SS 17 Entropy Title - Valley Doll (c) vs. Alicia Welles (Total Victory Match)

There was moment - a brief, flitting instant - where Valley was overjoyed at the impact. While the feel of her feet connecting against an opponent was never an unwelcomed, but in this case, it was sheer elation. It was the unmistakeable feeling of her foot colliding against bone. She’d hit the knee. Target locked.

But when she spun around, the air immediately went out of her sails. No, she’d hit a knee. Not the knee. Oh, it was better than nothing, and it forced her to put weight on the bad one, but it wasn’t the right outcome. She wanted - needed - the big, bad Brit on the floor. Time for a change in tactics. ”All right, fine!”

Valley threw her hands up, then did something that would’ve been monumentally stupid at any other point prior in this match: she tried to charge Alicia head on and grapple with her. A woman who was a couple of inches taller than her and around thirty or so pounds heavier. Before, this would’ve likely wound up with her getting tossed away in the best case scenario or caught between twin thighs of death at the worst.

Now, though, it served a purpose. When Valley locked up with Alicia and started pushing her, she attempted to get her away from the ropes, moving her away from her sanctuary and forcing her to use the leg she really didn’t want to use. To make matters worse - or better, matter of perspective - Valley threw a couple of knees into the redhead’s stomach, purely to help push her along and not at all a small bit of revenge for the hellacious hit she’d taken earlier.

This was turning into an interesting match, what with the MMA grappler going up high and the high-flyer trying to grapple.

Alicia for once in her fighting life would have liked to avoid the lockup but this was where the speed difference came in, not to mention being tethered to the ropes. She couldn’t avoid the veteran and had to take the grapple, despite really wanting to avoid it.

Under any other circumstances, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Bigger and stronger and a better trained grappler than Valley, Alicia felt certain she’d have eaten the blonde alive.

Now…

Now she had problems. To a degree, she was used to employing her legs in situations like this, throwing knees into her opponent’s sides. Couldn’t do that here.

Worse, it was underappreciated how important legs to grappling. Alicia’s vertical base was totally compromised, meaning – bigger and stronger and better trained though she was – she couldn’t bring those advantages to bear.

Also it made blocking knees from her opponent really tricky too.

As she was reminded when Valley fired a one-two pack of knees into her side, driving the wind out of her. Alicia stumbled backwards, nearly falling now, falling back before the blonde as she tried to regroup. And failed, to be quite frank.

Then she was down on one knee. Depressingly, she actually started to do better at that point.

This was a new sort of thing for Valley, a woman whose career a had revolves, primarily, around two things: jumping from high-places and kicking people repeatedly. She was pretty much the antithesis of a grappling MMA fighter, all about the flash and style.

Until now. Right now, she was coming at Alicia with moves that looked like they would have been a better fit for a octagon instead of a squared circles. Knees shot up and found a home in the redhead's stomach, crashing and driving her back with each blow. Valley couldn’t lie - to herself, at least - giving Alicia a taste of her own medicine was insanely satisfying. And, more importantly, effective, since it was enough to bring her down.

Halfway. Getting the Scissor Queen down to her knees was a step in the right direction, undoubtedly, but it still wasn’t quite what she was going for. She was determined to get this woman on her back. Full stop.

With a huff, Valley took a step back, looking like she might be giving the Briton breathing room. It became apparent that wasn’t the case, however, when she abruptly twisted about on her heel and shot her leg out straight and hard, throwing a powerful spinning heel kick at her face. One of her best kicks, coming at Alicia with all the power she could spare.

Beaten down to a knee, breathing hard with her ribs aching and her knee worse, it was uncanny that Alicia was still smirking. Because she was enjoying this.

Hence why she wasn’t giving in, or letting up. She was going to make Valley pay for every inch she took from the redhead.

And, now that she had a more secure base to work from, the kickboxer refused to be budged an inch more than down on one knee. Arms tight with muscle, she dug in and was even starting to push her opponent back when Valley gave up on that idea.

