Brünhilde Larsson vs. Stone - Wagnerian

Reiko Ishida had slipped out of the rest room to find her Valkyrie sisters had left without her. Initial annoyance gave way to acceptance, as Stone did have a match so they likely had hurried on without her. Still a bit queasy from her earlier meal of corner store breakfast burritos and bubble beer, it wasn't like the two of them could just sit by and wait for her. That said, having someone to check on her would have been nice as she had been hung up dry heaving for a good ten minutes before things settled. She hadn't actually thrown up, a mark of pride and accomplishment, though one best left to herself. After a quick initial check of the area revealed both of her companions had vanished, she slipped back into the bathroom to take a quick smoke to even herself out.

With her cigarette butt flushed down the toilet, Reiko took to the halls. Unfamiliar in their design, she had only been through them a handful of times and never alone. In retrospect she should have paid better attention to the turns, landmarks, and wrestling terminology that made up the signage. A few minutes of idle wandering had been fine until she returned to a place she was certain she had been before, somehow looping back around. As frustration grew, so too did her anger, stomping through the halls shooting glares at passerbys rather than asking for directions like some chump.  

She had happened upon a screen in the back, one that displayed the current in ring action. Sure enough, it had Stone and some other lady she didn't know duking it out. She assumed it had to have been the start of the match still, since Stone hadn't already snapped this chick in half. Arms folded she stood by, brow furrowed as she watched Stone taking a beating. She could have dismissed this as the large woman playing into the match just to crush this nobody, but a few of the other talent were sitting nearby, hooting and cheering each time her sister took a blow. She could practically feel a vein pulsing along the side of her head.

There was one thing of note that caught her eye however. Stone was alone. Was this some trumped up management move to screw them out of being ringside? Had this brunette bimbo Stone was fighting taken they out while she was in the bathroom? "You bitch..." She huffed under her breath with a slow seething hatred, making this stranger out to be something that she may not have been. With her teeth grit, she hurried away without confronting her unsupportive coworkers... though she may have "accidentally" kicked out the chair from under them in passing. They didn't seem overly pleased about it, screaming after her as she jogged down the hall.

She wandered for a few minutes more before spotting a familiar face. Her jog slowed, trying to compose herself before getting to close. She did her best to hide her huffing pant from having been running around for a bit now, walking up to Makoto. The former leader of the Valkyries, though she was still the woman in charge as far as Reiko was concerned. The biker gang was an all woman organization. Just because some clown with a gimp mask got lucky, didn't make her any less of the leader she was suppose to be... if anything, she had been a targeted victim to another plot from the AFW to screw them out of the business. They were still here though, so fuck them.

"Hey." It took a bit of focus to keep herself calm and collected, giving Makoto a small up nod as she neared. It wasn't often she got to see the woman one on one. When the two did speak, it tended to be a one sided affair, being given a task to do this or that... it was fine, Makoto was busy. She had things to do, people to manage, heads to bust. She stopped a healthy distance from the other woman, a invisible barrier of importance seemed to keep her at bad, willingly. "What's the deal, why is Stone solo? They going to fine and fire us or something if we go out there?"

The crowd clapped, impressed that Stone’s little acrobatic show worked. She appreciated that, but frankly, she was just glad that she pulled it off without busting her face. She wasn’t the biggest woman on the roster, but she was far from the smallest, and that sort of thing was harder for than it would’ve been for most highflyers.

But it worked. Mission accomplished.

Not only did she succeed in getting the drop on Brunhilda, but she managed to capture her in the full nelson. Simple? Yes. Effective. Hell yes. But it wasn’t the sort thing she could wring a reliable submission from, not with a woman this hardy, which meant she had to transition. Into what?

”Let’s see how much distance I can get.” With that, she lifted Brunhilda up as high as she could, twisted about when she was at the apex, released her from the hold and threw her back-first into the canvas with all the power she could muster, sending her crashing down with a full nelson slam.

As this was all going, Makoto was still hanging in the same place she had been, sparing the occasional glance towards the screen and grumbling its way. One of the stagehands would come by every once in a while, looking like they might tell her that she wasn’t supposed to be here and that she needed to move along - but a glance their way would send them scampering off fast enough. She wasn’t in the mood, she didn’t look like she was in the mood, and she wasn’t making any efforts to hide it. Anyone with good sense would steer clear of her.

Reiko Ishida wasn’t on that list.

Makoto smelled her a moment before she heard, taking in the heady scent of cigarette smoke that tended to hang around her like a cloud. When she heard the voice to go along with it and got confirmation, she closed her eyes and sighed. Long, hard sigh. She’d kind of hoped Reiko would’ve just left after she was done redecorating the bathroom, taken a train back to the house. But no, the girl was a little lost puppy, always close behind.

