Tag Elimination: The Valkyries Vs. Blaise Cameron, Amy Poford & Mariko Ishii

Even over the crowd's random, blitherign noises, she could make out the familiar sound of Blaise's voice, cheering Mariko on, telling her she can survive. He was inspired. She couldn't blame him. Mariko was amazingly resilent and driven, and she was almost tempted to chear her on herself, even though she was the one doing the damage. But as she slammed the relentless hometown girl down again and got another kickout for her troubles, she emptied herself of remorse. Mariko was going to be pinned, and her powerbomb was going to do the job, That was all there was to it.

"Stay."

Up she went again, raising Mariko to full height and keeping her stalled, readying all her muscles for the resounding plunge.

"Down!"

And down she went, only this time Stone didn't just drop Mariko. She kicked out her legs, fell down straight on her butt, and hammered her into the floor with a sitout variation of the powerbomb, putting all of her strength, force and rage into one, final, climatic impact. Just like the last two times, she held on after and secured the pin, holding her breath until the referee's count was finished.

"1...!"

For a third time Mariko’s body was scooped up and lifted high into the air up on Stone’s shoulders. But this time, there was no resistance on her part. No punches, no squirming for freedom. It wasn’t that she’d given up, nor that she was eager for more punishment. She just didn’t have the energy to move anything on her own, and was almost completely limp as she sat there on her foe’s shoulders. And then...

BOOM!!!!!

Mariko was brought crashing violently into the mat for a third time. And once again, the crowd was on its collective feet roaring in support of Mariko, practically begging her to kick out of the pin yet again!

“2...!”

But despite their best efforts to rally Mariko back into this, it was all for naught. She’d fought with every last ounce of strength in her body to get payback for what had been done to Yamato. But now, the tank was completely empty, and she was so heavily dazed she didn’t even hear any of the ref’s counts. Including...

“3!”

The ref motioned toward the announcers’ table to signal that the second elimination of the bout had been made. And for the second straight pay-per-view event, Mariko had fought for her brother’s sake and come up short. But this time, her defeat didn’t mean the end of the match. Amy and Blaise were still fresh and ready to go, and now on an even playing field. This war was far from over. And though Mariko wouldn’t like the idea of having to put all her hope and faith into other people, if her teammates could pull it off, then her efforts will have actually meant something this time around. Both for her team and her brother.

Mariko fought like a woman possessed; at some point during Divine’s punishment, Amy started to wonder if Amy and Blaise would get a chance to fight at all.

But that worry didn’t stop Amy from cheering Mariko while she worked. And work she did; Mariko took Divine apart with a grim efficiency, eventually dragging the submission out of her opponent with a camel clutch. When Mariko continued her hold after the tap, though, Amy was torn. On the one hand, if someone says that they don’t want to play any more, then the match is over, and she should be let go. On the other, Mariko wasn’t here to fight a match- not really. Every move she made regarding the Valkyries- from her initial refusal to join up with Blaise and Amy, to her eventual reversal in position, to the ferocity she fought with now- were all indelibly sourced from her love for her brother. So no, she wasn’t wrestling in a match tonight; she was a rampaging mama bear, and Amy could only imagine how good every unit of pain she inflicted must have felt. Amy found herself silently hoping that Divine’s back would keep her from a proper night’s sleep for a week.

Then Stone entered the ring and immediately reminded everyone that this wasn’t an anime, and that surfeit of emotion wouldn’t magically empower a body to overcome pure brawn. The ring shook with every blow, with every impact. Mariko fought for far longer than anyone expected, and probably for far longer than she should have, but, in the end, Stone took her down with a trio of bodily slams, executed as easily as a nurse lifting a baby.

Amy fell quiet when the count reached three and the bell sounded for Mariko’s elimination. Just like that, their lead was cut short. Stone occupied the center of the ring like a sentinel, ire up, waiting, watching; ready, powerful, dangerous. Blaise had (virtually) beaten her twice; Stone could probably lift Amy with one arm on accident. It was obvious which of the two of them should fight next.

Amy turned to Blaise. “Dibs.”

Before Blaise could protest, Amy was already ducking through the ropes. Mariko was led to a chair by the announcer’s table where she was asked if she would like to be taken backstage, leaving Stone and Amy alone together in the ring. A smile fought its way onto Amy’s lips. Maybe it was just the ring lights, but Amy was starting to feel warm.

Amy raised a cordial arm. “Hey.” Then the arm came down, and she took a bouncing, mobile ready stance. Go go go go go go...

Stone had to admit, there was a small part of her that thought that, maybe, Mariko would somehow kick out after the last pin attempt. It would be crazy if she did, of course, but this was already turning into a crazy sort of match. Stone wasn't sure if she had the wherewithall to kick out of two powerbombs in a row, but this woman who was half her size had the gumption to pull it off. Why not three? Mariko was like a female, Japanese Terminator.

Fortunately for Stone's sanity, Mariko turned out to be, in fact, a human being with normal limits on what her body was capable of withstanding, and it looked like she'd reached them. "One down." Stone muttered as the fiesty femme fatale made her way out of the ring.

