Alicia Wells vs. Valley Doll - Kicking It

Despite the crowd’s distaste for Alicia’s actions in her last match, there was still some scattered applause when she locked in the hold, some shouts of approval here and there from a reluctant crowd.

Valley didn’t blame them. It was a well-applied hold, and the redhead had done a great job of sinking it in and getting the most of her veteran opponent. She might’ve even clapped herself, if she’d been in the audience instead of being in the ring, where it felt like her leg was getting ripped clean out of its sockets.

”Comeoncomeon-” Valley snagged the ropes and held on tight, getting the rope break a second later and sweet relief along with it. It hadn’t been all that long, but even a few seconds in a kneebar like that felt like an agonizing eternity. Valley was on her back, hissing as she rubbed her aching leg, drawing the referee’s concern.

”Valley Doll,” The referee threw a quick glance between the two wrestlers. ”Can you continue?”

Valley nodded and grabbed the second rope, then the third, as she hauled up back to her feet and used her good leg for support. She stepped away from the ropes cautiously, favoring her aching leg with every step.

The redhead paid absolutely no attention to the cheering, just as with the booing, seemingly not even hearing it as she worked the hold right up until the moment when she dropped it and backed off.

To the possible surprise of the crowd, Alicia stayed back as Valley nursed her injured leg. She didn’t go to stomp the blonde, she didn’t go to rip her away from the ropes… Instead, she stood back at a safe distance as the referee asked the question – and got the inevitable answer – and watched as Valley carefully then made her way back to her feet. Though she kept her stance defensive, the redhead didn’t make any threatening motions until it was clear to her that Valley was actually going to make it up. She didn’t think she’d done any permanent damage but it wasn’t in her nature to casually cripple someone for the sake of it.

Certainly not someone she liked and was starting to respect.

Not, now that Valley was clearly still in the match, that it was going to stop Alicia from throwing everything she’d got at her. But she certainly wouldn’t respect anyone who didn’t try their hardest in a fight.

She also still needed to take advantage. Hence, when Alicia made her approach, she circled around towards the injured side – Valley would have to turn around to face her or leave the weakened leg exposed. As she neared range, the kickboxer feinted a kick at the leg she’d been working, knowing that was the obvious tactic, feinted a jab and then followed through on the kick in an attempt to double-bluff the blonde.

It wasn’t a nice tactic but she’d be stupid not to keep going for such an obvious target.

Valley made her way up with no real problems, and that was the funny thing - typically, this would be the part of a match where her opponent saw weakness and moved in, struck while she was clearly vulnerable and open to whatever badness was coming her way.

But nope. Not Alicia. She waited like a good little kickboxing hellcat.

Valley knew the reprieve would be temperorary, but she took it, standing up and feeling her leg out. Hurt. No way around that. But not enough pain to keep her from kicking for too long. Maybe she could use it well enough to pull off some of her better moves. Maybe. If she had enough time to heal, got used to the balance.

Whether she’d get that time, though was the big question. Break time was over.

Alicia came in, and she came in fast and sure, moving like a shark around wounded prey. Valley raised her leg, trying to anticipate the incoming kick, and was served a jab instead - or so she thought, until Alicia finished her kick, anyway, and landed a blow on the injured leg.

Valley hissed and hopped back on her good leg. No sense in hiding the pain, but she did have a real concern. She clearly wasn’t the only one with a gameplan here, and if she let Alicia dictate the pace of the match, it would go downhill in a hurry. She couldn’t retreat. Not anymore.

She took one more hop back, then rocketed forward instead, trying to lure Alicia in before she came at her with the counterattack. She twirled around, swung her arm out, and tried to hit the fierce kickboxer upside the face with a spinning backfist - not exactly her specialty, but she’d been known to bring it out in a pinch. This situation certainly qualified.

It was impossible to know exactly how badly she’d hurt Valley. Kneebars were wicked moves, the sort that could do real, permanent damage if given a chance. But it hadn’t been on that long so, while the blonde was limping now, it wasn’t safe to assume she’d be doing that for ever. No, Alicia would need to keep hitting that leg and that joint in particular if she wanted to really slow Valley down and the kick was a good start on those lines. It wasn’t really her plan to win that way, but she sorely needed to mess up Valley’s own game plan and knocking a leg out would make scoring a KO that much easier.

