I Want a Good, Clean Fight!

The crowd swelled with excitement as Serina advanced on the other girls, but things weren't going to erupt just yet.  Well, not in the figurative sense.

They did literally erupt a moment later, as the lights cut out and a burst of extravagant, needless pyro exploded in the rafters with enough force to give the back four or five rows tinnitus.  A moment later, when the house lights returned, a cloud of fog had materialized in one corner and, posing in the middle of it under a golden spotlight, was Etzlicoatl.  She raised the microphone to her mouth and started going full-bore before anybody had a chance to groan or start booing.  

"In my final meeting with the solar hummingbird Huitzilopochtli, as he placed the obsidian blade of my ancestors in my hand and told me of my destiny as Our Flayed Lord's finest jaguar warrior, I knew it would forever be my task to seek out the most powerful fighters in the land and bring them low, so that their life's blood might be offered to the waxing sun--"  Etzli had to pause for a breath in mid-sentence here, completely killing the flow, and forgot where she'd been going with that sentence.  Sweatdrop.  "----uhhhhhh, and that anywhere, ah, anywhere that the flower war was in the mouths of the worthy, there too would I be as an avatar of conquest!  And so the winds of change swept me away, setting my ominous royal personage where destiny needed it most - here, in the midst of this brewing tempest of warlike glory."

In reality, she'd been hiding under the ring for the entire show with an SFX remote, looking for any opportunity to shove her way into something relevant and becoming increasingly frustrated over the course of two hours as nothing lived up to her standards for a 'brewing tempest of warlike glory'.  Man, the sounds of hentai matches going on three feet away were kind of traumatizing.

"Yes!  Me, the Sanguine Serpent, Etzlicoatl!  And now, BEHOLD, I have arrived to plunge this arena into glorious chaos," she continued (to the dismay of everyone in earshot), gesticulating wildly with her free hand, "into a crucible from which only the greatest and worthiest fighter shall emerge, bearing the spines of the fallen as trophies to offer onto the smoking mirror!  Let all the cowering masses gaze upon the dawn of our battle, and tremble in the knowledge that they will never feel the ancestral power of jaguar warriors pumping through their heartsblood, and that when their time of judgement comes they will be cast into the gray wastes to wander for eternity!"

Another pause.  She posed dramatically, as if to jump down into the ring in a plancha or something similar, and then hesitated with obvious unease.  The other girls were a bit too spread out to safely leap off the top rope onto.

"Um, if you could....if you could just bunch up slightly, that'd....yes."

The crowd had been relatively neutral so far. There was too many choices to boo for or cheer, and the scene that had devolved was confusing. They had been enthusiastic but they did not especially know how to vocalize what they were witnessing. Serina's interruption brought the prospect of actual fisticuffs to the forefront so they excitedly cheered for the dirty blonde's promise of violence. Etzlicoatl's appearance, while decidedly more impressive than any of the ladies previous, had left the crowd groaning and with a strong desire to boo. She had come the closest to getting a true, loud reaction. However, as the lights flashed, and  new music began to play, the crowd had finally made their feelings known with one loud, arena deafening boo.

From the backstage area, clad in a beautiful, curve hugging red dress and  bright, yet cruel smile, was the General Manager of Friction, Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt. She strode down the arena ramp with a commanding gait and lifted the microphone to her lips. "Frauleins, frauleins." She began. "How vunderbar to see such young und energetic girls coming togezher to try  und hash out zhere differences. So civilized und mature." She mocked as she stepped through the ropes and into the ring.

Though she was one of the smaller girls in the ring height wise, she was definitely a giantess among the other six when it came to commanding attention. She looked among all six of the girls, walking among them, studying them quietly as her eyes passed up and down every inch of their young forms, quietly assessing them while the audience's vocal disdain for the GM slowly tapered off.

"However unfortunate it may be for civility, zhouh, zis is not a round table discussion. Zis is a wrestling ring und in here ve vill wrestle, ja, frauleins?" She asked the question without waiting for a response. "Und as much as I am sure you vould all like to pair up und have fun togezher, I zhink zhat zis also does not give you a chance to sort out your various grievances."

