Amy Poford vs. Makoto Takeda - 24/7 at the 7-Eleven

Mako had started to get up under her own power, and she was reasonably sure she could have made it, too. Didn't matter. Amy was there to help. Sort of.

She got Mako standing again, but only so she could pull her into a bearhug. A bearhug. Did not see that one coming, especially from a girl who was only a scant inch or two taller. That wasn't to say it was ineffective, of course. Her back was still hurting from getting rammed and slammed against just about everyting in the store. But it was an akward sort of move, and it didn't help that the pint-sized pugilists had bodies that linked up quite well. Even through the leather, Mako had to admit she was enjoying the close contact more than she would've ever let Amy know. She never accussed the girl of being ugly...

Of course, that wasn't meant to last, and any pleasure she got out of the experience was quickly replaced by abject pain, as Amy used her back as a battering ram and sent the two of them crashing into a nearby shelf. Maybe it was the momentum, maybe it was just weakened from some damage they'd done earlier, maybe 7-Eleven just made cheap-ass shelves...whatever the case was, the result was clear. When they crashed into it, they sent the damn thing tumbling

The Valkyries cheered as they came crashing down, sending Cheetohs and assorted candies flying away from the impact zone. Mako tumbled hard, ass-over-teakettle, and wound up coming to a harsh rest on her chest. Her back was screaming, nothing but a big wall of agony all the way down. But she could stand...just barely.

She didn't know what her next move would be, couldn't even imagine what she could do to get back in, but it turned out to be a moot point. Mako saw the red and blue flash from the corner of her eyes, heard her Valkyries start to hiss and curse, and she already knew what that meant.

WHOOP! WHOOP!

That's the sound of the police.

The impact was jarring, even though it was Mako’s body that took the brunt of the hit. The shelf teetered with their collision. It paused for what seemed an eternity on an edge, as if unsure how to proceed, before toppling over a second later. The crash reverberated through the store, shaking bottles and teeth and every bone in Amy’s battered body. It hurt, but Amy took it as a good sign, since it probably hurt Mako even more.

Amy extricated herself from Mako and rolled over onto her back, panting, letting her aches wash over her. Mako was the worst, just an awful human being, but Amy couldn’t deny that this was a good fight. Maybe not her favorite, but definitely close. She gingerly slid off of the metal shelf and sat up to take a look around the store. It looked like a hurricane had swept through the room. Candy and chips were everywhere- on the ground, on the clothes and hair of the observers, even up on the light fixtures, somehow- the bags of which had ripped open due to repeated molestation by shuffling feet. Shattered shards of metal from the shelf littered the floor, wet with the chunky innards of various mangled cans as well as the muddy-looking water from Mako’s earlier mop attack. And of course, tiny drips of blood- oh. Her blood; her arm caught on a hook on its way down, it looked like. Whatever. The point was that the once-neat little convenience store was in a state of utter chaos.

It was... beautiful. She did this, and there was a hot but unexpected swelling of pride in her chest. And... contentedness? Maybe not quite, but this was... this was fun.

Amy laughed. Then she sighed.

“Man,” she began in a strained voice. Amy’s head was pounding, but she slowly made her way to her feet. “If you weren’t such a rancid little cunt, we could’ve been friends, and we could have done this every day- every day! I don’t know what sort of sick pleasure you get out of forcing some weenie to kiss you, but if you tell me that it’s better than this, you’re a fucking liar.” She moved over to Mako’s prone body, ready to secure the pin, more than slightly bitter. “What a fucking waste.”

When Mako got to her feet, though, Amy just stepped back from the pin attempt and nodded. Mako was tough, tougher than her, maybe. But that was good- when was she going to get to trash a store like this again? Best to savor the fight for as long as she could. Amy opened her mouth, but the chirp of police sirens interrupted whatever it was that she was about to say.

