Cold As Ice! Carolina Reina Youngren vs. Zero Kotobuki

[ReticentCone]

Carolina's head was in significant pain having taken the hard point of Zero's knee to the side of her head. Knee strikes to the head were always a terrible experience, it was why they were among her favorite types of strikes, the mass of her thighs combined with their strength lead to satisifying results. However she prefered doing them with her hands grasped around their heads so that the force of the blow more reliable stayed in their skulls. The fact that this wasn't the case for Zero's strikemeant that it wasn't as bad as it otherwise could be, but that was little comfort.

As she stagered backward, Zero took the oppertunity drop kick her in the knee. In that moment, Carolina was in no position to dodge, the most she could do was drop to left knee in the hope it'd take some of the pressure of the colllision.

"Ahhhhhuuugh!" she exclaimed in pain as she fell to the mat and rolled over, instinctively clasping her right knee as she did. A smaller woman's knee might have snapped right there and then. She cursed herself for being the victim of this sort of attack instead of doing it to Zero first.

[BlackAkuma]

The dropkick connected and did the exact job Zero wanted it to do - bringing her large opponent down to a more manageable level. Aside from just weakening the woman, it was an opening for future attacks, something that she could hone in on and focus. Maria couldn't help but wince at ringside, knowing that pain and realizing that it was only going to get exponentially down.

With their opponent leveled and the advantage on their side, most wrestlers would’ve taken the time to showboat. Perhaps play up the crowd, strike a pose, or taunt their foe to further the mindgames.

Zero? She just went in for the kill.

With Carolina keeled over, she moved in and took position above her head, where she reached out over her back and grabbed holds of the woman’s chest with both arms. She kept her close and tight, then brought her legs rocketing forward, attempting to hit the woman with a knee to the head, and another after that in quick succession, attempting to knock the daylights clean out of with the oppressive strikes.

[ReticentCone]

Despite having just taken a knee to the head and a dropkick to the knee, Carolina was aware enough of Zero's likely intentions when she saw her move around and behind her. The moment she grabbed her chest, Carolina knew to immediately expect a to knee driven into her.

Attempting to time it properly, Carolina would grab one of Zero's arms while spinning to one side, to flip the green haired woman over her head while dodging the knee strike, using both Zero's momentum and Carolina's own advantage in strength to do so. If she succesfully filpped Zero over onto her back, Carolina would turn back around to commit to a pouncing elbow drop targeted at Zero's upper body. Isljoninna would aim for the SIlent Killer's throat, but she was more concerned with landing the attack than any precesion.

[BlackAkuma]

As confident as Maria was in her Zero’s abilities - and she was, truly, confident - even she recognized the limitations that the little wrestler had. Most of all, her crippling overspecialization. While she would’ve put the woman up against some of the best strikers in their entire sport, he skills in other fields were somewhat…lacking to put it at best. She given an honest, genuine attempt at expanding Zero’s moveset, opening her up to new abilities, but she’d been doing the same thing for so long that the habits were hard to break. It was like reprogramming a machine she still only had the basic understanding of.

So, situations like this were, perhaps, unavoidable - moments where an opponent could see what was coming and act accordingly.

Carolina proved to have a canny eye, as she flipped them over just as Zero was honing in for the kill. The larger woman took the initiative and came on her with an elbow drop - simple, basic, effective, with it coming down right on her clavicle.

”Ghk!” Zero clenched her teeth, but that could only muffle so much of the scream, and the way she rolled over and clutched her chest told the whole story. That one hurt her.

[ReticentCone]

Carolina didn't manage to drop her elbow into Zero's throat, but landing it on her clavicle was more or less just as useful. A restricted scream came out from between Zero's clenched teeth, which meant she was certainly hurting, leading the Lioness of the north smiling. Though as distracting as the pain might have been, her mind was unlikely to be clouded much by it, So Carolina had to move with pace. After landing the elbow, she scrambled to her feet. Standing by, but looking away from Zero, she quickly spun around back toward Zero while lifting one foot in the air, a move she was highly familar with from her days as a figure skater, grabbing it by her ankle once her foot reached the top. She'd hold it for just long enough to look in Maria's direction, before attempting to suddenly bring her heel hard on Zero's head, performing her signature

I-Spin Kick

If the kick landed and dazed Zero, the next thing Isljoninna would do, is drag the Wrestle Angle to the very edge of the ring, while sliding out of the ring herself.

[BlackAkuma]

Pain.

