Debut Match: Isa Armstrong vs Devine

If Isa hadn't been keen on the oil when she first set foot in it, this was merely redoubling her dislike of battling in the slippery substance.

And apart from the way it felt, it was going to make this whole match a lot more complicated than she would have preferred.

Like letting Devine make a far easier escape from her bodyscissors than would otherwise have been the case, though Isa could take some satisfaction from the sharpish way the other woman had shot across the mats as though the hounds of hell were right behind her.

Probably her opponent could have made the ropes anyway, they weren't as far away as they might have been. And even Isa knew she'd given up her advantage in position to better apply the hold. So yeah. Devine would probably have got out anyway.

Didn't mean that the oil hadn't made it easier or that Isa liked the slippery, slide-y feeling of it any better.

To nobody's surprise, Isa had held onto the scissors all the way over to the ropes, doing her best to drag along and make Devine's job harder any way she could. But all too soon they were there, and the ref was telling her to break the hold.

Isa... held it for a two count at the very most, giving Devine a nice slow back and forth grind of her thighs over her ribs before letting go and sliding up to a kneeling crouch over the other woman. The roar of the crowd did plenty to let her know she’d made the right choice there, just long enough to show off a bit without looking like a total b-word by milking the count.

In some ways, Isa would have been happy to let go immediately but the five count was there for a reason and the Irishwoman did need to start her game going.

"How's those ribs feeing, baby?" She asked Devine, nudging said bones gently but firmly with a knee, "Nice and tender? 'Cause just think - that's how the rest of you'll be wishing it felt when we're done..."

Blowing Devine an air kiss, she rose to both knees and backed off a few steps, beckoning for her opponent to get back in the fight.

That had gone pretty well for her, but it had done just as much to warn Devine as to weaken her. She probably wouldn't be throwing herself in headlong again, unless she was embarrassed as being shown up by a rookie, but Isa wasn’t banking on that for sure.

Still, same game plan. Let Devine make the first move, spend her energy.

Devine was pretty sure she hated this woman.

It was a little early to say for sure, given that they’d just met and developing real animus usually took some time, but if it wasn’t true hate, it was getting there in record time. It was just the way that she’d been put into a dire situation in record time and made to look like a bit of an idiot at the outset. It wasn’t the fact that she’d just had her innards compressed and she felt like her ribs were on the verge of giving way under Isa’s steamroller thighs.

Neither of those things helped, but they were the smallest of potatoes. No, what really riled her was the way Isa was so confident and carefree about the whole affair, not taking the match seriously. Not taking her seriously. Something she’d come to regret, Devine promised herself.

That was the thought that drove her hard as she made it to the rope and clenched it tight, shaking it wildly for all of the two seconds that Isa milked the hold. She took a long, much-needed gasp when those thighs unclenched, though it was somewhat hampered by Isa sitting on her, and that little nudge in the ribs brought back all the unpleasant feeling. She’d got her. She’d got her good.

To no one’s surprise, Devine wasn’t in a hurry to rise up after that little meat grinding. She used the hold on the ropes for an aid as she made her way up, grabbing one after the other, until she was standing on wobbly feet. She took a few seconds to steady herself and refill her lung, and then, only then, did she move away from the ropes and redirect her focus back to her opponent.

Okay. Try again.

This time she moved in with slower, cautious steps, lowering into a grappling stance as she approached. Isa seemed to want her to make the first move, which she was fine with. She just had to be careful, way more than last time.

It wasn’t the sort of thing you’d expect in an oil wrestling match, but Devine moved in and swung her leg for a low, sweeping kick, aimed at the side of Isa’s knee, looking to get in some quick, safe damage. It wouldn’t be her bread and butter for this match, but it would do for a start.

Well, that had been a good start. A really good start, though it was going to make getting Devine in any scissors later on harder, she’d guess. Still, listening to the fans’ approval, Isa decided she could get used to this. She could definitely get used to this.

Watching Devine stand, the Romani girl quirked an eyebrow but rapidly decided she had better follow suit. Being on her knees while her opponent was on her feet would give her marginally better stability (she thought, this oil was annoying her) but it’d leave her moving like a one-legged turtle by comparison.

So up she got, taking the moments while Devine recuperated to play to the crowd a little, tossing her hair and striking a pose without taking her eyes off the other woman. Showing off, showing her confidence, that sort of thing.

