Showdown '19 Alice Gaster (C) vs Drake Fond: 24/7 Championship Match

Like a burning machine, Brutus dragged GASTER closer and closer to her doom. The wannabe villain struggled and fought with all she could, using her free leg to kick at his muscular arm in desperation. The heated machine grunted and groaned in pain, but still his grip held tight! GASTER was so very close to the maw of the inferno, so much so she could feel the heat of his hatred and rage. Her panic earned no mercy, and the smiling mask on her face reflected a grim grin peering down on the helpless woman whose life seemed to be in near danger!

--

Kaine’s yelp of pain surprised Drake, but hardly made him retreat or fear the tiny brit. It didn’t help that after knocking Kaine’s weapon out of his hands and kicking it away, Alice decided to retreat around the corner yet again. Drake wasn’t much of a fighter, realy. He preferred to sneak around and cheat whenever he could, so seeing as his muscle was getting ready to pummel Alice for him, Drake felt that a small retreat was preferable over fighting a bat swinging woman.

So, Drake did what he did best, and when Alice rounded the corner again promising him his own gift, she would find he was nearly out of earshot, standing at the other end of the halfway while playfully sticking his tongue out at her confused face.

It was Kaine’s turn to attack, the taller man looking to sweep Alice off her feet with a swift sweeping kick! His body armor seemed to absorb most of the shock, but it was clear that the sudden sharp damage had at least shaken him up a little.

With GASTER's attack yielding no result, except getting her closer and closer to her doom, the Shadow Lord attempted one last ditch effort to avoid being beaten to a bloody pulp, trying to launch her leg straight into Brutus's face to knock him back and force him to let go off her foot!

-------------------

Drake would manage to avoid having his eye blinded by Alice, instead rushing away, and taunting Alice over the fact, as the salt harmlessly fell to the ground...and Alice was left one on one with Kaine...who wasn't taking likely to his side of the face being smashed with a Kendo Stick.

He dropped low, a move that Alice predicted correctly as she jumped into the air...and as Kaine rose, she twisted herself in mid-air, turning her feet towards her opponent, and trying to smash her feet into his chest with a dropkick as he rose!

GASTER could struggle, she could throw kicks and scream and pester and fight like a rat caught in the trap! It wouldn’t matter. Once Brutus was finished, she would just be a stain on the floor. If crushing her at this point was petty, then Brutus was a petty man. At this point, hearing her pained whimpers might be the only thing that could cool his raging temper. He was going to savor every bit of this, every scared plea, and every scream as he steadily broke her apart! Piece by weeping piece! And the first thing he was going to do was tear off that stupid mask! Brutus passively wondered what the girl would look like. What would she weep like?

“Brutus…”

The chilly tone froze him in his place once more, the large man only moving to look over his shoulder, and finding Rin standing directly behind him. The empty eyed stare she gave him felt...inhuman. Like she was more a spectre in a nightmare rather than a living human being. Rin was odd normally, but now...she was terrifying.

It was only GASTER’s boot smacking him in the face that distracted him from his colleague. His grip unintentionally faltered, and just as he cursed and reached out to grab at GASTER once again…

“I’m done.”

Crack!

Everything went black.

Brutus slumped down, totally unconscious as Rin’s leg returned to the floor. It seemed his colleague had grown tired of waiting and decided to wrap things up in her own way. The kick came so fast, the man had no time to react to it, and the power behind it knocked him out in a single blow. Fortunately, Rin didn’t seem interested in GASTER whatsoever. All she did was adjust the cuffs on her sleeves before turning away and walking back the way she had come. It seemed at first that Brutus was Drake’s personal bodyguard.

But now it was becoming clear, that job belonged to Rin.

--

Alice seemed to guess Kaine’s sweep, jumping over his leg and twisting around in the air like a cat. He could only grunt in bemusement before her legs smashed into his chest, causing him to roll away and get some space. His jacket was armored rather well, designed to protect the human body from a crash or a wreck. A drop kick from a tiny brit wasn’t much to worry about.

“Almost felt that one.”

Thanks to his jacket, Kaine was going to be a tough nut to crack. Only his head and lower body was free from his armor, and even those were protected by his arms thanks to his defensive stance. How would Alice manage to break through such an intense defense was up in the air.

