Post by Kuno Kenji on Nov 20, 2016 16:17:38 GMT -6
Friendly reminder: Biyaku’s real name is Donna, Bani’s is Michelle and Botan’s is Patricia, that is all.
Kuno was lying on his bed in the hotel room, the other Otakuul members had insisted that he take one of the three king sized beds that they had been allocated for himself, he had protested, saying that he didn’t deserve it, that he hadn’t been able to do what he had without their support, but after a couple joking (he hoped) threats from Bani to force him to wear a pink mini-skirt in his next match he had relented.
Another victory, another piece of evidence that it wasn’t about size, brutality, or being willing to break the rules, no; it was about determination, who had the most to fight for, and who had people behind them to keep them motivated.
Well, Kuno was determined, that was for sure. He remembered how he had lived before he came to UCI, all the nights spent in dark alleys; the time he’d woken up without shoes on his feet, someone in a similar situation must have thought that they needed them more than him, and had to spend the last money he had for food that week on a new pair to protect him from the broken glass, cold and assorted human body fluids that littered the streets he walked.
And not only did every victory give him a steadier and steadier platform to stand on, keeping him from falling back down, down to the life that he had only recently managed to escape, but they also let him do something important, they let him set an example. Kuno knew that he wasn’t the typical star athlete, he knew that he was the laughing stock of the entire UCI galaxy the first time that he stepped into the ring, but he didn’t exactly mind their laughter; in fact, he welcomed it. While the first time it had been true mockery, but after his strong showing against Johnny Rabid, and subsequent victory against Ryan Jones, while the laughter continued, it became less and less mocking, and it started feeling like the fans were laughing with him, rather than at him. He had become a brief respite from all the brutality and horror of the battles that took place in the ring, he didn’t enter the arena with a primal scream of rage, there was no ominous smoke obscuring him from the view of the audience. No; it was a colorful sing-along party, inviting the entire UCI galaxy to partake.
Yet now he was again paired up against people whose entrances were very much… not that, no; They were the same as all the others, Calvin Street was the same old kind of jerk, nothing new, just another guy who’s decided that you don’t get anywhere in life following the rules, even though it was only Kuno’s fourth match in UCI, he was getting tired of the type. Rabid, Nash, and now Street, they were the Dragonball, One Piece and Naruto of UCI; same outlook, same crap, and only minutely differentiated packaging; he’d beaten the type before, and Kuno thought that he could do it again.
His second opponent on the other hand… Apocalypse was a different beast altogether, this wasn’t just another ruthless competitor, he was totally insane, and to be totally honest, he scared Kuno. Even though right now, all around him, the other five members of Otakuul were taking turns speaking, (or rather, all talking on top of each other) trying to convince him that Apocalypse was just another symptom of the dull, colorless world that Otakuul was challenging.
The Hentai Prince: ...And what he does is build up the menacing aura around him, keeping regular people from thinking that they can achieve their dreams, because “Hey, I don’t look, act, or feel anything like that, so how could I ever do what he’s doing?”, but you’re Kuno Kenji; you see through his entire shtick and show the people that they can achieve anything if they put their minds to it.
Kuno Kenji: Then why am I scared? If I’m that great with insight, and if can really see through his “aura”, then how come my hands are shaking when I'm just thinking of stepping into the ring with him?
He hadn’t intended to sound quite so distraught, every one of his teammates was looking right at him, he had to look down at his hands to hide the blush reddening his cheeks and the first signs of tears in the corners of his eyes.
When he finally gathers the courage to look back up he doesn't see… whatever he was expecting to see, instead he saw five smiling, sympathetic faces, the faces of his five best friends.
Well, all but one of them are smiling, Bani, on the other hand, is wearing a scowl on her face as she walks up to him, putting her closed hand in front of his face and flicking her middle finger into his forehead.
Bani: You. Massive… Baka!
Kuno lets out a pained exclamation before looking up into Bani’s scornful eyes.
Kuno: W-what?
Bani: Did you really expect that just because you could see that Apocalypse isn’t literally an amalgamation of all four horsemen of the apocalypse, you would suddenly not be scared of a six foot eight, three hundred fifty pound man? Don’t make me laugh!
Biyaku: I believe what Michelle is trying to say, even though she’s not doing it in the most gracious of ways, is that it’s totally fine for you to be scared of Apocalypse, in fact, it would be worse if you weren’t, the man is a demented giant, and let's be real…
She flashes a quick smile
Biyaku: What sane person would walk into the lair of a sadomasochistic sociopath and not have shaky hands?
The whole room shares a weak chuckle, the mood somehow having been lifted by Biyaku’s grim joke.
