Roaring Into The Storm: Wyvern vs. Alizeh Midori 2

[Hills]

This was perfect, now that her sight and hearing had faded into the background. Wyvern lived for moments like this. Taken to her limits, in the ring with an opponent who she could go all out against and still have no guarantee of beating. Feeling keenly aware of every inch of her body, as no part of it has been left unscathed or unexerted, a thousand discomforts that combine into an odd sense of vitality. Exhausted, pained, injured, and most of all, alive. The dullness of day-to-day life banished for these scant few minutes, where she can be herself in a way that she can at no other time. She'll be feeling this match for days, and she wouldn't change that even if she could. Anything less would just be a waste of her time. Insufficient to meet her needs. Unable to satisfy her.

As it must, though, the blissful moment ends. Through her heightened sense of touch, she feels the vibrations of the ring as Alizeh begins forcing herself to stand. This respite was never going to last more than a few instants. Neither fighter would stay down as long as they were still conscious. It wasn't in their natures. Battered as she is, with some effort Wyvern rolls over onto her stomach and begins the arduous task of hauling herself to her feet. She briefly considers using the ropes to pull herself up, but Alizeh has no such aid, and Wyvern's pride convinces her that she must match the older wrestler. Her injured leg makes this more difficult once she can no longer use her hands, but ultimately she only needs one leg to stand. She has the necessary strength, still. Now and always.

She's still rising when Alizeh regains her feet. She forces herself to let it go. This degree of petty competitiveness wasn't like her, but Alizeh always seemed to have a way of dragging out parts of Wyvern she'd thought buried or absent. It was part of what made their interactions so interesting and enjoyable. It also often made them frustrating beyond belief. It was what it was. Reaching her full height, Wyvern assumes her stance, weighted forward onto her good foot. One way or another, this was the end.

"Should've hit me when you had the chance. We're not just taking turns anymore."

The chop exchange had been one thing, but no matter how petty Wyvern could be, a match was a match. Anything that didn't get you disqualified was fair game. She doesn't seem too eager to take the initiative, however, instead waiting for Alizeh to come to her.

[Bare]

After managing to get up following the brutal throw of Wyvern's, it was visibly apparent how exhausted Alizeh was. From the bruises slowly starting to form on her body to the literal buckets of sweat that drenched her and caused her hair to stick to her face, or the fact she was visibly panting in tiredness. All the signs were there, but they were also there for Wyvern as well, who looked just as bad, if not worse than Alizeh and despite being the one to actually throw her, she still wasn't the one to get to her feet first.

'That probably pissed her off.' Alizeh thought to herself, at this point having a good enough read on Wyvern's personality to know when and what triggered her. Petty competitiveness like Alizeh getting up first despite getting slammed a minute before would definitely be up there for her. None the less Alizeh didn't move while Wyvern got up, quite the contrary she offered a taunt that would most definitely make Wyvern get up even faster just to prove Alizeh wrong. Sure enough Wyvern was soon up to her feet, scolding Alizeh for not attacking while she had the chance, as well as saying there would be no turns this time around.

"Heh, trust me I know." Alizeh said as she rolled her neck one final time in preparation. "But it still wouldn't have felt right attacking you from behind. I'm old school like that." Alizeh said before focusing on Wyvern as she stood before her. Despite the confidence she spoke with this was all coming down to the wire, Alizeh had a way to win this but it would have to go perfectly and to start it off she would need Wyvern's hand, something easier said than done. Especially since the dark haired girl seemed more keen on playing defense than offense. 'Gotta just try.' Alizeh said as she suddenly burst forward, using the last dregs of energy she had to shoot at Wyvern, arm reared back, ready to try and throw a punch at Wyvern!

[Hills]

Wyvern can feel Alizeh taking her measure as she finishes rising to her feet. It annoys her that the older wrestler seems to be able to read even her pettiest thoughts, but then again Wyvern wasn't particularly difficult to read once you got past her cold exterior. A skill that Alizeh had proven herself to be distressingly adept at. The faint sense of amusement she can sense from her opponent invokes an initial burst of sourness, but she forces that away just like her sense of competition for who got to their feet first. She cannot control her emotions, but she can control what she chooses to do in response. Right now, they are only a distraction.

Narrowing her focus back to her opponent, Wyvern takes stock of her body. She's exhausted, bruised in more places than not, and her leg and knee are still suffering from the repeated attention Alizeh has given them over the course of the match. If this was a straight slugfest, she could have gone on for much longer, but she was starting to slow down, and that could be fatal against a competent grappler like the Emerald Storm. Looking across, the Texan wrestler isn't in much better shape. Although Wyvern hadn't inflicted any specific injuries, her blows were strong enough that her opponent should be feeling them across her body. She likely couldn't take too much more of this before her body simply couldn't keep up with her will anymore. The match was all but over. It only remained to be seen who would end it victorious.

