Party Hard vs. Novae - Starstruck

Match Type: Special Elimination Tag
Victory Conditions: Match starts as a simple tag team match with traditional rules. After a participant is pinned, however, she has to leave the ring and head backstage. From there, the match becomes a 2 on 1 handicap tornado tag match with the remaining tag member against the team that won the first fall.
---
***

”Are you ready, Tatiana?”

”To party? Always.

The Friction crowd was growing anxious, having to wait longer than usual between their matches. To make things worse, they weren’t just waiting for anyone: the next match would include Party Hard, one of the newest tag teams and a swiftly growing fan favorite. Not only that, but the match rules ensures that, after someone was defeated, they’d all be treated to an enticing little show, as some poor wrestler was picked apart. Tasty.

If Valerie and Tatiana had their way, everyone would be going home disappointed tonight.

Without a single warning, the lights dropped out all around the arena, bathing the crowd j darkness and turning the seats in a sea of blinking stars. For a moment, everyone thought the power had gone out, but a moment later that changed when music began to play. Loud, booming, upbeat, fast, it got toes tapping and heads bobbing.

When the music picked up, a single, star-shaped spotlight shown on top of the ramp, revealing a pair of women no one in the audience had ever seen before.


The two beauties stood still with microphones in hand, back to back, staring out into the audience with wide smiles and bright eyes.

”Ladies and gentleman!” The blonde spoke, her voice lounder and stronger than you would ever expect from a woman that size. ”My name is Valerie Siamko!”

The smaller one, a redhead with an odd shade red, quickly chirped, her voice sounding like candy tasted. ”And I’m Tatiana Siamko!”

Together, as one, they boomed out with perfect timing in their words. ”We are Novae! And we are here to party!”

The music kicked up and the two sister became to strut down the ramp, moving in tandem with each step, proud and bold as they strode forward. The hopped up on the apron, grabbed the ropes, pulled back, then yanked themselves forward, somersaulting inside and landing right beside each other.

”Get loud!” Tatiana clapped her hands as she and Valerie pranced away from each other to opposite sides of the ring. ”Make some noise, let me hear it!” They jumped onto the turnbuckles and stood on the middle ropes, throwing their hands up to shake along with the music. The crowd returned their energy in spades, waving their phones about as a light show pierced the darkness. Sparkling lights flittered about, streaks of red and blue, a feast for the eyes, a sensory bombardment.

The moment came and went, and when it was over, both sisters did a backflip off the top rope, landing in the center of the ring with their backs less than a few feet away from each other. Hour and days and weeks of practice, finally paying off.

As the music faded, the crowd had a loud round of applause, more than you would expect for two wrestlers they’d never seen until a minute ago. They seemed reasonable impressed. Valerie and Tatiana intended to make sure they stayed that way

Kaylee wasn't bitter. No, not at all. She stood there with narrowed eyes and cheeks puffed up like a blow fish as she watched Novae make their debut from back stage. Belle had a phone in her face, which was usual. The two normally would post their reactions to opponents entrances if they came out last. Right now however, she couldn't be bothered to play up for the camera, which for Kaylee bordered on heretical behavior. "I love their costumes." Her words were betrayed by here tone, one of jealousy with a twinge of catty maliciousness.

"They match?" Was all Belle had to offer unhelpfully. In truth Kaylee was the one between them to cared about looking presentable. If not for the blond girl she'd just go down to ring side in a tank top and some jean shorts. Kaylee liked to make everything into a big to-do, so she went along for it. It wasn't like it hurt her any.

"We are here to party." She mimicked there voices in a whiny tone, huffing loudly. "Who do they think they are... Look, they are "supposedly" sister too, just like us! They even have matching hair to us! Ooooooooo!!!! Who do I talk to, to flag them for a copyright takedown? I am going to get their team so many strikes they have to just delete it." Her arms folded and she passive aggressively tapped her foot to their catchy music... hating every moment of it! She had was positively livid over anything these two women were. "Bet they don't even have over a hundred followers on Instagram. Rookies."