Despite what so many thought, Zero wasn’t immune to it. In their time together, Maria had seen this woman go through all types of distress, and while she was tougher than anyone would expect from her size, she knew that the feared fighter wasn’t impervious to damage. She was, after all, a human. An exceptional, unnerving, implacable human, but a human all the same, and that came with all the usual weaknesses.

What made Zero stand out, however, was her ability to push past those limits. To survive. Few knew this better than Maria, so when Carolina turned her way and smiled, all she received in return was another smile. Maria wasn’t worried.

Not yet.

Not even as Carolina brought her foot crashing into Zero’s head with an, admittedly, well-executed kick, one that left her splayed out and motionless. Not even as she was dragged across the ring towards the edge, setting up for whatever her foe had coming her way next. No, she simply stood there with arms crossed, looking towards the young wrestler with a knowing smile behind her thin glasses.

[ReticentCone]

With Carolina outside of the ring and Zero laying near the edge, The Ice Lioness pulled her foe partially off the ring apron before ducking below Zero's left arm to leave it drapped around her neck, while wrapping her own left arm around Zero's neck. The hold would be tight enough to act as a choke on its own, but the powerful swede had worse than a submission hold in store for the smaller asian woman.

Carolina had performed this move before, it was a signature of hers, but she wanted this time particularly cruel. Zero's ruthless diving attack at her knee taught her that Zero didn't deserve any of her concern or mercy, not that she had all that much to give from the moment she stepped into ring with her. Assuming she wasn't interupted, Carolina would perform her

Hanging Ice Whip!

She'd spin with utterly vicious aggression, trying to put an immense amount of torque into Zero's neck on the way down, while making sure not to let go until they both hit the floor to add an additional shock. The move wouldn't be painless for Carolina, by any means, but it'd certainly hurt Zero a great deal more if she was successful.

[BlackAkuma]

Caroline didn’t seem like the sort to let an opportunity slip away from her, Maria would give her credit for that much. Instead of dallying and taking her time, she pressed her advantage against Zero. At first, she wasn’t sure what the ice queen was planning, as she moved off the apron and seized Zero’s head in the process, but the realizations struck her and she winced in anticipation. This was going to be particularly nasty.

Sure enough, it was - Caroline spun around and brought her crashing into the mat, head first, with a hellish impact that left the crowd gasping. Zero didn’t make a noise, but she didn’t much have to - you could see the pain wrought on her face, the tight grimace, as she gripped the back of her head and rolled from side to side.

Worry was starting to work its way onto Maria’s face despite her best efforts, as she circled the carnage and looked on. She didn’t like to interrupt her colleague in the middle of a match, but perhaps some encouragement was needed. ”Remember why we’re here, Zero.” She tapped her foot. ”Back up. Back at it.”

Zero was still suffering, but it seemed like the words already had some effect. She began to push her way back up, rising while she massaged the damaged spot, pushing past the pain once more. Good girl.

[ReticentCone]

Carolina had hoped for a scream terror on the way down, or a cry of pain after the fact, but unfortunatley for her, she'd get to hear neither. Nonetheless, even a glance at Zero's ace told her that her foe was in serious pain. The fall wasn't completely without effect on Carolina herself, so the northern lioness took her time getting back to her feet, though obviously Zero was in far worse shape from the fall, so Carolina would have no difficulty getting up first.

She found herself somewhat annoyed by Maria's encouragement of Zero. Remember why they were here? To fail at making an example of Carolina for calling out the has-been and for Zero to take the beating that Carolina would have handed Maria. That was why they were here as far as she was concerned. Next, the powerful blonde would attempt, in a few swift motions, to step next to Zero, pull her up for Carolina to tightly wrap her right arm around her neck, then fall backward for a ruthless DDT to the thinly padded concrete floor.

[BlackAkuma]

To the outside eye, Maria’s confidence in Zero might have been misplaced. While Zero’s reputation preceded her, there was a reason why she’d never won a major title in Wrestle Angels. Her penchant for mass destruction was well known and earned, but she had never been able to break through to the top against some of the more note-worthy names in their federation. Strong showings and broken bones, yes, but victories? Those were more elusive.

But Maria had worked with her, knew her strengths, knew what shew as capable of. That, more than anything, was why she wasn’t surprised by what happened next.

Carolina lifted Zero up and snagged her head in the clear beginning of a DDT, one that would’ve been devastating on the floor. Before she could execute the move, however, the Massacre Ordinance went into action - pulling her tight, holding her close, and hunkering down.

Zero wasn’t a powerhouse, but she had more strength than most would’ve guessed from her size. Enough to execute a suplex, at the least, and that was what she did - bridging up, hefting Carolina into the air, and hurling her overhead, attempting to slam her with a Northern Lights suplex.