SS 18 Entropy Title: Valley Doll (c) versus Manami Kuroda (Iron Man Match)

‘First blood’. Valley had been wrestling for a long time, had heard every trite phrase and superstition the sport had to offer - ramblings about the hometown advantage, things about how hard the edge of the ring was, fluff the commentators spewed out - but she was sure there was nothing so weak out as the notion about it mattering who got the first attack, that it gave you any real advantage.

Judging from the little flash of a sneer Valley saw as she was taking that knee, it was a school of thought she subscribed to, and she was so looking forward to proving the She-Wolf wrong. The first move didn't matter nearly as much as the last one, in her experience.

”Gotcha!”

Those were Valley’s parting words as she sent Manami rolling to the side of the ring. It wouldn’t hurt her, not as much as the knee she’d just taken, but it was a good way to keep her opponent off-kilter, disorient her, and it would be something Manami would remember every time she sent a leg her way like that again. If she was lucky, it might even have one, extra benefit.

Valley came up to one knee after launching Manami, rubbing her stomach, getting past the pain from that knee. It wasn't the easiest thing, she could already tell this woman’s striking game wasn’t anything to be underestimated. But she had to soldier through it, knowing there was no way she could let this opening go. Her foe was making her way up, but it wasn’t the fastest recovery. There was a window to exploit.

When Manami glared her way, she’d see Valley Doll already on the attack, rushing towards her as she tried to rise. The moment she was in range, she lashed out with a low snap kick to Manami’s leg to test it, see how well it had fared after the tumble, but that wasn’t all - without even letting that foot touch the floor, she drew it back in, raised her other leg, and swung it around, aiming a swift roundhouse kick at Manami’s back.

Quick reflexes. Always a troublesome attribute to deal with, but one that wasn’t impossible to overcome. She’d dealt with a wide variety of nimble opponents. Not everyone that stepped onto the concrete was on overbearing brute without the brain to match his size. More often than not, however, their strength was decidedly lacking. Once the Wolf Girl was able to ground them, there was little separating them from freedom and the cruel agony soon to follow.

Valley was, evidently, a different sort of breed. Her speed was clear, but she also possessed the power to make that agility practical. And, if Fumika’s research hadn’t misled her, there was a well-versed mind of submission holds supporting all of it. She was starting to see the championship build shining through, and how she was able to remain undefeated against the powerhouse that formerly held her title.

Interesting. Very interesting. Manami continued to tinker with those thoughts inside of her head, thinking of the best way to dispatch this thorn in her side while there was still plenty of time to experiment. With a strong grip on the rope, she went to pull herself up and take this match down its proper course.

Something that was made a tad more difficult as the Slamazon tested Manami’s otherwise tender leg with a quick kick to her inner thigh. She winced, clenching her teeth as her ascent was halted for an instant by a jolt of pain, but only an instant. A bump in the road. She kept her hold on the rope and continued her ascent...only to meet a stiff kick from the shin of Valley’s toned leg. Her eyes widened, half out of surprise at how quickly her opponent had been managing to follow-up with these strings of attacks, half from the pain alone as the woman’s heel tapped her spine, turning her bones to a gelatinous mess.

Manami’s grip slipped away from the rope as she was forced back down to the canvas. Her arm reached behind her, attempting to rid the numbing sensation from her back. Her other hand stayed to the canvas, watching Valley out of the corner of her eye. Rearing a leg back, she went to throw a back kick to the champion’s stomach, attempting to keep her at a distance while the wolf recovered.

Amongst Valley’s fans, there had been a lot of trepidation for this match. The Slamazons career had been a zigzagging affair from the start, ebbing and flowing since her debut, waxing when she first came and around the time she won the Entropy title, waning moreso in the recent months. Age wasn’t just a number in wrestling, the years were creeping up on her, and there were those who questioned if the Doll had the chops to hang with a hungrier, younger, ruthless challenger like Manami.

