Entropy Championship Title Match: Valley Doll (C) vs. Emily Nelson - Better Angels [FWC]

Everything was hurting by this point. It was almost as though Emily's own body was now daring her to stop, to give in and at the very least just rest for a while. Quitting, though, was never an option for the Noble Fighter. Somehow, she managed to grab a hold of the bottom rope, and from there, inch by inch, she managed to pull herself upright, propping herself up on the ropes as she finally stood.

Opposite her, Valley was standing as well. Without a doubt, the shorter American had earned that title belt that Emily had come to collect. More to the point, in more ways than one, she now reminded Emily a lot of Natasha: same level of skill, still deceptively painful strikes and power, same bloody-minded stubbornness.

As Valley moved off of the ropes towards her, Emily followed suit, eyeing the other girl as she circled her, never once leaving her gaze. Circling, Emily raised her arms for yet another lockup, silently daring Valley on.

Clapping. Stomping. Cheering. The audience was getting loud now, reaching that lovely level where they were starting to make Valley’s ears ring, which wasn’t doing wonders for their concentration. She winced a she began to rise, did her best to ignore. She couldn’t blame them for having fervor. After all, this was the sort of thing that made people fans of the sport in the first place: the tension, the drama, the intensity.

Put two great wrestlers in the ring, and let them go at it. Wrestling. Pure wrestling.

Valley chewed her lip as she stood, eying Emily with a cautious gaze. The lockup was tempting, and her mind ran through various ways she could work it...and various ways Emily could work it against her. The smartest thing might’ve been to hold back and let the Scot come to her, but that wasn’t an option. There was a challenge, and she had to meet it in some way.

Before she knew it, her body was moving forward, reflexively going for the lockup and daring her to do something about it. Instead of accepting the lockup and letting herself get tossed around, Valley ducked down right and plowed into Emily’s chest with her shoulder, attempting to drive her hard into the corner.

Valley was meeting her gaze now, reflecting the fire of Emily's eyes in her own. She was meeting the challenge, Emily knew, as the two women circled. She wanted the win as badly as Emily did, but at the same time, she wasn't about to back away from a fair, open-handed challenge.

Except, what Emily wasn't expecting was for Valley to charge at her the way she did. She reacted too late, Valley already zooming inside her guard and driving a shoulder into her bosom. A loud gasped escaped her lips, followed by an even louder one as Valley cannoned the two of them into the corner post. Breathing hard, Emily slumped slightly, held up somewhat by her opponent as the two were crushed into the corner together...

Step One: Get her into the corner.

Pushing Emily towards the turnbuckle wasn’t just a random move, but a matter of position. The ropes were sanctuary against a skill technical wrestler like Emily, forcing the Wrestle Angel to get Valley back towards the center for her deadly submissions. They worked in Valley’s favor, giving her plenty of airborne options.

Step two: Keep moving.

Valley had only just slammed Emily into the turnbuckle when she lifted her leg and slipped through the top and middle rope, going out onto the apron. She nearly lost her footing as she did so, too, still wobbly from the repeated abuse Emily had heaped on her., and grabbing hold of the top rope was the only thing that saved her from a tumble. A not-so-subtle reminder that she needed to get this finished, or else Emily would seize the moment easily take the win.

Step three: Pile on the damage.

Valley grabbed the top rope, held it tight, then yanked her body up and whipped her leg over, looking to hit Emily in the side of her face with a rope-assisted enziguri.

Emily was in a bad position, it was clear to see. It wasn't just that she had been caught flat footed by Valley, that was obvious, but now she was also trapped in the corner and at the champion's mercy.  Her chest heaved as she sucked in air, and through it all, she saw Valley clambering up the ropes beside her. Whatever Valley was up to, it wasn't good...and Emily knew she was near the end of what she could withstand.

Taking several deep breaths, Emily would try to spin to face Valley as she performed her precarious balancing act, aiming to grab her by the head and unceremoniously fling her down to the mat in a rough but effective throw. If that failed, however-- and there were a number of ways it could, either by Valley beating her to the metaphorical punch or by Emily's grab simply missing-- then she would be nailed in the back of the head by Valley's kick and collapse onto her front, her world a ringing cacophony as Valley's boot stunned her.