But she also needed to keep the pressure on, keep pressing on not hitting and retreating. So, as Valley hopped back, Alicia pushed forward – not wasting a blow that would only hit empty air but waiting until the wrestler opposite either ran out of space to retreat or decided to make a stand. She didn’t rush, because that would be stupid, but she matched Valley’s first hop back with a step of her own, then her second, shifting her stance as she prepared to snap another kick at the blonde’s midsection.

Except she’d made a mistake.

Before she could follow through properly, the blonde went from retreat to sudden attack right after Alicia committed to her own strike. Caught entirely off balance, the redhead’s kick missed entirely, shooting through the space where she’d expected Valley to be, while the veteran’s spinning backfist clocked Alicia solidly in the head.

It was early in the match enough and she was fresh enough that it didn’t floor her, but the newcomer was suddenly the one staggering back, shaking her head to clear the stars filling her vision.

For someone who didn’t punch a lot, Valley had delivered that one pretty well.

Valley was both glad and displeased by her successful hit.

It worked, even better than she’d anticipated. She’d just wanted to stop Alicia’s forward momentum for a second, deal in some extra damage. What she got, instead, was much better - a stunned opponent, with all sorts of opportunities that were ready to be exploited. Even with her leg hurting, there was much she could do like this.

On the negative, side, though, she’d learned that Alicia had a solid jaw. She knew this, because it felt like she’d broken her knuckles on it.

”Gahh…” Valley hissed through her clenched teeth as she shook the feeling back into her hand. She made a mental note to invest in padded gloves, and then it was right back on the attack.

There was some space between them now, and Valley put that to good use. The Slamazon dropped down, then sprung forward like a released spring with her good foot, ramming her shoulder into Alicia’s leg, going for the chop block.

That backfist had come out of nowhere and that was a lot of the reason why the kickboxer had been as stunned by it as she had. Not to suggest that Valley hadn’t thrown a wicked punch but it really hadn’t helped that Alicia had been moving forward into the blow or that her guard had been entirely out of position to try and block it. Both had turned what might have just been a stumbling block into a hit that killed her momentum stone dead.

Still, a really impressive shot even if she wasn’t in much of a state to appreciate that right now.

She certainly didn’t get much time to either worry about that or even do more than clear her vision before a steam train slammed into her lower body.

It was anyone’s guess whether Alicia could have fought the takedown – Valley had momentum on her side, a solid drive of that shoulder into her leg and she was on the back foot as it was, her footing all wrong. Probably not; while she was only dazed, she still wouldn’t have had time to even settle her stance. But, as it was, she didn’t even try. It’d be pushing it to say she let Valley take her down but she certainly didn’t put up much of a fight despite her advantage in size.

Certainly, being slammed down to the mat wasn’t exactly fun but she’d retained her senses enough to keep her head from bouncing off the canvas. And while she was still shaken, this was a situation she’d been in plenty of times during her MMA days. She could look to sweep Valley and score mount, giving her the opportunity to pummel her. Or she could take the opportunity the blonde had practically gift-wrapped and handed to her on a platter and go for closed guard.

Given her style, her choice wasn’t really ever in doubt, particularly when she was still reacting as much on instinct as anything else. The second she hit the mat, grunting with the impact, Alicia’s legs were moving up and out, looking to encircle Valley’s waist and lock down hard.

There was a moment of sheer elation when Valley scored the chop block. It had been a wild move, just something to keep targeting the leg and staying with the strategy, and bringing Alicia down was a welcome side effect.

There was one little problem, though, and Valley realized it when she saw movement in the corner of her eye. That was the instant she realized this whole thing might have worked better if she’d softened Alicia up a bit more first.

The mixed martial artist was a rare mix of strength and speed, and that meant she recovered faster than the average AFW woman. Fast enough to not just recover quick from the chop block, but to turn the whole situation back in her favor. Valley knew she was in trouble when she felt those familiar thighs wrapping around her waist. Hard as steel, just as dangerous. ”No, no-”

The legs locked in, the pressure began, Valley went into panic mode. An unrelenting, maddening pressure around her middle, pressing against her ribs, slicing away at them. She didn’t know if Alicia had been holding back when they sparred, and she had no desire to find out.

Valley brought her arm up and tried to drive her elbow into Alicia’s thigh, targeting the same spot she’d been kicking a moment and hoping it was still tender.

