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

[Malkavia]

‎ ‎

No Disqualification, No Count Out
Victory to be awarded when the defeated wrestler is closed into a casket at ringside.

[BlackAkuma]

The LAW crowd was settling in for the first match, murmuring with a steady din, some of the late-comers still finding their way to the seats. They knew what was coming next - the debut of Halloween Sonohara, taking on none other than Death Bunny. A styles clash, a wild ride, but that wasn’t what they were anticipating at the moment - no, what they wanted to see, right now, was how these wrestlers would make their way to the ring. Both of them were known for entrances that pushed the envelope, that left their audiences shivering, and this was certainly the time of year for them to show off their creative prowess.

Halloween Sonohara would not disappoint.

The lights dimmed, bathing the audience in a dim, garish glow. A chill swept across the audience, a cold wind that swept across the stands, as if the hand of death was passing over each and every one of them. Their eyes were directed to the ramp by a faint glow, as a rising fog emanated from the curtains, billowing out over the metal and slithering its way to the ring. Silhouettes danced within the gloom, skeletal figures writhing about, gaunt forms shambling about, moaning and groaning and screaming and shrieking. And all the while, a song played out over the loudspeakers, as a tiny figure rose out of the shadows.

Thriller by Scandroid

Though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller!

The music came bursting forth, the lights came up all once, revealing a zombie horde lining the entrance - emaciated forms covered in wuthering clothes, rotting flesh and sunken eyes, twisted forms and gnashing teeth, gnarled hands and twisted bones. But there, at the top of the ramp, the undead horde parted as a small figure made her way through - their Queen had arrived.

HALLOWEEN SONOHARA

It's close to midnight
And something evil's lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart…

Halloween marched her way down the ramp as her minions parted, a confident smile plastered across her face. Perhaps a weird thing for her to have, considering she was just about to take on a woman twice her size with a good deal more experience, the sort of setup that squash matches were made of - but, truth told, she couldn't have cared less. Yeah, she was facing an opponent who was bigger than her, but so what? So were 99% of the opponents she’d ever taken on, and while she hadn't won every match, she always did better than anyone ever expected her to. She’d slayed giants before. On that front, this was business as usual.

You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed!

Three of the zombies dropped down to their hands and knees, allowing Halloween to march on their backs and happily hop onto the ring apron, where another one of them politely sat on the ropes and allowed her to slip through. She danced her way to the center of the ring, spinning about, whipping her hair, shaking her hips while her hands etched arcane symbols in the air, as if she were conjuring demons straight from the darkest depths.

”'Cause this is thriller~ Thriller night!
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller! Thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight!

Halloween shot her fist to the sky and let out a banshee wail as the audience cheered, soaking in their energy like a sponge, running with the adrenaline. This was her time, her match, her entire vibe, living on the edge, facing the biggest challenge of her entire life and not flinching. If Death Bunny thought she had an easy match ahead of her, the Little Nightmare would happily prove her wrong.

It was time to play.

[killcarrion]

”'Cause this is thriller~ Thriller night!
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You...*ZZHS*...know it's thrill...*ZZSH*...er! Thriller...*ZZSH*...night
You're...*ZZSH*...fighting for your................LIFE

Backstage issues started making themselves prevalent as the closing lyrics of Halloween's entrance theme were becoming interspersed with static signals and warbled vocals emphasizing certain lines within the song. Producers barking orders at flummoxed audio engineers having nothing to offer but excuses and frantic dial twirling on their equipment. The monolithic screens blinking in and out of its preprogrammed feeds in sync with the crackled audio. Both of which drawing the perplexed attention of the arena's inhabitants who were either irate from wondering if their hard-earned ticket money for this Ghoulish Festival was better spent elsewhere...or were ecstatic in anticipation after acknowledging these were merely the calling cards of the Wrestling Icon about to make their ethereal presence truly known. The dying vocals of Halloween's theme being concluded with one single solitary sound echoing throughout all of the stadium...

