Gaining Momentum - Simone Mackenzie Skyles vs. 'Bouncing' Betty Buchanan

Simone had read up on this Momentum promotion before she ever agreed to leave Chicago and head out to Tokyo to take part in this tournament. They had contacted her on a tip from another more senior boxer, they said, and they were willing to offer her a pretty tidy purse to participate. The money was only secondary to Simone, though. What was important to her was advancing her boxing career against quality competition. From what she could tell, the tournament was being held as an effort to drum up interest and expand the roster of Momentum, which could be a mixed bag. Simone had heard of AFW before, though. Oh, she had heard about it plenty of times, and she knew how highly-regarded its wrestling brand was. At worst, she would fight in one tournament that would serve as a launching pad for her internationally, and have some fun in an exotic, cutting-edge world city. At best, she could potentially be a "founding member" of an entire promotion.

Plus, she wasn't really one to disappoint people. If she was recommended to the organizers of this contest, and they really were keen on her being a part of it, she would have done it for next to nothing, just to make the event as great as it could be and have some fun in a country she had never been to before. She just liked going into something with her eyes open, and she liked what she saw as she stepped out at the top of the ramp, a simple but infectious beat ushering her down to the ring, her long black robe covering her gear, save for the green gloves on her hands and the black boots on her feet. She smiled and blew the crowd a kiss as their cheers grew louder, before climbing up onto the ring apron and threading herself between the two middle ropes.

Swinging her gloved hands around in front of her body, limbering up and staying hot for the fight to come, Simone would make her way over to her corner, turning around to give each section of the crowd a pretty good look at the AFW newcomer as she got ready for her fight—starting up a little shadowboxing, launching quick combinations of jabs and hooks into the air in front of her, showing off her speed as the lights dimmed for her opponent's entrance and her eyes turned towards the ramp!

With the introduction of Simone, the crowd was settling in for what they hoped would be a good, wholesome boxing match between two respectable opponents. While many of them were fans of Friction and Tension, there was a lot of disillusionment in the two brands, people who disliked all the infighting and factions and dirty tactics that came from the world of wrestling. This was a chance for something purer. Something untainted. Something traditional.

Bettie was looking forward to shattering those dreams.

Her theme music came up, a bouncing, jaunty tune, and the woman herself emerged a moment later, bouncing along with it to match her nickname. She was all smiles, had a wide grin on her face, letting the audience get an eyeful with every flap of her skirt and bounce of her breasts. She was in a good mood. Why wouldn’t she be? She was about to make history.

She’d joined Momentum a while ago, hoping it would be a good way to kickstart her career, but she’d underestimated how slow to get going the fledgling league would be. She needed competition. She needed to get her name into circulation. But they were having trouble just finding opponents for her, which meant that she’d been in a more or less limbo state for the past year. Underground fights, a little foxy boxing here and there with minor leagues, and she even had to do some private session work with a couple of horny old guys. Nothing that she would be putting on her resume any time soon.

But this? This was the big dance. A chance to become the #1 in Momentum, the biggest fish in the small pond. So she had much to be thankful for. Even more when she hopped into the ring and saw her opponent.

Cute thing. Pretty. Nice skin. Didn’t look too worldly at a glance, so there was some potential, here. She’d have to see what she was working with here, and that meant starting things off on the right foot.

Betty made her way across the ring, throwing a quick wink to the referee as she passed, and extended her tapped fist out with an open hand, looking for a shake. ”Simone, right?” She tilted her head to the side, just a nudge, getting a look at her from a different angle. ”Betty. Ready to dance with me, babe?”

Simone was busy warming herself up, but she couldn't help but get a good look at her opponent as the girl climbed into the ring. Her music was nice, too, and it was helping to psych Simone up, as well, the Chicago native breathing in what was an impressively energetic atmosphere for a new promotion and turning that into pure adrenaline.

But she focused that energy on her opponent when the girl got into the ring, and Simone caught the pink-haired boxer staring back at her, too. Simone could only speculate about what was going through this girl's head right now. As far as Simone knew, this girl had been in Japan for a while now, but she wasn't exactly a known entity in the boxing world outside of this country. There wasn't much of her out there on the internet like there was about Simone. Maybe that was a disadvantage the darker girl would have to work through. Though maybe not. Honestly, this opponent of hers didn't exactly look like a diligent studier.

