Post by dsb on Oct 19, 2018 22:21:46 GMT
An interesting expression crossed the Announcer’s face as he consulted his notes. It was the look of a man simultaneously intrigued and mystified by what might happen in the next few minutes. Perfectly composed a heartbeat later, he raised his mic and began, “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Introducing first, hailing from Stovington, Vermont, she stands at five feet two inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and ten pounds! She is the Star Strider, the Interstellar Angel, this is LILY BURLINGAME!”
Craning their heads toward the entryway like folks trying to follow the path of a shooting star, the FAWNatics let loose a delighted roar when the lights went down. From within that swirling, anticipatory murk came a thumping drum and a matched set of snapping fingers, the two bits of percussion bouncing to and fro in a rat-a-tat riff. A keening guitar note joined the beat and a few seconds later the situation got brighter in no small part due to the tongue of flame that licked at the base of the ramp. As the note held steady, the fire set off on a beeline for the top of the ramp. The wick shrank in time with the arrival of more guitars and an Earth-shattering KA-BOOM of red pyro that almost swallowed the first verse of ’Comeback Kid’. From the center of this flash and flame a figure emerged, shooting up from the floor to land flawlessly before the capacity crowd.
COMEBACK KID:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-SFmQe-vo
LILY BURLINGAME:
Launching herself from that brand spankin‘ new crater, Lily Burlingame pumped a fist for the crowd, then pointed at the ring and flew down the ramp in a blur of black, red and white. For tonight’s encounter with a woman guilty of the most egregious sort of locker room theft, the Roseate Rocket wore gleaming black bottoms accented by swirling galaxies of stars done in blue and white. Her top was halter-style sports bra done in an identical scheme, the blue and white seeming to shimmer and twirl with her every move. Kneepads were matching black and also sported the galaxy motif, white on the left and blue on the right. Her hair, free of the mask that was at the center of tonight‘s maelstrom, tickled the tops of her shoulders in a sleek, but slightly messy bob.
Practically trembling with kinetic energy as she tore down the ramp, the former Lightweight Champion still made a point of swatting as many hands as she could en route to the ring, where she leapt from the floor to the apron to the top rope in the span between heartbeats. Bouncing from it as casually as the terminally grounded stepped off the curb, Lily hooked a sharp turn to the left, hit the adjoining set of strands and went soaring into a gorgeous back flip that set her back in the center of the ring. Then she was off again, the Crimson Comet rounding on one heel to sprint to the far side of the squared circle. At the ropes in an instant, she caught the top and middle in both hands, leapt and twirled over the third strand in a Tiger Feint Kick that ’swicked’ through the air.
Back in the ring a heartbeat later, the youngest Burlingame sister honed in on the hard camera before she rose up on her toes and dropped to one knee, thumbing an invisible detonator as she did so. The fans responded with an appropriately thunderous ‘BOOOOOOOM!’ which left Lily beaming as she straightened up and offered her knees and elbows to Al Carpenter.
As the check got underway again the announcer raised the mic with an odd expression on her face. “And her opponent! Hailing from somewhere far beyond the limits of entropy, she stands at five feet and four inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and fourteen pounds. She is the Mayhem Missile, the Maelstrom Meteor…CHAOS BOMB!”
Already being treated to a very odd spectacle, things got even more confusing when there as another all-but-identical explosion of pyro. And again when the exact same music played, Comeback Kid blasting out into the auditorium for a second time and heralding the arrival of either an excellent imposter or a full blown doppelganger depending on just how crazy a theory the fans were willing to believe.
COMEBACK KID:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-SFmQe-vo
In expected style the wannabe ‘Bomb shot up through the floor and into the clouds of her own pyro, landing perfectly in a three-point ‘superhero’ pose and then popping to her feet to give the crowds a surprisingly cheery salute. At first glance it looked like the imposter was clad in classic Cherry Bomb attire, red bottoms with black ‘claw slashes’ and white fangs, a long sleeved red sports bra, and matching boots and pads. And of course that tell-tale mask was still present; whether purloined or just copied it covered the top two-thirds of the imposter’s head, allowing a long, loose and jet-black ponytail to emerge from the back.
On closer inspection there were some more sinister changes to the recognisable outfit. Lily’s previous bold crimson had been replaced with a somewhat darker red eerily reminiscent of blood, while the original’s ‘claw slashes’ seemed closer to tears or rips into some dark and malevolent dimension. The time bomb motif was still present, but in place of an emblazoned cherry was a dark red eight-pointed star, the traditional symbol of chaos. The overall effect was to turn the cheery Star Strider look into an altogether more disconcerting and alien get-up.
Whatever changes had occurred to the costume, the newcomer clearly possessed a similar speed to her predecessor, burning down the ramp in a blurringly fast sprint until WHAM!
TOPE SUICIDA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNPXeCO_JDE
However fast the ‘Chaos Bomb’ was approaching the ring, Lily Burlingame had her beat going in the opposite direction. As the imposter had approached Lily’s feet were already moving, hurling herself between the ropes and flying like an arrow aimed right at the heart. The masked woman had no possible chance of avoidance and was slammed backwards, Burlingame coming to a halt a few feet away from the target she had so perfectly obliterated. She knee-walked over, lifting one leg high into a straddle which pinned the stunned girl’s arms to the metal of the ramp.
“That mask you’re wearing belongs to me” Lily told the wriggling Chaos Bomb. “I want it back.” It was immediately clear that she wasn’t planning to ask nicely, instead reaching down with both hands. One dropped around the mystery woman’s throat while the other went behind her head, her fingers questing for the edge of the mask.
There was a low murmur from the crowd, or at least those who knew the significance of a Luchador’s mask. But the mask-wearer in question didn’t seem ready to reveal herself. “’I want’ doesn’t get” she told the brunette. The voice from under the mask was very muffled, almost impossible to distinguish, but there wasn’t much time to process anyway. At the same time as speakingshe crunched her core to bring her legs up and hook around Burlingame’s arms, pushing back the other way to send the Star Strider tumbling backwards.
If the hurried move was intended to get the imposter some space then it didn’t work. She had barely sat up before Lily popped to her feet and charged again. This time she raised one leg, the knee raised to suggest that’s he was planning to regain her mask by decapitation. But once again this was thwarted, the mystery woman dropping to her back and allowing that strike to whiff harmlessly past her face. And then it was her turn to demonstrate her speed, popping back to her feet in faster than anyone in the audience could blink so that she was standing at Burlingame’s six.
It only took a second for Lily to recover from that missed strike but the newly-minted Chaos Bomb was fast enough to take advantage. A gorgeous vertical leap took her high above her predecessor in the mask, bringing both legs up to wrap around the back of Burlingame’s head. The raven-haired imposter threw herself backwards into a Poisoned Frankensteiner which would have spiked Lily’s scalp into the ringside matting if she hadn’t have once again demonstrated that insane athleticism by bringing her hands up and using them to turn the impact into a neat handspring!
Sheer pace had kept the crowd noise high throughout these opening exchanges but now they burst into spontaneous applause at the stunning balance displayed by the Star Strider. But Lily clearly had only one thing on her mind tonight and that was the mask currently covering her doppelganger’s face. Her next attempt at rectifying this was a pinpoint Superkick, her boot slamming into the Bedlam Bombshell’s jaw and dropping her on her ass.
“You really should have read up about who you were messing with.” Even as she spoke Lily reached down, grabbing a handful of hair and using it to drag the interloper back to her feet. “I already had a low-life stalker in a mask, and I already beat her down at ‘Mania. And I swear, Soledad, if it’s you under there, I’m going to make you wish you’d never left BangorrRMPH.”
The Masked woman hadn’t even made it back to vertical before she was off her feet, jumping and bringing her knee up to THUNK into the point of Lily’s chin. The Roseate Rocket’s head swayed backwards, freeing the imposter form her clutches. “Do I look like Soledad Sanchez, chica?” the ‘Bomb 2.0 asked. “And don’t worry, I know everything about you. That’s why I’m better at being you than you aRRRRRMH!”
Lily slamming a knee of her own up, this one impacting in those tut, pale abs to double the taller woman forwards and allow a resumed grip around the mask. This time she stormed a few steps away from the ring, only for Al Carpenter to call after her. “I know you’re angry Lil, but this is meant to be a match. Get her into the ring or I’ll have to throw this whole thing out!”
“Don’t worry Al!” Burlingame called back to him, “We’re headed you way right now!” Keeping hold of her head grip, the Crimson Comet turned and ran at the ring. Without a chance to find her feet the masked interloper was forced along for the ride, right up until the point when Lily shoved her forwards and down to drive the top of her head into the ring apron like a lawn dart!
RUNNING APRON HEAD WHIP
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Vf0jtlT9s
The ‘CLUNK’ of head hitting the unforgiving ring panel was loud enough to be heard over the crowd. The masked woman dropped to a heap, allowing Lily just a second to pump a fist and acknowledge the crowd. And once again that second proved her undoing, turning back around only for ‘Chaos Bomb’ to flick out a boot which kicked away her standing leg and sent her staggering backwards. The mystery woman scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back herself.
“Get into the ring!” Carpenter demanded loudly. Lily didn’t look at him, turning to locate her slippery opponent. She was able to do so but somewhat too late, the raven-haired interloper taking a few quick steps, leaping up onto the apron to get some extra height. And it became clear why she needed it, throwing herself into a tight, impossibly fast spin from which one leg stuck out and SLAMMED into Burlingame’s jaw!
APRON DIVING ROUNDHOUSE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxq2k1LavXc
The impact of that flying boot was enough to slam Lily down to the ringside matting, this time for longer than a few seconds. Above her the masked imposter raised one fist high, her thumb raised to mime an invisible detonator. The purloined taunt brought mostly boos but there were enough lovers of chaos in the audience to yell ‘BOOOOOM’ as if they were cheering for Burlingame instead of her tormentor.
Frustrated by his inability to impart even a nominal sense of order over the proceedings thus far, Al Carpenter turned to the Time Keeper and threw a signal which summoned the opening bell a heartbeat thereafter. The sound of it roused Lily at least a little bit as she rolled from her belly to her back and sat up to cradle her aching head. Unfortunately it roused the Nihilist Nuke as well, Burlingame’s masked imposter darting around the official like a cool breeze to alight on Lily with a double handful of hair. No words were exchanged but the emphatic tug spoke ‘up!’ better than verbiage ever could and her rude handful of heiress waistband was most emphatic punctuation.
