Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors

Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors Match

Victory Condition: To win, one girl must attach a leash to her opponent and force her to say “Iâ€m your pet!”

Ring Setup: The standard ring has, for this match, been extensively decorated with toys, weapons, and set pieces for the use of the combatants. In each girlâ€s corner is a dog cage, just large enough to fit a human being inside; in the two remaining corners are bowls of wet dog food and bowls of water. In the center of the ring is a ten-foot-tall cat tree, consisting of two “floors” and ramps running between those floors and between the lower floor and the ground. Suspended above the top floor of the cat tree is the leash that is needed to win the match.

Special Conditions: Additional pet toys, such as socks, bones, and chew toys, have been placed all around the ring. Finally, each girl is wearing a shock collar which will give them a small electric shock if they exit the ring, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Phoebe Oakley hadnâ€t had a match for more than a month, and she had started to wonder whether AFW was trying to send her a message and get her to quit. After a week, she had sent an email to one of the leagueâ€s talent agents; after receiving no response, she followed it up with a direct call to the company headquarters. She had been assured that she was still very much on their minds, and they were looking to get her involved in something unique. While that sounded ominous, Phoebe was satisfied knowing that she was still gainfully employed, and now, finally, she would be wrestling again in the AFW ring.

Her jaunty country entrance music played as she marched out onto the ramp, flexing her arms as she did so. She gave the crowd a big, confident grin as she headed down to the ring. She was ready to fight. As she approached the ring, though, the smile slowly faded from her face as she noticed something…weird about the setup. There were a lot of seemingly random items crowding it. As she hopped through the ropes and got into the ring, she got to take a closer look at some of them. Cages. Bowls of what looked like dog food. Some big…playset structure thing in the middle of the ring. She had been told that the match was going to have a pet gimmick, with an invisible fence around the ring and a leash and everything, but this was just over the top.

“What in the damn hell were they smoking when they thought this up?” Phoebe mused, laughing ruefully and shaking her head as she settled back into her corner beside the dog cage and waited for her opponent to emerge.

Ever since her first AFW had match ended in victory, Gemma Faraday had been going through a nonstop buzz. She'd contacted everyone from family members to trainers to old rivals, making sure they knew that she'd gotten off to a smashing start in the big leagues. And maybe she had exaggerated her accomplishments slightly, but this was what she had bled, sweat and cried for in the indies to someday accomplish (and granted, she'd rung up one hell of a phone bill this week, but that's what those big-league paychecks are for, right?) Another week of rice and noodles before her next payoff wasn't going to kill her. Besides, it turned out her old home pub had gone ahead and picked up the channel broadcasting AFW, planning on holding get-togethers & drink specials during Gemma's matches. Knowing that she had that kind of support and attention from the folks back home only invigorated her desire to succeed in the AFW. Gemma was so pumped by this, in fact, that when she got the call for her next match, she didn't even bother discussing details before signing up. Looking back on it, the collar they wanted Gemma to wear did seem rather odd ...

When the opening strings of Gemma's entrance theme hit, she burst onto the entrance ramp with wild enthusiasm, swinging a fist into the air while fixing the crowd with a wink and a flirty grin. Making her way down the entrance ramp, however, it was all she could do to keep that smile on her face, noticing the bizarre set-up in the ring. While she didn't lose her usual flippant smirk, the disbelief in Gemma's eyes was plain as day. Wiping her feet on the ring apron, Gemma hopped over the ring ropes and onto a turnbuckle; as always, she thrust a fist to the crowd, hoping to get them as excited for the match as she was. This time, though, she was clearly struggling to make sense of the sight of the cages, toys and dishes laid out front of her. Hopping down to the mat, Gemma looked across the ring to her opponent. While tightening the straps of her steampunk-styled ring gear, making sure every carefully-tailored inch of it hugged her figure, Gemma could only manage a shrug and a bit of a laugh to greet her opponent, still shocked at the strangeness laid out between them.

Phoebe waited patiently as her opponent showboated her way down to the ring. The girl seemed positively bursting with enthusiasm, pumping her fist in the air, hopping up on the ropes, doing her best to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. Phoebeâ€s excitement at getting back into the ring after such a long time off paled in comparison. She smirked as her bouncy opponent finally came down to the mat, watching the girl through the gaps in the impressive structure that had been erected in the center of the ring.

