It the shots don't kill you, the bear will.

Tokyo Medical University Hospital

February 28th, 2025

Why would I expect to be staying at any other place, after being pushed out of a car and told to bodyguard for some underworld street karate Sensei?

I am asking a serious question…to myself. I can’t speak Japanese, so I just lay in my hospital bed and talk to myself.

Truth is, I don’t normally enjoy the answers I come up with. It has been a whirlwind few months and I have yet to fully comprehend what The Octopus is, but I do know who Ellis Jackson is. He is my amazing mentor…

…Haha.

Sorry, no.

I cannot stand this guy. I cannot stand having to take advice from him. I cannot stand having to do what he says. I cannot stand his smile. I cannot stand his scent. I cannot stand his opinion on Pineapple on Pizza.

I think you get it.

Yet, I can’t do anything about it. I made a promise and who wouldn’t want to finally be with their family again?

At the same time though I am aware of my recent successes and how they can be traced back to the start of my initiation. That is something that is very hard to swallow. I have always made it a point, to claim that I am my own boss. Even in the past when I ran with a stable, I always was the one on the outside doing what I felt was needed for the group to succeed.

Well…that’s what I always thought at least.

This is where I start to second guess myself.

This is where I start to think that, hey…maybe this is what I always needed.

I shook my head as I tried to empty it of those intrusive thoughts.

They just kept returning though. The small stab wound on my thigh throbbed as if it was warning me that things were going to get a lot worse.

Did I forgot to mention that during my bodyguard work I was stabbed in the thigh by some nearsighted cartoon looking character that honestly just looked like Ellis in a racist Japanese costume? Sorry, guess I was trying to block out that remarkable experience. I gained so much from that. Sarcasm.

It was him…wasn’t it?

I can picture him watching a Don Rickles stand up as he put the costume together thinking what he was about to do would help make me a stronger fighter. That is always his excuse anyway, right?

I groaned.

I grabbed the remote control and started flipping channels to see if I could find the PRIME show.

The fact remains that however I might feel about everything, I am seeing results. Hessian came into our match not giving me a second though. He let his lackey insult me as he ignored me and, in the end, I beat the monster. I should have been proud of that accomplishment.

The Dark Arts.

Abracadabra!

It dawned on me while I was slowly walking back to the locker room that I don’t care about my pride.

What is my pride worth anyway?

One win?

A title belt?

Tree-fiddy?

The arrogance of someone like me having pride would dwarf Ellis Jackson’s exasperating ego. I haven’t accomplished anything I said I would. Maybe I am better off without taking pride in what I do, because it seems to always get in my way.

Pretty pathetic thought.

So, yea I cheated, and I felt a bit bad about it, but then I imagined the alfredo hair being pulled out afterwards and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I had found the PRIME show and had been keeping an on eye on it and there was our hero: Cancer Jiles, explaining that he won’t be defending his Five Star Championship.

Everyone is going to go down with that ship--- eventually. When someone who can captain a ship leaves it to the dim-witted clown to steer, we get millions of dawn soap commercials about cleaning oil-soaked water birds. Get your stockbroker on the line.

The thigh throbbed again.

Yep, its leading the charge to that knife that constantly pokes my brain: ‘what would Rebecca say?’

Ugh.

Arg.

Erg.

Would I even be recognizable to her?

Who the hell am I anyway?

I am certainly not the person hellbent on redemption anymore. I don’t need anything that doesn’t align with The Octopus, right? So…what am I to them? A failson? A future leader? A tax write off? A distraction? A new beginning?

Lot of questions…no answers, but the questions have started to lessen. Not because they aren’t there, but because I have started to tire of asking. That is always the end game for those in power, isn’t it? Make it so difficult that the questions just end, and the people just become the puppet that dances to the power’s whim.

Do I give up that easy?

The PRIME show had just gotten crazy as the Glue went to war with The Red Army and The Nope They Ain’t No Heroes (that’s the feeling I get) and then he showed up…

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

…Ellis Jackson with the happy jolf clap and I felt my teeth were going to shatter as I grit them in anger at seeing him there while I was in the hospital.

