A Time and Place for MAYHEM
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It is a dim room. Candles appear all around, giving a gentle glow. Through the tender lights, we see some banners. Japanese symbols are on them with different colours. Bonsai trees are sitting under then, delicate and beautiful. A gentle stream is heard from a fountain. A clock ticks on the wall as its hands move. There is a calmness about it. A dark quiet room where one can clear your thoughts. We see the faint outline of a woman sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her face is covered with an intricate mask. There are sharp designs around the holes for her eyes, a sharp “V” design on the forehead, then the shape of “fangs” around her mouth. We see the faint outline of dark lipstick and dark makeup with some sparkling purple. Hanging out of the mask, we see her hair, dark with purple dyed tips. She has wrestling gear on. Long one-legged tights with a skirt and belt, matching bra with some outlines. The colours are primarily black with a mix of purple and a neon green outline. She has her eyes closed as she is at peace. Vampiress. She speaks in English, speaking slowly to ensure she pronounces everything correctly. Though, there is still a hint of confidence under it, with her voice cutting through the room.
“This is a place of peace and quiet for me. The perfect place to be one with your spirit. Let yourself be charmed by her power. Let her guide you through the night. Rest, for this is a calm before a storm…”
Then in the background.
A light clang of metal. Then another followed by a third, beginning to become louder. Two more are heard then we see another woman, this one holding a steel chair. It has graffiti on its seat, a neon Green M. Also wearing her in-ring gear, we see her long tights matching the colours of the other woman with openings on the side, boots, kick pads, and knee pads branded one with an 8-bit skull with a crown and the other a silver “M.” She has an open hoodie on. Black with an “M” logo over the heart, all different colours outlining it. Leaning down on her chair, she pulls back her hood to show her face. Cali Hayama, with a newer look. Her brown locks have been chopped down to her shoulders and her hair is dyed with a mix of a darkened silver and black.
“And that storm is coming at Under Attack…”
Leaning down, she speaks and her voice is brash and forthright compared to normal.
“To say I’ve had a shitty past few weeks would be a fair guess! I’ve said it before and again. Losses suck ass, but they happen. Three losses in a row between two companies sucks a bit more. Intergalactic Cosmic Championship against Rin, lost. Marquise in Panama City, lost. Trios championships against Marvelous in Korakuen Hall, I fucking blew it! But what makes it worse is that the past several weeks I have felt stuck. I’ve felt pulled in two directions. I’m mad. I’m pissed! But I’m not blaming others.”
Cali points towards herself. “I’m pissed at myself! I’m mad because I forgot who I was! I forgot what being the Slayer-Queen is all about! I’m also mad that I have been letting people get in my ear and affect me and I can’t let that hang over my head forever! Now, Marquise is a good wrestler. He’s a fighter. I knew that before, and I was reminded of that in Panama City. I gave him my word and I tried to stick to it. No problem in that. He was a little preachy, but he never had bad intentions. Even if the match didn’t go down like it did, I think it could have gone either way. Then comes Christopher, giving me an offer to join what is now Top-Gun in AMA. He’s shady, but he recognizes something in me, and he was right that I need to know when to take advantage of an opportunity sometimes. He’s giving me one.”
Holding one of her hands up, Cali says. “I know I need to make a choice and that will be mine alone! Not Marquise, not Christopher, Max, not even Vampiress. But I shouldn’t have let those two ends pull me like it has. To make the best choice for myself, I need to remember who I am. I need to know that my heart is with MAYHEM, no matter what decision. That's going to guide me. I also want to be a singles competitor, but there is also an opportunity to maybe add some gold in America.”
Cali Hayama glances to her side, looking at Vampiress. “And genuinely, I don’t think there is a better person to help me with those things than this woman here, Vampiress. AMA, you’re going to see something different.”
“Thank you,” Vampiress nods then takes a deep breath. Through the opening of her mask, we see a devious grin. Keeping her eyes closed, she speaks, keeping to English.
“AMA, I apologize for my English as I am still improving after not using it for a long time. Thankfully, the language we speak in the ring is universal.” She chuckles and opens her eyes, revealing them to be red thanks to coloured contacts. “Vampiress was born in a place of darkness. Feelings of anger, fear, dread became a disease for her, but in reality, it gave her life. This mask became a symbol of something stronger. I was no longer scared. I became confident. As I walk, I feel a spell fall on those around me, captivated by power and grace. But there was hunger. Hunger for revenge. There were people who let me feed. Tempted me. I would do their whims and feed on the weak. I felt alive, and yet, incomplete.”
Vampiress looks towards her tag partner, Cali, and says. “I feel for my friend’s troubles. I know what it is like to be told what to do by people who never understand me or respect me. How I got out was through MAYHEM. I belonged there. In a cruel world, they survive together. My friend has big choices to make. I will be there. I will support, but never force. I am in America for MAYHEM. I am in America to learn. . .” Then, she raises her voice, and subtitles appear on the screen as she yells in Japanese. “(I am in America to slay!)”
