The Crimson Legacy vs. Lock and Key - Smiling Faces

This was bad. This was the worst case scenario that Lock had been worried about, and as she recovered in their corner, she had the displeasure of watching it play out.

The entire plan had revolved around wearing Makie down to the nub and keeping Kyo isolated. True, that likely could only go on for so long, but when he did get in the ring, they wanted it to be on their terms when they were still at an advantage of combined strength and were ready for him. Now, they were off-kilter, unprepared, and he was coming at them full speed. Even with their insurance policy, this was going to be a problem.

Things began to unravel right away, as Key came and missed with her clothesline. She spun about as fast as she could, but that wasn’t nearly fast enough - she turned around just in time to be greeted by a superior version of the move she’d just tried to do. As tough and strong as she was, Kyo had the momentum to knock Key clean off her feet, flattening her in the middle of the ring.

She didn’t stay down long, though, and was already pushing her way back up to her feet a second later. But she was dazed, confused, trying to get a bead on her quicker opponent, and Lock knew Kyo had the skill to make her partner’s life a living hell.

It felt incredibly satisfying to nail Key with that clothesline: after watching the way this woman and her partner had just brutalized Makie in the ring, payback, as Kyo delivered it, was swift and relentless, knocking the brunette clean off her feet. The fans were cheering him on, eager to see some payback as well for Makie...who, at this moment, had rolled out of the ring and was lying sprawled on the ringside floor, groaning as she tried to prop herself up.

For all intents and purposes, Makie was out of this fight...which meant Kyo was now on his own against this tag team.

Grabbing a hold of Lock's head, he tried to yank her up to her feet, before grabbing her by the arm and whipping her towards the opposite ropes. He had a feeling that she might have something devious in mind for when she bounced back, so Kyo immediately decided to wrong-foot her, running to the left to bounce off the ropes there and come at her from the side, aiming to nail her with a drop kick as she bounced back!

”Wait, wait, Kyo, uh-”

The referee moved in a hurry around Kyo, trying to keep track of him, looking for something, anything to put a pause on his comeback, but she couldn't see much to exploit. Jack had paid Zelda good money to make this match go their way, but she couldn't be too blatant about it - AFW management sucked at picking this sort of thing up, but even they wouldn’t be so blatant that they notice something was up, not unless she was smart about this.

But Kyo was running wild. He had all the momentum, and things were rapidly getting out of hand. If she didn’t find a way to smoke and mirrors this and fast…

She would have to, because Key was currently floundering in the ring. Kyo was on her before she could even dream of recovering, sending her off to the corner with a whip. To her credit, she had good reflexes about it and bounced off the moment she hit the pads, swinging out, trying to hit him, but he was already gone. She found out where he was in the worst way possible, when he leaped up and nailed her with a dropkick that sent her clean off her feet.

She hit the mat and went rolling, going under the ropes and onto the apron. She tried to pull her way up with the ropes from there, but it was a precarious position, not the least bit helped by her being groggy.

Kyo's drop kick hit home beautifully, knocking Key right off her feet and sending her rolling in a daze. The impact was enough, in fact, to send her rolling completely away from him, tumbling under the ropes and flopping in an ungainly heap outside the ring. All told, so far, so good. Now he just had to keep up the pressure on her.

He was about to go out and do just that-- to administer some further punishment to Key at ringside-- when the referee suddenly got in his face. "No you dont," she said. "You have to give her a chance to get back in the ring. Those are the rules--"

"Shut up," Kyo nearly snapped. "There is no such rule, and you know it." By this point he was getting pretty sick of this ref's obviously biased rulings, and he gently but firmly shoved her aside before rolling under the ropes. He knew the countdown would start for him the moment he got out, but he stayed focused as he moved after Key, aiming to pull her back to her feet and whip her towards the barricade...