Chaos Bomb slung Lily under the bottom rope in a tangle of wobbly girl-flesh that came to a halt just shy of middle ring. “Well inside the drop zone.” she murmured amidst hopping onto the apron. Taking the top rope in both hands, the Entropic Interloper sprang onto the rubber-coated steel and raised the invisible detonator again, only this time she ended it with a double bird pointed at the prone former champion. The jeers came at once, though they promptly gave way to impressed murmurs when the Bedlam Bombshell took to the skies, curled into a loose ball and buzz-sawed her way through all four hundred and fifty degrees of--NO!
Burlingame rolled clear at the last second, leaving her attacker to crash and AFRAID NOT!
Chaos Bomb adjusted on the fly (literally) to land in a neat tumble that sent her rolling across the canvas after an almost silent landing. Locked on her adversary before the masked menace returned to verticality, Lily took off like a shot and left her feet just as quickly, her right arm pulled waaaaaaaaaay back for a Flying Forearm Sma-- Chaos palmed the other brunette’s tummy in both hands and pushed up hard enough to send the Roseate Rocket soaring into the overhead lights! Twisting in a half circle without actually changing her position beneath the now descending lightweight, caught Burlingame over her right shoulder then went up on tiptoes and spun her down into a THWHUMPING impact atop the unforgiving post of her right thigh!
POP-UP TILT-A-WHIRL BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR3PFl1Rvg
Bounced from the other woman’s knee to an agonized seat on the mat, the Star Strider didn’t show much in the way of initiative until Chaos snatched a double handful of hair and dragged her upright. “You ARE fast, cutie.” the Tumultuous Torpedo murmured in Burlingame’s ear as she helped herself to a Wristlock. “But I’m pure entropy. And entropy ALWAYS wins.”
Lily made a game attempt to snatch that counterfeit mask, it just wasn’t enough to stop Chaos Bomb from hurling her into the far corner with an Irish Whip so stiff it dropped her to her tush the instant she BWUUUNGED against the buckles. Chaos saw this, started forward, then took stepped back and waggled a finger for the FAWNatics. “Oh no,” she teased. “Don’t think the putz gets off that easy!” Off at a run before anyone had a chance to ask what she meant, the masked menace shot into Lily’s personal space, snatched the top rope in both hands and launched herself into a flawless handstand that saw the toes of her boots pointed at the rafters for ONE… TWO… THREE… a genuinely impressed burst of applause from the Mania crowd when the Atomic Anarchist switched her hands from one rope to the other. The reason for this adjustment only revealed itself when she swung down and in, Chaos Bomb landing in a deep squat that THWHUMPED every bit of her rump into Burlingame’s upturned mug!
“Eat it, you overrated bytch.” Chaos chided while taking Lily on a personally guided tour of her gluteal gulag.
The butt buffing would’ve continued unabated if not for Carpenter, who hurried over to the action and started a count without wasting breath on a warning. The Nihilist Nuke didn’t complain about this deviation from decorum, though she did offer the ref a cheeky wink before tagging Lily with an equally cheeky Hip Check. Burlingame grunted, swatted at the encroaching cheeks, cried out in distress when Bomb answered with a hard hair pull.
Both Al and Lily protested the rough treatment, alas Chaos just hauled the other brunette to her feet and scooped her up on one shoulder. A few stomps and a quick turn put the stunned Celestial Stunner in perfect position for a Body Slam that left her midsection bisected by the shadow of the ring-post. No accident this, as Chaos Bomb made a point of stepping on her opponent’s midsection en route to the corner. She hopped onto the bottom rope and immediately somersaulted backward in a low flying yet impactful Moonsault that THWHAPPED across Lily’s tummy!
Burlingame clutched at her ribs, made to roll to one side, but Chaos Bomb shoved her down flat and went back to the corner. This time she hopped to the middle strand, meaning there was that much more ‘OOOMPH!’ behind the Moonsault she slathered across Lily’s ribs. “Unnnnnnngggghhhh!” Burlingame’s heels beat an erratic tattoo on the mat, much to the delight of the Entropic Interloper.
“Ohhh, I know it hurts seeing everything you’ve built crumble.” she cooed. “But I promise… it only gets worse from here.”
Case in point she got up and made for the corner one more time and yes, she did leap to the top turnbuckle and yes, the last Moonsault did land harder than the other two combined. Chaos Bomb immediately segued into a domineering Lateral Press, one palm mashing Burlingame’s bust, the other pushed deep into her traumatized tummy.
THE TERRIBLE TRIO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pohJaI2-w0U
ONE…
TWO…
Lily shot a shoulder up just after ‘TWO’, the rather lackadaisical cover offering her a bit more leeway that she might’ve had otherwise. The escape didn’t seem to rankle Bomb at all, though she made sure to mash her palm into the former champ’s face before she cupped her ears and hauled her to verticality. “You were supposed to keep pace with me.” the Bedlam Bombshell complained after delivering a quick slap to Lily’s cheek. “But you’re already huffing and puffing like a crone.”
That shot knocked some of the glass outta Lily’s eyes, however the Toe Kick that followed meant she was looking at nothing but the canvas. Already dire, Lily’s predicament turned downright grim when Chaos put both hands on her shoulders and leap-frogged over her prey to settle into a seat with her legs hooked under Burlingame’s biceps. The FAWNatics shifted to code red as Bomb’s momentum straightened the Star Strider up for match-shortening Yoshi Ton-- Lily snapped forward, pushing down on the masked woman’s calves to send her swinging over and back into a floaty freefall that she assuredly would’ve transformed into a perfect landing IF Burlingame hadn’t looped both arms around her upper thighs and dropped to her knees to SPIKE the imposter on the back of her head and shoulders with a brutal Mad Scientist Bomb! Landing astride Chaos Bomb’s upturned haunches, Burlingame stuffed her shoulders into the pits of the flattened brunette’s knees and went up on tiptoe to keep her down for the…
MAD SCIENTIST BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2W9CUDYBM
ONE…
TWO…
The Mayhem Missile twisted hard to one side, saving herself with a full second to spare. “Ya know, I get why you’d want to be me… or Cherry, I guess.” Lily said after she’d took a few deep breaths. “On the surface her life looks pretty great, but it wasn’t without a lot of problems. I had to keep it secret from all friends. I had to pretend to be intimidated when some ass like Polly got all up in my business. Biggest problem though? Learning to wrestle in a mask.”
“F*cking spoon-fed idiot.” Chaos grunted as she fought to all fours. “There’s nothing difficult about wrestling in a maMMMPPPHHH!”
Lily snatched the imitation disguise and YANKED, twisting it so far to one side the imposter couldn’t see through the eye-holes! Completely absorbed by misaligned mask, Chaos didn’t even realize Burlingame had taken her leave and she certainly didn’t realize she came back across the squared circle in an effortless handspring. Light came to the dark of her ignorance at the end of Lily’s acrobatics when she THWUNKED her right knee against the base of the penitent grappler’s skull!
HANDSPRING KNEE DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AcOs1qDcs
Chaos Bomb went down in a heap with both arms cradled around her head, meaning she offered minimal resistance when Burlingame grabbed her ankles and draaaaaaaaaaaaaaagged her into the middle of the ring. Using her grips to fold the Bomb’s lower legs, Lily stepped onto her rival’s thighs and deftly tucked those ankles against her own shins. Hands on her hips now that the hard part was done, Lily looked out at the crowd and said, “Cupcake here does a pretty good impression of me at high speed. I wonder if it holds up when we slow things down?”
Interested to find out, she dipped her knees and leaned forward in search of the Bomb’s wrists.
ROMERO SPECIAL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LbYPYkInoE
Initially that quest was unsuccessful, the Mayhem Meteor realising the danger and keeping her hands spread wide to avoid capture. “Getoffame!” she growled, earning nothing but a chuckle from Lily. “You don’t have to give me your hands babe, but you can’t stop me taking back what’s mine.” Eager to do just that she leaned further forwards still, her fingers reaching out to the lacing at the back of the grounded ‘Bomb’s mask!
Faced with the prospect of being outed, both of the imposter’s hands flew to protect her mask and…”Ah, there we go,” Lily purred, finally taking possession of both the masked woman’s wrists and pulling them backwards. A further tug was enough to pull Burlingame up onto her butt, Chaos Bomb‘s torso put on display in front of her. But the audience’s buzz was one of anticipation of what was to come, exploding into cheers when Lily rolled to her back and hoisted the interloper up high into the air above the ring.
Al Carpenter’s face actually briefly flushed as he heard the curses coming from the Mayhem Meteor’s mouth, but after a few seconds he ducked in close. “I can end this miss,” he promised, “do you submit?” The only response was another grunted curse, but after a heartbeat the ‘Bomb turned to look at him. “Jog on dickhead!” she growled, “That bug-eyed has-been can’t hold me here for long and when she inevitably fails I’m running her raGGGREGH Nnnno what are you doinGGG!”
Whilst she had to admit that she couldn’t hold the writhing Chaos Bomb up forever, Lily clearly had better things to do anyway. To that end she abandoned one red-clad arm and shifted her own hand to hook around the imposter’s chin. Her other hand swiftly snaked around the back of the masked woman’s neck before cupping the first, the crowd volume raising again in appreciation of the rarely seen but devastatingly effective piece of improvisation.
ROMERO DRAGON SLEEPER
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPGaE7GfZ-0
Any gratitude that the gasping Bomb might have had at being spared from the discomfort in her shoulders was wiped out by the flames licking around her hyperextended knees, while Burlingame’s brawny arms drew ever tighter around her windpipe. But despite her domineering position it seemed that the Star Strider still wasn’t quite satisfied, switching her hands around again until both were gripping tight to the flaps of the trapped Chaos Bomb’s mask!
Once again the writhing imposter was forced to ignore all attempts at escape in favour of preserving her identity. In this instance her task was made fractionally easier by the toughened leather of the mask itself, Lily’s fingers making limited impression in her attempts to tear it free. The Bedlam Bombshell still yanked at her fingers with one hand but the other flailed back wildly, landing a few ineffectual blows into Burlingame’s ribs and chest before one lucky swing smashed her elbow square into Lily’s button nose! The shock was enough to weaken the former champ’s grip on the already slipping leather, Chaos popping free from her clutch.
Although she had won her freedom the Bomb still had her legs tangled, Lily making her pay for that escape by flexing her own brawny gams and firing the imposter sprawling forwards into a face-first collusion with the mat. Even worse, Lily sat straight up and retook possession of one of those red-clad ankles, giving it a nasty little twist and leaning all her weight back into a simple but effective Ankle Lock.
“One of the first things I learned under that mask you stole,” Lily gave a nasty little twist, earning a groan from the masked woman. “Can’t jump too high when your legs hurt.” Another jerk punctuated her observation nicely, Chaos Bomb sitting up a little in an attempt to alleviate pressure. “Shut up, you commie idiot!” she demanded, “that’s the stupidest thing I ever heARGH!”