I seethed at seeing him.

I am not giving up that easy.

I turned the TV off and closed my eyes.

--

“Hahaha, tis but a flesh wound.”

My eyes flickered when I heard those words, but I rolled over hoping it was a dream.

“Sensei, how much time do we have?”

I heard some Japanese being said and I began to understand what voices I was hearing, and I was less than happy.

“That’s all? Jeez, ok, time to…”

I turned swiftly towards the voice of that dick head and my eyes opened, “time to do what, you asshole?”

“Oops, guess we woke him up.”

I was still half asleep but my whole body began to shake in anger as I stared at the smiling Ellis Jackson. He stared down at me with both of his hands behind his back. The Sensei stood behind him and gave me a wink and pointed at my thigh. “What do you two jokers want?”

“We have a Manhunt, Steve, do you know what that means?” Ellis asked as he took a small step backwards from me.

“Uh…what?”

He pointed his hands to the ceiling, “it means we have training to do!”

I shook my head, “Oh no, fuck NO! You left me in a damn hospital while you go and clap at the end of Revival. I am not doing a damn thing you say.”

“Tsk, tsk,” he shook his head. “I did that for you, Steve. I did that for The Octopus. If you couldn’t show up, I had to, so the world would not forget about My…uh…Our…uh…YOUR greatness.”

“I couldn’t show up because you stabbed me while dressed in your Japanese cosplay outfit!”

“Pfft…you can’t prove that.”

“I can’t…what????” I tried moving from the hospital bed and realized that he had tied me down to the bed at my waist. “Let me out of this, Ellis!”

Ellis looked at Sensei, “Sensei…”

I grunted, “oh stop calling him Sensei, his name is Ren, and who cares about his opinion? He is just your yes man.”

Ren looked at me and responded in bad English, “Yes…Man.”

I rolled my eyes and Ellis shrugged, “you heard him, Steve. I have plans for you because without me you won’t become a successful wrestler or become a member of The Octopus. You are my nephew though and my sister…I mean The Marine Biologist has given me the job to whip you into shape.” He had obviously done a great job of forgetting the recent phone call he had with her because it really was all about HIM.

I began to rock back and forth as I attempt to free myself, but it wasn’t working. “How about you let me ask her?”

Ellis froze at that and then frowned at me. “Oh, nephew, I don’t enjoy threats like that but guess what? It doesn’t matter because we don’t have a lot of time.”

“Time for what?”

“No time, Sensei,” Ellis paused and looked at me and gave me a smirk, “Ren, get to work!”

I looked around and didn’t see where that street fighting failure had gone to. Suddenly I felt a prick at the side of my neck and turned to see that he had moved behind my hospital bed and was holding a syringe. “Ellis, you son of a bitch!”

“Relax, it will just put you asleep for a while. We have a Helicopter ride to get to and nobody is safe from the hunt, hehehe.”

“A helicopter…” before I could finish, I felt my eyes become heavy and I passed out.

--

I was still asleep, and I was boiling as my consciousness started to reawake.  A rage so deep was making my entire body hot and then my eyes opened. All I could think of is beating Ren within an inch of his life. I looked around and realized very quickly that I was alone in what seemed like an old hiking cabin. My American sensibilities wouldn’t think an old shrine but that’s beside the point. This place was run down and looked to have been inhabited with more birds than any humans recently. Old nests, new nests, I wasn’t sure, but they were just about everywhere. I rolled over and saw a big backpack and on top of it, a letter.

My hand shook when I grabbed it because I knew damn well this wasn’t going to be a letter that made me pleased. I flipped it open and began to read:

“Welcome to Mount Fuji. To escape the hunt of men, you first, must get down the mountain. There is some food in the backpack and any other accessories Sensei approved. Good Luck, Little Jellyfish.”

Mount Fuji

“I seriously must have committed some heinous crimes in my past life.”