The Hentai Prince: You know, Donna; if you really wanted to encourage him, then all I can say is that that was not very encouraging…
Biyaku: Hey! It was better than Bani calling him stupid, wasn’t it?
She looks around the room, hoping for confirmation of how her “motivational speech” fragment was superior to her fellow Moe Star, her face falling when she is met with faces that weren't exactly confirming her hopes.
Kuno: I-i’m sorry, Donna, but Michelle was actually fairly convincing…
Realizing that she has been bested, Michelle hangs her head in mock shame while Bani bounces to her feet, stretching her hands into the air and exclaiming “VIC-TORY!”
The whole room stops and stares at her for a short second, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter, Kuno is even forced to lie down as he doesn’t quite trust his legs to keep him standing.
It takes them a good few seconds, but they eventually manage to get themselves under control, The Bishounen Brawler is the first one to regain enough control of his body to ask the question that they’re all thinking.
Brawler: Michelle, did you really just use the Otakuul victory pose just because your motivational speech was slightly better than Donnas’?
She turns to him, arms still fully extended
Bani: Yes, is there something wrong with that?
Brawler: No, not really, I just wanted to be sure…
The room settles down into a more normal conversation, the others even manage to convince Bani to sit back down, but Kuno can’t manage to keep himself interested in the conversation as it flits between the quality of the actors in the most recent Gundam series, to how hard it will be for the Moe Stars to get their hands on the newest models, to the quality of the Gundam brand as a whole.
So he stands up and starts walking towards the door, explaining his departure with a simple wish to stock up on some snacks from one of the vending machines in the hallway.
He allowed his mind to wander as he made his way through the hallways of the hotel, and he could already tell that his outlook had changed for the better, because if he was going to be scared no matter what, then it was better to just be prepared for the danger, rather than worry.
But how was he going to actually beat Apocalypse, would any of his moves even work on the big man?
The tiger bomb was immediately discarded, there was no way that he could ever manage to lift the man for that move, but what about the V2, would it still have the desired effect on the man, even if it was only about one hundred pound landing on him?
Kuno didn’t know, he might have to stick to the regular ‘Yarn Ball’, but he wasn’t particularly happy about having to cut down on his already fairly limited moveset.
“Or…” a voice inside his mind told him, one that he could hear plain as day “...you could just wait for a time when one of the two big men is knocked down, and take advantage, they probably won’t even pay any attention to you during the match, it wouldn’t be hard…”
No! That would send the completely wrong message, it would be taking the easy way out!
He had to win the match fair and square, not by going under the radar and stealing the win…
: Good luck this week, Kuno-chan.
Kuno whipped around, his furry, black ears going flat against his head, then he froze.
Standing before him was someone who was either a cosplayer, or had some very weird ideas about fashion, he was well over six foot tall and a hulking slab of muscle, wearing a black trench coat and hiding the majority of his face with an equally black snapback cap, with glittery golden letters spelling out "GoGo".
It didn’t take long for Kuno to recognize one of the most colorful characters of the North American cosplay circuit. Darius was mainly known because no one had ever met him when he wasn’t cosplaying, he seemed to always be in character, not that Kuno minded much; Darius was scary, but Kuno had gotten the distinct impression that he liked the young cat-boy.
Kuno: Thanks, Darius-sama, I didn’t expect to meet you here; what are you doing in Boston, are you here to watch Overload?
Darius: ...be careful with Apocalypse-san, alright? That man is a monster, but you’ll need to overcome him if you want to continue spreading your message.
Kuno frowned slightly, Darius hadn’t even tried to answer his question as to why he was here. He shrugged, that was Darius for you, always so mysterious…
Kuno: Yeah, I know, it’s just… he’s so big, I'm not sure I can even do anything that can keep him down-
He is interrupted by a disdainful sneer from Darius.
Darius: He may be big, but you’re quick, all you need to do is outspeed him, and his size will work against him, the bigger the man, the harder the fall…
Kuno: Yeah, but for that, I have to get him to fall first, which might be a problem-
Darius: No it won’t, because Apocalypse just wants to win, you need to.
Biyaku: Why’d you take so long Kuno, did you meet someone?
Kuno barely had time to make it into the hotel room before Biyaku starts asking questions.
Kuno: No… no, I just kept dropping the chips on my way back.
She eyed him suspiciously
Biyaku: Okay, well, do you want to open those chips, maybe watch a movie, just some Otakuul-style chill?
