SD 15: Tension Tag Team Title Match - United Kingdom Elite Vs. the Ishii Siblings

Mariko’s recent match against Divine of the Valkyries was one she’d rather forget if possible. But, the superkick she’d been blasted with in the after match was the first she had even been on either end of in her time in the AFW. That first hand experience had taught her just how effective such a simple move could be, and it almost felt ironic that now she was using it to further her team’s chances of victory today. Nonetheless, the kick struck John right in his chin, and dropped the master of creation. She didn’t know how long he’d be down, but for the moment it was just a worn out Ryan Knight alone against both Ishii siblings.

The odds were definitely Mariko and Yamato’s favor at the moment, and they sought to make the absolute most of it. The younger sibling rolled Mr. Knight forward into a sitting position on the mat right as her brother came sliding in and brought his arm crashing right against his foe’s skull with a huge lariat! Almost immediately red streams began to flow over his handsome face. Ryan was bloodied and out of it, and as Yamato looked over to the United Kingdom Elite’s corner, John didn’t look like he was in much better shape himself. This was it! This was their chance!

“PIN HIM, MARIKO!” Yamato shouted at the top of his lungs while moving back a bit, and Mariko immediately moved in to comply. Swinging a leg over his body, she grabbed his legs with her arms and folded them up while sitting on top his chest in a combination of a schoolgirl and matchbook pin! After the massive impact that had just rocked Ryan, there was no way he was kicking out of such a secure pin! And though she tried not to show her excitement too blatantly, the tired woman’s lips curled into a smile as the ref knelt by them and slapped the mat to start the count.

“ONE...!”

John was waiting, he was biding his time. Mariko most likely had thought she had rendered John out of the equation, but the truth his he was just getting ready. He wasn't going to let someone crack open the head of the man who employed him, and just let them walk away with the gold. No, not in a million years. The artist waited till Mariko thought she had it in the bag, safety was a funny thing.

Meanwhile Ryan's body was operating more or less on it's own right now, with the paragon of Britain out of it for the time being. His hearing was distorted, and blood was trickling down his forehead and getting into his left eye. Was this how it was going to end for Ryan? He couldn't really answer at this point.

When Mariko rolled Ryan into the pin Mr Knight's body was jerking slightly, on reaction to being touched of course considering his job as a wrestler. But it wasn't enough to get himself out the pin, but John was ready to strike. As soon as the ref hit the mat John was out the apron and into the ring, still holding his injured chin. And the artist was fully intending to pay back dividends.

"WANKER!!!!!" John screamed out as he charged into the ring, making to rush right out at Mariko. And then deliver a superkick of his own to her chin, it was perfect. John could deliver a strike to her and save his boss at the same time, moreover the heavy shouting was starting to bring Ryan back to his senses. His teeth gritted as the pain kept itself known within the confines of his head, John knew that it was time to step in. And if he ended up taking the bullet for his boss then so be it, least it would mean a payrise.

Mariko felt Ryan’s body jerk slightly on instinct as she perched herself on top of him and folded him up for the pin. But the slight movement wasn’t nearly enough to unseat the vixen, and the first count went undisturbed. Meanwhile Yamato was practically biting his fingernails in anticipation as he stood leaning against one of the sets of turnbuckles and watched.

“TWO...!”

The second count came, and the hearts of both Ishiis were racing in their chests like olympic sprinters! They were only one second away from becoming champions! But there was one little detail both siblings had neglected: John Carnaby. After the sole of Mariko’s boot had gotten acquainted with his chin, both she and her brother thought the master of creation was down and out. But they were sorely mistaken. And as the ref’s hand started to descend for the third and final count, a shout to the side drew Mariko’s attention.

And as she turned in the direction of it, she was met with Mr. Carnaby’s boot right in her chin. Her head whipped back from the impact, and she was sent tumbling off of Ryan’s toned body, while Yamato’s jaw dropped in sheer horror as the scene unfolded in front of him. How could he have been so foolish as to not see him coming? If only he had, maybe he could’ve stopped John in time, and maybe the Ishiis would be celebrating with those belts right now.

But that wasn’t the case. His-- no, their careless mistake allowed the pin to be broken, and now Mariko seemed to barely even be conscious as she laid there on the mat. “DAMMIT!” Yamato shouted, before roaring out while charging at John in a dead sprint! He attempted to plow right into the master of creation and tackle him right through the ropes to send him outside the ring! He only hoped Mariko could recover in time to finish Ryan off before the opposite could happen...

John had a look of fury on his face, it was something that wasn't really seen on the features of the artist. Mr Carnaby had been known as a fine young man, and a gentleman at that. Who else could be in the employ of a person like Ryan Knight after all? But the artist had to admit, smacking Mariko like that felt good. Quite good, cathartic and not to mention that John had just saved Mr Knight from a defeat.