As she walked, her free hand began to slide along the shoulders of the girls as she passed, touching them briefly before she moved on, finally stopping at Etzl who was still perched up on a turnbuckle. "Vouldn't you agree?" She said, posing the question to all the girls, and even the audience, as she stared at the young Mexican.

Even when she was a bit... under the influence, Neske could tell this had gotten out of hand. After giving Gabbie a piece of her mind, Neske wasn't sure if she was surprised or not that Akiha was getting involved again, taking what was a simple argument and bringing up a notch or two (though the compliments did make Neske blush, even if they were missing the mark a bit). Then Akiha's blonde-haired little girlfriend shows up, who Neske only knew of through the grape vine to begin with, and then some psycho, and... and a cartoon character? By the time the diminutive showboat had made her perch on the corner post, Neske could only assume she was hallucinating the whole thing. And now someone else, though Neske would be dammed if she knew who, showed up and started acting like she owns the place. Namely, by proposing the lot of them get into one, hectic, messy match, just like the cage match she was in.

"Wait, what? Here? Now?" she chirped frantically, pushing the nearest microphone down to make sure this was kept between the girls in the ring as she approached this mystery woman. "Nonono, we were just talking things out, you know? Look," she stepped closer as she spoke, until she was practically whispering in Lukretia's ear, "I've done one of these multi-girl cage thingies, it's a mess. You don't want to get mixed up in that." As if to cement her point, she took hold of the General Manager's microphone and brought it to her mouth with a nervous laugh. "Nah, I-I don't really think that's what we were getting at here. Talking is fine, right girls?" she asked with a worried smile as she looked at each of the other wrestlers to check for confirmation.

Akiha watched as Belinda, Serina, Etzli all appeared and added their own two cents to the debate. Yet to everyone surprise Lukretai, the General Manager of Friction then arrived. Akiha wasn't sure why she had showed up but if she was here something big was going down. This could either be good or bad. The manager then suggested perhaps they could all do a match, something which Akiha would nod her head in agreement. This would give her the chance to finally make a name for herself and break out of mediocrity. In addition, she would get another chance to take down her arch rival, Belinda with the added bonus of taking down Gabbie and Serina. Though she had never met Serina, Akiha hated her.

The Japanese wrestler watched as Neske responded. It was clear that she still remembered the four-way cage match they were in. She then asked if talking was fine and Akiha decided to respond. “I agree... with the General Manger of Friction, Lukretia. I think we've done enough speaking and I think the crowd is also done watching us talk. You guys want to see a six-way match cause I for one am up for the challenge and if it's in a cage, then even better!” stated Akiha as would then attempt to get the crowd to cheer as she tried to hype up such the idea of such a match.

Serina's challenge was cut short by Etzlicoatl's thundering and flamboyant entrance, completely distracting her from what she was doing. The sheer absurdity of the girl's rant had the dirty blonde stunned to silence, trying to process exactly what the hell was going on.

"H-hey don't butt in on-!" Serina attempted to interject as soon as she had recollected her thoughts, in instead got cut off again as the the General Manager, Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt, entered the fray. Even if that wasn't one of the few things about the AFW that Serina was actually conscious of, the woman's stature and attitude made it clear she was the authority. With an uncommon show of respect, she let the woman finish, but as soon as that happened, some timid-sounding idiot that Serina hadn't even noticed until then spoke up.

"Hey, you fucking wuss, what the fuck are you even-" And then she cut off by Akiha.

Reaching the end of her very short rope, Serina screamed into her mic, "WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP!? If you're all done jabbering, can we just fucking FIGHT already!?"

Delusionally, Etzlicoatl was under the incredibly mistaken impression that the rather severe GM liked her. She'd given Etzli a title shot, after all, and now here she was putting her in a match! That had to be indicative of some kind of favor, right? Definitely.

"Yesssss!" she roared (it was really more of a squeak), raising a fist to the sky and grinning maniacally. "As it was foretold by haruspicy, so it is spoken from the lips of the Keeper of the Sacred Gold!" This apparently referred to Lukretia, judging from the encompassing gesture that swept her way, but in hindsight it could have just as easily meant either Neske or the cornerpost, both of which were very close and also included in the gesture. "Let us meet within the Scarlet Cage of Ceaseless Nobility, wherein I will make offerings of glorious bloodshed to our miraculous incandescent father the sun!"

