Tiki Lowell stood center ring with mic in hand, dressing in an attire much more formal but no less appealing than her usual wrestling attire. Normally the sight of such a high profile wrestler in this spot meant that a promo was being cut, or another wrestler was being called out, or that some sorts of statement was being made. But this was a bit different.
There was a match happening now, and Tiki was the announcer. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE YOU READY TO WITNESS: THE FUTURE! " she cried. The professionalism of her attire having no bearing on the raw passion of her voice, "WHAT YOU NOW KNOW AS LAW WILL SOON GIVE WAY TO AN EVEN GREATER FORM! A NEW FORM THAT YOU ALL ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO WITNESS THE BIRTH OF!"
"Today's match is set for a best of three rounds, all fought as standard," announced Tiki, dialing back her voice a bit for the technical parts. Though of course, the next words out of the veteran's mouth would have her ramping right back up, "AND NOW FOR OUR CONTENDERS! TWO WOMEN WHO FROM THE DEEPEST PART OF MY HEART AND SOUL, I AM PROUD TO CALL MY PROTEGES! INTRODUCING FROM HERE IN JAPAN! STANDING AT 4'9" AND 120 POUNDS, AND LOOKING TO EXTEND HER RECENT STREAK OF DOMINANCE, THE SWEET DREAM: NIKO! TOMIJI!"
Niko took a deep breath in preparation for the match ahead. It was a big one, even compared to her other bouts since becoming competent. It was against Ivy Aster, another one of Tiki's students and even someone that the woman considered a tag partner, which as a result meant that the woman herself was not only going to be present at commentary but even introducing them. Something that added to the stakes and importance of everything as a result making Niko bite her lips in nervousness.. But she couldn't falter. While she didn't know much about Ivy, she did know that anything less than her best would result in her getting squashed. Taking one last deep breath in preparation Niko would nod to herself as she finished her preparations and looking up just as her new entrance music began to play. Spoiler
Stepping out to the upbeat, electronic melody Niko would pose cutely for the fans who cheered loudly in response for her, especially wearing her new, officially styles ring gear. Strutting down the ramp with a bright grin on her face Niko would make her way to the ring, doing her best to give off as much confidence as she could before hopping up on the apron and turning to the fans once more, posing for them and, admittedly as she turned to enter the ring, she'd make sure they got a good view of her cake before standing upright and looking around once before resting her gaze on Tiki and smiling. Spoiler
Approaching the woman Niko would hold her arms out and, assuming it was reciprocated hug Tiki closely for a moment. "Thank you for the introduction, I'll make you proud tonight." The smaller girl said softly before pulling away and nodding to her mentor before turning and approaching her corner, going to lean against it while looking up at the ramp, waiting for her opponent to come down.
Oh, that's new, Tiki thought when she heard the first notes of Niko's entrance music. A good song, but the announcer was much more focused on the person it was hyping up. Tiki watched as Niko flawlessly hit the classic female wrestler rope bend over before looking to greet her mentor with a hug. "You read my mind!" Tiki cheered as she pulled her protege in with one arm, while turning towards the opposite side of the arena with the other, mic in hand.
"AND NOW HER OPPONENT! A BRIT WITH ENOUGH AERIAL FIREPOWER TO BE COMMISSIONED FOR THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, LOOKING TO STAY UNDEFEATED AT LAW! STANDING AT 5'8" AND 160 POUNDS, THE SNOW ROSE: IVY! ASTER!"
As Tiki began to introduce her, Ivy felt like her feet were beginning to freeze to the floor. She had largely gotten over the nerves that came with matches by now, but this was different. This fight was. . . personal, in a way that nothing else to this point had been. Her idol was showing off the legacy she would leave behind to the wrestling world once her time to retire finally came, and Ivy was a part of it. She'd never felt more pressure to live up to expectations and justify the faith Tiki put in her.
And that was to say nothing of Ivy's opponent. She had fought strong women before, but again, it was just different, more personal when it was another wrestler trained by Tiki. Trained by Tiki longer than Ivy herself had been learning under her. Niko was a wrestler who would only need a moment's advantage to turn her into a screaming, crying, submitting disappointment. Music
But before much longer, Ivy's music came on, and she didn't have a choice but to go. She was never one for showboating to the crowd, so her complete lack of attention towards them as her focus was squarely placed on the two women in the ring wouldn't be noticed as anything out of the ordinary. Ivy entered the ring and thought about trying to just settle in her corner, but knew damn well that Tiki would never let her get away with that. So the younger Englishwoman gave no resistance as her mentor hooked a free arm around her shoulders and pulled the purplette into a now three person hug. Ivy
"Hahaha, jeez, is it cold in here, or are you both just nervous?" Tiki teased as neither of her students could quite hide their jitters from the master. "You two are lucky I decided not to go with the funny intros! Or maybe I should've. . . maybe I still could." Tiki smirked as she turned to Niko, "Standing at 4'9" and 120 pounds, at least 20 of which are her boobs!" Then she gave the same smirk to Ivy, "And the girl whose sister. . . actually. . . didn't start screaming her head off the moment I said your name. Actually, where is Hortensia? She's pretty easy to pick out, but I don't see her."
