Ooo Cassie-deaaar...

The arena lights went out for a second during the middle of the Friction event. There was a pause but nobody panicked since it wasn't an unusual thing to see in the league. But it did get everyone excited to see what it meant. People didn't go through effort to set up things like this for no reason. Moments later, Dark Angel's somewhat familiar song started with those loud ringing bells. The lights came back on right after but only about half of them did so it was still relatively dim. Dark Angel was already in the middle of the ring when the lights had come on, a microphone already in her hand. She looked around at everyone before bringing the microphone up and the music stopped.

Despite it, though, she didn't say anything. Instead she appeared to laugh or something and lowered the microphone back down. People looked around at each other as if concerned that they had missed something. Finally, though, Angel brought the microphone back up and started to talk. "I don't say much," she stated flatly. "Usually, it's because I have nothing to say." That's a lie. She always had something to say. "Other times, it's because I have nothing you want to hear." That may very well had been the most honest statement she had made since returning to the AFW.

"But unfortunately, there are some concerning matters I need to discuss. You see, there's someone in the back who is very uncomfortable right now. Uncomfortable because of me. And I...I just can't have that." If it wasn't obvious enough to the not-so-bright people in the crowd that Angel was being sarcastic, her tone would have been a dead giveaway. "A few weeks ago I wrestled a girl in this very ring who was so confident of herself. But she didn't say she was better than me before the match. If anything, she was kind of humble."

"But then I beat her...and it changed everything. Only after I won did she suddenly say I was nothing, that I was a pushover, a wannabe tough guy." Actually, Taylor had said that. "And I can't have this. I just can't have it...open in the air like this. I think we need some closure, don't you think so?" though she directed her question at the audience she couldn't care less what they thought of her or if they were even interested at all about what she was saying. "So I'm challenging you to a rematch Mrs. Elliot. Yes, I know I'm challenging you even though I won our match. Apparently, you don't think I did win even though everyone else saw it."

"You see Cassie, the sooner you accept that I am better than you, the sooner all of us can move on with our lives including yourself. I'll be the first one to understand that nothing I say will make you realize that...so I'll have to show you the hard way." Angel shook her head. "Or...you can ignore my challenge and prove to everyone that you're all talk. Your choice, really. Honestly, either way it's good for me. At least if we do have a rematch it'd be better for you too. We all need to realize our limitations someday after all. If anything, I'm doing you a favor."

Cassie didn't appear right away. While the crowd grew restless waiting to see if she would show up, Cassie took her time backstage. She told herself that she was just letting Dark Angel feel awkward waiting out there by herself, but really she was trying to settle the butterflies in her stomach. She stood just backstage, a microphone clenched tightly in her fist to keep her hands from shaking, taking long, deep breaths.

She gave a nod to the AFW staff, and a moment later [url=http://youtu.be/66KhzUMY8gE:3axeffkh]her music[/url:3axeffkh] wound up in the arena. That was it, there was no turning back now. She took one last deep breath, put on a smile, and strode out to the top of the entrance ramp.

She gave the crowd a big wave, and the cheers she got were much more than what she expected. She took a step back and looked sheepishly flattered, and the crowd melted. She blushed, but beamed proudly, taking a moment to soak it all in before she lifted her microphone.

"Hi, Dark Angel." She said, as if it was perfectly normal that that was her name. "Um..." Her eyes drifted up toward the ceiling as she tried to think of what to say. She had worked something out backstage, but in the arena she was drawing a total blank on what it was.

"U-um..." She stammered. The crowd didn't jeer her, for the most part, like they did so many other unpolished, shy girls. "I... I'm not sure why you hate me so much." She said finally, looking back at Angel standing in the ring. "But... I know I lost my temper last time, but I meant what I said. Sorry. But... you really learn about someone when you fight them, and..." She paused again, and frowned while she thought. "I think you need help. I can, um... help. And I guess the best way to help right now is to show you what hard work and skill can do against a cheater with no confidence. I mean... like that the good guys still win. I'll show you that doing the right thing really works."

Cassie paced for a moment. Her legs felt weak. She didn't know why she was so nervous, she wasn't this nervous last time, but there was something about it that wasn't all bad. She was nervous, but it was exciting to be in front of so many people, facing off against her arch rival, if that's what Angel was. It was exhilarating.

