Showdown VI: Silver Ace vs Makie Akamatsu

"Ow...Ow...Ow...Ow..."

Ace groaned, rubbing the back of her silver haired head, sitting on her butt, her back against the guardrail. Was she still conscious? Did Makie still have fight left in her? How the hell had they not been counted out yet?

Turns out, count outs were up to the referee's discretion, and this particular ref was having too much fun watching these two women beat the crap out of each other to bother counting.

Now that the two of them were finally seemingly taking a breather, she decided...might as well do her job.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"THREE!"

"OH FUCK!" Silver Ace yelled aloud, before reaching out towards the nearby Makie, lightly rocking the Tension tag champ. "Hey...hey...Truce. I declare a truce for now, I wanna kick your butt in the ring, not win by count out, and I bet you feel the same right? Lets get to the damn ring..."

With that, Ace turned her back on Makie, actually trusting that the woman wouldn't just sneak attack her, and with effort, crawled over the guardrail, and stumbled her way to the ring apron, grabbing the bottom rope and hurling herself under the ropes to re-enter the ring in time, before checking to see if Makie followed her!

This was the stage of a match that Makie usually called "everything hurts everywhere all the time." Admittedly, the fact the got to this stage so often in her matches should have been a point of concern for her; Kyo always did say that she tried too hard to win. And maybe she did end up in the infirmary way too often.

But screwit, what was the point of wrestling if she didn't give it 110 percent?

Her train of thought broke off, though, as she realized the ref was counting. Cursing under her teeth, she tried to prop herself up...and suddenly was aware of Ace standing in front of her, extending a hand and offering a temporary truce. In any situation, Makie would have been skeptical...but right now Makie doubted she could get back into the ring on her own power, and so far, Ace had been fighting fairly. Well okay, kicking her ass fairly, the point was Makie could probably trust her.

With a grimace, Makie accepted Ace's proffered hand and let the Canadian haul her back up. Stumbling slightly, she managed to make it into the ring and push herself under the ropes, breaking the countdown. Once back in the ring, Makie gritted her teeth and gingerly managed to haul herself back to her feet; the crowd burst into cheers as the two competitors were standing once again.

"Okay, so...where were we?" Makie breathed, getting into a ready stance opposite Ace.

Honestly, it was a shame Ace and Makie hadn't met until now. Between the two of them being tough fighters who always gave 110 percent, and both of them having "oh god everything hurts" moments in common, they probably would have enjoyed meeting and sharing stories about their career instead of starting off knowing each other by punching each other.

...Of course...if they became friends first through sharing stories...they'd still end up wanting to punch each other in the ring, just for the fun of it so...go figure.

Ace knew she was taking a risk, and some people would even say she was being outright stupid, choosing to HELP her opponent into the ring to avoid a ring out, and simply trusting that Makie wouldn't backstab her and get a ring out win herself...but she and Makie were learning about each other through this fight, and between what she had seen and what Valley had told her about Makie and her brother, she felt confident in taking the risk, and was rewarded for her faith, as both her and Makie re-entered the ring on time, leaving literal bodies in their wake, as dozens of audience members had been displaced or tossed about during their scuffle, a sight that, upon seeing it, made Ace laugh, unable to help herself, before giving Makie a thumbs up.

"Heh heh...oh man. I've had some wild matches, but I've never taken out half the crowd before...this is fucking awesome, I want you to know that. I should have listened to Valley and come to Tension a long time ago. As for where we were at, I *believe* we were about to get back to punching each other..."

Ace then shrugged comically. "...Or we could make out a little first if you want."

Makie had heard, going into this bout, that Silver Ace was probably one of the most honourable fighters on the AFW roster. Of course, Makie had taken that to mean that she simply wouldn't use underhanded tactics, or blatantly cheat her way to victory...and even then, that didn't mean that the Canadian wouldn't pull her punches. But now Makie was seeing that what it really meant was that Ace would go so far as to help her opponent back into the ring if it meant avoiding a count-out: she wanted to win fair and square, not on some bullshit technicality. For this reason alone, Makie's opinion of the silver-haired Canadian went up by a lot even as she got back up to her feet.

And then Ace suggested they make out.

Makie's face went almost as red as her outfit. "Wha...whaaa?" she stammered. "But...but I thought you and Valley were..." Makie piped down at that moment, realizing that Ace had most likely been joking. A joke that felt worse for the fact that in any other circumstance, Makie might not have said no.

"Hah...let's just settle for punching each other, shall we?" Makie said with a wry grin as she circled Ace slowly...before darting in with a sudden lunge, aiming to hit Ace with a running lariat!

"My dear Valley Doll and I have been discussing...experimenting a bit with some other favorite people...at least until we're married of course. But that's for later, for now, like you said, back to punching!"

What Makie didn't know however, was that Ace had no intention of punching at all! Indeed, the woman was actually getting tired, as Makie had proven to be a hell of an opponent, and Ace knew it was time to go for something BIG if she wanted to put the woman down for the count.

