Gemma Faraday vs. Valley Doll - Age Before Beauty

Valley nailed the corkscrew neckbreaker and let go of Gemma right after the impact, continuing to roll until she reached the ropes. She popped up to her feet in a single bound, put one foot on the middle rope, and pumped out her fist to the audience, who all gave the appropriate response. Cheers all around. Valley wasn't just looking good, she was feeling good.

The same probably couldn't be said for Gemma. Valley looked over her shoulder as her younger opponent tried to get back up, vainly trying to make her body obey her commands. It was a little inspiring, and a few fans in the crowd agreed - Valley swore she could hear some clapping, rallying the plucky up-and-comer on.

But it was all for naught. Gemma didn't get too far before gravity had its way, and down she went. Flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling, making the perfect target.

Valley looked at the ropes, looked at Gemma, looked at the crowd, then nodded as a wry grin came over her face. They knew what time it was.

She jumped up high and shot her legs out over the top rope, so her thighs hit it on the way down for an Arabian Press. The bounce sent her flipping through the air in a moonsault, and she came down hard right on top of Gemma, crashing chest-to-chest and immediately going for the pin.

"1...!"

As Gemma fell, she made a connection. A young fan in the crowd, clapping for her, trying to rally her up, trying to keep her fighting. They weren't alone, other hands started clapping, even in the mass of cheers for Valley to finish the pert young Brit off. It broke Gemma's heart when it wasn't enough to get her back up.

Gemma was laid out on her back, her wide eyes darting around the arena trying to find her opponent. When she did, Valley was already in the midst of coming down on her to the audience's delight. The crowd's roar was swelling in support, as Valley's flip reached its apex.

"Nnnnngh ..." Gemma whined, helplessly, as she watched Valley come down. The older woman was a beautiful swirl of hair and tights, tan and muscle coming down hard, right onto Gemma's soft chest. The crowd roared as Valley bounced off the ropes, practically exploding as her body impacted Gemma's.

"Aaaaoooww!" Gemma wailed, Valley's hard body coming down on her soft figure with force. Gemma wanted to admire Valley, the high-flying, stylish wrestler she would have wanted to be, if she could just get off the damned mat, already. She felt Valley settle in on top of her, pressing her soft figure down, flattened against the mat, making it hard for Gemma to draw breath.

Hearing the count, Gemma bit her lip and planted her boots against the mat. Gemma dug deep, trying to use the pain coursing through her body. She said she couldn't let herself just go down, now, could she? Her urge was to kick her legs in pain, but she stored that energy.

"TWO!"

Hearing that, Gemma bucked her toned legs, pushed her boots into the mat and tried to use all that pent-up pain and frustration to push herself up into a bridge. Trying to use that brief connection to the crowd to try and draw strength. Anything to not hear that fatal third count, from the ref.

Valley threw her hair back and looked out to the audience, smiling their way as she covered Gemma for the pin. That smile dimmed the second her younger opponent escaped the attempt, still showing plenty of life. She had to concede, she was more than a little surprised and impressed on top of it - the Moonsault was hardly a finisher, but she thought it stood a good chance when it came so soon after the neckbreaker. Apparently not.

Valley ran a hand through her hair and sighed, looking on over the tenacious Brit as she struggled to recover. "Okay, then." No problem - Valley still had plenty of moves to throw her way. One of them was bound to work.

She reached down and got a good grip on Gemma's pretty head, digging in and wrapping the platinum locks around her fingers. "Still waiting." She chirped as she stood up and forced Gemma to rise along with her, whether she liked it or not. As soon as they were both up, Valley gripped her wrist tight with both hands, jerked hard to the side, put her body weight into the movement and sent Gemma hurtling towards the turnbuckles with a strong Irish Whip. Once this match went to the corner, she could really start to pile the damage on, hopefully put the poor girl down before things got too serious.

