The crowd was cheering, their camera's flashing, and the sheer sense of excitement flowed through Becky as she lay in the center of the ring on her hands and knees, raising her head a short ways to see her opponent, Rowdy Reiko, reeling in the corner after being hit with a huge dropkick from the Rumble Bunny.
"Becky! Becky! Becky!" the crowd chanted. "Becky! Becky!"
They felt an excitement in the air. Rebecca felt it to. It was an excitement that no one had felt in awhile. It was excitement born of a certain hope; a hope that everyone, fans and Roses alike, would be freed from the long-reigning tyranny of this paper champion, this false warrior kept in power by those around her, keeping the title from being all that it could be, reducing it to a piece of jewelry around Rowdy Reiko's waist, instead of the glorious thing that it should be.
With that excitement came energy, and with that hope came confidence. Becky almost leapt off of the mat and charged at Reiko, and would have had it not been for her fellow Cobras leaping onto the apron and tending to her like some group of seconds. Becky glared at each of them.
On Reiko's left, Diamond Diana, her hair a blonde 80s mane born of teasing and Pomade, her outfit that of a ballerina on crack, with its yellow zebra tights underneath a pair of glittering assless chaps, along with a bright purple singlet and white gloves. The only thing louder than her appearance was her voice, comprised of smiling, often incoherent babble, accented with a few loud screeching, train whistle-like screams and hoots as she leaped and karate-kicked around the ring.
"Don't worry, Queenie!" she rapidly patted her leader on the shoulder whilst pogoing on the apron. "Hey, one in the head is worth two in the pants, so get out there and dance, baby!"
On Reiko's right, Fran "Franzy" Marsciarelli, the tomboy greaser-throwback from Cuba. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail, granting her golden shell earrings full visibility. Her attire conjured up memories of John Travolta and Frankie Valli, with tight blue jeans, a white shirt, and most important to her of all, a prized leather jacket. Her clothes and attitude were almost as retro as her wrestling style, made up of traditional holds and Steamboat-like aerial offense.
"Ay, don' worry about it, Chica!" she yelled whilst adjusting Reiko's bandana back into its place. "You get back in there and just…," she clapped her hands loudly on a shout of, "OH!", easing into a suave Elvis-style pose afterwards.
Finally, Helin Varen, who simply remained on the arena floor, only looking up at Reiko with concern. She didn't have to look upwards very far, however, as she was easily the tallest, and biggest woman on the entire roster. She wasn't big as in fat, just naturally large, like some kind of giant. Her blazing orange-red hair (dyed from its natural Nordic blonde) let her cold, blue-grey eyes stand out even more on her stoney, angry face. Her clothes were simple; a black t-shirt sporting a mjolnir logo, leather elbow pads and fingerless gloves, along with leather pants that just managed to be a little baggy hugging her massive legs. No one had to guess what her game was in the ring. Power, and lots of it, not to mention a surprising amount of speed and athleticism.
Becky (along with everyone else) hated all of them, but her thoughts turned back to the task at hand when she saw Reiko nudge Diana and Fran away as she began to approach her.
The two locked-up again, sending the crowd into a frenzy as they jockeyed for leverage over the other, Reiko's Cobra Gang cheering her on from the arena floor (at least two of them). Becky managed to slip Reiko into a side headlock, but found her efforts countered when Rowdy gripped an arm around her back and lifted the cheerleader up, going for a backdrop.
Becky had the move scouted, however, and slipped herself out of the Rose of Roses' clutch mid-arch, rolling back and landing on her feet behind the champ. Taking advantage of this, the Rumble Bunny quickly backed into the ropes behind her, whilst Reiko momentarily struggled to regain her footing, and then dashed back towards her opponent, flipping over Reiko and grabbing her head in a cutter-hold as she came down, causing Reiko to slam into the mat face-first, bouncing onto her back upon impact.
The crowd erupted for the move, and Becky could feel the momentum shifting with those two big hits alone. She hopped-up, pointing to the sky to signal for an aerial move, getting an even bigger pop from the crowd.
The Rumble Bunny stepped through the ropes and ascended the turnbuckle, feeling the crowd's adulation coursing through her, feeding that now seemingly ever-burning confidence. She looked down at the champion, laid out, prone on the mat, in her control. Rebecca smiled, dug in her heels, and prepared for a leap.
