Demand Match: John Mitchel vs. The Valkyries - Fight On!

The audience was still throwing more boos at Stone than anything else, but she could have sworn she heard a few cheers mingled in there, too. After all, they were seeing John Mitchel, Tension World Champion in full action, and it wasn't against some waif like Aoi or a nutcase like Bree. This was true competition, and even if the title wasn't on the line, it was still a treat to watch. Even if they hated the Valkyries, they couldn't complain about a lack of entertainment.

Stone stumbled away with the force of the throw, quickly righted herself, then dropped down on top of John with a quick belly flop, trying to knock any remaining air out of him while she went for the pin. "Come on..."

The referee dropped down beside them and started the count. "1...!"

John would have approved of the cheers. She deserved them. But he was too busy being smashed to death to notice them.

John let out a gasp, his legs and arms flapping out and hitting the ground and his eyes rolling back, as he was smashed by the belly flop. He groaned, eyes shut for a second, too dazed to realize what was happening.

After a moment, he suddenly realized the ref was counting!

2!

Desperately, he forced his eyes opened and channeled all his strength, what remained, into kicking out. He wasn’t going down yet! He was going to make them fight for it.

Stone held her breath as the referee came down in for the second count. So close, almost there. Her hand started to rise again, nearly reached the apex, she could feel the wind for it slide along her face, and....

John kicked out. "Fuck!"

She slid off him and pounded her fist into the canvas as the frustration began to mount. On one hand, she admired his resilience. Fitting for a world champion, of course. On the other hand... "John Mitchel, you are a hard man to save, you know that?"

She sighed and stood up, grabbing John's head as she rose to pull him along for the ride. She brought her arm around his neck and tried to lock him in a standing headlock, setting him up for a nasty fall.

“Cuz you can’t…” John quietly mumbled as Stone climbed off of him. His head was pounding, and he was sure he was in for more of it. He couldn’t loose yet. As much as he would consider Stone someone worthy to loose to, he knew that if he could hold his own for a while, and especially if they gang up on him, he could win in spirit.

He took a second to catch his breath, but he didn’t have long. Suddenly, he found himself being grasped in a headlock. He reacted on instinct. As she bent close to him, he swung his fist out sloppily and fired a quick shot to her stomach. A lot of strength, but poor form. It didn’t matter this close, though.

And that was how Stone learned that John Mitchel had a punch like a fucking battering ram.

Oh, she'd suspected that before he even hit her, but when he landed that blow, she was able to confirm it with extreme veracity. It crashed into her stomach, fast and hard, folding her in half as she stumbled back with her mouth wide open. It wasn't just the power, but the way he caught her off guard, and she found herself stunned, so much so that she forgot her position in the ring.

But Mako didn't forget. The moment she was close enough, she slapped Stone on the back of the shoulder, tagging in. "My turn."

She climbed up the turnbuckle behind Stone, perched on the top, and leaped over her fellow Valkyrie's spiky head, flying towards John with a missle dropkick aimed right at his chest. A little dynamic entry to get them started off, and to help him get used to the feel of her boot digging into his skin. There'd be a lot of that.