I looked down at my watch and saw it was a bit after seven in the morning, so perfect timing to get this over with. I grabbed the backpack and put it on and stood up. I walked towards the door to leave and the wooden floor creaked so much I thought I was going to fall through but I got to the door and opened it up. “Holy smoke,” I was hit with a burst of cold wind. I hugged my jacket close and made sure to zip it all the way up to my chin.

“It sure is quite the view,” I said as I stepped outside and looking around where I had been left, “too bad I won’t be able to enjoy this.”

I took a deep breath and started my downward trek down the mountain. I wasn’t sure how far up I was. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to make it down. The one thing I knew was that I when this was all done, I wanted a big plate of sushi and days away to myself…especially away from Ellis.

I was making what I thought was great time, but I was surrounded between trees everywhere and noises with no source I could see. Then I tripped on what had to be a root of a tree. WHACK.  

The Tree.

“Oh, hey.”

I opened my eyes, and I was back. I stared at what I had realized a while back a younger version of me. The me that remember the past but could not understand the present and shied away when any trauma showed up. With me that means he had disappeared completely because if my life wasn’t ridiculous enough…it seemed to just run on trauma.

“Oh, hey yourself. You didn’t just disperse into nothing, huh?”

He frowned at me and shook his head, “I just…remember things, remember?”

We were outside of what was my home growing up. A large tree was in front of us, and he leaned against it with a smug knowing look on his face. “We used to climb this in our attempt to pet the baby birds on the top. We never made it though because this tree was gigantic. The further we went up, the less branches for climbing there were and then that day happened.”

“Huh?”

He took a step towards me and motioned me to lean down. I did what he asked and then he poked me in the forehead with his index finger. “This seems to be a good way to get us all hmmm…together?”

I closed my eyes and suddenly remembered what he was talking about. That day when a branch broke, and I fell from what seemed like one hundred feet to a kid and right on top of my left arm.

I opened my eyes and looked at my left arm. The scar from the surgery I had gone through was still there. I had never given that scar a second thought because I never knew why it was there…in my current state. “Are you trying to scare me because I am currently trying to traverse millions of trees to get down a mountain?”

“Heh, maybe it’s because a tree beat you up again.”

I groaned. I had no comeback to that because I was certain I slipped and smacked headfirst into a trunk of a tree. “What is the lesson then?”

“You can’t trust these people.”

“What people?”

“Mom,” he said quietly as he fidgeted with his hands. He looked down to the ground with sadness in his eyes.

I looked up at the tree and then the surrounding area and noticed something was missing. I looked back down at him…uh…me, “I don’t understand what one has to do with the other, but something feels off.”

He sighed, “where is she?”

Exactly. That is what was off. I remember falling from the tree and destroying my arm, but I don’t remember her being there.

“I…”

He continued as he rubbed the tree bark, “he always showed up instead.”

I titled my head to left in confusion from what he said, “he?”

“Watch for the birds.”

“What?”

  SQUAWK!  

My eyes opened.

Yep, the birds were everywhere on this mountain. I wasn’t sure how long I was out for, but it had made me a bit chilly. To climb down this mountain shouldn’t take more then six hours but between me having zero path on where I was left and the being unconscious for a time I might not end until the sun had gone down. I looked at my watch and sighed, I felt pathetic.

I have no idea how this is supposed to help me compete against everyone in PRIME in the Manhunt match. I was pretty sure Ellis just liked putting me in ridiculous situations and watching me squirm. I grumbled and started making my way back down the picturesque mountain.

Again, I was making good progress and mumbled to myself about bandits, red army’s, heroes, elitist conquerors, whorespeople, and that everything I was experiencing: all the pain, the humiliation…it was going to land right back on all of them.

“TEN-FOLD!” I screamed to the sky full of birds as I skipped past an old tree that I must have missed, had big claw marks going down it.

Threatening outbursts have started to become a thing and it wasn’t something I was proud of. Then again…I continually remember that who gives a shit about pride anyway? I can’t be put in a box if I want to ever be free again. I will do whatever it takes to find something---anything that can remove me from these chains that I have allowed others to put on me.

