AV 13 Main Event: (C)Angel Vs. (C)Adrian "Unification" Match

Angel could have sworn that she was going to come out on top in this struggle. She jerked towards the side, and could feel Adrian slipping off the ladder. As far as she was concerned, this match belong to her. But...then she felt herself being pulled along, her body being dragged down with Adrian's. That bitch! she thought, as she tried to maintain her stance on the ladder. She was letting go! She was dragging Angel down with her!

The next thing she knew, she was dropping through the air, the arena a momentary blur as she fell to the mat again. She hit the canvas hard, her body jerking in pain as her descent was so cruelly stopped. She rolled onto her side afterwards, panting heavily, tiny little moans of pain passing through her lips. Her body was already as sore and as beaten as possible, and now it felt even worse. Just like that, the victory that she had thought she was only moments away from had been snatched from her, and she wasn't sure if she could find the energy to get back up in time to claim it again.

Adrian's eyes shot wide as her back smashed against the canvas once more before the vision blurred over for the fallen cosplayer, the crowd wincing in sympathy. Both Champion and challenger (Champion!) had taken way more abuse in this match than anyone was expecting them to take, and this last fall looked as though it might have taken both of them out. A repeat from last year, where both competitors just couldn't carry on, once again involving a god damn ladder. Adrian was starting to come around as to why Angel disliked them so much.

Rolling around, Adrian essentially collapsed onto her front, laid out like the body at a murder scene, a faint trail of blood from her leg leading back to the crash site, the former cosplayer had looked worse before, but not by much, and not for years. This time, it looked like there'd have to be two stretchers instead of just the one for her, until Adrian showed the first sign of life, her hand reaching out to claw at the mat, slowly but surely, crawling her way across and to the ropes.

Angel lay on her side, her eyes closed, her breath ragged and pained. She had been beaten down, she was bruised, she was tired. Her entire body fucking hurt. All she could think about was how much she hated ladders. After this match, she was never going to get involved with them again. Never. She couldn't remember the last time she had taken so much punishment in a match. Mika didn't even push her this far. Hell, not even Sarah Gatt had pushed her like this!

Slowly, she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, looking upwards for but a brief moment before rolling her head to the side, trying to find spot Adrian and see what kind of shape she was in. When she spotted Adrian already making her way to the ropes, the Latina felt her heart skip a beat, staring at her in shock and in awe. No way... she thought to herself, watching Adrian make her way to the ropes. There's no fucking way...

Even though she wasn't ready to get back up yet, Angel didn't have much of a choice. She groaned to herself as she forced her body to slowly sit up, shaking her head from side to side to clear out her cobwebs. This was it. Everything was resting on whether or not she could stop Adrian now. She had to get back up on her feet!

Once she was sitting up, Angel took a deep breath, and began rising up to her feet, sharp impulses of pain coursing through her with every movement. She had to get back up, but damn if it wasn't hurting her to do so.

Adrian's resiliency, endurance, stubbornness, whatever people wanted to call it was getting to ludicrous levels as Adrian grabbed the bottom rope, holding on as though she was trying to get someone to break a submission hold with her face still pressed against the mat. Even the crowd was starting to come around to the fact that Adrian wasn't mostly about bluster, beneath all the words, the dirty tricks, the self confidence issues, Adrian was tough. Tougher than most and a lot tougher than people often gave her credit for. She had walked out under her own power in instances where she probably needed a stretcher, she got bust open several times in the past and carried on as though her face wasn't being painted red with blood and now, with a back in a million pieces and legs in more, she had made it to the ropes, picking up her head and began to climb back to her feet.

Unaware that behind her, Angel too was rising up to her feet, Adrian took her time to hang over the top rope, a semi-satisfied smile through the pain. "Too bad..." She let out, inbetween deep breaths as she pointed at herself. "Kytes time." She declared, turning around to face whatever was left of Angel and the ladder still standing right under the belts.

