Post by bigfan on Aug 7, 2017 0:41:13 GMT
As a team of production assistants worked to prepare the ring and load the video promo package for the next match, Yoona Park decided to crash the party unannounced. She stepped through the curtains and stalked down the entrance ramp appearing atypically focused and grave, and behind her she dragged a protesting Craig Long by the lapel of his zebra-striped referee’s shirt.
Like Craig, Yoona was also dressed for action, with her torso armored in a black bustier-style one piece lined in metallic gold. Her forearms were covered in matching fingerless gloves that ran up to her elbow, and on her legs were a pair of skintight black sleeves that started just above her knees and extended down to her ankle bones before terminating in thin stirrups that looped around the bottom of her otherwise bare feet, just in front of the heel. “YOONA” was written vertically in metallic gold block letters on the front of each shin, and securely knotted around her left thigh was a red silk ribbon.
YOONA PARK
She practically stuffed the stumbling referee under the bottom rope, then she demanded and received a microphone before joining him in the squared circle. Unscheduled intrusions were normally frowned upon in a tightly packed pay-per-view event, but Park never failed to draw prurient interest and additional viewers, so the business-minded brass allowed the interruption to slide.
Yoona took her spot at the middle of the ring, and when she raised the microphone to her lips, the assembled FAWNatics surely expected her to issue a challenge to Adelaide Brewster after the events of Summer Swelter. As was her wont, however, Park started her speech with what was an apparent non-sequitur.
“You know… Cam isn’t the only one in my family who’s a comics nerd,” she said with a rueful laugh. “When I was a wee little girl in Seoul, my Dad used to read me bedtime stories every night. It was usually some old-timey Korean folklore or parable… but on some nights… mostly when my Mom had already gone to sleep… Dad would tell me tales of a distant land where legendary heroes wore magic rings, shot lightning from their hands, and did whatever a spider can.”
Yoona paused for a few moments and closed her eyes as she seemed lost in memories, before she continued, “That shit was so lame that I was asleep in three minutes tops, which to be fair, is in fact the whole point of a bedtime story. So, yeah… well played, Dad. Well. Played.”
A good portion of the audience tittered in laughter, though there was a segment of fans who didn’t seem pleased that the Korean was so dismissive towards their favorite hobby and interest. Of course, Park didn’t care one way or the other as she resumed her meandering promo.
“There was one exception though. One comic for which I always stayed awake...” she said with a wry grin. “WWWOOOOORRRRRLLLD’S FINEST! The misadventures of Batman and Superman always held my attention. Not because the stories were interesting, mind you… it was the characters themselves that captivated me, especially the differences between them.”
Yoona started pacing back and forth across the ring, and she changed her tone to something academic-sounding.
“Consider Batman. He takes the bat as his avatar and cultivates this aura of intimidation, lurking in the shadows and striking fear into the hearts of all who oppose him. Or at least that’s what he wants everyone to think. The mythical Batman is just that -- a myth. Nothing more than a paper tiger behind which Bruce Wayne hides, a coward and a fraud. All smoke and mirrors and vainglorious bravado, because once the lights are on and the mask is off --”
Park pantomimed peeling something off her face, even as her features twisted into a hateful scowl.
“-- what’s left behind is PATHETIC... POWERLESS... WEAK... A fitting description for the bat itself. Not so much a terror of the night as a common nuisance… not to be feared, but to be EXTERMINATED!”
That got the arena buzzing with anticipation as they finally realized where she was going with her diatribe, and Yoona took a couple of seconds to feed off the electricity of the crowd before she forced her expression and tone into something closer to neutral and continued her promo.
“And now consider Superman. He too wears a mask, because Superman wasn’t born Superman, defender of truth, justice, and the American way. Nor was he born Clark Kent, bumbling, ineffectual reporter. No… Superman was born Kal-El. Sole survivor of the planet Krypton, last scion of the House of El, and the baddest motherfucker in the universe. But of course, that power -- real power -- can only rouse fear and hatred, so he pretends to be something he’s not. The dorky glasses... that ridiculous spit-curl... that stupid red underwear on the outside of his pants… all of it is to hide the fact that every other thing on Earth lives and breathes because he allows it. Because that’s the only way he can win the heart of the people, to be accepted by the world even as he stands a god among rodents.”
Park chuckled quietly.
“And you know what? It works! In fact, it works so well that all these suicidal dipshits think they stand a ghost of a chance against him. They come at him and his loved ones with their Kryptonite, and their gadgets, and their schemes… and you know what? He does nothing, because they are beneath him. But these fucking guys, man… they just don't know when to quit. They mistake his mercy for weakness, so they keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and PUSHING, and PUSHING... until one day… one day the mask slips...”
Yoona once more pantomimed taking something off of her face, and when she spoke again, it was with the fiery charisma and bombastic theatrics of a pentecostal preacher, angrily stomping about the ring and gesticulating with her free arm.
“...AND HE RIPS THE SHIT OUTTA EVERYTHING! CITIES CRUMBLE! OCEANS BOIL! RIVERS RUN RED WITH BLOOD AND DEATH RAINS FROM THE SKIES! BECAUSE BITCHES GOTTA KNOW JUST WHO THE FUCK THEY’RE DEALING WITH!”
Right on cue, the FAWNatics practically exploded into a raucous ovation, one side of the building screaming ”YOO-NA!” while the other side answered “BOMA-YE!” over and over again. Yoona stood still in the center of the ring with her eyes closed, soaking in the adulation and the hero’s tribute that she hadn’t heard since she had battered Paulette Severe in their cathartic penthouse brawl a year ago. After maybe ten seconds, she opened her eyes and brought the microphone to her lips again, even as the chant continued unabated.
“I want you to remember this story, Adelaide Brewster,” Park said with a cold, eerie calm even as the name of her hated nemesis rolled off her tongue. “Remember this story when you’re picking up your teeth with broken fingers.”
Yoona tossed the microphone over her shoulder and out of the ring, the accompanying thunk on its landing on the floor prompting the audience to get even louder in their support of the Korean. She closed her eyes once more and awaited her would-be opponent’s entrance, and a very nervous Craig Long took the opportunity to perform a cursory inspection of her gear in anticipation of a match.
“So… umm… is -- is that Korean?” the referee asked of the battle cry that the fans had given to Park.
“Lingala,” she placidly answered without opening her eyes.
“Oh… well… what does it mean?”
Yoona’s lips stretched into the faintest hint of a smile.
“It means I’m free.”
Unofficial though it was, Park’s challenge hung heavy in the air and those assembled for Red, White & Bruised craned their necks to the entryway to see if the Daughter of Darkness would respond.
Five seconds ticked by.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Thirty.
Yoona growled, the sound low and dangerous in the back of her throat. “How long does it take the idiots in audio to queue up some f*cking music?”
“Like, two seconds,” Craig answered, not knowing if the question was rhetorical or not. “Just a few button presses, really.”
The black-clad brunette shook her head in disgust, then started toward the ropes. “Welp, looks like it’s time to go bytch hunt--”
The house lights winked out like a candle snuffed by a strong breeze. The FAWNatics cheered uproariously, not for the woman herself, but for the promise of violence raised by her mere presence.
There’s a humming in the restless summer air, Lorde murmured from the speakers. And we’re slipping off the course that we prepared.
Yoona crowded the ropes, stepped onto the second strand, and boosted herself up for a better view of the stage.
“F*cking nonsense,” she muttered. “What sort of vampire comes out to this shyt?”
But in all chaos there is calculation. Dropping glasses just to hear them break.
A few lights on either side of the stage ‘thoomped’ into life, revealing a sea of ankle deep fog shrouding the stage, but no Adelaide Brewster.
You’ve been drinking like the world was gonna end. Took a shiner to the face from your best friend. It’s clear that someone’s gotta go. I mean it, but I promise we’re not mean.
Already broiling, Park hopped down from the ropes and started through only to have Craig put a hand on her shoulder.
“You’ll be safer here,” he said. “Easier to defend the ring.”
Yoona didn’t much like to admit the referee was right, so she just brushed him away and retreated to the center of the squared circle.
And the cry goes out. They lose their minds for us and how it plays out.
“There she is,” Long noted half a heartbeat before the FAWNatics let loose with a resounding chorus of boos.
In the deep shadows of the recession between the curtain and stage, a woman swung down from the ceiling, her knees hooked over a bar hidden just out of sight. Arms crossed over her chest, the brunette twisted loose of her perch and--
“That’s not Adelaide,” Yoona said to no one in particular.
Now we’re in the ring and we’re coming for blood.
BWAAAAANG!
Yoona shrieked in surprised anguish as the steel chair smashed across her shoulders hard enough to drop the Korean to her hands and knees. Genuinely gobsmacked by the Churchgoer’s apparent teleportation act (there HAD been someone on stage, he was sure of it) Craig Long remember his duties until Adelaide raised the chair for a second swing.
ADELAIDE BREWSTER
Stepping between the brunettes without so much as a thought, he grabbed Brewster by the wrist and barked, “DROP THE CHAIR, ADELAIDE! DROP IT RIGHT NOW AND I WON’T FINE YOU FOR ARRRRRRRHHHHHH FAAAAAHK!”
Gasps from the crowd when the Weeping Angel leaned forward and blew a swirling crimson plume directly into the official’s eyes! Long spun away, stumbling and staggering until he hit a corner and collapsed against it in a burbling heap. Alone with her prey for the time being, Adelaide hefted the chair overhead, spun it over in her hands and brought the rounded edge THWHUMPING down on the small of Park’s back! Yoona wailed, reared back on her knees and promptly found her hair in Brewster’s possession.
“Yuuuuhhhh…. you gutless f*ck,” Park grunted. “Don’t you ever just fiNNNNNGGGHHH!”
Adelaide went up on her toes, then dropped to one knee, all the better to drive her foe’s forehead into the thinly-sheathed plywood. Eyes watering after the powerful collision, the vulnerable battler didn’t see Brewster raise the chair a third time. Didn’t see Adelaide lining up another shot with the rounded edge, this one directly across the Korean’s ankles. No, Yoona didn’t see any of this, she only heard the crowd sigh in relief when the fanged fanatic shook her head ‘no’ and tossed the weapon aside.
This apparent mercy was really nothing more than a reprieve, as Brewster helped herself to a greedy handful of Park’s waistband and used it to haul her up and back into a gut-mashing Waistlock. No theatrics now, as Miranda’s Red Right Hand immediately dropped her hips and peeled off a high, steep bridge that THAWHAMMED Park down flat on the back of her head and shoulders. The force of the German Suplex somersaulted Yoona backward, only now she was on all fours in front of her attacker.
RELEASE GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5naric1LcR0
Brewster raked a hand through her hair and ran her tongue along her teeth, seemingly mulling her next move. After a moment’s deliberation she buried a hand in Yoona’s hair, hauled her to verticality and slapped on a Front Facelock. From there she slipped her free arm between the other brunette’s legs and flipped her upside down for a Body Slam of some-- THWHUNK! The Weeping Angel laid out hard on her left side, driving the base of her opponent’s neck into the mat with a murderous Northern Lights Bomb.
NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9FuzK82X_Q
The head drop left Yoona folded in a near Matchbook and probably would’ve earned a three count if the ref hadn’t been knuckling stage blood out of his eyes. Of course the bell hadn’t sounded meaning there was no match at all, which was almost certainly why Adelaide let Yoona slop out on back without attempting a cover.
“I appreciate the passion on behalf of your medium,” the True Believer’s tone was quite mild for someone surrounded by carnage of her own devising. “In fact I’d wager it’s the only genuine glimpse you’ve offered these people since you tried to maim the off-brand Anciline shortly after your arrival.”
Adelaide went back to Park’s hair, hoisted her upright and led / dragged her to the ropes on the far side of the ring.
“The problem is you’re dabbling in the wrong genre. There are no super heroes here tonight, only monsters. And anyone who knows anything about vampires,” she threaded Yoona’s arms over the top rope, leaned in to grab the middle strand from the outside and deftly tugged it up over the kickboxer’s shoulders, “knows you NEVER grant them an invitation.”
Park coughed, then giggled, “You’re not a vampire, f*ckstick. You’re just an UUUUUUUUNNNNNNGGGGGGGHHH!”
