Vailima vs Esther Savato-Howell

Standard Match
Winner decided via, Pinfall, Submission, DQ, or Countout

The night was young, and Friction was just getting underway. The crowd had already been primed after being treated to a couple dark matches, and now the arena was filled with an excited buzz as the main card's opening match was about to start. Vailima could hear them from all the way backstage, where she waited. This would be only her second match in AFW, and she was quite frankly honored and excited to be given the opportunity to open the show after just one successful debut match. It seemed she had not only impressed the majority of the fans in her prior match, but a few people in management as well.

As Lima waited for her cue to head out, she took the opportunity to get some last minute stretching in as she always did. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, completely straightening out one with the other bent, and then straightening out the bent leg while bending the other. While she did this, she thought about her opponent and what strategy she'd use to take her on. Esther "The Storm" Savato-Howell, her name was. A hard hitting striker with a background in boxing. Vailima was technically a striker herself, but while she primarily used her feet, this other girl was clearly more adept at using her fists. So this was going to be quite the interesting match-up.

Finally, Vailima heard [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFwwKYfBHnI:3gxsd7n3]her music[/url:3gxsd7n3] hit, and the crowd out in the arena began roaring with excitement. She straightened out both legs and took a steady breath as she walked through the curtains out onto the stage. "Here we go."

The flashing stage lights and snapping cameras threw Vailima for a loop as she walked through the curtains, but she adjusted quite quickly and put a grin on her face as she stepped out onto center stage. With all eyes on her, she gave a nimble twirl while lightly provocatively running her hands down her body. She then came to a stop in a bent over pose with one hand stretched behind her back and the other resting on her knee. After a quick wink to the crowd, the Exotic Wonder then straightened up and proceeded to strut confidently down to the ring, smiling and waving to front row fans with signs of her as she went. Once she reached the ring, she propped herself up onto the apron with her body facing the stage she had just walked from. She sat on the apron doing a full splits, then even more flexibly bent forward and around, swerving her upper body underneath the bottom rope to enter the ring. Once inside the squared circle, Vailima then rolled back onto her shoulders and did a backwards summersault from her sitting position, stopping halfway so that she was doing a handstand with her legs still spread apart in a full splits.

The crowd wildly applauded Vailima's flexibility, and watched as she proceeded to walk back forward on her hands until the reached the very center of the ring. From here she repositioned her hands and twisted her entire body, spinning her her legs like a twister at a downward curve. As her body came to a tilt, she then hopped off her fingers and managed to land on her heels, before popping up firmly onto her feet. She grinned at the crowd, delighted that she was entertaining them so much such from pulling a few flexible stunts. It was a challenge not letting it go to her head, but as always she remained humble deep down. It was nice being cheered by people, but her goal was to give them a reason to cheer in the first place. To excite and entertain them!

Before her music faded, Vailima turned and ran up one of the sets of turnbuckles, standing on the second ropes to face the crowd. She then lifted her palm to her lips and blew the audience a kiss, before she hopped back onto the mat and turned to await her opponent. She decided to do some more stretching while she waited.

Esther "The Storm" Savato-Howell only took a few brief glances at Vailima's entrance as she waited backstage for her name to be called. She was busy warming up, shadow-boxing. Her focus was entirely on the match. She was ready to show the whole AFW the power behind her fists and if she had to beat the pretty out of this dancer, then by all means that was what she would do.

Esther could not come close to matching the showmanship of Vailima's entrance and she did not intend to. She stepped out and held her arms out, basking in the roar of the audience. She took a deep breath before resuming her steady march down the ramp, pausing to throw a few punches at air, nothing close to the speed she could fire them at, but enough to show off for the crowd. She hopped up on the apron and wiped her feet slowly and gently before sliding under the ropes and stepping inside. She cocked her neck back and forth and pounded her fist into her palm, flashing Vailima a wicked grin. "I hope you're ready to taste the canvas, hon," was all she offered her opponent.

Vailima continued to casually stretch as her opponent entered the ring, but kept her eyes steadily locked on her. It was a good way to gain more insight into the kind of competitor the other woman was. The way a wrestler chose to enter the ring always told a lot about them after all. Vailima's entrance for example, suggested she was a showboater, and she had to admit that was somewhat true. Esther on the other hand seemed to be the serious and focused type. 'Better watch my step around this one.' Vailima thought.

It was only when Esther addressed Lima, that she stopped stretching and lithely hopped up to her feet. She smirked back at the blonde woman. "'Course I am!" she replied, in a rather cheerful tone. "Even though you're the one who's going to be tasting it. Nothing against boxing, but..." She imitated a few quick boxing jabs in the air, before shrugging and withdrawing into a traditional capoeria stance. "I'd say my style trumps yours."