Angel rose up to her feet, glaring at Adrian all the while. Her face was a mask of disgust and disdain towards her opponent. At this moment, she was filled with nothing but feelings of complete and utter hatred towards Adrian. The fact that Adrian was standing again was driving her absolutely crazy, it was pissing her off beyond belief. All she wanted was for the girl to just lie down and accept her damn loss, let the real champion take the damn title that she had worked her ass off for years to earn. Was that really so much to ask for?

She stood there still for a moment, watching Adrian carefully, then as the woman began to turn towards her, she began moving towards her. Slowly at first, then breaking into a swifter movement as she approached the cosplayer. This was over. She wasn't going to put up with Adrian for not one moment longer.

When she finally closed in on Adrian, the Latina let out a bloodcurdling scream, all of her anger and hatred and rage escaping from her lips at once. As Adrian turned her way, her leg shot straight up, aiming her Angel's Kiss straight for Adrian, another superkick with as much power and force as Angel could possibly muster behind it.

Adrian staggered on her feet for a moment, trying to get some stable footing before turning around with a lopsided grin as though she was drunk, only for it to be wiped off and her eyes to shoot wide as Angel came screaming towards her and aiming to score a field goal with her skull. Evidently, Angel didn't think Adrian's ability to stand was impressive, and decided to rectify that herself.

The former cosplayer barely got her arms up in time, Angel's boot smashing her arms up and back with enough force to take her over the top rope, which was all she needed to do. The rope buckled under the weight of the cosplayer as she went over, managing to go low enough to be able to snag the American's ankle, trapping it between the ropes and leave Adrian barely conscious, but hopelessly trapped

"W-wha?" She moaned out as she dangled upside down, her back brushing up against the ring edge as she tried to paw upwards to free herself to no avail. Even if it wasn't the planned outcome it was the best result Angel's kick could give her. Now she could not only win, but gloat about it to an awake former cosplayer

Angel watched, as her kick smashed into Adrian, and even with the woman guarding it, the force of the finisher was enough to send Adrian toppling over the ropes. A sneer crossed her face as she watched Adrian's foot get tangled up in the ropes, trapping her helplessly upside-down. This was perfect. Adrian was stuck and there was nothing she could do about it.

<Pathetic>, Angel whispered down at her, before turning away, stepping slowly towards the ladder again. She knew, she fucking knew, that Adrian wasn't going to get free, that this match was truly her's now. She wasn't going to rush and hurt herself again. Not with a ladder involved.

When she reached the ladder, she gripped it tight and took a deep breath, before slowly beginning the long climb upwards. She took it carefully, one step at a time, her vision aimed above her at the hanging belts, never once taking her eyes off of them. When she finally reached the top, she reached upwards, taking a brief moment to ensure her balance, then grabbed the closest of the two belts, starting to tug on it to tear it loose, her heart pounding faster and faster against her chest as she began to pull on it. Her victory was finally at hand! After the long, grueling match, it was finally all about to end!

She gave the belt another yank, finally forcing it to come free in her hand. Once it did, she carefully set it down upon the top of the ladder, reaching up for the second belt. She couldn't help but steal a glance back over her shoulder though, keeping an eye out for Adrian, making sure that she hadn't freed herself and was about to ruin things again, but...no. She was still trapped. Angel was in the clear.

She turned her gaze back to the remaining belt, and reached up for it, grabbing it a sharp, quick yank. This one came free a bit easier than the first, Angel realizing it had been the one that Adrian had loosened up earlier in the match. She jerked it free, staring hungrily at it, taking a moment to realize what had happened as she pulled it down.

She had done it. She had claimed both titles and beaten Adrian. It was over, and now, there was no way that anyone could dispute her reign as champion. No one.

Adrian was still trapped in the ropes by the time Angel leaned up to retrieve the second belt, making slightly more progress on getting her foot unstuck from the ropes but it was too little to late. The bell had rung, Angel was triumphant and Adrian was back to being... well... back to the square one. "..fuck..." she groaned as nearby officials swarmed the ring, two stretchers prepared just in case and more importantly, someone to untangle the ring ropes and free the former cosplayer.

