The Very British Open! (For Acuya & LtLukas)

As Friction came back from commercial, the arena lights came up over the British Bombshells, already standing in the ring.  The two young women had been working the crowd, posing and chatting playfully with them, as they waited.  Now, they'd been given the go-ahead, and were ready to shift gears into something a bit more serious.

"Hullo, all!" said Gemma, the fit, steampunk-styled member of the duo, greeting the fans with an enthusiastic, almost full-body wave.  "I'm Gemma Faraday!  This is my partner, Holly Matheson!  Together, we're the British Bombshells!"  As Gemma introduced her partner, the raven-haired, buxom young woman bowed down in a gracious curtsey, giving a warm smile to the fans.  There was a smattering of applause; the duo were rather popular individually, but had yet to make a serious impression in the tag division.  Actually, the two girls had lost their first match in somewhat spectacular fashion.  The image of Holly taking their opponent's signature move, the Deadly Peach, had even managed to go viral.

Despite that, here they were.  Smiling, peppy, looking eager and ready for a fight.  The fans still weren't quite certain where this was going, but they appreciated the girls' eager attitude, willing to get back on the horse.

"My partner and I," Holly said, taking the mic, "we ... did not have the best team debut, recently."

"No we did not," Gemma said, shaking her head.

"We did our level best," Holly said, defensively.

"You got squashed by literal butts," Gemma said, "and that wasn't even the worst of it."

"You didn't win either," Holly said, scowling a bit.  "That's how tag teams work, you know."

"It was a tough match," Gemma said a bit more loudly, turning to the crowd, "but we got beaten by some pretty game opponents, who we simply didn't take seriously enough.  But!  The British Bombshells are not the sort to just lie back, take it, and think of the Queen!"

"Oo-er!  But!  Stiff upper lip, and all that!"

"Keeping calm, and carrying on!"  Gemma said, "And in that spirit, tonight, we are issuing a challenge!"

"The very first, Very British Open!"

"Right!  The British Bombshells are calling out anyone in the Friction locker room, for a  match!  Any tag team!  Any match!  Right here, right now!"

"So, if there's anyone back there in that locker room that wants to step up, maybe fancies a bit of a go-round ..."

"Bit of the ol' fisticuffs, eh?"

"Some pugnacious pugilism, eh wot?"

"Then come on out, you!  We'll give you a proper thumping!"

The two young women, having gotten more animated and bouncy as they carried on, put the micrpohones down at their feet, and faced the entrance ramp.  Both Gemma and Holly were bouncing on their heels, eagerly anticipating who might come out of that entrance to go up against them, and give them their shot at redemption!

Sometimes, life was truly awesome. ‘Wonderful’, even, though River Styx wasn’t the sort of person to say such fru-fru words where people could hear her.

Here Styx was, just hanging out with Jessica backstage. The two of them hadn’t really had anything planned, and that was the whole problem - ever since they’d started up WAR, there’d been a bit of a lull. Finding opponents willing to take them on wasn’t the easiest thing, and while they had some interesting prospects, none of them had really panned out yet.

Things would get interesting, Styx was sure. They just needed a little time.

Then, lo and behold, what should they hear but two Brits practically begging to get their asses handed to them. Styx and Jessica would happily oblige them.

The boos came pouring down as WAR’s theme theme song began and the two wrecking machines sauntered onto the stage, microphones in hand. Styx’s smile was light, a slight grin, but it was enough to put some of the fans on unease. Her being happy was rarely a good thing for anyone in the vicinity.

”Well, hello there.” Styx began, giving the two of them a little nod. ”Gemma. Holly. Nice tits.” She pointed at Holly’s pair, which were, indeed, quite tasty looking.

”My friend Jessica and I were just hanging outside when we heard your little challenge. Sounds like a lot of fun. Right?”

Styx gave Jessica a little elbow in the side and started to stalk around the ramp, her eyes never leaving the ring as she paced. She wanted to drink in every delicious reaction their potential victims had. Waste not a single second.

Jessica was bored. Nights with River were usually anything but boring, but maybe they made a mistake in coming to the AFW arena as opposed to a strip club or a bar. Chatting about stupid things with River had a little merit, so Jessica would play along for a little bit before asking for a change of scenery. Besides, flexing at all the little workers and scaring the little piss out of them was pretty entertaining, for a time.

And then something truly miraculous happened. Two annoying, unmistakably British accents came on over the loudspeaker. Jessica looked at River knowingly. Dumb bitches begging to get their asses kicked categorically got what they wanted. Jessica grabbed a microphone, and they were on the entrance ramp in a flash.

Most people would have thought that Jessica was unprepared for a match, given that she was wearing an Iowa State shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Jessica was always ready for a match, and had her wrestling costume on underneath her clothes at all times when she was in the arena.

Her street clothes were still on when she met the chorus of jeers at the top of the ramp. Their notoriety was unmistakable.

"You guys gotta be dumber than you look. Judging from your looks, that is borderline impossible, but you fucking did it. Your bullshit challenge sounds like a proper riot, so why don't we make it one? Hardcore rules. No DQ. I haven't made anyone bleed in far too long, and I want to see what color you guys are on the inside."