Belle lowered the phone, turning off the recording. This one wasn't getting uploaded, that was for sure. " We were sisters on a television show... I'm also pretty sure that isn't how these things work around here Kay." She tapped the screen, deleting the ruined take, booth off Kaylee's phone and off the cloud server. The last thing they wanted was to have Kaylee flying off the rails leaked someplace.

"Ohmaigawd! Did you see that?! They do flips in unison. We need to do that... but better! Lets do double back flips and I'll land on your shoulders. Got it?" She turned to stare up at Belle expectantly as if this request were perfectly reasonable. The disturbing thing is she actually expected this to fly. Really Kaylee?

"...What? Tonight?"  EVER?  "Are you kidding me? I'd break my neck. I'm not doing any flips, that's your thing."

"But THEY can do it!" She threw her finger down towards the stage, disturbing the dark curtains down to the ramp. Belle quietly considered if Kaylee actually thought that was enough of a reason to will Belle to spiral to her demise.

Breaking news, it wasn't.

Belle swallowed her want to explain how stealing from the people Kaylee was accusing of stealing their gimmick was pretty counter productive. Reasoning with the blond when she was fired up about something normally just ended with an argument that left both girls feeling like crap after. Belle had a hard time reigning in her opinions when Kaylee was acting like a little brat. She decided to take the high ground and be the adult here. "Get me a microphone." Belle arched a slender brow at the request, staring at Kaylee's back as the blond glared out past the curtain with a clenched jaw. It was almost time for them to go. "Come on, hurry! I'm not going to let these posers upstage m- us... if not for our brand, do it for me. Please?" Kaylee look up at Belle giving her a sad pout. Belle's eyes narrowed, knowing full well the blond was trying to draw out some sympathy. Still, she went to do it for their team. If they didn't stay on the same page they were going to be at a huge disadvantage if these Novae girls were as together as their entrance made them seem.

---

Party Hard Theme Music:

Kaylee and Belle:

"Coming to you LIVE!" Kaylee burst from the curtains, taking a few large steps before she jumped up, pumping her fist. As she landed she threw out her arms, spinning on her heel to wild applause. She didn't even try to hide her smug smirk when she came to a stop. "Let me hear you Daywalkers~!" She threw up the microphone to the beat of the music as sections of the arena shouted and cheered, some were even singing along with the easy to follow music. Belle slipped out in the uproar, training the phone on Kaylee as she recorded. The blond threw out a few kisses to the audience before leaning down pretending to kiss the camera. Belle leaned over the camera, giving it a small upside down wink before recording Kaylee.

"Kaylee here, with your Daily Dose of Day~! I have Belle with me, as always, but you all knew that, didn't you? We really don't need an introduction." She held out the microphone as the crowd cheered, chants of "Yes!" washing over the arena. "Let us be the first to welcome you here Samey-Sisters, you both look... decently presentable tonight! Can we get a round of applause for them, aren't they just so memorable?" Belle groaned softly but kept her mouth shut, following Kaylee down the ramp as she walked and talked at the same time. The crowd, though a bit confused honored the request and started clapping and cheering.

"Not sure if you got the DMs, but we're AFW's resident 3P, that's Party Power Pair for the uninitiated, have to keep those characters down if you're gonna get anywhere on twitter girls." Kaylee stood just outside the ring, tilting her chin up enough to someone look down at Novae while being well below them in terms of elevation. "2P is all yours though, so you can be the Party Posers."

"Also stands for player two, just a thought." Chimed in Belle, which got a sage nod of acknowledgement from Kaylee. Belle panned the phone over their opponents, keeping it steady as she zoomed in through the ropes to get a quick reaction before scanning over the audience.

Kaylee pulled herself up onto the apron, lounging across the edge as she leaned on the bottom rope, waiting to belle to pan the phone back to her. With a smile and a wink, she talked to the audience at home "Like, favorite and subscribe! Make sure you click that little bell so you can always be notified when we upload! Leave a comment down below about how much you want to see me walk all over the Party Posers. I love your faces, stay sunny!" Belle ended the feed as she filled in the details to start the upload.