"<I'm fine... I can walk dumbasses.>" she said out in broken Japanese as she was gently lifted down to the floor, no danger of her falling and landing on her head, although with the way the crowd was roaring in approval, knocking herself out like that might have been preferable to hearing this... but if this was going to be a night of embarrassment for Adrian, she was going to take it like a woman and treat it like ripping off a band-aid. Asking for a mic, she waited until Angel had gotten off the ladder and had time to soak it up before she made her way back into the ring.

"...Gratz..." She said sadly, too exhausted to really come up with anything insulting or clever. "You probably... got a lot to say... about me... so get it over with." the former cosplayer sighed, tossing Angel the mic as she leaned back into the corner, disappointed to come so far only to lose. She doubted that she'd get another match like this in the next decade, with her winning streak gone and now no longer the 'Real' world champion, there wasn't much Adrian had left to use as a claim to fame

Angel slowly began her climb back down the ladder, each of the belts hung over one of her shoulders. She heard the bell ring as she started down, heard the crowd roaring and cheering. She was visibly trembling as she lowered herself, her body shaking with each step down. Finally. Finally her time had come. Her moment was here at last. After everything she had been through in her career, she was finally the one, true champion.

She reached the bottom of the ladder and stepped off, grabbing one of the two belts (the real one), giving her shoulder a shrug to let Adrian's clever fake fall to the mat. She thrust her new title up into the air above her, grinning in pride and excitement, starting to step around the ring, putting her belt, her win, on display for everyone to see, so that there could be no doubt at all who had won the watch, who the true champion was.

Angel couldn't helped but be surprised though, as Adrian slipped back into the ring and came to meet her. She had to give Adrian the proper credit. She had thought that she would have slinked off into the back already. At that moment, she realized that most of her earlier anger, and her earlier hate, had slipped away, had drained right out of her. She still didn't really like Adrian or anything, but in the end the 'real' world champion had kept to her word and faced Angel with no tricks, no cheating, and no one to run interference for her. Despite all of that, she had given Angel one hell of a match, and the Latina couldn't help but respect her for that.

She rolled her eyes as she leaned down to pick up the fake title she had dropped before, barely believing what she was about to do. She turned back to Adrian and shoved it into her chest, forcing herself to give Adrian a playful grin. "Here. Take your damn belt, chica," replied to her, meeting her gaze and staring deep into her eyes. "I don't want the damn thing. Why would I want it when I've got the real thing, huh?" She grinned a bit wider, laying her own belt over her shoulder, then giving Adrian a punch in her shoulder...not too hard, but hard enough that she would feel it. "I've got nothing to say about you. You came out and played it clean, and almost managed to one-up me." She stepped back after that, folding her arms over her chest, and giving Adrian a quick wink. "Just...don't go around pretending that fake thing is real anymore, alright? I would hate to have to kick your ass again and embarrass you for a second time, you know?"

Adrian gave a look of utter confusion as Angel gave her back the fake AFW title, complete with an Adrian Kytes nameplate as respectfully as she did, expecting a torrent of insults or throwing the counterfeit belt out with the trash, something like that. But was Angel actually complimenting her. "Guess we're both not the same people who faced each other last year." Adrian philosophized to Angel, securing her own belt over her shoulder to mirror the AFW champion.

"Don't worry, at least this way I don't have to pretend that mine got contaminated in the Gat months." the former cosplayer joked, sticking out her tongue as though she was disgusted by that reign "...not that I don't want it but it needs to be washed like... a hundred times to get the Canadian off it." And with that she gave Angel a polite bit of applause and hobbled back out of the ring and up the ramp. This was Angel's moment really and she already ruined one of them, it was probably better to let her get on with the celebrations while she left to go get some medical attention and check that everything was still relatively where it should be.