Alicia Wells vs. Valley Doll - Kicking It

”Valley Doll!” The referee scooted closer, getting near Valley’s face. ”Valley? Do you give up?”

As a longtime wrestler and a woman who’d grown up around the ring, Valley respected referees and their place in the sport. She appreciated the way they looked out for her and others, made sure they were protected, helped balance things. It was an invaluable service, and they didn’t get enough respect for it.

That said, this particular referee was too close to her face, and she wanted her to back off in the worst way.

Her concern, annoyingly enthusiastic as it was, didn’t have some merit behind it, though. Valley was in a great deal of pain, and there was worse happening beneath the surface. Bones were reaching their breaking point. There was serious damage being risked. Alicia was a good, competitive wrestler, but the woman didn’t seem to have much concept for restraint - Valley fully believed she’d break her in half between these thighs and not lose a wink of sleep over it. It wasn’t mean, it wasn’t vindictive, it was just her way.

So, with her head held low and her eyes closed, Valley took the only option that was left to her. She had to think of her future. ”I…” She grunted, sucked in some air, then pushed onward. ”I give…”

Valley slammed her feet down on the mat, bridged out, arched her back as high as she could go and pressed her body down on Alicia’s chest with every bit of weight she could muster, pinning the Scissor Queen's shoulders to the mat. The referee blinked, taken aback by the sudden shift, but she got with the program quick enough and started counting.

”1…!”

As far as she was concerned, it was just a matter of time. Seconds, maybe, before Valley gave.

Alicia was far too experienced with this hold not to know what she was doing to the other wrestler. She knew exactly what would happen.

One of her friends, back at uni, had make a joke about Alicia’s scissors. She had it on a t-shirt somewhere. Tap, nap or snap.

Judging by the tone of Valley’s voice and the quality of it – the breathlessness and the pain – she’d hit that point.

Which was why Alicia was caught completely flat footed when the blonde went from limp to fully on top of her, almost stacking her up on her shoulders.

In fact, it wasn’t until she heard the ref start counting that she realised what had happened. But suddenly her own hold was limiting her options – with her arms still holding Valley’s up, she couldn’t use them to push free of the pin. Not with the blonde’s weight firmly pressing her shoulders down to the mat. And her legs weren’t going to do her any good unless she unlocked the scissors.

Which is probably what she should have done. Instead, she gritted her teeth and held on, twisting her hips in a desperation attempt to throw the blonde off her. Now it was the big redhead’s turn to thrash and writhe, looking for any weakness in Valley’s pin that might let her squirm free.

But the referee’s hand slammed down on the mat for a second time with remorseless inevitability.

”2…!”

Suddenly the desperate one, Alicia finally dropped her holds, looking to get her feet on the ground and try to buck Valley off her before it was too late.

How long had Valley been fighting with Alicia? It felt long. Probably around ten or so minutes, leaning to fifteen. It had felt like hours, but that had probably been because it was such a grinding, blistering match, along with the way time she’d spent getting twisted in brutal submission holds.

All that time, all that effort, and it was going to come down to a couple of seconds.

Valley gritted her teeth and endured the excruciating pain as Alicia poured her all into the hold, bringing her to edge for a solitary moment. Through it all, Valley kept her legs bridged and continued to push down on her, throwing her all into the last ditch attempt.

It worked. It got her up to the count. One more second.

When Alicia let go of the hold and started to thrash, Valley knew she was panicking. She wasn’t the only one, though. If she broke this pin, there’d be no coming back for the Slamazon, no way she could hope to win this match. Alicia would just get up and either start wailing on her with those hellacious kicks, or she’d put her in a safer submission hold and drain the life clean out of her. If she didn’t win here, she wasn’t winning at all.

Valley propped up on her tiptoes, widened her stance, almost turned her body into a perfect upside-down U, and…

”3…!”

Alicia wasn’t great with pins. She wasn’t good at them and, aside from the obvious, wasn’t that great at getting out of them. Sure, she could power out of a bunch of them, but that wasn’t really an option here. The kickboxer still tried her best. She twisted, turned, tried to bridge out…

But it didn’t matter. Valley’s feet were too well positioned, her stance too solid and the blonde too determined. Or maybe desperate would be a better word. Either way Alicia couldn’t shift her, at least not in the second she had left, and the ref’s hand slapped the canvas for the third and final time before she could as much as move the Slamazon. The bell rang a moment later and she let herself slump to the floor, all resistance leaving her body.

