Among The Sheep

[music]

-

I hadn’t seen Dada in a while.

I’d go looking for him, but I’m trapped in this prison Mama locked me into and I can’t get out. I’m not even sure how I would get there, but I’d manage. He couldn’t have gone that far, right? Mama said he went someplace called… Sanfranc… Cycle? Eh, it’s too long a name! Some place that’s not here! All I know that he’s not been here and Mama’s been here instead.

When’s Dada coming back home?

I expressed this question to Mama, but all she did was pick me up and gently swayed me back and forth. That’s fun and all, but it’s not Dada, you know? I don’t think Mama understands me. Then again, there’s not a lot I understand for myself. I can’t really remember things too well. I’m not even sure if I remember what Dada looks like, I just know there’s a Dada and I need him right now.

I don’t know why I need him right now, but clearly it’s important!

I don’t remember much after Mama swayed me. I think I was asleep. I dreamt of lots of colors and… sheep? It’s a sheep, right? The big fluffy things? I’m still working out the names of stuff, but there’s so much stuffy stuff that it’s hard to make sense of everything. Recently, I learned that the big green prison thing that Mama puts me into is called a “bouncer”, and it is my enemy. I want to escape it so badly! But those dangly things on the back of it have my attention, they go zoom when I touch them! And then I forget about my well-crafted escape plan that I put many thoughts into!

Of course, Mama’s watching me as I’m trying to make my daring escape. She’s even got that flat thing she talks into sometimes, what did they call it? A fo-ne? Yeah, that’s it! She’s pointing it my way and everything.

Then Dada walked in the room, yay! I’d recognize that forehead anywhere, yay!

He carried that big gold thing with him when he walked in, along with his bags. He looked so tired, and maybe he should have some sleepy time. I like sleepy time sometimes. Dada hugged Mama and did that weird thing with the lips, and then there he was in front of me!

He smiled like he did, and pat my head.

“Hey, Aoi, Dada’s home.”

*.*

I jump, it jumps with me. I’m trying to focus on how I could escape, but all those things in front of me are so shiny and every time I press a button, something new happens! I think it’s new, anyway. Dada’s watching me make my attempts, but I know he’s not going to help me yet. Clearly, he wants to see if I could do it on my own!

Dada’s so weird, by the way.

He’s not always home like Mama is, and he doesn’t make all of the weird sounds that Mama makes with all of her funny instruments.

Some days, he’s not wearing a shirt. Some days, he’s looking in front of a mirror in a big furry cape and trying to do that cool voice like he does in the big building with lots of scary people. I don’t know why Dada goes into the big building, or why he comes out of the big building looking all beat up. I don’t remember a lot of things, but I think Dada told me once that he has to fight big scary monsters in the big building.

Why? I don’t know why.

Dada stopped paying attention to me when he heard something loud hit our front door in a rhythm. He rolled his eyes, and said something to the effect of “what now?” under his breath.

I watched him stand up, his bones making a funny creak sound when he did. I hadn’t known Dada that long, but he always makes funny noises whenever he has to get up from watching my beautiful escape attempts. He’s got his eyes off of me, so now’s the time to really make my esca—wait, he’s going away. Nonono, don’t do that! I don’t like that! Come back!

I watched him reach the door, and open it up.

“Ha.”

Everything before me swallowed up into darkness with that one sound.

I couldn’t see what was behind the door, Dada’s body prevented me from seeing it, but… the presence was like smelling rotten eggs. I don’t even know what those are, but I smelled them. The darkness and the smell both had a name, but… it’s hard to remember because attaching stuff to memory’s hard.

Caner Gilays?

Something like that.

“Gilays,” Dada said, “Here to gloat in my face, I presume.”

I could barely see the shadow that’s in front of Dada, but it didn’t look pleasant. It’s like the head of a snake with big black eyes and a yellow-white marking at the top. I didn’t like looking at it, it’s icky. But Dada is there so maybe it’s safe to keep looking.

“I could tell you all of the mistakes you’ve made – in alphabetical order – that’ll lead to your eGGsecution in two months’ time. Chief among them being you thinking that you’re smarter than me,” Gilays said, darkness with every sound he made, “But I’m here for something else.”

The shadowy snake man held a fo-ne up for Dada to see.

