Higurashi Dojo-Taylor Parker & Julia Rogers vs. Jessica Wright & River Styx

Backstage, Taylor bounced up and down, from foot to foot, with music blasting in her ear buds that summed up her feelings on Jessica and River (but not Julia). She closed her eyes and bowed her head, and unconsciously stuck out her tongue while she visualized the match to come. What she would do if Jessica did this, how she would handle River's size, what she would do to Jessica. She held up both middle fingers in the general direction of the arena, and then popped out her ear buds. She could just barely hear the crowd.

She looked up at Julia, the tall, masked, blonde-haired cowgirl, her Higurashi Dojo understudy, and stuck out her tongue through a grin. The amount of energy and enthusiasm the two of them together had was off the charts.

"How ya feelin', Cowgirl?" She said, and gave Julia a playful slap on the arm. She bounced back like she expected retaliation, and a hint of a giggle escaped her before she tried her best to get serious. "You're gonna do great, homegirl. You got this. You're fast, you're dangerous, and those chicks have no idea. We're gonna kick some ass, and they're gonna be crying into their cheeseburgers tonight. But..." The smile left her face completely, and her deep blue eyes were sincere. "It's not about hate. There's a score to settle, yeah... Jessica should pay for what she did, but we don't hate them. It's not about hate, it's about love for wrestling, and passion, and... You know the deal."

She'd said it all before, a billion times, in the gym. Julia didn't need to hear it again. She pulled her black Higurashi Dojo sweatshirt on over her ring gear and zipped it up, and pulled the hood up over her golden pigtails. It had the pink, hand-sketched raised fist logo surrounded by a heart covering the whole back.

"Let's go put on a show, right?" She winked. In the distance, the crowd began a chant that filtered through the hallways and into the locker room.

Standing beside Taylor, Julia stretched her limbs out while taking some deep breaths, occasionally stopping to bounce on the balls of her feet much like Taylor was doing. There was yet to be a match in the masked girl’s life where pre-match jitters hadn’t been a thing to deal with, but tonight she was feeling them a bit more than normal. Not just because her opponents were well-known veterans, but also because she was teaming with the former world champ herself. This was one of the highest profile matches of her career thus far in AFW, and she was eager to impress everyone. Especially Taylor. Jessica hadn’t been the first girl here to give Julia the “who the fuck are you?” look and treatment. But she was going to be the last, if the luchadora had anything to say about it.

Feeling the slap on her arm, Julia’s train of thought was momentarily derailed as she smiled back to Taylor and listened to what she said, nodding along as she spoke. The encouraging words were just what the cowgirl needed, and she could feel her confidence rising. And even though she’d heard Taylor talk about wrestling for the love of the sport over payback and hate before, it was still a good reminder to have.

“Got it.” she replied with a nod. “Don’t worry. I’ll make you and the rest of the dojo proud out there.” Julia heard the distant cheers coming from the crowd, and felt herself getting fired up in anticipation of tonight’s bout. And she could hardly wait for their music to start playing.

Jessica breathed out and clenched her fist. She felt like she had been holding her breath for half an hour. Her red black and gold wrestling outfit came on in a hurry and Jessica was already standing near the entrance. She could see through the curtain that the crowd was teeming with life and energy and if she was being honest with herself, she was too. Her other matches just seemed like filler- this one, this tag team match, was a big one. It was against a former world champion and her stupid fucking sidekick. Jessica's best friend would be along for the ride. This could be Jessica's real coming out party if Jessica could only reach out and seize the opportunity. After she seized the opportunity she could then choke the shit out of it. But that would come later.

She looked over at River. The Violent Violet felt like a prize race horse at the starting gate and the gun was ready to go off.

Introducing first, the End of the Line! Featuring Jessica Wright and River Styx!

Their dark music started up and Jessica was met with a chorus of boos. Once again, Jessica showed them what her middle fingers looked like. They kept on booing as the Violent Violet stalked down the ramp. She slid into the ring and turned and awaited Taylor and her stupid fucking buddy.

"Let's bash their fucking heads in," she said to River.

River Styx came out beside Jessica, trudging down to the ring while the audience voiced all their hate. She was still wearing the same outfit she'd came out to the promo with, dressed like she could be heading for a night out at some trashy bar. It would stick out in comparison to other three women, but she'd never bothered to get any real ring gear, and she wasn't about to start digging through the spares. She would've looked ridiculous in tights, anyway, and besides that, she thought her outfit made a statement.

Styx was a hardcore wrestler, she looked like one, and even though she was doing a rare standard match, she was going into it with the same energy she applied to all her brawls. She still had the same controlled look from the promo, but she wouldn't have to wear that face for much longer. Soon, she'd open the floodgates, and all her rage would come pouring out over whoever was in the ring.

She hopped on the apron and made her way into the ring by doing a quick jump over the top rope, pushing it down while her legs came over and landing with a thundrous sound. Not her usual way of doing it - most times, she just slid in under the bottom. But if Taylor and Julia were watching, she wanted to get in a little early intimidation. Every little bit could help.

"Let's." She walked over behind Jessica and put a hand on her shoulder. She spoke into her ear like the devil on her shoulder, all while she messaged those powerful muscles. "This is your day. Taylor's good, but she's cocky. Too fucking cocky. Julia's her pride and joy. We isolate her, we break her, we mess up Taylor's spirit, then we break her."

She let go and stepped back, as their music began to die down. "You're the best. Show them why."

