Honor and Honour

Styx had just seen Odessa fight, so she felt like she had a good understanding of what she was working. What was more, she'd wagered that the black beauty had been weakened more from the tag match, especially since she'd been the one who most recently fought in it. From the looks of things, she was right on both counts, but not right enough that it would make a fucking difference. Odessa still had enough energy in the tank to be a major pain in the ass.

Odessa was fast enough on her feet to dodge the chair and bring the fight to Styx, and she was hard enough to force the bitter brawler back, all the way back, until her body slammed hard into the wall with an impact fierce enough to make the plaster crack behind them. The lights flickered about them as the battle raged, and Styx's face seemed to grow more contorted with rage after every flash.

"You're fucking dead, you-" She tried to push off, but a blow from Odessa stopped the effort cold, knocking her head to the side and stunning her for a golden second. Part of it was just leftover damage from the match, but that wasn't the whole story. No, Odessa was just good. Under her lush body, when you took away Odessa scrumptuous breasts and fulsome ass, the two of them probably weren't shaped all that differently. That thought just pissed Styx off even more.

Odessa managed to sidestep the chair, the piece of furniture bouncing just past her. She then launched her body forward, using her strong but voluptuous figure to flatten Styx against the wall. She smashed herself into the hard body of her erstwhile tag team partner, her ample assets squashing against Styx's torso and pushing her hard into the wall. The plaster crackled as pressure was applied. Odessa wondered what it would take to make it cave in.

Styx started to say something, but Odessa cut her off with a well-timed hook to her face. The barbarian woman was silenced for the moment, and Odessa was able to do with her whatever she wanted, as Styx remained pressed up against the wall, stunned.

"You didn't think you were going to beat me up without my fighting back, did you? Come now, River...you should know better than that," Odessa would taunt.

She would bring a knee up now, hard, trying to slam it right into Styx's gut. Then, she would grab Styx by her head and, with a grunt of effort, try to throw and flip the brutish woman forward onto the tiled dressing room floor.

It was a little hard to think at the moment, what with the way Styx's brain cells were scrambled from Odessa's massive blow, but she had enough wherewithall to put together a few coherent thoughts. One of the main ones was dedicated to marveling at just how hard of a blow Odessa had. She'd been hit harder, but not by many, and she was having trouble recalling the instances. Memory loss, probably.

She could also put together enough of a thought to realize that this wasn't going quite as she'd planned it, and that she needed to turn things around before this became the exact opposite of the beatdown she'd envisioned. Unfortunately, just wanting things to be different did not, in fact, make them any different. She was still getting thrashed.

Styx wasn't sure which was worse: Odessa's playful taunts or the attack that followed them. Both made her want to retch, as the blow crashed into her stomach and she was sent tumbling on the floor, rolling about until she crashed in the dresser. Cosmetics and makeup tumbled over and fell right on top of her - vaseline, hair gel, grease - but the most interesting thing was the face powder. That gave her ideas.

She was hurting, that was no lie, but she oversold the pain as she slowly started to maker way up. Styx grabbed the dresser with one hand for support, but the other hand clasped the powder tight to her stomach, hiding it from Odessa's view as she rose with her back to the black beauty. "You call this fighting back?" She snorted and spat off to the side. "These are love taps. Harder, bitch."

Odessa slammed her knee into Styx's stomach, doubling her over, then grabbed the brutish woman, turned around, and tossed her hard into the middle of the room. Styx went flying forward, tumbling far enough that she actually crashed into the table on the far side of the room. Makeup and other cosmetics rained down on top of her, marking her head and torso with little splotches of color or shine. Odessa snorted with amusement as she walked forward, approaching Styx once again.

Styx seemed to be hurting quite a lot now. She was clutching at her stomach, and was barely able to pull herself up onto her feet. Odessa put her hands on her hips as she surveyed her opponent, not liking what she saw. "Why start the fight if you don't have the energy to keep it going, darling? This fight means nothing. You could have just waited until we met in the ring."

Styx wasn't done, though. She wanted Odessa to hit her harder. Well, the ebony beauty would be happy to oblige. She would take another couple of long strides forward, lift up her hands, clasp them together, and then try to bring them down hard on her opponent's back like a hammer.

Styx was having a slow time getting back up to her feet, but the joke Odessa told wasn't helping. At least, Styx thought she was telling a joke. That was the only way she could logically interpret the words that came out of this pretender's mouth. The only other explanation was that she was really, truly, honestly just that naive about the way this process was supposed to be going down.

"You don't get it, sugartits." Styx chuckled, a low rumbling cackle, and looked over her shoulder to see Odessa approach from the corner of her eye. "Our match started the second the last one ended."

She spun around as Odessa was coming in for the coup de grace, throwing the power in her face for a pale white contrast to her ebony skin. She charged forward in the same motion and tried to tackle Odessa to the floor, wanting to get her down so she could give her fellow aspiring hardcore wrestler a little helpful demonstration on how these matches were supposed to work.

Odessa wasn't sure if Styx was speaking figuratively or literally here. Surely this brawl did not count for anything, really. They were going to contest a real contendership match against each other at some point, but this could hardly count for that. Still, the ebony beauty was perplexed. If Styx really wanted to have their real fight here and now, she was stupid.

"I'll be more than happy to destroy you right now, River, but I hardly see how what happens here and now counts for anything," Odessa would reply as she approached her opponent. "As much as you don't like to admit it, even the hardcore division has certain rules and regulations that inevitably must be followed."