Jessica rested her elbow on River's muscled shoulder, literally and figuratively leaning on her just as she had done a thousand times before. Her purple eyes never wavered from the ring. Jessica was just as intent on seeing the two Brits' reactions.

Holly and Gemma kept rocking back and forth on their boots, their stance low, looking ready and eager for whatever the AFW locker room would end up throwing at them. Fortunately (or, unfortunately), the duo wouldn't be left waiting for long.

When River and Jessica emerged onto the entrance ramp, the crowd reacted venomously. For their own part, Holly and Gemma seemed to have a mixed reaction. Gemma looked on in confusion, keeping a wary eye on River. Holly, lacking awareness of much of the Friction locker room, yet, didn't share her partner's concern. The raven-haired bombshell had faced bigger, she thought. Of course, she'd lost horribly in that situation, but still ...

Holly did scowl, as River complimented her chest. The Brit pouted a bit at the objectifying comment, standing back and subconsciously wrapping her arms over her chest. Gemma, meanwhile, was still biting her lip out of worry. It wasn't until Jessica spoke, that she was provoked enough to really react.

"At least we're dressed for a match, you squabbling little slice of wank pie!" Gemma snapped. "Talk about looking stupid. Let's see who looks stupid when we give you that hardcore match you're banging on about, and send your arses back up that ramp!"

Now it was Holly's turn to look a nervous. She'd never been in a hardcore match, before. She looked to Gemma, chewing her lip nervously, trying to gague how confident her partner looked, about the nature of the challenge.

"You want hardcore? We'll give you hardcore! We'll send you back to that locker room crying, you slag! You just come down here, whenever you think you're ready!" Hardcore was nothing new to Gemma, so Holly bit her lip, and went with it.

"Right!" Holly said. "And I'll be expecting a full apology for those lewd comments, once we've made you witches tap out!" With that threat, the two Brits took their place in the back of the ring, waving in invitation to their new challengers. The Brits looked eager to get things going, bouncing on their heels, spoiling for a fight!

Well, this was a cute little thing they had going on.

From the looks of things, Gemma was the spritely, outgoing one - the mouth of the pair, the heart, the energy. If she was too worried about the sudden revelation, she was doing a great job of not letting it slow her down, which Styx could appreciate. It was always good to have the gutsier ones.

Holly, though? She seemed smart. Smart enough to know what might be coming her way, but not quite smart enough to run from it. A good balance.

And, also, a really nice bod. Speaking of which…

”Apologize?” Styx canted her head to the side, letting tap against Jessica’s. The two of them made a lovely pair of wrecking balls. ”Holly. Babe. You’ve got a great pair. And you have to know that, the way you got them all hanging out. You couldn't not know it.”

Styx licked her lips and reached, squeezing her fingers like she could almost imagine getting her hands on Holly. She didn’t have anything untowards planned, but their future victims couldn’t know that.

”But you’re willing, that’s good. Glad we could come to an agreement.” Styx turned to Jessica and gave a quick pat on the ass. ”Let’s go ruin their day.”

With that said, Styx made her way down the ramp with a little skip in her step, like a kid going for the ice cream truck.

Jessica loved her woman. She knew apple pie, she new pecan pie, she knew pumpkin pie. But she had never tried wank pie. It didn't seem very enjoyable, at least not compared to the panoply of desserts she had gotten her hands on. On the subject of tasty things, both of the women in the ring seemed downright delicious, and Jessica would gorge on violence tonight. They accepted the hardcore match without a moment's hesitation. It was just foolish, really.

"Apologize? Me? Never." In one fell swoop, Jessica pulled her shirt off and chucked it to the side. Her usual red wrestling costume shimmered in the light of the arena. The Violent Violet then grabbed her jeans and ripped them straight off. She didn't sorry about any niceties at all as she tossed them the same place her shirt went. The mic made an awful sound when it clattered to the ground in the same spot as her clothes. So in a grand total of five seconds, Jessica became totally ready for a match.

The Violent Violet walked alongside River, sharing her obvious joy. Both of these women were rank jobbers from what she could tell, and Jessica needed to work through a little rage. She hopped up into the ring and stepped towards her opponents. From the vantage point of the top of the ramp, they both seemed rather small, but up close and personal Jessica and River's size advantage was rendered preposterously stark.

"So, are you guys having second thoughts yet?" She cracked her knuckles. "Neither of you are going to look very good with a broken nose. And now there isn't a whole lot stopping me from doing just that..." Jessica implied the threat with a voice full of acid, looking between Holly and Gemma as she did so.

Holly huffed and fumed, at Styx's comments. "They get warm!" she said, pouting, "they need air, sometimes ..." Styx's following gestures only made things worse, of course, reminding Holly of some of her in-ring encounters that had ended in less than dignified fashion ... More and more, she was getting nervous about this, the worry dawning on her that she and her partner had just bitten off more than they could chew.

Gemma detected that nervousness. Shifting closer to her tag partner, Gemma reached out and squeezed Holly's hand, reassuringly. The two coming down the ramp had already worked Gemma up, something fierce. Who they hell were they, to talk to them like that? Besides, there was never an option to back down- they were the ones that came out and issued an open challenge! Whatever happened next, they'd have to find a way to deal with.