The Korean’s arms were already trapped, so Brewster just grabbed a handful of hair to steady her aim for the Heart Punch that mushroomed Park’s left breast.
Forehead to forehead now, Adelaide cooed, “I’m not a vampire and you’re not a badass. Only difference between us is that I KNOW I’m pretending. That said, do you know that to become a vampire, a person has to taste the blood of a vampire?”
Realization flashed on Park’s pained features and she strained hard against the rubber-coated steel. “Don’t even think about it you crazy f*ck. That’s a game you don’t want to eeeeerrrrggggghhhhhhh FAAAAAAAAAAAHHHK!”
Brewster put the heel of one foot atop Park’s toes and stepped down until the black-clad beauty could keep the scream in no longer. Then she hooked two fingers over Yoona’s bottom jaw and pulled down while the other hand pinched the Korean’s nostrils so tight she simply couldn’t close her mouth.
“Don’t cower now, little girl. I promise you the tequila tasted worse.”
The Daughter of Darkness unleashed the second Red Mist of the evening, most of it coating Park’s face and the back of Brewster’s hand, but enough of it got down Yoona’s throat to set off a violent fit of hacking and coughing.
Satisfied with her work, Adelaide wiped a little red off Yoona’s bottom lip, then turned around and sighed at the sight of Al Carpenter clambering into the ring.
“Get out of here, Adelaide. Right goddamned now,” Carpenter demanded. “I’m sure there’s a suit waiting to discuss your fine.”
“Worth every penny,” she cooed. “Send Lenore my love.”
Brewster strolled by the replacement ref, dipped through the ropes and would’ve dropped to the floor if a voice behind her hadn’t called out.
“Where do you think you’re going, bytch?”
Adelaide came back through, incredulous that Park could summon that much brass considering the hell she’d been through.
“I… I came out here for a fight…” she turned her head to one side and spat pink phlegm on the mat. “Now get me out of these ropes.”
“And ring the f*cking bell,” Brewster added.
Al Carpenter hesitated, cycling his gaze between Adelaide, Yoona, and his fellow referee. Fortunately, Craig had managed to roll clear of the ring and was now making his way to the back with the help of a pair of Vannacutt’s medical aides. Brewster had made no move to attack, so Carpenter turned his attention towards Park and set about untangling the Korean lovely from the ropes. Still feeling the effects of Adelaide’s assault, Yoona would've crumpled to the mat as soon as she was freed from the strands had Al not caught her to keep her upright.
“You heard her, Algernon,” Yoona hissed even as she clung to the man for support. “Ring the fucking bell.”
Utterly flabbergasted that Park had addressed him by his full and proper name, Al stared blankly for a few seconds until a voice in his earpiece roused him back to alertness. The brass also demanded that he ring the bell, and with a helpless sigh, Carpenter shrugged out of Yoona’s grasps and signaled to the timekeeper to get things officially started.
It was a brave though perhaps unwise decision by Park to insist on a fight right then and there, as she stumbled forward and threw a sloppy attempt at a Discus Elbow Smash that had none of her usual grace or power. Brewster deftly stepped out of the way, and presented with her opponent’s unguarded back, she drew back her right leg and fired a very hard, very low, and very precise Snap Kick directly into Yoona’s Achilles tendon, just above the left heel. Park gasped in pain as her foot buckled immediately, and she fell forward before she caught her upper body on the middle rope. That normally would have granted the reeling Korean a short respite, but Adelaide was rarely if ever in a magnanimous mood, especially in light of the bitter history between the two women, so she shoved her way past the protesting official and laid claim to her opponent’s left foot.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Brewster purred as she applied joint shredding torque to the captured limb with an Ankle Lock.
Yoona screamed and wailed even as she clung onto the steel-coated cable for dear life, eyes already welling with tears of agony and rage. Adelaide kept turning up the pressure all through a five count and a cacophony of jeers in what seemed to be an earnest effort to cripple her opponent, relenting only when Carpenter threatened a massive suspension on top of the fine she had already picked up a few minutes earlier.
Released from the brief but tortuous Ankle Lock, Park slopped to the the mat, rolled onto her back, and gingerly massaged her throbbing left foot. There had been a time not too long ago, before she had gotten her new ring gear, that such a hold would have meant a trip to Vannacutt’s office and two weeks on the injured list. With her protective leg and ankle sleeves, the Ankle Lock proved to be far less injurious though no less painful, and Yoona gingerly climbed to her feet. Al still seemed ready to call the match and signal for the medical team, but the Korean forestalled him with an angry wave of her arm and a determined shout of “NO!”
With her left foot dragging slightly as she approached her hated foe, Yoona was nevertheless able to crouch down and duck under Adelaide’s Roundhouse Kick. Hours of going through tape with her girlfriend back when Camille had been the prime target of the Church of Eternal Midnight meant that Park had the follow-up Rolling Elbow well-scouted, and the Korean was able to close the distance and lock on the Muay Thai clinch before Brewster could fire off the second part of her combination attack. Yoona slammed a Knee Strike into Adelaide’s taut belly to put the Queen of Nightmares on the defensive, then she dipped her shoulders and bullied her fellow brunette backwards into a corner.
Moments away from being mauled by a torrent of elbows and knees, Adelaide countered with a stiff-fingered thrust that split Yoona’s thighs. The blatant Low Blow earned Brewster a warning and a reprimand from the official, but the damage was already done as Park released her clinch and shuffled away, pigeon-toed and with her hands protectively clasped over her groin. With a low, dangerous snarl, Adelaide stormed out of her corner and wrapped up her incapacitated foe in what looked like a standing Bear Hug. Rather than squeeze the Korean, however, the Churchgoer spun the both of them into a tight pirouette to build momentum before lifting Yoona off the mat and slamming her back down with a booming Belly to Belly Suplex.
BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pVgFXifDY
The FAWNatics collectively groaned with the impact, though Yoona managed to keep a flicker of hope alive by bouncing free from Adelaide’s grasps and into the safety of the ropes in the corner. Concerned with how worn and ragged Park was already looking this early in the match, Al physically stepped in between the two combatants to ensure that Brewster respected the rope break this time. Yoona didn’t take longer than a two-count to start dragging herself towards the center of the ring, however, her pride and animosity towards her opponent compelling her to take the fight to the Daughter of Darkness as soon as possible.
Still on her hands and knees, she lifted her head and regarded Brewster with a hateful sneer, and then Park suddenly yelled, “GET HER, CAM!”
Yoona shouted it with such volume and conviction that it sent the audience into a frenzy of confusion. Almost all of them got up and looked among themselves, trying to spot the Girl of Tomorrow somewhere in the crowd before she leapt to her girlfriend’s aid. They made such a commotion that it distracted Adelaide for just a moment as she cast a quick sideways glance at the entrance ramp.
That was all the opportunity Yoona needed.
Channeling all of her strength into her coiled legs, Park launched into a Flying Knee straight from her crouched position. Brewster managed to regain her wits just in time to prevent the blow from landing completely flush, but the force of the Korean’s knee slamming into the side of her head and neck still knocked her back three feet into the corner. Her back crashed against the turnbuckles and she started slumping to the canvas before she caught herself by throwing her arms over the top ropes, though it seemed beyond her at the moment to do much more than that.
“Idiot…” Yoona spat as she cracked her knuckles, before giving herself a couple of hard slaps across the face for a quick, revitalizing boost of adrenaline.
Feeling recharged by the self-inflicted slaps and bolstered by the cheers of the crowd, Park stalked towards her opponent and worked Brewster’s midsection like a heavy bag, slamming over a dozen rapid-fire hooks and uppercuts into Brewster’s ribs. She could have continued, but with Carpenter already chirping in her ear and ordering her to get Adelaide out of the corner, the Korean stopped the pummeling and instead secured a Front Facelock and dragged the slumping Churchgoer away from the ropes.
They didn’t get very far before Yoona grabbed a handful of Adelaide’s briefs, spun around so that her own back was to the ropes, and threw a Knee Strike into Brewster’s breadbasket while simultaneously hoisting the other brunette upright and upside down. Rather than stall at the peak of the lift, Park simply pivoted and released the Front Facelock while giving a push with her other hand. Freed from her moorings, Brewster’s inertia meant that she continued to flip up and over, eventually sailing over the ropes and crashing to the floor outside the ring.
TOSS SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWgpUsyVLlE
Yoona wasn’t done after the Toss Suplex to the outside. Seeing Adelaide sprawled out on the thinly padded cement floor, the Korean gripped the top rope, flexed her knees, and hurled herself out of the ring too. Never known for her acrobatic aptitude, Park nevertheless managed to smash into Brewster with a textbook Slingshot Plancha.
SLINGSHOT PLANCHA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMGkt78XYIU
The FAWNatics erupted into cheers, delighted that Yoona had decided to imitate her girlfriend by combining ring-rattling slams with spectacular aerial assaults. Their exuberance gave way to concern, however, when neither woman showed any signs of life after Carpenter was halfway through his twenty count.
After a few more seconds, it was Brewster that recovered first. She shoved Yoona aside, sat up, and rolled to all fours. Breathing heavily, the Weeping Angel looked over at Park, saw her exposed, and casually rapped her knuckles against the Korean’s crotch. Yoona cursed, lashed out with a woozy slap that got brushed aside, then rolled over onto her side to curl in a protective ball. Noting the count at ‘SEVENTEEN!’ Brewster clambered to boot leather, stepped over the vulnerable brunette and slid under the bottom rope. Stretched out on her stomach, Adelaide pushed up on one hand to point a finger at the official.
“Restart the count. Now.”
“Back in the ring, Adelaide,” he pleaded. “I get that you don’t like each other, but you can’t just mangle--”
The call for civility was cut off when Yoona rose up, grabbed her archenemy by the ankles and swung ‘em under the bottom ropes as hard as she could. The force of it spun Brewster in a smooth half circle, meaning her head and shoulders swung out over the edge of the apron where -- THWHACK! No problems with her form this time, Park’s execution was flawless as she spun through a rotation of her own, all the better to put some more power behind the Roaring Elbow she caromed off the side of Adelaide’s skull!
Brewster’s head jolted to one side, then dropped limp. She might’ve slid to the floor if Yoona hadn’t caught her in a Front Facelock.
“I tend… tend to run my mouth… a lot,” Park said between bouts of ragged breathing. “So bytches tune me out or just don’t pay attention at all, but Adelaide, I hope you’re listening when I say I genuinely hate your f*cking guts.”
The Daughter of Darkness was far too woozy offer a proper response, not that Park actually wanted one. Snatching hold of the other brunette’s waistband, Yoona dragged her out until she was about halfway across the narrow aisle. The crowd called for a DDT and the thought had definitely crossed Yoona’s mind, but a glance over one shoulder spoke of another plan. Grimacing as she set her feet against the thin blue mat, Park yanked her burden up, over and back with a sort of sawed-off Vertical Suplex that BWAAANGED her opponent’s calves down across the steel guardrail!
Adelaide shrieked and rolled onto her sides, both knees pulled up tight to her chest as she tried to massage the hurt from her stems.
“What’s the matter, bytch?” Yoona twined a hand in Brewster’s hair and gave it an angry little shake. “Not so fun having some crazy cunt try to break your legs, is it?”
“F*ck you, slut,” the true believer growled. “I’m gonna drink you drEEERRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”
Yoona grabbed hold of Adelaide’s crotch and gave her a taste of her grip strength.
“Not before I f*ck you to tears, twinkletoes. You’re not gonna walk right until Thanksgiving, which is right about the time I’ll come looking for your punk ass all over again!”
Ending her threat with a savage rake that extended from groin to well north of Adelaide’s navel, Yoona doubled down on the hair hold and peeled the Churchgoer off the mat before going back to those hated bottoms. The wedgie that followed was patently unnecessary, but it provided more than enough momentum to get Brewster under the bottom rope.
A short distance from Adelaide, Al stepped up to the ropes and said, “How’s the foot holding up, Yoona?”
“Don’t get soft on me, Craig,” she snapped. “I’ve still got a bytch to stake. And my foot’s fine, see?”
