Makie Akamatsu vs GASTER - Hurricane of Darkness!

Shadow fell across Friction arena as a piece of spooky, yet whimsical music started playing, and a familiar laughter rung in the ears of the crowd, as the Shadow Lord GASTER walked into spotlight, stopping to stand proud and straight on top of the entrance ramp before making her way down to the ring, eyeing the audience underneath her smiley mask, occasionally stopping in front of random people (occasionally startling people who were paying more attention to their phones than to the ring, causing the British lady under the mask to almost giggle).

Soon enough, she rolled inside of the ring, standing in the ring with the same proud pose as at the top of the ramp...before erupting in her trademark laughter, as lights returned to the arena, and the Shadow Lord had a microphone in her hands:

"It appears...that a hurricane has come from the west to try and swipe me away...but what is a hurricane to me? A light breathe upon my person! I'll easily brave through my opponent's wild winds, destroy her, and make her obey my rule! Mwahahahahaha!"

It's been a while since Clara was in front of audiences like this, being mostly on the house show loop as she took a break from big scale matches such as this for a little while...but a cross-over match with a veteran Tension member was one she simple couldn't ignore. Even if she hadn't won singles belts in AFW, Makie Akamatsu was considered one of the best wrestlers in AFW, so this match was easily up her alley.

She stood in her respective corner, wearing her newer designed attire. Although she loved her earlier sports top + grey tights combo, she felt attire wasn't up to snuff if she wanted to go up in the wrestling world.

Spoiler:

With that, the Shadow Lord stood on the lower left edge of the ring from the entrance ramp, awaiting her opponent's arrival...

The Hurricane that the Shadow Lord spoke of didn't take long to arrive.

Theme music began to blare out of the other end of the arena, and the audience cheered the moment they recognized the theme. Their cheering rose to a greater pitch as Makie Akamatsu strode into the arena. Raising her arms almost like a conductor urging her fans to scream louder, Makie strode down the ramp, her eyes focused on the ring and on the black clad figure standing in it.

Spoiler:

Things had been looking up for her ever since she and Kyo had won the tag team belt. Where before she had had to argue long and hard to get matches booked against the tougher competitors in the league, now her match schedule was practically lined up with people wanting to take on one of Tension's best. That included a lot of cross-roster challenges...including one from the so-called Shadow Lord, GASTER. From what Makie knew of GASTER, she was a tough, vicious fighter, but she was confident that she could still take her.

Sliding under the ropes, Makie wasted no time striding towards Mako, locking eyes with her. The other girl was fairly short as well,with a slender figure that spoke of speed and agility. And then there was that creepy mask of hers, which she kept on. Makie wondered how well that would protect GASTER from head shots, and resolved to test that question in the ring.

Standing up to her full, less than impressive height, Makie nonetheless glared as she stared down the faceless, masked figure, motioning for the referee to hand her the mic. "So you're the Dark Lord I've heard so much about," she said, slowly circling GASTER. "So tell me, do you wear that mask because you're hideously disfigured or ugly underneath? Or is it the source of your mystical poseur? Or maybe...just maybe...you're some poseur who wears a mask to make up for a lack of actual wrestling ability?"

As the fans burst into laughter and applause at this banter, Makie went on. "Whatever the case, you wanted me? Here I am. Just remember, though, that you asked for this, Miss Supervillain." Passing the microphone back to the ref, she stepped away from GASTER, rotating her shoulders as she waited for the bell.

Despite not being a Friction native, the fans were chanting loudly for one half of the new Tension tag team champions...though the woman's eyes were firmly locked on GASTER's, completely focused on her opponent here tonight, from the top of the entrance ramp, all the way down to the ring, Makie's determined gaze did not leave her opponent. Soon enough, the two were standing face to face with one another, quite similar in height, though Makie proved slightly taller. She returned GASTER's banter with her own, questioning the Shadow Lord's mask...and her wrestling ability.

GASTER, mic still in her hand, spoke back at Makie: "You shall come to regret even the thought of underestimating my terrifying power, as I twist you into unimaginable shapes on the ground, making you scream for my nonexistent mercy!"

With the banter out of the way, the ref collected the mics, as GASTER did her own series of stretches, the ref soon asked for confirmation from both wrestlers about being ready, GASTER nodding, with Makie soon following suit, and the ref signaled for the bell, match officially under way!

GASTER wasted little time, going straight to the middle of the ring, extending her arm high up into the air, challenging Makie to a test of strength!

