Sisters of All Styles vs. The Valkyries - Blooded

”Damn it, damn it, damn it-”

Iko Satomari had to be the unluckiest woman in the world, she was sure of it. Being a referee in the AFW was usually a weird sort of job, even on the best sort of days - the rules were lax at best, there were little protections, and it was all too easy to find yourself in the line of fire during a match. The pay was good, but it just about had to be - most referees would avoid Tension like the plague, otherwise.

But today was a weird day, even by the usual standards. She’d been called in and put on the rotation, so when SAS came out and made their challenge, she was the one who was ready to referee whatever their match would be - but she didn’t expect the Valkyries to answer the call. Nobody expected that, but management had a very good idea of what they wanted to do with.

And now, here she was, rushing out through the gorilla position with a microphone in hand, huffing and puffing as she headed towards one of the most chaotic match types imaginable. ”By order of the AFW, the following is a hardore tag team tornado match!”

Match Type: Hardcore Tornado Tag
Victory Conditions: Victory is obtained when one team manages to pin, submit or knockout a member of the opposing team.

Makoto heard those words as she was on her way down to the ring, rushing towards the ring at full speed with a sly smile on her face. She had to give Reiko credit where credit was due - the little snot was sneaky. It helped that nobody had ever seen her teaming with the Valkyries before, so she wasn’t a known face on the roster, but all the same? Getting down there, getting around SAS, making her way into the ring with that bat? Good on her. She’d earned a point.

It was an advantage, not that they really needed one, and Makoto intended to make the most out of it.

She came in while things were still in chaos and made a beeline for Clara, leaping up when she was close enough, looking to hit her in the back of the head with a flying knee before she could tag Reiko.

"Aaaaaaaaah...why is this happening?!", Clara was screaming in her head, very anxious over getting sneak attacked by a woman she knew nothing about, much less knowingly hurt them in any way: "I don't know who these girls are, Alice wasn't hear long enough to make enemies...was she?"

Just to add further panic on top of the girl, the ref would quickly slide into the the ring...and announce that tonight's match would be a Tornado Hardcore match. At the announcement, the Shadow Lord just froze:

"Oh no...no no no no nonono...why...can people please stop roping me into hardcore matches? Never letting Alice do my match booking for me aga----Alice!"

Remembering her sister was primarily hurt from the sneak attack, Clara would quickly approach her, and try and help her up: "H-how is your leg, can you stand?"

"Aaaagh...fuuck...I thi---WATCH OUT!", Alice would scream, shoving her sister out of the way before she could even react to her words, as she saw the other woman who previously stood on the ramp jump into the ring, and run straight for Clara.

As a result, Alice would get the full brunt of the attack, the already hurt Brit taking the flying knee for her partner, and falling onto her back...

The corners of her mask crinkled, hiding the wide grin growing behind the padded cloth. Sneak attacks were underrated. People claimed they were immoral or cowardly… fuck those people. It was smart, sensible. She had gotten her team the advantage by outsmarting her opponents, that was all there was to it.

Standing over the downed Alice, she gave the bat a spirited twirl, letting the wrapped grip dance between her fingers as she readied another blow on the helpless woman. Drawing the bat back, the sudden squeak of the referee on the mic distracted her, causing her to look up towards the ramp.

Clara's fist caught her square in the jaw, even with Makoto's haste to get to ringside. Regardless of how awesome the former Valkyrie leader was, she wasn't the Flash after all. Reiko's head jerked back with the pop, throwing her hood off, staggering her long enough that the shadow lord thought it was a better idea to outright ignore her a d check on her dumb partner. Using her bat for support, the Young thug growled, reaching up to tug down the mask from her face to let it dangle around her neck.

“Stupid bitch!” Reiko charged forward, hiking the bat up in her hands. She pulled the weapon back as it were a weighted battleaxe, primed and ready to take off Clara's head. Her mind was flooded with vivid imagery thanks to Makoto mention of Halloween. The need to see this masked woman's head explode like a pumpkin was embedded in her head now.

With a wide arc, she sent the bat around with intent to destroy with a wild grin painted across her face. It quickly fell away as her destructive path was empty, her surefire swing disrupted by Alice shoving her target away from her swing. Her bat traveled through the air with no resistance causing her to over swing, stumbling  forward as she was left off balance and swearing.

