Crash Course

That wasn’t Valley’s best kick, but it was far from her worst. Alicia took it well, and she didn’t show it on her face. Either she was really durable or she excelled at ignoring pain. Or both, most likely. Lovely.

Valley was in the danger zone still, which meant that she’d likely be getting some retaliation for her kick. She was ready for that. What she wasn’t ready for was the cannonball that came crashing into, delivered in the form of Alicia’s foot. She got her arms up in time, formed a cross-arm and managed to block it - in the same way that a bulletproof vest ‘blocked’ gunfire.

She saved herself from the bulk of the damage, sure, but the impact was still enough to knock the wind out of her and send the lighter woman staggering to the side of the ring, with an undignified grunt along the way.

Instead of fighting the momentum, Valley rolled with it and backed all the way into the ropes, hitting them with her back. She bounced off and came running towards Alicia at full speed, rapidly dashing along the canvas, looking to see how her opponent would react.

The abused thigh stung as she put weight on it. But it was worth the discomfort to see her opponent go stumbling back and Alicia liked to think she’d seen a little shock in her expression. Maybe just her imagination but it was a reaction she was used to in first time opponents.

Too bad she hadn’t got past her guard but, hey, early days.

Except as she resumed her ready stance, things had definitely changed in a way she wasn’t so experienced with. The sort of picking at each other they’d been doing so far? Plenty of practice. Or if they’d closed in, she was fine with that too. This? Was new and not a problem she had an immediate plan for.

Instead of stopping, the smaller of the two had gone all the way to the ropes and was heading back the other way.

Valley was rushing at her. Fast. For a heartbeat, Alicia dithered – even as she cursed at herself – but part of her wanted to simply get out of the way and part of her wanted to try and punish the blonde. The latter part won, the redhead twirling to bring her leg up in another vicious kick, but she had taken too much time thinking about it.

The distance was shrinking and she really didn’t know if she was going to get the timing right. If she didn’t…

Her footing was shot to hell…

She should have dodged.

Faster, faster, faster. Valley dashed towards Alicia with plenty of speed and momentum. It was a risk, sure, and there were many ways it could’ve blown up in her face. But Alicia was new to the ring, it seemed. At least this sort of ring. So she was banking on the rambunctious redhead not knowing any of those many ways.

For once, fortune really did favor the bold. Instead of going for something tricky, Alicia tried the much more predictable move - another kick, and frankly, not all that good of one. Seemed a little off, poorly time. Valley ducked under it with ease and kept on running behind Alicia, picking up more speed with every step, practically at a full sprint.

Valley turned around, bounced off the ropes, and came running at her once more, hoping she could close in before the kickboxer could regain her proper footing. She waited until she was on the outskirts of Alicia’s range and then she went into action, jumping high and kicking both of her legs out at the same time, trying to slam her heels into the bigger woman’s chest with a full-force front dropkick, one that packed all her weight and extreme velocity behind it.

Alicia hissed, a thin exhalation displaying her irritation as the kick didn’t even land in the same postcode as Valley. No surprise but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

Still, she’d got a little momentum and, as the blonde ducked past, she used that to turn as fast as she could. She didn’t want Valley behind her.

It also let her get her foot back under her, her stance beginning to steady as she shifted her weight back towards her original position.

Nowhere near fast enough. She’d just got her legs back under her when Valley was coming right back at her again, even faster if anything. And then the other woman leapt into the air right before Alicia could even think of kicking and both her feet were coming right at her chest.

Alicia’s eyes went wide, instinct bringing her own arms together in the same cross-arm block Valley had used, but it wasn’t even close to being enough. It helped. But not enough. The big redhead was sent head over heels, her weight slamming to the mat as she did her best to roll with the blow. It was all instinct at that point, actual conscious thought being something left behind when those feet had slammed into her arms.

Wheezing slightly from the impact, it was a long moment before her head came up from the heap she’d fallen in, the hand not drawn across her chest bracing herself as she began to climb back to her feet. She was still smirking, even if it was a much more pained expression, lips pressed together in a thin line and eyes casting about for Valley.

If Alicia was looking for Valley, she wouldn't have to search for long or far.  The Slamazon was very much interested in bringing the fight right back to her, is the most devastating ways possible.

After the kick connected, Valley arched her back, swung her legs over and went into a full flip, landing on her feet and turning the dropkick into a dropsault. When Alicia went down, she was already standing again, which gave her many fun options to work with.

Valley decided to go with one her old standbys and rushed toward the ropes one more time, this time dashing at the ones parallel with Alicia’s body. She bounced off, flew towards her prone target just as she was starting to rise again, then flipped forward with a perfect roll. Her favorite weapons arched overhead and came down towards Alicia’s  head and chest, as she tried to crash into the kickboxing beauty with a well-executed somersault leg drop.

