Assassin & Scoundrel: Samiya Kusanagi vs. the Red Rogue

Match Rules: All standard. Winner by pinfall, submission, or knockout.

The Red Rogue:

Pfft. Listen to that crowd. Thousands of people. Millions who weren't in the arena. All here to watch the debut of the Red Rogue.

And the other matches, sure, but Ann Tennant liked to think they were here for her. Tonight, she would make sure it was her they wanted in the coming weeks.

The Los Angeles native knew the first step was stunning them. In the mirror of the dressing room, she checked her red lipstick for smears, her bushy pigtails for any strands that had escaped their clasps (man did she hope this other woman didn't rip one of them off, Ann sighed to herself), her cleavage for presentation, her gloves, boots, and finally, her mask. She was as ready as she could be. Perfection in her attire wasn't a usual concern, since she could make up for it by looking good anyway, but tonight...eh, she could never be too careful when the cameras zoomed in. She'd be pissed if she saw a non-story about her unfastened zipper.

She puffed up a pigtail one last time and twisted back and forth in satisfaction at her mirror image, before someone came in to tell her that she was on. "Mmm...ready," Ann announced, though she lingered for several seconds longer in front of the mirror to look at herself from behind. No, now she looked at the Red Rogue. She looked great.

Ann Tennant would have gone out there and looked great, too, but eh, Ann would have lost the chance to rant in the third person about the wonders of the Red Rogue. Plus Tennant was a fancy rich American name. Boring.

Her thoughts carried her to the back of the stage, and Ann waited there with impatience, slapping her long-time prop, a whip (which she only had because she had nabbed it off her inspiration years ago) against her palm. Though she was ready to face down thousands with her looks (and skills), Ann nonetheless felt eyes on her as the seconds passed, and she angled a distasteful look on the maintenance guy behind her who seemed to be getting a fourth and fifth look at her butt in her catsuit. She wasn't here for him.

But he was forgotten when she got her signal. Sighing and twisting her shoulders to loosen into the mood, she stepped out onto the stage to see all the people who were now focused on the Red Rogue alone, whether they had come to see her or not. Their response pleased her.

After a pose with a hand on her hip and a crack of her whip, Ann strutted and skipped her way down the ramp to the pounding beat of her [ theme ]. Once in the ring, she mouthed along to the chorus and took her sweet time, heading to every turnbuckle and every side of the ring to give the crowd a generous amount of time to enjoy her attentions. If her opponent Samiya Kusa-what'sit (Kusanagi...yeah, that was it) was in some big hurry, the blonde didn't especially care. She could wait a little longer. Ann was going to soak up every ounce of this new experience, and ensure she was remembered. The tweeters would be raving about the new, graceful, beautiful, striking rogue ravishing the AFW crowd. Right? They should have been.

If they weren't already, they would have a few more seconds. The blonde had practiced a few lines earlier, before she had gotten bored and decided to wing it, and a mic was pushed into her hand when she called for it.

"Heeey there," she cooed, smiling brightly. "It's so so nice to see all of you here. A few of you must be here for me, huh?" There weren't as many screams as she would have wanted, but a few around the arena tore into yelling. Good...ugh, that would been irritating. "Mmhmm, I thought so! You flatter me, you really do. As for the rest of you, allow me to introduce myself." She took a flowery bow. "You can call me the Red Rogue! Electric show-woman, enticing mystery, and, most importantly, an enemy to all the huffy grapplers that try to cheat you marvelous people out of a good time!"

That seemed to whip them up pretty well. Grinning, Ann jabbed a finger at the stage and slung her whip over her shoulder. "So! Whoever you are, Samiya Kusanagi, I do hope you're ready! The Red Rogue doesn't do disappointing debuts for the fans."

Hmmph. Listen to that crowd. Thousands of people. Millions watching from home. All there to watch another rookie offered up on a platter for their entertainment.

Just another sacrifice on the alter of sports entertainment, nothing special, nothing they were going to remember once the evening’s show was done. Tonight, Samiya Kusanagi was going to give the masses what they wanted.

It had been a while since she’d set foot in a ring and, to be honest, sending a rookie packing because she couldn’t deal with the crucible of wrestling an actual match would be…

Refreshing. She was looking forward to it.

A few seconds passed once Tennant was done with her rambling and then – as the first chords of Divide blasted out into the arena – Samiya Kusanagi made her reappearance on the AFW stage with a twisted smirk and her arms held wide open.

Did you miss me? She might as well have been asking and the fans let her know with a chorus of boos mixed with a few loud cheers that they had indeed missed her.

