Idol Showdown! Round One! (for zxn666)

Binetsu S.O.S.!!! played as Haruka and Masato entered to the usual laser light show. The idol girl chose to go with her more cheerful theme. Same with her costume.

This was all a big misunderstanding. They were resigned to it, but they wouldn't let it bring their spirits down.

Besides, some idol she was if she wouldn't wear her idol costume to the ring at least once. So she didn't undress like she usually did, though she wore her swimsuit beneath the dress, just in case.

"Good luck, Haruka," was her manager's warm reminder.

"Thanks, Masato."

Alone now in the ring, Haruka prepared to take on the first of the Eclipse trio she'd inadvertently wronged.

Right before the match, in Thomas Drake's office

"This is going to be a nightmare," Thomas muttered to himself. Yet again, he had let one of his enemies completely play him into a trap. This time, it was big. Though his company was thriving in Japan, it rested entirely on the popularity of Eclipse. Should their reputation get tarnished, all of his endeavors would come crashing down around him, making his years of hard work for nothing. There was no way the reputation of his idols would come out looking good after this; if they win the match, legions of Amami Haruka fans would hate them. If they lose, they would suffer a massive loss of face, because it was a match against a Kawaii. Drake thought hard about the best way to get out of this, but no ideas came to mind. There was only one option, and that was to go with it and hope that somehow a miracle happens. He turned on the TV, watching the match live, hoping to god that something, anything, would help him out.

At the Ring

The three Eclipse girls stood in a tight circle in the back of the arena, planning out how they were going to take on Haruka. "I know we've put Drake in a bad position with this," Chigusa said, "And we can help get him out of it."

"How will we do that?" Tomomi asked.

"Well, we can always just throw the match," Megumi offered, but Chigusa cut her off.

"No, we fight to win," Chigusa said, "Remember, this is a big event, and we can't disappoint. If we just throw the match, our fans will be furious." She smiled, "What we need is a show that'll blow everyone away, something to convince both our fans and Haruka's."

Megumi looked at her skeptically. "Even if we win, I doubt many of Haruka's fans would support us."

"Don't think like that! Besides, our fanbase overlaps with Haruka's quite a bit," Chigusa said, "If we put on a good enough show, they'll naturally come to support us. Haruka's fanbase would probably grow too if we do this right. Think of it as an opportunity."

Megumi shook her head, still doubting that it would work. But she felt slightly more confident now, after all the show is what's most important. Tomomi nodded in agreement with Chigusa, eager to follow her sempai's plan.

"I'm up first then?" Tomomi asked. She began to head out onto the ramp. "Good luck!" both Chigusa and Megumi said.

Tomomi walked out onto the ramp in silence. It had been converted into a stage for this event. Soon Tomomi stood in the center of the stage, while the crowd fell silent, waiting expectantly.

"This song I give to you all, thank you for coming out and supporting us!" Tomomi said. She began to sing her new song, the upbeat tune of [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgUqnXSKhxg%20target=_blank:23po5hoe]Boku ga Boku no Mama[/url:23po5hoe] filling the stadium as the crowd began to cheer. After she finished, "nO LimiT" played over the speakers as Tomomi made her way down the stage to the ring, swinging in over the top ropes.

To say Haruka was impressed with Tomomi's entrance was an understatement. I should do that, too, she thought, while outside the ring Masato made similar mental notes to himself.

Haruka was clapping like the audience by the time Tomomi entered. "Watanabe-san," and she bowed politely, remembering and ashamed at how she'd called Tomomi 'Pinky' in a fit of fury earlier, "I'm honored to be wrestling you. Let's do our best."

She extended her hand to Tomomi for a handshake.

"So she isn't being as childish as before," Tomomi thought, "That's good, it'll make things easier."

Tomomi walked up and took Haruka's hand. "Just call me Tomomi," she said, "There's no need for formalities between fellow Idols, right?" She smiled, clasping Haruka's hand tightly. "Let's have a good match, and give this crowd a good show!" She let go of Haruka's hand and walked back to her corner, stretching out her arms and preparing for a fight.

Haruka brightened as she shook hands with Tomomi. "Yes, Tomomi!" she promised.

Likewise letting go of her opponent's hand, she went back to her corner. "Go get her, Haruka," Masato encouraged her.

"I will!"

The bell rang. Haruka headed to the center of the ring with her hands held up. She would lock up with the similarly-sized Tomomi on their feet since she wanted to grasp how strong her opponent was, not to mention she didn't want to start this match off with strikes. Just a pushing contest at first to try and control the first minute or so of the match. Of course that didn't mean Tomomi had to reciprocate, but Haruka was hoping her pink-haired competitor would do so...

Tomomi accepted the lockup without any hesitation, because she thought she would be able to easily overpower Haruka. They might be close to the same size, but Tomomi was sure she was stronger. Her fingers laced with Haruka's and closed down as Tomomi pushed forward. She soon found that Haruka, despite being in the kawaii league, wasn't all that weak. Tomomi didn't want to look like a fool, so she increased her pushing strength and attempted to completely overpower Haruka.

Wrestling often with one Shizuku Yatori made Haruka very familiar with pushing matches. So she held her own initially, puffing though she was as the exchange lengthened and forced her to put more and more of her dwindling strength into the grapple.

In a minute, though, her opponent's slight size advantage finally began telling. Haruka steadily lost ground until she was backed into her corner of the ring. She grunted a little as Tomomi forced her to begin bending back first upon the turnbuckle that reached over her head. She's stronger than me...

"Rope break!" Masato was calling to Tomomi and the referee, the latter echoing him.

Tomomi knew she was going to win the test of strength; it wasn't just about force but also had a lot to do with weight and where to place it. Tomomi was just simply heavier, so she when she leaned in she could push a lot harder. She felt Haruka's strength give and the smaller idol fall backwards onto the ropes, letting up on her pushing so as not to wear herself out or hurt Haruka. She heard the rope break, letting go of Haruka and backing off a few steps.

"Well, that was fun," Tomomi said, her face a little red from exertion, "Lets continue now shall we?" She would run forwards while Haruka was recovering and hold out one of her arms, aiming to clothesline Haruka onto the mat.

Haruka was intensely relieved when Tomomi let her off so easily. Still, she brought her arms up before her instinctively to protect her face, made wary by matches with the likes of Cerbera and Silhouette. She was just lowering them when Tomomi barged towards her with arm extended.

"Kyah!"

It wasn't really good form to block a clothesline, but Haruka ended up taking Tomomi's arm across her forearms. "Ow!" she exclaimed as she was thrown into the ropes. Somehow she stayed on her feet, though footwork wasn't really her strong point and her arms now stung.

Tomomi thought that she would easily be able to land her clothesline, but she ended up smacking her arm on Haruka's raised arms. Though she knocked the smaller idol back onto the ropes, her arms suddenly felt very sore from the blow. Tomomi winced but did not let any weakness show. She wanted to show Haruka that she was still in control.

"And I'm just getting started!" Tomomi exclaimed. She would try to get in close to Haruka and knee her in the gut to make her double over, then hit her over the back with a quick ax-handle strike to bring Haruka down.