Gemma was still gasping for air, even after she'd managed to kick out of the pin. Relief washed over her body in a wave, as Gemma rolled up onto her shoulder. She couldn't help but smile, grateful at hanging in there after yet another big move.

Still, Gemma knew she couldn't keep this pace, forever. And when Valley hooked her platinum locks in her fingers, it became starkly, achingly clear to Gemma that she needed to get herself back into this match before it was too late. Gemma scrambled up to her feet, as Valley yanked her upwards. "You'll g-get yours, slagamuffin," Gemma grunted, trying to sound tough. However, there was nothing she could do to avoid getting chucked into the corner post.

"Aow!" Gemma squealed, as her spine hit the turnbuckle. That shock woke her up a little, however, bringing the Brit's focus back on the match. Gemma laid her arms out across the top ropes, trying to balance her weight on the ropes. Now, however, Gemma was focues. Her body tensed, every muscle tight, her gaze focused. She felt like she knew that Valley would be bringing the fight right to her any moment, and she wanted to be ready. As soon as Valley got close enough to her, Gemma was prepared to shoot both boots forward into a hard kick, trying to catch the lithe fan-favorite in her toned belly, hoping that the surprise would be enough to give Gemma momentum, in the match.

The second Valley let go of Gemma and sent her off to the turnbuckle, she dashed in the opposite direction and made her way to the turnbuckle on her side in a flash. She leaped up right before impact, placed one foot on the middle pad, and balanced perfectly as she spun around to face her opponent. She stood there for a second, as gravity started to pull her forward...and then she jumped off and ran like a bullet out of the corner, turning into a pink and white blur as she dashed. Full speed, full force, heading straight towards Gemma.

As she came roaring in, Valley started to jump, bringing her leg up and coming at the feisty Brit with a high knee. With all the speed and momentum she had, it would've been a devastating blow if it hit.

If.

But it didn't. Valley had just left the ground when Gemma's boots hit her in the stomach and knocked her out of the air, killijng the move at the last moment. "Aargh!" She croaked and fell to her knees, gasping for breath - she'd recover, but she needed a couple of seconds.

Gemma grunted, a bit, as Valley came into her boots hard. Still, the Brit's legs were strong enough not to buckle, and she managed to stop Valley in her tracks. The crowd reacted with surprise to Gemma's sudden return to life, but she had no time to soak up their reaction.

Taking just a second to size up Valley in her downed state, Gemma hoisted herself up onto the second rope. Then, Gemma thrust her legs out, pushing herself hard off the rope to hook her legs around Valley' neck. Once she had her opponent hooked, Gemma would then give a sharp twist of her hips on her way down, bringing the taller crowd favorite's head bouncing off the mat with a low headscissor takedown.

After planting Valley's forehead into the mat, Gemma couldn't help but smirk. "How's that for showing you," she said, "you peroxided little peacock?" The Brit would then roll away from Valley, coming back up to her feet, bending forward in an aggressive stance. Gemma reached out, curling her fingers, taunting Valley further by beckoning her to come forward.

Gemma was beginning to feel it again. The rush of competition, of being back in the ring and in front of the cheering fans. Her head and back were still killing her from Valley's earlier abuse, and coming hard off the rope in a twisting move certainly didn't help that, but it was easy enough to ignore while Gemma was feeling the thrill of having escaped a rough beating yet again, and taking control of the match.

The crowd was surprised that Gemma still had this much fight left in her, and Valley shared their confusion. She expected the girl - no, woman - to have some moxy, but this went a bit above in beyond. That kick had some real strength to it, and the Brit was starting to show a penchant for digging deep and coming back. Something Valley would have to be extremely mindful of in the future.

She brought one foot up, wanting to get back up and into the fight as soon as possible, but when she felt a pair of powerful thighs around her neck, she knew that wasn't happening. Up and over she went, right on top of her head, ass-over-teakettle.