She punctuated by hopping from floor to apron and a single bound and though Park landed as easily as ever, Al caught the grimace of pain that flashed across her face. Yoona took a moment to shake out the twinge, then dipped between top and middle --
“OOOOOHHHH FAAHHHHK!”
Park was halfway through the strands when Adelaide lashed out with a low, sweeping kick that slammed into the front of the Korean’s plant ankle! Yoona tumbled forward, started to topple out of the ring but coiled an arm around the second rope to keep herself anchored in place. Adelaide didn’t mind this development at all, indeed she was showing teeth as she got to her knees and crawled over to the tawny striker.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” she cooed after she’d taken Park’s head in her hands. “Mind if I nibble your ear?”
Yoona put a hand against Adelaide’s chest and pushed, but she didn’t have the leverage to force her away, so she squeezed instead.
“Get away from me, Brewster. Don’t even think about EEERRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHH!”
The Queen of Nightmares yanked Yoona’s head back, leaned in close and sank her teeth in just below the Korean’s left ear. A FAWN photographer at ringside snapped a beautiful shot of Yoona screaming in hurt that became the banner pic for Red, White & Bruised, an unintentional slight that made Park boycott her own Twitter feed for a week. But that was later, at the moment she could only wail and hope that Carpenter would break this shyt up sooner than later.
Turned out to be sooner, as Al smacked Brewster on the shoulder to break the savage embrace. “Knock it off, Adelaide! Get her up and get her in the ring.”
Brewster pulled away, then leaned again to kiss her prey’s forehead. “You taste lovely. Now I understand why Cosworth keeps you around.”
No answer from Park, so Brewster went to the hair and dragged her fully into the squared circle. With Yoona on all fours, the true believer stood up, circled around and took possession of the Korean’s left ankle, which was the one she’d swept as Park tried to enter. Stretching the limb out full length, she laid Park’s ankle over the top rope and held it one handed as she reached over to grab the middle rope. Vague concern grew to outright worry once Brewster pulled the rubber-coated steel up and over her foe’s ankle, effectively trapping it in place.
“Adelaide, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Carpenter voiced the question on everyone’s mind even as the Churchgoer grabbed Yoona’s right ankle.
“Heathens would call it a taste of her own medicine,” Brewster said with a smile. “I just call it fun.”
Then she trapped Park’s ankle in the crook of one elbow, cupped her other hand to the side of the hobbled brunette’s foot and bore down on her second Ankle Lock of the evening.
“NOOOOOOOOO GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH YOU EVIL BYTCH!” Park woke up like someone electrified, the usually icy battler twisting in anguish as the dual holds sent fire racing all the way to her hips.
As if things weren’t bad enough already, the Weeping Angel started moving away from Yoona’s left foot, slowly but surely stretching those defenseless legs in an improvised Wishbone.
“ROPES! ROPES, CARPENTER! I’M IN THE ROPES FOR CHRISSAKSSSEEEERRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!”
Adelaide shifted all her weight to one foot so she could wedge the other against Park’s undercarriage. The grind of sole on groin took things from hellish to downright unbearable and Park actually reached out to tap the mat before she remembered it wouldn’t count. Steeling herself as best she could, the tortured exotique balled the hand into a fist and angled it over her shoulder to flip Adelaide the bird. Adelaide sneered and may very well have broken Park’s ankle if Al hadn’t grabbed her bicep.
“Drop it. Now.”
For a moment all of her hatred was directed at the ref and he had to step back to escape its ferocity. She snorted, let the Ankle Lock drop and raised her hands to show the ‘clean’ break.
“Only because I’m not satisfied.”
“Just get her out of the ropes, Adelaide.”
“As you wish, arbiter.”
Brewster spun, brought her right leg whipping up like an axe, then brought it down on Yoona’s thigh, just above the pit of her left knee. The kick yanked Park’s ankle free of the strands with a low ‘TWANG’ that was all but lost in another wail of pain from the black-clad battler. Al hurried over to check on his charge whereas the Daughter of Darkness retreated to a far corner to see if Park even had the fortitude to stand, let alone continue.
“Are you okay, Yoona?” Carpenter asked, even though the Korean’s sprawled out position on the mat with her arms covering her face made it obvious that she really, really wasn’t.
“Are you okay?” the referee repeated after a few seconds.
Still no response, as Yoona wasn’t sure she could open her mouth without breaking into sobs.
It wasn’t until Al was moments away from calling for the bell that she finally spoke, her voice weak and unsteady, “...gimme a ten count.”
The man hesitated for a moment, then he nodded his head once and repeated, “Ten count, Yoona. If you’re not up, I’m calling the match and you’re going to the hospital.”
Carpenter’s tone left no room for argument, so Park immediately set about getting herself upright. After having her legs stretched and her ankles twisted, even getting to a kneeling position was a struggle. Her first attempt to get to one knee saw her planted foot buckle almost immediately, sending her careening sideways into the ropes with a sharp howl. She reached out and grabbed hold of the top cable to preserve some of her vertical progress, and with a great deal of teeth-gnashing effort she hauled herself up to her abused feet with a second and a half to spare.
Gripping the top rope in both hands, Yoona turned towards the crowd and unleashed a primal, deep-throated roar, arching her back while flexing every muscle in her body and causing the sinews in her thighs, shoulders, and neck to stand out in sharp, shadowy relief. As that half of the building called back with a rousing response of ”YOO-NA!” she shambled her way to the opposite side of the ring and roared again, this time prompting the other half of the arena to answer with ”BOMA-YE!” Having reignited the fans, she turned her attention back to her opponent, fixing the Daughter of Darkness with a scowl so hateful that Al Carpenter found himself subconsciously swallowing a lump in his throat.
“Come and get it, fuckface,” Yoona panted, her face pale, haggard, and dripping with sweat as she shuffled towards the center of the ring.
Adelaide didn’t have to be asked twice, and she lunged forward looking to take her opponent down in order to continue the foot torture. Hobbled as she was, however, Park’s hand speed was unimpaired, and with a lightning quick swipe of her right arm, she gouged her fingernails right across Brewster’s eyes. Adelaide shrieked and she instinctively turned her back to protect her face, but that only allowed Yoona to snatch a huge handful of her long, brown hair.
Before Carpenter could even start to voice his reprimand, the Korean yanked her foe backwards with her left hand while throwing a vicious Elbow Smash with her right arm. The bony joint met the back of the Churchgoer’s skull with a THUNK! and Adelaide would’ve pitched forward onto her face if Yoona didn’t haul her back up by the hair. Gripping Brewster’s mane with both hands now, Park spun Adelaide around so they were face to face before firing a Headbutt that landed right between her eyes. The pair of concussive blows left the Queen of Nightmares dazed and seeing double, but Yoona still wasn’t finished. The Korean shifted behind Adelaide, and then dropped to one knee while forcefully yanking down on the hair-hold, ripping Brewster off her feet and sending her into a brief backwards freefall before her spine crunched against Yoona’s posted thigh.
HAIR PULL BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLjm9anYvbE
Having laid waste to her opponent with her short, brutal combination that culminated with the Hair Pull Backbreaker, Park eschewed a pin or submission attempt in favor of taking another short breather to tend to her wounds. She dragged herself to a corner and desperately tried to massage some of the hurt out of her ankles, though perhaps it was a futile endeavor as every press of her fingertips against the tender joints made her wince and grimace, even through the protective gear.
Carpenter was already halfway through another ten count though, so she didn't have time to dawdle. Yoona tried climbing upright again, but with her brief surge of adrenaline having come and gone, the pain in her feet proved to be too much and she collapsed to the deck with a frustrated scream as soon as she took a step out of the corner. Adelaide wasn't having nearly as much trouble getting off the mat despite the knot in her lower back, and she managed to rise to her feet in the opposite and prolong the match.
Sensing an opportunity with her opponent still prone, Brewster took off in a sprint and launched into a Basement Dropkick, the soles of her boots making a THWACK as they impacted against the side of Park’s rib cage. The force of the blow would've sent Yoona rolling out of the ring if she hadn't caught onto the bottom rope at the last moment to spare herself a tumble to the floor. Unfortunately, that also left her easy pickings for her foe, and Adelaide quickly clambered over, snatched up her ankles, and began dragging her towards the center of the ring. Yoona clung to the steel cable as Adelaide held her legs in a wide V, but a hateful stomp to her exposed crotch forced her to relinquish her lifeline.
Knowing that she was finished if she got caught in another Ankle Lock or Toe Hold away from the ropes, Park wildly flailed and thrashed her legs, and after a brief struggle she managed to tear her right ankle out of Brewster’s grasps. She kicked at the Churchgoer’s other arm to free her left leg as well, and then she threw herself into a desperate gambit. Still lying on the mat, the Korean spun a full revolution onto her right shoulder while throwing her legs up and out. Midway through her whirling dervish maneuver, she managed to grapevine Adelaide’s right leg between her own, and then she tripped Brewster by completing the rotation. The pair of brunettes ended up on their backs and face to face, except now it was Adelaide who found herself trapped in an Ankle Lock after Yoona’s Imanari Roll.
IMANARI ROLL:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYK59EU-rs
Rather than slowly cranking up the pressure, Park threw herself backwards with Brewster’s right boot tucked in her armpit. Adelaide shrieked as her foot was nearly hyperextended, and in a flash, Al Carpenter was at her side and asking her if she needed to call it a night. Against anyone else she might have strongly considered it, but her hatred for Park was so intense that the Churchgoer almost would’ve preferred months of rehabbing a torn tendon instead of giving her nemesis the satisfaction of a submission victory.
After a scant five seconds, Yoona was already getting impatient. Looking to force a surrender immediately, she reached over to grab Adelaide’s left shin before crossing both of Brewster’s ankles and tucking them under her right armpit before giving another twist and yank. The Double Ankle Lock was the submission hold that Park had feared and hated the most during her early days as a beach wrestler, and judging from Adelaide’s scream of pure agony, Yoona had since made the move an effective part of her own arsenal.
DOUBLE ANKLE LOCK (0:40):
m.youtube.com/watch?v=h0eq_226LZE
The Daughter of Darkness was nothing if resourceful, however, even when seemingly stuck in an inescapable hold in the middle of the ring. Grinding her teeth together to suppress another scream, Adelaide reached down and quickly untied her own boots. With the laces loosened, Brewster kicked out of her footwear and wriggled out of Yoona’s grasps like a snake shedding its skin. She scooted backwards on her hands and rear, rolled out under the bottom, and took a walk around the ring to dissipate the hurt.
Meanwhile, Park angrily hurled the discarded boots into the audience and she continued to lie on the canvas as she intently watched her foe. She had hoped to balance the scales by rendering the Churchgoer just as hobbled as herself, but Adelaide’s ankles proved to be far less fragile. After just a lap and a half on the outside, the hitch in her step had disappeared and Brewster sprang up onto the apron and stepped through the ropes, furious and shoeless though otherwise unharmed.
“FUCK!” Yoona screamed in frustration as she slammed a fist into the deck.
“Stand in the presence of your queen, chattel,” Adelaide ordered. “Or press your forehead to the mat, if standing is beyond you.”
Park shook her head, swallowed hard.
“You arrogant bytch,” she growled. “I’m going to wear your teeth as a necklNNNNGGGGHH!”
Brewster charged, grabbed a double handful of her foe’s hair and tossed her to the mat. It didn’t actually hurt (much) but the ease with which the true believer controlled her scalded Yoona’s pride something fierce, which was undoubtedly the point. Sitting up with both hands raised to defend against a possible kick, Park grunted in disgust when she noted Brewster well removed from the action.
“Either stand or admit you are broken. Rest assured you will leave the ring unmolested should you choose to concede. I want you healthy enough to punish next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. And the week after--”
Yoona clambered to one knee, pressed her hands and head to the mat, then boosted into a flawless handstand. Suspecting a trick on the other woman’s part, Brewster kept her distance, which allowed Park to swing forward in a slow motion flip that brought her back to verticality as gently as possible.
