Save Our Sis!

Nicole had watched her sister's entire match from near the entrance ramp entrance. She wanted to be there to greet her and congratulate her on making it to the finals. Gabbie would be embarrassed, but Nicole wouldn't care. Unfortunately, Nicole had to watch as her sister was put right out of the tournament. Nicole wasn't really used to seeing Gabbie lose, but she was pretty certain she could handle it. Well, she could have if Akiha hadn't cheated more than once in the match, including at the end when she held Gabbie's trunks.

The normally very happy-go-lucky Desjardin was furious and made sure she was in eyesight of Akiha as she brushed passed her after the win. When she did, Nicole followed and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me." She said in a firm tone, crossing her arms under her ample chest. "What was that, eh?" She asked before Akiha ever even turned, her Torontonian accent coming out in her speech. She hoped that when Akiha turned, the girl would see Nicole was quite unhappy.

Akiha had just won her match versus Gabbie in the semi-finals of the Lightning tournament. Gabbie was a tough opponent resulting in Akiha using some cheap and dirty tactics while also leaving her tired and a bit drained. She was sure that her opponent was still mad at her and would be for a while, but the Japanese wrestler would deal with that after the whole tournament, for now she was looking forward to the finals and getting some much-needed rest.

As Akiha started to make her way to her locker room, she heard someone speak out to her from behind. The raven hair wrestler turned around to face the person speaking to her, it was another foreigner who was a bit bigger then Akiha. “Are you talking about the match I just had?” stated the Japanese wrestler who was unsure what was going on. Perhaps this person was a friend of Gabbie and wanted revenge or something, if that was true then the raven hair wrestler would be in trouble as she was pretty exhausted and would thus have a hard time defending herself.

"Naturally!" Nicole said as she looked over Akiha. "I just hope you're not proud of that display." Nicole added with a furrowed brow. "Someone who's worked their whole life to be good at something shouldn't need to behave like that. It shows a lack of talent and class, eh."

Nicole was trying not to be imposing, but when it came to protecting her sister, she couldn't help herself and so she took a step towards Akiha without even thinking about it as her clenched fists dropped to her sides.

The raven hair wrestler stayed silent as the foreign wrestler spoke to her, criticizing the way she fought. Akiha could understand her frustration in a way but disagreed with it.  Maybe to this person wrestling was a sport, a contest where people were supposed to follow the rules but to Akiha this was a business, a form of entertainment where rules were broken to make more money.  “Am I proud?  Yes and no.  As a competitor, I would have like to have won with my own skill instead of having Gabbie leaving herself open at the end, causing her to lose the match.” stated Akiha as she made sure not to say the word win as she felt that she had not truly won the match but instead felt her opponent had thrown it away.

“That being said, as a business women and entertainer I do feel proud about that match.  This is the stuff that people love to see and what sells and thus what gives us our paychecks.  Just so we are clear I am first a business women and entertainer before I am a competitor.” stated Akiha as she felt she had answered this stranger question well enough though she was a bit concerned as the foreigner took a step closer to her.

“Akiha, are you alright?” stated Kohaku as she arrived.  “Here is your item you left in the ring.” stated Hisui who also came alongside with her sister and was carrying the bottle full of red mist.  Akiha would give a smile as the two approach as she felt more secure.  Now if the stranger tried anything, she had both her maids to defend her and could use red mist to gain an advantage over her.

Nicole took a step back at Akiha's words. "Gabbers didn't leave herself open! You cheated!" She protested, but then shut her mouth. Nicole, of anyone, understood the value of putting on a show, but Akiha was wrong. She was perverting competition and entertainment.

Before she could answer, the two maids were quickly at her side and Nicole looked them over. She certainly wasn't afraid of any of the girls in front of her but she wasn't looking for a fight either. She ignored the maids for the moment and swept her hand forward.

"You're not an entertainer, you're a cheater!" She said. "The crowd wants spirited competition, or at the very least, they want something that's fun! You're not entertaining, you're compensating for your own lack of ability!" Nicole shook her head and took another step forward. "You're telling me, that when you aimed that low blow at my sister, or raked her eyes, that in your mind was the thought that... the crowd will really love this!?"