Not even a minute in, and things were looking good for the Valkyries. Their opponents? Caught off guard, regrouping, trying hard to get a handle on the situation they’d been thrust into. The crowd? Booing, jeering, wishing they had some rotten fruit to throw their way. The Valkyries themselves? In control, dominating, handling the situation.

This was the way it should’ve been. A small step in the right direction, but a step all the same.

As much as she hated to admit, even inwardly, Reiko was showing some promise here, getting into things far more than she’d expected. Only a small part of the puzzle, she still had to carry the rest of the match, but there were worse ways to start.

There was the little problem of spacing, though, and that reared its head when Reiko swung her bat, missed because of some shitty timing, and came far, far too close to hitting Makoto. She jumped back, avoiding the blow, but it was a reminder that the two of them were exactly a well-polished team, here. It wasn’t like with Devine and Stone, where Makoto had been working with them for years on end, where she knew what they’d do and could work with it. They’d probably get better results if they did some dividing and conquering. Treat it like two matches going on at the same time.

”This one’s mine.” Makoto turned her focus to Alice, the one who’d taken her knee in the first place, and gave her a few kicks in the side to kick her out of the ring and send her to the floor. She seemed like the tougher of the two, anyway, and she figured Reiko could handle the Trick-Or-Treater.

As Alice got hit by the flying knee, and fell down, she felt Reiko's bat just barely miss her. Had she not pushed Clara aside, more than likely, her sister could've been seriously hurt.

However, as Makoto let her partner know she would take care of Alice, the dazed and hurt Pale Rider realized that by saving the Shadow Lord in the short term, she might've doomed her in the long term. If Makoto was taking care of her, Clara was facing against an angry woman wielding a baseball bat. And despite being at a disadvantage weapon-wise, she knew her sister was not going to fight back with a weapon.

"Guaaah...C-Clar----Aaaaaaahhh...", Alice hissed at Makoto kicking her away from her sister, the Valkyries fully employing the divide and conquering strategy.

Makoto would force Alice to roll to the ringside. She tried to fight through the pain in her face and leg, trying to get back to her feet. She had worse starts, and still managed to pull through, but she knew that one hard hit from a weapon would do her sister in for a while. She had to find a way to come together with her sister and team up against their opponents.

Clara, meanwhile, would land on her rear upon being shoved, fullying seeing how Alice fell victim to Makoto's knee, and almost getting hit by Reiko's bat once more. Their tag debut would've been very short had she been hit by the combo, so Alice managed to save the match for them in that...

...but Makoto's words let her know that they were still in trouble, as she kicked her sister outside the ring while the Shadow Lord got up to her feet. She knew she wouldn't last long in a hardcore match normally, but if she managed to get to Alice, the two of them could pull through!

The problem, however, was Reiko, who more than likely recovered from the missed shot from her bat by now. An idea hit Clara's head, as she lundged towards the Valkyrie, aiming low as she grabbed at her leg, and would attempt to roll her up for a schoolboy pin! It was unlikely she would get the victory right then and there, but the manuever would hopefully disorientate Reiko long enough for Clara to help Alice against Makoto!

It took Reiko nearly a full rotation to stop herself in motion, unintentionally painting a giant target on her back. She was already annoyed, what was suppose to be a simple beat down had to go and get ruined by people fighting back. Didn't these women understand who they were? Chalking her bat up between her hands she half turned to glance back, intent to prime up another big swing. Motion caught her eye, fast, low…

With a surprised you she was ripped backwards, tumbling to the mat. Reiko rolled up along her back, onto her shoulders in a sudden daze. What the hell was this? Her body jerks as she kicked and screamed in Japanese withing nothing but expletives to give in response. Then there was a count. Was she pinned? Holy shit she was being pinned!

Her hips bucked hard, throwing her arm up and out to twist her form enough to flop from the roll up. She wasn't about to go down like some chump, especially not in her debut match alongside Makoto. Dropping onto her side she street dumbfounded at Clara for a moment, eyes blinking as she looked at that big mask. Her features reddened, brow tightening as the rage started to visibly boil up inside her. “You little…”

The crowd was in full swing now, throwing all their hate Makoto’s way as she kicked this poor, sweet, innocent dumbass out of the ring, dividing and conquering. A few guys in the front row were making obscene gestures her way, though they seemed to only do it when they thought she couldn’t see them in her field of view. The commentators were speculating what her plans were, talking about a lot of things they couldn’t know.