Kaylee hoisted herself up onto the apron, running along the outside edge. As she reached the turnbuckle, she rapidly ascended it, hopping to the tippy-top. From there, she carefully tightrope walked around the ring, dropping herself down on the Novae side of things as if the feat hadn't been difficult at all. She handed off the microphone to the official in passing making sure what followed was between just the three of them. Stepping up on the sister, she attempted to to poke Valeria in the chest. "I don't know what you two are playing at here, but I swear I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Belle slipped a small pouch from her belt, dropping the phone into it before hanging it on their side of the ring from the middle rope. They were likely be making use of it during the match and needed it on hand. Climbing into the ring she stepped up beside Kaylee, giving the other two girls a sympathetic shrug. "Lets have a good match, yeah?" She offered her hand to Tatiana, only because she was the one not currently occupied with Kaylee. It was always an odd day when Belle was the one being amicable. She was hoping the feeling might rub off and bring Kaylee's head back into the game.

Their introduction complete, Valerie took a moment to lean back against the ropes and catch her breath, glad that was over. She’d tried to tell Tatiana that they should go for something more conservative with their entrance, something that didn’t waste a large chunk of their energy before the bell had even rang, but, well, her little sister was a woman who loved to impress, and it was hard to dissuade her once she’d set her mind. More than usual today, because Tatiana wasn’t simply focused on impressing the audience, today. No, she wanted to impress their opponents, too.

”Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!”Tatiana went into one of her usual squealing fits as Party Hard’s music started up, leaning over the ropes, gazing up the ramp with even more bubbly enthusiasm than usual. ”It’s them!”

Despite herself, Valerie couldn’t hold back a slip of a small, a tiny curve  on the edges of her mouth. Tatiana’s happiness was infectious, and fewer things made her happier than the duo walking out of the curtain right now. She’d been a long time fan of Coming Together when they’d grown up, watching every episode with nearly religious fervor, even though the translations were terrible. That fan worship migrated over to their Youtube escapades, which Tatiana watched while she was taking a bath or cooking or - much to Valerie’s irritation - training.

So, when Tatiana heard that their debut match was going to be against the duo, she’d gone on a sugar-filled bender that was finally coming to head, as Party Hard appeared and...promptly started to make fun of them.

What little smile Valerie had disappeared, as Kaylee - at least, who Valerie thought was Kaylee, not 100% sure - riddled them with snide comments and backhanded compliments. She kept her mounting anger to a simmering boil, knowing there was little point in getting mad until that anger could be useful in the actual match. All the same…

”I’m breaking the blonde’s arm.” She spoke Tatiana’s way, just loud enough for her and her alone to hear. ”Just so you know.”

Tatiana glared her way, a split second, before she turned to Belle’s camera and waved for the shot, glowing as much as humanly possible. ”Don’t be so serious, come on.” She stepped back with her sister and gave her a little elbow in the side, trying her best to keep things calm and copacetic. ”It’s just a little show, something for the crowd. Relax, they’re not serious about it.”

Valerie might’ve bought that explanation - after all, they both knew the value of showmanship. Nothing too serious, and she could’ve left it at that...until Kaylee came over and poked her in the chest. Valerie didn’t move, didn’t respond, didn’t so much as blink. She simply stood there and stared at the other blonde. Long. Hard. Awkward.

Tatiana couldn’t have been glader when Belle finally made it in and shot out her hand for a shake. One that she accepted with eager hands. ”Yeah, let’s! And I just wanted to let you guys know, I’m a HUGE fan, and it’s super-awesome that you guys are here for this, and-”

”Tatiana.”

”-and I just wanted to say how much your show was, like, such an inspiration for me and my sister when we first met each other, and-”
”Tatiana.”

”-and I was thinking, you know, we could do this crossover episode with my channel, maybe appeal to different audiences, and-”

”Tat!”

Valerie managed to break away from her staredown with Kaylee long enough to give her sister a shake, alerting her to the referee who was standing nearby. Waiting. Patiently.

