With a world that’s become more frustratingly complex than it has any right to be, there’s only one thing which the Dark Star needs. Space to herself. Space away from the increasingly volatile situation that she’s become embroiled in the past month or so. Ever since she fell just short of shocking the world and claiming the ultimate prize, things have been different. She’s told herself repeatedly that it’s fine, that she’s obliged to follow the Crimson Queen wherever she goes and whatever she does. After all she wouldn’t even be in a ring if her former rival hadn’t checked in on her and encouraged her to be the fighter she’d always been. Utami had recommended a doctor to Arisa, and it was that doctor who’d cleared her to return to action. Without the months of encouragement and that referral there simply wouldn’t be a Dark Star to begin with. Without Utami, she’d just be a backstage suit helping to promote other talents to the Japanese market.
So why hasn’t she been at her Queen’s side for most of this month? At first it was under the excuse of recovering from the toll her match with Tam had taken on her. Last week though? The fact that she decided to avoid the arena and hit the gym instead says a lot about where she’s at. There’s a huge opportunity coming up at Last Survivor, after all, so she needs to work doubly hard to be ready for the arduous task just on the horizon. Utami’s counting on her to help Queen’s Court dominate the match after all, so she has to refine her killer instinct even further. No one can be allowed to survive the onslaught because this is a Queen’s Court moment in the making. Yet even while pumping iron, she couldn’t ignore what was going down on Warfare. The images of Utami attacking both champion and challenger for the title, then holding the belt up, haunt her even several days after the events. Why?
Isn’t this just the natural result of the Crimson Queen being denied her rightful place? Isn’t Alexa just a self-destructive idiot who keeps running toward her own career’s end? Isn’t Tam simply one more woman who despite being incredibly strong is ultimately a future conquest of wrestling’s rightful queen? Who cares what the people in the stands or anyone else thinks, it’s just smart to weaken the enemy before your inevitable battle isn’t it? Arisa hangs her head as the questions relentlessly bombard her. She’s in a brief moment of rest between workouts, sitting in her humble abode away from the chaos. Utami is at war with all of EBWF’s women, and Arisa’s not sure what to make of it. As much in Utami’s debt as she feels, she doesn’t know if this is how they should be doing things. And there’s more than that.
Despite Utami’s proclamation about winning the Last Survivor match with the force of Queen’s Court and fulfilling her destiny to conquer this place - Arisa wants something else. Something that began to stir when she fought Tam again and dug down deeper than she ever thought possible. The thing that’s driven her to train ceaselessly since the main event of Christmas Eve of Destruction. Arisa clutches her head as the thoughts come to a natural conclusion. This should be her ultimate display of loyalty to her one friend, Utami. She should be using her skills to ensure the Crimson Queen wins. But that conclusion says something else. Arisa shakes her head as she tries to banish it from her thoughts but all that happens is the conclusion grows louder. Undeniable. The tantalizing brush with gold she had makes her want another shot; she wants to win the Last Survivor match herself, then go on to do what she couldn’t do before.
Arisa Hoshiki: “I’ve gotta do this for me.”
As soon as she says it, the Dark Star looks up into her mirror and stares at her reflection again. In the past she’s only seen a dour young woman only interested in crushing her opponents and making her queenly savior happy. Now as she replays that near miss against Tam, she sees a different person staring back. There’s more color in her face. When she thinks about her win against Jamie, fighting back against the incredibly dangerous newcomer with everything she had, Arisa sees her lips turn up in a smile. Not a big one, but definitely noticeable. Jamie thought she was weak, that she had run away into retirement rather than face Jamie again. All of the promises Jamie made to bludgeon her into a bloody pulp and end her career for good weren’t idle. Arisa knows full well that Jamie Hayter has that kind of overwhelming strength. That said, the match still ended with a Pulsar Kick and “Shadow Maker” playing.