“It’s going to take a lot more than some hack Hammer reject to break me, Addy,” the Korean said as she lifted her hands again, only this time in a grappler’s crouch in place of her usual striker’s stance. “Now step up and fight. I want one last look at those canines before I knock them --”
Adelaide obliged her at top speed, but in doing so underestimated how much pain Park would / could endure in order to dish out some of her own. The darkness of her ignorance yielded to a single thunderclap of white when Yoona leapt off her foot and THWHACKED her right knee into her foe’s chin. The Weeping Angel’s head snapped back and the rest of her soon followed, Brewster reeling like a drunk until she collapsed into the ropes at her six.
HIGH KNEE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BOzUf3U9R4
Yoona crumpled against her almost immediately thereafter. If anyone asked she would have told them it was a clinch, but in truth the jolt of the landing almost buckled her knees. Leaned heavy and mean against the other brunette’s chest, Park locked a loose Muay Thai clasp across the back of Adelaide’s head and pulled her into a forehead on forehead embrace.
“You’re going to spit those fangs into my hand, cunt. That’s a promise.”
Adelaide answered with a pair of claws sunk in just above the curve of her rival’s hips. “Everyone knows your promises mean nothing, Yoona. That’s why you’re here and not in KoreNGH!”
Yoona cut her off with a Headbutt between the eyes, backed up a step or two, then took a Cosworth-level risk by whipping around on her heel and racing to the far side of the ring. Damned if Park’s gait didn’t look good, alas she was so focused on her own footsteps that she didn’t notice the set closing in behind. That changed when she spun into the ropes and PWAAACK! Brewster tagged the point of her chin with a huge Elbow Smash that might’ve toppled the Korean to the floor if she hadn’t looped her arms over the top rope in the nick of time.
Returned to terra firma in relative safety, Park twisted around in a half circle, offering Adelaide her back without even realizing it. Unintentional or not, the Queen of Nightmares never scoffed at a gift and she helped herself by running the ropes a second time. The FAWNatics bellowed for Yoona to get out of the way, throw a Mule Kick, anything to slow Brewster’s return. They were still making a great deal of noise when Adelaide BURIED a Back Elbow between Yoona’s shoulders.
Driven to her knees by the other brunette’s version of an ash stake, Park hooked the rubber-coated steel and sighed, “Ropes… I’m in the ropes, ALOOOOFFFFFFHHHHHH!”
Adelaide’s third trip across the ring ended in a low flying Dropkick that struck the welt raised by the Back Elbow. Moving faster and faster as Park slowed to a crawl, the Daughter of Darkness plunged her hands into Yoona’s hair and peeled her out of the ropes in a span of heartbeats. The Wristlock that followed came fast enough to avoid a warning from Carpenter, but the force she put behind the Irish Whip felt like an infraction of its own. Moot point though, Park BWUUUNGED into the corner long before the crowd could muster any cogent protest. Somehow upright after the brutal buckle to back meeting, Yoona shuffled forward only to meet Brewster when the charging Churchgoer leapt and soared by the woozy battler. Catching her prey’s chin in both hands as she passed, Adelaide laid out flat to THAWHAM the back of Park’s head and shoulders into the mat courtesy a Running Neckbreaker. It left Yoona spread-eagled on the mat, a condition Brewster promptly spoiled by sliding across her chest and hooking the far leg for…
RUNNING NECKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M3flNBVUB4
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Park inched a shoulder off the mat, buying herself at least three more seconds in the contest. Content to smash away until her adversary was so much tawny rubble, Adelaide shoveled Yoona onto her stomach, then twisted around to plant on either side of opposing hips.
“Of course you were good on the sand,” Brewster murmured as she snaked her arms around Park’s waist. “It’s soft… and yielding… just like you.”
Back on her feet with the Waistlock cinched on tight, Adelaide hoisted her in stages. First to all fours, then floating six inches above the mat and finally looking up at the lights with her back smudged against Adelaide’s chest. Yoona shook her head in protest or denial, no one knew which and either way it didn’t stop the Weeping Angel from folding her in half with a textbook German Suplex. Ankles somewhere north of her ears, Park didn’t just look beaten, she looked drained. Carpenter emphasized this point by dropping down for the…
DEADLIFT GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2unPh85iBrE
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Park escaped before ‘THREE!’ thanks in no small part to the hours of Suplex drills she’d only grudgingly allowed Cam to run on her over the last month. Beside her, Adelaide rolled to one knee and raked a hand through her hair. After a bit of deliberation she went back to the hair long enough to scrape Park off the deck.
“I question the efficacy of using this maneuver on one where the target is so small,” Brewster snagged Yoona’s left wrist in her right hand and folded it back behind the Korean’s head in a sort of upside down Hammerlock, “but if my aim is true I will LOVE feeling your heart skip a--”
“Bytch please,” Yoona coughed. “That weak shyt ain’t got nothing on the One Inch PunOOOOOFFFFFFFHHHH!”
Adelaide previewed the Heart Punch with a hook to the body that almost buckled Park’s knees. “No more talking, chattel. It’s time you finally rolled over and died like NNGH! GGRRRRHHHHH!”
Park stepped into the other brunette’s space with a retaliatory Headbutt followed by a Kneelift that hit just above the faint line of her opponent’s briefs. Shrieking in what was either triumph or anguish (possibly both) Yoona dipped into the buckling brunette and muscled her onto her shoulders in a Fireman’s Carry. Burning through every mental trick in her considerable library to keep herself upright, Park dipped down, then pushed up and tossed the true believer forward at the precise moment she laid out and slashed her left leg back overhead. Precise as ever even after such a hellacious mauling, Yoona THWHACKED her shin into the side of Brewster’s skull in the instant before her feet touched the mat.
PARK PLACE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtaPWc5MUuY
Caught flush by the pinpoint strike, Adelaide collapsed above Park, who slowly but surely shot the Half Nelson and rolled her onto her back. Draping herself across Adelaide’s chest with an exhausted sigh, Yoona hooked the far leg and drew it close for the…
ONE!
TWO!
THRNOO!
...before Brewster got a shoulder off the mat with nary a second to spare. Rather than argue the call, Park continued to lay on top of her foe as she took stock of her situation. She would have enjoyed nothing more than to grind and stretch the Queen of Nightmares into submission with a punishing round of Snu Snu, but with both of her ankles as damaged as they were, she knew she could not hope to hook the Single Leg Grapevine.
Instead, Yoona dragged Adelaide to a sitting position and then forced herself to stand, pressing down heavily on the Churchgoer’s shoulders for support. Taking position behind her foe, she stepped her legs over Brewster’s shoulders with her crotch resting on the back of Adelaide’s neck. The rope-hung Wishbone earlier in the match had weakened her thighs to the point that a Headscissor was no longer an effective option, though that was never what she had in mind as she bent over and reached down to take control of Brewster’s legs. She crossed Adelaide’s thighs left over right, then gripped Adelaide’s right ankle with both hands, stood up straight, and pulled up.
FIGURE FOUR STUMP PULLER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8wi-nfawD8
The Figure Four Stump Puller set both of her legs ablaze with pain, dispelling the lingering discombobulation from the kick to the head and forcing a scream from Brewster’s mouth. Or at least she would have screamed if her own left knee weren’t wedged in the hollow of her throat, rendering her incapable of making any noises except a wet, agonized gurgling. Simultaneously twisted and choked, Adelaide waggled a single index finger at the referee to ward off any notion that she might want to give up the match.
Increasingly irritated by Brewster’s villainous valor, Park turned her attention to her opponent’s right foot. Already shorn of her boots, Adelaide was left virtually defenseless when Yoona peeled off her sock and switched to a one-handed grip on her ankle in order to dig the fingers of the other hand into the nerve clusters in the sole of her foot. After a few seconds, Brewster’s high-pitched, whining groan signified that Park had found the correct pressure points. It would have been a full-throated wail were it not for her being throttled by her own leg, but Adelaide still refused to surrender as she continued to suffer one of the most excruciating predicaments of her career.
Eventually, Yoona’s ankles started to quiver, as the brutalized joints were not up to the task of supporting her weight. No matter though, she simply laid down on her back and forced Adelaide to do the same as she continued to torture the Daughter of Darkness with both her Figure Four Stump Puller and her Footsie pressure point attack. She was so preoccupied with driving the knuckle on her middle finger into Brewster’s sole while hatefully reefing back on the ankle, however, that Yoona didn’t notice that her shoulders were flat on that mat. The FAWNatics collectively shouted a warning, but Park didn’t seem to hear them as Al Carpenter dropped down to pound out…
ONE!
TWO!
THRENOOOO!
Park rolled clear just in the nick of time as Carpenter’s hand hit the canvas for the third time. She stared at the referee, eyes wide with apprehension and shock, until he held up only two fingers and Yoona breathed a sigh of relief along with the assembled fans.
“Surrender now, chattel,” Adelaide hissed, even though she looked to be in no position to be making demands as she laid on her side hugging her knees to her chest. “The Queen of Nightmares is beyond you. Prostrate yourself, and you may live to see another dawn before I -- UNGH!”
Yoona scrambled over on hands and knees, and slammed a low-altitude Elbow Drop directly into her enemy’s mouth. Grabbing a handful of hair and mounting Brewster’s chest, Park quickly dropped a trio of massive right-handed Haymakers into the Churchgoer’s face. She was in the process of going for a fourth when the referee caught the crook of her elbow from behind.
Trying to keep his voice as authoritative as possible despite the Korean’s withering glare, Carpenter said, “No closed fists, Yoona. I’m only going to say it once.”
Park considered this for a second, then she ripped her arm free from Al’s grasps with a snarl. If the Daughter of Darkness had been expecting a reprieve, however, there was none coming as the point of the Korean’s elbow slammed into her forehead with brain-rattling force.
“Not a fist,” Yoona disdainfully spat at Carpenter.
The referee was about to say something, but Park fired off another Elbow Smash before he could make a sound.
“Not a fist,” she pointedly repeated.
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
By now she had raised an ugly red welt just above Adelaide’s left eyebrow, and with the battered Churchgoer not putting up much resistance, Al knelt down to perform an arm check for a knockout. Before he could perform his duties, however, the Korean knocked him onto his rear with a surprisingly brawny one-handed shove to the shoulder.
“NO! I WANT HER TO SAY IT!” she roared at the referee before turning her ire back to her opponent. “Tell me you quit, you miserable sack of shit!”
Adelaide drew in a laborious, ragged breath and parted her lips, but the only thing that came out was a plume of Red Mist. To her credit, Yoona barely reacted beyond turning her head to the side and squeezing her eyes shut to block out the worst of the Mist while she remained mounted on the Churchgoer’s torso. Even so, Brewster had intended it as a final, defiant insult, and Park had taken it as such, her hand visibly shaking with rage as she wiped her face. When she spoke, however, her voice was oddly calm and collected.
“You know, Brewster, I'm glad we could have this moment,” she whispered as she grabbed the straps on Adelaide’s top and pulled Brewster’s shoulders a few inches off the mat. “All this time I've been walking on eggshells… worried about what people might think… about what Cam might think… if I just went and fucking broke someone. I barely even touched Daly and Gladiatrix is already writing editorials on if I've gone too far. But you...?”
Park roughly jostled and shook her semi-conscious opponent before continuing.
“No one gives a shit about you! These people… they fucking cheered when they thought I was gonna drown you! So yeah… thank you, Adelaide Brewster, for being a darker shade of black. Thank you, for being the monster that makes my actions righteous...”
Yoona punctuated that ominous sentiment with a massive Headbutt that drew a pained OOOH from the crowd and caused the welt on Adelaide’s forehead to burst open. Seemingly driven into even more of a frenzy by the sight of the Churchgoer’s gushing wound, Park reared back and fired another Headbutt, and then another, and then another, and then another in the span of maybe three seconds. With both women’s faces now smeared red with Adelaide’s blood and Yoona showing no signs of relenting, Al Carpenter threw a hasty signal to the timekeeper and then tackled the Korean to the mat to bring an end to the assault.
For a moment, Park stared at him like she might beat him within an inch of his life, but then the announcer proclaimed her the winner, and that seemed to slightly temper her fury. Yoona struggled to her feet with the help of the ropes and ran her hand from her mouth to the top of her head, staining her hair with a streak of blood. She looked down at her weakly groaning opponent who was somehow still clinging to a sliver of consciousness, and then she spat in Adelaide’s face.
