Show Opener: Hardcore Halloween Havoc - Halloween Sonohara vs Death Bunny

[killcarrion]

Certainly not quite the result Death was anticipating, although still not the worst considering she wasn't bleeding through the nose or any other of the myriad of situations which are possible from a countered powerbomb. Death would have to have to hand it to the holiday-themed pixie. Halloween wasn't keen on merely being laid to rest without putting up the scrappiest fight she could muster, and that included vaulting herself out of the powerbomb at the most opportune time in service of plastering D.B.'s face against the announcer's table. Death backpedaling a step or two with shaken vision and rattles sensibilities, but peeking through her shielding hand at Hallow steadying herself before attempting to barrel over herself towards the Bunny-Eared Reaper...who'd wind up readying herself in preparation to catch Hallow in mid-roll with a huffed breath and brief backstep. Hallow hanging upside-down for a second before being hefted back up onto D.B.'s shoulders for take two of her attempted powerbomb through the announcers table.

[BlackAkuma]

”Shit.”

That single syllable came out of Halloween’s mouth the moment her headlong flight suddenly ended. She didn’t realize what had happened at first, only that her forward momentum was gone, and she was in the place where she didn’t want to be - on Death Bunny’s shoulder, as if time had been rewound and corrected.

”Shitshitshitshit-”

There was no escaping it this time. Halloween came down hard on the announcer’s table, and yes, she did hit with enough force to make the thing fall apart on impact. The tiny terror went down in an explosion of papers, wires, and energy drinks as the furniture gave way and the announcers ran for cover. When the dust settled, Halloween could found in the midst of the wreckage, her small body spread-eagled, and her gaze fixed to the sky.

Still smiling, though. ”Heh.”

[killcarrion]

A combination of cagey veteran instincts and a sinewy physique capable of supernatural feats of physical strength resulted in the unfortunate calamity befallen the spreadeagled Halloween enthusiast. Death cracking her neck to the side and taking a relaxing breathe as she oversaw the collapsed remnants of the announcer's table both of whom having scurried to the sides with headsets disconnected. The Grim Hopper making good on her promise of the powerbomb on the second attempt to the ecstatic revelry of those around them. Eventually swatting off debris to unearth the starstruck Halloween, although somewhat confused by the joyous delirium on her fanatic foe's facials. "Huh. Wonder if I knocked a few screws loose..." Death benignly commented on as she started hoisting the flaccid Hallow off of the ground, yanking her by the arm until she was slumped stomach first over Death's shoulder. An arm hooked around Hallow's figure on the somber march around the ring towards the coffin...

[BlackAkuma]

That was so cool. So cool. The way Death Bunny had just snatched her out of the air like she was nothing and damn near cratered her into the floor. The power. The merciless, brutal strength. It was one of the reason that she was so awesome - the Hare Raiser held nothing back, didn’t even go soft on a tiny tot like herself. Halloween didn’t even care that she was victim of said unrepentant destruction. It was an honor to be obliterated by someone like this.

It was why she was still smiling, even as Death Bunny came to pick her carcass out of wreckage, retrieving her battered body. She was easily hoisted up on her opponent's shoulders, and from there the funeral procession began, her body flopping about with every step, lifeless and listless.

But she wasn’t done. Not quite yet. Halloween shook her head as they went along, summoning her senses. She didn’t have the energy to fight back just yet, but she would. She just had to hope it would be enough before she got shoved into the casket.

In the meantime, she might as well enjoy herself. ”View’s nice back here, at least. Love the outfit. Prefer your classic, but that’s just me.”

[killcarrion]

Considering the frequency with which Death is tasked with exorcising cadavers in preparation for their eternal slumber, she conducted herself appropriately with somber indifference washed across her stoic facials as she marched on. The chaotic remnants of the decimated announcer's table shrinking into the distance with some concern spared for the slackened ragdoll swathed over her shoulder. Showing no mercy towards Halloween was just as much a sign of respect as it was a means towards the match's end, but given her adversary's delirious state of mind, even D.B. wondered if the Ghoulish Grappler had suffered any perm-

”View’s nice back here, at least. Love the outfit. Prefer your classic, but that’s just me.”

...nevermind, she's fine. Death sighing with a shuffled bounce to realign the wobbling Hallow over her shoulder as they approached the casket, not expecting to be affirmed of her foe's mental faculties via her ogled appreciation of the Grim Hopper's swaying backside. Seemingly unaware of her voluptuous figure catching nigh everyone's attention, actually. "Yeah well, I'm in agreement there. Can't beat the classics I suppose. Besides, I only dust this one off for special occasions. Like when my number one fan invites me out on a first date like this. Only seems right to wear my Sunday best when I aim to bury them six feet under..."

[BlackAkuma]

Halloween would definitely agree there, there was no substitute for the classics. While she wasn’t one of those purist snobs who looked down on her every remake and didn’t think a good horror movie had come out in the last two decades, most of her favorite movies were older than she was. Alien, Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, and her personal favorite, Dawn of the Dead. There was just no beating that old-school quality. She couldn't help but wonder what Death Bunny’s favorites were. Maybe she could invite her over for a watch-along with some of her Patreon subscribers on Twitch. That’d be sweet.

Thoughts for another time, though - right now, Halloween’s biggest concern was the casket she was getting uncomfortably close to. While she didn’t care all that much about losing a match against a certified GOAT, she wasn’t about to let that happen without getting all of her best licks in, and she was far from done on that front. There was much to prove, and she had a reasonably good idea of how to do just that.