The referee girl, clad in the black and white bikini typical of AFW officials, climbed up into the ring, and Phoebe listened closely as she began to explain all of the myriad rules and stipulations of this match. The cowgirl did not want to let her opponent have any sort of advantage just because she hadnâ€t paid attention. The rules were not that easy to follow, though. To win, one girl had to put a leash—currently suspended above the giant cat tree—on her opponent and force her to say “Iâ€m your pet!” Simple enough. But then, there were also bowls of water and wet dog food, cages which could be used to trap your opponent, and a bunch of chew toys and other objects scattered throughout the ring. Finally, to top it all off, the collar that each wrestler wore would give her a slight electric shock if she left the ring, whether willingly or otherwise.

This is crazy, Phoebe thought, shaking her head. Even if it was crazy, though, she still was going to win.

Gemma planted her feet, trying to remain eager for the match despite the bizarre arrangement of the ring. Shifting at the hips, with her feet spread slightly and hands clasped behind her, Gemma stretched her legs and back, trying to keep limber as the referee ran them through the rules. It was a bit of a come-down from her high energy entrance to be of a mind to pay attention, but Gemma did her best. As the ref ran though the purpose of the leash, the toys, cages and collars it dawned on Gemma that just maybe she should have paid better attention before agreeing to this. Particularly, she cast a wary eye on the bowl of wet dog food, pretty certain it wasn't conforming to her vegan diet ...

Gemma noted from glances caught around the edges of the giant cat tower, that her opponent for tonight looked to be taking things rather seriously. Trying not to get psyched out, Gemma figured that maybe she should try to get her head on straight and focus. Though with the eyes of not just the massive AFW arena on her, tonight, but those of her home town as well, there was a lot to live up to. Biting her lip, Gemma squared her stance, raised her fists a bit and tried to level her breathing. Leveling her gaze at Phoebe from across the ring, Gemma tried to toss her a taunting smirk, hoping a show of bravado might get her a bit of a psychological edge as she waited for the opening bell.

Phoebe would not let herself take her opponentâ€s taunting smirk for anything more than what it was: an attempt to unnerve her. She would counter the smirk with one of her own, tilting her head forward a little and narrowing her eyes as she put her hands on her hips, conveying a good deal of both confidence and condescension with just those small movements of her arms and her head.

Finally, the ref girl finished explaining the rules, and she got out of the way of the two girls who would soon be locked in combat. Phoebe ran through the rules in her head one more time. Shock. Leash. Verbal submission. At its core, it was a pretty simple match. It only got confusing when one looked at it as a whole, with all of the different weapons, tools, and bits of scenery that had been provided for them to use. Phoebe would not let them overload her brain, though. She was going to keep her focus on the match—her eyes on the prize.

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the match. Phoebe, hands still on her hips, would march forward, keeping her eyes on her opponent, slowly moving in a circle around the cat tree. After she had gone a few paces, she stopped, smiled, then stooped down to pick up a large dog bone, raising it up and brandishing it menacingly at her opponent as she continued to approach the girl.

Involuntarily, Gemma chewed her lip a little and broke her gaze when her opponent was clearly unphazed by her taunt. All of the information she just had to take in, the rules and the strange ringside items,trying to get a read on her opponent ... it was threatening to be just a bit overwhelming for the young Brit grappler. Gemma took a deep breath and tried to draw on her enthusiasm coming off of her first AWF win. Raising her fists a bit higher, Gemma lifted her arms into a humourous "fisticuffs" pose, mincing with her feet to caper a bit and draw some laughs from the crowd. Gemma hoped that, if nothing else, she could counter her foe's dismissive attitude with her own cheeky flair.

Gemma bounced in place, moving only slightly left and right from the moment the ref girl cleared out of the way and the opening bell sounded. Unsure of the best move to make as she watched Phoebe circle around the ring, Gemma wanted to at least keep limber and ready to respond to whatever her foe threw at her. When Phoebe reached down and picked up the dog bone, however, Gemma couldn't help but lose her cool a bit. For all the bizarre things she'd seen, Gemma had never had to take a hit from a dog bone, and she wasn't looking forward to learning what that would be like. Bouncing back a step, Gemma ducked down quickly and grabbed the first thing she could, before striking a defensive posture. In her hand was a long, fuzzy chew-toy that squeeked in her fist without the slightest hint of menace.

