Tension Tag Tourney Round 2! United Kingdom Elite Vs.The Valkyries

Closer. Just a little bit closer. Closer.

Stone crawled on  her belly, trudging, hauling herself forward as the weight bore down on her back. She tried to pull her leg forward and fling Ryan off, and it might have even worked if he'd gone for the two-legged version of the move. But with one leg? And Ryan's size? It wasn't happening. She was screwed.

Her only chance was the rope, and that's what she went for, clawing her way to it, getting close, then reaching out and holding it tight. She clamped down hard on the ropes and gave them a hard shake, breaking the hold.

Ryan released her and Stone latched on to the ropes with both hands, slowly pulling herself up. Far too slowly.

Ryan was hoping to have dragged out the hold as much as he could, milk it for all it was worth. Although Stone had too much grit to quit just because Mr Knight had a good grip on one of her legs and cranked it back as far as it would go. No Ryan had the feeling he'd need a signature move, perhaps he could have attempted the leg slicer submission that he called the Knightmare.

But Stone made it to the ropes, and so with reluctance Ryan released the hold. After all he followed the rules of the ring, Mr Knight turned around and was sizing up Stone. Shaking his limbs lightly to get himself ready for a potential game changer.

It was risky, but the payoff could be worth it. Once Stone got herself up past the top rope Ryan would try to rush forward and attempt to clothesline her, it could perhaps send Stone over the ropes and outside the ring. She could probably see Ryan coming right at her, but Mr Knight was going to try the risk.

If Stone hadn't been so dazed and hurting from the hold, she might've been able to see Ryan coming with the clothesline. It wasn't exactly a subtle move and Ryan hadn't exactly masked his approach, heading towards her like a wayward freight train. But with her legs still aching, that just wasn't in the cards.

She wound up eating every inch of the clothesline, as Ryan plowed into her. That would have been bad enough under normal circumstances, but she was close to the ropes, which meant she was going for a tumble - she fliped back and fell, crashing into a heap outside of the ring while the crowd cheered Ryan on. Her eyes slammed shut from the pain, and she rolled over to her hands and knee while she considered some of the life decisions that lead her to this point.

Mako, on the other hand, saw an opportunity. She dropped down and slink under the apron while everyone seemed focused on the fight, and grabbed hold of the steel chair as she made her way through the darkness. It was a risky move, but if she timed things right...

John was keeping a close watch on things, keeping the bigger picture in mind. It made sense considering that aside from being a wrestler, he was an artist by trade. And his eyes detected Mako slinking from her spot in the corner before, and John's art eyes clocked her going away again. The master of creation knew that she had something bad in mind, and John's guess was that Ryan was the target. With that in mind Mr Carnaby got down from the apron too, and kept a close eye. Ready to move at the earliest chance, just needed a reason for it.

Meanwhile Ryan was liking how he was doing against Stone, the clothesline which took her to the outside was the full stop on the moves that took place here. If Mr Knight had busted out one of his signature moves and then chucked Stone out the ring, he'd have been content to perhaps try a count out victory. But something told the paragon of Britain that Stone wasn't going to take all of this lying down, not while she could keep going.

With that in mind Mr Knight slid out the ring, under the bottom rope. And seeing as how Stone was on her hands and knees, no doubt considering what she had been doing thus far. Ryan would prepare to rain down some forearm shots to her back, it wasn't flashy or anything. But it was what the paragon of Britain was considering.

Mako had planned this out well. As well as she ever planned out anything, at least.

The first step was going to be distracting the referee, and she had that covered with the unseen third member of their wrestling team. Divine had been waiting out in the audience for Mako to pull her little disappearing act, and now it was her turn to contribute. She took a softball out of her pocket, aimed it towards the referee's head, and chucked it into the ring, striking her dead on. She turned around, hurt and confused, and Mako's path was wide open.

She popped out from under the ring apron with the steel chair in hand, coming out just behind Ryan as he worked Stone over. Clear target. Perfect opening. Golden opportunity. Stone was starting to surge her way upwards, weathering every blow. She wouldn't have to endure much longer, though. Fearless leader was coming to save the day.

Mako rushed at Ryan, jumped up, and swung the chair at the back of his head.

John was keeping close watch, just waiting and wanting to be given a reason. He wouldn't have to wait long, as Mako did what the master of creation thought she would, try to sneak up on Ryan with his back turned. And it didn't seem like the ref was noticing, John didn't care right now. He was too busy sprinting towards the three people out of the ring, Mr Carnaby's eyes were wide as saucers. John was focusing on one thing only, getting Makoto Takeda. Make her rue the day she thought he was just some chump that Ryan dragged around.

"Boss watch it!" John screamed out the top of his voice, Ryan instantly lept to the side. And turned his gaze to face Mako, who had just tried to bring a steel chair down onto him. John was rushing right at Mako from behind, wasting no time in wrapping his arms around her waist. To hoist her up and over, with a slam to the floor with a good old fashioned German suplex.

