Surface to Air Missiles
Jul 21, 2016 19:30:56 GMT -5
Post by Fujiko Mine on Jul 21, 2016 19:30:56 GMT -5
Presented before me is an amazing opportunity.
The Frontier Lion’s Cup is upon us, and I have been given the opportunity to qualify. The opportunity to fight for the Frontier Grappling Arts World Championship. A sixteen person tournament, and the opportunity to place my name among others that have achieved that amazing feat. Not only is it a chance to fight for the chance to call oneself world champion, but it is a feather in the cap of anyone who wants to consider themselves legendary in FGA.
To qualify is one thing. No one in this tournament gets an easy way in. That match in and of itself will be difficult. Then, to advance to the field of eight at Above and Beyond Five, where you must win three matches in one night in order to be able to clinch the Cup, and punch their ticket to face the champion at Final Frontier.
But, I cannot get ahead of myself.
I still have to face off against Skylar Cloud, in her debut match in Frontier Grappling Arts.
I don’t have this preconceived notion about Skylar from Lion’s Den. I don’t think of her as a ‘rookie’ or untalented because she’s new here. She’s been trained by some of the best that FGA had to offer, and I know that she is dangerous. I know she can be especially dangerous if the Systemic, her muscle slash insurance policy from her time in LDFC, are around.
Skylar wants to make as big of a deal about this match as she possibly can. After all, she’s got her debut in a match that could put her on the fast track to the FGA World title...and she faces the Pride Champion in that match. The ramifications of this match are huge! Win or lose, she gains major momentum here.
Let’s be honest, I think Skylar Cloud can hang with me. She impressed in Lion’s Den. She managed to win and defend the Old North championship. She’s made it to the point where FGA officials deemed her worthy of a shot on the main roster...so she has that for her advantages. I think Skylar Cloud will give me a challenge. Will she be able to beat me?
She’ll have to prove that to me. She likely believes she can, but she’s going to have a more difficult time than she thinks.
In fact, I’m going to say it:
Skylar, give me your best shot. It’s not going to be enough. I don’t care if you come alone, or if you come with the Skylar Systemic. I don’t care how much false positivity you bring, you’ve got nothing on the real thing. You have the unfortunate honor of having your first match against a woman who is going to be moving through the Frontier Lions’ Cup until she stands alone at the very top. Her name is not Skylar Cloud. It’s not Sara Cochran. It’s not Savannah Taylor, Molly Reid, or Salem Cartier.
Her name is Fujiko Mine.
Don’t count that as me ‘looking ahead of you’. Don’t count that as me being overconfident. Count that as me marking my claim.
I’ve made a run to the Pride Championship, and now I am going to make the same powerful run on my way to being the second woman to ever win the Frontier Lions Cup.
You can tell yourself, and the fans whatever you like. You can tell them that it’s your destiny to travel past me and on your way into the tournament. You can tell them that I don’t have any real ability. You can tell them that I’m a scourge, or a poison.
But the fans know the truth.
They know what I am capable of. They’ve seen me at what have so been my highest of highs, and they’ve seen me at my lowest of lows. They know that this championship that I am now holding is just the beginning of the grand legacy that I plan to solidify in FGA . They know that I cannot...and I will not let you stop me.
They know that I am more than what you expect, Skylar. If you expect the Fujiko that was here last year, who wasn’t able to stand in the ring and be a threat— you’re mistaken. If you expect to sit and talk about how I don’t belong to be in this tournament, nor deserve to be where I am in this company, this Fujiko is going to teach you how wrong you truly are. If you think that your success after being the Old North champion is going to be all you need to advance in this tournament? Once again, you’d be wrong.
You should know my story by now, Skylar. You should know how hard I fought to get here, and you should know that I am committed to being the absolute best. If you don’t know that, Skylar...I guarantee you’re gonna learn that lesson in en route to a loss.
But like I said, you’ve got a long road of potential success ahead of you. But you’re going to have to work for it. You’re going to have to do more than just reach for the Skylar. You’re going to have to build your own ladder with your blood, sweat, and tears...just like I did. You’re going to have to endure things that would break others...and you’re going to have to adapt. You’re going to be tested, and you’ll either be forged into something that lasts...or broken and cast aside.
