SS 19 MITB Final - Sophia Salt vs. Kaylee Day vs. Harumi Hazama

"You worried?" Belle spoke up from the bench after a long moment spent in silence. Beside her lean d a pair of crutches. While she could put weight on her leg, the doctor had scolded her already for pushing her recovery. Her knee was pretty messed up after the assault, but it wasn't anything time wouldn't clue. It sucked though, being sidelined after being so hungry to wrestle again, especially with such a big opportunity thrown her way.

"Nope. The hard part is already over." Kaylee turned to Belle, propping up a boot on the bench and meticulously began tightening up the laces.

"Cicilia?" Her eyes drifted up the boot as Kaylee worked, reflecting to herself how focused her tag partner seemed. Between the two of them, Belle had been the wrestling buff, their reason for being here to begin with rested fully on her shoulders. Up until recently this all seemed like a game to the blond, some PR move to push everything else they did. Now? It was part of her life. She even caught her researching the other two women she would be facing tonight. That was unheard of.

"Mostly meant dealing with what happened with you. Her too, I guess. If I never see here again that will be too soon." The blond snickered, looping the laces to tie them off. She dropped the sole to the floor giving a few testing bounces before moving to lace up the other.

"Meh, You should have known I'd be fine. You did pretty good in there ya'know. I don't think she was ready for you to hang with her like that. Not that I didn't believe in you, but I was pretty surprised too. You really pulled it out in that match." A lot of people accused Kaylee of being all talk and no substance. Many of those doubters had been put to the fire during that qualifier match. Even having known the outcome of the match before getting a chance to watch it, she had been at the edge of her hospital bed for the tail end of it all.

"It wasn't as close as you think. I had her scouted." A good statement, which also happened to be a lie. There were several moments in that match she may have easily lost. In the end she got away with a lucky roll up, something that may have very well saved her the match. She tested the second boot, seemingly good to go.

"Sure you did." Belle agreed quietly, not looking to start an argument right before Kaylee's big match. She put on a smile, a rarity for her, and collected her crutches. With a groan she pushed herself up part way only to have the blond help her with the rest quietly, even boost her up a bit to help right the crutches.

"Things are going to change once I bring home that briefcase." Kaylee returned a smile of her own as she watched Belle, reaching out to tuck a hanging strand of hair behind the other woman's ear. She didn't linger for too long, turning to make her way out of the locker room. She stopped briefly in the doorway, glancing back to the brunette.

"See you after I win." And she was gone.

---

Kaylee Day:

Theme:

"Daywalkers!" Her melodious voice came over the speakers, charisma and cheer radiating from just the simple call out to her fans. The response was deafening for America's sweetheart, an outcome that wasn't unforeseen given she hailed from California where Summer Splash had settled this year. Kaylee Day burst from the curtains with microphone in hand, bobbing to her music with cellphone in hand. She had the device reversed, documenting her entrance first hand. "It's so good to be back with the best crowds in the world!"

She motioned her hands up over her head, driving the masses to clap to the beat of her music as she moved from one side of the stage to there other, making the infectious energy consume the audience. "Kaylee Day here…" She paused with a very self aware wink, one that had everyone outlandishly excited. They seemed to know what came next, changing along with her. "...with your daily dose of Day!"

The blond trotted down the entry ramp, stopping as she went to lean herself back into the barricades, offering photo opportunities and getting as many desperate fans recorded on her phone for the blog later. Everyone seemed to want to be by her or just touch her, something that made her look like one of the most promising wrestlers AFW had to offer despite her rather short list of accomplishments in the organization thus far.

She carried herself like a queen with a look that walked the line between confidence and cocky. In her mind this was the perfect place to be, here in this match, coming out last… just like a champion. In her eyes it was practically written in the stars. " It looks like we have two fabulous competitors tonight! Let's hear a round of applause for them too!"

The crowd was eager to play along, giving the two other woman a thunderous reaction even if there had been boos before, it was drowned out now. Kaylee bounded along the outside of the ring, taking some more time to high five fans and even take up the offers for a few hugs along the way. For better or worse she was taking her sweet time, getting the audience hyped for what she believed would be her big moment to shine.

She came to a stop at a familiar face. Belle, in the front row, leaning on a crutch. The two shared a small smile before Kaylee leaned over the barricade to embrace her bestie to the loving applause of fans shouting their adoration and support for the two. The two exchanged whispered words drown out by the people around them before Kaylee pulled away, grinning at her phone. "She wished me good luck. This is for her."