"Hey!" the referee cried, dashing towards her.
Becky had no idea why the official was doing so, but she soon found out when she felt a large hand shove against her left hip, sending her flying off the turnbuckle and slamming into the ref, their heads knocking skull-to-skull before they hit the mat.
Helin managed to crack a smile at her work when a loud "boooooo" from the audience droned through the arena. She stepped off the apron and joined her fellow bikers, who were jumping about and calling out encouragements to their beloved Queen Cobra.
"AWWWWOAW!" Diana screeched. "Come on, Reiko! Get back up!""Crack 'er in da mouth, Chica!" Fran threw a mock punch, grinning ear-to-ear.
Slowly, Reiko rose to her feet, still a bit groggy from her challenger's burst of offense. She checked her nose, making sure it wasn't broken or bleeding after taking the brunt of the impact from the challenger's flipping cutter. It wasn't, so she turned her attention to the challenger herself, seeing Becky struggling to pull herself up with the help of the ring ropes. Fran shouted words of pseudo encouragement from ringside.
Suddenly, Rowdy saw some kind of object fly into the ring, landing nearly in the center. Diana had tossed in her trusty Singapore cane. Reiko smirked, looked out at Diana, and gave her an approving nod.
Noticing that the referee was down, Reiko took a few steps forward and grabbed her weapon, taking a moment to admire it. She then turned to the left, seeing that her adversary had nearly gotten to her feet, although still seemed a bit jarred by the head-to-head collision, as she remained propped-up against the ropes.
Reiko let out a quick laugh, twirling her cane slowly, feeling as though she had regained control of things. She continued the taunting by pointing the cane forwards towards Becky, holding it like a shotgun before suddenly jerking it upwards, then blowing on the tip as if she had just fired a bullet. The crowd rewarded her miming antics with another droning "booooooo".
Ignoring them, Reiko got into a batter's stance, still mocking her adversary by tapping the cane on the mat as if on first, before dropping all the antics and making a b-line for Becky, ready to take her head off with the cane.
As Reiko swung, however, Becky suddenly came back to life, regaining enough composure to see the swing just in time to duck and roll under it, leaving Reiko to twirl and lean against the ropes.
Not allowing the unexpected resilience stun her for long, Reiko resumed her attack with a battlecry, again charging at Becky with the stick readied. The Rumble Bunny ducked the swing again, however, and landed an authoritative right hand to her opponent as the two spun to face each other.
Jarred by the punch, Rowdy stumbled back, nearly into the ropes, but still managed to maintain her grip on the weapon.
"Why won't you just die!?" the Cobra Queen cried as she yet again dashed at Becky.
Reiko raised the cane, going for an overhead swing this time, but before she could come down with the swing, Becky moved to the side and caught her square in the stomach with a well-placed knee-kick, causing Rowdy to grunt in pain, drop the weapon as she stumbled forward and ultimately fall to the mat.
As Becky turned in her enemy's direction, however, she was met with the sight of Fran rushing at her, and got caught with a stinging backchop from the greaser, followed by another one, sending her back another couple of steps until she fell against the ropes.
Fran raised her arms in a "what's up" sort of fashion, then shrugged her shoulders as she gave the cheerleader two thumbs-up with a coy smile.
"Ayyy!" she laughed, sending the crowd into a chorus of jeers.
Franzy exclamated the taunting with a hard slap. She then glanced behind her, checking on something before grabbing the Rumble Bunny by the arm and sending her rushing forwards with an Irish-Whip.
Suddenly, Diana slid under the ropes and popped-up just in time to meet Becky with an expertly done snap kick, hitting her right in the face and sending the cheerleader off her feet and rolling on the mat.
Diamond Diana then busted out a jumping split kick to show off, pumping her arms in the air triumphantly afterwards, causing the crowd to boo even more loudly than they had been previously.
With their opponent incapacitated for the moment, Fran and Diana joined Helin, whom had made her way into the ring, to check on Reiko. The three of them helped her onto her feet, dusting her off a bit, after which Diana hastily snatched-up her dropped kendo stick and handed it to her queen.
