Noblesse Oblige: Maria Crawford vs. Emily Nelson

[BlackAkuma]

A little breather, that was all Maria needed. Not running away. A tactical retreat.

She stumbled forward, grasping her chest, knowing that Emily would no doubt be in hot pursuit. The Noble Fighter was not a woman to be underestimated, especially when she was riled up like this, but Maria was confident that she could turn the tide around - she just needed some space, that was all. Perfectly reasonable.

Too bad for her that Emily didn’t seem keen on giving it. She could hear the woman’s footsteps closing in, a sound that would’ve had most women running for the hills.

But then, most women didn’t have Zero Kotobuki in their corner.

The Massacre Ordinance came dashing around the ring, passed by Maria, and stood in Emily’s way, creating a living roadblock for the Scot. She wouldn’t attack - Maria had told her to only do that in extreme instances, not wanting to risk a disqualification so blatantly. But she made an obstacle, one that her foe would have to navigate around, and that gave her more than enough time to make some distance and roll back into the ring and pop to her feet, just as the referee was starting her count.

A small thing, but it gave Maria the high ground and left Emily with precious few options. The moment she came back in, she would be vulnerable, a perfect time to pounce.

[Underdoggo]

Even as Emily slid out of the ropes, Maria was already running. Well, it wasn't so much a run as it was a pained stumble, but either way, she was retreating, trying to escape from the vengeful Scotswoman. Unfortunately, Emily wasn't going to let her go so easily: sliding down to her feet, Emily strode after Maria, eager to catch up with her--

Only for a smaller figure to suddenly stand directly in front of her. Emily flinched or a second, expecting Zero to attack. Instead, however, the green haired girl simply barred her path, glaring up at her.

"ONE...TWO..." the referee counted.

Regaining her composure, Emily met Zero's stare. For a few seconds, the two wrestlers stood before each other, glaring, their silence creating an undeniable tension. Although Emily was easily taller and more broad than the green-haired girl, Zero showed no hesitation or fear. Of course she wouldn't, Emily knew: her skill as a fighter was frighteningly good, as was her loyalty to Maria. Emily had no idea what Maria had done to earn the creepy girl's dedication, and wasn't sure she wanted to know, but either way, it was clear that while Zero wasn't going to attack, she wasn't going to back down.

"...THREE...FOUR..."

Then, finally, Emily glanced to the side and saw Maria crawling back into the ring. With a final, irritation exhalation, Emily broke off their staredown and moved to roll back into the ring, hoping to get back up to her feet and launch herself in another lariat at Maria before her opponent could get the advantage...

[BlackAkuma]

To a casual observer, it must have been comical to watch. Zero wasn’t just a little smaller than Emily, she was noticeably shorter and slimmer in every regard. The Noble Fighter was no Migiri Oozaru, but she might as well have been when compared to the tiny terror. Most wrestlers would’ve just barreled her over and pushed on.

And most wrestlers would’ve ended up with an elbow to the face.

As a fellow Wrestle Angel, Emily knew well what the Massacre Ordinance was capable of, and Maria was banking on that to buy her time. Sure enough, the two of them wound up in a stare down, one that gave her more than enough time to roll under the ropes in and recover. She came after her quick, trying to close in on her before she could react, but that was a fool’s errand.

Maria ducked under the lariat, brought her arms up, and attempted to wrap them around her foe’s shoulders, trying to clasp the fingers together behind her neck to secure a tight full nelson hold. It was hardly a match ender, but it would go a long ways to take some of the sting out of this hornet of a woman.

[Underdoggo]

To Emily's relief, Zero did nothing to prevent her from getting back into the ring. Obviously, the hollow-eyed girl knew the score, and knew that any direct interference on her part could lead to Maria's disqualification. So, small mercy as it was, Emily wasn't going to have to fight two sadists at once. That was what Emily thought, at least, as she rolled into the ring and hurled herself at Maria, hoping to rock her foe's purple-haired head with a stiff forearm as payback for her earlier retreat.

Or, at least, that was what Emily had been planning, but the wily Englishwoman was quick to duck under her forearm. Wrong-footed, Emily stumbled, taking a brief second to catch her balance. It was a second that Maria quickly capitalized on, bringing her arms up around Emily's from behind and locking her fingers behind her back. Emily gave a slight gasp as pain shot through her shoulders and upper back. A full nelson for a Nelson, she realized. How very bloody funny.

"Do I...hnn...look like I'm laughing?" Emily growled at Maria, before suddenly pushing back with her legs. She was going to have a hard time wresting her arms free, so instead she was going to do the next best thing-- backpedal, and in the process, hopefully slam Maria's back against the corner post!

[BlackAkuma]

Would you believe that Maria hadn't even been trying to taunt Emily with this move?

It was the truth of it, strange as it might sound. She’d only picked the move at random, just wanting to use something simple to slow her opponent down and grind her down for a few seconds. The shared name only occurred to her a moment afterward, but she was more than happy to roll with it.

