Party Hard vs. Novae - Starstruck

So far, this was working out even better than Belle had hoped. She didn’t think she could come close to getting a submission at this point with something as simple as a legspread, but it was doing more damage to their foe than she’d expected. The woman was strong, Valerie could feel the raw power in her legs, but that wasn’t going to help her with this sort of move. It was all about flexibility, and Belle didn’t seem to have enough to properly endure such a move.  It might not have worked on her more lithe partner, but with her it was sheer torture.

”I am sure this hurts.” She spoke with the casual, controlled air of surgeon in mid-operation. ”If you feel the need to tap, don’t hesitate.”

She gave the move a good wrenching when Belle started to sit up, planting her back on the mat. The other good thing about this move? It kept Valerie away from the upper body that had been ragdolling her sister a moment ago. She was the stronger half of Novae, but, having seen Belle in action, she knew their strength didn’t compare. The woman would mow her down head-to-head.

On the sidelines, Valerie chewed her lip, watching over Valerie dissect Belle. She shouldn’t have felt sorry for the brunette. This was a match, not a blind date, and her sister would’ve given her a good knock upside the head for thinking otherwise. Heck, it was their debut match, they had to make a solid impression here if they wanted to get anywhere in the division.

But…

Some movement caught her eye, and she looked up to see that Kaylee had moved around the ring, for some reason. She was grabbing the ropes, leaping up, and- ”Val, look out!”

By the time those words came out of Tatiana’s mouth, Kaylee was in mid-flight, and it was far too late. To her credit, Valerie tried to break the hold and roll away, but she only made it midway before Kaylee came crashing down on her with an impressive moonsault, crashing down over her body, blond on blond. A shriek of angered anguish came from her lungs and she rolled about and clutched her chest, along with more than a few muttered Russian curses.

Kaylee wasn't sure if it were possible she would ever last a better moonsault in her career. Not that this one was any more refined than others she had done. No, it was because of how she had taken Valerie by surprised. She was certain the first time would stick with her as being the fondest memory unless she managed to get the woman laid out enough to finish her off with one. Having her writhing and helpless under her would maybe, just maybe be enough to beat out this.

She had hardly been given the time to celebrate her own landmark victory over her now arch nemesis when the official was already shouting at her, making sweeping gestures as if trying to land a plane by hand. She was aware she wasn't suppose to be here, God. She had leaned back as Valerie moved away, rolling herself back to the outside of the apron to make her way back to her corner with a new confident swagger to her step. She threw up her hand, waving to the crowd and blew then kisses to an uproar of support.

Normally Belle would have been angry at Kaylee's interference. She was a capable fighter, and didn't need hand out help from the blond. In this particular instance she was emphatically grateful to have been saved. She would likely never admit it. She despised being a victim who needed saving. She was the knight here, not the damsel. After the hood had been broken she had retreated to the ropes in a roll, unaware how long it would take her to recover she wanted a safety net to protect herself from another submission.

There had been an added bonus of being able to pull herself up one rope at a time was well. Her though ached, but we're thankful to not have done all the work getting her to her feet. She knew she should tag, but she wasn't ready. Valerie was still too fresh, she needed to work her over a bit more so Kaylee could maintain control. She was confident her partner could go toe to toe with the other blond, but it was a matter of also keeping her from tagging in Tatiana again when all was said and done. There were very few places Kaylee couldn't get to her from in the event she found herself on the mat again. If anything what had just transpired spoke to that.

Belle slipped from the ropes, shifting back into her sudo-boxing stance. It was important she not let Valerie dictate the pace of things this time. A notion that was easier said than done. She could feel the burning in her legs and hips, she knew her footwork was going to suffer more now than it had before. Just like Tatiana, just just need to catch her once, that was it. She circled in towards Valerie, careful not to stray too deep into the ring.

"Really hope you enjoy getting fill of fun in now. You won't be so smug about it after I lay you out." She might have been slightly bitter about her comments during the hold.

Tatiana was already dreading dinner tonight.  She knew how the thrust of the main conversation was going to go, what Valerie would be complaining about, how poor a job she’d do of defending. Her sister had made it clear, crystal clear, that just because she was on the apron didn’t mean she could take it easy. Her job as the passive team member meant she did things like warning Valerie about what their opponents were doing when they couldn’t see them, ideally in time for her to do something about it. As in, the thing she didn’t do a moment ago.

Now Valerie was on the floor, aching, her momentary advantage erased, and even though her sister was focused enough not to look her way, she knew part of the anger in her eyes was meant for her. Just great.

Valerie was, indeed, quite peeved at the moment, her patience for Kaylee’s nonsense far past the point of no return. As the referee ushered her intering foe away, she started to push up on the mat, working her back up to a solid base as Belle did the same. She wasn’t in the best of shape, showing the accumulating damage that had been done to her, but she was still able to fight. And, more importantly, willing.

Valerie spared a glance her sisters way, considering a tag out, but dismissed the thought as quick as it had entered. Whatever was happening between Belle and Tatiana, it wasn’t helping either of their teams. She would push this with Belle as long as she could.