Amy tensed, the fight forgotten. Fuck, I’m gonna get deported. Amy eyes flashed left and right, looking for the nearest exit, before they snagged on the black and white stripes of the ref’s tank top. Oh, right, she was here professionally- the AFW lawyers would shield them. But there was only one AFW rep here; the ref couldn’t possibly field the police officers and call the match at the same time. Time out? Amy didn’t want to lose her momentum, here, but she didn’t see any other way around it.

Unless she could end the match right now.

Mako was practically out on her feet- she had to be. But both fighters were a little woozy, and Amy felt a little like she was moving through jello. Amy approached Mako with slow, deliberate steps. She placed her hands on Mako’s shoulders, leaned her head back, then snapped her head forward. Go down.

Mako listened to Amy's little speech, and she was more than willing to give her a suitable reply, too. But she found herself a wee bit distracted by the approaching police sirens. And, predictably, so did her gang.

The reaction was immediate. Maybe Mako was covered because the AFW had sanctioned this little 'match', but that didn't apply to the rest of the Valkyries in the least, many of whom had outstanding warrants and none of whom wanted to be in the extended company of any authority figures. The girls all began to scatter, running outside, heading to their bikes, revving up and taking off like roaches with the lights on. Nothing unexpected, but the timing of it took her by surprise. A surprise that was lessened when she saw the phone in Divine's hand and the expectant look in her eyes.

A hand on her shoulder diverted attention back towards Amy, and Mako turned back right as a familiar forehead slammed her hard on the nose. There was no more holding back the blood, now - it came gushing out, and the only good thing was that her girls weren't around to watch it.

"Cunt!" Mako fell and fell hard, getting knocked down to one knee as she cradled her face. Whatever response she had in mind to throw back at Amy, it was going to have to wait for another day - she wasn't in much of a talking mood at the moment.

She needed a save. She hated to admit, but it was the truth of the matter. Fortunately, Divine seemed to realize it, too, as she came at Amy from behind and threw a roundhouse kick to her back. "Cutting in!"

All blood smells the same, so it couldn't have been the smell. But somehow Amy could sense, even before she looked down and saw the red trail running from Mako's nostrils, that she'd finally made Mako bleed. Nice.

The police had sent all the girls watching the match scurrying, and the store was eerily quiet now that it was empty; there had been a subtle carpet of muttered conversations and occasional cheering that Amy realized that she missed. Now the whole world consisted of just Amy, Mako, and the ref. And that cashier, probably, but fuck him.

Amy grabbed Mako's hair and prepared a knee. To be honest, she didn't know how to win the match- were pins even allowed? Or submissions?- but she figured that knocking Mako senseless would be a good start.

But when had anything with the Valkyries been that easy? Of course somebody stayed behind, and of course they laid into Amy with a sharp kick to her back before she could deliver the final blow.

Amy stumbled forward past Mako and, in a moment that surely at least some of the audience had been waiting for for the whole match, Amy stepped and slipped on a stray package of Hi-Chews. She fell hard on her chest, air crushed from out of her lungs. Stupid.

She lay there for a moment, seething, but unsurprised. It was the sexy one; the one with the legs. Amy was in better condition than Mako, but Legs was in far better condition than Amy. Amy probably couldn't take both, but she'd at least get Legs to bleed before she went down. Or maybe they'd both be gone by the time she turned around. Amy rolled over onto her back, eyes afire. Que sera, sera.

Mako moved to the side and watched Amy take a hard dive, as Divine saved her at the last second. She wanted to stay and beat the bitch down. She wanted to tear her apart in front of the whole world. She wanted to laugh and laugh while she threw punch after punch into Amy's face and rammed every little taunting words she'd spoken back down her stupid throat.

But the annoying little fact was that she simply didn't have time. The cops were coming, the girls were scattering and she wasn't at all confident about her ability to finish Amy off. With Divine's help they could probably get the job done, but this was getting far too complicated for her tastes.

"You and me aren't done." She snarled Amy's way as Divine tugged on her shoulder, urging her to go. "Not. Fucking. Done."