Valley hoped that her doubters were watching this match, that they heard the sound of her leg slicing into Manami’s back, that they saw the anguish and shock on the She-Wolf’s face. She hoped they rethought their positions while they tried to count all the bruises on Manami’s skin.

”How’s that?” She muttered the words, looking on as Manami was brought back to the floor once again, laid low by Valley’s kicks. Whatever vision had been rolling around in her head when she asked for this match, the Slamazon doubted it involved her getting backed against the ropes this early, and it was more than a little tempting to revel in the moment.

Couldn’t do that. Couldn’t stop. Looking to force Manami up on her terms, she reached, intending to grab some hair and force her to stand up for the next round of punishment.

Instead, Valley wound up taking a kick in the stomach. It probably didn’t hit any harder than the knee she’d suffered a few seconds ago, but this blow was more of a surprise, and her gut was still sore from the earlier blow. It was more than enough to send Valley stumbling back, giving Manami the chance to rise up as she willed.

No helping that, but Valley was determined to keep the pressure going and dictate the pace. She was stumbling back at first, but her steps became more sure as she backed into the ropes across from Manami. She bounced off and came rushing back towards Manami, hands raised, looking to force her into a hard lockup whether she was ready for it or not. It was a silent dare, looking to see how her opponent would react to the oncoming threat, betting that she would be able to handle whatever was thrown her way next.

“Quiet.”

Not that she intended to make it clear, but there was a bit of annoyance seeping through the cracks of Manami’s cool and collected attitude. She had little doubt that the Slamazon would be a formidable opponent. Whatever her misgivings about her current trajectory as a champion, the wolf had to acknowledge that the woman could at least put up a proper fight, even if it was in the match to be her death throes. One didn’t last long in this federation, grow to the age she had, without harboring some degree of experience to justify such a long and impressive record. Manami entered expecting a challenge, and that certainly seemed to be what she was getting.

What she wasn’t looking for was the cheery attitude that her opponent seemed to decorate form the moment she entered the arena. Everything from the overblown entrance, to the rallying gesture at her introduction, to the little quips being sprinkled in between her lightening-fast movements were quickly proving themselves to be a bottomless pit of annoyance and frustration. Manami was the last person in the world to care for her image, but being made a fool of was something she was not about to permit. Not on this night. She wanted to kill that attitude in its crib, before it had a chance to bear any more fruit.

But she had to be up on two feet before she could make any radical changes. Thankfully, her kick landed with the expected results, sending Valley packing with some irritation in her stomach lining as a parting gift. She stood herself back up with the assistance of the rope, thinking of the best way to approach this little predicament as she turned around...only to find her adversary rushing straight back towards her. Manami’s instincts told her to evade the charge, but her leg wasn't particularly in the mood for any agile tricks quite yet. She was playing Valley’s game for the moment.

Perfectly fine. It wasn’t the first time she’d been invited to a test of strength, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. She knew just the way to handle the golden-haired fool. Lunging forward with her arms raised, seemingly going to clasp hands with the Slamazon, Manami’s palms would suddenly turn vertically, going to slip past the woman’s hands and wrap them around the back of her head. At the same time, she would jump and tuck her knees in, falling backward and bringing the champion with her, forcing the woman’s chest to suffer the consequences of a sudden codebreaker.

Much as she utterly loathed to admit it, even to herself, Valley couldn’t deny that there was a small, irritating part of her that wanted to thank Manami for pushing her to this match up. Yes, she’d taken one of the worst beatings of her life, if not the worst, to get here, and it seemed like her fanbase had taken a hit through it all…

...but, as she rushed toward Manami at a feverish pace, she couldn’t deny the rush going through her body, the pumping blood, the heat. It was a feeling that she hadn’t had for a long time, maybe not since she’d gained the belt. Feeling like she was really in her prime, like she could do anything in the ring. Had she really gotten so stagnant? Was it all just dormant?

Whatever. Didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to give Manami a verbal thanks for it. The closest she would get to that was giving her all the fight she could ever want, with some extra on top.