While Valley’s whole idea was good in theory - kicking her opponent repeatedly in the head was never not a good idea, in her experience - there was a flaw in her line of thinking. It, like many of her moves, hinged on her opponent being too winded to avoid what was coming her way. Sometimes that worked, sometimes that didn’t. This was the latter.

She was just about to pop up and swing for the kick when Emily grabbed her, seizing her skull with those tight, unrelenting hands of her. In one motion, the Slamazon was lifted off the apron and sent flying into the ring, for what could’ve easily led up to an unpleasant end. Whatever Emily went for next, it had a high chance of finishing the match.

If it worked. If.

As it turned out, though, Valley had one last card to play, even though it wasn’t technically her card. She flew over the ropes and tumbled in the ring, she simply reached out, grabbed Emily’s head and pressed it to her shoulder with a ¾ facelock, and tried to fall flat on her back, hitting the Wrestle Angel with a somersault version of her girlfriend’s famed move - the Ace Cutter.

Emily was acting on instinct as she grabbed Valley's head. This was just her way of staying in this match, of keeping it going, and, hopefully, just plain outlasting Valley. She could see now, after the two of them had gone all out against each other, why this girl wore that belt. She felt both thrilled and honoured to be fighting someone of her caliber, but at the same time, she was absolutely not going to lose to her. Not while the honour of the Wrestle Angels was at stake.

She hurled Valley downwards, slamming her down into the ring...but just as she did so, Valley grabbed her by the head. She realized what was going on even as it happened, and even the two of them plummeted downwards, a part of Emily's man panicked when she realized she was too late to stop it.

And then it happened: Emily's forehead was slammed down against Valley's shoulder. The blow sent Emily's body jacknifing upwards, spurt of crimson flashing as the blow caused the cut on Emily's forehead to split wide open. At first, Emily was kneeling upright over her foe, blinking as though in confusion. The audience was on the edge of their seats. For a moment, it looked as though Emily had just taken the Ace Cutter right to the forehead, and had simply shrugged it off. Could nothing bring this relentless Scotswoman down?

Then, with a sudden lurch, Emily toppled onto her front as though poleaxed. The audience erupted, some in disbelief, some in elation, and, in the case of Emily's fans, in despair at seeing their favoured wrestler so visibly hurt.

Valley flopped on her back after the Cutter and immediately sat upright, with a pair of the widest eyes in the entire building. ”That worked?”

She’d done rolling cutter before, but only on the ground, and never off of someone else’s throw. Heck, the main reason she even thought to use it was because Ace used it to such great effect. A spur of the moment choice, made in a single instant.

But, hey, it worked. Now all Valley had to do was turn around and-

Emily was still standing.

Valley had spun about on her butt and down, expecting Emily to be on the floor beside her. She wasn’t. She was still standing. Still upright. It looked like the Cutter hadn’t even really hurt her, which raised so many questions by itself. Had she done it wrong? Did she miss something? Was Emily just that much of a freak, that she could shrug off an outta-nowhere Cutter?

It defied logic, and Valley had only one thing to say to that. ”Just fall down!”

Emily fell down.

”Oh, thank God.”

Words couldn’t describe the relief as Emily toppled, taking her sweet time to react. Only a scant half-second after she hit, Valley was all over her, flipping her over, flopping on top, and yanking her leg up for the pin. The referee couldn’t drop fast enough for her tastes.

”1…!”

Emily made no visible reaction as Valley rolled her over and wrapped her up for the pin. Her eyes were closed, and her body was still and unmoving. That cutter had sone what this brutal war of a match up until now had not: knocked the Noble Fighter out.

In the background, Emily's fans were screaming and pleading for their favourite to wake up. But Emily was not responding.

...2...

”3…!”

That had to be one of the sweetest threes Valley had ever heard.

The bell rang, the crowd cheered, but Valley didn’t move to any of it. Instead, she simply laid there and let go of Emily’s leg, using her now-former opponent like a pillow. The woman was remarkably soft and comfortable, she had to say.

”Steve walks warily down the street…” She sighed and rolled her head to look at Emily’s face, trying to see how she was doing. ”You okay over there?” There was a little concern in her voice, as she gave Emily a quick poke.