Against the Abyss: Gaia Eden vs The Defiant Darkness

Match Type:  Standard
Victory Condition:  Pinfall, Submission, KO, or Disqualification

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When she had first looked at the evening's billing, she had seen her own name against something or someone known as The Defiant Darkness. Some people might have questioned it, Gaia on the other hand had been grinning from ear to ear with excitement. She refused to look up anything else, wanting to leave everything a mystery for the evening. She loved character wrestlers and interesting gimmicks. She had tried her hand with that sort of thing in the past but it never really clicked for her. At the end of the day, she was decent at hamming it up in the ring for the sake of the performance, but it was always just her. She had been told that she was far too genuine, which apparently was a bad thing in this case. Either way, she couldn't wait to see what she would be going up against tonight.

Theme:

Gaia Eden:

Gaia Eden came strutting out onto the stage to the beat of her music, each step falling in line with the beat. Stopping center stage she hit a few quick poses in quick succession all keeping with the rhythm. The transitions were smooth and practiced to perfection, lending her an air of not only being a wrestler but a dancer as well. Despite being an unknown, the reception was decent. They liked her music and her confidence was infectious. By the time she hit the ramp, she had the crowd suitably hyped up. With a generous sway of her hips to the music she kept a steady pace up until the ring apron. Climbing up onto the ledge, she threw one leg up almost vertically on its way to fold over the other in a display of her flexibility punctuating it all with blowing a kiss into the crowd.

Dropping onto her back she rolled beneath the ropes and came to rise, strutting around the ring like she owned it. Showmanship came second nature to Gaia. Despite being a rookie here in Friction, she had more than a fair share of experience in front of a crowd and seemed right at home performing. She moved to the ropes, dropping into them to lean comfortably and wait for her opponent to make their big entrance, eagerly awaiting to see what came out next.

As Gaia's intro ended, all the lights went out at once, lasting for a few seconds to let suspense set in until an jade green eye opens up on the big screen and an unfamiliar female voice boomed from the speakers, breaking the silence that had been set in from the lights going out.

"TO BE PURGED OF DARKNESS. ONE MUST BE SWALLOWED BY IT!"

Once the voice was done speaking, multiple spotlights shone from the darkness, all aimed at the entrance to reveal another blonde haired girl wearing a gothic outfit that looked as if it were ripped straight from a childhood fantasy novel. Her stance in a position that screamed confidence, but also looked like someone trying really hard to be edgy about it.

Outfit:

Once the audience had a second to process that the girl had arrived on the scene, her theme song came on while she walked to the beat, only to stop multiple times to perform multiple different dramatic poses to further enforce her own greatness or accidentally enforce how weird she was to the people who weren't impressed by her.

Song:

Once she made it to the ring, she would climb up onto the apron and bending her upper body to slip between the top and middle rope, looking directly towards her opponent and examining her a few moments, scoffing, and then going back to appeal to her adoring fans. She wasn't exactly in the ring to be making new friends, and she didn't join AFW to do so either. She was here to win, and she did not believe that she needed to be kind to others to do so. Not when she was so confident in her own abilities after all.

The two of them were in very similar situations. Both new to Friction and both unknowns. Also similarly to Gaia, the Defiant Darkness also did no research on her opponent. Not because she was excited and not even because she was so arrogant in her win. She simply forgot to do so because she was too busy spending all of her preparation time planning and practicing tbe coreography of her entrance and time just slipped away from her. Now she was here with only one plan of attack: attack as she leaned back against the turnbuckle staring at her opponent and not even bothering to talk with them unless they spoke first.

Gaia watched, transfixed to what it was she saw, a goofy grin plastered on her face. It was all so cheesy but she loved it. The theatrics were one of the many things that made professional wrestling so fun and this Defiant Darkness lady seemed to have a handle on that fact. The motif, the attitude, the posing. It was all over the top and she couldn’t get enough of it. When her opponent neared the ring, Gaia stood upright and made an effort to look a bit more serious. She didn't want to take away from this whole woman’s vibe. She had practically been ignored once the other woman entered, which was a slight disappointment. She was really curious about what sort of banter she’d get out of someone so eccentric. She’d find out soon enough.

Stepping out of her corner she made her way to the center of the ring in preparation for the bell. With a small nod, she acknowledged the other woman, a silent show of respect for what it was she was doing before they had to duke it out. Gaia would hold up a hand, fingers wiggling, in a nonverbal challenge. The test of strength, a time-honored traditional start. She would watch The Defiant Darkness expectantly as the bell rang, waiting for her to accept the sporting contest or not.

It seemed to Akemi that Gaia was just as prepared to start this match as she was. So when the test of strength was offered, Akemi was just as keen to accept it. "Hmph! Think you could possibly win at a test of strength against the Defiant Darkness herself! Fine then, mortal! I will show you strength!" She would announce dramatically while walking over ot her opponent and reaching over to lock in the test of strength sgainst Gaia, their fingers interlocking.

"D-Don't think you'll... Win this!" She said through grunts while the two of them pushed against each other. Although she was wearing an eye patch to cover one eye, she was wincing from the effort of attempting to gain control over Gaia. She was clearly struggling despite all of her big-talk. Still, if she was able to eventually take control, she end the test of strength by letting go and wrapping her arms around Gaia's waist so she could perform a belly to belly suplex, hoping to squash her opponent on the ground while yelling "DARKNESS SLAM" like she was performing some type of special move.

“I know myself a mortal, and my share in what the morrow brings no more than thine.” It wasn’t often Gaia was able to quote Greek literature but if she was going to be called a mortal she couldn't help but flex her extensive catalog of reading. She flashed Akemi a knowing smirk as their palms came together and fingers slipped between each other to interlock. She squeezed tightly and found the other girl did the same. At the very least she knew what they were doing.