The four of them stared at Becky as she struggled to sit up. They all laughed at her efforts.
Smirking, with cane in hand, Reiko sauntered towards her opponent, and once she was close enough began to jab the stick at her like a cattle prod, nudging Becky into the corner and up against the turnbuckle. She then dropped the cane and threw a few fierce punches to the cheerleader's face, receiving boos from the crowd and quips of admiration from her own personal cheer squad of Diana and Franzy.
Figuring the flurry of shots had quelled the already unlikely chance that Becky would show any resistance, Rowdy gripped her by the hair and shoved her forwards, effectively placing the Rumble Bunny down on her hands and knees at Reiko's side. The Queen Cobra raised her left foot and booted Becky in the back of the head, pushing her facedown onto the mat completely, just to show who the queen was.
Leaving Becky there, Reiko stepped forward until she was inbetween her Cobras and their victim, her eyes darting intently back and forth between the two groups.
"Helin!" she called, pointing to Becky with the cane, letting her voice slip into a cold Baby Jane tone as she ordered, "Run her down."
The other three Cobras grinned wickedly at the command. Fran and Diana cleared-out of the way, allowing Helin to menacingly back into the corner adjacent to the one Becky was near. Helin watched the cheerleader once more struggle to get to a vertical base, glaring at her intent-fully with a devilish smile, crouching, waiting.
Rowdy Reiko's demeaning antics persisted, as she stood at Rebecca's side swaying her arms and the cane as if she were guiding a plane down the runway, gesturing towards Becky as she did so.
Becky was in a daze. The last few minutes had been nothing but a blur of painful blows to her head and face. She was still out of it, seeing the surroundings go through her eyes in a wave, which added to the dizziness that accompanied it all. Every sound in the arena, the crowd, the shouting commentators, the Cobras, all of them blended into a slo-mo sludge that flowed through her ears. Still, she had to get up, she had to keep fighting. That belt was calling her, pushing her, driving her on.
She was on one foot and a knee now, almost ready to just let herself fall back to the mat. After all, what was the use? She was outnumbered, and they were cheating! There would be no shame in losing. She was sure that's what most would tell her afterwards, including Ms. Spencer.
In spite of her thoughts to the contrary, Rebecca found herself rising onto her other foot, as if on auto-pilot, albeit in a very unsteady fashion. She raised her head up, and all thoughts vanished when she saw Helin coming at her like a locomotive barreling down on a stalled car, except this locomotive boasted the terrifying face of a Nordic descendant with all the fury and berserker rage of her ancestors, screaming out a beastly cry of war.
Rebecca stood there like a deer in the headlights, to dazed to move. She almost closed her eyes, ready to just accept the bullet that was about to hit her.
The bullet never made contact, as someone abruptly shot in front of Helin's path just as she lunged for the spear, causing her to slam into them with her left shoulder. The blonde woman folded like an accordion as she and Helin went off their feet, their bodies rotating to the right, until the victim separated from Helin's arm and her body flipped back a moment before she hit the mat, whereas Helin landed a second after inbetween Becky and her accidental recipient.
Becky simply fell back against the turnbuckle as the crowd went insane, catching a glimpse of the purple-haired woman standing to her right.
Helin felt confused as she rose to her knees, piecing together the split-second details in her head.
There was a shriek from Diana, but not her usual jovial yelp, rather one that sounded as if out of shock or terror.
She had hit someone, but it wasn't Becky. No, the collision was much to early to have been the cheerleader. She didn't see her step forward so who did she….
Helin flipped the orange hair out of her eyes, and nearly froze when she saw the Cobras' logo on the back of Reiko's jacket as she laid motionless before her.
"Yo, Helin!?" Franzy cried from ringside, her voice nearly cracking. "What the fuck, lady!?"
The Viking suddenly felt a sharp tinge of pain slam into the back of her head. She was only nudged by the shot, seeing Noble Rose, Reiko's sister, dash past her with a steel chair.
Fran rolled into the ring and popped up to dash at Fujiko, only to be put down by a hard chair shot right to her forehead.
