Post by Neptune on Mar 25, 2015 2:31:10 GMT -6
Flashback That day, it was cold and raining hard. From morning to the evening, it seemed like it would never stop. Neptune had received a text message from Mattaki asking him to meet in the park, at the usual spot they went for outside training. Neptune went, and waited. He waited for a long time. He tried texting and calling Mattaki but it went straight to voicemail. Neptune thought of leaving and going to Mattaki’s to find out what was happening, but something stopped him. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint what was stopping him but that invisible force paralysed him. What if Mattaki was simply running late and his phone had no reception? Neptune didn’t want Mattaki to show up and him not be there. So, he waited. And waited. The rain felt like shards of ice after a while. It hurt. But Neptune didn’t move. He couldn’t. Six hours later, Mattaki showed up. “Neptune…” Mattaki said. “Have you been waiting here this whole time?” There was concern in his voice. “…yeah,” replied Neptune. “I didn’t want to make you mad. It’s okay really. It didn’t feel like that long.” Mattaki stared at the red head and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Neptune…” Present day “Mattaki… this is painful!” Dai said, doubling over in pain. “The padding isn’t really helping at this stage!” The fat bodyguard had a padded suit on to help soften the blows Mattaki was throwing at him. Mattaki laughed and using the palm of his hand, he sent Dai on his ass. “I need you to be at one hundred percent, Dai,” Mattaki said. “I am not joking around. Training is serious business.” The Thunder Dragon, as he was known, had a big smirk on his face as he said those words, making it impossible for anyone to know if he was being sarcastic or not. Well, almost anyone. A certain red head was training also with another fat bodyguard. Taro. He was also in a padded suit. Neptune was warming up his kicks. Taro, unlike Dai, was doing his best to put up a tough front. “You don’t really kick that hard,” Taro said, chuckling. He was sweating profusely however. Neptune looked straight at him and smiled, “Oh? I didn’t think you’d notice that I was going easy on you. I’m glad. It means I can kick you like I would a normal opponent. How exciting!” Taro’s eyes widened as he instantly felt regret for being cocky. “Are… are you serious, Neptune-chan?” The Lightning Monkey, as he was known, winked before jumping in the air and throwing a spinning back kick at Taro. Like Dai, he also fell on his big butt. “Neptune for the win!” said the red head with a grin. When he turned to see what Mattaki was doing, Neptune caught him looking at him, smiling. Neptune blushed and felt his breath break for a moment. Still, Mattaki had such an effect on him. They trained for a little while. It got pretty intense at some point as it seemed Mattaki and Neptune had a competition on who would tire their partner first. Dai and Taro sensed the boys had something planned so the two bodyguards both tanked at the same time. Mattaki and Neptune playfully argued on who won their bet while Dai and Taro shook their heads at them. Later on, they all went back to the boys’ place to chill out. Neptune was on his phone checking what was new in the world and got bored with that pretty quickly. He then decided to check out where VOW was going to be next. He got puzzled by what he read. “Where is Manitoba?” Neptune asked. Him, Mattaki, Dai and Taro were enjoying some cold drinks in the house. The afternoon sun shone through the windows. “Did you fail everything at school?” Mattaki asked, teasing his ‘monkey’. “It’s in Canada, dummy.” Neptune glared at his ‘dragon’ and said, “Well, sooorry for not knowing where everywhere is in the world. We’re not all walking google maps!” Mattaki grinned, “I know you have your limitations.” Dai and Taro chuckled at the usual banter between Mattaki and Neptune. Ever since they met, those two had always been like that. “Screw you, jerk,” Neptune poked his tongue out at Mattaki. “I’ll mess you up if you continue!” Mattaki could hardly contain himself as he said, “Like I messed up your mom last night?” Dai and Taro laughed. Neptune let out some sort of angry grunt, and then hid his smile behind his drink. A little while later, there was a knock on the