She suddenly broke into a big grin and looked back at Dark Angel. "I'll make you a deal!" She said brightly. "We can do this, but you have to wait. I have to fight Tomomi first. But then, we'll have a rematch, and it'll be great, and it'll be great because you won't be able to cheat. Know why? Because we'll have a special referee! I'm sure she'd love to do it. So it'll be me, and you, and Akashi Tanikaze!" The crowd got loud, and Cassie's gaze never left Angel, and her grin and the twinkle in her eye remained.

For awhile Angel stood there in silence. There was always a grace period to let people make their way from the back and respond in these circumstances. However, Cassie seemed to be taking her sweet time. Angel wasn't really a patient girl so she began to pace back and forth around the ring. She wasn't disappointed or upset, but she was certainly surprised. She had expected more of Cassie. Maybe the orange-haired girl really was going to chicken out or something. It wasn't what she expected but it actually sounded better in her head now. Angel brought the mic up to her lips and said, "Well I'm sorry everyone but apparently Cassie's afraid-" but before she finished the arena lit up with Cassie's theme song. Finally, the orange haired girl made her appearance.

Despite her apparent shyness and stuttering thoughts, Angel watched her waiting for that answer. Of course she was going to call her a cheater again, that was now expected from the whiny person. But she suddenly gained confidence when she agreed to the rematch but with a catch. And it was one hell of a catch. As some of the crowd muttered in approval at the announcement, Angel just stared. The mask shielded a dumbfounded look on her face. And I thought I was the cheater. The last time Angel had seen Akashi was when the sumo smashed her back into the concrete floor of the locker room. This wouldn't have been fair, Akashi and Cassie were friends...and they both didn't like her.

But Angel couldn't let that be the reason to pull out of her challenge. Then SHE'D be the coward. And that just wouldn't do. "Sure. Whatever you need to restore your confidence. If you want to stack the deck in your favor and have someone who ambushed me backstage be a special referee then fine. I don't care. It'll have the same result no matter how you try to win." She wasn't sure how she was suppose to beat Cassie now that Akashi was thrown into the mix but her poker face was remarkable thanks to the mask.

"Nonononono!" Cassie waggled her finger at Dark Angel. She'd become animated, smiling away as if she weren't at all bothered anymore by being on stage. Now she had a purpose beyond another fight, and it was a battle that she was going to win no matter what.

"Well, I really don't want you to try to... you know, do what you did last time." Cassie said, undaunted by the memory of the traumatic and excessive abuse Angel had given her in their match. "So it'll be good to have a scary ref. But look at it this way, Akashi's my friend, and if she wasn't the ref she might beat some sense into you if you tried to do your cheating thing again. But since she's the ref, she can't touch you! So you're safer this way. And I'm not worried about my confidence, I know I'm better. I'm going to help you find your confidence!" She beamed proudly.

She began to count each thing she listed on her fingers. "I'm going to beat you in this match, I'm going to take away your cheating crutch, and then we're going to talk about it." She said. She was so excited about the idea that she was unconsciously bouncing in place. "Okay?"

"What I did last time?" Angel asked sarcastically. "You mean beat you?" she continued with a laugh. "I mean, after all, memory may not serve you well from that thrashing you took...but I wasn't disqualified by the referee for anything...how exactly did I cheat?" she smirked underneath her mask. Of course she played unfair but it was tactical and methodical...and legal from what the referee saw. But knowing Akashi she wouldn't even let Dark Angel use her usual tactics.

And just the thought of the sumo made Angel cringe. The half-threat Cassie gave by saying Akashi as a ref was safer than a friend only made Angel swallow some more. She still remembered being dropped onto her head by Akashi backstage and it was something she really didn't want to repeat. "If anything...you're the one trying to cheat here Cassie. Making a well-known friend of yours referee our match?" she asked as she crossed her arms and shook her head. "What happens when I win again, hmm? Are you going to up the ante even more by making it a handicap match against me with your bff Parker where I'm not allowed to use my hands or something?"

"But whatever...if that gives you the confidence you need to take me on again then we'll do just that." Angel just shook her head in response to Cassie's declaration about talking about it. What was there to talk about? But that wasn't something Angel had to worry about it. It wasn't like she was going to lose anyways. "And don't mistake foolishness for confidence. That's what got you hurt in the first place."

Cassie's voice rose to an high pitch. "You hit me on the head with a pipe!" She blurted, outraged. Dark Angel was infuriating! She clenched her fists and glared at the girl in the ring.

But then the masked girl got a little goofy. Cassie gave her a skeptical look and put a hand on her hip. "Please, Taylor would kill you." She said. "And everyone knows that if there's one honest person here, it's Akashi. She would never try any tricks against you just because I'm in the match, but referees aren't enough to keep people like you in line. That's why we need a special one.