With that resolve, she moved in with arms raised, nice and slow, like she was getting ready to lock up. Instead, she waited until she was just inside Belle’s range, then sped up, trying to whip her way around her opponent’s body to capture her with a waist lock.

As she met Valerie's eyes she noted her stance, eyelids lowering as she viewed the woman flatly. Did she think Belle was stupid? The blond might as well adorned herself in flashing lights and a neon sign reading "bait" hanging from her neck. There was not a world in which Valerie would willingly lock arms with Belle on even ground. She was certain of that.

Belle needed to get in close to do her own damage, but she knew, especially now, the woman would be able to out to did as she did before. Skirt around her and pick an opportunity. She had done so easily enough already and that had been while Belle was still fully capable.

She wasn't particularly well versed in all the variety of submission holds that were out there. She had never seen the one Valeria had put her in just moments ago. If she got caught again it would be bad. Letting the blond dictate the match was going to end her, she knew it. She needed a plan of attack that put her at an advantage on approach and made her difficult to grab should she miss. If all else failed she had Kaylee.

Jogging backwards Belle pushed herself into the ropes using them to spring back, lessening the distance she needed. While she wasn't fast naturally, when she got moving she was hard to stop. Going in for a lariat was her first choice, but she knew from fighting Kaylee she it was pretty easy to snag her legs and bring her to the floor, right where Valeria would want. A flying attack however... She was just as likely to miss the swift woman, sure, but unless she was a miracle worker Belle didn't think she could snatch her from the sky. This would allow her to also fling herself closer to the ropes in the event Valerie did catch her post landing.

As she neared she hurled herself forward, arms held out in front of her acting as a shield as she attempted to plow through the woman's chest. She made certain to keep herself straight and compact, not giving the crafty woman anything easy to latch onto. In the best case scenario she would topple the woman over and land on her. Worst case? She didn't want to think about it.

The funny thing in all this was that Valerie liked Belle. Far more than Kaylee, at any rate. While she had only ever seen their show as background noise from Tatiana’s phone, she’d seen enough to suss out the woman’s type: smart and serious, cool and collected. Her type, in other words. In another setting, they would’ve gotten along in splendid fashion.

But this was the ring, they were opponents, and Valerie’s main concern was trying to find a way to get inside and bring the woman to the floor for another submission - one the referee wouldn’t allow to be broke, she was hoping. A good strategy, but executing it would prove more complicated than merely thinking about the priorities.

She thought that she could get inside, as she slid closer to Belle and tried to get behind her, only to find out there was no more ‘behind’ to reach - in an unexpected maneuver, she had moved back, getting to the rope, looking ready to bounce forward. Not a problem. Valerie just started to move back, creating some space between them, willing to use the gap to her advantage.

That was, until there was no more gap. Belle launched herself, turned herself into a human missile, and Valerie, fast as she was, didn’t have the speed to dodge it. Not at this range.

Belle hit and brought the two of them to the mat, with Valerie finding herself trapped under the stronger woman, the exact opposite position she wanted. Knowing well the trouble she was in, she started to scramble, trying to get herself out from under the brunette before she could do...whatever her next step was.

Her plan was to plow the woman over, and it had come to fruition. The landing, was far worse than she had expected it to be. She came clattering down over Valerie, possibly hurting herself as much as the other woman. The blond's attempt to escape rather then mount some form of defense was a call to arms. It was like a feast had been laid before Belle, who was she to turn away a free meal?

She clawed at Valerie with one hand, grabbing for any part of her clothes she could clench her fingers around, using her as a step stone to pull herself up to her knees on her journey along her body to mount the woman's waist. It was a slow process as her focus was split. Her right arm rose itself high, raining down massive clubbing hammer blows with the underside of her fist. In that moment she appeared more as a wild gorilla than a wrestler, screaming into the arena as she brought down blow after blow. She didn't care where or what she hit, she was swinging wildly to do as much damage as she could.

In her mind, Valerie would either escape battered or become immobile enough for her to straddle.... then the real party would begin.

Kaylee cheered as Belle took Valerie to the ground, though the cheering died as she looked on. "Wow." Was all she could really say, a bit taken aback by Belle's... strategy. She shook it off though. She had other things to attend to. Grabbing hold of the ring post she swung around to the other side, keeping her eyes locked on Tatiana. She readied herself to intercept the girl if she had any bright ideas of trying to interfere.

For whatever reason, Valerie had assumed that Belle would go for a submission hold in this position, and that her best hope was to scramble for the ropes. Most likely, she was considering what she would do if the situation were reversed - grab a limb, start bending it, weaken her opponent’s offense and build towards a submission. Wrestling boilerplate.

Silly of her. She and Belle were similar, but not that similar.

No, the brutal brunette had something more direct in mind. Valerie’s struggles turn up empty as Belle climbed up her body, mounted her waist, and started raining down heavy blows with reckless abandon. The first two hammered against her chest, slammed her into the mat and punishing her attempts to sit up, before she managed to get her arms up to block the assault.

Or try to, anyway. Belle hit so hard and furious that her guard made for scarce protection, cracking more with each blow. Attempts to buck her off didn’t work, either. They were around the same weight, but Belle had more muscle, had the leverage, had everything she needed to keep her down. Valerie needed help. Needed a rescue, as much as she hated to admit it. Where was Tatiana?