Whether she won or lost wasn’t a big deal with Alicia. It wasn’t why she did what she did and winning definitely came second to getting a good fight. And yes, she’d much rather have a closely fought loss than a dominating win. But that didn’t mean she liked losing or wouldn’t prefer to win and she’d been so close. So, yes, she was disappointed. Massively disappointed, not least with herself for losing that way. This was why she didn’t like pins.

They were so damn unsatisfying.

Hence the fist she slammed into the mat before sitting up almost the moment Valley’s weight moved off her.

”I seriously thought I had you there,” The big redhead grumbled, before she let out a long sigh. Then she offered Valley her hand. ”Great match though. Thanks.”

Valley had not been more relieved to hear the bell since...probably her Iron Man Match with Natasha Han. But that was a different sort of beast compared to this. That match was a test of endurance, skill, and pure will.  This one was a trial for her ability to simply survive. She’d been doing good at the start, but once Alicia started gaining momentum, there was almost no stopping her. Valley was very much aware of how close she’d come to losing that match, and in case she forgot, her brutalized rib cage would be reminding her for days to come.

The crowd was a confused wash, with some people clapping, some people booing, some people not knowing how to react. It certainly wasn’t a traditional AFW finish, but it wasn’t a traditional sort of AFW match without a traditional AFW opponent. There was this weird, general feeling, like they didn’t know what they’d just watched.

Valley, for her part, didn’t much care. She’d won and she’d earned it, that was all there was to know.

”You did have me.” Valley reached over and gave Alicia’s hand a shake, before flopping down on her back once more. She ran a hand over her chest and hissed every now and then, feeling the occasional crack here and there - didn’t seem like anything career-ending, but all the same, she was going to need an X-Ray, and she’d be staying out of the ring for a couple of weeks. At minimum.

”Good match. Very good match. You’re the future of this division, I can see it.” She winced and laid her head back. ”Just...try and play a little nicer with your opponents after the bell, okay? Please. For me.”

”Yeah, I guess I did,” the kickboxer agreed as they shook hands before the blonde dropped back to the mat.

It was pretty clear that Valley’s ribs weren’t feeling too great, given the way she was probing them and clearly wasn’t enjoying the results. Probably ought to have tapped, Alicia thought with more than a hint of vindictiveness, but she knew she hadn’t fully cracked anything. The Slamazon would be fine.

Well, so long as she didn’t push it.

Probably.

Not her problem though and it was hard to be mad for long at losing, regardless of how, when she’d had a downright amazing match before it and with Valley saying stuff like that. Like anyone in this business, Alicia did have something of an ego and never objected to having it stroked, particularly not by a veteran who clearly knew what she was talking about.

She could have done without the last bit but, again…

No, she couldn’t find it in herself to be mad right now.

To be honest, if the powers that be kept throwing her opponents like Valley Doll, that’d be an easy promise to keep. With a grunt, the big redhead moved to sit properly upright, leaning back on her hands – there was a serious discrepancy here, given the loser was definitely looking the healthier of the two. That said, she was still being careful to keep her wounded leg stretched out, doing her best to let the joint and muscles rest now that the match was done. Still, she gave the blonde a toothy grin.

”Promise me a rematch and you’re on.”

She let the grin widen.

”Next time, let’s see how your neck stands up.”

Next time, she promised herself, win or lose she wouldn’t be falling for that trick. Fool her once, shame on you, after all. Next time, she’d be ready for it.

”Rematch. Right.” Valley snickered and immediately regretted it, as her innards were not quite ready for the strain of laughing. Couldn’t help it, really. The funny thing about it was that a rematch was probably going to happen whether she wanted it to or not.  Valley was set on moving up in the ranks, wanted to go as far as she could go, and with Alicia coming so strong right out of the gate, it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again.

When that happened, Valley wouldn’t be fighting the same woman. She’d be better. Stronger. Smarter. More dangerous. If she wanted to win the next time, the Slamazon would have to be all those things and a little more.

It'd be fun.

Valley mirrored Alicia’s smile, then closed her eyes. ”You say the sweetest things. She let out a deep sigh and crossed her legs, settling on the mat. They had a ltitle time until the commercial break was over. No reason to rush. ”Until then, Alicia. Looking forward to it.”