GONG

A singular chime signaled the complete and absolute eclipsing of the stadium into abject darkness. Not one fleeting glint of luminescence could be seen as an ebon shadow muted out all sense of hope and faith-driven optimism. And yet, in a maddened fervor that shook the stadium to its very core, a raucous clamor of vociferous pandemonium burst forth from the cheering masses as all that pent-up anticipation was finally given its opportunity to vent. A midnight tint of shaded blue was reflected all along the entranceway and was therefore the only visible structure being lit before several plumes of hellfire started shooting upward at the top of the ramp from beneath the suddenly fogged over flooring. Neither the floor nor the reasoning behind where the flames were coming could be ascertained from beneath the nebulous mist. Visions of lightning alongside a full moon were being broadcast from the monolithic screen...until...

???

...a lone silhouette would shamble forth from seemingly out of nowhere. The ominous figure becoming the centered point of breath-taken fixation for every living soul in the stadium simultaneously captivated yet instilled with a bone-chilling dread from The Phenom's ethereal aura. A baleful pillar of imperceptible maliciousness that stood amongst what appeared to be a sea of lost souls reaching out for the one who could bring their agonizing and damned existence to a blissful conclusion. Yearning though they were from within this River Styx, not one dared to actually lay a finger upon the Reaper who oversaw the passing of all such restless souls into the afterlife. And who began making concerted strides through this abominable and murky ocean and straight towards the twenty-foot-high steel entrapment as her somber music echoed throughout. Motioning closer towards the ring and making her fulsome figure more visible in the moonlight.

Death Bunny

Alluring beauty swathed in macabre dread encroaching further onward, passed the ringside coffin guaranteed to become a grim entombment for one of the competitor's tonight. A somber gait taking Death up the steel steps and through the ring ropes. Fixating her dead-eyed attention on the twin-tailed pixie across the ring until the inconspicuous motion of removing her hat brought light back into the arena. Death's flowing shawl and top hat handed to a ringside worker, D.B. now striding to the center of the ring to make acquaintances with the luchadora daredevil who willingly invited all of what was about to happen tonight upon herself...

[BlackAkuma]

Halloween was in the middle of busting out her best dance moves, going over the pre-planned routine, when the display began to fritz out like crazy. Her zombies scattered, panic set in, but she only stopped and smiled as she looked up the ramp. Her hairs stood on edge, she shifted from foot to foot, and a manic grin stretched from ear to ear. As good as her entrance had been, she was about to get shown up. Death Bunny was old school, after all, and you just can’t beat old school.

There was the gong.

There was the mounting gloom.

There was fog, stretching across the floor like the shadow of death.

Halloween’s eyes lit up as the flames roared and cut through the darkness, as if hell itself was rising up through the stage. There, approaching the ring, was a specter. A grim figure, a portent of doom, making her way towards Halloween with an implacable stride and ill intent. She could feel the pressure as her opponent made her way towards the ring and stepped through the ropes, coming over to engulf Halloween in her shadow. This was what it felt like at the end. This was the cold hand of the grim reaper reaching around her throat. This was death incarnate.

And it was the coolest fucking thing ever.

Mouth agape, Halloween froze in place as she looked up at her idol, seeing her towering there. She was every bit the woman she pictured her to be. No, she was even better - taller, stronger, darker. It was like she controlled every shadow that touched her body, like the sun only broke the night when she allowed it to. They hadn't even done a single move and she was already sweating, her heart already threatening to jump out of her chest.

Keep it together, Halloween. Be professional. Be a professional wrestler.

…screw it.

”OHMYGODYOUARESOCOOL!” She was able to contain herself for all of two seconds after the lights came on, and she changed into a bouncing fangirl. ”Bolas de satanás, you are so flipping cool! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just…wow. All of that. All of that. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long, and you’re so cool, and here you are and just…holy hell, we’re having a casket match. Jesus. Jesus, Thor, Satan, Zeus, Vishnu, Shiva, Xenu, Flying Spaghetti Monster, all those guys. I know I’m rambling right now, but this is like, my dream. I have dreamed about this. Actual dreams. And you’re here, and you’ve got the entrance, and we’re opening the show and you are. So. Damn. Cool!”

Halloween reared back and took a deep breath to refill her lungs, then sagged forward with her arms hanging low. Okay. All of that was out of her system. She was good for a couple minutes. ”So. Yeah. Halloween Sonohara. Nice to meet you. It’s an honor. Really. Phew.”

Halloween was a little excited. Just a little.

