Miss You

Valley Doll walked into the Friction gym with her workout bag slung over her shoulder and a water bottle in hand. Track shorts, white with pink stripes. Running shoes, white with pink laces. White Snake t-shirt, just white with the White Snake logo on it. She looked ready for action...on the outside, anyway.

It had been what? A week? Two? Two weeks since Valley Doll's match with Akashi, since Friction's star sumo took her apart like she was a rookie fresh out of wrestling camp. It had been a slaughter, no doubt, but it wasn't like a cage match or anything. She was fine now. Fresh. 100%. Which meant she was all out of excuses, no more dilly-dallying. She was going to have to step into the ring soon. She didn't know who would be on her dance card, but she did know that she needed to wrack up a hit in the win column before her record started getting lopsided. She was at 3-4-0, two losses away from a 66% loss ratio. Not pretty.

She could just take on some new thing and get the win. The AFW didn't have a shortage of girls with hardly any matches under their belt, easy prey. But she needed a mental victory as well as a physical one. Valley needed something to reassure herself that she still had the goods. Prove it to herself. Prove it to the fans, if she still had any. Prove it to Ace. A solid win against a solid opponent. Which meant she needed to up her training once again and hit the metal. Her legs certainly hadn't gotten any stronger in the last two weeks.

She found some mats and laid them off to the side, laying her bag and her water bottle a few feet away. She slipped her earphones and started the music up - the Rolling Stones were a crucial part of any recovery work out. After tooling around with the iPod, Valley hopped over to the center of the mat, spread her legs, and bent down.

"I'll never be your beast of burden..." She muttered along as she reached her toes, stretching left and right. "I've walked for miles, my feet are hurting..."

Katya had been feeling a little out of sorts. The petite Russian couldnâ€t shake the notion that no-one was really taking her seriously in AFW. Sure, she was a rookie, but she didnâ€t think she was a complete joke. Her mind kept dwelling on an altercation she had had, backstage with Akashi, where the sumo had turned sour, and swore to stop Katyaâ€s career in its tracks. Maybe there were malign influences at work, thought Katya.

She had tried to rouse herself for a full day of intense training, but had only managed a running session on the treadmills before losing her focus somewhat. Stamina wasnâ€t really the problem here, reasoned the out-of-breath girl, as she began sauntering back to the lockers. Her red shorts and sports top were barely damp, only a light sheen of sweat on her pale-skinned body.

As she wondered through the gym, her eye was caught by a flash of white, pink and blonde - and a pert butt bending away from her. That athletic figure looked familiar.

Katya stalked around to the side, unseen by the headphones-wearing girl. Seeing her features more clearly now, Katya recognised the wrestler Valley. The Russian was aware of this fighter, and admired her high-flying style. She had been rooting for her in the most recent match against Akashi, and felt like she should at least say hi.

The brunette stepped forward, timing her approach between Valleyâ€s stretches, so that she would suddenly appear in her field of vision. She tilted her head to the side and smiled.

“Hi.” She held up her hand in a friendly gesture.

Valley was getting to the best part of Beast of Burden and started to bounce along with the music, swaying back and forth to the twang of the guitar tapping her feet to the drum, nodding her head to the bass. Letting her murmuring get a little louder, close to full blown singing. There weren't too many people around the gym, nobody paying any attention to her. She felt safe enough to have a little fun and indulge in terrible singing voice. "-pretty girl, you're a pretty, pretty, pretty-

She stood up straight and jumped back when a girl suddenly appeared in her line of sight, appearing out of thick air. "Uh...hi." She pulled down the earphones and let them wrap around her neck as she did a quick scan, not sure what to make of the girl at first sight. She seemed innocent enough - young, about Ace's age, nice body, light skin, pleasant smile. Valley had been in the AFW long enough to know none of that guaranteed she wasn't looking for trouble, but at the moment, everything looked good. No need to assume the worst, at any rate. Not everyone was an Amethyst Velour or an Allison Watson.

"Hey. Hi. Hello." She let out a fake cough and straightened up, trying to play it off. "You, ah - you didn't see all of that before, did you?"

“See?” Katyaâ€s smile became a little more knowing at the girlâ€s self-conscious reaction. “Oh, donâ€t worry about what I could see… what I could hear, may be a problem though,” Katya joked in her Slavic lilt, holding her ear in mock discomfort.

“No, no, I jest of course, youâ€re a better singer than me! And I think, a better wrestler too. Valley, right? Iâ€m Katya.” She held out her hand. “Iâ€ve seen some of your matches, youâ€re good. Do the Stones help you train?” she smiled.

Katyaâ€s first impression was a positive one, the attractive blonde seemed quite self-effacing for a veteran.

Valley took the handshake, noting how delicate Katja's features felt. Her palm was almost like silk, smooth and supple to the touch, and her voice was similar. Not an accent Valley was familiar with from California, but some sort of Russian, if she had to guess from her knowledge of stereotypes in 90s movies.

"That's me, Valley Doll." She returned Katja's smile, but there was some teeth grinding going on underneath. Ironically enough, she was more famous now than she'd ever been with the Slamazons, just for all the wrong reasons. "And I don't know - that might have been true, once, but I've been off my game, lately. Not exactly a banner year." Even so, flattery was always nice. This girl seemed to want to be around her, which was getting to be a rare quality in people.

