L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

"So, you're the new girl who is supposed to debut tonight?"

Keqing nodded at the stagehand who asked her the question. Though the venue was small, and she wasn't even on the main card of events, she was feeling quite nervous and excited. She had only come to Japan a few days prior and hadn't even properly gotten settled yet, still staying in the hotel that had been arranged for her. To be thrown into a match this quickly came as a huge surprise for her, but she figured she must have really impressed the talent scouts for them to want her to debut so quickly. It gave her a ton of motivation to try and impress everyone who had such belief in her.

The circumstances of the match were a bit suspect though. She didn't know who she would be debuting against, and the set-up of the match wasn't exactly in the huge arenas and large crowds that came to the big shows. But Keqing figured that was because she was a complete nobody, and she still needed to work her way up to be taken seriously. A good showing tonight was what she needed to really take a strong first step.

"The following match is scheduled for one fall!" the announcer's voice came over the speakers, "Making her debut in the LAW ring, everyone, please welcome Keqing!"

"Huh, they got my name right," Keqing said as she stepped out onto the entrance ramp. Purple lights flashed around her while her entrance music played. The pretty Chinese girl in her elegant dress looked like she was about to attend a ball, and not a wrestling match. She was even wearing a set of heels! The crowd gave her some appreciative applause, but almost all of them weren't expecting much from this girl, who totally did not look like she belonged.

Spoiler

As her music played Keqing fixed her collar, then brushed her dress with a light flourish of her hand. She then made her way down the ramp, her heels clacking, each step taken elegant and deliberate. Climbing up the ring steps, she slid into the ring between the top and middle ropes. After getting in, she walked around the ring, waving at everyone in the crowd.

Of course, Keqing wasn't about to fight in her outfit. Kicking someone in heels would be very painful and quite unfair. So after doing a circle around the ring, she kicked off her heels, placing them by the side of the ring. She then undid the back of her dress, pulling it off and folding it, draping it the turnbuckle. Underneath she wore a white crop top and black tights that were just sheer enough to barely be able to see the outline of her underwear. That was what Keqing planned to fight in, certainly a more practical outfit than her dress, but still a bit odd to the crowd.

Spoiler

If her opponent thought the setup for this match was a little suspect, then Nanami Azabuko hardly thought a thing about it at all. She'd wrestled in the indies for a little while under the name Tomoe Togarashi, bouncing from tournament to promotion to event. That kind of life came with being the new girl more often than not, and given how a lot of those indie folks were operating off of shoestring budgets anyway, locales like this ended up becoming pretty familiar to Tomoe.

In fact, it kinda impressed her. If this was one of LAW's smaller shows, then she could only imagine what it'd be like to headline some of the bigger shows. Tonight's venue was one of Tokyo's smaller stadiums, but it was still a dedicated stadium nonetheless! Heck, they even had pyrotechnics, which was more than she could say for some of her previous spots -- and which would make debuting her new entrance gimmick easy as pie!

Spoiler

"And her opponent, also a debutante, fighting out of the night markets of Tokyo itself -- please welcome to the ring TOMOEEE TOGARASHIIII!"

Tomoe Togarashi, the Izakaya Fire

Being a somewhat experienced indie darling with (what she thought was) a dynamite gimmick, it made sense that Tomoe's entrance was a little more ornate than her opponent's. Red and white lights flashed around her, and the pyrotechnics -- which she'd cleared and planned with LAW Ops beforehand -- shot high beside her! Grinning, Tomoe pulled out a small skewer, complete with small chunks of raw beef! She held it over the blasting pyrotechnics, searing the tiny portions with experienced haste. Then, to the cheers of the crowd, she slid all the meat off the skewer and into her mouth!

That little spot of pageantry over with, Tomoe made her way to the ring. "Heyyy!" she called out to her opponent, waving as she lumbered between the ring ropes. Tomoe got her first real look at a LAW wrestler... and was kinda confused. The chick looked small... like to the order of half a foot and half a buck of weight. Still, that didn't mean that she'd be easy pickings in the ring!

"God, yer' small. What're they feedin' ya? Clearly it ain't enough!" She guffawed heartily into the air before stepping up to her diminutive foe. Her fist rose, offered in camaraderie to a fellow fighter. "Anyway, let's make it a good one, yeah?"

Keqing watched her opponent make her entrance, squinting as she tried to see through the pyrotechnics to see who exactly her opponent was. At first all she could make out was a huge-looking shadow. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but after the flames died down and she could see her opponent, she realized just how wrong she was.

