Post by Kimitsu Zombie on Apr 29, 2018 16:16:40 GMT -5
“I never really liked tea. It tastes like dirt.”
Kimitsu Zombie sits on a lopsided table in a quaint little teahouse. She pulls out a flask and adds a little flavor to a cup of tea in front of her on the floor. She gets up and walks through the upheaval in the teahouse. A group of people in hoodies and face masks are hard at work dismantling everything inside of it from the bottom up. They tear up the tatami mats from the floor. They tear holes in the walls with bats and cut through paper in the shoji dividers with knives. All the tables are broken in half. A member of staff and a customer are beaten by the doorway. Kimitsu goes outside where Mount Fuji dominates the landscape with its majestic peak. She looks down at an old man on his knees watching his business being destroyed in front of him. Two girls stand behind him with bleached hair wearing bosozoku uniforms. Kimitsu nods at them and then kneels down in front of the old man.
“You do make the best, least dirt tasting tea, though. What was it? Akihiko-san? Do you know why this is happening to you?”
The man sits solemnly and looks down at the ground not giving her any attention.
“Oi. I’m talking to you.”
Kimitsu nudges the man with her hand, but he gets right back into his original pose. Kimitsu laughs.
“They do make them tough here. Anyway old man. This is happening.. I am doing this to you because of Emery Layton. Remember her? It seems our little Pavee has a spot at all the cities Union Battleground has traveled to. Isn’t that convenient? I chose yours because she seemed to really like it here. She claimed this to be one of her favorite little spots and it was Japan where she was made. This is where I was born and made too. I didn’t have the luxury of traveling around like her. I was made and ruined here with people like these way before I became a part of the Zombies.”
The man perks up at this name and stares at her with surprise.
“Oh that got your attention? Don’t worry, this isn’t one of their missions. I am doing this on my own. I’m sure I’ll get a beating for destroying something so beautiful, but it will be so worth it to take something from Emery Layton. See this is my land. That is my mountain. Your little teahouse is now mine. Every time you think about this place think of the horror I caused you and know that it was Emery’s doing. So. I hear you can sing Akihiko-san. Can you sing for me?”
Kimitsu takes a sip of her tea mix and stares bemused at the old man. He doesn’t budge. She stands up and looks at her two friends.
“I want to hear him sing, girls.” They nod at her and grab the old man up. Kimitsu walks away to stare at the scenery as the demolition continues behind her.
“Now do you know why this is happening Emery? This is all a consequence of one of your little jokes. Some sort of lists you added me to on twitter that you must of thought was so funny. Unfortunately it came at the wrong fucking time and it hit a bit too close to home for me. It hit right here in my heart. I won’t bother you with the details since you probably don’t give a fuck but just know that the dad thing wasn’t very funny to me. It was a damn good insult. My emotions were running wild at the time and you came in with just a little poke and thought nothing of it. That’s what you do isn’t it? You travel around with your little rucksack and touch people’s lives for the better. If I could I would go around to everyone you have ever met and turn their experience with you into a nightmare.”
Kimitsu pauses as an agonizing wail comes out behind her in a song.
“There’s that lullaby. It was better when he sang it for you. I think you’ll find that true about your time with that Trench War Championship. Keep repeating that 404 day record. I’m sure everyone’s real impressed at you every time you say it. I am too. It has become an obsession with me, and you were on my mind every time I fought for my War Horse Championship. Every single time I defended it I had you at the back of my mind. You have been my goal here since you beat me. I guess I should thank you but then you went and fucked it all up. You’re really funny to me that way.”
Kimitsu looks up at the mountain and points at it.
“So that represents your climb to the King Cobra. Your reign was my Fuji. On the other side of it is where I went from a goon to a warrior. The training was hellish and demeaning but I came out of it a Zombie. That training is what made me the force that I am today. I think my time in Union Battleground can prove my worth. I wanted you to be impressed, but you had to go and disrespect me. I climbed my way up to you, and I am going to show you that I won’t be making the same mistakes I made the first time we fought. I am going to be taking you seriously now. I know that your jokes and that devil may care attitude are all a smokescreen to hide the true fighter within. This is dead serious for me and I will treat you like the threat that you are. It is so unfortunate that you disappointed the world when you let that interloper take that title away from you. Now I must deal with him and I am so tired of being let down by the people I once respected. Fucking Rogan MacLean.”
