AFW Title Match: Angel (c) Vs. Taylor Parker

"HAAAAAAA!" Taylor's feral scream punctuated the impact of the headbutt. It hurt her aching head and did nothing good for the stars in her vision, but if nothing else, she had a hard head. Harder than Angel's face, anyway.

She pressed forward, stayed on the attack. Unable to think of anything fancier in the moment, she snagged Angel by the hair as she staggered back and yanked her back in, rearing back before bashing her forehead into the girl's face for a second time.

The sound of Taylor's scream sent a shiver through Angel, the Latina blinking her eyes quickly to try and clear her vision. Her head ached, and she knew that the relentless Taylor would soon have a followup for her.

Then suddenly it came. The painful feel of Taylor gripping at her hair, pulling her right back in towards her. For a second time, Angel was smashed by a headbutt, and this one felt even worse, the pain from the first one multiplying as the second made it's impact. Once again Angel's head reeled back, and the Latina started to stagger away again, inwardly cursing herself for letting Taylor pick the advantage back up.

The clash of their heads hurt Taylor, but not as much as it did Angel. She shoved Angel with both hands to keep her moving back, and threw herself forward, off-balance but undeterred. She leapt at her, throwing up a knee like a battering ram to punch a hole through Angel's chest.

Taylor needed a moment to get her head together and stop the room from spinning, but she'd get that when Angel was on her back wondering what hit her.

The world was a blur for the champion, her head ringing from the dual impacts of skull against skull. She needed a moment to get her head straight as well, but of course Taylor wasn't going to give it to her. She kept stumbling back as Taylor shoved at her, and then up came that knee.

"Gyuuuh!" Angel's cry was sharp as Taylor's blow struck the center of her chest, forcing the air from her lungs. She was already off-balanced enough that the knee was more then enough to drop her back down to the mat, forcing her onto her back once more. Her chest heaved as she struggled to suck in air, trying to fill her lungs again.

Taylor's fists clenched and her eyes blazed fiercely, standing over the fallen champion. She drew a heavy breath, and threw her fists high up in the air with another ferocious scream, returned by the roaring crowd. She could feel the excitement in her chest, from manhandling the champ the way she had. It was almost too good to be true, and she was thrilled to be giving such a performance in the biggest match of her career, especially one dedicated to her dad. She couldn't just win, she had to win big. She had to be sure that he would've been proud.

She shook her head to clear it, and had the presence of mind to skip the springboard this time. She was doing so well keeping her hands on Angel, that she decided to go in for more, and as she stepped over the champ she bent to grab two handfuls of her short, white hair and began dragging her to her feet where she could keep beating her to a pulp.

Junko had been feeling good. Taylor had been kickign the champ's butt pretty well and was even attacking Angel's deadliest weapon head on. She wasn't very fond of the headbutts and muttered a small "baka..." under her breath. Taylor was fond of them but any move that also injured yourself, no matter WHAT it did to the other person was a BAD move in Junko's eyes. Still, she continued to pound the mat and cheer Taylor on.

"Go, Taylor-san! Keep up the pressure!"

Angel lay at Taylor's feet, her eyes closed as she tried to focus, tried to ignore her headache and focus her thoughts, focus her energy. So far, Taylor had been every bit as dangerous as she thought she would be, and perhaps even a bit more. She needed to get her head in the game and needed to show that she wasn't all talk, but after those headbutts it was so hard, a dull, pounding pain pulsing through her head.

At the sound of Taylor's scream though, Angel slowly began to open her eyes, looking upwards above her. There was Taylor again, standing over her, screaming at the crowd. That was the goal. That was what she needed to end. She needed to shut Taylor up and do to her what she had done to Angel. The sight of Taylor, the roar of the crowd...it was more then enough to remind Angel of what she needed to do, of who she was. She was the champion, dammit. She had sacrificed so much to get this far, and she couldn't, she wouldn't let some brat like Taylor take it from her.

She winced again though, as the blonde suddenly leaned down, grabbing her by the hair. Always with the hair, it seemed. The feeling of her hair being yanked on only compounded the pain from her headache, but Angel couldn't afford to dwell on that.

As Taylor began yanking her upwards, dragging her to her feet, Angel let out a scream of her own, full of fury, of rage. In sheer desperation to stop Taylor from continuing her assault, she drew back her arm, suddenly driving a stiff straight punch directly towards Taylor's stomach.

"You've had this coming for a long time, Angel," Taylor growled near the girl's ear as she dragged her up. "I've had this coming for- UMPH!"

Taylor doubled over as Angel's punch smashed into her gut and knocked the wind out of her. She retaliated quickly, not allowing herself a moment to nurse the wound, and raised an arm and clubbed her forearm down across the back of Angel's neck. She let go of her hair and stumbled back a step, one hand on her flat stomach while she drew a breath.

Any satisfaction that Angel could have had from shutting Taylor up was erased by the girl's arm striking at the back of her neck. Down to her knees and hands the Latina fell, but she didn't remain like that for long. She had to press any advantage she could, and even if it was reckless, she had to take that chance. She quickly scrambled back up again, throwing herself towards Taylor as she rose. No time for anything fancy. No time for anything subtle. She had to strike fast and hard.

She moved in straight towards the blonde, and as she rose she aimed her shoulder straight towards Taylor's midsection, trying to ram into her and tackle the girl down onto the mat.

Taylor cocked her left fist back and timed Angel's approach. She could put her down for good with one well placed shot. She put everything into winging a hard overhand left at Angel's chin, but then Angel ducked.

"Aagh!" Angel's shoulder collided with Taylor's ribs and sent both of them crashing down to the mat. Taylor took a heavy landing and winced, bared her teeth at the pain, and quickly wrapped her legs around Angel's waist.

"How romantic..." She growled, and reached to wrap her arms around Angel's head and shoulder to pull her down tight against her, to keep her from getting any ideas about what to do next. Stay calm, she reminded herself. Be patient.