Silver Ace and Alicia Wells vs. Abattoir and River Styx - Friends Like These

Match Type: Tag Team
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or KO

***

The life of an AFW fan could be an unsatisfying one. You were often misunderstood by your peers who didn’t understand the finer points of a well done hentai match and merely assumed you were some kind of wrestling pervert. Tickets for the show could often be hard to get, and the melting pot of fanbases often led to fights beyond the ring.

But, every once in awhile, you got a little treat, something more than you expected, a reward for staying loyal to the brand. As the crowd raged and at the sight of the four women below getting ready to wage war in the ring, you could tell that they knew this was one of those time.

”FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

They’d been chanting that for the past minute or so, and it was music to Styx’s ears. She stood there, in her corner, waiting for the commercial break to end and the fight proper to start. All she needed was the go-ahead from the referee.

Across the ring, she had Alicia and Silver Ace, two pains in her ass. She’d only been looking for the opportunity to beat down the former when she jumped over the barricade, but now she had the chance to take them both out. Perfect.

At least, it would be perfect if she could get the woman behind her to stay in line. Abattoir was trustworthy, had never done anything to make Styx think she was treacherous, but then, Styx had never clearly pissed her off this much before. She knew there was a limit to how much the nak muay could work with her, she just wasn’t sure what that limit was, or how close she was to pushing. If the day came that she was pushed too far, Styx would prefer to be in just the right position when it happened…

Whatever. She pushed the thought out of her mind and moved forward as the referee gave them the go-ahead. Abattoir was with her for now, and she’d have a good chance to funnel all that hate in a productive place, just as soon as Styx had her fill. The only thing now was to see just who she’d be starting up against.

Abattoir was sulking, which was probably a first as far as AFW history went.

She'd just managed to get off medical suspension (sort of), come back to the arena to make her glorious return, gotten the promise of a fight with Alicia, and been all worked up for it - and then everything had been snatched away and reduced to this nonsense, this charivari of a needless tag match. This was the worst.

Having had her parade thoroughly rained on by Styx and company, the nak muay had settled for standing on the apron over in their corner, arms folded, deliberately turned away from the action. Her usual dead-eyed expression never wavered, but there were little hints here and there, if you knew where to look - the way her fingers twitched atop her biceps, the occasional shift from side to side - that spoke to the intense agitation boiling ever-higher inside her.

The phrase 'ticking time bomb' came to mind.

Alicia had taken the opportunity to slip backstage after her brief conversation with Silver Ace – a partner she’d never expected in a tag match she didn’t particularly want. She’d got both though so she might as well make the best of the whole mess. But she’d also got no intention of taking on a tag war with River Styx in anything other than her ring gear, so the big redhead had ducked away from the refs to change and also just to clear her head a bit.

She didn’t like being the only one going into the match having already been beaten around. Taking a moment to stretch, loosen up and generally get herself ready had done a world of good both for her ability to kick Styx’s ass into low orbit but also for her general temper. Alicia had been mad as a scalded cat in the immediate aftermath and who could blame her? But it wasn’t a good move for a fight against Abattoir in particular. She definitely wanted a clear head for that fight, if – as she hoped – it happened.

To be brutally honest, Alicia would have been quite happy to kick both WAR members’ butts but she was realistic enough to recognise that wasn’t even a possibility. She needed help, not fantasies, and she also knew she could do a hell of a lot worse than Silver Ace. Ace might have been the one to say it but Alicia felt she was probably going to share the sentiment.

Jogging back down to the ring before the commercials ended, the kickboxer moved to join Ace, her dark eyes focused on their opponents. Styx looked as hulkingly thuggish as ever. Abattoir…

Well, Alicia was tempted to suggest that she’d murder Styx, Abattoir could murder Ace and they’d just have the match they actually wanted but… Well, the nak muay might take her seriously.

