Lightning Tournament: Round 1: Akiha Kosha Vs. Neske Alapo

The backstage area was mostly quiet, the only sounds being the roar of the audience outside penatrating the walls and it's only occupant a lone girl, curled up in the corner, a pair of ear buds drowning out the crowd from her mind. As for the girl, Neske was barely sure how she got even here. Not in a literal sense, of course, she was sober enough to trace her steps, but it had only been a few weeks since getting out of the hospital and she was signed up for another match. Not only was it another match, but it was part of some sort of tournament, a pay-per-view event, the "Lighting Tournament" if she remembered correctly. This mostly meant that the likely upcoming beating was going to only be more humiliating, but it also meant a good deal more money, regardless if she won or lost. For only her second match, that was some pretty good news, and Neske even allowed herself to be a bit proud of the fact. Sure, it probably wasn't because of any incredible fighting prowess, but still, someone, somewhere, with some capacity of authority wanted her to be in that ring again, and thought she put on a good enough of a show to put her in a special event like this. As a born and bred entertainer, that felt kind of nice.

Of course, the niceties of being in a special event by no means calmed her nerves, and if anything they made her that much more nervous. While she wasn't terribly afraid of pain, she also wasn't keen on rushing headlong into it, and there was something about being trapped in a box, completely exposed, with one other person who just wanted to hurt her, that made it seem all that more unnerving. She'd never admit it, of course, but sometimes she wished she'd chosen something a little less... ostentatious to get some money together.

Something else that had her both confident and cautious was the nature of the tournament. She didn't know who her opponent was, she wasn't even sure where to find out, or if it was supposed to be a secret up until the match, but she did know it was a lightweight tournament. Two of the three girls that beat the stuffing out of her last time were roughly her weight (probably lighter) already, but still it meant she wouldn't be fighting some hundred-kilo behemoth. And plus, she was double-teamed pretty much the whole way last time (except when she was triple-teamed, of course), so she might even have a chance this time, assuming her opponent was willing to play fair.

A mix of reassurance and more worry came over her as her chosen theme music blasted over the speakers, cueing her entrance. With a decent amount of mental effort, Neske brought herself out the entryway and down the ramp. It wasn't the most crowd-pumping music she could find, but she picked it for her own enjoyment, something to remind her of growing up and make her feel a little bit safer as she made her way towards the ring. Neske bobbed her head to the pumping, pulsing beat as she climbed between the ropes, making her way over to one corner of the death-box, anxiously awaiting whoever was to come out the other entrance.

Akiha was now in her locker room getting ready for her match though she was a bit tense.  It had been a while since Akiha had been nervous for a match, she thought she wouldn't feel this again as she had done several matches, but this was her first pay per view match.  The Japanese wrestler wasn't sure if she had earned it as she had only done about six matches.  Sure she had won most of them but she felt she was still a bit new, only being in AFW for a few months and now she was going to take part in a lightweight tournament.  She knew this was her chance to make a name for herself, if she could win this tournament then her popularity would skyrocket and the chances of her getting a title belt match would be increased.  This could possibly be the turning point in her career, thus she couldn't screw it up.

Her train of thought was then ended when a knock was heard on her door.  She turned to face the source of the noise and saw both of her maids, Kohaku and Hisui.  The duo informed Akiha that it was time for her match to start.  She nodded her head before going to the mirror and double checking her uniform.  Akiha wanted to make sure everything was perfect before her match started.  Her maids would reassure her that everything was fine.  Taking a moment to gather herself, Akiha would breathe in and out before exiting her locker room.

The Japanese wrestler now made her way just out of view of the entrance and waited for her music to play.  During this time, she began to think about her opponent.  For once she had no idea who her opponent was despite her position as both a manager and a wrestler.  She suspected that maybe Kohaku had something to do with it, as she seemed to have interfered with Akiha plans every time she tried to figure out her opponent.  Still it didn't matter at this point, soon she would know who her opponent was.  

Akiha theme music then played and the Japanese wrestler made her way out where she was booed by the audience.  She simply ignored them and made her way to the ring.  That is when she spotted her opponent, Neske.  Akiha smiled at the revelation as she then waved to the crowd a bit before turning to face Neske.  “I am a bit surprised that you're my first opponent.  Well then, let us have a good a match.” stated Akiha as she offered her hand to be shaken.  Though she didn't say anything, she felt this was now the perfect chance for her to get revenge on Neske for turning her proposition down.  The Japanese wrestler was going to enjoy beating up her opponent.

