Never Met A Girl Like You Before (For Tai)

There was one thing Valley had to give the AFW over Slamazons - it offered variety like no other league she'd seen in her entire life. Not even the WWE came close.

She'd only been in Japan and watching the matches for a short time, barely a month, but she'd seen an insane range of wrestlers. Kung Fu fighters, ninjas, giant women, hi-flyers, boxers, cowboys, maids, knights, superheroines, Lucha Libre, schoolteachers, schoolgirls, Egyptians, nurses - quite a few nurses, actually - pirates, and even some guy dressed up like a priest. There was no shortage of personality, and she couldn't help but feel a little out of place, at times.

She didn't have any real gimmick - nothing outlandish, anyway. No crazy backstory, no insane moves with crazy names. She was just plain, vanilla Valley Doll. And, honestly? She liked it that way. Sometimes the simple ways were the best.

She didn't begrudge anyone else their thing, but she wouldn't have minded a more normal match, for once. Just something standard against a normal opponent - as normal as a wrestler could get. She poked a few stomachs, and she got what she was looking for, too - a match against someone called the Silver Ace. It was tempting to look up some information on her prior to the match, but Valley decided that a meet-and-greet might be best for this; learn about her opponent straight from the horse's mouth.

Also, she still hadn't gotten the hang of reading Japanese yet, which just so happened to be the language most of the information on Silver Ace was in. So.

She sent out an email and invited Ace to a bar, not too far from the arena. She showed up there first, wearing some baggy blue jeans and a black Rolling Stones hoodie - complete with the classic symbol, of course; tongue sticking out for all the world to see. She wouldn't be too hard to find - just look for the blonde at the booth, sipping on a can of Sprite Zero.

Ace had to admit, she was feeling nervous as she walked into the bar. She had been invited here by her upcoming opponent, a woman named "Valley Doll" from america. Apparently, despite being relatively new to Friction, she was a veteran who had been a big deal in a smaller league before. Her email claimed she just wanted to get together for a little "meet and greet", a way for the two to get to know one another before they beat each other up in the ring.

Ace couldn't help being nervous, the last couple times she had met a future opponent outside the ring, she had angered them both, leading to her taking major damage in her matches against them, ultimately losing to both of them. She could only hope this encounter went better. She was attempting to look casual, dressed in an older pair of jeans, though they were still designer, but mixing them with white tennis shoes and a black Rush T-shirt.

Helping to hide the rich girls identity as Silver Ace from any potential fans was that she hadn't dyed her hair or her eyes that day, the silver hair and red eyes replaced by her natural blonde hair and hazel eyes. To the world at large, she was simply Haley, Canadian tourist.

It didn't take long for her to find Valley Doll, standing where she said she would be in her email, Ace looking around, hoping Valley had kept the email private.

Ordering a coke from the bar, she got her drink before walking up to the blonde woman in the Rolling Stones shirt, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me....Your Valley Doll, right?"

She asked, breathing a sigh of relief when the woman turned to reveal she looked just like her picture in AFW's profile page on her, with her blonde hair, tan skin, and sizeable rack.

"Damn....she's hot for an older woman..."

Ace thought for a second before bringing her hand up and introducing herself, cutting off whatever Valley Doll tried to say first.

"I'm Haley! It's good to meet you!"

She said quickly, hoping Valley picked up that she didn't want the name "Ace" to get mentioned.

Valley was almost at the end of the can when the Silver Ace came walking up, and right off the bat, she learned a couple of important things about her.

First was the silver hair - or lack of it. She'd seen a few pictures and it stuck out to her. Dyed, obvious, but Valley was surprised she let her natural hair out for the public; it took her a second to recognize the Ace without her Silver. Odd little choice.

The second thing she noticed was the Rush shirt. The girl had good taste. Valley's mother actually met Geddy Lee a few times and had an autographed copy of their debut album; things went well enough, she'd have to show it to her.

The third thing that struck her was that the Silver Ace was not bad on the eyes. She'd seen pictures, sure, but it was much easier to appreciate up close; the AFW had no shortage of fine women, but Valley had a taste for tight bodies, and she certainly had one. But she tried to keep lustier side in check, for now - they were here to talk, and she shouldn't let that kind of emotion strew things up, lest she come off as some kind of creepy older stalkerish cougar.

Besides, workplace relationships never worked out, not even in wrestling. Hell, especially not in wrestling. She knew that, firsthand.

"So you're the Silver-" She was cut off by 'Haley' more properly introducing herself. Valley extended her own hand and gave her a shake, nodding. "Nice meeting you. Love the shirt."