Once she had disposed of the greaser, Noble turned to see Diamond Diana rush under the ropes from the opposite side of the ring, swiping up Reiko's discarded Singapore cane as she ran at the Thorn of Justice.
Fujiko charged forth to meet her, swinging her chair vertically, only to have Diana duck it, slide around her, and get in a quick shot to her left heel with the cane. This left Noble hopping on a single foot momentarily, which Diana attempted to capitalize on with another single-handed swing of the cane, this time trying to bring it down on her opponent's head.
Fujiko quickly raised her chair, and blocked the swing, leading to a short stand-off between the two.
Attempting to intimidate her foe, Diana began rapidly spinning the cane almost like a baton, passing it off between hands, behind her back, and under an arm, all in a nice fluid motion, her martial arts prowess on fine display.
Not to taken with the show in the first place, Fujiko swung the chair low, hitting the side of the glam rocker's left knee, causing her to drop the cane and grasp her leg, hopping on the other in pain. Noble Rose then jabbed the chair into Diana's ribs, causing her to hack in pain, leaning forward to clutch at her abdomen. Noble Rose quickly hopped to her side and raised the chair up, bringing it down upon Diana's back, dropping the Cobra to the mat with a cry of pain.
Fujiko allotted herself a moment to breath out. Another Cobra down. She didn't have long to rest, however.
"KILLLL!!" an enraged voice cried from her right.
Instinctively, Noble Rose wildly swung her chair with an upward arch in the direction of the voice, hitting something.
She wasn't surprised to see Helin Varen looking down at her when she lowered the weapon. The shot had stopped the Cobras' wrecking ball in her tracks, but hadn't really fazed her. She just stood there, snarling.
"COME ON!" she roared, pumping her fists.
Fujiko obliged, swinging the chair up from the right this time, connecting with much the same thunderous clap against Helin's skull.
Helin's head jerked back on contact, but she was still balanced, her face returning to the same snarling glare that had graced it previously. She breathed in heavily.
"GAAHHH!" another defiant warcry, her eyes abulge with rebellious fire.
Noble Rose swung again, hoping to extinguish it. Another heavy hit.
"RRAAGGAH!" Helin immediately threw a few piston-like left fists to the side of her forehead, still roaring like a crazed barbarian as she leaned in towards Fujiko, daring her again.
The Thorn of Justice sent the chair rocketing into Helin's skull again, this time not pausing for a reaction from the Cobra, and instead immediately following up the leftward swing with another from the right.
Though the crowd gasped at the ferocity of each swing, outside of a few grunts of pain, Helin was still resilient, even giving Fujiko her demonic grin. Finally, Fujiko gained some ground when she changed up her tactics and jabbed the chair into Helin's abdomen, getting a more pronounced groan of pain from Varen.
Fujiko dug in her heels, and thrust the chair into the same area again, getting a "GOH" from the Viking as she was forced down onto one knee by the blow.
The crowd cheered in approval. Noble Rose was slowly but surely chopping the tree down, and she knew it. She immediately raised the chair above her head, bringing it crashing down ontop of Helin's with another metallic crunch. The blow seemed to send a jolt through her opponent's body, as her eyes glazed-over and arms wobbled.
Fujiko was determined, relentless. She reverted to vertical swings, slamming the chair into the side of the berserker's head, causing her body to jerk to the left. Fujiko swung again, swooping the chair in from the left, throwing Helin's head back to the right, though she still managed to fight through the pain and give the Thorn of Justice an impassioned glare.
Ready to end things, Fujiko dug in her heels and swung the chair from the right, slapping the look off of Helin's face. She didn't look to see if it returned when she swung it from the same direction a second time, causing Varen to lean down on her left knee, just barely maintaining her posture.
Fujiko swung once more. Helin's body went limp, dropping slowly, gently to the mat, as if struggling against Noble Roses' efforts even in unconsciousness.
The audience went crazy. Camera flashes filled the arena, a unanimous roar of approval sucked the air out of the arena, many of them leapt from their seats, swept up in the moment.
Exhausted, Noble Rose nearly collapsed to the mat, but managed to stay on her feet via using the now damaged chair like a crutch, holding herself up.
