Athena Wonders vs. Stone - Heroine Worship

Stone was honestly relieved when Athena laughed her taunt off, clearly not taking it too seriously. Just banter. Nothing to get offended by. Speaking true, she’d be happy if she was anywhere near as fit as this woman was when she reached that age. Not to mention keeping such a winning figure after having a child, something that wasn’t too likely to happen to Stone ever.

”Heh, no.” Stone gave her a good squeeze, trying to reinforce the fold and make it more secure. ’You’ve got that-”

Stone didn’t think this would be enough to beat Athena, but she expected that, bare minimum, it would keep her pinned down well enough for her to take advantage and keep the tide in her favor. They seemed close in strength, but with youth on her side, she figured things would turn to her favor...a false assumption. Athena forced them to fall backwards, which wouldn’t have worried her so much, except for the pinning position that came right after. Underneath Athena, she found herself trapped and the referee was quick to respond.

”1…!”

Summoning her power, Stone twisted hard as the referee’s hand came down a second time, trying to fling Athena away and roll to the side. Her main concern was getting back to her feet and establishing solid ground, knowing she needed to reassess the situation.

Despite her predicament, Athena managed to make use of the situation to her favor as she brought Stone shoulders first onto the mat, going for a bridging pin, and the referee started counting for the pin. To her credit, Stone realized it right away, and broke the pin. She then flung Athena away from her, releasing her from the choke, and Athena took this opportunity to roll away from her opponent and get herself some room to recover.

After that, Athena would get herself back to her feet, keeping her eyes on Stone who seemed to have recovered right away. Now on her feet, the blonde mature woman carefully studied her younger opponent to ascertain what she would do next. This time, Athena decided to close in and try to grab onto Stone, planning to keep her in place so that she could land a forearm smash right at the side of her face in order to weaken her.

Stone clicked her teeth as she rolled away, a little annoyed at the escape, but trying hard not to let it get to her. Athena clearly had quite a bit of stamina left, but she was still in the lead with that department. If the match continued at this pace, she would win. She had more than enough energy for a longer, drawn out match, and that was precisely the sort that would wreck her opponent.

Standing up, she was quick to close in as Athena did the same, charging right into her grasp. Her opponent kicked things off, throwing a hard forearm that rocked her right in the face. Good impact. Bold move. Stone was obliged to give as good as she got.

Locking up with Athena, Stone returned fire with a knee to her opponent’s stomach, then pushed hard in a mad attempt to drive her against the ropes. The two of them might’ve been fairly close in terms of power, but if she could get her in that area, she was fairly certain she could take the advantage.

With her forearm impacted against the side of Stone's face, Athena planned to continue with her move, but her opponent retaliated with a knee into her belly, stopping Athena in her tracks. This allowed Stone to push her towards the ropes, pressing her against them. Regaining her breath, she looked at her younger opponent and decided that she might as well make use of her strength to push her away from her.

So, with Stone within her reach, Athena would draw her right arm back before throwing her palm forward, looking to hit her opponent with a Shotei palm strike right under her chin, hoping to stagger her. Then, she planned to continue with a shoulder block, hitting Stone right into her chest, hoping to knock her down with the strike.

It wasn’t the easiest thing, getting Athena on the ropes. The woman was hardy, resistant, made Stone work for every inch of it...but she was able to pull it off, making it all worth the effort. She was all prepared to take advantage of this position, too, as she drew back and readied herself to strike out, hoping to drop the older woman and seize control.

It was a good plan. Really. But it was complicated by the small fact that her opponent could still strike back.

That was precisely what happened, and it was even worse than what she’d planned to do herself. From a position of disadvantage, Athena lashed out and hit paydirt. A palm struck Stone square in the face, and another blow rattled her chest. It was more than enough to send her back and drop her flat on the floor, leaving her staring up at the lights.

Shocked and stunned, she took a moment to gain her senses, then rolled over on her chest and started to push up, trying to rise up as fast as she could. This was not a woman she wanted to be on the floor with, she could tell.

Hitting Stone with a Shotei palm strike, Athena then managed to knock her opponent down with a shoulder block, sending her back first onto the mat. She knew that her opponent would try to get up soon, and she was counting on it to happen. When Stone was about to rise, Athena would get herself next to her opponent before attempting to deliver a vicious kick right at her chest, wanting to knock her down again.

It was a tad inelegant for her to use such strike, but being a veteran, she had to make use of everything that she had learned if she ever wanted to emerge victorious in this match.

It was funny, but Stone couldn’t recall too much of Athena as a striker. Most of her memories of the woman involved her using her superior strength to slam her foes about the ring. She’d come into this match expecting a slamfest, and to be fair, it could still end up that way. At the moment, though, it had more of a street fight taste to it.

She had just been sitting up, trying to recover, when the woman gave her a hard kick in the chest and flattened her again, knocking the wind clean out of her. Just a punt. Not the most creative move, but it was effective at keeping her down.

Deciding it might be best to make a retreat, Stone tried to roll towards the ropes and use them to pull her way up, hoping to buy some extra time so she could recover.

It was true that Athena was more used to slamming and using power moves, but these days, she didn't have any reservation in using strikes as well. After hitting Stone with her strike, she would stand over her opponent, who then decided to roll away from her, seemingly trying to distance herself from her.

Knowing that giving her opponent an opportunity to recover would spell trouble for her, Athena would follow after her, breathing hard as she would try to close the distance between the two of them. Soon, when Stone had reached the ropes to pull herself up, Athena would also close in, looking to wait for her opponent to let go of the ropes to close in, hoping to grab onto the younger woman so that she could drag her back to the center of the ring.

Stone was on her way to get back to a vertical base for all the good it would do. Standing up to Athena wouldn’t be enough, she needed to figure out a way to claim an advantage against the veteran. But with her having strength like this and the experience to make the most out of it, that was no easy task.

As if to demonstrate, Athena grabbed her by the leg and drag her away from the ropes, something that less experienced wrestlers wouldn’t have thought to do - most would’ve just tried to hit her before she could get up, despite the ropes being so close for an easy out.

She was setting Stone up, probably for something big, and she had a small window to do something about it.

As they neared the center, Stone flopped over to her back, pulled her legs in, and shot them out hard with a sudden burst of strength, trying hard to push Athena away and knock her back to create some space.

Athena was indeed planning to set up for something big as she dragged Stone to the center of the ring, holding her by her leg. She was planning to display her power for everyone to see once they were in the middle of the ring, but before she could enact her plan, Stone pulled her legs in and threw them right into Athena's stomach. Quickly realizing this, Athena moved backwards, though she still got hit by those feet.

"Nghh!!"

While she managed to mitigate the damage, her plan was foiled, and she grunted in annoyance. Hoping that Stone was still on the mat, Athena would try to close in again, hoping to grab her and pull her up after bending down. She was planning to put the other woman onto her shoulders for a fireman's carry in preparation for her next move.