Then, when Devine pushed off the ropes, Isa dipped back into a grappling stance of her own, hands low and open as she waited once again to see what her opponent had in mind. Probably not another charge given how the last one went, she thought with a slight grin, but that would be fine too.

Hey, they had three rounds to play with – she could afford a quick submission win without the fans feeling they’d been cheated.

As she’d expected though, Devine didn’t rush right back in though she didn’t hold back either. She closed, closed, Isa got ready for a grappling attempt…

Only to eat a kick to the side of her leg, dropping her back down to a knee with a wince as the shock shivered unpleasantly up and down her limb. One kick like that probably wouldn’t be the end of the world but she didn’t want to take too many or her legs would really start to feel the damage.

Grimacing, Isa tried to make lemons out of lemonade by lunging forward, trying for a crude but hopefully effective tackle or takedown on Devine while her opponent was still close enough.
The oil wouldn’t help but she’d add hopefully not falling flat on her face to the list of ‘things Isa was hoping for’.

So, that had been a bad start. A really bad start. But Devine was doing her best to not let it get to her overly much, focusing on the way forward instead of looking back. Isa had good, strong legs, sure, but maybe that was all she had. Could she grapple? Did she have any real counters, any real technique, was she strong above the waist? All interesting questions. The trick was going to be answering them while avoiding those thighs.

Being on her feet was a good start in that direction. While it wasn’t the ideal way to approach an oil match, it was better than she trying to take Isa on her knees, where getting those legs around her would be so much easier. On their feet, things were more even, came down to maneuvering and agility and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of trickery.

The kick worked. Worked damn well. Devine wasn’t a trained martial artist, had never darkened the doorstep of any dojang, but she’d picked up enough from her life and hanging out with Makoto to realize the potential damage her favorite assets could do. The results were clear - it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough, to take Isa’s legs out of action, but it was a good start. A modest step on the path.

Truth told, she would’ve preferred kicking Isa in the face, to get that smug look off for good, but she decided it was best to play it safe. For now.

Seeing Isa drop down to a knee was satisfying and a golden opportunity, one that she wanted to take advantage of as fast as possible. She rushed forward, took a long stride, and wound up smacking right into Isa, their bodies colliding with a wet slap of skin.

Devine came down with Isa on top, but that didn’t mean she’d gained the advantage in the exchange. Quick and swift, Devine reached her arm around Isa’s head, attempting to snag it with a headlock and keep it tight against her. At the same time, she wrapped her own two legs around one of Isa’s, keeping it in place, straightening it, trying to make it impossible for her to clamp down on anything.

Far from a debilitating hold or anything that would get a submission, but a good start? Yes.

If Isa had a massive, gaping weakness in her skill set, it was safe to say that it was strikes. She just wasn’t a striker by nature and, while her defence against them had improved drastically (read: she had some knowledge of how to defend), it was still frankly pitiful by comparison to most anyone.

And she just hadn’t expected a kick. So that was why it had been so effective. Not to mention the oil meant keeping her footing was a lot harder than it might otherwise have been, a fact she hoped to bring into effect against Devine now.

It was anyone’s guess whether Isa’s impulsive charge of a shoulder block would have worked anyway, Devine promptly made it work by lunging forward with a long stride that put her squarely in the path of the Romani girl’s charge.

It could have resulted in some serious carnage but, whether because her centre of gravity was lower at the moment or her momentum greater, Isa ended up carrying the day and the two toppled to the mat.

With, importantly, Isa on top.

A more seasoned grappler might have moved immediately and, perhaps, decisively but Isa hesitated for a heartbeat as she tried to decide what to do. It proved decisive in its own right as, before the brunette could shift herself, Devine made that task considerably harder by trapping one leg and going to trap Isa’s head.

Suddenly the pole dancer could hear alarm bells ringing in her head. But she refused to panic. This wasn’t great but she wasn’t in immediate danger either and she still had the top position.

Doing her best to fight off the headlock, Isa took a deep breath. She focused. And then she went to work.

She was still on top of Devine, their bodies almost plastered together in a decidedly distracting way, and she didn’t want to give that up.

First thing then was either to free her leg or get Devine to let it go. To that end, Isa snaked her other leg down, looking to catch one of Devine’s thighs between both of hers and lock her ankles. Partly to trap her opponent’s leg, put her in the same position.

