Tension Tag Tourney Round 1: The Ishii Siblings Vs. Fire and Ice

Just when Frost thought freedom was in sight, Mariko had put her down again, this time trapping her with an armbar. The woman’s reaction was good, as she tensed up and fought the hold to keep Mariko from ripping back on it so easily. Still, that wouldn’t completely eliminate the pain altogether, and the younger Ishii sibling knew she could do some real damage if she kept the hold locked in long enough.

Frost wasn’t too keen on allowing that to happen, however, and drug both women toward the ropes. And to Mariko’s mild irritation, she soon managed to grab on to them and the ref came to make sure the hold was broken. But it didn’t break. At least not immediately. In fact, for a moment Mariko opted to completely ignore the rope break and wrenched back on the armbar as much as she possibly could, and the ref girl immediately began the warning count.

“One! Two! Three! Four!”

It was only then that Mariko let go of Frost’s trapped arm, before holding her hands up and getting back to her feet. “Alright, alright. I let her go. Happy?” The ref didn’t look pleased at all, but backed away to let the match continue. And as she did, Mariko leaned down to grab Frost’s head to begin pulling her up to her feet. “Come on, bitch. I’m not done with you yet.”

Frost swore in French as Mariko kept up the hold after she had reached the rope. The referee counted up towards the limit of five seconds before being disqualified...and the sibling released her at four. She curled up into her left arm, cradling it underneath her body in an attempt to protect it from further harm. The Ishii sibling pressed the advantage and pulled her up by the hair. "Let me go you bitch," she swore under her breath.

"Hang in there!" Blaze shouted in support of her teammate as she was hauled up. The silver-haired girl realized right then that she needed to somehow tag her partner in. Her arm was hurting too much for her to offer much of a resistance and she knew it. As Mariko hauled her up to her feet, Frost slipped behind. With her good arm, she shoved Mariko with all her might straight into the referee, hopefully catching both of them off guard.

Mariko had a feeling that arm of Frost’s was going to be in a pretty good amount of pain for a while. It was quite an excellent feeling to exact a bit of revenge for the treatment Yamato had received during the last bout between these two teams. However, the full extent of that revenge couldn’t be achieved until the ref was raising the Ishiis’ hands in victory.

But alas, any progress to that point was suddenly halted, as Frost managed to slip by Mariko and send her crashing right into the ref! The heads of both Mariko and the ref collided, and suddenly both were floored by the impact. “Agh!” the younger Ishii sibling shouted out, rolling over and holding a hand against her aching forehead as she started pulling herself to her feet.

The ref, however, wasn’t doing as well. She writhed about on the mat while holding her head too, but made no immediate progress in standing back up. “Watch out, Mariko!” Yamato shouted out from their corner, attempting to warn his sister. He remembered the foul play that Frost and Blaze had used to win their last match. And though Mariko was certainly vulnerable now, hopefully his words would be able to help his sister defend herself against whatever their foes had planned.

In other circumstances, Frost would have reviled in the sound of the two heads colliding. This time, though, the wish to make the tag was too great to enjoy the moment. She ran to the other side and tagged Blaze's reaching hand with her good one.

The redhead slipped through the ropes with a full head of steam and charged at Mariko. She lifted up her arm as she closed in, hoping to get a strong clothesline on her right off the bat. Frost slipped to the outside and leaned back first onto the apron while holding her arm and taking a breather.

Still recovering from the head-on collision with the ref, Mariko wasn’t exactly in much of a position to prevent Frost from making the tag. However, she did hear Yamato calling out to her. And though she didn’t know what was coming, she began cautiously looking around for her opponent.

Unfortunately, by the time her eyes found Blaze, there was no time to react. And at the exact second she turned to face the redehead, an arm blasted right into the top of Mariko’s chest, dropping her right to the mat. “Agh!” she shouted upon impact. Yamato grunted in mild frustration in the corner, but his eyes soon began shifting back and forth from the actioon in the ring to Frost on the outside. The last time the Fire and Ice duo was in a situation like this, ignoring the injured member of their team had led to the Ishiis’ downfall. But he was ready to make sure that wouldn’t be the case this time...

Frost turned around slowly while still nursing her arm. She wanted to press the advantage but couldn't just yet. She had to trust in Blaze to keep the pressure on Mariko while she was down. At least for the time being. She grabbed the rope with her good arm and pulled herself up to the apron carefully, grinning across the ring at Mariko's brother, Yamato. Last time they met she made him submit. And she wasn't against doing it again.

Blaze, meanwhile, had just gotten back to her feet and stalked around Mariko. "Not so nimble now are you?" she mocked while walking to the girl's side. Blaze took a step back, then ran up and soccer kicked Mariko in the ribs.

Yamato glared at Frost as the woman looked at him with a smug grin from the opposite corner. He hadn’t forgotten how she’d forced him to tap out in their last bout, and he was more than determined to make sure that result wasn’t repeated tonight. Fortunately, with her wounded arm, it didn’t seem she’d be making herself a factor at the moment.

However, Mariko was still down in the ring, with Blaze taking advantage of the momentum that had swung her way. “Gah!” Mariko gasped out in pain as the kick crashed right into her ribs, rolling over onto her stomach while bringing a hand over her ribs. “Fuck you…" she muttered through grit teeth as she her best to ignore the sharp pain in her ribs.

Blaze seemed to be enjoying taking control of the match as she was. The last time it didn't go so well for her against Mariko, but she was hellbent on making sure their roles were reversed this time. With another shove to Mariko's face with her boot, Blaze grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to her feet. She tucked her head under one arm and grabbed her shorts with the other, setting up for a vertical suplex. "Try this for size!" she taunted as he lifted Mariko into the air vertically.