Post by hawkeye on Oct 11, 2021 0:15:31 GMT
“Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall with a thirty minute time limit and it is for the FAWN Tag Team Championship! Introducing first, they are the challengers, weighing in at a combined total of two hundred and forty-four pounds, hailing from Bridgeport, California and Stovington, Vermont respectively, they are the Neo-Noir Knockout VERONICA TREYMANE and the Girl that Gravity Forgot, LILY BURLINGAME! Together they are COSMIC NOIR!
The low lights of the Crimson Comet’s entrance were interrupted by a tongue of flame sparking out of the floor at the bottom of the ramp and burning rapidly up its wick until it reached the pool of darkness at the top. And all at once the predicted explosion of noise and pyro went off, a huge KA-BOOM of red bursting loud enough to swallow the introductory riff of ’Comeback Kid’. When the lights came back the music immediately cut to the first verse of ‘Machine Gun Blues’ and the FAWNatics roared for all they were worth to greet the Galactic Gumshoes.
LILY BURLINGAME:
VERONICA TREYMANE:
Standing beside the Pinstripe Powerhouse, Lily took a deep breath and let it out slow, the usually frenetic highflier uncharacteristically still. “Made it back to the front of the line again, Veronica.” she said over the rumbling din. “I’ve got no intention of going back empty-handed.”
Treymane nodded agreement, she knew exactly what the heiress meant. “Me either, Lily. What say we kick those two scarecrows all the way back to their cornfield?”
“I say let’s do it.” Burlingame started to raise the detonator, then lowered it. “I won’t let you down, ‘Ronnie.”
“You never have. Now, let’s show these mooks the boom.”
This time there was no hesitation, Lily showed off the invisible detonator and brought her thumb down to get an earth-shattering ‘KA-BOOM!’ from the FAWNatics and an explosive line of pyro from Veronica’s barking iron. When it fell silent Treymane and Burlingame blew smoke off the barrel, then started toward the ring with the Star Strider a few steps ahead
For tonight’s war against the team that‘d thwarted their golden campaign twice, Lily wore a gleaming dark purple variation of her usual midnight blue and starry white halter and bottoms, galaxies swirling and shimmering with her every move. Her knee pads were white on one side and purple on the other, matching her togs perfectly. Behind her, the Gorgeous Gangster wore matching togs, the purple replacing charcoal gray in her usual boy-cut pinstripe trunks and bustier. The accompanying suspenders and belt also gleamed bright white, as did her pads and wrist-tape, while her boots were a matching purple.
They were about halfway to the squared circle when Burlingame raised her right hand and started a silent countdown.
Three.
Two.
One.
Blastoff!
The Girl That Gravity Forgot went flying down the rest of the ramp to leap onto the apron in a single bound. From there she raced along the narrow ledge to the far corner, the top of which she reached just as easily. This display of effortless acrobatics was capped off with a soaring and undeniably gorgeous back-flip which landed her perfectly within the confines of the squared circle. A couple heartbeats passed and Veronica slid in behind her, the Gorgeous Gangster having doffed her coat and Thompson as soon as the countdown began. Posing together for the hard camera, blonde and brunette urged their fans to get as loud as possible, not only for the challenger’s benefit, but to let the champs know they were headed into enemy territory.
The champions stand backstage listening to the roar of the crowd, Cosmic Noir having captured the imagination of the Mania throng. Hidden from the FAWNatics for a few more seconds, blonde and brunette huddle before fighting together for the first time in three months.
Next to them is the woman that not only is the new #1 contender for the World Title but their employer. DaynaCorp’s CEO finishes her pep talk with her acquisitions, the titleholders uh-huh-ing distractedly at her verbal motivation.
“Yeah, Boss,” Valerie interrupts. “We know how to win. We’re the best team this place has ever seen.”
“I’m aware,” Erza responds curtly. “I just don’t want you to lose your confidence because of your matches with me. Those two aren’t half what I am. And you’re always better as a team. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have made you my latest investment. So go out there and bury Noir.”
McGinty and Stipanovic nod then grow rigid in anticipation when they notice the lights lower. The Tron blinks from the omnipresent FAWN logo to a neon pink outline of a long, lean set of legs walking across the screen from the left. From the opposite side, another set does the same and, as they meet, the lines of the limbs swirl into a cursive font, emerging and settling into ‘Leggs, Inc.’ This time, however, there’s some fine print below “brought to you by DaynaCorp”.
Pink pyro shoots in diagonal blasts from either side of the stage, the crowd roaring and ready. The last blast of fireworks flies toward the rafters as Rod Stewart’s ‘Hot Legs’ blares from the arena speakers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcjjxYbgNM ). The Amazonian ideals, one with olive skin and long dark locks, the other with skin of lightly tanned ivory and a golden mane, move to center stage, showing off their undeniable weaponry and the gaudy gold and leather belts across their long, lean midriffs.
MARIEL MCGINTY
VALERIE STIPANOVIC
The champions’ anthem isn’t played without very good cause. Reaching their spot on the stage, the partners turn to each other and glide hands over the length of each other’s stupendous stems. By the time each is done, their pert cheeks are pointed high. Up the hands trail, making the long return trip, each expedition ending with a cheeky pinch, drawing a wide grin from their opposite number. A massive roar of approval emerges from the eyeballing attendees, the assembled delighted to see the champions together again.
With all attention captured, the duo set foot down the ramp, their long strides gobbling up space. The champs usually high-five the fans on either side. Tonight they ignore the rabble, instead focusing directly on their assignment.
Still, the mob chants for the owners of the undeniable appendages as they reach the ring.
“LEGS…LEGS…LEGS”.
The blonde is clad in a cutoff gray Calvin Klein hoodie (hood down) unzipped and wide to show the towering beauty’s pink sports bra. Multicolored speckles dot throughout the top and her pink boy-cut trunks ride exceedingly high to accentuate further the incredible gams on the rookie. Pink boots and black pads finish the slight attire.
Next to her, the brunette is in a similar hoodie. The rest of her gear is parallel in style though the more tanned of the pair is in striking white, boots and pads added to her snowy sports bra and ‘barely there’ shorts.
With each set of legs well-inspected, the glowing duo makes the trip up the steps then halfway down the ropes.
Slipping through the cables in heart-stopping stages, Leggs, Inc beam like the queens of the mountain they are. Mariel motions for the referee to move Noir back to their corner, even though the Cosmic duo are already there.
The newly purchased champions unstrap their hardware, raising the tag belts high as the ring announcer breaks into the captivating display.
“And their opponents. Brought to you by the good people at DaynaCorp. Weighing in at a combined 255 pounds…from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles, California respectively…MARIEL…”LEGS”…MCGINTY and VALERIE “STEMS” STIPANOVIC…ladies and most assuredly gentlemen…your tag team champions…LEGGS INC.”
The crowd rewards the hypnotizing duo with an ovation that only slows when Mariel calls for a microphone, both leggy grapplers turning from the lens of the hard camera to this month’s casualties. The blonde raises the stick to her lips.
“We’re sorry for not running roughshod over the division the last couple of months. Some business was conducted and now Val and I are getting back to ours, namely routing these wannabes…AGAIN!”
McGinty hands the stick to the official then each champion offers their belts for safekeeping, laying them over the zebra’s extended arm. Mariel and Val backpedal to their corner, Stems and Legs settling to discuss who would lead off tonight’s fracas.
Quiet deliberations from both teams continue right up until the opening bell, whereupon the challengers sent Lily to the center of the squared circle. As for the champions, it looked as though Valerie would take point, but when Mariel saw the Crimson Comet advance, she put a hand on Stems’ shoulder and leaned in to murmur in her ear. Stipanovic looked between her opponent and her partner a couple of times before she nodded and dipped out onto the apron so McGinty could take her place.
The exchange was more than fine with Burlingame. While she certainly acknowledged a competitive rivalry with Val, she genuinely disliked Mariel and knew the feeling was mutual. “C’mon, stretch.” Lily beckoned the pink-clad blonde forward with both hands. “You and I have unfinished busHHRGH!”
McGinty lunged forward, not for a Lock-Up but to press one splayed hand against the brunette’s mug for a derisive pie-face! Caught off guard, the Crimson Comet stumbled, caught her balance, then got caught herself when Mariel grabbed hold of both biceps. No hesitancy from the big blonde champion, she took a giant step backward, then torqued her hips and treated Burlingame to some serious hang-time courtesy of a Biel Toss that returned her to the deck with a flat, unforgiving THAWHAM!
BIEL TOSS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BzQHkJAbE0
Lily bounced to a seat and immediately scooted backward until she was pressed against the ropes. Eyes wide and angry, she put a hand to the small of her back and--McGinty stomped over, leaned down and reared back for a Bytch Slap only to treat the former Lightweight Champion to a condescending pat on the head. “I’m through pretending like you’re a threat to me, short-stuff.” Mariel chirped as fury and embarrassment played across Burlingame’s face. “You’re nothing but an anchor tied to Treymane’s ankle, so I’ll cut her loose by kicking your NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Being smudged against the ropes meant Lily could’ve asked for and received a break, so it was quite telling that she chose to lash out with three quick kicks to the blonde’s left thigh instead! McGinty drew out of range with a single step, so the Star Strider popped up and ran straight for the towering champ. Whatever offense she had in mind got delayed by the Knife-Edge Chop she had to duck, though the evasion didn’t seem to do anything to hamper her speed. Racing to the opposite side of the ring without breaking stride, Burlingame shot back the way she’d came and took to the skies of her own volition for a gorgeous Dropkick that THWHAPPED against McGinty’s chest!
Mariel swayed in place without going down, indeed she made a show of brushing some invisible dirt from her top as Lily scrambled back to verticality. “That the best you can do, munchkin?” she scoffed. “I thought you had some sort of bargain with gravity.”
Burlingame bristled, but held her ground. “Watch your mouth, Mariel.”
“Screw that, you being here is a joke and we both know it. You want to prove you can hang with us? Go look under the ring, maybe there’s a stepstool you could--”
Lily didn’t have to go under the ring to get the necessary height, she simply charged, hopped up and braced a foot against McGinty’s right thigh so she could THWHACK an Enzugiri against the side of her opponent’s skull! No soaking that up, Mariel’s legs gave out and she crumpled to an awkward seat before pivoting to all fours.
STEP-UP ENZUGIRI @ 00:39
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_u4iDes7G8
Her head was still ringing when Lily strolled up beside her and answered the pat on the head with a stinging swat on the butt! Mariel yelped, raised her left hand to shove the Maroon Meteor away and got caught by the wrist instead. Yanking the champ’s arm out full length, Lily twisted it in a smooth, hard circle and laid out on her tummy to drive arm and shoulder into the mat with cringe-inducing force!
LOW ANGLE ARM WRINGER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWKZ40oXjP0
“BRAT!” McGinty cried out as she rolled over onto her back. “YOU’RE GONNA WISH OOOOFFFHH!”
Lily busted out another vertical leap and came down across Legs’ tummy with a small, but powerful Splash! She didn’t even consider a cover, choosing instead to grab hold of McGinty’s right wrist so she could haul her to verticality. An equally quick albeit more traditional Arm Wringer ensured the blonde remained doubled over by the strain in her shoulder while the one-time Cherry Bomb walked / led her toward Cosmic Noir’s side of the ring.
