A cold rage has settled in and I have lost track of time. It might have been days since my match with Misty, maybe months. I returned to my “home” to find the phoenix, that bitch, there laughing at me. Her wings reached up in the rafters and I knew she meant to take me again. To erase all that I have been working. To burn me to ash and reform me into something knew. So I took my bat and I bashed her pretty little face.
Of course she did not feel pain. She is not real in that way, I know this to be true. But it felt good to break her face for a moment and spatter the floor with ember and smoke. It felt good to break things so I kept going. I took the bat to my monitors, turning their pristine screens into shatter shards of glass. I kept bringing the bat down until the heavy plastic and metal bent. I could see their insides, little green boards and tubes. I broke those too.
Then I started to train. I called in favors, had fresh bodies brought in every day. Paid people to beat the crap out of me or at least they tried to. I am not sure how long that lasted. They punched me and I punched back. They tried to break me and when I saw the fire return, I simply found a way to break them. Then I ran out of favors...ran out of victims...ran out of ways to escape fate.
Then there was a knock on my door.
The heavy metal door of Karina’s warehouse opens. On the outside is Aleksei Koji dressed in jeans and a worn out t-shirt. He has his cane but does not need it. On the inside is a shell of Karina Koji. She looks bruised and beat up. Her eyes are hollow and it is hard to tell when she ate last.
Aleksei: Dear gods, what the hell happened to you.
Karina: What? I am training.
Aleksei: For what...the end of the world. Do you even know that you have a title shot this Sunday?
Karina: Roulette?
Aleksei: No....Bombshell. You’re the fucking main event.
Karina: What a waste....I imagine you want to come in.
Aleksei: Had not heard from you...hate to admit that I was worried.
Karina leads him inside. Her warehouse looks as if a bomb went off inside it. Aleksei laughs when he looks at the remains and shakes his head.
Aleksei: I know you don’t take advice well...but little wolf. You need a shower...a meal and then you need to cut a promo, because that brat Amanda Cortez is one step ahead of you.
Karina shrugs and looks over at what use to be her wall of monitors.
Karina: I seem to have destroyed my camera and such. They were looking at me funny.
Aleksei: You work on looking like a human being...I will handle the rest.
Karina: Da...ok.
Karina heads off to her shower grabbing a hunk of bread from one of the tables, taking a big bite out of it on her way to getting cleaned up.
******************************************
The camera fades in to see that Karina will be using her brothers equipment to broadcast her promo. She is standing in the middle of his tour bus looking slightly uneasy. A tower of beer and pizza boxes nearly reaches the ceiling at one point. There is a woman passed out on the couch and Aleksei can be heard in the background talking to someone in Romania.
Karina: You really live in this place?
Aleksei: Da, ce din!?
Karina rolls her eyes. She is wearing a black and purple hoody, and looks mostly human again. Her eyes are always looking away from the camera or in the distance. Her right hand twices ever so slightly.
Karina: I am told that I am to get a chance at the Bombshell Title. This comes as somewhat a surprise. I was training like I have never trained before for a chance at the real top championship belt in the SCW, the Roulette Title. I almost called up the boss men to tell them no thanks..but I start to think...why let all this effort go to waste. Not to mention who knows how much time I have left...
She looks beyond the camera with some concern.
Karina: Lets be clear. I do not know much about this Amanda Cortez. I tried to watch her little promo but to be honest I could not really be bothered. I got the general idea right away. She thinks she is the best in the SCW....the fans want her to stay champion...bla bla...and what have I done.
She starts to pace her right hand shaking a little bit more as she works through her thoughts.
Karina: Most times before a match I would study hours of tapes. I would try to get in the head of my opponent. Discover their weakness and figure out what submissions I want to use to exploit their weakness. I figure this is what I have to do to be my best but I learned something this week...that is not longer needed. I have evolved.
Her right hand becomes a distraction and she looks at it to slow it down. When it is more relaxed she continues to talk, choosing at the moment not to pace.
Karina: I told the world I had been reborn a fighter and that is truth. My blood burns with fury. My brain is filled with warrior instinct. I do not need tapes, I do not need research. All I need is a ring and an opponent. You, Amanda, are that opponent. That is all that matters to me.
Your title is joke. At one time this was not true but as much as I hate to admit it Odetta was the last woman of any quality to hold that belt. It has become a joke. Every month we get a new champion who says she is best and then she gets beat down. The flavor of this month is you, the tickle, tattoo girl. But your time on top will fade from memory just like the others before you.
She starts to pace again. Kicking aside a stray pair of boxers in disgust as she continues her rant.
Karina: I put my body and soul on the line to win the real SCW championship. I have competed in some of the most amazing matches in this federation. But none of that will prepare you for what I am going to do next....because that was before I evolved. My own mind held me back. I thought, with good reason, that this body had limits...but now I am not so sure.
I will enter the ring on Sunday and I will take that belt from you. Not only will I win but your body will be left broken on the canvas. I am going to make you scream, and I promise you it won’t tickle...not one bit. All that witness this match will see the future of the Bombshell Title. I will restore its glory. I will dominate every title defense and if I have to I will take on challenges every week. Your rematch can be the first and then maybe I will have Misty try to take it from me.
Week in and week out I will still stand. There will be no more flavor of the month. No more revolving door of piss poor ladies spoiling the reputation. There will only be legacy....followed by legacy. Who are you to stand in the way of that.”
Karina stops pacing and smiles at the camera. Her eyes still seem empty until they go wide with alarm.
Karina: And another thing.....
Flames started to dance along the edges of my vision the moment I entered my brothers shitty mobile. I knew I was on borrowed time. I tried to fit the words together before she took me. The flames continued to grow as I spoke. Know one can know how hard it is to focus when the world is burning around you. Nobody seems to notice that the bimbo on the couch is on fire. He body turning to ash. The camera is starting to warp from the heat, but that must be in my head.
Then she walks through the window. She wears my clothes and her wings dominate the small space of the trailer. Little wisp of fire fall down and she laughs, silently at me. She moves in close to me, her face is my face but it it is breaking away as it burns. I speak to her directly.
“FINE...FINE YOU WANT TO PLAY IT THIS WAY YOU FLAMING BITCH! WE MAKE A DEAL RIGHT NOW. THIS SUNDAY I HAVE A MATCH. IF I WIN YOU LEAVE ME BE.....AND IF I LOOSE YOU CAN TAKE ME.TAKE ME AND MAKE ME INTO WHATEVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE...DEAL.”
She keeps on laughing and starts to fly away. The flames die down. I have bought myself another week from the lady of flames.
Karina blinks at the camera unsure what she has said in her mind. In truth she said those words to both the demons in her head and the people in the trailer. Aleksei looks at her with concern. Karina just smiles and speaks with a soft voice.
Karina: See you Sunday Amanda...
The camera fades out.