Alizeh makes the first move, hurling herself forward and pulling back her first for a strong punch. An error.

"Slow."

With Wyvern's position set and her weight already forward, she's able to strike first despite Alizeh making the first move. As soon as the American wrestler pulls her arm back, Wyvern jabs her left fist out, aiming a quick backhand strike at Alizeh's nose. Even if it connects, the blow isn't strong enough to hurt, just disorient and disrupt. Wyvern only needs an instant to reverse the momentum. Or rather, she should only need an instant. As she begins to put her whole body behind a powerful follow-up haymaker, Wyvern's leg gives for a moment. Almost instantly, she redistributes her weight and continues the strike, but there is still a momentary delay. And a chance for Alizeh to react.

[Bare]

[Hills]

Alizeh would never be able to win a straight exchange of strikes any more than Wyvern would ever win a grapple. The distance may have been closer, but for Wyvern this statement is an absolute truth. As long as she could keep the American wrestler back and unable to get a solid grip, she could win. Alizeh's heavy, telegraphed strike only plays into this plan. As she fires off a quick counter hit to try to unbalance the Emerald storm, a memory comes to her, unbidden. Those months ago, in their very first match, Wyvern had opened up with a feint. Luring her opponent into an ill-advised counter attack with a slow, obvious attack.
Recognition dawns in the Irish wrestler as Alizeh's hand snaps down unexpectedly, knocking away the retaliating jab and allowing her to continue with her next move.

Not good enough!

Even taken off guard, Wyvern knows how fast she can follow up on her strike, an intuitive understanding built over years of practice. Alizeh won't be able to finish her maneuver in time before Wyvern's fist connects. Under normal circumstances, it would have worked fine. But as she allows her muscle memory to take over, she puts too much weight on her injured leg, slowing her down by a fraction of a second. In a battle like this, that may as well have been a century. Her fist blasts through empty air as Alizeh narrowly evades before seizing Wyvern's arm. Before she can correct her balance, Alizeh's boot finds her face. Too gentle to be a real strike, but that was never the goal.

"Checkmate."
NO!

Alizeh easily pulls the overextended Wyvern off of her feet as the two roll onto the canvas. Wyvern might have been able to react in time to do something, but the impact shock carried through her opponent's leg disorients her for the instant necessary to complete the Emerald Twilight hold that had defeated Wyvern once before. Just like last time, the Emerald Storm slams Wyvern's kneecap into the canvas, the existing damage making these blows even more agonizing than the first. The pain is nearly unbearable as the hold is locked in, straining her injured knee to its limits.

But not past them.

"Not...this...time..."

Growling her defiance through gritted teeth, Wyvern digs her fingers into the mat, clawing for a grip. For anyone else, it might have been a doomed effort. That's what conventional logic would dictate in this situation. After a few seconds, however, Alizeh can feel a strong, insistent pull as Wyvern somehow manages to begin dragging both of their weights with only her fingertips, edging a few inches closer to limits of the ring as she crawls for the ropes.

"Not...again..."

[Bare]

This was it. The endgame. Either Alizeh won this match here and now by submission with her best submission finisher, or Wyvern would escape and Alizeh likely wouldn't have the energy to stop whatever offense the Irish Woman would mount in retaliation. So to say that this was do or die was an understatement. But if nothing else she had managed to securely get the move in. Something she wasn't sure would be possible given the striking ability and skill of Wyvern to read movements and attacks. It was hard to admit but hell, even Alizeh had taken a cue from Wyvern subconsciously with her bait and pull attack on Wyvern.

Still it worked in the end, Alizeh managing to deceive Wyvern and catch the woman off guard, setting up the eat defeat before dropping down, slamming the woman down and and then transitioning seamlessly into the Emerald Twilight! Despite the utter agony of the hold however Wyvern wasn't tapping yet, quite the stark contrast from the first match between the two where Wyvern ahd tapped almost immediately to this submission when Alizeh had secured it.

'Damn should have figured.' Alizeh thought to herself even as she pulled on Wyvern's bad leg, trying to add as much pressure as she could, but of course noticing that the two were slowly but surely making progress towards the ropes. "Wyvern.. I'm warning you.. tap now!" Alizeh threatened, pulling Wyvern's leg even tighter over her shoulder in the process to try and add incentive, her next actions depending entirely on Wyvern and if she tapped or not.