Everything you’ve seen prior to this from Fujiko Mine? It was the prologue and the first chapter. It was the setup to the story that is yet to come. It only gets better for me from here. I was tested. I endured those tests, I adapted, and I was forged into something better. I was forged into something that could hold the Pride Championship, and something that could win the Frontier Lions’ Cup.
This is the one and only warning shot that the men and women in the back get. After this, everyone in this tournament...and everyone else in Frontier Grappling Arts will know what Skylar Cloud is going to find out in a few short days.
You Can’t Stop Fujiko.
"...welcome back to the Rose Gardens here on ESPN Radio! I’m your host Kam Rose alongside Becky Clarke; and we’re gonna talk some squared circle action. Just a few nights ago, we got ourselves quite a main event over in FGA with Molly Reid and Salem Cartier defeating Mark Storm and the new Pride Champion Fujiko Mine."
"You know Kam, I really enjoyed this match We got to see Salem and Molly fight alongside each other, but we know they’re moving from partners to opponents in two short weeks."
Fujiko’s ears perked up as she heard her name mentioned. She moved her body towards the source of the sound: Her laptop. A few short steps later, she positioned herself in a satellite arc around her portable computer.
"But here’s an interesting story there, Becky. That Pride champion stumbled after her title victory, and now she’s gone overseas to deliver an open challenge for her title. Word is Elizabeth Lannister of SSWA accepted that challenge. So now Fujiko has to qualify on Saturday, fly over to England, and then defend her championship on Monday. I think she’s doing too much too soon. She’s gonna lose one, or both of these matches!"
Fujiko narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.
"You know, I’m kind of going to agree with you. I feel like she might advance into the Frontier Lions’ Cup, but lose the title in SSWA."
"I feel like that’d almost be worse than losing the qualifier, to be honest. She fights this hard to get there, then loses the championship to someone not in FGA?! That would be absolutely disastrous!"
Fujiko gasped out loud as her chest tightened at the thought. It made her very uncomfortable to even think about.
"I mean, Kam...I’m a Fujiko fan...but I worry that she could end up losing both of these matches here."
"You’re a Fujiko fan, Becky?"
"Sure am. Do I think she can win both of these matches? Yes. I do. But…"
"...yeah, you think she might not be able to do it. She’s putting herself through a lot."
"Right. I suppose we both are going to have to tune in. It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure. Now, let’s move on...the new FGA champion is in action for the first time since winning the championship and…"
Fujiko leaned over, drew her finger along the trackpad, and closed the browser tab. She’d heard enough of the radio broadcast, and didn’t care to hear anything about Johnny Cannon and his first match since All-Star showdown.
She kept her eyes trained on the screen in front of her, despite the screen being devoid of anything related to what she’d just heard. It made her think.
It gave her some time to try and be honest with herself. She turned herself towards her couch, and took a step or two towards it. She hesitated for a second, and then chose to sit down and place her head in her hands.
"What am I gonna do…"
She muttered to herself. She knew that there was no one else in the room, but she still felt like she needed to release those words into the air around her to try to add clarity to her own mind.
"This goes against what you wanted."
She wasn’t sure where the voice came from, and to be honest she didn’t care. It was the truth. She wanted to rebuild the Pride division. It was why she went all the way to the UK to deliver her open challenge. She didn’t just want the Pride championship division to be big in FGA. She wanted it to be big anywhere she could reach. What she did not want...was to do what Tony Carmine did, that being ignore the championship in favor of another championship.
"I want to beat Skylar Cloud. I need to beat Skylar Cloud."
She was honest. She felt the fire burning, and knew that she could build upon her post-title momentum with a victory over Skylar Cloud. But…
“You don’t care about the 'Cup.”
It was true. She was devoted, committed to the Pride championship. The FGA championship could wait. She told the world that she was about the Pride championship. She didn’t want to abandon it in favor of chasing something else. The allure of winning the cup was there, but the appeal of being known as the best Pride champion seduced her deeper, and quicker than anything else.
"At least I’m making progress…" She rationalized with a wry smile. Of course, she was only doing it for her own entertainment.