“Clean that shit up,” Yoona instructed the gobsmacked official before she rolled out under the ropes, commandeered a chair from the announcer’s table to use as a makeshift crutch, and then limped her way backstage, passing by a horde of medical personnel rushing out to check on Adelaide Brewster.
Like Craig, Yoona was also dressed for action, with her torso armored in a black bustier-style one piece lined in metallic gold. Her forearms were covered in matching fingerless gloves that ran up to her elbow, and on her legs were a pair of skintight black sleeves that started just above her knees and extended down to her ankle bones before terminating in thin stirrups that looped around the bottom of her otherwise bare feet, just in front of the heel. “YOONA” was written vertically in metallic gold block letters on the front of each shin, and securely knotted around her left thigh was a red silk ribbon.
YOONA PARK
She practically stuffed the stumbling referee under the bottom rope, then she demanded and received a microphone before joining him in the squared circle. Unscheduled intrusions were normally frowned upon in a tightly packed pay-per-view event, but Park never failed to draw prurient interest and additional viewers, so the business-minded brass allowed the interruption to slide.
Yoona took her spot at the middle of the ring, and when she raised the microphone to her lips, the assembled FAWNatics surely expected her to issue a challenge to Adelaide Brewster after the events of Summer Swelter. As was her wont, however, Park started her speech with what was an apparent non-sequitur.
“You know… Cam isn’t the only one in my family who’s a comics nerd,” she said with a rueful laugh. “When I was a wee little girl in Seoul, my Dad used to read me bedtime stories every night. It was usually some old-timey Korean folklore or parable… but on some nights… mostly when my Mom had already gone to sleep… Dad would tell me tales of a distant land where legendary heroes wore magic rings, shot lightning from their hands, and did whatever a spider can.”
Yoona paused for a few moments and closed her eyes as she seemed lost in memories, before she continued, “That shit was so lame that I was asleep in three minutes tops, which to be fair, is in fact the whole point of a bedtime story. So, yeah… well played, Dad. Well. Played.”
A good portion of the audience tittered in laughter, though there was a segment of fans who didn’t seem pleased that the Korean was so dismissive towards their favorite hobby and interest. Of course, Park didn’t care one way or the other as she resumed her meandering promo.
“There was one exception though. One comic for which I always stayed awake...” she said with a wry grin. “WWWOOOOORRRRRLLLD’S FINEST! The misadventures of Batman and Superman always held my attention. Not because the stories were interesting, mind you… it was the characters themselves that captivated me, especially the differences between them.”
Yoona started pacing back and forth across the ring, and she changed her tone to something academic-sounding.
“Consider Batman. He takes the bat as his avatar and cultivates this aura of intimidation, lurking in the shadows and striking fear into the hearts of all who oppose him. Or at least that’s what he wants everyone to think. The mythical Batman is just that -- a myth. Nothing more than a paper tiger behind which Bruce Wayne hides, a coward and a fraud. All smoke and mirrors and vainglorious bravado, because once the lights are on and the mask is off --”
Park pantomimed peeling something off her face, even as her features twisted into a hateful scowl.
“-- what’s left behind is PATHETIC... POWERLESS... WEAK... A fitting description for the bat itself. Not so much a terror of the night as a common nuisance… not to be feared, but to be EXTERMINATED!”
That got the arena buzzing with anticipation as they finally realized where she was going with her diatribe, and Yoona took a couple of seconds to feed off the electricity of the crowd before she forced her expression and tone into something closer to neutral and continued her promo.
“And now consider Superman. He too wears a mask, because Superman wasn’t born Superman, defender of truth, justice, and the American way. Nor was he born Clark Kent, bumbling, ineffectual reporter. No… Superman was born Kal-El. Sole survivor of the planet Krypton, last scion of the House of El, and the baddest motherfucker in the universe. But of course, that power -- real power -- can only rouse fear and hatred, so he pretends to be something he’s not. The dorky glasses... that ridiculous spit-curl... that stupid red underwear on the outside of his pants… all of it is to hide the fact that every other thing on Earth lives and breathes because he allows it. Because that’s the only way he can win the heart of the people, to be accepted by the world even as he stands a god among rodents.”
Park chuckled quietly.
“And you know what? It works! In fact, it works so well that all these suicidal dipshits think they stand a ghost of a chance against him. They come at him and his loved ones with their Kryptonite, and their gadgets, and their schemes… and you know what? He does nothing, because they are beneath him. But these fucking guys, man… they just don't know when to quit. They mistake his mercy for weakness, so they keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and PUSHING, and PUSHING... until one day… one day the mask slips...”
Yoona once more pantomimed taking something off of her face, and when she spoke again, it was with the fiery charisma and bombastic theatrics of a pentecostal preacher, angrily stomping about the ring and gesticulating with her free arm.
“...AND HE RIPS THE SHIT OUTTA EVERYTHING! CITIES CRUMBLE! OCEANS BOIL! RIVERS RUN RED WITH BLOOD AND DEATH RAINS FROM THE SKIES! BECAUSE BITCHES GOTTA KNOW JUST WHO THE FUCK THEY’RE DEALING WITH!”
Right on cue, the FAWNatics practically exploded into a raucous ovation, one side of the building screaming ”YOO-NA!” while the other side answered “BOMA-YE!” over and over again. Yoona stood still in the center of the ring with her eyes closed, soaking in the adulation and the hero’s tribute that she hadn’t heard since she had battered Paulette Severe in their cathartic penthouse brawl a year ago. After maybe ten seconds, she opened her eyes and brought the microphone to her lips again, even as the chant continued unabated.
“I want you to remember this story, Adelaide Brewster,” Park said with a cold, eerie calm even as the name of her hated nemesis rolled off her tongue. “Remember this story when you’re picking up your teeth with broken fingers.”
Yoona tossed the microphone over her shoulder and out of the ring, the accompanying thunk on its landing on the floor prompting the audience to get even louder in their support of the Korean. She closed her eyes once more and awaited her would-be opponent’s entrance, and a very nervous Craig Long took the opportunity to perform a cursory inspection of her gear in anticipation of a match.
“So… umm… is -- is that Korean?” the referee asked of the battle cry that the fans had given to Park.
“Lingala,” she placidly answered without opening her eyes.
“Oh… well… what does it mean?”
Yoona’s lips stretched into the faintest hint of a smile.
“It means I’m free.”
Unofficial though it was, Park’s challenge hung heavy in the air and those assembled for Red, White & Bruised craned their necks to the entryway to see if the Daughter of Darkness would respond.
Five seconds ticked by.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Thirty.
Yoona growled, the sound low and dangerous in the back of her throat. “How long does it take the idiots in audio to queue up some f*cking music?”
“Like, two seconds,” Craig answered, not knowing if the question was rhetorical or not. “Just a few button presses, really.”
The black-clad brunette shook her head in disgust, then started toward the ropes. “Welp, looks like it’s time to go bytch hunt--”
The house lights winked out like a candle snuffed by a strong breeze. The FAWNatics cheered uproariously, not for the woman herself, but for the promise of violence raised by her mere presence.
There’s a humming in the restless summer air, Lorde murmured from the speakers. And we’re slipping off the course that we prepared.
Yoona crowded the ropes, stepped onto the second strand, and boosted herself up for a better view of the stage.
“F*cking nonsense,” she muttered. “What sort of vampire comes out to this shyt?”
But in all chaos there is calculation. Dropping glasses just to hear them break.
A few lights on either side of the stage ‘thoomped’ into life, revealing a sea of ankle deep fog shrouding the stage, but no Adelaide Brewster.
You’ve been drinking like the world was gonna end. Took a shiner to the face from your best friend. It’s clear that someone’s gotta go. I mean it, but I promise we’re not mean.
Already broiling, Park hopped down from the ropes and started through only to have Craig put a hand on her shoulder.
“You’ll be safer here,” he said. “Easier to defend the ring.”
Yoona didn’t much like to admit the referee was right, so she just brushed him away and retreated to the center of the squared circle.
And the cry goes out. They lose their minds for us and how it plays out.
“There she is,” Long noted half a heartbeat before the FAWNatics let loose with a resounding chorus of boos.
In the deep shadows of the recession between the curtain and stage, a woman swung down from the ceiling, her knees hooked over a bar hidden just out of sight. Arms crossed over her chest, the brunette twisted loose of her perch and--
“That’s not Adelaide,” Yoona said to no one in particular.
Now we’re in the ring and we’re coming for blood.
BWAAAAANG!
Yoona shrieked in surprised anguish as the steel chair smashed across her shoulders hard enough to drop the Korean to her hands and knees. Genuinely gobsmacked by the Churchgoer’s apparent teleportation act (there HAD been someone on stage, he was sure of it) Craig Long remember his duties until Adelaide raised the chair for a second swing.
ADELAIDE BREWSTER
Stepping between the brunettes without so much as a thought, he grabbed Brewster by the wrist and barked, “DROP THE CHAIR, ADELAIDE! DROP IT RIGHT NOW AND I WON’T FINE YOU FOR ARRRRRRRHHHHHH FAAAAAHK!”
Gasps from the crowd when the Weeping Angel leaned forward and blew a swirling crimson plume directly into the official’s eyes! Long spun away, stumbling and staggering until he hit a corner and collapsed against it in a burbling heap. Alone with her prey for the time being, Adelaide hefted the chair overhead, spun it over in her hands and brought the rounded edge THWHUMPING down on the small of Park’s back! Yoona wailed, reared back on her knees and promptly found her hair in Brewster’s possession.
“Yuuuuhhhh…. you gutless f*ck,” Park grunted. “Don’t you ever just fiNNNNNGGGHHH!”
Adelaide went up on her toes, then dropped to one knee, all the better to drive her foe’s forehead into the thinly-sheathed plywood. Eyes watering after the powerful collision, the vulnerable battler didn’t see Brewster raise the chair a third time. Didn’t see Adelaide lining up another shot with the rounded edge, this one directly across the Korean’s ankles. No, Yoona didn’t see any of this, she only heard the crowd sigh in relief when the fanged fanatic shook her head ‘no’ and tossed the weapon aside.
This apparent mercy was really nothing more than a reprieve, as Brewster helped herself to a greedy handful of Park’s waistband and used it to haul her up and back into a gut-mashing Waistlock. No theatrics now, as Miranda’s Red Right Hand immediately dropped her hips and peeled off a high, steep bridge that THAWHAMMED Park down flat on the back of her head and shoulders. The force of the German Suplex somersaulted Yoona backward, only now she was on all fours in front of her attacker.
RELEASE GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5naric1LcR0
Brewster raked a hand through her hair and ran her tongue along her teeth, seemingly mulling her next move. After a moment’s deliberation she buried a hand in Yoona’s hair, hauled her to verticality and slapped on a Front Facelock. From there she slipped her free arm between the other brunette’s legs and flipped her upside down for a Body Slam of some-- THWHUNK! The Weeping Angel laid out hard on her left side, driving the base of her opponent’s neck into the mat with a murderous Northern Lights Bomb.
NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9FuzK82X_Q
The head drop left Yoona folded in a near Matchbook and probably would’ve earned a three count if the ref hadn’t been knuckling stage blood out of his eyes. Of course the bell hadn’t sounded meaning there was no match at all, which was almost certainly why Adelaide let Yoona slop out on back without attempting a cover.
“I appreciate the passion on behalf of your medium,” the True Believer’s tone was quite mild for someone surrounded by carnage of her own devising. “In fact I’d wager it’s the only genuine glimpse you’ve offered these people since you tried to maim the off-brand Anciline shortly after your arrival.”
Adelaide went back to Park’s hair, hoisted her upright and led / dragged her to the ropes on the far side of the ring.
“The problem is you’re dabbling in the wrong genre. There are no super heroes here tonight, only monsters. And anyone who knows anything about vampires,” she threaded Yoona’s arms over the top rope, leaned in to grab the middle strand from the outside and deftly tugged it up over the kickboxer’s shoulders, “knows you NEVER grant them an invitation.”
Park coughed, then giggled, “You’re not a vampire, f*ckstick. You’re just an UUUUUUUUNNNNNNGGGGGGGHHH!”
The Korean’s arms were already trapped, so Brewster just grabbed a handful of hair to steady her aim for the Heart Punch that mushroomed Park’s left breast.