The Dark Star is proud of that win perhaps more than any other since her return to the ring. Coming off her first loss and facing an old rival bent on her destruction, Arisa managed to win without any assistance from her Queen’s Court allies. She’s not weak. Faced with a monster who wanted to end her Arisa stood up, hit back and got the win. It feels good to know she can do that after everything that happened. And now? Now she’s set to face eleven other women who all want to beat her down and throw her out. All of the conceivable odds are stacked against her, and yet the thought of this match just makes her smile widen. If she’s doing this for herself, those women are in for a long night. Should it come down to herself and Utami? Well, that’s something she’ll deal with when it happens.
For now she looks up at the picture that’s been on her mirror for a few months. To this day she doesn’t know why she keeps it, but it does remind her of her past. All the pain and hurt of having to retire after pushing herself too hard. The agonizing disappointment of not even being able to say goodbye to the world of wrestling due to global happenings far out of her control. Being attacked online by the fans and told she’d be better off dead. Yet she kept fighting despite all of those things, a seemingly endless struggle through debilitating physical and mental illness. Why? What was it that kept her going? It’s as her mind returns to that match with Jamie that Arisa Hoshiki finds her answer.
Arisa Hoshiki: “I love this, and I’ll always be a fighter.”
********
At first we see a black screen with just a single point of golden light at its center. It twinkles ever so slightly but is otherwise almost imperceptible at first. At first there’s no sound, but slowly a soft and mournful melody playing on an unseen piano. As this begins we see a series of clips showing Arisa Hoshiki taking kicks, moves and falls to her head and neck. At the bottom of the screen are the words ‘footage courtesy of World Wonder Ring Stardom’. Between each one we see a close up of her face, her expression becoming more pained and saddened each time. The final clip freezes on a shot of her crumpled on the mat, holding her head in pain. A man’s voice reads out an announcement.
Stardom Representative: “We are saddened to report that due to neck and head injuries, Arisa Hoshiki has officially retired. The Wonder of Stardom title has been returned to Stardom. We wish Arisa the very best in her future. Thank you for your continued support of Stardom."
With the conclusion of this statement, we see Arisa sitting on the floor of an empty corridor. At this point she’s still dressed in her old ring gear, though she clutches her bowed head in her hands. Text appears on the screen with messages of ‘Why did you leave? You abandoned us!’, ‘You’re just a waste of space who should stop breathing’, ‘Go die you loser’.
Arisa Hoshiki: “This should’ve been the end.”
We see a close up of her face again. It’s both exhausted and mournful, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Arisa Hoshiki: “Through my whole first return, I wasn’t well. I hurt physically and emotionally, but I loved professional wrestling and I pushed myself to keep going. I survived through all of that, but at some point even I couldn’t keep going. The world turned on me when I decided to take care of myself, and it felt like the end of everything.”
Once again we see Arisa in the corridor curled up against the wall. Then suddenly her hands ball up into fists as the opening riff of “Shadow Maker” hits. All of the hateful comments disappear and she grits her teeth through obvious pain to get up to one knee and then to her feet. There’s a cold determination on her face as she turns to face the camera. After a flash of golden light we see clips of her in the gym, struggling with even basic exercises.
Arisa Hoshiki: “But I’ve always been a fighter, so I got back at it-”
In succession we see her starting to lift weights, hit practice strikes and run the treadmill more proficiently. With each clip the confidence gradually returns to her face. Then we see her hitting Pulsar Kicks on Alyah Gutierrez, Britt Baker, Tam Nakano and Jamie Hayter. We hear chants of “A-RI-SA!” as well as we next see her undertaking intensive crossfit, sparring and weight lifting training. All through it she has a grim determination on her face.
Arisa Hoshiki: “I survived the end of everything. And the stakes just keep getting higher.”