As the second bout of theme music played, the girl that made her way down the ramp seemed familiar, though Neske couldn't put her finger on it. She had definitely seen this girl before, but she couldn't remember why…

"Oh. Oh shit," Neske muttered to herself, squirming slightly. "Shit shit shit fuck shit." As the bloodthirsty manager of her last opponents got closer, Neske finally let out a resigned sigh. "Yes, yes I suppose that's right for my luck. I'm not sure why I expected any different." As Akiha climbed into the ring and extended her hand, Neske wasn't sure that she should take it. Sure, the Japanese girl seemed civil enough when they last met, but so did her little maids and Neske had plenty of evidence that they were wholly different animals in the ring. Last time she was offered a handshake, it ended in nothing but pain, and she was not ready to make the same mistake again. "Uh, thanks, you too," she replied hesitantly, raising her hands to show she wasn't going to go for the shake.

Akiha was a bit shocked that Neske didn't accept her handshake.  Then again after what Kohaku and Hisui had done to her, she could understand why.  The audience, on the other hand, would start to boo Neske for this.  Akiha slowly retreated her hand as she then sighed.  “That's a bit rude but I can see where you're coming from, after all, what my maids did to you was pretty brutal, though the crowd seems to disagree.” stated Akiha as she then decided to back off and go to her corner.

The Japanese wrestler had watched her opponent match but that didn't tell her much aside from the fact that Neske could take one hell of a beating as the match was mostly just Hisui and Kohaku double teaming their opponent.  “DING DING” With the bell now rang and Akiha would move towards the center of the ring.  She first thought about doing a test of strength, the usually lock up that started most matches but knew that her opponent probably wouldn't accept.  Thus, she decided to use a different and charge at Neske and attempt a drop kick aimed at her chest.

The crowd didn't seem to take too well to Neske's self-preservation, which only got to her nerves that much more. If she wasn't going to win, she just wanted to get on the crowd's good side, and her instincts as an entertainer stung at the sound. All this negativity had her distracted as Akiha made a running start, Neske's awareness returning to her just in time to see her opponent's feet ready to collide with her chest. With a yelp, the impact knocked her back onto her ass, the wind already slightly knocked out of her. Neske clasped one hand over her chest as she used the other to help herself to off her rear, slowly making her way to her feet.

Akiha charged forward and jumped in the air as she opened up with a drop kick.  It connected straight into Neske chest and sent her down into the wrestling mat.  The crowd now cheered at seeing this opener connect.  Akiha though knew that the match was just getting started and though a drop kick was a strong attack, it was still the start of the match and opponents could quickly recover from it, especially Neske who could take one hell of a beating.  Thus, Akiha would run towards the ropes before bouncing off them and attempting another drop kick aimed at her foreign opponent chest in hopes of building up some good momentum early in the match.  Hopefully, she could get a few of these attacks in and soften her opponent up so that she could then move on to more devastating moves.

Neske got to her feet just in time to see Akiha charging for her again, ready to knock her back once more. How much longer could she go like this? Taking blow after blow, trading one back once in a blue moon, the thought alone was exhausting. No, she needed to do something, though with her opponent heading right for her the list of options was growing short. Out of reflex, she raised both arms in an "x" in front of her chest, the block taking the brunt of Akiha's second attack. Even still, the weight of the attack was enough to stagger Neske, sending her reeling back a few steps as she struggled to maintain her balance. After a few wonky steps backwards, she found herself on one foot, her arms wiggling in the air as she tried to bring her momentum forward and stay up, hoping her moment of total exposure wasn't taken advantage of.

As Akiha charged forward and performed another drop kick, she saw that Neske was starting to defend herself as she placed her arms to defend herself. Thus the Japanese wrestler decided to change tactics, she would quickly get up and rush forward, now attempting to perform a clothesline in hopes of knocking her opponent down. If successful, Akiha would run towards the ropes and if her foreign opponent got up, she would perform another clothesline if not then she would simply do a leg drop aimed at Neske chest. Either way, she was going to build up some momentum and gain control of the match.

On her way to stumbling off her feet, Neske could do little in the way of retaliate as Akiha followed up with a clothesline to her exposed head, knocking her hard off her feet and onto the mat with a yelp. The wind knocked out of her further, Neske could do little as Akiha made another pass towards her, dropping down and slamming a leg into her chest again, forcing a harsh cough out of the Dutch girl. Clasping her chest as she tried to regain her breath, Neske was not climbing to her feet as easily this time, the pain of some old wounds already acting up as she coughed.