"You have got to be kidding me," Keqing muttered as she watched Tomoe enter the ring. The woman was huge! Keqing couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, especially with the way she walked down the ramp munching on what appeared to be skewers of meat. Though the aroma smelled quite nice, the smaller girl couldn't help but think that maybe she would wind up barbecued and eaten by this huge barbarian of a woman tonight.

Still, at least Tomoe appeared to be friendly. Swallowing her misgivings, Keqing cleared her throat and regained her composure. She walked right up to Tomoe, putting on her best determined face, looking up at the towering woman standing before her.

"I might be a bit smaller than you, but don't you dare take me easily," Keqing replied. She smiled, raising her hand and bumping fists with her opponent. "That being said, I wouldn't mind having some of whatever you're having. That skewer you were eating looks tasty!" She hoped that light-hearted comment broke the tension a little bit, as she wanted this fight to be fair and fun.

Tomoe chortled with excited glee as her opponent returned her friendly gesture. "GAHAHA! Wouldn't dream of countin' you out." It was true; she'd fought against plenty of women who were smaller than her before, and many of them surprised her. Even if this Keqing chick needed about 8000 more calories a day, Tomoe had no doubt that she was an able fighter. After all, this was LAW! Tomoe came here to have a blast taking on some of the world's greatest wrestlers. Debutante or not, shortie or not, Tomoe expected big things from Keqing!

And hell, the girl even knew a good bite to eat when she saw one! Not a bad way to endear herself to Tomoe. "I don't even break out the good stuff for my entrances, though." Her thumb flicked out behind her as she stepped back into a ready position. "I got a street food stall set up in one'a the night markets. If ya ever wanna swing by, be my guest! Heh, maybe we can get some meat on those bones!" Tomoe's arm dropped, as did her stance, but her wide, exuberant grin never left.

"Now then..." The bell rang. "Let's get this party started!" And Tomoe launched off her back foot with excitement, rearing her arm back! She charged towards Keqing, crouching into a lunge as she swung her arm low! Tomoe's opening gambit: A swift, powerful lariat, aimed right for Keqing's face!

"A street food stall?" Keqing's eyes sparkled. Visiting night markets and festivals were some of her favorite pastimes. And with how good the "not good" stuff smelled, Keqing's imagination ran wild with how good the "good stuff" was going to be. "I'll definitely take you up on that offer!"

But she had to focus on the match now, and worry about her appetite after. Seeing Tomoe get into a fighting stance, Keqing did the same, mirroring her opponent's stance and preparing to attack. Tomoe got the jump on her though, blowing out of her corner at top speed, surprising Keqing with just how fast she was. She expected someone as huge as Tomoe to be slower and lumbering, it goes to show that she should never underestimate her opponents!

Keqing wasn't one to be underestimated either though, and she wasn't going to let such a direct attack hit her. She ducked low, dipping almost into a sprinter's crouch to avoid the lariat coming at her face. From her crouching position, she sprang forwards, dashing at the opposite ropes at top speed. Spinning on her toes, she hit the ropes, using the elasticity to reverse her momentum and come barreling back at Tomoe's from behind.

"Take this!" Keqing yelled, leaping into the air and pointing her shoulder right at Tomoe to hit her with a flying shoulder tackle. She hoped to make up for the size difference with speed and momentum, hoping that her tackle would blow through Tomoe and send her tumbling!

Keqing might have been surprised at just how light on her feet Tomoe was, but to the heavyweight herself, it was just another Sunday. She was a chef, after all, at a street stall to boot. Whether hopping around her small booth to fend off a feeding frenzy or heating things up in a wrestling ring, Tomoe had to know how to put one foot in front of the other. Put more simply: She was far more agile than many heavyweights!

However, she was still a heavyweight. Her speed certainly had an upper limit. And though she was neither slow nor plodding, her strides and swipes were still long by necessity. Combined, those meant her movements were rather telegraphed -- a fact that Keqing was all to happy too take advantage of!

Near the center of the ring, Tomoe brought her forearm to bear on the diminutive Keqing, only for her blow to graze nothing but air as the girl ducked below! "Hah?" She grunted, but it was more reflexive than anything else. Tomoe had been in the ring long enough to know what was coming -- and when she stopped in her tracks and turned her head to look back at Keqing, she saw it: A flowing purple flash, hopping up for a body check! The smaller girl flew right into the small of Tomoe's back, and with her momentum still recovering from her lariat attempt, it was inevitable that Tomoe would fall!

"Uwuh... whuh-WHOA!" She tried to catch herself, but the body bump from Keqing was more than enough of a nudge to send her tumbling down -- "Gaah!" -- right down to the mat!