Kuno shakes his head, looking around the room until his gaze falls on the pile he’s made of his unpacked belongings
Kuno: Actually, I think I'm going to send a little message to my opponents…
Video Title: “VLOG: Second TV Title Defence”
Uploader: “KunoKenjiii!~”
Tokimeki Poporon♪ by Chimame-tai starts playing as a low-quality, anime-style intro showing the heads of the six Otakuul members traveling across a map of the world, before the screen fades into Kuno standing in the hotel room with the TV title over his shoulder, the voice of Biyaku can just barely be heard saying “aaaand go!”
Kuno: Another week, another title defence, that’s how it goes here in UCI when you’re the TV champion, but this will be the first time that I defend it against more than one person at the same time, and it will be the first time I face someone who outsizes me to such an extent as Apocalypse, but I’ll get to him later, first I want to speak to Street-san.
He fixes the camera with a sincere, sympathetic look
Kuno: I understand that you’ve probably had a very difficult life, having to fight to provide for whoever you hold dear, but this mean streak you’ve developed just isn’t the right way to go, that’s what we in Otakuul have tried to show the world, just look at me! With a bright outlook and the support of my new friends; I, a five foot four cat-boy weighing barely one hundred pounds, have managed to win a championship in one of the most competitive federations in the world, that’s where being positive and principled will get you.
Kuno: Now...
Kuno bites his bottom lip nervously, then nods to some unheard question off screen.
Kuno: Apocalypse, now is probably the moment that I, as the plucky underdog hero, is supposed to say something along the lines of “You may be big, but you don’t scare me!”, but that would be a lie, the truth is.. you terrify me, you are a mad giant with unimaginable destructive power, but; you’re not supernatural, you’re not the actual coming of the apocalypse, you’re just a really big, really scary guy.
Kuno: And you’re definitely the biggest, scariest guy I’ve faced so far, that’s probably why all the experts say that I have no chance, but guess what? They said the very same thing when I was put against Rabid and Ryan-sama, and I put up a damn good fight against both, and I beat Ryan to win… THIS!
Kuno lifts the title into the air as his eyes flash amber, drawing gasps from the people of camera, he flashes them a mischievous grin
Kuno: Basically, what I’m saying is that I am 50/50 for matches that I have no chance in, so you better watch out, because I have no plans on handing this title over to you on Monday, in fact, I don’t have any plans on ever handing it to you.
His fellow teammates make their way into the shot, Brawler and The Prince draw a surprised laugh from Kuno as they lift him onto their shoulders, but he quickly composes himself. They all lift their arms into the air and shout.
Otakuul: VIC-TORY! VIC-TORY! VIC-TORY!!!
Kuno was lying on his bed in the hotel room, the other Otakuul members had insisted that he take one of the three king sized beds that they had been allocated for himself, he had protested, saying that he didn’t deserve it, that he hadn’t been able to do what he had without their support, but after a couple joking (he hoped) threats from Bani to force him to wear a pink mini-skirt in his next match he had relented.
Another victory, another piece of evidence that it wasn’t about size, brutality, or being willing to break the rules, no; it was about determination, who had the most to fight for, and who had people behind them to keep them motivated.
Well, Kuno was determined, that was for sure. He remembered how he had lived before he came to UCI, all the nights spent in dark alleys; the time he’d woken up without shoes on his feet, someone in a similar situation must have thought that they needed them more than him, and had to spend the last money he had for food that week on a new pair to protect him from the broken glass, cold and assorted human body fluids that littered the streets he walked.
And not only did every victory give him a steadier and steadier platform to stand on, keeping him from falling back down, down to the life that he had only recently managed to escape, but they also let him do something important, they let him set an example. Kuno knew that he wasn’t the typical star athlete, he knew that he was the laughing stock of the entire UCI galaxy the first time that he stepped into the ring, but he didn’t exactly mind their laughter; in fact, he welcomed it. While the first time it had been true mockery, but after his strong showing against Johnny Rabid, and subsequent victory against Ryan Jones, while the laughter continued, it became less and less mocking, and it started feeling like the fans were laughing with him, rather than at him. He had become a brief respite from all the brutality and horror of the battles that took place in the ring, he didn’t enter the arena with a primal scream of rage, there was no ominous smoke obscuring him from the view of the audience. No; it was a colorful sing-along party, inviting the entire UCI galaxy to partake.
Yet now he was again paired up against people whose entrances were very much… not that, no; They were the same as all the others, Calvin Street was the same old kind of jerk, nothing new, just another guy who’s decided that you don’t get anywhere in life following the rules, even though it was only Kuno’s fourth match in UCI, he was getting tired of the type. Rabid, Nash, and now Street, they were the Dragonball, One Piece and Naruto of UCI; same outlook, same crap, and only minutely differentiated packaging; he’d beaten the type before, and Kuno thought that he could do it again.
