Reunion, part one

Over the Pacific Ocean, Armand von Krauss stands on the deck of his new airship that was built by a South Korean company. He leaves from South Korea and is heading for Long Beach, California to pick up Esmeralda von Krauss.

It’s been over a year since they have been together, even when they were on the same show in Northern Pro Wrestling, they did not meet up. When Esmeralda called for help against the Red Thirst, he considered going to her, but that was not what she wanted.

Now is the time though. Esmeralda has recently been defeated in the XCrown match at Supremacy. Something that Armand knows a fair amount about.

Armand looks to the wrestling ring that is on the main deck. Tarrasque is there. He’s taking on several sparring partners at once.

Armand turns to watch as Tarrasque picks an opponent up into a bodyslams position, uses the man as a weapon to knock down two others, and then hurls the man over the top rope. Tarrasque lets out a savage roar of dominance that makes the two remaining standing drop down to their knees in fear.

Tarrasque kicks one of them in the chest and then roars at the other man, who rolls out of the ring. He doesn’t get far before being clotheslined by Armand. He looks down at the sparring partner with disdain.

Armand von Krauss: You should be in the ring, Kleiner schwächender Krieger. Why are you not with the others?

Sparring partner: You see that monster in the ring? He’s going to kill us all!

Armand von Krauss: Your cowardice will be the death of you and not the monster in the ring.

Armand snaps his fingers and a pair of men in steel grey uniforms grab him by the arms. They drag him to the edge of the deck.

Sparring partner: No! Please! I’ll get back in the ring. Anything but-

And with that, the sparring partner who chose to flee the ring has been tossed off of the air ship. They aren’t so high that they would need to be inside, but they are high enough that hitting the Pacific Ocean would still be like hitting concrete. Armand gets out an Egyptian cigarette and lights it up with a cruel smile as the other sparring partners look at him while Tarrasque waits patiently for them to attack again.

Armand von Krauss: Well?

Tarrasque looks at the four remaining opponents. He can barely think beyond the need for violence and destruction. To do much else causes pain in his head and that makes him MAD. He grins at them, poses in flexing his muscles, and lets out a roar!
The remaining four want to run, but they know the fate of the one who tried. And so, they all rush at Tarrasque at once and begin to punch and kick him.

None of these attacks really have much of an effect on the beast known as Tarrasque. He tries to extend his senses out to feel out the situation to see if they are weakening from their constant assault, but that too makes his head hurt without imparting him the info he needs. Best to brute force things out.

Tarrasque grins, forming a double axe handle and swings it upward like an uppercut, catching one fellow in the jaw hard enough to send him flying backwards with blood and a couple of teeth spraying in a high arc. He turns and swings the doubled fist into midsection of another to double him over and then again across his shoulders to smash his face into the mat in a bloody fashion. He seizes the remaining two sparring partners by the back of the head. They scream noooo as their heads are smashed together, not once, but five times. As they fall apart to the mat, it finally becomes possible to see where one face ends and one face begins.

Tarrasque roars once again and poses in the middle of the ring, blood splattered across his chest. Armand looks on approvingly of the violence done in the ring, but he still snaps his fingers. More grey uniformed people come out onto the deck.

Armand von Krauss: We are to pick up my Esmeralda within the next three hours. I need this mess cleaned up. Dalli!

Armand flicks ashes onto the floor as he steps up to the ring apron where Tarrasque meets him.

Armand von Krauss: Good job in handling these vagabonds.

Tarrasque: What happen them?

Tarrasque asks this as he sees the last one of them being tossed overboard. He growls at the needless destruction.

Armand von Krauss: You going soft on me? What would Marcus think of that?

Tarrasque’s next growl dies in his throat. For all he knows, Marcus is being held someplace by Armand von Krauss. If he doesn’t cooperate, Marcus, a man who is like a brother to him, will undoubtedly pay the price. Armand smiles wickedly.

Armand von Krauss: That’s what I thought. Get cleaned up. My love hasn’t seen you in some time. She will be excited to see that I have tamed the monster at last.

Tarrasque frowns, struggling to form the words in his head before he speaks them out loud.

Tarrasque: Me am no tame.

Armand nearly chokes on his cigarette smoke, but keeps himself contained.

