Shooting for the Stars

After scoring her first official win, Tatiana had a few ideas on how to celebrate. First and foremost, there would be pizza. There must be pizza. A hot, gooey pizza from that place down the street from their apartment with the name that she still couldn’t pronounce properly. Oh, and there would be Netflix binging. And maybe some drinking, if she could get Valerie to be chill enough for it. And maybe, just maybe, if she could get away long enough, she could head to Belle’s and show just how much she appreciated the advice…

That would all happen. Eventually. For the moment, however,Valerie had a radically different idea of how to follow Novae’s first victory.

It had only a few minutes after she and Valerie had secured the win, but instead of going to the back and getting some well-deserved rest, her sister had grabbed a microphone and stormed the ring. When Tatiana asked what she was doing, her sister only shook her head with a smug smile, telling her to wait and see.

So they stood there and waited for the commercial break to end, and when they went back on air, her sister started up.

”Friction! We. Are. Novae!” She thrust her fist into the air, and Tatiana followed suit with confused gusto. ”And we are here to stay. I, Valerie, and my sister intend on being the dominant force in this league, and we would like to take this time to put the rest of the division on notice. We intend to climb to the top, the very top, and we will do so over the bodies of our fallen foes. From Party Hard to the Onigashima to the Idols of Berserk, all the way until we reach the top - Blazing Blizzard, we are coming for you!”

The crowd gave a cheer at that, no doubt liking the idea of seeing two athletic and energetic teams going at it. It was a bold claim, though, even Tatiana knew that. She kept her smile up and clapped along, propping her sister up, but she couldn’t help but feel they were getting a bit too ahead of themselves. One win was just one win, after all...

Spoiler:

Belinda had been rather actively watching the Tag scene in AFW, even before Blazing Blizzard had managed to win the Tag titles, Novae had managed to beat Onigashima fairly recently and it was Yukari who had gone down. Having Yukari as an intense rival of hers, Belinda had to respect what Novae had accomplish and when they went out to the ring now and made their bold statement that could easily be seen on the tv screens backstage.

The Swede would turn towards Chelsea and smile, nodding her head she would nudge her tag partner and friends shoulder. " They've got spunk. How about we go greet them?" Belinda let out, she would make her way to the ramp, the theme of Blazing Blizzard hitting the speakers right before Belinda stepped out onto the ramp.

She would stand there with a microphone in hand, the crowd cheering the blond as she had one of the tag belts around her waist. Patting it a little as she looked out at the ring. Belinda would raise the microphone to her hand. " Novae! From what I've seen you two are pretty tough. I mean....You managed to beat Onigashima and I still remember how much trouble Chelsea and I had with them." Belinda said as she would gesture over to Chelsea and then herself. " It's a bit weird to be considered to top now...but as you say, we are the top. So I will ask you! Do you think you're ready for us?!" Belinda asked the sister team of Novae.

"True but Spunk and arrogance don't seem too far apart in this place, and the latter is a dime a dozen." Chelsea countered but didn't protest them going out to meet the cocky tag girls. Holding the belt she had worked so hard to earn tightly Chelsea would follow her out to meet this Novae team. Chelsea came up with a bit of a pep in her step with this being her first public appearance since she won the title from the Imperials, a moment she would remember forever and now she was focused on proving she deserved to have it.

"I gotta agree Onigasha was tough and a good test of our metal, where I disagree with my esteemed partner here is that I have never felt weird about being considered the top. And because of that, I'm a bit picky about who the top should face. There are an adornment of worthy opponents who have been here longer, I could bore this whole crowd to death by naming those names but since your here why don't you explain why you think you deserve it."

Oh, wow, they actually came out.

Tatiana was okay with Valerie making pronouncements and talking big and saying all this bravado stuff. It was a little bit annoying - especially when all she really wanted to do at the moment was get some pizza and take a bath in the near future. But hey, it was harmless, nothing would come of it, it wasn’t like Blazing Blizzard was in the building, what would be the odds…

And there they were. Huh.

Tatiana held back for the moment, not wanting to say much, but Chelsea had a real point. They were new. They’d won one match. Against a strong, top-tier team, but there was still plenty of mountain left to climb. So what would be Valerie’s response?

”Are there other teams out there who’ve been here longer? Yes. More experienced. Yes.” Valerie held up her finger and wagged, thinking for a moment. ”But are there any teams like us? No. No other teams can do what we can do. No other teams can control the air like we can. So, the way I see it, you can either wait for us to climb the ranks, or you can take a chance and have a challenge like you’ve never had before.”

The crowd seemed pretty behind what Valerie was saying, and she rode that for all it was worth, leaning over the ropes with a raised eyebrow. ”So what do you say? How about something new?”

Chelsea seemed amused by the fact that one of them seemed surprised they were here. Though to there credit the other girl, who seemed to be the talker stepped up relatively quickly. Talking about how they should get the shot because they were a challenge unlike any other. The crowd seemed responsive to it but if Chelsea wiggled her butt they'd be receptive to that as well so she was a little less inclined to go off that.