But still Yamato had ploughed into the artist, John had been so focused on attacking Mariko that he'd forgotten about the other one. But still as John was ploughed by Yamato into the ropes the artist clung right to his opponent, and made sure that if he was going down. Then he was going to make damm sure he dragged Yamato down with him.

Meanwhile Lucy had been watching the match and was understandably concerned for her Brother's welfare, she had left the VIP booth and was pretty much leaping down the steps past all the fans to the front rails. "R-RYANN!!!!!!!" Lucy was screaming at the top of her lungs.

As John fell out the ring with Yamato in tow Ryan was beginning to wake up, one hand over his head injury. Mr Knight was getting back to his knees, between John and Lucy's shouting Ryan had managed to get back into this. And it seemed that the artist had just left the paragon of Britain with a beautiful little present, perhaps victory could be given to the United Kingdom Elite here and now!

Ryan proceeded to get up and then forced his battered body to move close to Mariko, grabbing her leg and proceeding to drag her to the centre of the ring. Whereupon he'd try to flip her onto her belly, and then Ryan would attempt to cinch in the Knightmare. His signature leg slicer submission, the paragon of Britain would insert his leg around Mariko's. And the pressure that Ryan would cause when he cranked Mariko's leg back would ensue tremendous pain around her fulcrum, in some parts of the world this move was actually banned.

Yamato collided into Mr. Carnaby and sent the master of creation through the ropes for a tumble outside the ring, and was unfortunately pulled right along for the ride. Both men collapsed on the floor outside the ring, leaving only the bloodied paragon of Britain and the heavily dazed Japanese vixen together inside the ring. It was a chaotic scene to say the least, and the crowd was on their feet, with dueling chants for both teams ringing out loudly through the packed arena!

But all the shouts almost sounded distant to Mariko as she started to sit back up, and the arena seemed to be spinning slowly around her. Even Lucy’s scream was barely even audible to her ears. All she knew was she was tired, her body hurt, and she was pretty sure the match was still going on. She hadn’t heard a bell, anyway, so she inferred John’s interference had stopped her from pinning Ryan just at the last possible moment.

While she was trying to get her wits together, Mr. Knight was also pulling himself up. And by the time she noticed his figure moving toward her, Ryan had already grabbed a hold of her leg. Instinct kicked in and Mariko instantly started to kick and writhe in an attempt to escape his grip. “Let go!” she shouted out, but her efforts were all in vain. And within moments, she was flipped onto her stomach, and felt an extreme pain beginning to surge all through her leg as Ryan locked in his deadly hold, the Knightmare!

“AAAGGH!” Mariko screamed out, her body instantly flailing around like a fish out of water as her leg was contorted and tortured. She tried to scramble toward the ropes, but with the little strength she had left in her body, there was no way she’d be dragging the much heavier man anywhere. No ropes to save her this time. She was stuck. And though she was fortunate her legs hadn’t been targeted heavily before this, she could tell any lost time in that regard was going to be made up very quickly if she didn’t find a way out.

Her only hope came in the form of a young man in yellow and black trunks outside the ring, who started to pull himself up only to see his sister in serious pain in the ring. “MARIKO!” He shouted out, before attempting to pull himself up so he could climb into the ring and save her. “Y-Yamato...!” she shouted back weakly desperately reaching a hand out toward him, almost begging him to save her from this agony. He was the only thing that kept her holding on, enduring the intense pain Ryan was putting her through. She only hoped he could make it to her in time.

Lucy was biting her nails as she watched from the front row, she knew she couldn't get involved otherwise the match could end in a DQ for Ryan and John. John had been sent flying right through the ropes, his whole upper body was screaming in pain. And it looked like it'd been lashed over and over again, the artist was lying on his side. Keeping a watch on what Yamato was doing, and when it looked like he was going to try and get into the ring....John knew he had to try and delay him however he could.

With that in mind John hoped to move forward and grab to Yamato's right leg, to cling and stop him with desperation as his fuel. The artist hadn't been so knackered in his life, but John knew that victory was so close. Based on Mariko's reaction.....John was able to see that she was locked into the Knightmare.

"Ngh....not l-letting you!!!!" John breathed out as he tried to keep Yamato there as long as he could, each second was pure gold right now.

And speaking of which Mr Knight had the Knightmare cinched in as best he could, that was to say very skilfully. Ryan turned his gaze to see that John was attempting to slow down Mariko's Brother, if Mariko would just tap out. Mr Knight took a deep breath and was trying to force his weight down, to make each inch Mariko took slower than she'd probably like.

"Hrgnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!" Ryan grunted out, blood seeping down the side of his head. He looked like a bit of a madman to be honest, but the paragon of Britain frankly didn't care right now about how he looked. Victory was so, so close for the United Kingdom Elite......

