Kyo Akamatsu vs. Valley Doll - The Road To Recovery

The fan support was appreciated, really. It was a good sign that, even on a new brand, she was doing a good job of getting people on her side, even with her taking on a longtime, big name like this. The Japanese crowds were always quick to warm up to a newer face, and they tended to side with the women. Natural.

That alone, however, wasn’t going to get her out of this jam, however. No, that would take some brute force and more than a little gumption. Thankfully, Valley had a far bit of the latter, enough to make up for what she lacked in the former. One hit, then another, then another. Kyo was a hardy man, but he was vulnerable like this, and she drilled into him. It was enough to work the way she wanted, giving her a second to work, but it would only be a second - no time for anything crazy.

Not even bothering to waste time turning around, Valley stepped back and grabbed Kyo’s head, then ducked down and pulled him over her shoulder with a snapmare to drop him down on her backside. Without missing a beat, she stepped away, reeled back, and let loose with one of her more well-known signature spots: two rapid soccer kicks to his spine.

”Double!” One. ”Tap!”

Kyo released his grip on Valley for a second. Only a second...and a second was all that a professional like the Slamazon needed. Even as Kyo reeled back, breathing hard, his head was grabbed, and the next thing he knew, he was being flipped head over heels onto his back in a snapmare. Simple, but effective, and while not especially painful, it did get him down to the mat.

He wasn't one to stay down, though, and he quickly sat up...and realized all too late that he had made himself a target for one of Valley's deadlier moves. He gasped as her boots slammed into his back, twice in succession, pain shooting through his spine and causing his entire body to jolt. He found himself slumping to the mat: it was all he could do to start rolling sideways, trying to get to the rope to pull himself up in time...

”Oh.” Valley lifted up her leg after the impacts and gave them a good shake, getting all those tingly nerves out. [color=#ff00ff]”Nice.”[color=undefined]

It wouldn’t be a Valley Doll match if she wasn’t kicking someone, would it? And she tagged Kyo pretty well, too, really driving both hits home. It was just a move to soften him up, though, and there’d need to be a lot more work done to drive things home. Had to keep that momentum going, before he changed the tide again.

Staying close, she followed after him, even reached down and grabbed his arm as he pulled his way up to speed the process along.

”Ready for a trip?”

She gave him a quick wink, then pulled back on his arm and twisted her body along with him, attempting to send Kyo off to the ropes with an Irish Whip. Only a moment after he went running, Valley would follow after in his shadow, setting herself up to hit him with a high kick to the face.

Ouch. That was all Kyo had to think right now. Valley's dreaded Spinal Tap lived up to its name, as it felt like she had just practiced some amateur chiropracty on his spine just now. His plan wasn't working: he had been too confident earlier when he had had the chance to work Valley's legs over, and now she was getting some deadly kicks in on him. He tried to push himself up, ignoring the stinging pain at the base of his spine. If he couldn't find some way to turn the tables on Valley, this match would be over quickly.

A second later, Valley was grabbing his arm and hauling him up. Wincing, he suddenly found himself being whipped across the ring, his legs moving of their own accord. The sound of rapid footfalls behind him, though, told him that Valley was running right after him as well, just like he had done earlier.

He only had a narrow window of time here. As he ran towards the ropes, he rebounded...and then immediately ducked, knowing that Valley probably had a strike aimed at him the moment he turned around. If he managed to duck in time, then he would run across the ring to the other side and rebound off the ropes again, hoping to come at Valley with a surprise spinning elbow to the face...

This was good momentum. Valley could feel it. That good, hot energy when the match was going your way and everything was falling into place. It was a rare thing with Kyo, she knew that, and she felt it was good enough that, with a little more work, she could start bringing this to an earlier close than she’d expected. Maybe a pinfall? Or, if she could her legs around that pretty little head of his…

Enticing options.

She moved in after him, hot on his heels, brought her leg up to tag him with a quick side kick and…

Huh. He ducked.

That one took her off guard. A little too much, if she were being honest. She wound up stumbling, an awkward step, and it took her a moment to right herself.

A crucial moment, as it turned out. Long enough for her to get clocked by Kyo on the return trip, knocking her clear off her feet and leaving her laid out.

Little by little, Kyo found himself getting used to Valley's movements. She was fast, blindingly so, and her attacks hit with a meteoric rapidity and intensity...but she had her tells, like any other wrestler. Although it had been a painful experience to be on the receiving end of Valley's blows, the upside is that he was now getting an intiuitive feel for how she fought, and more importantly, when she was going to try to nail him with one of her deadly kicks.

Like now, for instance.

He ducked, narrowly managing to avoid the whistle of the kick, and spun, shooting his around in a whirling movement that was hopefully too fast to follow. He was rewarded by the feeling of his elbow smacking into Valley's face, and hearing her crash down hard to the mat in a stunned heap.

