"Coming first to the ring, from Yokohama, Japan! At 5'4, and weighing 118 pounds, YUKI KAZIKURAAAA!" Spoiler
As the lights began to rise on the stage, Yuki stepped up from behind the curtains, greeting the cheers of the fans as she made her way to the ring. She kept a determined and serious look on her face, prepared to give it her all, yet she still threw her fist up as she passed by the fans at ringside in a pledge to win this for them! Coming to the ring, she slipped in under the ropes, heading over to her corner to ready herself for the match to come.
Golden lights of the Venomous Vixen flared with the pounding music of you know who. There wasn't a soul out there who didn't know the beat of LAW's Ace! Each bass bump injected a flicker of new life like the stage was infected with the Midas touch. A gold rush began when the sound dipped off its apex. The lights bloomed, and confetti rained from the ceiling, glimmering gaudy gold. Cheers rained on instinct. Each cue was energy pumping into the masses that looked on, waiting for that silhouette to pierce the entrance LAW's Lightweight Champion fancied for herself. But then, it crashed into boos. Someone different emerged. A red-haired Marauder cruised on her skateboard to the ramp's start, stepping on her board's tail to stop and bask. She donned a grunge-styled jacket, a tight-fighting black horned skull shirt, fishnets on her forearms, legs and abdomen, a reddish-themed plaid skirt with a belt on the waist, black thigh-high stockings with white stripes and black boots. A choker, inverted cross and horns decorated her head.
"And her opponent… Hailing from New York City, weighing in at one-hundred and seventeen pounds and standing at five-foot-four, Angelina Tarraaaaant!" Spoiler
"That as loud as ya can get, shitheads?!" Angelina called out to the fans alike. Her arms crossed into an X that delivered birds to each sector of the crowd. She giggled with overflowing glee. Her heart was pumping already, and that's all she needed. This time, she stepped off her board and kicked it down the ramp, letting it crash and be lost beneath the apron. Angelina walked down instead, moving her shoulders and folded arms in a minor circular groove to the theme. Her head had a rhythmic nod, light hip sashays and she closed her eyes throughout the whole descent to ringside. There was a slight bounce in her step, a little lean left and right every few beats. "Boom, boom, ya… booyah..."
The routine continued up those steel steps and even how she slipped into the ring, walking across the ring without even paying a glance to her opponent. Then the song cut out. And Angelina was left dancing in silence, bar the passing crowd's reaction. Having positioned herself near the ring's heart, she stopped and turned to face her opponent. Her posture was relaxed, her expression dull. She propped out a finger-gun gesture with an elbow at her side, the palm facing up. "Oh, ya know that gal, right? Rose Gold. Real popula. Ya should know it very, very... very well, Yuki Kazikura." Any semblance of feigned ignorance washed away in the overflowing smugness that slowly seeped in.
The moment her opponent's music hit, Yuki gasped; she could feel something drop in the pit of her stomach. Her blood ran cold. Rose? Here? Now!? She knew for sure that whatever opponent she was due to face tonight, it wasn't supposed to be Rose Gold - she would have remembered it if it was! Yet, she knew from experience that, even after defeating her at We Are LAW some time ago, the reigning Lightweight Champion wasn't done with her. She knew that from when Rose appeared out of nowhere just when she was about to hit her finisher on Xiomara Tempest, costing her both the match and her shot at going after the championship once again. She never knew when Rose would strike next - but it seemed that she had chosen this moment for that to happen. With glassy and unblinking eyes, she watched the entrance ramp, terrified by what might greet her but unwilling to look away. In an instant, all of her courage and confidence had melted away - when it came to Rose, there was no telling what would happen.
But the woman who emerged from the curtains wasn't Rose at all. It was someone Yuki didn't recognize - but the way she made her entrance, callously taunting the fans and casually kicking her skateboard down toward the ring as though she wasn't in the least concerned about it hitting someone on the way down, told her everything she needed to know about who she was. At first, Yuki wasn't even sure if she was dreaming or not. But when the realization that she'd been tricked set in, it only made her teeth clench, and her fists balled at her sides. She was supposed to be better than this - what excuse did she have for falling for such a trick now, when she was supposed to be stronger than ever before?
As Angelina climbed into the ring, Yuki crossed her arms with a huff, taking a step closer to her foe. "So, you did set this up to mess with me," she muttered, her suspicions confirmed. "Tell me...does Rose know you're out there pretending to be her?" At the same time, the anxieties were brewing in the back of her head. Angelina knew far more about Yuki than she let on, it seemed - and it left her wondering just how deeply that knowledge ran...
This was marvellous to soak in. All the wonder, trying to decipher the hodgepodge of emotions from just the way they stared then and now was just the appetiser this pirate wanted. Now they shared the same ring, and Angelina took to watching the little details. It was the payoff after all for one’s hard work to even secure the production for that entrance. Don’t even get her started on swapping the songs. Crossed arms and a small inquisition was fair, and Angelina answered with a fair nod as she allowed her jacket to slip from her shoulders and pile at her ankles. A few kicks dismissed it, which slid it across the canvas until it dangled on the apron to the outside.