She was light years ahead of where she was even at the beginning of the year. She was a long ways away from her Canadian Stampede win over Jimmy Page...which in some ways sparked the fuse that lead her to where she found herself now.
She found herself at another major point in her career. She had several different paths in front of her now, and she needed to choose soon. Skylar Cloud was waiting, and she certainly wasn’t going to wait for Fujiko to decide. Skylar would make the decision for her if she wasn’t careful…
...and Fujiko wasn’t about to let her do that. She wasn’t going to let anyone decide for her.
The muffled roar of people chattering filled Fujiko’s ears as she sat patiently in the back of a black SUV. She wasn’t used to being pampered like this, it had been several years since she’d been chauffeured around. In fact, it was something that she disliked. Back when she began her career, it was something that she preferred, but upon her...excursion out on her own, she’d come to rely on herself for everything.
It took her having to sell her possessions to make ends meet, but it taught her, the hard way, how to be self-reliant. So parts of her still frayed at the idea of being in an SUV with tinted windows, driven around by someone who she didn’t know personally.
"Thank you for driving, sir." She piped up, breaking the awkward silence that existed between her and the driver in the front seat.
"Heh, sure." Fujiko took a glance over at her gym bag, which sat next to her. She guessed her driver wasn’t much of a talker, so she left it at that and gazed out the window at the streets that led to San Diego’s convention center. They were full of people chatting, people in cosplay, and people playing Pokemon Go.
It had been some time since Fujiko made an appearance in San Diego, and it was the first time Fujiko would be making an appearance at the city’s comic convention. She’d been beyond flattered when she was asked to appear and sign autographs, so much so that she almost forgot to run it through Frankie, her manager.
"You a bit of a big deal there, lady?" And just like that, Fujiko felt her ego glance off the pavement below her for a moment. "Um...I guess. I’m a wrestler." She wasn’t about to launch into some overblown spiel about who she was. If he was really interested, he’d follow up with more questions.
There was another pause, and then the guy chuckled.
"Yeah...I heard there was gonna be some wrestler in town. I guess you’re her then, huh?"
"Yeah. That’s me. I wrestle for Frontier Grappling Arts." He chuckled again. "Yeah, I heard of the place My kids watch."
Fujiko smiled. She gathered that he probably didn’t see her smile, but it still made her pleased to know that FGA’s reach was beginning to spread throughout the country.
"I just won a championship there a few weeks ago. I’m the Pride champion." She watched his eyes in the rear view mirror, and the look on his face was one of surprise.
"Alright, pretty little lady. I gotcha. Pride champion, huh?"
Fujiko rolled her eyes internally. She was likely never going to convince everybody that judging her based on her looks was a common mistake, but she hoped that she’d progressed further than this. Without breaking focus on the mirror, Fujiko reached over and unzipped her gym bag. Her fingertips lightly brushed rigid plastic, and and closed her grip around it. She fished it out, and then leaned forward.
The driver took his glance off the road for a second to examine what she presented to him.
"Foo-gee-ko Mine. FGA Pride champion. Huh. You’re the lady my kids been yellin’ about meeting then?"
He drawled her name out slowly, but finished her last name quickly (and incorrectly, she noted.) As she went to place her convention pass back in her bag, she processed his question proper. It caught her off guard. She cocked an eyebrow slightly, as she couldn’t answer the question directly.
"Either this or the anime character." She said flatly. The driver seemed to be satisfied by her response, and maneuvered the car to the right into one of the loading docks of the San Diego convention center.
"Here you are, Ms. Mine. Hope ya have a good time."
"I certainly will. Have yourself a good day."
"No way not to. It’s San Diego, for chrissakes." The woman known as Lady Luck smiled and gathered her bag before unlatching her seat belt, pushing open her door, and exiting. She made a point to stand still once both her feet made purchase on the ground, and flip down the sunglasses that rested on the top of her head. She wouldn’t need them for long, but she’d always wanted to do that. The black SUV pulled away, and Fujiko re-fished her pass out of her bag and wound the lanyard around her fingers.
