Spring Forward

Blossom was having a little trouble here. Not with that spar itself - though, yes, Minervera was a very worthwhile opponent, anyway you wanted to get into.

No, the trouble came in with taking this too far. She’d spent so long taking on rookies in this gym that she’d almost forgotten what it like to pit herself against a real opponent was serious skill and strength. As Minvera brought her down and pounced on her back, she was quickly reminded of that.

She realized what the brawny European was doing too late, as the finger came in and wrench her neck back. The noise that came from Blossom’s lips told all about the pain, but there was a tinge of excitement to it, as well. It wasn’t everyday that she had a hot, sexy, strong woman on her back, and the feeling wasn’t  unpleasant.

She pushed thoughts of it aside, though, because the crossface was indeed painful. Blossom arched her back as far as it would go and tried to push up, looking alleviate the pain as much as she could before even thinking about an escape attempt.

Minerva grinned wickedly as she locked her hold in. Blossom made wonderful noises when she was in pain, and the fact that her hold was in as securely as it was likely meant she’d get to enjoy the sounds for a little while longer.

Naturally, Blossom tried to fight her way out. Wisely the girl first moved to ease the pressure being applied. Most tried to just drag their way over to the ropes or break out of the hold at the cost of enduring a significant amount of pain first. But again, Blossom was demonstrating wisdom that didn’t seem to match someone with as poor a record as she had left in AFW.

That didn’t mean Minerva was going to reward her for that wisdom. Quite the opposite, in fact. Taking one hand off the crossface for a moment while the other attempted to hold the girl in place, Minerva tried to grab Blossom’s nearest wrist and pull it out so she could scissor it between her thighs. If it worked, that would stop the girl from pushing up as far as she had been able to go, thus making her crossface all the more painful to deal with.

Minerva was going to grab her arm. Blossom knew this. She knew this because that was the logical next thing to do, and it was becoming rapidly apparent that she was dealing with a very skilled wrestling woman, here.

Could she stop that from happening? Not really, but to her credit, she tried her hardest. When Minerva grabbed her wrist, Blossom fought it hard, straining to keep the arm retracted while her other hand kept trying to pry the grip on her face free. But Minerva’s position was too good, and when those thighs of hers clamped down on the arm, that was all there was to it.

If Minerva liked Blossom’s sounds of pain before, she’d really enjoy them now - louder, longer, shriller than before. She shook her head, trying to cope with the pain, but she knew that simply enduring this hold wasn’t enough. She needed a way out.

Luckily, she thought she had one, but it wouldn’t be the least bit easy.

After a moment of feeble struggling, Blossom pushed up, not only with her one remaining free hand, but with her legs as well. She clamped her teeth down hard, tensed up, then tried to roll over on her side and pull Minvera - who, while not fat by any means, was hardly the lightest woman ever - along with her. If it all worked out, her opponent would end up with her shoulders on the mat, which would hopefully be enough incentive just let go, lest she be pinned. Even if it worked, it would take a lot of energy, more than she would typically expend in a sparring match.

...this was still a sparring match, right?

For a brief moment after she locked in the arm-trap variation of the crossface, Minerva closed her eyes and took a deep, relaxing breath while she enjoyed Blossom’s cries of anguish. Just looking at her, you’d think she was listening to some sort of soothing symphony from a grand orchestra. To someone like her, the two really weren’t terribly far apart.

It was going well enough that Minerva was fully expecting Blossom to submit any moment now. Yes the girl had a rather surprising level of skill considering her track record and the length of her hiatus from in ring competition. But surely that would only last her so long. Soon the pain would have this failed wrestler-turned-janitor tapping and begging for mercy!

...Only, that didn’t happen. Instead Minerva felt Blossom shifting around beneath her for a moment. Then the next thing she knew, the Danish queen’s world suddenly spun around as she was rolled right onto her back! She didn’t count the pin out loud, but because Minerva was so caught off guard by the counter she didn’t kick herself out of the pin until she’d been down for what would’ve been a solid two count under traditional circumstances.

When she did kick out, Minerva released her hold and rolled onto her hands and knees, then rose to her feet. That smug grin she’d been wearing for the vast majority of this spar had disappeared. She was getting annoyed, and her new expression did nothing to hide it. What, at least on paper, should’ve been a decidedly one-sided affair was becoming a much more challenging endeavor than anticipated...

As they fought on, Blossom was starting to become a tad unnerved by Minvera. It wasn’t just the woman’s beauty, or her skill, or the raw power she brought into something as simple as a sparring match - though that did factor into things just a little.

No, what really got to her was the calmness she seemed to have, even when applying something like a crossface. Most wrestlers she knew tended to get heated when they were applying submissions. Minerva was cranking it hard, sure, but she seemed almost relaxed in a way. Like she was laying back, watching a good movie that she’d seen a dozen times before.

