AJ Shay vs. Spider Kikuchi - Arachnophobia

Just get back in the ring. Just get back in the ring.

Spider was determined to win this, now. Not only to further secure her spot on the roster and prove all the wastrels in the audience wrong, but to stamp out Shay’s efforts all the way. It was a personal mission, something she wouldn’t accept less than perfection on, and it gave her all the fuel she needed to keep going. Hate was an excellent motivator.

But she had to get into the ring first. That was sort of the key. She grabbed the apron and began to crawl up it like her namesake, willing her feet to the floor and forcing them to plant hard enough to support her weight. One hand passed the other, rising higher, almost there, just a little more and-

Spider threw her head back in pure anguish as Shay’s axe handle crashed into her spine, and she let out a pained cry to match her twisted face. She was up and attacking, already? What would it take to keep this stain of a girl down for more than two seconds?

She wanted nothing more than to smack Shay in the face a few hundred times, but her body stubbornly refused to acquiesce to her demands, and she was left to be hurled into the room, manipulated with ease and rolled on to her back. Humiliating enough, but then Shay had the gall to roll her over and try for a pin.

”1…!”

There was a part of her that was willing to let this be, that had taken about all the abuse she was willing to, that wanted to let this go and get back at Shay some other time.

”2…!”

But a louder part, a more prideful part, refused to give Shay the satisfaction. It wasn’t enough to merely beat this woman anymore, she needed to break her. Utterly.

She lifted up her shoulder, right as the referee was bringing her arm down for the final count, saving herself with half a second to go. On top of that, she pushed Shay up, grabbed her head, and attempted to force it between her legs, looking to clamp down and squeeze her with a tight headscissor, crushing away at her throat.

Rolling Spider over had been harder than one might have expected. She hadn't the energy to do much else aside from drape herself over her downed opposition. She knew to hook at least a leg, pin a shoulder to the mat with a forearm, all of the tried and true signatures of a solid pinfall attempt. She could muster none of it, instead hoping on a prayer that Spider was just as spent as she was thought the lingering doubt of that ate at her. The veteran had gotten far to many openings to pound on her throughout the match, leaving the two at a lopsided encounter.

Every beat of her heart thrummed in her ears, a dull throbbing in her skull with each pulse of blood coursing through her system. Each count seemed impossibly long, stretching out before her making seconds seem like hours. She was at the cusp of victory, it was almost within her grasp… her first win. She had fought so hard, came out swinging and put up one hell of a fight.

Please just stay down…

Alexa was jolted up slightly, still half way leaning up against Spider as the woman threw a shoulder high. She couldn't even be shocked, she was just so worn down that it took her a moment to even focus in on what had happened. Mouth hung partly open as he let out a ragged breath of frustration. Reaching out, she had pawed at the woman beneath her, trying to secure another attempt at a pin, hoping this one would take.

Before she could manage however she was being pushed up, away at arm's length. Alexa grabbed for Spider’s forearm to resist, but found the tension suddenly vanish as she was pulled in rather than shoved away further. Before she had a chance to react she was bend forward, her backside lofted in the air as her head was firmly wedged between Spider’s thighs. This was bad… she knew that. Her first instinct was to tuck her arms in defensively, trying to protect them from being grabbed and pulled away from possible escape.

Her initial attempt to pull back and free herself went unrewarded with anything but pain, it took far too much strength to try and keep her neck and head from being wrenched too far to one side. Lowering herself down to the canvas, she attempted to plunge her fingers down between Spider's legs, attempting to wiggle them in between the tight space before trying to leverage some breathing room with her arm like a makeshift pry bar.

She kicked weakly, what may have looked like idle struggling was actually a bumbling attempt to hook her toes on the ring ropes. They were close, the two hadn't gone far before she tried to pin Spider. Where were they though? She couldn't see, didn't have the mindset to estimate based on how far the other end of the ring was. Her face began to turn color.as she strained, letting out a muted cry for release.

