Stress Test! Raya Ashberry vs Bandita!

[Letta]

The concern on Laxia’s face gave way to surprise, then relief, the moment Bandita looked toward her and managed a smile from the mat.

That’s right...!

This wasn’t enough to keep Bandita down. And almost immediately, the luchadora proved it. Her dropkick slammed squarely into Raya’s chest and sent the larger woman flying back into the corner. Laxia clenched one fist and pulled it sharply downward in triumph.

“Yes...!”

With the momentum shifting, Bandita trapped Raya in the corner and began hammering away at her midsection. Laxia nodded along with each impact, clapping as the blows landed one after another. “That’s going to hurt... hehe.” She would know. Laxia had already experienced those body shots firsthand, and the memory alone was enough to tug the corner of her mouth upward. Then came the monkey flip. Raya’s larger frame was launched out of the corner and sent tumbling toward the center of the ring, making Laxia cover her mouth with one hand as she bounced excitedly in place.“Wow...!” She quickly glanced toward the crowd, almost as if checking whether they had felt the same rush she had. You saw that, right? The roar that answered brought a proud smile to her face. Somewhere along the way, Laxia had become so invested that she was reacting to every one of Bandita’s movements as though she were in the match herself.

Then suddenly... “...Hm?” Raya’s finger was pointing directly at her. Laxia blinked. The referee followed Raya’s accusation and immediately turned toward ringside. “W-wait...!” Laxia threw both hands into the air at once, shoulders lifting in an exaggerated show of innocence. “That’s not true..! I didn’t do anything!” But as the referee approached to warn her, Laxia’s eyes shifted past the official’s shoulder. The moment the referee turned her back to the ring, Laxia’s expression tightened. “Wait...!” A bad feeling crawled up her spine. “Ref! Don’t look at me, watch the ring! Turn around!”

[CyanDimitrik]

All of the frustration Bandita was feeling fueled the muscles in her already-powerful legs when she kick-tossed Raya out behind her. And this time, even with the ache in her core, Bandita curled back onto her shoulders and nipped up to her feet afterwards. The adrenaline is pumping, Raya no longer has the safety of the ropes to urge any officials to get in the way, and she should be in a vulnerable state! She has every intention to keep the pressure on.

Whirling to face her taller opponent, she sees that she's already on her feet. A little surprising, but nothing she can't work around. Especially given she's yelling something to the referee. Doesn't matter! If she's going to leave herself open, then Bandita will gladly take that shot!

Meanwhile, the referee-girl looks initially confused. A puzzled look is shot to Laxia, hearing her protest, then to Raya, who is being insistent. But Laxia doesn't appear to be climbing in! Her mouth is caught in a slackjawed state, waffling between knowing who to accost in this situation. When suddenly, she catches a rush of movement coming in from the side!

Bandita finds her trajectory promptly halted by the referee-girl putting her hands on her shoulders to back her off. This confounding turn of events has the teenager walking back, eyes wide in confusion, sputtering. "Wh- but-- wha--!?"

"I'm not letting you take advantage with an illegal distraction!," the referee-girl fusses, figuring she's got this situation locked down now. "You wait right there!" Her hands withdraw from the perplexed Latina's shoulders, satisfied that she's backed her away from the situation enough. Then she's stomping to the edge of the ring to look down at Laxia.

"You're not going to fool me!," she furthers, leaning over the top rope to dramatically shake her finger in her direction. "You do something to try to get attention, then you have your friend do something illegal while I'm distracted dealing with you! Oldest trick in the book! So I better not catch you rushing in here, or I'm disqualifying Bandita! Am I understood!?"

Bandita stands where she was put, dumbfounded. Her arms hang at her sides, shoulders slouched, unable to process what she's seeing. The fire is still there, it's begging to be unleashed on Raya, but watching Laxia get chewed out is impossible to ignore. Suddenly, her hands ball into tight fists. She starts marching towards the referee.

"Hey! Don't talk to her 'dat way! She didn't do anything wrong, she'd never break 'de rules like that!"