As it was, with her course taking her past the corner where Abattoir stood – and was she actually sulking, wow – on the outside of course, Alicia paused just long enough to try catching the nak muay’s dead eyes to attract her attention. If it seemed to work, she’d mouth ‘find me afterwards’ up at Abattoir.

They needed to talk, preferably without Styx dropping in.

Moving on, she finished her circuit and jumped up onto the apron, nodding to Ace. She’d got a former Entropy champion on her side, she was hardly a slouch either and they both had personal reasons to beat River Styx to a pulp. It probably wouldn’t be that easy and, for once, Alicia had mixed feelings about that.

On the one hand, a good fight was a good fight. On the other, she’d still love to stomp Styx flat.

Oh well.

Nodding to Ace, she kept her voice low.

”Looks like they’re leading with the thuggish one. Want to take her or should I?”

Ace had to admit, this was not exactly how she had expected her day to unfold. While she wasn't really a fan of Alicia Wells, after the way she went overboard on Gallium, the fact that she saved Gallium from permanent injury from River Styx, during Gallium's ill advised battle against her, meant, in Ace's opinion, she owed her a debt, one she repaid by saving her from a double team assault.

While she hadn't expected that to turn into a tag match, she had to admit she could be stuck with a far worse partner than the talented up and comer that nearly captured the Hardcore Title.

Once in her spot on the apron, she looked over at the masked Nak Muay, having noticed how utterly enraged she was upon finding out this was a tag match. That was going to make her a big threat, and, having faced Abbatoir before, the face painted fighter was already aware of how big a threat she was in the ring.

But that wasn't her main focus. Her main focus was the woman in the ring. River Styx...that bitch. Silver Ace had been waiting weeks for her chance to get back at the bald woman, and now as her opportunity.

Glancing at Alicia, Ace stretched her arms a bit as she whispered back.

"That bitch? She started this damn group. She attacked myself and my best friend in the ring, and tried to cripple the both of us, and god knows what she would have done to Gallium if you hadn't stopped her..."

Ace slipped through the ropes and got into the ring, hopping back and forth on the balls of her feet as she glared at Styx.

"...She's mine."

The crowd was already hyped to a ridiculous level, but the moment Silver Ace stepped in, they reached a fever pitch. After all, this was a fight they’d wanted to see for over a month, aching for it ever since Styx first blindsided their face-painted heroine. They knew it was coming, knew the former Entropy Champion wouldn’t let that and the assault on Gallium go, but they didn’t think they’d be seeing the two of them squaring off until the Fall. Maybe even at Avalanche.

But nope. It was happening. Right here, right now, with Alicia and Abattoir on top. Two anticipated bouts rolled into one. Christmas in July.

Styx, for her part, was quite amused when she saw Ace bouncing about, looking eager to dive in. ”Ah, look at this.” She took a step forward and canted her head to the side with a crooked smile. ”What? You really want to throw your skinny ass up against me?” Another step. ”Think you got what it takes? Huh?”

Styx lowered and started to charge forward, looking to put herself on a collision course with Silver Ace, promising a clash in the center of the ring between her and one of the AFW’s favorite daughters. The crowd rose, their cheers grew, the tension reached its breaking point…

...then Styx promptly stopped before she even got halfway there, hopped back, and tapped Abattoir on  her shoulder, bearing the sweetest smile that she could manage without vomiting. ”You’re up.”

Apart from a very brief nod when Alicia addressed her, there was barely any indication Abattoir was alive. She'd gotten all the anger out of her system already and now, with her rather undignified fit of rage over with, she'd settled into sort of a sullen, dismayed silence. A very un-restful zen state of sorts.

As such, when Styx tagged her in, she abruptly zoned back in to a still-totally-fresh match and a thunderous shower of boos raining down on them, her reaction was less 'baleful rage' and more 'understated, simmering rage'. It really was a meaningful difference. I promise.

Really? Now they were going to play mind games? It wasn't enough to take her match away from her, now she had to be a pawn in some kind of wrestling-based prank?

