Requiem for the Wrestling Few
By Son Rhandi
Chapter 08: 'Take it For Your Actions'
_____________________________________________________
Sunlight, a luxury he hadn't enjoyed in ten days, nor did he a soft, warm bed to sleep in. Gazelle Man sat up and greeted the day with a loud yawn and a stretch, flinching a bit from the pain in his chest. He looked to his left pectoral, its bandage looking relatively undisturbed from the night before. Seiuchin had done a wonderful job of cleaning and dressing his wound. He'd be sure to thank him for it later. The others didn't know--well, that is, Mantaro, Meat and the rest-- he was finally back, even if it was just to spend the night.
Gazelle shrugged out of the covers, fixing them and the sheets just so, his 'leave it better than you found it' policy shining through. He'd wear his browns ensemble this day, the same style of last night's hat in tan and jacket in mahogany, an avoid that alley at any cost. He had plans to become a gazelle, beautiful and pure, and they weren't about to be spoiled, not after that hell Tamerlion put him through. It wouldn't be any trouble sneaking out that early in the day, he figured. Dressed up, laced up, he reached for the knob, but before he could even lay his hand to it, it began to turn. The door opened outward to reveal Seiuchin, that old pinniped.
"Good. You're all set." He smiled. "How's your chest?"
The crimson stag patted lightly the site of injury. "A little sore, but better, thanks to you."
"We have to get Mantaro first. Then we'll catch the next bus en route to the hospital."
He'd go along, then, but just for this. After all, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Terry since the match, and to him Terry the same. The beast-man and man-beast went down the street a little ways to the alley where they met last night, the watch post of the Earth Team.
"Mantaro! Hey, Mantaro! Guess who's……."
The walrus' jaw hung open, the sight of the muscle prince sleeping on the job leaving him dumbfounded and speechless… sort of…
"MANTARO!!!"
"WAAH!!" The Kinnikuman jumped out of his sleep, stumbling back into a trashcan smelling suspiciously of ramen. "Seiuchin!!" He whined in a high-pitched voice. "What's the big idea?! I still had two more hours of sleep to go!"
"This is what you've been doing on your shift?! If Gazelle Man had passed through during the day, none of us would ever have known!! Sigh… It's a good thing he came by on my shift, that's all I can say…"
Mantaro's eyes widened. "You mean… he's back..?"
Gazelle Man peeked from around the corner and made himself present, raising his hand a bit to the wrestling royalty. Mantaro rushed to the brown-clad buck, wailing. "Gazelle Ma-a-a-a-a-n!!" He let the waterworks flow. "Terry's…" He sniffled. "Terry's gonna be so happy! And Meat and Harabote, too! I thought we'd never find you! Don't ever leave aga-a-a-a-a-in!!" He latched onto him in a teary embrace and continued to bawl.. The stag dealt as best he could with the open and awkward emotional display and patted the prince on the back. "Uh… Thanks for caring, Mantaro……"
____________________________
"Gaz?! Aw, Gaz…"
Terry met the beast-man in a one-armed embrace. Gazelle Man pulled up a chair, straddling it and meeting the Kid face to face. "Terry, you've never looked better," the stag quipped.
"Che. I'll let that one slide, but only because you just got back. Y'had ever'one real worried, Gazelle, at least, that's what I gathered."
"And what about you?"
"Shucks, I didn't fret none. You'd woulda come back eventually, like the outdoor cat fer its dinner. So, where you been this whole time?"
"You sure you want the answer?" He smirked.
Terry rolled his eyes and groaned. "Aw, hell… You may as well just come right out an' tell me…"
"Alright. For the last ten days, I was with the Animus reps."
"God dammit, Gaz!" The Kid slammed his fist into his tray table. "You better tell me you were kidnapped, 'cause if you didn't go there dragged kickin' an' screamin'--"
"Relax, Terry. I did go there of my own free will, but nowhere in the plan was I to stay for a week and a half."
"Ain'tcha got no sense o' loyalty, Gazelle? Hell, I wore your country's flag to honor you during the Gen-EX fiasco! And how did you honor me when I fell? You went and buddied up with the team whose wrestler trashed my ass!"