So, when she dashed her way towards Manami, she came strong. Drove hard. Put everything she had into it. Her idea had been to only grapple with her for a moment, then quickly transition in a schoolboy. While she doubted the move would get a pinfall this early - though, stranger things had happened - she was more interested in what would happen when Manami kicked out. She could transition into so many things straight out of that. Boston Crab, Figure-Four, maybe even the STF.

What she got, instead, was a Codebreaker. Right in her chest.

She had to give Manami credit, it was a good counter, one she wouldn’t have expected from her type of wrestler. One moment she was moving in for the lockup, the next she had a pair of knees digging into her chest like dull knives, and she was sent reeling in the next moment. She flopped over to her back, arms spread wide and teeth clenched, groaning as she dealt with the plan.

Manami’s toolkit was a bit deeper than she’d guessed. Something to make a note of.

As much as she wanted to ignore it, there was a tinge of regret lingering inside of Manami’s gut about this whole arrangement. A regret that became more clear now that she’d managed a proper reversal. There she was, in the middle of the ring and practically handed the brush to paint the perfect stage for the Entropy Champion’s downfall, and she’d gone and neglected to include hardcore rules for this decisive match. She would have enjoyed this far more with the chance to break a 2x4 over the top of Valley’s head, or perhaps bust those pretty legs with an iron pipe. But alas, the wolf had let her excitement get the better of her. Her bare hand would have to suffice. Or knees, in this instance.

While she hadn’t had a particular fondness for a technique more typically found in the wrestling ring, Manami couldn’t deny the brutal simplicity of a number of moves she’d witnessed at ringside on occasion. Some were a tad more involved, a bit too theatrical than she cared to waste the time on. But others, not unlike the one Valley had just felt the full force of, seemed a natural addition into the wolf’s already well-established repertoire. Next time, she should aim to break a couple ribs to go along with it.

Plenty of time for that, as the match would allow. After she felt the champion decompress and sputter over her knees, Manami would let her eyes follow Valley as she flopped dead to the side, making sure she hadn’t managed some miracle recovery and to enjoy every second of the agony before her. Curling her legs back, Manami would bring press her hands to the canvas and kick herself back up to two feet not a moment sooner. She turned on the spot, looking down and making the slow traipse to Valley’s side. Her thoughts drifted with every step, taking in her position like a freshly-made dessert, thinking of the best way to go about devouring it from top to bottom.

So many options, so little time.

Her mind was able to settle on something in short order, a light smirk taking shape on her face. She kicked Valley in the side of her ribs, pressing her foot against the surface rather than drawing her foot back, getting her to roll onto her side as she stepped over the woman. Crouching down and wrenching her arm away, Manami would move to lock the champion in a Fujiwara armbar from a seated position on her back. Trivial, but in her experience, what was simple was often the most excruciating.

So. A Codebreaker.

A good Codebreaker, too. A simple move, but one Valley had seen executed poorly before, with so many of the users going for the one-knee version, not getting enough height to really make the impact work, showing trepidation in the execution.

Not Manami. She was an all-in type of girl. Bravo.

A slight chuckle worked its way out of all the groaning, but it was all cut short when she felt the tap-tap-tapping of incoming feet. Manami was closing in, not wasting her time. If the situations were reversed, Valley would’ve been climbing the ropes right about now, looking to come down on her foe from on high, but she was willing to wager her foe had a much more direct philosophy.

She needed to get up. Now. The Slamazon had just begun to grit her teeth and make an attempt to rise, when a rude foot pressed hard into her sides and ruined the effort. The She-Wolf was on her before she could even think of rising up, her arms went between her legs, and from there…

A shrill shriek escaped Valley’s lips, piercing through the raucous crowd, filling the ring. Valley snapped her teeth shut and bottled it, stopping it from going on too long, but the pain was too clear on her face. She was more flexible than most, her background in cheerleading gifting her with a flexibility that few could match, but it hardly made her immune. Not with a move like this. Not when Manami would be all too glad to rip her arms out of its socket.