Lily let out an audible tut before continuing. “You want to talk stupid?” she asked rhetorically, “How about thinking that all you need is a mask to take me on. Cherry Bomb might have won that title but I’m the one who’s beaten just about everyone I ever faced. The mask was a lot of fun but the woman who took it off is so much more than thaOWW BYTCH!”
Closing her ears to Burlingame’s lecture, the Mayhem Missile had instead focussed on worming her way a little closer to her tormentor. Once she was within a more comfortable range she brought one red boot up and sideways before stomping down, her heel landing in the center of Lily’s trunks! Two more sick stomps were enough to earn a significant let-up on her captive ankle, and a follow up kick which smacked into Lily’s star-crossed chest was enough to earn total freedom.
Rolling away from each other, both woman scrambled back to their feet. Lily was probably fractionally faster, keen to press her advantage on the mat, but this time she was taken by surprise as the Havoc Howitzer stayed low, hooking around one leg to drag her to the matt. And if that was unexpected for the Crimson Comet, what came next was even more so, the masked woman blatantly stealing from her own playbook by hooking around one arm and using that as a lever to roll the wriggling brunette on to her shoulders! Carpenter was quick to drop and count the first actual pinfall attempt of the match, hand dropping for…
LA RIVERACITA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KovjnE1PFQ
ONE
TWNNNooo
However disoriented she might be there was simply no way the Star Strider was going to fall for one of her own signature moves ,and she proved it by powering her legs to kick up and out. But it looked like the ‘Bomb wasn’t surprised by this outcome, keeping hold of the arm she had captured and using it to drag Lily onto her back with the limb trapped underneath Chaos’ knees.
“I just proved you were talking bullshyt,” she said matter-of-factly.
Burlingame didn’t seem too keen to hear why, wriggling and yanking at that trapped arm without success. And her position became worse when the imposter began hopping up off the canvas, her weight dropping back down again and again on that pinned limb. “Cherry Bomb might have been a masked freak, but at least she was unpredictable. That made her interesting.” Even as the last words left her mouth the imposter Bomb leaned down, pressed her hands to the mat and pushed up into a gorgeously well-balanced handstand! She was only up for a second though, dropping back down again to drive both knees into Lily’s arm.
“Without the mask you’re just another rich girl who thinks she can fight. Without the mask you aren’t even the most interesting wrestler in your own family. And by the time I’m done no-one will care about your name.” Keen to press her advantage, the lightning-fast interloper shifted position again, using the arm she had captured as a lever to roll Lily onto her front and hook in a hammerlock. But she wasn’t done, bringing her legs up and around to add a headscissor to the mix and hook in a grounded version of another Cherry Bomb classic!
CHAOS FIZZ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YERtfAF0Pdg
Al Carpenter had been hovering since that pinfall attempt and now he swooped back in to check on his charge. “Are you ok Lil?” he asked, “tell me something girl!” What he got in return was a snort of laughter. “Thanks for the concern Al” Lily chuckled, “but I’m not about to tap out to my own bad tribute act. Confetti Bomb here is going to have to bring something better than this if she thinks she’s going to impress me.” She spun her torso around on the matt, now better positioned to reach those legs out towards the…
“Know what, you’re right. Cherry Fizz was a weak-ass move. Guess that’s why even you stopped using it.” With Lily only inches form the ropes, the ‘Bomb’ abandoned her headscissors and clambered to her knees, dragging the shorter woman back away from the safety of the strands. “But mask or no, you’re still a nasty commie pinko freak, and a True American like me knows how to put you down.” Tugging that arm between her own legs, the Maelstrom Meteor dropped to her back and bridged her hips up hard, the fans at ringside recognising the move that was best known as the Second Armendment
CROSS ARM BREAKER
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LYepHXeBL4
Legs kicking frantically as the Chaos Bomb tried to set off an explosion in her elbow, Lily managed to roll into the pressure just enough to lock her hands in a desperation S-grip. This ended the worst of the strain on her arm, but with both hands occupied it meant her offensive options were rather limited. Even so, it didn’t stop her from shifting to one knee which in turn allowed her to stack the masked woman on her shoulders in an improvised Cradle that Carpenter legitimized with a…
ONE…
TWO…
“NNNGGGHH BYTCH!”
Chaos wrenched one hand free and immediately jabbed that thumb into Lily’s eye! This was followed by a pair of scuffing kicks across the former champion’s cheek, their combined might more than enough to put the heiress flat on her back! The Entropic Intruder went right back to the Armbreaker once Burlingame’s rebellion was contained, only now she made a point of constantly scraping her left heel across the vulnerable brunette’s face. “Ask her.” Chaos snapped at the official. “See if the spoiled little rich girl wants to tap out before I give her a busted wing to go with that bum knee.”
Al noted the unpleasant angle of Lily’s trapped arm and decided to comply with the Bomb’s demand. “What do you say, Lil’? Need me to call it a night?”
The Roseate Rocket didn’t reply at once, as she was rather preoccupied trying to control her opponent’s encroaching heel. Only when she’d achieved a modicum of success did she grunt, “No way, Al. This punk may talk like Polly, but her ground game’s nowhere near as good. Come to think of it, she’s not as strong as Chrissy or as quick as Soledad. She’s as bad at being them as she is at being EEEERRRRHHHHHHH!”
The Chaos Bomb wriggled her foot free from Lily’s grip, pressed it against the side of her head and puuuuuuuushed forward while simultaneously cranking back on the Armbreaker. “You really want to keep running your mouth, f*ckstick?” she snarled. “We both know I’m about ten seconds from popping this elbow like a AAAHHHH DAMMIT!”
Burlingame slipped under her attacker’s foot at the cost of an ugly welt across the bridge of her nose, yet she judged it worthwhile because it put her mug into contact with the bare skin above the top of Chaos’s kneepad and she repaid the Counterfeit Comet by sinking her teeth in deep!
Genuinely surprised by the show viciousness from a consummate technician, the Bedlam Bombshell loosened her grip on Lily’s wrist to the point that Burlingame managed to roll to a knee once again. No Cradles or S-Grips this time around however, the fuming heiress simply balled her free hand into a fist and brought it down on Chaos’s startled mug over and over and over again! Give the masked devil her due, she turned her face away from the pugilistic shelling and never once stopped trying to force Burlingame back to the canvas. But her grip wasn’t what it once was whereas Lily’s position was much improved and she didn’t stop dropping the hammer until Chaos returned her purloined arm.
Freedom from the Armbreaker gave the former Lightweight Champion a strong incentive to put some distance between herself and the Nihilist Nuke, unfortunately for Chaos the urge to punish was that much stronger, so Burlingame scooted around into a seat between the masked woman’s splayed stems. Lily grabbed her foe’s calves and drew the Bomb’s legs around her waist. For a moment it looked as though she were offering herself up for a Bodyscissors, but then she wrapped her arms around Chaos’s lower legs and rolled to her left in a smooth little tumble that put Chaos Bomb on her belly and set Lily in a comfortable spot between the other wrestler’s freshly-folded legs. With the Mayhem Missile’s shins corralled beneath her armpits, Burlingame leaned forward and grabbed hold of her bicepsNO!
Chaos pulled away, braced her elbows against the mat and set off on a scrabbling journey toward the ropes! Not about to let the thieving reprobate off easy after suffering through the hell of the Cross Armbreaker, Lily curled her fingers into claws and raaaaaaaaaaaaaaked the vulnerable brunette’s back from shoulders to buttock.
“Catty bytch!” Chaos yelped as the Star Strider’s talons did their wicked work. “Keep your f*cking press-on nails away from AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Burlingame raked her protesting scratching post two, three, four more times, then snatched a double handful of waistband and tried to pull it over the bleating Bomb’s head! “What’s wrong?” Lily asked in a tone of savage sweetness. “All that grim-dark anarchist philosophizing of yours doesn’t allow for a little tog tugging?” She pulled a little harder, made a point of turning the taut material between her fingers. “I suppose you could always tap out. Wouldn’t do much for your cred though, tapping to a damned wedgie. Oh wait, is THAT why you stole my mask? You needed something to cover your face after I--”
“F*CK YOU!” Chaos pushed up on one elbow and reached back in an awkward attempt to grab Lily’s wrists. “I’m gonna split you in half you snippy little aaaahh dammit FAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHK!”
Vicious though it was, the wedgie proved nothing more than bait, a reason for the masked woman to offer up one hand or both. Abandoning those distended trunks for a white-knuckle grip on her rival’s wrist, Burlingame captured the Bomb’s other hand shortly thereafter, then planted her feet and REEFED back on the Grounded Surfboard.
GROUNDED SURFBOARD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5F11Xo8WwM
“You’re not going to do anything, sweetheart.” Lily’s normally pleasant tone was cold and mean as she tried to bend Chaos into a full-body U. “Except pray that I decide to let you go after you tap out.”
The heiress pulled back again, drawing a wail from the Bedlam Bombshell that brought Al on the double. “What do you say, Bomb? Just say the word and I’ll WHOAH!”
Chaos tore one hand free from Lily’s trap and grabbed hold of the ref’s collar. “Don’t waste your breath. Just be a good zebra and get me to the NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Lily doubled down on the remaining Wristlock, yanked back and made the imposter pay for her resilience with half a dozen stomping kicks between the shoulders. The last one got Al free of Chaos’s claws, so Burlingame released the remnants of the Surfboard and got to her feet.
“Don’t put your hands on the official, it’s tacky AF.” she huffed after a few seconds rest. “Of course it’s not as tacky as stealing someone else’s hard work to worm your way onto the biggest card of the year, so I don’t know why I’m wasting my breath?”
Chaos answered with a muttered curse and a raised middle finger, all the incentive Lily needed to grab a wrist and THUMP a punt into the faux flyer’s ribs. The Wristlock was more than enough to scrap Chaos Bomb off the mat and march her to the ropes, where Burlingame ground an aggressive shoulder into her sternum before stepping away and sending her off with an Irish NO! Chaos dug in her heels, dropped a shoulder and revered the Whip to send Lily in her place! This didn’t bother the Star Strider in the slightest, at least not until she spun around for the return trip and saw Chaos Bomb bearing down on her with a Lariat at the ready! Going low without even thinking about it, she dipped under the attempt, hit the strands on the far side and came back with a Lariat of her owNOOO! The Entropic Intruder mirrored her escape and kept right on running. Bearing down on each other at top speed, the pair of lightweight warriors reared back for one more Lariat only to spring into the air and twist sideways for stereo Crossbodies that ended in a resounding mid-air THWHAP!
