Sky Captain Rosemary Maynard vs Yayuuki "Lucky" Sakura

Match Type: Standard Match
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, submission, or KO.

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Sky Captain Rosemary Maynard:

Rose's Theme:

Billowing white smoke filled the stage and ringside area stage, a precursor to when her music finally began. The arena was well lit in bight blues yellows and oranges, presenting the illusion of a sunny day as images of clouds were projected over the audience. Sky Captain Maynard appeared from behind the curtains, fists firmly planted on her hips, chest puffed out, head held high. The pristine white topcoat she wore draped over her shoulders like a cape billowed about her making her seem more imposing than her small frame actually was. She presented herself as the epitome of a gallant heroine as she could muster.

The thick white smoke flooded from the stage, rolling down the entirety of the rampway enough to rise high on anyone who walked on the ringside portion of the area. She stood tall among it all, seemingly floating on top of the clouds as if she had the uncanny ability to fly. The display was new to most, though some were familiar with this from not only her time in Cutlass, but her first official match within Friction.  She stood stoicly, gliding through the clouds as they parted around her, whipping into the air dramatically in her wake.

The otherworldly feel of her entrance was all smoke (literally) and mirrors (figuratively) as she stood atop a small segway platform dictated in it's movements by subtle shifting of her weight. It had taken a long time to master the board, not that it was hard on it's own, but to navigate the ramp while maintaining to pose was a difficult task. She had spent countless hours practicing, and had the pictures of the bruises to prove it. The among of dedication and skill it took to do this was a detail that would be sadly lost to

She brought her hand to her side, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of the blade sheathed there. She drew it out in time for a metallic sound cue which played along side her entrance. Holding the blade aloft, a small spotlight hit it, just right, to make it appear to glow and shine. She wished she could see herself right now. Already excited for how cool she must look right at this moment. With a dramatic flourish, twirling the blade effortlessly between her fingers she thrust it forward. She slowly began to glide down the ramp, the edges of her coat fluttering behind her. As she got to ringside, she slowly turned, making one small trip around the ring, presenting herself to everyone in attendance paying them with small nods and the tip of her hat with her free hand.

After she had made her way around the ring, she seamlessly stepped down from the segway, nudging it under cover of clouds beneath the ring to preserve her secret. She dramatically sheathed her blade before walking up the steps proudly. Rather than climbing between the ropes, she hopped from middle rope to turnbuckle, standing tall atop the post. Arms raised high, she slowly looked over the crowd one last time. bending at the knees, she kicked up off the post, backflipping off the turnbuckle to land smoothly inside the ring. Her coat, which had fallen off in the display, was caught within her arms upon landing which drew a big cheer. Her hat had amazingly not fallen off somehow... bobby pins were another secret she'd be keeping to herself.

As the lights came up and her music faded, she moved to the far end of the ring to take off a few key parts of her attire not fit for the match at hand. She surrendered her topcoat, sword and sheath to the official to slipped them to an ring side attendant for safe keeping. Leaning back into the ropes, she jogged from one side of the ring to the other, bouncing from the ropes to test their elasticity. Once her opponent's music finally hit however, she would move back to mid ring and lend them all her attention.

Wrestle Attire:

Spoiler:

Theme:

Spoiler:

Lucky watched her pirate-themed opponent preform for the audience back in her end of the arena, her hand covering her mouth in shock at all the acrobatic tricks and moves, discarding all of the unnecessary parts of her equipment at the same time! Perhaps the most surprising thing was that her hat, through all that jumping and flipping, hadn't fallen off her head! Now... THAT was a great entrance! There a was absolutely no way Lucky was ever going to top that walking down the isle so... she didn't really even try. She'd save all her impressiveness for the match! As her cool jazz played over the speakers, announcing her presence, the japanese cheer-leader simply began her walk down the ramp, waving at her fans as they cheered on her appearance! She blew kisses to those most dedicated. Guys holding signs reading "We love you Lucky!", people holding their hands out to be slapped, just all the nice people that made her job here at AFW all the more fun!