We then see a shot of Arisa staring at a sign bearing the Last Survivor logo. This freezes just as Arisa begins to smile confidently, and suddenly we’re back to that black screen. The point of light is pulsing now as “Shadow Maker” begins to fade out. As it goes quiet the light fills the screen and is nearly blinding. After a split second we see Arisa Hoshiki in her Dark Star gear looking right down the camera.
Arisa Hoshiki: “So it’s come to this, a match the whole world anticipates with baited breath every year. One match where a dozen of the most talented, capable and dangerous women in the sport all compete to see who can outlast the rest. Everyone watching knows just how hard it is for a woman to get through the Last Survivor match and have her hand raised high at the end. Some women people consider the very best to ever step into a ring have never been able to do it. Women who’ve become legends of the sport are missing a Last Survivor victory from their glittering resumes. Without a doubt the so-called experts are right about one thing: it’s one of the hardest things to accomplish in professional wrestling.”
She raises an eyebrow as she continues.
Arisa Hoshiki: “With that being the case, I should be terrified of what I’m about to face in this match. When they held the drawing for entry order, I watched along with everyone else in the world as Trish Stratus was picked at #1. Then it happened - #2 is Arisa Hoshiki. To be honest I ought to be furious about being stuck as the second woman to enter the match. Not only do I have to square up with a woman who by all accounts has nothing left to prove and should have stayed retired, I have to be in the spot no one remembers. Be honest, you don’t remember many, if any, #2 entrants into Last Survivor matches do you? The first in, the big surprises and the winner all earn the immortality of enduring memory but the second in? An asterisk at best if she’s remembered at all.”
A frown crosses her lips.
Arisa Hoshiki: “Add to that the fact that each and every woman who enters the match is fresher than me and survival seems impossible. Just look at those names and you’ll see why - Jamie Hayter, Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan, Britt Baker, Gail Kim to name a few. Every single one of them is coming into this match with the express purpose of throwing everyone else out. Some of them probably want to break me down piece by piece and pound me into a fine powder. To even last to the final entrant is a test of endurance that very very few women would be capable of. All of the experts are probably expecting Arisa Hoshiki to be out of this match before our mysterious surprise entrant arrives. And I can just hear what all of the other women I’ll be facing are thinking.”
Arisa’s face grows grim.
Arisa Hoshiki: “Arisa’s pushing her luck every time she steps into a ring. Those head and neck injuries are just getting aggravated whenever she fights. She’s going to get herself seriously injured again and maybe it’d be good for everyone if I retired her again. She’s a weakling who ran away from the sport once before. They might all be determined to make me run away from it again. Even if they’re not, the prize for winning this match makes every woman in it that much more dangerous. If you win, you get your date with destiny against the champion. That means everyone is going to be doing her all to destroy the eleven other women in the match and ensure that she’s the last one standing. In order to win this match, I’d have to survive the onslaught of every other woman to enter it and still have the energy at the end to get that last elimination. I’ve been asking myself the same question any time I think about this match: do I really have that in me?”
She laughs derisively.
Arisa Hoshiki: “To answer that, I need all of the fans and all of the women in this match to understand something. It’s a fundamental point that everyone seems to ignore when they’re up against the Dark Star. I’m feeling a little generous so I’ll kindly remind you: I’m the ultimate survivor. All of the women in this match have had their challenges, but none of them have survived the loss of everything they ever worked for. None of them had to fight through pain for a year just to have the championship they fought hard to win, their dreams, their livelihood and their self respect all ripped away at once. I didn’t run away, I was forced to leave by a broken body and soul. And when I did finally realize that I needed to take care of myself, I was kicked while I was down until I didn’t want to exist anymore.”
She pauses, expression serious as she recalls all of the things that she’s spoken of many times before.