Yamato knew his sister was in absolute agony. And like any good brother, his immediate instinct was to hurry to her rescue. Regardless of whether or not she had the ability to escape the hold herself or not, he couldn’t just sit by and watch her endure so much pain. However, John became a big obstacle for him, clinging onto the older Ishii sibling’s leg right as he started to climb onto the apron. “Ugh! Let go, dammit!” Yamato barked at him, furiously kicking with his legs in an attempt to shake Mr. Carnaby off of him.

But, every second he spent trying to fend off John, Mariko’s leg was continuing to be tortured in the clutches of Britain’s paragon, causing her to scream out in agony. And as she saw Yamato being restrained outside the ring, her hope almost visibly drained right out of her body. There was no getting to the ropes, and it seemed the one person she could most trust to come to her aid when things seemingly couldn’t get worse wasn’t going to be able to save her. At least, not any time soon.

“JUST HOLD ON!” Yamato shouted out, as if he knew exactly what was going through her mind. But as much as she wanted to endure, to fight through this intense pain, there was only so much she could take. And John was holding Yamato in place right in front of her, as if dangling her only chance of freedom right in front of her, yet keeping it just out of reach. But perhaps the worst part was that she was trying so hard not to let Yamato down, knowing her efforts were only prolonging her pain.

Yamato was the only one who had encouraged Mariko to pursue this career. Without him, pro wrestling would never have been more than a dream. He had stood by and supported her every step of the way, and together they had shocked the world by working their way to this title match. There were very few people whose opinions about her Mariko even remotely cared about, but Yamato was right at the top of the list. The thought of letting him of all people down was simply unbearable. But then again, so was the pain being inflicted by Ryan’s hold.

“G-gomen...” she said, hardly any sound coming from her lips as they moved. She buried her face onto the mat to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. One arm moved to cradle her head, while the hand of the other finally began tapping out on the mat.

Once Mariko tapped on the mat the bell had sounded, but it could hardly be heard upon the loud roars of the crowd. And as well as the new theme song of the United Kingdom Elite, Imperial Code II had begun blaring over the speakers. Lucy was jumping up and down on her feet, her arms flying about in the air. She then lept over the guard rail, nearly tripping over her feet as Ms Grange entered the outside of the ring.

Lucy lept onto John and gave him a hug, the artist winced. He was thankful that the match had been brought to a conclusion here, but still Lucy was just making his injuries worse at this point. Still though Mr Carnaby knew that the United Kingdom Elite had won the day, it had been a hard and long fought battle. But John had expected no less, and was truth be told quite honoured to have been a part of this tournament. A year ago if someone told him this was where he'd be, the artist might have laughed at them. Now though, there was no denying it. John was a champion at this point onwards.

Lucy then helped the artist get to his feet, sticking his arm over her neck to help him enter the ring. Ryan had quickly released Mariko's leg, and had fallen to his side. Ryan's breathing was heavy at this point, every inch of his body was begging for a nice hot shower. And some stiches in the side of his head as well, he then moved his body so that he now gazed up at the lights.

The paragon of Britain turned his head to see John and his adopted Sister entering the ring, Ryan gave a large grin. It was a rare sight seeing that on Ryan's face in the wrestling ring, but now the battle was over. In fact he could hear someone shouting " YOUR WINNERS!!! AND THE NEW TENSION TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!!!! RYAN KNIGHT AND JOHN CARNABY!!!!!!"

"RYAN! You did it! You dancer!" Lucy said as she jumped up and down like a little kid, she was a bit miffed of course that it hadn't been her fighting alongside her Brother. But she was based in friction and thus barred from the tournament, still though this was something that was bloody incredible.

"Great work boss. That was just....wow." John said as he ran a hand through his hair, the artist was having a hard time staying calm here. Why his legs were actually shaking with joy.

Mr Knight smiled and then slowly got to his knees, the ref girl had the two title belts ready to hand to both Ryan and John. "John my friend, we did it. I am pleased to have had you fighting by my side in this juncture." this was a magnificent occasion. It had been the first real title that both Ryan and John ever had, and they were not to represent the tag team division in Tension.

John was about to hold the title belt that the ref offered, however Mr Knight raised a hand to tell the artist to refrain from doing so just yet. Now that the battle was over Ryan wanted to make sure that his opponents were okay, Lucy spoke to him with "Ryan c'mon, we need to get you checked out. Your bleeding all over the place." a hint of concern in her voice.

The paragon of Britain shook his head slightly before saying "Ms Mariko are you okay? You and your Brother have given a spectacular performance tonight, no one can ever denounce that." it had been one of the best matches that Ryan had in his career thus far. John gave a nod to the Ishii siblings, now the match was over it was time to give pats on the back all round.

