Just Try Me (Not Open)

It was a funny feeling.

[url=http://youtu.be/DLbHfOhJNR4?t=5s:3aut2kc9]While the first notes of her new entrance music floated out into the arena[/url:3aut2kc9], Taylor strolled onto the entrance ramp. The fans closest to the ramp spotted her and began to cheer, causing a chain reaction that spread around the stands until the arena was whole arena was filled with the voices of the people who had carried her along to this point in her career. She had always been an outsider in the locker room, always fought to earn a little respect, and always marveled at every new fan who cheered for her. But everything was different now, and instead of a few devout fans she had an army. Instead of fighting to earn her place, other girls would have to fight her to take it. After so long being on the outside looking in, Taylor was finally right in the middle of everything, and it was a funny, wonderful feeling.

At the front of the stage, she kicked up into a standing backflip, and as she hit the floor on one knee her music exploded. It was all the crowd could do to keep up.

Taylor's face still sported the remains of a black eye, though her cut lip had mostly healed. She had a small silver stud in each ear, one in her nostril, and a small bar in her right eyebrow. Her blonde hair was in red-streaked pigtails, and her long bangs hung loosely swept to the side. Her indigo eyes were darkly lined with red shadows and her glossy, pink lips pulled back into a sharp, dimpled grin. Her tall black boots and kneepads were brand new. Gone were the beat-up and worn out old knee pads she had used since she was a teenager. The new gear seemed to suit her. Black fingerless gloves and some bracelets and a leather strap around her upper arm that helped to point out exactly how much muscular definition she packed onto her slim and rock solid frame.

She wore a tight black t-shirt with a large, white, hand-drawn logo of a match igniting across the front. It covered her to the hips, and only a small bit of red material between her legs and a short red skirt only in the back hinted at her the change to the rest of her ring gear.

She launched herself into the air from her crouched position and kicked her legs out to the sides in a gleeful split-jump, and took time to visit fans on each side of the ramp as she slowly made her way toward the ring. She paused once, halfway there, and tossed herself into an aerial cartwheel, transitioned into a spectacular flashkick backflip. Just for fun.

When she finally made it to the ring, microphone in hand, she was a bouncing, grinning bundle of energy. She could hardly contain herself. Without saying a word, she motioned with her hands around her waist, and the message was clear.

She lifted her mic. "HI!" The crowd answered back. She raised a hand in the air and began to count on her fingers. "Iron Maiden. Silver Ace. Fallon Terrazas. Uncharted Love. Adrian. Kytes." She left her hand high, with five fingers splayed apart. "Five reasons why no one in this company is ready for me." She jabbed her thumb back toward her chest.

For a moment, she bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet until she settled down enough to keep talking. She was confident and composed, fearless, and her rough and youthful voice carried clearly to the farthest rows in the stands. "I've gone toe-to-toe with one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business, Akashi Tanikaze. Twice. I ended Iron Maiden's rampage, and ruined Kyla Fairchild's fun. I showed my potential when I won the Entropy title against Natalia, and I showed how far I've come when I outclassed Silver Ace. I showed you my heart in Atlantic City, against Adrian Kytes, along with most of my blood.

"This year, I'm gonna show everyone what I'm really made of. I'm here for one reason and one reason only, and that's pure wrestling. I don't fight dirty. I don't cheat. I don't play games. And I don'tdo so-called hentai. I'm here to fight, and I'm going to prove to all of you here, and everyone in the locker room, that I am the best pure wrestler in AFW. I'm going to show you what a champ really is, because honestly... the one we've got isn't doin' it for me.

She lowered the mic and paced from one side of the ring to the other, glancing up at the ramp out of habit. When she went on, she couldn't hide the angry edge in her voice.

"Here's a little history lesson on what kind of a champion our beloved Angel really is. Maybe some of you might remember a match between Angel and Nikolette Tesla. My friend, Nikolette Tesla. Angel choked her out, and good job, Angel. Congratulations on the win... But she didn't stop there. She stripped her naked, threw her back in the ring, put her in a Boston crab and made her quit. But she didn't stop THERE, either. I think her words were 'It's a wrestling match! You do what you have to so you can win!'" Taylor lowered the microphone for a moment, and looked over the crowd with a sneer that resembled a grimace.

"Is that right, Angel?" Her voice was nearing a raspy shout. "Then she threw Nik out of the ring, got in her face, and threw her headfirst into the ring steps, and left her like that.