It was tempting to see Valley backing off as a win but, well, Alicia knew better. Frustrated the blonde might be, but she wasn’t going to just let her opponent get back up when she’d worked so hard to get her down in the first place.

Oh no.

It was a respite at best and one the redhead treated with due wariness for the instant she had to think before Valley’s boot was coming right at her.

There it was.

Alicia did get her arms up in time, in an attempt to shield her face, but it was instinct and – even as she did it – she knew it wouldn’t be enough.

It was just that sort of kick.

With a sound like a gunshot, the redhead went toppling backwards to the mat.

Sprawled starfish-style, she didn’t move for long seconds aside from the rapid up and down of her chest as she tried to breathe.

The turn of a body, adding increased momentum to the kick. The power of a fully extended leg. The speed of the strike, coming out of a whirlwind. The piercing nature, with force that extended beyond the point of impact.

The spinning heel kick had all the making of a heavy blow, and Valley could deliver it faster and harder than most. It was one of the kicks she kept in reserve, for times her opponent didn’t have the time to block or where it wouldn’t matter, anyway. This definitely fit the latter category. Alicia got her arms up, but she might as well have kept them down for all the good it did her. The blow exploded in her face, and down she went.

Now Valley took a second to breath, stepping back to take stock of what she’d done. Alicia was down, wide open. If this was a regular match, this would be the point where she climbed the top rope for a Full Moonsault, coming down on her opponent like a meteor. Here, though, she had to go for something more brutal.

Her first thought was her most heinous: she could just stomp that knee, put pressure on it until Alicia gave up. Effective, maybe, but...extreme. There were submission moves and then there was pure torture, and she’d already veered closer to the latter than she was comfortable with. She wanted to win, but she wanted to look at herself in the mirror, too, not to mention what Hayley would think about all this.

So, she decided to go for something less brutal, but still effective. Grabbing one of Alicia’s hefty legs, she started to roll the big girl around and step over her, going for a single-leg Boston Crab - a strong move, worthy of submission, but one that she could easily control, only doing the right amount of damage. Bending Alicia, but not breaking her.

In some respects, Valley only had herself to blame for what was about to follow.

The first was simple. She’d hesitated. Maybe fractionally, but it was a fraction of a second longer for Alicia’s scattered faculties to reassemble themselves into something along the lines of coherent thought. And in this moment, every heartbeat counted for an hour.

The second was less so. Say she’d gone for her first option, stomped Alicia’s knee until the redhead had to tap or face never walking again. Brutal, yes, but with the advantage of surprise. By picking up Alicia’s leg in preparation for the Crab, Valley had sent a jolt of pain flaring through the abused knee, all the way up until it earthed itself in the British fighter’s brain.

Pain that cut through the grey fog left by the kick like almost nothing else.

Alicia came to and realised she was about to have to tap. The moment Valley put much torque on that knee, the round was in fact over and done. But – until Valley locked in that hold – she had a chance. Slim but, hey, she was a fighter. She was always going to try it so long as it didn’t risk serious injury which this didn’t.

The redhead lay still for a moment until, when she judged the moment was right… Then she struck. Instead however of trying to roll against Valley’s momentum, she went with it, looking to roll the blonde and herself over in an attempt to get the veteran off her feet.

At the same time, Alicia grabbed at Valley’s booted feet, attempting to get her hooks into one. Either, it didn’t matter.

She’d go for a calf crusher, an Achilles Tendon Hold, a heel hook, an ankle lock, joint lock, compression lock – she’d take any of them.

Because if she didn’t, she might not get another chance.

Alicia was not exactly a light woman, but even so, Valley was surprised how difficult it was to move her around, struggling in the simple act of flipping the Briton on her chest. It was a testament to how draining this match had been, despite the fact that they couldn’t have been going for longer than fifteen minutes. Yes, that was a long time in the ring, but Valley had done longer bouts that weren’t nearly as draining. Heck, the only match she could think of that had cost her more was the Iron Man Match, and she was rapidly catching up to it.

