The Midas Touch, Episode 12: The Young Lioness

[SuckerPunch]

She could see it in Astrid's face... Anger wasn't a sufficient word. Something was stirring in the great heavyweight. A wild, uncontrollable desire. A loss of self. This, was what Rose Gold desired more than anything.

She most often received it from women who couldn't quell their desires when pressed against her mouth. Or victims, like Meiyun, who'd been reduced to shameful begging and crying. Be it lust, shame, fear, or anger. It was influencing this loss of composure in others that made her feel -powerful-! Forcing women to become someone they didn't want to be. To give in to their base desires. To give in to their id.

Astrid just needed one more push! "Oops. I might have broken her."

She put a fist up to her cheek, pantomiming wiping a tear away. "Sowwy about that, Champion-sama! I hope you can forgive me!" She was still on her knees when she looked up at Astrid, doe-eyed and pouting.

Heavy, intentioned footfalls brought Astrid towards her, and she climbed to her feet. Her pout melted into a grin. The pretense of her offensively bad acting dropped entirely as she met eyes with the other woman. And Astrid could see it then. What Rose had claimed was true. She didn't feel regrets. Her golden eyes glittered with sadistic pleasure as she pointed past the Heavyweight.

"Don't you have some trash to clean up, Champion-sama?" Her index finger hung in the air, a line drawn from it to Meiyun's prone, naked body.

And that was the last thing Rose Gold remembered before she was face down on the canvas. "GUEH!?"

Astrid had struck her, savaging her pretty face with her forearm. She'd driven her to the canvas... Eventually. Her feet were torn from the canvas, sending her lithe body into a spiral. The lift of the forearm allowed her for one and a half full rotations before she landed hips first on the canvas. She'd spun like a windmill and hit the canvas like a derailing train!

"NNngnhyg~NYAAAH!" She screamed, clutching her face and kicking her feet against the canvas! She rolled back and forth in short movements, never leaving her belly. Never ceasing her agonized hows!

[CaptainL]

Every mocking, cloying word out of Rose's mouth caused the fury to rise in Astrid. Her fists balled tight at her sides, and each step she took fell with a stomp against the floor. As she closed in on the lightweight, she leaned in closer, looking her in the eye with an unblinking, unwavering stare. Astrid wasn't normally one to pick fights outside of matches. She wasn't a violent person, and she wanted to save her strength for when it was truly needed. But...here and now, Astrid believed that time had come. There might not have been a referee, there might not have been a bell, but this was certainly a time to strike. Rose had gone too far - and she had gone long enough without ever facing justice for her actions.

Astrid didn't even grace Rose with another word, even as she stiffened with fury hearing her call the rookie trash. All the talking she needed to do would be delivered just fine, as she swung a forearm hard enough to swat Rose straight off her feet! The Lightweight Champion, borne by the force of the blow, went rolling across the ring, and a few cheers went up at the sight of Astrid making a stand. But Astrid didn't so much as look in the fans' direction. Her gaze was locked on Rose the whole time, never taking her stern eyes off of her.

The Norsewoman swept the robe off her shoulders, tossing it over Meiyun to cover her before she stormed over to Rose. There she stood over the smaller woman, her arms folded over her chest. "I'm not normally one to speak up on matters outside the Heavyweight Division," she explained, "but knowing you're the Lightweight Champion makes me sick. How many women have you faced that actually stood a chance of taking that title from you? How many times have you picked on those smaller and weaker than you and called it a title defense? How many times have you shown them mercy, even when they begged you for it? I don't know the answer to those things...but what I do know is that tonight, you've crossed a line I can't forgive.

[SuckerPunch]

Rose Gold had looked down on Meiyun. Mocked and abused her. But for what it was worth, the fight she had put up had resulted in a fair amount of damage to the arrogant champion. She'd been one second from being knocked out by a kick that had just barely stalled in front of her face. And the reigning Heavyweight Champion's forearm had packed far more punch than Meiyun's boot could have hoped for.

Her head throbbed in a way that made it feel as if the inside of her skull was carpeted in nails. Every move she made, jostling her brain against the rigid points and filling her with red-hot agony. Even as Astrid approached, she couldn't offer up a fight. She rolled onto her back and the bright lights forced her to wince. It was only when the titanic figure that was Astrid stood over her that she could bear to open them. Hiding within her shadow.

She hissed, snakelike. It made for an incomprehensible response, but it was all she could manage. Her attacker stood over her. The damsel that Rose Gold herself had put in distress slung over her great shoulder.