Valley landed hard and grunted with both pain and annoyance as the attack sent her rolling, rolling, rolling right out of the ring. That hadn't been her intention, but they'd already been so close that it was easy mistake to make. She tumbled outside and managed to land on her feet, more than a little dizzied. Valley shook her head and tried to clear the cobwebs as she grasped her head. Just taking a quick moment.

Good move from Gemma, though. People were giving her some applause, and rightfully so. Valley would have to use that one herself, sometime.

Gemma could have had kittens, she was so frustrated letting Valley tumble out of the ring like that. Sloppy, rookie mistake, she chided herself. Valley was a skilled veteran, clearly Gemma's superior in quite a few ways, and time and space to recoup was about the last thing that Gemma wanted to give her.

Still riding high on the crowd's approval, Gemma knew she had to try and press the advantage. Turning her hands away from beckoning Valley, she held them out to the crowd. Shaking, it let them know to expect something exciting, and likely ill-advised. She didn't build the anticipation for long, however, breaking into a dead run towards Valley's position on the outside of the ring.

With as much force as she could muster, Gemma threw herself between the top and middle ropes. Arms forward, head up, Gemma looked to take Valley down with a suicide dive. The air raid siren threw all of herself into the move, completely committed to throwing herself into Valley before she could recover enough to escape. The wind rushing over her face, braids flying wildly, Gemma closed her eyes and hoped against hope that the risk she was taking would pay off.

Okay, this was better. Valley was dazed, but she was recovering fast. Her stomach still hurt from that kick - God, Gemma had some strong legs - and her head was sore from the hit, but she'd been through worse. She still had the advantage, here, she just needed to keep on pressing it.

Valley was taken out of her thoughts when she heard the crowd suddenly come to life. She didn't look Gemma's way at first, but the gears were starting to turn - Valley was on the floor, Gemma was in the ring, Valley was recovering from a move, Gemma had the high ground. She'd been in more than enough matches to have some idea what was about to happen, and sure enough, when she turned back to the ring, her younger opponent was storming towards her at terminal velocity.

Valley had been in Gemma's shoes, many, many times. She knew what it was like to go for the dive, and how much it would utterly suck when your opponent moved. She had a great deal of sympathy for that experience, and she didn't really want to put the pretty young thing through it.

But she didn't want to be on the receiving end, either, so she jumped out of the way at the last second, giving Gemma nothing but dead air and a barricade to crash into. For her sake, Valley hoped the flying Brit had gotten her hands up properly. It was not going to be a fun landing.

Gemma could feel the rush of the air around her, the nagging uncertainty in the pit of her belly as to how this landing would end, for her. And unfortunately for the young steampunker, it ended in the worst way possible. The last thing Gemma heard before impact was the rising cheer of the crowd taking a sudden, dramatic shift in tone.

"OOOOOHHHH!"

Sure enough, a veteran like Valley wasn't going to just sit there and take the suicide dive. The barricade, however, was more than willing. Gemma's arms hit the thick structure full-on, absorbing much of the impact but not nearly all of it. Pain shot like fireworks through Gemma's spine at the impact. The young woman fell to the floor in a limp, undignified heap. The force of the crash was nearly enough to put her lights out. Above her, some of the front-row fans got to their feet, pounding the top of the barricade in excitement.

Gemma didn't bother looking up. She grimaced in pain; Valley had been working over her neck quite effectively earlier, and now Gemma had apparently decided to help her along with that. The price of not being able to keep up with the veteran in straight grappling. Gemma's hand flopped over her throbbing head, but other than that a couple of involuntary body-twitches of pain, the youthful Brit lay lifeless, for a moment.

"Uhnn!" Gemma sobbed, tears in her eyes as she finally rolled her head upwards, looking for Valley. The wetness in her eyes and pain in her skull made the bright glare of the arena lights and flash photography more than Gemma's senses could handle, at the moment. She only hoped that, wherever her opponent was, Valley wasn't going to mock her too hard for that one ...