Lightning Tournament: Round 1: Sion Eltnam Vs. Serina Kashibara

To say Sion was surprised would've been an understatement. After only her first match in the AFW, the Egyptian wrestler found herself involved in an actual tournament. Even now, having taken some time to take it in, Sion still found herself stricken by jitters. Allowing herself a few minutes to work it out, Sion sat there, waiting, trying to calm herself, when she heard the knocking at the door.

Realizing that that was her cue, Sion eased herself up off her bench to find that her legs were having trouble supporting her weight. Holding onto the lockers, Sion forced herself to take one step towards the door, then another. By the fifth step, the Egyptian wrestler felt secure enough to release the lockers, wobbling slightly as she got close to the door. Taking one last deep breath, Sion made her way out onto the stage...

...into the deafening wall of sound that met her. Sion recoiled slightly, shocked by how much louder it seemed than during her debut, before making her way down the ramp, trying to imagine that this was just another match. Trying to focus just on the ring. Annoyingly, her opponent wasn't already waiting for her, leaving the purple-haired wrestler to slide up into the ring on her own and make her way over to her corner, relaxing against her turnbuckle as usual as she waited for her opponent.

Serina was in quite a bad mood, though nowadays it may as well as be her only mood. As it was, her popularity had let her get into another major tournament, so soon after she lost in the Summer Splash one too. Unfortunately, it was pretty much the exact opposite kind of popularity than the one she wanted. The dirty blonde wasn't one to normally care what kind of shit other people thought about her, but the upfront insults calling her 'useless spot filler', 'punching bag', 'jobber', or 'tiny tits' right to her face were not things Serina could ignore (the last one was for a slightly different reason than the rest, but the point still stood). Nobody was taking her seriously anymore, and she was gonna change that.

Given the signal, Serina stepped out onto the stage at the top of the ramp, wearing a black bikini with purple trim; her new standard attire after so many of her schoolgirl outfits got ripped up. The crowd was a mix of both cheers and taunting (albeit most of those cheers were from those who just wanted to see her naked again), but she did her best to ignore them all, marching down towards the ring with a scowl on her face. Climbing up into her corner, she could see the purple-haired girl already waiting for her across the way. Too pissed off to even bother trying to taunt her foe, the dirty blonde just stood there with her arms crossed while shooting a smoldering glare over at Sion

As her opponent finally entered the ring, Sion felt the cheering of the crowd around her fade, just a bit. The smouldering glare, clearly meant to intimidate the Egyptian wrestler, only brought her to realize that she could feel her pulse pounding through every inch of her body, time seeming to slow as everything finally fell into place.

Enemy.

This was just another match, so what was this feeling pounding through her body? The pounding in her head despite the fact that she didn't have a headache, the tension building in her quickly rising until it felt like she would explode if she stayed still for much longer. The tiny voice echoing through her mind, telling her what was at stake here. Sion didn't have any grand expectations of winning the tournament. She'd only just debuted here, and doubtless there were fighters far more skilled than her participating in this tournament.

Foe.

But she wouldn't be knocked out in the first round. Sion absolutely refused to even consider that possibility. If she was going to be involved in this, she at least planned to get somewhere. Maybe she would be knocked out in the next round, maybe she'd make it to the finals. Who knew?

You're in my way.

But it would not be here. This dirty blonde woman, bearing the problems of a slight weight and height advantage, would not be the end of her in this tournament.

Taking one last deep breath to calm herself, Sion eased herself off the padded turnbuckle, stepping in closer to the center of the ring, preparing herself for the match to come as she waited for the bell to ring.

As basically a walking personification of hostility herself, Serina certainly knew it when she saw it. This purple-haired girl gave off that all too familiar air, but the dirty blonde was unfazed. It didn't matter how much you hated the girl opposite you or anything; the only thing that really mattered was who was still standing afterwards. And for once, Serina was going to make damn sure it was her.

As soon as the bell rang, the dirty blonde girl charged right at Sion, opening with a wide clothesline swing of her arm.

Time was already seemingly slowed, every sense focused on her opponent and the dull throbbing pounded through Sion's head, as Serina finally started to move, the purple-head barely realizing that the bell had actually rung.

Moving without thinking much of it, Sion slid inside the range of Serina's clothesline, and used the girl's momentum and outstretched arm to shoulder-throw the dirty-blonde, turning her own height advantage against her.

If she could manage this, Sion would keep her grip on the arm she'd used to shoulder-throw Serina and try to lock in an armbar, intending to try and take initiative right from the get-go.

Serina was surprised as Sion stepped forward into her, but still in a relatively unclouded state of mind, her judo instincts were able to kick in and she shoved the purple-haired girl away instead. "Tch..." Staggering back a few steps, the dirty blonde instead came forward with a few heavy jabs aimed at Sion's face.

Sion was a little surprised when Serina easily countered by shoving her away, sending the purple-head staggering away a few steps. Before she could come back in, Sion ended up eating a jab straight to the face, the heavy punch forcing her to step back a bit, throwing her guard up to block any more punches that followed and waiting for a chance to retaliate.

Connecting with her first swing, Serina tried to follow through with more but Sion started to block them. Looking to change up tactics a bit, the dirty blonde tries to feint another jab but instead tries to throw a hard punch towards her foe's midsection instead, hoping to try and stun her and get Serina an opening.

Sion was ready to block another jab, but the last strike turned out to be a feint, a heavy blow plowing into Sion's midsection. The girl sharply exhaled as the blow winded her, curling up a bit around the fist.

Perfect.

From her curled up position, Sion exploded upwards and outwards, springing off the ground, trying to grab Serina's shoulders as she tried to surprise Serina with a flying knee to the stomach.