Her words reached her. Even through the ringing in her ears. A concussion was likely. She closed her eyes then, unwilling to look upon another woman standing tall above her. And with after a deep inhale of air, she spoke back.

"None." She coughed twice, the act of speaking made her lungs feel as though they were full of ash.

She persevered. "None of the women I've faced stood a chance against me." And then her pained expression shifted into a cocky, shit-eating grin. "You're all weaker than me!" Her mirthful expression shattered as she started to cough again, finally rolling onto her hands and knees. Saliva dripped onto the canvas beneath her.

[CaptainL]

As much as Rose, in all her smugness and arrogance, would want to tell the world otherwise, Meiyun had done a number on her. It would be the ultimate upset, and one where she had no shortage of luck on her side coupled with the fact the champion was underestimating her, but had Meiyun been able to finish off her relentless flurry of attacks, Rose would quite possibly have stayed down for the count. And regardless, even a single blow coming from the Heavyweight Champion packed a good deal more punch than twenty from a lightweight Young Lioness!

When Astrid's forearm hit, and Rose was thrown to the mat off the force of the blow, a chorus of gasps went up from the stands. Any attack from Astrid that could have produced such results, tossing around even a fellow champion like a rag doll, had to have hurt. And yet...even after she had gone to the ground, crumpled and wheezing, Rose still found it in her to talk back to Astrid. She still turned Astrid's attempt to make her look like a bully and a cheat back on her, boasting that she had never met an opponent worthy of standing on her level. When she said she'd never faced anyone capable of standing up to her, it wasn't an indictment, but a point of pride!

And when Astrid looked down at her...her eyes narrowed into a glare, and she stomped a foot against the mat. If that was how Rose was going to play...then she had no choice. She had come to give her a warning, and to teach her a lesson, but it seemed as though she'd have to take things into her own hands.

"No? Never? Well...maybe it's about time you put that belt of yours where your mouth is. You mean to tell me there's no woman in this company who could ever beat you? Not a one?" She stood higher, then, turning to face the crowd. "Well...if you truly are the Ace of LAW you claim to be, let's see how you deal with opponents outside your division! Surely, if all you say is true, size won't matter! You'll be able to take them down all the same, won't you? Rose Gold...I challenge you to a match, to put these claims of yours to the test once and for all!"

A few more gasps went through the stands at Astrid's proclamation. It was a daring offer indeed, putting lightweight against heavyweight, champion against champion. One of LAW's most outspoken advocates for good sportsmanship and honor against one of its most underhanded and devious masterminds. But either way...it was bound to be a battle for the ages!

[SuckerPunch]

She stood up to Astrid, though physically she remained upon her knees. Her ears still rang and the canvas shifted beneath her like the deck of a ship at sea. The damage she'd taken throughout the match was compounded by the fresh heavyweight's powerful attack.

When Astrid turned away from her, she felt a sense of relief that she would have never admitted to out loud. She was vulnerable and weak. And if the heavyweight had sought retribution, she could have taken it. There would have been nothing the self-proclaimed best could have done to stop her... But she didn't. At least not with her hands.

Rose Gold was too clever to yield to Astrid's provocation. Too wiley to allow herself to share a ring with a woman with so many advantages over her. Nothing to gain. Everything to lose. Or so one would have thought...

"You're nothing!" She hissed! Her pride consuming her rationale! She couldn't handle being on her knees. She couldn't deal with being looked down upon. She wanted to swing back! She wanted to hurt her! She... Couldn't resist the bait. Pride cometh before the fall!

"I won't let someone like -you- look down on me! I'll show the whole world what you are!" Her legs snuck under her... Shakey, unsteady. She got to her feet like a newborn deer.

"You're a relic of the past! A time when size mattered more than skill! But me? I'm the future of pro wrestling! I'm the revolutionary this sport so desperately needed!" Her legs bowed, her knees meeting and keeping her from collapsing. Her posture wouldn't even qualify for a standing eight count.

With one eye closed she hissed her reply. "At We Are LAW, I'll beat you and prove which one of us -really- deserves to be a champion!"

[CaptainL]

Rose was down. Astrid stood triumphantly above the Lightweight Champion; not only was she beaming with pride listening to the cheers she got from all her eager fans excited to see her put the devious blonde in her place, she also knew the satisfaction of a job well done. It was nothing new for Rose Gold to target victims she knew couldn't stand up to her - those women who were weak, defenseless, and in no shape to take on a champion. It had been going on for some time now. But when she targeted the same Young Lionesses that Astrid had helped train, the Norsewoman knew she had gone too far. Now, it was personal. But now that Rose was flat on her back, her head still spinning from the impact of the forearm, Astrid could know that justice had finally been served.