Although Clara's foot reached Brutus's face, she more than realized that her attack would've had no effect, as Rin struck shortly after her...

...and completely floored the big man.

Eyes buldged out in surprise under GASTER's mask as she slowly rose, and Rin turned to leave. The shock lasted all of 10 seconds before she asked: "Um...what are you going to do now?", to Rin...

____

With Alice feeling her legs impacting solid metal, she knew as the kick connected that it wouldn't be too effective. Immediately, the follow up plan formed in her head as she rushed towards the defending Kaine, who crouched down to defend the unarmored parts of his body...

...rushing right towards, and jumping at the only part he couldnt protect: top of his head, stopping at her foe!

Already on her way out, Rin barely managed to hear the small, almost indistinct whisper from the masked girl on the floor. True, the little geek had already gone through quite a bit with Brutus so some unnatural behavior could have been explained away, but the fact she was interested in what Rin herself was doing rather than finding a way to escape was an odd choice of priorities. While Rin was never one for words, for some odd reason she felt at least a little obligated to answer this young woman’s question. Brutus had bullied her all the way to the lobby and throughout the building. This was a simple way to repay her for such a thing.

So, looking over her shoulder with the door still in her hand, Rin’s empty grey eyes looked over at the bright red LED lights the girl had in her mask.

“I’m going to go find Drake. If he and Kaine are still struggling with Alice, then I’ll help finish this fight so we can move on to more important matters.”

Rin’s tone was incredibly flat. Her monotone voice and cold body language made her seem more in common with the stereotypical doomsday robot than an actual human being. Even the way she held herself with an immaculate posture, a subtle accent, and unwavering professionalism was a feature that could only imply the highest quality of either an employee or servant. Were it not for her small but effective outburst on Brutus, perhaps one could mistake her for a machine…

How on earth did Drake manage to find her?

Rin would only wait a few seconds to see if Clara had any further questions before turning away, intent on finding Drake and ending the battle with one swift move.

--

Alice...must not have been very smart.

Big shock there. A girl who said yes to a four versus two might have a few screws loose. But there was more to it then just that. She came in with no plan, swung her kendo stick around like a total loon, and now was facing off against an armored opponent as though he was just another competitor.

She didn’t think. She didn’t even try to do so. When Drake gave her one last chance, something to enrapture the bored fighter into actually giving a damn about the fight, she bet her sister. Now that was admittedly interesting, but the tension and excitement was set loose like the air from a balloon when her great master plan was revealed. And just what was that?

A duffel bag with more weapons in it.

Did Drake and Kaine expect that? No...but that didn’t mean it was a good plan either.

What would happen to her if Brutus or Rin showed up? What would she have done if neither of them had chased after her dear sister? This was the champion of some sort, and yet she was acting like a spoiled child who had her butt wiped up until an hour ago! This fight would have been dead on arrival if not for her good fortune. A single swing from either Rin or Brutus likely would have been enough to finish her. But, here they were.

Drake couldn’t help but feel that nagging feeling of dreadful boredom clawing its way back. The worst part was that the twinge of disappointment had grown until it almost became resentment. All this time, and this was the best Alice could do?

He couldn’t even say it was a joke...at least those were funny.

“Bo~ring! Alice dear, you really need to work on your showmanship. No wonder your sister is the more popular of the two! Sure, her gimmick is immature, cartoonish, and even a little underwhelming, but she gets the blood pumping! You? You’re just a sad little thug with no other personality trait other than I’m angry! It’s a miracle you conned her into being your little stooge, but she's only suffering for it. Actually, I think it would be better for you both if she ran the show, rather than your derivative, boring little role you play.”

Drake was more than comfortable as Alice, being the predictable little twit she was, threw all caution to the wind and charged the taller and stronger man. Seeing as her tactics were as subtle as the weapons she liked to brandish about, it wasn’t all too surprising when she abandoned any type of defense and jumped up into the air to aim for.... The head, of all things.

As Drake had thought previously, the entire thing might have been considered a joker were it funny. Because the answer to Alice’s coup de grace, her moment of pure genius! The masterful counter to such an attack!

Was a simple step to the left.

Which was exactly what Kaine did...well, he moved to the right to be precise, but the results were the same. How this bumbling fool ever got this far was beyond Kaine or Drake. At this point, the entire situation seemed sad.

