Ghost of Angels Past

Today was a much needed day off for Bomber Kishima. Between the matches, fanfare and training, she really hadn’t had a ton of time to herself since coming to AFW. Not that she minded. She’d come with the purpose of working hard to make a new name for herself, and she’d been doing just that. But even the Lariat Queen needed a break from nearly decapitating opponents once in a while.

Those who knew Kishima knew that if there was one thing she liked besides wrestling, it was baseball. Particularly the Yomiuri Giants. The Tokyo-based team had a home game today against the Chunichi Dragons. And since Kishima was free, she’d wasted no time in buying a ticket. She’d had a blast at the game, but her beloved Giants fell to the visiting Dragons 6-4. A damn shame, but there were still many games to be played in the season, and the Giants were still in great position.

With more time to kill after the game, Kishima decided to go for a drink. There was a bar not too far away from the ballpark, so the ex-Angel had gone straight there. She was a rather casual drinker, and didn’t partake very often. Her parents were also professional athletes and had raised her to primarily focus on healthier things. Occasionally she’d have a few beers to celebrate a big match or a Giants game. But on nights like tonight, going to a bar for a few drinks was just a nice way to kick back and relax.

Wearing a Giants jacket as orange as her ring gear, and pair of jeans, the bomber walked into the bar and strode right on up to the counter. “Oi! I’ll take a Budweiser, please,” she called out to the bartender before taking a seat on the nearest stool at the counter. On the television up in the corner they were already starting to show highlights of the game Kishima had just come from. So she fixed her gaze onto the screen and revisited the game one highlight at a time, only looking away when she heard her drink being set down on the counter in front of her. She took the glass and raised it to her lips, then immediately refocused her attention back on the TV while she sipped on her beer.

For Chris Morgan, this was a day off for her. A full day of rest and relaxation, with no training or working out. She usually tried to allot herself one, maybe two, of those a week. However, today had been a special day: It the second to last day of the summer sumo wrestling tournament!

The blonde was a fan of sumo, a sport that emphasized using strength and skill to try and leverage your opponent out of the ring. It probably wouldn't replace basketball as her all time favorite not-wrestling sport, but still, for Chris, sumo was fun to watch, even if the whole 'only for men' rule applied to it. The rikishi she had been cheering for, Hakuho, had lost his match today, but Chris hoped he would be able to pull through to win the event. The wrestler was from Mongolia, and his success in a sport that was largely dominated by the Japanese struck a chord with the American, reminding her of her early days in Japan, training in the Wrestle Angels' developmental school and then wrestling in the league itself.

Ah those early days. As if on cue, memories began to play though in the theater of Chris's mind. For some reason, Mighty Yukiko's voice sounded out "I hope you enjoy that belt, Morgan-san. You almost crippled someone to get it...."
Setting aside an empty glass that had been filled with a Blue Moon ale, Chris decided if her brain was going to try and attack her with a trip down memory lane, she was going to counter with an attempt to pickle it in hard alcohol. Not that ever worked, but still....

As a waitress walked by her table, Chris called out "Excuse me," getting her attention. "Hi, could I get a whiskey sour, please?"

The waitress called out <"Sure thing!"> in Japanese before heading to the bar, leaving Chris with her thoughts for the moment...

Like anything else in life, there were pros and cons to Kishima watching the highlight reel of a game she had just attended. Seeing the plays on screen gave her a different perspective of the various plays than she’d had in the stadium. For instance, once she’d practically screamed herself hoarse at the umpire for calling someone out she could’ve sworn had made it to the base in time. But in the replay of that exact moment, the camera showed the umpire had actually made the right call. Silly her, right?

But on the other hand, she was forcing herself to relive her team’s defeat again when the game wasn’t even an hour old. Even if there hadn’t been a ton riding on this one particular game, it was probably a good thing that the highlights finished relatively quickly, and the topic switched over to rugby. Her father had been a pro rugby player, but aside from that she had no attachment to the sport, so it was easy to tune out.

Kishima sighed and looked over to a waitress who happened to be walking near her. “Four runs in the seventh inning before we finally got an out. Can you believe that? It’s almost like they were trying to lose for a while there,” she said, but the waitress just responded with a simple, “Sorry, I don’t watch baseball,” and walked off.

“Well...” Kishima raised her glass to take another drink, then sighed again. She wished Yukiko was here, so she could have someone to rant and rave about the game to. But she wasn’t there. She was...well, somewhere...

The bomber’s thoughts were distracted by a familiar voice calling out from elsewhere in the bar, and the waitress she’d seen just a moment ago responding. Kishima turned on her stool, and lo and behold, there was The Phenomenon herself, Chris Morgan. “I’ll be damned...” Kishima said aloud to herself. She hadn’t seen Chris since the Angels’ final days of existence before it imploded and faded into memory. This was the same woman who’d ended the bomber’s one and only world title reign the night after it had started, and put her out of action for several months with an injury in the process. A lot had happened since, but Kishima had never really spoken to Chris during that time. Should she just ignore her? Part of her wanted to try, though deep down she knew doing so wouldn’t be right or possible.

What exactly she was doing, even Kishima wasn’t really sure. But she took her drink and walked on over to the table where the tall blonde was seated. “Long time no see, Chris,” she said, trying to give a friendly smile without looking too awkward about it. “You mind if I...?” Kishima motioned a hand toward the seat across from Chris, wanting to make sure she was welcome to sit with her before actually doing it.

Clad in an all white pants suit, Chris was checking her e-mail with her phone, looking almost like a perfect picture of a businesswoman. She had just received a notice that her deal to provide financial assistance to the shrine Mikoto Kusanagi and her family took care of had been made official, that all parties involved had signed all the required paperwork. It brought a smile to her face, knowing that her friend's shrine, and through that, her family, would be on the mend. It felt like, at last, a little bit of the tragedy from the Wrestle Angel's collapse had finally been lifted.