[killcarrion]

Whatever mystified smoke that lingered had arisen upward into the atmosphere as dispersed vapor once all semblance of darkness had been erased by the arena's brightened illumination...and with it went a decent chunk of the gravitas inherent with the solemnity of two competitors about to wage war against the other when one of them started to...well, let her fangirl show just a tad. Hallow gushing on to Death's balked surprise, unable to get a syllable in edgewise even if she wanted. A quirked eyebrow imparted to the fawning admirer and the referee beside them who offered a mouthed "I'm kind of a big fan too..." before using her hand to gesture a literal zipping of her lips, knowing full well that she was there to be a professional within the ring first and foremost. Death's assertion that something strange must be in the water around LAW continuing to be supplied more credence, but she huffed out an exhale and folded her arms beneath her bountiful bosom and listened intently to Halloween's starstruck outpouring. An ominous smirk painted across her grim visage as she nodded along in tandem with Hallow's words and offered intermittent "...Yep...Uh-huh...So I've been told...Satan, you say...Yes you are rambling..." responses that were in all likelihood scarcely audible by the ecstatic fangirl.

...until she was seemingly finished. Death waiting an extra second or two just to make sure Halloween had indeed gotten it all out of her system and finally taken her foot off the gas pedal. "...Well...safe to say I need no introduction. But for the sake of fairplay...Death Bunny. A pleasure." Death sternly stated as she let her arms down, one hand settled against her fulsome hip as she sized the pint-size luchadora up from boots to twin-tails. Ascertaining what could be her core strengths and weaknesses, while simultaneously giving the fawning D.B. enthusiast a chance to catch her breath and compose herself. "You know...there were other ways to garner my attention and seek an audience with me if all you wanted was a meet-and-greet, or whatever. Can't promise they would have worked, but there were ways that didn't involve me potentially pummeling you bloody. I mean, I appreciate you being a...FAN and all, but I can promise you that what's about to go down isn't going to be anything like your dreams. I'd say it's more likely to resemble one of your worst nightmares..." Death's tone becoming morosely foreboding as she earnestly questioned whether Halloween was prepared for the degree of thrashing they signed up for tonight, glaring frigidity directed down towards the exhausted luchadora...

[BlackAkuma]

She was talking to her. Oh, wow, Death Bunny was actually talking to her With words.

Halloween was on the verge of going insane.

She’d managed to keep herself together long enough to hold an actual conversation. However, she was still bursting even as her idol spoke, addressing with the unmistakable, unflappable cold coolness you expect from the Reaper of Souls. The woman just exuded this unearthly aura that was impossible to touch, an intimidating presence that made her melt. She’d come across wrestlers with similar gimmicks before, but they always came off as corny, lame, just trying to lean on the style for a cheap pop. Not Death Bunny - no, she was old school. Pure. 100% Bad Ass.

She was so swept up in the moment that it actually took her a hot second to really process that Death Bunny was not only speaking to her, but actively promising her active demise. Somewhere in the back of her head, alarm bells were ringing, but there were being drowned out by the war drums. She was ready to go.

”Pffffffffft, you kidding? I came for the carnage. People don’t watch horror movies when they want to see a fair fight.” She was hopping on her heels as she bounced back towards the center of the ring, her pigtails whipping about. ”I want the full Death Bunny experience. The Director’s Cut.”

Halloween dropped into her wrestling stance with a sinister grin, bordering on feral as she looked up at the lurking terror. ”Come on. You and me. Let’s wake the dead.”

[killcarrion]

Faint concerns from officials at ringside that Halloween was going to need an oxygen mask were quietly assuaged once the petite luchadora started speaking naturally again without any chance of hyperventilating this time. Death never quite knew how to socialize with her...fandom, like this. In days gone by she'd actually start becoming flummoxed from all of the praise and adulation, an outcome that would have become more likely if Halloween didn't eventually run out of steam. The mere fact she even garnered a fanbase in the first place is still difficult for her to fathom all things considered, let alone how impassioned they can be. But for now though, ascertaining that her adversary was duly prepared for the levels of sadistic violence Death was capable of became pivotal above all other subject matters.