Kimitsu takes another sip of her drink and her thoughts of that man make her spit the tea out in disgust.
“I know your goal was also Emery Layton. The Trench War Title, along with that fabulous record that set the wrestling world ablaze, was your endgame all along. What? Did you think that conquering Emery would thrust you back into being the center of attention? It worked. You’re the man once again, but now I'm here. I don’t know if it is willful ignorance or just some lack of care on your part, but you might have overlooked me. It’s an easy mistake. I was only a young up and coming wrestler when our paths almost crossed. That’s right. The Outliers aren’t the only ones that know about you. It was at Warped in that Total J Cup of 2016 that I made my presence known to the greater fighting community. I lost in my first match to Mil Vidas Jr. and my hopes at any acknowledgement were gone. I doubt you even noticed me. Well I have grown by leaps and bounds since then. I’m not the same naive girl lost in the shuffle anymore. I am like you in a way just not as lazy and a lot more direct. I’ve made my presence known in every single federation I join quickly and with a vengeance. But fuck all that. Since you say that the only thing that matters in Union Battle ground is what we have done in Union Battleground let’s bring this one home.”
Kimitsu looks back at the building. Her group spills out hollering at all the fun they’re having. A roar of motorcycles starts from the side. Akihiko-san is left alone in the front.
“The only thing I’ve done here is dominate. I go into every match with the mindset of enduring and the need make my name into something great. My goal is the Trench War Title and now Rogan MacLean has shoehorned his way into that vision. I should have seen something coming with the interference, but I focused on securing my shot. Now that shot is going to be against the two of you. Emery Layton is the one that got away and she wants to regain her claim. Rogan MacLean, you’re just trying to relive your former glory and that has made you blind and arrogant. I’m sure you can coast on that. I have shown my commitment to my goal and at War of the Worlds I won’t let Emery make a fool of me again. I won’t let MacLean steal my glory with his stooge. I am going to be the next Trench War Champion and keep my streak going. I’m going to break through all challenges and make you remember Kimitsu Zombie.”
Her posse rides by and she gets on the back of the last motorcycle and they ride off.
When you think of Dublin, you might probably expect a few Irish pubs and hustling and bustling of crowds of nearly two-million people. Not all in the same street, obviously, but you get it. It's a big city for sure with lots of nightlife. Old Irish men trying to find a quiet drink in the midst of obnoxious students and overbearing session moths fluttering about the world.
However, that isn't where our story takes place today. Instead, we're in a small, cut-off little quarry. It's not very nice, either- lots of litter, bottles and, well, an old fridge. Just dumped rubbish, really. Approaching, we hear a song. Calling to us.
"The summer sun is fading as the year grows old,
And darker days are drawing near,
The winter winds will be much colder,
Now you're not here."
EMERY LAYTON:
"Love that song. Okay, lemme see if I remember how this goes. Hang on...er...ah! Right, ahem..."
With a long tree-branch in her hand, Emery Layton steps into view, poking around at the floor until she looks up at us. While she is usually a little hard to understand first time around, when she says the next passage, she seems to deliberately lower her voice and play up the Irishness.
"Kimistu Zombie! Rogan MacLean! I heard what youse been sayin' about me on the Twitter machine, and I ain't a happy pavee, I tell ya now! Us Black Blood Laytons don't back down from no man, woman or animal, 'specially me. Everyone knows who I am. Everyone knows where to find me. Rogan- you're no king, boy, and as for you, Kimi, I already bet ya once, so I'll fucking well do it again, yeah. Cheek on ya to come shove your head in me business again. I won't tell ya more than once, you made a mistake. This is my fight but if ya want some, I'll give it to ya. Ya shite!"
