Nobu Tano vs Alicia Wells

Nobu Tano's music began to play over the arena’s speakers, cueing the arrival of Tension’s number one prankster! ...Not that the crowd understood that. Since becoming a part of AFW’s Kyoto brand, Nobu hadn’t really had a chance to properly make himself known to the fans. So while they clapped along to the catchy beat of his techno entrance theme, there weren’t really any cheers as the young man burst through the curtain with a bright smile.

Clad in turquoise trunks, black boots and matching wristbands, Nobu hurried down the aisle, high fiving several fans in the front row along the way. Once he was at ringside, the boy strode toward the nearest set of steps and walked up them. He stopped on the top step and looked around for a bit before stepping into the ring and moving into his corner. It might’ve seemed as if he were just taking in the scenery, but there was something else on Nobu’s mind. What that was only he could know for now, but he had a feeling his opponent tonight would be finding out herself eventually.

Alicia Wells. Nobu had seen absolutely none of her work before, though he’d heard a few things, mainly that she was good with scissor holds or something. Truth be told, women had probably squeezed him into submission with their legs more times than he could count with all his fingers and toes, yet still he wasn’t worried. From what he understood she was pretty new around, not unlike him. Surely she couldn’t be all that worrisome. Well, whatever she was like, he was about to find out...

Nobu was destined to be allowed a minute of reflection, just enough time for the crowd at least to start murmuring.

Then the lights went out.

They didn’t dim slowly, they didn’t flicker, they just died. There was no gong, no music, no spectral accompaniment. And when they came back up, it was with Alicia Wells stood in the corner opposite him, casually adjusting one of her gloves with utter nonchalance.

For her first match after facing Adrian Kytes for the Hardcore title – her first match in Tension full stop – the British amazon was clad in her usual stygian hue. The MMA gloves and boots were the same as ever but, for whatever reason, she’d replaced the sports bra and shorts with a sleek leotard that showed off her deadly legs and curvy hindquarters to great effect.

Given this was her first time in Tension, her entrance got more of a pop than it might have done in Friction. She was an unknown quantity to a much greater proportion, much more of the fans unsure what to make of this newcomer and her sudden appearance.

As far as Alicia was concerned, she didn’t seem to care what the fans thought of her. Her violet eyes were fixed on her opponent, her lips curved into the usual predatory smile that graced her face when she stepped into the ring.

She wasn’t impressed. He was about her age, a little shorter, unimpressively built… She hadn’t been able to find any matches of his to watch but the word online was that he had a reputation for not taking things seriously.

Well, that was up to him.

In the meantime, she casually stretched out, waiting for the bell so that they could get things going.

The arena went silent for a bit, and then it stayed silent. Nobu was expecting some music to hit any second now, but there was none. Was his opponent not coming? He scratched his head and took a few steps out toward the center, and looked down the entranceway while the crowd started to mutter among themselves. And that’s when everything suddenly went dark.

“What the--??” A power outage maybe? It didn’t seem like a flashy entrance or anything. There was still no music, noise or anything to suggest someone was coming out. But when the lights came back on Alicia was suddenly revealed, already in the ring just feet away from the young man.

“Oh shit!” he exclaimed, practically jumping out of his skin as he flinched and stumbled backward, eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. That got a laugh from the crowd, though Nobu quickly stood back up and composed himself and looked at his opponent again. His eyes went right to her legs, and he found himself feeling slightly conflicted. There was part of him that couldn’t deny how good they looked, and wondered what it’d feel like to be between them. But as soon as he did, the other, more logical part of him quickly came to the conclusion that that would be a very painful experience, one he should probably go out of his way to avoid...if he could.

Then his eyes scanned over the rest of her and...wow. Alicia was slightly bigger than him, but she was quite good looking, especially with that leotard perfectly accentuating her “assets.” But then he looked at her face. And, pretty as it was, something about that grin of hers was downright intimidating. That wasn’t a “Hi! Nice to meet you! Hope we can be friends!” kind of look. That was a “I’m going to enjoy breaking you until you scream like a little girl and beg for mercy” kind of look. He swallowed a lump in his throat, then nervously chuckled while fidgeting around with his wristbands.