”Oh. Right. Match.” Tatiana had a quick, nervous laugh, before looking back to Belle. ”How about you and me kick this off?”[/i]

The cold war had started a new as Kaylee glowered up at Valerie, neither woman speaking another word to one another. The silence only seemed to get her more riled though as her cheeks puffed up and jaw shifted as she gnashed her teeth. Kaylee was normally always a ray of sunshine. Sure, She was prone to the odd temper tantrum, but it was a rare sight for it to be something anyone but her accountant, manager, or Belle were there to witness. She wondered if maybe staring long enough at Valerie's head she could make it explode into a shower of confetti on sheer willpower alone.

Belle on the other hand was on the defensive, her normally strong handshake was drowned out by Tatiana's overbearing energy. She stood there blinking as the girl just continued to shake her hand and rattle off her life story as it related to their show. She had never been fond of fans of Coming Together, but that was more to do with the convention scene then it was to do with the fans themselves. She just hated all the dumb questions of continuity, or people pointing out X scene in Y season where something was out of place or a character went missing. She found it very hard to dislike this girl though, she came across and genuine and endearing, qualities Belle often felt were lost to most people. Her eyes flicked to Valerie as she tried to move the match along, which got a small smirk from her. She couldn't help but actually see a bit of herself and Kaylee in them, well outside of Kaylee's perceived conspiracy.

Kaylee had taken the opportunity to strike first, in that when Valerie turner her head she stuck out her tongue at the woman. Feel the burn, you heinous bitch! She perked at the proposal of the match start, snapping to attention. "Lets go, I'm ready, I'll be st-"

"I'll be starting us off." Belle, level headed and cool, feeling uncharacteristically happy at the moment decided to force her hand for a change. Speaking of... Belle gave a small chuckle, slowly taking back her hand from the bubbly sister. "Did you want to start out with me?" She looked to Tatiana, tilting her head slighting. "Uh... What was your name again? I was having trouble hearing you both during the entrance." She shot a sidelong glare to Kaylee, who has since folded her arms to snootily look off towards the arena crowd. After a few more seconds of fuming, she made her way to their corner, slipping through the ropes to stand on the apron. She knew Belle made the right call, but still was angry with her over it. Had she been paying attention to Tatiana at all to know she was a fan, her attitude would have likely turned around in an instant... but she hadn't been listening to the Party Posers.

So, things were a little tense here, Tatiana could fill it. Valerie could be difficult, she knew that better than most, but she was taking this whole bit far too seriously. It was all an act. A show. Just something to give their match some spice, to blow well for their Youtube channel. They would play nice in a moment. As nice as you could play when you were about to be smacking each other across the ring.

”Oh!” Tatiana perked up and gave a nod so emphatic that Valerie feared hear her head might roll off. ”My name is Tatiana, and I would love to start off against you, sure.” She leaned forward and threw a quick whisper her way, with a bonus wink to go with it. ”You were always my favorite.”

As for Valerie, she had a few words to say to her counterpart, too. Short words. Simple meanings. ”I’ll be seeing you soon. Look forward to it.” She gave Kaylee a slight nod, the barest possible for it to be considered a nod, and made her way over to their corner with a confident strut. As ready as she was to go a round with Kaylee after the massive amount of crap that had been thrown in their face. But she could wait. For now.

”And that would be my sister, Valerie. Sorry, she's a bit of a Party You-Know-What. Heh.” Tatiana shrugged and moved over to the center of the ring. She slipped into her fighting stance, bouncing on her toes with her hands raised, falling into her training’s habits. She was serious from the neck down, but her smile remained. This was just too amazing.

"Tatiana, right." She blinked at the confession, glancing off to the side as she casually flipped back some hair. It was rare someone ever preferred her to Kaylee. She was usually second fiddle both on and off air. The same carried over to their channel these days. While they each had their own sizable audience, on a whole, people preferred the more up beat Kaylee to the dry down to earth Belle. That's just how it always was. Now this girl had her flustered... she wasn't sure if she was blushing or not. "I'll give you some brownie points. Just don't tell her." She whispered conspiratorially, nodding her head back to Kaylee who was making faces at Valerie from the safety of their side of the ring.