Funnily enough, Tiki's levity actually did help Ivy calm a bit. And she was able to answer with poise, "Midterms week for secondary school back home. Father lets her do a lot, but he didn't let her skip those."
"Ah, a shame," said Tiki. "Well I wasn't planning an interview, but since I'm asking questions about sisters; Niko! What's this I've heard about you having a sister who just joined LAW?"
Niko took a shallow breath as Tiki went through the introduction of her opponent and fellow protege. Niko was honestly pretty jittery about it, not just for the match aspect of things but for the simple fact that she was meeting someone so important to her mentor for the first time ever. Honestly it gave her butterflies just at meeting her, but to also be having a match against her with Tiki at ringside? Well naturally the pressure was on out of the gate for her. Especially as the music of Ivy started up and the girl came down.
'Oh she's pretty.' Niko thought to herself with a blink before Ivy made it to the ring and was pulled into the hug along with herself for a slightly awkward three way hug. "Actually I kinda am.. Ngh, nice to meet you Ivy." Niko said groaning slightly from the force and lack of room of the squeeze the Englishwoman had her and the other protege in. "Wait wha, what do you mean?" Niko asked suddenly as Tiki talked about 'funny' announcements for them before promptly going into one, starting with Niko of course making her blush.
"Tikiiiiiiiii." Niko groaned out as if the older woman were an older sibling or party aunt embarrassing her in front of a potential friend... which wasn't wrong, but it didn't help that Ivy didn't really get a funny intro at all since Tiki trailed off, going into sisters which eventually led her attention to her. "Oh Kaori? Yeah she wanted to be a wrestler after watching one of my matches, she just graduated the young lioness program actually, she's a lot bigger than me despite being younger though, could maybe even give you a challenge Tiki." Niko said, rambling off a bit partly as a distraction to settle her nerves but also to talk proud of her younger sister.
"You think so?" Tiki said when Niko suggested her sister could give the veteran a run. "Size matters, sure. But unless your sister came into LAW with much more skill than you did, I don't think it would go much differently than our first two matches." Tiki gave another tease to her embarrassed student before breaking off the hug.
"Well, I'm just the announcer for this match, so I'll leave the ring for the actual wrestlers," Tiki said. "Best of luck!" Ivy waved her mentor goodbye before giving a nod to Niko and heading off to her corner where she would deposit her fascinator and await the ringing of the bell.
Tiki went to her table, and switched a setting on her microphone so that she would only be going through to the television feed. Ivy and Niko wouldn't hear her unless she made herself heard. "Alright, as the woman who knows these two better than anybody, here's how this match looks to play out," said Tiki. "If they both fight as well as they possibly can, to as close to perfection as they are physically capable: Ivy wins. Possibly if not probably without taking a single hit. She's faster, stronger, and has more reach than Niko. Ivy can generate openings through raw physical superiority, where Niko is going to have to find ways to either exploit openings given by Ivy or somehow force an opening."
"But I hope you haven't already placed bets, because you haven't heard what happens if Niko does get an opening," continued Tiki. "For all of Ivy's physical gifts, she cannot take a hit. And Niko's greatest strength is the sheer devastation her holds can bring to an opponent. If Niko gets Ivy in one of her many submission-smother combo holds, it would not surprise me in the slightest if she makes Ivy tap with one move. In fact, I would say her best strategy is to go for finishers from the bell, rather than trying to weaken Ivy to set them up. It's Ivy's match to lose, but one slip-up, one trick from Niko that she can't catch in time, it could happen so easily that I can't say Ivy should be favored," Tiki said as she began to wrap up her analysis. "I think it's a toss up."
Tiki gave a nod to the bellringer, signaling that her pre-match was done and that she was ready for the match to start. "HERE WE GO!" Tiki called as the bell rang. Ivy opened aggressive, knowing how she needed to use the tools that her mentor had just called out moments ago. The purplette ran and leaped at Niko from a distance, showing a flying kick before planting her leg down and instead opening with a roundhouse kick at the Lightweight's thigh. The leap only being to get Ivy in range while throwing Niko off.
Niko took a final few breaths of preparation as Tiki exited the ring to start pre match analysis. Nerves were definitely getting to her, especially as she faced Ivy without their mentor around to make the woman feel even a bit smaller. Ivy towered over her and she had almost every advantage under the sun. Longer, stronger limbs, height, weight, muscle mass, honestly Niko had no idea why Tiki would have them fight with it being such a total mismatch, but she had to try, otherwise she'd be letting Tiki down.
Putting her hands up Niko would already find her plans disrupted since she wanted to try and start off with some grappling, specifically hoping to bring things down to the mat. Unfortunately however Ivy did the opposite and leapt at Niko! "Whoa!" Niko yelled stopping suddenly and raising her arms to brace for a impact only for it to never come. Not there at least, instead Ivy would use the distaction to unleash a roundhouse kick to her leg!