Seeing GASTER pass her mic to the ref, Makie did the same, ready to let her actions do all the talking from this point on as she got herself ready for the match to come. She gave GASTER a quick staredown, but was met only by the dark holes of that creepy mask of hers. The glimpse made an involuntary shiver run down her spine: she quickly suppressed it with an irritated "Tch!" GASTER was just some goofy British girl wearing a silly mask, no more and no less, and Makie was going to stomp her and that stupid mask of hers into the mat.

The bell rang, and the two wrestlers burst out of their corners. Seeing GASTEr motioning for a test of strength, Makie grinned and accepted: darting forwards on the soles of her feet, she moved quickly and tied up collar and elbow against GASTER, pushing aggressively against the British girl as she tried to force her back!

As Makie and GASTER got their hands intertwined, both women would push against one another,
Hurricane Makie with the look of angry determination and the Shadow Lord with her usual, goofy masked expression.

And as she tried to push against her foe, GASTER quickly realized that the task was getting beyond her. Be it from the girl's determination to win or just her being physically stronger than the masked wrestler, Makie managed to make GASTER make a step back...shortly followed by another.

Conceding the duel of strength, Clara would quickly kick away at Makie's left arm, instead transitioning to hook her right arm behind her back with the Hammerlock!

"Mwahahahaha!"

Makie clenched her teeth as she locked up against GASTER, pushing and twisting against her, her eyes locked with the black, pitiless holes in her opponent's mask...as much as that goofily-grinning visage unnerved her, it also annoyed her, making her feel like the Shadow Lord was mocking her all the while. Slowly but surely, though, Makie began to force GASTER back, allowing herself a faint grin as she began to overpower her British opponent, slowly but surely forcing her back...

That was, until GASTER suddenly spun around behind her, twisting her arm back in a hammerlock. Makie gasped as pain shot through her arm, and she clutched her shoulder even as the Shadow Lord laughed villainously behind her.

"Laugh it up, creep!" Makie growled, suddenly dropping low, hoping to duck behind GASTER and reverse the hold, twisting the masked girl's arm behind her back in turn in a reversal of the hammerlock!

"Mwahahaha-huh?"

As Makie quickly dug under GASTER's arm, the Hurricane Makie would quickly reverse the hold in her favor, trapping the Shadow Lord's arm behind her back for a hammerlock of her own!

"Mgggh...copycat...", GASTER called her rival out, forming a plan in her head to escape.

To that extent, she would try and lower her body to a sit on the ground, where she would try to roll against the direction of Makie's twist to beat the Hammerlock!

From there, with Makie's arm in her grasp, GASTER would try and twist it some more, while pressing her leg against the inside of Makie's trying to force the woman to lower herself to a knee!

Makie allowed herself a smile as she neatly managed to counter GASTER's hammerlock with one of her own, cranking up the pressure just to make the "Dark Lord" squirm a little more. As GASTER taunted her and called her a copycat, Makie was about to reply that it wasn't her fault that the British girl's moves were unoriginal...when GASTER suddenly dropped low, rolling free of the hammerlock and twisting on Makie's arm instead. She gasped, feeling GASTER's leg pressing against hers as the other girl forced her down to one knee, even while remorselessly twisting her arm.

Okay, she had to admit, that was a good counter.

Clenching her teeth, Makie slowly but surely tried to force her way up to her feet, trying to ignore the pressure on her arm...all the while snaking her other arm around to the back of GASTER's head. If she managed to get up to her feet, then she would drop down suddenly, hoping to free herself by suddenly flipping GASTER over her shoulder onto her back!

"Mwahahaha! Submit to my superior ski----!!!"

Right as the Shadow Lord tried to gloat at managing to catch her opponent in an early painful hold, GASTER suddenly felt an arm at the back of her head, right as she felt a forward motion over Makie's head!

"WAAAA--OOOFFF!!!", GASTER screamed and groaned as the motion impacted her on the back, the Shadow Lord cringing in pain under her mask, before trying to rise back to her feet!

GASTER talked too much, Makie realized. Sure, that was probably all part of the "evil demon lord" persona she had adopted, but it meant that she seemed to be spending more time gloating than on actually paying attention to her. This suited Makie fine, as it enabled her to suddenly drop down and expertly flip GASTER down onto her back, stunning her and, more importantly, giving Makie an early lead in this match.

"Sorry, what was that, Demon Lord? I couln't hear you," she taunted, before grabbing one of GASTER's arms to yank her upright. Spinning around, she would try to whip GASTER towards the ropes; the moment her masked opponent came running back, Makie would be charging to meet her with a drop kick to the chest!