She tuned it out. She was a wolf on the hunt again, and nothing much else mattered. Watching Alice (was it Alice? She was already getting the names mixed up) go tumbling out of the ring, seeing the distrees in her eyes, seeing her call out to her sister...warmed her heart.

She grabbed the bottom rope, dropped down to her butt, and yanked hard on it to slide her way out onto the floor, going in one smooth motion and landing at Alice’s side. Calm and cool, she sauntered after her foe, taking her time, making note of her hurt leg. She could make that worse, couldn’t she?

”Having some trouble, little girl?” Wow, it felt nice to call someone else that for a change. ”Bit off more than you can chew?”

Makoto took a sudden step in and swung her leg low, going for a sweeping kick to the back of Alice’s thigh. A mean kick, one that she knew would hurt like a bitch if it connected.

As Clara expected, she barely got a count in before Reiko kicked out. For a split second, the Shadow Lord would see her foe's dumbfounded, embarassed...and really really angry expression on her face, before she attempted to run away from the Valkyrie. She might join the brawl outside later, but at least she bought a split second to save Alice outside of the ring!

Alice meanwhile, would lay flat on her face at ringside as Makoto kicked her outside. This definitely wasn't how she wanted their debut to go, much less have her leg and head hurt so early into the match...

Makoto would join her soon enough, and taunt the Pale Rider:

"Hah...I eat tougher steaks for------GYAAAAAAAAH! YOU FUCKING CUNT!", she cursed at Makoto, as she kicked away at her already hurting right leg. Gritting her teeth, she turned on her back from the kick, holding and nursing her hurting limb...

Reiko lay sideways on the floor, staring up at Clara… that big dumb mask of hers look right back, mocking her silently. Her palms pressed to the canvas as she started to rise back up, seething visibly and ready to throw down. Bring the pain, she was ready for this masked weirdo to rain down kicks or punches to keep her down and out, but instead…

“Hey! Don't just run! You twerp!” Her slow and steady rise became a scramble. Shuffling on all floors to catch up to the retreating sister who was off to try and help her sibling. The tactics of the fleeing never crossed her mind, instead taking it as an insult this woman tried to put her away quick then ran like a coward.

She took several swipes at the air, fingers just cutting through air or briefly managing to brush against Clara as she gave a stumbling chase. She couldn't catch her like this, she had to take a risk. She rose with a bounding step, kicking off the ground to lunge at the younger sister from behind. Her intention had been to tackle the woman, go for a mount and pound the living daylights out of her. Fate however, was a cruel mistress. As Clara out paced Reiko, her chances of bringing the other woman to the mat as she wanted ran away from her, literally. She slapped into the mat hard, reaching out in desperation to grab something, anything.

Her arms hooked inward, attempting to wrap themselves around Clara's shins and hug them close together, a last ditch attempt to stop the masked girl from regrouping with her sister. She wasn't exactly sure where to go from there, but it was all she had.

Makoto had a little shiver when her kick landed, going in nice and deep on Alice. The woman wasn’t a slouch in the toughness department, she’d give her that much credit for that much. Most people would’ve been begging, crawling around, scrambling for a weapon, that sort of thing. Her? She had spunk. She had vigor. She was going to keep on keeping on.

It would just make things all the more satisfying in the end. The intensity was a good touch.

There was a problem, though. As she waylaid Alice, she noticed her sister trying to get back into the fray, looking to escape Reiko and join the outside. Sisterly love. Cute. But that would make things a bit more complicated than she wanted them to be right now. So.

First step: Reaching down, she grabbed Clara by the hair with both hands, getting a tight grip. ”Let’s take a walk, bitch.”

Second Step: She lifted her Clara up with her handhold, giving her a few twists here and there to keep her compliant.

Third Step: Makoto took a bit of a running start, then attempted to hurl Clara over the barricade and into the crowd, hoping she could get a few innocent bystanders along the way.