"Duh, Fujiko...didn’t need to put it back away." She chided herself before moving forward into the convention center. A few people’s unintelligible words slipped into her ears, but she made it a point to move forward anyway. The doors in front of her opened wide, ready to swallow her up, but a single figure stood directly in her way.
"Fujiko, pleasure to see you again." Fujiko didn’t slow down, instead letting her bag scrape across the ground until she let go of it in favor of throwing her arms around her friend and manager, Francesca Coran.
"It’s so good to see you again, Frankie!"
"Hope your travels were satisfactory?" Fujiko nodded in response. "Couldn’t complain about a single thing." She broke off the embrace and stepped back enough to gather up the handle of her gym bag again. Frankie turned her body perpendicular of her client’s direction, gesturing inside.
"Shall we?"
"We shall, indeed." Fujiko followed along behind Frankie, until she realized that she was walking alongside her. Frankie had slowed down to be near her.
"Fujiko, I must confide in you an opinion on your open challenge." Fujiko sighed, out loud this time. Frankie seemed to let it go in favor of continuing. Fujiko removed her sunglasses, tucking them into the collar
"I am not here to chastise you, Fujiko. You are in control of your own destiny. In fact, I applaud you on taking your destiny in your own hands, rather than waiting for it to come to you."
"Thanks, Frankie. Where is the ‘but’?"
Frankie glanced over at Fujiko for a moment. "There is no 'but'. I believe in you and your ability. I believe in your confidence. I am in awe of what you have overcome, and I know that this is just the beginning of what you have in store. And I am not alone."
Fujiko heard the muffled sounds of someone over a loudspeaker. It distracted her momentarily from Frankie’s comment.
Frankie led Fujiko towards a set of black doors, and scanned her pass alongside the module on the door. The doors clicked, and Frankie pulled them open. Fujiko was overwhelmed temporarily by wave of sound that crashed over her. She looked out over the sea of humanity that sprawled out before her, and then she glanced over to the right. About fifty feet away from her was a covered table, and behind it was several large posters of her, both with and without the Pride championship.
That was enough to make her soar all on it’s own. But when she focused on the line that had already formed in front of the autograph table.
It was massive. Signs supporting her, and plenty of fans wearing her shirts. It was amazing group of people there all in support of Lady Luck.
"They are here for you too."
The Frontier Lion’s Cup is upon us, and I have been given the opportunity to qualify. The opportunity to fight for the Frontier Grappling Arts World Championship. A sixteen person tournament, and the opportunity to place my name among others that have achieved that amazing feat. Not only is it a chance to fight for the chance to call oneself world champion, but it is a feather in the cap of anyone who wants to consider themselves legendary in FGA.
To qualify is one thing. No one in this tournament gets an easy way in. That match in and of itself will be difficult. Then, to advance to the field of eight at Above and Beyond Five, where you must win three matches in one night in order to be able to clinch the Cup, and punch their ticket to face the champion at Final Frontier.
But, I cannot get ahead of myself.
I still have to face off against Skylar Cloud, in her debut match in Frontier Grappling Arts.
I don’t have this preconceived notion about Skylar from Lion’s Den. I don’t think of her as a ‘rookie’ or untalented because she’s new here. She’s been trained by some of the best that FGA had to offer, and I know that she is dangerous. I know she can be especially dangerous if the Systemic, her muscle slash insurance policy from her time in LDFC, are around.
Skylar wants to make as big of a deal about this match as she possibly can. After all, she’s got her debut in a match that could put her on the fast track to the FGA World title...and she faces the Pride Champion in that match. The ramifications of this match are huge! Win or lose, she gains major momentum here.
Let’s be honest, I think Skylar Cloud can hang with me. She impressed in Lion’s Den. She managed to win and defend the Old North championship. She’s made it to the point where FGA officials deemed her worthy of a shot on the main roster...so she has that for her advantages. I think Skylar Cloud will give me a challenge. Will she be able to beat me?
She’ll have to prove that to me. She likely believes she can, but she’s going to have a more difficult time than she thinks.
