King of the Ring [Subscriber Reward]
Tomb Guardian faces his next opponent.
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King of the Ring
By Limewah
Subscriber Reward for Moxas (March 2024)
Featuring Keyblader3421’s character
“LET’S GO T.G!”
Clap. Clap. Clapclapclap.
“LET’S GO T.G!”
Clap. Clap. Clapclapclap.
Tomb Guardian was finding it harder to keep the praise from affecting him.
He’d leapt up the popularity rankings for the S.C.W. pretty quickly. Super Charity Wrestling was a big deal to begin with; seeing superheroes engage in friendly wrestling matches for a good cause was a pretty great draw.
His alter ego would have been far more receptive and willing to grandstand. But in his current form, that of a jet-black jackal with glowing blue eyes, he remained stoic. The most he would give them was crossed arms and a stern nod.
He couldn’t get too carried away. After all, he was still ostensibly ‘undercover’. The League had raised some concerns about this long charity Do. For one thing, the organisers were hidden behind several shell companies, and it was quite unclear when and where the money would be going to support all the causes it claimed to support. The new Children’s Hospital hadn’t received a cent as of yet, more than 6 months in.
Not to mention, there were rumours and rumblings of heroes taking part under some form of duress or another. Something stank. And it wasn’t just the locker-room sweat of a full day’s worth of bouts.
“NEXT UP, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND IN-BETWEENS!”
The meerkat paced back and forth, clutching the microphone in his paw, with a raspy voice far louder than his tiny frame might have suggested.
“THE TOMB GUARDIAN IS ABOUT TO FACE HIS MOST DIFFICULT OPPONENT YET. A RETURNING CHAMPION, THE AS OF YET UNDEFEATED LAPINE LACERATOR…. HEEEEEELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!”
Shit, Tomb Guardian thought. This could be tough.
Helix Hare swaggered in from the entrance at the opposite end of the stadium. The golden furred, goatee’d hare was wearing his usual olive green bodysuit. He was grandstanding to the twin rivers of fans around him in a way that seemed very out of character from his usual, humble self. Tomb Guardian didn’t let his confusion show, keeping his hands behind his back and his chest pushed out.
Once he reached the squared circle, Helix Hare leapt up onto one of the poles with a single bound. He cupped his hand to his ear to ‘better hear’ the shrieks of adoration from the crowd. Then he leapt forward, somersaulting and twisting through the air like an olympic gymnast, before landing directly in front of the jackal with a smirk.
“I’m gonna send you back to your Tomb, buddy,” he said with a buck-toothed smile.
His eyes were glassy and dilated, and the normally brown irises were a deep purple. He looked
like he was on something…
Mind Control was definitely one form of duress, and Helix was pretty susceptible to that.
Tomb Guardian didn’t let his feelings show. His dread for the fight to come, particularly since Helix was unlikely to hold back in his current state…
The jackal took a few steps back, and Helix hunched a little lower, clearly angling to pounce the moment the bell rang.
When the clang echoed through the hall, Helix leapt forward and grappled Tomb Guardian around the waist. The low centre of gravity threatened to push him right off balance right away, but the jackal grabbed the hare around his stomach and flipped him upside down. As Helix lost his grip, he tried to wrap his thighs around Tomb Guardian’s face. But the Jackal simply dropped to his knees and made Helix’s torso collide with the mat and make the whole ring shake and creak. Tomb Guardian pushed forward and pressed down, in a pose that almost looked like a mating press. Particularly when the jackal started to push down with his hips to hold him in place. His crotch pressed against the rabbit’s pert rear. Perhaps if he wasn’t so hyper focused he might have found this titillating. The whistles from the crowd told him that was the case. Plus the shouts of the announcer.
“OH, WE’RE GETTING SPICY ALREADY! IS TOMB GUARDIAN GONNA COME OUT ON TOP ALREADY? IS HELIX HARE HITTING ROCK BOTTOM?!”
The scrawny skink who was the referee didn’t even have time to smack his paw on the floor next to them before Helix wriggled free and rolled away.
The cheers were still ringing and rolling in Tomb Guardian’s head. But he wasn’t about to lose focus. Not when Helix moved in and took a swing at him. The jackal weaved, but Helix’s free hand grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, leaving him nowhere to veer to when that fist connected with his snout once, twice, three times. The third sledgehammer blow sent him sprawling onto his front, his ears ringing from the force.
The hare was upon him almost immediately. Helix’s knees jammed under Tomb Guardian’s armpits and pulled his arms out to the side, while his hands grabbed the neck and pulled up. He could feel his spine and back strain.