Forehead to forehead now, Adelaide cooed, “I’m not a vampire and you’re not a badass. Only difference between us is that I KNOW I’m pretending. That said, do you know that to become a vampire, a person has to taste the blood of a vampire?”
Realization flashed on Park’s pained features and she strained hard against the rubber-coated steel. “Don’t even think about it you crazy f*ck. That’s a game you don’t want to eeeeerrrrggggghhhhhhh FAAAAAAAAAAAHHHK!”
Brewster put the heel of one foot atop Park’s toes and stepped down until the black-clad beauty could keep the scream in no longer. Then she hooked two fingers over Yoona’s bottom jaw and pulled down while the other hand pinched the Korean’s nostrils so tight she simply couldn’t close her mouth.
“Don’t cower now, little girl. I promise you the tequila tasted worse.”
The Daughter of Darkness unleashed the second Red Mist of the evening, most of it coating Park’s face and the back of Brewster’s hand, but enough of it got down Yoona’s throat to set off a violent fit of hacking and coughing.
Satisfied with her work, Adelaide wiped a little red off Yoona’s bottom lip, then turned around and sighed at the sight of Al Carpenter clambering into the ring.
“Get out of here, Adelaide. Right goddamned now,” Carpenter demanded. “I’m sure there’s a suit waiting to discuss your fine.”
“Worth every penny,” she cooed. “Send Lenore my love.”
Brewster strolled by the replacement ref, dipped through the ropes and would’ve dropped to the floor if a voice behind her hadn’t called out.
“Where do you think you’re going, bytch?”
Adelaide came back through, incredulous that Park could summon that much brass considering the hell she’d been through.
“I… I came out here for a fight…” she turned her head to one side and spat pink phlegm on the mat. “Now get me out of these ropes.”
“And ring the f*cking bell,” Brewster added.
Al Carpenter hesitated, cycling his gaze between Adelaide, Yoona, and his fellow referee. Fortunately, Craig had managed to roll clear of the ring and was now making his way to the back with the help of a pair of Vannacutt’s medical aides. Brewster had made no move to attack, so Carpenter turned his attention towards Park and set about untangling the Korean lovely from the ropes. Still feeling the effects of Adelaide’s assault, Yoona would've crumpled to the mat as soon as she was freed from the strands had Al not caught her to keep her upright.
“You heard her, Algernon,” Yoona hissed even as she clung to the man for support. “Ring the fucking bell.”
Utterly flabbergasted that Park had addressed him by his full and proper name, Al stared blankly for a few seconds until a voice in his earpiece roused him back to alertness. The brass also demanded that he ring the bell, and with a helpless sigh, Carpenter shrugged out of Yoona’s grasps and signaled to the timekeeper to get things officially started.
It was a brave though perhaps unwise decision by Park to insist on a fight right then and there, as she stumbled forward and threw a sloppy attempt at a Discus Elbow Smash that had none of her usual grace or power. Brewster deftly stepped out of the way, and presented with her opponent’s unguarded back, she drew back her right leg and fired a very hard, very low, and very precise Snap Kick directly into Yoona’s Achilles tendon, just above the left heel. Park gasped in pain as her foot buckled immediately, and she fell forward before she caught her upper body on the middle rope. That normally would have granted the reeling Korean a short respite, but Adelaide was rarely if ever in a magnanimous mood, especially in light of the bitter history between the two women, so she shoved her way past the protesting official and laid claim to her opponent’s left foot.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Brewster purred as she applied joint shredding torque to the captured limb with an Ankle Lock.
Yoona screamed and wailed even as she clung onto the steel-coated cable for dear life, eyes already welling with tears of agony and rage. Adelaide kept turning up the pressure all through a five count and a cacophony of jeers in what seemed to be an earnest effort to cripple her opponent, relenting only when Carpenter threatened a massive suspension on top of the fine she had already picked up a few minutes earlier.
Released from the brief but tortuous Ankle Lock, Park slopped to the the mat, rolled onto her back, and gingerly massaged her throbbing left foot. There had been a time not too long ago, before she had gotten her new ring gear, that such a hold would have meant a trip to Vannacutt’s office and two weeks on the injured list. With her protective leg and ankle sleeves, the Ankle Lock proved to be far less injurious though no less painful, and Yoona gingerly climbed to her feet. Al still seemed ready to call the match and signal for the medical team, but the Korean forestalled him with an angry wave of her arm and a determined shout of “NO!”
With her left foot dragging slightly as she approached her hated foe, Yoona was nevertheless able to crouch down and duck under Adelaide’s Roundhouse Kick. Hours of going through tape with her girlfriend back when Camille had been the prime target of the Church of Eternal Midnight meant that Park had the follow-up Rolling Elbow well-scouted, and the Korean was able to close the distance and lock on the Muay Thai clinch before Brewster could fire off the second part of her combination attack. Yoona slammed a Knee Strike into Adelaide’s taut belly to put the Queen of Nightmares on the defensive, then she dipped her shoulders and bullied her fellow brunette backwards into a corner.
Moments away from being mauled by a torrent of elbows and knees, Adelaide countered with a stiff-fingered thrust that split Yoona’s thighs. The blatant Low Blow earned Brewster a warning and a reprimand from the official, but the damage was already done as Park released her clinch and shuffled away, pigeon-toed and with her hands protectively clasped over her groin. With a low, dangerous snarl, Adelaide stormed out of her corner and wrapped up her incapacitated foe in what looked like a standing Bear Hug. Rather than squeeze the Korean, however, the Churchgoer spun the both of them into a tight pirouette to build momentum before lifting Yoona off the mat and slamming her back down with a booming Belly to Belly Suplex.
BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pVgFXifDY
The FAWNatics collectively groaned with the impact, though Yoona managed to keep a flicker of hope alive by bouncing free from Adelaide’s grasps and into the safety of the ropes in the corner. Concerned with how worn and ragged Park was already looking this early in the match, Al physically stepped in between the two combatants to ensure that Brewster respected the rope break this time. Yoona didn’t take longer than a two-count to start dragging herself towards the center of the ring, however, her pride and animosity towards her opponent compelling her to take the fight to the Daughter of Darkness as soon as possible.
Still on her hands and knees, she lifted her head and regarded Brewster with a hateful sneer, and then Park suddenly yelled, “GET HER, CAM!”
Yoona shouted it with such volume and conviction that it sent the audience into a frenzy of confusion. Almost all of them got up and looked among themselves, trying to spot the Girl of Tomorrow somewhere in the crowd before she leapt to her girlfriend’s aid. They made such a commotion that it distracted Adelaide for just a moment as she cast a quick sideways glance at the entrance ramp.
That was all the opportunity Yoona needed.
Channeling all of her strength into her coiled legs, Park launched into a Flying Knee straight from her crouched position. Brewster managed to regain her wits just in time to prevent the blow from landing completely flush, but the force of the Korean’s knee slamming into the side of her head and neck still knocked her back three feet into the corner. Her back crashed against the turnbuckles and she started slumping to the canvas before she caught herself by throwing her arms over the top ropes, though it seemed beyond her at the moment to do much more than that.
“Idiot…” Yoona spat as she cracked her knuckles, before giving herself a couple of hard slaps across the face for a quick, revitalizing boost of adrenaline.
Feeling recharged by the self-inflicted slaps and bolstered by the cheers of the crowd, Park stalked towards her opponent and worked Brewster’s midsection like a heavy bag, slamming over a dozen rapid-fire hooks and uppercuts into Brewster’s ribs. She could have continued, but with Carpenter already chirping in her ear and ordering her to get Adelaide out of the corner, the Korean stopped the pummeling and instead secured a Front Facelock and dragged the slumping Churchgoer away from the ropes.
They didn’t get very far before Yoona grabbed a handful of Adelaide’s briefs, spun around so that her own back was to the ropes, and threw a Knee Strike into Brewster’s breadbasket while simultaneously hoisting the other brunette upright and upside down. Rather than stall at the peak of the lift, Park simply pivoted and released the Front Facelock while giving a push with her other hand. Freed from her moorings, Brewster’s inertia meant that she continued to flip up and over, eventually sailing over the ropes and crashing to the floor outside the ring.
TOSS SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWgpUsyVLlE
Yoona wasn’t done after the Toss Suplex to the outside. Seeing Adelaide sprawled out on the thinly padded cement floor, the Korean gripped the top rope, flexed her knees, and hurled herself out of the ring too. Never known for her acrobatic aptitude, Park nevertheless managed to smash into Brewster with a textbook Slingshot Plancha.
SLINGSHOT PLANCHA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMGkt78XYIU
The FAWNatics erupted into cheers, delighted that Yoona had decided to imitate her girlfriend by combining ring-rattling slams with spectacular aerial assaults. Their exuberance gave way to concern, however, when neither woman showed any signs of life after Carpenter was halfway through his twenty count.
After a few more seconds, it was Brewster that recovered first. She shoved Yoona aside, sat up, and rolled to all fours. Breathing heavily, the Weeping Angel looked over at Park, saw her exposed, and casually rapped her knuckles against the Korean’s crotch. Yoona cursed, lashed out with a woozy slap that got brushed aside, then rolled over onto her side to curl in a protective ball. Noting the count at ‘SEVENTEEN!’ Brewster clambered to boot leather, stepped over the vulnerable brunette and slid under the bottom rope. Stretched out on her stomach, Adelaide pushed up on one hand to point a finger at the official.
“Restart the count. Now.”
“Back in the ring, Adelaide,” he pleaded. “I get that you don’t like each other, but you can’t just mangle--”
The call for civility was cut off when Yoona rose up, grabbed her archenemy by the ankles and swung ‘em under the bottom ropes as hard as she could. The force of it spun Brewster in a smooth half circle, meaning her head and shoulders swung out over the edge of the apron where -- THWHACK! No problems with her form this time, Park’s execution was flawless as she spun through a rotation of her own, all the better to put some more power behind the Roaring Elbow she caromed off the side of Adelaide’s skull!
Brewster’s head jolted to one side, then dropped limp. She might’ve slid to the floor if Yoona hadn’t caught her in a Front Facelock.
“I tend… tend to run my mouth… a lot,” Park said between bouts of ragged breathing. “So bytches tune me out or just don’t pay attention at all, but Adelaide, I hope you’re listening when I say I genuinely hate your f*cking guts.”
The Daughter of Darkness was far too woozy offer a proper response, not that Park actually wanted one. Snatching hold of the other brunette’s waistband, Yoona dragged her out until she was about halfway across the narrow aisle. The crowd called for a DDT and the thought had definitely crossed Yoona’s mind, but a glance over one shoulder spoke of another plan. Grimacing as she set her feet against the thin blue mat, Park yanked her burden up, over and back with a sort of sawed-off Vertical Suplex that BWAAANGED her opponent’s calves down across the steel guardrail!
Adelaide shrieked and rolled onto her sides, both knees pulled up tight to her chest as she tried to massage the hurt from her stems.
“What’s the matter, bytch?” Yoona twined a hand in Brewster’s hair and gave it an angry little shake. “Not so fun having some crazy cunt try to break your legs, is it?”
“F*ck you, slut,” the true believer growled. “I’m gonna drink you drEEERRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”
Yoona grabbed hold of Adelaide’s crotch and gave her a taste of her grip strength.
“Not before I f*ck you to tears, twinkletoes. You’re not gonna walk right until Thanksgiving, which is right about the time I’ll come looking for your punk ass all over again!”
Ending her threat with a savage rake that extended from groin to well north of Adelaide’s navel, Yoona doubled down on the hair hold and peeled the Churchgoer off the mat before going back to those hated bottoms. The wedgie that followed was patently unnecessary, but it provided more than enough momentum to get Brewster under the bottom rope.
A short distance from Adelaide, Al stepped up to the ropes and said, “How’s the foot holding up, Yoona?”
“Don’t get soft on me, Craig,” she snapped. “I’ve still got a bytch to stake. And my foot’s fine, see?”
She punctuated by hopping from floor to apron and a single bound and though Park landed as easily as ever, Al caught the grimace of pain that flashed across her face. Yoona took a moment to shake out the twinge, then dipped between top and middle --
“OOOOOHHHH FAAHHHHK!”