It was tempting indeed to linger there a bit longer, maybe put her own promo skills to work, but to be honest Samiya could do that when she’d twisted this Rogue into knots.

So instead she made her way down the ramp, her short, stocky frame dressed in the same black one piece and tights as she’d always favoured. That certainly hadn’t changed. And, if the majority of the fans had swung to the Red Rogue’s side purely based on her opposition, there were still more than a few extended hands for Samiya to slap as she approached the ring.

The Schoolgirl Assassin had always had her fans.

Once she was in the ring, it gave her a better chance to eye up her opposition in person and she was not impressed. She might be at a height disadvantage, but she’d bet she had the edge in muscle.

Ignoring the referee and the announcer, Samiya pasted a faux smile on her lips and approached the newcomer, hand raised.

”Welcome to Friction,” She offered, ”Let’s have a good match?”

The fans were raising a massive outcry, telling the Red Rogue not to trust the smaller woman but Samiya had had great success with this tactic. And it wasn’t as if it cost her much.

Sigh. Now the Rogue had to wait while all the eyes shifted to her opponent. Placing her whip behind the turnbuckle and returning the mic only burned so much time. Fortunately for her ego, a group in a nearby row couldn't take their eyes off her. She thanked them for their whistles with a blown kiss.

The mat rattled to signal that Samiya had entered the ring, finally compelling Ann to look her way. The blonde had her curiosities, and looking up pictures of her opponents was one of them. She liked to know if she had any competition in the looks department. Her research had revealed that while Samiya might have been pretty, she certainly didn't have Ann's graceful figure or long legs. In fact, now that they stood across from each other, she decided that Samiya looked even shorter in person. And thicker in the legs.

Ann eyed them sharply. ...Much thicker. And muscular.

...Eh, that was neither here nor there. Ann was clearly the better looking one, and the crowd sounded as if they loathed Samiya anyway. Ann already had the people on her side on those two points, so she shouldn't give anything about Samiya a second thought. Besides, thick legs meant Samiya would just be slower. Duh.

The crowd really must have hated Samiya, with the way they were bellowing. She must have been one of those typical "bad girls." Ann was not one to be intimidated, and these "badasses" were a dime a dozen.

...And then she came over with a smile and an extended hand. Ugh...she had seen this act too. How was she supposed to believe someone getting that many boos wanted to shake her hand? Was she going to have to play good manners hero again and end up getting baited? Because she hated doing that. She was supposed to be the imp, dammit!

While her blue eyes stared at the hand like it smelled, she caught the words of the crowd. A smirk crossed her features. Sweet, not a bunch of dummies who made her act like the dummy. The Rogue thanked them with a snap of her fingers and a wink, before turning smug eyes on Samiya. "A little birdie tells me I proooobably shouldn't trust you." She shrugged and lowered her hands to her hips to make it clear she wasn't buying it. A small cheer passed through the crowd. Hey, great, she wouldn't have to look gullible on TV just to gain some admiration.
"But sure, let's have a good match. I'm all about those."

All about winning good matches.

On her side of things, Samiya had also done some research on the newcomer she’d be up against and had been similarly unimpressed by her physique, her record and… more or less everything about her.

That was fine. It kept her research time down, at least.

Ann was taller but, unsurprisingly, leaner than the stocky Samiya – particularly in the legs but also in the arms and across the shoulders. That almost certainly gave the Assassin the edge in strength, so it made her curious what Ann did bring to the ring.

She would have to see.

At the least, she’d have to see for longer than the five seconds it took her to get a tap with an armbar as Tennant didn’t fall for the handshake trick.

So, this was one rookie who actually paid some attention to what was going on around her. That was depressingly impressive, given the usual reactions Samiya got even from hardened veterans who really ought to know better.

Oh well. It had been worth a try. The stocky wrestler would have quite enjoyed it if Ann had been foolish enough to go for the handshake but… Lowering her hand and folding her arms, the Schoolgirl Assassin eyed the arrogant newcomer with a faintly bemused smirk.

”That’s alright then. Just make sure you’ve got your tapping hand ready.”

With that, she brushed past Ann on her way to her own corner, literally just shoving her way past the leaner blonde.

Her parting words were thrown over her shoulder, along with a meaningful slap of a hand against the tribal sun tattoo decorating one of her meaty thighs.

”Because you’re going to need it before I’m done with you, Red Devil.”

With that done, Samiya took up position and waited for either the referee to kick things off or for Ann to try something… foolish.

Not that the blonde seemed the type but, hey, she could hope.

Oh no. Samiya tried to sound badass, too. Like a lion cub trying to roar. Her tapping hand? Really?

Nevermind that most of her losses were by tapout...