Pointing the stick at us for a few moments, she eventually swings it round in her hand and then disposes of it, chucking it off to the side. Suddenly the shrill, fast, sort-of Irish accent is back.
"...Aaaaaaand there we go. That's how he used to do it, right here. This spot."
She points to the ground beneath, standing perfectly still.
"This spot right here is where my Da used to film these videos challenging other bare-knuckle fighters. It's weird. It's kinda like what we do, kinda sorta. Every week it'd be something else- 'you sold me a dodgy horse' this week, 'you said something bad about me on the Bebo' the next. God, remember Bebo? Why aren't we all on that instead of Twitter? Way better. Anyway, he'd find any old excuse, then if they accepted, he used to stand in this spot on the day, all the other lads stood around waiting to see someone get a good hiding- and they would, Da wasn't no slouch. He got them to come to him cos the last thing you wanted was the Black Blood Laytons knocking at your door for a fight and everyone knew it. But while they'd all watch my Da kick ten different types of shit outta someone, I'd be over...there."
Now, ushering us elsewhere, we look to the side to see a caravan. Old. Abandoned. A tiny round window has smashed glass and one of the wheels has been replaced with a pile of bricks. Emery just sort of watches it for a few seconds. She feels every moment she ever spent inside it flashing before her.
"Its mental to me that it's still here. This was before Dad somehow traded a horse for an entire settlement. No one in it, I've checked, but what you're seeing is my cell for the first ten years of my life. If I were my Da stood here right now, little Em's face'd be poking out that little round window, tryna see what's going on behind the gaggle of shouting Travellers, just waiting for a day where someone would just come and take me away from it all. Wasn't till I was fifteen I decided to go see the world.
But that day never came, Cinderella ain't real and there ain't no glass slipper. I had to run away from it all myself, and it took me a hell of a long time to become anything worth the effort it took to get out. Don't get me wrong- I wasn't abused or nothing. I know a lotta people in our business kinda have that on them and I'm sorry that happened to them, but not me. I just kinda felt...empty, know what I mean? Like, I used to read about the world and what was going on out there and feel like I was missing all of it. I fought tooth and nail to go and find what I was missing. The Trench War Championship was the reward for all of that...and I lost it. I gotta lie there every night and try accept the fact Rogan MacLean, someone else, is holding the title I had for 404 days and I can't. I just can't. And even when I can, I won't really have accepted it. I admit that right now and I live with the fact I've admitted it. There. Said it."
As she continues, Emery perches herself on the floor, crossing her legs and speaking in a much more candid and serious tone.
"I ain't gonna lie, for a bit I thought I was untouchable. Being the Trench War Traveller was the time of my life. Not much, just a bit. But standing here, remembering all the stuff I do, all the things I've seen. I ain't untouchable. No one is. Hell, this place is proof of that. Used to be full of caravans and mobile homes and those old timey wagons, now it's just a quarry. The world moves on around you, forces you to catch up and accept life ain't the same no more. I'm 25 but sometimes I feel years older and think I've travelled too long. I met people. I lost people. I lost...I lost friends- friends I'm gonna see again one day, if I can, just to know they're okay...but sometimes I think even my time's running out."
She pauses, reflective. But not for long.
"That's why I need closure. I gotta do stuff now while I can- that's how I always think and so I need to do this. I was Trench War Champion for 404 days and I need to have it back. Kimitsu Zombie can stand in my way all she wants, I don't sweat her at all. She wants to be my enemy, she can do that. Go tell her to ask Minka Carter or Stella Winters or Richard J Maxwell how that went. You become my enemy, you become my hobby and ain't anyone in this world got the time it takes to deal with a life where Emery Layton is your enemy. And Rogan MacLean, I said all I wanted to about you, but I'll do it again cos I stand by it till you prove me otherwise- you only beat me cos the Man With The Beakiest Nose stuck his, uh, nose...into our match. "
Standing up slowly, Emery Layton points to us one last time...
"This is my match to win, I have to get the Trench War Championship back and I'm gonna do it at War of the Worlds. I Have To."
...and then, after a held glance, she moves off. And once again, she's singing.
