Iron Sharpens Iron

Valley was, by no stretch of the imagination, a computer whiz, but she was reasonably sure everything was setup properly with her laptop. Solid connection, which was a small miracle given the situation. Plenty of power. Skype seemed to be running fine, though it did have a funny habit of cutting out in the middle of her calls with Hayley for no apparent reason, so appearances could be deceiving.

Yup, she was all set for her pre-Avalanche interview. In Mongolia. Not where she pictured she would be two years ago, when she first signed the contract and came oversees.

Even though the match was still a few days away Valley had decided to head over early, get some rest, clear her mind for the Iron Woman match. It wasn’t just going to be a physical test, but a grueling mental battle, as well. With a woman as stubborn as Natasha Han, she’d need every edge she could get.

But that was later. This was now. Now she was in her modest Mongolian hotel room, sitting cross-legged on the bed with a laptop in front of her, making sure everything was in proper order before she called up Madison Heights and started the interview. Personally, she would’ve been happy just going out to the match and letting that be it, but after the tenth anniversary of the AFW, management was trying to get into some new things. More personal, more intimate, more facetime, and it was in her contract. Not much choice in the matter.

So, with a click here and a tap there, and a message her and a little waiting, the beautiful Madison Heights appeared on Valley’s laptop screen, greeting her all the way from the AFWDome in Tokyo. ”Good morning, Valley Doll!”

Valley winced as Madison’s bright, cheery voice resonated around the room, and she slyly reached forward to bring her volume down. ”Good morning to you, Madison.” Valley replied with a warm smile, keeping things nice and polite. Regardless of how she felt about the interview, Madison had always been a sweet girl with her. No need to throw frustrations her way. ”Skyping live, all the way from beautiful Ulaanbaatar.”

She swept her hands over her head, a little bit facetious, but it wasn’t a total fake. Mongolia was a lovely country, even if it was a bit too rustic for her tastes.

”Glad you’re settling in well, and I won’t take up much of your time. Ready for your match?”

”As ready as you can be for something like this.” She stretched and arched her back with a small yawn, still fighting off a bit of jet lag. Mongolia wasn’t even that far from Japan, but it was still far too long in a flying tube of death. ”Never had something like this, so it’s fresh territory.”

Madison’s eyebrow raised. ”You’ve never had a match that went thirty minutes?”

Valley shook her head. ”Well, yeah, I have. Think my longest match was a TLC. That went just over forty.” She grunted, a small flash of annoyance as she went through the memory. ”But an Iron Woman match is so different from that, you know? It’s not just a long match, it’s like a bunch of smaller matches packed into one, and there’s a level of strategy that you don’t get with anything else.”

”How so?” Madison’s head canted, a slight tilt to the side. ”What’s the mental test?”

”Think about it like this,” Valley held up her hand and started ticking off her fingers. ”It’s not enough to just win a fall. When I get my opponent down, I can’t just think about winning in the moment, I have to think about the next win. Should I go for a pin, or should I try a submission and weaken a body part, maybe set something up for later? If I’m down on points, do I go for big moves and risk it all, or do I play it safe and bet on a long game? If I’m up, do I just play defense or do I try to really widen the gap and get more falls?” She folded her arms and huffed, thinking about all the possibilities. Which meant that Natasha was thinking about them, too. ”It adds a completely new dimension to the game, and I’m really looking forward to exploring it.”

”I’m glad to see you’re so hyped for it.” Madison chirped. ”Think Natasha feels the same way?”

Valley gave an emphatic nod. ”I know she does.”

”She really was quite eager to have this go down, wasn’t she? How does it feel to have someone so focused on beating you?”

That was an intriguing little question, and Valley took a moment to consider it. ”It’s...really? It’s awesome. I mean, I don’t have a belt or anything, management doesn’t take me all that seriously. I put everything I can into my matches, but I don’t think I’m anyone special on the main scene. There are probably a lot of bigger things Natasha could be doing to further her career. But she’s a competitor. She wants to prove she’s the best, and she thinks defeating me will help with that. I respect that.” Valley leaned forward with just the barest hint of a smirk. ”I’m still going to beat her, but I respect it.”

”And I’m sure the feeling is mutual.” Madison’s eyes subtly shifted off the screen, probably looking at a clock - there were other things that they had to go over for the Avalanche, and Valley wasn’t surprised that her time would be comparatively short. She was honestly just happy they cared enough to get her thoughts at all. ”Before we go, do you have any parting words for your opponent?”

Valley tapped her chin and hummed for a moment, pondering the perfect way to end it. When the moment passed, she looked back down to the camera with a full grin. ”I guess I should say ‘thank you’, first and foremost. I’ve had a lot of really good matches this year - Teddy Cat Hori, Haruka Date, Brooklyn Bruiser - but none of them have really taken me to the limit quite like you have, Han. You’ve really hardened me, you forced me to become more than I was, and I appreciate that. I only have so long left in this business, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to go as far as I’d like in the AFW, but regardless of what happens in the long run, I’m always going to have this time to look back fondly on. So, again - thank you.”

Valley took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then stared at the camera with a more resolute face, as if Natasha was right there and they were in the ring, seconds away from the match. ”But with that said, don’t think it changes anything between us in the long run. I’m going to win this match, just like our last two. Maybe you’ll get a pin on me, maybe you’ll take the lead, who knows - but, at the end of the day, I’m taking it. Because, as amazing as you are, as skilled as you are in the ring, I’m just a little bit better. I’m here to stay in the AFW, regardless of what anyone thinks, and at Avalanche I’m going to prove it.” She gave the camera a quick salute. ”See you in the ring, Nattie.”