“I still don’t think she’s taking us seriously.” Burlingame told Treymane as she closed in on the first tag of the match. “Wanna help me show her why that’s a bad--”
Mariel didn’t think too highly of the Crimson Comet, but she wasn’t about to let herself get marched into enemy territory either. Straightening up with a pained grimace, the Slippery Rock native raised her free hand high and brought it down in an overhand smash to Lily’s forearm. Backpedaling away as soon as she was free, McGinty snorted in disgust at the cheer that went up when Burlingame tagged Treymane.
The distance between them meant any sort of double team or tandem offense was out of the question, so Lily blew Legs a kiss, then vaulted over the top rope to take her friend’s place on the apron. As for the Pinstripe Powerhouse, she made her way to the center of the ring before speaking to the blonde. “Are you going to come to me? Or do I come to you? Either one works for me, Daisy.”
McGinty glanced over her shoulder, was not surprised to see Valerie reaching out a hand. Treymane saw this and made no attempt to stop the exchange, she only took a step back and rolled her shoulders in anticipation of the brunette Angeleno.
Stems took the tag, stepped over the top rope and made her way to Veronica, the lithesome champion brazenly chesting into her opponent though she was hardly anyone’s idea of a tank-top terror. Veronica didn’t appreciate the intimidation tactic and responded in kind, the big blonde trying to walk through Stipanovic even as Stems did the same. “You should’ve stayed away after the last time.” Valerie growled. “But you didn’t, so now we’re going to walk all over UUGGHH NNNHHH!”
Veronica surprised the taller wrestler with a hard shove followed immediately by a straight jab to the chin that snapped Stipanovic’s head back in a cloud of dark hair! “How about you walk that off so we can start in earnest, Dais--”
Val swept the former World Champion into a Collar & Elbow that Treymane returned with equal enthusiasm. To no one’s surprise, their clench retained the actual ‘collar and elbow’ elements for three, maybe four seconds at the most. After that it descended into poorly disguised hair-pulling and open palms grinding and mashing at opposing chin. Neither woman complained about the arrangement, instead choosing grim, angry silence as they pushed and shoved one another around the ring. Lily and Mariel both called to their partners, urging them to trap their rival in a friendly corner for more rough treatment. But they were either denied or flat out ignored as blonde and brunette refused to break the grapple. Apparently Stipanovic and Treymane wanted a piece of the other and they didn’t feel like sharing.
Eventually ‘Ronnie twisted her back off the ropes and stuffed Val into a neutral corner and shifted her hands to the brunette’s chin so she could puuuuuuuuuuuuush her head backward over the top rope.
“All right, let’s get a clean break Veronica!” Merle called before Mariel could make the suggestion for him.
Treymane glanced his way, nodded, then raised her hands to shoulder level and stepped ba--“NNNGGGHH!”
Valerie tagged the departing blonde with a stiff Bytch Slap, then twisted to the side when Veronica threw herself at the corner! “You get one warning about putting your hands in my face.” Stipanovic muttered after she’d driven a broadside Kneelift into Treymane’s tummy. “Do it again and this is what you’ll get.”
Val grabbed the rope to Veronica’s left, then brought her left leg up, wedged that heel beneath the challenger’s throat and leeeeeaaaaaaaaaaned back to throttle Treymane in a way that only Leggs Inc. could execute with the proper style.
LEGGY FOOT CHOKE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJpnassQms
Veronica thrashed wildly, grasping at Valerie’s ankle as the dark-haired champion pressed her boot sole against Treymane’s throat. From the sidelines came complaints from her vertically-challenged partner and a playful Stems stuck out her tongue at the bite-sized Burlingame.
“Come on, Valerie,” the ref scolded. “I just got her off you and you’re going to make me…”
“Yeah. Merle. Afraid I am.” Stems responded.
The official started his count and made it to ‘FOUR’ before the titleholder removed her footwear from Ronnie’s neck, the Gorgeous Gangster beet red and gasping for air by the time Stipanovic put her boot sole to canvas.
Not waiting for Veronica to regain her breath, Valerie grabbed a wrist and pulled the blonde away from the buckles then heaves her to the opposite corner. Treymane was compelled by the force of the Angeleno, spinning into a back-first collision with the thinly padded steel of the junction.
Unfortunately for the blonde, that’s not all Val had in mind as she raced after the increasingly bedraggled challenger. And when Treymane bounced out from the buckles a few feet, a leaping Valerie emphatically returned her to the corner with an aptly named Shotgun Dropkick.
SHOTGUN DROPKICK @ 00:04
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVdBvSZFMNY
Veronica bounced out from another battering impact with the corner, tumbling to her back as Stipanovic rose. The leggy brunette smirked at Ronnie’s condition and position and headed to the buckles, quickly climbing to the middle ropes. Staring out upon the floored Pinstripe Powerhouse, she vaulted from her perch, Valerie extending her seemingly unending left gam while plummeting to earth. Her leg CRASHED down across the throat of the challenger.
SPLIT LEG DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZiOX49l9Jo
Veronica spasmed then fell still with Val’s long lower limb still draped across her neck for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Treymane kicked free emphatically. Stems hardly seems surprised. She rolled onto her knees and gave Veronica an arrogant pie-face as the blonde tried to rise to a seated position. Val ascended, ‘helping’ the woman who was supposed to be the equalizing power for Cosmic Noir. Instead, Valerie bullied Veronica to the champs’ corner where she tagged her flaxen-haired counterpart.
As Mariel entered Val remains, raising Merle’s hackles. Still, he didn’t respond fast enough to stop the newly acquired assets of DaynaCorp from sending Ronnie off on a little ride to the far ropes. Treymane zoomed back after a U-turn out of the ropes. Both tag titlists dipped and sent Ronnie soaring into the Orlando night with a cloud-piercing Back Body Drop, the ring rattling when Veronica returns to the thinly-sheathed plywood with a BANG!
A grimacing Treymane reached for her lower vertebrae as Merle guided the tardy Stipanovic back to her proper station. A snarling Lily stared daggers at a chipper McGinty as Legs sank a set of nails into Veronica’s scalp and pulled her fellow blonde to her haunches. Mariel turned to her foe’s partner.
“And she’s the one people think can actually hang,” Mariel informed.
Her jaw dropped wide, a breath exploding from between her lips when Ronnie thrust a right fist into the pit of McGinty’s abdomen. Another one doubled Mariel and her grip dropped from the challenger’s mane. But as Veronica started to rise, McGinty charged forward and PLANTED a raised knee on the point of the Gangster’s chin, sending Veronica backpedaling into enemy territory. Her back hit the buckles, arms plopping over the top rope on either side to keep herself upright. In a flash, Val’s right arm encircles Treymane’s throat, keeping her in place for a charging Mariel who BURIED Veronica under a Gamazonian Avalanche Splash.
As Mariel bounced away from the collision, Ronnie staggered forward a few steps then faceplanted, stilled by the precise attack of the champions, Leggs, Inc. looking as sharp as ever after a couple months engaging in unsuccessful singles forays against their new boss.
A chuckling McGinty tagged Valerie back in, a watchful Merle making sure there would be no double-teaming chicanery this time. Stems and Legs passed in the night, the Angeleno retaking the reins from her partner from Pennsylvania.
Instead of pushing the unplugged Powerhouse to her back, Valerie dropped next to the blonde and pulled the challenger into a seated position between her impossibly long, silky stems. Val’s arms snaked under and around Veronica’s, fingers latching behind Treymane’s neck in a Full Nelson. And the show continued, Lily swallowing bile from the sour look on her face as Valerie leaned to her back, bringing Ronnie with her, then thrust her pelvis up, forward and down, bouncing Veronica’s keister HARD into the unforgiving deck. As was tradition for the maneuver, a delighted and dominant Stipanovic repeated the ride a second and third time, SPIKING Ronnie’s tailbone into the canvas, a look of pain etched on the challenger’s face.
When Val released her Nelson, Treymane’s hands reflexively shot to her backside, massaging at the throbbing waves coming from her backside. It gave Val a chance to reach her impressive vertical stance and swung a Soccer Kick at Veronica’s chest. Treymane ducked under and reached for Valerie’s infamous gams after the swing and miss, pulling Val off balance, the brunette tumbling into a Small Package for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Stems sprung loose in time, quickly, frantically confirming with Merle she hadn’t let her belts slip away. As she did, a spent Treymane crawled toward the Cosmic corner and an apoplectic Burlingame, but a boot to the base of Ronnie’s spine ended her travels to turn the match over to her energized teammate.
Valerie stood in a straddle over the back of the flattened Treymane, gawking at the snarling Lily.
“Not exactly who we thought we’d tear apart,” Valerie said. “But it works almost as well.”
Veronica rose to all fours beneath the towering brunette.
“What gangster?” Val chuckled.
As Treymane fought to her knees, Stipanovic surrounded the blonde’s braincase with her slender sinewy thighs and strapped on a Standing Headscissors. She crossed her ankles and squeeeezed Ronnie’s skull until the face of the Pinstripe Powerhouse turned rosy. BUT it didn’t stop Veronica from surrounding those lower limbs with her arms and slowly powering to her feet.
Valerie’s face shifted from arrogant to worried to frantic as Treymane reached full vertical with Stems in an Electric Chair position atop her shoulders. A grunting Veronica fell forward with her cargo, Valerie’s forehead THUMPING into the top buckle inches from a beaming former Bomb.
Val’s head snapped back from the collision and she staggered away in a wide arc, in enough of a daze to swing wildly at ghosts, unaware a rising Veronica dove to tag her diminutive cohort. Lily strangled the top rope with both hands and heaved her petite frame to a momentary position on the top buckle. It’s a split-second pit stop as Burlingame launched, her abbreviated legs leading the way.
A returning clueless and off-balance Valerie was not prepared for the muscular legs to end tight against either temple and, as the former Cherry Bomb’s momentum swung her past the near six-footer’s right side, Lily buggywhipped the brunette off her feet. Stems front-flipped to a landing on her spine. Stipanovic’s momentum on landing leaves her in a seated position, reaching for her lower vertebrae.
Kipping to her feet, Lily flashed to the cables in front of the dazed champion and sprinted back into a Low Dropkick to Val’s chest, flattening Stems. Burlingame climbed aboard in a Crossbody pin, hooking a long lean limb for…
ONE…
…before getting heaved off by Valerie, Lily ending on her feet, looking a tad concerned with her foe’s strength but not immobile for more than a moment.
Charging Stipanovic just as the champ regained her feet, Burlingame left hers for the, ahem, sole purpose of driving them into her foe’s thighs! Val grunted, dropped to her knees and immediately endured a trio of quick kicks to the chest courtesy the former Lightweight Champion. “Back the hell up, dammit!” Stems demanded even as she braced a splayed hand against Lily’s tummy and shoved as hard as she could. The Maroon Meteor staggered, caught her balance and hopped off her back foot to THWHACK a Low Angle Super Kick offa the Angeleno’s jaw!
LOW ANGLE SUPER KICK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YON_fKj8VRo
Valerie’s head whipped back and she crumpled from her knees to her tush, so Lily whipped ‘round and ran the ropes directly ahead of her now seated adversary. “OUTTA THE WAY, VAL!” Mariel warned her partner. “Don’t let her pick up any--”
‘Momentum’ remained unsaid because Burlingame somersaulted over Stipanovic and caught a Chinlock along the way, all the better to THWONK the base of her skull into the deck! The Basement Blockbuster finally stretched Valerie out flat which allowed the challenger to scramble into a heavy seat atop the bigger brunette’s chest. Hooking Stipanovic’s left leg in a Half Matchbook just because she damned well could, Burlingame leaaaaaaned back on the cover and blew a kiss to McGinty while Merle and the FAWNatics counted off…
BASEMENT BLOCKBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=izEPX13-P_A
ONE…
TWO…
Val powered out simultaneous with ‘TWO!’ Stems still far too strong to stay down despite the heiress offensive blitz. “Nice try, pipsqueak.” Stipanovic grunted as she rose to her full height. “But you must be this tall to wear Tag Team NNNNGGHHH!”