”No sense of humor.” She had a low whisper and a giggle. ”Maybe I’ll use a Cloverleaf-”

Maria had been working on a lovely pun, when Emily had to ruin it by being a competent wrestler and driving her backwards, ramming her into the corner and knocking some wind out of her. It wasn’t enough to make her let go of the hold, but it did weaken it by a fair bit. She needed a new plan.

Instead of dropping the hold all together, Maria pushed away from the corner, spun about, hauled Emily off the canvas and proceeded to pull her up and over, attempting to send her flying with a full nelson suplex.

[Underdoggo]

Emily's ploy had worked. Well, sort of: she had little to know difficulty powering backwards, muscling Maria back into the corner her and slamming her, back-first against the corner post. If her goal had been to wind Maria and maybe rearrange her spine slightly, then she had definitely succeeded. However, her main goal had been to force Maria to let go...and unfortunately, her purple haired opponent was clinging on tightly.

She let out a sharp exhalation of breath, even as Maria continued to wrench her arms. Even Beauty Ichigaya hadn't been this annoying.

Suddenly, Maria pushed out of the corner, spinning the two of them around so they were facing the corner. Emily realized what was going on even as she felt Maria's chest compress and strain against her back. As Maria tried to lift her back, Emily tried to kick out, hoping to unbalance Maria enough to prevent the suplex. If she managed this, then her next order business would be to twist around in Maria's grip, try to knee her in the gut, and then flip her down to the mat in a simple but effective arm drag.

Of course, if she failed to unbalance Maria, then she would be flung head over heels and sent crashing hard onto the mat, arching off of it briefly before collapsing again, moaning in pain...

[BlackAkuma]

”Annoying, stubborn, idiotic, insipid, little-”

Maria let fly with a stream of muttered insults as she struggled to keep hold of the rebellious Scot, doing her best to ride out her opponent’s furious resistance. While she was no slouch in the power department, either, she would have to grudgingly admit that Emily had a slight edge on her when it came to overall strength. A slight, irritating edge.

It was all the more reason to put her down fast and hard, but the woman had to ruin all that by being good at wrestling and resisting the suplex. She made her annoyance known with a rough grunt and prepared to try again, only to find herself going arse-over-teakettle when Emily jerked her into an arm drag.

It was far from the most devastating move she’d ever taken, but it was enough to throw off her equilibrium and leave her rolling. Running off more impulse than anything, she rolled to her feet and rushed forward with her arm extended, trying to lay Emily out with a hasty clothesline.

[Underdoggo]

This time, Emily's effort at escape worked: Maria let down her guard just enough for Emily to power free, and to lay her fellow aristocrat out on the mat with an arm drag. Of course, probably just like in her daily life, Maria was not laid out for long: with fury brimming behind those glasses of hers, Maria was rolling back to her feet and running at her, arm raised for a clothesline.

Emily was already running to meet her, but she wasn't about to let Maria make contact with that clothesline of hers. Dropping low, Emily would try to avoid the clothesline before rolling around, trying to lock her arms around Maria's waist, just before her ample chest. No doubt, Emily knew, Maria would find something about this position kinky, but Emily wouldn't give the English snob time to dwell on it before she suddenly arched back. With a great roar of exertion, Emily would drop backwards, aiming to lift Maria up and backwards and then release her, flinging her hard onto her back with her trademark throw, the Nelson Caber!

It wasn't a proper caber toss, of course-- Maria weighed more than a log and had substantially more makeup-- but it would hopefully make an impression all the same.

[BlackAkuma]

Maria had never been much of a comeback queen, if she were being totally honest - she tended to do her best work on top, dominating, true to her natural form. She was good at controlling a match, working her opponent over, and staying on top, all admirable qualities for any wrestler, but it meant that she could be caught out of her element when things went less than smoothly.

Like now, for instance.

She was trying to bring things back under control with her clothesline, rushing forward with a lariat that would’ve leveled her opponent, but Emily proved to be quite agile for her size, dodging under it and making her way to Maria’s blindside. She tried to move around in time to cut off whatever was coming next, but…

The next thing she knew, she was sent flying across the ring and brought down hard on her back. The momentum was enough to roll her over, leaving her to flop over on her chest, and that was where she stayed for the time being.

[Underdoggo]

The crowd roared with approval as Emily pulled off the big move, managing to practically launch Maria overhead and send her slamming down hard into the mat. Sitting back up and looking back, Emily saw Maria lying flat on her front, sprawled facedown after taking the full, devastating effect of the Nelson Caber. Not exactly the most flattering of positions for Maria, Emily thought, almost giving a vindictive smile to that thought.

Crawling over towards Maria, Emily wasted no time in pushing her fellow noblewoman over onto her back before lying across her, grabbing one of her thighs and hooking it it for a pinfall. In an instant, the ref was next to them, starting the countdown.

"ONE...."