Park was halfway through the strands when Adelaide lashed out with a low, sweeping kick that slammed into the front of the Korean’s plant ankle! Yoona tumbled forward, started to topple out of the ring but coiled an arm around the second rope to keep herself anchored in place. Adelaide didn’t mind this development at all, indeed she was showing teeth as she got to her knees and crawled over to the tawny striker.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” she cooed after she’d taken Park’s head in her hands. “Mind if I nibble your ear?”
Yoona put a hand against Adelaide’s chest and pushed, but she didn’t have the leverage to force her away, so she squeezed instead.
“Get away from me, Brewster. Don’t even think about EEERRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHH!”
The Queen of Nightmares yanked Yoona’s head back, leaned in close and sank her teeth in just below the Korean’s left ear. A FAWN photographer at ringside snapped a beautiful shot of Yoona screaming in hurt that became the banner pic for Red, White & Bruised, an unintentional slight that made Park boycott her own Twitter feed for a week. But that was later, at the moment she could only wail and hope that Carpenter would break this shyt up sooner than later.
Turned out to be sooner, as Al smacked Brewster on the shoulder to break the savage embrace. “Knock it off, Adelaide! Get her up and get her in the ring.”
Brewster pulled away, then leaned again to kiss her prey’s forehead. “You taste lovely. Now I understand why Cosworth keeps you around.”
No answer from Park, so Brewster went to the hair and dragged her fully into the squared circle. With Yoona on all fours, the true believer stood up, circled around and took possession of the Korean’s left ankle, which was the one she’d swept as Park tried to enter. Stretching the limb out full length, she laid Park’s ankle over the top rope and held it one handed as she reached over to grab the middle rope. Vague concern grew to outright worry once Brewster pulled the rubber-coated steel up and over her foe’s ankle, effectively trapping it in place.
“Adelaide, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Carpenter voiced the question on everyone’s mind even as the Churchgoer grabbed Yoona’s right ankle.
“Heathens would call it a taste of her own medicine,” Brewster said with a smile. “I just call it fun.”
Then she trapped Park’s ankle in the crook of one elbow, cupped her other hand to the side of the hobbled brunette’s foot and bore down on her second Ankle Lock of the evening.
“NOOOOOOOOO GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH YOU EVIL BYTCH!” Park woke up like someone electrified, the usually icy battler twisting in anguish as the dual holds sent fire racing all the way to her hips.
As if things weren’t bad enough already, the Weeping Angel started moving away from Yoona’s left foot, slowly but surely stretching those defenseless legs in an improvised Wishbone.
“ROPES! ROPES, CARPENTER! I’M IN THE ROPES FOR CHRISSAKSSSEEEERRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!”
Adelaide shifted all her weight to one foot so she could wedge the other against Park’s undercarriage. The grind of sole on groin took things from hellish to downright unbearable and Park actually reached out to tap the mat before she remembered it wouldn’t count. Steeling herself as best she could, the tortured exotique balled the hand into a fist and angled it over her shoulder to flip Adelaide the bird. Adelaide sneered and may very well have broken Park’s ankle if Al hadn’t grabbed her bicep.
“Drop it. Now.”
For a moment all of her hatred was directed at the ref and he had to step back to escape its ferocity. She snorted, let the Ankle Lock drop and raised her hands to show the ‘clean’ break.
“Only because I’m not satisfied.”
“Just get her out of the ropes, Adelaide.”
“As you wish, arbiter.”
Brewster spun, brought her right leg whipping up like an axe, then brought it down on Yoona’s thigh, just above the pit of her left knee. The kick yanked Park’s ankle free of the strands with a low ‘TWANG’ that was all but lost in another wail of pain from the black-clad battler. Al hurried over to check on his charge whereas the Daughter of Darkness retreated to a far corner to see if Park even had the fortitude to stand, let alone continue.
“Are you okay, Yoona?” Carpenter asked, even though the Korean’s sprawled out position on the mat with her arms covering her face made it obvious that she really, really wasn’t.
“Are you okay?” the referee repeated after a few seconds.
Still no response, as Yoona wasn’t sure she could open her mouth without breaking into sobs.
It wasn’t until Al was moments away from calling for the bell that she finally spoke, her voice weak and unsteady, “...gimme a ten count.”
The man hesitated for a moment, then he nodded his head once and repeated, “Ten count, Yoona. If you’re not up, I’m calling the match and you’re going to the hospital.”
Carpenter’s tone left no room for argument, so Park immediately set about getting herself upright. After having her legs stretched and her ankles twisted, even getting to a kneeling position was a struggle. Her first attempt to get to one knee saw her planted foot buckle almost immediately, sending her careening sideways into the ropes with a sharp howl. She reached out and grabbed hold of the top cable to preserve some of her vertical progress, and with a great deal of teeth-gnashing effort she hauled herself up to her abused feet with a second and a half to spare.
Gripping the top rope in both hands, Yoona turned towards the crowd and unleashed a primal, deep-throated roar, arching her back while flexing every muscle in her body and causing the sinews in her thighs, shoulders, and neck to stand out in sharp, shadowy relief. As that half of the building called back with a rousing response of ”YOO-NA!” she shambled her way to the opposite side of the ring and roared again, this time prompting the other half of the arena to answer with ”BOMA-YE!” Having reignited the fans, she turned her attention back to her opponent, fixing the Daughter of Darkness with a scowl so hateful that Al Carpenter found himself subconsciously swallowing a lump in his throat.
“Come and get it, fuckface,” Yoona panted, her face pale, haggard, and dripping with sweat as she shuffled towards the center of the ring.
Adelaide didn’t have to be asked twice, and she lunged forward looking to take her opponent down in order to continue the foot torture. Hobbled as she was, however, Park’s hand speed was unimpaired, and with a lightning quick swipe of her right arm, she gouged her fingernails right across Brewster’s eyes. Adelaide shrieked and she instinctively turned her back to protect her face, but that only allowed Yoona to snatch a huge handful of her long, brown hair.
Before Carpenter could even start to voice his reprimand, the Korean yanked her foe backwards with her left hand while throwing a vicious Elbow Smash with her right arm. The bony joint met the back of the Churchgoer’s skull with a THUNK! and Adelaide would’ve pitched forward onto her face if Yoona didn’t haul her back up by the hair. Gripping Brewster’s mane with both hands now, Park spun Adelaide around so they were face to face before firing a Headbutt that landed right between her eyes. The pair of concussive blows left the Queen of Nightmares dazed and seeing double, but Yoona still wasn’t finished. The Korean shifted behind Adelaide, and then dropped to one knee while forcefully yanking down on the hair-hold, ripping Brewster off her feet and sending her into a brief backwards freefall before her spine crunched against Yoona’s posted thigh.
HAIR PULL BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLjm9anYvbE
Having laid waste to her opponent with her short, brutal combination that culminated with the Hair Pull Backbreaker, Park eschewed a pin or submission attempt in favor of taking another short breather to tend to her wounds. She dragged herself to a corner and desperately tried to massage some of the hurt out of her ankles, though perhaps it was a futile endeavor as every press of her fingertips against the tender joints made her wince and grimace, even through the protective gear.
Carpenter was already halfway through another ten count though, so she didn't have time to dawdle. Yoona tried climbing upright again, but with her brief surge of adrenaline having come and gone, the pain in her feet proved to be too much and she collapsed to the deck with a frustrated scream as soon as she took a step out of the corner. Adelaide wasn't having nearly as much trouble getting off the mat despite the knot in her lower back, and she managed to rise to her feet in the opposite and prolong the match.
Sensing an opportunity with her opponent still prone, Brewster took off in a sprint and launched into a Basement Dropkick, the soles of her boots making a THWACK as they impacted against the side of Park’s rib cage. The force of the blow would've sent Yoona rolling out of the ring if she hadn't caught onto the bottom rope at the last moment to spare herself a tumble to the floor. Unfortunately, that also left her easy pickings for her foe, and Adelaide quickly clambered over, snatched up her ankles, and began dragging her towards the center of the ring. Yoona clung to the steel cable as Adelaide held her legs in a wide V, but a hateful stomp to her exposed crotch forced her to relinquish her lifeline.
Knowing that she was finished if she got caught in another Ankle Lock or Toe Hold away from the ropes, Park wildly flailed and thrashed her legs, and after a brief struggle she managed to tear her right ankle out of Brewster’s grasps. She kicked at the Churchgoer’s other arm to free her left leg as well, and then she threw herself into a desperate gambit. Still lying on the mat, the Korean spun a full revolution onto her right shoulder while throwing her legs up and out. Midway through her whirling dervish maneuver, she managed to grapevine Adelaide’s right leg between her own, and then she tripped Brewster by completing the rotation. The pair of brunettes ended up on their backs and face to face, except now it was Adelaide who found herself trapped in an Ankle Lock after Yoona’s Imanari Roll.
IMANARI ROLL:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYK59EU-rs
Rather than slowly cranking up the pressure, Park threw herself backwards with Brewster’s right boot tucked in her armpit. Adelaide shrieked as her foot was nearly hyperextended, and in a flash, Al Carpenter was at her side and asking her if she needed to call it a night. Against anyone else she might have strongly considered it, but her hatred for Park was so intense that the Churchgoer almost would’ve preferred months of rehabbing a torn tendon instead of giving her nemesis the satisfaction of a submission victory.
After a scant five seconds, Yoona was already getting impatient. Looking to force a surrender immediately, she reached over to grab Adelaide’s left shin before crossing both of Brewster’s ankles and tucking them under her right armpit before giving another twist and yank. The Double Ankle Lock was the submission hold that Park had feared and hated the most during her early days as a beach wrestler, and judging from Adelaide’s scream of pure agony, Yoona had since made the move an effective part of her own arsenal.
DOUBLE ANKLE LOCK (0:40):
m.youtube.com/watch?v=h0eq_226LZE
The Daughter of Darkness was nothing if resourceful, however, even when seemingly stuck in an inescapable hold in the middle of the ring. Grinding her teeth together to suppress another scream, Adelaide reached down and quickly untied her own boots. With the laces loosened, Brewster kicked out of her footwear and wriggled out of Yoona’s grasps like a snake shedding its skin. She scooted backwards on her hands and rear, rolled out under the bottom, and took a walk around the ring to dissipate the hurt.
Meanwhile, Park angrily hurled the discarded boots into the audience and she continued to lie on the canvas as she intently watched her foe. She had hoped to balance the scales by rendering the Churchgoer just as hobbled as herself, but Adelaide’s ankles proved to be far less fragile. After just a lap and a half on the outside, the hitch in her step had disappeared and Brewster sprang up onto the apron and stepped through the ropes, furious and shoeless though otherwise unharmed.
“FUCK!” Yoona screamed in frustration as she slammed a fist into the deck.
“Stand in the presence of your queen, chattel,” Adelaide ordered. “Or press your forehead to the mat, if standing is beyond you.”
Park shook her head, swallowed hard.
“You arrogant bytch,” she growled. “I’m going to wear your teeth as a necklNNNNGGGGHH!”
Brewster charged, grabbed a double handful of her foe’s hair and tossed her to the mat. It didn’t actually hurt (much) but the ease with which the true believer controlled her scalded Yoona’s pride something fierce, which was undoubtedly the point. Sitting up with both hands raised to defend against a possible kick, Park grunted in disgust when she noted Brewster well removed from the action.
“Either stand or admit you are broken. Rest assured you will leave the ring unmolested should you choose to concede. I want you healthy enough to punish next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. And the week after--”
Yoona clambered to one knee, pressed her hands and head to the mat, then boosted into a flawless handstand. Suspecting a trick on the other woman’s part, Brewster kept her distance, which allowed Park to swing forward in a slow motion flip that brought her back to verticality as gently as possible.
“It’s going to take a lot more than some hack Hammer reject to break me, Addy,” the Korean said as she lifted her hands again, only this time in a grappler’s crouch in place of her usual striker’s stance. “Now step up and fight. I want one last look at those canines before I knock them --”
Adelaide obliged her at top speed, but in doing so underestimated how much pain Park would / could endure in order to dish out some of her own. The darkness of her ignorance yielded to a single thunderclap of white when Yoona leapt off her foot and THWHACKED her right knee into her foe’s chin. The Weeping Angel’s head snapped back and the rest of her soon followed, Brewster reeling like a drunk until she collapsed into the ropes at her six.