"Ugh!" Niko cried out in pain as her limb was smacked and she instinctively backed off a few steps, looking up at Ivy with a glare... Before turning and running! But not out of fear, instead Niko was looking to rebound off the ropes to come back at Ivy, ducking past her as she did so to try and reach the ropes behind her to rebound off them as well and launch back at Ivy, hoping that her smaller size would translate to a equal speed difference between them as Niko would leap up to try and aim a dropkick for Ivy!
Ivy's ploy worked, as her jump baited Niko into guarding herself high so that her lower body was undefended against the Brit's roundhouse kick. The Lightweight staggered back a couple steps before turning and making for the ropes, but Ivy wouldn't let her reach them. She burst forward and chased Niko down, catching her before she could rebound. Ivy's arms wrapped around Niko's thighs as the side of her head pushed into the curvy hips of her opponent as she tackled the pinkette to the mat.
Once Ivy had Niko on the floor, she took her legs and crossed them at the shins. Then the brit sat on the ankle of the leg crossed over the top to start pushing it down while hooking her own leg underneath Niko's lower leg and pushing it up. Bending the busty pinkette's legs against each other, trapping Niko into a Double-Toed Leglock.
Niko wasn't too far away from the ropes, so Ivy knew that she needed to do something more so that the pinkette wouldn't just escape with a break in two seconds. So, Ivy would lean forward and cup her hands underneath Niko's chin and start pulling her head back, making the Camel Clutch variation of her leglock. The purplette would've liked to have grabbed the Lightweight by the wrists and pull her arms back instead to really deny a rope break, but she found that those hadn't quite been within her reach.
Taking that kick hadn't been ideal for Niko and she needed to try and recover. Attempting to use her size and speed to her advantage she wanted to use the ropes to try and outmaneuver Ivy, only she had been outrun and caught by Ivy! 'Shit! She's faster than I thought!' Niko thought to herself as she tried to push herself up, clawing at the mat in front of her, trying to drag herself forward already as her legs started to get wrapped around each other into a submission!
"Ngh!" Niko groaned out, trying to drag herself forward again before Ivy would seize her head to pull back for a camel clutch aspect to the hold! "Ugh!" Niko groaned softly, stunned for a moment, but she still had her hands in front of her, and the ropes were not far from her whatsoever.
All she had to do was grit her teeth and pull herself forward just a bit more! Digging her fingers into the mat she would drag herself and by proxy Ivy she would attempt to reach out as far as she could extend to try and grab the bottom rope for a rope break!
Ivy really wished that she had been able to grab Niko's arms. Then she'd be able to keep her pink-themed opponent from dragging herself anywhere as she was now. The larger woman contemplated alternative choices in order to try to make this hold last even longer, but the Double-Toed Leglock was still getting good value, and it carried no risk that trying to switch holds might.
So, Ivy held her submission hold until Niko managed to get herself to the ropes. After which the Brit got off and backed away a couple steps in quick and fair fashion. Once Niko was back up, Ivy was back on the attack. She wanted to be unpredictable, since Niko getting a hard call-out correct was one of the few ways that she could catch the purplette without needing her to make an error. So as a high flier and submissionist who had particularly dangerous legs, Ivy would shoot a quick left jab at Niko's face.
Expecting Niko to react in time to block the blow, but not fast enough to dodge or counter, Ivy would follow her jab with a head fake and half step in, trying to make it look like the jab's purpose was to set up a grapple. But as soon as Ivy's foot came down, she would push off it and hop back. Then the Brit would throw another jab at Niko's head to try to catch the Lightweight trying to counter a grapple by striking instead.
If that punch hit, Ivy would would it up with two more; a right cross and then a left hook. A tried and true classic combo of pugilism. Only after these hits would Ivy truly move in to grab Niko. She had a plan to put this round away right here and now if all went right. And that would begin with a Belly-to-Belly Suplex as Ivy grabbed the smaller woman and tossed her.
But at the very first step something went wrong. They were so close to the ropes that Niko's foot caught on the bottom rope for a moment. It was enough to put a hitch in the purplette's throw, causing her to send the Lightweight too low and too far away for her plan. So instead, Ivy would have to settle for knocking Niko out of the air with a low Dropkick.
Niko wasn't off to a great start in this match with Ivy. The woman's speed being far greater than she expected and led to Niko getting caught out of the air and almost immediately pulled into a submission hold by her fellow protege. But luckily she was at least near the ropes, enabling her to grab on and secure a rope break, freeing her from the submission hold of Ivy.
Unfortunately however just that alone wouldn't be enough for Niko since Ivy was looking to resume things right back up and charged at her! Eyes widening in shock Niko didn't even realize that her foot had caught on the bottom rope, leading her to near enough trip into Ivy who had wrapped arms around her before being pulled off her feet and through the air with a suplex!
"Ngh!" Niko cried out in pain, rolling on the mat and trying to get up onto her hands and knees, only for Ivy to once again surge right towards her and drive a dropkick into her chest! "GAH!" Niko yelled out once more in pain, getting knocked backwards and holding her chest in pain, rolling around on the mat and groaning softly in response.