It was more than a little eerie, and she couldn’t have been happier when she escaped, no longer having to think about it while her body was being contorted. ”Phew!” Blossom rolled to her chest and started to push up, rubbing her aching neck the whole way. ”That was really something! You, uh…”

Blossom started to come up smiling, but that grin quickly faded when she looked up and saw Minerva’s unnerving glare towards her. Suddenly, this didn’t feel like a little meaningless sparring match, but something more serious, and the sudden shift caused her to lose her footing, mentally and physically. She fell back down to a single knee, wasting time on her way back up.

She tried to shake it off and keep rising up, but it was slow going thanks to the crossface. A fact she doubted Minerva would neglect to exploit.

If looks could kill, Blossom would no doubt be a dead woman. That’s not to say Minerva had any interest in killing the girl. But she damn sure wasn’t the type to take it well when things didn’t go her way. There may not have been any immediate signs that Blossom was certain to defeat her. And competitive battles were all well and good. At least, when clashing with a truly worthy foe. But the fact that Minerva was actually having to start to put serious effort into subduing a girl with a horrendous track record, and who hadn’t even competed in a considerable amount of time was getting under her skin. This needed to be rectified immediately.

When Blossom stumbled immediately Minerva pounced, like a tiger after cornered prey. Without a word she lunged toward the brunette and reached out to grab her wrist. If she could get a hold of it, immediately she’d pull Blossom in toward her while firing her right knee up in an attempt to blast her foe right in the stomach as hard as she could!

Minerva figured this girl wouldn’t be quite so feisty if she was having trouble breathing.

You’d have to actually watch her matches to know, but Blossom didn’t do too poorly in the ring. She’d lost a lot - a lot - but most of the time she managed to give her opponents a hard, serious fight, really push them. It just never worked out in the end. She’d be doing well, holding her own, then make a big mistake or take a nasty hit, and it would just snowball.

Things like a distraction that took her off her game, getting a little too hot for her opponent, or, in this case, a knee that came out of nowhere and nearly broke Blossom in half.

And Minerva’s knee really did come out of nowhere. There was no better way to describe it. Her opponent was solidly built, but if that slowed her down in the slightest, Blossom couldn’t tell. She moved fast, struck fast, hurt fast, and the sheer alacrity alone was enough to take the smaller wrestler off her guard.

But there was also the pain. The blow sunk deep into Blossom’s toned abdominal areaa, hitting with enough force to make her feet leave the ground. When her heels touched the mat a split-second later, the rest of her body crumbled down along with them, bringing her to her knees. She stayed there for a second, grabbed her stomach with one hand and holding up her hand with the other, trying to speak through her choked, gasping breaths. ”W-wait, wait a sec…”

No, Minerva wasn’t going to wait at all. By holding her own against the raven haired empress for as long as she had, Blossom had invited Minerva to bring her A game. As the brunette was going to find out, Minerva was not a compassionate person at all, especially in the ring. She was selfish and sadistic. All that mattered to her in the end was that she enjoyed a glorious victory. If that meant casually yet dominantly toying with her weaker prey, that’s what she’d do. And if it meant she had to crush the fighting spirit out of her victim, so be it.

Unfortunately for Blossom, the progression of events in this spar was heading for that latter option.

While the smaller girl was hunched over, Minerva shoved the girl’s head between her legs and snaked her arms around Blossom’s midsection. From there she’d attempt to briefly hoist the girl up into a sitting position on her shoulders before throwing her back down onto the canvas with a thunderous powerbomb!

Suddenly, Blossom wasn’t in the sparring ring, anymore. She was back on the big stage, in an actual match, with a raging crowd and everything. She was getting demolished, again, as another match started to rapidly tumble downhill, and there wasn’t much she could do about it but clench up tight and hope she was still breathing when she landed on the bottom.

So far, it wasn’t looking good. When her head got shoved between Minerva’s sculpted thighs, she knew there was still quite a bit of hill left to tumble down.

”No, stop-” Once more, Blossom’s pleas fell on deaf ears, as she was hefted up into the powerbomb position with ease. While she was solidly built, more so than you expect for her size, Blossom still didn’t weigh all that much overall. It meant that a powerhouse like Minerva could hoist her up with ease...then throw her down twice as hard.

Blossom’s crash echoed throughout the training room, startling some of the others and making them look toward the ring. One look at Minerva, however, and they went back to their business. This was something that little newbies like them didn’t want to get involved in.

For Blossom, though, she was already waist deep and sinking fast. The powerbomb left her sprawled out on her back, an aching, groaning mess. It was all she could do to try and roll away, hoping to get out under the ropes and take a breather before Minerva could follow up.

Now this was much better.

She’d powerbombed poor Blossom so hard it almost seemed like she could’ve sent the girl through the ring itself. That probably wasn’t actually very likely to happen, but nonetheless the wrestler-turned-janitor now didn’t seem even remotely as feisty as she had just a little while ago.

When the girl attempted to roll away, Minerva wasn’t having it. Following after Blossom, she’d reach down and grab her by the ankles just before she could get to the ropes. “No, I don’t think so. We’re not finished yet,” she said through a wicked grin.

She’d then proceed to drag Blossom right back to the middle of the ring, roll her over onto her front, then drop right down to heavily drive a knee into the girl’s lower back to further drive the wind and resistance out of her.