She was a little self-conscious about how... standard her walk down to the ring was, unable to keep those jealous thoughts out of her head... but that would all go away soon! She couldn't WAIT to wrestle this beauty! If she was half as impressive fighting as she was hopping around the arena then BOY oh BOY would it be a great match! Lucky slipped under the bottom rope before shooting to her feet and walking RIGHT up to the Pirate-lady, staring up at her cutely. She was slightly taller than her, wearing a somewhat revealing corset-skirt thing and high boots. She even had a sword with her! Wow... her cosplay was amazing...

"You... are so COOL!" She exclaimed, hopping giddily in place! "Ohmygod! I wish I could do half the things you do! I gotta know how you do all that stuff! Oh, and who makes your outfits! It's super cute!" Sakura was so giddy with excitement, she had forgotten to introduce herself! Her cheeks blushed slightly as she remembered her manners, pushing all her eagerness aside for a moment. "OH And by the way..." She leaned in, giving the girl a soft peck on the lips! "My name is Sakura! I hope to have a nice friendly match with ya!"

Rose cocked her head slightly as she eyed the entryway, intrigued by her opponents choice of music. When the girl revealed herself, one of her slender brows arched slightly. Of all the things she had expected, a bright smiling cheerleader she could honestly admit wasn't among them. Regardless of her own thoughts on the matter, it seemed she must have been charismatic enough to already garner a following since the crowd seemed quite smitten with her.

While she hadn't done any research into “Lucky”, the crowd reception told her enough to be weary. Either the girl was really good or really showboaty… perhaps both. It wasn't often someone got signs in the crowd while being relatively new to Friction after all.

Rose set her hands to her hips, returning to her familiar and heroic pose as Sakura made her way down the ramp. As the girl made her wait into the ring, she hadn't expected her to beeline straight for her, but did her best to remain composed, not sure if she was going to greet or attack her.

Rosemary blushed faintly at the complements, especially with the way the girl was staring at her with those big adorable eyes. While she may have normally taken offense to her outfit being called cute, it seemed like a harmless and genuine compliment coming from this girl so she let it go. “My thanks, citizen. I have all of my attire, finery and mundane, handled by skillful hands all the way back in the United Kingdom. I will be sure to carry your kind words of praise back to them.”

Rose was trying hard not to smile too hard, it was incredibly difficult to keep a straight face. Sakura’s own smile and bubbly attitude we're rather infectious. She assumed the girl had leaned in to look at some of the finer details of her attire, and instead found herself being kissed. It was a small harmless gesture, but one that left her blinking and rosy cheeked. “Ah… uh... yes… Ms. Sakura.”

She quietly cleared her throat. “I am Sky Captain Rosemary Maynard.” She gently placed a hand to her own chest, dipping in a deep blow with a great deal of flourish. Rather than rising right away, she did something uncommon to her usual routine, spurred on by Sakura’s own introduction. She reached out to lightly take the girl’s hand and give her a very small kiss on the back of her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Your attire is quite... spirited.” She would surrender the girl's hand after, rising up to face the Sakura again.

Sakura's smile only widened when she heard the captain-themed opponent speak, LOVING the way she chose to word her responses! It was like she was fighting a real super-hero or something, or some kind of knight! Oh, she loved it! Oh, it was so cool... There weren't WORDS that could describe the respect she had for this woman who had the self-image show up on stage dressed like a pirate-captain, who had the skill to preform the leaps and sword-play she did, who had the COOLNESS to pull it all off all together! Needless to say, Lucky had only just met this woman and already she held her in high regard! WELL! She knew what ms.super-hero was getting at the end of this match, win or lose!