Tap, tap, tap. Why wouldn’t this little bitch just tap?

There was nothing wrong with her form. No, this simple scissorhold was more basic and base than she preferred her submission holds to be, but she didn’t spend hours in Friction’s subpar but free gym just to develop legs that weren’t capable of making sniveling bitches like this tap out.

And still she remained. To make matters worse, they were still so close to the ring ropes that there’d be little chance of her getting a submission out of this if AJ had half a brain about her. She wouldn’t be in this hold for long, that was for sure. So how could she make it as unpleasant for her opponent as humanly possible?

While it wasn’t her normal way, she decided to compound AJ’s problems by reaching over and throw punches in the little brats face, smacking her in the nose over and over, as many times she could get away with before she hit the ropes. And each one had a shrieking message to go with it

”Give up!” Punch. ”You don’t belong in this ring!” Punch. ”Do you hear me, you dumb little bitch?”

From the sidelines, Ryoko leaned over the railing and yelled at the referee, ignoring all the people around her demanding her to back off. ”Ref, come on! That’s bullshit!” It wasn’t, not really. A totally legal move. She just wished it wasn’t.

She knew full well what her body was capable of, that pain she could bring to someone with a squeeze or a twist in the right location. While still a fresh face to Friction, she knew her way around simple holds like this. She had done them before. The rookie acted on instinct, knowing how to squirm and force her body, stealing any precious gasp of air or letting her blood pump through her veins just a little while longer. Every inch she could steal away from the veteran was proving she belonged here. While her fight was desperate and possibly hopeless, she was managing to be a cockroach, denying Spider that taste of surrender she wanted so much to suck from her defeated husk.

Blind to her and escape, she was not alone. Voices calling from the barricades urged her on, a few, possibly Ryoko among them crying for her to come towards them, the ropes. She had manage to jam her forearm up between Spider’s thighs, using her limb as a pry bar to give her small relief from impending blackout at the cost of the phone with quickly ramping up in her arm. Her wild kicks become more focused, a bucking effort to hop the two women back while kicking for he freedom.

The pain was sudden and hot, her vision flared with bright white, disorienting her. As she tried to blink it away, she was met with another… and another. Her struggling slowed, boots kicking wearing behind her. There was an itch she felt through the pain, one that tickled her nose, threatening to make her sneezing. She gasped for air that wouldn't come, but something else did. A taste on her way tongue. It was small but we'll defined. A hint of copper, slight wetness… blood?

Spider had managed to split the bridge of her nose, catching the bone hard with a knuckle leaving the brunette stunned into slight compliance. Her ring awareness has taken the blow almost as hard as her face leaving her reeling in the clutches of the veteran’s thighs as they recaptured wny ground lost in the struggle.

Her eyelids fluttered, not opening more than a squint as she could feel her strength steadily being sapped from.her body. She knew the feeling… Suzumi had acquainted her with it the first time when she was choked out in the Wrestle Angel’s finisher. Was it a cruel coincidence another suppose Angel was going to do the same to her? It was almost funny if it weren't so sad.

She gave a small kick, the last of a dying effort… and felt something. One of her eyes pried itself open as she twisted, extending her foot back again. This time she managed to hook it with the toes of her boot.

“Break!” Cried the referee, who at this point was looking for any reason she could to reprimand the other wrestler. Without even waiting, she started a count in anticipation for Spider's noncompliance.

Was this the first time Spider had ever struck someone trapped in her submission hold? She was fairly sure she’d slapped a few of them, that was always fun, but she couldn’t recall outright punching any of them. Not that she had any desire to spare them the pain, but she was always so busy enjoying their struggling. No sense in ruining that, right?

Well, she would certainly be doing it more often from her on in. She quite enjoyed smacking AJ in the face, watching the lights flicker in her face, imagining all the turmoil her feeble brain was going through. If she wasn’t so haggard from this match already, she could’ve done it all day.

