L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Standard Match
Winner Decided by Pinfall, Submission, or KO

Continued from this...

Katsumi smirks as the new girl seemed unwilling to take the bait and back down. She really wanted this. She really wanted to make her debut by stepping on someone else's moment. No, not just someone else's. Her moment. This thing that had been so long in the making, fought so hard for, through so many matches, to finally claw some recognition from the management.

The remark made by the blonde entering the ring is so breezy, so flippant, it grates on her nerves further. It's like she really has no clue the level of disrespect she's shown, no care in the world for it. The irony is, of course, entirely lost on the Punk Princess.

"Sweetheart," Katsumi says, now swapping to her very natural suburban West Coast American English, "all you're doing is adding a hospital visit to your bills."

That wasn't said into the microphone. That was meant just for Fran. And Katsumi is pacing the center of the ring with aggressive energy, eyes locked onto Fran like a jungle cat. But now the microphone is raised. "Alright. Management? You watching? You're about to see what happens when you don't keep your new fru-fru pomeranians under control. Now send us a zebra."

All delivered without breaking that stare.

As if summoned by mythic conch shell, a referee-girl barrels out of the back at full sprint! She dives into the ring, sliding beneath the bottom rope across the mat and-- right out the opposite side of the ring by accident, tumbling down to the floor again.

Katsumi's hard stare finally breaks for a sidelong eyeshift.

Welp.

The referee awkwardly scooches back into the ring beneath the bottom rope, offering apologies to everyone with shallow little dips and bobs, then hurries to collect the microphone from Katsumi and begin ushering her back into a corner.

At last, the punkette's expression breaks into a wicked smile and she leans back against the post. Her elbows hook over the ropes at either side, eyes narrowing on Fran. "Hey, how do your big debut to end!? You wanna be broken and pinned down, or crying and begging for mercy!?," she shouts across to her.

Ready In The Ring

"The following contest isn't scheduled! But it's going to be for one fall!," rushes the referee, being fed information through a discreet earpiece. "At a height of five feet, seven inches, and weighing in at one hundred and twenty-four pounds!"

"From Osaka, Japan!"

"The Punk Princess, herself!"

"KATSUMIIII! OOOSHIROOO!"

It lacks the aplomb of the usual announcer, but she's doing her best. And Katsumi rewards the effort with a smug little uptilt of her chin, her left hand raising to accept the rushing wave of cheer from the audience. Her attention remains primarily on the girl across from her, however.

Fran reached upwards as she waited in the ring for the referee to bumble about to get the logistics of the match set up. Stretching herself out, Fran was asked a question by her opponent. "Hmm?" She made the nose through a closed mouth though Katsumi was probably too far away to hear. "Purely academic since I don't intend to lose my debut but if I were to lose it'd maybe be pinned because three seconds is not a lot of time."

Eat your Heart Out

"And her opponent...!" The referee gestured at Fran, catching her attention."At a height of five feet, six inches, and weighing../" Fran narrowed her gaze at the referee who wasn't quite use to the announcing part. The woman bowed apologetically, seemingly worried that Fran would snap at her should her weight be read aloud. Fran wouldn't but there was no sense in stating the weight, she thought. Especially because she was only slightly heavier than her opponent. Just a little.

"From California in the United States!"

"The Vampire Slayer!"

"Francessscaaa Douuuglaaas!"

Fran lowered her arms and approached the center of the ring. "Did Japan ever get my show over here?" Fran asked rhetorically quickly chiming in as to why. "Because that line about Vampire Slaying in my announcement might not make sense yet." Fran placed her right foot back and readied herself in a narrow profile with her arms raised in a light boxing stance. "But I slay you here and now, I'm sure it'll make sense then. What do you say to that?"

The referee motioned for the bell.

DING-DING!

First, a blink. Did she actually, actually answer that question with an honest response? Not in the multiple times Katsumi has dangled an opponent's veritable downfall has someone actually told her what they'd prefer. It was always met with a visceral and snarly reaction, something she could enjoy, something the audience would appreciate.

Is this aloofness? Is this chick an alien? In a moment more rare than a shooting star, Katsumi isn't sure how to respond to something.

So she prefers to be pinned. Because it's quicker. The Telltale Games version of Katsumi will remember that.

A jet black eyebrow perks when the referee skips the weight, followed by a bark of a laugh. No remark is to follow. The laugh is enough. Ha, ha! She's scared of everyone hearing how much she weighs! Not that Francesca looks bad at all, or even remotely overweight. That's not the point of it! The point is the presumed insecurity!

Her arms coil around the top ropes, bracing herself as her lower half scrunches up and kicks out to vault herself from the corner and into a smooth forward stride. "Got bad news for ya. I'm no vampire. But make no mistake."