Partly because Isa was quite happy to pit her leg power against Devine’s in a thigh scissors contest. If she could entwine her legs around her opponent’s, the other woman would find her leg under rapidly increasing pressure as Isa’s quads flexed and bulged against the Valkyrie’s, doing their best to crush it between them.

At the same time, she grabbed at Devine’s arm with both her hands, doing her best to twist her own head and pull Devine’s limb enough to slip free of the headlock.

If she could do one or both of those, maybe she could turn things around enough to start working for a hold of her own. Until then, she’d need to play defence.

Which was fine, how she preferred to work, but the slipperiness of the oil still worried her and Devine was certainly no pushover.

She needed to be careful.

Devine had to bite her lip to keep from having a triumphant laugh. It was way, way too premature for that, she knew - whatever her feelings about Isa, there was no way to think this would be an easy match with the way that opening had gone. But after the wringer she’d been squeezed through to kick things off, having some position of control over her was a refreshing change.

It was all part of a bet that Devine was making. Isa had good leg power, no getting around that, but she was willing to bet that when it came to fighting experience, she had an edge here that she wouldn’t have enjoyed with other wrestlers. While she tried to avoid fighting in favor of more alluring methods when it came to getting things done, she was a Valkyrie. She could play rough.

At the moment, that was working out for her. Sure, Isa had great legs, but they’d be useless if she couldn’t wrap them around anything. So, all Devine had to do was lock her down, keep them from crossing and work over the rest of her body. Take her down, piece by piece.

Good idea. In theory. In practice…

It was going well, at first, right up until the point where Devine felt Isa’s legs maneuvering around her own and clamping down. Uncomfortable. Uncomfortable became painful, painful became agonizing, and agonizing had her hissing as a numbing pain began to work its way through her body, tearing at her tendons, pulping her muscles. A scissorhold, but not one that she’d ever seen before. One that went for the legs, brutally effective.

That was bad. That was really bad. Even worse, though, was the way Isa’s head was slipping out of her hold, threatening to get her free and make this situation spiral out of control. With the oil coating them and her determination, there was only so long she could keep it clamped…

So, a change in tactics was in order. Strikes had served her well before, they could serve her well now.

Before Isa had a chance to get her head free, Devine gave up on the headlock entirely, trying to take her by surprise. Instead, she used that arm for a more direct approach, as she raised it up and drove it down, trying to give Isa a couple of quick elbows in the face.

Isa had actually reasoned out the leg thing in BJJ class.

That was where she’d been taught to tangle an opponent’s legs with her own to keep them in place and to keep them from moving either to a mount position or to full guard. The leap from there to locking down and from there to crushing that trapped leg had been instinctive and useful for her.

First time she’d done it, in fact, had been to an older, higher ranked student who’d been in the process of telling her just how screwed she was.

At least, up until Isa’d caught his leg between hers and ground his leg to pulp. Looking down and seeing her bigger quads engulfing his, feeling his muscles yield to hers was one of the sexiest things she’d seen particularly when it became clear that he neither had a counter nor knew what was going on.

Devine’s reaction was a little less dramatic but still satisfying. And, aided by the oil, Isa could feel her head starting to come loose and then she’d have all sorts of option.

She hadn’t quite worked out where she’d go next when things swung first rapidly in her favour and then back the other way just as fast.

Her head was suddenly loose, the pressure ebbing and disappearing as Devine gave up on the headlock. Unsure whether she’d freed herself or Devine had given up, Isa’s immediate assumption was that the other woman wanted to try prying her leg free from her bear trap thighs.

Which… good luck with that. Seriously.

But then the pendulum hurtled back the other way as Devine proved she hadn’t even remotely started to panic by smacking that forearm squarely into Isa’s face.

Ouch.

No really, ouch. It was an opinion rapidly formed and even more quickly reasserted as Isa took another hit, rocking her back and loosening her scissors.

But the Romani girl was far from ready to let go on what might be a very profitable hold. Shaking her head to clear the daze away, Isa clamped back down before snuggling up close to Devine, doing her best to snake an arm of her own around her opponent’s neck.

She wanted to get close to make it harder to throw elbows, forearms or anything else her way. That was the first and foremost idea.

But also, she was hunting for an arm triangle, looking to take some of the fight out of Devine in advance of her long term plan to lock her legs back around Devine’s ribs again.

”Back. Off.”

Throwing hits like this wasn’t really Devine’s style, but it didn’t seem like taking hits like this was in Isa’s wheelhouse, either. She was rocked for amusing moment after the blows connected, and it had the desired result. Isa’s legs loosened, and Devine let out a long, contented sigh as the feeling returned to her legs, letting circulation continue.