Lily didn’t *have* to hop to deliver the Bytch Slap that snapped Val’s head to one side, but it certainly earned a delighted ‘ooooooohhhhhhh!’ from those assembled. “Shake if off, big girl!” Burlingame snapped while Stems worked her stinging jaw. “I want you awake and aware when you’re looking up at the lig--”
Valerie exploded forward with a Big Boot that would’ve turned Burlingame inside out if she hadn’t tumbled under it at the last possible instant. Springing up as Stipanovic whipped around for a second pass, the Crimson Comet threw herself into a high-speed barrel roll that caught Val in the shins! Certainly wasn’t the highest of Burlingame’s high flying offense, but damned if it didn’t prove effective in knocking Stipanovic flat on her face. Her condition grew all the more unpleasant when Lily stepped aboard, the diminutive dynamo planting her feet atop the backs of her opponent’s thighs. From there she bent down, laid claim to Valerie’s ankles and folded her lower legs up and in so that they were braced against her shins.
“Oh, get real, nerd!” Mariel shouted to the Star Strider. “There’s no way in hell you can get her up for--”
Burlingame sank into a crouch, helped herself to Val’s waistband and yanked it up in a bratty wedgie straight out of big sister’s playbook! “BYTCH!” Stems cried out as Lily continued to saw the spangly white material back and forth. “I’M GONNA CUT YOU IN HALF WHEN HHHHRRRGGGHHH!” Stipanovic had reached for her stinging trunks in an effort to defend against the wedgie and in doing so allowed the challenger to hook her fingers over the Angeleno’s upper jaw instead!
“What’re you going to do, huh?” Lily’s usually light tone was nowhere to be found as she showed Valerie they were the same size on the mat. “You gonna embarrass me? Or maybe you’re gonna tap out!”
Stems didn’t get a chance to answer because Merle hurried over to warn her about the roughhousing. “C’mon Lil’, you can’t just tear at her face like that. Clean break, ok?”
Burlingame nodded, raised her hands without comment and straightened-- the Star Strider hopped up and stamped down, capitalizing on their locked legs to THUMP Val’s knees into the thinly-sheathed plywood!
Stipanovic cried out and rolled onto back to tend to her aching joints, meaning she wasn’t paying any attention to Lily, who hurried over to the Cosmic Noir corner to tag Veronica.
“Wishbone?” she called over the roar of the crowd.
“Wishbone.” the Magnificent Moll agreed.
“What the hell, Merle?” Mariel shouted. “Get that midget outta there!”
The ref was already on it, though the challengers weren’t yet beyond the allotted time. Blonde and brunette caught a handful of Val’s hair as she got up and promptly returned her to the mat by simply slamming her backward. Doing so popped Stipanovic’s stems skyward, allowing ‘Ronnie and Lily to each grab an ankle. Just like that they hopped up and wrenched those vaunted legs apart in a wicked Wishbone!
MAT SLAM & WISHBONE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9Ddgrt_kg
Burlingame took her leave immediately thereafter, not that her departure soothed Mariel’s nerves in the slightest. “C’mon Val, you don’t have to take that from these losers! Shake it off and put your boot up their narrow asses!”
Stipanovic grimaced and clambered to one knee, though she didn’t actually return to verticality until Treymane palmed the brunette’s noggin and helped her the rest of the way. “Gangster’s right here, Daisy.” ‘Ronnie murmured in the champ’s ear. “Weren’t you gonna tear her apart?”
“Chuuu… changed my mind, bytch.” Stipanovic huffed. “Now I’m going to sit on your facWHOOONNNNGGHH!”
Treymane dipped low, wrapped her arms around Val’s upper thighs and hoisted her into the air, then went down on one knee to PLANT the brunette crotch-first atop the posted joint. The Inverted Atomic Drop put Stipanovic on tiptoe and she would’ve limped away from the Gorgeous Gangster if Veronica hadn’t put a shoulder to her belly and muscled Stems over her shoulder like a bag of laundry. Gamazon or not, Valerie was completely in Treymane’s power as the former World Champion strode a loop around the squared circle while treating the Angeleno to some taunting pats on the butt.
This didn’t sit well with Mariel, who climbed onto the second strand to point a threatening finger at the other blonde. “Put her down, punk! You can’t treat her like that!” Veronica smooched the tips of her fingers and delivered a swat to her own backside before sprinting across the ring to BWUUUNG Stipanovic into the buckles with a combination Shoulderblock and Spinebuster! Hooking onto the middle rope on either side of her adversary, Treymane reared back and plowed forward no less than half a dozen times, the Pinstripe Powerhouse piling on several more Shoulderblocks into Val’s long, lean midsection.
CORNER SPINEBUSTER & SHOULDERBLOCKS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-SvNkIY8i8
Merle came over to enforce a break but he didn’t get so much as a word out before Veronica backed out with Stipanovic still molded over her shoulder. Turning a quarter circle (so her shoulder was pointed at the buckles) Treymane abruptly whipped the champ forward and down to SLAM her against the deck with a huge Spinebuster! Give Stems credit, she instinctively rolled onto her stomach to prevent a pin, unfortunately ‘Ronnie simply grabbed her ankles and crossed her lower legs into a snug ‘X’, which she held in place with her left shin. Now the Magnificent Moll did offer her hand to Lily, who accepted it without hesitation. She didn’t hop into the ring just yet however. Instead she moved away from the corner and grabbed hold of the top rope while Treymane hunkered down and snatched the brunette’s wrists.
“RRRRGGGHHHHH!” Val wailed through clenched teeth as Veronica pulled up to put incredible strain on her spine. With Stipanovic shaking her head ‘no, no, no’ Burlingame leapt onto the rubber-coated steel and hopped right off, the Crimson Comet looking positively Sensational when she delivered a big Leg Drop across the back of her foe’s head! The Combination Leg Drop and Curb Stomp left Stems in a facedown heap, that Lily flipped over so she could hook the far leg for an emphatic…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Valerie might’ve escaped on her own, but Mariel wasn’t willing to take the risk so she sprinted across the ring and booted Veronica in the mouth to send her sprawling onto the piled brunettes with half a second to spare!
With the stack of friend and foes at her feet, McGinty chose her fellow flaxen-haired grappler, grabbing a wrist and shoulder of the Moll and yanking a dazed Treymane to her feet.
“I believe the midget is the legal challenger,” Mariel grunted at Merle as she pivoted and ran Veronica to the ropes, heaving her over like a bouncer with her first drunk of the night. Ronnie bypassed the apron, sailing all the way to the floor in a non-stop flight, CRASHING to the thinly-padded cement, ending in a mewling heap.
Legs gazed down at the wreckage, pleased with what she’s wrought.
“No amount of cheating will take our titles,” the Gamazon shouted at the crumpled Pinstripe Powerhouse.
“Hey, stilts!”
Mariel spun to find a charging Burlingame approaching…FAST. She tried to get her defenses up, but Lily was too quick and NAILED Mariel with a Dropkick to the chin, sending the champion back-flipping over the rubber-coated steel. McGinty took the less direct route in her crash-and-burn, bouncing off the edge of the apron before ending in a pile of torso and long limbs only a few feet from the woman she sent there.
The former Cherry Bomb popped to her feet and dusted off her hands, having placed Mariel next to her partner. She turned to find Valerie barely to hands and knees after suffering Cosmic Noir’s debilitating double-team.
Lily moved to the middle and motions the shell-shocked LA native up. Val got halfway there when Burlingame rushed her foe, landing a mini-Big Boot to show she could play with the tall trees. It slammed flush into the left side of Stems’ chest, spinning the titleholder in a 180 and sending her staggering to the strands. Valerie’s body draped over the top, chest and arms leaning over the cables as she shook loose an attic full of cobwebs.
Unsurprisingly, the whirling dervish was already headed to the opposite ropes. The Star Strider hit at full speed and rebounded at warp toward the oblivious Angeleno. But instead of the direct approach, Lily skied legs-first over the top rope. The diminutive challenger hung onto the top rope and whipped around in an astounding arc, NAILING Valerie in the mug with a scintillating Cherry Swirl.
TOP ROPE CHERRY SWIRL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE6lOi1I8k
The faltering Stems turned and stumbled drunkenly to center stage while Lily landed on the outside after her impact. The Roseate Rocket latched onto the uppermost cable with both palms and flung her small frame up, the soles of her boots landing on the top rope. Using the rubber-coated steel as a launch pad, Burlingame ascended from her springboard toward a turning, clueless champion for the Crossbody Splash.
But as the dark eyes of Valerie widened, so the resolve and body of the near six-footer stiffened. She caught Lily across her chest, only backpedaling a few steps from the collision. With a squirming challenger captured, Stipanovic didn’t take any chances letting Lily loose with either arm. She simply leapt and plummeted to the canvas, splashing/slamming the heiress simultaneously.
Pin pre-made, Val remained atop the breathless and blasted Burlingame in a Lateral Press, hooking a lifeless, abbreviated lower limb to collect the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Lily’s entire body spasmed from beneath and it’s JUST enough for her to slip her shoulders off the canvas with Merle’s palm a few inches from the final slap.
A frustrated Val pounded the canvas then stared like a predator at the exploded Bomb. The champ pushed to her feet and sped to the ropes, her long legs getting her places in half the strides as Lily. A striking U-turn sent Valerie racing toward Burlingame, the lightweight on hands and knees, but only for a moment before Val POUNDED a boot into her foe’s temple with a Split-Legged Yakuza Kick.
SPLIT LEGGED YAKUZA KICK @ 00:17
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKoUXsPrb1g
The impact sent short-stuff rolling and despite Val’s impressive reach, Stems couldn’t keep Lily from spinning under the bottom rope. Burlingame plopped to the floor, making for a trio of grapplers outside the ring on the same side of the squared circle.
Sensing a Mania moment, a risen Val headed for the far ropes again and rebounded into a sprint toward the three rising combatants, Stipanovic’s wide eyes showing a willingness to disregard Mariel’s safety if she could take out Cosmic Noir with one huge Suicide Dive to all three.
SUICIDE DIVE @ 00:18
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMc_NDFuZks
If Valerie was the shapely bowling ball, the battered threesome were her pins and Stipanovic threw a strike with her long, lean physique, knocking champ and challenger alike to the floor with the violent connection. It’s not a shock when Val was the first up from the mass of humanity. She snatched a wrist of the Gamazon and pulled her partner free from Noir, helping the DaynaCorp blonde to her substantial vertical and directing Mariel toward the ring.
As McGinty blinked some senses back into place and climbed under the bottom ropes, Stems plucked Treymane up next. Val spun into a hammer throw of a whip, Veronica sent hurtling down the length of the ring, turning at the last second into a clattering back-first collision with the unforgiving steel of the barricade separating gladiators from the Orlando rabble.
Ronnie arched in agony, faltering to her knees as she reached for the base of her spine.
It left Lily as the remaining wreckage, but she’s had enough recovery time to reach her feet, dip her head and stuff a shoulder into the long, tanned expanse of Valerie’s midriff. She forced forward and RAMMED Val’s vertebrae into the edge of the apron, it Stems’ turn for her backbone to become an agony-inducing arc.