When she delivered a kiss upon her, Lucky giggled softly at how FLUSTERED it left the captain, pulling up a hand to her mouth to hide her smirk as she giggled softly. Not only could he pull off being as cool as a cucumber, but she was ADORABLE to boot! AND THAT NAME THOUGH! SHE WAS A SKY-CAPTAIN! Her name was so gorgeous... Just everything about her was so perfect! Lucky was fangirling out so hard right now! At this point, if Rosemary asked for her to forefit the match for her autograph, she would no doubt walk RIGHT out of the ring right there!

...Well... maybe that was an exaggeration... She wouldn't walk right out of the arena... She'd ask her to sign her cheek first! Sakura froze in place when Rosemary took her hand, bringing it up to her lips before delivering upon it's back a soft kiss... It wasn't anything over the top, but it still made Lucky take in a sharp breath in surprise, her face ablush in a deep pink! The hand hiding her lips was now fanning her flaming cheeks in a moot effort to cool them off, the poor cheer-leader giggling nervously.

"Eheheheheh... Um... The pleasure is all mine, Captain Rosemary!" She greeted warmly, blushing a little darker at her compliment. "Thank ya! I like it! Not as much as I like yours though! It's so cool... Uhm... Did I say that already?" She giggled a little more before letting out a heavy sigh to restrain her enthusiasm and stepping back, doing her best to wipe that smile off her face and get serious.... Trying and failing... clearly.

"I hope we have lots of fun!" She declared, lowering herself into her wrestling stance. "Good luck!"

Sakura had no right to be this adorable. The starry eyes way she was looking at her, the little giggle… was her reaction that funny? She felt the heat in her cheeks but tried to ignored it. She wasn't a girl in high school anymore… This was her as an adult. This was her career. They were in a match… she needed to be far more professional than this.

Rose took a deep breath after rising from her gentle kiss on the back of Sakura’s hand, feeling slightly less embarrassed at the other girls reddened cheeks. That almost made up for it, but she was hard enough on herself to know it wasn't enough. She didn't think Sakura was intentional toying with her. The cheerleader just seemed like a genuinely happy go lucky girl, which was befitting the outfit. She was sure it would get easier to deal with once they got started. This was just prematch jitters.

“Mhmm.” Rose gave a small not to the question of her attire being cool, rather than correct the girl she gave another small. “Thanks you.” As to not embarrassed the girl by putting her on the spot. “I am certain our bout shall be one to remember."  She raised her arms in her own stance, far more fluid that but standard grappler. Her feet remained mobile as she bounced on the balls of her boots, waiting for the bell.

“En garde!” Rosemary snapped forward, immediately attempting to lock up with Sakura, not looking to give the girl much of a choice in the matter. A standard collar and elbow tie-up, nothing fancy. While far from the mightest of foes in Friction when it came to strength, she was good at playing angles and working balance.

The Sky Captain attempted to assert herself, trying to lead the two of them by shifting positions , jerking their upper bodies from side to side, and generally trying to bully her opponent towards the ropes. If she managed to get Lucky all the way to them, rather than attempt to lay into the girl, she would hop back, grabbling for the cheerleader’s arm to try and Irish whip her towards the far ropes.

Sakura giggled as the battle had begun, declared by the airship captain in her typical OLD fashioned way! Of course, she had to respond in kind! One couldn't simply take that "Engard!" like it was a simple challenge!

"Have at thee!...Uh... KNAVE!" Sakura exclaimed, moving right in to clash with Rosemary in the center of the ring!

...She was trying so hard right now to be serious. SO hard...

The Cheerleader matched up with the captain's shoulder-collar lock-up, matching her in strength as they clashed! Lucky grunted hard, immediately met with the annoying inconvenience of Rosemary jerking their upper bodies side, to side, attempting to throw her off balance! As if their nearly identical strength didn't make it hard enough already! Well... TWO COULD PLAY AT THAT GAME! Sakura followed the captain's lead as was her duty as a low-rank, jerking and throwing her opponent's upper body about in an attempt to wring the fight right out of her! Letting out a loud huff, Sakura could feel herself starting to lose ground, little by little by little, simply not as vicious as her captain was! It wasn't in her nature to attempt to throw people around! She had too much class for that! And so the captain did her job and took charge of the situation, eventually pinning the cheer-leader against the ropes!