Yeah, this was a bit more like the Manami she'd expected.

The referee knelt nearby, zeroing in on the scene. ”Valley?” She made eye contact. ”Valley, do you give?”

Not to this, not to Manami, and for sure not when the match wasn’t even two minutes old. Valley shook her head hard and slammed her fist into the ground, sucking in lungfuls of air for what she had to do next. There was only one way to counter a move like this, and that was to not be in it in the first place. That ship had sailed, which left Valley with only one recourse: the ropes.

Digging her nails into the canvas and pushing hard with her legs, she began to drag her way to the edge of the ring. It wasn’t even that long of a distance, really. They hadn’t been quite at the center. But it was amazing how far even the smallest length could feel when someone was trying to dislocate your shoulder.

Determined, she put everything into reaching out and touching the bottom rope with her foot. Just a little farther...

Ah, there it was. The first of many screams she’d hoped to be savoring this evening.

This was no doubt far from an uncommon sight for any truly devoted followers of the Slamazon’s career. There was bound to be an entire plethora of agonizing holds and positions recorded throughout the years for all to see that made Manami’s current position akin to a comforting hug by comparison. But there was something beyond all of that that the wolf had been aiming to capture. What she desired was the lingering fear in each breathe, for others to hear the sound of horror drawn forth from her lungs, the likes of which even Alicia Welles would have been unable to muster. That woman, from impressions, was little more than a quick study with gifted genetics in the lower body. A vagabond, existing for the thrill of battle, willing to concede when she was getting anything less.

Manami wasn’t here for battle. This was slaughter.

Once she locked the armbar in, she was content to wrap her free left arm around Valley’s restrained forearm, bending it back with a guillotine lock. She wore the elbow, wanting to feel it creak and the sinew wear in her grasp. She bit her bottom lip as Valley’s screams traveled upward another pitch before she caught herself. Then she started turning the move’s weakness against her, using the bit of mobility she had to slowly push herself towards the ropes.

One should never allow it to be said that Valley was not a strong woman. Despite her slimmer build, one more meant for flying off turnbuckles and somersaulting through gaps of air than rolling on the canvas with a denser body, there was plenty of strength latent in that athletic form. Even with Manami’s weight keeping her down from on top, bit by bit, inch by inch, the Slamazon managed her way to the ropes, reaching out and placing her foot on the bottom rope.

“Rope break!” But the wolf didn’t let go. Her eyes merely trailed up from the ground to the official's eye, sharpening her pupils into the innocent, youthful eyes of the referee, who jerked herself back the moment they connected. “Uh...let her go! One, two-!”

She let the count continue, staring with a narrow glare at the official that only grew sharper with each passing second. She wrenched Valley’s arm back further, pressing the extremity further and further. All the way until the last one-tenth of a second. Her expression softened, her smile returned and her eyes rounded out. All at once, she dropped the arm and stood back up, managing to bring her eyes away from the striped woman and back down to Valley as she turned and stepped away. Hands on her hips, she waited for the champion to rise again. The careful observer would notice the tongue peeking from between her lips, running along the length of her mouth as the last memories of Valley’s scream faded into the back of her mind.

More. She needed more.

Manami had a look on her face. That look.

Valley couldn’t see it from her position, obviously. She didn’t catch a view of it while she was crawled, had no true way to confirm it, would only know once she looked over this match on the replay - but she would bet anything that the woman had a smile on her face. It wouldn’t be the manic smile that Amethyst would have in this situation, and it wouldn’t be that smug, self-satisfied that she would expect on Gwendolyn.

No, if she had to bet, Manami had the same look that she wore while Valley was getting thrashed around in the park by her subordinates, fed to her subordinates and ripped apart. A hungry, craving look, relishing the pain, cherishing her screams. As much as Valley loathed the thought, there was no getting around it: win or lose, Manami would be getting her fill of shrieks. She just hoped the majority of them would be coming from her own mouth.