When the bell rang, Nobu took a big breath and stepped out toward the center of the ring, wearing a friendly smile. “Uh, h-hey there! Lets have a good match, alright?” he said, offering his right hand for a handshake. Although, while he’d been messing with his wristbands a second ago, he’d pushed a small buzzer from one into the palm of his hand, which couldn’t be clearly seen the way he was holding his hand out. If Alicia elected to shake his hand, then the start of this match was going to be a slight shock for the redhead...

And in a run of ongoing firsts, that was the first time that Alicia had scared someone with her entrance. That certainly contributed to the smile she was giving Nobu, given how he’d all but jumped out of his boots when he saw her. Then there was the nervous chuckle after he’d had a chance to get a look at her and – well. It was funny. It was also not exactly promising as far as her getting a good fight out of this was concerned.

Maybe he’d impress her once they got going. Either that or she’d tear him apart and call it her evening workout. Either way, she was calling it a win. Though she hoped this wouldn’t be another Gallium situation. But Alicia had heard enough about Tension to know it was a distinct possibility. Apparently, like half the matches in this place were squash matches one way or another, a rumour she had to admit she could believe.

The sound of the bell brought her out of her corner too, moving towards the centre of the ring and Nobu with swift steps of her own. There was nothing friendly about her smile but she did pause at the proffered hand. It’d been on her mind to offer her own so, with no reason not to trust him, the big redhead stepped forward and accepted the gesture.

Only to jerk it back almost immediately as an electric shock flared down her arm, Alicia’s eyes going wide in complete and genuine surprise.

Only to narrow almost immediately as the amazon went to retaliate, a leg snapping up in a hasty attempt to bury her knee in his belly.

It had taken considerable effort on Nobu’s part not to flinch or back up once Alicia swiftly stepped out toward him. Seeing that less than friendly smirk on her face, and knowing next to nothing about her, there was no knowing how she’d react to his offer for a handshake. Maybe she’d take it, or maybe she’d take advantage of the opening and start mauling him like a tiger. Needless to say, Nobu was hoping for the former.

Fortunately, that’s exactly what he got. Alicia grabbed onto his hand, and the resulting expression of surprise and confusion on her face couldn’t have been more priceless. Immediately the crowd bust out into laughter at the sight, and so did Nobu...until a knee struck against his stomach and shut him up.

“Ugh!!” he grunted out while stumbling right back into his corner. He whipped a hand to the side to toss the buzzer out of the ring, then brought both hands up in front of him. “Wait, wait! It’s gone now! Truce?” he asked with a nervous smile, hoping to calm the redhead’s temper a bit. Though if she chose not to be forgiving, he had a trick or two up his sleeve that would help him out. Or, so he hoped anyway...

It was just a joy buzzer. Souped up probably, but still just a kid’s toy, meaning that the flare of red in Alicia’s cheeks was at least partially caused by embarrassment as well as rage. Nobody particularly liked being laughed at and she was no exception. Alright, she hadn’t entirely lost her cool over it but hearing the crowd laugh at her? She didn’t care whether they booed her or cheered her, but they weren’t going to laugh. And the vicious knee she slotted into Nobu’s ribs certainly made her feel better.

Not as much better as if she’d ground that buzzer and the hand it was on to powder but, hey, it was a start.

And he damn well wasn’t laughing any more. He looked scared to her, a sheep with a single trick that had been thrown in the ring with a tigress. The big redhead glowered at him, even when he threw the wretched thing away.

And then he wanted a truce. A truce. In a wrestling match. Really.

For a moment, Alicia just looked at him, violet gaze fixed on his as she considered her response.

Then she shrugged slightly and offered him her hand again.

”Sure. Truce.”

If Nobu was foolish enough to take it, Alicia meant to squeeze his hand with hers as hard as she could manage. Her upper body and grip strength wasn’t as off-the-charts monstrous as her lower body but she was far from being a weakling.

She’d give him a moment of that, then go for a brutal boot to the midriff. Then she’d feel honour had been satisfied.

Nobu blinked and looked at Alicia in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Normally when he got people pissed off at him with his pranks, asking for forgiveness didn’t turn out very well. Was now of all times going to be the rare exception?