She winced slightly, expecting to get hit or something, but Rosemary did something that surprised her and simply threw her back at the opposite ropes!

"Woaaah!" She cried out in protest, her legs listening only to the momentum of her body, the poor cheer-leader made a slave of her own movement!... But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing... Sakura whirled around as she approached the ropes, bouncing off the elastic ring-borders and using them to increase her speed! At the last moment, as she drew in for impact, she would jump up, attempting a running cross-body on captain-her-captain, turning her busty frame into a flying projectile!

Being called a knave ALMOST got a giggle out of her. Focus Rose, it's a match. She's your competition. Taking the initiative had been the right move. As the two shuffled opposite each other, it seemed apparent in terms of raw strength they were pretty evenly matched. She managed to stay in control of this little dance though, moving Sakura up against the ropes. She pressed in on the girl, holding her pinned against the ropes while she maneuvered her arms to go for the Irish whip to send the girl running. She waited a few beats before she threw her own back into the nearby ropes, sending herself running towards Sakura.

Rosemary was a showman as much as she was an athlete. At the start of her matches, when available, she liked to showcase her acrobatic. It helped build some hype as well as promote herself to the crowd. There was always time for attack, but while she was fresh she was going to make the most out of her speed and evasive abilities to really give the audience their money's worth. As she came rocketing towards Sakura, plans had changed rapidly as the girl seemed in control of her run, jumping at her the last minute. Rose grimaced, unsure if she had time enough to react. Throwing herself down to the canvas, she bent herself backwards. She slipped along the ring, sliding beneath the flying cheerleader as if she were a living breathing limbo bar, leaving her to cross body the ground.

She throw herself forward, scrambling on all fours for a brief moment as she tried to maintain her momentum, steadying out to continue her run to the far ropes. A quick pivot and she was springing off them again, a living ping pong ball bouncing all over the ring as she came running back towards Sakura. The cheerleader had limited time to collect herself after the earlier attack with Rosemary bearing down on her fast. She wanted her up, was hoping she would rise fast. With a skip and a hop, Rosemary threw herself forward, cartwheeling towards Sakura. She would attempt to catch the girl around the head with her legs, twisting her body to wrench it in the opposite direction to attempt to flip her opponent down to the mat with a handstand head scissor takedown. If she managed to nail the girl with the move, they would be thrown away from one another.

WELL! That didn't go according to plan! Sakura's flying cross-body was met perhaps with the most elegant near-miss the Japanese girl had ever been witness too with Captain Rosemary bending back to the point that the cheerleader just SAILED right over her! She crashed to the ground hard on her stomach, bouncing slightly as she slammed into the canvas, letting out a soft groan of protest... If it hadn't hurt so much feeling her move used against her, she would've started fan-girling again over that matrix-like dodge! She was so cool! Lucky wanted to be JUST like her when she grew up! Still, she couldn't help but blush... As AWESOME as her Captain was, that failed cross-body was embarrassing... Utterly disgraceful...

Back to the business at hand, though, the Cheer-leader managed to rise up to one knee as her opponent came at her in such an unorthodox and unnervingly flexible way, literally cartwheeling backwards like she was some kind of slinky toy! BOY! That was creepy! Seeing overly flexible women bending backwards like that for regular stretches disturbed Lucky enough but to see someone come AT her like that...? Ugh... It was like seeing a spider or something scuttle across the floor! So unnatural...