Ace smiled back, glad somebody appreciated real classic rock like she did.

"Thanks, I've seen them probably half a dozen times already. Can't get enough Clockwork Angels, ya know? Though I will say that "Gimme Shelter" is one of the best songs ever made."

She said with a small giggle, leaning up against the bar. She could tell that Valley was expecting something a bit different, probably closer to Silver Ace's picture. She probably seemed odd for not coming in gimmick.

Pointing out a free table nearby, she led the older blonde over to it, sitting down and getting comfy before leaning in a little.

"Sorry if I'm not what you were expecting....I like to go out, but it can be a hassle with fans always wanting attention, or to see if your as tough as you look on tv. So I like to go out as myself, Haley, and not be noticed and called attention too as Ace, ya know? Obviously I can't hide that from a co-worker, but I'd rather the general public not catch on..."

She explained, hoping to clarify things.

"Sooo....why'd you email me anyway?"

Valley took it back - the girl had excellent taste in music. Just talking about it made Valley want to start playing it on her iPod, but they wouldn't be able to hear it over the bar's music - Japanese Jazz, nothing she recognized. And it would've been weird, anyway.

She followed Ace to the seat, listening to her explanation, understanding it a bit; being able to hide herself in public had never been an option for Valley, but she did wish for it, sometimes, and she could blame Ace for taking it. She couldn't help but feel she was overestimating her popularity just a wee bit, though; she was more well known than Valley was, that was for sure, but in terms of the AFW overall? Not that high up.

Also, did she refer to herself in the third person? That was a new one. Slip of the tongue, maybe.

"It's cool, no worries. And yeah, that hair would definitely draw attention." She settled into the booth, snuggling in and crossing her legs under the table. "I just thought it might be nice to get to know each other a little before we beat each other around a ring, is all. Had trouble in my first few matches with getting caught off guard, would like to avoid that, for once; make sure you're not crazy." Slight pause. "And show I'm not crazy, either."

"Yeah, I can understand that...I got matched up with a fucking psycho my first match here, and my last attempts to meet my opponent beforehand didn't go very well...

Ace said, gripping her glass tighter just thinking about Iron Maiden. That was a score to be settled another day.


Looking Valley Doll over, Ace had to admit, she had a good idea. The blonde didn't look crazy, though if Ace had to be honest with herself, she didn't think the woman really looked like a wrestler from the first glance, more like a really sexy California woman with nice boobs. Still, appearances were deceiving.


"So, tell me a little about yourself. I heard you've been in the business for some time now..."

Ace asked in what she hoped was a friendly tone, trying to relax herself.

Valley just shook her head at the mention of her first match, facing scrunching up in a frown. "We have a lot more in common than you think, believe me. I think some of the people who decide our matches have a really, really sick sense of humor."

And that was all she was willing to say on the subject of fighting insane people in your first match. Fortunately, Ace seemed intent on moving on to more pleasant topics, and Valley would gladly oblige.

"Yeah, the Slamazons." She leaned back, a wistful look in her eyes and a nostalgic tone in her voice. "Twelve years - back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth - that's where I got my start, just a little bit younger than you are, now. Wrestling's in my blood - my mother worked for them, too, and I sort of took her spot, legacy thing. The Flairs, the Ortons, the Rock, same kind of deal, pretty common. It was a lot different from here, nothing so big, mostly just in California, house shows, PPVs every now and then. Nothing special."

She was smiling. She hadn't even realized it, at first, but she was. "But those - those were fun times. Ups and downs, you know; it's a fun job, but it's still a job. But I loved it. Hope I can get even a little bit of it, here."

Ace smiled as Valley recalled her older days. It was nice to see somebody be nostalgic about their career and enjoy being a wrestler. Frankly, Iron "crazy bitch" Maiden aside, she felt that her last two opponents didn't care so much about being wrestlers as they cared about being able to brag about their superiority while beating people up. Then again, she might have been a little biased, since she was who they had beaten up.


"Heh, I'm Canadian, I know about legacies in wrestling. You can't be a wrestling fan in Canada without loving The Hart Family."

She said with a laugh, taking a drink before recounting her own tale.


"I wasn't as lucky. 4 years ago, I left home, and even school to attend wrestling school. From there I basically bounced around Canada for a year, attending various wrestling schools and getting training, learning the basics of grappling, and getting in shape. Eventually a trainer I was friends with got me into a training school in america, where I spent another year learning more fast paced grapples, and picked up tips on how to be charismatic."


She stopped, both for breath and another drink, feeling herself getting more relaxed.