They hit the deck in a tangle of groaning limbs, Lily and Chaos slowly prizing themselves away from the hated other to roll in opposite directions. Positioned between his charges, Al waited several seconds to see if they’d rise and when they didn’t he began the standing ten count. “ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR…”
Signs of movement from both fighters, although it looked like the imposter ‘Bomb is suffering more as all she could do was roll to her front and take a couple of big, settling breaths. Lily looked to be in better shape, reaching out to the ropes and using these as a ladder to get herself up to kneeling. By the time Carpenter had reached “…SEVEN…” Burlingame was all but up on her feet, enough to convince the referee to stop his count but also putting her in a much better position than her masked rival, still only just on all fours.
And that position didn’t last for long, Lily looking to get things ended by tangling one leg around the wobbly ‘Bomb’s arm and diving over the top. The raven-haired interloper was turned on her back like a turtle, Burlingame balancing her weight beautifully to keep shoulders pressed to the matt and her ass stacked high in the air! The pinning predicament looked tight as Carpenter dropped to count…
ONE
TWO
NOOoooo
The referee’s hand was still rising from the two when the wriggling imposter managing to kick her way free and flop to her side. She was on her front and pushing up straight away, but once again not quite fast enough, Lily scrambling up ahead of her and ploughing forward to hook around her waist. In retaliation the Bomb leaned forwards and hooked around the shorter woman’s neck, but this didn’t slow Lily down for a second, flicking one leg out to trip Chaos backwards and using her arm to keep her rolled up in another tight little package!
GANNOSUKE CLUTCH
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0SDNq2N8Oc
ONE
TWO
NOOOO
This time Carpenter’s count had gotten even closer, but the Bomb managed to reorient herself and just about wriggle free. She completed a messy backwards roll and slopped to her front again, this time rolling as fast as she could to the bottom rope, hanging on tight and staying on her front, hoping to avoid any more lightning-fast pain attempts while she regained some breath.
After a few seconds she raised her head and, with no sign of Burlingame, scrambled quickly back to vertical with the help of the ropes. But it was only when she stepped away from the strands and turned that she realised she had lost track of the Crimson Comet entirely. And the imposter ‘Bomb very quickly had reason to regret that when Lily flew past her, hooking one arm around that confused head and spinning in a lethal half-circle before laying out. Chaos Bomb was yanked into an involuntary forwards flip which dropped her crown right into the canvas-covered plywood!
CHERRY’S JUBILEE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z34w0RuZqdE
Chaos Bomb rolled over onto her back and stayed there, limbs spread in a damp starfish, eyes cloudy as she gulped in air. She looked absolutely ripe for pinning, and Burlingame was on top of her again in a flash. But there was concern form the crowd as Burlingame eschewed a likely match-winning cover and instead rolled the insensate brunette over onto her front, moving to a high kneel over her shoulderblades.
“Bad news, cupcake” she told the demolished imposter, “there’s a Warhead coming, and it’s got your name on it. But first we’re all going to find out what that name is.” Both hands plunged down into the tangle of laces at the back of Chaos Bomb’s mask, tugging and tearing to remove it. Her progress was unimpeded for a good few seconds, the mask looking decidedly looser as a result, before the Mayhem Missile recovered just enough sense to bring her own hands up and try to disrupt Burlingame’s efforts.
“<La máscara es segrada!>!” she yelled. Lily just paused for a second and shook her head. “Oh shut up and stop pretending to be Soledad Sanchez. You’re not even a luchadora, you’re just a thief. And I’m taking back what’s miIIIIAAAEEE!” Distracted by reclaiming her possession, Lily had lost track of the imposter’s hands and now paid for it when one sneaked down between her thighs and dug into the vulnerable flesh at the center of her bottoms! Startled and hurting, Burlingame couldn’t help but kneel up and Chaos Bomb used the extra room to wriggle herself free.
She clambered to vertical, reaching down to grab one of Burlingame’s arms and drag her back up to kneeling. Lily would have stood up too but Chaos Bomb didn’t let her get that far, dragging on that captured limb and pumping out a vicious Soccer Kick which slammed into the Roseate Rocket’s jaw and left her slumping backwards on the matt. By contrast the Bedlam Bombshell seemed to be getting an adrenaline rush, turning to the nearest corner and using the ropes to springboard herself up to the top buckle.
Once there she took a second to survey the crowds, bringing both hands up to flash a pair of middle fingers in response to the boos. But as she turned around that roar became a lot more positive, likely due to the sight of Lily Burlingame, back on her feet and dashing into the corner to deliver a big Running Forearm across the imposter’s jaw. Chaos Bomb was rocked backwards but managed to hold on to the ropes to keep her perch, a fact which she quickly came to regret when Burlingame hopped up after her, braced both feet on the middle rope, and ducked her shoulder into the other brunette’s midriff.
Lifting up, Lily reached behind her in an attempt to secure the head and hold her doppelganger in position for possibly the most apocalyptic Kryptonite Krunch ever seen. The FAWNatics responded at once, desperate to see Burlingame Jr’s other finisher, but their hopes were thwarted when Chaos Bomb managed to land three awkward but effective elbow strikes to the side of her captor’s head, enough to loosen the Star Strider’s grip and allow the imposter to drop into a messy somersault which ended with her feet on the canvas. And the reversal of fortunes was completed when the Turmoil Torpedo took two dancing steps and flicked up a Superkick which slammed into Burlingame’s brainbox.
EDGE OF CHAOS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsdXWigoro
Knocked all but loopy by the crushing combination of superkick into lightly-padded steel, Lily’s knees buckled. In all likelihood she would have fallen back off the turnbuckle, but the masked woman wouldn’t let her. Instead she reached up and hooked both hands into Burlingame’s armpits, using that grip to lift her up and out. As soon as those brawny legs were free of the corner Chaos Bomb yelled “You know nothing, chica!” and dropped her package down, Lily’s back and neck slamming down into the mat.
SPLASH MOUNTAIN
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dMSHF7vEqo
Again the situation looked ripe for a pin and again a weary wrestler eschewed this, the masked woman instead turning back towards the corner. But with the Star Strider finally laid low, the toll of a gruelling match seemed to be telling. The dark haired girl had to climb rather than vaulting to the top buckle, and there was a notable wobble in the Counterfeit Comet’s legs and she put both feet on the top of the ringpost and straightened up to her full height. But there was no sign of tiredness in the way she stretched one fist out above her head, thumb raised to the rafters as if ready to press the plunger on an imaginary bomb. The crowd knew how to respond to this, and although the majority were booing that mingled with a clear “BOOOOOOOM” as the masked woman triggered her detonator and launched herself out into the void.
The consensus on most FAWN message boards was that the Cherry Warhead had a strong argument for being the most succcessful finishing move in the promotion, and certainly was amongst the best to watch. Of course, Lily Burlingame had never been the recipient of her own finisher before, but most of the audience were on baited breath as they awaited the result. This attempt at the double-axis rotation might not have been quite as neat as Lily’s, the Mayhem Missile’s turns not quite as smooth and her form perhaps a little ragged. But the end result seemed to be just as devastating, Chaos Bomb’s torso exploding into Lily’s and crushing the brunette into the canvas.
CHAOS WARHEAD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdHhtx-Kog
And suddenly the noise in the arena came roaring back, a mix of opprobrium and awe loud enough to blow the roof off. But none of that seemed to register with Chaos Bomb, the masked woman simply reaching out to hook one limp leg and rolling until Lily had her shoulders on the matt and her ass pointed at the lights. Al Carpenter was quick to do his job, dropping to his knees to count…
ONE
TWO
THREE!
Carpenter held up three fingers and turned to gesture to the timekeeper, the bell calling an end to the match ringing out a second later. But that ring was barely audible over the noise erupting from the FAWNatics, cheers, boos and just general cacophony raining down from all sides. In the midst of this the victorious Chaos Bomb let Burlingame’s legs loose and moved to a high kneel, turning to face her victim while she sucked in deep gasps of air. It was only once ‘Comeback Kid’ was once more blaring through the speakers that the Havoc Howitzer responded to her purloined theme music.
Placing one hand on Burlingame’s gulping belly and the other square in the center of her bottoms, the imposter pushed up to an unnecessary but nonetheless impressive handstand before flipping over onto her feet and spreading her arms wide. Chaos Bomb turned a slow circle, basking in the maelstrom of noise around her. And finally the announcer’s voice could be heard over the racket. “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, by way of pinfall…uh…CHAO…”
A friend in need’s a friend indeed
PURE MORNING
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHQngnnHE_0
Everyone in the arena knew what those words and that music meant, but after having watched one member of FlC get carried out of the ring on a stretcher just half an hour ago, most didn’t believe it. But they turned to the entrance ramp anyway, and in the ring both the victorious ‘bomb and her slowly recovering victim turned too. After a few more seconds, with no sign of anyone emerging from behind the curtain, the masked woman turned again, rapidly scanning the crowd. And she kept her head on a swivel, checking, turning and spinning for fifteen or twenty seconds, until all of a sudden it became apparent that she wasn’t looking around her at all…
…she was dancing.
Turns became pirouettes, swirling over to the prone body of Lily Burlingame and briefly pausing to blow a kiss in her direction before dancing over to the ropes, dropping to her back to roll underneath and retake her feet on the floor. Her wild waltz took her slowly up the ramp, but her hands came up to the back of her head, giving a few final tugs at the lacing of her mask. And after all the tugging previously it only took a few seconds for those laces to finally came undone. The imposter Bomb held her disguise in place with one hand for a few more seconds until she was facing away from the ring and the camera and then let it drop, holding on to one of the laces and trailing it along the floor for the last few steps up the ramp.
Already most of those watching had put two and two together, but they received final confirmation when the woman who had been known only as Chaos Bomb turned back to the ring, and the cameras, with her face finally revealed. Sure enough there were the dark eyes, the impish grin, and even the two neon chevrons of facepaint over her left eye, looking smudged but still visible despite having been under the mask.
LYRA FAULK
Finally the other half of the FlC equation hobbled out from behind the curtain. Harriet Larkin looked like death warmed up; pale, hobbling, and distinctly wobbly as she reached out to place on hand on her partner’s shoulder. She was leaning heavily on the woman who had previously come out during the entrance of Larkin’s match, a lithe brunette with tight red shorts and a white hoody up covering her face. Whoever she was, Lyra didn’t seem surprised, not even looking round at all, although she briefly nuzzled her cheek into Larkin’s hand before shrugging it off and placing one foot daintily in front of the other. The revealed Chaos Bomb bent at the waist, one hand waving to deliver an elaborate ballet dancer’s curtsey aimed squarely at the furious figure of Lily Burlingame, recovering in the ring.
