Suzume is adorable in a great many ways; adorkable, perhaps, at that. But tonight she's in for a fight, as she'll be facing her bestest friend (said bestie's terms), Katsumi "the Punk Princess" Oshiro. And Katsumi is entirely too anxious to get her hands on her. Not in a deviant way, mind you! She's had enough of that in her own matches with some particularly handsy opponents. No, she wants to play rough with the girl she's affectionately dubbed Lil' Bit. There's really no way of looking at this that doesn't sound questionable. But that's the life of a professional wrestler. It's all about the fame, the pageantry, and the combat. It's a very 'hands-on' kind of lifestyle. Squeamish need not apply.
Katsumi is usually waiting in her dressing room to be signaled by a stagehand for her cue. Not tonight. Tonight, she didn't want to miss a thing. Already decked out in her black short shorts, feline-themed belt, sleek black wrestling boots, and pink longsleeved shirt with black sportsbra-style wrestling top beneath, she waits just in the wings pining for a peek through the curtains. Unfortunately, she's given no chance to do so. For as punk as she is, professionalism is important to her, so she won't be bringing the quality down by poking her head out when Suzume is called to the ring. The suspense is killing her, though.
She hadn't looked up any of Suzume's matches before tonight - unlike normal, she wants to be surprised. The girl she met at Club Sega was cute and harmless. How would she hold up in the ring? How
has she held up in the ring? And while she doesn't intend to go easy on her, this match already feels like it's going to be fun. It's like a fan request. Sort of a cat and mouse situation, and she could absolutely work with that. What's more, since she's friends with her opponent, she can really just let her have it without fear of horrible backlash.
The idea of actually having a friend in the business is exciting enough on its own. In her years of professional wrestling, it'd be a first.
Tonight's selection is an odd choice for her. It's no less pumping than those she's used before, but it sounds like it would be more at home in a 70s spy flick. And though her gaming nerd demographic of the audience would appreciate the very distinct strains of this particular track, Katsumi chose it specifically for Suzume, and she really hopes she catches it. It's an updated version of the background music playing in the last stage they'd gotten to when gaming together, before they were defeated at the hands of, as Katsumi had put it, the Segata Sanshiro twins.
Purple and blue laserlights flare on in flourish along the borders of the entrance ramp, set in sync with the music.
"
And her opponent!," begins the announcer. "
Standing at 5'5", and weighing in at 124 lbs.! From Osaka, Japan! The Punk Princess! KATSUMI! OOOOSHIROOO!"
Her highlight reel hits the titantron, showcasing a variety of flashy or outright punishing techniques used on opponents in the past, including the Spanish fly hit on Marzia, the
Shutdown belly-to-belly suplex on Marissa Winters, and the
Wild Rave splash finisher on Cathy Jefferson. Bright red pyros flare at either side of the entrance. Katsumi strides out into view with a perky strut, cocky smile proudly worn and hands raised to soak up the mixture of praise and scorn alike from the audience. They're still trying to figure out how they feel about her. It doesn't much matter to her - attention's attention, and a strong reaction, positive or negative, is her candy.
Pivoting on heel, she tilts her head back to look at the screen. It's the first time she's really seen it, and it just makes her smile all the more. The reel concludes with one of Katsumi's earlier taunts to an opponent, a-la fingergun. With a bright giggle, she wheels around to begin trotting down the ramp towards the ring. As she nears the ring, she grabs onto the lower hem of her pink shirt to draw up and over her head, stripping the garment and leaving her slender, albeit toned midsection bare to the open air.
The shirt isn't tossed this time. Instead of her typical tossing of the garment towards the corner steps of the ring, she carries it around to the announcer's table. "
Trade me," she says, and without waiting for a response, grabs a microphone and drops her shirt onto the table. Only then does she turns to climb up onto the ring apron and slip between the ropes, again foregoing her typical behavior in favor of focusing instead on the other girl in the ring.