"Control the air? Do you hear yourself right now? This is wrestling not a magic show, unless your talking about some high-flying ability in which case I contest that as well. Either way we're still in a situation where I'm not convinced, I'll admit your a team we haven't faced before unlike say Onigasha or even Navi and Melody. But so are teams like Party Hard who we have already been looking at." Chelsea said raising the belt. "These titles deserve the best competition..and the best isn't always the one that's different."

Belinda was a Northman and there were no real challenge that a Northman would back down to, and with what she was hearing from the team of Novae...she had to admit that both Chelsea and them had a point. They were new, and there were teams more experienced, but....if they wanted a chance, Belinda didn't want to prevent them from getting a chance.

Hearing what Chelsea had to say further though in response to their, Belinda would let out a little sigh at her tag partners boasting. Shaking her head a little as she would nudge her friends shoulder with her own. Lowering her microphone she would lean her head closer to Chelsea's and quietly talk to her tag partner. " You might not be convinced but....are we really gonna deny a challenge?" Belinda spoke out as she would then shrug her shoulders a bit.

" I mean, considering that control the air comment I feel like we need to put them in their place." Belinda spoke out to her tag partner. She would straighten back and raise the microphone back up to her mouth before speaking out to Novae. " I would have to agree with my partner on the fact that the only team who control the air around here are us." Belinda said as she would pat her tag belt around her waist. "The proof is right here."

She'd take a step forward, and then look on at the two ladies. The crowd was starting to get behind the idea of a fight though. " Now, I'm up for any challenge honestly. If you're seriously throwing down a challenge against us, I'm willing to face you....but as my partner need convincing. Why not put the choice to the crowd?!" Belinda shouted out as she would look out towards the Friction audience. " How about it?! Novae versus Blazing Blizzard?!" She'd ask the crowd, awaiting the crowd reaction at the question, seeing if that would sway either to the fight or against it.

Tatiana didn’t say anything, because, frankly, she had no idea what to say, here. What could she say? It was all happening so fast, it was a bit hard to take in all at once. This was really going down - they were going from next to nothing, one of the newest teams in the league, to challenging for the championships against one of the most tested duos the division had ever seen. How could she even describe that?

Crazy. Amazing. Frightening. Those words worked.

She hung back with baited breath, letting Tatiana and Blazing Blizzard go at it, but she saw her chance to get into things soon enough. Belinda was calling for the crowd to stick their oars in, and after her win and performance, she was willing to bet she had some capital to cash in with them. There was only one way to find out.

Tatiana walked about the ring with her hands raised, pumping them to the crowd and getting them in on the conversation. She got them going, got a few - poorly pronounced cheers, and the crowd made their favor clear.

”Well!” Valerie looked back at Blazing Blizzard with a puffed-up chest and her hands on her hips. ”It seems like the people are ready to see us lock horns. What about you?”

"Im not out to deny a challenge I'm trying to get some spirit out of them. Only one of them looks into it the other one just looks lost." Chelsea whispered back watching the two of them for any interaction. Though instead she got her response from the crowds appeal to them rather then the tag team itself making there case. Which seemed to make the case for them as everyone else seemed ready to take that as proof enough of there worth.

"If you want to lock horns I guess I don't see the issue with it. Though if your expecting a win then be ready to feel some pretty strong disappointment when the two of us take y'all down." Chelsea said confidently. Sure she could take them down, after the hassle that was Gwen and Akiha this would be much less of a headache, at least as far anoyance. As far as skill that had yet to be seen.

Belinda would shrug her shoulders a little, " Maybe she's just shy?" Belinda whispered back to Chelsea, before she would smile as her tag partner then seemed to join in on the idea as the crowd was behind it. The Swede would nod her head and then raise the microphone back up to her mouth.

" You're on Novae!" Belinda let out as she would look on at the two women in the ring. " Now...I don't know what the whole plan was, but how about we give you a chance of shining on the big stage. Avalanche! Blazing Blizzard Versus Novae?!" Belinda spoke out as she would then hear the crowd burst out into cheers for the idea.

And just like that, it was on. Tatiana felt a rush of excitement go through her, brimming at the possibility of being the young set of tag team champions in Friction history. It was an impossible dream, something that should’ve been so far down the road it barely warranted mention, but here they were. So close. So close.

Tatiana was already busy thinking about what the next few weeks have in store for them. They’d have to up their training, do more studying of the champions, figure out the best way to move forward, and-

”Wait!”

Oh. Valerie wasn’t done, seemed she wanted to push her luck even further. That was nice.

”You’re doing well, giving the people what they want.” She wagged a finger towards Belinda. ”But I think we can do you even better than a championship match. Instead of the standard, how about we up the ante and make it a ladder match? A true test to determine who rules the skies?”

Tatiana gulped at that. Standard matches were fine, but they’d never trained with ladders before, had never gone for anything remotely hardcore. This? This was a big jump. An uncomfortable jump.

But they were in it now, so she kept her smiles up. The ship had sailed, and there’d be no getting it back into port.