"Nnngh!" She grunted pulling herself to her feet as Rosemary closed the distance alarmingly fast for someone doing cart-wheels, giving Lucky the barest scrap of time to formulate a plan! What could she do... What would Rosemary do from there? She literally had her back to her so she couldn't see anything at the end of each flip... that was when she needed to go for it... If she stayed where she was, the captain was going to deliver some kind of cartwheel kick or something! If she dodged to the sides, she didn't know if she would have as good an opportunity to counter-attack...

It was risky... But she was called Lucky for a reason! Timing her charge just right, Lucky sprung at her captain, intent on taking her down with a brutal spear from behind at the start of her final cartwheel that would lead into her takedown! Should she manage to tackle Rosemary and bring her down as she intended, Sakura would quickly scramble up her back and cup her chin in her hands, wrenching her back up in a nasty camel-clutch! She hoped her split-second plan came together the way she wanted... Make up for that embarrassing start!

Rosemary started off strong, in terms of presentation at least. The crowd was invested in her before a single blow was really landed, all because of her smooth transitions and acrobatic feats. She lived for this sort of thing, ate it up. It wasn't just all for the fans either. She had seen that spark in Sakura’s eye, she knew it because she had it often when she was impressed with other wrestlers. She wanted to give this girl a good taste of what she could do to possibly impress her opponent a bit. It was all going so well too…

Until Sakura spear her right in the back, sending the both of them crashing to the canvas. She had been so caught up in the moment, just feeling the electric sparking from the hyped of crowd was so overwhelming that she hadn't really kept track of her opponent. It shouldn't have been surprising that Sakura wouldn't be down for long, but the fact her opponent not only got up but countered her had taken her by storm and left her sprawled out on the ground.

Rosemary groaned, fingers dragging along the mat as her opponent crawled up along her back and planted themselves on the small of her back. She let out a soft huff as she slowly started to try and push up off the ground before hands cupped her her chin, wrenching her back. “Aa-aaah!” Her back arched as she was stretched back towards Sakura, grasping at the girl’s hands to try and pry them apart. She kicked her legs rapidly, banging them on the canvas. She hadn't been pulled back to her limit, trying hard to resist her attacker’s control over her body.

“G-get off!” She squirmed and gasped, trying to not give in. If she wasn't making progress pulling Sakura’s hands apart, she would take one of her hands away, reaching back over her head to blindly to to grab at the girl for anything she might be able to put her hands on to pull her closer to relieve some of the stretching

YES! It worked! Sakura couldn't help but feel proud of herself that she had managed to execute her split-second plan flawlessly! It wasn't often that plans went... well according to plan but when they did, it was a wonderful feeling! Sakura leaned back a tad herself to force more leverage out of Rosemary as she clawed desperately at her fingers! She could feel her kicks behind them, shins and feet slamming hard against the canvas in an expression of frustration and discomfort.

"Nope, nope nope!" Sakura exclaimed, jerking her captain back a bit more as punishment for her request! "Can't do that or you'll start flippin' at me again!" Meanwhile, her fingers were being pried at one by one, weakening her hold with each one by a substantial percentage! Yeah... she needed to change up her hold... Keep Rosemary restrained... And she had just the hold in mind! Adjusting her grip so that instead of her fingers being intertwined, they locked into fists with each-other under Rosemary's neck, a grip that's much harder to pry apart! She would adjust herself so that she was no longer sitting atop her, but to the side as she locked one of those arms of her Captain's back with the leg closest to it, completing the transition to a cross-face hold! Instead of straining Rosemary's neck and back, Sakura instead went for her neck and SHOULDER!

"Gotcha agaiiiin!" She chirped softly, acting as the harpoon chaining the air-captain down to the ground. Painful, limiting and immobile. "This one will be a little harder to get out of! I hope ya know your way around submissions!"  At that last word, Sakura yanked up HARDER against the other woman's neck, letting her know how trapped she was... not like she needed a reminder. Meanwhile the leg that had entrapped her arm began slowly pulling it back, inflicting more pain upon her shoulder!