She was pretty, though, which was nice. Simone always liked that in an opponent. She shrugged off her black robe, tossing it out over the ropes in her corner, and, as the pink-haired girl bounded forward, Simone would move to meet her near the center, flashing her a big smile as she extended her taped hand forward and grasped Betty's firmly, giving it a nice squeeze before using that hold to pull Betty in closer, reaching her other hand around for a sort-of-hug to pat Betty on the back firmly.

"That's right. Real nice to meet you, Betty," Simone replied, keeping Betty in that sportsmanlike hug for just a second before pulling back, though she kept her hand connected with Betty's. "I'm always ready, so if you think you can bring it, I wanna see what you got."

Right away, Betty knew that she’d been given the pick of the litter with this one. Oh, she didn’t know too much about her foe from the basic she’d read on the fight card - American, from Chicago, easy on the eyes. But she could suss out plenty from just the way she carried herself. The smile. The bright eyes. That goody-goody glow she had going on. Betty had only been looking for a shake, something simple to get this going and start building up the trust, but Simone had to go and pull her in tight, looking for a hug on top.  She had the sweetest voice to, all pleasant and charming and God it took a real effort not to vomit.

”Oh, you want to see what I got, huh?” Confident, this one was. Good. She could work with confidence. Also, why hadn’t she let go of the shake yet? Too long for Betty’s tastes. ”Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to give, babe.” She leaned in, her brows furrowing ever-so-slightly. ”Let’s give them something to write home about. Really kick this tournament off with bang.”

With a wink, she waited for Simone to let go - didn’t want to appear rude - and promptly made her way back to her corner, passing the ring girl, a leggy brunette with black high heels and a red bikini. After taking a moment to admire the view she went to work with her gloves, getting them laced up with the help of her cornerwoman, Lara.

”Looking friendly out there.” There was a light laugh under Lara’s tone, as if she was speaking to a joke only she could get. ”What’re your thoughts on her so far?"

”She’s roadkill waiting to happen.” Betty said it without a second of hesitation. “Three rounds or less. Dead bang.”

Betty seemed a little awkward in the hug, but she didn't pull away and didn't scream and throw a fit. Overall, Simone liked what she was hearing from Betty, as the girl seemed relatively upbeat while also maintaining a cool confidence about her boxing abilities.

There was something a little bit off. Simone was a people person, and one didn't shake as many hands as she did without noticing when one part to a handshake had some sort of hang-up about it. But for the life of her, Simone wasn't able to pinpoint it, and it was possible Betty was just nervous, maybe a little fidgety. Simone was a nice girl. She was a strong believer in giving and being given the benefit of the doubt, so she would file any concerns away for later and give her opponent a wink as she let go of her hand, receiving a wink herself in return.

"You look like you've got it, babe. Gotta be careful with you. But I'm still looking forward to feeding you a little bit of my leather." After parting ways with her foe, Simone made her way back to her own corner, casting just a momentary glance towards the ring girl before she got there, where her cornerwoman, Keisha, had her gloves waiting for her, sliding them onto Simone's hands and yanking the laces tight.

"Looks like you're havin' fun," Keisha speculated, and Simone smirked and shrugged.

"We've gotta see. I think it'll be fun, but there are probably a couple things to work out first. I need to start off fast, establish the pecking order. I won't give her any time to think about whatever's weighing on her mind."

Lara just chuckled at Betty’s assessment, not even bothering to argue. They’d been here before. Similar situations, similar opponents, and it looked like the outcome would be similar, too. Still…

”Just don’t get too confident.” She gave Betty a quick flick on the nose, then went about finishing her laces. ”Do me a favor? Play with her a bit at the start. Don’t go for the kill right away. Have some fun, feel her out in the first round, get a good idea what we’re dealing with.”

Betty snorted at that. ”What’s the point of having insurance if we have to play with it like that?”

”Humor me.” She finished off the job and gave Betty her customary smack on the ass, pushing her off.”And have fun.”

Betty gave her cutwoman a quick sideways glance, before turning about and focusing on the matters at hand. As much as she hated to admit it, Lara rarely steered her wrong with this sort of thing, had good instincts and advice to dole out. Oh, she’d be smug about it, and rub it in Betty’s face for weeks, but it was worth the irritation when things came together. From the looks of things, Simone was an eager little beaver. Good. Would make this first round easier.