This was accompanied by a dramatic pose on one leg, with her arms spread and the other leg angled vaguely like a scorpion. It was incredibly difficult to hold while balancing on a turnbuckle, and after a few seconds Etzli began visibly sweating profusely. She really, really hoped a proper brawl would kick off soon, so she had an excuse to get down.

Things certainly became quite jumbled as Belinda didn't even have the chance to do much of a debate with Gabbie, someone who she didn't truly mind...though the attitude was starting to become a bit tiring, if there was one thing Belinda didn't appreciate very much it was a lot of whining. Other than that he constantly did her best to attempt to be kind and civil towards most people...hell she even was that to some extent to the dirty blond who came rushing into the ring after her now it seemed.

Belinda tensed up a bit as she was half expecting Serina to sucker punch her, the girl had a tendency to do that after all, or perhaps she'd even try and just start a brawl...well if that was what Serina really wanted then Belinda wouldn't back down. Of course she was saved from such a vulgar display by the approach of Etzlicoatl, she could only smile and nod her head, she didn't have the same time to play into Etzli's actions as she had done in their match not too long ago...but she would give the girl a light nod before once again they were interrupted by another woman...this was certainly getting a lot of attention, a few up and comers discussing their views on fighting...odd.

Hearing what all the attendants to this event had on their mind and the notion that a match between all of them could happen from what the General Manager and others were letting on, Belinda would straighten herself a bit and take a deep breath. Belinda would keep an eye on Serina as she would then raise her microphone up to her mouth. " I'm always game for a match, there is no point in all of us just standing here talking about things. So let's put our pride on the line in a match instead!" Belinda spoke out as she'd then turn towards Akiha, it was after all a chance to fight Akiha again, and if she could perhaps get Serina to maybe start backing off her by winning again then maybe that could save her some hassle ? Besides her match against Etzli had been fun, Neske she didn't know very well but oh well, and Gabbie...she just needed a lesson punched into her thick skull and maybe they could be on good terms if that happened, she did after all kinda see Gabbie's point but she didn't actually agree with it.

" I assume since everyone is game, we should set up a match ? What kind would you like is to do, miss Creuzfeldt ?"

Gabbie had watched as one by one more people started filtering in until eventually even the General Manager had been forced to interrupt. She was thankful for it, if only because Serina's entrance had made her nervous. Everyone else who had showed up, despite their words, at least seemed reasonable enough to talk. Serina just seemed to want to fight and didn't care how it came.

Unfortunately, however, even though a melee did not ensue, the rest of the girls seemed to be interested in having a match. Altogether. Possibly in a cage. This was exactly the kind of thing that she was trying to prevent! Six girls in a cage at the same time was not wrestling. It was a circus act.

Gabbie brought her microphone to her lips. "This is asinine!" She blurted. "All six of us in a cage!? Ms. Von Creuzfeldt, with all due respect, this is just...I still have a tournament match coming up soon! I can't be in a cage match right before it. I-" She paused. Everyone else had called her a complainer and a whiner. She wasn't either of those things, but the other five had signed off and the General Manager seemed eager to put things in motion. She was the lone voice and while she was passionate, she wasn't stupid. She'd be everything they said she was if she didn't suck this one up. She definitely wasn't a quitter so she swallowed the bitter pill.

With a resigned sigh, Gabbie lifted the microphone to her lips again. "Fine. I'm in." She said simply.

Lukretia's eyes lit up as each of the dominoes fell. She didn't even need to prompt them, mostly. She clapped her hands together. "Vunderbar!" She chirped. 'I vill have somezhing special for all of you. Do not vorry, frauleins. I'm sure you vill simply adore it." With a soft chuckle, she waved her hand dismissively at the group. "Now, if you do not mind, please, exit meine ring in an orderly fashion." She threw a glance at Gabbie. "Ve vouldn't vant a fight to break out, now vould ve?"

Gabbie lowered her head and blushed but was quick to leave the ring. Things had not gone as well as she had hoped. Just the opposite, she would think. "You should save your energy for your match. I am sure you all vill need it." Lukretia said as she watched the girls leave.