Nodding, Cali looks at Vampiress. “And I feel as though I owe you something for what happened in Korakuen Hall.” She lightly pats Vampiress on the shoulder before turning to the camera and raises her voice. “The point is, in a time where I need backup, someone to talk to, I’m going to someone I trust. I also need someone to stand by my side and kick some ass in Lethal Lottery and there are few I know who are as good as this woman right here! AMA needs to find out what MAYHEM is all about! We both have an ax to grind. I want to show that now, there will be no indecision, and that is a bad-bad combination for our opponents. The makeshift team of Johnny Blaze and Azrael Gamma!”
“Who would let these two team together?” Vampiress scoffs. “Two people so different…”
Cali shrugs, “Like how a girl with a vampire mask and a Canadian can become close friends and trios champions with a bundle of crazy for almost a year?” Pointing to her masked friend and herself, Cali adds. “But there are things that unite us beyond just a unit or wrestling in the same company. We’re building our identities together. We’re two young women trying to make an impact at the same time.” Cali puts her hand on her chest. “And truthfully, nobody has pushed me more than Vampiress and now everyone’s brackets for Lethal Lottery have been turned on its head because we’re not just rising single stars, but a hell of a team that can hurt you in many different ways. Right, Vampiress?”
“Indeed, and by any means needed.” Vampiress quips before changing to her native language. The screen has translations on it for our primarily English audience. “(I will speak in my own language just to get this message forward. I am a smart woman. I am a dangerous woman. This mask of mine represents my spirit. A vampire is a monster. A master huntress with speed, strength, beauty, and hunger. Since I was fifteen, I have been training for this. When most people were in school struggling to learn basic concepts I was going through the hardest training a wrestler can go through and preparing myself to take pain and give it out. I know what it takes to win a match. I know how to make even the toughest competitors fade into the night.)”
Through her mask, looking at her red contact covered eyes, she glares into the camera, the candles near her giving a glow, and she has a smirk on her face. “(And I don’t need weapons to do it. Anyone can be dangerous with a weapon in their hands. A tough person can do damage without it, not hide behind it. Azrael Gamma, you call yourself the ‘Angel of Deathmatches,’ and the ‘Necromancer,’ but you will meet a Wicked Spirit which will can not be commanded. We do not fear you. Together, MAYHEM will drag the Angel through his personal hell.)”
Looking at Vampiress, Cali Hayama nods, rattling her chair a bit, then continues on. “That’s the goal. Azrael Gamma, can I call you Gammy? You seem like a big bad tough guy. Scars upon scars on your body. You wear that face paint. You have a mean streak in deathmatches, love pain, right? Well congratulations, you blood fetish freak, you may have found your fantasy of two Asian women beating you to a bloody pulp!” A smirk on her face, Cali continues, “Unfortunately, we can’t hit you with light tubes, barbed-wire, and all those tools of your darkest desires.” She adds, “Because, let’s face it, nobody would consent to doing that to you outside of a wrestling ring. Hell,” She shakes the chair again, “This isn’t even allowed and this is the most classic of wrestling weapons! Your main thing is out of question in this match! You won’t be the Angel of the Deathmatch against us.” Cali tosses the chair away with the steel clanging on the ground, “You’ll be the Angel of Nothing!”
Following on, Vampiress, keeping in her language, speaks as Cali paces behind her. “(And I have met your type before, the Deathmatch crew. In Japan, it is the most brutal variation of the Deathmatch possible and while it is not my first choice, I have seen some tough men and women come from it. But those people were Japanese. What happens to the Westerners who come? They come from your tough wrestling from trampolines and enter into a war. They use weapons, but they do not learn how to fight. Against a competitor who can do both, or even just fight, as their weapons turn against them, they experience pain they are not ready for. The adrenaline fades and they become prey to the stronger. They see red as their flesh becomes ripped and torn.)”
Glazing above, she continues. “(As life begins to fade from them, they look up and beg for mercy. A crimson red flushes from their body. Their vision blurs, body becomes numb before they fade to darkness, wishing they would never wake again.)” Vampiress looks into the camera again. “(That only becomes the short-term price. Long-term, the price is greater. Your lust for violence is a terrible addiction. You want it badly. You want to cause it, but can you take it forever? You had your eye come out of your head, but will it go back in the next time? Every scar, you run the risk of cutting too deep. Your blood may pour, but eventually you reach your last drop. Time is running out for you. The hands of time wait for no man while my spirit is immortal and will last beyond me.)”
“No one is untouchable,” Cali says before she continues to pace around her friend and continues to talk. “How long have you been doing this, Gammy? Ten years, most of which have been running this deathmatch style? Don’t get me wrong, no matter what style you wrestle, it will be a challenge for your body. But thinking of it, you have ten years experience, and yet your body must feel like it’s been through twenty. As Vampiress was saying…” She looks at Vampiress, “In her unique way,” and Vampiress simply gives a small grin under her mask, “It catches up. All those close-calls and injuries are going to build and build until you are a shell of a man. Then look at your face paint. You wear it for intimidation, maybe some symbolism like my friend here, but it washes away. It washes away until we see you as a person. I don’t think it’s someone who is a big bad monster, but someone who is scared. Someone who is scared of being mocked or pushed around by someone better. So you hide behind your weapons. You break your body until you're numb to the pain. In the ring with us, you’ll still be scared. You’ll be scared of your big tough guy image going up in smoke as these two Joshi ladies kick your face in, causing pain you never thought was possible in a non-deathmatch, and wrestle circles around you.”