Lily pivoted the grimacing Stipanovic toward the inside and tried to muscle Val on the apron but got a raised knee to the gut from the champion instead of the results she’s sought.
Stipanovic stuffed a doubled Burlingame in under the bottom rope and quickly joined her. As an aching Val worked to her feet, Mariel ripped the Star Strider to vertical and, despite Merle’s instructions to depart, wrapped a palm around the throat of the bug-eyed Burlingame. The Gamazon launched Lily HIGH, her left hand supporting on the brunette’s hip, and Choke Slammed the challenger damn near THROUGH the canvas-covered plywood.
With Lily splayed and semiconscious at their feet, Val shares a high five with her partner over the remains of the splattered waterbug. With Merle chewing their ears off with his complaining, DaynaCorp’s newest employees strolled to their corner. McGinty slipped through the ropes for the formality of a tag before rejoining her dark-haired counterpart.
The newly minted legal competitor moved to the starfished Strider and placed a triumphant boot atop the slowly rolling chest of her foe as Val fought off a partially recovered and newly entered Treymane, all four women in the ring as Merles counted out an embarrassing way to lose for the challengers with the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Stems kept Ronnie at bay, so it’s left for Lily’s stubborn streak to keep Noir alive. She did with a shoved right shoulder, Merle hopping to his feet and raising two fingers.
“You just don’t quit, do you?” McGinty asked when she bent down to grab a handful of Lily’s dark hair. “Is that because you’re too tough? Or too stupid?”
“Cuuuhhh… could be both.” Burlingame groaned as the champion hauled her to her knees. “Could be because you’re not good enougHHNNGGGHH!”
Mariel wasn’t about to suffer that sort of talk so she put an end to it by DRIVING the point of her left knee into the heiress’ chin. Not content to simply hurt anymore, McGinty opted for humiliation by forcing the challenger all fours, then pressing her boot to Burlingame’s lips! From there she draagged Lily’s face up her shin, across her knee and along the seemingly endless plank of her thigh until the Star Strider’s mug was grinding against the slim-strong curve of one pink-clad glute.
Not so out of it that she didn’t realize she was being embarrassed, Burlingame pushed and swatted at Mariel’s flanks, alas she endured the cheek to cheek contact until the big blonde pulled back and THUMPED her tush into the Lightweight’s face! “Kiss my ass, munchkin!” McGinty demanded as the tawdry Hip Check sent the former Lightweight Champion sprawling. “C’mon, get up!” Mariel stomped over, helped herself to a double handful of hair and hauled Lily to her feet just to double her over for a tight Standing Headscissors!
“Yeah, that’s right! Gonna squash your damned head!” McGinty threatened when Lily began to groan from within that gammy prison. Burlingame wasn’t about to allow such punishment go on uncontested and she pounded at the blonde’s thighs until McGinty snatched her wrists and wrenched them out at her sides. “What’re you going to do now, huh? HUH?” She hopped in place, once, twice, three times, each new repetition driving the champ’s butt into the base of Lily’s skull like a velvet-padded sledgehammer. “Ask her!” the Slippery Rock Siren ordered Merle following several more seconds of uncontested constriction. “I don’t think short stuff can take any more!”
Merle needed confirmation from the woman in question so he knelt beside the action and asked, “What do you say, Lily? Need me to call it?”
“Nuuuuhhhh…NO!” the Crimson Comet groaned. “Gonna take more than these chicken legs to beat EEEEERRRRGGGGHHHH OOOOWWWWWWW BYTCH!”
Mariel forced her opponent’s wrists up and back so she could pin them together with one hand. Her free hand delivered several stinging swats to the brunette’s rump before hooked her fingers into the leg-holes of opposing briefs and yanked the star-sworled material deep between Lily’s cheeks! “You’re no match for me, loser!” Mariel shouted as she sawed the lycra higher and tighter. “You and your punk partner don’t belong in our ring! Say it! Say it, say it, say it!” McGinty continued to crush and pull, and Lily continued to wail, but she refused to concede, much to the towering blonde’s growing consternation. Finally too disgusted to continue along her current course, Mariel relinquished the wedgie and the wrist-control in favor of a strong Waistlock around the challenger’s slender middle.
Blowing a smooch to Veronica just to rub in the inevitable, McGinty gathered her strength and lifted / spun Burlingame onto her shoulders for a truly colossal PowerboNOOOOO! Lily locked her ankles and whipped back with all her might to tear the blonde off her feet with a high speed Hurricanrana that slammed Mariel down on the back of her head and shoulders! McGinty’s legs shot straight up and Lily grabbed ‘em both, the resurgent Star Strider holding on for dear life as she pressed her forehead to the mat for…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Mariel popped her hips to send Burlingame tumbling seemingly halfway across the squared circle. Coming to a stop on one knee, she exploded into a sprint and raced at the still penitent champi--THWHACK! McGinty surged forth to meet the brunette with a Lariat that turned the challenger inside out before she returned to the deck! Shoveling Lily onto her back as soon as she was able, the incensed blonde hooked both legs in a tight bundle and folded Burlingame in half for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
The FAWNatics almost blew the roof off the place when Lily twitched out of the cover, but it still wasn’t enough to overwhelm Mariel’s bellow of rage. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” she roared at Merle. “THAT WAS THREE!”
“Don’t bother with him, Mar!” Valerie tried to soothe her snarling partner. “Girl’s got nothing left! Tag me in and we’ll finish her off!”
McGinty started toward the Leggs corner, then shook her head ‘no’ and went back to Lily. “This one’s mine, Valerie. Brat’s going to learn her lesson if it’s the last thing I do!”
Stipanovic protested this quite emphatically, but Mariel wouldn’t hear it, she just grabbed the brunette’s ankle and wrist and draaaaaaaaagged her closer to a neutral corner. Once she’d dropped the lightweight’s limbs McGinty backed into the corner and boosted herself onto the second rope. “GET UP!” she shouted to Burlingame! “GET UP, GET UP, GET UP!” Lily did, though she didn’t achieve full verticality until Merle had reached ‘SIX’ on the standing ten count.
Mariel didn’t give a damn how long it took, soon as Burlingame was on her feet she left hers, the Slippery Rock Siren flying out into the void with her right leg raised high for a huge Famelegg-- Lily caught hold of Mariel’s ankle and twisted out of the way, the Maroon Meteor landing on her tummy while McGinty came down HARD on her knee and hip!
“C’MON LILY, I’M RIGHT HERE!” Veronica shouted over the din as the heiress collected herself. “PICK YOURSELF UP AND LETS FINISH THIS!”
A bit quicker to rise at the behest of her own partner, Burlingame clambered to boot-leather but instead of going to Treymane she grabbed hold of McGinty’s ankles and began to haul her into the challenger‘s half of the ring. “Buuuuhhhh… bytch.” Mariel huffed. “Get your nasty little hands offa NNHHH!”
Lily stopped and pounded a few kicks into the side of the blonde’s tweaked knee. “You’re gonna have to make OOOFFFFHHH!”
McGinty took her up on the challenge, drawing both knees tight to her chest to piston a Mule Kick into Burlingame’s chest! Lily flew backward like she’d been launched out of a cannon, but the groaning FAWNatics broke into relieved cheers when her journey ended in Cosmic Noir’s corner!
‘Ronnie tagged in, leapt over the ropes and raced past Mariel to THWHONK a Kneelift into Valerie’s noggin as Stems was coming through the strands uninvited! Turning back to McGinty when Stipanovic tumbled to the floor, the Pinstripe Powerhouse shot back the way she’d came and dove in low to SMASH her left knee into the pit of Mariel’s right knee!
“GAAAAAAHHH!” McGinty hit the deck in a heap, her right leg drawn tight to her chest after the agonizing Chop Block. She’d just pulled down the pad to get at the sore joint when Veronica took hold of the blonde’s left leg and spun around the exposed limb to trap it behind her own right knee. In the next breath she grabbed Mariel’s right leg, straightened it out and laid the folded shin atop it to create the Figure Fo--
FIGURE FOUR LEGLOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5MMvFfORNY
“OOOOOHHHHH STAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHP!” McGinty pounded a fist against the mat, then buried both hands in her hair to distract from the anguish of the Leg-Lock.
Unmoved by these wails, Treymane braced both hands and raised her butt to put even more strain on the champ’s knee. “Submit, Daisy!” she barked. “You’re fin--” A blur of motion from the right caused Veronica to brace for impact, the Magnificent Moll certain her head was about to get kicked into the lower de--“NNNNGGGGHHHH!” Another blur, this one from high overhead, cut Stipanovic off at the pass with a Springboard Missile Dropkick delivered to the point of the jaw!
Groaning as Val hit the deck like a felled tree, Mariel’s concern grew exponentially when she felt Treymane scoot-dragging them toward the challenger’s side of town. “Lil…Lily!” ‘Ronnie called, her voice heavy with the strain of lugging McGinty around. “You back in the corner?”
“Yeah, just made it.” Veronica glanced her way, reached out a hand and realized she was still a little too far away. Jaw clenched, she cleared several more inches, then tried again and grinned triumphantly when Burlingame leaned over and CLAPPED her hand!
“SHE’S NOT LEGAL!” Mariel howled to the ref as Lily sprang to the top rope. “CHEATING BYTCH TAGGED OUT, SHE’S GOTTA LET ME GUUUUHHHHH!”
The Crimson Comet shot into the lights, seeming to vanish for an instant before streaking to earth with a Cherry Warhead that THWHAMMED down on McGinty’s gulping midriff!
CHERRY WARHEAD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GeJ5KuZjlY
Burlingame swung a leg over and sat on Mariel’s chest as Veronica disengaged from the Figure Four, the Pinstripe Powerhouse throwing herself at / onto Valerie to prevent her interfering with the…
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
Lily scrambled away and leapt onto Veronica’s back half a heartbeat after she’d disengaged from Stipanovic. Giddy with laughter, exhaustion and triumph, the longtime friends held each other tight as the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winners via pin-fall… and the NEW FAWN Tag Team Champions… COSMIC NOIR!”
Lily hopped off, grabbed Treymane’s wrist and raised it high only for Veronica to do the same for her immediately thereafter. Their festivities grew all the more raucous when Merle returned with a belt in either hand. “Impressive work, ladies.” he told ‘em. “You earned it.”
“Yeah, we did.” Lily agreed once the title was around her waist. “Helluva lotta work, but we earned it.”
Holding her belt one-handed, Treymane brushed the faceplate with her forearm, then draped it over her shoulder. “Know what else we earned?”
Burlingame arched an eyebrow, then broke into a grin when the Magnificent Moll stomped over and planted a boot on Valerie’s chest! The Angeleno moaned and tried to paw ‘Ronnie’s foot aside, but the blonde only stepped down harder and Stipanovic eventually collapsed into silent, shuddering distress.
Eager to complete the set, Lily hurried over to Mariel and tumbled her onto her stomach so she could plant both feet on the blonde’s butt like it was a welcome mat! “Bytch!” McGinty groaned. “You’re gonna regret this! We’ll get our titles back and then you’ll oooooooohhhhhhhh stoppit, stoppit, stoppit!”
Lily bounced in place, then scuffed her boots on the blonde’s cheeks, her rude scrubbing causing Mariel’s trunks to ride higher and higher. “You can have a rematch whenever you want!” Burlingame said once she’d skipped off McGinty’s chafed cheeks. “I’ll never get tired of making you feel small!”