Pretty much everything ached. Going from vertical to not via a tumble like that wasn’t much fun even for Alicia, who knew how to fall. Actually, it was worse in a way because she was bigger and heavier. But, mostly, it was just aches, already starting to fade. And she’d managed to keep her head tucked away from the worst of it. Her chest felt like someone had hit it with a sledgehammer though and her arms weren’t much better off.

Now where was… Valley was heading right back towards her at speed, just starting a flip that was probably going to end with those feet hitting her again. Given the way her chest already felt, that was the last thing she needed.

Not wasting any time at all, Alicia sacrificed the little bit of height she’d managed to gain. Shoving her hand against the mat, she went to roll out from under the descending thunderbolt of Valley’s lower body – it wasn’t elegant, it wasn’t anything much except a frantic attempt at escape but right now she just needed some space to get back to her feet. Hopefully, it’d get her that much.

Or to get Valley off hers. Either worked for her. If the blonde was still off her feet, Alicia meant to pounce, see if she could score mount and take those acrobatics off the table.

If not, it was scrambling back to her feet as fast as she could, keeping a wary eye on Valley all the way. Now she had some idea of what she was dealing with, the kickboxer wasn’t letting her opponent out of her sight again.

The somersault leg drop was one of Valley’s more reliable moves, one she’d used countless times over the years. Fast. Powerful. A great, unorthodox way to follow up on a downed opponent.

And...Alicia dodged it. She wasn’t the first to pull off that feat, but she was among a small number, and she was certainly the youngest in that group. Maybe the redhead didn’t have the in-ring experience of Friction’s best wrestlers, but she certainly had the instincts.

”Nice!” Valley spat out a quick compliment as she landed flat on her butt, a whiff that she was glad would never see the light of day outside this gym. She tarted to quickly rise, but not quickly enough - Alicia was on her a moment later, and the weight advantage was made abundantly clear as she mounted the Slamazon and pinned her down, trapping her between two sets of rippling thighs. Valley might be able to slide out in a moment and escape the perilous position, sure, but until that happened, Alicia would be on top. Given the MMA vibe she'd given off so far, a very bad thing.

As unhealthy as it was, Valley had to admit, she was a little curious to see what the new blood would do with her time.

A silent sigh of relief followed the successful dodge – coming right after that dropkick, that leg drop was potentially really dangerous. Not to mention it would have left her flat out, open to whatever Valley had wanted to through at her. Luckily, dodging it gave her a window of opportunity she was able to exploit.

Straddling her opponent’s body, Alicia flashed a grin at the compliment but wasn’t wasting any of her breath by replying.

She didn’t think for one second she had time to waste or that she could afford to try anything tricky. She had a weight advantage and temporarily a positional one to boot, but Valley had options too.

So it was an advantage she needed to use and use now.

Posturing up onto one foot, Alicia went to grab Valley’s shirt and pull the other fighter up with her, so the kickboxer could blast a hard forearm into her face followed by a second. She only needed the blonde stunned for a moment, which would give her the time she needed to roll them both onto their sides and try to scissor her long, powerful legs around Valley’s waist.

A simple hold but, from someone with the redhead’s killer thighs and expertise with the move, still potentially devastating if she could apply it.

As this spar - which was decidedly feeling less like a spar and more like an actual match - continued, Valley felt she was learning all sorts of new things about her foe.

Alicia was smart. Many wrestlers like to talk and taunt in their matches, but she was fairly sure the ‘rookie’ hadn’t said a complete sentence since they met. Combined with her smile, it made her seem a little off, in a way that was hard to nail down.

Alicia was far from a one-trick pony, either. The first forearm’s connected square on Valley’s jaw and made her vision rock, leaving her stunned for a precious moment and proving that her opponent’s striking game was solid all over.

Oh, and Alicia had strong legs. Valley had already figured that out, true, but nothing really drilled the point home more than having said legs crushing her ribs into kindling.

”Gah!” Valley had a short, sharp shriek as the thighs closed around her midsection, trapping her in the tight vice grip. She started to struggled, twisting left and right, but there wasn’t any give to be found in the solid hold.

Yes! Got her!

Scissors - and bodyscissors in particular - were something Alicia knew inside and out. The second she had Valley in place, she kicked her limbs out, interlacing her ankles together behind the other woman’s back to secure the hold. Then the redhead squeezed, her big quads flaring with power as she bore down on the blonde’s ribs hard.

The sole concession she was making to it being a spar and not a proper match was keeping herself to roughly half of what she could apply in terms of pressure instead of just going all out. Judging by the noise she’d already squeezed out of Valley though, her scissors were already having their usual effect.

Her position wasn’t ideal though. Really, she was too close to the blonde but she wasn’t eager to open herself up to a counter scissors by leaning back. Instead, keeping her hold clamped tight, she went looking to neutralise her opponent’s hands by grabbing her wrists.

Not ideal and she didn’t think she was in a fight-winning position but every drop of energy she could crush out of her opponent would make the rest of the fight easier.

Alicia let her grip relax fractionally for a second, hoping to tempt Valley into exhaling, and then crushed down even harder.