In fact, I’m going to say it:
Skylar, give me your best shot. It’s not going to be enough. I don’t care if you come alone, or if you come with the Skylar Systemic. I don’t care how much false positivity you bring, you’ve got nothing on the real thing. You have the unfortunate honor of having your first match against a woman who is going to be moving through the Frontier Lions’ Cup until she stands alone at the very top. Her name is not Skylar Cloud. It’s not Sara Cochran. It’s not Savannah Taylor, Molly Reid, or Salem Cartier.
Her name is Fujiko Mine.
Don’t count that as me ‘looking ahead of you’. Don’t count that as me being overconfident. Count that as me marking my claim.
I’ve made a run to the Pride Championship, and now I am going to make the same powerful run on my way to being the second woman to ever win the Frontier Lions Cup.
You can tell yourself, and the fans whatever you like. You can tell them that it’s your destiny to travel past me and on your way into the tournament. You can tell them that I don’t have any real ability. You can tell them that I’m a scourge, or a poison.
But the fans know the truth.
They know what I am capable of. They’ve seen me at what have so been my highest of highs, and they’ve seen me at my lowest of lows. They know that this championship that I am now holding is just the beginning of the grand legacy that I plan to solidify in FGA . They know that I cannot...and I will not let you stop me.
They know that I am more than what you expect, Skylar. If you expect the Fujiko that was here last year, who wasn’t able to stand in the ring and be a threat— you’re mistaken. If you expect to sit and talk about how I don’t belong to be in this tournament, nor deserve to be where I am in this company, this Fujiko is going to teach you how wrong you truly are. If you think that your success after being the Old North champion is going to be all you need to advance in this tournament? Once again, you’d be wrong.
You should know my story by now, Skylar. You should know how hard I fought to get here, and you should know that I am committed to being the absolute best. If you don’t know that, Skylar...I guarantee you’re gonna learn that lesson in en route to a loss.
But like I said, you’ve got a long road of potential success ahead of you. But you’re going to have to work for it. You’re going to have to do more than just reach for the Skylar. You’re going to have to build your own ladder with your blood, sweat, and tears...just like I did. You’re going to have to endure things that would break others...and you’re going to have to adapt. You’re going to be tested, and you’ll either be forged into something that lasts...or broken and cast aside.
Everything you’ve seen prior to this from Fujiko Mine? It was the prologue and the first chapter. It was the setup to the story that is yet to come. It only gets better for me from here. I was tested. I endured those tests, I adapted, and I was forged into something better. I was forged into something that could hold the Pride Championship, and something that could win the Frontier Lions’ Cup.
This is the one and only warning shot that the men and women in the back get. After this, everyone in this tournament...and everyone else in Frontier Grappling Arts will know what Skylar Cloud is going to find out in a few short days.
You Can’t Stop Fujiko.
"...welcome back to the Rose Gardens here on ESPN Radio! I’m your host Kam Rose alongside Becky Clarke; and we’re gonna talk some squared circle action. Just a few nights ago, we got ourselves quite a main event over in FGA with Molly Reid and Salem Cartier defeating Mark Storm and the new Pride Champion Fujiko Mine."
"You know Kam, I really enjoyed this match We got to see Salem and Molly fight alongside each other, but we know they’re moving from partners to opponents in two short weeks."
Fujiko’s ears perked up as she heard her name mentioned. She moved her body towards the source of the sound: Her laptop. A few short steps later, she positioned herself in a satellite arc around her portable computer.
"But here’s an interesting story there, Becky. That Pride champion stumbled after her title victory, and now she’s gone overseas to deliver an open challenge for her title. Word is Elizabeth Lannister of SSWA accepted that challenge. So now Fujiko has to qualify on Saturday, fly over to England, and then defend her championship on Monday. I think she’s doing too much too soon. She’s gonna lose one, or both of these matches!"
Fujiko narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.
"You know, I’m kind of going to agree with you. I feel like she might advance into the Frontier Lions’ Cup, but lose the title in SSWA."
"I feel like that’d almost be worse than losing the qualifier, to be honest. She fights this hard to get there, then loses the championship to someone not in FGA?! That would be absolutely disastrous!"
Fujiko gasped out loud as her chest tightened at the thought. It made her very uncomfortable to even think about.
"I mean, Kam...I’m a Fujiko fan...but I worry that she could end up losing both of these matches here."
"You’re a Fujiko fan, Becky?"