“AND HELIX HARE GOES FOR THE CAMEL CLUTCH! THIS COULD PUT AN END TO THINGS PRETTY QUICKLY-”
Helix wasn’t holding back. Tomb Guardian gripped onto the hare’s wrists, trying to give his windpipe a reprieve. It opened just enough for him to swing his head backwards, and Helix released the hold to evade that reverse headbutt. Tomb Guardian swept the leg, and Helix fell to the ground. The jackal pounced again, flipping him over and using the same hold on him. Their firm bodies pressed into each other, and Tomb Guardian could feel Helix Hare’s muscles tensing against him, the heat of their bodies intertwining with each other. The way Helix was squirming… it almost felt like he was enjoying this.
“Give up,” Tomb Guardian growled; the baying crowd wouldn’t hear him. “Snap out of it, Theo. You’re better than this.”
“Nothing to snap… out of…” Helix huffed. “Never… felt… better!” His resistance to the arm-lock around his neck suddenly slackened, and Tomb Guardian was caught off guard enough for the hare to slither between his legs and slide underneath the jackal - but not before giving his thighs a taut, taunting squeeze. He swung out for a kick to Tomb Guardian’s head, but the jackal was back on his feet, blocking it and grabbing the leg before twisting and sending him spiralling to the floor again.
“THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BRUTAL KNOCK-DOWN DRAG-OUT BRAWLS WE’VE EVER HAD, FOLX! NO GRANDSTANDING, NO SPECIAL MOVES, JUST SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED WRASSLIN’!”
This fray continued for hour-like minutes. Helix Hare’s stamina was much better than Tomb Guardian’s. He knew that. The sooner this was over, the better. There was no time for messing around or playing to the crowd. They were cheering him on even now, and there was an intoxicating quality to being the underdog… even if he was larger than Helix by a full head.
They stalked and circled around each other, trading punches and attempted grapples. Helix was hopping from side to side, lithe and agile. Tomb Guardian did his best to stay calm, even though the sweat was really starting to collect…
Helix could see he was starting to falter. A smirk spread across his panting face, and he went for a blow that was just a little bit too telegraphed. With sharp reflexes, Tomb Guardian slipped under the swing and put his arms under Helix’s, before locking his fingers behind his neck into a bracing Full Nelson.
Tomb Guardian lifted Helix off the ground, and the hare’s legs kicked uselessly as the crowd roared with adoration.
He could show off. Maybe now was the time to come up with a signature move… it presented itself to him.
He leapt off and revolved a full 270 degrees in the air, until him and Helix were parallel to the floor, almost suspended in midair. Then when they crashed to the floor, the jackal immediately moved one of his hands down to grab Helix’s leg and pull it up, looming over the pinned hare in a bridge pose, entombing Helix between T.G.’s body and the floor.
It seemed to have thrown the hare for a loop - his thick legs tensed as he squirmed, his chest rising and falling, his mouth wide open as he panted and struggled.
The anole ref slid in next to them again.
He slapped the floor once, twice…
Helix made one last attempt to free himself, but Tomb Guardian just pressed in even harder. The final second stretched into what felt like a long, glistening minute, the radiation of their sweat suspended in air like raindrops.
The referee pounded the mat the third and final time.
Tomb Guardian immediately released Helix from his grip as the crowd went wild.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” The meerkat’s scream echoed above the roaring crowd. “MY GOD, WHAT AN UPSET! WHAT A REVERSAL! TOMB GUARDIAN DETHRONES THE UNDEFEATED HELIX HARE IN THE FIRST ROUND!”
T.G. got up to his feet, squinting at the bright, flashing lights above, and overwhelmed by those cheers. He reached down to Helix Hare, to bring him up.
The hare slapped his hand away, glaring up at him as he slowly, shakily got up. He was panting through grimacing, gritted teeth as he worked his way up.
“This isn’t over, TWERP,” he spat, before turning to stomp away in a huff.
Another out-of-character thing for him… and there was no hint that this was kayfabe.
Before he could try to stop Helix, and check in, he was set upon by that meerkat.
“SO TELL US, T.G! JUST WHAT WAS THAT? YOU DIDN’T TELL US YOU HAD A SIGNATURE FINISHER!”
The microphone was thrust into his face. He had no escape.
“I suppose it is,” he half-stammered.
“SO HUMBLE, THAT’S WHY WE LOVE HIM!”
TG. would have to come up with a name for that, wouldn’t he…?
“LET’S GO T.C!”
The claps started again.
T.G. couldn’t help himself. He cracked a smile, the first time he’d ever smiled in the ring. For the moment, he forgot about his secret objective, about the shadiness of the whole ordeal, and allowed himself to drink that adoration like a fine wine. There surely wasn’t any harm in that…
From a glass box towering over the whole event, a besuited eagle stared down with a grin.
“Are the lights still sending the subliminals?” he asked, not even bothering to look at his underlings manning the broadcast equipment.
“Yessir.”
“Good.” Mass Manipulation bit off the tip of his cigar with his beak and spat it aside before lighting it. “He’ll get the message soon enough. And we can keep those sweet donations rolling in…”