“I guess Queen Bitch knows now.” Angelina put her hands behind her back, grabbing the wrist and taking another step forward. “That girl works ya up, real fuckin’ precious-like, ya know? It’s so damn obvious, I just had to see it for myself.” She looked up, “Ok.” Then nodded a couple times, pursing her bottom lip then shrugging, “Wanted to is the better word. Consider it my hello..” She smiled, self-satisfied as her arms fell at her side, “So.” The two limbs raised outward, half-bent, the palms up at shoulder-height like she presented herself. “Any more questions ya wanna ask or we gonna have ourselves some kicks?”
At first, Yuki had been surprised to hear Rose Gold's entrance theme, one that had been burned into her head as well as those of many other LAW fans and roster members alike thanks to the champion's infamy. While she'd been confident and assured in her chances just a moment ago, the first few chords of the song were all it took to shock her into a stunned silence. But when it grew apparent that she'd been had, Yuki's shock gave way to anger. Her hands coiled into trembling fists, and as she took a few steps toward Angelina, her teeth ground against each other into a grimace. The fact that Angelina was going to taunt her about it didn't help matters any more for Yuki - she knew exactly what she was doing, and if anything she was downright proud of how she'd been able to rattle her opponent. She didn't even care about what she did, as though to her, this was all a game. Well...Yuki would have to see to it that she got serious.
"...hmmph..." she muttered to herself. As she and Angelina closed the distance, Yuki bent at the knees, lowering herself into a stance and raising her own hands to mirror her opponent's gesture. "I've said my part. There's only one thing left..."
Yuki would await the moment the bell rang, prepared to open up the match. As soon as she had the floor to do so, she would charge closer, attempting to catch Angelina off-guard with a sudden burst of speed to get herself into range - and there, she would aim a punch directly upward into her foe's gut!
A fun little gambit indeed. Angelina didn’t have much thought going into this bout of hers. She knew enough about her opponent to know what trickled a reaction, but left the mystery of what to pleasure. There wasn’t an ounce of disappointment, as she soaked in their displeasure. This now built all she can want within a fight. One with tangible animosity to wonder what they’d might do, the tingles of dopamine livened in her readied hands, to grapple or punch, whatever they desired. She didn’t know nor wanted to know to care. It was all such a virgin experience that every action was a surprise. And to open things off, Yuki raced. Angelina was always caught by surprise at the bell, the race jumped her heart with electricity, and she felt lucid, weightless and shocked all at once. The fist buried into her lithe stomach and Angelina curled over the stroke. “PUGH!” She yelled, with spittle wetting her lips and further hungered with a swipe of her tongue over both. The pain pulsed, but she didn’t mind so much.
Rather. The close proximity allowed such an opportunity for rebuttal. And Angelina, while hunched over their arm, looked up and grinned, “Wanna trade? I’ll trade with’tcha.” And Angelina rebutted. Her left arm swung over with her hips turning forward, a hook aimed to crash into their cheekbone. If that hit, then her rebuttal would reveal two-fold. Her opposite hip whipped into motion, forward with a knee that charged up and stabbed in hopes to deliver a gut-bruising strike in swift succession!
Yuki knew, from the moment she realized who she was up against, that her opponent was going to put all of her skills to the test. Even before the bell had rung, Angelina had attempted to catch her off guard, using psychological warfare to try and get an edge on her. Yuki knew that one of her greatest assets was her analytical mind, but that would only serve her as long as she managed to keep a cool head. Angelina had tried to sweep that out from under her before the match had even begun, hoping she could start Yuki off on the wrong foot. The raven-haired girl bit at her lip with frustration just thinking about it - but she resolved that she would need to take extra care to ensure she wouldn't slip up, if that was how Angelina was going to play. For that matter, she also needed to leverage another strength of hers - her agility and quick strikes, as she went to open the match with an uppercut straight into her opponent's unprotected midsection.
Angelina went reeling backward, thrown by the force of the blow. Yuki was quick to settle back into a fighting stance as she pulled back onto the balls of her feet, keeping her fists raised and her eyes trained on her foe to watch her for any movements. It was because of that that as Angelina threw a punch of her own back for Yuki's face, she swung her arms up to intercept it with a block. But she wouldn't be as lucky when the next move came a second later, and Angelina plowed a knee straight into her stomach!
In an instant, the air was knocked out of Yuki's lungs. Coughing and wheezing she doubled over forward, bending at the knees to try and keep herself up as she clutched at her gut and gasped for air. But she would soon raise her head to stare back at Angelina with a glare of defiance, shaking her head to toss a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes. Then, she would lunge forward, looking to grab Angelina's legs and pull her off her footing with a double leg takedown! She wasn't going to let the redhead get by unscathed for long!