Her stance widens, arms raised and fingers spread at the ready to catch - a technician's stance.

"Here, there be monsters."

The bell sounds off, and Katsumi is off like a thunderbolt, a black and gold streak of fluid motion. The measured presentation of her stance betrayed, this opening gambit is to satisfy that gnawing frustration in a textbook double leg takedown to the mat blooming quickly into a rain of forearms at the head. A Lou Thez press. Satisfying to the tension, exciting for the audience, and downright therapy for Katsumi, even if Francesca is being spared the worst version with fists.

She's not looking to knock teeth out. Even if she detests this girl right now, that's never been the intention. And all things considered, it might even stand out as odd to someone on the receiving end of what has, until now, been naked anger.

Of course, that is if it lands at all.

Sure Katsumi would laugh. She never faced the securitizing of Hollywood's sleaziest tabloids who jumped at any imperfection as a headline. Far different than a career where listing off the weight of the competitor was normal. So go ahead and laugh, Fran thought, knowing that her opponent got off easy in the regard. Although that was a positive note for the former actress. Her experience differed from her opponent's and that could be one that played to a strength if she was careful.

Katsumi's stance looked to be grabby. Yet the bell sounded and that changed into a full-on charge. Expected, Fran wasn't a novice. In fact her earlier stance, sideways like a boxer, was a very fortunate one to have against a frontal charge as there was less frontal profile for an opponent to latch onto. Fran braced by leaning forward, taking Katsumi's charge, her braced position afforded her the shock.

The raven-haired woman's arms wrapped low in the attempted takedown leaving the blonde's arms free. Something Fran utilized by dropping an elbow down onto Katsumi's back, right in between her shoulders for the initial hit. Fran's boots began to slide as she dug into the mat harder, taking her other arm and wrapping it around Katsumi's head.

"Then you haven't seen my show because you should know." Fran launched another elbow into Katsumi's back, trying to quell her opponent enough to set up a strong enough stance to drop back and nail a DDT in the opening exchange. "I've faced plenty of monsters!"

An anger-fueled blitz opening proved to not be the right gambit. Maybe Fran had more experience than her interruption and manner let on. Katsumi isn't deterred, however, determined to express exactly how much she disapproved of being taken lightly. Gold-sole'd boots dig into the mat, her legs pump, and the smoothly toned arms wrapping the other girl's thighs flex with the intention to outright hoist her and take her down to the mat. Another second's delay wasn't going to stop her from executing picture-perfect fundamentals.

An elbow might.

"Ngh!"

The elbow hammers between her shoulders, causing Katsumi to flinch first. That takes the coordinated strength out of the effort for a decisive beat, and she finds her cheek pressed tight to Fran's ribs in a headlock. Another hammer of an elbow lands against her back, earning another pained grunt from the punkette, knees bending under the shock.

The arms lift quickly from the other girl's thighs to her waist, just above the belt. But what she was planning to counter with is cut short as body mechanics and gravity take over, forcing the dark-haired girl to pitch forward. Her brow collides with the mat, and an instant, dazing flash erupts across her vision, causing Katsumi to pop up onto her knees briefly before dropping to the mat on her back in a daze.

With a groan, gloved hands lift to press against the now aching brow.

Nice!

This was a time when Fran's read was right and her foresight was right and resulted in a slight early lead here. She had a loose UFC style training that produced some quirks of her wrestling. The sideways stance was one and the chip damage from elbows and strikes was another. Both had paid off and now Fran was in the driver seat. Rolling around swiftly, she climbed to her knees to be ready for Kat should that DDT prove not to be enough.

Fran smirked as she saw the gloved hands covering her head. Perfect. She rose to her feet and bent down. "Come on, then." The blonde blurted aloud grabbed one of those nursing hands and heaved her opponent up into a quick Irish Whip into the turnbuckle! Her opponent met padding and Fran gave chase rushing in after and turning at the last moment to slam her shoulder into her opponent, pressing her between the padding and a bony shoulder!

Fran kept herself up against her opponent turning to scoff at her face, point blank. "You're done for~" She chirped, stepping back and bending down to scoop Katsumi up by the hips, heaving her opponent up, allowing the raven-haired woman's legs to nestle under the blonde's armpits as she managed to get Katsumi seated on the top turnbuckle.

This felt good. Fran thought as she stepped up to the middle turn buckle, ready to lock in a high impact move to really swing the match in her favor. For a debut, she was slaying and this would absolutely prove it. "Any last words?" Fran found herself asking as she locked an arm around her opponent's head, tucking that raven-haired head under her arm and pressed against her side. If one DDT was enough for the lead, a second should seal it, right?