”First date, huh?” She snickered at the idea, though she wouldn’t say she hated it. ”If that’s what this is, I’ve got to do more to show you a good time, don’t I?”

Halloween scrambled back and tried to wrap her arms around Death Bunny’s neck, attempting to capture her with a tight sleeper choke from the front. A big awkward, since her legs were quite big enough to wrap her around the bigger woman’s body, but she wasn’t looking to take her down with the move, just reverse her fate before things got out of control. Something to buy time with.

[killcarrion]

Whatever Death does during her free time is justifiably her own business. A sentiment she frequently reminds journalists and dirtsheet reporters of whenever they start hounding her for podcast interviews, obviously desperate to scrounge up juicy tidbits about one of the more mysteriously captivating figures in the business. Shunning them for their coveted "T" seemingly only provoking them further, so Death knew eventually she'd just have to bite the bullet and acquiesce to someone's request one of these days. Considering that Death would rather speak her mind in a more hospitable setting with a more obscure host who shares in Death's macabre tendencies, Halloween may have a better chance at scoring D.B.'s enigmatic company on a watch-along than she may realize. Although asking D.B. this question may prove more intimating than challenging her to a match...

Death soldiered onward towards the casket at a leisurely pace with her thankfully lightweight cargo in tow. Appreciating Hallow's compliments about her curvaceous caboose with some polite if flirtatious banter, but still trying to concentrate on the task at hand as she circled around the ring corner. Unknowingly mistaking Halloween's wisecracking repartee with helplessness as H.W. sprang to life with a cranked on front choke, Death hacking out a restricted breath against Hallow's underarm with one flinching eye shut as she settled down onto one knee. "...Hrk...Liked you better when you were half dead..." The throttled reaper rasped out before climbing back up to a hunched over posture, ascertaining where the casket was through her one eye, and attempting to muster some strength towards a stampeding charge against it with H.W. as the crash test dummy in all this.

[BlackAkuma]

Halloween might not have much, if any real power to work with, but that didn’t mean she couldn't be dangerous when she was up close; she just had to be smarter than most when it came to inflicting pain. If there was one thing she was good at, it was knowing when to strike - timing was everything, and hers was damn good.

In this case, it saved her from an early loss, as she managed to catch her far superior opponent in a tight hold, cranking up the pressure. While she didn’t have much power to work with, here, her size was an advantage - less size meant she had more focused pressure, coming down on Death Bunny’s throat like a noose. It had a real effect, and her opponent’s pained voice made that all-too obvious. It brought a wicked grin to the Scream Queen’s face. ”I’m always half-dead.”

Death Bunny wasn’t about to just take this, though, and she put an end to Halloween’s sudden surge when she charged forward and used her back like a battering ram, slamming her against the casket at full speed. The hit got her the desired result - Halloween wasn’t just dislodged, but she went flying, knocking the casket over and dumping her out on the other side.

Down she was, but down she didn’t want to stay. Halloween pushed her way up and stumbled up the ramp, trying to make a little distance before her six foot tall problem closed in.

[killcarrion]

Death figured she'd be forgiven in assuming Halloween has lost some of her holiday spirit and wasn't going to be rising back from the dead anytime soon. Chalk it up to Hallow's flawless impression of a lifeless cadaver because Death was caught completely unawares by H.W. springing back to life and cinching in a stifling strangle of a sleeperhold. Achieving an earnest state of panic in the winded reaper now taking a knee and acknowledging in this exasperating situation that fighting Hallow was like squaring off against a hyper rambunctious spider monkey. Death spying through her one squinting eye the way to earn her freedom, even if the answer wasn't exactly all that complicated and was nothing more than a combination of brute force and shortsighted stubbornness.

*BANG*

A colossal trainwreck of a collision causing a wholesale collapse of everyone involved. Death, Hallow, and the now capsized casket spilling over onto the floor. The Rattled Reaper ashamed to admit that the crown of her bunny eared head had taken as much of the impact as Hallow. Evident by Death's struggle to arise afterward at a brisk pace as she started dealing with warbled visions one helluva headache now. Cradling her head with a noticeable stutter step before standing upright once again, Death swiveled her eyesight in Hallow's direction before starting her undaunted trudge. Akin to a marauding slasher stalking the final girl. Except instead of an attempted dismemberment with a butcher knife, Hallow would be spun by her shoulder into a brutal strike square into her jaw.

[BlackAkuma]

A plan. Halloween needed a plan, and not just any plan, but a good one. As stoked as she was even to be fighting Death Bunny at all, she was still a competitor, so it fell on her to actually, well, compete. That meant she needed to create some strategy to deal with her opponent, some way for her to deal with a more experienced, much bigger, much stronger, much more focused, much more everything foe.

So far, she hadn't come up with much on that front, but she figured that a good start to any plan she made would be getting the hell away from the goddamn casket.

Halloween was well on her way to doing that, too, when she felt Death Bunny’s cold, dead hands on her shoulder, pulling her back with an implacable grip. She was spun around, only to take a stiff shot square in the middle of her face, one that left her stumbling and glassy-eyed. She was able to stay up right for all of one second before her legs gave up and she fell to her knees.

But she didn’t stay there for long. Halloween might not have had the strength to stand backup, but she did have enough for a quick spring, and she used that to shoot upward and ram her head into Death Bunny’s stomach, turning her body into a short range missile.