She turned up her iPod enough for her new comrade to hear, too. "And yeah, love the Stones. I'm an old-school girl in general, really, but they're good when I'm trying to get back into things." She took a step back and went into her stretches again, finishing up the last few. She kept her head towards Katja, though. "You're a fan?"

“Ehh, sometimes,” Katya shrugged, knowing she couldnâ€t always enthuse about music the way others did. For her, it filled a purpose rather than being a deep love affair. Similar to how she approached a lot of things, ultimately.

“I do like classic British rock when Iâ€m in London. Gimme Shelter, cool as fuck. Fits the place.”

Katyaâ€s brow furrowed a little with concern as Valley ruefully went over her recent wrestling form. “Hey, now, I saw your last match with Akashi, no way was that your fault. They set you up to fail with all that pro-Japan bullshit, having their golden girl sumo just squash everyone. There was no respect. I got pissed off when I saw how theyâ€d screwed you over like that.”

The Russianâ€s voice conveyed real empathy with Valleyâ€s plight. Katya could be pretty sympathetic when she was trying to persuade people to get angry at other people.

Valley believed that Katya believed everything she said was true, but the reality of the situation was a little different. She wanted to be mad at Akashi, and she still was for the challenge she'd made and the haughty way she was carrying herself around. But she couldn't blame the sumo for that match. At worst, she'd been a little too aggressive, but it wasn't like there was anything unfair about that. It was a clean loss. Valley wished it wasn't, she would have loved for Akashi to be this vicious, moustache-twirling heel that screwed her out of a win, that would have been much easier to swallow...but the hard, undeniable fact of the matter was that Valley had no one to blame but herself. She didn't like it, but there it was.

"Well," She stood up and raised her arms, pulling them behind her head for tricep stretches. "It won't happen again, that's the important thing. I'm getting back on track, starting right now. Full throttle. Akashi has a big mouth, but next time I'll shut it up." If there was a next time. If.

Valley didn't want to dwell on herself too long, and she was growing a little interested in the young Katya. She was an eager, fresh face, the sort of thing the business needed more of. Valley looked back her way as she switched arms. "What about you, though? How's your career going so far?"

“I hope you do shut it up,” nodded Katya.

“Me? Uh, well, still waiting for my first win…” Katya mumbled. The three losses to her name had all been hugely humiliating. In truth, it could barely be called a ‘careerâ€. At least not at the moment.

“You know how it is, AFW is a tough place to learn. Doubly tough if you want to be a fast high-flier. It seems every match, no matter how many moves I get in, I end up caught in some savage submission hold, they clip my wings, then itâ€s serious trouble. I donâ€t know what to do. I know Iâ€m better than a whipping girl.”

She watched Valley with interest as the pretty blonde continued her stretches. “Of course, Iâ€d rather stick to real matches than kick kawaii ass,” she added as an afterthought. “But hey. I am impressed you make the agile, attractive style work. Whatâ€s your secret?” Katya smiled.

Valley sighed and tried not to think of the last person she'd met who had been like this.

She swiveled her waist around, getting out a few audible cracks from her back as the bones shifted. "I've been there, I know the feeling." Her own rookie days had been a rough patch, too. She was seen as an upstart just getting by on her mother's legacy, and it wasn't long before the sharks came in to feed on the fresh blood. It seemed like every wrestler with something to prove had targeted her. "You come in, you want to set the world on fire, but it's never that easy, huh?"

She finished stretched and took a step back, thinking up some advice. She didn't really consider herself to be a trainer, but with Ace and Alaina, that was the role she often found. Might as well role with it. "Versatility helps. I have a lot of things to deal with different situations. My kicks are strong enough to hurt the bigger girls, I can do some grappling, work some submissions on the floor. I try to keep things moving from move to move, let my attacks flow." Valley thumbed towards the ring. "That's why you see me do a lot of springboard moves. I only really go up to the turnbuckle except for finishers. Springboards are great for quick followups that pile on the damage." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, and fake kicks. I love my fake kicks."

Valley tried not to smile too much. It had been a little while since she talked shop with a fellow wrestler. Always a pleasure, and one she hadn't had since Summer Splash.

“Yes, yes,” Katya nodded intently as she listened to the advice. Her training up to now had involved learning the basic moves and dishing them out as best she could. The net result had been flashes of brilliance from the Russian, but a clunkiness at others. Listening to Valley talk about flow, linking moves and springboards, it all made sense to Katya.

“Control the momentum, control the match. Yeah…” Katya rubbed her chin thoughtfully. As an approach, it sounded like it would minimise her time spent as a punching bag. In theory, anyway. Most things always worked really well in theory.

“Youâ€re right, I should be using more springboard moves. And fake kicks, I like the sound of that…” she smiled with an impish twinkle in her eye. “Trickery is something I can definitely go for…”

“If you have time… you want we should get in the sparring ring?” Katya inclined her head towards the ring. “Show off some tricks, maybe test a few of them out…”

The petite Russian knew it was a bit of an imposition so she tried to be as charming as possible. “Iâ€d be really grateful,” she smiled hopefully.