“Speaking of smoke…” Vampiress mentions in English, “Why on Earth does your country allow weed? It stinks so much!”
Chuckling, Cali gives an answer, “Because it’s no worse than drinking and a bunch of people were doing it anyway.” She pauses before clarifying, “Not that I’d know personally, just not my thing.” Turning to the camera, Cali continues. “But I guess there is no better time to talk about the odd partner choice he has in the also debuting Johnny Blaze.”
“Look, Jonathan, buddy. If I’m going to be honest, you are officially the second pothead I have faced from Colorado. The other guy was in LDW, a good six foot five. Way bigger than you, and I was barely a year in. Yet I beat him. I beat him in like… five minutes. Sorry to say this, but if I’m being blunt here,” Cali winks, “The bar will be low for you to clear, no pressure, I’m sure you won’t disappoint. Show up to the ring sober, you’re already two steps ahead. Sadly. you are still out of your element against us. You have a lot to prove to be on our level. You are in a Frankenstein tag team against a proper team that has already shown they can work together and do it well at a championship level. You’re an athletic guy, but you’re also against the most athletic person in AMA who can move like nobody else. You're against Vampiress who moves with a grace that can't be taught. Not to mention we can take a break running circles around you to kick you so hard you’d become sober again!"
Pointing to her tag partner, Vampiress, Cali also adds.
"Remember, she is making her American debut. She has been training since she was a teen to not just rise the ranks in her own country but to showcase herself world-wide one day. She wants her debut to go well." Cali points towards herself. "I’m still pretty salty!" Then the Slayer-Queen points towards the camera. "You are in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong partner against the wrong people!”
“Poor Johnny. There will be no mercy for you.” Adding on, Vampiress continues, switching back to Japanese, “(And do you really want it? I heard some things about you. You joined wrestling on a whim smoking marijuana. You have been wrestling longer than your partner and you have no championships to speak of? Do you really have the desire? As my friend mentioned, I have been wrestling since I was younger. But also I did it despite the wishes of my family at the time. That was the birth of my mask and has since evolved to who I am today. I knew that wrestling was where I belonged. It was where I thrived. It was where I found strength.)”
Interjecting, Cali raises her hands, “And hey, if I didn’t want to wrestle, I could just stick to content creation, streaming on Twitch, and all that. Though I doubt that both jobs I have are the most stable.”
“(Yes.)” Looking at Cali, Vampiress turns back and gestures to her, “(In a pandemic, she leaped at a chance to compete in a foreign country just to simply wrestle again. It was in a language she required to practice more, but she wanted it. Many times she comes to Japan and I see her on her laptop editing her videos, trying to balance both, because she still wishes to be there. You seem like a friendly person, but the wrestling world chews you up and spits you out, especially when you do not want it as much as your opponents. MAYHEM survives. MAYHEM thrives. MAYHEM comes together to shake up the system. When I am here in AMA, I will continue it, and you are simply prey to a hunter and the slayer.)”
Vampiress motions towards Cali who speaks with a rare calmness.
“And that’s what I want, to shake things up.” She points to her head, “And no, a haircut isn’t part of it. I just wanted to try something new. I need to prevent things from going south before it happens. Vampiress reminds me what I did to bring myself up a level. Stop playing around, fight like you mean it, push yourself, and don’t let anyone step on you. I need that again. I need to make choices that reflect that. Even if I plan on being a singles wrestler in the long-term here, this Lethal Lottery is just the chance to prove why I have what it takes to be a top-”
Cali’s voice trails off as she holds her finger like a gun, pointing it towards the camera, she chooses her next words carefully,
“-player in AMA Wrestling. Being AMA Tag Team Champion will be a good step.”
Vampiress stands up before speaking in English. Her voice is cold. “And I wish to be a star in America. To be a star, Blaze and Gamma will be a sacrifice. This is our way. Do what we need. Cause mayhem, and beat those in our way, friend or foe. We are a force you two will not beat. Consider us on the hunt…”
“Consider yourself the hunted,” Cali follows.
“Hear the bell toll for a change.” Then Vampiress says.
“A change for the tag team division in AMA” Cali adds.
“As Azrael burns in hell…” Vampiress follows.
“And Johnny goes on one bad trip.” Cali goes next.
“MAYHEM lives in AMA.” Vampiress begins to stand up next to Cali.
“And finally people will know our place.” The Gaijin-Joshi winks.
Vampiress does a small throat slashing gesture with her finger, “System down…”
Then Cali does her own throat slash, even giving her head a small tilt, “And game over…”
Both members of MAYHEM hold out the “M” hand gesture. Vampiress shows a devious smirk as Cali Hayama, has a driven look in her eyes. Soon the image fades with the ladies standing in the candle lit room.
-Cali Hayama & Vampiress-