[ellth01l]

As soon as Raya pointed to Laxia and start whining angrily, the ref turned towards her, despite the woman's complaints. Raya watched while trying not to burst out laughing as Bandita started charging in but was quickly stopped by the ref, who backed her off and then turned towards Laxia to start chewing her out, which caused Bandita herself to also let her guard down and start marching towards the ref in defense of Laxia.

This was the perfect opportunity that Raya had planned to create, and she took full advantage of this by quickly moving to get right in front of Bandita's path in between her and the ref who was still turned fully towards Laxia with threats of disqualification, then before Bandita could even react, Raya balled up her fist and struck her opponent with a powerful low blow, making sure the ref would not be able to see such a cheap trick and turning the tides of the match once again!

[CyanDimitrik]

The referee isn't even bothering to turn to face her! Not yet! But Bandita isn't about to let someone impugn Laxia's virtue! She's innocent! She's a good person! She wouldn't be so terribly smitten with her if she weren't! And the last thing she wants is her family thinking she kissed someone who's no good!

Suddenly, Raya interjects into her path.

"Ah-!?"

The shock gives way to irritation, and Bandita is prepared to try to shove past her. But before she can take another step, she drops low and--

---!

Bandita's heart leaps up into her throat. Everything clenches. Everything. She's popped slightly off her feet, and when she lands, she's barely poised on her toes. Her knees twist together, the color drained from her face in a mixture of pain, shock, and humiliation. But it's the pain that prevents her from doing anything. From even speaking. She can't even move the air in her lungs right now.

Her form rigid and stiff, the girl drops forward like an upset plank of wood. She hits the mat facedown, her pert rear pushed into the air as she tries to curl inwards. The only sound she's finally able to make is a tight, tense whimper, but it remains mostly caught in her throat. One foot weakly kicks the mat with her toe, the only outlet available to her while she suffers this indignity.

The referee? Still facing Laxia.

[ellth01l]

Raya's smirk widened as she watched Bandita fall flat on her face right in front of her, she placed her arms on her hips and let out a loud cocky laugh before rolling her opponent over with her boot then quickly getting on the ground, grabbing a hold of Bandita's leg and hooking it for the pin. She had already let one opportunity slip away and did not want to take any more unnecessary risks, especially now with Bandita basically out of commission thanks to her quick thinking.

"Hey, ref!" She'd yell to the referee to get her attention, signaling for her to start the count. The fact that she had been turned around and arguing with Laxia the whole time had worked to Raya's advantage for the low blow but now would prove to be a waste of valuable seconds that could have been used to end the match, but still, Raya had no real worries, there was no way Bandita would be able to recover from such a blow so quickly, and even if she did, Raya would make her sorely regret it.

Finally, the ref turned back towards them with her full attention and immediately dropped down to start the count, completely unaware of any of Raya's shenanigans that had just transpired right under her nose, leading to Bandita's terrible situation.

"ONE!"

[Letta]

Laxia practically jumped in place, waving both hands toward the ring. “Stop looking at me! Watch them!” But the referee remained stubborn, only growing sharper with each warning. Then it happened. “No...!” Her fear became reality as Raya slipped in a blatant low blow while the referee’s attention was fixed elsewhere. “You coward...! Ref! Did you seriously not see that!?” Laxia surged toward the ring in outrage, only to freeze when the referee immediately threatened disqualification. Gritting her teeth, she was forced to back away.

Then Bandita crumpled. “Bandita...” Laxia grabbed at her own hair with both hands, guilt twisting in her stomach. Raya had used her as the excuse, and now Bandita was paying for it. She could only pace helplessly at ringside, glaring daggers at Raya as the larger woman laughed and rolled Bandita over for the pin. Every instinct told her to interfere, but doing so could cost Bandita the match. So Laxia could only stand there, furious and helpless, as the referee dropped to the mat for the count.

[CyanDimitrik]

Bandita can't think. She can't hear. She can't process anything but two things right now - anger and humiliation. She can't even make herself uncurl, requiring time for her... entire lower half to stop throbbing with pain. She's never been hit with a low blow before; not once in her career. Even the worst rudo wouldn't go that far with her! But it had to happen here, now, in this foreign country, in front of Laxia!