“Not sounding so confident Defiant Darkness… could it be because I lit up the room so brightly with my smile?” it took a great deal of focus to speak without allowing the strain of their struggle to reach her voice too much. Her opponent wasn’t a slouch, meeting her strength in kind with both digging in their heels. When she moved, her opponent moved with her leading to a squeaking shuffle of ring boots on the canvas as they both vied for control in equal measure.

When the Defiant Darkness finally relented and pulled her hands away, Gaia thought she had won the exchange. She went high, grasping at the other girl's shoulders while her opponent went low and drew her in with what almost felt like a light hug as they briefly pressed against one another. She was yanked off her feet with a surprised gasp and slammed to the mat with a hard thud, laid out by the Darkness itself. She winced in both the pain in her back and the sheer cringe factor of not only the name of the move but the fact it was shouted out.

"Sh-shut up!" she yelled back at the woman while she was struggling to win the contest of strength. Although she wasn't losing, she wasn't winning either and that bothered the impatient girl, her teeth gritting tightly. This woman just wouldn't go down! Eventually, she would get sick of listening to Gaia talk and break the test of strength, believing to herself that she would have won eventually.

After breaking the hold, the two of them would collide with The Defiant Darkness going downwards while her opponent went above, allowing the Chuunibyou wrestler to pick her opponent up and go for a "Darkness Slam" as she had just made up the name right at that moment. Despite how cringey screaming out the mood was, the move itself was effective enough to leave her opponent dazed on the ground. With her opponent laid out on the ground, Mikoto would spend no time taking advantage of the opening she had to try to combo the initial splash into a submission hold.

In fear of her opponent getting up if she were to just let go of her, the Defiant Darkness' hands would slide down the girl's body until they reached her thighs, hooking both of her arms around them as she stood up. If she made it that far, the girl would raise both her and Gaia's lower body, attempting to turn them both around and put Gaia into a boston crab hold which she nicknamed the: "ABYSSAL CHARIOT!!!"

She would give the other girl some credit for getting one over on her. She was however determined to not allow the situation to spiral out of her control right out of the gate. When the deviant Darkness pushed herself up off of her, Gaia followed the movements to figure out what came next. Trying to stand up right away could prove fruitless unless given the chance to fully rise. Her patience, however short-lived it was, was immediately rewarded when the other girl scooped up her legs. There were a few places to go from there, but she kept herself limp and malleable to give the illusion she was defenseless towards whatever her opponent had in mind.

When her opponent attempted to step over her to flip her over onto her chest it was time to act. There was no doubt now this was a submission hold in the making and she didn't want to give the woman a chance to fully cinch it in. The Defiant Darkness would have an easy time turning Gaia over but as soon as she had done that she would feel a change in resistance. Gaia reached back to grasp at both of Akemi’s ankles, clamping her grip on the girl's boots. She pulled as hard as she could, trying to yank the girl’s feet unsteady while kicking her legs out at the same time. Her hope was to actually use her hooked legs as a weapon and flop her opponent face-first into the mat if she could break her stance before the hold was locked in.

"ABYSSAL CHARIOT!!!" was the way the Defiant Darkness' voice came across in her head. But when it came to actually saying the line out loud it came out more like: "ABYSSAL CHaIRiOOoOTtTT- OOF!" because right as she was screaming the name, the other woman's hands reached out and yanked her stance right out from under her, causing the Defiant Darkness to fall flat right on her face, a move that the girl was incredibly unprepared for.

"Nngh..." she groaned in pain, pulling her face up afterwards, her face blushing a fierce red from the humiliation of messing up her move and she looked back furious at her opponent."Y-you stupid jerk! You'll pay for that!" she yelled at Gaia quite childishly, her, attempting to scramble back up onto her feet to at least reset the position. But in her panicked anger, she would leave herself open to attacks from behind. This type of reactions were typical for her as whenever she would get angered, flustered or both, her wrestling skills would suffer a bit for it.

It was a great relief when she was able to pull her opponent's legs out from under her, foiling her submission attempt. With a hard twist, she kicked her legs out from under the other woman and pushed herself up. She had solely just gotten to a knee when The Defiant Darkness started to rise as well, foolishly turning her back on Gaia. She couldn’t let such juicy opportunities slip her by.

“Heh, are you sure about that?” Gaia cracked a smirk, lunging towards the other girl, quickly attempting to hook her arms under her armpits and bring her hands up behind her opponent's neck to put the girl into a full nelson hold. If she managed to lock her in, she would thrash the other girl from side to side, looking to cinch the hold in as tightly as she could manage.

"Our freshly minted heroine of light and beauty began her vanquishing of the darkness!” Gaia gave a soft giggle at her own narration. “What do you think I should name this move, hm? I am open to suggestions.” the blond playfully teased as she tried to flex the hold.

"GYAHH! L-LET ME GO!" she cried out while struggling within her opponent's hold, her body being thrashed from side to side and effectively disorienting her vision. The motion made the girl a little sick to her stomach and allowed her opponent ot hold the submission hold longer than usual. But when she managed to get ahold of her seneses, she began struggling once again, her legs kicking at the ground

"Y-You're not e-even a Hero! Y-you need to have your darkness purged from you! What could you possibly know about vanquishing Darkness!" she would yell at her between her pained cries. After a bit more struggling, if there were no changes to the hold, the girl would attempt to use her legs to pull herself and Gaia to the ropes. She was annoyed at the woman's mockery of her, acting as if they were just playing a game together. Being the Defiant Darkness was no game to her! It was real!