“Oh, the selfie with Nate?” Dada asked, chuckling as he stood his ground and continued to keep me from seeing Caner Gilays, “What about it?”

“Clearly, you’ve forgotten how you got that belt around your waist.”

“I remember crushing an entire division under my heel while you were… I don’t know, trying to antagonize more of our roster than there were members of the eGG Bandits that could handle them. I also remember someone having terrible aim.”

Dada slid his finger across his cheek, but I didn’t know why.

“Ha.”

That one syllable was like all of the times Mama hit the wrong string on her fun sound toy and then she spent time afterwards saying a lot of her angry words. So many!

“I’m only going to ask this once about your guest,” Gilays said, “What. Did. You. Do?”

“Well, you know, we could only cover so much ground before you and the others arrived on Bandit One, so… I can only promise you that Nate didn’t rub his ass on everything in the ship.” Dada said, “Just some of it. Hey, did you actually use the cryostasis chamber after San Francisco, by chance? I hope you gave it a real deep cleanse before you got in there. Just saying.”

The weird snake shadow man held out his hand.

“Give them back.”

“Give what back?”

“The keys. You clearly can’t be trusted with them.”

Dada laughed.

“I gave you the opportunity to have the keys back before I cleaned Morty’s clock with your move, and you didn’t want them back then. Now that I’ve done something you really don’t like, that’s when you want them back? Cool, but no, I’m not giving them back to you yet.”

That shadow thing in front of Dada fumed black smoke in front of him, but I got the impression that Dada couldn’t see it like I could. It’s scary. This thing is scary.

“What.”

“Tell you what, Gilays,” Dada calmly reasoned in a way that I couldn’t because I was about to scream at him to close the door so I didn’t have to look at the scary thing anymore, “I’ll give you some options. Option one, change all the locks, leave no lock unchanged. Option two, you can fight me for them right now. In my house. Where I keep all of the RenFaire stuff. Hope you remember Annie’s mace. Option three, I put them on the line with the Universal title at UltraViolence and you can try to win them there.”

Dada chuckled, “If you can.”

“Ha,” the snake monster man made that awful sound again, “Can you even beat that crumb you’ve got in Sacramento after we left him on a silver platter for you?”

“What, you nervous for me? You know, I beat him well before I became a Bandit, I can do it again,” Dada said, “Unlike you, there’s never been red on my ledger against Nate.”

The snake monster man vibrated, the black of his being was going everywhere. He’s mad. He’s so mad that the black was leaking everywhere in little strings surrounding my Dada.

Scary, scary, scary…

I couldn’t take it anymore.

“GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE, YOU HORRIBLE THING! LEAVE DADA ALONE! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HAAAAAAATE YOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!” 

In front of me, despite my very articulate screaming and demands for Caner Gilays to leave Dada alone, neither Dada nor Gilays moved.

“Well, now Aoi’s crying…” he muttered.

“WHO EVEN HAS HAIR LIKE THAT!? IT’S UGLY! UGLY! UGLYYYYYYY!!!”

I’m sure he understood how grave my insult was through the screaming.

“Didn’t think this was a barn, but I see you’re raising her in one.” Gilays said. The black smoke that was Gilays focused on Dada, but that black stuff that’d been invading the house receded back into him. I continued screaming at him, because I think it’s working.

“Yeah, yeah, knock it off,” Dada said calmly, though maybe he was a little mad too, “Look, Gilays, unless you want to help me change Aoi’s diapers, I think you should leave. See you in Sacramento. Bring a gift before the throne, and bring the whole gang.”

The weird thing was silent at first, though he shot me a withering look that made me scream louder.

“YEAAAAAAAH! LEAAAAAAVE!!!”

He said something to Dada before he left, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. Whatever it was, though, after Dada closed the door and took a couple of steps away from it, he said some of Mama’s fun words to himself.

“Oof, that’s going in Mama’s swear jar,” Dada said afterwards.

The thing was gone now and I’d already forgotten about the black smoke or why I was still screaming.

Soon, though, it would be time for more escape attempts!

*.*

I don’t know anything about how prison works.

He set me up in a different prison, one that rattled every time I moved. That’s hilarious! Clearly, I am the master of this new, even bluer prison. The four-legged fur thing that Dada called “Mordred” looked at me funny, and ran off when I got excited to see it.