She was tempted to tell the girl to hit her up after their match, but she knew full well that depending on how it all played out, Kaylee might usher them out right away. Still, she kept the offer in the back of her mind for how, assuming things on her side of the camp settled by the time all was said and done. She nodded to Tatiana's introduction of her sister. "It's alright, I get how it goes." As she backed off from the redhead, she shot her sister a look appraising her form afar. She wanted to assume she would be the one to look out for, but that was only because she really didn't want to go hard on Tatiana. Maybe that was all part of it, buttering her up. She was okay with that at face value. If the girl had been lying, she was a damn good actor.

As she made her way center ring she took her own stance. Elbows tucked in, fists raised. She was bouncing a bit on her own feet, favoring one shoulder closer than the other to Tatiana. If their opening act had been anything to go off, she expected this fight early on was going to be frustrating for her. People like Kaylee in the ring always gave her trouble. Too much flipping around and coming at you in weird ways. She preferred just to fight straight up, a brawler at heart. She was confident if she managed to get her hands on either woman, she could probability do some damage.

"Good luck." Normally she said this sarcastically, today she meant it. This was the first match they had since coming here that she felt invested in, and it hadn't even started yet. There was that long uncomfortable moment before the bell rang... and then it did.

Belle wasted no time, stepping in on Tatiana, leading defensively with her shoulder and her raised arm, she sent out a quick hook towards Tatiana's abdomen. Body blows were going to be the name of the game tonight. The fastest way to take out speedy high flyers was to take away their breathing. Good luck flipping, jumping, climbing, and running when your lungs weren't cooperating.

Valerie loved her sister, truly. They had little in common - didn’t share blood or taste in music or taste in food or taste in television or taste in movies or taste in just about anything you could care to name. But that was sort of the point. Tatiana gave her viewpoints she wouldn’t have otherwise, looked at the world in a way she couldn’t. She saw them as two halves of a whole. Useful apart, but together? Capable of much more.

So, as she made her way out onto the apron and took position, she kept a wary eye on her other half, and shifted her gaze between her and the members of Party Hard. She knew about as much of these two women as she did on the mechanics of nuclear physics, but what she saw so far didn’t make her comfortable. The blonde was an open bitch, no ignoring that, and the brunette seemed nice. Seemed. How long until she tried to use Tatiana’s fangirlism against her?

That question was nowhere to be found in Tatiana’s own mind, however, as she watched Belle move into her fighting stance. Her mind raced with a thousand thoughts, few of them connected. Should she hold back or go crazy? She didn’t want to just wail on Belle, but she didn’t want her to think she was weak, either. Could she keep it friendly, even after they started kicking each others’ heads in? Also, who did their clothes? Tatiana wanted to get their tag team going on a rotation with different outfits, and she truly could’ve used the input…

The bell’s ring snapped her back to reality. Just in time, too, because Belle - the smart one, the tough one, the cool one -  wasn’t wasting a second. She came in with a bold move, swinging out for a hard hook that would’ve had Tatiana on the floor if it hit. Which it didn’t. Thankfully.

”Вот, дерьмо!” She yelped as she leaped back, narrowly avoiding the blow. As she jumped, she twisted about, hair twirling as she flew, and shot her leg straight out at the end of her turn, attempting to hit Belle with a spinning heel kick to the chest.

Her hook was sharp and short, no real follow through. She wasn't going to start swinging for the fences until she got a good feel for these two. Kaylee relied on her to do information gathering. Belle would take on the brunt of the match on sheer force of will, while Kaylee watched and learned from the sideline. She was there Tactician, O Captain my Captain. Once they had enough info, the blond tended to work up a winning strategy to help get them home. Belle though, she was the backbone of the team. She played things safe early on out of necessity, because most of this would be on her shoulders, as always.