First, she had to get out of this damned hold. Valley made a hard push for it, crawled her way forward, driving hard for the ring’s edge. She draped her foot on the bottom rope when she was close enough and pulled it back and forth, shaking the whole thing.

Manami did nothing.

Of course she did nothing. It was more than a little annoying that the referee seemed so surprised by that. ”Jesus!” Valley smacked her forehead on the canvas. ”Just count, [i]just count!”

Count she did, and all Valley could do was suffer and wait while Manami milked the hold for every millisecond of pain. She bit her tongue so hard that she almost drew blood, doing her best to ignore the pain as muscles and bones and tendons stretched so much further than were ever designed to.

When Manami finally let her go, Valley rolled over to her side and rubbed away at her arm, furiously trying to return some feelings to the searing limb. She tried to ball her fist, do the simplest movement, but even that was beyond her capacity with so much numbness in her muscle. It wasn’t beyond hope, she would be able to use it again - assuming Manami didn’t target the arm once more. But, until that happened, she would be wrestling with a serious handicap, in a match where she absolutely couldn’t afford it.

Back to it, then.

Valley pushed up to her feet and gave her arm one final, quick massage before she stepped away from the ropes. She began to circle Manami, eyes firm and focused now, making sure to keep her bad arm as far away from the ravenous wolf as much as possible. Would she go for it again? Hard to say. Hard to say if it would even be a bad thing. Valley’s offense was mostly focused on her lower body, and even with the bad arm, she could still do most of her best moves. Would Manami be looking to slow her down, or did she just think the arm would be better for a submission?

Either way, she wasn’t aiming to give her whatever she was going for next. She stayed back for now, trying to see if she could get Manami to pounce first.

Get up. Get up. Get up.

Oh dear. It was like an itch, a craving, a bottomless pit she couldn’t satisfy. It was far too early in their little scuffle for her to become this excited. She knew that fully well, that her mind was better spent preparing a strategy. That she should prepare for the retaliation inevitably headed her way. But how could one resist the lingering scent of blood in the air? How could anyone expect the wolf to forget the cries of sheep after but one taste?

It was somewhat of an epiphany, having the Slamazon bound and helpless beneath her, short as the time was. Throughout her stay in the federation, she’d heard countless tales and fantasies of Valley’s unparalleled finesse. How she glided through the air absent wings on her back, how she could work the ground like a boa constricting its prey, how her deft speed and honed legs held the capacity to end matches in the lapse of an eye twitch. Silly little daydreams like that.

The mocking little smile on Manami’s face was a fair enough answer to her faith in public superstition. The muck could believe what they wanted, when that shriek escaped the Californian’s lips, when she felt the kick and struggle beneath her, it only solidified her as more of the same. Big dreams and daring words that crumbled to dust on the wind when the jaws snapped around their throat. Prey to be hunted, lambs to be slaughtered. Worthier game, perhaps, but game nonetheless.

She hadn’t forgotten the look in Valley’s eye when this bout began, however. If it was her destiny to lose this evening, she wouldn’t go quietly into that good and horrible night. There was plenty promise left to live up to. As Manami dropped down to her crouched position, eyeing Valley the whole way during her ascent, she kept that wild glare in mind. That brief, fleeting reflection Manami saw in the middle of the ring.

And fleeting it was. She’d been prepared for an offense this early on, an attempt on the Slamazon’s part to reassert her momentum. What Manami was instead met with was a woman on the retreat, allowing the wolf the initiative as Valley stood her ground. No doubt, she was walking into a trap. In that case, what was the best way to set it off?

Her mind determined an answer soon enough. The match had just begun, they were tied up, no reason to be stupid about this. Manami raised her hands as she lunged forward, going to narrow the distance between herself and her prey, seemingly looking to lock up with that she’d denied Valley earlier. Only, just a foot away from contact, the Wolf Girl would instead reel her arms back, planting down on her front foot and throwing a stiff kick forward to Valley’s gut.