Though honestly, Gemma was beginning to feel nervous too, as Jessica disrobed. The purple-haired vixen was already an intimidating enough presence- her flashy, bold ring gear, killer physique, and the way she owned all of it on her walk down to the ring- was enough to leave Gemma a bit shaken. And River looked powerful and confident enough that she might have been able to give the Bombshells hell on her own. In fact, as both Jessica and River made their way down to the ring, Gemma was getting a much better idea of scale, and what the two of the might actually be in for, here.

Shaking her head vigorously, Gemma tried to put on a brave face. Patting Holly on the shoulder, Gemma motioned for her partner to head out to the apron. Slowly, Holly took her position. Gemma seemed confident enough to her, but Holly's pout only deepened, as the challengers came closer to the ring and gave them a better sense of scale, here.

"Only second thoughts I'm having, slagamuffin, is if I'm going to pin you, or tap your arse out!" Gemma said to Jessica, trying to keep any wavering out of her voice. The punk girl had been around enough, she was used to having to psych herself up. The ref girl took her position in the ring. Gemma bounced side to side on her heels, fighting back any last-second worries before the opening bell. "If you're done leaving your cheap stripper's kit all over the ramp, maybe we can get a match in tonight, eh?"

”Heh.” Styx hopped on the apron and took a gander up and down Holly’s body, giving her the lewdest, most lecherous looks she could stomach making. ”I bet they get warm...”

Really, despite all her talk, Styx couldn’t have cared less about Holly’s chest. One of her few ‘nice’ qualities was that she didn’t molest her opponents - she just beat the shit out of them. So that ample chest was safe from her roving hands.

Of course, Holly couldn’t know that, and fucking with her head was perfectly fair game..

Just like the last time they teamed up, Styx let Jessica take point and waited in their corner, leaning on the turnbuckle while she watched. It was always a pleasure to watch the Violent Vioet in action. About the closest thing she could get to watching her own matches as part of a live audience.

Jessica fully appraised Gemma. She was quite pretty up close. Not a whole lot of girls could pull off platinum blonde hair, just as few women could pull off purple hair. It made them both unique. But there were more than a few differences between the two women- Jessica was taller and more solidly built. Gemma was smaller, almost lithe. That almost certainly meant that she was a high flyer, which was the most loathsome type of wrestler. Jessica did not come to the ring to do goddamn gymnastics and anyone who soared through the air deserved to be plucked from it and slammed down to the mat. Wrestling was all about strength, and Jessica had tons of that to spare.

"Careful what you wish for." Electricity crackled through the air. The Violent Violet stared into Gemma's pretty brown eyes. It would be immensely difficult for anyone with a passing interest in women to tear their gaze from them, but Jessica, who usually loved prurient affairs, was more engaged in intimidation. She inched forward, slowly. It occurred to her that she should be stretched out to fight, but the Violent Violet didn't feel very threatened by the woman in front of her.

If Jessica was in the unlucky position of having to fight to stay alive, she would have demanded River be in her corner. The woman at the periphery of her vision in the far corner seemed a pale comparison to the woman backing up Jessica. The Violent Violet was full of confidence.

"You just might get it." Jessica pivoted and launched a punch befitting a thunder god towards Gemma. She quietly dared the charming British woman to do anything about the hard straight right levelled towards the blonde's jaw. If Jessica was correct in her estimation of Gemma as a high flyer, then she had to be fast. The Violent Violet wanted to see just how fast she was.

The tension was thick in the air, as the two women in the center of the ring squared up. There had been a fair deal of trash talk, and the Brits' desperation to be taken seriously was in stark opposition to River and Jessica's absolute confidence that they would destroy them. Fans were eagerly awaiting the first swing, the first hold, the instant things would go off and the match would erupt.

At the ring apron, Holly was squirming River's gaze. Out of the corner of her eye, Holly could see the lewd look that River was giving her. The fair-skinned Brit blushed hard and red, from her cheeks down to her generous bust. Thoroughly cowed, unable to stop worrying, Holly couldn't help but shut down a bit. She looked away, cowed, looking at her boots to try and deflect some of that attention. Part of Holly told herself that River was simply trying to intimidate her, to psych her out. Another part of her knew it was working all too well, unfortunately. She only hoped she could shake it off, when it came her turn in the ring.

Meanwhile, back between the ropes, Jessica and Gemma were ready to square off and tear into one another. Gemma was assessing Jessica as quickly as she could. She looked toned, powerful. Gorgeous, but the way she carried herself told Gemma that there was no way this woman was all looks. Gemma could feel the aggression radiating off of her, as she stared into her violet eyes, just ready to go off.

Which, of course, she did. Like lightning, Gemma barely caught sight of Jessica's fist flying at her face, out of the corner of her eye! It was fortunate for the white-haired Brit that she'd been keeping herself so loose- with a quick step back, Gemma evaded the fist. From there, however, things were off! As quickly as she could, Gemma started in with some forearm strikes, throwing caution to the wind as she did so.