With Leggs at least temporarily hobbled, the new champs met at the center of the ring for another hug and a raising of the gold. The preparation for their first defense would start tomorrow, but tonight was all theirs and they meant to celebrate in style.
The low lights of the Crimson Comet’s entrance were interrupted by a tongue of flame sparking out of the floor at the bottom of the ramp and burning rapidly up its wick until it reached the pool of darkness at the top. And all at once the predicted explosion of noise and pyro went off, a huge KA-BOOM of red bursting loud enough to swallow the introductory riff of ’Comeback Kid’. When the lights came back the music immediately cut to the first verse of ‘Machine Gun Blues’ and the FAWNatics roared for all they were worth to greet the Galactic Gumshoes.
LILY BURLINGAME:
VERONICA TREYMANE:
Standing beside the Pinstripe Powerhouse, Lily took a deep breath and let it out slow, the usually frenetic highflier uncharacteristically still. “Made it back to the front of the line again, Veronica.” she said over the rumbling din. “I’ve got no intention of going back empty-handed.”
Treymane nodded agreement, she knew exactly what the heiress meant. “Me either, Lily. What say we kick those two scarecrows all the way back to their cornfield?”
“I say let’s do it.” Burlingame started to raise the detonator, then lowered it. “I won’t let you down, ‘Ronnie.”
“You never have. Now, let’s show these mooks the boom.”
This time there was no hesitation, Lily showed off the invisible detonator and brought her thumb down to get an earth-shattering ‘KA-BOOM!’ from the FAWNatics and an explosive line of pyro from Veronica’s barking iron. When it fell silent Treymane and Burlingame blew smoke off the barrel, then started toward the ring with the Star Strider a few steps ahead
For tonight’s war against the team that‘d thwarted their golden campaign twice, Lily wore a gleaming dark purple variation of her usual midnight blue and starry white halter and bottoms, galaxies swirling and shimmering with her every move. Her knee pads were white on one side and purple on the other, matching her togs perfectly. Behind her, the Gorgeous Gangster wore matching togs, the purple replacing charcoal gray in her usual boy-cut pinstripe trunks and bustier. The accompanying suspenders and belt also gleamed bright white, as did her pads and wrist-tape, while her boots were a matching purple.
They were about halfway to the squared circle when Burlingame raised her right hand and started a silent countdown.
Three.
Two.
One.
Blastoff!
The Girl That Gravity Forgot went flying down the rest of the ramp to leap onto the apron in a single bound. From there she raced along the narrow ledge to the far corner, the top of which she reached just as easily. This display of effortless acrobatics was capped off with a soaring and undeniably gorgeous back-flip which landed her perfectly within the confines of the squared circle. A couple heartbeats passed and Veronica slid in behind her, the Gorgeous Gangster having doffed her coat and Thompson as soon as the countdown began. Posing together for the hard camera, blonde and brunette urged their fans to get as loud as possible, not only for the challenger’s benefit, but to let the champs know they were headed into enemy territory.
The champions stand backstage listening to the roar of the crowd, Cosmic Noir having captured the imagination of the Mania throng. Hidden from the FAWNatics for a few more seconds, blonde and brunette huddle before fighting together for the first time in three months.
Next to them is the woman that not only is the new #1 contender for the World Title but their employer. DaynaCorp’s CEO finishes her pep talk with her acquisitions, the titleholders uh-huh-ing distractedly at her verbal motivation.
“Yeah, Boss,” Valerie interrupts. “We know how to win. We’re the best team this place has ever seen.”
“I’m aware,” Erza responds curtly. “I just don’t want you to lose your confidence because of your matches with me. Those two aren’t half what I am. And you’re always better as a team. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have made you my latest investment. So go out there and bury Noir.”
McGinty and Stipanovic nod then grow rigid in anticipation when they notice the lights lower. The Tron blinks from the omnipresent FAWN logo to a neon pink outline of a long, lean set of legs walking across the screen from the left. From the opposite side, another set does the same and, as they meet, the lines of the limbs swirl into a cursive font, emerging and settling into ‘Leggs, Inc.’ This time, however, there’s some fine print below “brought to you by DaynaCorp”.
Pink pyro shoots in diagonal blasts from either side of the stage, the crowd roaring and ready. The last blast of fireworks flies toward the rafters as Rod Stewart’s ‘Hot Legs’ blares from the arena speakers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcjjxYbgNM ). The Amazonian ideals, one with olive skin and long dark locks, the other with skin of lightly tanned ivory and a golden mane, move to center stage, showing off their undeniable weaponry and the gaudy gold and leather belts across their long, lean midriffs.
MARIEL MCGINTY
VALERIE STIPANOVIC
The champions’ anthem isn’t played without very good cause. Reaching their spot on the stage, the partners turn to each other and glide hands over the length of each other’s stupendous stems. By the time each is done, their pert cheeks are pointed high. Up the hands trail, making the long return trip, each expedition ending with a cheeky pinch, drawing a wide grin from their opposite number. A massive roar of approval emerges from the eyeballing attendees, the assembled delighted to see the champions together again.
With all attention captured, the duo set foot down the ramp, their long strides gobbling up space. The champs usually high-five the fans on either side. Tonight they ignore the rabble, instead focusing directly on their assignment.
Still, the mob chants for the owners of the undeniable appendages as they reach the ring.
“LEGS…LEGS…LEGS”.
The blonde is clad in a cutoff gray Calvin Klein hoodie (hood down) unzipped and wide to show the towering beauty’s pink sports bra. Multicolored speckles dot throughout the top and her pink boy-cut trunks ride exceedingly high to accentuate further the incredible gams on the rookie. Pink boots and black pads finish the slight attire.
Next to her, the brunette is in a similar hoodie. The rest of her gear is parallel in style though the more tanned of the pair is in striking white, boots and pads added to her snowy sports bra and ‘barely there’ shorts.
With each set of legs well-inspected, the glowing duo makes the trip up the steps then halfway down the ropes.
Slipping through the cables in heart-stopping stages, Leggs, Inc beam like the queens of the mountain they are. Mariel motions for the referee to move Noir back to their corner, even though the Cosmic duo are already there.
The newly purchased champions unstrap their hardware, raising the tag belts high as the ring announcer breaks into the captivating display.
“And their opponents. Brought to you by the good people at DaynaCorp. Weighing in at a combined 255 pounds…from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles, California respectively…MARIEL…”LEGS”…MCGINTY and VALERIE “STEMS” STIPANOVIC…ladies and most assuredly gentlemen…your tag team champions…LEGGS INC.”
The crowd rewards the hypnotizing duo with an ovation that only slows when Mariel calls for a microphone, both leggy grapplers turning from the lens of the hard camera to this month’s casualties. The blonde raises the stick to her lips.
“We’re sorry for not running roughshod over the division the last couple of months. Some business was conducted and now Val and I are getting back to ours, namely routing these wannabes…AGAIN!”
McGinty hands the stick to the official then each champion offers their belts for safekeeping, laying them over the zebra’s extended arm. Mariel and Val backpedal to their corner, Stems and Legs settling to discuss who would lead off tonight’s fracas.
Quiet deliberations from both teams continue right up until the opening bell, whereupon the challengers sent Lily to the center of the squared circle. As for the champions, it looked as though Valerie would take point, but when Mariel saw the Crimson Comet advance, she put a hand on Stems’ shoulder and leaned in to murmur in her ear. Stipanovic looked between her opponent and her partner a couple of times before she nodded and dipped out onto the apron so McGinty could take her place.
The exchange was more than fine with Burlingame. While she certainly acknowledged a competitive rivalry with Val, she genuinely disliked Mariel and knew the feeling was mutual. “C’mon, stretch.” Lily beckoned the pink-clad blonde forward with both hands. “You and I have unfinished busHHRGH!”
McGinty lunged forward, not for a Lock-Up but to press one splayed hand against the brunette’s mug for a derisive pie-face! Caught off guard, the Crimson Comet stumbled, caught her balance, then got caught herself when Mariel grabbed hold of both biceps. No hesitancy from the big blonde champion, she took a giant step backward, then torqued her hips and treated Burlingame to some serious hang-time courtesy of a Biel Toss that returned her to the deck with a flat, unforgiving THAWHAM!
BIEL TOSS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BzQHkJAbE0
Lily bounced to a seat and immediately scooted backward until she was pressed against the ropes. Eyes wide and angry, she put a hand to the small of her back and--McGinty stomped over, leaned down and reared back for a Bytch Slap only to treat the former Lightweight Champion to a condescending pat on the head. “I’m through pretending like you’re a threat to me, short-stuff.” Mariel chirped as fury and embarrassment played across Burlingame’s face. “You’re nothing but an anchor tied to Treymane’s ankle, so I’ll cut her loose by kicking your NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Being smudged against the ropes meant Lily could’ve asked for and received a break, so it was quite telling that she chose to lash out with three quick kicks to the blonde’s left thigh instead! McGinty drew out of range with a single step, so the Star Strider popped up and ran straight for the towering champ. Whatever offense she had in mind got delayed by the Knife-Edge Chop she had to duck, though the evasion didn’t seem to do anything to hamper her speed. Racing to the opposite side of the ring without breaking stride, Burlingame shot back the way she’d came and took to the skies of her own volition for a gorgeous Dropkick that THWHAPPED against McGinty’s chest!
Mariel swayed in place without going down, indeed she made a show of brushing some invisible dirt from her top as Lily scrambled back to verticality. “That the best you can do, munchkin?” she scoffed. “I thought you had some sort of bargain with gravity.”
Burlingame bristled, but held her ground. “Watch your mouth, Mariel.”
“Screw that, you being here is a joke and we both know it. You want to prove you can hang with us? Go look under the ring, maybe there’s a stepstool you could--”
Lily didn’t have to go under the ring to get the necessary height, she simply charged, hopped up and braced a foot against McGinty’s right thigh so she could THWHACK an Enzugiri against the side of her opponent’s skull! No soaking that up, Mariel’s legs gave out and she crumpled to an awkward seat before pivoting to all fours.
STEP-UP ENZUGIRI @ 00:39
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_u4iDes7G8
Her head was still ringing when Lily strolled up beside her and answered the pat on the head with a stinging swat on the butt! Mariel yelped, raised her left hand to shove the Maroon Meteor away and got caught by the wrist instead. Yanking the champ’s arm out full length, Lily twisted it in a smooth, hard circle and laid out on her tummy to drive arm and shoulder into the mat with cringe-inducing force!
LOW ANGLE ARM WRINGER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWKZ40oXjP0
“BRAT!” McGinty cried out as she rolled over onto her back. “YOU’RE GONNA WISH OOOOFFFHH!”
Lily busted out another vertical leap and came down across Legs’ tummy with a small, but powerful Splash! She didn’t even consider a cover, choosing instead to grab hold of McGinty’s right wrist so she could haul her to verticality. An equally quick albeit more traditional Arm Wringer ensured the blonde remained doubled over by the strain in her shoulder while the one-time Cherry Bomb walked / led her toward Cosmic Noir’s side of the ring.
“I still don’t think she’s taking us seriously.” Burlingame told Treymane as she closed in on the first tag of the match. “Wanna help me show her why that’s a bad--”
Mariel didn’t think too highly of the Crimson Comet, but she wasn’t about to let herself get marched into enemy territory either. Straightening up with a pained grimace, the Slippery Rock native raised her free hand high and brought it down in an overhand smash to Lily’s forearm. Backpedaling away as soon as she was free, McGinty snorted in disgust at the cheer that went up when Burlingame tagged Treymane.