Not far away. While she had been hesitant to jump at first, the more Belle battered away on her sister, the more it became clear she would need to do something. With a huff, she leaped over the top rope, landed in the ring with a single bound and came charging at Belle from behind, looking to hit her in the back with another one of her Penalty Kicks.

Valerie was actually on the nose with what she thought Belle would do, she just didn't realize how loose Belle's definition was of what made a submission move. They were more or less the same, keep doing the thing until they gave up. Wrestling was simple like that.

Once she had managed to secure her place on top of the blond was when things became far more serious however. Her wild strikes became focused forearm strikes, bearing down at her with not only her natural strike but her weight. With no resistance to stop her, each blow was one of reckless aggression and power.

Fate had been cruel to put Valerie in this position, at this time. She wasn't just an opponent now, she was a target of pent of frustration from the past few matches Belle had been part of. Abused,  beaten, down and made to look like an utter fool. The blond beneath her wasn't a person for the time being. She was a punching bag.

Belle saw red each time she caught a glimpse of Valerie behind her shattering guard, meeting her attempt at protection as a direct challenge as she hammered her way through in hopes of getting to what was beneath which she thought was worth protecting. To say she was carried away was a bit of an understatement, but she had no intentions on letting her off easy if at all after catching her had been so difficult.

Kaylee was ready to intercept, but as she slipped into the ring she wasn't certain she would be able to cut Tatiana off. She was faster than expected, something she would have known if she had been paying better attention to the match. Rather than trying and possibly failing to stop the redhead, she opted to instead use it as an opportunity at another free attack against the duo.

Tatiana had been the one to pull Belle out of her blood haze, though it hadn't been gently. Her kick clapped against her spine straighting her out immediately with a cry. She reclined back, arching her back against the stinging sensation leaving whatever remained of Valerie beneath her still, but no longer under assault.

Kaylee broken off her chase to cut Tatiana off, scrambling to loop around behind the redhead. She had reached her moments after she had landed her kick, intending to make her question if it was really worth it. She leapt up, clapping her hands around the girl, trying to lock her fingers under her chin and pull. Her knees came up mid flight, thrusting themselves into her back. With a rough yank, she attempted to pull Tatiana backwards with her to the mat, holding her firm so when they landed the impact against the girls spine with her knees would be intense. "Hey there~!"

As Tatiana pushed past her reservations and barreled towards Belle from behind, she found herself regretting this whole choice. When they’d been told that they were facing Party Hard, management had given them the option of refusing and going up against someone else, someone from the tag division’s lower ranks. Valerie had thought that might be the better idea, worrying that Tatiana’s fandom might get in the way, and she’d promised her sister - promised her - that it wouldn’t be a big deal.

And yet, here they were.

”Sorrysorrysorry!” Tatiana’s babbling was meant for both Valerie and Belle as her kick hit home, landing with a solid THWACK to the spine. It did what it needed to do, buying Valerie a much needed moment as Belle writhed in pain. She planted her feet on the mat and bridged up, try to send her foe rolling off. She wouldn’t be able to follow that up with anything, too hurt from Belle’s bashing, but she would take any sort of break, at this point.

What was Tatiana’s reward from coming to her sister’s aid? A lungblower.

Her eyes widened as Kaylee came in from behind and pulled her to the mat with the move, sending a shock up and down her spine. She cried out and rolled back to her corner, flopping about as she nursed her back.

The referee, of course, didn’t like a bit of it. ”What is with you people?” She stood and pointed to both corners. ”Enough! Keep this up, and I’ll call this match off, do you understand?”

Belle blinked up at the ceiling, letting the pain run through her as she winced with each labored breath. When her onslaught came to an abrupt end she found herself feeling drained by the sudden outburst. As Valerie bucked beneath her the brunette had been displaced, hitting the mat on her side with a distinct lack of grace. She looked to her corner feeling now more than ever she wanted to make that tag... where was Kaylee? She turned her head, squinting at the shouting official eyeing Tatiana and Kaylee being scolded for their interference. Kaylee's gaze met hers. They seemed to be on the same page, or at least she had thought so. Her blond partner gave a nod before running back to their corner.

All that was left was to get there.

Kaylee wasn't sure how Belle had gone from the hulk to a zombie on the floor, there was no way someone as tiny as Tatiana kicked THAT hard. Still, it was clear it was time for her to do some work. While she would have preferred a tag to have been made in their corner with one of the sisters there for the duo to beat up on, she would settle for a normal tag. She wanted a piece of Valerie, REALLY wanted a piece of her. She had been through the ringer already, picking her apart now would be easy. She stared on with a carrion grin, only breaking contact to check on Belle's status. "Come on! You can do it Belle!"

Belle had rolled herself over onto her stomach, taking a moment to collect herself as she pushed herself up onto her knee. She hadn't been paying attention to Valerie, her focus dead set on getting to her partner. Her fingers slipped back through her hair, slicking her wild mane back out of her eyes. She steadily rose to her feet taking stumbling her way towards Kaylee's outstretched hand.