But no, she wanted this over, wanted to be out of this ring so she could get the smell of this little bitch’s sweat off her body. No, she wasn’t going to give up, but it didn’t matter at this point. Her body would do it for her. It would fade, it would wither, she would go out, and the win would be all hers.

That was how she pictured it, anyway. So when AJ had to go and ruin her fantasy by continuing her ways as a monumental pain in the ass, it was a tad...distressing? Yes. That was the right word.

Unlike last time, Spider didn’t milk the count, didn’t hold it for a second longer than she was supposed to. The referee called for the break and she gave it so fast that she wound up counting for no reason. Spider grabbed the ropes and pulled her way up, standing tall over AJ. Just standing. And looking. Staring, really. Giving this iron, unmoving glare at her foe, with a darkened sneer of complete contempt, a look with hatred that was only exceeded by the tone in her voice.

”I bet you think you’re tough, don’t you?”

She reached down, seized AJ’s arm, and dragged her towards the center of the ring, using all the care one would reserve for an overstuffed trashbag. ”You’re not. You’re not brave, you’re not a hero, you’re not Ricky or Rocky or whatever that dumb movie is called. You’re none of that.”

Once they’d reached the center of the ring, Spider pulled that arm between her legs and trapped it there, keeping it in place and making sure AJ stayed facing down as she sat down beside her. ”You’re just another dumb, stupid American in a league full of dumb, stupid Americans, and you’re too dumb and stupid to know when to give up. But don’t worry...”

Spider reached around AJ’s head, locked her fingers in front of the face, and began to pull it back, pulling hard on her foe’s neck in a direction it was specifically not designed to go. At the same time, she leaned forward, just enough to bring her lips to the little girl’s ear and whisper sweet nothings into it, with the same softness she’d save for her longest lover.

”...I’ll teach you.”

Alexa’s body slipped limp from Spiders hold as she was released. Red faced, sweat rolling down her face. Her cheek was pressed to the canvas as she gasped for air, taking in long ragged breaths as he eyes fluttered, half rolling back in her head. Save for one leg, ankle resting on top of the rope she remained unmoving at the feet of her opposition.

The rookie seemed to have nothing to say in her defense, either not hearing Spider over the throbbing in her head or being unable to speak at all. Her arm collected, she was dragged like a corpse across the ring, offering no resistance past the physics of her body pressed flat to the mat. Each hard yank she was rolled slightly from one side or the other, at one point she had moved onto her back before Spider jerked her back onto her chest.

Some measure of life returned to her as her free arm started to pull itself along the ring, fingers twitching faintly as she pawed ineffe gively at the ring as if it would somehow help her escape. She had nothing left to give, leaving her opponent all the time she wanted to lock her arm in and settle down beside her.

One eye fell shut as Spider’s fingers slipped over her face. Her back arched up, eased into the full extension of the hold until the limitations of her body provided solid resistance, one that her opponent seemed keen to push to its limit. Her hand reached up, weakly attempt to pry Spider off of her. Her breathing quickened, the pain and panic registering in her mind.

The whisper in her ear cut into her like a dagger, slowly sinking to the hilt. Spider's hands on her face, weight on top of her, legs around her arm. She felt so helpless… so violated. She didn't want to lose, not like this, not to this woman. She let out a scream, kicking her boots, extending her free arm swing from side to side, seeking a rope that was nowhere near.

The pain was excruciating. There was no break to be had. No fighting out of it. She tried to thrash, but no matter how she moved she found no way to slip Spider’s control. Was it worth holding on, for what? Pride? Stubbornness? Her health was worth more. Her career was worth more. Alexa slapped her palm to the canvas repeatedly, signalling her surrender and want for release.

This was the worst day of Ryoko’s life. She was sure of it.

