A Valiant Debut: Belinda Northman vs Makie Akamatsu (D)

[Underdoggo]

The bell rang. At long last, Belinda let her go. Blissful relief came over Makie as she flopped onto her front, her back now a raw, throbbing mass of pain. Facedown on the mat, she panted hard, lying unmoving for a bit, hearing the audience around her erupt into cheers at Belinda's decisive victory.

She had lost. She had given her all in her big debut here in LAW, and she had lost.

She shut her eyes, feeling the sting of sweat mixing with hot, welling tears as she tried to ignore the background noise. She felt nothing but profound shame at that moment. She had come into this league hoping to impress the audience, hoping to make a big impression...and hoping, above all, to win. Instead, she had been absolutely destroyed by one of the league's most skilled competitors. She had lost matches before, but to lose on her big debut...that added a horrible sting of humiliation to everything.

"Hey, you okay? You did good kid. Tough as nails. Though a bit too stubborn for your own good."

The words caused her to perk up. Using her arm to absorb the tears that she hoped no one noticed, she gingerly turned her head to see Belinda leaning over her. The golden-haired Swede was extending a hand down towards her; around them, the audience was clapping in unison at this display of sportsmanship, and more of than a few members of the audience were chanting Makie's name.

"You good to walk?"

It took Makie a few seconds to realize that she was smiling, weakly. "Y..yeah," she managed to say, accepting Belinda's proffered hand. She let the blonde pull her up, and then winced as intense pain shot through her back. "Aaagh!" she gasped, stumbling and nearly falling, gripping Belinda's arm tightly to avoid falling. "I...might be a bit slow though..."

Still...as battered and in pain as Makie was...she was standing now. That counted for something.

[Devastated]

Belinda's eyes focused a bit as she saw the tell-tale signs. Those arms rubbing at that down-turned face. It could only be one thing, it wasn't like she hadn't been in that spot before. Though pointing it out didn't do anyone any favours, the best thing she could do for Makie right now was to treat her as a fellow competitor, either that or give her someone to hate. Belinda hadn't gotten a helping hand in her moment of shame, not in that way...which was why she wanted to make up for that. She wanted to give Makie the respect she deserved for putting in such tremendous effort.

She waited, when Makie finally looked up and smiled weakly at her, Belinda would flash a happy grin. She clasped her hand firmly with Makie's and pulled her right up. She noticed Makie stumble, and grip her hand tightly, she reached out to help her stay arisen. Once it looked clear that Makie was on her feet solidly...Belinda would nod to Makie and then turn to the audience to raise Makie's arm up, prompting the audience to give the Japanese newcomer a cheer and a round of applause.

"You did good. No one can take that away from you. You showed everyone that you belong here." Belinda said with a earnest tone and facial expression, as the cheers were dying down. " Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Next thing Belinda did was to try and sling Makie's arm over her shoulder and wrap her arm around her back to prop her up to help her walk out. " Let's get you backstage, have someone look at your back. Stubborn girl." Belinda would nod her head and flash Makie another friendly grin.

[Underdoggo]

Makie hadn't expected Belinda to help her up. Belinda was one of the most well-known faces of LAW after all, someone who was in the big leagues; she certainly didn't need to waste her time with small fry like Makie. And yet, despite all of that, Belinda was now not only helping her up, but propping her up on her shoulder as she helped her towards the ramp. And, stubborn as she was, Makie inwardly had to admit that she doubted she would have been able to make the trip back to the locker room unassisted, especially with how badly her back was hurting.

"Th-thanks," Makie managed to say with a weak smile. While it still stung to have lost her debut match, the fact that she had lost to someone as supportive as Belinda was being right now did a lot to soften the blow-- especially since Belinda right now was doing nothing but praising her debut performance. "Just you wait, though...I'm going to improve after this. Next time we meet in the ring, Belinda, I'll make sure you see the difference." And I'll win, she wanted to add, but right now, strangely enough, impressing Belinda seemed to matter a lot more to her than defeating the Swede.

[Devastated]

Belinda helped Makie up the ramp as she propped her up. The weak smile of Makie's was responded with by Belinda giving her a friendly grin. She continued to bring them up the ramp, slowly as the crowd cheered for the two. For Belinda's victory, for the sportsmanship and no less for Makie's tremendous effort this evening.

"I'm looking forward to it! Come at me with everything you've got!" Belinda would reply to Makie, as she brought her backstage and would help her get to someone who could check her out and clear her to go home and get some rest.

Winner: Belinda Northman