It's been a rough night for WhiteGale. Daisuke and Sion lost to Kyo and Makie, and from the sounds of it Daisuke wasn't taking it well. Lita let Daisuke attempt to get it out of her system while Sion and Lina remained with her. Meanwhile, Lita wondered how her group can rebound from this. Sure the new champions weren't bad people and the match was a competitive one, but there had to be a way for them to restore some momentum, if not at least minimize the loss.

As she began to ponder, she noticed the match that was after her friends' had made its way backstage. She kept her distance as there was more than the two competitors present. As she observed, she remembered that one of them was a champion, the 24/7 Champion to be exact. 'This'll do.' she thought. There was one problem, the champion's challenge was very much in the way. Lita continued to watch quietly, waiting for an opening. Eventually, she got one.

She took aim at Drake and rushed at him from the side to deliver a hockey-like body check that would send Drake into a vending machine. If that took Drake out of the picture for the time being she would turn towards Alice and look to take her down with a lariat before cover her. With who was all around she was banking on the referee being in position to make a count so she could make a quick get away if her attempt was successful.

"Damnit...?"

As Alice swung and missed Kaine, she realized that Drake was suddenly sprayed down on the floor away...within a second, Alice realized what happened - someone outside of the match decided to grab the belt for themselves.

And right as Kaine moved out of the way...a vicious, powerful Lariat struck her across the face, flooring her as someone pinned her.

The slightly confused ref would shake that confusion quickly, ready to count at a moments notice...

“Drake.”

The one eyed man looked over his shoulder, happy to find his personal assistant was well as she walked back down the long hallway the scuffle was taking place in. Judging by her clean suit, she had very little trouble, but the missing brute of the team did pique Drake’s interest.

“Rin! So good of you to join us. I see that Gaster has given you little issue. But where is Brutus? Didn’t you chase after him?”

“He was being a fool. I dealt with him appropriately. He won’t be joining us.”

A cold chuckle crawled from Drake’s lips as his focus returned towards Alice. With Rin by his side, and Kaine still in the fight, there was no hope for her. Not that she was proving to be anything close to a challenge anyways.

“Well Alice, I do believe that you and I are done here. If I said you were entertaining, I’d be lying...and honestly, I don’t have the patience to put up with you or your lame as hell plan.”

The very instant that Drake was about to issue an order for Rin and Kaine to wrap things up, a sudden force slammed into him and threw him against Rin! The two tripped and collapsed into a nearby vending machine as a woman seemed to appear out of nowhere! Kaine hardly had enough time to move out of the way, giving this stranger the perfect chance to SLAM Alice to the floor with a hard lariat! Instantly, the Champ was off her feet and on the floor, clearly sent for a loop.

Kaine seemed stunned, but only for a moment. He began advancing on the two of them, until Drake began to chuckle in a cold manner. His soft laughter sliced through the chaos of the fight like a knife did butter, and soon he found himself on his feet again with Rin not already recovered.

“Finally! Something unexpected~”

Who was this stranger? What was she doing here? Questions bobbed in and out of Drake’s mind before he ultimately decided to shrug them all off. The point was, the mysterious woman was his savior! Indeed, she finally broke up the monotonous fighting Alice had drug him through this entire time. In a twisted sense, he was grateful to this stranger!

“Should I deal with her?”

“Actually...you know what? Let's just let her have this!”

Drake turned his back on the fight for the last time, gesturing for his grunts to follow him as he began down the long hallway he had already begun to despise. So boring and cold, the entire thing…

“Honestly, I think this will make Alice even more pissed in the end. Maybe it will make her think, but I doubt it. So long as little Ms. Mystery has her day~”

Rin followed Drake without skipping a beat. Perhaps she was just as interested in leaving as he was. It was only Kaine who paused to take a second look at the two. Already, the mysterious woman was getting set up to pin Alice. The referee dropped to the floor, beginning the count.

“1!”

“2!”

”Whatever.

The final goon rounded the corner just as the referee slapped the floor for the third and final time. In a stunning upset, the 24/7 title had a new owner! The new champion had swooped in and taken full advantage of the belts stipulations. Alice never considered being ambushed, and her folly was the reason a new champion was crowned.

Introducing the winner and new 24/7 Champion Belt holder: Lita!