The distance between them meant any sort of double team or tandem offense was out of the question, so Lily blew Legs a kiss, then vaulted over the top rope to take her friend’s place on the apron. As for the Pinstripe Powerhouse, she made her way to the center of the ring before speaking to the blonde. “Are you going to come to me? Or do I come to you? Either one works for me, Daisy.”
McGinty glanced over her shoulder, was not surprised to see Valerie reaching out a hand. Treymane saw this and made no attempt to stop the exchange, she only took a step back and rolled her shoulders in anticipation of the brunette Angeleno.
Stems took the tag, stepped over the top rope and made her way to Veronica, the lithesome champion brazenly chesting into her opponent though she was hardly anyone’s idea of a tank-top terror. Veronica didn’t appreciate the intimidation tactic and responded in kind, the big blonde trying to walk through Stipanovic even as Stems did the same. “You should’ve stayed away after the last time.” Valerie growled. “But you didn’t, so now we’re going to walk all over UUGGHH NNNHHH!”
Veronica surprised the taller wrestler with a hard shove followed immediately by a straight jab to the chin that snapped Stipanovic’s head back in a cloud of dark hair! “How about you walk that off so we can start in earnest, Dais--”
Val swept the former World Champion into a Collar & Elbow that Treymane returned with equal enthusiasm. To no one’s surprise, their clench retained the actual ‘collar and elbow’ elements for three, maybe four seconds at the most. After that it descended into poorly disguised hair-pulling and open palms grinding and mashing at opposing chin. Neither woman complained about the arrangement, instead choosing grim, angry silence as they pushed and shoved one another around the ring. Lily and Mariel both called to their partners, urging them to trap their rival in a friendly corner for more rough treatment. But they were either denied or flat out ignored as blonde and brunette refused to break the grapple. Apparently Stipanovic and Treymane wanted a piece of the other and they didn’t feel like sharing.
Eventually ‘Ronnie twisted her back off the ropes and stuffed Val into a neutral corner and shifted her hands to the brunette’s chin so she could puuuuuuuuuuuuush her head backward over the top rope.
“All right, let’s get a clean break Veronica!” Merle called before Mariel could make the suggestion for him.
Treymane glanced his way, nodded, then raised her hands to shoulder level and stepped ba--“NNNGGGHH!”
Valerie tagged the departing blonde with a stiff Bytch Slap, then twisted to the side when Veronica threw herself at the corner! “You get one warning about putting your hands in my face.” Stipanovic muttered after she’d driven a broadside Kneelift into Treymane’s tummy. “Do it again and this is what you’ll get.”
Val grabbed the rope to Veronica’s left, then brought her left leg up, wedged that heel beneath the challenger’s throat and leeeeeaaaaaaaaaaned back to throttle Treymane in a way that only Leggs Inc. could execute with the proper style.
LEGGY FOOT CHOKE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJpnassQms
Veronica thrashed wildly, grasping at Valerie’s ankle as the dark-haired champion pressed her boot sole against Treymane’s throat. From the sidelines came complaints from her vertically-challenged partner and a playful Stems stuck out her tongue at the bite-sized Burlingame.
“Come on, Valerie,” the ref scolded. “I just got her off you and you’re going to make me…”
“Yeah. Merle. Afraid I am.” Stems responded.
The official started his count and made it to ‘FOUR’ before the titleholder removed her footwear from Ronnie’s neck, the Gorgeous Gangster beet red and gasping for air by the time Stipanovic put her boot sole to canvas.
Not waiting for Veronica to regain her breath, Valerie grabbed a wrist and pulled the blonde away from the buckles then heaves her to the opposite corner. Treymane was compelled by the force of the Angeleno, spinning into a back-first collision with the thinly padded steel of the junction.
Unfortunately for the blonde, that’s not all Val had in mind as she raced after the increasingly bedraggled challenger. And when Treymane bounced out from the buckles a few feet, a leaping Valerie emphatically returned her to the corner with an aptly named Shotgun Dropkick.
SHOTGUN DROPKICK @ 00:04
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVdBvSZFMNY
Veronica bounced out from another battering impact with the corner, tumbling to her back as Stipanovic rose. The leggy brunette smirked at Ronnie’s condition and position and headed to the buckles, quickly climbing to the middle ropes. Staring out upon the floored Pinstripe Powerhouse, she vaulted from her perch, Valerie extending her seemingly unending left gam while plummeting to earth. Her leg CRASHED down across the throat of the challenger.
SPLIT LEG DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZiOX49l9Jo
Veronica spasmed then fell still with Val’s long lower limb still draped across her neck for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Treymane kicked free emphatically. Stems hardly seems surprised. She rolled onto her knees and gave Veronica an arrogant pie-face as the blonde tried to rise to a seated position. Val ascended, ‘helping’ the woman who was supposed to be the equalizing power for Cosmic Noir. Instead, Valerie bullied Veronica to the champs’ corner where she tagged her flaxen-haired counterpart.
As Mariel entered Val remains, raising Merle’s hackles. Still, he didn’t respond fast enough to stop the newly acquired assets of DaynaCorp from sending Ronnie off on a little ride to the far ropes. Treymane zoomed back after a U-turn out of the ropes. Both tag titlists dipped and sent Ronnie soaring into the Orlando night with a cloud-piercing Back Body Drop, the ring rattling when Veronica returns to the thinly-sheathed plywood with a BANG!
A grimacing Treymane reached for her lower vertebrae as Merle guided the tardy Stipanovic back to her proper station. A snarling Lily stared daggers at a chipper McGinty as Legs sank a set of nails into Veronica’s scalp and pulled her fellow blonde to her haunches. Mariel turned to her foe’s partner.
“And she’s the one people think can actually hang,” Mariel informed.
Her jaw dropped wide, a breath exploding from between her lips when Ronnie thrust a right fist into the pit of McGinty’s abdomen. Another one doubled Mariel and her grip dropped from the challenger’s mane. But as Veronica started to rise, McGinty charged forward and PLANTED a raised knee on the point of the Gangster’s chin, sending Veronica backpedaling into enemy territory. Her back hit the buckles, arms plopping over the top rope on either side to keep herself upright. In a flash, Val’s right arm encircles Treymane’s throat, keeping her in place for a charging Mariel who BURIED Veronica under a Gamazonian Avalanche Splash.
As Mariel bounced away from the collision, Ronnie staggered forward a few steps then faceplanted, stilled by the precise attack of the champions, Leggs, Inc. looking as sharp as ever after a couple months engaging in unsuccessful singles forays against their new boss.
A chuckling McGinty tagged Valerie back in, a watchful Merle making sure there would be no double-teaming chicanery this time. Stems and Legs passed in the night, the Angeleno retaking the reins from her partner from Pennsylvania.
Instead of pushing the unplugged Powerhouse to her back, Valerie dropped next to the blonde and pulled the challenger into a seated position between her impossibly long, silky stems. Val’s arms snaked under and around Veronica’s, fingers latching behind Treymane’s neck in a Full Nelson. And the show continued, Lily swallowing bile from the sour look on her face as Valerie leaned to her back, bringing Ronnie with her, then thrust her pelvis up, forward and down, bouncing Veronica’s keister HARD into the unforgiving deck. As was tradition for the maneuver, a delighted and dominant Stipanovic repeated the ride a second and third time, SPIKING Ronnie’s tailbone into the canvas, a look of pain etched on the challenger’s face.
When Val released her Nelson, Treymane’s hands reflexively shot to her backside, massaging at the throbbing waves coming from her backside. It gave Val a chance to reach her impressive vertical stance and swung a Soccer Kick at Veronica’s chest. Treymane ducked under and reached for Valerie’s infamous gams after the swing and miss, pulling Val off balance, the brunette tumbling into a Small Package for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Stems sprung loose in time, quickly, frantically confirming with Merle she hadn’t let her belts slip away. As she did, a spent Treymane crawled toward the Cosmic corner and an apoplectic Burlingame, but a boot to the base of Ronnie’s spine ended her travels to turn the match over to her energized teammate.
Valerie stood in a straddle over the back of the flattened Treymane, gawking at the snarling Lily.
“Not exactly who we thought we’d tear apart,” Valerie said. “But it works almost as well.”
Veronica rose to all fours beneath the towering brunette.
“What gangster?” Val chuckled.
As Treymane fought to her knees, Stipanovic surrounded the blonde’s braincase with her slender sinewy thighs and strapped on a Standing Headscissors. She crossed her ankles and squeeeezed Ronnie’s skull until the face of the Pinstripe Powerhouse turned rosy. BUT it didn’t stop Veronica from surrounding those lower limbs with her arms and slowly powering to her feet.
Valerie’s face shifted from arrogant to worried to frantic as Treymane reached full vertical with Stems in an Electric Chair position atop her shoulders. A grunting Veronica fell forward with her cargo, Valerie’s forehead THUMPING into the top buckle inches from a beaming former Bomb.
Val’s head snapped back from the collision and she staggered away in a wide arc, in enough of a daze to swing wildly at ghosts, unaware a rising Veronica dove to tag her diminutive cohort. Lily strangled the top rope with both hands and heaved her petite frame to a momentary position on the top buckle. It’s a split-second pit stop as Burlingame launched, her abbreviated legs leading the way.
A returning clueless and off-balance Valerie was not prepared for the muscular legs to end tight against either temple and, as the former Cherry Bomb’s momentum swung her past the near six-footer’s right side, Lily buggywhipped the brunette off her feet. Stems front-flipped to a landing on her spine. Stipanovic’s momentum on landing leaves her in a seated position, reaching for her lower vertebrae.
Kipping to her feet, Lily flashed to the cables in front of the dazed champion and sprinted back into a Low Dropkick to Val’s chest, flattening Stems. Burlingame climbed aboard in a Crossbody pin, hooking a long lean limb for…
ONE…
…before getting heaved off by Valerie, Lily ending on her feet, looking a tad concerned with her foe’s strength but not immobile for more than a moment.
Charging Stipanovic just as the champ regained her feet, Burlingame left hers for the, ahem, sole purpose of driving them into her foe’s thighs! Val grunted, dropped to her knees and immediately endured a trio of quick kicks to the chest courtesy the former Lightweight Champion. “Back the hell up, dammit!” Stems demanded even as she braced a splayed hand against Lily’s tummy and shoved as hard as she could. The Maroon Meteor staggered, caught her balance and hopped off her back foot to THWHACK a Low Angle Super Kick offa the Angeleno’s jaw!
LOW ANGLE SUPER KICK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YON_fKj8VRo
Valerie’s head whipped back and she crumpled from her knees to her tush, so Lily whipped ‘round and ran the ropes directly ahead of her now seated adversary. “OUTTA THE WAY, VAL!” Mariel warned her partner. “Don’t let her pick up any--”
‘Momentum’ remained unsaid because Burlingame somersaulted over Stipanovic and caught a Chinlock along the way, all the better to THWONK the base of her skull into the deck! The Basement Blockbuster finally stretched Valerie out flat which allowed the challenger to scramble into a heavy seat atop the bigger brunette’s chest. Hooking Stipanovic’s left leg in a Half Matchbook just because she damned well could, Burlingame leaaaaaaned back on the cover and blew a kiss to McGinty while Merle and the FAWNatics counted off…
BASEMENT BLOCKBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=izEPX13-P_A
ONE…
TWO…
Val powered out simultaneous with ‘TWO!’ Stems still far too strong to stay down despite the heiress offensive blitz. “Nice try, pipsqueak.” Stipanovic grunted as she rose to her full height. “But you must be this tall to wear Tag Team NNNNGGHHH!”