She gave Reiko a halfhearted wave, then pressed to fingers to her lip and held out her hand, an unspoken order to give up a cigarette. Makoto wasn’t much of a smoker, nowhere near as hooked as Reiko was, but they were okay when she needed some edge off. Times like this. ”Stone’s just having a hissy fit, didn’t want me out there. Tired of me watching her back, I guess.”

Makoto sounded sadder than she meant to when she said that. Weird.

Brünhilde wasn't a small woman, not in the slightest. In fact, it wasn't fairly often that she was overmatched and able to be manhandled by the average woman.

There was nothing about Stone that was even slightly average. And so she was here, full nelson locked in, musing about how far she would be able to toss Brunhilde across the ring. Was it a challenge? A threat? A genuine curiosity? Brün didn't have much time to think it over before being lifted, almost effortlessly, into the air. Up, up, up she goes...


...and down she went. She hardly had any time to cry out before she was threw back-first into the canvas, her back and head slamming into the mat as she clumsily crashed the canvas like a redheaded bag of hammers. Ouch.

Brünhilde brought her hand up to the back of her head, gently pressing her fingers against where it collided with the canvas. The mats may have had a bit of bounce to them, but it was still enough to knock her silly. She made an attempt to curl up in a defensive position as she gazed up at the lights, her vision slightly clouded from the impact. It was definitely going to take a couple of moments to recover from this one, though it was unlikely her opponent was going to afford her the opportunity to do so.

As it turned out, Stone could chuck Brünhilde pretty far when she wanted to. Good to know all that time in the gym wasn’t wasted.

The crash was about as pretty and graceful as anyone would expect it to be, shaking the ring on impact, as if it wasn’t accustomed to being hit with anything near this level of force. Stone was worried for a moment that she might’ve gone a little too hard too fast, that she might’ve done some real damage to the redhead, but those fears vanished quick enough when she looked over. Still alive and kicking, this one. Tough. Good.

Stone was tempted to keep the pain train rolling, but she was curious to see just how out of it Brünhilde was, and she could think of a surefire way to check.

She rolled over and moved on top of her opponent, pressing her back down on the redhead’s chest. From there, it was a simple matter of bridging with her legs, grabbing a knee for leverage and pressing down on Brünhilde, going for the pin.

Brünhilde was still fairly dazed, but even being knocked silly wasn't about to clear her constantly racing mind.

She was getting flashbacks. Waaaaaay back. She was 16 years old and trying out for the high school wrestling team. Did she have prior practice and experience? No. Did that matter to her? No.

Did she have any lick of success in the slightest? You bet she didn't.

In tryouts she was placed against one of the most successful star wrestlers on the team, and it went about as well as one would expect. Between all of the grapples and throws and slams and holds, she was nearly eaten alive. She had never been manhandled to that effect, and afterward she vowed to never let it happen again.

If the match continued going the way it was, Stone was certainly going to spoil more than pro wrestling debut.

Before she could reflect any further on the past, however, she was quickly brought back down to earth as Stone pinned her.

ONE!

Ah, skit, if she wasn't careful, this match would be over before she knew it!

TW-

Before the referee could finish her two count, the swede was able to throw her shoulder up into the air to break the count.

Working purely on instinct, she followed up her pin break with the first thing that came to mind. She brought her arm down, then reached out and ruffled up Stone's hair, running her fingers through it.

"Cute hair." she said, a smirk crossing her face. She was being completely genuine with her compliment, though its rather odd timing certainly could have unintentionally lead to it being taken as sarcasm or mind games.

If Stone was being completely honest, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d wanted someone to brea out of her pin.

It was a strange sort of dichotomy, she figured. She gave all the outward signs of wanting to beat Brünhilde. She hadn’t held back with her slam, didn’t soften the impact, laid her out with the sort of force that would’ve had less hefty wrestlers seeing stars. No holding back, no soft selling for the rookie.

And yet, as she strained her body to keep the redhead down, she found herself rooting along with the crowd, hoping the brave heroine would escape her clutches.

Which she did. Barely. But she did. And with an interesting little comment to go along with it.

Try as she might to stay true to her namesake, she couldnt keep a smile from breaking out when her hair was mentioned. She was used to getting teased for it, didn’t let that sort of thing bother her anymore. Her ‘anime hair’, like Makoto called it. A ‘super saiyen’, whatever that meant. Words were just words.

But the ways Brünhilde said, the tone, the look on her face...she was serious, wasn’t she? As serious as you could be with a hair complement in the middle of a match. ”Hm.” She chuckled and ran a hand through Brünhilde’s burning hair, as well. “A pretty face and good taste.”