Armand von Krauss: Search your feelings, if you can. You know my words to be true.

Tarrasque tries just that. He tries to search his feelings, but finds that he cannot do that. The drugs that Armand keeps him on keeps down his higher brain functions and his ability to reach into the Akashic Records to be able to find where Marcus is. Eventually, he gives up and sighs.

Tarrasque: Me go clean me. Me be back.

Tarrasque walks through a doorway to head below deck to get to the crew showers to get himself cleaned up of the blood and find something presentable to wear. Well, have a staff member put on him to that he looks good for Mrs. von Krauss.

He walks down the maze of hallways and through the locker room for the crew where he strips down and gets into the shower. As he washes, he tries to extend his senses to the Akashic Records. He sees the wall imposed by the drug. What he seeks is on the other side. He tries to punch it, but punching it only serves to hurt his hand and somehow his head too.

Tarrasque: Me find you Marcus. No matter what.

Tarrasque backs up in the spirit world, getting some distance between him and the wall before running at it and charging with the mother of all headbutts. He bounces off of the wall, double pain for his head.

Back in reality, Tarrasque slides down the wall of the showers, blood trickling from his eyes, ears, and nose from the psychic damage done to himself. He raises his face to the falling water, rinsing the blood away like he did with the blood of the sparring partners that had bled on him.

There seems to be no way through the wall to the Akashic Records.

Tarrasque sighs in sadness. Is he to be perpetually under the yoke of Armand von Krauss? Marcus is in perpetual danger and he does nothing, but worry about himself.

He finishes the shower and dresses himself with the clothing picked out for him to wear. A pair of khaki slacks and a tan polo shirt. He grits his teeth at wearing clothing that makes him look weak, but it is what needs to happen when meeting up with Esmeralda von Krauss soon.

Another day, another defeat. Tarrasque stands as a group of crewmen fuss over his outfit to make him look good enough.

Tarrasque looks down at himself and growls angrily. He looks like a buffoon. Well, time to go out and impress his captors.

Armand von Krauss stands outside of the wrestling ring on the top deck. His ship crew has been cleaning up the blood from the sparring partners. He really knows he should get better sparring partners, but no one really wants to spar with Tarrasque. Especially if they knew that death could lie at the end of the session. He would spar with Tarrasque himself, but this new Tarrasque is stronger than ever and Armand remembers full well the last time they fought. He nearly met his own end.

Armand von Krauss: Leg deinen Rücken hinein, ihr faulen Hintern. Meine Frau muss ihr Gesicht in diesen Holzbodenplatten sehen!

Armand stares at the crew members angrily as they stare back in confusion.Then, he remembers that he spoke to them in German and most of the crew are South Korean.

Armand von Krauss: This needs to be done. We can already see the California coast from here! Schneller! Schneller!

When they do not act like they are in a hurry to get things done, Armand reaches into an inside pocket and pulls out a German revolver. He fires a single shot into the air, the crack resounding across the ship. This gets the crew working harder. Armand puts the gun away and chuckles, lighting up a new Egyptian cigarette.

The mirth doesn’t last long and the anxiety seeps back in rather quickly. He did, after all, have an affair on LIVE SWAT TELEVISION with a girl named Sunshine. She was wonderful, caring, and doting. Everything that Armand craves from Esmeralda though he admires her courage, her brutality, and her dedication.

Will she know about Sunshine? Or, will she have been too absorbed in her dealings in Canada? What will she say? It’s been almost a year. Armand’s longing for her company and fear of what she will think of the affair are set to make him explode.

At last Long Beach, California is in sight. He had arranged for a parking lot for one of the beaches to be used as a landing pad. As the new airship slowly descends, he can see Esmeralda von Krauss in the distance. She stands by a limo with the crew she borrowed from him. Hehehe, Hahaha, Sir Monocle, and Sticky.

She is in a yellow sundress and wide brimmed hat and his heart both flies and sinks at the sight of her.

As the ship readies the stairs for Esmeralda and her crew to get up to the ship, Armand speeds through his Egyptian cigarette.

He flicks the cigarette butt over the side of the ship as she clears the top step with a winning smile.

Esmeralda von Krauss: Hello, dahling.