AV 20 Hardcore Championship - River Styx (c) vs Galina Romerno

The area was still devolving into chaos around them, with security during their best to keep this under control and stop a match from turning into a small-scale riot. Smaller fights were breaking out, and more than a few of the audience members were intent on breaking through and becoming a part of the action - a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but the mixture of rage and cheap, overpriced alcohol had a way of shutting out common sense.

Styx loved it. Or she would’ve loved it, if she weren’t in so much pain at the moment and could truly appreciate the chaos she was inspiring. At the moment, though, that just wasn’t a luxury she had.

She wallowed on the floor, rolling from side to side, and smacked her fist on the concrete. As much as she wanted to let the pain run its course, she knew she didn’t have the choice. She had to fight past it, work her way up, and-

Styx had only begun to rise when Galina’s shadow came over her, giving her a precious second to prepare herself before the elbow dropped on her chest and drew the wind clean out of her, making her jerked up off the floor before she fell back. The redhead went for the pin right after, a smart move, and the referee came over for the count.

”1…!”

Styx winced at the slap near her head and tensed up, but her body wasn’t up to a big move right away. She was still reeling from the Sliced Bread, taking more out of her than she’d first though. Her entire back was just a mass of pain.

”2…!”

She dug deep and threw her arm up hard at the last instant, just as the referee was bringing her hand down for the final count, saving herself with only a fraction of a moment to go. Styx flopped back down right after, still spent, but also in the fight. She could turn this around, she only had to hold on until the opportunity came her way, however long that took.

Galina might not have weighed as much, but she could be a ball of fire if she got her momentum rolling enough. She'd floored people around the size of Styx more than enough to know that combined with her hard hitting nature that the Gypsy could make it hurt, plus landing on Styx was nice. Much better than landing on the concrete after all, because it meant that it was progress in defeating the champion.

Galina had hoped this would be a decisive coup de grace after stunning the champ enough to slip away for a pinfall, the ref was super brave there. Galina and Styx's havoc was causing unrest amongst the people, which Galina loved. It reminded her of her battle royale that led to her taking up MMA!

The ref slammed down for the one count, Galina nodded her head in approval at it. Then the second count came! Galina gritted her teeth and felt her heart jump, shortly followed by Styx kicking out! Galina was jerked off from the champ and not in the get your rocks off kinda way, the Russian processed this for a couple of seconds. Before giving a loud yell of exasperation and grabbing her hair in frustration.

Styx was living up to her moniker of a champ for being to able to solider on despite the pain, it'd have been admirable had Galina not been hunting the gold. Out of annoyance Galina resolved to simply draw on her gypsy brawler background and took a deep breath and tried to grab Styx's nearest ear with one hand and use her other to simply just try and slam her fist into her face. Wherever Galina wasn't fussy, she was simply focused on trying to deliver the fury of Mother Russia!

On her back, body aching, dealing with a few fractured bones. How would Styx describe her current situation?

”Oh, fuck me.”

Yeah, that summed it up nicely. This wasn’t the first time she had been on the backfoot, so she could recognize the way things were going, see the potential danger, here. Getting momentum back after a hit like that wasn’t going to be an easy thing, and the first priority had to be making some distance. She needed to recoup and recover.

She was on the path to doing just that when Galina reached over and ‘helped’ her up, grabbing her by the head and forcing her face into the path of an oncoming fist. The redhead wasn’t nearly her size, but she could put some surprising force into her blow, with her shot rocking her hard across the nose and nearly knocking her flat again.

But it didn’t. Instead, Styx rocked back, gathered her senses, and surged forward, throwing both of her palms towards Galina’s chest all at once. It wasn’t so much an attack as a way to knock her opponent back and buy herself some space. With that distance made, Styx rose to both her her feet and made a tactical retreat, slipping through the brawling crowd and making her way towards the concession stands.

When all else failed Galina could reason that swinging your fist into your opponent's head enough times could also help, forget the overly elaborate attacks and using weapons. Just ball your hand in and slam into the person hard enough until they stop moving, the Gypsy learned that both the taking and the giving way more than enough times. So angered by the fact that the champ Styx was proving to be more than durable after taking a jumping elbow drop right on your chest that Galina was deciding to just drop her pretences and slam her balled fist into Styx's head. Sure the Rose of Russia might not have weighed as much as the champ, but Galina was a scrappy brawler and had an MMA background. So she knew how to make a shot hurt like hell.

It seemed that Styx got hold of the memo here, as after she got punched hard the champ decided to also settle on an equally simple and practical method in her own right. By using both of her meaty palms and shoving the Gypsy backwards, with enough force to actually make Galina roll backwards a couple of times. Resulting in the challenger looking up at the lights briefly, she blinked twice as she realised what happened and jolted up expecting some sort of attack from the champ.

Who instead had turned and bolted Galina had a vague idea of where Styx might have gone, the Gypsy grunted and stood up. Dang she was feeling sore, but the Rose of Russia gritted her teeth and tried to make her way through the crowd. Hunting for the champ as it were........

People bolted as Styx opened up the nearest door, making her way out into the concession stand area. Some people maintained a safe distance and recorded, snapping pictures and probably pasting her all over Facebook. Some pointing, some laughing, like she was the newest sideshow attraction.

She very much wanted to punch the nearest one of them in the face, but she didn’t have the time for that right now. Galina wouldn’t be too far behind her, and she wasn’t in the best position right now - her back was still aching from that hard crash, still sore, and it even hurt to breathe. She didn’t need to just retreat, but figure out some way to take the advantage - Galina wasn’t all that strong, but the little bitch was relentless, like an annoying fly that she just couldn’t swat.

What could she use, what could she use...ah, that’d do.

