24/7 Championship Match: Carmen Rodriguez (C) vs. Gai Tendo - Crazy Train

24/7 matches were a weird thing in concept, because, while the AFW was popular and Carmen was a fairly big name in Tension, not everyone in Japan watched wrestling. Contrary to whatever the higher ups thought, there would be people who wouldn’t know what was going on when they stumbled into a train car to find a Puerto Rican woman exchanging blows with a redheaded Japanese man.

Some of these people were the ones helping Carmen up, as the referee tried her best to mitigate and keep this from escalating into something that would result in lawsuits. Carmen’s concerns were more forward - her eyes were locked on her opponent, watching him through the throngs.

Carmen was a little sluggish getting up, still hurting from the burning pain in her back, but she tried her best to push it aside and take advantage of the situation. She shoved her way out of the crowd and came running at Gai with all the speed she could muster, closing in fast.

She got close, extended her arms, and swung it towards his head as she passed by, trying to nail the young fighter with a wild lariat.

Gai had been looking, trying to see Carmen through the throng of people, shoving aside some of the passengers that tried to accost him or get him away from the train. He didn't WANT to have to smack them for real, since a lawsuit was not something the young fighter wanted to deal with anytime soon, but they were distracting and irritating and making it harder to concentrate.

Luckily for Gai, Carmen came to him instead...though, unfortunately for Gai, she came swinging, Gai having shoved a young woman who was trying to question his fight with Carmen when the woman herself crashed into her, her lariat knocking him flat onto the hard concrete ground!

Carmen nailed Gai with lariat, but she didn’t have much time to really enjoy the successful impact. Her back was still hurting, and a sharp burst of pain forced her to stumble to the side after she nailed it, until she grabbed a trash can and leaned on it for support. She took a hot second to catch her breath, then looked down at Gai, figured she had two options.

She could land on him with an elbow drop or a kneedrop and risk breaking a bone if he moved out of the way in time.

Or she could tip the metal trash can she was leaning over and let it fall on Gai’s chest. Not exactly a technical move, but it fit her mood at the moment.

With a gruff grunt, Carmen decided on the latter.

Gai laid on the concrete, nursing his sore head. Around him, he could hear various commuters and tourists wondering what was going on, the various AFW officials stepping off board to explain things, and even a couple fans recognizing Carmen, as well as some announcement over the P.A. System.

Then a trash can fell on his head, and he rolled out, cursing and pounding his fist onto the concrete, rubbing his head while wiping off the trash now covering him.

"Aww, you bitch! That's playing dirty!

Carmen wasn’t sure whether Gai was voicing a legitimate complaint or just making a poor attempt at humor, and she didn’t much care. If it was the former, this was a hardcore match by design, so anything went. Foreign objects were perfectly legal. If it was the latter? Then it simply wasn’t funny. Either way, his complaint was falling on deaf ears.

”I know.”

She came at him from behind and reached over his back, grabbing two handfuls of hairs and tugging up to get Gai back to his feet. She had no qualms fighting him on the street, but she would’ve preferred to move it back to the train just for the convenience of things. Win or lose, she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of having to track her stuff all over Kyoto once the match was through.

While having a trash can dumped on him was annoying and painful, it was also gross, the redheaded fighter ending up covered with various bits of food and trash and discarded soda and coffee staining over his nice workout clothes. It pissed him off. That shirt cost him 1300 Yen damn it!


Once he was up on his feet though, wincing as his hair was pulled tightly, he quickly saw another problem, conductors on the bullet train, needing to keep things moving, were already bringing the last few customers on board, meaning...

"Hey, wait! The train's gonna-GAGH!" His warning was cut off as a banana peel on his head slipped in front of his face at the same time that her elbow decided to introduce itself to his cheek, sending him staggering back a few steps, nearly falling back on his ass.

For the first time since they’d met, Carmen felt like Gai was pointing out something legitimate. Or starting to, anyway. She spared a quick glance behind, seeing that he was right, and that she needed to focus on getting back on the train. That was a priority.

However, she didn’t need to get back on with Gai, now did she? As the Champion, the onus was on Gai to press the fight. He had to pin, submit, or knock her out to win the title, but all she had to do was not lose to hold onto it.

A slight smirk crossed Carmen’s lips as she started to back away, waving at him as she made her way on. ”Better hurry, cabron.”

That last shot had hit harder than Gai had expected, his guard having been down, distracted by the sight of the train preparing to leave.

The banana peel fell off his face as he rubbed his eye, his vision blurry, not seeing Carmen's wave as she got back on the train. By the time his vision was clear, a few moments later, the crowd had dispersed, the conductor was inside, Carmen was smirking at him from the doorway...the doorway...

"OH SHIT!"

Gai yelled, running as fast as he could, fully intending to tackle Carmen down as he got back on, taking a desperate leap-

"WHAM"

and hitting the metal train door after it closed, bouncing off and being forced to roll away from the train as it started to move, Gai looking up at the door window, wide eyed and in shock as Carmen waved farewell.

While the train left, Gai stood still for a few moments, watching his title opportunity drive away, even the referee having got back on the train in time, leaving him stranded, with his travel bag and everything on the train.

"FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUCK!"

Gai screamed, getting weird looks as he threw a tantrum. This wasn't over. He'd get Carmen back for this!