One short week after her defeat against Elina Zamora, Fiona was geared up to wrestle again, hoping to erase the disappointment of that match with a statement win. August's shows were going to be a different beast entirely to NMW's debut month, and Fiona knew that if she won tonight, no one would care that she'd come up short against Elina. That was a big 'if' however.

The voting went even better than she'd hoped, landing her in the eighth seed going into the tournament to decide the women's champion. Fiona couldn't help but feel an immense satisfaction seeing Ash Weathers two spots behind her, knowing she'd be fuming about that. Ash had done everything possible in July, winning both her matches and beating Aubrey Beatific with her twin sister ringside, and it still wasn't enough to get her ahead of Fiona with the fans, despite Fiona coming fresh off a loss. [i]Just goes to show that I'm resonating with fans really well, win or lose. And Ash is about to find out how hard it is to take down Elina.[/i]

As the eighth seed, Fiona was matched up against fifth place, and it was a name that had come out of nowhere and grabbed the attention of the NMW fans: Shin Choon-hee. The young Korean superstar and Fiona had shared rookie seasons the previous year, and while Fiona had impressed the fans, Shin Choon-hee had blown them away, not to mention defeated Fiona on two separate painful occasions. Her first match against her in her hometown of Seattle had been a one-sided domination, Fiona losing control early and unable to turn things around before she was too battered to kick out. She'd needed to claw her way back to earn a chance to battle Shin Choon-hee again for the title of Rookie of the Year, and while their rematch was [i]much[/i] closer, again Fiona had come up short, forced to submit after some timely intervention from the Beatifics.

Tonight would be the next chapter in their rivalry. Shin Choon-hee, now a tag champion in Korea, was looking to start her run for NMW singles gold by taking down Fiona and silencing any remaining whispers that she only beat her last time with the Beatifics' help. On the other side, Fiona was the underdog again, searching for her first win over Shin Choon-hee and the start to what would be a Cinderella story if she could make it through more than one round of this stacked tournament.

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[center][h2]BACKSTAGE[/h2][/center]

[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/4n9mGT0s/IMG-2635.jpg[/img][/center]

Fiona waited with Kendra backstage while the first match of the night neared its conclusion. The boys had opened the show's slate of first round matches, and the crowd's energy was incredible. Fiona and Shin Choon-hee would face off next to begin the girls' side of things, and Fiona couldn't deny she was nervous. She'd recovered from her loss to Elina physically, but only had a few days to get training in during what was otherwise a whirlwind week.

NMW's stylists had encouraged her to let them take the reins on putting together her ring attire for what was bound to be the brand's biggest shows yet. They came back with [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019bbe9a-1a9f-7458-ad9b-353543c06792.webp]an updated look for her[/url], featuring a tight fishnet bolero shrug over a shimmering light blue and black bra top. The biggest departure was the pleated black leather miniskirt they picked for her, with a grommet belt and a low-rise fit to show off her midriff. Fishnet tights matched the shrug, and the boots were what she was comfortable with, tall covers laced up the front and secured with multiple straps. She had a cropped black leather jacket for her entrance, and while she wasn't sure about it at first, once she had the whole getup on, her long hair reaching to the middle of her back and shining, it felt right. Feminine and definitely a little sexy, but with her own personal touch, that blend of somehow both cute and badass.

Kendra was with her, and Fiona was thankful for that. It wasn't going to be an easy month for her tag partner, she knew that, as Kendra's chances of getting in the ring were slim to none until this title tournament business was done, but management had teased the start of tag matches afterwards, so Fiona hoped it wouldn't be [i]too[/i] long before they got a chance to actually compete together. For now, she needed her there for backup. Shin Choon-hee's tag partner was in the building and would almost certainly be ringside as a manager, so Fiona knew she'd be handing her opponent an advantage if she went out there alone. She didn't like fighting with anyone ringside, the unnecessary distractions usually working against her more than anything, but if Shin Choon-hee was going to try it, Fiona wanted someone who could play a little defense for her.

"Third time's the charm, right?" she asked Kendra, exhaling a deep breath. The crowd went nuts beyond as a finisher was landed, and it sounded like the first match was just about to end.

"Oh, definitely," Kendra encouraged her. "You've got this, Fiona."

On paper, her rival did just about everything Fiona did, and most of it better. They were both fast, but Shin Choon-hee was a little faster. They both ran off momentum, but Shin Choon-hee had better strikes, with some of the more devastating kicks Fiona had ever taken. They both liked taking to the skies and had a few submission and weardown holds to go for, with one such move being what had put Fiona to sleep last time. She was a brutal and ruthless fighter, and Fiona knew it was going to take a lot of toughness, heart, and skill to come out on top.

She had to believe she was up to the challenge.