But Alizeh didn't expect her too, and if the two continued to inch towards the ropes then Alizeh would resign herself to what she knew she had to do. Lifting Wyvern's leg from over her shoulder Alizeh would begin to once again smash Wyvern's knee brutally into the mat! One, two, three, four, five times, all in a effort to temporarily stop the dark haired woman from making progress and stun her! Because if she was then Alizeh would pull Wyvern's leg back over her shoulder before digging her own free foot into the mat, using it to push while making use of her other leg wrapped around Wyvern's arm as a swivel, and the girl's leg as a lever to help Alizeh pull the woman's body.

If successful Alizeh would aim to turn the two around. Not dragging Wyvern away from the ropes, but rather making it to where Wyvern would have to drag herself in the opposite direction she had been going in by facing her towards the side of the ring that was previously to her back! All before Alizeh would pull Wyvern's leg back over her shoulders, even further than before, locking in the emerald twilight to its full effect once more!

[Hills]

Desperate defiance is the closest thing to a coherent thought in Wyvern's head as the Emerald Twilight locks in. The pain is intense, particularly after the previous abuse her knee had suffered during the match. Pain, however, isn't enough to stop her. She's lost to this hold before, and she has no intention of doing so again. Hell or high water, there is no suffering that can be inflicted on her body that will exceed the strength of her will and the power of her pride. She can't give up here any more than she can ignore gravity. It simply isn't possible.

It takes all of her strength, physical and mental, to begin and continue the torturous journey to the ropes. With her body twisted in the hold, she can barely muster enough leverage to pull herself, let alone both of them. Her hands feel like they're about to fall off under the strain, her fingertips only just managing to find a grip on the canvas as she drags herself and Alizeh closer to freedom. The strain on her knee is getting worse. Her body, exceptionally durable even by the immense standards of LAW, can only take so much more.

"Wyvern.. I'm warning you.. tap now!"
"Feck...off..."

There's no grace or wit behind her retort, nor any consciousness at all beside instinctive defiance. She's barely cognizant of her lips moving, the entirety of her being used to continue forward. When torque on her knee releases, Wyvern knows this is her last chance. Using the rest of her strength and the extra slack from the hold being released, she hurls herself towards the ropes, lacking the ability to break free from this angle but having just enough room to secure a break. She stretches her entire body to its limits, sliding a few inches out of the hold on her arm, straining her aching muscles as far as they can go, closer...closer...

Just shy. Another worthy opponent. Another close match. Another failure. She couldn't do it. She just wasn't good enough.

The pain is horrendous as Alizeh repeatedly drives Wyvern's knee into the mat, but it is her own impotence that ultimately breaks Wyvern's resistance. She makes no effort to stop Alizeh from her subsequent manipulations, turning them around so that Wyvern has no way to reach the ropes anymore with the power she has left. Once again, the match ended as soon as the Twilight was secured. It had taken longer to admit it this time, but the outcome was the same. The spiteful urge to hold out rises in Wyvern, but she can feel her kneecap about to snap under the pressure. She might never fully recover from an injury like that. There was only one possible answer.

Three taps. Two rings of the bell. One more loss.

It's over.

[Bare]

It was do or die. Either Alizeh got the submission here or she very well may end up passing out from exhaustion and frustration. All that mattered was that under no circumstances could she allow Wyvern free. Which is why the closer they got to the ropes the harder Alizeh pulled, the more vicious she became, because she knew that in order to win this she may have to do something she didn't want too. But she would at least give Wyvern a final chance to get out easy.

Wyvern's answer was honestly kind of predictable, a simple but clear cut and decisive no with a bit of expletive thrown in. Honestly Alizeh expected nothing less from Wyvern, if she really wished she hadn't. All well, this is what the woman had chose, so Alizeh would give it to her. Bashing her knee into the mat three times to pacify her Alizeh would then shift their positions so that they were facing away from the ropes, effectively undoing all of the progress Wyvern had done to try and reach the ropes.

Now with the risk of a rope break successfully negated Alizeh would pull Wyvern's leg back over her shoulder, relocking the Emerald Twilight and trapping Wyvern once again, pulling the hold as tight as possible, trying to finally wring the submission out of Wyvern and end this match for good! Thankfully Wyvern didn't offer as much resistance as before, only holding out for a few seconds before finally giving a soft, short, but definitive three taps on the mat.

Ding Ding

As soon as she heard the sound of the bell Alizeh would drop Wyvern's leg and collapse backwards. The adrenaline that had been fueling her finally giving out and allowing Alizeh to fall back to gasp and pant in exhaustion from the grueling battle against Wyvern. Laying partially on top of her foe Alizeh would roll off her and almost painfully push herself up to her feet, something that was helped by the referee so they could raise her hand in victory, the crowd going wild from the intense war between Alizeh and Wyvern.

Despite that though Alizeh's attention wasn't on the crowd. Rather it was on her fallen opponent as she approached and bent down as much as she could, offering her hand to her. "You still... awake?" Alizeh asked, not that she'd blame Wyvern if she passed out, or if she just refused to take her hand after those closing moments of the match, but Alizeh still had to try.