Lily didn’t *have* to hop to deliver the Bytch Slap that snapped Val’s head to one side, but it certainly earned a delighted ‘ooooooohhhhhhh!’ from those assembled. “Shake if off, big girl!” Burlingame snapped while Stems worked her stinging jaw. “I want you awake and aware when you’re looking up at the lig--”
Valerie exploded forward with a Big Boot that would’ve turned Burlingame inside out if she hadn’t tumbled under it at the last possible instant. Springing up as Stipanovic whipped around for a second pass, the Crimson Comet threw herself into a high-speed barrel roll that caught Val in the shins! Certainly wasn’t the highest of Burlingame’s high flying offense, but damned if it didn’t prove effective in knocking Stipanovic flat on her face. Her condition grew all the more unpleasant when Lily stepped aboard, the diminutive dynamo planting her feet atop the backs of her opponent’s thighs. From there she bent down, laid claim to Valerie’s ankles and folded her lower legs up and in so that they were braced against her shins.
“Oh, get real, nerd!” Mariel shouted to the Star Strider. “There’s no way in hell you can get her up for--”
Burlingame sank into a crouch, helped herself to Val’s waistband and yanked it up in a bratty wedgie straight out of big sister’s playbook! “BYTCH!” Stems cried out as Lily continued to saw the spangly white material back and forth. “I’M GONNA CUT YOU IN HALF WHEN HHHHRRRGGGHHH!” Stipanovic had reached for her stinging trunks in an effort to defend against the wedgie and in doing so allowed the challenger to hook her fingers over the Angeleno’s upper jaw instead!
“What’re you going to do, huh?” Lily’s usually light tone was nowhere to be found as she showed Valerie they were the same size on the mat. “You gonna embarrass me? Or maybe you’re gonna tap out!”
Stems didn’t get a chance to answer because Merle hurried over to warn her about the roughhousing. “C’mon Lil’, you can’t just tear at her face like that. Clean break, ok?”
Burlingame nodded, raised her hands without comment and straightened-- the Star Strider hopped up and stamped down, capitalizing on their locked legs to THUMP Val’s knees into the thinly-sheathed plywood!
Stipanovic cried out and rolled onto back to tend to her aching joints, meaning she wasn’t paying any attention to Lily, who hurried over to the Cosmic Noir corner to tag Veronica.
“Wishbone?” she called over the roar of the crowd.
“Wishbone.” the Magnificent Moll agreed.
“What the hell, Merle?” Mariel shouted. “Get that midget outta there!”
The ref was already on it, though the challengers weren’t yet beyond the allotted time. Blonde and brunette caught a handful of Val’s hair as she got up and promptly returned her to the mat by simply slamming her backward. Doing so popped Stipanovic’s stems skyward, allowing ‘Ronnie and Lily to each grab an ankle. Just like that they hopped up and wrenched those vaunted legs apart in a wicked Wishbone!
MAT SLAM & WISHBONE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9Ddgrt_kg
Burlingame took her leave immediately thereafter, not that her departure soothed Mariel’s nerves in the slightest. “C’mon Val, you don’t have to take that from these losers! Shake it off and put your boot up their narrow asses!”
Stipanovic grimaced and clambered to one knee, though she didn’t actually return to verticality until Treymane palmed the brunette’s noggin and helped her the rest of the way. “Gangster’s right here, Daisy.” ‘Ronnie murmured in the champ’s ear. “Weren’t you gonna tear her apart?”
“Chuuu… changed my mind, bytch.” Stipanovic huffed. “Now I’m going to sit on your facWHOOONNNNGGHH!”
Treymane dipped low, wrapped her arms around Val’s upper thighs and hoisted her into the air, then went down on one knee to PLANT the brunette crotch-first atop the posted joint. The Inverted Atomic Drop put Stipanovic on tiptoe and she would’ve limped away from the Gorgeous Gangster if Veronica hadn’t put a shoulder to her belly and muscled Stems over her shoulder like a bag of laundry. Gamazon or not, Valerie was completely in Treymane’s power as the former World Champion strode a loop around the squared circle while treating the Angeleno to some taunting pats on the butt.
This didn’t sit well with Mariel, who climbed onto the second strand to point a threatening finger at the other blonde. “Put her down, punk! You can’t treat her like that!” Veronica smooched the tips of her fingers and delivered a swat to her own backside before sprinting across the ring to BWUUUNG Stipanovic into the buckles with a combination Shoulderblock and Spinebuster! Hooking onto the middle rope on either side of her adversary, Treymane reared back and plowed forward no less than half a dozen times, the Pinstripe Powerhouse piling on several more Shoulderblocks into Val’s long, lean midsection.
CORNER SPINEBUSTER & SHOULDERBLOCKS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-SvNkIY8i8
Merle came over to enforce a break but he didn’t get so much as a word out before Veronica backed out with Stipanovic still molded over her shoulder. Turning a quarter circle (so her shoulder was pointed at the buckles) Treymane abruptly whipped the champ forward and down to SLAM her against the deck with a huge Spinebuster! Give Stems credit, she instinctively rolled onto her stomach to prevent a pin, unfortunately ‘Ronnie simply grabbed her ankles and crossed her lower legs into a snug ‘X’, which she held in place with her left shin. Now the Magnificent Moll did offer her hand to Lily, who accepted it without hesitation. She didn’t hop into the ring just yet however. Instead she moved away from the corner and grabbed hold of the top rope while Treymane hunkered down and snatched the brunette’s wrists.
“RRRRGGGHHHHH!” Val wailed through clenched teeth as Veronica pulled up to put incredible strain on her spine. With Stipanovic shaking her head ‘no, no, no’ Burlingame leapt onto the rubber-coated steel and hopped right off, the Crimson Comet looking positively Sensational when she delivered a big Leg Drop across the back of her foe’s head! The Combination Leg Drop and Curb Stomp left Stems in a facedown heap, that Lily flipped over so she could hook the far leg for an emphatic…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Valerie might’ve escaped on her own, but Mariel wasn’t willing to take the risk so she sprinted across the ring and booted Veronica in the mouth to send her sprawling onto the piled brunettes with half a second to spare!
With the stack of friend and foes at her feet, McGinty chose her fellow flaxen-haired grappler, grabbing a wrist and shoulder of the Moll and yanking a dazed Treymane to her feet.
“I believe the midget is the legal challenger,” Mariel grunted at Merle as she pivoted and ran Veronica to the ropes, heaving her over like a bouncer with her first drunk of the night. Ronnie bypassed the apron, sailing all the way to the floor in a non-stop flight, CRASHING to the thinly-padded cement, ending in a mewling heap.
Legs gazed down at the wreckage, pleased with what she’s wrought.
“No amount of cheating will take our titles,” the Gamazon shouted at the crumpled Pinstripe Powerhouse.
“Hey, stilts!”
Mariel spun to find a charging Burlingame approaching…FAST. She tried to get her defenses up, but Lily was too quick and NAILED Mariel with a Dropkick to the chin, sending the champion back-flipping over the rubber-coated steel. McGinty took the less direct route in her crash-and-burn, bouncing off the edge of the apron before ending in a pile of torso and long limbs only a few feet from the woman she sent there.
The former Cherry Bomb popped to her feet and dusted off her hands, having placed Mariel next to her partner. She turned to find Valerie barely to hands and knees after suffering Cosmic Noir’s debilitating double-team.
Lily moved to the middle and motions the shell-shocked LA native up. Val got halfway there when Burlingame rushed her foe, landing a mini-Big Boot to show she could play with the tall trees. It slammed flush into the left side of Stems’ chest, spinning the titleholder in a 180 and sending her staggering to the strands. Valerie’s body draped over the top, chest and arms leaning over the cables as she shook loose an attic full of cobwebs.
Unsurprisingly, the whirling dervish was already headed to the opposite ropes. The Star Strider hit at full speed and rebounded at warp toward the oblivious Angeleno. But instead of the direct approach, Lily skied legs-first over the top rope. The diminutive challenger hung onto the top rope and whipped around in an astounding arc, NAILING Valerie in the mug with a scintillating Cherry Swirl.
TOP ROPE CHERRY SWIRL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE6lOi1I8k
The faltering Stems turned and stumbled drunkenly to center stage while Lily landed on the outside after her impact. The Roseate Rocket latched onto the uppermost cable with both palms and flung her small frame up, the soles of her boots landing on the top rope. Using the rubber-coated steel as a launch pad, Burlingame ascended from her springboard toward a turning, clueless champion for the Crossbody Splash.
But as the dark eyes of Valerie widened, so the resolve and body of the near six-footer stiffened. She caught Lily across her chest, only backpedaling a few steps from the collision. With a squirming challenger captured, Stipanovic didn’t take any chances letting Lily loose with either arm. She simply leapt and plummeted to the canvas, splashing/slamming the heiress simultaneously.
Pin pre-made, Val remained atop the breathless and blasted Burlingame in a Lateral Press, hooking a lifeless, abbreviated lower limb to collect the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Lily’s entire body spasmed from beneath and it’s JUST enough for her to slip her shoulders off the canvas with Merle’s palm a few inches from the final slap.
A frustrated Val pounded the canvas then stared like a predator at the exploded Bomb. The champ pushed to her feet and sped to the ropes, her long legs getting her places in half the strides as Lily. A striking U-turn sent Valerie racing toward Burlingame, the lightweight on hands and knees, but only for a moment before Val POUNDED a boot into her foe’s temple with a Split-Legged Yakuza Kick.
SPLIT LEGGED YAKUZA KICK @ 00:17
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKoUXsPrb1g
The impact sent short-stuff rolling and despite Val’s impressive reach, Stems couldn’t keep Lily from spinning under the bottom rope. Burlingame plopped to the floor, making for a trio of grapplers outside the ring on the same side of the squared circle.
Sensing a Mania moment, a risen Val headed for the far ropes again and rebounded into a sprint toward the three rising combatants, Stipanovic’s wide eyes showing a willingness to disregard Mariel’s safety if she could take out Cosmic Noir with one huge Suicide Dive to all three.
SUICIDE DIVE @ 00:18
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMc_NDFuZks
If Valerie was the shapely bowling ball, the battered threesome were her pins and Stipanovic threw a strike with her long, lean physique, knocking champ and challenger alike to the floor with the violent connection. It’s not a shock when Val was the first up from the mass of humanity. She snatched a wrist of the Gamazon and pulled her partner free from Noir, helping the DaynaCorp blonde to her substantial vertical and directing Mariel toward the ring.
As McGinty blinked some senses back into place and climbed under the bottom ropes, Stems plucked Treymane up next. Val spun into a hammer throw of a whip, Veronica sent hurtling down the length of the ring, turning at the last second into a clattering back-first collision with the unforgiving steel of the barricade separating gladiators from the Orlando rabble.
Ronnie arched in agony, faltering to her knees as she reached for the base of her spine.
It left Lily as the remaining wreckage, but she’s had enough recovery time to reach her feet, dip her head and stuff a shoulder into the long, tanned expanse of Valerie’s midriff. She forced forward and RAMMED Val’s vertebrae into the edge of the apron, it Stems’ turn for her backbone to become an agony-inducing arc.
Lily pivoted the grimacing Stipanovic toward the inside and tried to muscle Val on the apron but got a raised knee to the gut from the champion instead of the results she’s sought.