Or so she thought - because Rose was quick to remind her that things wouldn't be that simple. As she snapped back at Astrid from the ground, the heavyweight went tense, her fists clenching at her sides. Now, she knew, things between herself and Rose weren't quite finished. There was still work to be done before the wrongs were righted.

As Rose climbed to her feet, however unsteadily, Atrid sucked in a breath, holding it in her lungs as she bent her knees into a stance. She knew that Rose was in no place to attack, of course - but she readied herself all the same. The last thing she wanted was to have her guard down against Rose Gold - against a woman who was everything Astrid wasn't. Cruel, deceitful, vain, and spiteful. The exact qualities Astrid would never hope for in a champion. The exact sort of champion Astrid wanted nothing more than to see her get her comeuppance.

Rose, too, reminded her of all that, as she snapped her invective at Astrid. It didn't matter how shaky and vulnerable she looked, her knees knocking together as she stared back at the Norsewoman from her one open eye. In this moment, Rose was everything wrong with wrestling, embodied in one person. She was the greatest threat Astrid could imagine, not just to herself but to the discipline of wrestling as a whole. And if Astrid was to stand in defense of all she loved, all she cared about and was passionate about...she couldn't let Rose win.

Balling her fists, Astrid tapped a closed fist aginst her open palm, cracking her knuckles as she glowered down at Rose with a nod. The lightweight had risen to the challenge, and Astrid wouldn't back down now. Not when so much was resting on this.

"So be it," Astrid said. "Come We Are LAW, you'll finally meet an opponent who can put those skills of yours to the test - and you'd best be prepared to face a real challenge!"

[SuckerPunch]

"Someone who can test my skills? I'm looking forward to meeting her." She smirked at Astrid. "But for now, you'll have to do." A wry jab to the heavyweight champion's pride. She was suffering. And she knew she was waving a red cape in front of a bull.

"I'll show the whole world what I've been saying from the very beginning. Skill over size." She made sure to capture Astrid's eyes. To hold them for a second. Long enough for her to feel her determination. To ensure she had her attention.

She drew in a deep breath and steadied her legs. She stepped forward, glaring up at the larger woman. "Now, take that pathetic excuse for a wrestler-" She pointed at the naked competitor tossed over Astrid's shoulder. The line from her finger directed right between her bare thighs.

"-And get out of my ring!"

[CaptainL]

"Hmmph." Astrid's eyes narrowed as she glowered down at Rose. The disrespect in the smaller woman's words was palpable, even when a larger and stronger woman was staring her straight in the face. But much like her depravity, Rose's boldness knew no bounds. It would take more than a threat from Astrid to get her to stand down. The heavyweight just needed to wait for the two to meet at We Are LAW to truly get her point across. For now, she just had to hold firm in what she believed.

But even then, Rose had a way of digging those talons under her skin. And when she looked Astrid in the eye, the Norsewoman felt her eyelid twitch just a little, as her grasp on Meiyun coiled tighter. Rose had been floored from a single blow from Astrid, and even now was struggling to stand up - and yet, she was still confident she wouldn't just survive against her, but surpass her. Astrid knew confidence when she saw it, and no one could deny that Rose had confidence to spare. No matter how much larger she might have been, she had no doubts that Rose would put her skills to the test.

Nevertheless, with a huff, Astrid stood up straighter, turning to the entrance. "So be it. You call this your ring, but you don't deserve such honors - and if no one else can prove that to you, I shall." She walked off with the rookie over her shoulder, still wrapped in her robe. Coughing a few times, Meiyun slowly began to return to her senses, her body stirring groggily. "A-Astrid...what happened..?"

"You don't need to worry about that now," Astrid said as she left the ring. "I'll make sure to set things right."

[SuckerPunch]

Rose Gold scoffed at Astrid and her declaration. Her naive assertion of entitlement.

"Settling for what you deserve is for losers. I take what I want and I make it mine! Because I'm strong enough! I earned everything I've gotten through hard work! I've redefined this industry! This is -my- ring! MINE!" She didn't move as she barked her rebuttal. She kept her finger pointed at the ramp, ensuring Astrid knew where to take herself. And her eyes stayed burrowed into Astrid. Seething. As if she was trying to burn her alive with her hatred.

"I'll make you understand. But by then it'll be too late. You'll be suffocating between my thighs."

Winner by Submission: Rose Gold

To Be Continued... At We Are LAW 5.

[CaptainL]

Continued here and here