HIGH KNEE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BOzUf3U9R4
Yoona crumpled against her almost immediately thereafter. If anyone asked she would have told them it was a clinch, but in truth the jolt of the landing almost buckled her knees. Leaned heavy and mean against the other brunette’s chest, Park locked a loose Muay Thai clasp across the back of Adelaide’s head and pulled her into a forehead on forehead embrace.
“You’re going to spit those fangs into my hand, cunt. That’s a promise.”
Adelaide answered with a pair of claws sunk in just above the curve of her rival’s hips. “Everyone knows your promises mean nothing, Yoona. That’s why you’re here and not in KoreNGH!”
Yoona cut her off with a Headbutt between the eyes, backed up a step or two, then took a Cosworth-level risk by whipping around on her heel and racing to the far side of the ring. Damned if Park’s gait didn’t look good, alas she was so focused on her own footsteps that she didn’t notice the set closing in behind. That changed when she spun into the ropes and PWAAACK! Brewster tagged the point of her chin with a huge Elbow Smash that might’ve toppled the Korean to the floor if she hadn’t looped her arms over the top rope in the nick of time.
Returned to terra firma in relative safety, Park twisted around in a half circle, offering Adelaide her back without even realizing it. Unintentional or not, the Queen of Nightmares never scoffed at a gift and she helped herself by running the ropes a second time. The FAWNatics bellowed for Yoona to get out of the way, throw a Mule Kick, anything to slow Brewster’s return. They were still making a great deal of noise when Adelaide BURIED a Back Elbow between Yoona’s shoulders.
Driven to her knees by the other brunette’s version of an ash stake, Park hooked the rubber-coated steel and sighed, “Ropes… I’m in the ropes, ALOOOOFFFFFFHHHHHH!”
Adelaide’s third trip across the ring ended in a low flying Dropkick that struck the welt raised by the Back Elbow. Moving faster and faster as Park slowed to a crawl, the Daughter of Darkness plunged her hands into Yoona’s hair and peeled her out of the ropes in a span of heartbeats. The Wristlock that followed came fast enough to avoid a warning from Carpenter, but the force she put behind the Irish Whip felt like an infraction of its own. Moot point though, Park BWUUUNGED into the corner long before the crowd could muster any cogent protest. Somehow upright after the brutal buckle to back meeting, Yoona shuffled forward only to meet Brewster when the charging Churchgoer leapt and soared by the woozy battler. Catching her prey’s chin in both hands as she passed, Adelaide laid out flat to THAWHAM the back of Park’s head and shoulders into the mat courtesy a Running Neckbreaker. It left Yoona spread-eagled on the mat, a condition Brewster promptly spoiled by sliding across her chest and hooking the far leg for…
RUNNING NECKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M3flNBVUB4
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Park inched a shoulder off the mat, buying herself at least three more seconds in the contest. Content to smash away until her adversary was so much tawny rubble, Adelaide shoveled Yoona onto her stomach, then twisted around to plant on either side of opposing hips.
“Of course you were good on the sand,” Brewster murmured as she snaked her arms around Park’s waist. “It’s soft… and yielding… just like you.”
Back on her feet with the Waistlock cinched on tight, Adelaide hoisted her in stages. First to all fours, then floating six inches above the mat and finally looking up at the lights with her back smudged against Adelaide’s chest. Yoona shook her head in protest or denial, no one knew which and either way it didn’t stop the Weeping Angel from folding her in half with a textbook German Suplex. Ankles somewhere north of her ears, Park didn’t just look beaten, she looked drained. Carpenter emphasized this point by dropping down for the…
DEADLIFT GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2unPh85iBrE
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Park escaped before ‘THREE!’ thanks in no small part to the hours of Suplex drills she’d only grudgingly allowed Cam to run on her over the last month. Beside her, Adelaide rolled to one knee and raked a hand through her hair. After a bit of deliberation she went back to the hair long enough to scrape Park off the deck.
“I question the efficacy of using this maneuver on one where the target is so small,” Brewster snagged Yoona’s left wrist in her right hand and folded it back behind the Korean’s head in a sort of upside down Hammerlock, “but if my aim is true I will LOVE feeling your heart skip a--”
“Bytch please,” Yoona coughed. “That weak shyt ain’t got nothing on the One Inch PunOOOOOFFFFFFFHHHH!”
Adelaide previewed the Heart Punch with a hook to the body that almost buckled Park’s knees. “No more talking, chattel. It’s time you finally rolled over and died like NNGH! GGRRRRHHHHH!”
Park stepped into the other brunette’s space with a retaliatory Headbutt followed by a Kneelift that hit just above the faint line of her opponent’s briefs. Shrieking in what was either triumph or anguish (possibly both) Yoona dipped into the buckling brunette and muscled her onto her shoulders in a Fireman’s Carry. Burning through every mental trick in her considerable library to keep herself upright, Park dipped down, then pushed up and tossed the true believer forward at the precise moment she laid out and slashed her left leg back overhead. Precise as ever even after such a hellacious mauling, Yoona THWHACKED her shin into the side of Brewster’s skull in the instant before her feet touched the mat.
PARK PLACE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtaPWc5MUuY
Caught flush by the pinpoint strike, Adelaide collapsed above Park, who slowly but surely shot the Half Nelson and rolled her onto her back. Draping herself across Adelaide’s chest with an exhausted sigh, Yoona hooked the far leg and drew it close for the…
ONE!
TWO!
THRNOO!
...before Brewster got a shoulder off the mat with nary a second to spare. Rather than argue the call, Park continued to lay on top of her foe as she took stock of her situation. She would have enjoyed nothing more than to grind and stretch the Queen of Nightmares into submission with a punishing round of Snu Snu, but with both of her ankles as damaged as they were, she knew she could not hope to hook the Single Leg Grapevine.
Instead, Yoona dragged Adelaide to a sitting position and then forced herself to stand, pressing down heavily on the Churchgoer’s shoulders for support. Taking position behind her foe, she stepped her legs over Brewster’s shoulders with her crotch resting on the back of Adelaide’s neck. The rope-hung Wishbone earlier in the match had weakened her thighs to the point that a Headscissor was no longer an effective option, though that was never what she had in mind as she bent over and reached down to take control of Brewster’s legs. She crossed Adelaide’s thighs left over right, then gripped Adelaide’s right ankle with both hands, stood up straight, and pulled up.
FIGURE FOUR STUMP PULLER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8wi-nfawD8
The Figure Four Stump Puller set both of her legs ablaze with pain, dispelling the lingering discombobulation from the kick to the head and forcing a scream from Brewster’s mouth. Or at least she would have screamed if her own left knee weren’t wedged in the hollow of her throat, rendering her incapable of making any noises except a wet, agonized gurgling. Simultaneously twisted and choked, Adelaide waggled a single index finger at the referee to ward off any notion that she might want to give up the match.
Increasingly irritated by Brewster’s villainous valor, Park turned her attention to her opponent’s right foot. Already shorn of her boots, Adelaide was left virtually defenseless when Yoona peeled off her sock and switched to a one-handed grip on her ankle in order to dig the fingers of the other hand into the nerve clusters in the sole of her foot. After a few seconds, Brewster’s high-pitched, whining groan signified that Park had found the correct pressure points. It would have been a full-throated wail were it not for her being throttled by her own leg, but Adelaide still refused to surrender as she continued to suffer one of the most excruciating predicaments of her career.
Eventually, Yoona’s ankles started to quiver, as the brutalized joints were not up to the task of supporting her weight. No matter though, she simply laid down on her back and forced Adelaide to do the same as she continued to torture the Daughter of Darkness with both her Figure Four Stump Puller and her Footsie pressure point attack. She was so preoccupied with driving the knuckle on her middle finger into Brewster’s sole while hatefully reefing back on the ankle, however, that Yoona didn’t notice that her shoulders were flat on that mat. The FAWNatics collectively shouted a warning, but Park didn’t seem to hear them as Al Carpenter dropped down to pound out…
ONE!
TWO!
THRENOOOO!
Park rolled clear just in the nick of time as Carpenter’s hand hit the canvas for the third time. She stared at the referee, eyes wide with apprehension and shock, until he held up only two fingers and Yoona breathed a sigh of relief along with the assembled fans.
“Surrender now, chattel,” Adelaide hissed, even though she looked to be in no position to be making demands as she laid on her side hugging her knees to her chest. “The Queen of Nightmares is beyond you. Prostrate yourself, and you may live to see another dawn before I -- UNGH!”
Yoona scrambled over on hands and knees, and slammed a low-altitude Elbow Drop directly into her enemy’s mouth. Grabbing a handful of hair and mounting Brewster’s chest, Park quickly dropped a trio of massive right-handed Haymakers into the Churchgoer’s face. She was in the process of going for a fourth when the referee caught the crook of her elbow from behind.
Trying to keep his voice as authoritative as possible despite the Korean’s withering glare, Carpenter said, “No closed fists, Yoona. I’m only going to say it once.”
Park considered this for a second, then she ripped her arm free from Al’s grasps with a snarl. If the Daughter of Darkness had been expecting a reprieve, however, there was none coming as the point of the Korean’s elbow slammed into her forehead with brain-rattling force.
“Not a fist,” Yoona disdainfully spat at Carpenter.
The referee was about to say something, but Park fired off another Elbow Smash before he could make a sound.
“Not a fist,” she pointedly repeated.
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
Elbow Smash.
“Not a fist.”
By now she had raised an ugly red welt just above Adelaide’s left eyebrow, and with the battered Churchgoer not putting up much resistance, Al knelt down to perform an arm check for a knockout. Before he could perform his duties, however, the Korean knocked him onto his rear with a surprisingly brawny one-handed shove to the shoulder.
“NO! I WANT HER TO SAY IT!” she roared at the referee before turning her ire back to her opponent. “Tell me you quit, you miserable sack of shit!”
Adelaide drew in a laborious, ragged breath and parted her lips, but the only thing that came out was a plume of Red Mist. To her credit, Yoona barely reacted beyond turning her head to the side and squeezing her eyes shut to block out the worst of the Mist while she remained mounted on the Churchgoer’s torso. Even so, Brewster had intended it as a final, defiant insult, and Park had taken it as such, her hand visibly shaking with rage as she wiped her face. When she spoke, however, her voice was oddly calm and collected.
“You know, Brewster, I'm glad we could have this moment,” she whispered as she grabbed the straps on Adelaide’s top and pulled Brewster’s shoulders a few inches off the mat. “All this time I've been walking on eggshells… worried about what people might think… about what Cam might think… if I just went and fucking broke someone. I barely even touched Daly and Gladiatrix is already writing editorials on if I've gone too far. But you...?”
Park roughly jostled and shook her semi-conscious opponent before continuing.
“No one gives a shit about you! These people… they fucking cheered when they thought I was gonna drown you! So yeah… thank you, Adelaide Brewster, for being a darker shade of black. Thank you, for being the monster that makes my actions righteous...”
Yoona punctuated that ominous sentiment with a massive Headbutt that drew a pained OOOH from the crowd and caused the welt on Adelaide’s forehead to burst open. Seemingly driven into even more of a frenzy by the sight of the Churchgoer’s gushing wound, Park reared back and fired another Headbutt, and then another, and then another, and then another in the span of maybe three seconds. With both women’s faces now smeared red with Adelaide’s blood and Yoona showing no signs of relenting, Al Carpenter threw a hasty signal to the timekeeper and then tackled the Korean to the mat to bring an end to the assault.
For a moment, Park stared at him like she might beat him within an inch of his life, but then the announcer proclaimed her the winner, and that seemed to slightly temper her fury. Yoona struggled to her feet with the help of the ropes and ran her hand from her mouth to the top of her head, staining her hair with a streak of blood. She looked down at her weakly groaning opponent who was somehow still clinging to a sliver of consciousness, and then she spat in Adelaide’s face.
“Clean that shit up,” Yoona instructed the gobsmacked official before she rolled out under the ropes, commandeered a chair from the announcer’s table to use as a makeshift crutch, and then limped her way backstage, passing by a horde of medical personnel rushing out to check on Adelaide Brewster.