Friction in MSG: Kelly Conway (C) Vs. Taylor Parker

Kelly's knee felt like it had pins and needles inside, she wasn't able to stand and the pain was like none other. She put injury out of her mind right now, Taylor was the most important thing right now. Suddenly she felt hasty, heavy steps on the mat. Her eyes widened as she picked her head up before she saw Taylor step in with the aid of her good knee before her face was suddenly clobbered by Taylor's padded knee with an earth shattering shining wizard.

"--UNNKK!!" Kelly's eyes were wide and rolled to the side as she felt that knee plow into her jaw, feeling her neck, feeling everything in her head just rattle inside, colors swirling as she fell back on the mat, not feeling much else on her arms and legs... Before darkness took over her vision.

On the mat, the self proclaimed American Hero lay sprawled out on the canvas, still and unmoving while eighteen thousands fans shot to their feet in a deafening roar.

Taylor went tumbling down on top of Kelly after her knee hit, and the two of them hit the mat in a heap. She knew right away that Kelly wasn't there anymore, and she didn't waste any time setting up a safer pin.

She threw a leg over to straddle Kelly's chest, and laid her upper body down against her. She arched her back to try to press her stomach against Kelly's face and let her forehead rest against the mat.

She wasn't thinking anything when she heard the ref drop down next to her. It hardly seemed real.

"ONE!"

Kelly laid still on the mat, barely moving a muscle. A faint kick of her legs and twitch was all she had left before she resumed laying sprawled out under Taylor. Her chest rising and falling as she laid flat on the mat, her warm breath huffing against Taylor's skin while the crowd counted along with the ref.

Her body was shut down and her mind was too out of it to even consider a kick out.

"TWO!" Cried the crowd and the ref, thousands on their feet!

The ref girl's hand came down one final time, and every fan in the stands was on their feet.

"THREE!"

And there it was. Taylor finally let herself relax, let her body lay limp on top of Kelly, let her eyes close peacefully. She seemed to deflate as months and months of stress and rage and quiet tears and emotional breakdowns all evaporated at once. None of it mattered now; she was exactly where she wanted to be.

As she picked herself up off of Kelly, the aches and pains of the match and the leftover damage from training all seemed to catch up to her. Her head, her shoulder, her back... Her head throbbed terribly and her face hurt, and she didn't even want to see herself in the mirror. Past experience had made her wary of that.

But for once, nothing was broken, and her nose still more crooked than it had been a year before, was the same shape as it was at the start of the match. That was something.

She eventually stood up straight, and then, for the second time, the referee handed her the Friction World Title. This time it didn't feel so surreal like it had before. This time it felt right.

She closed her eyes and held the belt up over her head, and soaked in the cheers and chants of her hometown crowd.

Junko was in the ring almost before the third count hit. She was scrambling, trying to get herself through the ropes, trying not to stumble as the tears blurred her vision. The older woman tried not to crash into Taylor, knowing how tough the battle was, but she couldn't help herself. She squeezed her arms around her daughter's frame and squeezed, sobbing through a big grin.

"Ooh... oh, my daughter!" It was all she could manage as she wept against Taylor, not even trying to keep herself composed.

Taylor took a step to the side to keep her balance when Junko wrapped her up in a hug. Her eyes stayed closed, and she nodded.

This was as close to a perfect moment as she had seen in her twenty-four years, and she couldn't help but cry, at least a little. Tears welled up in her eyes but didn't fall, and in a moment she opened her eyes and motioned to a production assistant for a microphone.

"It's okay," she said softly to her mother-in-law. She gently stepped away from her to collect the microphone offered to her through the ropes, and then went back to the middle of the ring with Kelly Conway still out cold off to the side.

She raised the microphone, and the crowd eventually quieted. She thought about what to say, and after several long seconds, everything she felt inside came out at once.

"Thank you."

She put her hands over her face as the crowd cheered again, and took a moment to keep from crying, though she was so emotionally charged that she didn't even know what she'd do. She opened her eyes again and surveyed the legendary arena, and her her voice came out like fire.

"YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed, mic in one hand, title held high in the other. "This is real life!" She shouted, as if to reassure herself and everyone else.

"This is my dream, but I'm standing her awake, and alive, and..." She trailed off, only for a second. "...And all I wanna know right now, is WHO IS IT THIS TIME! Who's gonna come take this from me, eh? Who's gonna come down that ramp or jump out behind me? Who's got a taser or a pet three hundred pound gorilla that wants what I got? Who's gonna pull out some cowardly bullshit to try to take away what I earned tonight?!"