Her hook swished by, hitting nothing but open air. Tatiana was quick, but that much was expected. It tended to be most of these acrobats tended to have speed to there name. As the girl hopped back, she was a already in pursuit.

"Good!" She twisted her body, not even trying to dodge the kick. She wasn't fast enough for that. She instead took the blow to the shoulder and back, tucking her head protectively behind her raised fists. She took the blow in a remarkable stride, grunting and gritting her teeth on impact. As she stepped in, she completed her twist, throwing out a wide closed fist backhand from shoulder to shoulder, trying to catch the redhead if she tried to dip to either side.

Though Belle seemed unmoved by the counter kick, she was surprised and hurting for taking it full on. Tatiana had a lot more oomph behind her than she had initially thought. She would have to make an effort to not try to straight up power through any more of her attacks if possibly, otherwise she wouldn't last very long in here.

Kaylee had slipped out her phone before the match had begun, focusing it on the fighting at hand. Normally she would just chill out, maybe browse the web a bit, respond to tweets. Right now? She was more focused on the match, wanting to send these two women packing. She shoot on the bottom rope, bouncing on it as she cheered on Belle from the sideline. "Take her head off!" She was throwing up her hand to call for attention and putting a hand to her ear, appealing to the crowd to also support them. It wasn't very hard to hype them up. They seemed pretty taken with both teams.

Ha! That hit! Sort of!

At first, Tatiana had a sense of joy, glad that she’d managed to score the first hit on Belle, and do it while avoiding one of her attacks, to boot. The brunette wasn’t slow, per se, but she clearly wasn’t the speed demon of their team. Which meant that she could stay one step ahead of her and pick her apart as she danced. In theory.

That theory was tested, though, as Belle recovered from the initial hit far quicker than Tatiana expected, if she’d been slowed at all, giving her precious little time to deal with the incoming backhand. Reflexes were all that saved her in the end, as she ducked down at the right moment, so close that Belle’s fist passed through her flinging hair as it completed an arc.

It was a good thing she’d ducked instead of jumping back, too, because there was precious little space left to retreat. The ropes were close now, and she was in danger of being backed up against them, a bad thing against a woman with a body like Belle’s. She needed to push back. Now.

Tatiana planted her feet hard, then rose up fast, bursting up like a geyser, an explosion of movement. She brought her leg up as she flew, attempting to hit Belle in the chest with a knee strike, one of the harder moves in her arsenal, hoping it would be enough to make her back off.

Meanwhile, on the apron, Valerie gripped the rope tight. Not just worried for Tatiana - though, she was, noting how much of a bruiser Belle seemed to be - but not liking those comments coming from her counterpart on the other side. ”Push her back, Tat!” She yelled, raising her voice for a rare instance.  “Do not let up!”

As her fist went wide, it cut through the air like a knife, but nothing more. She traded in her defense for her momentum and came up short. Her eyes followed Tatiana. She understood what she was seeing, the woman at her feet coiling up like a spring. Would it be another kick? It felt like she was moving in slow motion as her mind registered it all, but her body was too slow to react, one of her arms was still outstretched from over extending with the swipe, the other tucked inwards towards her chest and head defensively.

As Tatiana  sprang upward, her knee caught her squarely in the chest on her opened side. Belle's eyes shot wide as the knee took root in her body before throwing her back from the force. She stumbled, off balance, her arms grasping at the air as if she could find something to hold onto before she fell backwards onto the mat, blinking in utter confusion and surprise over what just happened to lay her out.

"Belle, get up!" Kaylee draped herself over the top rope, stretching out her hand, urging for the tag. The match hadn't even started getting under way yet and now this? She knew she shouldn't have listened to Belle. If she was in there, this never would have happened. She slipped her phone back into the pouch hanging from the ropes. "Come on!"

Belle didn't stay dazed for very long, throwing her arms wide to slam the mat on either side of her with her balled fists. She let out a yell, psyching herself back up before she started to power back up to her feet. Her first act as she began to rise was to lock her eyes on Tatiana as a followup from her would be an issue.