He wasn't about to slow down to inspect his handiwork, though, nor was he going to give Valley time to recover: he carried on his momentum, rebounding off the ropes and springing back towards the down Valley. Assuming she was still lying stunned on the mat, he would do a running leap, trying to spin forwards and drive his knee down hard into her midsection, in a blow designed to leave her gasping, breathless, and, for several vital seconds, stunned.

And then, assuming that all went off without a hitch, he would roll her onto her front and grab one of her legs, preparing to execute his plan to win this match...

As time went on, Valley was starting to see one of the more subtle dangers to Kyo Akamatsu, something that wouldn’t occur to most on the surface - the man was smart. A learner. As the match went on, he was getting better, and she was starting to feel that the long game was in his favor.

The proof of that skill made itself all too clear right away, as he countered her speed and left her laying on the mat, stunned and gasping. A nasty hit, one that had her world spinning. But she could recover. She could get back up.

Valley was in the process of doing just that, too, when Kyo went airborne and turned her stomach into a landing pad for his knee. The Slamazon jackknifed at the impact, only to be flattened right after, pressed hard against the mat for the three count.

”1…!”

No stir. No movement.

”2…!”

The referee brought her hand up one, final time, and just as she started the descent, that was when Valley threw her arms up, saving herself with a scant fraction of a second to spare. She would’ve breathed a sigh of relief, if she was able to breathe at all.

The suddenness of Kyo's counter-assault had done exactly what Kyo had hoped, nailing Valley with a stunning blow and leaving her prone for a follow up. Even as he wrapped her up for a pin, he was admittedly surprised that the countdown was getting close to three.

Close, that was, but not quite there: Kyo was almost unsurprised when Valley twisted, getting a shoulder up. An opponent like the Valley Doll wasn't going to go down easily, after all, and that suited Kyo fine: he still had plenty of other tricks in his arsenal.

It was now time to carry out his plan of disabling Valley's killer kicks. Still holding onto Valley's leg, Kyo would try to roll Valley onto her front. If he managed that, then he would waste no time pressing a knee against the thigh of Valley's other leg in an effort to keep it down, before trying to elevate Valley's trapped leg up and arching it over his head and shoulder as he attempted to lock in one of his trademark holds, a killer stretch muffler!

"Hope you don't mind," he would breathe as he locked in the hold, "but those kicks of yours really hurt."

Valley was down. Valley was hurting. So what came next?

A couple of things, she figured. Kyo could go for a pin, but she doubted he was the type to try that right off the bat. Nothing wrong with frequent pins, but he seemed more like the direct approach type, keeping her moving from beat to beat and working away at her strengths before he went for the kill. Methodical. Thinking. Careful. He reminded her a lot of Natasha Han, actually, and if Natasha were wrestling her, what would she do?

Go after her legs.

Sure enough, that was exactly what Kyo did a moment later, snatching her up off the canvas before she could squirm away. Up and over her legs went, draped over his neck like a feather boa, and she knew what was coming.

Valley let out a long, hoarse growl as Kyo bent her leg in the stretch muscles, testing her tendons and bending her bones. She gave the mat two pounds, then stopped when she realized it might be seen as tapping. Had to focus. Had to move.

Desperate, she tried to swing away from Kyo and threw her arms out, trying to get towards the ropes. ”If I...if I said I did mind, would you let me go?”

If Kyo had known that he was being mentally compared to Natasha Han, he would have been flattered, as the Russian had been one of the Wrestle Angels he had admired the most. For her part, Valley was reminding Kyo of quite a few of his own noteworthy past opponents-- Daisuke Kamiya and her superb adaptability, Suzumi Ishikawa and her easygoing attitude, and Carmen Rodriguez and her deadly strikes (a part of him, at the thought, wondered what had happened to Carmen-- he still owed her a beer at some point). But given that he had lost or nearly lost against all three ladies, that simply meant that he couldn't go easy on her, either...which was why, right now, he was busy stretching Valley's leg almost to its breaking point.

The groan that Valley gave at that point told him that his hold was working. He held his breath, teeth clenched, sweat glistening on his forehead and bare abs as he held Valley's leg by the knee and ankle and arched it over his shoulder, to the point where her foot was almost pointing down towards her head like a scorpion's tail. The end result was that Valley's flexibility was put on full display, as her leg was arched back and her lower back was even lifted off the mat a little-- probably an impressive, and maybe even a little alluring, site to the fans, if it hadn't been so damned painful to Valley.

Feeling Valley pulling them towards the ropes, Kyo pressed a knee down into her back in response. Though he knew it wouldn't pin her in place, he knew it would still make her crawl more difficult, and make her exert more energy in trying to get there, enduring the stretch muffler all the while.. Kyo had some expertise in submissions, as Valley was now finding out the hard way.

"Nope," he breathed in response. "You're not getting out that easily. Not unless you tap, that is."