Katsumi, meanwhile, wasn't thinking of much at all yet. Her mind was blanked, a canvas of contesting white and black. Sudden and significant impacts to the front of the head would never be anything less than jarring, and wrestling mats were... well, calling them mats felt like such a generous term, considering how thin they were. Trampolines, they were not. Gymnast pads, even less.

A groan escapes her, mute to the audience, but audible to Fran as Katsumi wallows. Of course, the audience expects the beatdown to continue. Maybe even seeing the punkette lying flat on her back as an invitation to pin her down and take the quick and humiliating win. But Fran opts to take the arm, and Katsumi is drawn up to her feet in a daze.

Drawn in and whipped out again, Katsumi well-trained body automatically follows the motions to keep itself upright, a rushing gait leading her into the corner where she pivots on heel just in time to collide with the tall corner padding back-first. "Ungh!" Katsumi doesn't have long to recoil before a shoulder comes colliding into her sternum, Fran's body suddenly pushed tight against her. Katsumi's head hangs forward, her voice caught somewhere in her throat, lips close to where the blonde's neck meets the shoulder, and her arms hanging at her sides.

She provides no struggle as she's gathered up and hefted, pert rear parking atop the pad and knees spread to let her boots rest on the middle ropes. By this point, she can think straight again. She's feeling the compounding impacts of Fran being on the offensive, and she might've even been able to fight out of this predicament before being elevated onto the corner. But she didn't. Instead, she waited as Fran climbed to meet her. She was given that oh-so-dire remark, her head tucked under Fran's arm once more. And once more, Katsumi's cheek met the warmth of Fran's waist.

Suddenly, the Punk Princess springs to life again. Her left arm wraps around the girl's waist to pull her in close, hugging her midsection against her shoulder. The right arm swings in firmly, attempting to club the blonde hard just below between the shoulders.

"You.. must.. be.. crazy..!," she growls.

The last word is accompanied with another hard blow against Fran's back, lower this time to try to force her body to arch inwards and prevent the DDT entirely. And from there, Katsumi leaves that arm encircling her torso and pulls back, attempting to shift the balance more in her favor and to stand up, pulling the blonde into a clench, her shoulder digging in hard against the other girl's chest in a bearhug. The right side of Katsumi's chest, in turn, presses tight into Fran's midsection.

The squeeze wouldn't be the tightest Katsumi could muster in a hold like that. In fact, squeezing an opponent is something she's known for. But in this position, this is more setup. She just needs her stunned and shocked.

It was all going perfectly.

The early lead. The movement to the corner. The setup. The only step left was the execution. A lean back and bring Kat down with her. Fran was already starting to think of what submission she could try to capitalize with. Yet as the blonde's mind wandered, she found herself surprised from the sudden lurch of movement by her opponent. Fran's attention snapped down as arms wrapped her and pulled her in. A rather awkward blow came around to club at her back causing the woman to hiss through clenched teeth.

Nuh-uh. Not happening.

Fran thought as she tightened her arm around Katsumi's neck. Yet the motion hadn't gotten the blonde closer to sinking her opponent with the same arm that clubbed her back finding a better angle to nail at her lower back. "Unh!" The impacting forcing a stifled grunt from the blonde as she slipped slightly on the turnbuckle. The arm around Katsumi's head loosened, releasing her as it instinctively reached around to lightly press the fresh mark that the strike had made on her back, nursing it.

But that wasn't all as her opponent kept the wrap going, standing and tightening the hold. Her torso bent at the waist forward while her upper half tilted back. She hissed sharply as bone seemed to dig into vulnerable flesh and Fran lifted her hands to push against, Katsumi's hips as if that were to help her escape.

There it is. That loosening of the hold. The freedom to pop her head out of the restraint and to look, well, up at the captive blonde's face. That clears her for what's coming. But it only makes the impending peril all the worse for Fran. But she doesn't have the opportunity to really languish in the position. Besides - if she's going to squeeze this girl into suffering, she wants it dead center of the ring. Where everyone can see it real clear. Where Fran has no chance of escaping. Because up here--

"Get down!," the referee-girl shouts, probably at both of them for their high-risk tomfoolery.

"You heard her!"

Katsumi's arms shift, feeling Fran's hands drift lower on her figure as well. But the punkette's forearms bite into Fran's lower back, cinching her body snug to hers. Knees bend, and she aims to throw herself forward with the other girl in a no-frills splash, riding the other female's body like a boogie board. Barring a miracle, Fran will take the compounding punishment of gravity and Katsumi's bodyweight crashing her into the mat further from the turnbuckle, Katsumi's body landing more focused against the girl's hips and midsection. It doesn't help that the arms wrangling her waist would be forced into a sudden, crushing squeeze at the moment of impact before releasing her.