Once the revealed Chaos Emerald had made her point she flashed one last smile and finally turned away, ducking one hand under her beleaguered partner’s shoulder and helping the mystery woman to support her back to the dressing room. But the cameras didn’t follow, instead staying focused on the thunderous face of Lily Burlingame as she watched the victor slink away.
Craning their heads toward the entryway like folks trying to follow the path of a shooting star, the FAWNatics let loose a delighted roar when the lights went down. From within that swirling, anticipatory murk came a thumping drum and a matched set of snapping fingers, the two bits of percussion bouncing to and fro in a rat-a-tat riff. A keening guitar note joined the beat and a few seconds later the situation got brighter in no small part due to the tongue of flame that licked at the base of the ramp. As the note held steady, the fire set off on a beeline for the top of the ramp. The wick shrank in time with the arrival of more guitars and an Earth-shattering KA-BOOM of red pyro that almost swallowed the first verse of ’Comeback Kid’. From the center of this flash and flame a figure emerged, shooting up from the floor to land flawlessly before the capacity crowd.
COMEBACK KID:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-SFmQe-vo
LILY BURLINGAME:
Launching herself from that brand spankin‘ new crater, Lily Burlingame pumped a fist for the crowd, then pointed at the ring and flew down the ramp in a blur of black, red and white. For tonight’s encounter with a woman guilty of the most egregious sort of locker room theft, the Roseate Rocket wore gleaming black bottoms accented by swirling galaxies of stars done in blue and white. Her top was halter-style sports bra done in an identical scheme, the blue and white seeming to shimmer and twirl with her every move. Kneepads were matching black and also sported the galaxy motif, white on the left and blue on the right. Her hair, free of the mask that was at the center of tonight‘s maelstrom, tickled the tops of her shoulders in a sleek, but slightly messy bob.
Practically trembling with kinetic energy as she tore down the ramp, the former Lightweight Champion still made a point of swatting as many hands as she could en route to the ring, where she leapt from the floor to the apron to the top rope in the span between heartbeats. Bouncing from it as casually as the terminally grounded stepped off the curb, Lily hooked a sharp turn to the left, hit the adjoining set of strands and went soaring into a gorgeous back flip that set her back in the center of the ring. Then she was off again, the Crimson Comet rounding on one heel to sprint to the far side of the squared circle. At the ropes in an instant, she caught the top and middle in both hands, leapt and twirled over the third strand in a Tiger Feint Kick that ’swicked’ through the air.
Back in the ring a heartbeat later, the youngest Burlingame sister honed in on the hard camera before she rose up on her toes and dropped to one knee, thumbing an invisible detonator as she did so. The fans responded with an appropriately thunderous ‘BOOOOOOOM!’ which left Lily beaming as she straightened up and offered her knees and elbows to Al Carpenter.
As the check got underway again the announcer raised the mic with an odd expression on her face. “And her opponent! Hailing from somewhere far beyond the limits of entropy, she stands at five feet and four inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and fourteen pounds. She is the Mayhem Missile, the Maelstrom Meteor…CHAOS BOMB!”
Already being treated to a very odd spectacle, things got even more confusing when there as another all-but-identical explosion of pyro. And again when the exact same music played, Comeback Kid blasting out into the auditorium for a second time and heralding the arrival of either an excellent imposter or a full blown doppelganger depending on just how crazy a theory the fans were willing to believe.
COMEBACK KID:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-SFmQe-vo
In expected style the wannabe ‘Bomb shot up through the floor and into the clouds of her own pyro, landing perfectly in a three-point ‘superhero’ pose and then popping to her feet to give the crowds a surprisingly cheery salute. At first glance it looked like the imposter was clad in classic Cherry Bomb attire, red bottoms with black ‘claw slashes’ and white fangs, a long sleeved red sports bra, and matching boots and pads. And of course that tell-tale mask was still present; whether purloined or just copied it covered the top two-thirds of the imposter’s head, allowing a long, loose and jet-black ponytail to emerge from the back.
On closer inspection there were some more sinister changes to the recognisable outfit. Lily’s previous bold crimson had been replaced with a somewhat darker red eerily reminiscent of blood, while the original’s ‘claw slashes’ seemed closer to tears or rips into some dark and malevolent dimension. The time bomb motif was still present, but in place of an emblazoned cherry was a dark red eight-pointed star, the traditional symbol of chaos. The overall effect was to turn the cheery Star Strider look into an altogether more disconcerting and alien get-up.
Whatever changes had occurred to the costume, the newcomer clearly possessed a similar speed to her predecessor, burning down the ramp in a blurringly fast sprint until WHAM!
TOPE SUICIDA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNPXeCO_JDE
However fast the ‘Chaos Bomb’ was approaching the ring, Lily Burlingame had her beat going in the opposite direction. As the imposter had approached Lily’s feet were already moving, hurling herself between the ropes and flying like an arrow aimed right at the heart. The masked woman had no possible chance of avoidance and was slammed backwards, Burlingame coming to a halt a few feet away from the target she had so perfectly obliterated. She knee-walked over, lifting one leg high into a straddle which pinned the stunned girl’s arms to the metal of the ramp.
“That mask you’re wearing belongs to me” Lily told the wriggling Chaos Bomb. “I want it back.” It was immediately clear that she wasn’t planning to ask nicely, instead reaching down with both hands. One dropped around the mystery woman’s throat while the other went behind her head, her fingers questing for the edge of the mask.
There was a low murmur from the crowd, or at least those who knew the significance of a Luchador’s mask. But the mask-wearer in question didn’t seem ready to reveal herself. “’I want’ doesn’t get” she told the brunette. The voice from under the mask was very muffled, almost impossible to distinguish, but there wasn’t much time to process anyway. At the same time as speakingshe crunched her core to bring her legs up and hook around Burlingame’s arms, pushing back the other way to send the Star Strider tumbling backwards.
If the hurried move was intended to get the imposter some space then it didn’t work. She had barely sat up before Lily popped to her feet and charged again. This time she raised one leg, the knee raised to suggest that’s he was planning to regain her mask by decapitation. But once again this was thwarted, the mystery woman dropping to her back and allowing that strike to whiff harmlessly past her face. And then it was her turn to demonstrate her speed, popping back to her feet in faster than anyone in the audience could blink so that she was standing at Burlingame’s six.
It only took a second for Lily to recover from that missed strike but the newly-minted Chaos Bomb was fast enough to take advantage. A gorgeous vertical leap took her high above her predecessor in the mask, bringing both legs up to wrap around the back of Burlingame’s head. The raven-haired imposter threw herself backwards into a Poisoned Frankensteiner which would have spiked Lily’s scalp into the ringside matting if she hadn’t have once again demonstrated that insane athleticism by bringing her hands up and using them to turn the impact into a neat handspring!
Sheer pace had kept the crowd noise high throughout these opening exchanges but now they burst into spontaneous applause at the stunning balance displayed by the Star Strider. But Lily clearly had only one thing on her mind tonight and that was the mask currently covering her doppelganger’s face. Her next attempt at rectifying this was a pinpoint Superkick, her boot slamming into the Bedlam Bombshell’s jaw and dropping her on her ass.
“You really should have read up about who you were messing with.” Even as she spoke Lily reached down, grabbing a handful of hair and using it to drag the interloper back to her feet. “I already had a low-life stalker in a mask, and I already beat her down at ‘Mania. And I swear, Soledad, if it’s you under there, I’m going to make you wish you’d never left BangorrRMPH.”
The Masked woman hadn’t even made it back to vertical before she was off her feet, jumping and bringing her knee up to THUNK into the point of Lily’s chin. The Roseate Rocket’s head swayed backwards, freeing the imposter form her clutches. “Do I look like Soledad Sanchez, chica?” the ‘Bomb 2.0 asked. “And don’t worry, I know everything about you. That’s why I’m better at being you than you aRRRRRMH!”
Lily slamming a knee of her own up, this one impacting in those tut, pale abs to double the taller woman forwards and allow a resumed grip around the mask. This time she stormed a few steps away from the ring, only for Al Carpenter to call after her. “I know you’re angry Lil, but this is meant to be a match. Get her into the ring or I’ll have to throw this whole thing out!”
“Don’t worry Al!” Burlingame called back to him, “We’re headed you way right now!” Keeping hold of her head grip, the Crimson Comet turned and ran at the ring. Without a chance to find her feet the masked interloper was forced along for the ride, right up until the point when Lily shoved her forwards and down to drive the top of her head into the ring apron like a lawn dart!
RUNNING APRON HEAD WHIP
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Vf0jtlT9s
The ‘CLUNK’ of head hitting the unforgiving ring panel was loud enough to be heard over the crowd. The masked woman dropped to a heap, allowing Lily just a second to pump a fist and acknowledge the crowd. And once again that second proved her undoing, turning back around only for ‘Chaos Bomb’ to flick out a boot which kicked away her standing leg and sent her staggering backwards. The mystery woman scrambled to her feet and took a few steps back herself.
“Get into the ring!” Carpenter demanded loudly. Lily didn’t look at him, turning to locate her slippery opponent. She was able to do so but somewhat too late, the raven-haired interloper taking a few quick steps, leaping up onto the apron to get some extra height. And it became clear why she needed it, throwing herself into a tight, impossibly fast spin from which one leg stuck out and SLAMMED into Burlingame’s jaw!
APRON DIVING ROUNDHOUSE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxq2k1LavXc
The impact of that flying boot was enough to slam Lily down to the ringside matting, this time for longer than a few seconds. Above her the masked imposter raised one fist high, her thumb raised to mime an invisible detonator. The purloined taunt brought mostly boos but there were enough lovers of chaos in the audience to yell ‘BOOOOOM’ as if they were cheering for Burlingame instead of her tormentor.
Frustrated by his inability to impart even a nominal sense of order over the proceedings thus far, Al Carpenter turned to the Time Keeper and threw a signal which summoned the opening bell a heartbeat thereafter. The sound of it roused Lily at least a little bit as she rolled from her belly to her back and sat up to cradle her aching head. Unfortunately it roused the Nihilist Nuke as well, Burlingame’s masked imposter darting around the official like a cool breeze to alight on Lily with a double handful of hair. No words were exchanged but the emphatic tug spoke ‘up!’ better than verbiage ever could and her rude handful of heiress waistband was most emphatic punctuation.
Chaos Bomb slung Lily under the bottom rope in a tangle of wobbly girl-flesh that came to a halt just shy of middle ring. “Well inside the drop zone.” she murmured amidst hopping onto the apron. Taking the top rope in both hands, the Entropic Interloper sprang onto the rubber-coated steel and raised the invisible detonator again, only this time she ended it with a double bird pointed at the prone former champion. The jeers came at once, though they promptly gave way to impressed murmurs when the Bedlam Bombshell took to the skies, curled into a loose ball and buzz-sawed her way through all four hundred and fifty degrees of--NO!