Yet again, she wasn't awarded with much down time. She instinctively looked behind herself, her eyes greeted by the sight of the final Cobra, the Queen Cobra, standing in the corner, her Singapore cane held firmly at her side as she stared a whole through Fujiko.
The crowd was whipped into a frenzy once again when the two locked eyes. They didn't have to wait long before one of them went on the attack.
Fujiko watched as her sister, or what was left of her, savagely rushed up to her, holding the cane behind her head like a bat, her eyes deadlocked with her sister's.
Noble Rose prepared herself, she gripped her weapon tightly, and swung from the side once Reiko was close. She felt the chair hit her in the ribs, but the force behind Reiko's swing of the cane was still enough to powerfully connect with the side of Fujiko's head.
Becky watched as the two sisters collapsed, dropping their implements of weaponry as they both fell back and hit the mat almost simultaneously. The chair plopped inbetween their feet, whereas the cane rolled towards the center of the ring at Reiko's left.
Seeing this, the Queen Cobra sluggishly managed to roll herself onto her stomach with an outstretched hand, reaching for the cane. In a daze, she followed her instincts and slowly crawled towards the weapon, dragging herself across the ring. Finally, she put a hand out and felt the cylindrical wood of her trusty weapon. She triumphantly grasped it, and pulled it in, rolling onto her back as she cradled it in her arms with a smile.
Reiko's moment of glory was short-lived, as a hand reached down and yanked the cane out of her grasp. Reiko looked above to see Becky standing there, the Singapore cane looming ominously in her right hand.
Becky had almost tossed the cane aside, but hesitated once Reiko rose to her knees, begging her not to do it. Once again, Becky looked at the champ, down at her feet, on her knees, in her control for the second time in the match. There were no Cobras to save her either. She was at the Rumble Bunny's mercy. Adding to Rebecca's encouragement, the crowd were cheering for her to "do it".
The cheerleader's mind was made-up. It was decided. She grasped the cane in her hands with an intentful grin og lee, of retribution. She raised the cane above her head, ready for the swing. This wasn't cheating; it was poetic justice! After all, they were cheating, weren't they? There would be no shame in fighting fire with fire, as most everyone would surely tell her afterwards.
Everyone except Ms. Spencer.
Ms. Spencer,… oh God! She hadn't thought about Ms. Spencer. What would she say about tactics such as this? She knew the answer all too well, but didn't want to hear it.
"Cheating to win isn't winning at all, Ms. Welsh."
Surely this was a special circumstance. After all, the referee was out of the picture, this was just a war. All's fair in love and war, is it not?
That split-second of hesitation was all Rowdy Reiko needed, as she dived in with a right hand to Becky's stomach, causing her to drop the cane and double over.
As the crowd shouted their disapproval, Reiko got onto her feet, and positioned Becky's head between her thighs. She then lifted Becky up, twisting her in the air before driving her to the mat headfirst for the Sunset Driver, getting a moan of displeasure from the audience.
The Queen Cobra instinctively leaned over Becky for a pin, but then realized the referee still wasn't up yet. She rolled back, finding herself next to the official who was leaning against the bottom rope. Reiko gave her a few gentle slaps to the face, hoping to jar her back to conciousness. It actually helped a bit, and Reiko carefully aided her in standing up.
Rowdy then switched her focus back Becky, whom she grabbed by the arms and pulled her until she was at an angle, lined-up with the nearest turnbuckle.
The crowd booed, realizing what the Rose of Roses was preparing for. She just smiled, and raised a proud fist into the air.
"COBRA GANG!" she proudly proclaimed.
"BOOOOO!!" they responded.
After the fun, Reiko got back to business, confidently, but sluggishly walking to the turnbuckle. She climbed up, taking a moment to eye Helin and Fujiko laying on the ground. Reiko then looked out into the crowd, eyeing the numerous "Cobras Suck" signs, quite proud of those, and any others of that nature.
Becky watched helplessly as Rowdy Reiko leaped into the air, curling into a ball quickly and gracefully before crashing down upon her knee first into her stomach.
After crushing Becky, and the crowd's hopes of a new champ, Reiko stood up, admired her effectively neutralized challenger, and placed a foot on her throat as the referee crawled over to count the pin.
"1, 2, 3!"
And like that, it was over.