Stipanovic stuffed a doubled Burlingame in under the bottom rope and quickly joined her. As an aching Val worked to her feet, Mariel ripped the Star Strider to vertical and, despite Merle’s instructions to depart, wrapped a palm around the throat of the bug-eyed Burlingame. The Gamazon launched Lily HIGH, her left hand supporting on the brunette’s hip, and Choke Slammed the challenger damn near THROUGH the canvas-covered plywood.
With Lily splayed and semiconscious at their feet, Val shares a high five with her partner over the remains of the splattered waterbug. With Merle chewing their ears off with his complaining, DaynaCorp’s newest employees strolled to their corner. McGinty slipped through the ropes for the formality of a tag before rejoining her dark-haired counterpart.
The newly minted legal competitor moved to the starfished Strider and placed a triumphant boot atop the slowly rolling chest of her foe as Val fought off a partially recovered and newly entered Treymane, all four women in the ring as Merles counted out an embarrassing way to lose for the challengers with the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Stems kept Ronnie at bay, so it’s left for Lily’s stubborn streak to keep Noir alive. She did with a shoved right shoulder, Merle hopping to his feet and raising two fingers.
“You just don’t quit, do you?” McGinty asked when she bent down to grab a handful of Lily’s dark hair. “Is that because you’re too tough? Or too stupid?”
“Cuuuhhh… could be both.” Burlingame groaned as the champion hauled her to her knees. “Could be because you’re not good enougHHNNGGGHH!”
Mariel wasn’t about to suffer that sort of talk so she put an end to it by DRIVING the point of her left knee into the heiress’ chin. Not content to simply hurt anymore, McGinty opted for humiliation by forcing the challenger all fours, then pressing her boot to Burlingame’s lips! From there she draagged Lily’s face up her shin, across her knee and along the seemingly endless plank of her thigh until the Star Strider’s mug was grinding against the slim-strong curve of one pink-clad glute.
Not so out of it that she didn’t realize she was being embarrassed, Burlingame pushed and swatted at Mariel’s flanks, alas she endured the cheek to cheek contact until the big blonde pulled back and THUMPED her tush into the Lightweight’s face! “Kiss my ass, munchkin!” McGinty demanded as the tawdry Hip Check sent the former Lightweight Champion sprawling. “C’mon, get up!” Mariel stomped over, helped herself to a double handful of hair and hauled Lily to her feet just to double her over for a tight Standing Headscissors!
“Yeah, that’s right! Gonna squash your damned head!” McGinty threatened when Lily began to groan from within that gammy prison. Burlingame wasn’t about to allow such punishment go on uncontested and she pounded at the blonde’s thighs until McGinty snatched her wrists and wrenched them out at her sides. “What’re you going to do now, huh? HUH?” She hopped in place, once, twice, three times, each new repetition driving the champ’s butt into the base of Lily’s skull like a velvet-padded sledgehammer. “Ask her!” the Slippery Rock Siren ordered Merle following several more seconds of uncontested constriction. “I don’t think short stuff can take any more!”
Merle needed confirmation from the woman in question so he knelt beside the action and asked, “What do you say, Lily? Need me to call it?”
“Nuuuuhhhh…NO!” the Crimson Comet groaned. “Gonna take more than these chicken legs to beat EEEEERRRRGGGGHHHH OOOOWWWWWWW BYTCH!”
Mariel forced her opponent’s wrists up and back so she could pin them together with one hand. Her free hand delivered several stinging swats to the brunette’s rump before hooked her fingers into the leg-holes of opposing briefs and yanked the star-sworled material deep between Lily’s cheeks! “You’re no match for me, loser!” Mariel shouted as she sawed the lycra higher and tighter. “You and your punk partner don’t belong in our ring! Say it! Say it, say it, say it!” McGinty continued to crush and pull, and Lily continued to wail, but she refused to concede, much to the towering blonde’s growing consternation. Finally too disgusted to continue along her current course, Mariel relinquished the wedgie and the wrist-control in favor of a strong Waistlock around the challenger’s slender middle.
Blowing a smooch to Veronica just to rub in the inevitable, McGinty gathered her strength and lifted / spun Burlingame onto her shoulders for a truly colossal PowerboNOOOOO! Lily locked her ankles and whipped back with all her might to tear the blonde off her feet with a high speed Hurricanrana that slammed Mariel down on the back of her head and shoulders! McGinty’s legs shot straight up and Lily grabbed ‘em both, the resurgent Star Strider holding on for dear life as she pressed her forehead to the mat for…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Mariel popped her hips to send Burlingame tumbling seemingly halfway across the squared circle. Coming to a stop on one knee, she exploded into a sprint and raced at the still penitent champi--THWHACK! McGinty surged forth to meet the brunette with a Lariat that turned the challenger inside out before she returned to the deck! Shoveling Lily onto her back as soon as she was able, the incensed blonde hooked both legs in a tight bundle and folded Burlingame in half for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
The FAWNatics almost blew the roof off the place when Lily twitched out of the cover, but it still wasn’t enough to overwhelm Mariel’s bellow of rage. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” she roared at Merle. “THAT WAS THREE!”
“Don’t bother with him, Mar!” Valerie tried to soothe her snarling partner. “Girl’s got nothing left! Tag me in and we’ll finish her off!”
McGinty started toward the Leggs corner, then shook her head ‘no’ and went back to Lily. “This one’s mine, Valerie. Brat’s going to learn her lesson if it’s the last thing I do!”
Stipanovic protested this quite emphatically, but Mariel wouldn’t hear it, she just grabbed the brunette’s ankle and wrist and draaaaaaaaagged her closer to a neutral corner. Once she’d dropped the lightweight’s limbs McGinty backed into the corner and boosted herself onto the second rope. “GET UP!” she shouted to Burlingame! “GET UP, GET UP, GET UP!” Lily did, though she didn’t achieve full verticality until Merle had reached ‘SIX’ on the standing ten count.
Mariel didn’t give a damn how long it took, soon as Burlingame was on her feet she left hers, the Slippery Rock Siren flying out into the void with her right leg raised high for a huge Famelegg-- Lily caught hold of Mariel’s ankle and twisted out of the way, the Maroon Meteor landing on her tummy while McGinty came down HARD on her knee and hip!
“C’MON LILY, I’M RIGHT HERE!” Veronica shouted over the din as the heiress collected herself. “PICK YOURSELF UP AND LETS FINISH THIS!”
A bit quicker to rise at the behest of her own partner, Burlingame clambered to boot-leather but instead of going to Treymane she grabbed hold of McGinty’s ankles and began to haul her into the challenger‘s half of the ring. “Buuuuhhhh… bytch.” Mariel huffed. “Get your nasty little hands offa NNHHH!”
Lily stopped and pounded a few kicks into the side of the blonde’s tweaked knee. “You’re gonna have to make OOOFFFFHHH!”
McGinty took her up on the challenge, drawing both knees tight to her chest to piston a Mule Kick into Burlingame’s chest! Lily flew backward like she’d been launched out of a cannon, but the groaning FAWNatics broke into relieved cheers when her journey ended in Cosmic Noir’s corner!
‘Ronnie tagged in, leapt over the ropes and raced past Mariel to THWHONK a Kneelift into Valerie’s noggin as Stems was coming through the strands uninvited! Turning back to McGinty when Stipanovic tumbled to the floor, the Pinstripe Powerhouse shot back the way she’d came and dove in low to SMASH her left knee into the pit of Mariel’s right knee!
“GAAAAAAHHH!” McGinty hit the deck in a heap, her right leg drawn tight to her chest after the agonizing Chop Block. She’d just pulled down the pad to get at the sore joint when Veronica took hold of the blonde’s left leg and spun around the exposed limb to trap it behind her own right knee. In the next breath she grabbed Mariel’s right leg, straightened it out and laid the folded shin atop it to create the Figure Fo--
FIGURE FOUR LEGLOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5MMvFfORNY
“OOOOOHHHHH STAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHP!” McGinty pounded a fist against the mat, then buried both hands in her hair to distract from the anguish of the Leg-Lock.
Unmoved by these wails, Treymane braced both hands and raised her butt to put even more strain on the champ’s knee. “Submit, Daisy!” she barked. “You’re fin--” A blur of motion from the right caused Veronica to brace for impact, the Magnificent Moll certain her head was about to get kicked into the lower de--“NNNNGGGGHHHH!” Another blur, this one from high overhead, cut Stipanovic off at the pass with a Springboard Missile Dropkick delivered to the point of the jaw!
Groaning as Val hit the deck like a felled tree, Mariel’s concern grew exponentially when she felt Treymane scoot-dragging them toward the challenger’s side of town. “Lil…Lily!” ‘Ronnie called, her voice heavy with the strain of lugging McGinty around. “You back in the corner?”
“Yeah, just made it.” Veronica glanced her way, reached out a hand and realized she was still a little too far away. Jaw clenched, she cleared several more inches, then tried again and grinned triumphantly when Burlingame leaned over and CLAPPED her hand!
“SHE’S NOT LEGAL!” Mariel howled to the ref as Lily sprang to the top rope. “CHEATING BYTCH TAGGED OUT, SHE’S GOTTA LET ME GUUUUHHHHH!”
The Crimson Comet shot into the lights, seeming to vanish for an instant before streaking to earth with a Cherry Warhead that THWHAMMED down on McGinty’s gulping midriff!
CHERRY WARHEAD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GeJ5KuZjlY
Burlingame swung a leg over and sat on Mariel’s chest as Veronica disengaged from the Figure Four, the Pinstripe Powerhouse throwing herself at / onto Valerie to prevent her interfering with the…
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
Lily scrambled away and leapt onto Veronica’s back half a heartbeat after she’d disengaged from Stipanovic. Giddy with laughter, exhaustion and triumph, the longtime friends held each other tight as the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winners via pin-fall… and the NEW FAWN Tag Team Champions… COSMIC NOIR!”
Lily hopped off, grabbed Treymane’s wrist and raised it high only for Veronica to do the same for her immediately thereafter. Their festivities grew all the more raucous when Merle returned with a belt in either hand. “Impressive work, ladies.” he told ‘em. “You earned it.”
“Yeah, we did.” Lily agreed once the title was around her waist. “Helluva lotta work, but we earned it.”
Holding her belt one-handed, Treymane brushed the faceplate with her forearm, then draped it over her shoulder. “Know what else we earned?”
Burlingame arched an eyebrow, then broke into a grin when the Magnificent Moll stomped over and planted a boot on Valerie’s chest! The Angeleno moaned and tried to paw ‘Ronnie’s foot aside, but the blonde only stepped down harder and Stipanovic eventually collapsed into silent, shuddering distress.
Eager to complete the set, Lily hurried over to Mariel and tumbled her onto her stomach so she could plant both feet on the blonde’s butt like it was a welcome mat! “Bytch!” McGinty groaned. “You’re gonna regret this! We’ll get our titles back and then you’ll oooooooohhhhhhhh stoppit, stoppit, stoppit!”
Lily bounced in place, then scuffed her boots on the blonde’s cheeks, her rude scrubbing causing Mariel’s trunks to ride higher and higher. “You can have a rematch whenever you want!” Burlingame said once she’d skipped off McGinty’s chafed cheeks. “I’ll never get tired of making you feel small!”
With Leggs at least temporarily hobbled, the new champs met at the center of the ring for another hug and a raising of the gold. The preparation for their first defense would start tomorrow, but tonight was all theirs and they meant to celebrate in style.