Either way, Dada was back in his seat and looking even more exhausted than he did before. Apparently, his most recent attempt at monster slaying didn’t go so well, which I can understand since we just had a monster show up and it was very scary. I’ve calmed down now. I’m trying to get these rings out from this pipe, but it’s not easy. There doesn’t seem to be an end to this pipe.

Then the door knocked again.

“Oh, for God’s sake…” Dada muttered, “Always when it’s my turn with Aoi.”

He creaked his way to the door and opened it up, and there was a big white cowboy hat standing there. I guess there’s a big forehead attached too. Some other pointless things, too. This cowboy hat looks at Dada and says, “Howdy, Cor. Just droppin’ in.”

Whereas Dada was very calm earlier, not that I remember why he was so calm any more, Dada immediately closed the door and muttered a couple of Mama’s favorite words to himself. I immediately forgot who or what he was talking to, but then the door knocked again. Dada hesitated before he opened the door again, and there was a cowboy hat again!

“Rude,” the cowboy hat said.

“It’s been a long day, Merle,” Dada said, “Gilays dropped by earlier, so I’d really like fewer people ‘dropping in’.”

The cowboy hat laughed at that prospect as he stepped inside the house despite Dada’s every effort to keep him from doing so, “Really shouldn’ta let that guy find out where ya lived, brother!”

“That’s true of a lot of people paying me a visit lately,” Dada said, grumpily, as the cowboy hat looked around the room like he’s judging everything inside it. He stared at a few of Dada’s shiny things hung up on displays, with the newest one set neatly on the mantel above the big flat box with all of the people coming out of it, “So, what do you want? Surely the CEO of a Fortune 500 company isn’t paying me a house call just because they happen to be in the area?”

Merle-hat slid into the chair that Dada always sat in like he’s the one who owned it.

“Well, seein’ as though I’m helpin’ to fund yer lil’ adventures lately, thought I’d come with the receipt.”

Dada sighed. He plopped down on the couch where Mama usually liked to take me, and stared at Merle-hat like he was trying to make him go away. He wasn’t a horrible snake monster, though, so I refrained from screaming at him.

“I shouldn’t be surprised that everything’s transactional for you,” Dada grumbled, “You’re the one who offered to pay for the skyboxes, you didn’t say anything about strings attached.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Cor,” Merle-hat said, “I’m just meetin’ your expectations. Not like ya to just accept my offers easily, y’know?”

“And then you wonder why I don’t.” Dada tossed his hands up, “Alright, spill it.”

Merle-hat smiled wide.

“Y’know, I got two sons. Oldest’s gone off to college. Way I’m thinkin’ it, he’ll end up in the company before long. Might even take my place when he gets to be yer age!” Merle-hat said, laughing giddily the whole time. He’s weird, funny like Dada is, but with a hat. “But my younger, well, he’s a bit of a hellion! Pickin’ fights, gettin’ in trouble… why, he even told me that he wanted to be a pro wrestler like you! Can ya believe it?”

Oh, Dada turned several shades whiter than normal!

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dada said.

“And he hasn’t let go of that insanity yet, just like someone else I know! So, I thought to myself… I can’t stop ‘im once he gets out of high school. He’ll go off gallivantin’ the countryside, prolly learn to do it all wrong, and get ‘imself in all kinds of trouble. So, best to push ‘im through yer door instead!” Merle-hat laughed as he fiddled with one of those flat things all the big adults had, and put it up to his ear, “Come on in, Percy!”

The front door swung open and a young man who looked a lot younger and less pale than Papa or Merle-hat walked in. Blonde hair draped over one side of his face, droopy eyes, forehead, he looked… I don’t know, like a sad boy. Like a very, very sad boy. He dressed nice like Dada did sometimes, though, I guess!

“Percy, this here’s yer Uncle Cor,” Merle-hat said cheerfully.

The Sad-Boy-That-Is-Percy scoffed, speaking in a low bored tone, “I know who he is, dad. You wouldn’t stop talking about him on the way here. Not like I hadn’t seen him wrestle before, either.”

Dada raised an eyebrow at Merle-hat, and rose from his seat to face Sad-Boy-That-Is-Percy. He crossed his arms as he looked him over, “Where’d you first see me wrestle?”