door. It was Nezumi Tanaka. Their manager. Dai and Taro immediately straightened up. They were employed to watch over Project Snakehead, not to get drunk with them. “Cheer up, boys,” Tanaka said, giving the bodyguards a thumbs up. “I’m in a good mood, so drink up.” Dai and Taro glanced at each other, shrug their shoulders, and kept drinking. Neptune shook his head at Tanaka. For no particular reason. Neptune didn’t like the guy at all. “Did you manipulate someone into servitude again?” Mattaki asked, sipping on his beer. Tanaka grinned as he went over to the fridge to grab himself something to drink. When he returned to the living room, he revealed the reason. “You guys’ first match in VOW is a chance at getting a title shot,” Tanaka looked like he was about to rub his grubby hands together. “I negotiated that for you boys, I hope you’ll show me some gratitude.” “I doubt you had much to do with it, sharkface,” Neptune threw at Tanaka. “Mattaki alone would’ve gotten us that.” “Mattaki,” Tanaka said, his voice cool and collected, “control your girl.” “You asshole!” Neptune’s eyes fired up, his hand tightening its grip on the glass he was holding. “Don’t insult me in my own house!” Tanaka coughed, “You mean the house *I* gave you guys?” Neptune fumed but knew he couldn’t counter that with anything. He just frowned at Tanaka. “You gave us the house, yes,” Mattaki said. “But it doesn’t mean you can disrespect people or in Neptune’s case, animals. Do that again and I’ll throw you out on your ass.” Mattaki earned a hard slug on his arm from Neptune for his ‘animals’ comment. “Tough crowd,” Tanaka said, somehow never losing his smile. Whether he got used to smiling despite how he truly felt was a mystery. “I’m only looking out for you boys.” “Whatever,” Neptune said, sitting back. “I’ll just pretend you don’t exist.” “Did someone say something?” Tanaka asked, looking around. “I thought I heard a girl talking or something.” Neptune jumped on his feet and death glared Tanaka. “I WILL WASTE YOU!” Mattaki grabbed a hold of his monkey before he lunged at Tanaka who was laughing. Dai and Taro glanced at each other, wondering if their working relationship was healthy at all… Flashback (cont’d) Mattaki’s phone had been having issues for a while and that day, it went completely psycho. It deleted numbers and sent ‘drafts’ automatically. One of them was a message Mattaki had intended to send Neptune earlier but had decided he would do something else with him later. But the message sent, Neptune received it and did as the text told: ‘Hey Neptune. Meet me in the park at 10. I got some new moves to show you!’ Neptune was there at 9.45am. And waited. When Mattaki didn’t show up, he texted at first and then called but it went straight to voicemail. What Neptune didn’t know was that by that time, Mattaki’s phone had died and was not coming back on. Mattaki almost threw it against the wall but under Dai’s advice, he kept it on the kitchen table, just in case it’d power back up again. Hours later it did power back up, and when Mattaki checked it, he saw that a message had been sent to Neptune. Then he got the first text Neptune sent in the morning, followed by missed calls. Mattaki couldn’t believe it. The last text he got was from a few minutes before and Neptune was still at the park. Mattaki didn’t have time to call, he didn’t think about it honestly, he rushed out the door, got into his car and drove like mad to the park. All the time thinking Neptune was completely crazy. And he was going to tell him that: ‘You’re nuts!’ But when he got there and saw Neptune, completely wet and shaking from the cold, he forgot what he wanted to say. Mattaki had seen Neptune be a beast in the ring, a tempest of kicks and confidence… but right then? Neptune looked like he was a kid. A kid who just had his ice-cream stolen from him and thrown to the ground. “Why didn’t you just go home?” Mattaki asked. “Or even come to the mansion? Why didn’t you think there was something wrong after I didn’t show up?” “…I don’t know…” Neptune said, his voice little. “I didn’t want to make you mad. I’m sorry.” Mattaki widened his eyes. “Neptune… you got nothing to say sorry for! If anything, I should be the one saying sorry to you. But really… I don’t get what happened here.” Neptune looked away, silent, embarrassed. “It