Ryan wasted no time, he quickly grabbed Stone and made to move her back into the ring with him followed suit. John had just bailed Ryan out of a certainly painful situation, victory was near. This was do or die for Britain's paragon, if he could just take Stone down and win....

Mako closed in on Ryan, swung the chair like she'd done a million times before, and the sound of metal crashing into bone rang out through the arena. There was only one slight problem, though. When Mako pulled back, Ryan was standing in the wrong positon, Hell, he was standing, not writhing around on the floor like he should have been in abject agony. No, that would be Stone.

Mako grunted and pulled back, ready to take another swing at Ryan, when she felt a warm pair of arms encircle her waist. Her feet left the ground as she took a flight courtesy of John, and it ended with a crash landing right on the top of her head, coming down hard on the unforgiving floor. Mako flopped over to her chest and grabbed the top of her bleeding skull, hissing through her teeth at the insane pain.

Stone wasn't doing much better on her end, and as she was rolled back into the ring, she realized there wasn't much she could do at the moment. Desperate to buy time for her recovery, she started to crawl towards the rope, trying to get as close as she could in case Ryan did what she thought he was about to do.

John had just saved Ryan from a blindside attack, the master of creation pondered the look on Mako's face as he slammed her down. The master of creation took a look at Mako after he was done with her, that had to hurt. In fact John almost felt a bit bad for battering her like that, key word being almost. Anyone else and the master of creation would have felt some regret at least.

"Woah, look what you went and made me do. Should have stayed where you were...." John muttered to Mako, sitting there for a few seconds before making a break back to his corner. Just because Mako was hit hard didn't mean the match was over, the legal people were still Ryan and Stone.

Speaking of which Ryan had slid back into the ring, there'd be time to celebrate once the match was over and done with. Stone seemed to be clinging to the rope for dear life, and Ryan was going in for the kill. Gritting his teeth and gathering as much strength as he could in his upper body Ryan made to grab the leg that he'd worked on earlier, and try to yank Stone away from the rope to attempt one of his signature moves. The Knightmare, also known as a leg slicer submission where he inserted his leg around Stone's. Ending it at the back of her kneecap, whereupon Ryan could start cranking back on the leg and cause some real pressure on the muscles of Stone's leg.

Even with all the pain and the possible concussion and heavy drumming in her ears and the roar of the crowd, Mako could still make out John's mutterings beside her. She had three words in reply to him.

"Fuck off, dumbass."

She would have loved to flip him off, too, but her hands were too busy trying to nurse her aching skull.

Stone thought she might have a ghost of a chance if she made it to the ropes, but, unfortunately, that was just not happening today. Ryan had other plans, plans that involved locking her into a fierce leg slicer submission. Stone cried out as the crowd reached a crescendo, many of them rising to their feet in anticipation of the climax. As much as she hated to admit, there was a strong chance they'd get what they wanted.

She rolled from side to side, growling and grunting while she beat her fists into the mat, trying to find any relief in the hold and getting none. Every little twist she made seemed to make it worse, and all she succeeded in doing was working up a nice, lathery sweat. It had been a hard fight, she'd given a lot, but there wasn't any escaping this and Mako wasn't coming to the rescue anytime soon.

Stone tapped out.

John wasn't paying any attention to Mako right now, he'd made his point to her with his German suplex. Mako might have been a tough little spitfire, but that move had to hurt even with someone like her. He got the last word it seemed, and as John went back to his corner he had mused that Ryan really attracted odd people. A year ago the artist had no idea he'd be doing any of this, if it weren't for seeing that wrestling match on the plane to Kyoto....

Back in the ring Ryan had secured victory, Stone tapping the mat was heard in his ears. And Mr Knight promptly released the hold on her, Ryan and John won the match. No need to keep the hold on any longer, even more so considering that Mr Knight knew the damage that the Knightmare could cause long term leg damage if kept on. And Stone didn't deserve that in the mind of Britain's paragon, besides now that Mr Knight and his right hand man needed to do something now.....

"Mr Carnaby grab our entrance attire, I will get my rapier and we shall make our escape!" Ryan yelled as the theme song of the United Kingdom Elite was playing, John gave a nod and grabbed their stuff and flung it over his shoulder. Ryan likewise ran over to the glass case where his blade was, wasting no time in getting it open.

With that the pair of them began to sprint up the entrance ramp, Ryan patted John on the back and said "Well done John, I'm proud of you. Consider your paycheck raised."

John gave a smile and a nod to his boss, and his best friend. As John entered the limo to get it started Ryan was about to enter before he shouted at the top of his lungs at the ring.

"EAT OUR DUST VALKYRIES!!!!!" Ryan then got himself in the limo with a laugh, with it driving slowly out of the arena. The United Kingdom Elite had emerged the victors in this battle, and now there was only one more match. The finals of the tension tag tournament!