"The bigger they are the harder they fall!" Keqing thought as she rammed her shoulder into Tomoe's back. She was fast enough to catch Tomoe before she was able to straighten back up, allowing her hit to knock the bigger woman off balance, sending her crashing to the mats with a tremendous thud. The recoil from the hit sent Keqing reeling back too, even though she had been able to hit through Tomoe it still felt like she had just run into a wall. But Keqing used that recoil to regain her own balance, hopping back a step lightly on her bare feet.

With Tomoe down, Keqing knew she had only a small opening to take advantage of. The smaller girl immediately took off again, running towards the ropes, before spinning around and bouncing off to maintain her momentum. She needed to keep on pressuring Tomoe, if she let the huge woman get in a hit, she wasn't sure her much smaller body would be able to take it.

"We're just getting started!" Keqing yelled out as she came barreling back at Tomoe again. This time she planned to use her legs. Should Tomoe have gotten to her feet, Keqing would attempt to hit her with a dropkick on her upper body. If Tomoe had just gotten up to her knees though, Keqing would aim a bit lower, attempting to throw a knee up as she ran past to clock the bigger woman in the cheek!

The scene must have been comical. A smaller girl clad in purple, leaping up and practically bouncing off the heavyweight's body... only for Tomoe to be the one who ended up sprawled on the mat! The canvas shook and shuddered beneath the fallen wrestler, so it took a moment for Tomoe to find her bearings.

Truth be told, it was a hell of a play. Like a tripcord for a giant. Once someone Tomoe's size started falling, there was no saving her from the clutches of gravity. Still, it wasn't much of a hit in terms of actually damaging Tomoe. She was more than still in it, despite her disadvantageous position!

But when she started to rise back up, planting one knee and one foot onto the mat, Keqing was already upon her once more! She craned her neck towards her opponent, only to find her already flying back to re-engage! Her knee was up, flying right at her, and aimed right for her... "Aw, shi-"

KRAK! Spittle and sweat alike flew from Tomoe's cheek as Keqing's knee blasted into her head! The stage lights of the arena flashed into supernovae around her, and a din of ringing rose in her ears, only interrupted by the thrumming of the vessels in her forehead. "Gyuuuuh..." She groaned dizzily, grasping at her thighs for balance. Precariously vulnerable to a follow-up attack!

Keqing knew she had to play to her strengths, and it seemed that despite Tomoe's shocking speed for someone her size, Keqing was still faster. "Nimble As Lightning" was the name of her entrance theme after all, and Keqing wanted to make sure she lived up to it. So she was upon Tomoe before the bigger woman could even get her bearings, throwing a knee right up into Tomoe's face to smash her hard bone into Tomoe's cheek.

Even Keqing winced from the sound. Her knee blew through Tomoe's head, sending a spray of spittle and sweat all over Keqing's black tights. Her momentum carried her through, landing a few steps past Tomoe, hopping a few steps before spinning on the ball of her feet to see what kind of damage she did.

She was surprised Tomoe wasn't on her back again. The bigger firebrand held herself up by grabbing onto her knees, obviously unsteady, but still somehow upright. The purple-haired athlete was quite impressed. "Well, if that won't bring you down," Keqing said, taking a step back to prepare to rush at Tomoe again.

"Maybe this will!" Keqing rushed in again, not really changing her tactics. She was going to vary her attack though, this time jumping up and attempting to throw her entire body against Tomoe's in a body splash, hoping her full weight would be enough to bring Tomoe crashing down flat on her back!

Being punch-drunk was actually a lot like being drunk-drunk, really. The room spun, the lights felt way too bright, the mind drowned in its own wavering consciousness. All the same. Maybe that was why Tomoe didn't go down all the way. Not only did it take a lot to get her to either kind of drunk, but she was pretty used to getting around in either state too.

So there she was, holding onto her own legs like they were the only thing keeping her on this plane of existence. And after a running knee like that, who could blame her? Any bell would get rung to hell and back by that kind of hit. Still, Tomoe would recover, she was sure of it. After that, it was back to the races, and she'd be able to get in some offense of her own! She just needed a few seconds... or minutes...

"Hah?" Unfortunately, it looked as if Keqing wasn't willing to give Tomoe that kind of time. The nimble speedster called out to her, causing Tomoe to crane her head up, squinting her bleary eyes towards the oncoming blur. "Aww shit, not again...!" Her voice came out alarmed yet still a little slurred, and she rose her hands, fully expecting another strike to blow her consciousness clean out!

But it turned out that Keqing had a plan that'd pass her guard altogether -- a leaping body splash! Keqing flew up and over the kneeling Tomoe's upturned arms, crashing right on top of her! "Whooooah!" The heavyweight toppled once more before shaking the canvas with her fallen weight!