"I thought you of all people would understand, Kid…." The buck shook his head. "When I saw Minotoro turn into that giant bull, when my arm became a foreleg, it… I… …I want to be a gazelle, Kid, good and true! I want to go home and leap with the real gazelles! And just imagine what I could do with that sort of ability in the ring, all the new moves I could create..! I could be the greatest Dôbutsu Chôjin of this generation..!"
"But you're already a gazelle-man," Terry pointed out the obvious. "and the way I see it, you've got the best of both. Gazelles can't do the things that men can and vice versa. I mean, I can appreciate you wanting t' get in touch with your animal side, but let's not beat around the bush here: Gazelles don't exactly strike fear into people like a bull or a wolf can."
The crimson stag pulled his face into a perturbed little scowl. "I never said my aim was to intimidate my opponents. I merely stated that it would be a good opportunity for me to better myself as a wrestler, to paraphrase. But of course, the members of the Muscle League are too thick-skulled to realize this, so I'll be on my way…"
Gazelle Man closed the door behind him and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He turned to his teammates. "Well, my visit's over. You guys can do as you please…" They watched as he passed them, As if he could feel their heavy gazes, he looked over his shoulder and said: "Don't worry. I'm headed for the center. I can assure you of that much."
_______________________________
"What do you mean I can't come back?! Gazelle Man is eating right out of my hand!"
"And while the gazelle eats the sweet grass you give, the walrus turns his nose up at it!"
"But Superintendent, I--"
"You heard me! You are not to return unless you have both Gazelle Man and Seiuchin! I will hear nothing further on the situation!"
Poit--!Tamerlion just looked at that blank screen, his fists clenched, his breathing quiet, then slumped to the monitor, his arms wrapped around his head. "What is this… What did I do…? Stuck on this planet… It smells so bad here..!! God-damned human parasites!!!"
His enraged roars echoed all about the Gamera, Tamerlion's violent outbursts were becoming more frequent each day. This planet Earth was starting to eat away at his sanity, it seemed, as was the ship. A bit of the cool outdoors would serve him well.
"I need to calm down and find a way off this rock… Hmm…" Tamerlion took up the position of the Thinker, sitting atop his Gamera. A twinkle in the sky caught his eye. It moved slowly across the sky at about the speed of an airplane, headed for downtown Tokyo. "A small spaceship… Who'd be coming here? Looks kind of like a Hercules craft… Wait a minute…"
_______________________
"So, then, you three understand that your stay is only temporary?"
"Yes, sir." they replied in unison.
"Good. It'll be a few weeks before Terry's up and about, and that Gazelle Man…" He removed his glasses, gently cleaning them with a handkerchief. "He's still AWOL, so--"
His speech was interrupted by the jarring of the door's handle. "Harabote," the crimson stag called with a smile on his face. "I'm ba--"
His smile faded upon taking in the sight of Gen-EX in the room. The three looked at him with an air of indifference. Gazelle focused his sights on the green-clad lad, remembering the excruciating pain of having his chest sliced to the bone by the Red Rain of Berlin in the Earth tournament. Jade approached the buck with an offer to shake hands. "Hey, Gazelle Man, no hard feelings, ja?"
Gazelle Man sniffed at his hand and glared. "Yeah, whatever…" he turned to the director. "Harabote, why did you send for the Gen-EXers?"
"I think I'll be the one to ask the questions around here..!" The old man proclaimed, readjusting his glasses to his nose's bridge. "I'm a little steamed at you, Gazelle Man," he continued. "And that's putting it lightly! Now, what makes you think you can disappear for ten days and waltz back in like you just came back from the corner store?!"
"Now, wait just a minute, old man!" Gazelle set up his defense. "That much I can explain! I was--"
"Just save it! I don't even want to hear it right now!"
"You don't want to hear it?" The stag quoted incredulously. "You'd better get your ears ready now because I may not feel like explaining it later!"
"Is that a fact?!" Harabote felt his blood pressure rising. "Well, until I feel hearing your excuses, you are detained! Set one foot outside IWF grounds and you'll be shipped back to Hercules so fast it'll make your head spin!"
He couldn't argue against that, that blood-red buck, so with a hot head and bit of a snarl, he turned on his heel and exited. It was just so hard… If only he could make them understand. It wasn't as if he stayed away intentionally for all those days. When he left, it was in his mind that he'd be back by morning. Then Tamerlion played dirty pool and shut him up in that room, though proving to be to his benefit in the new technique department, was detrimental in the IWF code of conduct aisle.