Stone was a little tired from the exertion, but since she hadn't taken any real damage, she was still well into fighting shape. More than enough to take on whoever was coming her way next. The only question was who that lucky person would be. She was betting on it being Blaise, given their history. She guessed wrong.

Stone stared at Amy for a moment as the referee gave them the signal to wrestle. A little surprising. She and Amy didn't have quite that much bad blood - in fact, Stone respected the little blonde quite a bit. She was short, but scrappy and ferocious, with a clear drive that mirrored anything Mako had. In another time, in another place, she could've seen them as good friends.

Shame, really.

"Hey." She put on a quick smirk, then charged towards Amy at full tilt, crossing the ring with bold strides. She brought her arm up and to the side, then swung it at her nimble opponent the moment she was close enough, trying to hit her with a lariat to the face.

From standing, Stone could cover the entire ring, corner to corner, in about a second. Scary.

It was with maybe an inch to spare that Amy ducked under Stone’s club-like arm. As she felt the whoosh of air animate loose strands of her hair, Amy took a step forward and twisted at the hip, launching an improbable hook into Stone’s passing obliques.

Then she stumbled the rest of the way forward. After taking a second to verify that, yes, her head was still affixed to the rest of her body, she turned around, raised her arms again, and resumed her bouncing. Stone was here to fight, not to waste breath on idle trash talk, and Amy appreciated that. So while it might have seemed that little had changed in that exchange- Stone and Amy had merely switched positions- a careful observer might have picked up on the slight widening of Amy’s smile.

Stone’s training and conditioning meant that she was fast for her size able to move with an agility and grace that most women in her weight class weren't capable of. But Amy was fast for anyone’s size. So, when she ducked under Stone’s blow, the former soldier wasn't surprised. And when she clipped her in the side with a snapping hook, that wasn't a surprise, either.

But just because Stone saw it coming didn't mean she wasn't aggravated by it, as anyone could guess by her gruff grunt and narrowed eyes. Amy’s blow hurt, but not enough to slow her down by any real degree, and the response was imminent and immediate.

Stone kept running and bounced off the ropes, gaining even more momentum as she stomped around the ring. She came running back towards Amy and leaped toward her with a raised knee, trying to plant it right in the middle of the pint-sized brawler’s chest.

With a running start, Stone could cross the whole ring in all of like three steps. Terrifying.

And, this time, unexpected. A clean dodge, a clean hit; Amy thought that that was the end of that sentence. But Stone, atop everything else, turned out to be adaptable, too. So, when Amy turned around, where Amy expected to find a confused and sitting target, she was met with a charging blonde bull.

"Shiiiii-" No time to dodge. Amy reacted with an urgent backpedal, her hands instinctively coming up in a shield about her face. When Stone started to lift her knee, though, they shuttled rapidly south, forming a stiff net between her chest and what would surely have been a game-ending strike.

But just because she blocked the hammer from landing on target didn't mean that 200 pounds of flying woman simply disappeared. Even accounting for Amy's retreat, there was plenty of momentum behind the blow, and all of that force carried into Amy's hands, into Amy's chest, then straight on through. Amy flew backward, arms flailing, until she caught herself on the ropes behind her, rattled but standing, and her eyes fixed on her opponent.

The crowd was coming alive again, rejuvenated now that Amy was in the fray and the chances seemed to be at least evening. Stone was a big, terrifying, scary woman, but her opponent had heart and stamina, and everyone could respect that.

Everyone except for Mako, anyway. ”Keep at her!” Mako barked towards Stone, shrieking from across the ring. Stone recognized a slight, barely noticeable hint of desperation in her leader’s voice, and she knew exactly where it was coming from - though they were still in good standing, it was looking far closer than the Valkyries had planned. ”Knock that bitch flat!”

Stone didn’t need the advice to tell her how to fight, but she used it anyway and continued to advance, even after Amy was knocked into the ropes. She skipped forward and brought her foot up, looking to hit Amy with the same move she’d used to knock Mariko senseless only a minute ago - the Yakuza Kick. A boot to the face delivered with high velocity and impact, guaranteed to knock her out of the ring if it connected.

Amy got to recover on the ropes for no time at all before she was forced to spring back to life, else risk getting blown out of the ring, and probably deep into the audience besides. Amy didn’t know how it would happen; when Stone's body continued to lumber toward hers, her body undraped her arms from the ropes and spun away toward the corner before she could find out.

This was the first time Stone had ever directly engaged Amy, but all the same, she’d seen her fight enough to get the gist of her strategy - speed, agility, and a little bit of luck. As long as Stone kept up the pressure and made sure to not give Amy breathing room, she was confident about her chances.

That was all contingent on Amy actually being there to take her attacks, though, which she turned out not to be at the worst possible time. Without a target to crash into, Stone’s foot hit the rope and bounced off, making her fall over and flop down hard on her back with an undignified yelp. It didn't hurt all that much, but the sudden shift left her a bit whoozy.