"Long time no see, Chris." a familiar voice cut into her thoughts.

Looking up from her phone, Chris saw Bomber Kishima standing at her table. Briefly, her stunned mind wondered if there was something extra in the beer here, that this had to be some sort of alcohol induced mirage. What were the chances of running into Kishima in Tokyo? Then she saw the other woman's jacket, adorned with the logo of a locally based baseball team, and remembered she was in a sports bar near the stadium where they played. Maybe the odds weren't as slim as Chris thought.

"Oh....um, sure, take a seat.." Chris recovered and nodded, motioning for Kishima to take the seat across from her. "Sorry if I seemed distracted, I just got some good news about a friend..." she went on as she set aside her phone.

The moment Chris’ eyes found hers, the blonde suddenly looked as if she’d seen a ghost, though she might as well have. It was a perfectly understandable reaction, though it emphasized in Kishima’s mind that there was every reason to feel incredibly awkward about this. The feeling was mutual there, though she was somewhat relieved when Chris let her join her.

“Thanks,” she replied before taking a seat and setting her glass on the table. “Don’t worry about it. Sorry for ambushing you like this,” Kishima said with a small chuckle. Her fingertip tapped lightly on the tabletop as her mind raced to find something to say. “What kind of news? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking of course.”

Kishima wasn’t really paying any attention to the rest of the bar, but at a table about halfway across the room someone, likely a wrestling fan familiar with the Angels’ history caught a quick picture of the two on his phone. Chances were the picture would be making the rounds through social media along with obscure rumors regarding the possible significance of this meeting between them.

The American also missed the man taking pictures with his phone on the sly as she focused her attention on Kishima. The first victim of her naivety. Here in the flesh.

God, I'm way too sober for this. the thought went through her mind.


Chris briefly considered the former Wrestle Angel's request and decided to tell her. If anything, just to move conversation along.

"Oh, it's fine. Do you remember Mikoto? Mikoto Kusanagi?" Chris asked. "She and her family take care of one of the Shinto shrines up in the mountains. Times have...not been great for them. But I convinced a tech company I did accounting for to donate some of their money to the shrine. They were looking for some good PR, and it seemed like a good thing for everyone involved. I just got a notice that all the paperwork went through."

The waitress arrived with her drink, which Chris accepted with a word of thanks before taking a grateful sip.

When Mikoto was mentioned, Kishima raised a hand about to where she guessed the girl’s height would be. “About this tall, black hair, cute as hell but could knock a super heavyweight out with just her palm? Yeah, I remember her,” Kishima replied with a light chuckle. That might’ve been just a slight exaggeration on her part, but really not that much. She couldn’t recall the girl rising very far through the ranks of the Angels, though she did recall a few particular times when Mikoto had put on an impressive performance. Good kid too, from what Kishima could tell, though she never really got to know her all that well.

Chris’ news regarding the shrine didn’t entirely shock the bomber, but there were some things within the blonde’s story she found surprising. For one, she’d never known Chris had such a heart for charity, particularly when it came to the other Angels. “Wow, that’s pretty cool of you. Never knew you two were that close,” she commented.

When the waitress then brought Chris’ drink to her, Kishima took the opportunity to take drink of her own beverage, a bit more than a small sip. They’d both done well so far in keeping their composure, but the drinks were likely going to be the MVPs of this conversation, and Kishima was no doubt going to be getting her money’s worth out of it...at a modest progression, of course.

"It's a...recent development." Chris replied. The fact that the priestess called her a friend was still a shock for the American, given the way things had gone when they first met. She still remembered the hard hitting strike she took in that match. "And you're not kidding about knocking people out with her palm...."

Studying Kishima, Chris was confronted again with the awkwardness. And she knew where it stemmed from. Or at least, she thought she did. She took another drink, savoring the sweetness and the burn before setting it down to address the elephant in the room.

"Hey, Kishima." she began. "There's something I need to tell you....I should have told you years ago, but there was so much going on...."

“Ah, I see...” Kishima replied with a nod. It made sense that something like that would have happened recently rather than during the old Wrestle Angels days. Though of course, that was hardly the issue either of them really had in mind. It seemed Chris was aware of that, and after a sip of liquid courage it was time to move past the comfort of small talk.

“Yeah? Actually, I’ve got something to tell you too. But...you first,” Kishima replied as she waited for Chris to say what was on her mind. She was willing to bet she knew what was coming, but she didn’t want to just assume either, no matter how obvious it might’ve seemed. So she’d listen to what Chris had to say before going any further with what was on her own mind.

Chris thought for a moment, then took another drink for good measure. This was going to be hard. She had no idea what would happen when she dragged up the memory of their first meeting. Kishima could get angry, maybe even attack. But still.....it needed to be said.

"I didn't know." Chris said abruptly. "The match we had together. I didn't know you were fighting injured."

She paused.

"But I should have." the blonde went on. "Looking back on that match, both on video and in my head. I should have seen the signs. You favored your back, you didn't go for any throws that involved much lifting. I should have seen it, and I should have dropped out of the match. I mean, you just fought the night before."

"But, the real thing I want to talk about...to apologize for...is keeping the title after I found out." Chris confessed. "I could've dropped it, abdicated as champion. Thrown the thing into Tokyo Bay. But....I was too weak to do any of that. I told myself many things to justify it. That I was fighting honest matches, that I was fighting so the league wouldn't have to go through a scandal. But the real reason, deep down, was that I thought that title represented everything I left my home for. That without it, all my work, everything I went through would be meaningless."

"I didn't let go of the title because I was weak." she concluded. "I was too weak to do the right thing and I'm sorry....."