The blond blew her phone a kiss before offering it to Belle to take care of it. With another sly smile she backed away, lunging forward to throw herself under the ropes to slide into the ring. The social media star walked the interior, giving her competitors a Curt nor in passing, appraising them quietly as if she hadn't researched them before hand. "Well ladies, looks like it's time to put on a show. Let's blow that other main event out of the water, shall we?"

The outburst from Sophia got a lifted brow from the social media star, a faint smirk forming at the corner of her lips. As she prattled on, Kaylee let her about her head off to the rising tide of boos raining down on her from the stands around them. She couldn't help but see the petite girl as some yappy little chihuahua, barking at the big dogs. It would be almost cute if she wasn't so volatile.

The blond idly twirled the microphone between her fingers, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the complete about face when Sophia addressed Harumi. It was so transparent the girl might as well have been made of glass. She had considered doing something similar, truth be told, finding common ground with the little mutt to team up on the martial artist… but after this display she was almost certain she would do better on her own and not play a hand so openly.

Her eyes shifted to Harumi, giving the woman a smile so practiced it came across perfectly genuine. A bit more of a subtle jab. Funny. Either she had seen the last match with Cicilia or heard about her stolen win. Either way, she had beaten the boxer and that was all that really mattered to her. Microphone in hand, she used it to her advantage to drown out any more back and forth between the three of them.

"Unlike other actresses you've fought, I have the chops in and out of the ring. Last one gave you a pretty hard time if I recall." Kaylee tapped her chin with an innocent smile, cutely pretending to recall the details of Harumi's match with Mistress Paige. "Buuuut… while people like her are on the decline, my performances only get better. Hope you hit harder than your verbal jabs or this might not be much of a con~test~"

Kaylee popped the microphone up onto the tip of her finger, balancing the device with relative ease as she walked to the ropes to gently toss it down to a member of staff on the outside. The crowd was ready to see these three year each other apart. She turned, leaning into the ropes to look between the two women and await the bell. She was in no real rush after all.

As the bell rang, she was already in motion. Not to rush either woman, no, she had already dropped down to the mat and rolled under the ropes to make a hasty retreat. What might have been considered an act of questionable cowardice however was quickly brushed aside as she backed her way to one of the ladders placed along the outside, getting it up to start dragging it towards the ring. Apparently she wanted to ramp things up fast. With a grunt, she lifted the top of the ladder high enough to get it under the bottom rope and shoved it inside along the mat for either of the other woman to use as they wished.

In a standard triple threat match it was a gamble to extract oneself from.the fight early on. It came across as the mark of a coward, one who wanted to have the other two opponents Duke it out while remaining safely outside the action. With no disqualifications though and no real agency, those two wrestlers could easily decide to team up against the fleeing person. Here was different. You could win without ever really fighting, that little caveat did a great deal to secure her safety. One of them giving chase to her allowed the other to make the climb for the briefcase. It all came down to one thing…

Trust no one.

Kaylee had however steered the crowd away from condemnation for her quick removal from the ring under the guise of stoking the flames of the match. Adding a ladder got her a large cheer. As she pulled out another to shove it under the ring ropes she had them eating out of her palm while stalling so the hungry lions in the ring could tear each other apart. The problem was… they weren't. Yet.

While Harumi was concerned with ladder safety of all things, that left the social media star the responsibility to get things rolling properly. Sophia was an opportunist. She knew this from watching some of her older matches. All she had to do was give the girl an opening, because one on one, Harumi would likely throttle her.

Crouching down to remain out of sight, she rooted around underneath the ring for something less cumbersome than a third ladder. It hadn't taken her long to find a folded metal chair, a wrestling stand by that would serve her well. Kaylee took careful note of a few other weapons lurking down below as well, in case she needed another one in a pinch. She craned her neck, peering into the ring to take note of where Sophia and Harumi were still before ducking down again.

The blond remained low, moving covertly around the ring from one side to the other while clutching the legs of the chair. Once she had rounded the ring to be on the side that had Harumi's back to her, she rose up again. Bracing her boots, she swung the chair back before hurling it forward, sending it spinning like a discus into the ring at the back of Harumi's legs, trying to give Sophia a chance to gang up on the martial artist.