Burlingame rolled clear at the last second, leaving her attacker to crash and AFRAID NOT!
Chaos Bomb adjusted on the fly (literally) to land in a neat tumble that sent her rolling across the canvas after an almost silent landing. Locked on her adversary before the masked menace returned to verticality, Lily took off like a shot and left her feet just as quickly, her right arm pulled waaaaaaaaaay back for a Flying Forearm Sma-- Chaos palmed the other brunette’s tummy in both hands and pushed up hard enough to send the Roseate Rocket soaring into the overhead lights! Twisting in a half circle without actually changing her position beneath the now descending lightweight, caught Burlingame over her right shoulder then went up on tiptoes and spun her down into a THWHUMPING impact atop the unforgiving post of her right thigh!
POP-UP TILT-A-WHIRL BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR3PFl1Rvg
Bounced from the other woman’s knee to an agonized seat on the mat, the Star Strider didn’t show much in the way of initiative until Chaos snatched a double handful of hair and dragged her upright. “You ARE fast, cutie.” the Tumultuous Torpedo murmured in Burlingame’s ear as she helped herself to a Wristlock. “But I’m pure entropy. And entropy ALWAYS wins.”
Lily made a game attempt to snatch that counterfeit mask, it just wasn’t enough to stop Chaos Bomb from hurling her into the far corner with an Irish Whip so stiff it dropped her to her tush the instant she BWUUUNGED against the buckles. Chaos saw this, started forward, then took stepped back and waggled a finger for the FAWNatics. “Oh no,” she teased. “Don’t think the putz gets off that easy!” Off at a run before anyone had a chance to ask what she meant, the masked menace shot into Lily’s personal space, snatched the top rope in both hands and launched herself into a flawless handstand that saw the toes of her boots pointed at the rafters for ONE… TWO… THREE… a genuinely impressed burst of applause from the Mania crowd when the Atomic Anarchist switched her hands from one rope to the other. The reason for this adjustment only revealed itself when she swung down and in, Chaos Bomb landing in a deep squat that THWHUMPED every bit of her rump into Burlingame’s upturned mug!
“Eat it, you overrated bytch.” Chaos chided while taking Lily on a personally guided tour of her gluteal gulag.
The butt buffing would’ve continued unabated if not for Carpenter, who hurried over to the action and started a count without wasting breath on a warning. The Nihilist Nuke didn’t complain about this deviation from decorum, though she did offer the ref a cheeky wink before tagging Lily with an equally cheeky Hip Check. Burlingame grunted, swatted at the encroaching cheeks, cried out in distress when Bomb answered with a hard hair pull.
Both Al and Lily protested the rough treatment, alas Chaos just hauled the other brunette to her feet and scooped her up on one shoulder. A few stomps and a quick turn put the stunned Celestial Stunner in perfect position for a Body Slam that left her midsection bisected by the shadow of the ring-post. No accident this, as Chaos Bomb made a point of stepping on her opponent’s midsection en route to the corner. She hopped onto the bottom rope and immediately somersaulted backward in a low flying yet impactful Moonsault that THWHAPPED across Lily’s tummy!
Burlingame clutched at her ribs, made to roll to one side, but Chaos Bomb shoved her down flat and went back to the corner. This time she hopped to the middle strand, meaning there was that much more ‘OOOMPH!’ behind the Moonsault she slathered across Lily’s ribs. “Unnnnnnngggghhhh!” Burlingame’s heels beat an erratic tattoo on the mat, much to the delight of the Entropic Interloper.
“Ohhh, I know it hurts seeing everything you’ve built crumble.” she cooed. “But I promise… it only gets worse from here.”
Case in point she got up and made for the corner one more time and yes, she did leap to the top turnbuckle and yes, the last Moonsault did land harder than the other two combined. Chaos Bomb immediately segued into a domineering Lateral Press, one palm mashing Burlingame’s bust, the other pushed deep into her traumatized tummy.
THE TERRIBLE TRIO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pohJaI2-w0U
ONE…
TWO…
Lily shot a shoulder up just after ‘TWO’, the rather lackadaisical cover offering her a bit more leeway that she might’ve had otherwise. The escape didn’t seem to rankle Bomb at all, though she made sure to mash her palm into the former champ’s face before she cupped her ears and hauled her to verticality. “You were supposed to keep pace with me.” the Bedlam Bombshell complained after delivering a quick slap to Lily’s cheek. “But you’re already huffing and puffing like a crone.”
That shot knocked some of the glass outta Lily’s eyes, however the Toe Kick that followed meant she was looking at nothing but the canvas. Already dire, Lily’s predicament turned downright grim when Chaos put both hands on her shoulders and leap-frogged over her prey to settle into a seat with her legs hooked under Burlingame’s biceps. The FAWNatics shifted to code red as Bomb’s momentum straightened the Star Strider up for match-shortening Yoshi Ton-- Lily snapped forward, pushing down on the masked woman’s calves to send her swinging over and back into a floaty freefall that she assuredly would’ve transformed into a perfect landing IF Burlingame hadn’t looped both arms around her upper thighs and dropped to her knees to SPIKE the imposter on the back of her head and shoulders with a brutal Mad Scientist Bomb! Landing astride Chaos Bomb’s upturned haunches, Burlingame stuffed her shoulders into the pits of the flattened brunette’s knees and went up on tiptoe to keep her down for the…
MAD SCIENTIST BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2W9CUDYBM
ONE…
TWO…
The Mayhem Missile twisted hard to one side, saving herself with a full second to spare. “Ya know, I get why you’d want to be me… or Cherry, I guess.” Lily said after she’d took a few deep breaths. “On the surface her life looks pretty great, but it wasn’t without a lot of problems. I had to keep it secret from all friends. I had to pretend to be intimidated when some ass like Polly got all up in my business. Biggest problem though? Learning to wrestle in a mask.”
“F*cking spoon-fed idiot.” Chaos grunted as she fought to all fours. “There’s nothing difficult about wrestling in a maMMMPPPHHH!”
Lily snatched the imitation disguise and YANKED, twisting it so far to one side the imposter couldn’t see through the eye-holes! Completely absorbed by misaligned mask, Chaos didn’t even realize Burlingame had taken her leave and she certainly didn’t realize she came back across the squared circle in an effortless handspring. Light came to the dark of her ignorance at the end of Lily’s acrobatics when she THWUNKED her right knee against the base of the penitent grappler’s skull!
HANDSPRING KNEE DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AcOs1qDcs
Chaos Bomb went down in a heap with both arms cradled around her head, meaning she offered minimal resistance when Burlingame grabbed her ankles and draaaaaaaaaaaaaaagged her into the middle of the ring. Using her grips to fold the Bomb’s lower legs, Lily stepped onto her rival’s thighs and deftly tucked those ankles against her own shins. Hands on her hips now that the hard part was done, Lily looked out at the crowd and said, “Cupcake here does a pretty good impression of me at high speed. I wonder if it holds up when we slow things down?”
Interested to find out, she dipped her knees and leaned forward in search of the Bomb’s wrists.
ROMERO SPECIAL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LbYPYkInoE
Initially that quest was unsuccessful, the Mayhem Meteor realising the danger and keeping her hands spread wide to avoid capture. “Getoffame!” she growled, earning nothing but a chuckle from Lily. “You don’t have to give me your hands babe, but you can’t stop me taking back what’s mine.” Eager to do just that she leaned further forwards still, her fingers reaching out to the lacing at the back of the grounded ‘Bomb’s mask!
Faced with the prospect of being outed, both of the imposter’s hands flew to protect her mask and…”Ah, there we go,” Lily purred, finally taking possession of both the masked woman’s wrists and pulling them backwards. A further tug was enough to pull Burlingame up onto her butt, Chaos Bomb‘s torso put on display in front of her. But the audience’s buzz was one of anticipation of what was to come, exploding into cheers when Lily rolled to her back and hoisted the interloper up high into the air above the ring.
Al Carpenter’s face actually briefly flushed as he heard the curses coming from the Mayhem Meteor’s mouth, but after a few seconds he ducked in close. “I can end this miss,” he promised, “do you submit?” The only response was another grunted curse, but after a heartbeat the ‘Bomb turned to look at him. “Jog on dickhead!” she growled, “That bug-eyed has-been can’t hold me here for long and when she inevitably fails I’m running her raGGGREGH Nnnno what are you doinGGG!”
Whilst she had to admit that she couldn’t hold the writhing Chaos Bomb up forever, Lily clearly had better things to do anyway. To that end she abandoned one red-clad arm and shifted her own hand to hook around the imposter’s chin. Her other hand swiftly snaked around the back of the masked woman’s neck before cupping the first, the crowd volume raising again in appreciation of the rarely seen but devastatingly effective piece of improvisation.
ROMERO DRAGON SLEEPER
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPGaE7GfZ-0
Any gratitude that the gasping Bomb might have had at being spared from the discomfort in her shoulders was wiped out by the flames licking around her hyperextended knees, while Burlingame’s brawny arms drew ever tighter around her windpipe. But despite her domineering position it seemed that the Star Strider still wasn’t quite satisfied, switching her hands around again until both were gripping tight to the flaps of the trapped Chaos Bomb’s mask!
Once again the writhing imposter was forced to ignore all attempts at escape in favour of preserving her identity. In this instance her task was made fractionally easier by the toughened leather of the mask itself, Lily’s fingers making limited impression in her attempts to tear it free. The Bedlam Bombshell still yanked at her fingers with one hand but the other flailed back wildly, landing a few ineffectual blows into Burlingame’s ribs and chest before one lucky swing smashed her elbow square into Lily’s button nose! The shock was enough to weaken the former champ’s grip on the already slipping leather, Chaos popping free from her clutch.
Although she had won her freedom the Bomb still had her legs tangled, Lily making her pay for that escape by flexing her own brawny gams and firing the imposter sprawling forwards into a face-first collusion with the mat. Even worse, Lily sat straight up and retook possession of one of those red-clad ankles, giving it a nasty little twist and leaning all her weight back into a simple but effective Ankle Lock.
“One of the first things I learned under that mask you stole,” Lily gave a nasty little twist, earning a groan from the masked woman. “Can’t jump too high when your legs hurt.” Another jerk punctuated her observation nicely, Chaos Bomb sitting up a little in an attempt to alleviate pressure. “Shut up, you commie idiot!” she demanded, “that’s the stupidest thing I ever heARGH!”
Lily let out an audible tut before continuing. “You want to talk stupid?” she asked rhetorically, “How about thinking that all you need is a mask to take me on. Cherry Bomb might have won that title but I’m the one who’s beaten just about everyone I ever faced. The mask was a lot of fun but the woman who took it off is so much more than thaOWW BYTCH!”