would take a lot from you to make me mad,” Mattaki said. “I chose you as my partner for a good reason, Neptune.” Mattaki looked at the red head. Mattaki wanted to know what was going through Neptune’s mind. “What did you think would happen if I was mad?” asked Mattaki. “Did you think I was going to drop you?” The look that Neptune gave him… Neptune’s eyes looked like they were reliving a terrible thing. The pain Mattaki could read in them… “I don’t know…” Neptune said. Mattaki grabbed Neptune’s shoulders. “You can trust me,” said Mattaki. “I won’t hurt you.” Neptune felt his chest tighten. He got closer to Mattaki and buried his head into his shoulder. Mattaki didn’t push him away. He held him. Tight. “We’re a team,” said Mattaki. “You can count on me. Always.” ~ Lightning Strikes! ~ I was never a team player. I only cared about what was good for me and did what was in my best interests. When I started wrestling, it was an outlet for my fury, for my anger, and perhaps even for my ambition. I had this fire in me, this fucking blazing inferno that needed to be let out. Wrestling was the best option for me. Once people saw what I could do in the ring, they started annoying me. They wanted to ally themselves with me. Ride on my coattails to stardom. Fucking leeches. But then I met someone. A man who would do anything it takes to get what he wants. The first time we met, he showed me that he was a man of his word. If he makes a promise, you damn well better believe that he will fulfill that promise, no matter what. We teamed up, and we never looked back. I didn’t think I would ever stay in a tag team… but this was different. Mattaki Fukushuu… he was something else. I could see that. Being with him became a need. Like a drug that I never want to quit. They say the best teams are the ones that know each other inside and out. Well, we definitely qualify for that. Boom-tish. Nobody knows me better than Mattaki, he knows who I am in the ring and he knows who I am out of the ring. Forming a tag team is easy, a piece of cake really. But actually BEING a team? That’s another ball game. Mattaki and I, we are THE definition of what being a team is. We would do anything for each other. We would lay our bodies on the line for each other. And I don’t say this lightly but… we would also die for each other. This is what all the teams out there will have to face when they face Project Snakehead. We are not your randomly put together team, we are intimate, we are more than brothers, we are a force that cannot be stopped. Getting the picture? Mattaki and I, we’re not going to break apart for solo titles, we don’t give a shit about those. We are a team: we will succeed as a team. The Twin City championships? That’s our goal. This is us, this is Project Snakehead. Now let’s look at our opponents at ‘Nothing Else Matters’: Captain Cosmo and Ollie the Bum. Two guys who can’t seem to get their act together. Two guys who can’t even seem to be decent enough to win a single match. This is our first obstacle in our road to being champions. I ask: do you honestly see these two getting the upper hand on Mattaki and I? If you do, then you’re an idiot. A fucking idiot. Cosmo and Ollie don’t even work as a team, on any level whatsoever. This match is looking more like a punishment for them than anything else. I have nothing personal against those two. I don’t even know them, and I don’t think they’ll be around long enough for me to even care. What I see are two guys who are in over their heads. Project Snakehead wasn’t born a week ago: it’s a team that’s been together for a while. We don’t even need to speak to each other to know what we’re thinking when we’re in the ring. How can you compete with that when you’re not even in sync with your partner? You can’t. No matter how much you try, you can’t fight that. This match at ‘Nothing Else Matters’ has only one possible outcome: Project Snakehead crushing their opponents for the victory. You can call us arrogant or even believe that we’re full of ourselves, but in the end, action will always speak louder than words. I know it’s a cliché but sometimes clichés can be truthful. Truth will hurt a lot of people when they see us in action. It certainly will hurt Cosmo and Ollie. Project Snakehead will be the iconic team of VOW. It’s a fucking guarantee. |