Taylor bounced in place, higher and higher as she let the energy inside her start to come out, and grinned at Julia. Outside, the music began, and Taylor put on Dixie Clemets' cowgirl hat, one of her prized possessions.

She burst out onto the top of the entrance ramp and swaggered up to the front of the stage, trailing blonde pigtails behind her and wearing her big, radiant grin, one hand on her hat to keep it in place. She stopped and spread her feet wide, standing tall and proud, and pointed a finger gun and a wink down the ramp at their opponents.

Representing the Higurashi Dojo...

Taylor gave her hips a shake and ran a hand down her chiseled abs, and then grabbed the hat off her head and threw herself into a neat one-handed cartwheel and a big, spectacular flash-kick backflip.

JULIA ROGERS, and TAYLOR PARKER!

The crowd roared, and Taylor took off down the ramp at full speed, leaping up to the apron and vaulting over the top rope. She put her hat back on and stood in the center of the ring, feet apart, hips cocked to the side, thumbs hooked in the pockets of her denim shorts. She flashed a confident smile at Jessica and River, and wagged a sassy finger at them.

"You want in or out?" She asked Julia and turned to face her, holding up both hands to slap down on Julia's palms.

Julia grinned right back at Taylor as they waited backstage, looking forward to getting this show started! And once the music began to play, the masked girl burst through the curtain right beside her partner onto the stage and pointed out to the thousands of cheering fans in the stands.

After Taylor drew a round of “oohs” and “aahs” from the audience with her backflip and hurried off to the ring, Julia skipped her way down the aisle and high fived as many fans as she could. And once she arrived at ringside she hopped up onto the apron and ascended the corner, once again striking a momentary pose by pointing up to the rafters. “ARE YOU GUYS READY?!” she shouted, though the thunderous roars were a good enough indication of the answer. And after a brief moment, she jumped down into the ring behind Taylor.

When it was left up to her to decide which of them would start the match, Julia glanced over at Jessica and River for a moment while she thought about it. Taylor knew these girls a lot better than Julia did, and it might be smart to sit out for a moment and observe her veteran foes before trying to go at them herself. But a big part of Julia just wanted to show that she belonged out here with people like this, and was eager to prove it.

“I’ve got this.” Julia answered confidently, holding her hands out to let Taylor’s slap down on them. She then stood with her back to the corner, and stretched out her legs a bit while eyeing the girls standing across the ring from her. “Alright! So who’s up first?” she asked with a grin while waiting to see who she’d be starting this one up with.

Taylor slapped Julia's palms and bumped her chest with her elbow. "Go get 'em, killer," she said close to Julia's ear before slipping out to the apron.

She faced the crowd, and clapped her hands over her head, jumping up and down and shaking her hips and clenching her fists and shouting for them to cheer. She was a ceaseless ball of energy as she whipped the crowd up into a frenzy.

Jessica sneered down at Julia. The Violent Violet had a height advantage, maybe a weight advantage and almost certainly a strength advantage. A month or two of strength training made her muscles big and a few previous matches gave her a taste for winning that she was not about to lose now. The way they both irked the crowd up was pretty goddamn annoying. She wanted to silence Julia, silence the crowd, and silence the doubts percolating through her brain. This was a big one. She deserved to be here. Jessica knew it and everyone else knew it.

"You got me first kid." Jessica wanted the bell to go off so badly. She wanted to tear Julia into pieces and Taylor in half. This was a big stage, maybe the biggest stage she had ever gotten before. The clear sound of the bell bounced around the arena and Jessica took off like a rocket. She tore across the ring, every step thunderous, straight at Julia.

If they wanted to do flips, they would do it on Jessica's terms. She cocked her arm back and launched it forward in the form of an elbow right at Julia's face. Should that not get her flipping, she had no idea what would.

Styx stepped out of the ring, going through the middle and top rope sand taking up position in their corner. This was one of the hardest parts. The waiting. It was funny, but even though she didn't like tag matches, Styx kept getting pulled into them. First the random tag,  then the hardcore tag, now this. She didn't have anything against the concept, but for her, having to be near a fight she couldn't join went against every instinct. Just felt wrong.

She sighed and grabbed the ropes, squeezing them to keep her tension in check. Jessica would handle business, and Styx could learn a few things while she waited, make it all productive. She leaned forward on the ropes and kept her eyes focused, taking note of every move that Julia made and sparing the occasional glance at Taylor.

Julia grinned at Jessica as the violet haired veteran announced she’d be starting this one off with her. And as Taylor got the crowd going, Julia raised her arms and waved them in toward her, encouraging them to keep it up. This was a huge opportunity for her to prove she could hang with the big girls. Like Taylor said, this wasn’t about hate, regardless of how either of them felt about their opponents tonight. Still, Julia felt like she had plenty to prove.

She felt every bit as eager for the bell to ring as Jessica did. But when the bell did finally ring, Julia didn’t expect her foe to fire off right at her like a bullet. Probably should’ve, but nonetheless it caught her somewhat off guard. Her body tensed up, and the cowgirl managed to get an arm up in defense of the offending elbow. Jessica’s arm grazed off of Julia’s, managing to take just a little bit off of it’s momentum before it struck her masked head, the impact pushing her back toward her corner.

But as soon as she came to a stop, Julia roared out and hurled herself right back at Jessica, then fired off a heavy elbow strike of her own at the girl’s face. Considering the size difference, and the fact that Julia simply wasn’t a powerhouse by any stretch, she highly doubted she could overpower Jessica in a contest of sheer strength. But she also wanted to make it clear that wasn’t going to let herself get pushed around so easily.