Nami Shinjo vs. Stone - Ton Of Heart

The crowd were starting to boo Stone - well, more than they had before. She was a big, bulky American hurling the cute, sweet Japanese girl around the ring, so she hadn’t been popular from the start. Stone was so used to hearing jeers at this point that she’d learned to just tune it out. Background noise.

But they were growing extra incensed now, as she hefted Nami up and proceeded to squeeze the life out of her. They cheered Nami on, tried to get her to rally and make some kind of comeback, but it wasn’t happening. Stone’s foe was fading fast, and while it wasn’t the most glamorous way to pick up a W, she’d happily take it. About the best outcome she could’ve hoped for.

”There we go.” She sighed, relieved, as she felt the energy leave Nami’s body. [colo=#0000ff]”Just let it-”[/color]

And for her mercy, Stone was rewarded with a skull to the face. Figured.

She cried out as the blow slammed into her nose, driving it hard into her head. She let go of Nami right away and stepped back to cradle her face, seething as the smell of blood filled her nostrils. She smelled blood. Busted or broken? One of the two, she didn’t want to guess which right now.

Nami was no stranger to headbutts. She had seen them used all the time... in online videos and movies. This was however one of her first applications of it herself, and it was unlikely she was to remember that small fact. There had been no real time to revel in her master plan for freedom working as she slammed the two of their heads together like a pair of coconuts, thoroughly underestimating just how debilitating the gambit would be for her.

When Stone's hand came loose, rather than gracefully dropping to the mat on her tippy-toes ready to seize this golden opportunity to strike back, sneakers hit the canvas and her legs gave out leaving her to collapse onto the floor. The young fighter managed to catch themselves on her palms and knees, reaching back to grip the back of her head just to be certain she hadn't unknowingly exploded her skull. That hadn't been the wisest move, to be sure, but the crowd seemed to love it. She could hear them cheering even if they currently looked like a gooey goob of colors in her fuzzy vision.

Nami dragged herself along the mat, shambling on all fours for the ropes. She knew, if nothing else, not much could happen to you if you grabbed them. If someone was beating on you, trying to break part of your body, or even laying on top of you to win, the ropes put the kibosh on all of that nonsense. She could use that bit of safety right now while recovering.

Stone shook her head as she stumbled back, her vision a blurry mess and her head swimming. Nami wasn’t strong by any measure, but the human skull wasn’t too far off from being as hard as a rock - and, tough as Stone was, she wasn’t built to be taking rocks in the face. She was stunned, wide open, and she fully expected to have an attack coming her way while she reeled.

Not the case. Turns out that Nami was taking the headbutt bad, too. Maybe even worse than she was. Kind of figured, really.

When her vision cleared, Stone could see that Nami had made it to the ropes, showing some decent ring awareness, probably thinking she would be safe from attack. Good instinct, she would give the woman credit. But just a little bit misplaced.

Stone demonstrated why in the next moment, as she lurched forward, brought her hands up, and sent her palms crashing down on Nami’s back with a Grizzly Magnum, chopping her hard for punishment.

Nami dragged herself up the ropes, taking a brief rest on the middle.one as she leaned awkwardly against it, bobbing lightly. It was a bit fun… how springy it was, even despite the side situation she had found herself in. Okay, so this big blond woman was a bit tougher than expected. That was fine. She knew wrestling would be… different. That wasn't to say she still couldn't win or anything. She just needed to find this woman's weak spot and exploit it…

"Aaaargh!" The clubbing slaps that blasted her across the back were a ride Awakening as she bounced down against the ropes hard enough for them to dig into her collar painfully. She let out a shuddered breath, flabbergasted by how much that had actually strung through her gi. It left her sputtering with a sudden cough, looking back over her shoulder with a sudden fear in her eyes.

She blinked in surprise, not only to really cry on purpose but taking the fact she was watering up as a personal offense. She reached up for the top rope, hoisting herself to her feet with a fiery determination even as her legs buckled under the pain and her brain still swam a bit in her skull from her headbutt.

"Oi-yah!" Nami spun around in a quick motion sending a spinning backfist up in the general direction of where she assumed Stone's head was. Her footing was fumbling, finding her tripping backwards to lean against the ropes as soon as she threw the wild attack.

Stone didn’t like to think of herself as the vindictive type, trying to approach her matches with a degree of professionalism that her fellow Valkyries - and probably half the roster, at least, didn’t share. But she’d be lying if she said the double slaps were just a bit of punishment on the smaller woman, some harsh retaliation for having her skull rocked a moment ago. She was trying not to be in a bad mood, not wanting to get too serious with the smaller woman, but that hit just knocked the good humor out of her for a moment.

Her vision was just starting to clear as she moved in, looking to pull Nami off the ropes and get things moving again. As soon as she neared, though, she was given a rude awakening, this time in the form of an elbow to the face. Nice and clean, too. Right on the nose.

It wasn’t just the impact of the blow, but the sheer surprise of it, and coming so soon after the headbutt. It was enough to rock her equilibrium and do some real damage, making her stumble with watering eyes.