Odessa moved in close, but before she could hit her foe again, Styx whipped around and tossed a fine white powder into Odessa's face. The ebony beauty cried out in surprise, and fell back, coughing and gasping. She was powerless to stop Styx as she rushed forward and slammed into Odessa, tackling the ebony beauty to the cold tile floor. Odessa pawed at her eyes, letting the lids flutter, trying to clear them.

"Khh..."

The moment Odessa was down, Styx scrambled on top of her like a wild animal, straddling her curvaceous waist and making sure to drop all of her considerable weight right on top of her. Below her, Odessa was a powerful but powdered, vulnerable, coughing mess, and a wealth of opportunities were just waiting to be taken advantage of.

Styx reached down and wrapped her hand around Odessa's neck, squeezing down hard on her windpipe and leaning in to increase the pressure. "And that's your problem. You think it ends when the bell rings, but it doesn't." She reached in her pocket and slid the brass knuckles around her fingers, getting a tight grip before she brought them out in the light. The only downside here was that Odessa probably wouldn't be able to see them. Styx wouldn't get to see the fear. Yeah, there'll be a match, but if I fuck you up before then? That just makes things easier."

She brought the brass knuckle down and went for a sharp blow into Odessa's side, targeting the rib cage. "Think of it like insurance."

Odessa rubbed angrily at her eyes, clearing out the powder, trying to get as much of it off as possible before she tried opening her watery eyes. Getting any more of the stuff inside her eyelids would just be begging for a much longer period of blindness. She was having trouble as it was. The powder was sticking to her, making it difficult to clear all of it off...and making it easy for Styx to have her way.

Odessa growled frustratedly as Styx taunted her. Though she was a cool and collected woman, she could get flustered, and this sort of blatant foul play was just the sort of thing that got Odessa riled up. She would endure it as best she could, though, while she was sightless. She didn't want to give her new foe the satisfaction. The loud groan that Odessa made when Styx's brass knuckles slammed into her side probably satisfied the brutish woman plenty, however.

"Yyanannugh!" Odessa cried out. She clenched her teeth together and tried to thrash her torso and lower body, hoping to get Styx off. She knew it wouldn't work. She felt a pang in her side, indicative of at least a bad bruise, if not worse. Her hands would continue to wipe at her eyes. She made an effort to open them. She still couldn't see anything through the bleariness and the remaining powder.

Meanwhile, Styx started to choke her. Odessa would bring one hand down to try to pull her foe's hands away from her windpipe, but she knew that right now there was very little she could do to stop the barbarian. This wasn't a good spot for her at all.

Styx loved Odessa's voice. She really did. It wasn't simply the English honey it was slathered in, though that was a large part of it. She'd always wanted to sink her teeth into a British bitch, and this was the perfect opportunity. No, the black beauty had a sensual tone to her words, a sweet pitch that made everything that came out of her lips subtly sexy, even if she didn't mean it to be. Even her screams. Especially her screams.

She let out a contented sigh and eased up on the grip, letting Odessa take in a few precious gulps of air. Styx wanted her 'rival' lucid, just for a moment. "Don't worry, I'm not going to fuck you up too bad. Still want you to come to the match, you know? Need you to help set an example."

She tightened up the choke once again, even harder this time and went back to punching the same spot, making sure to be precise with her punches. Again. And again. And again.

"No more Pokemon casket matches, no more stupid gimmicks." And again. "You, Cecilia, Isabella? Glamor queens?" And again. "Nah, you're done. People like me, Liberty, Kaede, we're real hardcore. And I'll make sure everyone knows what that means."

Styx lips curled into something half between a smile and a snarl, as she went to work on Odessa's ribs with ruthless efficiency. All the while, her hand keep its iron grip, and every gag and sputter that Styx's victim made only seemed to make her crush even harder...

Styx eased up on the pressure, letting Odessa breathe, and the ebony beauty would take the opportunity to refill her lungs and slow down her pounding, thumping heartbeat. She breathed deep and steady, calming herself down, knowing that she needed to have all the strength that she could muster if she wanted to get Styx off of her.

"Nnn...and what kind of example...are you setting, exactly?" Odessa would ask, after Styx had gone on her tirade, decrying "glamor queens" like Odessa and Isabella and Cecilia and talking about ushering in some new age of brutish women. Odessa knew that talking back would probably just make Styx hit her harder, choke her longer, but she wasn't going to lie down and take this.

"Your logic is...full of inconsistencies. Don't forget that I won the match by beating Kaede senseless. Don't forget that Ceci held the title for years and took down plenty of women like you. And between you and me, if you haven't felt her up close and personal...Liberty's only a bath, a little makeup, and a nice dress from being like me." Odessa thought back to her match with Liberty. The woman certainly did have a nice body. She was more like Styx in attitude, but Odessa wouldn't be ashamed to be seen on a date with the champion...provided, of course, that Liberty cleaned up some.

While Odessa was thinking, Styx grabbed her neck hard again, and sent another shot into Odessa's ribs. The ebony beauty groaned, but clenched her teeth and refused to cry out again. As foolish as it was to waste her breath, she did have a little more to say. "And so...what sort of example...a-are you setting again? That you're too afraid...to take me...mmcchgh...in a fair fight?" She murmured a little sound of pain. "Yes, yes...I know there are no rules...in your hardcore world...but even you should see that this is a little cowardly."

Styx's fist hit her ribs again, and this time Odessa would let out a half-choked yelp. She would see how her erstwhile tag team partner responded to what she had had to say...