She needed to get her energy back, she needed to win this round, and she needed to do so in a timely fashion. The single-leg Boston Crab was the ideal choice for that. Simple to lock in, effective and damaging, giving her solid control of Alicia’s body while she expended little energy herself. The round would be hers if she locked it in, and it could pave the way for the final fall, too.

If. The keyword, there.

”What-“ Panic took hold when Valley felt the world spiraling far faster than she intended. Suddenly, she was on her back, Alicia was grabbing her legs, and she was having flashbacks to a rather agonizing moment in their first match. The window wasn’t just closing, it was coming down hard on her fingers.

Desperation, Valley did what she did best: she kicked. She brought her freed leg up and shot it towards Alicia’s face before she could lock anything in, and she was willing to kick and kick and kick as many times as it took to shake her loose.

This was what might fairly be called a Hail Mary attempt. If it didn’t work, Alicia would have been forced to tap almost immediately.

Except it was working. Caught apparently off guard, Valley couldn’t stop herself and the redhead brought her over and down to the mat. A surge of energy filled Alicia and she worked as fast and hard as she dared, going all out.

She had to admit that the total shock in Valley’s voice appealed. Quite a bit.

She caught Valley’s leg. Shoved the other aside. Wrapped her own limbs around it, ignoring the twinge of pain from her knee. Started to go for the foot, trying to decide what would be the best option.

And then Valley kicked her in the face. The first hit shook Alicia but she bared her teeth in a snarl and shook it off.

The second and third loosened her hold.

The fourth broke it, sending Alicia trying to roll free as her arm came up in an attempt – too little, too late – to intercept any more kicks flying her way.

Now… she didn’t know what now. Not beyond clawing her way to the ropes and hoping to make it back up before Valley did.

Good Lord, how many times did Valley have to kick this woman in the face before she took the hint and stayed down?

The first one didn’t do it. Alicia it straight on, and she didn’t enjoy it, that much was clear, but she was still holding on like a terrier to her favorite chew toy.

The second didn’t work, either. Still clamping tight. Stubborn, this woman was.

The third loosened it up. Almost free now.

The fourth did the job, thankfully, before the whole thing started getting silly. Valley breathed a long sigh of relief, but one that was followed by an even longer, exasperated groan. That was close. Too close. She’d nearly squandered her entire advantage, and all because she showed mercy. Not a mistake she was going to make again.

”Okay, I’m done.” Valley sat up and and scrambled forward, grabbing Alicia by her bad leg before she could get far. She stood up and started dragging her foe towards the nearest corner, tugging her back with sharp jerks, not the least bit interested in making this a comfortable experience for the Scissor Queen.

”Word of warning, Al,” She spoke in between grunts, as they neared their final destination. ”When the time comes, tap as fast as you can.”

There was a definite look of nervous anticipation on the referee’s face when Valley said that. Really, when you worked the AFW rings, anytime anyone said anything like that, it was likely to be bad news for someone’s health. Even coming from someone like Valley Doll, the referees rapidly learnt to know that no good came of wrestlers proclaiming that they’d had enough.

As for Alicia, she was a bit busy being thrown for a loop. She’d taken not one, not two, not even four but five kicks to her head in rapid succession, one of which had been among the hardest kicks her opponent could throw.

This time, even the bursts of pain from her knee weren’t enough to really rouse her as Valley made a meal of hauling over one hundred and sixty pounds of British muscle towards the nearest corner. Every tug hurt, adding to the cotton-wool-sensation that Alicia was trying to think through and making it hard to do anything other than lie there.

Oh, she tried, tried to kick out at Valley with her free foot but she had neither the angle nor the range to do more than flail. There was nothing for her to grab onto even, and she wasn’t about to scrabble at the mats.

In fact, the sole response Alicia gave to the blonde’s commentary was another boot, this one better aimed than most as she went to put her heel into the side of Valley’s knee when the chance came along.

Not that effective but, hey, she wasn’t throwing in the towel.