Staggered and stunned, she took a moment to gather her bearings before she moved again, not knowing whether Nami would be able to capitalize on her opening or not.

"Heh heh… got you." Nami was left dangling up against the ropes with one arm hooked over the top one. She brought her free hand up to her face in a fist, wiping sweat from her brow and a bit of blood from her lip with a forearm. She still managed to somehow look confident, defiant in the face of the odds as she stared up at Stone.

With a groan the brunette struggled to collect herself, arching her back to stand up off the ropes and steady herself on wobbling legs. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet again, testing her balance and feeling that internal rhythm of hers again. Clearly in no rush to jump headlong at Stone, widened up by the punishment she had been taking this far.

Her fists came up defensively as the smaller girl inched closer, trying her best to be mindful of the distance between them. She was trying to gauge Stone's reach, but it was hard… she never fought someone this big before. She would have to test it a bit… swallowing hard Nami prepared herself mentally, stepping in closer to shoot a kick out at Stone's knee from as far away as she could muster.

Stone was hardly in any real danger of being knocked out, but she couldn’t deny that Nami had managed to throw her for a loop with that elbow. It was a bone to the face, so it wasn’t like she had to put much force behind it to make it worthwhile.

That being said, it was only to throw her off for a moment, and she was rapidly regaining her senses. Just a little more, and…

Nami seized the moment, lashing out with a sharp kick to her knee, making her yelp out as her joint was hit from the side. She hopped on one foot for a moment and glared back at her opponent, brows furrowing as hard as her namesake. She was range-finding if Stone had to give a guess, looking to learn how far her reach was. Fair enough. Stone could help her with that, even.

She stepped in and swung her leg out with an identical kick to the one Nami had just tried, targeting the side of her knee as well, looking to take her foe clean off her feet in one strong sweep.

Delivering a stiff kick to Stone's leg that hit her hard enough to warrant a reaction did a world of good for the young girl's self esteem. It was hard to see the cracks in the large woman, which made her seem almost insurmountable. These small peeks into just how human she was gave the brunette hope. If she could just keep up the pressure, sooner or later she could bring the juggernaut down like some mighty oak. Just thinking of how impressed Satsuko would be already had her grinning ear to ear as the blond woman soaked the blow in little more than annoyance.

Nami was ready to go, scouting the lumbering kick from her opponent coming from a mile away. She brought her knee up defensively, thrusting an arm down to assist in the block, looking to intercept the blow and negate the force… well, she intended to anyway.

The clubbing kick caught her hard, buckling both her leg and arm as if they hadn't been specifically placed their to stop this from happening. There was no stopping Stone's leg as it came through her like a wrecking ball, blasting her legs out from under her to send her crashing to the mat with a cry of pain.

It was like watching someone take an axe to a twig.

Stone swung her leg - a leg that probably weighed at least half of Nami’s body weight all by itself - and cut at Nami’s legs, tripping her up and sending her to the floor in a heap. She tried to block it, to her credit, but she might as well have not bothered. It was a move that left her wide open, made her available for endless opportunities, and presented Stone with another unique challenge. Namely, figuring out how to hurt Nami without hurting her too much.

It was something she needed to seriously consider, and she needed to keep Nami occupied while she considered it. There was a pretty simple way to do that, too. She brought her boot up and slammed it down into the smaller woman’s stomach with a stern stomp. It would probably hurt enough to drive the air out of her, but more importantly, Stone leaned into it and pressed down with some of her body weight, keeping her foe pinned to the floor. It probably wouldn’t be enough to score a three count unless Nami was just really bad at keeping her shoulder off the mat, but that was okay. This was all about fact finding, for the moment.

Rubbing her chin, she looked down at her foe, gazing her up and down. ”’Nami’, right?” She eased up on the boot, just a tad, as she folded her arm. ”Did you really think blocking that kick was a good idea, Nami?”

Her form had been good… at least she had thought so. Her mind boggled over how she could have been swept like this, so easily but an immediate attempt to rise up that had her doubling over onto the mat again reminded her of just how defeating Stone's kick had been. Nami was starting to wonder is training alone wasn't the best of ideas, at least when it came to practicing defensive techniques.

The brunette turned her head to stare up at the looking figure of Stone above her, cast in a ball of light from the rafters. She squinted, face scrunching up with a look of steadfast determination… then a foot came down on her abdomen to squeeze the air from her like someone getting every drop of juice from an orange. It left her wide eyes and gasping, fingers pawing at the large boot anchoring her to the mat.

"Y-yeah!" The brunette wheezed, barely able to muster a response. Hearing Stone remember her name though felt… oddly nice, empowering even. She was memorable. That was worth something. Her eyes visibly brightened as she was addressed, though it did little to help the pain. When the pressure was eased up, the brunette found herself taking greedy gasps of air before answering.

"It seemed like a better idea at the time…" She admitted with clear regret in her tone. Someone and slender and spry as Nami wasn't exactly built for taking physical punishment head on. She had the physique and speed to suggest evasive fighting would have suited her better… but blocking the attack would have been so much cooler.

"Redo?" Groaning softly she tried to pry Stone's boot off her body, squirming and kicking her feet.