Death's stalwart posture and macabre glower softened somewhat once words were exchanged and the Bunny Reaper locked onto the savage gleam in her eyes. "...Well spoken. Consider me the flame to your moth then, offering you the chance to burn brightest just before becoming smoldering cinders in my hand. The dead may dance tonight, but when they return to their eternal slumber once more, you'll be resting right alongside them. The Full Death Bunny Experience. The Director’s Cut.” Death morbidly promised with a slight bow and foreboding smirk, hands extended to her side as if welcoming everything Hallow had to offer until she switched to her grappling stance. A competitive zeal emblazoned in her own eyes as she encroached upon her biggest fan, mindful steps taken towards H.W. in an attempt to lockup with a snatched side headlock.

[BlackAkuma]

So

Goddamn.

Cool.

Halloween managed to hold it together, somehow, as Death Bunny gave her retort, speaking with a grim, foreboding authority. Goosebumps, actual goosebumps, popped up over her body, as the thing she’d craved for years was about to come to fruition. Death Bunny couldn't have said it better herself - she was heading straight towards destruction, hitting the gas on the highway to hell. ”’I might go to the grave, but I won’t stay there.” She bent her knees and chewed her lip, looking ready to pounce. ”Haven’t you heard? There’s no room left in hell.”

Okay, so, strategy time. Halloween, for all her boundless excitement, knew her realistic chances here. If she wanted to win - or at least survive for more than five minutes - she needed to turn her disadvantages into strengths. She was small, but that made her harder to grab, and made holding her for certain moves more awkward. It made targeting lower body parts easier for her and tough for Death Bunny. She was faster, nimble on her feet, and while no single hit would do much to the Doomsayer before her, anybody could beat anyone else in the world if they hit them enough times.

What she was not going to do was take Death Bunny head-on, not if she could get away with it. Halloween ducked as the woman tried to pull her in, narrowly avoiding her iron grasp. She moved around behind her, leaped up, and threw a short dropkick to the back of her opponent’s leg, trying to make her stumble.

[killcarrion]

Obviously Death couldn't ascertain Halloween's wrestling aptitude off of just one mere introduction, she'll only learn the breadth of Hallow's fighting abilities once she's dragging the seasonal fighter's thrashed figure towards her ultimate resting place by her blood-caked locks. But the volcanic fire within Hallow's eyes was unmistakable. Capabilities or not, the little shrimpboat's sheer moxie was something to admire. In spite of her diminutive size that daredevil enthusiasm made her appear as if to be practically towering. Halloween sought to bring some manner of destruction even if it was destined to be her own, and she wished for Death to join her in reeking whatever malicious havoc she could. A blazing furnace to temper and fashion her steeled determination. Who was she to deny a fighter the chance to go out in a blaze of glory? Especially a fan.

Inconceivable though it may be, Death wasn't actually attempting to sound cool there when addressing Hallow just then. It was just her natural cadence and way of speaking. Unintentionally adding to her macabre and mythic aura that her adoring fandom idolizes her for without even knowing it. But with all pleasantries aside, The Phenom started stalking the nimble luchadora with arms outreached and malicious intention, except only whiffed air would be clasped onto as Hallow ducked underneath her adversary with a dropkick launched into the back of Death's knee. Causing her to briefly buckle under one leg with a seethed grimace, but regained her composure and her stance after a few wavering steps. "...ouch." A menacing tone taken as swiveled around to face Hallow, a sprinting approach taken as Death crouched down with an attempt to shoulder tackle Hallow into a corner turnbuckle.

[BlackAkuma]

Huh. First strike of the match, scored. It wasn’t much of a milestone, it would take way more than that to beat Death Bunny, but hey - Halloween would take it. Considering who she was against, every little victory would be a treasure. And it was the start of a good strategy, at least. Yeah, the whole ‘focus on the big wrestler’s legs’ thing was a classic lucha strategy, but there was a reason for it: It worked. If she could slow this woman down, she could run circles around the bigger woman. Speed was her only advantage, she had to hold onto it.

She landed after the hit, rose up to her feet, and holy shit Death Bunny was already coming her way. ”Meirda-”

Halloween gasped as her opponent’s shoulder shot into her stomach, nearly folding her in half as she was brought crashing into the nearest corner. She flopped about on the impact, and would’ve fallen straight down if her opponent hadn't been there to support her. As it was, all she could do was weakly push at Death Bunny’s head, feebly trying to fight her way out. Not a good place to be.