"Ah, I left my tapping hand back home. I was pretty sure I wouldn't need it."

Not wanting to be pegged as an asshole before her first match, she resisted tripping the little jerk as she pushed past, and she really wanted to. Her parents should be proud of her. Wrestling made her such a kind and wonderful person. ...Minus the fantasy playing in her mind where she shamed this shorty at the end of the match with a nice smother, or maybe her feet on her face while she pinned her. Stuff the fans loved and the opponents hated, just the way the Red Rogue liked it.

Or the Red Devil. Ann narrowed her blue eyes at Chuckles (maybe she'd try calling her that to get on her nerves), wondering if she had come across the name or if she meant it as an impromptu "insult." "Oh, so you have heard of me?", she grinned after her, deciding the former was more amusing. Something had to be. Samiya didn't seem particularly humorous. And she wished she would stop drawing attention to those stupid huge legs...

Eh, whatever. Continuing to flirt with the nearest group of fans who cold hear her, Ann flicked a thumb over her shoulder at Samiya and lifted her arms in an animated shrug. "I'll have to stick a pitchfork in this crazy chick, 'cause she's done."

While she awaited the ref's signal for the bell, Ann continued to strut slowly around her edge of the ring, giving the crowd eyes and occasionally checking to make sure Samiya didn't get crafty. The signal for the start of the match came soon after, and Ann, almost skipping, bounded to the middle of the ring. She had one plan and one plan only early in these matches, doubly so here tonight since Samiya didn't strike her as the speediest of cubs. Those legs might have been big, but they weren't long and lean like the Rogue's.

So she leaned, arched her back, and suggestively waved for Samiya to come closer so she could get her embroiled in an embarrassingly long game of cat and mouse...where Ann was the Jerry to her opponent's Tom.

And every submission wrestler ever born had heard that one before.

‘I’m too tough’, ‘you can’t make me tap’, ‘I’d rather get knocked out’, whatever the specific flavour was, it all came to the same thing.

Not always but, when Samiya got her hooks into Ann, the Red Devil would be tapping just like the rest of them. Everybody had their limits so far as pain went, it was just a question of finding them. And, though she knew she wasn’t the best, Samiya did know that she was damn good at her job.

That was why they called her the Schoolgirl Assassin after all. And the Red Rogue was just another arrogant, stuck-up blonde waiting to be broken.

Samiya loathed blondes. Particularly arrogant blondes. And most especially arrogant blondes who couldn’t even back it up.

Ann Tennant was seemingly purpose-built to irk her in that regard. So, she didn’t dignify the question – almost certainly rhetorical anyway – with a response, instead choosing to finish her stretches and get ready.

It gave her plenty of chances to roll her eyes at the show-off she was sharing a ring with and at the way the crowd – or at least a noticeable subsection of the crowd – was eating it all up.

Yeah well. They were fickle.

The one thing she did notice, by the way the other woman bounced and pranced and acted up, was that Ann probably had a definite advantage in speed. She could deal with that, but it was something to consider going in.

Speaking of which…

It was also tempting to ignore the wave, but Samiya decided she wanted to get stuck in.

Which meant coming closer, as if she was taking the invitation, circling in, until the stocky fighter exploded forward as fast as she could manage in an attempt to flatten the blonde with a lariat to the chest.

Start like she meant to go on, after all.

Closer. Ann knew by now that she didn't have to say anything to get most opponents as attracted to trying to beat her down as bees to honey. She could exude disregard for the threat they posed, and most of them hated it. Samiya appeared to be no exception, though she did prove more patient than those who just blindly charged at her. But it didn't matter a bit. Ann was, undoubtedly, entirely prepared, and as her blue eyes trailed Samiya, so did the smirk she wore.

But Samiya's first step wasn't that of a lunging brontosaurus, like Ann had imagined, and the blonde's evasion was inspired more by her instincts rather than preparation. She flung her limber frame to the side, but she didn't notice the extended arm until Samiya was within a step of her.

And the Rogue felt the assassin's knuckles brush against her side while she contorted around that arm just before it hit her. It was a close enough swipe that Ann bounced apprehensively on her feet and let out a stressed breath even once it was obvious that she was in the clear while Samiya blew past. That would have...probably knocked her off her feet if it had hit.

Okay, cool, great. No big deal. Ann had still managed to dodge the shorty. Knowing she was still faster deepened her already considerable confidence.

...But not so much that she got brash. Where she normally would have jumped on Samiya's back and wrapped around her, she settled for a safer option. With one foot planted on the mat, she brought the other around from the side of her body towards the back of Samiya's knee. Nothing to fell a giant. Just a sharp, biting low kick with the toe of her boot to get those tendons (or whatever) vibrating.