Oh, look at Suzume. She's freaking
precious. From her glasses to her skimpy, if kind've sporty outfit, and the way she continues to wear that jacket, she's almost too cute to consider roughing up. It's a genuine effort for Katsumi to not grin at her as she takes her in. But she has some banter to do. And bantering is just too fun to pass up.
The music was already fading, but it hastens when Katsumi raises the microphone.
"
Wait, wait, wait, is this open tryouts night?," she asks, turning to the audience. "
What's this nerdy underaged midget boy doing in the ring?"
She turns again to Suzume and feigns shock upon realization, "
Holy shit, Suzume?! That's you?!" She then drawls a patronizing, "
Oh, honey..."
Katsumi begins pacing around the ring's edges as she continues. "
Now, not all of you know how this little match got started! But someone happened to be recording! We got that queued up?"
The lights dim and the titantron begins rolling a video clip clearly taken from a bystander in a crowd inside Club Sega. Katsumi is standing beside Suzume in front of a Darkstalkers gaming cabinet. Evidently they had been playing, and Suzume won.
A voice raises from somewhere in the crowd: "Would Suzume beat you in the ring, too?"
"What? No way! Lil' bit here," she says, wrangling Suzume's shoulders with an arm to tug her into her side, "would have to get some training before the federation would let'er in the ring anyway! And I'm only getting better, so~..."
"But Oshiro-san..!"
"Heyyy, I can wrestle you know!," Suzume pouts. "I'm not a pushover!"
"What? Oh yeah? What'd you do, highschool wrestling?" Katsumi uses her free hand to poke her index finger towards Suzume's stomach. "Suuuumo~?"
"H...highschool? Sumo? I...I...I'm 20!" Suzume shouts indignantly. "And look at me...I'm smol..." She mumbled after being poked in the tummy. She'd cross her arms around her waist. "Hmmph...Thinks she's so tough just cause she'd bigger. We can't all be tall."
"Oshiro-san!," comes the voice again. "She wrestles in the same federation as you!"
"Oh crap, really? You should'a said!" She twists at the hip to bump at Suzume lightly.
"I...umm..ahh!" She yelped as once again she was bumped. "I didn't know either Oshiro-san. To be quite honest...I didn't even know any part of your name until like a second ago." She sheepishly admitted. "And I hope you don't cheat in the ring like you do at games."
"Apparently I need to push my name out there even more. It's Kat-su-mi, O-shi-ro. Best remember it!" She then feigns shock and offense. "Cheat!? She thinks I might cheat in the ring!"
Snickers rise among the crowd.
"Cheat!," she repeats, ever-so-scandalized. And then coyly, for the audience's benefit, purrs, "I would never."
"In fact, just for that... who wants to see a match between the Punk Princess and lil' bit here!?"
"Wh...what?" Suzume gasped.
Cheers begin to sound in crescendo in the crowd.
"I...but...and it's SUZUME!"
"Lil' Suzume Bit," nods Katsumi.
The roar of their audience increases.
"I don't see why not. I've gotta show'er how I do things in the ring, don't I?" Finally withdrawing her arm from her shoulders, Katsumi turns to face Suzume directly with hands planted to her trim waist, confident smile playing on her lips. "What do you say? Wanna wrestle?"
"That's lil' bit Suzume! ...I mean just Suzume!" The brunette responded, her face becoming more flushed with each passing second. "Hmmphh!" She finally pouted, puffing up her cheeks. "Fine...but when I win it's gonna just be regular Suzume...Taller than Katsumi Suzume!"
The screen cuts back to a camera feed of the ring and the lights rise in the arena. Katsumi is standing before Suzume, gently prodding her index finger towards the girl's bare stomach. "
Smush," she teases at Suzume's lack of rigid abs - despite the fact that Katsumi doesn't have ripped abdominals, herself. "
You sure you wanna go through with this?"