His second opponent on the other hand… Apocalypse was a different beast altogether, this wasn’t just another ruthless competitor, he was totally insane, and to be totally honest, he scared Kuno. Even though right now, all around him, the other five members of Otakuul were taking turns speaking, (or rather, all talking on top of each other) trying to convince him that Apocalypse was just another symptom of the dull, colorless world that Otakuul was challenging.
The Hentai Prince: ...And what he does is build up the menacing aura around him, keeping regular people from thinking that they can achieve their dreams, because “Hey, I don’t look, act, or feel anything like that, so how could I ever do what he’s doing?”, but you’re Kuno Kenji; you see through his entire shtick and show the people that they can achieve anything if they put their minds to it.
Kuno Kenji: Then why am I scared? If I’m that great with insight, and if can really see through his “aura”, then how come my hands are shaking when I'm just thinking of stepping into the ring with him?
He hadn’t intended to sound quite so distraught, every one of his teammates was looking right at him, he had to look down at his hands to hide the blush reddening his cheeks and the first signs of tears in the corners of his eyes.
When he finally gathers the courage to look back up he doesn't see… whatever he was expecting to see, instead he saw five smiling, sympathetic faces, the faces of his five best friends.
Well, all but one of them are smiling, Bani, on the other hand, is wearing a scowl on her face as she walks up to him, putting her closed hand in front of his face and flicking her middle finger into his forehead.
Bani: You. Massive… Baka!
Kuno lets out a pained exclamation before looking up into Bani’s scornful eyes.
Kuno: W-what?
Bani: Did you really expect that just because you could see that Apocalypse isn’t literally an amalgamation of all four horsemen of the apocalypse, you would suddenly not be scared of a six foot eight, three hundred fifty pound man? Don’t make me laugh!
Biyaku: I believe what Michelle is trying to say, even though she’s not doing it in the most gracious of ways, is that it’s totally fine for you to be scared of Apocalypse, in fact, it would be worse if you weren’t, the man is a demented giant, and let's be real…
She flashes a quick smile
Biyaku: What sane person would walk into the lair of a sadomasochistic sociopath and not have shaky hands?
The whole room shares a weak chuckle, the mood somehow having been lifted by Biyaku’s grim joke.
The Hentai Prince: You know, Donna; if you really wanted to encourage him, then all I can say is that that was not very encouraging…
Biyaku: Hey! It was better than Bani calling him stupid, wasn’t it?
She looks around the room, hoping for confirmation of how her “motivational speech” fragment was superior to her fellow Moe Star, her face falling when she is met with faces that weren't exactly confirming her hopes.
Kuno: I-i’m sorry, Donna, but Michelle was actually fairly convincing…
Realizing that she has been bested, Michelle hangs her head in mock shame while Bani bounces to her feet, stretching her hands into the air and exclaiming “VIC-TORY!”
The whole room stops and stares at her for a short second, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter, Kuno is even forced to lie down as he doesn’t quite trust his legs to keep him standing.
It takes them a good few seconds, but they eventually manage to get themselves under control, The Bishounen Brawler is the first one to regain enough control of his body to ask the question that they’re all thinking.
Brawler: Michelle, did you really just use the Otakuul victory pose just because your motivational speech was slightly better than Donnas’?
She turns to him, arms still fully extended
Bani: Yes, is there something wrong with that?
Brawler: No, not really, I just wanted to be sure…
The room settles down into a more normal conversation, the others even manage to convince Bani to sit back down, but Kuno can’t manage to keep himself interested in the conversation as it flits between the quality of the actors in the most recent Gundam series, to how hard it will be for the Moe Stars to get their hands on the newest models, to the quality of the Gundam brand as a whole.
So he stands up and starts walking towards the door, explaining his departure with a simple wish to stock up on some snacks from one of the vending machines in the hallway.
He allowed his mind to wander as he made his way through the hallways of the hotel, and he could already tell that his outlook had changed for the better, because if he was going to be scared no matter what, then it was better to just be prepared for the danger, rather than worry.
But how was he going to actually beat Apocalypse, would any of his moves even work on the big man?
The tiger bomb was immediately discarded, there was no way that he could ever manage to lift the man for that move, but what about the V2, would it still have the desired effect on the man, even if it was only about one hundred pound landing on him?
Kuno didn’t know, he might have to stick to the regular ‘Yarn Ball’, but he wasn’t particularly happy about having to cut down on his already fairly limited moveset.
“Or…” a voice inside his mind told him, one that he could hear plain as day “...you could just wait for a time when one of the two big men is knocked down, and take advantage, they probably won’t even pay any attention to you during the match, it wouldn’t be hard…”
No! That would send the completely wrong message, it would be taking the easy way out!
