even with that thought in her head, she couldn’t get their last encounter to stop playing in her head.
As she wandered away, she kept watching Kayden walk out and slam the door behind her in her mind’s eye. It broke her heart to know that it had been almost a month since they last spoke. At the time, she was upset with Kayden for being upset with her, but now she realized how silly it was. She should’ve apologized moments after it happened. Her rationale was that she needed to focus all her energy into the Rumble.
She’d wished she’d known then what she knew now.
She paused her thoughts to walk back to the window and check it again. This time, a sleek, black Audi S8 plus turned the corner and pulled into her driveway. Pins and needles of stress spiked the back of her neck as she took it in. She could prepare herself nonstop for the moment in which they would confront each other, but when the moment actually came...she didn’t feel ready in the slightest. A part of her wanted to run out, and avoid it...but she couldn’t now.
"Gotta face the music…"
Fujiko approached the key hook to the left of the door, unlocked the door and took a step back. After a few moments, the dark eyes of Kayden Jones locked onto her own. Fujiko trembled as the gloom of the day retreated, revealing the rest of her. They stood on opposite sides of the door, staring into each other's eyes for a few moments until Fujiko broke the silence by stepping aside.
"Please, come in." Kayden paused for a moment, and then slowly made the necessary strides into the living room of the house. She turned to face Fujiko, who closed and locked the door behind her.
"I uh…" Fujiko started, trying her best not to see completely uncomfortable. "Wanted to thank you for showing up."
"Yeah. Sure. Thought it was about time we talked, anyway."
Fujiko cringed a little bit. She’d wished that it wasn’t raining today. It put her in a weird mood to begin with, and it also meant that she and Kayden would have to do this in her house, instead of outside. She elected to pull herself together and deal with it.
Moving over to the couch, she sat down and turned her gaze back to Kayden. As she did, the wheels began to turn behind her eyes.
Should she speak up first? Was she to begin with the apology, or start out with small talk? She began milling over her options as Kayden made her way over to the couch. Her reasons began to blur together as Kayden approached her. Time seemed to fluctuate from speeding up and slowing down in random sequence until Fujiko swallowed hard and opened her mouth to speak.
"Look, let me say something." Fujiko flinched in surprise as she barely uttered a sound before Kayden bent over the arm of the couch. Fujiko thought to try and interrupt, but thought better of it and just placed her hands in her lap.
"I know you ain’t mean what you said to come from a bad place. You just feeling like you got something to prove. Not just to the fans, and your opponents; but to your family as well. And I might have overreacted. But you gotta know where that hit me, and how it hurt, Fujicakes."
Fujiko nodded, though the sting of Kayden’s words and feelings still lingered.
"I totally understand."
Kayden didn’t acknowledge her, merely looking around the room to avoid eye contact with Fujiko.
"We’ve been here for you for ages, and we stuck our necks out for you on more than one occasion. We feel like we’re all you need, so when you put all your energy in this lady who wants to stop you from what you’re doing."
Fujiko returns her gaze to Kayden, who was moving back and forth near the couch now.
"So I just felt like I was getting the shaft, you know? I thought we were like sisters, yo."
Fujiko put her hand up, to try and stop Kayden. She saw it and stopped, but not without a look on her face that told Fujiko she wasn’t pleased.
"Listen, Kayden. I get it. I was in the wrong. I’m fine with admitting it. But it’s all a moot point now. I thought about what you said and I realized that I don’t need it. I realized I need to be happy with my family as is. Stressing out, trying to find someone who may or may not still be alive? Just so he can tell me that he did it for some reason that won’t justify it? Or to find out he’s been dead for years and I’ll never find out? There’s too much pain there."
Kayden’s face softened as she listened.
"Pain that I don’t want or need. So I’m over it. I love you, Hiro, Angel, Arkia, Tj, and the triplets. I’m beginning to get closer to Marcia, but I am thinking I need to put that energy into FGA. I need to be that hungry and ruthless in the ring, not outside of it."
Kayden managed to stop her pacing completely and focused on the Iron Goddess as she finished up her speech. She turned the corners of her mouth up into something of a smile as she looked back at Kayden, and there was a short silence between them.
"Kayden, I’m sorry. Really."
Kayden didn’t return the smile. In fact, she didn’t move at all. Fujiko’s smile faded as she realized that Kayden might not forgive her. She sunk back into the couch, until Kayden’s smile mimicked the one she sported moments earlier. Fujiko’s smile returned as well, and Kayden moved around the arm of the couch to sit next to Fujiko. Fujiko embraced her quickly, her warm body providing a comfort that was missing in her life for some time.
"I missed you, Fujiko."
Fujiko gripped her a little tighter.
"Not as much as I missed you, KJ."
The embrace ended, and Fujiko leaned back into the couch. Kayden leaned herself against the arm, looking around the room.