"Sure am. Do I think she can win both of these matches? Yes. I do. But…"
"...yeah, you think she might not be able to do it. She’s putting herself through a lot."
"Right. I suppose we both are going to have to tune in. It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure. Now, let’s move on...the new FGA champion is in action for the first time since winning the championship and…"
Fujiko leaned over, drew her finger along the trackpad, and closed the browser tab. She’d heard enough of the radio broadcast, and didn’t care to hear anything about Johnny Cannon and his first match since All-Star showdown.
She kept her eyes trained on the screen in front of her, despite the screen being devoid of anything related to what she’d just heard. It made her think.
It gave her some time to try and be honest with herself. She turned herself towards her couch, and took a step or two towards it. She hesitated for a second, and then chose to sit down and place her head in her hands.
"What am I gonna do…"
She muttered to herself. She knew that there was no one else in the room, but she still felt like she needed to release those words into the air around her to try to add clarity to her own mind.
"This goes against what you wanted."
She wasn’t sure where the voice came from, and to be honest she didn’t care. It was the truth. She wanted to rebuild the Pride division. It was why she went all the way to the UK to deliver her open challenge. She didn’t just want the Pride championship division to be big in FGA. She wanted it to be big anywhere she could reach. What she did not want...was to do what Tony Carmine did, that being ignore the championship in favor of another championship.
"I want to beat Skylar Cloud. I need to beat Skylar Cloud."
She was honest. She felt the fire burning, and knew that she could build upon her post-title momentum with a victory over Skylar Cloud. But…
“You don’t care about the 'Cup.”
It was true. She was devoted, committed to the Pride championship. The FGA championship could wait. She told the world that she was about the Pride championship. She didn’t want to abandon it in favor of chasing something else. The allure of winning the cup was there, but the appeal of being known as the best Pride champion seduced her deeper, and quicker than anything else.
"At least I’m making progress…" She rationalized with a wry smile. Of course, she was only doing it for her own entertainment.
She was light years ahead of where she was even at the beginning of the year. She was a long ways away from her Canadian Stampede win over Jimmy Page...which in some ways sparked the fuse that lead her to where she found herself now.
She found herself at another major point in her career. She had several different paths in front of her now, and she needed to choose soon. Skylar Cloud was waiting, and she certainly wasn’t going to wait for Fujiko to decide. Skylar would make the decision for her if she wasn’t careful…
...and Fujiko wasn’t about to let her do that. She wasn’t going to let anyone decide for her.
The muffled roar of people chattering filled Fujiko’s ears as she sat patiently in the back of a black SUV. She wasn’t used to being pampered like this, it had been several years since she’d been chauffeured around. In fact, it was something that she disliked. Back when she began her career, it was something that she preferred, but upon her...excursion out on her own, she’d come to rely on herself for everything.
It took her having to sell her possessions to make ends meet, but it taught her, the hard way, how to be self-reliant. So parts of her still frayed at the idea of being in an SUV with tinted windows, driven around by someone who she didn’t know personally.
"Thank you for driving, sir." She piped up, breaking the awkward silence that existed between her and the driver in the front seat.
"Heh, sure." Fujiko took a glance over at her gym bag, which sat next to her. She guessed her driver wasn’t much of a talker, so she left it at that and gazed out the window at the streets that led to San Diego’s convention center. They were full of people chatting, people in cosplay, and people playing Pokemon Go.
It had been some time since Fujiko made an appearance in San Diego, and it was the first time Fujiko would be making an appearance at the city’s comic convention. She’d been beyond flattered when she was asked to appear and sign autographs, so much so that she almost forgot to run it through Frankie, her manager.
"You a bit of a big deal there, lady?" And just like that, Fujiko felt her ego glance off the pavement below her for a moment. "Um...I guess. I’m a wrestler." She wasn’t about to launch into some overblown spiel about who she was. If he was really interested, he’d follow up with more questions.
There was another pause, and then the guy chuckled.
"Yeah...I heard there was gonna be some wrestler in town. I guess you’re her then, huh?"
"Yeah. That’s me. I wrestle for Frontier Grappling Arts." He chuckled again. "Yeah, I heard of the place My kids watch."