Esther's lips curled into a snarl as she pointed at Lima. "Pah! How dare you! You know NOTHING of the sweet science! Your style is for the dance floor, hon!" She whipped her fists out in a few speedy jabs, "This is why they call me the Storm!" She cocked her right hand, "This is the lightning," and then her left, "And this is the thunder!" She stepped in with her boxing stance, "And I'm gonna rain all over you..." She paused, "Er... punches, that is..." She needed to work on that metaphor, but her focus returned quickly.

Once the bell rang, Esther would move in quick, staying light on her feet, keeping her head steady as she approached. Capoeria was not a style that involved punches to the face, so head movement was less important here, but she aimed to keep her guard up and try to pressure Vailima early on. If she could keep the fight in Vailima's face, she would put this fruity little dancer down fast. Hopping in quick, she would try to pop a sharp jab into Lima's unprepossessing little face to start this one off right.

"Oh?" uttered Vailima with a genuine sense of intrigue, when Esther began arguing her case for why her style was superior. The quip about capoeria being for the dance floor didn't phase her much, as she just took their exchange of trash talk to be all in good fun. It was just healthy competitiveness was all! Nothing to get worked up over. Though... her blonde opponent did seem to be getting pretty peeved.

Lima watched Esther show off her "lightning" and "thunder", smiling awkwardly as the analogy was explained to her. "Uh... right. Right, I got that." she assured her. But there was no more time for talk before the bell suddenly rang, and almost like a bolt of lightning, Esther made a lunge for her. "Woah!"

The Exotic Wonder just barely avoided the jab by literally bending her body back, pulling her face inches beyond the range of the blonde boxer's strike. She was surprised by how suddenly Esther had pranced over to her. The woman was definitely light on her toes. And not to be taken lightly. Now with a more serious expression on her face, Vailima moved to counter. She pivoted her body around while remaining bent backwards, and positioned herself onto her right hand. Then in the same smooth motion, she threw her legs into the air and spun on her palm to catch Esther with an overhead kick.

Esther's fist seemed to have to travel quite far to reach Vailima's face. Farther, farther... And there was the limit. Esther realized a bit too late that Lima's flexibility had come into play there. Her momentum carried her back. Esther's instincts flared up and she saw the kick coming. She did not usually tumble. It was not a handy skill for boxing. But Esther was big on unorthodox training methods. She fell to a crouch and dove back, barely clearing Vailima's flying limb. Nobody was going to laugh at her at the gym now!

Esther caught herself in a crouch and used the momentum to stand right back up. She did not intend to let up. She moved back in, aiming to keep Vailima on the defensive. This time, the jab would come lower, trying to nail Lima where she could not so easily evade.

Vailima's heel smacked down against the ring mat, missing Esther by a mile. She was surprised and quite impressed by the unexpected way the supposed boxer had dodged her, but knew now wasn't the time to stop and compliment her opponent. She retracted her leg and spun back on her palm, letting herself fall and smoothly transition back into a standing position with a quick flip. A split second after she got back to her feet however, she saw Ester was already coming for her, looking to score a low jab.

"Ai!" she exclaimed in surprise, as she backed up to try avoiding Esther. She literally arched her back and sucked in her gut just to avoid the woman's punch. Then with Esther crouched low in front of her, Vailima swiftly shoved her hands down against her blonde head and leapfrogged over her, landing behind the other woman. She then immediately spun herself around, lowering on one leg while extending the other to try taking out Esther's own legs with a sweep kick.

Vailima moved with expert grace and speed, twisting back to dodge Esther's blow with expert speed. Before Esther could follow up, Lima had leapfrogged her. "Uh oh." Esther tried to move but the sweep kick took out her legs. She slammed into the mat on her shoulder, but Esther did not let that stop her. She let the momentum carry her and she rolled forward, coming up in a crouch, facing Vailima, having put a few feet between them with that tumble.

If Vailima had not followed up, Esther would take a beat to scowl at her opponent. "Hmph!" To Esther, Lima's style wasted movement and energy. She refused to believe this glorified break dancing could ever trump the sweet science, but Vailima had surprised her so far. The Storm only paused a beat. She would throw herself at this dancer until she finally broke her defenses. It was only a matter of time. Standing up right, she hold her hands up, elbows cocked in a wide striking stance that would look more at home in a martial arts movie than in a boxing match, pivoting her hips and staying light on her toes, she kept her upper body moving as she approached. She moved in, trying to test the limits of Lima's guard, throwing a few feinting jabs to see how close she could get.