The bell rang a few seconds later, and Betty came out of her corner with a slow strut, bringing up a tight guard as she approached her opponent. Whatever Simone had for her to kick this off with, she wanted to be ready for it.[/b]

Keisha had known next to nothing about boxing when Simone had first stepped into the ring and asked her then-girlfriend to join her corner team. Even though their relationship hadn't worked out, Keisha had turned into one of the most intelligent boxing minds Simone had ever known, always soaking in new information and constantly improving herself and the woman whose corner she was in. Their romantic parting had been amicable enough that Simone had never even really thought about firing Keisha as her cornerwoman, and she was going to rely on her smarts tonight, being in a brand-new, slightly intimidating environment, facing off against quite an...interesting girl.

"So I feel like she's got something on her mind, looking at her. Take advantage if you can, but be careful. Lookin' at her build, she's obviously not weak...I think you can outrun her, though. Probably trade punches with similar power," Keisha mused, as she tugged those laces tight and then tied them up, redoing one when she wasn't satisfied with it, Simone letting her cornerwoman dictate how things were done here in the corner, in her domain. "Pop her, then back off. See how she reacts. If she pulls back, pop her again. See if you can figure out what she's about. If you see an opening, go for it, but don't get reckless, ya got that?"

Simone smiled and clapped Keisha on the shoulder softly with a glove. "Thanks, boo. Anything else?"

Keisha chuckled. "That's it. Get out there and whoop her ass." Lifting Simone's green mouthguard, she would shove it into the fighter's mouth, Simone chewing it a couple of times until it slid into just the right spot.

Simone pounded her gloves together and turned back towards the ring as the bell rang. Betty put up her guard and moved forward at a lazy pace. Simone would move a little faster, bringing up a pretty tight guard of her own—with the arm positions reversed, of course, seeing as how Simone was a southpaw. She trotted in towards Betty, closing the gap quickly, circling slightly to her right as she did, just to see how the pink-haired girl would react when Simone tried to bring her own left into range and take Betty's right out of alignment.

And then, Simone would make her first move, testing Betty with a quick right jab at her face, then pulling it back. Then another one, aimed a little lower this time, followed up in quick succession with a left hook at a similar height!

It was hard to put a finger on it, it there was something about Simone that was already sort of irking Betty, this niggling little itch in the back of her head as the two of them neared. Part of it was because she was a southpaw, and fuck goddamn southpaws, but it wasn’t that alone.

Could be the way her and that cornerwoman of hers were talking, the look in their eyes, that determination. She really thought she had this, didn't she?

Keep it together, keep it together, remember the plan. Let her come to you, and-

”Oh.”

Simone was coming all right, just faster than Betty had expected, closing the distance in short time, hardly a moment wasted. Circling around her, trying to screw her up - cute, really. A bright little spark, she came in with a jab, one that Betty was all-too able to defend, swatting the damn thing aside with ease.

The followup was a different story, though. She’d started to lung in with a jab of her own to retaliate, but wound up misjudging just how fast Simon was. Quite quick, the answer turned out to be, more than able to chain a solid hook after that jab, one that crashed right on the side Betty’s temple. Solid blow. Not the worst she’d ever taken, but enough to give her some pause.

Betty took a step back, righted herself, and threw out a punch of her own, aiming a stiff right cross at Simone’s chest. More to keep her back than anything, a little something to maintain space.

Simone and Betty got close pretty fast, and Simone was going to stick to her plan by testing Betty out and seeing what she was made of. She had an impressive physique, alright, but just based on the eye test Simone didn't feel like she saw anything her own body couldn't match. Thanks to the girl's relative lack of tape made publicly available, though, Betty might have a strategic advantage over Simone, whose battle plan was generic, tailored to her own strengths rather than her opponent's weaknesses. She needed to get the advantage early and use it to feel Betty out. Once she had her opponent figured out, she could start to fight for real.

She came in fast, throwing two quick right jabs which Betty easily deflected—and a mean left hook which she didn't, Simone's green glove smashing into the side of Betty's face, a little high, smacking her head to the side. She was obviously rocked by the blow, taking a step back, with Simone not stepping forward to fill the space just yet, waiting to see what Betty would do, flashing the pink-haired girl a friendly, competitive smile to urge her to get moving, too.

And move Betty did, stepping forward and launching a cross at Simone's chest. With a wind-up like that, the Chicagoan had no trouble blocking the punch, though she was honestly impressed by the power behind that white leather as it drilled into her green guard and nearly forced her gloves back against her own body. Simone backed up half a step, out of range, before bringing her gloves up higher and beginning to circle again.

"Nice one," she complimented, her words muffled by her mouthguard. She didn't wait long in making the next move, stepping toward her foe again, throwing a quick one-two combination, right jab and left hook, aimed at Betty's chin, trying to tag her again before stepping back, waiting to see whether Betty would follow.