When Galina came out of the door, she’d find a surprise waiting for her - Styx came at her with a hotdog cart, pushing it hard towards her at full steam, trying to knock her back and pin her against the nearest wall.

Galina was no stranger to trying to chase someone down and be out for their blood, usually when someone at her camp nicked her things and she'd track them down and give them a bloody nose after she got their hands on them. The Gypsy brawler had caught wind of where Styx had gotten to, fine by Galina she'd take Styx on in the freaking street if need be. Galina had balled her fists and gritted her teeth and was heading through that door yelling at the top of her lungs with "Где ты, могучий чемпион?!" as the fight had gone on Galina was diverting more to her native tongue at this point out of natural reaction. Her main focus being on trying to take the fight right to the champ!

But once Galina had gotten past that door she heard a loud rustling noise to her side and something out the corner of her eye.......it was Styx with a goddman hotdog cart! Galina's eyes widened and she yelled "Вот дерьмо!" with the length of the match Galina wasn't as agile as she could be otherwise she'd have possibly been able to dodge it. As it would be however Styx was dead on there, slamming the Rose of Russia into the wall there full force.

The Gypsy gasped out loud as she felt that impact, it not only stung like hell but it took the wind right out of her sails there. Galina could only manage to somewhat slump again it with her hands splayed out over the cart, she glared daggers at Styx as she semi lay there panting. "Лизание жопы........." Galina muttered in annoyance before groaning hard from the impact.

Styx had to admit, when she woke up this morning, she didn’t expect that her day would include weaponizing a hot dog cart, of all things. Funny how a day could go, sometimes.

Silly as it was, though, it worked, accomplished exactly what she needed it to. Galina was caught off guard, pressed up against the wall and pinned there, not only knocking the wind out of her but giving Styx all the opportunity she needed to start turning this match back in the right direction. Her direction.

Had to admit, she was curious what Galina had said there, though. The first one she was pretty sure was ‘shit’, because that was a word that had about the same intonation in every language, but the other one she’d have to hit with a translator when she was rewatching this.

”Speak fucking English.” She shoved the hot dog cart out of the way, letting it tumble off to the side and sending its contents scattering, then closed in on her prey. She reached up, grabbed a handful of Galina’s fiery red hair, and threw a hard uppercut into her stomach, nailing her into the wall with full force. ”What’s wrong, bitch? Big stage too much for you?”

Galina had taken some really stiff shots in her time, she thought one of the worst was when some lout glassed her on the head. The Rose of Russia however would have to say that being rammed with a hotdog cart was right up there in the top ten hardest hits ever that she took, the Gypsy was gonna be feeling that one tomorrow for sure there. Styx decided to capitalise on her crashing the cart into Galina and trash talked her for speaking Russian, typical lout. Galina had been no stranger to preying on tourists who'd say something very similar actually......

Didn't do much to help there with Styx tossing the cart aside, Galina was almost about to slip downwards on the wall had the champ not grabbed her by the hair there. Then delivered a hard shot right into the Gypsy's gut that damn near pinned the Rose of Russia right to the wall, any breath that Galina had in her was promptly exhaled right out from her. Galina couldn't even mutter a retort toward Styx's question there, desperation and injury were settling in there for the Gypsy. But she'd not yield verbally, the roma would gasp quietly.

She had to try and do something, at the very least just throw something, anything out. Galina would sink her head down a bit and quietly pant, before trying to shoot out her nearest arm and poke Styx right in the eyes. It was a favoured move of the Gypsy when the situation was dire, it wouldn't do a whole lot of actual damage yes. But at this point after having a hotdog cart and a hard uppercut in her gut Galina would risk it here and try and get Styx to back off!

Styx had been here before, a hundred times. Often in high school. Some snotty little shit would talk about her, make fun of the way she looked or spread some stupid rumor about her sex life, and the word would get to her. They would think they were safe, that they had nothing to worry about, until Styx got them alone somewhere quiet, away from the cameras and the teachers. There, they’d have a nice little chat, one that often ended with them having their backs against the wall while she pounded their organs out.

So thanks, Galina. It was good for Styx to get a little taste of her roots.

She drilled her opponent hard, a solid shot, and enjoyed the sight of her deflating. It looked like the fight was knocked out of her enough, but Styx was winding back for another blow, just to be sure. That was when Galina lashed out and shot her in the eye. ”Fuck!” She shrieked out as it blinded her and she stepped back, taking a moment to clear her vision. ”Really? Fucking eyepoke, bullshit-”

Galina was someone that had no qualms about doing cheap shots where she could, the only reason half the time the Gypsy followed the rules was because of her MMA career having at least some form of control there. But when she could Galina would gladly poke someone in the eyes to get them to back off, it wasn't flashy or fancy. But the Rose of Russia knew that if you couldn't see then you were in for a rough time, it came in handy when someone bigger than you with malicious intent was bearing down on you with your back to the wall. Helped all the time to get drunks off her at bars after she fleeced them or something, worked just like a charm there against Styx just as well!

The Rose of Russia had brought herself time there, not much else given the damage in her chest there. God her ribs were on fire from that crash and that uppercut, plus the length of the match was really taking its toll on Galina here. But the Gypsy was a fighter, the only way she'd call it quits was when she was KO'd if her losses in her MMA career were anything to go by. Galina loved this though, her Gypsy blood flared bright despite defeat looming over her head with her badly injured state. It begged her to seek retribution in some form.

Searching around Galina saw something down on the floor nearby, a discarded wooden popup sign thing. Likely belonging to that hotdog cart Styx used there, an eye for an eye. Galina gritted her teeth and shuffled down to grab it and with a wild look in her eyes Galina would try to swing it right in the front or back of Styx as hard as she could!