"I don't need anything to beat you. This is for your own good. I can have you tapping out in less than thirty seconds, and if you don't believe me just come up here and try me out!" Cassie was surprised by the steel in her own voice. She hadn't really meant to challenge Angel like that, but it was all true. If the crazy girl wanted to press her luck, Cassie would be more than happy to give her a grappling lesson.

"I did?" Angel asked rhetorically "Then...why didn't the referee disqualify me?" Of course she knew the answer, but she doubted many other people did. It was probably a brand new fact to the vast majority of the people in the audience. "Hmm...I apologize..." she suddenly said with a rather depressed sigh afterward. "I'll try not to choke you as hard next time...I didn't mean to do any damage to you up there," she added while pointing to her head.

"Yea...yea, Akashi is real honest," she continued with a noticeably bitter tone. Angel was really starting to hate saying that name all the time. "She fucks every girl she comes across regardless of who they are or want. She doesn't discriminate at all, she just fucks them all; that shows how fair she is." After another few seconds, Angel slid between the ropes of the ring and to the floor below with the microphone still in hand. "If you didn't need anything to beat me, you would never have even considered bringing Akashi into this."

"But clearly you can't even see that in yourself. You're so confident," Angel started walking up the ramp towards Cassie. She was more than willing to brawl with her right then and there. But where was the class in that? "You're starting to sound a lot like that loudmouth Taylor...you seem to look up to her quite a bit." Angel continued to get closer to Cassie by climbing the ramp further. "I can't possibly imagine why...you should pick your role models better. Try looking up to someone like Megumi or Angel instead. You know...someone good."

Cassie's mouth hardened and her hands curled into tight fists. She fumed while Dark Angel went on and on about everything she thought could get under Cassie's skin. She knew what she was doing. She was just trying to make Cassie angry. She probably didn't mean any of those things. But wasn't saying them bad enough?

She should learn to watch her mouth.

Cassie was anything but stoic when she lifted her microphone again, but her voice was even. "I've never seen you fight anyone like them. Like any of them. Someone good? How did you do against Megumi? Or against Angel? Even if you did fight them, it wouldn't matter." Dark Angel's fights were all for nothing. She accomplished nothing, and she cheapened herself by doing the things she did, hiding behind a mask and fighting to take every dirty advantage she could.

"You should meet my dad." Cassie said. She meant it. "He'd have a thing or two to say, but then he'd just show you why you're wrong and that'd be all. I'm... I'm not as grown up as he is. I still get angry, and right now I just want to shut you up and choke you out." She said. The crowd cheered her threat, partly out of surprise from it having come from Cassie's mouth.

"And after I do, that mask is mine."

Dark Angel shook her head and laughed. "You're right. I've never fought anyone like Megumi or Angel. I've only had to deal with pushovers like yourself. So I'd be wasting my time fighting you again." Angel closed the distance until the two were only a few feet away from each other and just out of arms reach. "But for you Cassie dear, I'll make that sacrifice." Angel made sure to visibly show that she was laughing since the mask would've hid her facial expressions.

"And you're right. I would like to meet your dad." She paused after that odd response. "Because I'd like to meet the man who raised his girl to believe beating someone up is the best way to make them open up. He probably had a lot of fun making your mother open up to him." These words were like nothing she had ever said before but then again she had never been so interested in provoking someone. And the way Cassie's words were getting more and more harsh only fed Angel further.

Cassie rolled her eyes. If she was such a waste of time, why was Angel spending so much time trying to make her mad? It was stupid. She put on a pleasant little smile and watched the approaching girl while she spoke.

"It's not the best way, if you want to-" She stopped dead.

Her eyes widened and she audibly gasped. Her hand started to move up to her mouth, but paused halfway. A series of emotions flashed across her face, shock, hurt, anger, and then finally she visibly relaxed. Her face became expressionless, her shoulders settled down, her hands opened up. She seemed to sink slightly lower, and her pupils dilated just a little. Then, without any warning, she dove on Angel.

She leapt on her, wrapped one arm over Angel's upper arm and the other behind her head and scissored her legs around her waist. She fell onto her back, dragging the masked girl down to the floor with her. She held on tightly, not giving her any room to move while she worked to set up other things. Her face while she did it remained blank, almost cold.

She leaned her head up to whisper in Dark Angel's ear. "I'll show you what my daddy taught me."