And she’d got her. Valley really ought to have known better than to put herself in this position, but that wasn’t going to stop Alicia punishing her for it. It was basically instinct for her at this point, when someone was kind enough to put themselves right between her deadliest weapons. Sweeping her legs out and around, she settled them into position around the blonde’s waist with the ease of long practice and the pleading started even before she put on any pressure.

Not that she held anything back this time.

This time, Alicia just went all out from the start. The instant her ankles crossed, the redhead put everything she’d got into the hold, bearing down on Valley’s ribs like she meant to crush them flat. Ramping up the scissors as fast as she could, those powerful, shapely thighs swelled, her quads and hamstrings flexing into definition, her glutes tightening as she squeezed the blonde’s sides like a tin can. This wasn’t the softening up move she’d used on Valley before or on Gallium the first time, nor was it the anaconda scissors she’d employed to crumple Kyoko’s abs.

This was pure pressure, applied expertly to buckle the ribs, break all resistance and leave her opponent tapping frantically before she hurt them.

Someone else might have made a joke about making a bad mistake, but that wasn’t Alicia’s style. The scissor specialist kept her breathing steady, even, smiling that slasher’s smirk up at Valley as she focused on tightening her grip still further.

The first elbow slamming into the sore spot on her leg drew a hissed breath of pain from Alicia’s lips and a momentary slackening of the hold. The second buckled the scissors entirely, the redhead surrendering the hold rather than risk any further battering at her leg.

This was why she preferred to get the scissors from the side or from behind with the Full Nelson.

But if Valley thought that was her only option though, Alicia was hoping to disappoint her. While her other submission skills weren’t as polished as her scissors, she still had them.

Pushing herself up, the redhead grabbed for Valley’s neck, looking to get it tucked under her arm for the guillotine choke. Her arms weren’t anywhere near as monstrously strong as her legs but they were still plenty strong enough for a choke hold if she could get it locked in.

Valley Doll, more than many, could appreciate a pair of sculpted and defined legs. When she looked at Alicia’s she could see the care and time the woman had spent into honing them, strengthening, the countless hours that had been dedicated to turning them into lethal weapons.

She could relate. While Alicia’s legs were definitely more powerful, Valley’s set was impressive, too, so she could easily imagine the work that had went into perfecting. Plus, even if she didn’t have the unique perspective, she could’ve put it all together thanks to the excruciating pain coming from her tortured midsection.

Valley bit back a scream Alicia’s thighs powered down. Just like with the kneebar, she wasn’t in the hold for too long, but it felt like so much longer when her bones were on the verge of giving in. This was sort of thing you tapped to if you valued your continued career, which the Slamazon certainly did.

Luckily, her earlier work paid off, and she was able to escape the hold...only for Alicia to wrap her head up in another one a second later. But, honestly, Valley had never been happier to have an arm squeezing away at her neck. Not pleasant, but she could work with this.

The first order of business, before she even wanted to worry about getting free of the choke, was taking those legs out of the equation. When Alicia locked in the hold, Valley brought her body around and laid at her side, putting her body perpendicular to the mixed martial artist’s. It didn’t get her out of the choke, but at least it reduced the chances of getting locked in those thighs again, with the added bonus of putting her closer to the ropes.

Unsurprisingly, given what she’d just been hit with, Valley surrendered her neck pretty easily. But she clearly wasn’t panicking now, not judging by her actions.

Alicia hadn’t really been thinking of reapplying the scissors, not yet at least. Valley had proven she knew what to do and she wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of presenting her legs to be elbowed until the muscles cramped. That was a bad plan. No, what she’d been planning to do was get her hooks in anyway and keep Valley in open guard, because then the threat of the scissors was always there and it kept the blonde at the best angle for her to work the guillotine.

But she’d gone for the choke first, meaning that Valley – who was still very much on the ball – was able to move before the redhead could keep her where she was. Now they were at right angles to each other, Alicia still on her back with Valley’s head tucked neatly under her arm. Except the new positioning meant her choke wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective, not to mention the twist had put Valley back near the ropes.

This wasn’t a good use of her energy anymore. The only real question was where to go next.

Well, Valley’s move did give her one opportunity. Shifting her weight again, Alicia postured up and tried to spin around to take the blonde’s back, simultaneously trying to swap her guillotine for a straight sleeper hold. It was going to be an awkward move but it’d give her a lot more options and let her make use of her hold. Staying where she was didn’t. So it had to be done.

Plus, if she could take Valley’s back and get her hooks in, her weight advantage would make it really hard for Valley to shift her and she’d have a lot more options for holds.