So, mission successful. Plus, it was just nice to bash Isa in the face and make sure that cocky look of hers stayed away. Yes, she’d made a mistake in underestimating this woman, but she refused to be a pushover, herself.

Things seemed solid at this point, but maybe that was the keyword - ‘seemed’. Because, as Devine started to pull away in the hopes of getting free of the trap she found herself in, Isa decided to change things up once again. ”What-”

She moved up this time and put her other two limbs to use, reaching around and clamping down about Devine’s head, pulling her in for a tight embrace. With all the oil and their bodies sliding against each other and the heat they shared, it wasn’t an unwelcome feeling, she could give it that much - that was, right up until the point where Isa clamped down again resumed her pressing, picking up where she’d left off. Now Devine was in a worse spot, getting her leg squeezed in a way that made her strikes useless. She needed space to make these strikes effective, needed to peel Isa off somehow. She couldn’t think of any way to do it, though.

Legally.

Illegally, she had a few options, and she exercised one of them as she reached behind Isa’s head and gave her hair a good yanking, trying to force her hold and hoping the rest of her body followed suit.

Sooner rather than later, Isa knew she’d have to give up this hold or the fans would be showering her with boos. Deservedly so.

But she felt she could still work it a bit more and, having had Devine pull that trick and nearly get free, she felt she didn’t want to just let it go when it’d look like she was…

Well, giving up on it. It was something Isa knew she struggled with and kind of fretted over.

She knew she wasn’t tapping Devine out here but she also didn’t want to look like she was just… giving up.

Yeah.

At which point, Devine forced her hand somewhat.

Most of the time, Isa tended to play within the rules. She liked to toy a bit with the grey areas, enjoyed sometimes dancing the fine line more for the challenge than anything else (particularly with the rules she considered stupid or with referees she considered overcontrolling), but breaking them?

Not her style.

Nor was pulling hair which was one of the two reasons she let out a squawk of shock when Devine did just that, followed by both her grips instinctively loosening. Her grip around Devine’s head and neck? Loosened to the point of non-existence. Her grip on the other woman’s leg? Not quite as loose but getting that way.

Isa did a lot of things. Catfighting was not one of them.

The other reason, aside from her dignity? Her long raven mane of curly hair was one of her most prized possessions.

”Oh, you really didn’t want to do that,” Isa’s lush mouth twisted in a sneer, cross both at herself for thinking she could have a decent match with this woman and at Devine for dragging it all down.

Then she undid her scissors and, in one fast motion, went to yank her leg free, scoot up Devine’s body and roll the pair of them over to reapply her bodyscissors right on the other woman’s lower ribs.

If Devine wanted to play that game, Isa had a game of her own. It was called ‘How many ribs did she have to crack before Devine taps like the bitch she is?’.

Ugh. Hairpulling. Stone groaned, audibly groaned, when she saw Divine stooping to that level. It wasn’t a good sign, for a couple of reasons.

It showed that her compatriot still had a ways to go when it came to shaking off the stigma that the Valkyries had earned in the AFW. Stone was liking the idea of turning the group more and more - maybe not into heroes or anything that drastics, but she’d be content if they reached a place where everyone didn’t actively hate them.

Devine, it seemed, felt differently, and there were going to be some consequences for that.

Stone knew she was in trouble when she saw that look in Isa’s eye, the sneer, and while she couldn’t hear the exact words that the bestial beauty she said, it was safe to say they weren’t words of comfort. This match had gotten rough fast, sure, but now it was going to dip into something darker. More painful.

To Devine’s credit, she seemed to see what was coming, and tried her level best to squirm out of it, attempting to slide out as Isa pounced. It didn’t work, not even close, but Stone could recognize the effort. And tease her later.

For now, though, she’d just sit back and enjoy the show, as…

”Aaaaaauuugh!”

Yes. That.

Stone and the rest of the front row crowd raised their hands as Devine’s thrashing sent out a small rain of oil, pelting everyone nearby. It wasn’t an easy sight to watch, like seeing one of those nature documentaries, where the unsuspecting gazelle wanders a little too close to a river, attracts the attention of a nearby alligator, and it all goes downhill from there.

Stone brought out her camera and started to recording. Both to get a good view of Devine for future teasing purposes, and catch a good look at Isa’s thighs.