[Hills]

By every measure she cared about, it was a damn good fight. Wyvern and Alizeh had taken each other to their absolute limits, holding nothing back and using every tool available to them in order to overcome the other. Her whole body ached, whether from exertion or injury, but it was a good kind of hurt apart from her knee. The kind of pain that reminded her that she was alive. Her leg was pure agony, but it would fade in time. She could tell that it wouldn't be a permanent injury. There was, in her opinion, nothing else a wrestler could ask for. She'd given everything she had against a worthy opponent. The match could have gone either way. The crowd...she wasn't always good at reading the crowd, but the deafening roars echoing through the stadium certainly seemed to approve. Their hero had won, after all. There was nothing...nothing that she could complain about, and she would say the same to any who asked her. She would say the same about any match like this one that she saw.

But all of that was theory. Philosophy. The way she felt now...was empty.

She'd worked so hard. Trained and fought and planned for this day. Taken every match she could find, afterwards going over every single one with a fine tooth comb looking for every mistake, every way she could have improved. Pushed herself to new heights, reached a peak of skill and fitness beyond anything she'd ever achieved before. She had always worked for her own sake. She had always been ferociously driven when it came to wrestling, but her first match in LAW had lit a fire under her that had pushed her to the next level. And if she was to be perfectly honest, it was Alizeh who had helped do it. She wanted to show Alizeh the results of her improvement. To overcome the wall that the more experienced wrestler represented. Everything she'd done to improve, had at least in part been for this match.

But once again, the better woman won. Once again, she had lost. Someday she might look to this as another valuable lesson. For now, though, all she can feel is bitterness.

When Alizeh kneels down next to Wyvern, she finds the Irish wrestler still fully conscious and already struggling to rise. When the Emerald Storm extends her hand, Wyvern slowly turns her head to meet her counterpart's eyes. For a split instant, there is pure venom behind that gaze, rage and hatred that, while not directed specifically at Alizeh, certainly includes her among its targets. The moment is over so fast that no ordinary person would likely have noticed it, but Alizeh, experienced and in-tune with Wyvern, can see it easily if she's paying attention. It's over in a flash, vanishing back into Wyvern's normal, flat affect. After a few seconds, she gives one of her slight half smiles and takes the hand.

"Good match. You got me."

Wyvern begins climbing to her feet with Alizeh's help, but suddenly drops to dead weight while yanking her hand, playfully attempting to pull her rival down with her.

[Bare]

A war. That was gonna be the only word that accurately described what Alizeh and Wyv- Saoirse had been through tonight. Strikes, submissions, power even aerial, every possible strategy and avenue popular in wrestler was used by both women in their pursuit of victory, their bodies getting beaten down and their spirits tested as they waged assault after assault until finally, Alizeh barely managed to get Wyvern to tap out and end things for good. Something she was glad about personally. Not for the fact she made Wyvern submit again, but because she knew the longer this match went the higher their chances for injury became, especially with the damage Alizeh had done to the woman's knee, something she hoped wouldn't be a long recovery.

Despite what the two had done to each other though Alizeh couldn't help the waves of newfound admiration and respect that from her towards Wyvern. It was clear to see from their last match that Wyvern had improved her technical foundation, a major feat given the relatively short amount of time between their matches, and something that got a lot of respect from Alizeh as a technician herself. Naturally after having her moment of victory she wanted to offer the hand of friendship to Wyvern, wanting to let her know that while the match had been as intense as a raging inferno, they were still cool as cucumbers. Perhaps thats why when Alizeh saw the initial look of hate, fury and resentment in Wyvern's eyes it nearly made her double take.

Was Wyvern really that upset? Was she about to attack her? A million thoughts like those began flooding Alizeh's mind as she nearly did a double take and pull her hand back. Before she could however that brief flash of negativity was replaced with the normal look Alizeh had associated with the girl and, while a bit more tentative Alizeh kept her hand extended. Thankfully Wyvern would crack a smile and take her hand, making Alizeh breathe a sigh of relief in the process. "Yeah you bet I d- whoa!" Alizeh said before crying out in surprise as she was pulled down on top of Wyvern.

Not in a aggressive way though, nor was there any attack from Wyvern, rather it was more akin to a practical joke! Blinking in shock at the playfulness Alizeh couldn't help but laugh as she put her hands on either side of Wyvern's head and pushed up slightly, hovering over Wyvern's face. "Oh now you want me on top of you?" She asked cheekily with a grin on her face, not at at all shy about pressing her lower half against Wyvern's ody to emphasise her point while maybe also teasing Wyvern a bit as payback for pulling her down. All while the fans filmed, took pictures and began speculating wildly as fans do.