“LSCW. Baton Rouge. Three years ago. Snuck out with some friends, watched you wrestle some clown in a mask, then got caught coming home,” Sad-Boy-That-Is-Percy said as he stared at Dada with the one eye that I could see, then he looked at Merle-hat grumpily, “Grounded for two weeks.”

Dada asked a bunch of questions about the specific clown. He’d wrestled so many! He used one word in particular, lunch… adore? Something like that. Sad-Boy-That-Is-Percy answered them very brusquely. Something about a Homicide Jester? Whatever that is. Words are hard.

Finally, Dada said, “I can train you, Percy, but I won’t sugarcoat this. Everything you do after training is in your hands. I can get your foot in the door, but you have to be the one to force it open. And there’s folks on the other side who’d love to slam it shut on you just because you have ‘Avalon’ in your name.”

“Okay,” Sad-Boy-That-Is-Percy made a gross sound with his mouth, “Whatever, man. I’ll see you next year.”

He flippantly waved his hand, and marched out of the house.

How rude!

Dada shook his head.

“Real class act you’ve raised, Merle,” Dada said.

“Got the ex to thank fer ‘is lip, thanks,” Merle-hat smiled brightly, and then looked my way. He approached me slowly, and I didn’t feel threatened because… I don’t know. He reminded me of Dada a little bit. Not sure why.

“Maybe you’ll understand when yer lil’ one grows just how hard kids are.”

*.*

When I became PRIME Universal champion, I vowed to act like the champion I want to be. I'll make my appearances, I'll make some wishes, dress the part, and when the time comes I'll step in that ring to defend my hard-won crown. I have to. I can't let the circumstance behind how I became the champion define me.

So, it's funny that you'd be my first opponent, Nate Colton. You'd like to address that red in our ledger from the last time we met, no doubt.

Well, deep down, I’m jealous of you, Nate.

I’m jealous that you had a family that supported you when you chose to enter this business. An actual, honest-to-God “wrestling family”.

I’ve never had that.

My family did everything they could to keep me from being here.

It’s not exactly a great secret or anything, but I had to cut myself off from a boundless fortune and endure the hardships of poverty and pro wrestling on my own. I did everything you aren’t supposed to do to become a pro wrestler. I dropped out of high school, I lied about my age, I mortgaged my very future. I sacrificed. All because I didn’t want a future that I didn’t write for myself. I’m damn talented at this, I worked hard to hone that talent, and it was almost not enough to succeed.

I lived in a halfway house in Cleveland when I broke into Action! Wrestling. I used to share space with Rook Black and Frank Heimdall. Because I was still an untested rookie lucky to even be working for Reed Young’s promotion, I got paid the bare minimum even when I was main eventing pay-per-views before I was 20.

You don’t know humiliation until you’ve wrestled such a main event against a mucus goblin named Keith Scott Zimmerman and then have to call in sick to the part-time job you worked to help make ends meet because you could barely walk after that match. None of my co-workers knew who I was, but they’d always ask why I always came to work with new bruises. I was too proud to admit to them that I wrestled for an actual major wrestling company.

I did all of this because I love the sport of professional wrestling, for good and for ill. When I finally earned a contract that earned me real money, I cried because I could finally devote myself fully to my passion.

I know you’ve had your own hardships, Nate. The grass is always greener on the other side, after all. You’ve had a lot to live up to from being the son of Jake Colton, meeting the standard he set. You carry his name and legacy with you in everything you do, from your ring gear to your satin jacket. I never had a satin jacket, unless you count the one I got from Denki Gai.

You were given the world, Nate, and you made it your own through your hard work and his support.

And… I never had that.

I had to scratch, claw, bite, and shed blood until I built a world of my own. I’m not always proud of the things I did to do it. I’m not some hero. I style myself a conqueror, after all. No conqueror’s hands are ever truly clean. No wolf’s hunts are ever bloodless.

I am a wolf amongst sheep.

Now that this crown is finally mine, I’m not letting anyone but me take it from me. Not even you. I am not the same Crownless King that took the 5-Star Championship from you in Kansas City. I am something more now.

In Sacramento, you step into a den of wolves with the King of Conquerors.