Reiko Ishida vs Lilliana Reynolds: The Hard Road

Reiko continued to throw her weight down on the bat, over and over. Thrusting her arms out, using every ounce of her strength to lower the weapon to the point she could possibly choke Lilliana out. So it was no surprise she took every inch the other woman gave her on one side, believing her opponent was losing ground. Brimming with confidence, seemingly assured her victory at hand. She seemed pleased with herself, unphased by the boos raining down on her, flowing off her back as if they were nothing. Meaningless chatter from stupid people she didn't care about.

When the change happened, it was sudden and unexpected. Reiko let out a surprised cry, something uncharacteristically girlie for how she tried to present herself. The two tumbled in a reversal of rolls, finding her weapon thrown from her grasp and her arm gripped tightly. Her gut instinct was a good one, loop her arms and lock her fingers, using her free hand to anchor her arm from being pulled back into the armbar.  On her back she flailed and kicked, trying to shuffle the two of them around or wiggle free, but she couldn't manage it.

"Y-you!" She could feel her grip slipping every buck of her hips, forced to refocus her efforts on a losing battle. Her white knuckled grip was failing, arms burning as muscles reached their limits. She had no positioning, no leverage... and one by one her fingers were slipping. As the final one clung tight she let out a frustrated scream, one last push to hold on. With a hard hard whiplash it came crashing down as Lilliana was able to throw herself back to the mat and fully crank her arm into position, locking the limb down. The young upstart kicked and screamed, thrashing for any means of escape as her arm was wrenched harder and harder. The difference of their size, skill, and age was now very apparent. She was outclassed in nearly every regard.

"N-no! NO!" Another scream as the hold twerked her arm to the point of near breaking. Eyes clamped shut as she tried to manage the pain. Without thinking, she was slapping the mat repeatedly. She needed relief, something, anything to distract her from this!

The bell rang.

The referee, still on the ground had witnessed Reiko tapping from afar. Regardless of if the biker had meant to surrender, the official seemed to be quite done with humoring her or this match any longer. Lilliana had done it!

The deed was done. It costed Lilliana an incredible amount of effort and pain, but as her rival’s grip failed and the former soldier managed to lock an armbar submission she knew all that effort would pay off. It was more than over. There was absolutely no way someone like Reiko would be able to force her way out of the hold, nor endure the pain for enough time to formulate one of her plans involving lots of dirty tactics. Their difference in body frame, muscle and age was now more than apparent as Lilliana applied even more pressure to Reiko’s arm, twisting it almost to the breaking point. There was no retribution nor cruelty in this, that would have been against Lilliana’s principles. She just wanted the biker to learn a lesson in humility and to tap out quick because even she was in deep pain and wanted the match to be over.

Submitting people like that was Lilliana’s specialty. It used a style very similar to the subduing techniques she learnt back in the army, and as it was proven just now they were useful for both armed and unarmed opponents. She just needed to keep the hold tightly secured until Reiko accepted her unavoidable fate, and it happened before than she expected as the biker was still denying with words while tapping with her hand against the mat.

As soon as the bell rang signalling Lilliana’s win the crowd erupted in cheers for her. That was a spectacle for the memory, an epic tale of the righteous fighter overcoming every dirty trick her unruly rival threw at her and ascertaining her dominance in the end by submitting her, and the public wanted to celebrate with the winner. But Lilliana didn’t feel like celebrating, nor like a winner. She was beaten down, appalled and in severe pain. She had taken some hits that would take a long time to heal and she needed her eye checked soon by a medical official. And besides all that, she was feeling sad about her debut being like that, she fighting for her life as she did when she was a soldier. She didn’t join the AFW to feel threatened like that.

Lilliana immediately rolled away from Reiko. She didn’t want to give the biker a chance to keep going breaking the rules, and she didn’t trust the biker to accept defeat peacefully. The referee went to the former soldier and presented her as that night’s winner. After some respectful bows to the crowd, Lilliana made honor to her current humor by slowly retreating up the ramp and made her way to the showers, only wishing never hearing from Reiko again.

Once released, Reiko leaned her weight away, rolling for the ropes. Slipping beneath them she climbed off the apron, dropping to her knees as she clutched her arm with grit teeth, trying to manage the pain that still lingered. Hunched over and miserable, her failure was made all the more bitter by the people at ringside shouting insults down at her while she nursed her arm. Head hung low, she seethed in anger but also started to wallow in her own sadness. Those jeers finally breaking through her tough exterior now that she was at her lowest point, battering her down even further. It hurt almost as much as her arm.  It was easy to forget with how cruel she could be in the ring how young she was. Being hated by a thousand people celebrating nearly having your arm broken was demoralizing.

The young punk brought a forearm to her face, rubbing fiercely at her eyes, making sure any tears she might have shed in that moment wouldn't be visible when she finally lifted her head. Staggering to her feet she turned her gaze towards the ramp to the sober Lilliana making her exit without any more words. She sniffed softly, carefully bending her battered arm at the elbow with a hiss of pain.

She was torn in hopes her fellow Valkyries had been watching. She wouldn't want them to know her defeat, see her tapping like some weak scrub. But if they had been watching... "Heh." Reiko shambled forward, bending down to scoop up her bat from the ground where it had tumbled. The bat dragged behind her on the floor, silently at first until she reached the grated ramp. Her sisters in arms would make this right. Avenge her loss. While she hadn't won the battle, the Valkyries would surely win the war that was coming. That was enough to please her, shutting out the angered crowd berating her all the way up to the stage. The soldier would get what was coming to her, soon.