"Hey, just wanted to say I think you did great at the Rumble, Fujicano."
Fujiko’s lips curled further into a grin.
"Really? Thanks." Fujiko settled in more, letting her mind wander back to the biggest night in her career thus far.
"Honestly, when I found out I was eliminated, I was absolutely crushed. I came all that way, and I got the shaft by two jerks who weaseled their way into the main event. Two cowards who couldn’t do it on their own. But then I thought about it, and I know that there will be another chance. That, and I lasted the longest out of anyone in the history of the Rumble. Can you believe that? Me?!"
Kayden let out a little bit of a giggle.
"Yeah you: the chick Noelle, Tony, and Carmine said couldn’t wrestle did all that."
Fujiko waved her hand.
"Err, I think Noelle and I are okay now. I mean, I’m only guessing. After that last match we had, we seem to have leveled off. So I wouldn’t involve her in that I don’t harbor any ill will towards her anymore."
Kayden tilted her head.
"How about that Cannon prick?"
Fujiko shook her head shortly.
"Oh, I’m planning on kicking his face into the tenth row for what he said about me." Fujiko tapped her chin, trying to remember his comments. She stuck her index finger in the air, some of it coming back to her in a eureka moment.
"Something about me being a carpet muncher with a nice pair of…" She gestures to her chest. "You know."
"Yeah, I get it Fujiko. He probably won’t let it go either." Fujiko could only roll her eyes in response.
"I don’t know if I can stand anymore talk about that absolute moron. Let him repeat the exact some crap that you’d find in a Tony Carmine promo. It seems like he’s not only content riding Tony’s coattails, but also spouting the same tired lies that everyone else has been relying on to try and get to me. Guess he’s really feeling the pressure of being a cookie-cutter villain with no real personality."
She places her index fingers into her temples, rubbing at them lightly in her annoyed state. Kayden offered up a smile to her, but said nothing. Fujiko took note of the silence after a few moments and looked up.
"Uh, what?!"
Kayden smirked devilishly at her.
"I see you Fujiko, with that edge showing." Fujiko felt heat flush her cheeks as she took in what Kayden said to her. She did indeed find herself being a bit more sassy lately.
"I guess it’s because I’m tired of hearing the same crap over and over again about how I’m just some air-headed girl. Yet, I’ve outsmarted some of the so called geniuses that made their way through here. I have to hear over and over again about how I’m nothing but a pair of boobs...but I’ve had more wins and more championships here than Johnny Cannon has. In fact, this so-called ‘pair of boobs’ basically beat him the last time we faced...and I’m going to beat him this time. I’m just done with hearing the same recycled insults that are supposed to meant to describe me, when they are further from the truth."
Kayden simply nodded.
"Girl, no one knows that better than we do. We’ve been with you since day one, practically. We’ve watched your struggle. We were there for it. Even when we were apart, and you were down in Texas…"
Fujiko’s memory lit up with memories of her time in Lubbock, Texas. She had gone there to run away from the Jones family after Tj took her spot on the Phoenix Wrestling Revolution roster. She was furious with him, and chose to leave them and strike out on her own. It was there she began to emerge from the immature cocoon she’d been occupying, and began to become the person she was now. She’d stopped placing the Jones’ wealth at the forefront of her desires, and learned to care for and support herself.
"Yeah...who could forget."
"We know about your time in iiW and FFW."
Fujiko’s mouth screwed up, displeased with where the conversation was going.
"Rather not talk about those times, if we can help it." Kayden seemed to acquiesce. "But you are so much more complex than all of them really know. They don’t care to know, but you’ll show ‘em. You’ll tell your story through your fights. They’ll feel the pain that you survived. Pain that they would collapse under. They don’t want none of the fire that forged you, Fujiko. They’d melt. But you...you’re made of stronger stuff."
Fujiko felt a sense of pride as she listened to Kayden. It was almost as if they’d picked up where they left off the last time they were together. That was something that Fujiko found interesting about the Jones’. They tended to forgive easily. Fujiko herself seemed to take that on. Once she and Arkia ceased their private war,, there seemed to be little of the animosity that lingered from before.
"Maybe...no, you know what? No more “maybe this, maybe that.” If Johnny Cannon doesn’t learn after I beat him, then fine. I don’t care. Whoever doesn’t learn from this, they were warned and then they chose to ignore it. Let each of my opponents learn at their own pace. It’s not my problem. Not anymore. I will save FGA with or without them. All that matters is that I do it."
Kayden inched a little closer to her. Fujiko barely noticed, instead staring forward. Kayden then put her arm around Fujiko. She looked over at her.
"I’m proud of you, Fujiko. I really am."
Fujiko thought for a second...and then looked over at Kayden. Her face was flat, unfeeling. She was thinking of putting a hurting on Johnny Cannon.
"Yeah. Me too."
