Re-enter the Dragon

Kozue really needed to find better things to do with her day. More productive things. Or at least more people to do less productive thinfs with.

Take the current situation, for instance. Tonight's Tension show would be starting soon, but she didn't have any matches on the back burner. No match to suit up for.d. Nothing pressing to occupy her time with. She intended to hang around backstage and watch the matches, but until showtime started, she was shit out of things to occupy her time with.

That was, until she found a pinball machine.

It wasn't anything fancy, just some machine the tech guys had set up to occupy their time after the show was done. Back to the Future themed. Little dusty, kind of rusty, slightly musty. Something most people wouldn't have spared two glances on.

Kozue saw more. She saw something she could screw around with for the next hour, at least.

She walked around it, plugged it in, started it up, and it immediately came to life along with a host of memories. It had been ages since she'd seen a real, straight up pinball machine. All the clinking noises, the cheesy little sounds, the whirs and whistles - pure undiluted nostalgia. She was in love.

Kozue started up a game, got to work, pulled the plunger back... and almost immediately failed. Dead in two seconds. She'd loved pinball, but never been all that good at it, always forcing her Mom to plop down quarter after quarter time after time, just so she could squeak on the leaderboards. Ten years out of practice hadn't made her any better, either.

But the fun for her wasn't winning - though, goddamn, she was having trouble hitting that one target in the corner - it was all about getting herself a little slice of her past back.

Alex sat in the hallway by the loading dock. He was wearing his black dragon mask, a black hoodie and sweatpants...not exactly wrestling gear. He didn't have a match planned anytime soon but at the same time he didn't like the idea of just avoiding the arena all together. He wanted to be around in case he ever needed to...intervene with anything going on. It wasn't a great reason, of course, but it was one he could at least convince himself to believe.

Admittedly, though, he was hiding. Not from anyone in particular though. Things had changed a lot in the last year, and his normal routine. His old faction was no more. It wasn't entirely because of Aurora's departure, but that played a huge factor. She was a full time mother now, and he a part time uncle. And the whole crusade against the Higurashi and co had to be cancelled for good. He saw them too often to try anything, and when it came down to it anything he did put Aurora and her daughter at social risk as well.

And it really didn't help that Talia exploded at everyone. The last thing he needed was to set off another drama bomb as well. He did agree with Mamouru on that one thing. Megumi did deserve a happy, welcoming home. She didn't need Higurashis and Wilsons flying through windows and walls. He had to lay low for awhile and let things diffuse before he could try to reclaim the spotlight. There were other things to do in the meantime after all.

...He just couldn't think of any at that moment.

He fiddled around with his phone, rotating it with his fingers until he got a text from someone he'd been contacting recently. He read it with a smile, perhaps not expecting an answer so soon. He hammered out a response and got to his feet. He made his way back through the hallway towards one of the common rooms with TVs, drinks, and snacks for wrestlers and staff alike. As he did, he passed by someone playing what looked like a pinball machine out of the corner of his eye. He laughed. The Japanese seemed to really enjoy their little games.

The most annoying thing about this pinball machine wasn't the way Kozue kept losing and wasting her hard-earened quarters. No, it was the way she could've sworn she used to be better at this, once upon a time. Maybe she wasn't a wizard, but she could at least get a halfway decent score after she'd ingested enough sugarm. Now she was having trouble just getting the ball away from the gutter for more than five seconds. Maybe the machine was tilted poorly. Maybe it was had some rusty gears. Maybe she just sucked, now. Kozue was banking hard on the first two thoughts.

She was so wrapped up in the moment that she hadn't even noticed she wasn't alone. Not until she heard someone chuckle behind her. Didn't even bother looking his way - probably just some asshole getting a cheap smile. His laugh was a little familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Something funny, man?" She huffed as another ball met its untimely demise. One more restart. Just one.

As he walked along, Alex thought that he recognized the woman's voice as well. But it wasn't a voice that really resonated any anxiety or concern in him so he just ignored it at first. "I just find it amusing how interested some people are in simple light and sound games. I guess it appeals to your inner one year old." He hadn't meant for his statement to come off as an insult, he was just speaking his mind. But then again, he had a habit of pushing people the wrong way without even trying sometimes. "You know...like we all do," he added just for safe measure. He was suppose to be laying low anyhow.

Finally, he turned around as he got about ten feet away from the woman. And a wide grin formed across his face. Well, well, well. "Maybe one day you'll finally find something you're actually good at." He turned back around and laughed again as he continued walking down the hallway. Of course it would have been someone like Kozue.

Kozue's  life was full of assholes. It seemed like every month or so, a new asshole would intrude on her life. The AFW was rife with assholes. Overflowing with them. Back home, in the States, she wouldn't have let a guy like that get away with what he said, even if he had qualified it right after.

