Kagetsu: Show Em How It's Done

The waiting game is profoundly boring, even if it’s necessary at times. You can push someone to their limits and try to spur them into action, but ultimately it’s not always going to work out. One woman who is intimately familiar with this reality is Kagetsu. She sits in her home office, staring at relics of the old world. On the wall are some framed pictures of herself with many members of Oedo Tai at various points in the faction’s history. The smiling faces of Joshi wrestling’s rabble rousing outcasts and weirdos fill her with pride. Together they had been the dominant force in the ring no matter who stepped up to them. Success came their way because they were, all things considered, a family. None of them fit in anywhere else, so they all naturally gravitated toward each other. Add to that she trained a couple of the better debutants of the past five years and her track record with training younger women is undeniable.

It’s what makes her certain she can do it again here for another promising young talent who has no wrestling family of her own. At least it did until recently. For the past month there’s been something wrong with her new student, HIkari Noa. Not in the ring - Hikari’s record is very, very good. Though she gets it done in the ring, the veteran Kagetsu sees the minor imperfections in her performances. Slight missteps that need to be improved on for where Hikari is heading next. It’s considerably harder to do that when the kid’s making it clear she doesn’t want to be around Kagetsu if she can help it. Today Kagetsu’s made a request to Hikari for a meeting here so they can iron out some of the wrinkles they’ve come across. Despite agreeing to it, Hikari is late again. No word on where she’s at, if something’s held her up or if someone has ambushed her. Kagetsu’s instincts demand she go find the kid in case something bad has gone down, but anyone that would harm her is nowhere nearby.

So she waits. Kagetsu’s eyes fall on the red title belt displayed on her office wall, the center plate of which is shaped like a star. A trophy of her biggest individual accomplishment in the ring, and a title she held for over 300 days. Back then she did anything it took to get the win and fought with a tenacity and force that few can ever match. In Hikari she sees the same tenacity and aggressiveness, that same drive to succeed when the rest of the world looks down on you. If she can just get through to the kid, Hikari will truly be unstoppable! And there’s been progress to be sure. Fighting through an injured eye in the biggest match of her career proved to Kagetsu that she was right about Hikari. Yet getting Hikari to understand what she’s doing is a huge challenge.

WIth the most dangerous opponent she’s ever faced waiting at the Grand Canyon, Hikari needs every advantage she can get. ACT Yasukawa will be key to transforming the Deathmatch Princess into the undeniable WLCW World Champion. It’s taken a lot of discussion with ACT to create the perfect training regimen for Hikari. Yet just when Kagetsu was about to begin that regimen with Hikari, the kid had walked out on her. It’s that moment that’s made Kagetsu certain of what it will take to get Hikari on board. For Kagetsu it’s very clear that Hikari has lost respect for her. That’s why the kid avoids her, walks out on her and even talks back the way that she does now. Thinking about it now, Kagetsu sighs.

<Hikarin, if you just understood what I’m trying to do here, you wouldn’t be that upset. There’s only one way to prove I know what I’m talking about.>

All that can be done is for Kagetsu to step back into the ring. It’s been a long time coming honestly; she’s had thoughts of returning for months now, predating WLCW. Seeing her student at work keeps making Kagetsu wonder if she still has what it takes to succeed. It took on a new urgency when enemies began popping up everywhere in WLCW. That stupid pretentious aristocrat and her butler honed in on Hikari, then ACT when she intervened. To give Hikari the best chance of success, Kagetsu needs ACT. To keep ACT in the picture Kagetsu has to finish off the aristocrats before they finish her off. Plus there’s the added fact that it’s personal for Kagetsu - she really wants to beat them both down. She and ACT have a plan to pay them back for that attack backstage. Once it’s done they won’t be a problem.

Then you still have the gaijin who Kagetsu personally welcomed to Oedo Tai a few years back. Now they’ve made things personal with Hikari, hurting the kid when Kagetsu was busy helping ACT. That chibi brat tagging along with Momo also called Kagetsu’s legacy into question. Enough is enough. The only way for Kagetsu to prove herself to these enemies and to Hikari is to show them all how it’s done. The mere thoughts of beating down each and every one of them makes her smile ear to ear. No more suits for her - the Final Boss is back.

<Yeah, just fend off three teams at once who all work really well together. Sure, this is gonna be real easy.>

She sighs as the scale of what she’s attempting to do hits her in full. When she was running Stardom, she had a well oiled machine under her control. Nobody beat Oedo Tai, not Io Shirai leading Queen’s Quest, not the Stardom Icon leading her band of idiots. The only way Oedo Tai lost its position atop the mountain was betrayal from within. Being on the other side of things from teams that were accustomed to working together while trying to get women who weren’t on the same page to team up? That’s a very new experience for Kagetsu.

If only Hikari understood. Kagetsu looks at a framed picture of herself and some of her old allies from Oedo Tai - Hazuki and Sumire. She smiles wistfully as she remembers the days when they all terrorized the sparkly idols of Joshi wrestling. Good friends who were always on the same page as her. That’s what Kagetsu wants for HIkari - to give her the same backup that Kagetsu had the last time she wrestled. The kid’s still pretty young too, so Kagetsu is hoping that ACT Yasukawa can add some mentoring for HIkari. After all, ACT helped her. If the three of them get together and get on the same page, the Top Gaijin, Nouvelle Bishikigun and Orphan Black won’t stand a chance.

Tired of just sitting around waiting, Kagetsu gets up and steps out of her office into the gym proper. She’s got so many ideas of what she wants to do for Hikari and what she wants to do to Julia Hart. To be honest, Kagetsu is very pleased that her first opponent in WLCW is the woman who tried to maim her student. Hikari’s got enough to focus on without worrying about revenge right now. So why not take that off her plate? Kagetsu stops by a punching bag to which a picture of Julia has been attached. Part of her own training to mentally prepare to break the cheerleader down. A wild smile graces her lips as she stares the image of the aggravating blonde. After taking a step closer to the bag, Kagetsu leans forward and speaks as if Julia were right in front of her.

With that she begins hammering the bag with the stiffest kicks, forearms and punches she’s capable of. Each one makes her imagine Julia’s face getting a little more bruised and swollen. Within minutes the image of her is battered and ripped, barely hanging onto the bag. Kagetsu wastes no time in spitting mist right at the picture, then ripping its remnants off the bag. Her heart is pounding and there’s an electric feeling in the air - Kagetsu has missed this. Two years away and now she at last gets to tear someone apart again. Just then her phone buzzes. She looks at the message which just arrived and rolls her eyes. Hikari’s going to be pretty late. Kagetsu shakes her head and makes a promise.

<I’m gonna show you how it’s done, Hikarin.>