Akiha was a cheater, that she knew and admitted, hence why the crowd booed, she was a heel after all and that is what heels did.  So this stranger calling her a cheater was kind of stating the obvious for her.  Though saying she wasn't an entertainer was a bit insulting to her as well as saying she lacked skills.  Akiha had won some matches without cheating though those were usually matched where one could not really get disqualified, thus saying she lacked skills was incorrect.

“The crowd wants spirited competition?  Maybe but you know what they want more, they want to see a hero overcome the odds and win.  They want to see a villain get what is coming to her.  Though you need to keep people guessing and have the villain win, especially at first.  If I played fair and square and lost this match and then later down the line we have a rematch and I win, how many people will talk about it?  Not that many but compared to what happens now if we have a rematch and if Gabbie wins, lots and lots of people will talk about it.  Though I have no intentions of losing our next match.” stated Akiha in a calm voice as she then took a break to catch her breath.  

“So yes, in my mind this is what the people want to see, this is what they will pay for.  Also, I don't mind if you call me a cheater, I can admit that but saying I am not an entertainer is a bit insulting.  Being a cheater or as we say in the wrestling business, a heel means I need to constantly endure the crowd hating me and calling me all sorts of nasty things while my opponent gets all the praise.  So yes, call me a cheater but don't say I am not an entertainer just cause I do things differently from you.  After all why do the officials allow us to constantly get away with it then.” stated the Japanese wrestler in an aggressive tone.  

“Oh and if Gabbie wants a rematch, I'll give her one and if she doesn't want me to cheat, we can simply make it a no disqualification match and I will fight her one on one.” said the raven hair wrestler in a confident tone.  Her maids during this entire time had not said a word and simply remained silent.

"If rules don't matter." Nicole said, simply, not wanting to bloviate in the same way that Akiha did. She stepped up and pushed her chest against Akiha's and stared down at the girl. "Then why isn't every fight here a street fight? It would certainly be "entertaining," eh? You want to live with the sword you use to justify your lack of ability, but you're unwilling to die by it. You want anarchy when it's convenient for you."

"If entertainment was what mattered most, winning and losing wouldn't really matter, but it does and as long as it does, you're nothing but a weak willed hypocrite, hiding behind the idea of entertainment that you know nothing about!"

The foreign wrestler did have a point, one which Akiha could understand, but she disagreed with. She was a bit uncomfortable when Nicole pushed her chest against Akiha for several reasons, but she needed to respond to her points on the matter. “Some rules should not be broken, after all even I do follow some rules, you didn't see my maids coming out to help or me attacking her before the start of match. Other rules, though, well they are meant to be broken. I mean aren't closed fists not allowed yet everyone uses them, but no one has ever been disqualified because of it. If every fight was a street fight then the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a face and a heel. They wouldn't really know who to cheer with, there wouldn't be that excitement, the drama. Oh and as for those street fights, I have taken part and won them, on my own without help.”

"The crowd should cheer for whoever they want without someone tryin to tell them who it should be. People aren't sheep! They can decide what's entertaining to themselves all on their own!"

Nicole brushed past Akiha, bumping the girl's shoulder. "Gabbie doesn't need the rules to beat you, but you can't say the same. She's going to be ashamed that her first loss comes at the hands of someone who is happy to disrespect her own career choice." Nicole shook her head.

"No, that's not right. She'll be ashamed of falling short the same place Cass did, but... She should be proud to know as a wrestler, she's even capable of hanging with people who discard the rules! Who have know concept of what pride, honor and sacrifice are. I came to you to say my piece and I have, but as someone who nearly lost a sister to be someone who put the show before the competition, it makes me sick to think that there's someone out there twisting my sacrifice into something perverted and horrible."

It was true that the people didn't need to be herded like sheep, they could decide for themselves on what they like and what they had decided is this is what they wanted to see.  Wrestling entertainment had simply adapted to that, after all business that fail to adapt don't last.  

That being said, the last set of words kind of got to Akiha and actually made her pause and think as Gabbie sister brushed past her.  The Japanese wrestler knew that she would have to make some sacrifices but was it worth it?  She was losing her honor and the other wrestlers and the crowd were hating her.  In addition, there was already plenty of heels, so the question was, why did she become a heel?  The raven hair wrestler would now go to her locker room, taking a moment to reflect on her wrestling career.