Session Six: First Steps in Japan
”Tea?”
Dr Whitlows voice was always kind and gentle. Even when she was trying to be filled with authority there was still kindness there. It put Alicia at ease, relaxed her. Made her feel so much better about herself, her life and her choices. Having to relive the worst parts of her life, go through her childhood and the abandonment issues right through the abuse she suffered, the thoughts of ending it all and of course, her escape and feeling that she abandoned her sons. She went back there, she saw it from a different perspective.
She thought the worst of it was over, but really, it was nowhere near over. ”Thank you” Dr Whitlow slid the cup toward her, Alicia picked it up and gave it a deep inhale. Sweet citrus tea. That took her back, Alicia smiled and shook her head before putting it down on the small table
Whitlow sat back and picked up her notepad with a small smile and a nod. ”So….when we last talked you told me about your escape, your liberation. And where you went.” Alicia gave a small nod and sipped the tea again. She knew where this was going. ”You didn’t go home. You didn’t contact your mother? Your step father? Your brother or sister?”
Alicia closed her eyes and took a long deep breath, she tried to relax, taking one last sip of tea before leaning back. ”No...I just ran...to the airport, with the clothes on my back, my passport, the money I was given and only a vague plan….” She laughed. ”Thank fuck my plan worked…”
It was like another planet or dimension. Different from anything she had known before. Alicia grew up just outside Atlanta Georgia, she had barely travelled further than an hour from her home in her entire life. She knew her home town like the back of her hand. But now she was almost seven thousand miles away from Atlanta, standing in the streets of Tokyo Japan. The cab sped away as she held onto the small duffle bag filled with a few clothes she bought before making the trip, a disposable toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo.
She swallowed hard as the sights and sounds hit her in the face. Atlanta was a big city, but Tokyo was something else entirely. A technological beast filled with flashing lights and signs, a bustling metropolis filled to bursting with people going about their lives. And she was completely lost. She quickly checked her bag, making sure the money she still had left was safe. She had enough to live comfortably for a few weeks, or to stave for a few months. And speaking of starving. The smells coming from some of the restaurants made her stomach groan in hunger. She had been too nervous to eat, too scared to take a bite of the food she was served on the airplane.
She had spent the entire flight awake, from Atlanta to LAX. From LAX to Tokyo, the entire 19 hours she spent travelling was spent awake and looking over her shoulder.
But she was here now, free of his influence, free of his shadow. And, she had a plan. Or so she thought. Alicia smiled thinking of her father, the letters he had sent till she was ten years old, telling her about his journeys and life in Japan where they loved the “giant gaijin” as he had called himself. Jason Maxwell, the seven foot tall, long blond haired terror of Tokyo. He made it sound beautiful, he made his life sound so exciting and carefree. So, Alicia was going to follow in her fathers footsteps. She was going to become a professional wrestler. And she was going to do it in her fathers adopted home. Even though, by all reports and evidence, he was no longer there.
But, a wrestling school was. ドラゴンの隠れ家. Or. “Lair of the dragon”
It was a school she had learned about from watching tapes of her father. During a time when she was being rebellious, her mother was furious when she found out. Snapping at Alicia, taking the tapes, the letters, everything that reminded her of her father. She pulled out a picture, the address on the back, she had shown it to the cab driver who had given her a nod, spoke a few words of broken English and had taken her there. Or where he said it was.
She couldn’t see it, she looked around but there were no markers, no signs. Just a dirty alleyway one way, and a main street on the other. She shook her head and realised how ridiculous she looked and this was. She was a skinny five foot eight blonde haired blue eyed former beauty queen who had never been outside her home town, let alone her state or her country. She took a deep breath and turned toward the dark ally, she moved down it and winced as she heard a noise. Her heart beat fast and hard and she let out a small whimper. She was in way over her head. Her hand brushed against the wall, it felt dirty, wet and cold.
She winced and screamed before tripping and stumbling out the other side. She landed with a thud on her knees and elbows, the dufflebag landing next to her.
She looked up and saw it.
The Lair of the dragon dojo. A large sign above a warehouse door, a group of men and two women stood near the entrance, an older well built man paced back and forth before he looked over at Alicia, he raised an eyebrow and moved towards her. ”あなたは日本語を話せますか？” She shook her head, the man cleared his throat and nodded. ”I know some English. Are you lost? These streets are no place for Tourists.”
She shook her head and managed a smile before pulling out the picture of the dojo, it was from the 80’s the dojo had seen better days, she handed it to him, he looked at it and back to her, intrigued at what this young awkward American was doing here. ”I wanted to find this. My name is Violet...Violet Maxwell.”
His eyes seemed to flash in recognition. ”Maxwell?...as in...Jason Maxwell?” He seemed to growl his name, Alicia’s eyes widened and she was able to manage a small nod.
”I’m his daughter, I haven’t seen him since I was a child.”
He laughed and handed the picture back. ”You still are a child. You are welcome to look around, but your father has not been here in years, not since he left after failing to invest the time or money he promised.My name is Gyo Takamura...if you find your father after this please say hello.” He turned away, after a few steps Alicia cleared her throat.
”I’m actually here to train...sir.” Gyo stopped in his tracks, he took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder at bAlicia who straightened up holding her bag. ”I want to follow in my fathers footsteps.”