Fujiko smiled. She gathered that he probably didn’t see her smile, but it still made her pleased to know that FGA’s reach was beginning to spread throughout the country.
"I just won a championship there a few weeks ago. I’m the Pride champion." She watched his eyes in the rear view mirror, and the look on his face was one of surprise.
"Alright, pretty little lady. I gotcha. Pride champion, huh?"
Fujiko rolled her eyes internally. She was likely never going to convince everybody that judging her based on her looks was a common mistake, but she hoped that she’d progressed further than this. Without breaking focus on the mirror, Fujiko reached over and unzipped her gym bag. Her fingertips lightly brushed rigid plastic, and and closed her grip around it. She fished it out, and then leaned forward.
The driver took his glance off the road for a second to examine what she presented to him.
"Foo-gee-ko Mine. FGA Pride champion. Huh. You’re the lady my kids been yellin’ about meeting then?"
He drawled her name out slowly, but finished her last name quickly (and incorrectly, she noted.) As she went to place her convention pass back in her bag, she processed his question proper. It caught her off guard. She cocked an eyebrow slightly, as she couldn’t answer the question directly.
"Either this or the anime character." She said flatly. The driver seemed to be satisfied by her response, and maneuvered the car to the right into one of the loading docks of the San Diego convention center.
"Here you are, Ms. Mine. Hope ya have a good time."
"I certainly will. Have yourself a good day."
"No way not to. It’s San Diego, for chrissakes." The woman known as Lady Luck smiled and gathered her bag before unlatching her seat belt, pushing open her door, and exiting. She made a point to stand still once both her feet made purchase on the ground, and flip down the sunglasses that rested on the top of her head. She wouldn’t need them for long, but she’d always wanted to do that. The black SUV pulled away, and Fujiko re-fished her pass out of her bag and wound the lanyard around her fingers.
"Duh, Fujiko...didn’t need to put it back away." She chided herself before moving forward into the convention center. A few people’s unintelligible words slipped into her ears, but she made it a point to move forward anyway. The doors in front of her opened wide, ready to swallow her up, but a single figure stood directly in her way.
"Fujiko, pleasure to see you again." Fujiko didn’t slow down, instead letting her bag scrape across the ground until she let go of it in favor of throwing her arms around her friend and manager, Francesca Coran.
"It’s so good to see you again, Frankie!"
"Hope your travels were satisfactory?" Fujiko nodded in response. "Couldn’t complain about a single thing." She broke off the embrace and stepped back enough to gather up the handle of her gym bag again. Frankie turned her body perpendicular of her client’s direction, gesturing inside.
"Shall we?"
"We shall, indeed." Fujiko followed along behind Frankie, until she realized that she was walking alongside her. Frankie had slowed down to be near her.
"Fujiko, I must confide in you an opinion on your open challenge." Fujiko sighed, out loud this time. Frankie seemed to let it go in favor of continuing. Fujiko removed her sunglasses, tucking them into the collar
"I am not here to chastise you, Fujiko. You are in control of your own destiny. In fact, I applaud you on taking your destiny in your own hands, rather than waiting for it to come to you."
"Thanks, Frankie. Where is the ‘but’?"
Frankie glanced over at Fujiko for a moment. "There is no 'but'. I believe in you and your ability. I believe in your confidence. I am in awe of what you have overcome, and I know that this is just the beginning of what you have in store. And I am not alone."
Fujiko heard the muffled sounds of someone over a loudspeaker. It distracted her momentarily from Frankie’s comment.
Frankie led Fujiko towards a set of black doors, and scanned her pass alongside the module on the door. The doors clicked, and Frankie pulled them open. Fujiko was overwhelmed temporarily by wave of sound that crashed over her. She looked out over the sea of humanity that sprawled out before her, and then she glanced over to the right. About fifty feet away from her was a covered table, and behind it was several large posters of her, both with and without the Pride championship.
That was enough to make her soar all on it’s own. But when she focused on the line that had already formed in front of the autograph table.
It was massive. Signs supporting her, and plenty of fans wearing her shirts. It was amazing group of people there all in support of Lady Luck.
"They are here for you too."