She gulps softly against the mat. Then a hard breath in a wheeze, trying to force her muscles to ease from the painful contraction. But it's not happening fast enough. She feels herself being rolled over onto her back, and with her knees already steepled, it's short work for Raya to hook one as leverage against her shoulders.

The referee-girl turns, surprised! "Oh!" The match has continued without her! Whoops! And it looks like it may even be over! She dives down onto the mat beside Bandita's head and strikes the mat. "ONE!"

Bandita twitches helplessly in agony. Another hard breath, followed by a pitiful hiccup is all she can muster yet.

The hand strikes the mat a second time with no answer. "TWO!"

Bandita squirms, fighting against her own body's protests. The referee's arm raises, and swings down to the mat. "TH--!"

Bandita suddenly surges with effort, thrusting her leg out and popping a shoulder off the mat just in time to avoid palm meeting canvas for that third and damning strike.

"--no! No pinfall! Shoulder's up!," announces the referee-girl, waving a pair of deuces to the audience and timekeeper.

Bandita, however, just tries to roll onto her side and curl into a ball again. "Aagh.." That amount of force and effort was painful yet, and it's all she can do to try to hide her tormented expression against the canvas.

[ellth01l]

"Damn it!" Raya grumbled as her opponent just managed to barely kick out in the nick of time, rendering the pin useless. She got up, and instead of focusing on Bandita, instead turned to the ref while putting on a fake smile and began thanking her.

"Thanks for that, ref, you truly are a paragon of virtue, upholding match integrity." She spoke with exaggerated gratitude and a hint of subtle mockery underneath. "Hopefully, you can ignore whatever that other girl says, she's obviously going to try and blame me of cheating, like the hypocrite she is! But I know a ref of your calibre wont fall for that nonsense!"

Odds were that the ref wouldn't listen to Laxia or Bandita trying to blame Raya of cheating regardless, but to make completely sure she had decided to butter the referee up, ensuring that her slightly illegal action was no longer a factor at this point. Then, her smile immediately dropping, she turned to look down towards Bandita, who was still rolling around on the floor. Instead of going in, she decided to wait for Bandita to recover slightly, then the moment she got up to her feet, Raya would once again sprint in with full force and attempt to ram her straight back down to the canvas with a clothesline!

[CyanDimitrik]

Of course, the referee is nonethewiser! So when Raya showers her with praise, she folds her hands neatly together and bows politely. "Just doing my job!," she says.

Bandita would be so annoyed. If she weren't still throbbing with pain. Even with the pressure of a foreign body no longer smushing her into the mat, she has a tremendous level of unusual pain and blowback to work through. Low blows are usually match-enders, as far as she knows! And now that she's experienced one for herself, she can see why. If it weren't for the sheer outrage combined with the desperation to not fail in front of both her family and Laxia, that might've been it for her!

She manages to turn over onto hands and knees, her face pressed into the mat for a few long seconds. Her left palm sets to the canvas and draws back, weakly pawing for a moment before mustering the strength in her arms and pushing her upper-body up. And there, she finds Laxia directly across from her. The look on her face is pained, angry.. and a healthy dose of disbelief is written behind those hazel-green eyes. Her knees scoot to center her balance and try to work out the last of the crippling unsteadiness, and with another push, she lifts to her full height.

She turns to mark Raya's presence in the ring, and - she happens to be much closer than intended. The arm collides across her neck, and the lightweight diva is flipped over from the force of the collision. She lands facedown on the mat, limbs akimbo and stunned.

[ellth01l]

"Should have stayed down and accepted defeat, bitch!" Raya said angrily as she towered over Bandita once again after succesfully slamming her back down to the mat. "Now, I'm gonna make sure to drag this out and make you suffer as much as possible while your girl just watches helplessly from outside!"

Raya would then grab Bandita's feet and attempt to drag her to the center of the ring before bending her legs while placing one foot on each of her knees, then she'd grab her wrists and fall backwards onto the mat, lifting Bandita up in a ceiling hold if all went according to plan!