Most importantly, it kept her out of danger. No more knuckle-brushes from Samiya Kusa-cannonball.

Samiya Kusanagi was no speed demon. Just… no. Uh-uh. She was never going to beat Ann Tennant in a sustained footrace, at least not based on speed. Endurance may have been another matter but, well, they’d have to see about that.

That said, she could manage an impressive burst of speed when she put her mind to it and it was well worth it here. If only, she might add, for the way that Tennant’s eyes went wide in the second before the very, very near miss.

On the less useful side, a near miss was still a miss. It had been a tough guess to make, when the right moment to make her move would be, and Samiya had either misjudged that or underestimated how fast the newbie could move. Perhaps both.

Either way, Samiya skidded to a halt past Ann with nothing more to show for it than the feeling of cloth against her knuckles. Blah.

Not that she was given much time to reflect before a sharp kick struck the back of one of her legs. It wasn’t the strongest kick she’d ever felt, by a long shot. She’d been in the ring with Valley Doll, after all, and it would take real talent for a rookie to live up to that competition.

On the other hand, it didn’t really need that level of power or technical skill when the hit was right to the back of the knee.

Samiya’s leg buckled forward. It didn’t drop her to one knee exactly, but it left that limb in a state halfway between standing and kneeling, the stocky powerhouse staggered but not down.

Steadying herself, Samiya went to stand, turning so that she could keep her eyes on Ann.

She was going to have to play this one a bit more passively than she preferred, it seemed.

Boom. A staggered knee would put the brakes on that first step for the time being. The cockiness returned to her delicate features at the sight of Samiya losing balance on the target leg, though she didn't go all the way down (frickin' muscles). That she didn't go down robbed Ann of her desire to follow up the first kick with another one to the back of the head, a typical combination she unleashed on the poor slowpokes back in her old promotion.

A shame. What a hot start that would have been, knocking Samiya halfway to China with a boot to the back of the skull. But Ann wasn't so self-assured to take more chances this early in the match against little miss cannonball. Chicks got punched in the vagina that way, and she had seen it (and maybe felt it a couple of times, even if she would never admit it to anyone who hadn't witnessed it). Once a chick got punched in the crotch, she was halfway to being flat on the mat. On the mat, thick thighs and burly arms made a difference. Not what Ann wanted for her more slender self, at all.

Plus, Samiya made most of the girls from the past look scrawny. Ann wanted every advantage she could claim.

No, the Rogue was smart, a source of great pride. Lots of women could beat an opponent up almost as well as she could, but what good did that do if they were dummies? She made all the right decisions, and saved her best for late in the match. The strategy had won her...what should have been championships instead of the single one (and would have been if it hadn't been for the morons booking matches), so why change a good thing in a new place with new people like Samiya for her to kick and bait and kick and bait until she was nice and ripe for something bigger?

And so, as Samiya straightened and turned, Ann shuffled back to safety a couple yards away, like a boxer making space.

There, the blonde hooked a finger from Samiya back to herself. Time to lay out more honey. "If at first you don't succeed?" Her hands dropped to her hips in her best casually enticing pose. "I'm right here. It can't be that hard to hit me."

She hoped she saw a picture or video of this come morning.

While that hadn’t been the greatest start to a match, Samiya felt confident that there had been worse too. Alright, her opponent’s reflexes were too good to try catching her off guard that way again.

But she took some hope from the lack of follow up. It might have been prudence but, judging by what she’d seen so far, she was going to go with arrogance and showboating instead. That was a weakness she could exploit, particularly if it went with underestimating Samiya into the bargain.

And the talking thrown her way afterwards just went to confirm her suspicions in that regard.

So Samiya paused. Glanced from side to side in a pointed way that was meant to hide how her eyes never really left her opponent, as if she was asking herself who Ann was talking to, because it clearly wasn’t her. When she finally turned her head back square on to Ann, it was with a slight little grin curling her lips.

”Maybe the whole ‘I’m so innnocent’ act cut some ice in the no-name backwater you’re from,” She mused, starting to circle but keeping her own distance, ”But here? It’s just pathetic.”

Samiya’s grin might still be slight but it was a stiletto smirk nonetheless.

”A bit like you, really.” The Schoolgirl Assassin hadn’t earnt her name by being stupid. Letting this newbie bait her into attacking over and over again would be just that. And, if Ann wanted to throw that saying her way, Samiya had another one in mind.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – the definition of insanity.

So she settled into her stance, kept low and loose, and waited to see what Ann would do. She’d have to play this one a little more by ear.