She grabbed her helmet off the counter and made her way out of the front, hobbling as fast as she could. It was a painful trek with her body aching so much, and riding on a motorcycle like this was the exact last thing she wanted to do, but she'd manage to deal with long enough to find somewhere to rest and make it back to her apartment. From there, she could recuperate, lick her wounds, and start coming up with a new plan. A better plan.

She put on her helmet, threw one last middle finger to Amy and the police, then took off as fast as her crotch rocket would allow.

The ref’s name was Bunko, and this was her worst nightmare.

First of all, she wasn’t even supposed to be here. Not an hour ago, she was sitting in the ref’s lounge, not even in uniform, mind you, waiting to finish her shift. Her senpai had assured her that being on call for 24/7 matches was an easy way to make quick cash, that no one in the league bothered to call on the 24/7 refs, whether it was because their beef couldn’t wait for an official to show up, or because they simply didn’t know about them. So Bunko was doing her hair in preparation for date night with her girlfriend when she got the call. Annoying.

Then she arrives and finds that the wrestlers had decided to duke it out in an unaffiliated convenience store. Great. That was another two forms she had to fill out. She couldn’t even do her job right for all the shit that was flying around- hell if she was going to get hit in the face with a can tonight, not when she had the cash to make it extra special.

And then the cops showed up! Gah! That was another three forms, on top of whatever the police would want from her, plus a conference with a rep from Legal. And fuck me if anyone in that goddamn department knew how to keep their own goddamn appointments.

To top it all off, now there was Cheeto dust in her hair. She fumed. She wasn’t about to go out smelling like atomic cheese. She’d have to cancel her date. Damnit.

After the smaller one had left, the blonde one picked herself up, dusted herself off, and stared out the window, maybe at the cloud of dust the last two fleeing girls made as they zoomed past the police cars, maybe at the policemen milling about in the parking lot, not eager to get this ordeal started. Then she approached Bunko and asked, “What happens now?”

Bunko stared at the ceiling for a moment. Hell if she knew. 24/7 matches were NHB, no-DQ shitshows at the best of times. Since she wasn’t here when the fight had started, no one had bothered to define the venue, which wrestlers tended to disregard anyway. Bunko could rule that the match would continue to time indefinite until one of the win conditions had been satisfied, which hell no. She could also call the game on outside interruption, though the police hadn’t actually ‘physically interrupted’ or made ‘unavoidable intrusions on’ the match yet.

Fuck it. Reffing wasn’t an exact science. Bunko looked at the blonde wrestler.

----------------------------------

The referee took Amy’s hand and raised it. “Winner by forfeit.” She announced with cold efficiency. Then the ref put down her arm and pulled out a phone and stylus. “Your name?” All business. Amy gave her the details, then bit her lip. “Do I have to stick around for…” Amy nodded toward the men in blue finally approaching the door. A longing look briefly crossed the ref’s face, so brief that Amy wasn’t sure if she’d seen a look at all. “No, the company will handle it. Congratulations on your win.” Then the ref turned to receive the newcomers. Awesome. Had to love how professional the AFW refs were.

Amy grabbed her shirt and slipped by the policemen, who would have made to stop her if not for the ref’s interference. She walked out across the parking lot to the sidewalk and took in a deep breath.

That went extremely well for her; Mako was tough, she was quick, but Amy dominated that fight. The Valkyries weren't dangerous unless they were working together, and even that could be countered with equal numbers. Amy rolled a thought around in her head, the beginnings of an idea, but she wanted to run it by someone and talk it out. She'd have to call Blaise.

For now though, she still didn’t know where she was; she ought to have asked somebody inside for directions. She scanned her surroundings… wait. There was a very familiar dome towering over the skyline to the east. Was that... yup. It was the AFW Tension Arena; she wasn’t a mile from a subway station, not fifteen minutes from home. She wasn't lost at all.

Amy smiled. I win.

Winner: Amy Poford by Forfeit