But it had been a humbling year, and she was learning to pick her battles with a wee bit more care. She had enough problems with starting beefs with random jerkoffs around the backstage area. So, with that in mind, she was willing to let the guy go with nothing more than a quick flip of the middle finger. She didn't even glance his way.

But then he kept talking. And it wasn't just what he said, but the way he said it. She knew that voice. She knew that laugh. It had been a while, but she was almost 90% sure where she'd heard it from before, and 100% sure what she'd do if she was right.

Kozue moved away from the machine and let the ball fall. Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to wait.

"Hey, dipshit." She walked after the guy - the very big guy, she noticed - as he made his way down the hall. "Didn't catch that last thing. Say it again."

Alex stopped when walking away when finally talked back to by the ninja-girl. He wasn't sure if it was the comment that really ticked her off or if she had just gotten a little revelation about who had said it. Still, he grinned at what sounded like a challenge, and slowly turned around halfway.

"Nothing. Just...speaking my mind," he casually stated with a very obvious smirk through the mask. He was suppose to be avoiding conflict, but what conflict was there really? Kozue was a small, big-headed, and loud-mouthed girl. There really shouldn't have been any problem at all with a little taunting, right? After all last time he checked, Kozue was part of the Higurashi's little training wrestling dojo thing place w/e and he imagined random brawls were not something they were allowed to casually do.

"How's uhh..." he lifted up his hand and rubbed his chin, hinting at the spot he kicked the last time they met. "Feeling any better?" he continued with another laugh before turning back to head to the break room. He had a meeting after all.

Yup, it was that fucker.

Oh, it had been a while since she ran into Black Dragon. A couple months. But you never really forget a guy who rams your face into the grill of an SUV and smashes a bottle over your head. Not that Dragon was going to any real length to hide who he was. He seemed confident. Cocky. Proud.

That alone would've been enough reason for Kozue to do what she was about to do, but then he went and did the cardinal sin, turning his back on her. The ultimate slap in the face. Like he could just do whatever he wanted to her and she'd just meekly sit back and accept it.

It seemed like he had better things to do with his day. Maybe a meeting or something to go to. Kozue had no idea where he was going, but she did know one thing: he was going to be late. "Motherfucker."

She waited until he was a few feet away, then broke into a dash towards him. She leaped up at the last moment and gave him a straight dropkick to the back, throwing all of her weight into it.

Dragon laughed under his breath as he walked away. Of course, he thought. After the last two beatings she wasn't brave enough to challenge him. He knew it.

The masked man had just pulled out his phone when he heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind him. He only had enough time to turn his head slightly before Kozue's dropkick hit his unprepared, defenseless back. He groaned in pain, dropped his phone and fell forward into a dolly of steel chairs. He knocked the dolly cleanly over with his shoulder before finally stopping face down.

The blow had knocked the wind out of him, but more importantly completely caught him off guard. As he recomposed, Dragon forced himself to one knee, his right hand gripping his left shoulder in pain. Fuck.

The good thing about a wrestling canvas was that it was soft, good to land on after doing things like a drop kick. Nothing at all like the cold, unforgiving tiles that she landed on after she kicked Black Dragon in the back. She crashed hard on her shoulder, sending a nasty jolt right into her bones.

But watching this asshole get knocked off his ass and go flying into the chair dolly, tumbling ass-over-teakettle? More than worth the pain.

But he was a big guy, and he was getting up fast, which meant that she'd have to do a little more to keep him on the floor. Fortunately, she had a bevy of fine steel chairs to choose from for her offense. Convient.

"That was for that bullshit in the parking lot, shitstain." She grabbed the near chair, picked it up, and held it at the ready by her side. "This is for the beer bottle."

Kozue charged forward and swung the chair at Black Dragon's shoulders, full throttle, holding nothing back. He sure wouldn't, if the positions were swapped.

Dragon had managed to force himself up to one knee while still grasping his shoulder. The blindside hurt like hell and all of his thoughts were just on that, not on what Kozue might have been planning next. She spoke as if this was payback, though. Fine, payback away. It worked both ways. After this, he was gonna make sure the next time she wasn't going to even be able to fight back.

But maybe Kozue had that same idea. The chair shot struck between his shoulders at his back. He groaned loudly in pain and tensed up. His back was arched as he fell forward to the ground. He caught himself with his forearm with another groan. What the fuck? He struggled on the ground in pain, trying somehow just to collect his thoughts. He got just enough to realize Kozue had a chair and had him down. Instinct took over and he had to do something instead of just laying on the ground.

Dragon pushed himself up just enough so he could get to his feet and charge low at Kozue. It wasn't a spear, but it was still a charge of some sort to try and push her back. It was just something to prevent her from swinging that steel chair again. Even a small girl like Kozue could do a lot of damage with a weapon like that.