There was still malice clearly detectable in Alicia’s gaze, though it wasn’t much different from what he’d seen when she first entered, or rather, appeared in the ring. But then again, she seemed to have quickly calmed down, and was even offering a handshake of her own. Could it be a trap? Sure, but there was really only one way to find out.

Quite foolishly, Nobu stepped forward to accept the handshake. “Phew. You know for a second there I thought...” his voice trailed off as pain quickly started to surge through his hand while Alicia practically crushed it in her own. “Got a strong grip there, heh...” Nobu grunted through grit teeth, trying and failing to mask the pain and discomfort she was causing. It was pretty clear now Nobu had made a mistake, but it was too late to back out. When he tried, all he got for his effort was Alicia’s boot crashing into his midsection.

“UGH!!” he grunted out, stumbling back before falling to his knees with one arm clutched over his midriff while the other moved to rest on the mat to support him like a pillar...unless Alicia was still holding onto it. In that case, well... Whatever came next likely wasn’t going to be good for him.

Apparently, Nobu was foolish enough to take it. Alicia offered him a cruel smile as she squeezed his hand with her own, able to see how much she was hurting him even before she landed the kick to his belly. Whether he’d have been able to do something about his hand was destined to remain a mystery as he crumpled to his knees.

Yeah, Alicia’d bet he didn’t find that buzzer so funny anymore. Given the way he was holding his ribs, it seemed like mostly he was just thinking about the pain.

Now she felt she’d paid him back but the big redhead had most certainly kept her grip on his arm, using it to hold him up or prevent him from backing away. Or, as the case might be, to stop him from blocking the knee she was about to drive into his chin.

Hard. Very, very hard.

Then, unless he pulled something out of his non-existent sleeves, she’d reset her stance and repeat the blow. There was a cool, clinical malice to her blows now. She’d got her payback, now she was setting about the business of fighting the match the same way she fought all her matches.

Nobu certainly wasn’t laughing now. And many throughout the arena were, much like Alicia, feeling pretty certain the prankster wasn’t feeling like his little joke had been worth it anymore. However, the people in the stands were still laughing, though now it was more at Nobu and the rather immediate dose of karma he’d been given. Regardless, as a comedian getting the crowd to laugh was of chief importance. So even though he could hardly breathe, let alone laugh right now, he definitely still felt it had been worth it.

But though he might’ve been repaid for his unwise hand buzzer prank, that didn’t mean Alicia was going to be showing him any mercy. That much became evident as a knee slammed right into his chin! “Guh!!” he cried out as the shot violently whipped his head back, only for a second to draw a nearly identical reaction and further rattle his brain right after!

The young man collapsed back onto the mat and rolled to the edge of the ring, went under the bottom rope and dumped right out onto the floor outside with a thud. There he groaned as he laid still on the floor, one arm disappearing beneath the ring apron while the rest of his limbs were sprawled out around him.

Down on his knees, Nobu wasn’t currently a threat to her. Actually, he hadn’t shown any fighting skill of his own at all, but that didn’t mean she could rule it out. And yes, while he’d paid for the buzzer, that didn’t mean Alicia was interested in ending this now. She wanted to hit him some more.

So exactly as she landed the second knee, Alicia released his arm so that the force of the blow cannoned Nobu over onto his back. She wasn’t sure whether it was voluntary or not, but her opponent promptly rolled himself under the ropes and – Alicia didn’t wince at the sound of impact. But she did amend her thought. Definitely not voluntary. Glancing over the edge, Nobu was sprawled in a soggy, unmoving heap. He very clearly wasn’t going anywhere.

While the redhead almost certainly would have followed him down shortly, her choice was expedited considerably when the referee’s voice rose behind her in the opening stages of counting Nobu out. Oh no, she couldn’t have that. He wasn’t getting away that easily, not when winning like this would be even less satisfying than her match with Gallium.

Throwing the ref a quick glance, Alicia dropped and rolled under the ropes before stalking over to where Nobu was laid out. Some wrestlers would have stopped to taunt. Alicia didn’t bother. Instead, the big Brit bent down to grab him by his hair so she could pull him up and throw him back under the ropes.

This was the first time she’d had a count out going and she was conscious that a ten count wasn’t actually all that long.