Closing her ears to Burlingame’s lecture, the Mayhem Missile had instead focussed on worming her way a little closer to her tormentor. Once she was within a more comfortable range she brought one red boot up and sideways before stomping down, her heel landing in the center of Lily’s trunks! Two more sick stomps were enough to earn a significant let-up on her captive ankle, and a follow up kick which smacked into Lily’s star-crossed chest was enough to earn total freedom.
Rolling away from each other, both woman scrambled back to their feet. Lily was probably fractionally faster, keen to press her advantage on the mat, but this time she was taken by surprise as the Havoc Howitzer stayed low, hooking around one leg to drag her to the matt. And if that was unexpected for the Crimson Comet, what came next was even more so, the masked woman blatantly stealing from her own playbook by hooking around one arm and using that as a lever to roll the wriggling brunette on to her shoulders! Carpenter was quick to drop and count the first actual pinfall attempt of the match, hand dropping for…
LA RIVERACITA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KovjnE1PFQ
ONE
TWNNNooo
However disoriented she might be there was simply no way the Star Strider was going to fall for one of her own signature moves ,and she proved it by powering her legs to kick up and out. But it looked like the ‘Bomb wasn’t surprised by this outcome, keeping hold of the arm she had captured and using it to drag Lily onto her back with the limb trapped underneath Chaos’ knees.
“I just proved you were talking bullshyt,” she said matter-of-factly.
Burlingame didn’t seem too keen to hear why, wriggling and yanking at that trapped arm without success. And her position became worse when the imposter began hopping up off the canvas, her weight dropping back down again and again on that pinned limb. “Cherry Bomb might have been a masked freak, but at least she was unpredictable. That made her interesting.” Even as the last words left her mouth the imposter Bomb leaned down, pressed her hands to the mat and pushed up into a gorgeously well-balanced handstand! She was only up for a second though, dropping back down again to drive both knees into Lily’s arm.
“Without the mask you’re just another rich girl who thinks she can fight. Without the mask you aren’t even the most interesting wrestler in your own family. And by the time I’m done no-one will care about your name.” Keen to press her advantage, the lightning-fast interloper shifted position again, using the arm she had captured as a lever to roll Lily onto her front and hook in a hammerlock. But she wasn’t done, bringing her legs up and around to add a headscissor to the mix and hook in a grounded version of another Cherry Bomb classic!
CHAOS FIZZ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YERtfAF0Pdg
Al Carpenter had been hovering since that pinfall attempt and now he swooped back in to check on his charge. “Are you ok Lil?” he asked, “tell me something girl!” What he got in return was a snort of laughter. “Thanks for the concern Al” Lily chuckled, “but I’m not about to tap out to my own bad tribute act. Confetti Bomb here is going to have to bring something better than this if she thinks she’s going to impress me.” She spun her torso around on the matt, now better positioned to reach those legs out towards the…
“Know what, you’re right. Cherry Fizz was a weak-ass move. Guess that’s why even you stopped using it.” With Lily only inches form the ropes, the ‘Bomb’ abandoned her headscissors and clambered to her knees, dragging the shorter woman back away from the safety of the strands. “But mask or no, you’re still a nasty commie pinko freak, and a True American like me knows how to put you down.” Tugging that arm between her own legs, the Maelstrom Meteor dropped to her back and bridged her hips up hard, the fans at ringside recognising the move that was best known as the Second Armendment
CROSS ARM BREAKER
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LYepHXeBL4
Legs kicking frantically as the Chaos Bomb tried to set off an explosion in her elbow, Lily managed to roll into the pressure just enough to lock her hands in a desperation S-grip. This ended the worst of the strain on her arm, but with both hands occupied it meant her offensive options were rather limited. Even so, it didn’t stop her from shifting to one knee which in turn allowed her to stack the masked woman on her shoulders in an improvised Cradle that Carpenter legitimized with a…
ONE…
TWO…
“NNNGGGHH BYTCH!”
Chaos wrenched one hand free and immediately jabbed that thumb into Lily’s eye! This was followed by a pair of scuffing kicks across the former champion’s cheek, their combined might more than enough to put the heiress flat on her back! The Entropic Intruder went right back to the Armbreaker once Burlingame’s rebellion was contained, only now she made a point of constantly scraping her left heel across the vulnerable brunette’s face. “Ask her.” Chaos snapped at the official. “See if the spoiled little rich girl wants to tap out before I give her a busted wing to go with that bum knee.”
Al noted the unpleasant angle of Lily’s trapped arm and decided to comply with the Bomb’s demand. “What do you say, Lil’? Need me to call it a night?”
The Roseate Rocket didn’t reply at once, as she was rather preoccupied trying to control her opponent’s encroaching heel. Only when she’d achieved a modicum of success did she grunt, “No way, Al. This punk may talk like Polly, but her ground game’s nowhere near as good. Come to think of it, she’s not as strong as Chrissy or as quick as Soledad. She’s as bad at being them as she is at being EEEERRRRHHHHHHH!”
The Chaos Bomb wriggled her foot free from Lily’s grip, pressed it against the side of her head and puuuuuuuushed forward while simultaneously cranking back on the Armbreaker. “You really want to keep running your mouth, f*ckstick?” she snarled. “We both know I’m about ten seconds from popping this elbow like a AAAHHHH DAMMIT!”
Burlingame slipped under her attacker’s foot at the cost of an ugly welt across the bridge of her nose, yet she judged it worthwhile because it put her mug into contact with the bare skin above the top of Chaos’s kneepad and she repaid the Counterfeit Comet by sinking her teeth in deep!
Genuinely surprised by the show viciousness from a consummate technician, the Bedlam Bombshell loosened her grip on Lily’s wrist to the point that Burlingame managed to roll to a knee once again. No Cradles or S-Grips this time around however, the fuming heiress simply balled her free hand into a fist and brought it down on Chaos’s startled mug over and over and over again! Give the masked devil her due, she turned her face away from the pugilistic shelling and never once stopped trying to force Burlingame back to the canvas. But her grip wasn’t what it once was whereas Lily’s position was much improved and she didn’t stop dropping the hammer until Chaos returned her purloined arm.
Freedom from the Armbreaker gave the former Lightweight Champion a strong incentive to put some distance between herself and the Nihilist Nuke, unfortunately for Chaos the urge to punish was that much stronger, so Burlingame scooted around into a seat between the masked woman’s splayed stems. Lily grabbed her foe’s calves and drew the Bomb’s legs around her waist. For a moment it looked as though she were offering herself up for a Bodyscissors, but then she wrapped her arms around Chaos’s lower legs and rolled to her left in a smooth little tumble that put Chaos Bomb on her belly and set Lily in a comfortable spot between the other wrestler’s freshly-folded legs. With the Mayhem Missile’s shins corralled beneath her armpits, Burlingame leaned forward and grabbed hold of her bicepsNO!
Chaos pulled away, braced her elbows against the mat and set off on a scrabbling journey toward the ropes! Not about to let the thieving reprobate off easy after suffering through the hell of the Cross Armbreaker, Lily curled her fingers into claws and raaaaaaaaaaaaaaked the vulnerable brunette’s back from shoulders to buttock.
“Catty bytch!” Chaos yelped as the Star Strider’s talons did their wicked work. “Keep your f*cking press-on nails away from AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Burlingame raked her protesting scratching post two, three, four more times, then snatched a double handful of waistband and tried to pull it over the bleating Bomb’s head! “What’s wrong?” Lily asked in a tone of savage sweetness. “All that grim-dark anarchist philosophizing of yours doesn’t allow for a little tog tugging?” She pulled a little harder, made a point of turning the taut material between her fingers. “I suppose you could always tap out. Wouldn’t do much for your cred though, tapping to a damned wedgie. Oh wait, is THAT why you stole my mask? You needed something to cover your face after I--”
“F*CK YOU!” Chaos pushed up on one elbow and reached back in an awkward attempt to grab Lily’s wrists. “I’m gonna split you in half you snippy little aaaahh dammit FAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHK!”
Vicious though it was, the wedgie proved nothing more than bait, a reason for the masked woman to offer up one hand or both. Abandoning those distended trunks for a white-knuckle grip on her rival’s wrist, Burlingame captured the Bomb’s other hand shortly thereafter, then planted her feet and REEFED back on the Grounded Surfboard.
GROUNDED SURFBOARD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5F11Xo8WwM
“You’re not going to do anything, sweetheart.” Lily’s normally pleasant tone was cold and mean as she tried to bend Chaos into a full-body U. “Except pray that I decide to let you go after you tap out.”
The heiress pulled back again, drawing a wail from the Bedlam Bombshell that brought Al on the double. “What do you say, Bomb? Just say the word and I’ll WHOAH!”
Chaos tore one hand free from Lily’s trap and grabbed hold of the ref’s collar. “Don’t waste your breath. Just be a good zebra and get me to the NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Lily doubled down on the remaining Wristlock, yanked back and made the imposter pay for her resilience with half a dozen stomping kicks between the shoulders. The last one got Al free of Chaos’s claws, so Burlingame released the remnants of the Surfboard and got to her feet.
“Don’t put your hands on the official, it’s tacky AF.” she huffed after a few seconds rest. “Of course it’s not as tacky as stealing someone else’s hard work to worm your way onto the biggest card of the year, so I don’t know why I’m wasting my breath?”
Chaos answered with a muttered curse and a raised middle finger, all the incentive Lily needed to grab a wrist and THUMP a punt into the faux flyer’s ribs. The Wristlock was more than enough to scrap Chaos Bomb off the mat and march her to the ropes, where Burlingame ground an aggressive shoulder into her sternum before stepping away and sending her off with an Irish NO! Chaos dug in her heels, dropped a shoulder and revered the Whip to send Lily in her place! This didn’t bother the Star Strider in the slightest, at least not until she spun around for the return trip and saw Chaos Bomb bearing down on her with a Lariat at the ready! Going low without even thinking about it, she dipped under the attempt, hit the strands on the far side and came back with a Lariat of her owNOOO! The Entropic Intruder mirrored her escape and kept right on running. Bearing down on each other at top speed, the pair of lightweight warriors reared back for one more Lariat only to spring into the air and twist sideways for stereo Crossbodies that ended in a resounding mid-air THWHAP!