Being struck in the stomach awakens so many potent sensations. The twist of her guts, the echo as the impact travels around the whole midsection muscle, the full-ness of her innards like they swelled, and the queasiness inside her throat. It turned you dizzy for a quarter of a second, then shot you back, rubbing your body through the vivid pain-tumour. She liked to believe much can be discerned from that welcoming punch. They were serious. Rather, she wasn’t expecting such a direct blow from a girl like this… But one strength she had was to adapt, and live with what she was dealt, responding with no hesitation but the wind that cut around her fist, right into Yuki’s guard, and her smile ticked a little as she threw the opposite knee, and struck gold.
The limb stayed forward, and stomped where it hovered. She met Yuki’s glower, offering a one-eyed smirk, tongue rolling over the bottom-left corner of her lips and a middle finger as her other hand rubbed her ailing belly. Not too long later and the pair tangled again. Again this woman had shown an inner-velocity to her actions, and Angelina could only brace with hands on Yuki’s shoulders! Her back crashed to the canvas, and her breath hitched. That closed eye winced, but she kept cooled and assessed the options. The result was her hands pinned by their collar. Angelina glanced between their head and her hands, and took the snap-action of grabbing fistfuls of their raven locks, so tight the tresses could spill between the caps. She used that to yank them towards her chest and against her body, then tried ankle-locking her legs around their midsection, starting a body-scissor where her thighs suffocated their sides!
Yuki thought she would be ready for Angelina to come back swinging. She saw her opponent draw back her arm to deliver the return punch, and she shot her own arms up to mount a guard over her face, protecting herself from the incoming blow. She could feel the force of Angelina's fist ringing against her forearms, and the momentum caused her to reel backward, her back bending and her ankles digging into the canvas to stabilize herself. But what she hadn't been counting on was for Angelina to strike back with her knee so soon after, and she hardly had enough time to adjust her stance before that knee came in lower, slamming against her gut.
Just then, the core of Yuki's body lit up with aches from how Angelina's knee had made impact. She hunched over forward, clutching at her stomach to try and dull the pain as the corner of her lip pulled back to reveal the clenched teeth behind them. Beneath her hand, she could feel the lurch of her body as her diaphragm pulled in and out. But she raised her head to look back at her opponent, and her eyes narrowed with both rage and purpose. She knew what she had to do - and if she was going to be bent over like this, she was going to take Angelina down!
She charged forward, hurling herself off the ground with her arms outstretched to take out the redhead's legs, and together they came crashing to the mat. But even then, Angelina had her defense readied. She grabbed Yuki by the hair, drawing a hiss of pain from the joshi wrestler before she found her head being dragged upward, guiding her into place. The referee chided Angelina for using her opponent's hair for leverage, but it hardly slowed her down, as she swept her legs around Yuki's sides to hold down a bodyscissor around her waist!
Feeling the crushing pressure closing in around her ribs, Yuki threw her head back again, crying out from the pain. She balled a fist, swinging it against Angelina's ribs again and again. It was all she could think of at this point, but she needed to get her to let go!
Ground wrestling wasn’t her favourite place to be, as the smaller woman in most altercations, speed and mobility rendered to the tactical movements of her arms, fingers, and legs. But they needed strength. And while she wasn’t far lesser in size to her opponent, the instincts remained. The hair happened to be such a great tool to command them, just for a crucial step and distraction in one, to knot her legs around them and vice. Her hands relinquished the hair, holding them up, wagging all ten fingers as the referee started a short count - but she’d gotten all she wanted from it already, and rolled her bottom lip in to concentrate on incrementing the pressure. Hearing the cry was just the fruit, “First fuckin’ blood.” A chuckle burst, and she propped her upper-half on her elbows. This was the part you could sink your teeth into, and enjoy. It didn't last long but every second was welded in her short-term memory, overridden by the stinging pain like she was being bitten, the ping of their fist off the bone, pain so localised that she closed an eye, and braced for the second that forced her upper-half to jerk, curling to that punch’s impact. She hissed through her teeth. Then yelped at the third strike. Her bodyscissor broke and she inhaled sharply, but held that breath, then ushered out a last groan. But that didn't stop her from countering. Adrenaline would've have to been wack if it failed to muffle this.
So she pushed up, threw her arm, trying to hook around their neck. Then a foot slammed down as she shoved her shoulder into theirs in order to roll them over. Angelina would straddle their stomach, returning to her prior hair grip with one hand, while she curled a fishnet-loaded fist, cocked back her elbow and shoulder towards the lights. “Want a fist kiss?” The fingers wagged one by one, swiftly, and created the fist again. “Then pucker up, girl!” And then she drove that hand down, throwing her weight into one nasty hook that aimed to deliver its payload into Yuki’s mouth!