She’d been beaten up before. In fact, it was something that she’d sort of gotten used to as a wrestler, as much as she was loathe to admit it. Even when she became the Black Fang and started to do much better in the ring thanks to her tutelage, she still found herself with her back on the mat for the three count far more than she would’ve liked. It was a way of life. It happened.

But seeing it happen to AJ, seeing it happen like this, was a fresh kind of torture. Her friend was only feet away, but she might as well have been on the other side of the planet. To make it even worse, she knew what was about to happen and could read the anguish on her friend’s face, and the world seemed to slow its motion, dragging out every inevitable second.

She wanted to cheer, wanted to support AJ even now. But most of all, she just wanted this to be over. So when AJ gave in and started slapping the canvas, a wave of relief flowed through her body. This was done.

Or, it should’ve been. The referee called for the bell, threw her hands up, gave every indication that the match was still going, and yet Spider kept cranking the hold back, every scream driving her further along. Spider was lost in a haze, craving inch after inch on AJ’s body. Just a little further...a little further and she would break…

Spider only broke the hold when the referee made her, reached down forcing her hands away from AJ’s face’s with an aggravated groan, she rolled off her fallen foes body and popped to her feet, ignoring the crowd’s jeers and the referee desperately pushing her away. Her only concern was the shell of a woman she’d just finished wrestling with.

”The next time you get in the ring with me, nothing will make me stop, do you hear me?” She spat towards AJ’s face as the referee continued to make distance between them. ”You don’t belong here! You don’t belong in any ring!”

Her palm was slapping the canvas, so hard, so fast her hand was almost numb. It was over, it should have been over, why was it not over?! In her surrender she had let it go, expecting release, instead Spider had taken it further, bending her back to make the hold even more excruciating. She was helpless at this point, unable to even beg or scream, left only with choked cry. Her boots scraped along the canvas as she tried in vain to escape a situation she could in no way crawl away from, her mind filled with nothing but panic and need to survive.

The referee had come to her aid, freed her… she should have been thankful, would have shown her application were she in her right mind. As soon as Spider released her however, she instinctively curled up, shaking as she clutched her face and neck. It was all she could do from holding back crying in front of thousands of people as she lay bloodied and broken on the mat, disheveled and humiliated. She felt something thick and wet hit her scalp, sinking into her hair, and knew instantly what it was.

She had internalized these thoughts before. Not being good enough, perhaps this was a mistake? Was this really the career for her? She had done nothing thus far but lose. Spars, matches, everything. Was she really this terrible? She had put so much on the line coming here. Burned bridges, left the safety net of her family, and come up with… what? A shitty little apartment and a ever growing list of failures to crawl back home with. Spider was a horrible woman… but she was right, wasn't she?

She had no witty retort. There was no uplifting feel good moment when the plucky hero had done her best and vowed to return better and stronger. Alexa buried her face into her forearm trying to hide herself away from everyone as she dry sobbed. So exhausted and drained she didn't even have it in her to give tears. All her effort went to trying to keep anyone else from hearing or knowing. She didn't want to be remembered like this… she didn't want Spider to know how much she had actually beaten her or Ryoko to see her so weak and pathetic.

Was this the worst day of her life?

In the moment she was having difficulty trying to think of any others that came close. She remained curled up on the mat, trying to wait out Spider. She didn't want to look at her, likely would be unable to meet her gaze even if she tried. When and if her opponent had finally left, she would take her time getting up, likely needing the help of anyone willing to give it to steady herself. She looked as if she had just been in a car accident. Disoriented, red puffy eyes, and blood streaking down her face from the small slip in the bridge of her nose that was left to gush.

Regardless of how the crowd reacted, she shut them out. All of them. It was white noise, drowning out even Ryoko in this moment. Like a wounded dog she hobbled her way to the back to change, hoping to slip out alone and quietly make her way out of the arena after the medical team saw too her face. Alexa just wanted to go home and lock herself away in darkness, it was time to consider if she should go back to Boston and leave Japan behind her.