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

Valley had some mixed feelings about the display she’d just witnessed. On the one hand, she didn’t condone attacking the audience, didn’t want to mix them up in the match. That was the sort of thing that would’ve resulted in automatic suspension when she was back with the Slamazons. AFW was laxer with its rules - laxer with everything, really - so she doubted Manami would get more than a slap on the wrist, if they even had the balls to confront her on it.

But that did bring up the other side of the coin, where the  notpoor idiot shouldn’t have touched Manami in the first place. Touching the talent was a no-no in the first place, but this woman? If you pet a rabid dog and the damned thing bites you, it’s not just the dog’s fault.

Whatever the case, it was the schmuck’s problem and not hers. If anything, his little stunt had bought her a few extra seconds to breathe and recoup, which she was eternally grateful for. Now, she just had to figure out what to do with it.

She rose as Manami came in, bearing her trademark smile, stalking her once again. She was sure of herself, moving like an executioner going about her job. No worries. No concern.

Valley did her best to look past that, paying attention to the rest of her movements. Her position, the way she she stood, the distance, all of it. Waiting, thinking, analyzing.

Superkick. Manami was going to kick her right over the barricade.

She pieced that together just as Manami was starting to execute the move, but there was still the question of what to do about. Aching too much for a full dodge, didn’t want to try and block or catch it, but maybe, if the timing was just right…

The kick came, but her head wasn’t in the right place when it arrive. Instead, Valley dropped to the side, just enough Manami’s foot to pass over her shoulder. She wouldn’t be getting that foot back right away, though, because Valley wrapped her arm around it, capturing it and forcing the She-Wolf to stand on her leg for a second. Only a second.

That was about all the time she needed to lift Manami’s and slam her ankle down on top of the barricade, introducing bone to metal with all the force she could muster.

There was a brief moment in time, a heartbeat, a simple pulse, where a tide of regret washed over Manami. There were many things that she could call Valley, not many of them in the least bit flattering, but “stupid” certainly wasn’t among them.

She took notice of the way the champion’s eyes studied her movement, analyzing her muscles and the slightest pivot of her hips, not a tinge of fear hiding behind those pupils. It was something to admire, but also something to expect. A veteran like herself was inseparable from that practical sort of mindset. Manami had more confidence in her instincts, her skills. When she went for the kick, she firmly believed her boot could reach her before that aching body could react.

Right up until the champion managed to dip to the side, and Manami’s heel barely brushed those luscious blonde locks. Unfortunate, but nothing she couldn’t save. So long as she reeled her foot back.

Which she couldn’t. In an instant, the Wolf Girl found herself caught by her shin, locked in firmly in Valley’s hold. Her eyes widened in surprise, hopping on foot in an unconscious bid to remain balanced. The instant she got that under control, her attention shifted back to her opponent. It didn’t take long for her to put the pieces together.

Manami’s shin came down on hard on the barricade, a chilling clang echoing out from the ring as it collided with her shin bone. Her entire body vibrated like a human-sized tuning fork. She teetered backward slowly, twisting on the spot and falling to one knee, her right side exposed to the Slamazon. She rubbed her leg, gritting her teeth hard. From the corner of her eye, she shot a violent glare towards. “You’re a tenacious little wretch.”

It took a moment for the crowd to react to what just happened, probably for a few different reasons. It was a blur of motion, taking place in the span of only a few seconds, so there wasn’t much chance to really absorb the action until they caught the replay. One moment Manami was in control and looked she was about to separate Valley’s head from its shoulders, the next she was on the floor, nursing an ankle that would probably be hurting for days.

Her fans cheered. Manami’s fans booed. The standard response, naturally. But both sides could see the shift happening again, with Valley poised to take the reigns. Could she hold on to them long enough to score a point and tie this up?

The Slamazon wasn’t thinking about any of that, wasn’t paying any real attention to the crowd, wouldn’t spare a single glance at the clock. Manami. Only Manami. She had to make her the center of the universe, get her back in the ring, and take her out. When that was done, then she could afford to think about something else. Not before.

So when Manami dropped down and threw that scorned look her way, gave her that pithy taunt, Valley didn’t hear it. She was too busy running forward.

Her neck ached, her back ached, her everything ached, and it wasn’t an easy thing getting through that haze. But she forced her way through, if only for a moment. Just long enough for her to take one step, then another, plant her foot on top of Manami’s upturned knee, and use it a springboard to jump to her side. She spun as she leaped, twisting about in mid-air, and lashed out with a swift enziguiri to the back of Manami’s head, trying to tag her with a variation on the Shining Wizard: a Glimmering Warlock.