He had to win the match fair and square, not by going under the radar and stealing the win…
: Good luck this week, Kuno-chan.Kuno whipped around, his furry, black ears going flat against his head, then he froze.
Standing before him was someone who was either a cosplayer, or had some very weird ideas about fashion, he was well over six foot tall and a hulking slab of muscle, wearing a black trench coat and hiding the majority of his face with an equally black snapback cap, with glittery golden letters spelling out "GoGo".
It didn’t take long for Kuno to recognize one of the most colorful characters of the North American cosplay circuit. Darius was mainly known because no one had ever met him when he wasn’t cosplaying, he seemed to always be in character, not that Kuno minded much; Darius was scary, but Kuno had gotten the distinct impression that he liked the young cat-boy.
Kuno: Thanks, Darius-sama, I didn’t expect to meet you here; what are you doing in Boston, are you here to watch Overload?
Darius: ...be careful with Apocalypse-san, alright? That man is a monster, but you’ll need to overcome him if you want to continue spreading your message.
Kuno frowned slightly, Darius hadn’t even tried to answer his question as to why he was here. He shrugged, that was Darius for you, always so mysterious…
Kuno: Yeah, I know, it’s just… he’s so big, I'm not sure I can even do anything that can keep him down-
He is interrupted by a disdainful sneer from Darius.
Darius: He may be big, but you’re quick, all you need to do is outspeed him, and his size will work against him, the bigger the man, the harder the fall…
Kuno: Yeah, but for that, I have to get him to fall first, which might be a problem-
Darius: No it won’t, because Apocalypse just wants to win, you need to.
Biyaku: Why’d you take so long Kuno, did you meet someone?
Kuno barely had time to make it into the hotel room before Biyaku starts asking questions.
Kuno: No… no, I just kept dropping the chips on my way back.
She eyed him suspiciously
Biyaku: Okay, well, do you want to open those chips, maybe watch a movie, just some Otakuul-style chill?
Kuno shakes his head, looking around the room until his gaze falls on the pile he’s made of his unpacked belongings
Kuno: Actually, I think I'm going to send a little message to my opponents…
Video Title: “VLOG: Second TV Title Defence”
Uploader: “KunoKenjiii!~”
Tokimeki Poporon♪ by Chimame-tai starts playing as a low-quality, anime-style intro showing the heads of the six Otakuul members traveling across a map of the world, before the screen fades into Kuno standing in the hotel room with the TV title over his shoulder, the voice of Biyaku can just barely be heard saying “aaaand go!”
Kuno: Another week, another title defence, that’s how it goes here in UCI when you’re the TV champion, but this will be the first time that I defend it against more than one person at the same time, and it will be the first time I face someone who outsizes me to such an extent as Apocalypse, but I’ll get to him later, first I want to speak to Street-san.
He fixes the camera with a sincere, sympathetic look
Kuno: I understand that you’ve probably had a very difficult life, having to fight to provide for whoever you hold dear, but this mean streak you’ve developed just isn’t the right way to go, that’s what we in Otakuul have tried to show the world, just look at me! With a bright outlook and the support of my new friends; I, a five foot four cat-boy weighing barely one hundred pounds, have managed to win a championship in one of the most competitive federations in the world, that’s where being positive and principled will get you.
Kuno: Now...
Kuno bites his bottom lip nervously, then nods to some unheard question off screen.
Kuno: Apocalypse, now is probably the moment that I, as the plucky underdog hero, is supposed to say something along the lines of “You may be big, but you don’t scare me!”, but that would be a lie, the truth is.. you terrify me, you are a mad giant with unimaginable destructive power, but; you’re not supernatural, you’re not the actual coming of the apocalypse, you’re just a really big, really scary guy.
Kuno: And you’re definitely the biggest, scariest guy I’ve faced so far, that’s probably why all the experts say that I have no chance, but guess what? They said the very same thing when I was put against Rabid and Ryan-sama, and I put up a damn good fight against both, and I beat Ryan to win… THIS!
Kuno lifts the title into the air as his eyes flash amber, drawing gasps from the people of camera, he flashes them a mischievous grin
Kuno: Basically, what I’m saying is that I am 50/50 for matches that I have no chance in, so you better watch out, because I have no plans on handing this title over to you on Monday, in fact, I don’t have any plans on ever handing it to you.
His fellow teammates make their way into the shot, Brawler and The Prince draw a surprised laugh from Kuno as they lift him onto their shoulders, but he quickly composes himself. They all lift their arms into the air and shout.
Otakuul: VIC-TORY! VIC-TORY! VIC-TORY!!!