"Mexico was next, where I not only learned some high flying, some submission holds, and countering, but I finally turned 18 and had my first match, getting beat up by a Japanese girl...which seems to be a pattern for me.."


"Finally, after another year and a birthday, and some wins under my belt, I was able to use Mexico's ongoing talent exchange deal with Japan to come here. I spent months bouncing around the various indy leagues that AFW hasn't shut down already, most of them just small gyms full of bloody hardcore matches. None of the women were really talented in ring skills, but weapons were allowed. Still, I learned how to throw some damn good strikes because of it."

Ace pulled the sleeve of her shirt all the way to show her shoulder, a few scars around it, and turned and lifted the back of her shirt up to show off several small, yet noticeable scars at various places on her back.

"I got these from the various "deathmatches" that the indy leagues around here love. The last one I did, just last year before my 20th birthday, this bitch and I were on the top rope, I was gonna superplex her on this barbed wire board on the mat, the bitch's manager actually grabbed some beer from a fan and threw it in my face, and the bitch powerbombed me on the board for the pin. Luckily, the owner had the match restarted, and I got some payback by locking her in an STF hold while she was on the board till she tapped..."


Ace smiled at the memory, before blinking and realizing she might have looked a little crazy getting so lost in that memory, the young girl blushing and stammering a little.

"I-I mean, she totally deserved it, I would never think of doing something like that to you or anybody else though, I mean, I'm not crazy!"

Heh. Little bit talkative. Just a little bit.

Valley listened with rapt attention - partly because she just enjoyed seeing those little lips move, but also because she enjoyed the story, and found it oddly familiar. Not the events, exactly; their careers were quite different, since Valley started with the Slamazons and stayed solid with them for the whole twelve years, she couldn't really compare.

But it was that look in her eye, the tone in Ace's voice, the body language, all of it - she reminded Valley of herself, oh-so many moons ago. Wrestling was one heck of a way to grow up, and she'd shed blood for it; Valley had to respect that, if nothing else.

"Nice scars." Valley lifted up her shift, show a faded gash along her taut belly. "Hell in a Cell, 2010. Harriet 'Hammer' Gunther - not her fault. Did a moonsault off the top of the cage, nailed it, bounced off of her...and landed on a barbwired bat. Nasty."

Their little show was garnering a few stares. She waved them off.

"And you don't have to explain anything to me, sweety." She gave Ace a knowing smile as she sat back, easing into the seat. "I'm sure she totally had it coming."

...wait, did she just called Ace 'sweety'? Didn't even think about it, just came out. Ugh. Getting old, getting old.

"So, with a name like 'Ace', I sort of thought you'd be big on high-flying, off-the-top-rope sort of stuff - sounds like you're a bit more well-rounded than that. How do you usually go in a match?" She leaned forward. "If you don't mind telling me, I mean. You show me your hand, I'll show you mine, I promise."

[size=85:345p1w00]"Hope that's not all you show me..."

Ace said under her breath, Valley's lifting of her shirt not only displaying her scar, but also giving Ace a small glimpse of the bottom of her bra, containing the older woman's impressive rack within. Realizing she might have said that a bit louder than she intended, Ace quickly took another drink, signaling to the barkeep to get her another coke. The way that Valley leaned in after, allowing a decent view of her cleavage, hinted she might have indeed heard Ace's comment.

Trying to ignore it, Ace tried to focus on the question.

"Well, I do have some high flying skills, but I tried to balance myself out really, since I think overspecialization of one skill does more harm then good. I mean, I can't just jump on a giant right?"

She said a little too quickly, before coughing and calming herself.

"I usually go into a match with a focus on grapples and especially strikes. No matter how tough a girl is, a good kick in the face hurts anybody, ya know? Plus, my legs are fast, and pretty flexible, so even when I'm when on the ropes, all I need is a quick kick to turn things around in my favor."

"Apart from that, I've got some decent submissions that are good for already dazed people, though I have to admit, I do a pretty mean triangle choke. High flying stuff....I usually reserve it for when its needed. Too risky to do in constantly, and I figure if I don't do if that often, its easier to surprise an opponent with it."

She finished by taking another drink, chewing some of the ice before swallowing. She was actually surprised she had said so much on the subject, not too mention having blurted her entire history so far. Something about this woman was comforting, it made Ace feel at ease talking with her, something she never felt dealing with any of her past opponents. She could never imagine herself sitting and relaxing with Taylor or Akashi, and doing anything with Iron Maiden that didn't involve a chair shot to the head wasn't worth thinking of.


"So that's my hand....what about yours?"