Arisa Hoshiki: “But I still survived. Instead of disappearing, I fought back. Even on days where I could barely stand up, I kept pushing myself to get stronger. Every last ounce of weakness and doubt bludgeoned and evicted from me, no matter the pain I had to go through to do so. I didn’t have any kind of guarantee that I’d ever be able to return to the thing I loved the most in the world. Hell, most people said that it was impossible; in their eyes my career was over and I just had to accept it. But I kept fighting. I kept surviving. And then last fall I was able to prove everyone wrong and got back into the ring. Ever since then, I’ve survived the onslaught of the best this sport has to offer.”
A slight smile crosses her lips again.
Arisa Hoshiki: “Alyah Gutierrez did what she could but I ended her night and maybe career without hesitation. I mean, we haven’t seen her since, have we? Britt Baker, the former champion who was the face of this place for months? Not even curb stomping my head was enough to stop me. Tam? Well, Tam won but I pushed her to the breaking point and was just a split second away from ending her reign. Jamie Hayter? Absolutely one of the most powerful women in the sport and someone who’s honest about who she is. Against a Jamie who was hell bent on ending my career for good, I kept coming back. I kept fighting back and wouldn’t stay down even with all the pain I was in. And Jamie, despite her complaints, lost to Arisa Hoshiki again. I didn’t just survive her, I found something I thought I’d lost when I retired.”
Her smile widens.
Arisa Hoshiki: “You see, the thing that kept me going despite how hard Jamie hit me over and over again? It’s simple. I love this sport, and even with the chance of being injured anytime I step through that curtain, that keeps me going. When I was struggling for two years to make my way back into a ring, it’s what inspired me to keep trying. Sometimes I needed people to remind me about it. A lot of times I forgot it. But no matter what anyone thinks of me, I love what I do and I will keep clawing my way back off the mat to keep going. It’s a fire deep within me that can’t be quenched again now that it’s been lit again. And it’s going to burn up every single woman who steps into that ring with me tonight.”
Indeed, the fire fills her eyes as she goes on.
Airsa Hoshiki: “Because a month ago I got close to winning the greatest prize in this sport that I love. I got so close I could feel the championship in my hands. But it slipped out of them just as quickly as I almost had it in my grasp. Ever since that night I’ve been asking myself what I could’ve done differently, if I could’ve won that match. My heart aches for another chance to prove that I’m not just strong, I’m the best there is at what I do. Whether that’s thanks to the help of my friend Utami or not doesn’t matter. The championship fills my dreams and thoughts, reminding me of what I nearly accomplished. I need to become the champion, and I’ll take on any challenge in order to get another shot. I’ll go through any pain, take any amount of punishment and just keep coming after anyone in my way in order to do it.”
Arisa glares into the camera as her voice grows more intense.
Arisa Hoshiki: “The reality of the Last Survivor match is that I’m not having to fight my way through eleven other women. It’s that those eleven women are trapped in a ring with the strongest version of Arisa Hoshiki to ever enter the ring. I’ve been training twice as hard as before in preparation for the most grueling, demanding match in professional wrestling. Any weakness that was left in me has been forcibly removed by countless hours of work. I’ve got my eyes on the greatest prize, and that all makes me the most dangerous woman any of them have ever fought. They might all be good, but I’m better. In a match where the last woman standing has to endure a gauntlet of top to bottom the best roster in pro wrestling, I’m the ultimate survivor. I’ve survived the end of my career and came back better than ever. So do I have it in me to outlast every other woman in this match?”
Her smile returns.
Arisa Hoshiki: “Yes, yes I do. No matter how many of them unleash their fury on me, I’ll keep finding away to claw my way back to feet. No matter how many times they try to throw me out, I’ll escape certain doom and get back into the ring to kick their heads off. No matter how long it takes, Arisa Hoshiki will be there at the end of the match. Even if I can barely stand, even with my body wracked with the worst pain imaginable, I’ll be the Last Survivor because surviving is what I do.”
Her smile is filled with confidence as she concludes.
Arisa Hoshiki: “There might be eleven other stars in this match, but the Dark Star is eclipsing them all. I’m doing this for myself, and I’m going to shine brighter than any of them.”