They hit the deck in a tangle of groaning limbs, Lily and Chaos slowly prizing themselves away from the hated other to roll in opposite directions. Positioned between his charges, Al waited several seconds to see if they’d rise and when they didn’t he began the standing ten count. “ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR…”
Signs of movement from both fighters, although it looked like the imposter ‘Bomb is suffering more as all she could do was roll to her front and take a couple of big, settling breaths. Lily looked to be in better shape, reaching out to the ropes and using these as a ladder to get herself up to kneeling. By the time Carpenter had reached “…SEVEN…” Burlingame was all but up on her feet, enough to convince the referee to stop his count but also putting her in a much better position than her masked rival, still only just on all fours.
And that position didn’t last for long, Lily looking to get things ended by tangling one leg around the wobbly ‘Bomb’s arm and diving over the top. The raven-haired interloper was turned on her back like a turtle, Burlingame balancing her weight beautifully to keep shoulders pressed to the matt and her ass stacked high in the air! The pinning predicament looked tight as Carpenter dropped to count…
ONE
TWO
NOOoooo
The referee’s hand was still rising from the two when the wriggling imposter managing to kick her way free and flop to her side. She was on her front and pushing up straight away, but once again not quite fast enough, Lily scrambling up ahead of her and ploughing forward to hook around her waist. In retaliation the Bomb leaned forwards and hooked around the shorter woman’s neck, but this didn’t slow Lily down for a second, flicking one leg out to trip Chaos backwards and using her arm to keep her rolled up in another tight little package!
GANNOSUKE CLUTCH
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0SDNq2N8Oc
ONE
TWO
NOOOO
This time Carpenter’s count had gotten even closer, but the Bomb managed to reorient herself and just about wriggle free. She completed a messy backwards roll and slopped to her front again, this time rolling as fast as she could to the bottom rope, hanging on tight and staying on her front, hoping to avoid any more lightning-fast pain attempts while she regained some breath.
After a few seconds she raised her head and, with no sign of Burlingame, scrambled quickly back to vertical with the help of the ropes. But it was only when she stepped away from the strands and turned that she realised she had lost track of the Crimson Comet entirely. And the imposter ‘Bomb very quickly had reason to regret that when Lily flew past her, hooking one arm around that confused head and spinning in a lethal half-circle before laying out. Chaos Bomb was yanked into an involuntary forwards flip which dropped her crown right into the canvas-covered plywood!
CHERRY’S JUBILEE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z34w0RuZqdE
Chaos Bomb rolled over onto her back and stayed there, limbs spread in a damp starfish, eyes cloudy as she gulped in air. She looked absolutely ripe for pinning, and Burlingame was on top of her again in a flash. But there was concern form the crowd as Burlingame eschewed a likely match-winning cover and instead rolled the insensate brunette over onto her front, moving to a high kneel over her shoulderblades.
“Bad news, cupcake” she told the demolished imposter, “there’s a Warhead coming, and it’s got your name on it. But first we’re all going to find out what that name is.” Both hands plunged down into the tangle of laces at the back of Chaos Bomb’s mask, tugging and tearing to remove it. Her progress was unimpeded for a good few seconds, the mask looking decidedly looser as a result, before the Mayhem Missile recovered just enough sense to bring her own hands up and try to disrupt Burlingame’s efforts.
“<La máscara es segrada!>!” she yelled. Lily just paused for a second and shook her head. “Oh shut up and stop pretending to be Soledad Sanchez. You’re not even a luchadora, you’re just a thief. And I’m taking back what’s miIIIIAAAEEE!” Distracted by reclaiming her possession, Lily had lost track of the imposter’s hands and now paid for it when one sneaked down between her thighs and dug into the vulnerable flesh at the center of her bottoms! Startled and hurting, Burlingame couldn’t help but kneel up and Chaos Bomb used the extra room to wriggle herself free.
She clambered to vertical, reaching down to grab one of Burlingame’s arms and drag her back up to kneeling. Lily would have stood up too but Chaos Bomb didn’t let her get that far, dragging on that captured limb and pumping out a vicious Soccer Kick which slammed into the Roseate Rocket’s jaw and left her slumping backwards on the matt. By contrast the Bedlam Bombshell seemed to be getting an adrenaline rush, turning to the nearest corner and using the ropes to springboard herself up to the top buckle.
Once there she took a second to survey the crowds, bringing both hands up to flash a pair of middle fingers in response to the boos. But as she turned around that roar became a lot more positive, likely due to the sight of Lily Burlingame, back on her feet and dashing into the corner to deliver a big Running Forearm across the imposter’s jaw. Chaos Bomb was rocked backwards but managed to hold on to the ropes to keep her perch, a fact which she quickly came to regret when Burlingame hopped up after her, braced both feet on the middle rope, and ducked her shoulder into the other brunette’s midriff.
Lifting up, Lily reached behind her in an attempt to secure the head and hold her doppelganger in position for possibly the most apocalyptic Kryptonite Krunch ever seen. The FAWNatics responded at once, desperate to see Burlingame Jr’s other finisher, but their hopes were thwarted when Chaos Bomb managed to land three awkward but effective elbow strikes to the side of her captor’s head, enough to loosen the Star Strider’s grip and allow the imposter to drop into a messy somersault which ended with her feet on the canvas. And the reversal of fortunes was completed when the Turmoil Torpedo took two dancing steps and flicked up a Superkick which slammed into Burlingame’s brainbox.
EDGE OF CHAOS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsdXWigoro
Knocked all but loopy by the crushing combination of superkick into lightly-padded steel, Lily’s knees buckled. In all likelihood she would have fallen back off the turnbuckle, but the masked woman wouldn’t let her. Instead she reached up and hooked both hands into Burlingame’s armpits, using that grip to lift her up and out. As soon as those brawny legs were free of the corner Chaos Bomb yelled “You know nothing, chica!” and dropped her package down, Lily’s back and neck slamming down into the mat.
SPLASH MOUNTAIN
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dMSHF7vEqo
Again the situation looked ripe for a pin and again a weary wrestler eschewed this, the masked woman instead turning back towards the corner. But with the Star Strider finally laid low, the toll of a gruelling match seemed to be telling. The dark haired girl had to climb rather than vaulting to the top buckle, and there was a notable wobble in the Counterfeit Comet’s legs and she put both feet on the top of the ringpost and straightened up to her full height. But there was no sign of tiredness in the way she stretched one fist out above her head, thumb raised to the rafters as if ready to press the plunger on an imaginary bomb. The crowd knew how to respond to this, and although the majority were booing that mingled with a clear “BOOOOOOOM” as the masked woman triggered her detonator and launched herself out into the void.
The consensus on most FAWN message boards was that the Cherry Warhead had a strong argument for being the most succcessful finishing move in the promotion, and certainly was amongst the best to watch. Of course, Lily Burlingame had never been the recipient of her own finisher before, but most of the audience were on baited breath as they awaited the result. This attempt at the double-axis rotation might not have been quite as neat as Lily’s, the Mayhem Missile’s turns not quite as smooth and her form perhaps a little ragged. But the end result seemed to be just as devastating, Chaos Bomb’s torso exploding into Lily’s and crushing the brunette into the canvas.
CHAOS WARHEAD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdHhtx-Kog
And suddenly the noise in the arena came roaring back, a mix of opprobrium and awe loud enough to blow the roof off. But none of that seemed to register with Chaos Bomb, the masked woman simply reaching out to hook one limp leg and rolling until Lily had her shoulders on the matt and her ass pointed at the lights. Al Carpenter was quick to do his job, dropping to his knees to count…
ONE
TWO
THREE!
Carpenter held up three fingers and turned to gesture to the timekeeper, the bell calling an end to the match ringing out a second later. But that ring was barely audible over the noise erupting from the FAWNatics, cheers, boos and just general cacophony raining down from all sides. In the midst of this the victorious Chaos Bomb let Burlingame’s legs loose and moved to a high kneel, turning to face her victim while she sucked in deep gasps of air. It was only once ‘Comeback Kid’ was once more blaring through the speakers that the Havoc Howitzer responded to her purloined theme music.
Placing one hand on Burlingame’s gulping belly and the other square in the center of her bottoms, the imposter pushed up to an unnecessary but nonetheless impressive handstand before flipping over onto her feet and spreading her arms wide. Chaos Bomb turned a slow circle, basking in the maelstrom of noise around her. And finally the announcer’s voice could be heard over the racket. “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, by way of pinfall…uh…CHAO…”
A friend in need’s a friend indeed
PURE MORNING
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHQngnnHE_0
Everyone in the arena knew what those words and that music meant, but after having watched one member of FlC get carried out of the ring on a stretcher just half an hour ago, most didn’t believe it. But they turned to the entrance ramp anyway, and in the ring both the victorious ‘bomb and her slowly recovering victim turned too. After a few more seconds, with no sign of anyone emerging from behind the curtain, the masked woman turned again, rapidly scanning the crowd. And she kept her head on a swivel, checking, turning and spinning for fifteen or twenty seconds, until all of a sudden it became apparent that she wasn’t looking around her at all…
…she was dancing.
Turns became pirouettes, swirling over to the prone body of Lily Burlingame and briefly pausing to blow a kiss in her direction before dancing over to the ropes, dropping to her back to roll underneath and retake her feet on the floor. Her wild waltz took her slowly up the ramp, but her hands came up to the back of her head, giving a few final tugs at the lacing of her mask. And after all the tugging previously it only took a few seconds for those laces to finally came undone. The imposter Bomb held her disguise in place with one hand for a few more seconds until she was facing away from the ring and the camera and then let it drop, holding on to one of the laces and trailing it along the floor for the last few steps up the ramp.
Already most of those watching had put two and two together, but they received final confirmation when the woman who had been known only as Chaos Bomb turned back to the ring, and the cameras, with her face finally revealed. Sure enough there were the dark eyes, the impish grin, and even the two neon chevrons of facepaint over her left eye, looking smudged but still visible despite having been under the mask.
LYRA FAULK
Finally the other half of the FlC equation hobbled out from behind the curtain. Harriet Larkin looked like death warmed up; pale, hobbling, and distinctly wobbly as she reached out to place on hand on her partner’s shoulder. She was leaning heavily on the woman who had previously come out during the entrance of Larkin’s match, a lithe brunette with tight red shorts and a white hoody up covering her face. Whoever she was, Lyra didn’t seem surprised, not even looking round at all, although she briefly nuzzled her cheek into Larkin’s hand before shrugging it off and placing one foot daintily in front of the other. The revealed Chaos Bomb bent at the waist, one hand waving to deliver an elaborate ballet dancer’s curtsey aimed squarely at the furious figure of Lily Burlingame, recovering in the ring.
Once the revealed Chaos Emerald had made her point she flashed one last smile and finally turned away, ducking one hand under her beleaguered partner’s shoulder and helping the mystery woman to support her back to the dressing room. But the cameras didn’t follow, instead staying focused on the thunderous face of Lily Burlingame as she watched the victor slink away.