Just get up.

Just get up.

Manami had taken to this unhealthy habit of making hard demands from her own limbs whenever they failed her. But one would have to excuse her. It was a tick born from frustration more than any rational thought. AFW had done a clear number on her mental fortitude. One could only subject themselves to such madness for so long. Change could not come fast enough, this place had to be torn apart from the ring outward.

But Valley was making that first step increasingly difficult. Her persistence was one thing, but it was her skill that made this stalemate all the more precarious. For all the insults she would have loved to throw the champion’s way, there was no reasonable argument Manami could have forged against her experience. Even in these dire straits, she had faith in it, in the countless battles she’d fought to get to this point. Something commendable.

She didn’t appear to have much of a response to the quip thrown her way, if she had any reaction at all. The Slamazon was all business it seemed. Good. That hopefully meant there would be something to look forward to once she was back on two feet.

Valley wasn’t content to wait that long. By the time the Wolf Girl had seen her take to the air, piecing together the strike coming her way, the clap to the back of her head had already stopped those thoughts in their tracks. She lurched forward, her eyes wide and stunned for a moment before she slowly teetered back and fell to the ground with a thud. Sounds escaped her, the lights above grew hazy as her vision unfocused. Her body refused to move an inch as she laid with her arms spread eagle and her eyes staring at the sky like a hapless daydreamer.

So, going for the Glimmering Warlock was kind of a mixed bag for Valley. A good idea and a bad idea at the same time.

Kicking Manami in the head was definitely a good idea, and the great thing about it was how it managed take her totally off guard. She wasn’t able to physically or mentally prepare for the impact, and Valley could tell that it had left her properly rocked. So that was the good news.

The bad news was that there was something that Valley hadn’t accounted for when she went running: gravity. She was able to launch herself and connect with the kick just fine, but there was still the fact that she had to land after connecting. It wasn’t a gentle crash, either. She came down on her hips and kept rolling, going about half way under the apron before she could bring it to a stop.

When she crawled out, though, Manami was on her back, looking stupefied, a sight that brought a smile to Valley’s face...until she looked up and remembered where they were and what she had to do next.

With a long, aggravated groan, Valley crawled over to Manami’s limp body, grabbed an arm and a leg, and lifted her up with a fireman’s carry, gritting her teeth every inch of the way. The She-Wolf wasn’t too heavy, but Valley wasn’t exactly known for lifting heavy weights when she was at her peak, and she was most definitely not at her peak right now.

Once she had her up enough, Valley threw Manami on to the ring apron - in the roughest way possible - and pushed her in under the bottom rope, getting her back in the legal zone. The referee started to count, but she didn’t need to bother, really - Valley didn’t intend to stay on the outside for long.

The back of the head. Never a pleasant place to get hit. Manami could attest to that fact time and time again. Soft, incredibly sensitive, practically impossible to defend. The strike didn’t even have to be all that hard. One look at her current state could tell anyone just how damaging Valley’s strike had been.

Fighting, thinking, seeing, feeling. All of these senses were suddenly lost vacated Manami’s body in the blink of an eye. The roar of the crowd came to her ears muffled and unfocused, lacking any clear direction. The same could be said for her sight as she gazed up at the lights above in a hazy mesh.

Little more than a lethargic groan escaped her lips as Valley brought her up and over her shoulders. She had a very faint awareness that she was being moved, but beyond that, her orientation was screwed. Her limp body rolled onto the canvas without so much as a noise. The supporters that didn’t remain silent were shouting their demands for her to stand up, but they’d have a better chance at commanding a brick wall to move.

Inside, however, there was a flicker. A small, unquenchable flame that grew brighter and brighter with each passing moment. Her fingers twitched as she went to clench and unclench her hands in tandem. Her head rocked ever slowly from one side to the other, vision slowly coming back to her. She doubted it would be enough to avoid whatever came at her next.

””MOONSAULT! Go for it, Valley!”

“You’ve got her! Go up top!”

“Time to fly!”

Valley loved her fans, but there were times when she really hated her fans, too.

She was tired. Her body would recover in time, she was sure, but for the moment it was still reeling from the hellacious beating Manami had given it. Her neck was still a mess, her back was aching, and the simple act of standing straight seemed to take a toll on her.

And they wanted her to do a Moonsault. Days like this, she almost wished she’d gone with the idea of getting into MMA she’d entertained back in high school, back when she was young and dumb and trying to piss her mother off. Nobody cared if you ignored the crowd in the octagon. But she was here now, in this wrestling ring, and she was a high-flyer, and you couldn’t be much of a high-flyer if you didn’t fly high. It wasn’t like she had long to make the decision, either. It was only a matter of time before Manami regained enough sense to see it coming.