The nak muay spared a long, contemptuous stare for her partner (causing the crowd to get oddly hype for a moment - hell if she knew why) and then dutifully stepped through the ropes. She paced for a moment, bringing her arms up in the usual wide guard, and eyed Ace coldly over her mask. "You're ruining everything." Her rasp was even-keeled. Calm. There was no trace of the girl that'd pulverized the ring announcer a few minutes ago. "One chance, same as everybody else gets. Walk away."

Even as she said it, she was chambering a kick. Nobody ever took her up on that offer - which, admittedly, she could respect.

Silver was sorely tempted to charge across the ring and start wailing on River Styx as she paced around and did her schtick. Fortunately, she wasn’t a complete idiot. Best not to run straight into ”You’re damn right I’m ready!” She started to move forward, preparing to show this loudmouthed bitch exactly what she’d signed up for when she started this whole mess. ”You really think you can...hey, what?!”

Silver Ace started to run forward when Styx made the tag, but it was too late. Instead, she had to stand there, fuming, as the deservedly pissed off Abattoir made her way in. ”Oh, big tough chick, hiding behind your minion!”

She glared Styx’s way, but couldn’t hold her gaze there for too long; not when she had a ready Abattoirr to deal with. Focus for now. Styx wasn’t going anywhere, the chance would come.

”Sorry, the act’s not working on me.” Silver Ace started to move forward, leveling her gaze with Abattoir’s frigid stare. ”I sent you packing once already, remember?”

Silly question. Of course Abattoir remembered. Ace remembered, too, particulary the part when she got her head DDTed onto the ring apron. That had stung for a while, and the memory served to remind her why she couldn’t take the woman in front of her as anything less than a serious threat. Moreso than Styx, in a few ways.

Ace’s kept her eye on the chambered leg, knowing that a painful kick was coming, but that was the sort of thing both teams would have to get used to. Without another moment of hesitation, she rushed forward and tried to give Abattoir the same opening she’d started with in their last match, wanting to force her into a tie-up and push her back to a nuetral corner.

Well, the offer had been made.  The time for talking was over now.

The problem facing Ace was a simple one, albeit one that might not have occurred to her due to the high intensity and emotions of the situation.  Their match together had been one of Abattoir's first, when she was still green and wholly unblooded.  Since then, she'd studied, she'd obsessively trained, and she'd brought quite a few skills to a whole new plateau.  As for the strategy that had stopped her once, well...Ace was about to find out how effective it'd be a second time.

Case in point.  They led off in the same way: a quick circle, and then Ace shot forward in a straight line, looking to lock up.  Abattoir did not lock up.

The move was technically called an oblique kick - a lateral thrust to the femur, designed to punish a linear-moving target.  The way the nak muay threw it, though, it was basically a full force stomp to the kneecap, and she put a startling amount of force into it, especially by 'feeling-out part of the match' standards.

It had been a long, disappointing day, and being nice was not on her mind.

"FUCK!"

Ace yelled, her forward motion stopped by a brutal kick to her leg, striking her kneecap and causing her to lose her footing, stumbling forward towards the masked woman, the silver haired girls frustration over everything involving Styx causing her to act rashly, Abattoir happy to punish her for it as Ace tried to get her footing again and back away before she could take another hit!

Styx must've been more in that girl's head than Abattoir had thought. She'd been all too eager to rush in, heedless of the danger.

Either way, the oblique kick had done its job, and now the nak muay zipped in to capitalize. Ace was stumbling forward, trying to adjust and juke backwards away from what she probably (and very wisely) assumed was a quickly approaching follow-up. The most logical thing to do was deck her in the face - which made it also the most predictable thing to do. Instead, Abattoir feinted a one-two punch, changed levels, and dove shoulder-first at her waist.

Ironically, she was trying to power Ace back into the exact same neutral corner that the other girl had been aiming her towards a few moments ago. Fate had an interesting way of bringing people to the same nexuses, regardless of the fluctuating details of how they got there.