She pointed down at Kelly Conway, beaten and unconscious on the mat. "Not HER! Not this time! EVERYONE back there, everyone in Japan, everyone in the SPORT, it's time you all learned...

"THIS IS MY RING!"

She declared, pointing her finger down at the canvas.

"THIS IS MY HOUSE! THIS IS MY CITY! I AM AFW! AND IF ANYONE WANTS THIS?" She gave the title belt a shake. "YOU CAN COME FACE ME LIKE A WOMAN! LIKE A WARRIOR! BECAUSE REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENS... IF YOU DON'T."

She lowered the microphone and paced a circle around the outside of the ring, staring down at Kelly as she did.

As Taylor finished her speech, Akashi was already running down the ramp. She had been watching from a spot near the entrance, waiting for the final decision. It was a tough watch, but in the end was a great victory. Now that it was over, she wanted to be in the ring with her sister to enjoy a total victory for the dojo as well as take care of some business.

Akashi was back to being dressed in an outfit similar to the one she started her match in, so she wasn't running back out half naked. She slid into the ring and pounced on Taylor, lifting her up in a gigantic crushing hug, almost as if she were showing Haruna what she had meant earlier.

"Imouto-chan! Congratulations!" She said with a bright grin on her face, not letting go for a while. Once she did, she pulled away, smiling. "And I've brought us one more member to share your victory." Akashi said with a mischievous grin as she snatched up Taylor's microphone.

"Please, give another loud cheer for the new champion!" Akashi said, beaming proudly and waited for the crowd to respond. Once the cheering died down, she looked to the stage. "And now... there's a bit more business for us to take care of as we watch our family grow!" Akashi motioned for the entrance ramp. "Saito haruna, come on down!"

Kelly had been out cold throughout most of Taylor's celebration. The Ref was attending to her, checking to see if she was okay, while Taylor basked in the glory of her hard fought victory with Junko and the cheering masses of New York City. When Kelly finally began to stir, she pawed at the Ref before getting a grip on her shirt.

"I-It's.... Not over.... C-Can't...." Kelly groaned with a bloodied lip and nose as she begged and pleaded the ref for the match to not be over. But Kelly knew she had lost. She was broken and battered, she looked over at Taylor, holding the title with Junko beside her, the sold out crowd roaring on their feet as Akashi Tanikaze joined them in the ring!

Kelly was pawing at the ropes while the crowd cheered for the champion. "B-...Boo!! B-B...Uh...." Kelly, defiant to the end, tried to boo Taylor, but her mouth and head hurt so bad right now. Kelly was done here, she was seconds away from waving for reinforcements to carry her away before she heard Akashi mention.... Haruna.

At that moment, Kelly had managed to pull herself up to the second, middle rope and drape her arm and neck over it before she looked at Akashi, wide eyed and with horror before turning around to face the entrace stage, shaking her throbbing head as gently as she could.

"No....No! .......NO!" Kelly exclaimed before she looked at the Dojo members with wide eyed shock.

A very despaired Haruna staggered on to the stage, draped in a black yukata. Her chest wraps and fundoshi where still slightly visible through the gap, and she had a rather large bloodied bandage wrapped around her head. She had only barely started to recover from her (literally) crushing defeat before she was dragged out here like a piece of livestock. Her deep loathing for Akashi simmered fiercely within her, but in her current state, the purple-haired girl barely had the strength to stand.

Taylor automatically braced a hand against Akashi's chin and dug an elbow down between the sumo's hug and her poor ribs, to keep from being crushed by Akashi's loving bearhug. In a moment, her feet were back on the ground, and she took a big breath. She wound up and delivered a stinging, way-too-hard slap to Akashi's ass.

She grinned up at her big sister, but couldn't think of anything to say. The moment washed over her in waves, the title and the arena and the victory, and combined with the blunt force trauma that her head had sustained, she was glassy-eyed and a step behind everyone else. She felt like she was floating, even as she shot to the ropes facing the entrance ramp to see her new sister arrive!

She saw Haruna, and glanced back at Akashi. "Damn, she doesn't look so hot," she remarked. She took a victory lap around the ring and leapt into Akashi for a chest bump that knocked her back more than the sumo, and then climbed out of the ring. "I'm gonna go help her."

She slung the title over her shoulder as she jogged up the ramp. Even beat up and worn out, she couldn't slow down, and she arrived at Haruna's side sweaty and out of breath, but smiling.

"Hey," she said, and offered her hand out to her.