She didn’t have it in her to do the move they wanted to see, her Full Moonsault. But, as she pulled her way up on the apron, a fitting compromise occurred to her. A way she could get the damage she needed and stay true to her style and not even use that much energy.

Valley gripped the top rope, took a second to run the math through her head, then pulled back and leaped over into the ring. She didn’t jump all the way in, though, getting just high enough so that she could twist her body around and let the back of her thighs land on top of the ropes. From there, it was just a matter of physics doing its thing: Valley would bounce back with Arabian Press Moonsault, one that had the unique twist of her knees coming down right into Manami’s chest of the regular flop.

If that connected, she’d go for the pin without a second wasted. She wasn’t sure what the time was, but she knew she was still fighting from the bottom.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Let this all pass.

Needless to say, there were little options available for Manami at the moment beyond simply biding her time. It wasn’t the first time she’d been knocked clear out of her own head. Didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

At the very least, there were some impressions from the world outside she could pick up. The crowd roaring, some footsteps stomping beside her. Whether it was the referee or Valley, her mind couldn’t tell. She peered through narrow slits, just making out a silhouette out of the corner of her vision. That set off a number of danger signals, but she was helpless to act on them. Her body wasn’t in much of any condition to make any sudden movements, even if she was fully conscious. The best she could do was coast through this little stupor of hers...

Until she was dragged right out of it.

She let out a silent scream as her sternum was nearly crushed into powder. The ground quaked and the harsh smack echoed out from the ring. The Wolf Girl’s body sprung to life, her head and legs kicking up as her body jackknifed against the force, which was good for Valley. It made it all the easier for the woman to seamlessly pin down her shoulders and lock in a pin count. The official hurried over and slid down beside the two, slapping her hand against the canvas as she started the count. Manami was in no position to protest. The oxygen was punched clear out of her lungs, leaving her thoughts scrambled and the world in a blur.

"ONE!"

Valley loved being a pro wrestler, but she’d be lying if she said there weren’t days where it could truly wear on her, where it felt less like a job and more like a 24/7 lifestyle. Most people could separate their jobs from from their personal life, but hers was intertwined, dominating everything she did in different ways, and it had only become worse since she’d taken the belt.

The training, the sacrifice, the toll both mental and physical, it could wearyer down to the nub, some days. But then there were moments where it was all worth it, and it came together, and there was no place on the Earth that she’d rather be.

This - the moment where she came down on Manami and sent her into spasms - was one such moment.

The second the move connected, Valley mounted Manami’s midsection and went for a straddling sort of pin. It wasn’t the most professional sort of pin she could do, she knew, but there was some meaning to it, a meaning that would become clear to anyone who could remember past ten minutes. Valley planted her elbows down on Manami’s shoulders and stared straight down on her, with a light, knowing smile on her face - a near-perfect version of the same pose that had gotten the Wolf Girl her first point.

A little petty, Valley knew, but that was just the mood she was in right now. And she could see the appeal. Seeing the look on Manami’s face when the hand hit for the third time would be a pleasure.

”2…!”

Seeing as she had a bit of time on her hands, Manami decided to reassess the moments in her mind where she might have gone so wrong. She’d had her prey cornered, slow and helpless in her grasp, staring certain death in the face. Without the help of the ropes, she should have been completely at her mercy.

So how did she let this happen? How exactly did she end up the one on her back and half-conscious while her opponent moved to even the odds? There wasn’t anything wrong with her movements. There was no hesitation, no failure in her ability to follow through. The ground was her territory, so she thought. Was Valley really just that elusive? Or was there something more...

The answer came to her in the most insufferably ironic way possible as her vision came back into alignment. Her breathing slowed a modicum and steadied once again. That maddening pulse in the back of her head petered away. All of her senses returned returned just in time to hear the second count fall beside her head.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite soon enough to stop the three count. But oh, the Wolf Girl did her best. She bucked and squirmed, she clenched her fists and bared her teeth like a frothing mutt held back by a simple chain. Just one inch was all she needed, and just one was all she wouldn’t get. The official's hand came down for a third time.

"THREE! Point awarded to Valley Doll by pinfall!"

Manami’s expression turned dark as the crowd broke out into a sharp split of cheers and jeers. Her eyes never moved, however, staring straight back at the champion’s with writhing disdain. God, she needed to ruin that smile.

“Funny.” The venom slipping through her voice was intentional. She hoped Valley picked up on it, for her sake.