So she circled, intentionally waiting for the Tension Tag Champ to make the first move, and when she did, rushing in head first to try and lariat Ace down, the silver haired Canadian was able to duck under the womans arm, turn her body to the side, and when Makie turned around, Ace would sidestep towards her and throw her leg straight and true, trying to catch Makie right in the chin with her long-famous Silver Flash Superkick!

At first, Makie had assumed that Ace had been half-joking when they had suggested they make out. After all, she and Valley were probably the biggest power couple in AFW (not counting Ami Takeuchi and whatsisface, that model guy), and Ace didn't strike Makie as the cheating type. So when Ace had mentioned the two of them wanting to do a bit of experimenting...well. There was a lot about Ace's personality and attitude that Makie found attractive, admittedly, and Valley Doll was...well, Valley Doll.

But Ace was also right, now was most definitely the time for punching.

Bursting forward at what she hoped was blinding speed, Makie extended an arm, hoping to knock Ace down with a surprise lariat. Except it turned out not to be too much of a surprise, however, as the wily Canadian managed to duck it. Nearly unbalanced, Makie spun around to face her...and a second later, had a boot explode up into her chin. Her head snapped back, and her vision briefly went white as she stumbled backward and then collapsed utterly dazed by that surprise superkick.

Some would say that flat out lying about punching only to immediately go for a kick to the face was a dishonest tactic. Some might even call it a heel tactic, and indeed, throughout her career, one of the criticisms Ace had often been hit with was that she sometimes used tactics that didn't seem very babyface of her.

Frankly...Ace didn't care. While she didn't use illegal tactics like others, she had no issue with a bit of deception or trickery if it got the job done, which was why her supporters often gave her the nickname of "Based Ace" in online circles.

Regardless, the kick had connected, to a roar of surprise from the crowd, and Makie went down, with Ace quickly dropping down and covering her for a pin attempt!

A dull ringing filled Makie's skull as she clutched her forehead, writhing like a worm on the mat as her legs kicked uselessly against it. Everything hurt right now, and she was barely aware of anything outside of the infernal ringing in her head. She had known that Silver Ace was a powerful striker, but this...this was something else. If she had been able to think of much more beyond how much everything hurt right know, she would have realized just how much skill and self-control Ace had been using to kick her this hard-- that if she had not restrained herself, Ace could easily have knocked her into a concussion.

Makie couldn't think much more of that, though, as she suddenly felt Ace's body pressing down against hers, covering her for a pin attempt. In an instant, the countdown began.

"ONE...TWO...THR--"

With a hell, Makie barely managed to kick out in time, twisting and getting a shoulder off the mat. She breathed hard, her head still swimming. She had bought herself time, but she was still very much in a bad state right now.

"DAMN IT! That was three ref!"

Silver Ace, who normally tried to appear unflappable in the ring, pushed herself up to all fours and pounded her fists on the mat as Makie managed to actually KICK OUT of her surprise super kick, a superkick she had spent the last 9 years in AFW perfecting to where it was one of, if not the, absolute best in the league, and Makie had managed to kick out of it.

Alright, that settled it. This girl had Ace's respect, flat out. If this girl was an indicator of what Tension had in store, then Silver Ace had been sleeping on the league for a LONG long time. But enough was enough. They had wrestled, they had fought outside the ring, they had fought in the crowd, they had fought AGAINST the crowd at one point, but Ace had to put Makie away and down for the count. Her fans expected it. Valley expected it. She expected it, and she would make it happen.

Grabbing the still stunned Makie's legs, Ace dragged her over to the center of the ring, and pointed at one of the corner turnbuckles, much to the crowds cheers.

"Your a hell of a tough gal Makie, as tough as anybody I've ever fought, but its time I end this. You know...its times like this, with tough opponents like you that I often wonder...What would Valley do?"

She said down to the fallen tension tag champ before walking to the turnbuckle and climbing it, a rare sight for the former Entropy and Hardcore champion. Once she was standing fully on the turnbuckle, she looked back, getting the distance right, bouncing one the ropes once...twice...and leaped backwards, kicking her legs up and executing a backwards flip, her athletic leap taking her halfway across the ring as she tried to flatten Makie with her girlfriends Valley's old finisher, a picture perfect Moonsault!

Makie was breathing hard after having just narrowly avoided that pin attempt. Her head was still feeling groggy after that brutal blow, as though her brain had momentarily left her body and discorporated from the now unresponsive flesh. That one blow, more than anything else, had highlighted why Ace was one of the best wrestlers in AFW: Makie could never hope to deliver a kick that powerful, that devastating. The fact that Makie was still in this match was as much a surprise to her as it was to everyone else.

Dimly, Makie became aware of the fact that she was being dragged to the center of the ring. As her eyes fluttered, she heard Ace saying something to her...something about Valley?...before she saw her Canadian opponent climbing the rope for a big moonsault finish.

Makie tried to roll. Her body was sluggish, and barely responded. She knew that if that moonsault landed, it would be game over. Looking up again, she saw Ace descending on her now, in a graceful, elegant descent.

"You're...not...Valley..." Makie managed to growl, before bringing her knees up to catch Ace's descent!