"Bloody hell ..." Gemma sighed, loudly.

Phoebeâ€s counter-smirk seemed to have an effect on the other wrestler—much moreso than the platinum blondeâ€s attempt had had on her. That fact made Phoebe smile a genuine, confident smile. The girl recovered quickly, though, and, when she put her hands up in an old-timey fisticuffs posed and pranced around a bit like that, the crowd ate it up. From what Phoebe could tell, it looked like a majority of them were probably in her opponentâ€s camp. She just shrugged it off. She didnâ€t mind being the less popular one, so long as, in the end, she was the winner.

The bell rang, and the match got underway, with Phoebe steadily approaching her opponent, picking up the bone on the way and menacing the girl with it. The British girl picked up something, too…a chew toy. When she brandished it, the cowgirl could not help but let out a laugh.

“What are you gonna do with that?” she asked, continuing to approach, swinging the bone as she got within a few feet of her light-haired opponent. “Better try again!”

Gemma was feeding off of rallying this crowd behind her, tonight, but she couldn't help but feel frustrated for not being able to rattle her opponent. Gemma had to remind herself to not get psyched out; there were a lot of people behind her on this match, and she could bear the thought of letting them down. Despite her best efforts, though, the frustration was playing out clear as day on Gemma's face.

When Gemma gave the squeaker toy her most menacing squeak, she couldn't help but wince at Phoebe's laughter. The odd match conditions were already playing with Gemma's head, and she'd just grabbed for the neared thing at hand. When her opponent went that extra step, though, taunting Gemma to pick another weapon, that helped her to find some extra resolve. Gemma leaned back, out of the swing radius of the bone, and quickly retaliated by spiking the toy as hard as she could at Phoebe's face.

"Oh, I'll be quite alright, love!" she snapped. She knew that even if the toy connected, it wouldn't be much more than a distraction. Which was why she immediately followed the throw up by stepping forward, and bringing her knee up into a kick against Phoebe's midsection. Gemma's frustration had gotten the better of her, so she decided to go all out on the attack.

This platinum blonde pilot—or whatever she was—was obviously frustrated with herself, and Phoebe hoped that that frustration would feed into doubt that would ultimately serve to throw the girl badly off of her game. Hearing the somewhat-less-than-ferocious squeak that the chew toy emitted when the girl squeezed it, Phoebe could not help but roll her eyes. It was ridiculous. Sort of cute, even. If she was being condescending, she might even have called her opponent “precious.”

The girl didnâ€t seem to appreciate Phoebeâ€s reaction, because her next action was to spike the toy right in the cowgirlâ€s face. “Nnnnn!” Phoebe hissed, less hurt and more startled by the blow. She took a step backwards, then steadied herself, opening her eyes just in time to see her opponent step forward and bury her knee in her gut.

“Wuaaaagh!” Phoebe wailed, stumbling back further and falling down flat on her butt, both hands clutching at her midsection. “Damn it!”

"You're bloody well right, 'Wuagh,' you cheeky cow," Gemma said, as she watched Phoebe fall ass-first to the mat. A bit red-faced, Gemma was clearly rattled. Her opponent's cocky attitude had gotten to her, but the situation was definitely exacerbated by the conditions of the match. As much as she was trying to put it out of her mind, there were some absolutely crushing ways to get abused in the ring, tonight, and Gemma couldn't help but worry about which of them she could be subjected to.

Gemma shook her head a bit, and tried to get herself focused, again. While she knew she might be giving her opponent too much time to recover, Gemma decided to fall back on the tactics that she'd built her career on: high-speed, high-impact moves. Retreating slightly (and taking care not to trip on any of the toys scattered around the ring), Gemma ran back against the ropes. She bounced off of them swiftly, picking up momentum as she rushed back towards Phoebe. Gemma committed herself completely to the move, and as long as Phoebe was still in position, Gemma would attempt to connect a high speed kick to the cowgirl's chest.