Seeing the obvious torment in Mariko’s eyes, he felt his heart sink when she averted her gaze and tapped out. The bell rang and the crowd exploded with thunderous cheers and applause. And as soon as John let go of him, Yamato immediately hurried into the ring as fast as he could and went right to Mariko’s side, kneeling by his sister to check on her. “Mariko! Are you alright?”

The roar crowd completely drowned out the woman’s sobs, only the slight shifting of her body as she curled up on the mat and held her wounded leg making them known. “Gomen, Yamato-kun...” she weakly choked out. “I tried... I tried as hard as I could. I.. I just couldn’t...” It hurt so much knowing Yamato had been the reason they even began chasing success as professional wrestlers, only for her to surrender their biggest opportunity right in front of him. She’d likely saved herself from a potentially career-threatening injury by tapping out, but right now she felt like that would’ve paled in comparison to what she felt right now.

But being the ever supportive big brother he was, Yamato pulled Mariko up to her knees and into a tight hug. “Come on now, don’t beat yourself up. We both gave it our best shot. We’ll just have to work harder and make sure we do even better next time, right?” he said. And after a few seconds, Mariko gave a small nod. “Yeah...”

Giving a faint chuckle, Yamato lightly pat his sister on the back. “Good. Now dry those tears, and lets get out of here.” Lips finally turning back to a faint smile, Mariko moved her hand over her eyes to brush away the tears. “Sounds wonderful, Yamato-kun.” she replied. Yamato then moved to drape Mariko’s arm over his shoulder before slowly helping her to a standing position, though at the moment she could hardly put any weight on the leg Ryan had tortured with his hold.

Just as they started to move toward the ropes, however, they heard Ryan’s voice calling out to them. And the words of Britain’s paragon did manage to provide a small sense of comfort to Mariko. Anyone that had watched either Mariko or Yamato’s matches before now would be hard pressed to find a single bout of theirs that had been as good as this one. Both teams had truly given an effort worthy of a championship bout.

After a brief nod from Mariko to Yamato, the older Ishii sibling turned them around to face the new champions. And after Yamato moved them closer to the victors, Mariko briefly glanced at the belts in the referee’s clutches, before chuckling and grinning slightly at the bloody Mr. Knight. “Keep those belts nice and warm for us, tiger. We’ll be coming for those again someday.” she said, extending her free hand toward Ryan for a handshake. “Heh. Yeah, what she said.” Yamato added, offering his hand to John for a handshake as well.

John smiled and eagerly shook Yamato's hand, it had been a hard fought and in Ryan's case brutal battle. Now though that the winners had been decided it was time to let bygones be bygones, Mr Knight had a saying "What happens in the match stays in the match." John knew that there were people like the Valkyries who wouldn't abide by that. John thought "Fuck em." the artist knew at least here everyone walked away alright. Battered of course but alright, or at least would be after an ice pack and a good night's rest. Mr Carnaby was hoping that Lia might have been watching, John would need to spoil her rotten to celebrate.

Mr Knight also shook Mariko's hand, although the pain coursing through his head made his face wince. The rush of adrenaline was starting to fade, and Ryan was thinking that it's a bit of a miracle that he's still standing at this point. The wound would need seeing to of course, a few stiches but nothing more.

"Ngh, well I'm not sure we'll be the ones holding them by then. But who knows, hopefully no one will get the crimson mask donned the next time." Ryan muttered, giving a small smirk. Lucy meanwhile was jumping up and down in joy, confetti was flying all over the place to celebrate the winners of the tournament.

With that in mind Ryan and John took the title belts from the ref girl, and nodded to each other. They then stood up to the turnbuckles and lifted them high above their heads, the paragon of Britain shouted to John "Mr Carnaby, consider your paycheck doubled."

John couldn't help but give an even larger grin at that, the two basked in the glory of the crowd for a few more seconds. Before Mr Knight motioned to the artist that they should be going now, once the pair got off the corners Ryan said "Right then, better get myself checked up on. Then it's red wine after that. Then I'm off to Russia down the week, see you guys around." to the Ishii siblings.

The artist had grabbed the shirt and coats of both him and Ryan, nodding to Yamato and Mariko before saying "Cheerio!" sliding out the ring soon thereafter. Confetti had pretty much covered the entire ring and the outside of it at this point, it was of course to mark the important occasion.

Lucy was exiting soon thereafter giving a smile to Ryan and John's opponents, with that the United Kingdom Elite began making their way up the entrance ramp. It had been a long night, but right now they needed to get themselves checked up on. They couldn't defend their titles without making sure they were 100% fine of course.

However before they exited the arena Ryan and John turned around, to wave to all the crowd and the Ishii siblings before bidding them all farewell.