"Ugh, Tamerlion!" The gazelle smacked his forehead. He'd been put under house arrest and couldn't go back to the Gamera until the order was lifted..! Gazelle Man clenched his fists and slammed his left into the wall parallel, leaving a clearly visible indentation. He sighed, trying to calm himself. Getting angry wouldn't get him off IWF grounds. Or maybe they would, but not in a way that he'd prefer. He sunk to the floor, his back against the wall, knees pulled up a bit, enough to prop his elbows on, and mulled over how it was that things could have escalated this much.
Off in the distance, his ears picked up the sound of airy whistling, coming closer to him in its tune. Around the bend came Meat, carrying a meal tray in the direction of Harabote's office. Meat gasped upon sighting the crimson stage and dashed to him, setting the tray down. "Gazelle! Aw, Gazelle, you're okay! Where've you been, kid?"
Gazelle Man rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm just so tired of explaining myself…"
"Come on," Meat placed a tiny hand on his shoulder. "Let's go outside and talk."
"I can't. Harabote put me on detainment…"
Well, there was always the duck pond out back. Even wrestlers need a place to relax, and there isn't a person alive who doesn't enjoy watching ducks in the water, too busy living to care about anything else. "So, you couldn't have escaped no matter what..?"
"No, and believe me, I tried…" Gazelle Man broke off a few pieces of stale bread, tossing them to the waterfowl. "I think I screwed up, Meat."
"It wasn't your fault," the little man reassured him. "I'm sure you'd have gotten out of there if you knew what was coming. Those Animus kids are a shady bunch."
"But if I could only show you what it taught me, what I learned..!" The stag clenched his fists. "I transformed..! Well, a little… But… What good is it if mastering it means creating a rift in the team?"
"That's something you'll have to figure out for yourself, Gaz. I hate to quote that overgrown ocelot, but 'people have the right to make their own choices, good or bad,' as long as they're willing to face the consequences of their actions."
"Hm." Gazelle turned his attention back to the ducks. "What do you all think, eh, little ones?" He inquired of them, tossing a few more bread crumbs. "Isn't it right of me, as a wrestler, to grow and become stronger?"
Of course, the waterfowl gaze no reply, or, at least, not one that he could understand. "Maybe so, Gaz," Meat spoke. "But it takes more than skill and technique to be a Muscle Leaguer-- No, a Seigi Chôjin. You've gotta have the heart for it, a good heart that's willing to fight for what's right. I know you've got it, Gazelle, but maybe it's time you reminded yourself of what it is to have that."
Gazelle Man sat in silence for a few moments, fully contemplating what the miniature manager spoke of. "After my detainment is lifted…" He began in a low voice. "After I explain myself to Harabote, I'm going back there. I don't know for how long. Even if it means my position in the League, it's what I feel I should do."
"So, that's your choice, huh?" Meat tried not to sound disappointed. "Well, just be careful. And if worse comes to worse, you'll be missed."
"Thanks, Meat."
His responsibilities to Planet Earth would always come first. In his mind, they were not being abandoned, only but on the back burner so that he could ascend to greater heights as a wrestler, therefore serve Japan that much better. Isn't that what being a Justice Chôjin was about, protecting and serving? When they all saw what new things he'd be able to do, they'd understand, he was certain.
___________________________
"I knew it! I knew it! Gya ha ha ha!"
His hunch had been correct, after all. The helicopter-sized space vessel had docked on the roof of the IWF, its sides emblazoned with the Hercules Factory insignia. Their reserves where in from the outer space, then. There had to be at least two of them, he figured, to replace Terry the Kid and Gazelle Man, the Dôbutsu Chôjin now well in his clutches.
"But that Seiuchin…"
The question of how to bring in the pinniped was still leaving him stumped. Then, it hit him. It'd take some prodding (and excuse the pun) to get Minotoro into it. The lion chuckled. Who am I kidding? That fool's as submissive as a rabbit and half as intimidating. He'll do it if he knows what's good for him…
Slicking his hair back and straightening his collar, Tamerlion proceeded to ready the stage. The marvelous show was about to begin…