"Angel, let me tell you about what it takes to win. You can beat and humiliate people after the bell all you want, but you're still a loser. Let me tell you about hard work and sacrifice, about family and friends, about passion, and about leaving everything you have in this ring every single time. About painting the ring with your own blood and only fighting harder. Win some, lose some, maybe, but I'm coming, and you can't stop me. Sooner or later, chica, you're going to have to get your ugly ass down here and we're gonna find out which one of us can do what it takes to win, and afterward, I'm going to help you up and send you home and hold that belt high!"

She took a moment. She needed a moment to stay calm and keep her mouth under control. She knew she couldn't lose it and go off on Angel the way she really wanted to, not in front of everybody.

"So in the meantime," she said with a smile, in a calm tone of voice. "While Angel is off cuddling with her belt and hoping to god she never has to defend it against a real fighter... Who else have we got?" She paused, and looked around, and pointed a finger up at the entrance ramp. "Anybody? Everybody's gotta know by now that if you want to be somebody in this company, I'm the girl to beat. So while we're all waiting for the wizard to give Angel her courage, who else wants to come down here and find out why I am the best wrestler, the best fighter, in Friction, in Japan, and in the world?"

She sat down cross legged in the middle of the ring, facing the ramp, with a wry smile on her face. "I've got all night."

Taylor wasn't surprised at all. It would have been nice, she had to admit, if someone else had answered her challenge... But really, who better to beat up than Kelly Conway.

"Oh, hey Conway. I didn't hear you come in," Taylor said coolly once Kelly finally took a breath. She drew a circle in the air with her finger around Kelly. "This Cruella Deville look works for you. You look better covered up."

She pulled herself back up to her feet and skipped to the edge of the ring where she leaned on her forearms against the top rope, with her mic in one hand.

"So listen, Pinkie-Pie, I appreciate that you got big plans and stuff, and don't let me stop ya. If you want to take a crack at Angel, go for it. If you win, maybe I'll fight Angel on my way to you. Or maybe I'll fight you right now on my way to her." She shrugged, and gave Kelly a sly smile. "Or did you just come to talk."

She raised her voice a little, and let her Long Island accent loose. "Not for nothin', Pinkie, but as much as I love talkin', I was really looking for a fight. So maybe if somewhere under that deceased water buffalo you're wearing you got your ring gear, you could walk your skinny little ass down here and we can find out which one of us is too soft. Oh, and I saw you getting all horny on Nik. That's real cool. You and Angel would get along great, and you're in luck. I hear she's single and ready to mingle."

"Oh, lots of people want a piece of me, motherfucker." Oops. Language. "But you're in luck, not only am I straight as an arrow, but I can't think of a single living person who'd be attracted to a trainwreck of a human being like you. And this..." She grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it off over her head, revealing for the first time her red and black one-piece suit, the material smoothly stretched over her hard body. "Doesn't come off."

Among the reasons she had chosen her new ring gear was that it would make wardrobe malfunctions almost impossible, and if anyone wanted to do to her what Angel did to Nikolette, they'd have their work cut out for them. That wasn't the only reason, but it was definitely a big one.

"So you just wanna beat the shit outta me, but you're still alllllll the way up there. C'mon, man, why don't you very seriously walk your crazy ass down here so we can do this. I think everybody here would looove to see me shut your fu-" Er... "To shut you up."

She backed away from the ropes and spread her arms out wide, grinning and beckoning for the lunatic blonde to come get her.

Taylor laughed at Kelly like she was the most obviously oblivious person in the whole world. "I've been wearing red and black for two years!"

She smirked and shook her head. Everyone wanted to quantify Taylor by her past matches, but what happened then had nothing to do with what she could do now. Maybe the longer she kept her winning streak active, the more people would start to catch on. "And I beat Natalia no problem, and she pinned you without breaking a sweat." She shrugged.

The moment Kelly stepped into the ring, Taylor was in her face. She stood no more than an inch from the girl, their forehead's nearly touching, and stared her down with fierce and confident indigo eyes that dared her to take the first swing.

"In your dreams, I bet."

Standing toe-to-toe with Kelly Conway, she didn't seem so threatening. She was surprisingly small, actually. She had a slight build and was just barely shorter than Taylor, though no doubt her slim body was conditioned well enough. By the looks of it, Taylor would have a nice strength advantage, a speed advantage, and probably a massive advantage in stamina. She could move faster, hit harder, and hit first. There wasn't a thing to worry about.

Granted, she didn't have the wrestling pedigree that Conway did, but that wouldn't matter at all when Kelly couldn't see straight. Taylor was going to knock her out at the opening bell and make a mockery of all her trash talk.

She held Kelly's gaze unflinchingly, like a wild animal ready to tear it's prey to pieces, her impressive body tensed and just waiting to be let off the leash by that precious sound...

Somewhere behind the ring, the timekeeper gave the bell three clean whacks.

Ding ding ding!