Instead, maybe I needed some goddamn glasses.

ROAR

“I THOUGHT THEY SHOULD BE HIBERNATING!”

Yep.

I swear to God this isn’t a comedy.

Welp, life is but a joke.

There I was running for my life now as a hungry Black Bear decided she didn’t like me getting within twenty feet of her cub.

Now, I am not one to brag but I was now making record time down Mount Fuji. My thigh throbbed, my head hurt, and I was panicking without a disco. I was running as well as I could, and the trees were reaching out and leaving me with cuts all over my pants and jacket.

My whole body was in pain, but I felt that was a good price to pay to not be a bear cubs first meal after hibernation.

I saw an opening before me and burst through to see a small plateau where Ellis was waiting with others and Ren with what it looked like a tranquilizer gun in his hand. These bastards knew exactly what was going to happen to me out here, “SHOOT IT.”

Ren took aim and shot, and I suddenly started feeling like I was moving in slow motion, and I came to the realization, “not me, you dick…”

--

The Memory

“Twice in one day, huh?”

That moron shot me with a tranquilizer and here I was back in my head again talking to myself. “I feel like I must be some jester for someone on a higher plane.”

He shrugged, “it’s what we must endure in this unconventional family. I suppose we could have always kept running away though.”

“Is there a story about me being shot as a kid I don’t remember either?”

“This isn’t where you should come for a lesson. Do you remember who was always there for us though? We didn’t have a parent that thought of us as anything more then a chess piece to move around. Father was a monster who worked to advance the efforts of the elites. Mother ignored us as she plotted against him. The reasons for the ice between them aren’t something I will ever understand. As I look back at the memories, I wish to share with you I am constantly forced to come to terms with things there that were forced on me or now reasons you are who you are.”

“You close your eyes to it though, while I want mine opened. I don’t remember him.”

He shook his head and motioned for me to lean down again. He put his head to mine, and I fell backwards as my eyes shut opened.

“Are you ok, Steve?” The voice says as the man before me ripped his own shirt and created a tourniquet to keep my damaged arm still.

I looked up through the eyes of myself as a child. I nodded with tears running down my cheeks, “I—I—Think so.”

He gave me a pat on the head and gave me a smile that made me feel like all my pain would melt away. “Ok, don’t worry I got you.”

--

“Don’t worry I got you, bud.”

My eyes opened slowly again but I felt dizzy and seemed to be being carried somewhere. I was off the Mountain though. I had survived the bear. I have survived the pain. I have survived Ellis…for now. I tried to concentrate to see who was talking to me, his words echoed from my dream to reality. A wash of knowledge suddenly came over me and I finally was able to get my eyes to see straight.

“Don’t rush anything. I have something for you from… Rebecca.”

My eyes got bigger. It was him…it was always him.

“Now, now…we can’t have that,” Ellis said as he grabbed something from the man’s hand. “No contraband. You should know better than this, and SHE will hear of your betrayal.”

“This isn’t betrayal…if anyone is betraying anyone its’s you, Ellis.”

I watched as Ellis’s face became deep red in anger. He stopped everyone from moving and pointed at the man’s chest, “you would be wise to just do your job…before you no longer have one, DOC!”

I began to uncontrollably laugh. I laughed through the scars. I laughed through the pain. I laughed from this ridiculous time in Japan.  

It was Doc. Hahaha, it was always him on my side.

What a fool I had been.

--

What a cruel joke my mind has played on me since I awoke from that coma five years ago.

Let me welcome every member of PRIME to The Manhunt.

I have nothing to fear.

I have already been getting stabbed and broken apart my entire time in Japan.

This will be like a vacation.

Only thing Ellis left me when I woke up was a bottle of glue.

“Use this as, it uses you.”

I don’t think he understands what he has wrought.

I remember what he took from Doc.

I remember it all.

Hehehe.

The hunt is on: MY Octopus, my love, my friend, and my fellow wrestlers.

--