One compliment deserved another. Now, back to business.

Reaching over, she turned that gentle caress into a harder hold, gripping Brünhilde’s pretty face, lifting it up and pulling the rest of her body along with it. As soon as her foe was on two feet, Stone drew back, then lashed out with a hard chop to the chest, trying to drive Brunhilde back to the corner in the process.

For someone so willing to dish out a mid-match compliment, Brunhilde wasn't quite expecting one back in return. Nor was she expecting it to hit her as hard as it did. But yet, here she was, all starstruck and on cloud nine over this throwaway compliment from a woman she had just barely met, in which they had spent the last several minutes trying to beat each other up. She couldn't help but smile as the older woman ran a hand through her hair, though she would have been much better suited to try and get back up to her feet.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your perspective), Stone was there to assist her with that. Brunhilde was quickly brought back down to earth as her opponent gripped her by the face and pulled her back up to her feet. Before she knew it, she found herself on the receiving end of a sharp, stinging chop directly to her chest. She bit her lip and flinched, but if Stone was expecting to send her back into the corner, she would be sorely disappointed. Brunhilde was quite sturdy, and she managed to keep her footing.

The redhead chuckled a bit and looked back up at Stone, a competitive smirk crossing her face. She lingered there for a moment, before aiming her own chop directly back at Stone's chest!

Makoto and Devine were always giving Stone crap for taking her wrestling training seriously, especially when it came to the more unorthodox aspects of the sports. The snapmares, the arm wringers, the technical aspects that were becoming more and more a mark of a bygone era - they tended to avoid that, going for a rougher, brawling style.

But Stone respected the classics. Want to make sure her arsenal was full. As such, she’d worked hard to perfect her chopping game, and she was pleased to see the fruits of her labor on Brünhilde.

The chop hit with a resounding crash, right on the chest, and the impact would’ve been enough to send most women into the corner, and even a few of the lighter ones over the ropes...but not this one. This one stood her ground. This one returned fire.

Brünhilde’s blow hit Stone right on the chest and sent her back with a staggering step, not just hurting, but shocked by the blow. When the shock wore off, though, a smile replaced it. A devious one. ”So that’s the game?”

Stone stepped forward again and lashed out, this time hitting Brünhilde with an open-palm style chest, right on the left breast. Guaranteed to leave a mark, and she may have wanted to sneak a quick feel. Maybe.

Crack!!

At this point, Brünhilde's mind was absolutely racing. The swift, satisfying sound of her chop connecting flush with Stone's chest, and the subsequent adrenaline rush she got when she smiled back at her -- there was no denying it was game time. "Do your worst."

And of course, Stone fired right back at her. Not that she expected otherwise. She wasn't quite expecting what would come next, though. The Valkyrie lashed out and struck her directly on her breast. In that moment, she fully realized the importance of proper chest support, and while she thought she looked fairly cute in her ring attire, it wasn't the best for more...tactical reasons.

Regardless, Brünhilde didn't quite mind the direction in which this match was going. In fact, she rather enjoyed it. After recovering from the initial flinch, she grinned back at Stone, zeroing in on her chest. She seemed to have more protection there, for lack of a better term. No skin off her back, that just meant she would need to hit harder.

With a fiery smirk, Brunhilde brought her hand up to her face, licking her palm all the way up to the top of her fingers. If Stone didn't continue her assault in the meantime, she would step forward and aim her own open-handed chop directly into Stone's breasts!

‘Do your worst’, huh? Well, Brünhilde asked, Brünhilde received.

Stone’s ‘worst’ came in the form of a lightning chop taken straight out of Dasher Inoba’s book - the man was a disgusting misogynist pig, but he knew how to swing his arms. She’d learned a lot from watching his technique, studying the way he planted his feet, the way he moved his torso, the way he threw his weight into the blow. That experience came out all at once - a swift, surefire strike aimed at her opponent’s chest.

It was tough crack, hitting like a whip, making a sound that echoed through the stadium. The blow had enough fire in it to bring tears to a grown man’s eyes, but Brünhilde toughed it out like a true warrior. There was a smile on her face to match Stone’s, and they both knew what was coming next.

Stone could’ve struck back, could’ve cut her off, could’ve stopped the counterattack from coming in a dozen different ways. She didn’t opt for any of them. Instead, she opened her chest up and welcomed the pain, as Brünhilde gave every bit as good as she got.

The return strike tore into Stone’s chest and took her back a step, making her hiss at the pain - and laugh. It was a short, harsh burst of a laugh, and it was the only sound she made before returned the favor and threw an identical blow into Brünhilde’s chest. And she’d throw another, too, right after her foe did the same. Again and again and again, until one of them couldn’t stand anymore to throw them.