”Your fathers….” He sighed and turned back with a straight face that seemed to show anger, frustration but also a strange kindness. ”Child, you don’t want to be like him. Trust me…” He gave her a small hint of a smile and turned away moving back towards the crowd waving his hand dismissively. ”Go home little girl.”
”So you had a door slammed in your face?”
She opened her eyes, gave a small nod and sighed heavily. ”Not the first or the last...but you didn’t give up..”
”I had nowhere else to go...I didn’t have a choice…” She sounded down and defeated. Dr Whitlow shook her head, leaned forward and grabbed Alicia's hand.
”There is always a choice...and you chose to fight for what you wanted..”
Failure is still a success
”I suppose people are expecting me to give up now right?”
Alicia’s voice cuts through the darkness. We find her sitting and leaning forward, clearly in deep thought.
”To pack it in and walk away like others have before. Maybe announce a retirement pity party like Keira? Or perhaps, fade into the background like Christina or Mercedes. Become one of the names that gets dropped when people sit down and start with “Oh she was good back when…” and then proceed to talk about my past like I’m over the hill and not still one of the best professional wrestlers on this planet today. In fact it’s incredible how the mind works really. Studying some of the women in this company and how they react to loss or failure. Watching as they either quit like Bobbie Dahl or become a punchline like Mercedes Vargas...but hey that’s none of my business right?”
Alicia slowly picks up a tea cup sipping it and placing it back down with a wink.
”Only, it is. It is my business. I want you all to cast your minds back to when I first came into this company and I told you I wanted to drag you all kicking and screaming up to my level. To either make damn sure the bombshells here could hang with me or make sure others who would could come into the company and the division. And since that time I have watched some women come, some women go, some thrive even after failure and some fade away after success. And aside from an injury which may have been a blessing in disguise I have been a constant in this company. And that isn’t going to change.”
“See, having women like Amber Ryan in this company is what I wanted. I wanted Maki, I wanted Roxi, I wanted Andrea and Myra. I wanted women standing across from me who could challenge me. Who could beat me.”
“Winning the Queen for a day, putting myself against the champion, having that kind of epic one on one showdown, that’s what I wanted, that’s what I needed.”
“Do I care that I lost? Of course I do. Do I hate that I lost? Oh shit yes. But, am I proud as fuck that we have a champion like Amber Ryan who was able to beat me one on one in such a great match and force me to get better and get me out of my comfort zone? You goddamn right I am. See, I lost to one of the best wrestlers in the world today, a woman who has proved it since stepping foot in Sin City Wrestling. And if you think I’m done...well, then it’s just clear to me that you haven’t been paying attention.”
She nods slowly and shakes her head running a hand through her long blond hair.
”When I get knocked down, I don’t stay down. When Dani Weston knocked me down, I got right back up. When Seleana and her idiot wife knocked me down, I got back up. When Roxi and Bobbie knocked me down I got up again. When Keira did it...guess what? That is what I do. And this won’t be any different. I’ll get up again and I will be the Alicia Lukas I have always been. And it starts now and it starts with Courtney Pierce.”
Alicia finishes her tea and gets to her feet with a smirk.
”See, I like Courtney. I said that before the Queen for a day match and pleasantly, with Courtney’s actions and comments I was not disappointed. See, Courtney got in that ring and did everything she could to win that match. She did everything she could to get that briefcase before me and get the power that came with it. nIn the end though, I was just too fast, to strong and too smart. But then again, Courtney will do the smart thing and focus on the fact I lost to Amber. Cause Courtney is skilled at doing the same thing I am. Twisting narratives.”
“She said that we were kind of alike, that we weren’t living up to the standards that people expected of us. That I was a hypocrite because apparently I was living off my record alone…”
“Really?”
“I came back from an injury, got revenge and banished a lazy whiny bitch from this company before taking my championship back, I went back to the start of the line and I fought my way back to a title match with one of the baddest women on the planet while also holding wins over some of the best in the company who all fell to me over the last few months but apparently I have done the same thing Mercedes has? Nice try Courtney, but that isn’t even remotely close. Swing and a miss.”
“Let me teach you a few things honey. It’s not what you know it’s what you can prove. I can prove my track record against the top of this company and being the champion as well as operating at a high level for a ridiculous amount of time. In multiple companies. In fact, in Sin City Wrestling the only woman who can claim to have been at the top for a longer and more sustained time is Mikah...and that was during the Bombshells dark ages…”
She pauses and shakes her head.
”You and I are not alike Courtney. But that doesn’t mean I can’t admit that I do see a bright future ahead of you or that I don’t think you could become the bombshells champion and be at the top of the division. The difference between us is potential. I reached mine, I know what it’s like and I’m hungry to get back to it and will keep scratching and clawing to pull myself back up to that level instead of tread water like Mercedes Vargas. You though? You haven’t reached your potential.”
“You haven’t been able to grab that opportunity with both hands and raise up to that level. You don’t know what that level of success tastes like and now you have to ask yourself. Win or lose against me, will you be a better you coming out of the match?”
“A win is an easy answer, of course you will. You’ll be able to smile and stomp your feet and talk about how you beat a former bombshells champion. But, you lose? And lose in a one on one match not one where the object is to climb a ladder?”
“Then what?”
“You lost to a woman who before the Queen for a day match, you said had lost a step, was a hypocrite and was just gliding on her record. Good plan...but, that’s what happens Courtney. This game, through comments or ideas, through matches, fights, wins and losses, we all have something to prove. And on Climax Control...I know what I want...do you?”
