AV 16 Tag Title: The Black Feathers Gang (c) vs. Akiha and Gwendolyn

Leaning beside Akiha while the feathered tag-team made their obnoxiously crowd pleasing entrance, Gwen happened to notice what her crimson haired partner seems to have neglected. That their fiery red head was obviously worse for wear, evidenced by her subtle wincing and stilted movements. Gwendolyn made note of this in her mind with a devious smirk on her face, opportunities abounding so early on in the match already.

"...*giggle*....I very much doubt I could convince you otherwise, Madam Kosha. Let's indeed close the curtain on their woefully pathetic championship reign." Gwendolyn stated while stepping through the middle and top to settle in their corner. Considering how much impassioned zeal Akiha had towards defeating their opponents after Gwen's rousing speech, it was no surprise that Akiha wished to kick off the festivities. Not that the heiress minded. It allowed Gwen time to strategize, plan the night out, and make sure her illustrious golden curls looked magnificent as always with some light primping.

Though even once the match started, Gwen would offer Maddie occasional passing glances. Chipperly twiddling her fingers "Hello" should she catch Maddie looking in her direction.

"Hah? What are you talking about? It's our opponents who were always running away." Yukiko smirked in response to Akiha's taunt. It weighed heavily on her that she had to keep her cool during this fight, knowing that if she got in over her head, that Akiko would be forced to fight. And as much as she loved fighting alongside her dear friend, today the circumstances were very different. Stepping up to the middle of the ring as well, she looked over at the crimson-haired wrestler with an expression of firm determination, wanting to make sure the girl knew she was serious.

Right on the cusp of battle, Akiko's body ached not from her injuries but her desire to fight. She wanted nothing more than to compete in defending her title, instead of having to burden Yukiko with it all. But her pragmatic side won out in the end, as it always did, knowing that in her state she was a huge liability. Maybe the right call would have been to have Maddie substitute for her, but given whatever that loud blonde wanted from her, this was the probably the safer route.

Speaking of Maddie, the dark-haired girl was actually paying no mind to Gwen at that moment, instead her eyes were glued to Yukiko in the ring, feeling nothing but anxiety given their current situation.

“How typical, shifting the blame to someone else instead of taking responsibility and you dare to call yourself a Japanese? You are a traitor to our entire nation when it comes to wrestling. I shall rectify this mistake and perhaps after this match you will start to fight and act like how a real Japanese wrestler should.” stated Akiha as she was not impressed by her opponent comment. The only positive thing that Akiha could think of was that at least her opponent looked ready to fight and wasn't going to run away.

The bell would then ring, indicating the match had started. The Crimson hair crusader would raise her arms up, getting ready to grapple with her opponent. She would then move forward and attempt to enter an elbow and collar lock up with Yukiko, wanting to get a feel for her opponent.

"Tch... That attitude of your's really needs work..." Yukiko growled, more than a little irritated at Akiha's haughty words. The AFW hardly seemed the place for such lofty and vain ideals, at least to Yukiko anyway. "Someone's gotta drag you off your high horse!"

Moving forwards, the blue-haired girl accepted Akiha's challenge and locked arms with her. As far as she knew, the crimson-haired girl didn't seem like the type to pull something underhanded, due to her arrogance, so she pressed in hard with all her strength, trying to push her foe back.

It seemed that Akiha words were starting to have an effect on her opponent. For now, she would remain silent and focus on the match. The two Japanese wrestlers would lock up, each of them trying to overpower one another. Akiha could feel herself slowing being pushed backed. It seemed that her opponent was physically stronger than her. With this knowledge, Akiha could now start to plan around this.

The crimson hair wrestler was forced to take a few steps back. “Well you do have some muscles, I will give you that.” said Akiha as she would then attempt to transition into another move. She would now attempt to test her opponent speed. The white-clad uniform wrestler would attempt to sidestep before trying to get behind her blue hair opponent. “Let's see how fast you are.” said Akiha in a confident tone. If she could do so, she would attempt to wrap her arms around Yukiko stomach before going for a quick suplex.

Leaning in a little too hard, Yukiko staggered forward a bit as Akiha sidestepped her, briefly open as she was regaining her balance. "Shit...!" the blue-haired girl cursed under her breath as her foe had already slid behind her, grabbing her around the waist. Trying to break free, Yukiko threw an elbow out behind her, blindly trying to hit Akiha, but the crimson-haired girl was already lifting her up and slamming her down against the mat.

"Ghhh....!" Yukiko grunted as she hit the ground, but quickly attempted to roll away from Akiha, hopefully giving her chance to get back on her feet. Smirking slightly, she said, "Hmph... Maybe you're not all talk after all."

Akiha had managed to get her hands around her opponent waist and began to lift her opponent up, setting the German suplex in motion. Yukiko managed to throw an elbow at the crimson hair crusader but that would not stop her, as she continued with the Suplex and managed to slam her opponent right into the wrestling mat. Before Akiha could set up a second suplex, her opponent would break free of her hold and manage to roll away.

Getting the first attack felt good and she had also learned that she was faster than her opponent, though it seemed her opponent was a tough one. “You are a bit resilient but that is to be expected, as you are the current tag champions... for now.” said Akiha is still determined to win this match. The crimson hair wrestler would then attempt to close the distance before attempting to perform a quick jump and twist her body while pulling her leg forward and trying to slam her heel right into her opponent head and hopefully send her to the ropes.

"Oh? Was that a compliment?" Yukiko smirked in response, although she didn't have much time to be snarky as Akiha was swiftly coming at her again. Readying herself for an attack, the blue-haired girl narrowly managed to duck under her foe's heel, diving off to the side.

Crouching low, Yukiko spun around and lunged right back towards her crimson-haired foe, attempting to tackle her as she was getting back up from her attack.

Biding her time in the corner while tapping her toe against the outer canvas, Gwendolyn struggled to play the waiting bystander while her championship hopes rested in her partner's hands. She still wasn't quite accustomed to having someone else be in control of her destiny. But studying the tempo of the match helped Gwen have a decent prediction of Yukiko's next movement...and who was she to let opportunity pass her by?

With a mischievous grin once the idea came to her, Gwen hopped off the ring apron with a slight groan upon landing and ran to the middle of the outskirts of the ring where Yukiko was about to lunge forward and back towards Akiha. Except by Gwen extending her hands out and clenching onto Yukiko's ankles, all the blue-haired champion would get is a face first reintroduction to the canvas.

Yukiko's attempted offense was cut short as she felt a tug at her ankles, causing her to fall forwards and land painfully chest-first against the mat. With an agonized wheeze, the blue-haired girl immediately flopped over onto her back and clutched at her aching chest, having gotten winded from the impact while wondering what had just happened

Of course, Akiko and Maddie saw exactly what had happened, both of them instantly seething in anger towards Gwen's underhanded interference.

"You bitch!"

"Get your hands off her!"

Unfortunately, with Akiko in her weakened state and trying not to reveal her condition, and with Maddie not allowed to attack the enemy team, the two of them could only glare furiously at Gwen, trying to appear threatening despite their situations.